Fragmentation of gold projectiles: From evaporation to total disassembly

We have studied the fragmentation of Au projectiles interacting with targets of C, Al and Cu at an incident energy ofE/A=600 MeV. The employed inverse kinematics allowed a nearly complete detection of projectile fragments with chargeZ≧2. The recorded fragmentation events were sorted according to three observables, the multiplicityM _lp of light charged particles, the largest atomic numberZ _max within an event, and a new observable,Z _bound, representing the sum of the atomic numbersZ of all fragments withZ≧2. Using these observables, the impact parameter dependence of the fragmentation process was investigated. For all three targets, a maximum mean multiplicity of 3 to 4 intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) is observed. The corresponding impact parameters range from central collisions for theC target to increasingly peripheral collisions for the heavier targets. It is found that the correlation between the IMF multiplicity andZ _bound, extending from evaporation type processes (largeZ _bound) to the total disassembly of the projectile (smallZ _bound), is independent of the target nucleus. This universal behaviour may suggest an — at least partial — equilibration of the projectile fragment prior to its decay.     

An analysis on forced convection in a channel filled with a Brinkman-Darcy porous medium: Exact and approximate solutions

An analysis was made to investigate non-Darcian fully developed flow and heat transfer in a porous channel bounded by two parallel walls subjected to uniform heat flux. The Brinkmanextended Darcy model was employed to study the effect of the boundary viscous frictional drag on hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics. An exact expression has been derived for the Nusselt number under the uniform wall heat flux condition. Approximate results were also obtained by exploiting a momentum integral relation and an auxiliary relation implicit in the Brinkmanextended Darcy model. Excellent agreement was confirmed between the approximate and exact solutions even in details of velocity and temperature profiles.     

Characterization of porosity in a 19th century painting ground by synchrotron radiation X-ray tomography

The study of the early oeuvre of the Swiss painter Cuno Amiet (1868–1961) has revealed that, up to 1907, many of his grounds were hand applied and are mainly composed of chalk, bound in protein. These grounds are not only lean and absorbent, but also, as Synchrotron radiation X-ray microtomography has shown, porous. Our approach to the characterization of pore structure and quantity, their connectivity, and homogeneity is based on image segmentation and application of a clustering algorithm to high-resolution X-ray tomographic data. The issues associated with the segmentation of the different components of a ground sample based on X-ray imaging data are discussed. The approach applied to a sample taken from “Portrait of Max Leu” (1899) by Amiet revealed the presence of three sublayers within the ground with distinct porosity features, which had not been observed optically in cross-section. The upper and lower layers are highly porous with important connectivity and thus prone to water uptake/storage. The middle layer however shows low and nonconnected porosity at the resolution level of the X-ray tomography images, so that few direct water absorption paths through the entire sample exist. The potential of the method to characterize porosity and to understand moisture-related issues in paint layer degradation are discussed.     

Fastiterative methods for least squares estimations

Least squares estimations have been used extensively in many applications, e.g. system identification and signal prediction. When the stochastic process is stationary, the least squares estimators can be found by solving a Toeplitz or near-Toeplitz matrix system depending on the knowledge of the data statistics. In this paper, we employ the preconditioned conjugate gradient method with circulant preconditioners to solve such systems. Our proposed circulant preconditioners are derived from the spectral property of the given stationary process. In the case where the spectral density functions() of the process is known, we prove that ifs() is a positive continuous function, then the spectrum of the preconditioned system will be clustered around 1 and the method converges superlinearly. However, if the statistics of the process is unknown, then we prove that with probability 1, the spectrum of the preconditioned system is still clustered around 1 provided that large data samples are taken. For finite impulse response (FIR) system identification problems, our numerical results show that annth order least squares estimator can usually be obtained inO(n logn) operations whenO(n) data samples are used. Finally, we remark that our algorithm can be modified to suit the applications of recursive least squares computations with the proper use of sliding window method arising in signal processing applications.Research supported in part by HKRGC grant no. 221600070, ONR contract no. N00014-90-J-1695 and DOE grant no. DE-FG03-87ER25037.     

Composition of the Canadian Total Force: Issues and Findings for the Air Components

In 1987 the Canadian Department of National Defence enunciated the Total Force concept. The Total Force is comprised of Regular and Reserve components. The intention is to make maximum use of the Reserve to reduce defence expenditures and at the same time to ensure that military capability remains adequate to support national policy objectives. This paper discusses some of the governing parameters that affect the modelling of the composition of the Total Force and analyses the mix of regular and reserve forces. The interplay between the key factors and their marginal costs will be stressed. The models are employed to study two units in the Canadian Forces, a maintenance support unit and a tactical unit with high operational activity cost. The lessons drawn from these studies are highlighted.