Comment on “The Free Will Theorem”

In a recent paper Conway and Kochen, Found. Phys. 36, 2006, claim to have established that theories of the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (RW) type, i.e., of spontaneous wave function collapse, cannot be made relativistic. On the other hand, relativistic GRW-type theories have already been presented, in my recent paper, J. Stat. Phys. 125, 2006, and by Dowker and Henson, J. Stat. Phys. 115, 2004. Here, I elucidate why these are not excluded by the arguments of Conway and Kochen.      

Parallel Plate Interferometer with a Reflecting Mirror for Measuring Angular Displacement

A parallel plate interferometer with a reflecting mirror for measuring angular displacement is proposed. A deflection angle of a beam caused by an angular displacement is amplified by use of a reflecting mirror to increase the optical path difference (OPD) in the plane-parallel plate, which provides high sensitivity of the phase measurement. Detection of light transmitted through the plane-parallel plate with a position sensitive detector (PSD) enables high accurate measurement of the initial angle of incidence to the plane-parallel plate with insensitivity to stray light. The improved parallel plate interferometer achieves a measurement repeatability of 10⁻⁸ rad.     

Phospholipid lung surfactant and nanoparticle surface toxicity: Lessons from diesel soots and silicate dusts

Because of their small size, the specific surface areas of nanoparticulate materials (NP), described as particles having at least one dimension smaller than 100 nm, can be large compared with micrometer-sized respirable particles. This high specific surface area or nanostructural surface properties may affect NP toxicity in comparison with micrometer-sized respirable particles of the same overall composition. Respirable particles depositing on the deep lung surfaces of the respiratory bronchioles or alveoli will contact pulmonary surfactants in the surface hypophase. Diesel exhaust ultrafine particles and respirable silicate micrometer-sized insoluble particles can adsorb components of that surfactant onto the particle surfaces, conditioning the particles surfaces and affecting their in vitro expression of cytotoxicity or genotoxicity. Those effects can be particle surface composition-specific. Effects of particle surface conditioning by a primary component of phospholipid pulmonary surfactant, diacyl phosphatidyl choline, are reviewed for in vitro expression of genotoxicity by diesel exhaust particles and of cytotoxicity by respirable quartz and aluminosilicate kaolin clay particles. Those effects suggest methods and cautions for assaying and interpreting NP properties and biological activities.     

Extended X-ray absorption fine structure studies of thulium doped GaN epilayers

The local structure of Tm³⁺ ions incorporated into GaN epilayers was studied by means of Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure. The samples were doped either in situ during growth by Molecular Beam Epitaxy or by ion implantation of layers grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition. The implantation was done at ion energy of 300 keV and different nominal fluences of 3×10¹⁵, 4×10¹⁵ cm⁻² and 5×10¹⁵ cm⁻². The concentration of Tm in the samples studied was measured by Wavelength Dispersive X-ray analysis. For the in situ doped sample with concentration of 0.5%, and for all of the implanted samples, Tm was found on the Ga site in GaN. The ion implanted sample and an in situ doped sample with a similar concentration of Tm showed the same local structure, which suggests that the lattice site occupied by Tm does not depend on the doping method. When the average Tm concentration for in situ doped samples is increased to 1.2% and 2.0%, Tm is found to occupy the Ga substitutional site and the presence of a substantial number of Tm ions in the second coordination sphere indicates dopant clustering in the films. The formation of pure TmN clusters was found in an in situ doped sample with a dopant concentration of 3.4%.     

A realistic coronary artery phantom for particle image velocimetry

Myocardial infarction results from the rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque, which occurs in response to both mechanical stress and inflammatory processes. In order experimentally observe flow into atherosclerotic coronary artery morphologies, a novel technique for molding realistic compliant phantom featuring injection-molded inclusions and multiple layers has been developed. This transparent phantom allows for particle image velocimetry (PIV) flow analysis and can supply experimental data to validate computational fluid dynamics algorithms and hypothesis.     

Real-time color holographic interferometry devoted to 2D unsteady wake flows

A new optical technique based on real time holographic interferometry in true colors has been implemented around the transonic wind tunnel of the ONERA-Lille center to analyze 2D unsteady wake flows. Tests realized in color interferometry, real time and double exposure, use simultaneously three wavelengths of a continuous waves laser (argon and krypton mixed) and holograms are recorded on silver-halide single-layer panchromatic Slavich PFG03c plates. The very principle of real-time true color holographic interferometry uses three primary wavelengths (red, green and blue) to record, under no-flow conditions, the interference among the three measurement beams and the three reference beams simultaneously on a single reference hologram. After the holographic plate is developed, it is placed on the test setup again in the position it occupied during exposure and the hologram is illuminated again by the three reference beams and three measurement beams. A flat, uniform color can then be observed behind the hologram. So a horizontal, vertical, or even circular fringe pattern can be formed and the achromatic central fringe can be made out very clearly. The single color is used to determine the path difference zero on the interferograms. The flow studied was the unsteady flow downstream of a cylinder placed crosswise in the test section. A sequence of hundred interferograms was recorded on the flow around the cylinder at Mach 0.37. The vortex formation and dissipation phases can be seen very clearly, along with the fringe beat to either side of the cylinder.     

Phenomenon of labyrinth seal with low static pressure difference and large clearance

This paper discusses the straight-through type labyrinth seal. This labyrinth seal is used for axial flow fans, which h ave an outer ring at the blade tip to seal the clearance between the ring tip and the fan shroud, in order to prevent the reverse flow or leakage. These fans are used for the cooling of automobile radiators . In these cases, the labyrinth seal is used in an extremely low static pressure difference and a large clearance . A significant decrease of the leakage rate was reported even when the labyrinth seal rotated in comparatively low speed in this unique condition according to the authors’ former report. However, this phenomen on is differ ent from past research. Further more the cause of th is phenomenon has not been determined. Therefore, the internal flow was depicted with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in or der to clarify the ca use of this phenomenon. The results of CFD show that the leakage rate decreases significantly because the carry -over flow is intercepted in the expansion groove. This is the newly discovered phenomenon which occurs under the unique condition of an extremely low differential pressure. It has not been pointed out before as the reason why the rotation decreases the leakage rate.