We deal with the problem of determining an unknown part of the boundary of an electrical conductor that is inaccessible for external observation and where a corrosion process is going on. We obtain estimates of the size of this damaged region from above and below.

We show that, in the two-dimensional case, every objective, isotropic and isochoric energy function that is rank-one convex on GL+(2) is already polyconvex on GL+(2). Thus, we answer in the negative Morrey's conjecture in the subclass of isochoric nonlinear energies, since polyconvexity implies quasi-convexity. Our methods are based on different representation formulae for objective and isotropic functions in general, as well as for isochoric functions in particular. We also state criteria for these convexity conditions in terms of the deviatoric part of the logarithmic strain tensor.

We are interested in non-negative non-trivial solutions of

where 1 < p and Ω is a bounded smooth domain in ℝN with 3 ⩽ N ⩽ 9. We show that given a non-negative integer M there is some large p(M,Ω) such that the only non-negative solution u, of Morse index at most M, is u = 0.

The detection of the bifurcation set of polynomial mapping ℝn → ℝp, n ⩾ p, in more than two variables remains an unsolved problem. In this note we provide a solution for n = p + 1 ⩾ 3.

We consider the algebra of holomorphic functions on L∞ that are symmetric, i.e. that are invariant under composition of the variable with any measure-preserving bijection of [0, 1]. Its spectrum is identified with the collection of scalar sequences such that is bounded and turns to be separable. All this follows from our main result that the subalgebra of symmetric polynomials on L∞ has a natural algebraic basis.

We give a new characterization, in the equicharacteristic case, of Teter rings by using Macaulay inverse systems. We extend the previous characterizations due to Teter, to Huneke and Vraciu and to Ananthnarayan et al., to any characteristic of the ground field and remove the hypothesis on the socle ideal. We construct and describe the variety parametrizing Teter covers and we show how to check if an Artin ring is Teter. If this is the case, we show how to compute a Teter cover.

The maximal finite abelian subgroups, up to conjugation, of the simple algebraic group of type E8 over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0 are computed. This is equivalent to the determination of the fine gradings on the simple Lie algebra of type E8 with trivial neutral homogeneous component. The Brauer invariant of the irreducible modules for graded semisimple Lie algebras plays a key role.

In this paper we study the problem

where Ω = ℝ N or Ω = B 1, N ⩾ 3, p > 1 and . Using a suitable map we transform problem (1) into another one without the singularity 1/|x|2. Then we obtain some bifurcation results from the radial solutions corresponding to some explicit values of λ.

A closed curve flow on the 2-sphere evolved by a fourth-order nonlinear dispersive partial differential equation on the one-dimensional flat torus is studied. The governing equation arises in the field of physics in relation to the continuum limit of the Heisenberg spin chain systems or three-dimensional motion of the isolated vortex filament. The main result of the paper gives the local existence and uniqueness of a solution to the initial-value problem by overcoming loss of derivatives in the classical energy method and the absence of the local smoothing effect. The proof is based on the delicate analysis of the lower-order terms to find out the loss of derivatives and on the gauged energy method to eliminate the obstruction.

We employ some formulae on hypergeometric series and p-adic Gamma function to establish several congruences.

We introduce a new affinely invariant structure on smooth surfaces in ℝ3 by defining a family of reflections in all points of the surface. We show that the bifurcation set of this family has a special structure at ‘ points’, which are not detected by the flat geometry of the surface. These points (without an associated structure on the surface) have also arisen in the study of the centre symmetry set; using our technique we are able to explain how the points are created and annihilated in a generic family of surfaces. We also present the bifurcation set in a global setting.

We consider semilinear elliptic problems on two-dimensional hyperbolic space. A model problem of our study is

where H1(𝔹2) denotes the Sobolev space on the disc model of the hyperbolic space and f(x, t) denotes the function of critical growth in dimension 2. We first establish the Palais–Smale (PS) condition for the functional corresponding to the above equation, and using the PS condition we obtain existence of solutions. In addition, using a concentration argument, we also explore existence of infinitely many sign-changing solutions.

We consider a possibly anisotropic integrodifferential semilinear equation, driven by a non-decreasing nonlinearity. We prove that if the solution grows less than the order of the operator at infinity, then it must be affine (possibly constant).

We consider boundary-value problems for differential equations of second order containing a Brownian motion (random perturbation) and a small parameter and prove a special existence and uniqueness theorem for random solutions. We study the asymptotic behaviour of these solutions as the small parameter goes to zero and show the stochastic averaging theorem for such equations. We find the explicit limits for the solutions as the small parameter goes to zero.

In this paper we consider a system of reaction–diffusion–advection equations with a free boundary, which arises in a competition ecological model in heterogeneous environment. The evolution of the free-boundary problem is discussed, which is an extension of the results of Du and Lin (Discrete Contin. Dynam. Syst. B19 (2014), 3105–3132). Precisely, when u is an inferior competitor, we prove that (u, v) → (0, V) as t→∞. When u is a superior competitor, we prove that a spreading–vanishing dichotomy holds, namely, as t→∞, either h(t)→∞ and (u, v) → (U, 0), or limt→∞h(t) < ∞ and (u, v) → (0, V). Moreover, in a weak competition case, we prove that two competing species coexist in the long run, while in a strong competition case, two species spatially segregate as the competition rates become large. Furthermore, when spreading occurs, we obtain some rough estimates of the asymptotic spreading speed.

In this paper we use U(2), the group of 2 × 2 unitary matrices, to parametrize the space of all self-adjoint boundary conditions for a fixed Sturm–Liouville equation on the interval [0, 1]. The adjoint action of U(2) on itself naturally leads to a refined classification of self-adjoint boundary conditions – each adjoint orbit is a subclass of these boundary conditions. We give explicit parametrizations of those adjoint orbits of principal type, i.e. orbits diffeomorphic to the 2-sphere S2, and investigate the behaviour of the nth eigenvalue λnas a function on such orbits.

We consider a developable surface normal to a surface along a curve on the surface. We call it a normal developable surface along the curve on the surface. We investigate the uniqueness and the singularities of such developable surfaces. We discover two new invariants of curves on a surface that characterize these singularities.

We consider reaction–diffusion equations under nonlinear boundary conditions where the nonlinearities are asymptotically linear at infinity and depend on a parameter. We prove that, as the parameter crosses some critical values, a resonance-type phenomenon provides solutions that bifurcate from infinity. We characterize the bifurcated branches when they are sub- or supercritical. We obtain both Landesman–Lazer-type conditions that guarantee the existence of solutions in the resonant case and an anti-maximum principle.

We investigate the stability properties of positive steady-state solutions of semilinear initial–boundary-value problems with nonlinear boundary conditions. In particular, we employ a principle of linearized stability for this class of problems to prove sufficient conditions for the stability and instability of such solutions. These results shed some light on the combined effects of the reaction term and the boundary nonlinearity on stability properties. We also discuss various examples satisfying our hypotheses for stability results in dimension 1. In particular, we provide complete bifurcation curves for positive solutions for these examples.

We derive a stage-structured model for an insect population in which a larva matures on reaching a certain size, and in which there is intra-specific competition among larvae that hinders their development, thereby prolonging the larval phase. The model, a system of delay differential equations for the total numbers of adults and larvae, assumes two forms. One of these is a system with a variable state-dependent time delay determined by a threshold condition, the other has constant and distributed delays, a size-like independent variable replacing time t, and no threshold condition. We prove theorems on boundedness and on the linear stability of equilibria.