The strangest proton?

We present an improved determination of the strange quark and antiquark parton distribution functions of the proton by means of a global QCD analysis that takes into account a comprehensive set of strangeness-sensitive measurements: charm-tagged cross sections for fixed-target neutrino–nucleus deep-inelastic scattering, and cross sections for inclusive gauge-boson production and W-boson production in association with light jets or charm quarks at hadron colliders. Our analysis is accurate to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD where available, and specifically includes charm-quark mass corrections to neutrino–nucleus structure functions. We find that a good overall description of the input dataset can be achieved and that a strangeness moderately suppressed in comparison to the rest of the light sea quarks is strongly favored by the global analysis

Sustainability in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

The COVID-19 pandemic has created cause for rapid innovation in, reimagining of, and pivoting of higher education institutions. Prior to 2020, the global higher education sector began to radically focus their efforts on creating sustainable institutions, and incorporated the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The novel coronavirus pandemic may have changed that. This systematic review examines eight manuscripts, identified through a systematic search strategy on sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic across 2020–2021. Interestingly, the low volume of manuscripts identified highlights potential learning and teaching risks, as priorities may have shifted during rapid digitalization and emergency remote teaching practices. These manuscripts focused on Goal 4, inclusive and equitable quality education (50%); Goal 8, decent work and economic growth; Goal 9, industry, innovation, and infrastructure (37.5%); and goal enabling through integrating and embedding sustainability into the curriculum (12.5%). The implications of this systematic review highlight a need to rebuild efforts to focus on the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly considering the evolving higher education landscape during COVID-19. While there were still considerable volumes of manuscripts on higher education and sustainability during 2020–2021, the lack of contextualization to current higher education conditions should be of concern for sustainability scholars. This systematic review creates a critical foundation for accelerating our understanding of achieving SDGs in higher education during and beyond the pandemic

AltitudeOmics: Red Blood Cell metabolic adaptation to high altitude hypoxia

Red blood cells (RBCs) are key players in systemic oxygen transport. RBCs respond to in vitro hypoxia  through  the so-called  oxygen-dependent  metabolic  regulation,  which  involves  the competitive  binding  of  deoxyhemoglobin  and  glycolytic  enzymes  to  the  N-terminal  cytosolic domain  of  band  3.  This  mechanism  promotes  the  accumulation  of  2,3-DPG,  stabilizing  the deoxygenated state of hemoglobin, and cytosol acidification, triggering oxygen off-loading through the  Bohr  effect.  Despite  in  vitro  studies,  in  vivo adaptations  to  hypoxia  have  not  yet  been completely elucidated. Within  the  framework  of  the AltitudeOmics  study,  erythrocytes  were  collected  from  21 healthy volunteers at sea level, after exposure to high altitude (5260m) for 1, 7 and 16days, and following  reascent  after  7days  at 1525m.  UHPLC-MS  metabolomics  results  were  correlated  to physiological and athletic performance parameters. Immediate  metabolic  adaptations  were  noted as early as a few hours from ascending  to >5000m, and maintained for 16 days at high altitude.  Consistent with the mechanisms elucidated in vitro, hypoxia promoted glycolysis and deregulated the pentose phosphate pathway, as well purine catabolism, glutathione homeostasis, arginine/nitric oxide and sulphur/H2S metabolism. Metabolic adaptations were preserved one week after descent, consistently with improved physical performances in comparison to the first ascendance, suggesting a mechanism of metabolic memory

Recerca i tecnologia en enginyeria gràfica i disseny a la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Els temps canvien cada vegada més ràpidament, i a la universitat això encara es nota més. L’històric departament d‘Expressió Gràfica a l’Enginyeria (EGE) de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, garant d’una docència de Grau, Màster i Doctorat de qualitat i adaptada a les necessitats de la societat, emprèn l’any 2020 amb una proposta de canvi de nom per adaptar-se al nous coneixements que estan esdevenint la seva matèria principal, al voltant de l’enginyeria gràfica i el disseny. Les àrees de recerca del centenar de professors que formen el departament són àmplies i variades, i sempre en col·laboració en diversos grups tant de la pròpia UPC com d’altres universitats. Una recerca avançada, de caràcter pluridisciplinari, on s'apliquen creativitat i innovació com a eines de coneixement, implicats en un territori ampli, i situats als diferents campus de la UPC. En els capítols d’aquest llibre podeu veure una petita mostra d’aquesta recerca tecnològica en camps ben variats.Postprint (published version

Multi-Parametric Analysis and Modeling of Relationships between Mitochondrial Morphology and Apoptosis

Mitochondria exist as a network of interconnected organelles undergoing constant fission and fusion. Current approaches to study mitochondrial morphology are limited by low data sampling coupled with manual identification and classification of complex morphological phenotypes. Here we propose an integrated mechanistic and data-driven modeling approach to analyze heterogeneous, quantified datasets and infer relations between mitochondrial morphology and apoptotic events. We initially performed high-content, multi-parametric measurements of mitochondrial morphological, apoptotic, and energetic states by high-resolution imaging of human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells. Subsequently, decision tree-based analysis was used to automatically classify networked, fragmented, and swollen mitochondrial subpopulations, at the single-cell level and within cell populations. Our results revealed subtle but significant differences in morphology class distributions in response to various apoptotic stimuli. Furthermore, key mitochondrial functional parameters including mitochondrial membrane potential and Bax activation, were measured under matched conditions. Data-driven fuzzy logic modeling was used to explore the non-linear relationships between mitochondrial morphology and apoptotic signaling, combining morphological and functional data as a single model. Modeling results are in accordance with previous studies, where Bax regulates mitochondrial fragmentation, and mitochondrial morphology influences mitochondrial membrane potential. In summary, we established and validated a platform for mitochondrial morphological and functional analysis that can be readily extended with additional datasets. We further discuss the benefits of a flexible systematic approach for elucidating specific and general relationships between mitochondrial morphology and apoptosis

The strangest proton?

We present an improved determination of the strange quark and antiquark parton distribution functions of the proton by means of a global QCD analysis that takes into account a comprehensive set of strangeness-sensitive measurements: charm-tagged cross sections for fixed-target neutrino–nucleus deep-inelastic scattering, and cross sections for inclusive gauge-boson production and W-boson production in association with light jets or charm quarks at hadron colliders. Our analysis is accurate to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD where available, and specifically includes charm-quark mass corrections to neutrino–nucleus structure functions. We find that a good overall description of the input dataset can be achieved and that a strangeness moderately suppressed in comparison to the rest of the light sea quarks is strongly favored by the global analysis

The strangest proton?

We present an improved determination of the strange quark and antiquark parton distribution functions of the proton by means of a global QCD analysis that takes into account a comprehensive set of strangeness-sensitive measurements: charm-tagged cross sections for fixed-target neutrino–nucleus deep-inelastic scattering, and cross sections for inclusive gauge-boson production and W-boson production in association with light jets or charm quarks at hadron colliders. Our analysis is accurate to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD where available, and specifically includes charm-quark mass corrections to neutrino–nucleus structure functions. We find that a good overall description of the input dataset can be achieved and that a strangeness moderately suppressed in comparison to the rest of the light sea quarks is strongly favored by the global analysis