Evaluation of the Joint Research Centre's Activities Related to Reference Materials

This report presents an evaluation of the activities of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in the field of reference materials. It addresses all questions in the terms of reference set for this evaluation by the JRC (shown in the annex). It distinguishes those with a peer-review character from those with a more analytical character addressing in turn the current situation and possible developments for the future. It identifies some fundamental issues for theJRC.ADV02 - Adviser for Evaluation and Scientific Integrit

Mechanical and free living comparisons of four generations of the Actigraph activity monitor.

BACKGROUND: More studies include multiple generations of the Actigraph activity monitor. So far no studies have compared the output including the newest generation and investigated the impact on the output of the activity monitor when enabling the low frequency extension (LFE) option. The aims were to study the responses of four generations (AM7164, GT1M, GT3X and GT3X+) of the Actigraph activity monitor in a mechanical setup and a free living environment with and without enabling the LFE option. METHODS: The monitors were oscillated in a mechanical setup using two radii in the frequency range 0.25-3.0 Hz. Following the mechanical study a convenience sample (N = 20) wore three monitors (one AM7164 and two GT3X) for 24 hours. RESULTS: The AM7164 differed from the newer generations across frequencies (p  0.05 for differences between generations) thus attenuated the difference in mean PA (p > 0.05) when the LFE option was enabled. However, it did not attenuate the difference in time spend in vigorous PA and it introduced a difference in time spend in moderate PA (+ 3.0 min (95% CI 0.4 to 5.6)) between the generations. CONCLUSION: We observed significant differences between the AM7164 and the newer Actigraph GT-generations (GT1M, GT3X and GT3X+) in a mechanical setup and in free-living. Enabling the LFE option attenuated the differences in mean PA completely, but induced a bias in the moderate PA intensities.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Benefits realization management a framework for the project benefits identification based on Pereira Problem Solving and Pereira Diamond

The investment decisions are an important concern for organizations. There is a growing pressure to assertively invest on the project initiatives that will deliver the most valuable results for the business strategy. Although this is a clear concern for the organizations, many of them are still not able to identify the benefits that their project initiatives can deliver. This dissertation aims to address the gap between the Benefits Realization Management academic research and the real project management routine in the organizations, focusing on the project benefits identification. The main objective of this study was to explore the steps proposed on the Pereira Problem Solving framework in order to identify the gaps that prevent the project managers from clearly identifying the expected benefits from a project initiative. After interviewing 32 professionals, the results indicate that the main barrier on the benefits identification is the superficial understanding of the project problem. Additionally, results suggest that the organizations under analysis have low level of maturity on the management of its projects benefits. As the main contribution of this research, a new framework was proposed by developing and consolidating existing ones. The Pereira Problem Solving framework was evolved in order to further explore the analysis of the problem impacts. It is believed that the proposed model will help organizations to expand the application of the existing model to the context of the benefits identification, working as a practical tool to guide the management of the projects benefits.As decisões de investimento são uma preocupação importante para as organizações. Há uma crescente pressão para investir assertivamente nas iniciativas de projeto que proporcionarão os resultados de maior valor para a estratégia do negócio. Embora esta seja uma preocupação clara para as organizações, muitas delas ainda não são capazes de identificar os benefícios que seus projetos podem proporcionar. Esta dissertação objetiva abordar a lacuna existente entre a pesquisa acadêmica sobre a Gestão da Realização de Benefícios e a real rotina de gestão de projetos das organizações, a focar na identificação dos benefícios dos projetos. O principal objetivo deste estudo foi explorar as etapas propostas no modelo Pereira Problem Solving, a fim de identificar as lacunas que impedem os gestores de projeto de identificar claramente os benefícios de um projeto. Após entrevistar 32 profissionais, os resultados indicam que a principal barreira no processo de identificação de benefícios é a compreensão superficial do problema de projeto. Ainda, resultados adicionais sugerem que as organizações analisadas apresentam baixo nível de maturidade na gestão dos benefícios de seus projetos. Como principal contribuição desta pesquisa, um novo modelo foi proposto a partir da evolução e consolidação de modelos já existentes. O Pereira Problem Solving foi evoluído a fim de explorar a etapa da análise dos impactos do problema. Acredita-se que o modelo proposto ajudará as organizações a expandir a aplicação do modelo existente para o contexto da identificação de benefícios, de modo a funcionar como uma ferramenta prática para orientar a gestão dos benefícios dos projetos

Annual Report 2011 Operation and Utilisation of the High Flux Reactor

The High Flux Reactor (HFR) at Petten is managed by the Institute for Energy and Transport (IET) of the EC - DG JRC and operated by NRG who are also licence holder and responsible for commercial activities. The HFR operates at 45 MW and is of the tank-in-pool type, light water cooled and moderated. It is one of the most powerful multi-purpose materials testing reactors in the world and one of the world leaders in target irradiation for the production of medical radioisotopes.JRC.F-Institute for Energy and Transport (Petten

Aerobic Exercise during Pregnancy and Presence of Fetal-Maternal Heart Rate Synchronization

It has been shown that short-term direct interaction between maternal and fetal heart rates may take place and that this interaction is affected by the rate of maternal respiration. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of maternal aerobic exercise during pregnancy on the occurrence of fetal-maternal heart rate synchronization.In 40 pregnant women at the 36th week of gestation, 21 of whom exercised regularly, we acquired 18 min. RR interval time series obtained simultaneously in the mothers and their fetuses from magnetocardiographic recordings. The time series of the two groups were examined with respect to their heart rate variability, the maternal respiratory rate and the presence of synchronization epochs as determined on the basis of synchrograms. Surrogate data were used to assess whether the occurrence of synchronization was due to chance.In the original data, we found synchronization occurred less often in pregnancies in which the mothers had exercised regularly. These subjects also displayed higher combined fetal-maternal heart rate variability and lower maternal respiratory rates. Analysis of the surrogate data showed shorter epochs of synchronization and a lack of the phase coordination found between maternal and fetal beat timing in the original data.The results suggest that fetal-maternal heart rate coupling is present but generally weak. Maternal exercise has a damping effect on its occurrence, most likely due to an increase in beat-to-beat differences, higher vagal tone and slower breathing rates

Impact of Risk Factors for Specific Causes of Death in the First and Subsequent Years of Antiretroviral Therapy Among HIV-Infected Patients

Among HIV-infected patients who initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART), patterns of cause-specific death varied by ART duration and were strongly related to age, sex, and transmission risk group. Deaths from non-AIDS malignancies were much more frequent than those from cardiovascular diseas

On Factoring Arbitrary Integers with Known Bits

We study the {\em factoring with known bits problem}, where we are given a composite integer $N=p_1p_2\dots p_r$ and oracle access to the bits of the prime factors $p_i$, $i=1, \dots, r$. Our goal is to find the full factorization of $N$ in polynomial time with a minimal number of calls to the oracle. We present a rigorous algorithm that efficiently factors $N$ given $(1-\frac{1}{r}H_r)\log N$ bits, where $H_r$ denotes the $r^{th}$ harmonic number

Impact of risk factors for specific causes of death in the first and subsequent years of antiretroviral therapy among HIV-infected patients.

BACKGROUND: Patterns of cause-specific mortality in individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) are changing dramatically in the era of antiretroviral therapy (ART). METHODS: Sixteen cohorts from Europe and North America contributed data on adult patients followed from the start of ART. Procedures for coding causes of death were standardized. Estimated hazard ratios (HRs) were adjusted for transmission risk group, sex, age, year of ART initiation, baseline CD4 count, viral load, and AIDS status, before and after the first year of ART. RESULTS: A total of 4237 of 65 121 (6.5%) patients died (median, 4.5 years follow-up). Rates of AIDS death decreased substantially with time since starting ART, but mortality from non-AIDS malignancy increased (rate ratio, 1.04 per year; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-1.1). Higher mortality in men than women during the first year of ART was mostly due to non-AIDS malignancy and liver-related deaths. Associations with age were strongest for cardiovascular disease, heart/vascular, and malignancy deaths. Patients with presumed transmission through injection drug use had higher rates of all causes of death, particularly for liver-related causes (HRs compared with men who have sex with men: 18.1 [95% CI, 6.2-52.7] during the first year of ART and 9.1 [95% CI, 5.8-14.2] thereafter). There was a persistent role of CD4 count at baseline and at 12 months in predicting AIDS, non-AIDS infection, and non-AIDS malignancy deaths. Lack of viral suppression on ART was associated with AIDS, non-AIDS infection, and other causes of death. CONCLUSIONS: Better understanding of patterns of and risk factors for cause-specific mortality in the ART era can aid in development of appropriate care for HIV-infected individuals and inform guidelines for risk factor management

Pathophysiological mechanisms of liver injury in COVID-19

The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) has resulted in a world‐wide pandemic. Disseminated lung injury with the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is the main cause of mortality in COVID‐19. Although liver failure does not seem to occur in the absence of pre‐existing liver disease, hepatic involvement in COVID‐19 may correlate with overall disease severity and serve as a prognostic factor for the development of ARDS. The spectrum of liver injury in COVID‐19 may range from direct infection by SARS‐CoV‐2, indirect involvement by systemic inflammation, hypoxic changes, iatrogenic causes such as drugs and ventilation to exacerbation of underlying liver disease. This concise review discusses the potential pathophysiological mechanisms for SARS‐CoV‐2 hepatic tropism as well as acute and possibly long‐term liver injury in COVID‐19