Standardization of BSE rapid test performances and experiences gathered during the implementation of large-scale testing

The accumulation of pathological prion protein is used as a diagnostic marker for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. According to European Union (EU) regulations cattle older than 30 months of age (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain by national law >24 months) and slaughtered for human consumption must be tested by using rapid tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Likewise fallen stock and clinically affected animals must be tested. This article gives a short overview of the incidence of BSE in Europe. The diagnostic hierarchy, i.e., the officially approved methodology for the confirmation of suspect rapid test cases, and the organization of the numerous laboratories involved in this large-scale testing for BSE are described. Special emphasis is given to necessary quality control measures currently in place for BSE rapid testing laboratories and to measures intended to assure a consistent performance of the commercially available rapid test kits.Presented at BERM-9—Ninth International Symposium on Biological and Environmental Reference Materials, 15–19 June 2003, Berlin, Germany.     

Yb3+掺杂铝氟磷酸盐玻璃的光谱和激光性能

研究了Yb3 掺杂铝氟磷酸盐 (AFP)玻璃的吸收光谱、荧光光谱 ,测量了Yb3 离子的荧光有效线宽 (Δλeff>5 5nm)以及2 F5 2 能级的荧光寿命 (τmax=2ms)及随掺杂浓度的变化 .应用倒易法计算了Yb3 的发射截面 ,其发射截面可达 0 6 6 82 3pm2 ,且激光增益系数τfσemi达 1 2 89ms.pm2 .评估了Yb3 在AFP玻璃中的激光性能 ,发现其具有较理想的激发态最小粒子数 (0 15 )、饱和抽运强度 (8 3kW cm2 )和最小抽运强度 (1 2 4 5kW cm2 )值及良好的热稳定性 .研究结果表明掺Yb3 氟磷酸盐玻璃是实现高功率超短可调谐激光器的理想增益介质 .     

Combination of mixed finite element and Dirichlet-to-Neumann methods in nonlinear plane elasticity

We study the solvability and Galerkin approximation of an exterior hyperelastic interface problem arising in plane elasticity. The weak formulation is obtained from an appropriate combination of a mixed finite element approach with a Dirichlet-to-Neumann method. The derivation of our results is based on some tools from nonlinear functional analysis and the Babuska-Brezzi theory for variational problems with constraints.     

The Geometric Construction of WZW Effective Action in Noncommutative Manifold

By constructing close-one-cochain density Ω^12n in the gauge group space we get the Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) effective Lagrangian on high-dimensional noncommutative space.Especially consistent anomalies derived from this WZW effective action in noncommutative four-dimensional space coincide with those obtained by L.Bonora etc.(het-th/0002210).     

Shell model interaction between proton holes and between proton holes and neutron particles around 208Pb

An effective residual interaction between particles and holes for shell model calculations around ²⁰⁸Pb, derived from the interaction between free nucleons, is compared with the measured properties of proton-hole neutron states in ²⁰⁸Tl and the interaction between proton holes is adjusted to newly measured level energies in ²⁰⁶Hg. These interaction elements are particularly relevant for neutron-rich nuclei. The adjustment of two mixing elements reproduces the known γ-decay data in ²⁰⁸Tl. Received: 2 April 2002 / Accepted: 2 May 2002     

Temperature Dependence of InSb Reflectivity in the Far Infrared: Determination of the Electron Effective Mass

We measured the dependence of the reflectivity of InSb crystals upon temperature in the submillimeter region using monochromatic radiation from an optically pumped far infrared (FIR) laser. The measures allowed us to determine the value of the electron effective mass at low temperatures with radiations of different frequencies. Our measurements extend the results obtained recently on pure crystals with magneto-optical methods to the low temperatures region where only old measures were available.     

Writhing instabilities of twisted rods: from infinite to finite length

We use three different approaches to describe the static spatial configurations of a twisted rod as well as its stability during rigid loading experiments. The first approach considers the rod as infinite in length and predicts an instability causing a jump to self-contact at a certain point of the experiment. Semi-finite corrections, taken into account as a second approach, reveal some possible experiments in which the configuration of a very long rod will be stable through out. Finally, in a third approach, we consider a rod of real finite length and we show that another type of instability may occur, leading to possible hysteresis behavior. As we go from infinite to finite length, we compare the different information given by the three approaches on the possible equilibrium configurations of the rod and their stability. These finite size effects studied here in a 1D elasticity problem could help us guess what are the stability features of other more complicated (2D elastic shells for example) problems for which only the infinite length approach is understood.     

Propagation of mesons in asymmetric nuclear matter in a density-dependent coupling model

We study the propagation of the light mesons σ,ω,ρ, and a₀(980) in dense hadronic matter in an extended derivative scalar coupling model. Within the scheme proposed it is possible to unambiguously define effective density-dependent couplings at the Lagrangian level. We first apply the model to study asymmetric nuclear matter with fixed isospin asymmetry, and then we pay particular attention to hypermatter in β-equilibrium. The equation of state and the potential contribution to the symmetry coefficient arising from the mean-field approximation are investigated. Received: 16 October 2001 / Accepted: 10 January 2002     

A new trigonometric method of summation and its application to the degree of approximation

The object of the present investigation is to introduce a new trigonometric method of summation which is both regular and Fourier effective and determine its status with reference to other methods of summation (see §2-§4) and also give an application of this method to determine the degree of approximation in a new Banach space of functions conceived as a generalized Holder metric (see §5).