The CMS Statistical Analysis and Combination Tool: Combine

Metrics: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41781-024-00121-4/metricsThis paper describes the Combine software package used for statistical analyses by the CMS Collaboration. The package, originally designed to perform searches for a Higgs boson and the combined analysis of those searches, has evolved to become the statistical analysis tool presently used in the majority of measurements and searches performed by the CMS Collaboration. It is not specific to the CMS experiment, and this paper is intended to serve as a reference for users outside of the CMS Collaboration, providing an outline of the most salient features and capabilities. Readers are provided with the possibility to run Combine and reproduce examples provided in this paper using a publicly available container image. Since the package is constantly evolving to meet the demands of ever-increasing data sets and analysis sophistication, this paper cannot cover all details of Combine. However, the online documentation referenced within this paper provides an up-to-date and complete user guide.CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)STFC (United Kingdom)Marie-Curie programme and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contract Nos. 675440, 724704, 752730, 758316, 765710, 824093, 101115353, 101002207, and COST Action CA16108 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Portable Acceleration of CMS Computing Workflows with Coprocessors as a Service

A preprint version of the article is available at: arXiv:2402.15366v2 [physics.ins-det], https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.15366 . Comments: Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables can be found at https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/MLG-23-001 (CMS Public Pages). Report numbers: CMS-MLG-23-001, CERN-EP-2023-303.Data Availability: No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.Computing demands for large scientific experiments, such as the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, will increase dramatically in the next decades. To complement the future performance increases of software running on central processing units (CPUs), explorations of coprocessor usage in data processing hold great potential and interest. Coprocessors are a class of computer processors that supplement CPUs, often improving the execution of certain functions due to architectural design choices. We explore the approach of Services for Optimized Network Inference on Coprocessors (SONIC) and study the deployment of this as-a-service approach in large-scale data processing. In the studies, we take a data processing workflow of the CMS experiment and run the main workflow on CPUs, while offloading several machine learning (ML) inference tasks onto either remote or local coprocessors, specifically graphics processing units (GPUs). With experiments performed at Google Cloud, the Purdue Tier-2 computing center, and combinations of the two, we demonstrate the acceleration of these ML algorithms individually on coprocessors and the corresponding throughput improvement for the entire workflow. This approach can be easily generalized to different types of coprocessors and deployed on local CPUs without decreasing the throughput performance. We emphasize that the SONIC approach enables high coprocessor usage and enables the portability to run workflows on different types of coprocessors.SCOAP3. Open access funding provided by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research

High temperature structural and thermoelastic behaviour of mantle orthopyroxene: an in situ neutron powder diffraction study

The temperature induced structural evolution and thermoelastic behaviour of a natural (Pbca) orthopyroxene (Opx), with chemical formula M2(Mg0.856Ca0.025Fe2+ 0.119) M1(Mg0.957Fe2+ 0.011Fe3+ 0.016 Cr0.011Al0.005)Al0.032Si1.968O6, from a suite of high pressure ultramafic nodules of mantle origin, have been investigated by in-situ neutron powder diffraction at several temperatures starting from 1,200C down to 150C. Unit-cell parameter variations as a function of T show no phase transition within this temperature range. The volume thermal expansion coefficient, a = V \u20131(\ub6V/\ub6T) P0, varies linearly with T. The axial thermal expansion coefficients, aj = lj \u20131(\ub6lj/\ub6T)P0, increase non-linearly with T. The principal Lagrangian unit-strain coefficients (e//a, e//b, e//c), increase continuously with T. However, the orientation of the unit-strain ellipsoid appears to change with T. With decreasing T, the values of the unit-strain coefficients along the b and c axes tend to converge. The orientation at DT = 1,080C is maintained down to the lowest temperature (150C). The two non-equivalent tetrahedral chains, TAnOA3n and TBnOB3n, are kinked differently. At room-T, the TBnOB3n chain is more strongly kinked by about 23 than the TAnOA3n chain. With increasing T, the difference decreases by 3 for the TBnOB3n chain. The intersite cation exchange reaction between M1 and M2 (Mg2+ and Fe2+) shows a slight residual order at 1,200C followed by reordering with decreasing temperature although seemingly not with a definite progressive trend. At the lowest temperature reached (150C), reordering has occurred with the same value of partitioning coefficient KD as that before heating. The absence of the expected phase transition is most likely due to the presence of minor amounts of Fe3+, Al, Ca and Cr which must play a crucial role on the thermoelastic behaviour and phase stability fields in natural Opx, with consequent important petrologic and geological implications

The molecular epidemiology of influenza viruses: a lesson from a highly epidemic season.

To analyse the epidemiological and molecular features of a long-lasting epidemic (12 weeks) of influenza in north-eastern Italy during the 2004\u201305 season. Morbidity rates were analysed by time and age. Influenza virus isolates (93 strains) were submitted to antigenic evaluation by haemagglutination inhibition test and to molecular assessment by sequencing. The incidence peak (16.4 per thousand) was the highest recorded over the last six years in north-eastern Italy. The epidemic was sustained by two subsequent waves of circulating viruses: an H3N2 variant and two type B variants, respectively. In addition, scattered isolation of an H1N1 variant occurred. Antigenic and molecular characterisation showed the emergence of an H3N2 virus drifted with respect to vaccine strain, which also had a substantial impact on morbidity in vaccinated subjects. Moreover, a single K145N substitution in the HA1 site of H3N2 was the starting point of two evolutionary branches

Treatment of extensive warts with etretinate : a clinical trial in 20 children

To evaluate the clinical-effectiveness of etretinate in the treatment of papilloma virus infections, 20 children with extensive warts were given this oral retinoid for a period not exceeding three months at a dosage of 1 mg per kg per day. Sixteen patients showed complete regression of the disease without relapse, while in 4, lesions recurred after partial regression had been obtained. A follow-up of two years confirmed these findings. The results of this preliminary study are encouraging. Additional study is needed to determine the ultimate usefulness of etretinate in the treatment of refractory warts