Dipole bands in the oblate-shaped195Pb

The nucleus¹⁹⁵Pb has been populated with the¹⁸⁴W+¹⁶O reaction at 113 MeV. Two dipole γ-ray cascades have been observed using the EUROGAM spectrometer. A comprehensive level scheme related to these structures has been established. Multiparticle configurations are attributed to these high-spin structures from detailed comparison with the neighbouring nuclei,¹⁹³Hg,¹⁹⁴Pb and¹⁹⁵Tl. Band crossings due to i13/2 neutron pair breaking are observed in¹⁹⁵Pb at about the same frequencies as in the isotone¹⁹³Hg.

     

High spin states in153Er

High spin states in¹⁵³Er have been populated in the¹⁴⁴Sm(¹²C, 3n)¹³³Er reaction. Excitation functions, lifetimes, angular distributions,γ-γ coincidences and internal conversion coefficients were measured. Three isomeric states at 2.75 MeV (T _1/2=400 ns), 2.95 MeV (T _1/2～10 ns) and 5.2 MeV (T _1/2=200 ns) have been observed. A fourth isomer seems to be weakly excited above 6.8 MeV. The level scheme proposed is discussed in term of the nuclear shell model.     

Advanced topology on the multiscale sequence spaces

We pursue the study of the multiscale spaces S^ν introduced by Jaffard in the context of multifractal analysis. We give the necessary and sufficient condition for S^ν to be locally p-convex, and exhibit a sequence of p-norms that defines its natural topology. The strong topological dual of S^ν is identified to another sequence space depending on ν, endowed with an inductive limit topology. As a particular case, we describe the dual of a countable intersection of Besov spaces.     

An investigation of a genomewide supported psychosis variant in ZNF804A and white matter integrity in the human brain

ZNF804A, a genomewide supported susceptibility gene for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, has been associated with task-independent functional connectivity between the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. Several lines of evidence have converged on the hypothesis that this effect may be mediated by structural connectivity. We tested this hypothesis using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging in three samples: one German sample of 50 healthy individuals, one Scottish sample of 83 healthy individuals and one Scottish sample of 84 unaffected relatives of bipolar patients. Voxel-based analysis and tract-based spatial statistics did not detect any fractional anisotropy (FA) differences between minor allele carriers and individuals homozygous for the major allele at rs1344706. Similarly, region-of-interest analyses and quantitative tractography of the genu of the corpus callosum revealed no significant FA differences between the genotype groups. Examination of effect sizes and confidence intervals indicated that this negative finding is very unlikely to be due to a lack of statistical power. In summary, despite using various analysis techniques in three different samples, our results were strikingly and consistently negative. These data therefore suggest that it is unlikely that the effects of genetic variation at rs1344706 on functional connectivity are mediated by structural integrity differences in large, long-range white matter fiber connections.     

Precise determination of the unperturbed 8B neutrino spectrum

A measurement of the final state distribution of the (8)B β decay, obtained by implanting a (8)B beam in a double-sided silicon strip detector, is reported here. The present spectrum is consistent with a recent independent precise measurement performed by our collaboration at the IGISOL facility, Jyv?skyl? [O. S. Kirsebom et al., Phys. Rev. C 83, 065802 (2011)]. It shows discrepancies with previously measured spectra, leading to differences in the derived neutrino spectrum. Thanks to a low detection threshold, the neutrino spectrum is for the first time directly extracted from the measured final state distribution, thus avoiding the uncertainties related to the extrapolation of R-matrix fits. Combined with the IGISOL data, this leads to an improvement of the overall errors and the extension of the neutrino spectrum at high energy. The new unperturbed neutrino spectrum represents a benchmark for future measurements of the solar neutrino flux as a function of energy.     

Pyridinedithioesters as heterodienophiles: application to the synthesis of aprikalim

[reaction: see text] Pyridinedithioesters can be used as efficient heterodienophiles when activated by complexation with BF(3), by protonation, or by oxidation of the nitrogen atom of the pyridine moiety. The hetero-Diels-Alder reaction using 3-pyridinedithioester as a heterodienophile was the key step in a new synthesis of Aprikalim in racemic form. The methodology can be reliably extended to prepare new analogues of Aprikalim.     

Discovery of the shape coexisting 0+ state in 32 Mg by a two neutron transfer reaction

The "island of inversion" nucleus 32 Mg has been studied by a (t, p) two neutron transfer reaction in inverse kinematics at REX-ISOLDE. The shape coexistent excited 0+ state in 32 Mg has been identified by the characteristic angular distribution of the protons of the Δ L=0 transfer. The excitation energy of 1058 keV is much lower than predicted by any theoretical model. The low γ-ray intensity observed for the decay of this 0+ state indicates a lifetime of more than 10 ns. Deduced spectroscopic amplitudes are compared with occupation numbers from shell-model calculations.     

Evidence for non-yrast states in 254No

Evidence for the decay of non-yrast states in ²⁵⁴No has been observed for the first time in an experiment performed at the University of Jyv?skyl?. The experiment employed the JUROGAM array of germanium detectors coupled to the gas-filled recoil separator RITU and the focal-plane spectrometer GREAT. The ground-state rotational band has been tentatively extended up to a spin of 24ℏ and has a smoothly behaving dynamical moment of inertia. It is speculated that the observation of high-energy γ-rays is due to the decay of a K = 3 band-head state.     

An adaptive Monte Carlo algorithm for computing mixed logit estimators

Researchers and analysts are increasingly using mixed logit models for estimating responses to forecast demand and to determine the factors that affect individual choices. However the numerical cost associated to their evaluation can be prohibitive, the inherent probability choices being represented by multidimensional integrals. This cost remains high even if Monte Carlo or quasi-Monte Carlo techniques are used to estimate those integrals. This paper describes a new algorithm that uses Monte Carlo approximations in the context of modern trust-region techniques, but also exploits accuracy and bias estimators to considerably increase its computational efficiency. Numerical experiments underline the importance of the choice of an appropriate optimisation technique and indicate that the proposed algorithm allows substantial gains in time while delivering more information to the practitioner. Fabian Bastin: Research Fellow of the National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS)