title:
Experimental study of photon beam polarimeter based on nuclear e+e- pair
  production in an amorphous target

abstract:
  The experimental method of the linearly polarized photons polarimetry,using
incoherent e+e- pair production process has been investigated on the beam of
coherent bremsstrahlung (CB) photons in the energy range of 0.9-1.1 GeV at the
Yerevan synchrotron.


title:
Electron-atom ionization near the Bethe ridge: revision of plane wave
  first-order theories

abstract:
  We consider electron impact single ionization of an atom at large
energy-momentum transfer in the nearly Bethe-ridge kinematics. For evaluation
of the ionization amplitude, a plane wave Born series is employed. A
regularization procedure is utilized in circumventing typical divergence
problems associated with the higher-order Born terms. The regularized Born
series for the ionization amplitude is derived. On this basis, renormalized
analogs of the traditional plane wave Born and impulse approximations are
developed. These renormalized first-order models resemble the traditional plane
wave impulse approximation with a modified Gamow factor. Numerical results
using different approximations are presented and analyzed for the case of
electron-hydrogen ionization. The present theoretical consideration can be
important for absolute measurements.


title:
Readout Electronics Tests and Integration of the ATLAS Semiconductor
  Tracker

abstract:
  The SemiConductor Tracker (SCT) together with the Pixel detector and the
Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) form the central tracking system of the
ATLAS experiment at the LHC. It consists of single-sided microstrip silicon
sensors, which are read out via binary ASICs based on the DMILL technology, and
the data are transmitted via radiation-hard optical fibres. After an overview
of the SCT detector layout and readout system, the final-stage assembly of
large-scale structures and the integration with the TRT is presented. The focus
is on the electrical performance of the overall SCT detector system through the
different integration stages, including the detector control and data
acquisition system.


title: Dangerous human-made interference with climate: A GISS modelE study

abstract:
  We investigate the issue of "dangerous human-made interference with climate"
using simulations with GISS modelE driven by measured or estimated forcings for
1880-2003 and extended to 2100 for IPCC greenhouse gas scenarios as well as the
'alternative' scenario of Hansen and Sato. Identification of 'dangerous'
effects is partly subjective, but we find evidence that added global warming of
more than 1 degree C above the level in 2000 has effects that may be highly
disruptive. The alternative scenario, with peak added forcing ~1.5 W/m2 in
2100, keeps further global warming under 1 degree C if climate sensitivity is
\~3 degrees C or less for doubled CO2. We discuss three specific sub-global
topics: Arctic climate change, tropical storm intensification, and ice sheet
stability. Growth of non-CO2 forcings has slowed in recent years, but CO2
emissions are now surging well above the alternative scenario. Prompt actions
to slow CO2 emissions and decrease non-CO2 forcings are needed to achieve the
low forcing of the alternative scenario.


title: Gravity Control Propulsion: Towards a General Relativistic Approach

abstract:
  Evaluation of gravity control concepts should be examined with respect to
currently known physical theories. In this work we study the hypothetical
conversion of gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy using the
formalism of general relativity. We show that the energy involved in the
process greatly exceeds the Newtonian estimate, given the nature of general
relativity. We conclude that the impact of any gravity manipulation for
propulsion greatly depends fundamentally on its exact definition.


title:
On the action potential as a propagating density pulse and the role of
  anesthetics

abstract:
  The Hodgkin-Huxley model of nerve pulse propagation relies on ion currents
through specific resistors called ion channels. We discuss a number of
classical thermodynamic findings on nerves that are not contained in this
classical theory. Particularly striking is the finding of reversible heat
changes, thickness and phase changes of the membrane during the action
potential. Data on various nerves rather suggest that a reversible density
pulse accompanies the action potential of nerves. Here, we attempted to explain
these phenomena by propagating solitons that depend on the presence of
cooperative phase transitions in the nerve membrane. These transitions are,
however, strongly influenced by the presence of anesthetics. Therefore, the
thermodynamic theory of nerve pulses suggests a explanation for the famous
Meyer-Overton rule that states that the critical anesthetic dose is linearly
related to the solubility of the drug in the membranes.


title: A negative permeability material at red light

abstract:
  Experimental demonstration of a negative permeability due to near-field
coupling of periodic thin silver strips is presented. Two samples with
different strip thicknesses are fabricated; optical measurements of the samples
confirm our initial design projections by showing the real part of permeability
to be about -1 for the sample with thinner strips and -0.8 for the sample with
thicker strips at wavelengths of 770 nm and 720 nm.


title:
Calculation of energy levels and transition amplitudes for barium and
  radium

abstract:
  The radium atom is a promising system for studying parity and time invariance
violating weak interactions. However, available experimental spectroscopic data
for radium is insufficient for designing an optimal experimental setup. We
calculate the energy levels and transition amplitudes for radium states of
significant interest. Forty states corresponding to all possible configurations
consisting of the $7s$, $7p$ and $6d$ single-electron states as well as the
states of the $7s8s$, $7s8p$ and $7s7d$ configurations have been calculated.
The energies of ten of these states corresponding to the $6d^2$, $7s8s$,
$7p^2$, and $6d7p$ configurations are not known from experiment. Calculations
for barium are used to control the accuracy.


title:
Self-organization of the Sound Inventories: Analysis and Synthesis of
  the Occurrence and Co-occurrence Networks of Consonants

abstract:
  The sound inventories of the world's languages self-organize themselves
giving rise to similar cross-linguistic patterns. In this work we attempt to
capture this phenomenon of self-organization, which shapes the structure of the
consonant inventories, through a complex network approach. For this purpose we
define the occurrence and co-occurrence networks of consonants and
systematically study some of their important topological properties. A crucial
observation is that the occurrence as well as the co-occurrence of consonants
across languages follow a power law distribution. This property is arguably a
consequence of the principle of preferential attachment. In order to support
this argument we propose a synthesis model which reproduces the degree
distribution for the networks to a close approximation. We further observe that
the co-occurrence network of consonants show a high degree of clustering and
subsequently refine our synthesis model in order to incorporate this property.
Finally, we discuss how preferential attachment manifests itself through the
evolutionary nature of language.


title: How to Derive the Schrodinger Equation

abstract:
  We illustrate a simple derivation of the Schrodinger equation, which requires
only knowledge of the electromagnetic wave equation and the basics of
Einstein's special theory of relativity. We do this by extending the wave
equation for classical fields to photons, generalize to non-zero rest mass
particles, and simplify using approximations consistent with non-relativistic
particles.


title: Helium energy levels including $m \alpha^6$ corrections

abstract:
  The $m \alpha^6$ correction to energy is expressed in terms of an effective
Hamiltonian $H^{(6)}$ for an arbitrary state of helium. Numerical calculations
are performed for $n=2$ levels, and the previous result for the $2^3P$ centroid
is corrected. While the resulting theoretical predictions for the ionization
energy are in moderate agreement with experimental values for $2^3S_1$, $2^3P$,
and $2^1S_0$ states, they are in significant disagreement for the singlet state
$2^1P_1$.


title:
Dissipative light field as a way to create strongly localized structures
  for atom lithography

abstract:
  Generally, the conditions for deep sub-Doppler laser cooling do not match the
conditions for the strong atomic localization that takes a place in deeper
optical potential and, in consequence, leads to larger temperature. Moreover,
for a given detuning in a deep optical potential the secular approximation
which is usually used for quantum description of laser cooling becomes no more
valid. Here we perform an analysis of atomic localization in optical potential
based on a full quantum approach for atomic density matrix. We also show that
the laser cooling in a deep far-off detuned optical potential, created by a
light field with a polarization gradient, can be used as an alternative method
for forming high contrast spatially localized structures of atoms for the
purposes of atom lithography and atomic nanofabrication. Finally, we perform an
analysis of the possible limits for the width and the contrast of localized
atomic structures that can in principle be reached by this type of the light
mask.


title:
Temporal behavior of two-wave-mixing in photorefractive InP:Fe versus
  temperature

abstract:
  The temporal response of two-wave-mixing in photorefractive InP:Fe under a dc
electric field at different temperatures has been studied. In particular, the
temperature dependence of the characteristic time constant has been studied
both theoretically and experimentally, showing a strongly decreasing time
constant with increasing temperature.


title: Emergent Opinion Dynamics on Endogenous Networks

abstract:
  In recent years networks have gained unprecedented attention in studying a
broad range of topics, among them in complex systems research. In particular,
multi-agent systems have seen an increased recognition of the importance of the
interaction topology. It is now widely recognized that emergent phenomena can
be highly sensitive to the structure of the interaction network connecting the
system's components, and there is a growing body of abstract network classes,
whose contributions to emergent dynamics are well-understood. However, much
less understanding have yet been gained about the effects of network dynamics,
especially in cases when the emergent phenomena feeds back to and changes the
underlying network topology.
  Our work starts with the application of the network approach to discrete
choice analysis, a standard method in econometric estimation, where the classic
approach is grounded in individual choice and lacks social network influences.
In this paper, we extend our earlier results by considering the endogenous
dynamics of social networks. In particular, we study a model where the behavior
adopted by the agents feeds back to the underlying network structure, and
report results obtained by computational multi-agent based simulations


title:
Hot ion generation from nanostructured surfaces under intense,
  femtosecond irradiation

abstract:
  We present the effect of a nanostructured surface on the emission of ions and
electrons from intense (5-36 Petwatt per sq.cm) femtosecond laser produced
plasmas. Electrons from optically polished copper targets coated with copper
nanoparticles (CuNP) are observed to be hotter than those from uncoated
polished targets. A nearly two-fold enhancement is observed for ions in the
range 14-74 keV, while ion yield decreases by a factor of 2 in the 74-2000 keV
range. The total ion yields measured using a large area Faraday cup are more
from CuNP targets than those from polished Cu targets, indicating increased ion
beam divergence due to surface modulations.


title: A New Basis for Interpretation of the Planck Length

abstract:
  A critical length has recently been identified that appears to provide a
fundamental limit distinguishing quantum behavior from classical behavior.
Because of the unique association between critical length and mass, it appears
that we can correlate the mass of an object with the size over which its
quantum behavior is manifested. When the expression for the critical length is
set equal to the Planck length, we find an associated mass value that in
magnitude corresponds to an approximation of the mass of the visible universe.
This would appear to suggest that the quantum behavior associated with the
universe as a whole would be manifested at distances comparable to or smaller
than the Planck length. Accordingly, it would appear that all position
measurements would be subject to uncertainties at the limit of the Planck
length, so that the Planck length sets a fundamental limit on position
determination.


title:
Study of the ATLAS central calorimeters response to pions in 2004
  combined test beam

abstract:
  During summer 2004, a testbeam for the ATLAS experiment was performed at
CERN. A full slice of the ATLAS detector was tested with the final version of
the acquisition electronics. In the talk presented at Calor06 conference, the
ATLAS calorimeters response to high and low energy pions was presented.


title:
Stimulated globular scattering and photonic flame effect: new nonlinear
  optics phenomena

abstract:
  Novel nonlinear optical phenomena - photonic flame effect (PFE) and
stimulated globular scattering (SGS) are discussed.PFE consisted in the
appearance of the few seconds duration emission in blue-green spectral range
under 20 ns ruby laser pulse excitation and simultaneous excitation of several
spatially separated synthetic opal crystalls situated on the Cu plate. SGS was
observed both in forward and backward directions. Spectral and energetical SGS
characteristics were measured.


title: Two-Frequency Radiative Transfer and Asymptotic Solution

abstract:
  Two-frequency radiative transfer (2f-RT) theory is developed for classical
waves in random media. Depending on the ratio of the wavelength to the scale of
medium fluctuation 2f-RT equation is either a Boltzmann-like integral equation
with a complex-valued kernel or a Fokker-Planck-like differential equation with
complex-valued coefficients in the phase space. The 2f-RT equation is used to
estimate three physical parameters: the spatial spread, the coherence length
and the coherence bandwidth (Thouless frequency). A closed form solution is
given for the boundary layer behavior of geometrical radiative transfer and
shows highly nontrivial dependence of mutual coherence on the spatial
displacement and frequency difference. It is shown that the paraxial form of
2f-RT arises naturally in anisotropic media which fluctuate slowly in the
longitudinal direction.


title:
Cold Atomic Collisions: Coherent Control of Penning and Associative
  Ionization

abstract:
  Coherent Control techniques are computationally applied to cold (1mK < T < 1
K) and ultracold (T < 1 microK) Ne*(3s,3P2) + Ar(1S0) collisions. We show that
by using various initial superpositions of the Ne*(3s,3P2) M = {-2,-1,0,1,2}
Zeeman sub-levels it is possible to reduce the Penning Ionization (PI) and
Associative Ionization (AI) cross sections by as much as four orders of
magnitude. It is also possible to drastically change the ratio of these two
processes. The results are based on combining, within the "Rotating Atom
Approximation", empirical and ab-initio ionization-widths.


title: Efficient Monte Carlo Calculations of the One-Body Density

abstract:
  An alternative Monte Carlo estimator for the one-body density rho(r) is
presented. This estimator has a simple form and can be readily used in any type
of Monte Carlo simulation. Comparisons with the usual regularization of the
delta-function on a grid show that the statistical errors are greatly reduced.
Furthermore, our expression allows accurate calculations of the density at any
point in space, even in the regions never visited during the Monte Carlo
simulation. The method is illustrated with the computation of accurate
Variational Monte Carlo electronic densities for the Helium atom (1D curve) and
for the water dimer (3D grid containing up to 51x51x51=132651 points).


title:
From Theoretical Foundation to Invaluable Research Tool: Modern Hybrid
  Simulations

abstract:
  In many plasmas, in particular in space science, protons govern much of the
essential physics. Minority ions, suprathermal tails, and electrons at times
account for additional details. However, electron effects usually appear on
much smaller spatial and temporal scales. For more than two decades, scientists
have refined computational models that concentrate on the dominating and
larger-scale ion kinetic physics, while treating the much lighter electrons as
a charge-neutralizing fluid. These physics-based, algorithmic model
descriptions are called hybrid codes, which have established an invaluable
position for themselves - clearly distinct from MHD calculations, but simpler
and much more efficient than full-particle simulations. Here, the foundation
and numerical details of hybrid codes are reviewed, and differences between
existing algorithms are elucidated.


title: Simulation of Multicellular Tumor Spheroids Growth Dynamics

abstract:
  The inverse geometric approach to the modeling of the growth of circular
objects revealing required features, such as the velocity of the growth and
fractal behavior of their contours, is presented. It enables to reproduce some
of the recent findings in morphometry of tumors with the possible implications
for cancer research. The technique is based on cellular automata paradigm with
the transition rules selected by optimization procedure performed by the
genetic algorithms.


title:
Singular-Turbulent Structure Formation in the Universe and the Essence
  of Dark Matter I. Unified model for dark matter and quintessence

abstract:
  Based on superfluid behavior of a (boson) dark matter as the light itself, a
unified model for dark matter and quintessence is proposed. Inspired by (O'Dell
et al. 2000) which in an exciting study showed that particular configurations
of intense off-resonant laser beams (simulate the Bose-Einstein condensate) can
give rise to an attractive 1/r interatomic potential, I infer electromagnetic
origin of inertia and gravity. Time varying dark components result in time
varying electromagnetic fine structure constant (alpha) or the quantities given
in its definition (even an invariant alpha would not exclude the possibility
that these values might be changing in ratio to one another), in either case
variable speed of light (VSL) with dc/dt < 0. According to (Wetterich 2003a) a
bound R = delta_alpha(z = 0.13)/delta_alpha(z = 2) < 0.02 strongly favors
quintessence with a time varying equation of state w = p/rho, where the value
of (1+w) at present is substantially smaller than for z = 2 and equivalently
compressibility is increased in the medium and this process has significant
influences on the process of structure formation. These models typically
require quintessence coupling to a photon which would require large coupling
between non-baryonic dark matter and the scalar field therefore consistent with
our model, quintessence may couple to both non-baryonic dark matter and
radiation. Wetterich (2003b) observe that Omega_quint does not affect the time
evolution of the fundamental couplings and alpha depends only on the equation
of state w and this fascinating result further support the common essence of
light and boson dark matter.


title:
Singular-Turbulent Structure Formation in the Universe and the Essence
  of Dark Matter II. Large-scale structure formation scenario

abstract:
  Based on the proposed unifying theory of dark matter and quintessence, a
novel nonlinear structure formation scenario is suggested. This top-down
singular and turbulent scenario results in a bottom-up hierarchical clustering
and is consistent with various challenging cosmological observations like the
existence of massive galaxies and galaxy clusters at very large redshifts (z >
5). Strong non-linearity is formed in the very early stage, therefore no extra
biasing process is needed.


title: Local-time effect on small space-time scale

abstract:
  The paper presents an investigation of local-time effect - one of the
manifestations of macroscopic fluctuations phenomena. Was shown the existence
of the named effect for longitudinal distance between locations of measurements
up to 500 meters. Also a structure of intervals distribution in neighborhood of
local-time peak was studied and splitting of the peak was found out. Obtained
results lead to conclusion about sharp anisotropy of space-time.


title: Immunization of Susceptible-Infected Model on Scale-Free networks

abstract:
  In this paper, we investigate two major immunization strategies, random
immunization and targeted immunization, of the susceptible-infected (SI) Model
on the Barab\'{a}si-Albert (BA) networks. For the heterogenous structure, the
random strategy is quite ineffective if the vaccinated proportion is quite
small, while the targeted one which prefers to vaccinate the individuals with
the largest degree can sharply depress the epidemic spreading even only a small
amount of population are vaccinated. The analytical solution is also
obtained,which can capture the trend of velocity change versus the amount of
vaccinated population.


title: Theory of the collapsing axisymmetric cavity

abstract:
  We investigate the collapse of an axisymmetric cavity or bubble inside a
fluid of small viscosity, like water. Any effects of the gas inside the cavity
as well as of the fluid viscosity are neglected. Using a slender-body
description, we show that the minimum radius of the cavity scales like $h_0
\propto t'^{\alpha}$, where $t'$ is the time from collapse. The exponent
$\alpha$ very slowly approaches a universal value according to $\alpha=1/2 +
1/(4\sqrt{-\ln(t')})$. Thus, as observed in a number of recent experiments, the
scaling can easily be interpreted as evidence of a single non-trivial scaling
exponent. Our predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations.


title: Classical Propagation of Light in Spatio-Temporal Periodic Media

abstract:
  We analyze the propagation of electromagnetic waves in media where the
dielectric constants undergo rapid temporal periodic modulation. Both spatially
homogeneous and periodic media are studied. Fast periodic temporal modulation
of the dielectric constant of a homogeneous medium leads to existence of
photonic band-gap like phenomena. In the presence of both spatial and tem-
poral periodicity the electromagnetic spectrum is described in a
four-dimensional cube, defining an effective Brillouin zone. In the case of
incommensurability between space and time periodicities, completely dispersed
point spectra exist.


title: Modelling the growth of a polymer micro-tip on an optical fiber end

abstract:
  Manufacturing end-of-fiber optical components able to realize optical
functions ranging from a simple lens to more complex functions such as mode
selective components is a decisive but \emph{a priori} complex task owing to
the fiber core dimensions. Effective low cost methods allowing to grow polymer
components by free-radical photopolymerization using the light coming out of
the fiber have recently been reported. A novel phenomenological model of the
photopolymerization process underlying is here given and used to simulate the
polymer component growth in a three dimensional time-resolved manner. The
simulations results are thus used to understand and optimize the component
growth conditions, focusing particularly on the role of oxygen either present
in the atmosphere or dissolved in the solution.


title:
Compatibility of the theory of special relativity with an absolute
  reference frame with a longitudinal Doppler shift

abstract:
  We show the compatibility of the theory of special relativity with the
absolute reference frame with a longitudinal Doppler shift. Using two absolute
velocities vA and vS, the relative velocity u is derived. Thereafter the
Doppler frequency is derived using the relative velocity u. We also show the
method for detecting the absolute reference frame. The representation of the
theory of special relativity using the absolute reference frame appears more
intuitive than an orthodox interpretation.


title: Reciprocal transmittances and reflectances: An elementary proof

abstract:
  We present an elementary proof concerning reciprocal transmittances and
reflectances. The proof is direct, simple, and valid for the diverse objects
that can be absorptive and induce diffraction and scattering, as long as the
objects respond linearly and locally to electromagnetic waves. The proof
enables students who understand the basics of classical electromagnetics to
grasp the physical basis of reciprocal optical responses. In addition, we show
an example to demonstrate reciprocal response numerically and experimentally.


title:
Dynamic detection of a single bacterium: nonlinear rotation rate shifts
  of driven magnetic microsphere stages

abstract:
  We report on a new technique which was used to detect single Escherichia coli
that is based on the changes in the nonlinear rotation of a magnetic
microsphere driven by an external magnetic field. The presence of one
Escherichia Coli bacterium on the surface of a 2.0 micron magnetic microsphere
caused an easily measurable change in the drag of the system and, therefore, in
the nonlinear rotation rate. The straight-forward measurement uses standard
microscopy techniques and the observed average shift in the nonlinear rotation
rate changed by a factor of ~3.8.


title:
The Impact of BeamCal Performance at Different ILC Beam Parameters and
  Crossing Angles on \tilde{tau} searches

abstract:
  The ILC accelerator parameters and detector concepts are still under
discussion in the world-wide community. As will be shown, the performance of
the BeamCal, the calorimeter in the very forward area of the ILC detector, is
very sensitive to the beam parameter and crossing angle choices. We propose
here BeamCal designs for a small (0 or 2 mrad) and large (20 mrad) crossing
angles and report about the veto performance study done. As illustration, the
influence of several proposed beam parameter sets and crossing-angles on the
signal to background ratio in the stau search is estimated for a particular
realization of the super-symmetric model.


title:
Classifying the expansion kinetics and critical surface dynamics of
  growing cell populations

abstract:
  Based on a cellular automaton model the growth kinetics and the critical
surface dynamics of cell monolayers is systematically studied by variation of
the cell migration activity, the size of the proliferation zone and the cell
cycle time distribution over wide ranges. The model design avoids lattice
artifacts and ensures high performance. The monolayer expansion velocity
derived from our simulations can be interpreted as a generalization of the
velocity relationship for a traveling front in the
Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovskii-Piskounov (FKPP) equation that is frequently used
to model tumor growth phenomena by continuum models. The critical surface
dynamics corresponds to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class for
all parameters and model variations studied. While the velocity agrees
quantitatively with experimental observations by Bru et al, the critical
surface dynamics is in contrast to their interpretation as generic
molecular-beam-epitaxy-like growth.


title: The thermodynamics of general anesthesia

abstract:
  It is known that the action of general anesthetics is proportional to their
partition coefficient in lipid membranes (Meyer-Overton rule). This solubility
is, however, directly related to the depression of the temperature of the
melting transition found close to body temperature in biomembranes. We propose
a thermodynamic extension of the Meyer-Overton rule which is based on free
energy changes in the system and thus automatically incorporates the effects of
melting point depression. This model provides a quantitative explanation of the
pressure reversal of anesthesia. Further, it explains why inflammation and the
addition of divalent cations reduce the effectiveness of anesthesia.


title:
Harmonium in intense laser fields: excitation, absorption, and
  transparency

abstract:
  It is known that the dynamics of two (Coulomb-interacting) nonrelativistic
electrons confined by a parabolic potential and driven by a classical, intense
laser field (in dipole approximation) is exactly soluble. We calculate the
time-dependent population of the harmonic oscillator states and the energy
absorbed from the laser. It turns out that the key entity on which all
observables sensitively depends is the modulus square of the
Fourier-transformed vector potential of the laser field, evaluated at the
harmonic oscillator frequency. The system is transparent to laser field
configurations for which this entity vanishes. We discuss the Poisson
statistics behavior of the transition probabilities and analyze the conditions
for the complete survival and full depletion of the initial state.


title: The United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative: The TRIPOD concept

abstract:
  Since 1990, the United Nations is annually holding a workshop on basic space
science for the benefit of the worldwide development of astronomy. Additional
to the scientific benefits of the workshops and the strengthening of
international cooperation, the workshops lead to the establishment of
astronomical telescope facilities through the Official Development Assistance
(ODA) of Japan. Teaching material, hands-on astrophysics material, and variable
star observing programmes had been developed for the operation of such
astronomical telescope facilities in an university environment. This approach
to astronomical telescope facility, observing programme, and teaching astronomy
has become known as the basic space science TRIPOD concept. Currently, a
similar TRIPOD concept is being developed for the International Heliophysical
Year 2007, consisting of an instrument array, data taking and analysis, and
teaching space science.


title: Coarse-grained strain dynamics and backwards/forwards dispersion

abstract:
  A Particle Tracking Velocimetry experiment has been performed in a turbulent
flow at intermediate Reynolds number. We present experimentally obtained
stretching rates for particle pairs in the inertial range. When compensated by
a characteristic time scale for coarse-grained strain we observe constant
stretching. This indicates that the process of material line stretching taking
place in the viscous subrange has its counterpart in the inertial subrange. We
investigate both forwards and backwards dispersion. We find a faster backwards
stretching and relate it to the problem of relative dispersion and its time
asymmetry.


title: Analytical Approach to Continuous and Intermittent Bottleneck Flows

abstract:
  We propose a many-particle-inspired theory for granular outflows from a
hopper and for the escape dynamics through a bottleneck based on a continuity
equation in polar coordinates. If the inflow is below the maximum outflow, we
find an asymptotic stationary solution. If the inflow is above this value, we
observe queue formation, which can be described by a shock wave equation. We
also address the experimental observation of intermittent outflows, taking into
account the lack of space in the merging zone by a minimum function and
coordination problems by a stochastic variable. This results in avalanches of
different sizes even if friction, force networks, inelastic collapse, or
delay-induced stop-and-go waves are not assumed. Our intermittent flows result
from a random alternation between particle propagation and gap propagation.
Erratic flows in congested merging zones of vehicle traffic may be explained in
a similar way.


title: Quantum electrodynamics of heavy ions and atoms

abstract:
  The present status of quantum electrodynamics (QED) theory of heavy
few-electron ions is reviewed. The theoretical results are compared with
available experimental data. A special attention is focused on tests of QED at
strong fields and on determination of the fundamental constants. A recent
progress on calculations of the QED corrections to the parity nonconserving
6s-7s transition amplitude in neutral Cs is also discussed.


title: High Rate Applications of Micromegas and Prospects

abstract:
  Micromegas is presently in use by many experiments providing enhanced
performance when used in high particle environment. Compared with other
solid-state detectors or conventional gas counters Micromegas is robust and
radiation hard. Recent improvements in the design and fabrication of low-cost
Micromegas have led to a significant step for readout of large volume
detectors. A novel Cherenkov counter with Micromegas photodetector readout is
proposed for on-line particle identification and trigger at high rates.


title:
How Hilbert has found the Einstein equations before Einstein and
  forgeries of Hilbert's page proofs

abstract:
  A succinct chronology is given around Nov 1915, when the explicit field
equations of General Relativity have been found. Evidence, unearthed by
D.Wuensch, that a decisive document of Hilbert has been mutilated in recent
years with the intention to distort the historical truth is reviewed and
discussed. The procedure how Hilbert has found before Einstein the correct
equations "easily without calculation" by invariant-theoretical arguments is
identified for the first time. However, Hilbert has based his derivation on an
incorrect or at least not yet formally proved invariant theoretical fact.


title: Lagrangian one-particle velocity statistics in a turbulent flow

abstract:
  We present Lagrangian one-particle statistics from the Risoe PTV experiment
of a turbulent flow. We estimate the Lagrangian Kolmogorov constant $C_0$ and
find that it is affected by the large scale inhomogeneities of the flow. The
pdf of temporal velocity increments are highly non-Gaussian for small times
which we interpret as a consequence of intermittency. Using Extended
Self-Similarity we manage to quantify the intermittency and find that the
deviations from Kolmogorov 1941 similarity scaling is larger in the Lagrangian
framework than in the Eulerian. Through the multifractal model we calculate the
multifractal dimension spectrum.


title: Forward Proton Detectors at High Luminosity at the LHC

abstract:
  We discuss the special challenges posed by measuring diffractive and forward
physics at the LHC at high luminosity and the solutions proposed by the FP420
R&D collaboration.


title:
Energy- and flux-budget (EFB) turbulence closure model for the stably
  stratified flows. Part I: Steady-state, homogeneous regimes

abstract:
  We propose a new turbulence closure model based on the budget equations for
the key second moments: turbulent kinetic and potential energies: TKE and TPE
(comprising the turbulent total energy: TTE = TKE + TPE) and vertical turbulent
fluxes of momentum and buoyancy (proportional to potential temperature).
Besides the concept of TTE, we take into account the non-gradient correction to
the traditional buoyancy flux formulation. The proposed model grants the
existence of turbulence at any gradient Richardson number, Ri. Instead of its
critical value separating - as usually assumed - the turbulent and the laminar
regimes, it reveals a transition interval, 0.1< Ri <1, which separates two
regimes of essentially different nature but both turbulent: strong turbulence
at Ri<<1; and weak turbulence, capable of transporting momentum but much less
efficient in transporting heat, at Ri>1. Predictions from this model are
consistent with available data from atmospheric and lab experiments, direct
numerical simulation (DNS) and large-eddy simulation (LES).

categories: physics.ao-ph astro-ph.EP nlin.CD physics.geo-ph


title: Quadratic phase matching in slot waveguides

abstract:
  We analyze phase matching with reference to frequency doubling in nanosized
quadratic waveguides encompassing form birefringence and supporting
cross-polarized fundamental and second-harmonic modes. In an AlGaAs rod with an
air void, we show that phase-matched second-harmonic generation could be
achieved in a wide spectral range employing state-of-the-art nanotechnology.


title: On the equation of state in the hypertoroidal Universe

abstract: The author has withdrawn this submission.


title:
Persistence in Random Bond Ising Models of a Socio-Econo Dynamics in
  High Dimensions

abstract:
  We study the persistence phenomenon in a socio-econo dynamics model using
computer simulations at a finite temperature on hypercubic lattices in
dimensions up to 5. The model includes a ` social\rq local field which contains
the magnetization at time $t$. The nearest neighbour quenched interactions are
drawn from a binary distribution which is a function of the bond concentration,
$p$. The decay of the persistence probability in the model depends on both the
spatial dimension and $p$. We find no evidence of ` blocking\rq in this model.
We also discuss the implications of our results for applications in the social
and economic fields.


title:
Permeability, compressibility, and friction coefficient measurements
  under confining pressure and strain, Leg 190, Nankai Trough

abstract:
  Permeability measured on three samples in a triaxial cell under effective
confining pressure from 0.2 to 2.5 MPa ranges from 10E-18 to 10E-19m2. Overall,
results indicate that permeability decreases with effective confining pressure
up to 1.5 MPa; however, measurements at low effec-tive pressure are too
dispersed to yield a precise general relationship between permeability and
pressure. When the effective pressure is increased from 1.5 to 2.5 MPa,
permeability is roughly constant (~1-4 x 10E-19 m2). Samples deformed in the
triaxial cell developed slickenlined fractures, and permeability measurements
were performed before and after failure. A permeability increase is observed
when the sample fails under low effective confining pressure (0.2 MPa), but not
under effective pressure corresponding to the overburden stress. Under
isotropic stress conditions, permeability decrease related to fracture closure
occurs at a relatively high effective pressure of ~1.5 MPa. Coefficients of
friction on the fractures formed in the triaxial cell are ~0.4.


title: Downside Risk analysis applied to Hedge Funds universe

abstract:
  Hedge Funds are considered as one of the portfolio management sectors which
shows a fastest growing for the past decade. An optimal Hedge Fund management
requires an appropriate risk metrics. The classic CAPM theory and its Ratio
Sharpe fail to capture some crucial aspects due to the strong non-Gaussian
character of Hedge Funds statistics. A possible way out to this problem while
keeping the CAPM simplicity is the so-called Downside Risk analysis. One
important benefit lies in distinguishing between good and bad returns, that is:
returns greater or lower than investor's goal. We revisit most popular Downside
Risk indicators and provide new analytical results on them. We compute these
measures by taking the Credit Suisse/Tremont Investable Hedge Fund Index Data
and with the Gaussian case as a benchmark. In this way an unusual transversal
lecture of the existing Downside Risk measures is provided.


title:
Applications of the Flexural Impulse Response Functions in the Time
  Domain

abstract:
  This work addresses the response functions for infinite beams and plates with
a force excitation at the origin of the coordinate system and its application
to time reversal and time frequency analysis. The response function for
Euler-Bernoulli beams is derived and for plates revisited. Interpretation
concerning energy conservation and mobility are given. An possible alternative
method to measure the coupling loss factors in SEA is sketched. \\
  The impulse response of a finite beam is measured in an experiment and
compared with that predicted theoretically. The experimental data before the
first reflection of the pulse showed good agreement with the theory. The
response function is used to simulate a time reversed pulse. This numerical
simulation is verified with an experiment.


title:
Quantum Spectra of Hydrogen Atoms in Various Magnetic Fields with the
  Closed Orbit Theory

abstract:
  The quantum spectra of hydrogen atoms in various magnetic fields have been
calculated with the closed orbit theory. The magnitude of the magnetic field
decreases from 5.96 T to 0.56T with a step of 0.6T. We demonstrate
schematically that the closed orbits disappear with the decrease of the
magnitude of the magnetic field when the corresponding finite resolution of
experiment is fixed. This may give us a good way to control the shape and the
number of the closed orbits in the system, and thus to control where a peak
should exist in the Fourier transformation of the quantum spectra.


title: Non-Stationary Covariance Matrices And Noise

abstract:
  The exact meaning of the noise spectrum of eigenvalues of the covariance
matrix is discussed. In order to better understand the possible phenomena
behind the observed noise, the spectrum of eigenvalues of the covariance matrix
is studied under a model where most of the true eigenvalues are zero and the
parameters are non-stationary. The results are compared with real observation
of Brazilian assets, suggesting that, although the non-stationarity seems to be
an important aspect of the problem, partially explaining some of the
eigenvalues as well as part of the kurtosis of the assets, it can not, by
itself, provide all the corrections needed to make the proposed model fit the
data perfectly.


title: Cavitation Bubble Dynamics inside Liquid Drops in Microgravity

abstract:
  We studied spark-generated cavitation bubbles inside water drops produced in
microgravity. High-speed visualizations disclosed unique effects of the
spherical and nearly isolated liquid volume. In particular, (1) toroidally
collapsing bubbles generate two liquid jets escaping from the drop, and the
"splash jet" discloses a remarkable broadening. (2) Shockwaves induce a strong
form of secondary cavitation due to the particular shockwave confinement. This
feature offers a novel way to estimate integral shockwave energies in isolated
volumes. (3) Bubble lifetimes in drops are shorter than in extended volumes in
remarkable agreement with herein derived corrective terms for the
Rayleigh-Plesset equation.


title: 3D statistical facial reconstruction

abstract:
  The aim of craniofacial reconstruction is to produce a likeness of a face
from the skull. Few works in computerized assisted facial reconstruction have
been done in the past, due to poor machine performances and data availability,
and major works are manually reconstructions. In this paper, we present an
approach to build 3D statistical models of the skull and the face with soft
tissues from the skull of one individual. Results on real data are presented
and seem promising.


title:
The Internal and External Problems of String Theory - A Philosophical
  View

abstract:
  String theory is at the moment the only advanced approach to a unification of
all interactions, including gravity. But, in spite of the more than thirty
years of its existence, it does not make any empirically testable predictions,
and it is completely unknown which physically interpretable principles could
form the basis of string theory. At the moment, "string theory" is no theory at
all, but rather a labyrinthic structure of mathematical procedures and
intuitions. The only motivations for string theory consist in the mutual
incompatibility of the standard model of quantum field theory and of general
relativity as well as in the metaphysics of the unification program of physics,
aimed at a final unified theory of all interactions, including gravity. The
article gives a perspective on the problems leading to and resulting from this
situation.


title:
Pr\'{e}sentation d'une m\'{e}thodologie d'\'{e}valuation de la
  faisabilit\'{e} de la substitution sensorielle par \'{e}lectrostimulation
  linguale pour la pr\'{e}vention des escarres chez le bl\'{e}ss\'{e}
  m\'{e}dullaire parapl\'{e}gique

abstract:
  Pressure ulcers are recognized as a major health issue in individuals with
spinal cord injuries and new approaches to prevent this pathology are
necessary. An innovative health strategy is being developed through the use of
computer and sensory substitution via the tongue in order to compensate for the
sensory loss in the buttock area for individuals with paraplegia. This sensory
compensation will enable individuals with spinal cord injuries to be aware of a
localized excess of pressure at the skin/seat interface and, consequently, will
enable them to prevent the formation of pressure ulcers by relieving the
cutaneous area of suffering. This work reports an initial evaluation of this
approach and the feasibility of creating an adapted behavior, with a change in
pressure as a response to electro-stimulated information on the tongue.


title:
Modeling the production of VCV sequences via the inversion of a
  biomechanical model of the tongue

abstract:
  A control model of the production of VCV sequences is presented, which
consists in three main parts: a static forward model of the relations between
motor commands and acoustic properties; the specification of targets in the
perceptual space; a planning procedure based on optimization principles.
Examples of simulations generated with this model illustrate how it can be used
to assess theories and models of coarticulation in speech.


title:
A non-invasive device to measure mechanical interaction between tongue,
  palate and teeth during speech production

abstract:
  This paper describes an original experimental procedure to measure the
mechanical interaction between the tongue and teeth and palate during speech
production. It consists in using edentulous people as subjects and to insert
pressure sensors in the structure of their complete dental prosthesis. Hence,
there is no perturbation of the vocal tract cavity due to the sensors
themselves. Several duplicates are used with transducers situated at different
locations of the complete denture according to palatography's results, in order
to carefully analyze the production of specific sounds such as stop
consonants.. It is also possible to measure the contact pressure at different
locations on the palate for the same sound.


title: Negative reflections of electromagnetic waves in chiral media

abstract:
  We investigate the reflection properties of electromagnetic/optical waves in
isotropic chiral media. When the chiral parameter is strong enough, we show
that an unusual \emph{negative reflection} occurs at the interface of the
chiral medium and a perfectly conducting plane, where the incident wave and one
of reflected eigenwaves lie in the same side of the boundary normal. Using such
a property, we further demonstrate that such a conducting plane can be used for
focusing in the strong chiral medium. The related equations under paraxial
optics approximation are deduced. In a special case of chiral medium, the
chiral nihility, one of the bi-reflections disappears and only single reflected
eigenwave exists, which goes exactly opposite to the incident wave. Hence the
incident and reflected electric fields will cancel each other to yield a zero
total electric field. In another word, any electromagnetic waves entering the
chiral nihility with perfectly conducting plane will disappear.


title:
Multimodal registration of the face for computer-aided maxillofacial
  surgery

abstract:
  This paper introduces a multimodal elastic registration algorithm applied to
match a generic Finite Element model of the face to several patients
morphologies. The method is automatic and appears to be accurate and robust.
The computing time is compatible with clinical practice constraints.


title:
A stiffness sensor to help in the diagnosis and the surgery of orbital
  pathologies

abstract:
  Proptosis is characterized by a protrusion of the eyeball due to an increase
of the orbital tissue volume. To recover a normal eyeball positioning, the most
frequent surgical technique (BROD technique) consists in the osteotomy of
orbital walls combined with a loading on the eyeball to initiate tissue
decompression. In this paper, a stiffness sensor device is proposed to (1)
provide to the surgeon pre, intra and post-operative data concerning the
stiffness of the intra-orbital soft tissues, and (2) provide constitutive
parameters to the Finite Element model of the intra-orbital tissues already
developed by the authors and used to predict consequences orbital surgery.


title:
Computer-aided planning for zygomatic bone reconstruction in
  maxillofacial traumatology

abstract:
  An optimal planning procedure has been proposed to define the target position
of the zygomatic bone following a fracture of the mid-face skeleton. The
protocol has been successfully tested on healthy subjects, and ensures the
global symmetry of the face could be obtained after the reconstruction surgery.
Now that the planning procedure is available, the next step of this project
will be to develop an intra-operative guiding system to help the surgeon to
follow the planning. This procedure will mainly rely on the intra-operative
registration of the zygomatic bone fragment, and the design of specific
surgical ancillaries for cranio-maxillofacial surgery.


title: Control of Surgical Gesture under Lingual Electro-Tactile Stimulation

abstract:
  Performing minimal-invasive surgical punctures require guiding a needle
toward an intracorporeal clinically-defined target. As this technique does not
involve cutting the body open, a visualization system is employed to provide
the surgeon with indirect visual spatial information about the intracorporeal
positions of the tool. One may consider that such systems reduce the ergonomics
of the situation as they generate a decorrelation between the actual movement
of the needle and the displayed information about this movement. The present
study aims at assessing the guidance of an intracorporeal puncture under a
lingual electrotactile sensory substitution device - the Tongue Display Unit
(TDU) - with respect to the performance evidenced under a computer-rendered
visualization system. The TDU device provides information about the deviation
of the needle movement with regard to a pre-planned "optimal" trajectory.
Experimental results show that - (1) the stimulations furnished by the TDU are
efficient enough to guide accurately one's puncture, - and (2) that previous
training using the visualization system does not improve performances obtained
under subsequent TDU guidance. Finally, results are discussed in terms of
efficiency and usability of the TDU in the context of guiding
minimally-invasive surgical gesture.


title:
Optimizing the Use of an Artificial Tongue-Placed Tactile Biofeedback
  for Improving Ankle Joint Position Sense in Humans

abstract:
  The performance of an artificial tongue-placed tactile biofeedback device for
improving ankle joint position sense was assessed in 12 young healthy adults
using an active matching task. The underlying principle of this system consists
of supplying individuals with supplementary information about the position of
the matching ankle relative to the reference ankle position through a
tongue-placed tactile output device generating electrotactile stimulation on a
36-point (6 X 6) matrix held against the surface of the tongue dorsum.
Precisely, (1) no electrodes were activated when both ankles were in a similar
angular position within a predetermined "angular dead zone" (ADZ); (2) 12
electrodes (2 X 6) of the anterior and posterior zones of the matrix were
activated (corresponding to the stimulation of the front and rear portion of
the tongue) when the matching ankle was in a too plantarflexed and dorsiflexed
position relative to the reference ankle, respectively. Two ADZ values of 0.5
degrees and 1.5 degrees were evaluated. Results showed (1) more accurate and
more consistent matching performances with than without biofeedback and (2)
more accurate and more consistent ankle joint matching performances when using
the biofeedback device with the smaller ADZ value


title: Magnetic field with cylindrical symmetry

abstract:
  This short article contains the derivation of a general formula for the
magnetostatic field in the neighbourhood of an axis of symmetry.


title:
Automatic finite elements mesh generation from planar contours of the
  brain: an image driven 'blobby' approach

abstract:
  In this paper, we address the problem of automatic mesh generation for finite
elements modeling of anatomical organs for which a volumetric data set is
available. In the first step a set of characteristic outlines of the organ is
defined manually or automatically within the volume. The outlines define the
"key frames" that will guide the procedure of surface reconstruction. Then,
based on this information, and along with organ surface curvature information
extracted from the volume data, a 3D scalar field is generated. This field
allows a 3D reconstruction of the organ: as an iso-surface model, using a
marching cubes algorithm; or as a 3D mesh, using a grid "immersion" technique,
the field value being used as the outside/inside test. The final reconstruction
respects the various topological changes that occur within the organ, such as
holes and branching elements.


title:
Biomechanics applied to computer-aided diagnosis: examples of orbital
  and maxillofacial surgeries

abstract:
  This paper introduces the methodology proposed by our group to model the
biological soft tissues deformations and to couple these models with
Computer-Assisted Surgical (CAS) applications. After designing CAS protocols
that mainly focused on bony structures, the Computer Aided Medical Imaging
group of Laboratory TIMC (CNRS, France) now tries to take into account the
behaviour of soft tissues in the CAS context. For this, a methodology,
originally published under the name of the Mesh-Matching method, has been
proposed to elaborate patient specific models. Starting from an elaborate
manually-built "generic" Finite Element (FE) model of a given anatomical
structure, models adapted to the geometries of each new patient ("patient
specific" FE models) are automatically generated through a non-linear elastic
registration algorithm. This paper presents the general methodology of the
Mesh-Matching method and illustrates this process with two clinical
applications, namely the orbital and the maxillofacial computer-assisted
surgeries.


title:
A New Health Strategy to Prevent Pressure Ulcer Formation in Paraplegics
  using Computer and Sensory Substitution via the Tongue

abstract:
  Pressure ulcers are recognized as a major health issue in individuals with
spinal cord injuries and new approaches to prevent this pathology are
necessary. An innovative health strategy is being developed through the use of
computer and sensory substitution via the tongue in order to compensate for the
sensory loss in the buttock area for individuals with paraplegia. This sensory
compensation will enable individuals with spinal cord injuries to be aware of a
localized excess of pressure at the skin/seat interface and, consequently, will
enable them to prevent the formation of pressure ulcers by relieving the
cutaneous area of suffering. This work reports an initial evaluation of this
approach and the feasibility of creating an adapted behavior, with a change in
pressure as a response to electro-stimulated information on the tongue.
Obtained during a clinical study in 10 healthy seated subjects, the first
results are encouraging, with 92% success in 100 performed tests. These
results, which have to be completed and validated in the paraplegic population,
may lead to a new approach to education in health to prevent the formation of
pressure ulcers within this population.


title: Statistical skull models from 3D X-ray images

abstract:
  We present 2 statistical models of the skull and mandible built upon an
elastic registration method of 3D meshes. The aim of this work is to relate
degrees of freedom of skull anatomy, as static relations are of main interest
for anthropology and legal medicine. Statistical models can effectively provide
reconstructions together with statistical precision. In our applications,
patient-specific meshes of the skull and the mandible are high-density meshes,
extracted from 3D CT scans. All our patient-specific meshes are registrated in
a subject-shared reference system using our 3D-to-3D elastic matching
algorithm. Registration is based upon the minimization of a distance between
the high density mesh and a shared low density mesh, defined on the vertexes,
in a multi resolution approach. A Principal Component analysis is performed on
the normalised registrated data to build a statistical linear model of the
skull and mandible shape variation. The accuracy of the reconstruction is under
the millimetre in the shape space (after rigid registration). Reconstruction
errors for Scan data of tests individuals are below registration noise. To take
in count the articulated aspect of the skull in our model, Kernel Principal
Component Analysis is applied, extracting a non-linear parameter associated
with mandible position, therefore building a statistical articulated 3D model
of the skull.


title:
Nomarski imaging interferometry to measure the displacement field of
  MEMS

abstract:
  We propose to use a Nomarski imaging interferometer to measure the
out-of-plane displacement field of MEMS. It is shown that the measured optical
phase arises both from height and slope gradients. Using four integrating
buckets a more efficient approach to unwrap the measured phase is presented,
thus making the method well suited for highly curved objects. Slope and height
effects are then decoupled by expanding the displacement field on a functions
basis, and the inverse transformation is applied to get a displacement field
from a measure of the optical phase map change with a mechanical loading. A
measurement reproducibility of about 10 pm is achieved, and typical results are
shown on a microcantilever under thermal actuation, thereby proving the ability
of such a set-up to provide a reliable full-field kinematic measurement without
surface modification.


title: Formation of lightning in terms of opinion dynamics in three dimension

abstract:
  Formation of a lightning within a cloud, between clouds and towards the earth
is studied as an application of sociophysics. The three dimensional society is
sky or cloud, which has members as electrically charged clouds (in sky) or
patches (in cloud). Members interact with the neighboring ones and all are
convinced to average their charges (opinion). Yet, big external drives (mass
media) as winds and turbulences may load new charges or may force the present
ones to accumulate temporally at a site. For a lightning towards the earth,
similarly charged clouds in sky (patches carrying big charges in a cloud) are
expected to come close to each other. In all, discharging process is nothing,
but what is called lightning.


title:
Framework and Bio-Mechanical Model for a Per-Operative Image-Guided
  Neuronavigator Including 'Brain-Shift' Compensation

abstract:
  In this paper we present a methodology to adress the problem of brain tissue
deformation referred to as "brainshift". This deformation occurs throughout a
neurosurgery intervention and strongly alters the accuracy of the
neuronavigation systems used to date in clinical routine which rely solely on
preoperative patient imaging to locate the surgical target, such as a tumour or
a functional area. After a general description of the framework of our
intraoperative image-guided system, we propose a biomechanical model of the
brain which can take into account interactively such deformations as well as
surgical procedures that modify the brain structure, like tumour or tissue
resection.


title:
Mod\'{e}liser le physique pour comprendre le contr\^{o}le : le cas de
  l'anticipation en production de parole

abstract:
  This chapter introduces numerical simulations provided by a 2D biomechanical
model of the tongue. These simulations help in understanding the influence of
the lingual mechanical characteristics onto the anticipation phenomena that are
measured on acoustic and articulatory speech data.


title:
Evaluating soft tissue simulation in maxillofacial surgery using pre and
  post-operative CT scan

abstract:
  One of the most important issue in soft tissue modeling is to assess the
quality of the simulations. A validation protocol is presented based on two CT
scans of the patient acquired before and after cranio-maxillofacial surgery.
The actual bones repositioning realized during the intervention are accurately
measured and reproduced. A evaluation of the soft tissue deformation is then
computed using a finite element model of the face. The simulations are
therefore compared, qualitatively and quantitatively, with the actual outcome
of the surgery. This protocol enable to rigorously evaluate different modeling
methods, and to assess the clinical relevance of soft tissue simulation in
maxillofacial surgery.


title: Reproduction of hypopnea phenomenon using a physical and numerical model

abstract:
  Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is now considered as a major health care
topic. An in-vitro setup which reproduces and simplifies upper airway geometry
has been the basis to study the fluid/walls interaction that leads to an apnea.
It consists of a rigid pipe (the pharynx) in contact with a deformable latex
cylinder filled with water (the tongue). Air flows out of the rigid pipe and
induces pressure forces on the cylinder. We present a numerical model of this
setup: a finite element model of the latex cylinder is in interaction with a
fluid model. Simulation of an hypopnea (partial collapsus of the airway) has
been possible and in agreement with observations from the in-vitro setup. The
same phenomenon has been simulated on a soft palate model obtained from a
patient sagittal radiography. These first results encourage us to improve the
model so as it could reproduce the complete apnea phenomenon, and be used for a
planification purpose in sleep apnea surgery.


title: On the equipartition of kinetic energy in an ideal gas mixture

abstract:
  A refinement of an argument due to Maxwell for the equipartition of kinetic
energy in a mixture of ideal gases with different masses is proposed. The
argument is elementary, yet it may work as an illustration of the role of
symmetry and independence postulates in kinetic theory.


title: The Red Queen visits Minkowski Space

abstract:
  When Alice went `Through the Looking Glass' [1], she found herself in a
situation where she had to run as fast as she could in order to stay still. In
accordance with the dictum that truth is stranger than fiction, we will see
that it is possible to find a situation in special relativity where running
towards one's target is actually counter-productive. Although the situation is
easily analysed algebraically, the qualitative properties of the analysis are
greatly illuminated by the use of space-time diagrams.


title: Diffraction Effects in the Near Field

abstract:
  This dissertation is concerned with understanding and analyzing some of the
effects of diffraction in the near field. The contributions of homogeneous and
of evanescent waves to two-dimensional near-field diffraction patterns of
scalar fields are examined in detail. Exact relations are obtained for
calculating these contributions for arbitrary propagation distances, along with
approximate expressions for the near field. The behavior of the two
contributions is illustrated for the case of a plane wave diffracted by a slit
in an opaque screen. The finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) method is used
examine the influence of exact boundary values on the near field for the case
of a slit in a thin perfectly conducting screen. The FD-TD numerical results
are displayed in color images that illustrate the intricate behavior of the
amplitude and the phase of the field in the vicinity of the slit. These
numerical results are compared with the predictions of approximate theories.
Some new methods for determining near-fields in rigorous diffraction problems
involving thin screens are discussed. Specifically, new approximate theories of
diffraction are introduced for both scalar and electromagnetic fields and an
iterative Fourier-based algorithm is proposed for solving the rigorous boundary
value problem. In order to understand the effects of an optical vortex on
diffraction, the field emerging from a spiral phase plate illuminated by a
Gaussian beam is examined. It is shown that the amplitude profile of the
emerging field changes appreciably over propagation distances that are much
smaller than the Rayleigh range.


title:
On the verge of Umdeutung in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence
  principle (Part One)

abstract:
  In October 1924, the Physical Review, a relatively minor journal at the time,
published a remarkable two-part paper by John H. Van Vleck, working in virtual
isolation at the University of Minnesota. Van Vleck combined advanced
techniques of classical mechanics with Bohr's correspondence principle and
Einstein's quantum theory of radiation to find quantum analogues of classical
expressions for the emission, absorption, and dispersion of radiation. For
modern readers Van Vleck's paper is much easier to follow than the famous paper
by Kramers and Heisenberg on dispersion theory, which covers similar terrain
and is widely credited to have led directly to Heisenberg's "Umdeutung" paper.
This makes Van Vleck's paper extremely valuable for the reconstruction of the
genesis of matrix mechanics. It also makes it tempting to ask why Van Vleck did
not take the next step and develop matrix mechanics himself.


title:
On the verge of Umdeutung in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence
  principle (Part Two)

abstract:
  This is the second installment of a two-part paper on developments in quantum
dispersion theory leading up to Heisenberg's "Umdeutung" paper. In telling this
story, we have taken a paper by John H. Van Vleck as our main guide. In this
second part we present the detailed derivations on which our narrative in the
first part rests. The central result that we shall derive is the Kramers
dispersion formula, which played a key role in the thinking that led to
Heisenberg's "Umdeutung" paper. Closely following Van Vleck's pre-Umdeutung
approach, we derive classical and construct quantum formulae for the
dispersion, emission, and absorption of radiation both for the special case of
a charged harmonic oscillator (sec. 5) and for arbitrary non-degenerate
multiply-periodic systems (sec. 6). In sec. 7, we rederive the same results
using modern quantum mechanics. In sec. 8 we bring together the main
conclusions of our study.


title: Controlling ultracold Rydberg atoms in the quantum regime

abstract:
  We discuss the properties of Rydberg atoms in a magnetic Ioffe-Pritchard trap
being commonly used in ultracold atomic physics experiments. The Hamiltonian is
derived and it is demonstrated how tight traps alter the coupling of the atom
to the magnetic field. We solve the underlying Schroedinger equation of the
system within a given n-manifold and show that for a sufficiently large Ioffe
field strength the 2n^2-dimensional system of coupled Schroedinger equations
decays into several decoupled multicomponent equations governing the center of
mass motion. An analysis of the fully quantized center of mass and electronic
states is undertaken. In particular, we discuss the situation of tight center
of mass confinement outlining the procedure to generate a low-dimensional
ultracold Rydberg gas.


title:
Mod\'{e}lisation biom\'{e}canique tri-dimensionnelle de l'articulateur
  lingual pour \'{e}tudier le contr\^{o}le de la parole

abstract:
  A 3D biomechanical dynamical model of human tongue is presented, which is
elaborated to test in the future hypotheses about speech motor control. Tissue
elastic properties are accounted for in Finite Element Modelling (FEM). The FEM
mesh was designed in order to facilitate implementation of muscle arrangement
in the tongue. Therefore, its structure was determined on the basis of accurate
anatomical data. Mechanically, the hypothesis of hyperelasticity was adopted.
Muscles are modelled as general force generators that act on anatomically
specified sets of nodes of the FEM structure. Simulations, using ANSYS
software, of the influence of muscle activations onto the tongue shape are
presented.


title:
Non-local effects in effective medium response of nano-layered
  meta-materials

abstract:
  We analyze electromagnetic modes in multi-layered nano-composites and
demonstrate that the response of a majority of realistic layered structures is
strongly affected by the non-local effects originating from strong field
oscillations across the system, and is not described by conventional
effective-medium theories. We develop the analytical description of the
relevant phenomena and confirm our results with numerical solutions of Maxwell
equations. Finally, we use the developed formalism to demonstrate that
multi-layered plasmonic nanostructures support high-index volume modes,
confined to deep subwavelength areas, opening a wide class of applications in
nanoscale light management.


title: Solar Eclipse Anomalies and Wave Refraction

abstract:
  There is some inconclusive evidence that measurement devices sensitive to
local gravitation exhibit anomalous behaviour during solar eclipses. We
investigate if these findings can be incorporated into the standard general
relativistic model of gravitation. The General Theory of Relativity (GTR)
describes gravitation as the response of an object to local spacetime
curvature. Gravitational waves travelling at the speed of light are then a
necessary mechanism to maintain the required consistency between local
curvature and distant gravitating mass. Gravitational waves will certainly be
subject to refraction by bodies such as the moon and we explore if such an
effect can result in an error in the apparent position of the sources and
thereby give rise to the characteristic pattern of response associated with the
eclipse anomaly. It is found there are phenomenological similarities, but only
if gravitational waves are considered not merely to respond to spacetime
curvature but are also significantly affected by the presence of mass, perhaps
in a manner analogous to electromagnetic waves propagating through matter.


title:
Simultaneous negative- and positive-phase-velocity propagation in an
  isotropic chiral medium

abstract:
  The phase velocity of plane waves propagating in an isotropic chiral medium
can be simultaneously positive for left-circularly polarized light and negative
for right-circularly polarized light(or vice versa). The constitutive parameter
regimes supporting this phenomenon are established for nondissipative and
dissipative mediums. The boundary between positive and negative phase velocity
is characterized by infinite phase velocity.


title:
Partitionnement d'un r\'{e}seau de sociabilit\'{e} \`{a} fort
  coefficient de clustering

abstract:
  In order to compare social organization of a medieval peasantry before and
after the Hundred Years' War we study the sructure of social networks built
from a corpus of agrarian contracts. Low diameters and high clusterings show
small-world graphs. Like many other networks studied these last years these
graphs are scale-free. The distributions of the vertex degrees are fitted by a
truncated power law. Moreover they have a rich-club : a dense core with a low
diameter consisting of vertices with high degree. The particular shape of the
laplacian spectrum allows us to extract communities that are spread along a
star whose center is the rich-club.


title:
Wavelength- and material-dependent absorption in GaAs and AlGaAs
  microcavities

abstract:
  The quality factors of modes in nearly identical GaAs and
Al_{0.18}Ga_{0.82}As microdisks are tracked over three wavelength ranges
centered at 980 nm, 1460 nm, and 1600 nm, with quality factors measured as high
as 6.62x10^5 in the 1600-nm band. After accounting for surface scattering, the
remaining loss is due to sub-bandgap absorption in the bulk and on the
surfaces. We observe the absorption is, on average, 80 percent greater in
AlGaAs than in GaAs and in both materials is 540 percent higher at 980 nm than
at 1600nm.


title:
Pressure and Motion of Dry Sand -- Translation of Hagen's Paper from
  1852

abstract:
  In a remarkable paper from 1852, Gotthilf Heinrich Ludwig Hagen measured and
explained two fundamental aspects of granular matter: The first effect is the
saturation of pressure with depth in a static granular system confined by silo
walls -- generally known as the Janssen effect. The second part of his paper
describes the dynamics observed during the flow out of the container -- today
often called the Beverloo law -- and forms the foundation of the hourglass
theory. The following is a translation of the original German paper from 1852.


title: Localized modes and bistable scattering in nonlinear network junctions

abstract:
  We study the properties of junctions created by crossing of N identical
branches of linear discrete networks. We reveal that for N>2 such a junction
creates a topological defect and supports two types of spatially localized
modes. We analyze the wave scattering by the junction defect and demonstrate
nonzero reflection for any set of parameters. If the junction is nonlinear, it
is possible to achieve the maximum transmission for any frequency by tuning the
intensity of the scattering wave. In addition, near the maximum transmission
the system shows the bistable behaviour.


title:
An Intense $\gamma$-ray Beam Line of 10 MeV Order Based on Compton
  Backscattering

abstract:
  Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source, a $\gamma$-ray beam line of 10MeV order
was proposed recently. The beam line is expected to generate $\gamma$-ray with
maximum energy of 22MeV by backward Compton scattering between CO$_2$ laser and
electron in the 3.5GeV storage ring of future Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation
Facility. The flux of non-collimated $\gamma$-ray can be 10$^9$ $\sim$
10$^{10}$s$^{-1}$ if a commercial CO$_2$ laser of 100W order output power is
employed and injected with optimized settings.


title: Evaluation of a lingual interface as a passive surgical guiding system

abstract:
  Under conventional "open-" surgery, the physician has to take care of the
patient, interact with other clinicians and check several monitoring devices.
Nowadays, the Computer Assisted Surgery proposes to integrate 3D cameras in the
operating theatre in order to assist the surgeon in performing minimal-invasive
surgical punctures. The cameras localize the needle and the computer guides the
surgeon towards an intracorporeal clinically-defined target. A visualization
system (screen) is employed to provide the surgeon with indirect visual spatial
information about the intracorporeal positions of the needle. The present work
proposes to use another sensory modality to guide the surgeon thus keeping the
visual modality fully dedicated to the surgical gesture. For this, the sensory
substitution paradigm using the Bach-y-Rita's "Tongue Display Unit" (TDU) is
exploited to provide to the surgeon information of the position tool. The TDU
device is composed of a 6x6 matrix of electrodes transmitting electrotactile
information on the tongue surface. The underlying idea consists in transmitting
information about the deviation of the needle movement with regard to a
pre-planned "optimal" trajectory.


title: Maxillofacial computer aided surgery: a 5 years experience and future

abstract:
  This paper gives a review of the experience provided by our group in terms of
computer aided maxillo-facial surgery.


title: Efficient numerical diagonalization of hermitian 3x3 matrices

abstract:
  A very common problem in science is the numerical diagonalization of
symmetric or hermitian 3x3 matrices. Since standard "black box" packages may be
too inefficient if the number of matrices is large, we study several
alternatives. We consider optimized implementations of the Jacobi, QL, and
Cuppen algorithms and compare them with an analytical method relying on
Cardano's formula for the eigenvalues and on vector cross products for the
eigenvectors. Jacobi is the most accurate, but also the slowest method, while
QL and Cuppen are good general purpose algorithms. The analytical algorithm
outperforms the others by more than a factor of 2, but becomes inaccurate or
may even fail completely if the matrix entries differ greatly in magnitude.
This can mostly be circumvented by using a hybrid method, which falls back to
QL if conditions are such that the analytical calculation might become too
inaccurate. For all algorithms, we give an overview of the underlying
mathematical ideas, and present detailed benchmark results. C and Fortran
implementations of our code are available for download from
http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~globes/3x3/ .


title: Negative Energy Resonances of Bosons in a Magnetic Quadrupole Trap

abstract:
  We investigate resonances of spin 1 bosons in a three-dimensional magnetic
quadrupole field. Complementary to the well-known positive energy resonances it
is shown that there exist short-lived, i.e. broad, negative energy resonances.
The latter are characterized by an atomic spin that is aligned antiparallel to
the local magnetic field direction. In contrast to the positive energy
resonances the lifetimes of the negative energy resonances decreases with
increasing total magnetic quantum number. We derive a mapping of the two
branches of the spectrum.


title: A 3D Finite Element evaluation of the exophthalmia reduction

abstract:
  This paper presents a first evaluation of the feasibility of Finite Element
modelling of the orbital decompression, in the context of exophthalmia. First
simulations are carried out with data extracted from a patient TDM exam.
Results seem to qualitatively validate the feasibility of the simulations, with
a Finite Element analysis that converges and provides a backward movement of
the ocular globe associated with displacements of the fat tissues through the
sinuses. This FE model can help a surgeon for the planning of the exophthalmia
reduction, and especially for the position and the size of the decompression
hole. To get an estimation of the fat tissues volume affected by the surgery,
an analytical model seems to provide quicker results for an equivalent
efficiency.


title: Percutaneous renal puncture: requirements and preliminary results

abstract:
  This paper introduces the principles of computer assisted percutaneous renal
puncture, that would provide the surgeon with an accurate pre-operative 3D
planning on CT images and, after a rigid registration with space-localized
echographic data, would help him to perform the puncture through an intuitive
2D/3D interface. The whole development stage relied on both CT and US images of
a healthy subject. We carried out millimetric registrations on real data, then
guidance experiments on a kidney phantom showed encouraging results.


title:
Feshbach resonances in ultracold atomic and molecular collisions:
  threshold behaviour and suppression of poles in scattering lengths

abstract:
  In the absence of inelastic scattering, Feshbach resonances produce poles in
scattering lengths and very large peaks in elastic cross sections. However,
inelastic scattering removes the poles. Whenever the resonant state is coupled
comparably to the elastic and inelastic channels, the scattering length
exhibits only a small oscillation and peaks in cross sections are dramatically
suppressed. A resonant scattering length is defined to characterize the
amplitude of the oscillation, and is shown to be small for many collisions of
ultracold molecules. The results suggest that cross sections for ultracold
molecular inelastic collisions are much less sensitive to details of the
potential than has been believed.


title: Probability of stochastic processes and spacetime geometry

abstract:
  We made a first attempt to associate a probabilistic description of
stochastic processes like birth-death processes with spacetime geometry in the
Schwarzschild metrics on distance scales from the macro- to the micro-domains.
We idealize an ergodic system in which system states communicate through a
curved path composed of transition arrows where each arrow corresponds to a
positive, analogous birth or death rate.


title: Fractal photon sieve

abstract:
  A novel focusing structure with fractal properties is presented. It is a
photon sieve in which the pinholes are appropriately distributed over the zones
of a fractal zone plate. The focusing properties of the fractal photon sieve
are analyzed. The good performance of our proposal is demonstrated
experimentally with a series of images obtained under white light illumination.
It is shown that compared with a conventional photon sieve, the fractal photon
sieve exhibits an extended depth of field and a reduced chromatic aberration.


title: Computer aided planning for orthognatic surgery

abstract:
  A computer aided maxillofacial sequence is presented, applied to orthognatic
surgery. It consists of 5 main stages: data acquisition and integration,
surgical planning, surgical simulation, and per operative assistance. The
planning and simulation steps are then addressed in a way that is clinically
relevant. First concepts toward a 3D cephalometry are presented for a
morphological analysis, surgical planning, and bone and soft tissue simulation.
The aesthetic surgical outcomes of bone repositioning are studied with a
biomechanical Finite Element soft tissue model.


title:
Ultracold atom-molecule collisions and bound states in magnetic fields:
  tuning zero-energy Feshbach resonances in He-NH (3Sigma-)

abstract:
  We have generalized the BOUND and MOLSCAT packages to allow calculations in
basis sets where the monomer Hamiltonians are off-diagonal and used the new
capability to carry out bound-state and scattering calculations on 3He-NH and
4He-NH as a function of magnetic field. Following the bound-state energies to
the point where they cross thresholds gives very precise predictions of the
magnetic fields at which zero-energy Feshbach resonances occur. We have used
this to locate and characterize two very narrow Feshbach resonances in 3He-NH.
Such resonances can be used to tune elastic and inelastic collision cross
sections, and sweeping the magnetic field across them will allow a form of
quantum control in which separated atoms and molecules are associated to form
complexes. For the first resonance, where only elastic scattering is possible,
the scattering length shows a pole as a function of magnetic field and there is
a very large peak in the elastic cross section. For the second resonance,
however, inelastic scattering is also possible. In this case the pole in the
scattering length is dramatically suppressed and the cross sections show
relatively small peaks. The peak suppression is expected to be even larger in
systems with stronger inelasticity. The results suggest that calculations on
ultracold molecular inelastic collisions may be much less sensitive to details
of the potential energy surface than has been believed.


title: Rational Mechanics Theory of Turbulence

abstract:
  The instant Lagranian coordinator system is used to describe the fluid
material motion. By this way, the instant deformation gradient (expressed by
spatial velocity gradient) concept is established. Based on this geometrical
understanding, the strain rate and stress is expressed by local rotation tensor
which is simply based on the fluid material kinetic energy concept (ruling out
the concept of fluid-stretching). For fluid filling-in experiments, the
characteristic of turbulence is analyzed geometrically and, then, the
Navier-Stokes equation is used to get the analytical solution in first-order
approximation. For convenient the comprising with experiments, the related
typical values are given. As this solution is very basic, it can be expected be
valuable for industrial application.


title: Universal behavior of the electron g-factor in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

abstract:
  The Zeeman splitting and the underlying value of the g-factor for conduction
band electrons in GaAs/Al_xGa_{1-x}As quantum wells have been measured by
spin-beat spectroscopy based on a time-resolved Kerr rotation technique. The
experimental data are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. The model
accurately accounts for the large electron energies above the GaAs conduction
band bottom, resulting from the strong quantum confinement. In the tracked
range of optical transition energies E from 1.52 to 2.0eV, the electron
g-factor along the growth axis follows closely the universal dependence
g_||(E)= -0.445 + 3.38(E-1.519)-2.21(E-1.519)^2 (with E measured in eV); and
this universality also embraces Al_xGa_{1-x}As alloys. The in-plane g-factor
component deviates notably from the universal curve, with the degree of
deviation controlled by the structural anisotropy.


title: The Development of the College Park Tornado of 24 September 2001

abstract:
  The 24 September 2001 College Park, Maryland, tornado was remarkable because
of its long-track that passed within a close range of two Doppler radars. This
tornado featured many similarities to previous significant tornado events that
resulted in widespread damage in urban areas, such as the Oklahoma City tornado
of 3 May 1999. The College Park tornado was the third in a series of three
tornadoes associated with a supercell storm that developed over central
Virginia. This paper presents a synoptic and mesoscale overview of favorable
conditions and forcing mechanisms that resulted in the severe convective
outbreak associated with the College Park tornado. Convective morphology will
be examined in terms of Doppler radar and satellite imagery. This study
concludes with a discussion of the effectiveness of using MM5 guidance in
conjunction with satellite and radar imagery in the operational environment of
forecasting severe convection.


title: Rigorous Simulation of 3D Masks

abstract:
  We perform 3D lithography simulations by using a finite-element solver. To
proof applicability to real 3D problems we investigate DUV light propagation
through a structure of size 9 microns times 4 microns times 65 nm. On this
relatively large computational domain we perform rigorous computations (No
Hopkins) taking into account a grid of 11 times 21 source points with two
polarization directions each. We obtain well converged results with an accuracy
of the diffraction orders of about one percent. The results compare well to
experimental aerial imaging results. We further investigate the convergence of
3D solutions towards quasi-exact results obtained with different methods.


title: Molecular collisions in ultracold atomic gases

abstract:
  It has recently become possible to form molecules in ultracold gases of
trapped alkali metal atoms. Once formed, the molecules may undergo elastic,
inelastic and reactive collisions. Inelastic and reactive collisions are
particularly important because they release kinetic energy and eject atoms and
molecules from the trap. The theory needed to handle such collisions is
presented and recent quantum dynamics calculations on ultracold atom-diatom
collisions of spin-polarised Li + Li_2, Na + Na_2 and K + K_2 are described.
All these systems have potential energy surfaces on which barrierless atom
exchange reactions can occur, and both inelastic and reactive rates are very
fast (typically k(inel) > 10^{-10} cm^3 s^-1 in the Wigner regime).


title: Logical contradictions of Landau damping

abstract:
  Landau damping/growing at boundary condition of excitation of a harmonic wave
in collisionless ion-electron-neutrals plasma contradicts to the law of energy
conservation of a wave damping/growing in space. There is also no criterion of
a choice either damping or growing solution in difference from always
non-damping in the direction of propagation Vlasov waves. Variety of other
incongruities as consequence of Landau damping is specified also. Absence of
explicit positivity and finiteness of wave solutions for electron distribution
function near singularity point leads to need of imposing additional cutting
off constraints with resulting positivity and finiteness of the electron
distribution function at the singularity points and finiteness of the complex
dispersion integral. Landau damping as a real physical phenomenon of
collisionless damping does not exist. A relation is established for the real
dispersion equation with real waves (see Appendices 2,4) between the averaged
over period wave damping decrement and the collisional energy-exchange term of
kinetic equation. Collisionless Vlasov-Landau damping is explained finally by
the usual wrong use of nonlinearly complex wave functions leading to complex
dispersion equation. All used solution of the complex dispersion equation for
the simultaneously existing collisionless both exponentially damping and
growing nonlinear complex waves is entirely, quantitatively and in its logical
sense, different from the solution of initially real dispersion equation for
real either damping or growing waves and should be discarded (see Appendices
2,4,5,6). Collisionless damping is caused by unreasonable use of wave functions
with complex frequency or complex wave number leading to complex dispersion
relation with unphysical binomial virtual complex roots. Thus finding roots of
the complex dispersion equation has only abstract mathematical interest.


title: Recent developments in premetric classical electrodynamics

abstract:
  Classical electrodynamics can be based on the conservation laws of electric
charge and magnetic flux. Both laws are independent of the metric and the
linear connection of spacetime. Within the framework of such a premetric
electrodynamics -- provided a local and linear constitutive law of the vacuum
is added -- the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the geometric-optics
limit can be studied. The wave vectors of the wave fronts obey a quartic
extended Fresnel equation. If one forbids birefringence in vacuum, the light
cone emerges and Maxwell-Lorentz vacuum electrodynamics can be recovered. If
minimal coupling of electrodynamics to gravity is assumed, then only the
gravitational potential, i.e., the metric of spacetime, emerges in the
constitutive law. We discuss recent results within this general framework.


title: Stability Analysis of an Inflatable Vacuum Chamber

abstract:
  A light-weight "inflatable" tensioned-membrane-structure vacuum container is
proposed and its stability is analyzed. The proposed structure consists of a
pressurized lobed cylindrical "wall" surrounding a central evacuated space.
Stability is analyzed by discretizing the system and diagonalizing the second
derivative of the potential energy. The structure is found to be stable when
the pressure in the wall is greater than a critical pressure. When membranes
are non-elastic, the critical pressure is found to be greater than the pressure
required for equilibrium by a factor of 4/3. When membranes have only finite
stiffness, a first order correction to the critical pressure is found.
Preliminary experimental data shows that a stable structure can be made in this
way, and that the observed critical pressure is consistent with theory. It is
also found that such structures can be designed to have net positive buoyancy
in air.


title: Leptons in Dirac Spin Networks

abstract:
  In large networks of Dirac spinors individual spinors show space-time
properties relative to quasi-classical clusters of spinors. Three forms of
relations between spinors and such clusters are identified. These constitute
three families of particle-like configurations, with a mass spectrum in close
agreement with the experimental lepton spectrum.


title:
Derivation of the Schr\"{o}dinger equation based on a fluidic continuum
  model of vacuum and a sink model of particles

abstract:
  We propose a fluidic continuum model of vacuum and a sink flow model of
microscopic particles. The movements of a microscopic particle driven by a
stochastic force was studied based on stochastic mechanics. We show that there
exists a generalized Schr\"{o}dinger equation for the microscopic particle.


title:
Quantitative determination of the level of cooperation in the presence
  of punishment in three public good experiments

abstract:
  Strong reciprocity is a fundamental human characteristic associated with our
extraordinary sociality and cooperation. Laboratory experiments on social
dilemma games and many field studies have quantified well-defined levels of
cooperation and propensity to punish/reward. The level of cooperation is
observed to be strongly dependent on the availability of punishments and/or
rewards. Here, we suggest that the propensity for altruistic punishment and
reward is an emergent property that has co-evolved with cooperation by
providing an efficient feedback mechanism through both biological and cultural
interactions. By favoring high survival probability and large individual gains,
the propensity for altruistic punishment and rewards reconciles self- and group
interests. We show that a simple cost/benefit analysis at the level of a single
agent, who anticipates the action of her fellows, determines an optimal level
of altruistic punishment, which explains quantitatively experimental results on
the third-party punishment game, the ultimatum game and altruistic punishment
games. We also report numerical simulations of an evolutionary agent-based
model of repeated agent interactions with feedback-by-punishments, which
confirms that the propensity to punish is a robust emergent property selected
by the evolutionary rules of the model.


title: Landing the uniformly accelerating observers

abstract:
  Observers of the uniformly accelerating observers or the observers who make
up the system of uniformly accelerating observers reach the same velocity V at
different times ti which depends on V and on theirs acceleration gi.
Considering a platform that moves with constant velocity V, the observers can
land smoothly on it. Their ages and locations in the inertial reference frame
attached to the platform are reckoned and compared.


title:
Bulk Etch Rate Measurements and Calibrations of Plastic Nuclear Track
  Detectors

abstract:
  New calibrations of CR39 and Makrofol nuclear track detectors have been
obtained using 158 A GeV Pb (82+) and In (49+) ions; a new method for the bulk
etch rate determination, using both cone height and base diameter measurements
was developed. The CR39 charge resolution based on the etch-pit base area
measurement is adequate to identify nuclear fragments in the interval 7 <=
Z/beta <= 49. For CR39 the detection threshold is at REL~50 MeV cm^2/g,
corresponding to a nuclear fragment with Z/beta~7. Base cone area distributions
for Makrofol foils exposed to Pb (82+) ions have shown for the first time all
peaks due to nuclear fragments with Z > 50; the distribution of the etched cone
heights shows well separated individual peaks for Z/beta = 78 - 83 (charge
pickup). The Makrofol detection threshold is at REL 2700 MeV cm^2/g,
corresponding to a nuclear fragment with Z/beta~50.


title:
A Common-Path Interferometer for Time-Resolved and Shot-Noise-Limited
  Detection of Single Nanoparticles

abstract:
  We give a detailed description of a novel method for time-resolved
experiments on single non-luminescent nanoparticles. The method is based on the
combination of pump-probe spectroscopy and a common-path interferometer. In our
interferometer, probe and reference arms are separated in time and polarization
by a birefringent crystal. The interferometer, fully described by an analytical
model, allows us to separately detect the real and imaginary contributions to
the signal. We demonstrate the possibilities of the setup by time-resolved
detection of single gold nanoparticles as small as 10 nm in diameter, and of
acoustic oscillations of particles larger than 40 nm in diameter.


title:
Reflection of a few-cycle laser pulse on a metal nano-layer: generation
  of phase-dependent wake-fields

abstract:
  The reflection and transmission of a few-cycle femtosecond Ti:Sa laser pulse
impinging on a metal nano-layer have been analysed. The thickness of the layer
was assumed to be of order of 2-10 nm, and the metallic free electrons were
represented by a surface current density distributed at the plane boundary of a
dielectric substrate. The target studied this way can be imagined, for
instance, as a semi-transparent mirror produced by evapotating a thin aluminum
layer on the surface of a glass plate. The exact analytic solution has been
given for the system of the coupled Maxwell-Lorentz equations decribing the
dynamics of the surface current and the scattered radiation fields. It has been
shown that in general a non-oscillatoty frozen-in wake-field appears following
the main pulse with an exponential decay and with a definite sign of the
electric field. The characteristic time of these wake-fields is inversely
proportional with the square of the plasma frequency and with the thickness of
the metal nano-layer, and can be larger than the original pulse duration. The
magnitude of these wake-fields is proportional with the incoming field
strength, and the definite sign of them governed by the cosine of the
carrier-envelope phase difference of the incoming ultrashort laser pulse. As a
consequence, when we let such a wake-field excite the electrons of a secondary
target (say an electron beam, a metal plate or a gas jet), we obtain 100
percent modulation in the electron signal in a given direction, as we vary the
carrier-envelope phase difference. This scheeme can perhaps serve as a basis
for the construction of a robust linear carrier-envelope phase difference
meter.


title: Magnifying superlens in the visible frequency range

abstract:
  In this communication we introduce a new design of the magnifying superlens
and demonstrate it in the experiment.