POOL File Catalog, Collection and Metadata Components

The POOL project is the common persistency framework for the LHC experiments to store petabytes of experiment data and metadata in a distributed and grid enabled way. POOL is a hybrid event store consisting of a data streaming layer and a relational layer. This paper describes the design of file catalog, collection and metadata components which are not part of the data streaming layer of POOL and outlines how POOL aims to provide transparent and efficient data access for a wide range of environments and use cases - ranging from a large production site down to a single disconnected laptops. The file catalog is the central POOL component translating logical data references to physical data files in a grid environment. POOL collections with their associated metadata provide an abstract way of accessing experiment data via their logical grouping into sets of related data objects.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 4 pages, 1 eps figure, PSN MOKT00

RISCHIO, CRISI E INTERVENTO PUBBLICO NELL'AGRICOLTURA EUROPEA

Esiste un’ampia discussione tra le Istituzioni Europee (Commissione, Parlamento e Governi degli Stati Membri) sull’opportunità di istituire un quadro istituzionale di riferimento a livello europeo per la gestione del rischio e delle crisi in agricoltura. Allo scopo di analizzare la posizione assunta dalla Commissione Europea nel Marzo del 2004, l’articolo discute della possibilità di istituire un tale quadro comune di riferimento date le prospettive cui si trova di fronte la Politica Agricola Comune recentemente riformata. Nel far ciò, vengono passate in rassegna le misure esistenti nei vari Stati Membri e vengono valutati i punti di forza e di debolezza delle opzioni avanzate dalla Commissione. La conclusione è che, dati i vincoli esistenti sulla possibile espansione della spesa in agricoltura, l’istituzione di un programma comune basato sul pagamento di integrazioni di reddito o di sussidi a premi assicurativi è molto poco verosimile. Prospettive migliori sono quelle per un intervento basato sul sostegno di fondi mutualistici tra gli agricoltorie, più in generale, su sostegni indiretti al credito, alle assicurazioni e ai mercati finanziari, orientati al rendere tali strumenti più facilmente accessibili per gli agricoltor

Fibre-reinforced geopolymer concretes for sensible heat thermal energy storage: Simulations and environmental impact

Power plants based on solar energy are spreading to accomplish the incoming green energy transition. Besides, affordable high-temperature sensible heat thermal energy storage (SHTES) is required. In this work, the temperature distribution and thermal performance of novel solid media for SHTES are investigated by finite element method (FEM) modelling. A geopolymer, with/without fibre reinforcement, is simulated during a transient charging/discharging cycle. A life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis is also carried out to investigate the environmental impact and sustainability of the proposed materials, analysing the embodied energy, the transport, and the production process. A Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach, taking into account thermal/environmental performance, is used to select the most suitable material. The results show that the localized reinforcement with fibres increases thermal storage performance, depending on the type of fibre, creating curvatures in the temperature profile and accelerating the charge/discharge. High-strength, high-conductivity carbon fibres performed well, and the simulation approach can be applied to any fibre arrangement/material. On the con-trary, the benefit of the fibres is not straightforward according to the three different scenarios developed for the LCA and MCDM analyses, due to the high impact of the fibre production processes. More investigations are needed to balance and optimize the coupling of the fibre material and the solid medium to obtain high thermal performance and low impacts

Schizotypy and the vicarious experience of agency

Sense of agency is the experience of initiating and controlling an action in order to influence one’s environment. It is widely accepted that various different sources of information contribute to sense of agency, including sensorimotor signals and external situational information. Moreover, it has been suggested that atypical experiences in sense of agency in schizophrenia are linked to changes in the relative influence of these agency cues, with external cues being more dominant. This study tests this hypothesis in a non-clinical population by investigating the relationship between schizotypy and performance on the vicarious agency task (a classic demonstration of the effect of external cues on sense of agency). We found that increased susceptibility to the vicarious agency illusion (i.e. an increased feeling of controlling someone else’s action) was linked to higher schizotypy scores. This supports the idea that aberrant experiences of agency in schizophrenia are linked to an increased sensitivity to external agency cues

Evolutionary Dynamics of Multigene Families in Triportheus (Characiformes, Triportheidae): A Transposon Mediated Mechanism?

Triportheus (Characiformes, Triportheidae) is a freshwater fish genus with 18 valid species. These fishes are widely distributed in the major river drainages of South America, having commercial importance in the fishing market, mainly in the Amazon basin. This genus has diverged recently in a complex process of speciation carried out in different river basins. The use of repetitive sequences is suitable to trace the genomic reorganizations occured along the speciation process. In this work, the 5S rDNA multigene family has been characterized at molecular and phylogenetic level. The results showed that other multigene family has been found within the non-transcribed spacer (NTS): the U1 snRNA gene. Double-FISH with 5S and U1 probes were also performed, confirming the close linkage between these two multigene families. Moreover, evidences of different transposable elements (TE) were detected within the spacer, thus suggesting a transposon-mediated mechanism of 5S-U1 evolutionary pathway in this genus. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated a species-specific grouping, except for Triportheus pantanensis, Triportheus aff. rotundatus and Triportheus trifurcatus. The evolutionary model of the 5S rDNA in Triportheus species has been discussed. In addition, the results suggest new clues for the speciation and evolutionary trend in these species, which could be suitable to use in other Characiformes species