Advanced superconducting magnets investigation

Mathematical models for steady state behavior of composite superconductors and experimental verification using magnet coi

Calibration of the Thermal Infrared Sensor on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat series of satellites provides the longest running continuous data set of moderate-spatial-resolution imagery beginning with the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972 and continuing with the 1999 launch of Landsat 7 and current operation of Landsats 5 and 7. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) will continue this program into a fourth decade providing data that are keys to understanding changes in land-use changes and resource management. LDCM consists of a two-sensor platform comprised of the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensors (TIRS). A description of the applications and design of the TIRS instrument is given as well as the plans for calibration and characterization. Included are early results from preflight calibration and a description of the inflight validation

A Color Mutation Model of Soft Interaction in High Energy Hadronic Collisions

A comprehensive model, called ECOMB, is proposed to describe multiparticle production by soft interaction. It incorporates the eikonal formalism, parton model, color mutation, branching and recombination. The physics is conceptually opposite to the dynamics that underlies the fragmentation of a string. The partons are present initially in a hadronic collision; they form a single, large, color-neutral cluster until color mutation of the quarks leads to a fission of the cluster into two color-neutral subclusters. The mutation and branching processes continue until only $q\bar q$ pairs are left in each small cluster. The model contains self-similar dynamics and exhibits scaling behavior in the factorial moments. It can satisfactorily reproduce the intermittency data that no other model has been able to fit.Comment: 24 pages including 11 figures in revtex epsf styl

Further results on generalized centro-invertible matrices

This paper deals with generalized centro-invertible matrices introduced by the authors in Lebtahi et al. (Appl. Math. Lett. 38, 106-109, 2014). As a first result, we state the coordinability between the classes of involutory matrices, generalized centro-invertible matrices, and {K}-centrosymmetric matrices. Then, some characterizations of generalized centro-invertible matrices are obtained. A spectral study of generalized centro-invertible matrices is given. In addition, we prove that the sign of a generalized centro-invertible matrix is {K}-centrosymmetric and that the class of generalized centro-invertible matrices is closed under the matrix sign function. Finally, some algorithms have been developed for the construction of generalized centro-invertible matrices

Eudor-a: a Naturalistic, European Multi-centre Clinical Study of Edor Test in Adult Patients with Primary Depression

Introduction: Previous findings suggested that electrodermal hyporeactivity has a high sensitivity (up to 97%) and high raw specificity (up to 98%) for suicide. Aim: To evaluate prevalence, sensitivity and specificity of electrodermal hyporeactivity for suicide and suicide attempt, with and without death intent and with violent method or not, in adult patients with a primary diagnosis of depression. Methods: At each study site at least 100 patients with a primary diagnosis of depression, also in remission, will be recruited. Depressive symptomatology will be evaluated through the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale. Previous suicide attempts will be registered and the death intent of the worst attempt will be rated according to the first eight items of the Beck Suicide Intent Scale. The risk of suicide will be assessed according to rules and traditions at the centre. The EDOR Test (ElectroDermal Orienting Reactivity) will be performed. Two fingers are put on gold electrodes. Through headphones a moderately strong tone is presented now and then during the test. Sensors located within the electrodes are able to register the electrodermal response to those tones, measuring the skin conductance (i.e. electrodermal activity from sweat gland activity). Each patient will be followed up for one year for actions of intentional self-harm that require medical care and for suicide. The death intent will also be rated. Expected results: It is expected that the EDOR test detects a previously unknown neuropsychological dysfunction that is independent of the depressive state and can predict suicidality with a high sensitivity and specificit

MARK4 regulates NLRP3 positioning and inflammasome activation through a microtubule-dependent mechanism

Excessive activation of the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is involved in many chronic inflammatory diseases, including cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease. Here we show that microtubule-affinity regulating kinase 4 (MARK4) binds to NLRP3 and drives it to the microtubule-organizing centre, enabling the formation of one large inflammasome speck complex within a single cell. MARK4 knockdown or knockout, or disruption of MARK4-NLRP3 interaction, impairs NLRP3 spatial arrangement and limits inflammasome activation. Our results demonstrate how an evolutionarily conserved protein involved in the regulation of microtubule dynamics orchestrates NLRP3 inflammasome activation by controlling its transport to optimal activation sites, and identify a targetable function for MARK4 in the control of innate immunity.The work was supported by NNSFC grant (81370620 to G.M.), BHF grant (CH/10/001/27642 to Z.M.), ERC grant (2891164 to Z.M.), and BHF fellowship grant (FS/14/28/30713 to X.L.)

Technical Design Report for the PANDA Solenoid and Dipole Spectrometer Magnets

This document is the Technical Design Report covering the two large spectrometer magnets of the PANDA detector set-up. It shows the conceptual design of the magnets and their anticipated performance. It precedes the tender and procurement of the magnets and, hence, is subject to possible modifications arising during this process.Comment: 10 pages, 14MB, accepted by FAIR STI in May 2009, editors: Inti Lehmann (chair), Andrea Bersani, Yuri Lobanov, Jost Luehning, Jerzy Smyrski, Technical Coordiantor: Lars Schmitt, Bernd Lewandowski (deputy), Spokespersons: Ulrich Wiedner, Paola Gianotti (deputy

Towards the clinical implementation of pharmacogenetics in bipolar disorder.

BackgroundBipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric illness defined by pathological alterations between the mood states of mania and depression, causing disability, imposing healthcare costs and elevating the risk of suicide. Although effective treatments for BD exist, variability in outcomes leads to a large number of treatment failures, typically followed by a trial and error process of medication switches that can take years. Pharmacogenetic testing (PGT), by tailoring drug choice to an individual, may personalize and expedite treatment so as to identify more rapidly medications well suited to individual BD patients.DiscussionA number of associations have been made in BD between medication response phenotypes and specific genetic markers. However, to date clinical adoption of PGT has been limited, often citing questions that must be answered before it can be widely utilized. These include: What are the requirements of supporting evidence? How large is a clinically relevant effect? What degree of specificity and sensitivity are required? Does a given marker influence decision making and have clinical utility? In many cases, the answers to these questions remain unknown, and ultimately, the question of whether PGT is valid and useful must be determined empirically. Towards this aim, we have reviewed the literature and selected drug-genotype associations with the strongest evidence for utility in BD.SummaryBased upon these findings, we propose a preliminary panel for use in PGT, and a method by which the results of a PGT panel can be integrated for clinical interpretation. Finally, we argue that based on the sufficiency of accumulated evidence, PGT implementation studies are now warranted. We propose and discuss the design for a randomized clinical trial to test the use of PGT in the treatment of BD

Study of CP violation in Dalitz-plot analyses of B0 --> K+K-KS, B+ --> K+K-K+, and B+ --> KSKSK+

We perform amplitude analyses of the decays $B^0 \to K^+K^-K^0_S$, $B^+ \rightarrow K^+K^-K^+$, and $B^+ \to K^0_S K^0_S K^+$, and measure CP-violating parameters and partial branching fractions. The results are based on a data sample of approximately $470\times 10^6$ $B\bar{B}$ decays, collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy $B$ factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. For $B^+ \to K^+K^-K^+$, we find a direct CP asymmetry in $B^+ \to \phi(1020)K^+$ of $A_{CP}= (12.8\pm 4.4 \pm 1.3)$, which differs from zero by $2.8 \sigma$. For $B^0 \to K^+K^-K^0_S$, we measure the CP-violating phase $\beta_{\rm eff} (\phi(1020)K^0_S) = (21\pm 6 \pm 2)^\circ$. For $B^+ \to K^0_S K^0_S K^+$, we measure an overall direct CP asymmetry of $A_{CP} = (4 ^{+4}_{-5} \pm 2)$. We also perform an angular-moment analysis of the three channels, and determine that the $f_X(1500)$ state can be described well by the sum of the resonances $f_0(1500)$, $f_2^{\prime}(1525)$, and $f_0(1710)$.Comment: 35 pages, 68 postscript figures. v3 - minor modifications to agree with published versio

Studying the Underlying Event in Drell-Yan and High Transverse Momentum Jet Production at the Tevatron

We study the underlying event in proton-antiproton collisions by examining the behavior of charged particles (transverse momentum pT > 0.5 GeV/c, pseudorapidity |\eta| < 1) produced in association with large transverse momentum jets (~2.2 fb-1) or with Drell-Yan lepton-pairs (~2.7 fb-1) in the Z-boson mass region (70 < M(pair) < 110 GeV/c2) as measured by CDF at 1.96 TeV center-of-mass energy. We use the direction of the lepton-pair (in Drell-Yan production) or the leading jet (in high-pT jet production) in each event to define three regions of \eta-\phi space; toward, away, and transverse, where \phi is the azimuthal scattering angle. For Drell-Yan production (excluding the leptons) both the toward and transverse regions are very sensitive to the underlying event. In high-pT jet production the transverse region is very sensitive to the underlying event and is separated into a MAX and MIN transverse region, which helps separate the hard component (initial and final-state radiation) from the beam-beam remnant and multiple parton interaction components of the scattering. The data are corrected to the particle level to remove detector effects and are then compared with several QCD Monte-Carlo models. The goal of this analysis is to provide data that can be used to test and improve the QCD Monte-Carlo models of the underlying event that are used to simulate hadron-hadron collisions.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Rev.