The use of an atomizer for chemical pleurodesis

Summary An atomizer had been designed that could create an aerosol of a liquid with high viscosity. The amount of additional driving gas that had to be used was very low. In a cooperation with the University Hospital in Zurich the atomizer was miniaturized and used for treating six patients.     

On the phase space approach to complexity

We elaborate in some detail on a new phase space approach to complexity, due to Y.-C. Zhang. We show in particular that the connection between maximal complexity and power law noise or correlations can be derived from a simple variational principle. For a 1D signal we find 1/f noise, in accordance with Zhang.     

Wrinkle-free solutions in the theory of annular elastic membranes

Rotationally symmetric deformations of a flat annular elastic membrane under a gravitational force are studied, with prescribed radial stresses or horizontal displacements at the edges. The small-finitedeflection theory of Föppl-Hencky as well as a simplified version of Reissner's static first approximation theory of thin shells of revolution are applied which lead to consider a single, second-order, ordinary differential equation for the derivation of the principal stresses in the membrane. Using analytical methods, the range of those boundary data is determined for which the solutions of the differential equation are wrinkle free in the sense that both the radial and the circumferential stress components are nonnegative everywhere.     

On operators and search space topology in multi-objective flow shop scheduling

Multi-objective optimization using evolutionary algorithms identifies Pareto-optimal alternatives or their close approximation by means of a sequence of successive local improvement moves. While several successful applications to combinatorial optimization problems are known, studies of underlying problem structures are still scarce.     

Dynamic percolation in water in oil microemulsions revisited

Microemulsions (dispersions of water droplets, typical radius about 10 nm, in oil) show a particular percolation pattern, a so-called dynamical percolation. Predictions of scaling theory and Monte Carlo simulations were compared with experimental static and frequency dependent conductivity data. The latter gives evidence of two different time scales of charge transport.Dedicated to Professor Harry Thomas on the occasion of his 60th birthday