Direct summands of class groups

Let G be a finite abelian group, and F a global field of characteristic prime to the order of G. Then there exists a finite extension of F whose class group has a direct summand isomorphic to G.     

The electrical properties of semiconductor/metal,semiconductor/liquid,and semiconductor/conducting polymer contacts

Critical comparisons are drawn between the basic electrical properties of semiconductor/metal, semiconductor/liquid, and semiconductor/conducting polymer junctions. A theoretical model is developed to describe the basic current-voltage properties of semiconductor contacts, with emphasis on the contrasts between ideal and observed behavior. Using the concepts from this model, the characteristics of a variety of semiconductor contacts are evaluated. The discussion focuses on the following semiconductors: Si, GaAs, InP, and II-VI compounds based on the Cd-(chalcogenide) materials.     

Ion-implanted target for soft x-ray laser investigations

Ion-implantation has been used to make a target suitable for the investigation of soft X-ray laser action via resonant photo-pumping. Neon was implanted on one side of a thin aluminum foil and sodium fluoride was coated on the other side. A 100 picosecond laser pulse at 2 × 10¹⁴ W cm^-2was used to irradiate the neon side, and 330 ps later the sodium fluoride side was irradiated with a similar pulse. X-ray spectroscopy was used to measure the state of ionisation of the neon, and the inferred electron temperature was compared with a one-dimensional computer simulation. The spectral brightness of the pumping radiation was also estimated.     

Equivalence of dimensional reduction and dimensional regularisation

For some years there has been uncertainty over whether regularisation by dimensional reduction (DRED) is viable for non-supersymmetric theories. We resolve this issue by showing that DRED is entirely equivalent to standard dimensional regularisation (DREG), to all orders in perturbation theory and for a general renormalisable theory. The two regularisation schemes are related by an analytic redefinition of the couplings, under which the -functions calculated using DRED transform into those computed in DREG. TheS-matrix calculated using DRED is numerically equal to the DREG version, ensuring that both schemes give the same physics.     

Characterization of high intensity focused ultrasound transducers using acoustic streaming

A new approach for characterizing high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) transducers is presented. The technique is based upon the acoustic streaming field generated by absorption of the HIFU beam in a liquid medium. The streaming field is quantified using digital particle image velocimetry, and a numerical algorithm is employed to compute the acoustic intensity field giving rise to the observed streaming field. The method as presented here is applicable to moderate intensity regimes, above the intensities which may be damaging to conventional hydrophones, but below the levels where nonlinear propagation effects are appreciable. Intensity fields and acoustic powers predicted using the streaming method were found to agree within 10% with measurements obtained using hydrophones and radiation force balances. Besides acoustic intensity fields, the streaming technique may be used to determine other important HIFU parameters, such as beam tilt angle or absorption of the propagation medium.     

The structure of events triggered by direct photons in π− p, π+ p andpp collisions at 280 GeV/c

The structure of events associated with the production of direct photons in π^? p, π⁺ p andpp reactions of 280 GeV/c has been studied using data from the WA 70 experiment at the CERN SPS. Results are presented on the distributions of the fractional momenta of the colliding partons and on the fragmentation of the recoil jet and a comparison is made with predictions using the structure functions of Duke and Owens in the Lund Monte Carlo with string fragmentation.     

Age-related changes in the "complexity" of cardiovascular dynamics: A potential marker of vulnerability to disease

Healthy physiologic control of cardiovascular function is a result of complex interactions between multiple regulatory processes that operate over different time scales. These include the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems which regulate beat-to-beat heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP), as well as extravascular volume, body temperature, and sleep which influence HR and BP over the longer term. Interactions between these control systems generate highly variable fluctuations in continuous HR and BP signals. Techniques derived from nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory are now being adapted to quantify the dynamic behavior of physiologic time series and study their changes with age or disease. We have shown significant age-related changes in the 1/f(x) relationship between the log amplitude and log frequency of the heart rate power spectrum, as well as declines in approximate dimension and approximate entropy of both heart rate and blood pressure time series. These changes in the "complexity" of cardiovascular dynamics reflect the breakdown and decoupling of integrated physiologic regulatory systems with aging, and may signal an impairment in cardiovascular ability to adapt to external and internal perturbations. Studies are currently underway to determine whether the complexity of HR or BP time series can distinguish patients with fainting spells due to benign vasovagal reactions from those due to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Thus, measures of the complexity of physiologic variability may provide novel methods to monitor cardiovascular aging and test the efficacy of specific interventions to improve adaptive capacity in old age. (c) 1995 American Institute of Physics.     

Constrained modeling for spectroscopic measurement of bi-exponential spin-lattice relaxation of water in vivo

The (1)H NMR water signal from spectroscopic voxels localized in gray matter contains contributions from tissue and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). A typically weak CSF signal at short echo times makes separating the tissue and CSF spin-lattice relaxation times (T(1)) difficult, often yielding poor precision in a bi-exponential relaxation model. Simulations show that reducing the variables in the T(1) model by using known signal intensity values significantly improves the precision of the T(1) measurement. The method was validated on studies on eight healthy subjects (four males and four females, mean age 21 +/- 2 years) through a total of twenty-four spectroscopic relaxation studies. Each study included both T(1) and spin-spin relaxation (T(2)) experiments. All volumes were localized along the Sylvian fissure using a stimulated echo localization technique with a mixing time of 10 ms. The T(2) experiment consisted of 16 stimulated echo acquisitions ranging from a minimum echo time (TE) of 20 ms to a maximum of 1000 ms, with a repetition time of 12 s. All T(1) experiments consisted of 16 stimulated echo acquisition, using a homospoil saturation recovery technique with a minimum recovery time of 50 ms and a maximum 12 s. The results of the T(2) measurements provided the signal intensity values used in the bi-exponential T(1) model. The mean T(1) values when the signal intensities were constrained by the T(2) results were 1055.4 ms +/- 7.4% for tissue and 5393.5 ms +/- 59% for CSF. When the signal intensities remained free variables in the model, the mean T(1) values were 1085 ms +/- 19.4% and 5038.8 ms +/- 113.0% for tissue and CSF, respectively. The resulting improvement in precision allows the water tissue T(1) value to be included in the spectroscopic characterization of brain tissue.