Using an holistic method based on prior information to represent global and local variations on face images

Faces are familiar objects that can be easily perceived and recognized by ourselves. However, the computational modeling of such apparently natural human ability remains challenging. Recent studies in the literature have suggested that face processing is a cognition task composed of configural (or global) and featural (or local) sources of information, but with controversial arguments about the combination of these two types of information. In this work, we describe an holistic method that combines variance used in Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with some prior knowledge about the underlying visual perception task, including systematically the global and local information in the common multivariate representation of face images. We have showed that, with prior information, important local variations represented by principal components with small eigenvalues may not be discarded augmenting the classification accuracy of the first orthogonal basis vectors. Most interestingly, PCA with prior knowledge provides a specialized feature selection procedure, where the mapping of high-dimensional data into a lower-dimensional space has been able to handle local variations and capture not only the entire facial appearance but also some sample group facial features

Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review

In a meta-analysis, Julianne Holt-Lunstad and colleagues find that individuals' social relationships have as much influence on mortality risk as other well-established risk factors for mortality, such as smoking

O potencial pedagógico da Hora do Conto para o desenvolvimento da Comunicação Oral

O presente relatório é produto de um projeto de investigação que pretendeu caracterizar a adequação e dinamização da hora do conto com a finalidade de promover o desenvolvimento da comunicação oral, implementada numa sala de 3/4 anos e a adequação didática de um processo de intervenção educativa de estratégias para a promoção do desenvolvimento da Oralidade (incidindo na dinamização da hora conto) implementado numa turma de 3.º ano do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico. Tendo consciência da desvalorização que é atribuída à temática em análise, acreditamos que os profissionais de educação se tornam responsáveis pelo desenvolvimento e aperfeiçoamento das capacidades de comunicação das crianças/alunos. Neste sentido, consideramos que foi extremamente importante investir neste domínio e nas competências a ele associado, nas vertentes de compreensão e expressão orais. Para atingir os objetivos delineamos, planificamos, construímos, aplicamos e avaliamos em sala de aula, um conjunto de intervenções educativas adotando como estratégia principal a dinamização da hora do conto. Assim sendo, podemos verificar através dos resultados obtidos, que efetivamente, a hora do conto e a utilização de diferentes estratégias para a dinamização da mesma, contribuíram positivamente para o desenvolvimento das competências orais dos intervenientes, potenciando melhorias, a vários níveis, nomeadamente na vertente de compressão e de expressão oral dos dois grupos de aplicação.This report is the product of a research project that aimed to characterize the adequacy and dynamization of the story time with the purpose of promoting the development of oral communication, implemented in a 3/4 year classroom and the didactic adequacy of a process of educational intervention strategies to promote the development of Orality (focusing on the dynamization of the story time) implemented in a 3rd year class of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education. Being aware of the devaluation that is attributed to the theme under analysis, we believe that education professionals become responsible for the development and improvement of communication skills of children/students. In this sense, we believe that it was extremely important to invest in this field and in the skills associated with it, in the areas of understanding and oral expression. In order to achieve the objectives, we delineate, plan, build, apply and evaluate in the classroom, a set of educational interventions adopting as the main strategy the dynamization of the story time. Therefore, we can verify through the results obtained, that effectively, the story time and the use of different strategies for the dynamization of the tale, contributed positively to the development of the oral skills of the participants, enhancing improvements, at various levels, particularly in the compression and oral expression of the two groups of application. Keywords: Oral Communication; Compression and Oral Expression; Story Time; Pre-School; 1st Cycle of Basic Education

Search for strongly interacting massive particles generating trackless jets in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

A search for dark matter in the form of strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) using the CMS detector at the LHC is presented. The SIMPs would be produced in pairs that manifest themselves as pairs of jets without tracks. The energy fraction of jets carried by charged particles is used as a key discriminator to suppress efficiently the large multijet background, and the remaining background is estimated directly from data. The search is performed using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 16.1 fb - 1 , collected with the CMS detector in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected background. For the simplified dark matter model under consideration, SIMPs with masses up to 100 GeV are excluded and further sensitivity is explored towards higher masses

Evidence for Top Quark Production in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

Peer reviewe

Search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

A search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks is performed in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The analyzed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The signal is characterized by a large missing transverse momentum recoiling against a bottom quark-antiquark system that has a large Lorentz boost. The number of events observed in the data is consistent with the standard model background prediction. Results are interpreted in terms of limits both on parameters of the type-2 two-Higgs doublet model extended by an additional light pseudoscalar boson a (2HDM+a) and on parameters of a baryonic Z simplified model. The 2HDM+a model is tested experimentally for the first time. For the baryonic Z model, the presented results constitute the most stringent constraints to date.Peer reviewe

Observation of the B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi Decay

Using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment in 2016-2018, the B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi decay is observed. Decays into J/psi pi(+)pi(-) and K+K- are used to reconstruct, respectively, the X(3872) and phi. The ratio of the product of branching fractions B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]B[X(3872) -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-)] to the product B[B-s(0) ->psi(2S)phi]B[psi(2S) -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-)] is measured to be [2.21 +/- 0.29(stat) +/- 0.17(syst)]%. The ratio B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]/B[B-0 -> X(3872)K-0] is found to be consistent with one, while the ratio B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]/B[B+-> X(3872)K+] is two times smaller. This suggests a difference in the production dynamics of the X(3872) in B-0 and B(0)s meson decays compared to B+. The reported observation may shed new light on the nature of the X(3872) particle.Peer reviewe

Observation of a New Excited Beauty Strange Baryon Decaying to Ξb- π+π-

The Ξb-π+π- invariant mass spectrum is investigated with an event sample of proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016-2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb-1. The ground state Ξb- is reconstructed via its decays to J/ψΞ- and J/ψΛK-. A narrow resonance, labeled Ξb(6100)-, is observed at a Ξb-π+π- invariant mass of 6100.3±0.2(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.6(Ξb-) MeV, where the last uncertainty reflects the precision of the Ξb- baryon mass. The upper limit on the Ξb(6100)- natural width is determined to be 1.9 MeV at 95% confidence level. The low Ξb(6100)- signal yield observed in data does not allow a measurement of the quantum numbers of the new state. However, following analogies with the established excited Ξc baryon states, the new Ξb(6100)- resonance and its decay sequence are consistent with the orbitally excited Ξb- baryon, with spin and parity quantum numbers JP=3/2-

Measurement of the inclusive and differential Higgs boson production cross sections in the decay mode to a pair of τ Leptons in pp collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV

Measurements of the inclusive and differential fiducial cross sections of the Higgs boson are presented, using the τ lepton decay channel. The differential cross sections are measured as functions of the Higgs boson transverse momentum, jet multiplicity, and transverse momentum of the leading jet in the event, if any. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13  TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138  fb^{-1}. These are the first differential measurements of the Higgs boson cross section in the final state of two τ leptons. In final states with a large jet multiplicity or with a Lorentz-boosted Higgs boson, these measurements constitute a significant improvement over measurements performed in other final states