Sufficient optimality conditions and duality in vector optimization with invex-convexlike functions

We prove the Kuhn-Tucker sufficient optimality condition, the Wolfe duality, and a modified Mond-Weir duality for vector optimization problems involving various types of invex-convexlike functions. The class of such functins contains many known generalized convex functions. As applications, we demonstrate that, under invex-convexlikeness assumptions, the Pontryagin maximum principle is a sufficient optimality condition for cooperative differential games. The Wolfe duality is established for these games.The author is indebted to the referees and Professor W. Stadler for valuable remarks and comments, which have been used to revise considerably the paper.     

Oscillations of Higher Order Neutral Differential Equations with Variable Coefficients

We obtain sufficient conditions for the oscillation of all solutions of the higher order neutral differential equation dⁿ/d^m[y(t) + P(t) y(t - μ)] + Q(t) y(t ?σ) = 0, t ≧ t₀ where n ≧ 1, P ? C[t₀, ∞), R ], Q ? C[t₀, ∞), R ] and τ, μ ? R ⁺. Our results extend and improve several known results in the literature.     

Quantum Thermal Effect of Dirac Particles in a Nonuniformly Rectilinearly Accelerating Black Hole with Electric Charge, Magnetic Charge, and Cosmological Constant

The Hawking radiation of Dirac particles in an arbitrarily rectilinearly accelerating Kinnersley black hole with electromagnetic charge and cosmological constant is investigated by using the generalized tortoise coordinate transformation. Both the location and the temperature of the event horizon depend on the time and the polar angle. The Hawking thermal radiation spectrum of Dirac particles is also derived.     

Influence of preparation methods on structure and properties of PA6/PA66 blends: A comparison of melt‐mixing and in situ blending

The blends composed of polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyamide 66 (PA66) were obtained using two different preparation methods, one of which was the melt‐mixing through a twin‐screw extruder and the subsequent injection molding; and the other, the in situ blending through anionic polymerization of ε‐caprolactam in the presence of PA66. For the former, there existed a remarkable improvement in toughness but a drastic drop in strength and modulus; however, for the latter, a reverse but less significant trend of mechanical properties change appeared. Various characterizations were conducted, including the analyses of crystalline morphology, crystallographic form, and crystallization and melting behaviors using polarized optical microscopy (POM), wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively; observation of morphology of fractured surface with scanning electron microscope (SEM); measurement of glass transition through dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA); and the intermolecular interaction as well as the interchange reaction between the two components by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT‐IR) and ¹³C solution NMR. The presence and absence of interchange reaction was verified for the in situ and melt‐mixed blends, respectively. It is believed that the transreaction resulted in a drop in glass transition temperature (T_g) for the in situ blends, contrary to an increase of T_g with increasing PA66 content for the melt‐mixed ones. And the two kinds of fabrication methods led to significant differences in the crystallographic form, spherulite size and crystalline content and perfection as well. Accordingly, it is attempted to explain the reasons for the opposite trends of changes in the mechanical properties for these two blends. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1176–1186, 2007     

A floating-point genetic algorithm for solving the unit commitment problem

This paper proposes a floating-point genetic algorithm (FPGA) to solve the unit commitment problem (UCP). Based on the characteristics of typical load demand, a floating-point chromosome representation and an encoding–decoding scheme are designed to reduce the complexities in handling the minimum up/down time limits. Strategic parameters of the FPGA are characterized in detail, i.e., the evaluation function and its constraints, population size, operation styles of selection, crossover operation and probability, mutation operation and probability. A dynamic combination scheme of genetic operators is formulated to explore and exploit the FPGA in the non-convex solution space and multimodal objective function. Experiment results show that the FPGA is a more effective technique among the various styles of genetic algorithms, which can be applied to the practical scheduling tasks in utility power systems.     

Magnetic calorimeter for registration of small energy release

A scheme of magnetic calorimeter for registration of rare events characterized by small energy release (cosmic rays, WIMPs, solitary X-ray quanta) is proposed. The calorimeter is brought to operation by adiabatic demagnetization, and its magnetic response is measured by a quantum interferometer (SQUID, A. Barone and G. Paterno, Physics and applications of Josephson Effect). Special consideration is given to the specific features of calorimeter operation in the ferromagnetic transition region. The trigger registration of ultrasmall energy release by a ferromagnetic system in the metastable state is described.     

Mathematical analysis of investment systems

Investment systems are studied using a framework that emphasize their profiles (the cumulative probability distribution on all the possible percentage gains of trades) and their log return functions (the expected average return per trade in logarithmic scale as a function of the investment size in terms of the percentage of the available capital). The efficiency index for an investment system, defined as the maximum of the log return function, is proposed as a measure to compare investment systems for their intrinsic merit. This efficiency index can be viewed as a generalization of Shannon's information rate for a communication channel. Applications are illustrated.