On the On-line Number of Snacks Problem

In the number of snacks problem (NSP), which was originally proposed by our team, an on-line player is given the task of deciding how many shares of snacks his noshery should prepare each day. The on-line player must make his decision and then finish the preparation before the customers come to his noshery for the snacks; in other words, he must make decision in an on-line fashion. His goal is to minimize the competitive ratio, defined as _: C_A()/C_OPT(), where denotes a sequence of numbers of customers, C _OPT() is the cost of satisfying by an optimal off-line algorithm, and C _A() is the cost of satisfying by an on-line algorithm. In this paper we give a competitive algorithm for on-line number of snacks problem P1, the Extreme Numbers Harmonic Algorithm(ENHA), with competitive ratio 1+p(M-m)/(M+m), where M and m are two extreme numbers of customers over the total period of the game, and p is a ratio concerning the cost of the two types of situations, and then prove that this competitive ratio is the best one if an on-line player chooses a fixed number of shares of snacks for any sequence of numbers of customers. We also discuss several variants of the NSP and give some results for it. Finally, we propose a conjecture for the on-line NSP.     

Messbare Mengen von Massen und Inhalten

Let X be a completely regular space. The customary -field is the coarsest -field on the space of Bairemeasures on X which makes (A) measurable for any Baire set A. We compare the customary -field with the Baire and Borel -field induced by the weak* topology which lies on the dual space C(X). In (2.3) it is shown that the customary -field is just the Baire -field. In part 3 necessary and sufficient conditions are given under which the set of -smooth measures is measurable with respect to the Borel -field which lies on the positive cone of the space of finitely additive, regular measures C(X). Finally, a decomposition theorem for generalized kernels is proved. The -smooth part of a generalized kernel is a kernel again if certain conditions are fulfilled.     

Inner functions and related spaces of pseudocontinuable functions

Let be an inner function, let C, ¦¦=1. Then the harmonic function [(+)]/(–)] is the Poisson integral of a singular measure D. N. Clark's known theorem enables us to identify in a natural manner the space H² H² with the space L² ( ).Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova Akademii Nauk SSSR, Vol. 170, pp. 7–33, 1989.     

Noncommutative Valuation Rings of the Quotient Artinian Ring of a Skew Polynomial Ring

Let R be a Dubrovin valuation ring of a simple Artinian ring Q and let Q[X,] be the skew polynomial ring over Q in an indeterminate X, where is an automorphism of Q. Consider the natural map from Q[X,]_XQ[X,] to Q, where Q[X,]_XQ[X,] is the localization of Q[X,] at the maximal ideal XQ[X,] and set , the complete inverse image of R by . It is shown that is a Dubrovin valuation ring of Q(X,) (the quotient ring of Q[X,]) and it is characterized in terms of X and Q. In the case where R is an invariant valuation ring, the given automorphism is classified into five types, in order to study the structure of (the value group of ). It is shown that there is a commutative valuation ring R with automorphism which belongs to each type and which makes Abelian or non-Abelian. Furthermore, some examples are used to show that several ideal-theoretic properties of a Dubrovin valuation ring of Q with finite dimension over its center, do not necessarily hold in the case where Q is infinite-dimensional. Presented by A. VerschorenMathematics Subject Classifications (2000) 16L99, 16S36, 16W60.     

Subgroups of the full linear group over a semilocal ring

Let be a semilocal ring (a factor ring with respect to the Jacobson-Artin radical) for which the residue field C/m of its center C with respect to each maximal idealmC contains no fewer than seven elements. The structure of subgroups H in the full linear group GL(n, ) containing the group of diagonal matrices is considered. The main theorem: for any subgroup H there is a uniquely determined D-net of ideals such that G()HN(), whereN() is the normalizer of the D-net subgroup . A transparent classification of subgroups GL(n, ) normalizable by diagonal matrices is thus obtained. Further, the factor groupN()/G() is studied.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova AN SSSR, Vol. 75, pp. 32–34, 1978.     

The Parametric Buffer Phenomenon for a Singularly Perturbed Telegraph Equation with a Pendulum Nonlinearity

We consider the boundary-value problem u _tt + u _t + (1 + cos2)sin u =² u _xx, u _x|_x=0=u_x|_x==0, where 0<1, =(1+)t, ,> 0, and the sign of is arbitrary. It is proved that for an appropriate choice of the external parameters and and for sufficiently small the number of exponentially stable solutions 2-periodic in can be made equal to an arbitrary predefined number.     

A skew-product which is Bernoulli

We show that if is the shift on sequences of {0,1} and is the entropy zero transformation used by Ornstein in constructing a counter-example toPinsker's conjecture, then the skew-product transformationT defined byT(x,y)=(x, ^x0 y) is Bernoulli. ThisT is conditionally mixing with respect to the independent generator for , a partition with full entropy.This research was done while the first author was a visitor at Stanford, supported in part by NSF Grant MP-575-08324.     

Self-intersections of 1-dimensional random walks

Summary Consider a random walk S _n on the integers, where the steps _i have mean 0 and variance ². Let T be the time of first self-intersection of the random walk. It is shown that, as , T grows at rate ^2/3. More precisely, T^2/3 has a non-degenerate limit distribution which can be described in terms of Brownian motion local time.Research supported by National Science Foundation Grant MCS80-02698.     

The convergence rates of empirical Bayes estimation in a multiple linear regression model

Empirical Bayes (EB) estimation of the parameter vector =(,²) in a multiple linear regression modelY=X+ is considered, where is the vector of regression coefficient, N(0,² I) and ² is unknown. In this paper, we have constructed the EB estimators of by using the kernel estimation of multivariate density function and its partial derivatives. Under suitable conditions it is shown that the convergence rates of the EB estimators areO(n ^{-(k-1)(k-2)/k(2k+p+1)}), where the natural numberk3, 1/3<<1, andp is the dimension of vector .The project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Subgroups of the general symplectic group containing the group of diagonal matrices

There are described the subgroups of the general symplectic group =GSp(2n, R) over a commutative semilocal ring R, containing the group of symplectic diagonal matrices. For each such subgroup P there is uniquely defined a symplectic D-net a such that ()pN(), where () is the net subgroup in corresponding to (cf. RZhMat, 1977, 5A288), and N() is its normalizer. The quotient group N × ()/() is calculated. There are also considered subgroups in Sp(2n, R). Analogous results for subgroups of the general linear group were obtained earlier in RZhMat, 1978, 9A237.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova AN SSSR, Vol. 103, pp. 31–47, 1980.     

Harmonic functions on nilpotent groups

For a probability measure on a locally compact groupG which is not supported on any proper closed subgroup, an elementF ofL (G) is called -harmonic if F(st)d(t)=F(s), for almost alls inG. Constant functions are -harmonic and it is known that for abelianG all -harmonic functions are constant. For other groups it is known that non constant -harmonic functions exist and the question of whether such functions exist on nilpotent groups is open, though a number of partial results are known. We show that for nilpotent groups of class 2 there are no non constant -harmonic functions. Our methods also enable us to give new proofs of results similar to the known partial results.     

Large deviations for the invariant measure of a reaction-diffusion equation with non-Gaussian perturbations

Summary In this paper we establish a large deviations principle for the invariant measure of the non-Gaussian stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) _t v =v +f(x,v )+(x,v ) . Here is a strongly-elliptic second-order operator with constant coefficients, h:=DH _xx-h, and the space variablex takes values on the unit circleS ¹. The functionsf and are of sufficient regularity to ensure existence and uniqueness of a solution of the stochastic PDE, and in particular we require that 0<mM wherem andM are some finite positive constants. The perturbationW is a Brownian sheet. It is well-known that under some simple assumptions, the solutionv ² is aC ^k (S ¹)-valued Markov process for each 0<1/2, whereC (S ¹) is the Banach space of real-valued continuous functions onS ¹ which are Hölder-continuous of exponent . We prove, under some further natural assumptions onf and which imply that the zero element ofC (S ¹) is a globally exponentially stable critical point of the unperturbed equation _t ⁰ = ⁰ +f(x,⁰), that has a unique stationary distributionv ^K, on (C (S ¹), (C ^K (S ¹))) when the perturbation parameter is small enough. Some further calculations show that as tends to zero,v ^K, tends tov ^K,0, the point mass centered on the zero element ofC (S ¹). The main goal of this paper is to show that in factv ^K, is governed by a large deviations principle (LDP). Our starting point in establishing the LDP forv ^K, is the LDP for the process , which has been shown in an earlier paper. Our methods of deriving the LDP forv ^K, based on the LDP for are slightly non-standard compared to the corresponding proofs for finite-dimensional stochastic differential equations, since the state spaceC (S ¹) is inherently infinite-dimensional.This work was performed while the author was with the Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA     

A new approach to acceleration of convergence of a sequence of vectors

The vector epsilon algorithm (VEA) has many advantages as a method for accelerating the convergence of a sequence of vectors. A vector Padé approximantP (z)/Q(z) of type [n/2k] can be associated with each entry of the vector epsilon table. In the scalar case, it reduces to the Padé approximantp(z)/q(z) of type [n–k/k]. It is thought that the disadvantages of VEA are (indirectly) attributable to the positivity property ofQ(x), x , recalling that in the scalar case,Q(z)q(z) ². In this paper, a specification of a polynomial (z) of degreek is given, such that (z)²Q(z). The coefficients of (z) specify an accelerator for a sequence of vectors which should avoid many of the numerical difficulties of VEA.This work was supported in part by the EC-HCM project ROLLS under contract CHRX-CT93-0416.     

A compactness property of Dedekind σ-completef-rings

We prove that Dedekind -completef-rings are boundedly countably atomic compact in the language (+, –, ·,, , ). This means that whenever is a countable set of atomic formulae with parameters from some Dedekind -completef-ringA every finite subsystem of which admits a solution in some fixed productK of bounded closed intervals ofA, then admits a solution inK.Presented by M. Henriksen.     

More projective geometry associated with unramified double covers of curves of genus four

Sunto Sia : YY un rivestimento doppio non diramato di una curva di genere quattro definita su C e a moduli generali. Sia il punto di 2-divisione associate a . In questa nota si studia il sistema 2 delle quardriche di contatto al modello canonico di Y, associato al dato rivestimento.e si esplicita una biezione tra l'insieme delle theta-caratteristiche dispari di Y che diffeiscono per e l'insieme dell theta caratteristiche dispari dell curve di genere tre la cui Jacobiana e isomorfa (come v.a.p.p.) alla varieta di Prym P(f Y Y)     

On the cauchy problem for some non-Kowalewskian equations inD {σ} L2 (*)

A pseudo-differential operator is considered, which generalizes some peculiar non-Kowalewskian operators of 2-evolution type. A result is proved about the well-posedness of the Cauchy problem inD _{} ^L2 , where 1 is Gevrey index.     

Majorants and Extreme Points of Unit Balls in Bernstein Spaces

The Bernstein space B ^p () (1 $$ " align="middle" border="0"> 0) is the set of functions from L ^p( ) having Fourier transforms (in the sense of generalized functions) with supports in the compact segment [- , ]. Every function f has an analytic continuation onto the complex plane, which is an entire function of exponential type . The spaces B ^p ()\, are conjugate Banach spaces. Therefore, the closed unit ball in B ^p () has a rich set of extreme (boundary) points: coincides with the weakly ^* closed convex hull of its extreme points. Since, for 1< p< , B ^p () is a uniformly convex space, only the balls and have nontrivially arranged sets of extreme points. In this paper, in terms of zeros of entire functions, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions of extremeness for functions from .     

Flag-Transitive 2-Designs Arising from Line-Spreads in PG(2n-1,2)

A Singer cycle in GL(n,q) is an element of order q permuting cyclically all the nonzero vectors. Let be a Singer cycle in GL(2n,2). In this note we shall count the number of lines in PG (2n-1,2) whose orbit under the subgroup of index 3 in the Singer group is a spread. The lines constituting such a spread are permuted cyclically by the group ³, hence gives rise to a flag-transitive 2-(2²ⁿ ,4,1) design.     

Taut Distance-Regular Graphs of Odd Diameter

Let denote a bipartite distance-regular graph with diameter D 4, valency k 3, and distinct eigenvalues ₀ > ₁ > ··· > _D. Let M denote the Bose-Mesner algebra of . For 0 i D, let E _i denote the primitive idempotent of M associated with _i . We refer to E ₀ and E _D as the trivial idempotents of M. Let E, F denote primitive idempotents of M. We say the pair E, F is taut whenever (i) E, F are nontrivial, and (ii) the entry-wise product E F is a linear combination of two distinct primitive idempotents of M. We show the pair E, F is taut if and only if there exist real scalars , such that _{i + 1 i + 1} – _{i – 1 i – 1} = _i ( _{i + 1} – _{i – 1}) + _i ( _{i + 1} – _{i – 1}) + (1 i D – 1)where ₀, ₁, ..., _D and ₀, ₁, ..., _D denote the cosine sequences of E, F, respectively. We define to be taut whenever has at least one taut pair of primitive idempotents but is not 2-homogeneous in the sense of Nomura and Curtin. Assume is taut and D is odd, and assume the pair E, F is taut. We show

The convolution equation of Choquet and Deny on [IN]-groups

Let be a probability measure on a locally compact groupG. A real Borel functionf onG is called -harmonic if it satisfies the convolution equation *f=f. Given that isnonsingular with its translates, we show that the bounded -harmonic functions are constant on a class of groups including the almost connected [IN]-groups. If is nondegenerate and absolutely continuous, we solve the more general equation *= for positive measure on those groups which are metrizable and separable.Supported by Hong Kong RGC Earmarked Grant and CUHK Direct Grant