O. González López

Summary The application of beneficial, plant‐associated microorganisms is a sustainable approach to improving crop performance in agriculture. However, microbial inoculants are often susceptible to prolonged periods of storage and deleterious environmental factors, which negatively impact their viability and ultimately limit efficacy in the field. This particularly concerns non‐sporulating bacteria. To overcome this challenge, the availability of protective formulations is crucial. Numerous parameters influence the viability of microbial cells, with drying procedures generally being among the most critical ones. Thus, technological advances to attenuate the desiccation stress imposed on living cells are key to successful formulation development. In this review, we discuss the core aspects important to consider when aiming at high cell viability of non‐sporulating bacteria to be applied as microbial inoculants in agriculture. We elaborate the suitability of commonly applied drying methods (freeze‐drying, vacuum‐drying, spray‐drying, fluidized bed‐drying, air‐drying) and potential measures to prevent cell damage from desiccation (externally applied protectants, stress pre‐conditioning, triggering of exopolysaccharide secretion, ‘helper’ strains). Furthermore, we point out methods for assessing bacterial viability, such as colony counting, spectrophotometry, microcalorimetry, flow cytometry and viability qPCR . Choosing appropriate technologies for maintenance of cell viability and evaluation thereof will render formulation development more efficient. This in turn will aid in utilizing the vast potential of promising, plant beneficial bacteria as sustainable alternatives to standard agrochemicals.

Water-soluble polymers (WSPs) are a versatile group of chemicals used across industries for different purposes such as thickening, stabilizing, adhesion and gelation. Synthetic polymers have tailored characteristics and are chemically homogeneous, whereas plant-derived biopolymers vary more widely in their specifications and are chemically heterogeneous. Between both sources, microbial polysaccharides are an advantageous compromise. They combine naturalness with defined material properties, precisely controlled by optimizing strain selection, fermentation operational parameters and downstream processes. The relevance of such bio-based and biodegradable materials is rising due to increasing environmental awareness of consumers and a tightening regulatory framework, causing both solid and water-soluble synthetic polymers, also termed 'microplastics', to have come under scrutiny. Xanthan gum is the most important microbial polysaccharide in terms of production volume and diversity of applications, and available as different grades with specific properties. In this review, we will focus on the applicability of xanthan gum in agriculture (drift control, encapsulation and soil improvement), considering its potential to replace traditionally used synthetic WSPs. As a spray adjuvant, xanthan gum prevents the formation of driftable fine droplets and shows particular resistance to mechanical shear. Xanthan gum as a component in encapsulated formulations modifies release properties or provides additional protection to encapsulated agents. In geotechnical engineering, soil amended with xanthan gum has proven to increase water retention, reduce water evaporation, percolation and soil erosion - topics of high relevance in the agriculture of the 21st century. Finally, hands-on formulation tips are provided to facilitate exploiting the full potential of xanthan gum in diverse agricultural applications and thus providing sustainable solutions.

Abstract Tropical forest productivity represents an important global carbon sink, but many tropical forests grow on infertile soils. Efficient nutrient cycling by litterfall has long been assumed to maintain tropical tree growth, but there is no direct evidence that the nutrients cycled in litterfall are essential for tropical forest productivity. To test whether nutrient cycling by litterfall maintains tropical forest above‐ground productivity, we established large‐scale long‐term litter removal (L−) and litter addition (L+) treatments in a mature lowland tropical forest. We hypothesised that the removal of nutrients in litter would reduce tree growth, survival and litter production in L− plots. By contrast, the addition of nutrients in litter would enhance tree growth, survival and litter production in L+ plots. To test our hypotheses, we recorded tree growth and survival every 2 years, and measured litterfall monthly during 17 years of treatments. Tree growth and litterfall declined over time in L− plots, with consistently lower growth rates compared to controls after 8 years, and lower litter production after 4 years of treatments. By contrast, although litterfall was higher in the L+ plots relative to the controls, there was only a minor transient increase in tree growth immediately after the start of treatments. Tree survival declined over time in all treatments but was not affected by litter manipulation. The long‐term decline in tree growth and litterfall in the L− plots provides the first empirical evidence that nutrient cycling by litterfall plays a key role in maintaining above‐ground productivity in this tropical forest. By contrast, the transient increase in growth in the L+ plots can be attributed to the large inputs of nutrients with the addition of the entire litter standing crop at the start of treatments. The addition of nutrients in litter over the long term was nonetheless sufficient to enhance litter production, possibly by accelerating leaf turnover. Synthesis : Efficient nutrient cycling by litterfall makes an important contribution to the annual nutrient requirements of mature tropical forest trees, compensating for infertile soils. Disturbances that disrupt this finely balanced cycle could therefore reduce biomass carbon sequestration in tropical forests.

Background We assessed the results of adrenalectomy for solid tumor metastases in 317 patients recruited from 30 European centers. Methods Patients with histologically proven adrenal metastatic disease and undergoing complete removal(s) of the affected gland(s) were eligible. Results Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was the most frequent tumor type followed by colorectal and renal cell carcinoma. Adrenal metastases were synchronous (≤6 months) in 73 (23%) patients and isolated in 213 (67%). The median disease-free interval was 18.5 months. Laparoscopic resection was used in 46% of patients. Surgery was limited to the adrenal gland in 73% of patients and R0 resection was achieved in 86% of cases. The median overall survival was 29 months (95% confidence interval, 24.69–33.30). The survival rates at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years were 80%, 61%, 42%, and 35%, respectively. Patients with renal cancer showed a median survival of 84 months, patients with NSCLC 26 months, and patients with colorectal cancer 29 months (P = .017). Differences in survival between metachronous and synchronous lesions were also significant (30 vs 23 months; P = .038). Conclusion Surgical removal of adrenal metastasis is associated with long-term survival in selected patients. We assessed the results of adrenalectomy for solid tumor metastases in 317 patients recruited from 30 European centers. Patients with histologically proven adrenal metastatic disease and undergoing complete removal(s) of the affected gland(s) were eligible. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was the most frequent tumor type followed by colorectal and renal cell carcinoma. Adrenal metastases were synchronous (≤6 months) in 73 (23%) patients and isolated in 213 (67%). The median disease-free interval was 18.5 months. Laparoscopic resection was used in 46% of patients. Surgery was limited to the adrenal gland in 73% of patients and R0 resection was achieved in 86% of cases. The median overall survival was 29 months (95% confidence interval, 24.69–33.30). The survival rates at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years were 80%, 61%, 42%, and 35%, respectively. Patients with renal cancer showed a median survival of 84 months, patients with NSCLC 26 months, and patients with colorectal cancer 29 months (P = .017). Differences in survival between metachronous and synchronous lesions were also significant (30 vs 23 months; P = .038). Surgical removal of adrenal metastasis is associated with long-term survival in selected patients.

Natural peridotite samples containing olivine, orthopyroxene, and spinel can be used to assess the oxygen fugacity (fO2) of the upper mantle. The calculation requires accurate and precise quantification of spinel Fe3+/∑Fe ratios. Wood and Virgo (1989) presented a correction procedure for electron microprobe (EPMA) measurements of spinel Fe3+/∑Fe ratios that relies on a reported correlation between the difference in Fe3+/∑Fe ratio by Mössbauer spectroscopy and by electron microprobe (ΔFe3+/∑FeMöss-EPMA) and the Cr# [Cr/(Al+Cr)] of spinel. This procedure has not been universally adopted, in part, because of debate as to the necessity and effectiveness of the correction. We have performed a series of replicate EPMA analyses of several spinels, previously characterized by Mössbauer spectroscopy, to test the accuracy and precision of the Wood and Virgo correction. While we do not consistently observe a correlation between Cr# and ΔFe3+/∑FeMöss-EPMA in measurements of the correction standards, we nonetheless find that accuracy of Fe3+/ZFe ratios determined for spinel samples treated as unknowns improves when the correction is applied. Uncorrected measurements have a mean ΔFe3+/∑FeMöss-EPMA = 0.031 and corrected measurements have a mean ΔFe3+/∑FeMöss-EPMA = −0.004. We explain how the reliance of the correction on a global correlation between Cr# and MgO concentration in peridotitic spinels improves the accuracy of Fe3+/ZFe ratios despite the absence of a correlation between ΔFe3+/∑FeMöss-EPMA and Cr# in some analytical sessions.

The aim of this study is to show how fractal analysis can be effectively used to characterize the texture of porous solids. The materials under study were series of coals oxidized in air at various temperatures for different time intervals. Data from mercury porosimetry determinations of samples was analyzed using fractal models. The methods employed were those proposed by Neimark, Friesen and Mikula and that developed by Zhang and Li. Some methods are able to supply a fractal profile or “fractal fingerprint” of materials, i.e. ranges of pore sizes with different fractal dimensions are detected. These fractal profiles are very sensitive to the oxidation treatment. The average fractal dimension can also be used as a valid parameter to monitor the textural evolution of the coals as the treatment progresses, as this behaves in a similar way to other textural parameters. The use of fractal analysis in conjunction with the results of classical characterization methods leads to a better understanding of textural modifications in the processing of materials.

Abstract The main nesting area for loggerhead turtles in the eastern A tlantic is in the C ape V erde I slands, largely restricted to the island of B oa V ista. Extensive monitoring demonstrated a globally significant population for the species despite a sustained high level of anthropogenic take of nesting females for local consumption. Through an extensive stratified monitoring program across the island in the seasons 2007–2009, we estimated a total of 13 955, 12 028 and 19 950 clutches in the 3 years, respectively. These values indicate that the mean number of nesting females averaged 3700. Considering that a female breed, on average, every 2.4 years, we estimate that the overall number of adult females in the population during these three seasons was 8900. These levels are much higher than those suggested in previous studies which were more constrained in spatial coverage. Our findings indicate that C ape V erde hosts the third largest nesting aggregation for this species in the world after the south‐eastern US and O man, with some sites having a particularly high density of nests, facilitating targeted monitoring and conservation. Consumption of sea turtle meat is a traditional practice in C ape V erde that continues despite national sea turtle protection laws. We estimated that 36, 18 and 5% of nesting females were harvested in the 3 years of the study, respectively. Increasing beach protection and monitoring, ongoing educational programs and cooperative projects with local communities are urgently needed to further safeguard the only major loggerhead nesting aggregation in the eastern A tlantic.

Nest-site selection and the depth at which turtle females deposit their eggs have a decisive influence on temperature in the nest chamber. Thus, female turtle nesting behaviour can influence the sex, fitness and emergence behaviour of their hatchlings. We studied nest-site selection and nest depth in 333 natural loggerhead (Caretta caretta) nests from a nesting population in Cabo Verde. Nest site and depth varied among females and among different nests from the same female. However, female body size only explained a very small part of the variability of nest depth. Nest incubation temperature also varied as a function of depth. To test the influence of nest depth on incubation and embryonic development, 90 loggerhead nests were incubated in standard conditions and at different depths (35, 40, 45, 50 and 55 cm) in a beach hatchery and monitored until hatching. Deeper nests had greater emergence success and lower temperature, and hatched later, affecting hatchling sex ratio. Incubation at 35 cm can lead to 89.4–97.7% females, whereas incubation at 50 cm would produce around 62.4–64.9% females. Survival in nests at 35 cm was lower than at deeper nests. Female turtles that dig deeper nests may have more vigorous offspring, exhibiting faster locomotor abilities. Nest depth did not influence emergence behaviour. However, clutch size enhanced synchrony at emergence, resulting in a higher number of hatchlings emerging simultaneously in smaller nests. Depth at which nests are re-buried should be considered a key factor for the success on nest relocation programmes. Females could reduce the impact of climate warming on embryonic development by nesting at deeper locations.

The aim of this study is to explore the potential of fractal analysis in helping to understand the textural changes of materials during the manufacture of active carbons. Textural characterization of the chars is carried out in order to obtain a better understanding of the phenomena underlying char formation. The materials selected for study were a series of chars obtained from coals oxidized in air at various temperatures for different periods of time. The data from mercury porosimetry were analyzed using fractal models. The average fractal dimensions for the chars were calculated by using the methods proposed by Friesen and Mikula and that of Zhang and Li. Fractal profiles of the chars obtained by the method of Neimark were compared with the corresponding fractal profiles of the precursor coals. Pore development during carbonization depends—among other factors that are kept constant in this study—on the textural properties of the precursor coal, the devolatilization process and the plastic properties of coals. The evolution of the fractal characteristics of the chars is also studied. At the same time pore volume development is analyzed. These analyses help to clarify the role that various phenomena occurring during carbonization have on the textural properties of the chars.

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment prepares its Phase-2 upgrade for the high-luminosity era of the LHC operation (HL-LHC). Due to the increase of occupancy, trigger latency and rates, the full electronics of the CMS Drift Tube (DT) chambers will need to be replaced. In the new design, the time bin for the digitization of the chamber signals will be of around 1 ns, and the totality of the signals will be forwarded asynchronously to the service cavern at full resolution. The new backend system will be in charge of building the trigger primitives of each chamber. These trigger primitives contain the information at chamber level about the muon candidates position, direction, and collision time, and are used as input in the L1 CMS trigger. The added functionalities will improve the robustness of the system against ageing. An algorithm based on analytical solutions for reconstructing the DT trigger primitives, called Analytical Method, has been implemented both as a software C++ emulator and in firmware. Its performance has been estimated using the software emulator with simulated and real data samples, and through hardware implementation tests. Measured efficiencies are 96 to 98% for all qualities and time and spatial resolutions are close to the ultimate performance of the DT chambers. A prototype chain of the HL-LHC electronics using the Analytical Method for trigger primitive generation has been installed during Long Shutdown 2 of the LHC and operated in CMS cosmic data taking campaigns in 2020 and 2021. Results from this validation step, the so-called Slice Test, are presented.

The emission of the pre-equilibrium particles during nuclear collisions at moderate beam energies is still an open question. This influences the properties of the compound nucleus but also changes the interpretation of the quasi-fission process. A systematic analysis of the data obtained by the FAZIA collaboration during a recent experiment with a neutron rich projectile is presented. The full range of charged particles detected in the experiment is within the limit of isotopic resolution of the FAZIA detector. Quasi-projectile (QP) fragments were detected in majority thanks to the forward angular acceptance of the experimental setup which was confirmed by introducing cuts based on the HIPSE event generator calculations. The main goal was to compare the experimental results with the HIPSE simulations after introducing these cuts to investigate the influence of the n-rich entrance channel on the QP fragment properties. More specifically, the lowering of N/Z of QP fragments with beam energy was found to be present since the initial phase of the reaction. Thus, pre-equilibrium emissions might be a possible candidate to explain such an effect.

We introduce a new tensor norm, the average spectrum norm, to study sample complexity of tensor completion problems based on the canonical polyadic decomposition (CPD). Properties of the average spectrum norm and its dual norm are investigated, demonstrating their utility for low-rank tensor recovery analysis. Our novel approach significantly reduces the provable sample rate for CPD-based noisy tensor completion, providing the best bounds to date on the number of observed noisy entries required to produce an arbitrarily accurate estimate of an underlying mean value tensor. Under Poisson and Bernoulli multivariate distributions, we show that an $N$-way CPD rank-$R$ parametric tensor $\boldsymbol{\mathscr{M}}\in\mathbb{R}^{I\times \cdots\times I}$ generating noisy observations can be approximated by large likelihood estimators from $\mathcal{O}(IR^2\log^{N+2}(I))$ revealed entries. Furthermore, under nonnegative and orthogonal versions of the CPD we improve the result to depend linearly on the rank, achieving the near-optimal rate $\mathcal{O}(IR\log^{N+2}(I))$.

Objective Lymphadenectomy in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is controversial. It is indicated whenever metastases have been proven before or during surgery and as a prophylactic treatment in high-risk patients. However, 30–50% of cN0 patients become pN1 postoperatively. In PTC, selective-sentinel-lymph-node-biopsy (SLNB) with conventional intraoperative analysis is 8% false negative. One-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) is a molecular technique which allows real-time detection of mRNA encoding for cytokeratin 19. OSNA has been introduced in intraoperative analysis of several tumors to reduce false-negative rates and distinguish micrometastasis from macrometastasis. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of the introduction of OSNA in the intraoperative evaluation of the sentinel node (SN) in PTC. Design We analyzed a series of 35 patients subjected to SLNB. Methods All the dissected nodes, SN and non-SN, were evaluated with OSNA and cytology. Results We obtained a total of 110 SN. SLNB proved positive in 14 patients (40%) with cytology and in 23 (65.7%) with OSNA ( P < 0.001). In the 29 patients with subsequent lymphadenectomy we obtained 360 lymph nodes ((52 positive in cytology (14.4%) and 107 in OSNA (29.7%)). Lymphadenectomy proved positive in 16 patients according to cytology (55%) and in 24 according to OSNA (83%) ( P = 0002). The majority of patients with micrometastasis in SN showed only micrometastasis in lymphadenectomy. Conclusions The present study shows selective-sentinel-lymph-node-biopsy with one-step nucleic acid amplification technique to be feasible in papillary thyroid carcinoma. The quantitative nature of one-step nucleic acid amplification paves the way toward a more personalized surgical approach, limiting lymphadenectomy to patients with intraoperative evidence of macrometastasis in the sentinel node.

To determine if asymptomatic stable chronic hyperlactatemia in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients under highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART, including nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI)) could be improved by antioxidant supplementation.To match two groups of patients taking NRTI for at least 24 months: 15 without and 15 with antioxidant supplementation (vitamin E, beta-carotene, N-acetylcysteine, selenium, Gingko biloba extracts and nutritional supplements). For both the groups, the supplementation by antioxidants or its lack was carefully assessed. Venous lactatemia, blood oxidative stress markers (plasma lipid peroxidation, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants), CDC revisited classification, CD4 count and viral load, NRTI (with or without stavudine) and other antiretroviral drugs used, lipoatrophy, central fat accumulation were assessed.Patients were not statistically different with respect to the CDC classification, CD4 count, viral load and characteristics of antiretroviral therapy. Blood oxidative stress markers, i.e. vitamin E, vitamin A and beta-carotene tended to be higher in the supplemented group. The difference observed in venous lactate concentration between the two groups was significant (1.37 +/- 0.10 vs. 1.82 +/- 0.19 mmol/l in the supplemented and non-supplemented groups, respectively P = 0.04).Antioxidant supplementation improves the asymptomatic stable chronic hyperlactatemia observed in HIV-infected patients taking HAART including NRTI for a long time. Controlled studies are needed to demonstrate the efficacy of this supplementation on mitochondrial toxicity observed during HAART and the possible usefulness of its combination with mitochondrial cofactors like carnitine, riboflavine, coenzyme Q, alpha-lipoic acid.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a complex entity and one of the most frequents in general population. Association of GERD with obesity is clearly defined from an epidemiological point of view, where up to 40% of patients with overweight and obesity present reflux. Most of the risk factors associated to GERD are shared and especially frequent in patients with obesity. The pathophysiology that explain this correlation is complex and multifactorial, and includes both aspects related to physiology of motility, and anatomic changes. The malfunction of the lower esophageal sphincter, the greater transdiaphragmatic pressure gradient, pathological accumulation of fat and the high rate of hiatal hernia that comes with overweight will be the main factors that explain this correlation. Other factor like pathological eating habits or obesity related diseases have also an important role. In summary, it is the sum of the factors more than just one of them what would explain the pathophysiology of GERD in obese population. La enfermedad por reflujo gastroesofágico (ERGE) es una patología compleja y de las más frecuentes en la población general. La asociación con la obesidad está claramente definida desde un punto de vista epidemiológico, hasta un 40% de los pacientes con sobrepeso y obesidad presentan patología de reflujo. Muchos de los factores de riesgo de la ERGE son compartidos y especialmente frecuentes en pacientes con obesidad. La fisiopatología que explica esta correlación es compleja y multifactorial, e incluye aspectos relacionados con la fisiología de motilidad, así como alteraciones anatómicas. Las alteraciones del esfínter esofágico inferior, el aumento del gradiente transdiafragmático, los acúmulos patológicos de grasa y la elevada tasa de hernia de hiato que aparece con el sobrepeso serán los principales factores que explican esta correlación. También otros factores como alteraciones en la ingesta o patologías asociadas se han visto que tienen un peso importante. En resumen, se trata de una suma de factores más que de un solo factor el que explicaría la fisiopatología del ERGE en la población con obesidad.

Proyecto de Investigacion (Codigo: 5402-2188-0801) Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica. Vicerrectoria de Investigacion y Extension (VIE). Escuela de Ingenieria en Computacion, 2012

Resumen La neumonia asociada a la ventilacion mecanica (NAVM) es la causa mas frecuente de infeccion nosocomial en la unidad de cuidados intensivos (UCI) y se asocia a un incremento importante de morbimortalidad. El diagnostico como el tratamiento empirico adecuados, son necesarios para mejorar la sobrevida. Se describe la frecuencia de NAVM junto con los principales agentes aislados y su perfil de susceptibilidad antibiotica. Materiales y metodos: estudio descriptivo de cohorte prospectiva, realizado en 39 unidades de cuidado intensivo en ocho ciudades de Colombia. Las definiciones se adoptaron de las establecidas por el CDC (Center of Disease Control). Resultados: se realizo vigilancia a 31.622 pacientes. El 47,5% de los pacientes de genero femenino, la media de edad fue 58,2 anos y la mediana en el puntaje de APACHE II de 14 al ingreso a UCI. Se diagnosticaron 1.944 episodios de infeccion nosocomial asociada a dispositivo, de los cuales 858 correspondieron a NAV (44,1%). Los germenes mas frecuentemente aislados fueron: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23,4%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (19,7%) y Staphylococcus aureus (8,0%). Conclusiones: la tasa de NAVM es inferior a datos previamente hallados en Colombia. Se deben reforzar las medidas de prevencion de NAV, asi como establecer protocolos de tratamiento empirico que se ajusten a los germenes hallados, segun la epidemiologia local e incluyan estrategias para realizar disminucion del espectro antibiotico segun la susceptibilidad evaluada en cultivos.

Protected only by the extreme ruggedness of its terrain, the montane regions of Cerro Hoya National Park are among the least biologically known regions of Central America. Here we provide a checklist of 225 bird species recorded from five expeditions to the region over the last 18 years, which represents lower species richness than many comparable areas in Panama and lower Central America. However, we recorded nine IUCN globally threatened species, three species with range extensions over 150 km to the southern Azuero Peninsula, and at least two previously unknown bird taxa. These facts suggest that our list of montane taxa from Cerro Hoya may be incomplete, and that this region represents one of the most important—and neglected—protected areas in Panama.

The CMS drift tubes (DT) muon detector, built for withstanding the LHC expected integrated and instantaneous luminosities, will be used also in the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) at a 5 times larger instantaneous luminosity and, consequently, much higher levels of radiation, reaching about 10 times the LHC integrated luminosity. Initial irradiation tests of a spare DT chamber at the CERN gamma irradiation facility (GIF++), at large (∼ O(100)) acceleration factor, showed ageing effects resulting in a degradation of the DT cell performance. However, full CMS simulations have shown almost no impact in the muon reconstruction efficiency over the full barrel acceptance and for the full integrated luminosity. A second spare DT chamber was moved inside the GIF++ bunker in October 2017. The chamber was being irradiated at lower acceleration factors, and only 2 out of the 12 layers of the chamber were switched at working voltage when the radioactive source was active, being the other layers in standby. In this way the other non-aged layers are used as reference and as a precise and unbiased telescope of muon tracks for the efficiency computation of the aged layers of the chamber, when set at working voltage for measurements. An integrated dose equivalent to two times the expected integrated luminosity of the HL-LHC run has been absorbed by this second spare DT chamber and the final impact on the muon reconstruction efficiency is under study. Direct inspection of some extracted aged anode wires presented a melted resistive deposition of materials. Investigation on the outgassing of cell materials and of the gas components used at the GIF++ are underway. Strategies to mitigate the ageing effects are also being developed. From the long irradiation measurements of the second spare DT chamber, the effects of radiation in the performance of the DTs expected during the HL-LHC run will be presented.

Searches for a high-mass Higgs boson decaying into WW and ZZ channels have been carried out using data collected at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV at the LHC collider, corresponding to integrated luminosities of about 5 fb−1 and 20 fb−1, respectively. Many different final states have been considered and upper limits on the Higgs boson production cross section have been derived. The results are interpreted in a BSM model containing an additional electroweak singlet.

Modern-day reservoir management and monitoring of geological carbon storage increasingly call for costly time-lapse seismic data collection. In this letter, we show how techniques from graph theory can be used to optimize acquisition geometries for low-cost sparse 4D seismic. Based on midpoint-offset domain connectivity arguments, the proposed algorithm automatically produces sparse non-replicated time-lapse acquisition geometries that favor wavefield recovery.

A continuing nationwide vaccination campaign began in the Dominican Republic on February 16, 2021 to prevent severe consequences of acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Estimates of vaccine effectiveness under real-world conditions are needed to support policy decision making and inform further vaccine selection.We conducted a test-negative case-control study to assess the real-world effectiveness of nationwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program using an inactivated vaccine (CoronaVac) on preventing symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections and hospitalizations from August to November 2021 in the Dominican Republic. Participants were recruited from 10 hospitals in 5 provinces to estimate the effectiveness of full immunization (≥14 days after receipt of the second dose) and partial immunization (otherwise with at least 1 dose ≥14 days after receipt of the first dose).Of 1078 adult participants seeking medical care for COVID-19-related symptoms, 395 (36.6%) had positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for SARS-CoV-2; 142 (13.2%) were hospitalized during 15 days of follow up, including 91 (23%) among 395 PCR-positive and 51 (7.5%) among 683 PCR-negative participants. Full vaccination was associated with 31% lower odds of symptomatic infection (odds ratio [OR], 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52-0.93) and partial vaccination was associated with 49% lower odds (OR, 0.51; CI, 0.30-0.86). Among 395 PCR-positive participants, full vaccination reduced the odds of COVID-19-related hospitalization by 85% (OR, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.08-0.25) and partial vaccination reduced it by 75% (OR, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.08-0.80); full vaccination was associated with reduced use of assisted ventilation by 73% (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.15-0.49).Given the ancestral and delta viral variants circulating during this study period, our results suggest that the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine offered moderate protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections and high protection against COVID-19-related hospitalizations and assisted ventilation. This is reassuring given that, as of August 2022, an estimated 2.6 billion inactivated CoronaVac vaccine doses had been administered worldwide. This vaccine will become a basis for developing multivalent vaccine against the currently circulating omicron variant.

Tensor completion is a core machine learning algorithm used in recommender systems and other domains with missing data. While the matrix case is well-understood, theoretical results for tensor problems are limited, particularly when the sampling patterns are deterministic. Here we bound the generalization error of the solutions of two tensor completion methods, Poisson loss and atomic norm minimization, providing tighter bounds in terms of the target tensor rank. If the ground-truth tensor is order $t$ with CP-rank $r$, the dependence on $r$ is improved from $r^{2(t-1)(t^2-t-1)}$ in arXiv:1910.10692 to $r^{2(t-1)(3t-5)}$. The error in our bounds is deterministically controlled by the spectral gap of the sampling sparsity pattern. We also prove several new properties for the atomic tensor norm, reducing the rank dependence from $r^{3t-3}$ in arXiv:1711.04965 to $r^{3t-5}$ under random sampling schemes. A limitation is that atomic norm minimization, while theoretically interesting, leads to inefficient algorithms. However, numerical experiments illustrate the dependence of the reconstruction error on the spectral gap for the practical max-quasinorm, ridge penalty, and Poisson loss minimization algorithms. This view through the spectral gap is a promising window for further study of tensor algorithms.

La enfermedad por reflujo gastroesofágico (ERGE) es una afección compleja y de las más frecuentes en la población general. La asociación con la obesidad está claramente definida desde un punto de vista epidemiológico, ya que hasta un 40% de los pacientes con sobrepeso y obesidad presentan reflujo. Muchos de los factores de riesgo de la ERGE son compartidos y especialmente frecuentes en pacientes con obesidad. La fisiopatología que explica esta correlación es compleja y multifactorial, e incluye aspectos relacionados con la fisiología de la motilidad, así como con alteraciones anatómicas. Las alteraciones del esfínter esofágico inferior, el aumento del gradiente transdiafragmático, los cúmulos patológicos de grasa y la elevada tasa de hernia de hiato que aparece con el sobrepeso serán los principales factores que expliquen esta correlación. También otros factores, como alteraciones en la ingesta o enfermedades asociadas, se ha visto que tienen un peso importante. En resumen, se trata de una suma de factores más que de un solo factor lo que explicaría la fisiopatología del ERGE en la población con obesidad. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a complex entity and one of the most frequents in general population. Association of GERD with obesity is clearly defined from an epidemiological point of view, where up to 40% of patients with overweight and obesity present reflux. Most of the risk factors associated to GERD are shared and especially frequent in patients with obesity. The pathophysiology that explain this correlation is complex and multifactorial, and includes both aspects related to physiology of motility, and anatomic changes. The malfunction of the lower esophageal sphincter, the greater transdiaphragmatic pressure gradient, pathological accumulation of fat and the high rate of hiatal hernia that comes with overweight will be the main factors that explain this correlation. Other factor like pathological eating habits or obesity related diseases have also an important role. In summary, it is the sum of the factors more than just one of them what would explain the pathophysiology of GERD in obese population.

Introduction: Perc Endoscopic Gast (PEG) feeding tubes are a common fixture in clinical practice. With routine care complications arising from PEG tube use are rare. Late complications associated with PEG tube placement include tube dysfunction, infection, peristomal leakage(PL), ulceration, and GOO. Should the external bolster be allowed to migrate away from the abdominal wall, the balloon can gain entrance to the duodenum. There have been 6 cases in the literature where migration of the balloon has caused obstructive pancreatitis. We present a similar case in a 91 year old female presenting with abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. Case Description/Methods: A 91 yo female suffered a CVA 3 yrs ago resulting in oropharyngeal dysphagia, aphasia, LFT sided complete hemiparesis who required PEG tube placement. This is in a background sig for AFib, HTN, HLP, and cholecystectomy. Immediately following the stroke a 22Fr PEG tube was placed but was complicated by PL. In an effort to decrease leakage the feeding tube was gradually upsized to 26fr. This did not alleviate the problem so attempts were made to down size the PEG tube site. The tube was at 22F 3 months prior to hospital presentation. Two weeks prior to hospital presentation a 20fr tube was inserted. She presented to the hospital with a 2 day history of nausea, vomiting, and grabbing of her abdomen appearing to be in pain. She was brought to a hospital for evaluation. PE was significant for the disc from the tube appearing to be lodged within the abdominal wall. This appeared to pull the abdomen from within with mild tension. Labs were significant for AST 503, ALT 433, Bili 1.7, Alk Phos 448, WBC 12.4, Lipase 1,455 (ULN 300). CT w/contrast showed a dilated CBD and PEG tube balloon located in duodenum. The balloon was deflated, retracted, reinflated and a larger disc was placed. This prevented distal migration of the PEG tube. She was also treated for acute pancreatitis with resumption of enteral feeding, intravenous fluids, and analgesia. The next day there was improvement in her comfort and liver chemistries (Bili 0.8, ALT 291, AST 221, ALP 356). By the third day of admission her liver chemistries had normalized and she had returned to her baseline medical and functional status. Discussion: This case highlights the observation that upsizing a PEG tube is not an adequate treatment strategy for PL. Additionally, careful monitoring of the feeding tube is required to prevent balloon migration. Balloon migration can result in obstructive pancreatitis (see Figure 1).Figure 1.: Computed tomography with contrast showing position of balloon in the duodenum.

Tensor completion is a core machine learning algorithm used in recommender systems and other domains with missing data. While the matrix case is well-understood, theoretical results for tensor problems are limited, particularly when the sampling patterns are deterministic. Here we bound the generalization error of the solutions of two tensor completion methods, Poisson loss and atomic norm minimization, providing tighter bounds in terms of the target tensor rank. If the ground-truth tensor is order t with CP-rank r, the dependence on r is improved from ${r^{2(t - 1)\left( {{t^2} - t - 1} \right)}}$ in [16] to ${r^{2(t - 1)(3t - 5)}}$. The error in our bounds is deterministically controlled by the spectral gap of the sampling sparsity pattern. We also prove several new properties for the atomic tensor norm, reducing the rank dependence from r <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3t–3</sup> in [14] to r <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3t–5</sup> under random sampling schemes. A limitation is that atomic norm minimization, while theoretically interesting, leads to inefficient algorithms. However, numerical experiments illustrate the dependence of the reconstruction error on the spectral gap for the practical max-quasinorm, ridge penalty, and Poisson loss minimization algorithms. This view through the spectral gap is a promising window for further study of tensor algorithms.

Rosavins (rosin, rosarin and rosavin) along with salidroside are the marker compounds of all roseroot preparations. The rapid growth in roseroot market and the increasing demand for its raw material is becoming a serious threat for wild growing roseroot populations worldwide. In vitro cultures are extensively studied to be used as alternative resources for biotransformation procedures in order to enhance the secondary metabolite production1. In this study the effect of precursors feeding on formation and accumulation of cinnamyl alcohol glycosides (CAGs) in Rhodiola rosea L. callus culture has been surveyed. Phenylalanine (Phe), trans-cinnamic acid (t-C.A), cinnamaldehyde and cinnamyl alcohol; the proposed precursors in CAGs biosynthesis pathway2 were given separately to roseroot liquid callus cultures in 2 mM concentration. Samples were subjected for HPLC analysis after 24, 48 and 96h along with controls. The presence of 2 mM Phe did not have any significant effect on CAGs content after 96h compared to the control. T-C.A which was not detected in the control samples increased the content of all rosavins. 2 mM t-C.A significantly increased the rosin content by more than 75 fold after 24h of cultures. Coumaric acid content was also significantly increased as a result of t-C.A treatment during the experiment. Rosavin content which was missing from the controls, showed a gradual increase during the sampling times after t-C.A treatment. Around 130 fold increases in rosin content was recorded after 2mM cinnamaldehyde was given to the culture comparing to the controls. Cinamyl alcohol was also very effective in rosin formation. After 48h of biotransformation approximately 200 fold increases was recorded in rosin biosynthesis comparing to the control. Rosin was the only compound which was released into the media from the callus cells during the experiment and only from cinamyl alcohol fed samples. These results revealed an interesting pattern where precursor's content declined from the media and desired compounds were formed in the plant cells during the experiment.

We propose a novel statistical inference methodology for multiway count data that is corrupted by false zeros that are indistinguishable from true zero counts. Our approach consists of zero-truncating the Poisson distribution to neglect all zero values. This simple truncated approach dispenses with the need to distinguish between true and false zero counts and reduces the amount of data to be processed. Inference is accomplished via tensor completion that imposes low-rank tensor structure on the Poisson parameter space. Our main result shows that an $N$-way rank-$R$ parametric tensor $\boldsymbol{\mathscr{M}}\in(0,\infty)^{I\times \cdots\times I}$ generating Poisson observations can be accurately estimated by zero-truncated Poisson regression from approximately $IR^2\log_2^2(I)$ non-zero counts under the nonnegative canonical polyadic decomposition. Our result also quantifies the error made by zero-truncating the Poisson distribution when the parameter is uniformly bounded from below. Therefore, under a low-rank multiparameter model, we propose an implementable approach guaranteed to achieve accurate regression in under-determined scenarios with substantial corruption by false zeros. Several numerical experiments are presented to explore the theoretical results.

Aims: Xylotrechus arvicola is an important pest in vineyards of the Iberian Peninsula. The action of X. arvicola larvae, associated to the spread of fungi, causes direct and indirect damage in the vineyard. Biological parameters from wild (captured in the field) and laboratory females (reared in the laboratory) were investigated to provide more information about the pest-control measures.Methods and results: The pre-laying period, post-laying period, longevity and egg laying parameters (fecundity, viability and number) were evaluated in wild and laboratory females. Both female groups (wild and laboratory) needed a short pre-laying period, which was longer in wild females. Laboratory females, whose larvae were reared on artificial diet, had the greatest fecundity during the 1st two egg layings. Wild females showed the greatest fecundity and viability of eggs during the 1st egg laying; these fecundity and viability rates decreased over time with the next egg layings, whereas in laboratory females, fecundity and viability decreased faster. Wild females had the greatest percentage of viable eggs in the 1st six egg layings (44.11% in the 1st and 11.15% in the 6th), reaching a maximum number of 18 egg layings in laboratory.Conclusions: These results suggest that the diet satisfies larval nutritional requirements, increasing production of laboratory females´ eggs (greatest fecundity in the 1st two egg layings). Nevertheless, this artificial diet may lack certain essential nutrients that would increase the viability of eggs.Significance and impact of the study: The host, a woody plant, would provide these essential nutrients when the larvae of wild females are developing in the field, these wild females being able to perform successive egg layings in laboratory with a high viability of eggs.

During the High Luminosity LHC, the Drift Tube chambers installed in the CMS detector need to operate with an integrated dose ten times higher than expected at the LHC due to the increase in integrated luminosity from 300 fb-1 to 3000 fb-1. Irradiations have been performed to assess the performance of the detector under such conditions and to characterize the radiation aging of the detector. The presented analysis focuses on the behaviour of the high voltage currents and the dose measurements needed to extrapolate the results to High Luminosity conditions, using data from the photon irradiation campaign at GIF++ in 2016 as well as the efficiency analysis from the irradiation campaign started in 2017. Although the single-wire loss of high voltage gain observed of 70% is very high, the muon reconstruction efficiency is expected to decrease less than 20% during the full duration of High Luminosity LHC in the areas under highest irradiation.

El objetivo del estudio fue detectar Helicobacter spp a través de la prueba rápida de ureasa e histopatología en felinos domésticos (Felis silvestris catus) clínicamente sanos y establecer el grado de concordancia entre ambos métodos. Se incluyeron 15 gatos sin signos clínicos de enfermedad gastrointestinal, entre 2 y 7 años, sin distinción de raza y sexo, sin cambios dietarios y sin haber sido sometidos a terapias con antibióticos o inhibidores de la bomba de protones en los últimos 90 días. Se realizó la endoscopia para evaluar macroscópicamente la mucosa gástrica y obtener biopsias del fondo y cuerpo gástrico. Se determinó, con ambas pruebas, que 86.6% de las muestras fueron positivas a la presencia de Helicobacter spp, encontrándose 100% de concordancia entre las dos pruebas. En el 40% (6/15) de los felinos se observaron lesiones macroscópicas en mucosa gástrica, pero no se encontró asociación entre las lesiones con la presencia de Helicobacter spp. Se concluye que 86.6% de los felinos presentaron colonización por Helicobacter spp, y que la prueba rápida de ureasa constituye un método confiable para el diagnóstico de infección por Helicobacter spp.

We present a preliminary list of birds collected on the Caribbean coast of the province of Veraguas, Panama. Here, we found birds not known from the area, instead they were believed to range limits ending either east or west of our collection site. These include: Cnipodectes subbrunneus , Juliamyia julie , Gymnopithys bicolor bicolor , Mionectes ( oleagineus ) affinis , and western phylospecies of Malacoptila panamensis and Xenops minutus . Our results reaffirm that the coast of Veraguas is an important suture zone between Mesoamerica and South America avifaunas along the Caribbean coast of Panama.

The influence of radial flow on nuclear multifragmentation is studied using Au+Au central collisions for incident energies between 40 and 100 MeV/A. Central collisions are selected via an impact parameter estimator defined by the transverse energy of light charged particles. At all energies, the fragment size distributions are studied using the Statistical Multifragmentation Model (SMM) in order to extract thermal excitation energies. The excess kinetic energies are analyzed via the hypothesis of a radial, self-similar, but non-isotropic flow. At the lowest energy, this flow is small with respect to the thermal energy whereas, at 100 MeV/A thermal and radial energies are of the same order. The nature and origin of the radial flow is discussed. A comparison with the predictions of the Quantum Molecular Dynamics code is presented.

A partir del campo de exploracion y evaluacion de procesos cognitivos de coherencia de razonamiento y de organizacion racional de la mente, se puede avanzar sobre el estudio de las estructuras inferenciales de las representaciones mentales individuales y sociales. Postulamos y hemos comprobado que las representaciones sociales estan en parte generadas por procesos de convergencia inferencial de conceptos y significados que permiten la mutua comprension y facil comunicacion entre agentes sociales, pero tambien estan determinadas por procesos de diversificacion y divergencia inferencial que constituyen fuentes de disenso e incomprension conceptual, que se suma al habitual error social de atribucion. Esto se ve como un problema de incomensurabilidad de las representaciones sociales. Sobre ello, se hace referencia al caracter divergente y de inconmensurabilidad o incomparabilidad de las teorias cientificas (Kuhn, Feyerabend) y de los enfoques teoricistas “top-down”. Consecuentemente, se destaca el rol fundamental del enfoque ecologico de tipo “bottom-up” que permite descubrir un nuevo espacio de significados basico-naturales convergentes que cambia fundamentalmente la comprension y explicacion de procesos cognitivos abstractos y complejos como la percepcion, la formacion de conceptos, el “constructo personal”, etc., y se postula como una estrategia-herramienta que ayuda a superar los problemas de divergencia o inconmensurabilidad alegados. Resumen en Ingles From the exploration and evaluation of cognitive processes of reasoning coherence and rational organization of mind, it is possible to advance into the study of inferential structures of mental representations, both individual and social. Social representations are partly generated by processes of inferential convergence in concepts and meanings, thus making it easy social understanding and communication. However, social representations are also determined by processes of inferential divergence which constitute sources of social dissent and concept misunderstanding. This has been seen as a problem of incommensurability both in social and scientific representations, such as theories (Kuhn, Feyerabend). Incommensurability is seen as a consequence of using different vertical approaches in cognitive sciences, such as the “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches to perception and concept formation and categorization. Using these two approaches one can get a different interpretation and comprehension of the same cognitive processes, whatever its complexity or abstractness. This way, the ecological “bottom-up” approach is analyzed in order to explain how incommensurability and inferential divergence of theories and social representations could be overcome. Palabras Clave Representacion Inferencia Enfoque Ecologico

Gentiana lutea L., commonly known as yellow gentian, is distributed throughout the pastures and hillsides of Central and Southern Europe and Asia Minor. Its bitter compounds, mainly secoiridoid glycosides, localized mostly in the roots, give pharmaceutical qualities to the gentian roots. These qualities make the gentian roots suitable for traditional medicine as an appetite stimulant and for the treatment of different stomach problems. Also, the gentian roots are widely used in the manufacture of alcoholic and non-alcoholic bitter beverages. Due to its good properties, gentian root has been collected indiscriminately, being the wild populations over-exploited or even decimated. Because of that, gentian has been protected by law throughout Europe. G. lutea L. var. aurantiaca grows in the mountains of Leon, where wild populations are also threatened. It is an almost unknown cultivar, whose flowers range in colour from orange to almost red as compared to the yellow flowers of subspecies lutea. The starting point of this study resides in the importance of protecting gentian wild populations and, moreover, provide new economic activities in the northwestern mountain areas of the province of Leon. To carry out that, it is necessary to know more about the aurantiaca variety, the variability of wild populations, and to identify the best conditions for the multiplication and cultivation. For this purpose, 32 wild populations of the aurantiaca variety have been prospected, as well as 15 populations of subsp. Lutea from the Pyrenees and 4 subsp. of vardjanii in the Dolomites, which served as a control. ISSR molecular markers have revealed genetic differences between the aurantiaca variety and the other subspecies, reinforcing the identity of this variety. Also, these results showed evidence of genetic isolation of the populations and low genetic diversity within them, threatening the survival of these in a not distant future. The search for a suitable protocol to break seed dormancy, which combines high germination rates and high quality plants for the aurantiaca variety, by testing cold treatments and different doses of gibberellic acid, revealed that 100 mg/l of this hormone after and stratification period of three months at 4°C, achieves these goals. It was also detected a low germination capacity for those isolated populations which had expressed low variability in the ISSR molecular marker analysis. Four trials were established (for cultivation) in plots with different environmental characteristics, within and outside of the natural habitat of G. lutea L. var. aurantiaca. The results revealed that, it is possible to obtain more than 15 tons of fresh roots using sustainable cultivation in mountainous areas with acid soils and low slope. HPLC chromatography analysis of different gentian root samples showed that the concentrations of bitter compounds in the roots of G. lutea L. var. aurantiaca are comparable, or even higher, to those of subsp. lutea, and those concentrations in Vcultivated roots, mainly for amarogentine, are much higher than those obtained from wild plants, and even more when they are collected in spring. The knowledge of the variability of the studied populations, and the use of appropriate multiplication protocols, will enable to obtain high quality cultivated roots of G. lutea L. var. aurantiaca, both in yield and bitter compounds, making it a profitable and sustainable business. This cultivation will allow to recover the wild populations, while conserving biodiversity.

In this conference proceeding we introduce the last results obtained by the INDRA Collaboration. Those results will be better explained and more detailed in the following report presentations of this issue and just a brief overview will be mentionned here, with only the main conclusions addressed. This summary is divided into two parts. The first one is devoted to systematic studies on heavy-ion collisions around Fermi energy with the INDRA multidetector array. Analyses of nuclear reactions in term of dissipation, reaction mechanisms, decay modes, isospin diffusion, excitation energy and calorimetry will be discussed. This has been done thanks to the large INDRA data base, collected over most than twenty years now. The second part of this proceeding concerns analyses of data with a specific set-up: INDRA coupled with the VAMOS spectrometer. Complementary studies with full determination of all the particles event by event (Z, A, E, θ, φ) has been performed to access important parameters like symmetry energy, level density parameters, full decay channels (partitions), E∗, temperature wich are the main ingredients in the decay of hot heavy ions.

In this contribution the status of the FAZIA project is presented, with a particular focus on the first experiment (identified as ISO-FAZIA) after the R&D phase. In this experiment four complete FAZIA blocks in a fully operating configuration were used. They were mounted in a planar “belt” geometry, symmetrically positioned with respect to the beam axis, covering the polar angles between 2.5◦ and 17.4◦ degrees. The investigated systems were 84Kr + 48,40Ca at 35 AMeV. The main goal of the experiment was the study of the isospin transport phenomena, extending a previous analysis. This contribution will report on the isotopic identi- fication capability of the FAZIA detector as well as preliminary results concerning the average isospin of the quasi-projectile produced in semiperipheral collisions as a function of the isospin of the target.

Acquisition cost is a crucial bottleneck for seismic workflows, and low-rank formulations for data interpolation allow practitioners to `fill in' data volumes from critically subsampled data acquired in the field. Tremendous size of seismic data volumes required for seismic processing remains a major challenge for these techniques. We propose a new approach to solve residual constrained formulations for interpolation. We represent the data volume using matrix factors, and build a block-coordinate algorithm with constrained convex subproblems that are solved with a primal-dual splitting scheme. The new approach is competitive with state of the art level-set algorithms that interchange the role of objectives with constraints. We use the new algorithm to successfully interpolate a large scale 5D seismic data volume, generated from the geologically complex synthetic 3D Compass velocity model, where 80% of the data has been removed.

We study optimal investment strategies that maximize expected utility from consumption and terminal wealth in a pure-jump asset price model with Markov-modulated (regime switching) jump-size distributions. We give sufficient conditions for existence of optimal policies and find closed-form expressions for the optimal value function for agents with logarithmic and fractional power (CRRA) utility in the case of two-state Markov chains. The main tools are convex duality techniques, stochastic calculus for pure-jump processes and explicit formulae for the moments of telegraph processes with Markov-modulated random jumps.

Durante los terremotos la energia fluye del suelo a las estructuras y estas deben disiparla mediante los mecanismos de amortiguamiento en rango elastico y mediante las deformaciones plasticas, las cuales son responsables del dano estructural. La energia plastica que puede disipar una estructura es un parametro importante en las nuevas tendencias para el diseno de estructuras en zonas de elevada amenaza sismica. Este trabajo relaciona la energia plastica con las caracteristicas del movimiento sismico y con las propiedades de la estructura. Para derivar estas relaciones se efectuaron estudios parametricos con cinco estructuras de un grado de libertad y dos estructuras de varios grados de libertad con diferentes resistencias y periodos propios. Se presentan expresiones simples para calcular la energia plastica en funcion de la energia de entrada y la duracion del sismo, y de la resistencia, el amortiguamiento y el periodo propio de oscilacion de la estructura. Abstract During earthquakes input energy flows from the ground to structures and should be dissipated by damping mechanisms and by plastic deformation that is responsible in part for structural damage. The plastic energy is an important parameter in new design procedures for structures located in high seismicity regions. This work relates the dissipated plastic energy to the ground motion characteristics and to the structural parameters. Five single-degree of freedom structures and two multi-degree of freedom structures with different strengths and periods are used in parametric studies in order to develop this relations. Simple expressions are found to calculate the plastic energy as a function of the input energy and duration of ground motion, and strength, damping ratio and vibration period of the system. Descriptores: Energia de entrada; energia plastica; disipacion de energia; diseno sismico. Descriptors: Input energy; plastic energy; energy dissipation; seismic design.

Proyecto de investigacion. (Codigo: 5402-2188-1001) Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica. Vicerrectoria de Investigacion y Extension (VIE). Escuela de Ingenieria en Computacion, 2012

Proyecto de Investigacion (Codigo: 5402-2188-0801) Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica. Vicerrectoria de Investigacion y Extension (VIE). Escuela de Ingenieria en Computacion, 2013

The emission of intermediate-mass fragments in collisions of 197Au on 197Au was systematically studied over the range of incident energies from 40 to 150 A MeV using the 4π-multidetector INDRA and beams from the heavy-ion synchrotron SIS at GSI Darmstadt. The analysis was performed as a function of incident energy and of impact parameter, defined through the total transverse energy of light charged particles (Etrans 12, Z⩽2). This observable was found to scale linearly with the collision energy up to a certain limit above which it saturates. Strong forward-backward asymmetries in the emission pattern with respect to the rapidities of the projectile and target residua were observed. Their possible relation to equilibration is discussed and interpreted in the framework of molecular dynamics and statistical multifragmentation models. Transverse velocities at midrapidity for peripheral collisions were found to show a surprisingly weak dependence on the incident energy. On the contrary, transverse velocities at midrapidity for central collisions showed a strong dependence on incident energy indicating an increasing importance of collective flow with increasing bombarding energy.

The response of a few silicon-silicon-CsI(Tl) and silicon-silicon telescopes with high quality detectors developed within the FAZIA collaboration [1] is tested in this work. The silicon detectors were manufactured from “random cut” wafers to avoid channeling effects and are characterized by a high dopant homogeneity. One siliconsilicon telescope was mounted on a rotating platform to compare its response in case of front and rear injection. Another silicon detector was mounted on a motorized support, sliding to angles very close to the beam (~0.5°), in order to measure the effects of radiation damage on energy resolution and PSA. Beams of 84Kr and 129Xe at 35A MeV, impinging on targets of natNi, 93Nb, 120Sn and Au, produced fragments over a large range of charge, mass and energy. The aim was to explore the capabilities of various solutions exploiting the digital techniques of Pulse Shape Analisys (PSA) for the Z and A identification of stopped ions. It has been found that PSA is able to fully discriminate the charge of stopped ions up to the maximum available Z (that of the beam, Z=54). The ΔE-E correlations of the first two silicon detectors can separate all the nuclides up to Z~25 and no difference in resolution between front and rear injection is observed. The experimental data also provide some preliminary information about the effects of radiation damage on energy resolution and PSA for high fluences of heavy ions.

Some recent searches for hints of processes beyond the standard model performed by the CMS collaboration are presented. These focused on the detection of new phenomena more indirectly than the direct observation of a resonance indicating the presence of a new particle. No significant deviation from the standard model expectations have been observed and constraints for new physics have been set in several well-motivated scenarios.

En este artículo se presenta un análisis epidemiológico genético de un grupo de familias afectadas de labio hendido con o sin paladar hendido (LH±PH) seleccionadas de la población de Antioquia (Colombia). La finalidad es discriminar el componente genético y el componente ambiental involucrados en la susceptibilidad para desarrollar LH±PH. En primera instancia se calculó una heredabilidad del 96% lo cual está en contra del modelo multifactorial y es más compatible con el modelo que postula la existencia de un gen con efecto mayor. Los resultados del análisis de segregación simple se ajustaron mejor al modelo de locus mayor recesivo con penetrancia incompleta. La frecuencia del gen mayor que induce la susceptibilidad para desarrollar LH±PH es de 0.037 dentro de la población que fue estudiada. Mediante una prueba de asociación de marcadores genéticos se encontró una covarianza significante entre el fenotipo LH±PH y el genotipo JKa/JKa (grupo sanguíneo Kidd, p&lt;0.01, riesgo relativo igual a 0.2). El resultado anterior es compatible con la existencia de un efecto protector para el desarrollo de LH±PH. A partir de dicha asociación, se hizo un análisis secuencial de ligamiento entre LH±PH y el marcador sanguíneo Kidd mediante la genotipificación de una familia extendida de gran tamaño, lo que dio un LOD SCORE de -1. Este resultado de LOD-SCORE no permite confirmar ni descartar ligamiento. Los anteriores hallazgos sugieren que los efectos ambientales, considerados como el factor más importante en la génesis LH±PH son mínimos en la generación de susceptibilidad para desarrollar LH±PH, y por lo tanto es necesario considerar el modelo de gen mayor.

Full exploitation of the physics potential of a future International Linear Collider will require the use of polarized electron and positron beams. Experiment E166 at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) has demonstrated a scheme in which an electron beam passes through a helical undulator to generate photons (whose first-harmonic spectrum extended to 7.9 MeV) with circular polarization, which are then converted in a thin target to generate longitudinally polarized positrons and electrons. The experiment was carried out with a 1-m-long, 400-period, pulsed helical undulator in the Final Focus Test Beam (FFTB) operated at 46.6 GeV. Measurements of the positron polarization have been performed at five positron energies from 4.5 to 7.5 MeV. In addition, the electron polarization has been determined at 6.7 MeV, and the effect of operating the undulator with a ferrofluid was also investigated. To compare the measurements with expectations, detailed simulations were made with an upgraded version of G EANT4 that includes the dominant polarization-dependent interactions of electrons, positrons, and photons with matter. The measurements agree with calculations, corresponding to 80% polarization for positrons near 6 MeV and 90% for electrons near 7 MeV.

Recent work in the matrix completion literature has shown that prior knowledge of a matrix's row and column spaces can be successfully incorporated into reconstruction programs to substantially benefit matrix recovery. This paper proposes a novel methodology that exploits more general forms of known matrix structure in terms of subspaces. The work derives reconstruction error bounds that are informative in practice, providing insight to previous approaches in the literature while introducing novel programs that severely reduce sampling complexity. The main result shows that a family of weighted nuclear norm minimization programs incorporating a $M_1 r$-dimensional subspace of $n\times n$ matrices (where $M_1\geq 1$ conveys structural properties of the subspace) allow accurate approximation of a rank $r$ matrix aligned with the subspace from a near-optimal number of observed entries (within a logarithmic factor of $M_1 r)$. The result is robust, where the error is proportional to measurement noise, applies to full rank matrices, and reflects degraded output when erroneous prior information is utilized. Numerical experiments are presented that validate the theoretical behavior derived for several example weighted programs.

Seismic imaging in challenging sedimentary basins and reservoirs requires acquiring, processing, and imaging very large volumes of data (tens of terabytes). To reduce the cost of acquisition and the time from acquiring the data to producing a subsurface image, novel acquisition systems based on compressive sensing, low-rank matrix recovery, and randomized sampling have been developed and implemented. These approaches allow practitioners to achieve dense wavefield reconstruction from a substantially reduced number of field samples. However, designing acquisition surveys suited for this new sampling paradigm remains a critical and challenging role in oil, gas, and geothermal exploration. Typical random designs studied in the low-rank matrix recovery and compressive sensing literature are difficult to achieve by standard industry hardware. For practical purposes, a compromise between stochastic and realizable samples is needed. In this paper, we propose a deterministic and computationally cheap tool to alleviate randomized acquisition design, prior to survey deployment and large-scale optimization. We consider universal and deterministic matrix completion results in the context of seismology, where a bipartite graph representation of the source-receiver layout allows for the respective spectral gap to act as a quality metric for wavefield reconstruction. We provide realistic scenarios to demonstrate the utility of the spectral gap as a flexible tool that can be incorporated into existing survey design workflows for successful seismic data acquisition via low-rank and sparse signal recovery.

remains unclear if the parameter defaults in SparTen are appropriate for general tensor data. Furthermore, it is unknown how sensitive algorithm convergence is to changes in the input parameter values. This report addresses these unresolved issues with large-scale experimentation on three benchmark tensor data sets. Experiments were conducted on several different CPU architectures and replicated with many initial states to establish generalized profiles of algorithm convergence behavior.

Abstract Introduction Change in lifestyle and diets is a part of the bariatric surgery process. Preoperative weight loss is still considered obligatory in some programs, but its benefits remain controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of the preoperative weight loss on the postoperative results, in terms of long-term weight loss and perioperative morbidity. Methods. A retrospective review from the prospective collected database was performed. Patients operated for Roux-n-Y Gastric bypass (RYGB) or Sleeve Gastrectomy (SG) as a primary procedure with at least 5 years of follow-up were analysed. Two group of patients were defined depending on if any preoperative weight loss was achieved or not. Patients with 5% or more weight loss were independently evaluated too. Weight loss up to 5 years, nadir weight loss and early postoperative morbidity were analysed. Results. 419 Patients were included (225 RYGB and 194 SG), 324 (77.3%) were women, with a mean age of 45.85 years (ranging 15 to 69). 178 patients (42.5%) achieved any weight loss prior to surgery, and just 26 (13.4%) more than 5%. Preoperative weight loss did not correlate with less morbidity, leak o reoperation rate after SG. In the RYGB preoperative weight loss patients showed a trend to higher morbidity.In terms of weight loss, preoperative weight loss patients did not achieve better nadir BMI (27.99kg/m 2 vs 28.55kg/m 2 , p=0.213) nor final BMI (31.56kg/m 2 vs 32.04kg/m 2 , p=0.412). Those results were repeated when RYGB and SG patients were analysed independently. Univariate and multivariate analyses did not find that PWL had any relationship to nadir BMI, final BMI nor postoperative morbidity, leak or reoperation risk. Conclusions. Preoperative weight loss did not correlate to better postoperative results nor to better weight loss results in our series.

The prevention of major bleeding during percutaneous coronary intervention is one of the most widely discussed and often controversial topics within interventional cardiology. The choice of arterial access should be considered a mechanism for bleeding avoidance, and various strategies have been proposed to prevent or lower major bleeding and vascular complications with varying levels of strength. Herein, we review the current literature on arterial access as a bleeding avoidance strategy during percutaneous coronary intervention and its impact on outcome and provide a consensus opinion based on the strength of the evidence supporting various techniques.

Many empirical studies suggest that samples of continuous-time signals taken at locations randomly deviated from an equispaced grid (i.e., off-the-grid) can benefit signal acquisition, e.g., undersampling and anti-aliasing. However, explicit statements of such advantages and their respective conditions are scarce in the literature. This paper provides some insight on this topic when the sampling positions are known, with grid deviations generated i.i.d. from a variety of distributions. By solving a square-root LASSO decoder with an interpolation kernel we demonstrate the capabilities of nonuniform samples for compressive sampling, an effective paradigm for undersampling and anti-aliasing. For functions in the Wiener algebra that admit a discrete $s$-sparse representation in some transform domain, we show that $\mathcal{O}(s\log N)$ random off-the-grid samples are sufficient to recover an accurate $\frac{N}{2}$-bandlimited approximation of the signal. For sparse signals (i.e., $s \ll N$), this sampling complexity is a great reduction in comparison to equispaced sampling where $\mathcal{O}(N)$ measurements are needed for the same quality of reconstruction (Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem). We further consider noise attenuation via oversampling (relative to a desired bandwidth), a standard technique with limited theoretical understanding when the sampling positions are non-equispaced. By solving a least squares problem, we show that $\mathcal{O}(N\log N)$ i.i.d. randomly deviated samples provide an accurate $\frac{N}{2}$-bandlimited approximation of the signal with suppression of the noise energy by a factor $\sim\frac{1}{\sqrt{\log N}}$.

South Baldwin Regional Medical Center Family Medicine Residency, Foley, AL The corresponding author is Timothy Mott; [email protected]. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objective: to propose a clinical practice guideline of nutrition for patients with severe acute pancreatitis derived from the best available evidence. Design: systematic review and clinical practice guideline. Setting: critically ill patients at the intensive care unit. Patients: with severe acute pancreatitis. Intervention: enteral or parenteral nutrition. Glutamine or no glutamine. Arginine or no arginine. Omega 3 fatty acid or control. Outcome: mortality, pulmonary, catheter associated or pancreatic infection, sepsis, ICU or hospital length of stay. Methodology: medical database online search. Results: 765 initial references were filtered with key words and 69 remained. 5 other articles in Spanish were considered pertinent. Conclusions: patients with severe acute pancreatitis benefit from nutritional support, and isocaloric early enteral route is of choice during the first 3 days. Nutritional intervention could be a determinant in lowering the high morbidity and mortality rates linked with this entity, but well designed trials that elucidate the true individual effect of each constituent are scarce.