Michael J. Fabricant and Robert Fisher: Settlement Houses Under Siege: The Struggle to Sustain Community Organisations in New York City

This is a fascinating book - clear, incisive, a lesson for our times. It focuses on the history and recent experience of Settlement Houses in New York and uses this as a vehicle for an analysis of the political economy of welfare agencies. I wanted to send copies to politicians and policy makers worldwide who, whilst claiming to support social inclusion, community regeneration and equal opportunities, formulate policies that fragment societies and oppress poor and vulnerable people.

Measurement of Neutrino Oscillation Parameters from Muon Neutrino Disappearance with an Off-Axis Beam

The T2K collaboration reports a precision measurement of muon neutrino disappearance with an off-axis neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. Near detector measurements are used to constrain the neutrino flux and cross section parameters. The Super-Kamiokande far detector, which is 295 km downstream of the neutrino production target, collected data corresponding to 3.01×1020 protons on target. In the absence of neutrino oscillations, 205±17 (syst.) events are expected to be detected and only 58 muon neutrino event candidates are observed. A fit to the neutrino rate and energy spectrum assuming three neutrino flavors, normal mass hierarchy and θ23≤π/4 yields a best-fit mixing angle sin2(2θ23)=1.000 and mass splitting |Δm232|=2.44×10−3 eV2/c4. If θ23≥π/4 is assumed, the best-fit mixing angle changes to sin2(2θ23)=0.999 and the mass splitting remains unchanged.

Observation of Electron Neutrino Appearance in a Muon Neutrino Beam

The T2K experiment has observed electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam produced 295 km from the Super-Kamiokande detector with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. A total of 28 electron neutrino events were detected with an energy distribution consistent with an appearance signal, corresponding to a significance of 7.3σ when compared to 4.92 ± 0.55 expected background events. In the PMNS mixing model, the electron neutrino appearance signal depends on several parameters including three mixing angles θ12, θ23, θ13, a mass difference Δm232 and a CP violating phase δCP. In this neutrino oscillation scenario, assuming |Δm232|=2.4×10−3 eV2, sin2θ23=0.5, δCP=0, and Δm232>0 (Δm232<0), a best-fit value of sin22θ13 = 0.140+0.038−0.032 (0.170+0.045−0.037) is obtained.

Toleranz und Humanität, ein Wort der Abwehr und Verständigung : im Jahre 1859

von [Josef] Aub

A catalog of high-impact windstorms in Switzerland since 1859

In recent decades, extremely hazardous windstorms have caused enormous losses to buildings, infrastructure and forests in Switzerland. This has increased societal and scientific interest in the intensity and frequency of historical high-impact storms. However, high-resolution wind data and damage statistics mostly span recent decades only. For this study, we collected quantitative (e.g., volumes of windfall timber, losses relating to buildings) and descriptive (e.g., forestry or insurance reports) information on the impact of historical windstorms. To define windstorm severity, normalized and declustered quantitative data were processed by extreme value statistics. Descriptive information was classified using a conceptual guideline. Validation with independent damage information, as well as comparison with wind measurements and a reanalysis, indicates that the most hazardous winter storms are captured, while too few moderate windstorms are detected. Strong storms in the wind measurements and reanalysis are thus added to the catalog. The final catalog encompasses approximately 240 high-impact windstorms in Switzerland since 1859. It features three robust severity classes and contains eight extreme windstorms. Evidence of high winter storm activity in the early and late 20th century compared to the mid-20th century in both damage and wind data indicates a co-variability of hazard and related damage on decadal timescales.

Die letzte Versammlung im alten und die erste Versammlung im neuen Gotteshause : zwei Vorträge vor und zur Einweihung der neuen Synagoge zu Wolfhagen am 28. Tischri 5620 (26. October 1859)

gehalten von L. Adler