Measurement of the Inclusive and Fiducial Cross-Section of Single Top-Quark tt-Channel Events in pppp Collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 8 TeV

This article presents the measurement of a $t$-channel single top-quark production fiducial cross-section in the lepton+jets channel with 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of 8 TeV data using a neural-network discriminant. A fiducial cross-section quoted within the detector acceptance of $\sigma_{\rm fid} = 3.37 \pm 0.05 \, (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.47 \, (\mathrm{syst.}) \pm 0.09 \, (\mathrm{lumi.})~\text{pb}$ is obtained. The total inclusive $t$-channel cross-section is calculated using the acceptance predicted by various Monte Carlo generators. If the acceptance from the a MC@NLO + Herwig event generator is used, a value of $\sigma_t = 82.6 \pm 1.2 \, (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 11.4 \, (\mathrm{syst.}) \pm 3.1 \, (\mathrm{PDF}) \pm 2.3 \, (\mathrm{lumi.})~\text{pb}$ is obtained, consistent with the Standard Model prediction. Using the ratio of the measured inclusive cross-section to the predicted cross-section and assuming that the top-quark-related CKM matrix elements obey the relation $|V_{tb}|\gg |V_{ts}|, |V_{td}|$, the coupling strength at the $W$-$t$-$b$ vertex is determined to be $|V_{tb}|=0.97^{+0.09}_{-0.10}$. Assuming that $|V_{tb}|\leq 1$ a lower limit of $|V_{tb}|>0.78$ is obtained at the 95% confidence level.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Top 2014 Conferencs Proceeding

Family C1 cysteine proteases: Biological diversity or redundancy?

Recent progress in the identification and partial characterization of novel genes encoding cysteine proteases of the papain family has considerably increased our knowledge of this family of enzymes. Kinetic data available to date for this large family indicate relatively broad, overlapping specificities for most enzymes, thus inspiring a growing conviction that they may exhibit functional redundancy. This is also supported in part by phenotypes of cathepsin knockout mice and suggests that several proteases can substitute for each other to degrade or process a given substrate. On the other hand, specific functions of one particular protease have also been documented. In addition, differences in cellular distribution and intracellular localization may contribute to defining specific functional roles for some of these proteases

A Dynamic Programming Approach to De Novo Peptide Sequencing via Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The tandem mass spectrometry fragments a large number of molecules of the same peptide sequence into charged prefix and suffix subsequences, and then measures mass/charge ratios of these ions. The de novo peptide sequencing problem is to reconstruct the peptide sequence from a given tandem mass spectral data of k ions. By implicitly transforming the spectral data into an NC-spectrum graph G=(V,E) where |V|=2k+2, we can solve this problem in O(|V|+|E|) time and O(|V|) space using dynamic programming. Our approach can be further used to discover a modified amino acid in O(|V||E|) time and to analyze data with other types of noise in O(|V||E|) time. Our algorithms have been implemented and tested on actual experimental data.Comment: A preliminary version appeared in Proceedings of the 11th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, pages 389--398, 200

Effect of amlodipine on cardiovascular events in hypertensive haemodialysis patients

Background. Hypertensive haemodialysis patients may be at a high risk for cardiovascular events. This study was undertaken to ascertain whether the calcium channel blocker amlodipine reduces mortality and cardiovascular events in these high-risk patients

Upgrading the Seismic Resistance of Stevens Creek Dam

Stevens Creek Darn is a rolled earthfill structure with a height of about 120 feet. A seismic safety evaluation in 1978 concluded that the darn would probably be severely damaged if subjected to a maximum credible earthquake originating on the nearby San Andreas fault. Normal reservoir operation was immediately restricted, pending decisions as to the fate of the project. Conceptual design studies were completed in 1982 to identify the most promising alternative remedial concepts. The most promising concepts were chosen and final design of modifications to the dam and its appurtenant hydraulic structures were completed in 1984. Modification of the darn was completed in 1986, involving the placement of massive buttresses on both the upstream and downstream slopes and installation of internal drains to control the phreatic line. This required extension of the existing outlet conduit and construction of new inlet and outlet control structures