The Ginzburg-Landau approach to oscillatory media

Close to a supercritical Hopf bifurcation, oscillatory media may be described, by the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. The most important spatiotemporal behaviors associated with this dynamics are reviewed here. It is shown, on a few concrete examples, how real chemical oscillators may be described by this equation, and how its coefficients may be obtained from the experimental data. Furthermore, the effect of natural forcings, induced by the experimental realization of chemical oscillators in batch reactors, may also be studied in the framework of complex Ginzburg-Landau equations and its associated phase dynamics. We show, in particular, how such forcings may locally transform oscillatory media into excitable ones and trigger the formation of complex spatiotemporal patterns.     

From oscillations to excitability: A case study in spatially extended systems

This volume is devoted to the presentation of the main contributions to the workshop "From oscillations to excitability: A case study in spatially extended systems," organized by the authors in Nice in June 1993. It gives an overview of the current research on spatiotemporal patterns in a wide range of systems that display self-oscillatory or excitable behavior. It tries to give a better understanding of the transition from the oscillatory to the excitable regime and of its effect on the properties of spiral waves, and to fill the gap between the theories and concepts used to describe both regimes in the so-called "active media."     

Particle directionality and trapped proton fluences on LDEF

Directionality of incident space radiation is a significant factor in spacecraft shielding and astronaut dosimetry in low Earth orbit (LEO). Particle directionality of GCR and trapped protons were measured on LDEF with plastic nuclear track detectors (PNTD) from the P0006 west-side experiment. This experiment consisted of a thick detector stack and is described more fully in a companion article (Benton et al., 1996). The anisotropy of the trapped protons produced maximum intensity for protons arriving from the west. The fluences of the eastward directed trapped protons have been measured by selection of the particles on the basis of range in the PNTDs. The measured fluences are compared with the model calculations of Armstrong and Colborn (1993).     

Microcombustion of ng Amounts of Carbon in Non-Volatile Materials for isotope Ratio Evaluation

Abstract A novel microcombustion technique for carbon isotopic analysis of nanogram amounts of carbon in non-volatile materials based on isotope ratio monitoring (irm) mass spectrometry is described. Liquid or solid samples placed in a quartz sleeve are combusted at 1000°C in a continuous stream of helium and oxygen. CO(2) removed from the carrier gas stream by cryogenic trapping is transferred onto a GC column. Following GC separation, the CO(2) is transferred via an open split to the ion source of a gas isotope ratio mass spectrometer. Reproducibility for samples >25 nmol carbon is <1‰. Problems associated with blanks from various sources and with reproducible deposition of small sample amounts led to variable accuracy, which was dependent on the compound class being analysed. Minimum sample size was in the range from 5 to 10 nmol carbon. Measurements of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) of groundwater from Germany yielded consistent values of δ(13)C = -28.8‰.