Optical spectrum of bottom-up graphene nanoribbons: towards efficient atom-thick excitonic solar cells

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Implementation of an F-statistic all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves in Virgo VSR1 data

We present an implementation of the F-statistic to carry out the first search in data from the Virgo laser interferometric gravitational wave detector for periodic gravitational waves from a priori unknown, isolated rotating neutron stars. We searched a frequency f(0) range from 100 Hz to 1 kHz and the frequency dependent spindown f(1) range from -1.6(f(0)/100 Hz) x 10(-9) Hz s(-1) to zero. A large part of this frequency-spindown space was unexplored by any of the all-sky searches published so far. Our method consisted of a coherent search over two-day periods using the F-statistic, followed by a search for coincidences among the candidates from the two-day segments. We have introduced a number of novel techniques and algorithms that allow the use of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm in the coherent part of the search resulting in a fifty-fold speed-up in computation of the F-statistic with respect to the algorithm used in the other pipelines. No significant gravitational wave signal was found. The sensitivity of the search was estimated by injecting signals into the data. In the most sensitive parts of the detector band more than 90% of signals would have been detected with dimensionless gravitational-wave amplitude greater than 5 x 10(-24).

Search for gravitational radiation from intermediate mass black hole binaries in data from the second LIGO-Virgo joint science run

This paper reports on an unmodeled, all-sky search for gravitational waves from merging intermediate mass black hole binaries (IMBHB). The search was performed on data from the second joint science run of the LIGO and Virgo detectors (July 2009-October 2010) and was sensitive to IMBHBs with a range up to similar to 200 Mpc, averaged over the possible sky positions and inclinations of the binaries with respect to the line of sight. No significant candidate was found. Upper limits on the coalescence-rate density of nonspinning IMBHBs with total masses between 100 and 450 M-circle dot and mass ratios between 0.25 and 1 were placed by combining this analysis with an analogous search performed on data from the first LIGO-Virgo joint science run (November 2005-October 2007). The most stringent limit was set for systems consisting of two 88 M-circle dot black holes and is equal to 0.12 Mpc(-3) Myr(-1) at the 90% confidence level. This paper also presents the first estimate, for the case of an unmodeled analysis, of the impact on the search range of IMBHB spin configurations: the visible volume for IMBHBs with nonspinning components is roughly doubled for a population of IMBHBs with spins aligned with the binary's orbital angular momentum and uniformly distributed in the dimensionless spin parameter up to 0.8, whereas an analogous population with antialigned spins decreases the visible volume by similar to 20%.

First all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from unknown sources in binary systems

We present the first results of an all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from unknown spinning neutron stars in binary systems using LIGO and Virgo data. Using a specially developed analysis program, the TwoSpect algorithm, the search was carried out on data from the sixth LIGO science run and the second and third Virgo science runs. The search covers a range of frequencies from 20 Hz to 520 Hz, a range of orbital periods from 2 to similar to 2,254 h and a frequency-and period-dependent range of frequency modulation depths from 0.277 to 100 mHz. This corresponds to a range of projected semimajor axes of the orbit from similar to 0.6 x 10(-3) ls to similar to 6,500 ls assuming the orbit of the binary is circular. While no plausible candidate gravitational wave events survive the pipeline, upper limits are set on the analyzed data. The most sensitive 95% confidence upper limit obtained on gravitational wave strain is 2.3 x 10(-24) at 217 Hz, assuming the source waves are circularly polarized. Although this search has been optimized for circular binary orbits, the upper limits obtained remain valid for orbital eccentricities as large as 0.9. In addition, upper limits are placed on continuous gravitational wave emission from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1 between 20 Hz and 57.25 Hz.

Multimessenger search for sources of gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos: Initial results for LIGO-Virgo and IceCube

We report the results of a multimessenger search for coincident signals from the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave observatories and the partially completed IceCube high-energy neutrino detector, including periods of joint operation between 2007-2010. These include parts of the 2005-2007 run and the 2009-2010 run for LIGO-Virgo, and IceCube's observation periods with 22, 59 and 79 strings. We find no significant coincident events, and use the search results to derive upper limits on the rate of joint sources for a range of source emission parameters. For the optimistic assumption of gravitational-wave emission energy of 10(-2) M(circle dot)c(2) at similar to 150 Hz with similar to 60 ms duration, and high-energy neutrino emission of 1051 erg comparable to the isotropic gamma-ray energy of gamma-ray bursts, we limit the source rate below 1.6 x 10(-2) Mpc(-3) yr(-1). We also examine how combining information from gravitational waves and neutrinos will aid discovery in the advanced gravitational-wave detector era.

Improved Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from 2009-2010 LIGO and Virgo Data

Gravitational waves from a variety of sources are predicted to superpose to create a stochastic background. This background is expected to contain unique information from throughout the history of the Universe that is unavailable through standard electromagnetic observations, making its study of fundamental importance to understanding the evolution of the Universe. We carry out a search for the stochastic background with the latest data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Consistent with predictions from most stochastic gravitational-wave background models, the data display no evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal. Assuming a gravitational-wave spectrum of Omega(GW)(f) = Omega(alpha)(f/f(ref))(alpha), we place 95% confidence level upper limits on the energy density of the background in each of four frequency bands spanning 41.5-1726 Hz. In the frequency band of 41.5-169.25 Hz for a spectral index of alpha = 0, we constrain the energy density of the stochastic background to be Omega(GW)(f) < 5.6 x 10(-6). For the 600-1000 Hz band, Omega(GW)(f) < 0.14(f/900 Hz)(3), a factor of 2.5 lower than the best previously reported upper limits. We find Omega(GW)(f) < 1.8 x 10(-4) using a spectral index of zero for 170-600 Hz and Omega(GW)(f) < 1.0(f/1300 Hz)(3) for 1000-1726 Hz, bands in which no previous direct limits have been placed. The limits in these four bands are the lowest direct measurements to date on the stochastic background. We discuss the implications of these results in light of the recent claim by the BICEP2 experiment of the possible evidence for inflationary gravitational waves.

Risk factors for facial melasma in women: a case-control study

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Tree cavities used as diurnal roosts by Neotropical bats

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A grafia dos erros de segmentação não-convencional de palavras

Neste trabalho, o foco de nossa reflexão é a grafia dos dados de escrita não-convencional de palavras, como ‘com tinuou’ e ‘ciesconder’. A questão que formulamos é: em que medida os erros de segmentação não-convencional também são resultados de decisões acerca da grafia das palavras? A resposta a essa questão é dada a partir da análise de erros de segmentação de palavras (tanto de hipossegmentação quanto de hipersegmentação) que ocorreram em textos produzidos por alunos que, à época da produção, cursavam a quinta série de uma escola pública da rede estadual de São Paulo. Os dados deste estudo foram extraídos de 107 textos produzidos a partir de uma mesma proposta de produção textual por alunos pertencentes a três turmas de quinta série. No total, foram identificadas 58 ocorrências de segmentação não-convencional, sendo 27 hipossegmentações, 28 hipersegmentações e 3 rasuras (quando há oscilação entre hipossegmentação e hipersegmentação de uma mesma palavra identificável por meio de algum elemento gráfico). Analisamos todas essas ocorrências de segmentação não-convencional, classificando-as como casos de hiper e hipossegmentação, buscando observar em que medida fatores de natureza ortográfica, juntamente com os de natureza prosódica, poderiam ser motivadores dessas grafias não-convencionais. Para fundamentar nossa resposta, ampliamos o conjunto de dados analisados às ocorrências de palavras que não estão ortograficamente corretas quanto à escolha de letras, mas que estão corretas quanto à segmentação convencional, como ‘emtão’. Ao consideramos a grafia das segmentações não-convencionais, observamos que as hipersegmentações de palavras que têm sílabas pretônicas ‘con’ e ‘en’ – como ‘com tinuou’, ‘com migo’, ‘com sigo’, e ‘em bora’, ‘en tão’, ‘em quanto’ – estão em parte motivadas no fato de essas sílabas poderem ser elementos funcionais – grafados como ‘com e ‘em’, respectivamente – e ainda no fato de, possivelmente, haver, por parte do escrevente, a observação de, pelo menos, duas regras ortográficas: uma que prevê que a letra ‘M’ só ocorre diante de ‘P, B’, dentro de palavra, e outra que prevê que a letra ‘M’ é a letra com que se grafam as preposições ‘com’ e ‘em’. Uma outra evidência de que há a formulação, por parte do aluno, de hipóteses conflitantes sobre a decisão quanto à grafia das palavras está no fato de ocorrer, em um mesmo texto, erros ortográficos relacionados à escolha entre ‘M’ e ‘N’, como ‘emtão’ e ‘en tão’. Vale observar que a grafia das nasais, particularmente em contexto de coda, oferece uma complexidade extra aos escreventes, desde o início do processo de alfabetização, como atestam os resultados de Chacon e Berti (2008), quando analisam dados de Educação Infantil. As ocorrências de hipossegmentação que envolvem o clítico ‘se’, como ‘ciesconder’, ‘cecasar’, chamam a atenção por serem grafadas com a letra ‘C’, que apresenta o valor de [s] somente quando seguida das letras ‘I’ e ‘E’, como em ‘cidade’ e ‘cebola’. Tem-se, pois, a consideração, por parte do aluno escrevente, de uma possibilidade de representação do sistema ortográfico. Assim, a flutuação na forma de grafar itens gramaticais pode ser interpretada como evidência de hipóteses do escrevente sobre o que seja palavra na escrita, particularmente, quando em jogo as formas dependentes (nos termos de CÂMARA Jr., 1970) ou os clíticos prosódicos (nos termos de BISOL, 2000). As hipóteses (conflitantes, por vezes) do que seja palavra na escrita – e que buscamos explicitar – são ancoradas, principalmente, em informações prosódicas, sobre o estatuto prosódico do clítico, e informações letradas, que dizem respeito à colocação de espaços em branco indicadores de palavra na escrita (que não se confunde com a palavra fonológica, nem com o grupo clítico) e à escolha de letras relacionadas às convenções ortográficas.

Reconhecimento de cores de objetos e de alimentos de cromaticidades opostas por pintos de corte

The aim of this research was to evaluate, by preference tests, the ability of perception of broiler chicks in the recognition of objects and foods of different colors. The survey was conducted in Brazil and consisted in the conditioning of 60 sexed one-day-old chicks using 30 male chicks and 30 female chicks for three days with blue balls and red food colors chosen for having opposed chromaticities. After the conditioning phase, a preference test was performed, in which the animals were placed individually in the center of an arena test with four options: red food, blue food, red balls and blue balls. Each bird was measured for 10 minutes. Latency to the first peck and the number of pecks, the number of sequential pecks at each object type or food, the total time the bird in each occupied compartment and the first occupied slot were recorded. According to the results, female chicks are less inhibited when in contact with a new situation when compared with males. However, males were able to establish a standard environment in the conditioning phase and opted for the compartment which was closer to that situation, associating the blue color to the ball and red color to the food. Overall, among the types of object colors and between types of food colors, the birds took less time for the decision on the choice of blue food and blue ball, showing a greater attraction, at first, to this color. Between the two ball colors, shorter latency period, greater number of interactions as well as more time spent on site were related to the blue sphere, verifying greater preference for this object. When evaluating the types of food colors, it was observed that the highest averages related to the number of pecks, and sequential pecks occurred with red food. Therefore, it is concluded that the birds recognized the red and blue food object, with the blue color having greater attractiveness for broiler chicks when compared to red.

New LLLT protocol to speed up the bone healing process-histometric and immunohistochemical analysis in rat calvarial bone defect

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Serum DHEA-S increases in dogs naturally infected with Ehrlichia canis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Narrow-band search of continuous gravitational-wave signals from Crab and Vela pulsars in Virgo VSR4 data

In this paper we present the results of a coherent narrow-band search for continuous gravitational-wave signals from the Crab and Vela pulsars conducted on Virgo VSR4 data. In order to take into account a possible small mismatch between the gravitational-wave frequency and two times the star rotation frequency, inferred from measurement of the electromagnetic pulse rate, a range of 0.02 Hz around two times the star rotational frequency has been searched for both the pulsars. No evidence for a signal has been found and 95% confidence level upper limits have been computed assuming both that polarization parameters are completely unknown and that they are known with some uncertainty, as derived from x-ray observations of the pulsar wind torii. For Vela the upper limits are comparable to the spin-down limit, computed assuming that all the observed spin-down is due to the emission of gravitational waves. For Crab the upper limits are about a factor of 2 below the spin-down limit, and represent a significant improvement with respect to past analysis. This is the first time the spin-down limit is significantly overcome in a narrow-band search.