Boundary element method and wave equation

In this paper the boundary integral expression for a one-dimensional wave equation with homogeneous boundary conditions is developed. This is done using the time dependent fundamental solution of the corresponding hyperbolic partial differential equation. The integral expression developed is a generalized function with the same form as the well-known D'Alembert formula. The derivatives of the solution and some useful invariants on the characteristics of the partial differential equation are also calculated.The boundary element method is applied to find the numerical solution. The results show excellent agreement with analytical solutions.A multi-step procedure for large time steps which can be used in the boundary element method is also described.In addition, the way in which boundary conditions are introduced during the time dependent process is explained in detail. In the Appendix the main properties of Dirac's delta function and the Heaviside unit step function are described.     

Boundedness and persistence of traveling wave solutions for a non-cooperative lattice-diffusion system with time delay

In this paper we study traveling wave solutions of a non-cooperative lattice-diffusion system with time delay, which includes predator–prey models and disease-transmission models. Minimal wave speed of traveling wave solutions is given. Schauder’s fixed-point theorem is applied to show the existence of semi-traveling wave solutions. The boundness and persistence of traveling wave solutions are overcome by using rescaling method and Laplace transform, where the application of Laplace transform to persistence is very novel and creative. The traveling wave solutions for some specific models are shown to connect to a positive equilibrium by using Lyapunov function and LaSalle’s invariance principle.     

A linear differential game on a plane with a minimum-type functional

A differential game on a plane with a functional in the form of the minimum, with respect to time, of a certain prescribed phase vector function (quality function) is considered. It is proved that the game value is constant outside a certain bounded region, consisting of two parts. In the first subregion, the value is equal to the quality function, and in the second it satisfies Bellman's equation. For the constant-value region, where the players’ optimum strategies are not unique, single-valued guaranteeing players’ strategies are proposed. The results of a numerical investigation of the problem are presented.     

Periodic traveling wave solution for non-homogeneous BBM and KdVB equations

In this paper the Green’s function method and results about fixed point are used to get existence results on periodic traveling wave solution for non-homogeneous problems of generalized versions of the BBM and KdVB equations. It is shown through the constructions of explicit Green’s functions that the periodic boundary value problems for the traveling wave solutions of the BBM and KdVB equations are equivalent to integral equations which generate compact operators in the space of periodic functions. These integral representations allowed us to prove that if the speed of the wave propagation is suitably chosen, then the BBM and KdVB equations will admit periodic traveling wave solution.     

Bay of Bengal wave forecast based on genetic algorithm: A comparison of univariate and multivariate approaches

Prediction of significant wave height (SWH) field is carried out in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) using a combination of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis and genetic algorithm (GA). EOF analysis is performed on 4 years (2005–2008) of numerical wave model generated SWH field, and analyzed fields of zonal (U) and meridional (V) winds. This is to decompose the space-time distributed data into spatial modes ranked by their temporal variances. Two different variants of GA are tested. In the first one, univariate GA is applied to the time series of the first principal component (PC) of SWH in the training dataset after a filtering with singular spectrum analysis (SSA) for effecting noise reduction. The generated equations are used to carry out forecast of SWH field with various lead times. In the second method, multivariate GA is applied to the SSA filtered time series of the first PC of SWH, and time- lagged first PCs of U and V and again forecast equations are generated. Once again the forecast of SWH is carried out with same lead times. The quality of forecast is evaluated in terms of root mean square error of forecast. The results are also compared with buoy data at a location. It is concluded that the method can serve as a cost-effective alternate prediction technique in the BOB.     

On stability of zero solution of an essentially nonlinear second-order differential equation

Small periodic (with respect to time) perturbations of an essentially nonlinear differential equation of the second order are studied. It is supposed that the restoring force of the unperturbed equation contains both a conservative and a dissipative part. It is also supposed that all solutions of the unperturbed equation are periodic. Thus, the unperturbed equation is an oscillator. The peculiarity of the considered problem is that the frequency of oscillations is an infinitely small function of the amplitude. The stability problem for the zero solution is considered. Lyapunov investigated the case of autonomous perturbations. He showed that the asymptotic stability or the instability depends on the sign of a certain constant and presented a method to compute it. Liapunov’s approach cannot be applied to nonautonomous perturbations (in particular, to periodic ones), because it is based on the possibility to exclude the time variable from the system. Modifying Lyapunov’s method, the following results were obtained. “Action–angle” variables are introduced. A polynomial transformation of the action variable, providing a possibility to compute Lyapunov’s constant, is presented. In the general case, the structure of the polynomial transformation is studied. It turns out that the “length” of the polynomial is a periodic function of the exponent of the conservative part of the restoring force in the unperturbed equation. The least period is equal to four.     

The directed polymer in a random environment

A continuous space/time approximation of the well known ‘directed polymer’ problem is considered. Connection between the ‘Helmholtz Free Energy’ and the ‘Two Walker problem’ is shown. Rigorous proof of the superdiffusive mean squared displacement exponent of 4/3 is given when there is one space dimension and one time dimension. Asymptotically diffusive behaviour of c(k)tis shown when there are one ‘time’ and two ‘space’ dimensions. For higher dimensions, the behaviour is diffusive and the mean squared displacement is asymptotically t d. These results hold for all temperature, because the phase transition in the discrete model is no longer present in the continuous model; the renormalization procedure has set the transition temperature to k _crit =0The joint distribution is also shown to be asymptotically sub-Gaussian for all dimensions and all temperatures (in the sense that the p ^thmoments as a function of pincrease more slowly than the moments of a Gaussian distribution). The ‘Helmholtz Free Energy’ is also calculated for this model and the quenched and annealed free energies are shown to be identical for all temperature     

Products of Distributions, Conservation Laws and the Propagation of δ -Shock Waves

This paper contains a study of propagation of singular travelling waves u(x,t)for conservation laws ut + [φ(u)]x =Ψ(u),where φ,Ψ are entire functions taking real values on the real axis.Conditions for ...     

带准备时间的单机指数时间学习效应排序问题

研究带有准备时间的单机学习效应模型,其中工件加工时间具有指数时间学习效应,即工件的实际加工时间是已经排好的工件加工时间的指数函数。学习效应模型考虑工件的实际加工时间同时依赖于工件本身的加工时间和已加工工件的累计加工时间,目标函数为最小化总完工时间。这个问题是NP-难的,提出了一个数学规划模型来求解该问题的最优解。通过分析几个优势性质和下界,提出分支定界算法来求解此问题,并设计启发式算法改进分支定界算法的上界值。通过仿真实验验证了分支定界算法在求解质量和时间方面的有效性。     

Mathematical simulation of acoustic wave refraction near a caustic

Issues related to the computation of wave fields in an acoustic medium near caustics are considered. A boundary condition on a caustic is established, and the Green’s function of a boundary value problem for the general case of a varying speed of sound is constructed. For this purpose, an auxiliary Goursat problem is considered and a system of its particular solutions is constructed using hyper-geometric functions. A Volterra integral equation for the Green’s function is obtained, and an algorithm for its expansion with respect to smoothness is described. A finite difference scheme approximating the solution of the differential problem with an unbounded coefficient is proposed. Numerical results are presented.     

Students’ reasoning about relationships between variables in a real-world problem

This paper reports on part of an investigation of fifteen second-semester calculus students’ understanding of the concept of parametric function. Employing APOS theory as our guiding theoretical perspective, we offer a genetic decomposition for the concept of parametric function, and we explore students’ reasoning about an invariant relationship between two quantities varying simultaneously with respect to a third quantity when described in a real-world problem, as such reasoning is important for the study of parametric functions. In particular, we investigate students’ reasoning about an adaptation of the popular bottle problem in which they were asked to graph relationships between (a) time and volume of the water, (b) time and height of the water, and (c) volume and height of the water. Our results illustrate that several issues make reasoning about relationships between variables a complex task. Furthermore, our findings indicate that conceiving an invariant relationship, as it relates to the concept of parametric function, is nontrivial, and various complimentary ways of reasoning are favorable for developing such a conception. We conclude by making connections between our results and our genetic decomposition.     

Simulation analysis of ruin capital in Sparre Andersen’s model of risk

Ruin capital is a function of premium rate set to render the probability of ruin within finite time equal to a given value. The analytical studies of this function in the classical Lundberg model of risk with exponential claim sizes done in Malinovskii (2014) have shown that the ruin capital’s shape is surprisingly simple. This work presents the results of related simulation studies. They are focused on the question whether this shape remains similar in Sparre Andersen’s model of risk.     

An inventory model for increasing demand under two levels of trade credit linked to order quantity

During the growth stage of a product life cycle especially for high-tech products, the demand function increases with time. In this paper, we extend the constant demand to a linear non-decreasing demand function of time and incorporate a permissible delay in payment under two levels of trade credit into the model. The supplier offers a permissible delay linked to order quantity, and the retailer also provides a downstream trade credit period to its customers. The objective is to find the optimal replenishment cycle that minimizes the retailer’s annual total relevant cost per unit time. The condition for an optimal solution to the generalized model is presented and some fundamental theoretical results are established. Finally, numerical examples to illustrate the proposed model are provided. Sensitivity analysis is performed and some relevant managerial insights are obtained.     

On the Numerical Solution to a Nonlinear Wave Equation Associated with the First Painlev′e Equation: an Operator-Splitting Approach

The main goal of this article is to discuss the numerical solution to a nonlinear wave equation associated with the first of the celebrated Painlevé transcendent ordinary differential equations. In order to solve numerically the above equation, whose solutions blow up in finite time, the authors advocate a numerical methodology based on the Strang’s symmetrized operator-splitting scheme. With this approach, one can decouple nonlinearity and differential operators, leading to the alternate solution at every time step of the equation as follows: (i) The first Painlevé ordinary differential equation, (ii) a linear wave equation with a constant coefficient. Assuming that the space dimension is two, the authors consider a fully discrete variant of the above scheme, where the space-time discretization of the linear wave equation sub-steps is achieved via a Galerkin/finite element space approximation combined with a second order accurate centered time discretization scheme. To handle the nonlinear sub-steps, a second order accurate centered explicit time discretization scheme with adaptively variable time step is used, in order to follow accurately the fast dynamic of the solution before it blows up. The results of numerical experiments are presented for different coefficients and boundary conditions. They show that the above methodology is robust and describes fairly accurately the evolution of a rather “violent” phenomenon.     

Extinction and permanence of the predator-prey system with general functional response and impulsive control

Traditional approach for modelling the evolution of populations in the predator-prey ecosystem has commonly been undertaken using specific impulsive response function, and this kind of modelling is applicable only for a specific ecosystem under certain environmental situations only. This paper attempts to fill the gap by modelling the predator-prey ecosystem using a ‘generalized’ impulsive response function for the first time. Different from previous research, the present work develops the modelling for an integrated pest management (IPM) especially when the stocking of predator (natural enemy) and the harvesting of prey (pest) occur impulsively and at different instances of time. The paper firstly establishes the sufficient conditions for the local and the global stabilities of prey eradication periodic solution by applying the Floquet theorem of the Impulsive different equation and small amplitude perturbation under a ‘generalized’ impulsive response function. Subsequently the sufficient condition for the permanence of the system is given through the comparison techniques. The corollaries of the theorems that are established by using the ‘general impulsive response function’ under the locally asymptotically stable condition are found to be in excellent agreement with those reported previously. Theoretical results that are obtained in this work is then validated by using a typical impulsive response function (Holling type-II) as an example, and the outcome is shown to be consistent with the previously reported results. Finally, the implication of the developed theories for practical pest management is illustrated through numerical simulation. It is shown that the elimination of either the preys or the pest can be effectively deployed by making use of the theoretical model established in this work. The developed model is capable to predict the population evolutions of the predator-prey ecosystem to accommodate requirements such as: the combinations of the biological control, chemical control, any functional response function, the moderate impulsive period, the harvest rate for the prey and predator parameter and the incremental stocking of the predator parameter.     

A note on Boiteux’ surplus function and dual Pareto efficiency

The purpose of this note is to study first a notion of a surplus function that originates in the work of [Boiteux, M., 1951. Le Revenu Distribuable et les Pertes Économiques. Econometrica 112–133] and to rely upon this notion to study dual Pareto efficiency in an exchange economy. This function, which we call the Boiteux’ surplus function, measures how many units of income an individual must be given to move from a reference utility level, to another utility level. We prove several properties of the Boiteux’ surplus function, and study in particular its links with the expenditure and the indirect utility functions. With regard to dual Pareto efficiency and the Boiteux’ surplus function our results are as follows. A feasible reference price–income pair is dual Pareto efficient if and only if it zero-maximizes the sum of individual Boiteux’ surplus functions among all feasible price–income pairs. We use these results to give a new proof (for the case of an exchange economy with positive prices) of the characterization by Luenberger of dual Pareto optima.     

Matrix multiplication and transformations: an APOS approach

This study presents a contribution to research in undergraduate teaching and learning of linear algebra, in particular, the learning of matrix multiplication. A didactical experience consisting on a modeling situation and a didactical sequence to guide students’ work on the situation were designed and tested using APOS theory. We show results of research on students’ activity and learning while using the sequence and through analysis of student’s work and assessment questions. The didactic sequence proved to have potential to foster students’ learning of function, matrix transformations and matrix multiplication. A detailed analysis of those constructions that seem to be essential for students understanding of this topic including linear transformations is presented. These results are contributions of this study to the literature.     

Computing clique and chromatic number of circular-perfect graphs in polynomial time

A main result of combinatorial optimization is that clique and chromatic number of a perfect graph are computable in polynomial time (Grötschel et al. in Combinatorica 1(2):169–197, 1981). Perfect graphs have the key property that clique and chromatic number coincide for all induced subgraphs; we address the question whether the algorithmic results for perfect graphs can be extended to graph classes where the chromatic number of all members is bounded by the clique number plus one. We consider a well-studied superclass of perfect graphs satisfying this property, the circular-perfect graphs, and show that for such graphs both clique and chromatic number are computable in polynomial time as well. In addition, we discuss the polynomial time computability of further graph parameters for certain subclasses of circular-perfect graphs. All the results strongly rely upon Lovász’s Theta function.     

Managing performance and power consumption in a server farm

We examine the problem of managing a server farm in a way that attempts to satisfy the conflicting objectives of high performance and low power consumption. A subset of servers is designated as ‘reserve’. The reserves are powered up when the number of jobs in the system is sufficiently high, and are powered down when that number is sufficiently low. Powering up takes an interval of time during which the reserves consume power but do not serve jobs. The question of how to choose the number of reserves, and the up and down thresholds, is answered by analyzing a suitable queueing model and minimizing an appropriate cost function. Heuristics and numerical results are also presented.     

A product positioning model with costs and prices

In this paper products are conceptualized as bundles of attributes so that consumers' perceptions of existing products and their conceptions of ‘ideal’ products can be represented as points in an attribute space. Preferences are assumed to be governed by these locations.A new approach to the problem of finding an optimal position for a new product in the attribute space is presented.The sales-oriented objective function of existing models is replaced by a profit-oriented function, which explicitly observes price and positioning costs. The approach generalizes the underlying behavioral hypothesis and reduces computing time.