Scholarly communication in High-Energy Physics: past, present and future innovations

Unprecedented technological advancements have radically changed the way we communicate and, at the same time, are effectively transforming science into e-Science. In turn, this transformation calls for an evolution in scholarly communication. This review describes several innovations, spanning the last decades of scholarly communication in High Energy Physics: the first repositories, their interaction with peer-reviewed journals, a proposed model for Open Access publishing and a next-generation repository for the field. We hope that some of these innovations, which are deeply rooted in the highly-interconnected and world-wide flavour of the High-Energy Physics community can serve as an inspiration to other communities

Scholarly Communication in High-Energy Physics: Past, Present and Future Innovations

Unprecedented technological advancements have radically changed the way we communicate and, at the same time, are effectively transforming science into e-science. In turn, this transformation calls for an evolution in scholarly communication. This review describes several innovations, spanning the last decades of scholarly communication in High Energy Physics: the first repositories, their interaction with peer-reviewed journals, a proposed model for Open Access publishing and a next-generation repository for the field. We hope that some of these innovations, which are deeply rooted in the highly-interconnected and worldwide flavour of the High-Energy Physics community, can serve as an inspiration to other communitie

CERN and the Environment

The impact of CERN’s activities on the surrounding environment is carefully monitored by the Organization via a complete environmental monitoring programme, which is defined and run in agreement with the authorities of Switzerland and France. This programme covers both radiological and conventional aspects. So far the environmental impact of CERN was shown to be negligible. In particular, CERN’s radiological impact is a fraction of the variation of the natural exposure at different locations of the surrounding region. As the site of the Organization is on the territory of two countries and straddles the Swiss-French border, the implementation of its environmental policy requires specific procedures and a very transparent communication towards the Host States authorities and the public opinion. This paper reports the official CERN speech delivered for the opening of the international conference Enviroinfo 2004 that was held at CERN in October 2004

Turnout under semi-presidentialism: first- and second-order elections to national-level institutions

We test the effect of the importance of elections by focusing on turnout at presidential and legislative elections in countries with semi-presidential constitutions. These countries have two potentially first-order elections, but they vary considerably in the powers that are granted to their presidents and prime ministers. We hypothesise that turnout at legislative elections will vary inversely with presidential power and that above a certain degree of presidential power turnout at presidential elections will be higher than turnout at legislative elections. We test these hypotheses on the set of electoral democracies from 1989-2010 inclusive. Controlling for standard social, political and institutional variables, we find strong support for our propositions. The findings show that the importance of the electoral contest is a determining factor for turnout at legislative elections and that the relative importance of presidential and legislative elections can be understood as a continuous scale, and not merely dichotomously

Flood risk assessment and mapping in the Hadejia River Basin, Nigeria, using hydro-geomorphic approach and multi-criterion decision-making method

Flood risk management is crucial for climate change resilience. The Hadejia River basin is known for severe and frequent floods, which have destroyed houses and farmlands and claimed many lives. This study developed a GIS-based flood risk and vulnerability mapping assessment using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) to outline scenarios that reduce risk and vulnerability associated with floods in the Hadejia River basin. The risk mapping of the basin integrated seven hydro-geomorphological indicators influencing extreme events (elevation, mean annual rainfall, slope, distance from rivers, soil type, and drainage density) and six socio-economic vulnerability indicators (population density, female population density, literacy rate, land use, employment rate, and road network) using a multi-criterion analysis. The average annual rainfall data of 36 years (1982–2018) were used for flood plain mapping in this study. Combining the flood hazard and socio-economic vulnerability indices of the basin revealed high-to-very high flood risk in the downstream and central upstream portions of the basin, which cover about 43.4% of the basin area. The local areas of Auyo, Guri, Hadejia, Ringim, Kafin Hausa, and Jahun were identified as zones at a very high flood risk. The study also revealed that flood hazard and vulnerability indicators have different influences on flood risk. The validated results resonate with the records of previous flood distribution studies of the basin. This research study is significantly important for developing strategic measures and policy revision through which the government and relief agencies may reduce the negative impact of floods in the Hadejia River basin

Photoionization of ultracold and Bose-Einstein condensed Rb atoms

Photoionization of a cold atomic sample offers intriguing possibilities to observe collective effects at extremely low temperatures. Irradiation of a rubidium condensate and of cold rubidium atoms within a magneto-optical trap with laser pulses ionizing through 1-photon and 2-photon absorption processes has been performed. Losses and modifications in the density profile of the remaining trapped cold cloud or the remaining condensate sample have been examined as function of the ionizing laser parameters. Ionization cross-sections were measured for atoms in a MOT, while in magnetic traps losses larger than those expected for ionization process were measured.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Generic Site Safety Report

The ITER Engineering Design Activities (EDA) are being conducted jointly by Euratom, Japan, and the Russian Federation, as Parties to the ITER EDA Agreement signed on 21 July 1992 and subsequently extended until July 20th 2001. (The United States of America was an ITER Party until September 30th 1999). The activities are conducted under the auspices of the IAEA by the ITER Joint Central Team and by the Home Teams (HT). The JCT is composed of qualified persons made available by each of the Parties in approximately equal numbers. The JCT members are located at the ITER Joint Work Sites (JWS) in Naka (Japan), Garching (Germany), and formerly in San Diego (USA). The Home Teams are established and organized by each Party for performing the tasks of the work programme for the EDA, assigned to them in approximately equal shares. Home Teams in each of the Parties perform specific design tasks, and perform research and development in technology (physics R&D is contributed voluntarily). The Home Team Leaders (HTL) are responsible to the Director for the execution of tasks. All activities are directed and supervised by the ITER Council (IC). The ITER Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), upon request of the Council, advises it on technical matters. The Management Advisory Committee (MAC) reports to and advises the Council on management and administrative matters. The Council also makes use of Special Working Groups and other ad hoc groups for particular assignments