No abstract

We introduce a phenomenological continuum model for mode III dynamic fracture that is based on the phase-field methodology used extensively to model interfacial pattern formation. We couple a scalar field, which distinguishes between "broken" and "unbroken" states of the system, to the displacement field in a way that consistently includes both macroscopic elasticity and a simple rotationally invariant short scale description of breaking. We report two-dimensional simulations that yield steady-state crack motion in a strip geometry above the Griffith threshold.

We present a mean-field theory for the evolution of RNA virus populations. The theory operates with a distribution of the population in a one-dimensional fitness space, and is valid for sufficiently smooth fitness landscapes. Our approach explains naturally the recent experimental observation [I. S. Novella et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92, 5841-5844 (1995)] of two distinct stages in the growth of virus fitness. [S0031-9007(96)00371-7]

No abstract

No abstract