Syntax-driven program verification of matching logic properties

We describe a novel approach to program verification and its application to verification of C programs, where properties are expressed in matching logic. The general approach is syntax-directed: semantic rules, expressed according to Knuths attribute grammars, specify how verification conditions can be computed. Evaluation is performed by interplaying attribute computation and propagation through the syntax tree with invocation of a solver of logic formulae. The benefit of a general syntax-driven approach is that it provides a reusable reference scheme for implementing verifiers for different languages. We show that the instantiation of a general approach to a specific language does not penalize the efficiency of the resulting verifier. This is done by comparing our C verifier for matching logic with an existing tool for the same programming language and logic. A further key advantage of the syntax-directed approach is that it can be the starting point for an incremental verifier -- which is our long-term research target

REAL-WORLD ITALIAN EXPERIENCE OF POMALIDOMIDE IN RELAPSED-REFRACTORY MYELOMA: RETROSPECTIVE MULTICENTER STUDY BY THE RETE EMATOLOGICA PUGLIESE AND BASILICATA

Background: The POM+LoDEX combination was approved for patients with RRMM who have received at least two prior therapies including lenalidomide and bortezomib. Aims: We report here retrospective analysis of 94 patients with RRMM treated with POM+LoDEX as salvage therapy at 12 hematological centers in the Puglia and Basilicata Network to describe the outcomes and toxicities in a daily practice setting outside clinical trials. Methods: From January 2016 to September 2018, 94 patients (60 F and 34 M) were treated in our haematogical Institutions. Sixty-three patients of them (67%) had relapsed MM and 31 patients (33%) MM refractory to two or more previous treatment lines. The median age was 73 years (range 42–86). Twenty-four patients (23,3%) had EMD. Patients received a median 3 previous lines of therapy. The last treatment received was bortezomib-based regimens in 29% of patients, lenalidomide-based regimens in 50% of patients, and bendamustine containing regimen in 18% of patients. Results: The median number of cycles administered was 5 (range 1–27). The ORR was 51%. Higher ORR was recorded in the patient group with relapsed MM compared to those with refractory disease (p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in terms of response between patients who had received two or more previous lines of therapy (p NS) and between patients aged over or under 70 years (p 0.25). After median follow-up of 9.5 months, median TTP and median OS in the ITT population were respectively, 10 months (range 7–17) and 16 months (range 11–24). The median TTP was significantly longer in patients who achieved the haematological response (p < 0.001) and in patients aged >70 years (p 0.03). The median OS was significantly longer for fit patients (p 0.03). The “disease status’’, the “prior exposure to lenalidomide-based strategies’’, the “number of previous lines of therapy’’ did not influence the TTP and the OS. Multivariate analysis of median TTP identified the “high LDH levels’’ as negative variable (p < 0.001) and the “age >70 years’’ as positive prognostic factor (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis of median OS identified the “frailty score’’ and confirmed “high LDH levels’’ as statistically significant variables (p < 0.001). Median TTNT was 30 months (range 18–30). Neutropenia was the most common hematologic adverse event and occurred in 32% of patients. The most frequent grade 3–4 non-haematologic toxicities were fatigue (6%) and infections (4%). Summary/Conclusion: POM+LoDEX resulted in a longer OS and TTP compared to data reported from clinical trials. This advantage was observed mainly in elderly patients and in those with haematologic response and the outcome benefit remained consistent regardless of number of prior and last therapy received. The good toxicity profile and the all-oral administration of POM+LoDEX make this combination a recommended therapeutic opportunity also in older patients and should be recommended mainly in patients living far from the hospital

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO