Complex backflow dynamics in nematic liquid crystals

Received December 31, 2001 / Published online May 21, 2002     

Isotrope Unterräume rationaler quadratischer Formen

Ohne ZusammenfassungDiese Arbeit wurde während eines Aufenthaltes von Schmidt in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland als Preisträger der Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung geschrieben.     

Butyltins in california river and lake marina waters

Butyltins were analyzed in waters from California river and lake marinas and were detected at the part per trillion (ppt) level in most locations. The tributyltin:dibutyltin (TBT/DBT) ratios in the fresh waters were similar to those in their saline counterparts indicating like rates of degradation in the two salinity regimes.     

On Gittins’ index theorem in continuous time

We give a new and comparably short proof of Gittins’ index theorem for dynamic allocation problems of the multi-armed bandit type in continuous time under minimal assumptions. This proof gives a complete characterization of optimal allocation strategies as those policies which follow the current leader among the Gittins indices while ensuring that a Gittins index is at an all-time low whenever the associated project is not worked on exclusively. The main tool is a representation property of Gittins index processes which allows us to show that these processes can be chosen to be pathwise lower semi-continuous from the right and quasi-lower semi-continuous from the left. Both regularity properties turn out to be crucial for our characterization and the construction of optimal allocation policies.     

Material tensor parameters of LiNbO3 relevant for electro- and elasto-optics

The complete set of self-consistent parameters of nominally undoped LiNbO₃ crystals of congruent composition that describe the electro-optic, piezoelectric, elasto-optic, elastic, and dielectric response has been determined by numerically evaluating available measurements. The parameters were determined at room temperature and consist of the low-frequency clamped dielectric constants ε^S _ij, elastic stiffness constants at constant electric field C^E _ijkl, piezoelectric stress coefficients e_ijk, elasto-optic constants at constant electric field p^E _ijkl, and clamped electro-optic coefficients r^S _ijk. It is shown that the complete set is required for calculating the effective electro-optic coefficients and dielectric constants in photorefractive applications of LiNbO₃. Received: 4 January 2002 / Revised version: 1 February 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002     

The treatment of nonhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions by thep-version of the finite element method

Summary The paper addresses the problem of the implementation of nonhomogeneous essential Dirichlet type boundary conditions in thep-version of the finite element method.Partially supported by the Office of Naval Research under Grant N-00014-85-K-0169Research partially supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Systems Command, USAF, under Grant Number AFOSR 85-0322     

Rail vs truck transport of biomass

This study analyzes the economics of transshipping biomass from truck to train in a North American setting. Transshipment will only be economic when the cost per unit distance of a second transportation mode is less than the original mode. There is an optimum number of transshipment terminals which is related to biomass yield. Transshipment incurs incremental fixed costs, and hence there is a minimum shipping distance for rail transport above which lower costs/km offset the incremental fixed costs. For transport by dedicated unit train with an optimum number of terminals, the minimum economic rail shipping distance for straw is 170 km, and for boreal forest harvest residue wood chips is 145 km. The minimum economic shipping distance for straw exceeds the biomass draw distance for economically sized centrally located power plants, and hence the prospects for rail transport are limited to cases in which traffic congestion from truck transport would otherwise preclude project development. Ideally, wood chip transport costs would be lowered by rail transshipment for an economically sized centrally located power plant, but in a specific case in Alberta, Canada, the layout of existing rail lines precludes a centrally located plant supplied by rail, whereas a more versatile road system enables it by truck. Hence for wood chips as well as straw the economic incentive for rail transport to centrally located processing plants is limited. Rail transshipment may still be preferred in cases in which road congestion precludes truck delivery, for example as result of community objections.