Observation of piezoelectric response on tungsten doped barium zirconium titanate ceramics

This study describes observation of piezoelectric response of Ba(Zr 0.10Ti 0.90.O3 ceramics modified with tungsten (BZT:2W) by the mixed oxide method. According to X ray diffraction analysis, the ceramics are free of secondary phases. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses reveals the absence of segregates in the grain boundaries indicates the high solubility of WO3 in the BZT matrix. The dielectric permittivity measured at a frequency of 10 KHz was equal to 6500 with dieletric loss of 0.15. A typical hysteresis loop was observed at room temperature. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) analyses reveals that substitution of W6+ by Ti4+ causes distortion in the crystal structure changing lattice parameter. Polarization reversal was investigated by applying dc voltage through a conductive tip during the area scanning. Piezoelectric force microscopy images reveals that in-plane response may not change its sign upon polarization switching, while the out-of-plane response does. Copyright © 2010 American Scientific Publishers.

Experimental observation of infrared spectral enlargement in As 2S3 suspended core microstructured fiber

The development of chalcogenide glasses fibers for application in the infrared wavelength region between 1 and 10 μm is a big opportunity. More particularly, the possibility to generate efficient non linear effects above 2 μm is a real challenge. We present in this work the elaboration and optical characterizations of suspended core microstructured optical fibers elaborated from the As2S3 chalcogenide glass. As an alternative to the stack and draw process a mechanical machining has been used to the elaboration of the preforms. The drawing of these preforms into fibers allows reaching a suspended core geometry, in which a 2.5 μm diameter core is linked to the fiber clad region by three supporting struts. The zero dispersion wavelength is thus shifted towards 2 μm. At 1.55 μm our fibers exhibit a dispersion around -250 ps/nm/km. Their background level of losses is below 0,5 dB/m. By pumping them at 1.55 μm with a ps source, we observe self phase modulation as well as Raman generation. Finally a strong spectral enlargement is obtained with an average output power of - 5 dbm. © 2010 SPIE.

Lidar observation campaign of sugar cane fires and industrial emissions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

Brazil has an important role in the biomass burning, with the detection of approximately 100,000 burning spots in a single year (2007). Most of these spots occur in the southern part of the Amazon basin during the dry season (from August to november) and these emissions reach the southeast of the country, a highly populated region and with serious urban air pollution problems. With the growing demand on biofuels, sugarcane is considerably expanding in the state of São Paulo, being a strong contributor to the bad air quality in this region. In the state of São Paulo, the main land use are pasture and sugarcane crop, that covers around 50% and 10% of the total area, respectively. Despite the aerosol from sugarcane burning having reduced atmospheric residence time, from a few days to some weeks, they might get together with those aerosol which spread over long distances (hundreds to thousands of kilometers). In the period of June through February 2010 a LIDAR observation campaign was carried in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, in order to observe and characterize optically the aerosols from two distinct sources, namely, sugar cane biomass burning and industrial emissions. For this purpose 2 LIDAR systems were available, one mobile and the other placed in a laboratory, both working in the visible (532 nm) and additionally the mobile system had a Raman channel available (607 nm). Also this campaign counted with a SODAR, a meteorological RADAR specially set up to detect aerosol echoes and gas-particle analyzers. To guarantee a good regional coverage 4 distinct sites were available to deploy the instruments, 2 in the near field of biomass burning activities (Rio Claro and Bauru), one for industrial emissions (Cubatão) and others from urban sources (São Paulo). The whole campaign provide the equivalent of 30 days of measurements which allowed us to get aerosol optical properties such as backscattering/extinction coefficients, scatter and LIDAR ratios, those were used to correlate with air quality and meteorological indicators and quantities. In this paper we should focus on the preliminary results of the Raman LIDAR system and its derived aerosol optical quantities. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering.

Attacks by jaguars (Panthera onca) on humans in central Brazil: Report of three cases, with observation of a death

Conflicts between humans and big cats have been known for centuries throughout the world, but have intensified in recent decades. Recently, attacks by Panthera onca on humans in Brazil have been brought to the forefront through exposure in the press and because of the severity of the attacks. We report 3 cases of patients attacked by jaguars in provoked and predatory situations. Two patients survived the attacks and one died. Attack mechanisms and lesions in victims are discussed. The attacks demonstrate a real risk of accidents from jaguars in certain regions, such as the Pantanal and the Amazon. © 2011 Wilderness Medical Society.

Initial analysis from a Lidar observation campaign of sugar cane fires in the central and western portion of the S̃ao Paulo State - Brazil

The central and western portion of the S̃ao Paulo State has large areas of sugar cane plantations, and due to the growing demand for biofuels, the production is increasing every year. During the harvest period some plantation areas are burnt a few hours before the manual cutting, causing significant quantities of biomass burning aerosol to be injected into the atmosphere. During August 2010, a field campaign has been carried out in Ourinhos, situated in the south-western region of S̃ao Paulo State. A 2-channel Raman Lidar system and two meteorological S-Band Doppler Radars are used to indentify and quantify the biomass burning plumes. In addiction, CALIPSO Satellite observations were used to compare the aerosol optical properties detected in that region with those retrieved by Raman Lidar system. Although the campaign yielded 30 days of measurements, this paper will be focusing only one case study, when aerosols released from nearby sugar cane fires were detected by the Lidar system during a CALIPSO overpass. The meteorological radar, installed in Bauru, approximately 110 km northeast from the experimental site, had recorded echoes (dense smoke comprising aerosols) from several fires occurring close to the Raman Lidar system, which also detected an intense load of aerosol in the atmosphere. HYSPLIT model forward trajectories presented a strong indication that both instruments have measured the same air masss parcels, corroborated with the Lidar Ratio values from the 532 nm elastic and 607 nm Raman N2 channel analyses and data retrieved from CALIPSO have indicated the predominance of aerosol from biomass burning sources. © 2011 SPIE.

Observation of a narrow mass state decaying into Υ(1S)+γ in pp̄ collisions at s=1.96 TeV

Using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.3fb -1, we observe a narrow mass state decaying into Υ(1S)+γ, where the Υ(1S) meson is detected by its decay into a pair of oppositely charged muons, and the photon is identified through its conversion into an electron-positron pair. The significance of this observation is 5.6 standard deviations. The mass of the state is centered at 10.551±0.014(stat) ±0.017(syst)GeV/c2, which is consistent with that of the state recently observed by the ATLAS Collaboration. © 2012 American Physical Society.

Observation of long-range, near-side angular correlations in pPb collisions at the LHC

Results on two-particle angular correlations for charged particles emitted in pPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV are presented. The analysis uses two million collisions collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The correlations are studied over a broad range of pseudorapidity, η, and full azimuth, φ, as a function of charged particle multiplicity and particle transverse momentum, pT. In high-multiplicity events, a long-range (2<|δη|<4), near-side (δφ≈0) structure emerges in the two-particle δη-δφ correlation functions. This is the first observation of such correlations in proton-nucleus collisions, resembling the ridge-like correlations seen in high-multiplicity pp collisions at s=7 TeV and in AA collisions over a broad range of center-of-mass energies. The correlation strength exhibits a pronounced maximum in the range of pT=1-1.5 GeV/c and an approximately linear increase with charged particle multiplicity for high-multiplicity events. These observations are qualitatively similar to those in pp collisions when selecting the same observed particle multiplicity, while the overall strength of the correlations is significantly larger in pPb collisions. © 2012 CERN.

Observation of a diffractive contribution to dijet production in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV

The cross section for dijet production in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV is presented as a function of a variable that approximates the fractional momentum loss of the scattered proton in single-diffractive events. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 2.7 nb-1 collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at low instantaneous luminosities, and uses events with jet transverse momentum of at least 20 GeV. The dijet cross section results are compared to the predictions of diffractive and nondiffractive models. The low- data show a significant contribution from diffractive dijet production, observed for the first time at the LHC. The associated rapidity gap survival probability is estimated. © 2013 CERN. Published by the American Physical Society.

Direct in situ observation of the electron-driven synthesis of Ag filaments on α-Ag2 WO4 crystals

In this letter, we report, for the first time, the real-time in situ nucleation and growth of Ag filaments on α-Ag2 WO4 crystals driven by an accelerated electron beam from an electronic microscope under high vacuum. We employed several techniques to characterise the material in depth. By using these techniques combined with first-principles modelling based on density functional theory, a mechanism for the Ag filament formation followed by a subsequent growth process from the nano-to micro-scale was proposed. In general, we have shown that an accelerated electron beam from an electronic microscope under high vacuum enables in situ visualisation of Ag filaments with subnanometer resolution and offers great potential for addressing many fundamental issues in materials science, chemistry, physics and other fields of science.

Observation of a new boson with mass near 125 GeV in pp collisions at √=7 and 8 TeV

A detailed description is reported of the analysis used by the CMS Collaboration in the search for the standard model Higgs boson in pp collisions at the LHC, which led to the observation of a new boson. The data sample corresponds to integrated luminosities up to 5.1 fb-1 at √=7 TeV, and up to 5.3 fb-1 at √ s=8 TeV. The results for five Higgs boson decay modes γγ, ZZ, WW, ττ, and bb, which show a combined local significance of 5 standard deviations near 125 GeV, are reviewed. A fit to the invariant mass of the two high resolution channels, γγ and ZZ → 4ℓ, gives a mass estimate of 125.3 ± 0.4 (stat.) ± 0.5 (syst.) GeV. The measurements are interpreted in the context of the standard model Lagrangian for the scalar Higgs field interacting with fermions and vector bosons. The measured values of the corresponding couplings are compared to the standard model predictions. The hypothesis of custodial symmetry is tested through the measurement of the ratio of the couplings to the W and Z bosons. All the results are consistent, within their uncertainties, with the expectations for a standard model Higgs boson. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the CMS collaboration.

Observation of the Associated Production of a Single Top Quark - and a W Boson in pp Collisions at root s=8 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for exclusive or semi-exclusive gamma gamma production and observation of exclusive and semi-exclusive e(+)e(-) production in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

On observation of the downconversion mechanism in Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped tellurite glass using thermal and optical parameters

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Observation of a peaking structure in the J/psi phi mass spectrum from B-+/- -> J/psi phi K-+/- decays

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Observation of the diphoton decay of the Higgs boson and measurement of its properties

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)