CMS Tracker alignment and its influence on the b-tagging performance

Tagging of b jets is of fundamental importance for the top physics at LHC and only an efficient and aligned tracker detector can offer the possibility to increase the precision in the detection of tagging vertexes. At the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, the alignment of the Tracker is an important goal in the determination of the robustness of the b-tagging algorithms performance: many studies and tests about possible alignment strategies have been carried out during these years, using different algorithms on sets of real (cosmic muon tracks) and simulated data (muon tracks from $Z$ and $W$ decays )

Towards fully integrated CMOS RF receivers

The evolution of the mobile telephony is demanding new multi-function terminals (cellular and cordless phones, GPS, pagers) compatible with a variety of standard (GSM, DCS, DECT, CDMA). At the same time the reduction of cost, size and power dissipation is mandatory. All this requires an higher integration level for the RF part, that is presently using a big number of components. This explains the big research effort put in silicon RF circuits particularly in CMOS technology. In this paper the state of the art of CMOS RF circuits is outlined. In particular some results regarding critical building blocks obtained by the STMicroelectronics and Pavia University research team are given. Future evelopments and the progress needed to successfully implement them are also pointed out

High overtones of Dirac perturbations of a Schwarzschild black hole

Using the Frobenius method, we find high overtones of the Dirac quasinormal spectrum for the Schwarzschild black hole. At high overtones, the spacing for imaginary part of $\omega_{n}$ is equidistant and equals to $\Im{\omega_{n+1}}-\Im{\omega_{n}} =i/8M$, ($M$ is the black hole mass), which is twice less than that for fields of integer spin. At high overtones, the real part of $\omega_{n}$ goes to zero. This supports the suggestion that the expected correspondence between quasinormal modes and Barbero-Immirzi parameter in Loop Quantum Gravity is just a numerical coincidence.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, 3 figures, Physical Review D.,at pres

Second-order odd-harmonic repetitive control and its application to active filter control

High order repetitive control has been introduced toovercomeperformance decay of repetitive control systems undervarying frequency of the signals to be tracked/rejected orimproving the interhamonic behavior. However, most highorder repetitive internal models used to improve frequencyuncertainty are unstable, as a consequence practicalimplementations are more difficult. In this work a stable,second order odd-harmonic repetitive control system ispresented and studied.The proposed internal model has been implemented andvalidated in a shunt active filter current controller. Thishigh order controller allows dealing with the gridfrequency variations without using adaptive schemes

Ozone fumigation successfully controlled and eradicated multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii from an intensive care unit

Cette contribution porte sur la construction de savoirs professionnels dans l'alternance en formation initiale à l'enseignement. Elle postule que cette construction de savoirs se relie à l'émergence de l'identité professionnelle: le sujet en formation se construit comme acteur social en même temps des savoirs propices à son agir. Plus précisément, notre préoccupation de recherche concerne les indicateurs de cette co-construction soi/savoirs professionnels tels qu'on peut les inférer à partir de l'analyse de discours écrits ou oraux produits par les étudiants

Space Vector Taylor–Fourier Models for Synchrophasor, Frequency, and ROCOF Measurements in Three-Phase Systems

Taylor-Fourier (TF) filters represent a powerful tool to design phasor measurement unit (PMU) algorithms able to estimate synchrophasor, frequency, and rate of change of frequency (ROCOF). The resulting techniques are based on dynamic representations of the synchrophasor, and hence, they are particularly suitable to track the evolution of its parameters during time-varying conditions. Electrical quantities in power systems are typically three-phase and weakly unbalanced, but most PMU measurement techniques are developed by considering them as a set of three single-phase signals; on the contrary, this peculiarity can be favorably exploited to improve accuracy and reduce the computational cost. In this respect, this paper proposes to directly perform the TF expansion of the space vector (SV) samples obtained from three-phase measurements. A new paradigm allows to independently estimate positive and negative sequence synchrophasors along with system frequency and ROCOF, leveraging the three-phase characteristics. The performance of the proposed technique is assessed by using test signals inspired by the standard IEEE C37.118.1-2011, including noise as well as magnitude and phase unbalance. Achieved results highlight the flexibility of the enhanced SV-based approach, which is capable to combine excellent dynamic performance together with an accurate estimation of both positive and negative sequence components

Continuous flow ozonolysis using atmospheric plasma

Ozonolysis is widely used in organic synthesis to obtain aldehydes and ketones from alkenes, a process of great interest, for example, for the pharmaceutical industry. This reaction is more environmentally accepted than other alternative oxidations and it has good atom efficiency. Ozonolysis, however, has an important drawback; the ozonides generated as intermediates in the process are unstable and pose a risk of explosion. To minimize this risk, continuous flow processing can be used, as this eliminates the accumulation of large amounts of hazardous intermediates, thereby offering an alternative to batch processing that greatly enhances the control and safety of the ozonolysis process.1,2 Here we report on the results obtained with an air plasma-driven continuous-flow ozonolysis system. (... continues

A cryptic RNA-binding domain mediates Syncrip recognition and exosomal partitioning of miRNA targets

Exosomal miRNA transfer is a mechanism for cell-cell communication that is important in the immune response, in the functioning of the nervous system and in cancer. Syncrip/hnRNPQ is a highly conserved RNA-binding protein that mediates the exosomal partition of a set of miRNAs. Here, we report that Syncrip's amino-terminal domain, which was previously thought to mediate protein-protein interactions, is a cryptic, conserved and sequence-specific RNA-binding domain, designated NURR (N-terminal unit for RNA recognition). The NURR domain mediates the specific recognition of a short hEXO sequence defining Syncrip exosomal miRNA targets, and is coupled by a non-canonical structural element to Syncrip's RRM domains to achieve high-affinity miRNA binding. As a consequence, Syncrip-mediated selection of the target miRNAs implies both recognition of the hEXO sequence by the NURR domain and binding of the RRM domains 5′ to this sequence. This structural arrangement enables Syncrip-mediated selection of miRNAs with different seed sequences. © 2018 The Author(s)

Left ventricular mass increase is associated with cognitive decline and dementia in the elderly independently of blood pressure

Aims Left ventricular (LV) mass increase is considered part of composite target organ damage in hypertension and an independent risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) events. This study was designed to explore whether left ventricular mass index (LVMI) is associated with cognitive decline and dementia in elderly subjects, independently of blood pressure (BP) levels. Methods and results Four hundred subjects (mean age 79 ± 6 years) were studied. Left ventricular mass was measured echocardiographically in accordance with American Society of Echocardiography and normalized for body height to the 2.7 (LVMI). Global cognitive function was evaluated with the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) (maximum score 30). Dementia was defined as an MMSE score <21. Arterial stiffness was evaluated as carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity by Complior®. Prevalence of hypertension was 70% and diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in 25%. No significant differences in traditional CV risk factors were observed across LVMI quartiles. Mini-mental state examination showed an inverse trend across LVMI quartiles (the higher the LVMI, the lower the MMSE, P for trend <0.05); systolic and diastolic BP levels were not different across LVMI quartiles. In multivariable logistic regression models, including age, sex, BP levels, and use of antihypertensive drugs as covariates, the highest LVMI was found to be independently associated with a two-fold higher likelihood of having dementia. The association persisted significant even after adjustment for arterial stiffness. Conclusion In elderly subjects, LVMI is associated with a progressive cognitive decline. This association is independent of BP levels and/or large artery stiffness