This paper presents a new parallel algorithm for dynamics simulation of general multibody systems. The developed formulations are iterative and possess divide and conquer structure. The constraints equations are imposed at the acceleration level. Augmented Lagrangian methods with mass-orthogonal projections are used to prevent from constraint violation errors. The proposed approaches treat tree topology mechanisms or multibody systems which contain kinematic closed loops in a uniform manner and can handle problems with rank deficient Jacobian matrices. Test case results indicate good accuracy performance dependent on the expense put in the iterative correction of constraint equations. Good numerical properties and robustness of the algorithms are observed when handling systems with single and coupled kinematic loops, redundant constraints, which may repeatedly enter singular configurations.

This paper presents a novel recursive divide-and-conquer formulation for the simulation of complex constrained multibody system dynamics based on Hamilton's canonical equations (HDCA). The systems under consideration are subjected to holonomic, independent constraints and may include serial chains, tree chains, or closed-loop topologies. Although Hamilton's canonical equations exhibit many advantageous features compared to their acceleration based counterparts, it appears that there is a lack of dedicated parallel algorithms for multi-rigid-body system dynamics based on the Hamiltonian formulation. The developed HDCA formulation leads to a two-stage procedure. In the first phase, the approach utilizes the divide and conquer scheme, i.e., a hierarchic assembly-disassembly process to traverse the multibody system topology in a binary tree manner. The purpose of this step is to evaluate the joint velocities and constraint force impulses. The process exhibits linear O(n) (n -number of bodies) and logarithmic O(log 2 n) numerical cost, in serial and parallel implementations, respectively. The time derivatives of the total momenta are directly evaluated in the second parallelizable step of the algorithm. Sample closed-loop test cases indicate very small constraint violation errors at the position and velocity level as well as marginal energy drift without any additional form of constraint stabilization techniques involved in the solution process. The results are comparatively set against more standard acceleration based Featherstone's DCA approach to indicate the performance of the HDCA algorithm.

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Great Spotted and Syrian Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major and D. syriacus) are known to hybridize in nature; however, the extent of this phenomenon is not known due to difficulties in hybrid detection based on plumage analyses. Here, we tested five markers (one mitochondrial and four nuclear) and a set of six microsatellite loci for the identification of these two Woodpeckers and their hybrids. Sequencing of DNA from 26 individuals of both Woodpeckers from different parts of their ranges: one allopatric (D. major; Norway) and two sympatric (Poland and Bulgaria) showed that both species can be clearly separated based on all sequence markers. The highest number of fixed nucleotide sites were found in the mtDNA control region and intron 5 of the transforming growth factor. Analyses of microsatellite data distinguished the two species, but all loci showed a large number of common alleles and their utility in identifying hybrids is therefore doubtful. According to the DNA sequence analyses, 2 out of 18 specimens within the sympatric range in Poland were identified as possible hybrids, most probably paternal backcrosses. Moreover, both hybrids are from synantropic populations (settled in cities), whereas none of the D. major sampled in forests and in its allopatric range (Norway) showed signs of an intermixed genotype. Further research on hybridization and introgression in woodpeckers is undoubtedly needed and could be useful for understanding ecological and ethological interactions among these species, particularly for D. syriacus, which is relatively rare in Europe.

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