Online Data Reduction for the Belle II Experiment using DATCON

The new Belle II experiment at the asymmetric $e^+ e^-$ accelerator SuperKEKB at KEK in Japan is designed to deliver a peak luminosity of $8\times10^{35}\text{cm}^{-2}\text{s}^{-1}$. To perform high-precision track reconstruction, e.g. for measurements of time-dependent CP-violating decays and secondary vertices, the Belle II detector is equipped with a highly segmented pixel detector (PXD). The high instantaneous luminosity and short bunch crossing times result in a large stream of data in the PXD, which needs to be significantly reduced for offline storage. The data reduction is performed using an FPGA-based Data Acquisition Tracking and Concentrator Online Node (DATCON), which uses information from the Belle II silicon strip vertex detector (SVD) surrounding the PXD to carry out online track reconstruction, extrapolation to the PXD, and Region of Interest (ROI) determination on the PXD. The data stream is reduced by a factor of ten with an ROI finding efficiency of >90% for PXD hits inside the ROI down to 50 MeV in $p_\text{T}$ of the stable particles. We will present the current status of the implementation of the track reconstruction using Hough transformations, and the results obtained for simulated \Upsilon(4S) $\rightarrow \, B\bar{B}$ events

Aliviaderos tipo laberinto y en tecla de piano

Las conferencias presentadas durante la Jornada Técnica sobre Avances en investigación aplicada en seguridad hidráulica de presas organizada por el Centro de Estudios Hidrográficos del CEDEX y la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid el mes de junio de 2013 versan sobre la mejora de la seguridad hidráulica de las presas, una materia de especial importancia en nuestro país (habida cuenta del elevado número de infraestructuras de regulación en servicio y de su antigüedad media) y constituye una tarea en la que tanto el CEDEX como la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid han trabajado activamente en los últimos años. El Departamento de presas de la ETSICCP, el Centro de Estudios Hidrográficos del CEDEX el Centro Internacional de Modelación Numérica (CIMNE), la empresa VEMSA y la compañía de ingeniería JESÚS GRANELL Ingenieros Consultores viene acometiendo un proyecto de investigación en materia de vertederos tipo laberinto. El objetivo principal de la investigación es la obtención de conocimientos y herramientas que permitan un diseño razonado de este tipo de estructuras hidráulicas. Además, se estudian otros efectos en su comportamiento, como son las condiciones hidráulicas de aproximación a la embocadura. La investigación se basa en el ensayo hidráulico en modelos físicos complementado por modelos numéricos mediante aplicaciones de última generación. Descripción del proceso de diseño y construcción del modelo

A multi-parametric analysis of Trypanosoma cruzi infection: common pathophysiologic patterns beyond extreme heterogeneity of host responses

The extreme genetic diversity of the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi has been proposed to be associated with the clinical outcomes of the disease it provokes: Chagas disease (CD). To address this question, we analysed the similarities and differences in the CD pathophysiogenesis caused by different parasite strains. Using syngeneic mice infected acutely or chronically with 6 distant parasite strains, we integrated simultaneously 66 parameters: parasite tropism (7 parameters), organ and immune responses (local and systemic; 57 parameters), and clinical presentations of CD (2 parameters). While the parasite genetic background consistently impacts most of these parameters, they remain highly variable, as observed in patients, impeding reliable one-dimensional association with phases, strains, and damage. However, multi-dimensional statistics overcame this extreme intra-group variability for each individual parameter and revealed some pathophysiological patterns that accurately allow defining (i) the infection phase, (ii) the infecting parasite strains, and (iii) organ damage type and intensity. Our results demonstrated a greater variability of clinical outcomes and host responses to T. cruzi infection than previously thought, while our multi-parametric analysis defined common pathophysiological patterns linked to clinical outcome of CD, conserved among the genetically diverse infecting strains

Altered bone marrow lymphopoiesis and interleukin-6-dependent inhibition of thymocyte differentiation contribute to thymic atrophy during Trypanosoma cruzi infection

Thymic atrophy occurs during infection being associated with apoptosis of double positive (DP) and premature exit of DP and double negative (DN) thymocytes. We observed for the first time that a significant bone marrow aplasia and a decrease in common lymphoid progenitors (CLPs) preceded thymic alterations in mice infected with Trypanosoma cruzi. In addition, depletion of the DN2 stage was previous to the DN1, indicating an alteration in the differentiation from DN1 to DN2 thymocytes. Interestingly, infected mice deficient in IL-6 expression showed higher numbers of DP and CD4+ thymocytes than wild type infected mice, while presenting similar percentages of DN1 thymocytes. Moreover, the drop in late differentiation stages of DN thymocytes was partially abrogated in comparison with wild type littermates. Thus, our results suggest that thymic atrophy involves a drop in CLPs production in bone marrow and IL-6-dependent and independent mechanisms that inhibits the differentiation of DN thymocytes.Fil: Carbajosa, Sofía. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Gea, Susana. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Chillón-Marinas, Carlos. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Poveda, Cristina. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Maza, María del Carmen. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Fresno, Manuel. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Gironès, Núria. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Españ

Hydrogen Photo-Production from Glycerol Using Nickel-Doped TiO2 Catalysts: Effect of Catalyst Pre-Treatment

In the present piece of research, hydrogen production via the photo-reforming of glycerol (a byproduct from biodiesel generation) is studied. Catalysts consisted of titania modified by Ni (0.5% by weight) obtained through deposition–precipitation or impregnation synthetic methods (labelled as Ni-0.5-DP and Ni-0.5-IMP, respectively). Reactions were performed both under UV and solar irradiation. Activity significantly improved in the presence of Ni, especially under solar irradiation. Moreover, pre-reduced solids exhibited higher catalytic activities than untreated solids, despite the “in-situ” reduction of nickel species and the elimination of surface chlorides under reaction conditions (as evidenced by XPS). It is possible that the catalyst pretreatment at 400 °C under hydrogen resulted in some strong metal–support interactions. In summary, the highest hydrogen production value (ca. 2600 micromole H2·g−1) was achieved with pre-reduced Ni-0.5-DP solid using UV light for an irradiation time of 6 h. This value represents a 15.7-fold increase as compared to Evonik P25

Hydrogen Production through Glycerol Photoreforming on TiO2/Mesoporous Carbon: Influence of the Synthetic Method

This article explores the effect of the synthetic method of titanium dioxide (TiO2)/C composites (physical mixture and the water-assisted/unassisted sol-gel method) on their photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production through glycerol photoreforming. The article demonstrates that, apart from a high surface area of carbon and the previous activation of its surface to favor titania incorporation, the appropriate control of titania formation is crucial. In this sense, even though the amount of incorporated titania was limited by the saturation of carbon surface groups (in our case, ca. 10 wt.% TiO2), the sol-gel process without water addition seemed to be the best method, ensuring the formation of small homogeneously-distributed anatase crystals on mesoporous carbon. In this way, a ca. 110-fold increase in catalyst activity compared to Evonik P25 (expressed as hydrogen micromole per grams of titania) was achieved

Aplicación de Web Map Services en la elaboración de un bloque temático de la materia de Biología y Geología de 4º de ESO.

El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido integrar los SIG (Sistemas de Información Geográfica) como herramientas TIC (Tecnologías de la información y la comunicación) en las aulas. Se ha realizado una  selección de WMS (Wep Map Services) gratuitos, que a través de la utilización de un SIG de escritorio, pueda servir como base al docente a la hora de gestionar los contenidos del Bloque 2 de la asignatura de Biología y Geología de 4º Curso de la E.S.O. Los resultados muestran que la interfaz amigable de estas herramientas, propias del ámbito profesional y de investigación del medio ambiente, facilitan el trabajo de los profesores, aumentan la interactividad de los alumnos con la asignatura y su capacidad para entender el espacio.

Clinically Relevant Correction of Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa by Dual sgRNA CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Editing

Gene editing constitutes a novel approach for precisely correcting disease-causing gene mutations. Frameshift mutations inCOL7A1 causing recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosaare amenable to open reading frame restoration by non-homologous end joining repair-based approaches. Efficient targeteddeletion of faulty COL7A1 exons in polyclonal patient keratinocytes would enable the translation of this therapeutic strategy to the clinic. In this study, using a dual single-guide RNA(sgRNA)-guided Cas9 nuclease delivered as a ribonucleoprotein complex through electroporation, we have achieved veryefficient targeted deletion of COL7A1 exon 80 in recessivedystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) patient keratinocytescarrying a highly prevalent frameshift mutation. This ex vivonon-viral approach rendered a large proportion of correctedcells producing a functional collagen VII variant. The effectivetargeting of the epidermal stem cell population enabled longterm regeneration of a properly adhesive skin upon graftingonto immunodeficient mice. A safety assessment by next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis of potential off-target sitesdid not reveal any unintended nuclease activity. Our strategycould potentially be extended to a large number of COL7A1mutation-bearing exons within the long collagenous domainof this gene, opening the way to precision medicine for RDEB.The study was mainly supported by DEBRA International, funded by DEBRA Austria (grant termed as Larcher 1). Additional funds came from Spanish grants SAF2017-86810-R (to M.D.R.) and PI17/01747 (to F.L.) from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, respectively, both co-funded with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) ERA-NET E-RARE JTC 2017 (MutaEB) and CIBERER (grant termed as Murillas- TERAPIAS ER2017)