Characterization of the CBC2 readout ASIC for the CMS strip-tracker high-luminosity upgrade

The CMS Binary Chip 2 (CBC2) is a full-scale prototype ASIC developed for the front-end readout of the high-luminosity upgrade of the CMS silicon strip tracker. The 254-channel, 130 nm CMOS ASIC is designed for the binary readout of double-layer modules, and features cluster-width discrimination and coincidence logic for detecting high-PT track candidates. The chip was delivered in January 2013 and has since been bump-bonded to a dual-chip hybrid and extensively tested. The CBC2 is fully functional and working to specification: we present the result of electrical characterization of the chip, including gain, noise, threshold scan and power consumption, together with the performance of the stub finding logic. Finally we will outline the plan for future developments towards the production version

HLA-DR in Cytotoxic T lymphocytes predicts breast cancer patients' response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Prediction of breast cancer response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (NACT) is an urgent need to promptly direct non-responder patients to alternative therapies. Infiltrating T lymphocytes, namely cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) have been appointed as predictors of response. However, cancer cells have the ability to dampen CTLs' activity and thus, the prognostic value of the CTLs, per se, is debatable. Here, we disclose that more than the occurrence of CTLs, it is their activation state, revealed by HLA-DR expression, that can accurately predict response to NACT. Flow cytometry analysis of breast cancer biopsies showed that the frequency of CTLs and other lymphocytes were similar regardless disease stage and between NACT responders and non-responders. However, only breast cancer patients without axillary lymph node metastasis and NACT responders have HLA-DRhi CTLs. Interestingly, HLA-DR levels in tumor CTLs is correlated with HLA-DR levels in systemic CTLs. These HLA-DR+ CTLs produce IFN-γ and Granzyme B, enlightening their effector and probable anti-tumor activity profile. Moreover, the level of HLA-DR in CTLs is negatively correlated with the level of HLA-DR in T regulatory lymphocytes and with immunosuppressive and pro-tumor molecules in the tumor microenvironment. Hence, HLA-DR levels in CTLs is a highly sensitive and specific potential predictive factor of NACT-response, which can be assessed in blood to guide therapeutic decisions.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia: PD/BD/114023/2015; PTDC/BBB-BMD/4497/2014. Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancroinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Optical and Near-Infrared UBVRIJHK Photometry for the RR Lyrae stars in the Nearby Globular Cluster M4 (NGC 6121)

We present optical and near-infrared UBVRIJHK photometry of stars in the Galactic globular cluster M4 (NGC 6121) based upon a large corpus of observations obtained mainly from public astronomical archives. We concentrate on the RR Lyrae variable stars in the cluster, and make a particular effort to accurately reidentify the previously discovered variables. We have also discovered two new probable RR Lyrae variables in the M4 field: one of them by its position on the sky and its photometric properties is a probable member of the cluster, and the second is a probable background (bulge?) object. We provide accurate equatorial coordinates for all 47 stars identified as RR Lyraes, new photometric measurements for 46 of them, and new period estimates for 45. We have also derived accurate positions and mean photometry for 34 more stars previously identified as variable stars of other types, and for an additional five non-RR Lyrae variable stars identified for the first time here. We present optical and near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams for the cluster and show the locations of the variable stars in them. We present the Bailey (period-amplitude) diagrams and the period-frequency histogram for the RR Lyrae stars in M4 and compare them to the corresponding diagrams for M5 (NGC 5904). We conclude that the RR Lyrae populations in the two clusters are quite similar in all the relevant properties that we have considered. The mean periods, pulsation-mode ratios, and Bailey diagrams of these two clusters show support for the recently proposed "Oosterhoff-neutral" classification.Comment: 33 pages, 16 figures, 7 table

Astmaatikon kokemuksia potilasohjauksesta

Astma on yleisimpiä kansantautejamme. Lääkehoitoa vaativista pitkäaikaisista sairauksista se on kolmanneksi yleisin verenpainetaudin ja sepelvaltimotaudin jälkeen. Lasten pitkäaikaissairauksista astma on yleisin. Valtakunnallisessa astmaohjelmassa esitetyn arvion mukaan vaikea-asteista astmaa sairastaa kaikista potilaista 20 %, keski-vaikeaa 20 % ja lievää astmaa 60 %. Opinnäytetyön nimi on astmaatikon kokemuksia potilasohjauksesta. Opinnäytetyömme toimeksiantaja on Kainuun maakunta-kuntayhtymän keuhkosairauksien poliklinikka. Opinnäytetyömme tarkoituksena oli kar-toittaa, miten kyselyyn osallistuvat astmaatikot ovat sitoutuneita omahoitoon. Tavoitteenamme oli selvittää, miten potilaat saavat keuhkosairauksien poliklinikalla ohjausta astman omahoitoon, olivatko potilaat saaneet ohjausta riittävästi ja mihin asioihin he olisivat halunneet saada enemmän tietoa ja ohjausta. Opinnäytteemme tutkimuksellinen lähestymistapa oli kvalitatiivinen tutkimusote. Opinnäytetyön aineiston ke-ruumenetelmänä käytimme kyselyä. Kysely muodostui avoimista kysymyksistä, joilla haluttiin selvittää astmaati-kon omahoitoon sitoutumista ja potilasohjauksen laatua ja kokemuksia potilasohjauksesta. Kerätty aineisto analysoitiin sisällön analyysin avulla. Tulokset esitettiin eri astman hoitoon sisältyvien teemojen ylä- ja alakategorioina. Kyselyyn vastasi 13 vastaajaa (n = 13). Tuloksista kävi ilmi, että kyselyyn osallistuneet astmaatikot olivat pääosin tyytyväisiä saamansa potilasohjaukseen keuhkosairauksien poliklinikalla. Osalla vastaajista on astman hoito omasta jaksamisesta kiinni. Osa vastaajista tietää ja ymmärtää astman hoidon merkityksen terveydelle. Opinnäytetyömme tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää keuhkosairauksien poliklinikalla hoitotyön käytäntöön. Opinnäytetyömme tulokset antavat tietoa miten astmaa sairastavan potilasohjausta ja sen sisältöä voidaan jatkossa kehittää. Tulokset antavat tietoa potilasohjauksen kehittämistarpeista. Jatkotutkimusaiheena olisi hyvä selvittää sairaanhoitajien kokemuksia astmaa sairastavan potilasohjauksesta keuhkosairauksien poliklinikalla. Opinnäytetyö prosessin kautta olemme vahvistaneet sairaanhoitajan työssä tarvittavaa tiedollista ja taidollista ja asenteista osaamista jota voimme hyödyntää astmaa sairastavan kokonaishoitoon ja ohjaukseen. Prosessin kautta olemme saaneet vahvistuksen sille, miten tärkeä on sairaanhoitajan asenne ja osaaminen potilasohjaukseen.Asthma is one of the most common national diseases. Amongst long term diseases requiring medical treatment it is the third most common after arterial hypertension and coronary artery diseases. Among Childhood long term diseases asthma is the most common. According to an estimate provided by a nationwide asthmas program 20 % of all asthma patients suffer from severe asthma, 20 % from mildly severe and 60 % suffer from slight asthma. The name of this thesis is an Asthma Patient’s Experiences of Supervision. The commissioner of the thesis was the Joint Authority of the Kainuu Region and our working – life supervisor was the Pulmonary Diseases Outpatients’ Department. The purpose of this thesis was to clarify by survey how the asthma patients involved were committed to care for their asthma. The aim was to clarify whether patients had been provided with sufficient instruction and supervision and in what issues did they require further knowledge and instruction. The investigational approach of this thesis was qualitative, using a survey to collect data. The survey con-sisted of open questions intending to clarify how asthma patients are committed to care for asthma and to establish the quality of patient instruction and how patients experienced instruction. The collected ma-terial was analyzed using qualitative contents analysis. The results were presented in super and sub categories in different themes related to the care of asthma. 13 respondents took part in the survey (n=13).The results indicated that patients were mainly satisfied with instruction received in the Pulmonary Diseases Outpatients’ Department. For some of the respondents, the care of their asthma depended on how they were coping generally. Others understood and were aware of the significance of caring for their asthma to their health. The results of the thesis provide information on how patient instruction and its contents can be developed in the future. In the future, it would be appropriate to research how nurses experience the instruction and supervision of asthma patients in the Pulmonary Diseases Outpatients’ Department. The thesis process has strengthened the knowledge and skill-based competence as well as attitudes required in nursing, which we can use in the care and instruction of asthma patients. The process has confirmed how important attitude and competence is in patient instruction

Early Identification of Violent Criminal Gang Members

Gang violence is a major problem in the United States accounting for a large fraction of homicides and other violent crime. In this paper, we study the problem of early identification of violent gang members. Our approach relies on modified centrality measures that take into account additional data of the individuals in the social network of co-arrestees which together with other arrest metadata provide a rich set of features for a classification algorithm. We show our approach obtains high precision and recall (0.89 and 0.78 respectively) in the case where the entire network is known and out-performs current approaches used by law-enforcement to the problem in the case where the network is discovered overtime by virtue of new arrests - mimicking real-world law-enforcement operations. Operational issues are also discussed as we are preparing to leverage this method in an operational environment.Comment: SIGKDD 201

Configurational temperature control for atomic and molecular systems

A new configurational temperature thermostat suitable for molecules with holonomic constraints is derived. This thermostat has a simple set of motion equations, can generate the canonical ensemble in both position and momentum space, acts homogeneously through the spatial coordinates, and does not intrinsically violate the constraints. Our new configurational thermostat is closely related to the kinetic temperature Nosé-Hoover thermostat with feedback coupled to the position variables via a term proportional to the net molecular force. We validate the thermostat by comparing equilibrium static and dynamic quantities for a fluid of n-decane molecules under configurational and kinetic temperature control. Practical aspects concerning the implementation of the new thermostat in a molecular dynamics code and the potential applications are discussed

Triplectic Quantization of W2 gravity

The role of one loop order corrections in the triplectic quantization is discussed in the case of W2 theory. This model illustrates the presence of anomalies and Wess Zumino terms in this quantization scheme where extended BRST invariance is represented in a completely anticanonical form.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Análises patentométrica, bibliométrica e do portfólio de projetos da Embrapa relacionados a Elaeis sp.

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