Editorial

The principles of quantum-mechanical measurements are a key issue in the foundation of modern physics. A beautiful consequence of these is the concept of Quantum Nondemolition (QND) measurements. Such measurements permit, in principle, to measure particular observables of a quantum system with unlimited precision, leaving their temporal evolution undisturbed. The application of QND measurements may play an important role in future high-sensivity experiments.Experimental QND measurements require appropriate measurements schemes and apparats, whose development took place in the past few years, thanks to strong progress in ultra-low noise mechanical, electronic and optical detection techniques, coherent light sources, and nonlinear optical systems. At present, interest is focused on measurements of mechanical observables, such as displacement of macroscopic masses and of intensity or phases of electomagnetic field modes in the optical spectral range.This special issue contains original papers on theory and experiments of QND measurements. Recent experimental developments are presented, and proposals and analyses of novel QND schemes are made.The issue focuses on contributions presented at the Workshop on QND Measurements, held March 27–29, 1996, on the Island of Reichenau, Lake Constance (Germany). The workshop was made possible through a generous grant from the Directorats General XII for Sciences, Research and Development of the European Commission.We thank Dr. W. Petrich for his help in preparing this special issue.     

TheK-admissibility of 2A 6 and 2A 7

LetK be a field and letG be a finite group.G isK-admissible if there exists a Galois extensionL ofK withG=Gal(L/K) such thatL is a maximal subfield of a centralK-division algebra. This paper contains a characterization of those number fields which areQ ₁₆-admissible. This is the same class of number fields which are 2A ₆=SL(2, 9) and 2A ₇ admissible. Dedicated to John Thompson to celebrate his Wolf Prize in Mathematics 1992     

Sensitivity ofn-p scattering observables to charge-independence breaking of the3 P N-N phase shifts

The sensitivity of neutron-proton scattering observables to the recently reported charge-independence breaking of the isospinT=1³ P nucleon-nucleon interaction has been calculated. It is shown that only the analyzing powerA _y () at extreme forward angles and at =90° c.m. and the spin-correlation coefficientA _zx () at 90° c.m. exhibit a measurable sensitivity. It is concluded that the determination ofA _y at 90° c.m. is currently the most accurate approach to verify independently charge-independence breaking in the³ P nucleon-nucleon phase shifts, considering the status of present experimental techniques.     

Hyper-rook Domain Inequalities

A hyper-rook domain of an element x in the space (words of length n over alphabets with k elements) is a sphere with center x and fixed radius j in Hamming distance. The number j determines the dimension of the hyper-rook domain. The classical (and far from solved) problem of covering by rook domains (here considered as the 1-dimensional case) is the problem of finding minimal coverings of by such spheres. Very few results are known in the literature for dimensions ≥ 2. We prove in this paper certain classes of inequalities based on coverings using matrices, which give upper and lower bounds for several cases of the problem for higher dimensions.     

Replacement-Policy Development: A Case Study of Glove Replacement at a Nuclear Processing Facility

Individual/group replacement models were used to identify the minimum-cost policy for replacing protective gloves that are utilized in product fabrication at a nuclear processing facility. Since historical data on glove longevity were not available to determine the failure-rate distribution, the classical replacement model for items that fail was modified to consider glove life as a normally distributed variable. Moreover, the absence of replacement-cost required that the classical model be transformed to incorporate the ratio of single to unit-group replacement cost. Sensitivity analysis on these two input parameter values provided guidance for the development of an appropriate replacement policy.     

Approximate neutrality of large-Z ions

LetN(Z) denote the number of electrons which a nucleus of chargeZ can bind in non-relativistic quantum mechanics (assuming that electrons are fermions). We prove thatN(Z)/Z1 asZ.Research partially supported by the NSERC under Grant NA7901 and by the USNSF under Grants DMS-8416049 and PHY 85-15288-A01     

Complexometric titration of phosphorus in organic compounds

Summary A new complexometric method for the determination of phosphorus in organic compounds is described. After combustion in an oxygen-flask, phosphorus is precipitated as cerous phosphate. The excess cerous ion is back-titrated at pH 6–7 with EDTA in the presence of methylthymol blue or xylenol orange indicators. Alkaline hypobromite is used as an absorbent. Tight clamping of the paper carrier in the platinum holder insures complete combustion.

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Komplexometrische Titration von Phosphor in organischen Verbindungen

Zusammenfassung Die Probe wird im Sauerstoffkolben nach Schöniger verbrannt und der Phosphor als Cer(III)-phosphat ausgefällt. Der Überschuß an Cer(III) wird bei pH 6–7 mit ÄDTA zurücktitriert, wobei Methylthymolblau oder Xylenolorange als Indicator dient. Als Absorptionsmittel wird alkalische Hypobromitlösung verwendet. Um eine vollständige Verbrennung zu gewährleisten, ist es wichtig, daß das Papier mit der Probe fest am Platinhalter angeklammert wird.

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This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.     

Membrane-immobilized haptoglobin as affinity matrix for a hemoglobin-A1c immunosensor

An amperometric immunosensor for hemoglobin-A1c (HbA1c) determination has been developed utilizing membrane-immobilized haptoglobin as affinity matrix fixed in front of a Pt-working electrode. The HbA1c assay was carried out in a two-step procedure including the selective hemoglobin enrichment on the sensor surface and the specific HbA1c detection by a glucose oxidase (GOx) labeled anti-HbA1c antibody. Hydrogen peroxide generated by the enzyme label was oxidized at +600 mV versus Ag/AgCl. A standard curve for HbA1c was obtained with a linear range between 0 and 25% HbA1c of total hemoglobin which correspond to 7.8–39 nM. ELISA studies confirmed the advantage of a sandwich-type format with haptoglobin as capture molecule for selective hemoglobin binding over the direct adsorption method. Results by the sandwich immunoassay showed a linear correlation within the clinically relevant range 5–20% (CV < 3). For sensor application the immobilization procedure of haptoglobin onto CDI-activated cellulose membranes was optimized.