18,458 research outputs found
Inflation: noise, risk, and expectations
The most frequently cited measures of inflation expectations, from TIPS-derived indicators to survey-based estimates like Blue Chip forecasts, have some inherent limitations when it comes to applying them to questions of monetary policy. Recently, researchers developed a model that takes information from a number of sources and produces estimates of inflation expectations that are superior to these popular measures in a number of respects. This Commentary explains how these estimates are better and what they imply for current monetary policy.Inflation (Finance)
ATLAS RPC offline monitoring and data quality assessment
In this work several aspects of ATLAS RPC offline monitoring and data quality
assessment are illustrated with cosmics data selected by RPC trigger. These
correspond to trigger selection, front-end mapping, detection efficiency and
occupancy, which are studied in terms of low level quantities such as: RPC
off-line hits and standalone tracks. The tools and techniques presented are
also extended to the forthcoming LHC p-p beam collisions.Comment: Poster section at ICHEP08, Philadelphia, USA, July 2008. 3 pages,
LaTeX, 3 eps figure
GRB970228 and the class of GRBs with an initial spikelike emission: do they follow the Amati relation?
On the basis of the recent understanding of GRB050315 and GRB060218, we
return to GRB970228, the first Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) with detected afterglow.
We proposed it as the prototype for a new class of GRBs with "an occasional
softer extended emission lasting tenths of seconds after an initial spikelike
emission". Detailed theoretical computation of the GRB970228 light curves in
selected energy bands for the prompt emission are presented and compared with
observational BeppoSAX data. From our analysis we conclude that GRB970228 and
likely the ones of the above mentioned new class of GRBs are "canonical GRBs"
have only one peculiarity: they exploded in a galactic environment, possibly
the halo, with a very low value of CBM density. Here we investigate how
GRB970228 unveils another peculiarity of this class of GRBs: they do not
fulfill the "Amati relation". We provide a theoretical explanation within the
fireshell model for the apparent absence of such correlation for the GRBs
belonging to this new class.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, in the Proceedings of the "4th Italian-Sino
Workshop on Relativistic Astrophysics", held in Pescara, Italy, July 20-28,
2007, C.L. Bianco, S.-S. Xue, Editor
The Amati relation in the "fireshell" model
(Shortened) CONTEXT: [...] AIMS: Motivated by the relation proposed by Amati
and collaborators, we look within the ``fireshell'' model for a relation
between the peak energy E_p of the \nu F_\nu total time-integrated spectrum of
the afterglow and the total energy of the afterglow E_{aft}, which in our model
encompasses and extends the prompt emission. METODS: [...] Within the fireshell
model [...] We can then build two sets of ``gedanken'' GRBs varying the total
energy of the electron-positron plasma E^{e^\pm}_{tot} and keeping the same
baryon loading B of GRB050315. The first set assumes for the effective CBM
density the one obtained in the fit of GRB050315. The second set assumes
instead a constant CBM density equal to the average value of the GRB050315
prompt phase. RESULTS: For the first set of ``gedanken'' GRBs we find a
relation E_p\propto (E_{aft})^a, with a = 0.45 \pm 0.01, whose slope strictly
agrees with the Amati one. Such a relation, in the limit B \to 10^{-2},
coincides with the Amati one. Instead, in the second set of ``gedanken'' GRBs
no correlation is found. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis excludes the Proper-GRB
(P-GRB) from the prompt emission, extends all the way to the latest afterglow
phases and is independent on the assumed cosmological model, since all
``gedanken'' GRBs are at the same redshift. The Amati relation, on the other
hand, includes also the P-GRB, focuses on the prompt emission only, and is
therefore influenced by the instrumental threshold which fixes the end of the
prompt emission, and depends on the assumed cosmology. This may well explain
the intrinsic scatter observed in the Amati relation.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to appear on A&A Letter
Measurement Based Reconfigurations in Optical Ring Metro Networks
Single-hop wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical ring networks operating in packet mode are one of themost promising architectures for the design of innovative metropolitan network (metro) architectures. They permit a cost-effective design, with a good combination of optical and electronic technologies, while supporting features like restoration and reconfiguration that are essential in any metro scenario. In this article, we address the tunability requirements that lead to an effective resource usage and permit reconfiguration in optical WDM metros.We introduce reconfiguration algorithms that, on the basis of traffic measurements, adapt the network configuration to traffic demands to optimize performance. Using a specific network architecture as a reference case, the paper aims at the broader goal of showing which are the advantages fostered by innovative network designs exploiting the features of optical technologies
âUnknown Materialâ? Georges Canguilhem, French Philosophy and Medicine
In the introduction to the Normal and the Pathological, Canguilhemâs doctoral dissertation in medicine, defended in 1943, he claimed, âphilosophy is a reflection for which all unknown material [matiĂšre Ă©trangĂšre] is good.â In this case the âunknown materialâ was precisely medicine; âa technique or art at the crossroads of several sciencesâ which was supposed to provide âan introduction to concrete human problems.â Canguilhem had started studying medicine six years before, while he was a high-school professor in Toulouse. At the time he was distancing himself from the philosophical framework that had marked his studies and writings during the previous decade. This framework implied an anti-vitalist, Kantian and Cartesian approach to man, strongly influenced by his mentor Emile Chartier, also known as Alain. In this chapter, I try to provide concrete explanations concerning his decision to study medicine. I will not rely on those proposed by the existent scholarship, which frequently relate his decision to his interest in technology and technique. On the contrary, by examining unpublished material, such as a series of lectures given between 1933 and 1935, I claim that the motivation of his turn has to be related to the readings of works in psychology and ethology undertaken during this period
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