Uncertainty Evaluation in Multivariate Analysis – A Test Case Study

We have used different multivariate analysis methods to estimate quantities in the fields of food control and atmospheric remote sensing. In order to estimate the uncertainties in these estimates we studied analytical as well as non-parametric numerical methods. The methods have been evaluated by comparison between obtained results and independent sets of measurements. We present one test case from each field, including results, where these methods have been applied. For the food control test case reduced chi-squared of approximately unity indicate that both the analytical and numerical methods used for uncertainty estimation produce uncertainties of reasonable size. In the atmospheric remote sensing test case, a indicated that the uncertainties from the numerical method were far too small, whereas a indicate that the size of the analytically determined uncertainties can represent the size of the “true” errors.     

Epistemic Conditions on “Ought”: E=K as a Case Study

In The Norm of Belief, John Gibbons claims that there is a “natural reaction” to the general idea that one can be normatively required to Ø when that requirement is in some sense outside of one’s first person perspective or inaccessible to one. The reaction amounts to the claim that this is not possible. Whether this is a natural or intuitive idea or not, it is difficult to articulate exactly why we might think it is correct. To do so, we need a view about the relationship between agents’ capacities to accord with normative requirements and the conditions under which those normative requirements obtain. I offer an account of the epistemic dimension of this relationship. The goal is to provide enough of a story about the natural reaction to make accounting for it look like an important desideratum for any theory of the nature of normative requirements—whether these are moral or epistemic. To focus the discussion, I use Timothy Williamson’s knowledge-first view of evidence as an example of a view in epistemology that generates the natural reaction. One upshot of the discussion, then, is a detailed account of what is troubling about Williamson’s influential but controversial view of evidence.     

Changes of Working Styles in a Computer Algebra Environment – The Case of Functions

This study is an empirical investigation of 11th graders at a German high school (Gymnasium). Working over a 24-hour period in a computer lab, we investigated students' use of quadratic functions with `Derive', and trigonometric functions with `Mathplus' (or `Theorist' for Macintosh). We were particularly interested in the working styles of students while they solved problems and looked for changes in these styles, as compared to traditional paper and pencil activities. While students worked on the computer, their activities (such as inputs from the keyboard, menu choices or mouse movements) were saved by a special program, which ran in the `background'. We are interested in the possibilities of developing a research method based on these `computer protocols'. The study should be seen as an exploratory study for developing hypotheses for further empirical investigations.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Lattice Boltzmann Study on the Motion of Dual Droplets in Microchannels With Contact Angle Hysteresis北大核心CSCD

接触角滞后表现为流体在非理想固体表面上运动时前进接触角和后退接触角不同,是两相流体在润湿表面上流动的重要现象.该文采用改进的伪势格子Boltzmann(LB)多组分模型,并与几何润湿边界条件相结合,研究了两个液滴在具有接触角滞后性微通道表面上的运动行为,主要研究了通道内特征数、通道表面性质以及液滴初始参数的影响.研究结果表明：毛细数的增大有助于液滴的移动,然而并不利于液滴的排出,且毛细数的增加对上游液滴的影响大于其对下游液滴的影响;另一方面,接触角滞后性窗口越大,液滴运动和形变更迟缓,但形变程度更明显,两液滴更早地发生合并,但更晚地排出管道;液滴间距的增加使液滴的运动行为在不同阶段表现为不同的模式,但都导致通道中残留小液滴,使得液滴排出通道的时间增加.研究结果还表明：上游液滴和下游液滴的相对尺寸差距越大,越不利于液滴排出管道.     

Study on a Cross Diffusion Parabolic System

This paper considers a kind of strongly coupled cross diffusion parabolic system,which can be usedas the multi-dimensional Lyumkis energy transport model in semiconductor science.The global existence andlarge time behavior are obtained for smooth solution to the initial boundary value problem.When the initialdata are a small perturbation of an isothermal stationary solution,the smooth solution of the problem under theinsulating boundary condition,converges to that stationary solution exponentially fast as time goes to infinity.     

Extensions of Zeta Functions – Examples and a Study of the Double Sine Functions

We discuss zeta extensions in the sense of Kurokawa and Wakayama, Proc. Japan Acad. 2002, for constructing new zeta functions from a given zeta function. This notion appeared when we introduced higher zeta functions such as higher Riemann zeta functions in Kurokawa et al., Kyushu Univ. Preprint, 2003, and a higher Selberg zeta functions in Kurokawa and Wakayama, Comm. Math. Phys., 2004. In this article, we first recall some explicit examples of such zeta extensions and give a conjecture about functional equations satisfied by higher zeta functions. We devote the second part to making a detailed study of the double sine functions which are treated in a framework of the zeta extensions.Mathematics Subject Classification (2000) 11M36.Partially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. 15340012, and by Grant-in-Aid for Exploratory Research No. 13874004. This is based on the talk at The 2002 Twente Conference on Lie Groups 16–18 Dec. University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.     

Comments on properties of the minmax solutions in goal programming – a reply

This note replies to comments raised by Professor Ogryczak regarding properties of the minmax goal programming and compromise programming solutions. It is shown how the two counterexamples used by Ogryczak to support his views have little validity because they are out of context.     

Using Dynamic Geometry Software to Add Contrast to Geometric Situations – A Case Study

There is no lack of suggestions concerning how Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) may support heuristic approaches to problem solving. However, uses of DGS are often limited purely to a verifying role, in the sense that students are expected to vary or confirm empirically at the computer geometric data which are more or less given. By contrast, it seems worthwhile to seek other uses of DGS which go beyond mere confirmation so that the geometric situation is recognised in its particularity. This paper provides a case study that emerged from a project in which DGS formed an integral part of the pedagogical arrangement. The study is intended to show how the contrasting power of DGS might be utilised in a guided discovery setting.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Unit commitment in power generation – a basic model and some extensions

For the unit commitment problem in the hydro-thermal power system of VEAG Vereinigte Energiewerke AG Berlin we present a basic model and discuss possible extensions where both primal and dual solution approaches lead to flexible optimization tools. Extensions include staggered fuel prices, reserve policies involving hydro units, nonlinear start-up costs, and uncertain load profiles. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Smart Composite Structures with Embedded Sensors for Load and Damage Monitoring – A Review

Mechanics of Composite Materials - Fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials are widely used in different branches of industry, especially in aerospace, owing to their low mass, high...     

Distributing inspections in space and time – Proposed solution of a difficult problem

There are several identical facilities in which precious or dangerous material is processed or stored. Since parts of this material may be diverted by some manager or employee of these facilities or since failures in the processing of the material may occur, an authorized organization inspects these facilities regularly at the beginning and at the end of some reference time interval. In order to shorten the time required for detecting such an illegal activity or failures, in addition some interim inspections are performed in these facilities during the reference time interval. The optimal distribution of these interim inspections in space and time poses considerable analytical problems since adversary strategies have to be taken into account. So far only special cases have been analysed successfully, but these results lead to a conjecture for the solution of the general case which is surprisingly simple in view of the complexity of this inspection problem.     

Investments in EOP-technologies and emissions trading – Results from a linear programming approach and sensitivity analysis

This paper offers a general approach to valuating investments in end-of-pipe-technologies (EOP-technologies) with special regard to an emissions trading scheme. Since investments of this kind affect production, it is necessary to derive the required payments for a financial valuation and the constraints from production theory and production planning. On this basis, it is possible to develop a valuation model. This model considers joint production, activity-level-dependent and -independent payments and specifically includes the indivisibility of the investment. Applying duality theory enables us to examine the determinants of the price ceiling for such an investment. Sensitivity analysis shows that tradable permits have several effects on an investment and do not always encourage environmentally beneficial investments – in particular cases they may even be counterproductive.     

Nash equilibrium in a pay-as-bid electricity market: Part 1 – existence and characterization

We consider a model of a pay-as-bid electricity market based on a multi-leader-common-follower approach where the producers as leaders are at the upper level and the regulator as a common follower is at the lower level. We fully characterize Nash equilibria for this model by describing necessary and sufficient conditions for their existence as well as providing explicit formulas of such equilibria in the market.     

Is there a Trade-Off between Quality and Productivity? The Case of Diagnostic Technologies in Portugal

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, we compute quality-adjusted measures of productivity change for the three most important diagnostic technologies (i.e., the Computerised Tomography Scan, Electrocardiogram and Echocardiogram) in the major Portuguese hospitals. We use the Malmquist–Luenberger index, which allows to measure productivity growth while controlling for the quality of the production. Second, using non-parametric tests, we analyse whether the implementation of the Prospective Payment System may have had a positive impact on the movements of productivity over time. The results show that the PPS has helped hospitals to use these tools more efficiently and to improve their effectiveness.     

Remarks on the Gagliardo-Nirenberg Type Inequality in the Besov and the Triebel-Lizorkin Spaces in the Limiting Case

We consider the generalized Gagliardo-Nirenberg inequality in $\Bbb{R}^{n}$ including homogeneous Besov space $\dot{B}^{s}_{r,\rho}(\Bbb{R}^{n})$ with the critical order s=n/r, which describes the continuous embedding such as $L^{p}(\Bbb{R}^{n})\cap\dot{B}^{n/r}_{r,\rho}(\Bbb{R}^{n})\subset L^{q}(\Bbb{R}^{n})$ for all q with p ≦ q<∞, where 1≦ p ≦ r<∞ and 1<ρ ≦∞. Indeed, the following inequality holds: $$\|u\|_{L^{q}(\Bbb{R}^{n})}\leqq C\,q^{1-1/\rho}\|u\|_{L^{p}(\Bbb{R}^{n})}^{p/q}\|u\|_{\dot{B}^{n/r}_{r,\rho}(\Bbb{R}^{n})}^{1-p/q},$$ where C is a constant depending only on r. In this inequality, we have the exact order 1?1/ρ of divergence to the power q tending to the infinity. Furthermore, as a corollary of this inequality, we obtain the Gagliardo-Nirenberg inequality with the homogeneous Triebel-Lizorkin space $\dot{F}^{n/r}_{r,\rho}(\Bbb{R}^{n})$ , which implies the usual Sobolev imbedding with the critical Sobolev space $\dot{H}^{n/r}_{r}(\Bbb{R}^{n})$ . Moreover, as another corollary, we shall prove the Trudinger-Moser type inequality in $\dot{B}^{n/r}_{r,\rho}(\Bbb{R}^{n})$ .     

Elements on the Concept and Design of a Tracked Mini Robot – “ROBO GENIU” – Destined for Special Applications

The authors of this paper aim to highlight issues related to the organology and the integration of the hardware component in the mechanical structure of a tracked mini robot, called Robo Geniu, part of the unmanned ground vehicles category having the ability to act autonomously and enabling its endowment with means of observation, listening, tapping, relaying and jamming. This paper reveals, in detail, the composing parts of the hardware component, as well as the way they are assembled in the mechanical structure of the mini robot under study. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On a problem of Erdös and Rothschild on edges in triangles

Erdös and Rothschild asked to estimate the maximum number, denoted by h(n, c), such that every n-vertex graph with at least cn ² edges, each of which is contained in at least one triangle, must contain an edge that is in at least h(n, c) triangles. In particular, Erdös asked in 1987 to determine whether for every c > 0 there is ε > 0 such that h(n,c) > n ^ε for all sufficiently large n. We prove that h(n,c) = n ^O(1/loglogn) for every fixed c < 1/4. This gives a negative answer to the question of Erd?s, and is best possible in terms of the range for c, as it is known that every n-vertex graph with more than n ²/4 edges contains an edge that is in at least n/6 triangles.