Differential quadrature time element method for structural dynamics

An accurate and efficient differential quadrature time element method （DQTEM） is proposed for solving ordi- nary differential equations （ODEs）, the numerical dissipation and dispersion of DQTEM is much smaller than that of the direct integration method of single/multi steps. Two methods of imposing initial conditions are given, which avoids the tediousness when derivative initial conditions are imposed, and the numerical comparisons indicate that the first method, in which the analog equations of initial displacements and velocities are used to directly replace the differential quadra- ture （DQ） analog equations of ODEs at the first and the last sampling points, respectively, is much more accurate than the second method, in which the DQ analog equations of initial conditions are used to directly replace the DQ analog equations of ODEs at the first two sampling points. On the contrary to the conventional step-by-step direct integration schemes, the solutions at all sampling points can be obtained simultaneously by DQTEM, and generally, one differential quadrature time element may be enough for the whole time domain. Extensive numerical comparisons validate the effi- ciency and accuracy of the proposed method.

Self-adaptive one-dimensional nonlinear finite element method based on element energy projection method

The element energy projection （EEP） method for computation of super- convergent resulting in a one-dimensional finite element method （FEM） is successfully used to self-adaptive FEM analysis of various linear problems, based on which this paper presents a substantial extension of the whole set of technology to nonlinear problems. The main idea behind the technology transfer from linear analysis to nonlinear analysis is to use Newton＇s method to linearize nonlinear problems into a series of linear problems so that the EEP formulation and the corresponding adaptive strategy can be directly used without the need for specific super-convergence formulation for nonlinear FEM. As a re- sult, a unified and general self-adaptive algorithm for nonlinear FEM analysis is formed. The proposed algorithm is found to be able to produce satisfactory finite element results with accuracy satisfying the user-preset error tolerances by maximum norm anywhere on the mesh. Taking the nonlinear ordinary differential equation （ODE） of second-order as the model problem, this paper describes the related fundamental idea, the imple- mentation strategy, and the computational algorithm. Representative numerical exam- ples are given to show the efficiency, stability, versatility, and reliability of the proposed approach.

Differentiai-algebraic approach to large deformation analysis of frame structures subjected to dynamic loads

A nonlinear mathematical model for the analysis of large deformation of frame structures with discontinuity conditions and initial displacements, subject to dynamic loads is formulated with arc-coordinates. The differential quadrature element method （DQEM） is then applied to discretize the nonlinear mathematical model in the spatial domain, An effective method is presented to deal with discontinuity conditions of multivariables in the application of DQEM. A set of DQEM discretization equations are obtained, which are a set of nonlinear differential-algebraic equations with singularity in the time domain. This paper also presents a method to solve nonlinear differential-algebra equations. As application, static and dynamical analyses of large deformation of frames and combined frame structures, subjected to concentrated and distributed forces, are presented. The obtained results are compared with those in the literatures. Numerical results show that the proposed method is general, and effective in dealing with disconti- nuity conditions of multi-variables and solving differential-algebraic equations. It requires only a small number of nodes and has low computation complexity with high precision and a good convergence property.

A Novel System for Xylem Cell Differentiation in Arabidopsis thaliana

During vascular development, procambial and cambial cells give rise to xylem and phloem cells. Because the vascular tissue is deeply embedded, it has been difficult to analyze the processes of vascular development in detail. Here, we establish a novel in vitro experimental system in which vascular development is induced in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf-disk cultures using bikinin, an inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase 3 proteins. Transcriptome analysis reveals that mesophyll cells in leaf disks synchronously turn into procambial cells and then differentiate into tracheary elements. Leaf-disk cultures from plants expressing the procambial cell markers TDRpro：GUS and TDRpro：YFP can be used for spatiotemporal visualization of procambial cell formation. Further analysis with the tdr mutant and TDIF （tracheary element differentiation inhibitory factor） indicates that the key signaling TDIF-TDR-GSK3s regulates xylem differentiation in leaf-disk cultures. This new culture system can be combined with analysis using the rich material resources for Arabidopsis including cell-marker lines and mutants, thus offering a powerful tool for analyzing xylem cell differentiation.

On the Full C_(1)-Q_(k) Finite Element Spaces on Rectangles and Cuboids

We study the extensions of the Bogner-Fox-Schmit element to the whole family of Q_(k) continuously differentiable finite elements on rectangular grids,for all k≥3,in 2D and 3D.We show that the newly defined C_(1) spaces are maximal in the sense that they contain all C_(1)-Q_(k) functions of piecewise polynomials.We give examples of other extensions of C_(1)-Q_(k) elements.The result is consistent with the Strang’s conjecture(restricted to the quadrilateral grids in 2D and 3D).Some numerical results are provided on the family of C_(1) elements solving the biharmonic equation.