A simple model for a problem in combustion theory has multiple steady state solutions when a parameter is in a certain range. This note deals with the initial value problem when the initial temperature takes the form of a hot spot. Estimates on the extent and temperature of the spot for the steady state solution to be super-critical are obtained.

We present new exact solutions for the flow of liquid during constant-rate expression from a finite thickness of liquid-saturated porous material with nonlinear properties. By varying a single nonlinearity parameter and a dimensionless expression rate, we systematically investigate the effect of nonlinearity and of an impermeable barrier (e.g. a piston). We illustrate the water profile shape and the water ratio deficit at the expression surface (e.g. a filter membrane) as a function of time.

After formulating the alternate potential principle for the nonlinear differential equation corresponding to the generalised Emden-Fowler equation, the invariance identities of Rund [14] involving the Lagrangian and the generators of the infinitesimal Lie group are used for writing down the first integrals of the said equation via the Noether theorem. Further, for physical realisable forms of the parameters involved and through repeated application of invariance under the transformation obtained, a number of exact solutions are arrived at both for the Emden-Fowler equation and classical Emden equations. A comparative study with Bluman-Cole and scale-invariant techniques reveals quite a number of remarkable features of the techniques used here.

The modulation of short gravity waves by long waves or currents is described for the situation when the flow is irrotational and when the short waves are described by linearised equations. Two cases are distinguished depending on whether the basic flow can be characterised as a deep-water current, or a shallow-water current. In both cases the basic flow has a current which has finite amplitude, while in the first case the free surface slope of the basic flow can be finite, but in the second case is small. The modulation equations are the local dispersion relation of the short waves, the kinematic equation for conservation of wave crests and the wave action equation. The results incorporate and extend the earlier work of Longuet-Higgins and Stewart [10, 11].

We study a periodic Kolmogorov model with m predators and n prey. By means of the comparison theorem and a Liapunov function, a set of easily verifiable sufficient conditions that guarantee the existence, uniqueness and global attractivity of the positive periodic solution is obtained. Finally, some suitable applications are given to illustrate that the conditions of the main theorem are feasible.

In this paper, we consider a class of combined optimal parameter selection and optimal control problems with general constraints. The first aim is to provide a unified approach to the numerical solution of this general class of optimisation problems by using the control parametrisation technique. This approach is supported by some convergence results. The second aim is to show that several different classes of optimal control problems can all be transformed into special cases of the problem considered in this paper. For illustration, four numerical examples are presented.

This paper is concerned with deformations corresponding to antiplane shear in finite elastostatics. The principal result is a necessary and sufficient condition for a homogeneous, isotropic, incompressible material to admit nontrivial states of anti-plane shear. The condition is given in terms of the strain energy density characteristic of the material and is illustrated by means of special examples.

In this paper we consider the asymptotics of extinction for the nonlinear diffusion reaction equation

with non-negative initial data possessing finite support. For t > 0, both solution and support vanish as t → T and x → x0. With T as the extinction time we construct the asymptotic solution as τ = T – t → 0 near the extinction point x0 using matched expansions. Taking x0= 0, we first form an outer expansion valid when η =xt–(m–p)/2 (1–p) = 0(1). This is nonuniformly valid for large |η| and has to be replaced by an intermediate expansion valid for |x| = O(τ−1/l0) where l0 is an even integer greater than unity. If p + m ≥ 2 this expansion is uniformly valid while for p + m < 2, there are regions near the edge of the support where diffusion becomes important. The zero order solution in these inner regions is discussed numerically.

The problem of determining a square integrable function from both its modulus and the modulus of its Fourier transform is studied. It is shown that for a large class of real functions the function is uniquely determined from this data. We also construct fundamental subsets of functions that are not uniquely determined. In quantum mechanical language, bound states are uniquely determined by their position and momentum distributions but, in general, scattering states are not.

This is an expository paper in which we present an introduction to a variational approach to spline interpolation. We present a sequence of theorems which starts with Holladay's classical result concerning natural cubic splines and culminates in some general abstract results.

The Schatten-von Neumann property of a pseudo-differential operator is established by showing that the pseudo-differential operator is a multiplier defined by means of an admissible wavelet associated to a unitary representation of the additive group Rn on the C*-algebra of all bounded linear operators from L2(Rn) into L2(Rn). A bounded linear operator on L2(R) arising in the Landau, Pollak and Slepian model in signal analysis is shown to be a wavelet multiplier studied in this paper.

Given a pair of biorthogonal multiscaling functions, we present an algorithm for raising their approximation orders to any desired level. Precisely, let Φ(x) and (x) be a pair of biorthogonal multiscaling functions of multiplicity r, with approximation orders m and , respectively. Then for some integer s, we can construct a pair of new biorthogonal multiscaling functions Φnew(x) = [ΦT (x), φr+1 (x), φr+2(x),… φr+s(x)]T and new(x) = [ (x) T, r+1(x), r+2(x),… r+s(x)]T with approximation orders n (n > m) and ñ (ñ > ), respectively. In addition, corresponding to Φnew(x) and new(x) a biorthogonal multiwavelet pair ψnew(x) and new(x) is constructed explicitly. Finally, an example is given.

This paper discusses robust stochastic stability and stabilization of time-delay discrete Markovian jump singular systems with parameter uncertainties. Based on the restricted system equivalent (RES) transformation, a delay-dependent linear matrix inequalities condition for time-delay discrete-time Markovian jump singular systems to be regular, causal and stochastically stable is established. With this condition, problems of robust stochastic stability and stabilization are solved, and delay-dependent linear matrix inequalities are obtained. A numerical example is also given to illustrate the effectiveness of this method.2000Mathematics subject classification: primary 39A12; secondary 93C55.

The problem of an anisotropic elastic slab containing two arbitrarily-oriented coplanar cracks in its interior is considered. Using a Fourier integral transform technique, we reduce the problem to a system of simultaneous finite-part singular integral equations which can be solved numerically. Once the integral equations are solved, relevant quantities such as the crack energy can be readily computed. Numerical results for specific examples are obtained.

In oil reservoirs, the less-dense oil often lies over a layer of water. When pumping begins, the oil-water interface rises near the well, due to the suction pressures associated with the well. A boundary-integral formulation is used to predict the steady interface shape, when the oil well is approximated by a series of sources and sinks or a line sink, to simulate the actual geometry of the oil well. It is found that there is a critical pumping rate, above which the water enters the oil well. The critical interface shape is a cusp. Efforts to suppress the cone by using source/sink combinations are presented.

Using Melnikov's method, the existence of chaotic behaviour in the sense of Smale in a particular time-periodically perturbed planar autonomous system of ordinary differential equations is established. Examples of planar autonomous differential systems with homoclinic orbits are provided, and an application to the dynamics of a one-dimensional anharmonic oscillator is given.

The low-velocity impact of two convex surfaces comprised of identical material, which approach each other along the direction of the normal at first contact, and obey a J2 = k2 plastic yield condition, is shown for very early times to satisfy the following conditions: the interior surface which separates the two bodies is equivalent to either the locus of points formed by the intersecting curves resulting from moving the two bodies towards each other along their normal; or to the locus of points formed from the level surfaces (suitably parametrized) drawn about each body at the time of first contact. This separating surface lies midway between the geometrical overlap of the two approaching surfaces for times sufficiently short for inertial effects not to significantly affect the approaching velocities.

In this paper, we study the existence of periodic solutions of the NDDE (neutral differential difference equation):

where τ > 0 and c is a real number. We obtain a sufficient condition under which (*) has at least k nonconstant oscillatory periodic solutions.