24,182 research outputs found
Organic and Inorganic Biocidal Energetic Materials for Agent Defeat Weapons: An Overview and Research Perspectives
No full textA critical survey concerning biocidal energetics is proposed according to a classification depending on their chemical structure. The need of optimizing the performances of such compounds is an important target for the inertization of biological weapons, requiring a synergy between the thermal effects of combustion/detonation with the biocidal effects of reaction products released into the environment. The main physicochemical aspects related to the synthesis technique, the thermodynamic variables and the antimicrobial activity have been discussed and compared. In particular, different kinds of biocides have been taken into account, with particular attention to the role of iodine as one of the most promising and eco-friendly chemical species to this purpose, in line with the paradigms of environmental protection and the rational utilization of chemicals. Furthermore, the protocols adopted to assess the effectiveness of biocidal agents have been thoroughly examined according to the recent studies proposed by some of the most reputable research groups in the field. Finally, some insights for future investigations are proposed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Multifractal Analysis of the Mechanical PropOKerties of the Texture of Biopolymer-Inorganic Composites of Chitosan-Silicon Dioxide
No full textAn original multifractal algorithm is proposed for calculating the fractal characteristics of the cluster texture of biopolymer-inorganic (BIN) composites from microphotographic images (MPIs) of their texture, which allows one to determine the quantitative dependence of the mechanical properties of biopolymer–inorganic composites on the characteristics of their cluster texture. As a result of the studies conducted on the MPI texture of the “chitosan-silicon dioxide” BIN composites using a multifractal algorithm, it was found that such important indicators as strength and plasticity can be quantitatively described using generalized fractal pixel dimensions of MPI samples of the BIN composite. It was established that when the amount of silicon dioxide in the samples of the BIN composite changes, the mechanical characteristics of the BIN composites, such as strength and plasticity, can be quantitatively described using generalized fractal pixel dimensions of the MPIs of the BIN composite samples
Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions B(B0→K∗0γ )/B(B0s→φγ ) and the directCP asymmetry inB 0→K∗0γ
No full textThe ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0→K⁎0γ and B0s→ϕγ has been measured using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 of pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=7TeV. The value obtained is
B(B0→K⁎0γ)B(B0s→ϕγ)=1.23±0.06(stat.)±0.04(syst.)±0.10(fs/fd),
where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is the experimental systematic uncertainty and the third is associated with the ratio of fragmentation fractions fs/fd. Using the world average value for B(B0→K⁎0γ), the branching fraction B(B0s→ϕγ) is measured to be (3.5±0.4)×10−5.
The direct CP asymmetry in B0→K⁎0γ decays has also been measured with the same data and found to be
ACP(B0→K⁎0γ)=(0.8±1.7(stat.)±0.9(syst.))%.
Both measurements are the most precise to date and are in agreement with the previous experimental results and theoretical expectations
Observations of Bºs→ψ(2S)η and Bº(s)→ψ(2S)π+π- decays
No full textFirst observations of the B0s
→ψ(2S)η, B0 →ψ(2S)π
+
π
− and B0s
→ψ(2S)π
+
π
− decays are made
using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected by the LHCb experiment in
proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of
√
s = 7 TeV. The ratios of the branching fractions
of each of the ψ(2S) modes with respect to the corresponding J/ψ decays are
B(B0s
→ψ(2S)η)
÷
B(B0s
→J/ψη)
= 0.83± 0.14 (stat)±0.12 (syst) ±0.02 (B),
;
B(B0→ψ(2S)π
+
π
−
)
÷
B(B0→J/ψπ
+
π
−
)
= 0.56± 0.07 (stat)±0.05 (syst)± 0.01 (B),
;
B(B0s
→ψ(2S)π
+
π
−
)
÷
B(B0s
→J/ψπ
+
π
−
)
= 0.34± 0.04 (stat)±0.03 (syst)± 0.01 (B),
where the third uncertainty corresponds to the uncertainties of the dilepton branching fractions of the J/ψ
and ψ(2S) meson decays
Measurement of b-hadron masses
No full textMeasurements of b-hadron masses are performed with the exclusive decay modes B +→J/ψK +, B 0→J/ψK +, B0→J/ψKS0, Bs0→J/ψφ and Λb0→J/ψΛ using an integrated luminosity of 35pb -1 collected in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV by the LHCb experiment. The momentum scale is calibrated with J/ψ→μ +μ - decays and verified to be known to a relative precision of 2 ×10 -4 using other two-body decays. The results are more precise than previous measurements, particularly in the case of the Bs0 and Λb0 masses
Evidence for the decay B0→J/ψω and measurement of the relative branching fractions of meson decays to J/ψη and J/ψη′
No full textFirst evidence of the B 0 → J / ψ ω decay is found and the B s 0 → J / ψ η and B s 0 → J / ψ η ′ decays are studied using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb -1 collected by the LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The branching fractions of these decays are measured relative to that of the B 0 → J / ψ ρ 0 decay:frac(B (B 0 → J / ψ ω), B (B 0 → J / ψ ρ 0)) = 0.89 ± 0.19 (stat) - 0.13 + 0.07 (syst),frac(B (B s 0 → J / ψ η), B (B 0 → J / ψ ρ 0)) = 14.0 ± 1.2 (stat) - 1.5 + 1.1 (syst) - 1.0 + 1.1 (frac(f d, f s)),frac(B (B s 0 → J / ψ η ′), B (B 0 → J / ψ ρ 0)) = 12.7 ± 1.1 (stat) - 1.3 + 0.5 (syst) - 0.9 + 1.0 (frac(f d, f s)), where the last uncertainty is due to the knowledge of f d / f s, the ratio of b-quark hadronization factors that accounts for the different production rate of B 0 and B s 0 mesons. The ratio of the branching fractions of B s 0 → J / ψ η ′ and B s 0 → J / ψ η decays is measured to befrac(B (B s 0 → J / ψ η ′), B (B s 0 → J / ψ η)) = 0.90 ± 0.09 (stat) - 0.02 + 0.06 (syst)
Branching fraction and CP asymmetry of the decays B+→K0Sπ+ and B+→K0SK+
No full textAn analysis of B+ → K0
Sπ+ and B+ → K0
S K+ decays is performed with the LHCb experiment. The pp
collision data used correspond to integrated luminosities of 1 fb−1 and 2 fb−1 collected at centre-ofmass
energies of
√
s = 7 TeV and
√
s = 8 TeV, respectively. The ratio of branching fractions and the
direct CP asymmetries are measured to be B(B+ → K0
S K+
)/B(B+ → K0
Sπ+
) = 0.064 ± 0.009 (stat.) ±
0.004 (syst.), ACP(B+ → K0
Sπ+
) = −0.022 ± 0.025 (stat.) ± 0.010 (syst.) and ACP(B+ → K0
S K+
) =
−0.21 ± 0.14 (stat.) ± 0.01 (syst.). The data sample taken at
√
s = 7 TeV is used to search for
B+
c
→ K0
S K+ decays and results in the upper limit ( fc · B(B+
c
→ K0
S K+
))/( fu · B(B+ → K0
Sπ+
)) <
5.8 × 10−2 at 90% confidence level, where fc and fu denote the hadronisation fractions of a ¯b
quark
into a B+
c or a B+ meson, respectively
Measurement of the CKM angle gamma from a combination of B->Dh analyses
No full textA combination of three LHCb measurements of the CKM angle gamma is presented. The decays B->DK and B->Dpi are used, where D denotes an admixture of D0 and D0-bar mesons, decaying into K+K-, pi+pi-, K+-pi-+, K+-pi-+pi+-pi-+, KSpi+pi-, or KSK+K- final states. All measurements use a dataset corresponding to 1.0 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. Combining results from B->DK decays alone a best-fit value of gamma = 72.0 deg is found, and confidence intervals are set gamma in [56.4,86.7] deg at 68% CL, gamma in [42.6,99.6] deg at 95% CL. The best-fit value of gamma found from a combination of results from B->Dpi decays alone, is gamma = 18.9 deg, and the confidence intervals gamma in [7.4,99.2] deg or [167.9,176.4] deg at 68% CL, are set, without constraint at 95% CL. The combination of results from B->DK and B->Dpi decays gives a best-fit value of gamma = 72.6 deg and the confidence intervals gamma in [55.4,82.3] deg at 68% CL, gamma in [40.2,92.7] deg at 95% CL are set. All values are expressed modulo 180 deg, and are obtained taking into account the effect of D0-D0bar mixing
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