Los páramos y bosques altoandinos del pantano de Monquentiva o pantano de Martos (Guatavita, Cundinamarca, Colombia): caracterización ecológica y estado de conservación

A floral and structural characterization of High Andean Forests and Paramos was conducted in a future protected regional area in the Paramo of Monquentiva (Martos swamp) in the Guatavita municipality (Cundinamarca, Colombia). The largest plant formations differentiated include the High Andean forests of Weinmannia balbisiana and Clusia multiflora that contain forests of Brunellia colombiana y Weinmannia rolotii and forests of Drimys granadensis and Weinmannia tomentosa. In the paramos were characterized the scrublands of Arcytophyllum nitidum-Diplostephium phylicoides and Aragoa abietina-Puya goudotiana, the chuscales of Chusquea tessellata and Aragoa abietina, the frailejonales of Oreobolus goeppingeri-Espeletia grandiflora, Castratella pilloselloides-Espeletia barclayana and Arcytophyllum nitidum- Espeletia argéntea, the pajonales (grasslands) of Paepalanthus columbiensis-Calamagrostis effusa, the peatland with a mosaic of frailejonales, grasslands, scrublands and wetlands. An analysis of the conservation state was carried out using some key ecological attributes based on ranks found for well-conserved ecosystems in nearby protected areas. The seven plant formations associated with the ecosystems, had good conservation statuses, which implies that the protected area is in a desirable state. It is suggested that management actions focus on continuing the decrease in stressors, natural recuperation and participatory monitoring of the process.Se realizó la caracterización florística y de la estructura de los bosques altoandinos y páramos de una futura área protegida regional en el páramo de Monquentiva (pantano de Martos) en el municipio de Guatavita (Cundinamarca, Colombia). Las grandes formaciones diferenciadas incluyen a los bosques altoandinos de Weinmannia balbisiana y Clusia multiflora, que incluye a los bosques de Brunellia colombiana y Weinmannia rolotii y a los bosques de Drimys granadensis y Weinmannia tomentosa. En los páramos se caracterizaron los matorrales de Arcytophyllum nitidum-Diplostephium phylicoides y Aragoa abietina-Puya goudotiana, los chuscales de Chusquea tessellata y Aragoa abietina, los frailejonales de Oreobolus goeppingeri-Espeletia grandiflora, Castratella pilloselloides-Espeletia barclayana y Arcytophyllum nitidum-Espeletia argéntea, los pajonales de Paepalanthus columbiensis-Calamagrostis effusa, la turbera con un mosaico de frailejonales, pajonales, matorrales y humedales. Se realizó un análisis de estado de conservación a partir de algunos atributos ecológicos claves basados en rangos encontrados para algunos ecosistemas bien conservados en áreas protegidas cercanas. Los siete tipos de vegetación asociados a los ecosistemas presentaron un buen estado de conservación, lo cual implica que el área protegida se encuentra en un estado deseable. Se sugiere que las acciones de manejo deberían enfocarse en continuar la disminución de los tensionantes, la recuperación natural y el monitoreo participativo del proceso

Ecological characterization and conservation status of the páramos (moors) and high Andean forests of the Monquentiva and Martos wetlands (Guatavita, Cundinamarca)

A floral and structural characterization of High Andean Forests and Paramos was conducted in a future protected regional area in the Paramo of Monquentiva (Martos swamp) in the Guatavita municipality (Cundinamarca, Colombia). The largest plant formations differentiated include the High Andean forests of Weinmannia balbisiana and Clusia multiflora that contain forests of Brunellia colombiana y Weinmannia rolotii and forests of Drimys granadensis and Weinmannia tomentosa. In the paramos were characterized the scrublands of Arcytophyllum nitidum-Diplostephium phylicoides and Aragoa abietina-Puya goudotiana, the chuscales of Chusquea tessellata and Aragoa abietina, the frailejonales of Oreobolus goeppingeri-Espeletia grandiflora, Castratella pilloselloides-Espeletia barclayana and Arcytophyllum nitidum- Espeletia argéntea, the pajonales (grasslands) of Paepalanthus columbiensis-Calamagrostis effusa, the peatland with a mosaic of frailejonales, grasslands, scrublands and wetlands. An analysis of the conservation state was carried out using some key ecological attributes based on ranks found for well-conserved ecosystems in nearby protected areas. The seven plant formations associated with the ecosystems, had good conservation statuses, which implies that the protected area is in a desirable state. It is suggested that management actions focus on continuing the decrease in stressors, natural recuperation and participatory monitoring of the process

Quality appraisal of clinical guidelines for recurrent urinary tract infections using AGREE II:a systematic review

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Recommendations for preventing and diagnosing recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) tend to vary between clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) because of low-quality scientific evidence, potentially leading to practice variation and suboptimal care. We assessed the quality of existing CPGs for recurrent UTI. METHODS: A systematic search was performed from January 2000 to June 2021 in PubMed and EMBASE for CPGs on recurrent UTI prevention or hospital diagnostics in Dutch, English, and Spanish. Each CPG was assessed by four appraisers in a multidisciplinary review team, using the Appraisal of Guidelines, Research, and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument. RESULTS: We identified and assessed eight CPGs published between 2013 and 2021. The scope and purpose (mean and standard deviation: 67.3 ± 21.8) and clarity of presentation (74.8 ± 17.6) domains scored highly. However, issues with methods, patient participation, conflict of interests, and facilitators and barriers were common and resulted in lower scores for the rigour of development (56.9 ± 25.9), applicability (19.6 ± 23.4), stakeholder involvement (50.4 ± 24.6), and editorial independence (62.1 ± 23.1) domains. Overall, two CPGs were recommended, three were recommended with modifications, and three were not recommended. CONCLUSIONS: Significant room for improvement exists in the quality of CPGs for recurrent UTI, with most displaying serious limitations in the stakeholder involvement, rigour of development, and applicability domains. These aspects must be improved to decrease diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainty. Developers could benefit from using checklists and following guidelines when developing de novo CPGs

Feature selection for chemical sensor arrays using mutual information

We address the problem of feature selection for classifying a diverse set of chemicals using an array of metal oxide sensors. Our aim is to evaluate a filter approach to feature selection with reference to previous work, which used a wrapper approach on the same data set, and established best features and upper bounds on classification performance. We selected feature sets that exhibit the maximal mutual information with the identity of the chemicals. The selected features closely match those found to perform well in the previous study using a wrapper approach to conduct an exhaustive search of all permitted feature combinations. By comparing the classification performance of support vector machines (using features selected by mutual information) with the performance observed in the previous study, we found that while our approach does not always give the maximum possible classification performance, it always selects features that achieve classification performance approaching the optimum obtained by exhaustive search. We performed further classification using the selected feature set with some common classifiers and found that, for the selected features, Bayesian Networks gave the best performance. Finally, we compared the observed classification performances with the performance of classifiers using randomly selected features. We found that the selected features consistently outperformed randomly selected features for all tested classifiers. The mutual information filter approach is therefore a computationally efficient method for selecting near optimal features for chemical sensor arrays

Imaging neutron capture cross sections: i-TED proof-of-concept and future prospects based on Machine-Learning techniques

Babiano-Suárez, V., et al.i-TED is an innovative detection system which exploits Compton imaging techniques to achieve a superior signal-to-background ratio in (n, γ) cross-section measurements using time-of-flight technique. This work presents the first experimental validation of the i-TED apparatus for high-resolution time-of-flight experiments and demonstrates for the first time the concept proposed for background rejection. To this aim, the Au(n, γ) and Fe(n, γ) reactions were studied at CERN n_TOF using an i-TED demonstrator based on three position-sensitive detectors. Two CD detectors were also used to benchmark the performance of i-TED. The i-TED prototype built for this study shows a factor of ∼ 3 higher detection sensitivity than state-of-the-art CD detectors in the 10 keV neutron-energy region of astrophysical interest. This paper explores also the perspectives of further enhancement in performance attainable with the final i-TED array consisting of twenty position-sensitive detectors and new analysis methodologies based on Machine-Learning techniques.This work has been carried out in the framework of a project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Consolidator Grant project HYMNS, with grant agreement No. 681740). The authors acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under grants PID2019-104714GB-C21, FPA2017-83946-C2-1-P, FIS2015-71688-ERC, CSIC for funding PIE-201750I26, and the funding agencies of the participating institutes. We would like to thank the crew at the Electronics Laboratory of IFIC, in particular Manuel Lopez Redondo and Jorge Nácher Arándiga for their excellent and efficient work

Fine synchronization of the CMS muon drift-tube local trigger using cosmic rays

33 páginas, 12 figuras.-- Open Access.-- CMS Collaboration: et al.The CMS experiment uses self-triggering arrays of drift tubes in the barrel muon trigger to perform the identification of the correct bunch crossing. The identification is unique only if the trigger chain is correctly synchronized. In this paper, the synchronization performed during an extended cosmic ray run is described and the results are reported. The random arrival time of cosmic ray muons allowed several synchronization aspects to be studied and a simple method for the fine synchronization of the Drift Tube Local Trigger at LHC to be developed.Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Peer reviewe

Commissioning and performance of the CMS silicon strip tracker with cosmic ray muons

46 páginas, 17 figuras, 8 tablas.-- Open Access.-- CMS Collaboration: et al.During autumn 2008, the Silicon Strip Tracker was operated with the full CMS experiment in a comprehensive test, in the presence of the 3.8 T magnetic field produced by the CMS superconducting solenoid. Cosmic ray muons were detected in the muon chambers and used to trigger the readout of all CMS sub-detectors. About 15 million events with a muon in the tracker were collected. The efficiency of hit and track reconstruction were measured to be higher than 99% and consistent with expectations from Monte Carlo simulation. This article details the commissioning and performance of the Silicon Strip Tracker with cosmic ray muons.Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Peer reviewe

Performance of the CMS Level-1 trigger during commissioning with cosmic ray muons and LHC beams

52 páginas, 25 figuras.-- Open Access.-- CMS Collaboration: et al.The CMS Level-1 trigger was used to select cosmic ray muons and LHC beam events during data-taking runs in 2008, and to estimate the level of detector noise. This paper describes the trigger components used, the algorithms that were executed, and the trigger synchronisation. Using data from extended cosmic ray runs, the muon, electron/photon, and jet triggers have been validated, and their performance evaluated. Efficiencies were found to be high, resolutions were found to be good, and rates as expected.Acknowledge support from: FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTDS (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Peer reviewe

Alignment of the CMS muon system with cosmic-ray and beam-halo muons

43 páginas, 11 figuras, 6 tablas.-- Open Access.-- CMS Collaboration: et al.The CMS muon system has been aligned using cosmic-ray muons collected in 2008 and beam-halo muons from the 2008 LHC circulating beam tests. After alignment, the resolution of the most sensitive coordinate is 80 microns for the relative positions of superlayers in the same barrel chamber and 270 microns for the relative positions of endcap chambers in the same ring structure. The resolution on the position of the central barrel chambers relative to the tracker is comprised between two extreme estimates, 200 and 700 microns, provided by two complementary studies. With minor modifications, the alignment procedures can be applied using muons from LHC collisions, leading to additional significant improvements.Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Peer reviewe

Alignment of the CMS silicon tracker during commissioning with cosmic rays

42 páginas, 15 figuras, 3 tablas.-- Open Access.-- CMS Collaboration: et al.The CMS silicon tracker, consisting of 1440 silicon pixel and 15 148 silicon strip detector modules, has been aligned using more than three million cosmic ray charged particles, with additional information from optical surveys. The positions of the modules were determined with respect to cosmic ray trajectories to an average precision of 3–4 microns RMS in the barrel and 3–14 microns RMS in the endcap in the most sensitive coordinate. The results have been validated by several studies, including laser beam cross-checks, track fit self-consistency, track residuals in overlapping module regions, and track parameter resolution, and are compared with predictions obtained from simulation. Correlated systematic effects have been investigated. The track parameter resolutions obtained with this alignment are close to the design performance.Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Peer reviewe