Collisionless heating in capacitive discharges enhanced by dual-frequency excitation

We discuss collisionless electron heating in capacitive discharges excited by a combination of two disparate frequencies. By developing an analytical model, we find, contrary to expectation, that the net heating in this case is much larger than the sum of the effects occurring when the two frequencies act separately. This prediction is substantiated by kinetic simulations, which are also in excellent general quantitative agreement with the model for discharge parameters that are typical of recent experiments

In Vitro Stability of Low-Concentration Ziconotide Alone or in Admixtures in Intrathecal Pumps

ObjectivesZiconotide is often administered in combination with other analgesics via an intrathecal pump. Studies have established that ziconotide is stable when delivered alone in high concentrations. No stability data are available, however, for ziconotide given in low concentrations and/or with other analgesics as usually occurs in clinical oncology practice. The objective of this study was to assess the in vitro stability of ziconotide alone and combined with other analgesics in intrathecal pumps at 37°C, as well as in syringes at 5°C, to evaluate conditions for storing and transporting preparations. Materials and Methods Various ziconotide concentrations (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 μg/mL) were combined with an admixture of ropivacaine (7.5 mg/mL), morphine (7.5 mg/mL), and clonidine (15 μg/mL) in 20-mL intrathecal pumps at 37°C and in syringes at 5°C. Solutions of ziconotide alone in concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 μg/mL were introduced into pumps at 37°C and syringes at 5°C. Assays were performed using ultra high pressure liquid chromatography. Results In admixtures, mean ziconotide concentrations decreased linearly to 53.4% (±3.33%) of baseline after 35 days. When ziconotide was introduced alone in pumps at 37°C, the residual concentration on day 31 was 35.54% (±0.04%) with 0.25 μg/mL, 39.37% (±0.15%) with 0.5 μg/mL, and 44.49% (±0.18%) with 1 μg/mL. Ziconotide alone or combined with the other analgesics was stable in syringes stored at 5°C. The preparations complied with the prescriptions, with a mean error of less than 10%, except with the lowest ziconotide concentration (0.1 μg/mL). Conclusions At the low ziconotide concentrations studied, the degradation of ziconotide admixed with other drugs was linear and only weakly influenced by the baseline concentration. Linear regression with intrapolation to 30 days showed that the degradation of ziconotide admixed with other drugs was consistent with previously published data

In-situ measurements of temperature distribution during transmission laser welding of poly(aryletherketone)

In this work, the temperature distribution inside the specimens has been measured during transmission laser welding. The material studied is a high performance thermoplastic of the polyaryletherketone (PAEK) family. The assembly consists of a quasi-amorphous sample as the upper part and a semi-crystalline sample as the lower part. The temperature fields were measured by infrared thermography with the camera sensor perpendicular to the welded interface. With an energy beam of 28 J.mm-2 and irradiation time of 15s, we have noticed that the maximum temperature inside the sample is kept far from the PAEK degradation one. Moreover, the temperature at the interface reaches the melting temperature thus assuring enough mobility for polymeric chains to get adhesion at the interface. Finally, the location and size of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) has been determined

Ergodicity criteria for non-expanding transformations of 2-adic spheres

In the paper, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for ergodicity (with respect to the normalized Haar measure) of discrete dynamical systems $$ on 2-adic spheres $\mathbf S_{2^{-r}}(a)$ of radius $2^{-r}$, $r\ge 1$, centered at some point $a$ from the ultrametric space of 2-adic integers $\mathbb Z_2$. The map $f\colon\mathbb Z_2\to\mathbb Z_2$ is assumed to be non-expanding and measure-preserving; that is, $f$ satisfies a Lipschitz condition with a constant 1 with respect to the 2-adic metric, and $f$ preserves a natural probability measure on $\mathbb Z_2$, the Haar measure $\mu_2$ on $\mathbb Z_2$ which is normalized so that $\mu_2(\mathbb Z_2)=1$

Upper Bounding in Inner Regions for Global Optimization under Inequality Constraints

International audienceIn deterministic continuous constrained global optimization, upper bounding the objective function generally resorts to local minimization at several nodes/iterations of the branch and bound. We propose in this paper an alternative approach when the constraints are inequalities and the feasible space has a non-null volume. First, we extract an inner region , i.e., an entirely feasible convex polyhedron or box in which all points satisfy the constraints. Second, we select a point inside the extracted inner region and update the upper bound with its cost. We describe in this paper two original inner region extraction algorithms implemented in our interval B&B called IbexOpt. They apply to nonconvex constraints involving mathematical operators like +,x,power,sqrt,exp,log,sin. This upper bounding shows very good performance obtained on medium-sized systems proposed in the COCONUT suite

Higher dimensional Kerr-Schild spacetimes

We investigate general properties of Kerr-Schild (KS) metrics in n>4 spacetime dimensions. First, we show that the Weyl tensor is of type II or more special if the null KS vector k is geodetic (or, equivalently, if T_{ab}k^ak^b=0). We subsequently specialize to vacuum KS solutions, which naturally split into two families of non-expanding and expanding metrics. After demonstrating that non-expanding solutions are equivalent to the known class of vacuum Kundt solutions of type N, we analyze expanding solutions in detail. We show that they can only be of the type II or D, and we characterize optical properties of the multiple Weyl aligned null direction (WAND) k. In general, k has caustics corresponding to curvature singularities. In addition, it is generically shearing. Nevertheless, we arrive at a possible "weak" n>4 extension of the Goldberg-Sachs theorem, limited to the KS class, which matches previous conclusions for general type III/N solutions. In passing, properties of Myers-Perry black holes and black rings related to our results are also briefly discussed.Comment: 33 pages. v2: minor changes, new reference

Deep-Inelastic Inclusive ep Scattering at Low x and a Determination of alpha_s

A precise measurement of the inclusive deep-inelastic e^+p scattering cross section is reported in the kinematic range 1.5<= Q^2 <=150 GeV^2 and 3*10^(-5)<= x <=0.2. The data were recorded with the H1 detector at HERA in 1996 and 1997, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20 pb^(-1). The double differential cross section, from which the proton structure function F_2(x,Q^2) and the longitudinal structure function F_L(x,Q^2) are extracted, is measured with typically 1% statistical and 3% systematic uncertainties. The measured partial derivative (dF_2(x,Q^2)/dln Q^2)_x is observed to rise continuously towards small x for fixed Q^2. The cross section data are combined with published H1 measurements at high Q^2 for a next-to-leading order DGLAP QCD analysis.The H1 data determine the gluon momentum distribution in the range 3*10^(-4)<= x <=0.1 to within an experimental accuracy of about 3% for Q^2 =20 GeV^2. A fit of the H1 measurements and the mu p data of the BCDMS collaboration allows the strong coupling constant alpha_s and the gluon distribution to be simultaneously determined. A value of alpha _s(M_Z^2)=0.1150+-0.0017 (exp) +0.0009-0.0005 (model) is obtained in NLO, with an additional theoretical uncertainty of about +-0.005, mainly due to the uncertainty of the renormalisation scale.Comment: 68 pages, 24 figures and 18 table

Measurements of Transverse Energy Flow in Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Measurements of transverse energy flow are presented for neutral current deep-inelastic scattering events produced in positron-proton collisions at HERA. The kinematic range covers squared momentum transfers Q^2 from 3.2 to 2,200 GeV^2, the Bjorken scaling variable x from 8.10^{-5} to 0.11 and the hadronic mass W from 66 to 233 GeV. The transverse energy flow is measured in the hadronic centre of mass frame and is studied as a function of Q^2, x, W and pseudorapidity. A comparison is made with QCD based models. The behaviour of the mean transverse energy in the central pseudorapidity region and an interval corresponding to the photon fragmentation region are analysed as a function of Q^2 and W.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys.

Multi-Jet Event Rates in Deep Inelastic Scattering and Determination of the Strong Coupling Constant

Jet event rates in deep inelastic ep scattering at HERA are investigated applying the modified JADE jet algorithm. The analysis uses data taken with the H1 detector in 1994 and 1995. The data are corrected for detector and hadronization effects and then compared with perturbative QCD predictions using next-to-leading order calculations. The strong coupling constant alpha_S(M_Z^2) is determined evaluating the jet event rates. Values of alpha_S(Q^2) are extracted in four different bins of the negative squared momentum transfer~\qq in the range from 40 GeV2 to 4000 GeV2. A combined fit of the renormalization group equation to these several alpha_S(Q^2) values results in alpha_S(M_Z^2) = 0.117+-0.003(stat)+0.009-0.013(syst)+0.006(jet algorithm).Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, this version to appear in Eur. Phys. J.; it replaces first posted hep-ex/9807019 which had incorrect figure 4

Multiplicity Structure of the Hadronic Final State in Diffractive Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

The multiplicity structure of the hadronic system X produced in deep-inelastic processes at HERA of the type ep -> eXY, where Y is a hadronic system with mass M_Y< 1.6 GeV and where the squared momentum transfer at the pY vertex, t, is limited to |t|<1 GeV^2, is studied as a function of the invariant mass M_X of the system X. Results are presented on multiplicity distributions and multiplicity moments, rapidity spectra and forward-backward correlations in the centre-of-mass system of X. The data are compared to results in e+e- annihilation, fixed-target lepton-nucleon collisions, hadro-produced diffractive final states and to non-diffractive hadron-hadron collisions. The comparison suggests a production mechanism of virtual photon dissociation which involves a mixture of partonic states and a significant gluon content. The data are well described by a model, based on a QCD-Regge analysis of the diffractive structure function, which assumes a large hard gluonic component of the colourless exchange at low Q^2. A model with soft colour interactions is also successful.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J., error in first submission - omitted bibliograph