HERA data and DGLAP evolution: theory and phenomenology

We examine critically the evidence for deviations from next-to-leading order perturbative DGLAP evolution in HERA data. We briefly review the status of perturbative small-x resummation and of global determinations of parton distributions. We show that the geometric scaling properties of HERA data are consistent with DGLAP evolution, which is also strongly supported by the double asymptotic scaling properties of the data. However, backward--evolution of parton distributions into the low x, low Q^2 region does show evidence of deviations between the observed behaviour and the next-to-leading order predictions. These deviations cannot be explained by missing next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative terms, and are consistent with perturbative small-x resummation.Comment: Fig. 8 corrected. Published in NP

Parton distributions with LHC data

We present the first determination of parton distributions of the nucleon at NLO and NNLO based on a global data set which includes LHC data: NNPDF2.3. Our data set includes, besides the deep inelastic, Drell-Yan, gauge boson production and jet data already used in previous global PDF determinations, all the relevant LHC data for which experimental systematic uncertainties are currently available: ATLAS and LHCb W and Z lepton rapidity distributions from the 2010 run, CMS W electron asymmetry data from the 2011 run, and ATLAS inclusive jet cross-sections from the 2010 run. We introduce an improved implementation of the FastKernel method which allows us to fit to this extended data set, and also to adopt a more effective minimization methodology. We present the NNPDF2.3 PDF sets, and compare them to the NNPDF2.1 sets to assess the impact of the LHC data. We find that all the LHC data are broadly consistent with each other and with all the older data sets included in the fit. We present predictions for various standard candle cross-sections, and compare them to those obtained previously using NNPDF2.1, and specifically discuss the impact of ATLAS electroweak data on the determination of the strangeness fraction of the proton. We also present collider PDF sets, constructed using only data from HERA, Tevatron and LHC, but find that this data set is neither precise nor complete enough for a competitive PDF determination.Comment: 56 pages, 30 figures. LHCb dataset updated, all tables and plots recomputed accordingly (results essentially unchanged). Several typos corrected, several small textual improvements and clarification

Examining the Effects of Ostracism on Neural and Behavioral Indices of Cognitive Self-Regulation

The impact of ostracism on a target individual produces a number of negative consequences, including deficits in cognitive functioning related to self-regulation and general cognition. While such effects have been acknowledged, there is a lack of literature regarding the effect of ostracism on action monitoring in particular. Action monitoring is a self-regulatory process in which participants ensure the accuracy of their responses to a task or situation, the authors hypothesized that it would be adversely affected by an experience of ostracism. The goal of the current study was to utilize event-related brain potentials to examine the relationship of these two factors. The authors hypothesized that upon experiencing an event of ostracism, participants would exhibit a decrease in action monitoring capability, observable through both neural and behavioral measures. Specifically, the authors predicted that participants who experienced ostracism would exhibit decreased error-related negativity (ERN) amplitude, as well as decreased post-error response accuracy and a slowing of response time during subsequent execution of the flanker task. Results indicated that participants who experienced social exclusion exhibited decreases in both ERN amplitude and post-error accuracy in a flanker task. These findings provide both neural and behavioral support for the experimenter’s hypothesis that the action monitoring ability of ostracized individuals is compromised by their experience of social exclusion

Outcomes of a Pharmacy-Driven Inpatient Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Transitions of Care (TOC) Management Process

Background: Current data shows 30% of patients hospitalized for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbation are readmitted within 30 days. Medication management during transitions of care (TOC) has shown impact on clinical outcomes, however there is insufficient data to suggest how pharmacy TOC services might benefit this patient population. Objective: Evaluate the effects of pharmacy-driven COPD TOC services on hospital re-presentation rates. Methods: A single-center retrospective chart review conducted of patients hospitalized for a COPD exacerbation. A comprehensive admission-to-discharge TOC service was provided by early immersion pharmacy students, advanced immersion pharmacy students, and an attending pharmacist in a layered learning model. The primary outcome was 30-day re-presentation rate. Secondary outcomes were 90-day re-presentation rate, volume of interventions made and description of the service. Results: From 1/1/2019 to 12/31/2019, there were 2422 patients admitted for COPD exacerbation management and 756 patients received at least one intervention from the COPD TOC service. 30% needed a change to inhaler therapy. The provider accepted 57.8% of the recommended changes, and 36% and 33% of eligible patients received an inhaler technique education and bedside delivery of the new inhaler, respectively. Outcomes in the 30-day re-presentation and 90-day censored re-presentation rates for the intervention and control group were 28.5% vs 25.5% (P = .12) and 46.7% vs 42.9%, respectively. Conclusion: This study did not find a significant change in 30-day re-presentation rate with a pharmacy-driven COPD TOC service. It did find that a significant number of patients admitted with COPD exacerbation may need an inhaler change, and demonstrates the utility of this kind of TOC service for identifying and correcting medication-related problems unique to this disease state. There were opportunities for improvement in percent of patients receiving the full intended intervention

Quantitative constraints on the gluon distribution function in the proton from collider isolated-photon data

The impact of isolated-photon data from proton-(anti)proton collisions at RHIC, SppbarS, Tevatron and LHC energies, on the parton distribution functions of the proton is studied using a recently developed Bayesian reweighting method. The impact on the gluon density of the 35 existing isolated-gamma measurements is quantified using next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations complemented with the NNPDF2.1 parton densities. The NLO predictions are found to describe well most of the datasets from 200 GeV up to 7 TeV centre-of-mass energies. The isolated-photon spectra recently measured at the LHC are precise enough to constrain the gluon distribution and lead to a moderate reduction (up to 20%) of its uncertainties around fractional momenta x~0.02. As a particular case, we show that the improved gluon density reduces the PDF uncertainty for the Higgs boson production cross section in the gluon-fusion channel by more than 20% at the LHC. We conclude that present and future isolated-photon measurements constitute an interesting addition to coming global PDF analyses.Comment: 30 pages, 20 figures. Few minor changes to match the published NPB versio