All issues

The paper considers the process of flow formation in an outflow of a binary gas mixture through a thin slit into vacuum. An approach to modeling the flows of rarefied gas mixtures in the transient regime is proposed based on the direct solution of the Boltzmann kinetic equation, in which the conservative projection method is used to calculate the collision integrals. Calculation formulas are provided; the calculation procedure is described in detail in relation to the flow of a binary gas mixture. The Lennard–Jones potential is used as an interaction potential of molecules. A software modeling environment has been developed that makes it possible to study the flows of gas mixtures in a transitional regime on systems of cluster architecture. Due to the use of code parallelization technologies, an acceleration of calculations by 50–100 times was obtained. Numerical simulation of a two-dimensional outflow of a binary argon-neon gas mixture from a vessel into vacuum through a thin slit is carried out for various values of the Knudsen number. The graphs of the dependence of gas mixture components output flow on time in the process of establishing the flow are obtained. Non-stationary regions of strong separation of gas mixture components, in which the molecular densities ratio reaches 10 or more, were discovered. The discovered effect can have applications in the problem of gas mixtures separation.

The second part presents numerical studies of the parameters of the lower ionosphere at altitudes of 40–90 km when heated by powerful high-frequency radio waves of various frequencies and powers. The problem statement is considered in the first part of the article. The main attention is paid to the interrelation between the energy and kinetic parameters of the disturbed $D$-region of the ionosphere in the processes that determine the absorption and transformation of the radio beam energy flux in space and time. The possibility of a significant difference in the behavior of the parameters of the disturbed region in the daytime and at nighttime, both in magnitude and in space-time distribution, is shown. In the absence of sufficiently reliable values of the rate constants for a number of important kinetic processes, numerical studies were carried out in stages with the gradual addition of individual processes and kinetic blocks corresponding at the same time to a certain physical content. It is shown that the energy thresholds for inelastic collisions of electrons with air molecules are the main ones. This approach made it possible to detect the effect of the emergence of a self-oscillating mode of changing parameters if the main channel for energy losses in inelastic processes is the most energy-intensive process — ionization. This effect may play a role in plasma studies using high-frequency inductive and capacitive discharges. The results of calculations of the ionization and optical parameters of the disturbed $D$-region for daytime conditions are presented. The electron temperature, density, emission coefficients in the visible and infrared ranges of the spectrum are obtained for various values of the power of the radio beam and its frequency in the lower ionosphere. The height-time distribution of the absorbed radiation power is calculated, which is necessary in studies of higher layers of the ionosphere. The influence on the electron temperature and on the general behavior of the parameters of energy losses by electrons on the excitation of vibrational and metastable states of molecules has been studied in detail. It is shown that under nighttime conditions, when the electron concentration begins at altitudes of about 80 km, and the concentration of heavy particles decreases by two orders of magnitude compared to the average $D$-region, large-scale gas-dynamic motion can develop with sufficient radio emission power The algorithm was developed based on the McCormack method and two-dimensional gas-dynamic calculations of the behavior of the parameters of the perturbed region were performed with some simplifications of the kinetics.

The paper constructs and studies a generalized model describing two-component systems of reaction – diffusion type with power nonlinearity, considering the influence of external noise. A methodology has been developed for analyzing the generalized model, which includes linear stability analysis, nonlinear stability analysis, and numerical simulation of the system’s evolution. The linear analysis technique uses basic approaches, in which the characteristic equation is obtained using a linearization matrix. Nonlinear stability analysis realized up to third-order moments inclusively. For this, the functions describing the dynamics of the components are expanded in Taylor series up to third-order terms. Then, using the Novikov theorem, the averaging procedure is carried out. As a result, the obtained equations form an infinite hierarchically subordinate structure, which must be truncated at some point. To achieve this, contributions from terms higher than the third order are neglected in both the equations themselves and during the construction of the moment equations. The resulting equations form a set of linear equations, from which the stability matrix is constructed. This matrix has a rather complex structure, making it solvable only numerically. For the numerical study of the system’s evolution, the method of variable directions was chosen. Due to the presence of a stochastic component in the analyzed system, the method was modified such that random fields with a specified distribution and correlation function, responsible for the noise contribution to the overall nonlinearity, are generated across entire layers. The developed methodology was tested on the reaction – diffusion model proposed by Barrio et al., according to the results of the study, they showed the similarity of the obtained structures with the pigmentation of fish. This paper focuses on the system behavior analysis in the neighborhood of a non-zero stationary point. The dependence of the real part of the eigenvalues on the wavenumber has been examined. In the linear analysis, a range of wavenumber values is identified in which Turing instability occurs. Nonlinear analysis and numerical simulation of the system’s evolution are conducted for model parameters that, in contrast, lie outside the Turing instability region. Nonlinear analysis found noise intensities of additive noise for which, despite the absence of conditions for the emergence of diffusion instability, the system transitions to an unstable state. The results of the numerical simulation of the evolution of the tested model demonstrate the process of forming spatial structures of Turing type under the influence of additive noise.

This paper considers the inverse problem of seismic exploration — determining the structure of the media based on the recorded wave response from it. Large cracks are considered as target objects, whose size and position are to be determined.

he direct problem is solved using the grid-characteristic method. The method allows using physically based algorithms for calculating outer boundaries of the region and contact boundaries inside the region. The crack is assumed to be thin, a special condition on the crack borders is used to describe the crack.

The inverse problem is solved using convolutional neural networks. The input data of the neural network are seismograms interpreted as images. The output data are masks describing the medium on a structured grid. Each element of such a grid belongs to one of two classes — either an element of a continuous geological massif, or an element through which a crack passes. This approach allows us to consider a medium with an unknown number of cracks.

The neural network is trained using only samples with one crack. The final testing of the trained network is performed using additional samples with several cracks. These samples are not involved in the training process. The purpose of testing under such conditions is to verify that the trained network has sufficient generality, recognizes signs of a crack in the signal, and does not suffer from overtraining on samples with a single crack in the media.

The paper shows that a convolutional network trained on samples with a single crack can be used to process data with multiple cracks. The networks detects fairly small cracks at great depths if they are sufficiently spatially separated from each other. In this case their wave responses are clearly distinguishable on the seismogram and can be interpreted by the neural network. If the cracks are close to each other, artifacts and interpretation errors may occur. This is due to the fact that on the seismogram the wave responses of close cracks merge. This cause the network to interpret several cracks located nearby as one. It should be noted that a similar error would most likely be made by a human during manual interpretation of the data. The paper provides examples of some such artifacts, distortions and recognition errors.

Laser interference microscopy was used to study morphology and intracellular dynamics of erythrocytes, neurons and mast cells. We have found that changes of the local refractive index (RI) of cells have regular components that relate to the cooperative processes in the cellular submembrane and centre regions. We have shown that characteristic frequencies of RI dynamics differ for various cell types and can be used as markers of specific cellular processes.

The article deals with the nonlinear model of population dynamics of different ages workers in the regional economy. The model is built on the principles underlying modeling in econophysics. The authors demonstrate the complex dynamics of the model regimes that impose fundamental limits on medium- and long-term forecast of employment in a region. By analogy with the biophysical approach the authors propose a classification of social interactions of the different age-group workers. The model analysis is given for the level of employment among age groups. The verification of the model performs on the statistical data of the Jewish Autonomous Region.

This paper formulates and solves a practical problem of data recovery regarding the distribution of languages on regional level in context of China. The necessity of this recovery is related to the problem of the determination of the linguistic diversity indices, which, in turn, are used to analyze empirically and to predict sources of social and economic development as well as to indicate potential conflicts at regional level. We use Ethnologue database and China census as the initial data sources. For every language spoken in China, the data contains (a) an estimate of China residents who claim this language to be their mother tongue, and (b) indicators of the presence of such residents in China provinces. For each pair language/province, we aim to estimate the number of the province inhabitants that claim the language to be their mother tongue. This base problem is reduced to solving an undetermined system of algebraic equations. Given additional restriction that Ethnologue database introduces data collected at different time moments because of gaps in Ethnologue language surveys and accompanying data collection expenses, we relate those data to a single time moment, that turns the initial task to an ’ill-posed’ system of algebraic equations with imprecisely determined right hand side. Therefore, we are looking for an approximate solution characterized by a minimal discrepancy of the system. Since some languages are much less distributed than the others, we minimize the weighted discrepancy, introducing weights that are inverse to the right hand side elements of the equations. This definition of discrepancy allows to recover the required variables. More than 92% of the recovered variables are robust to probabilistic modelling procedure for potential errors in initial data.

An approach to numerical analysis of thermo-hydraulic processes proceeding in a fast-neutron reactor is described in the given article. The description covers physical models, numerical schemes and geometry simplifications accepted in the computational model. Steady-state and dynamic regimes of reactor operation are considered. The steady-state regimes simulate the reactor operation at nominal power. The dynamic regimes simulate the shutdown reactor cooling by means of the heat-removal system.

Simulation of thermo-hydraulic processes is carried out in the FlowVision CFD software. A mathematical model describing the coolant flow in the first loop of the fast-neutron reactor was developed on the basis of the available geometrical model. The flow of the working fluid in the reactor simulator is calculated under the assumption that the fluid density does not depend on pressure, with use a $k–\varepsilon$ turbulence model, with use of a model of dispersed medium, and with account of conjugate heat exchange. The model of dispersed medium implemented in the FlowVision software allowed taking into account heat exchange between the heat-exchanger lops. Due to geometric complexity of the core region, the zones occupied by the two heat exchangers were modeled by hydraulic resistances and heat sources.

Numerical simulation of the coolant flow in the FlowVision software enabled obtaining the distributions of temperature, velocity and pressure in the entire computational domain. Using the model of dispersed medium allowed calculation of the temperature distributions in the second loops of the heat exchangers. Besides that, the variation of the coolant temperature along the two thermal probes is determined. The probes were located in the cool and hot chambers of the fast-neutron reactor simulator. Comparative analysis of the numerical and experimental data has shown that the developed mathematical model is correct and, therefore, it can be used for simulation of thermo-hydraulic processes proceeding in fast-neutron reactors with sodium coolant.

The temporal variability of exergy of short-wave and long-wave radiation and its relationships with sensible heat, water vapor (H₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) fluxes on a recently clear-cut area in a mixed coniferous and small-leaved forest in the Tver region is discussed. On the basis of the analysis of radiation and exergy efficiency coefficients suggested by Yu.M. Svirezhev it was shown that during the first eight months after clearcutting the forest ecosystem functions as a "heat engine" i.e. the processes of energy dissipation dominated over processes of biomass production. To validate the findings the statistical analysis of temporary variability of meteorological parameters, as well as, daily fluxes of sensible heat, H₂O and CO₂ was provided using the trigonometrical polynomials. The statistical models that are linearly depended on an exergy of short-wave and long-wave radiation were obtained for mean daily values of CO₂ fluxes, gross primary production of regenerated vegetation and sensible heat fluxes. The analysis of these dependences is also confirmed the results obtained from processing the radiation and exergy efficiency coefficients. The splitting the time series into separate time intervals, e.g. “spring–summer” and “summer–autumn”, allowed revealing that the statistically significant relationships between atmospheric fluxes and exergy were amplified in summer months as the clear-cut area was overgrown by grassy and young woody vegetation. The analysis of linear relationships between time-series of latent heat fluxes and exergy showed their statistical insignificance. The linear relationships between latent heat fluxes and temperature were in turn statistically significant. The air temperature was a key factor improving the accuracy of the models, whereas effect of exergy was insignificant. The results indicated that at the time of active vegetation regeneration within the clear-cut area the seasonal variability of surface evaporation is mainly governed by temperature variation.

The biological structure is considered as an open nonequilibrium system which properties can be described on the basis of kinetic equations. New problems with nonequilibrium boundary conditions are introduced. The nonequilibrium distribution tends gradually to an equilibrium state. The region of spatial inhomogeneity has a scale depending on the rate of mass transfer in the open system and the characteristic time of metabolism. In the proposed approximation, the internal energy of the motion of molecules is much less than the energy of translational motion. Or in other terms we can state that the kinetic energy of the average blood velocity is substantially higher than the energy of chaotic motion of the same particles. We state that the relaxation problem models a living system. The flow of entropy to the system decreases in downstream, this corresponds to Shrödinger’s general ideas that the living system “feeds on” negentropy. We introduce a quantity that determines the complexity of the biosystem, more precisely, this is the difference between the nonequilibrium kinetic entropy and the equilibrium entropy at each spatial point integrated over the entire spatial region. Solutions to the problems of spatial relaxation allow us to estimate the size of biosystems as regions of nonequilibrium. The results are compared with empirical data, in particular, for mammals we conclude that the larger the size of animals, the smaller the specific energy of metabolism. This feature is reproduced in our model since the span of the nonequilibrium region is larger in the system where the reaction rate is shorter, or in terms of the kinetic approach, the longer the relaxation time of the interaction between the molecules. The approach is also used for estimation of a part of a living system, namely a green leaf. The problems of aging as degradation of an open nonequilibrium system are considered. The analogy is related to the structure, namely, for a closed system, the equilibrium of the structure is attained for the same molecules while in the open system, a transition occurs to the equilibrium of different particles, which change due to metabolism. Two essentially different time scales are distinguished, the ratio of which is approximately constant for various animal species. Under the assumption of the existence of these two time scales the kinetic equation splits in two equations, describing the metabolic (stationary) and “degradative” (nonstationary) parts of the process.