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e-Commerce: How the times have changed
The advent cf E-Commerce and the information age are catalyzing fundamental decision making processes as well as their management. In this article the authors develop a functional definition of information which forms the resource base in evolving decision making activities where uncertainty and short time horizons tend to predominate. The article also makes the case that modem managers will need to be entrepreneurial
Time-resolved dosimetric verification of respiratory-gated radiotherapy exposures using a high-resolution 2D ionisation chamber array
Kullback-Leibler and Renormalized Entropy: Applications to EEGs of Epilepsy Patients
Recently, renormalized entropy was proposed as a novel measure of relative
entropy (P. Saparin et al., Chaos, Solitons & Fractals 4, 1907 (1994)) and
applied to several physiological time sequences, including EEGs of patients
with epilepsy. We show here that this measure is just a modified
Kullback-Leibler (K-L) relative entropy, and it gives similar numerical results
to the standard K-L entropy. The latter better distinguishes frequency contents
of e.g. seizure and background EEGs than renormalized entropy. We thus propose
that renormalized entropy might not be as useful as claimed by its proponents.
In passing we also make some critical remarks about the implementation of these
methods.Comment: 15 pages, 4 Postscript figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. E, 199
White Light Interferometry for Quantitative Surface Characterization in Ion Sputtering Experiments
White light interferometry (WLI) can be used to obtain surface morphology
information on dimensional scale of millimeters with lateral resolution as good
as ~1 {\mu}m and depth resolution down to 1 nm. By performing true
three-dimensional imaging of sample surfaces, the WLI technique enables
accurate quantitative characterization of the geometry of surface features and
compares favorably to scanning electron and atomic force microscopies by
avoiding some of their drawbacks. In this paper, results of using the WLI
imaging technique to characterize the products of ion sputtering experiments
are reported. With a few figures, several example applications of the WLI
method are illustrated when used for (i) sputtering yield measurements and
time-to-depth conversion, (ii) optimizing ion beam current density profiles,
the shapes of sputtered craters, and multiple ion beam superposition and (iii)
quantitative characterization of surfaces processed with ions. In particular,
for sputter depth profiling experiments of 25Mg, 44Ca and 53Cr ion implants in
Si (implantation energy of 1 keV per nucleon), the depth calibration of the
measured depth profile curves determined by the WLI method appeared to be
self-consistent with TRIM simulations for such projectile-matrix systems. In
addition, high depth resolution of the WLI method is demonstrated for a case of
a Genesis solar wind Si collector surface processed by gas cluster ion beam: a
12.5 nm layer was removed from the processed surface, while the transition
length between the processed and untreated areas was 150 {\mu}m.Comment: Applied Surface Science, accepted: 7 pages and 8 figure
Is there an association between airborne and surface microbes in the critical care environment?
BackgroundThere are few data and no accepted standards for air quality in the intensive care unit (ICU). Any relationship between airborne pathogens and hospital-acquired infection (HAI) risk in the ICU remains unknown.AimFirst, to correlate environmental contamination of air and surfaces in the ICU; second, to examine any association between environmental contamination and ICU-acquired staphylococcal infection.MethodsPatients, air, and surfaces were screened on 10 sampling days in a mechanically ventilated 10-bed ICU for a 10-month period. Near-patient hand-touch sites (N = 500) and air (N = 80) were screened for total colony count and Staphylococcus aureus. Air counts were compared with surface counts according to proposed standards for air and surface bioburden. Patients were monitored for ICU-acquired staphylococcal infection throughout.FindingsOverall, 235 of 500 (47%) surfaces failed the standard for aerobic counts (≤2.5 cfu/cm2). Half of passive air samples (20/40: 50%) failed the ‘index of microbial air’ contamination (2 cfu/9 cm plate/h), and 15/40 (37.5%) active air samples failed the clean air standard
Proposed measurement of tagged deep inelastic scattering in Hall A of Jefferson lab
A tagged deep inelastic scattering (TDIS) experiment is planned for Hall A of Jefferson Lab, which will probe the mesonic content of the nucleon directly. Low momentum recoiling (and spectator) protons will be measured in coincidence with electrons scattered in a deep inelastic regime from hydrogen (and deuterium) targets, covering kinematics of 8 < W2 < 18 GeV2, 1 < Q2 < 3 (GeV/c)2 and 0.05 < x < 0.2. The tagging technique will help identify scattering from partons in the meson cloud and provide access to the pion structure function via the Sullivan process. The experiment will yield the first TDIS results in the valence regime, for both proton and neutron targets. We present here an overview of the experiment
Parity-violating Electron Deuteron Scattering and the Proton's Neutral Weak Axial Vector Form Factor
We report on a new measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in
quasielastic electron scattering from the deuteron at backward angles at Q2=
0.038 (GeV/c)2. This quantity provides a determination of the neutral weak
axial vector form factor of the nucleon, which can potentially receive large
electroweak corrections. The measured asymmetry A=-3.51 +/- 0.57(stat) +/-
0.58(sys)ppm is consistent with theoretical predictions. We also report on
updated results of the previous experiment at Q2=0.091 (GeV/c)2, which are also
consistent with theoretical predictions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Superconductivity in the two dimensional Hubbard Model.
Quasiparticle bands of the two-dimensional Hubbard model are calculated using
the Roth two-pole approximation to the one particle Green's function. Excellent
agreement is obtained with recent Monte Carlo calculations, including an
anomalous volume of the Fermi surface near half-filling, which can possibly be
explained in terms of a breakdown of Fermi liquid theory. The calculated bands
are very flat around the (pi,0) points of the Brillouin zone in agreement with
photoemission measurements of cuprate superconductors. With doping there is a
shift in spectral weight from the upper band to the lower band. The Roth method
is extended to deal with superconductivity within a four-pole approximation
allowing electron-hole mixing. It is shown that triplet p-wave pairing never
occurs. Singlet d_{x^2-y^2}-wave pairing is strongly favoured and optimal
doping occurs when the van Hove singularity, corresponding to the flat band
part, lies at the Fermi level. Nearest neighbour antiferromagnetic correlations
play an important role in flattening the bands near the Fermi level and in
favouring superconductivity. However the mechanism for superconductivity is a
local one, in contrast to spin fluctuation exchange models. For reasonable
values of the hopping parameter the transition temperature T_c is in the range
10-100K. The optimum doping delta_c lies between 0.14 and 0.25, depending on
the ratio U/t. The gap equation has a BCS-like form and (2*Delta_{max})/(kT_c)
~ 4.Comment: REVTeX, 35 pages, including 19 PostScript figures numbered 1a to 11.
Uses epsf.sty (included). Everything in uuencoded gz-compressed .tar file,
(self-unpacking, see header). Submitted to Phys. Rev. B (24-2-95
Experimental evidence for 56Ni-core breaking from the low-spin structure of the N=Z nucleus 58Cu
Low-spin states in the odd-odd N=Z nucleus 58Cu were investigated with the
58Ni(p,n gamma)58Cu fusion evaporation reaction at the FN-tandem accelerator in
Cologne. Seventeen low spin states below 3.6 MeV and 17 new transitions were
observed. Ten multipole mixing ratios and 17 gamma-branching ratios were
determined for the first time. New detailed spectroscopic information on the
2+,2 state, the Isobaric Analogue State (IAS) of the 2+,1,T=1 state of 58Ni,
makes 58Cu the heaviest odd-odd N=Z nucleus with known B(E2;2+,T=1 --> 0+,T=1)
value. The 4^+ state at 2.751 MeV, observed here for the first time, is
identified as the IAS of the 4+,1,T=1 state in 58Ni. The new data are compared
to full pf-shell model calculations with the novel GXPF1 residual interaction
and to calculations within a pf5/2 configurational space with a residual
surface delta interaction. The role of the 56Ni core excitations for the
low-spin structure in 58Cu is discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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