Reduced Load Equivalence under Subexponentiality

The stationary workload W _A+B ^φ of a queue with capacity φ loaded by two independent processes A and B is investigated. When the probability of load deviation in process A decays slower than both in B and $e^{ - \sqrt x } $ , we show that W _A+B ^φ is asymptotically equal to the reduced load queue W _A ^φ?b , where b is the mean rate of B. Given that this property does not hold when both processes have lighter than $e^{ - \sqrt x } $ deviation decay rates, our result establishes the criticality of $e^{ - \sqrt x } $ in the functional behavior of the workload distribution. Furthermore, using the same methodology, we show that under an equivalent set of conditions the results on sampling at subexponential times hold.     

Exactly alternating silarylene–siloxane polymers. VII. Thermal stability and degradation behavior of p-silphenylene–siloxane polymers with methyl,vinyl, hydrido,and/or fluoroalkyl side groups

The thermal stability and degradation behavior of a series of nine different exactly alternating silphenylene-siloxane polymers which contained methyl, vinyl, hydrido, 3,3,3-trifluoropropyl, and tridecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctyl side groups, or their combinations, were investigated by dynamic and isothermal gravimetric analyses in air and in nitrogen. Two distinctly different mechanisms were observed in these atmospheres: a complex multi-step weight loss process in air and a single-step process in nitrogen. In nitrogen all polymers produced black, insoluble, highly stable degradation residues which were characterized by high carbon content. In contrast, in air the nonfluorine containing polymers degraded to pure silica, while the fluoroalkyl substituted polymers may have formed fluorosilicates of unspecified structures. There appears to be no significant molecular weight effect on the thermal stability of these polymers, at least not above an M _w value of about 35,000. Isothermal investigations indicate that 300°C in air and 350°C in nitrogen may be possible upper use temperatures for the methylvinyl substituted, exactly alternating silphenylene–siloxane polymers for extended periods of time. A strong thermostabilizing effect by vinyl side groups on the degradation behavior of these polymers was established. The extent of stabilization depends on the content of vinyl units, but it can already be clearly seen at the 5 mol % vinyl level, and it increases exponentially with increasing vinyl concentration. In contrast to this behavior, by comparison with the parent all-methyl substituted, exactly alternating silphenylene–siloxane polymers, the hydrido and fluroalkyl side groups reduce overall polymer thermal stability in terms of the degradation onset temperature, the temperature for 50% weight loss, and the amount of degradation residue. The presence of these groups also extends the later stages of the degradation processes to higher temperatures. Based on these and previous results, an order of stability is proposed as a function of the type of the substituent side groups for the thermal degradation of these polymers.     

The Berman conjecture is true for nilpotent extensions of regular semigroups

No Abstract.  .     

Some sharp inequalities for n-monotone functions

Summary Some sharp inequalities involving n-monotone functions and their derivatives are obtained. In particular, the following generalization of the Favard-Berwald inequality is established here: \emph{If\/ is non-negative and -f is -monotone, then      

Evaluation of chlorophyll fluorescence and membrane injury in the leaves of barley cultivars under osmotic stress

Two physiological tests for screening drought tolerance of barley (Hordeum vulgare, L.) plants are compared in this work. Water deficit is induced by treating the plants' roots with polyethylene glycol (PEG 8000). The relative water content (RWC) of the plants is used as a measure of the water status. Conductometrically determined electrolyte leakage from the leaf tissue demonstrates the membrane injury caused by dehydration. It is shown that the injury index increases with the decrease of the RWC of the leaves. The F(v)/F(m) ratio is employed to assess changes in the primary photochemical reactions of the photosynthetic apparatus after dehydration. The results suggest that PSII is weakly affected by the imposed osmotic stress. The fluorescence behaviour of the examined cultivars is related to their RWC.     

Epitaxial growth on porous GaAs substrates

We report on the electrochemical preparation of porous GaAs substrates in fluoride-iodide aqueous electrolytes for the lattice mismatched epitaxial growth from the vapor phase. The aim is to gain control over the uniformity of the pore nucleation layer and pore branching below this layer to achieve structures with a high degree of porosity and periodicity while leaving minimum damage on the substrate surface. Layers of In_xGa_1-xAs with varying In content are grown on GaAs substrates with different pore geometries and depths. Substantial differences in the surface morphology and photoluminescence efficiency of the layers grown on porous and conventional substrates are observed.