Analytic Properties of the Transition Admittance of an Infinite Plate in a medium and the Regularization of Boundary-Contact Integrals in Acoustics

A condition for regularization of boundary-contact integrals in two-dimensional problems of acoustics is considered. With an example of the simplest boundary-contact problem of acoustics, it is shown that a known sufficient condition for regularization is also a necessary one. The study of analytic properties of the transition admittance of an infinite plate that is in contact with a medium is conducted in order to obtain this statement. The considerations are carried out in general terms. The results obtained may be used in arbitrary models of plate theory, and they also may be adapted to boundary-contact problems of another physical nature. Bibliography: 9 titles.     

Relativistic Notion of Mass and a Resolution of a Conflict Between Schopenhauer and Hegel

We discuss a mass change that has its origin in the action of forces on an object. This phenomenon, well-known in the context of quantum field theory (mass renormalization), can be discussed systematically in both classical and quantum mechanics in a framework given by Stückelberg. We employ this framework to resolve an interesting conflict of opinions between Schopenhauer and Hegel in the mid-19th century. We show that Hegel, Kant, and Schopenhauer demonstrated remarkable prescience in their views as seen from a modern perspective.     

Nonequilibrium Ionization by Vibrationally Excited Molecules in Supersonic Flows

The results of experimental investigations on thermal nonequilibrium ionization in CO₂: N₂: He mixtures are presented. Measurements of electron density, n_e, in vibrationally excited nitrogen were made in a supersonic flow with different CO₂ contents as well as in a CO₂: N₂: He = 1 : 5 : 4 mixture laser gas. The mixtures were heated in a shock tube and expanded through a supersonic nozzle. Furthermore, supersonic mixing of N₂ and CO₂ + He was used in some experiments. The measured values of n_e in the plenum chamber and in the supersonic nozzle are reported, and the processes responsible for nonequilibrium ionization in a laser-active medium are discussed.     

Lattice vibrations of armchair carbon nanotubes: phonons,soliton deformations and lattice discreteness effects

Small and large-amplitude elastic deformations of the armchair structure of single-walled carbon nanotubes are investigated with emphasis on the cylindrical geometry. As starting model, we consider a discrete one-dimensional lattice of atoms interacting via a Lennard-Jones type two-body potential. In an expansion scheme using cylindrical coordinates where radial displacements are assumed negligible compared to the angular motions, a sine-lattice Hamiltonian is derived. In the limit of small-amplitude angular displacements, the dispersion spectrum of acoustic phonons is derived and the associate characteristic frequency is given as a function of parameters of the model. In the large-amplitude regime, lattice vibrations give rise to kink-type deformations which move undergoing lattice dispersion and lattice discreteness effects. The dispersion law of the kink motion is obtained and shown to lower the effect of lattice discreteness, giving rise to a vanishing Peierls stress for kink sizes of the order of a few lattice spacings. Implications of the coupling of two armchair structures on the stability of vibrational modes of an individual armchair nanotube are also discussed. A gap of forbidden modes is predicted in the phonon spectrum while the energy needed to create a kink deformation in individual nanotubes is shifted in the presence of a wall-to-wall interaction.Received: 2 August 2004, Published online: 14 December 2004PACS: 81.07.De Nanotubes - 62.30. + d Mechanical and elastic waves-vibrations - 63.22. + m Phonons in low-dimensional nanoscale materials - 63.20.Ry Anharmonic lattices modes     

A solvent-free synthesis of coumarins using a Wells-Dawson heteropolyacid as catalyst

Substituted coumarins are synthesized from phenols and β-ketoesters by the Pechmann reaction, using a Wells-Dawson heteropolyacid (H₆P₂W₁₈O₆₂·24H₂O) as catalyst by a solvent-free procedure. This one requires low reaction times, 130 °C temperature and as little as 1 mol % of Wells-Dawson acid, obtaining good to excellent yields of coumarins. The catalyst showed to be reusable with no differences in the yields. The results are compared with those of the reactions performed in toluene solution. The presented synthetic procedure is a convenient, clean and fast alternative for synthesizing 4-substituted coumarins (17 examples).     

Unavoidable Traces Of Set Systems

Sauer, Shelah, Vapnik and Chervonenkis proved that if a set system on n vertices contains many sets, then the set system has full trace on a large set. Although the restriction on the size of the groundset cannot be lifted, Frankl and Pach found a trace structure that is guaranteed to occur in uniform set systems even if we do not bound the size of the groundset. In this note we shall give three sequences of structures such that every set system consisting of sufficiently many sets contains at least one of these structures with many sets.     

Cochran's statistical theorem for outer inverses of matrices and matrix quadratic forms

We extend the matrix version of Cochran's statistical theorem to outer inverses of a matrix. As applications, we investigate the Wishartness and independence of matrix quadratic forms for Kronecker product covariance structures.