El Patrimonio Cultural en el Modelo de la Contabilidad Socio-ambiental

The socio-environmental information issued by various organizations evolved according to their own needs and the needs of various social partners that are related to them (stakeholders).The information about the impacts on their environment is usually provided through reports submitted with varied characteristic. According to the approach adopted those can be grouped as:- Information related to the environment with financial approach which refers to the impacts on economic-financial assets of an entity, conceived in its traditional concept. As an example of balance sheet made with this approach, we can cite the Statement of Added Value or State Economic Value Generated and Distributed, as referred to in the Technical Resolution No. 36 of the FACPCE (Argentine Federation of Professional Councils in Economic Sciences) about Social Balance.- Information related to the environment with socio-environmental approach which is usually exposed in the form of memory, where the impacts generated by the entity in its environment are considered in its two essential elements: the nature and society / culture and their interrelationships. Those reports, called sustainability reports or social reports, also provide narrative information, graphics, photos and some quantified information in various units of measure, without a fixed structure.From previous empirical research on GRI Sustainability Reports, and other kind of socio-environmental reports we can conclude that in general they take the form of a “friendly memory“, relatively large, mostly narrative, based on different guiding principles, and with little quantified content. This means that those reports are not based on an accounting model with the characteristics of good accounting information. This information should be exposed in the context of social and environmental accounting specialty. This hampers comparability, potential information accumulation, and the assessment tasks or audit.The socio-environmental reports information changes in the respective heritage is provided through result generated or the impacts produced.When we talk about heritage impact, we refer to the "mark or sign that leaves" an object, event or action in the heritage structure of an entity. So then the heritage variations are produced as quantitative changes in the heritage of an entity. These variations arise from comparing the heritage status before and after the impact.But it turns out that social balances, usually provide information about the impacts or changes produced by the entity at a time, but they do not provide information on the socio-environmental heritage that the entity is impacting or modifying. Ergo, it is not possible to determine differences before and after the shock, having no information on the composition and amount of the socio-environmental heritage to which they relate to. In order to describe and quantify the socio-environmental heritage, it is necessary to have a clear definition, especially by knowing what relevant elements are part of it. Due to the fact that the specialty or socio-environmental accounting branch is recent, still calls for the development of a theoretical framework that achieves some consensus to develop a model of social and environmental accounting exposure.For these reasons we consider necessary to develop the concept of heritage in socio-environmental approach. Given its complexity, this study aims to define this concept and identify its relevant variables, incorporating this development into the theoretical framework of the specialty.To achieve this objective, we conducted a theoretical investigation to define the socio-environmental heritage and its related concepts (historical approach, assessment, inventory, legal protection, etc.). First we defined it in general terms, then, due to its complexity, we focused on the cultural dimension. Trying to broadening our study we analyzed the anthropological perspective, specifically addresses in the cultural heritage with a different view, the culture and the man as the center of the object of its study.We define the theoretical framework of this research, taking base on the legal and accounting concept of socio-environmental heritage, which conceived the heritage as a group of rights of use and enjoyment of the environment, and have a value to its holders together with the obligations related to it. The value of it is not perceived in the economic sense, but as degree of utility or comfort that provide to its holder. We distinguish the public socio-environmental heritage private.From the literature consulted we selected definitions and related concepts, understood as relevant the purpose of conceptualizing the socio-environmental heritage in the broadest sense and specifically relate the concept to the cultural heritage. Finally, we performed a critical and comparative analysis of its contents.This entire process was conducted with the contribution of a person skilled in the new approach, the anthropological. After developing processes of inductive-deductive reasoning and by analogy, we discuss the results. Similarities and differences arise from which we infer the relevant variables: the holder, the rights and obligations, and the value of cultural heritage.El contenido de la información socio-ambiental emitida por las distintas organizaciones fue evolucionando en función de sus propias necesidades y la de los distintos partícipes sociales que con ellas se relacionan (stakeholders). Éstos reclaman y presionan que minimicen los impactos negativos que ocasionan con su actividad en el ambiente natural y social, que incrementen los positivos y que informen al respecto.La información sobre estos impactos producidos en el medioambiente, suele ofrecerse a través de informes que presentan variadas características y que por el enfoque que adoptan los podemos agrupar como:- Información referida al medio-ambiente con enfoque financiero referida a los impactos generados en el patrimonio económico-financiero de un ente, concebido en su concepto tradicional. Como ejemplo de estado contable realizado con este enfoque, puede citarse el Estado del Valor Agregado o Estado de Valor Económico Generado y Distribuido, como lo denomina en la Resolución Técnica Nº 36 de la FACPCE sobre Balance Social.- Información referida al medio-ambiente con enfoque socio-ambiental suele exponerse bajo la forma de memoria, donde generalmente se describen los impactos generados por el ente en su medioambiente considerado en sus dos elementos esenciales: la naturaleza y la sociedad/cultura y sus interrelaciones. Estos reportes, memorias de sostenibilidad o balances sociales ofrecen además de información narrativa, gráficos, fotos y algunos datos cuantificados en variadas unidades de medida. Generalmente se presentan sin una estructura fija.Según investigaciones empíricas anteriores, las Memorias de Sostenibilidad elaboradas en base a GRI y los informes socio-ambientales adoptan en general la forma de una memoria amigable, relativamente extensa, principalmente narrativa, ordenada en base a distintos criterios rectores, y con escaso contenido cuantificado. Es decir que no se realizan en base a un modelo que reúna las características de toda buena información contable. Esto dificulta su comparabilidad, su posibilidad de acumulación y las tareas de evaluación o auditoría. Por ello consideramos que esta información debiera exponerse en el marco de la especialidad contable socio-ambiental.Tanto en la información contable financiera como en la socio-ambiental se informa sobre variaciones en los respectivos patrimonios a través de los resultados generados o de las variaciones provocadas respectivamente.Cuando hablamos de impacto patrimonial, nos referimos según el Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, a la “huella o señal que deja” un hecho o acto en el patrimonio de un ente. Así entonces las variaciones patrimoniales son las modificaciones cualitativas pero esencialmente cuantitativas producidas en el patrimonio de un ente a causa de esos impactos. Surgen de comparar el patrimonio antes y después del impacto. Estas variaciones se califican como positivas o negativas según aumenten o disminuyan los derechos de los propietarios o titulares del patrimonio, respectivamente.El resultado del ejercicio con enfoque económico-financiero, puede dimensionarse al relacionarlo con el patrimonio del ente en cuestión. Pero resulta que los balances sociales, por lo general ofrecen información sobre los impactos o variaciones producidos o generados por el ente en un período, pero no brindan información sobre el patrimonio socio-ambiental en el que impactan o al que modifican. Ergo, no es posible determinar las variaciones por diferencias patrimoniales antes y después de los impactos y tener una idea de la importancia relativa de las mismas, por no tener información sobre la composición y cuantía del patrimonio socio-ambiental al que se refieren. Por ejemplo, si se informa sobre discriminación por género, es necesario conocer como mínimo la cantidad total de trabajadores de la organización clasificados por esa variable y por cargos, y así poder dimensionar dicho impacto.Para poder describir y cuantificar un patrimonio socio-ambiental, primero es necesario contar con una definición del mismo, saber qué elementos lo integran y cuáles no.Como la especialidad o rama contable socio-ambiental, es de reciente data, aún reclama el desarrollo de un marco teórico-conceptual que logre cierto consenso y en base al mismo el desarrollo de modelos de exposición contable socio-ambiental.Por estas razones consideramos necesario desarrollar el concepto de patrimonio con enfoque socio-ambiental. Habida cuenta de la complejidad del mismo, se plantea como objetivo del presente trabajo profundizar este concepto a fin de poder definir sus variables relevantes, incorporarlas al marco teórico de la especialidad y en base a ellas poder llegar a elaborar modelos de Balances Sociales con las características de la información contable.En aras de lograr el objetivo antes planteado, a partir de interrogantes o cuestiones sin definir de investigaciones previas, realizamos una investigación teórica sobre definiciones de patrimonio socio-ambiental y conceptos relacionados (aproximación histórica, valoración, inventario, protección jurídica, etc.), primero en forma genérica, para luego, debido a su complejidad, centrarnos en su dimensión cultural.Definimos el encuadre teórico de esta investigación partiendo de una concepción jurídico- contable del patrimonio socio-ambiental, que se conforma con derechos de uso y goce del medioambiente, que tienen valor para sus titulares, junto a las obligaciones con él relacionadas. El valor no es en el sentido económico del término, sino como grado de utilidad, bienestar o deleite que le proporcionan a su titular. Distinguimos el patrimonio socio-ambiental público del privado.Luego organizamos una búsqueda bibliográfica. Como la Antropología aborda específicamente el patrimonio cultural con una perspectiva diferente, siendo la cultura y el hombre el eje central de su objeto de estudio, incluimos su perspectiva.Posteriormente seleccionamos definiciones y conceptos relacionados, entendidos como relevantes a los fines de la conceptualización del patrimonio socio-ambiental en sentido amplio y específicamente del patrimonio cultural. Finalmente, realizamos un análisis crítico y comparativo de sus contenidos, a partir del cual obtenemos resultados.Todo este proceso lo realizamos incorporando al equipo de trabajo el aporte de una persona versada en el nuevo enfoque, el antropológico. Luego de desarrollar procesos de razonamiento inductivo-deductivo y por analogía, discutimos los resultados. De ello surgen similitudes y diferencias a partir de las cuales inferimos las variables relevantes

Primeros Abordajes Cualitativos respecto de las Concepciones de Docentes Contables sobre Evaluación de los Aprendizajes

Nowadays, teachers in high education seem to be demanded not only to know how to transmit specialized knowledge, but also to develop specific pedagogical knowledge and skills to meet the new roles as facilitators, communicators, guiders and servers of the future professional development of students.Faced with this reality, in an institution of higher education with a primarily professionalist training (Faculty of Economic Sciences of the National University of La Plata, FCE-UNLP), it is necessary to promote teaching practices and skills to improve the quality and performance of their work. This involves encouraging discussion and reflection of our own teachers with the aim of promoting in them a shared vision of what, how and when to incorporate knowledge that is related to the teaching-learning process, beyond the specific knowledge that has trained them as economic professionals.Teaching in higher education has often been nurtured by general frameworks from teaching, pedagogy and educational psychology without taking account of the development of conceptual tools to understand the peculiarity of teaching a specific discipline.This work proposes to describe a research into the educational concepts in teaching Economics Sciences. It seeks to contribute to conceptualize a key stage to improve teaching in this particular field and in higher education in general terms: the evaluation of learning.This research is framed in an interdisciplinary project developed by members of the Pedagogical Unit and the Institute of Research and Accounting Studies, accredited and funded by the National University of La Plata2, which focuses on the evaluation, thinking that it is part of the teaching-learning process and is the feedback of the teaching and the learning.In this paper the first approaches of an essentially qualitative research are discussed. It aims to identify the assessment of learning, and the concept that teaching and learning are deeply intertwined. Its purpose is to identify the main teachers´ concepts in the accounting area.In this research the theoretical and conceptual framework is defined because researchers training, their knowledge and experiences guide the work and influence the results. Therefore they should be made explicit.One method to rescue how teachers think and in what knowledge their actions are based that not distort that information is through the narrative of their own experiences. The purpose of including this type of survey is to allow them to make the exercise of discovering the forms of action and their own beliefs underlying in their own story, as well as the discovering for themselves the achievements and accomplishments that often they carry on without recognizing them. Keep in mind that most of the teachers do not have specific pedagogical training.The conceptions of teachers regarding to evaluation, are studied through evidence that is collected by semi-structured interviews, which are then supplemented by surveys, discussion groups that promote reflection on the practices, and the analysis of specific assessment tools used by the accounting chairs.Professors and heads of teaching assistants of the accounting area were selected as key informants because within the organizational structure of the faculty, they are who share their culture, and especially those who define in each accounting chair, the form, content and timing of theoretical an practical evaluations, within the framework of regulations.Interviews allow not only gather information, but simultaneously and in dialogue with the other, joint best practices assessment by an interactive mode between the gathered information and the reflection among the various actors involved in the research. In this paper, the results of the analysis of a sample of 12 interviews with key informants are shared.In the analysis of qualitative data it is not always possible to define an overall strategy or procedure, but it starts during the fieldwork (Rodríguez Gómez, Gil Flores and García Jiménez, 1996). In this case the process was performed with a degree of systematization. It covered the following tasks defined by the aforementioned authors: data reduction, disposal and processing them in a matrix of double entry, and getting results. Thus, their common features and trends are selected in order to identify some core concepts and relevant issues conceptions of evaluation. These results certainly will provide some evidence as a basis for designing surveys.We expect that this research will promote the definition of concepts and new practices that improve the quality of evaluation in accounting subjects, especially make teachers more sensitive to this subject area, allowing them to become aware of the implicit knowledge they have and assess themselves in the practices they use, recognizing whether they are relevant or need to be revised based on that they do focus on real student learning and not just in the accreditation of knowledge taught. Thus teachers will redefine their role and practices in terms of more autonomous form, reflective, creative, etc., that will prepare students to meet and deal with the constant change and complexity and uncertainty of their professional future.--------------------------------------------------2 Evaluation in Economic Sciences: Teacher´s Concepts and Practices. A Model for Best Practices. Accredited to and funded by the National University of La Plata for the period 01.01.2014 to 31.12.2015.    El contexto actual parece demandar a las instituciones educativas que los docentes no sólo sepan transmitir conocimiento especializado, sino que también desarrollen conocimientos pedagógicos y habilidades específicas que les permitan cumplir los nuevos roles de facilitadores, comunicadores, guías y servidores del futuro desarrollo profesional de los alumnos.Frente a esta realidad, y situados en una institución de educación superior con una formación fundamentalmente profesionalista (Facultad de Ciencias Económicas de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, FCE-UNLP), resulta necesario promover entre los docentes prácticas pedagógicas y habilidades que mejoren la calidad y desempeño de su labor. Esto implica fomentar el debate y reflexión de nuestros propios docentes con el objetivo de promover en ellos una visión compartida de qué, cómo y cuándo incorporar saberes que tienen relación con el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje, más allá del conocimiento específico que los formó como profesionales de las ciencias económicas.La enseñanza en la educación superior frecuentemente se ha nutrido de marcos generales provenientes de la didáctica, la pedagogía y la psicología educacional dejando pendiente el desarrollo de herramientas conceptuales que permitan entender la particularidad de la enseñanza de una disciplina específica.Este trabajo se propone describir una investigación sobre las concepciones docentes en la enseñanza de las ciencias económicas. El mismo busca contribuir a lograr una conceptualización de una faceta clave para la mejora de la enseñanza de este campo en particular y en la educación superior, en general: la evaluación de los aprendizajes.Esta investigación está enmarcada en un proyecto interdisciplinario desarrollado por integrantes de la Unidad Pedagógica y del Instituto de Investigaciones y Estudios Contables, acreditado y financiado por la Universidad Nacional de La Plata1, que se centra en la evaluación, pensando que la misma forma parte del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje y es la retroalimentación del enseñar y aprender.En el presente trabajo se comentan los primeros abordajes de una investigación cualitativa cuya finalidad es identificar los principales rasgos y concepciones de los docentes del área contable respecto de la evaluación del aprendizaje, con la concepción que el enseñar y el aprender están profundamente interrelacionados.En ella se define el marco teórico-conceptual desde el que se parte, pues la formación de los investigadores, sus conocimientos y experiencias, orientan y guían el trabajo e influyen en sus resultados. Por ello deben explicitarse. Una  de  las  modalidades  para  rescatar  cómo  piensan  los  docentes  y  qué conocimientos fundamentan sus actuaciones que no distorsione esa información, es a través de la narrativa de las propias experiencias. El propósito de incluir este tipo de relevamiento es que permite además, realizar con los docentes el ejercicio de descubrir en su propio relato las formas de acción y las propias creencias que subyacen, a la vez que descubran por sí mismos los logros y las realizaciones que muchas veces llevan adelante sin reconocerlo. Hay que tener en cuenta que gran parte de los docentes no cuentan con formación pedagógica específica.Las concepciones de los docentes referidas a la evaluación, se estudian a través de evidencias, que son recolectadas a través de entrevistas semi-estructuradas, las que luego se complementarán con encuestas, grupos de discusión que promuevan la reflexión sobre las prácticas, así como el análisis de instrumentos concretos de evaluación empleados por las cátedras.Se seleccionaron a profesores titulares y jefes de auxiliares docentes del área contable como informantes claves, porque dentro de la estructura organizativa de la facultad, son las personas que participan de su cultura, y sobre todo las definen en cada cátedra y dentro del marco de la reglamentación vigente, la forma, contenido y momento de las evaluaciones a nivel teórico como a nivel de ejercitación práctica.Las entrevistas permiten no sólo recoger información, sino simultáneamente y en diálogo con el otro, la construcción conjunta de mejores prácticas de evaluación, a partir de una modalidad interactiva entre la información relevada y la reflexión entre los diversos actores participantes de la investigación. En el presente trabajo se comparten los primeros resultados obtenidos del análisis de 12 entrevistas realizadas a informantes claves, sobre un total previsto de 20.En el análisis de datos cualitativos, no siempre es posible definir una estrategia o procedimiento general, pero éste se inicia durante el trabajo de campo (Rodríguez Gómez, Gil Flores & García Jiménez, 1996). En este caso el proceso se realizó con cierto grado de sistematización. Abarcó las siguientes tareas definidas por los autores antes citados: reducción de datos, disposición y transformación de los mismos en una matriz de doble entrada, y obtención de resultados. Así, se seleccionan sus elementos comunes y las tendencias que presentan, con el fin de identificar algunos núcleos y cuestiones relevantes sobre concepciones de la evaluación. Se presentan estos resultados preliminares que seguramente brindarán ciertos indicios que servirán de base para el diseño de las encuestas.Pretendemos que esta investigación promueva la definición de concepciones y de nuevas prácticas que mejoren la calidad de la evaluación en las asignaturas contables, y especialmente sensibilice a los docentes del área con el tema, permitiéndoles tomar conciencia de los saberes implícitos con que cuentan y autoevaluarse en las prácticas que utilizan, reconociendo si son pertinentes o si necesitan ser revisadas en función de que las mismas hagan foco en el real aprendizaje del alumno y no sólo en la acreditación de los conocimientos enseñados. De esta manera los docentes redefinirán su rol y sus prácticas en función de formar alumnos más autónomos, reflexivos, creativos, etc., es decir alumnos preparados para resolver y enfrentar el cambio constante y la complejidad e incertidumbre de su futuro ámbito profesional. --------------------------------------------------1Evaluación en Ciencias Económicas: Prácticas y Concepciones de los Docentes. Un Modelo para las Buenas Prácticas. Acreditado ante y financiado por la Universidad Nacional de La Plata para el período 1-1-2014 al 31-12-2015

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV