Search for jet-jet resonances in association with a leptonic W decay at the ATLAS experiment

The Large Hadron Collider~(LHC) is a particle accelerator designed to collide proton pairs at a center of mass energy up to $14~TeV$ and to reach an instantaneous luminosity of $10^{34} ~ cm^{-2} s^{-1}$. Presently it is producing collisions at a center of mass energy of $7~TeV$ and with an instantaneous luminosity that has recently reached $3.65 \cdot 10^{33} ~ cm^{-2} s^{-1}$. It has been built with the aim of testing particle physics theories such as Standard Model and Supersymmetry through the study of collision products which are revealed by systems of detectors displaced along its ring. ATLAS, one of these detectors, has collected the data used to perform the analysis contained in this thesis. The analysis presented in this thesis addresses the study of two processes that share the same signature: the diboson $WW/WZ$ semileptonic decay and a jet-jet resonance with an invariant mass equal to $145~GeV/c^{2}$ produced in association with a $W$. In both cases the leptonic decay of the W is identified as an energetic electron or muon along with missing transverse energy forming a transverse mass~($M_{T}$) consistent with that one produced by the $W$ boson. The hadronically decaying $W/Z$ or the resonance at $145~GeV/c^{2}$ are searched in the jet-jet invariant mass distribution after a selection based on the event kinematics. The resonance at $145~GeV/c^{2}$ has been observed in April 2011 by the CDF detector at the Tevatron collider with a significance of $4.1$ standard deviations and is not predicted by Standard Model. Therefore it is important to determine the presence of this signal in other experiments and this thesis investigates the possibility to reveal the same resonance in data collected by the ATLAS experiment in the first half of 2011. Even if production conditions at LHC are different than those ones at Tevatron, it has been chosen to use the same selection applied by CDF in order to avoid any assumption on the type of signal process. In my thesis I have analysed about $1~fb^{-1}$ of ATLAS data and reproduced the CDF selection to obtain the jet-jet invariant mass distribution. This distribution has been compared to that one obtained from the Standard Model prediction. This information has been used to identify the region where data exceed Standard Model expectation with the highest significance. The study reports no evidence of excess in the jet-jet invariant mass. The $WW/WZ$ cross-section has been measured in ATLAS in the leptonic channel and not yet in the semileptonic one. These studies have twofold purpose: the definition of a sample that would allow to set constraints on triple gauge couplings~(TGCs) and test the goodness of Monte Carlo reproduction of the $WW/WZ$ signal, an important background in Higgs searches. The triple gauge couplings are the constants which determine the strength of the interaction among three vector bosons and enter in the $WW/WZ$ cross-section. The Standard Model predicts the TGCs value which may be tested with the measurement of $WW/WZ$ cross-section. The thesis focuses on the development of two selections that reduce and model the background yields in order to isolate the $WW/WZ$ signal allowing its measurement. Specific cuts on jet kinematic reduces the main backgrounds constituted by associated production of $W$ and jets, $t \bar{t}$ and multijet QCD. One study aimed at reaching high statistical significance~($\sim 3$) in the $1.33~fb^{-1}$ of data analysed, therefore the cuts are chosen evaluating which ones lead to the best $S/\sqrt{B}$ ratio. The other study focuses on the improvement of the $S/B$ ratio and consequently tries to raise the signal significance with respect to the systematic error. Finally, the effects of the dominant systematics are discussed and control regions are studied to verify the goodness with which the Monte Carlo simulations reproduces the main backgrounds

Search for jet-jet resonances in association with a leptonic W decay at the ATLAS experiment

The Large Hadron Collider~(LHC) is a particle accelerator designed to collide proton pairs at a center of mass energy up to $14~TeV$ and to reach an instantaneous luminosity of $10^{34} ~ cm^{-2} s^{-1}$. Presently it is producing collisions at a center of mass energy of $7~TeV$ and with an instantaneous luminosity that has recently reached $3.65 \cdot 10^{33} ~ cm^{-2} s^{-1}$. It has been built with the aim of testing particle physics theories such as Standard Model and Supersymmetry through the study of collision products which are revealed by systems of detectors displaced along its ring. ATLAS, one of these detectors, has collected the data used to perform the analysis contained in this thesis. The analysis presented in this thesis addresses the study of two processes that share the same signature: the diboson $WW/WZ$ semileptonic decay and a jet-jet resonance with an invariant mass equal to $145~GeV/c^{2}$ produced in association with a $W$. In both cases the leptonic decay of the W is identified as an energetic electron or muon along with missing transverse energy forming a transverse mass~($M_{T}$) consistent with that one produced by the $W$ boson. The hadronically decaying $W/Z$ or the resonance at $145~GeV/c^{2}$ are searched in the jet-jet invariant mass distribution after a selection based on the event kinematics. The resonance at $145~GeV/c^{2}$ has been observed in April 2011 by the CDF detector at the Tevatron collider with a significance of $4.1$ standard deviations and is not predicted by Standard Model. Therefore it is important to determine the presence of this signal in other experiments and this thesis investigates the possibility to reveal the same resonance in data collected by the ATLAS experiment in the first half of 2011. Even if production conditions at LHC are different than those ones at Tevatron, it has been chosen to use the same selection applied by CDF in order to avoid any assumption on the type of signal process. In my thesis I have analysed about $1~fb^{-1}$ of ATLAS data and reproduced the CDF selection to obtain the jet-jet invariant mass distribution. This distribution has been compared to that one obtained from the Standard Model prediction. This information has been used to identify the region where data exceed Standard Model expectation with the highest significance. The study reports no evidence of excess in the jet-jet invariant mass. The $WW/WZ$ cross-section has been measured in ATLAS in the leptonic channel and not yet in the semileptonic one. These studies have twofold purpose: the definition of a sample that would allow to set constraints on triple gauge couplings~(TGCs) and test the goodness of Monte Carlo reproduction of the $WW/WZ$ signal, an important background in Higgs searches. The triple gauge couplings are the constants which determine the strength of the interaction among three vector bosons and enter in the $WW/WZ$ cross-section. The Standard Model predicts the TGCs value which may be tested with the measurement of $WW/WZ$ cross-section. The thesis focuses on the development of two selections that reduce and model the background yields in order to isolate the $WW/WZ$ signal allowing its measurement. Specific cuts on jet kinematic reduces the main backgrounds constituted by associated production of $W$ and jets, $t \bar{t}$ and multijet QCD. One study aimed at reaching high statistical significance~($\sim 3$) in the $1.33~fb^{-1}$ of data analysed, therefore the cuts are chosen evaluating which ones lead to the best $S/\sqrt{B}$ ratio. The other study focuses on the improvement of the $S/B$ ratio and consequently tries to raise the signal significance with respect to the systematic error. Finally, the effects of the dominant systematics are discussed and control regions are studied to verify the goodness with which the Monte Carlo simulations reproduces the main backgrounds

Design of a Fuselage-Mounted Main Landing Gear of a Medium-Size Civil Transport Aircraft

The subject of the present paper is the design of an innovative fuselage mounted main landing gear, developed for a PrandtlPlane architecture civil transport aircraft with a capacity of about 300 passengers. The paper presents the conceptual design and a preliminary sizing of landing gear structural components and actuation systems, in order to get an estimation of weight and of the required stowage. The adopted design methodology makes use of dynamic modelling and multibody simulation from the very first design stages, with the aim of providing efficient and flexible tools for a preliminary evaluation of performances, as well as enabling to easily update and adapt the design to further modifications. To develop the activity, the multibody dynamics of the landing gear (modelled using Simpack software) has been integrated via co-simulation with dynamic models developed in the Matlab/Simulink environment

The cure from nature: the extraordinary anticancer properties of Ascorbate (Vitamin C)

The anticancer properties of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid o sodium ascorbate) are known since at least four decades, However, being a cheap and "natural" product, Vitamin C is not patentable and therefore has never been developed as an anticancer molecule. Recent in vitro investigations have confirmed the extraordinary antitumor properties of high doses of Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate), particularly when administered by the intravenous route, and phase I/II randomized, controlled clinical trials have been started to verify its anticancer properties in vivo. Unfortunately, the controlled clinical trials performed so far, do not confirm the extraordinary results obtained with Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate) in vitro. However, this may depend on a number of different factors, such as the pharmaceutical preparation (Sodium ascorbate may be more suitable than buffered ascorbic acid), the schedule of administration (slow infusion better than rapid infusion), tumor tissue oxygenation (Cancer tissue oxygenation is lower that oxygenation of tumor cell lines, in vitro), etc., which deserve further in depth investigation. Even with these limitations, Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate) in high doses, administered by intravenous route, beyond being extremely effective in vitro, against a number of human tumor cell lines, is safe, has minimal contraindications, improves the quality of life of patients, and is highly selective for cancer cells. The Authors discuss these important aspects and suggest possible solutions to improve the in vivo anticancer effects of Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate)

Beyond Glycemic Control in Diabetes Mellitus: Effects of Incretin-Based Therapies on Bone Metabolism

Diabetes mellitus (DM) and osteoporosis (OP) are common disorders with a significant health burden, and an increase in fracture risk has been described both in type 1 (T1DM) and in type 2 (T2DM) diabetes. The pathogenic mechanisms of impaired skeletal strength in diabetes remain to be clarified in details and they are only in part reflected by a variation in bone mineral density. In T2DM, the occurrence of low bone turnover together with a decreased osteoblast activity and compromised bone quality has been shown. Of note, some antidiabetic drugs (e.g., thiazolidinediones, insulin) may deeply affect bone metabolism. In addition, the recently introduced class of incretin-based drugs (i.e., GLP-1 receptor agonists and DPP-4 inhibitors) is expected to exert potentially beneficial effects on bone health, possibly due to a bone anabolic activity of GLP-1, that can be either direct or indirect through the involvement of thyroid C cells. Here we will review the established as well as the putative effects of incretin hormones and of incretin-based drugs on bone metabolism, both in preclinical models and in man, taking into account that such therapeutic strategy may be effective not only to achieve a good glycemic control, but also to improve bone health in diabetic patients

Protection of Prisoners with Mental Health Disorders in Italy: Lights and Shadows after the Abolition of Judicial Psychiatric Hospitals

In Italy, a person suffering from a mental disorder who commits a crime will be given a custodial security order and serve the period of admission at a Residenza per la esecuzione delle misure di sicurezza (REMS) (Residence for the Execution of Security Measures, hereinafter "REMS"). These institutions have been established recently and though equipped with the necessary safety measures, the focus is on psychiatric therapy. Despite being present on a national scale, access is very limited in terms of capacity. Immediate remedial measures are needed, so much so that the European Court of Human Rights recently condemned Italy for this very reason. This article, through a review of the constitutive principles of these institutions, shows how they have very positive aspects such as the attention to necessary psychotherapy in order to protect the right to health and the real taking charge of the fragility of the subjects; however, it is seen how there are many negative aspects linked above all to the scarce availability of places in these structures. The article provides suggestions on a more comprehensive strategy for facilities for detainees with mental disorders