High resolution infrared absorption spectra, crystal field, and relaxation processes in CsCdBr_3:Pr^3+

High resolution low-temperature absorption spectra of 0.2% Pr^3+ doped CsCdBr_3 were measured in the spectral region 2000--7000 cm-1. Positions and widths of the crystal field levels within the 3H5, 3H4, 3F2, and 3F3 multiplets of the Pr^3+ main center have been determined. Hyperfine structure of several spectral lines has been found. Crystal field calculations were carried out in the framework of the semiphenomenological exchange charge model (ECM). Parameters of the ECM were determined by fitting to the measured total splittings of the 3H4 and 3H6 multiplets and to the observed in this work hyperfine splittings of the crystal field levels. One- and two-phonon relaxation rates were calculated using the phonon Green's functions of the perfect (CsCdBr_3) and locally perturbed (impurity dimer centers in CsCdBr_3:Pr^3+) crystal lattice. Comparison with the measured linewidths confirmed an essential redistribution of the phonon density of states in CsCdBr_3 crystals doped with rare-earth ions.Comment: 16 pages, 5 tables, 3 figure

O futuro da profissão de auditoria

Technology is evolving at an unbridled pace, some sectors are not failing to keep up with this evolution. It is estimated that the information processed worldwide in the last 2 years represents 90% of the total information ever created. Software is replacing professionals all over the world, mainly in areas such as accounting, routine data processing tasks are performed without human input and automatically. As the audit profession is highly dependent on data analysis, it is important to understand the impact that this evolution will have on the auditor's life. This dissertation aims to describe the audit profession in this context of global technological evolution. The literature review made it possible to fit into important theoretical concepts and understand how these concepts translate into the audit profession. With the empirical study carried out, the objective is to demonstrate the impacts of these new technologies on the auditor's life. The empirical study was supported by a research with a quantitative analysis, through the use of an inquiry. Through this, it was possible to conclude that the new technologies, despite presenting new risks for the external audit, also present themselves as an opportunity to develop works with more quality and efficiency.A tecnologia está a evoluir a um ritmo desenfreado, alguns setores não estão a conseguir acompanhar esta evolução. Estima-se que a informação processada mundialmente nos últimos 2 anos representa 90% do total de informação alguma vez criada. Softwares estão a substituir profissionais pelo mundo inteiro, principalmente em áreas como a contabilidade, tarefas rotineiras de processamento de dados são desempenhadas sem contributo humano e de forma automática. Sendo a profissão de auditoria altamente dependente de análise de dados é importante perceber o impacto que esta evolução terá na vida do auditor. Esta dissertação tem como finalidade descrever a profissão de auditoria neste contexto de evolução tecnológica global. A revisão de literatura efetuada permitiu enquadrar em importantes conceitos teóricos e perceber como esses conceitos se traduzem para a profissão de auditoria. Com o estudo empírico realizado, procurou-se demonstrar os impactos destas novas tecnologias na vida do auditor. O estudo empírico suportou-se numa pesquisa com uma análise quantitativa, através da utilização de um inquérito. Através deste, foi possível concluir que as novas tecnologias apesar de apresentarem novos riscos para a auditoria externa, também se apresentam como uma oportunidade para desenvolver trabalhos com mais qualidade e eficiência

Status of the Lake Baikal Experiment

We review the present status of the Baikal Underwater Neutrino Experiment and report on neutrino events recorded with the detector stages NT-36 and NT-96.Comment: 5 pages, 4 PostScript figures, uses here.sty and mine.sty, submitted to the Proc. of 5th Int. Workshop on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics (LNGS INFN, Assergi, September 7-11, 1997

Registration of atmospheric neutrinos with the Baikal neutrino telescope

We present first neutrino induced events observed with a deep underwater neutrino telescope. Data from 70 days effective life time of the BAIKAL prototype telescope NT-96 have been analyzed with two different methods. With the standard track reconstruction method, 9 clear upward muon candidates have been identified, in good agreement with 8.7 events expected from Monte Carlo calculations for atmospheric neutrinos. The second analysis is tailored to muons coming from close to the opposite zenith. It yields 4 events, compared to 3.5 from Monte Carlo expectations. From this we derive a 90 % upper flux limit of 1.1 * 10^-13 cm^-2 sec^-1 for muons in excess of those expected from atmospheric neutrinos with zenith angle > 150 degrees and energy > 10GeV.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

The Lake Baikal neutrino experiment

We rewiew the present status of the Baikal Neutrino Project and present the results of a search for high energy neutrinos with the detector intermediate stage NT-96.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of Sixth International Workshop on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics (TAUP99), September 6-10, 1999, Pais, Franc

The Baikal Deep Underwater Neutrino Experiment: Results, Status, Future

We review the present status of the Baikal Underwater Neutrino Experiment and present results obtained with the various stages of the stepwise increasing detector: NT-36 (1993-95), NT-72 (1995-96) and NT-96 (1996-97). Results cover atmospheric muons, first clear neutrino events, search for neutrinos from WIMP annihilation in the center of the Earth, search for magnetic monopoles, and -- far from astroparticle physics -- limnology.Comment: Talk given at the Int. School on Nuclear Physics, Erice, Sept.199

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. Methods: We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of the Global Burden of Disease Study to estimate attributable deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and trends in exposure by age group, sex, year, and geography for 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2015. This study included 388 risk-outcome pairs that met World Cancer Research Fund-defined criteria for convincing or probable evidence. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. We developed a metric that allows comparisons of exposure across risk factors—the summary exposure value. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk level, we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We decomposed trends in attributable burden into contributions from population growth, population age structure, risk exposure, and risk-deleted cause-specific DALY rates. We characterised risk exposure in relation to a Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Findings: Between 1990 and 2015, global exposure to unsafe sanitation, household air pollution, childhood underweight, childhood stunting, and smoking each decreased by more than 25%. Global exposure for several occupational risks, high body-mass index (BMI), and drug use increased by more than 25% over the same period. All risks jointly evaluated in 2015 accounted for 57·8% (95% CI 56·6–58·8) of global deaths and 41·2% (39·8–42·8) of DALYs. In 2015, the ten largest contributors to global DALYs among Level 3 risks were high systolic blood pressure (211·8 million [192·7 million to 231·1 million] global DALYs), smoking (148·6 million [134·2 million to 163·1 million]), high fasting plasma glucose (143·1 million [125·1 million to 163·5 million]), high BMI (120·1 million [83·8 million to 158·4 million]), childhood undernutrition (113·3 million [103·9 million to 123·4 million]), ambient particulate matter (103·1 million [90·8 million to 115·1 million]), high total cholesterol (88·7 million [74·6 million to 105·7 million]), household air pollution (85·6 million [66·7 million to 106·1 million]), alcohol use (85·0 million [77·2 million to 93·0 million]), and diets high in sodium (83·0 million [49·3 million to 127·5 million]). From 1990 to 2015, attributable DALYs declined for micronutrient deficiencies, childhood undernutrition, unsafe sanitation and water, and household air pollution; reductions in risk-deleted DALY rates rather than reductions in exposure drove these declines. Rising exposure contributed to notable increases in attributable DALYs from high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, occupational carcinogens, and drug use. Environmental risks and childhood undernutrition declined steadily with SDI; low physical activity, high BMI, and high fasting plasma glucose increased with SDI. In 119 countries, metabolic risks, such as high BMI and fasting plasma glucose, contributed the most attributable DALYs in 2015. Regionally, smoking still ranked among the leading five risk factors for attributable DALYs in 109 countries; childhood underweight and unsafe sex remained primary drivers of early death and disability in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Interpretation: Declines in some key environmental risks have contributed to declines in critical infectious diseases. Some risks appear to be invariant to SDI. Increasing risks, including high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, drug use, and some occupational exposures, contribute to rising burden from some conditions, but also provide opportunities for intervention. Some highly preventable risks, such as smoking, remain major causes of attributable DALYs, even as exposure is declining. Public policy makers need to pay attention to the risks that are increasingly major contributors to global burden. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Ways to resolve the debt crisis of the eurozone through integration and disintegration processes

This article states the basic peculiarities of the behavior of the debt crisis in the Eurozone, and defines basic areas of overcoming this crisis. Based on the materials stated in this article, we made the following principal conclusions: The European Union is the most powerful and important economic and political union of states that plays the leading role in the global politics and world economy. The Eurozone formed in the European Union (economic currency union) consists of the strongest and rather weak economies. It affects the financial and economic state of the Eurozone (Euro-19), as well as the efficiency of managing state debt obligations. Further expansion of the European Union is characterized by the limiting factors, including by reason of the incompletion of institutionalization and integration processes in this economic and political union of countries. It creates new financial risks and potentiates the development of the debt problem. Solving the debt problem of the Eurozone has two variants (soft and tough models). The use of the tough model may finally cause the formation of the federative state (integration strengthening). It will affect national, economic, and political component of the European Union development. The use of the soft model can cause the disintegration, i.e. it will stipulate the exit of the economically weakest European countries from the zone. It will affect the reputation of the European Union and its positions in the world economy. Probably, in order to solve the debt problem, a complex of solutions will be used. It includes separate components of the soft and the tough models. It will also mean the transfer to a new institutional formation of the European Union, as well as legal basics of the economic and political union of European countries

Ways to resolve the debt crisis of the eurozone through integration and disintegration processes

This article states the basic peculiarities of the behavior of the debt crisis in the Eurozone, and defines basic areas of overcoming this crisis. Based on the materials stated in this article, we made the following principal conclusions: The European Union is the most powerful and important economic and political union of states that plays the leading role in the global politics and world economy. The Eurozone formed in the European Union (economic currency union) consists of the strongest and rather weak economies. It affects the financial and economic state of the Eurozone (Euro-19), as well as the efficiency of managing state debt obligations. Further expansion of the European Union is characterized by the limiting factors, including by reason of the incompletion of institutionalization and integration processes in this economic and political union of countries. It creates new financial risks and potentiates the development of the debt problem. Solving the debt problem of the Eurozone has two variants (soft and tough models). The use of the tough model may finally cause the formation of the federative state (integration strengthening). It will affect national, economic, and political component of the European Union development. The use of the soft model can cause the disintegration, i.e. it will stipulate the exit of the economically weakest European countries from the zone. It will affect the reputation of the European Union and its positions in the world economy. Probably, in order to solve the debt problem, a complex of solutions will be used. It includes separate components of the soft and the tough models. It will also mean the transfer to a new institutional formation of the European Union, as well as legal basics of the economic and political union of European countries