The measurement of subcritical electroconvection

Under idealized conditions, electroconvection in a nematic liquid crystal sets in at a well-defined threshold of the driving ac voltage. Fluctuating convection rolls of a small amplitude below that threshold have been observed recently. The measurement of the amplitude of these fluctuations is described in detail in this paper. It is based on averaging the light intensity signals using the structure function and a quantitative analysis of the light deflection.     

Stress concentration in a three-layer plate with two cylindrical cavities

The stressed state of a thick three-layer plate with two circular holes is studied. Resolving functions are expressed in terms of Kolosov-Muskhelishvili integral potentials and modified Bessel functions. The problem is reduced to solving an infinite set of linear algebraic equations.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Prikladnaya Mekhanika, No. 18, pp. 25–28, 1987.     

The determination of the past and the future of a physical system in quantum mechanics

The determination of the past and the future of a physical system are complementary aims of measurements. An optimal determination of the past of a system can be achieved by an informationally complete set of physical quantities. Such a set is always strongly noncommutative. An optimal determination of the future of a physical system can be obtained by a Boolean complete set of quantities. The two aims can be reconciled to a reasonable degree with using unsharp measurements.This work was partly supported by the Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie, Bonn, the Research Institute for Theoretical Physics, Helsinki, and the University of Turku Foundation, Turku.     

TEV gamma-ray astronomy

In the absence of gamma-ray observations from space in the eighties, interest has turned to ground-based observations in the TeV energy region. The best established sources are the Crab Nebula, Cygnus X-3 and Hercules X-1.     

Slim graphs

We consider the graphs that can be obtained by deleting in a Meyniel graphG all the edges induced by an arbitrary set of nodes. These graphs will be called Slim and we prove that they are perfect. We study relations between Slim graphs and other well known classes of perfect graphs; particularly we show that the perfection of Slim graphs gives a proof to the conjecture of M. Preissmann that Meyniel graphs are locally perfect.     

Large fault-tolerant interconnection networks

This paper deals with reliability and fault-tolerant properties of networks. We first survey general reliability properties of networks, in particular those concerning diameter vulnerability. Then we study in details reliability properties of some families of networks in particular de Bruijn and Kautz networks and their generalizations which appear as very good fault-tolerant networks.     

The Barnett approximation in the theory of hydrodynamic fluctuations

The Langevin dynamics and fluctuational-dissipative relationships for the hydrodynamic fluctuations for systems which are described in the third Barnett order with respect to the gradients of the hydrodynamic variables are generalized on the basis of a kinetic approach.