Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values

Influência da competição catiônica nos valores de fator de retardamento e coeficiente de dispersão-difusão de zinco e cobre no solo Effect of the cationic competition on the retarding factor and dispersion-diffusion coefficient of zinc and copper in soil

Objetivando-se avaliar os efeitos da competição catiônica nos valores do fator de retardamento (f r) e do coeficiente de dispersão-difusão (D) realizaram-se ensaios de mobilidade de metais em colunas de lixiviação submetidas a escoamento permanente e saturado. Foram aplicadas soluções de zinco (700 mg L-1), cobre (200 mg L-1) e de zinco mais cobre, nas mesmas concentrações, para obtenção das respectivas curvas de eluição. Os materiais de solo utilizados foram retirados dos horizontes A, B e C de um Latossolo Vermelho-Amarelo, álico (LVa) e de um Podzólico Vermelho-Amarelo, câmbico fase terraço (PVc) coletados no município de Viçosa, MG. Nos solos estudados em todos os horizontes, o cobre apresentou maiores valores de fator de retardamento que o zinco, indicando apresentar maior interação com a fração sólida do solo. As baixas velocidades de avanço das soluções proporcionaram a obtenção de baixos valores de coeficiente de dispersão-difusão no solo e a competição catiônica diminuiu a capacidade de retenção dos cátions no solo.<br>The effects of the cationic competition on the retarding factor (fr) and the dispersion-diffusion coefficient (D) were evaluated with conducting metal mobility trials in leaching columns submitted to a saturated and steady flow. Solutions of zinc (700 mg L-1), copper (200 mg L-1) and zinc plus copper in the same concentrations, were used to obtain elution curves. Soil materials from the A, B and C horizons of Oxisol (LVa) and of Ultisol (PVc), collected in Viçosa, MG, were used. In all soil materials used, copper presented higher retarding factor values than zinc, which indicates a higher copper-soil interaction. The low velocities of the solutions resulted in low dispersion-diffusion coefficient values. Cationic competition decreased the soil retention capacity for the cations