text:
The Italian by Shukri Mabkhout wins 2015 International Prize for Arabic Fiction
The Italian by Shukri Mabkhout was yesterday, Wednesday 6 May 2015, announced as the winner of the eighth International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF).
The Italian, published by Dar Tanweer Tunis, was named winner by this year's Chair of Judges, award-winning Palestinian poet and writer Mourid Barghouti, at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi. In addition to winning $50,000, Shukri Mabkhout is guaranteed an English translation of his novel, as well as an expected increase in book sales and international recognition.
Set in Tunis, The Italian tells the story of Abdel Nasser, nicknamed 'the Italian' due to his good looks. Against the backdrop of the protagonist's political and amatory exploits, the book sheds light on Tunisia's recent complex history, in particular the troubled transition from the Bourguiba era to the government of Ben Ali in the late 1980s. In a recent interview, Mabkhout told how he was inspired to write the novel by the events of the Arab Spring: 'Two years into the revolution... I remembered a recent period of Tunisia's history that is similar in its fears, changes and conflicts to what I was witnessing and living: it was the period of transition from the reign of Bourguiba to that of Ben Ali following the 1987 coup.'
Mabkhout, who has just turned 53, was born in Tunis in 1962 and currently resides there, where he is President of Manouba University. A well-known academic and intellectual, he has written several works of literary criticism, but this is his first novel.
The Italian was selected as the best work of fiction published within the last 12 months, selected from 180 entries from 15 countries across the Arab World. On behalf of the 2015 judging panel, Mourid Barghouti comments:
'The whole of Shukri Mabkhout's debut novel is as astonishing as its first chapter: piquing the reader's interest through a mysterious event in the opening scene, the book gradually reveals the troubled history of its characters and a particular period in Tunisia's history. The hero, Abdel Nasser, is complex and multi-faceted and even the minor characters are convincing and we believe the logic of their actions. However, his most striking creation is that of Zina, Abdel Nasser's wife: skilfully rendered as a blend of confidence and diffidence; harshness and love; strength and fragility. She is a highly individual character who, rather than being pre-conceived, clearly developed during the act of writing.
'The novel brilliantly depicts the unrest both of the small world of its characters and the larger one of the nation, as well as exploring themes of personal desire, the establishment, violation and opportunism. Whilst it lifts the lid on Tunisian society, the book may also surprise many of its Arab readers who may recognise aspects of their societies in its pages too. Gripping the read from the first line to the last, The Italian is a work of art and an important contribution to Tunisian, and Arab, literary fiction.'
The five other shortlisted finalists were also honoured at the ceremony alongside the winner; each of the finalists, including the winner, receives $10,000.
The six names on the shortlist were announced in February 2015, at a press conference at the Royal Mansour Hotel, Casablanca, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture of Morocco and the Casablanca International Book Fair, by the judging panel. The judges are: Mourid Barghouti (Chair), an award-winning Palestinian poet and writer; Ayman A. El-Desouky, an Egyptian academic, lecturer on Modern Arabic and Comparative Literature at SOAS; Parween Habib, a poet, critic, and media expert; Najim A. Kadhim, an Iraqi critic and academic, Professor of Comparative Literature at Baghdad University; and Kaoru Yamamoto, a Japanese academic, translator and researcher.
The Prize is supported by the Booker Prize Foundation in London and funded by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) in the UAE.
Professor Yasir Suleiman, Chair of the Board of IPAF Trustees, comments:
'The Italian is an accomplished novel. It never lets go of the reader who willingly follows its intriguing characters on their converging and diverging journeys through a world full of incremental surprises. Set in Tunis in the second half of the twentieth century, the novel meanders in multiple directions to create a complex picture of a world that resonates in the present. Mabkhout is a master of suspense. He does so in standard Arabic that is full of vitality and pathos, thereby defying the unfair criticism that the Arabic language is a bookish and fossilised mode of expression at odds with the modern world. Mabkhout is not only a great narrator; he is also a master of an elevated language that breathes life into every word he pens.'
Shukri Mabkhout was born in Tunis in 1962. He holds a state doctorate in Literature from the Arts College of Manouba, Tunisia, and is head of the Manouba University. He is on the editorial board of several refereed journals, including the magazine published by the Institute of Arabic Literature in Tunis (Ibla) and Romano Arabica published by The Centre for Arab Studies in Bucharest, Romania. He is the author of several works of literary criticism. The Italian is his first novel.
At the heart of The Italian is Abdel Nasser (nicknamed 'the Italian') and his mysterious assault on the Imam, his neighbour, during his father's funeral procession. The book's narrator attempts to uncover the motivations behind the attack, re-constructing his friend Abdel Nasser's troubled history from childhood. It looks at Abdel Nasser's time as a left-wing student at the University of Tunis, during the final years of the Bourguiba era and the beginning of Ben Ali's, through to the period of radical changes that subsequently rocked Tunisian society, when the dreams of a generation were torn apart by the fierce struggle between the Islamists and the Left. The novel reveals the mechanisms of control and censorship exercised through the press as well as the fragility of human beings, their secret histories and buried wounds.
Delivering on its aim to increase the international reach of Arabic fiction, the Prize has guaranteed English translations for all of its winners: Bahaa Taher (2008), Youssef Ziedan (2009), Abdo Khal (2010), joint winners Mohammed Achaari and Raja Alem (2011), Rabee Jaber (2012), Saud Alsanousi (2013) and Ahmed Saadawi (2014).
Since 2008, the winning and shortlisted IPAF books have been translated into over 20 languages.
The 2014 winner, Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, has secured English publication with Oneworld in the UK and Penguin Books in the US. It is set to be published in Autumn 2016. Saud Alsanousi's 2013 winning entry The Bamboo Stalk (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing) was published in the UK in April 2015.
For further information about the Prize, please visit www.arabicfiction.org or follow the Prize on Facebook.
The 2015 winner announcement took place on the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2015. Shukri Mabkhout will take part in his public event at the book fair on Thursday 7 May:
Meet the Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2015
Date: Thursday 7 May 2015
Venue: Discussion Sofa, Hall 12K50, Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, ADNEC
Time: 7.30-8.15pm
Host: Mr Achraf El Bahi
_Further information on the above events, as well as additional events at the fair, can be found on the book fair's website: www.adbookfair.com
About IPAF
The 2015 shortlist is as follows:
A Suspended Life	by Atef Abu Saif	from Palestine, published by	Al-Ahlia
Floor 99	by Jana ElHassan	from Lebanon, published by	Difaf Publications
Diamonds and Women	by Lina Hawyan Elhassan	from Syria,	published by Dar al-Adab
The Italian	by Shukri Mabkhout	from Tunisia, published by	Dar Tanweer, Tunis
Willow Alley	by Ahmed el-Madini	from Morocco	published by Al-Markez al-Thaqafi al-Arabi
The Longing of the Dervish	by Hammour Ziada from	Sudan, published by	Dar al-Ain
The first eight winners of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction are:
2008: Sunset Oasis by Bahaa Taher (Egypt)
2009: Azazeel by Youssef Ziedan (Egypt)
2010: Spewing Sparks as Big as Castles by Abdo Khal (Saudi Arabia)
2011: The Arch and the Butterfly by Mohammed Achaari (Morocco) and The Doves' Necklace by Raja Alem (Saudi Arabia)
2012: The Druze of Belgrade by Rabee Jaber (Lebanon)
2013: The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi (Kuwait)
2014: Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi (Iraq)
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is awarded for prose fiction in Arabic and each of the six shortlisted finalists receives $10,000, with a further $50,000 going to the winner. For further information about the Prize, please visit www.arabicfiction.org or follow the Prize on Facebook.
An independent Board of Trustees, drawn from across the Arab world and beyond, is responsible for the overall management of the Prize. The Trustees are, in alphabetical order: Marie-Thérèse Abdel-Messih, Professor of English & Comparative Literature at Cairo University, and Director of the MA Programme in 'Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies', Kuwait University (on secondment); Nujoom Alghanem, poet, script writer & a multi-award-winning Emirati filmmaker; Rasheed El-Enany, Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature and Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and Professor Emeritus of the University of Exeter; Amina Hachimi Alaoui, founder of Yanbow publishing house, Morocco; Khaled Hroub, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwestern University in Doha and Director of the Cambridge Arab Media Project (CAMP) at the University of Cambridge; Maher Kayyali, General Manager of the Arab Institute for Research & Publishing, Beirut and Amman; Michel S. Moushabeck, Founder and President of Interlink Publishing Group, Inc., writer, editor, and musician, USA; Zaki Nusseibeh, Advisor, Ministry of Presidential Affairs; Margaret Obank, Publisher and Editor, Banipal magazine of Modern Arab Literature, UK; Mohammed Rashad, Director of the Egyptian Lebanese Publishing House and Maktabat Al-Dar al-Arabiyya lil Kitab; Ahdaf Soueif, bestselling author and political and cultural commentator; Yasir Suleiman, Professor of Arabic, University of Cambridge, UK; Evelyn Smith, Company Secretary, Booker Prize Foundation, UK; Jonathan Taylor CBE, Chairman, Booker Prize Foundation, UK. The Prize's Administrator is Fleur Montanaro.
In addition to the annual Prize, IPAF supports an annual nadwa (writers' workshop) for emerging writers from across the Arab world. The inaugural nadwa took place in November 2009 and included eight writers, who had been recommended by IPAF Judges as writers of exceptional promise. The result was eight new pieces of fiction which have been published in English and Arabic by Dar Al Saqi Books in Emerging Arab Voices: Nadwa 1. Five further workshops have taken place in Abu Dhabi, in October 2010 and 2011 and November 2012, 2013 and 2014. A second book, Emerging Arab Voices: Nadwa2, published by Arab Scientific Publishers, was launched at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2012. All six nadwas were run under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Western Region, UAE. A number of former nadwa participants have gone on to be shortlisted and even win the Prize, including Lina Hawyan Elhassan from the 2015 shortlist and 2014 winner Ahmed Saadawi
The Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) conserves and promotes the heritage and culture of Abu Dhabi emirate and leverages them in the development of a world-class, sustainable destination of distinction which enriches the lives of visitors and residents alike. The authority manages the emirate's tourism sector and markets the destination internationally through a wide range of activities aimed at attracting visitors and investment. Its policies, plans and programmes relate to the preservation of heritage and culture, including protecting archaeological and historical sites and to developing museums, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. TCA Abu Dhabi supports intellectual and artistic activities and cultural events to nurture a rich cultural environment and honour the emirate's heritage. A key authority role is to create synergy in the destination's development through close co-ordination with its wide-ranging stakeholder base.
The Prize is also supported by the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair and Etihad Airways.
Etihad Airways began operations in 2003, and in 2014 carried 14.8 million passengers. From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad Airways flies to 111 existing or announced passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. The airline has a fleet of 116 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and more than 200 aircraft on firm order, including 69 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777-X, 62 Airbus A350s and eight Airbus A380s.
Etihad Airways holds equity investments in airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Aer Lingus, Alitalia, Jet Airways and Virgin Australia, and is in the process of formalising an equity investment in Swiss-based Etihad Regional, operated by Darwin Airline. Etihad Airways, along with airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Etihad Regional, Jet Airways and NIKI, also participate in Etihad Airways Partners, a new brand that brings together like-minded airlines to offer customers more choice through improved networks and schedules and enhanced frequent flyer benefits. For more information, please visit: www.etihad.com
Spokespeople for the Prize are available for comment. To arrange an interview, please contact Four Colman Getty:
Rosie Beaumont-Thomas (London): 0044 (0)20 3697 4330 / Rosie.Beaumont-Thomas@fourcolmangetty.com
Katy MacMillan-Scott (UAE): 0044 (0) 7786 567 887 / Katy.Macmillan-Scott@fourcolmangetty.com
For further information on TCA Abu Dhabi, please contact:
Eman Mohammed Turki, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority:
eman.turki@tcaabudhabi.ae / +971 2 5995203

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: How to send Gmail email using "send email" Rule Node in ThingsBoard Rule Chain? I'm using demo ThingsBoard version and I keep getting the same error when "Send Email" node tries to send an email.
Following error occurs:

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError:
  com.sun.mail.util.TraceInputStream.(Ljava/io/InputStream;Lcom/sun/mail/util/MailLogger;)V
  at
  com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.initStreams(SMTPTransport.java:2265)
  at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.openServer(SMTPTransport.java:2184)
  at
  com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.protocolConnect(SMTPTransport.java:740)
  at javax.mail.Service.connect(Service.java:291) at
  org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSenderImpl.connectTransport(JavaMailSenderImpl.java:518)
  at
  org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSenderImpl.doSend(JavaMailSenderImpl.java:437)
  at
  org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSenderImpl.send(JavaMailSenderImpl.java:361)
  at
  org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSenderImpl.send(JavaMailSenderImpl.java:356)
  at
  org.thingsboard.rule.engine.mail.TbSendEmailNode.sendEmail(TbSendEmailNode.java:105)
  at
  org.thingsboard.rule.engine.mail.TbSendEmailNode.lambda$onMsg$0(TbSendEmailNode.java:78)
  at
  com.google.common.util.concurrent.TrustedListenableFutureTask$TrustedFutureInterruptibleTask.runInterruptibly(TrustedListenableFutureTask.java:125)
  at
  com.google.common.util.concurrent.InterruptibleTask.run(InterruptibleTask.java:69)
  at
  com.google.common.util.concurrent.TrustedListenableFutureTask.run(TrustedListenableFutureTask.java:78)
  at
  java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask$RunnableExecuteAction.exec(ForkJoinTask.java:1402)
  at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask.doExec(ForkJoinTask.java:289) at
  java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool$WorkQueue.runTask(ForkJoinPool.java:1056)
  at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.runWorker(ForkJoinPool.java:1692)
  at
  java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run(ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:157)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Sony launched latest phone in market that is Sony Xperia C4 Dual. Sony Xperia C4 Dual powered by latest processor along highly advanced operating system Android v5.0 Lollipop Version and unique, user interface that easy to handle, it has 1.7 GHz Quad Core processor and graphics of phone is Mali-T760 MP2 and the chipset is Mediatek MT6752 and the Sensor of phone is Accelerometer, Compass, Proximity Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope.
Sony Xperia C4 Dual has 13 MP rear camera and user can capture the beautiful pics and capture all beautiful moment of his life with super clarity and the user can take super wide shots. It has 5 MP front camera and the user can click selfies and make high video quality and they share with his family and friends and this smart phone has LED flash and they record the video fully HD, @ 30 FPS high-definition video.
Sony Xperia C4 Dual has 5.5 inch HD, IPS LCD display and the resolution of display is 1080 x 1920 pixels and the pixel density is 401 ppi and they protect the display with Glonass and they allow the user to watch videos and play games comfortable. The user can update social networking site, play games online watch video online through wi-fi connectivity of the phone. The bluetooth connectivity of phone allow the user to share his data wirelessly.
Sony Xperia C4 Dual has 2 GB RAM and it has 16 GB internal memory and the expandable memory 128 GB with microSD card and the user can download a lot of data and store in his mobile and the user can play HD videos and play games without any problems. Sony Xperia C4 Dual phone dimension is 150.3 x 77.4 x 7.9 mm and the thickness is 7 mm and the weight of phone is 147 grams.
Sony Xperia C4 Dual smart phone is Dual SIM phone. The Connectivity options of Sony Xperia C4 Dual is Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth is v4.1, 3G, 4G, GPS with A-GPS, Glonass, GPRS, USB Connectivity with Micro USB v2.0. Sony Xperia C4 Dual has great capacity 2600 mah and the battery type is Li-Ion.


These pictures make me wanna burst into tears! Lil X is so blessed to have his cousins constantly dote on him and look out for him… Just so much love!
Kor Kor Gabe can't speak much but repeatedly points to Lil X and says Bay-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee and is always so affectionate to him. And when Axl accidentally pulls his hair (oops!), Kor Kor Gabe is always the most forgiving.
Jie Jie Amanda always asks to carry Baby Axl even though she barely has the strength to!
And Kor Kor Lucas, who is practically a baby himself and probably the least fond of babies, have somehow warmed up to X and has even shared one or two of his most most precious Thomas possessions… *Gasp!* If that ain't love, i don't know what it is!!
Some pics from our lil Bubble Parade that day… Glad to have Jie Jie Chloe with us too!


text:
#pragma once

namespace ABI44_0_0facebook {
namespace ABI44_0_0React {

enum class EventPriority : int {
  SynchronousUnbatched,
  SynchronousBatched,
  AsynchronousUnbatched,
  AsynchronousBatched,

  Sync = SynchronousUnbatched,
  Work = SynchronousBatched,
  Interactive = AsynchronousUnbatched,
  Deferred = AsynchronousBatched
};

} // namespace ABI44_0_0React
} // namespace ABI44_0_0facebook

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


'Tis the time of year where literally everyone wants your money, but it's always better to try and shop locally. The Big Design Market made that pretty easy for everyone in Melbourne over the weekend by bringing together some of the best designers for you to splurge on. Here are some of my favourites.


text:
Ian Cover
Ian Cover is a member of ABC Radio's Coodabeen Champions, now in their 23rd year of broadcasting. The Coodabeens present a football show on Saturdays and a national talk/music program on Sundays (7-9pm). Ian's work with the Coodabeens has been a major part of a varied career in the media and entertainment industries. He is in demand as a Master of Ceremonies and/or speaker at lunches, dinners, awards nights, corporate events and charity functions. Ian's anecdotes and observations on sport, media and life are delivered with his trademark relaxed and humorous style.
Ian's corporate clients include: Shell, Telstra, Ford, Holden, Herald-Sun, CUB, Nestle, NAB, Macquarie Bank, ANZ, National Mutual, Colonial, Salmat, Coopers and Lybrand, Arthur Andersen, MMI Insurance, Mitre 10, National Dairies, James Hardie, Mobil, British Airways, Nissan, Gillette.
Ian started his working life as a cadet journalist with the Geelong Advertiser before moving to the Herald and Weekly Times. He has written for all Melbourne's daily and weekend papers as well as writing columns for sports magazines. As an author, Ian has written two books with the Coodabeens and a best-seller about the 1993 Ashes series with former Australian Test cricket star Merv Hughes.
Apart from his radio work with the Coodabeens, Ian (in partnership with his Coodabeens' colleague Jeff Richardson) presents the breakfast program on 774 ABC Melbourne when Red Symons is on leave. Ian has also worked on breakfast radio in tandem with John Blackman on 3UZ and with John 'Sam' Newman and Darren James on 3AW. Ian's television credits are headed by hosting Footy Focus on Optus-TV and appearing as a regular guest on Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton.


Hanging basket out front on a rainy Monday.
My parents arrived for their first visit at the new house.
Watching boats on the Kanawah River with Grandma.
Spring wreath on our front door.
Dash helps with the lawn.


I love Diigo and can't live without SimplyBox.
Diigo is there for me in so many ways. Bookmarks are just the beginning. It is my new lifeline to Delicious (my backups of all backups), my research central, a big part of my PLN, and a vital teaching tool. I love the ease of bookmarking and annotating, sending to Twitter is also a perk. That said there are a few things I would really like to see in Diigo.
Bookmarking to multiple groups- So often I would like to bookmark to several groups at a time, but can't. This means bookmarking once for each group.
Easy list construction using tag bundles or something similar-I am too far gone with my bookmarking to go back into each one and add it to a list. Tag bundles are a great way to easily bring in content to a list. Can we have that please?
Easy user searches within groups- I use Diigo groups for teaching research and when I want to see what each member of the group has contributed, I would like to be able to search out that member, and have all the content they have added to the group appear. As it stands I need to go to each member's library or scroll through pages of group bookmarks and comments.
Citation Generator-Diigo would be the perfect tool for teaching research skills if it had a citation generator similar perhaps to Noodle Tools.
Sending to Twitter-might be a bit easier if the actual tweet was based on the description section of the bookmark. It would be important for this to remain editable of course, in order to keep things succinct.
SimplyBox is my Digital Teacher Toolkit. Only the best of the best gets in there, tools which I know I am going to use or recommend to others in our school, now or later on in the school year. I am very careful about its organisation and am trying to ensure that bookmarks have decent, if somewhat brief comments and a workable tag system. I love the fact that I can share my public url's directly to Twitter as well as on websites and with friends. Again, there are some changes that I think would make it ever more fantastic.
Sub Boxes or Boxes within Boxes-Presently I have things organised into crates which contain boxes, but I now feel the need to have a boxes within boxes in order to keep things organised in a hierarchy.
Shared Boxes-When having students share their boxes with me (They use it for collborative research much in the same way we use Diigo Groups.)I receive the emails, but only certain boxes actually appear as shared in my account.
Boxing to Multiple Boxes-Just like with Diigo, I would live to be able to box to several boxes simultaneously. At present I need to bookmark to each box separately.
Copy and Paste-I would like to be able to copy and paste bits and pieces of text from the comments box to the tags, twitter etc...instead of typing things out each time. It would be a real time saver if we could have this option.
Both of these applications are fantastic tools that no teacher or student should go with out. If you haven't checked them out yet, you are truly missing out on the organizational and collaborative power they offer. If used effectively both applications can act as the foundation for teacher digital toolkit as well as potent teaching tools.


text:
\section{Introduction}
\label{introduction}

Assessing the neutrino mass scale is one of the major challenges in
today particle physics and astrophysics. Although neutrino oscillation
experiments have clearly shown that there are at least three neutrinos
with different masses, their absolute values remain unknown.
Neutrino flavor oscillations are sensitive to the difference between the
squares of neutrino mass eigenvalues and have been measured by solar,
atmospheric, reactor, and accelerator experiments \cite{oscillations}.
Combining such results, however, does not lead to an absolute value for
the eigenmasses, and a dichotomy between two possible scenarios,
dubbed "normal" and "inverted" hierarchies, exists.
The scenario could be complicated further by the possible existence of
additional "sterile" neutrino eigenvalues at different mass scales \cite{SterileNu}.

The value of the neutrino mass has many implications, from cosmology
to the Standard Model of particle physics. In cosmology the neutrino mass affects the
formation of large-scale structure in the universe. In particular,
 neutrinos tend to damp structure clustering, before they have cooled sufficiently
to become non-relativistic,
with an effect that is dependent on their mass \cite{nu-structureformation}.
In the framework of $\Lambda$-CDM cosmology, the scale dependence of
clustering observed in the Universe can, indeed, be used to set an
upper limit on the neutrino mass sum in the range between about 0.3 and
2\,eV \cite{nu-CMB},
although this value is strongly model-dependent. In
particle physics,
a determination of the absolute scale of neutrino masses would
help shedding light on the mechanisms of mass generation.

For years, laboratory experiments based on the study of proper
nuclear processes have been used to directly measure the neutrino
masses. In particular, single beta decay has been, historically,
the traditional and most direct method to investigate the electron
(anti)neutrino mass \cite{betaendpoint}. Neutrinoless double beta decay has also been
suggested as a powerful tool to measure the electron neutrino mass,
although the decay itself, and thus its efficacy at measuring the
neutrino mass, is dependent on the assumption that
the neutrino is, in fact, a Majorana particle \cite{bb-Majorana}.

To date, the study of the beta decay of $^3$H using electrostatic
spectrometers has been the most sensitive approach, yielding an
upper limit on the electron anti-neutrino mass of 2.2\,eV/$c^2$ \cite{MainzTroitsk}.
In the near future, the new experiment KATRIN will analyze the $^3$H
beta decay end-point with a much more sensitive electrostatic
spectrometer and an expected statistical sensitivity of about
0.2\,eV/$c^2$ \cite{KATRIN}.

The calorimetric measurement of the beta decay of $^{187}$Re using
cryogenic microcalorimeters has also been successfully used \cite{renioExp},
and a new experiment, MARE, is planned to have a sensitivity for
the neutrino mass comparable to that of KATRIN \cite{MARE}.
Although a calorimetric experiment is not affected by the many
systematic uncertainties that plagued electrostatic spectrometers
in the past, the very nature of the experiments requires that
all decays are being measured, not only those with energy near to the end-point.
 To maximize the useful
 experimental statistics, a calorimetric
experiment thus requires an isotope with very low end-point energy,
hence the choice of $^{187}$Re, with an end-point energy of about
2.5\,keV \cite{renioExp}.

The potential of MARE is quite promising and its first phase is
well under way. However, its full implementation and, more important,
its extension beyond the 0.2\,eV/$c^2$ limit currently planned, are
strongly affected by the long decay time of $^{187}$Re.
With a half-life comparable to the age of the Universe -- about $43\times10^9$\,years \cite{renioExp} --,
the mass of radioactive material necessary to reach the high
statistics required by the experiment in a reasonable amount of time
puts serious constraints on the experimental design and fabrication \cite{Nucciotti-Sens}.

It was suggested thirty years ago that electron capture (EC) decays with
low $Q$--values could be used as an alternative to single beta decay
for the direct determination of the electron neutrino mass. In 1981 a group at Princeton University \cite{Bennett:1981} tried to obtain a limit on the electron neutrino mass measuring the X-rays emitted after EC of electrons in different levels. In the same year  De R$\acute{\rm u}$jula \cite{DeRujula:1981ti} proposed to
measure the spectra of photons emitted by inner brehmsstrahlung in EC decays
(IBEC) with the K shell capture forbidden, and an experimental activity followed \cite{Jonson:1982gr}.
 The spectrum of emitted Auger
 electrons was  also considered  later \cite{DeRujula:1982bq}. The most appealing suggestion,
that we will follow in this Letter, considers a calorimetric experiment, where
all the de-excitation energy is recorded \cite{DeRujula:1982qt}.

The EC decay of $^{163}$Ho to $^{163}$Dy is the decay with the lowest
known $Q$--value and its half--life of a few thousand
years is much less than the $^{187}$Re one. Detailed theoretical calculations
and sensitivity to the neutrino mass in the $^{163}$Ho case are
reported in \cite{DeRujula:1982qt}.
In 1997 the $^{163}$Ho decay was measured using cryogenic microcalorimeters
\cite{GattiHo:1997} and in 2008 its use was suggested included
in the framework of the MARE experiment \cite{MARE-Ho:2008}.
More recently, a similar, parallel effort with magnetic
microcalorimeters has also started \cite{Ranitzsch}.
Unfortunately, at this time the
experimental measurements of the $Q$--value range from about
2.2\,keV to 2.8\,keV, an uncertainty that translates to a factor 3 to 4 on the
neutrino mass sensitivity achievable by a Holmium experiment.

In this paper we discuss the potential of an experiment to measure the
electron neutrino mass with sub-eV sensitivity by studying the electron
capture decay of $^{163}$Ho with cryogenic microcalorimeters.
In particular, we will introduce the experiment's concept, discuss
the technical requirements, and identify a roadmap to
reach a sensitivity of 0.1\,eV/$c^2$ and beyond.

\section{Measuring the electron neutrino mass
through the $^{163}$Ho electron capture decay}
\label{section2}

There are at least three proposed independent methods to assess the
neutrino mass from the $^{163}$Ho EC decay:
\begin{enumerate}
\item{Absolute M capture rates or M/N capture rate ratios \cite{Bennett:1981};}
\item{Inner Bremsstrahlung (IB) end-point \cite{DeRujula:1981ti};}
\item{Total (calorimetric) absorption spectrum end-point \cite{DeRujula:1982qt}.}
\end{enumerate}

\subsection*{Absolute M capture rates or M/N capture rate ratios}

All the experimental research so far has focused on the atomic
emissions - photons and electrons - following the EC to exploit the
possibility of constraining simultaneously the transition $Q$ and the neutrino
mass from the relative probabilities of M and N shell capture or absolute M
capture rate \cite{Bennett:1981, expHo,HN}.

The EC decay rate can be expressed, following  \cite{Bambynek:1977zz}, as a sum
over the possible levels of the  captured electron:
\begin{eqnarray}
\lambda_{EC} &=& {G_{\beta}^2 \over {4 \pi^2}} \; \sum_i n_i \, C_i\,  \beta_i^2 B_i\times\nonumber\\
&& (Q-E_i)[(Q-E_i)^2-m_{\nu}^2]^{1/2} \; ,
\label{ECrate}
\end{eqnarray}
where $G_{\beta} = G_F \cos \theta_C$, $n_i$ is the fraction
of occupancy of the $i$-th atomic shell, $C_i $ is the nuclear shape factor,
$\beta_i$ is the Coulomb amplitude of the electron radial wave function
(essentially, the modulus of the wave function at the origin) and $B_i$
is an atomic  correction for electron exchange and overlap.
Note that  in eq.(\ref{ECrate}) there is a dependence on the neutrino mass for any single contribution in the sum.

\subsection*{Inner Bremsstrahlung end-point}

In beta decays, the neutrino mass can be measured because of the presence,
in the rate, of the phase space factor for the antineutrino:
$E_{\nu} \cdot p_{\nu} \simeq (Q-E_e) \cdot  \sqrt{(Q-E_e)^2-m_{\nu}^2}$.
An analogous factor appears in the expressions for the rate of IBEC
(where the electron energy is replaced by the emitted photon energy)
and of the EC decay with Auger electron emission.
So far, only one experiment measured the $^{163}$Ho IBEC spectrum,
but the sensitivity at the end-point was impaired by background \cite{IBEC_exp}.

\subsection*{Calorimetric absorption spectrum end-point}

In a calorimetric experiment the same neutrino phase space factor appears, with the total de-excitation energy replacing the energy of the electron.
Although at a first glance  the calorimetric spectrum for EC decays
may appear as a series of lines
at energies $E_i$, where $E_i$ is the ionization energy of the
captured electron, these lines have a natural width of a
few eV and therefore the actual spectrum is a continuum with
marked peaks (see Fig. 1). If the $Q$--value of the decay happens to be close to one of the $E_i$,
the rate near to the endpoint, where the neutrino mass effects are relevant, will be greatly enhanced.

\begin{figure}[ht]
 \centering
  \includegraphics[clip=true,width=0.45\textwidth ]{spectrum.eps}
 \caption{ Expected de--excitation energy spectrum of the  EC decay of $^{163}$Ho with $Q=2.5$~keV.  Detector resolution effects are not included. The parameters used in the calculation are given in Section \ref{section3}.
 }
 \label{fig:fig1}
\end{figure}

The distribution in de--excitation (calorimetric) energy $E_c$ is expected to be
\begin {eqnarray}
\label{E_c-distr}
{d \lambda_{EC}\over dE_c} &=& {G_{\beta}^2 \over {4 \pi^2}}(Q-E_c) \sqrt{(Q-E_c)^2-m_{\nu}^2} \;
\times  \\
&& \sum_i n_i  C_i \beta_i^2 B_i {\Gamma_i \over 2\,\pi}{1 \over (E_c-E_i)^2+\Gamma_i^2/4} \,,
\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
an expression derived in ref.\cite{DeRujula:1982qt}, where numerical checks to test the
validity of the approximations made were also presented.
As one can see, the very heights of the peaks in the energy distribution
depend on the neutrino mass. The dependence is however too weak - for $Q$--values
around 2.5~keV - to allow its determination.

To date there are only three calorimetric absorption measurements
reported in the literature:
\begin{enumerate}
\item{the ISOLDE collaboration used a Si(Li) detector with an implanted source \cite{Ravn:1984xj};}
\item{Hartman and Naumann used a high temperature proportional counter with organometallic gas \cite{HN};}
\item{Gatti et al. used a cryogenic calorimeter with a sandwiched source \cite{GattiHo:1997}.}
\end{enumerate}
However, none of these experiments had the sensitivity required for an
end-point measurement and therefore they all gave results in terms of
capture rate ratios.
The most evident limitations of these experiments were statistics and
energy resolution.
One further serious trouble for the Si(Li) and cryogenic detectors was
incomplete energy detection caused by implant damages and  weak
thermal coupling of the source, respectively.

Despite the shortcomings of previous calorimetric experiments, and
theoretical and experimental uncertainties, a calorimetric absorption
experiment seems the only way to achieve sub-eV sensitivity for the
neutrino mass.
Moreover, cryogenic microcalorimeters have reached the necessary maturity to
be used in a large scale experiment with good energy and
time resolution and are therefore the detector of choice for a
sub-eV Holmium experiment.

\section{A roadmap for a Holmium Experiment}
\label{section2}

The road to achieve a sensitivity on the electron neutrino mass of
0.1 eV/$c^2$ and beyond can be divided into two parts. The first one
is the demonstration of the feasibility of such an experiment, the second
one is the actual design and construction. In this section we discuss the
steps necessary to demostrate the feasibility of a Holmium experiment,
while in the next we will focus on the actual experiment requirements.
We have identified four major steps necessary to demostrate the feasibility of
a Holmium experiment, we discuss them in details in the following subsections.

\subsection{The $Q$-value of the decay}

The statistical
sensitivity of the  $^{163}$Ho spectrum to the mass of the electron neutrino
is strongly dependent on the $Q$--value of the reaction.
The smaller the $Q$--value (and thus closer to the energy of the M-peak)
the more sensitive the experiment will be.
As discussed before, at this time the $Q$--values obtained by means of the
capture ratios are affected by large uncertainties both because of the
error on the theoretical atomic physics factors involved and because of the
correlation with the neutrino mass.
The various $Q$ determinations span from 2.2 to 2.8\,keV  and the
current recommended value is 2.555$\pm$0.016 keV \cite{NDS}.

The first necessary step in the desing and implementation of a Holmium experiment
is an accurate, calorimetric measurement of the $Q$--value.
The easiest, and most straightforward way to measure it is using a cryogenic
microcalorimeter similar to the one suggested for the full implementation of
the experiment.
Due to the looser constraints of the measurement, however, a single detector would
be sufficient and the requirements on energy resolution could be significantly relaxed.
The statistics necessary to establih with high accuracy the end-point of the full calorimetric spectrum depends
on the $Q$-value itself. Using a detector with energy resolution of 10\,eV, about $5\times10^5$ counts would be
sufficient to determine the spectrum end-point with an accuracy better than 20\,eV for any $Q$-value between 2.2 and 2.8\,keV.
Notice that, for reasonable count rates (less than 100 counts/s) the measured $Q$-value
is not significantly affected by the detector pileup, so the total statistics
can be translated directly to a total time.

\subsection{$^{163}$Ho Production}

$^{163}$Ho was discovered at Princeton in 1968 in a sample of $^{162}$Er that was
neutron activated in a nuclear reactor. Since its discovery, $^{163}$Ho has been
produced in laboratory only for the purpose of nuclear and atomic property study.
Since $^{163}$Ho  is not available off the shelf, a dedicated process must be set
up to produce the amount needed by a neutrino mass experiment.
The most challenging issue  is the achievement of the very high level of radio-purity
required.
There are a few processes that are appealing for the intrinsic $^{163}$Ho
production rate as compared to the accompanying production of radioactive
contaminants. The most interesting ones are:
\begin{itemize}
 \item neutron activation in nuclear reactor of
$^{162}$Er [$^{162}$Er(n,$\gamma$)$^{163}$Er(75min)$\rightarrow ^{163}$Ho]
with a cross section $\sigma$ of about 180\,barns;
 \item alpha particle bombardment of  $^{165}$Ho target
[$^{165}$Ho($^4$He,*)$^{163}$Ho] with a $\sigma$ of about 0.05\,barns at 55\,MeV;
 \item gamma bombardment of $^{165}$Ho target [$^{165}$Ho($\gamma$,2n)$^{163}$Ho]
with a $\sigma$ of about 0.14\,barns at 17\,MeV.
\end{itemize}
The highest production rate is  achievable with the neutron activation of
$^{162}$Er, even if to the detriment of contemporaneous built-up of very
short half-life contaminants in the sample. The reactions with high energy
projectiles have cross section thousands of times lower and therefore require
higher intensity beams and longer activation times. On the other hand, they
can use natural Holmium as target and have a highly suppressed contaminant production.
Production of $^{163}$Ho  with the neutron activation of $^{162}$Er requires
a detailed investigation of the process, because not all cross sections are
fully known: a trade-off among reproducibility, easiness of the operations,
production rate and radioactive background must be seeked.

A first very preliminary test of neutron activation of $^{162}$Er 38\% enriched
sample of erbium oxide has been already done by some of the authors.
The irradiated sample, after waiting one month for the decay of the activity of
short-lived isotopes, was first dissolved in a HCl solution and then deposited onto a
Transition Edge Sensor (TES) microcalorimeter to be operated at 0.1\,K at the University of
Genova. The measured spectrum shows that $^{163}$Ho was indeed produced although
it is impossible to estimate the background. The solution was analyzed by
Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) at the University of Milano-Bicocca and
the presence of $^{163}$Ho was confirmed.

A large scale irradiation has also just been completed at the 1 MW
Portuguese Research Reactor (RPI) at the Nuclear and Technological Institute,
Instituto Superior T\'{e}cnico (IST-ID) in Lisbon.
This reactor has a thermal column with average thermal and epithermal neutron
fluxes of about $3\times10^{13}$~cm$^{-2}$~s$^{-1}$ and $3.7\times10^{11}$~cm$^{-2}$~s$^{-1}$,
respectively. The estimated $^{163}$Ho production rate is about
3~kBq/mg($^{162}$Er)/week (assuming the reactor is running 12 hours/day and 5 days/week).

Purification and oxide reduction of Ho to metal can proceed as follows.
First, three steps of cation-exchange column separation are carried out in order
to absorb the rare earths and wash out the other impurities. Then, Ho is removed
with Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and HNO$_3$ in multiple step processes.
The resulting sample is mixed in a compounds for thermal reduction of Ho oxide.
The final sample will be
compound with metal Ho in low concentration, suitable as a target material for the
following steps aiming at embedding the $^{163}$Ho in the detectors.

\subsection{Detector Performance}

After 30 years from their introduction \cite{Moseley1984,Fiorini1984},
cryogenic microcalorimeters are a mature and reliable technology used in
many applications, including neutrino experiments.
Detectors with the proper energy resolution and speed for the proposed investigation
already exist, however, they must be designed and optimized for the requirements
of a Holmium experiment. We discuss here the principal characteristics of microcalorimeters
and their relevance to a Holmium experiment.

Microcalorimeters are composed of three parts, an absorber that converts
energy into heat, a thermometer (or sensor) that detects the temperature variations of the
absorber and a weak thermal link between the detector and a heat sink.
When energy is released in the absorber, the temperature of the detector
first rises and then returns to its original value due to the weak thermal
link to the heat sink. The temperature change is proportional to the energy
and is detected by the thermometer.
Resistive thermometers (i.e., thermometers whose resistance changes with temperature)
have been the primary choice in many applications for years, but magnetic and kinetic
inductance thermometers have also, more recently, demostrated high
performance \cite{TES,Silicons,KIDS,MAGCAL}.

In designing a neutrino experiment, three characteristics of microcalorimeters must be
considered: energy resolution, rise time of the events, and decay time.
The effect of the energy resolution
on the outcome of a neutrino experiment is obvious (better resolution implies better
accuracy), and it is quantified in section \ref{section3}. The energy resolution of
a microcalorimeter is noise limited and independent of the energy being detected.
It depends on the heat capacitance $C$ of the detector, the temperature $T$,
and the sensitivity of the thermometer $\alpha$, according the the expression \cite{galeazzi2003}:
\begin{equation}
\Delta E \propto \sqrt{\frac{k_B CT}{\alpha}},
\end{equation}
where $k_B$ is the Botzmann constant. It is clear from the expression that, to obtain
good energy resolution, it is important to work with small objects and material with
low specific heat (to keep the heat capacitance low), at low temperature, and with
sensitive thermometers. Current technology has already achieved energy resolution below
2~eV~FWHM, using both TES and magnetic thermometers \cite{resolution}.
Both technologies are currently considered for a Holmium experiment. However, to use them for the
measurement of the electron neutrino mass, the $^{163}$Ho radioactive isotope must
be embedded in the detector for a fully calorimetric measurement. Different procedures
to embed the $^{163}$Ho in the detector are being investigated, and tests to
verify that they do not significantly affect the detector performance are underway.

The rise time is the time it takes for the signal to change in response to the energy release.
This time is, in principle, the time needed for the thermometer temperature to rise and is
determined by heat diffusion in the absorber and the thermal coupling between absorber and
thermometer. However, in many practical applications such time is quite fast and the rise
time is limited, instead, by the response time of the readout electronics. The event's rise time
is perhaps the most important parameter in a Holmium experiment as it affects directly the
fraction of unresolved pileup events. If a second energy release happens within the rise of a previous
one, the two events may look like a single event of higher energy. The ensemble of such
events generates a second energy spectrum (unresolved pileup spectrum) which has
significant statistics in the region of interest for the neutrino mass ($Q$-value region), and
acts as a strong background component. Although the shape of the pileup spectrum can
be accurately modeled, the statistical uncertainty on the number of unresolved pileup events
can easily be the stronger limit on the neutrino mass sensitivity.
A significant effort is ongoing in order to develop analysis algorithms to identify and eliminate such
events. However, although we can now identify double events significantly closer than
the rise time \cite{armstrong2012}, in the end any Holmium experiment must be designed
with the smallest possible rise time to minimize pileup events. Rise times of a few
micro-seconds are typical for TES microcalorimeters (limited by the readout electronics),
while they can be significantly shorter for magnetic microcalorimeters.

The decay time is the time it takes for the signal to return to the initial level in order that
the detector be ready to register another event. An event happening on the decay of a previous one
is usually easily identifiable, and does not contribute to the unresolved pileup spectrum.
However, due to detector's non-linearities, both events must be discarded, contributing to
the detector dead time. TES microcalorimeters have typical decay times below a millisecond,
making the dead time negligible for count rates up to hundred of counts per second. However,
magnetic microcalorimeters could have much longer decay times, and the count rate may become an issue.
Magnetic penetration thermometers (MPT)\cite{shirron1993} use the same geometry as magnetic
thermomenters but replaces the magnetic material with a superconductor in its transition.
MPTs potentially combine the best of the magnetic calorimeter and TES technologies, providing
the sensitivity of a TES in a dissipationless configuration \cite{bandler2012}.

Particular attention in a neutrino experiment must also be given to the readout electronics.
Both TES and magnetic microcalorimeters are read out using Superconducting Quantum
Interference Devices (SQUID). The direct approach of using individual
readout channels for each detector has the necessary performance required by a Holmium
experiment. However, considering the number of detectors involved, such approach may not
be practical. Fortunately, the same issues
affect several other investigations, and a massive effort on different SQUID multiplexing
schemes is going on in laboratories around the World. These include time division multiplexing,
frequency division multiplexing, code division multiplexing, and microwave multiplexing
\cite{multiplexing}. Kinetic inductance detectors also offer a natual path to microwave
multiplexing.

\subsection{Theoretical Uncertainties}

In spite of the many experiments, atomic and nuclear details of the
$^{163}$Ho decay are still affected by some uncertainty.
The natural width of the atomic levels involved in the
atomic cascade following the EC is not directly known.
Moreover, the expected total absorption spectrum shape is not completely
established. Riisager \cite{Riisager:1988wy} pointed out that the spectrum predicted in \cite{DeRujula:1982qt}  is only a first approximation because the
rate at the end-point may be altered by the broadness of atomic level
which affects the phase space available to atomic transitions.
It is, however, important to note that the $\it shape$ of the energy distribution
near its endpoint is bound to be determined by the value of the
neutrino mass, even if the rate itself may be uncertain because of the
poor knowledge of atomic parameters.

It  has also been observed \cite{Bennett3} that the ionization energies of interest in our
equations differ from those obtained by Dysprosium excitation because of the presence of
a further N$_{6,7}$ electron: those parameters will be measured with
precision from the positions of the peaks in the $E_c$ distribution.
A high statistics and high energy resolution measurement of
the total absorption spectrum is
therefore a prerequisite for a neutrino mass measurement using the end-point as proposed in \cite{DeRujula:1982qt}.

\section{A Holmium Experiment}
\label{section3}

In this section we discuss how the statistical sensitivity depends
on the main experimental parameters.
We then translate this in the experimental configurations required for a sub-eV sensitivity.

The analysis is carried out using a frequentist Monte Carlo code
developed to estimate the statistical sensitivity of a neutrino mass
experiment performed with thermal calorimeters \cite{Nucciotti-Sens}. The approach is
to simulate the energy spectra that would be measured by a large
number of experiments carried out in a given configuration: the
spectra are then fitted as the real ones and the statistical sensitivity
is determined from the distribution of the obtained neutrino mass square,  $m^2_\nu$ \cite{Nucciotti-Sens}.

The Monte Carlo parameters for the simulated experimental configuration are the total statistics $N_{ev}$,
the FWHM of the detector energy resolution \de \fwhm\ and the fraction of unresolved pile-up events $f_{pp}$.
The simulated energy spectrum is then given by
\begin{eqnarray}
\label{eq:modelMC}
S(E) &=& {N_{ev}\over  \lambda_{EC}} \int_0^{2(Q-m_{\nu})} dE_1\, R(E-E_1)\,\cdot \nonumber \\
&& \left[{d \lambda_{EC}\over dE_c}(E_1) + {f_{pp}\over  \lambda_{EC}} \int_0^{E_1} dE_2 {d \lambda_{EC}\over dE_c}(E_2)\,\cdot \nonumber \right.\\
&& \left. {d \lambda_{EC}\over dE_c} (E_1-E_2)\right] \;,
\end{eqnarray}
where ${d \lambda_{EC} / dE_c}$ is given in (\ref{E_c-distr}) and the response function $R(E)$  is assumed to have a gaussian form
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:gauss}
 R(E)=\frac{1}{\sigma \sqrt{2\pi}} \; \exp \big(-\frac{E^2}{2\sigma^2}\big)
\end{equation}
with standard deviation $\sigma = \Delta E_{\mathrm {FWHM}}/2.35$.
The input parameters are linked to the ones actually characterizing a real experiment:
$N_{ev} = N_{det}  A_{\beta}  t_M$ and \mbox{$f_{pp} \approx A_\beta \tau_R$}, where
$N_{det}$ is the number of detectors, $A_{\beta}$ is the EC activity of a single detector,
$t_M$ is the live time of the experiment, and $\tau_R$ is the pile-up resolving time (i.e.,
the minimum time separation between events
that can be distinguished).

The free parameters in the fitting of the simulated spectra with Eq.~(\ref{eq:modelMC}) are the total statistics $N_{ev}$, the fraction of pile-up events  $f_{pp}$,
the EC transition $Q$--value and the squared neutrino mass  $m^2_\nu$.
The $^{163}$Dy atomic parameters $E_i$, $\Gamma_i$ and $\beta_i^2$ used for the numerical evaluation of (\ref{E_c-distr}) are considered known and therefore fixed to the values shown in Tab.\,\ref{En-Wid}.
\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{Energy levels of the captured electrons, with their widths, for $^{163}$Dy \cite{param1}.
Electrons squared wave functions at the origin $\beta_i^2$ relative to $\beta_{\rm M_1}^2$ \cite{Band:1985gm}.}
\begin{tabular}{cccc}
\hline
Level&$E_i$ [eV]&$\Gamma_i$ [eV] & $\beta_i^2/\beta_{\rm M_1}^2$\\
\hline
M$_1$ & 2047 & 13.2 &  1.0\\
M$_2$ & 1842 & 6.0 &  0.0526\\
N$_1$ & 414.2 & 5.4 & 0.2329 \\
N$_2$ & 333.5 & 5.3 & 0.0119 \\
O$_1$ & 49.9 & 3.0 &  0.0345 \\
O$_2$ & 26.3 & 3.0 &  0.0015 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\label{En-Wid}
\end{table}
The levels of the electrons that can be captured are fully occupied (i.e. $n_i=1$)
and the exchange and overlap
corrections $B_i$
are neglected (i.e. $B_i\sim 1$).
\footnote{They are not given for all the levels needed in \protect\cite{Bambynek:1977zz}. Those given differ from unity by less than $\sim 10\%$.  The validity of this approximation far from the peaks  may be doubted, however the {\it shape} of the spectrum near to the end--point is anyhow determined by the neutrino phase-space factor. }

Given the large uncertainties on the  $Q$--value, the Monte Carlo study has been carried out for a set of reasonable values, i.e. 2200, 2400, 2600 and 2800 eV.

\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics*[width=0.95\linewidth]{m.vs.nev.eps}
\caption{\label{fig:stat} \de\fwhm$=1$\,eV, $f_{pp}=10^{-5}$, $Q=2600$\,eV.}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

From Fig.\,\ref{fig:stat} it can be appreciated how the total statistics $N_{ev}$ is crucial to reach a sub-eV neutrino mass statistical sensitivity.
The fine dashed line on the plot corresponds to a $N_{ev}^{-1/4}$ functional dependence of the sensitivity as it would be naively expected for a $m^2_\nu$ sensitivity purely determined by statistical fluctuations. A more detailed analyis of the sensitivity as a function
of the statistics, for different pile-up fractions $f_{pp}$ and $Q$--values, shows that it can be interpolated as  $N_{ev}^{-1/\alpha}$, with $\alpha$ between 3.3 and 4.0: in the following we conservatively use $N_{ev}^{-1/4}$ to scale the Monte Carlo results.

\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics*[width=0.95\linewidth]{m.vs.de_fpp.eps}
\caption{\label{fig:de_fpp} $N_{ev}=10^{14}$, \de\fwhm$=1$\,eV, $Q=2600$\,eV (left).
$N_{ev}=10^{14}$, $f_{pp}=10^{-5}$, $Q=2600$\,eV (right)}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
Fig.\,\ref{fig:de_fpp} shows the effect of both the energy resolution \de \fwhm\ and the
fraction of pile-up events  $f_{pp}$ on the neutrino mass statistical sensitivity.
As far as the energy resolution \de \fwhm\ is concerned, in the typical range accessible
with today's microcalorimeter technology, its impact on the sensitivity of a Holmium experiment
is clearly small.

\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics*[width=0.95\linewidth]{m.vs.A_de03tau01exp1e6.eps}
 \includegraphics*[width=0.95\linewidth]{m.vs.A_de1tau1exp1e5.eps}
\caption{\label{fig:activity} \de\fwhm$=0.3$\,eV, $\tau _R=0.1$\,\mus, $T=10^6$ detector$\times$year (top).
\de\fwhm$=1$\,eV, $\tau _R=1$\,\mus, $T=10^5$ detector$\times$year (bottom).}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
On the contrary, the increase of  $f_{pp}$ has a strong effect on the
sensitivity. However it may pay out to increase the single pixel activity $A_{\beta}$,
even if this entails
an increased fraction of unresolved pile-up events  $f_{pp}$.
This is demonstrated by Fig.\,\ref{fig:activity}, where the statistical sensitivity is plotted
as a function of the single pixel activity $A_{\beta}$, for given pile-up resolving time $\tau_R$ and
experimental exposure  $T=N_{det}t_M$ (with $N_{ev}=A_\beta T$).
Despite the higher fraction of unresolved pile-up events, the increase in pixel activity
$A_{\beta}$ directly increases the experiment statistics for a given
measuring time and the overall result is an improvement in the sensitivity of the experiment.
It is worth recalling here that about $2\times10^{11}$ \Ho\ nuclei are needed for an activity
of about 1 decay/s.

\begin{figure}[hbt]
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics*[width=0.95\linewidth]{Ho-pileup.eps}
\caption{\label{fig:pp} Pile-up spectrum.}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
Fig.\,\ref{fig:activity} also shows how the sensitivity depends on the transition $Q$--value.
While the sensitivity is clearly much better for a $Q$--value of 2200\,eV,
higher values result in quite similar sensitivities. In particular, because of the peculiar
peaky shape of the pile-up spectrum in the 2200--2600\,eV interval (see Fig.\,\ref{fig:pp}), for high pile-up rates the sensitivity is
not monotonically improving when lowering the $Q$--value.

In Fig.\,\ref{fig:activity} two possible experimental configurations are considered. The lower panel refers to an experiment running arrays with today state-of-the-art thermal microcalorimeter technology: the experimental exposure is $10^5$\,detector$\times$year\, which, for example, could be achieved measuring for 10\,years arrays with a total of $10^4$ pixels.
The upper panel considers a more aggressive configuration with a factor 10 higher exposure and detectors with better energy and time resolution.

\begin{table}[]
\caption{\label{tab:sens} Experimental exposure required for various target statistical sensitivities, with $b=0$ and two
different sets of detector parameters. Configuration A is with \de\fwhm$=1$\,eV, $\tau_R=1$\,\mus\ and $A_\beta=1000$\,Hz.
Configuration B is with \de\fwhm$=0.3$\,eV, $\tau_R=0.1$\,\mus\ and  $A_\beta=10000$\,Hz.}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ccccc}
\hline
$Q$ & target sensitivity &	\multicolumn{2}{c}{ exposure $T$ [detector$\times$year]}\\[0pt]
[eV] & [eV]   &	 Conf. A & Conf. B \\
\hline
\hline
2200 & 0.2 & 		$2.6\times10^{4}$& 		$3.3\times10^{3}$\\
2200 & 0.1 & 		$4.1\times10^{5}$& 		$4.8\times10^{4}$\\
2200 & 0.05 &		$6.6\times10^{6}$ &		$7.7\times10^{5}$\\
\hline
2800 & 0.2 & 		$6.5\times10^{6}$& 		$6.3\times10^{5}$\\
2800 & 0.1 & 		$1.0\times10^{8}$& 		$1.0\times10^{7}$\\
2800 & 0.05 &		$1.7\times10^{9}$ &		$1.6\times10^{8}$\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
 \end{table}
To conclude, in Tab.\,\ref{tab:sens} we have evaluated the experimental exposure required to reach target neutrino mass statistical sensitivities of 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05\,eV for two different sets of detector parameters (comparable to those in Fig.\,\ref{fig:activity}) and for
the two extremes of the $Q$--value range.

\begin{figure}[hbt]
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics*[width=0.95\linewidth]{olmio1.eps}
\caption{\label{fig:olmio1} Pilot experiment sensitivity.}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
On a short time scale, a smaller size pilot experiment may be carried out with the aim of testing
the potential of a Holmium experiment. Fig.\,\ref{fig:olmio1} shows the \mn\ statistical sensitivity
achievable for total statistics of about $8.5\times10^{13}$\,events, using detectors with an energy and time resolution
of 1.5\,eV and 1\,\mus, respectively, each with an \Ho\ activity of about 300 decay per second. This exposure could be obtained for example by running 3000 detectors for about 3 years. The sensivities in Fig.\,\ref{fig:olmio1} have been estimated for  $Q$--values in the 2200--2800\,eV range and span from about 0.3 to about 1.5\,eV.

\section{Conclusions}
The absolute value of the neutrino masses is not yet known. The most stringent upper limits on them
come from experiments on tritium beta decay with electrostatic spectrometers: the best limit of
sensitivity to which this technique can be pushed in the future  seems to be $\sim$0.2 ${\rm eV}$,
as in the KATRIN experiment \cite{KATRIN}. A completely different technique  using cryogenic
microcalorimeters to perform a calorimetric experiment has been proposed and applied in pilot
experiments measuring the beta decay of the isotope $^{187}$Re, which has a very low Q--value
but also a very long lifetime, and a large experiment, MARE \cite{MARE}, will follow this path.

The technique has  in fact reached a maturity that allows to envisage a full scale experiment in
order to reach an even better sensitivity. In this paper, we have presented the roadmap to
reach this goal in an calorimetric experiment using the electron capture in $^{163}$Ho -
an isotope having similar Q--value but much shorter lifetime - to obtain a limit on the
electron neutrino mass, following a suggestion made many years ago \cite{DeRujula:1982qt}.
This paper shows that such an experiment is clearly challenging, but doable, and
we identified a clear path and technical steps necessary for its success.

\section*{Acknowledgements}
The authors would like to thank Dr. Ezio Previtali, Dr. Massimiliano
Clemenza, and Dr. Andreas Kling for their support.

\bibliographystyle{elsarticle-num}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Mike Pence's unyielding anti-abortion stance has made him a favorite of social conservatives.
Pence's war on Planned Parenthood
By SARAH KLIFF
Abortion-rights advocates and abortion-rights opponents don't see eye to eye on much, but they do agree on this: Nobody hates Planned Parenthood quite as much as Mike Pence.
The Indiana Republican is on a one-man crusade to deny all federal funding to the group — not just the money it gets for reproductive health and family planning services, but every penny it gets for anything.
"If Planned Parenthood wants to be involved in providing counseling services and HIV testing, they ought not be in the business of providing abortions," Pence told POLITICO in an interview Tuesday. "As long as they aspire to do that, I'll be after them."
For three legislative sessions in a row, Pence has introduced legislation that would prevent any entity that provides abortion from receiving funds through Title X, the only federal program dedicated to reproductive health and family planning.
This week, Pence went even further, introducing an amendment to the continuing resolution that would strip Planned Parenthood — and Planned Parenthood alone — of all federal funding.
Pence's latest maneuver comes at an inopportune time for many in the Republican Party.
Some GOP leaders — including Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels — have urged their party to downplay hot-button social issues in order to win over moderate voters ahead of the 2012 presidential race. Others, like House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), have said House Republicans must focus on creating jobs and cutting spending.
But Pence's unyielding anti-abortion stance has made him a favorite of social conservatives, many of whom were hoping he'd run for president in 2012. He says he won't, and that he may run for governor in Indiana instead.
In the meantime, his goal is clear: Starve Planned Parenthood of cash so that it will have no choice but to stop performing abortions.
"I am interested in doing what we can, in the balance of this fiscal year, to end public funding of Planned Parenthood, specifically," Pence said.
Activists on both sides of the abortion debate tell POLITICO they've never seen a legislator pursue Planned Parenthood with such a single-minded focus.
"He's the only one I know of who has been so completely obsessed with Planned Parenthood," said the group's president, Cecile Richards. "This just seems to be an enormous focus of his."
"He's both a true believer and a policy wonk," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, one of the leading anti-abortion organizations. "He understands that Planned Parenthood is the fulcrum of the abortion movement."
For years now, Planned Parenthood has received a significant portion of the money awarded through Title X, which can pay for pelvic exams, breast exams, safer-sex counseling and basic infertility counseling, among other things.
Planned Parenthood estimates it received a quarter of the $317 million in Title X funds appropriated last year. A third of its budget came from government grants in 2009, according to the organization's 2008-2009 annual report.
Title X money can't be used to pay for abortions, and Pence does not allege that Planned Parenthood has improperly used Title X funds to do so.
But Planned Parenthood performed 328,300 abortions in 2008, which would account for about a quarter of the 1.21 million abortions that year, according to statistics from the Guttmacher Institute. And those abortions made up 3 percent of the patient services that Planned Parenthood offered in 2008.
Pence says that, by taking away Planned Parenthood's federal money, the government could eliminate the group's ability to operate abortion clinics entirely. "We should end the day when the largest abortion provider is the largest recipient of [Title X] federal funding," he said.
"What's clear to me, if you follow the money, you can actually take the funding supports out of abortion. We then have a much better opportunity to move forward to be a society that says yes to life."
Pence first went after Planned Parenthood's public funding in 2007.
"What was apparent to me then was there was some unwritten agreement that we had arrived at, an unstated truce between pro-abortion and pro-life legislators that the debate would happen within certain parameters and over certain appropriations riders," he said. "When we introduced this, it was a completely different element in the equation."
The legislation ultimately failed, but Pence doggedly stuck with the issue. He reintroduced the legislation last session and commissioned a GAO report on how HHS spends Title X funding.
He campaigned on the issue in 2010, sending an e-mail to supporters saying: "I'm ready to deliver … legislation that will prevent abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from receiving a single dime from the federal government."
Now, he's closer to success than ever before. Shortly after he introduced his legislation in January, the anti-abortion group Live Action released a series of "sting" videos, including one that they say showed a Planned Parenthood employee advising minors to provide false information in order to obtain an abortion. The employee was later fired, and Planned Parenthood also claimed the material had been deceptively edited to cast the group in a bad light.
Live Action, alongside the Susan B. Anthony List, recently launched a new Website, Expose Planned Parenthood, dedicated to promoting Pence's legislation.
So far, Pence's legislation to bar Title X funding for abortion providers has accrued 164 co-sponsors and the promise of a hearing from Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood and its supporters on the Hill have mobilized furiously against the bill.
"This is absolutely an all-out assault now," Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) told POLITICO. She organized a 100-representative letter to Boehner denouncing the Pence legislation. "[Pence] is going after Planned Parenthood for the same reason that we're defending it: its importance. Planned Parenthood has the brand for these kinds of clinics."
About two-dozen Planned Parenthood CEOs and clinics have been in Washington lobbying on the importance of Planned Parenthood and Title X. Planned Parenthood has logged more than 11,000 phone calls from its supporters to members of Congress.
Abortion-rights supporters worry that, while stand-alone abortion restrictions may not have a chance in the Senate, provisions added to a must-pass continuing resolution could slip through.
And Pence's amendment looms alongside another hit to reproductive health funds: The continuing resolution itself, as currently written, would wipe out Title X funds all together.
"Since it's a base bill, I'm very concerned that it might stay there," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), co-chairwoman of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus. "I'm concerned that some of these restrictions on reproductive health are going to whip through Congress and people aren't going to see it coming."
Pence's continuing resolution amendment will likely receive a vote by Thursday. Even if it does not become law, he'll likely push forward undeterred.
"Let the abortion providers provide for themselves," Pence says. "I'd like to continue to be a persistent, respectful voice for the sanctity of life."
Continuing Resolutions


Apple kicked the tires on iOS 10.2 beta 1 yesterday when it released the forthcoming update to developers. Now anyone can jump in and give the new software a try, thanks to the release of the iOS 10.2 beta 1 public beta, which was just released.
You'll need to enroll in Apple's Public Beta to give it a whirl, but that takes just a few seconds and is relatively easy to do. Just keep in mind that betas, particularly the first beta of any kind, can be super buggy. You probably don't want this running on your primary device.
iOS 10.2 has some exciting new features that we detailed yesterday, including new emoji, a widget for the videos app, several new wallpapers and other functions. One standout feature is the "Preserve Camera" setting, which lets you jump right into the camera settings you last used. That's perfect for folks who always want to use Portrait mode, for example. Each time they launch the camera, boom, they're in portrait mode.
Test the new public beta at your own risk, and let us know if you spot any hidden changes.


text:
BRAN SYMONDSON
THE ART BEHIND THE WEAPON
Bran Symondson is considered to be one of the finest reportage photographers of the 21st Century. He began his career working alongside renowned photographers such as Gavin Bond, David La Chapelle and Nadav Kander. During this period he joined the UK Special Forces and was immediately called up for a tour in Afghanistan. He documented his life-changing experiences under gunfire with a simple Canon G9 camera, these significant images culminated in his first show "The Best View of Heaven is from Hell".
It was during his last tour of duty training the Afghan National Police (ANP), which now patrols this province, that Symondson became fascinated with the force's distinctive ethos. So he returned as a civilian photographer "embedded" with them to document something far more unique than the endless fields of opium.
As the photographs were taken whilst he was a serving soldier with the Special Forces the Ministry of Defence banned this exhibition, however, it was not long until The Sunday Times decided to commission him to go back to Afghanistan and re-shoot the images as a civilian photographer. After being awarded the 2011 Amnesty International Media Award for his photograph "Lost Boys", Symondson decided to develop the concept of his photographs further and he began work on the sell-out show "AKA Peace".
Picture by Geoff Pugh
'Peace One Day' at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London.
Bran Symondson's 2012 exhibition "AKA Peace" is considered to be a pivotal point in his artistic career. After his tour in Afghanistan, he established the concept of taking de-commissioned AK47 guns and masterfully embellishing them with dollar bills, iconography & butterflies. He gave decommissioned AK47's to artists such as Damien Hirst, Gavin Turk, Sam Taylor-Wood, Sarah Lucas, Gary Hume, Antony Gormley and the Chapman brothers and asked them to reinterpret their own AK-47 assault rifles which were all exhibited in "AKA Peace". This critically acclaimed show raised more than £430,000 in one night.
Symondson's unique artworks of contemporary AK47 derive from a simple premise: taking something of fear and loathing and turning it into something of beauty and intrigue. Each AK47 has a narrative which is told through the meticulous craftsmanship of adorning the weapon with various objects which then is enhanced with the placement of bespoke handmade bullets containing different commodities which relate to the narrative of each work.
His pieces have been bought and collected internationally from the highly acclaimed artist Jake Chapman through to Elton John and the Prince of Bahrain.
Bran is also known for his philanthropic work not only in heightening the awareness of worldwide issues through his photographs but also raising money for different charities through the donation of his AK47's at charity art auctions. To date, he has raised more than £580,000 through his contributions.
Bran's last show was an amazing collaboration with the world-renowned photographer Terry O'Neill CBE. The body of works entitled "Hollywood Re-Loaded" were unveiled in September 2019. Bran came up with the concept of shooting photographs of famous actors and actresses with the same weapon portrayed in the film they starred in. Bran took the modelled weapon which was featured in the same photograph taken by O'Neill and then shot 11 iconic images creating bullet holes in the images.
For further information please contact: bran@bransymondson.com
For any PR enquiries you can contact Bran's studio team: bransbattleboutique@gmail.com
National Portrait Gallery (Portrait awards), London
Best View of Heaven is from Hell, 2011, London
AKA Peace 2012, London
Sunday Times 50 Years of Front Covers, Saatchi Gallery, London
Stations of the Cross (Group Exhibition), 2014, London
Art Wars (Group Exhibition), Saatchi Gallery, London
David Bowie Tribute Exhibition, 2016, London
Texas Exhibition, 2016, USA
House of Fine Art, (Group Exhibition), 2017, London
Maddox Gallery (Group Exhibition), 2018, London
Best of British, (Group Exhibition), Maddox Gallery Los Angeles, 2018, USA
House of Fine Art (Group Exhibition), 2019, Mykonos
Bran has raised over six hundred thousand pounds for charity.
– AKA Peace – Raised £450,000 – 2012 London
– John Cordwell – Art Collector – Personal Charity – Fundraiser Auction 2016 London
– Coming Home – Military Charity 2017 London
– Katie Piper Foundation – 2017 London
– Human Rights Watch 2017 November London
– Human Right's Watch 2018 November Paris
– WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) 2018 London
– Parachute Regiment Charity via Roast Beef 2019 London
– One Small Step – Apollo 11 – Anti-Mining Charity – 2019 London
– NHS – Here and Now Exhibition – 2020 London
© BRAN SYMONDSON 2021


text:
The women's individual rapid competition at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha was held from 2 December to 4 December at the Al-Dana Indoor Hall.

Schedule
All times are Arabia Standard Time (UTC+03:00)

Results
Legend
Rtg — FIDE rating
RtgSum — Sum of the ratings of the opponents (without one result)

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Summary

References

Official Website
Results

Chess at the 2006 Asian Games

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The January reading for Irish consumer sentiment was the strongest reading since February 2001. We think three factors explain this exceptional result. First of all the Irish economy is still set on a strong trajectory and, thus far, has weathered Brexit and other global concerns better than had been feared. This has made consumers more confident about the general economic outlook.
Second, the improving economy is now being felt more broadly by Irish consumers and while it does not appear to be delivering dramatic gains in purchasing power, it is helping to ease household financial strains. Finally, sentiment usually registers a large monthly improvement in January; in four of the past six years, January's increase was the largest monthly gain of the year. This 'seasonal' element of the January increase could be reversed in the next month or two.
The KBC Bank Ireland/ESRI consumer sentiment index rose to 110.4 in January from 103.2 in December. The January 2018 survey puts the sentiment index at its highest level since February 2001. An improvement in all five main components of the survey points to a distinct improvement in the mood of Irish consumers at the start of 2018.
While the survey clearly highlights stronger sentiment of late and this is an unambiguously positive development for the Irish economy, we would be cautious not to overstate the significance of the seventeen year high in the index. The survey focusses on consumers' assessments as to how their circumstances have developed in the past twelve months. So, the results are better seen as signalling a marked improvement in confidence of late rather than indicating that Irish consumers feel their circumstances are now better than at any time in the past seventeen years. Accordingly, the survey would be consistent with a healthy increase in consumer spending in the coming year but we don't feel it points to a return to the boom.
The largest monthly improvement in the January survey results was in relation to consumer thinking on Irish economic prospects. This pick-up undoubtedly reflect a continuing upswing in domestic economic spending and a related easing in concerns that Brexit or developments in US tax policy would trigger an imminent pull-back in activity and employment.
While such fears have not disappeared, the likely impact is now seen as less threatening in part because of the stronger than expected current momentum of the Irish economy. Some 56% of Irish consumers see the Irish economy strengthening further in the coming year while 13% expect some deterioration.
A more positive view of the general economic outlook also underpinned consumer thinking on the Irish jobs market. The sentiment survey was largely completed before the CSO released its new labour force survey but the strong (negative) link between the trend in sentiment and that in unemployment is clearly evident in diagram 1 below. The January results show 48% of consumers expect unemployment to fall further in the next twelve months, three times as many as envisage a rise in joblessness.
The improvement in consumer sentiment in January was not unique to Ireland. While the comparable indicator for the US declined marginally, there were notable increases in confidence measures both for the Euro area which posted its best result since August 2000 and the UK which posted its largest monthly gain since September 2016. Clearly, a healthier than envisaged global economy is supporting consumer confidence in a range of countries of late and the upbeat tone of most turn of year commentary on the outlook for the coming twelve months would have boosted sentiment further in this regard.
The 'macro' elements of the January sentiment survey for Ireland reflect things that did happen-stronger economic conditions, as well as things that didn't- notable damage from Brexit related developments.
In the same way, the 'micro' elements of the survey reflected things that happened, such as aggressive price discounting in post-Christmas sales which boosted spending plans. There is also a strong sense of things that are no longer expected to happen in the shape of a marked drop in the proportion of consumers who expect their household finances to worsen further in the coming year.
There is little doubt that a strong Irish economy is now delivering more broadly based improvements in the circumstances of Irish households but the details of the January survey suggest that for most consumers this change is modest rather than marked.
Some 30% of consumers expect their own financial circumstances to improve in the year ahead. This is the largest number since September but broadly similar to the average reading for the first quarter of last year. These results imply no dramatic uplift in consumer spending power for most Irish households.
If the January survey suggests no widely held expectation of marked improvement in household finances, it does point to a very encouraging reduction in the number of households that think their circumstances will worsen in the coming year.
The proportion of consumers that expect poorer personal finances in the next twelve months fell to 9% in January, the lowest share since February 2001. This result suggests that a broadening of the upturn in the Irish economy is making progress first and foremost by easing the difficulties facing Irish households rather than by bringing back the boom.
In reality, the small improvements reported by Irish consumers in the sentiment survey are entirely consistent with strong increases in associated 'macro' data. While national accounts aggregates such as household disposable income and compensation of employees both posted annual gains of 5% (in Q3 2017), when adjusted for the rise in full-time employment, the average increase falls to about 1%. For the typical Irish consumer whose employment status has not changed in the past twelve months, household financial circumstances have improved only modestly.
It is important to acknowledge the economic progress suggested by the stronger trend in sentiment through the past four or five years. However, the scale of improvement between the December and January survey results isn't adequately explained by recent developments in areas of relevance to the typical Irish household. The monthly increase in sentiment in January 2018 was the largest since that in January 2015 and the largest in the interim was in January 2017.
This pronounced tendency towards a New Year 'bounce' in sentiment owes something to bargain hunting at post-Christmas sales but it also seems that Irish consumers begin each year with a significant element of optimism. The timing of the survey and the limited nature of Budget 2018 tax adjustments mean the latter is unlikely to have been a key driver of the stronger January sentiment reading.
It is fairly common to have strong consumer sentiment readings for January in spite of the frequent assertion (thought to have originated with a travel company press release) that late January is the most depressing time of the year. It should be noted that the consumer sentiment survey is carried out largely in the first half of the month when festive family time and shopping are still fresh in the memory. February sentiment readings tend to see a pull-back that may reflect some of the financial hang-overs from the festive season.
To assess the pure 'seasonal' element to the improvement in sentiment in January, we seasonally adjusted the sentiment series. The results shown in diagram 2 highlight a fairly regular pattern of January 'jumps' (but because there are no consistent seasonal patterns through the year, we don't seasonally adjust the headline series as a rule).
This exercise suggests that of the 7.2 point increase in the sentiment index in January, about 5.7 points might be attributed to this seasonal effect with a notably smaller but still encouraging 1.5 point rise due to an underlying improvement. This analysis also suggests that much if not all of January's gain could be unwound in the February sentiment survey.


The information on this page may provide the answer to your question about trademark protection. If it does not, or if you would like our advice about a specific subject, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Why should I register my trademark with Knijff?
How does Knijff go about registering a trademark?
Are all trademarks suitable for registration?
What are the pros and cons of a European trademark registration?
What are the pros and cons of an International trademark registration?
Registration of a trademark may seem straightforward, but along the way you may find yourself facing some real hurdles. For instance, the Benelux Trademarks Office may send you office action about your trademark applications, you may receive an opposition, or the trademark may be refused by the trademark office. In that case, it is good to know you can rely on experienced trademark attorneys. If the trademarks are registered, you must also make sure that they are protected correctly. A simple typing error in the proprietor's name or an incorrect or incomplete specification of products or services can have disastrous implications. And that's exactly what you want to avoid when registering your trademark. It should come as no surprise therefore that an increasing number of registration procedures are being guided by qualified trademark attorneys.
Knijff is an expert in trademark registration thanks to its professional expertise and its many years of experience. We have been working for leading businesses for more than 25 years. At Knijff you can also count on personal attention and an attorney who actually listens to you. We will help you solve intricate questions and problems regarding your trademarks. With our can-do approach, we always look ahead.
Do you want to know more about how Knijff can help you?
HOW DOES KNIJFF GO BY REGISTERING A TRADEMARK?
First we search the availability of your company name or trademark. That means going through the commercial and trademark registers with a fine toothcomb. In the registers we look for potential objections, and scrutinise any obstacles. A check of the registers of the Chamber of Commerce is also important when registering trademarks.
We then give you a risk assessment and advice about whether or not you can use your company or trademark. We will also tell you what you can do to reduce or remove any risks.
We then advise you on the best registration of the name as a trademark. Important points to consider in this are your future ambitions and budget.
During the final step, we will register the trademark. This is crucial – without registration no trademark right. A trademark right gives you the sole right to particular name and protects against trademark infringements.
After registration we will stay in close contact with you to keep your trademark right up-to-date. This is important to maintain your trademark rights.
Do you want to know more about the trademark registration procedure?
If we say trademark registration, the first thing that probably springs to mind is the registration of the name of a product, service or company. Or the registration of a logo. These are indeed the most common trademark registrations, but there are other possibilities too.
Do you have any other questions about registering?
A legal requirement for the registration of a trademark is that it must be distinctive. Descriptive trademarks cannot be registered. For instance, Euro Rent a Car, as a name for a car rental firm, is too general and therefore not distinctive enough. Also, a name may not be misleading as regards the products or services to which it applies. For instance, champagne can only be called champagne if it comes from the Champagne region. And last but not least, trademarks violating law and order are also refused.
The Benelux Trademarks Office does not refuse trademarks based on a pre-existing right to a trademark. If you were to register Nike for sneakers, it would simply be accepted. Don't be surprised if you get a cease and desist the very next day though. To prevent you accidentally infringing pre-existing trademark rights, it is important to search a trademark's availability prior to registration. This will reveal any such risks early in the process.
Once you've registered your trademark, it is important that you stay alert for applications for the registration of similar trademarks. If that is the case, you must file an objection yourself. Watching can help in this.
Do you want to know more about availability searches or trademark watching?
The European trademark registration is an attractive option: it covers a large number of countries for a relatively low fee.
The European trademark registration currently covers 28 countries and new European member states are automatically added. The biggest advantage of the European trademark registration is that your trademark does not need to be used in every country to maintain your trademark right. Also, a trademark right blocks any counterfeit products being shipped from outside the European Union. Another benefit: the relatively low costs of a European trademark registration.
The European trademark registration can also be used to include any existing national trademark registrations in Europe. This way, all trademark rights continue to apply, safeguarding old protection data. You no longer have to renew these trademark registrations separately. Naturally, this will save you a lot of money without affecting the trademark protection.
Unfortunately, the European trademark right has some disadvantages. Objections may be filed from every country. A national trademark registration of a third party in Spain may present a problem, for instance. Since the European trademark registration is indivisible, this would cancel the entire trademark application. Annoying, but there are some alternatives in that case.
Finally, a European trademark must be used within five years from its registration. This requirement does not mean that you must use your trademark in every European country separately, but it is important to remember that a European trademark registration is not meant for regional use only.
Do you want to know if a European trademark registration could benefit you?
Besides the Benelux and EU trademark registration systems, there is another system to register a trademark across several countries at once – the International trademark registration. Unlike the name might suggest, this system is not literally a worldwide trademark registration. It is a cost efficient procedure that provides trademark rights across the world in some other non-European countries.
The International system has both some advantages and disadvantages over the European trademark registration system. What would serve you and your trademark best, depends on many factors. We will be happy to discuss these with you.
The International registration system combines a large number of countries. It enables the registration of a trademark across several countries at once. This is very cost-efficient. Affiliated countries are found all over the world, and include the United States and Japan, but also the European Union. Other countries may also join the system. An important advantage of this system is that a problem in a particular country does not affect another country involved in that registration.
International trademark registration is possible only following a basic registration in one of the affiliated countries. For Dutch companies this is most likely to be a Benelux trademark registration. For the first five years, the Internationale trademark registration then relies on the Benelux trademark registration. If anything affects the Benelux registration during that period, it could also affect the International trademark registration. Also, some trademark offices (even European ones) could refuse trademark registrations if the trademark applied for resembles a pre-existing trademark.
Do you want to know if an International trademark registration would benefit you?


text:
Watch shows and movies online by Asian filmmakers, actors, and creators or instantly stream on your iPhone, iPad, and Android.
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The Purple Onion
Inspired by the standup acts of real life Chinese American comedian Edwin Li, a young comic in San Francisco, Johnny, struggles with loneliness and self-doubt when things are further complicated with the sudden arrival of a mysterious older woman, Jeanie, who may or may not be a distant relative. Constantly at odds with one another, they search for purpose in their lives as a sexual intrigue develops.
Inspired by the standup acts of real life Chinese American comedian Edwin Li, a young comic in San Francisco, Johnny, struggles with loneliness and self-doubt when things are further complicated with the sudden arrival of a mysterious older woman, Jeanie, who may or may not be a distant relative....
The Purple Onion (Trailer)
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1) Asset specifically listed on the schedule of assets and signed by the decedent – This is what the Estate of Heggstad case provided so it's easiest if your facts align with THE case.
2) Other written intent – The case provides for a writing on the schedule of assets but any other specific writing, showing intent, should also work. The best is if it's in the trust and not a separate document.
3) Make it easy for the Judge – If everybody with potentially adverse interests consent and there is a pour over will the Judge is more likely to agree to it.
Let's talk about your case and see if you have what is needed for a successful California Heggstad petition.


text:
Man City spring amazing Christmas surprise on terminally ill lifelong fan
As it's nearly Christmas Manchester City have been planning surprises for deserving fans and the latest was for a family in Reddish.
Charlotte Duncker
Get the latest City team news, transfer stories, match updates and analysis delivered straight to your inbox - FREE
A lifelong Manchester City fan was given a Christmas to remember as Shaun Goater, Fernandinho and Eliaquim Mangala all turned up at his house.
As part of the Big City Christmas the club wanted nominations for deserving fans to receive an extra special treat this Christmas.
After her dad Stephen was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in June, his daughter Sarah got in touch with the club and City set about sorting a huge surprise.
With Stephen out of the house, Goater was the first to arrive to help to finish off Stephen's Bar, which the 60-year-old built in the garden of their Reddish home as part of his bucket list.
"I'm here to finish Stephen's Bar," the 47-year-old explained to a surprised Sarah who opened her front door to the City legend.
The Manchester City plaque on the outside of the bar.
Goater put a plaque on the outside wall of the bar registering it as an official City Supporter's Club before kitting out the inside with City merchandise and setting himself up as official barman to surprise Stephen.
And the surprises didn't stop there as Fernandinho and Mangala nipped over after training for a quick game of darts and to catch up on the highlights of City's 4-1 win against Spurs.
"I think it worked, he looks surprised," said Fernandinho.
Sarah and Stephen Wilson watching Manchester City in Seville.
Stephen had been ushered to a friend's house while the transformation of the bar took place and while he suspected something was going on he never imagined what happened.
"I was expecting to come home to a new banister on the stairs - nothing like this, it was totally unexpected. It's really hard to put into words how amazing it was," explained Stephen.
"It really was a fantastic gesture by City which has made our Christmas that little bit better under the difficult circumstances."
Sarah, aged 28, has been going to watch City with her dad since she was five and the surprise was beyond anything she could have ever imagined.
"I just can't believe it. It's been so overwhelming and I can't thank City enough for what they have done for my family," she said.
Sarah Wilson has a selfie with Fernandinho and Eliaquim Mangala.
"My dad's my hero and the reason I support City so I wanted to do something to put a smile on his face.
"I never could have imagined that all this would happen. It really is amazing and it's put a smile on all of our faces at a very tough time."
Goater was delighted to have played his part in the surprise.
He said: "They are such a beautiful family with amazing support around them. I'm so happy I could be a part of this amazing day, they really deserved it."
Eliaquim Mangala


text:
A linha de cume da Furka é uma linha de caminho de ferro a cremalheira de bitola métrica entre Realp  e Oberwald , na , e que utiliza o antigo túnel no Passo da Furka.

Trata-se de um comboios turístico gerido e explorado pela , uma sociedade anónima a fins não lucrativos  que se apoia numa associação de voluntários cujos membros se cotizam e se ocupam do material rolante assim como da linha. Era uma antiga sessão da linha do Caminho de Ferro Furka-Oberalp (FO), que foi abandonada depois de se ter começado a utilizar o túnel de base da Furka, e que depois foi recuperada por esta sociedade em 2000.

História
Os trabalhos de construção desta linha remontam a 1911, mas foram parados durante a Primeira Guerra Mundial, e depois da falência da 1ra companhia os trabalhos recomeçaram em 1924, mas pelo facto de passar por corredor de avalanche a linha não apresentava todas as garantias para utilização invernal, pelo que era fechado durante sete meses por ano com as perdas financeiras correspondentes.

Em 1941/42 a linha é electrificada e as locomotivas a vapor vendidas. Com a abertura do Túnel de base da Furka, em 1982, a linha teria sido desmantelada se uma primeira associação a não tivesse salva, antes de se tornar a actual DFB.

Geografia

O traçado começa em Realp , já a 1 546 m, e em breve inicia a porção em cremalheira para subir até à estação de Tiefenbach, a 1 849 m de altitude, e subir até ao  Passo da Furka a 2 160 m que é o ponto culminante da linha. O colo é passado num túnel de cumeeira com 1 874 m de comprimento. Do lado da entrada Oeste do túnel e a 2 218 m a linha chega à estação de Muttbach-Belvédère mas agora no . A partir daí desce até Gletsch, a 1 762 m, mas antes passa por um túnel de 644 m que faz uma curva de 360 o e desce de 46 m, antes de  terminar o seu trajecto em Oberwald no Vale de Conches a 1 366 m.

Ida e Volta
Actualmente a associação DFB tem as seguintes locomotivas:  HG 2/3 n°6 tipo 021, HG 3/4 tipo 130 e HG 4/4 de type 040.

A HG 3/4 havia passado vários anos em exposição em frente da estação de Brigue antes de ser recuperada para o serviço, mas a grade aventura foi a da  DFB-1 Furkahorn, locomotiva HG 3/4 130 e da HG 3/4, que ambas construídas em 1913 pela firma SLM de Winterthur, foram vendida aos "Caminhos de Ferro franceses da Indochina" em 1947 para a linha de métrica Tháp-Chàm - Dà-Lat. Abandonada e  deixada às intempéries desde 1970, a DFB foi buscá-las e as reparou para as meter em serviço, em 1993, e virem de novo funcionar no seu trajecto original  - Jul. 2012 -.

Imagens

 Documentário de " Passe-moi les jumelle" da TRS Les fous de la Furka  a partir do 4to minuto.

  - Jul. 2012

Ligações externas
  - Jul. 2012

Empresas ferroviárias da Suíça
Ferrovias turísticas da Suíça
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