Observation of top-quark pair production in association with a photon and measurement of the t t ¯ γ production cross section in pp collisions at s =7 TeV using the ATLAS detector

A search is performed for top-quark pairs (tt¯) produced together with a photon (γ) with transverse momentum >20 GeV using a sample of tt¯ candidate events in final states with jets, missing transverse momentum, and one isolated electron or muon. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.59 fb−1 of proton--proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. In total 140 and 222 tt¯γ candidate events are observed in the electron and muon channels, to be compared to the expectation of 79±26 and 120±39 non-tt¯γ background events respectively. The production of tt¯γ events is observed with a significance of 5.3 standard deviations away from the null hypothesis. The tt¯γ production cross section times the branching ratio (BR) of the single-lepton decay channel is measured in a fiducial kinematic region within the ATLAS acceptance. The measured value is σfidtt¯γ=63±8(stat.)+17−13(syst.)±1(lumi.) fb per lepton flavor, in good agreement with the leading-order theoretical calculation normalized to the next-to-leading-order theoretical prediction of 48±10 fb.

Search for H→γγ produced in association with top quarks and constraints on the Yukawa coupling between the top quark and the Higgs boson using data taken at 7 TeV and 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is performed for Higgs bosons produced in association with top quarks using the diphoton decay mode of the Higgs boson. Selection requirements are optimized separately for leptonic and fully hadronic final states from the top quark decays. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.5 fb−1 of proton--proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and 20.3 fb−1 at 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess over the background prediction is observed and upper limits are set on the tt¯H production cross section. The observed exclusion upper limit at 95% confidence level is 6.7 times the predicted Standard Model cross section value. In addition, limits are set on the strength of the Yukawa coupling between the top quark and the Higgs boson, taking into account the dependence of the tt¯H and tH cross sections as well as the H→γγ branching fraction on the Yukawa coupling. Lower and upper limits at 95% confidence level are set at −1.3 and +8.0 times the Yukawa coupling strength in the Standard Model.

Os fatores de risco da rendibilidade das ações: análise e evidência empírica em países da Zona Euro

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências Empresariais.

Metabolic engineering with multi-objective optimization of kinetic models

Kinetic models have a great potential for metabolic engineering applications. They can be used for testing which genetic and regulatory modifications can increase the production of metabolites of interest, while simultaneously monitoring other key functions of the host organism. This work presents a methodology for increasing productivity in biotechnological processes exploiting dynamic models. It uses multi-objective dynamic optimization to identify the combination of targets (enzymatic modifications) and the degree of up- or down-regulation that must be performed in order to optimize a set of pre-defined performance metrics subject to process constraints. The capabilities of the approach are demonstrated on a realistic and computationally challenging application: a large-scale metabolic model of Chinese Hamster Ovary cells (CHO), which are used for antibody production in a fed-batch process. The proposed methodology manages to provide a sustained and robust growth in CHO cells, increasing productivity while simultaneously increasing biomass production, product titer, and keeping the concentrations of lactate and ammonia at low values. The approach presented here can be used for optimizing metabolic models by finding the best combination of targets and their optimal level of up/down-regulation. Furthermore, it can accommodate additional trade-offs and constraints with great flexibility.

Contributo para a compreensão das causas de exclusão de ilicitude e da culpa no crime de acesso ilegítimo

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito e Informática