Levels of 209Po and 211Po populated in one-neutron stripping and pickup from 210Po

Energy levels of ²⁰⁹Po have been populated with the ²¹⁰Po(d, t)²⁰⁹Po and ²¹⁰Po(p, d)²⁰⁹Po reactions at bombarding energies of 17.0 and 17.8 MeV respectively. Fifteen levels were observed below 2.7 MeV of excitation. Energy levels of ²¹¹Po were populated with the ²¹⁰Po(d, p)²¹¹Po reaction, also at 17.0 MeV. Thirty-five levels, almost all new, were observed below 3.9 MeV of excitation. Comparison of experimental angular distributions with DWBA calculations allowed l-value assignments and extraction of spectroscopic factors for many levels. In ²⁰⁹Po the observed level structure is well described in terms of a simple particle-vibration coupling model. In ²¹¹Po the level structure is more complex and the simple model is not adequate.     

Search for B --> tau(nu) and B --> K(nu)nu

We report results of a search for B-->tau(nu) in a sample of 9.7 x 10(6) charged B meson decays. We exclusively reconstruct the companion B decay to suppress background. We set an upper limit on the branching fraction B(B-->tau(nu))<8.4 x 10(-4) at 90% confidence level. We also establish B(B+/--->K+/-nu(nu))<2.4 x 10(-4) at 90% confidence level.     

Risk-adjusted control charts for health care assessment

The recent Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO) requirement that hospital accreditation be based upon a Total Quality Management (TQM) approach has focused the attention of health care administrations on the use of techniques such as control charts. However, control charts are not typically adjusted for severity of illness. This adjustment is needed because, unlike industrial organizations, hospitals are not able to control all of their inputs and must accept variances in their patients. In this paper, we present a methodology for adjusting a health care organization's control charts to reflect their patient population's severity of illness during different time intervals. We then demonstrate that risk-adjusting expected patient outcomes can change our assessments of the relative quality of care offered by a health care organization in different time periods.     

Imidazolium carboxylates as versatile and selective N-heterocyclic carbene transfer agents: synthesis, mechanism, and applications

N,N'-Disubstituted imidazolium carboxylates, readily synthetically available, isolable, air- and water-stable reagents, efficiently transfer N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) groups to Rh, Ir, Ru, Pt, and Pd, to give novel NHC complexes, e.g., [Pd(NHC)3OAc]OAc and [Pt(NHC)3Cl]Cl (NHC = 1,3-dimethyl imidazol-2-ylidene). The NHC esters are also effective. Tuning the reaction conditions for NHC transfer can give either mono- or bis-NHCs, or bis- and tris-NHCs. A net N to C rearrangement of the N-alkyl imidazole complex to the corresponding NHC complex was seen with (MeO)2CO (DMC). DFT calculations identify the steps needed to form the carboxylate from imidazole and DMC: SN2 methyl transfer from DMC to imidazole, followed by proton transfer from the imidazolium CH to the carboxylate counterion, produces the free NHC H-bonded to MeOH with a weakly associated CO2. The nucleophilic NHC attacks CO2 to form NHC-CO2. NHC transfer to the metal with loss of CO2 has been calculated for Rh(cod)Cl. A proposed two-cis-site reactivity model rationalizes the experimental data: two such vacant sites at the metal are needed to allow coordination of the NHC-CO2 carboxylate and subsequent CC cleavage with NHC transfer. Partial cod decoordination or chloride loss is thus required for Rh(cod)Cl. Chloride dissociation, calculated to be easier in polar solvent, is confirmed experimentally from the retarding effect of excess chloride.     

Tilt-induced anisotropic to isotropic phase transition at ν = 5/2

A modest in-plane magnetic field B(∥) is sufficient to destroy the fractional quantized Hall states at ν = 5/2 and 7/2 and replace them with anisotropic compressible phases. Remarkably, we find that at larger B(∥) these anisotropic phases can themselves be replaced by isotropic compressible phases reminiscent of the composite fermion fluid at ν = 1/2. We present strong evidence that this transition is a consequence of the mixing of Landau levels from different electric subbands. We also report surprising dependences of the energy gaps at ν = 5/2 and 7/3 on the width of the confinement potential.     

Korringa-like nuclear spin–lattice relaxation in a 2DES at

Via a resistively detected NMR technique, the nuclear spin–lattice relaxation time T₁ of ⁷¹Ga has been measured in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure containing two weakly coupled 2D electron systems (2DES) at low temperatures, each at Landau level filling . Incomplete electronic spin polarization, which has been reported previously for low density 2DESs at , should facilitate hyperfine-coupled nuclear spin relaxation owing to the presence of both electron spin states at the Fermi level. Composite fermion theory suggests a Korringa-law temperature dependence: T₁T=constant is expected for temperatures . Our measurements show that for temperatures in the range , T₁ rises less rapidly with falling temperature than this law predicts. This may suggest the existence of alternate nuclear spin relaxation mechanisms in this system. Also, our data allows for an estimate of the composite fermion mass.     

Evidence for a finite-temperature phase transition in a bilayer quantum Hall system

We study the Josephson-like interlayer tunneling signature of the strongly correlated nuT=1 quantum Hall phase in bilayer two-dimensional electron systems as a function of the layer separation, temperature, and interlayer charge imbalance. Our results offer strong evidence that a finite temperature phase transition separates the interlayer coherent phase from incoherent phases which lack strong interlayer correlations. The transition temperature is dependent on both the layer spacing and charge imbalance between the layers.