Boundary-Value Problems of the Theory of Thin and Nonthin Orthotropic Shells with Account of Nonlinearly Elastic Properties and Low Shear Rigidity of Composite Materials

The basic geometric and physical relations and resolving equations of the theory of thin and nonthin orthotropic composite shells with account of nonlinear properties and low shear rigidity of their materials are presented. They are derived based on two theories, namely the theory of anisotropic shells employing the Timoshenko or Kirchhoff-Love hypothesis and the nonlinear theory of elasticity and plasticity of anisotropic media in combination with the Lagrange variational principle. The procedure and algorithm for the numerical solution of nonlinear (linear) problems are based on the method of successive approximations, the difference-variational method, and the Lagrange multiplier method. Calculations of the stress-strain state for a spherical shell with a circular opening loaded with internal pressure are presented. The effect of transverse shear strains and physical nonlinearity of the material on the distribution of maximum deflections and circumferential stresses in the shell, obtained according to two variants of the shell theories, is studied. A comparison of the results of the problem solution in linear and nonlinear statements with and without account of the shell shear strains is given. The numerical data obtained for thin and nonthin (medium thick) composite shells are analyzed.     

A system-theoretic model for cooperation, interaction and allocation

A system-theoretic approach to cooperation, interaction and allocation is presented that simplifies, unifies and extends the results on classical cooperative games and their generalizations. In particular, a general Weber theory of linear values is obtained and a new theory for local cooperation and general interaction indices is established. The model is dynamic and based on the notion of states of cooperation that change under actions of agents. Careful distinction between “local” states of cooperation and general “system” states leads to a notion of entropy for arbitrary non-negative and efficient allocations and thus to a new information-theoretic criterion for fairness of allocation mechanisms. Shapley allocations, for instance, are exhibited as arising from random walks with maximal entropy. For a large class of cooperation systems, a characterization of game symmetries in terms of λ-values is given. A concept for cores and Weber sets is proposed and it is shown that a Weber set of a game with selection structure always contains the core.     

Effects of permeability and viscosity in linear polymeric gels

We propose and analyze a mathematical model of the mechanics of gels, consisting of the laws of balance of mass and linear momentum of the polymer and liquid components of the gel. We consider a gel to be an immiscible and incompressible mixture of a nonlinearly elastic polymer and a fluid. The problems that we study are motivated by predictions of the life cycle of body‐implantable medical devices. Scaling arguments suggest neglecting inertia terms, and therefore, we consider the quasi‐static approximation to the dynamics. We focus on the linearized system about stress‐free states, uniform expansions, and compressions and derive sufficient conditions for the solvability of the time‐dependent problems. These turn out to be conditions that guarantee local stability of the equilibrium solutions. We also consider non‐stress free equilibria and states with residual stress and derive an energy law for the corresponding time‐dependent system. The conditions that guarantee stability of solutions provide a selection criteria of the material parameters of devices. The boundary conditions that we consider are of two types, displacement‐traction and permeability of the gel surface to the fluid. We address the cases of viscous and inviscid solvent, assume Newtonian dissipation for the polymer component, and establish existence of weak solutions for the different boundary permeability conditions and viscosity assumptions. We present two‐dimensional, finite element numerical simulations to study stress concentration on edges, this being the precursor to debonding of the gel from its substrate. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On effectiveness of wiretap programs in mapping social networks

Snowball sampling methods are known to be a biased toward highly connected actors and consequently produce core-periphery networks when these may not necessarily be present. This leads to a biased perception of the underlying network which can have negative policy consequences, as in the identification of terrorist networks. When snowball sampling is used, the potential overload of the information collection system is a distinct problem due to the exponential growth of the number of suspects to be monitored. In this paper, we focus on evaluating the effectiveness of a wiretapping program in terms of its ability to map the rapidly evolving networks within a covert organization. By running a series of simulation-based experiments, we are able to evaluate a broad spectrum of information gathering regimes based on a consistent set of criteria. We conclude by proposing a set of information gathering programs that achieve higher effectiveness then snowball sampling, and at a lower cost. Maksim Tsvetovat is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Social Complexity and department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. He received his Ph.D. from the Computation, Organizations and Society program in the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. His dissertation was centered on use of artificial intelligence techniques such as planning and semantic reasoning as a means of studying behavior and evolution of complex social networks, such as these of terrorist organizations. He received a Master of Science degree from University of Minnesota with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence and design of Multi-Agent Systems, and has also extensively studied organization theory and social science research methods. His research is centered on building high-fidelity simulations of social and organizational systems using concepts from distributed artificial intelligence and multi-agent systems. Other projects focus on social network analysis for mapping of internal corporate networks or study of covert and terrorist orgnaizations. Maksim’s vita and publications can be found on Kathleen M. Carley is a professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and the director of the center for Compuational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS) which has over 25 members, both students and research staff. Her research combines cognitive science, social networks and computer science to address complex social and organizational problems. Her specific research areas are dynamic network analysis, computational social and organization theory, adaptation and evolution, text mining, and the impact of telecommunication technologies and policy on communication, information diffusion, disease contagion and response within and among groups particularly in disaster or crisis situations. She and her lab have developed infrastructure tools for analyzing large scale dynamic networks and various multi-agent simulation systems. The infrastructure tools include ORA, a statistical toolkit for analyzing and visualizing multi-dimensional networks. ORA results are organized into reports that meet various needs such as the management report, the mental model report, and the intelligence report. Another tool is AutoMap, a text-mining systems for extracting semantic networks from texts and then cross-classifying them using an organizational ontology into the underlying social, knowledge, resource and task networks. Her simulation models meld multi-agent technology with network dynamics and empirical data. Three of the large-scale multi-agent network models she and the CASOS group have developed in the counter-terrorism area are: BioWar a city-scale dynamic-network agent-based model for understanding the spread of disease and illness due to natural epidemics, chemical spills, and weaponized biological attacks; DyNet a model of the change in covert networks, naturally and in response to attacks, under varying levels of information uncertainty; and RTE a model for examining state failure and the escalation of conflict at the city, state, nation, and international as changes occur within and among red, blue, and green forces. She is the founding co-editor with Al. Wallace of the journal Computational Organization Theory and has co-edited several books and written over 100 articles in the computational organizations and dynamic network area. Her publications can be found at: http://www.casos.cs.cmu.edu/bios/carley/publications.php     

RECENT PROGRESS ON SPHERICAL HARMONIC APPROXIMATION MADE BY BNU RESEARCH GROUP ——In memory of Professor Sun Yongsheng

As early as in 1990, Professor Sun Yongsheng, suggested his students at Beijing Normal University to consider research problems on the unit sphere. Under his guidance and encouragement his students started the research on spherical harmonic analysis and approximation. In this paper, we incompletely introduce the main achievements in this area obtained by our group and relative researchers during recent 5 years （2001-2005）. The main topics are： convergence of Cesaro summability, a.e. and strong summability of Fourier-Laplace series; smoothness and K-functionals; Kolmogorov and linear widths.     

Staircase transportation problems with superadditive rewards and cumulative capacities

A cumulative-capacitated transportation problem is studied. The supply nodes and demand nodes are each chains. Shipments from a supply node to a demand node are possible only if the pair lies in a sublattice, or equivalently, in a staircase disjoint union of rectangles, of the product of the two chains. There are (lattice) superadditive upper bounds on the cumulative flows in all leading subrectangles of each rectangle. It is shown that there is a greatest cumulative flow formed by the natural generalization of the South-West Corner Rule that respects cumulative-flow capacities; it has maximum reward when the rewards are (lattice) superadditive; it is integer if the supplies, demands and capacities are integer; and it can be calculated myopically in linear time. The result is specialized to earlier work of Hoeffding (1940), Fréchet (1951), Lorentz (1953), Hoffman (1963) and Barnes and Hoffman (1985). Applications are given to extreme constrained bivariate distributions, optimal distribution with limited one-way product substitution and, generalizing results of Derman and Klein (1958), optimal sales with age-dependent rewards and capacities.To our friend, Philip Wolfe, with admiration and affection, on the occasion of his 65th birthday.Research was supported respectively by the IBM T.J. Watson and IBM Almaden Research Centers and is a minor revision of the IBM Research Report [6].     

Long-Term Durability of Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Composites under Operation in Pulp and Reactant Pipelines

Composite pipes 215 mm in diameter with a 6-mm wall, 3-mm functional layer, and ±60° glass-fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) layers were examined by means of microstructural analysis and mechanical testing. Three types of pipes were considered: unused, after a five-year operation at a pressure of 0.6 MPa and temperature of 70°C, and after a five-year operation at 0.6 MPa and 20°C. The GFRP load-carrying layer and the interfaces were investigated by a metallographic optical microscope, a computerized microscanning equipment, and a software image processing package. The initial and accumulated damages in the microstructure of the composite and interfaces were examined. The mechanical properties of the pipes after a long-term operation were examined on two-layer specimens in three-point bending. The stiffness and strength characteristics were measured in the axial and circumferential directions under tensile and compressive loads at elevated temperatures. Composite pipes, 8 m in length and 215 mm in diameter, were simulated numerically as shells of revolution. The shell model was corrected by a refined Timoshenko theory and a dual-modulus temperature-dependent model of stiffness for the multilayer composite structure. The strength margin of the composite pipes was determined based on real strength properties.     

The dynamics of athletic performance,fitness and fatigue

We provide a mathematical dynamic model of athletic performance, fitness and fatigue based on the two well-known principles ‘train to failure’ and ‘use it or lose it’. The anabolic and catabolic processes are modelled with differential equations. Fitness is defined as muscle fitness. We model the work power of any muscle or set of muscles, and the muscle's maximum work power. Parameters are estimated and we present analytical and numerical results. The relationships between performance, fitness and fatigue are demonstrated for various activity scenarios. For example, the model quantifies the exact manner in which the optimal rest period can be determined to maximize the performance on a given day. The model provides realistic predictions, and constitutes a powerful tool which describes the processes by which performance, fitness and fatigue can be regulated and controlled.     

计算Hamilton矩阵特征值的一个稳定的有效的保结构的算法

提出了一个稳定的有效的保结构的计算Hamilton矩阵特征值和特征不变子空间的算法,该算法是由SR算法改进变形而得到的。在该算法中,提出了两个策略,一个叫做消失稳策略,另一个称为预处理技术。在消失稳策略中,通过求解减比方程和回溯彻底克服了Bunser Gerstner和Mehrmann提出的SR算法的严重失稳和中断现象的发生,两种策略的实施的代价都非常低。数值算例展示了该算法比其它求解Hamilton矩阵特征问题的算法更有效和可靠。     

Market-based pricing in grids: On strategic manipulation and computational cost

Grid technologies and the related concepts of utility computing and cloud computing enable the dynamic sourcing of computer resources and services, thus allowing enterprises to cut down on hardware and software expenses and to focus on key competencies and processes. Resources are shared across administrative boundaries, e.g. between enterprises and/or business units. In this dynamic and inter-organizational setting, scheduling and pricing become key challenges. Market mechanisms show promise for enhancing resource allocation and pricing in grids. Current mechanisms, however, are not adequately able to handle large-scale settings with strategic users and providers who try to benefit from manipulating the mechanism. In this paper, a market-based heuristic for clearing large-scale grid settings is developed. The proposed heuristic and pricing schemes find an interesting match between scalability and strategic behavior.     

Structure and Properties of Nanocrystalline Oxide Powders

The crystalline and porous structure of superfine powders and fibers made of alumina and zirconia doped with yttria is investigated. The particle sizes were determined by the methods of coherent dispersion and scanning transmission electron microscopy. Based on data on the sizes of crystallites of the metal oxides, which were obtained by different methods, it is found that crystalline transformations of the oxides lead to dispersion of the materials. The structural transformations of the superfine oxides are accompanied by changes in crystallite sizes and in the character and size of pores. The laws established allow one to purposefully control the process of producing nanostructured oxide powders and fibers, which can be utilized as active fillers for composite materials based on various matrices. __________ Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 831–840, November–December, 2005.     

Nonlinear and Geometric Programming – Current Status

Great strides have been made in nonlinear programming (NLP) in the last 5 years. In smooth NLP, there are now several reliable and efficient codes capable of solving large problems. Most of these implement GRG or SQP methods, and new software using interior point algorithms is under development. NLP software is now much easier to use, as it is interfaced with many modeling systems, including MSC/NASTRAN, and ANSYS for structural problems, GAMS and AMPL for general optimization, Matlab and Mathcad for general mathematical problems, and the widely used Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. For mixed integer problems, branch and bound and outer approximation codes are now available and are coupled to some of the above modeling systems, while search methods like Tabu Search and Genetic algorithms permit combinatorial, nonsmooth, and nonconvex problems to be attacked.     

两周期零售商竞争下的闭环供应链的定价和协调策略研究

研究了两生命周期零售商竞争环境下的闭环供应链的定价和生产策略:第一个生命周期中,只有一个制造商和一个零售商,制造商利用原材料生产新制造产品;第二个周期中,制造商生产新制造产品的同时利用自己回收的废旧产品生产再制造产品,并且出现了竞争零售商。分别建立了两周期零售商竞争环境下的分散决策模型和集中决策模型,得到了最优定价和生产策略。结果表明:零售商竞争会降低产品的零售价,增加产品的销售量。制造商利用收益共享契约制定合适的批发价和收益共享比率能协调整个闭环供应链,与零售商实现共赢。最后给出了一个算例验证了上述结论。     

A 3D modeling of static and forward smoldering combustion in a packed bed of materials

A three-dimensional (3D) model based on the first principles of mass, momentum and energy was developed that numerically simulates the processes of static and forward smoldering in a porous packed bed of plant materials. The packed bed contains cellulose material or tobacco (cigarette) wrapped in a porous paper and surrounded by an ambient air. Other major characteristics of the model are including the effects of buoyancy forces in the flow field, separate treatment of solid and gas in a thermally non-equilibrium environment, and use of multi-precursor kinetic models for the pyrolysis of staring material and oxidation of char. The changes in porosity due to pyrolysis and char oxidation and the effect of porosity on the bed permeability and gas diffusivity are included. The mass, momentum, energy, and species transport equations are solved in a discretized computational domain using a commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The simulation results show that the model reasonably reproduces the major features of a burning cigarette during smoldering and puffing and are in a good agreement with the existing experimental results for cigarettes. Results include the velocity profiles, gas and solid temperatures, coal shape, burn rates, profile and transport of gas and vapor species throughout the packed bed, dilution through the wrapper paper and ventilation in the filter section, and the mass fraction of some pyrolysis and oxidation products in the mainstream and sidestream flows.     

E-science infrastructures for molecular modeling and parametrization

E-science infrastructures are becoming the essential tools for computational scientific research. In this paper, we describe two e-science infrastructures: Science and Engineering Applications Grid (SEAGrid) and molecular modeling and parametrization (ParamChem). The SEAGrid is a virtual organization with a diverse set of hardware and software resources and provides services to access such resources in a routine and transparent manner. These essential services include allocations of computational resources, client-side application interfaces, computational job and data management tools, and consulting activities. ParamChem is another e-science project dedicated for molecular force-field parametrization based on both ab-initio and molecular mechanics calculations on high performance computers (HPCs) driven by scientific workflow middleware services. Both the projects share a similar three-tier computational infrastructure that consists of a front-end client, a middleware web services layer, and a remote HPC computational layer. The client is a Java Swing desktop application with components for pre- and post-data processing, communications with middleware server and local data management. The middleware service is based on Axis2 web service and MySQL relational database, which provides functionalities for user authentication and session control, HPC resource information collections, discovery and matching, job information logging and notification. It can also be integrated with scientific workflow to manage computations on HPC resources. The grid credentials for accessing HPCs are delegated through MyProxy infrastructure. Currently SEAGrid has integrated several popular application software suites such as Gaussian for quantum chemistry, NAMD for molecular dynamics and engineering software such as Abacus for mechanical engineering. ParamChem has integrated CGenFF (CHARMM General Force-Field) for molecular force-field parametrization of drug-like molecules. Long-term storage of user data is handled by tertiary data archival mechanisms. SEAGrid science gateway serves more than 500 users while more than 1000 users use ParamChem services such as atom typing and initial force-field parameter guess at present.     

Active control of secondary resonances piezoelectric sandwich beams

Secondary resonances of piezoelectric/elastic/piezoelectric sandwich beams submitted to active control are studied in this paper. The proportional and derivative nonlinear potential feedback controls via piezoelectric sensor and actuator layers are used. The dynamics of the beam is modelled by a highly nonlinear ordinary-differential equation. The method of multiple scales is applied and approximate solutions are obtained for hard excitations. Analytical frequency and phase-amplitude relationships as well as the time response are explicitly given for various super- and subharmonic resonances. Static and dynamic stability criteria are elaborated and critical displacement and excitation amplitudes associated to the resulting unstable zones are analytically given. The feedback parameters effects on the subharmonic and superharmonic resonances and on their stability are investigated.     

CFD modeling of hydrodynamic characteristics of a gas–liquid two-phase stirred tank

A three-dimensional CFD model was developed in this work to simulate hydrodynamic characteristics of a gas–liquid two-phase stirred tank with two six-bladed turbines and four baffles, coupling of the Multiple Size Group model to determine bubble size distribution. Important hydrodynamic parameters of the multi-phase system such as volume-averaged overall and time-averaged local gas holdups and axial liquid velocities along time and transversal courses were simulated and analyzed in detail, under varied operating conditions (inlet air flow rate and impeller rotation speed). Model predictions of local transient gas holdup and liquid velocity distributions on vertical and horizontal sections of the tank were also carried out. The overall flow patterns were discussed in detail to assess the mixing. Bubble size distributions were further predicted to reveal the unique properties of gas phase. Experimental measurements of overall gas holdups and local axial liquid velocities were used to validate the developed model.     

双元领导与员工追随行为的匹配机制研究:一个模糊专家系统模型

基于模糊专家系统模型,探讨了三种视角下双元领导组合(交易-变革双元领导、开放-闭合双元领导和松式-紧式双元领导)与员工尊敬学习、忠诚奉献、权威维护、意图领会、有效沟通和积极执行等6种追随行为的匹配机制。并以DR集团为例,研究发现: 当DR集团部门主管展现较多的松式-紧式领导特质,较少地展现交易-变革领导特质和开放-闭合领导特质时,员工更容易产生积极执行追随行为,结论验证了模型的有效性。该研究对不同情境下多重视角双元领导组合的有效性进行了探索,为管理实践中领导力发展提供了参考与启示。     

Preservice Teachers' Beliefs and Attitude About Teaching and Learning Mathematics Through Music: An Intervention Study

This article presents exploratory research investigating the integration of music and a mathematics lesson as an intervention to promote preservice teachers' attitude and confidence and to extend their beliefs toward teaching mathematics integrated with music. Thirty students were randomly selected from 64 preservice teachers in a southern university. A 90‐minute mathematics lesson integrated with a music composition activity was taught by the first author. Pre‐ and postquestionnaires were provided to evaluate the change in preservice teachers' attitude and beliefs toward mathematics. The results demonstrated that the mathematics lesson integrated with music had a positive effect on preservice teachers' attitude and beliefs toward mathematics teaching and learning.     

Mathematical literacy in undergraduates: role of gender,emotional intelligence and emotional self-efficacy

This empirical study explores the roles that Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Emotional Self-Efficacy (ESE) play in undergraduates’ mathematical literacy, and the influence of EI and ESE on students’ attitudes towards and beliefs about mathematics. A convenience sample of 93 female and 82 male first-year undergraduates completed a test of mathematical literacy, followed by an online survey designed to measure the students’ EI, ESE and factors associated with mathematical literacy. Analysis of the data revealed significant gender differences. Males attained a higher mean test score than females and out-performed the females on most of the individual questions and the associated mathematical tasks. Overall, males expressed greater confidence in their mathematical skills, although both males’ and females’ confidence outweighed their actual mathematical proficiency. Correlation analyses revealed that males and females attaining higher mathematical literacy test scores were more confident and persistent, exhibited lower levels of mathematics anxiety and possessed higher mathematics qualifications. Correlation analyses also revealed that in male students, aspects of ESE were associated with beliefs concerning the learning of mathematics (i.e. that intelligence is malleable and that persistence can facilitate success), but not with confidence or actual performance. Both EI and ESE play a greater role with regard to test performance and attitudes/beliefs regarding mathematics amongst female undergraduates; higher EI and ESE scores were associated with higher test scores, while females exhibiting higher levels of ESE were also more confident and less anxious about mathematics, believed intelligence to be malleable, were more persistent and were learning goal oriented. Moderated regression analyses confirmed mathematics anxiety as a negative predictor of test performance in males and females, but also revealed that in females EI and ESE moderate the effects of anxiety on test performance, with the relationship between anxiety and test performance linked more to emotional management (EI) than to ESE.