The inequality-satisfiability problem

We define a generalization of the satisfiability problem (SAT) where each “clause” is an or-list of inequalities in n variables. This problem is NP-complete even when containing only two inequalities per “clause”, but solvable in polynomial time when either the number of variables or the number of “clauses” is fixed.     

New recursions for genus-zero Gromov-Witten invariants

New relations among the genus-zero Gromov-Witten invariants of a complex projective manifold X are exhibited. When the cohomology of X is generated by divisor classes and classes “with vanishing one-point invariants,” the relations determine many-point invariants in terms of one-point invariants.     

On contracts for VMI program with continuous review (r, Q) policy

Based on continuous review (r, Q) policy, this paper deals with contracts for vendor managed inventory (VMI) program in a system comprising a single vendor and a single retailer. Two business scenarios that are popular in VMI program are “vendor with ownership” and “retailer with ownership”. Taking the system performance in centralized control as benchmark, we define a contract “perfect” if the contract can enable the system to be coordinated and can guarantee the program to be trusted. A revenue sharing contract is designed for vendor with ownership, and a franchising contract is designed for retailer with ownership. Without consideration of order policy and related costs at the vendor site, it is shown that one contract can perform satisfactorily and the other one is a perfect contract. With consideration of order policy and related costs at the vendor site, it is shown that one contract can perform satisfactorily and the performance of the other one depends on system parameters.     

On the notion of relative property (T) for inclusions of von Neumann algebras

We prove that the notion of rigidity (or relative property (T)) for inclusions of finite von Neumann algebras recently defined by the second author is equivalent to a weaker property, in which no “continuity constants” are required. The proof is by contradiction and uses infinite products of completely positive maps, regarded as correspondences.     

Asymptotic formulas for the diameter of sections of symmetric convex bodies

Sharpening work of the first two authors, for every proportion λ∈(0,1) we provide exact quantitative relations between global parameters of n-dimensional symmetric convex bodies and the diameter of their random ⌊λn⌋-dimensional sections. Using recent results of Gromov and Vershynin, we obtain an “asymptotic formula” for the diameter of random proportional sections.     

A degree sum condition for graphs to be prism hamiltonian

Win, in 1975, and Jackson and Wormald, in 1990, found the best sufficient conditions on the degree sum of a graph to guarantee the properties of “having a k-tree” and “having a k-walk”, respectively. The property of “being prism hamiltonian” is an intermediate property between “having a 2-tree” and “having a 2-walk”. Thus, it is natural to ask what is the best degree sum condition for graphs to be prism hamiltonian. As an answer to this problem, in this paper, we show that a connected graph G of order n with σ₃(G)≥n is prism hamiltonian. The degree sum condition “σ₃(G)≥n” is best possible.     

The logic of justified belief,explicit knowledge,and conclusive evidence

We present a complete, decidable logic for reasoning about a notion of completely trustworthy (“conclusive”) evidence and its relations to justifiable (implicit) belief and knowledge, as well as to their explicit justifications. This logic makes use of a number of evidence-related notions such as availability, admissibility, and “goodness” of a piece of evidence, and is based on an innovative modification of the Fitting semantics for Artemov?s Justification Logic designed to preempt Gettier-type counterexamples. We combine this with ideas from belief revision and awareness logics to provide an account for explicitly justified (defeasible) knowledge based on conclusive evidence that addresses the problem of (logical) omniscience.     

On the lifetime of a random binary sequence

Consider a system with m elements which is used to fulfill tasks. Each task is sent to one element which fulfills a task and the outcome is either fulfillment of the task (“1”) or the failure of the element (“0”). Initially, m tasks are sent to the system. At the second step, a complex of length m₁ is formed and sent to the system, where m₁ is the number of tasks fulfilled at the first step, and so on. The process continues until all elements fail and the corresponding waiting time defines the lifetime of the binary sequence which consists of “1” or “0”. We obtain a recursive equation for the expected value of this waiting time random variable.     

Contributions to max-min convex geometry. I: Segments

We give some contributions to the theory of “max-min convex geometry”, that is, convex geometry in the semimodule over the max-min semiring R_max,min=R∪{-∞,+∞}. We introduce “elementary segments” that generalize from n=2 the horizontal, vertical or oblique segments contained in the main bisector of . We show that every segment in is a concatenation of a finite number of elementary subsegments (at most 2n-1, respectively at most 2n-2, in the case of comparable, respectively, incomparable, endpoints x,y). In this first part we study “max-min segments”, and in the subsequent second part (submitted) we study “max-min semispaces” and some of their relations to “max-min convex sets”.     

Periodic solutions of the Lyness max equation

We investigate the periodic nature of solutions of a “max-type” difference equation sometimes referred to as the “Lyness max” equation. The equation we consider is x_n+1=max{x_n,A}/x_n−1, n=0,1,…, where A is a positive real parameter and the initial conditions are arbitrary positive numbers. We also present related results for a similar equation sometimes referred to as the “period 7 max” equation.     

Lindelöf spaces which are Menger, Hurewicz, Alster, productive, or D

We discuss relationships in Lindelöf spaces among the properties “Menger”, “Hurewicz”, “Alster”, “productive”, and “D”.     

Infinitesimal non-crossing cumulants and free probability of type B

Free probabilistic considerations of type B first appeared in the paper of Biane, Goodman and Nica [P. Biane, F. Goodman, A. Nica, Non-crossing cumulants of type B, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 355 (2003) 2263-2303]. Recently, connections between type B and infinitesimal free probability were put into evidence by Belinschi and Shlyakhtenko [S.T. Belinschi, D. Shlyakhtenko, Free probability of type B: Analytic aspects and applications, preprint, 2009, available online at www.arxiv.org under reference arXiv:0903.2721]. The interplay between “type B” and “infinitesimal” is also the object of the present paper. We study infinitesimal freeness for a family of unital subalgebras A₁,…,Ak in an infinitesimal noncommutative probability space (A,φ,φ^′) and we introduce a concept of infinitesimal non-crossing cumulant functionals for (A,φ,φ^′), obtained by taking a formal derivative in the formula for usual non-crossing cumulants. We prove that the infinitesimal freeness of A₁,…,Ak is equivalent to a vanishing condition for mixed cumulants; this gives the infinitesimal counterpart for a theorem of Speicher from “usual” free probability. We show that the lattices NC(B)(n) of non-crossing partitions of type B appear in the combinatorial study of (A,φ,φ^′), in the formulas for infinitesimal cumulants and when describing alternating products of infinitesimally free random variables. As an application of alternating free products, we observe the infinitesimal analogue for the well-known fact that freeness is preserved under compression with a free projection. As another application, we observe the infinitesimal analogue for a well-known procedure used to construct free families of free Poisson elements. Finally, we discuss situations when the freeness of A₁,…,Ak in (A,φ) can be naturally upgraded to infinitesimal freeness in (A,φ,φ^′), for a suitable choice of a “companion functional” .     

The destruction of tori in volume-preserving maps

Invariant tori are prominent features of symplectic and volume-preserving maps. From the point of view of chaotic transport the most relevant tori are those that are barriers, and thus have codimension one. For an n-dimensional volume-preserving map, such tori are prevalent when the map is nearly “integrable,” in the sense of having one action and n − 1 angle variables. As the map is perturbed, numerical studies show that the originally connected image of the frequency map acquires gaps due to resonances and domains of nonconvergence due to chaos. We present examples of a three-dimensional, generalized standard map for which there is a critical perturbation size, ε_c, above which there are no tori. Numerical investigations to find the “last invariant torus” reveal some similarities to the behavior found by Greene near a critical invariant circle for area preserving maps: the crossing time through the newly destroyed torus appears to have a power law singularity at ε_c, and the local phase space near the critical torus contains many high-order resonances.     

Representations of rational Cherednik algebras of rank one in positive characteristic

In this paper, we classify the irreducible representations of the rational Cherednik algebras of rank 1 in characteristic p>0. There are two cases. One is the “quantum” case, where “Planck's constant” is nonzero and generic irreducible representations have dimension pr, where r is the order of the cyclic group contained in the algebra. The other is the “classical” case, where “Planck's constant” is zero and generic irreducible representations have dimension r.     

The non-codified use of problem structuring methods and the need for a generic constitutive definition

When we use a PSM what is it we are actually doing? An answer to this question would enable the PSM community to considerably enlarge the available source of case studies by the inclusion of examples of non-codified PSM use. We start from Checkland’s own proposal for a “constitutive definition” of SSM, which originated from trying to answer the question of knowing when a claim of SSM use was legitimate. By extending this idea to a generic constitutive definition for all PSMs leads us to propose a self-consistent labelling schema for observed phenomena arising from PSMs in action. This consists of a set of testable propositions, which, through observation of putative PSM use, can be used to assess validity of claims of PSM use. Such evidential support for the propositions as may be found in putative PSM use can then make it back into a broader axiomatic formulation of PSMs through the use of a set-theoretic approach, which enables our method to scale to large data sets. The theoretical underpinning to our work is in causal realism and middle range theory. We illustrate our approach through the analysis of three case studies drawn from engineering organisations, a rich source of possible non-codified PSM use. The combination of a method for judging cases of non-codified PSM use, sound theoretical underpinning, and scalability to large data sets, we believe leads to a demystification of PSMs and should encourage their wider use.     

Algebra in Roth,Faulhaber, and Descartes

Descartes' “multiplicative” theory of equations in the Géométrie (1637) systematically treats equations as polynomials set equal to zero, bringing out relations between equations, roots, and polynomial factors. We here consider this theory as a response to Peter Roth's suggestions in Arithmetica Philosophica (1608), notably in his “seventh-degree” problem set. These specimens of arithmetic-masterly problem design develop skills with multiplicative and other degree-independent techniques. The challenges were fine-tuned by introducing errors disguised as printing errors. During Descartes' visit to Germany in 1619–1622, he probably worked with Johann Faulhaber (1580–1635) on these problems; they are discussed in Faulhaber's Miracula Arithmetica (1622), which also looks forward to fuller publication, probably by Descartes.     

When the positivity of the leading principal minors implies the positivity of all principal minors of a matrix

An n-by-n real matrix A enjoys the “leading implies all” (LIA) property, if, whenever D   is a diagonal matrix such that A+D$A+D$ has positive leading principal minors (PMs), all PMs of A are positive. Symmetric and Z-matrices are known to have this property. We give a new class of matrices (“mixed matrices”) that both unifies and generalizes these two classes and their special diagonal equivalences by also having the LIA property. “Nested implies all” (NIA) is also enjoyed by this new class.     

Some remarks on the meaning of equality in Diophantos’s Arithmetica

Diophantos in Arithmetica, without having defined previously any concept of “equality” or “equation,” employs a concept of the unknown number as a tool for solving problems and finds its value from an equality ad hoc created. In this paper we analyze Diophantos’s practices in the creation and simplification of such equalities, aiming to adduce more evidence on certain issues arising in recent historical research on the meaning of the “equation” in Diophantos’s work.     

Lindelöf spaces which are indestructible, productive, or D

We discuss relationships in Lindelöf spaces among the properties “indestructible”, “productive”, “D”, and related properties.     

On the stability of the Serrin problem

We investigate stability issues concerning the radial symmetry of solutions to Serrin's overdetermined problems. In particular, we show that, if u is a solution to Δu=n in a smooth domain Ω⊂Rn, u=0 on ∂Ω and |Du| is “close” to 1 on ∂Ω, then Ω is “close” to the union of a certain number of disjoint unitary balls.