CMS dashboard task monitoring: A user-centric monitoring view

We are now in a phase change of the CMS experiment where people are turning more intensely to physics analysis and away from construction. This brings a lot of challenging issues with respect to monitoring of the user analysis. The physicists must be able to monitor the execution status, application and grid-level messages of their tasks that may run at any site within the CMS Virtual Organisation. The CMS Dashboard Task Monitoring project provides this information towards individual analysis users by collecting and exposing a user-centric set of information regarding submitted tasks including reason of failure, distribution by site and over time, consumed time and efficiency. The development was user-driven with physicists invited to test the prototype in order to assemble further requirements and identify weaknesses with the application

Search for a signal on intermediate baryon systems formation in hadron-nuclear and nuclear-nuclear interactions at high energies

We have analyzed the behavior of different characteristics of hadron-nuclear and nuclear-nuclear interactions as a function of centrality to get a signal on the formation of intermediate baryon systems. We observed that the data demonstrate the regime change and saturation. The angular distributions of slow particles exhibit some structure in the above mentioned reactions at low energy. We believe that the structure could be connected with the formation and decay of the percolation cluster. With increasing the mass of colliding nuclei, the structure starts to become weak and almost disappears ultimately. This shows that the number of secondary internuclear interactions increases with increasing the mass of the colliding nuclei. The latter could be a reason of the disintegration of any intermediate formations as well as clusters, which decrease their influence on the angular distribution of the emitted particles.Comment: 2 pages and one figur

Le tourisme domestique en Russie : une affaire d’Etat. Approche historico-géographique à partir de l’exemple de la région du Caucase du Nord

Le tourisme des Russes en Russie est un phénomène méconnu et pourtant en pleine croissance. Quel est le rôle de l’Etat dans le développement du tourisme intérieur en Russie aujourd’hui ? Existe-t-il une filiation réalisée par le pouvoir central  entre le tourisme domestique pendant l’époque soviétique et la période contemporaine en Russie dans ses formes, motifs et les lieux visités ? Ce papier apporte un certain nombre de réponses historiques et géographiques avec un accent particulier porté à la région du Caucase du Nord dotée d’une tradition touristique forte pendant l’époque soviétique et connaissant une réactivation du tourisme pendant la période contemporaine. Cette filiation est étudiée sous le prisme d’accès à des pratiques et des espaces touristiques de ce territoire

Structures and orientational transitions in thin films of tilted hexatic smectics

We present detailed systematic studies of structural transformations in thin liquid crystal films with the smectic-C to hexatic phase transition. For the first time all possible structures reported in the literature are observed for one material (5 O.6) at the variation of temperature and thickness. In unusual modulated structures the equilibrium period of stripes is twice with respect to the domain size. We interpret these patterns in the frame work of phenomenological Landau type theory, as equilibrium phenomena produced by a natural geometric frustration in a system having spontaneous splay distortion.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation of frequency-modulated light resonant with a low-J transition

A low-light-power theory of nonlinear magneto-optical rotation of frequency-modulated light resonant with a J=1->J'=0 transition is presented. The theory is developed for a Doppler-free transition, and then modified to account for Doppler broadening and velocity mixing due to collisions. The results of the theory are shown to be in qualitative agreement with experimental data obtained for the rubidium D1 line.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, v.2 edited for clarit

Molecular labeling of <i>Vrn</i>, <i>Ppd</i> genes and vernalization response of the ultra-early lines of spring bread wheat <i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.

Background. The knowledge of genetic control of vernalization response in the ultra-early accessions can facilitate bread wheat breeding for a high adaptive capacity. Materials and methods. The study involved the ultra-early lines Rico (k-65588) and Rimax (k-67257) as the earliest maturing lines in the VIR bread wheat collection, as well as 10 Rifor lines (k-67120, k-67121, k-67250-67256) with a high rate of development before heading. A late ripening accession ‘Forlani Roberto’ (k-42641) and ‘Leningradskaya 6’ variety (k-64900), regionally adapted to Northwestern Russia, were also studied. The alleles of the Vrn and Ppd genes were identified by the PCR analysis using the allele-specific primers published in literature sources. The response to vernalization (30 days at 3°C) and a short 12-hour day were determined using a methodology accepted at VIR. Results. The ultra-early lines respond to a short 12-hour day and 30-day vernalization very poorly. The genotype of ultra-early wheat lines is mainly represented by three genes, Vrn-A1, Vrn-B1a, and Vrn-D1, which ensure insensitivity to vernalization alongside with the expression of Ppd-D1a, which controls the response to photoperiod. The ultra-early lines Rifor 4 and Rifor 5 have a recessive allele vrn-A1a, like the original ‘Forlani Roberto’ accession. The lines Rifor 4 and Rifor 5 are vernalization-insensitive under the long day and have a very weak response under the short day (3.5±0.42 days and 4.0±0.61 days, respectively). However, ‘Forlani Roberto’ with the vrn-A1a gene responds to vernalization in the same way under any photoperiod (12.3±1.58 days and 12.2±0.74 days). Conclusion The ultra-early lines of bread wheat Rifor 4 and Rifor 5 with the vrn-A1a gene can have no response to vernalization or have a low level response. This effect can be a reason for the formation of a complex of modifier genes along with the dominant gene Vrn-D1, which forms during the hybridization of F7-8 Rico × Forlani Roberto. The ultra-early lines of bread wheat Rico, Rimax and Rifor (k-67120, k-67121, k-67250-67256) can serve as effective sources of genes for earliness in common wheat breeding

Consumer credit information systems: A critical review of the literature. Too little attention paid by lawyers?

This paper reviews the existing literature on consumer credit reporting, the most extensively used instrument to overcome information asymmetry and adverse selection problems in credit markets. Despite the copious literature in economics and some research in regulatory policy, the legal community has paid almost no attention to the legal framework of consumer credit information systems, especially within the context of the European Union. Studies on the topic, however, seem particularly relevant in view of the establishment of a single market for consumer credit. This article ultimately calls for further legal research to address consumer protection concerns and inform future legislation

Topology of "white" stars in relativistic fragmentation of light nuclei

In the present paper, experimental observations of the multifragmentation processes of light relativistic nuclei carried out by means of emulsions are reviewed. Events of the type of "white" stars in which the dissociation of relativistic nuclei is not accompanied by the production of mesons and the target-nucleus fragments are considered. A distinctive feature of the charge topology in the dissociation of the Ne, Mg, Si, and S nuclei is an almost total suppression of the binary splitting of nuclei to fragments with charges higher than 2. The growth of the nuclear fragmentation degree is revealed in an increase in the multiplicity of singly and doubly charged fragments with decreasing charge of the non-excited part of the fragmenting nucleus. The processes of dissociation of stable Li, Be, B, C, N, and O isotopes to charged fragments were used to study special features of the formation of systems consisting of the lightest $\alpha$, d, and t nuclei. Clustering in form of the $^3$He nucleus can be detected in "white" stars via the dissociation of neutron-deficient Be, B, C, and N isotopes.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, 9 tables, conference: Conference on Physics of Fundamental Interactions, Moscow, Russia, 1-5 Mar 2004.(Author's translation