Nonlocality of Reaction-Diffusion Equations Induced by Delay: Biological Modeling and Nonlinear Dynamics

We present a short survey on the biological modeling, dynamics analysis, and numerical simulation of nonlocal spatial effects, induced by time delays, in diffusion models for a single species confined to either a finite or an infinite domain. The nonlocality, a weighted average in space, arises when account is taken of the fact that individuals have been at different points in space at previous times. We discuss and compare two existing approaches to correctly derive the spatial averaging kernels, and we summarize some of the recent developments in both qualitative and numerical analysis of the nonlinear dynamics, including the existence, uniqueness (up to a translation), and stability of traveling wave fronts and periodic spatio-temporal patterns of the model equations in unbounded domains and the linear stability, boundedness, global convergence of solutions and bifurcations of the model equations in finite domains.     

Jackson-type inequality on the sphere

In a recent paper, I introduced new moduli of smoothness for functions on the sphere which did not use averages and, as a result, had some interesting properties. The direct, Jackson-type, estimate of the best approximation by spherical harmonics using the new moduli will be proved here. Equivalence with the appropriate K-functionals will be given. Relations with the moduli used earlier will be shown and used to prove new results for these moduli.     

Point load determination of static elastic moduli using laser speckle interferometry

Electronic speckle interferometry (ESPI) is used to determine the Young's modulus E and Poisson ratio ν of an isotropic material. Micron scale deformations of the surface of the block of polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) are induced by normal application of a known near-point force. These deformations are recorded in speckle interferometric fringe patterns. An iterative minimum error inversion technique is developed to obtain the elastic properties from the positions of fringe peaks and troughs observed in the fringe patterns. Sensitivity tests of the method on calculated fringe patterns using measured experimental uncertainties suggest the technique will provide measures of the elastic moduli to better than 5%. In an experimental test on a bloc of PMMA (acrylic) the technique gave values of E and ν that differed from corresponding measures obtained using more conventional strain-gauge methods by less than 4%.     

Existence of solutions for the time-dependent thermistor equations

The equations describing the behaviour of temperature/flow microsensorsemploy-ing polysilicon thermistors form a degenerate nonlinearparabolic system. One special feature is that different equationsof this system are to be satisfied on different domains. Bymeans of supersolutions and subsolutions, the maximum principle,and fixed point arguments, the authors show the existence ofsolutions to the equations.     

Time-dependent Green's functions for an anisotropic bimaterial with viscous interface

By virtue of the Stroh formalism, we derive the exact closed-form solutions for the time-dependent two-dimensional Green's functions due to a line force and line dislocation in an anisotropic bimaterial with a viscous interface. We first reduce the boundary value problem to two coupled homogeneous first-order partial differential equations, which can be solved using a decoupling technique. The full-field expressions of the time-dependent displacements and stresses due to the line force and line dislocation interacting with the viscous interface are obtained.     

A simplified proof of the representation of functionals of diffusions

A simple proof is given for the stochastic integral representation of a Fréchet differentiable functional of the paths of a given diffusion process. The proof begins when the functional depends on one coordinate, then passes to (by appropriate conditioning) a perhaps more difficult case—when the functional depends on a finite number of coordinates—and finally, by approximation, to the general case.     

Solutions in Sobolev spaces of vector refinement equations with a general dilation matrix

In this paper, we present a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of solutions in a Sobolev space W_p^k(ℝ^s) (1≤p≤∞) to a vector refinement equation with a general dilation matrix. The criterion is constructive and can be implemented. Rate of convergence of vector cascade algorithms in a Sobolev space W_p^k(ℝ^s) will be investigated. When the dilation matrix is isotropic, a characterization will be given for the L_p (1≤p≤∞) critical smoothness exponent of a refinable function vector without the assumption of stability on the refinable function vector. As a consequence, we show that if a compactly supported function vector φ∈L_p(ℝ^s) (φ∈C(ℝ^s) when p=∞) satisfies a refinement equation with a finitely supported matrix mask, then all the components of φ must belong to a Lipschitz space Lip(ν,L_p(ℝ^s)) for some ν>0. This paper generalizes the results in R.Q. Jia, K.S. Lau and D.X. Zhou (J. Fourier Anal. Appl. 7 (2001) 143–167) in the univariate setting to the multivariate setting. Dedicated to Professor Charles A. Micchelli on the occasion of his 60th birthday Mathematics subject classifications (2000) 42C20, 41A25, 39B12. Research was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC Canada) under Grant G121210654.     

On the index of composition of integers from various sets

Given an integer n ≥ 2, let λ(n) := (log n)/(log γ(n)), where γ(n) = Π _p|n p, stand for the index of composition of n, with λ(1) = 1. We study the distribution function of (λ(n) – 1) log n as n runs through particular sets of integers, such as the shifted primes, the values of a given irreducible cubic polynomial and the shifted powerful numbers. Research supported in part by a grant from NSERC. Research supported by the Applied Number Theory Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Science and by a grant from OTKA. Professor M.V. Subbarao passed away on February 15, 2006. Received: 3 March 2006 Revised: 28 October 2006     

Non-elliptic deformation field near the tip of a mixed-mode crack in a compressible hyperelastic material

This paper gives an asymptotic analysis of the deformation field near the tip of an arbitrary mixed-mode crack in a compressible hyperelastic harmonic material which loses ellipticity at sufficiently large deformations. It is found that the near-tip deformation field is characterized by a localized non-elliptic deformation band issuing from the crack-tip and bounded by two curves of discontinuous deformation gradient. Explicit expression for the near-tip deformation field is obtained both inside and outside the localized deformation band. In particular, a simple relation is derived that determines the orientation of the deformation band in terms of two complex governing parameters of the near-tip fields inside and outside the deformation band, respectively.