61 research outputs found
The architecture of procurement in sustainable and zero-emission neighborhood projects—strategic challenges and new realities
As an intermediate layer located between buildings and cities, neighborhoods are considered critical with regard to the transition to low-carbon cities and zero-emission societies. Sustainable and zero-emission neighborhood (ZEN) projects can be characterized as both complex and multi-organizational. However, there is currently only limited research available concerning collaboration among organizations in relation to ZEN projects. In particular, there is a lack of evidence as to how lead organizations arrange procurement for ZEN projects. Using a case study approach, this paper explores the potential of procurement to serve as a system integrator in ZEN projects. Our findings indicate that system integration by means of procurement in ZEN projects is difficult due to several challenges. Among the identified challenges, the most important are the complex ownership structure, the lack of supporting regulations, and the unclear mandate of the procurement department. In light of these findings, we propose a conceptual model that lead organizations could apply to support the realization of ZEN projects.</p
Repair of PCCP By The Gunnite Method
Repair an affected pipes with mortar coating delaminating using the Gunnite method, where the method applied on the affected pipes which the surface area of affected Coating delaminating reach up to entire pipe body, this method applied on more than 480 affected pipes in Man-Made River Project in desert of Libya
Growth of probiotic bacteria in trypticase phytone yeast medium supplemented with crude polysaccharides from Ganoderma lucidum.
Ganoderma lucidum is a fungus usually used in traditional Chinese medicine. The high value of G. lucidum is related to its polysaccharides content. Crude polysaccharides from G. lucidum (GLCP) were obtained using hot water extraction
method. There is about 0.57 g of GLCP in 1 g crude of G. lucidum. The prebiotic potential of GLCP was tested against
probiotic bacteria namely: Bifidobacterium longum BB536, Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum G4, Lactobacillus
acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei Shirota. The prebiotic potentials were studied in 10 mL basal Trypticase Phytone
Yeast (abbreviated as bTPY) medium (without glucose) supplemented with various concentrations of GLCP (abbreviated
as bTPYglcp) (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0%). bTPY medium supplemented with glucose (abbreviated as bTPYglu) and
inulin (abbreviated bTPYinu) were used as comparison. Viable cell counts of the bacteria and the pH of the medium
were determined during anaerobic incubation period of 0 h, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h at 37 °C. In the presence of
carbohydrate source, cultures showed various degree of growth increment. With regards to the growth supporting
property: bTPYglu, bTPYglu+glcp, bTPYglcp and bTPYinu were ranked first, second, third and fourth respectively.
Interestingly, in bTPYglcp medium, bacterial growth increased with increasing GLCP concentrations when incubated
until 24 h. B. longum BB536 was ranked first (10.53 log cfu/mL) in term of their growth in this medium. Growth of B.
pseudocatenulatum G4 was ranked second with 10.40 log cfu/mL. This study shows that, GLCP could support the
growth of the bacteria tested
Association of calcium concentration with pulse pressure in older women: Data from a large population-based multicentric study
Objective
High arterial pulse pressure is a predictor of cardiovascular morbimortality. Mineral metabolism has been associated with blood pressure regulation. Our objective was to determine which variable among serum calcium, parathyroid hormone and 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations, was associated with pulse pressure among older adults.
Design
Cross-sectional study corresponding to the baseline assessment of the EPIDOS study.
Setting
Five French cities including Amiens, Lyon, Montpellier, Paris and Toulouse.
Participants
Randomized sample of 610 community-dwelling older women (mean age 80.2±3.5 years) using no antihypertensive drugs.
Measurements
Serum calcium, parathyroid hormone and 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations; supine pulse pressure after 15 minutes of rest (hypertension defined as pulse pressure >50mmHg). Age, body mass index, the number of morbidities and of drugs daily taken, diabetes mellitus, dysthyroidy, the use of estrogenic drugs, smoking, alcohol consumption, practice of a regular physical activity, creatinine clearance, and the effects of season and study centers were used as potential confounders.
Results
Hypertensive participants (n=539) had higher calcium concentrations than normotensive ones (94.33±4.12mg/L versus 93.28±3.36mg/L respectively, P=0.040). There were no between-group differences for serum parathyroid hormone and 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations. The multiple logistic regressions examining the serum calcium, parathyroid hormone and 25-hydroxy vitamin D concentrations as predictors of hypertension found an association only with calcium (adjusted odds ratio=1.19, P=0.015), but not with parathyroid hormone (adjusted OR=1.01, P=0.349) or 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration (adjusted OR=0.99, P=0.971).
Conclusion
Increased serum calcium concentration was independently and positively associated with high pulse pressure in our study, possibly due to increased arterial stiffness. Interventions aimed at normalizing calcaemia may be attractive to prevent hypertension and cardiovascular risk in older adults
Analysis of the genetic polymorphism of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and Paracoccidioides cerebriformis "Moore" by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and 28S ribosomal DNA sequencing: Paracoccidioides cerebriformis revisited
Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section
ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum
pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7
TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are
based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi
Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and
Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times
the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls
faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the
branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06
+/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for
anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are
statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final
states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and
missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a
center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to
an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two
complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a
specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic
edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of
dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states
including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and
missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the
standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to
the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a
region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric
extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector
efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM
physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age.
The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2 model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally, greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
Studies of jet quenching using isolated-photon + jet correlations in PbPb and pp collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV
Results from the first study of isolated-photon + jet correlations in
relativistic heavy ion collisions are reported. The analysis uses data from
PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon pair
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 150 inverse microbarns recorded by
the CMS experiment at the LHC. For events containing an isolated photon with
transverse momentum pt(gamma) > 60 GeV and an associated jet with pt(Jet) > 30
GeV, the photon + jet pt imbalance is studied as a function of collision
centrality and compared to pp data and PYTHIA calculations at the same
collision energy. Using the pt(gamma) of the isolated photon as an estimate of
the momentum of the associated parton at production, this measurement allows an
unbiased characterisation of the in-medium parton energy loss. For more central
PbPb collisions, a significant decrease in the ratio pt(Jet)/pt(gamma) relative
to that in the PYTHIA reference is observed. Furthermore, significantly more
pt(gamma) > 60 GeV photons in PbPb are observed not to have an associated
pt(Jet) > 30 GeV jet, compared to the reference. However, no significant
broadening of the photon + jet azimuthal correlation is observed.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
Study of W boson production in PbPb and pp collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV
A measurement is presented of W-boson production in PbPb collisions carried
out at a nucleon-nucleon (NN) centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s[NN]) of 2.76 TeV at
the LHC using the CMS detector. In data corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of 7.3 inverse microbarns, the number of W to mu mu-neutrino decays
is extracted in the region of muon pseudorapidity abs(eta[mu])<2.1 and
transverse momentum pt[mu]>25 GeV. Yields of muons found per unit of
pseudorapidity correspond to (159 +/- 10 (stat.) +/- 12 (syst.)) 10E-8 W(plus)
and (154 +/- 10 (stat.) +/- 12 (syst.)) 10E-8 W(minus) bosons per minimum-bias
PbPb collision. The dependence of W production on the centrality of PbPb
collisions is consistent with a scaling of the yield by the number of
incoherent NN collisions. The yield of W bosons is also studied in a sample of
pp interactions at sqrt(s)= 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity
of 231 inverse nanobarns. The individual W(plus) and W(minus) yields in PbPb
and pp collisions are found to agree, once the neutron and proton content in Pb
nuclei is taken into account. Likewise, the difference observed in the
dependence of the positive and negative muon production on pseudorapidity is
consistent with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
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