Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values

Optical Monitoring of Seyfert Galaxies and Quasar Nuclei in 1998. I. Observations

The variations of emission-line profiles of NGC 4151, NGC 5548, 3C 390.3, Arp 102-B and E1821+643 in 1998 are being investigated

Action-effect binding is decreased in motor conversion disorder: implications for sense of agency

The abnormal movements seen in motor conversion disorder are affected by distraction and entrainment, similar to voluntary movement. Unlike voluntary movement, however, patients lack a sense of control for the abnormal movements, a failure of “self‐agency.” The action‐effect binding paradigm has been used to quantify the sense of self‐agency, because subjective contraction of time between an action and its effect only occurs if the patient feels that they are the agent responsible for the action. We used this paradigm, coupled with emotional stimuli, to investigate the sense of agency with voluntary movements in patients with motor conversion disorder. Twenty patients with motor conversion disorder and 20 age‐matched and sex‐matched healthy volunteers used a rotating clock to judge the time of their own voluntary key presses (action) and a subsequent auditory tone (effect) after they completed conditioning blocks in which high, medium, and low tones were coupled to images of happy, fearful, and neutral faces. The results replicated those produced previously: it was reported that an effect after a voluntary action occurred earlier, and the preceding action occurred later, compared with trials that used only key presses or tones. Patients had reduced overall binding scores relative to healthy volunteers, suggesting a reduced sense of agency. There was no effect of the emotional stimuli (faces) or other interaction effects. Healthy volunteers with subclinical depressive symptoms had higher overall binding scores. We demonstrate that patients with motor conversion disorder have decreased action‐effect binding for normal voluntary movements compared with healthy volunteers, consistent with the greater experience of lack of control. © 2013 Movement Disorder Societ

Model system for optimising mRNA non-isotopic in situ hybridisation:riboprobe detection of lysozyme mRNA in archival gut biopsy specimens

The aim of this study was to optimise conditions for mRNA detection by nonisotopic in situ hybridisation (NISH) using biotinylated and digoxigenin labelled riboprobes. Because lysozyme gene transcripts are present at high concentrations in Paneth and other alimentary cells, archival gut biopsy specimens were chosen as a model system for these experiments. Most of the variables in NISH, from unmasking of mRNA, to its ultimate detection by peroxidase or alkaline phosphatase based detection systems, were examined in detail. The most important findings were that simultaneous heating of tissue targets and riboprobes at 95 degrees C for 15 minutes before hybridisation at 50 degrees C for two hours gave the most intense signal for lysozyme mRNA in Paneth cells, Brunner's glands, and lamina propria macrophages; digoxigenin labelled riboprobes gave a higher signal to noise ratio than their biotinylated counterparts, and probes 600 base pairs long were superior to shorter probes. It is concluded that the mRNA NISH method may be generally useful for detecting gene transcription in archival clinical biopsy specimens