CAMCAT: an oil spill forecasting system for the Catalan-Balearic Sea based on the MFS products

International audienceThe Prestige oil spill crisis (2002?2003), one of the worst oil spills that affected the Atlantic Spanish coastal line, pointed out that some management tools are needed in the form of laws, regulations and technical procedures. In particular, the issues are contingency planning and prevention against marine pollution and prediction for a proper response. In that background, the Catalan local government approved the CAMCAT (2004), a Regional contingency plan against marine pollution, to be framed within the (Spanish) National Contingency Plan. The CAMCAT contemplated the implementation of a Regional Forecasting System for the North-Western Mediterranean area, intended to help Catalan Authorities during any pollution emergency. The Laboratory of Maritime Engineering (LIM/UPC) has been responsible for the implementation of this Regional CAMCAT Forecasting System that is based (nested) on existing larger Forecasting Systems/Products, and it integrates several coastal observational data. The present paper is aiming to make an overview of the several scientific and technical activities related to the implementation and validation of the CAMCAT System

Integrated test environment for a part of the LHCb calorimeter - TWEPP09

An integrated test environment for the data acquisition electronics of the Scintillator Pad Detector (SPD) from the calorimeter of the LHCb experiment is presented. It allows to test separately every single board or to perform global system tests, while being able to emulate every part of the system and debug it. This environment is foreseen to test the production of spare electronic boards and help the maintenance of the SPD electronics along the life of the detector. The heart of the system is an Altera Stratix II FPGA while the main board can be controlled over USB, Ethernet or WiFi

The Front End Electronics of the Scintillator Pad Detector of LHCb Calorimeter

In this paper the Front End electronics of the Scintillator Pad Detector (SPD) is outlined. The SPD is a sub-system of the Calorimeter of the LHCb experiment designed to discriminate between charged and neutral particles for the first level trigger. The system design is presented, describing its different functionalities implemented through three different cards and several ASICs. These functionalities are signal processing and digitization, data transmission, interface with control and timing systems of the experiment, low voltage power supply distribution and monitoring. Special emphasis is placed on installation and commissioning subjects such as cabling, grounding, shielding and power distribution

Searches for Λ0b and Ξ0b decays to K0Spπ− and K0SpK− final states with first observation of the Λ0b→K0Spπ− decay

A search for previously unobserved decays of beauty baryons to the final states K0 S pπ− and K0 S pK− is reported. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 of pp collisions. The Λ 0 b → K0pπ− decay is observed with a significance of 8.6 σ, with branching fraction B(Λ 0 b → K0 pπ−) = (1.26 ± 0.19 ± 0.09 ± 0.34 ± 0.05) × 10−5 , where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, from the ratio of fragmentation fractions fΛ0 b /fd, and from the branching fraction of the B0→ K0π +π − normalisation channel, respectively. A first measurement is made of the CP asymmetry, giving ACP (Λ 0 b → K0 pπ−) = 0.22 ± 0.13 (stat) ± 0.03 (syst). No significant signals are seen for Λ 0 b → K0 S pK− decays, Ξ0 b decays to both the K0 S pπ− and K0 S pK− final states, and the Λ 0 b → D− s (→ K0 SK−)p decay, and upper limits on their branching fractions are reported

Immune-related gene expression profiling after PD-1 blockade in non–small cell lung carcinoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma

Antibody targeting of the immune checkpoint receptor PD1 produces therapeutic activity in a variety of solid tumors, but most patients exhibit partial or complete resistance to treatment for reasons that are unclear. In this study, we evaluated tumor specimens from 65 patients with melanoma, lung nonsquamous, squamous cell lung or head and neck cancers who were treated with the approved PD1-targeting antibodies pembrolizumab or nivolumab. Tumor RNA before anti-PD1 therapy was analyzed on the nCounter system using the PanCancer 730-Immune Panel, and we identified 23 immune-related genes or signatures linked to response and progression-free survival (PFS). In addition, we evaluated intra- and interbiopsy variability of PD1, PD-L1, CD8A, and CD4 mRNAs and their relationship with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and PD-L1 IHC expression. Among the biomarkers examined, PD1 gene expression along with 12 signatures tracking CD8 and CD4 T-cell activation, natural killer cells, and IFN activation associated significantly with nonprogressive disease and PFS. These associations were independent of sample timing, drug used, or cancer type. TIL correlated moderately (~0.50) with PD1 and CD8A mRNA levels and weakly (~0.35) with CD4 and PD-L1. IHC expression of PD-L1 correlated strongly with PD-L1 (0.90), moderately with CD4 and CD8A, and weakly with PD1. Reproducibility of gene expression in intra- and interbiopsy specimens was very high (total SD <3%). Overall, our results support the hypothesis that identification of a preexisting and stable adaptive immune response as defined by mRNA expression pattern is reproducible and sufficient to predict clinical outcome, regardless of the type of cancer or the PD1 therapeutic antibody administered to patients

Observation of Z production in proton-lead collisions at LHCb

The first observation of Z boson production in proton-lead collisions at a centreof-mass energy per proton-nucleon pair of √ sNN = 5 TeV is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.6 nb−1 collected with the LHCb detector. The Z candidates are reconstructed from pairs of oppositely charged muons with pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.5 and transverse momenta above 20 GeV/c. The invariant dimuon mass is restricted to the range 60 − 120 GeV/c2 . The Z production cross-section is measured to be σZ→µ+µ− (fwd) = 13.5 +5.4 −4.0 (stat.) ± 1.2(syst.) nb in the direction of the proton beam and σZ→µ+µ− (bwd) = 10.7 +8.4 −5.1 (stat.) ± 1.0(syst.) nb in the direction of the lead beam, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic

Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of the decay B0→K∗0μ+μ−

The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay B 0→ K ∗0 μ + μ − are studied using a data sample, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1. Several angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, q 2. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is measured to be q20=4.9±0.9GeV2/c4 , where the uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions

Measurement of the relative rate of prompt χc0, χc1 and χc2 production at √s=7TeV

Prompt production of charmonium χc0, χc1 and χc2 mesons is studied using proton-proton collisions at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=7TeV. The χc mesons are identified through their decay to J/ψγ, with J/ψ→μ+mu− using photons that converted in the detector. A data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0fb−1 collected by the LHCb detector, is used to measure the relative prompt production rate of χc1 and χc2 in the rapidity range 2.0<y<4.5 as a function of the J/ψ transverse momentum from 3 to 20 GeV/c. First evidence for χc0 meson production at a hadron collider is also presented

Observation of an Excited Bc+ State

Using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.5 fb-1 recorded by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of s=7, 8, and 13 TeV, the observation of an excited Bc+ state in the Bc+π+π- invariant-mass spectrum is reported. The observed peak has a mass of 6841.2±0.6(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, where the last uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the Bc+ mass. It is consistent with expectations of the Bc∗(2S31)+ state reconstructed without the low-energy photon from the Bc∗(1S31)+→Bc+γ decay following Bc∗(2S31)+→Bc∗(1S31)+π+π-. A second state is seen with a global (local) statistical significance of 2.2σ (3.2σ) and a mass of 6872.1±1.3(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, and is consistent with the Bc(2S10)+ state. These mass measurements are the most precise to date

Observation of two new Ξb−\Xi_b^- baryon resonances

Two structures are observed close to the kinematic threshold in the $\Xi_b^0 \pi^-$ mass spectrum in a sample of proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the LHCb experiment. In the quark model, two baryonic resonances with quark content $bds$ are expected in this mass region: the spin-parity $J^P = \frac{1}{2}^+$ and $J^P=\frac{3}{2}^+$ states, denoted $\Xi_b^{\prime -}$ and $\Xi_b^{*-}$. Interpreting the structures as these resonances, we measure the mass differences and the width of the heavier state to be $m(\Xi_b^{\prime -}) - m(\Xi_b^0) - m(\pi^{-}) = 3.653 \pm 0.018 \pm 0.006$ MeV$/c^2$, $m(\Xi_b^{*-}) - m(\Xi_b^0) - m(\pi^{-}) = 23.96 \pm 0.12 \pm 0.06$ MeV$/c^2$, $\Gamma(\Xi_b^{*-}) = 1.65 \pm 0.31 \pm 0.10$ MeV, where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The width of the lighter state is consistent with zero, and we place an upper limit of $\Gamma(\Xi_b^{\prime -}) < 0.08$ MeV at 95% confidence level. Relative production rates of these states are also reported.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure