SMU Digital Repository Copyright (c) 2012 Southern Methodist University All rights reserved. http://digitalrepository.smu.edu Recent documents in SMU Digital Repository en-us Tue, 15 May 2012 05:03:23 PDT 3600 Effects of stochastic freshwater flux on the Atlantic thermohaline circulation http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/7 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/7 Wed, 09 May 2012 13:51:38 PDT Alyssa Pampell et al. The Invention of Glory: The Pastrana Tapestries of King Afonso V of Portugal http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/meadowsmuseum_programs/1 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/meadowsmuseum_programs/1 Wed, 09 May 2012 12:05:17 PDT Robert Walker Dallas Food Deserts: Analysis, Qualitative Research, & Recommendations http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/centers_maguireethics_research/1 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/centers_maguireethics_research/1 Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:47:14 PDT Stacy Cherones et al. Preconditioning visco-resistive MHD for tokamak plasmas http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/6 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/6 Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:50:53 PDT Daniel R. Reynolds et al. Block preconditioning of stiff implicit models for radiative ionization in the early universe http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/5 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/5 Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:50:50 PDT Daniel R. Reynolds et al. Heterogeneous Multiscale Modeling of Advection-Diffusion Problems http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/4 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/4 Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:50:47 PDT David J. Gardner et al. Multilevel Schur Complement Preconditioner for Multi-Physics Simulations http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/3 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/3 Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:50:43 PDT Hilari Tiedeman et al. The immersed interface method for two-fluid problems http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/2 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/2 Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:50:39 PDT Miguel Uh et al. SMU Digital Repository February 2012 Newsletter http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/libraries_cul_admin/9 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/libraries_cul_admin/9 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:26:06 PDT Jacob Brown SMU Digital Repository January 2012 Newsletter http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/libraries_cul_admin/8 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/libraries_cul_admin/8 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:26:05 PDT Jacob Brown SMU Digital Repository December 2011 Newsletter http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/libraries_cul_admin/7 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/libraries_cul_admin/7 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:26:02 PDT Jacob Brown Follow the Leader? Presidential Approval, Presidential Support, and Representatives' Electoral Fortunes http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_politicalsci_research/3 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_politicalsci_research/3 Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:45:46 PDT While the link between presidential approval and congressional election outcomes is long established, scholars have generally ignored the role of a member’s own voting record in mediating these effects. If voters truly use the congressional ballot to express support or opposition toward the President, then they should not reward or punish all of his fellow partisans equally. Instead, the degree of reward or punishment meted out by voters ought to depend on the member’s level of support for the president’s legislative initiatives. Using data from the 1993, 1994, and 1996 National Election Studies, we demonstrate two key points: that representatives’ actual levels of support for the president are the single greatest predictor of their perceived levels of presidential support, and that perceived levels of presidential support interact powerfully with citizen presidential approval to shape attitudes toward congressional incumbents. These effects dwarf simple partisan heuristics in explaining congressional vote choice, suggesting that citizens are much more discriminating than is typically assumed in using the congressional vote as a referendum on presidential policy.

]]> Paul Gronke et al. Political Science The Spouse in the House: What Explains the Marriage Gap in Canada? http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_politicalsci_research/2 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_politicalsci_research/2 Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:45:44 PDT A literature has emerged in American voting studies noting a “marriage gap”—the propensity for married voters to support the Republican party. Using Canadian Election Study data, we establish the existence of a significant marriage gap in Canada. We also seek to determine if the marriage gap is driven by socio-demographic factors or attitudinal ones. We find that while socio-demographic factors contribute to the marriage gap, they explain relatively little variance. In probing the attitudinal basis of the marriage gap further, we find that married Canadians differ from the unwed very strongly on issues of moral traditionalism, but much less so on other issues that measure generalized conservatism.

]]> J. Matthew Wilson et al. Political Science Rethinking Symbolic Racism: Evidence of Attribution Bias http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_politicalsci_research/1 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_politicalsci_research/1 Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:45:41 PDT This paper demonstrates that cognitive tendencies related to political sophistication produce an attribution bias in the widely accepted symbolic racism scale. When this bias is controlled statistically, the effect of symbolic racism on racial policy attitudes is greatly diminished. Our theory posits that high sophisticates tend to make global/distal attributions, allowing them to associate racial inequality with broader sociopolitical causes. Less sophisticated individuals, conversely, tend to make local/proximal attributions, thus biasing them against ascribing responsibility systemically. Consequently, less sophisticated individuals tend to be classified as intolerant by the symbolic racism scale, even when controlling for factors such as ideology and anti-black affect.

]]> Brad T. Gomez et al. Political Science Provocation, Premeditation, and Pandemonium: The Irish Rebellion of 1641 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/weil_ura/4 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/weil_ura/4 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:39:55 PST Erin Hoya Thiol-ene Chemistry for the Synthesis and Modification of Branched Organosilicon Polymers http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_chemistry_research/1 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_chemistry_research/1 Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:44:47 PST David Son et al. Delay-periodic solutions and their stability using averaging in delay-differential equations, with applications http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/1 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/hum_sci_mathematics_research/1 Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:37:20 PST Using the method of averaging we analyze periodic solutions to delay-differential equations, where the period is near to the value of the delay time (or a fraction thereof). The difference between the period and the delay time defines the small parameter used in the perturbation method. This allows us to consider problems with arbitrarily size delay times or of the delay term itself. We present a general theory and then apply the method to a specific model that has application in disease dynamics and lasers.

]]> Thomas W. Carr et al. Mathematics Dynamical Systems The Radiation Tolerance of Specific Optical Fibers at -25ºC http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/urajournal_research/5 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/urajournal_research/5 Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:02:00 PST This research project seeks to characterize a number of optical fibers in an irradiated, low temperature environment.The purpose of these tests is to qualify suitable fibers for use in the optical links with the high luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

In the LHC experiments such as ATLAS and CMS, silicon pixel detectors are commonly used to preciselymeasure the trajectories of charged particles. These detectors operate in a high radiation environment and in anambient temperature of -20 to -30ºC to reduce radiation damage to the silicon sensors, hence the requirement of radiation tolerance at low temperatures for the readout optical links in which the fibers are deployed.

A number of new fibers, both single-mode and multi-mode, have been selected for their decreased bend sensitivity and improved bandwidth. Given that the LHC luminosity upgrade requirement is much more stringent than these fibers’ originally-intended applications, as well as prior knowledge that radiation induced absorption (RIA) is highly temperature-dependent, the vendor’s specification data will be replaced with our own beam test results.

An optical test bench is needed to characterize optical fibers in ionizing radiation from a ⁶⁰Co gamma ray source atthe Brookhaven National Laboratory in February of 2011. Such a multi-channel optical measurement setup is not commercially available and is therefore designed in-house. My task in this research work is to estimate, adjust, and calibrate the dynamic range of the optical power injected into and measured from the fibers. Multiple 850nm VCSEL laser are used as the sources and TI OPT101 chips are used as the detectors; one laser and one chip will beused per fiber in the multi-channel setup. The dynamic range for each can be shifted up or down by altering the voltage supplied to the detector and the current supplied to the laser.

The calibration process, LabVIEW routine, design and construction of the chamber, final irradiation tests on the fibers, and experimental results will be presented. My research contributes to the optical link R&D project with theFermi National Laboratory, Oxford University, and CERN, and my work progress is integrated into the project flow of this international collaborative group.

]]> Joshua Abramovitch Measurement of the Mass of the Top Quark in ℯμ + Jets Final States at DØ with 5.3 fb⁻¹ http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/urajournal_research/4 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/urajournal_research/4 Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:20:58 PST The DØ Collaboration et al. Top Quark General Search for Stars with Rapid Optical Variations: Test Fields http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/urajournal_research/3 http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/urajournal_research/3 Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:20:57 PST We present a search for stars exhibiting short time-scale optical lightvariations. Our search employs archival data taken by the ROTSE1 telephotoarray in two eight degree fields of view. This is a test study considering two fields which overlap fields previously mined for variables, but with different dataand search techniques. Each field was observed for approximately six continuous hours. We employ a general search strategy based on statistical properties of theobserved light curves for each object. The analysis is sensitive to sources with variations < 0.25 day and > 0.1 mag and with mean magnitudes between 9.5 magand 14 mag. We identify 42 variable stars with our search strategy. Of these, 17 were not found by comparison with catalogs of previously acknowledged variables. Within this sample, attempts at classification yield four W UMa systems and two δ Scu stars. The remaining eleven transient detections exhibit incomplete light curves and require further study for classification.

]]> Elizabeth Fagg et al. Variable Stars