EPIC 2
School of Programming for Scientific Research 2:
a journey through physics and computing
11-14 October 2022
General Information
The second edition of EPIC will focus on introducing computational techniques for the analysis of scientific data and images by using the programming languages python and julia as tools. The number of participants will be restricted to 20 per topic.
Instructors will present real research problems to illustrate the use of computational tools in the experimental or theoretical study of physical systems. Basic programming notions are essential to sign up for this workshop.
At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to carry out scientific data and image analysis using computational tools. This training will allow them to extract important information about the physical systems under study.
The tutorials will focus on the following areas:
biophysics
materials science
particle physics
astrophysics
In addition, the workshop will include specialised talks by experts on the following topics:
data science
artificial intelligence
climate models
georeferenced count data
Date: October 11 - 14, 20212
Format: Online (Zoom)
Duration: 4 days with 16 sessions as tutorials and talks.
Time investment: 40 hours (20 in tutorials + 20 on your own)
Cost: the workshop is free
Certificate:
A digital certificate of approval will be issued to those participants who attend all the workshop sessions and successfully complete all the tutorial activities.
Essential Prerequisites:
Basic programming experience (in python, R, and/or julia).
Basic knowledge of the English language.
Registration
Requirements and registration:
Attach an excellent motivation letter to the registry (maximum 200 words).
Indico registration page: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1189722/
We will give priority to students who did not participate in the 1st edition (EPIC 1).
Important dates
Deadline for submitting applications: 30th September, 2022
Notification of selected candidates: 3rd October, 2022
All applicants will receive an email from: ciencia.latitud0@gmail.com containing the result of their application.
The selected students must confirm their participation by e-mail to ciencia.latitud0@gmail.com until 5th October, 2022
The selected students will have carry out several preliminary activities prior to the start of the course. Instructions will be sent in a timely manner.
EPIC 2 School Dates: 11th - 14th October, 2022
Tutors and speakers
Luz Ángela García, Universidad ECCI, Colombia
Daniel Čapek, University of Konstanz, Germany
Genevieve Shattow, ThroughPut.ai, United States
Diego Morales, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
María José Benítez, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Maximilian Menger, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Mayra Pallaroso, SOLCA Quito, Ecuador
Albert Thie, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Cristina Mantilla, Fermilab, United States
Oscar Chimborazo, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Cloé Girard-Carillo, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
Jorge Ontaneda, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
Lupe Villegas, Institute of Optics, Visual Optics and Biophotonics Lab, Spain
Edison Salazar, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Andrés Morales Navarrete, Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society, Germany
Helga Dénes, ASTRON, The Netherlands
Sylvain Vanneste, Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire, France
Leonardo Basile, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Luis Manzanillas, SOLEIL synchrotron, France
Henrry Osorio, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Wladimir Banda Barragán, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Participants
Materials Science and Biophysics:
Yomaira López, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Goran Giudetti, University of Southern California, USA
Leonel Cabrera, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Ariana Soria, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
Orlando Solórzano, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Rosa Almache, Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya, Spain
León Ocaña, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Melanie Cedeño, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Jossef Guajardo, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
Yessenia Falconí, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
David Lara, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Nicole Guerrero, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Luis Palacios, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Erika Amanta, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Ariel Cabrera, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Daniel Ríos, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
Nardy Sallo, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Jonathan Pineda, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Cristina Rubio, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Bryan Garcés, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Jose Miguel Ramírez, Universidad De Concepción, Chile
Bryan Luna, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Chimborazo, Ecuador
Particle Physics and Astrophysics:
Brandon Minta, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Ankita Waghmare, Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College, India
Daniel Pozo, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Ariana Jiménez, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Sebastián Valladares, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Pamela Llerena, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Andrés Villares, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Britney Robalino, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Fernanda Mesa, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
Kevin Imacaña, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Vicente Arévalo, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Sampada Gaonkar, Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College, India
Xavier Tintin, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Valentina Salamanca, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
Franklin Limaico, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Adrián Manzaba, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Juliana Valverde, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE, Ecuador
Vicente Alonso Montesinos, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
Arianna Paredes, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Nicolás Noriega, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Silvia García, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Alexander Andrade, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
EPIC 2 schedule (preliminar)
EPIC 2 programme (preliminar)
DAY 1 (Tuesday, 11 October 2022):
08h00-08h50: Tutorial 1 (Python Basics)
Tutor: Lupe Villegas, Instituto de Óptica (IO-CSIC), España
Read and write data tables
Work with data tables:
Basic statistics
Plots with matplotlib
Regressions and curve fitting
Examples
Basic image I/O
08h55-09h45: Artificial Intelligence Talk
"Artificial Intelligence in physics and computing"
Speaker: Albert Sietze This, Univeristy of Groningen, The Netherlands
The field of Artifical Intelligence is expanding and becoming an important part of all scientific disciplines in physical science. Especially Machine Learning is playing a big role in improving simulations in physics, chemistry and biology, In this talk we give a short introduction to the theory behind machine learning and showcase practice examples. We aim to give a basic understanding of what possibilities our out there and help in choosing the right machine learning application. We conclude with a list of useful tools for students to continue learning.
09h45-10h35: Materials Science Talk
"Modelling enantiomeric catalysts: enantioselective hydrogenation of methyl acetoacetate over Ni surfaces"
Tutor: Jorge Ontaneda, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Most of the current knowledge in enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis refers to the hydrogenation of β-ketoester over Ni-based catalysts and the hydrogenation of α-ketoester on Pd-based systems. These reactions require a crucial step in the catalyst preparation: the adsorption of chiral modifiers onto the metal nanoparticles of the catalyst. In the case of the simplest β-ketoester, methyl acetoacetate (MAA), the hydrogenation results in a racemic mixture R- and S-methyl-3-hydroxybutyrate (MHB) when performed over an unmodified Raney Ni catalyst. The reaction, however, can be directed to a high enantiomeric excess if the Ni surface is modified with chiral α-amino acids or α-hydroxy acids. Even though the process is well-characterized in terms of macroscopic quantities, information at molecular scale regarding the influence of chiral modifiers have on adsorption complex of MAA is missing. The understanding of this mechanism would help to achieve and optimize enantioselective behavior of Ni-based catalysts. By combining X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) with Density Functional Theory (DFT) modelling, we have been studying the adsorption complex of reactant MAA and typical chiral modifiers (e.g., alanine, aspartic acid, and tartaric acid) over Ni{111} and Ni{100} surfaces. We have found MAA adsorbs on flat surfaces forming deprotonated enolate species with bidentate coordination, and the molecular plane of the adsorbate leans towards one side. These findings suggest that the role of modifiers in the enantioselective hydrogenation of MAA is to stabilize only one of two possible tilt directions, which would lead to the chiral product formation.
10:40-11:30: Medical Physics Talk
Speaker: Mayra Pallaroso, SOLCA Quito, Ecuador
En dosimetría clínica para radioterapia se abordará brevemente la forma de calcular y cuantificar las dosis que reciben los pacientes oncológicos como parte de su tratamiento, ya sea utilizando haces externos de electrones o fotones o radioisótopos como iridio 192. Para esto se utiliza herramientas informáticas de alto nivel, que tienen algoritmos de cálculo que han sido validados mediante medidas y simulaciones Monte Carlo, y que permiten evaluar con gran precisión y exactitud la distribución de dosis a entregarse en el volumen tumoral y en los órganos de riesgo circundantes. Se presentará las distribuciones de dosis calculadas para las diferentes técnicas de tratamiento como: tridimensional (3D), radioterapia de intensidad modulada (IMRT) y radioterapia modulada al volumen (VMAT) para tratamientos de pelvis, mama y cuello.
11h40-12h30: Materials Science Talk
"A rare event search in neutrino physics"
Tutor: Cloé Girard-Carillo, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
The neutrino particle remains one of the most mysterious elementary particle. The scientific community is involved in many experiments and model development that could allow to better understand some of its fundamental properties.
11h40-12h30: Cosmology Talk
"Fundamental physics from cosmology"
Speaker: Sylvain Vanneste, Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire, France
Cosmology physics is a powerful way to probe various areas of fundamental physics.
Test general relativity, measure the fundamental properties of particles, discover new forms of matter and energy....
By observing the Universe, we can better understand what it is made of.
However, this requires huge experimental setup and ingenious analysis tools.
14h20-16h00: Tutorial ( Coding basics 2)
Tutor: Wladimir Banda-Barragán, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Python classes
Fourier analysis
DAY 2 (Wednesday, 12 October 2022):
08h00-08h50: Materials Science Talk
Speaker: Maximilian Menger, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
TBD
08h55-10h35/11h40-13h20: Materials Science tutorials 1 and 2
Tutor: Edison Salazar, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Photoinduced processes play a crucial role in different fields of science, for example, the photoisomerization of the retinal chromophore or the synthesis of vitamin D3. Additionally, they are crucial in the development of new technologies such as molecular electronic devices which can be controlled by light. These processes are governed mainly by nonadiabatic transitions which are radiationless electronic transitions between different non-Born-Oppenheimer states along the dynamic of a chemical reaction. In these two lessons, we are going to implement the Tully algorithm in Python to study a simple avoid crossing model as the first approach to a non-adiabatic transition.
08h55-10h35/11h40-13h20: Particle Physics tutorials 1 and 2
Tutor: Luis Manzanillas, SOLEIL Synchrotron, France
Brief introduction to Julia
Basics of detectors for particle physics
Basics of HPGe detectors
Reading h5 files containing raw data from a HPGe detector
Plotting and understanding the data
Finding events in raw data
Filters and calibration
Energy reconstruction and selection of events
Histograms and interpretation of results
10h40-11h30: Particle Physics Talk
Speaker: Cristina Mantilla, Fermilab, USA
TBD
DAY 3 (Thursday, 13 October 2022):
08h00-08h50: Biophysics Talk
"Temperature robustness of vertebrate morphogen gradients"
Speaker: Daniel Čapek, University of Konstanz, Germany
During early development the vertebrate body plan is set up by gradients of signaling molecules, termed morphogens, that lead to different transcriptional responses in target tissues. In the wild, embryos of poikilotherm species - i.e. animals whose body temperature changes with the environment - encounter a wide range of temperature regimes, such as the cold of the arctic or the heat of tropical eco systems. Also, day and night temperatures can vary considerably. Since the temperature is typically kept constant in laboratory environments, little is known about how morphogen gradients are affected by these shifts in temperature and how embryos cope with this stress. The Einstein-Stokes equation states that free diffusion scales linearly with the temperature in degrees Kelvin and therefore changes very little at physiological temperatures. Enzymatic reactions, on the contrary, increase their speed by a factor of 2-3 for every 10°C within biologically relevant ranges, described by the van’t Hoff relation. We are analyzing the effect of temperature fluctuations on Nodal-mediated germ layer patterning in eurytherm medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos. Medaka embryos have a wide temperature tolerance and can even resume development after temperature-induced arrest. We apply live imaging of signaling molecules and measurements of their biophysical properties to mathematically model and experimentally test the effect of temperature fluctuations on morphogen gradient formation and interpretation. This will help us to understand mechanisms of robustness buffering ecological factors during embryogenesis and evolution.
08h55-10h35/11h40-13h20: Tutorials 1 and 2 (Biophysics)
"Intro to Bio-Image Analysis" and "Intro to Reaction-Diffusion simulations"
Tutor: Andrés Morales Navarrete, Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society, Germany
Explanation about bioimages (i.e. fluorescence microscopy)
Bioimage analysis example: quantifying cell morphology from 2D fluorescence micrographs
Importing images and plotting images
Logical operators (pixel-wise operations)
Intensity Transformation
Filters and Fourier transformations
Segmentation
Extracting data from segmented images (e.g. cell area, elongation)
09h45-10h35: Tutorial ( Astrophysics 1)
"Analysing 3D astronomical data cubes"
Tutor: Helga Dénes, ASTRON, The Netherlands
Brief explanation on astrophysics behind galaxies and their neutral hydrogen (HI content).
Reading in fits data cubes (3D spectral line data - HI data of a galaxy)
Plotting slices of the 3D data cube and making moment maps
Downloading astronomical images from a database (for the same galaxy as the HI data)
Making an overlay of the HI data onto an optical image
Calculating some basic statistics for the spectra
Averaging the spectra for the galaxy
Calculating the HI mass of a galaxy
Fitting a Gaussian to spectra
10h40-11h30: Astrophysics talk
"Density of Lyman Alpha Emitter Galaxies at z = 6"
Speaker: Luz Ángela García, Universidad ECCI, Colombia
In this work, we study the number density of Lyman Alpha Emitter (LAE) galaxies, their physical properties, and synthetic spectra at redshift ~ 6 using high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations with radiative transfer from the Thesan project. By recreating the scenario described in Becker et al. 2018, we test the hypothesis that observations to date are missing the vast majority of the high-redshift galaxies' signal since they are extremely faint and, thus, are out of the observational limits of our current telescopes. We also follow the evolution of the neutral Hydrogen fraction, the chemical enrichment of the circum- and intergalactic medium, and specific star formation rate of galaxies in the simulation at the end of Reionization, and evaluate why the detections from HST and the Silverrush project significantly underestimate the number of faint galaxies. Our study indicates an observational bias to massive galaxies in the field. Thus, we forecast the properties of the dwarf galaxies responsible for completing the budget of ionizing photons that concluded the Epoch of Reionization.
10h40-11h30: Tutorial ( Astrophysics 2)
"Analysis of 3D simulations of astrophysical gases"
Tutor: Wladimir Banda-Barragán, Yachay Tech University, Ecuador
Simulation data in the HDF5 format.
Reading and handling data from numerical simulations
Array manipulation, and use of conditionals and loops
Application to the analysis of 3D simulations of gas dynamics:
Computation of integrated quantities
Comparisons of simulations to observations
DAY 4 (Friday, 14 October 2022):
08h00-08h50: Climate change talk
"Projections of extreme events on South America"
Tutor: Óscar Chimborazo, Yachay Tech University
In this talk, I will show some results about the projections of extreme events on South America using Python and R packages.
08h55-09h45: Materials Science Talk
"OOMMF micromagnetic simulations: An important tool to understand domain wall behavior obtained by Lorentz Transmission Electron Microscopy"
Speaker: María José Benítez, Escuela Politécnica Nacional
The controlled manipulation of magnetic domain walls in laterally constrained ferromagnets is of huge interest for applications in logic devices, spin oscillators, and data storage. Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM) is a powerful technique to observe magnetic domain walls and to quantify the magnetization state of a sample. However, there are complex magnetic domain walls that cannot be fully understood using LTEM. Therefore, the information provided by micromagnetic simulations is very important. In this talk, I will present several examples of OOMMF micromagnetic simulations that help to understand the results obtained by LTEM.
09h45-10h35: TBD
Tutor: Genevieve Shattow, ThroughPut.ai, United States
TBD
10h40-11h30: Georeferenced count data
Tutor: Diego Morales, Yachay Tech University
Modelling spatial data is a challenging task in statistics. In many applications, the observed data can be modelled using Gaussian, skew-Gaussian or even restricted random field models. However, in several fields, such as population genetics, epidemiology and aquaculture, the data of interest are often count data, and therefore the mentioned models are not suitable for their analysis. Consequently, there is a need for spatial models that are able to properly describe data coming from counting processes.
11h40-13h20: Materials Science Talk
"Momento dipolar eléctrico, topología y cuantización en el modelo tight binding de Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH)"
Tutor: Leonardo Basile, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
En la Materia Condensada, la estrecha interrelación entre electromagnetismo y mecánica cuántica se expresa en forma notable en el Efecto Hall Cuántico, donde la resistividad transversal de un gas electrónico bidimensional, en presencia de un campo magnético perpendicular al gas, es un múltiplo de e2/h o en las exóticas propiedades de los llamados “aislantes topológicos”, donde la interacción spin-órbita crea un gap de energía que lleva a la cuantización de la polarizabilidad magnetoeléctrica del material. El tipo de universalidad que presentan estos fenómenos requiere de nuevos paradigmas de clasificación de estas fases topológicas, que no pueden ser abordadas como resultado de una rotura de simetría. En esta charla se presentará una introducción a las fases topológicas y cuantización a través de estudio del momento dipolar eléctrico en un aislante cristalino. En efecto, no es obvio que la polarización macroscópica de un dieléctrico, es decir el momento dipolar por unidad de volumen, sea el resultado de entidades “independientes polarizables”, como se la presenta en los libros de texto, debido a la naturaleza cuántica de la nube electrónica y la periodicidad del cristal. Con este fin, mediante el modelo SSH y la definición un operador de posición (R. Resta) para calcular el momento dipolar eléctrico compatible con las condiciones de frontera, discutiremos la cuantización de la polarización eléctrica en un aislante cristalino unidimensional.
School material
All the material of the tutorials and talks of EPIC 2 will be posted on GitHub:
https://github.com/ciencialatitud0/EPIC_2
The material of the previous school EPIC 1 is available at:
Organised by:
In partnership with:
Statistics of the previous school EPIC-1
Statistics on applicants:
47 applicants en total, 19 female applicants, 28 male applicants.
Applicants from 9 universities (18 EPN, 15 ESPOCH, 5 Yachay, 4 USFQ, 1 U. E. de Bolivar, 1 ESPOL, 1 U. Central, 1 UNAM de México, 1 U.T. de Manabí).
~27 applicants interested in biophysics and/or materials sciences, ~20 applicants interested in particle physics and/or astrophysics.
Statistics on selected applicants:
20 selected participants, 9 female participants, 11 male participants.
Participants from 7 universities (9 EPN, 4 ESPOCH, 3 Yachay, 1 USFQ, 1 U. E. de Bolivar, 1 ESPOL, 1 UNAM de México)
~12 participants for biophysics/materials sciences, ~8 for particle physics/astrophysics.
About the EPIC school series
With the aim of getting undergraduate science students involved in mini-research projects, which require programming, we have decided to organise a series of workshops that we call "Programming Schools for Scientific Research (or EPIC for its Spanish translation)".
The EPIC series offers participating students the opportunity to strengthen their profiles as researchers by applying modern computational methods for solving real problems, mainly in physics and its related areas.
The format and topics covered will depend on the edition.