Sum rules and correlations in asymmetric nuclear matter

The neutron and proton single-particle spectral functions in asymmetric nuclear matter fulfill energy-weighted sum rules. The validity of these sum rules within the self-consistent Green's function approach is investigated. The various contributions to these sum rules and their convergence as a function of energy provide information about correlations induced by the realistic interaction between the nucleons. The study of the sum rules in asymmetric nuclear matter exhibits the isospin dependence of the nucleon-nucleon correlations.

Copper(II) complexes derived from di-2-pyridyl ketone-N4-phenyl-3-semicarbazone: Synthesis and spectral studies

Five copper(II) complexes [CuLCl]2·CuCl2·4H2O (1), [CuLOAc] (2), [CuLNO3]2 (3), [CuLN3] (4) and [CuLNCS]·3/2H2O (5) of di-2-pyridyl ketone-N4-phenyl-3-semicarbazone (HL) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses and electronic, infrared and EPR spectral techniques. In all these complexes the semicarbazone undergoes deprotonation and coordinates through enolate oxygen, azomethine and pyridyl nitrogen atoms. All the complexes are EPR active due to the presence of an unpaired electron. EPR spectra of all the complexes in DMF at 77K suggest axial symmetry and the presence of half field signals for the complexes 1 and 3 indicates dimeric structures

Synthesis and spectral investigations of Mn(II) complexes of pentadentate bis(thiosemicarbazones)

Five Mn(II) complexes of bis(thiosemicarbazones) which are represented as [Mn(H2Ac4Ph)Cl2] (1), [Mn(Ac4Ph)H2O] (2), [Mn(H2Ac4Cy)Cl2]·H2O (3), [Mn(H2Ac4Et)Cl2]·3H2O (4) and [Mn(H2Ac4Et)(OAc)2]·3H2O (5) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, electronic, infrared and EPR spectral techniques. In all the complexes except [Mn(Ac4Ph)H2O], the ligands act as pentadentate neutral molecules and coordinate to Mn(II) ion through two thione sulfur atoms, two azomethine nitrogens and the pyridine nitrogen, suggesting a heptacoordination. While in compound [Mn(Ac4Ph)H2O], the dianionic ligand is coordinated to the metal suggesting six coordination in this case. Magnetic studies indicate the high spin state of Mn(II). Conductivity measurements reveal their non-electrolyte nature. EPR studies indicate five g values for [Mn(Ac4Ph)H2O] showing zero field splitting.

Synthesis and spectral investigations of vanadium(IV/V) complexes derived from an ONS donor thiosemicarbazone ligand

Four oxovanadium and one dioxovanadium complex with 2-hydroxyacetophenone N(4)- phenylthiosemicarbazone (H2L) which are represented as [VOLphen]·2H2O (1), [VOLbipy] (2), [VOLdmbipy] (3), [VOL]2 (4) and [VO2HL]·CH3OH (5) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, electronic, infrared and EPR spectral techniques. In all the complexes 1–4 the ligand coordinates through phenolic oxygen, azomethine nitrogen and thiolate sulfur. But in complex [VO2HL]·CH3OH, coordination takes place in thione form instead of thiolate sulfur. All the complexes except [VO2HL]·CH3OH are EPR active due to the presence of an unpaired electron. In frozen DMF at 77 K, all the oxovanadium(IV) complexes show axial anisotropy with two sets of eight line patterns

Use of decision trees in colour feature selection: application to object recognition in outdoor scenes

A new method for the automated selection of colour features is described. The algorithm consists of two stages of processing. In the first, a complete set of colour features is calculated for every object of interest in an image. In the second stage, each object is mapped into several n-dimensional feature spaces in order to select the feature set with the smallest variables able to discriminate the remaining objects. The evaluation of the discrimination power for each concrete subset of features is performed by means of decision trees composed of linear discrimination functions. This method can provide valuable help in outdoor scene analysis where no colour space has been demonstrated as being the most suitable. Experiment results recognizing objects in outdoor scenes are reported

First CRDS-measurements of water vapour continuum in the 940nm absorption band

Measurements of near-infrared water vapour continuum using continuous wave cavity ring down spectroscopy (cw- CRDS) have been performed at around 10611.6 and 10685:2 cm1. The continuum absorption coefficients for N2- broadening have been determined for two temperatures and wavenumbers. These results represent the first near-IR continuum laboratory data determined within the complex spectral environment in the 940nm water vapour band and are in reasonable agreement with simulations using the semiempirical CKD formulation.

Ultrastructural alterations in mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts of two maize cultivars in response to chilling at high irradiance

Maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings of two cultivars (cv. Bastion adapted to W. Europe, and cv. Batan 8686 adapted to the highlands of Mexico), raised in a glasshouse (19-25 degrees C), were transferred to 4.5 or 9 degrees C at photon flux density (PPFD) of 950 mu mol m(-2) s(-1) with 10-h photoperiod for 58 h and then allowed to recover at 22 degrees C for 16 h (14 h dark and 2 h at PPFD of 180 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)). The ultrastructural responses after 4 h or 26 h at 4.5 degrees C were the disappearance of starch grains in the bundle sheath chloroplasts and the contraction of intrathylakoid spaces in stromal thylakoids of the mesophyll chloroplasts. At this time, bundle sheath chloroplasts of cv. Batan 8686 formed peripheral reticulum. Prolonged stress at 4.5 degrees C (50 h) caused plastid swelling and the dilation of intrathylakoid spaces, mainly in mesophyll chloroplasts. Bundle sheath chloroplasts of cv. Batan 8686 seedlings appeared well preserved in shape and structure. Batan 8686 had also higher net photosynthetic rates during chilling and recovery than Bastion. Extended leaf photobleaching developed during the recovery period after chilling at 4.5 degrees C. This was associated with collapsed chloroplast envelopes, disintegrated chloroplasts and very poor staining.

Coordinated management of intelligent pervasive spaces

The content of this paper is a snapshot of a current project looking at producing a real-time sensor-based building assessment tool, and a system that personalises workspaces using multi-agent technology. Both systems derive physical environment information from a wireless sensor network that allows clients to subscribe to real-time sensed data. The principal ideologies behind this project are energy efficiency and well-being of occupants; in the context of leveraging the current state-of-the-art in agent technology, wireless sensor networks and building assessment systems to enable the optimisation and assessment of buildings. Participants of this project are from both industry (construction and research) and academia.

Hemispace differences in the visual perception of size in left hemi-Parkinson's disease

The visual perception of size in different regions of external space was studied in Parkinson's disease (PD). A group of patients with worse left-sided symptoms (LPD) was compared with a group with worse right-sided symptoms (RPD) and with a group of age-matched controls on judgements of the relative height or width of two rectangles presented in different regions of external space. The relevant dimension of one rectangle (the 'standard') was held constant, while that of the other (the 'variable') was varied in a method of constant stimuli. The point of subjective equality (PSE) of rectangle width or height was obtained by probit analysis as the mean of the resulting psychometric function. When the standard was in left space, the PSE of the LPD group occurred when the variable was smaller, and when the standard was in right space, when the variable was larger. Similarly, when the standard rectangle was presented in upper space, and the variable in lower space, the PSE occurred when the variable was smaller, an effect which was similar in both left and right spaces. In all these experiments, the PSEs for both the controls and the RPD group did not differ significantly, and were close to a physical match, and the slopes of the psychometric functions were steeper in the controls than the patients, though not significantly so. The data suggest that objects appear smaller in the left and upper visual spaces in LPD, probably because of right hemisphere impairment. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Co-ordinated management of intelligent pervasive spaces

The content of this paper is a snapshot of a current project looking at producing a real-time sensor-based building assessment tool, and a system that personalises work-spaces using multi-agent technology. Both systems derive physical environment information from a wireless sensor network that allows clients to subscribe to real-time sensed data. The principal ideologies behind this project are energy efficiency and well-being of occupants; in the context of leveraging the current state-of-the-art in agent technology, wireless sensor networks and building assessment systems to enable the optimisation and assessment of buildings. Participants of this project are from both industry (construction and research) and academia.

Clustering quality and topology preservation in fast learning SOMs

The Self-Organizing Map (SOM) is a popular unsupervised neural network able to provide effective clustering and data visualization for data represented in multidimensional input spaces. In this paper, we describe Fast Learning SOM (FLSOM) which adopts a learning algorithm that improves the performance of the standard SOM with respect to the convergence time in the training phase. We show that FLSOM also improves the quality of the map by providing better clustering quality and topology preservation of multidimensional input data. Several tests have been carried out on different multidimensional datasets, which demonstrate better performances of the algorithm in comparison with the original SOM.