Reentrant transitions in colloidal or dusty plasma bilayers

The phase diagram of crystalline bilayers of particles interacting via a Yukawa potential is calculated for arbitrary screening lengths and particle densities. Staggered rectangular, square, rhombic and triangular structures are found to be stable including a first-order transition between two different rhombic structures. For varied screening length at fixed density, one of these rhombic phases exhibits both a single and even a double reentrant transition. Our predictions can be verified experimentally in strongly confined charged colloidal suspensions or dusty plasma bilayers.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figs - revtex4. PRL - in pres

On the concepts of radial and angular kinetic energies

We consider a general central-field system in D dimensions and show that the division of the kinetic energy into radial and angular parts proceeds differently in the wavefunction picture and the Weyl-Wigner phase-space picture. Thus, the radial and angular kinetic energies are different quantities in the two pictures, containing different physical information, but the relation between them is well defined. We discuss this relation and illustrate its nature by examples referring to a free particle and to a ground-state hydrogen atom.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

On the statistical evaluation of dose-response functions

The linear-quadratic dependence of effect on the dose of ionizing radiation and its biophysical implications are considered. The estimation of the parameters of the response function and the derivation of the joint confidence region of the estimates are described. The method is applied to the induction of pink mutations inTradescantia which follows the linear-quadratic model. The statistical procedure is also suitable for other response functions

Bimodal magnetic force microscopy with capacitive tip-sample distance control

A single-passage, bimodal magnetic force microscopy technique optimized for scanning samples with arbitrary topography is discussed. A double phase-locked loop (PLL) system is used to mechanically excite a high quality factor cantilever under vacuum conditions on its first mode and via an oscillatory tip-sample potential on its second mode. The obtained second mode oscillation amplitude is then used as a proxy for the tip-sample distance, and for the control thereof. With appropriate z-feedback parameters two data sets reflecting the magnetic tip-sample interaction and the sample topography are simultaneously obtained

Quantitative Impact Evaluation of the WINNN Programme – Summary Report: Operations Research and Impact Evaluation

This report presents the results of the quantitative impact evaluation of the Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN) programme. The impact evaluation is conducted by the Operations Research and Impact Evaluation (ORIE) project. ORIE is responsible for undertaking operations research and assessing the impact of the WINNN programme and it is led by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and implemented in collaboration with other institutions.UK Department for International Developmen

Distance dependence of force and dissipation in non-contact atomic force microscopy on Cu(100) and Al(111)

The dynamic characteristics of a tip oscillating in the nc-AFM mode in close vicinity to a Cu(100)-surface are investigated by means of phase variation experiments in the constant amplitude mode. The change of the quality factor upon approaching the surface deduced from both frequency shift and excitation versus phase curves yield to consistent values. The optimum phase is found to be independent of distance. The dependence of the quality factor on distance is related to 'true' damping, because artefacts related to phase misadjustment can be excluded. The experimental results, as well as on-resonance measurements at different bias voltages on an Al(111) surface, are compared to Joule dissipation and to a model of dissipation in which long-range forces lead to viscoelastic deformations

Studies of the dose-effect relation

Dose-effect relations and, specifically, cell survival curves are surveyed with emphasis on the interplay of the random factors — biological variability, stochastic reaction of the cell, and the statistics of energy deposition —that co-determine their shape. The global parameters mean inactivation dose, , and coefficient of variance, V, represent this interplay better than conventional parameters. Mechanisms such as lesion interaction, misrepair, repair overload, or repair depletion have been invoked to explain sigmoid dose dependencies, but these notions are partly synonymous and are largely undistinguishable on the basis of observed dose dependencies. All dose dependencies reflect, to varying degree, the microdosimetric fluctuations of energy deposition, and these have certain implications, e.g. the linearity of the dose dependence at small doses, that apply regardless of unresolved molecular mechanisms of cellular radiation action

Growth and texture of Spark Plasma Sintered Al2O3 ceramics: a combined analysis of X-rays and Electron Back Scatter Diffraction

Textured alumina ceramics were obtained by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) of undoped commercial a-Al2O3 powders. Various parameters (density, grain growth, grain size distribution) of the alumina ceramics, sintered at two typical temperatures 1400{\deg}C and 1700{\deg}C, are investigated. Quantitative textural and structural analysis, carried out using a combination of Electron Back Scattering Diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), are represented in the form of mapping, and pole figures. The mechanical properties of these textured alumina ceramics include high elastic modulus and hardness value with high anisotropic nature, opening the door for a large range of applicationsComment: 16 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Appl. Phy

Classical double-layer atoms: artificial molecules

The groundstate configuration and the eigenmodes of two parallel two-dimensional classical atoms are obtained as function of the inter-atomic distance (d). The classical particles are confined by identical harmonic wells and repel each other through a Coulomb potential. As function of d we find several structural transitions which are of first or second order. For first (second) order transitions the first (second) derivative of the energy with respect to d is discontinuous, the radial position of the particles changes discontinuously (continuously) and the frequency of the eigenmodes exhibit a jump (one mode becomes soft, i.e. its frequency becomes zero).Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 5 ps figures, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let