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A direct $Q_{EC}$-value measurement of the superallowed $\beta^+$ emitter $^{22}$Mg was performed using TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN). The direct ground-state to ground-state atomic mass difference between $^{22}$Mg and $^{22}$Na was determined to be $Q_{EC}=4781.40(22)$~keV, representing the most precise single measurement of this quantity to date. In a continued push towards calculating superallowed isospin-symmetry-breaking (ISB) corrections from first principles, ab-initio shell-model calculations of the $A=22$ IMME are also presented for the first time using the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group formalism. With particular starting two- and three-nucleon forces, this approach demonstrates a level of agreement with the experimental data that suggests reliable ab-initio calculations of superallowed ISB corrections are now possible.

We present the results of precision mass measurements of neutron-rich cadmium isotopes. These nuclei approach the $N=82$ closed neutron shell and are important to nuclear structure as they lie near doubly-magic $^{132}$Sn on the chart of nuclides. Of particular note is the clear identification of the ground state mass in $^{127}$Cd along with the isomeric state. We show that the ground state identified in a previous mass measurement which dominates the mass value in the Atomic Mass Evaluation is an isomeric state. In addition to $^{127/m}$Cd, we present other cadmium masses measured ($^{125/m}$Cd and $^{126}$Cd) in a recent TITAN experiment at TRIUMF. Finally, we compare our measurements to new \emph{ab initio} shell-model calculations and comment on the state of the field in the $N=82$ region., Comment: 8 Pages with citations, 3 Figures, 2 Tables

Children from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds have demonstrated substantially lower levels of math achievement than their middle class majority peers for decades. The present study addressed two research questions: (1) when used as a supplement to typical classroom instruction and in isolation from the larger curriculum, does Building Blocks Software lead to improvements in math achievement as measured by proximal and distal measures of mathematics?; and (2) are the impacts of supplemental use of Building Blocks Software specific to math achievement? Nine Title 1 schools drawn from a large urban school district in Texas that primarily served students from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds participated in this study. Forty kindergarten classrooms, all with full-day programming, participated. The sample consisted of 243 monolingual English speaking children (52% female). Most of these children represented ethnic minorities: 63% were African American, 30% Hispanic/Latino, 4% mixed ethnicity, 2% Caucasian, and 1% other. At the study's onset, the sample's scores on norm-referenced standardized tests of verbal ability (M = 84; SD = 14) and nonverbal ability (M = 77, SD = 11) were low average and below average, respectively, indicating risk for poor academic outcomes. Participants were randomized to receive computer assisted instruction with "Building Blocks Software" or "Earobics Step 1", a literacy software program. Randomized control trial; participants were randomized with equal probability from within classroom to one of the two experimental conditions. Children's numeracy skills were assessed with the "Research Based Early Math Assessment," a measure proximal to the Building Blocks Software at the beginning (i.e., pretest) and at the end (i.e., posttest) of children's kindergarten year. At posttest, the Applied Problems subtest from the "Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement," a distal measure of broad math achievement, was administered. To examine treatment specificity, vocabulary was assessed with the "Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test" at pretest and posttest. Significant benefits for posttest math scores, but not vocabulary scores, were seen for children in the "Building Blocks Software" condition. For numeracy scores at posttest, there was a main effect for group, F(1, 178) = 8.08, p < 0.01, after accounting for numeracy scores from pretest and classroom nesting. The "Building Blocks Software" group outperformed the comparison group, with a difference in least squared means of 1.85 raw score units. This study demonstrated that a relatively low intensity, supplemental implementation of "Building Blocks Software" throughout most of children's kindergarten school year led to reliable improvements in math achievement.

We have used low-energy electron diffraction and microscopy to compare the growth of graphene on hydrogen-free Ge(111) and Ge(110) from an atomic carbon flux. Growth on Ge(110) leads to significantly better rotational alignment of graphene domains with the substrate. To explain the poor rotational alignment on Ge(111), we have investigated experimentally and theoretically how the adatom reconstructions on Ge interact with graphene. We find that the ordering transition of the adatom reconstruction of Ge(111) is not significantly perturbed by graphene. Density functional theory calculations show that graphene on reconstructed Ge(110) has large-amplitude corrugations, whereas it is remarkably flat on reconstructed Ge(111). We argue that the absence of corrugations prevents graphene islands from locking into a preferred orientation.

The CG4 and Sa101 regions together cover a region of ~0.5 square degree in the vicinity of a "cometary globule" that is part of the Gum Nebula. There are seven previously identified young stars in this region; we have searched for new young stars using mid- and far-infrared data (3.6 to 70 microns) from the Spitzer Space Telescope, combined with ground-based optical data and near-infrared data from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). We find infrared excesses in all 6 of the previously identified young stars in our maps, and we identify 16 more candidate young stars based on apparent infrared excesses. Most (73%) of the new young stars are Class II objects. There is a tighter grouping of young stars and young star candidates in the Sa101 region, in contrast to the CG4 region, where there are fewer young stars and young star candidates, and they are more dispersed. Few likely young objects are found in the "fingers" of the dust being disturbed by the ionization front from the heart of the Gum Nebula., Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ

We present total cross sections for single and double ionization of helium by antiproton impact over a wide range of impact energies from 10 keV/amu to 1 MeV/amu. A non-perturbative time-dependent close-coupling method (TDCC) is applied to fully treat the correlated dynamics of the ionized electrons. Excellent agreement is obtained between our calculations and experimental measurements of total single and double ionization cross sections at high impact energies, whereas for lower impact energies, some discrepancies with experiment are found. At an impact energy of 1 MeV we also find that the double-to-single ionization ratio is twice as large for antiproton impact as for proton impact, confirming a long-standing unexpected experimental measurement., Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letters. 5 Pages 3 Figures

We present a study of pixel Colour Magnitude Diagrams (pCMDs) for a sample of 69 nearby galaxies chosen to span a wide range of Hubble types. Our goal is to determine how useful a pixel approach is for studying galaxies according to their stellar light distributions and content. The galaxy images were analysed on a pixel-by-pixel basis to reveal the structure of the individual pCMDs. We find that the average surface brightness (or projected mass density) in each pixel varies according to galaxy type. Early-type galaxies exihibit a clear ``prime sequence'' and some pCMDs of face-on spirals reveal ``inverse-L'' structures. We find that the colour dispersion at a given magnitude is found to be approximately constant in early-type galaxies but this quantity varies in the mid and late-types. We investigate individual galaxies and find that the pCMDs can be used to pick out morphological features. We discuss the discovery of ``Red Hooks'' in the pCMDs of six early-type galaxies and two spirals and postulate their origins. We develop quantitative methods to characterise the pCMDs, including measures of the blue-to-red light ratio and colour distributions of each galaxy and we organise these by morphological type. We compare the colours of the pixels in each galaxy with the stellar population models of Bruzual & Charlot (2003) to calculate star formation histories for each galaxy type and compare these to the stellar mass within each pixel. Maps of pixel stellar mass and mass-to-light ratio are compared to galaxy images. We apply the pCMD technique to three galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field to test the usefulness of the analysis at high redshift. We propose that these results can be used as part of a new system of automated classification of galaxies that can be applied at high redshift., Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures, MNRAS, accepted. For high resolution figures see: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ppxmml/lcm_2007.pdf

We measure correlations appropriate for favour-singlet mesons using dynamical quark configurations from UKQCD. Improved methods of evaluating the disconnected quark diagrams are presented. The scalar and pseudoscalar meson channels are explored, with special reference to the mixing of scalar mesons with scalar glueballs., Comment: contribution to LATTICE99 (Hadron Spectroscopy), 3 pages, 3 ps figures, uses espcrc2.sty

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to result from the interaction of an extremely relativistic outflow interacting with a small amount of material surrounding the site of the explosion. Multi-wavelength observations covering the gamma-ray to radio wavebands allow investigations of this `fireball' model. On 23 January 1999 optical emission was detected while the gamma-ray burst was still underway. Here we report the results of gamma-ray, optical/infra-red, sub-mm, mm and radio observations of this burst and its afterglow, which indicate that the prompt and afterglow emissions from GRB 990123 are associated with three distinct regions in the fireball. The afterglow one day after the burst has a much lower peak frequency than those of previous bursts; this explains the short-lived nature of the radio emission, which is not expected to reappear. We suggest that such differences reflect variations in the magnetic-field strengths in the afterglow emitting regions., Comment: Accepted for publication in Nature. Under press embargo

We discuss the spectrum of hadrons with a heavy colour-adjoint particle - motivated by the gluino of supersymmetry. Using the lattice approach, we explore in detail the gluonic bound states - the `glueballino' or `gluelump'. We also make a first determination of the spectrum of the `adjoint mesons' - which have a light quark and antiquark bound to the heavy adjoint particle. A comparison of the spectra of these two systems is also made., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures

We discuss lattice methods to obtain the derivatives of a lattice meson mass with respect to the bare sea and valence quark masses. Applications are made to quenched and dynamical fermion configurations. We find evidence for significant differences between quenched and dynamical fermion configurations. We discuss how to relate dependence on the bare lattice parameters to more phenomenologically useful quantities., Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, typos fixed and reference added

We present the first results for the static quark potential and the light hadron spectrum using dynamical fermions at $\beta=5.2$ using an O(a) improved Wilson fermion action together with the standard Wilson plaquette action for the gauge part. Sea quark masses were chosen such that the pseudoscalar-vector mass ratio, m_PS/m_V$, varies from 0.86 to 0.67. Finite-size effects are studied by using three different volumes, 8^3\cdot 24, 12^3\cdot 24 and 16^3\cdot 24. Comparing our results to previous ones obtained using the quenched approximation, we find evidence for sea quark effects in quantities like the static quark potential and the vector-pseudoscalar hyperfine splitting., Comment: 38 pages, 14 Postscript figure, LaTeX