Solution of the hyperbolic mild‐slope equation using the finite volume method

A finite volume solver for the 2D depth‐integrated harmonic hyperbolic formulation of the mild‐slope equation for wave propagation is presented and discussed. The solver is implemented on unstructured triangular meshes and the solution methodology is based upon a Godunov‐type second‐order finite volume scheme, whereby the numerical fluxes are computed using Roe's flux function. The eigensystem of the mild‐slope equations is derived and used for the construction of Roe's matrix. A formulation that updates the unknown variables in time implicitly is presented, which produces a more accurate and reliable scheme than hitherto available. Boundary conditions for different types of boundaries are also derived. The agreement of the computed results with analytical results for a range of wave propagation/transformation problems is very good, and the model is found to be virtually paraxiality‐free. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electronegativity scheme for reactions involving radical addition to vinyl monomers

The concept of the apparent electronegativity of a reaction site has been introduced. This has been used to develop a new scheme for calculating the relative rate constants of addition of radicals with different structures to vinyl monomers. The parameters of the scheme are given for 40 reagents. The results of a comparison of calculated and literature rate constants of addition are presented.Institute of Nonaqueous Solution Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 150003 Ivanovo. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2238–2245, October, 1992.     

The application of spectral distribution of product of two random matrices in the factor analysis

In the factor analysis model with large cross-section and time-series dimensions,we pro- pose a new method to estimate the number of factors.Specially if the idiosyncratic terms satisfy a linear time series model,the estimators of the parameters can be obtained in the time series model. The theoretical properties of the estimators are also explored.A simulation study and an empirical analysis are conducted.     

Stable marker-particle method for the Voronoi diagram in a flow field

The Voronoi diagram in a flow field is a tessellation of water surface into regions according to the nearest island in the sense of a “boat-sail distance”, which is a mathematical model of the shortest time for a boat to move from one point to another against the flow of water. The computation of the diagram is not easy, because the equi-distance curves have singularities. To overcome the difficulty, this paper derives a new system of equations that describes the motion of a particle along the shortest path starting at a given point on the boundary of an island, and thus gives a new variant of the marker-particle method. In the proposed method, each particle can be traced independently, and hence the computation can be done stably even though the equi-distance curves have singular points.     

2‐Cyanoprop‐2‐yl dithiobenzoate mediated reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of acrylonitrile targeting a polymer with a higher molecular weight

The reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) mediated by 2‐cyanoprop‐2‐yl dithiobenzoate was first applied to synthesize polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with a high molecular weight up to 32,800 and a polydispersity index as low as 1.29. The key to success was ascribed to the optimization of the experimental conditions to increase the fragmentation reaction efficiency of the intermediate radical. In accordance with the atom transfer radical polymerization of AN, ethylene carbonate was also a better solvent candidate for providing higher controlled/living RAFT polymerization behaviors than dimethylformamide and dimethyl sulfoxide. The various experimental parameters, including the temperature, the molar ratio of dithiobenzoate to the initiator, the molar ratio of the monomer to dithiobenzoate, the monomer concentration, and the addition of the comonomer, were varied to improve the control of the molecular weight and polydispersity index. The molecular weights of PANs were validated by gel permeation chromatography along with a universal calibration procedure and intrinsic viscosity measurements. ¹H NMR analysis confirmed the high chain‐end functionality of the resultant polymers. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 1272–1281, 2007     

Duality theorems for convex problems with time delay

In this paper, we examine a class of convex problems of Bolza type, involving a time delay in the state. It encompasses a variety of time-delay problems arising in the calculus of variations and optimal control. A duality analysis is carried out which, among other things, leads to a characterization of minimizers in terms of the Euler-Lagrange inclusion. The results obtained improve in significant respects on what is achievable by techniques previously employed, based on elimination of the time delay by introduction of an infinite-dimensional state space or on the method of steps.     

Numerical analysis for stochastic age-dependent population equations with Poisson jumps

In this paper, stochastic age-dependent population equations with Poisson jumps are considered. In general, most of stochastic age-dependent population equations with jumps do not have explicit solutions, thus numerical approximation schemes are invaluable tools for exploring their properties. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a numerical Euler scheme and show the convergence of the numerical approximation solution to the true solution.     

A note on scheduling to meet two min-sum objectives

We consider a single machine scheduling problem with two min-sum objective functions: the sum of completion times and the sum of weighted completion times. We propose a simple polynomial time (1+(1/γ),1+γ)-approximation algorithm, and show that for γ>1, there is no (x,y)-approximation with 1<x<1+(1/γ) and 1<y<1+(γ-1)/(2+γ).     

Stationary remaining service time conditional on queue length

In Mandelbaum and Yechiali [The conditional residual service time in the M/G/1 queue, http://www.math.tau.ac.il/∼uriy/publications (No. 30a), 1979] and in Fakinos [The expected remaining service time in a single-server queue, Oper. Res. 30 (1982) 1014-1018] a simple formula is derived for the (stationary) expected remaining service time in a M/G/1 queue, conditional on the number of customers in the system. We give a short new proof of the formula using Rate Conservation Law, and generalize to handle higher moments.