Updated channel numbering and readout partitioning for the Silicon Tracker

The channel numbering scheme and readout partioning for the LHCb Silicon Tracker is updated to take account of changes to the detector cabling that have occurred since the start of DC'06. In addition, several typographical errors in the previous note have been corrected

On remittances, foreign currency exposure and credit constraints: Evidence from Nepal

In this paper, we investigate whether foreign currency accounts help overcome credit constraints in developing countries. We analyze a novel bank-level data set from Nepal, where a steady inflow of remittances has contributed to foreign currency deposits on commercial bank balance sheets. In this data set we find that: (i) Banks hedge their FX exposure by investing in FX assets. (ii) Banks also hedge indirectly via their sectoral lending composition: Banks with a large share of FX deposits primarily lend to firms in traded-goods sectors. They lend only little to the non-traded sectors, as well as deprived sectors of the economy that have been targeted by various support programs. While the direct impact of FX accounts on relaxing credit constraints thus appears small, and biased towards specific sectors, there is also a substantial indirect effect via the additional creation of domestic deposits - that benefits all sectors of the economy

A C source code browsing system

A project is described wherein a source code browser was implemented based upon tasks performed by software engineers looking for source code modules with only UNIX utilities. These tasks were discovered by observing the actions of software engineers looking for code modules in a library, The success of the implementation is judged based on a second observation of how effective engineers were able to locate code with the implemented system

Predictive Science Academic Alliances Program (PSAAP) Technical White Paper Turbulent Mixing and Hydrodynamics

The design of efficient, high-gain capsules for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and the modeling of supernova implosions and explosions requires a detailed understanding of the consequences of material interpenetration, hydrodynamic instabilities and mixing at molecular (or atomic) scales arising from perturbations at material interfaces, i.e., the Rayleigh-Taylor, Richtmyer-Meshkov and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (buoyancy-, shock- and shear-induced instabilities, respectively). From a computational point of view, this requires the development of models for hydrodynamic instability growth from initial perturbations through the weakly- and strongly-nonlinear phases, and finally, to the late-time turbulent regime. In particular, modeling these processes completely and accurately is critical for demonstrating the feasibility and potential success of contemporary ICF capsule designs. A predictive computational capability for the effects of turbulent mass, momentum, energy and species transport, as well as material mixing, on the thermonuclear fusion process in ICF entails the development of turbulent transport and mixing or subgrid-scale models based on statistically-averaged or filtered evolution equations, respectively. The former models are typically referred to as Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) (and related) models and the latter are referred to as large-eddy simulation (LES) models. The strong nonlinearity of the equations describing the hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, material properties and other multi-scale phenomena, together with the formal ensemble averaging or filtering procedure, introduce correlations of strongly-fluctuating fields and other a priori unclosed quantities that must be explicitly modeled to close the set of equations describing the implosion dynamics and burning of an ICF capsule

Effect of Spatial Inhomogeneities on the Membrane Surface on Receptor Dimerization and Signal Initiation

Important signal transduction pathways originate on the plasma membrane, where microdomains may transiently entrap diffusing receptors. This results in a non-random distribution of receptors even in the resting state, which can be visualized as “clusters” by high resolution imaging methods. Here, we explore how spatial in-homogeneities in the plasma membrane might influence the dimerization and phosphorylation status of ErbB2 and ErbB3, two receptor tyrosine kinases that preferentially heterodimerize and are often co-expressed in cancer. This theoretical study is based upon spatial stochastic simulations of the two-dimensional membrane landscape, where variables include differential distributions and overlap of transient confinement zones (“domains”) for the two receptor species. The in silico model is parameterized and validated using data from single particle tracking experiments. We report key differences in signaling output based on the degree of overlap between domains and the relative retention of receptors in such domains, expressed as escape probability. Results predict that a high overlap of domains, which favors transient co-confinement of both receptor species, will enhance the rate of hetero-interactions. Where domains do not overlap, simulations confirm expectations that homo-interactions are favored. Since ErbB3 is uniquely dependent on ErbB2 interactions for activation of its catalytic activity, variations in domain overlap or escape probability markedly alter the predicted patterns and time course of ErbB3 and ErbB2 phosphorylation. Taken together, these results implicate membrane domain organization as an important modulator of signal initiation, motivating the design of novel experimental approaches to measure these important parameters across a wider range of receptor systems

Measurement of the charge asymmetry in B±→ϕK±B±→ϕK± and search for B±→ϕπ±B±→ϕπ± decays

The CP-violating charge asymmetry in B±→ϕK±B±→ϕK± decays is measured in a sample of pp collisions at 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected by the LHCb experiment. The result is ACP(B±→ϕK±)=0.022±0.021±0.009ACP(B±→ϕK±)=0.022±0.021±0.009, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. In addition, a search for the B±→ϕπ±B±→ϕπ± decay mode is performed, using the B±→ϕK±B±→ϕK± decay rate for normalization. An upper limit on the branching fraction B(B±→ϕπ±)<1.5×10−7B(B±→ϕπ±)<1.5×10−7 is set at 90% confidence level

Stochastic interpenetration of fluids

We describe a spectral approach to the investigation of fluid instability, generalized turbulence, and the interpenetration of fluids across an interface. The technique also applies to a single fluid with large variations in density. Departures of fluctuating velocity components from the local mean are far subsonic, but the mean Mach number can be large. Validity of the description is demonstrated by comparisons with experiments on turbulent mixing due to the late stages of Rayleigh-Taylor instability, when the dynamics become approximately self-similar in response to a constant body force. Generic forms for anisotropic spectral structure are described and used as a basis for deriving spectrally integrated moment equations that can be incorporated into computer codes for scientific and engineering analyses

NNSA ASC Exascale Environment Planning, Applications Working Group, Report February 2011

The scope of the Apps WG covers three areas of interest: Physics and Engineering Models (PEM), multi-physics Integrated Codes (IC), and Verification and Validation (V&amp;V). Each places different demands on the exascale environment. The exascale challenge will be to provide environments that optimize all three. PEM serve as a test bed for both model development and 'best practices' for IC code development, as well as their use as standalone codes to improve scientific understanding. Rapidly achieving reasonable performance for a small team is the key to maintaining PEM innovation. Thus, the environment must provide the ability to develop portable code at a higher level of abstraction, which can then be tuned, as needed. PEM concentrate their computational footprint in one or a few kernels that must perform efficiently. Their comparative simplicity permits extreme optimization, so the environment must provide the ability to exercise significant control over the lower software and hardware levels. IC serve as the underlying software tools employed for most ASC problems of interest. Often coupling dozens of physics models into very large, very complex applications, ICs are usually the product of hundreds of staff-years of development, with lifetimes measured in decades. Thus, emphasis is placed on portability, maintainability and overall performance, with optimization done on the whole rather than on individual parts. The exascale environment must provide a high-level standardized programming model with effective tools and mechanisms for fault detection and remediation. Finally, V&amp;V addresses the infrastructure and methods to facilitate the assessment of code and model suitability for applications, and uncertainty quantification (UQ) methods for assessment and quantification of margins of uncertainty (QMU). V&amp;V employs both PEM and IC, with somewhat differing goals, i.e., parameter studies and error assessments to determine both the quality of the calculation and to estimate expected deviations of simulations from experiments. The exascale environment must provide a performance envelope suitable both for capacity calculations (high through-put) and full system capability runs (high performance). Analysis of the results place shared demand on both the I/O as well as the visualization subsystems

Study of the reaction pbar p -> phi phi from 1.1 to 2.0 GeV/c

A study has been performed of the reaction pbar p -> 4K using in-flight antiprotons from 1.1 to 2.0 GeV/c incident momentum interacting with a hydrogen jet target. The reaction is dominated by the production of a pair of phi mesons. The pbar p -> phi phi cross section rises sharply above threshold and then falls continuously as a function of increasing antiproton momentum. The overall magnitude of the cross section exceeds expectations from a simple application of the OZI rule by two orders of magnitude. In a fine scan around the xi/f_J(2230) resonance, no structure is observed. A limit is set for the double branching ratio B(xi -> pbar p) * B(xi -> phi phi) < 6e-5 for a spin 2 resonance of M = 2.235 GeV and Width = 15 MeV.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, Latex. To be published in Phys. Rev.