First observation of Λb0→ΛK+π−\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \Lambda K^+\pi^- and Λb0→ΛK+K−\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \Lambda K^+K^- decays at LHCb

The physics potential for $b$-baryon decays has been relatively unexplored until the advent of the LHC, and as such important questions still exist about their fundamental properties, such as whether their decays exhibit $C\!P$ violation. Presented here are observations of the decays $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \Lambda K^+\pi^-$ and $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \Lambda K^+K^-$, made at a significance level of 8.1 and 15.8 Gaussian standard deviations, respectively, and measurements of their branching fractions. The phase-space integrated $C\!P$ asymmetries of these decays are also measured and found to be consistent with zero. Limits are set on the branching fractions of other $\Lambda_b^0$ and $\Xi_b^0$ decays to $\Lambda h^+h^{\prime -}$ (where $h$ is a kaon or pion).Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 51st Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, 12th - 19th March, 201

The European struggle to educate and include Roma people: A critique of differences in policy and practice in Western and Eastern EU countries

Multiculturalism is an established feature of the UK and other European States since the establishment of the Treaty of Rome in 1959. Enlargement has brought EU membership from six (1952) to twenty eight members since its foundation, and allowed free migration across its borders. However, many countries, in spite of agreements to adhere to ‘democratic’ practices, deny minority citizens their full rights, particularly in education contexts. Some recent accession EU States have education systems that are less adaptive to expected policy responsibilities. It is a more unstable aspect of Eastern Europe because of the failure of many of these countries to reduce social and educational inequalities and to establish rights for minority groups, particularly the Roma. An educational focus is used as a platform to highlight issues re the segregation, and discrimination against, Roma children in Europe, typically through the use of special education, which is not suitable for them. Europe generally, both East and West has failed to fully integrate the Roma. Often, institutional blame is placed on Roma communities, rather than situate them socially and economically due to ingrained structural inequalities. Stereotyped categories are often used to ‘label’ them. Countries with high Roma populations, four in Western and five in Eastern Europe are evaluated and compared in relation to the education of Roma children

AUTOMATIC MUSIC TRANSCRIPTION USING ROW WEIGHTED DECOMPOSITIONS

(c) 2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works. Published in: Proc IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2013), Vancouver, Canada, 26-31 May 2013. pp. 16-20

POLYPHONIC PIANO TRANSCRIPTION USING NON-NEGATIVE MATRIX FACTORISATION WITH GROUP SPARSITY

(c)2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works. Published in: Proc IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2014), Florence, Italy, 5-9 May 2014. pp.3136-3140

The value relevance of disclosures of liabilities of equity-accounted investees: UK evidence

This study examines the value relevance of mandated disclosures by UK firms of the investor-firm share of liabilities of equity-accounted associate and joint venture investees. It does so for the six years following the introduction of FRS 9: Associates and Joint Ventures, which forced a substantial increase in such disclosures by UK firms. Since the increased disclosure requirements were partly motivated by concern that single-line equity accounting concealed the level of group gearing, and in light of previous US results, it is predicted that the mandated investee-liability disclosures have a negative coefficient in a value-relevance regression. The study also examines whether value-relevance regression coefficients on investee-liability disclosures are more negative for joint ventures than for associates and whether they are more negative in the presence of investor-firm guarantees of investee-firm obligations than in the absence of such guarantees. The study reports that the coefficient on all investee-liability disclosures taken together has the predicted negative sign, and is significantly different from zero. It finds little evidence that the negative valuation impact of liability disclosures is stronger for joint venture investees overall than for associate investees overall, or stronger for guarantee cases overall than for non-guarantee cases overall. There is, however, some evidence that the impact for joint venture guarantee cases is stronger than that for joint venture non-guarantee cases and stronger than that for associate guarantee cases

Changing numbers of three gull species in the British Isles

Between-population variation of changes in numbers can provide insights into factors influencing variation in demography and how population size or density is regulated. Here, we describe spatio-temporal patterns of population change of Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. fuscus) and Great Black-backed Gull (L. marinus) in the British Isles from national censuses and survey data. The aim of this study was to test for density-dependence and spatial variation in population trends as two possible, but not mutually exclusive, explanations of population changes with important implications for the understanding of these changes. Between 1969 and 2013 the three species showed different population trends with Herring Gulls showing a strong decline, Great Black-backed Gulls a less pronounced decline and Lesser Black-backed Gulls an increase until 2000 but then a decline since. Population changes also varied between different regions of the British Isles, with the Atlantic coast showing declines and the North Sea coast increases in all three species. Population changes were density-dependent in the Herring Gull, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls showed faster population increases at lower Herring Gull densities. Contrasting numbers of gulls nest in coastal habitats or on roofs (mainly in urban habitats). Herring Gulls seem to seek refuge in urban environments, whereas Lesser Black-backed Gulls expand their range into the urban environment. The large declines in hitherto abundant species create a dilemma for conservation bodies in prioritizing conservation policies. The spatial variation in population changes and the differences between species suggest that there is no single cause for the observed changes, thus requiring region-specific conservation management strategies

STRUCTURED SPARSITY FOR AUTOMATIC MUSIC TRANSCRIPTION

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