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The LHCb experiment (CERN) will offer a precise hadronic probe with which to study CP violation, rare decays and possible New Physics (NP) effects occurring in the b-system. Contained within the vast physics program is a dedicated and intense effort to measure the CP violating weak mixing phase, βs. This phase, observable in the neutral Bs-system, presents a sensitive indicator to NP occurring at the TeV scale. This phase appearing through the theoretically clean ¯b → ¯cc¯s quarklevel transition, can be measured precisely using Bs → J/ψφ decays. The analysis of Bs → J/ψφ decays requires using its decay angular information to separate out the CP eigenstates. The sensitivity to βs can then be extracted from the angular differential rates for this mode. This thesis presents the selection and reconstruction of this decay channel, analysis of the background specific to this channel and the method for fitting the data to extract βs. Previous studies within the collaboration have shown the βs sensitivity using a reduced angular expression for the decay rates. By studying the full angular expression, we find both a quantitative and qualitative improvement in the precision with which βs is obtained: the precision improves by approximately 20%, from ± 0.027 to ± 0.022 radians. In addition, we find it is possible to extract the b-tagging parameter from data itself, which aids to minimise the overall systematic effect. This thesis, in preparation for data taking at the LHCb, presents this expected improvement in measuring βs.

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Change is a constant reminder that permanence is the ultimate illusion. It is through the creation of hyper-realistic, ceramic sculpture that I explore the relationship between nature, humans, and the phenomenon of impermanence. I seek to expose the beauty that often results from decay while, at the same time, making my viewer question their own perception of the world around them. The juxtaposition of natural and man-made features in combination with the skewing of scale, proportion, and material, creates an altered perspective – forcing the viewer to look closer. By combining both human and natural elements within my work I highlight the fact that we are not separate from nature but are, in fact, part of it.

Just like reading a good novel, photographs can allow us to see things differently. I have seen photographs that I will never forget, and I have seen photographs that have helped me to open my mind. In a world that has such a narrow perception of beauty, I have been able to find beauty in many unexpected forms. Beauty, I have found can be found in nature, in the simple in the unusual, in the grotesque, and in the aged. This realization of unconventional beauty, coupled with my curiosity, is what brought me to the focus of my recent artwork: decay and death. This subject matter is universal, yet few people take the time to observe whatever truths may be had regarding the process.

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 H47 / Master of Science / Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Dentine caries has a microbiological aetiology whilst the diagnosis relies on clinical signs. This study examined relationships between the Locations, Colours, Textures, Sizes, Perceived Treatment Needs, Cavitations and microbiological characteristics of Primary Root Caries. The relationships between some microflora of Primary Root Caries deemed to require restoration and the overlying plaque as well as the effects of a Chemotherapeutic agent on some microflora of lesions were also studied. In all, 610 lesions in 303 patients were investigated. 447 lesions in 169 patients were examined in the main study. The Locations of lesions were related to the gingival margins; Colours were designated: Black, Yellow, Light Brown or Dark Brown; Textures were recorded as Hard, Leathery or Soft, Sizes as products of Heights and Widths, and Cavitations as the greatest loss of surface contour. The total numbers of colony forming units ; Gram-positive pleomorphic rods; Mutans streptococci; Lactobacilli; and Yeasts expressed as Log1p as well as the proportions and Frequency of isolation, in each dentine biopsy were determined, eg - 90.9 percent of Soft but only 3.3 percent of Hard lesions were <1 mm from gingivae (P < 0.001); - 68.6 percent of Soft but only 6.7 percent of Hard lesions were sized >7 mm2 (P < 0.01); - more cavitated lesions were larger (P < 0.01); - higher total numbers, proportions and frequencies of isolation of Mutans streptococci and Lactobacilli were in Soft and Leathery than in*Hard lesions (P < 0.01); - the mean total numbers of colony forming units, Mutans streptococci, Lactobacilli and Gram-positive pleomorphic rods were less in each group of lesions with a reduced Perceived Treatment Need (P < 0.01); - lesions deemed to require restoration most frequently contained Yeasts (P < 0.01); - the most reliable indicators of microbiological activity were Texture and Location rather than Colour; From 81 Primary Root Caries lesions deemed to require restoration in 52 patients, not amongst the 169 in the larger study, higher proportions of Gram-positive pleomorphic rods (P < 0.001) and Lactobacilli (P < 0.01) were in carious dentine than in the associated plaque, indicating that precision in sampling is paramount. 42 of 82 lesions deemed to require restoration in another 82 patients, were coated with a varnish containing 1 weight (wt) percent chlorhexidine and 1 wt percent thymol and after 24 hours these and the lesions not varnished were biopsied. The varnish significantly reduced the numbers of micro-organisms (total colony forming units, P<0.001; Mutans streptococci, Lactobacilli and Yeasts, P<0.01). These studies will help clinicians and epidemiologists to diagnose the levels of activity in Primary Root Caries and to indicate how Chemotherapy rather than the removal of carious dentine might be developed as a preferred strategy for its management.

In this thesis, I present the theory of neutrinoless double-beta decay (0 2 ), particularly the theory of exotic modes of 0 2 involving the emission of one or two Majorons. Alongside this, I summarise the most recent results in the experimental search for 0 2 , including limits on the rate of these exotic processes. I describe the SNO+ experiment and it's physics goals, which include the search for 0 2 . As part of the SNO+ collaboration, I have made a signi cant contribution towards the development of the data quality software that is essential for ensuring SNO+ can achieve its physics goals-including in 0 2 searches. I describe how I developed a software package that performs the high-level data quality checks. Continuing with the software theme, I then describe a python-based limit-setting and tting software package called echidna. I have been a lead developer of echidna as part of my PhD, so I describe the software in detail and how it can be used to set limits on 0 2 signals. By reproducing the sensitivity results of the KamLAND-Zen experiment, in four key Majoronemitting 0 2 modes, I verify the use of echidna as a limit-setting tool for this type of search. Finally, I present the results of a comprehensive sensitivity study, where I determine the potential sensitivity of SNO+ to the same set of Majoron-emitting modes that KamLAND-Zen and other 0 2 experiments have already investigated.

Searches are made for narrow diboson resonances, ZZ and ZW, in the final states llqq and ννqq at ATLAS, with (13.2±0.4) fb−1data collected from pp-collisions with center of mass energy √ s=13 TeV during 2015 and 2016, the first two years of Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The hadronic decay products of the vector boson, V → qq, are reconstructed as jets in the electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters. When the vector boson is sufficiently boosted the decay products are reconstructed as a single anti-kt R = 1.0 jet. Otherwise two anti-kt R = 0.4 jets are matched to identify the vector boson. The Z boson in its leptonic decay is identified by either reconstructing two electrons in the calorimeters, or opposite sign muons in the muon spectrometer. Limits on the production cross section for 3 benchmark signals, a heavy scalar, a spin-1 heavy vector triplet, and a spin-2 graviton are set in the mass range 300 GeV to 5000 GeV.