Cloud flexibility using DIRAC interware

Communities of different locations are running their computing jobs on dedicated infrastructures without the need to worry about software, hardware or even the site where their programs are going to be executed. Nevertheless, this usually implies that they are restricted to use certain types or versions of an Operating System because either their software needs an definite version of a system library or a specific platform is required by the collaboration to which they belong. On this scenario, if a data center wants to service software to incompatible communities, it has to split its physical resources among those communities. This splitting will inevitably lead to an underuse of resources because the data centers are bound to have periods where one or more of its subclusters are idle. It is, in this situation, where Cloud Computing provides the flexibility and reduction in computational cost that data centers are searching for. This paper describes a set of realistic tests that we ran on one of such implementations. The test comprise software from three different HEP communities (Auger, LHCb and QCD phenomelogists) and the Parsec Benchmark Suite running on one or more of three Linux flavors (SL5, Ubuntu 10.04 and Fedora 13). The implemented infrastructure has, at the cloud level, CloudStack that manages the virtual machines (VM) and the hosts on which they run, and, at the user level, the DIRAC framework along with a VM extension that will submit, monitorize and keep track of the user jobs and also requests CloudStack to start or stop the necessary VM's. In this infrastructure, the community software is distributed via the CernVM-FS, which has been proven to be a reliable and scalable software distribution system. With the resulting infrastructure, users are allowed to send their jobs transparently to the Data Center. The main purpose of this system is the creation of flexible cluster, multiplatform with an scalable method for software distribution for several VOs. Users from different communities do not need to care about the installation of the standard software that is available at the nodes, nor the operating system of the host machine, which is transparent to the userThis work was supported by projects FPA2007-66437- C02-01/02 assigned to UB and FPA2010-21885-C02- 01/02 and TIN 2010-17541 USC. FPA2007-66152-C02-01/02 and FPA2010-21816-C02-01/02, assigned to PICS

Physician-Related Variability in the Outcomes of an Invasive Treatment for Neck and Back Pain: A Multi-Level Analysis of Data Gathered in Routine Clinical Practice

[EN] Neuro-reflexotherapy (NRT) is a proven effective, invasive treatment for neck and back pain. To assess physician-related variability in results, data from post-implementation surveillance of 9023 patients treated within the Spanish National Health Service by 12 physicians were analyzed. Separate multi-level logistic regression models were developed for spinal pain (SP), referred pain (RP), and disability. The models included all patient-related variables predicting response to NRT and physician-related variables. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and the Median Odds Ratio (MOR) were calculated. Adjusted MOR (95% CI) was 1.70 (1.47; 2.09) for SP, 1.60 (1.38; 1.99) for RP, and 1.65 (1.42; 2.03) for disability. Adjusted ICC (95%CI) values were 0.08 (0.05; 0.15) for SP, 0.07 (0.03; 0.14) for RP, and 0.08 (0.04; 0.14) for disability. In the sensitivity analysis, in which the 6920 patients treated during the physicians’ training period were excluded, adjusted MOR was 1.38 (1.17; 1.98) for SP, 1.37 (1.12; 2.31) for RP, and 1.25 (1.09; 1.79) for disability, while ICCs were 0.03 (0.01; 0.14) for SP, 0.03 (0.00; 0.19) for RP, and 0.02 (0.00; 0.10) for disability. In conclusion, the variability in results obtained by different NRT-certified specialists is reasonable. This suggests that current training standards are appropriateS

ART-VENA: Retinal Vaseular Caliber Measurement

The size of retinal vascular caliber in eye fundus images is a fundamental diagnosis parameter in the study of systemic vascular pathologies, like arterial hypertension or arteriosclerosis. ART-VENA is a semiautomatic system to measure the retinal vascular caliber. From the medical point of view, its repeatability (coefficients of variation under 1.5%) turns it into a reliable tool to objectify vascular changes which previously depended an the observer’s subjectivity

Molecular detection of Tritrichomonas foetus in bovine samples: a novel real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting EF1-alpha-Tf1 and a comparative study of published PCR techniques

The parasite T. foetus causes trichomonosis in cattle but is generally asymptomatic in males. Thus, many bulls carrying the disease go unnoticed, making the detection of T. foetus in bulls an important aspect for its control. Due to drawbacks posed by its cultivation, PCR is a preferred option for diagnostic laboratories. Most published PCR protocols target the genomic region compring the 18S, 5.8S, and 28S rRNA genes and internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2 (rRNA-ITS region), homologous to that of other Tritrichomonas species. There is minimal information on alternative genetic targets and no comparative studies have been published. We compared a protocol based on the microsatellite TfRE (called H94) and five protocols based on the rRNA-ITS region (called M06, M15, G02, G05, and N02). We also designed and evaluated a novel PCR-based assay on the EF1-alpha-Tf1 gene (called V21). The analytical sensitivity and specificity assays for the PCR protocols were performed according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) directives and the comparative study was performed with a widely used PCR (M06) on clinical samples from 466 breeding bulls. V21 showed a high degree of agreement with our reference M06 (kappa = 0.967), as well as M15 (kappa = 0.958), G05 (kappa = 0.948), and H94 (kappa = 0.986). Protocols H94 and V21 appear to be good approaches for confirming clinical cases in preputial bull samples when genomic regions alternative to rRNA-ITS are required. By contrast, N02 gave false negatives and G02 false positives

Andalusian initial vocational training students: some contributions on their guidance's needs

El artículo presenta los principales resultados obtenidos con la técnica proyectiva-mediadora del fotolenguaje en una investigación2 sobre la orientación del alumnado de Formación Profesional Inicial (FP) en el sistema educativo español (tanto en Programas de Cualificación Profesional Inicial como Ciclos Formativos de Grado Medio y Superior). Se conformaron 9 grupos de estudiantes de FP escolarizados en centros de la provincia de Sevilla con el objetivo de obtener datos discursivos relacionados con sus necesidades de orientación. El análisis de los datos obtenidos ha permitido describir las trayectorias escolares de los estudiantes de los tres niveles de FP en el pasado, la percepción que tienen de su situación actual y sus aspiraciones de cara al futuro. Se han detectado algunas características comunes a los tres niveles como la experiencia escolar problemática, el deseo de continuar la formación y la incertidumbre respecto a los proyectos futuros. La información recogida ha posibilitado establecer dos ámbitos de orientación preferentes para este alumnado: la orientación personal dirigida a recuperar el autoconcepto y la confianza en las propias posibilidades de éxito; y la orientación destinada a ayudarle a construir su proyecto profesional y vital y a elegir adecuadamente la formación necesaria para ello.This paper presents some findings from data collection, by means of Photolanguage technique, which has been conducted among 9 vocational students’ groups located inside vocational institutes of the county of Seville. Data analysis allowed us to outline schooling paths’ features of the three levels of vocational pupils, the actual perception about their present training situation as well as their future Life-study-and-employment expectancies. It was possible to establish some common trends among students, as for example, the problematic schooling experience in the past, the present and widespread wish of continuing vocational training studies, and the uncertainty on the possibilities of personal project’s success. These and others outcomes pointed out to two main guidance delivery actions: the first one might deal with the students’ need to recover positive self-concept, as well as confidence on the possibilities of their own success; the second one is related to support vocational students at their attempts to build up a life-and professional project, and to take a suitable study choice

Adsorptive Capacity, Inhibitory Activity and Processing Techniques for a Copper-MOF Based on the 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoate Ligand

Due to the fast, emerging development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the need for novel, efficient routes to battle these pathogens is crucial; in this scenario, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising materials for combating them effectively. Herein, a novel Cu-MOF—namely 1—that displays the formula [Cu3L2(DMF)2]n (DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) is described, synthesized by the combination of copper(II) and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (H3L)—both having well-known antibacterial properties. The resulting three-dimensional structure motivated us to study the antibacterial activity, adsorptive capacity and processability of the MOF in the form of pellets and membranes as a proof-of-concept to evaluate its future application in devices.This work was developed within the scope of the projects given by the University of the Basque Country (GIU 20/028 Junta de Andalucía (B-FQM-734-UGR20, ProyExcel_00386 and FQM-394), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) (PGC2018-102052-B-C21) and the CICECO−Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020 and UIDP/50011/2020)

Study of the kinematic dependences of Λ 0b production in pp collisions and a measurement of the Λ 0b → Λ +c π − branching fraction

The kinematic dependences of the relative production rates, fΛ0b/fd, of Λ 0b baryons and B 0 mesons are measured using Λ 0b → Λ +c π − and B¯0 →D+π− decays. The measurements use proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb−1 at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, recorded in the forward region with the LHCb experiment. The relative production rates are observed to depend on the transverse momentum, p T, and pseudorapidity, η, of the beauty hadron, in the studied kinematic region 1.5 < p T < 40 GeV/c and 2 < η < 5. Using a previous LHCb measurement of fΛ0b/fd in semileptonic decays, the branching fraction ℬ(Λ 0b → Λ +c π −) = (4.30 ± 0.03 + 0.12− 0.11 ± 0.26 ± 0.21) × 10− 3 is obtained, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, the third is from the previous LHCb measurement of fΛ0b/fd and the fourth is due to the b B¯0 →D+π− branching fraction. This is the most precise measurement of a Λ 0b branching fraction to date.S

Evidence for the decay B+c→J/ψ3π+2π−

Evidence is presented for the decay B + c → J/ψ3π +2π − using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb−1 , collected with the LHCb detector. A signal yield of 32 ± 8 decays is found with a significance of 4.5 standard deviations. The ratio of the branching fraction of the B + c → J/ψ3π +2π − decay to that of the B+ c → J/ψπ+ decay is measured to be B (B+ c → J/ψ3π +2π −) B B + c → J/ψπ+ = 1.74 ± 0.44 ± 0.24, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematicS

Search for the decay D0→π+π−μ+μ−

A search for the D0→π+π−μ+μ− decay, where the muon pair does not originate from a resonance, is performed using proton–proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 recorded by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. No signal is observed and an upper limit on the relative branching fraction with respect to the resonant decay mode D0→π+π− φ(→μ+μ− ), under the assumption of a phase-space model, is found to be B D0→π + π − μ + μ − /B D0→π + π − φ →μ + μ − < 0.96 at 90% confidence level. The upper limit on the absolute branching fraction is evaluated to be B(D0→π+π−μ+μ− ) < 5.5×10−7 at 90% confidence level. This is the most stringent to date.S

Measurement of the Ξ−b and Ω−b baryon lifetimes

Using a data sample of ppcollisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3fb−1, the Ξ−band Ω−bbaryons are reconstructed in the Ξ−b→J/ψΞ−and Ω−b→J/ψΩ−decay modes and their lifetimes measured to be τ Ξ − b = 1.55+0.10 −0.09 (stat)±0.03 (syst) ps, τ Ω − b = 1.54+0.26 −0.21 (stat)± 0.05 (syst) ps. These are the most precise determinations to date. Both measurements are in good agreement with previous experimental results and with theoretical predictionsS