Support of validation of SAGE 2 data

An error analysis of differential absorption lidar (DIAL) measurements of stratospheric ozone from a Space Shuttle is discussed. A transmitter system consisting of a KrF excimer laser pumping gas cells of H2 or D2 producing output wavelengths in the near UV is shown to be useful for the measurement of ozone in an altitude range from 15 to 50 km

Experimental Fine-Structure Branching Ratios for Na-Rare-Gas Optical Collisions

Experimental ratios for branching into the fine-structure levels of the Na 3p multiplet, as a consequence of an optical collision with He, Ne, Ar, Kr, or Xe, are reported. The process studied is Na(3s2S1/2)+R+nhNNa(3p2Pj)+R+(n-1)hN, where R represents a rare-gas atom and where the laser frequency N is tuned in the wings of the Na resonance transitions. The branching ratios are defined as I(D1)/I(D2) where I(D1) and I(D2) are measured intensities of the atomic Na D1 and D2 lines. The ratios are determined for detunings ranging from about 650 cm-1 in the blue wing to 170 cm-1 in the red wing of the Na 3p multiplet. The branching is found to be strongly detuning dependent in the vicinity of the NaAr, NaKr, and NaXe, near-red-wing satellites. The blue-wing branching ratios show a detuning-dependent approach to a recoil, or sudden statistical, limit of 0.5, irrespective of the rare gas. Fine-structure changing cross sections have also been measured for resonant excitation of the Na 3p2Pj state; the results are consistent with cross sections obtained from wing excitation

Dynamics of Symmetry Breaking and Tachyonic Preheating

We reconsider the old problem of the dynamics of spontaneous symmetry breaking using 3d lattice simulations, and develop a theory of tachyonic preheating, which occurs due to the spinodal instability of the scalar field. Tachyonic preheating is so efficient that symmetry breaking typically completes within a single oscillation of the field distribution as it rolls towards the minimum of its effective potential. As an application of this theory we consider preheating in the hybrid inflation scenario, including SUSY-motivated F-term and D-term inflationary models. We show that preheating in hybrid inflation is typically tachyonic and the stage of oscillations of a homogeneous component of the scalar fields driving inflation ends after a single oscillation. Our results may also be relevant for the theory of the formation of disoriented chiral condensates in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Higher quality figures and computer generated movies in gif format illustrating our results can be found at http://physics.stanford.edu/gfelder/hybri

Psychosocial, socio-cultural, and environmental influences on mental health help-seeking among African-American men

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jomh.2012.03.00

Through a Glass, Darkly:The CIA and Oral History

This article broaches the thorny issue of how we may study the history of the CIA by utilizing oral history interviews. This article argues that while oral history interviews impose particular demands upon the researcher, they are particularly pronounced in relation to studying the history of intelligence services. This article, nevertheless, also argues that while intelligence history and oral history each harbour their own epistemological perils and biases, pitfalls which may in fact be pronounced when they are conjoined, the relationship between them may nevertheless be a productive one. Indeed, each field may enrich the other provided we have thought carefully about the linkages between them: this article's point of departure. The first part of this article outlines some of the problems encountered in studying the CIA by relating them to the author's own work. This involved researching the CIA's role in US foreign policy towards Afghanistan since a landmark year in the history of the late Cold War, 1979 (i.e. the year the Soviet Union invaded that country). The second part of this article then considers some of the issues historians must confront when applying oral history to the study of the CIA. To bring this within the sphere of cognition of the reader the author recounts some of his own experiences interviewing CIA officers in and around Washington DC. The third part then looks at some of the contributions oral history in particular can make towards a better understanding of the history of intelligence services and the CIA

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy