How to Run the Coupling in the Dipole Approach to the BFKL Equation

We use the dipole expansion to provide a systematic way of including the running coupling into the BFKL equation. In terms of a Borel representation, we obtain an expression for the kernel of the BFKL equation.Comment: 10 pages, latex, 1 figure, included. LaTeX2e compatibility problems fixed: no changes in content

Tune in to your emotions: a robust personalized affective music player

The emotional power of music is exploited in a personalized affective music player (AMP) that selects music for mood enhancement. A biosignal approach is used to measure listeners’ personal emotional reactions to their own music as input for affective user models. Regression and kernel density estimation are applied to model the physiological changes the music elicits. Using these models, personalized music selections based on an affective goal state can be made. The AMP was validated in real-world trials over the course of several weeks. Results show that our models can cope with noisy situations and handle large inter-individual differences in the music domain. The AMP augments music listening where its techniques enable automated affect guidance. Our approach provides valuable insights for affective computing and user modeling, for which the AMP is a suitable carrier application

Performance of the CMS Level-1 trigger in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

At the start of Run 2 in 2015, the LHC delivered proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13\TeV. During Run 2 (years 2015–2018) the LHC eventually reached a luminosity of 2.1× 10$^{34}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$, almost three times that reached during Run 1 (2009–2013) and a factor of two larger than the LHC design value, leading to events with up to a mean of about 50 simultaneous inelastic proton-proton collisions per bunch crossing (pileup). The CMS Level-1 trigger was upgraded prior to 2016 to improve the selection of physics events in the challenging conditions posed by the second run of the LHC. This paper describes the performance of the CMS Level-1 trigger upgrade during the data taking period of 2016–2018. The upgraded trigger implements pattern recognition and boosted decision tree regression techniques for muon reconstruction, includes pileup subtraction for jets and energy sums, and incorporates pileup-dependent isolation requirements for electrons and tau leptons. In addition, the new trigger calculates high-level quantities such as the invariant mass of pairs of reconstructed particles. The upgrade reduces the trigger rate from background processes and improves the trigger efficiency for a wide variety of physics signals

Southern European public bureaucracies in comparative perspective

The public bureaucracies of Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain may be set apart from the rest of West European bureaucracies. Until the mid-1990s, the former were distinguished from the latter by certain interrelated structural characteristics. These characteristics were extended politicisation of the top administrative ranks; enduring patronage patterns in recruitment to the public sector; uneven distribution of human resources; formalism and legalism; and, with the exception of Spain, absence of a typical European administrative elite. The characteristics were related to the type of capitalism and political development in Southern Europe. South European bureaucracies have started evolving towards decentralisation and privatisation. However, convergence with the bureaucracies of other EU member-states is an open question. © 2004 Taylor and Francis Ltd

The social effects of the economic crisis in the Western Balkans: A case study of unreconstructed welfare regimes

The recent economic crisis has led to a deterioration of the social situation in the Western Balkans. Already before the crisis, a combination of war and conflict, legacies of economic underdevelopment, labour market problems, inadequate social expenditure, and faltering economic growth had produced lingering poverty, unemployment, and income inequality. These trends can be explained in the context of fragmented and uneven welfare regimes that do not approximate any of the available types of welfare capitalism. From 2009 to 2012, the economies of the region suffered from a 'double dip' recession, which exacerbated earlier adverse social effects. Poverty, which had been partly alleviated before 2008, became extensive again, while unemployment has been on the rise over the last five years. Extreme poverty, new poverty, and youth unemployment are examples of the crisis' effects. In spite of this situation, the policy responses of West Balkan governments to the social effects of the crisis have been haphazard, while international assistance never considered the fight against poverty to be a major priority. Such a fight, however, calls for a combination of new, socially sensitive priorities on the part of international donors, including international financial institutions and the eu, and a more systematic 'welfare effort' by national governments in the region. A human security-based strategy will also be needed in order to avoid further deterioration in the living conditions of the poverty-stricken categories of the Western Balkan populations. National governments will therefore need to reconstruct the welfare regimes of the West Balkan states, which have been left incomplete since the transitions of 1989. © © 2014 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands