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5 ways how research in particle physics is transforming the world around us

The research in particle physics not only pushes the boundaries of science but looks forward to benefiting society by generating knowledge as well as by developing unexpected and transformative applications.

Particle physics is often referred to as High Energy Physics (HEP). This is so because the probing of matter on the smallest distance scales would require the application of the highest particle collision energies.

Particle physics seeks to understand the evolution of the Universe in terms of a small number of fundamental particles and forces after its birth in the Big Bang; the processes that led to our existence.

Today, particle physics is at an exciting threshold. The intellectual curiosity embedded in particle physics is at the foundation of art, philosophy, and other scientific disciplines, which have shaped the modern world.

Modern particle physics has its origins in theoretical developments and discoveries that have shaped the modern science. Several advances in molecular biology, chemistry, genetics and materials science, etc were predicated on the basis of discovery of the electron, quantum theory, analytical probes including X-rays and nuclear-based techniques. Particle physics experiments generate new technical approach and are in demand in terms of equipment design.

The discovery of novel, long-lived charged particles that catalyses magnetic monopoles, or nuclear fusion, to catalyse proton decay, have the potential to offer an unlimited supply of high energy. As particle physics experiments explore natural environment under extreme conditions, they need innovative technologies which finds its application in transforming the way we live.

Accelerator application – Particle accelerator has been considered as a key tool in medicine for more than three decades. Today, there are more than 10,000 accelerators operating in medical research facilities and various hospitals worldwide. Driven by the demands of experiment in this field, innovations in accelerator design continues to find medical applications.
Computing application – Latest computing technique is an integral part of all basic research, especially in physics. They normally deal with systems that are quite complex and can be applied to complex systems in the life sciences as well.
Medical imaging – Plenty of latest silicon devices, including the Medipix hybrid pixel detector produced by a CERN collaboration will lead to faster CT-scanning and X-ray imaging. Here we can obtain clearer images at relatively lower X-ray doses and can be utilised to observe cancer therapy in real time. Although charge coupled devices (CCDs), originally created for applications in particle physics and astronomy, are now used in dental X-ray machines. Being developed for the ILC (p7), the new generation of large-area X-ray detectors can be employed to image the heart, etc. In addition, gas-filled particle detectors can be implemented in a new whole body PET scanner, which is considered to be significantly quicker and cheaper than the current PET systems.
Electronics – The need for rapid data accumulation in a high-radiation environment has led to significant collaborations with electronics manufacturing. This in turn, has resulted in major improvements in chip designs. For instance, highly parallel, radiation-hard, three-dimensional chips, and connectors that enable data acquisition and fast read-out.
National security – Particle detectors can be utilised to monitor nuclear reactor cores as well as determine if the weapons-grade enriched uranium or plutonium are present. In addition they can be used to detect radioactive elements at airports and other entry points into the country.

Researchers are working on particle physics to exploit it to the fullest. Some of the latest research in this field include:

Testing the standard model – Electroweak theory describing the weak forces, the gauge theory of the strong force, electromagnetic, and quantum chromodynamics, together form the standard model. This model offers an organising framework for the purpose of classification of the known subatomic particles. It can be measured by means of present technology. However, several elements are still under experimental verification or clarification.

Testing supersymmetry – With several researches being conducted in particle physics, the major experiment that has gained immense attention is focus is testing of supersymmetry. This test reveals the impact that lies outside the standard model, in particular, those that are a result of supersymmetry. This study also include measurements based on millions of Z-particles.

Investigating neutrinos – Researchers are conducting experiments detect the masses of three neutrinos. The outcome of the experiment has given no sign of mass of specific neutrino. Other researches have measured neutrino mass indirectly by inspecting if the neutrinos can change from one type to another.

Other present research includes the search for a new state of matter known as the quark-gluon plasma.

What is new & unique to particle physics is the scale of the science. That is the size,complexity not only of detectors & accelerators but also of scientific collaborations.

World has always gained crucial advantages both directly & indirectly from the pursuit of particle physics. The challenges of this field are unprecedented and stimulating to develop new ideas, technologies leading to quantifiable improvements.

How to ‘critically’ review the literature sources for a research?

A carefully crafted review of literature includes the identification and analysis of previous research documents pertaining to the present research problem. A preliminary analysis of literature will help in clarifying and identifying the research problem. Although reviewing literature sources is a time-consuming task, it is a rewarding task as well. It helps you to justify … Continue reading “How to ‘critically’ review the literature sources for a research?”

A carefully crafted review of literature includes the identification and analysis of previous research documents pertaining to the present research problem. A preliminary analysis of literature will help in clarifying and identifying the research problem.
Although reviewing literature sources is a time-consuming task, it is a rewarding task as well. It helps you to justify the research, set a theoretical framework and ensures the originality of the work. However, reviewing literature sources isn’t an easy task. Once you have identified several literature sources, the next thing to do is to critically evaluate the sauces.

Knowledge doesn’t exist in the vacuum. The study will be significant only if it is similar or different from earlier studies. The main objectives of the literature review are:

To summarise the current knowledge.
To generate and refine the research ideas.

Importance of conducting a literature review

Improves research methodology – It helps you acquire methodologies used by other researchers to find and solve research problems similar to the ones they are investigating.

Lays focus on research problem – Review of literature helps you shape the research problem.

Contextualises research findings – How do you answer your research questions compared to what other researchers concluded? What is the contribution of your research work? How are your findings distinguished from that of other researchers? To answer these questions, you need to review the literature.

Ensures novelty – By reviewing the literature you can ensure the novelty of your research work.

Know how to evaluate the literature sources before including them in your thesis:

Identify the key issues and major work done previously in your research area. Evaluate the previous research and discover new research opportunities.
Define a research question. Demonstrate how your study fits into established research. Develop your own ideas for accepting or rejecting arguments.
Reveal the areas of interest and which areas have been investigated and which are yet to be investigated. Divulge the common findings and inconsistency among the studies. Evaluate and compare the data, methodologies, and results between the studies. Identify the factors that were previously not considered.
Examine the gaps that exist between the two theories and develop the hypotheses.

Stages at which evaluation of literature sources is necessary

An early review is required to establish the context of the study and to confirm the choice of the research focus.
During the process of study, review the sources to ensure that you remain updated about the ongoing research in your research domain.
At the final stage, reviewing sources is necessary to identify the implications of the research and to relate the findings of present research with that of the previous research.

Now that you know how to analyze the sources, carefully review the literature sources, establish the gap and place your own work.

How To Be A Better Writer?

Enrolling in a PhD course doesn’t necessarily require you to be a polished researcher. Instead, the whole research tenure expects you to be an extraordinary candidate. From being a good criticizer of the existing literature to an exemplary writer for your research, you have to be well acknowledged with all the areas constituting your research. While you have ample of time to read and criticise the literature, conduct the study, draw a conclusion, and write it down, researchers still fail to complete the whole process in the limited timeframe. Albeit, the process of researching and analysing the data takes a toll on the researcher for years, penning down all those years is not an easy job either.

Writing, as said, is a reliable tool to tell people about the whole process and show them the hard work of your research on those papers. Whether it is about fictional writing or academic writing, the process of writing requires continuous work from the writer’s end. Every writer adopts different strategies to write and produce more productive work, but almost all of them chose to procrastinate and work when inspiration hits them. Waiting for inspiration to help them write is not the best choice they should make, as everyone should work until the work turns into the impulse.

While procrastination is a writer’s friend, most of the writers feel guilty for not writing enough and not putting enough efforts into the writing process. As a result, they use the most unproductive and wasteful strategy of binge writing. Binge writing is a good thing, as long as you can produce useful writing, not guilt-trip writing. What binge writers do is delay the work for an entire week and then devote a whole Saturday to write. But ask yourself, would it help? Would writing an entire day brings out the ideas that you have been craving for the whole week? No, it wouldn’t. It might make your writing job easier, and your heart may feel better for all those times you didn’t write, but it inevitably won’t produce the best outcome for the work.

The only way to be a better writer is to make a schedule and stick to it. Devote an hour to writing every day to produce more significant results. When an academic writer chooses to do binge writing, he fails on incorporating all the great ideas and works; he had used in his research. But when he decides to write every day, he uses all his ability in that time until his brain gives up doing the same job. The reason one should plan to write every day instead of doing binge writing is that the brain gets tired of doing the same thing and you do not get better ideas to write.

Apart from making a schedule, you should completely adhere to it. A writer should ruthlessly defend his writing time. Your PhD degree is important, and you have to complete the writing process in time to edit, proofread, and submit the document. Thus, you have to say no to the people intruding your writing schedule to write. Even though a pen and paper or digital technology help you write a lot, the dedication and determination to complete it is the real motivation. It is hard to write when you are wrapped in your blanket and unclear with the goal of your writing.

The pro tip is to write just for an hour a day but giving your all in it. Don’t use the time to check your emails, read the latest journals, or browse the internet. Just write profoundly to be a better writer!

How to find a suitable journal from UGC approved journal list?

With the introduction of UGC Approved Journals List, the research students are privileged to get their paper published in good quality journals. Now, there is no old system or mandate by the universities for publishing in any particular journal. Instead, all universities and colleges are bound to allow their students to get published in any … Continue reading “How to find a suitable journal from UGC approved journal list?”

With the introduction of UGC Approved Journals List, the research students are privileged to get their paper published in good quality journals. Now, there is no old system or mandate by the universities for publishing in any particular journal. Instead, all universities and colleges are bound to allow their students to get published in any of the UGC Approved journals. On every successful publication in the journal, there would be an increase in the researcher’s academic performance indicator (UGC API).

The UGC Approved Journal List is a blend of national paid and unpaid journals, Anna’s annexure 1 or annexure 2, Scopus-indexed, SCI-indexed journals and other international journals. Due to this amalgam of the journals, the publication is made easy, but the journal selection process is made tougher than ever.

If you are an aspirant looking out for a suitable UGC approved journal, you need not worry about it. We have charted out the criterion to select a suitable journal from UGC Approved Journal List:

Step 1: Indexing and Subject-wise categorization
As of now, UGC contains over thousands of journals from almost every research area. Therefore, you are advised to browse the complete list on the basis of your interested subject area. By filtering the search, you can shortlist the top 50 or 100 journals falling under the particular subject area. Further, you can prioritize and select the journals as per their indexing. Suppose, your area of expertise is social sciences, and there are four journals having high impact factor but different indexing; two are Scopus indexed, and the others are SCI indexed. It is up to the caliber of your research paper to decide which UGC approved journal would be more suitable for publishing.

Step 2: Declared Periodicity
Let us take the previous example only. If you need to choose one between Scopus indexed journal and SCI-indexed journal, your next step should be to check the declared periodicity of the journal. Many journals are published more frequently, and many are published occasionally or monthly. Where the journals which are rarely published would mean that the journal is not active, frequent publishing of the journal is a sign of lenient assessment of the manuscript which always bears the possibility of compromising the quality of the content published. Therefore, it would make a good choice if you opt for the ones which are published not too frequently and not too rarely.

Step 3: Format of a Journal
Apart from the periodicity of the journal, you must also keep the journal’s nature of publication in mind. UGC Approved Journal List consists the journals which are published only online, only in print and online as well as in print. The journals that are published both online and in print mode have better visibility and reach amongst the researchers. Therefore, make sure you select a journal which is available in both print and online medium. However, if the journal is international and the publisher is located overseas, you may opt for the journal which is published online.

Step 4: Total Score of a Journal
If you have already chosen a particular journal to get published with, then you must check its relevance score. Following is the complete checklist which helps the UGC Standing Committee to determine a journal’s worth and assign them a specific score. You may use this checklist for getting an idea of which journal would be more suitable for you to publish with.

If a journal scores more than 5 point, it is definitely good to go option for you.

Publishing a paper with any journal from UGC Approved list would bring high academic performance indicator and credited as a reputed researcher-author. Hope this guide would help you select a good UGC approved journal!

How is a Review Paper different from a Technical or Empirical Paper

A Review Paper and a Technical or Empirical Paper belong to the same genre of writing, i.e. academia but are different concepts to know. Both have their significance in the field of research but it is important to understand the difference between the two, so that they can be handled accordingly.
On one side when a technical or Empirical research paper is based on original research which may be different in its own way, depending upon the topic , a review paper has its foundation on other published articles and it is not a representation of original research. If one talks of the way to approach an empirical paper, authors have to collect and analyse raw data and take up an original study. The crux of the research paper is the analysis and interpretation of this collected data. On the contrary, review articles summarise the existing literature and give their current perspective on the understanding of the topic.
Review articles can be categorised in three ways:

There can be primarily three kinds of review articles:

Narrative Review: It explains the existing knowledge on a topic that is based on any kind of published research that is available on the topic.

Systematic Review: This tries to explore the answer to a specific question which maybe buried in the existing literature on a specific topic.

Meta Analysis: It does a thorough comparative analysis of previously published studies. The key objective mostly is to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific decision to be taken.

Well made review papers form a good repository of scientific literature as they summarise the gist of existing literature which makes it easier for readers to get an idea about the prevailing knowledge without having to read extensive literature individually. Sometimes review papers are also called as survey papers. This is mostly when the writer has reviewed survey related work. A good review paper is the one that is created in a way that it is able to contribute a small amount of knowledge to the existing pool by giving a taxonomy of the work.

The similarity that one can notice between both these kind of papers is the review of literature. However, researchers and authors need to comprehend that in an empirical paper the review of literature helps to identify the research gap and take forward the objectives of the real research from there. Ultimately the paper is based on the real research and literature review just forms a small part of the paper where as in a review paper, it is the main content and the author does not just attempt to find the gap in the existing literature but also give his critical perspective and summarise the existing research for the readers to be able to get it more crisply.

It is difficult to specifically segregate the journal on the parameter of accepting review papers or not. High indexed journals, listed in SCOPUS and SCI prefer research papers over review articles. The main reason being the element of originality and constructive input they add to the existing literature. However, they do accept Review papers, if they are written in a way that they can give an original and critical eye to existing studies and offer direction for future studies. That is why, it is generally more difficult to publish review articles, mainly for the reason it is very challenging and requires great amount of skill as a writer to create originality from already existing content. It is relatively easier to create a good quality original research paper. For a review paper author, one must have the maturity and expertise to create novelty.

If you are thinking in terms of easy publication, original articles are a better choice as compared to review papers. However, ultimately what is imported to remember is that the quality of your research and your presentation of the manuscript are the key determinants on whose grounds your acceptance of research for publication will be decided.