Measuring the Efficiency of Prescribing by General Practitioners

Data envelopment analysis (a mathematical programming technique) has often been applied to measuring the efficiency with which outputs are produced. The technique derives efficient combinations of outputs for given inputs: constant returns to size may be assumed or one may choose to examine whether decreasing or increasing returns hold true. An analysis of the cost of prescribing drugs for 106 general practices in the Lincolnshire Health Authority for the year 1993/1994 reveals the statistical problems that are encountered in applying this technique.     

Muons as local probes of three-body correlations in the mixed state of type-II superconductors

The vortex glass state formed by magnetic flux lines in a type-II superconductor is shown to possess nontrivial three-body correlations. While such correlations are usually difficult to measure in glassy systems, the magnetic fields associated with the flux vortices allow us to probe these via muon-spin rotation measurements of the local field distribution. We show via numerical simulations and analytic calculations that these observations provide detailed microscopic insight into the local order of the vortex glass and more generally validate a theoretical framework for correlations in glassy systems.     

Effect of two gaps on the flux-lattice internal field distribution: evidence of two length scales in Mg(1-x)AlxB2 from muSR

We have measured the transverse field muon spin precession in the flux-lattice (FL) state of the two-gap superconductor MgB2 and of the electron doped compounds Mg(1-x)AlxB2 in magnetic fields up to 2.8 T. We show the effect of the two gaps on the internal field distribution in the FL, from which we determine two coherence length parameters and the doping dependence of the London penetration depth. This is an independent determination of the complex vortex structure already suggested by the STM observation of large vortices in a MgB2 single crystal. Our data agree quantitatively with STM and we thus validate a new phenomenological model for the internal fields.     

Measurements of the velocity of high-concentration zones in a turbulent jet

A pH sensitive dye technique has been used to highlight the zones of greatest scalar concentration in a turbulent jet as color regions. Photographs taken with a motion picture camera showed circular zones of the width of the jet moving downstream. These expand downstream and lose color until they are only small patches and wisps of red. A scheme has been developed whereby the Lagrangian velocity of the most concentrated zones can be measured. These move regularly at constant or steadily decreasing speed along rays originating in the source. The speed is about twice that of the mean Eulerian velocity component. Received: 6 September 1996/Accepted: 7 January 1997     

Dimensionality selection in a molecule-based magnet

Gaining control of the building blocks of magnetic materials and thereby achieving particular characteristics will make possible the design and growth of bespoke magnetic devices. While progress in the synthesis of molecular materials, and especially coordination polymers, represents a significant step towards this goal, the ability to tune the magnetic interactions within a particular framework remains in its infancy. Here we demonstrate a chemical method which achieves dimensionality selection via preferential inhibition of the magnetic exchange in an S=1/2 antiferromagnet along one crystal direction, switching the system from being quasi-two- to quasi-one-dimensional while effectively maintaining the nearest-neighbor coupling strength.     

Synthesis of a new siladigermirane via an intramolecular reductive cyclization

Si,Si-diphenyltetramesitylsiladigermirane was synthesized via the intramolecular reductive cyclization of bis(chlorodimesitylgermyl)diphenylsilane using t-BuLi or Rieke magnesium. Addition of water to the siladigermirane resulted in regioselective hydrolysis of the siladigermirane to give 1-(hydroxydiphenylsilyl)-1,1,2,2-tetramesityldigermane.     

In‐situ temperature calibration below 1 K using the μ+ Knight shift in CMN

We present μ⁺ paramagnetic shift measurements between 12 K and about 65 mK in cerium magnesium nitrate (CMN) to investigate its utility as an in‐situ temperature calibration source for low temperature μSR experiments. CMN is a salt which exhibits Curie‐law susceptibility to temperatures as low as 5 mK. The μ⁺ Knight shift is measured to be -(1.46\pm 0.03)\times 10^-3/T+(0.004\pm 0.02)\times 10^-3, corresponding to a transferred hyperfine field of -39 Oe/\mu_ B. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Direct evidence for a dynamical ground state in the highly frustrated Tb(2)Sn(2)O(7) pyrochlore

mSR experiments have been performed on a powder sample of the "ordered spin ice" Tb(2)Sn(2)O(7) pyrochlore. At base temperature (T=35 mK), the muon relaxation is found to be of dynamical nature, which demonstrates that strong fluctuations persist below the ferromagnetic transition (T(C)=0.87 K). Hints of long-range ordering appear as oscillations of the muon polarization when an external field is applied and also as a hysteretic behavior below T(C). We propose that dynamics results from fluctuations of clusters of correlated spins with the ordered spin ice structure.