On the Metrical Theory of Continued Fraction Mixing Fibred Systems and Its Application to Jacobi-Perron Algorithm

 We study the metrical theory of fibred systems, in particular, in the case of continued fraction mixing systems. We get the limit distribution of the largest value of a continued fraction mixing stationary stochastic process with infinite expectation and some related results. These are analogous to J. Galambos, W. Philipp, and H. G. Diamond–J. D. Vaaler theorems for the regular continued fractions. As an application, we see that these theorems hold for Jacobi-Perron algorithm. Received September 30, 2001; in revised form January 8, 2002     

Cost–benefit modelling for reliability growth

Decisions during the reliability growth development process of engineering equipment involve trade-offs between cost and risk. However slight, there exists a chance an item of equipment will not function as planned during its specified life. Consequently the producer can incur a financial penalty. To date, reliability growth research has focussed on the development of models to estimate the rate of failure from test data. Such models are used to support decisions about the effectiveness of options to improve reliability. The extension of reliability growth models to incorporate financial costs associated with ‘unreliability’ is much neglected. In this paper, we extend a Bayesian reliability growth model to include cost analysis. The rationale of the stochastic process underpinning the growth model and the cost structures are described. The ways in which this model can be used to support cost–benefit analysis during product development are discussed and illustrated through a simple case.     

Bis[μ‐1‐(1,10‐phenanthrolin‐2‐yl)‐2‐pyridone]bis{aqua[1‐(1,10‐phenanthrolin‐2‐yl)‐2‐pyridone]cadmium(II)} tetrakis(perchlorate)

In the title centrosymmetric binuclear complex, [Cd₂(C₁₇H₁₁N₃O)₄(H₂O)₂](ClO₄)₄, the Cd^II ion assumes a distorted octahedral geometry. There are π–π stacking interactions between the pyridine and 1,10‐phenanthroline ring systems of adjacent ligands at the same Cd^II centre. Intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the coordinated aqua ligand and the O atom of a keto group connect adjacent complex cations into extended chains. Hydrogen bonds also exist between the complex cations and the perchlorate anions. Compared with the fluorescence spectrum of the organic ligand, the complex displays strong fluorescent emission and an ipsochromic shift of the emission peaks, which may be attributed to the structural character.     

A semi-analytic meshfree method for Almansi–Michell problems of piezoelectric cylinders

Saint-Venant’s Problem, Almansi–Michell Problems, Meshfree Methods, Piezoelectricity. We present a semi-analytical method for analyzing prismatic nonhomogeneous piezoelectric cylinders with arbitrary cross-sectional geometry. The prescribed loads considered in this study include axial forces, torques, moments, and voltage resultants prescribed at the cylinder’s ends, as well as body forces, lateral surface shears, voltages, and pressures as long as they can be represented by a power series in the axial coordinate. This problem can be considered as an extension of Saint-Venant and Almansi–Michell problems for elastic bodies to piezoelectric bodies. In this computationally efficient method, the cross-sectional plane is discretized with a meshfree approach, and the solution is obtained analytically with respect to the axial coordinate. A number of examples are provided to demonstrate the veracity and utility of the proposed method.     

Atomistic phenomena in dense fluid shock waves

The shock structure problem is one of the classical problems of fluid mechanics and at least for non-reacting dilute gases it has been considered essentially solved. Here we present a few recent findings, to show that this is not the case. There are still new physical effects to be discovered provided that the numerical technique is general enough to not rule them out a priori. While the results have been obtained for dense fluids, some of the effects might also be observable for shocks in dilute gases.     

Approximation of transient temperatures in complex geometries using fractional derivatives

It is shown that time-dependent temperatures in a transient, conductive system can be approximately modeled by a fractional-order differential equation, the order of which depends on the Biot number. This approximation is particularly suitable for complex shapes for which a first-principles approach is too difficult or computationally time-consuming. Analytical solutions of these equations can be written in terms of the Mittag-Leffler function. The approximation is especially useful if a suitable fractional-order controller is to be designed for the system.     

Discrete semi-stable distributions

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and study the concepts of discrete semi-stability and geometric semi-stability for distributions with support inZ ₊. We offer several properties, including characterizations, of discrete semi-stable distributions. We establish that these distributions posses the property of infinite divisibility and that their probability generating functions admit canonical representations that are analogous to those of their continuous counterparts. Properties of discrete geometric semi-stable distributions are deduced from the results obtained for discrete semi-stability. Several limit theorems are established and some examples are constructed.     

Diethoxyphosphinyl acetic acid hydrazide: a uniquely versatile reagent for the preparation of fused [5,5]-, [5,6]-, and [5,7]-3-[(E)-2-(arylvinyl)]-1,2,4-triazoles

Diethoxyphosphinyl acetic acid hydrazide is a unique reagent that provides a convenient and efficient process to prepare fused [5,5]-, [5,6]-, and [5,7]-3-[(E)-2-(arylvinyl)]-1,2,4-triazoles from aldehydes and alkoxyimines. The process involves three steps without isolation of any intermediates to afford 1,2,4-triazoles in modest to excellent overall yield.     

A projection method for solving incompressible viscous flows on domains with moving boundaries

In this paper, a projection method is presented for solving the flow problems in domains with moving boundaries. In order to track the movement of the domain boundaries, arbitrary‐Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) co‐ordinates are used. The unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on the ALE co‐ordinates are solved by using a projection method developed in this paper. This projection method is based on the Bell's Godunov‐projection method. However, substantial changes are made so that this algorithm is capable of solving the ALE form of incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Multi‐block structured grids are used to discretize the flow domains. The grid velocity is not explicitly computed; instead the volume change is used to account for the effect of grid movement. A new method is also proposed to compute the freestream capturing metrics so that the geometric conservation law (GCL) can be satisfied exactly in this algorithm. This projection method is also parallelized so that the state of the art high performance computers can be used to match the computation cost associated with the moving grid calculations. Several test cases are solved to verify the performance of this moving‐grid projection method. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.     

Grid‐free surface vorticity method applied to flow induced vibration of flexible cylinders

In order to study cross flow induced vibration of heat exchanger tube bundles, a new fluid–structure interaction model based on surface vorticity method is proposed. With this model, the vibration of a flexible cylinder is simulated at Re=2.67 × 10⁴, the computational results of the cylinder response, the fluid force, the vibration frequency, and the vorticity map are presented. The numerical results reproduce the amplitude‐limiting and non‐linear (lock‐in) characteristics of flow‐induced vibration. The maximum vibration amplitude as well as its corresponding lock‐in frequency is in good agreement with experimental results. The amplitude of vibration can be as high as 0.88D for the case investigated. As vibration amplitude increases, the amplitude of the lift force also increases. With enhancement of vibration amplitude, the vortex pattern in the near wake changes significantly. This fluid–structure interaction model is further applied to simulate flow‐induced vibration of two tandem cylinders and two side‐by‐side cylinders at similar Reynolds number. Promising and reasonable results and predictions are obtained. It is hopeful that with this relatively simple and computer time saving method, flow induced vibration of a large number of flexible tube bundles can be successfully simulated. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.