Search for Heavy Right-Handed Neutrinos at the LHC and Beyond in the Same-Sign Same-Flavor Leptons Final State

In this study we explore the LHC's Run II potential to the discovery of heavy Majorana neutrinos, with luminosities between $30$ and $3000$ fb$^{-1}$ in the $l^{\pm}l^{\pm}j~j$ final state. Given that there exist many models for neutrino mass generation, even within the Type I seesaw framework, we use a simplified model approach and study two simple extensions to the Standard Model, one with a single heavy Majorana neutrino, singlet under the Standard Model gauge group, and a limiting case of the left-right symmetric model. We then extend the analysis to a future hadron collider running at $100$ TeV center of mass energies. This extrapolation in energy allows us to study the relative importance of the resonant production versus gauge boson fusion processes in the study of Majorana neutrinos at hadron colliders. We analyze and propose different search strategies designed to maximize the discovery potential in either the resonant production or the gauge boson fusion modes

Identification of hepatitis a virus mimotopes by phage display, antigenicity and immunogenicity

A phage-displayed peptide approach was used to identify ligands mimicking antigenic determinants of hepatitis A virus (HAV) for the first time. Bacteriophages displaying HAV mimotopes were isolated from a phage-display peptide library by affinity selection on serum antibodies from hepatitis A patients. Selected phage-peptides were screened for reactivity with sera from HAV infected patients and healthy controls. Four cloned peptides with different sequences were identified as mimotopes of HAV; three of them showed similarity in their amino acid sequences with at least one of the VP3 and VP1 antigenic proteins of HAV. One clone was recognised by 92% of the positive sera. The phagotopes competed effectively with HAV for absorption of anti-HAV-specific antibodies in human sera, as determined by ELISA. The four phage clones induced neutralising anti-HAV antibodies in immunised mice. These results demonstrate the potential of this method to elucidate the disease related epitopes of HAV and to use these mimotopes in diagnostic applications or in the development of a mimotope-based hepatitis A vaccine without the necessity of manipulation of the virus

Silk-Cellulose Acetate Biocomposite Materials Regenerated from Ionic Liquid

The novel use of ionic liquid as a solvent for biodegradable and natural organic biomaterials has increasingly sparked interest in the biomedical field. As compared to more volatile traditional solvents that rapidly degrade the protein molecular weight, the capability of polysaccharides and proteins to dissolve seamlessly in ionic liquid and form fine and tunable biomaterials after regeneration is the key interest of this study. Here, a blended system consisting of Bombyx Mori silk fibroin protein and a cellulose derivative, cellulose acetate (CA), in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIMAc) was regenerated and underwent characterization to understand the structure and physical properties of the films. The change in the morphology of the biocomposites (by scanning electron microscope, SEM) and their secondary structure analysis (by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, FTIR) showed that the samples underwent a wavering conformational change on a microscopic level, resulting in strong interactions and changes in their crystalline structures such as the CA crystalline and silk beta-pleated sheets once the different ratios were applied. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results demonstrated that strong molecular interactions were generated between CA and silk chains, providing the blended films lower glass transitions than those of the pure silk or cellulose acetate. All films that were blended had higher thermal stability than the pure cellulose acetate sample but presented gradual changes amongst the changing of ratios, as demonstrated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). This study provides the basis for the comprehension of the protein-polysaccharide composites for various biomedical applications

Hierarchical Hough all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S5 data

We describe a new pipeline used to analyze the data from the fifth science run (S5) of the LIGO detectors to search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated spinning neutron stars. The method employed is based on the Hough transform, which is a semi-coherent, computationally efficient, and robust pattern recognition technique. The Hough transform is used to find signals in the time-frequency plane of the data whose frequency evolution fits the pattern produced by the Doppler shift imposed on the signal by the Earth's motion and the pulsar's spin-down during the observation period. The main differences with respect to previous Hough all-sky searches are described. These differences include the use of a two-step hierarchical Hough search, analysis of coincidences among the candidates produced in the first and second year of S5, and veto strategies based on a $\chi^2$ test.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, Amaldi08 proceedings, submitted to JPC

An Integrated, Virtualized Joint Edge and Fog Computing System with Multi-RAT Convergence

Notably, developing an innovative architectural network paradigm is essential to address the technical challenging of 5G applications' requirements in a unified platform. Forthcoming applications will provide a wide range ofnetworking, computing and storage capabilities closer to the endusers.In this context, the 5G-PPP Phase two project named "5GCORAL:A 5G Convergent Virtualized Radio Access Network Living at the Edge" aims at identifying and experimentally validating which are the key technology innovations allowing for the development of a convergent 5G multi-RAT access based on a virtualized Edge and Fog architecture being scalable, flexible and interoperable with other domains including transport, core network and distant Clouds. In 5G-CORAL, an architecture is proposed based on ETSI MEC and ETSI NFV frameworks in a unified platform. Then, a set of exemplary use cases benefiting from Edge and Fog networks in near proximity of the end-user are proposed for demonstration on top of connected car, shopping mall and high-speed train platforms.This work has been partially funded by the H2020 collaborative Europe/Taiwan research project 5G-CORAL (grant num. 761586

Wheat-barley hybridization – the last forty years

Abstract Several useful alien gene transfers have been reported from related species into wheat (Triticum aestivum), but very few publications have dealt with the development of wheat/barley (Hordeum vulgare) introgression lines. An overview is given here of wheat 9 barley hybridization over the last forty years, including the development of wheat 9 barley hybrids, and of addition and translocation lines with various barley cultivars. A short summary is also given of the wheat 9 barley hybrids produced with other Hordeum species. The meiotic pairing behaviour of wheat 9 barley hybrids is presented, with special regard to the detection of wheat– barley homoeologous pairing using the molecular cytogenetic technique GISH. The effect of in vitro multiplication on the genome composition of intergeneric hybrids is discussed, and the production and characterization of the latest wheat/barley translocation lines are presented. An overview of the agronomical traits (b-glucan content, earliness, salt tolerance, sprouting resistance, etc.) of the newly developed introgression lines is given. The exploitation and possible use of wheat/barley introgression lines for the most up-to-date molecular genetic studies (transcriptome analysis, sequencing of flow-sorted chromosomes) are also discussed

Crystal Structure of Hexacyanoferrato(III)bis(µ-cyano){1,3-bis-[(4-methyl-5-imidazol-1-yl)ethylideneamino]propan-2-olcopper(II) Hexacyanoferrato(III)-µ-cyano-1,3-bis[(4-methyl-5-imidazol-1-yl)-ethylideneamino]propan-2-olcuprate(II) Tetradecahydrate

The crystal structure of hexacyanoferrato(III)bis(µ-cyano){1,3-bis[(4-methyl-5-imidazol-1-yl)ethylideneamino]propan-2-ol}copper(II) hexacyanoferrato(III)-µ-cyano-{1,3-bis[(4-methyl-5-imidazol-1-yl)ethylideneamino]propan-2-ol}cuprate(II) tetradecahydrate consists of trinuclear cations and dinuclear anions whose copper atoms show square pyramidal and iron atoms octahedral coordination. The cations and anions are linked by hydrogen bonds involving 14 lattice water molecules in a network architecture. Crystals of the C51H82Cu3Fe2N30O17 belong to the triclinic P1̅ space group [a = 13.700(2), b = 13.881(2), c = 21.431(3) Å; α = 76.96(1), β = 83.07(1), γ = 74.70(1)°]