Phase modulation in dipolar-coupled A2 spin systems: effect of maximum state mixing in H NMR in vivo

Coupling constants of nuclear spin systems can be determined from phase modulation of multiplet resonances. Strongly coupled systems such as citrate in prostatic tissue exhibit a more complex modulation than AX connectivities, because of substantial mixing of quantum states. An extreme limit is the coupling of n isochronous spins (A_n system). It is observable only for directly connected spins like the methylene protons of creatine and phosphocreatine which experience residual dipolar coupling in intact muscle tissue in vivo. We will demonstrate that phase modulation of this “pseudo-strong” system is quite simple compared to those of AB systems. Theory predicts that the spin-echo experiment yields conditions as in the case of weak interactions, in particular, the phase modulation depends linearly on the line splitting and the echo time.     

Approximations for Markovian multi-class queues with preemptive priorities

We discuss the approximation of performance measures in multi-class M/M/k queues with preemptive priorities for large problem instances (many classes and servers) using class aggregation and server reduction. We compared our approximations to exact and simulation results and found that our approach yields small-to-moderate approximation errors.     

Fischer--Tropsch, hydrotreating and superClaus catalysts

In modern society the application of catalysts, and hence, research in the field of catalysis, is becoming more and more important. In the strongly increasing chemical industry most reaction processes are performed with the aid of catalysts. Knowledge about the structure of the active sites present at the surface of catalysts will facilitate the design of new catalysts with better performances. Such knowledge can be obtained by Mössbauer spectroscopy, which is an excellent in-situ characterization technique due to the high penetrating power of the γ-radiation used and the sensitivity of the spectral parameters for the chemical state and local environment of the Mössbauer atoms.     

Polling systems in heavy traffic: Exhaustiveness of service policies

We study the expected delay in cyclic polling models with general ‘branching-type’ service disciplines. For this class of models, which contains models with exhaustive and gated service as special cases, we obtain closed-form expressions for the expected delay under standard heavy-traffic scalings. We identify a single parameter associated with the service discipline at each queue, which we call the ‘exhaustiveness’. We show that the scaled expected delay figures depend on the service policies at the queues only through the exhaustiveness of each of the service disciplines. This implies that the influence of different service disciplines, but with the same exhaustiveness, on the expected delays at the queues becomes the same when the system reaches saturation. This observation leads to a new classification of the service disciplines. In addition, we show monotonicity of the scaled expected delays with respect to the exhaustiveness of the service disciplines. This induces a complete ordering in terms of efficiency of the service disciplines. The results also lead to new rules for optimization of the system performance with respect to the service disciplines at the queues. Further, the exact asymptotic results suggest simple expected waiting-time approximations for polling models in heavy traffic. Numerical experiments show that the accuracy of the approximations is excellent for practical heavy-traffic scenarios. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Maximum-entropy data analysis

The reconstruction of physical quantities from (computer-) experimental data is very often hampered by the presence of noise, insufficient information and above all by the ill-posed nature of the underlying inversion problem. It will be demonstrated that the maximum entropy concepts is particularly suited for this type of data-analysis problems. It is based on Bayesian statistics and provides a consistent probabilistic theory to obtain unbiased results, independent of any model assumptions. This is particularly desirable if there is no additional information to justify these hypotheses. If, on the other hand, additional prior knowledge is available, it can be effectively incorporated into the computation, leading to more stringent confidence intervals.     

ZnO:Mn as a member of II-VI:Mn family

ZnO:Mn thin films are grown by the metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique. Mn (x) varies in the 0<x<0.44 range. Vegard’s law has been verified for the lattice parameters. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements prove the substitutional incorporation of Mn²⁺ on zinc sites. The behavior of the EPR line width regarding temperature is discussed. All ZnO:Mn layers show antiferromagnetic interaction and a J₁/k_B=-15 K effective exchange constant. The optical band gap of ZnO:Mn increases with the manganese concentration. Raman spectroscopy reveals a Mn-related scattering band. PACS 71.55.Gs; 75.50.Pp; 61.10.Nz; 76.30.Fc; 75.30.Et; 78.40.-q     

Writhing instabilities of twisted rods: from infinite to finite length

We use three different approaches to describe the static spatial configurations of a twisted rod as well as its stability during rigid loading experiments. The first approach considers the rod as infinite in length and predicts an instability causing a jump to self-contact at a certain point of the experiment. Semi-finite corrections, taken into account as a second approach, reveal some possible experiments in which the configuration of a very long rod will be stable through out. Finally, in a third approach, we consider a rod of real finite length and we show that another type of instability may occur, leading to possible hysteresis behavior. As we go from infinite to finite length, we compare the different information given by the three approaches on the possible equilibrium configurations of the rod and their stability. These finite size effects studied here in a 1D elasticity problem could help us guess what are the stability features of other more complicated (2D elastic shells for example) problems for which only the infinite length approach is understood.     

Ultrashort-pulse dual-wavelength source for digital holographic two-wavelength contouring

Digital holographic shape measurements using femtosecond laser pulses are reported. For contouring of very fast moving objects, the simultaneous generation of at least two spectrally separated ultrashort pulses is required. To deliver this particular spectral signature at high pulse energies, a chirped-pulse Ti:sapphire laser amplifier was modified to emit two spectrally separated pulses with energies above 1 μJ each. The wavelength separation of these pulses was adjustable within the 50 nm gain bandwidth, cutting out two distinct wavelength peaks by a variable double-slit assembly in a prism sequence. A Michelson-type interferometer was employed to perform the two-wavelength contouring. The phases of the holograms and the phase differences are calculated numerically, which allow us to deduce the contour lines of the topology of the object. The suitability of the light source for digital holography is demonstrated with contouring of stationary objects and the potential for high-speed applications is indicated. PACS 42.40.-i; 42.60.By