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The transport of charged particles, which can be described by the Maxwell–Ampère Nernst–Planck (MANP) framework, is essential in various applications including ion channels and semiconductors. We propose a decoupled structure-preserving numerical scheme for the MANP model in this work. The Nernst-Planck equations are treated by the implicit exponential time differencing method associated with the Slotboom transform to preserve the positivity of the concentrations. In order to be effective with the Fast Fourier Transform, additional diffusive terms are introduced into Nernst–Planck equations. Meanwhile, the correction is introduced in the Maxwell–Ampère equation to fulfill Gauss’s law. The curl-free condition for electric displacement is realized by a local curl-free relaxation algorithm whose complexity is O(N). We present sufficient restrictions on the time and spatial steps to satisfy the positivity and energy dissipation law at a discrete level. Numerical experiments are conducted to validate the expected numerical accuracy and demonstrate the structure-preserving properties of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The matrix-valued Allen-Cahn (MAC) equation was first introduced as a model problem of finding the stationary points of an energy for orthogonal matrix-valued functions and has attracted much attention in recent years. It is well known that the MAC equation satisfies the maximum bound principle (MBP) with respect to either the matrix 2-norm or the Frobenius norm, which plays a key role in understanding the physical meaning and the wellposedness of the model. To preserve this property, we extend the explicit integrating factor Runge-Kutta (IFRK) method to the MAC equation. Moreover, we construct a new three-stage third-order and a new four-stage fourth-order IFRK schemes based on the classical Runge-Kutta schemes. Under a reasonable time-step constraint, we prove the MBP preservation of the IFRK method with respect to the matrix 2-norm, based on which, we further establish their optimal error estimates in the matrix 2-norm. Although numerical results indicate that the IFRK method preserves the MBP with respect to the Frobenius norm, a detailed analysis shows that it is hard to prove this preservation by using the same approach for the case of 2-norm. Several numerical experiments are carried out to test the convergence of the IFRK schemes and to verify the MBP preservation with respect to the matrix 2-norm and the Frobenius norm, respectively. Energy stability is also observed, which clearly indicates the orthogonality of the stationary solution of the MAC equation. In addition, we simulate the coarsening dynamics to verify the motion law of the interface for different initial conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamical low-rank approximation has become a valuable tool to perform an on-the-fly model order reduction for prohibitively large matrix differential equations. A core ingredient is the construction of integrators that are robust to the presence of small singular values and the resulting large time derivatives of the orthogonal factors in the low-rank matrix representation. Recently, the robust basis-update & Galerkin (BUG) class of integrators has been introduced. These methods require no steps that evolve the solution backward in time, often have favourable structure-preserving properties, and allow for parallel time-updates of the low-rank factors. The BUG framework is flexible enough to allow for adaptations to these and further requirements. However, the BUG methods presented so far have only first-order robust error bounds. This work proposes a second-order BUG integrator for dynamical low-rank approximation based on the midpoint quadrature rule. The integrator first performs a half-step with a first-order BUG integrator, followed by a Galerkin update with a suitably augmented basis. We prove a robust second-order error bound which in addition shows an improved dependence on the normal component of the vector field. These rigorous results are illustrated and complemented by a number of numerical experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an operator-splitting scheme to approximate scalar conservation equations with stiff source terms having multiple (at least two) stable equilibrium points. The scheme combines a (reaction-free) transport substep followed by a (transport-free) reaction substep. The transport substep is approximated using the forward Euler method with continuous finite elements and graph viscosity. The reaction substep is approximated using an exponential integrator. The crucial idea of the paper is to use a mesh-dependent cutoff of the reaction time-scale in the reaction substep. We establish a bound on the entropy residual motivating the design of the scheme. We show that the proposed scheme is invariant-domain preserving under the same CFL restriction on the time step as in the nonreactive case. Numerical experiments in one and two space dimensions using linear, convex, and nonconvex fluxes with smooth and nonsmooth initial data in various regimes show that the proposed scheme is asymptotic preserving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the spectral and dynamical stability of solitary wave solutions to the Lugiato–Lefever equation on R . Our interest lies in solutions that arise through bifurcations from the phase-shifted bright soliton of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. These solutions are highly nonlinear, localized, far-from-equilibrium waves, and are the physical relevant solutions to model Kerr frequency combs. We show that bifurcating solitary waves are spectrally stable when the phase angle satisfies θ ∈ (0 , π) , while unstable waves are found for angles θ ∈ (π , 2 π) . Furthermore, we establish asymptotic orbital stability of spectrally stable solitary waves against localized perturbations. Our analysis exploits the Lyapunov–Schmidt reduction method, the instability index count developed for linear Hamiltonian systems, and resolvent estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a framework for constructing high-order linearly implicit exponential integrators that conserve a quadratic invariant. This is then applied to the scalar auxiliary variable (SAV) approach. Quadratic invariants are significant objects that are present in various physical equations and also in computationally efficient conservative schemes for general invariants. For instance, the SAV approach converts the invariant into a quadratic form by introducing scalar auxiliary variables, which have been intensively studied in recent years. In this vein, Sato et al. (Appl. Numer. Math. 187, 71-88 2023) proposed high-order linearly implicit schemes that conserve a quadratic invariant. In this study, it is shown that their method can be effectively merged with the Lawson transformation, a technique commonly utilized in the construction of exponential integrators. It is also demonstrated that combining the constructed exponential integrators and the SAV approach yields schemes that are computationally less expensive. Specifically, the main part of the computational cost is the product of several matrix exponentials and vectors, which are parallelizable. Moreover, we conduct some mathematical analyses on the proposed schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a new framework for deriving partitioned implicit-exponential integrators for stiff systems of ordinary differential equations and construct several time integrators of this type. The new approach is suited for solving systems of equations where the forcing term is comprised of several additive nonlinear terms. We analyze the stability, convergence, and efficiency of the new integrators and compare their performance with existing schemes for such systems using several numerical examples. We also propose a novel approach to visualizing the linear stability of the partitioned schemes, which provides a more intuitive way to understand and compare the stability properties of various schemes. Our new integrators are A-stable, second-order methods that require only one call to the linear system solver and one exponential-like matrix function evaluation per time step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the charged-particle dynamics under a strong and constant magnetic field, we consider and analyze exponential integrators in this paper. We derive two kinds of exponential integrators and study their long-time behavior by using the technique of modulated Fourier expansions. It is shown that a symmetric two-stage exponential integrator and some one-stage symplectic exponential integrators approximately conserve the energy and magnetic moment of the charged-particle dynamics over long times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical methods for computing the solutions of Markov backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) driven by continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) are explored. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) we observe that Euler-Maruyama temporal discretization methods for solving Markov BSDEs driven by CTMCs are equivalent to exponential integrators for solving the associated systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs); (2) we introduce multi-stage Euler–Maruyama methods for effectively solving "stiff" Markov BSDEs driven by CTMCs; these BSDEs typically arise from the spatial discretization of Markov BSDEs driven by Brownian motion; (3) we propose a multilevel spatial discretization method on sparse grids that efficiently approximates high-dimensional Markov BSDEs driven by Brownian motion with a combination of multiple Markov BSDEs driven by CTMCs on grids with different resolutions. We also illustrate the effectiveness of the presented methods with a number of numerical experiments in which we treat nonlinear BSDEs arising from option pricing problems in finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we propose and analyze an energy stable, linear, second-order in time, exponential time differencing multi-step (ETD-MS) method for solving the Swift–Hohenberg equation with quadratic–cubic nonlinear term. The ETD-based explicit multi-step approximations and Fourier collocation spectral method are applied in time integration and spatial discretization of the corresponding equation, respectively. In particular, a second-order artificial stabilizing term, in the form of A τ 2 ∂ (Δ 2 + 1) u ∂ t , is added to ensure the energy stability. The long-time unconditional energy stability of the algorithm is established rigorously. In addition, error estimates in ℓ ∞ (0 , T ; ℓ 2) -norm are derived, with a careful estimate of the aliasing error. Numerical examples are carried out to verify the theoretical results. The long-time simulation demonstrates the stability and the efficiency of the numerical method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new parallel discontinuous Galerkin method for the approximation of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. The method remains stable with large time steps, while keeping the complexity of an explicit scheme: it does not require the assembly and resolution of large linear systems for the time iterations. The approach is based on a kinetic representation of the system of conservation laws previously investigated by the authors. Coulette et al. (in: Springer proceedings in mathematics & statistics, Springer, Berlin, pp 171–178, 2017. ), Badwaik et al. (ESAIM Proc Surv; 63:60–77, 2018. ), Coulette et al. (Comput Fluids; 190:485–502, 2019. ), Drui et al. (CR Mécanique; 347(3):259–269, 2019. ) and Gerhard et al. (Comput Math Appl; 112:116–137, 2022. . ). In this paper, the approach is extended with a subdomain strategy that improves the parallel scaling of the method on computers with distributed memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the Davey–Stewartson system in the hyperbolic–elliptic case (DS-II) in two dimensional case. It is a mass-critical equation, and was proved recently by Nachman et al. (Invent Math 220(2):395–451, 2020) the global well-posedness and scattering in L 2 . In this paper, we give the numerical study on this model and construct a first order low-regularity integrator for the DS-II in the periodic case. It only requires the boundedness of one additional derivative of the solution to get the first order convergence. The Fast Fourier Transform is exploited to speed up the numerical implementation. By rigorous error analysis, we prove that the numerical scheme provides first order convergence in H γ (T 2) for rough initial data in H γ + 1 (T 2) with γ > 1 . The optimality of the convergence is conformed by numerical experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parameter identification problems in PDEs are special class of nonlinear inverse problems which has many applications in science and technology. One such application is the Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) problem. Although many methods are available in literature to tackle nonlinear problems, the computation of Fréchet derivative is often a bottle neck for deriving the solution. Moreover, many assumptions are required to establish the convergence of such methods. In this paper, we propose a modified form of Levenberg–Marquardt scheme which does not require the knowledge of exact Fréchet derivative, instead, uses an approximate form of it and at the same time, no additional assumptions are required to establish the convergence of the scheme. We illustrate the theoretical result through numerical examples. In order to ensure that the proposed scheme can be applied to practical problems, we have applied the scheme to EIT problem and the reconstruction process clearly demonstrates that the method can be successfully applied to practical problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Betatron x-ray sources from laser-plasma interaction are characterized by compactness, ultrashort duration, broadband spectrum and micron source size. However, high-quality measurements with good statistics, especially in a single shot, require fluxes and energies beyond the current capabilities. Here, we propose a method to enhance the flux and brightness of the betatron sources without increasing the laser energy. By irradiating an edge of a microtape target with a femtosecond laser, a strong surface plasma wave (SPW) is excited at the edge and travels along the lateral plasma-vacuum interfaces. Tens of nC of electrons are peeled off and accelerated to superponderomotive energies by the longitudinal field of the SPW, whilst undergoing transverse betatron oscillations, leading to emission of hard x-rays. Via three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate that a tabletop 100 TW class femtosecond laser can produce an ultrabright hard x-ray pulse with flux up to 107 photons eV−1 and brilliance about 1023 photons s−1 mm−2 mrad−2 0.1%BW−1, paving the way for single-shot x-ray measurements in ultrafast science and high-energy-density physics. High-quality measurements with good statistics, especially in a single shot, require fluxes and energies beyond the current capabilities of laserbased betatron x-ray sources. Here, the authors propose a method to enhance the flux and brightness of such sources without increasing the laser energy, paving the way for single-shot x-ray measurements in ultrafast science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a new splitting method for the semi-linear system of ordinary differential equation, where the linear part is stiff. Firstly, the stiff part is split into two parts. The first stiff part, that is called the stiff-cutter and expected to be easily inverted, is implicitly treated. The second stiff part and the remaining nonlinear part are explicitly treated. Therefore, such stiff-cut method can be fast implemented and save the CPU time. Theoretically, we rigorously prove that the proposed method is unconditionally stable and convergent, if the stiff-cutter is chosen to be well-matched in the stiff part. As an application, we apply our method to solve a spatial-fractional reaction-diffusion equation and give a way for how to choose a suitable stiff-cutter. Finally, numerical experiments are carried out to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed stiff-cut method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiscale high-contrast media can cause astonishing wave propagation phenomena through resonance effects. For instance, waves could be exponentially damped independent of the incident angle or waves could be re-focused as through a lense. In this review article, we discuss the numerical treatment of wave propagation through multiscale high-contrast media at the example of the Helmholtz equation. First, we briefly summarize the findings of analytical homogenization theory, which inspire the design of numerical methods and indicate interesting regimes for simulation. In the main part, we discuss two different classes of numerical multiscale methods and focus on how to treat especially high-contrast media. Some elements of a priori error analysis are discussed as well. Various numerical simulations showcase the applicability of the numerical methods to explore unusual wave phenomena, for instance exponential damping and lensing with flat interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the well known parareal algorithm, we formulate and analyse a novel class of parareal exponential schemes with improved uniform accuracy for highly oscillatory system q ¨ + 1 ε 2 M q = 1 ε μ f (q) with μ = 0 or 1. The solution of this considered system propagates waves with wavelength at O (ε) in time and the value of μ corresponds to the strength of nonlinearity. This brings significantly numerical burden in scientific computation for highly oscillatory systems with 0 < ε ≪ 1 . The new proposed algorithm is formulated by using some reformulation approaches to the problem, Fourier pseudo-spectral methods, and parareal exponential integrators. The fast Fourier transform is incorporated in the implementation. We rigorously study the convergence, showing that for nonlinear systems, the algorithm has improved uniform accuracy O (ε (2 k + 3) (1 - μ) Δ t 2 k + 2 + ε 5 (1 - μ) δ t 4) in the position and O (ε (2 k + 3) (1 - μ) - 1 Δ t 2 k + 2 + ε 4 - 5 μ δ t 4) in the momenta, where k is the number of parareal iterations, and Δ t and δ t are two time stepsizes used in the algorithm. The energy conservation is also discussed and the algorithm is shown to have an improved energy conservation. Numerical experiments are provided and the numerical results demonstrate the improved uniform accuracy and improved energy conservation of the obtained integrator through four Hamiltonian differential equations including nonlinear wave equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a family of novel explicit numerical methods for the diffusion or heat equation with Fisher, Huxley and Nagumo-type reaction terms. After discretizing the space variables as in conventional method of lines, our methods do not apply a finite difference approximation for the time derivatives, they instead combine constant- linear- and quadratic-neighbour approximations, which decouple the ordinary differential equations. In the obtained methods, the time step size appears in exponential form in the final expression with negative coefficients. In the case of the pure heat equation, the new values of the variable are convex combinations of the old values, which guarantees unconditional positivity and stability. We analytically prove that the convergence of the methods is fourth order in the time step size for linear ODE systems. We also prove that the concentration values in the case of Fisher's and Nagumo's equations lie within the unit interval regardless of the time step size. We construct an adaptive time step size time integrator with an extremely cheap embedded error control method. Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate that the proposed methods work for nonlinear equations in stiff cases as well. According to the comparisons with other solvers, the new methods can have a significant advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exponential integrators have been applied successfully in several physics-related differential equations. However, their application in hyperbolic systems with absorbing boundaries, like the ones arising in seismic imaging, still lacks theoretical and experimental investigations. The present work conducts an in-depth study of exponential integration using Faber polynomials, consisting of a generalization of a well-known exponential method that uses Chebyshev polynomials. This allows solving non-symmetric operators that emerge from classic seismic wave propagation problems with absorbing boundaries. Theoretical as well as numerical results are presented for Faber approximations. One of the theoretical contributions is the proposal of a sharp bound for the approximation error of the exponential of a normal matrix. We also show the practical importance of determining an optimal ellipse encompassing the full spectrum of the discrete operator to ensure and enhance the convergence of the Faber exponential series. Furthermore, based on estimates of the spectrum of the discrete operator of the wave equations with a widely used absorbing boundary method, we numerically investigate the stability, dispersion, convergence, and computational efficiency of the Faber exponential scheme. Overall, we conclude that the method is suitable for seismic wave problems and can provide accurate results with large time step sizes, with computational efficiency increasing with the increase of the approximation degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We formulate variational material modeling in a space-time context. The starting point is the description of the space-time cylinder and the definition of a thermodynamically consistent Hamilton functional which accounts for all boundary conditions on the cylinder surface. From the mechanical perspective, the Hamilton principle then yields thermo-mechanically coupled models by evaluation of the stationarity conditions for all thermodynamic state variables which are displacements, internal variables, and temperature. Exemplary, we investigate in this contribution elastic wave propagation, visco-elasticity, elasto-plasticity with hardening, and gradient-enhanced damage. Therein, one key novel aspect are initial and end time velocity conditions for the wave equation, replacing classical initial conditions for the displacements and the velocities. The motivation is intensively discussed and illustrated with the help of a prototype numerical simulation. From the mathematical perspective, the space-time formulations are formulated within suitable function spaces and convex sets. The unified presentation merges engineering and applied mathematics due to their mutual interactions. Specifically, the chosen models are of high interest in many state-of-the art developments in modeling and we show the impact of this holistic physical description on space-time Galerkin finite element discretization schemes. Finally, we study a specific discrete realization and show that the resulting system using initial and end time conditions is well-posed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithms, which combine numerical approximation of Hamiltonian dynamics on finite intervals with stochastic refreshment and Metropolis correction, are popular sampling schemes, but it is known that they may suffer from slow convergence in the continuous time limit. A recent paper of Bou-Rabee and Sanz-Serna (Ann Appl Prob, 27:2159-2194, 2017) demonstrated that this issue can be addressed by simply randomizing the duration parameter of the Hamiltonian paths. In this article, we use the same idea to enhance the sampling efficiency of a constrained version of HMC, with potential benefits in a variety of application settings. We demonstrate both the conservation of the stationary distribution and the ergodicity of the method. We also compare the performance of various schemes in numerical studies of model problems, including an application to high-dimensional covariance estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between the concentration of atmospheric sodium and its meteoric input function (MIF). We use the measurements from the Colorado State University (CSU) and the Andes Lidar Observatory (ALO) lidar instruments with a new numerical model that includes sodium chemistry in the mesosphere and lower-thermosphere (MLT) region. The model is based on the continuity equation to treat all sodium-bearing species and runs at a high temporal resolution. The model simulation employs data assimilation to compare the MIF inferred from the meteor radiant distribution and the MIF derived from the new sodium chemistry model. The simulation captures the seasonal variability in the sodium number density compared with lidar observations over the CSU site. However, there were discrepancies for the ALO site, which is close to the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) region, indicating that it is challenging for the model to capture the observed sodium over the ALO. The CSU site had significantly more lidar observations (27 930 h) than the ALO site (1872 h). The simulation revealed that the uptake of the sodium species on meteoric smoke particles was a critical factor in determining the sodium concentration in the MLT, with the sodium removal rate by uptake found to be approximately 3 times that of the NaHCO 3 dimerization. Overall, the study's findings provide valuable information on the correlation between the MIF and the sodium concentration in the MLT region, contributing to a better understanding of the complex dynamics of this region. This knowledge can inform future research and guide the development of more accurate models to enhance our comprehension of the MLT region's behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the long-time behaviour of one-stage symplectic or symmetric trigonometric integrators when applied to nonlinear wave equations. It is shown that energy, momentum, and all harmonic actions are approximately preserved over a long time for one-stage explicit symplectic or symmetric trigonometric integrators when applied to nonlinear wave equations via spectral semi-discretisations. For the long-term analysis of symplectic or symmetric trigonometric integrators, we derive a multi-frequency modulated Fourier expansion of the trigonometric integrator and show three almost-invariants of the modulation system. In the analysis of this paper, we neither assume symmetry for symplectic methods, nor assume symplecticity for symmetric methods. The results for symplectic and symmetric methods are obtained as a byproduct of the above analysis. We also give another proof by establishing a relationship between symplectic and symmetric trigonometric integrators and trigonometric integrators which have been researched for wave equations in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a computationally efficient technique based on the Method of Lines for the approximation of the Bermudan option values via the associated partial differential equations. The method of lines converts the Black Scholes partial differential equation to a system of ordinary differential equations. The solution of the system of ordinary differential equations so obtained only requires spatial discretization and avoids discretization in time. Additionally, the exact solution of the ordinary differential equations can be obtained efficiently using the exponential matrix operation, making the method computationally attractive and straightforward to implement. An essential advantage of the proposed approach is that the associated Greeks can be computed with minimal additional computations. We illustrate, through numerical experiments, the efficacy of the proposed method in pricing and computation of the sensitivities for a European call, cash-or-nothing, powered option, and Bermudan put option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop two new sets of stable, rank-adaptive dynamically orthogonal Runge--Kutta (DORK) schemes that capture the high-order curvature of the nonlinear low-rank manifold. The DORK schemes asymptotically approximate the truncated singular value decomposition at a greatly reduced cost while preserving mode continuity using newly derived retractions. We show that arbitrarily high-order optimal perturbative retractions can be obtained, and we prove that these new retractions are stable. In addition, we demonstrate that repeatedly applying retractions yields a gradient-descent algorithm on the low-rank manifold that converges superlinearly when approximating a low-rank matrix. When approximating a higher-rank matrix, iterations converge linearly to the best low-rank approximation. We then develop a rank-adaptive retraction that is robust to overapproximation. Building off of these retractions, we derive two rank-adaptive integration schemes that dynamically update the subspace upon which the system dynamics are projected within each time step: the stable, optimal dynamically orthogonal Runge--Kutta (so-DORK) and gradient-descent dynamically orthogonal Runge--Kutta (gd-DORK) schemes. These integration schemes are numerically evaluated and compared on an ill-conditioned matrix differential equation, an advection-diffusion partial differential equation, and a nonlinear, stochastic reaction-diffusion partial differential equation. Results show a reduced error accumulation rate with the new stable, optimal and gradient-descent integrators. In addition, we find that rank adaptation allows for highly accurate solutions while preserving computational efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials can now be designed and architectured like structural components for targeted mechanical and physical properties. Structures and microstructures should not be studied independently and their design will benefit from a multiscale approach combining nonlinear continuum mechanics approaches and physical descriptions of elasticity, viscoplasticity, phase transformations and damage of microstructures, at various scales. The aim of the workshop was to gather outstanding junior and senior researchers in the various branches of mathematics, physics and engineering sciences suited to address the question of design of materials and structures by means of multiscale discrete and continuum approaches to their constitutive behavior. Examples include atomic or macroscopic lattices, random or periodic cellular materials, smart materials like shape memory alloys, 3D woven composites, acoustic and electromagnetic metamaterials, etc. Modern continuum mechanics relies on sophisticated constitutive laws for anisotropic materials exhibiting elastoviscoplastic behavior, still a field of intense research with new mathematical concepts. In particular size-dependent properties are addressed by resorting to generalized continua such as gradient or micromorphic and phase field models. The latter are attractive for the simulation of microstructure evolution coupled with mechanics, due to thermodynamic and metallurgical processes and damage. Scale transition and homogenization methods for continuous and discrete systems are required for the determination of effective material and structural behavior. Metamaterials are architectured materials specifically designed to achieve certain propagation and dispersion properties of elastic and plastic waves. Optimization strategies for the design of optimal architectures are involved in the design process. Target functions for optimization are now based on multicriteria (stiffness, strength, thermal expansion, transport properties, anisotropy etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]