Searching for squeezed particle-antiparticle correlations in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

Squeezed correlations of particle-antiparticle pairs were predicted to exist if the hadron masses were modified in the hot and dense medium formed in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Although well-established theoretically, they have not yet been observed experimentally. We suggest here a clear method to search for such a signal by analyzing the squeezed correlation functions in terms of measurable quantities. We illustrate this suggestion for simulated phi phi pairs at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) energies.

Searching for leptoquarks in electron-photon collisions

We study the production of composite scalar leptoquarks in eγ colliders, and we show that an e+e- machine operating in its eγ mode is the best way to look for these particles in e+e- collisions, due to the hadronic content of the photon.

How to drag with a worn-out mouse? Searching for social justice through collaboration

We consider what a concern for social justice in terms of social inclusion might mean for teacher education, both practising and prospective, with particular reference to the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in mathematics education taking place at a borderland school. Our discussion proceeds through the following steps: (1) We explore what a borderland position might denote to address what social inclusion might mean. (2) We consider the significance of mathematics education and the use of ICT for processes of social inclusion. (3) We briefly refer to the Interlink Network, as many of our observations emerge as reflections on this project. (4) We present different issues that will be of particular importance with respect to teacher education if we want to establish a mathematics education for social inclusion. These issues concern moving away from the comfort zone, establishing networks, identifying new approaches, moving beyond prototypical research, and getting in contact. This brings us to (5) final considerations, where we return to the notion of social justice. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.

Computational support for the process of software requirement specification

The software industry has become more and more concerned with the appropriate application of activities that composes requirement engineering as a way to improve the quality of its products. In order to support these activities, several computational tools have been available in the market, although it is still possible to find a lack of resources related to some activities. In this context, this paper proposes the inclusion of a module to aid in the requirements specification to a tool called Requirements Elicitation Support Tool. This module allows to specify requirements in accordance with IEEE 830 standard, thus contributing to the documentation of the requirements established for a software system, besides supporting the learning of concepts related to the requirements specification, which improves the skills of users of the tool. © 2012 IEEE.

Use of classification in organizing and searching the web

The traditional characteristics and challenges for organizing and searching information on the World Wide Web are outlined and reviewed. The classification features of two of these methods, such as Google, in the case of automated search engines, and Yahoo! Directory, in the case of subject directories are analyzed. Recent advances in the Semantic Web, particularly the growing application of ontologies and Linked Data are also reviewed. Finally, some problems and prospects related to the use of classification and indexing on the World Wide Web are discussed, emphasizing the need of rethinking the role of classification in the organization of these resources and outlining the possibilities of applying Ranganathan's facet theories of classification.

MicroRNAs targeting the immunomodulatory HLA-G gene: a new survey searching for microRNAs with potential to regulate HLA-G

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

Searching for Elko dark matter spinors at the CERN LHC

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Searching for capture and escape trajectories around Jupiter using its Galilean satellites

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Searching for an invisibly decaying Higgs boson in e+e-, eγ, and γγ collisions

Higgs bosons can have a substantial invisible branching ratio in many extensions of the Standard Model, such as models where the Higgs bosons decay predominantly into light or massless weakly interacting Goldstone bosons. In this work, we examine the production mechanisms and backgrounds for invisibly decaying Higgs bosons at the Next Linear e+e- Collider operating in the modes e+e-, eγ, and γγ. We demonstrate that such machine is much more efficient to survey for invisibly decaying Higgs bosons than the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Searching for resonances in the unbound Be-6 nucleus by using a radioactive Be-7 beam

Knowledge of the He-3(He-3,2p)He-4 reaction is important for understanding stellar burning and solar neutrino production. Previous measurements have found a surprisingly large rise in the cross section at low energies that could be due to a low-energy resonance in the He-3 + He-3 (Be-6) system or electron screening. In the Be-6 nucleus, however, no excited states have been observed above the first 2(+) state at E (x) = 1.67 MeV up to 23 MeV, even though several are expected. The H-2(Be-7,H-3)Be-6 reaction has been studied for the first time to search for resonances in the Be-6 nucleus that may affect our understanding of the He-3(He-3,2p)He-4 reaction. A 100-MeV radioactive Be-7 beam from the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) was used to bombard CD2 targets, and tritons were detected by using the silicon detector array (SIDAR). A combination of reaction mechanisms appears to be necessary to explain the observed triton energy spectrum.

Metacontingencies, Experimentation and Nonhumans: Searching for Conceptual and Methodological Advances

Metacontingency has been described as the functional relation between interlocking behavioral contingencies, plus their direct and immediate effect, called aggregated product, and a selecting event dependent of such effect, called cultural consequence. The metacontingencies analysis enables the discussion of human behavior complexity in social systems. In the present study, we aimed to review and discuss: (a) the importance of basic behavioral processes analysis for the comprehension of social human phenomena; (b) the necessity of constructing and improving metacontingencies experimental models; (c) the current state of metacontingencies experimental investigations in humans; (d) the use of animal models as a way to control the effects of verbal behavior, among other variables, over cultural selection; (e) a concrete and illustrative proposal of an animal model of metacontingencies.

Morphological Homogeneity of Neurons: Searching for Outlier Neuronal Cells

We report a morphology-based approach for the automatic identification of outlier neurons, as well as its application to the NeuroMorpho.org database, with more than 5,000 neurons. Each neuron in a given analysis is represented by a feature vector composed of 20 measurements, which are then projected into a two-dimensional space by applying principal component analysis. Bivariate kernel density estimation is then used to obtain the probability distribution for the group of cells, so that the cells with highest probabilities are understood as archetypes while those with the smallest probabilities are classified as outliers. The potential of the methodology is illustrated in several cases involving uniform cell types as well as cell types for specific animal species. The results provide insights regarding the distribution of cells, yielding single and multi-variate clusters, and they suggest that outlier cells tend to be more planar and tortuous. The proposed methodology can be used in several situations involving one or more categories of cells, as well as for detection of new categories and possible artifacts.

Searching for the first stars with the Gaia mission

Aims. We construct a theoretical model to predict the number of orphan afterglows (OA) from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) triggered by primordial metal-free (Pop III) stars expected to be observed by the Gaia mission. In particular, we consider primordial metal-free stars that were affected by radiation from other stars (Pop III. 2) as a possible target. Methods. We use a semi-analytical approach that includes all relevant feedback effects to construct cosmic star formation history and its connection with the cumulative number of GRBs. The OA events are generated using the Monte Carlo method, and realistic simulations of Gaia's scanning law are performed to derive the observation probability expectation. Results. We show that Gaia can observe up to 2.28 +/- 0.88 off-axis afterglows and 2.78 +/- 1.41 on-axis during the five-year nominal mission. This implies that a nonnegligible percentage of afterglows that may be observed by Gaia (similar to 10%) could have Pop III stars as progenitors.