A logical characterization of coherence for imprecise probabilities

Whilst supported by compelling arguments, the representation of uncertainty by means of (subjective) probability does not enjoy a unanimous consensus. A substantial part of the relevant criticisms point to its alleged inadequacy for representing ignorance as opposed to uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to show how a strong justification for taking belief as probability, namely the Dutch Book argument, can be extended naturally so as to provide a logical characterization of coherence for imprecise probability, a framework which is widely believed to accommodate some fundamental features of reasoning under ignorance. The appropriate logic for our purposes is an algebraizable logic whose equivalent algebraic semantics is a variety of MV-algebras with an additional internal unary operation representing upper probability (these algebras will be called UMV-algebras).     

Multidimensional localized solitons

Recently it has been discovered that some nonlinear evolution equations in 2 + 1 dimensions, which are integrable by the use of the Spectral Transform, admit localized (in the space) soliton solutions. This article briefly reviews some of the main results obtained in the last 5 years thanks to the renewed interest in soliton theory due to this discovery. The theoretical tools needed to understand the unexpected richness of behaviour of multidimensional localized solitons during their mutual scattering are furnished. Analogies and especially discrepancies with the unidimensional case are stressed.     

Gradient type noises II - Systems of stochastic partial differential equations

The present paper is the second and main part of a study of partial differential equations under the influence of noisy perturbations. Existence and uniqueness of function solutions in the mild sense are obtained for a class of deterministic linear and semilinear parabolic boundary initial value problems. If the noise data are random, the results may be seen as a pathwise approach to SPDE's. For typical examples, such as spatially one-dimensional stochastic heat equations with additive or multiplicative perturbations of fractional Brownian type, we recover and extend known results. In addition, we propose to consider partial noises of low order.     

Conformally Invariant Elliptic Liouville Equation and Its Symmetry-Preserving Discretization

The symmetry algebra of the real elliptic Liouville equation is an infinite-dimensional loop algebra with the simple Lie algebra o(3, 1) as its maximal finite-dimensional subalgebra. The entire algebra generates the conformal group of the Euclidean plane E₂. This infinite-dimensional algebra distinguishes the elliptic Liouville equation from the hyperbolic one with its symmetry algebra that is the direct sum of two Virasoro algebras. Following a previously developed discretization procedure, we present a difference scheme that is invariant under the group O(3, 1) and has the elliptic Liouville equation in polar coordinates as its continuous limit. The lattice is a solution of an equation invariant under O(3, 1) and is itself invariant under a subgroup of O(3, 1), namely, the O(2) rotations of the Euclidean plane.     

A Poset Fiber Theorem for Doubly Cohen-Macaulay Posets and Its Applications

This paper studies topological properties of the lattices of non-crossing partitions of types A and B and of the poset of injective words. Specifically, it is shown that after the removal of the bottom and top elements (if existent) these posets are doubly Cohen-Macaulay. This strengthens the well-known facts that these posets are Cohen-Macaulay. Our results rely on a new poset fiber theorem which turns out to be a useful tool to prove double (homotopy) Cohen- Macaulayness of a poset. Applications to complexes of injective words are also included.     

The antipode and primitive elements in the Hopf monoid of supercharacters

From a recent paper, we recall the Hopf monoid structure on the supercharacters of the unipotent uppertriangular groups over a finite field. We give cancellation-free formula for the antipode applied to the bases of class functions and power sum functions, giving new cancellation-free formulae for the standard Hopf algebra of supercharacters and symmetric functions in noncommuting variables. We also give partial results for the antipode on the supercharacter basis, and explicitly describe the primitives of this Hopf monoid.     

Phase Field Modeling of Brittle and Ductile Fracture

The phase field modeling of brittle fracture was a topic of intense research in the last few years and is now well-established. We refer to the work [1-3], where a thermodynamically consistent framework was developed. The main advantage is that the phase-field-type diffusive crack approach is a smooth continuum formulation which avoids the modeling of discontinuities and can be implemented in a straightforward manner by multi-field finite element methods. Therefore complex crack patterns including branching can be resolved easily. In this paper, we extend the recently outlined phase field model of brittle crack propagation [1-3] towards the analysis of ductile fracture in elastic-plastic solids. In particular, we propose a formulation that is able to predict the brittle-to-ductile failure mode transition under dynamic loading that was first observed in experiments by Kalthoff and Winkler [4]. To this end, we outline a new thermodynamically consistent framework for phase field models of crack propagation in ductile elastic-plastic solids under dynamic loading, develop an incremental variational principle and consider its robust numerical implementation by a multi-field finite element method. The performance of the proposed phase field formulation of fracture is demonstrated by means of the numerical simulation of the classical Kalthoff-Winkler experiment that shows the dynamic failure mode transition. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On Weak Solutions of Stochastic Differential Equations II

In the first part of this article a new method of proving existence of weak solutions to stochastic differential equations with continuous coefficients having at most linear growth was developed. In this second part, we show that the same method may be used even if the linear growth hypothesis is replaced with a suitable Lyapunov condition.