Linewidth characteristics of Raman-shifted dye laser output at 720 and 940 nm

Existing DIAL systems for water vapor measurements in the troposphere operate at wavelengths near 720 nm. The use of stronger water vapor absorption lines in the range 930 to 960 nm will significantly improve DIAL measurements in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere where water vapor concentrations are low. The generation of light at 940 nm using a frequency doubled Nd:YAG pumped dye laser is inefficient due to the small absorption if infrared dyes at the pump wavelength. However, 940 nm generation utilizing stimulated Raman scattering of dye lasers is attractive because of a potentially high conversion efficiency plus the possibility of retaining the narrow linewidth available from some dye lasers. The Raman conversion efficiency and line broadening are presented for first Stokes operation at 720 and 940 nm using hydrogen and deuterium as the Raman media

Radio Observations of AGN in Low Surface Brightness Galaxies

We present preliminary results of a study of the low frequency radio continuum emission from the nuclei of Giant Low Surface Brightness (LSB) galaxies. We have mapped the emission and searched for extended features such as radio lobes/jets associated with AGN activity. LSB galaxies are poor in star formation and generally less evolved compared to nearby bright spirals. This paper presents low frequency observations of 3 galaxies; PGC 045080 at 1.4 GHz, 610 MHz, 325MHz, UGC 1922 at 610 MHz and UGC 6614 at 610 MHz. The observations were done with the GMRT. Radio cores as well as extended structures were detected and mapped in all three galaxies; the extended emission may be assocated with jets/lobes associated with AGN activity. Our results indicate that although these galaxies are optically dim, their nuclei can host AGN that are bright in the radio domain.Comment: To appear in proceedings IAU Symp 244, 'Dark Galaxies and Lost Baryons', June 2007, 2 pages including 1 figur

Automated Screening for Three Inborn Metabolic Disorders: A Pilot Study

Background: Inborn metabolic disorders (IMDs) form a large group of rare, but often serious, metabolic disorders. Aims: Our objective was to construct a decision tree, based on classification algorithm for the data on three metabolic disorders, enabling us to take decisions on the screening and clinical diagnosis of a patient. Settings and Design: A non-incremental concept learning classification algorithm was applied to a set of patient data and the procedure followed to obtain a decision on a patient’s disorder. Materials and Methods: Initially a training set containing 13 cases was investigated for three inborn errors of metabolism. Results: A total of thirty test cases were investigated for the three inborn errors of metabolism. The program identified 10 cases with galactosemia, another 10 cases with fructosemia and the remaining 10 with propionic acidemia. The program successfully identified all the 30 cases. Conclusions: This kind of decision support systems can help the healthcare delivery personnel immensely for early screening of IMDs

Avalanche Mixing of Granular Solids

Mixing of two fractions of a granular material in a slowly rotating two-dimensional drum is considered. The rotation is around the axis of the upright drum. The drum is filled partially, and mixing occurs only at a free surface of the material. We propose a simple theory of the mixing process which describes a real experiment surprisingly well. A geometrical approach without appealing to ideas of self-organized criticality is used. The dependence of the mixing time on the drum filling is calculated. The mixing time is infinite in the case of the half-filled drum. We describe singular behaviour of the mixing near this critical point.Comment: 9 pages (LaTeX) and 2 Postscript figures, to be published in Europhys. Let

A Note on Quantum Field Theories with a Minimal Length Scale

The aim of this note is to address the low energy limit of quantum field theories with a minimal length scale. The essential feature of these models is that the minimal length acts as a regulator in the asymptotic high energy limit which is incorporated through an infinite series of higher order derivatives. If one investigates a perturbative expansion in inverse powers of the Planck mass, one generically obtains extra poles in the propagator, and instabilities connected with the higher order derivative Lagrangian, that are however artifacts of truncating the series

Nodular Fasciitis of Neck in Childhood.

Nodular fasciitis, is a benign, pseudo sarcomatous proliferative lesion of the soft tissue, which is frequently misinterpreted as sarcoma, both clinically and microscopically. It is a reactive lesion composed of fibroblasts/myofibroblasts and most commonly found in extremities and trunk. NF has been described in the head and neck region in 10-20% of cases. Many pathologists do not consider NF in the differential diagnosis of soft tissue masses arising in the Head neck region. NF that occurs in otherwise healthy individuals usually presents with a history of rapid growth, and is commonly found in the upper extremities and on the chest and trunk. The importance of otolaryngologists being aware of the existence of this entity in this area of the body is stressed. It has a confirmed perfectly benign clinical course, and simple excision, as tissue-sparing as possible, is the treatment of choice. A case of NF over the neck in a 05-year-old female not associated with trauma who presented with a localized mass over her left neck is presented

Analyticity of the Scattering Amplitude, Causality and High-Energy Bounds in Quantum Field Theory on Noncommutative Space-Time

In the framework of quantum field theory (QFT) on noncommutative (NC) space-time with the symmetry group $O(1,1)\times SO(2)$, we prove that the Jost-Lehmann-Dyson representation, based on the causality condition taken in connection with this symmetry, leads to the mere impossibility of drawing any conclusion on the analyticity of the $2\to 2$-scattering amplitude in $\cos\Theta$, $\Theta$ being the scattering angle. Discussions on the possible ways of obtaining high-energy bounds analogous to the Froissart-Martin bound on the total cross-section are also presented.Comment: 25 page

On the numerical performance of a domain decomposition method for conformal mapping

This paper is a sequel to a recent paper [14], concerning a domain decomposition method (hereafter referred to as DDM ) for the conformal mapping of a certain class of quadrilaterals. For the description of the DDM we proceed exactly as in [14:§1], by introducing the following terminology and notations