Resistance of nondiffracting vortex beam against amplitude and phase perturbations

The revival of the nondiffracting vortex beam after its interaction with the 2D on axis obstacle is examined. We show that the phase topology and the spatial distribution of the orbital angular momentum of the beam transmitted through the obstacle regenerate to the initial form during further free propagation. We verify that the healing effect appears even if the interaction is accompanied by the exchange of the orbital angular momentum.     

The Implications of Cognitive-style Findings for Operational Research

Cognitive style refers to differences that can be perceived in individuals due to differing cognitive structures. There has been a large amount of research on how cognitive style affects managerial decision-making, particularly in the context of management information systems, but little or no attempt to relate these findings to operational research. This paper reviews the findings of cognitive-style research from the perspective of operational research, and draws a number of useful inferences concerning the matching of OR aids to managers, the presentation of information and recommendations, the use and acceptance of OR, and the structure of OR groups. Further, it is argued that cognitive-style findings help to give a justification to the move towards ‘soft’ approaches to analysis.     

Evaluating the Efficiency of US Air Force Real-Property Maintenance Activities

The objective of this research is to evaluate a new methodology, data envelopment analysis (DEA), as a tool for measuring and evaluating the operational efficiency of US Air Force organizations. This study involves the application of DEA to locate possible inefficiencies in the performance of US Air Force real-property maintenance activities. Dynamic behaviour, as exhibited via window analyses, is reviewed along with static counterparts. The testing was done in close coordination with Air Force officials, who reviewed the results for accuracy, validity and relevance. We conclude that this type of efficiency analysis does have value for the Air Force, where it can serve as a guide to auditors, budget programmers, managers and others in measuring, evaluating and enhancing operational efficiency.     

Negative molecular ions of azafullerenes and their hydrogenated derivatives

The formation and decay of negative molecular ions of azafullerenes and their hydrogenated derivatives are investigated by mass spectrometry. The mechanisms of resonant electron capture and the lifetimes of negative molecular ions with respect to the electron autodetachment in azafullerene molecules are discussed. A comparative analysis of the data obtained for azafullerenes and hydrogenated fullerene derivatives is carried out.     

Effects of signal-to-noise ratio, signal periodicity, and degree of hearing impairment on the performance of voice-separation algorithms

Procedures for enhancing the intelligibility of a target talker in the presence of a co-channel competing talker were evaluated in tests involving (i) continuously voiced sentences spoken on a monotone, (ii) continuously voiced sentences with time-varying intonation, and (iii) noncontinuously voiced sentences produced with natural intonation. The procedures were based on the methods of harmonic selection and cepstral filtering [R.J. Stubbs and Q. Summerfield, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, 359-372 (1990)]. Target and competing voices were combined at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) between -10 dB and +10 dB. Subjects were a group with normal hearing and a heterogeneous group with mild-moderate cochlear hearing impairments. Processing enhanced the target voice over a range of SNRs for each type of sentence and for most listeners. Enhancement was greatest at negative SNRs. Among the impaired listeners, benefit was generally greater for those with milder losses. These results consolidate and extend previous demonstrations that voice-separation algorithms that exploit the harmonic structure of the voiced portions of speech can enhance intelligibility. However, practical application of such algorithms depends on a solution to the problem of tracking the fundamental-frequency contour of one voice in the presence of a competing voice.     

Applying Stochastic Algorithms to a Locomotive Scheduling Problem

This paper addresses a problem common to all railway networks. Given a fixed train timetable and locomotives (or other forms of traction) of various types, each train must be allocated a locomotive. This paper examines the use of stochastic algorithms for such a problem. Two types of algorithm are used—a simple ‘local improvement’ method, performed successively from randomly chosen starting points, and a ‘simulated annealing’ approach. Both are found to give considerably better results than a deterministic method in current use, and the annealing approach is probably the better stochastic method.     

面心立方晶体外延膜沉积生长中失配位错的结构与形成过程

用分子动力学方法对5%负失配条件下面心立方晶体铝薄膜的原子沉积外延生长进行了三维模拟.铝原子间的相互作用采用嵌入原子法(EAM)多体势计算.模拟结果再现了失配位错的形成现象.分析表明，失配位错在形成之初即呈现为Shockley扩展位错，即由两个伯格斯矢量为〈211〉/6的部分位错和其间的堆垛层错组成，两个部分位错的间距、即层错宽度为1.8 nm,与理论计算结果一致；外延晶体薄膜沉积生长中，位错对会发生滑移，但其间距保持稳定.进一步观察发现，该扩展位错产生于一种类似于“局部熔融-重结晶”的表层局部无序紊乱- 关键词： 失配位错 外延生长 薄膜 分子动力学 铝     

On the Density-Density Critical Indices¶in Interacting Fermi Systems

The behaviour of correlation functions of d=1$ interacting fermionic systems is determined by a small number of critical indices. We prove that one of them is exactly zero. As a consequence, the behavior of the Fourier transform of the density-density correlation at zero momentum is qualitatively unaffected by the interaction, contrary to what happens at , if is the Fermi momentum. The result is obtained by implementing Ward identities in a Renormalization Group approach. Received: 12 November 2001 / Accepted: 25 February 2002?Published online: 2 October 2002     

The study and applications of photochemical-dynamical gravity wave model II

A nonlinear, compressible, non-isothermal gravity wave model that involves photochemistry is used to study the effects of gravity wave on atmospheric chemical species distributions in this paper. The changes in the distributions of oxygen compound and hydrogen compound density induced by gravity wave propagation are simulated. The results indicate that when a gravity wave propagates through a mesopause region, even if it does not break, it can influence the background distributions of chemical species. The effect of gravity wave on chemical species at night is larger than in daytime.     

Relationship between chemical bond parameters and superconducting temperature in HgBa2Can−1CunO2n+2+δ (n=1, 2, 3, 4)

Bond covalency and valence of elements in HgBa₂Ca_n−1Cu_nO_2n+2+δ (n=1, 2, 3, 4) were calculated and their relationship with T_c was discussed. For both oxygen and argon annealed samples, the results indicated that with the increase of n, the trend of bond covalency of Hg-O and Cu-O was the same or opposite compared with that of superconducting temperature. This may suggest that the magnitudes of Cu-O and Hg-O bond covalency are important in governing the superconducting temperature. For the highest T_c sample, Hg had the lowest valence, implying that lower valence of Hg was preferred in order to produce higher T_c. For fixed n, the valence of Cu in oxygen annealed samples was larger than that in argon annealed samples, indicating that oxygen annealed samples produced more carriers than argon annealed samples.