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Combinatorial vector fields on simplicial complexes introduced by Robin Forman constitute a combinatorial analogue of classical flows. They have found numerous and varied applications in recent years. Yet, their formal relationship to classical dynamical systems has been less clear. In this paper we prove that for every combinatorial vector field on a finite simplicial complex X one can construct a semiflow on the underlying polytope X which exhibits the same dynamics. The equivalence of the dynamical behavior is established in the sense of Conley-Morse graphs and uses a tiling of the topological space X which makes it possible to directly construct isolating blocks for all involved isolated invariant sets based purely on the combinatorial information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several models have been proposed for describing the formation of animal coat patterns. We consider reaction–diffusion models due to Murray, which rely on a Turing instability for the pattern selection. In this paper, we describe the early stages of the pattern formation process for large domain sizes. This includes the selection mechanism and the geometry of the patterns generated by the nonlinear system on one-, two-, and three-dimensional base domains. These results are obtained by an adaptation of results explaining the occurrence of spinodal decomposition in materials science as modeled by the Cahn–Hilliard equation. We use techniques of dynamical systems, viewing solutions of the reaction–diffusion model in terms of nonlinear semiflows. Our results are applicable to any parabolic system exhibiting a Turing instability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]