Architecting new diffraction-resistant light structures and their possible applications in atom guidance

CNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOIn this work we extend the so called frozen wave method in order to obtain new diffraction resistant light structures that can be shaped on demand, with possible applications in atom guidance. The resulting beams and the corresponding optical dipole potentials exhibit a strong resistance to diffraction effects and their longitudinal and transverse intensity patterns can be chosen a priori. Besides the theoretical development, we also present the experimental confirmation of our approach; specifically, by generating three different beam profiles using a spatial light modulator that is addressed by a computer-generated hologram. In addition to its many potential applications in atom guiding, the method developed here can also lead to many new developments in optics and photonics in general. (C) 2016 Optical Society of AmericaIn this work we extend the so called frozen wave method in order to obtain new diffraction resistant light structures that can be shaped on demand, with possible applications in atom guidance. The resulting beams and the corresponding optical dipole potentials exhibit a strong resistance to diffraction effects and their longitudinal and transverse intensity patterns can be chosen a priori. Besides the theoretical development, we also present the experimental confirmation of our approach, specifically, by generating three different beam profiles using a spatial light modulator that is addressed by a computer-generated hologram. In addition to its many potential applications in atom guiding, the method developed here can also lead to many new developments in optics and photonics in general.24222540325408CNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO141977/2013-2, 312376/2013-82015/26444-

Mental Health and Coaching Challenges Facing the COVID-19 Outbreak

On 31th December 2019 an increasing number of pneumonia of unknown aetiology that depend on a new virus, SarsCoV-2, has been registered. The epicentre of the spread of the pathogen has been identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan, but the Coronavirus has reached other neighbouring countries and on January 24th the first cases have been ascertained in Europe, until the World Health Organization declared the state of pandemic. Coaching can be the key to find oneself and therefore to focus more effectively on the actual bonds, affections and investments, at least slightly reducing the need for elsewhere that often characterizes the escape from oneself. In our experience, coaching can stimulate and promote the growth and improvement of personal resources and the potential of each individual in full respect of their uniqueness and their peculiar characteristics, helping to revive the ability to think and dream of a better future. Specifically, in this particularly delicate moment, embarking on a coaching process can make learn resilience, acquire specific skills and discover transversal abilities. Coaching can offer the opportunity to find the motivation and perseverance to adopt functional behaviours to achieve a greater level of well-being. The coaching process can transform this moment of crisis into an opportunity for personal and professional growth, facing uncertainty and change, keeping the course and focus on own objectives, investing to improve himself. The construction of an ethics of collaboration and solidarity, in which everyone renounces something in the name of the common good could be the best way to look forward to the future with less anxiety and to preserve mental and physical health

Microgravity Modifies the Phenotype of Fibroblast and Promotes Remodeling of the Fibroblast–Keratinocyte Interaction in a 3D Co-Culture Model

Microgravity impairs tissue organization and critical pathways involved in the cell– microenvironment interplay, where fibroblasts have a critical role. We exposed dermal fibroblasts to simulated microgravity by means of a Random Positioning Machine (RPM), a device that reproduces conditions of weightlessness. Molecular and structural changes were analyzed and compared to control samples growing in a normal gravity field. Simulated microgravity impairs fibroblast conversion into myofibroblast and inhibits their migratory properties. Consequently, the normal interplay between fibroblasts and keratinocytes were remarkably altered in 3D co-culture experiments, giving rise to several ultra-structural abnormalities. Such phenotypic changes are associated with down-regulation of α-SMA that translocate in the nucleoplasm, altogether with the concomitant modification of the actin-vinculin apparatus. Noticeably, the stress associated with weightlessness induced oxidative damage, which seemed to concur with such modifications. These findings disclose new opportunities to establish antioxidant strategies that counteract the microgravity-induced disruptive effects on fibroblasts and tissue organization

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics

A detailed study is presented of the expected performance of the ATLAS detector. The reconstruction of tracks, leptons, photons, missing energy and jets is investigated, together with the performance of b-tagging and the trigger. The physics potential for a variety of interesting physics processes, within the Standard Model and beyond, is examined. The study comprises a series of notes based on simulations of the detector and physics processes, with particular emphasis given to the data expected from the first years of operation of the LHC at CERN