In the priority programme Forecasting the Temporal Progression of Physical and Chemical Damage Processes in Mineral Materials, new, reliable methods are developed to be able to predict and influence these processes in a better way. In the course of evolution, structures have developed in nature, for example among plants, that make them very light and, at the same time, very stable and robust. Costly processes are required for the manufacture of most metallic materials. The smelting and casting processes are particularly expensive. This would contribute to saving processing steps and shortening the production routes from the blank to the final product.
Networks are abstract structures that model binary structures.
In today s society, complex network connections are important. Information processing, communication, mobility and transport are based on networking, and so is social and political action of persons and organisations. In the priority programme Algorithmics of Large Complex Networks, computer scientists, mathematicians and engineers attempt to understand and master the processes and modes of functioning within networks. This requires efficient algorithmic solutions to fundamental problems in networks as well as their structural analysis and appropriate visualisation. Robots that play football are at the centre of the priority programme Co-operating Teams of Mobile Robots in Dynamic Environments.