A Comparative Study on Dynamic and Static Sparsity Patterns in Parallel Sparse Approximate Inverse Preconditioning

Sparse approximate inverse (SAI) techniques have recently emerged as a new class of parallel preconditioning techniques for solving large sparse linear systems on high performance computers. The choice of the sparsity pattern of the SAI matrix is probably the most important step in constructing an SAI preconditioner. Both dynamic and static sparsity pattern selection approaches have been proposed by researchers. Through a few numerical experiments, we conduct a comparable study on the properties and performance of the SAI preconditioners using the different sparsity patterns for solving some sparse linear systems. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Kinetics of phenyl radical reactions with propane,n‐butane,n‐hexane,and n‐octane: Reactivity of C6H5 toward the secondary C?H bond of alkanes

The kinetics of C₆H₅ reactions with n‐C_nH_2n+2 (n = 3, 4, 6, 8) have been studied by the pulsed laser photolysis/mass spectrometric method using C₆H₅COCH₃ as the phenyl precursor at temperatures between 494 and 1051 K. The rate constants were determined by kinetic modeling of the absolute yields of C₆H₆ at each temperature. Another major product C₆H₅CH₃ formed by the recombination of C₆H₅ and CH₃ could also be quantitatively modeled using the known rate constant for the reaction. A weighted least‐squares analysis of the four sets of data gave k (C₃H₈) = (1.96 ± 0.15) × 10¹¹ exp[?(1938 ± 56)/T], and k (n‐C₄H₁₀) = (2.65 ± 0.23) × 10¹¹ exp[?(1950 ± 55)/T] k (n‐C₆H₁₄) = (4.56 ± 0.21) × 10¹¹ exp[?(1735 ± 55)/T], and k (n?C₈H₁₈) = (4.31 ± 0.39) × 10¹¹ exp[?(1415 ± 65)T] cm³ mol^?1 s^?1 for the temperature range studied. For the butane and hexane reactions, we have also applied the CRDS technique to extend our temperature range down to 297 K; the results obtained by the decay of C₆H₅ with CRDS agree fully with those determined by absolute product yield measurements with PLP/MS. Weighted least‐squares analyses of these two sets of data gave rise to k (n?C₄H₁₀) = (2.70 ± 0.15) × 10¹¹ exp[?(1880 ± 127)/T] and k (n?C₆H₁₄) = (4.81 ± 0.30) × 10¹¹ exp[?(1780 ± 133)/T] cm³ mol^?1 s^?1 for the temperature range 297‐‐1046 K. From the absolute rate constants for the two larger molecular reactions (C₆H₅ + n‐C₆H₁₄ and n‐C₈H₁₈), we derived the rate constant for H‐abstraction from a secondary C? H bond, k_s?CH = (4.19 ± 0.24) × 10¹⁰ exp[?(1770 ± 48)/T] cm³ mol^?1 s^?1. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 36: 49–56, 2004     

Effects of barium on the nonlinear electrical characteristics and dielectric properties of SnO2-based varistors

The effects of barium on electrical and dielectric properties of the SnO_2·Co_2O_3·Ta_2O_5 varistor system sintered at 1250℃ for 60min were investigated. It is found that barium significantly improves the nonlinear properties. The breakdown electrical field increases from 378.0 to 2834.5V/mm, relative dielectric constant (at 1kHz) falls from 1206 to 161 and the resistivity (at 1kHz) rises from 60.3 to 1146.5kΩ·cm with an increase of BaCO_3 concentration from 0mol% to 1.00mol%. The sample with 1.00mol% barium has the best nonlinear electrical property and the highest nonlinear coefficient (α=29.2). A modified defect barrier model is introduced to illustrate the grain-boundary barrier formation of barium-doped SnO_{2}-based varistors.     

Low-threshold, high-efficiency, high-repetition-rate optical parametric generator based on periodically poled LiNbO3

We report a high-repetition-rate optical parametric generator (OPG) with a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal pumped by an acousto-optically Q-switched CW-diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO_4 laser. For the maximum 1064nm pump power of 970mW, the maximum conversion efficiency is 32.9% under the conditions of 250℃, 1064nm pulse repetition rate of 22.6kHz and pulse width of 12ns, and the PPLN OPG threshold in the collinear case is less than 23.7μJ. The output power increases with the increase of the crystal temperature. The 1485－1553nm signal wave and 3383－3754nm idler wave are obtained by changing the temperature and the angle of the PPLN crystal.     

Influence of Turbid Medium Parameters on Back Scattered Intensity and Pulsewidth of Picosecond Pulse

In this paper, we simulate a practical in vivo technique in which is produced influence of turbid medium parameters on backscattered intensity and pulsewidth of picosecond for turbid tissue surface of a semiinfinite medium by a small narrow linewidth laser beams. It is shown that the interaction of the ultra short pulse and the turbid tissue is very used as researching the optical parameters of the turbid medium.     

On the evaluation of the nonisothermal kinetic parameters of (GeS2)0.3(Sb2S3)0.7 crystallization using the IKP method

The isoconversional method suggested by Friedman and the invariant kinetic parameters method (IKP) were used in order to examine the kinetics of the nonisothermal crystallization of (GeS₂)_0.3(Sb₂S₃)_0.7. The objective of the paper is to show the usefulness of the IKP method both for determining the activation parameters as well as the model of the investigated process. It was shown that the kinetic triplet [(E, A, f(α), where E is the activation energy, A is the preexponential factor, and f(α) is the differential function of conversion], which results through the application of the IKP method, depends on the set of kinetic models considered. For different sets of kinetic models, proportional values of f(α) are obtained. A criterion for the selection of this set, the use of which lead to the true kinetic triplet corresponding to the analyzed process (E = 163.2 kJ mol^?1; A = 2.47 × 10¹² min^?1 and the Avrami‐Erofeev model, A_m, for m = 2.5–2.6 was suggested. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 36: 309–315, 2004     

Pervaporation of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures using ion-exchange membrane containing copper ions

The sorption, diffusion, and pervaporation (PV) properties of benzene/cyclohexane (Bz/Cx) mixtures on cation-exchange membranes containing copper ions (Cu(II)) were investigated. The equilibrium sorption isotherms of pure vapors in the membranes and the partial solubility of binary solutions in the membranes were described using the UNIQUAC model. The τ_iM and τ_Mi values were 0.978 and 0.591 for Bz, and 0.922 and 0.475 for Cx. The transient regimes of vapor sorption were employed to calculate the concentration-dependent diffusion coefficients. Long’s model sufficiently explained the diffusivity of Bz and Cx in the membranes. The pre-exponential factors were 3×10⁻¹³ m²/s and the plasticization factors were 3.0 and 3.6 for Bz and Cx, respectively. Excellent agreement was found with the experimental results applying the solubility and diffusivity data to simulate the pervaporation performance (flux and selectivity) using the modified Maxwell–Stefan equation. The membrane containing Cu(II) demonstrates better facilitating capability for Bz transport than that with Na(I), mainly due to its preferential sorption property toward Bz. Replacing Na(I) with Cu(II) into a Neosepta membrane resulted in better separation efficiency and higher Bz flux throughout the entire Bz concentration range.     

One‐step synthesis of aminopyrimidines from 5‐Oxo‐4H‐benzopyrans

Novel 4‐amino‐6‐aryl‐2‐phenylpyrimidine‐5‐carbonitriles have been prepared in one step procedure from the readily available 4‐aryl‐2‐amino‐3‐cyano‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐7,7‐dimethyl‐5‐oxo‐4H‐benzopyrans. The mass spectroscopy study under EI conditions shows molecular peaks with high intensity corresponding to the loss of benzonitrile from the C2 position of the pyrimidine ring. Semiempirical (AMI and PM3) and ab initio HF/6–31G* calculations reveal a favored distorted geometry where the three rings are not in the same plane.     

Analysis of transient wave scattering from an inclusion with an unilateral smoothly contact interface by BEM

Summary A 2D time-domain Boundary Element Method (BEM) is applied to solve the problem of transient scattering of plane waves by an inclusion with a unilateral smooth contact interface. The incident wave is assumed strong enough so that localized separations take place along the interface. The present problem is indeed a nonlinear boundary value problem since the mixed boundary conditions involve unknown intervals (separation and contact regions). In order to determine the unknown intervals, an iterative technique is developed. As an example, we consider the scattering of plane waves by the cross section of a circular cylinder embedded in an infinite solid. Numerical results for the near field solutions are presented. The distortion of the response waves and the variation of the interface states are discussed. The financial support by the China National Natural Science Foundation under Grant No. 19872001 and No. 59878004 is gratefully acknowledged. The second author is also grateful to the support of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars under Grant No. 10025211.