Large pseudoscalar Yukawa couplings in the complex 2HDM

We start by presenting the current status of a complex flavour conserving two-Higgs doublet model. We will focus on some very interesting scenarios where unexpectedly the light Higgs couplings to leptons and to b-quarks can have a large pseudoscalar component with a vanishing scalar component. Predictions for the allowed parameter space at end of the next run with a total collected luminosity of 300 fb(-1) and 3000 fb(-1) are also discussed. These scenarios are not excluded by present data and most probably will survive the next LHC run. However, a measurement of the mixing angle phi(tau), between the scalar and pseudoscalar component of the 125 GeV Higgs, in the decay h -> tau(+)tau(-) will be able to probe many of these scenarios, even with low luminosity. Similarly, a measurement of phi(t) in the vertex (t) over bar th could help to constrain the low tan beta region in the Type I model.

Juggling time concepts: complex metanarrative in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 21 Grams

ABSTRACT - Starting with the explanation of metanarrative as a sort of self-reflexive storytelling (as defended by Kenneth Weaver Hope in his unpublished PhD. thesis), I propose to talk about enunciative practices that stress the telling more than the told. In line with some metaficcional practices applied to cinema, such as the ‘mindfuck’ film (Jonathan Eig, 2003), the ‘psychological puzzle film’ (Elliot Panek, 2003) and the ‘mind-game film’ (Thomas Elsaesser, 2009), I will address the manipulations that a narrative film endures in order to produce a more fruitful and complex experience for the viewer. I will particularly concentrate on the misrepresentation of time as a way to produce a labyrinthine work of fiction where the linear description of events is replaced by a game of time disclosure. The viewer is thus called upon to reconstruct the order of the various situations portrayed in a process that I call ‘temporal mapping’. However, as the viewer attempts to do this, the film, ironically, because of the intricate nature of the plot and the uncertain status of the characters, resists the attempt. There is a sort of teasing taking place between the film and its spectator: an invitation of decoding that is half-denied until the end, where the puzzle is finally solved. I will use three of Alejandro Iñárritu’s films to better convey my point: Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003) and Babel (2006). I will consider Iñárritu’s methods to produce a non-linear storytelling as a way to stress the importance of time and its validity as one of the elements that make up for a metanarrative experience in films. I will focus especially on 21 Grams, which I consider to be a paragon of the labyrinth.

How Complex, Probable, and Predictable is Genetically Driven Red Queen Chaos?

Coevolution between two antagonistic species has been widely studied theoretically for both ecologically- and genetically-driven Red Queen dynamics. A typical outcome of these systems is an oscillatory behavior causing an endless series of one species adaptation and others counter-adaptation. More recently, a mathematical model combining a three-species food chain system with an adaptive dynamics approach revealed genetically driven chaotic Red Queen coevolution. In the present article, we analyze this mathematical model mainly focusing on the impact of species rates of evolution (mutation rates) in the dynamics. Firstly, we analytically proof the boundedness of the trajectories of the chaotic attractor. The complexity of the coupling between the dynamical variables is quantified using observability indices. By using symbolic dynamics theory, we quantify the complexity of genetically driven Red Queen chaos computing the topological entropy of existing one-dimensional iterated maps using Markov partitions. Co-dimensional two bifurcation diagrams are also built from the period ordering of the orbits of the maps. Then, we study the predictability of the Red Queen chaos, found in narrow regions of mutation rates. To extend the previous analyses, we also computed the likeliness of finding chaos in a given region of the parameter space varying other model parameters simultaneously. Such analyses allowed us to compute a mean predictability measure for the system in the explored region of the parameter space. We found that genetically driven Red Queen chaos, although being restricted to small regions of the analyzed parameter space, might be highly unpredictable.

On similarities in infrared spectra of complex drugs

A chromatographic separation of active ingredients of Combivir, Epivir, Kaletra, Norvir, Prezista, Retrovir, Trivizir, Valcyte, and Viramune is performed on thin layer chromatography. The spectra of these nine drugs were recorded using the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. This information is then analyzed by means of the cosine correlation. The comparison of the infrared spectra in the perspective of the adopted similarity measure is possible to visualize with present day computer tools, and the emerging clusters provide additional information about the similarities of the investigated set of complex drugs.

Velocity estimation of moving ships using C-band SLC SAR data

A new algorithm for the velocity vector estimation of moving ships using Single Look Complex (SLC) SAR data in strip map acquisition mode is proposed. The algorithm exploits both amplitude and phase information of the Doppler decompressed data spectrum, with the aim to estimate both the azimuth antenna pattern and the backscattering coefficient as function of the look angle. The antenna pattern estimation provides information about the target velocity; the backscattering coefficient can be used for vessel classification. The range velocity is retrieved in the slow time frequency domain by estimating the antenna pattern effects induced by the target motion, while the azimuth velocity is calculated by the estimated range velocity and the ship orientation. Finally, the algorithm is tested on simulated SAR SLC data.

Análise do comportamento sísmico da barragem de Luzzone: desenvolvimento de um programa de EF3D utilizando uma formulação em deslocamentos e pressões

Trabalho Final de Mestrado elaborado no Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil pelo Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa no âmbito do protocolo entre o ISEL e o LNEC

Two-loop stability of a complex singlet extended Standard Model

Motivated by the dark matter and the baryon asymmetry problems, we analyze a complex singlet extension of the Standard Model with a Z(2) symmetry (which provides a dark matter candidate). After a detailed two-loop calculation of the renormalization group equations for the new scalar sector, we study the radiative stability of the model up to a high energy scale (with the constraint that the 126 GeV Higgs boson found at the LHC is in the spectrum) and find it requires the existence of a new scalar state mixing with the Higgs with a mass larger than 140 GeV. This bound is not very sensitive to the cutoff scale as long as the latter is larger than 10(10) GeV. We then include all experimental and observational constraints/measurements from collider data, from dark matter direct detection experiments, and from the Planck satellite and in addition force stability at least up to the grand unified theory scale, to find that the lower bound is raised to about 170 GeV, while the dark matter particle must be heavier than about 50 GeV.

The Sinemurian ammonites of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal): an example of complex endemic evolutioin

Palaeodiversity 3: 59–87; Stuttgart 30 December 2010

Promotion of gender equality and social inclusion of unemployed groups in Portuguese European Founds Frameworks (1990-2007): overview and critical reflection

Comunicação apresentada no 38º Congresso Mundial do Instituto Internacional de Sociologia, em Budapeste, Hungria, de 26 a 30 de Junho de 2008.

The alternative complex III from Rhodothermus marinus - a prototype of a new family of quinol: electron acceptor oxidoreductase

Dissertation presented to obtain a PhD degree in Biochemistry at the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Energy transduction by respiratory complex I

Dissertation presented to obtain a PhD degree in Biochemistry at the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Análise do sinal cardíaco ECG através da técnica SVD

Este trabalho surge no âmbito da área Electromedicina, uma componente da Engenharia Electrotécnica cada vez mais influente e em permanente desenvolvimento, existindo nela uma constante inovação e tentativa de desenvolvimento e aplicação de novas tecnologias. Este projecto possui como principal objectivo o estudo aprofundado das aplicações da técnica SVD (Singular Value Decomposition), uma poderosa ferramenta matemática que permite a manipulação de sinais através da decomposição de matrizes, ao caso específico do sinal eléctrico obtido através de um electrocardiograma (ECG). Serão discriminados os princípios da operação do sistema eléctrico cardíaco, as principais componentes do sinal ECG (a onda P, o complexo QRS e a onda T) e os fundamentos da técnica SVD. A última fase deste trabalho consistirá na aplicação, em ambiente Matlab, da técnica SVD a sinais ECG concretos, com enfase na sua filtragem, para efeitos de remoção de ruído. De modo verificar as suas vantagens e desvantagens face a outras técnicas, os resultados da filtragem por SVD serão comparados com aqueles obtidos, em condições similares, através da aplicação de um filtro FIR de coeficientes estáticos e de um filtro adaptativo iterativo.

Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC): an unusual potential pathogen in cerebrospinal fluid of AIDS patients

Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is frequently isolated from patients with late complications of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), especially in North America and Europe. However, its isolation from the central nervous system (CNS) has been seldom reported in these countries. MAC infections in AIDS patients in African and Latin American countries are believed to be uncommon. We report the isolation of MAC from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 11 AIDS patients out of 1723 (0.63%) seen at "Centro de Referência e Treinamento - AIDS", São Paulo and discuss the significance of its isolation.

Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) isolated from AIDS patients and the criteria required for its implication in disease

Before the AIDS pandemia, the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) was responsible in most cases for the pneumopathies that attack patients with basic chronic pulmonary diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis36. In 1981, with the advent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), MAC started to represent one of the most frequent bacterial diseases among AIDS patients, with the disseminated form of the disease being the major clinical manifestation of the infection8. Between January 1989 and February 1991, the Section of Mycobacteria of the Adolfo Lutz Institute, São Paulo, isolated MAC from 103 patients by culturing different sterile and no-sterile processed specimens collected from 2304 patients seen at the AIDS Reference and Training Center and/or Emilio Ribas Infectology Institute. Disseminated disease was diagnosed in 29 of those patients on the basis of MAC isolation from blood and/or bone marrow aspirate. The other 74 patients were divided into categories highly (5), moderately (26) and little suggestive of disease (43) according to the criteria of DAVIDSON (1989)10. The various criteria for MAC isolation from sterile and non-sterile specimens are discussed.

Dynamic and interaction of cytochrome c with Pf1 virus

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em BioOrgânica