Implementation and experience with luminosity levelling with offset beam

The practice of luminosity levelling with an offset beam has been used as a routine operation in the LHC since 2011. This paper will describe how it has been implemented and what has been the operational experience with the system.Comment: 5 pages, contribution to the ICFA Mini-Workshop on Beam-Beam Effects in Hadron Colliders, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 Mar 201

Climate change, relocation and the distribution of responsibility : in search for Kiribati's strongest connection

This essay addresses the needs of so called ‘climate migrants’. It focuses exclusively on the relocation of the population of Kiribati, a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean whose very existence is threatened by the effects of climate change. With the principles of causality, morality, capacity and community, Miller’s Connection Theory provides the study with a framework for discussing the distribution of responsibility. The communitarian principle plays a key role in the essay’s attempt to identify a particular agent with remedial responsibility. Further, the essay aims to be specific and straight forward, and therefore avoids vague expressions such as “wealthy nations” or “richer countries” when addressing the agents who are responsible. As a result, three specific nations are assigned remedial responsibility. Furthermore, the aim of the study is not only to investigate how responsibility for climate migrants from Kiribati could be distributed, but also to provide insight on the usefulness of Miller’s theory. Along the lines of previous research, the essay suggests that the capacity principle should work as a threshold when responsible agents are considered. It further proposes a way of using the Connection Theory by restructuring it to suit particular cases, where moreveral principles could work together as a treshold

Enjeux de la recherche sur le palmier à huile en Afrique

L'Afrique, qui fournissait 80 % des exportations mondiales en 1960, a pratiquement disparu des échanges internationaux. La supériorité des rendements en Asie du Sud-Est, les coûts de production trop élevés pour un produit dont le prix, en monnaie constante, a chuté avec l'expansion des productions asiatiques, des politiques agricoles trop rigides, peu incitatives et manquant de continuité ont fortement contribué à cette chute relative1. Pourtant, l'Afrique n'est pas sans atouts, il existe des pays à fortes potentialités comme le Nigeria et le Congo et un fort engouement des petits paysans pour la culture du palmier à huile dans des pays comme la Côte d'Ivoire, le Cameroun ou même le Bénin où les conditions de culture sont pourtant considérées comme à la limite du possible. (Résumé d'auteur