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Differential Jet Production Cross Section Measurement in Z + Jet Events from Proton - Proton Collisions at √s=13 TeV using the CMS Detector at LHC
No full textPh.D.The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, while describing our universe well on many scales, has yet to be precisely verified in all energy regimes. Recent theoretical advances in higher order perturbative QCD calculations have provided a way to compare the standard model's predictions to precision measurements of data and simulation. Within this dissertation, I present a measurement of the double differential jet production cross section as a function of the jet mass and transverse momentum. The measurement is presented in events with a Z + Jet topology, with and without soft radiation included in the jet. The removal of the soft radiation is done using a jet "grooming" algorithm. Studying Z + jet events will yield a light quark enriched jet sample, which has not yet been studied at √s=13 TeV. Comparing groomed and ungroomed jets will allow us to better understand the jet mass in all energy regimes, since the groomed jets will have varying amounts of soft and collinear radiation with respect to the ungroomed counterpart. For ungroomed jets, leading-order and next-to-leading order QCD Monte Carlo event generator program simulations are found to predict the jet mass spectrum in the data reasonably well, with some disagreement at very low masses. For groomed jets, the agreement between the simulation and the data improves overall, and extends lower in jet mass due to the removal of soft and colinear portions of the jet. Ultimately, these measurements will be used to tune Monte Carlo event generators, producing more accurate parton showering simulations, leading to tighter constraint of backgrounds in future searches for new physics.**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact [email protected]. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.*
Holocene precipitation seasonality in northern Svalbard: Influence of sea ice and regional ocean surface conditions
No full textThis is a post-print of an article published in Quaternary Science Reviews. The version of record is available on the publisher site.Arctic precipitation is predicted to increase in the coming century, due to a combination of enhanced northward atmospheric moisture transport and local surface evaporation from ice-free seas. However, large model uncertainties, limited long-term observations, and high spatiotemporal variability limit our understanding of these mechanisms, emphasizing the need for paleoclimate records of precipitation changes. Here we use lipid biomarkers in lake sediments to reconstruct precipitation seasonality in northern Spitsbergen, Svalbard. We measured the hydrogen isotopic ratios (δ2H) of n-alkanoic acids (C20–C30) from sedimentary leaf waxes in lake Austre Nevlingen, Spitsbergen. We interpret δ2H values of mid-chain (C22) and long-chain (C28) n-alkanoic acids to represent δ2H of lake and soil water, respectively. Austre Nevlingen lake water δ2H reflects amount-weighted mean annual precipitation δ2H. In contrast, soil water is mostly recharged by summer rainfall, and therefore reflects δ2H values of summer precipitation. Austre Nevlingen leaf wax δ2H values are 2H-depleted in the Early Holocene, suggesting high winter precipitation amounts. This coincides with high summer insolation, strong Atlantic water advection and reduced spring sea-ice cover in surrounding waters. Winter precipitation continued to dominate until c. 6 cal. kyr BP. After 6 cal. kyr BP, the trend in the biomarker record is not as clear. This could be related to colder conditions causing longer duration of seasonal lake-ice cover, thereby influencing the precipitation seasonality registered by the lake water. The Austre Nevlingen record suggests a close relationship between precipitation seasonality and regional ocean surface conditions, consistent with simulations suggesting that Arctic winter sea-ice loss will lead to increased local evaporation.Fieldwork, radiocarbon dates, and laboratory analyses were funded by the Carlsberg Foundation (grant number CF14-0756 to AS), the Nansen Foundation (to AS), and the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund (grant number 17/101 to AS and 17/114 to LA). The 2015 fieldwork was partly funded by the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) Research Fund (grant to ÓI). Laboratory analyses and technician support were also funded by National Science Foundation Grant (grant number 1652274 to EKT) and a UB Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Grant (to SD)
Boost Your Library's Customer Service with Virtual Chat Reference
No full textThis was an online presentation delivered via Zoom for the Western New York Library Resources Council.This presentation discusses chat reference tips for delivering excellent customer service while working in a virtual environment. Specific advice for creating canned messages, finding primary sources and working with patrons from outside your community are covered. Presented virtually on Zoom to members and guests of Western New York Library Resources Council (WNYLRC)
Perceived Barriers and Needs Among Survivorship Care Clinic Coordinators for Transitioning Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors to Primary Care Providers
No full textUB SON, DNP Research ProjectBackground: Insufficient research and a lack of information exists regarding how to best
transition adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors aged 15-39 years from
survivorship care clinics (SCCs) to primary care providers (PCPs).
Objective: To qualitatively explore perceived barriers and needed resources for transitioning
AYA cancer survivors to PCPs among AYA SCC coordinators working at National Cancer
Institute-Designated Cancer Center (NCI-DCC) SCCs to promote continued quality and
continuity of care.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 NCI-DCC SCC coordinators.
Interview questions were developed based on findings resulting from a review of the literature on
AYA cancer survivorship, the first author’s personal experience as an AYA cancer survivor, and
guidance from two cancer nursing experts on the study team. Reflexive Thematic Analysis was
used to analyze data.
Results: One overarching theme, Cancer is a Lifelong Responsibility, and four key themes,
Adopt More Effective Methods of Communication, There needs to be Survivorship Education,
Just Making Sure They Don’t Fall off the Radar, and Research in Survivorship is Important,
were generated.
Conclusion: Participants agreed that AYA cancer survivor patients have unique healthcare needs
that would greatly benefit from improved SCC-PCP communication, PCP AYA cancer
survivorship education, and use of a standardized and universal survivorship transition plan
Implications for Nursing: Future research is needed examining AYA cancer survivorship
communication, education, psychosocial care, and alternative and integrative interventions
Clinical Tools Used for Evaluation of Competency Levels and Expectations of Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists by Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists & the Anesthesia Care Team Members
No full textUB SON, DNP Research ProjectStudent Registered Nurse Anesthetist (SRNA) evaluations are an important component of clinical competency and requirements set by the Council on Accreditation (COA). A literature search clearly identified a lack in the development and use of a standardized universal clinical evaluation tool for anesthesia programs throughout the country. The purpose of this study was to survey clinical preceptors on their views of the current Daily Progress Report Evaluation Tool (DPRET) used to assess SRNA clinical competency based on where they are in the anesthesia program, and identify whether improving the clinical evaluation tool by including a completed didactical breakdown would lead to increased preceptor ability to assess SRNA competency levels based on the semester they are in the anesthesia program and increase preceptor understanding of what material is covered in each semester in accordance to each course number listed on the DPRET leading to an improved didactical transference into the clinical setting. Patricia Benner’s Novice to Expert Theory served as the theoretical framework for this project. A quantitative methods quasi experimental design utilizing a 4-part question survey was used for this project. Survey responses were assessed by grouping variables and analyzing them using a Pearson’s Chi Square (X²) test. Additional, analyses looked at open ended responses for additional participant clarification & explanation. A future implication of this project is the use of a revised tool assessing student didactical transference ability while identifying areas of needed reinforcement and improvement
Citation Databases for Legal Scholarship
No full textTraditional citation sources, such as Web of Science, index limited numbers of law journals. Consequently, although not designed for generating scholarship citation metrics, many law scholarship citation studies use law-specific databases like Westlaw or LexisNexis to gather citations. This article compares citation metrics derived from Web of Science and Westlaw to metrics derived from Google Scholar and HeinOnline’s citation tools. The study finds that HeinOnline and Westlaw generate higher metrics than Web of Science, and Google Scholar generates higher metrics than both. However, metrics from all four sources are highly correlated, so rankings generated from any may be very similar
Examining the Relationship Between Stroke Severity and Readmission: Tailoring Patient and Family Education
No full textUB SON, DNP Research ProjectBackground and Significance: Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the United States. Sequelae of stroke and common comorbid conditions put patients at risk for unplanned readmissions. Stroke readmissions at a comprehensive stroke center (CSC) in Buffalo, NY, were investigated to determine primary causes of unplanned readmissions.
Purpose, Aims, and Objectives: The purpose of this project was to explore primary causes of 90-day stroke readmissions. The project specifically focused on whether there is a relationship between modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at time of discharge and 90-day readmission.
Theoretical Framework: This project used Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory as a framework. Orem’s theory is particularly applicable to stroke patients, as it assists nurses in identifying the specific challenges faced by individual patients.
Methods and Design: A retrospective chart review was used to collect data on patients with unplanned readmissions within 90 days. A Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine whether there was a relationship between functional status and readmission.
Results: The study demonstrates mRS at index discharge has a statistically significant effect on primary readmission diagnosis, X(4)= 9.572, p= 0.048.
Conclusion: Some reasons for 90-day readmission are more common among patients with poor functional outcomes after stroke, while others are unrelated to functional status.
Future Implications and Recommendations: Based on preliminary data, discharge education for stroke patients should be tailored to their functional status, with special consideration given to the patient’s ability to maintain his own health and wellness
Contributions to the Theory of Statistical Distances with Applications to Safety of Medical Products
No full textPh.D.The full text PDF of this dissertation is embargoed at author's request until 2022-02-19.Safety of medical products presents a serious concern worldwide. Surveillance systems for continual monitoring of the safety of post market medical products, such as spontaneous reporting systems and pharmacoepidemiology databases, have been established in many countries. In this thesis, we take a critical look at the currently used methods for adverse event identification with an eye towards understanding their fundamental weaknesses, as well as the origins of these weaknesses. We then introduce the pattern discovery framework proposed by Markatou and Ball (2014), and discuss its key components. This framework highlights the need for constructing density estimation methods for mixed-scale data, i.e. interval and nominal/categorical scale data. Suggested in the literature kernel density estimation methods for discrete random variables have a number of drawbacks. For example, the kernels used present difficulties in computation as well as implementation, issues that impact the quality of the probability mass function estimator particularly in the presence of sparse data. Furthermore, they have either very limited or no inferential capacity. We propose a statistical definition of a new class of kernels: the class of diffusion kernels. Diffusion kernels contain tuning parameters that are functions of their degrees of freedom; they allow easy computation and are particularly appropriate for demonstrating the usefulness of product kernels in higher dimensions and when data have both, interval and nominal/categorical scale. We illustrate the wide inferential capacity of diffusion kernels through the use of one important element of this class, the Poisson kernel, in constructing test statistics for testing uniformity on the hyper-sphere. Our proposed Poisson kernel-based tests either outperform all other tests in testing uniformity or they are at least as competitive with existing tests in the literature. The definition of diffusion kernel class and identification of members appropriate for use given the scale of the data constitutes the first step in being able to create high performance solutions for the thorny problem of safety of medical products.**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact [email protected]. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.*
Tool Development for Studies on Tephra Fall Deposits and their Stratigraphic Characterization
No full textPh.D.This thesis focuses on different aspects of studies on tephra fall deposits, and is composed of three projects. The first one investigates physical properties of tephra fall deposits preserved within the Wilson Creek Formation, eastern central California. The other two focus on proposing and testing new methods to identify the vent location of tephra fall deposits, and to estimate the output of volcanic ash transport model Ash3d with Gaussian Process statistical emulator, respectively. Numerous tephra layers occur within the late Pleistocene Wilson Creek Formation, where they are interbedded with lacustrine deposits of Lake Russell, the ancestor of present-day Mono Lake. Most of the tephra layers are rhyolitic in composition, and were produced from the Mono Craters. I present detailed stratigraphy and sedimentology of the tephra layers, sampled at twelve outcrops near the shoreline of Mono Lake and the Mono Craters, and implement grain size, componentry, and surface morphology analyses to characterize their physical properties. Sub-unit correlation is proposed for certain tephra units. Noticeable features are highlighted, and interpretations are made for tephra layers within the Wilson Creek Formation. Knowing the vent location is fundamental to studies on tephra fall deposits. The presented method to identify the vent location uses thickness or maximum clast size measurements as input. The method couples a first-order gradient descent method with either one of two commonly-used semi-empirical models of tephra thickness distribution. It is validated against datasets of varying sizes and qualities and tephra deposits with distinct thickness or maximum clast size distributions. The results suggest the utility of the method, and show that estimating the dispersal axis is a more robust way to constrain the vent location compared to directly estimating the vent coordinates, given sparse observations. Bootstrap aggregation and visualizing the surface of the cost function are used to characterize the uncertainty of the method. How different features of tephra deposits and technical aspects of the method would affect the performance of the method are pointed out. Suggestions on how to use the method given limited observations are listed, which are demonstrated with three small datasets. I also apply the method to well-correlated tephra sub-units within the Wilson Creek Formation to estimate their vent locations and volumes.Probabilistic ash fall hazard assessment provides inferences on regional planning and decision making for areas potentially exposed to volcanic hazards. Conventionally, its implementation requires a large number of numerical simulations, which could become impractical if the adopted numerical model is computationally expensive. The developed algorithm can be used to predict the output of volcanic ash transport model Ash3d for unrun initial conditions based on the machine learning technique Gaussian Process statistical emulator. This algorithm only requires a limited number of Ash3d runs to generate the training data, and the prediction process is fast and efficient. It hence avoids the difficulty in using conventional methods, and enables probabilistic ash fall hazard assessment with computationally expensive models. I illustrate how the algorithm is designed, and test its performance with cross-validation. Novelties of the algorithm are consistent with the physics of tephra transport, and have the potential to benefit the emulator design of other advection-diffusion based numerical models. Advantages, limitations, and simplifications of the algorithm as well as potential measures to optimize it are listed and discussed.**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact [email protected]. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.*