Diffractive di-jet production at the LHC with a Reggeon contribution

We study hard diffractive scattering in hadron–hadron collisions including, on top of the standard Pomeron-initiated processes, contributions due to the exchange of Reggeons. Using a simple model to describe the parton content of the Reggeon, we compute di-jet production in single diffractive and central diffractive events. We show that Reggeon contributions can be sizable at the LHC, and even sometimes dominant, and we identify kinematic windows in which they could be experimentally studied. We argue that suitable measurements must be performed in order to properly constrain the model, and be able to correctly account for Reggeon exchanges in the analysis of the many hard diffractive observables to be measured at the LHC.SCOAP

The intramolecular dynamics of a rigid yet twisty 'Ferrocenyl' TetraPhosphine : served with some 31P-NMR delicacy

Polydentate ferrocenyl phosphines equipped with bulky functional groups are regarded as rigid ligands capable of stabilizing and/or activating a broad range of chemical compounds such as smaller complexes (being formed e.g. in transition metal-catalyzed cross coupling reactions), nanoparticles, or even larger surfaces. The fruitful rigidity of these fascinating molecular species originates from the internal steric constraints imposed by the substituents; hence, the rotational reorientation of the Cp rings around the vertical 5-fold symmetry axis is hampered, and a permanent polydentate phosphine ‘cage’ is created (see figure). Latter construction then provides a large variety of coordination modes for the actual substrate what is the core structural feature being responsible for the diverse applicability spectrum. If such ferrocenyl phosphine is investigated on a sufficiently long i.e. ‘NMR time scale’ however, its decelerated intramolecular motions might be discovered and quantitatively characterized. Indeed, selective 1D 31P-{1H} EXSY {Exchange Spectroscopy} pointed out the exchange of the chemically distinct phosphoruses (green and red spheres below) in the scrutinized Fc(P)4tBu ligand and thus successfully demonstrated the previously unknown rotation (i.e. antiparallel twisting) of the Cp rings around the Fe centre. Series of measurements performed at different temperatures enabled the evaluation of the respective thermodynamic parameters (ΔS#, ΔH#, ΔG#) for which the influence of the solvent was also studied – while the confrontation of the experimental and theoretical values computed by DFT methods completed the analysis of the motion. In fact, the four 31P-s of Fc(P)4tBu composes an AA’BB’ spin system giving rise to a puzzling second order 31P NMR spectrum. Although the respective J-couplings had already been presented reclining upon the output of in silico simulations, a side track of the current work covered the full deduction of the results by the means of a quantum mechanical approach. Besides, the internal ring rotations shed new light on the ’through space’ nature of the JAA’ coupling affecting the inner phosphoruses (red spheres). That is, the interaction showed unquenchable and endured higher ring rotation rates than its actual frequency value what highlighted the intricacy of the magnetization transfer phenomena between the two nuclei. Finally, exchange phenomena were revealed for the complexed state of the ligand as well. According to 2D 1H–1H EXSY spectra, in case of [Pd(II)Br2-Fc(P)4tBu] the familiar twisting of the cyclopentadienyl rings was complemented with the periodic transconnection of the [Pd(II)Br2-] moiety between the bidentate (-PPH2)2 sites – perfectly illustrating the possibility for multiple coordination ways offered by polydentate phosphines

Statistical Model Checking for Stochastic Hybrid Systems

This paper presents novel extensions and applications of the UPPAAL-SMC model checker. The extensions allow for statistical model checking of stochastic hybrid systems. We show how our race-based stochastic semantics extends to networks of hybrid systems, and indicate the integration technique applied for implementing this semantics in the UPPAAL-SMC simulation engine. We report on two applications of the resulting tool-set coming from systems biology and energy aware buildings.Comment: In Proceedings HSB 2012, arXiv:1208.315

Towards a supertree of Arthropoda:a species-level supertree of the spiny, slipper and coral lobsters (Decapoda: Achelata)

While supertrees have been built for many vertebrate groups (notably birds, mammals and dinosaurs), invertebrates have attracted relatively little attention. The paucity of supertrees of arthropods is particularly surprising given their economic and ecological importance, as well as their overwhelming contribution to biodiversity. The absence of comprehensive archives of machine-readable source trees, coupled with the need for software implementing repeatable protocols for managing them, has undoubtedly impeded progress. Here we present a supertree of Achelata (spiny, slipper and coral lobsters) as a proof of concept, constructed using new supertree specific software (the Supertree Toolkit; STK) and following a published protocol. We also introduce a new resource for archiving and managing published source trees. Our supertree of Achelata is synthesised from morphological and molecular source trees, and represents the most complete species-level tree of the group to date. Our findings are consistent with recent taxonomic treatments, confirming the validity of just two families: Palinuridae and Scyllaridae; Synaxidae were resolved within Palinuridae. Monophyletic Silentes and Stridentes lineages are recovered within Palinuridae, and all sub-families within Scyllaridae are found to be monophyletic with the exception of Ibacinae. We demonstrate the feasibility of building larger supertrees of arthropods, with the ultimate objective of building a complete species-level phylogeny for the entire phylum using a divide and conquer strategy

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

The intermolecular dynamic behaviour of multidentate ferrocenyl phosphines and their corresponding d10 metal complexes in solution

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From Positive to Negative Zero-Field Splitting in a Series of Strongly Magnetically Anisotropic Mononuclear Metal Complexes

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