Notes: Abstract. The highly sensitive GASP array at the INFN Legnaro Laboratory was used to study the $\gamma$ -ray de-excitation of neutron-rich nuclei produced in the deep-inelastic processes which occur when 230 MeV 36S ions interact with a target of 176Yb. Yrast decay schemes were identified in over forty target-like fragments and in over twenty projectile-like fragments. Analysis of the data has resulted in extensions to the yrast decay sequences of the target-like species, 176Hf, 166Er, 172Yb, and 152Sm. New transitions have also been observed in a number of projectile-like species including 34P and 41Cl. Experimental results are compared with the results of shell model calculations.

Notes: Abstract  Using atmospheric forcing data generated from a general circulation climate model, sixteen land surface schemes participating in the Project for the Intercomparison of Land-surface Parametrization Schemes (PILPS) were run off-line to equilibrium using forcing data from a GCM representative of a tropical forest and a mid-latitude grassland grid point. The values for each land surface parameter (roughness length, minimum stomatal resistance, soil depth etc.) were provided. Results were quality controlled and analyzed, focusing on the scatter simulated amongst the models. There were large differences in how the models’ partitioned available energy between sensible and latent heat. Annually averaged, simulations for the tropical forest ranged by 79 1 3;W m-2 for the sensible heat flux and 80 W m-2 for the latent heat flux. For the grassland, simulations ranged by 34 W m-2 for the sensible heat flux and 27 W m-2 for the latent heat flux. Similarly large differences were found for simulated runoff and soil moisture and at the monthly time scale. The models’ simulation of annually averaged effective radiative temperature varied with a range, between all the models, of 1.4 K for tropical forest and 2.2 K for the grassland. The simulation of latent and sensible heat fluxes by a standard ‘bucket’ models was anomalous although this could be corrected by an additional resistance term. These results imply that the current land surface models do not agree on the land surface climate when the atmospheric forcing and surface parameters are prescribed. The nature of the experimental design, it being offline and with artificial forcing, generally precludes judgements concerning the relative quality of any specific model. Although these results were produced de-coupled from a host model, they do cast doubt on the reliability of land surface schemes. It is therefore a priority to resolve the disparity in the simulations, understand the reasons behind the scatter and to determine whether this lack of agreement in de-coupled tests is reproduced in coupled experiments.

Notes: Abstract.  The predictability of atmospheric responses to global sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies is evaluated using ensemble simulations of two general circulation models (GCMs): the GENESIS version 1.5 (GEN) and the ECMWF cycle 36 (ECM). The integrations incorporate observed SST variations but start from different initial land and atmospheric states. Five GEN 1980–1992 and six ECM 1980–1988 realizations are compared with observations to distinguish predictable SST forced climate signals from internal variability. To facilitate the study, correlation analysis and significance evaluation techniques are developed on the basis of time series permutations. It is found that the annual mean global area with realistic signals is variable dependent and ranges from 3 to 20% in GEN and 6 to 28% in ECM. More than 95% of these signal areas occur between 35 °S–35 °N. Due to the existence of model biases, robust responses, which are independent of initial condition, are identified over broader areas. Both GCMs demonstrate that the sensitivity to initial conditions decreases and the predictability of SST forced responses increases, in order, from 850 hPa zonal wind, outgoing longwave radiation, 200 hPa zonal wind, sea-level pressure to 500 hPa height. The predictable signals are concentrated in the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean and are identified with typical El Niño/ Southern Oscillation phenomena that occur in response to SST and diabatic heating anomalies over the equatorial central Pacific. ECM is less sensitive to initial conditions and better predicts SST forced climate changes. This results from (1) a more realistic basic climatology, especially of the upper-level wind circulation, that produces more realistic interactions between the mean flow, stationary waves and tropical forcing; (2) a more vigorous hydrologic cycle that amplifies the tropical forcing signals, which can exceed internal variability and be more efficiently transported from the forcing region. Differences between the models and observations are identified. For GEN during El Niño, the convection does not carry energy to a sufficiently high altitude, while the spread of the tropospheric warming along the equator is slower and the anomaly magnitude smaller than observed. This impacts model ability to simulate realistic responses over Eurasia and the Indian Ocean. Similar biases exist in the ECM responses. In addition, the relationships between upper and lower tropospheric wind responses to SST forcing are not well reproduced by either model. The identification of these model biases leads to the conclusion that improvements in convective heat and momentum transport parametrizations and basic climate simulations could substantially increase predictive skill.

Notes: Summary In an X-ray diffraction investigation, the recrystallization behavior of ball-milled Chinese southern pine wood was found to differ from that of cellulose. The crystallinity of lignocellulose milled for a very long time and recrystallized by wetting in water did not decrease with increasing milling time as was the case with milled cellulose. In addition, it appeared that the presence of lignin tended to restrict the amorphous cellulose produced by milling from recrystallizing into Cellulose II, whereas it had no influence on the recrystallization into Cellulose I. These results were discussed in the context of the mechanism of the conversion of Cellulose I to Cellulose II.

Notes: Summary Different derivatives of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) glycoprotein B (gB) ectodomain were expressed in a novel heat-shock expression system. The putative ectodomain, gBt, and the N-terminal subunit, gBb, were of the expected molecular weight and were secreted. Their production were heat-inducible and the purified proteins were able to elicit antibody responses in mice of a comparable level as induced by authentic gB. The truncated C-terminal subunit, gBct, was retained in the endoplasmic reticulum. Our studies suggest that the gBb subunit may play a major role in constituting the overall configuration of gB and is required for the intracellular transport of gB.

Notes: Abstract. Polaron properties are studied in bulk wurtzite nitride ternary mixed crystals AxB1-xN (A, B = Al, Ga, In) with the use of a dielectric continuum Fröhlich-like electron-phonon interaction Hamiltonian. The polaronic self-trapping energy and effective mass are analytically derived by taking the mixing properties of the LO and TO polarizations due to the anisotropy effect into account in the mono-phonon approximation. The numerical computation has been performed for the wurtzite ternary mixed crystal materials InxGa1-xN, AlxGa1-xN, and AlxIn1-xN as functions of the composition x. The results show that the polaronic self-trapping energies in the wurtzite structures are bigger than that in zinc-blende structures for the materials calculated. It is also found that the structure anisotropy increases the electron-phonon interaction in wurtizte nitride semiconductors. The results indicate that the LO-like phonon influence on the polaronic self-trapping energy and effective mass is dominant, and the anisotropy effect is obvious.

Notes: Abstract: High-spin states in neutron-rich Dy isotopes, populated in deep-inelastic processes produced by the interaction of 234 MeV 37Cl ions with a 160Gd target, have been studied using the highly sensitive EUROBALL IV gamma-ray detector array. The previously known level schemes for 159,160,161,162Dy have been extended to significantly higher spin ( ? 30?) and the i 13/2 band crossing in 159Dy has been observed for the first time. The experimental results are discussed within the framework of cranked shell model and projected shell model calculations with particular reference to the observed delayed band crossing in 162Dy.

Notes: Abstract. The eigenproblems of interface spin waves of a (100) biferromagnetic interface are solved exactly by use of the interface rescaling approach. Particularly, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of interface spin waves are obtained analytically.

Notes: Abstract. A variational approach is used to study the surface states of electrons in a semi-infinite polar semiconductor under hydrostatic pressure. The effective Hamiltonian and the surface-state levels are derived including the effects of electron-optical phonon interaction and pressure. The numerical computation has been performed for the surface-state energies versus pressure for zinc-blende GaN, AlN, and InN. The results show that the effect of electron-optical phonon interaction lowers the surface-state energy. It is also found that the effect of electron-surface optical phonon interaction is much bigger than the effect of electron-half space longitudinal optical phonon interaction for surface-state levels. It indicates that the surface-state energies and the influence of electron-phonon interaction increase with pressure obviously.