Rigid isotopy classification of real algebraic curves of bidegree (3,3) on quadrics

A rigid isotopy of nonsingular real algebraic curves on a quadric is a path in the space of such curves of a given bidegree. We obtain the rigid isotopy classification of nonsingular real algebraic curves of bidegree (3, 3) on a hyperboloid and on an ellipsoid. We also study of the space of real algebraic curves of bidegree (3, 3) with a single node or cusp. Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 66, No. 6, pp. 810–815, December, 1999.     

Best approximation by downward sets with applications

We develop a theory of downward sets for a class of normed ordered spaces. We study best approximation in a normed ordered space X by elements of downward sets, and give necessary and sufficient conditions for any element of best approximation by a closed downward subset of X. We also characterize strictly downward subsets of X, and prove that a downward subset of X is strictly downward if and only if each its boundary point is Chebyshev. The results obtained are used for examination of some Chebyshev pairs （W,x）, where ∈ X and W is a closed downward subset of X     

Creep of polymer concrete in the nonlinear region

Two polyester-based polymer concretes with various volume content of diabase as an extender and aggregate are tested in creep under compression at different stress levels. The phenomenological and structural approaches are both used to analyze the experimental data. Common features of changes in the instantaneous and creep compliances are clarified, and a phenomenological creep model which accounts for the changes in the instantaneous compliance and in the retardation spectrum depending on the stress level is developed. It is shown that the model can be used to describe the experimental results of stress relaxation and creep under repeated loading. Modeling of the composite structure and subsequent solution of the optimization problem confirm the possibility of the existence of an interphase layer more compliant than the binder. A direct correlation between the interphase volume content and the instantaneous compliance of the composite is revealed. It is found that the distinction in nonlinearity of the viscoelastic behavior of the two polymer concretes under investigation can be due to the difference in their porosity. Submitted to the 11th International Conference on Mechanics of Composite Materials (Riga, June 11–15, 2000.) Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 147–164, 2000.     

Toward eudaimonology: notes on a quantitative framework for the study of happiness

After noting factors (concern for others, ignorance, irrationality) accounting for the divergences between preference and happiness, the question of representing the preference of an individual by a utility function is discussed, taking account of lexicographic ordering, imperfect discrimination and the corresponding concepts of semiorder and sub-semiorder. Methods to improve upon the interpersonal comparability of measures of happiness such as pinning down the dividing line of zero happiness and the use of a just perceivable increment of happiness are discussed. The relation of social welfare to individual welfare (i.e. happiness) is then considered. Some reasonable set of axioms ensuring that social welfare is a separable function of and indeed an unweighted sum of individual welfares are reviewed. Finally, happiness is regarded as a function of objective, institutional and subjective factors; an interdisciplinary approach is needed even for an incomplete analysis.     

The use of phase portraits to visualize and investigate isolated singular points of complex functions

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate students usually study Laurent series in a standard course of Complex Analysis. One of the major applications of Laurent series is the classification of isolated singular points of complex functions. Although students are able to find series representations of functions, they may struggle to understand the meaning of the behaviour of the function near isolated singularities. In this paper, I briefly describe the method of domain colouring to create enhanced phase portraits to visualize and study isolated singularities of complex functions. Ultimately this method for plotting complex functions might help to enhance students' insight, in the spirit of learning by experimentation. By analysing the representations of singularities and the behaviour of the functions near their singularities, students can make conjectures and test them mathematically, which can help to create significant connections between visual representations, algebraic calculations and abstract mathematical concepts.     

Absolute Continuity of Measures in the Class of Markov and Semi-Markov Processes of Diffusion Type

The property of absolute continuity of measures in the class of one-dimensional semi-Markov processes of diffusion type is investigated. The measure of such a process can be composed of two measures. The first one is a distribution of a random track, and the second one is a conditional distribution of a time run along the track. The desired density is represented in the form of product of two corresponding densities.     

Schreier rewriting beyond the classical setting

Using actions of free monoids and free associative algebras, we establish some Schreiertype formulas involving ranks of actions and ranks of subactions in free actions or Grassmann-type relations for the ranks of intersections of subactions of free actions. The coset action of the free group is used to establish a generalization of the Schreier formula in the case of subgroups of infinite index. We also study and apply large modules over free associative and free group algebras. This work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 227060-04), Yuri Bahturin, National Science Foundation (Grant No. DMS-0700811) and Russian Fund for Basic Research (Grant No. 08-01-00573), Alexander Olshanskii     

On the Least Number of Fixed Points of an Equivariant Map

The problem on the least number of fixed points of an equivariant map of a compact polyhedron on which a finite group acts is considered. For such a map, the least number of fixed points and the least number of fixed orbits are estimated in terms of invariants of the type of Nielsen numbers. The estimates obtained are sharp. The results are similar to those of P. Wong, but their assumptions are essentially weaker. Some notations are refined. The proofs are constructive.     

Computational organizational network modeling: Strategies and an example

This paper articulates the logic of computational organizational modeling as a strategy for theory construction and testing in the field of organizational communication networks. The paper introduces, Blanche, and objectoriented simulation environment that supports quantitative modeling and analysis of the evolution of organizational networks. Blanche relies on the conceptual primitives of attributes that describe network nodes and links that connect these nodes. Difference equations are used to model the dynamic properties of the network as it changes over time. This paper describes the design of Blanche and how it supports both the process of theory construction, model building and analysis of results. The paper concludes with an empirical example, to test the predictions of a network-based social influence model for the adoption of a new communication technology in the workplace.     

Generalized derivatives and nonsmooth optimization, a finite dimensional tour

During the early 1960’s there was a growing realization that a large number of optimization problems which appeared in applications involved minimization of non-differentiable functions. One of the important areas where such problems appeared was optimal control. The subject of nonsmooth analysis arose out of the need to develop a theory to deal with the minimization of nonsmooth functions. The first impetus in this direction came with the publication of Rockafellar’s seminal work titledConvex Analysis which was published by the Princeton University Press in 1970. It would be impossible to overstate the impact of this book on the development of the theory and methods of optimization. It is also important to note that a large part of convex analysis was already developed by Werner Fenchel nearly twenty years earlier and was circulated through his mimeographed lecture notes titledConvex Cones, Sets and Functions, Princeton University, 1951. In this article we trace the dramatic development of nonsmooth analysis and its applications to optimization in finite dimensions. Beginning with the fundamentals of convex optimization we quickly move over to the path breaking work of Clarke which extends the domain of nonsmooth analysis from convex to locally Lipschitz functions. Clarke was the second doctoral student of R.T. Rockafellar. We discuss the notions of Clarke directional derivative and the Clarke generalized gradient and also the relevant calculus rules and applications to optimization. While discussing locally Lipschitz optimization we also try to blend in the computational aspects of the theory wherever possible. This is followed by a discussion of the geometry of sets with nonsmooth boundaries. The approach to develop the notion of the normal cone to an arbitrary set is sequential in nature. This approach does not rely on the standard techniques of convex analysis. The move away from convexity was pioneered by Mordukhovich and later culminated in the monographVariational Analysis by Rockafellar and Wets. The approach of Mordukhovich relied on a nonconvex separation principle called theextremal principle while that of Rockafellar and Wets relied on various convergence notions developed to suit the needs of optimization. We then move on to a parallel development in nonsmooth optimization due to Demyanov and Rubinov called Quasidifferentiable optimization. They study the class of directionally differentiable functions whose directional derivatives can be represented as a difference of two sublinear functions. On other hand the directional derivative of a convex function and also the Clarke directional derivatives are sublinear functions of the directions. Thus it was thought that the most useful generalizations of directional derivatives must be a sublinear function of the directions. Thus Demyanov and Rubinov made a major conceptual change in nonsmooth optimization. In this section we define the notion of a quasidifferential which is a pair of convex compact sets. We study some calculus rules and their applications to optimality conditions. We also study the interesting notion of Demyanov difference between two sets and their applications to optimization. In the last section of this paper we study some second-order tools used in nonsmooth analysis and try to see their relevance in optimization. In fact it is important to note that unlike the classical case, the second-order theory of nonsmoothness is quite complicated in the sense that there are many approaches to it. However we have chosen to describe those approaches which can be developed from the first order nonsmooth tools discussed here. We shall present three different approaches, highlight the second order calculus rules and their applications to optimization.     

Generating facets for the cut polytope of a graph by triangular elimination

The cut polytope of a graph arises in many fields. Although much is known about facets of the cut polytope of the complete graph, very little is known for general graphs. The study of Bell inequalities in quantum information science requires knowledge of the facets of the cut polytope of the complete bipartite graph or, more generally, the complete k-partite graph. Lifting is a central tool to prove certain inequalities are facet inducing for the cut polytope. In this paper we introduce a lifting operation, named triangular elimination, applicable to the cut polytope of a wide range of graphs. Triangular elimination is a specific combination of zero-lifting and Fourier–Motzkin elimination using the triangle inequality. We prove sufficient conditions for the triangular elimination of facet inducing inequalities to be facet inducing. The proof is based on a variation of the lifting lemma adapted to general graphs. The result can be used to derive facet inducing inequalities of the cut polytope of various graphs from those of the complete graph. We also investigate the symmetry of facet inducing inequalities of the cut polytope of the complete bipartite graph derived by triangular elimination.      

Relative difference in diversity between populations

An entropy is conceived as a functional on the space of probability distributions. It is used as a measure of diversity (variability) of a population. Cross entropy leads to a measure of dissimilarity between populations. In this paper, we provide a new approach to the construction of a measure of dissimilarity between two populations, not depending on the choice of an entropy function, measuring diversity. The approach is based on the principle of majorization which provides an intrinsic method of comparing the diversities of two populations. We obtain a general class of measures of dissimilarity and show some interesting properties of the proposed index. In particular, it is shown that the measure provides a metric on a probability space. The proposed measure of dissimilarity is essentially a measure of relative difference in diversity between two populations. It satisfies an invariance property which is not shared by other measures of dissimilarity which are used in ecological studies. A statistical application of the new method is given.     

Myth,language, and complex ideologies

Ideologies use for their conservation and propagation persuasive methods of communication: rhetoric. Rhetoric is analyzed from the semiotic and logical‐mathematical points of view. The following hypotheses are established: (1) language L is a self‐explanatory system, mediated by a successive series of systems of cultural conventions, (2) connotative significances of an ideological advertising rhetoric must be known, and (3) the notion of ideological information is a neutral notion that does not imply the valuation of ideology or its conditions of veracity or falsification. Rhetorical figures like metonymy, metaphor, parable analogy, and allegory are defined as relations. Metaphor and parable are order relations. Operations of metonymic and metaphoric substitution are defined and several theorems derived from these operations have been deduced. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 20: 63–81, 2014     

Frame multiresolution analysis and infinite trees in Banach spaces on locally compact abelian groups

We extend the concept of frame multiresolution analysis to a locally compact abelian group and use it to define certain weighted Banach spaces and the spaces of their antifunctionals. We define analysis and synthesis operators on these spaces and establish the continuity of their composition. Also, we prove a general result to characterize infinite trees in the above Banach spaces of antifunctionals. This paper paves the way for the study of corresponding problems associated with some other types of Banach spaceson locally compact abelian groups including modulation spaces.     

On the stability of the high-order Higdon Absorbing Boundary Conditions

The Higdon sequence of Absorbing Boundary Conditions (ABCs) for the linear wave equation is considered. Building on a previous work of Ha-Duong and Joly, which related to other forms of boundary conditions, the Higdon ABCs are proved to be energy-stable (on the continuous level) up to any order. This type of stability is stronger than the more standard notion of stability of initial boundary value problems in the sense of Kreiss; in particular it leads to stability estimates which are uniform in time. In consequence to the theorem proved here, energy-stability is immediately implied for the high-order Givoli-Neta and Hagstrom-Warburton ABCs, which are reformulations of the Higdon ABCs using auxiliary variables. A weakness of this theory is that it requires sufficiently smooth data, and that the required smoothness level increases with the order of the ABC. This issue and its implications are discussed.     

Mario Pieri’s address at the University of Catania

The contributions made by the Italian mathematician Mario Pieri (1860-1913) are well known in the field of geometry. Pieri was a member of the School of Peano at the University of Turin. There he became engaged both by the problems of logic and by the philosophical aspects of Peano’s epistemology. This article was motivated by Pieri’s address given at the University of Catania, at the inauguration of the 1906-1907 academic year. My aim is to identify Pieri’s philosophical premises as found in his works and to present them in the general framework of the historical development of the Peano School.     

Mechanics of Delaminations in Laminate Composite Structures

A survey of the literature and state of the art of the mechanical aspects of delaminations in laminate composite structures is presented. Surface and internal delaminations of various origin, shape, and location are discussed. The origination, stability, and postcritical behavior of delaminations under quasi-static, cyclic, and dynamic loads are analyzed. Some problems for further investigations are discussed.     

Optimum matching forests III: Facets of matching forest polyhedra

In [3] we presented a linear system which definesP(G), the convex hull of incidence vectors of matching forests of a mixed graphG. However, many of the inequalities of this system may be redundant. Here we describe the dimension of the facets ofP(G) obtained by setting one inequality of the defining system forP(G) to an equation. This leads to a presentation of a minimal defining linear system forP(G), i.e., to a presentation of the facets ofP(G). This generalizes earlier characterizations of facets of 1-matching polyhedra and of branching polyhedra.Research partially supported by a N.R.C. Canada Postdoctorate Fellowship.     

A logic‐mathematical point of view of the truth: Reality,perception, and language

In this article, the authors propose a theory of the truth value of propositions from a logic‐mathematical point of view. The work that the authors present is an attempt to address this question from an epistemological, linguistic, and logical‐mathematical point of view. What is it to exist and how do we define existence? The main objective of this work is an approach to the first of these questions. We leave a more thorough treatment of the problem of existence for future works. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 20: 58–67, 2015