Reconstruction and Analysis for the DUNE 35-ton Liquid Argon Prototype

Neutrino physics is approaching the precision era, with current and future experiments aiming to perform highly accurate measurements of the parameters which govern the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations. The ultimate ambition with these results is to search for evidence of CP-violation in the lepton sector, currently hinted at in the world-leading analyses from present experiments, which may explain the dominance of matter over antimatter in the Universe. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a future long-baseline experiment based at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), with a far detector at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) and a baseline of 1300 km. In order to make the required precision measurements, the far detector will consist of 40 kton liquid argon and an embedded time projection chamber. This promising technology is still in development and, since each detector module is around a factor 15 larger than any previous experiment employing this design, prototyping the detector and design choices is critical to the success of the experiment. The 35-ton experiment was constructed for this purpose and will be described in detail in this thesis. The outcomes of the 35-ton prototype are already influencing DUNE and, following the successes and lessons learned from the experiment, confidence can be taken forward to the next stage of the DUNE programme. The main oscillation signal at DUNE will be electron neutrino appearance from the muon neutrino beam. High-precision studies of these νe interactions requires advanced processing and event reconstruction techniques, particularly in the handling of showering particles such as electrons and photons. Novel methods developed for the purposes of shower reconstruction in liquid argon are presented with an aim to successfully develop a selection to use in a νe charged-current analysis, and a first-generation selection using the new techniques is presented

Comparing motor-­vehicle crash risk of EU and US vehicles

This study examined the hypotheses that vehicles meeting EU safety standards perform similarly to US-­‐regulated vehicles in the US driving environment, and vice versa. The analyses used three statistical approaches to “triangulate” evidence regarding differences in crash and injury risk. Separate analyses assessed crash avoidance technologies, including headlamps and mirrors. The results suggest that when controlling for differences in environment and exposure, vehicles meeting EU standards offer reduced risk of serious injury in frontal/side crashes and have driver-­‐side mirrors that reduce risk in lane-­‐change crashes better, while vehicles meeting US standards provide a lower risk of injury in rollovers and have headlamps that make pedestrians more conspicuous.Alliance of Automobile Manufacturershttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112977/1/103199.pd

Comparing motor-vehicle crash risk of EU and US vehicles

Objective: This study examined the hypotheses that passenger vehicles meeting European Union (EU) safety standards have similar crashworthiness to United States (US) -regulated vehicles in the US driving environment, and vice versa. Methods: The first step involved identifying appropriate databases of US and EU crashes that include in-depth crash information, such as estimation of crash severity using Delta-V and injury outcome based on medical records. The next step was to harmonize variable definitions and sampling criteria so that the EU data could be combined and compared to the US data using the same or equivalent parameters. Logistic regression models of the risk of a Maximum injury according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale of 3 or greater, or fatality (MAIS3+F) in EU-regulated and US-regulated vehicles were constructed. The injury risk predictions of the EU model and the US model were each applied to both the US and EU standard crash populations. Frontal, near-side, and far-side crashes were analyzed together (termed “front/side crashes”) and a separate model was developed for rollover crashes. Results: For the front/side model applied to the US standard population, the mean estimated risk for the US-vehicle model is 0.035 (sd = 0.012), and the mean estimated risk for the EU-vehicle model is 0.023 (sd = 0.016). When applied to the EU front/side population, the US model predicted a 0.065 risk (sd = 0.027), and the EU model predicted a 0.052 risk (sd = 0.025). For the rollover model applied to the US standard population, the US model predicted a risk of 0.071 (sd = 0.024), and the EU model predicted 0.128 risk (sd = 0.057). When applied to the EU rollover standard population, the US model predicted a 0.067 risk (sd = 0.024), and the EU model predicted 0.103 risk (sd = 0.040). Conclusions: The results based on these methods indicate that EU vehicles most likely have a lower risk of MAIS3+F injury in front/side impacts, while US vehicles most likely have a lower risk of MAIS3+F injury in llroovers. These results should be interpreted with an understanding of the uncertainty of the estimates, the study limitations, and our recommendations for further study detailed in the report

The enhanced future Flows and Groundwater dataset: development and evaluation of nationally consistent hydrological projections based on UKCP18

This paper details the development and evaluation of the enhanced future FLows and Groundwater (eFLaG) dataset of nationally consistent hydrological projections for the UK, based on the latest UK Climate Projections (UKCP18). The projections are derived from a range of hydrological models. For river flows, multiple models (Grid-to-Grid, PDM (Probability Distributed Model) and GR (Génie Rural; both four- and six-parameter versions, GR4J and GR6J)) are used to provide an indication of hydrological model uncertainty. For groundwater, two models are used, a groundwater level model (AquiMod) and a groundwater recharge model (ZOODRM: zooming object-oriented distributed-recharge model). A 12-member ensemble of transient projections of present and future (up to 2080) daily river flows, groundwater levels and groundwater recharge was produced using bias-corrected data from the UKCP18 regional (12 km) climate ensemble. Projections are provided for 200 river catchments, 54 groundwater level boreholes and 558 groundwater bodies, all sampling across the diverse hydrological and geological conditions of the UK. An evaluation was carried out to appraise the quality of hydrological model simulations against observations and also to appraise the reliability of hydrological models driven by the regional climate model (RCM) ensemble in terms of their capacity to reproduce hydrological regimes in the current period. The dataset was originally conceived as a prototype climate service for drought planning for the UK water sector and so has been developed with drought, low river flow and low groundwater level applications as the primary objectives. The evaluation metrics show that river flows and groundwater levels are, for the majority of catchments and boreholes, well simulated across the flow and level regime, meaning that the eFLaG dataset could be applied to a wider range of water resources research and management contexts, pending a full evaluation for the designated purpose. Only a single climate model and one emissions scenario are used, so any applications should ideally contextualise the outcomes with other climate model–scenario combinations. The dataset can be accessed in Hannaford et al. (2022): https://doi.org/10.5285/1bb90673-ad37-4679-90b9-0126109639a9

COSMOS-UK user guide: users’ guide to sites, instruments and available data (version 2.10)

The COSMOS-UK User Guide is a comprehensive guide to the data collected by COSMOS-UK, including the near-real time soil moisture data derived from counts of netrons derived from cosmic rays. The User Guide contains: i) information about the sites, their locations and other meta data. ii) Details of the instruments deployed at each site. iii) Background information about the cosmic ray neutron counter which is used to derive soil moisture within a 12 hectare footprint. iv) Descriptions of data and information products that are available from COSMOS-UK

Comparing motor-vehicle crash risk of EU and US vehicles

This study examined the hypotheses that vehicles meeting EU safety standards perform similarly to US-\uadregulated vehicles in the US driving environment, and vice versa. The analyses used three statistical approaches to “triangulate” evidence regarding differences in crash and injury risk. Separate analyses assessed crash avoidance technologies, including headlamps and mirrors. The results suggest that when controlling for differences in environment and exposure, vehicles meeting EU standards offer reduced risk of serious injury in frontal/side crashes and have driver‐side mirrors that reduce risk in lane-change crashes better, while vehicles meeting US standards provide alower risk of injury in rollovers and have headlamps that make pedestrians more conspicuous

Swallows and Amazons, or the Sporting Exception To the Gender Recognition Act

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 purports to restrict transgendered persons’ opportunities to participate in sports if their involvement is not conducive to either ‘competitive fairness’ or ‘safety’. This article considers the difficulties in founding a prohibition on either ground, through reference to the medical literature and by considering relevant developments in other jurisdictions. It works towards a theoretical framework for consideration of the broader issues concerning sport and sexed/gendered bodies by suggesting that transgender sport may be regarded as a struggle over the legitimate use of the sporting body; and one that both reinforces and challenges the significance of sports as a gendering practice