10,369 research outputs found
Electron-hole pairs during the adsorption dynamics of O2 on Pd(100) - Exciting or not?
During the exothermic adsorption of molecules at solid surfaces dissipation
of the released energy occurs via the excitation of electronic and phononic
degrees of freedom. For metallic substrates the role of the nonadiabatic
electronic excitation channel has been controversially discussed, as the
absence of a band gap could favour an easy coupling to a manifold of
electronhole pairs of arbitrarily low energies. We analyse this situation for
the highly exothermic showcase system of molecular oxygen dissociating at
Pd(100), using time-dependent perturbation theory applied to first-principles
electronic-structure calculations. For a range of different trajectories of
impinging O2 molecules we compute largely varying electron-hole pair spectra,
which underlines the necessity to consider the high-dimensionality of the
surface dynamical process when assessing the total energy loss into this
dissipation channel. Despite the high Pd density of states at the Fermi level,
the concomitant non-adiabatic energy losses nevertheless never exceed about 5%
of the available chemisorption energy. While this supports an electronically
adiabatic description of the predominant heat dissipation into the phononic
system, we critically discuss the non-adiabatic excitations in the context of
the O2 spin transition during the dissociation process.Comment: 20 pages including 7 figures; related publications can be found at
http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/th.html [added two references, changed
V_{fsa} to V_{6D}, modified a few formulations in interpretation of spin
asymmetry of eh-spectra, added missing equals sign in Eg.(2.10)
Heavy Meson Production in NN Collisions with Polarized Beam and Target -- A new facility for COSY
The study of near--threshold meson production in pp and pd collisions
involving polarized beams and polarized targets offers the rare opportunity to
gain insight into short--range features of the nucleon--nucleon interaction.
The Cooler Synchrotron COSY at FZ--J\"ulich is a unique environment to perform
such studies. Measurements of polarization observables require a cylindrically
symmetrical detector, capable to measure the momenta and the directions of
outgoing charged hadrons. The wide energy range of COSY leads to momenta of
outgoing protons to be detected in a single meson production reaction between
300 and 2500 MeV/c. Scattering angles of protons to be covered extend to about
in the laboratory system. An azimuthal angular coverage of the
device around 98% seems technically achievable. The required magnetic
spectrometer could consist of a superconducting toroid, providing fields around
3 T.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Czechoslovak Journal of Physic
Structural Optimisation: Biomechanics of the Femur
A preliminary iterative 3D meso-scale structural model of the femur was
developed, in which bar and shell elements were used to represent trabecular
and cortical bone respectively. The cross-sectional areas of the bar elements
and the thickness values of the shell elements were adjusted over successive
iterations of the model based on a target strain stimulus, resulting in an
optimised construct. The predicted trabecular architecture, and cortical
thickness distribution showed good agreement with clinical observations, based
on the application of a single leg stance load case during gait. The benefit of
using a meso-scale structural approach in comparison to micro or macro-scale
continuum approaches to predictive bone modelling was achievement of the
symbiotic goals of computational efficiency and structural description of the
femur.Comment: Accepted by Engineering and Computational Mechanics (Proceedings of
the ICE
Initial singlet and triplet spin state contributions to pp -> pp pi0
The PINTEX facility at the IUCF Cooler ring, dedicated to the study of spin
dependence in nucleon-nucleon interactions, has been used to measure
polarization observables of the reaction pp -> pp pi0 at beam energies between
325 and 400 MeV. The stored polarized proton beam had spin projections both in
the longitudinal and the transverse directions with respect to the beam
momentum. We report here on the measurements of the relative transverse and
longitudinal spin-dependent cross sections, deltasigma_T/sigma_tot and
deltasigma_L/sigma_tot, and how from these observables the initial spin singlet
and triplet cross sections are obtained. Considering angular momentum states
less or equal to one, the contribution of the Ps partial waves to the cross
section can be extracted.Comment: Contribution to PANIC99, XVth Particles and Nuclei International
Conference, June 10-16, 1999, Uppsala, Sweden. Latex, 5 pages, 3 figure
Long-term outcome after mitral valve repair: a risk factor analysis
Objective: Mitral valve repair is the gold standard to restore mitral valve function and is now known to have good long-term outcome. In order to help perioperative decision making, we analyzed our collective to find independent risk factors affecting their outcome. Methods: We retrospectively studied our first 175 consecutive adult patients (mean age: 64±10.4 years; 113 males) who underwent primary mitral valve repair associated with any other cardiac procedures between January 1986 and December 1998. Risk factors influencing reoperations and late survival were plotted in a uni- and multivariate analyses. Results: Operative mortality was 3.4% (6 deaths, 0-22nd postoperative day (POD)). Late mortality was 9.1% (16 deaths, 3rd-125th POM). Reoperation was required in five patients. Kaplan-Meier actuarial analysis demonstrated a 96±1% 1-year survival, 88±3% 5-year survival and a 69±8% 10-year survival. Freedom from reoperations was 99% at 1 year after repair, 97±2% after 5 years and 88±6% after 10 years. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that residual NYHA class III and IV (p=0.001, RR 4.55, 95% CI: 1.85-14.29), poor preoperative ejection fraction (p=0.013, RR 1.09, 95% CI: 1.02-1.18), functional MR (p=0.018, RR 4.17, 95% CI: 1.32-16.67), and ischemic MR (p=0.049, RR 3.13, 95% CI: 1.01-10.0) were all independent predictors of late death. Persistent mitral regurgitation at seventh POD (p=0.005, RR 4.55, 95% CI: 1.56-20.0), age below 60 (p=0.012, RR 8.7, 95% CI: 2.44-37.8), and absence of prosthetic ring (p=0.034, RR 4.76, 95% CI: 1.79-33.3) were all independent risk factors for reoperation. Conclusions: Mitral valve repair provides excellent survival. However, long-term outcome can be negatively influenced by perioperative risk factors. Risk of reoperation is higher in younger patients with a residual mitral regurgitation and without ring annuloplast
Two types of bone necrosis in the middle triassic pistosaurus longaevus bones: The results of integrated studies
Avascular necrosis, diagnosed on the basis of either a specific pathological modification of the articular surfaces of bone or its radiologic appearance in vertebral centra, has been recognized in many Mesozoic marine reptiles as well as in present-day marine mammals. Its presence in the zoological and paleontologic record is usually associated with decompression syndrome, a disease that affects secondarily aquatic vertebrates that could dive. Bone necrosis can also be caused by infectious processes, but it differs in appearance from decompression syndrome-associated aseptic necrosis. Herein, we report evidence of septic necrosis in the proximal articular surface of the femur of a marine reptile, Pistosaurus longaevus, from the Middle Triassic of Poland and Germany. This is the oldest recognition of septic necrosis associated with septic arthritis in the fossil record so far, and the mineralogical composition of pathologically altered bone is described herein in detail. The occurrence of septic necrosis is contrasted with decompression syndrome-associated avascular necrosis, also described in Pistosaurus longaevus bone from Middle Triassic of Germany
Quantum Games and Quantum Strategies
We investigate the quantization of non-zero sum games. For the particular
case of the Prisoners' Dilemma we show that this game ceases to pose a dilemma
if quantum strategies are allowed for. We also construct a particular quantum
strategy which always gives reward if played against any classical strategy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, typographic sign error in the definition of the
operator J correcte
Groundwater N2O emission factors of nitrate-contaminated aquifers as derived from denitrification progress and N2O accumulation
We investigated the dynamics of denitrification and nitrous oxide (N2O) accumulation in 4 nitrate (NO3-) contaminated denitrifying sand and gravel aquifers of northern Germany (Fuhrberg, Sulingen, Thulsfelde and Gottingen) to quantify their potential N2O emission and to evaluate existing concepts of N2O emission factors. Excess N-2 - N-2 produced by denitrification - was determined by using the argon (Ar) concentration in groundwater as a natural inert tracer, assuming that this noble gas functions as a stable component and does not change during denitrification. Furthermore, initial NO3- concentrations (NO3- that enters the groundwater) were derived from excess N-2 and actual NO3- concentrations in groundwater in order to determine potential indirect N2O emissions as a function of the N input. Median concentrations of N2O and excess N-2 ranged from 3 to 89 mu g N L-1 and from 3 to 10 mg N L-1, respectively. Reaction progress (RP) of denitrification was determined as the ratio between products (N2O-N + excess N-2) and starting material (initial NO3- concentration) of the process, characterizing the different stages of denitrification. N2O concentrations were lowest at RP close to 0 and RP close to 1 but relatively high at a RP between 0.2 and 0.6. For the first time, we report groundwater N2O emission factors consisting of the ratio between N2O-N and initial NO3--N concentrations (EF1). In addition, we determined a groundwater emission factor (EF2) using a previous concept consisting of the ratio between N2O-N and actual NO3--N concentrations. Depending on RP, EF(1) resulted in smaller values compared to EF(2), demonstrating (i) the relevance of NO3- consumption and consequently (ii) the need to take initial NO3--N concentrations into account. In general, both evaluated emission factors were highly variable within and among the aquifers. The site medians ranged between 0.00043-0.00438 for EF(1) and 0.00092-0.01801 for EF(2), respectively. For the aquifers of Fuhrberg and Sulingen, we found EF(1) median values which are close to the 2006 IPCC default value of 0.0025. In contrast, we determined significant lower EF values for the aquifers of Thulsfelde and Gottingen. Summing the results up, our study supports the substantial downward revision of the IPCC default EF5-g from 0.015 (1997) to 0.0025 (2006).DF
Dependence of pp->pp pi0 near Threshold on the Spin of the Colliding Nucleons
A polarized internal atomic hydrogen target and a stored, polarized beam are
used to measure the spin-dependent total cross section Delta_sigma_T/sigma_tot,
as well as the polar integrals of the spin correlation coefficient combination
A_xx-A_yy, and the analyzing power A_y for pp-> pp pi0 at four bombarding
energies between 325 and 400 MeV. This experiment is made possible by the use
of a cooled beam in a storage ring. The polarization observables are used to
study the contribution from individual partial waves.Comment: 6 pages, 1 table, 4 figures, corrected equations 2 and
Multi-Player and Multi-Choice Quantum Game
We investigate a multi-player and multi-choice quantum game. We start from
two-player and two-choice game and the result is better than its classical
version. Then we extend it to N-player and N-choice cases. In the quantum
domain, we provide a strategy with which players can always avoid the worst
outcome. Also, by changing the value of the parameter of the initial state, the
probabilities for players to obtain the best payoff will be much higher that in
its classical version.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
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