The LHCb Outer Tracker Front End Electronics

This note provides an overview of the front-end electronics used to readout the drift-times of the LHCb Outer Tracker straw tube chambers. The main functional components of the readout are the ASDBLR ASIC for amplification and signal digitization, the OTIS ASIC for the time measurement and for the L0 buffering, and the GOL ASIC to serialize the digital data for the optical data transmission. The L1 buffer board used to receive the data which is sent via the optical link is a common LHCb development and is not described here. This note supersedes an earlier document [1]

Polyethylene glycol as shape and size controller for the hydrothermal synthesis of SrTiO3 cubes and polyhedra

Understanding the correlation between the morphological and functional properties of particulate materials is crucial across all fields of physical and natural sciences. This manuscript reports on the investigation of the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) employed as a capping agent in the synthesis of SrTiO3 crystals. The crucial influence of PEG on both the shape and size of the strontium titanate particles is revealed, highlighting the effect on the photocurrents measured under UV–Vis irradiation

Improving integrability via absolute summability: a general version of Diestel s Theorem

[EN] A classical result by J. Diestel establishes that the composition of a summing operator with a (strongly measurable) Pettis integrable function gives a Bochner integrable function. In this paper we show that a much more general result is possible regarding the improvement of the integrability of vector valued functions by the summability of the operator. After proving a general result, we center our attention in the particular case given by the -absolutely continuous operators, that allows to prove a lot of special results on integration improvement for selected cases of classical Banach spaces-including C(K), and Hilbert spaces-and operators-p-summing, (q, p)-summing and p-approximable operators.D. Pellegrino acknowledges with thanks the support of CNPq Grant 401735/2013-3 (Brazil). P. Rueda acknowledges with thanks the support of the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) MTM2011-22417. E.A. Sanchez Perez acknowledges with thanks the support of the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) MTM2012-36740-C02-02.Pellegrino, D.; Rueda, P.; Sánchez Pérez, EA. (2016). Improving integrability via absolute summability: a general version of Diestel s Theorem. Positivity. 20(2):369-383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11117-015-0361-5S369383202Botelho, G., Pellegrino, D., Rueda, P.: A unified Pietsch domination theorem. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 365(1), 269–276 (2010)Defant, A., Floret, K.: Tensor norms and operator ideals. North-Holland, Amsterdam (1992)Diestel, J.: An elementary characterization of absolutely summing operators. Math. Ann. 196, 101–105 (1972)Diestel, J., Jarchow, H., Tonge, A.: Absolutely summing operators. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1995)Farmer, J., Johnson, W.B.: Lipschitz p-summing operators. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 137, 2989–2995 (2009)Jarchow, H.: Localy convex, spaces. Teubner, Stuttgart (1981)López Molina, J.A., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Ideales de operadores absolutamente continuos, Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Madrid. Rev. Real Acad. 87, 349–378 (1993)López Molina, J.A., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: The associated tensor norm to $$(q, p)$$ ( q , p ) -absolutely summing operators on $$C(K)$$ C ( K ) -spaces. Czec. Math. J. 47(4), 627–631 (1997)López, J.A., Molina, Sánchez-Pérez, E.A.: On operator ideals related to $$(p,\sigma )$$ ( p , σ ) -absolutely continuous operator. Studia Math. 131(8), 25–40 (2000)Matter, U.: Absolute continuous operators and super-reflexivity. Math. Nachr. 130, 193–216 (1987)Pellegrino, D., Santos, J.: A general Pietsch domination theorem. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 375(1), 371–374 (2011)Pellegrino, D., Santos, J., Seoane-Sepúlveda, J.B.: Some techniques on nonlinear analysis and applications. Adv. Math. 229, 1235–1265 (2012)Pietsch, A.: Operator Ideals. Deutsch. Verlag Wiss., Berlin, 1978; North-Holland, Amsterdam-London-New York-Tokyo (1980)Pisier, G.: Factorization of operators through $$L_{p\infty }$$ L p ∞ or $$L_{p1}$$ L p 1 and noncommutative generalizations. Math. Ann. 276(1), 105–136 (1986)Rodríguez, J.: Absolutely summing operators and integration of vector-valued functions. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 316(2), 579–600 (2006

Hybrid sensorless control of axial flux permanent magnet motor drives, including zero speed

Sensorless control of an axial flux permanent magnet motor drive is proposed and tested. The motor is not purposely designed for sensorless control and shows a very small inherent saliency. This significantly affects the saliency-based position estimation in the low speed region. Other non-idealities, such as the non-sinusoidal back-EMF waveforms and possible misalignment between stator and rotor make the control more challenging. A robust sensorless control scheme is proposed, able to deal with these non-idealities with a rather simple implementation. The position estimation is based on a closed loop hybrid observer of the permanent magnet flux linkage. Experimental results report torque and speed sensorless control

Cancer incidence in pet dogs: findings of the Animal Tumor Registry of Genoa, Italy.

Background: The occurrence of spontaneous tumors in pet animals has been estimated in a few European and North American veterinary cancer registries with dissimilar methodologies and variable reference populations. Objectives: The Animal Tumor Registry (ATR) of Genoa, Italy, was established in 1985 with the aim of estimating the occurrence of spontaneous tumors in dogs. Methods: Six thousand seven hundred and forty-three tumor biopsy specimens were received from local veterinarians in the Municipality of Genoa between 1985 and 2002. Three thousand and three hundred and three (48.9%) biopsy specimen samples were diagnosed as cancer and were coded according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-9). Results: Mammary cancer was the most frequently diagnosed cancer in female dogs, accounting for 70% of all cancer cases. Incidence of all cancers was 99.3 per 100,000 dog-years (95% CI: 93.6–105.1) in male dogs and 272.1 (95% CI: 260.7–283.6) in female dogs. The highest incidence rates were detected for mammary cancer (IR = 191.8, 95% CI: 182.2–201.4) and for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (IR = 22.9, 95% CI: 19.7–26.5) in bitches and for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (IR = 19.9, 95% CI: 17.4–22.7) and skin cancer (IR = 19.1, 95% CI: 16.6–21.8) in male dogs. All cancer IR increased with age ranging between 23.7 (95% CI: 18.4–30.1) and 763.2 (95% CI: 700.4–830.1) in bitches and between 16.5 (95% CI: 12.8–21.1) and 237.6 (95% CI: 209.1–269.0) in male dogs aged ≤3 years and >9–11 years. Conclusion: This study summarizes the work done by the ATR of Genoa, Italy, between 1985 and 2002. All cancer incidence was 3 times higher in female than in male dogs, a difference explained by the high rate of mammary cancer observed in bitches. Because a biopsy specimen was required to make a cancer diagnosis, cancer rates for internal organs cancers, such as respiratory and digestive tract cancers may have been underestimated in the study population

Conformational switch and multiple supramolecular structures of a newly identified self-assembling protein-mimetic peptide from Pseudomonas aeruginosa YeaZ protein

Protein-mimetic peptides (PMPs) are shorter sequences of self-assembling proteins, that represent remarkable building blocks for the generation of bioinspired functional supramolecular structures with multiple applications. The identification of novel aminoacidic sequences that permit the access to valuable biocompatible materials is an attractive area of research. In this work, in silico analysis of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa YeaZ protein (PaYeaZ) led to the identification of a tetradecapeptide that represents the shortest sequence responsible for the YeaZ-YeaZ dimer formation. Based on its sequence, an innovative 20-meric peptide, called PMP-2, was designed, synthesized, and characterized in terms of secondary structure and self-assembly properties. PMP-2 conserves a helical character and self-assembles into helical nanofibers in non-polar solvents (DMSO and trifluoroethanol), as well as in dilute (0.5 mM) aqueous solutions. In contrast, at higher concentrations (> 2 mM) in water, a conformational transition from alpha-helix to beta-sheet occurs, which is accompanied by the Protein-mimetic peptide aggregation into 2D-sheets and formation supramolecular gel in aqueous environment. Our findings reveal a newly identified Protein-mimetic peptide that could turn as a promising candidate for future material applications

Improved performance of the LHCb Outer Tracker in LHC Run 2

The LHCb Outer Tracker is a gaseous detector covering an area of $5\times 6 m^2$ with 12 double layers of straw tubes. The performance of the detector is presented based on data of the LHC Run 2 running period from 2015 and 2016. Occupancies and operational experience for data collected in $p p$, pPb and PbPb collisions are described. An updated study of the ageing effects is presented showing no signs of gain deterioration or other radiation damage effects. In addition several improvements with respect to LHC Run 1 data taking are introduced. A novel real-time calibration of the time-alignment of the detector and the alignment of the single monolayers composing detector modules are presented, improving the drift-time and position resolution of the detector by 20\%. Finally, a potential use of the improved resolution for the timing of charged tracks is described, showing the possibility to identify low-momentum hadrons with their time-of-flight.Comment: 29 pages, 20 figures, minor changes to match the published versio

Protective Efficacy of Menthol Propylene Glycol Carbonate Compared to N, N-diethyl-Methylbenzamide Against Mosquito Bites in Northern Tanzania.

The reduction of malaria parasite transmission by preventing human-vector contact is critical in lowering disease transmission and its outcomes. This underscores the need for effective and long lasting arthropod/insect repellents. Despite the reduction in malaria transmission and outcomes in Tanzania, personal protection against mosquito bites is still not well investigated. This study sought to determine the efficacy of menthol propylene glycol carbonate (MR08), Ocimum suave as compared to the gold standard repellent N, N-diethyl-methylbenzamide (DEET), either as a single dose or in combination (blend), both in the laboratory and in the field against Anopheles gambiae s.l and Culex quinquefasciatus. In the laboratory evaluations, repellents were applied on one arm while the other arm of the same individual was treated with a base cream. Each arm was separately exposed in cages with unfed female mosquitoes. Repellents were evaluated either as a single dose or as a blend. Efficacy of each repellent was determined by the number of mosquitoes that landed and fed on treated arms as compared to the control or among them. In the field, evaluations were performed by human landing catches at hourly intervals from 18:00  hr to 01:00  hr. A total of 2,442 mosquitoes were collected during field evaluations, of which 2,376 (97.30%) were An. gambiae s.l while 66 (2.70%) were Cx. quinquefaciatus. MR08 and DEET had comparatively similar protective efficacy ranging from 92% to 100 for both single compound and blends. These findings indicate that MR08 has a similar protective efficacy as DEET for personal protection outside bed nets when used singly and in blends. Because of the personal protection provided by MR08, DEET and blends as topical applicants in laboratory and field situations, these findings suggest that, these repellents could be used efficiently in the community to complement existing tools. Overall, Cx. quinquefasciatus were significantly prevented from blood feeding compared to An. gambiae s.l. The incorporation of these topical repellents for protection against insect bites can be of additional value in the absence or presence of IRS and ITNs coverage. However, a combination of both the physical (bed nets) and the repellent should be used in an integrated manner for maximum protection, especially before going to bed. Additional research is needed to develop repellents with longer duration of protection

Effects of Acute Ethanol Administration on Neocortical Inhibition

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65719/1/j.1530-0277.1986.tb05132.x.pd

The PLASMONX Project for advanced beam physics experiments

The Project PLASMONX is well progressing into its design phase and has entered as well its second phase of procurements for main components. The project foresees the installation at LNF of a Ti:Sa laser system (peak power > 170 TW), synchronized to the high brightness electron beam produced by the SPARC photo-injector. The advancement of the procurement of such a laser system is reported, as well as the construction plans of a new building at LNF to host a dedicated laboratory for high intensity photon beam experiments (High Intensity Laser Laboratory). Several experiments are foreseen using this complex facility, mainly in the high gradient plasma acceleration field and in the field of mono- chromatic ultra-fast X-ray pulse generation via Thomson back-scattering. Detailed numerical simulations have been carried out to study the generation of tightly focused electron bunches to collide with laser pulses in the Thomson source: results on the emitted spectra of X-rays are presented