Results and prospects for Charm Physics at LHCb

Precision measurements in charm physics offer a window into a unique sector of potential New Physics interactions. LHCb is well equipped to take advantage of the enormous production cross-section of charm mesons in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. The measurement of the $D^0 -\bar{D}^0$ mixing parameters and the search for CP-violation in the charm sector are key physics goals of the LHCb programme. The first CP violation measurements in the charm sector, with 37 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected in 2010, are discussed. The study of $D^+ \rightarrow K^- K^+ \pi^+$ decays shows no indication of CP violation. The measurement of the proper time asymmetry in the time dependent analysis of $D^0\rightarrow K^-K^+$ and $\bar{D}^0\rightarrow K^-K^+$ is evaluated to be $A_{\Gamma}=(-5.9 \pm 5.9_{stat} \pm 2.1_{syst})$. The difference of CP asymmetry in the time integrated rates of $D^0\rightarrow K^-K^+$ and $D^0\rightarrow \pi^- \pi^+$ decays is measured to be $(-0.28 \pm 0.70_{stat} \pm 0.25_{syst})$.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of DPF-2011 Conference, Providence, RI, August 8-13, 201

Non-display uses of copyright works: Google Books and beyond

Copyright @ 2011 The AuthorsWith the advent of mass digitisation projects, such as the Google Book Search, a peculiar shift has occurred in the way that copyright works are dealt with. Contrary to what has so far been the case, works are turned into machine-readable data to be automatically processed for various purposes without the expression of works being displayed to the public. In the Google Book Settlement Agreement, this new kind of uses is referred to as “non-display uses” of digital works. The legitimacy of these uses has not yet been tested by Courts and does not comfortably fit in the current copyright doctrine, plainly because the works are not used as works but as something else, namely as data. Since non-display uses may prove to be a very lucrative market in the near future, with the potential to affect the way people use copyright works, we examine non-display uses under the prism of copyright principles to determine the boundaries of their legitimacy. Through this examination, we provide a categorisation of the activities carried out under the heading of “non-display uses”, we examine their lawfulness under the current copyright doctrine and approach the phenomenon from the spectrum of data protection law as could apply, by analogy, to the use of copyright works as processable data

Search engine liability for autocomplete suggestions: personality, privacy and the power of the algorithm

This article is concerned with the liability of search engines for algorithmically produced search suggestions, such as through Google’s ‘autocomplete’ function. Liability in this context may arise when automatically generated associations have an offensive or defamatory meaning, or may even induce infringement of intellectual property rights. The increasing number of cases that have been brought before courts all over the world puts forward questions on the conflict of fundamental freedoms of speech and access to information on the one hand, and personality rights of individuals— under a broader right of informational self-determination—on the other. In the light 15 of the recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) in Google Spain v AEPD, this article concludes that many requests for removal of suggestions including private individuals’ information will be successful on the basis of EU data protection law, even absent prejudice to the person concerned

Household costs of healthcare during pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period : a case study from Matlab, Bangladesh

A household survey was undertaken in Matlab, a rural area of Bangladesh, to estimate the costs incurred during pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period for women delivering at home and in a health facility. Those interviewed included 121 women who delivered at home, 120 who delivered in an ICDDR,B basic obstetric care (BEOC) facility, 27 who delivered in a public comprehensive obstetric care (CEOC) hospital, and 58 who delivered in private hospitals. There was no significant difference in total costs incurred by those delivering at home and those delivering in a BEOC facility. Costs for those delivering in CEOC facilities were over nine times greater than for those delivering in BEOC facilities. Costs of care during delivery were predominant. Antenatal and postnatal care added between 7% and 30% to the total cost. Services were more equitable at home and in a BEOC facility compared to services provided at CEOC facilities. The study highlights the regressive nature of the financing of CEOC services and the need for a financing strategy that covers both the costs of referral and BEOC care for those in need.This research was funded under the Cooperative Agreement No. 388-A-00-97-00032-00 with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (ICDDR,B Grant No. GR-00089). ICDDR,B acknowledges with gratitude the commitment of USAID to the Centre’s research efforts. Carine Ronsmans and Jo Borghi are funded by the Department for International Development, UK

Costs of publicly provided maternity services in Rosario, Argentina

This material is posted here with permission of the publishers, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material must be obtained from the Publisher.Objective. This study estimates the costs of maternal health services in Rosario, Argentina. Material and Methods. The rovider costs (US$1999) of antenatal care, a normal vaginal delivery and a caesarean section, were evaluated retrospectively in two municipal hospitals. The cost of an antenatal visit was evaluated in two health centres and the patient costs associated with the visit were evaluated in a hospital and a health centre. Results. The average cost per hospital day is$114.62. The average cost of a caesarean section ($525.57) is five times greater than that of a normal vaginal delivery ($105.61). A normal delivery costs less at the general hospital and a c-section less at the aternity hospital. The average cost of an antenatal visit is $31.10. The provider cost is lower at the health centre than at the hospital. Personnel accounted for 72-94$4.70. Direct costs are minimal compared to indirect costs of travel and waiting time. Conclusions. These results suggest the potential for increasing the efficiency of resource use by promoting antenatal care visits at the primary level. Women could also benefit from reduced travel and waiting time. Similar benefits could accrue to the provider by encouraging normal delivery at general hospitals, and complicated deliveries at specialised maternity hospitals.Josephine Borghi is funded by the Department for International Development through the Maternal Health Programme at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This project was conducted for and funded by the Human Reproduction Programme at WHO, Geneva

A heat island model for large urban areas and its application to Milano

The study of the urban heat island has been carried out through two new enhanced versions of the UCLM (Urban Canopy Layer Model) model, Landsat/Thematic Mapper data sets and meteorological data collected over a square area 30 km of side including Milan and its hinterland. The urban climate can be described in different summer and winter radiative settings. The input data are divided into two classes: 1) parameters related to urban and rural local properties (albedo and emissivity, vegetation index NDVI, surface roughness length, land cover...); 2) meteorological data related to the general synoptic conditions. The bulk system of the model is made up of four independent equations expressed in terms of four unknowns, i.e., the temperature values at ground level, canopy level and reference level (100 m) and relative humidity within the urban structure. The study area is divided by a regular square mesh of variable dimension (from 30 m to 1500 m); both the input and output data are average cell values. UCLM30 and UCLM60 calculate the temperature excess as well as the turbulent heat exchanges and the heat storage in the urban canopy as a function of the radiative and dynamic forcing. As can be observed in reality, the model shows that in summer the highest urban heating occurs in early morning and after sunset and that, in extreme conditions, the temperature can be up to 8 7C warmer in town than in the nearby rural lands

Evaluation of the recovery 15n-ammonium nitrate in capim-Marandu grass pasture and corn cultivated in a crop-livestock integration.

The study aimed at evaluating the total nitrogen accumulation and the nitrogen accumulated in the intercropping corn and B. brizantha evaluating the total nitrogen concentration from the fertilizer ammonium nitrate under different rates (15NH4NO3) applied in the forages plants after corn harvest, and the residual effect of this practice in the following corn crop in the next growing season