Decay solution for the renewal equation with diffusion

In this paper we consider age structured equation with diffusion under nonlocal boundary condition and nonnegative initial data. We prove existence, uniqueness and the positivity of the solution to the above problem. Our main result is to get an exponential decay of the solution for large times toward such a study state. To this end we prove a weighted Poincaré–Wirtinger’s type inequality in unbounded domain.     

The Power of Choice in the Construction of Recursive Trees

The power of choice is known to change the character of random structures and produce desirable optimization effects. We discuss generalizations of random recursive trees, grown under the choice to meet optimization criteria. Specifically, we discuss the random k-minimal (k-maximal) label recursive tree, where a set of k candidate parents, instead of one as in the usual recursive tree, is selected and the node with minimal (maximal) label among them is assigned as parent for the next node. These models are proposed as alternatives for D’Souza et al. (Eur Phys J B59:535–543, 2007) minimal and maximal depth models. The advantage of the label models is that they are tractable and at the same time provide approximations and bounds for the depth models. For the depth of nodes in label models we give the average behavior and exact distributions involving Stirling’s numbers and derive Gaussian limit laws.     

Linear and Bilinear Multiplier Operators for the Dunkl Transform

The main purpose of this article is to study the L _p -boundedness of linear and bilinear multiplier operators for the Dunkl transform in the one dimensional case.     

Improved results on robust exponential stability criteria for neutral-type delayed neural networks

In this paper, we investigate the problem of robust global exponential stability analysis for a class of neutral-type neural networks. The interval time-varying delays allow for both slow and fast time-varying delays. The values of the time-varying uncertain parameters are assumed to be bounded within given compact sets. Improved global exponential stability condition is derived by employing new Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and the integral inequality. The developed nominal and robust stability criteria is delay-dependent and characterized by linear-matrix inequalities (LMIs). The developed results are less conservative than previous published ones in the literature, which are illustrated by representative numerical examples.     

Systems of quasi-variational relations with applications

In this paper, we introduce a system of quasi-variational relations (in short, SQVR) and present several examples which show that it is a very general and unified model of several problems. We establish the existence of solutions of SQVP, in general, and several other problems, in particular. As an application of our results, we derive maximal element theorems and a collectively fixed point theorem for a family of multivalued maps. As further applications, we study Ky Fan type inequality / inclusion problem for vector valued bifunctions which includes constrained Nash equilibrium problem as a special case. We also present a common fixed point theorem for a family of multivalued maps. The results of this paper improve and generalize several known results on (system of) quasi-equilibrium problems, (system of) quasi-variational inclusions, constrained Nash equilibrium problem, collectively fixed point theorem and KKM type theorems for a family of multivalued maps. Our results also contain several results which appeared in recent literature.     

Free vibration analysis of linear particle chain impact damper

Impact dampers have gained much research interest over the past decades that resulted in several analytical and experimental studies being conducted in that area. The main emphasis of such research was on developing and enhancing these popular passive control devices with an objective of decreasing the three parameters of contact forces, accelerations, and noise levels. To that end, the authors of this paper have developed a novel impact damper, called the Linear Particle Chain (LPC) impact damper, which mainly consists of a linear chain of spherical balls of varying sizes. The LPC impact damper was designed utilizing the kinetic energy of the primary system through placing, in the chain arrangement, a small-sized ball between each two large-sized balls. The concept of the LPC impact damper revolves around causing the small-sized ball to collide multiple times with the larger ones upon exciting the primary system. This action is believed to lead to the dissipation of part of the kinetic energy at each collision with the large balls.     

Effective synthesis of carbon nanotubes via catalytic decomposition of methane: Influence of calcination temperature on metal–support interaction of Co–Mo/MgO catalyst

The present work investigated the influence of calcination temperature for bimetallic Co–Mo/MgO catalyst on the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) via catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) of methane. The experimental results showed that variation in the catalyst calcination temperature affected carbon yield, diameter distribution and quality of the CNTs. Increasing the catalyst calcination temperature enabled Co–Mo/MgO catalysts in growing CNTs at higher yield, narrower diameter distribution and better degree of graphitization, credited to the strong metal–support interaction (MSI) formed between CoO species and MgO support. We also discovered that the catalysts of weak MSI were beneficial to the nucleation and growth of CNTs, meanwhile the catalysts with strong MSI provoked the growth of CNTs with narrow diameter distribution. The catalyst calcined at 700 °C, possessing moderate MSI, was found to be the most suitable catalyst for the growth of high quality CNTs with the diameter of 7.70±0.77 nm and the carbon yield of as high as 647.4%.     

Fitting of two-tensor models without ad hoc assumptions to detect crossing fibers using clinical DWI data

Analysis of crossing fibers is a challenging topic in recent diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Resolving crossing fibers is expected to bring major changes to present tractography results based on the standard tensor model. Model free approaches, like Q-ball or diffusion spectrum imaging, as well as multi-tensor models are used to unfold the different diffusion directions mixed in a voxel of DWI data. Due to its seeming simplicity, the two-tensor model (TTM) is applied frequently to provide two positive-definite tensors and the relative population fraction modeling two crossing fiber branches. However, problems with uniqueness and noise instability are apparent. To stabilize the fit, several of the 13 physical parameters are fixed ad hoc, before fitting the model to the data. Our analysis of the TTM aims at fitting procedures where ad hoc parameters are avoided. Revealing sources of instability, we show that the model's inherent ambiguity can be reduced to one scalar parameter which only influences the fraction and the eigenvalues of the TTM, whereas the diffusion directions are not affected. Based on this, two fitting strategies are proposed: the parsimonious strategy detects the main diffusion directions without extra parameter fixation, to determine the eigenvalues and the population fraction an empirically motivated condition must be added. The expensive strategy determines all 13 physical parameters of the TTM by a fit to DWIs alone; no additional assumption is necessary. Ill-posedness of the model in case of noisy data is cured by denoising of the data and by L-curve regularization combined with global minimization performing a least-squares fit of the full model. By model simulations and real data applications, we demonstrate the feasibility of our fitting strategies and achieve convincing results. Using clinically affordable diffusion acquisition paradigms (encoding numbers: 21, 2*15, 2*21) and b values (b = 500–1500 s/mm²), this methodology can place the TTM parameters involved in crossing fibers on a more empirical basis than fitting procedures with technical assumptions.