Nonequilibriurn discontinuous phase transitions in a fast ionic conductor model: Coexistence and spinodal lines

Two-dimensional lattice-gas models with attractive interactions and particle-conserving hopping dynamics under the influence of a very large external electric field along a principal axis are studied in the case of off-critical densities. We describe the corresponding nonequilibrium first-order phase transitions, evaluate coexistence and spinodal lines, and make some comparisons with experimental observations on fast ionic conductors.See Ref. 1 (henceforth referred to as II) for references.     

光电列阵元件光谱响应的整体测试法

本文针对列阵元件的特点,提出了对其光谱响应进行整体测试的方法。实测结果与误差分析计算表明,整体测试法是一种准确稳定和易行的方法。     

Near optimality of stochastic control in systems with unknown parameter processes

Stochastic control for systems with an unknown parameter is considered in this paper. The underlying problem is to minimize a functional subject to a system described by a singularly perturbed differential equation with an unknown parameter process driven by fast fluctuating random disturbances. This problem arises in the context of stochastic adaptive control, adaptive signal processing, and failure-prone manufacturing systems. Due to the nature of the wide-bandwidth noise processes, identifying the parameter process for eacht is very hard since the driving noise changes very rapidly. An alternative approach is used, and an auxiliary control problem is introduced to overcome the difficulties. By means of weak convergence methods and comparison control techniques, nearly optimal controls are obtained.This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant DMS-9022139 and DMS-9224372.     

Assessing the predictive effectiveness of the variety seeking and reinforcement models

Prediction of customer choice behaviour has been a big challenge for marketing researchers. They have adopted various models to represent customers purchase patterns. Some researchers considered simple zero–order models. Others proposed higher–order models to represent explicitly customers tendency to seek [variety] or [reinforcement] as they make repetitive choices. Nevertheless, the question [Which model has the highest probability of representing some future data?] still prevails. The objective of this paper is to address this question. We assess the predictive effectiveness of the well–known customer choice models. In particular, we compare the predictive ability of the [dynamic attribute satiation] (DAS) model due to McAlister (Journal of Consumer Research, 91, pp. 141–150, 1982) with that of the well–known stochastic variety seeking and reinforcement behaviour models. We found that the stochastic [beta binomial] model has the best predictive effectiveness on both simulated and real purchase data. Using simulations, we also assessed the effectiveness of the stochastic models in representing various complex choice processes generated by the DAS. The beta binomial model mimicked the DAS processes the best. In this research we also propose, for the first time, a stochastic choice rule for the DAS model.     

Monitoring cooperative equilibria in a stochastic differential game

This paper deals with a class of equilibria which are based on the use of memory strategies in the context of continuous-time stochastic differential games. In order to get interpretable results, we will focus the study on a stochastic differential game model of the exploitation of one species of fish by two competing fisheries. We explore the possibility of defining a so-called cooperative equilibrium, which will implement a fishing agreement. In order to obtain that equilibrium, one defines a monitoring variable and an associated retaliation scheme. Depending on the value of the monitoring variable, which provides some evidence of a deviation from the agreement, the probability increases that the mode of a game will change from a cooperative to a punitive one. Both the monitoring variable and the parameters of this jump process are design elements of the cooperative equilibrium. A cooperative equilibrium designed in this way is a solution concept for a switching diffusion game. We solve that game using the sufficient conditions for a feedback equilibrium which are given by a set of coupled HJB equations. A numerical analysis, approximating the solution of the HJB equations through an associated Markov game, enables us to show that there exist cooperative equilibria which dominate the classical feedback Nash equilibrium of the original diffusion game model.This research was supported by FNRS-Switzerland, NSERC-Canada, FCAR-Quebec.     

A statistical mechanics approach to Granovetter theory

In this paper we try to bridge breakthroughs in quantitative sociology/econometrics, pioneered during the last decades by Mac Fadden, Brock–Durlauf, Granovetter and Watts–Strogatz, by introducing a minimal model able to reproduce essentially all the features of social behavior highlighted by these authors.     

Renormalization of branching models of triggered seismicity from total to observable seismicity

Several recent works point out that the crowd of small unobservable earthquakes (with magnitudes below the detection threshold m_d) may play a significant and perhaps dominant role in triggering future seismicity. Using the ETAS branching model of triggered seismicity, we apply the formalism of generating probability functions to investigate how the statistical properties of observable earthquakes differ from the statistics of all events. The ETAS (epidemic-type aftershock sequence) model assumes that each earthquake can trigger other earthquakes (“aftershocks”). An aftershock sequence results in this model from the cascade of aftershocks of each past earthquake. The triggering efficiency of earthquakes is assumed to vanish below a lower magnitude limit m₀, in order to ensure the convergence of the theory and may reflect the physics of state-and-velocity frictional rupture. We show that, to a good approximation, the statistical distribution of seismic rates of events with magnitudes above m_d generated by an ETAS model with branching ratio n is the same as that of events generated by another ETAS model with effective parameter n(m_d). Our present analysis thus confirms, for the full statistical (time-independent or large time-window approximation) properties, the results obtained previously by one of us and Werner, based solely on the average seismic rates (the first-order moment of the statistics). Our analysis also demonstrates that this correspondence is not exact, as there are small corrections which can be systematically calculated, in terms of additional contributions that can be mapped onto a different branching model. We also show that this approximate correspondence of the ETAS model onto itself obtained by changing m₀ into m_d, and n into n(m_d) holds only with respect to its statistical properties and not for all its space-time properties.     

Auxiliary field loop expansion of the effective action for a class of stochastic partial differential equations

We present an alternative to the perturbative (in coupling constant) diagrammatic approach for studying stochastic dynamics of a class of reaction diffusion systems. Our approach is based on an auxiliary field loop expansion for the path integral representation for the generating functional of the noise induced correlation functions of the fields describing these systems. The systems we consider include Langevin systems describable by the set of self interacting classical fields ?_i(x,t)${?}_i(x,t)$ in the presence of external noise η_i(x,t)${\eta }_i(x,t)$, namely (∂_t−ν∇²)?−F[?]=η$({\partial }_t-\nu {\nabla }^2)?-F\left[?\right]=\eta$, as well as chemical reaction annihilation processes obtained by applying the many-body approach of Doi–Peliti to the Master Equation formulation of these problems. We consider two different effective actions, one based on the Onsager–Machlup (OM) approach, and the other due to Janssen–deGenneris based on the Martin–Siggia–Rose (MSR) response function approach. For the simple models we consider, we determine an analytic expression for the Energy landscape (effective potential) in both formalisms and show how to obtain the more physical effective potential of the Onsager–Machlup approach from the MSR effective potential in leading order in the auxiliary field loop expansion. For the KPZ equation we find that our approximation, which is non-perturbative and obeys broken symmetry Ward identities, does not lead to the appearance of a fluctuation induced symmetry breakdown. This contradicts the results of earlier studies.     

Interfacial p-n heterojunction of polyaniline-nickel ferrite nanocomposite as room temperature liquefied petroleum gas sensor

In this work, we introduce polyaniline–nickel ferrite (PANI-NF) nanostructured composite to detect liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at room temperature. The composite synthesized by relatively simple method of in-situ chemical polymerization was structurally characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The presence of characteristic absorption bands of both PANI and NF in the FTIR spectrum of the composite with small shifts confirmed interfacial interaction of PANI with NF. The XRD studies also confirmed interfacial interaction between PANI and NF in the composite and its crystalline nature with an average crystallite size of 20 nm. Highly agglomerated granular porous morphology favourable for LPG adsorption was revealed by SEM image of the composite. The TEM image of the composite clearly showed nanosized NF particles embedded in PANI matrix. The LPG sensing performance of the composite at room temperature was tested using a film prepared by depositing the composite on an ordinary glass substrate by cost-effective spin coating technique. The maximum sensing response of the composite was found to be 57% at 700 ppm of LPG, with a response time of 50 s and a recovery time of 200 s. The composite was found to be stable for a period of one month. The sensing mechanism has been discussed on the basis of formation of interfacial p–n heterojunction barrier.     

Constructive influence of noise-flatness in correlation ratchets

The influence of noise-flatness on overdamped motion of Brownian particles in a 1D periodic system with a simple sawtooth potential subjected to both unbiased thermal noise and three-level telegraph noise is considered. The exact formula for the stationary probability flux (current) is presented. The phenomenon of multiple current reversals and some topological properties of the hypersurface of zero current in the parameter space of noises are investigated and illustrated by phase diagrams. The conditions for the existence of four current reversals versus the switching rate of nonequilibrium noise are given. An alternative interpretation of the results in terms of cross-correlation between two dichotomous noises is presented.