Optimal Stopping Problem with a Vector-Valued Reward Function

In this note, using the well-known method of scalarization, we give an explicit characterization of the Pareto optimal stopping time for a vector-valued optimal stopping problem with only two reward functions. The present problem is a natural generalization of the classical McDonald-Siegel optimal stopping problem.     

投资和再保险策略下保险公司的最优合并时刻问题

本文考虑的是允许采用比例再保险策略和投资策略的两个保险公司如何寻找最优合并时刻的问题.两个保险公司的风险过程由漂移布朗运动刻画,目标为最大化它们的生存概率.各个公司的安全负荷系数和波动系数在决定两公司是否要合并时起到了关键作用.决定合并后,公司合并费用,合并前后公司的生存概率状况在决定最优合并时刻时起到了关键作用.我们分两种情况讨论了这个问题并分别给出相应情况下的最优策略和值函数.     

含不动产项目的保险公司再保险-投资策略

站在保险公司管理者的角度, 考虑存在不动产项目投资机会时保险公司的再保险--投资策略问题. 假定保险公司可以投资于不动产项目、风险证券和无风险证券, 并通过比例再保险控制风险, 目标是最小化保险公司破产概率并求得相应最佳策略, 包括: 不动产项目投资时机、 再保险比例以及投资于风险证券的金额. 运用混合随机控制-最优停时方法, 得到最优值函数及最佳策略的显式解. 结果表明, 当且仅当其盈余资金多于某一水平(称为投资阈值)时保险公司投资于不动产项目. 进一步的数值算例分析表明: (a)~不动产项目投资的阈值主要受项目收益率影响而与投资金额无明显关系, 收益率越高则投资阈值越低; (b)~市场环境较好(牛市)时项目的投资阈值降低; 反之, 当市场环境较差(熊市)时投资阈值提高.     

An iterative procedure for solving integral equations related to optimal stopping problems

We present an iterative algorithm for computing values of optimal stopping problems for one-dimensional diffusions on finite time intervals. The method is based on a time discretization of the initial model and a construction of discretized analogues of the associated integral equation for the value function. The proposed iterative procedure converges in a finite number of steps and delivers in each step a lower or an upper bound for the discretized value function on the whole time interval. We also give remarks on applications of the method for solving the integral equations related to several optimal stopping problems.     

Optimal Controller for Dithered Systems with Backlash or Hysteresis

Dither is a high-frequency signal introduced into a nonlinear system to improve the system performance. A nonlinearity with memory (backlash, hysteresis) is considered in this paper; a dither of a given amplitude is being injected at the input of the nonlinearity. The dither can effectively eliminate memory of the nonlinearity. The significance of the dither frequency lies in its effect on the deviation of the dithered system from its corresponding model, the smoothed system, in which the nonlinearity is a smooth function. The deviation amount can be improved as the dither frequency increases. If the dither has a sufficiently high frequency, the outputs of the smoothed system and the dithered system can be made as close as desired. This enables us to predict the stability of the dithered system by establishing the stability of the smoothed system.     

时变需求等量进货情形下集成供应链生产订货策略研究

构建了一个包含原料采购、生产和销售过程的集成供应链模型,研究了由原料、生产商和销售商产品构成的三层库存系统的生产订货问题。在有限的规划期内,销售商每次进货量相同,生产商按照EOQ模型采购原材料。以最小化供应链系统的总运营成本为目标,构建一个混合整数非线性规划模型,寻找销售商最优订货方案和生产商最佳生产策略。首先利用网络优化方法求解生产商的最优生产计划,其次利用定界穷举法寻求销售商最优的订货周期,给出了具体的计算方法和Matlab程序。通过算例分析验证了算法的有效性,并研究了各参数对最小费用及最优解的影响。     

Optimal harvest strategy for even‐aged stands with price uncertainty and risk of natural disturbances

We present a reservation price model to examine the joint impacts of natural disturbances and stumpage price uncertainty on the optimal harvesting decision for even‐aged forest stands. We consider a landowner who manages a loblolly pine stand to produce timber and amenities, under age‐dependent risk of wildfires and uncertainty in future timber prices. We show that the incorporation of risk of wildfires decreases the optimal reservation prices. The inclusion of risk of wildfires leads to lower land values and reduces the mean harvest age compared with the case of no‐risk of wildfires. Higher economic gains are obtained with the reservation price strategy compared with the deterministic rotation age model—a difference in the land value of $2,326 ha^?1 (21%) between the two approaches. Recommendations for Resource Managers

• Our adaptive harvest strategy shows that the incorporation of risk of wildfires decreases the optimal reservation prices compared with the case of no‐risk of wildfires.
• Low reservation prices—a price that makes the landowner indifferent between harvesting or waiting longer—result in lower economic benefits for landowners and potential conversions of lands to nonforest use.
• Forest management practices oriented to reduce the effects of catastrophic disturbances, for example, creating a more complex forest structure with different stand densities, become imperative to ensure the sustainability of forestlands in the US South.
• Our analysis also suggests that the valuation of forestry investments should consider not only the risk of catastrophic events but also uncertainty in future timber prices. Higher appraisals of land value are obtained when timber price uncertainty is explicitly recognized, providing financial incentives for landowners to invest in forestry.

     

L p Estimates for Maxwell's Equations with Source Term

The goal of this paper is to establish interior and global L ^p -type estimates for the solutions of Maxwell's equations with source term in a domain filled with two different materials separated by a ² interface. The usual elliptic estimates cannot be applied directly, due to the singularity of the dielectric permittivity. A special curl-div decomposition is introduced for the electric field to reduce the problem to an elliptic equation in divergence form with jump coefficients. The potential analysis and the jump condition lead to the interior L ^p estimates which are superior to the straightforward Nash-Moser estimates. The reduction procedure is expected to be useful for future numerical simulation. Because of the natural physical requirements, the boundary condition is nonlocal and involves a first order pseudo-differential operator, the boundary estimate is established by delicate new maximum principles and Riesz convexity arguments. These estimates are then employed to solve a nonlinear optics problem that arises in the modeling of surface enhanced second-harmonic generation of nonlinear diffractive optics in periodic structures (gratings).     

The evolution dam problem for a compressible fluid with nonlinear Darcy's law and Dirichlet boundary condition

In this paper, we consider the evolution dam problem (P) related to a compressible fluid flow governed by a generalized nonlinear Darcy's law with Dirichlet boundary conditions on some part of the boundary. We establish existence of a solution for this problem. We choose a convenient regularized problem (P_?) for which we prove the existence and uniqueness of solution using the comparison Lemma 2.1 and the Schauder fixed‐point theorem. Then, we pass to the limit, when ? goes to 0, to get a solution for our problem. Moreover, we will see another approach for the incompressible case where we pass to the limit in (P), when α goes to 0, to get a solution.     

Optimality conditions for n x n infinite-order parabolic coupled systems with control constraints and general performance index

W. Kotarski Institute of Informatics, Silesian University, Bedzinska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland Email: bahaa_gm{at}hotmail.com Email: kotarski{at}gate.math.us.edu.pl Received on March 14, 2006; Accepted on December 20, 2006 A distributed control problem for n x n parabolic coupled systemsinvolving operators with infinite order is considered. The performanceindex is more general than the quadratic one and has an integralform. Constraints on controls are imposed. Making use of theDubovitskii–Milyutin theorem, the necessary and sufficientconditions of optimality are derived for the Dirichlet problem.Yet, the problem considered here is more general than the problemsin El-Saify & Bahaa (2002, Optimal control for n x n hyperbolicsystems involving operators of infinite order. Math. Slovaca,52, 409–424), El-Zahaby (2002, Optimal control of systemsgoverned by infinite order operators. Proceeding (Abstracts)of the International Conference of Mathematics (Trends and Developments)of the Egyptian Mathematical Society, Cairo, Egypt, 28–31December 2002. J. Egypt. Math. Soc. (submitted)), Gali &El-Saify (1983, Control of system governed by infinite orderequation of hyperbolic type. Proceeding of the InternationalConference on Functional-Differential Systems and Related Topics,vol. III. Poland, pp. 99–103), Gali et al. (1983, Distributedcontrol of a system governed by Dirichlet and Neumann problemsfor elliptic equations of infinite order. Proceeding of theInternational Conference on Functional-Differential Systemsand Related Topics, vol. III. Poland, pp. 83–87) and Kotarskiet al. (200b, Optimal control problem for a hyperbolic systemwith mixed control-state constraints involving operator of infiniteorder. Int. J. Pure Appl. Math., 1, 241–254).     

Adaptive wavelet schemes for an elliptic control problem with Dirichlet boundary control

An adaptive algorithm based on wavelets is proposed for the fast numerical solution of control problems governed by elliptic boundary value problems with Dirichlet boundary control. A quadratic cost functional representing Sobolev norms of the state and a regularization in terms of the control is to be minimized subject to linear constraints in weak form. In particular, the constraints are formulated as a saddle point problem that allows to handle the varying boundary conditions explicitly. In the framework of (biorthogonal) wavelets, a representer for the functional is derived in terms of ₂-norms of wavelet expansion coefficients and the constraints are written in form of an ₂ automorphism. Standard techniques from optimization are then used to deduce the resulting first order necessary conditions as a (still infinite) system in ₂. Applying the machinery developed in [8,9] which has been extended to control problems in [14], an adaptive method is proposed which can be interpreted as an inexact gradient method for the control. In each iteration step, in turn the primal and the adjoint saddle point system are solved up to a prescribed accuracy by an adaptive iterative Uzawa algorithm for saddle point problems which has been proposed in [10]. Under these premises, it can be shown that the adaptive algorithm containing now three layers of iterations is asymptotically optimal. This means that the convergence rate achieved for computing the solution up to a desired target tolerance is asymptotically the same as the wavelet-best N-term approximation of the solution, and the total computational work is proportional to the number of computational unknowns. AMS subject classification 65K10, 65N99, 93B40Angela Kunoth: This work has been supported partly by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 611) at the Universität Bonn and by the European Communitys Human Potential Programme under contract HPRN-CT-2002-00286 Breaking Complexity.     

Multiple positive solutions for semilinear elliptic equations with critical weighted Hardy-Sobolev exponents

The existence and multiplicity of positive solutions are obtained for a class of semilinear elliptic equations with critical weighted Hardy-Sobolev exponents and the concave-convex nonlinearity by variational methods and some analysis techniques.     

Surplus analysis for a class of Coxian interclaim time distributions with applications to mixed Erlang claim amounts

Gerber-Shiu analysis with the generalized penalty function proposed by Cheung et al. (in press-a) is considered in the Sparre Andersen risk model with a K_n family distribution for the interclaim time. A defective renewal equation and its solution for the present Gerber-Shiu function are derived, and their forms are natural for analysis which jointly involves the time of ruin and the surplus immediately prior to ruin. The results are then used to find explicit expressions for various defective joint and marginal densities, including those involving the claim causing ruin and the last interclaim time before ruin. The case with mixed Erlang claim amounts is considered in some detail.     

Quantum Brownian motion and generalizations of Hermite polynomials

We introduce new families of orthogonal polynomials H_D,n, motivated by the non-equilibrium evolution of a quantum Brownian particle (qBp). The H_D,n’s generalize non-trivially the standard Hermite polynomials, employed for classical Brownian motion. We treat several models (labelled by D) for a non-equilibrium qBp, by means of the Wigner function W, in the presence of a “heat bath” at thermal equilibrium, with and without ab initio friction. For long times (for a suitable class of initial conditions), the non-equilibrium Wigner function W should approach, in some sense, the (time-independent) equilibrium Wigner function W_eq,D, which describes the thermal equilibrium of the qBp with the “heat bath” and plays a central role. W_eq,D is chosen to be the weight function which orthogonalizes the H_D,n’s. New results on W_eq,D and on the H_D,n’s are reported. We justify the key role of the H_D,n’s as follows. Using the H_D,n’s, moments W_eq,D,n and W_n are introduced for W_eq,D and W, respectively. At equilibrium, all moments W_eq,D,n except the lowest one (W_eq,D,0) vanish identically. Off-equilibrium, one expects that, for long times (for suitable initial conditions): (i) all non-equilibrium moments W_n (except the lowest moment W₀), will approach zero, while (ii) the lowest non-equilibrium moment W₀ will tend to W_eq,D,0(≠0). To complete the justification, we outline how the approximate long-time non-equilibrium theories determined by W₀ for the different models (D) yield Smoluchowski equations and irreversible evolutions of the qBp towards thermal equilibrium.