A T-odd asymmetry in neutralino production and decay

We study CP-violating effects in neutralino production and subsequent decay within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters M_1 and mu. The observable we propose is a T-odd asymmetry based on a triple product in neutralino production e^+ e^- -> tilde{chi}^0_i tilde{chi}^0_2, i = 1,...,4, with subsequent leptonic three-body decay tilde{chi}^0_2 -> tilde{chi}^0_1 l^+ l^-, l = e, mu, at an e^+ e^- linear collider with sqrt{s} = 500 GeV and polarised beams. We provide compact analytical formulae for the cross section and the T-odd asymmetry taking into account the complete spin correlations between production and decay. We give numerical predictions for the cross section and the T-odd asymmetry. The asymmetry can go up to 10 %.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, 10 figures; v2: typos corrected, published versio

The interplay of type I and type II interferons in murine autoimmune cholangitis as a basis for sex-biased autoimmunity

We have reported on a murine model of autoimmune cholangitis, generated by altering the AU-rich element (ARE) by deletion of the interferon gamma (IFN-γ) 3\u27 untranslated region (coined ARE-Del−/−), that has striking similarities to human primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) with female predominance. Previously, we suggested that the sex bias of autoimmune cholangitis was secondary to intense and sustained type I and II IFN signaling. Based on this thesis, and to define the mechanisms that lead to portal inflammation, we specifically addressed the hypothesis that type I IFNs are the driver of this disease. To accomplish these goals, we crossed ARE-Del−/− mice with IFN type I receptor alpha chain (Ifnar1) knockout mice. We report herein that loss of type I IFN receptor signaling in the double construct of ARE-Del−/− Ifnar1−/− mice dramatically reduces liver pathology and abrogated sex bias. More importantly, female ARE-Del−/− mice have an increased number of germinal center (GC) B cells as well as abnormal follicular formation, sites which have been implicated in loss of tolerance. Deletion of type I IFN signaling in ARE-Del−/− Ifnar1−/− mice corrects these GC abnormalities, including abnormal follicular structure. Conclusion: Our data implicate type I IFN signaling as a necessary component of the sex bias of this murine model of autoimmune cholangitis. Importantly these data suggest that drugs that target the type I IFN signaling pathway would have potential benefit in the earlier stages of PBC. (Hepatology 2018;67:1408-1419)

Empreendedorismo em espaços acadêmicos: Avaliação do Alerta Empreendedor e das Abordagens Causation e Effectuation em uma Universidade Brasileira

O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar e analisar como os gestores das Empresas Juniores (EJs), de uma universidade federal brasileira, reconhecem as oportunidades e como as exploram. A pesquisa é exploratória e testa os pressupostos teóricos do Alerta Empreendedor e das Abordagens Causation e Effectuation, junto a 30 gestores estudantes da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). Conclui que a formação fomentada por experiências educacionais em empresas juniores estimula atitudes e comportamentos empreendedores, por desenvolver nos jovens a percepção de si mesmo e do mundo, e também, contribui para a formação de seres holísticos e contextuais que são capazes de lidar com processos analíticos e racionais. O artigo argumenta que o empreendedorismo em espaços acadêmicos proporciona um efeito potencial que precisa de ser estimulado e estudado, pois estimula capacidades cognitivas e psicológicas essenciais à formação profissional. Entende-se este estudo como original visto que existe pouca investigação no âmbito do empreendedorismo acadêmico, tratando esse gap da literatura dentro do estudo. As informações levantadas neste estudo sobre as EJs contribuem para o melhoramento do sistema de suporte e relacionamento dos atores envolvidos com o meio em que estão inseridos.Abstract The objective of this study was to identify and analyze how the managers of Junior Companies (EJs), from a Brazilian federal university, recognize the opportunities and how they exploit them. The research is exploratory and tests the theoretical assumptions of the Entrepreneurial Alert and the Causation and Effectuation Approaches, with 30 student managers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). It concludes that the training fostered by educational experiences in junior companies stimulates entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors, as it develops in young people the perception of themselves and the world, and also contributes to the formation of holistic and contextual beings who are able to deal with analytical processes and rational. The article argues that entrepreneurship in academic spaces provides a potential effect that needs to be stimulated and studied, as it stimulates cognitive and psychological capacities essential to professional training. This study is understood as original since there is little research in the scope of academic entrepreneurship, dealing with this gap in the literature within the study. The information collected in this study about the EJs, contribute to the improvement of the support and relationship system of the actors involved with the environment they are inserted in.Resumen El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar y analizar cómo los gerentes de las Empresas Junior (EJ), de una universidad federal brasileña, reconocen las oportunidades y cómo las explotan. La investigación es exploratoria y prueba los supuestos teóricos de la Alerta Empresarial y los Enfoques de Causation y Effectuation, con 30 gerentes estudiantiles en la Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro (UFRRJ). Concluye que la capacitación fomentada por las experiencias educativas en las empresas junior estimula las actitudes y los comportamientos empresariales, ya que desarrolla en los jóvenes la percepción de sí mismos y del mundo, y también contribuye a la formación de seres holísticos y contextuales que son capaces de lidiar con los procesos analíticos. y racional El artículo argumenta que el emprendimiento en espacios académicos proporciona un efecto potencial que necesita ser estimulado y estudiado, ya que estimula las capacidades cognitivas y psicológicas esenciales para la formación profesional. Este estudio se entiende como original ya que hay poca investigación en el ámbito del emprendimiento académico, que trata esta brecha en la literatura dentro del estudio. La información recopilada en este estudio sobre los EJ, contribuye a la mejora del sistema de apoyo y relación de los actores involucrados con el entorno en el que se insertan.Résumé L'objectif de cette étude était d'identifier et d'analyser comment les dirigeants de Junior- Entreprise (EJ), d'une université fédérale brésilienne, reconnaissent les opportunités et comment ils les exploitent. La recherche est exploratoire et teste les hypothèses théoriques de l'alerte entrepreneuriale et des approches de Causation et Effectuation, avec 30 étudiants gestionnaires à l'Université fédérale de Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). Il conclut que la formation favorisée par les expériences éducatives dans les petites entreprises stimule les attitudes et les comportements entrepreneuriaux, car elle développe chez les jeunes la perception d'euxmêmes et du monde, et contribue également à la formation d'êtres holistiques et contextuels capables de gérer des processus analytiques et rationnel. L'article soutient que l'entrepreneuriat dans les espaces académiques fournit un effet potentiel qui doit être stimulé et étudié, car il stimule les capacités cognitives et psychologiques essentielles à la formation professionnelle. Cette étude est considérée comme originale car il y a peu de recherches dans le cadre de l'entrepreneuriat universitaire, traitant de cette lacune dans la littérature au sein de l'étude. Les informations collectées dans cette étude sur les JE contribuent à l'amélioration du système d'accompagnement et de relation des acteurs impliqués dans l'environnement dans lequel ils s'insèrent.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Life span and reproductive cost explain interspecific variation in the optimal onset of reproduction.

Fitness can be profoundly influenced by the age at first reproduction (AFR), but to date the AFR-fitness relationship only has been investigated intraspecifically. Here, we investigated the relationship between AFR and average lifetime reproductive success (LRS) across 34 bird species. We assessed differences in the deviation of the Optimal AFR (i.e., the species-specific AFR associated with the highest LRS) from the age at sexual maturity, considering potential effects of life history as well as social and ecological factors. Most individuals adopted the species-specific Optimal AFR and both the mean and Optimal AFR of species correlated positively with life span. Interspecific deviations of the Optimal AFR were associated with indices reflecting a change in LRS or survival as a function of AFR: a delayed AFR was beneficial in species where early AFR was associated with a decrease in subsequent survival or reproductive output. Overall, our results suggest that a delayed onset of reproduction beyond maturity is an optimal strategy explained by a long life span and costs of early reproduction. By providing the first empirical confirmations of key predictions of life-history theory across species, this study contributes to a better understanding of life-history evolution

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO