Evolution studies of the CMS ECAL endcap response and upgrade design options for High-Luminosity LHC

High-Luminosity running at the LHC, which is planned for 2022 and beyond, will imply an order of magnitude increase in radiation levels and particle fluences with respect to the present LHC running conditions. The performance evolution of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL), comprising 75,848 scintillating lead tungstate crystals, indicates that an upgrade of its endcaps will be needed for HL-LHC running, to ensure an adequate performance. Results from LHC collision periods, beam tests and laboratory measurements of proton-irradiated crystals are combined to predict the performance of the current detector at the HL-LHC. In addition, an overview is given of various R and D studies towards a replacement of the ECAL endcaps for the HL-LHC running period

Calibration of the electromagnetic calorimeter of CMS

The electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) of the CMS experiment, that will take data at LHC, has been designed to get an excellent energy resolution, essential to search for diphotonic resonances. ECAL is made of lead tungstate crystals whose individual response, that depends on several contributions, affects the resolution of the Whole detector. Hence, a channel-to-channel intercalibration is required to get the goal performances. The calibration of the detector at the start-up and the in situ calibration strategies are reported

The Devil’s Advocate. Defence and Defending Counsel in the 18th Century Austrian Criminal Procedure

Fin dal XVI secolo la scienza criminalistica di area tedesca interpreta le disposizioni della Constitutio Criminalis Carolina relative all’intervento del difensore nel processo, meno severe rispetto a quelle delle coeve normative europee, da un lato delineando l’avvocato sempre più come persona esperta di diritto, dall’altro limitandone l’azione, per non contrastare la speditezza e l’efficienza perseguite dal processo di stampo inquisitorio. Questa prospettiva influenza le scelte dei legislatori austriaci, che si radicalizzano dal Settecento in poi nell’opera di unificazione legislativa di Maria Teresa e nei successivi codici.The provisions of the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina on the intervention of the defending counsel in the trial seemed to be less strict than other contemporary European criminal rules. Since the 16th century the criminal law scholars from the German area read them on the one hand connoting the lawyer with increasing precision as an expert in law, on the other one limiting his leeway in order to not hinder the rapidity and effectiveness of the inquisitio. This perspective influenced the choices of the Austrian legislators, which were even toughened from the 18th century onwards in the work of legislative unification by Maria Theresia and in the following codes

Renewable Polysaccharides Micro/Nanostructures for Food and Cosmetic Applications

The worldwide diffusion of nanotechnologies into products nowadays has completely revolutionized human life, providing novel comfort and benefits. Their inclusion in food and cosmetic has a heavy impact over the market, allowing the development of higher value products with enhanced properties. Natural origin polymers and in particular polysaccharides represent a versatile platform of materials for the development of micro/nanostructured additives for food and cosmetic products due to their chemical versatility, biocompatibility, and abundance. Here, we review the current applications of polysaccharides-based micro/nanostructures, taking into consideration the precursors’ production, isolation, and extraction methods and highlighting the advantages, possible drawbacks, and market diffusion

An Integrated Geologic Map of the Rembrandt Basin, on Mercury, as a Starting Point for Stratigraphic Analysis

Planetary geologic maps are usually carried out following a morpho-stratigraphic approach where morphology is the dominant character guiding the remote sensing image interpretation. On the other hand, on Earth a more comprehensive stratigraphic approach is preferred, using lithology, overlapping relationship, genetic source, and ages as the main discriminants among the different geologic units. In this work we produced two different geologic maps of the Rembrandt basin of Mercury, following the morpho-stratigraphic methods and symbology adopted by many authors while mapping quadrangles on Mercury, and an integrated geo-stratigraphic approach, where geologic units were distinguished also on the basis of their false colors (derived by multispectral image data of the NASA MESSENGER mission), subsurface stratigraphic position (inferred by crater excavation) and model ages. We distinguished two different resurfacing events within the Rembrandt basin, after the impact event, and four other smooth plains units outside the basin itself. This provided the basis to estimate thicknesses, volumes, and ages of the smooth plains inside the basin. Results from thickness estimates obtained using different methodologies confirm the presence of two distinct volcanic events inside the Rembrandt basin, with a total thickness ranging between 1−1.5 km. Furthermore, model ages suggest that the volcanic infilling of the Rembrandt basin is among the ones that extended well into the mid-Calorian period, when Mercury’s effusive volcanism was previously thought to be largely over

A sensitivity study of triboson production processes to dimension-6 EFT operators at the LHC

We present the first parton-level study of anomalous effects in triboson production in both fully and semi-leptonic channels in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The sensitivity to anomalies induced by a minimal set of bosonic dimension-6 operators from the Warsaw basis is evaluated with specific analyses for each final state. A likelihood-based strategy is employed to assess the most sensitive kinematic observables per channel, where the contribution of Effective Field Theory operators is parameterized at either the linear or quadratic level. The impact of the mutual interference terms of pairs of operators on the sensitivity is also examined. This benchmark study explores the complementarity and overlap in sensitivity between different triboson measurements and paves the way for future analyses at the LHC experiments. The statistical combination of the considered final states allows setting stringent bounds on five bosonic Wilson coefficients

Esophageal chemical clearance and baseline impedance values in patients with chronic autoimmune atrophic gastritis and gastro-esophageal reflux disease

Background: The factors influencing new markers of gastro-esophageal reflux disease detected by impedance-pH monitoring - mean nocturnal baseline impedance (MNBI) and post-reflux swallow-induced peristaltic wave (PSPW) index - need to be evaluated. Aim: To compare endoscopy-negative heartburn with chronic autoimmune atrophic gastritis (CAAG). Materials and methods: 24 patients with CAAG, 25 with non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) and 25 with functional heartburn (FH) were included. In all patients the main impedance-pH monitoring parameters were calculated. Results: CAAG and NERD patients had a number of reflux events (non-acid ones being more common among the former group) which was higher than that found in FH (p 3000 Ohm), CAAG (> 2000 Ohm) and NERD (<1000 Ohm) patients (p = 0.0046). The PSPW index was similar between CAAG and NERD patients but significantly lower in comparison to FH (p <0.0001). Conclusion: Patients with CAAG have evidence of non-acid reflux based on the high number of reflux events and confirmed by low values of MNBI and PSPW index. MNBI is a strong marker of acid/non-acid reflux-induced mucosal damage, whereas the PSPW index can reliably discriminate patients with reflux from those with FH, independently of the acidity of refluxate. (C) 2017 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe