OSCILLATION RESULTS FOR A SECOND ORDER NEUTRAL DELAY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Some new oscillation criteria are established for a second order neutral delay differential equations. These results improve oscillation results of Y.V. Rogo-vchenko for the retarded delay differential equations. The relevance of our theorems is illustrated with two carefully selected examples.     

Radiation effect on the 400-nm-thermoluminescence emission of a potassium-rich feldspar

The UV-blue thermoluminescence (TL) emission of exsolved and twinned potassium feldspars is potentially valid to be employed in the field of dating and retrospective dosimetry. This paper reports about the following results: (i) The dose dependence of the 400 nm TL intensity of a K-rich feldspar exhibits an excellent linearity in the range of 50 mGy–8 Gy. (ii) The stability of the TL signal after 6 months of storage, shows an initial rapid decay (ca. 45%) maintaining the stability from 40 days onwards which indicates that the electron population decreases asymptotically by the X-axis and the involved electrons are located in deeper traps at room temperature. The fading process can be fitted to a first-order decay equation of the sort y=y₀+A exp(−x/t). (iii) The tests of thermal stability at different temperatures confirm a continuous trap distribution with progressive changes in the glow curve shape, intensity and temperature position of the maximum peak. According to this behaviour some physical parameters are defined.     

Viscosity,particle size distribution,and structural investigation of tetramethyloxysilane/2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate sols during the sol–gel process with acid and base catalysts

The tetramethoxysilane (TMOS)/2‐hydroxylethyl methacrylate (HEMA) hybrid gels were synthesized with acid and base catalysts, via the in situ polymerization of HEMA, with and without the cosolvent methanol. With methanol in the TMOS/HEMA sol, the enhanced esterification and depolymerization reactions of the silanols resulted in a slower growth of silica particles. The silica particles that were synthesized with an acid catalyst were less than 40 nm. The thermal resistance of the poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) chains was enhanced by the addition of colloidal silica. The Fourier transform infrared characterizations and the exothermal peaks on the differential scanning calorimetry traces of these hybrid gels indicated chemical hybridization occurring as a result of condensation of the colloid silica and PHEMA at higher temperatures. Hence, the residual weight content of the hybrid gel after its synthesis with the base catalyst was even higher than the content of TMOS in the hybrid sol. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 3476–3486, 2004     

Addition–fragmentation chain transfer: Molecular weight distributions and retardation in the system methyl methacrylate/methyl α‐(bromomethyl)acrylate

A detailed investigation of addition–fragmentation chain transfer (AFCT) in the free‐radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in the presence of methyl α‐(bromomethyl)acrylate (MBMA) was carried out to elucidate mechanistic details with efficient macromonomer synthesis as an underlying goal. Advanced modeling techniques were used in connection with the experimental work. Curve fitting of simulated and experimental molecular weight distributions with respect to the rate coefficient for addition of propagating radicals to MBMA (k_add) over 60–120 °C resulted in E_add = 21.7 kJ mol^?1 and A_add = 2.18 × 10⁶ M^?1 s^?1 and a very weak temperature dependence of the chain‐transfer constant (E_add ≈ E_p). The rate coefficient for fragmentation of adduct radicals at 60 °C was estimated as k_f ≈ 39 s^?1 on the basis of experimental data of the MMA conversion and the concentration of 2‐carbomethoxy‐2‐propenyl end groups. The approach developed is generic and can be applied to any AFCT system in which copolymerization does not occur and in which the resulting unsaturated end groups do not undergo further reactions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2640–2650, 2004     

BMAP/G/1 queue with correlated arrivals of customers and disasters

We consider a single server queue with disasters where the arrivals of customers and disasters are correlated. When a disaster occurs, it removes all the customers in the system and there requires repair time for the system to be operated normally. The stationary queue length distribution at the embedded points and at an arbitrary time are presented.     

The evolution of a truncated gaussian probability density through time—modelling animal liveweights after selection

The form of the probability density derived from the evolution in time of a previously truncated frequency distribution of animal Liveweights is of interest in animal husbandry. Truncated frequency distributions arise when the heavier animals are sold for slaughter and the lighter animals retained. The demands of modern quality assurance schemes require that, given information on animal growth, the farmer is able to estimate the number of animals that would meet the specifications at some time in the future after truncation. Assuming that animal growth can be described by a linear stochastic differential equation, we derive an explicit expression for the probability density of animal Liveweights at any time after the truncation of an initial Gaussian density. It is shown that this probability density converges rapidly to a Gaussian density, so that after about 20 days of typical growth rates for lambs, the resulting density is practically indistinguishable from Gaussian.     

Space time-index plots for probing dynamical nonstationarity

We propose a simple method to efficiently probe dynamical nonstationarity in observed time series. In a space time-index plot, the density distributions as a function of normalized time-index are V-shaped due to nonstationarity. We show that this method is workable for short data sets and typical examples are illustrated.     

The Nonexistence of Procedures with Bounded Performance Characteristics in Certain Parametric Inference Problems

This paper gives a condition which implies the nonexistence of parametric statistical procedures with bounded risk or error performance characteristics. Many examples for which such a condition is satisfied are considered.     

随机环境中双移民生灭过程的极限性质

引入了随机环境中双移民生灭过程的概念，定义了过程的模态指示函数，在此基础上研究了其转移矩阵的平稳分布，给出了平稳分布众数的位置与模态指示函数之间的关系．研究了平稳分布的众数与边界关系．     

Developing a hybrid emulsion polymerization system to synthesize Fe3O4/polystyrene latexes with narrow size distribution and high magnetite content

A hybrid emulsion polymerization was formulated for synthesizing Fe₃O₄/polystyrene composite latex. This system, containing binary droplets that are magnetic (Mag)‐droplets with a diameter of 100–200 nm and styrene (St)‐droplets with a diameter of 3–4 μm, was obtained by mixing Mag‐miniemulsion and St‐macroemulsion. With extremely low surfactants concentration (?critical micelle concentration, CMC), the nucleated loci are selectively controlled in the Mag‐droplets, as the result of smaller droplet size and larger surface ratio. Both water‐soluble potassium persulfate (KPS) and oil‐soluble 2,2′‐azobis(2‐isobutyronitrile) was adopted to initiate the polymerization. In the presence of KPS, magnetic polystyrene latices with particles size of 60–200 nm, narrow size distribution, and high magnetite content (86 wt % measured by TGA) were attained successfully. The synthesized magnetic Fe₃O_4/polystyrene latices assembled into well‐ordered hexagonal structure in the surface of a carbon supported copper grid. The influence of various parameters on various aspects of the as‐synthesized Fe₃O₄/polystyrene was investigated in detail: type of initiator on composite morphology, feed ratio of Mag‐miniemulsion and St‐macroemulsion on magnetite content, and hydrophobic agent or amount of surfactant on size and size distribution. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5285–5295, 2007