Acceptability of novel lifelogging technology to determine context of sedentary behaviour in older adults

<strong>Objective:</strong> Lifelogging, using body worn sensors (activity monitors and time lapse photography) has the potential to shed light on the context of sedentary behaviour. The objectives of this study were to examine the acceptability, to older adults, of using lifelogging technology and indicate its usefulness for understanding behaviour.<strong> </strong><strong>Method:</strong> 6 older adults (4 males, mean age: 68yrs) wore the equipment (ActivPAL^TM and Vicon Revue^TM/SenseCam^TM) for 7 consecutive days during free-living activity. The older adults’ perception of the lifelogging technology was assessed through semi-structured interviews, including a brief questionnaire (Likert scale), and reference to the researcher&#39;s diary. <strong>Results:</strong> Older adults in this study found the equipment acceptable to wear and it did not interfere with privacy, safety or create reactivity, but they reported problems with the actual technical functioning of the camera. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> This combination of sensors has good potential to provide lifelogging information on the context of sedentary behaviour

Accreting Black Holes

This chapter provides a general overview of the theory and observations of black holes in the Universe and on their interpretation. We briefly review the black hole classes, accretion disk models, spectral state classification, the AGN classification, and the leading techniques for measuring black hole spins. We also introduce quasi-periodic oscillations, the shadow of black holes, and the observations and the theoretical models of jets.Comment: 41 pages, 18 figures. To appear in "Tutorial Guide to X-ray and Gamma-ray Astronomy: Data Reduction and Analysis" (Ed. C. Bambi, Springer Singapore, 2020). v3: fixed some typos and updated some parts. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1711.1025

Performance of photon reconstruction and identification with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

A description is provided of the performance of the CMS detector for photon reconstruction and identification in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV at the CERN LHC. Details are given on the reconstruction of photons from energy deposits in the electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) and the extraction of photon energy estimates. The reconstruction of electron tracks from photons that convert to electrons in the CMS tracker is also described, as is the optimization of the photon energy reconstruction and its accurate modelling in simulation, in the analysis of the Higgs boson decay into two photons. In the barrel section of the ECAL, an energy resolution of about 1% is achieved for unconverted or late-converting photons from Hγγ decays. Different photon identification methods are discussed and their corresponding selection efficiencies in data are compared with those found in simulated events

Transcription of toll-like receptors 2, 3, 4 and 9, FoxP3 and Th17 cytokines in a susceptible experimental model of canine Leishmania infantum infection

Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) due to Leishmania infantum is a chronic zoonotic systemic disease resulting from complex interactions between protozoa and the canine immune system. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are essential components of the innate immune system and facilitate the early detection of many infections. However, the role of TLRs in CanL remains unknown and information describing TLR transcription during infection is extremely scarce. The aim of this research project was to investigate the impact of L. infantum infection on canine TLR transcription using a susceptible model. The objectives of this study were to evaluate transcription of TLRs 2, 3, 4 and 9 by means of quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in skin, spleen, lymph node and liver in the presence or absence of experimental L. infantum infection in Beagle dogs. These findings were compared with clinical and serological data, parasite densities in infected tissues and transcription of IL-17, IL-22 and FoxP3 in different tissues in non-infected dogs (n = 10), and at six months (n = 24) and 15 months (n = 7) post infection. Results revealed significant down regulation of transcription with disease progression in lymph node samples for TLR3, TLR4, TLR9, IL-17, IL-22 and FoxP3. In spleen samples, significant down regulation of transcription was seen in TLR4 and IL-22 when both infected groups were compared with controls. In liver samples, down regulation of transcription was evident with disease progression for IL-22. In the skin, upregulation was seen only for TLR9 and FoxP3 in the early stages of infection. Subtle changes or down regulation in TLR transcription, Th17 cytokines and FoxP3 are indicative of the silent establishment of infection that Leishmania is renowned for. These observations provide new insights about TLR transcription, Th17 cytokines and Foxp3 in the liver, spleen, lymph node and skin in CanL and highlight possible markers of disease susceptibility in this model

Bayesian molecular clock dating of species divergences in the genomics era

It has been five decades since the proposal of the molecular clock hypothesis, which states that the rate of evolution at the molecular level is constant through time and among species. This hypothesis has become a powerful tool in evolutionary biology, making it possible to use molecular sequences to estimate the geological ages of species divergence events. With recent advances in Bayesian clock dating methodology and the explosive accumulation of genetic sequence data, molecular clock dating has found widespread applications, from tracking virus pandemics, to studying the macroevolutionary process of speciation and extinction, to estimating a timescale for Life on Earth

Measurement of the t(t)over-bar production cross section in the dilepton channel in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

The top-antitop quark (t (t) over bar) production cross section is measured in proton-proton collisions at root s = 8 TeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.3 fb(-1). The measurement is performed by analysing events with a pair of electrons or muons, or one electron and one muon, and at least two jets, one of which is identified as originating from hadronisation of a bottom quark. The measured cross section is 239 +/- 2 (stat.) +/- 11 (syst.) +/- 6 (lum.) pb, for an assumed top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV, in agreement with the prediction of the standard model

Understanding the chronology and occupation dynamics of oversized pit houses in the southern Brazilian highlands

A long held view about the occupation of southern proto-Je pit house villages of the southern Brazilian highlands is that these sites represent cycles of long-term abandonment and reoccupation. However, this assumption is based on an insufficient number of radiocarbon dates for individual pit houses. To address this problem, we conducted a programme of comprehensive AMS radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling at the deeply stratified oversized pit Houe 1, Baggio 1 site (Cal. A.D. 1395-1650), Campo Belo do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The straigraphy of House 1 revealed an unparalleled sequence of twelve well preserved floors evidencing a major change in occupation dynamics including five completely burnt collapsed roofs. The results of the radiocarbon dating allowed us to understand for the first time the occupation dynamics of an oversized pit house in the southern Brazilian highlands. The Bayesian model demonstrates that House 1 was occupied for over two centuries with no evidence of major periods of abandonment, calling into question previous models of long-term abandonment. In addition, the House 1 sequence allowed us to tie transformations in ceramic style and lithic technology to an absolute chronology. Finally, we can provide new evidence that the emergence of oversized domestic structures is a relatively recent phenomenon among the southern proto-Je. As monumental pit houses start to be bulit, small pit houses continue to be inhabited, evidencing emerging disparities in domestic architecture after AD 1000. Our research shows the importance of programmes of intensive dating of individual structures to understand occupation dynamcis and site permanence, and challenges long held assumptions that the southern Brazilian highlands were home to marginal cultures in the context of lowland South America

Reconstruction and identification of τ lepton decays to hadrons and ντ at CMS

This paper describes the algorithms used by the CMS experiment to reconstruct and identify τ → hadrons + νtau; decays during Run 1 of the LHC. The performance of the algorithms is studied in proton-proton collisions recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb-1. The algorithms achieve an identification efficiency of 50-60%, with misidentification rates for quark and gluon jets, electrons, and muons between per mille and per cent levels

Endothelial cells enhance the in vivo bone-forming ability of osteogenic cell sheets

Addressing the problem of vascularization is of vital importance when engineering three-dimensional (3D) tissues. Endothelial cells are increasingly used in tissue-engineered constructs to obtain prevascularization and to enhance in vivo neovascularization. Rat bone marrow stromal cells were cultured in thermoresponsive dishes under osteogenic conditions with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to obtain homotypic or heterotypic cell sheets (CSs). Cells were retrieved as sheets from the dishes after incubation at 20 °C. Monoculture osteogenic CSs were stacked on top of homotypic or heterotypic CSs, and subcutaneously implanted in the dorsal flap of nude mice for 7 days. The implants showed mineralized tissue formation under both conditions. Transplanted osteogenic cells were found at the new tissue site, demonstrating CS bone-inductive effect. Perfused vessels, positive for human CD31, confirmed the contribution of HUVECs for the neovascularization of coculture CS constructs. Furthermore, calcium quantification and expression of osteocalcin and osterix genes were higher for the CS constructs, with HUVECs demonstrating the more robust osteogenic potential of these constructs. This work demonstrates the potential of using endothelial cells, combined with osteogenic CSs, to increase the in vivo vascularization of CS-based 3D constructs for bone tissue engineering purposes.We would like to acknowledge Mariana T Cerqueira for the illustration in Figure 1. This study was supported by Formation of Innovation Center for Fusion of Advanced Technologies in the Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology 'Cell Sheet Tissue Engineering Center (CSTEC)' and the Global CUE program, the Multidisciplinary Education and Research Center for Regenerative Medicine (MERCREM), from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. Financial support to RP Pirraco by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the PhD Grant SFRH/BD/44893/2008 is also acknowledged

Understanding the interplay between social and spatial behaviour

According to personality psychology, personality traits determine many aspects of human behaviour. However, validating this insight in large groups has been challenging so far, due to the scarcity of multi-channel data. Here, we focus on the relationship between mobility and social behaviour by analysing trajectories and mobile phone interactions of ∼1000 individuals from two high-resolution longitudinal datasets. We identify a connection between the way in which individuals explore new resources and exploit known assets in the social and spatial spheres. We show that different individuals balance the exploration-exploitation trade-off in different ways and we explain part of the variability in the data by the big five personality traits. We point out that, in both realms, extraversion correlates with the attitude towards exploration and routine diversity, while neuroticism and openness account for the tendency to evolve routine over long time-scales. We find no evidence for the existence of classes of individuals across the spatio-social domains. Our results bridge the fields of human geography, sociology and personality psychology and can help improve current models of mobility and tie formation