The equation of state of solids

An equation of state for solids, in reduced variables, is obtained within the context of a system-independent formulation of the thermodynamics of high pressures. This formulation is valid for materials obeying a linear relationship between shock and particle velocities. An adequate set of scaling factors for pressure, compression, specific energy, and temperature, is first introduced. A modified Mie-Grüneisen equation, as well as many other thermodynamic relationships and coefficients, are then expressed in terms of reduced variables. Explicit expressions for the temperature along the Hugoniot, and for the equation of state, are obtained. It is also shown that when given in their reduced form, each of the two thermodynamic coefficients appearing in the equation of state can be considered as having the same constant value for many different materials. The possibility and convenience of using a “standard material” is discussed. Numerical results obtained using this reduced variables formalism are in good agreement with those computed or measured, by different authors, for various materials over a wide range of pressures. This is a good indication of the “universality” of the reduced equations obtained, and of the usefulness of the formalism.     

Weak type (1, 1) inequalities of maximal convolution operators

In this paper we study the behavior of the constants which appear in the weak type (1, 1) inequalities for maximal convolution operators by means of discrete methods. One of the first applications of these techniques will give us a very simple proof of the ergodic theorem. We also present partial results in order to investigate the best constant in the weak type (1, 1) inequality for the Hardy-Littlewood centered maximal operator in dimension one. In dimension bigger than one we also obtain some lower bounds for that constant.     

Effect of acetate on ferrihydrite crystallization

Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to follow the aging of ferrihydrite with different amounts of acetate, to achieve more crystalline products. Mössbauer spectra of fresh samples did not show any magnetic components. After two years aging, the solids presented crystalline fractions. Hematite formation was inhibited as acetate content increased in solids. For an acetate/iron molar ratio equal to 0.63 goethite was formed instead of hematite. X-ray diffraction confirmed these results. This work shows that synthetic samples can be used for elucidating the anti-hematitic effect of organic matter already detected in soils.     

Evaluating Individual Market Power in Electricity Markets via Agent-Based Simulation

We use agent-based simulation in a coordination game to analyse the possibility of market power abuse in a competitive electricity market. The context of this was a real application to the England and Wales electricity market as part of a Competition Commission Inquiry into whether two particular generators could profitably influence wholesale prices. The research contributions of this paper are both in the areas of market power and market design policy issues for electricity markets, and in the methodological use of large industry-wide evolutionary simulation models.     

Vector Equilibrium Problems Under Asymptotic Analysis

Given a closed convex set K in Rⁿ; a vector function F:K×K R^m; a closed convex (not necessarily pointed) cone P(x) in ^m with non-empty interior, PP(x) Ø, various existence results to the problemfind xK such that F(x,y)- int P(x) y K under P(x)-convexity/lower semicontinuity of F(x,) and pseudomonotonicity on F, are established. Moreover, under a stronger pseudomonotonicity assumption on F (which reduces to the previous one in case m=1), some characterizations of the non-emptiness of the solution set are given. Also, several alternative necessary and/or sufficient conditions for the solution set to be non-empty and compact are presented. However, the solution set fails to be convex in general. A sufficient condition to the solution set to be a singleton is also stated. The classical case P(x)=^m ₊ is specially discussed by assuming semi-strict quasiconvexity. The results are then applied to vector variational inequalities and minimization problems. Our approach is based upon the computing of certain cones containing particular recession directions of K and F.     

Potential surfaces for time-like geodesics in the Curzon metric

In this paper we deduce the general pattern of the potential surfaces for time-like geodesics in the Curzon metric. We find that for fairly small energies and orbital angular momenta, the time-like geodesics group into two sets; the geodesics of one set tend to thez-axis asR=(r²+z²)^1/2 0,R=0 being a directional singularity, the others tend to ther-axis. At low energies these two sets are detached but they merge together as the energy increases. Stable circular motion is confined to thez = 0-plane and an energy threshold for stationary motion exists and is equal (per unit of rest-mass energy) to 0.945, a value almost indistinguishable from that in the Schwarzschild space-time.     

Accurate singular values and differential qd algorithms

Summary. We have discovered a new implementation of the qd algorithm that has a far wider domain of stability than Rutishauser's version. Our algorithm was developed from an examination of the {Cholesky~LR} transformation and can be adapted to parallel computation in stark contrast to traditional qd. Our algorithm also yields useful a posteriori upper and lower bounds on the smallest singular value of a bidiagonal matrix. The zero-shift bidiagonal QR of Demmel and Kahan computes the smallest singular values to maximal relative accuracy and the others to maximal absolute accuracy with little or no degradation in efficiency when compared with the LINPACK code. Our algorithm obtains maximal relative accuracy for all the singular values and runs at least four times faster than the LINPACK code. Received August 8, 1993/Revised version received May 26, 1993     

Effects of chlorine gas exposure on the optical properties of rhodium phthalocyanine films

We investigated the effects of exposing rhodium phthalocyanine films deposited on glass substrates by the Lagmuir-Blodgett technique to chlorine gas. The visual aspect of the films is altered upon chlorination, changing in color from blue to transparent. We performed optical absorption and Raman Scattering measurements on our films prior to and after exposing it to chlorine gas. We observed a pronounced quenching of the characteristic triplet centered around the Q-absorption band at 662 nm as a result of chlorine incorporation. Another absorption band, in the near UV part of the spectrum, is not greatly affected by the process. No new optical structures appear as a consequence of chlorination. Equivalent effects were observed in the Raman spectra. Leaving the previously exposed films in air for several hours results in a slow partial recovery of the optical spectra. This recovery, as well as the amount of original quenching, depends on the amount of time during which the film was exposed to chlorine.