A method to correct the elastic stress tensor at a fixed point of an elastoplastic body, which is subject to exterior loads, is presented and analysed. In contrast to uniaxial corrections (Neuber or ESED), our method takes multiaxial phenomena like ratchetting or cyclic hardening/softening into account by use of Jiang's model. Our numerical algorithm is designed for the case that the scalar load functions are piecewise linear and can be used in connection with critical plane/multiaxial rainflow methods in high cycle fatigue analysis. In addition, a local existence and uniqueness result of Jiang's equations is given.

By means of the limit and jump relations of classical potential theory with respect to the vectorial Helmholtz equation a wavelet approach is established on a regular surface. The multiscale procedure is constructed in such a way that the emerging scalar, vectorial and tensorial potential kernels act as scaling functions. Corresponding wavelets are defined via a canonical refinement equation. A tree algorithm for fast decomposition of a complex-valued vector field given on a regular surface is developed based on numerical integration rules. By virtue of this tree algorithm, an effcient numerical method for the solution of vectorial Fredholm integral equations on regular surfaces is discussed in more detail. The resulting multiscale formulation is used to solve boundary-value problems for the time harmonic Maxwell's equations corresponding to regular surfaces.

Automated theorem proving is a search problem and, by its undecidability, a very difficult one. The challenge in the development of a practically successful prover is the mapping of the extensively developed theory into a program that runs efficiently on a computer. Starting from a level-based system model for automated theorem provers, in this work we present different techniques that are important for the development of powerful equational theorem provers. The contributions can be divided into three areas: Architecture. We present a novel prover architecture that is based on a set-based compression scheme. With moderate additional computational costs we achieve a substantial reduction of the memory requirements. Further wins are architectural clarity, the easy provision of proof objects, and a new way to parallelize a prover which shows respectable speed-ups in practice. The compact representation paves the way to new applications of automated equational provers in the area of verification systems. Algorithms. To improve the speed of a prover we need efficient solutions for the most time-consuming sub-tasks. We demonstrate improvements of several orders of magnitude for two of the most widely used term orderings, LPO and KBO. Other important contributions are a novel generic unsatisfiability test for ordering constraints and, based on that, a sufficient ground reducibility criterion with an excellent cost-benefit ratio. Redundancy avoidance. The notion of redundancy is of central importance to justify simplifying inferences which are used to prune the search space. In our experience with unfailing completion, the usual notion of redundancy is not strong enough. In the presence of associativity and commutativity, the provers often get stuck enumerating equations that are permutations of each other. By extending and refining the proof ordering, many more equations can be shown redundant. Furthermore, our refinement of the unfailing completion approach allows us to use redundant equations for simplification without the need to consider them for generating inferences. We describe the efficient implementation of several redundancy criteria and experimentally investigate their influence on the proof search. The combination of these techniques results in a considerable improvement of the practical performance of a prover, which we demonstrate with extensive experiments for the automated theorem prover Waldmeister. The progress achieved allows the prover to solve problems that were previously out of reach. This considerably enhances the potential of the prover and opens up the way for new applications.

This thesis contains the mathematical treatment of a special class of analog microelectronic circuits called translinear circuits. The goal is to provide foundations of a new coherent synthesis approach for this class of circuits. The mathematical methods of the suggested synthesis approach come from graph theory, combinatorics, and from algebraic geometry, in particular symbolic methods from computer algebra. Translinear circuits form a very special class of analog circuits, because they rely on nonlinear device models, but still allow a very structured approach to network analysis and synthesis. Thus, translinear circuits play the role of a bridge between the "unknown space" of nonlinear circuit theory and the very well exploited domain of linear circuit theory. The nonlinear equations describing the behavior of translinear circuits possess a strong algebraic structure that is nonetheless flexible enough for a wide range of nonlinear functionality. Furthermore, translinear circuits offer several technical advantages like high functional density, low supply voltage and insensitivity to temperature. This unique profile is the reason that several authors consider translinear networks as the key to systematic synthesis methods for nonlinear circuits. The thesis proposes the usage of a computer-generated catalog of translinear network topologies as a synthesis tool. The idea to compile such a catalog has grown from the observation that on the one hand, the topology of a translinear network must satisfy strong constraints which severely limit the number of "admissible" topologies, in particular for networks with few transistors, and on the other hand, the topology of a translinear network already fixes its essential behavior, at least for static networks, because the so-called translinear principle requires the continuous parameters of all transistors to be the same. Even though the admissible topologies are heavily restricted, it is a highly nontrivial task to compile such a catalog. Combinatorial techniques have been adapted to undertake this task. In a catalog of translinear network topologies, prototype network equations can be stored along with each topology. When a circuit with a specified behavior is to be designed, one can search the catalog for a network whose equations can be matched with the desired behavior. In this context, two algebraic problems arise: To set up a meaningful equation for a network in the catalog, an elimination of variables must be performed, and to test whether a prototype equation from the catalog and a specified equation of desired behavior can be "matched", a complex system of polynomial equations must be solved, where the solutions are restricted to a finite set of integers. Sophisticated algorithms from computer algebra are applied in both cases to perform the symbolic computations. All mentioned algorithms have been implemented using C++, Singular, and Mathematica, and are successfully applied to actual design problems of humidity sensor circuitry at Analog Microelectronics GmbH, Mainz. As result of the research conducted, an exhaustive catalog of all static formal translinear networks with at most eight transistors is available. The application for the humidity sensor system proves the applicability of the developed synthesis approach. The details and implementations of the algorithms are worked out only for static networks, but can easily be adopted for dynamic networks as well. While the implementation of the combinatorial algorithms is stand-alone software written "from scratch" in C++, the implementation of the algebraic algorithms, namely the symbolic treatment of the network equations and the match finding, heavily rely on the sophisticated Gröbner basis engine of Singular and thus on more than a decade of experience contained in a special-purpose computer algebra system. It should be pointed out that the thesis contains the new observation that the translinear loop equations of a translinear network are precisely represented by the toric ideal of the network's translinear digraph. Altogether, this thesis confirms and strengthenes the key role of translinear circuits as systematically designable nonlinear circuits.

Annual Report, Jahrbuch AG Magnetismus

Within the last decades, a remarkable development in materials science took place -- nowadays, materials are not only constructed for the use of inert structures but rather designed for certain predefined functions. This innovation was accompanied with the appearance of smart materials with reliable recognition, discrimination and capability of action as well as reaction. Even though ferroelectric materials serve smartly in real applications, they also possess several restrictions at high performance usage. The behavior of these materials is almost linear under the action of low electric fields or low mechanical stresses, but exhibits strong non-linear response under high electric fields or mechanical stresses. High electromechanical loading conditions result in a change of the spontaneous polarization direction with respect to individual domains, which is commonly referred to as domain switching. The aim of the present work is to develop a three-dimensional coupled finite element model, to study the rate-independent and rate-dependent behavior of piezoelectric materials including domain switching based on a micromechanical approach. The proposed model is first elaborated within a two-dimensional finite element setting for piezoelectric materials. Subsequently, the developed two-dimensional model is extended to the three-dimensional case. This work starts with developing a micromechanical model for ferroelectric materials. Ferroelectric materials exhibit ferroelectric domain switching, which refers to the reorientation of domains and occurs under purely electrical loading. For the simulation, a bulk piezoceramic material is considered and each grain is represented by one finite element. In reality, the grains in the bulk ceramics material are randomly oriented. This property is taken into account by applying random orientation as well as uniform distribution for individual elements. Poly-crystalline ferroelectric materials at un-poled virgin state can consequently be characterized by randomly oriented polarization vectors. Energy reduction of individual domains is adopted as a criterion for the initiation of domain switching processes. The macroscopic response of the bulk material is predicted by classical volume-averaging techniques. In general, domain switching does not only depend on external loads but also on neighboring grains, which is commonly denoted as the grain boundary effect. These effects are incorporated into the developed framework via a phenomenologically motivated probabilistic approach by relating the actual energy level to a critical energy level. Subsequently, the order of the chosen polynomial function is optimized so that simulations nicely match measured data. A rate-dependent polarization framework is proposed, which is applied to cyclic electrical loading at various frequencies. The reduction in free energy of a grain is used as a criterion for the onset of the domain switching processes. Nucleation in new grains and propagation of the domain walls during domain switching is modeled by a linear kinetics theory. The simulated results show that for increasing loading frequency the macroscopic coercive field is also increasing and the remanent polarization increases at lower loading amplitudes. The second part of this work is focused on ferroelastic domain switching, which refers to the reorientation of domains under purely mechanical loading. Under sufficiently high mechanical loading, however, the strain directions within single domains reorient with respect to the applied loading direction. The reduction in free energy of a grain is used as a criterion for the domain switching process. The macroscopic response of the bulk material is computed for the hysteresis curve (stress vs strain) whereby uni-axial and quasi-static loading conditions are applied on the bulk material specimen. Grain boundary effects are addressed by incorporating the developed probabilistic approach into this framework and the order of the polynomial function is optimized so that simulations match measured data. Rate dependent domain switching effects are captured for various frequencies and mechanical loading amplitudes by means of the developed volume fraction concept which relates the particular time interval to the switching portion. The final part of this work deals with ferroelectric and ferroelastic domain switching and refers to the reorientation of domains under coupled electromechanical loading. If this free energy for combined electromechanical loading exceeds the critical energy barrier elements are allowed to switch. Firstly, hysteresis and butterfly curves under purely electrical loading are discussed. Secondly, additional mechanical loads in axial and lateral directions are applied to the specimen. The simulated results show that an increasing compressive stress results in enlarged domain switching ranges and that the hysteresis and butterfly curves flatten at higher mechanical loading levels.

This diploma thesis examines logistic problems occurring in a container terminal. The thesis focuses on the scheduling of cranes handling containers in a port. Two problems are discussed in detail: the yard crane scheduling of rubber-tired gantry cranes (RMGC) which move freely among the container blocks, and the scheduling of rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGC) which can only move within a yard zone. The problems are formulated as integer programs. For each of the two problems discussed, two models are presented: In one model, the crane tasks are interpreted as jobs with release times and processing times while in the other model, it is assumed that the tasks can be modeled as generic workload measured in crane minutes. It is shown that the problems are NP-hard in the strong sense. Heuristic solution procedures are developed and evaluated by numerical results. Further ideas which could lead to other solution procedures are presented and some interesting special cases are discussed.

This thesis aims at an overall improvement of the diffusion coefficient predictions. For this reason the theoretical determination of diffusion, viscosity, and thermodynamics in liquid systems is discussed. Furthermore, the experimental determination of diffusion coefficients is also part of this work. All investigations presented are carried out for organic binary liquid mixtures. Diffusion coefficient data of 9 highly nonideal binary mixtures are reported over the whole concentration range at various temperatures, (25, 30, and 35) °C. All mixtures investigated in a Taylor dispersion apparatus consist of an alcohol (ethanol, 1-propanol, or 1-butanol) dissolved in hexane, cyclohexane, carbon tetrachloride, or toluene. The uncertainty of the reported data is estimated to be within 310-11 m2s-1. To compute the thermodynamic correction factor an excess Gibbs energy model is required. Therefore, the applicability of COSMOSPACE to binary VLE predictions is thoroughly investigated. For this purpose a new method is developed to determine the required molecular parameters such as segment types, areas, volumes, and interaction parameters. So-called sigma profiles form the basis of this approach which describe the screening charge densities appearing on a molecule’s surface. To improve the prediction results a constrained two-parameter fitting strategy is also developed. These approaches are crucial to guarantee the physical significance of the segment parameters. Finally, the prediction quality of this approach is compared to the findings of the Wilson model, UNIQUAC, and the a priori predictive method COSMO-RS for a broad range of thermodynamic situations. The results show that COSMOSPACE yields results of similar quality compared to the Wilson model, while both perform much better than UNIQUAC and COSMO-RS. Since viscosity influences also the diffusion process, a new mixture viscosity model has been developed on the basis of Eyring’s absolute reaction rate theory. The nonidealities of the mixture are accounted for with the thermodynamically consistent COSMOSPACE approach. The required model and component parameters are derived from sigma-profiles, which form the basis of the a priori predictive method COSMO-RS. To improve the model performance two segment parameters are determined from a least-squares analysis to experimental viscosity data, whereas a constraint optimisation procedure is applied. In this way the parameters retain their physical meaning. Finally, the viscosity calculations of this approach are compared to the findings of the Eyring-UNIQUAC model for a broad range of chemical mixtures. These results show that the new Eyring-COSMOSPACE approach is superior to the frequently employed Eyring-UNIQUAC method. Finally, on the basis of Eyring’s absolute reaction rate theory a new model for the Maxwell-Stefan diffusivity has been developed. This model, an extension of the Vignes equation, describes the concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficient in terms of the diffusivities at infinite dilution and an additional excess Gibbs energy contribution. This energy part allows the explicit consideration of thermodynamic nonidealities within the modelling of this transport property. If the same set of interaction parameters, which has been derived from VLE data, is applied for this part and for the thermodynamic correction, a theoretically sound modelling of VLE and diffusion can be achieved. The influence of viscosity and thermodynamics on the model accuracy is thoroughly investigated. For this purpose diffusivities of 85 binary mixtures consisting of alkanes, cycloalkanes, halogenated alkanes, aromatics, ketones, and alcohols are computed. The average relative deviation between experimental data and computed values is approximately 8 % depending on the choice of the gE-model. These results indicate that this model is superior to some widely used methods. In summary, it can be said that the new approach facilitates the prediction of diffusion coefficients. The final equation is mathematically simple, universally applicable, and the prediction quality is as good as other models recently developed without having to worry about additional parameters, like pure component physical property data, self diffusion coefficients, or mixture viscosities. In contrast to many other models, the influence of the mixture viscosity can be omitted. Though a viscosity model is not required in the prediction of diffusion coefficients with the new equation, the models presented in this work allow a consistent modelling approach of diffusion, viscosity, and thermodynamics in liquid systems.

Fragmentation of tropical rain forests is pervasive and results in various modifications in the ecosystem functioning such as … It has long been noticed that the colony densities of a dominant herbivore in the neotropics - leaf-cutting ant (LCA) - increase in fragmentation-related habitats like forest edges and small fragments, however the reasons for this increase are not clear. The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that bottom-up control of LCA populations is less effective in fragmented compared to continuous forests and thus explains the increase in LCA colony densities in these habitats. In order to test for less effective bottom-up control, I proposed four working hypotheses. I hypothesized that LCA colonies in fragmented habitats (1) find more palatable vegetation due to low plant defences, (2) forage on few dominant species resulting in a narrow diet breadth, (3) possess small foraging areas and (4) increase herbivory rate at the colony level. The study was conducted in the remnants of the Atlantic rainforest in NE Brazil. Two fragmentation-related forest habitats were included: the edge and a 3500-ha continuous forest and the interior of the 50-ha forest fragment. The interior of the continuous forest served as a control habitat for the study. All working hypotheses can be generally accepted. The results indicate that the abundance of LCA host plant species in the habitats created by forest fragmentation along with weaker chemical defense of those species (especially the lack of terpenoids) allow ants to forage predominantly on palatable species and thus reduce foraging costs on other species. This is supported by narrower ant diet breadth in these habitats. Similarly, small foraging areas in edge habitats and in small forest fragments indicate that there ants do not have to go far to find the suitable host species and thus they save foraging costs. Increased LCA herbivory rates indicate that the damages (i.e., amount of harvested foliage) caused by LCA are more important in fragmentation-related habitats which are more vulnerable to LCA herbivory due to the high availability of palatable plants and a low total amount of foliage (LAI). (1) Few plant defences, (2) narrower ant diet breadth, (3) reduced colony foraging areas, and (4) increased herbivory rates, clearly indicate a weaker bottom-up control for LCA in fragmented habitats. Weak bottom-up control in the fragmentation-related habitats decreases the foraging costs of a LCA colony in these habitats and the colonies might use the surplus of energy resulting from reduced foraging costs to increase the colony growth, the reproduction and turnover. If correct, this explains why fragmented habitats support more LCA colonies at a given time compared to continuous forest habitats. Further studies are urgently needed to estimate LCA colony growth and turnover rates. There are indices that edge effects of forest fragmentation might be more responsible in regulating LCA populations than area or isolation effects. This emphasizes the need to conserve big forest fragments not to fall below a critical size and retain their regular shape. Weak bottom-up control of LCA populations has various consequences on forested ecosystems. I suggest a loop between forest fragmentation and LCA population dynamics: the increased LCA colony densities, along with lower bottom-up control increase LCA herbivory pressure on the forest and thus inevitably amplify the deleterious effects of fragmentation. These effects include direct consequences of leaf removal by ants and various indirect effects on ecosystem functioning. This study contributes to our understanding of how primary fragmentation effects, via the alteration of trophic interactions, may translate into higher order effects on ecosystem functions.

Music Information Retrieval (MIR) is an interdisciplinary research area that has the goal to improve the way music is accessible through information systems. One important part of MIR is the research for algorithms to extract meaningful information (called feature data) from music audio signals. Feature data can for example be used for content based genre classification of music pieces. This masters thesis contributes in three ways to the current state of the art: • First, an overview of many of the features that are being used in MIR applications is given. These methods – called “descriptors” or “features” in this thesis – are discussed in depth, giving a literature review and for most of them illustrations. • Second, a large part of the described features are implemented in a uniform framework, called T-Toolbox which is programmed in the Matlab environment. It also allows to do classification experiments and descriptor visualisation. For classification, an interface to the machine-learning environment WEKA is provided. • Third, preliminary evaluations are done investigating how well these methods are suited for automatically classifying music according to categorizations such as genre, mood, and perceived complexity. This evaluation is done using the descriptors implemented in the T-Toolbox, and several state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms. It turns out that – in the experimental setup of this thesis – the treated descriptors are not capable to reliably discriminate between the classes of most examined categorizations; but there is an indication that these results could be improved by developing more elaborate techniques.