Nonlinear forced vibration of strain gradient microbeams

In this paper, the strain gradient theory, a non-classical continuum theory able to capture the size effect happening in micro-scale structures, is employed in order to investigate the size-dependent nonlinear forced vibration of Euler–Bernoulli microbeams. The nonlinearities are caused by mid-plane stretching and nonlinear external forces such as van-der-Waals force. The nonlinear governing equations of the microbeams are solved analytically utilizing the perturbation techniques. The primary, super-harmonic and sub-harmonic resonances of a microbeam are studied and the size-dependency of the frequency responses is assessed. The results indicate that the nonlinear forced vibration behavior of microbeams is size-dependent and the ratio of the microbeam thickness to the material length scale parameter, an additional material property appearing in the strain gradient theory, plays an important role.     

On the Kirchhoff index of some toroidal lattices

The resistance distance is a novel distance function on a graph proposed by Klein and Randi? [D.J. Klein and M. Randi?, Resistance distance, J. Math. Chem. 12 (1993), pp. 81–85]. The Kirchhoff index of a graph G is defined as the sum of resistance distances between all pairs of vertices of G. In this article, based on the result by Gutman and Mohar [I. Gutman and B. Mohar, The quasi-Wiener and the Kirchhoff indices coincide, J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci. 36 (1996), pp. 982–985], we compute the Kirchhoff index of the square, 8.8.4, hexagonal and triangular lattices, respectively.     

Alternative approach to the optimality of the threshold strategy for spectrally negative Lévy processes

Consider the optimal dividend problem for an insurance company whose uncontrolled surplus precess evolves as a spectrally negative Levy process. We assume that dividends are paid to the shareholders according to admissible strategies whose dividend rate is bounded by a constant. The objective is to find a dividend policy so as to maximize the expected discounted value of dividends which are paid to the shareholders until the company is ruined. In this paper, we show that a threshold strategy （also called refraction strategy） forms an optimal strategy under the condition that the Levy measure has a completely monotone density.     

Regular Solution and Lattice Miura Transformation of Bigraded Toda Hierarchy

The authors give finite dimensional exponential solutions of the bigraded Toda hierarchy （BTH）. As a specific example of exponential solutions of the BTH, the authors consider a regular solution for the （1, 2）-BTH with a 3 × 3-sized Lax matrix, and discuss some geometric structures of the solution from which the difference between the （1, 2）- BTH and the original Toda hierarchy is shown. After this, the authors construct another kind of Lax representation of （N, 1）-BTH which does not use the fractional operator of Lax operator. Then the authors introduce the lattice Miura transformation of （N, 1）-BTH which leads to equations depending on one field, and meanwhile some specific examples which contain the Volterra lattice equation （a useful ecological competition model） are given.     

Nonlinear free vibration of nanotube with small scale effects embedded in viscous matrix

In this paper, the nonlinear free vibration of the nanotube with damping effects is studied. Based on the nonlocal elastic theory and Hamilton principle, the governing equation of the nonlinear free vibration for the nanotube is obtained. The Galerkin method is employed to reduce the nonlinear equation with the integral and partial differential characteristics into a nonlinear ordinary differential equation. Then the relation is solved by the multiple scale method and the approximate analytical solution is derived. The nonlinear vibration behaviors are discussed with the effects of damping, elastic matrix stiffness, small scales and initial displacements. From the results, it can be observed that the nonlinear vibration can be reduced by the matrix damping. The elastic matrix stiffness has significant influences on the nonlinear vibration properties. The nonlinear behaviors can be changed by the small scale effects, especially for the structure with large initial displacement.     

Zero-Semidistributive Inverse Semigroups

An inverse semigroup S is said to be 0-semidistributive if its lattice ?F (S) of full inverse subsemigroups is 0-semidistributive. We show that it is sufficient to study simple inverse semigroups which are not groups. Our main theorem states that such a simple inverse semigroup S is 0-semidistributive if and only if (1) S is E-unitary, (2) S is aperiodic, (3) for any a,b ∈ S/σ with ab ≠ 1, there exist nonzero integers n and m such that (ab) ^m  = a ⁿ or (ab) ^m  = b ⁿ , where σ is the minimum group congruence on S.     

Optimised Dirac operators on the lattice: construction,properties and applications

We review a number of topics related to block variable renormalisation group transformations of quantum fields on the lattice, and to the emerging perfect lattice actions. We first illustrate this procedure by considering scalar fields. Then we proceed to lattice fermions, where we discuss perfect actions for free fields, for the Gross‐Neveu model and for a supersymmetric spin model. We also consider the extension to perfect lattice perturbation theory, in particular regarding the axial anomaly and the quark gluon vertex function. Next we deal with properties and applications of truncated perfect fermions, and their chiral correction by means of the overlap formula. This yields a formulation of lattice fermions, which combines exact chiral symmetry with an optimisation of further essential properties. We summarise simulation results for these so‐called overlap‐hypercube fermions in the two‐flavour Schwinger model and in quenched QCD. In the latter framework we establish a link to Chiral Perturbation Theory, both, in the p‐regime and in the ϵ‐regime. In particular we present an evaluation of the leading Low Energy Constants of the chiral Lagrangian – the chiral condensate and the pion decay constant – from QCD simulations with extremely light quarks.     

Large‐scale production of nitrogen‐ and oxygen‐containing activated carbon microspheres for supercapacitors

A main issue in the production of robust supercapacitors is the creation of efficient and cost‐effective electrodes. We present here the realization of a kind of nitrogen‐ and oxygen‐containing activated carbon microspheres made from divinylbenzene, diallyl phthalate, and acrylonitrile monomers, which can be produced on a large scale for use in supercapacitors. The supercapacitor's performance is optimized by adjusting the carbonization temperature of the microspheres. Our preliminary result shows that the supercapacitor displays a maximum capacitance of 300 F/g at the current density of 1.0 A/g and retains ~82% of the capacitance after 10,000 charge–discharge cycles.     

Is the reliability of a visual analog scale higher than an ordinal scale? An experiment with the GRBAS scale for the perceptual evaluation of dysphonia

Perceptual evaluation of 14 pathological voices was performed by 29 listeners using the GRBAS scale. To evaluate scale effects on the judgments, 2 versions of the scale were presented: the original 4-point scale and a visual analog scale. Each listener used the same voice samples for both versions of the scale with an interval of 2 weeks. Agreement was found to be higher with the original 4-point scale than with the visual analog version for all scale items G, R, B, A and S. Although a visual analog scale seems to enable a finer judgment of voice quality, this study showed that, with increased freedom of judgment, the interrater agreement decreased considerably. Therefore, we recommend the use of the original 4-point version of the GRBAS scale.