Contingent derivatives of set-valued maps and applications to vector optimization

In this paper we investigate contingent derivatives of set-valued maps and their lower and upper semidifferentiability properties. We provide also some calculus rules for these derivatives in infinite dimensional spaces. The concept of contingent derivatives is then applied to produce several necessary and sufficient conditions for vector optimization problems with set-valued objectives.This paper was written when the author was at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg under a grant of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.On leave from the Institute of Mathematics, Hanoi, Vietnam.     

Effects of gas sparging and mechanical mixing on sonochemical oxidation activity

The effects of air sparging (0–16 L min⁻¹) and mechanical mixing (0–400 rpm) on enhancing the sonochemical degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) was investigated using a 28 kHz sonoreactor. The degradation of RhB followed pseudo first-order kinetics, where sparging or mixing induced a large sonochemical enhancement. The kinetic constant varied in three stages (gradually increased → increased exponentially → decreased slightly) as the rate of sparging or mixing increased, where the stages were similar for both processes. The highest sonochemical activity was obtained with sparging at 8 L min⁻¹ or mixing at 200 rpm, where the standing wave field was significantly deformed by sparging and mixing, respectively. The cavitational oxidation activity was concentrated at the bottom of the sonicator when higher sparging or mixing rates were employed. Therefore, the large enhancement in the sonochemical oxidation was attributed mainly to the direct disturbance of the ultrasound transmission and the resulting change in the cavitation-active zone in this study. The effect of the position of air sparging and mixing was investigated. The indirect inhibition of the ultrasound transmission resulted in less enhancement of the sonochemical activity. Moreover, the effect of various sparging gases including air, N₂, O₂, Ar, CO₂, and an Ar/O₂ (8:2) mixture was compared, where all gases except CO₂ induced an enhancement in the sonochemical activity, irrespective of the concentration of dissolved oxygen. The highest activity was obtained with the Ar/O₂ (8:2) mixture. Therefore, it was revealed that the sonochemical oxidation activity could be further enhanced by applying gas sparging using the optimal gas.     

The left-definite Legendre type boundary problem

The left-definite Legendre type boundary problem concerns the study of a fourth-order singular differential expressionM _k [–] in a weighted Sobolev spaceH generated by a Dirichlet inner product. The fourth-order differential equation

The GHS inequality and the Riemann hypothesis

LetV(t) be the even function on (–, ) which is related to the Riemann xi-function by (x/2)=4 _– exp(ixt–V(t))dt. In a proof of certain moment inequalities which are necessary for the validity of the Riemann Hypothesis, it was previously shown thatV'(t)/t is increasing on (0, ). We prove a stronger property which is related to the GHS inequality of statistical mechanics, namely thatV' is convex on [0, ). The possible relevance of the convexity ofV' to the Riemann Hypothesis is discussed.Communicated by Richard Varga.     

The number oft-wise balanced designs

We prove that the number oft-wise balanced designs of ordern is asymptotically , provided that blocks of sizet are permitted. In the process, we prove that the number oft-profiles (multisets of block sizes) is bounded below by and above by for constants c₂>c₁>0.     

Trees in tournaments

Letf(n) be the smallest integer such that every tournament of orderf(n) contains every oriented tree of ordern. Sumner has just conjectures thatf(n)=2n–2, and F. K. Chung has shown thatf(n)(1+o(1))nlog₂ n. Here we show thatf(n)12n andf(n)(4+o(1))n.     

On a tropical dual Nullstellensatz

Since a tropical Nullstellensatz fails even for tropical univariate polynomials we study a conjecture on a tropical dual Nullstellensatz for tropical polynomial systems in terms of solvability of a tropical linear system with the Cayley matrix associated to the tropical polynomial system. The conjecture on a tropical effective dual Nullstellensatz is proved for tropical univariate polynomials.     

Regularity of flat free boundaries in two-phase problems for the p-Laplace operator

In this paper we continue the study in Lewis and Nyström (2010) [19], concerning the regularity of the free boundary in a general two-phase free boundary problem for the p-Laplace operator, by proving regularity of the free boundary assuming that the free boundary is close to a Lipschitz graph.     

Hardy–Littlewood–Sobolev and Stein–Weiss inequalities and integral systems on the Heisenberg group

In this paper, we study two types of weighted Hardy–Littlewood–Sobolev (HLS) inequalities, also known as Stein–Weiss inequalities, on the Heisenberg group. More precisely, we prove the |u|$\left|u\right|$ weighted HLS inequality in Theorem 1.1 and the |z|$\left|z\right|$ weighted HLS inequality in Theorem 1.5 (where we have denoted u=(z,t)$u=(z,t)$ as points on the Heisenberg group). Then we provide regularity estimates of positive solutions to integral systems which are Euler–Lagrange equations of the possible extremals to the Stein–Weiss inequalities. Asymptotic behavior is also established for integral systems associated to the |u|$\left|u\right|$ weighted HLS inequalities around the origin. By these a priori estimates, we describe asymptotically the possible optimizers for sharp versions of these inequalities.