The Effect of Growth Parameters on Electrophysical and Memristive Properties of Vanadium Oxide Thin Films

We have experimentally studied the influence of pulsed laser deposition parameters on the morphological and electrophysical parameters of vanadium oxide films. It is shown that an increase in the number of laser pulses from 10,000 to 60,000 and an oxygen pressure from 3 × 10⁻⁴ Torr to 3 × 10⁻² Torr makes it possible to form vanadium oxide films with a thickness from 22.3 ± 4.4 nm to 131.7 ± 14.4 nm, a surface roughness from 7.8 ± 1.1 nm to 37.1 ± 11.2 nm, electron concentration from (0.32 ± 0.07) × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ to (42.64 ± 4.46) × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³, electron mobility from 0.25 ± 0.03 cm²/(V·s) to 7.12 ± 1.32 cm²/(V·s), and resistivity from 6.32 ± 2.21 Ω·cm to 723.74 ± 89.21 Ω·cm. The regimes at which vanadium oxide films with a thickness of 22.3 ± 4.4 nm, a roughness of 7.8 ± 1.1 nm, and a resistivity of 6.32 ± 2.21 Ω·cm are obtained for their potential use in the fabrication of ReRAM neuromorphic systems. It is shown that a 22.3 ± 4.4 nm thick vanadium oxide film has the bipolar effect of resistive switching. The resistance in the high state was (89.42 ± 32.37) × 10⁶ Ω, the resistance in the low state was equal to (6.34 ± 2.34) × 10³ Ω, and the ratio R_HRS/R_LRS was about 14,104. The results can be used in the manufacture of a new generation of micro- and nanoelectronics elements to create ReRAM of neuromorphic systems based on vanadium oxide thin films.     

Unravelling Structural Mysteries of Simple Organozinc Alkoxides

Simple RZnOR’ alkoxides are among the first known organozinc compounds, and widespread interest in their multifaced chemistry has been driven by their fundamental significance and potential applications including various catalytic reactions. Nevertheless, their chemistry in solution and in the solid state remains both relatively poorly understood and a subject of constant debate. Herein, the synthesis and structural characterization of long-sought structural forms, a roof-like trimer [(tBuZn)₃(μ-OC(H)Ph₂)₂(μ₃-OC(H)Ph₂)] and a ladder-type tetramer [(PhZn)₄(μ-OC(H)Ph₂)₂(μ₃-OC(H)Ph₂)₂], incorporating diphenylmethanolate as a model alkoxide ligand, are reported. Both novel aggregates are robust in the solid state and resistant towards mechanical force. By using ¹H NMR and diffusion-order spectroscopy, it is demonstrated that new RZnOR’ alkoxides are kinetically labile in solution and readily undergo ligand scrambling, such as in the case of Schlenk equilibrium. The elucidated key structural issues, which have remained undiscovered for decades, significantly advance the chemistry of RZnOR’ alkoxides and should support the rational design of zinc alkoxide-based applications.     

Graphs Without Large Apples and the Maximum Weight Independent Set Problem

An apple A _k is the graph obtained from a chordless cycle C _k of length k ≥ 4 by adding a vertex that has exactly one neighbor on the cycle. The class of apple-free graphs is a common generalization of claw-free graphs and chordal graphs, two classes enjoying many attractive properties, including polynomial-time solvability of the maximum weight independent set problem. Recently, Brandstädt et al. showed that this property extends to the class of apple-free graphs. In the present paper, we study further generalization of this class called graphs without large apples: these are (A _k , A _k+1, . . .)-free graphs for values of k strictly greater than 4. The complexity of the maximum weight independent set problem is unknown even for k = 5. By exploring the structure of graphs without large apples, we discover a sufficient condition for claw-freeness of such graphs. We show that the condition is satisfied by bounded-degree and apex-minor-free graphs of sufficiently large tree-width. This implies an efficient solution to the maximum weight independent set problem for those graphs without large apples, which either have bounded vertex degree or exclude a fixed apex graph as a minor.     

Unitary Equivalence of Proper Extensions of a Symmetric Operator and the Weyl Function

Let A be a densely defined simple symmetric operator in ${\mathfrak{H}}$ , let ${\Pi=\{\mathcal{H},\Gamma_0, \Gamma_1}\}$ be a boundary triplet for A ^* and let M(·) be the corresponding Weyl function. It is known that the Weyl function M(·) determines the boundary triplet Π, in particular, the pair {A, A ₀}, uniquely up to the unitary similarity. Here ${A_0 := A^* \upharpoonright \text{ker}\, \Gamma_0 ( = A^*_0)}$ . At the same time the Weyl function corresponding to a boundary triplet for a dual pair of operators defines it uniquely only up to the weak similarity. We consider a symmetric dual pair {A, A} with symmetric ${A \subset A^*}$ and a special boundary triplet ${\widetilde{\Pi}}$ for{A, A} such that the corresponding Weyl function is ${\widetilde{M}(z) = K^*(B-M(z))^{-1} K}$ , where B is a non-self-adjoint bounded operator in ${\mathcal{H}}$ . We are interested in the problem whether the result on the unitary similarity remains valid for ${\widetilde{M}(\cdot)}$ in place of M(·). We indicate some sufficient conditions in terms of the operators A ₀ and ${A_B= A^* \upharpoonright \text{ker}\, (\Gamma_1-B \Gamma_0)}$ , which guaranty an affirmative answer to this problem. Applying the abstract results to the minimal symmetric 2nth order ordinary differential operator A in ${L^2(\mathbb{R}_+)}$ , we show that ${\widetilde{M}(\cdot)}$ defined in ${\Omega_+ \subset \mathbb{C}_+}$ determines the Dirichlet and Neumann realizations uniquely up to the unitary equivalence. At the same time similar result for realizations of Dirac operator fails. We obtain also some negative abstract results demonstrating that in general the Weyl function ${\widetilde{M}(\cdot)}$ does not determine A _B even up to the similarity.     

Finite‐difference approximation for the u(k)‐derivative with O(hM−k+1) accuracy: An analytical expression

An approximation of function u(x) as a Taylor series expansion about a point x₀ at M points x_i, ～ i = 1,2,…,M is used where x_i are arbitrary‐spaced. This approximation is a linear system for the derivatives u^(k) with an arbitrary accuracy. An analytical expression for the inverse matrix A ^?1 where A = [A_ik] = (x_i ? x₀)^k is found. A finite‐difference approximation of derivatives u^(k) of a given function u(x) at point x₀ is derived in terms of the values u(x_i). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2006     

Critical Independent Sets and König–Egerváry Graphs

A set S of vertices is independent or stable in a graph G, and we write S ∈ Ind (G), if no two vertices from S are adjacent, and α(G) is the cardinality of an independent set of maximum size, while core(G) denotes the intersection of all maximum independent sets. G is called a König–Egerváry graph if its order equals α(G) + μ(G), where μ(G) denotes the size of a maximum matching. The number def (G) = | V(G) | ?2μ(G) is the deficiency of G. The number \({d(G)=\max\{\left\vert S\right\vert -\left\vert N(S)\right\vert :S\in\mathrm{Ind}(G)\}}\) is the critical difference of G. An independent set A is critical if \({\left\vert A\right\vert -\left\vert N(A)\right\vert =d(G)}\) , where N(S) is the neighborhood of S, and α _c (G) denotes the maximum size of a critical independent set. Larson (Eur J Comb 32:294–300, 2011) demonstrated that G is a König–Egerváry graph if and only if there exists a maximum independent set that is also critical, i.e., α _c (G) = α(G). In this paper we prove that: (i) \({d(G)=\left \vert \mathrm{core}(G) \right \vert -\left \vert N (\mathrm{core}(G))\right\vert =\alpha(G)-\mu(G)=def \left(G\right)}\) holds for every König–Egerváry graph G; (ii) G is König–Egerváry graph if and only if each maximum independent set of G is critical.     

Dynamics and chaos control of gyrostat satellite

We consider the chaotic motion of the free gyrostat consisting of a platform with a triaxial inertia ellipsoid and a rotor with a small asymmetry with respect to the axis of rotation. Dimensionless equations of motion of the system with perturbations caused by small asymmetries of the rotor are written in Andoyer-Deprit variables. These perturbations lead to separatrix chaos. For gyrostats with different ratios of moments of inertia heteroclinic and homoclinic trajectories are written in closed-form. These trajectories are used for constructing modified Melnikov function, which is used for determine the control that eliminates separatrix chaos. Melnikov function and phase space trajectory are built to show the effectiveness of the control.     

A modified pseudospectral method for solving trajectory optimization problems with singular arc

This paper presents a direct method based on Legendre–Radau pseudospectral method for efficient and accurate solution of a class of singular optimal control problems. In this scheme, based on a priori knowledge of control, the problem is transformed to a multidomain formulation, in which the switching points appear as unknown parameters. Then, by utilizing Legendre‐Radau pseudospectral method, a nonlinear programming problem is derived which can be solved by the well‐developed parameter optimization algorithms. The main advantages of the present method are its superior accuracy and ability to capture the switching times. Accuracy and performance of the proposed method are examined by means of some numerical experiments. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

k-Bounded classes of dominant-independent perfect graphs

Let α(G), γ(G), and i(G) be the independence number, the domination number, and the independent domination number of a graph G, respectively. For any k ≥ 0, we define the following hereditary classes: αi(k) = {G : α(H) − i(H) ≤ k for every H ∈ ISub(G)}; αγ(k) = {G : α(H) − γ(H) ≤ k for every H ∈ ISub(G)}; and iγ(k) = {G : i(H) − γ(H) ≤ k for every H ∈ ISub(G)}, where ISub(G) is the set of all induced subgraphs of a graph G. In this article, we present a finite forbidden induced subgraph characterization for αi(k) and αγ(k) for any k ≥ 0. We conjecture that iγ(k) also has such a characterization. Up to the present, it is known only for iγ(0) (domination perfect graphs [Zverovich & Zverovich, J Graph Theory 20 (1995), 375–395]). © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 32: 303–310, 1999     

Spherically symmetric random permutations

We consider random permutations which are spherically symmetric with respect to a metric on the symmetric group S_n and are consistent as n varies. The extreme infinitely spherically symmetric permutation‐valued processes are identified for the Hamming, Kendall‐tau and Cayley metrics. The proofs in all three cases are based on a unified approach through stochastic monotonicity.