Development and Characterisation of a Gas System and its Associated Slow-Control System for an ATLAS Small-Strip Thin Gap Chamber Testing Facility

A quality assurance and performance qualification laboratory was built at McGill University for the Canadian-made small-strip Thin Gap Chamber (sTGC) muon detectors produced for the 2019-2020 ATLAS experiment muon spectrometer upgrade. The facility uses cosmic rays as a muon source to ionise the quenching gas mixture of pentane and carbon dioxide flowing through the sTGC detector. A gas system was developed and characterised for this purpose, with a simple and efficient gas condenser design utilizing a Peltier thermoelectric cooler (TEC). The gas system was tested to provide the desired 45 vol% pentane concentration. For continuous operations, a state-machine system was implemented with alerting and remote monitoring features to run all cosmic-ray data-acquisition associated slow-control systems, such as high/low voltage, gas system and environmental monitoring, in a safe and continuous mode, even in the absence of an operator.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, 14 figures, 4 tables, proof corrections for Journal of Instrumentation (JINST), including corrected Fig. 8b

NAFTA Students'Whistle-blowing Perceptions: A Case of Sexual Harassmen

Key words: Sexual harrasment, NAFTA, organizations, policiesAbstract. Whistle-blowing mechanisms in the U.S. have gained more prominence as an element of legal compliance and antifraud programs. Sexual harassment is a significant business risk in terms of financial costs and the loss of reputation. lt is important for corporations to develop sexual harassment policies and to provide mechanisms for employees toreport sexual harassment behaviors to upper level management. This paper reports on business students' responses to a possible Sexual Harassment scenario from Arthur Andersen's Business Ethics Program and the actions that the characters in the video should take in terms of whistle-blowing. l fall 2004,78 students from two U.S. universities and one Mexican and one Canadian university participated in the prolect as part of the NAFIA Challenges of Accounting and Buslness Sysfems Granf funded by the United States Department of Education Fund for the lmprovement of PostSecondary Education (FIPSE), Human Resources Develópment Canada (HRDC), and Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). Students from the three NAFTA countries were shown the vignette and asked to respond to a pre-questionnaire concerning the characters' behaviors and possible actions. The students were then asked to discuss the situation and write a reoort from the points of view of the three characters in the vigneite and also to find a copy of an organizations' sexual harassment policy from the Internet. At the end of the project the students responded to a post questionnaire. The students were asked to consider whether the characters should report the possible harasser totheir supervisor, and thus engage in whistle-blowing behavior. Hypotheses are formulated for the three NAFTA'countries based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions and comparisons are made based on overall responses to the pre-and posfquestionnaire. There were significant differences, but in some cases not in the direction expected. Gender differences are also explored, but there were few significant differences. The authors are working under the NAFTA Challenges of Accounting and Busrness Sysferns Grant from the United States Department of Education Fund for the lmprovement of PostSecondary Education (FIPSE), Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP).Palabras claves: Hostigamiento sexual, NAFTA, organizaciones, políticasResúmen. Los llamados "mecanismos de silbato de alerta" en los Estados Unidos han ganado más prominencia como elemento de Ia conformidad legal y de los programasntifraude. El hostigamiento sexual es un riesgo significativo del negocio en términos de costos financieros y la pérdida de reputación. Esimportante que las corporaciones desarrollen políticas para prevenir y sancionar el hostigamiento sexual en los centros de trabajo y proporcionen los mecanismos para los empleados sobre los comportamientos de hostigamiento sexual y ofrezcan información al respecto a la gerencia. Esta investigaciónnternacional por medio de sus resultados frece las respuestas delos estudiantes de las escuelas de negocios de México, Canadá y Estados Unidos sobre un panorama de posible hostigamiento sexual, y forma parte del programa del ética de negocio de promover en las Universidades la firma internacional de consultoría Arturo Andersen y de las acciones que se observaron elos caracteresn un vídeo realizado para este propósito, y que acciones deben tomar en términos de la utilización del "silbato de altera". En otoño del 2004, 78 estudiantes de dos universidades EEUU, una universidad mexicana y una canadiense participaron en el proyecto como parte de los Retos de NAFTA de los sistemas Grant de contabilidad y negocios financiados por el departamento de Educación delos Estados Unidos Secretaría Poste-Secundario de Educación Pública (SEPT) de la educación (FIPSE), del desanollo de recursos humanos en Canadá (HRDC), y de México. Mediante uso de video y escenificación que fue enviado y posteriormente fueron recibidas las respuestas de los estudiantes delos tres países de NAFTA además de responder a un cuestionario referente a los comportamientos y a las acciones posibles de los caracteres del video. Posteriormente y mediante el uso de Internet, los estudiantes pudieron discutir lasituación y escribir un informe de los puntos de la vista de los tres caracteres en el video y elaborar una propuesta de una política sobre hostigamiento sexual de las organizaciones. Al final del proyecto ls estudiantes respondieron a un cuestionario. Pidieron considerar si los caracteres deben divulgar el hostigamiento posible a su supervisor, y como los estudiantes se comprometían a utilizar el mecanismo desilbato de alerta, Las hipótesis se formulan para los tres paÍses del NAFTA basados en las dimensiones culturales de Hofstede y se hacen las comparaciones baado en respuestas totales alos cuestionarios. Se encontraron diferencias significativas, pero en algunos casos no en la dirección esperada. Las diferencias del género también se exploran, pero había pocas diferencias significativas. Los autorautores están trabajando bajo desafíos de NAFTA de los sistemas Grant de la contabilidad y del negocio del departamento de Estados Unidos del fondo de la educación para la mejora de Secretaría Poste-Secundario de Educación Pública (SEPT) de lA educación (FIPSE), del desarrollo de recursos humanos Canadá (HRDC), y de México

Wind Power on Native American Lands: Opportunities, Challenges, and Status (Poster)

The United States is home to more than 700 American Indian tribes and Native Alaska villages and corporations located on 96 million acres. Many of these tribes and villages have excellent wind resources that could be commercially developed to meet their electricity needs or for electricity export. This conference poster for Windpower 2007 describes the opportunities, challenges, and status of wind energy projects on Native American lands in the United States

NAFTA Students'Whistle-blowing Perceptions: A Case of Sexual Harassment (La percepción advertidora de Ios alumnos en TLC: un caso de acoso sexual

Abstract, Whistle-blowing mechanisms in the U.S. have gained more prominence as an element of legal compliance and antifraud programs. Sexual harassment is asignificant business risk in terms of financial costs and the loss of reputation. lt is important for corporations to develop sexual harassment policies and to provide mechanisms for employees toreport sexual harassment behaviors to upper level management. This paper reports on business students' responses to a possible Sexual Harassment scenario from Arthur Andersen's Business Ethics Program and the actions that the characters in the video should take in terms of whistle-blowing. l fall 2004,78 students from two U.S. universities and one Mexican and one Canadian university participated in the project as part of the NAFIA Challenges of Accounting and Busrness Sysfems Granf funded by the United States Department of Education Fund for the lmprovement of PostSecondary Education (FIPSE), Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). Students from the three NAFTA countries were shown the vignette and asked to respond to a pre-questionnaire concerning the characters' behaviors and possible actions. The students were then asked to discuss the situation and write a report from the ooints of view of the three characters in the vignette and also to find a copy of an organizations' sexual harassment policy from the Internet. At the end of the project the students responded to a postquestionnaire. The students were asked to consider whether the characters should report the possible harasser iotheir supervisor, end thus engage in whistle-blowing behavior. Hypoiheses are formulated for the three NAFTA countries based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions and comparisons are made based on overall responses to the pre-and posfquestionnaire. There were significant differences, but in some cases not in the direction expected. Gender differences are also explored, but there were few significant differences. The authors are working under the NAFTA Challenges of Accounting and Busrness Sysfems Grant from the United States Depaftment of Education Fund for the lmprovement of PosfSecondary Education (FIPSE), Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). Resúmen. Los llamados "mecanismos de silbato de alerta" en los Estados Unidos han ganado más prominencia como elemento de la conformidad legal y de los programas antifraude. El hostigamiento sexual es un riesgo significativo del negocio en términos de costos financieros y la pérdida de reputación. Esimportante que las corporaciones desarrollen políticas para prevenir y sancionar el hostigamiento sexual en los centros de trabajo y proporcionen los mecanismos para los empleados sobre los comportamientos de hostigamiento sexual y ofrezcan información al respecto a la gerencia. Esta investigaciónnternacional por medio de sus resultadosfrece las respuestas de los estudiantes de las escuelas de negocios de México, Canadá y Estados Unidos sobre un panorama de posible hostigamiento sexual, y forma parte del programa del ética de negocio de promover en las Universidades la firma internacional de consultoría Arturo Andersen y de las acciones que se observaron elos caracteresn un vídeo realizado para este propósito, y que acciones deben tomar en términos de la utilización del "silbato de altera". En otoño del 2004, 78 estudiantes de dos universidades EEUU, una universidad mexicana y una canadiense participaron en el proyecto como parte de los Retos de NAFTA de los sistemas Grant de contabilidad y negocios financiados por el departamento de Educación delos Estados Unidos Secretaría Poste-Secundario de Educación Pública (SEPT) de la educación (FIPSE), del desarrollo de recursos humanos en Canadá (HRDC), y de México. Mediante uso de video y escenificación que fue enviado y posteriormente fueron recibidas las respuestas de los estudiantes delos tres países de NAFTA además de responder a un cuestionario referente a los comportamientos y a las acciones posibles de los caracteres del video. Posteriormente y mediante el uso de Internet, los estudiantes pudieron discutir lasituación y escribir un informe de los puntos de la vista de los tres caracteres en el video y elaborar una propuesta de una política sobre hostigamiento sexual de las organizaciones. Al final del proyecto los estudiantes respondieron a un cuestionario. Pidieron considerar si los caracteres deben divulgar el hostigamiento posible a su supervisor, y como los estudiantes se comprometían a utilizar el mecanismo de silbato de alerta. Las hipótesis se formulan para los tres países del NAFTA basados en las dimensiones culturales de Hofstede y se hacen las comparaciones baado en respuestas totales a los cuestionarios. Se encontraron diferencias significativas, pero en algunos casos no en la dirección esperada. Las diferencias del género también se exploran, pero había pocas diferencias significativas. Los autor autores están trabajando bajo desafíos de NAFTA de los sistemas Grant de la contabilidad y del negocio del departamento de Estados Unidos del fondo de la educación para la mejora de Secretaría Poste-Secundario de Educación Pública (SEPT) de lp educación (FIPSE), del desarrollo de recursos humanos Canadá (HRDC), y de México

Targeting serine hydroxymethyltransferases 1 and 2 for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy

Despite progress in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), T-cell ALL (T-ALL) has limited treatment options, particularly in the setting of relapsed/refractory disease. Using an unbiased genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 screen we sought to identify pathway dependencies for T-ALL which could be harnessed for therapy development. Disruption of the one-carbon folate, purine and pyrimidine pathways scored as the top metabolic pathways required for T-ALL proliferation. We used a recently developed inhibitor of SHMT1 and SHMT2, RZ-2994, to characterize the effect of inhibiting these enzymes of the one-carbon folate pathway in T-ALL and found that T-ALL cell lines were differentially sensitive to RZ-2994, with the drug inducing a S/G2 cell cycle arrest. The effects of SHMT1/2 inhibition were rescued by formate supplementation. Loss of both SHMT1 and SHMT2 was necessary for impaired growth and cell cycle arrest, with suppression of both SHMT1 and SHMT2 inhibiting leukemia progression in vivo. RZ-2994 also decreased leukemia burden in vivo and remained effective in the setting of methotrexate resistance in vitro. This study highlights the significance of the one-carbon folate pathway in T-ALL and supports further development of SHMT inhibitors for treatment of T-ALL and other cancers

Achieving sustainable construction within Private Finance Initiative (PFI) road projects in the UK

The construction industry is facing the challenge of increasing demands of its sustainability performance. The construction and maintenance of the built environment has substantial impact on the sustainability of the environment. Whist, public sector clients are increasingly asking for a sustainable approach in their specification and procurement decisions, sustainability is still seen as a novel concept within the construction industry in many parts of the world without a settled definition. The premise of this study is that the interaction between road projects realized by the private finance initiative and their delivery in the UK improve sustainability. The paper, based on case study research, explains the sustainability implementation in a PFI road project and demonstrates that the PFI mechanism facilitates sustainable implementation to a far greater extent than is achievable using traditional procurement methods

Measurement of B(Ds+ -->ell+ nu) and the Decay Constant fDs From 600/pb of e+e- Annihilation Data Near 4170 MeV

We examine e+e- --> Ds^-D_s^{*+} and Ds^{*-}Ds^{+} interactions at 4170 MeV using the CLEO-c detector in order to measure the decay constant fDs with good precision. Previously our measurements were substantially higher than the most precise lattice based QCD calculation of (241 +/- 3) MeV. Here we use the D_s^+ --> ell^+ nu channel, where the ell^+ designates either a mu^+ or a tau^+, when the tau^+ --> pi^+ anti-nu. Analyzing both modes independently, we determine B(D_s^+ --> mu^+ nu)= 0.565 +/- 0.045 +/- 0.017)%, and B(D_s^+ --> mu^+ nu)= (6.42 +/- 0.81 +/- 0.18)%. We also analyze them simultaneously to find an effective value of B^{eff}(D_s^+ --> mu^+ nu)= (0.591 +/- 0.037 +/- 0.018)% and fDs=(263.3 +/- 8.2 +/- 3.9) MeV. Combining with the CLEO-c value determined independently using D_s^+ --> tau^+ nu, tau^+ --> e^+ nu anti-nu decays, we extract fDs=(259.5 +/- 6.6 +/- 3.1) MeV. Combining with our previous determination of B(D^+ --> mu^+ nu), we extract the ratio fDs/fD+=1.26 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.02. No evidence is found for a CP asymmetry between Gamma(D_s^+ --> mu^+\nu) and \Gamma(D_s^- --> mu^- nu); specifically the fractional difference in rates is measured to be (4.8 +/- 6.1)%. Finally, we find B(D_s^+ --> e^+ nu) < 1.2x10^{-4} at 90% confidence level.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figure

STAG2 loss rewires oncogenic and developmental programs to promote metastasis in Ewing sarcoma

The core cohesin subunit STAG2 is recurrently mutated in Ewing sarcoma but its biological role is less clear. Here, we demonstrate that cohesin complexes containing STAG2 occupy enhancer and polycomb repressive complex (PRC2)-marked regulatory regions. Genetic suppression of STAG2 leads to a compensatory increase in cohesin-STAG1 complexes, but not in enhancer-rich regions, and results in reprogramming of cis-chromatin interactions. Strikingly, in STAG2 knockout cells the oncogenic genetic program driven by the fusion transcription factor EWS/FLI1 was highly perturbed, in part due to altered enhancer-promoter contacts. Moreover, loss of STAG2 also disrupted PRC2-mediated regulation of gene expression. Combined, these transcriptional changes converged to modulate EWS/FLI1, migratory, and neurodevelopmental programs. Finally, consistent with clinical observations, functional studies revealed that loss of STAG2 enhances the metastatic potential of Ewing sarcoma xenografts. Our findings demonstrate that STAG2 mutations can alter chromatin architecture and transcriptional programs to promote an aggressive cancer phenotype

Higher-order multipole amplitudes in charmonium radiative transitions

Using 24 million $\psi' \equiv \psi(2S)$ decays in CLEO-c, we have searched for higher multipole admixtures in electric-dipole-dominated radiative transitions in charmonia. We find good agreement between our data and theoretical predictions for magnetic quadrupole (M2) amplitudes in the transitions $\psi' \to \gamma \chi_{c1,2}$ and $\chi_{c1,2} \to \gamma J/\psi$, in striking contrast to some previous measurements. Let $b_2^J$ and $a_2^J$ denote the normalized M2 amplitudes in the respective aforementioned decays, where the superscript $J$ refers to the angular momentum of the $\chi_{cJ}$. By performing unbinned maximum likelihood fits to full five-parameter angular distributions, we determine the ratios $a_2^{J=1}/a_2^{J=2} = 0.67^{+0.19}_{-0.13}$ and $a_2^{J=1}/b_2^{J=1} = -2.27^{+0.57}_{-0.99}$, where the theoretical predictions are independent of the charmed quark magnetic moment and are $a_2^{J=1}/a_2^{J=2} = 0.676 \pm 0.071$ and $a_2^{J=1}/b_2^{J=1} = -2.27 \pm 0.16$.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures, acceptance updat

Search for D0 to p e- and D0 to pbar e+

Using data recorded by CLEO-c detector at CESR, we search for simultaneous baryon and lepton number violating decays of the D^0 meson, specifically, D^0 --> p-bar e^+, D^0-bar --> p-bar e^+, D^0 --> p e^- and D^0-bar --> p e^-. We set the following branching fraction upper limits: D^0 --> p-bar e^+ (D^0-bar --> p-bar e^+) p e^- (D^0-bar --> p e^-) < 1.2 * 10^{-5}, both at 90% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/, submitted to PRD. Comments: changed abstract, added reference for section 1, vertical axis in Fig.5 changed (starts from 1.5 rather than 2.0), fixed typo