Fermiophobic Higgs bosons at LEP

This work describes the results of the searches for a Higgs boson decaying into gauge bosons carried out by the four LEP collaborations: ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL. A lower bound of 109.7 GeV is set at 95% confidence level on the mass of a fermiophobic Higgs boson decaying into photons. This mass limit can be extended by considering the Higgs decay mode into weak bosons. Such a combination has been done by the L3 collaboration which extended the fermiophobic mass by 5 GeV.Comment: Talk presented at the ICHEP02 conference, Amsterdam, July 2002, 3 pages, 4 figure

Search for a Higgs Boson Decaying into Two Photons with the L3 Detector at LEP

A search is performed for a Higgs boson, decaying into two photons, using the L3 data collected at centre of mass energies between $\sqrt s$ = 189 and 202 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 400 pb$^{-1}$. The processes $e^{+}e^{-}\to {Zh} \to {q} \bar{q} \gamma \gamma$, $e^{+}e^{-}\to {Zh} \to \nu \bar{\nu} \gamma \gamma$, $e^{+}e^{-}\to {Zh} \to {l}^{+} {l}^{-} \gamma \gamma$ are considered. The observed data are found to be consistent with the expected background from standard physics processes. Limits on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson decay into two photons as a function of the Higgs mass are shown and a lower mass limit on a fermiophobic Higgs is derived.Comment: 3 pages, 2 postscript figures, Presented at the DPF2000 Conference, August 9-12, 2000, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohi

Exploiting road traffic data for very short term load forecasting in smart grids

If accurate short term prediction of electricity consumption is available, the Smart Grid infrastructure can rapidly and reliably react to changing conditions. The economic importance of accurate predictions justifies research for more complex forecasting algorithms. This paper proposes road traffic data as a new input dimension that can help improve very short term load forecasting. We explore the dependencies between power demand and road traffic data and evaluate the predictive power of the added dimension compared with other common features, such as historical load and temperature profiles

Gardnerella spp. pre-conditioned vs competitive multi-species biofilm growth and the impact on the tridimensional biofilm structure

Background: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is one of the most common bacterial vaginal disorders among women of reproductive age. The hallmark of BV is the presence of a multi-species biofilm, formed primarily by Gardnerella spp., in a minor part by Atopobium vaginae, and also other anaerobic species. While a few studies have demonstrated that some BV-related species establish synergistic interactions with Gardnerella spp. in vitro dual-species biofilms, little is known regarding bacterial interactions in triple- species BV-associated biofilms. We evaluated the interactions and spatial distribution of Gardnerella spp., A. vaginae and a third BV-associated species, such as Enterococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus iners, Mobiluncus curtisii, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, Prevotella bivia, and Staphylococcus hominis, using two distinct in vitro biofilm formation models.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) by the funded project PTDC/BIA-MIC/28271/2017, under the scope of COMPETE2020 (POCI-01-0145- FEDER-028271) and by the strategic funding of unit UID/BIO/04469/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effect of culture media on in vitro growth and biofilm formation of Bacterial vaginosis (BV)-associated pathogens

Background: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an important vaginal bacterial disorder worldwide, being characterized by a change in the vaginal microbial composition from a health-associated microbiota to a dense polymicrobial biofilm. Although this biofilm plays an important role in BV progress and recurrence, very little information exists regarding its in vitro formation. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of different culture media on the planktonic growth and biofilm formation ability of BV- associated microorganisms, namely Gardnerella sp., Atopobium vaginae, Lactobacillus iners, Mobiluncus curtisii, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius and Prevotella bivia.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) by the funded project PTDC/BIA-MIC/28271/2017, under the scope of COMPETE2020 (POCI-01-0145- FEDER-028271) and by the strategic funding of unit UID/BIO/04469/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Orienting coupled quantum rotors by ultrashort laser pulses

We point out that the non-adiabatic orientation of quantum rotors, produced by ultrashort laser pulses, is remarkably enhanced by introducing dipolar interaction between the rotors. This enhanced orientation of quantum rotors is in contrast with the behavior of classical paired rotors, in which dipolar interactions prevent the orientation of the rotors. We demonstrate also that a specially designed sequence of pulses can most efficiently enhances the orientation of quantum paired rotors.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Development of an in vitro vaginal exudate adhesion model for Bacterial Vaginosis

Microbiotec'17 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2017Background: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the worldwide leading vaginal disorder commonly recognized between menarche and menopause in women of all ethnicities. It is associated with serious health problems relating to both fertility and pregnancy. This dysbiosis is characterized by a reduction in lactic acid-producing bacteria, mainly Lactobacillus spp., accompanied by an overgrowth of strict or facultative anaerobic bacteria, predominantly Gardnerella vaginalis. However, G. vaginalis is also present in healthy women and its vaginal colonization does not always lead to BV. To better understand the complex interactions that occur between host and microorganisms, and as well as between microorganisms in the vaginal microenvironment, development of in vitro models that can simulate the in vivo conditions is required, since no adequate animal model exists.This work was supported by national funds (FCT) by the strategic project of UID/BIO/04469/2013 and by BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020. AR had an individual FCT fellowship (PD/BD/128037/2016). NC is an Investigator FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Geometry of General Hypersurfaces in Spacetime: Junction Conditions

We study imbedded hypersurfaces in spacetime whose causal character is allowed to change from point to point. Inherited geometrical structures on these hypersurfaces are defined by two methods: first, the standard rigged connection induced by a rigging vector (a vector not tangent to the hypersurface anywhere); and a second, more physically adapted, where each observer in spacetime induces a new type of connection that we call the rigged metric connection. The generalisation of the Gauss and Codazzi equations are also given. With the above machinery, we attack the problem of matching two spacetimes across a general hypersurface. It is seen that the preliminary junction conditions allowing for the correct definition of Einstein's equations in the distributional sense reduce to the requirement that the first fundamental form of the hypersurface be continuous. The Bianchi identities are then proven to hold in the distributional sense. Next, we find the proper junction conditions which forbid the appearance of singular parts in the curvature. Finally, we derive the physical implications of the junction conditions: only six independent discontinuities of the Riemann tensor are allowed. These are six matter discontinuities at non-null points of the hypersurface. For null points, the existence of two arbitrary discontinuities of the Weyl tensor (together with four in the matter tensor) are also allowed.Comment: Latex, no figure