2,970 research outputs found
Vertex reconstruction framework and its implementation for CMS
The class framework developed for vertex reconstruction in CMS is described.
We emphasize how we proceed to develop a flexible, efficient and reliable piece
of reconstruction software. We describe the decomposition of the algorithms
into logical parts, the mathematical toolkit, and the way vertex reconstruction
integrates into the CMS reconstruction project ORCA. We discuss the tools that
we have developed for algorithm evaluation and optimization and for code
release.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics
(CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 4 pages, LaTeX, no figures. PSN
TULT01
New vertex reconstruction algorithms for CMS
The reconstruction of interaction vertices can be decomposed into a pattern
recognition problem (``vertex finding'') and a statistical problem (``vertex
fitting''). We briefly review classical methods. We introduce novel approaches
and motivate them in the framework of high-luminosity experiments like at the
LHC. We then show comparisons with the classical methods in relevant physics
channelsComment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics
(CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 5 pages, LaTeX, 3 eps figures. PSN
TULT01
IFN-γ and TNF-α synergize to inhibit CTGF expression in human lung endothelial cells.
Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) is an angiogenetic and profibrotic factor, acting downstream of TGF-β, involved in both airway- and vascular remodeling. While the T-helper 1 (Th1) cytokine interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is well characterized as immune-modulatory and anti-fibrotic cytokine, the role of IFN-γ in lung endothelial cells (LEC) is less defined. Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is another mediator that drives vascular remodeling in inflammation by influencing CTGF expression. In the present study we investigated the influence of IFN-γ and TNF-α on CTGF expression in human LEC (HPMEC-ST1.6R) and the effect of CTGF knock down on human LEC. IFN-γ and TNF-α down-regulated CTGF in human LEC at the promoter-, transcriptional- and translational-level in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The inhibitory effect of IFN-γ on CTGF-expression could be almost completely compensated by the Jak inhibitor AG-490, showing the involvement of the Jak-Stat signaling pathway. Besides the inhibitory effect of IFN-γ and TNF-α alone on CTGF expression and LEC proliferation, these cytokines had an additive inhibitory effect on proliferation as well as on CTGF expression when administered together. To study the functional role of CTGF in LEC, endogenous CTGF expression was down-regulated by a lentiviral system. CTGF silencing in LEC by transduction of CTGF shRNA reduced cell proliferation, but did not influence the anti-proliferative effect of IFN-γ and TNF-α. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that CTGF was negatively regulated by IFN-γ in LEC in a Jak/Stat signaling pathway-dependent manner. In addition, an additive effect of IFN-γ and TNF-α on inhibition of CTGF expression and cell proliferation could be found. The inverse correlation between IFN-γ and CTGF expression in LEC could mean that screwing the Th2 response to a Th1 response with an additional IFN-γ production might be beneficial to avoid airway remodeling in asthma
An off-shell I.R. regularization strategy in the analysis of collinear divergences
We present a method for the analysis of singularities of Feynman amplitudes
based on the Speer sector decomposition of the Schwinger parametric integrals
combined with the Mellin-Barnes transform. The sector decomposition method is
described in some details. We suggest the idea of applying the method to the
analysis of collinear singularities in inclusive QCD cross sections in the
mass-less limit regularizing the forward amplitudes by an off-shell choice of
the initial particle momenta. It is shown how the suggested strategy works in
the well known case of the one loop corrections to Deep Inelastic Scattering.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figure
Spontaneous symmetry breaking: exact results for a biased random walk model of an exclusion process
It has been recently suggested that a totally asymmetric exclusion process
with two species on an open chain could exhibit spontaneous symmetry breaking
in some range of the parameters defining its dynamics. The symmetry breaking is
manifested by the existence of a phase in which the densities of the two
species are not equal. In order to provide a more rigorous basis to these
observations we consider the limit of the process when the rate at which
particles leave the system goes to zero. In this limit the process reduces to a
biased random walk in the positive quarter plane, with specific boundary
conditions. The stationary probability measure of the position of the walker in
the plane is shown to be concentrated around two symmetrically located points,
one on each axis, corresponding to the fact that the system is typically in one
of the two states of broken symmetry in the exclusion process. We compute the
average time for the walker to traverse the quarter plane from one axis to the
other, which corresponds to the average time separating two flips between
states of broken symmetry in the exclusion process. This time is shown to
diverge exponentially with the size of the chain.Comment: 42 page
Poractant alfa (Curosurf®) increases phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils by alveolar macrophages in vivo
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clearance of apoptotic neutrophils in the lung is an essential process to limit inflammation, since they could become a pro-inflammatory stimulus themselves. The clearance is partially mediated by alveolar macrophages, which phagocytose these apoptotic cells. The phagocytosis of apoptotic immune cells by monocytes in vitro has been shown to be augmented by several constituents of pulmonary surfactant, e.g. phospholipids and hydrophobic surfactant proteins. In this study, we assessed the influence of exogenous poractant alfa (Curosurf<sup>®</sup>) instillation on the in vivo phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils by alveolar macrophages.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Poractant alfa (200 mg/kg) was instilled intratracheally in the lungs of three months old adult male C57/Black 6 mice, followed by apoptotic neutrophil instillation. Bronchoalveloar lavage was performed and alveolar macrophages and neutrophils were counted. Phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils was quantified by determining the number of apoptotic neutrophils per alveolar macrophages.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Exogenous surfactant increased the number of alveolar macrophages engulfing apoptotic neutrophils 2.6 fold. The phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils was increased in the presence of exogenous surfactant by a 4.7 fold increase in phagocytosed apoptotic neutrophils per alveolar macrophage.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that the anti-inflammatory properties of surfactant therapy may be mediated in part by increased numbers of alveolar macrophages and increased phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils by alveolar macrophages.</p
Inconsistency of Naive Dimensional Regularizations and Quantum Correction to Non-Abelian Chern-Simons-Matter Theory Revisited
We find the inconsistency of dimensional reduction and naive dimensional
regularization in their applications to Chern-Simons type gauge theories.
Further we adopt a consistent dimensional regularization to investigate the
quantum correction to non-Abelian Chern-Simons term coupled with fermionic
matter. Contrary to previous results, we find that not only the Chern-Simons
coefficient receives quantum correction from spinor fields, but the spinor
field also gets a finite quantum correction.Comment: 19 pages, RevTex, Feynman diagrams drawn by FEYNMAN routin
A practical indicator for surface ocean heat and freshwater buoyancy fluxes and its application to the NCEP reanalysis data
The buoyancy flux at the air/sea interface plays a key role in water mass transformation and mixing as it modifies surface water density and in turn drives overturning and enhances stratification. It is the interplay of these two independent heat and freshwater buoyancy flux components that is of central importance when analysing mechanisms of the ocean/atmosphere interaction. Here, a diagnostic quantity (ΘB) is presented that allows to capture the relative contribution of both components on the buoyancy flux in one single quantity. Using NCEP reanalysis of heat and freshwater fluxes (1948–2009) demonstrates that ΘB is a convenient tool to analyse both the temporal and spatial variability of their corresponding buoyancy fluxes. For the global ocean the areal extent of buoyancy gain and loss regions changed by 10%, with the largest extent of buoyancy gain during the 1970–1990 period. In the subpolar North Atlantic, and likewise in the South Pacific, decadal variability in freshwater flux is pronounced and, for the latter region, takes control over the total buoyancy flux since the 1980s. Some of the areal extent time series show a significant correlation with large-scale climate indices
Enhanced Out-of-plane Emission of K+ Mesons observed in Au+Au Collisions at 1 AGeV
The azimuthal angular distribution of K+ mesons has been measured in Au + Au
collisions at 1 AGeV. In peripheral and semi-central collisions, K+ mesons
preferentially are emitted perpendicular to the reaction plane. The strength of
the azimuthal anisotropy of K+ emission is comparable to the one of pions. No
in-plane flow was found for K+ mesons near projectile and target rapidity.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.Let
Evidence for a Soft Nuclear Equation-of-State from Kaon Production in Heavy Ion Collisions
The production of pions and kaons has been measured in Au+Au collisions at
beam energies from 0.6 to 1.5 AGeV with the Kaon Spectrometer at SIS/GSI. The
K+ meson multiplicity per nucleon is enhanced in Au+Au collisions by factors up
to 6 relative to C+C reactions whereas the corresponding pion ratio is reduced.
The ratio of the K+ meson excitation functions for Au+Au and C+C collisions
increases with decreasing beam energy. This behavior is expected for a soft
nuclear equation-of-state.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
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