First Measurement of the b-Jet Cross Section in Events with a W Boson in pp̅ Collisions at √s=1.96 TeV

The cross section for jets from b quarks produced with a W boson has been measured in ppbar collision data from 1.9/fb of integrated luminosity recorded by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron. The W+b-jets process poses a significant background in measurements of top quark production and prominent searches for the Higgs boson. We measure a b-jet cross section of 2.74 +- 0.27(stat.) +- 0.42(syst.) pb in association with a single flavor of leptonic W boson decay over a limited kinematic phase space. This measured result cannot be accommodated in several available theoretical predictions.

Top Quark Mass Measurement in the lepton+jets Channel Using a Matrix Element Method and in situ Jet Energy Calibration

A precision measurement of the top quark mass m_t is obtained using a sample of ttbar events from ppbar collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron with the CDF II detector. Selected events require an electron or muon, large missing transverse energy, and exactly four high-energy jets, at least one of which is tagged as coming from a b quark. A likelihood is calculated using a matrix element method with quasi-Monte Carlo integration taking into account finite detector resolution and jet mass effects. The event likelihood is a function of m_t and a parameter DJES to calibrate the jet energy scale /in situ/. Using a total of 1087 events, a value of m_t = 173.0 +/- 1.2 GeV/c^2 is measured.

Search for Top-Quark Production via Flavor-Changing Neutral Currents in W+1 Jet Events at CDF

We report on the first search for top-quark production via flavor-changing neutral-current (FCNC) interactions in the non-standard-model process u(c)+g -> t using ppbar collision data collected by the CDF II detector. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.2/fb. The candidate events feature the signature of semileptonic top-quark decays and are classified as signal-like or background-like by an artificial neural network trained on simulated events. The observed discriminant distribution is in good agreement with the one predicted by the standard model and provides no evidence for FCNC top-quark production, resulting in a Bayesian upper limit on the production cross section sigma (u(c)+g -> t) u+g) c+g)

Search for Anomalous Production of Events with a Photon, Jet, b-quark Jet, and Missing Transverse Energy

We present a signature-based search for anomalous production of events containing a photon, two jets, of which at least one is identified as originating from a b quark, and missing transverse energy. The search uses data corresponding to 2.0/fb of integrated luminosity from p-pbar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV, collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. From 6,697,466 events with a photon candidate with transverse energy ET> 25 GeV, we find 617 events with missing transverse energy > 25 GeV and two or more jets with ET> 15 GeV, at least one identified as originating from a b quark, versus an expectation of 607+- 113 events. Increasing the requirement on missing transverse energy to 50 GeV, we find 28 events versus an expectation of 30+-11 events. We find no indications of non-standard-model phenomena.

Between West and East: A Social History of Business Journalism in Cold War Finland

The Cold War era was characterized by ideological struggles that had a major impact on economic decision-making, and also on management practice. To date, however, these ideological struggles have received little attention from management and organizational scholars. To partially fill this research gap, we focus on the role of the media in these ideological struggles. Our starting point is that the media both reflect more general societal debates but also act as an agency promoting specific kinds of ideas and ideologies. In this sense, the media exercise significant power in society; this influece, however, is often subtle and easily dismissed in historical analyses focusing on political and corporate decision-making. In this article, we focus on the role of business journalism in the ideological struggles of the Cold War era. Our case in point is Finland, which is arguably a particularly interesting example due to its geo-political position between East and West. Our approach is socio-historical: we focus on the emergence and development of business journalism in the context of the specific struggles in the Finnish political and economic fields. Our analysis shows how the business journalists struggled between nationalist, pro-Soviet and pro-West political forces, but gradually developed into an increasingly influential force promoting neo-liberal ideology.

Nationalism Circumscribed : Transnational Governance of Minority Rights in Post-Cold War Europe

For the past two centuries, nationalism has been among the most influential legitimizing principles of political organization. According to its simple definition, nationalism is a principle or a way of thinking and acting which holds that the world is divided into nations, and that national and political units should be congruent. Nationalism can thus be divided into two aspects: internal and external. Internally, the political units, i.e., states, should be made up of only one nation. Externally each nation-state should be sovereign. Transnational national governance of rights of national minorities violates both these principles. This study explores the formation, operation, and effectiveness of the European post-Cold War minorities system. The study identifies two basic approaches to minority rights: security and justice. These approaches have been used to legitimize international minority politics and they also inform the practice of transnational governance. The security approach is based on the recognition that the norm of national self-determination cannot be fulfilled in all relevant cases, and so minority rights are offered as a compensation to the dissatisfied national groups, reducing their aspiration to challenge the status quo. From the justice perspective, minority rights are justified as a compensatory strategy against discrimination caused by majority nation-building. The research concludes that the post-Cold War minorities system was justified on the basis of a particular version of the security approach, according to which only Eastern European minority situations are threatening because of the ethnic variant of nationalism that exists in that region. This security frame was essential in internationalising minority issues and justifying the swift development of norms and institutions to deal with these issues. However, from the justice perspective this approach is problematic, since it justified double standards in European minority politics. Even though majority nation-building is often detrimental to minorities also in Western Europe, Western countries can treat their minorities more or less however they choose. One of the main contributions of this thesis is the detailed investigation of the operation of the post-Cold War minorities system. For the first decade since its creation in the early 1990s, the system operated mainly through its security track, which is based on the field activities of the OSCE that are supported by the EU. The study shows how the effectiveness of this track was based on inter-organizational cooperation in which various transnational actors compensate for each other s weaknesses. After the enlargement of the EU and dissolution of the membership conditionality this track, which was limited to Eastern Europe from the start, has become increasingly ineffective. Since the EU enlargement, the focus minorities system has shifted more and more towards its legal track, which is based on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Council of Europe). The study presents in detail how a network of like-minded representatives of governments, international organizations, and independent experts was able strengthen the framework convention s (originally weak) monitoring system considerably. The development of the legal track allows for a more universal and consistent, justice-based approach to minority rights in contemporary Europe, but the nationalist principle of organization still severely hinders the materialization of this possibility.

Measurement of the ttbar production cross section with an in situ calibration of b-jet identification efficiency

A measurement of the top-quark pair-production cross section in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.12/fb collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab is presented. Decays of top-quark pairs into the final states e nu + jets and mu nu + jets are selected, and the cross section and the b-jet identification efficiency are determined using a new measurement technique which requires that the measured cross sections with exactly one and multiple identified b-quarks from the top-quark decays agree. Assuming a top-quark mass of 175 GeV/c^2, a cross section of 8.5+/-0.6(stat.)+/-0.7(syst.) pb is measured.

Field intercomparison of four methane gas analysers suitable for eddy covariance flux measurements

Eddy covariance (EC)-flux measurement technique is based on measurement of turbulent motions of air with accurate and fast measurement devices. For instance, in order to measure methane flux a fast methane gas analyser is needed which measures methane concentration at least ten times in a second in addition to a sonic anemometer, which measures the three wind components with the same sampling interval. Previously measurement of methane flux was almost impossible to carry out with EC-technique due to lack of fast enough gas analysers. However during the last decade new instruments have been developed and thus methane EC-flux measurements have become more common. Performance of four methane gas analysers suitable for eddy covariance measurements are assessed in this thesis. The assessment and comparison was performed by analysing EC-data obtained during summer 2010 (1.4.-26.10.) at Siikaneva fen. The four participating methane gas analysers are TGA-100A (Campbell Scientific Inc., USA), RMT-200 (Los Gatos Research, USA), G1301-f (Picarro Inc., USA) and Prototype-7700 (LI-COR Biosciences, USA). RMT-200 functioned most reliably throughout the measurement campaign and the corresponding methane flux data had the smallest random error. In addition, methane fluxes calculated from data obtained from G1301-f and RMT-200 agree remarkably well throughout the measurement campaign. The calculated cospectra and power spectra agree well with corresponding temperature spectra. Prototype-7700 functioned only slightly over one month in the beginning of the measurement campaign and thus its accuracy and long-term performance is difficult to assess.

Lumettoman maan routaolojen mallintaminen ja ennustettavuus muuttuvassa ilmastossa

Raportissa on arvioitu ilmastonmuutoksen vaikutusta Suomen maaperän talviaikaiseen jäätymiseen lämpösummien perusteella. Laskelmat kuvaavat roudan paksuutta nimenomaisesti lumettomilla alueilla, esimerkiksi teillä, joilta satanut lumi aurataan pois. Luonnossa lämpöä eristävän lumipeitteen alla routaa on ohuemmin kuin tällaisilla lumettomilla alueilla. Toisaalta luonnollisessa ympäristössä paikalliset erot korostuvat johtuen mm. maalajeista ja kasvillisuudesta. Roudan paksuudet laskettiin ensin perusjakson 1971–2000 ilmasto-oloissa talviaikaisten säähavaintotietoihin pohjautuvien lämpötilojen perusteella. Sen jälkeen laskelmat toistettiin kolmelle tulevalle ajanjaksolle (2010–2039, 2040–2069 ja 2070–2099) kohottamalla lämpötiloja ilmastonmuutosmallien ennustamalla tavalla. Laskelman pohjana käytettiin 19 ilmastomallin A1B-skenaarioajojen keskimäärin simuloimaa lämpötilan muutosta. Tulosten herkkyyden arvioimiseksi joitakin laskelmia tehtiin myös tätä selvästi heikompaa ja voimakkaampaa lämpenemisarviota käyttäen. A1B-skenaarion mukaisen lämpötilan nousun toteutuessa nykyisiä mallituloksia vastaavasti routakerros ohenee sadan vuoden aikana Pohjois-Suomessa 30–40 %, suuressa osassa maan keski- ja eteläosissa 50–70 %. Jo lähivuosikymmeninä roudan ennustetaan ohentuvan 10–30 %, saaristossa enemmän. Mikäli lämpeneminen toteutuisi voimakkaimman tarkastellun vaihtoehdon mukaisesti, roudan syvyys pienenisi tätäkin enemmän. Roudan paksuuden vuosienvälistä vaihtelua ja sen muuttumista tulevaisuudessa pyrittiin myös arvioimaan. Leutoina talvina routa ohenee enemmän kuin normaaleina tai ankarina pakkastalvina. Päivittäistä sään vaihtelua simuloineen säägeneraattorin tuottamassa aineistoissa esiintyi kuitenkin liian vähän hyvin alhaisia ja hyvin korkeita lämpötiloja. Siksi näitten lämpötilatietojen pohjalta laskettu roudan paksuuskin ilmeisesti vaihtelee liian vähän vuodesta toiseen. Kelirikkotilanteita voi esiintyä myös kesken routakauden, jos useamman päivän suojasää ja samanaikainen runsas vesisade pääsevät sulattamaan maata. Tällaiset routakauden aikana sattuvat säätilat näyttävätkin yleistyvän lähivuosikymmeninä. Vuosisadan loppua kohti ne sen sijaan maan eteläosissa jälleen vähenevät, koska routakausi lyhenee oleellisesti. Tulevia vuosikymmeniä koskevien ilmastonmuutosennusteiden ohella routaa ja kelirikon esiintymistä on periaatteessa mahdollista ennustaa myös lähiaikojen sääennusteita hyödyntäen. Pitkät, viikkojen tai kuukausien mittaiset sääennusteet eivät tosin ole ainakaan vielä erityisen luotettavia, mutta myös lyhyemmistä ennusteista voisi olla hyötyä mm. tienpitoa suunniteltaessa.

Trade Blocs and the Cold War : The CMEA and the EC challenge, 1969-1976

The coherence of the Soviet bloc was seriously tested at the turn of the 1970s, as the Soviet Union and its allies engaged in intensive negotiations over their relations with the European Communities (EC). In an effort to secure their own national economic interests many East European countries began independent manoeuvres against the wishes of their bloc leader. However, much of the intra-bloc controversy was kept out of the public eye, as the battle largely took place behind the scenes, within the organisation for economic cooperation, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). The CMEA policy-making process vis-à-vis the EC is described in this study with reference to primary archival materials. This study investigates the negotiating positions and powers of the CMEA member states in their efforts to deal with the economic challenge created by the progress of the EC, as it advanced towards the customs union. This entails an analysis of the functioning principles and performance of the CMEA machinery. The study traces the CMEA negotiations that began in 1970 over its policy toward the EC. The policy was finally adopted in 1974, and was followed by the first official meeting between the two organisations in early 1975. The story ends in 1976, when the CMEA s efforts to enter into working relations with the EC were seemingly frustrated by the latter. The first major finding of the study is that, contrary to much of the prior research, the Soviet Union was not in a hegemonic position vis-à-vis its allies. It had to use a lot of its resources to tame the independent manoeuvring of its smaller allies. Thus, the USSR was not the kind of bloc leader that the totalitarian literature has described. Because the Soviet Union had to spend so much attention on its own bloc-politics, it was not able to concentrate on formulating a policy vis-à-vis the EC. Thus, the Soviet leadership was dependent on its allies in those instances when the socialist countries needed to act as a bloc. This consequently opened up the possibility for the USSR s allies to manoeuvre. This study also argues that when the CMEA did manage to find a united position, it was a force that the EC had to reckon with in its policy-making. This was particularly the case in the implementation of the EC Common Commercial Policy. The other main finding of the study is that, although it has been largely neglected in the previous literature on the history of West European integration, the CMEA did in fact have an effect on EC decision-making. This study shows how for political and ideological reasons the CMEA members did not acknowledge the EC s supranational authority. Therefore the EC had no choice but to refrain from implementing its Common Commercial Policy in full.