Determination of the strong coupling constant α s ( m Z ) in next-to-next-to-leading order QCD using H1 jet cross section measurements: H1 Collaboration.

The strong coupling constant α s is determined from inclusive jet and dijet cross sections in neutral-current deep-inelastic ep scattering (DIS) measured at HERA by the H1 collaboration using next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD predictions. The dependence of the NNLO predictions and of the resulting value of α s ( m Z ) at the Z-boson mass m Z are studied as a function of the choice of the renormalisation and factorisation scales. Using inclusive jet and dijet data together, the strong coupling constant is determined to be α s ( m Z ) = 0.1157 ( 20 ) exp ( 29 ) th . Complementary, α s ( m Z ) is determined together with parton distribution functions of the proton (PDFs) from jet and inclusive DIS data measured by the H1 experiment. The value α s ( m Z ) = 0.1142 ( 28 ) tot obtained is consistent with the determination from jet data alone. The impact of the jet data on the PDFs is studied. The running of the strong coupling is tested at different values of the renormalisation scale and the results are found to be in agreement with expectations.

Dynamical Casimir effect in microwave cavities containing nonlinear crystals.

I consider a possibility of parametric amplification of the microwave vacuum field in a reentrant cavity enclosing a nonlinear crystal whose refractive index is modulated by periodic high-intensity short laser pulses. The main result is that the total number of created 'Casimir quanta' depends neither on the laser beam shape, nor on the duration or power of individual pulses, but it depends on the total energy of all the pulses, provided the duration of each pulse is much shorter than the period of field oscillations in the selected resonant mode. The scheme can be feasible if reliable materials with high nonlinear coefficients can be found.

Quantum master equations from classical Lagrangians with two stochastic forces.

We show how a large family of master equations, describing quantum Brownian motion of a harmonic oscillator with translationally invariant damping, can be derived within a phenomenological approach, based on the assumption that an environment can be simulated by two classical stochastic forces. This family is determined by three time-dependent correlation functions (besides the frequency and damping coefficients), and it includes as special cases the known master equations, whose dissipative part is bilinear with respect to the operators of coordinate and momentum.

Universal invariants of quantum-mechanical and optical systems.

We give a brief review of the theory of quantum and optical universal invariants, i.e., certain combinations of the second- and higher-order moments (variances) of quantum-mechanical operators or the transverse phase-space coordinates of optical paraxial beams that are preserved in time (or along the axis of the beam) independently of the concrete form of the coefficients of the Hamiltonian or the parameters of the optical system, provided that the effective Hamiltonian is either a generic quadratic form of the generalized coordinate-momenta operators or a linear combination of generators of certain finite-dimensional algebras. Using the phase-space representation of quantum mechanics (paraxial optics) in terms of the Wigner function, we elucidate the relation between the quantum invariants and the classical universal integral invariants of Poincaré and Cartan. The specific features of the Gaussian beams are discussed as examples.

[Evaluation of the diagnostic value of a modified hemolysis inhibition test in staphylococcal diseases]. / Otsenka diagnosticheskoi znachimosti modifitsirovannoi reaktsii tormozheniia gemoliza pri stafilokokkovykh zabolevaniiakh.

Blood serum samples from 602 healthy adults and 430 patients with suppurative lactation mastitis were studied with the use of the hemolysis inhibition test in the authors' modification, suitable for work with small amounts of blood serum. In most of the healthy adults (80.4%), the content of staphylococcal antitoxin in the blood serum did not exceed 1 antitoxic unit (AU), while in 3/4 of the suppurative mastitis patients a pronounced increase in antibody titers (up to 4--32 AU) was observed. The hemolysis inhibition test may serve as an additional criterion in the diagnosis of staphylococcal infections in adults.

[Microbiologic characteristics of postpartum lactation mastitis]. / Mikrobiologicheskaia kharakteristika poslerodovykh laktatsionnykh mastitov.

In the bacteriological survey of 410 patients with purulent mastitis Staphylococcus aureus was found to be the main etiological factor of the disease. In most cases the strains of phage group I, phage type 80 were isolated. In unilateral mastitis during the acute period staphylococci were isolated from the the milk samples taken from the affected mammary gland in 77.4% of cases, and from the milk samples from the healthy mammary gland in 62.3% of cases. The strains isolated from the milk of both mammary glands and the surgical wound were identical. By the time of clinical convalescence staphylococci could be isolated from the milk of the affected and healthy mammary gland in 21.8% and 10.1% of cases, respectively, and from the surgical wound in 31.5% of cases.

[Characteristics of several epidemiologic features of suppurative-septic diseases of staphylococcal etiology in obstetric institutions]. / Kharakteristika nekotorykh épidemiologicheskikh osobennostei gnoino-septicheskikh zabolevanii stafilokokkovoi étiologii v rodovspomogatel'nykh uchrezhdeniiakh.

The authors studied the frequency of the purulent-septic diseases in puerperants and neonates and the percentage among them of affections of staphylococcus etiology, their seasonal incidence and nidality. The phage-type reference of the strains of staphylococci circulating at the maternity home, and their connection with the staphylococcus carrier state among the personnel and the extent of spread of the purulent-septic diseases was determined. There was revealed an interrelationship between the incidence of recording of the purulent-septic diseases at the maternity home and the level of staphylococcus carrier state among the medical personnel. The sum total positive culture percentage in serous mastitis, endometritis and in case of suture disjunction due to purulent complications was 63.5, and in case of purulent-septic diseases of neonates -- 55--65. Strains belonging to the "epidemic" phage types are widespread at the maternity homes.

[Role of various diseases of the upper respiratory tract in the epidemiological process of streptococcal infections]. / Znachenie nekotorykh zabolevanii verkhnikh dykhatel'nykh putei v epidemicheskom protsesse pri streptokokkovykh infektsiiakh.

Investigations conducted with the use of a specially elaborated method revealed a specific association of some (15--24%) of diseases diagnosed clinically as "acute respiratory affection" (ARA) with streptococcus infection. This was also confirmed by detection of an epidemiological association of ARA with scarlet fever revealed in some child collective bodies. The data obtained pointed to the definite role played by such diseases in the epidemic process in streptococcus infections.

[Characteristics of beta-hemolytic streptococci secreted in children in various climatic zones]. / Kharakteristika beta-gemoliticheskikh streptokokkov, vydelennykh u detei v razlichnykh klimaticheskikh zonakh

A study was made of the level of carrier-state, serological characteristics, virulence and toxigenicity of beta-hemolytic streptococci isolated from children in two towns with a different incidence of scarlet fever located in the contrast climatic zones. It was found that the level of carrier-state of beta-hemolytic streptococci and biological properties of the circulating strains were important factors associated with the incidence of scarlet fever.

[Patterns in the epidemic process of scarlet fever in various territories differing in respect of climate and geography]. / Zakonomernosti épidemicheskogo protsessa pri skarlatine na razlichnykh vlimato-geograficheskim otnoshenii territoriiakh

Observations carried out in Ashkhabad and Petrozavodsk permitted to reveal specific features of the epidemic process in scarlet fever at the territories differing in climato-geographic respect. This was expressed in a different level of morbidity, differences in the character of periodicity, seasonality and age structure of morbidity. Along with this there were noted differences in the spread of the carrier state of hemolytic streptococcus and of their biological properties, and also in the process of immunity formation in the population. The data obtained suggest that one of the causes of epidemiological differences in scarlet fever detected in the southern and the northern districts were peculiarities of the immunological reactivity of the population and a difference in the carrier state of the highly toxigenic streptococci.

[Comparative characteristics of the immunologic structure of children's collectives as regards scarlatina in different climatic zones]. / Sravnitel'naia kharakteristika immunologicheskoi struktury detskikh kollektivov v otnoshenii skarlatiny v raznykh klimaticheskikh zonakh

An immunological study (in respect to scarlet fever) of children in children's collective bodies was conducted in 1971-1972 simultaneously in two towns-Ashkhabad and Petrozavodsk located in the contrast climatic zones. Results of Dick's test and passive hemagglutination test indicated no significant differences in the level and intensity of antitoxic immunity in children of both cities; only during the autumn period, corresponding to the seasonal increase in the incidence of scarler fever in Ashkabad, the number of immune children in this town proved to be greater than in Petrozavodsk, this being connected with a more active process of "mute" immunization. At the same time differences were revealed in the level and dynamics of antibodies to the leading types of M-antigens of hemolytic streptococci. Consequently, a higher immunological reactivity of the organism in children in Ashkhabad (promoting rapid formation of both the antitoxic and the antimicrobial immunity and limiting of the spread of marked scarlet fever affections) underlied the differences in the level of scarlet fever morbidity in different climatic zones.

[Toxin B and A production by beta-hemolytic streptococci isolated from scarlet fever patients]. / Produktsiia toksina B i A beta-gemoliticheskimi streptokokkami, vydelennymi ot bol'nykh skarlatinoi

This work was aimed at the study of the frequency of isolation of beta-hemolytic streptococci from the patients suffering from scarlet fever, producing A and B toxins. Toxigenicity of the microbes was studied in the indirect agglutination test. In 68.4 per cent of cases there were isolate streptococci producing toxin A, and in 22.8 per cent--toxin B. The percentage of strongly toxigenic A-strains constituted 28.2, and of B-strains--0.6. The greatest incidence of the A and B toxigenic streptococci was observed during the autumn-winter period. Among the strains of the 4th--"leading" serological type there were the greatest number of the A-toxigenic variants, and among the streptococci belonging to the I serological type--of the B-toxigenic strains.

[Antibodies to erythrogenic toxin B in scarlatina patients]. / Issledovanie antitel k éritogennomu toksinu B u bol'nykh skarlatinoi

Coupled sera of 240 children suffering from scarlet fever obtained on the 1st-5th and 12th-15th days of the disease were examined in the PHA test with the A and B toxins. Antibodies to toxin B were revealed in 63-69% and to toxin A in 60-66% of the sera. In 64.5% of the cases the sera under study reacted simultaneously with both types of the toxin; antibodies to toxin B were contained in higher titres than to toxin A in 1/3 of the sera. The highest antibody titres to toxin B were revealed during summer.