Sol-gel synthesis of ZnO/Zn<Subscript>2-x</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>x</Subscript>TiO<Subscript>4</Subscript> powders: structural properties,electrical conductivity and dielectric behavior

The aim of this work was an investigation of structural and electrical properties of ZnO/Zn_2-xFe_xTiO₄ (x?=?0.7, 1, 1.4) powders. The compounds obtained by sol-gel method are characterized by several techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrical and dielectrical measurements. The XRD, SEM and XPS analysis confirmed the formation of ZnFeTiO₄ inverse spinel structure. The electrical and dielectrical properties of ZnO/Zn_2-xFe_xTiO₄ (x?=?0.7, 1, 1.4) were measured by impedance spectroscopy, revealing a decrease in the electrical conductivity and the dielectric constant with Fe content.

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Discriminantal arrangement, 3 × 3 minors of Plücker matrix and hypersurfaces in Grassmannian Gr(3,n)

We show that points in specific degree-2 hypersurfaces in the Grassmannian $Gr(3,n)$ correspond to generic arrangements of n hyperplanes in ${\mathbb{C}}^3$ with associated discriminantal arrangement having intersections of multiplicity three in codimension two.     

Feedback Stabilization for a Scalar Conservation Law with PID Boundary Control

This paper deals with a scalar conservation law in 1-D space dimension, and in particular, the focus is on the stability analysis for such an equation. The problem of feedback stabilization under proportional-integral-derivative (PID for short) boundary control is addressed. In the proportional-integral (PI for short) controller case, by spectral analysis, the authors provide a complete characterization of the set of stabilizing feedback parameters, and determine the corresponding time delay stability interval. Moreover, the stability of the equilibrium is discussed by Lyapunov function techniques, and by this approach the exponential stability when a damping term is added to the classical PI controller scheme is proved. Also, based on Pontryagin results on stability for quasipolynomials, it is shown that the closed-loop system subject to PID control is always unstable.     

Perturbation Method for Particle-like Solutions of the Einstein–Dirac Equations

The aim of this work is to prove by a perturbation method the existence of solutions of the coupled Einstein–Dirac equations for a static, spherically symmetric system of two fermions in a singlet spinor state. We relate the solutions of our equations to those of the nonlinear Choquard equation and we show that the nondegenerate solution of Choquard’s equation generates solutions of the Einstein–Dirac equations.     

A brand new cheating attempt: a case of usurped identity

We recall some cases of ethical misconduct that occurred in the recent years, and we report a new trick that was recently attempted to cheat the journal in order to obtain the publication of an article through usurped identity.     

Packing into the smallest square: Worst-case analysis of lower bounds

We address the problem of packing a given set of rectangles into the minimum size square. We consider three versions of the problem, arising when the rectangles (i) are squares; (ii) have a fixed orientation; (iii) can be rotated by 90. For each case we study lower bounds, and analyze their worst-case performance ratio. In addition, we evaluate through computational experiments their average performance on instances from the literature.     

Variational technique and principal solution in half-linear oscillation criteria

We investigate oscillatory properties of half-linear differential equations. The investigated half-linear equation is viewed as a perturbation of another (nonoscillatory) equation of the same form and perturbation is allowed both in the absolute term and in the derivative term. First, the Sturmian type theorem for solutions of the associated Riccati equation is established. In the second part of the paper we prove new half-linear oscillation criteria using the variational technique.