Modelling and Simulation of the Transport of Protein Foams

The behaviour of foams at rest, but particularly during fluid mechanical transport is not sufficiently investigated yet. The present article deals with protein foams as they have a great importance in food production. In the first part, the foaming process of a highly viscous liquid due to gaseous materials dispersed under pressure in the liquid and mass transport of volatile components dissolved in the liquid is considered. The aim is to calculate the foam volume and the concentration of the dissolved, volatile components as a function of the material and process parameters. In the second part, material equations for bubble suspensions with gas volume fractions ϕ ≤ 0.6 and small bubble deformations (i.e. N_Ca ≪ 1) are presented. The basics form two constitutive laws which are used for describing a steady shear flow. If the rates of work of the two models are compared, material equations for the shear viscosity and the normal stress differences can be derived. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Field induced aggregation in electrorheological suspension: kernel form and self similar solutions

Within the framework of the study of the fibrillation mechanism in an electrorheological (ER) suspension, this work presents a comparison between the self similar solutions when the kernel is K_i,j ~ (i⁻¹ + j⁻¹) and the behaviour of the chains growth. Till now, the field induced chains formation has only been studied by numerical or experimental methods. The work of Fournier and Lauren?ot (Communications in Mathematical Physics 256 2005) on the Smoluchowski’s equation allows us to present an analytical solution for the field induced pearl chains in a colloidal ER suspension.     

Sur les dimensions des formes quadratiques de hauteur 2

Let F be a field of characteristic ≠ 2 and let ϕ be an anisotropic quadratic form over F of height 2 and degree n ≥ 1, i.e., the anisotropic part ϕ₁ of ϕ over its own function field F(ϕ) is similar to an anisotropic n-fold Pfister form τ over F₁. If there exists an n-fold Pfister form σ over F such that τ σ_F(ϕ) then ϕ is said to be a good form, and if ϕ₁ itself is already defined over F then ϕ is said to be excellent. In this Note, we give an elementary proof of the result that dim ϕ = 2ⁿ⁺¹ if ϕ is good non-excellent, thus answering a question posed by Knebusch.     

Field induced aggregation in electrorheological suspension: kernel form and self similar solutions

Within the framework of the study of the fibrillation mechanism in an electrorheological (ER) suspension, this work presents a comparison between the self similar solutions when the kernel is K_i,j ~ (i⁻¹ + j⁻¹) and the behaviour of the chains growth. Till now, the field induced chains formation has only been studied by numerical or experimental methods. The work of Fournier and Lauren?ot (Communications in Mathematical Physics 256 2005) on the Smoluchowski’s equation allows us to present an analytical solution for the field induced pearl chains in a colloidal ER suspension. René Limage: Chercheur indépendant, dipl?mé de l’Université de Liége.     

Symmetry breaking for a class of semilinear elliptic problems and the bifurcation diagram for a 1-dimensional problem

We study the behaviour of the positive solutions to the Dirichlet problem IR ⁿ in the unit ball in IR ^R wherep<(N+2)/(N−2) ifN≥3 and λ varies over IR. For a special class of functionsg viz.,g(x)=u ₀ ^p (x) whereu ₀ is the unique positive solution at λ=0, we prove that for certain λ’s nonradial solutions bifurcate from radially symmetric positive solutions. WhenN=1, we obtain the complete bifurcation diagram for the positive solution curve.     

Numerical study of formation of a series of bubbles at a submerged orifice

Bubble formation from a submerged orifice is widely applied in bio-process and chemical reaction systems. In this study, the effects of different orifice diameters and contact angles in Period-I and Period-II regimes are studied systematically on a 2D axisymmetric domain. Simulation results are presented from the formation of the first bubble and explained by means of the surrounding fluid field, bubble interaction, and bubble aspect ratio.The orifice diameter is varied from 0.6 mm to 3 mm. The numerical results show that the detachment time of all bubbles remains constant (in time) for smaller orifice diameters (d_a ≤ 1.5 mm), while the detachment time of the first bubble is different from the rest of the bubbles for larger orifice diameters (d_a ≥ 2 mm), which is due to the different surrounding flow field. Contact angles from 60° to 165° are considered for the gas flow rates in the regime of bubble pairing, and it is observed that the bubble detachment time decreases when the contact angle increases, and it converges to a constant value when the contact angle is larger than 135°. In addition, the transition from period doubling to deterministic chaos (in which there is a variable number of bubbles within each period) is observed.A new scenario of inserting a submerged tube upward into the liquid is considered and compared to the previous cases. It is observed that when the tube is vertically inserted into the liquid, the bubble detachment time is even smaller because of higher influence from the surrounding liquid field, leading to a different phenomenon from the non-inserted tube cases.     

Singular solutions of some nonlinear parabolic equations with spatially inhomogeneous absorption

We study the limit behaviour of solutions of with initial data k δ ₀ when k → ∞, where h is a positive nondecreasing function and p > 1. If h(r) = r ^β , β > N(p − 1) − 2, we prove that the limit function u _∞ is an explicit very singular solution, while such a solution does not exist if β ≤  N(p − 1) − 2. If lim inf _{r→ 0} r ² ln (1/h(r))  >  0, u _∞ has a persistent singularity at (0, t) (t ≥  0). If , u _∞ has a pointwise singularity localized at (0, 0).     

Repeated Quantum Interactions and Unitary Random Walks

Among the discrete evolution equations describing a quantum system ℋ _S undergoing repeated quantum interactions with a chain of exterior systems, we study and characterize those which are directed by classical random variables in ℝ ^N . The characterization we obtain is entirely algebraical in terms of the unitary operator driving the elementary interaction. We show that the solutions of these equations are then random walks on the group U(ℋ₀) of unitary operators on ℋ₀.     

RN中一类拟线性椭圆方程组非负解的存在性和多重性

利用极小极大原理和Lj usternik-Schnirelmann畴数理论,研究了RN中一类拟线性椭圆方程组.当2≤p,q＜N时,α≥0,β≥0满足α+β+2＞max{p,q}和α+1/p*+β+1/q*≤1,通过建立解的个数与正连续函数V和W达到极小值集合的拓扑量之间的关系,得到拟线性方程组至少存在catMδ (M)个不同的非负解.     

Estimates for the Sobolev trace constant with critical exponent and applications

In this paper we find estimates for the optimal constant in the critical Sobolev trace inequality that are independent of Ω. This estimates generalized those of Adimurthi and Yadava (Comm Partial Diff Equ 16(11):1733–1760, 1991) for general p. Here p _* : =  p(N  −  1)/(N  −  p) is the critical exponent for the immersion and N is the space dimension. Then we apply our results first to prove existence of positive solutions to a nonlinear elliptic problem with a nonlinear boundary condition with critical growth on the boundary, generalizing the results of Fernández Bonder and Rossi (Bull Lond Math Soc 37:119–125, 2005). Finally, we study an optimal design problem with critical exponent.      

Phase transitions with semi-diffuse interfaces

In this paper, we examine new “phase-field” models with semi-diffuse interfaces. These models have the property that the −1/+1 planar phase transitions take place over a finite interval. The models also support multiple interface solutions with interfaces centered at arbitrary points L₁<L₂<?<L_N. These solutions correspond to local minima of an entropy functional (see (3.3) and (3.7)) rather than saddle points and are dynamically stable. The classical models have no such exact solutions but they do support solutions with N equally spaced transition points where the order parameter transitions between values p_min(N) and p_max(N) satisfying −1<p_min(N)<0<p_max(N)<1. These solutions of the classical model are saddle points of the entropy functional associated with those models and are not dynamically stable.     

On the Blow-up of the Solutions of a Quasilinear Wave Equation With a Semilinear Source Term

In this paper, following the ideas of Lax, we prove a blow-up result for a class of solutions of the equation ϕ_tt−ϕ_xx−ϕ²_xϕ_xx−ϕ³ = 0, corresponding, in certain cases, to the development of a singularity in the second derivatives of ϕ. These solutions solve locally (in time) the Cauchy problem for smooth initial data belonging to the uniformly local Sobolev spaces considered by Kato and by Majda.     

A splitting theorem for the weighted measure

Let M be an n-dimensional complete noncompact Riemannian manifold, h be a smooth function on M and dμ = e ^h dV be the weighted measure. In this article, we prove that when the spectrum of the weighted Laplacian \triangle_m{\triangle_{\mu}} has a positive lower bound λ₁(M) > 0 and the m(m > n)-dimensional Bakry-émery curvature is bounded from below by -\fracm-1m-2l₁(M){-\frac{m-1}{m-2}\lambda_1(M)}, then M splits isometrically as R × N whenever it has two ends with infinite weighted volume, here N is an (n − 1)-dimensional compact manifold.     

An exact algorithm for the knapsack sharing problem with common items

We are concerned with a variation of the knapsack problem as well as of the knapsack sharing problem, where we are given a set of n items and a knapsack of a fixed capacity. As usual, each item is associated with its profit and weight, and the problem is to determine the subset of items to be packed into the knapsack. However, in the problem there are s players and the items are divided into s + 1 disjoint groups, N_k (k = 0, 1, … , s). The player k is concerned only with the items in N₀ ∪ N_k, where N₀ is the set of ‘common’ items, while N_k represents the set of his own items. The problem is to maximize the minimum of the profits of all the players. An algorithm is developed to solve this problem to optimality, and through a series of computational experiments, we evaluate the performance of the developed algorithm.     

A canonical subspace of modular forms of half-integral weight

We characterise the space of newforms of weight k + 1/2 on Γ₀(4N), N odd and square-free (studied by the second and third authors with Vasudevan) under the Atkin-Lehner W(4) operator. As an application, we show that the (±1)-eigensubspaces of the W(4) operator on the space of modular forms of weight k + 1/2 on Γ₀(4N) is mapped to modular forms of weight 2k on Γ₀(N), under a class of Shimura maps. The existence of such subspaces having this mapping property was conjectured by Zagier in a private communication. One of the special features of the (±1)-eigensubspaces is that the (2k + 1)-th power of the classical theta series of weight 1/2 belongs to the +  eigensubspace and hence this gives interesting congruences for r _2k+1(p ²).     

Stellar permutations of the two-element subsets of a finite set

Let X be a finite set and denote by X⁽²⁾ the set of 2-element subsets of X. A permutation ϕ of X⁽²⁾ is called stellar if, for each x in X, the image under ϕ of the star St(x) = {{x, y}: x ≠ y ∈ X} is a 2-regular graph spanning X − {x}. Several constructions of stellar permutations are given; in particular, there is a natural direct construction using self-orthogonal Latin squares, and a simple recursive construction using linear spaces having all line sizes at least four. Apart from some intrinsic interest, stellar permutations arise in the construction of certain designs. For example, applying such a map ϕ to each of the stars St(x) yields a double covering of the complete graph on X by near 2-factors. We also study stellar groups, that is groups {ϕ₁, …, ϕ_s} of permutations of X⁽²⁾ such that each ϕ_i is stellar (or the identity map). It is elementary to prove that s ≤ for any stellar group; when equality holds, one can construct an associated elation semibiplane. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 6: 381–387, 1998     

On a singular elliptic problem involving critical growth in {\mathbb{R}^{\bf N}}

In this paper, we prove a suitable Trudinger–Moser inequality with a singular weight in \mathbbR^N{\mathbb{R}^N} and as an application of this result, using the mountain-pass theorem we establish sufficient conditions for the existence of nontrivial solutions to quasilinear elliptic partial differential equations of the form

Asymptotic behaviour of nonlinear parabolic equations with critical exponents. A dynamical systems approach

We investigate the large-time behaviour of solutions to the nonlinear heat-conduction equation with absorption u_t = Δ(u^{σ + 1}) − u^β in Q = R^N × (0, ∞) (E) with N 1, σ > 0 and critical absorption exponent β = σ + 1 + 2/N; the initial function u(x, 0) = 0 is assumed to be integrable, nonnegative and compactly supported. We prove that u converges as t → ∞ to a unique self-similar function which is a contracted version of one of the asymptotic profiles of the nonabsorptive problem u_t = Δ(u^{σ + 1}), the same for any initial data. The cornerstone of the proof is a result about ω-limits of (infinite-dimensional) asymptotical dynamical systems. Combining this result with an asymptotic evaluation of the mass function as well as typical PDE estimates gives the behaviour of (E) for large times.Similar unusual asymptotic behaviour is obtained for the equation u_t = div(¦Du¦^σ Du) − u^β with same conditions on σ and u(x, 0) and critical value for β = σ + 1 + (σ + 2)/N.     

Decay of mass for nonlinear equation with fractional Laplacian

The large time behavior of non-negative solutions to the reaction–diffusion equation ?_t u=-(-D)^a/2u - u^p{\partial_t u=-(-\Delta)^{\alpha/2}u - u^p}, ${(\alpha\in(0,2], \;p > 1)}${(\alpha\in(0,2], \;p > 1)} posed on \mathbbR^N{\mathbb{R}^N} and supplemented with an integrable initial condition is studied. We show that the anomalous diffusion term determines the large time asymptotics for p > 1 + α/N, while nonlinear effects win if p ≤ 1 + α/N.     

Global existence and L ∞ estimates of solutions for a quasilinear parabolic system

In this paper, we study the global existence, L^∞ estimates and decay estimates of solutions for the quasilinear parabolic system u_t = div (|∇ u|^m ∇ u) + f(u, v), v_t = div (|∇ v|^m ∇ v) + g(u,v) with zero Dirichlet boundary condition in a bounded domain Ω ⊂ R^N. In particular, we find a critical value for the existence and nonexistence of global solutions to the equation u_t = div (|∇ u|^m ∇ u) + λ |u|^{α - 1} u.