Constructing Invariant Fairness Measures for Surfaces

The paper proposes a rational method to derive fairness measures for surfaces. It works in cases where isophotes, reflection lines, planar intersection curves, or other curves are used to judge the fairness of the surface. The surface fairness measure is derived by demanding that all the given curves should be fair with respect to an appropriate curve fairness measure. The method is applied to the field of ship hull design where the curves are plane intersections. The method is extended to the case where one considers, not the fairness of one curve, but the fairness of a one parameter family of curves. Six basic third order invariants by which the fairing measures can be expressed are defined. Furthermore, the geometry of a plane intersection curve is studied, and the variation of the total, the normal, and the geodesic curvature and the geodesic torsion is determined.     

Magnetic poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) microspheres by dispersion and inverse emulsion polymerization

The aim of this study was to develop novel thermally responsive polymer microspheres with magnetic properties. Dispersion and inverse emulsion copolymerization of N‐isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and N,N′‐methylenebisacrylamide (MBAAm) was investigated in the presence of γ‐Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles. The resulting microspheres were characterized in terms of morphology, size, polydispersity, iron content, and temperature‐dependent swelling using optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, QELS, and AAS. The effects of several variables, such as the concentration of γ‐Fe₂O₃, MBAAm crosslinking agent, Span 80 surfactant, 2,2′‐azobis(2‐methyloctanenitrile) (AMON) initiator, and polymerization temperature on the properties of the microspheres were studied. Swelling and thermoresponsive behavior of the microspheres containing γ‐Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles were also investigated. The microspheres contained about 8 wt % of iron. The presence of magnetic nanoparticles and their concentration changes did not have any significant effect on the temperature sensitivity of the composites. The particles gradually shrink into an increasingly collapsed state when the temperature is raised to 40 °C since the increase in temperature weakens the hydration and PNIPAAm chains gradually become more hydrophobic, which leads to the collapse of the particles. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5884–5898, 2007     

Geometric quadrisection in linear time, with application to VLSI placement

We consider the following problem: given a set of points in the plane, each with a weight, and capacities of the four quadrants, assign each point to one of the quadrants such that the total weight of points assigned to a quadrant does not exceed its capacity, and the total distance is minimized.

This problem is most important in placement of VLSI circuits and is likely to have other applications. It is NP-hard, but the fractional relaxation always has an optimal solution which is “almost” integral. Hence for large instances, it suffices to solve the fractional relaxation. The main result of this paper is a linear-time algorithm for this relaxation. It is based on a structure theorem describing optimal solutions by so-called “American maps” and makes sophisticated use of binary search techniques and weighted median computations.

This algorithm is a main subroutine of a VLSI placement tool that is used for the design of many of the most complex chips.     

Time structure of iodine laser pulse in the free running mode of operation

Time structure of iodine laser pulse in the free running mode of operation was studied using the power amplifier of laser system PERUN as the laser oscillator. Two characteristic shapes of laser pulse correspond to different regimes of laser operation, the existence of which is ascribed to the critical concentration of I₂ molecules. Simultaneously an additional chemical pumping was proved at least in the initial phase of photodissociation and in a late-time lasing after the end of flashlamps pumping light.