Throughout the paper, let

be forms with rational integer coefficients of degrees d1, …, ds all at least 2 with n ≥ 4. Let p be a prime and Q a box in ℝn,

Let (C1, C2, …) be a sequence of convex bodies in n-dimensional euclidean space En, and let υ(Ci) denote the volume and d(Ci) the diameter of Ci. It is shown that the conditions

imply that the sets Ci can be rearranged by the application of rigid motions so that the resulting sets form a packing in En of density 1. A corresponding result for coverings of En is also proved.

The problem of illuminating the boundary of sets having constant width is considered and a bound for the number of directions needed is given. As a corollary, an estimate for Borsuk's partition problem is inferred. Also, the illumination number of sufficiently symmetric strictly convex bodies is determined.

The 2-ball property is shown to be transitive. Combining this with some results on the decomposability of convex bodies, we produce new examples of Banach spaces which contain proper semi-M-ideals. These semi-M-ideals are not hyperplanes, nor are they the direct sums of examples which are hyperplanes.

The concept of mixed invariant set is due to Bandt [1], Bedford [2], Dekking [3, 4], Marion [4] and Schulz [10]. An m-tuple B = (B1, …, Bm) of closed and bounded subsets Bi of a complete finitely compact (bounded and closed subsets are compact) metric space X is called a mixed invariant set with respect to contractions f1, …, fm and a transition matrix M = (mij), if, and only if,

for every i ∈ {1, …, m}. In the papers quoted an essential condition is that all mappings f1, …, fm be contractions. We will show that, under certain conditions, the construction of mixed invariant sets also works in cases where some of the mappings are isometries or even expanding mappings.

Let (R, ) be a commutative Noetherian local ring. We investigate conditions for a non-finitely generated R-module M to have a system of parameters. We prove that if

then any system of parameters for R/AnR (M) is a system of parameters for M. As an application we characterize by means of systems of parameters those balanced big Cohen–Macaulay R-modules M for which SuppR (M) = suppR (M).

We shall deal throughout with regular matrix methods of summability defined by a stochastic matrix A = (ank). Thus

means

We examine the asymptotic form of a fundamental set of solutions of the third-order equation

as x → ∞, where the leading coefficient q is nowhere zero in some interval [a, ∞). The equation is self-adjoint in the case when p, r and iq are real. However, our analysis is not confined to this case, and we generally take the coefficients to be complex-valued.

Sphere Theorems are employed to solve two asymmetric singularity-driven flows of a fluid exterior to a rigid spherical surface. The flows are generated by a rotlet and Stokeslet respectively whose axes are perpendicular to the sphere radius produced drawn through their locations. The flow details are analysed and the forces and couples acting on the sphere are calculated. The Stokeslet solution is also used to compute an approximation to the drag force experienced by a particle which sediments in the fluid in a direction perpendicular to a sphere radius.

In the application of electromagnetic methods to the non-destructive testing of electrically conducting materials for cracks or inclusions an electric current is applied to the specimen and the presence of a flaw is indicated by the perturbations it produces in the electromagnetic field. A number of different variants of the method can be used. The presence of a flaw may be observed by measuring either electric or magnetic field perturbations and the nature of the interrogating field will be sensitive to the choice of frequency chosen for the applied current. It is well known that when alternating current is applied to conductors the current tends to be confined to a surface layer whose depth, δ, is measured by the length 1/(ωσμ)½ where σ is the conductivity, μ is the magnetic permeability and ω the angular frequency. An important dimensionless parameter in the characterisation of the field perturbations is the ratio δ/l, where l is a length typical of the flaw dimensions. The electromagnetic field is described as a thin-skin or a thick-skin field according as this ratio is small or large respectively. In practical applications there is a need to model both thin and thick-skin fields. In the examination of surface fatigue cracks in large scale structures fabricated by welding together ferrous steel members surface fatigue cracks with depths of order 1–10 mm have been interrogated with currents at 5–6 KHz at which the skin depth is of order 0·1 mm (Dover, Collins and Michael [1]).

This theoretical work shows formally that unsteady interactive boundary layers can break up within a finite time by encountering a nonlinear localized singularity. The theory is an extension of, and is guided to a large extent by, Brotherton-Ratcliffe and Smith's (1987) work on a special case. Two major types of singularity are proposed, a “moderate” type yielding a singular pressure gradient and a “severe” type associated with a pressure discontinuity. Each type produces a singular response in the skin friction in the case of wall-bounded flows. The present finite-time singularity applies to any unsteady interactive flow, e.g., incompressible or compressible boundary layers, internal flows, wakes, in two or three dimensions; and the singularity and its associated change in flow structure have numerous repercussions, which are discussed, physically and theoretically, concerning boundary-layer transition in particular.

Let K be a convex compact body with nonempty interior in the d-dimensional Euclidean space Rd and let x1, …, xn be random points in K, independently and uniformly distributed. Define Kn = conv {x1, …, xn}. Our main concern in this paper will be the behaviour of the deviation of vol Kn from vol K as a function of n, more precisely, the expectation of the random variable vol (K\Kn). We denote this expectation by E (K, n).

One construction used to produce a random number table is to take a smooth function F(x) taking values between 0 and 1, to evaluate it at N points spaced 1/M apart, and to ignore the first t decimal digits. With T = 10t this corresponds to taking the fractional part of

where T>M>N. The grounds for assuming this sequence to be random are that it is so difficult to prove anything about it.

A study is made of the length L(h, k) of the Euclidean algorithm for determining the g.c.d. of two polynomials h, k in [X], a finite field. We obtain exact formulae for the number of pairs with a fixed length N which lie in a given range, as well as the average length and variance of the Euclidean algorithm for such pairs.