Quark condensation, induced symmetry breaking and color superconductivity at high density

The phase structure of hadronic matter at high density relevant to the physics of compact stars and relativistic heavy-ion collisions is studied in a low-energy effective quark theory. The relevant phases that figure are (1) chiral condensation, (2) diquark color condensation (color superconductivity) and (3) induced Lorentz-symmetry breaking (“ISB”). For a reasonable strength for the effective four-Fermi current–current interaction implied by the low-energy effective quark theory for systems with a Fermi surface we find that the “ISB” phase sets in together with chiral symmetry restoration (with the vanishing quark condensate) at a moderate density while color superconductivity associated with scalar diquark condensation is pushed up to an asymptotic density. Consequently, color superconductivity seems rather unlikely in heavy-ion collisions although it may play a role in compact stars. Lack of confinement in the model makes the result of this analysis only qualitative but the hierarchy of the transitions we find seems to be quite robust.     

Determination of the Absolute Configuration of Super-Carbon-Chain Compounds by a Combined Chemical,Spectroscopic, and Computational Approach: Gibbosols A and B

Marine dinoflagellates produce remarkable organic molecules, particularly those with polyoxygenated long-carbon-chain backbones, namely super-carbon-chain compounds (SCCCs), characterized by the presence of numerous stereogenic carbon centers on acyclic polyol carbon chains. Even today, it is a challenge to determine the absolute configurations of these compounds. In this work, the planar structures and absolute configurations of two highly flexible SCCCs, featuring either a C₆₉- or C₇₁-linear carbon backbone, gibbosols A and B, respectively, each containing thirty-seven stereogenic carbon centers, were unambiguously established by a combined chemical, spectroscopic, and computational approach. The discovery of gibbosols A and B with two hydrophilic acyclic polyol chains represents an unprecedented class of SCCCs. A reasonable convergent strategy for the biosynthesis of these SCCCs was proposed.     

Bianchi type V perfect fluid cosmologies

Bianchi type V solutions of the Einstein equations are studied using the Hamiltonian approach. Explicit expressions depending on a single quadrature are given for the metric components in the general orthogonal perfect fluid case. It is shown that the quadrature can be evaluated in terms of elementary or elliptic integrals when the parameter in the equation of statep=(–1) takes the values 1, 10/9, 4/3, 14/9, 5/3, 2.     

Electrical analogy of transient heat flow in laser rods

An analog circuit is presented for the determination of the transient thermal profile in optically pumped laser rods. The model can be used to simulate the behavior of solid and hollow cylindrical rods under single shot and repetition rate conditions. The design of a particular circuit is given as well as experimental results.     

TITAN: an ion trap for accurate mass measurements of ms-half-life nuclides

The introduction of Paul traps, in particular linear radio-frequency quadrupoles in the early 2000s, has revolutionized the use of ion traps for probing the properties of radioactive nuclides. It opened the path to trapping all available nuclides, independent of their chemical properties. We present an overview of direct mass measurements of short-lived nuclides using TITAN, a Penning trap mass spectrometer facility particularly suitable for precision measurements of ms-half-life nuclides.     

Acoustic Analyses of Developmental Changes and Emotional Expression in the Preverbal Vocalizations of Infants

The nonverbal vocal utterances of seven normally hearing infants were studied within their first year of life with respect to age- and emotion-related changes. Supported by a multiparametric acoustic analysis it was possible to distinguish one inspiratory and eleven expiratory call types. Most of the call types appeared within the first two months; some emerged in the majority of infants not until the 5th (“laugh”) or 7th month (“babble”). Age-related changes in acoustic structure were found in only 4 call types (“discomfort cry,” “short discomfort cry,” “wail,” “moan”). The acoustic changes were characterized mainly by an increase in harmonic-to-noise ratio and homogeneity of the call, a decrease in frequency range and a downward shift of acoustic energy from higher to lower frequencies. Emotion-related differences were found in the acoustic structure of single call types as well as in the frequency of occurrence of different call types. A change from positive to negative emotional state was accompanied by an increase in call duration, frequency range, and peak frequency (frequency with the highest amplitude within the power spectrum). Negative emotions, in addition, were characterized by a significantly higher rate of “crying,” “hic” and “ingressive vocalizations” than positive emotions, while positive emotions showed a significantly higher rate of “babble,” “laugh,” and “raspberry.”     

Fractional Brownian Heavy Traffic Approximations of Multiclass Feedforward Queueing Networks

We consider multiclass feedforward queueing networks under first in first out and priority service disciplines driven by long-range dependent arrival and service time processes. We show that in critical loading the normalized workload, queue length and sojourn time processes can converge to a multi-dimensional reflected fractional Brownian motion. This weak heavy traffic approximation is deduced from a deterministic pathwise approximation of the network behavior close to constant critical load in terms of the solution of a Skorokhod problem. Since we model the doubly infinite time interval, our results directly cover the stationary case.AMS subject classification: primary 90B15, secondary 60K25, 68M20     

Fair optimization of fortnightly physician schedules with flexible shifts

This research addresses a shift scheduling problem in which physicians are assigned to demand periods. We develop a reduced set covering approach that requires shift templates to be generated for a single day and compare it to an implicit modeling technique where shift-building rules are implemented as constraints. Both techniques allow full flexibility in terms of different shift starting times and lengths as well as break placements. The objective is to minimize the paid out hours under the restrictions given by the labor agreement. Furthermore, we integrate physician preferences and fairness aspects into the scheduling model. Computational results show the efficiency of the reduced set covering formulation in comparison to the implicit modeling approach.