Solid-state quantum computer based on scanning tunneling microscopy

We propose a solid-state nuclear-spin quantum computer based on application of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and well-developed silicon technology. It requires the measurement of tunneling-current modulation caused by the Larmor precession of a single electron spin. Our envisioned STM quantum computer would operate at the high magnetic field (approximately 10 T) and at low temperature approximately 1 K.     

A Kinetic Model for the Reactions of Co and H2 to CH4 and C2H2 in a Flow Microwave Discharge Reactor

A kinetic model was developed to describe the reactions of CO and H2 to CH4 and C2H2in a microwave plasma. The experimental system consisted of a 24 mm I.D. tubular quartz reactor which passed through a microwave cavity. A variable-incident power waveguide system could supply up to 800 watts of incident microwave power to the cavity. The reactant gas mixture of H2 and CO flowed through the reactor, where a plasma was maintained under pressures of 20 - 100 mm Hg. The reactor effluent was analyzed by IR spectroscopy for CH4 and C2H2. Conversions of up to 5.3% CO to C2H2 and 7.2% CO to CH4 were observed. A 26-reaction kinetic model was developed and fitted to the experimental data. The plasma reactor was modeled in two zones: a discharge zone where electron-impact dissociations produce H, C, and O, and a downstream recombination zone where the atomic species from the discharge recombine. The discharge zone was modeled as a well-mixed reactor, and the recombination zone was modeled as a plug-flow reactor. The model was able to explain the asymptotic shape of the observed conversion versus residence time data; the effect is due to a kinetic limitation. This also explains why the conversions obtained in the plasma cannot be predicted by thermodynamic equilibrium.     

The benefit of binaural hearing in a cocktail party: effect of location and type of interferer

The "cocktail party problem" was studied using virtual stimuli whose spatial locations were generated using anechoic head-related impulse responses from the AUDIS database [Blauert et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 103, 3082 (1998)]. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured for Harvard IEEE sentences presented from the front in the presence of one, two, or three interfering sources. Four types of interferer were used: (1) other sentences spoken by the same talker, (2) time-reversed sentences of the same talker, (3) speech-spectrum shaped noise, and (4) speech-spectrum shaped noise, modulated by the temporal envelope of the sentences. Each interferer was matched to the spectrum of the target talker. Interferers were placed in several spatial configurations, either coincident with or separated from the target. Binaural advantage was derived by subtracting SRTs from listening with the "better monaural ear" from those for binaural listening. For a single interferer, there was a binaural advantage of 2-4 dB for all interferer types. For two or three interferers, the advantage was 2-4 dB for noise and speech-modulated noise, and 6-7 dB for speech and time-reversed speech. These data suggest that the benefit of binaural hearing for speech intelligibility is especially pronounced when there are multiple voiced interferers at different locations from the target, regardless of spatial configuration; measurements with fewer or with other types of interferers can underestimate this benefit.     

Improvements in the non-flame atomic fluorescence determination of mercury

A new non-flame atomic fluorescence system with a detection limit of 5 parts per trillion (p.p.t.) or 5 pg of mercury(II) has been developed. The relative precision is 5% or better above 50 p.p.t. Hg(II), and the dynamic range in terms of linearity is from 0–100 p.p.b. Hg(II). The system is useful for analysis of residual mercury levels in water at a rate of about thirty samples per h.     

Brittle fracture of precompressed steel as affected by hydrostatic pressure,temperature and strain concentration

Highly precompressed 1020 HR steel, 0.65 prestrain at 400°F (204°C), tested in nominally uniform tension at ?80°F (?62°C) fractures at about 110,000 psi (760 MN/m²) with less than 0.02 plastic strain. Yet the addition of a hydrostatic pressure of less than 7000 psi (48 MN/m²) converts this visually brittle fracture to a ductile one with appreciable necking. The explanation of this surprising experimental result is shown to follow directly and simply from the combination of a tensile stress criterion of fracture, strain concentration and the low tangent modulus of the stress-strain curve in tension beyond the Bauschinger transition region of a few percent of plastic strain. Temperature dependence and strain-rate dependence of brittle fracture similarly are predictable in an almost trivial manner from the appropriate stress-strain curves for different amounts of precompression. So also is the amazingly high ductility or fracture toughness of the most complex of perforated or notched statically loaded structures of mild steel in an undamaged or fully annealed state.     

Accuracy of the multipole expansion applied to a sphere in a creeping flow parallel to a wall

An example system is studied to discuss precision of the multipoleexpansion, applied to determine forces exerted on particlesby a viscous low-Reynolds-number fluid flow. A single spherein an ambient flow (pure shear, quadratic, and modulated shear)parallel to a close plane wall is considered. Forces and torquesexerted by the ambient flow on a motionless sphere are evaluated.Their precision is determined and related to a multipole orderof the truncation. Similar analysis is performed for a movingsphere with no ambient flow and for a freely moving sphere.Relative motion of the sphere with respect to the wall givesrise to strong lubrication interactions. It is analysed howthese interactions affect accuracy of the pure multipole expansion,and what are the smallest distances where it becomes insufficient.An alternative precise method is applied, in which lubricationexpressions are subtracted from the hydrodynamic forces andtorques, and the residue is evaluated as a fast-convergent seriesof inverse powers of the distance between the sphere centreand the wall. The accuracy of this procedure is carefully analysed.     

Die Bestimmung des Fluors

Ohne Zusammenfassung