Positive value of information in games

We exhibit a general class of interactive decision situations in which all the agents benefit from more information. This class includes as a special case the classical comparison of statistical experiments à la Blackwell. AMS 2000 Subject Classification:Primary 91A35.The work of Bruno Bassan and Marco Scarsini was partially supported by MIUR-COFIN. The authors express their thanks to Sylvain Sorin for enlightening comments.     

On possible spin injection at non-ideal Schottky contacts

The role of the tunneling mechanisms in metal-disordered layer-semiconductor structure under spin injection at the interface is investigated. The non-ideal metal-semiconductor structure as prepared by ionized cluster beam deposition is considered, and it is shown that the depletion region of the semiconductor can be tailored to include a suitably heavily doped region near the interface. The tunneling is described within a simplified model in which the expression for the interface resistance of the metal-disordered layer-semiconductor structure is obtained. It is argued that in the case of ionized cluster beam deposited non-ideal Schottky structure a significant spin injection is achieved.     

Real time ellipsometry for monitoring plasma-assisted epitaxial growth of GaN

GaN is grown on Si-face 4H-SiC(0 0 0 1) substrates using remote plasma-assisted methods including metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (RP-MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Real time spectroscopic ellipsometry is used for monitoring all the steps of substrate pre-treatments and the heteroepitaxial growth of GaN on SiC. Our characterization emphasis is on understanding the nucleation mechanism and the GaN growth mode, which depend on the SiC surface preparation.     

Exclusive semi-leptonic decays of bottom mesons in the spectator quark model

We calculate the exclusive semileptonic bottom meson decays \(B \to D(D*) + l^ - + \bar v_l \) in the spectator quark model. The helicity structure of the mesonic current transitionsB→D(D ^*) is matched to the helicity structure of the free quark current transitionsb→c at minimum momentum transferq ²=0. The results are continued toq ²≠=0 by pole-dominated form factors. Our results are compared to recent calculations that use quark model dynamics at maximum momentum transferq _max ² = (M ₁ ?M ₂)². We find agreement atq _max ² . Atq ²=0 there are significant differences between the predictions of the two approaches leading to marked differences in the predictions for the shape of the lepton energy spectrum, the shape of theq ²-distribution, and the helicity composition of the transition measurable in the angular distributions of the decaysD ^*→Dπ and \(W_{virtual}^ - \to l^ - + \bar v_l \) .     

Perturbative QCD coherence ine + e − annihilation

We study the pattern of soft parton radiation in the hard annihilation processes \(e^ + e^ - \to q\bar q\gamma \) and \(e^ + e^ - \to q\bar qg\) by explicit evaluation of the cross sections for \(e^ + e^ - \to q\bar q\gamma g\) and \(e^ + e^ - \to q\bar qgg + q\bar qq\bar q\) taken care of correct normalization. We find the coherence effects as observed experimentally and discuss why these effects are not present in the usual models based onO(α _s ² ) perturbation theory with subsequent independent fragmentation.     

Determination of Taxotere in human plasma by a semi-automated high-performance liquid chromatographic method.

A rapid, selective and reproducible high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with ultraviolet detection was developed for the determination of the anti-cancer agent Taxotere in biological fluids. The method involves a solid-phase extraction step (C2 ethyl microcolumns) using a Varian Advanced Automated Sample Processor (AASP) followed by reversed-phase HPLC. The validated quantitation range of the method is 10-2500 ng/ml in plasma with coefficients of variation < or = 11%. The method is also suitable for the determination of Taxotere in urine samples under the same conditions. The method was applied in a phase I tolerance study of Taxotere in cancer patients, allowing the pharmacokinetic profile of Taxotere to be established.