Trigger and readout electronics for the STEREO experiment

The STEREO experiment will search for a sterile neutrino by measuring the anti-neutrino energy spectrum as a function of the distance from the source, the ILL nuclear reactor. A dedicated electronic system, hosted in a single microTCA crate, was designed for this experiment. It performs triggering in two stages with various selectable conditions, processing and readout via UDP/IPBUS of 68 photomultiplier signals continuously digitized at 250 MSPS. Additionally, for detector performance monitoring, the electronics allow on-line calibration by driving LED synchronously with the data acquisition. This paper describes the electronics requirements, architecture and the performances achieved.Comment: Topical Workshop on Electronics for Particle Physics (TWEPP) 2015, Lisboa. 9 pages, 9 figure

Synthesis and coordination chemistry of 2-(di-2-pyridylamino)pyrimidine; structural aspects of spin crossover in an Fe(II) complex

This paper was accepted on February 26 20122-(Di-2-pyridylamino)pyrimidine (L), a potentially ditopic tetradentate ligand, was synthesized from commercially available di-2-pyridylamine and 2-chloropyrimidine. Despite being capable of bridging two metal atoms with bidentate chelation of both metal centres, L prefers to chelate or bridge through the more basic pyridyl donors of the di-2-pyridylamine moiety. Mononuclear trans-[Fe(NCS)2(L)2] and [Cu(L)2(H2O)](BF4)2•H2O complexes, and a discrete [Ag2(L)4](PF6)2 metallomacrocycle were isolated and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. A mononuclear palladium complex [PdCl2(L)]•(solvate), where solvate = ½H2O or CH2Cl2, was also readily obtained in 71% yield. One example of the ligand acting as a bis(bidentate) bridging ligand was observed in a dinuclear [(PdCl2)2(L)]•¾H2O complex that was obtained only in very low yield (ca. 3%) from the reaction that produced [PdCl2(L)]•½H2O. trans-[Fe(NCS)2(L)2] undergoes a temperature dependent HS-LS (HS = high spin; LS = low spin) crossover at ca. 205 K that was 2 observed by X-ray crystallography and magnetic measurements and attempts were made to understand the structural basis of this process. Despite efforts to isolate examples of L bridging two iron(II) centres, only the mononuclear trans-[Fe(NCS)2(L)2] species could be obtained.Rachel S. Crees, Boujemma Moubaraki, Keith S. Murray, and Christopher J. Sumb

Bitemarks analysis of orthodontically treated suspects – an identification approach

Abstract in proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Empirical Forcing Function as a tool for the diagnosis of large-scale atmospheric anomalies

The time-mean quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity equation of the atmospheric flow on isobaric surfaces can explicitly include an atmospheric (internal) forcing term of the stationary-eddy flow. In fact, neglecting some non-linear terms in this equation, this forcing can be mathematically expressed as a single function, called Empirical Forcing Function (EFF), which is equal to the material derivative of the time-mean potential vorticity. Furthermore, the EFF can be decomposed as a sum of seven components, each one representing a forcing mechanism of different nature. These mechanisms include diabatic components associated with the radiative forcing, latent heat release and frictional dissipation, and components related to transient eddy transports of heat and momentum. All these factors quantify the role of the transient eddies in forcing the atmospheric circulation. In order to assess the relevance of the EFF in diagnosing large-scale anomalies in the atmospheric circulation, the relationship between the EFF and the occurrence of strong North Atlantic ridges over the Eastern North Atlantic is analyzed, which are often precursors of severe droughts over Western Iberia. For such events, the EFF pattern depicts a clear dipolar structure over the North Atlantic; cyclonic (anticyclonic) forcing of potential vorticity is found upstream (downstream) of the anomalously strong ridges. Results also show that the most significant components are related to the diabatic processes. Lastly, these results highlight the relevance of the EFF in diagnosing large-scale anomalies, also providing some insight into their interaction with different physical mechanisms

An Integrated Framework for Multiprocessor, Multimoded Real-Time Applications

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30598-6_2In this paper we propose an approach for building real-time systems under a combination of requirements: specification and handling of operating modes and mode changes; implementation on top of a multiprocessor platform; integration of both aspects within a common framework; and connection with schedulability analysis procedures. The proposed approach uses finite state machines to describe operating modes and transitions, and a framework of real-time utilities that implements the required behaviour in Ada 2012. Automatic code generation plays an important role: the system is derived from the functional and timing specification, and implemented according to the abstractions provided by the framework. Response time analysis enables assessing the schedulability of the different operating modes and the transitions between modes.This work was partially supported by the Vicerrectorado de Investigación of the UPV (PAID-06-10-2397), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (TIN2011-28567-C03- 03) and European Union (FP7-ICT-287702)Sáez Barona, S.; Real Sáez, JV.; Crespo, A. (2012). An Integrated Framework for Multiprocessor, Multimoded Real-Time Applications. En Reliable Software Technologies – Ada-Europe 2012. Springer. 18-34. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30598-6_21834Wellings, A.J., Burns, A.: A Framework for Real-Time Utilities for Ada 2005. Ada Letters XXVII(2) (August 2007)Real, J., Crespo, A.: Incorporating Operating Modes to an Ada Real-Time Framework. Ada Letters 30(1) (April 2010)Sáez, S., Terrasa, S., Crespo, A.: A Real-Time Framework for Multiprocessor Platforms Using Ada 2012. In: Romanovsky, A., Vardanega, T. (eds.) Ada-Europe 2011. LNCS, vol. 6652, pp. 46–60. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)Joseph, M., Pandya, P.: Finding response times in a real-time system. British Computer Society Computer Journal 29(5), 390–395 (1986)Audsley, N., Burns, A., Richardson, M., Tindell, K., Wellings, A.J.: Applying new scheduling theory to static priority pre-emptive scheduling. Software Engineering Journal 8(5), 284–292 (1993)Real, J., Crespo, A.: Mode Change Protocols for Real-Time Systems: A Survey and a new Proposal. Real-Time Systems 26(2), 161–197 (2004)Harel, D.: Statecharts: A visual formalism for complex systems. The Science of Computer Programming 8(3), 231–274 (1987)Object Management Group: Unified Modeling Language (OMG UML) V2.4 (August 2011), http://www.omg.org/spec/UML/2.4.1Sáez, S., Terrasa, S., Lorente, V., Crespo, A.: Implementing Reactive Systems with UML State Machines and Ada 2005. In: Kordon, F., Kermarrec, Y. (eds.) Ada-Europe 2009. LNCS, vol. 5570, pp. 149–163. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)Burns, A., Wellings, A.J.: Dispatching Domains for Multiprocessor Platforms and their Representation in Ada. In: Real, J., Vardanega, T. (eds.) Ada-Europe 2010. LNCS, vol. 6106, pp. 41–53. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)Barnett, J.: State Chart XML (SCXML): State Machine Notation for Control Abstraction (May 2008), http://www.w3.org/TR/scxml

Multi-scale effects of nestling diet on breeding performance in a terrestrial top predator inferred from stable isotope analysis

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Inter-individual diet variation within populations is likely to have important ecological and evolutionary implications. The diet-fitness relationships at the individual level and the emerging population processes are, however, poorly understood for most avian predators inhabiting complex terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we use an isotopic approach to assess the trophic ecology of nestlings in a long-lived raptor, the Bonelli's eagle Aquila fasciata, and investigate whether nestling dietary breath and main prey consumption can affect the species' reproductive performance at two spatial scales: territories within populations and populations over a large geographic area. At the territory level, those breeding pairs whose nestlings consumed similar diets to the overall population (i.e. moderate consumption of preferred prey, but complemented by alternative prey categories) or those disproportionally consuming preferred prey were more likely to fledge two chicks. An increase in the diet diversity, however, related negatively with productivity. The age and replacements of breeding pair members had also an influence on productivity, with more fledglings associated to adult pairs with few replacements, as expected in long-lived species. At the population level, mean productivity was higher in those population-years with lower dietary breadth and higher diet similarity among territories, which was related to an overall higher consumption of preferred prey. Thus, we revealed a correspondence in diet-fitness relationships at two spatial scales: territories and populations. We suggest that stable isotope analyses may be a powerful tool to monitor the diet of terrestrial avian predators on large spatio-temporal scales, which could serve to detect potential changes in the availability of those prey on which predators depend for breeding. We encourage ecologists and evolutionary and conservation biologists concerned with the multi-scale fitness consequences of inter-individual variation in resource use to employ similar stable isotope-based approaches, which can be successfully applied to complex ecosystems such as the Mediterranean.Funding for this work was provided by projects CGL2007-64805 and CGL2010-17056 from the ‘‘Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´n, Gobierno de Espan˜ a’’, the ‘‘A`rea d’Espais Naturals de la Diputacio´ de Barcelona’’, and Miquel Torres S.A. Fieldwork in France was carried out within the framework of the second National Action Plan for Bonelli’s eagle from the ‘‘Ministe`re franc¸ais de l’E´cologie, de L’E´nergie, du De´veloppement Durable et de la Mer’’ and coordinated by the DREAL LR ‘‘Direction Re´gionale de l’Environnement, de l’Ame´nagement et du Logement-Languedoc-Roussillon’’. J. Resano-Mayor was supported by a predoctoral grant from the ‘‘Departamento de Educacio´n, Gobierno de Navarra; Plan de Formacio´n y de I+D 2008–2009’’, and M. Moleo´n by a postdoctoral grant from the ‘‘Ministerio de Educacio´n, Gobierno de Espan˜ a; Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008–2011’’. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Bladder Cancer and Patient Prognosis: Results from a Large Clinical Cohort and Meta-Analysis

Aberrant overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) is observed in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB). Studies evaluating COX2 as a prognostic marker in UCB report contradictory results. We determined the prognostic potential of COX2 expression in UCB and quantitatively summarize the results with those of the literature through a meta-analysis. Newly diagnosed UCB patients recruited between 1998–2001 in 18 Spanish hospitals were prospectively included in the study and followed-up (median, 70.7 months). Diagnostic slides were reviewed and uniformly classified by expert pathologists. Clinical data was retrieved from hospital charts. Tissue microarrays containing non-muscle invasive (n = 557) and muscle invasive (n = 216) tumours were analyzed by immunohistochemistry using quantitative image analysis. Expression was evaluated in Cox regression models to assess the risk of recurrence, progression and disease-specific mortality. Meta-hazard ratios were estimated using our results and those from 11 additional evaluable studies. COX2 expression was observed in 38% (211/557) of non-muscle invasive and 63% (137/216) of muscle invasive tumors. Expression was associated with advanced pathological stage and grade (p<0.0001). In the univariable analyses, COX2 expression - as a categorical variable - was not associated with any of the outcomes analyzed. As a continuous variable, a weak association with recurrence in non-muscle invasive tumors was observed (p-value = 0.048). In the multivariable analyses, COX2 expression did not independently predict any of the considered outcomes. The meta-analysis confirmed these results. We did not find evidence that COX2 expression is an independent prognostic marker of recurrence, progression or survival in patients with UCB.The work was partially supported by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (G03/174, 00/0745, PI051436, PI061614 and G03/174); Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer- RD06/0020-RTICC; Consolider ONCOBIO; EU-FP6-STREP-37739-DRoP-ToP; EU-FP7-HEALTH-F2-2008-201663-UROMOL; EU-FP7-HEALTH-F2-2008-201333-DECanBio; USA-NIH-RO1-CA089715; and a PhD fellowship awarded to MJC from the ‘‘la Caixa’’ foundation, Spain, and a postdoctoral fellowship awarded to AFSA from the Fundación Científica de la AEC

Impact of family structure on long-term survivors of osteosarcoma

Goals of work: Long-term outcomes of osteosarcoma have dramatically improved with the use of modern combination therapies. Such aggressive treatments, however, entail chronic complications. In the present study, we assessed the functional, psychological, and familial status of long-term survivors of osteosarcoma treated at our institution. Materials and methods: Fifteen long-term survivors of osteosarcoma were evaluated for functional and psychological sequelae. Functional assessment was based on a method described by Enneking et al. Psychological assessment was based on General Health Questionnaire 28, Inventory Scale for Traumatic Neurosis, and Family System Test. Main results: Ten patients showed mild functional impairments; only five patients were handicapped more seriously. Depressive symptoms were diagnosed in four patients. A total of six patients revealed unbalanced family structures, including three of the four patients with depressive symptoms, all four patients with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, and five of seven patients who showed poor emotional acceptance. Conclusions: Osteosarcoma survivors will generally recover good functional performance. Only a minority of them remain seriously impaired. One third of the patients present depressive symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder. Poor coping is closely associated with unbalanced family structures. Therefore, the psychological and familial situation of patients with newly diagnosed osteosarcoma should be carefully assesse