The main result of this paper offers a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of an additive selection of a weakly compact convex set-valued map defined on an amenable semigroup. As an application, we obtain characterisations of the solutions of several functional inequalities, including that of quasi-additive functions.

The problem of withdrawal through a point sink of water from a fluid of finite depth with a free surface is considered. Assuming the flow to be axisymmetric, it is found that there is a maximum Froude number at which such flows can exist. This maximum corresponds to the formation of a secondary stagnation ring on the free surface. This result extends earlier work on this problem. Comparison is made with a small Froude number solution and past experimental results.

Let u be a random signal with realisations in an infinite-dimensional vector space X and υ an associated observable random signal with realisations in a finite-dimensional subspace Y ⊆ X. We seek a pointwise-best estimate of u using a bounded linear filter on the observed data vector υ. When x is a finite-dimensional Euclidean space and the covariance matrix for υ is nonsingular, it is known that the best estimate û of u is given by a standard matrix expression prescribing a linear mean-square filter. For the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space problem we show that the matrix expression must be replaced by an analogous but more general expression using bounded linear operators. The extension procedure depends directly on the theory of the Bochner integral and on the construction of appropriate HilbertSchmidt operators. An extended example is given.

A minimum Hamiltonian completion of a graph G is a minimum-size set of edges that, when added to G, guarantee a Hamiltonian path. Finding a Hamiltonian completion has applications to frequency assignment as well as distributed computing. If the new edges are deleted from the Hamiltonian path, one is left with a minimum path cover, a minimum-size set of vertex-disjoint paths that cover the vertices of G. For arbitrary graphs, constructing a minimum Hamiltonian completion or path cover is clearly NP-hard, but there exists a linear-time algorithm for trees. In this paper we first give a description and proof of correctness for this linear-time algorithm that is simpler and more intuitive than those given previously. We show that the algorithm extends also to unicyclic graphs. We then give a new method for finding an optimal path cover or Hamiltonian completion for a tree that uses a reduction to a maximum flow problem. In addition, we show how to extend the reduction to construct, if possible, a covering of the vertices of a bipartite graph with vertex-disjoint cycles, that is, a 2-factor.

The convexity assumptions for a minimax fractional programming problem of variational type are relaxed to those of a generalised invexity situation. Sufficient optimality conditions are established under some specific assumptions. Employing the existence of a solution for the minimax variational fractional problem, three dual models, the Wolfe type dual, the Mond-Weir type dual and a one parameter dual type, are constructed. Several duality theorems concerning weak, strong and strict converse duality under the framework of invexity are proved.

We have finally obtained for each of the 6 Painlevés an expression of z, w, w′ that behaves as 1/(z − Z0) + O(1) at each kind of movable singular point. This expression is polynomial in w′ (at most quadratic), and rational in w and z. After it is integrated and exponentiated it yields a function that has a simple zero at each of the singular points.

The endemicity of infectious diseases is investigated from a deterministic viewpoint. Sustained oscillation of infectives is often due to seasonal effects which may be related to climatic changes. For example the transmission of the measles virus by droplets is enhanced in cooler, more humid seasons. In many countries the onset of cooler, more humid weather coincides with the increased aggregation of people and the seasonal effect can be exacerbated. In this paper we consider non-autonomous compartmental epidemiological models and demonstrate that the critical community size phenomenon may be associated with the seasonal variation in the disease propagation. This approach is applicable to both the prevaccination phenomenon of critical community size and the current goal of worldwide elimination of measles by vaccination.

A quasi-trapezoid inequality is derived for double integrals that strengthens considerably existing results. A consonant version of the Grüss inequality is also derived. Applications are made to cubature formulæ and the error variance of a stationary variogram.

The derivation of gene-transport equations is re-examined. Fisher's assumptions for a sexually reproducing species lead to a Huxley reaction-diffusion equation, with cubic logistic source term for the gene frequency of a mutant advantageous recessive gene. Fisher's equation more accurately represents the spread of an advantaged mutant strain within an asexual species. When the total population density is not uniform, these reaction-diffusion equations take on an additional non-uniform convection term. Cubic source terms of the Huxley or Fitzhugh-Nagumo type allow special nonclassical symmetries. A new exact solution, not of the travelling wave type, and with zero gradient boundary condition, is constructed.

The problem of the energy exponential decay rate of a Timoshenko beam with locally distributed controls is investigated. Consider the case in which the beam is nonuniform and the two wave speeds are different. Then, using Huang's theorem and Birkhoff's asymptotic expansion method, it is shown that, under some locally distributed controls, the energy exponential decay rate is identical to the supremum of the real part of the spectrum of the closed loop system. Furthermore, explicit asymptotic locations of eigenfrequencies are derived.

In this paper we derive extremality and comparison results for explicit and implicit initial and boundary value problems of first-order differential equations. Both the differential equations and the boundary conditions may involve discontinuities.

This paper considers similarity solutions of the multi-dimensional transport equation for the unsteady flow of two viscous incompressible fluids. We show that in plane, cylindrical and spherical geometries, the flow equation can be reduced to a weakly-coupled system of two first-order nonlinear ordinary differential equations. This occurs when the two phase diffusivity D(θ) satisfies (D/D′)′ = 1/α and the fractional flow function f (θ) satisfies df/dθ = kDn/2, where n is a geometry index (1, 2 or 3), α and k are constants and primes denote differentiation with respect to the water content θ. Solutions are obtained for time dependent flux boundary conditions. Unlike single-phase flow, for two-phase flow with n = 2 or 3, a saturated zone around the injection point will only occur provided the two conditions and f′(1) ≠ 0 are satisfied. The latter condition is important due to the prevalence of functional forms of f (θ) in oil/water flow literature having the property f′(1) = 0.

This paper deals with a minimax control problem for semilinear elliptic variational inequalities associated with bilateral constraints. The control domain is not necessarily convex. The cost functional, which is to be minimised, is the sup norm of some function of the state and the control. The major novelty of such a problem lies in the simultaneous presence of the nonsmooth state equation (variational inequality) and the nonsmooth cost functional (the sup norm). In this paper, the existence conditions and the Pontryagin-type necessary conditions for optimal controls are established.

An analysis is made of quadrature viatwo-point formulae when the integrand is Lipschitz or of bounded variation. The error estimates are shown to be as good as those found in recent studies using Simpson (three-point) formulae.

We analyse the various integrability criteria which have been proposed for discrete systems, focusing on the singularity confinement method. We present the exact procedure used for the derivation of discrete Painlevé equations based on the deautonomisation of integrable autonomous mappings. This procedure is then examined in the light of more recent criteria based on the notion of the complexity of the mapping. We show that the low-growth requirements lead, in the case of the discrete Painlevé equations, to exactly the same results as singularity confinement. The analysis of linearisable mappings shows that they have special growth properties which can be used in order to identify them. A working strategy for the study of discrete integrability based on singularity confinement and low-growth considerations is also proposed.

To assess rotational deformity in a broken forearm, an orthopaedic surgeon needs to determine the amount of rotation of the radius from one or more two-dimensional x-rays of the fracture. This requires only simple first-year university mathematics — rotational transformations of ellipses plus a little differential calculus — which yields a general formula giving the rotation angle from information obtained from an x-ray. Preliminary comparisons with experimental results are excellent. This is a practical problem that may be useful to motivate the teaching of conic sections.

The art of asymptotology is a powerful tool in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, but can lead to erroneous conclusions if misapplied. A seemingly paradoxical case is presented in which a local analysis of an exactly solvable problem appears to find solutions to an eigenvalue problem over a continuous range of the eigenvalue, whereas the spectrum is known to be discrete. The resolution of the paradox involves the Stokes phenomenon. The example illustrates two of Kruskal's Principles of Asymptotology.

In this article, we generalise Newton's diagram method for finding small solutions ξ(λ) of equations f (ξ,λ) = 0 (0,0) = 0 with f analytic (see [1, 2, 4, 6]) to the case of a multi-dimensional function f, unknown variable ζ and small parameter λ. This method was briefly described in [1]. The method has many different applications and allows one to solve some inflexible problems. In particular, the method can be used in very difficult bifurcation problems, for example, for systems with small imperfections.

Ginzburg-Landau type complex partial differential equations are simplified mathematical models for various pattern formation systems in mechanics, physics and chemistry. Most work so far has concentrated on Ginzburg-Landau type equations with one spatial variable (1D). In this paper, the authors study a complex generalised Ginzburg-Landau equation with two spatial variables (2D) and fifth-order and cubic terms containing derivatives. Based on detail analysis, sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of global solutions are obtained.