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

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

The spatial range of peripheral collinear facilitation

Contrast detection thresholds for a central Gabor patch (target) can be modulated by the presence of co-oriented and collinear high contrast Gabors flankers. In foveal vision collinear facilitation can be observed for target-to-flankers relative distances beyond two times the wavelength (λ) of the Gabor's carrier, while for shorter relative distances (<2λ) there is suppression. These modulatory influences seem to disappear after 12λ. In this study, we measured contrast detection thresholds for different spatial frequencies (1, 4 and 6 cpd) and target-to-flankers relative distances ranging from 6 to 16λ, but with collinear configurations presented in near periphery at 4° of eccentricity. Results showed that in near periphery collinear facilitation extends beyond 12λ for the higher spatial frequencies tested (4 and 6 cpd), while it decays already at 10λ for the lowest spatial frequency used (i.e., 1 cpd). In addition, we found that increasing the spatial frequency the peak of collinear facilitation shifts towards larger target-to-flankers relative distances (expressed as multiples of the stimulus wavelength), an effect never reported neither for near peripheral nor for central vision. The results suggest that the peak and the spatial extent of collinear facilitation in near periphery depend on the spatial frequency of the stimuli used

Toll-Like Receptor 8 Agonist and Bacteria Trigger Potent Activation of Innate Immune Cells in Human Liver

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The study was supported by a Grant core funding from the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR, Singapore) and a Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award (NRMC/StaR/013/2012) to AB as well as NIHR Biomedical Centre, Oxford, WT 091663MA, NIAID1U19AI082630-01, Oxford Martin School funding and an NIHR Senior Investigator award to PK

Neuronal circuitry for pain processing in the dorsal horn

Neurons in the spinal dorsal horn process sensory information, which is then transmitted to several brain regions, including those responsible for pain perception. The dorsal horn provides numerous potential targets for the development of novel analgesics and is thought to undergo changes that contribute to the exaggerated pain felt after nerve injury and inflammation. Despite its obvious importance, we still know little about the neuronal circuits that process sensory information, mainly because of the heterogeneity of the various neuronal components that make up these circuits. Recent studies have begun to shed light on the neuronal organization and circuitry of this complex region

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of triple gauge-boson couplings at 172 GeV

The triple gauge-boson couplings, Awp, Aw and Abp, have been measured using 34 semileptonically and 54 hadronically decaying WW candidate events. The events were selected in the data recorded during 1996 with the ALEPH detector at 172 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.65 pb^-1. The triple gauge-boson couplings have been measured using optimal observables constructed from kinematic information of WW events. The results are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation

Search for new physics in the multijet and missing transverse momentum final state in proton-proton collisions at √s=8 Tev

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