CERN openlab Whitepaper on Future IT Challenges in Scientific Research

This whitepaper describes the major IT challenges in scientific research at CERN and several other European and international research laboratories and projects. Each challenge is exemplified through a set of concrete use cases drawn from the requirements of large-scale scientific programs. The paper is based on contributions from many researchers and IT experts of the participating laboratories and also input from the existing CERN openlab industrial sponsors. The views expressed in this document are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the view of their organisations and/or affiliates

Conservación de la naturaleza en propiedad privada: las Reservas Naturales de la Sociedad Civil en el Valle del Cauca

Natural Reserves of the Civil Society in Colombia plays an important role in the conservation of ecosystems. This paper investigates why the owners of private areas in Valle del Cauca preserve nature in their properties. Explanations among economic rational choice theory, economic theory on reciprocal altruistic behavior and the theory of social psychology on the values of cultural orientation are considered. We found the predominant reasons for the establishment of nature reserves are self-interest and appreciation of the nature by land owners.Las Reservas Naturales de la Sociedad Civil en Colombia cumplen un papel importante en la conservación de ecosistemas. En este trabajo se investiga por qué los  dueños de áreas privadas en el departamento del Valle del Cauca conservan la naturaleza en sus propiedades. Se consideran las explicaciones entre la teoría económica de la elección racional, la teoría económica sobre los comportamientos altruistas y recíprocos, y la teoría de la psicología social sobre los valores de orientación cultural. Las razones predominantes para la conformación de las reservas naturales son el interés propio y la valoración de la naturaleza de sus dueño

La creatividad como forma de identidad y ejercicio de ciudadanía: el caso del postgraffiti

Dentro de los diversos fenómenos socio-urbanos contemporáneos, los que corresponden a la contracultura son algunos de los que tienen mayor impacto y participación específica en la esfera pública. Estas formas de cohabitar un territorio supone, en la mayoría de los casos un rechazo sistemático generalizado, tanto por la irrupción al orden establecido, como por su condición emergente y sus lenguajes novedosos, codificados y transgresores con que se manifiestan. A pesar de que los sectores sociales oficialmente válidos no reconocen de una forma abierta su autenticidad e importancia para el autoconocimiento social y territorial, la permanencia de estas formas subversivas de habitar la ciudad, habla de una fuerza que construye tanto identidades como patrimonio e imaginarios al paso del tiempo. Ejemplo de lo anterior, podría ser el fenómeno graffiti surgido en los años 70 del pasado siglo, que luego de haber sido objeto de persecución policiaca, al paso de los años algunas de éstas obras han llegado a otorgar una suerte de identidad comunitaria o patrimonio urbano insospechado. Este sería el caso de las intervenciones del denominado “padre del graffiti” Taki 183, a quien en la actualidad le dedican homenajes, retrospectivas, exposiciones y hasta la protección o conservación de las pocas intervenciones que aún persisten dentro del Area Metropolitana de Nueva York. Años después se han replicado fenómenos alrededor del mundo como el caso del artista inglés Banksy, que ha llegado a conmocionar tanto a las autoridades como a corredores de arte y ciudadanos de todo el mundo. Estas acciones mas allá de su intención crítica o comunicativa dentro de los espacios de la ciudad, reditúan en el fortalecimiento a las crecientes industrias de materiales, pero también influencian la identidad, la atracción turística de una ciudad, el uso de sus espacios públicos, etc. en las ciudades que los contienen. Sin embargo, una nueva forma de ejercer la creatividad en la esfera pública a partir de las prácticas tradicionales del graffiti antes descrito, ha estado dejando sorpresivos rastros, que invitan a la reflexión ciudadana sobre la forma como se viven las ciudades, poniendo en valor la importancia que pueden llegar a tener los espacios comunes de un territorio con sus potenciales alternativas. La presente colaboración, pretende hacer un análisis de las alternativas creativas que hoy día, pueblan las principales ciudades del mundo, y la manera como estas pueden llegar a hacer ciudad y a realizar el ejercicio de la ciudadanía a partir de una acción creativa al alcance de las masas que se mueven por las ciudades. Así es como el post-graffiti alejado ya del uso de su herramienta por antonomasia; aerosol, plantea nuevas formas de alejarse de su esencia vandálica, para aproximarse a nuevas miradas, pero sobre todo revalorizando los espacios y elementos de la cotidianidad, con un discurso que ve desaparecer la delgada línea que lo separa de poder llegar a ser la próxima página de la historia del arte.Graffiti, afterwards known as postgraffiti, being considered within the various sociocontemporary urban phenomenons, are among those with the greatest impact and participation in the public sphere. Although, it´s authenticity is not officially recognized by the social sector, these subversive ways of being in the city, speak of a force that builds identities both as equity and imaginary over time. Postgraffiti, beyond its critical or communicative intent within the spaces of a city, pay off the strengthening of the growing material industries, but also influence the identity, tourist attraction of the city and the use of public spaces, adding to it a citizenship exercise. Postgraffiti creativity has been leaving surprisive trails that invite the public to reflect on how cities are living, giving value to the common areas and its importance that can have as a territory with potential alternatives. The postgraffti images, expand the communicative potential of the visual language; seen as an expression placed in the contemporary city landscapes or public spaces, take along a sociocultural dimension and community expression.Peer Reviewe

Personal Health Records: Beneficial or Burdensome for Patients and Healthcare Providers?

Personal health records (PHRs) have been mandated to be made available to patients to provide increased access to medical care information, encourage participation in healthcare decision making, and enable correction of errors within medical records. The purpose of this study was to analyze the usefulness of PHRs from the perspectives of patients and providers. The methodology of this qualitative study was a literature review using 34 articles. PHRs are powerful tools for patients and healthcare providers. Better healthcare results and correction of medical records have been shown to be positive outcomes of the use of PHRs. PHRs have also been shown to be difficult for patients to use and understand, and providers had concerns about correct information transferring to the portals and patients eliminating information from the record. Concerns regarding patient understanding of medical records, legal liability, and the response time required of providers were also identified. For the PHR to succeed in the US healthcare system, assurance that the information will be protected, useful, and easily accessed is necessary

Avaliação de clusters baseados em sistemas em um chip para a computação de alto desempenho: uma revisão

High-performance computing systems are the maximum expression in the field of processing for large amounts of data. However, their energy consumption is an aspect of great importance, which was not considered decades ago. Hence, software developers and hardware providers are obligated to approach new challenges to address energy consumption, and costs. Constructing a computational cluster with a large amount of systems on a chip can result in a powerful, ecologic platform, with the capacity to offer sufficient performance for different applications, as long as low costs and minimum energy consumption can be maintained. As a result, energy efficient hardware has an opportunity to impact upon the area of high-performance computing. This article presents a systematic review of the evaluations conducted on clusters of  ystems on a Chip for High-Performance computing in the research setting.Los sistemas de computación de alto desempeño son la máxima expresión en el campo de procesamiento para grandes cantidades de datos. Sin embargo, su consumo de energía es un aspecto de gran importancia que no era tenido en cuenta en décadas pasadas. Por lo tanto, desarrolladores de software y proveedores de hardware están obligados a enfocarse en nuevos retos para abordar el consumo de energía y costos. Construir un clúster informático con una gran cantidad de sistemas en un chip puede dar como resultado una plataforma poderosa, ecológica y capaz de ofrecer el rendimiento suficiente para diferentes aplicaciones, siempre y cuando se puedan mantener bajos costos y el menor consumo de energía posible. Como resultado, el hardware eficiente en el consumo de energía tiene la oportunidad de tener un impacto en el área de la computación de alto desempeño. En este artículo se presenta una revisión sistemática para conocer las evaluaciones realizadas a clústeres de sistemas en un chip para computación de alto desempeño en el ámbito investigativo. Os sistemas de computação de alto desempenho são a máxima expressão no campo de processamento para grandes quantidades de dados. No entanto, seu consumo de energia é um aspecto de grande importância que não era levado em consideração em décadas passadas. Portanto, desenvolvedores de software e provedores de hardware estão obrigados a focar-se em novos desafios para abordar o consumo de energia e  ustos. Construir um cluster informático com uma grande quantidade de sistemas em um chip pode dar como resultado uma plataforma poderosa, ecológica e capaz de oferecer o rendimento suficiente para diferentes aplicações, desde que possam ser mantidos baixos custos e o menor consumo de energia possível. Como resultado, o hardware eficiente no consumo de energia tem a oportunidade de ter um impacto na área da computação de alto desempenho. Neste artigo, apresenta-se uma revisão sistemática para conhecer as avaliações realizadas a clusters de sistemas em um chip para computação de alto desempenho no âmbito investigativo.&nbsp

Japanese quail classified by their permanence in proximity to a high or low density of conspecifics: a search for underpinning variables

Test of sociality in poultry is mainly based on the bird's individual ability to make quick social discriminations. In recent years, a density-related permanence (DRP) test has been developed that enables us to classify young birds (while in groups) according to their individual permanence in proximity to either a high or low density of conspecifics (HD or LD, respectively). Thus, the result of the classification depends not only on the bird's individual response but also on the outcome of the social interactions within the whole group. The birds' performance in DRP was associated with underlying differences in social responses of their individuals. Quails in homogeneous groups of LD residents responded with less compact groups and higher levels of agonistic interactions to the presence of an intruder and showed higher levels of agonistic interactions among cage-mates than the homogeneous groups of HD birds. An acute stressor also induced a higher corticosterone response in the LD birds than in their HD counterparts. The present study addressed the question of whether contrasting DRP performance by Japanese quail can also reflect underlying differences in fearfulness and social reinstatement responses. Thus, LD and HD categorized juvenile birds underwent one of the following tests: tonic immobility (TI), open-field (OF), or a one-way runway. Results showed that HD birds required more inductions and developed shorter responses (P ≤ 0.05) in the TI test and walked more, faster, and greater distances in the OF (P ≤ 0.05) than their LD counterparts. No differences between groups were found in short social reinstatement responses. The present findings suggest that underlying fearfulness is lower in the HD than in the LD birds. A reduced fearfulness could be regarded as an additional favorable trait of the HD-classified quail to cope with environmental challenging situations.Fil: Guzmán, Diego Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias y Tecnología de los Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Kembro, Jackelyn Melissa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias y Tecnología de los Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Marin, Raul Hector. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias y Tecnología de los Alimentos; Argentin

Cultural Heritage Destruction: Experiments with Parchment and Multispectral Imaging

This chapter describes a highly collaborative project in digital humanities, which used tools and expertise from a diverse range of disciplines: medical physics, image science, and conservation. We describe this collaboration through three examples: the use of phantoms taken from medical physics, a historically accurate model of parchment degradation, and a detailed description of the steps taken to run experiments and collect data within a manageable budget. Each example highlights how procedures from a discipline were adapted for the project through collaboration. Whilst conservation focuses on developing methods to best preserve cultural heritage documents, we describe an unusual collaboration between conservation and image science to document through multispectral imaging the deliberate damage of a manuscript. Multispectral imaging has been utilised to examine cultural heritage documents by providing information about their physical properties. However, current digitisation efforts concentrate on recording documents in their current state. In this project, we aimed at recording the process of macroscopic document degradation using multispectral imaging, and the digital recovery of the writing using standard image processing methodologies. This project’s success lay in the intersection of knowledge of the processes of parchment deterioration and the specific processes that occur when a document is imaged: this has permitted us to construct a more successful and informed experiment. The knowledge acquired during the project allows us to address the issues related to the recovery of information from damaged parchment documents, and to determine which research questions can be addressed, and through which imaging methodology

Canonical and Noncanonical Autophagy as Potential Targets for COVID-19

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic necessitates a review of the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular infection by coronaviruses, in order to identify potential therapeutic targets against the associated new disease (COVID-19). Previous studies on its counterparts prove a complex and concomitant interaction between coronaviruses and autophagy. The precise manipulation of this pathway allows these viruses to exploit the autophagy molecular machinery while avoiding its protective apoptotic drift and cellular innate immune responses. In turn, the maneuverability margins of such hijacking appear to be so narrow that the modulation of the autophagy, regardless of whether using inducers or inhibitors (many of which are FDA-approved for the treatment of other diseases), is usually detrimental to viral replication, including SARS-CoV-2. Recent discoveries indicate that these interactions stretch into the still poorly explored noncanonical autophagy pathway, which might play a substantial role in coronavirus replication. Still, some potential therapeutic targets within this pathway, such as RAB9 and its interacting proteins, look promising considering current knowledge. Thus, the combinatory treatment of COVID-19 with drugs affecting both canonical and noncanonical autophagy pathways may be a turning point in the fight against this and other viral infections, which may also imply beneficial prospects of long-term protectionThis research was funded by the FEDER/Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation – State Agency of Research, grant number RTI2018-101969-J-I00CSIC and Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (BIO2016-75549-R AEI/FEDER, UE; PIE Ref. 202020E079; PIE CSIC Ref. 202020E043),European Commission, H2020-SC1-2019 (Improved Vaccination Strategies for Older Adults, ISOLDA_Ref. 848166)and U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (2P01AI060699, 0258-3413/HHSN266200700010C and GM131919). M.B.-P. received a contract from NIH

ANALYSIS OF VANILLIN BY TLC AND HPLC-PDA IN HERBAL MATERIAL AND TINCTURE FROM Vanilla planifolia Jacks ex. Andrews

Vanilla planifolia (Orchidiaceae) is a species that is renowned globally and represents the largest source of vanillin flavoring used in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. This study was carried out to analyze by TLC and HPLC-PDA vanillin in herbal drug and tincture from V. planifolia. The herbal drug was obtained with hydroalcoholic solution under reflux; and a kinetic reaction was performed by TLC. The influences of solvent and herbal drug concentration were studied through an experimental design. The solutions (herbal drug, tincture and standard – vanillin) were prepared and analyzed in HPLC coupled with DAD detector, using wavelength of 280 nm. The total extraction of vanillin was achieved after three extraction cycles, using 1.0 g of herbal material and Ethanol 50% (v/v) as solvent. The method was linear (R2> 0.99) and demonstrated repeatability (RSD < 0.90), intermediate precision (RSD < 1.09), recovery (93.12-113.74%), as well as robustness (RSD < 4.33). The total content of vanillin found was 1.82 g% and 0.21 g% for herbal drug and tincture, respectively. A simple and optimized method for sample preparation by reflux was able to provide the exhaustive extraction of vanillin and does not compromise the reliability of the HPLC-PDA method. The chromatographic procedure was validated to separate and quantify vanillin in herbal material and tincture from pods of V. planifolia