Mass Composition of Cosmic Rays in the Range 2 x 10^17 - 3 x 10^18 Measured with Haverah Park Array

At the Haverah Park Array a number of air shower observables were measured that are relevant to the determination of the mass composition of cosmic rays. In this paper we discuss measurements of the risetime of signals in large area water-Cherenkov detectors and of the lateral distribution function of the water-Cherenkov signal. The former are used to demonstrate that the CORSIKA code, using the QGSJET98 model, gives an adequate description of the data with a low sensitivity, in this energy range, to assumptions about primary mass. By contrast the lateral distribution is sufficiently well measured that there is mass sensitivity. We argue that in the range 0.2-1.0 EeV the data are well represented with a bi-modal composition of 34+-2 % protons and the rest iron. We also discuss the systematic errors induced by the choice of hadronic model.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Wearable design requirements identification and evaluation

: Wearable electronics make it possible to monitor human activity and behavior. Most of these devices have not taken into account human factors and they have instead focused on technological issues. This fact could not only affect human–computer interaction and user experience but also the devices’ use cycle. Firstly, this paper presents a classification of wearable design requirements that have been carried out by combining a quantitative and a qualitative methodology. Secondly, we present some evaluation procedures based on design methodologies and human–computer interaction measurement tools. Thus, this contribution aims to provide a roadmap for wearable designers and researchers in order to help them to find more efficient processes by providing a classification of the design requirements and evaluation tools. These resources represent time and resource-saving contributions. Therefore designers and researchers do not have to review the literature. It will no be necessary to carry out exploratory studies for the purposes of identifying requirements or evaluation tools either

The wearable co-design domino: A user-centered methodology to co-design and co-evaluate wearables

This paper presents a user-centered methodology to co-design and co-evaluate wearables that has been developed following a research-through design methodology. It has been based on the principles of human–computer interaction and on an empirical case entitled “Design and Development of a Low-Cost Wearable Glove to Track Forces Exerted by Workers in Car Assembly Lines” published in Sensors. Insights from both studies have been used to develop the wearable co-design domino presented in this study. The methodology consists of different design stages composed of an ideation stage, digital service development and test stages, hardware development and test stage, and a final test stage. The main conclusions state that it is necessary to maintain a close relationship between human factors and technical factors when designing wearable. Additionally, through the several studies, it has been concluded that there is need of different field experts that should co-design and co-evaluate wearable iteratively and involving users from the beginning of the process

Deletions of specific exons of FHOD3 detected by next-generation-sequencing are associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Despite new strategies, such as evaluating deep intronic variants and new genes in whole-genome-sequencing studies, the diagnostic yield of genetic testing in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is still around 50%. FHOD3 has emerged as a novel disease-causing gene for this phenotype, but the relevance and clinical implication of copy-number-variations (CNVs) have not been determined. In this study, CNVs were evaluated using a comparative depth-of-coverage strategy by NGS in 5493 hypertrophic cardiomyopathy probands and 2973 disease-controls. We detected three symmetrical deletions in FHOD3 that involved exons 15 and 16 in three HCM families (no CNVs were detected in the control group). These exons are part of the diaphanous inhibitory domain of FHOD3 protein, considered a cluster of mutations for HCM. The clinical characteristics of the affected carriers were consistent with those reported in FHOD3 in previous studies. This study highlights the importance of performing CNV analysis systematically in NGS genetic testing panels for HCM, and reinforce the relevance of the FHOD3 gene in the disease. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Perfil antropométrico en adultos del Noroeste Argentino: comparación con una referencia internacional

Desde una perspectiva bioantropológica las mediciones antropométricas en adultos son exhaustivamente utilizadas en la evaluación morfológica de poblaciones argentinas extintas. La mayoría de los estudios antropométricos en adultos argentinos contemporáneos se limitan a la evaluación de talla, peso e IMC. El objetivo de este trabajo fue describir otras variables antropométricas en adultos del Noroeste argentino (NOA) y compararlas con una referencia internacional. Los datos de peso, talla, perímetros (brazo, muslo, pierna, cintura) y pliegues (tríceps, subescapular) proceden de 881 individuos (526 mujeres; 355 varones) sanos de 20-60 años de edad de distintas localidades de Catamarca y Jujuy. Se calcularon estadísticos descriptivos (media y DS) por sexo y dos grupos de edad: 20-39 y 40-60 años. Las comparaciones se establecieron con adultos de EEUU de origen mejicano (Centers for Disease Control, CDC 2003-2006) con la prueba t. Se calcularon los percentilos con el método LMS. En ambos sexos y grupos de edad los adultos del NOA presentaron valores significativamente inferiores a los de la referencia en todas las variables consideradas, excepto para pliegues tricipital y subescapular en varones de 40-60 años. No se han encontrado antecedentes antropométricos comparables semejantes para poblaciones argentinas y del NOA. El perfil antropométrico de los adultos del NOA difiere significativamente con respecto a la población de referencia con un origen étnico afín. Rev Arg Antrop Biol 17(1):07-18, 2015

Pyricularia are mostly host-specialized with limited reciprocal cross-infection between wheat and endemic grasses in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Abstract: Wheat blast, caused by Pyricularia oryzae Triticum (PoT), is an emerging threat to global wheat production. Current understanding of the population biology of the pathogen and epidemiology of the disease has been based on phylogenomic studies that compared the wheat blast pathogen with isolates collected from grasses that were invasive to Brazilian wheat fields. In this study, we performed a comprehensive sampling of blast lesions in wheat crops and endemic grasses found in and away from wheat fields in Minas Gerais. A total 1,368 diseased samples were collected (976 leaves of wheat and grasses and 392 wheat heads) which yielded a working collection of 564 Pyricularia isolates. We show that, contrary to earlier implications, PoT was rarely found on endemic grasses and, conversely, members of grass-adapted lineages were rarely found on wheat. Instead, most lineages were host-specialized with constituent isolates usually grouping according to their host-of-origin. With regard to the dominant role proposed for signalgrass in wheat blast epidemiology, we found only one PoT member in 67 isolates collected from signalgrass grown away from wheat fields, and only three members of Urochloa-adapted lineages among hundreds of isolates from wheat. Cross-inoculation assays on wheat and a signalgrass used in pastures (U. brizantha) suggested that the limited cross-infection observed in the field may be due to innate compatibility differences. Whether or not the observed level of cross-infection would be sufficient to provide an inoculum reservoir, or serve as a bridge between wheat growing regions, is questionable and, therefore, deserves further investigation

Projeto LouMu - Muografia no Lousal

A viabilidade da muografia como técnica de sondagem tem sido demonstrada em diversos trabalhos ao redor do mundo, desde os seus primeiros passos. A muografia com muógrafos em ambiente subterrâneo tem um lado fácil devido à ausência da radiação de fundo, mas, por outro lado, o fluxo de muões é muito menor em comparação com o que é medido na superfície. É uma questão de condições geológicas e subterrâneas, detetores de muões adequados e o tempo de exposição necessário para realizar a observação. Para inovar o panorama dos métodos geofísicos em Portugal, foi estabelecida uma colaboração entre o Instituto de Ciências da Terra (ICT) – Universidade de Évora, o Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP) e o Centro Ciência Viva do Lousal. Esta colaboração reúne-se sob o Projeto LouMu, cujo propósito passa pelo desenvolvimento de telescópios de muões, a sua instalação no local da observação e consequente estudo do potencial da muografia, usando a Mina do Lousal como local de teste desta primeira aplicação. A Mina do Lousal (Faixa Piritosa Ibérica) foi explorada até 1988 e é hoje um excelente exemplo europeu de reabilitação ambiental e melhoria social com base em atividades museológicas, científicas e educativas. A galeria da mina Waldemar é a anfitriã das observações dos muões, cerca de 18 m abaixo da superfície. Os muógrafos, desenvolvidos pelo LIP, usam detetores RPC robustos para fazer a observação em tempo real. A aplicação tem o objetivo de fazer um reconhecimento geológico do terreno entre o nível da galeria e a superfície, contribuindo com novos dados para a informação geológica já existente, ao mesmo tempo em que se coloca à prova o desempenho dos detetores de muões e as ferramentas de análise muográfica. Outros métodos geofísicos, particularmente refração sísmica e radar de penetração no solo (GPR) estão sendo utilizados na superfície do terreno, cujos resultados somados a outras informações geológicas e geofísicas existentes serão utilizados para construir um modelo de referência 3D. O objetivo final é usar a muografia como técnica central, para através da observação do fluxo de muões reproduzir o modelo 3D de referência, como base para outras implementações de muografia

Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory

Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from Sagittarius $A$. Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio

Screening mutations in myosin binding protein C3 gene in a cohort of patients with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>MyBPC3 </it>mutations are amongst the most frequent causes of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, however, its prevalence varies between populations. They have been associated with mild and late onset disease expression. Our objectives were to establish the prevalence of <it>MyBPC3 </it>mutations and determine their associated clinical characteristics in our patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Screening by Single Strand Conformation Polymorphisms (SSCP) and sequencing of the fragments with abnormal motility of the <it>MyBPC3 </it>gene in 130 unrelated consecutive HCM index cases. Genotype-Phenotype correlation studies were done in positive families.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>16 mutations were found in 20 index cases (15%): 5 novel [D75N, V471E, Q327fs, IVS6+5G>A (homozygous), and IVS11-9G>A] and 11 previously described [A216T, R495W, R502Q (2 families), E542Q (3 families), T957S, R1022P (2 families), E1179K, K504del, K600fs, P955fs and IVS29+5G>A]. Maximum wall thickness and age at time of diagnosis were similar to patients with <it>MYH7 </it>mutations [25(7) vs. 27(8), p = 0.16], [46(16) vs. 44(19), p = 0.9].</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Mutations in <it>MyBPC3 </it>are present in 15% of our hypertrophic cardiomyopathy families. Severe hypertrophy and early expression are compatible with the presence of <it>MyBPC3 </it>mutations. The genetic diagnosis not only allows avoiding clinical follow up of non carriers but it opens new possibilities that includes: to take preventive clinical decisions in mutation carriers than have not developed the disease yet, the establishment of genotype-phenotype relationship, and to establish a genetic diagnosis routine in patients with familial HCM.</p