Mathematical modelling of microwaves travelling through bauxite ore provides a way to compute moisture content in the free space transmission method given data on signal attenuation, phase shift and variable bauxite depth. We extend a recently developed four-layer model that uses coupled ordinary differential wave equations for the electric field together with continuity boundary conditions at interfaces between ore, air and antenna to find a solution that incorporates multiple internal reflections in ore and air. The model provides good fits to data, depending on ore permittivity and conductivity.

Our extensions are to use effective medium models to obtain electromagnetic properties of the ore mixture from moisture content and to incorporate the damping effects of scattering from the ore surface. Our model leads to a formula for the received signal showing how signal strengths SS and phase shifts depend on the moisture content of the bauxite ore, through the effects of moisture on permittivity and conductivity. We show that SS may be noninvertible, indicating that attenuation data alone cannot be used to infer moisture content. Combining with phase data typically corrects the noninvertibility. Reducing the operating frequency dramatically improves the usefulness of signal strength data for inferring moisture content.

In this paper, we are interested in investigating notions of stability for generalized linear differential equations (GLDEs). Initially, we propose and revisit several definitions of stability and provide a complete characterization of them in terms of upper bounds and asymptotic behaviour of the transition matrix. In addition, we illustrate our stability results for GLDEs to linear periodic systems and linear impulsive differential equations. Finally, we prove that the well-known definitions of uniform asymptotic stability and variational asymptotic stability are equivalent to the global uniform exponential stability introduced in this article.

The aim of this note is to give a simple topological proof of the well-known result concerning continuity of roots of polynomials. We also consider a more general case with polynomials of a higher degree approaching a given polynomial. We then examine the continuous dependence of solutions of linear differential equations with constant coefficients.

We study linear projections on Plücker space whose restriction to the Grassmannian is a non-trivial branched cover. When an automorphism of the Grassmannian preserves the fibers, we show that the Grassmannian is necessarily of $m$-dimensional linear subspaces in a symplectic vector space of dimension $2m$, and the linear map is the Lagrangian involution. The Wronski map for a self-adjoint linear diòerential operator and the pole placement map for symmetric linear systems are natural examples.

Many problems in engineering sciences can be described by linear, inhomogeneous, m-th order ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with variable coefficients. For this wide class of problems, we here present a new, simple, flexible, and robust solution method, based on piecewise exact integration of local approximation polynomials as well as on averaging local integrals. The method is designed for modern mathematical software providing efficient environments for numerical matrix-vector operation-based calculus. Based on cubic approximation polynomials, the presented method can be expected to perform (i) similar to the Runge-Kutta method, when applied to stiff initial value problems, and (ii) significantly better than the finite difference method, when applied to boundary value problems. Therefore, we use the presented method for the analysis of engineering problems including the oscillation of a modulated torsional spring pendulum, steady-state heat transfer through a cooling web, and the structural analysis of a slender tower based on second-order beam theory. Related convergence studies provide insight into the satisfying characteristics of the proposed solution scheme.

We present a very short proof of Liouville's theorem for solutions to a non-uniformly elliptic radially symmetric equation. The proof uses the Ricatti equation satisfied by the Dirichlet to Neumann map.

The theory of order $p$ linear differential equations with univalued solutions can be presented in terms of the Schubert calculus in the Grassmannian of $p$-dimensional subspaces of the vector space of complex polynomials in one variable. The regular singular points and the exponents of an equation determine an intersection of Schubert varieties.

Heine and Stieltjes in their studies of order $p = 2$ linear differential equations with polynomial coefficients having a polynomial solution of a prescribed degree discovered that such a solution was given by a critical point of a certain remarkable symmetric function. In terms of the Schubert calculus, the critical points determine the elements of the intersection of Schubert varieties.

The case $p > 2$ is studied. A function whose critical points determine the non-degenerate elements in the intersection of Schubert varieties is presented. The number of Fuchsian equations with univalued solutions and prescribed exponents at singular points is estimated from above by the intersection number of the corresponding Schubert classes. Conjecturally, for generic disposition of singular points, these numbers coincide, that is, the intersection of Schubert varieties is transversal and consists of non-degenerate elements only. For $p = 2$ the conjecture was proved earlier by the author.

In this paper, we give a formal algebraic notion of exponents for linear differential systems at any singularity as eigenvalues of the residue of a regular connection on a maximal lattice (that we call ‘Levelt's lattice’). This allows us to establish upper and lower bounds for the sum of these exponents for differential systems on ${\mathbb P}^{1}(\mathbb{C})$.

Let X(t) be a non-homogeneous birth and death process. In this paper we develop a general method of estimating bounds for the state probabilities for X(t), based on inequalities for the solutions of the forward Kolmogorov equations. Specific examples covered include simple estimates of Pr(X(t) < j | X(0) = k) for the M(t)/M(t)/N/0 and M(t)/M(t)/N queue-length processes.