Identification and control of occupational risks in a São Paulo metropolitan region quarry

A mineração de pedra britada é a terceira em movimentação financeira do país, sendo que quase metade da economia desse bem se concentra na região metropolitana de São Paulo. Paralelamente, o setor registrou o maior número de acidentes entre as indústrias extrativas, evidenciando a relevância da preocupação com a saúde e a segurança dos trabalhadores e a importância do controle dos riscos ocupacionais. A partir de 2002, a Norma Regulamentadora 22 (NR-22: Segurança e Saúde Ocupacional na Mineração) tornou obrigatória a elaboração do Programa de Gerenciamento de Risco (PGR), elaborado a partir da identificação e controle dos riscos. Tendo em vista a importância do setor para o Estado, buscou-se, com esse trabalho, avaliar e discutir os riscos presentes nas operações unitárias do processo produtivo de pedra britada em uma mina a céu aberto e propor medidas de controle para elaboração do PGR. Apesar de esse trabalho referir-se a um caso específico, este pode ser estendido a outras minerações do setor, desde que sejam realizadas as considerações relativas às diferenças nos processos produtivos. O desenvolvimento da pesquisa envolveu a identificação dos principais riscos associados às operações de perfuração, desmonte, carregamento e transporte, britagem e peneiramento por meio de medições de campo de alguns agentes e relatórios e registros da empresa. Os resultados obtidos foram decisivos para a determinação das medidas de controle adequadas para a melhoria das condições de saúde e segurança dos trabalhadores.Crushed stone mining is the third largest mining economy in Brazil, where almost half is produced in the Sao Paulo metropolitan region. The segment registers the highest number of accidents among the extractive industries, which justifies the concern with workers’ health and safety and the importance of controlling occupational hazards. Since 2002, the NR-22 Standard (NR-22: Occupational Health and Safety in Mining) makes compulsory the elaboration of a Risk Management Program that identifies risks and establishes control measures. Considering the crushed stone mining industry’s importance to the state, this paper evaluates and discusses the risks identified in unit operations during the production process of crushed stone in an open pit mine in order to propose control measures for the development of the Risk Management Program. Although this study refers to a specific quarry, it can be applied to other mines from the same sector, since some considerations are made regarding differences in manufacturing processes. The research was based on the identification of the main risks associated with drilling, blasting, load & haulage, crushing and screening through field measurements of some hazardous agents, together with company reports. The results contributed to the choice of the appropriate control measures for the improvement of workers’ health and safety conditions

Calidad de leche en tambos familiares del periurbano oeste del área metropolitana de Buenos Aires

Cerca de las grandes ciudades, parte de los sistemas pecuarios se desarrollan en un marco de crianza Agroecológicos (AE), fortaleciendo al sector de la pequeña agricultura, generando alimentos de elevado valor, con trazabilidad. Para conocer las características del producto y generar valor agregado, es necesario determinar calidad composicional, sanitaria y ausencia de residuos de antibióticos, que influyen en la industrialización de la leche. El objetivo fue caracterizar la calidad de leche analizando leche de tanque de 26 productores de Marcos Paz, La Matanza y Gral. Rodríguez. Se llevó a cabo entre junio y diciembre de 2014; por productores, investigadores y extensionistas del INTA. Los resultados demostraron una baja incidencia de mastitis clínicas, ausencia de residuos de antibióticos aunque una elevada flora saprófita. Este tipo de experiencias resultan útiles para detectar dificultades en el proceso de producción de leche, y poner en valor los productos obtenidos en explotaciones lecheras con manejo AE.EEA AMBAFil: Motta, Leonardo Ivan. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. Agencia De Extensión Rural Marcos Paz; ArgentinaFil: Barbano, Pablo Martin. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. Agencia De Extensión Rural Luján; ArgentinaFil: Perez, Raul Alberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Agricultura Familiar Región Pampeana; ArgentinaFil: Cavanna, Facundo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. Agencia De Extensión Rural Marcos Paz; ArgentinaFil: Lavarello Herbin, Agustina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Agricultura Familiar Región Pampeana; ArgentinaFil: Garbaccio, Sergio Gabriel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patobiología; Argentin

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurement of the top quark mass using events with a single reconstructed top quark in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV

Abstract:A measurement of the top quark mass is performed using a data sample en-riched with single top quark events produced in thetchannel. The study is based on proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1, recorded at√s= 13TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016. Candidate events are selectedby requiring an isolated high-momentum lepton (muon or electron) and exactly two jets,of which one is identified as originating from a bottom quark. Multivariate discriminantsare designed to separate the signal from the background. Optimized thresholds are placedon the discriminant outputs to obtain an event sample with high signal purity. The topquark mass is found to be172.13+0.76−0.77GeV, where the uncertainty includes both the sta-tistical and systematic components, reaching sub-GeV precision for the first time in thisevent topology. The masses of the top quark and antiquark are also determined separatelyusing the lepton charge in the final state, from which the mass ratio and difference aredetermined to be0.9952+0.0079−0.0104and0.83+1.79−1.35GeV, respectively. The results are consistentwithCPTinvariance

Observation of tW production in the single-lepton channel in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV

A measurement of the cross section of the associated production of a single top quark and a W boson in final states with a muon or electron and jets in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV is presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36 fb(-1) collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2016. A boosted decision tree is used to separate the tW signal from the dominant t (t) over bar background, whilst the subleading W+jets and multijet backgrounds are constrained using data-based estimates. This result is the first observation of the tW process in final states containing a muon or electron and jets, with a significance exceeding 5 standard deviations. The cross section is determined to be 89 +/- 4 (stat) +/- 12 (syst) pb, consistent with the standard model.Peer reviewe

Search for a heavy Higgs boson decaying into two lighter Higgs bosons in the tau tau bb final state at 13 TeV

A search for a heavy Higgs boson H decaying into the observed Higgs boson h with a mass of 125 GeV and another Higgs boson h(S) is presented. The h and h(S) bosons are required to decay into a pair of tau leptons and a pair of b quarks, respectively. The search uses a sample of proton-proton collisions collected with the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1). Mass ranges of 240-3000 GeV for m(H) and 60-2800 GeV for m(hS) are explored in the search. No signal has been observed. Model independent 95% confidence level upper limits on the product of the production cross section and the branching fractions of the signal process are set with a sensitivity ranging from 125 fb (for m(H) = 240 GeV) to 2.7 fb (for m(H) = 1000 GeV). These limits are compared to maximally allowed products of the production cross section and the branching fractions of the signal process in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model.Peer reviewe

The Helicobacter pylori Genome Project : insights into H. pylori population structure from analysis of a worldwide collection of complete genomes

Helicobacter pylori, a dominant member of the gastric microbiota, shares co-evolutionary history with humans. This has led to the development of genetically distinct H. pylori subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host and with differential gastric disease risk. Here, we provide insights into H. pylori population structure as a part of the Helicobacter pylori Genome Project (HpGP), a multi-disciplinary initiative aimed at elucidating H. pylori pathogenesis and identifying new therapeutic targets. We collected 1011 well-characterized clinical strains from 50 countries and generated high-quality genome sequences. We analysed core genome diversity and population structure of the HpGP dataset and 255 worldwide reference genomes to outline the ancestral contribution to Eurasian, African, and American populations. We found evidence of substantial contribution of population hpNorthAsia and subpopulation hspUral in Northern European H. pylori. The genomes of H. pylori isolated from northern and southern Indigenous Americans differed in that bacteria isolated in northern Indigenous communities were more similar to North Asian H. pylori while the southern had higher relatedness to hpEastAsia. Notably, we also found a highly clonal yet geographically dispersed North American subpopulation, which is negative for the cag pathogenicity island, and present in 7% of sequenced US genomes. We expect the HpGP dataset and the corresponding strains to become a major asset for H. pylori genomics

Identification and control of occupational risks in a Sao Paulo metropolitan region quarry

Crushed stone mining is the third largest mining economy in Brazil, where almost half is produced in the Sao Paulo metropolitan region. The segment registers the highest number of accidents among the extractive industries, which justifies the concern with workers` health and safety, and the importance of controlling occupational hazards. Since 2002, the NR-22 Standard (NR-22: Occupational Health and Safety in Mining) makes compulsory the elaboration of a Risk Management Program that identifies risks and establishes control measures. Considering the crushed stone mining industry importance to the state, this paper evaluates and discusses the risks identified in unit operations during the production process of crushed stone in an open pit mine in order to propose control measures for the development of the Risk Management Program. Although this study refers to a specific quarry, it can be applied to other mines from the same sector since some considerations are made regarding differences in manufacturing processes. The research was based on the identification of the main risks associated with drilling, blasting, load & haulage, crushing and screening through field measurements of some hazardous agents, together with company reports. The results contributed to the choice of the appropriate control measures for the improvement Of workers` health and safety conditions