A historical note on the entropy principle of Müller and Liu

Received July 12, 2001 / Published online February 28, 2002     

Combined confocal and magnetic resonance microscopy

Confocal fluorescence optical microscopy and magnetic resonance microscopy are each used to study live cells in a minimally invasive way. Both techniques provide complementary information. Therefore, by examining cells simultaneously with both methodologies, more detailed information is obtained than is possible with each microscope individually. In this paper two configurations of a combined confocal and magnetic resonance microscope are described. The first configuration is capable of studying large single cells or three-dimensional cell agglomerates, whereas the second configuration is designed for the investigation of monolayers of mammalian cells. In both cases the sample compartment is part of a temperature regulated perfusion system. Images obtained with the combined system are shown forXenopus laevis oocytes, model JB6 tumor spheroids, and a single layer of Chinese hamster ovary cells. Finally, potential applications of the combined microscope are discussed.     

Growth of masking as a measure of response growth in hearing-impaired listeners

Growth-of-masking functions were obtained from 19 normal and 5 hearing-impaired listeners using a simultaneous-masking paradigm. When masker and probe frequency are identical, the slope of masking approximates 1.0 for both normal-hearing and impaired listeners. For masker frequencies less than or greater than probe frequency, the slopes for impaired listeners are shallower than those of normals. These findings are consistent with previously reported physiological data (single-fiber rate versus level and AP masking functions) for animals with induced cochlear lesions. Results are discussed in terms of a potential masking technique to estimate the growth of response in normal and impaired ears.     

Enhancing molecular formation in a Rb-MOT

In this paper, we report observation of an enhancement of the ground state molecule Rb₂ formation in a Rb magneto-optical trap due to a photoassociation laser. Such an enhancement effect is due to flux enhancement of atomic pairs at short internuclear distances. Our experimental observations consist in the measurement of the molecular formation rate constant due to a probe laser as a function of the trap laser intensity. The results are compared with a simple semi-classical model, showing good agreement. We conclude that the production of cold Rb₂ may be enhanced using appropriate laser parameters; this may be useful for future experiments involving production and trapping of ultracold ground state molecules.     

Velocity Quantization Approach of the One-Dimensional Dissipative Harmonic Oscillator

Given a constant of motion for the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator with linear dissipation in the velocity, the problem to get the Hamiltonian for this system is pointed out, and the quantization up to second order in the perturbation approach is used to determine the modification on the eigenvalues when dissipation is taken into consideration. This quantization is realized using the constant of motion instead of the Hamiltonian. PACS: 03.20.+i, 03.30.+p, 03.65.−w,03.65.Ca     

On the model of divacancies in germanium

A model of a divacancy which explains a number of experimental facts for Ge exposed to a flow of accelerated electrons at temperature T=77 K is proposed. The model explains the absence of photoconduction associated with photoexcitation of infrared absorption bands at 0.44 and 0.52 eV corresponding to divacancies; the difference in the values of activation energy for divacancy energy levels determined by optical and electrical methods; and the existence of the limiting position of the Fermi level in the forbidden gap in the case of irradiation with large radiation fluxes.     

Energy bounds of linked vortex states

Energy bounds of knotted and linked vortex states in a charged two-component system are considered. It is shown that a set of local minima of free energy contains new classes of universality. When the mutual linking number of vector order parameter of vortex lines is less than the Hopf invariant, these states have lower lying energies.     

Graded parafermions: standard and quasiparticle bases

Two bases of states are presented for modules of the graded parafermionic conformal field theory associated to the coset . The first one is formulated in terms of the two fundamental (i.e., lowest-dimensional) parafermionic modes. In that basis, one can identify the completely reducible representations, i.e., those whose modules contain an infinite number of singular vectors; the explicit form of these vectors is also given. The second basis is a quasiparticle basis, determined in terms of a modified version of the exclusion principle. A novel feature of this model is that none of its bases are fully ordered and this reflects a hidden structural exclusion principle.     

Swelling of cross-linked polyelectrolyte gels

The European Physical Journal E - A model of a cross-linked polyelectrolyte gel has been examined using Monte Carlo simulations. The simple model contained a charged defect-free network represented...