Seismic data are routinely used to infer <i>in situ</i> properties of earth materials on many scales, ranging from global studies to investigations of surficial geological formations. While inversion and imaging algorithms utilizing these data have improved steadily, there are remaining challenges that make detailed measurements of the properties of some geologic materials very difficult. For example, the determination of the concentration and orientation of fracture systems is prohibitively expensive to simulate on the fine grid and, thus, some type of coarse-grid simulations are needed. In this paper, we describe a new multiscale finite element algorithm for simulating seismic wave propagation in heterogeneous media. This method solves the wave equation on a coarse grid using multiscale basis functions and a global coupling mechanism to relate information between fine and coarse grids. Using a mixed formulation of the

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This text is a part of an unfinished project which deals with the generalized point interaction (GPI) in one dimension. We employ two natural parametrizations, which are known but have not attracted much attention, to express the resolvent of the GPI Hamiltonian as well as its spectral and scattering properties. It is also shown that the GPI yields one of the simplest models in which a non-trivial Berry phase is exhibited. Furthermore, the generalized Kronig-Penney model corresponding to the GPI is discussed. We show that there are three different types of the high-energy behaviour for the corresponding band spectrum.

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We discuss a pair of isoperimetric problems which at a glance seem to be unrelated. The first one is classical: one places N identical point charges at a closed curve T at the same arc-length distances and asks about the energy minimum, ie which shape does the loop take if left by itself. The second problem comes from quantum mechanics: we take a Schrdinger operator in