Crossing of shears bands in196Pb

High-spin states in¹⁹⁶Pb have been populated using the reaction¹⁷⁰Er(³⁰Si,4n). The previously observed shears bands in this nucleus have been extended and some of their transitions have been reordered. They now form regular bands with band crossings. One of the bands splits into two pathways at high spin.     

Electronic and electromagnetic devices for millimeter-wave beam control arrays

Device alternatives for millimeter-wave beam control arrays are examined. For the control function, a wide range of semiconductor device as well as bulk material alternatives are considered. In addition, alternatives to the traditional metal strip are considered for the passive electromagnetic array element. This work should provide a broader perspective regarding the choices available for the optimized design of new beam control arrays.     

Modeling the pressure dependence of DC bias voltage in asymmetric,capacitive RF sheaths

A semianalytical model for capacitively coupled radio frequency (RF) sheaths of asymmetric (unequal electrode area) systems has been developed. It can be applied in the high-frequency (ω > ω _pi) regime at different pressures. An analytical approximation to the pressure-dependent ion density profile is used. The time-varying electric field and potential within the sheath are obtained by solving Poisson's equation. The current balance and zero net DC current conditions are applied to solve for the RF sheath parameters and DC bias voltage. The DC voltage ratio between the powered and grounded electrode sheaths increases as the pressure decreases, which results in a larger DC bias voltage at lower pressures     

Separation of non UV-absorbing cations by capillary electrophoresis

Summary A new buffer system for the separation of cations with capillary electrophoresis using indirect UV-detection is described. p-Aminopyridine can be used in the wide pH-range between 3 and 10. High-speed separations of positively charged non-UV absorbing ions are possible. Separation of ions with similar mobilities can be achieved by the addition of complexation reagents. The separation of potassium and ammonium is possible either with the addition of crown ether or at high pH-values. Transition metals can be separated by adding 2-hydroxybutyric acid to the buffer.Dedicated to Professor Dr. Wilhelm Fresenius on the occasion of his 80th birthday     

Liquid crystal properties of some substituted pyrazines

A number of biphenyl, terphenyl analogues and ethynes which contain a pyrazine ring have been made and their liquid crystal transition temperatures, together with examples of birefringence measurements, are reported. All the 2,5-disubstituted pyrazine systems are liquid crystalline showing high birefringence values for the biphenyl and terphenyl analogues, whereas the 1,5-disubstituted systems are not liquid crystalline. The pyrazine ethyne systems exhibit very high birefringence values. X-ray diffraction has been used to identify the liquid crystal phases of 2-n-nonyloxy-5-(4'-propylbiphenyl-4-yl)pyrazine.     

Sparse-grid finite-volume multigrid for 3D-problems

We introduce a multigrid algorithm for the solution of a second order elliptic equation in three dimensions. For the approximation of the solution we use a partially ordered hierarchy of finite-volume discretisations. We show that there is a relation with semicoarsening and approximation by more-dimensional Haar wavelets. By taking a proper subset of all possible meshes in the hierarchy, a sparse grid finite-volume discretisation can be constructed.The multigrid algorithm consists of a simple damped point-Jacobi relaxation as the smoothing procedure, while the coarse grid correction is made by interpolation from several coarser grid levels.The combination of sparse grids and multigrid with semi-coarsening leads to a relatively small number of degrees of freedom,N, to obtain an accurate approximation, together with anO(N) method for the solution. The algorithm is symmetric with respect to the three coordinate directions and it is fit for combination with adaptive techniques.To analyse the convergence of the multigrid algorithm we develop the necessary Fourier analysis tools. All techniques, designed for 3D-problems, can also be applied for the 2D case, and — for simplicity — we apply the tools to study the convergence behaviour for the anisotropic Poisson equation for this 2D case.     

Approximate sine-Gordon solitons

We look at the recently proposed scheme of approximating a sine-Gordon soliton by an expression derived from two dimensional instantons. We point out that the scheme of Sutcliffe in which he uses two dimensional instantons can be generalised to higher dimensions and that these generalisations produce even better approximations than the original approximation. We also comment on generalisations to other models.     

Calibration of a basket option model applied to company valuation

Applying real options thinking to company valuation seems theoretically and intuitively appealing. However, the real option analogy of a single European option as well as the compound option proxy perform poorly when applied to company valuation. We therefore suggest to rework the building blocks of real option applications to corporate valuation.  We introduce a framework to delineate the distribution of the underlying asset in the risk neutral world, which is important in order to value any derivative. This is achieved by an algorithm to calibrate a basket option model using real world data of observed share prices. The fitting takes account of the class of stable distributions. The index of stability of asymmetric α stable distribution serves as an over-all parameter to characterise the specific distribution.