Herrschaft in wessen Interesse? Herzöge, Pfandherren und lokale Eliten im Streit um das Herzogtum Luxemburg

Scientific Conference (2016, December 15)

A variational formulation of dissipative quasicontinuum methods

in International Journal of Solids and Structures (2016), 102-103

Lattice systems and discrete networks with dissipative interactions are successfully employed as meso-scale models of heterogeneous solids. As the application scale generally is much larger than that of ... [more ▼]

Lattice systems and discrete networks with dissipative interactions are successfully employed as meso-scale models of heterogeneous solids. As the application scale generally is much larger than that of the discrete links, physically relevant simulations are computationally expensive. The QuasiContinuum (QC) method is a multiscale approach that reduces the computational cost of direct numerical simulations by fully resolving complex phenomena only in regions of interest while coarsening elsewhere. In previous work (Beex et al., J. Mech. Phys. Solids 64, 154-169, 2014), the originally conservative QC methodology was generalized to a virtual-power-based QC approach that includes local dissipative mechanisms. In this contribution, the virtual-power-based QC method is reformulated from a variational point of view, by employing the energy-based variational framework for rate-independent processes (Mielke and Roub cek, Rate-Independent Systems: Theory and Application, Springer-Verlag, 2015). By construction it is shown that the QC method with dissipative interactions can be expressed as a minimization problem of a properly built energy potential, providing solutions equivalent to those of the virtual-power-based QC formulation. The theoretical considerations are demonstrated on three simple examples. For them we verify energy consistency, quantify relative errors in energies, and discuss errors in internal variables obtained for different meshes and two summation rules. [less ▲]

Adaptive Control of Hysteretic Robotic arm in Operational Space

in 5th International Conference on Mechatronics and Control Engineering ICMCE, venice, Italy, 2016 (2016, December 14)

The focus of the current article is on Operational Space Control of a single degree of freedom robotic arm with hysteretic joint behaviour due to actuation by a single Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wire. A ... [more ▼]

The focus of the current article is on Operational Space Control of a single degree of freedom robotic arm with hysteretic joint behaviour due to actuation by a single Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wire. A Closed Loop Inverse Kinematics Algorithm is used in the outer loop with Adaptive joint control in the inner loop. A composite stability analysis is used to analyse the stability of the closed loop system and finally successfully validated through simulation study. [less ▲]

Cohomologies and derived brackets of Leibniz algebras

Doctoral thesis (2016)

In this thesis, we work on the structure of Leibniz algebras and develop cohomology theories for them. The motivation comes from: • Roytenberg, Stienon-Xu and Ginot-Grutzmann's work on standard and naive ... [more ▼]

In this thesis, we work on the structure of Leibniz algebras and develop cohomology theories for them. The motivation comes from: • Roytenberg, Stienon-Xu and Ginot-Grutzmann's work on standard and naive cohomology of Courant algebroids (Courant-Dorfman algebras). • Kosmann-Schwarzbach, Roytenberg and Alekseev-Xu's constructions of derived brackets for Courant algebroids. • The classical equivariant cohomology theory and the generalized geometry theory. This thesis consists of three parts: 1. We introduce standard cohomology and naive cohomology for a Leibniz algebra. We discuss their properties and show that they are isomorphic. By similar methods, we prove a generalization of Ginot-Grutzmann's theorem on transitive Courant algebroids, which was conjectured by Stienon-Xu. The relation between standard complexes of a Leibniz algebra and its corresponding crossed product is also discussed. 2. We observe a canonical 3-cochain in the standard complex of a Leibniz algebra. We construct a bracket on the subspace consisting of so-called representable cochains, and prove that the subspace becomes a graded Poisson algebra. Finally we show that for a fat Leibniz algebra, the Leibniz bracket can be represented as a derived bracket. 3. In spired by the notion of a Lie algebra action and the idea of generalized geometry, we introduce the notion of a generalized action of a Lie algebra g on a smooth manifold M, to be a homomorphism of Leibniz algebras from g to the generalized tangent bundle TM+T*M. We define the interior product and Lie derivative so that the standard complex of TM+T*M becomes a g differential algebra, then we discuss its equivariant cohomology. We also study the equivariant cohomology for a subcomplex of a Leibniz complex. [less ▲]

L'enseignement transsystémique du droit des contrats: l'expérience luxembourgeoise

Scientific Conference (2016, December 13)

Error analysis of Tide Gauge Benchmark Monitoring (TIGA) Analysis Center stacked solutions

Poster (2016, December 12)

In 2013 the International GNSS Service (IGS) Tide Gauge Benchmark Monitoring (TIGA) Working Group (WG) started their reprocessing campaign, which proposes to re-analyze all relevant Global Positioning ... [more ▼]

In 2013 the International GNSS Service (IGS) Tide Gauge Benchmark Monitoring (TIGA) Working Group (WG) started their reprocessing campaign, which proposes to re-analyze all relevant Global Positioning System (GPS) observations from 1995 to the end of 2013. This re-processed dataset will provide high quality estimates of land motions, enabling regional and global high-precision geophysical/geodetic studies. Several of the individual TIGA Analysis Centers (TACs) have completed processing the full history of GPS observations recorded by the IGS global network, as well as, many other GPS stations at or close to tide gauges, which are available from the TIGA data center at the University of La Rochelle (www.sonel.org). The TAC solutions contain a total of over 700 stations. This study focuses on the evaluations of any systematic error present in the three TIGA analysis center (TAC) SINEX solutions: the British Isles continuous GNSS Facility – University of Luxembourg consortium (BLT), the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) Potsdam, and of the University of La Rochelle (ULR). We have analyzed the residual position time series of the individual TAC a combination of automatic and manual discontinuity identification, applying a post-seismic deformation model adopted from ITRF2014 for those stations that are affected by earthquakes, followed by the stacking of the daily solution of the individual TAC into a long term linear frame. We have carried out the error analysis using the Combination and Analysis of Terrestrial Reference Frame (CATREF) software package. The TIGA Combination Centre (TCC) at the University of Luxembourg (UL) is responsible for providing a combined solution with a global set of vertical land movement estimates. [less ▲]

Real-time error control for surgical simulation

Poster (2016, December 12)

Objective: To present the first real-time a posteriori error-driven adaptive finite element approach for real-time simulation and to demonstrate the method on a needle insertion problem. Methods: We use ... [more ▼]

Objective: To present the first real-time a posteriori error-driven adaptive finite element approach for real-time simulation and to demonstrate the method on a needle insertion problem. Methods: We use corotational elasticity and a frictional needle/tissue interaction model based on friction. The problem is solved using finite elements within SOFA. The refinement strategy relies upon a hexahedron-based finite element method, combined with a posteriori error estimation driven local $h$-refinement, for simulating soft tissue deformation. Results: We control the local and global error level in the mechanical fields (e.g. displacement or stresses) during the simulation. We show the convergence of the algorithm on academic examples, and demonstrate its practical usability on a percutaneous procedure involving needle insertion in a liver. For the latter case, we compare the force displacement curves obtained from the proposed adaptive algorithm with that obtained from a uniform refinement approach. Conclusions: Error control guarantees that a tolerable error level is not exceeded during the simulations. Local mesh refinement accelerates simulations. Significance: Our work provides a first step to discriminate between discretization error and modeling error by providing a robust quantification of discretization error during simulations. [less ▲]

Fractional charge oscillations in quantum spin Hall quantum dots

E-print/Working paper (2016)

We show that correlated two-particle backscattering can induce fractional charge oscillations in a quantum dot built at the edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator by means of magnetic barriers ... [more ▼]

We show that correlated two-particle backscattering can induce fractional charge oscillations in a quantum dot built at the edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator by means of magnetic barriers. The result nicely complements recent works where the fractional oscillations were obtained employing of semiclassical treatments. Moreover, since by rotating the magnetization of the barriers a fractional charge can be trapped in the dot via the Jackiw-Rebbi mechanism, the system we analyze offers the opportunity to study the interplay between this noninteracting charge fractionalization and the fractionalization due to two-particle backscattering. In this context, we demonstrate that the number of fractional oscillations of the charge density depends on the magnetization angle. Finally, we address the renormalization induced by two-particle backscattering on the spin density, which is characterized by a dominant oscillation, sensitive to the Jackiw-Rebbi charge, with a wavelength twice as large as the charge density oscillations. [less ▲]

Essays on Inequality, Public Policy, and Banking

Doctoral thesis (2016)

Bayesian inference for parameter identification in computational mechanics

Poster (2016, December 12)