Fibrations of bigroupoids

Using Brown's construction (J. Algebra 15 (1970) 103) of an exact 6-term sequence for a fibration of groupoids we show how an exact 9-term sequence can be associated to a fibration of bigroupoids. Applications to topology and algebra are given.     

Laser induced copper electroless plating on polyimide with Q-switch Nd:YAG laser

The results of laser induced deposition of copper on polyimide substrate from copper electrolyte solution are reported. Unlike most work reported in the literatures where CW Ar⁺ lasers were used, a second harmonic (532 nm wavelength) Q-switch Nd:YAG laser was used for our experiments. The deposition process was conducted by laser-catalyzing of the polyimide surface and subsequent photothermal-accelerated reduction of copper-complex ions in an alkaline reducing environment. The characteristics of the deposited copper line were investigated in terms of laser beam scanning speed, and the number of scans. The surface morphology and chemical composition of the deposited copper were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDX). The optimum processing conditions have been identified. The copper deposit was found to adhere well to the substrate.     

Temperature and junction-type dependency of Andreev reflection in MgB2

We studied the voltage and temperature dependency of the dynamic conductance of normal metal-MgB₂ junctions obtained either with the point-contact technique (with Au and Pt tips) or by making Ag-paint spots on the surface of MgB₂ samples. The fit of the conductance curves with the generalized BTK model gives evidence of pure s-wave gap symmetry. The temperature dependency of the gap, measured in Ag-paint junctions (dirty limit), follows the standard BCS curve with 2Δ/k_BT_c=3.3. In out-of-plane, high-pressure point-contacts we obtained almost ideal Andreev reflection characteristics showing a single small s-wave gap Δ=2.6±0.2 meV (clean limit).     

Spatial design matrices and associated quadratic forms: structure and properties

The paper provides significant simplifications and extensions of results obtained by Gorsich, Genton, and Strang (J. Multivariate Anal. 80 (2002) 138) on the structure of spatial design matrices. These are the matrices implicitly defined by quadratic forms that arise naturally in modelling intrinsically stationary and isotropic spatial processes. We give concise structural formulae for these matrices, and simple generating functions for them. The generating functions provide formulae for the cumulants of the quadratic forms of interest when the process is Gaussian, second-order stationary and isotropic. We use these to study the statistical properties of the associated quadratic forms, in particular those of the classical variogram estimator, under several assumptions about the actual variogram.     

An optodynamic method for the real-time determination of the depth of a laser-drilled hole

An experimental method for determining the real-time depth of laser-drilled holes is presented. The proposed method involves detecting the laser-induced optoacoustic waves generated during the interaction of the laser beam with the material. Our optodynamic study involved measuring the propagation times of these waves as they traveled through the material and analyzing their temporal behavior during the drilling process. The experimental observations revealed an exponential relationship between the propagation time of the longitudinal stress wave and the number of consecutive laser pulses. Received: 25 October 2001 / Accepted: 27 October 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001     

Asymptotique de la norme $L^2$ d'un cycle géodésique dans les revêtements de congruence d'une variété hyperbolique arithmétique

Let M be an arithmetic hyperbolic manifold and be a codimension 1 geodesic cycle. In this paper, we study the asymptotic growth of the -norm of the lifts of F in the congruence tower above M. We obtain an explicit value for the growth rate of this norm. In particular, we provide a new proof of a celebrated result of Millson [Mi] on the homology of the arithmetic hyperbolic manifolds. The method is quite general and gives a new way of getting non zero homology classes in certain locally symmetric spaces. Received: 20 April 2001; in final form: 26 September 2001 / Published online: 28 February 2002     

Simultaneous Packing and Covering in the Euclidean Plane

 In this article we study the simultaneous packing and covering constants of two-dimensional centrally symmetric convex domains. Besides an identity result between translative case and lattice case and a general upper bound, exact values for some special domains are determined. Similar to Mahler and Reinhardt’s result about packing densities, we show that the simultaneous packing and covering constant of an octagon is larger than that of a circle. (Received 17 January 2001; in revised form 13 July 2001)     

Banach空间上有界可逆线性变换逆变换的结构

Fillmore在[1]中得到一个定理:设A,T是Banach空间X上的线性变换,A有界,若Lat(A) Lat(T)且AT=TA,则T是A的多项式.在本文里,以此作为引理,讨论了Banach空间上可逆线性变换A在什么情况下,A-1可表示为A的多项式.本文最主要的结论是定理3.4:设X是Banach空间,A是X上的有界线性变换,且可逆,则A-1是A的多项式当且仅当A-1是A的局部多项式.     

Defect operators, defect functions and defect indices for analytic submodules

This paper mainly concerns defect operators and defect functions of Hardy submodules, Bergman submodules over the unit ball, and Hardy submodules over the polydisk. The defect operator (function) carries key information about operator theory (function theory) and structure of analytic submodules. The problem when a submodule has finite defect is attacked for both Hardy submodules and Bergman submodules. Our interest will be in submodules generated by polynomials. The reason for choosing such submodules is to understand the interaction of operator theory, function theory and algebraic geometry.     

Positions of convex bodies associated to extremal problems and isotropic measures

We show that there are close relations between extremal problems in dual Brunn-Minkowski theory and isotropic-type properties for some Borel measures on the sphere. The methods we use allow us to obtain similar results in the context of Firey-Brunn-Minkowski theory. We also study reverse inequalities for dual mixed volumes which are related with classical positions, such as ?-position or isotropic position.