New fir laser lines and frequency measurements from optically pumped13CD3OH3

We report the discovery of 57 new fir laser lines from¹³CD₃OH molecule optically pumped by a waveguide CO₂ laser of 300 MHz tunability. For all lines, precise frequency offset measurements between the CO₂ line center and the center of the absorbing¹³CD₃OH line were performed using the transferred Lamb-Dip technique. We have also measured directly the frequency of seven FIR laser lines by heterodyning with already known laser lines. We present a complete list of all known laser lines (134) and frequency measurements (24) for this molecule.Work supported by CNPq, FAPESP, FAEP-Brasil, and CNR-Italia     

CO-laser photoacoustic detection of phosgene (COCl2)

Detection of COCl₂, a highly toxic gas in chemical industry, using laser photoacoustic spectroscopy is presented. The spectrophone system used has a broad band LN₂ cooled CW CO laser as a source of radiation, which operates from 4.8–8.4 um in the mid-infrared. Using an extracavity open longitudinal resonant cell, absorption signals to about 30 CO laser lines in the 5.45 um region could be observed. detection sensitivity has been estimated to be ppb order.This work has been supported by the NSFC     

Weather Risk in Offshore Projects

Risk analysis tools have been used to help manage various projects. This paper describes a case study in which an extension to the stochastic project network model was developed for a risk analysis of an oil platform installation, quantifying the possible impact of the weather on the project's schedule. Examination of the weather data suggested the use of a Markov weather model combined with a separate residence time distribution for key states. The weather model was incorporated into the stochastic project network allowing the interactions of the various project uncertainties to be examined. While the weather introduced a significant additional risk to the project, analysis of management's options indicated that much of the risk might be avoided. In particular, the analysis quantified the benefits of scheduling the project start to take advantage of the seasonal variations and hiring heavy duty equipment to operate in more arduous conditions.     

Optimal Server Acquisition in Open Queueing Networks

Several production and flexible manufacturing systems can naturally be modelled using queueing networks. In this paper, we consider the problem of acquiring servers for the nodes of an open queueing network, so as to optimize the steady-state mean virtual system parameters subject to a budget constraint. A partial enumeration scheme and a heuristic method have been proposed to solve this problem. Empirical results based on randomly generated test problems are used to identify a class of problems for which the heuristic performs well.     

Short-range order in miscible polymer blends: A monte carlo study

Local ordering in miscible binary polymer blends with strong attractive interactions between the two types of chains was investigated by computer simulation of allowable conformations on an incompressible cubic lattice. A tendency toward maximum ordering (in which chains pack in alternate parallel rows) is shown by the calculation of pair correlations and in “snapshots” of the mixtures. A specific directional interaction is not necessarily required for ordering. A comparison of these results with those recently obtained using mean-field theory is presented. The heat capacity of mixing was also calculated and found to be positive, with a value close to that reported experimentally.     

Intersegmental interaction and critical concentrations in PET–HFIP solutions

Spectroscopic determinations of the concentrations associated with the onset of intermolecular interaction in solutions of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) are described. The intersegment forces perturb the electronic spectra and induce ground-state aggregation. These phenomena become observable at different chain densities, reflecting the influence of concentration on the coil dimensions, as well as the dynamical nature of the interactions. An estimate of the equilibrium constant for PET dimer formation in hexafluoroisopropanol is reported.     

Glass transitions in hydrogen-bonded polymer complexes

Mutual precipitates of poly (N, N-dimethyl acrylamide) and poly (4-hydroxystyrene) were collected from dioxane, methanol, or acetone. The glass transition (T_g) temperatures of the precipitates are higher than the weight-average values. Clear films cast from dimethylformamide solutions have lower T_g values. Complexation also occurred between poly (ethyl oxazoline) and poly (4-hydroxystyrene) in dioxane and between poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) and poly (4-hydroxystyrene) in methanol. Again, the glass transition temperatures of the precipitates are higher than the values for the blend films. The ΔC_p values associated with the glass transitions of the complexes are smaller than those of the blends having the same compositions. Negative excess heat capacities of mixing have been observed for several precipitates.     

On the reconstruction index of permutation groups: semiregular groups

Summary. The reconstruction index of all semiregular permutation groups is determined. We show that this index satisfies 3 ￡ r(G, W) ￡ 5 3 \leq \rho(G, \Omega) \leq 5 and we classify the groups in each case.     

Analysis of appearance of moving ionospheric disturbances of the “sickle” type at middle latitudes

We present the results of analysis of the data of vertical ionospheric sounding at the Zimenki test site (Nizhny Novgorod). The January and July ionograms are used to plot the dependences of the number of “sickle” type disturbances on the time of the day for the period from 1996 to 1992. A comparison with the scattering in an ionospheric F-layer for the same period is performed. A trend in the time series of the phenomenon observed is recorded. Radiophysical Research Institute, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 40, No. 12, pp. 1455–1462, December, 1997.