Kinetics of phenol hydrogenation over supported palladium catalyst

Kinetics of vapor phase hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone over Pd/MgO system has been studied in a flow microreactor under normal atmospheric pressure. The reaction rate is found to be negative order with respect to the partial pressure of phenol and has increased from −0.5 to 0.5 with increasing temperature (473 to 563 K). The apparent activation energy (E_a) of the process is found to be close to 65 kJ per mol. On the basis of kinetic results a surface mechanism is proposed.     

Scheduling orders for multiple product types to minimize total weighted completion time

We consider the problem of scheduling orders for multiple different product types in an environment with m dedicated machines in parallel. The objective is to minimize the total weighted completion time. Each product type is produced by one and only one of the m dedicated machines; that is, each machine is dedicated to a specific product type. Each order has a weight and may also have a release date. Each order asks for certain amounts of various different product types. The different products for an order can be produced concurrently. Preemptions are not allowed. Even when all orders are available at time 0, the problem has been shown to be strongly NP-hard for any fixed number (?2) of machines. This paper focuses on the design and analysis of efficient heuristics for the case without release dates. Occasionally, however, we extend our results to the case with release dates. The heuristics considered include some that have already been proposed in the literature as well as several new ones. They include various static and dynamic priority rules as well as two more sophisticated LP-based algorithms. We analyze the performance bounds of the priority rules and of the algorithms and present also an in-depth comparative analysis of the various rules and algorithms. The conclusions from this empirical analysis provide insights into the trade-offs with regard to solution quality, speed, and memory space.     

Convergence rates for Markov chain order estimates using EDC criterion

The Efficient Determination Criterion (EDC) generalizes the AIC and BIC criteria and provides a class of consistent estimators for the order of a Markov chain with finite state space. In this note, we derive rates of convergence for the EDC estimates. *Partially supported by CNPq, CAPES/PROCAD, FAPDF/PRONEX, FINATEC and FUNPE/UnB. **Partially supported by CAPES.     

Analysis of atomic arrangement in magnetic Fe–Pt nanoparticles

The order parameter S of Fe–Pt nanoparticles is estimated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. The total intensity of a diffraction peak is obtained by Rietveld analysis as well as simply integrating the intensity. The Rietveld analysis is found to provide a plausible value of S even for a sample showing an XRD pattern with broad and overlapped peaks. Another order parameter Q, which is obtained from Mössbauer spectra, is introduced, and it is confirmed that Q is equivalent to the probability of Fe atoms being in the L1₀-type atomic arrangement. The coercivity of Fe–Pt nanoparticles is directly proportional to Q, while it vanishes at S=0.4, indicating that the magnetic property of Fe–Pt nanoparticles has a closer relationship to Q than S.     

DISTRIBUTION OF THE（0，∞）ACCUMULATIVE LINES OF MEROMORPHIC FUNCTIONS

Suppose that f(z)is a meromorphic function of order λ（0<λ<+∞）and of lower order μ in the plane.Let ρ be a positive number such that μ≤ρ≤λ.(1)If f^(l)(z)(0≤l<+∞）has p(1≤p<+∞）finite nonzero deficient valnes αi(i=1,…，p)with deficiencies δ（αi,f^(l)),then f(z)has a (0,∞）accumulative line of order ≥ρin any angular domain whose vertex is at the origin and whose magnitude is larger than max(π/ρ，2π-4/ρ ∑i=1^p arcsin √δ（αi,f^(l))/2).(2)If f(z) has only p(0<p<+∞）（0,∞）,accumulative lines of order≥ρ：arg z=θk(0≤θ1<θ2<…<θp<2π，θp+1=θ1+2π）,then λ≤π/ω，where ω=min I≤k≤p(θk+1-θk),provided that f^(l)(z)(0≤l<+∞）has a finite nonzero deficient value.     

Convergence rate of the best-r-point-average estimator for the maximizer of a nonparametric regression function

The best-r-point-average (BRPA) estimator of the maximizer of a regression function, proposed in Changchien (in: M.T. Chao, P.E. Cheng (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1990 Taipei Symposium in Statistics, June 28–30, 1990, pp. 63–78) has certain merits over the estimators derived through the estimation of the regression function. Some of the properties of the BRPA estimator have been studied in Chen et al. (J. Multivariate Anal. 57 (1996) 191) and Bai and Huang (Sankhya: Indian J. Statist. Ser. A. 61 (Pt. 2) (1999) 208–217). In this article, we further study the properties of the BRPA estimator and give its convergence rate under some quite general conditions. Simulation results are presented for the illustration of the convergence rate. Some comparisons with existing estimators such as the Müller estimator are provided.     

Two-point AG codes from the Beelen-Montanucci maximal curve

In this paper we investigate two-point algebraic-geometry codes (AG codes) coming from the Beelen-Montanucci (BM) maximal curve. We study properties of certain two-point Weierstrass semigroups of the curve and use them for determining a lower bound on the minimum distance of such codes. AG codes with better parameters with respect to comparable two-point codes from the Garcia-Güneri-Stichtenoth (GGS) curve are discovered.     

Inside the Solvency 2 Black Box: Net Asset Values and Solvency Capital Requirements with a least-squares Monte-Carlo approach

The calculation of Net Asset Values and Solvency Capital Requirements in a Solvency 2 context–and the derivation of sensitivity analyses with respect to the main financial and actuarial risk drivers–is a complex procedure at the level of a real company, where it is illusory to be able to rely on closed-form formulas. The most general approach to performing these computations is that of nested simulations. However, this method is also hardly realistic because of its huge computation resources demand. The least-squares Monte Carlo method has recently been suggested as a way to overcome these difficulties. The present paper confirms that using this method is indeed relevant for Solvency 2 computations at the level of a company.     

Second Order Optimality Conditions for Problems with Continuously Differentiable Data

In this note, by making use of the concept of unbounded approximate Hessian matrices, we present second order optimality conditions for a constrained mathematical programming problem with data whose gradient map is continuous, but not necessarily locally Lipschitz.