One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of contributed packages making an extremely broad range of statistical techniques and other quantitative methods freely available. This study investigates which factors are the crucial determinants responsible for the participation of the package authors in the R project. For this purpose a survey was conducted among R package authors, collecting data on different types of participation in the R project, three psychometric scales (hybrid forms of motivation, work design characteristics, and values), as well as various specie-demographic factors. These data are analyzed using item response theory and generalized linear models, showing that the most important determinants for participation are a hybrid form of motivation and the knowledge characteristics of the work design. Other factors are found to have less impact or influence only specific aspects of participation. (authors' abstract) / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

The role of scalar mesons in radiative vector meson decays is investigated. The effects of scalar-isoscalar f_{0}(980) and scalar-isovector a_{0}(980) mesons are studied in the mechanism of the radiative Phi-&gt / pi{+}pi{-}gamma and phi-&gt / pi{0}eta gamma decays, respectively. A phenomenological approach is used to study the radiative phi-&gt / pi{+}p{-}gamma decay by considering the contributions of sigma-meson, rho-meson and f_{0}-meson. The interference effects between different contributions are analyzed and the branching ratio for this decay is calculated. The radiative phi-&gt / pi{0}eta gamma decay is studied within the framework of a phenomenological approach in which the contributions of rho-meson, chiral loop and a_{0}-meson are considered. The interference effects between different contributions are examined and the coupling constants g_{phi a_{0} gamma} and g_{a_{0}K{+}K{-}} are estimated using the experimental branching ratio for the phi-&gt / pi{0}eta gamma decay. Furthermore, the radiative rho{0}pi{+}pi{-}gamma$ and rho{0}-&gt / pi{0}pi{0}gamma decays are studied to investigate the role of scalar-isoscalar sigma-meson. The branching ratios of the rho{0}-&gt / pi{+}pi{-}gamma and rho{0}-&gt / pi{0}pi{0}gamma decays are calculated using a phenomenological approach by adding to the amplitude calculated within the framework of chiral perturbation theory and vector meson dominance the amplitude of sigma-meson intermediate state. In all the decays studied the scalar meson intermediate states make important contributions to the overall amplitude.

ABSTRACT AN INVESTIGATION OF COMPACTED GRAPHITE IRON PRODUCTION BY MEANS OF THERMAL ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE AND OTHER PROCESS CONTROL WINDOWS El-mabrouk, Omar PhD, Metallurgical and Material Engineering Department Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ali Kalkanli January 2007, 123 pages Compacted graphite irons have been proved valuable in many applications such as exhaust manifolds, hydraulic valves, and diesel engine blocks, the process of producing compacted graphite irons is not a straight forward process because of its narrow processing windows and its high sensitivity to the section thickness, treatment reaction time, pouring temperatures and charge composition. In this thesis, compacted graphite was produced with minimum variations through all section thickness and the effect of Mg/S ratio, section thickness, and treatment agents on the graphite morphology, electrical resistivity property and fracture strength at high temperatures was investigated. The range of Mg/S ratio and the section thickness was from 2/3 to 7/1 and 5 mm to 40 mm respectively. FeSiMg and FeSiMg cermish metal were used as a treatment agent. Optical metallographic method was implemented to investigate the graphite morphology change. For being a distinguishable characteristic for compacted graphite iron over ductile iron, thermal conductivity changes at high temperatures ranging from room temperature to 500 0C was examined by a suitable electrical setup in the manner of electrical conductivity changes by measuring the electrical resistance. On the other hand, due to the higher values of mechanical properties of compacted graphite iron over those of gray iron, tensile strength was also examined by means of tensile test. The relation between the compacted graphite shape and the alloy properties such as fracture strength and thermal conductivity was investigated. The most important controlling parameters to produce compacted graphite are Mg/S ratio and oxygen activity. The relation between these parameters with both fracture strength and thermal conductivity was established by means of multiple regression analysis technique.

Space radiation is significantly harmful to electronic Components. The operating time, duration and orbit of the space mission are affected by the characteristic of the radiation environment. The aging and the performance of the electronic components are modified by radiation. The performance of the space systems such as electronic units, sensors, power and power subsystem units, batteries, payload equipments, communication units, remote sensing instruments, data handling units, externally located units, and propulsion subsystem units is determined by the properly functioning of various electronic systems. Such systems are highly sensitive against space radiation. The space radiation can cause damage to electronic components or functional failure on the electronics. A precisely methodology is needed to ensure that space radiation is not a threat on the functionality and performance of the electronics during their operational lives. This methodology is called as &rdquo / Radiation Hardness Assurance&rdquo / . In this thesis, the hardening of electronics against space radiation is discussed. This thesis describes the space radiation environments, physical mechanisms, effects of space radiation, models of the space radiation environment, simulation of the Total Ionizing Dose, and &rdquo / Radiation Hardness Assurance&rdquo / which covers Total Ionizing Dose and Single Event Effects testing and analyzing of the electronics.

The lepton flavor violating interactions are interesting in the sense that they are sensitive the physics beyond the standard model and they ensure considerable information about the restrictions of the free parameters, with the help of the possible accurate measurements. In this work, we investigate the lepton flavor violating H+ ! W+l and the lepton flavor conserving H+ ! W+l decays in the general two Higgs doublet model and we estimate decay widths of these decays. After that, we analyze lepton flavor violating decay ! i in the same model and calculate its branching ratio. We observe that the experimental results of the processes under consideration can give comprehensive information about the physics beyond the standard model and the existing free parameters.

The role of $f_{0}(980)$ and $a_{0}(980)$ scalar meson intermediate states in the mechanism of radiative $phi (1020)$ meson decay into two charged $K (494)$ mesons and a photon $phirightarrow K^{+} + K^{-} + gamma$ is investigated. For the contribution of scalar meson intermediate state two models are considered. In the kaon-loop model, the scalar meson intermediate state couples the final state to the initial $phi$ meson through a charged kaon-loop. The second model, called no-structure model, consist of point-like coupling of intermediate scalar meson state to the initial state. It is found that in the kaon-loop model, scalar meson intermediate state results in a considerable modification of the pure Bremsstrahlung photon spectrum.

In this thesis, we investigate the masses, form factors and magnetic dipole moments of some light octet, decuplet and heavy baryons containing a single heavy quark in the framework of the light cone QCD sum rules. The magnetic dipole moments can be measured considering radiative transitions within a multiplet or between multiplets. Analyzing the transitions among the baryons and calculating the above mentioned parameters can give us insight into the structure of those baryons. In analyzing the aforementioned processes, the transition form factors play a crucial role. In this thesis, the form factors for these transitions are calculated using the light cone QCD sum rules approach. In the limit when the light quark masses are equal, mu = md = ms, QCD has an SU(3) flavour symmetry which can be used to classify the light baryons. This classification results in the light decuplet, octet and singlet baryons. The baryons containing single heavy quark, on the other hand, can be classified according to the spin of the light degrees of freedom in the heavy quark limit, mQ -&gt / infinity. QCD at low energies, when the baryons are formed, is a non-perturbative theory. Hence, for phenomenology of the baryons, the QCD sum rules as a more powerful non-perturbative approach is used. Understanding the properties of nucleons is one of the main objectives of QCD. To investigate the properties of the nucleons, the axial N-Delta(1232) transition form factors are calculated within the light cone QCD sum rules method. A comparison of our results on those form factors with the predictions of lattice QCD and quark model is presented. The nucleon electromagnetic form factors are also calculated in the same framework using the most general form of the nucleon interpolating current. Using two forms of the distribution amplitudes (DA&rsquo / s), predictions for the form factors are presented and compared with existing experimental data. It is shown that our results describe the existing experimental data remarkably well. Another important property of the baryons is their magnetic moments. The magnetic moments of the heavy Xi_Q (Q = b or c) baryons containing a single charm or bottom quark are calculated within the light cone QCD sum rules approach. A comparison of our results with the predictions of other approaches, such as relativistic and nonrelativistic quark models, hyper central model, Chiral perturbation theory, soliton and skyrmion models is presented. Moreover, inspired by the results of recent experimental discoveries for charm and bottom baryons, the masses and magnetic moments of the heavy baryons with J^2P = 3/2^+ containing a single heavy quark are studied also within the light cone QCD sum rules method. Our results on the masses of heavy baryons are in good agreement with predictions of other approaches, as well as with the existing experimental values. Our predictions on the masses of the states, which are not experimentally discovered yet, can be tested in the future experiments. A comparison of our results on the magnetic moments of these baryons and the hyper central model predictions is also presented.

Nuclear spinodal instabilities are investigated in non-relativistic and relativistic stochastic mean-field approaches for charge asymmetric and charge symmetric nuclear matter. Quantum statistical effect on the growth of instabilities are calculated in non-relativistic approach. Due to quantal effects, in both symmetric and asymmetric matter, dominant unstable modes shift towards longer wavelengths and modes with wave numbers larger than the Fermi momentum are strongly suppressed. As a result of quantum statistical effects, in particular at lower temperatures, amplitude of density fluctuations grows larger than those calculated in semi-classical approximation. Relativistic calculations in the semi-classical limit are compared with the results of non-relativistic calculations based on Skyrme-type effective interactions under similar conditions. A qualitative difference appears in the unstable response of the system: the system exhibits most unstable behavior at higher baryon densities around $rho_{B}=0.4 rho_{0}$ in the relativistic approach while most unstable behavior occurs at lower baryon densities around $rho_{B}=0.2 rho_{0}$ in the non-relativistic calculations.

The nuclear matter liquid-gas phase transition is expected to be a signal of nuclear spinodal instabilities as a result of density fluctuations. Nuclear spinodal instabilities in symmetric nuclear matter are studied within a stochastic relativistic density-dependent model in semi-classical approximation. We use two parameterization for the Lagrange density, DDME1 and TW sets. The early growth of density fluctuations is investigated by employing relativistic Vlasov equation based on QHD and discussed the cluster size of the condensations from the early growth of density correlation functions. Expectations are that hot nuclear matter behaves unstable around &rho / b &asymp / &rho / 0/4 (below the saturation density) and at low temperatures. We therefore present our results at low temperature T=1 MeV and at higher temperature T=5 MeV, and also at a lower initial baryon density &rho / b = 0.2 &rho / 0 and a higher value &rho / b = 0.4 &rho / 0 where unstable behavior is within them. Calculations in density-dependent model are compared with the other calculations obtained in a relativistic non-linear model and in a Skyrme type nonivrelativistic model. Our results are consistent with them. Qualitatively similar results show that the physics of the quantities are model-independent. The size of clusterization is estimated in two ways, by using half-wavelength of the most unstable mode and from the width of correlation function at half maximum. Furthermore, the average speed of condensing fragments during the initial phase of spinodal decomposition are determined by using the current density correlation functions.

In the present work some hadronic properties of the scalar &kappa / meson are studied. Using the QCD sum rules approach, which is a nonperturbative method, the mass and the overlap amplitude of this meson are calculated. As well as the mass and the overlap amplitude, &kappa / &rarr / K^+&pi / ^&minus / decay is also studied. For this decay the coupling constant g_&kappa / K^+&pi / ^&minus / is obtained using light cone QCD sum rules which is an extension of the QCD sum rules method. Moreover, the coupling constant is calculated using the experimental decay width and it is compared with the value obtained in light cone QCD sum rules approach. The result of the calculation of g_&kappa / K^+&pi / ^&minus / , the one obtained from light cone QCD sum rules approach, is also applied to acquire the f_0 &minus / &sigma / scalar mixing angle, &theta / s, using the ratio g^2 (&kappa / &rarr / K^+&pi / ^&minus / )/g^2 (&sigma / &rarr / &pi / &pi / ) obtained from experimental decay width. The value of scalar mixing angle is also compared with its experimental results.