An approach to determine the stable interval of the constant term of a characteristic equation

In this paper, an approach is introduced to determine the stable interval of the constant term of a characteristic equation by using the theory of extended graphical representation of polynomials. Because the constant a_n itself is not taken into account and because this method is to get a stable interval of a_n, not merely to make a stability test for a set of known coefficients, this method of stability criteria has some advantages over the others. The interval of a_n can be obtained from the calculation of some algebraical expressions when n10, where n is the degree of the characteristic equation. It is very convenient to calculate for the cases n=5 and n=6. When n11, this interval can be found only by the method of numerical solutions.     

A comparative study of crack propagation models for PMMA and PVC

An analysis of examining the validity of a unified approach proposed earlier by the authors for the fatigue crack propagation (FCP) of engineering materials to include PMMA and PVC is described. The proposed formulation has been shown capable of characterizing a diversified range of materials with a master FCP diagram and expressed as da/dN = A(ΔG)^m/(G_c − G_max).An experimental program is undertaken to measure fatigue growth rate with the standard compact tension specimen. The FCP results are for the first instance analysed for each material using the unified formulation. The validity of the formulation for producing a master FCP diagram is verified when the fatigue crack growth rates of the materials are successfully characterized in one master diagram, yielding an excellent coefficient of correlation of 0.993. No such success is attained using a number of conventional FCP laws considered most acceptable to characterize polymeric materials.     

On periodic solutions of nonlinear integral equations modelling infectious disease on measure chain

The modelling of the spread of infectious disease is carried out for time t on a measure chain T. Our approach unifies the continuous case and the discrete case . The model is described by the integral equation

where x(t) represents the proportion of the population infected at time t, f(t,x(t)) denotes the proportion of the population newly infected per unit time, and τ is the length of time an individual remains infectious. Using the measure chain calculus, we shall develop criteria for the existence of a nontrivial and nonnegative periodic solution for the modelling equation. The criteria can be implemented numerically, for this we shall give an algorithm as well as illustrative examples.     

Equilibrium Problems with Applications to Eigenvalue Problems

In this paper, we consider equilibrium problems and introduce the concept of (S)₊ condition for bifunctions. Existence results for equilibrium problems with the (S)₊ condition are derived. As special cases, we obtain several existence results for the generalized nonlinear variational inequality studied by Ding and Tarafdar (Ref. 1) and the generalized variational inequality studied by Cubiotti and Yao (Ref. 2). Finally, applications to a class of eigenvalue problems are given.     

The Nature of Community OR

This paper outlines the results of a study undertaken to investigate the nature of Community Operational Research (COR). The objective was to contact the people involved in COR through a series of personal interviews and a questionnaire survey, in order to clarify many of the issues that have emerged within the profession relating to the practice of OR within the community and voluntary sector. A total of 20 individuals were successfully contacted, and they have been responsible for at least two-thirds of the projects in the COR area.     

Random fields in the diluted Ising system Fe1−xMgxCl2

We discuss how random fields (RFs) are generated in uniaxial random antiferromagnets by applied fields and report a systematic specific heat study on the three-dimensional (3-D) system Fe_1?xMg_xCl₂ to demonstrate their effects. The RF crossover exponent ø is determined by measuring the shape of the phase boundary in the TH plane and we obtain ø=1.26 ± 0.10, in agreement with theoretical prediction. Drastic changes in the shape of the specific anomaly are observed. We argue that they are due to the temperature dependence of the random fields.