Future Higgs factories can reach impressive precision on Higgs property measurements. In this paper, instead of conventional focus of Higgs precision in certain interaction bases, we explore its sensitivity to new physics models at the electron-positron colliders. In particular, we study two categories of new physics models, Standard Model (SM) with a real scalar singlet extension, and Two Higgs Double Model (2HDM) as examples of weakly-interacting models, Minimal Composite Higgs Model (MCHM) and three typical patterns of the more general operator counting for strong interacting models as examples of strong dynamics. We perform a global fit to various Higgs search channels to obtain the 95% C.L. constraints on the model parameter space. In the SM with a singlet extension, we obtain the limits on the singlet-doublet mixing angle sin theta, as well as the more general Wilson coefficients of the induced higher dimensional operators. In the 2HDM, we analyze tree level effects in tan beta vs. cos(beta-alpha) plane, as well as the one-loop contributions from the heavy Higgs bosons in the alignment limit to obtain the constraints on heavy Higgs masses for different types of 2HDM. In strong dynamics models, we obtain lower limits on the strong dynamics scale. In addition, once deviations of Higgs couplings are observed, they can be used to distinguish different models. We also compare the sensitivity of various future Higgs factories, namely Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC), Future Circular Collider (FCC)-ee and International Linear Collider (ILC).

Burn injury impacts the lives of over 1.1 million people within the United States annually (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2011). Taking into account current advancements in burn trauma care, approximately 95 percent of those hospitalized will survive their injuries. With increased survival rates, greater attention is being focused on the psycho-social aspect of burn treatment and rehabilitation. There is an opportunity for health educators to affect the long-term wellness outcomes of adult burn survivors and to support their growth beyond survival status. This may not constitute recovery to their preinjury lives, but rather recovery to lives closer to optimal health/wellness as opposed to mere acceptance of their current situation. Utilizing a phenomenological qualitative design, this study explored the burn-related experiences and underlying factors of resilience among burn survivors living in the Midwestern United States. After conducting single, semi-structured interviews focused on eight burn survivors' dimensions of health, the themes that emerged through data analysis were "How it Feels," "Somehow I'm Still Me," and "Yet, I'm Better." The findings of this study support the presence of innate resilient protective factors within participants' journey toward recovery and health. Through the experiences of the participants within this study, there is an opportunity for health educators to increase their understanding of the experiences of burn trauma and the impact of resilience on positive recovery outcomes.

This study was initiated to assess the biological, ecological and sociological aspects of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, fishery associated with the Pascagoula River Estuary in southern Mississippi. Household surveys were conducted in the cities of Moss Point and Pascagoula, Mississippi, September 2010 to September 2011, to identify, describe and classify subsistence fishing activities associated with the estuary. A stock assessment of blue crab was conducted to determine how biological and environmental variability affect the people engaged in this subsistence fishery. The study revealed two types of subsistence fishing occurring in the Moss Point/Pascagoula area. The first type involves fishing as a livelihood strategy based on economic dependence, and the second type involves fishing as a lifestyle choice based on economic independence. Both are based on customary and traditional patterns of local resource use and consumption and maintained by reciprocal kinship-based social networks. The blue crab fishery in the Pascagoula River Estuary was highly variable and exhibited strong seasonal and spatial patterns in distribution and abundance. Subsistence fishers in the region have developed strategies to cope with this biological and environmental variability. These region-specific strategies include but are not limited to: fishing using multiple gears simultaneously (rod and reel and crab nets), freezing fish, relying on other natural resources including agriculture and wildlife, and generalized reciprocity.

This study called into question the rationale and methods used by researchers used to measure levels of social capital, particularly Putnam (1995), Paxton (1999), and Park (2006). A central purpose to this study was to partially replicate and extend the work of Park, who theoretically derived four dimensions of social capital. I develop measures of each dimension and then regress each on the variables of age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital status, education, income, and religiosity. This created four sets of outcomes from which I drew conclusions about the dimensionality of the social capital concept. Based on the low percentage of variance explained by the models and the fact that many coefficients reverse signs from one model to the next, I conclude that these dimensions do not represent four parts of a single, underlying construct. This was counter to both Paxton and Park’s conclusions. The results of this study also offer a way to examine the effects of subgroups on each dimension. In addition, Park’s hypothesis of “coffeeing together” was tested and found to be inconsistent with the descriptive results. Recommendations were made for future applications of social capital research and an alternative hypothesis was cited as a promising way to conduct subsequent studies.

Catfishes Ictaluridae are important food fish that are harvested from the New River, Virginia by multiple methods, yet standard creel survey approaches do not accurately sample setline effort, a popular fishing gear for catfish. I characterized the New River setline fishery by estimating setline effort and catch rates of catfish and by-catch in 2011, and by investigating the attitudes and opinions of setline users during 2012. Setline effort was highest during June-August, and declined significantly by mid-September. Several dedicated setline users accounted for a significant portion of total setline effort. Experimental setlines baited with live minnows Cyprinidae proved to be an effective method for catching catfish but caught few walleye Sander vitreus, smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu, and muskellunge Esox masquinongy. Estimated by-catch of these species by setline fishers is small compared to catch by hook-and-line anglers, though walleye experienced high setline hooking mortality, and catch rates increased in autumn months. Setlines appear to be part of a larger "way of life" for some rural individuals, who may also hunt, trap, and garden as part of activities to supplement their diet or income. New River setline fishers strongly believe that setline fishing has declined significantly in the New River Valley due to improving socioeconomic status of the region, changing recreational values (such as focus on catch-and-release fishing and paddle sports), increasing recreational traffic and law enforcement presence, and decreasing participation in setline fishing by younger generation. / Master of Science

<p> The aim of this thesis is to construct some smooth Einstein manifolds with nonzero Einstein constant, and then to investigate their topological and geometric properties.</p> <p> In the negative case, we are able to construct conformally compact Einstein metrics on 1. products of an arbitrary closed Einstein manifold and a certain even-dimensional ball bundle over products of Hodge Kähler-Einstein manifolds, 2. certain solid torus bundles over a single Fano Kähler-Einstein manifold. We compute the associated conformal invariants, i.e., the renormalized volume in even dimensions and the conformal anomaly in odd dimensions. As by-products, we obtain many Riemannian manifolds with vanishing Q-curvature.</p> <p> In the positive case, we are able to construct complete Einstein metrics on certain 3-sphere bundles over a Fano Kähler-Einstein manifold. We classify the homeomorphism and diffeomorphism types of the total spaces when the base manifold is the complex projective plane.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Inflation, the currently favoured solution to the grievous initial conditions problems of the Big Bang model of the universe, is a very general framework that can be constructed from any number of underlying theories. As inflation is meant to solve a problem of initial conditions, it is generally preferred that it not introduce its own initial conditions problem. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the sensitivity to initial conditions of solutions to two toy models of inflation. The models in and of themselves are not intended to explain inflation, but rather seek to begin to explore, in a controlled way, interesting properties that a full inflationary theory might have. The first model is one with a single scalar inflaton, but two compact extra dimensions. We find this model has two inflationary solutions that can be well understood analytically. These solutions are power laws in time. One is found to be marginally insensitive to its initial conditions, and the other is found to be highly sensitive to its initial conditions. We also find a solution to this model that exhibits 4D quasi-de Sitter space, but is difficult to understand analytically, and its sensitivity to initial conditions is not yet well known. The second model examines an n-scalar field Lagrangian that includes kinetic terms first-order in the derivatives of the fields (similar to certain ferromagnetic Lagrangians). It is found that this model can realize slow-roll inflation with arbitrarily steep potentials. A solution is constructed that can realize an exact de Sitter equation of state without saying anything about the slope of its potential. This solution is found to be marginally insensitive to its initial conditions for a certain range of parameters. Corrections from higher order terms in the Lagrangian are found to introduce a parameter space for which this solution is in fact highly insensitive to its initial conditions. We therefore make progress in understanding higher-dimensional inflation, slow-roll inflation with steep potentials, and the sensitivity of solutions in both those cases to their initial conditions. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Thesis advisor: Richard Kearney / All our movements presuppose our being oriented. But what does it mean for the embodied subject to be oriented in space? How is the egocentric space of the lived body connected to the larger domain of objective space? While Husserl explored how the egocentric subject comes to situate itself within intersubjectively constituted objective space, Merleau-Ponty’s further inquiry into pre-objective spatiality suggests that the embodied subject is always already oriented beyond itself, via its connections to the three dimensions of the physical world. His work on the subjective experience of depth and verticality laid the groundwork for a phenomenology of the three dimensions, which I undertake here. For each of the three dimensions—verticality, horizontality and depth—I explore the interconnections among a) the sensed dimensions of bodily space b) the dimensions of intersubjective space and c) the geometric, abstract axes of objective space. Each of the dimensions in lived space is qualitatively distinct, both as sensed in the body and perceived externally, and they differ accordingly as bearers of meaning. My primary aim is to elucidate the specific character of the dimensions in all their expressive, existential, and cultural significance; this is done first at the level of subjective, bodily spatiality and then again at the broader cultural and historical level. To this end, I look to philosophy as well as to visual art, architecture, the history of religion and myth, psychology, cognitive linguistics and neuroscience. Investigating the axes of the body in relation to the dimensions of the world means asking about orientation itself, for it lies at their nexus. I examine the role of spatial orientation in self-understanding, self-identity and memory as well as in shaping relations with the Other. Ultimately, the prevailing cultural (western) ideas of modern space and subjectivity, rooted in the cogito, prove to be in tension with a phenomenology of space and the three dimensions. The primacy of egocentricity deserves to be questioned in light of various alternate modes of spatial experience (attuned, shared) and alternate modes of orientation (allocentric, absolute). I conclude that orientation is better described as symbiotic and reciprocal, with the lived body always in relation to the world beyond itself. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

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Page IV was not included in the thesis, and thus not included in the page count. / <p> Discretization is an important tool to transfer optimization problems that include differentiations and integrals into standard optimization problems with a finite number of variables and a finite number of constraints. Recently, Betts and Campbell proposed a heat-transfer optimization problem that includes the heat partial differential equation as one of its constraints, and the objective function includes integrals of the temperature function squared. Using discretization methods, this problem can be converted to a convex quadratic optimization problem, which can be solved by standard interior point method solvers in polynomial time.</p> <p> The discretized model of the one dimensional problem is further analyzed, and some of its variants are studied. Extensive numerical testing is performed to demonstrate the power of the "discretize then optimize". Then the heat transfer optimization problem is generalized to two dimensions, and the discretized model and computational comparisons for this variant are included.</p> <p> Flexibility of discretization methods allow us to apply the same "diseretize then optimize" methodology to solve optimization problems that include differential and integral functions as constraints or objectives.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)