Search for an invisibly decaying Higgs boson or dark matter candidates produced in association with a Z boson in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

SCOAP

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

Photoacoustic response in a multivariable dyeing process: Comparison between conventional aqueous and supercritical CO2_2 used for impregnating PET films

Photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy is used to study impregnation of Poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET). Films were produced in conventional aqueous bath (CAB) and supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO$_2$) and impregnated with disperse dyes Blue 79 (DB 79) and Red 60 (DR 60). It was treated in different temperature, concentration and pressure, and PA intensities used as the response in the multivariate method (Factorial Planning – FP). Results pointed out the SC-CO$_2$ process with DB 79 dye as more effective

Optimization of dying variables in PET: Using thermal diffusivity response as a probe in a multivariable algorithm

The conventional process (CP) using aqueous dyeing and the supercritical CO$_2$ (SC-CO$_2$) impregnation were used in the present work to impregnate Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) under several conditions by varying Time, CO$_2$-Pressure, Temperature, Treatment and using fixed dye concentration (2 wt%) and dye color (Blue Samaron).. Samples were prepared following a Factorial Planning Design (FP) of the experiments and the thermal diffusivity ($\alpha$) were the FP response. It was found $\alpha$ in the range 1.0 to $2.0 \times 10^{-3}$ cm$^2$/s, for CP and, from 1.4 to $1.8 \times 10^{-3}$ cm$^2$/s for the SC-CO$_2$ process. The thermal diffusivity increases if compared to virgin PET but, in order to analyze the thermophysical data, we shall analyze the variable effects implicit in the sample using the mains and the multivariable algorithm (MVA). Results contrast with a former photoacoustic work where intensities were used instead and showed that SC-CO$_2$ process is more effective in incorporating dyes than the aqueous impregnation

Non-clinical studies in the process of new drug development - Part II: Good laboratory practice, metabolism, pharmacokinetics, safety and dose translation to clinical studies

The process of drug development involves non-clinical and clinical studies. Non-clinical studies are conducted using different protocols including animal studies, which mostly follow the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations. During the early pre-clinical development process, also known as Go/No-Go decision, a drug candidate needs to pass through several steps, such as determination of drug availability (studies on pharmacokinetics), absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) and preliminary studies that aim to investigate the candidate safety including genotoxicity, mutagenicity, safety pharmacology and general toxicology. These preliminary studies generally do not need to comply with GLP regulations. These studies aim at investigating the drug safety to obtain the first information about its tolerability in different systems that are relevant for further decisions. There are, however, other studies that should be performed according to GLP standards and are mandatory for the safe exposure to humans, such as repeated dose toxicity, genotoxicity and safety pharmacology. These studies must be conducted before the Investigational New Drug (IND) application. The package of non-clinical studies should cover all information needed for the safe transposition of drugs from animals to humans, generally based on the non-observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) obtained from general toxicity studies. After IND approval, other GLP experiments for the evaluation of chronic toxicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, carcinogenicity and genotoxicity, are carried out during the clinical phase of development. However, the necessity of performing such studies depends on the new drug clinical application purpose

Photoacoustic Characterization of PC/PMMA blends doped with Eu(acac)3_3

Samples of PC/PMMA blend having proportion 6/4, 4/6 and 2/8 were doped with acetyl-acetonate of Eu(acac)$_3$ having concentrations of 0-16%. Through Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (PAS) the interaction of Eu$^{3+}$ with the blends was studied using the visible range 200-530 nm, monitoring a wide absorption band from 280 to 320 nm, where results pointed that 2/8 blend presents the highest absorption. Preliminary luminescent emission showed higher emission for lower Eu(acac)$_3$ amounts and suggests that the 2/8 blend as more efficient at 615 nm. In addition, it is presented a study of thermal diffusivity and heat capacity evolution related to the doping amount for all blend proportions. Normalized thermal diffusivity is higher for 2/8 blend ($\alpha_{\rm mean} \sim 5.64 \times 10^{-3}$ cm$^2$s$^{-1}$) and the specific heat was almost constant (c$_{\rm p(mean)}\sim 1.66$ Jg$^{-1}$K$^{-1}$)

Developing a socio-technical evaluation index for tourist destination competitiveness using cognitive mapping and MCDA

The tourism sector has experienced remarkable growth over the past few years. Its relevance to the economy of a wide range of countries has made it the subject of analysis of researchers and tourist destination managers alike; in part, due to the increasing competition among tourist destinations. Interest has thus emerged in the design, development and application of methodologies that might allow the competitiveness of tourist destinations to be evaluated. Notwithstanding, many studies reveal shortfalls with regard to the definition and weighting of evaluation criteria. By combining knowledge- and experience-based techniques (i.e. cognitive mapping and the measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique (MACBETH)), this study follows a socio-technical approach, aiming to create a consistent evaluation index for tourist destinations, as a measure of their competitiveness. Grounded on a real-world application, the results were validated both by a panel of experts and the head of one of the largest travel agencies operating in Portugal, and show that cognitive mapping allows the cause-and-effect relationships between determinants of tourist destination competitiveness to be better understood, while MACBETH introduces realism into the calculation of the respective trade-offs. The limitations and managerial implications of the system created are also discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio