SUSY QCD one-loop effects in (un)polarized top-pair production at hadron colliders

We study the effects of O(alpha_s) supersymmetric QCD (SQCD) corrections on the total production rate and kinematic distributions of polarized and unpolarized top-pair production in pp and p anti-p collisions. At the Fermilab Tevatron p anti-p collider, top-quark pairs are mainly produced via quark-antiquark annihilation, q anti-q -> t anti-t, while at the CERN LHC pp collider gluon-gluon scattering, g g -> t anti-t, dominates. We compute the complete set of O(alpha_s) SQCD corrections to both production channels and study their dependence on the parameters of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. In particular, we discuss the prospects for observing strong, loop-induced SUSY effects in top-pair production at the Tevatron Run II and the LHC.Comment: 56 pages, 29 figures, RevTeX

Characterization of a CdZnTe detector for a low-power CubeSat application

We report spectral and imaging performance of a pixelated CdZnTe detector custom designed for the MeVCube project: a small Compton telescope on a CubeSat platform. MeVCube is expected to cover the energy range between 200 keV and 4 MeV, with a sensitivity comparable to the one of the last generation of larger satellites. In order to achieve this goal, an energy resolution of few percent in full width at half maximum (FWHM) and a 3-D spatial resolution of few millimeters for the individual detectors are needed. The severe power constraints present in small satellites require very low power read-out electronics for the detector. Our read-out is based on the VATA450.3 ASIC developed by Ideas, with a power consumption of only 0.25 mW/channel, which exhibits good performance in terms of dynamic range, noise and linearity. A 2.0 cm× 2.0 cm× 1.5 cm CdZnTe detector, with a custom 8 × 8 pixel anode structure read-out by a VATA450.3 ASIC, has been tested. A preliminary read-out system for the cathode, based on a discrete Amptek A250F charge sensitive pre-amplifier and a DRS4 ASIC, has been implemented. An energy resolution around 3% FWHM has been measured at a gamma energy of 662 keV; at 200 keV the average energy resolution is 6.5%, decreasing to ≲ 2% at energies above 1 MeV. A 3-D spatial resolution of ≈ 2 mm is achieved in each dimension.Peer Reviewe

Characterization of a CdZnTe detector for a low-power CubeSat application

We report spectral and imaging performance of a pixelated CdZnTe detector custom designed for the \emph{MeVCube} project: a small Compton telescope on a CubeSat platform. \emph{MeVCube} is expected to cover the energy range between $200\;\mathrm{keV}$ and $4\;\mathrm{MeV}$, with performance comparable to the last generation of larger satellites. In order to achieve this goal, an energy resolution of few percent in full width at half maximum (FWHM) and a $3$-D spatial resolution of few millimeters for the individual detectors are needed. The severe power constraints present in small satellites require very low power read-out electronics for the detector. Our read-out is based on the VATA450.3 ASIC developed by \emph{Ideas}, with a power consumption of only $0.25\;\mathrm{mW/channel}$, which exhibits good performance in terms of dynamic range, noise and linearity. A $2.0\;\mathrm{cm} \times 2.0\;\mathrm{cm} \times 1.5\;\mathrm{cm}$ CdZnTe detector, with a custom $8 \times 8$ pixel anode structure read-out by a VATA450.3 ASIC, has been tested. A preliminary read-out system for the cathode, based on a discrete \emph{Amptek} A250F charge sensitive pre-amplifier and a DRS4 ASIC, has been implemented. An energy resolution around $3\%$ FWHM has been measured at a gamma energy of $662\;\mathrm{keV}$; at $200\;\mathrm{keV}$ the average energy resolution is $6.5\%$, decreasing to $\lesssim 2\%$ at energies above $1\;\mathrm{MeV}$. A $3$-D spatial resolution of $\approx 2\,\mathrm{mm}$ is achieved

Miniature high-frequency chilled-mirror hygrometer for atmospheric measurements aboard fixed wing UAS

A small light-weight in-house made miniature chilled-mirror hygrometer (CMH) for fixed wing UAS (unmanned aircraft system) is presented, with its features and limitations. Therefore, first measurements of the CMH equipped on the small research UAS of type MASC‑3 (multi-purpose airborne sensor carrier) operated by the University of Tübingen are shown. A comparison against a very accurate state of the art capacitive industrial humidity sensor (SHT31) is done. The sensor consists of a TEC (thermoelectric cooler) covered by a gold mirror. The TEC is controlled by a commercially available microprocessor with an on-board PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controller. The results of the CMH measurements are in good agreement with the industrial-made capacitive sensor. The absolute accuracy of the measured dew point temperature by the CMH is in the range of ±0.2 K. Spectra show evidence that the CMH is capable to measure turbulent humidity fluctuations in the atmosphere with a temporal resolution of up to 10 Hz. Such a fast humidity sensor aboard a small UAS has the potential to study humidity fluxes in the surface layer over complex terrain, behind wind energy converters and humidity variations over land and sea surfaces in general

Democratic Control in the Member States of the European Council and the Euro zone summits

This report on the "Democratic Control in the Member States of the European Council and the Euro zone summits" analyses the democratic control of the European Council in all 27 Member States, identifies seven different models of control and formulates twelve policy recommendations. It was written by a team of researchers at Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute and TEPSA at the request of the Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament. Olivier Rozenberg, Associate Research Professor at Sciences Po Paris co-directed the report on behalf of Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute together with Wolfgang Wessels, Jean Monet Professor at the University of Cologne and Chairperson of TEPSA. Valentin Kreilinger, Research Fellow Politics and Institutions, is a co-author of the report, alongside Claudia Hefftler, Mirte Van Den Berge, Laura Ventura and the co-directors of the project. The European Council is increasingly central to the governance of the European Union. Even if national parliaments have originally focused their involvement in EU affairs on the ordinary legislative process, most of the chambers have started to develop specific activities, before or after European summits. From ex-ante influence to ex-post accountability, seven different models of control of parliamentary control have been identified across the 27 Member States. Beyond their differences rooted in national democratic systems, the authors of the report formulate twelve policy recommendations. One of the proposals is of special interest due to the ongoing debate on the parliamentary control over the coordination of budgetary and economic policies in the Eurozone and among the Contracting Parties of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. On the basis of Article 13 TSCG, this report proposes to create an Inter-Parliamentary Conference for budgetary and economic issues and to model it according to the Inter-Parliamentary Conference for CFSP and CSDP

LEGaTO: first steps towards energy-efficient toolset for heterogeneous computing

LEGaTO is a three-year EU H2020 project which started in December 2017. The LEGaTO project will leverage task-based programming models to provide a software ecosystem for Made-in-Europe heterogeneous hardware composed of CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs and dataflow engines. The aim is to attain one order of magnitude energy savings from the edge to the converged cloud/HPC.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Graphs in molecular biology

Graph theoretical concepts are useful for the description and analysis of interactions and relationships in biological systems. We give a brief introduction into some of the concepts and their areas of application in molecular biology. We discuss software that is available through the Bioconductor project and present a simple example application to the integration of a protein-protein interaction and a co-expression network

Designed Ankyrin Repeat Proteins provide insights into the structure and function of CagI and are potent inhibitors of CagA translocation by the Helicobacter pylori type IV secretion system

The bacterial human pathogen Helicobacter pylori produces a type IV secretion system ( cag T4SS) to inject the oncoprotein CagA into gastric cells. The cag T4SS external pilus mediates attachment of the apparatus to the target cell and the delivery of CagA. While the composition of the pilus is unclear, CagI is present at the surface of the bacterium and required for pilus formation. Here, we have investigated the properties of CagI by an integrative structural biology approach. Using Alpha Fold 2 and Small Angle X-ray scattering, it was found that CagI forms elongated dimers mediated by rod-shape N-terminal domains (CagI N ) prolonged by globular C-terminal domains (CagI C ). Three Designed Ankyrin Repeat Proteins (DARPins) K2, K5 and K8 selected against CagI interacted with CagI C with subnanomolar affinities. The crystal structures of the CagI:K2 and CagI:K5 complexes were solved and identified the interfaces between the molecules, thereby providing a structural explanation for the difference in affinity between the two binders. Purified CagI and CagI C were found to interact with adenocarcinoma gastric (AGS) cells, induced cell spreading and the interaction was inhibited by K2. The same DARPin inhibited CagA translocation by up to 65% in AGS cells while inhibition levels were 40% and 30% with K8 and K5, respectively. Our study suggests that CagI C plays a key role in cag T4SS-mediated CagA translocation and that DARPins targeting CagI represent potent inhibitors of the cag T4SS, a crucial risk factor for gastric cancer development.Bases structurale du système de secretion de type IV d'Helicobacter pyloriBases structurales et moléculaires de l'exploitation de l'integrin a5ß1 par le système de sécrétion de type IV d'Helicobacter pylor

Party rules, party resources, and the politics of parliamentary democracies: how parties organize in the 21st Century

This article introduces the first findings of the Political Party Database (PPDB) project, a major survey of party organizations in parliamentary and semi-presidential democracies. The project’s first round of data covers 122 parties in 19 countries. In this paper we describe the scope of the database, then investigate what it tells us about contemporary party organization in these countries, focussing on parties’ resources, structures and internal decision-making. We examine organizational patterns by country and party family, and where possible we make temporal comparisons with older datasets. Our analyses suggest a remarkable coexistence of uniformity and diversity. In terms of the major organizational resources on which parties can draw, such as members, staff and finance, the new evidence largely confirms the continuation of trends identified in previous research: i.e., declining membership, but enhanced financial resources and more paid staff. We also find remarkable uniformity regarding the core architecture of party organizations. At the same time, however, we find substantial variation between countries and party families in terms of their internal processes, with particular regard to how internally democratic they are, and in the forms that this democratization takes

LEGaTO: towards energy-efficient, secure, fault-tolerant toolset for heterogeneous computing

LEGaTO is a three-year EU H2020 project which started in December 2017. The LEGaTO project will leverage task-based programming models to provide a software ecosystem for Made-in-Europe heterogeneous hardware composed of CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs and dataflow engines. The aim is to attain one order of magnitude energy savings from the edge to the converged cloud/HPC.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft