Power-series approximations for the optimal feedback control of noisy nonlinear systems

Power-series methods are developed for designing approximately optimal state regulators for a nonlinear system subject to white Gaussian random disturbances. The performance index of the control is an ensemble average of a quadratic form. A perfect observation of the system state is assumed. When the system nonlinearity is small and it is characterized by a polynomial function of the state, a definite method is presented to construct a suboptimal feedback control of a power-series form in a small nonlinearity parameter. If the variance of noise is small, an alternative method is also applicable which yields a suboptimal control in a power series with respect to a variance parameter. A simple one-dimensional problem is examined to make comparison between controls of the two different forms.     

Adaptive Control of a Partially Observed Discrete Time Markov Process

An adaptive control problem of a discrete time Markov process that is completely observed in a fixed recurrent domain and is partially observed elsewhere is formulated and a solution is given by constructing an approximately self-optimal strategy. The state space of the Markov process is either a closed subset of Euclidean space or a countable set. Another adaptive control problem is solved where the process is always only partially observed but there is a family of random times when the process evaluated at these times is a family of independent, identically distributed random variables. Accepted 26 April 1996     

Strongly Regular Rings and SF-rings

in this paper, new characteristic properties of strongly regular rings are' given.Relations between certain generalizations of duo rings are also considered. The followingconditions are shown to be equivalent: (1) R is a strongly regular ring; (2) R is a left SFring such that every product of two independent closed left ideals of R is zero; (3) R is aright SF-ring such that every product of two independent closed left ideals of R is zero; (4)R is a left SF-ring whose every special left annihilator is a quasi-ideal; (5) R is a right SFring whose every special left annihilator is a quasi-ideal; (6) R is a left SF-ring whose everymaximal left ideal is a quasi-ideal; (7) R is a right SF-ring whose every maximal left ideal isa quasi-ideal; (8) R is a left SF-ring such that the set N(R) of all nilpotent elements of R isa quasi-ideal; (9) R is a right SF-ring such that N(R) is a quasi-ideal.     

Maximal and Minimal Semilattices on Ordered Sets

The map which takes an element of an ordered set to its principal ideal is a natural embedding of that ordered set into its powerset, a semilattice. If attention is restricted to all finite intersections of the principal ideals of the original ordered set, then an embedding into a much smaller semilattice is obtained. In this paper the question is answered of when this construction is, in a certain arrow-theoretic sense, minimal. Specifically, a characterisation is given, in terms of ideals and filters, of those ordered sets which admit a so-called minimal embedding into a semilattice. Similarly, a candidate maximal semilattice on an ordered set can be constructed from the principal filters of its elements. A characterisation of those ordered sets that extend to a maximal semilattice is given. Finally, the notion of a free semilattice on an ordered set is given, and it is shown that the candidate maximal semilattice in the embedding-theoretic sense is the free object.     

马氏环境中可数马氏链的Poisson极限率

研究了马氏环境中的可数马氏链,主要证明了过程于小柱集上的回返次数是渐近地服从Poisson分布。为此,引入熵函数h,首先给出了马氏环境中马氏链的Shannon-Mc Millan-Breiman定理,还给出了一个非马氏过程Posson逼近的例子。当环境过程退化为一常数序列时,便得到可数马氏链的Poisson极限定理。这是有限马氏链Pitskel相应结果的拓广。     

A posteriori joint detection of a recurring tuple of reference fragments in a quasi-periodic sequence

The problem of joint detection of a recurring tuple of reference fragments in a noisy numerical quasi-periodic sequence is solved in the framework of the a posteriori (off-line) approach. It is assumed that (i) the total number of fragments in the sequence is known, (ii) the index of the sequence member corresponding to the beginning of a fragment is a deterministic (not random) value, and (iii) a sequence distorted by an additive uncorrelated Gaussian noise is available for observation. It is shown that the problem consists of testing a set of simple hypotheses about the mean of a random Gaussian vector. A specific feature of the problem is that the cardinality of the set grows exponentially as the vector dimension (i.e., the length of the observed sequence) and the number of fragments in the sequence increase. It is established that the search for a maximum-likelihood hypothesis is equivalent to the search for arguments that maximize a special auxiliary objective function with linear inequality constraints. It is shown that this function is maximized by solving the basic extremum problem. It is proved that this problem is solvable in polynomial time. An exact algorithm for its solution is substantiated that underlies an algorithm guaranteeing optimal (maximum-likelihood) detection of a recurring tuple of reference fragments. The results of numerical simulation demonstrate the noise stability of the detection algorithm.     

Generalising a characterisation of Hermitian curves

This article proves a characterisation of the classical unital that is a generalisation of a characterisation proved in 1982 by Lefèvre-Percsy. It is shown that if is a Buekenhout-Metz unital with respect to a line in such that a line of not through meets in a Baer subline, then is classical. An immediate corollary is that if is a unital in PG such that is Buekenhout-Metz with respect to two distinct lines, then is classical. Received 5 August 1999; revised 15 February 2000.     

Mini-Maximizers for Reaction-Diffusion Systems with Skew-Gradient Structure

A reaction-diffusion system with skew-gradient structure is a sort of activator-inhibitor system that consists of two gradient systems coupled in a skew-symmetric way. Any steady state of such a system corresponds to a critical point of some functional. The aim of this paper is to study the relation between a stability property as a steady state of the reaction-diffusion system and a mini-maximizing property as a critical point of the functional. It is shown that a steady state of the skew-gradient system is stable regardless of time constants if and only if it is a mini-maximizer of the functional. It is also shown that the mini-maximizing property is closely related with the diffusion-induced instability. Moreover, by using the property that any mini-maximizer on a convex domain is spatially homogeneous, quite a general instability criterion is obtained for some activator-inhibitor systems. These results are applied to the diffusive FitzHugh-Nagumo system and the Gierer-Meinhardt system.     

A replacement model for an additive damage model with restoration

A system existing in a random environment receives shocks at random points of time. Each shock causes a random amount of damage which accumulates over time. A breakdown can occur only upon the occurrence of a shock according to a known failure probability function. Upon failure the system is replaced by a new identical one with a given cost. When the system is replaced before failure, a smaller cost is incurred. Thus, there is an incentive to attempt to replace the system before failure. The damage process is controlled by means of a maintenance policy which causes the accumulated damage to decrease at a known restoration rate. We introduce sufficient conditions under which an optimal replacement policy which minimizes the total expected discounted cost is a control limit policy. The relationship between the undiscounted case and the discounted case is examined. Finally, an example is given illustrating computational procedures.     

Maximal and Sylow Subgroups of Solvable Finite Groups

The structure of finite solvable groups in which any Sylow subgroup is the product of two cyclic subgroups is studied. In particular, it is proved that the nilpotent length of such a group is no greater than 4. It is also proved that the nilpotent length of a finite solvable group in which the index of any maximal subgroup is either a prime or the square of a prime or the cube of a prime does not exceed 5.