All issues

The article deals with the nonlinear boundary-value problem of hydrogen permeability corresponding to the following experiment. A membrane made of the target structural material heated to a sufficiently high temperature serves as the partition in the vacuum chamber. Degassing is performed in advance. A constant pressure of gaseous (molecular) hydrogen is built up at the inlet side. The penetrating flux is determined by mass-spectrometry in the vacuum maintained at the outlet side.

A linear model of dependence on concentration is adopted for the coefficient of dissolved atomic hydrogen diffusion in the bulk. The temperature dependence conforms to the Arrhenius law. The surface processes of dissolution and sorptiondesorption are taken into account in the form of nonlinear dynamic boundary conditions (differential equations for the dynamics of surface concentrations of atomic hydrogen). The characteristic mathematical feature of the boundary-value problem is that concentration time derivatives are included both in the diffusion equation and in the boundary conditions with quadratic nonlinearity. In terms of the general theory of functional differential equations, this leads to the so-called neutral type equations and requires a more complex mathematical apparatus. An iterative computational algorithm of second-(higher- )order accuracy is suggested for solving the corresponding nonlinear boundary-value problem based on explicit-implicit difference schemes. To avoid solving the nonlinear system of equations at every time step, we apply the explicit component of difference scheme to slower sub-processes.

The results of numerical modeling are presented to confirm the fitness of the model to experimental data. The degrees of impact of variations in hydrogen permeability parameters (“derivatives”) on the penetrating flux and the concentration distribution of H atoms through the sample thickness are determined. This knowledge is important, in particular, when designing protective structures against hydrogen embrittlement or membrane technologies for producing high-purity hydrogen. The computational algorithm enables using the model in the analysis of extreme regimes for structural materials (pressure drops, high temperatures, unsteady heating), identifying the limiting factors under specific operating conditions, and saving on costly experiments (especially in deuterium-tritium investigations).

Special actions (guerrilla, anti-guerrilla, reconnaissance and sabotage, subversive, counter-terrorist, counter-sabotage, etc.) are organized and conducted by law enforcement and armed forces and are aimed at protecting citizens and ensuring national security. Since the early 2000s, the problems of special actions have attracted the attention of specialists in the field of modeling, sociologists, physicists and representatives of other sciences. This article reviews and characterizes the works in the field of modeling special actions and counterterrorism. The works are classified by modeling methods (descriptive, optimization and game-theoretic), by types and stages of actions, and by phases of management (preparation and conduct of activities). The second section presents a classification of methods and models for special actions and counterterrorism, and gives a brief overview of descriptive models. The method of geographic profiling, network games, models of dynamics of special actions, the function of victory in combat and special actions (the dependence of the probability of victory on the correlation of forces and means of the parties) are considered. The third section considers the “attacker – defender” game and its extensions: the Stackelberg game and the Stackelberg security game, as well as issues of their application in security tasks In the “attacker – defender” game and security games, known works are classified on the following grounds: the sequence of moves, the number of players and their target functions, the time horizon of the game, the degree of rationality of the players and their attitude to risk, the degree of awareness of the players. The fourth section is devoted to the description of patrolling games on a graph with discrete time and simultaneous choice by the parties of their actions (Nash equilibrium is computed to find optimal strategies). The fifth section deals with game-theoretic models of transportation security as applications of Stackelberg security games. The last section is devoted to the review and characterization of a number of models of border security in two phases of management: preparation and conduct of activities. An example of effective interaction between Coast Guard units and university researchers is considered. Promising directions for further research are the following: first, modeling of counter-terrorist and special operations to neutralize terrorist and sabotage groups with the involvement of multidepartmental and heterogeneous forces and means, second, complexification of models by levels and stages of activity cycles, third, development of game-theoretic models of combating maritime terrorism and piracy.

In this paper, we consider predator – prey models and carry out a global bifurcation analysis of the Leslie –Gower system with an additive Allee effect and a simplified Holling type III functional response, which models the dynamics of predator and prey populations in a given ecological or biomedical system. This system uses the most common mathematical form of expressing the Allee effect (or law) through the prey growth function. Allee’s law states that there is a very specific relationship between individual fitness to living conditions and the number or density of individuals of a given species, namely: with an increase in the population size, the ability to survive and reproductive ability also increases. After algebraic transformations, the rational Leslie –Gower system with additive Allee effect and simplified Holling type III functional response can be written as a quantic-sextic dynamical system, i. e., as a system with polynomials of the fifth and sixth degrees. Using information about its singular points and applying our bifurcation-geometric approach to qualitative analysis, we study global bifurcations of limit cycles of the quintic-sextic system. To control all limit cycle bifurcations, especially bifurcations of multiple limit cycles, it is necessary to know the properties and combine the actions of all parameters rotating the vector field of the system. This can be done using the Wintner – Perko termination principle, according to which a maximal one-parameter family of multiple limit cycles terminates either at a singular point, which typically has the same multiplicity (cyclicity), or at a separatrix cycle, which also typically has the same multiplicity (cyclicity). This principle is a consequence of the principle of natural termination which was stated for higher-dimensional dynamical systems by Wintner who studied one-parameter families of periodic orbits of the restricted three-body problem and proved that in the analytic case any oneparameter family of periodic orbits can be uniquely continued through any bifurcation except a period-doubling bifurcation. Applying the planar Wintner – Perko principle, we prove that if the cyclicity of the focus in the system under consideration is three, then the system can have at most three limit cycles surrounding one singular point.

This paper presents new research results that have been conducted at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 2011 under the leadership of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V. I.Mayevsky. These works are aimed at developing the theory of switching mode of reproduction and corresponding mathematical models, the peculiarity of which is that they explicitly model the interaction of the financial and real sectors of the economy, and the country’s economy itself is not disaggregated according to the sectoral principle (engineering, agriculture, services, etc.), but by production subsystems that differ from each other by the age of the fixed capital. One of the mathematical difficulties of working with such models, called models of switching mode of reproduction (SMR), is the difficulty of modeling competitive relationships between subsystems of different “ages”. Therefore, until now, the interaction of a finite number of production subsystems has been considered in the SMR models, the models themselves were of a discrete-continuous nature, calculations were done exclusively on computers, and obtaining analytical dependencies was difficult. This paper shows that for the special case of balanced economic growth and a continuum of production subsystems, it is possible to obtain analytical expressions that allow a better understanding of the impact of monetary policy on economic dynamics. In addition to purely scientific interest, this is of great practical importance, since it allows us to assess the possible reaction of the real sector of the economy to changes in the monetary sphere without conducting complex simulation calculations.

The work presents an experimental study of the tree structure that occurs during a medical examination. At each meeting with a medical specialist, the patient receives a certain number of areas for consulting other specialists or for tests. A tree of directions arises, each branch of which the patient should pass. Depending on the branching of the tree, it can be as final — and in this case the examination can be completed — and endless when the patient’s goal cannot be achieved. In the work both experimentally and theoretically studied the critical properties of the transition of the system from the forest of the final trees to the forest endless, depending on the probabilistic characteristics of the tree.

For the description, a model is proposed in which a discrete function of the probability of the number of branches on the node repeats the dynamics of a continuous gaussian distribution. The characteristics of the distribution of the Gauss (mathematical expectation of $x_0$, the average quadratic deviation of $\sigma$) are model parameters. In the selected setting, the task refers to the problems of branching random processes (BRP) in the heterogeneous model of Galton – Watson.

Experimental study is carried out by numerical modeling on the final grilles. A phase diagram was built, the boundaries of areas of various phases are determined. A comparison was made with the phase diagram obtained from theoretical criteria for macrosystems, and an adequate correspondence was established. It is shown that on the final grilles the transition is blurry.

The description of the blurry phase transition was carried out using two approaches. In the first, standard approach, the transition is described using the so-called inclusion function, which makes the meaning of the share of one of the phases in the general set. It was established that such an approach in this system is ineffective, since the found position of the conditional boundary of the blurred transition is determined only by the size of the chosen experimental lattice and does not bear objective meaning.

The second, original approach is proposed, based on the introduction of an parameter of order equal to the reverse average tree height, and the analysis of its behavior. It was established that the dynamics of such an order parameter in the $\sigma = \text{const}$ section with very small differences has the type of distribution of Fermi – Dirac ($\sigma$ performs the same function as the temperature for the distribution of Fermi – Dirac, $x_0$ — energy function). An empirical expression has been selected for the order parameter, an analogue of the chemical potential is introduced and calculated, which makes sense of the characteristic scale of the order parameter — that is, the values of $x_0$, in which the order can be considered a disorder. This criterion is the basis for determining the boundary of the conditional transition in this approach. It was established that this boundary corresponds to the average height of a tree equal to two generations. Based on the found properties, recommendations for medical institutions are proposed to control the provision of limb of the path of patients.

The model discussed and its description using conditionally-infinite trees have applications to many hierarchical systems. These systems include: internet routing networks, bureaucratic networks, trade and logistics networks, citation networks, game strategies, population dynamics problems, and others.

The study of elastic waves in porous media is relevant for mineral exploration, the use of porous screens for shock wave damping, and the study of the structure of the earth’s crust. The elastic properties of a porous medium, which can be judged by the propagation velocity of various types of waves, depend on the degree of consolidation of the porous medium. For example, bulk media (sand, glass beads, granular materials) have a low sound velocity (about 100 m/s); compaction of such media is accompanied by a slight increase in velocity, while their consolidation (sandstone, gas hydrate cementation) leads to a multiple increase in the acoustic wave velocity, on the order of 2000–3000 m/s. This paper theoretically investigates the dynamics of a wave pulse in a shock tube containing a layer of a bulk medium. Numerical modeling was performed under experimental conditions. A description of a shock tube experimental setup is provided. The setup consists of a high-pressure volume (HPV), a low-pressure volume (LPV), and a bulk medium section. A shock wave pulse (SWP) is generated by the rupture of a diaphragm between the HPV and LPV. The SWP dynamics are recorded by piezoelectric sensors located flush on the inside of the tube. In the shock tube, equipped with a bulk medium section, the wave experiences multiple reflections from the surface of the porous medium under study and the upper end of the tube. The reflected signals are used as probe pulses to study changes in the porous medium caused by repeated passages of the shock wave pulse, with a period of approximately 10 ms. A mathematical model is used that includes the equations of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy for the gas phase and solid particles with closure relations. The process is described for one-dimensional planar motion of the gas and dispersed phases. The numerical solution utilizes an approximation of the equations based on the control volume method. Numerical results have shown that the proposed model accurately describes, qualitatively and quantitatively, the occurrence of a sharp, short-term increase in the total voltage (peak) during repeated pulse passage through a layer of bulk material, as observed in experiments.

Kinetics of complex formation between components of the photosynthetic electron transport chain — flavodoxin and membrane complex photosystem I has been studied using computer model based on methods of multiparticle simulation and Brownian dynamics. We simulated Brownian motion of several hundreds of flavodoxin molecules, taking into account electrostatic interactions and complex shape of the molecules. Our model could describe experimental nonmonotonic dependence of the association rate constant for flavodoxin and photosystem I. This lets us conclude that electrostatic interactions are sufficient to form such kind of nonmonotonic dependence.

Cognitive and regulatory processes in organism are ensured by the functioning of several different network systems — neural, endocrine, immune, and gene ones. These systems are, however, closely related and form a single integrated neurogenohumoral cognitive-regulatory dynamic system of organism. A review of publications is given which shows that it is possible to associate with this dynamic system a corresponding Lyapunov function (energy function, potential function) and that analyzing this function allows, due to its geometrical insight, to easily discover a set of general properties of cognitive and regulatory functioning of organism.

In present work we used the methods of molecular dynamics simulations and quantum chemistry to study the concept, according to which aspartic and glutamic residues play a key role in initiation of helix formation in oligopeptides. It has been shown, that the first turn of the alpha-helix can be organized from various amino acid sequences with Asp and Glu residues on the N-terminus. Thermodynamic properties of such a process were analyzed. The obtained results do not interfere with known experimental and statistical data and they substantially elaborate present views on the processes of early peptide folding stages.

Recently we have developed a new method for studying DNA based on ultrasound - induced cleavage of DNA sugar-phosphate backbone. Relative cleavage rates of the phosphodiester bonds in all 16 dinucleotides have been determined. The increased amount of data sampling (of more than 20 000 nucleotides) made it also possible to obtain cleavage rates in all 256 possible tetranucleotides. These values quantitatively characterize sequence effects on conformational dynamics of DNA sugar phosphate backbone. Same type of DNA heterogeneity have been discovered and studied using its chemical cleavage induced by various chemical agents and DNAse I. The presence of essential heterogeneity in structural properties of DNA might be a key for physical mapping of the genomes, i.e. determining the structural profiles being responsible for DNA recognition by gene expression regulation machinery.