The development of management sciences/operational research discourses: surveying the trends in the US and the UK

This paper explores the trends in American and British management science/operational research (MS/OR) during the last 25 years. We argue that British MS/OR has developed a soft and systemic approach to MS/OR practice, which has resulted in the emergence of a number of interpretive and critical-oriented methodologies. American MS/OR practice has remained closed to the positivistic discourse. Using a set of keywords and authors’ names associated with the main features of the interpretive and critical MS discourses, we surveyed articles published in three major US MS/OR journals. We compare these results with trends in the UK MS/OR scene. Findings appear to confirm the different directions taken by the MS/OR practice across the Atlantic. The paper posits possible reasons underpinning these differences: firstly, the particular methodological path followed by the British MS/OR, from early ‘soft systems’ applications in the early 1970s to the now well-established ‘Problem Structuring Methods’; and secondly, continuous engagement between the systems and MS/OR British communities (a dialogue that seems not to have occurred in the US). The paper contributes to a reflection on the MS/OR historical developments and contrasts these developments in both countries, two areas of OR significantly under-researched.     

Order of the length of Boolean functions in the class of exclusive-OR sums of pseudoproducts

An exclusive-OR sum of pseudoproducts (ESPP) is a modufo-2 sum of products of affine (linear) Boolean functions. The length of an ESPP is defined as the number of summands in this sum; the length of a Boolean function in the class of ESPPs is the minimum length of an ESPP representing this function. The Shannon length function L ^ESPP(n) on the set of Boolean functions in the class of ESPPs is considered; it is defined as the maximum length of a Boolean function of n variables in the class of ESPPs. It is proved that L ^ESPP(n) = ? (2 ⁿ /n ²). The quantity L ^ESPP(n) also equals the least number l such that any Boolean function of n variables can be represented as a modulo-2 sum of at most l multiaffine functions.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis>-Dynamic Chromatic Number of Some Line Graphs

An r-dynamic coloring of a graph G is a proper coloring c of the vertices such that |c(N(v))| ≥ min {r, deg(v)}, for each v ∈ V (G). The r-dynamic chromatic number of a graph G is the smallest k such that G admits an r-dynamic coloring with k colors. In this paper, we obtain the r-dynamic chromatic number of the line graph of helm graphs H_n for all r between minimum and maximum degree of H_n. Moreover, our proofs are constructive, what means that we give also polynomial time algorithms for the appropriate coloring. Finally, as the first, we define an equivalent model for edge coloring.     

Representations of the Witt Lie Superalgebra with <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-character of Height One

Let W(n) be the Witt Lie superalgebra over an algebraically closed field k of characteristic p>2. We study the representations of W(n),n≥3 with p-character of height one. We prove that the Kac module always has a unique simple quotient and all simple modules are given in this way. In fact, most Kac modules are simple. We will determine the sufficient and necessary conditions such that the Kac module is simple. Moreover, composition factors of each Kac module can be determined. It is proved that the number of composition factors in each Kac module is at most 2.     

On the phase transitions of (<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>)-SAT

Call a sequence of k Boolean variables or their negations a k-tuple. For a set V of n Boolean variables, let T _k (V) denote the set of all 2 ^k n ^k possible k-tuples on V. Randomly generate a set C of k-tuples by including every k-tuple in T _k (V) independently with probability p, and let Q be a given set of q “bad” tuple assignments. An instance I = (C,Q) is called satisfiable if there exists an assignment that does not set any of the k-tuples in C to a bad tuple assignment in Q. Suppose that θ, q > 0 are fixed and ε = ε(n) > 0 be such that εlnn/lnlnn→∞. Let k ≥ (1 + θ) log₂ n and let \({p_0} = \frac{{\ln 2}}{{q{n^{k - 1}}}}\). We prove that

$$\mathop {\lim }\limits_{n \to \infty } P\left[ {I is satisfiable} \right] = \left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {1,} & {p \leqslant (1 - \varepsilon )p_0 ,} \\ {0,} & {p \geqslant (1 + \varepsilon )p_0 .} \\ \end{array} } \right.$$

     

On the Problem of the Optimal Choice of Record Values

Let the independent random variables X1, X2, … have the same continuous distribution function. The upper record values X(1) = X₁ < X(2) < … generated by this sequence of variables, as well as the lower record values x(1) = X₁ > x(2) > …, are considered. It is known that in this situation, the mean value c(n) of the total number of the both types of records among the first n variables X is given by the equality c(n)=2(1+1/2+…+1/n), n = 1, 2, …. The problem considered here is following: how, sequentially obtaining the observed values x₁, x₂, … of variables X and selecting one of them as the initial point, to obtain the maximal mean value e(n) of the considered numbers of records among the rest random variables. It is not possible to come back to rejected elements of the sequence. Some procedures of the optimal choice of the initial element X _r are discussed. The corresponding tables for the values e(n) and differences δ(n)= e(n)–c(n) are presented for different values of n. The value of δ= lim_n→∞δ(n)is also given. In some sense, the considered problem and optimization procedure presented in this paper are quite similar to the classical “secretary problem,” in which the probability of selecting the last record value in the set of independent identically distributed X is maximized.     

The probability that <Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis> elements of a rank <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> free group generate a rank <Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis> subgroup

Granted the three integers n ≥ 2, r, and R, consider all ordered tuples of r elements of length at most R in the free group F _n . Calculate the number of those tuples that generate in F _n a rank r subgroup and divide it by the number of all tuples under study. As R → ∞, the limit of the ratio is known to exist and equal 1 (see [1]). We give a simple proof of this result.     

A new characterization for some extensions of PSL(2, <Emphasis Type="Italic">q)</Emphasis> for some <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis> by some character degrees

In [22] (Tong-Viet H P, Simple classical groups of Lie type are determined by their character degrees, J. Algebra, 357 (2012) 61–68), the following question arose: Which groups can be uniquely determined by the structure of their complex group algebras? The authors in [12] (Khosravi B et al., Some extensions of PSL(2,p²) are uniquely determined by their complex group algebras, Comm. Algebra, 43(8) (2015) 3330–3341) proved that each extension of PSL(2,p²) of order 2|PSL(2,p²)| is uniquely determined by its complex group algebra. In this paper we continue this work. Let p be an odd prime number and q = p or q = p³. Let M be a finite group such that |M| = h|PSL(2,q), where h is a divisor of |Out(PSL(2,q))|. Also suppose that M has an irreducible character of degree q and 2p does not divide the degree of any irreducible character of M. As the main result of this paper we prove that M has a unique nonabelian composition factor which is isomorphic to PSL(2,q). As a consequence of our result we prove that M is uniquely determined by its order and some information on its character degrees which implies that M is uniquely determined by the structure of its complex group algebra.     

A cohomological criterion for <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-solvability

Let G be a finite group, let p be a prime, and let P be a Sylow p-subgroup of G. In this note we give a cohomological criterion for the p-solvability of G depending on the cohomology in degree 1 with coefficients in \(\mathbb F_p\) of both the normal subgroups of G and P. As a byproduct we bound the minimum possible number of factors of p-power order appearing in any normal series of G, in which each factor is either a p-group, a p’-group, or a non-p-solvable characteristically simple group, by the number of generators of P.     

Limit theorems for inverse process <Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Subscript> of Hawkes process

We consider linear Hawkes process N _t and its inverse process T _n . The limit theorems for N _t are well known and studied by many authors. In this paper, we study the limit theorems for T _n . In particular, we investigate the law of large numbers, the central limit theorem and the large deviation principle for T _n . The main tool of the proof is based on immigration-birth representation and the observations on the relation between N _t and T _n .     

On the Classification of <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Adic UHF Banach Algebras

For any prime number p let Ω_p be the p-adic counterpart of the complex numbers C. In this paper we investigate the class of p-adic UHF Banach algebras. A p-adic UHF Banach algebra is any unital p-adic Banach algebra A of the form \(A = \overline {U{M_n}} \), where (M_n) is an increasing sequence of p-adic Banach subalgebras of M such that each M_n is generated over Ω_p by an algebraic system of matrix units {e _ij ^{( n)} | 1 ≤ i, j ≤ p_n }. The main result is that the supernatural number associated to a p-adic TUHF Banach algebra is an invariant of the algebra.     

Compound Geometric Distribution of Order <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>

The distribution of the number of trials until the first k consecutive successes in a sequence of Bernoulli trials with success probability p is known as geometric distribution of order k. Let T _k be a random variable that follows a geometric distribution of order k, and Y ₁,Y ₂,… a sequence of independent and identically distributed discrete random variables which are independent of T _k . In the present article we develop some results on the distribution of the compound random variable \(S_{k} =\sum_{t=1}^{T_{k}}Y_{t}\).     

On the complexity of the gradient of a rational function

The Baur-Strassen method implies L(?f) ? 4L(f), where L(f) is the complexity of computing a rational function f by arithmetic circuits, and ?f is the gradient of f. We show that L(? f) ? 3L(f) + n, where n is the number of variables in f. In addition, the depth of a circuit for the gradient is estimated.     

Universal zero-one <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-law

The limit probabilities of first-order properties of a random graph in the Erd?s–Rényi model G(n, n^?α), α ∈ (0, 1), are studied. For any positive integer k ≥ 4 and any rational number t/s ∈ (0, 1), an interval with right endpoint t/s is found in which the zero-one k-law holds (the zero-one k-law describes the behavior of the probabilities of first-order properties expressed by formulas of quantifier depth at most k).Moreover, it is proved that, for rational numbers t/s with numerator not exceeding 2, the logarithm of the length of this interval is of the same order of smallness (as n→∞) as that of the length of the maximal interval with right endpoint t/s in which the zero-one k-law holds.     

An Optimal Algorithm for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Fixed-Endpoint Path Cover on Proper Interval Graphs

In this paper we consider the k-fixed-endpoint path cover problem on proper interval graphs, which is a generalization of the path cover problem. Given a graph G and a set T of k vertices, a k-fixed-endpoint path cover of G with respect to T is a set of vertex-disjoint simple paths that covers the vertices of G, such that the vertices of T are all endpoints of these paths. The goal is to compute a k-fixed-endpoint path cover of G with minimum cardinality. We propose an optimal algorithm for this problem with runtime O(n), where n is the number of intervals in G. This algorithm is based on the Stair Normal Interval Representation (SNIR) matrix that characterizes proper interval graphs. In this characterization, every maximal clique of the graph is represented by one matrix element; the proposed algorithm uses this structural property, in order to determine directly the paths in an optimal solution.     

Content analysis of data envelopment analysis literature and its comparison with that of other OR/MS fields

Content analysis was performed on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) literature appearing in refereed journals. The extant DEA literature, reported in Gattoufi et al was subdivided into two ways. The first considers all articles appearing during the life cycle of 22 selected major DEA publishing journals. The second considers all post-1995 DEA articles. Content was judged on the basis of a two-point scale representing advancements in theory; a five-point scale indicating contributions to practice; and on seven distinguishable strategies applied by the authors in pursuing their research. Lastly, DEA was compared with similarly obtained results describing the life cycle literatures of flow shop scheduling and of cell manufacturing. This analysis has proven the vitality, robustness, and real-world grounding of DEA on its own and vis-à-vis other OR/MS sub-disciplines. Moreover, the breadth of its diffusion into other disciplines and professions has been shown to be extraordinary.     

Calculating the Number of Functions with a Given Endomorphism

An iterative procedure is proposed for calculating the number of k-valued functions of n variables such that each one has an endomorphism different from any constant and permutation. Based on this procedure, formulas are found for the number of three-valued functions of n variables such that each one has nontrivial endomorphisms. For any arbitrary semigroup of endomorphisms, the power is found of the set of all three-valued functions of n variables such that each one has endomorphisms from a specified semigroup.     

Periods and nonvanishing of central <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis>-values for GL(2<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>)

Let π be a cuspidal automorphic representation of PGL(2n) over a number field F, and η the quadratic idèle class character attached to a quadratic extension E/F. Guo and Jacquet conjectured a relation between the nonvanishing of L(1/2, π)L(1/2, π ? η) for π of symplectic type and the nonvanishing of certain GL(n,E) periods. When n = 1, this specializes to a well-known result of Waldspurger. We prove this conjecture, and related global results, under some local hypotheses using a simple relative trace formula.We then apply these global results to obtain local results on distinguished supercuspidal representations, which partially establish a conjecture of Prasad and Takloo-Bighash.     

New Applications of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Adic Nevanlinna Theory

Let IK be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0 complete for an ultrametric absolute value. Following results obtained in complex analysis, here we examine problems of uniqueness for meromorphic functions having finitely many poles, sharing points or a pair of sets (C.M. or I.M.) defined either in the whole field IK or in an open disk, or in the complement of an open disk. Following previous works in C, we consider functions fⁿ(x)f^m(ax + b), gⁿ(x)g^m(ax + b) with |a| = 1 and n ≠ m, sharing a rational function and we show that f/g is a n + m-th root of 1 whenever n + m ≥ 5. Next, given a small function w, if n, m ∈ IN are such that |n ? m|_∞ ≥ 5, then fⁿ(x)f^m(ax + b) ? w has infinitely many zeros. Finally, we examine branched values for meromorphic functions fⁿ(x)f^m(ax + b).     

On balanced colorings of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-cube

A 2-coloring of the n-cube in the n-dimensional Euclidean space can be considered as an assignment of weights of 1 or 0 to the vertices. Such a colored n-cube is said to be balanced if its center of mass coincides with its geometric center. Let B _n,2k be the number of balanced 2-colorings of the n-cube with 2k vertices having weight 1. Palmer, Read, and Robinson conjectured that for n≥1, the sequence \(\{B_{n,2k}\}_{k=0,1,\ldots,2^{n-1}}\) is symmetric and unimodal. We give a proof of this conjecture. We also propose a conjecture on the log-concavity of B _n,2k for fixed k, and by probabilistic method we show that it holds when n is sufficiently large.