Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Estradiol inhibits the effects of extracellular ATP in human sperm by a non genomic mechanism of action

Steroid hormones, beside their classical genomic mechanism of action, exert rapid, non genomic effects in different cell types. These effects are mediated by still poorly characterized plasma membrane receptors that appear to be distinct from the classic intracellular receptors. In the present study we evaluated the non genomic effects of estradiol (17βE2) in human sperm and its effects on sperm stimulation by extracellular ATP, a potent activator of sperm acrosome reaction. In human sperm 17βE2 induced a rapid increase of intracellular calcium (Ca2+) concentrations dependent on an influx of Ca2+ from the extracellular medium. The monitoring of the plasma membrane potential variations induced by 17βE2 showed that this steroid induces a rapid plasma membrane hyperpolarization that was dependent on the presence of Ca2+ in the extracellular medium since it was absent in Ca2+ free-medium. When sperm were pre-incubated in the presence of the K+ channel inhibitor tetra-ethylammonium, the 17βE2 induced plasma membrane hyperpolarization was blunted suggesting the involvement of K+ channels in the hyperpolarizing effects of 17βE2. Extracellular ATP induced a rapid plasma membrane depolarization followed by acrosome reaction. Sperm pre-incubation with 17βE2 inhibited the effects of extracellular ATP on sperm plasma membrane potential variations and acrosome reaction. The effects of 17βE2 were specific since its inactive steroisomer 17αE2 was inactive. Furthermore the effects of 17βE2 were not inhibited by tamoxifen, an antagonist of the classic 17βE2 intracellular receptor

Flow shop rescheduling under different types of disruption

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Production Research on 2013, available online:http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00207543.2012.666856Almost all manufacturing facilities need to use production planning and scheduling systems to increase productivity and to reduce production costs. Real-life production operations are subject to a large number of unexpected disruptions that may invalidate the original schedules. In these cases, rescheduling is essential to minimise the impact on the performance of the system. In this work we consider flow shop layouts that have seldom been studied in the rescheduling literature. We generate and employ three types of disruption that interrupt the original schedules simultaneously. We develop rescheduling algorithms to finally accomplish the twofold objective of establishing a standard framework on the one hand, and proposing rescheduling methods that seek a good trade-off between schedule quality and stability on the other.The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their careful and detailed comments that helped to improve the paper considerably. This work is partially financed by the Small and Medium Industry of the Generalitat Valenciana (IMPIVA) and by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) inside the R + D program "Ayudas dirigidas a Institutos tecnologicos de la Red IMPIVA" during the year 2011, with project number IMDEEA/2011/142.Katragjini Prifti, K.; Vallada Regalado, E.; Ruiz García, R. (2013). Flow shop rescheduling under different types of disruption. International Journal of Production Research. 51(3):780-797. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2012.666856S780797513Abumaizar, R. J., & Svestka, J. A. 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An immune algorithm for scheduling a hybrid flow shop with sequence-dependent setup times and machines with random breakdowns. International Journal of Production Research, 47(24), 6999-7027. doi:10.1080/0020754080240063

Increased Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression in Organs Is Associated with a Higher Severity of H5N1 Influenza Virus Infection

BACKGROUND: The mechanisms of disease severity caused by H5N1 influenza virus infection remain somewhat unclear. Studies have indicated that a high viral load and an associated hyper inflammatory immune response are influential during the onset of infection. This dysregulated inflammatory response with increased levels of free radicals, such as nitric oxide (NO), appears likely to contribute to disease severity. However, enzymes of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) family such as the inducible form of NOS (iNOS) generate NO, which serves as a potent anti-viral molecule to combat infection in combination with acute phase proteins and cytokines. Nevertheless, excessive production of iNOS and subsequent high levels of NO during H5N1 infection may have negative effects, acting with other damaging oxidants to promote excessive inflammation or induce apoptosis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: There are dramatic differences in the severity of disease between chickens and ducks following H5N1 influenza infection. Chickens show a high level of mortality and associated pathology, whilst ducks show relatively minor symptoms. It is not clear how this varying pathogenicty comes about, although it has been suggested that an overactive inflammatory immune response to infection in the chicken, compared to the duck response, may be to blame for the disparity in observed pathology. In this study, we identify and investigate iNOS gene expression in ducks and chickens during H5N1 influenza infection. Infected chickens show a marked increase in iNOS expression in a wide range of organs. Contrastingly, infected duck tissues have lower levels of tissue related iNOS expression. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The differences in iNOS expression levels observed between chickens and ducks during H5N1 avian influenza infection may be important in the inflammatory response that contributes to the pathology. Understanding the regulation of iNOS expression and its role during H5N1 influenza infection may provide insights for the development of new therapeutic strategies in the treatment of avian influenza infection

Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to a pair of tau leptons in pp collisions

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Measurement of top quark–antiquark pair production in association with a W or Z boson in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

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Measurement of prompt J/ψ pair production in pp collisions at √s = 7 Tev

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Searches for electroweak production of charginos, neutralinos, and sleptons decaying to leptons and W, Z, and Higgs bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

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Study of hadronic event-shape variables in multijet final states in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

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Constraints on parton distribution functions and extraction of the strong coupling constant from the inclusive jet cross section in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

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