Search

The principles and the realisation of an experiment devoted to oscillator strength measurements in the vacuum-ultraviolet by an emission method are briefly presented. The oscillator strengths of seven strong NI lines, eleven weak NI lines, twenty-three strong CI lines and twenty weak CI lines have been measured in the 1200- 2000Å spectral range. The absolute scale set up from the measurements is compared with recent theoretical results.

Transplant vasculopathy has not been systematically investigated in composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA). The impact of multiple acute rejections (ARs) on long-term graft outcomes in reconstructive transplantation remains unknown. This study in a rat hind-limb allotransplantation model systematically analyzes vasculopathy and tissue-specific pathological changes secondary to multiple AR episodes. LEW rats were transplanted with BN rat hind limbs and treated as follows: Group 1 (Iso): isografts. Group 2 (CsA): Cyclosporine (CsA) qd; Group 3 (mult AR): CsA and dexamethasone only when AR was observed. No AR was observed in Groups 1 and 2. Multiple AR were observed in Group 3, and each episode was completely reversed (clinically) with pulsed CsA dexamethasone treatment. Group 3 animals demonstrated significant vascular lesions along with skin and muscle atrophy, upregulation of profibrotic gene expression and fibrosis when compared to Groups 1 and 2. In addition, allograft bone was sclerotic, weak and prone to malunion and nonunion. Interestingly, vasculopathy was a late finding, whereas muscle atrophy with macrophage infiltration was seen early, after only a few AR episodes. Taken together, multiple AR episodes lead to vasculopathy and tissue-specific pathology in CTA. This is the first evidence of 'composite tissue vasculopathy and degeneration (CTVD)' in CTA.

Leading candidates for non-baryonic Dark Matter are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The principles of WIMP direct detection and different search stategies are introduced. A review of experimental results is presented. The most promising projects for the future are surveyed.

In order to investigate some properties of a medium with a low number of particles in a Debye sphere, the electrical conductivity of high-pressure ionized Argon has been measured. A special emphasis is laid on the so-called "non-ideality" effects in the collective behaviour of charged particles. A kind of threshold for these effects is observed at nD≦ 4. The observed asymptotic behaviour of the screening parameter indicates that heavy charged particles have the same influence on the screening mechanism as electrons. The experimental values of the electrical conductivity are in excellent agreement with similar recent measurements.

Stark profiles of the HeI 4471 and 4922 Å overlapping lines are calculated by the Model Microfield Method. Even at high densities (3·1016cm-3) an ion dynamics effect is exhibited by varying the reduced mass of the radiator -perturber system or the ionic temperature.

The EDELWEISS collaboration is performing a direct search for WIMP dark matter in a low-background environment in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane. Two series of results obtained with 320 g heat-and-ionization detectors are presented. During the 4.53 effective exposure of the year 2000 run, no nuclear events are observed in the fiducial volume in the 30–200 keV energy range. The central value of the signal reported by the DAMA experiment NaI1–4 is thus excluded at 90% CL. The present 2002 setup with three detectors is described and improved calibration performances are presented. The R&D program and the EDELWEISS-II stage of the experiment are also briefly described. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The EDELWEISS collaboration performs a direct search for WIMP dark matter in a low-background environment in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane. Results obtained with a 320 g heat-and-ionization detector are presented. No nuclear events are observed in the fiducial volume in the 30–200 keV energy range in an effective exposure of 4.53 kg.day. The central value of the signal reported by the DAMA experiment NaI1-4 is thus excluded at 90% CL. The R&D program and the EDELWEISS-II stage of the experiment, are also briefly described. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]