University of Fribourg

About: University of Fribourg is a education organization based out in Fribourg, Freiburg, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Glacier. The organization has 6040 authors who have published 14975 publications receiving 542500 citations. The organization is also known as: UNIFR & Universität Freiburg.

Search for heavy Majorana neutrinos with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at √s 8 TeV

Abstract: A search for heavy Majorana neutrinos in events containing a pair of high-p(T) leptons of the same charge and high-p(T) jets is presented. The search uses 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8TeV. The data are found to be consistent with the background-only hypothesis based on the Standard Model expectation. In the context of a Type-I seesaw mechanism, limits are set on the production cross-section times branching ratio for production of heavy Majorana neutrinos in the mass range between 100 and 500 GeV. The limits are subsequently interpreted as limits on the mixing between the heavy Majorana neutrinos and the Standard Model neutrinos. In the context of a left-right symmetric model, limits on the production cross-section times branching ratio are set with respect to the masses of heavy Majorana neutrinos and heavy gauge bosons W-R and Z'.

Scaling descriptors for language proficiency scales

Abstract: This paper reports results from a Swiss National Science Research Council project which aimed to develop a scale of language proficiency in the form of a ‘descriptor bank’. Up until now, most scales of language proficiency have been produced by appeal to intuition and to those scales which already exist rather than to theories of linguistic description or of measurement. The intention in this project was to use an item-banking methodology to develop a flexible scale of stand-alone criterion statements with known difficulty values.The project took place in two rounds: the first for English (1994), the second for French, German and English (1995). In each year pools of descriptors were produced by analysing available proficiency scales. Through workshops with representative teachers, the descriptors were then refined into stand-alone criterion statements considered to be clear, useful and relevant to the sectors concerned. Selected descriptors presented on questionnaires were then used by participating teac...

A central neural circuit for experience-independent olfactory and courtship behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract: We have studied the function of the major central olfactory pathway in fruit flies. Key elements of this pathway, the projection neurons (PNs), connect the antennal lobes with the lateral protocerebrum both directly and indirectly, the latter via the mushroom bodies (MBs). Transgenic expression of tetanus toxin in the majority of PNs and few MB neurons leads to defects in odor detection and male courtship. Considering behavioral data from flies lacking MBs, our results argue that the direct PN-to-lateral protocerebrum pathway is necessary and sufficient to process these experience-independent behaviors. Moreover, the involvement of an olfactory pathway in male courtship suggests a role of volatile attractive female pheromones in Drosophila.

The small world yields the most effective information spreading

Abstract: The spreading dynamics of information and diseases are usually analyzed by using a unified framework and analogous models. In this paper, we propose a model to emphasize the essential difference between information spreading and epidemic spreading, where the memory effects, the social reinforcement and the non-redundancy of contacts are taken into account. Under certain conditions, the information spreads faster and broader in regular networks than in random networks, which to some extent supports the recent experimental observation of spreading in online society (Centola D 2010 Science 329 1194). At the same time, the simulation result indicates that the random networks tend to be favorable for effective spreading when the network size increases. This challenges the validity of the above-mentioned experiment for large-scale systems. More importantly, we show that the spreading effectiveness can be sharply enhanced by introducing a little randomness into the regular structure, namely the small-world networks yield the most effective information spreading. This work provides insights into the role of local clustering in information spreading.

The Politics of Pension Reform: Institutions and Policy Change in Western Europe

Abstract: European pension systems are increasingly under pressure. In this book Giuliano Bonoli examines policymakers' efforts to cope in a context where they are caught between public support for existing pension schemes and the expected inability to sustain current arrangements in the long run. The book explores the impact of formal institutions and decision-making procedures on welfare retrenchment and modernisation. It compares and assesses the process of pension policy-making in the UK, France and Switzerland, examining the factors that influence pension reform, and the relative impact upon the decision-making process of political parties and interest groups. The book provides a detailed description of new pension legislation and looks at the issues of demographic change, pension financing, and likely developments on the wider European level. This analysis of pension reform will be of interest to policymakers as well as students of the politics of the welfare state.