CAN CLIMATE KNOWLEDGE LEAD TO BETTER RURAL POLICIES AND RISK MANAGEMENT PRACTICES?

In many parts of the world, climate is one of the biggest risk factors impacting on agricultural systems performance and management. Climate variability (CV) and climate change (CC) contributes to the vulnerability of individuals, businesses, communities and regions. Extreme climate events such as severe droughts, floods, cyclones or temperature shocks often strongly impede sustainable agricultural development. Targeted and appropriately conceptualised climate knowledge (including seasonal climate forecasting and scenario analyses) can increase overall preparedness and lead to better social, economic and environmental outcomes. Climate variability occurs over a wide range of temporal scales. Our increasing understanding of the underlaying mechanisms means that some of that variability is now predictable. Research efforts are directed towards investigating phenomena such as the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO; 30-60 days), ENSO related variability (2.5 - 8 years), decadal and multidecadal climate variability and climate change

Calibration of Super-Kamiokande Using an Electron Linac

In order to calibrate the Super-Kamiokande experiment for solar neutrino measurements, a linear accelerator (LINAC) for electrons was installed at the detector. LINAC data were taken at various positions in the detector volume, tracking the detector response in the variables relevant to solar neutrino analysis. In particular, the absolute energy scale is now known with less than 1 percent uncertainty.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, Submitted to NIM

Measurement of a small atmospheric νμ/νe\nu_\mu/\nu_e ratio

From an exposure of 25.5~kiloton-years of the Super-Kamiokande detector, 900 muon-like and 983 electron-like single-ring atmospheric neutrino interactions were detected with momentum $p_e > 100$ MeV/$c$, $p_\mu > 200$ MeV/$c$, and with visible energy less than 1.33 GeV. Using a detailed Monte Carlo simulation, the ratio $(\mu/e)_{DATA}/(\mu/e)_{MC}$ was measured to be $0.61 \pm 0.03(stat.) \pm 0.05(sys.)$, consistent with previous results from the Kamiokande, IMB and Soudan-2 experiments, and smaller than expected from theoretical models of atmospheric neutrino production.Comment: 14 pages with 5 figure

Measurement of radon concentrations at Super-Kamiokande

Radioactivity from radon is a major background for observing solar neutrinos at Super-Kamiokande. In this paper, we describe the measurement of radon concentrations at Super-Kamiokande, the method of radon reduction, and the radon monitoring system. The measurement shows that the current low-energy event rate between 5.0 MeV and 6.5 MeV implies a radon concentration in the Super-Kamiokande water of less than 1.4 mBq/m$^3$.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Search for Neutral Q-balls in Super-Kamiokande II

A search for Q-balls induced groups of successive contained events has been carried out in Super-Kamiokande II with 541.7 days of live time. Neutral Q-balls would emit pions when colliding with nuclei, generating a signal of successive contained pion events along a track. No candidate for successive contained event groups has been found in Super-Kamiokande II, so upper limits on the possible flux of such Q-balls have been obtained.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to Phys. Lett.

On the use of double cross-validation for the combination of proteomic mass spectral data for enhanced diagnosis and prediction

International audienceWe consider a proteomic mass spectrometry case-control study for the calibration of a diagnostic rule for the detection of early-stage breast cancer. For each patient, a pair of two distinct mass spectra is recorded, each of which derived from a different prior fractionation procedure on the available patient serum. We propose a procedure to combine the distinct spectral expressions from patients for the calibration of a diagnostic discriminant rule. This is achieved by first calibrating two distinct prediction rules separately, each of which on only one of the two available spectral data sources. A double cross-validatory approach is used to summarize the available spectral data using the two classifiers to posterior class probabilities, on which a combined predictor can be calibrated

Measurement of the p-pbar -> Wgamma + X cross section at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV and WWgamma anomalous coupling limits

The WWgamma triple gauge boson coupling parameters are studied using p-pbar -> l nu gamma + X (l = e,mu) events at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The data were collected with the DO detector from an integrated luminosity of 162 pb^{-1} delivered by the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The cross section times branching fraction for p-pbar -> W(gamma) + X -> l nu gamma + X with E_T^{gamma} > 8 GeV and Delta R_{l gamma} > 0.7 is 14.8 +/- 1.6 (stat) +/- 1.0 (syst) +/- 1.0 (lum) pb. The one-dimensional 95% confidence level limits on anomalous couplings are -0.88 < Delta kappa_{gamma} < 0.96 and -0.20 < lambda_{gamma} < 0.20.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. D Rapid Communication

Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV using Kinematic Characteristics of Lepton + Jets Events

We present a measurement of the top quark pair ttbar production cross section in ppbar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV using 230 pb**{-1} of data collected by the DO detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We select events with one charged lepton (electron or muon), large missing transverse energy, and at least four jets, and extract the ttbar content of the sample based on the kinematic characteristics of the events. For a top quark mass of 175 GeV, we measure sigma(ttbar) = 6.7 {+1.4-1.3} (stat) {+1.6- 1.1} (syst) +/-0.4 (lumi) pb, in good agreement with the standard model prediction.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV using Lepton + Jets Events with Lifetime b-tagging

We present a measurement of the top quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) production cross section ($\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$) in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV using 230 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We select events with one charged lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse energy, and jets in the final state. We employ lifetime-based b-jet identification techniques to further enhance the $t\bar{t}$ purity of the selected sample. For a top quark mass of 175 GeV, we measure $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=8.6^{+1.6}_{-1.5}(stat.+syst.)\pm 0.6(lumi.)$ pb, in agreement with the standard model expectation.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables Submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Measurement of the ratios of the Z/G* + >= n jet production cross sections to the total inclusive Z/G* cross section in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

We present a study of events with Z bosons and jets produced at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider in ppbar collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The data sample consists of nearly 14,000 Z/G* -> e+e- candidates corresponding to the integrated luminosity of 0.4 fb-1 collected using the D0 detector. Ratios of the Z/G* + >= n jet cross sections to the total inclusive Z/G* cross section have been measured for n = 1 to 4 jet events. Our measurements are found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order QCD calculation and with a tree-level QCD prediction with parton shower simulation and hadronization.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, slightly modified, submitted to Phys. Lett.