Numerical simulation of microstructures via higher‐order rank‐one relaxation

Calculation of inelastic material behaviour by means of relaxation algorithms provides an effective way to deal with fine‐scale microstructures resulting from non‐quasiconvex potentials. Especially the rank‐one relaxation admits a straight forward algorithmical realization and results in valuable information that enables the reconstruction of the underlying microstructure. This article is concerned with the application of higher–order rank–one relaxation to a single–slip plasticity model and focusses especially on the numerical algorithm. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Life‐like self‐reproducers

In order to understand the interplay among information, genetic instructions, and phenotypic variations, self‐reproducers discovered in two‐dimensional cellular automata are considered as proto‐organisms, which undergo to mutations as they were in a real environmental situation. We realized a computational model through which we have been able to discover the genetic map of the self‐reproducers and the networks they use. Identifying in these maps sets of different functional genes, we found that mutations in the genetic sequences could affect both external shapes and behavior of the self‐reproducers, thus realizing different life‐like strategies in the evolution process. The results highlight that some strategies evolution uses in selecting organisms that are fitting with changing environmental situations maintain the self‐reproducing function, whereas other variations create new self‐reproducers. These self‐reproducers in turn realize different genetic networks, which can be very different from the basic ancestors pools. The mutations that are disruptive bring self‐reproducers to disappear, while other proto‐organisms are generated. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 9: 38–55, 2004     

Growth of Self‐Similar Graphs

Locally finite self‐similar graphs with bounded geometry and without bounded geometry as well as non‐locally finite self‐similar graphs are characterized by the structure of their cell graphs. Geometric properties concerning the volume growth and distances in cell graphs are discussed. The length scaling factor ν and the volume scaling factor μ can be defined similarly to the corresponding parameters of continuous self‐similar sets. There are different notions of growth dimensions of graphs. For a rather general class of self‐similar graphs, it is proved that all these dimensions coincide and that they can be calculated in the same way as the Hausdorff dimension of continuous self‐similar fractals: . © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 45: 224–239, 2004     

Self‐Intersection Local Time for 𝒮′(ℝd)‐Ornstein‐Uhlenbeck Processes Arising from Immigration Systems

Fluctuation limits of an immigration branching particle system and an immigration branching measure‐valued process yield different types of 𝒮′(ℝ^d)‐valued Ornstein‐Uhlenbeck processes whose covariances are given in terms of an excessive measure for the underlying motion in Rd, which is taken to be a symmetric α‐stable process. In this paper we prove existence and path continuity results for the self‐intersection local time of these Ornstein‐Uhlenbeck processes. The results depend on relationships between the dimension d and the parameter α.     

Complex genetic evolution of artificial self‐replicators in cellular automata

It is widely believed that evolutionary dynamics of artificial self‐replicators realized in cellular automata (CA) are limited in diversity and adaptation. Contrary to this view, we show that complex genetic evolution may occur within simple CA. The evolving self‐replicating loops (“evoloops”) we investigate exhibit significant diversity in macro‐scale morphologies and mutational biases, undergoing nontrivial genetic adaptation by maximizing colony density and enhancing sustainability against other species. Nonmutable subsequences enable genetic operations that alter fitness differentials and promote long‐term evolutionary exploration. These results demonstrate a unique example of genetic evolution hierarchically emerging from local interactions between elements much smaller than individual replicators. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 10: 33–39, 2004     

Newton‐ vs. Multilevel‐Newton method in the FEM

In this presentation it is shown that in implicit finite element computations based on material models of evolutionary type the resulting system of non‐linear equations is usually not solved by means of the classical Newton‐Raphson method which is frequently stated. It is emphasized that the so‐called Multilevel‐Newton algorithm yields the known local and global schemes of stress or internal variables and nodal displacement computations. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Functions that have read‐twice constant width branching programs are not necessarily testable

We construct a property on 0/1‐strings that has a representation by a collection of width‐3 read‐twice oblivious branching programs, but for which any two‐sided ?‐testing algorithm must query at least Ω(n^δ) many queries for some fixed ? and δ. This shows that Newman's result [Testing of functions that have small width branching programs, SIAM J Comput 31 (2002), 1557–1570] cannot be generalized to read‐k‐times functions for k > 1. In addition, we exhibit a property that has also a representation by a CNF formula of constant clause size. Hence, the nontestability results extend to properties that in addition have small (constant size) 0‐witnesses. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2004     

Decomposition of images by the anisotropic Rudin‐Osher‐Fatemi model

The total‐variation‐based image denoising model of Rudin, Osher, and Fatemi can be generalized in a natural way to favor certain edge directions. We consider the resulting anisotropic energies and study properties of their minimizers. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Using self‐dissimilarity to quantify complexity

For many systems characterized as “complex” the patterns exhibited on different scales differ markedly from one another. For example, the biomass distribution in a human body “looks very different” depending on the scale at which one examines it. Conversely, the patterns at different scales in “simple” systems (e.g., gases, mountains, crystals) vary little from one scale to another. Accordingly, the degrees of self‐dissimilarity between the patterns of a system at various scales constitute a complexity “signature” of that system. Here we present a novel quantification of self‐dissimilarity. This signature can, if desired, incorporate a novel information‐theoretic measure of the distance between probability distributions that we derive here. Whatever distance measure is chosen, our quantification of self‐dissimilarity can be measured for many kinds of real‐world data. This allows comparisons of the complexity signatures of wholly different kinds of systems (e.g., systems involving information density in a digital computer vs. species densities in a rain forest vs. capital density in an economy, etc.). Moreover, in contrast to many other suggested complexity measures, evaluating the self‐dissimilarity of a system does not require one to already have a model of the system. These facts may allow self‐dissimilarity signatures to be used as the underlying observational variables of an eventual overarching theory relating all complex systems. To illustrate self‐dissimilarity, we present several numerical experiments. In particular, we show that the underlying structure of the logistic map is picked out by the self‐dissimilarity signature of time series produced by that map. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 12: 77–85, 2007     

Numerical aspects of X‐SIMP‐based topology optimization

The discretization of topology design problems on the basis of the finite‐element‐method results in general in large‐scale combinatorial optimization problems, which are usually relaxed by the introduction of a continuous material density function as design variable. To avoid optimal designs containing unfavourable microstructures such as the well‐known “checkerboard” patterns, the relaxed problem can be regularized by the X‐SIMP‐approach, which penalizes intermediate density values as well as high density gradients within the design domain. In this context we discuss numerical aspects of the X‐SIMP‐based regularization such as the discretization of the regularized problem, the formulation of the corresponding stiffness matrix and the numerical solution of the discretized problem. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A non‐commutative Landau‐Zener formula

We study semi‐classical measures of families of solutions to a 2 × 2 Dirac system with 0 mass, which presents bands crossing. We focus on constant electro‐magnetic fields. The fact that these fields are orthogonal or not leads to different geometric situations. In the first case, one reduces to some well‐understood model problem. For studying the second case, we introduce some two‐scale semi‐classical measures associated with symplectic submanifold. These measures are operator‐valued measures and the transfer of energy at the crossing is described by a non‐commutative Landau‐Zener formula for these measures. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Non‐self‐adjoint singular second‐order dynamic operators on time scale

In this study, maximal dissipative second‐order dynamic operators on semi‐infinite time scale are studied in the Hilbert space , that the extensions of a minimal symmetric operator in limit‐point case. We construct a self‐adjoint dilation of the dissipative operator together with its incoming and outgoing spectral representations so that we can determine the scattering function of the dilation as stated in the scheme of Lax‐Phillips. Moreover, we construct a functional model of the dissipative operator and identify its characteristic function in terms of the Weyl‐Titchmarsh function of a self‐adjoint second‐order dynamic operator. Finally, we prove the theorems on completeness of the system of root functions of the dissipative and accumulative dynamic operators.     

Identification of Microstructural Components of Bitumen by Means of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

Accounting for the large variation of asphalt mixes, resulting from variations of constituents and composition, and from the allowance of additives, a multiscale model for asphalt is currently developed at the Christian Doppler Laboratory for “Performance‐based optimization of flexible road pavements”. The multiscale concept allows to relate macroscopic material properties of asphalt to phenomena and material properties of finer scales of observation. Starting with the characterization of the finest scale, i.e., the bitumen‐scale, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is employed. Depending on the mode of measurement (tapping versus pulsed‐force mode), the AFM provides insight into the surface topography or stiffness and adhesion properties of bitumen. The obtained results will serve as input for upscaling in the context of the multiscale model in order to obtain the homogenized material behavior of bitumen at the next‐higher scale, i.e., the mastic‐scale. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On order‐reducible sinc discretizations and block‐diagonal preconditioning methods for linear third‐order ordinary differential equations

By introducing a variable substitution, we transform the two‐point boundary value problem of a third‐order ordinary differential equation into a system of two second‐order ordinary differential equations (ODEs). We discretize this order‐reduced system of ODEs by both sinc‐collocation and sinc‐Galerkin methods, and average these two discretized linear systems to obtain the target system of linear equations. We prove that the discrete solution resulting from the linear system converges exponentially to the true solution of the order‐reduced system of ODEs. The coefficient matrix of the linear system is of block two‐by‐two structure, and each of its blocks is a combination of Toeplitz and diagonal matrices. Because of its algebraic properties and matrix structures, the linear system can be effectively solved by Krylov subspace iteration methods such as GMRES preconditioned by block‐diagonal matrices. We demonstrate that the eigenvalues of certain approximation to the preconditioned matrix are uniformly bounded within a rectangle on the complex plane independent of the size of the discretized linear system, and we use numerical examples to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of this new approach. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contextual regularity and complexity of neuronal activity: From stand‐alone cultures to task‐performing animals

Precursors of the superior information processing capabilities of our cortex can most probably be traced back to simple invertebrate systems. Using a unique set of newly developed neuronal preparations and state‐of‐the‐art analysis tools, we show that insect neurons have the ability to self‐regulate the information capacity of their electrical activity. We characterize the activity of a distinct population of neurons under progressive levels of structural and functional constraints: self‐formed networks of neuron clusters in vitro; isolated ex vivo ganglions; in vivo task‐free, and in vivotask‐forced neuronal activity in the intact animal. We show common motifs and identify trends of increasing self‐regulated complexity. This important principle may have played a key role in the gradual transition from simple neuronal motor control to complex information processing. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 9: 25–32, 2004     

Pseudo‐random properties of self‐complementary symmetric graphs

There are some results in the literature showing that Paley graphs behave in many ways like random graphs G(n, 1/2). In this paper, we extend these results to the other family of self‐complementary symmetric graphs. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 47: 310–316, 2004     

Comparison of hyperelastic 2‐D and 3‐D model foams at large deformations

The influence of the modeling dimension on the determination of effective properties for hyperelastic foams is investigated by means of regular 2‐D and 3‐D model foams. For calculating the effective stress‐strain relationships of both microstructures, a strain energy based homogenization procedure is employed. The results from numerical analyses show that with a 2‐D model foam the basic deformation mechanisms of the 3‐D model can be captured. Nevertheless, due to the distinct quantitative deviations found from the homogenization analyses, 3‐D modeling approaches should be used if quantitative predictions for the effective material properties are required. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On Dimensional Adaptivity For Mixed Beam‐Shell‐Structures

A hierarchical model for dimensional adaptivity, using mixed beam‐shell structures, is presented. Thin‐walled beam structures are often calculated on the base of beam theories. Parts of the global structure, like framework corners, are usually analyzed with shell elements in a separate model. To minimize the modeling and calculation expense, a transition element to couple beam and shell structures is used. A dimensional adaptiv algorithm is introduced to automate this the procedure of modeling and calculation. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the self‐dual 𝔽5‐codes constructed from Hadamard matrices of order 24

There are exactly 60 inequivalent Hadamard matrices of order 24. In this note, we give a classification of the self‐dual ??₅‐codes of length 48 constructed from the Hadamard matrices of order 24. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.