The production of D+- and D0 mesons has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 133.6 pb-1. The measurements cover the kinematic range 5 < Q^2 < 1000 GeV^2, 0.02 < y < 0.7, 1.5 < p_T^D < 15 GeV and eta^D < 1.6. Combinatorial background to the D meson signals is reduced by using the ZEUS microvertex detector to reconstruct displaced secondary vertices. Production cross sections are compared with the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD which is found to describe the data well. Measurements are extrapolated to the full kinematic phase space in order to obtain the open-charm contribution, F2^ccbar, to the proton structure function, F2.

First results on inclusive D0 and D* production in deep inelastic $ep$ scattering are reported using data collected by the H1 experiment at HERA in 1994. Differential cross sections are presented for both channels and are found to agree well with QCD predictions based on the boson gluon fusion process. A charm production cross section for 10GeV$~2\le Q~2\le100$GeV$~2$ and $0.01\le y\le0.7$ of $\sigma\left(ep\rightarrow c\overlinecX\right) = (17.4 \pm 1.6 \pm 1.7 \pm 1.4)$nb is derived. A first measurement of the charm contribution F2_charm(x,Q~2) to the proton structure function for Bjorken $x$ between $8\cdot10~{-4}$ and $8\cdot10~{-3}$ is presented. In this kinematic range a ratio F2_charm/F2= 0.237\pm0.021{+0.043\atop-0.039}$ is observed.

We present measurements of the b-bbar production cross section and angular correlations using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron p-pbar Collider operating at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV. The b quark production cross section for |y(b)|<1.0 and p_T(b)>6 GeV/c is extracted from single muon and dimuon data samples. The results agree in shape with the next-to-leading order QCD calculation of heavy flavor production but are greater than the central values of these predictions. The angular correlations between b and bbar quarks, measured from the azimuthal opening angle between their decay muons, also agree in shape with the next-to-leading order QCD prediction.

With the H1 detector at the ep collider HERA, D* meson production cross sections have been measured in deep inelastic scattering with four-momentum transfers Q^2>2 GeV2 and in photoproduction at energies around W(gamma p)~ 88 GeV and 194 GeV. Next-to-Leading Order QCD calculations are found to describe the differential cross sections within theoretical and experimental uncertainties. Using these calculations, the NLO gluon momentum distribution in the proton, x_g g(x_g), has been extracted in the momentum fraction range 7.5x10^{-4}< x_g <4x10^{-2} at average scales mu^2 =25 to 50 GeV2. The gluon momentum fraction x_g has been obtained from the measured kinematics of the scattered electron and the D* meson in the final state. The results compare well with the gluon distribution obtained from the analysis of scaling violations of the proton structure function F_2.

Infrared and collinear safe event shape distributions and their mean values are determined in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies between 45 and 202 GeV. A phenomenological analysis based on power correction models including hadron mass effects for both differential distributions and mean values is presented. Using power corrections, alpha_s is extracted from the mean values and shapes. In an alternative approach, renormalisation group invariance (RGI) is used as an explicit constraint, leading to a consistent description of mean values without the need for sizeable power corrections. The QCD beta-function is precisely measured using this approach. From the DELPHI data on Thrust, including data from low energy experiments, one finds beta_0 = 7.86 +/- 0.32 for the one loop coefficient of the beta-function or, assuming QCD, n_f = 4.75 +/- 0.44 for the number of active flavours. These values agree well with the QCD expectation of beta_0=7.67 and n_f=5. A direct measurement of the full logarithmic energy slope excludes light gluinos with a mass below 5 GeV.

The production of neutral strange hadrons is investigated using deep-inelastic scattering events measured with the H1 detector at HERA. The measurements are made in the phase space defined by the negative four-momentum transfer squared of the photon 2 &lt; Q^2 &lt; 100 GeV^2 and the inelasticity 0.1 &lt; y &lt; 0.6. The K_s and Lambda production cross sections and their ratios are determined. K_s production is compared to the production of charged particles in the same region of phase space. The Lambda - anti-Lambda asymmetry is also measured and found to be consistent with zero. Predictions of leading order Monte Carlo programs are compared to the data.

The inclusive production of D^{*+-}(2010) mesons in deep-inelastic scattering is studied with the H1 detector at HERA. In the kinematic region 1<Q^2<100 GeV^2 and 0.05<y<0.7 an e^+p cross section for inclusive D^(*+-) meson production of 8.50+- 0.42 (stat.)^(+1.21)_(-1.00) (syst.) nb is measured in the visible range p_(tD^*)>1.5 GeV and |\eta_(D^*)|<1.5. Single and double differential inclusive D^(*+-) meson cross sections are compared to perturbative QCD calculations in two different evolution schemes. The charm contribution to the proton structure, F_2^c(x,Q^2), is determined by extrapolating the visible charm cross section to the full phase space. This contribution is found to rise from about 10% at Q^2 = 1.5 GeV^2 to more than 25% at Q^2 = 60 GeV^2 corresponding to x values ranging from 5*10^(-5) to 3*10^(-3)$.

We have studied hadronic events produced at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV. We present distributions of event shape variables, jet rates, charged particle momentum spectra and multiplicities. We determine the strong coupling strength to be αs(161 GeV) = 0.101±0.005(stat.)±0.007(syst.), the mean charged particle multiplicity to be 〈nch〉(161 GeV) = 24.46 ± 0.45(stat.) ± 0.44(syst.) and the position of the peak in the ξp = ln(1/xp) distribution to be ξ0(161 GeV) = 4.00 ±0.03(stat.)±0.04(syst.). These results are compared to data taken at lower centre-of-mass energies and to analytic QCD or Monte Carlo predictions. Our measured value of αs(161 GeV) is consistent with other measurements of αs. Within the current statistical and systematic uncertainties, the PYTHIA, HERWIG and ARIADNE QCD Monte Carlo models and analytic calculations are in overall agreement with our measurements. The COJETS QCD Monte Carlo is in general agreement with the data for momentum weighted distributions like Thrust, but predicts a significantly larger charged particle multiplicity than is observed experimentally.

Inclusive D* production is measured in deep-inelastic ep scattering at HERA with the H1 detector. In addition, the production of dijets in events with a D* meson is investigated. The analysis covers values of photon virtuality 2< Q^2 <=100 GeV^2 and of inelasticity 0.05<= y <= 0.7. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of Q^2 and x and of various D* meson and jet observables. Within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties all measured cross sections are found to be adequately described by next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD calculations, based on the photon-gluon fusion process and DGLAP evolution, without the need for an additional resolved component of the photon beyond what is included at NLO. A reasonable description of the data is also achieved by a prediction based on the CCFM evolution of partons involving the k_T-unintegrated gluon distribution of the proton.

This paper presents measurements of \k\ and \lam\ production in neutral current, deep inelastic scattering of 26.7 GeV electrons and 820 GeV protons in the kinematic range $ 10 < Q~{2} < 640 $ GeV$~2$, $0.0003 < x < 0.01$, and $y > 0.04$. Average multiplicities for \k\ and \lam\ production are determined for transverse momenta \ \ptr\ $> 0.5 $ GeV and pseudorapidities $\left| \eta \right| < 1.3$. The multiplicities favour a stronger strange to light quark suppression in the fragmentation chain than found in $e~+ e~-$ experiments. The production properties of \k's in events with and without a large rapidity gap with respect to the proton direction are compared. The ratio of neutral \k's to charged particles per event in the measured kinematic range is, within the present statistics, the same in both samples.