We consider the application of the theory of symmetries of coupled ordinary differential equations to the case of reparametrisation invariant Lagrangians quadratic in the velocities; such Lagrangians encompass all minisuperspace models. We find that, in order to acquire the maximum number of symmetry generators, one must (a) consider the lapse N (t) among the degrees of freedom and (b) allow the action of the generator on the Lagrangian and/or the equations of motion to produce a multiple of the constraint, rather than strictly zero. The result of this necessary modification of the standard theory (concerning regular systems) is that the Liepoint symmetries of the equations of motion are exactly the variational symmetries (containing the time reparametrisation symmetry) plus the well known scaling symmetry. These variational symmetries are seen to be the simultaneous conformal Killing fields of both the metric and the potential, thus coinciding with the conditional symmetries defined in phase space. In a parametrisation of the lapse for which the potential becomes constant, the generators of the aforementioned symmetries become the Killing fields of the scaled supermetric and the homothetic field respectively.

Using a remarkable mapping from the original (3+1)dimensional Skyrme model to the Sine-Gordon model, we construct the first analytic examples of Skyrmions as well as of Skyrmions-anti-Skyrmions bound states within a finite box in 3+1 dimensional flat space-time. An analytic upper bound on the number of these Skyrmions-anti-Skyrmions bound states is derived. We compute the critical isospin chemical potential beyond which these Skyrmions cease to exist. With these tools, we also construct topologically protected time-crystals: time-periodic configurations whose time-dependence is protected by their non-trivial winding number. These are striking realizations of the ideas of Shapere and Wilczek. The critical isospin chemical potential for these time-crystals is determined.

A conditional symmetry is defined, in the phase-space of a quadratic in velocities constrained action, as a simultaneous conformal symmetry of the supermetric and the superpotential. It is proven that such a symmetry corresponds to a variational (Noether) symmetry.The use of these symmetries as quantum conditions on the wave-function entails a kind of selection rule. As an example, the minisuperspace model ensuing from a reduction of the Einstein -Hilbert action by considering static, spherically symmetric configurations and r as the independent dynamical variable, is canonically quantized. The conditional symmetries of this reduced action are used as supplementary conditions on the wave function. Their integrability conditions dictate, at a first stage, that only one of the three existing symmetries can be consistently imposed. At a second stage one is led to the unique Casimir invariant, which is the product of the remaining two, as the only possible second condition on Ψ. The uniqueness of the dynamical evolution implies the need to identify this quadratic integral of motion to the reparametrisation generator. This can be achieved by fixing a suitable parametrization of the r-lapse function, exploiting the freedom to arbitrarily rescale it. In this particular parametrization the measure is chosen to be the determinant of the supermetric. The solutions to the combined Wheeler -DeWitt and linear conditional symmetry equations are found and seen to depend on the product of the two "scale factors".

We describe a distributed simulation tool which addresses the unique needs for the simulation of emergency response scenarios. The simulation tool adopts the multi-agent paradigm, so as to facilitate the modelling of diverse and autonomous agents, and it provides mechanisms for the interaction of the entities that are being simulated. It operates in a distributed fashion to reduce the simulation time required for such large-scale systems. The simulation tool represents the individuals that need to be evacuated, the resources that contribute to the evacuation including human rescuers, and other active resources and entities which may include robots and which can autonomously interact with the environment and with each other and take individual or collaborative decisions. We illustrate the tool with an application and compare the results for both centralized and distributed execution. Our results also show the significant reduction in execution time that is achieved for different degrees of distribution of the simulator on multiple servers.