The aim of this paper is to provide a rigorous variational formulation for the detection of points in 2-d biological images. To this purpose we introduce a new functional whose minimizers give the points we want to detect. Then we define an approximating sequence of functionals for which we prove the Γ-convergence to the initial one.

The left-invariant sub-Riemannian problem on the group of motions (rototranslations) of a plane SE(2) is considered. In the previous works [Moiseev and Sachkov, ESAIM: COCV, DOI: 10.1051/cocv/2009004; Sachkov, ESAIM: COCV, DOI: 10.1051/cocv/2009031], extremal trajectories were defined, their local and global optimality were studied. In this paper the global structure of the exponential mapping is described. On this basis an explicit characterization of the cut locus and Maxwell set is obtained. The optimal synthesis is constructed.

The behavior of energy minimizers at the boundary of the domain is of great importance in the Van de Waals-Cahn-Hilliard theory for fluid-fluid phase transitions, since it describes the effect of the container walls on the configuration of the liquid. This problem, also known as the liquid-drop problem, was studied by Modica in [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. non linéaire4 (1987) 487–512], and in a different form by Alberti et al. in [Arch. Rational Mech. Anal.144 (1998) 1–46] for a first-order perturbation model. This work shows that using a second-order perturbation Cahn-Hilliard-type model, the boundary layer is intrinsically connected with the transition layer in the interior of the domain. Precisely, considering the energies

$\[{\cal F}_{\varepsilon}(u) := \varepsilon^{3} \int_{\Omega} |D^{2}u|^{2} + \frac{1}{\varepsilon} \int_{\Omega} W (u) + \lambda_{\varepsilon} \int_{\partial \Omega} V(Tu),\]$

where u is a scalar density function and W and V are double-well potentials, the exact scaling law is identified in the critical regime, when $\varepsilon\lambda_{\varepsilon}^{\frac{2}{3}} \sim 1$.

A new approach to irreversible quasistatic fracture growth is given, by means of Young measures. The study concerns a cohesive zone model with prescribed crack path, when the material gives different responses to loading and unloading phases. In the particular situation of constant unloading response, the result contained in [G. Dal Maso and C. Zanini, Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A137 (2007) 253–279] is recovered. In this case, the convergence of the discrete time approximations is improved.

We consider the flow of gas through pipelines controlled by a compressor station. Under a subsonic flow assumption we prove the existence of classical solutions for a given finite time interval. The existence result is used to construct Riemannian feedback laws and to prove a stabilization result for a coupled system of gas pipes with a compressor station. We introduce a Lyapunov function and prove exponential decay with respect to the L2-norm.

We prove that any Kantorovich potential for the cost function c = d2/2 on a Riemannian manifold (M, g) is locally semiconvex in the “region of interest”, without any compactness assumption on M, nor any assumption on its curvature. Such a region of interest is of full μ-measure as soon as the starting measure μ does not charge n – 1-dimensional rectifiable sets.

The optimal control of a mechanical system is of crucial importance in many application areas. Typical examples are the determination of a time-minimal path in vehicle dynamics, a minimal energy trajectory in space mission design, or optimal motion sequences in robotics and biomechanics. In most cases, some sort of discretization of the original, infinite-dimensional optimization problem has to be performed in order to make the problem amenable to computations. The approach proposed in this paper is to directly discretize the variational description of the system's motion. The resulting optimization algorithm lets the discrete solution directly inherit characteristic structural properties from the continuous one like symmetries and integrals of the motion. We show that the DMOC (Discrete Mechanics and Optimal Control) approach is equivalent to a finite difference discretization of Hamilton's equations by a symplectic partitioned Runge-Kutta scheme and employ this fact in order to give a proof of convergence. The numerical performance of DMOC and its relationship to other existing optimal control methods are investigated.

The Cahn-Hilliard variational inequality is a non-standard parabolic variational inequality of fourth order for which straightforward numerical approaches cannot be applied. We propose a primal-dual active set method which can be interpreted as a semi-smooth Newton method as solution technique for the discretized Cahn-Hilliard variational inequality. A (semi-)implicit Euler discretization is used in time and a piecewise linear finite element discretization of splitting type is used in space leading to a discrete variational inequality of saddle point type in each time step. In each iteration of the primal-dual active set method a linearized system resulting from the discretization of two coupled elliptic equations which are defined on different sets has to be solved. We show local convergence of the primal-dual active set method and demonstrate its efficiency with several numerical simulations.

We investigate a global-in-time variational approach to abstract evolution by means of the weighted energy-dissipation functionals proposed by Mielke and Ortiz [ESAIM: COCV14 (2008) 494–516]. In particular, we focus on gradient flows in Hilbert spaces. The main result is the convergence of minimizers and approximate minimizers of these functionals to the unique solution of the gradient flow. Sharp convergence rates are provided and the convergence analysis is combined with time-discretization. Applications of the theory to various classes of parabolic PDE problems are presented. In particular, we focus on two examples of microstructure evolution from [S. Conti and M. Ortiz, J. Mech. Phys. Solids56 (2008) 1885–1904.].

This paper is mainly concerned with a class of optimal control problems of systems governed by the nonlinear dynamic systems on time scales. Introducing the reasonable weak solution of nonlinear dynamic systems, the existence of the weak solution for the nonlinear dynamic systems on time scales and its properties are presented. Discussing L1-strong-weak lower semicontinuity of integral functional, we give sufficient conditions for the existence of optimal controls. Using integration by parts formula and Hamiltonian function on time scales, the necessary conditions of optimality are derived respectively. Some examples on continuous optimal control problems, discrete optimal control problems, mathematical programming and variational problems are also presented for demonstration.

This paper focuses on the analytical properties of the solutions to the continuity equation with non local flow. Our driving examples are a supply chain model and an equation for the description of pedestrian flows. To this aim, we prove the well posedness of weak entropy solutions in a class of equations comprising these models. Then, under further regularity conditions, we prove the differentiability of solutions with respect to the initial datum and characterize this derivative. A necessary condition for the optimality of suitable integral functionals then follows.

This paper deals with a model describing damage processes in a (nonlinear) elastic body which is in contact with adhesion with a rigid support. On the basis of phase transitions theory, we detail the derivation of the model written in terms of a PDE system, combined with suitable initial and boundary conditions. Some internal constraints on the variables are introduced in the equations and on the boundary, to get physical consistency. We prove the existence of global in time solutions (to a suitable variational formulation) of the related Cauchy problem by means of a Schauder fixed point argument, combined with monotonicity and compactness tools. We also perform an asymptotic analysis of the solutions as the interfacial damage energy (between the body and the contact surface) goes to +∞.

The Monge-Kantorovich problem is revisited by means of a variant of the saddle-point method without appealing to c-conjugates. A new abstract characterization of the optimal plans is obtained in the case where the cost function takes infinite values. It leads us to new explicit sufficient and necessary optimality conditions. As by-products, we obtain a new proof of the well-known Kantorovich dual equality and an improvement of the convergence of the minimizing sequences.

An optimal control problem for semilinear parabolic partial differential equations is considered. The control variable appears in the leading term of the equation. Necessary conditions for optimal controls are established by the method of homogenizing spike variation. Results for problems with state constraints are also stated.

We propose a general reduced-order filtering strategy adapted to Unscented Kalman Filtering for any choice of sampling points distribution. This provides tractable filtering algorithms which can be used with large-dimensional systems when the uncertainty space is of reduced size, and these algorithms only invoke the original dynamical and observation operators, namely, they do not require tangent operator computations, which of course is of considerable benefit when nonlinear operators are considered. The algorithms are derived in discrete time as in the classical UKF formalism – well-adapted to time discretized dynamical equations – and then extended into consistent continuous-time versions. This reduced-order filtering approach can be used in particular for the estimation of parameters in large dynamical systems arising from the discretization of partial differential equations, when state estimation can be handled by an adequate Luenberger observer inspired from feedback control. In this case, we give an analysis of the joint state-parameter estimation procedure based on linearized error, and we illustrate the effectiveness of the approach using a test problem inspired from cardiac biomechanics.

We provide a detailed analysis of the minimizers of the functional $u \mapsto \int_{\Bbb R^n} |\nabla u|^2 + D \int_{\Bbb R^n} |u|^{\gamma}$, $\gamma \in (0, 2)$, subject to the constraint $\|u\|_{L^2} = 1$. This problem, e.g., describes the long-time behavior of the parabolic Anderson in probability theory or ground state solutions of a nonlinear Schrödinger equation. While existence can be proved with standard methods, we show that the usual uniqueness results obtained with PDE-methods can be considerably simplified by additional variational arguments. In addition, we investigate qualitative properties of the minimizers and also study their behavior near the critical exponent 2.

In the present paper, we consider nonlinear optimal control problems with constraints on the state of the system. We are interested in the characterization of the value function without any controllability assumption. In the unconstrained case, it is possible to derive a characterization of the value function by means of a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. This equation expresses the behavior of the value function along the trajectories arriving or starting from any position x. In the constrained case, when no controllability assumption is made, the HJB equation may have several solutions. Our first result aims to give the precise information that should be added to the HJB equation in order to obtain a characterization of the value function. This result is very general and holds even when the dynamics is not continuous and the state constraints set is not smooth. On the other hand we study also some stability results for relaxed or penalized control problems.

We study the stabilization of global solutions of the Kawahara (K) equation in a bounded interval, under the effect of a localized damping mechanism. The Kawahara equation is a model for small amplitude long waves. Using multiplier techniques and compactness arguments we prove the exponential decay of the solutions of the (K) model. The proof requires of a unique continuation theorem and the smoothing effect of the (K) equation on the real line, which are proved in this work.

The topological asymptotic analysis provides the sensitivity of a given shape functional with respect to an infinitesimal domain perturbation, like the insertion of holes, inclusions, cracks. In this work we present the calculation of the topological derivative for a class of shape functionals associated to the Kirchhoff plate bending problem, when a circular inclusion is introduced at an arbitrary point of the domain. According to the literature, the topological derivative has been fully developed for a wide range of second-order differential operators. Since we are dealing here with a forth-order operator, we perform a complete mathematical analysis of the problem.