Taylor‐Galerkin B‐spline finite element method for the one‐dimensional advection‐diffusion equation

The advection‐diffusion equation has a long history as a benchmark for numerical methods. Taylor‐Galerkin methods are used together with the type of splines known as B‐splines to construct the approximation functions over the finite elements for the solution of time‐dependent advection‐diffusion problems. If advection dominates over diffusion, the numerical solution is difficult especially if boundary layers are to be resolved. Known test problems have been studied to demonstrate the accuracy of the method. Numerical results show the behavior of the method with emphasis on treatment of boundary conditions. Taylor‐Galerkin methods have been constructed by using both linear and quadratic B‐spline shape functions. Results shown by the method are found to be in good agreement with the exact solution. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2010     

An algorithm for the quadratic assignment problem using Bender's decomposition

A well known method used for solving quadratic assignment problems proceeds by the construction of an equivalent much larger linear assignment problem with many side constraints. The disadvantage of this method lies in the weakness of the bounds obtained by solving the linear problem. An alternate linearization has been suggested using a general method of Glover. In this paper the mixed integer program obtained by Glover's method is discussed and a solution using Bender's decomposition is proposed.     

Numerical solutions of the modified Burgers’ equation by Petrov-Galerkin method

The modified Burgers’ equation (MBE) is solved numerically by the Petrov-Galerkin method using a linear hat function as the trial function and a cubic B-spline function as the test function. Product approximation has been used in this method. A linear stability analysis of the scheme shows it to be unconditionally stable. The accuracy of the presented method is demonstrated by two test problems. The numerical results are found in good agreement with the exact solutions.     

Numerical and theoretical discussions for solving nonlinear generalized Benjamin–Bona–Mahony–Burgers equation based on the Legendre spectral element method

This article is devoted to solving numerically the nonlinear generalized Benjamin–Bona–Mahony–Burgers (GBBMB) equation that has several applications in physics and applied sciences. First, the time derivative is approximated by using a finite difference formula. Afterward, the stability and convergence analyses of the obtained time semi‐discrete are proven by applying the energy method. Also, it has been demonstrated that the convergence order in the temporal direction is O(dt) . Second, a fully discrete formula is acquired by approximating the spatial derivatives via Legendre spectral element method. This method uses Lagrange polynomial based on Gauss–Legendre–Lobatto points. An error estimation is also given in detail for full discretization scheme. Ultimately, the GBBMB equation in the one‐ and two‐dimension is solved by using the proposed method. Also, the calculated solutions are compared with theoretical solutions and results obtained from other techniques in the literature. The accuracy and efficiency of the mentioned procedure are revealed by numerical samples.     

Simplicity of the branching of representations of the groups GL(<Emphasis Type="Italic">n,q</Emphasis>) under the parabolic restriction: An elementary proof

It is well known that the branching of representations of the groups GL(n, q) under the parabolic restriction is simple. Apparently, an elementary proof of this important fact has not been found so far. We present such a proof, which uses a method not standard for the representation theory of finite groups.     

Generalization of the Zlámal condition for simplicial finite elements in ℝ<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis></Superscript>

The famous Zlámal’s minimum angle condition has been widely used for construction of a regular family of triangulations (containing nondegenerating triangles) as well as in convergence proofs for the finite element method in 2d. In this paper we present and discuss its generalization to simplicial partitions in any space dimension.     

Non-linear stability for the Vlasov–Poisson system—the energy-Casimir method

The problem of stability of stationary solutions of the Vlasov–Poisson system has received a lot of attention in the physics literature, both in the stellar dynamics and the plasma physics cases. The energy-Casimir method has been used to prove non-linear stability for various conservative systems, but no rigorous application to the Vlasov–Poisson system has been given yet. We employ this method to prove non-linear stability of stationary solutions for the plasma physics case in three geometrically different settings.     

An optimal sixth‐order quartic B‐spline collocation method for solving Bratu‐type and Lane‐Emden–type problems

This paper is concerned with the numerical solutions of Bratu‐type and Lane‐Emden–type boundary value problems, which describe various physical phenomena in applied science and technology. We present an optimal collocation method based on quartic B‐spine basis functions to solve such problems. This method is constructed by perturbing the original problem and on a uniform mesh. The method has been tested by four nonlinear examples. In order to show the advantage of the new method, numerical results are compared with those obtained by some of the existing methods, such as normal quartic B‐spline collocation method and the finite difference method (FDM). It has been observed that the order of convergence of the proposed method is six, which is two orders of magnitude larger than the normal quartic B‐spline collocation method. Moreover, our method gives highly accurate results than the FDM.     

Computational inversion of electron micrographs using L2‐gradient flows—convergence analysis

A gradient flow‐based explicit finite element method (L2GF) for reconstructing the 3D density function from a set of 2D electron micrographs has been proposed in recently published papers. The experimental results showed that the proposed method was superior to the other classical algorithms, especially for the highly noisy data. However, convergence analysis of the L2GF method has not been conducted. In this paper, we present a complete analysis on the convergence of L2GF method for the case of using a more general form regularization term, which includes the Tikhonov‐type regularizer and modified or smoothed total variation regularizer as two special cases. We further prove that the L²‐gradient flow method is stable and robust. These results demonstrate that the iterative variational reconstruction method derived from the L²‐gradient flow approach is mathematically sound and effective and has desirable properties. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical method for the one‐dimensional sine‐Gordon equation

A numerical method based on a predictor–corrector (P‐C) scheme arising from the use of rational approximants of order 3 to the matrix‐exponential term in a three‐time level recurrence relation is applied successfully to the one‐dimensional sine‐Gordon equation, already known from the bibliography. In this P‐C scheme a modification in the corrector (MPC) has been proposed according to which the already evaluated corrected values are considered. The method, which uses as predictor an explicit finite‐difference scheme arising from the second order rational approximant and as corrector an implicit one, has been tested numerically on the single and the soliton doublets. Both the predictor and the corrector schemes are analyzed for local truncation error and stability. From the investigation of the numerical results and the comparison of them with other ones known from the bibliography it has been derived that the proposed P‐C/MPC schemes at least coincide in terms of accuracy with them. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2008     

A multigrid compact finite difference method for solving the one‐dimensional nonlinear sine‐Gordon equation

The aim of this paper is to propose a multigrid method to obtain the numerical solution of the one‐dimensional nonlinear sine‐Gordon equation. The finite difference equations at all interior grid points form a large sparse linear system, which needs to be solved efficiently. The solution cost of this sparse linear system usually dominates the total cost of solving the discretized partial differential equation. The proposed method is based on applying a compact finite difference scheme of fourth‐order for discretizing the spatial derivative and the standard second‐order central finite difference method for the time derivative. The proposed method uses the Richardson extrapolation method in time variable. The obtained system has been solved by V‐cycle multigrid (VMG) method, where the VMG method is used for solving the large sparse linear systems. The numerical examples show the efficiency of this algorithm for solving the one‐dimensional sine‐Gordon equation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A two-phase obstacle-type problem for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Laplacian

We study the so-called two-phase obstacle-type problem for the p-Laplacian when p is close to 2. We introduce a new method to obtain the optimal growth of the function from branch points, i.e. two-phase points in the free boundary where the gradient vanishes. As a by-product we can locally estimate the (n − 1)-Hausdorff-measure of the free boundary for the special case when p > 2. This research project is a part of the ESF program Global. E. Lindgren has been supported by grant KAW 2005.0098 from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation.     

Convergence of a finite element scheme for the two-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation in a long strip

This paper addresses the finite element method for the two-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation on an infinite strip by using artificial boundary conditions. We first reduce the original problem into an initial-boundary value problem in a bounded domain by introducing a transparent boundary condition, then fully discretize this reduced problem by applying the Crank-Nicolson scheme in time and a bilinear or quadratic finite element approximation in space. This scheme, by a rigorous analysis, has been proved to be unconditionally stable and convergent, and its convergence order has also been obtained. Finally, two numerical examples are given to verify the accuracy of the scheme.     

Numerical solution of nonlinear three‐point boundary value problem on the positive half‐line

In this paper, we present an efficient numerical algorithm to solve the three‐point boundary value problem on the half‐line based on the reproducing kernel theorem. Considering the boundary conditions including a limit form, a new weighted reproducing kernel space is established to overcome the difficulty. By applying reproducing property and existence of the orthogonal basis in the weighted reproducing kernel space, the approximate solution is constructed by the orthogonal projection of the exact solution. Convergence has also been discussed. We demonstrate the accuracy of the method by numerical experiments. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis> Method for Symmetric Cone Programming

The Q method of semidefinite programming, developed by Alizadeh, Haeberly and Overton, is extended to optimization problems over symmetric cones. At each iteration of the Q method, eigenvalues and Jordan frames of decision variables are updated using Newton’s method. We give an interior point and a pure Newton’s method based on the Q method. In another paper, the authors have shown that the Q method for second-order cone programming is accurate. The Q method has also been used to develop a “warm-starting” approach for second-order cone programming. The machinery of Euclidean Jordan algebra, certain subgroups of the automorphism group of symmetric cones, and the exponential map is used in the development of the Newton method. Finally we prove that in the presence of certain non-degeneracies the Jacobian of the Newton system is nonsingular at the optimum. Hence the Q method for symmetric cone programming is accurate and can be used to “warm-start” a slightly perturbed symmetric cone program.     

Solving a fourth‐order fractional diffusion‐wave equation in a bounded domain by decomposition method

In this article, the Adomian decomposition method has been used to obtain solutions of fourth‐order fractional diffusion‐wave equation defined in a bounded space domain. The fractional derivative is described in the Caputo sense. Convergence of the method has been discussed with some illustrative examples. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2008     

Development and Field Test of the Modified Draw‐a‐Scientist Test and the Draw‐a‐Scientist Rubric

Even long before children are able to verbalize which careers may be interesting to them, they collect and store ideas about scientists. For these reasons, asking children to draw a scientist has become an accepted method to provide a glimpse into how children represent and identify with those in the science fields. Years later, these representations may translate into students' career choices. Since 1995, children's illustrations of scientists have been assessed by the Draw‐a‐Scientist Checklist (DAST‐C). The checklist was created from the common aspects or features found in illustrations from previous studies and were based initially on the scientists, broken down into “stereotypical” and “alternative” images shown in the drawings. The purpose of this article is to describe the development, field test, and reliability of the modified DAST Test and the DAST Rubric designed as an improvement of the DAST‐C to provide a more appropriate method of assessing students' drawings of scientists. The combination of the modified DAST and the DAST Rubric brings more refinement as it enables clarities to emerge and subsequently increased detail to what one could ascertain from students about their mental images of scientists.     

Computing the noncentral-<Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis> distribution and the power of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis>-test with guaranteed accuracy

The computations involving the noncentral-F distribution are notoriously difficult to implement properly in floating-point arithmetic: Catastrophic loss of precision, floating-point underflow and overflow, drastically increasing computation time and program hang-ups, and instability due to numerical cancellation have all been reported. It is therefore recommended that existing statistical packages are cross-checked, and the present paper proposes a numerical algorithm precisely for this purpose. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed method is the first method that can compute the noncentrality parameter of the noncentral-F distribution with guaranteed accuracy over a wide parameter range that spans the range relevant for practical applications. Although the proposed method is limited to cases where the the degree of freedom of the denominator of the F test statistic is even, it does not affect its usefulness significantly: All of those algorithmic failures and inaccuracies that we can still reproduce today could have been prevented by simply cross-checking against the proposed method. Two numerical examples are presented where the intermediate computations went wrong silently, but the final result of the computations seemed nevertheless plausible, and eventually erroneous results were published. Cross-checking against the proposed method would have caught the numerical errors in both cases. The source code of the algorithm is available on GitHub, together with self-contained command-line executables. These executables can read the data to be cross-checked from plain text files, making it easy to cross-check any statistical software in an automated fashion.     

Exact travelling wave solutions for the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger (GNLS) equation with a source by Extended tanh–coth, sine–cosine and Exp-Function methods

The capability of Extended tanh–coth, sine–cosine and Exp-Function methods as alternative approaches to obtain the analytic solution of different types of applied differential equations in engineering mathematics has been revealed. In this study, the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger (GNLS) equation is solved by three different methods. To obtain the single-soliton solutions for the equation, the Extended tanh–coth and sine–cosine methods are used. Furthermore, for this nonlinear evolution equation the Exp-Function method is applied to derive various travelling wave solution. Results show that while the first two procedures easily provide a concise solution, the Exp-Function method provides a powerful mathematical means for solving nonlinear evolution equations in mathematical physics.     

Mixed two‐grid finite difference methods for solving one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional Fitzhugh–Nagumo equations

The aim of this paper is to propose mixed two‐grid finite difference methods to obtain the numerical solution of the one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional Fitzhugh–Nagumo equations. The finite difference equations at all interior grid points form a large‐sparse linear system, which needs to be solved efficiently. The solution cost of this sparse linear system usually dominates the total cost of solving the discretized partial differential equation. The proposed method is based on applying a family of finite difference methods for discretizing the spatial and time derivatives. The obtained system has been solved by two‐grid method, where the two‐grid method is used for solving the large‐sparse linear systems. Also, in the proposed method, the spectral radius with local Fourier analysis is calculated for different values of h and Δt. The numerical examples show the efficiency of this algorithm for solving the one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional Fitzhugh–Nagumo equations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.