Model Order Reduction in Fluid Dynamics: Challenges and Perspectives

This chapter reviews techniques of model reduction of fluid dynamics systems. Fluid systems are known to be difficult to reduce efficiently due to several reasons. First of all, they exhibit strong nonlinearities — which are mainly related either to nonlinear convection terms and/or some geometric variability — that often cannot be treated by simple linearization. Additional difficulties arise when attempting model reduction of unsteady flows, especially when long-term transient behavior needs to be accurately predicted using reduced order models and more complex features, such as turbulence or multiphysics phenomena, have to be taken into consideration. We first discuss some general principles that apply to many parametric model order reduction problems, then we apply them on steady and unsteady viscous flows modelled by the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. We address questions of inf-sup stability, certification through error estimation, computational issues and — in the unsteady case — long-time stability of the reduced model. Moreover, we provide an extensive list of literature references

Enigmatic phylogeny of skuas (Aves Stercorariidae)

Multiple sources of evidence show that the skuas (Aves: Stercorariidae) are a monophyletic group, closely related to gulls (Laridae). On morphological and behavioural evidence the Stercorariidae are divided into two widely divergent genera, Catharacta and Stercorarius, consistent with observed levels of nuclear and mitochondrial gene divergence. Catharacta skuas are large-bodied and with one exception breed in the Southern Hemisphere. Stercorarius skuas (otherwise known as jaegers) are smaller bodied and breed exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere. Evidence from both mitochondrial and nuclear genomes and from ectoparasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) shows that the Pomarine skua, S. pomarinus, which has been recognized as being somewhat intermediate in certain morphological and behavioural characteristics, is much more closely related to species in the genus Catharacta, especially to the Northern Hemisphere-breeding Great skua, C. skua, than it is to the other two Stercorarius skuas, the Arctic skua, S. parasiticus and the Longtailed skua, S. longicaudus. Three possible explanations that might account for this discordant aspect of skua phylogeny are explored. These involve (i) the segregation of ancestral polymorphism, (ii) convergent evolution of morphology and behaviour or (iii) inter-generic hybridization. The available evidence from both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes does not exclude any of these hypotheses. Thus, resolution of this enigma of skua phylogeny awaits further work