Neutrinos and Energetics of the Earth

We estimate terrestrial antineutrino and neutrino fluxes according to different models of Earth composition. We find large variations, corresponding to uncertainties on the estimated $U$, $Th$ and $K$ abundances in the mantle. Information on the mantle composition can be derived from antineutrino flux measurements after subtracting the crust contribution. This requires a good description of the crust composition in the region of the detector site. Measurements of terrestrial antineutrinos will provide a direct insight on the main sources of Earth's heat flow.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX file. To appear on Phys. Lett. B. Addendum contains comparison with KamLAND result

CaCu_3Ti_4O_12/CaTiO_3 Composite Dielectrics: A Ba/Pb-free Ceramics with High Dielectric Constants

We have measured dielectric properties of Ca$_{1+x}$Cu$_{3-x}$Ti$_4$O$_{12}$ ($x$ = 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.9 and 3), and have found that Ca$_2$Cu$_2$Ti$_4$O$_{12}$ (a composite of CaCu$_3$Ti$_4$O$_{12}$ and CaTiO$_3$) exhibits a high dielectric constant of 1800 with a low dissipation factor of 0.02 below 100 kHz from 220 to 300 K. These are comparable to (or even better than) those of the Pb/Ba-based ceramics, which could be attributed to a barrier layer of CaTiO$_3$ on the surface of the CaCu$_3$Ti$_4$O$_{12}$ grains. The composite dielectric ceramics reported here are environmentally benign as they do not contain Ba/Pb.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Appl. Phys. Lett. (scheduled on July 25, 2005

Huge Seebeck coefficients in non-aqueous electrolytes

The Seeebeck coefficients of the non-aqueous electrolytes tetrabutylammonium nitrate, tetraoctylphosphonium bromide and tetradodecylammonium nitrate in 1-octanol, 1-dodecanol and ethylene-glycol are measured in a temperature range from T=30 to T=45 C. The Seebeck coefficient is generally of the order of a few hundreds of microvolts per Kelvin for aqueous solution of inorganic ions. Here we report huge values of 7 mV/K at 0.1M concentration for tetrabutylammonium nitrate in 1-dodecanol. These striking results open the question of unexpectedly large kosmotrope or "structure making" effects of tetraalkylammonium ions on the structure of alcohols.Comment: Submitted to J. Chem. Phy

Photoluminescence pressure coefficients of InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We have investigated the band-gap pressure coefficients of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots by calculating 17 systems with different quantum dot shape, size, and alloying profile using atomistic empirical pseudopotential method within the ``strained linear combination of bulk bands'' approach. Our results confirm the experimentally observed significant reductions of the band gap pressure coefficients from the bulk values. We show that the nonlinear pressure coefficients of the bulk InAs and GaAs are responsible for these reductions. We also find a rough universal pressure coefficient versus band gap relationship which agrees quantitatively with the experimental results. We find linear relationships between the percentage of electron wavefunction on the GaAs and the quantum dot band gaps and pressure coefficients. These linear relationships can be used to get the information of the electron wavefunctions.Comment: 8 pages, 2 tables, 4 figure

Magnetic properties of HO2 thin films

We report on the magnetic and transport studies of hafnium oxide thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition on sapphire substrates under different oxygen pressures, ranging from 10-7 to 10-1 mbar. Some physical properties of these thin films appear to depend on the oxygen pressure during growth: the film grown at low oxygen pressure (P ~= 10-7 mbar) has a metallic aspect and is conducting, with a positive Hall signal, while those grown under higher oxygen pressures (7 x 10-5 <= P <= 0.4 mbar) are insulating. However, no intrinsic ferromagnetic signal could be attributed to the HfO2 films, irrespective of the oxygen pressure during the deposition.Comment: 1

Komplikationen und Zufriedenheit nach primärer und sekundärer Implantation einer dreiteiligen Penisprothese an der Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Die Behandlung der erektilen Dysfunktion spielt in der Urologie, insbesondere mit zunehmenden Patientenalter, eine wichtige Rolle. Die Implantation einer Penisprothese stellt dabei ein invasives Therapieverfahren zur Behandlung von Patienten mit schwerer erektiler Dysfunktion bei frustraner Erstlinientherapie bzw. Versagen der konservativen Therapiemethoden dar. Eine dreiteilige Penisprothese kommt dabei dem natürlichen Erektionsprozess am nächsten und ist daher Gegenstand der Untersuchung dieser Arbeit, welche den Erfolg dieser Therapie anhand der Komplikationen und Zufriedenheit der Patienten sowie Partner untersucht. Hierzu wurden 51 Patienten mit einem Altersmedian von 61 Jahren (Interquartilbereich 52-68) betrachtet, welchen zwischen Januar 2010 und Februar 2015 in der Klinik für Urologie der Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin eine Penisprothese, entweder als Neuimplantation oder als Prothesenwechsel, implantiert wurde. Die Komplikationen wurden anhand der Klassifikation von Dindo et al. analysiert, während die Therapiezufriedenheit mittels validierter Fragebögen (Erectile Dysfunction Inventory of Treatment Satisfaction (EDITS), QLQC30) untersucht wurde. Die mediane Operationsdauer des Eingriffs betrug 94,5 Minuten und der Median der stationären Aufenthaltsdauer ergab einen Wert von 5 Tagen. Innerhalb der ersten 30 Tage postoperativ ergaben sich bei 36 Patienten (70,6 %) keine Komplikationen und nur bei einem Patienten der Komplikationsgrad III. Mit einem medianen EDITS-Score von 86,4 bei 26 ausgewerteten Patientenfragebögen und einem medianen Partner-EDITS-Score von 66,7 bei 21 auswertbaren Partnerfragebögen ergab sich eine hohe Zufriedenheit sowohl bei den Patienten als auch bei den Partnern. Für den Global Health Status ergab sich nach dem betrachteten Eingriff ein Median von 70,8. Insgesamt und im Vergleich mit anderen Studien stellt die Implantation einer Penisprothese als Therapiemöglichkeit der erektilen Dysfunktion bei Versagen jeglicher konservativer Methoden somit eine verlässliche und sichere Methode mit hohen Zufriedenheitsraten der Patienten und Partner dar. Zur genaueren Betrachtung der langfristigen Zufriedenheit sollten weitere Untersuchungen mit einem größeren Patientenkollektiv und längerer Follow-up-Zeit erfolgen.The treatment of erectile dysfunction plays an important role in urology especially with the increasing age of the patients. The implantation of a penile prosthesis as an invasive therapy method may be taken into consideration in patients with severe erectile dysfunction who do not respond to conservative treatments. A three piece penile prosthesis simulates the process of an erection in a way that comes close to the natural process and is therefore the object of this study. The aim is to evaluate complications and treatment satisfaction of patients and partners following primary and secondary implantation of penile prothesis at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. In this retrospective study, a total of 51 patients were included. Patients and operative characteristics were recorded and complications were analysed using the Clavien-Dindo classification. To evaluate satisfaction of patients and their partners follow-up data was collected by using questionnaires (Erectile Dysfunction Inventory of Treatment Satisfaction (EDITS) and QLQC30). Fifty-one patients with a median age of 61 years (IQR 52-68) received a penile prosthesis implantation. Median time of intervention was 94.5 min (IQR 80.8-110.3) and the median duration of hospitalization was 5 days. Within the first 30 days after intervention 36 patients (70.6 %) had no complications and only one patient had a grade 3 complication. A median EDITS-Score of 86.4 of 26 analysed patient questionnaires and a median Partner-EDITS-Score of 66.7 of 21 analysable partner questionnaires result in high satisfaction rates of patients and their partners. The median Global Health Status after the intervention was 70.8. Overall and compared to other studies the implantation of a penile prosthesis seems to be a reliable and save therapy option with high satisfaction rates of patients and partners for men with erectile dysfunction who do not respond to any conservative methods. In order to assess long term satisfaction rates other studies should follow including more patients with a longer follow-up time

Self-consistent model for ambipolar tunneling in quantum-well systems

We present a self-consistent approach to describe ambipolar tunneling in asymmetrical double quantum wells under steady-state excitation and extend the results to the case of tunneling from a near-surface quantum well to surface states. The results of the model compare very well with the behavior observed in photoluminescence experiments in $InGaAs/InP$ asymmetric double quantum wells and in near-surface $AlGaAs/GaAs$ single quantum wells.Comment: 10 pages, REVTeX 3.