Natural Nuclear Reactor Oklo and Variation of Fundamental Constants Part 1: Computation of Neutronics of Fresh Core

Using modern methods of reactor physics we have performed full-scale calculations of the natural reactor Oklo. For reliability we have used recent version of two Monte Carlo codes: Russian code MCU REA and world wide known code MCNP (USA). Both codes produce similar results. We have constructed a computer model of the reactor Oklo zone RZ2 which takes into account all details of design and composition. The calculations were performed for three fresh cores with different uranium contents. Multiplication factors, reactivities and neutron fluxes were calculated. We have estimated also the temperature and void effects for the fresh core. As would be expected, we have found for the fresh core a significant difference between reactor and Maxwell spectra, which was used before for averaging cross sections in the Oklo reactor. The averaged cross section of Sm-149 and its dependence on the shift of resonance position (due to variation of fundamental constants) are significantly different from previous results. Contrary to results of some previous papers we find no evidence for the change of the fine structure constant in the past and obtain new, most accurate limits on its variation with time: -4 10^{-17}year^{-1} < d alpha/dt/alpha < 3 10^{-17} year^{-1} A further improvement in the accuracy of the limits can be achieved by taking account of the core burnup. These calculations are in progress.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 12 tables, minor corrections, typos correcte

Acceptability of a cognitive behavior therapy intervention to implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients

We aimed to assess cardiac patients, acceptance of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT); determine if gender was associated with treatment engagement (session attendance and utilization of intervention strategies); and relate engagement to outcome. Of 193 patients receiving an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) who agreed to participate in a randomized controlled trial, 96 were randomized to CBT. Measures of treatment acceptance indicated that most participants rated counseling as “very to extremely helpful.” Gender was associated with only one treatment engagement index. Symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress improved from baseline to 6- and 12-month follow-up. Number of counseling session attendance was not associated with outcome. Reported utilization of two of the six CBT strategies (modifying faulty thinking, correcting cognitive distortions) was associated with a better treatment outcome. In conclusion, a CBT intervention was well received by ICD patients. There was some indication that treatment engagement related to better treatment outcomes.Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SHHRC

Decompressive laparotomy with temporary abdominal closure versus percutaneous puncture with placement of abdominal catheter in patients with abdominal compartment syndrome during acute pancreatitis: background and design of multicenter, randomised, controlled study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Development of abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) in patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) has a strong impact on the course of disease. Number of patients with this complication increases during the years due more aggressive fluid resuscitation, much bigger proportion of patients who is treated conservatively or by minimal invasive approach, and efforts to delay open surgery. There have not been standard recommendations for a surgical or some other interventional treatment of patients who develop ACS during the SAP. The aim of DECOMPRESS study was to compare decompresive laparotomy with temporary abdominal closure and percutaneus puncture with placement of abdominal catheter in these patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>One hundred patients with ACS will be randomly allocated to two groups: I) decompresive laparotomy with temporary abdominal closure or II) percutaneus puncture with placement of abdominal catheter. Patients will be recruited from five hospitals in Belgrade during two years period. The primary endpoint is the mortality rate within hospitalization. Secondary endpoints are time interval between intervention and resolving of organ failure and multi organ dysfunction syndrome, incidence of infectious complications and duration of hospital and ICU stay. A total sample size of 100 patients was calculated to demonstrate that decompresive laparotomy with temporary abdominal closure can reduce mortality rate from 60% to 40% with 80% power at 5% alfa.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>DECOMPRESS study is designed to reveal a reduction in mortality and major morbidity by using decompresive laparotomy with temporary abdominal closure in comparison with percutaneus puncture with placement of abdominal catheter in patients with ACS during SAP.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NTC00793715</p

Arhuaco: Deep Learning and Isolation Based Security for Distributed High-Throughput Computing

Grid computing systems require innovative methods and tools to identify cybersecurity incidents and perform autonomous actions i.e. without administrator intervention. They also require methods to isolate and trace job payload activity in order to protect users and find evidence of malicious behavior. We introduce an integrated approach of security monitoring via Security by Isolation with Linux Containers and Deep Learning methods for the analysis of real time data in Grid jobs running inside virtualized High-Throughput Computing infrastructure in order to detect and prevent intrusions. A dataset for malware detection in Grid computing is described. We show in addition the utilization of generative methods with Recurrent Neural Networks to improve the collected dataset. We present Arhuaco, a prototype implementation of the proposed methods. We empirically study the performance of our technique. The results show that Arhuaco outperforms other methods used in Intrusion Detection Systems for Grid Computing. The study is carried out in the ALICE Collaboration Grid, part of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid