Feasibility study of an Integrated Program for Aerospace-vehicle Design (IPAD) system. Volume 2: Characterization of the IPAD system, phase 1, task 1

The aircraft design process is discussed along with the degree of participation of the various engineering disciplines considered in this feasibility study

GNA: new framework for statistical data analysis

We report on the status of GNA --- a new framework for fitting large-scale physical models. GNA utilizes the data flow concept within which a model is represented by a directed acyclic graph. Each node is an operation on an array (matrix multiplication, derivative or cross section calculation, etc). The framework enables the user to create flexible and efficient large-scale lazily evaluated models, handle large numbers of parameters, propagate parameters' uncertainties while taking into account possible correlations between them, fit models, and perform statistical analysis. The main goal of the paper is to give an overview of the main concepts and methods as well as reasons behind their design. Detailed technical information is to be published in further works.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, CHEP 2018, submitted to EPJ Web of Conference

Assessing efficiency of public health and medical care provision in OECD countries after a decade of reform

The objective of this study was to examine the change in efficiency of health care systems of 34 OECD countries between 2000 and 2012, a period marked by significant health reform in most OECD countries. This paper uses a novel Dynamic Network Data Envelopment Analysis (DNDEA) model to analyze the efficiency of the public health system and the medical care system of these OECD countries independently along with assessing the efficiency of their overall health system. This helps understand the relative priorities for improving the overall health system. The data for this study was obtained from the OECD Health Facts database. The study findings suggest that countries which improved their public health system were more likely to show overall improvement in efficiency

The Precision Monte Carlo Event Generator KK For Two-Fermion Final States In e+e- Collisions

We present the Monte Carlo event generator KK version 4.13 for precision predictions of the Electroweak Standard Model for the process $e^+e^-\to f\bar{f} +n\gamma$, $f=\mu,\tau,d,u,s,c,b$ at centre of mass energies from $\tau$ lepton threshold to 1TeV, that is for LEP, SLC, future Linear Colliders, $b,c,\tau$-factories etc. Effects due to photon emission from initial beams and outgoing fermions are calculated in QED up to second order, including all interference effects, within Coherent Exclusive Exponentiation (CEEX), which is based on Yennie-Frautschi-Suura exponentiation. Electroweak corrections are included in first order, with higher order extensions, using the DIZET 6.x library. Final state quarks hadronize according to the parton shower model using JETSET. Beams can be polarized longitudinally and transversely. Decay of the tau leptons is simulated using the TAUOLA library, taking into account spin polarization effects as well. In particular the complete spin correlations density matrix of the initial state beams and final state tau's is incorporated in an exact manner. Effects due to beamstrahlung are simulated in a realistic way. The main improvements with respect to KORALZ are: (a) inclusion of the initial-final state QED interference, (b) inclusion of the exact matrix element for two photons, and (c) inclusion of the transverse spin correlations in $\tau$ decays (as in KORALB).Comment: Source code available from http://home.cern.ch/jadac

How Europe can deliver: Optimising the division of competences among the EU and its member states

This study aims to give guidance for a better-performing EU through an improved allocation of competences between the European Union and its member states. The study analyses eight specific policies from a wide range of fields with respect to their preferable assignment. The analysis applies a unified quantified approach and is precise in its definition of ‘counterfactuals’. These counterfactuals are understood as conceptual alternatives to the allocation of competences under the status quo. As such, they either relate to a new European competence (if the policy is currently a national responsibility) or a new national competence (if the policy is currently assigned to the EU). The comprehensive, quantification-based assessments indicate that it would be preferable to have responsibility for higher education and providing farmers with income support at the national level. Conversely, a shift of competences to the EU level would be advantageous when it comes to asylum policies, defence, corporate taxation, development aid and a (complementary) unemployment insurance scheme in the euro area. For one policy – railway freight transport – the findings are indeterminate. Overall, the study recommends a differentiated integration strategy comprising both new European policies and a roll-back of EU competences in other fields

Asset allocation, cross-class correlation and the structure of property returns

Practical applications of portfolio optimisation tend to proceed on a “top down” basis where funds are allocated first at asset class level (between, say, bonds, cash, equities and real estate) and then, progressively, at sub-class level (within property to sectors, office, retail, industrial for example). While there are organisational benefits from such an approach, it can potentially lead to sub-optimal allocations when compared to a “global” or “side-by-side” optimisation. This will occur where there are correlations between sub-classes across the asset divide that are masked in aggregation – between, for instance, City offices and the performance of financial services stocks. This paper explores such sub-class linkages using UK monthly stock and property data. Exploratory analysis using clustering procedures and factor analysis suggests that property performance and equity performance are distinctive: there is little persuasive evidence of contemporaneous or lagged sub-class linkages. Formal tests of the equivalence of optimised portfolios using top-down and global approaches failed to demonstrate significant differences, whether or not allocations were constrained. While the results may be a function of measurement of market returns, it is those returns that are used to assess fund performance. Accordingly, the treatment of real estate as a distinct asset class with diversification potential seems justified