A Simple Proof for a Spectral Factorization Theorem

It is shown using simple methods that the transform Z(z), z C, of the coefficient sequence of the Wold decomposition ofany full-rank wide-sense stationary purely non-deterministicstochastic process satisfies (i) Z(z) H² (D) and (ii) Z^–1(z) H(D). Further it is shown that all spectral factors satisfying(i) and (ii) are equal up to right multiplication by orthogonalmatrices, and that among these the normalized (Z(0) =I) spectralfactors are equal to the transform of the Wold decomposition.An elementary proof of Youla's Theorem is then given togetherwith a simple proof that the rows of a Cholesky factor of abanded block Toeplitz matrix converge to the coefficients ofa stable matrix polynomial. Computer and Automation Institute of the Hungarian Academyof Sciences, Budapes, Hungary.     

Post-processing with computable error bounds for the finite element approximation of a nonlinear heat conduction problem

Email: ain{at}mcs.le.ac.uk Email: D.Kelly{at}unsw.edu.au^* Email: I.Sloan{at}unsw.edu.au^** Email: swang{at}cs.curtin.edu.au It is shown how the finite element approximation of a nonlinearheat conduction problem may be post-processed to yield enhancedapproximations to the solution and the flux at any point inthe domain. Sharp computable bounds on the accuracy of the post-processedapproximations are derived. A criterion is identified for guidingadaptive refinements of the finite element discretization. Anumerical example is given illustrating the theoretical results.     

Estimation and decomposition of cost efficiency in the health care food service sector: an extended stochastic frontier approach

K. M. Matawie School of Computing and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC NSW 1797, Australia Email: a.assaf{at}uws.edu.au Corresponding author. Email: k.matawie{at}uws.edu.au Received on 11 February 2007. Accepted on 14 September 2007. This paper introduces and implements an extended stochasticfrontier model to estimate and decompose cost efficiency (CE)in the health care foodservice sector. The interesting featureof this model is that it allows differentiation between thethree different types of efficiency: technical efficiency (TE),allocative efficiency (AE) and their associated CE. A completeillustration of these efficiencies is presented using a cross-sectionalsample of 101 hospital foodservice operations. Results showedthat the model and all its parameter coefficients were plausible,significant and satisfy all theoretical requirements. It wasalso clear that the average efficiency scores were lower forTE (80%) than AE (88%), indicating that TE is the main sourceof CE and requires further attention.     

Gearbox failure diagnosis based on vector autoregressive modelling of vibration data and dynamic principal component analysis

Email: mgt.liu{at}utoronto.ca Email: makis{at}mie.utoronto.ca Received on 4 August 2006. Accepted on 14 December 2006. An effective gearbox failure diagnosis helps prevent catastrophicgearbox failure and can contribute to significant economic benefits.This paper proposes a gear failure diagnosis method based onvector autoregressive modelling of high-frequency vibrationdata, dimensionality reduction applying dynamic principal componentanalysis (PCA) and condition monitoring using a multivariatecontrol chart. After extracting useful information from thevibration data obtained from distinct directions via dynamicPCA, a failure diagnosis scheme is implemented and tested usingreal gearbox vibration data. It is shown that the failure diagnosisscheme can indicate the gear teeth failure pattern when thegear is damaged, which has not been demonstrated in the previousstudies. For a comparison, PCA is applied to the same data set.The results show that the advantages of dynamic PCA over PCAfor failure diagnosis using vibration data consist not onlyin indicating more accurately the occurrence of incipient faultand the actual gear condition, but also in a much lower falsealarm rate.     

Convergence of Methods for the Numerical Solution of the Korteweg--de Vries Equation

We prove that a family of methods for the numerical solutionof the Korteweg—de Vries equation is convergent. Thisfamily includes as particular cases some known finite differenceand finite element schemes. It is also found that the stabilityproperties of the methods vary significantly with the treatmentof the non-linear term. On leave from Shanghai University of Science and Technology,Shanghai, China.     

Early discovery of individual firm insolvency

Email: wxding{at}uic.edu Received on 11 January 2006. Accepted on 21 November 2006. This paper proposes a new methodology for the early discoveryof individual firm insolvency without employing any other firm'sdata. The proposed individual-level model can be applied todifferent firms, regardless of industry type or asset size,and thereby overcomes the sample selection problem commonlyfound in aggregate-level prediction models. Unlike many previousstudies, which assume that the distributions of variables involveddo not change over time and that the variables follow a singleknown distribution, the proposed model can capture each individualfirm's potential multiple data-generating processes and determinethe actual distributions exhibited in its own data. Thus, itcaptures each individual firm's intrinsic heterogeneity. Anempirical study illustrates the greater predictive power ofthis model compared with the current conventional methods. Specifically,the predictive accuracy of the proposed model is 92.65% and77.45% for 2 and 5 years prior to actual bankruptcy, respectively.Moreover, the proposed model is adaptive and simple to implement.     

Controllability and observability of impulsive hybrid dynamic systems

Corresponding author, Email: cbsoh{at}auto.eee.ntu.ac.sg This paper considers the controllability and observability ofhybrid dynamic systems with impulsive switching of the otherwisecontinuously evolving state. It derives necessary and sufficientconditions for impulsive hybrid dynamic systems to be controllableand observable.     

Estimates of the region of attraction of continuous-time cascade systems

Xiao-Song Yang Department of Mathematics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China Huimin Li Departments of Mathematics and Control and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China Corresponding author. Email: yangxs{at}cqupt.edu.cn Received on May 1, 2006; Accepted on October 6, 2006 In this paper, we first present some new sufficient conditionsfor global asymptotic stability of continuous-time cascade systems.Then, we give some detailed results on the region of attractionof continuous-time cascade systems. Some examples are presentedto illustrate these results.     

A Note on Arrays of Oscillating Water Column Wave-energy Devices

Present address: Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Wornley, Godalming, Surrey. The work of Evans (1978) on oscillating water column wave-energydevices is extended to consider a linear array of such devices.The array is modelled by a single narrow tube in a canal plusits images in the canal walls. It is shown that such an arrayis generally less efficient at absorbing energy than the two-dimensionalmodel of the device considered by Evans (1978) but more efficientthan the three-dimensional model of a single device also consideredby Evans (1978).     

A semi-Markov maintenance model with credit rating application

Email: g.damico{at}unich.it Received on 6 December 2006. Accepted on 2 April 2008. The impact of a preventive rating maintenance policy on therating process is investigated through the definition of a semi-Markovmaintenance model with imperfect repair at random times. Theresults allow us to study the rating migrations process in thetransient and the asymptotic case.     

A multiple-criteria decision model with ranked inputs

Address for correspondence: G. Gregory, Laburnum Cottage, 10 Main Street, Milnthorpe, Cumbria, LA7 7PN. A model for multiple-criteria decision analysis is proposedwhere the input data consist of rankings of criteria and ofalternatives within each criterion. The analysis uses the approachof data-envelopment analysis, summing over the scores obtainedby this method. Examples of further assessment of the best alternativesare presented.     

Neural networks and flexible approximations

Email: cuny{at}cardiff.ac.uk This paper supports the view that neural networks are best seenas devices that can approximate a wide range of functions. Theauthors argue the need to consider the precise details of howthe approximations operate in practice. The paper shows howstandard network models can be regarded as polynomial functions,obtained from expanding exponential terms. Multivariate Taylor-seriesexpansions, obtained through the MAPLE software package, areused for this purpose. The expansions serve to cast light onthe role of the hidden nodes. Also considered is the relativedifficulty of fitting different types of function. Quadraticfunctions are compared with Gaussian shapes.     

Time integration of the non-linear Galerkin method

e-mail: bosco{at}mac.cie.uva.es, frutos@mac.cie.uva.es Numerical tests are presented that, for the Kuramoto-Sivashinskyand a reaction-diffusion equation, compare the non-linear Galerkinmethod with standard pseudospectral and pure spectral Galerkindiscretizations. The results show that, for these problems,the non-linear Galerkin method is not competitive with eitherpure spectral Galerkin or pseudospectral discretizations.     

Computation and parametrization of periodic and connecting orbits

Email: g.moore{at}ma.ic.ac.uk or na.gmoore New algorithms for the computation of periodic and connectingorbits of autonomous differential equations are developed. Previousmethods have parametrized these curves by the independent timevariable, but our procedure is based on the canonical arclengthparametrization.     

Therapy burden, drug resistance, and optimal treatment regimen for cancer chemotherapy

Email: boldrini{at}ime.unicamp.brAuthor to whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: michel{at}Incc.br Three nonlinear models of tumour cell growth under continuousdelivery of cycle nonspecific anticancer agents are studied.A dynamical optimization problem with the objective of minimizingthe final level of tumour cells is posed for these mathematicalsetups. The simplest setup does not possess toxicity constraints,whereas the other setups contain a dynamical equation describingthe therapy burden as a toxicity criterion. In addition, thethird setting contains the dynamics of drug resistant cells.A discussion conceming the optimal strategies of the respectivemodels is performed.     

Estimating vaccine coverage by using computer algebra

Email: altmannd{at}rki.deEmail: altmann{at}mathematik.hu-berlin.de The approach of N Gay for estimating the coverage of a multivalentvaccine from antibody prevalence data in certain age cohortsis complemented by using computer aided elimination theory ofvariables. Hereby, Gay's usage of numerical approximation canbe replaced by exact formulae which are surprisingly nice, too.     

Geometrically Derived Difference Formulae for the Numerical Integration of Trajectory Problems

The term "trajectory problem" is taken to include problems thatcan arise, for instance, in connection with contour plotting,or in the application of continuation methods, or during phaseplane analysis. Geometrical techniques are used to constructdifference methods for these problems to produce in turn explicitand implicit circularly exact formulae. Based on these formulae,a predictor-corrector method is derived which, when comparedwith a closely related standard method, shows improved performance.It is found that this latter method produces spurious limitcycles, and this behaviour is partly analysed. Finally, a simplevariable-step algorithm is constructed and tested. Visting Scientists at the National Research Institute for MathematicalSciences, CSIR, P.O. BOX 395. pretoria, South Africa     

Multiple criteria models for evaluation of competitive bids

Email: slliu{at}mail.east.net.cnAuthor for correspondence Email: mskklai{at}cityu.edu.hkEmail: sywang{at}iss02.iss.ac.cn In this paper, two general bidding systems are proposed to aidan owner to select one contractor based on multiple-attributedecision making models. They are named the general multiple-attributelower-bidder system and the general multiple-attribute average-bid system and are an extension (and refreshment) of the multiparameterbidding system and the average-bid method, respectively. Thepreference of the owner over the criteria (or attributes) relevantto construction work award is incorporated into the two newsystems if necessary and required by the owner. The values ofthe attributes (excluding the cost) required to be determinedby the owner in the multiparameter bidding system are not necessarilydetermined in the general multiple-attribute lower-bidder system.This reduces the burden to the owner. The two new bidding systemsare demonstrated via an example, and are compared with the multiparameterbidding system and the average-bid method. The comparisons showthat the preference of the owner in regard to the attributesrelevant to selection of contractors has a significant effecton bid evaluation. The two new systems preserve the form ofthe competitive bidding concept and can easily be applied topractice.     

Direct approximation of observer error linearization for nonlinear forced systems

Email: klaus{at}roebenack.de In this paper, we discuss a generalization of the extended Luenbergerobserver. Our approach can be interpreted as an approximateerror linearization. The design procedure which is formulatedin terms of Lie derivatives and Lie brackets can easily be implementedusing computer algebra software.