ATLAS Sensitivity to Leptoquarks, W_R and Heavy Majorana Neutrinos in Final States with High-pt Dileptons and Jets with Early LHC Data at 14 TeV proton-proton collisions

Dilepton-jet final states are used to study physical phenomena not predicted by the standard model. The ATLAS discovery potential for leptoquarks and Majorana Neutrinos is presented using a full simulation of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The study is motivated by the role of the leptoquark in the Grand Unification of fundamental forces and the see-saw mechanism that could explain the masses of the observed neutrinos. The analysis algorithms are presented, background sources are discussed and estimates of sensitivity and the discovery potential for these processes are reported.Comment: 6 pages, 16 figures, To be published in the proceedings of DPF-2009, Detroit, MI, July 2009, eConf C09072

HAWC High Energy Upgrade with a Sparse Array

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory has been fully operational since March 2015. To improve its sensitivity at the highest energies, it is being upgraded with an additional sparse array called outrigger array. We will discuss in this contribution, the different outrigger array components, and the simulation results to optimize it.Comment: Proceeding paper of a contribution at the RICAP16 6th Roma International Conference on Astroparticle Physics in Rome, Ital

A computational method for estimating the PCR duplication rate in DNA and RNA-seq experiments.

BackgroundPCR amplification is an important step in the preparation of DNA sequencing libraries prior to high-throughput sequencing. PCR amplification introduces redundant reads in the sequence data and estimating the PCR duplication rate is important to assess the frequency of such reads. Existing computational methods do not distinguish PCR duplicates from "natural" read duplicates that represent independent DNA fragments and therefore, over-estimate the PCR duplication rate for DNA-seq and RNA-seq experiments.ResultsIn this paper, we present a computational method to estimate the average PCR duplication rate of high-throughput sequence datasets that accounts for natural read duplicates by leveraging heterozygous variants in an individual genome. Analysis of simulated data and exome sequence data from the 1000 Genomes project demonstrated that our method can accurately estimate the PCR duplication rate on paired-end as well as single-end read datasets which contain a high proportion of natural read duplicates. Further, analysis of exome datasets prepared using the Nextera library preparation method indicated that 45-50% of read duplicates correspond to natural read duplicates likely due to fragmentation bias. Finally, analysis of RNA-seq datasets from individuals in the 1000 Genomes project demonstrated that 70-95% of read duplicates observed in such datasets correspond to natural duplicates sampled from genes with high expression and identified outlier samples with a 2-fold greater PCR duplication rate than other samples.ConclusionsThe method described here is a useful tool for estimating the PCR duplication rate of high-throughput sequence datasets and for assessing the fraction of read duplicates that correspond to natural read duplicates. An implementation of the method is available at https://github.com/vibansal/PCRduplicates

Scala Server Faces

Progress in the Java language has been slow over the last few years. Scala is emerging as one of the probable successors for Java with features such as type inference, higher order functions, closure support and sequence comprehensions. This allows object-oriented yet concise code to be written using Scala. While Java based MVC frameworks are still prevalent, Scala based frameworks along with Ruby on Rails, Django and PHP are emerging as competitors. Scala has a web framework called Lift which has made an attempt to borrow the advantages of other frameworks while keeping code concise. Since Sun’s MVC framework, Java Server Faces 2.0 and its future versions seem to be heading in a reasonably progressive direction; I have developed a framework which attempts to overcome its limitations. I call such a framework ―Scala Server Faces‖. This framework provides a way of writing Java EE applications in Scala yet borrow from the concept of ―convention over configuration‖ followed by rival web frameworks. Again, an Eclipse tool is provided to make the programmer\u27s task of writing code on the popular Eclipse platform. Scala Server Faces, the framework and the tool allows the programmer to write enterprise web applications in Scala by providing features such as templating support, CRUD screen generation for database model objects, an Ant script to help deployment and integration with the Glassfish Application Server

Negotiating Constitution for Political Unions

This paper provides a cradle-to-grave model for political union between two unequally endowed states. We introduce negotiated, contested, and time-consistent contested constitutions to address various classes of merger problems. Merger agreement is shown to be path dependent and, in some cases, time inconsistent. The possibility of contest constrains the set of mutually agreeable tax rates and provides stability to a constitution. Demographic heterogeneity constrains the set of mutually agreeable mergers. Rent extracted by technologically advanced province for transferring technology to the backward province in a union is shown to be increasing in complexity of technology but bounded from above. The model can also support the possibility of historical cycles of political geography. The main contribution of this paper is to highlight the role of technology gap and unequal distribution of resources in all the above cases.Bargaining, Constitution, Contest, Political Union

Development and Characterization of Eudragit RS 100 Loaded Microsponges and its Colonic Delivery Using Natural Polysaccharides

In the present work, paracetamol loaded eudragit based microsponges were prepared using quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion method. The compatibility of the drug with various formulation components was established. Process parameters were analyzed in order to optimize the formulation. Shape and surface morphology of the microsponges were examined using scanning electron microscopy. The colon specific formulations were prepared by compression coating of microsponges with pectin:hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) mixture followed by tabletting. The in vitro dissolution studies were done on all formulations and the results were evaluated kinetically and statically. The kinetics of release study showed that the release data followed Higuchi matrix and the main mechanism of drug release from microsponges was diffusion. In vitro studies exhibited that compression coated colon specific tablet formulations started the release the drug at the 6th hour corresponding to the arrival time to proximal colon

Negotiating constitution for political unions

This paper provides a cradle-to-grave model for political union between two unequally endowed states. We introduce negotiated, contested, and time-consistent contested constitutions to address various classes of merger problems. Merger agreement is shown to be path dependent and, in some cases, time inconsistent. The possibility of contest constrains the set of mutually agreeable tax rates and provides stability to a constitution. Demographic heterogeneity constrains the set of mutually agreeable mergers. Rent extracted by technologically advanced province for transferring technology to the backward province in a union is shown to be increasing in complexity of technology but bounded from above. The model can also support the possibility of historical cycles of political geography. The main contribution of this paper is to highlight the role of technology gap and unequal distribution of resources in all the above cases.Bargaining, Constitution, Contest, Political Union