A family of maximal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski three-space

We prove the existence of an infinite family of complete spacelike maximal surfaces with singularities in Lorentz-Minkowski three-space and study their properties. These surfaces are distinguished by their number of handles and have two elliptic catenoidal ends.

     

Alloy formation in mechanically activated mixtures

The physical mixtures of hydroxocarbonates of Cu and Ni with aluminium were activated using a laboratory planetary mill. The chemical reactions and alloy formations as the effects of grinding were followed by the phase analysis of solid products based on the thermogravimetry and X-ray diffractometry. Experimental evidence indicates that the nature of reactions and products of mechanical activation was dependent on the amount of aluminium and time of grinding. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Regioselective construction of polysubstituted benzene ring from Baylis-Hillman adduct via [4+2] annulation strategy

A new and regioselective [4+2] benzannulation protocol toward polysubstituted benzenes was developed. Nitroalkane derivative, which was prepared from Baylis-Hillman adduct, served as the four-carbon unit and Michael acceptor as a two-carbon unit.     

O− and OH− chemical ionization of some fatty acid methyl esters and triacylglycerols

O^? and OH^? react with fatty acid methyl esters (FAMES) under chemical ionization conditions both as Bronsted bases to form [M - H]^? and as nucleophiles to form the carboxylate ion RCOO^?. O^? shows a much greater tendency to react as a nucleophile than does OH^?. The [M - H]^? ions fragment by elimination of CH³OH, with unsaturation in certain positions in the fatty acid hydrocarbon chain promoting this elimination for unknown reasons. The reaction of O^? and OH^? with triacylglycerols leads to [M - H]^?, characteristic of the molecular mass, and to carboxylate ions characteristic of the fatty acid(s) present in the lipid. The presence of the three ester functions in the lipids greatly enhances the formation of carboxylate ions compared to the FAMES.     

Wilcoxon signed rank test using ranked-set sample

Ranked-set sampling is useful when measurements are destructive or costly to obtain but ranking of the observations is relatively easy. The Wilcoxon signed rank test statistic based on the ranked-set sample is considered. We compared the asymptotic relative efficiencies of the RSS Wilcoxon signed rank test statistic with respect to the SRS Wilcoxon signed rank test statistic and the RSS sign test statistic. Throughout the ARE’s, the proposed test statistic is superior to the SRS Wilcoxon signed rank test statistic and the RSS sign test statistic.     

Fixed Point Theorems on Product Topological Spaces and Applications

A new collectively fixed point theorem for a family of set-valued mappings defined on product spaces of non-compact topological spaces without linear structure is proved and some special cases are also discussed. As applications, some non-empty intersection theorems of sets with convex sections and equilibrium existence theorem of abstract economies are obtained under much weaker assumptions. Our results includes a number of known results as many special cases.     

<Superscript>40</Superscript>K activities and potassium concentrations in tobacco samples of Mexican cigarettes

Nine brands of tobacco cigarettes manufactured and distributed in the Mexican market were analyzed by γ-spectrometry to certify their non-artificial radioactive contamination. Since natural occurring radioactive materials (NORM) ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, ²³⁵U, and ²³⁹U (and decay products from the latter three nuclides) are the main sources for human radiation exposure, the aim of this work was to determine the activity of ⁴⁰K and potassium concentration. Averages of ⁴⁰K and potassium concentration were of 1.29±0.18 Bq·g⁻¹, and 4.0±0.57%. The annual dose equivalents to the whole body from ingestion and inhalation of 26 Bq ⁴⁰K were 0.23 μSv and 15.8 μSv, respectively. The corresponding 50 years committed dose equivalents was 0.23 μSv. The total committed dose to the lungs due to inhalation of ⁴⁰K in tobacco was 16 μSv. Potassium concentrations obtained in this work were in the same range of those obtained by INAA, so showing that the used technique is acute, reproducible, and accessible to laboratories equipped with low background scintillation detectors.     

Strong visible PL from the nc-Si thin film by Ni silicide mediated crystallization

We studied the growth of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin film exhibiting a strong room temperature photoluminescence (PL) at 1.81–2.003 eV. The amorphous silicon was crystallized by Ni silicide mediated crystallization (Ni SMC) and then Secco-etched to exhibit the PL. The PL peak energy and intensity increase with increasing the metal density on the a-Si because of the reduction in the grain size down to 2 nm. The photoluminescence energy and peak intensity depend strongly on the Secco etch time because the grain size is reduced by etching the grain boundaries.     

Positive periodic solution of two-species ratio-dependent predator–prey system with time delay in two-patch environment

In this paper, we are concerned with the existence of positive periodic solution to a class of two-species ratio-dependent predator–prey diffusion model with time delay. By using the continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory, we transform this problem into a problem of calculating the topological degree of a continuous mapping, and then some sufficient conditions of the existence of positive periodic solution is established for the system.