A correction to and improvement of ‘Strong approximations of some biometric estimates under random censorship’

Summary In the proof of the main result of the original paper there is an error. Instead of repairing that proof to get just the original result, at the critical spot we improve the proof and obtain a much better result. In particular, we approximate the product-limit and empirical cumulative hazard processes by suitable copies of the corresponding limiting Gaussian processes with rates of approximation that on appropriate fixed half lines reduce to the rates of Komlós, Major and Tusnády for the uncensored empirical process.     

Ionophore synthesis. An enantioselective route to the left-wing of indanomycin (X- 14547A).

An enantioselective synthesis of the tetrahydropyran “left-wing” ofthe ionophore X-14547A is described, wherein stereoselective 1,2-carbonyl additions and an oxapyronone-to-dihydropyran enolate Claisen rearrangement are key stereocontrol elements.     

Student Performance on Asking Questions,Identifying Variables,and Formulating Hypotheses

The purpose of this study was to extend attempts to develop a research framework for encoding and analyzing students' responses to the tasks of asking questions, identifying variables, and formulating hypotheses, and to use the research framework to analyze and classify the responses of seventh grade students. A performance-based assessment instrument was used. The topic was heat and temperature. The responses of 364 seventh grade students were used to develop a framework for evaluating student written responses which allows researchers to classify student responses according to their general completeness and usefulness, and according to the manner in which responses were incomplete or not useful. Interrater reliability was 82%. Seventh grade students who reportedly have had instruction in the science processes did not perform well on this performance-based assessment.     

Spectrophotometric determination of palladium with 1-thioglycerol and a study of palladium complex formation with four similar thio-organic compounds

A study of the reactivity of five thio-organic compounds with palladium^II ions has been made and one of them, 1-thioglycerol, selected for use as a spectrophotometric reagent for palladium. Its sensitivity is 0.01 μg of palladium/cm² for log I₀/I = 0.001. The sensitivity of the other four compounds is about the same. Beer's law is obeyed over the palladium concentration range of 0.5 to 9 ppm. The effects of pH, order of addition of reagents, temperature and diverse ions have been investigated.     

Proton states in theN = 86 nuclei147Pm and149Eu populated in the (3He,d), (α,t) and (t, α) reactions

The (³He,d) and (α, t) reactions on targets of¹⁴⁶Nd and¹⁴⁸Sm have been studied, using beams of 24 MeV³He and 27 MeV⁴He from the McMaster University tandem van de Graaff accelerator. Also the (t, α) reaction on a target of¹⁴⁸Sm has been studied, using 17 MeV tritons from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory tandem accelerator. The reaction products were analyzed with magnetic spectrographs. Information on thel-values was obtained from (³He,d) angular distributions and from ratios of (α,t) and (³He,d) cross sections. In each nucleus a severe fragmentation of the shell-model strength is found. In particular a total of 13(7)l=2 transitions and 6(6)l=0 transitions have been identified in¹⁴⁷Pm(¹⁴⁹Eu). The results are analyzed in terms of the spherical shell model, which accounts fairly well for the summed spectroscopic strengths. However, with the existence of the (t, α) data a more detailed investigation of the emptiness of individual levels observed in¹⁴⁷Pm gives some indication that a deformed scheme might be more successful in describing these nuclei.     

Development of an integrated optic oxygen sensor using a novel, generic platform

This paper describes the development of a generic platform for enhanced, integrated optic sensors based on fluorescence detection. The platform employs a novel optical configuration in order to achieve enhanced performance and has inherent multianalyte detection capability. The sensor element comprises a multimode ridge waveguide that has been patterned with an analyte-sensitive fluorescent spot, which is excited directly using a LED. The platform was applied to the detection of gaseous oxygen as a proof of principle. The sol-gel-derived sensor spots were doped with an oxygen-sensitive fluorescent dichlororuthenium dye complex and intensity-based calibration data were generated from the oxygen-dependent waveguide output. The sensor achieved a LOD of 0.62% and a resolution of less than 0.96% gaseous oxygen, which compares favourably with a similar, recently reported system. This device highlights the combination of inexpensive rapid prototyping techniques and a dedicated sensor enhancement strategy that together facilitate the production of an effective prototype sensor platform.     

Relations between coordinate and potential scaling in the high-density limit

Exact relations are derived between scaling to the high-density limit of density functional theory and taking Z to infinity for nondegenerate atoms. Gorling-Levy perturbation results are deduced for hydrogenic densities. The kinetic contribution to the correlation energy is also studied, and estimates given for its value for neutral atoms. Popular approximate functionals are tested against these benchmarks.     

Continuum states from time-dependent density functional theory

Linear response time-dependent density functional theory is used to study low-lying electronic continuum states of targets that can bind an extra electron. Exact formulas to extract scattering amplitudes from the susceptibility are derived in one dimension. A single-pole approximation for scattering phase shifts in three dimensions is shown to be more accurate than static exchange for singlet electron-He(+) scattering.     

Note on separate continuity and the Namioka property

A pair 〈B,K〉 is a Namioka pair if K is compact and for any separately continuous , there is a dense A⊆B such that f is ( jointly) continuous on A×K. We give an example of a Choquet space B and separately continuous such that the restriction fΔ_| to the diagonal does not have a dense set of continuity points. However, for K a compact fragmentable space we have: For any separately continuous and for any Baire subspace F of T×K, the set of points of continuity of is dense in F. We say that 〈B,K〉 is a weak-Namioka pair if K is compact and for any separately continuous and a closed subset F projecting irreducibly onto B, the set of points of continuity of fF_| is dense in F. We show that T is a Baire space if the pair 〈T,K〉 is a weak-Namioka pair for every compact K. Under (CH) there is an example of a space B such that 〈B,K〉 is a Namioka pair for every compact K but there is a countably compact C and a separately continuous which has no dense set of continuity points; in fact, f does not even have the Baire property.     

A revised level scheme for 158Tb

Four separate reaction studies have been performed which show how the accepted nuclear level scheme for ¹⁵⁸Tb must be modified. This nuclide is of current interest because of the recent suggestion that its electron-capture decay may yield a means of determining the neutrino mass.