Critical phenomena in FINEMET alloy

The Fe<sub>73.5sub>Cu<sub>1sub>Nb<sub>3sub>Si<sub>13.5sub>B<sub>9sub> FINEMET alloy has been prepared by the rapid solidification technique. The critical behaviour of this alloy in the amorphous as well as in its nanocrystalline states has been studied near their respective Curie temperatures. From the values of the critical exponents one can conclude that the alloy behaves like a 3D Heisenberg ferromagnet in the amorphous and nanocrystalline states. But there exists a slight increase in the value of β for the alloy annealed at 823 K (the nanocrystalline state) as observed in most of the amorphous alloys.     

Comparison of the boundary theory with the contact rule of phase regions and Gupta’s method

The phase boundary theory and the contact rule of phase regions are compared, and some weaknesses of the latter are manifested. The comparison between the Gupta’s method and the boundary theory method for constructing multicomponent isobaric sections is also presented.     

A Joint Integral Test for the Locations of Extrema for Brownian Motion

Let μ<sup>+sup>(t) and μ<sup>−sup>(t) be the locations of the maximum and minimum, respectively, of a standard Brownian motion in the interval [0,t]. We establish a joint integral test for the lower functions of μ<sup>+sup>(t) and μ<sup>−sup>(t), in the sense of Paul Lévy. In particular, it yields the law of the iterated logarithm for max(μ<sup>+sup>(t),μ<sup>−sup>(t)) as a straightforward consequence. Our result is in agreement with well-known theorems of Chung and Erdős [(1952) Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 72, 179–186.], and Csáki, F?ldes and Révész [(1987) Prob. Theory Relat. Fields 76, 477–497].      

Jensen’s Inequality for Backward Stochastic Differential Equations

Abstract Under the Lipschitz assumption and square integrable assumption on g, the author proves that Jensen’s inequality holds for backward stochastic differential equations with generator g if and only if g is independent of y, g(t, 0) ≡ 0 and g is super homogeneous with respect to z. This result generalizes the known results on Jensen’s inequality for g- expectation in [4, 7–9]. *Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.10325101) and the Science Foundation of China University of Mining and Technology.     

An implicit method for linear ill‐posed problems with perturbed operators

An implicit iterative method is applied to solving linear ill‐posed problems with perturbed operators. It is proved that the optimal convergence rate can be obtained after choosing suitable number of iterations. A generalized Morozov's discrepancy principle is proposed for the problems, and then the optimal convergence rate can also be obtained by an a posteriori strategy. The convergence results show that the algorithm is a robust regularization method. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ekeland’s principle for vector equilibrium problems

In this paper, the authors deal with bifunctions defined on complete metric spaces and with values in locally convex spaces ordered by closed convex cones. The aim is to provide a vector version of Ekeland&rsquo;s theorem related to equilibrium problems. To prove this principle, a weak notion of continuity of a vector-valued function is considered, and some of its properties are presented. Via the vector Ekeland&rsquo;s principle, existence results for vector equilibria are proved in both compact and noncompact domains.     

On the solution of Maxwell's equations in polygonal domains

This paper is concerned with the structure of the singular and regular parts of the solution of time‐harmonic Maxwell's equations in polygonal plane domains and their effective numerical treatment. The asymptotic behaviour of the solution near corner points of the domain is studied by means of discrete Fourier transformation and it is proved that the solution of the boundary value problem does not belong locally to H<sup>2sup> when the boundary of the domain has non‐acute angles. A splitting of the solution into a regular part belonging to the space H<sup>2sup>, and an explicitly described singular part is presented. For the numerical treatment of the boundary value problem, we propose a finite element discretization which combines local mesh grading and the singular field methods and derive a priori error estimates that show optimal convergence as known for the classical finite element method for problems with regular solutions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Classes polaires associées aux distributions holomorphes de sous-espaces tangents*

Résumé. Nous définissons des classes polaires associées à une distribution holomorphe singulière de sous-espaces tangents d’une variété projective lisse. Nous prouvons que ces classes polaires peuvent être calculées en fonction des classes de Chern-Mather du faisceau tangent de la distribution et réciproquement. Nous utilisons leurs degrés pour borner les degrés de certaines classes polaires associés à une variété invariante. *Ce travail a été soutenu par l’Accord de Coopération France-Brésil (CNRS/CNPq) et par la Fondation CAPES-Brésil.     

Studies on calcium‐containing poly(urethane ether)s

The calcium salt of mono(hydroxyethoxyethyl)phthalate [Ca(HEEP)<sub>2sub>] was synthesized by the reaction of diethylene glycol, phthalic anhydride, and calcium acetate. Calcium‐containing poly(urethane ether)s (PUEs) were synthesized by the reaction of hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) or tolylene 2,4‐diisocyanate (TDI) with a mixture of Ca(HEEP)<sub>2sub> and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG<sub>300sub> or PEG<sub>400sub>) with di‐n‐butyltin dilaurate as a catalyst. A series of calcium‐containing PUEs of different compositions were synthesized with Ca(HEEP)<sub>2sub>/PEG<sub>300sub> (or PEG<sub>400sub>)/diisocyanate (HMDI or TDI) molar ratios of 2:2:4, 3:1:4, and 1:3:4 so that the coating properties of the PUEs could be studied. Blank PUEs without calcium‐containing ionic diols were also prepared by the reaction of PEG<sub>300sub> or PEG<sub>400sub> with HMDI or TDI. The PUEs were well characterized by Fourier transform infrared, <sup>1sup>H and <sup>13sup>C NMR, solid‐state cross‐polarity/magic‐angle‐spinning <sup>13sup>C NMR, viscosity, solubility, and X‐ray diffraction studies. The thermal properties of the polymers were also studied with thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The PUEs were applied as top coats on acrylic‐coated leather, and their physicomechanical properties were also studied. The coating properties of PUEs, such as the tensile strength, elongation at break, tear strength, water vapor permeability, flexing endurance, cold crack resistance, abrasion resistance, color fastness, and adhesive strength, were better than the standard values. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 2865–2878, 2003     

On quasi-solution to infeasible linear complementarity problem obtained by Lemke’s method

For a linear complementarity problem with inconsistent system of constraints a notion of quasi-solution of Tschebyshev type is introduced. It’s shown that this solution can be obtained automatically by Lemke’s method if the constraint matrix of the original problem is copositive plus or belongs to the intersection of matrix classes P <sub>0sub> and Q <sub>0sub>.