Automated knowledge capture in 2D and 3D design environments

In Life Cycle Engineering, it is vital that the engineering knowledge for the product is captured throughout its life cycle in a formal and structured manner. This will allow the information to be referred to in the future by engineers who did not work on the original design but are wanting to understand the reasons that certain design decisions were made. In the past, attempts were made to try to capture this knowledge by having the engineer record the knowledge manually during a design session. However, this is not only time-consuming but is also disruptive to the creative process. Therefore, the research presented in this paper is concerned with capturing design knowledge automatically using a traditional 2D design environment and also an immersive 3D design environment. The design knowledge is captured by continuously and non-intrusively logging the user during a design session and then storing this output in a structured eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format. Next, the XML data is analysed and the design processes that are involved can be visualised by the automatic generation of IDEF0 diagrams. Using this captured knowledge, it forms the basis of an interactive online assistance system to aid future users who are carrying out a similar design task

The young stellar population at the center of NGC 205

Context. NGC 205 is a peculiar dwarf elliptical galaxy hosting in its center a population of young blue stars. Their origin is still matter of debate, the central fresh star formation activity possibly being related to dynamical interactions between NGC 205 and M31. Aims. The star formation history in the central 30\arcsec ($\sim$120 pc) around the NGC 205 central nucleus is investigated in order to obtain clues to the origin of the young stellar population. Methods. Deep HST/ACS CCD photometry is compared with theoretical isochrones and luminosity functions to characterize the stellar content of the region under study and compute the recent SF rate. Results. Our photometry reveals a previously undetected blue plume of young stars clearly distinguishable down to I$\simeq$26. Our analysis suggests that 1.9$\times10^5$ M$_\odot$ were produced between approximately 62 Myr and 335 Myr ago in the NGC 205 inner regions, with a latest minor episode occurring $\sim$25 Myr ago. This implies a star formation rate of $\sim7\times10^{-4}$ M$_\odot$/yr over this period. Conclusions. The excellent fit of the observed luminosity function of young main sequence stars obtained with a model having a constant star formation rate argues against a tidally triggered star formation activity over the last $\sim$300 Myr. Rather, a constant SF may be consistent with NGC 205 being on its first interaction with M 31.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in A&A letter

Measurement of Muon Antineutrino Quasi-Elastic Scattering on a Hydrocarbon Target at E_{\nu} ~ 3.5 GeV

We have isolated muon anti-neutrino charged-current quasi-elastic interactions occurring in the segmented scintillator tracking region of the MINERvA detector running in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. We measure the flux-averaged differential cross-section, d{\sigma}/dQ^2, and compare to several theoretical models of quasi-elastic scattering. Good agreement is obtained with a model where the nucleon axial mass, M_A, is set to 0.99 GeV/c^2 but the nucleon vector form factors are modified to account for the observed enhancement, relative to the free nucleon case, of the cross-section for the exchange of transversely polarized photons in electron-nucleus scattering. Our data at higher Q^2 favor this interpretation over an alternative in which the axial mass is increased.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Added correlation between neutrino and anti-neutrino results in ancillary text files (CSV

Search for the Higgs boson in lepton, tau and jets final states

We present a search for the standard model Higgs boson in final states with an electron or muon and a hadronically decaying tau lepton in association with two or more jets using 9.7 fb^{-1} of Run II Fermilab Tevatron Collider data collected with the D0 detector. The analysis is sensitive to Higgs boson production via gluon fusion, associated vector boson production, and vector boson fusion, followed by the Higgs boson decay to tau lepton pairs or to W boson pairs. The ratios of 95% C.L. upper limits on the cross section times branching ratio to those predicted by the standard model are obtained for orthogonal subsamples that are enriched in either H -> tau tau decays or H -> WW decays, and for the combination of these subsample limits. The observed and expected limit ratios for the combined subsamples at a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV are 11.3 and 9.0 respectively

Measurement of the photon+b+b-jet production differential cross section in ppˉp\bar{p} collisions at \sqrt{s}=1.96~\TeV

We present measurements of the differential cross section dsigma/dpT_gamma for the inclusive production of a photon in association with a b-quark jet for photons with rapidities |y_gamma|< 1.0 and 30<pT_gamma <300 GeV, as well as for photons with 1.5<|y_gamma|< 2.5 and 30< pT_gamma <200 GeV, where pT_gamma is the photon transverse momentum. The b-quark jets are required to have pT>15 GeV and rapidity |y_jet| < 1.5. The results are based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.7 fb^-1, recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ Collider at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. The measured cross sections are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations using different sets of parton distribution functions as well as to predictions based on the kT-factorization QCD approach, and those from the Sherpa and Pythia Monte Carlo event generators.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Search for B0→π0π0B^{0}\to \pi^{0}\pi^{0} Decay

We have searched for the charmless hadronic decay of B0 mesons into two neutral pions. Using 9.13fb^-1 taken at the Upsilon(4S) with the CLEO detector, we obtain an improved upper limit for the branching fraction BR(B0-->pi0pi0) < 5.7*10^-6 at the 90% confidence level.Comment: pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Search for WHWH associated production in ppˉp \bar{p} collisions at s=1.96 TeV\sqrt{s}=1.96\,{\rm TeV}

This report describes a search for associated production of $W$ and Higgs bosons based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $\cal{L}$$\approx 5.3 \rm fb^{-1}$ collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ Collider. Events containing a $W\rightarrow \ell \nu$ candidate (with $\ell$ corresponding to $e$ or $\mu$) are selected in association with two or three reconstructed jets. One or two of the jets are required to be consistent with having evolved from a $b$ quark. A multivariate discriminant technique is used to improve the separation of signal and backgrounds. Expected and observed upper limits are obtained for the product of the $WH$ production cross section and branching ratios and reported in terms of ratios relative to the prediction of the standard model as a function of the mass of the Higgs boson ($M_{H}$). The observed and expected 95% C.L. upper limits obtained for an assumed $M_{H}=115 \rm GeV$ are, respectively, factors of 4.5 and 4.8 larger than the value predicted by the standard model.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figure

Study of Beam Spin Asymmetry in Exclusive π° Production

Describing and understanding atomic nuclei is a puzzle that has intrigued scientists for decades. Approximately ten years ago, a description of nucleon structure, referred to as Generalized Parton Distribution (GPD), was introduced. GPDs are a way of describing scattering and production processes in a single framework. Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) is a process that scatters a photon from a proton and detects a scattered electron, a proton, and one photon in the fi nal state. From DVCS, GPDs can be extracted in order to lead us to a more complete picture of nucleon structure. The focus of this study is to understand the beam spin asymmetry (BSA) of the neutral π° meson, a main source of background during the DVCS process. To calculate the BSA, the number of π° events with positive helicity (spin) and negative helicity were counted by integrating histograms with Gaussians fi ts. It is shown that there is a signifi cant non-zero BSA in production of exclusive π°, namely 0.0655±0.0022. In the analysis of previous experiments, the BSA of π° was assumed to be zero and therefore ignored. Now, future analyses of DVCS data may incorporate this evidence of BSA. A deeper understanding of background processes (π°) in the DVCS will allow precision measurements of GPDs, providing new insight concerning the structure of nucleons

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in ℓν\bm{\ellν}+jets final states in 9.7~fb−1\bm{^{-1}} of ppˉ\bm{p\bar{p}} collisions with the D0 detector

We present, in detail, a search for the standard model Higgs boson, $H$, in final states with a charged lepton (electron or muon), missing energy, and two or more jets in data corresponding to 9.7 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected at a center of mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.96 TeV with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ Collider. The search uses $b$-jet identification to categorize events for improved signal versus background separation and is sensitive to associated production of the $H$ with a $W$ boson, $WH\to\ell\nu b\bar{b}$; gluon fusion with the Higgs decaying to $W$ boson pairs, $H\to WW\to\ell\nu jj$; and associated production with a vector boson where the Higgs decays to $W$ boson pairs, $VH\to VWW \to \ell\nu jjjj$ production (where $V = W$ or $Z$). We observe good agreement between data and expected background. We test our method by measuring $WZ$ and $ZZ$ production with $Z\to b\bar{b}$ and find production rates consistent with the standard model prediction. For a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV, we set a 95%\ C.L. upper limit on the production of a standard model Higgs boson of \obslimA$\times\sigma_{\rm SM}$, where $\sigma_{\rm SM}$ is the standard model Higgs boson production cross section, while the expected limit is \explimA$\times\sigma_{\rm SM}$. We also interpret the data considering models with fourth generation fermions, or a fermiophobic Higgs boson