<h4>Exotic hadrons are hadrons with constituent quark content different from the normal meson and baryon. The f₀(980) hadron is one of the exotic hadron candidates, which was first discovered in $\pi\pi$ scattering experiments in the 1970's. It could be a ordinary quarnk-antiquark meson, a tetraquark exotic state, a kaon-antikaon molecule, or a quark-antiquark-gluon hybrid state.</h4><p dir="ltr">Anisotropic flow (v_n) is a powerful tool to probe the dynamics of relativistic heavy ion collisions. The observed approximate scaling of v_n by the number of constituent quarks (NCQ) suggests the importance of partonic degree of freedom in these collisions. Large v_n and NCQ-scaling have also been observed in high-multiplicity proton-lead (pPb) collisions at the LHC, suggesting similar dynamics in pPb collisions. The empirically established NCQ-scaling can be exploited to probe the constituent quark content of the f₀(980) hadron.</p><p dir="ltr">We measure the elliptic flow (v₂) of f₀(980) in high-multiplicity pPb collisions at 8 TeV with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the LHC, through its main pion-pion ($\pi^+\pi^-$) decay channel. The invariant mass spectrum is obtained from opposite sign pion pairs, and the combinatorial background is estimated by same-sign pion pairs and subtracted. The f₀(980) signal and the remaining residual background are modeled by relativistic Breit-Wigner and polynomial functions, respectively. The yield of f₀(980) is extracted as a function of azimuthal angle relative to the event plane, and the f₀(980) v₂ is measured as function of $p_T$, corrected for the event-plane resolution. The non-flow component in f₀(980) v₂ has been estimated by that of K_s⁰. By comparing the measured v₂ of the f₀(980) to those of other hadrons, we infer the number of constituent quarks for the f₀(980) assuming NCQ scaling. The f₀(980) is found to be a 2-quark state in this work. We discuss the systematic uncertainties involved in our study, implications of our result, and possible future works in this endeavor.</p>

The purpose of this study was to determine the value of the Non Cognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in predicting the academic achievement of first year female engineering students. Ancis and Sedlacek (1997) studied non-cognitive variables with a general population of undergraduate women. Their study validated the NCQ as a predictor of academic success for women students. The present study extends the work of Ancis and Sedlacek to examine female engineering students, a group for which no similar study has yet been published.Participants included 100 female first-year engineering students at a large, public Doctoral Research â Extensive institution located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. By race or ethnicity, the participants were White, Non-Hispanic (81%), Black Non-Hispanic (9%), Asian or Pacific Islander (4%), Hispanic or Latino (1%), Non-Resident Alien (1%), and Unknown Race or Ethnicity (6%). This study defined academic achievement as first semester Grade Point Average, which was used as the dependent variable. Participants completed the NCQ during summer orientation. NCQ scale scores and SAT Verbal and Math scores were used as independent variables in a step-wise regression analysis.The major finding of this study was that the NCQ scale scores did not add to the predictive value of the SAT scores in determining the first semester GPA of female engineering students. This was an unexpected finding in light of previous research that had documented the value of using non-cognitive variables, and specifically the NCQ, to predict the academic success of groups that are a minority in their educational settings.Because the major finding of this study is at odds with a large body of similar studies, the most important implications of this study relate to understanding this difference. Included in the discussion are questions about the methodology used in previous NCQ studies and about the influence of the single institution that has been the site of almost all previous NCQ research. / Master of Arts