Magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) and long repetition time spin-echo MR imaging in multiple sclerosis

Purpose: To study whether application of magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) improves visibility and detection of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions on long repetition time (TR) conventional spin-echo (CSE) or fast spin-echo (FSE) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.Material and methods: In 20 patients and 5 controls, MR images were obtained using long repetition time CSE and FSE sequences with and without MTC. Signal-to-noise ratios of normal appearing white matter (NAWM) and selected lesions, and contrast-to-noise ratios between lesions and NAWM, were calculated. Lesions were counted and total lesion volume was measured in a blinded fashion for each sequence.Results: In controls, MT effect in white matter (16.3% vs. 12.2%) was higher for CSE than for FSE (p < 0.01). Application of MTC to either CSE or FSE resulted in a significantly lower decrease in signal intensity of NAWM in patients compared to white matter in controls (p < 0.01). Furthermore, in patients signal intensity of lesions was less decreased than signal intensity of NAWM (p < 0.01). Compared to sequences without MTC, contrast-to-noise ratios were significantly higher on both CSE (10.9%) and FSE (6.3%) when MTC was applied (p < 0.01). Despite better visibility, the number of lesions detected on either sequences did not increase when MTC was applied. For CSE with MTC, we found an almost equal number of lesions and for FSE with MTC, we found even less lesions (p < 0.01). Total lesion volume did not change significantly when MTC was applied.Conclusion: Although contrast between lesions and NAWM improved when magnetization transfer contrast was applied, this did not increase detection of MS lesions on either CSE or FSE MR imaging.     

Effect of conduction band nonprabolicity on the Rashba spin splitting of AlGaN/GaN QWs

By using the perturbation expansion method and self-consistent iterative method, we evaluate the effect of the conduction band nonprabolicity on the wave vector (k_t) dependent Rashba coefficient (α) and nonlinear Rashba spin splitting (ΔE) in the Al_0.5Ga_0.5N/GaN quantum well (QW). The effective mass (energy) under the first order approximation m_t1 (E_k1) is in proximity to the iterative result m_tp (E_kp) and m_t1>m_tp, E_k1<E_kp, showing the higher order contributions to m_t (E_k) are small. The sign of the nonparabolic correction to E_k is just opposite to that of the correction to m_t. The increase of α and ΔE due to the conduction band nonparabolicity reaches about 3% at k_t=1 nm⁻¹. Around the left heterointerface, the probability density is high and E_k0>E_kp>E_k1, so α₀<α_p<α₁, ΔE₀<ΔE_p<ΔE₁. With increasing k_t, α decreases, and ΔE increases slowly. For small k_t, α₀ (ΔE₀), α₁ (ΔE₁) and α_p (ΔE_p) are nearly the same. While for large k_t, the difference between α₀ and α₁ (α_p) increases rapidly, but the difference between ΔE₀ and ΔE₁ (ΔE_p) increases slowly.     

A comparison study of inhomogeneous magnetization transfer (ihMT) and magnetization transfer (MT) in multiple sclerosis based on whole brain acquisition at 3.0 T

IntroductionMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a central nervous system disorder that may eventually affect its function. The clinical standard for MS severity is based on a clinical scale, which lacks lesion specific information. Magnetic resonance imaging of MS faces the challenge of myelin specificity, and in this work a new method inhomogeneous magnetization transfer (ihMT) is investigated as new biomarker of demyelination in MS.MethodsLocal ethics committee approved this study and written informed consents were obtained. Between Oct 2017 to May 2018, eighteen patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) (6 males, 12 females, mean age 31.2) and sixteen healthy volunteers (6 males, 10 females, mean age 30.4 years) were enrolled in this prospective study. All subjects underwent MRI exams including MT and ihMT imaging as well as the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) assessments. Independent sample t-test were used to compare the difference of ihMT parameters between healthy white matter (HWM) and normal appearing white matter (NAWM) and between HWM and MS lesions, respectively. Spearman correlation were used to analyze the correlation between ihMT parameters of MS lesions and EDSS score.ResultsThe ihMTR and qihMT demonstrate significant differences between WHM and NAWM groups, while no significant differences are observed for MTR and qMT. All parameters show significant differences between HWM and MS groups (p < 0.05). There was moderate negative correlation between MTR, qMT and EDSS score (−0.440 and −0.572), while there was a strong negative correlation between ihMTR and qihMT and EDSS score (−0.704 and −0.739).ConclusionBased on whole brain analysis at 3.0 T, ihMT showed better correlation with EDSS compared to magnetization transfer imaging, and may be a potentially valuable biomarker for demyelination in MS.     

Multiple sclerosis: Benefits of q-space imaging in evaluation of normal-appearing and periplaque white matter

Introduction

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) reveals white matter pathology in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). A recent non-Gaussian diffusion imaging technique, q-space imaging (QSI), may provide several advantages over conventional MRI techniques in regard to in vivo evaluation of the disease process in patients with MS. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of root mean square displacement (RMSD) derived from QSI data to characterize plaques, periplaque white matter (PWM), and normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) in patients with MS.

Methods

We generated apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) maps by using conventional DTI data from 21 MS patients; we generated RMSD maps by using QSI data from these patients. We used the Steel–Dwass test to compare the diffusion metrics of regions of interest in plaques, PWM, and NAWM.

Results

ADC differed (P < 0.05) between plaques and PWM and between plaques and NAWM. FA differed (P < 0.05) between plaques and NAWM. RMSD differed (P < 0.05) between plaques and PWM, plaques and NAWM, and PWM and NAWM.

Conclusion

RMSD values from QSI may reflect microstructural changes and white-matter damage in patients with MS with higher sensitivity than do conventional ADC and FA values.     

Spiral MRSI and tissue segmentation of normal-appearing white matter and white matter lesions in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients☆

PurposeTo evaluate the performance of novel spiral MRSI and tissue segmentation pipeline of the brain, to investigate neurometabolic changes in normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) and white matter lesions (WML) of stable relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) compared to healthy controls (HCs).MethodsSpiral 3D MRSI using LASER-GOIA-W [16,4] was undertaken on 16 RRMS patients and 9 HCs, to acquire MRSI data from a large volume of interest (VOI) 320 cm³ and analyzed using LCModel. MRSI data and voxel tissue segmentation were compared between the two cohorts using t-tests. Support vector machine (SVM) was used to classify tissue types and assessed by accuracy, sensitivity and specificity.ResultsCompared to HCs, RRMS demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in all mean brain tissues and increase in CSF volume. Within VOI, WM decreased (−10%) and CSF increased (41%) in RRMS compared to HCs (p < 0.001). MRSI revealed that total creatine (tCr) ratios of N-acetylaspartate and glutamate+glutamine in WML were significantly lower than NAWM-MS (−9%, −8%) and HCs (−14%, −10%), respectively. Myo-inositol/tCr in WML was significantly higher than NAWM-MS (14%) and HCs (10%). SVM of MRSI yielded accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 86%, 95%, and 70%, respectively for HCs vs WML, which were higher than HC vs NAWM and WML vs NAWM models.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the benefit of MRSI in evaluating MS neurometabolic changes in NAWM. SVM of MRSI data in the MS brain may be suited for clinical monitoring and progression of MS patients. Longitudinal MRSI studies are warranted.     

Coulomb energies and nuclear radii in the energy density formalism

The relation between Coulomb displacement energies,ΔE _c , andΔr=r _n -r _p , the difference between the rms radii of neutrons and protons in nuclei, is investigated within the energy density formalism (EDF). The variational equation, obtained by minimizing the Coulomb plus symmetry energies, is solved assuming the symmetry interaction is a simple functional of the local nuclear matter density. Varying parameters of the model, rather unique relation betweenΔE _c andΔr is obtained (within ±50 keV).ΔE _c isindependent ofr _ex, the rms radius of the excess neutrons distribution. Using the experimental values ofr _p and adjusting the model to reproduce the recent data onΔr (Δr∽~0.05 fm for⁴⁸Ca and²⁰⁸Pb), which are significantly smaller than those obtained from current Hartree-Fock calculations, the calculatedΔE _c agree with the experimental results. Using the value ofΔr～0.05 fm and the experimental values ofr _ex, a small compression (<0.02 fm) of the proton core in the analogue state relative to its parent state emerges, thus contributing an additional electrostatic term to the Coulomb displacement energy. The size of this relative core-compression effect depends on the values assumed forΔr andr _ex, it increases with the decreasing ofΔr and the increasing ofr _ex. IfΔr～0.05 fm the effect is large enough to remove the long standing Coulomb energy anomaly. The main result of the present work is the correlation betweenΔE _c andΔr, suggesting that the difficulties of current Hartree-Fock calculations in reproducing isotope shifts ofr _p , the small value ofr _n ?r _p and the values ofΔE _c may all be different manifestations of some missing residualp n effective interaction.     

Electric field induced deformation of hemispherical sessile droplets of ionic liquid

Sessile droplets of an ionic liquid with contact angles close to 90° were subjected to an electric field E = V/w inside a capacitor with plate separation w and potential difference V. For small field induced deformations of the droplet shape the change in maximum droplet height, Δh = h(E) – h(0), was found to be virtually independent of the plate separation provided that w > 3h(0). In this regime a scaling law obtains Δh α E²r², where r is the constant droplet radius, in agreement with the asymptotic predictions of Basaran and Scriven (J. Coll. Int. Sci. 140, 10, 1990).     

Differentiation of high-grade and low-grade intra-axial brain tumors by time-dependent diffusion MRI

IntroductionOscillating gradient spin-echo (OGSE) sequences enable acquisitions with shorter diffusion times. There is growing interest in the effect of diffusion time on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in patients with cancer. However, little evidence exists regarding its usefulness for differentiating between high-grade and low-grade brain tumors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the utility of changes in the ADC value between short and long diffusion times in distinguishing low-grade and high-grade brain tumors.Material and methodsEleven patients with high-grade brain tumors and ten patients with low-grade brain tumors were scanned using a 3 T magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) using OGSE and PGSE (effective diffusion time [Δ_eff]: 6.5 ms and 35.2 ms) and b-values of 0 and 1000 s/mm². Using a region of interest (ROI) analysis of the brain tumors, we measured the ADC for two Δeff (ADC_Δeff) values and computed the subtraction ADC (ΔADC = ADC_{6.5 ms} − ADC_{35.2 ms}) and the relative ADC (ΔADC = (ADC_{6.5 ms} − ADC_{35.2 ms}) / ADC_{35.2 ms} × 100). The maximum values for the subtraction ADC (ΔADC_max) and the relative ADC (rADC_max) on the ROI were compared between low-grade and high-grade tumors using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. A P-value <.05 was considered significant. The ROIs were also placed in the normal white matter of patients with high- and low-grade brain tumors, and ΔADC_max values were determined.ResultsHigh-grade tumors had significantly higher ΔADC_max and rADC_max than low-grade tumors. The ΔADC_max values of the normal white matter were lower than the ΔADC_max of high- and low-grade brain tumors.ConclusionThe dependence of ADC values on diffusion time between 6.5 ms and 35.2 ms was stronger in high-grade tumors than in low-grade tumors, suggesting differences in internal tissue structure. This finding highlights the importance of reporting diffusion times in ADC evaluations and might contribute to the grading of brain tumors using DWI.     

On the mass and mixings of the ZE

The experimental data on the neutral current couplings are used to derive lower bounds on the mass of Z_E, the extra neutral gauge boson appearing in the minimal ‘beyond the standard model’ scenario favoured in superstring compactifications. This is based on the gauge group SU(3)_c×SU(2)_L×U(1)_Y×U(1)_E. Taking sin²θ_w=0.229, m_W=80.76 GeV and m_Z=91.59 GeV it is found that the mixing angle θ between Z and Z_E must satisfy −0.136<sin θ<−0.007 corresponding to m_ZE>152 GeV or, assuming E₆ unification m_ZE>155 GeV.     

Studies on the effect of chlorides of magnesium,calcium, strontium and barium on the temperature of the sound velocity maximum of water

The effect of chlorides of magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium on the temperature of the sound velocity maximum (TSVM) of water, T_w, has been studied by determining the ultrasonic velocity using a single crystal variable path interferometer working at 3 MHz. The accuracy in ultrasonic velocity measurement is ± 0.05 m s^− 1. The ultrasonic velocity measurements were carried out at ≃ 2 °C intervals over a range of 5 °C to either side of TSVM of the solutions. The accuracy in fixing TSVM is ± 0.2 °C. The shifts in TSVM of water due to the addition of MgCl₂ and CaCl₂, (ΔT_obs), are found to be positive at low concentrations becoming maxima around the weight fraction w ≃ 2.3 × 10^− 2 for MgCl₂ and w ≃ 3.8 × 10^− 2 for CaCl₂ and becoming negative around w ≃ 5.6 × 10^− 2 for MgCl₂ and w ≃ 3.8 × 10^− 2 for CaCl₂. (ΔT_obs) for MgCl₂ > CaCl₂ > SrCl₂ > BaCl₂ indicating that the strength of the structural interactions in modifying the hydrogen-bonded structure of water is in the order Mg²⁺ > Ca²⁺ > Sr²⁺ > Ba²⁺. The results are explained in the light of the structural properties of the anions and cations in the solutions in modifying the three dimensional hydrogen-bonded structure of water.     

Extrapolation from positive to negative energy of the Woods-Saxon parametrization of the n-208Pb mean field

The real part V(r); E) of the nucleon-nucleus mean field is assumed to have a Woods-Saxon shape, and accordingly to be fully specified by three quantities: the potential depth U_v(E), radius R_V(E) and diffuseness a_v(E). At a given nucleon energy E these parameters can be determined from three different radial moments [r^q]_v = (4π/A) ∝V(r; E)r^q dr. This is useful because a dispersion relation approach has recently been developed for extrapolating [r^q]_V(E) from positive to negative energy, using as inputs the radial moments of the real and imaginary parts of empirical optical-model potentials V(r; E) + iW(r; E). In the present work, the values of U_v(E), R_v(E) and a_v(E) are calculated in the case of neutrons in ²⁰⁸Pb in the energy domain −20 < E < 40 MeV from the values of [r^q]_V(E) for q = 0.8, 2 and 4. It is found that both U_V(E) and R_v(E) have a characteristic energy dependence. The energy dependence of the diffuseness a_a(E) is less reliably predicted by the method. The radius R_V(E) increases when E decreases from 40 to 5 MeV. This behaviour is in agreement with empirical evidence. In the energy domain −10 MeV < E < 0, R_V(E) is predicted to decrease with decreasing energy. The energy dependence of the root mean square radius is similar to that of R_V(E). The potential depth U_v slightly increases when E decreases from 40 to 15 MeV and slightly decreases between 10 and 5 MeV; it is consequently approximately constant in the energy domain 5 < E < 20 MeV, in keeping with empirical evidence. The depth U_v increases linearly with decreasing E in the domain −10 MeV < E < 0. These features are shown to persist when one modifies the detailed input of the calculation, namely the empirical values of [r^q]_v(E) for E > 0 and the parametrization [r_q]_w(E) of the energy dependence of the radial moments of the imaginary part of the empirical optical-model potentials. In the energy domain −10 MeV < E < 0, the calculated V(r; E) yields good agreement with the experimental single-particle energies; the model thus accurately predicts the shell-model potential (E < 0) from the extrapolation of the optical-model potential (E > 0). In the dispersion relation approach, the real part V(r; E) is the sum of a Hartree-Fock type contribution V_HF(r; E) and of a dispersive contribution ΔV(r; E). The latter is due to the excitation of the ²⁰⁸Pb core. The dispersion relation approach enables the calculation of the radial moment [r^q]_ΔV(E) from the parametrization [r^q]_w(E): several schematic models are considered which yield algebraic expressions for [r^q]_ΔV(E). The radial moments [r^q]_HF(E) are approximated by linear functions of E. When in addition, it is assumed that V_HF(r; E) has a Woods-Saxon radial shape, the energy dependence of its potential parameters (U_HF, R_HF, a_HF) can be calculated. Furthermore, the values of ΔV(r; E) can then be derived. It turns out that ΔV(r; E) is peaked at the nuclear surface near the Fermi energy and acquires a Woods-Saxon type shape when the energy increases, in keeping with previous qualitative estimates. It is responsible for the peculiar energy dependence of R_V(E) in the vicinity of the Fermi energy.     

Anatomical brain MRI study of pediatric cancer survivors treated with chemotherapy: Correlation with behavioral measures

The negative impacts of chemotherapy on pediatric patients treated with chemotherapy during the formative years of brain development are understudied compared to adult chemotherapy cancer patients. This work investigated the morphometry, cortical thickness, and subcortical volumes using MRI and their correlations with behavioral measures in pediatric oncology survivors treated with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy-treated childhood cancer survivors (N = 15, 15.12 ± 5.98 years old) diagnosed with a non-central nervous system malignancy and healthy age-matched controls (N = 15, 15.13 ± 4.21 years old) were studied. MRI was acquired at 3 Tesla. Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF) Parental Rating, Purdue Pegboard manual dexterity and n-back working memory measures were administered. Structural MRI scans at 3 Tesla were acquired. Voxel-based morphometry, cortical thickness and subcortical volumes were analyzed and correlated with behavioral scores. Parametric statistics with a p < .05 and adjusted for multiple comparison corrections were performed. Patients exhibited significantly smaller gray-matter volumes in the left globus pallidum, bilateral thalami, left caudate and left nucleus accumbens (p < .05) and thinner cortex in the right parahippocampal gyrus (p < .05) compared to controls. BRIEF scores were similar to normative values. Purdue Pegboard revealed manual dexterity deficits compared to normative values, and the n-back task showed working-memory deficits in patients compared to controls. Left thalamus volume positively correlated with dexterity performance (p = .029). The number of correct answers positively correlated and the number of incorrect answers negatively correlated with total-brain and white-matter volume (p < .05), but not gray-matter volume (p > .05). Our results support the hypothesis that the neurotoxicity of systemic chemotherapy has widespread negative effects on brain development in pediatric oncology patients with relatively mild cognitive deficits. MRI identified neuroanatomical changes have the potential to provide neural correlates of the sequelae associated with pediatric chemotherapy.     

Low energy excitations in KMnO4 with 1 eV<=ΔE<=10 eV from electron-energy loss spectroscopy

Electron-energy loss spectra of potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) with primary electron energies 25 eV<=E₀<=500 eV show 7 peaks in the energy-loss range 1 eV<=ΔE<=10eV and are successfully analysed with a superposition of 7 independent Gaussians. The intensity of these lines follow roughly a power-law dependence on the primary energy I∝E ₀ ^-α . There are two groups of lines, the first with an exponent α≈0.5, while the lines in the second group decay much stronger with increasingE ₀ corresponding to a value 0.9<=α<=1.3. The 4 lines in the first group are identified as dipole allowed transitions by comparison to recent first principle molecular-orbital calculations for the (MnO₄) molecule by H. Nakai et al. The dipole-allowed excitation spectrum obtained from this analysis agrees very well with these first principle calculations.     

Utility of a diffusion-weighted arterial spin labeling (DW-ASL) technique for evaluating the progression of brain white matter lesions

PurposeTo investigate the utility of diffusion-weighted arterial spin labeling (DW-ASL) for detecting the progression of brain white matter lesions.Materials and methodsA total of 492 regions of interest (ROIs) in 41 patients were prospectively analyzed. DW-ASL was performed using the diffusion gradient prepulse of five b-values (0, 25, 60, 102, and 189) before the ASL readout. We calculated the water exchange rate (K_w) with post-processing using the ASL signal information for each b-value. The cerebral blood flow (CBF) was also calculated using b0 images. Using the signal information in FLAIR (fluid-attenuated inversion recovery) images, we classified the severity of white matter lesions into three grades: non-lesion, moderate, and severe. In addition, the normal K_w level was measured from DW-ASL data of 60 ROIs in five control subjects. The degree of variance of the K_w values (K_w-var) was calculated by squaring the value of the difference between each K_w value and the normal K_w level. All patient's ROIs were divided into non-progressive and progressive white matter lesions by comparing the present FLAIR images with those obtained 2 years before this acquisition.ResultsCompared to the non-progressive group, the progressive group had significantly lower CBF, significantly higher severity grades in FLAIR, and significantly greater K_w-var values. In a receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, a high area under the curve (AUC) of 0.89 was obtained with the use of K_w-var. In contrast, the AUCs of 0.59 for CBF and 0.72 for severity grades in FLAIR were obtained.ConclusionsThe DW-ASL technique can be useful to detect the progression of brain white matter lesions. This technique will become a clinical tool for patients with various degrees of white matter lesions.     

Synthetic T2-weighted images of the lumbar spine derived from an accelerated T2 mapping sequence: Comparison to conventional T2w turbo spin echo

ObjectivesTo evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of synthetic T₂-weighted images of the lumbar spine derived from ten-fold undersampled k-space data using GRAPPATINI, a combination of a model-based approach for rapid T₂ and M₀ quantification (MARTINI) extended by generalized autocalibrating partial parallel acquistion (GRAPPA).Materials and methodsOverall, 58 individuals (26 female, mean age 23.3 ± 8.1 years) were examined at 3 Tesla with sagittal and axial T₂w turbo spin echo (TSE) sequences compared to synthetic T₂₋weighted contrasts derived at identical effective echo times and spatial resolutions. Two blinded readers graded disk degeneration and evaluated the lumbar intervertebral disks for present herniation or annular tear. One reader reassessed all studies after four weeks. Weighted kappa statistics were calculated to assess inter-rater and intra-rater agreement. Also, all studies were segmented manually by one reader to compute contrast ratios (CR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) of the nucleus pulposus and the annulus fibrosus.ResultsOverall, the CR_T2w was 4.45 ± 1.80 and CR_T2synth was 4.71 ± 2.14. Both correlated (rsp = 0.768;p < 0.001) and differed (0.26 ± 1.38;p = 0.002) significantly. The CNR_T2w was 1.73 ± 0.52 and CNR_T2synth was 1.63 ± 0.50. Both correlated (rsp = 0.875;p < 0.001) and differed (−0.10 ± 0.25;p < 0.001) significantly. The inter-rater agreement was substantial to almost perfect (κ = 0.808–0.925) with the intra-rater agreement also substantial to almost perfect (κ = 0.862–0.963). The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristics assessing disk herniation or annular tear ranged from 0.787 to 0.892.ConclusionsThis study concludes that synthetic images derived by GRAPPATINI can be used for clinical routine assessment with inter-rater and intra-rater agreements comparable to conventional T₂w TSE.     

Interrelationships between 3-T-MRI-derived cortical and trabecular bone structure parameters and quantitative-computed-tomography-derivedbone mineral density

Recently, 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been introduced for bone imaging. Through higher signal-to-noise ratios, as compared to 1.5-T MRI, it promises to be a more powerful tool for the assessment of cortical and trabecular bone measures. The goal of our study was to compare MRI-derived cortical and trabecular bone measures to quantitative computed tomography (QCT)-derived bone mineral density (BMD). Using 3-T MRI in 51 postmenopausal women, apparent (app.) measures of bone volume/total volume, trabecular number (Tb.N), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) and trabecular separation were derived at the distal radius, distal tibia and calcaneus. Cortical thickness (Ct.Th) was calculated at the distal radius and distal tibia. These measures were compared to QCT-derived BMD of the spine, hip and radius. Significant correlations (^?P<.05; ^??P<.001; ^???P<.0001) were found between spine BMD- and MRI-derived Ct.Th (r_radius=.55, ^?P<.05; r_tibia=.67, ^???P<.0001) and app. Tb.N (r_radius=.33, ^?P<.05; r_tibia=.35, ^?P<.05) at the radius and tibia. Furthermore, within the first 10 mm at the radius, an inverse correlation for Ct.Th and app. BV/TV (r_6mm=−.56, P<.001; r_10mm=−.36, P<.05) and app. Tb.Th (r_6mm=−.54, P<.001; r_10mm=−.41, P<.05) was found.     

Investigation of 38Ar levels by 37Cl+p reactions: (I). Yield curves,excitation energies and branching ratios

Yield measurements have been performed on the reactions ³⁷Cl(p, p₀)³⁷Cl, ³⁷Cl(p, α₀)³⁴S (E_p = 1.17–1.70 MeV) and ³⁷Cl(p, n₀)³⁷Ar, ³⁷Cl(p.γ)³⁸Ar (E_p = 0.64–2.92 MeV); detailed investigations are restricted to resonances below E_p = 1.79 MeV. Resonance energies, strengths and (some) widths are reported for 12, 26 and 247 resonances in the reactions (p, p₀), (p, n₀) and (p, γ), respectively.Simultaneous (p, α₀) and (p, γ) yield measurements over selected E_p intervals in the E_p = 0.88–1.64 MeV range established the existence of 42 resonances decaying by both γ and α₀ emission. Analysis of the γ-ray spectra of 100 ³⁷Cl(p, γ)³⁸Ar resonances leads to precision excitation energies (ΔE_x = 0.1–2 keV) of 57 bound states (E_x < 8 MeV) and branching ratios of the resonances and of 50 bound states.     

Observation of the muon inner bremsstrahlung at?LEP1

Muon bremsstrahlung photons converted in front of the DELPHI main tracker (TPC) in dimuon events at LEP1 were studied in two photon kinematic ranges: 0.2<E _γ ≤1 GeV and transverse momentum with respect to the parent muon p _T <40 MeV/c, and 1<E _γ ≤10 GeV and p _T <80 MeV/c. A good agreement of the observed photon rate with predictions from QED for the muon inner bremsstrahlung was found, contrary to the anomalous soft photon excess that has been observed recently in hadronic Z ⁰ decays. The obtained ratios of the observed signal to the predicted level of the muon bremsstrahlung are 1.06±0.12±0.07 in the photon energy range 0.2<E _γ ≤1 GeV and 1.04±0.09±0.12 in the photon energy range 1<E _γ ≤10 GeV. The bremsstrahlung dead cone is observed for the first time in the direct photon production at LEP. Deceased.     

Interface capacitance of nano-patterned electrodes

By employing numerical solutions of the Poisson–Boltzmann equation we have studied the interface capacitance of flat electrodes with stripes of different potentials of zero charge ?_pzc. The results depend on the ratio of the width of the stripes l to the dielectric screening length in the electrolyte, the Debye length d_Debye, as well as on the difference Δ?_pzc in relation k_BT/e. As expected, the capacitance of a striped surface has its minimum at the mean potential of the surface if l/d_Debye << 1 and displays two minima if l/d_Debye >> 1. An unexpected result is that for Δ?_pzc ? 0.2V, the transition between the two extreme cases does not occur when l ? d_Debye, but rather when l > 10d_Debye. As a consequence, a single minimum in the capacitance is observed for dilute electrolytes even for 100 nm wide stripes. The capacitance at the minimum is however higher than for homogeneous surfaces. Furthermore, the potential at the minimum deviates significantly from the potential of zero mean charge on the surface if l > 3d_Debye and Δ?_pzc is larger than about 4k_BT/e. The capacitance of stepped, partially reconstructed Au(11n) surfaces is discussed as an example. Consequences for Parsons–Zobel-plots of the capacitances of inhomogeneous surfaces are likewise discussed.