The NUSTAR project at FAIR

The FAIR facility, under construction at the GSI site in Darmstadt, will be addressing a wealth of outstanding questions within the realm of subatomic, atomic, plasma, bio-physics and applications through a combination of novel accelerators, storage rings and innovative experimental set-ups. One of the key installations is the fragment separator Super-FRS that will be able to deliver an unprecedented range of radioactive ion beams in the energy range of 0–1.5 GeV u−1. These beams will be distributed to three branches, each with its unique domain with respect to beam energies and properties. The high-energy branch will permit reactions with radioactive beams at relativistic energies, whereas the low-energy branch will supply decelerated beams for high-resolution spectroscopy, traps and laser spectroscopy. Finally, the ring branch will uniquely permit stored and cooled exotic beams for a range of methods only possible in a storage ring. Thus, by developing experimental set-ups tailored for these beams, there are several complementary possibilities to gain information on key nuclei and reaction, to further our understanding on contemporary questions within nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics. This ambitious programme is to be exploited within the nuclear structure, astrophysics and reactions collaboration

European RIB facilities - status and future

The European landscape of Radioactive Ion Beam facilities is currently in a transformation phase. Several existing installations are undergoing extensive upgrade programmes while construction of next-generation facilities are underway. This encompasses facilities based on both the in-flight and the ISOL techniques, though such traditional scopes are being modified by developments concerning beam handling and preparation. The facility developments are a consequence of the strong scientific potential demonstrated by experiments with radioactive ion beams in the last decades. This potential was recently highlighted in the European roadmap for Nuclear Physics, coordinated by the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC). A brief account of the main current facilities is made, including key instrumentation and future plans. The two major RIB facilities that are under construction in Europe, namely the NUSTAR part of FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) and SPIRAL2 at GANIL, are described. An outlook and roadmap for European ISOL-research according to the NuPECC long range plan, ultimately leading to the future EURISOL facility, is presented

Primary and Secondary Outcomes from a Double Randomized Clinical Preference Trial of two Panic-Focused Psychotherapies

Approximately 2-3% of adults in Sweden will experience unexpected panic attacks that cause them to develop fears of future attacks and to alter their lives, defined as Panic Disorder with or without Agoraphobia (PD/A). The condition often onsets in late adolescence or early adulthood, with high levels of psychiatric comorbidity, social difficulties, diminished study and work ability, an elevated risk for substance use, health problems, and mortality. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), including Panic Control Treatment (PCT), is the most evaluated and recommended treatment, however far from all PD/A patients complete or respond to CBT. A promising psychological treatment for PD/A is the brief Panic-Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (PFPP). Three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have found PFPP to achieve comparable outcomes to CBT for PD/A severity up to 12 months post-treatment. Further, well-designed RCTs comparing PFPP to CBT, involving longer follow-ups of psychiatric symptoms and broader indices of functioning are needed.Project POSE (Psychotherapy outcome and Self-selection Effects) was a doubly randomized clinical preference trial (DRCPT) designed to test whether patient preferences for either PCT or PFPP, delivered in routine care, influenced outcomes for the two treatments. Adults (n=221) with primary PD/A were randomly allocated to: 1) to choose either PCT or PFPP; 2) to be randomly allocated to PCT or PFPP; or 3) to a treatment Waitlist. The primary outcome measures were the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS), work status and sick leave, assessed together with secondary outcomes, at post-treatment, 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-ups. Treatment was delivered by 45 therapists trained in either PFPP or PCT. This thesis uses data from Project POSE to address three aims: 1) the relative efficacy of PCT and PFPP at post-treatment and during a two-year follow-up; 2) to explore apparent differences in the trajectory of weekly, self-reported panic symptoms in PCT and PFPP during the treatment phase; and 3) to investigate the effects of PCT and PFPP on Work ability and its relations with improvements in PD/A. Study I was the trial protocol and presented the theoretical and empirical justifications for a DRCPT of two psychotherapies for PD/A. Study II presents the primary and secondary outcomes for Project POSE at post-treatment and all follow-ups. Study III presents the results of an exploratory investigation of a resurgence of self-reported panic symptoms in the termination phase of PFPP (Termination Setback – TS) and patient characteristics that might help to explain the TS. Study IV presents the findings for the self-report Work Ability Index (WAI) and its relation to symptom severity and occupational status at post-treatment and during follow-up. Irrespective of assignment to the Choice or Random conditions, both treatments yielded clinically significant improvements for the primary and secondary outcomes, comparable to those found in previous trials of the two therapies. PCT was significantly superior to PFPP at post-treatment, possibly owing to a TS that occurred for patients in the PFPP treatment. Individuals with less avoidant attachment and less severe interpersonal problems were more likely to experience a TS during PFPP. However, PFPP was significantly superior to PCT during follow-up, so that the two treatments were equally effective at the 24-month follow-up for both the primary and secondary outcomes. Both treatments were well tolerated with no differences in drop-out rates. Further gains during the follow-up phase did not appear to be associated with further treatment seeking. High rates of employment were present at every assessment point, but significant improvement were observed for Work Ability at post-treatment and follow-up, apparently mediated by a reduction in self-reported panic symptoms during the treatment phase. Thus, it appears that a clinically meaningful reduction in panic symptoms is associated with significant improvements in the patient’s beliefs about their capacity in meeting current and future work demands

Pay-as-you-speed: Two Field Experiments on Controlling Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard in Traffic Insurance

Around one million people are killed world wide every year in road-traffic accidents. The risks and consequences of accidents increase progressively with speed, which ultimately is determined by the individual driver. The behaviour of the motorist thus affects both her own and other peoples safety. Internalisation of external costs of road transport has hitherto been focused on distance-based taxes or insurance premiums. While these means, as they are designed today, may affect driven distance, they have no influence on driving behaviour. This paper argues that by linking on-board positioning systems to insurance premiums it is possible to reward careful driving and get drivers to self select into different risk categories depending on their compliance to speed limits. We report two economic field experiments that have tested ways to induce car-owners to have technical platforms installed in their vehicle in order to affect the extent of speeding. It is demonstrated that a bonus to remunerate those that have the device installed, tantamount to a lower insurance premium, increases drivers?propensity to accept the technical devices. In a second experiment the size of the bonus is made dependent on the actual frequency of speeding. We find that this is a second way to discipline users to drive at legal speeds.Traffic safety, impure public goods, moral hazard, adverse selection, self selection

HIE-ISOLDE: the technical options

The ISOLDE facility at CERN has a long and successful tradition of continuous development and growth in order to meet the scientific requests from the user community. The current situation continues this habit and several projects to increase the scientific scope of the facility through technical developments are under way or envisaged within the medium-term future planning. These developments will result in a transformed facility with the label HIE (High Intensity and Energy)-ISOLDE where the intensity, quality, and energy range of the secondary beams will be substantially improved. They are largely in line with the necessary technical developments towards the future EURISOL facility. This report summarizes these development projects

Tactile Tourism: Tourist Attractions to Touch

The present article explores tourist attractions that include touch as a significant component of the tourist’s place-related experience. We have chosen to label this phenomenon “tactile tourism”. The tradition of touching attractions is not new but has been a central part of the experience of specific place-related interests for a long time. However, despite its frequent and often significant presence in tourist destinations, few studies in tourism research study the phenomenon. The article is based on a theoretical line of reasoning which starts from a few concrete examples of different places in Europe where we have identified tactile features relevant to tourism. The empirical material for our discussion has been collected partly through e-mail correspondence with tourist organizations in the places selected for the study and partly through articles in social media and other relevant secondary data. This tactile experience contributes a substantial share of the primary enticement of the attraction and simultaneously invests the place with meaning, which in turn attracts tourists

Forecasting Inflation: the Relevance of Higher Moments

We provide evidence that higher moments of the relative price distribution improve out-of-sample forecasts of inflation. Further, we show how theoretically consistent higher moments can be calculated by expanding the seminal work by Theil (1967). Results presented here are of direct relevance to monetary authorities, policy analysts and academic economistsrelative price distribution, higher moments, out-of-sample inflation forecasting

Characterization of the optical and X-ray properties of the northwestern wisps in the Crab Nebula

We have studied the wisps to the north-west of the Crab pulsar as part of a multi-wavelength campaign in the visible and in X-rays. Optical observations were obtained using the Nordic Optical Telescope in La Palma and X-ray observations were made with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The observing campaign took place from 2010 October until 2012 September. About once per year we observe wisps forming and peeling off from (or near) the region commonly associated with the termination shock of the pulsar wind. We find that the exact locations of the northwestern wisps in the optical and in X-rays are similar but not coincident, with X-ray wisps preferentially located closer to the pulsar. This suggests that the optical and X-ray wisps are not produced by the same particle distribution. Our measurements and their implications are interpreted in terms of a Doppler-boosted ring model that has its origin in magne- tohydrodynamic (MHD) modelling. While the Doppler boosting factors inferred from the X-ray wisps are consistent with current MHD simulations of pulsar wind nebulae (PWN), the optical boosting factors are not, and typically exceed values from MHD simulations by about a factor of 3.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure

Are flight paths of nocturnal songbird migrants influenced by local coastlines at a peninsula?

By recording nocturnally migrating passerines with tracking radar we have investigated how coastlines affect the migrants’ flight paths. Birds could use coastlines as an orientation aid or as a reference cue to compensate for wind drift while migrating. However, on the small scale of Falsterbo Peninsula in southern Sweden, we found very little effect of coastlines on migrants flight paths, irrespective of altitude. We tracked 2 930 migrants in three autumn and two spring seasons, at altitudes from 60 up to 3 000 meters. We compared tracks of migrants flying in three different areas, which correspond to the three main coastlines, and can demonstrate that the orientation of the tracks did not differ in a way consistent with the coastlines between the areas in autumn, and showed only a slight effect in spring. This is in accordance with earlier infrared device monitoring in Falsterbo, but contrary to earlier visual observations. It supports the view of nocturnally migrating passerines as mainly broad-front migrants. Even though the coastlines on the scale of the peninsula affected the flight paths very little, it is possible that the coastline has an effect on a larger regional scale, by migrants avoiding long sea crossings and thereby being funneled towards the peninsula, but this remains to be investigated

Divergence-free cut finite element methods for Stokes flow

We develop two unfitted finite element methods for the Stokes equations based on $\mathbf{H}^{\text{div}}$-conforming finite elements. The first method is a cut finite element discretization of the Stokes equations based on the Brezzi-Douglas-Marini elements and involves interior penalty terms to enforce tangential continuity of the velocity at interior edges in the mesh. The second method is a cut finite element discretization of a three-field formulation of the Stokes problem involving the vorticity, velocity, and pressure and uses the Raviart-Thomas space for the velocity. We present mixed ghost penalty stabilization terms for both methods so that the resulting discrete problems are stable and the divergence-free property of the $\mathbf{H}^{\text{div}}$-conforming elements is preserved also for unfitted meshes. We compare the two methods numerically. Both methods exhibit robust discrete problems, optimal convergence order for the velocity, and pointwise divergence-free velocity fields, independently of the position of the boundary relative to the computational mesh