Individual and center-of-mass resonances in the motional spectrum of an electron cloud in a Penning trap

We have examined experimentally the motional spectrum of an electron cloud confined in a Penning trap. When the axial oscillation is excited by a radio frequency field the resonance exhibits a double structure. Both components depend differently on the number of trapped electrons and have different shape and width. We conclude that one of them corresponds to the excitation of the individual electrons while the other is the center-of-mass mode of the cloud. The threshold behaviour of the center-of-mass resonance suggests that it is a parametric instability of a Mathieu type equation of motion. Received 11 July 2001 and Received in final form 12 November 2001     

Time-Cost Trade-Off Analysis in Some Constrained Assignment Problems

Several variations of two-dimensional (workers x jobs) and three-dimensional (workers x jobs x machines) time- as well as cost-minimizing assignment problems, which arise owing to (i) precedence relations of some form among the jobs or (ii) capacity restrictions on workers/machines imposed by the requirement that the surplus resources have to be fully employed, have been considered in the literature. In this paper, an algorithm is presented for time-cost trade-off analysis which is applicable to any general pair of such constrained problems. The algorithm is also illustrated by a numerical example.     

Element Pools and Numeric Coprocessors for Linear Programming on Personal Computers

This note discusses the need to use various data-compaction schemes in the implementation of sophisticated large-scale linear programming codes on modest personal computers. It demonstrates a method whereby the overhead of using these schemes is significantly reduced on Intel 80 x 86 processors.     

Some covering properties in topological and uniform spaces

Recent progress in selection principles theory is discussed and is illustrated mainly by the Hurewicz covering property and its strong version, the Gerlits-Nagy property GN(*). Some results that have not been published elsewhere are given with proofs.     

Plasma effects and the modulation of white light spectra in the propagation of ultrashort, high-power laser pulses in barium fluoride

We report the results of a study of white light generation in a 7.5 cm long crystal of a high band-gap material, barium fluoride, using ultrashort (<42 fs) laser pulses over a range of values of incident laser power that extend up to more than three orders of magnitude larger than the critical power for self-focusing (P_cr). We explore white light generation and the intensity and spectral distributions within filaments that are formed as a result of the interplay of self-focusing and plasma-induced defocusing. The onset of plasma effects occurs at power levels in excess of 7 GW for ultrashort pulses in BaF₂. For incident power levels that are three orders of magnitude larger than the critical power, blue-shifting of the incident laser wavelength is observed in addition to asymmetric continuum generation. The blue shift enables us to estimate the temporal variation of the electron density in the plasma that is generated within the BaF₂ crystal. PACS 52.38.Hb; 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Tg; 33.80.Wz; 52.35.Mw     

Application of x-ray fluorescence analysis to investigation of the composition of gunshot residues

We have used x-ray fluorescence analysis to study the elemental composition of gunshot residues from smooth-bore and rifled-bore guns. We have established that it is possible to differentiate between types of projectiles (jacketed/lead), types of primers (corrosive/noncorrosive), and types of propellant powders (black/smokeless) by analysis of the elemental composition of the gunshot residues. We have shown that the mercury content in gunshot residues on the surface of the object carrying the residues steadily decreases as storage time increases. Despite this fact, mercury can be preserved as a component of gunshot residues on the object (cotton cloth) under room conditions for more than 45 days. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 320–325, May–June, 2006.     

Plasticity field adjacent to faces of asperities on a rotating roll after initial indentation into a half-space

The plastic deformation field near the horizontal surface of a half space of perfectly plastic material associated with an indenting rotating rigid tooth is studied using slip line theory. The tooth is one of many on a roll surface and indents first into the half-space material and then rotates about the roll center. A slip line field is proposed for the deforming plastic region and a solution scheme is outlined. The emphasis is on determining the shape of the deforming region, especially that of the free surface. The study has a potential application in roughness transfer in metal forming processing.