Direct Measurement of the W Production Charge Asymmetry in pp̅ Collisions at √s=1.96 TeV

We present the first direct measurement of the $W$ production charge asymmetry as a function of the $W$ boson rapidity $\yW$ in $\ppbar$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ $\TeV$. We use a sample of $\wenu$ events in data from 1 $\ifb$ of integrated luminosity collected using the CDF II detector. In the region $|\yW|

Sensemaking in the Third Space - Essays on French-Finnish Bicultural Experiences in Organizations and Their Narratives (summary section only)

Research on cross-cultural and intercultural aspects in organizations has been traditionally conducted from an objectivist, functionalist perspective, with culture treated as an independent variable, and often the key explanatory factor. In order to do justice to the ontological relativity of the phenomena studied, more subjectivist research on intercultural interactions, and especially on their relationships with the dynamics of cultural identity construction, is needed. The present research seeks to address this gap by focusing on bicultural interactions in organizations, as they are experienced by the involved individuals. It is argued that such bicultural situations see the emergence of a space of hybridity, which is here called a ‘third space’, and which can be understood as providing ‘occasions for sensemaking’: it is this individual sensemaking that is of particular interest in the empirical narrative study. A first overall aim of the study is to reach an understanding of the dynamics of bicultural interactions in organizations; an understanding not only of the potential for learning and emancipatory sensemaking, but also of the possibility of conflict and alienatory ordering (this is mainly addressed in the theoretical essays 1 and 2). Further, a second overall aim of the study is to analyze the reflexive identity construction of four young French expatriates involved in such bicultural interactions in organizations in Finland, in order to examine the extent to which their expatriation experiences have allowed for an emancipatory opportunity in their cases (in essays 3 and 4). The primary theoretical contribution in this study lies in its new articulation of the dynamics of bicultural interactions in organizations. The ways in which the empirical material is analyzed bring about methodological contributions: since the expatriates’ accounts are bound to be some kind of construction, the analysis is made from angles that point to how the self-narratives construct reality. There are two such angles here: a ‘performative’ one and a ‘spatial’ one. The most important empirical contributions lie in the analysis of, on the one hand, the alternative uses that the young expatriates made of the notion of ‘national culture’ in their self-narratives, and, on the other hand, their ‘narrative practices of the third space’: their politics of escape or stabilization, their exploration of space or search for place, their emancipation from their origin or return to home as only horizon.

On the charging state of atmospheric aerosols and ion-induced nucleation

Floating in the air that surrounds us is a number of small particles, invisible to the human eye. The mixture of air and particles, liquid or solid, is called an aerosol. Aerosols have significant effects on air quality, visibility and health, and on the Earth's climate. Their effect on the Earth's climate is the least understood of climatically relevant effects. They can scatter the incoming radiation from the Sun, or they can act as seeds onto which cloud droplets are formed. Aerosol particles are created directly, by human activity or natural reasons such as breaking ocean waves or sandstorms. They can also be created indirectly as vapors or very small particles are emitted into the atmosphere and they combine to form small particles that later grow to reach climatically or health relevant sizes. The mechanisms through which those particles are formed is still under scientific discussion, even though this knowledge is crucial to make air quality or climate predictions, or to understand how aerosols will influence and will be influenced by the climate's feedback loops. One of the proposed mechanisms responsible for new particle formation is ion-induced nucleation. This mechanism is based on the idea that newly formed particles were ultimately formed around an electric charge. The amount of available charges in the atmosphere varies depending on radon concentrations in the soil and in the air, as well as incoming ionizing radiation from outer space. In this thesis, ion-induced nucleation is investigated through long-term measurements in two different environments: in the background site of Hyytiälä and in the urban site that is Helsinki. The main conclusion of this thesis is that ion-induced nucleation generally plays a minor role in new particle formation. The fraction of particles formed varies from day to day and from place to place. The relative importance of ion-induced nucleation, i.e. the fraction of particles formed through ion-induced nucleation, is bigger in cleaner areas where the absolute number of particles formed is smaller. Moreover, ion-induced nucleation contributes to a bigger fraction of particles on warmer days, when the sulfuric acid and water vapor saturation ratios are lower. This analysis will help to understand the feedbacks associated with climate change.

Structure of Relativistic States

QCD factorization in the Bjorken limit allows to separate the long-distance physics from the hard subprocess. At leading twist, only one parton in each hadron is coherent with the hard subprocess. Higher twist effects increase as one of the active partons carries most of the longitudinal momentum of the hadron, x -> 1. In the Drell-Yan process \pi N -> \mu^- mu^+ + X, the polarization of the virtual photon is observed to change to longitudinal when the photon carries x_F > 0.6 of the pion. I define and study the Berger-Brodsky limit of Q^2 -> \infty with Q^2(1-x) fixed. A new kind of factorization holds in the Drell-Yan process in this limit, in which both pion valence quarks are coherent with the hard subprocess, the virtual photon is longitudinal rather than transverse, and the cross section is proportional to a multiparton distribution. Generalized parton distributions contain information on the longitudinal momentum and transverse position densities of partons in a hadron. Transverse charge densities are Fourier transforms of the electromagnetic form factors. I discuss the application of these methods to the QED electron, studying the form factors, charge densities and spin distributions of the leading order |e\gamma> Fock state in impact parameter and longitudinal momentum space. I show how the transverse shape of any virtual photon induced process, \gamma^*(q)+i -> f, may be measured. Qualitative arguments concerning the size of such transitions have been previously made in the literature, but without a precise analysis. Properly defined, the amplitudes and the cross section in impact parameter space provide information on the transverse shape of the transition process.

Imagining Some Space

Some texts and a performance story. All motivated by the author’s interest in space, in this that surrounds, and that interest, in turn, originating from the author’s earlier studies in cultural anthropology, in observing and experiencing the surrounding animate and inanimate world. The texts in this thesis are alternating between academic and creative writing. They are texts written on a specific site on Suomenlinna island in Helsinki, Finland, as part of the performance ”Beyond the Wind in Front of Me / A Space Ship Journey” story or prologues to that, and the more academic ones supporting them or growing out of them, being accompanied also by the thoughts and practices of others. The main research questions and themes being How to perceive this that surrounds me? What is space, what does it consist of? Is it something that simply surrounds me? Am I a part of it or is it a part of me? How can a space be researched? How to activate a space? What kind of mental images do spaces/places create/uncover/open up in us? How to animate/make alive those images? Body giving meaning to space via actions created by the body. Physical environment contra emotional, imaginary, visionary one. Presence in a space/place. Physical and mental presence. Presence in memories.