New results on direct CP violation in charged kaon decays by NA48/2

The NA48/2 result, based on the data collected during the 2003 run, on direct CP violation in $K^{\pm}\to\pi^{\pm}\pi^0\pi^0$ decay is presented. The main goal of the experiment is to reach a sensitivity at level of $10^{-4}$ in the measurement of the charge asymmetry parameter $A_g=(g^+-g^-)/(g^++g^-)$, where $g$ is the \emph{linear slope} of the Dalitz plot in the $K\to 3\pi$ decay. Thanks to the simultaneous collection of the two kaon charges and to the high resolution of the main sub-detectors, the systematics uncertainties are kept under the statistical error level. The experimental procedure, the analysis technique and the main systematics are discussed to present the final result $$A_g=(1.8\pm2.6)\times 10^{-4}$$ This result based on more than $45\cdot10^6$ events, correspondig to one half of the whole two year data taking, is about an order of magnitude more precise with respect to the previous measurement.Comment: Talk given to "Rencontres de Moriond 2006 EW" on behalf of NA48/2 collaboratio

Large Size Telescope camera support structures for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The design of the camera support structures for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) Large Size Telescopes (LSTs) is based on an elliptical arch geometry reinforced along its orthogonal projection by two symmetric sets of stabilizing ropes. The main requirements in terms of minimal camera displacement, minimal weight, minimal shadowing on the telescope mirror, maximal strength of the structures and fast dynamical stabilization have led to the application of Carbon Fibre Plastic Reinforced (CFPR) technologies. This work presents the design, static and dynamic performance of the telescope fulfilling critical specifications for the major scientific objectives of the CTA LST, e.g. Gamma Ray Burst detection.Comment: In Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). All CTA contributions at arXiv:1307.223

CERN Storage Systems for Large-Scale Wireless

The project aims at evaluating the use of CERN computing infrastructure for next generation sensor networks data analysis. The proposed system allows the simulation of a large-scale sensor array for traffic analysis, streaming data to CERN storage systems in an efficient way. The data are made available for offline and quasi-online analysis, enabling both long term planning and fast reaction on the environment

SLAng: A language for defining service level agreements

Application or web services are increasingly being used across organisational boundaries. Moreover, new services are being introduced at the network and storage level. Languages to specify interfaces for such services have been researched and transferred into industrial practice. We investigate end-to-end quality of service (QoS) and highlight that QoS provision has multiple facets and requires complex agreements between network services, storage services and middleware services. We introduce SLAng, a language for defining Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that accommodates these needs. We illustrate how SLAng is used to specify QoS in a case study that uses a web services specification to support the processing of images across multiple domains and we evaluate our language based on it

The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth in Developing Countries: Updates and Extensions

Using cross-country and panel regressions, we investigate to what extent gender gaps in education and employment (proxied using gender gaps in labor force participation) reduce economic growth. Using most recent data and investigating a long time period (1960-2000), we update the results of previous studies on education gaps on growth and extend the analysis to employment gaps using panel data. We find that gender gaps in education and employment significantly reduce economic growth. The combined ‘costs’ of education and employment gaps in Middle East and North Africa and South Asia amount respectively to 0.9-1.7 and 0.1- 1.6 percentage point differences in growth compared to East Asia. Gender gaps in employment appear to have an increasing effect on economic growth differences between regions, with the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia suffering from slower growth in female employment.gender inequality, growth, education, employment, discrimination

Precise service level agreements

SLAng is an XML language for defining service level agreements, the part of a contract between the client and provider of an Internet service that describes the quality attributes that the service is required to possess. We define the semantics of SLAng precisely by modelling the syntax of the language in UML, then embedding the language model in an environmental model that describes the structure and behaviour of services. The presence of SLAng elements imposes behavioural constraints on service elements, and the precise definition of these constraints using OCL constitutes the semantic description of the language. We use the semantics to define a notion of SLA compatibility, and an extension to UML that enables the modelling of service situations as a precursor to analysis, implementation and provisioning activities

A new approach to the spatio-temporal pattern identification in neuronal multi-electrode registrations

A lot of methods were created in last decade for the spatio-temporal analysis of multi-electrode array (MEA) neuronal data sets. All these methods were implemented starting from a channel to channel analysis, with a great computational effort and onerous spatial pattern recognition task. 
Our idea is to approach the MEA data collection from a different point of view, i.e. considering all channels simultaneously. We transform the 2D plus time MEA signal in a mono-dimensional plus time signal and elaborate it as a normal 1D signal, using the Space-Amplitude Transform method. 
This geometrical transformation is completely invertible and allows to employ very fast processing algorithms. 
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Measuring the Impact of Microfinance on Child Health Outcomes in Indonesia

Microfinance has become a staple of modern development policy as a means to facilitate anything from gender equality to growth. It can facilitate the sharing of health-related information among parents, promote the bargaining power of women in the household, aid in the development of important health-related infrastructure, and help households smooth consumption in the wake of unexpected economic shocks. Using data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (1993-2000), we find that the presence of microfinance institutions in communities significantly improves the health of children.Microfinance, child health, nutrition, Indonesia

Who fears competition from informal firms ? evidence from Latin America

This paper investigates who is most affected by informal competition and how regulation and enforcement affect the extent and nature of this competition. Using newly-collected enterprise data for 6,466 manufacturing formal firms across 14 countries in Latin America, the authors show that formal firms affected by head-to-head competition with informal firms largely resemble them. They are small credit constrained, underutilize their productive capacity, serve smaller customers, and are in markets with low entry costs. In countries where the government is effective and business regulations onerous, formal firms in industries characterized by low costs to entry feel the sting of informal competition more than in other business environments. Finally, the analysis finds that in an economy with relatively onerous tax regulations and a government that poorly enforces its tax code, the percentage of firms adversely affected by informal competition will be reduced from 38.8 to 37.7 percent when the government increases enforcement to cover all firms.Microfinance,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,E-Business,Banks&Banking Reform

Xeff analysis method optimization to enhance IACTs performances

The seek of high precision analyses in $\gamma$-ray astronomy leads to the implementation of multivariate combination, benefiting from several reconstruction methods. Such analysis, called $X_{eff}$, was developed for the H.E.S.S. data using three shower reconstruction methods. This paper presents the improvement granted to this analysis by refining the distribution calculation of discriminant variables, considering observation conditions, and adding new variables in the $X_{eff}$ combination. The efficiency of the analysis is presented using simulations and real data. A comparison with the standard analysis (model++), for a typical set of sources, shows a significant gain in sensitivity.Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2015), The Hague, The Netherland