Characterization of host-lattice emission and energy transfer in BaMgAl10O17:Eu

Host-lattice emission, energy transfer and degradation processes are characterized in undoped and Eu-doped BaMgAl₁₀O₁₇. Undoped BaMgAl₁₀O₁₇ exhibits a broad emission centered at 265 nm when excited at wavelengths shorter than 190 nm. This emission is assigned to exciton recombination at Ba-O groups in the cation layer of the lattice. The emission exhibits excellent overlap with the excitation band of Eu²⁺ in this host, providing a means of host-to-activator energy transfer in the doped phosphor. The exciton emission is relatively stable to thermal damage, but undergoes a peak shift and significant decrease in intensity after exposure to VUV radiation. Heating of VUV-damaged materials in air leads to some repair of the spectral properties.     

Mild and efficient synthesis of propargylamines by copper-catalyzed Mannich reaction

Terminal alkynes undergo mild and efficient aminomethylation with aqueous formaldehyde and secondary amines under CuI catalysis. In most cases high to nearly quantitative yields of tertiary propargylamines are obtained in DMSO solution at room temperature. Aromatic, aliphatic and silylated acetylenes as well as alkynols can be used. Primary amines are less reactive and satisfactory yields of secondary propargylamines are obtained only with phenylacetylene.     

Crystal Structure of Adduct 2-Phenyl-imidazo [ 4,5-f ] 1,10-phenanthroline Methanol

The structure of the title adduct comprises a phenanthroline derivative 2-phenyl-imidazo[4,5-f]1,10-phenanthroline and a methanol.The composition of the crystalline adduct was characterized as C19H12N4.CH3OH.It belongs to orthorhombic system,space group Pna21 with a=1.3693(4)nm,b=2.2988(7)nm,c=0.51338(15)nm,V=1.6160(8)nm^3.Z=4,and final R1=0.0423.wR2=0.1012 .Crystal structure shows that all the 19 carbon atoms and 4 nitrogen atoms are coplanar.The bond length data indicated that a very extensive conjugation system was formed.This conjugation makes the compound being a potentially excellent energy transformer used for luminescent materials.     

Crack path instabilities in DCDC experiments in the low speed regime

We studied the low speed fracture regime (10⁻⁴-10⁻⁹ m s⁻¹) in different glassy materials (soda-lime glass, glass ceramics) with variable but controlled length scale of heterogeneity. The chosen mechanical system enabled us to work in pure mode I (tensile) and at a fixed load on double cleavage drilled compression specimen. The internal residual stresses of studied samples were carefully relaxed by appropriate thermal treatment. By means of optical and atomic force microscopy techniques fracture surfaces have been examined. We have shown for the first time that the crack front line underwent an out-of-plane oscillating behavior as a result of a reproducible sequence of instabilities. The wavelength of such a phenomenon is in the micrometer range and its amplitude in the nanometer range. These features were observed for different glassy materials providing that a typical length scale characterizing internal heterogeneities was lower than a threshold limit estimated to few nanometers. This effect is the first clear experimental evidence of crack path instabilities in the low speed regime in a uniaxial loading experiment. This phenomenon has been interpreted by referring to the stability criterion for a straight crack propagation as presented by Adda-Bedia et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76 (1996) 1497].     

Asymptotic properties of computationally efficient alternative estimators for a class of multivariate normal models

Parameters of Gaussian multivariate models are often estimated using the maximum likelihood approach. In spite of its merits, this methodology is not practical when the sample size is very large, as, for example, in the case of massive georeferenced data sets. In this paper, we study the asymptotic properties of the estimators that minimize three alternatives to the likelihood function, designed to increase the computational efficiency. This is achieved by applying the information sandwich technique to expansions of the pseudo-likelihood functions as quadratic forms of independent normal random variables. Theoretical calculations are given for a first-order autoregressive time series and then extended to a two-dimensional autoregressive process on a lattice. We compare the efficiency of the three estimators to that of the maximum likelihood estimator as well as among themselves, using numerical calculations of the theoretical results and simulations.     

Ihara zeta functions of digraphs

After defining and exploring some of the properties of Ihara zeta functions of digraphs, we improve upon Kotani and Sunada’s bounds on the poles of Ihara zeta functions of undirected graphs by considering digraphs whose adjacency matrices are directed edge matrices.     

Thermal degradation of two liquid fuels and detonation tests for pulse detonation engine studies

The use of liquid fuels such as kerosene is of interest for the pulse detonation engine (PDE). Within this context, the aim of this work, which is a preliminary study, was to show the feasibility to initiate a detonation in air with liquid-fuel pyrolysis products, using energies and dimensions of test facility similars to those of PDEs. Therefore, two liquids fuels have been compared, JP10, which is a synthesis fuel generally used in the field of missile applications, and decane, which is one of the major components of standard kerosenes (F-34, Jet A1, ...). The thermal degradation of these fuels was studied with two pyrolysis processes, a batch reactor and a flow reactor. The temperatures varied from 600°C to 1,000°C and residence times for the batch reactor and the flow reactor were, respectively, between 10–30 s and 0.1–2 s. Subsequently, the detonability of synthetic gaseous mixtures, which was a schematisation of the decomposition state after the pyrolysis process, has been studied. The detonability study, regarding nitrogen dilution and equivalence ratio, was investigated in a 50 mm-diameter, 2.5 m-long detonation tube. These dimensions are compatible with applications in the aircraft industry and, more particularly, in PDEs. Therefore, JP10 and decane were compared to choose the best candidate for liquid-fuel PDE studies. This paper was based on work that was presented at the 20th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems, Montreal, Canada, July 31 – August 5, 2005.     

Semi-implicit complementary volume scheme for solving level set like equations in image processing and curve evolution

Summary. We introduce linear semi-implicit complementary volume numerical scheme for solving level set like nonlinear degenerate diffusion equations arising in image processing and curve evolution problems. We study discretization of image selective smoothing equation of mean curvature flow type given by Alvarez, Lions and Morel ([3]). Solution of the level set equation of Osher and Sethian ([26], \[30]) is also included in the study. We prove and estimates for the proposed scheme and give existence of its (generalized) solution in every discrete time-scale step. Efficiency of the scheme is given by its linearity and stability. Preconditioned iterative solvers are used for computing arising linear systems. We present computational results related to image processing and plane curve evolution. Received April 25, 2000 / Revised version received June 11, 2001 / Published online November 15, 2001     

Buchsbaum homogeneous algebras with minimal multiplicity

In this paper we first give a lower bound on multiplicities for Buchsbaum homogeneous k-algebras A in terms of the dimension d, the codimension c, the initial degree q, and the length of the local cohomology modules of A. Next, we introduce the notion of Buchsbaum k-algebras with minimal multiplicity of degree q, and give several characterizations for those rings. In particular, we will show that those algebras have linear free resolutions. Further, we will give many examples of those algebras.     

Asymptotic distributions of nonparametric regression estimators for longitudinal or functional data

The estimation of a regression function by kernel method for longitudinal or functional data is considered. In the context of longitudinal data analysis, a random function typically represents a subject that is often observed at a small number of time points, while in the studies of functional data the random realization is usually measured on a dense grid. However, essentially the same methods can be applied to both sampling plans, as well as in a number of settings lying between them. In this paper general results are derived for the asymptotic distributions of real-valued functions with arguments which are functionals formed by weighted averages of longitudinal or functional data. Asymptotic distributions for the estimators of the mean and covariance functions obtained from noisy observations with the presence of within-subject correlation are studied. These asymptotic normality results are comparable to those standard rates obtained from independent data, which is illustrated in a simulation study. Besides, this paper discusses the conditions associated with sampling plans, which are required for the validity of local properties of kernel-based estimators for longitudinal or functional data.