The latest T2K neutrino oscillation results

T2K is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment taking data since 2010. A neutrino beam is produced at the J-PARC accelerator in Japan and is sampled at a Near Detector complex 280 m from the neutrino production point and at the far detector, Super-Kamiokande, located 295 km from the source. Beams predominantly composed of muon neutrinos or muon anti-neutrinos have been produced by changing the currents in the magnetic focusing horns. This presentation will show the most recent T2K oscillation results obtained from a combined analysis of the entire available data set in the muon neutrino and muon anti-neutrino disappearance channels, and in the electron neutrino and electron anti-neutrino appearance channels. The data cover runs 1 to 8 (2010 to 2017) and consist of $7.252 \cdot 10^{20}$ POT in neutrino mode and $7.531 \cdot 10^{20}$ POT in antineutrino mode. Using these data, we measure four oscillations parameters: $\sin^2 \theta_{23}$, $\sin^2 \theta_{13}$, $\Delta m_{32}^2$ and $\delta_{CP}$. The analysis excludes CP-conservation in the neutrino sector at 90\% C.L.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, proceeding of the EPS-HEP 2017 conferenc

Near contact phenomena and transient effects in far infrared photoconductors

A combination of experimental and modeling work is summarized in two areas: first, the calculation of excess free carrier and space charge distributions near contacts and their effects on device resistivity, and second, the characterization of a slow transient response (tau approx. 1 sec) in Ge:Be detectors which is due to trapping associated with Be(+) formation. In both cases, analytical models, based on continuity and rate equations, have been developed to enable the application of these findings to a wide variety of photoconductor materials

Performance and materials aspects of Ge:Be photoconductors

Ge:Be photoconductors were developed for low photon background applications in the 30 to 50 MM wavelength region. These detectors provide higher responsivity and lower noise equivalent power (NEP) than the Ge:Ga detectors currently operating in this wavelength range. Beryllium doped single crystals were grown by the Czochralski method from a carbon susceptor under a vacuum of approx. one million torr. An optimum detective quantum efficiency of 46% at a background flux of 1.5 x 10 to the 8th power photons/second (7 x 10 to the 13th power W) was reported. Ge:Be detector performance is strongly influenced by the absolute concentrations and the concentration ratio of residual shallow donors and shallow acceptors

Luttes de classement au CNRS

Si le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique est le centre du monde scientifique français, il a aussi failli être l'épicentre d'un séisme administrativo-scientifique. Il était, en effet, question de redéfinir sa géographie, de déplacer les frontières de ses "pays", d'en dissoudre les "clans" et les "tribus", de regrouper différentes "ethnies" dans des entités qui les transcendent. La secousse s'est transformée en un simple tremblement. Mais durant plusieurs mois, des corporations se sont mobilisées, des mandarins se sont offusqués, la technostructure scientifique a reculé et trois projets ont successivement été rendus publics

Niveau culturel et expression xénophobe

Parmi les différents facteurs explicatifs de l'attitude à l'égard des minorités ethniques, le niveau d'éducation est reconnu comme une variable décisive : plus une personne a fait d'études, moins il est probable qu'elle émette des opinions négatives à l'égard des immigrés. Cette relation est ancienne : le rôle de l'éducation dans la ténacité des préjugés raciaux est depuis longtemps établi. Dès la fin des années 1960, des chercheurs américains travaillant sur l'antisémitisme, après avoir systématiquement passé en revue les différents facteurs (catégorie professionnelle, revenu, âge, sexe, religion, région et race), susceptibles d'expliquer les préjugés antisémites, concluaient à la prééminence du niveau d'éducation. [Premières lignes du chapitre

Le maire de Paris en représentation(s)

Jacques Chirac a mis en scène la fonction de maire de Paris en prenant, pour l'essentiel, comme référence le modèle mayoral commun. L'iconographie et la rhétorique chiraquiennes témoignent de cette reproduction des stéréotypes municipaux. En harmonie avec ce modèle, il a privilégié une représentation d'un Paris villageois voire provincial érigé en symbole de la nation.Jacques Chirac staged his mayor of Paris' role using essentially the common mayoral model as a reference. The chiraquian iconography and rhetoric illustrate the reproduction of municipal stereotypes. In conformity with this model, he has privileged the representation of Paris as a village or even as provincial - Paris, symbol of the nation

The transformation of the French Right: Institutional imperatives and organizational changes

The creation of the UMP after the 2002 presidential election began a new cycle for the French Right. It can be characterized as the refoundation of a party by merger. The reasoning behind the partial unification of the parties of the Right can be understood only in terms of the hybrid nature of the French institutional system. The merger proceeded from a long-established system of cooperation at the legislative level, but the main motivation was the restoration of Jacques Chirac's authority over both his political camp and the institution of the presidency. The real test that this new party will face is the selection of a single presidential candidate. Although the party is not yet fully institutionalized, it is possible to identify changes that are already in effect and others that the new organization may potentially introduce. The merger was achieved through financial centralization, an element that distinguishes the UMP from previous electoral coalitions; it entails distributing positions according to various principles of representation and raises the question of how to institute pluralism and possibly, accommodate ideological diversity within the party

La refondation de la droite française à l'issue des élections 2002

Le cycle électoral 2002, constitué par l’élection présidentielle de mai et les élections législatives de juin, a non seulement permis le retour de la droite française au gouvernement mais a été l’occasion d’une transformation du système partisan par l’unification dans l’UMP d’un ensemble de composantes qui jusqu’à présent manifestaient la forte fragmentation de la droite en France. Le 23 avril 2002, au surlendemain du premier tour de l’élection présidentielle, un nouveau parti l’UMP est créé, il rassemble les formations constitutives de la droite modérée, à l’exception d’une partie de l’UDF autour de François Bayrou. [Premier paragraphe de l'article

L'électeur

La frilosité qu’a manifestée la Ve République dans l’entreprise de transformation du statut d’électeur en vecteur d’intégration politique tout autant que les tendances à la démobilisation perceptibles dans les usages de plus en plus intermittents du droit de vote ne permettent pas de célébrer la marche triomphale de l’électeur. En revanche, les institutions de 1958 ont été le cadre d’un profond renouveau de l’électorat, des orientations des catégories qui le constituent et des modèles d’intelligibilité qui tentent de donner du sens à ses comportements.The lack of enthusiastic attitude of the Fifth Republic towards the idea of making the status of the voter a factor of political integration and the declining mobilization which can be noticed in the increasingly sporadic use of the the right to vote do not lead one to celebrate the triumphant forward march of the voter. On the other hand, the institutions created in 1958 have offered a framework for a profound renewal of the electorate-of its various categories as well as of the models used to try to analyze and interpret its behavior

What political discussion means and how do the French and (French speaking) Belgians deal with it

The propensity of citizens to engage in political discussion is classically considered to be a basic component of democratic political systems (Lane, 1961; Almond & Verba, 1963). However, the renewal of academic interest in political discussion over the last two decades has been stimulated by research focused both on political participation and deliberative democracy. In the current debate over the consequences of everyday political discussion on citizens and democracy, the most common way to conduct research is to base it on declarations and find out patterns of causality between, on the one hand, how much citizens say they talk politics and with whom, and on the other hand, respondents’ characteristics (Mutz, 2004; Searing et alii, 2008; Huckfeldt and Mendez, 2008). Other researchers try to find out more precisely what these discussions are really made up of, what they are like, how citizens manage to discuss politics with others. There are different methods to approach this question: asking people to tell us about it (Conover, Searing and Crewe, 2002), observing people discussing politics (Gamson, 1992, Cramer Walsh, 2004), or both (Eliasoph, 1998). Our contribution belongs to the second category: we conducted focus groups in order to observe how “ordinary” citizens discuss politics. The design of this project differs from others notably because we set up the discussion in such a way that participants knew they were expected to discuss politics, but we then let them free to do it in their own way (or not). We will present and explain the research design in the first section of the paper. Our analysis of how participants did talk politics emphasises two processes: a process that which recalls deliberation, as debated in the framework of deliberative democracy, because it is a cooperative process of opinion building; another process that we call “conflictualisation” (section 2). We will explain how these two processes involve “raw material” of different natures, respectively opinions and cleavages (section 3). What chiefly characterises political discussion among ordinary citizens is the combination of these two processes, which can take different shapes (section 4). In the last and fifth section of this article, we will suggest some hypotheses regarding the influence of different social backgrounds and national contexts on the interweaving of cooperation and conflictualisation in citizens’ political talk.1. Introduction: Political Discussion in Modern Democracies from a Comparative Perspective Michael R. Wolf and Ken’ichi Ikeda Part 1: Deliberation and Discussion as the Object of Analysis 2. Dissecting Deliberative Democracy: A Review of Theoretical Concepts and Empirical Findings André Bächtiger and Seraina Pedrini 3. The Equality Paradox of Deliberative Democracy: Evidence from a National Deliberative Poll Kasper Møller Hansen 4. What Political Discussion Means and How Do the French and (French-Speaking) Belgians Deal with It? Sophie Duchesne and Florence Haegel 5. Participatory Budgeting, Discussion Networks and Political Information in Two Brazilian Cities Lucio R. Renno and Barry Ames 6. Local Partisan Context and Political Discussion Network Construction: Minority Party Loyalty Under Challenge Michael R. Wolf 7. Voters' Political Conversations During the 2005 German Parliamentary Election Campaign Thorsten Faas and Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck Part 2: The Consequences of Discussion and Deliberation 8. The Consequences of Discussion and Deliberation within Networks: An Introduction Ken’ichi Ikeda and Robert Huckfeldt 9. The Impact of Everyday Political Talk on Involvement, Knowledge and Informed Voting Gabor Toka 10. Patterns of Support for the Welfare State: The Role of Media and Interpersonal Communication in Direct Democratic Votes in Switzerland (1996-2004) Lionel Marquis 11. Social Networks, Voting and Campaign Participation in Japan: The Interpersonal Political Environment and the Autonomous Dimension of Social Networks Ken'ichi Ikeda 12. The Role of Political Discussion in Developing Democracies: Evidence from Hungary Oana Lup 13. Getting a Single Message? The Impact of Homogeneous Political Communication Contexts in Spain in a Comparative Perspective Laura Morales 14. Conclusion: Assessing the Role of Political Discussion in Democratic Politics in Comparative Perspective Ken’ichi Ikeda and Laura Morale