Newton's identities and positivity of trace class integral operators

We provide a countable set of conditions based on elementary symmetric polynomials that are necessary and sufficient for a trace class integral operator to be positive semidefinite, which is an important cornerstone for quantum theory in phase-space representation. We also present a new, efficiently computable algorithm based on Newton's identities. Our test of positivity is much more sensitive than the ones given by the linear entropy and Robertson-Schr\"odinger's uncertainty relations; our first condition is equivalent to the non-negativity of the linear entropy.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Antimycobacterial activity of peptide conjugate of pyridopyrimidine derivative against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a series of in vitro and in vivo models

New pyridopyrimidine derivatives were defined using a novel HTS in silico docking method (FRIGATE). The target protein was a dUTPase enzyme (EC 3.6.1.23; Rv2697) which plays a key role in nucleotide biosynthesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Top hit molecules were assayed in vitro for their antimycobacterial effect on Mtb H37Rv culture. In order to enhance the cellular uptake rate, the TB820 compound was conjugated to a peptid-based carrier and a nanoparticle type delivery system (polylactide-co-glycolide, PLGA) was applied. The conjugate had relevant in vitro antitubercular activity with low in vitro and in vivo toxicity. In a Mtb H37Rv infected guinea pig model the in vivo efficacy of orally administrated PLGA encapsulated compound was proved: animals maintained a constant weight gain and no external clinical signs of tuberculosis were observed. All tissue homogenates from lung, liver and kidney were found negative for Mtb, and diagnostic autopsy showed that no significant malformations on the tissues occurred

Determination of the Jet Energy Scale at the Collider Detector at Fermilab

A precise determination of the energy scale of jets at the Collider Detector at Fermilab at the Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ collider is described. Jets are used in many analyses to estimate the energies of partons resulting from the underlying physics process. Several correction factors are developed to estimate the original parton energy from the observed jet energy in the calorimeter. The jet energy response is compared between data and Monte Carlo simulation for various physics processes, and systematic uncertainties on the jet energy scale are determined. For jets with transverse momenta above 50 GeV the jet energy scale is determined with a 3% systematic uncertainty

Social Interactions vs Revisions, What is important for Promotion in Wikipedia?

In epistemic community, people are said to be selected on their knowledge contribution to the project (articles, codes, etc.) However, the socialization process is an important factor for inclusion, sustainability as a contributor, and promotion. Finally, what does matter to be promoted? being a good contributor? being a good animator? knowing the boss? We explore this question looking at the process of election for administrator in the English Wikipedia community. We modeled the candidates according to their revisions and/or social attributes. These attributes are used to construct a predictive model of promotion success, based on the candidates's past behavior, computed thanks to a random forest algorithm. Our model combining knowledge contribution variables and social networking variables successfully explain 78% of the results which is better than the former models. It also helps to refine the criterion for election. If the number of knowledge contributions is the most important element, social interactions come close second to explain the election. But being connected with the future peers (the admins) can make the difference between success and failure, making this epistemic community a very social community too

Measurement of the Helicity Fractions of W Bosons from Top Quark Decays Using Fully Reconstructed top-antitop Events with CDF II

We present a measurement of the fractions F_0 and F_+ of longitudinally polarized and right-handed W bosons in top quark decays using data collected with the CDF II detector. The data set used in the analysis corresponds to an integrated luminosity of approximately 318 pb -1. We select ttbar candidate events with one lepton, at least four jets, and missing transverse energy. Our helicity measurement uses the decay angle theta*, which is defined as the angle between the momentum of the charged lepton in the W boson rest frame and the W momentum in the top quark rest frame. The cos(theta*) distribution in the data is determined by full kinematic reconstruction of the ttbar candidates. We find F_0 = 0.85 +0.15 -0.22 (stat) +- 0.06 (syst) and F_+ = 0.05 +0.11 -0.05 (stat) +- 0.03 (syst), which is consistent with the standard model prediction. We set an upper limit on the fraction of right-handed W bosons of F_+ < 0.26 at the 95% confidence level.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Genetic diversity of PRRSV 1 in Central Eastern Europe in 1994-2014: origin and evolution of the virus in the region

More than 20 years after the first outbreaks, the phylogenetic picture of PRRSV is still incomplete and full of gaps, especially in regards of PRRSV 1. Due to the exceptional diversity observed at the eastern borders of Europe and the low number of available sequences from Central Eastern European countries, the authors collected and analyzed both recent as well as already submitted sequences comparing them to a large backbone set of available ORF5 sequences representing the full spectrum of PRRSV 1 Subtype 1 diversity to conduct a systematic phylogenetic analysis and reclassification elucidating the diversity of the virus in these countries. Moreover, further analyses of the EUROSTAT data regarding the live pig movement trends revealed their influence of virus diversity and evolution. The results indicate that besides the effect of local, isolated divergent evolution and the use of modified live vaccines, the most important factor influencing a given country’s virus diversity is the transboundary movement of live, infected animals

Discordance in STING-Induced Activation and Cell Death Between Mouse and Human Dendritic Cell Populations

Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) is a cytosolic sensor of cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs). The activation of dendritic cells (DC) via the STING pathway, and their subsequent production of type I interferon (IFN) is considered central to eradicating tumours in mouse models. However, this contribution of STING in preclinical murine studies has not translated into positive outcomes of STING agonists in phase I & II clinical trials. We therefore questioned whether a difference in human DC responses could be critical to the lack of STING agonist efficacy in human settings. This study sought to directly compare mouse and human plasmacytoid DCs and conventional DC subset responses upon STING activation. We found all mouse and human DC subsets were potently activated by STING stimulation. As expected, Type I IFNs were produced by both mouse and human plasmacytoid DCs. However, mouse and human plasmacytoid and conventional DCs all produced type III IFNs (i.e., IFN-ls) in response to STING activation. Of particular interest, all human DCs produced large amounts of IFN-l1, not expressed in the mouse genome. Furthermore, we also found differential cell death responses upon STING activation, observing rapid ablation of mouse, but not human, plasmacytoid DCs. STING-induced cell death in murine plasmacytoid DCs occurred in a cell-intrinsic manner and involved intrinsic apoptosis. These data highlight discordance between STING IFN and cell death responses in mouse and human DCs and caution against extrapolating STING-mediated events in mouse models to equivalent human outcomes.Ee Shan Pang, Ghazal Daraj, Katherine R. Balka, Dominic De Nardo, Christophe Macri, Hubertus Hochrein, Kelly-Anne Masterman, Peck S. Tan, Angus Shoppee, Zoe Magill, Nazneen Jahan, Mariam Bafit, Yifan Zhan, Benjamin T. Kile, Kate E. Lawlor, Kristen J. Radford, Mark D. Wright, and Meredith O, Keeff