Recursive parametric series solutions are developed for polynomial ODE systems, based on expanding the system components in series of a form studied by Weiss. Individual terms involve first-order driven linear ODE systems with variable coefficients. We consider Lotka-Volterra systems as an example.

This paper analyses a model for combustion of a self-heating chemical (such as pool chlorine), stored in drums within a shipping container. The system is described by three coupled nonlinear differential equations for the concentration of the chemical, its temperature and the temperature within the shipping container. Self-sustained oscillations are found to occur, as a result of Hopf bifurcation. Temperature and concentration profiles are presented and compared with the predictions of a simpler two-variable approximation for the system. We study the period of oscillation and its variation with respect to the ambient temperature and the reaction parameter. Nonlinear resonances are found to exist, as the solution jumps between branches having different periods.

The machinery of Lie theory (groups and algebras) is applied to the unsteady equations of motion of rotating fluid. A special-function type solution for the steady state is derived. It is then shown how the solution generates an infinite number of time-dependent solutions via three arbitrary functions of time. This algebraic structure also provides the mechanism to search for other solutions since its character is inferred from the basic equations.

In this study, we are concerned with a boundary value problem (BVP) for nonlinear difference equations on the set of all integers Z. under the assumption that the left-hand side is a second-order linear difference expression which belongs to the so-called Weyl-Hamburger limit-circle case. The BVP is considered in the Hilbert space l2 and includes boundary conditions at infinity. Existence and uniqueness results for solution of the considered BVP are established.

We examine the transmission problem in a two-dimensional domain, which consists of two different homogeneous media. We use boundary integral equation methods on the Maxwell equations governing the two media and we study the behaviour of the solution as the two different wave numbers tend to zero. We prove that as the boundary data of the general transmission problem converge uniformly to the boundary data of the corresponding electrostatic transmission problem, the general solution converges uniformly to the electrostatic one, provided we consider compact subsets of the domains.

Planar hinged segmented bodies have been used to represent models of biomechanical systems. One characteristic of a segmented body moving under gravitational acceleration and torques between segments is the possibility that the body's segments spin through more than a revolution or past a natural limit, and a computational mechanism to stop such behaviour should be provided. This could be done by introducing angle constraints between segments, and computational models utilising optimal control are studied here. Three models to maintain angle constraints between segments are proposed and compared. These models are: all-time angle constraints, a restoring torque in the state equations and an exponential penalty model. The models are applied to a 2-D three-segment body to test the behaviour of each model when optimising torques to minimise an objective. The optimisation is run to find torques so that the end effector of the body follows the trajectory of a half-circle. The result shows the behaviour of each model in maintaining the angle constraints. The all-time constraints case exhibits a behaviour of not allowing torques (at a solution) which makes segments move past the constraints, while the other two show a flexibility in handling the angle constraints which is more similar to what occurs in a real biomechanical system.

In this paper we will study a feature of a localised topographic flow. We will prove existence of an ideal fluid containing a bounded vortex, approaching a uniform flow at infinity and passing over a localised seamount. The domain of the fluid is the upper half-plane and the data prescribed is the rearrangement class of the vorticity field.

We study a nonlinear oscillatory system with two degrees of freedom. By using the continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory, some sufficient conditions are obtained to establish the existence of periodic solutions of the system.

This paper deals with n-job, 2-machine flowshop/mean flowtime scheduling problems working under a “no-idle” constraint, that is, when machines work continuously without idle intervals. A branch and bound technique has been developed to solve the problem.

In this paper, by using critical point theory, we establish some results for the existence of periodic and subharmonic solutions to subquadratic discrete Hamiltonian systems.

A nutrient-consumer model involving a distributed delay in material recycling and a discrete delay in growth response has been analysed. Various easily verifiable sets of sufficient conditions for global asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium solution of the model equations have been obtained and the length of the delay in each case has been estimated.

This paper is concerned with robustness with respect to small delays for the exponential stability of abstract differential equations in Banach spaces. Some necessary and sufficient conditions are given in terms of the uniformly square integrability of the fundamental operator family and the uniform boundedness of its resolvent on the imaginary axis.

This paper deals with robust guaranteed cost control for a class of linear uncertain descriptor systems with state delays and jumping parameters. The transition of the jumping parameters in the systems is governed by a finite-state Markov process. Based on stability theory for stochastic differential equations, a sufficient condition on the existence of robust guaranteed cost controllers is derived. In terms of the LMI (linear matrix inequality) approach, a linear state feedback controller is designed to stochastically stabilise the given system with a cost function constraint. A convex optimisation problem with LMI constraints is formulated to design the suboptimal guaranteed cost controller. A numerical example demonstrates the effect of the proposed design approach.

A list of recognised social diversities is assembled, including those used in social action programmes in the USA. Responses to diversity are discussed and diversity sensitivity defined as the derivative of response with respect to a defining parameter of a diversity distribution. Rewards (or penalties) for diversity are listed also; sensitivities to the responses to the rewards for diversity are called diversity sensitivities of the second kind. The statistics of bimodal and multimodal distributions are discussed, including the parametric estimation of such distributions by mixtures of multivariate normal distributions. An example is considered in detail.

This paper presents an interior source method for the calculation of semi-infinite cavities behind two-dimensional bluff bodies placed at an angle of attack in a uniform stream. Aspects under consideration include the pressure distribution along the body, especially just ahead of the separation point, lift and drag forces, and how these quantities vary with the angle of attack. We include discussion of the physical conditions of separation, and identify critical angles of attack for which the cavitating flow past an airfoil may (a) become unstable, or (b) yield the greatest lift to drag ratio.

A simple and efficient method for the analysis of the elastic-plastic bending of shallow shells is presented. The method is based upon the concept of contour lines of equal deflection on the surface of the shell, and uses Illyushin's theory of plastic deformation. As an illustration of the method, a technically interesting example of a shallow elliptic elastic dome is examined. Results are obtained for increasing loads and varying aspect ratios, and are illustrated graphically. The application of the method to other shell geometries is quite straightforward.

In this paper, we consider a coupled, nonlinear, singular (in the sense that the reaction terms in the equations are not Lipschitz continuous) reaction-diffusion system, which arises from a model of fractional order chemical autocatalysis and decay, with positive initial data. In particular, we consider the cases when the initial data for the the dimensionless concentration of the autocatalyst, β, is of (a) O(x−λ) or (b) O(e−σ x) at large x (dimensionless distance), where σ > 0 and λ are constants. While initially the dimensionless concentration of the reactant, α, is identically unity, we establish, by developing the small-t (dimensionless time) asymptotic structure of the solution, that the support of β(x, t) becomes finite in infinitesimal time in both cases (a) and (b) above. The asymptotic form for the location of the edge of the support of β as t → 0 is given in both cases.