A Component Based Approach to Scientific Workflow Management

CRISTAL is a distributed scientific workflow system used in the manufacturing and production phases of HEP experiment construction at CERN. The CRISTAL project has studied the use of a description driven approach, using meta- modelling techniques, to manage the evolving needs of a large physics community. Interest from such diverse communities as bio-informatics and manufacturing has motivated the CRISTAL team to re-engineer the system to customize functionality according to end user requirements but maximize software reuse in the process. The next generation CRISTAL vision is to build a generic component architecture from which a complete software product line can be generated according to the particular needs of the target enterprise. This paper discusses the issues of adopting a component product line based approach and our experiences of software reuse

Supervoid Origin of the Cold Spot in the Cosmic Microwave Background

We use a WISE-2MASS-Pan-STARRS1 galaxy catalog to search for a supervoid in the direction of the Cosmic Microwave Background Cold Spot. We obtain photometric redshifts using our multicolor data set to create a tomographic map of the galaxy distribution. The radial density profile centred on the Cold Spot shows a large low density region, extending over 10's of degrees. Motivated by previous Cosmic Microwave Background results, we test for underdensities within two angular radii, $5^\circ$, and $15^\circ$. Our data, combined with an earlier measurement by Granett et al 2010, are consistent with a large $R_{\rm void}=(192 \pm 15)h^{-1} Mpc$ $(2\sigma)$ supervoid with $\delta \simeq -0.13 \pm 0.03$ centered at $z=0.22\pm0.01$. Such a supervoid, constituting a $\sim3.5 \sigma$ fluctuation in the $\Lambda CDM$ model, is a plausible cause for the Cold Spot.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of IAU 306 Symposium: Statistical Challenges in 21st Century Cosmolog

Bioenergetic mechanisms of seizure control

Epilepsy is characterized by the regular occurrence of seizures, which follow a stereotypical sequence of alterations in the electroencephalogram. Seizures are typically a self limiting phenomenon, concluding finally in the cessation of hypersynchronous activity and followed by a state of decreased neuronal excitability which might underlie the cognitive and psychological symptoms the patients experience in the wake of seizures. Many efforts have been devoted to understand how seizures spontaneously stop in hope to exploit this knowledge in anticonvulsant or neuroprotective therapies. Besides the alterations in ion-channels, transmitters and neuromodulators, the successive build up of disturbances in energy metabolism have been suggested as a mechanism for seizure termination. Energy metabolism and substrate supply of the brain are tightly regulated by different mechanisms called neurometabolic and neurovascular coupling. Here we summarize the current knowledge whether these mechanisms are sufficient to cover the energy demand of hypersynchronous activity and whether a mismatch between energy need and supply could contribute to seizure control

Intra-arterial induction high-dose chemotherapy with cisplatin for oral and oropharyngeal cancer: long-term results

Intra-arterial (IA) chemotherapy for curative treatment of head and neck cancer experienced a revival in the last decade. Mainly, it was used in concurrent combination with radiation in organ-preserving settings. The modern method of transfemoral approach for catheterisation, superselective perfusion of the tumour-feeding vessel, and high-dose (150 mg m−2) administration of cisplatin with parallel systemic neutralisation with sodium thiosulphate (9 g m−2) made preoperative usage feasible. The present paper presents the results of a pilot study on a population of 52 patients with resectable stage 1–4 carcinomas of the oral cavity and the oropharynx, who were treated with one cycle of preoperative IA chemotherapy executed as mentioned above and radical surgery. There have been no interventional complications of IA chemotherapy, and acute side effects have been low. One tracheotomy had to be carried out due to swelling. The overall clinical local response has been 69%. There was no interference with surgery, which was carried out 3–4 weeks later. Pathological complete remission was assessed in 25%. The mean observation time was 3 years. A 3-year overall and disease-free survival was 82 and 69%, respectively, and at 5 years 77 and 59%, respectively. Survival results were compared to a treatment-dependent prognosis index for the same population. As a conclusion, it can be stated that IA high-dose chemotherapy with cisplatin and systemic neutralisation in a neoadjuvant setting should be considered a feasible, safe, and effective treatment modality for resectable oral and oropharyngeal cancer. The low toxicity of this local chemotherapy recommends usage especially in stage 1–2 patients. The potential of survival benefit as indicated by the comparison to the prognosis index should be controlled in a randomised study

First Constraints on Source Counts at 350 Microns

We have imaged a $\sim$6 arcminute$^2$ region in the Bo\"otes Deep Field using the 350 $\mu$m-optimised second generation Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera (SHARC II), achieving a peak 1$\sigma$ sensitivity of $\sim$5 mJy. We detect three sources above 3$\sigma$, and determine a spurious source detection rate of 1.09 in our maps. In the absence of $5\sigma$ detections, we rely on deep 24 $\mu$m and 20 cm imaging to deduce which sources are most likely to be genuine, giving two real sources. From this we derive an integral source count of 0.84$^{+1.39}_{-0.61}$ sources arcmin$^{-2}$ at $S>13$ mJy, which is consistent with 350 $\mu$m source count models that have an IR-luminous galaxy population evolving with redshift. We use these constraints to consider the future for ground-based short-submillimetre surveys.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Submillimeter Observations of CLASH 2882 and the Evolution of Dust in this Galaxy

Two millimeter observations of the MACS J1149.6+2223 cluster have detected a source that was consistent with the location of the lensed MACS 1149-JD galaxy at z = 9.6. A positive identification would have rendered this galaxy as the youngest dust forming galaxy in the universe. Follow up observation with the AzTEC 1.1 mm camera and the IRAM NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) at 1.3 mm have not confirmed this association. In this paper we show that the NOEMA observations associate the 2 mm source with [PCB2012] 2882, source number 2882 in the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) catalog of MACS J1149.6+2223. This source, hereafter referred to as CLASH 2882, is a gravitationally lensed spiral galaxy at z = 0.99. We combine the Goddard IRAM Superconducting 2-Millimeter Observer (GISMO) 2 mm and NOEMA 1.3 mm fluxes with other (rest frame) UV to far-IR observations to construct the full spectral energy distribution of this galaxy, and derive its star formation history, and stellar and interstellar dust content. The current star formation rate of the galaxy is $54 µ^(-1) M_⊙ yr^(−1), and its dust mass is about 5 × 10^7 µ^(-1) M_⊙, where μ is the lensing magnification factor for this source, which has a mean value of 2.7. The inferred dust mass is higher than the maximum dust mass that can be produced by core collapse supernovae and evolved AGB stars. As with many other star forming galaxies, most of the dust mass in CLASH 2882 must have been accreted in the dense phases of the interstellar medium