Narrow muon bundles from muon pair production in rock

We revise the process of muon pair production by high-energy muons in rock using the recently published cross-section. The three-dimensional Monte Carlo code MUSIC has been used to obtain the characteristics of the muon bundles initiated via this process. We have compared them with those of conventional muon bundles initiated in the atmosphere and shown that large underground detectors, capable of collecting hundreds of thousands of multiple muon events, can discriminate statistically muon induced bundles from conventional ones. However, we find that the enhancement of the measured muon decoherence function over that predicted at small distances, recently reported by the MACRO experiment, cannot be explained by the effect of muon pair production alone, unless its cross-section is underestimated by a factor of 3.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, 2 figures, to be published in Physics Letters

Approaches to the problems of school vision as found in the literature

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Probabilistic models for construction estimating and bidding

Two probabilistic models are offered as a means for quantitatively determining contingency in a lump-sum bid. The first model is based on the isolated project and requires subjective evaluation of probabilities associated with the individual elements of the estimate. Contingency is defined as a function of the standard deviation of project field costs. Procedures are developed to obtain the variance of the total field cost from three-value estimates of the primary quantities. The second model considers the business as a stochastic process with an initial risk reserve and a positive risk loading, and contingency in this model is a function of the risk loading. Output from the project model is found to be approximately normal and insensitive to the type of input distribution. Covariance among accounts in the estimate are shown to be highly significant. The business model produces a significantly lower value for contingency than the project model and indicates that contingency is a lower bound on the contractor\u27s fee and must be handled in a fiscally responsible manner --Abstract, page ii

Measurement of the Scintillation Efficiency of Na Recoils in NaI(Tl) down to 10 keV Nuclear Recoil Energy relevant to Dark Matter Searches

We present preliminary results of measurements of the quenching factor for Na recoils in NaI(Tl) at room temperature, made at a dedicated neutron facility at the University of Sheffield. Measurements have been performed with a 2.45 MeV mono-energetic neutron generator in the energy range from 10 keV to 100 keV nuclear recoil energy. A BC501A liquid scintillator detector was used to tag neutrons. Cuts on pulse-shape discrimination from the BC501A liquid scintillator detector and neutron time-of-flight were performed on pulses recorded by a digitizer with a 2 ns sampling time. Measured quenching factors range from 19% to 26%, in agreement with other experiments. From pulse-shape analysis, a mean time of pulses from electron and nuclear recoils are compared down to 2 keV electron equivalent energy.Comment: to appear in Proc. 6th Int. Workshop on the Identification of Dark Matter, 11-16 September 2006, Rhodes, Greece; 6 pages, 4 figures; corrected preliminary theoretical estimation curve plotted in figure

The Supersymmetric Origin of Matter

The Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) can provide the correct neutralino relic abundance and baryon number asymmetry of the universe. Both may be efficiently generated in the presence of CP violating phases, light charginos and neutralinos, and a light top squark. Due to the coannihilation of the neutralino with the light stop, we find a large region of parameter space in which the neutralino relic density is consistent with WMAP and SDSS data. We perform a detailed study of the additional constraints induced when CP violating phases, consistent with the ones required for baryogenesis, are included. We explore the possible tests of this scenario from present and future electron Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) measurements, direct neutralino detection experiments, collider searches and the b -> s gamma decay rate. We find that the EDM constraints are quite severe and that electron EDM experiments, together with stop searches at the Tevatron and Higgs searches at the LHC, will provide a definite test of our scenario of electroweak baryogenesis in the next few years.Comment: 30 pages, 14 figure

The DRIFT Project: Searching for WIMPS with a Directional Detector

A low pressure time projection chamber for the detection of WIMPs is discussed. Discrimination against Compton electron background in such a device should be very good, and directional information about the recoil atoms would be obtainable. If a full 3-D reconstruction of the recoil tracks can be achieved, Monte Carlo studies indicate that a WIMP signal could be identified with high confidence from as few as 30 detected WIMP-nucleus scattering events.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Presented at Dark 98, Heidelberg, July 1998, and to appear in conference proceeding

Walnut Creek watershed restoration and water quality monitoring project : final report

https://ir.uiowa.edu/igs_tis/1048/thumbnail.jp

ArDM: a ton-scale liquid Argon experiment for direct detection of Dark Matter in the Universe

The ArDM project aims at developing and operating large noble liquid detectors to search for direct evidence of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) as Dark Matter in the Universe. The initial goal is to design, assemble and operate a $\approx$1 ton liquid Argon prototype to demonstrate the feasibility of a ton-scale experiment with the required performance to efficiently detect and sufficiently discriminate backgrounds for a successful WIMP detection. Our design addresses the possibility to detect independently ionization and scintillation signals. In this paper, we describe this goal and the conceptual design of the detector.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Talk given at IXth international conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics (TAUP05), Zaragoza, (Spain

Longitudinal patterns in an Arkansas River Valley stream: an Application of the River Continuum Concept

The River Continuum Concept (RCC) provides the framework for studying how lotic ecosystems vary from headwater streams to large rivers. The RCC was developed in streams in eastern deciduous forests of North America, but watershed characteristics and land uses differ across ecoregions, presenting unique opportunities to study how predictions of the RCC may differ across regions. Additionally, RCC predictions may vary due to the influence of fishes, but few studies have used fish taxa as a metric for evaluating predictions of the RCC. Our goal was to determine if RCC predictions for stream orders 1 through 5 were supported by primary producer, macroinvertebrate, and fish communities in Cadron Creek of the Arkansas River Valley. We sampled chlorophyll a, macroinvertebrates, and fishes at five stream reaches across a gradient of watershed size. Contrary to RCC predictions, chlorophyll a did not increase in concentration with catchment size. As the RCC predicts, fish and macroinvertebrate diversity increased with catchment size. Shredding and collecting macroinvertebrate taxa supported RCC predictions, respectively decreasing and increasing in composition as catchment area increased. Herbivorous and predaceous fish did not follow RCC predictions; however, surface-water column feeding fish were abundant at all sites as predicted. We hypothesize some predictions of the RCC were not supported in headwater reaches of this system due to regional differences in watershed characteristics and altered resource availability due to land use surrounding sampling sites