Higgs boson searches are commonly considered one of the main objectives of particle physics nowadays. The latest results obtained by the CDF and D0 collaborations are presented here when searching ...for Higgs boson decaying into a W-boson pair, currently the most sensitive channel for masses greater than 130 GeV. The presented results are based on an integrated luminosity that ranges from 3.0 to 4.2 fb^-1. No significant excess over expected background is observed and the 95% CL limits are set for a Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson for different mass hypotheses ranging from 100 GeV to 200 GeV. The combination of CDF and D0 results is also presented, which exclude for the first time a SM Higgs boson in the 160 < mH < 170 GeV mass range.
In this paper, we describe the development and the performance studies of a trigger devoted to the identification of b-jets final state events in pp interactions at the CDF II experiment of Tevatron ...collider at Fermilab. Exploiting new trigger primitives provided by two recent trigger upgrades, the Level2 XFT stereo tracking and the improved Level2 cluster- finder, in conjunction with the existing silicon vertex tracker (SVT), we design an online trigger algorithm aimed at selecting good purity 6-jets samples useful for many physics measurements, one of the most important being inclusive searches for the Standard Model Higgs boson. We describe the performances of the proposed algorithm, which must guarantee high efficiency on signal events while maintaining sustainable rate at the luminosity of 3ldr10 32 cm -2 s -1 reachable at the Tevatron.
In this contribution we present the achievements of the CUORE experiment so far. It is the first tonne-scale bolometric detector and it is in stable data taking since 2018. We reached to collect ...about 1800 kg×yr of exposure of which more than 1 ton×year have been analysed. The CUORE detector is meant to search for the neutrinoless double β decay (0νββ) of the 130Te isotope. This is a beyond Standard Model process which could establish the nature of the neutrino to be Dirac or a Majorana particle. It is an alternative mode of the two-neutrinos double β decay, a rare decay which have been precisely measured by CUORE in the 130Te. We found no evidence of the 0νββ and we set a Bayesian lower limit of 2.2 ×1025yr on its half-life. The expertise achieved by CUORE set a milestone for any future bolometric detector, including CUPID, which is the planned next generation experiment searching for 0νββ with scintillating bolometers.
This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of a multi-step, positive-reinforcement training protocol, involving a remote-controlled food reward dispenser, for treatment of excessive barking, ...jumping, and crowding of the door by dogs when people come to the door. In Experiment 1, we tested the multi-step protocol in a laboratory setting to determine whether the protocol is successful in a controlled environment when implemented by dog trainers. Six dogs with a history of problem behaviors at the door were trained to run to a platform with a rug on it, lie down and stay (“down-stay”) for 1
min while common household door distractions such as loud knocking, ringing doorbells, and running people were presented. The dog's ability to remain in a down-stay for 1
min with such distractions was measured before and after training. During training, the number of training trials required and the numbers of trials performed correctly and incorrectly were recorded for each dog. The results revealed that dogs remained in a down-stay with distractions significantly longer after training (60
±
0.0
s) than before (5
±
1.18
s) (
P
=
0.016). Dogs completed the training protocol in 8 d with only 8.4% incorrect trials, and in a similar number of trials with a coefficient of variation of 10.6%. These results indicated that this protocol was a good candidate for testing in a clinical setting, a home situation with owners doing the training. In Experiment 2, 15 dogs were trained by their owners to run to a rug or bed, lie down, and stay for 1
min while their owners answered the door. After training, barking decreased from 19.3
±
4.62
barks/min to 2.1
±
0.79
barks/min (
P
<
0.0001), jumping decreased from 8.2
±
2.12
jumps/min to 0.02
±
0.02
jumps/min (
P
<
0.0005) and time spent within 0.3
m of the door when visitors were outside decreased from 84.5%
±
4.23% to 0.0%
±
0.00% (
P
<
0.0001). Percent time spent in contact with the visitor when the visitor was inside decreased from 69.2%
±
4.19% to 0.18%
±
0.13% (
P
<
0.0001). Additionally, owner perception of their dog's behavior improved significantly (
P
<
0.0001). Six dogs that were not trained with the protocol showed no significant improvement (
P
=
0.344).
We measured two-neutrino double beta decay of ^{130}Te using an exposure of 300.7 kg yr accumulated with the CUORE detector. Using a Bayesian analysis to fit simulated spectra to experimental data, ...it was possible to disentangle all the major background sources and precisely measure the two-neutrino contribution. The half-life is in agreement with past measurements with a strongly reduced uncertainty: T_{1/2}^{2ν}=7.71_{-0.06}^{+0.08}(stat)_{-0.15}^{+0.12}(syst)×10^{20} yr. This measurement is the most precise determination of the ^{130}Te 2νββ decay half-life to date.
The silicon-vertex-trigger (SVT) at CDF is made of two pipelined processors: the associative-memory, AM, finding low precision tracks (roads) and the track-fitter, TF, refining the track quality with ...high-precision fits. We describe a next generation track fitter, the GigaFitter, that performs more than a fit per nanosecond. This device is based on modern FPGA technology, rich of powerful DSP arrays, to reduce the track parameter reconstruction to few clock cycles and to perform many fits in parallel. The reduction to virtually zero of the time necessary for the fit is the goal to be achieved in order to maximize the computing power for high resolution tracking at very high rate. The GigaFitter will enhance the SVT capabilities during the high luminosity CDF final data taking and could be used in future experiments as well.
Recently, a pathway of genes which are part of a cascade regulating the side on which the heart forms during chick development was characterized (M. Levin et al., 1995, Cell 82, 1-20). Here we extend ...these previous studies, showing that manipulation of at least one member of the cascade, Sonic hedgehog (Shh), can affect the situs of embryonic rotation and of the gut, in addition to the heart. Bilateral expression of Shh, which is normally found exclusively on the left, does not result in left isomerism (a bilaterally symmetrical embryo having two left sides) nor in a complete situs inversus phenotype. Instead, misexpression of Shh on the right side of the node, which in turn leads to bilateral nodal expression, produces a heterotaxia-like condition, where different aspects of laterality are determined independently. Heart situs has previously been shown to be altered by ectopic Shh and activin. However, the most downstream gene identified in the LR pathway, nodal, had not been functionally linked to heart laterality. We show that ectopic (right-sided) nodal expression is able to affect heart situs, suggesting that the randomization of heart laterality observed in Shh and activin misexpression experiments is a result of changes in nodal expression and that nodal is likely to regulate heart situs endogenously. The first defined asymmetric signal in the left-right patterning pathway is Shh, which is initially expressed throughout Hensen's node but becomes restricted to the left side at stage 4(+). It has been hypothesized that the restriction of Shh expression may be due to repression by an upstream activin-like factor. The involvement of such an activin-like factor on the right side of Hensen's node was suggested because ectopic activin protein is able to repress Shh on the left side of the node, as well as to induce ectopic expression of a normally right-sided marker, the activin receptor cAct-RIIa. Here we provide further evidence in favor of this model. We find that a member of this family, Activin betaB, is indeed expressed asymmetrically, only on the right side of Hensen's node, at the correct time for it to be the endogenous asymmetric activin signal. Furthermore, we show that application of follistatin-loaded beads eliminates the asymmetry in Shh expression, consistent with an inhibition of an endogenous member of the activin-BMP superfamily. This combined with the previous data on exogenous activin supports the model that Activin betaB functions in the chick embryo to initiate Shh asymmetry. While these data extend our understanding of the early signals which establish left-right asymmetry, they leave unanswered the interesting question of how the bilateral symmetry of the embryo is initially broken to define a consistent left-right axis. Analysis of spontaneous chick twins suggests that, whatever the molecular mechanism, left-right patterning is unlikely to be due to a blastodermal prepattern but rather is initiated in a streak-autonomous manner.
Streptococcus pyogenes is an uncommon cause of community-acquired pneumonia and there have been few recent specific accounts of the condition. To describe the current nature of this disease in the ...UK, data was gathered on patients with clinical pneumonia from whom Streptococcus pyogenes was cultured principally from blood or other relevant normally sterile sites. In the Harrogate and Northallerton districts of North Yorkshire, pneumonia accounted for nine (20%) cases and a quarter of all deaths in a complete sequence of 45 patients with Streptococcus pyogenes bacteraemia detected during the 16-year-period 1981-1996. An analysis is presented of those cases together with eight recent cases from counties York, Durham and Isle of Wight during 1995-1997. Of the total 17 cases, nine occurred in women and eight in men; the age range was 30-92 years. The organism was isolated from blood culture in 15 (88%) patients. Eight (47%) patients died, five within 1 day of hospitalisation. Fourteen (82%) cases occurred in the winter months October to March, including all the fatal cases and all eight in which a clinical 'viral' prodrome was observed. Predisposing medical or surgical conditions were present in 65% of the patients. Major complications included septicaemia, pleural reaction, shock, pulmonary cavitation, osteomyelitis and metastatic abscesses. Seven serotypes of Streptococcus pyogenes were encountered, with M-type 1 predominating (the cause in 60% of cases). All infections were community acquired; two small clusters of fatal pneumonia were seen.
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