Microscopic verification of topological electron-vortex binding in the lowest Landau-level crystal state

When two-dimensional electrons are subjected to a very strong magnetic field, they are believed to form a triangular crystal. By a direct comparison with the exact wave function, we demonstrate that this crystal is not a simple Hartree-Fock crystal of electrons but an inherently quantum mechanical crystal characterized by a nonperturbative binding of quantized vortices to electrons. It is suggested that this has qualitative consequences for experiment.     

Search for coherent charged pion production in neutrino-carbon interactions

We report the result from a search for charged-current coherent pion production induced by muon neutrinos with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV. The data are collected with a fully active scintillator detector in the K2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. No evidence for coherent pion production is observed, and an upper limit of is set on the cross section ratio of coherent pion production to the total charged-current interaction at 90% confidence level. This is the first experimental limit for coherent charged pion production in the energy region of a few GeV.     

Expression of 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and P450 side chain cleavage enzyme in the human uterine endometrium

The enzyme complex 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/Delta5-Delta4-isomerase (3beta-HSD) is involved in the biosynthesis of all classes of active steroids. The expression of 3b-HSD in human uterine endometrium during the menstrual cycle and decidua was examined in an effort to understand its role during ova implantation. 3beta-HSD was weakly expressed in the glandular epithelium of the proliferative phase and moderately expressed in the glandular epithelium of secretory phase of the endometrium. In the decidua of the ectopic pregnancy, 3beta-HSD was strongly expressed. The human uterine endometrial 3beta-HSD was identified as being the same type as the placental 3beta-HSD by RT-PCR and sequence analysis. In addition to the expression of 3beta-HSD, P450scc was expressed in the decidua of the ectopic pregnancy. These results suggest that pregnenolone might be synthesized from cholesterol by P450scc de novo and then, it is converted to progesterone by 3beta-HSD in the uterine endometrium. The data implies that the endometrial 3beta-HSD can use not only the out-coming pregnenolone from the adrenal gland but also the self- made pregnenolone to produce progesterone. The de novo synthesis of progesterone in the endometrium might be a crucial factor for implantation and maintenance of pregnancy.     

Discrete qualocation methods for logarithmic-kernel integral equations on a piecewise smooth boundary

We consider a fully discrete qualocation method for Symm’s integral equation. The method is that of Sloan and Burn (1992), for which a complete analysis is available in the case of smooth curves. The convergence for smooth curves can be improved by a subtraction of singularity (Jeon and Kimn, 1996). In this paper we extend these results for smooth boundaries to polygonal boundaries. The analysis uses a mesh grading transformation method for Symm’s integral equation, as in Elschner and Graham (1995) and Elschner and Stephan (1996), to overcome the singular behavior of solutions at corners. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

All orders transport theory from the multiple scattering expansion of the self-energy: The central cuts

We use the full multiple scattering expansion of the retarded self-energy to obtain the gain and loss rates present in the Kadanoff-Baym relativistic transport equation. The rates we obtain include processes with any number of particles. As a first approximation, we only consider central cuts in the self-energies, but otherwise our results are general. We specialize to the case of scalar field theory to compare with lowest order results. The main application of this work is relativistic transport theory of very dense systems, such as the quark-gluon plasma or the early universe, where multi-particle interactions are important.     

Optical encryption of gray-level image using on-axis and 2-f digital holography with two-step phase-shifting method

In this paper we propose an encryption/decryption technique of gray-level image information using an on-axis 2-f digital holographic optical encrypting system with two-step phase-shifting method. This technique reduces the number of holograms in phase-shifting digital holography and minimizes the setup of the encryption system more than multistep phase-shifting technique. We are able to get the complete decrypted image by controlling the K-ratio which is defined as the reference beam intensity versus the object beam intensity. We remove the DC-term of the phase-shifting digital hologram to reconstruct and decrypt the original image information. Simulation results show that the proposed method can be used for encryption and decryption of a 256 gray-level image. Also, the result shows some errors of the decrypted image according to K-ratio.     

Dental biothermophotonics: How photothermal methods are winning the race with X-rays for dental caries diagnostic needs of clinical dentistry

Recent trends in biothermophotonics of teeth are presented. The presentation is centered on the development of clinical-level frequency-domain photothermal radiometry and modulated luminescence to address issues associated with the early diagnosis of demineralization caries in human teeth. Biothermophotonic principles and applications to the detection of the carious state in human teeth as embodied by laser photothermal radiometry are presented and further supported by modulated luminescence. The emphasis is on recent developments with regard to abilities of these techniques to diagnose interproximal lesions between teeth, etching with phosphoric acid and with an artificial demineralization gel in order to simulate early demineralization, as well as demineralization and remineralization of dental crown enamel and root dentin. These are lesions which normally go undetected by X-ray radiographs. Comparisons with X rays, Micro-Computed Tomography (μ-CT) and Transverse Micro-Radiography (TMR) are discussed. A theoretical model involving coupled diffuse photon density and thermal-wave fields is developed and applied to frequency scans from demineralized artificial lesions to produce quantitative values for optical and thermophysical parameters of teeth as well as the thickness of the induced lesion.     

Electro-Optic Coefficient Measurements for Zn<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Cd<Subscript>1-<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> Te Single Crystals at 1550 nm Wavelength

Nonlinear optical materials of the type Zn _x Cd_1-x Te single crystals, where x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, and 1.0, have been grown by the Bridgman method, using a vertical furnace. We have investigated the electro-optic (E-O) coefficient and refractive index of Zn _x Cd_1-x Te single crystals at optical communication wavelength (1550 nm). In the case of CdTe crystal, the E-O coefficient was 15.5 × 10^-12 m/V, which is the biggest among the E-O coefficients of Zn _x Cd_1-x Te crystals. The E-O modulation signal was very big in low frequency range (DC-100kHz), but the signal amplitude became smaller as we increased frequency above 100 kHz. We also found the acousto-optic modulation at CdTe single crystals.     

Enhancement of red spectral emission intensity of Y3Al5O12:Ce phosphor via Pr co-doping and Tb substitution for the application to white LEDs

We have enhanced color-rendering property of a blue light emitting diode (LED) pumped white LED with yellow emitting Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ (YAG:Ce) phosphor using addition of Pr and Tb as a co-activator and host lattice element, respectively. Pr³⁺ addition to YAG:Ce phosphor resulted in sharp emission peak at about 610 nm through ¹D₂→³H₄ transition. And when Tb³⁺ substituted Y³⁺ sites, Ce³⁺ emission band shifted to a longer wavelength due to larger crystal field splitting. Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺, Pr³⁺ and (Y_1−xTb_x)₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ phosphors were coated on blue LEDs to fabricate white LEDs, respectively, and their color-rendering indices (CRIs, R_a) were measured. As a consequence of the addition of Pr³⁺ or Tb³⁺, CRI of the white LEDs improved to be R_a=83 and 80, respectively. Especially, blue LED pumped (Y_0.2Tb_0.8)₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ white LED showed both strong luminescence and high color-rendering property.     

New locally conservative finite element methods on a rectangular mesh

A new family of locally conservative, finite element methods for a rectangular mesh is introduced to solve second-order elliptic equations. Our approach is composed of generating PDE-adapted local basis and solving a global matrix system arising from a flux continuity equation. Quadratic and cubic elements are analyzed and optimal order error estimates measured in the energy norm are provided for elliptic equations. Next, this approach is exploited to approximate Stokes equations. Numerical results are presented for various examples including the lid driven-cavity problem.