Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

COVAD survey 2 long-term outcomes: unmet need and protocol

Vaccine hesitancy is considered a major barrier to achieving herd immunity against COVID-19. While multiple alternative and synergistic approaches including heterologous vaccination, booster doses, and antiviral drugs have been developed, equitable vaccine uptake remains the foremost strategy to manage pandemic. Although none of the currently approved vaccines are live-attenuated, several reports of disease flares, waning protection, and acute-onset syndromes have emerged as short-term adverse events after vaccination. Hence, scientific literature falls short when discussing potential long-term effects in vulnerable cohorts. The COVAD-2 survey follows on from the baseline COVAD-1 survey with the aim to collect patient-reported data on the long-term safety and tolerability of COVID-19 vaccines in immune modulation. The e-survey has been extensively pilot-tested and validated with translations into multiple languages. Anticipated results will help improve vaccination efforts and reduce the imminent risks of COVID-19 infection, especially in understudied vulnerable groups

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Distant speech processing for smart home: comparison of ASR approaches in scattered microphone network for voice command

International audienceVoice command in multi-room smart homes for assisting people in loss of autonomy in their daily activities faces several challenges, one of them being the distant condition which impacts ASR performance. This paper presents an overview of multiple techniques for fusion of multi-source audio (pre, middle, post fusion) for automatic speech recognition for in-home voice command. The robustness of the models of speech is obtained by adaptation to the environment and to the task. Experiments are based on several publicly available realistic datasets with participants enacting activities of daily life. The corpora were recorded in natural condition, meaning background noise is sporadic, so there is no extensive background noise in the data. The smart home is equipped with one or two microphones in each room, the distance between them being larger than 1 meter. An evaluation of the most suited techniques improves voice command recognition at the decoding level, by using multiple sources and model adaptation. Although Word Error Rate (WER) is between 26% and 40%, Domotic Error Rate (identical to the WER, but at the level of the voice command) is less than 5.8% for deep neural network models , the method using Feature space Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression (fMLLR) with speaker adaptation training and Subspace Gaussian Mixture Model (SGMM) exhibits comparable results

KC 4.1: Rural heritage and urban-rural linkages in the ICOMOS SDGs Policy Guidance

This Knowledge Café aims to provide a discussion platform to contribute to the drafting of a new ICOMOS SDGs Policy Guidance, from the perspective of rural heritage, landscapes and rural-urban linkages. While 50%-plus of global populations are urban dwellers, we tend to forget that the other half dwell in rural places. One of the 7 Priority Actions of the ICOMOS SDGs Working Group in 2018 is the preparation of a consolidated policy statement, as an effective tool for advocacy and communication to wider society and the development world. Based on the need to boost the role of cultural heritage in sustainable development processes, this would be a robust Policy Guidance document, serving to improve the recognition of the role of cultural heritage protection, particularly as defined by SDG 11.4 and the New Urban Agenda. The ICOMOS SDGs Working Group aims to launch this document at the 10th World Urban Forum in 2020 and at the High-Level Political Forum in 2021. The new Policy Guidance aims to emphasize “heritage as a resource, a strategic opportunity”, using the framework of the 3 dimensions of sustainability, economic, social, environmental, and propose adding the 4th dimension of ‘culture’ through an appropriate approach. The document should be based on solid scientific expertise sourced from ICOMOS membership. The Symposium on Rural Heritage: Landscapes and Beyond is a prime opportunity to involve some of this membership, ensuring a diverse and inclusive range of expertise in heritage informs the Policy Guidance. Rural heritage and landscapes, including rural-urban linkages, have great relevance for the intersection of cultural heritage and sustainable development, touching on many SDGs and issues raised in the New Urban Agenda, not to mention the Historic Urban Landscape Recommendation. To cite some examples of this inter-connectedness, the “inter-related categories of continuity and change” addressed during the Symposium, provide the following links: - under ‘Rural Culture’ to SDG 11.4 (change management for tangible rural heritage), SDG 1.5, 2.4, 11.5, 11.b, 13.1 (risk of loss of intangible rural traditions/ practices), SDG 8.9, SDG 12.b (rural cultural tourism), SDG 16.7, 16.a, 17.9, 17.15, 17.17 (identity of people and places); - under ‘Rural economics’ to SDG 1 (poverty eradication), SDG2 (food security), SDG3 (rural agricultural heritage), SDG 8 (improvement of markets and opportunities for rural traditional tools, techniques and rural heritage tourism), SDG 8 (infrastructure, services to small enterprises), SDG 11 (spatial form, territorial policies); - under ‘Rural Environment’ to SDG 6 (water), 13 and 15 (desertification, climate-induced severe weather events, biodiversity, forest management); and - under ‘Rural Society’ to SDG 1 (poverty alleviation) SDG 2 (agriculture), SDG 3.8, 3.c (health services), SDG 16, 17 (bottom-up governance). - Some case studies from ‘Moroccan Rural Heritage’ can be proposed during the session from participants who may have relevant knowledge, to demonstrate these links. The Knowledge Café will feature two speakers, Ege Yildirim and Patricia O’Donnell, giving the conceptual framework of the session, followed by Ilaria Rosetti presenting the method of open discussion, whereby breakout groups (e.g. 3-4 groups of 5-6) can discuss the links of rural heritage issues to the various 17 Goals and Targets under them, concluding with short reporting from each group, to be compiled and disseminated later by the conveners

Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

The genetic make-up of an individual contributes to the susceptibility and response to viral infection. Although environmental, clinical and social factors have a role in the chance of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and the severity of COVID-191,2, host genetics may also be important. Identifying host-specific genetic factors may reveal biological mechanisms of therapeutic relevance and clarify causal relationships of modifiable environmental risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and outcomes. We formed a global network of researchers to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity. Here we describe the results of three genome-wide association meta-analyses that consist of up to 49,562 patients with COVID-19 from 46 studies across 19 countries. We report 13 genome-wide significant loci that are associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection or severe manifestations of COVID-19. Several of these loci correspond to previously documented associations to lung or autoimmune and inflammatory diseases3–7. They also represent potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection. Mendelian randomization analyses support a causal role for smoking and body-mass index for severe COVID-19 although not for type II diabetes. The identification of novel host genetic factors associated with COVID-19 was made possible by the community of human genetics researchers coming together to prioritize the sharing of data, results, resources and analytical frameworks. This working model of international collaboration underscores what is possible for future genetic discoveries in emerging pandemics, or indeed for any complex human disease

Vaccine hesitancy decreases in rheumatic diseases, long-term concerns remain in myositis: a comparative analysis of the COVAD surveys

Objective COVID-19 vaccines have a favorable safety profile in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) such as idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs); however, hesitancy continues to persist among these patients. Therefore, we studied the prevalence, predictors and reasons for hesitancy in patients with IIMs, other AIRDs, non-rheumatic autoimmune diseases (nrAIDs) and healthy controls (HCs), using data from the two international COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) e-surveys. Methods The first and second COVAD patient self-reported e-surveys were circulated from March to December 2021, and February to June 2022 (ongoing). We collected data on demographics, comorbidities, COVID-19 infection and vaccination history, reasons for hesitancy, and patient reported outcomes. Predictors of hesitancy were analysed using regression models in different groups. Results We analysed data from 18 882 (COVAD-1) and 7666 (COVAD-2) respondents. Reassuringly, hesitancy decreased from 2021 (16.5%) to 2022 (5.1%) (OR: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.24, 0.30, P < 0.001). However, concerns/fear over long-term safety had increased (OR: 3.6; 95% CI: 2.9, 4.6, P < 0.01). We noted with concern greater skepticism over vaccine science among patients with IIMs than AIRDs (OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.08, 3.2, P = 0.023) and HCs (OR: 4; 95% CI: 1.9, 8.1, P < 0.001), as well as more long-term safety concerns/fear (IIMs vs AIRDs - OR: 1.9; 95% CI: 1.2, 2.9, P = 0.001; IIMs vs HCs - OR: 5.4 95% CI: 3, 9.6, P < 0.001). Caucasians [OR 4.2 (1.7-10.3)] were likely to be more hesitant, while those with better PROMIS physical health score were less hesitant [OR 0.9 (0.8-0.97)]. Conclusion Vaccine hesitancy has decreased from 2021 to 2022, long-term safety concerns remain among patients with IIMs, particularly in Caucasians and those with poor physical function