Energy Transfer and Trapping in Rigid Solutions of Aromatic Polymers

Energy transfer by excitons is now well established in films and solutions of aromatic polymers. Excitons in disordered systems can be considered as electronically excited states, which are transferred between the light absorbing groups in a random hopping process (the same is true in molecular crystals if, because of thermal vibrations, the coherence length of the exciton waves approaches the lattice constant and consequently the band model of the excitons breaks down).     

Short-Term Therapeutic Trial of Proton Pump Inhibitors in Suspected Extraesophageal Reflux

Pharyngoesophageal gastric acid reflux is thought to initiate chronic posterior laryngitis. The gold standard for measuring gastric reflux is dual-channel 24-hour pH monitoring. This is a time-consuming, inconvenient, expensive method that is not available in all areas. New therapeutic regimes that make use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have proven to be therapeutically efficient for control of acid reflux. Twenty-four consecutive patients with chronic voice disorders and signs of posterior laryngitis were selected for therapy. Twenty-four hour pH monitoring was performed independently before the therapy. The trial therapy consisted of all patients receiving pantoprazole, 40 mg once daily for 6 weeks. Immediately following the therapy a statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvement was observed in all patients. This improvement was analyzed retrospectively by comparison with the results of 24-hour pH monitoring. In 71% of the patients the 24-hour pH-monitoring gave a positive result showing a high number of patients with extraesophageal reflux in our study group. Patients with positive results of pH-monitoring responded in a statistically significant manner (p < 0.05) to the pantoprazole therapy, whereas those patients without detected reflux did not. A 3-month follow-up of the patients with a positive result of the pH-monitoring confirmed the improvement. No patients reported adverse effects. A 6-week treatment with pantoprazole can be clinically justified. It helps to save time and reduce costs, allows for selection of reflux-negative patients for alternative therapy, and may prevent inadequate treatment of patients with false-negative pH monitoring. Twenty-four hour pH monitoring is still recommended for patients unresponsive to this trial therapy.     

Spatial optimization of filaments

We demonstrate the spatial homogenization of intense laser pulses by adaptive minimization of spatial chirp of the spectrally broadened output pulses of a filament. A liquid-crystal-based two-dimensional spatial light modulator is used to control the spatial phase of the driver pulse. An evolutionary algorithm finds the optimal spatial laser phase distribution that introduces minimal distortions during filamentation and enhances the beam quality of the output pulse. A homogeneous intensity distribution favours efficient temporal compression close to the bandwidth limit without the need for spatial filtering after the filament. PACS 42.65.-k; 42.65.Re; 41.85.Ct     

Simultaneous Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy of single conjugated polymer chains

Simultaneous surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and fluorescence is demonstrated from single conjugated polymer chains. As resonance enhancement of SERS depends on the spectral overlap of the polymer's absorption and the incident laser, resonance Raman and fluorescence effectively probe the absorbing and emitting part of the polymer, respectively. The optical phonon energies change along the polymer chain, providing a window to spatially track excited state relaxation. Whereas a mean spatial redistribution of the excitation is witnessed by a change in vibronic fingerprint following interchromophoric energy transfer, intrachromophoric exciton self-trapping leaves the vibrations unchanged.     

Wave propagation in stereo-lithographical (STL) bone replicas at oblique incidence

Comparisons between predictions of a Biot-Allard model allowing for angle-dependent elasticity and angle-and-porosity dependent tortuosity and transmission data obtained at normal incidence on water-saturated replica bones are extended to oblique incidence. The model includes two parameters which are adjusted for best fit at normal incidence. Using the same parameter values, it is found that predictions of the variation of transmitted waveforms with angle through two types of bone replica are in reasonable agreement with data despite the fact that scattering is not included in the theory.     

Absence of shocks in an initially dilute collisionless plasma

The Cauchy Problem for the relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell equations is studied in three space dimensions. It is assumed that the initial data satisfy the required constraints and have compact support. If in addition the data have sufficiently smallC ² norm, then a uniqueC ¹ solution to this system is shown to exist on all of spacetime.Research supported in part by NSF DMS 85-20662 and NSF DMS 84-20957     

The influence of the metalloid elements on the magnetic properties of amorphous Fe40Ni40PyB20−y

The Curie temperatures (T_C) and the hyperfine interactions of amorphous Fe₄₀Ni₄₀P_yB_20?y(0≤y>≤20) have been determined by ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. In this series of amorphous solid with a fixed transition-metal content, the metalloid atoms are shown to have a noticeable effect on T_C, isomer shift and hyperfine field distribution.     

The influence of rotational coupling on K-vacancy formation in U-Pb collisions

The beta endpoint energies of the alkaline fission products^88–94Rb and^139–144Cs have been measured with an intrinsic Ge-detector at the OSTIS fission product separator. The linearity and high resolution of the detector yields an accuracy of up to a few keV. Additional beta gamma coincidence spectra allow the deduction of Q_β-values.     

The impact parameter dependence of the Pb + Pb K − MO spectrum

Molecular orbital X-rays are emitted during ion-atom collisions. The theoretical treatment, numerical results for the Pb + Pb system and a comparison with background radiation like NNB, SEB and γ-decay of Coulomb excited nuclei are presented.     

Die Trennung des Molybd?ns von Yanadium durch Anionenaustauscher als Thioglykolatkomplex und die photometrische Bestimmung des Vanadiums mit Thioglykols?ure

Zusammenfassung Die Trennung der Thioglykolsäurekomplexe des Molybdäns von dem des Vanadiums verläuft mit einer Molybdänausbeute von 99%. Das Vanadium kann im Durchlauf in bequemer Weise mittels Thioglykolsäure im p_H-Bereich 4,5–8 bei guter Genauigkeit photometriert werden.Herrn Prof. Dr. O. Glemser, Direktor des Anorganisch-Chem.-Instituts, danken wir sehr für das stete Interesse und die Unterstützung, die er uns zuteil werden ließ.Dem Herrn Bundesminster für Atomkernenergie und Wasserwirtschaft sowie der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft danken wir für apparative und finanzielle Hilfe.