Some Experiences with the Teaching of Decision Support Systems to Management Students

There are essentially two schools of thought regarding the function of decision support systems. One is that the main purpose is to support the decision-maker in whatever style of decision-making he or she wishes. The other is that the support, while suiting the decision-maker's individual style, must also be based on an appropriate theoretical paradigm. The work with students of decision support systems reported here suggests that the latter, normative, view is not one which comes naturally to many of the students, even when working on an example where it seemed relatively easy to incorporate. Other conclusions are also presented, relating to the choice of software for decision support system development, the process of teaching about decision support systems, and group formation.     

The influence of temperature gradients on the kinetic boundary layer problem for a condensing droplet

We extend an earlier method for solving kinetic boundary layer problems to the case of particles moving in aspatially inhomogeneous background. The method is developed for a gas mixture containing a supersaturated vapor and a light carrier gas from which a small droplet condenses. The release of heat of condensation causes a temperature difference between droplet and gas in the quasistationary state; the kinetic equation describing the vapor is the stationary Klein-Kramers equation for Brownian particles diffusing in a temperature gradient. By means of an expansion in Burnett functions, this equation is transformed into a set of coupled algebrodifferential equations. By numerical integration we construct fundamental solutions of this equation that are subsequently combined linearly to fulfill appropriate mesoscopic boundary conditions for particles leaving the droplet surface. In view of the intrinsic numerical instability of the system of equations, a novel procedure is developed to remove the admixture of fast growing solutions to the solutions of interest. The procedure is tested for a few model problems and then applied to a slightly simplified condensation problem with parameters corresponding to the condensation of mercury in a background of neon. The effects of thermal gradients and thermodiffusion on the growth rate of the droplet are small (of the order of 1%), but well outside of the margin of error of the method.     

Even denominator filling factors in the thermoelectric power of a 2DEG

We have investigated the interaction of phonons with a 2DEG in the FQH regime with phonon drag thermoelectric power (TEP). We find that the TEP at filling factors with the same even denominator is identical and at other even denominator filling factors they differ only by a constant. Assuming these states to be Composite Fermions (CF), we can explain our observations by extending a zero magnetic field theory for phonon drag to the CF-phonon interaction. This analysis is further corroborated by the observed T⁴ dependence of the CF TEP.     

Crossing of shears bands in196Pb

High-spin states in¹⁹⁶Pb have been populated using the reaction¹⁷⁰Er(³⁰Si,4n). The previously observed shears bands in this nucleus have been extended and some of their transitions have been reordered. They now form regular bands with band crossings. One of the bands splits into two pathways at high spin.     

Tetracyclic alkaloids of the sparteine group.1H and13C NMR spectroscopy and conformational analysis

The¹H and¹³C chemical shifts of 11 sparteine derivatives are reported. Substituent and group effects are interpreted in terms of structural properties. The conformational equilibrium of aphyllin is determined.Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Fakultät für Chemie, Bochum, Germany. Universität Hannover, Institut für Organische Chemie, Hannover, Germany (present address). Department of Organic Chemistry, Poznan Academy of Economics, Poznan, Poland. Published in Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 8, pp. 1026–1033, August, 1995. Original article submitted May 10, 1995.Dedicated to Prof. N. S. Zefirov on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Neue Spiroverbindungen aus Cyclophosphazenen und Cyclodi[phosphadiazan]en

New Spiro Compounds from Cyclophosphazenes and Cyclodi[phosphadiazanes] Chlorocyclophosphazenes (Cl₂P = N)₃ and (Cl₂p = N)₄ react with dihydrazidophosphoric acid derivatives in THF in the presence of triethylamine to give the spirocyclic compounds Cl₄N₃P₃(NHN(CH₃))₂P(S)OC₆H₅, Cl₆N₄P₄(NHNH)₂P(S)OC₆H₅. Constitutions have been confirmed by MS, NMR, IR and elemental analysis.     

The many facets of linear programming

We examine the history of linear programming from computational, geometric, and complexity points of view, looking at simplex, ellipsoid, interior-point, and other methods. Received: June 22, 2000 / Accepted: April 4, 2001?Published online October 2, 2001