Results of the NEMO3 experiment

The purpose of the NEMO3 experiment is to detect neutrinoless double beta decay in order to determine the nature of neutrino and its absolute mass. We analysed the 389 effective days of data from the $\sim 7$ kg of $^{100}$Mo and $\sim 1$ kg of $^{82}$Se and obtained the following limits on the half-life for the \bb process: $T_{1/2}(\beta\beta0 \nu) > 4.6 \times 10^{23}$ years (Mo) and $T_{1/2}(\beta \beta 0 \nu) > 1.0 \times 10^{23}$ years (Se). The corresponding limits on the neutrino effective mass are $<$ 0.7 - 2.8 eV (Mo) and $>$ 1.7 - 4.9 eV (Se) at 90% Confident Level. We also performed a detailled analysis on the double beta decay of $^{100}$Mo into the excited states $0^+_1$, $2^+_1$ of $^{100}$Ru. The results are: $T_{1/2}(\beta \beta 2 \nu \to 0^+_1) = 5.7^{+1.3}_{-0.9}(stat)\pm 0.7 (syst) \times 10^{20}$ years, $T_{1/2}(\beta \beta 2 \nu \to 2^+_1) > 1.1 \times 10^{21}$ years, $T_{1/2}(\beta \beta 0 \nu \to 0^+_1) > 8.9 \times 10^{22}$ years, $T_{1/2}(\beta \beta 0 \nu \to 2^+_1) > 1.6 \times 10^{23}$ years.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Proceeding of the Moriond 2006 EW conferenc

KamLAND status and results

International audienc

Atenció a la diversitat d’altes capacitats

El propòsit del treball és el d’analitzar el procés d’aprenentatge dels alumnes actuals a l’educació secundària obligatòria amb altes capacitats. En primer lloc s’estudien les diferents teories sobre la intel·ligència per arribar a una definició d’es d’on es parteix per a determinar les altes capacitat i posteriorment s’estudia la influència de les noves tecnologies en el desenvolupament cognitiu; s’estudia quines habilitats desenvolupen els alumnes, quins talents afavoreixen, i si es podria parlar d’una nova intel·ligència tecnològica. En segon lloc es relaciona la intel·ligència tecnològica amb les altes capacitats; es comparen les característiques d’aprenentatge de les altes capacitats amb les habilitats que les noves tecnologies potencien en els alumnes i es proposa un esbós del que podrien ser les característiques cognitives dels alumnes amb altes capacitats en l’etapa d’educació secundària influenciats cognitivament per les noves tecnologies d’es de sempre. Per últim, es proposa una programació anual per l’assignatura de Tecnologia per al curs de tercer de l’educació secundària obligatòria tenint en compte les necessitats educatives dels alumnes amb altes capacitats d’una manera integradora en una aula ordinària

A new method to improve photometric redshift reconstruction. Applications to the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

In the next decade, the LSST will become a major facility for the astronomical community. However accurately determining the redshifts of the observed galaxies without using spectroscopy is a major challenge. Reconstruction of the redshifts with high resolution and well-understood uncertainties is mandatory for many science goals, including the study of baryonic acoustic oscillations. We investigate different approaches to establish the accuracy that can be reached by the LSST six-band photometry. We construct a realistic mock galaxy catalog, based on the GOODS survey luminosity function, by simulating the expected apparent magnitude distribution for the LSST. To reconstruct the photometric redshifts (photo-z's), we consider a template-fitting method and a neural network method. The photo-z reconstruction from both of these techniques is tested on real CFHTLS data and also on simulated catalogs. We describe a new method to improve photo-z reconstruction that efficiently removes catastrophic outliers via a likelihood ratio statistical test. This test uses the posterior probability functions of the fit parameters and the colors. We show that the photometric redshift accuracy will meet the stringent LSST requirements up to redshift $\sim2.5$ after a selection that is based on the likelihood ratio test or on the apparent magnitude for galaxies with $S/N>5$ in at least 5 bands. The former selection has the advantage of retaining roughly 35% more galaxies for a similar photo-z performance compared to the latter. Photo-z reconstruction using a neural network algorithm is also described. In addition, we utilize the CFHTLS spectro-photometric catalog to outline the possibility of combining the neural network and template-fitting methods. We conclude that the photo-z's will be accurately estimated with the LSST if a Bayesian prior probability and a calibration sample are used.Comment: 19 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Astronomy and Astrophysics, 201

Tuning Synchronization through mobility and limited vision

Màster Oficial en Física Avançada, , Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2016, Tutors: Oleguer Sagarra, Luce Prignano i Albert Díaz-Guilera.In this work we analyse the emergence of synchronization in a population of mobile Integrate-and-Fire oscillators with limited vision. By proposing novel interaction rules among oscillators we bridge phenomenology detected in a variety of previous models. In particular, we explore the effect that the effective asymmetry of interactions have on the non monotonic behaviour observed in the synchronization time of the population as a function of their velocities. We recover non linear features with the same origin as [1] but considering only geometrical interactions, and we study the scaling properties of the model as well as predict the values of the parameters where the different dynamical regimes take place

Estudi d'implantació d'una planta d'energia solar per a ús privat

En el present treball es pretén realitzar la implantació d’una instal·lació de plaques solars als terrenys pròxims d’una masia rural. Tal implantació vol complir la legislació vigent sobre l’emplaçament i integració amb l’entorn. La normativa vigent està definida pel POUM (Pla d’Ordenació Urbanística Municipal) del municipi de Castell – Platja d’Aro i pel Departament de Medi Ambient de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Les tècniques que s’utilitzen per a la realització del projecte són les de topografia clàssica i mesuraments amb GPS. L’estudi inclou: - Un aixecament a escala 1:500 de la zona d’actuació complementada amb cartografia de l’ICC (Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya) a escales 1:1000 i 1:5000. - Observacions amb GPS processades amb estacions permanents de la Xarxa CatNet de l’ICC. - Un estudi d’ombres per tal de calcular les ombres projectades dels elements significatius al llarg de tot un any . - Com demana el departament de Medi Ambient, es realitza un estudi d’impacte mediambiental ja que la zona d’actuació és una zona rural i requereix d’aquest estudi per tal de que pugui ser aprovat. Tal projecte pretén fer sostenibles i autosuficients totes les activitats que es puguin derivar d’una masia rural a nivell energètic

Identification and characterization of an inhibitory fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) molecule, up-regulated in an Apert Syndrome mouse model

AS (Apert syndrome) is a congenital disease composed of skeletal, visceral and neural abnormalities, caused by dominant-acting mutations in FGFR2 [FGF (fibroblast growth factor) receptor 2]. Multiple FGFR2 splice variants are generated through alternative splicing, including PTC (premature termination codon)-containing transcripts that are normally eliminated via the NMD (nonsense-mediated decay) pathway. We have discovered that a soluble truncated FGFR2 molecule encoded by a PTC-containing transcript is up-regulated and persists in tissues of an AS mouse model. We have termed this IIIa–TM as it arises from aberrant splicing of FGFR2 exon 7 (IIIa) into exon 10 [TM (transmembrane domain)]. IIIa–TM is glycosylated and can modulate the binding of FGF1 to FGFR2 molecules in BIAcore-binding assays. We also show that IIIa–TM can negatively regulate FGF signalling in vitro and in vivo. AS phenotypes are thought to result from gain-of-FGFR2 signalling, but our findings suggest that IIIa–TM can contribute to these through a loss-of-FGFR2 function mechanism. Moreover, our findings raise the interesting possibility that FGFR2 signalling may be a regulator of the NMD pathway

Contribution of high energy physics techniques to the medical imaging field

The purpose of this study was to show how advanced concepts of compact, lossless and "Time Of Flight" (TOF) capable electronics similar to those foreseen for the LHC and ILC experiments could be fairly and easily transferred to the medical imaging field through Positron Emission Tomography (PET). As a wish of explanation, the two overriding weaknesses of PET camera readout electronics, namely dead-time and timing resolution, were investigated analytically and with a Monte-Carlo simulator presently dedicated to this task. Results have shown there was room left for count rate enhancement through a huge decrease of the timing resolution well below the nanosecond. The novel electronics scheme suggested for PET in this paper has been partly inspired by the long experience led in High Energy Physics where the latter requirement is compulsory. Its structure entirely pipelined combined to a pixelation of the whole detector should allow dead-times to be suppressed, while the absence of devoted timing channel would remove the preponderant contributions to the timing resolution. To the common solution for timing would substitute an optimal filtering method witch clearly appears as a good candidate as timing resolution of a few tens of picoseconds may be achieved provided the shape of the signal is known and sufficient samples are available with enough accuracy. First investigations have yield encouraging results as a sampling frequency of 50 MHz with a 7 bits precision appears sufficient to ensure the 500ps coincidence timing resolution planed. At this point, there will be a baby step ahead to draw benefice from a TOF implementation to the design and the enormous noise variance enhancement that would come with.Comment: presented at EuroMedIm 2006 : 1st European Conference on Molecular Imaging Technology, Marseille 9-12 May 2006, 6 pp, 4 figures, submitted to NI