Influence of electromagnetic interferences on the gravimetric sensitivity of surface acoustic waveguides

Surface acoustic waveguides are increasing in interest for (bio)chemical detection. The surface mass modification leads to measurable changes in the propagation properties of the waveguide. Among a wide variety of waveguides, Love mode has been investigated because of its high gravimetric sensitivity. The acoustic signal launched and detected in the waveguide by electrical transducers is accompanied by an electromagnetic wave; the interaction of the two signals, easily enhanced by the open structure of the sensor, creates interference patterns in the transfer function of the sensor. The influence of these interferences on the gravimetric sensitivity is presented, whereby the structure of the entire sensor is modelled. We show that electromagnetic interferences generate an error in the experimental value of the sensitivity. This error is different for the open and the closed loop configurations of the sensor. The theoretical approach is completed by the experimentation of an actual Love mode sensor operated under liquid in open loop configuration. The experiment indicates that the interaction depends on the frequency and the mass modifications.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure

Transverse-Longitudinal Coupling by Space Charge in Cyclotrons

A method is presented that enables to compute the parameters of matched beams with space charge in cyclotrons with emphasis on the effect of the transverse-longitudinal coupling. Equations describing the transverse-longitudinal coupling and corresponding tune-shifts in first order are derived for the model of an azimuthally symmetric cyclotron. The eigenellipsoid of the beam is calculated and the transfer matrix is transformed into block-diagonal form. The influence of the slope of the phase curve on the transverse-longitudinal coupling is accounted for. The results are generalized and numerical procedures for the case of an AVF cyclotron are presented. The algorithm is applied to the PSI Injector II and Ring cyclotron and the results are compared to TRANSPORT.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Late harvest as factor affecting esca and Botryosphaeria dieback prevalence of vineyards in the Alsace region of France

The decline of grapevines due to esca and Botryosphaeria dieback (Bot. dieback) is a serious problem in the Alsace region of France. A survey of 82 vineyards over 8 years showed that among a set of agronomical and cultural variables, esca and Bot. dieback prevalence correlated to the harvest dates, especially late harvest dates for the production of sweet wines. The interpretation of this finding that points to the carbon balance of the vine and its reserves status as possible causation is discussed. Under this hypothesis the data also point to climatic variables as factors in the disease epidemiology, with a lag phase of about one year.

Third-order superintegrable systems separable in parabolic coordinates

In this paper, we investigate superintegrable systems which separate in parabolic coordinates and admit a third-order integral of motion. We give the corresponding determining equations and show that all such systems are multi-separable and so admit two second-order integrals. The third-order integral is their Lie or Poisson commutator. We discuss how this situation is different from the Cartesian and polar cases where new potentials were discovered which are not multi-separable and which are expressed in terms of Painlev\'e transcendents or elliptic functions

Metabolomics Identifies multiple candidate biomarkers to diagnose and stage human African trypanosomiasis

Treatment for human African trypanosomiasis is dependent on the species of trypanosome causing the disease and the stage of the disease (stage 1 defined by parasites being present in blood and lymphatics whilst for stage 2, parasites are found beyond the blood-brain barrier in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)). Currently, staging relies upon detecting the very low number of parasites or elevated white blood cell numbers in CSF. Improved staging is desirable, as is the elimination of the need for lumbar puncture. Here we use metabolomics to probe samples of CSF, plasma and urine from 40 Angolan patients infected with Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, at different disease stages. Urine samples provided no robust markers indicative of infection or stage of infection due to inherent variability in urine concentrations. Biomarkers in CSF were able to distinguish patients at stage 1 or advanced stage 2 with absolute specificity. Eleven metabolites clearly distinguished the stage in most patients and two of these (neopterin and 5-hydroxytryptophan) showed 100% specificity and sensitivity between our stage 1 and advanced stage 2 samples. Neopterin is an inflammatory biomarker previously shown in CSF of stage 2 but not stage 1 patients. 5-hydroxytryptophan is an important metabolite in the serotonin synthetic pathway, the key pathway in determining somnolence, thus offering a possible link to the eponymous symptoms of “sleeping sickness”. Plasma also yielded several biomarkers clearly indicative of the presence (87% sensitivity and 95% specificity) and stage of disease (92% sensitivity and 81% specificity). A logistic regression model including these metabolites showed clear separation of patients being either at stage 1 or advanced stage 2 or indeed diseased (both stages) versus control

Saddle-splay modulus of a particle-laden fluid interface

The scaled-particle theory equation of state for the two-dimensional hard-disk fluid on a curved surface is proposed and used to determine the saddle-splay modulus of a particle-laden fluid interface. The resulting contribution to saddle-splay modulus, which is caused by thermal motion of the adsorbed particles, is comparable in magnitude with the saddle-splay modulus of a simple fluid interface.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Duality and KPZ in Liouville Quantum Gravity

We present a (mathematically rigorous) probabilistic and geometrical proof of the KPZ relation between scaling exponents in a Euclidean planar domain D and in Liouville quantum gravity. It uses the properly regularized quantum area measure d\mu_\gamma=\epsilon^{\gamma^2/2} e^{\gamma h_\epsilon(z)}dz, where dz is Lebesgue measure on D, \gamma is a real parameter, 0\leq \gamma <2, and h_\epsilon(z) denotes the mean value on the circle of radius \epsilon centered at z of an instance h of the Gaussian free field on D. The proof extends to the boundary geometry. The singular case \gamma >2 is shown to be related to the quantum measure d\mu_{\gamma'}, \gamma' < 2, by the fundamental duality \gamma\gamma'=4.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur