A modified standard embedding with jumps in nonlinear optimization

The paper deals with a combination of pathfollowing methods (embedding approach) and feasible descent direction methods (so-called jumps) for solving a non-linear optimization problem with equality and inequality constraints. Since the method that we propose here uses jumps from one connected component to another one, more than one connected component of the solution set of the corresponding one-parametric problem can be followed numerically. It is assumed that the problem under consideration belongs to a generic subset which was introduced by Jongen, Jonker and Twilt. There already exist methods of this type for which each starting point of a jump has to be an endpoint of a branch of local minimizers. In this paper the authors propose a new method by allowing a larger set of starting points for the jumps which can be constructed at bifurcation and turning points of the solution set. The topological properties of those cases where the method is not successful are analyzed and the role of constraint qualifications in this context is discussed. Furthermore,this new method is applied to a so-called modified standard embedding which is a particular construction without equality constraints. Finally, an algorithmic version of this new method as well as computational results are presented

Zero bias anomalies in point-contact characteristics of αt-(BEDT-TTF)2I3

The zero-bias anomaly in point-contact characteristics of the organic superconductor α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 is investigated as a function of temperature and magnetic field. It is found that the zero-bias anomaly is insensitive to magnetic fields up to 5 T. In contrast, a structure at 5 meV, conventionally designated as the superconducting gap - but which is 4 times larger than the expected BCS gap - is strongly affected by magnetic fields above 1 T

Determination of the electron phonon coupling and the superconducting gap in β-(BEDT-TTF)2X crystals (X=I3, IAuI)

We performed point-contact and tunneling measurements on the organic superconductors beta-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 and beta-(BEDT-TTF)2IAuI, in the normal and superconducting states. The point-contact measurement in the normal state provides the Eliashberg function alpha2(omega)F (omega). This function has maxima at 4 and 15 mV, as well as a sharp peak at 1 mV which seems to indicate a very soft phonon strongly coupled to the electrons. The measurements in the superconducting state provide the superconducting gap, which for the tunneling measurements has a value 2Delta/kB Tc=4, just slightly above the BCS value

Band structure calculation and tunneling measurements in (BEDT-TTF)2X (X=I3, IAuI)

At about the same time when little proposed room-temperature superconductivity in organic polymers, it was suggested that the high-Tc of the more conventional A-15's is associated with their one-dimensional electronic band structure. When TTF-TCNQ was discovered in 1973, it was suggested that the electron-phonon coupling in this 1-D organic molecular crystal is responsible for the metal-to-insulator (Peierls) transition at 52 K2, and reducing λ will cause a crossover to a superconducting state. Since then, the electronic structure, the conduction mechanism, and the superconducting mechanism were subject to controversy. Therefore, it is of some importance to establish whether the electronic band structure, and conduction mechanism, are similar to those in more conventional metals, and whether the superconductivity mechanism is the normal BCS phonon-mediated interaction

The GRAVITY+ Project: Towards All-sky, Faint-Science, High-Contrast Near-Infrared Interferometry at the VLTI

The GRAVITY instrument has been revolutionary for near-infrared interferometry by pushing sensitivity and precision to previously unknown limits. With the upgrade of GRAVITY and the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in GRAVITY+, these limits will be pushed even further, with vastly improved sky coverage, as well as faint-science and high-contrast capabilities. This upgrade includes the implementation of wide-field off-axis fringe-tracking, new adaptive optics systems on all Unit Telescopes, and laser guide stars in an upgraded facility. GRAVITY+ will open up the sky to the measurement of black hole masses across cosmic time in hundreds of active galactic nuclei, use the faint stars in the Galactic centre to probe General Relativity, and enable the characterisation of dozens of young exoplanets to study their formation, bearing the promise of another scientific revolution to come at the VLTI.Comment: Published in the ESO Messenge

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe