Measurement of three-jet production cross-sections in pp collisions at 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy using the ATLAS detector

Double-differential three-jet production cross-sections are measured in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=7TeV using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are presented as a function of the three-jet mass (mjjj), in bins of the sum of the absolute rapidity separations between the three leading jets (|Y∗|). Invariant masses extending up to 5 TeV are reached for 8<|Y∗|<10. These measurements use a sample of data recorded using the ATLAS detector in 2011, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.51fb−1. Jets are identified using the anti-kt algorithm with two different jet radius parameters, R=0.4 and R=0.6. The dominant uncertainty in these measurements comes from the jet energy scale. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations corrected to account for non-perturbative effects are compared to the measurements. Good agreement is found between the data and the theoretical predictions based on most of the available sets of parton distribution functions, over the full kinematic range, covering almost seven orders of magnitude in the measured cross-section values.

Data quality in biofilm high-throughput routine analysis: intralaboratory protocol adaptation and experiment reproducibility

Biofilm research is growing more diverse and dependent on high-throughput technologies and the large-scale production of results aggravates data substantiation. In particular, it is often the case that experimental protocols are adapted to meet the needs of a particular laboratory and no statistical validation of the modified method is provided. This paper discusses the impact of intra-laboratory adaptation and non-rigorous documentation of experimental protocols on biofilm data interchange and validation. The case study is a non-standard, but widely used, workflow for Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm development, considering three analysis assays: the crystal violet (CV) assay for biomass quantification, the XTT assay for respiratory activity assessment, and the colony forming units (CFU) assay for determination of cell viability. The ruggedness of the protocol was assessed by introducing small changes in the biofilm growth conditions, which simulate minor protocol adaptations and non-rigorous protocol documentation. Results show that even minor variations in the biofilm growth conditions may affect the results considerably, and that the biofilm analysis assays lack repeatability. Intra-laboratory validation of non-standard protocols is found critical to ensure data quality and enable the comparison of results within and among laboratories.

An efficient chronic unpredictable stress protocol to induce stress-related responses in C57BL/6 mice

Exposure to chronic stress can have broad effects on health ranging from increased predisposition for neuropsychiatric disorders to deregulation of immune responses. The chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) protocol has been widely used to study the impact of stress exposure in several animal models and consists in the random, intermittent, and unpredictable exposure to a variety of stressors during several weeks. CUS has consistently been shown to induce behavioral and immunological alterations typical of the chronic stress-response. Unfortunately C57BL/6 mice, one of the most widely used mouse strains, due to the great variety of genetically modified lines, seem to be resistant to the commonly used 4-week-long CUS protocol. The definition of an alternative CUS protocol allowing the use of C57BL/6 mice in chronic stress experiments is a need. Here, we show that by extending the CUS protocol to 8?weeks is possible to induce a chronic stress-response in C57BL/6 mice, as revealed by abrogated body weight gain, increased adrenals weight, and an overactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis with increased levels of serum corticosterone. Moreover, we also observed stress-associated behavioral alterations, including the potentiation of anxious-like and depressive-like behaviors and a reduction of exploratory behavior, as well as subtle stress-related changes in the cell population of the thymus and of the spleen. The present protocol for C57BL/6 mice consistently triggers the spectrum of CUS-induced changes observed in rats and, thus, will be highly useful to researchers that need to use this particular mouse strain as an animal model of neuropsychiatric disorders and/or immune deregulation related to CUS.

Widespread environmental contamination with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex revealed by a molecular detection protocol

Environmental contamination with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) has been considered crucial for bovine tuberculosis persistence in multi-host-pathogen systems. However, MTC contamination has been difficult to detect due to methodological issues. In an attempt to overcome this limitation we developed an improved protocol for the detection of MTC DNA. MTC DNA concentration was estimated by the Most Probable Number (MPN) method. Making use of this protocol we showed that MTC contamination is widespread in different types of environmental samples from the Iberian Peninsula, which supports indirect transmission as a contributing mechanism for the maintenance of bovine tuberculosis in this multi-host-pathogen system. The proportion of MTC DNA positive samples was higher in the bovine tuberculosis-infected than in presumed negative area (0.32 and 0.18, respectively). Detection varied with the type of environmental sample and was more frequent in sediment from dams and less frequent in water also from dams (0.22 and 0.05, respectively). The proportion of MTC-positive samples was significantly higher in spring (p<0.001), but MTC DNA concentration per sample was higher in autumn and lower in summer. The average MTC DNA concentration in positive samples was 0.82 MPN/g (CI95 0.70-0.98 MPN/g). We were further able to amplify a DNA sequence specific of Mycobacterium bovis/caprae in 4 environmental samples from the bTB-infected area.

Occupational stress and coping among portuguese military police officers

This study describes the professional experience of military police officers from the Portuguese Republican National Guard (N = 95). We focused on the main sources and consequences of stress and the coping strategies used to deal with stress. The evaluation protocol included one closed-ended question and four open-ended questions. Data analysis of meaningful text segments was conceptually based and data categorization followed deductive content analysis. Results allowed the identification of 483 meaning units. Factors intrinsic to the job and the relationships at work were the main stressors referred by participants. The consequences of stressors were evident at an individual level, affecting family, psychological, and physical/health domains. The coping strategies used to deal with the main source of stress in the professional career were focused on problem solving (e.g., active confrontation) and emotional regulation (e.g., situation acceptance). Practical implications and future avenues of research with these professionals are discussed.

Study of Coronary Flow Reserve with Intravenous Use of Microbubbles (Contrast Echocardiography) and Adenosine: Protocol for Clinical Application in Patients Suspected of Having Coronary Heart Disease

OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility, safety and accuracy of the adenosine protocol in the study of myocardial perfusion with microbubbles contrast echocardiography. METHODS: 81 pts (64 male, 60+11 years) were submitted to contrast echocardiography with PESDA (sonicated solution of albumin 20%-1ml, dextrose 5%-12ml and deca-fluorobutane gas-8ml) to study the myocardial perfusion at rest and after bolus injection of adenosine (6 to 18mg) and to coronary angiography within 1 month each other. For each patient 3 left ventricle perfusion beds were considered (total of 243 territories). 208 territories were analyzed and 35 territories were excluded. PESDA was continuously infused (1-2ml/min), titrated for best myocardial contrast. Triggered (1:1) second harmonic imaging was used. RESULTS: Coronary angiography showed 70 flow limiting (> 75%) lesions and 138 no flow limiting lesions. At rest an obvious myocardium contrast enhancement was seen in at least 1 segment of a territory in all patients. After adenosine injection an unquestionable further increase in myocardial contrast was observed in 136 territories (99%) related to no flow limiting lesions, lasting < 10 s, and a myocardial perfusion defect was detected in 68 territories (97%) related to flow limiting lesions. It was observed only 4 false results. There were no serious complications. CONCLUSION: Myocardial perfusion study with PESDA and adenosine protocol is a practical, safe and accurate method to analyze the coronary flow reserve.

A new proposal to guide velocity and inclination in the ramp protocol for the treadmill ergometer

OBJECTIVE: To suggest criteria to guide protocol prescription in ramp treadmill testing, according to sex and age, based on velocity, inclination, and max VO2 reached by the population studied. METHODS: Prospective study describing heart rate (HR), time, velocity, inclination, and VO2 estimated at maximum effort of 1840 individuals from 4 to 79 years old, who performed a treadmill test (TT) according to the ramp protocol. A paired Student t test was used to assess the difference between predicted and reached max VO2, calculated according to the formulas of the "American College of Sports Medicine". RESULTS: Submaximal HR was surpassed in 90.1% of the examinations, with a mean time of 10.0±2.0 minute. Initial and peak inclination velocity of the exercise and max VO2 were inversely proportional to age and were greater in male patients. Predicted Max VO2 was significantly lower than that reached in all patients, except for female children and adolescents (age < 20 years old). CONCLUSION: Use of velocity, inclination, and maximum VO2 actually reached, as a criterion in prescribing the ramp protocol may help in the performance of exercise in treadmill testing. The ramp protocol was well accepted in all age groups and sexes with exercise time within the programmed 8 to 12 minutes.

Relevance to Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Protocol of Blood Pressure Measurements Taken Before First- Morning Micturition and in the Afternoon

Background: The importance of measuring blood pressure before morning micturition and in the afternoon, while working, is yet to be established in relation to the accuracy of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM). Objective: To compare two HBPM protocols, considering 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (wakefulness ABPM) as gold-standard and measurements taken before morning micturition (BM) and in the afternoon (AM), for the best diagnosis of systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), and their association with prognostic markers. Methods: After undergoing 24-hour wakefulness ABPM, 158 participants (84 women) were randomized for 3- or 5-day HBPM. Two variations of the 3-day protocol were considered: with measurements taken before morning micturition and in the afternoon (BM+AM); and with post-morning-micturition and evening measurements (PM+EM). All patients underwent echocardiography (for left ventricular hypertrophy - LVH) and urinary albumin measurement (for microalbuminuria - MAU). Result: Kappa statistic for the diagnosis of SAH between wakefulness-ABPM and standard 3-day HBPM, 3-day HBPM (BM+AM) and (PM+EM), and 5-day HBPM were 0.660, 0.638, 0.348 and 0.387, respectively. The values of sensitivity of (BM+AM) versus (PM+EM) were 82.6% × 71%, respectively, and of specificity, 84.8% × 74%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 69.1% × 40% and 92.2% × 91.2%, respectively. The comparisons of intraclass correlations for the diagnosis of LVH and MAU between (BM+AM) and (PM+EM) were 0.782 × 0.474 and 0.511 × 0.276, respectively. Conclusions: The 3 day-HBPM protocol including measurements taken before morning micturition and during work in the afternoon showed the best agreement with SAH diagnosis and the best association with prognostic markers.

Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des Distance Learning am Beispiel des Alberta Distance Learning Centre in Kanada : Analyse und Transfer auf den Schulkontext Sachsen-Anhalts

Distance learning, Canadian educational system, institution, medial learning, school system Saxony-Anhalt, system theory, qualitative research

Analysis Treatment Guideline versus Clinical Practice Protocol in Patients Hospitalized due to Heart Failure

Background: Despite the availability of guidelines for treatment of heart failure (HF), only a few studies have assessed how hospitals adhere to the recommended therapies. Objectives: Compare the rates of adherence to the prescription of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ACEI/ARB) at hospital discharge, which is considered a quality indicator by the Joint Commission International, and to the prescription of beta-blockers at hospital discharge, which is recommended by national and international guidelines, in a hospital with a case management program to supervise the implementation of a clinical practice protocol (HCP) and another hospital that follows treatment guidelines (HCG). Methods: Prospective observational study that evaluated patients consecutively admitted to both hospitals due to decompensated HF between August 1st, 2006, and December 31st, 2008. We used as comparing parameters the prescription rates of beta-blockers and ACEI/ARB at hospital discharge and in-hospital mortality. Results: We analyzed 1,052 patients (30% female, mean age 70.6 ± 14.1 years), 381 (36%) of whom were seen at HCG and 781 (64%) at HCP. The prescription rates of beta-blockers at discharge at HCG and HCP were both 69% (p = 0.458), whereas those of ACEI/ARB were 83% and 86%, respectively (p = 0.162). In-hospital mortality rates were 16.5% at HCP and 27.8% at HCG (p < 0.001). Conclusion: There was no difference in prescription rates of beta-blocker and ACEI/ARB at hospital discharge between the institutions, but HCP had lower in-hospital mortality. This difference in mortality may be attributed to different clinical characteristics of the patients in both hospitals.

Bird communities in three forest types in the Pernambuco Centre of Endemism, Alagoas, Brazil

The Pernambuco Center of Endemism (PCE) in northeastern Brazil is highly fragmented and degraded. Despite its potential conservation importance the bird fauna in this area is still relatively unknown and there are many remnant fragments that have not been systematically surveyed. Here, we report the results of bird surveys in five forest fragments (one pioneer, two ombrophilous and two seasonal). In total, 162 taxa were recorded, 12 of which are endemic to the PCE. The frequency of endangered species was lower than what has been reported in studies from the same area and most of the taxa considered to be at risk of extinction were sub-species of uncertain taxonomic validity. The comparatively low number of endemic/threatened species may be due to the small size of the fragments in the present study - a consequence of the high levels of habitat loss in this region. Analysis of species richness patterns indicates that ombrophilous forest fragments are acting as refuges for those bird species that are most sensitive to environmental degradation.

Avaluació d’un nou protocol MAC per IEEE 802.11 en un entorn multicel·lular exterior

Estudi realitzat a partir d’una estada al laboratori LSR (Logiciels, Systèmes, Réseaux) – IMAG a Grenoble, França, entre els mesos de setembre del 2005 i febrer del 2006. El grup de recerca Drakkar d’aquest laboratori va desenvolupar un nou mecanisme d’accés al medi per a xarxes d’àrea local sense fils (WLAN) anomenat Idle Sense. S’ha avaluat aquest mecanisme en entorns cel·lulars i s’ha comparat del seu comportament amb l’estàndard IEEE 802.11 DCF mitjançant la implementació en un simulador. En els entorns cel·lulars es troben condicions de transmissió molt allunyades de les ideals, i de les analitzades fins al moment, que consisteixen en escenaris formats per una única cel·la aïllada. Per aquest motiu, primer s’ha estudiat els mecanismes d’accés al medi d’Idle Sense en una cel·la i en condicions de transmissió adverses. Després, s’ha estudiat en entorns multicel·lulars, on les comunicacions entre estacions es veuen influenciades pel problema de solapament de cel·les i per les interferències provocades per les transmissions d’estacions d’altres cel·les. També s’ha comparat els resultats obtinguts amb el comportament d’IEEE 802.11 DCF i d’altres propostes de millora: Asymptotically Optimal Backoff (AOB) i Slow Decrease. Finalment, s’ha realitzat una modificació sobre Idle Sense, que s’ha anomenat Weighted Idle Sense, que resulta més adecuat per a treballar en xarxes d’àrea local sense fils en mode infraestructura.

Catalan Policies and Experiences on Cooperative Repositories

The Centre de Supercomputació de Catalunya (CESCA) together with the Consorci de Biblioteques Universitàries de Catalunya (CBUC) started in 1999 a cooperative repository, named TDR, to file in digital format the full-text of the read thesis at the universities of our country to spread them worldwide in open access preserving the intellectual copyright of the authors. This became operational in 2001 and today it is a service fully consolidated not only among the Catalan universities, but also used by other Spanish universities. Since then, there are four additional cooperative repositories which have been created: RECERCAT, for research papers; RACO, for scientific, cultural and erudite Catalan magazines; PADICAT, for archiving Catalan web sites; and MDC, for Catalan digital collections of pictures, maps, posters, old magazines... These five repositories have some common characteristics: they are open access, that is, they are accessible on the internet for free; they mostly comply with the Open Archive Initiative interoperability protocol for facilitating the efficient dissemination of content; and they have been built in a cooperative manner so that it is easy to adopt common procedures and to share the repository developing and managing costs, it permits more visibility of the indexed documents throughout the search engines, and a better provision for long-term preservation can be made. In this paper we present the common policy established for the Catalan cooperative repositories, we describe the five of them briefly, and we comment on the results obtained of our 6-year experience since the first one became operational.

Centre de Noves Tecnologies i nous Processos Alimentaris, centre tecnològic per a la indústria alimentària

El Centre de Noves Tecnologies i nous Processos Alimentaris (CENTA) és una iniciativa conjunta del IRTA i la Universitat de Girona, amb dues seus, una a Monells i l’altre al Parc Tecnològic de la UdG, on es podran trobar les tecnologies més avançades dins del camp del tractament i processament d’aliments, tant per tractar líquids com sòlids. Aquest centre tindrà per missió principal apropar les noves tecnologies a les empreses del nostre país, oferint-les diferents serveis. Probablement el CENTA formarà part de la Xarxa de Centres Tecnològics del CIDEM, i es preveu que en a partir del mes de març es posin en marxa les diferents instal·lacions.

Polí­tiques i experiències catalanes en dipòsits col·lectius

L'any 1999, el Centre de Supercomputació de Catalunya (CESCA) va crear, conjuntament amb el Consorci de Biblioteques Universitàries de Catalunya (CBUC), un dipòsit cooperatiu anomenat Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa o TDX per emmagatzemar, en format digital, el text complet de les tesis doctorals llegides a les universitats catalanes i difondre-les arreu del món, en accés obert, tot preservant els drets de propietat intel·lectual dels autors. Aquest servei va iniciar-se l'any 2001 i avui dia està plenament consolidat, no només entre les universitats catalanes sinó també entre algunes universitats espanyoles. Des d'aleshores, s'han creat quatre dipòsits cooperatius més: el Dipòsit de la Recerca de Catalunya o RECERCAT, per a la cerca de publicacions d’investigació; Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert o RACO, per a revistes científiques, culturals i erudites catalanes; Patrimoni Digital de Catalunya o PADICAT, per emmagatzemar pàgines web catalanes; i Memòria Digital de Catalunya o MDC, per a col·leccions digitals catalanes de pintures, mapes, pòsters i revistes antigues, entre d'altres. Tots cinc dipòsits cooperatius comparteixen algunes característiques: són d'accés obert, és a dir, s'hi pot accedir gratuïtament des de la Xarxa; la majoria fan servir el protocol d'interoperabilitat Open Archives Initiative Protocol, que facilita la difusió eficaç dels continguts; s'han creat de manera cooperativa per tal que sigui més senzill adoptar procediments comuns i poder compartir els costos de desenvolupament i gestió del dipòsit; permeten donar més visibilitat als documents indexats gràcies als motors de cerca; i afavoreixen les condicions per preservar la informació a llarg termini. En aquest document es presenta la política comuna establerta per als dipòsits cooperatius catalans, es descriuen breument els cinc dipòsits, i es comenten els resultats obtinguts dels sis anys d'experiència des que el primer dipòsit va omençar a funcionar.