A physically motivated model for filled elastomers including strain rate and amplitude dependency in finite viscoelasticity

A microstructure-based model of rubber reinforcement, the so-called dynamic flocculation model (DFM), is presented describing filler-induced stress softening and hysteresis by the breakdown and reaggregation of strained filler clusters [1]. An extension of this model allows to consider incomplete deformation cycles that occur in the simulation of arbitrary deformation histories [2]. Good agreement between measurement and the model is obtained for CB-filled elastomers like NR, SBR or EPDM, loaded along various deformation histories. One very important aspect is that the model parameters can be directly referred to the physical properties. This benefit is used to extend the model to further essential effects like time- and rate-dependent material behavior. In the limit range above the glass transition temperature these viscoelastic effects originate mainly from the filler-filler interactions. In the material model these interactions are characterized by two material parameters s_v and s_d, respectively. The parameter s_v defines the strength of the virgin filler cluster, whereas s_d represents the strength according to the broken or damaged filler clusters. Both parameters can be defined as functions of time s_v,d = ŝ_v,d(t), which can be motivated by physical meaning [3]. Due to this extension it is possible to capture the very complex strain rate and amplitude dependency during loading and relaxation. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the power and limitations of affine policies in two-stage adaptive optimization

We consider a two-stage adaptive linear optimization problem under right hand side uncertainty with a min–max objective and give a sharp characterization of the power and limitations of affine policies (where the second stage solution is an affine function of the right hand side uncertainty). In particular, we show that the worst-case cost of an optimal affine policy can be times the worst-case cost of an optimal fully-adaptable solution for any δ > 0, where m is the number of linear constraints. We also show that the worst-case cost of the best affine policy is times the optimal cost when the first-stage constraint matrix has non-negative coefficients. Moreover, if there are only k ≤ m uncertain parameters, we generalize the performance bound for affine policies to , which is particularly useful if only a few parameters are uncertain. We also provide an -approximation algorithm for the general case without any restriction on the constraint matrix but the solution is not an affine function of the uncertain parameters. We also give a tight characterization of the conditions under which an affine policy is optimal for the above model. In particular, we show that if the uncertainty set, is a simplex, then an affine policy is optimal. However, an affine policy is suboptimal even if is a convex combination of only (m + 3) extreme points (only two more extreme points than a simplex) and the worst-case cost of an optimal affine policy can be a factor (2 − δ) worse than the worst-case cost of an optimal fully-adaptable solution for any δ > 0.     

A Pair of Families of Non-isomorphic Group Association Schemes with the same Parameters

We show that for the split and non-split extensions ofFq²bySL (2, q) (q =  2^e,e  ≥  3), the group association schemes have the same parameters but are not isomorphic. For the split and non-split extensions ofFq²by the standard Borel subgroup of SL(2,q ) (q =  2^e, e ≥  3), the group association schemes are shown to be isomorphic.     

Class of tight bounds on the Q‐function with closed‐form upper bound on relative error

In this paper, we propose a novel class of parametric bounds on the Q‐function, which are lower bounds for 1 ≤ a < 3 and x > x_t = (a (a‐1) / (3‐a))^1/2, and upper bound for a = 3. We prove that the lower and upper bounds on the Q‐function can have the same analytical form that is asymptotically equal, which is a unique feature of our class of tight bounds. For the novel class of bounds and for each particular bound from this class, we derive the beneficial closed‐form expression for the upper bound on the relative error. By comparing the bound tightness for moderate and large argument values not only numerically, but also analytically, we demonstrate that our bounds are tighter compared with the previously reported bounds of similar analytical form complexity.     

Modeling and Simulation of the Portevin-Le Chatelier Effect

During deformation of an Al-Mg alloy (AA5754) dynamic strain aging occurs in a certain range of temperatures and strainrates. An extreme manifestation of this phenomenon, usually referred to as the Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) effect, consists in the occurrence of strain localisation bands accompanied with discontinuous yielding. The PLC effect stems from dynamic dislocation-solute interactions and results in negative strain-rate sensitivity of the flow stress. The PLC effect is detrimental to the surface quality of sheet metals and also affects the ductility of the material. Since the appearance of the effect strongly depends on the triaxiality of the stress state, three-dimensional finite element simulations are necessary in order to optimize metal forming operations. We present a geometrically nonlinear material model which reproduces the main features of the PLC effect. The material parameters were identified based on experimental data from tensile tests. Special emphasis was put on the critical strain for the onset of PLC effect, ε _c , and the statistical characteristics of the stress drop distribution. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Uniform Distributions on the Natural Numbers

We compare the following three notions of uniformity for a finitely additive probability measure on the set of natural numbers: that it extend limiting relative frequency, that it be shift-invariant, and that it map every residue class mod m to 1/m. We find that these three types of uniformity can be naturally ordered. In particular, we prove that the set L of extensions of limiting relative frequency is a proper subset of the set S of shift-invariant measures and that S is a proper subset of the set R of measures which map residue classes uniformly. Moreover, we show that there are subsets G of ℕ for which the range of possible values μ(G) for μ∈L is properly contained in the set of values obtained when μ ranges over S, and that there are subsets G which distinguish S and R analogously.     

Balance equation and the quasitemperature of channeled particles in equilibrium

Using the methods of nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics, we obtain the equation for the transverse energy and momentum balance for fast atomic particles moving in the planar channeling regime. Based on the solution of this equation, we obtain an expression for the transverse quasitemperature in the quasiequilibrium in terms of the basic parameters of the theory. We show that the equilibrium quasitemperature of channeled particles is established because of particle diffusion in the space of transverse energies (subsystem “heating”), the dissipative process (“cooling”), and the anharmonic effects of particle oscillations between the channel walls (the redistribution of energies over the oscillatory degrees of freedom is the internal thermalization of the subsystem). According to the estimates for particles with an energy of the order of 1 MeV, the quasitemperature values are in the characteristic temperature range for a low-temperature plasma.     

On the number of affine equivalence classes of spherical tube hypersurfaces

We consider Levi non-degenerate tube hypersurfaces in \mathbbCⁿ⁺¹{\mathbb{C}^{n+1}} that are (k, n − k)-spherical, i.e. locally CR-equivalent to the hyperquadric with Levi form of signature (k, n − k), with n ≤ 2k. We show that the number of affine equivalence classes of such hypersurfaces is infinite (in fact, uncountable) in the following cases: (i) k = n − 2, n ≥ 7; (ii) k = n − 3, n ≥ 7; (iii) k ≤ n − 4. For all other values of k and n, except for k = 3, n = 6, the number of affine classes was known to be finite. The exceptional case k = 3, n = 6 has been recently resolved by Fels and Kaup who gave an example of a family of (3, 3)-spherical tube hypersurfaces that contains uncountably many pairwise affinely non-equivalent elements. In this paper we deal with the Fels–Kaup example by different methods. We give a direct proof of the sphericity of the hypersurfaces in the Fels–Kaup family, and use the j-invariant to show that this family indeed contains an uncountable subfamily of pairwise affinely non-equivalent hypersurfaces.     

Direct algorithm for computation of derivatives of the Daubechies basis functions

We extend the direct algorithm for computing the derivatives of the compactly supported Daubechies N-vanishing-moment basis functions. The method yields exact values at dyadic rationals for the nth derivative (0  n  N − 1) of the basis functions, when it exists. Example results are shown for the first derivatives of the basis functions from the Daubechies N-vanishing-moment extremal phase orthonormal family (for N = 3, 4, and 5), and the CDF(2, N) spline-based biorthogonal family (for N = 6, 8, and 10).     

Some combinatorial constructions for optimal perfect deletion-correcting codes

There are two kinds of perfect t-deletion-correcting codes of length k over an alphabet of size v, those where the coordinates may be equal and those where all coordinates must be different. We call these two kinds of codes T*(k − t, k, v)-codes and T(k − t, k, v)-codes respectively. The cardinality of a T(k − t, k, v)-code is determined by its parameters, while T*(k − t, k, v)-codes do not necessarily have a fixed size. Let N(k − t, k, v) denote the maximum number of codewords in any T*(k − t, k, v)-code. A T*(k − t, k, v)-code with N(k − t, k, v) codewords is said to be optimal. In this paper, some combinatorial constructions for optimal T*(2, k, v)-codes are developed. Using these constructions, we are able to determine the values of N(2, 4, v) for all positive integers v. The values of N(2, 5, v) are also determined for almost all positive integers v, except for v = 13, 15, 19, 27 and 34.      

Zero-Sum Flows in Regular Graphs

For an undirected graph G, a zero-sum flow is an assignment of non-zero real numbers to the edges, such that the sum of the values of all edges incident with each vertex is zero. It has been conjectured that if a graph G has a zero-sum flow, then it has a zero-sum 6-flow. We prove this conjecture and Bouchet’s Conjecture for bidirected graphs are equivalent. Among other results it is shown that if G is an r-regular graph (r ≥ 3), then G has a zero-sum 7-flow. Furthermore, if r is divisible by 3, then G has a zero-sum 5-flow. We also show a graph of order n with a zero-sum flow has a zero-sum (n + 3)²-flow. Finally, the existence of k-flows for small graphs is investigated.     

A proof of the uniform boundedness of solutions to the wave equation on slowly rotating Kerr backgrounds

We consider Kerr spacetimes with parameters a and M such that |a|≪M, Kerr-Newman spacetimes with parameters |Q|≪M, |a|≪M, and more generally, stationary axisymmetric black hole exterior spacetimes (M,g)(\mathcal{M},g) which are sufficiently close to a Schwarzschild metric with parameter M>0 and whose Killing fields span the null generator of the event horizon. We show uniform boundedness on the exterior for solutions to the wave equation □ _g ψ=0. The most fundamental statement is at the level of energy: We show that given a suitable foliation Σ _τ , then there exists a constant C depending only on the parameter M and the choice of the foliation such that for all solutions ψ, a suitable energy flux through Σ _τ is bounded by C times the initial energy flux through Σ₀. This energy flux is positive definite and does not degenerate at the horizon, i.e. it agrees with the energy as measured by a local observer. It is shown that a similar boundedness statement holds for all higher order energies, again without degeneration at the horizon. This leads in particular to the pointwise uniform boundedness of ψ, in terms of a higher order initial energy on Σ₀. Note that in view of the very general assumptions, the separability properties of the wave equation or geodesic flow on the Kerr background are not used. In fact, the physical mechanism for boundedness uncovered in this paper is independent of the dispersive properties of waves in the high-frequency geometric optics regime.     

The non-existence of Griesmer codes with parameters close to codes of Belov type

Hill and Kolev give a large class of q-ary linear codes meeting the Griesmer bound, which are called codes of Belov type (Hill and Kolev, Chapman Hall/CRC Research Notes in Mathematics 403, pp. 127–152, 1999). In this article, we prove that there are no linear codes meeting the Griesmer bound for values of d close to those for codes of Belov type. So we conclude that the lower bounds of d of codes of Belov type are sharp. We give a large class of length optimal codes with n _q (k, d) = g _q (k, d) + 1.     

On the power of standard information for <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript>∞</Subscript> approximation in the randomized setting

We study approximation of multivariate functions from a general separable reproducing kernel Hilbert space in the randomized setting with the error measured in the L _∞ norm. We consider algorithms that use standard information consisting of function values or general linear information consisting of arbitrary linear functionals. The power of standard or linear information is defined as, roughly speaking, the optimal rate of convergence of algorithms using n function values or linear functionals. We prove under certain assumptions that the power of standard information in the randomized setting is at least equal to the power of linear information in the worst case setting, and that the powers of linear and standard information in the randomized setting differ at most by 1/2. These assumptions are satisfied for spaces with weighted Korobov and Wiener reproducing kernels. For the Wiener case, the parameters in these assumptions are prohibitively large, and therefore we also present less restrictive assumptions and obtain other bounds on the power of standard information. Finally, we study tractability, which means that we want to guarantee that the errors depend at most polynomially on the number of variables and tend to zero polynomially in n ⁻¹ when n function values are used.     

Borel and Stokes Nonperturbative Phenomena in Topological String Theory and c = 1 Matrix Models

We address the nonperturbative structure of topological strings and c = 1 matrix models, focusing on understanding the nature of instanton effects alongside with exploring their relation to the large-order behavior of the 1/N expansion. We consider the Gaussian, Penner and Chern–Simons matrix models, together with their holographic duals, the c = 1 minimal string at self-dual radius and topological string theory on the resolved conifold. We employ Borel analysis to obtain the exact all-loop multi-instanton corrections to the free energies of the aforementioned models, and show that the leading poles in the Borel plane control the large-order behavior of perturbation theory. We understand the nonperturbative effects in terms of the Schwinger effect and provide a semiclassical picture in terms of eigenvalue tunneling between critical points of the multi-sheeted matrix model effective potentials. In particular, we relate instantons to Stokes phenomena via a hyperasymptotic analysis, providing a smoothing of the nonperturbative ambiguity. Our predictions for the multi-instanton expansions are confirmed within the trans-series set-up, which in the double-scaling limit describes nonperturbative corrections to the Toda equation. Finally, we provide a spacetime realization of our nonperturbative corrections in terms of toric D-brane instantons which, in the double-scaling limit, precisely match D-instanton contributions to c = 1 minimal strings.     

Finite thermo-viscoplasticity of amorphous glassy polymers: Experiments,modeling and simulations

The contribution is concerned with experimental procedures, constitutive modeling and the numerical simulations of finite thermo-viscoplastic behavior of glassy polymers. The experimental study involves both homogeneous and inhomogeneous tests at different temperatures under isothermal conditions. The true stress-true strain curves obtained from compressive homogeneous uniaxial and plane strain experiments are employed in the identification of adjustable material parameters. In contrast to the existing kinematic approaches to finite plasticity of glassy polymers, we propose a distinct kinematic framework constructed in the logarithmic strain space. This leads us to an algorithmically very attractive, additive kinematic structure in R⁶ similar to the geometrically linear theory. The proposed three-dimensional model is implemented into a finite element code. The load-displacement curves acquired from inhomogeneous experiments are compared against the results obtained from finite element analyses where the material parameters identified from homogeneous experiments are used. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the Shape Sensitivity of the First Dirichlet Eigenvalue for Two-Phase Problems

We consider a two-phase problem in thermal conductivity: inclusions filled with a material of conductivity σ ₁ are layered in a body of conductivity σ ₂. We address the shape sensitivity of the first eigenvalue associated with Dirichlet boundary conditions when both the boundaries of the inclusions and the body can be modified. We prove a differentiability result and provide the expressions of the first and second order derivatives. We apply the results to the optimal design of an insulated body. We prove the stability of the optimal design thanks to a second order analysis. We also continue the study of an extremal eigenvalue problem for a two-phase conductor in a ball initiated by Conca et al. (Appl. Math. Optim. 60(2):173–184, 2009) and pursued in Conca et al. (CANUM 2008, ESAIM Proc., vol. 27, pp.  311–321, EDP Sci., Les Ulis, 2009).     

On coherent systems of type (<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> + 1) on Petri curves

We study coherent systems of type (n, d, n + 1) on a Petri curve X of genus g ≥ 2. We describe the geometry of the moduli space of such coherent systems for large values of the parameter α. We determine the top critical value of α and show that the corresponding “flip” has positive codimension. We investigate also the non-emptiness of the moduli space for smaller values of α, proving in many cases that the condition for non-emptiness is the same as for large α. We give some detailed results for g ≤ 5 and applications to higher rank Brill–Noether theory and the stability of kernels of evaluation maps, thus proving Butler’s conjecture in some cases in which it was not previously known. The authors are members of the research group VBAC (Vector Bundles on Algebraic Curves). The first two authors were supported by EPSRC grant GR/T22988/01 for a visit to the University of Liverpool. The second author acknowledges the support of CONACYT grant 48263-F. The third author thanks CIMAT, Guanajuato, México and California State University Channel Islands, where a part of this paper was completed, and acknowledges support from the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias, under its exchange agreement with the Royal Society of London.     

Mean field modeling of isotropic random Cauchy elasticity versus microstretch elasticity

We show that the averaged response of random isotropic Cauchy elastic material can be described analytically. It leads to a higher gradient model with explicit expressions for the dependence on the second derivatives of the mean field. A subsequent penalty formulation coincides with a linear elastic micro-stretch model with specific choice of constitutive parameters, depending only on the average cut-off length (the internal characteristic length scale L_c > 0). Thus the microstretch displacement field can be interpreted as an approximated mean field response for these parameter ranges. The mean field free energy in this micro-stretch formulation is not uniformly pointwise positive, nevertheless, the model is well posed.