The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Project

This paper reports on a new satellite sensor, the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment. GERB is designed to make the first measurements of the Earth's radiation budget from geostationary orbit. Measurements at high absolute accuracy of the reflected sunlight from the Earth, and the thermal radiation emitted by the Earth are made every 15 min, with a spatial resolution at the subsatellite point of 44.6 km (north–south) by 39.3 km (east–west). With knowledge of the incoming solar constant, this gives the primary forcing and response components of the top-of-atmosphere radiation. The first GERB instrument is an instrument of opportunity on Meteosat-8, a new spin-stabilized spacecraft platform also carrying the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared (SEVIRI) sensor, which is currently positioned over the equator at 3.5°W. This overview of the project includes a description of the instrument design and its preflight and in-flight calibration. An evaluation of the instrument performance after its first year in orbit, including comparisons with data from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellite sensors and with output from numerical models, are also presented. After a brief summary of the data processing system and data products, some of the scientific studies that are being undertaken using these early data are described. This marks the beginning of a decade or more of observations from GERB, as subsequent models will fly on each of the four Meteosat Second Generation satellites.

Variation, asymmetry and working memory in the process of second language acquisition

Calls for understanding the interface between L2 linguistic knowledge and development (Gregg 1996; Carroll 2001; Towell 2003) provide a context for analysing the role of memory (Paradis 2004), specifically working memory (Baddeley 1986, 2003) in L2 development. Miyake and Friedman (1998) have claimed that Working Memory (WM) may be the key to L2 acquisition, especially in explaining individual variation in L2 acquisition. Recent findings found a robust connection between greater working memory (WM) capacity and rapid, successful acquisition of L2 vocabulary, reading and oral fluency (Service 1992; Harrington and Sawyer 1992; Fortkamp 1999). This study adds to the growing body of research by investigating correlations between WM and variation in grammatical development, focusing on asymmetries in processing L2 English wh-constructions in an immersion setting.

Conversion in late antiquity: Christianity, Islam, and beyond

The papers in this volume were presented at a Mellon-Sawyer Seminar held at the University of Oxford in 2009-2010, which sought to investigate side by side the two important movements of conversion that frame late antiquity: to Christianity at its start, and to Islam at the other end. Challenging the opposition between the two stereotypes of Islamic conversion as an intrinsically violent process, and Christian conversion as a fundamentally spiritual one, the papers seek to isolate the behaviours and circumstances that made conversion both such a common and such a contested phenomenon. The spread of Buddhism in Asia in broadly the same period serves as an external comparator that was not caught in the net of the Abrahamic religions. The volume is organised around several themes, reflecting the concerns of the initial project with the articulation between norm and practice, the role of authorities and institutions, and the social and individual fluidity on the ground. Debates, discussions, and the expression of norms and principles about conversion conversion are not rare in societies experiencing religious change, and the first section of the book examines some of the main issues brought up by surviving sources. This is followed by three sections examining different aspects of how those principles were - or were not - put into practice: how conversion was handled by the state, how it was continuously redefined by individual ambivalence and cultural fluidity, and how it was enshrined through different forms of institutionalization. Finally, a topographical coda examines the effects of religious change on the iconic holy city of Jerusalem.

Musiken uppfinner framtiden : En undersökning av problemaktivering i den kreativa processens skapandefas hos musikskapare

I den här uppsatsen undersöks kreativitet hos musikskapare och hur dessa inleder sitt skapande. Kreativitet både tillåts och uppmuntras att ta allt mer plats i dagens samhälle, dock är det inte alltid självklart vad kreativitet innebär. Syftet med uppsatsen är att bidra med en djupare förståelse för hur musikskapare arbetar kreativt och genom det ge en förtydligande bild av vad kreativitet är. Forskare har tagit fram flera olika definitioner och modeller av kreativitet och kreativa processer, vilka ofta visar på olika sidor av fenomenet. I den här uppsatsen är definitionen av kreativitet grundad i vad som beskrivs av Brodin (2014) och Sawyer (2012): att en kreativ handling är ny och nyttig. Definitionen förklaras även i olika nivåer utifrån fyra-c-modellen, framtagen av Kaufman och Beghetto (2009). Det ges även en beskrivning av vilka delar den kreativa processen består av, även det utifrån Brodin (2014) och Sawyer (2012) – vilka även talar om hur divergent tänkande är en förutsättning för att arbeta kreativt. Hur lycka och välmående är relaterat till kreativitet förklaras också, grundat i Csikszentmihalys (2003) teori om flow. I skapande av musik använder sig utövare av sin kreativa förmåga för att söka, identifiera och formulera idéer. Dessa idéer som inleder skapandet benämns i uppsatsen som problem. Problem utgör de grundläggande tankarna som förmedlas i musiken och de utvecklas under skapandets gång. För att undersöka hur kreativiteten kommer till uttryck under denna så kallade problemaktivering har en fokusgruppsdiskussion använts. Fokusgruppen bestod av fyra studenter från Högskolan Dalarnas Ljud- och musikproduktionsprogram. Samtliga var aktiva musikskapare med flerårig erfarenhet av både musikskapande och musikproduktion. En av deltagarna hade längre erfarenhet än de andra och gav även uttryck för ett förhållningssätt som skiljde sig från de andras beskrivningar. Undersökningen ger stöd för hur erfarenhet spelar roll i hur kreativiteten uttrycks och stödjer därigenom fyra-c-modellen, till viss del. Dock visade sig vissa skiljaktigheter mellan fokusgruppsdeltagare som nått samma, lägre, grad av kreativitet vilket kan tyda på att fyra-cmodellen skulle kunna utvecklas med ytterligare en gradering.

Phase transition and dielectric properties of La-doped Pb(Zr, Ti)O-3 antiferroelectric ceramics

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Search for B-s(0)->mu(+)mu(-) decays at D0

We report results from a search for the decay B-s(0)->mu(+)mu(-) using 1.3 fb(-1) of p (p) over bar collisions at root s = 1.96 TeV collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We find two candidate events, consistent with the expected background of 1.24 +/- 0.99, and set an upper limit on the branching fraction of B(B-s(0)->mu(+)mu(-))< 1.2x10(-7) at the 95% C.L.

Measurement of the p(p)over-bar -> WZ+X cross section at root s=1.96 TeV and limits on WWZ trilinear gauge couplings

We present measurements of the process p (P) over bar -> WZ + X -> l 'nu(l ')l (l) over bar at root s = 1:96 TeV,where l and l ' are electrons or muons. Using 1 fb(-1) of data from the D0 experiment, we observe 13 candidates with an expected background of 4.5 +/- 0.6 events and measure a cross section sigma(WZ) = 2.7(-1.3)(+1.7) pb. From the number of observed events and the Z boson transverse momentum distribution, we limit the trilinear WWZ gauge couplings to -0: 17 <= lambda(Z) <= 0.21 (Delta k(Z) <= 0.29(lambda(Z) = 0) at the 95% C.L. for a form factor scale Lambda = 2 TeV. Further, assuming that Delta g(1)(Z) = Delta k(Z), we find -0.12 <= Delta k(Z) <= 0.29(lambda(Z) = 0) at the 95% C. L. These are the most restrictive limits on the WWZ couplings available to date.

Measurement of inclusive differential cross sections for Upsilon(1S) production in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

We present measurements of the inclusive production cross sections of the Upsilon(1S) bottomonium state in p (p) over bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV. Using the Upsilon(1S)->mu(+)mu(-) decay mode for a data sample of 159 +/- 10 pb(-1) collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, we determine the differential cross sections as a function of the Upsilon(1S) transverse momentum for three ranges of the Upsilon(1S) rapidity: 0 <\y(Upsilon)\<= 0.6, 0.6 <\y(Upsilon)\<= 1.2, and 1.2 <\y(Upsilon)\<= 1.8.

Measurement of the ratio of B+ and B-0 meson lifetimes

The ratio of the B+ and B-0 meson lifetimes was measured using data collected in 2002-2004 by the D0 experiment in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. These mesons were reconstructed in B&RARR;μ(+)ν D*-X decays, which are dominated by B-0 and B&RARR;μ(+)ν(D) over bar X-0 decays, which are dominated by B+. The ratio of lifetimes is measured to be τ(+)/τ(0)=1.080&PLUSMN; 0.016(stat)&PLUSMN; 0.014(syst).

Search for right-handed W bosons in top quark decay

We present a measurement of the fraction f(+) of right-handed W bosons produced in top quark decays, based on a candidate sample of t (t) over bar events in the lepton+jets decay mode. These data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 230 pb(-1), collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron p (p) over bar Collider at root s=1.96 TeV. We use a constrained fit to reconstruct the kinematics of the t (t) over bar and decay products, which allows for the measurement of the leptonic decay angle theta(*) for each event. By comparing the cos theta(*) distribution from the data with those for the expected background and signal for various values of f(+), we find f(+)=0.00 +/- 0.13(stat)+/- 0.07(syst). This measurement is consistent with the standard model prediction of f(+)=3.6 x 10(-4).

Search for resonant second generation slepton production at the Fermilab Tevatron

We present a search for supersymmetry in the R-parity violating resonant production and decay of smuons and muon sneutrinos in the channels mu ->chi(0)(1)mu, mu ->chi(0)(2,3,4)mu, and nu(mu)->chi(+/-)(1,2)mu. We analyzed 0.38 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected between April 2002 and August 2004 with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The observed number of events is in agreement with the standard model expectation, and we calculate 95% C.L. limits on the slepton production cross section times branching fraction to gaugino plus muon, as a function of slepton and gaugino masses. In the framework of minimal supergravity, we set limits on the coupling parameter lambda(')(211), extending significantly previous results obtained in Run I of the Tevatron and at the CERN LEP collider.