Infrared investigation of aluminum- and chromium-substituted magnetites and of the lacunar spinels resulting from their oxidation

When Fe³⁺ ions are substituted by aluminum or chromium on magnetite octahedral sites, the ir spectrum shows the conversion of an inverse spinel to a normal spinel. Both broad bands of magnetite are gradually replaced by the four characteristic bands of normal spinels II–III. They are also observed for solid solutions, FeCr₂O₄FeAl₂O₄, with, however, a further band at 780 cm^?1 which may be assigned to Al³⁺ ions on tetrahedral sites. Low-temperature (<400°C) oxidation of these compounds whose sizes are less than 2000 Å results in lacunar spinels III–III. The ir spectrum of these solids is characterized by two absorption bands (as for inverse spinels II–III) except for compounds close to pure γFe₂O₃ in which an order of vacancies could be put in evidence.     

Natural spline functions,their associated eigenvalue problem

Summary We consider the problem of studying the behaviour of the eigenvalues associated with spline functions with equally spaced knots. We show that they are wherem is the order of the spline andn, the number of knots.This result is of particular interest to prove optimality properties of the Generalized Cross-Validation Method and had been conjectured by Craven and Wahba in a recent paper.     

Theoretical Study of Weakly Bound Dimers between Hydrogen Fluoride and Some Polar Molecules

Weakly bound linear and bent dimers, FH—X (where X = CO, OC, CNH, NCH, N₂O and ON₂), are investigated using the DFT B3LYP and ab initio MP2 methods with the same basis sets (6–311++G(3df,2pd)). The strengths of the H—C or H—N H‐bonds in dimers FH—CO, FH—CNH, and FH—N₂O are compared with those of the H—O or H—N H‐bonds in dimers FH—OC, FH—NCH, and FH—ON₂. The results obtained for the H‐bond distances, the elongation effect of the HF bond, the red shift of the HF stretching frequency, and the energy difference between the dimer and the charge transfer reveal that the H‐bonds of the first group of dimers are stronger than those of the second. The Gibbs energies calculated for the six dimer formations indicate that the weakly bound dimers are unstable at room temperature (T = 298 K) (FH—X's → FH + X's, ΔG < 0).     

Quantum chemistry study on B32 and B32H2–32

The structures of B32 and B₃₂H^2–₃₂ with I_h symmetry have been investigated by means of ab initio calculations at STO-3G level. The relationship between molecular orbitals of them has been analyzed and their bonding properties have been discussed. Then the possibility of their existence, as well as the similarity and difference between B₃₂ (B₃₂H^2–₃₂) and C₆₀ (C₆₀H₆₀) have been inferred.     

KT-nearfields of rank 2

Summary Nearfields of rank 2 over their kernel which are not Dickson nearfields have recently been constructed by H. Zassenhaus. Here it is shown that KT-nearfields of rank 2 over their kernels and of characteristic 2 are necessarily Dickson nearfields which are coupled to quadratic field extensions and their Dickson group is isomorphic to ₂. Using results of Gröger one obtains all KT-nearfields of rank 2 over the field of rational numbers.     

On the support of midconvex operators

Summary LetX be a real vector space,D a convex subset ofX and (Y, K) an order complete ordered vector space. The following sandwich theorem holds: Iff: D Y is midconvex,g: D Y {– } is midconcave andg f onD, then there exists a Jensen mappingh: D Y {– } such thatg h f onD. Using this theorem we show that a mappingf: D Y is midconvex if and only if it has Jensen support at every point ofD. Moreover, ifX is a Baire topological vector space and (Y, K) is an ordered topological vector space satisfying some additional conditions, then a mappingf: D Y is continuous whenever it has continuous Jensen support at every point ofD. As an application of these results we obtain the equality of some set-classes connected with additive and midconvex operators.Dedicated to the memory of Alexander M. Ostrowski on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth     

Quadratically constrained least squares and quadratic problems

Summary We consider the following problem: Compute a vectorx such that Ax–b₂=min, subject to the constraint x₂=. A new approach to this problem based on Gauss quadrature is given. The method is especially well suited when the dimensions ofA are large and the matrix is sparse.It is also possible to extend this technique to a constrained quadratic form: For a symmetric matrixA we consider the minimization ofx ^T A x–2b ^T x subject to the constraint x₂=.Some numerical examples are given.This work was in part supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DCR-8412314 and by the National Institute of Standards and Technology under Grant 60NANB9D0908.     

Numerical implementation of coherence for the example of the “Swiss Cross”

Summary We consider the two-dimensional Helmholtz equation u+u=0 inD with the boundary conditionsu=0 on D. D is the Swiss Cross — a region consisting of five unit squares. A method based on the concept of Coherence is utilized to determine an approximation for the first eigenvalue= ₁ more accurate than calculated by classical difference methods. The numerical result is used to illustrate isoperimetric upper and lower bounds for ₁, and to test some conjectures on its relations with torsional rigidity.Dedicated to the memory of Professor Lathar Collatz     

Some identities for products and degree raising of splines

In this paper it is shown how the algebraic product of two spline functions, each represented in terms of B-splines, can again be represented as a linear combination of suitable B-splines. As a corollary to this result we obtain an explicit representation of a given B-spline function in terms of B-splines of some arbitrary higher degree. This generalizes some known results for raising the degree by one. Recurrence relations for both products and degree raising are established that may be useful for computation.Communicated by Larry L. Schumaker.