Rare Decays in LHCb

The rare B decays Bs(d)-->\mu\mu, B-->K*\mu\mu and Bs-->\phi\gamma are studied using up to \sim 0.41 fb^{-1} of pp collisions at \sqrt{s} = 7 TeV collected by the \lhcb experiment in 2010 and 2011. A search for the decays Bs(d)-->\mu\mu, is performed with 0.41 fb^{-1} . The absence of significant signal leads to BR(Bs-->\mu\mu\mu\mu<3.2 x 10^{-9} at 95% confidence level. The forward-backward asymmetry, fraction of longitudinal polarization and differential branching fraction of B-->K*\mu\mu, as a function of dimuon invariant mass, are measured in 0.31 fb^{-1}. The ratio of branching ratios of the radiative B decays B--> K*\gamma and Bs-->\phi\gamma h as been measured using 0.34fb^{-1}. The obtained value for the ratio is 1.52 \pm 0.14 (stat) \pm 0.10 (syst) \pm 0.12 (f_s/f_d). Using the HFAG value for BR(Bd --> K^*\gamma), BR(Bs-->\phi\gamma) has been found to be (2.8 \pm 0.5)\times 10^{-5}.Comment: "Presented at the 2011 Hadron Collider Physics symposium (HCP-2011), Paris, France, November 14-18 2011, 4 pages, 2 figuras.

Incorporating the water footprint and virtual water into policy: reflections from the Mancha Occidental Region, Spain

Water resource management is often a controversial issue in semiarid regions. Most water resources experts admit that water conflicts are not caused by the physical water scarcity but they are mainly due to inadequate water management. The virtual water concept (the volume of water used in the production of a commodity, good or service) together with the water footprint (indicator of water consumption that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer), links a large range of sectors and issues, thus providing a potentially appropriate framework to support more optimal water management practices by informing production and trade decisions. This paper provides an analysis of these two concepts within the context of the Mancha Occidental region, Spain, exploring the hydrological and economic aspects of agricultural production. In doing so, this work not only distinguishes between green and blue water but also between surface and groundwater. We conclude by discussing the practical implications of the results, as well as their potential limitations from the policy standpoint

Probing SUSY effects in KS0→μ+μ−K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-

We explore supersymmetric contributions to the decay $K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$, in light of current experimental data. The Standard Model (SM) predicts $\mathcal{B}(K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)\approx5\times 10^{-12}$. We find that contributions arising from flavour violating Higgs penguins can enhance the branching fraction up to $\approx 35\times 10^{-12}$ within different scenarios of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), as well as suppress it down to $\approx 0.78\times 10^{-12}$. Regions with fine-tuned parameters can bring the branching fraction up to the current experimental upper bound, $8\times 10^{-10}$. The mass degeneracy of the heavy Higgs bosons in MSSM induces correlations between $\mathcal{B}(K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)$ and $\mathcal{B}(K_L^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)$. Predictions for the $CP$ asymmetry in $K^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$ decays in the context of MSSM are also given, and can be up to eight times bigger than in the SM.Comment: 36 pages, 31 fig

Kinetics of crystallization of FeB-based amorphous alloys studied by neutron thermo-diffractometry

Kinetics of crystallization of two amorphous alloys, Fe70Cr10B20 and Fe80Zr10B10, have been followed up by neutron thermodiffractometry experiments performed in the two axis diffractometer D20 (ILL, Grenoble). The structural changes are directly correlated with the temperature dependence of the magnetization. Fe70Cr10B20 crystallizes following a two-step process: an eutectic crystallization of alfa-Fe (bcc) and the metastable tetragonal phase (Fe0.8Cr0.2)3B followed by another eutectic transformation to the stable phase (Fe0.75Cr0.25)2B and more segregation of alfa-Fe. These tetragonal phases are magnetically anisotropic, giving rise to a large increase of the coercivity. This behaviour is similar to that of Fe80B20 alloys, with Cr atoms replacing the Fe positions in both crystalline phases. Fe80Zr10B10 shows also a two-step process in which two polymorphic transformations take place.Comment: 3 pages. Proceedings International Workshop Non-Crystalline Solids 2006, Gijon (Spain

team UTB-NLP at finances 2023: financial targeted sentiment analysis using a phonestheme semantic approach

Sentiment analysis in the financial domain is a challenging task that plays a crucial role in understanding public opinion, monitoring market trends, and assessing the impact of news on economic agents. In this shared task, we address targeted sentiment analysis in the financial domain, focusing on identifying the main economic target in news headlines and determining the sentiment polarity towards such targets. We propose a methodology that combines transformer-based models and phonestheme embeddings to extract meaningful features from the text, which are then used in a support vector machine (SVM) classifier for sentiment classification. Our approach shows promising results, outperforming the baseline with an F1-score of 0.529229 in Task 1. This research contributes to financial sentiment analysis by addressing the complexity of financial language and considering multiple economic agents' perspectives.Universidad Tecnológica de Bolíva

Using a Bayesian change-point statistical model with autoregressive terms to study the monthly number of dispensed asthma medications by public health services

In this paper, it is proposed a Bayesian analysis of a time series in the presence of a random change-point and autoregressive terms. The development of this model was motivated by a data set related to the monthly number of asthma medications dispensed by the public health services of Ribeirão Preto, Southeast Brazil, from 1999 to 2011. A pronounced increase trend has been observed from 1999 to a specific change-point, with a posterior decrease until the end of the series. In order to obtain estimates for the parameters of interest, a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation procedure using the Gibbs sampler algorithm was developed. The Bayesian model with autoregressive terms of order 1 fits well to the data, allowing to estimate the change-point at July 2007, and probably reflecting the results of the new health policies and previously adopted programs directed toward patients with asthma. The results imply that the present model is useful to analyse the monthly number of dispensed asthma medications and it can be used to describe a broad range of epidemiological time series data where a change-point is present.Peer Reviewe