Subspaces and quotients of Banach spaces with shrinking unconditional bases

The main result is that a separable Banach space with the weak* unconditional tree property is isomorphic to a subspace as well as a quotient of a Banach space with a shrinking unconditional basis. A consequence of this is that a Banach space is isomorphic to a subspace of a space with a shrinking unconditional basis if and only if it is isomorphic to a quotient of a space with a shrinking unconditional basis, which solves a problem dating to the 1970s. The proof of the main result also yields that a uniformly convex space with the unconditional tree property is isomorphic to a subspace as well as a quotient of a uniformly convex space with an unconditional finite dimensional decomposition.     

Modelling ship operational reliability over a mission under regular inspections

A ship is required to operate for a fixed mission period. Should a critical item of equipment fail at sea, the ship is subject to a costly event with potentially high risk to ship and crew. Given warning of a pending defect, the ship can try to return to port under its own power and thus attempt to avoid an at sea failure. Defects which lead to a failure are detected by inspection, and the task is to select the appropriate frequency of inspection to balance the number of occasions that a ship fails at sea and the number of preventive inspection based returns to port during a mission to correct a defect. The modelling entails using the delay time concept. Expressions are established for the expected number of preventive and failure returns over a mission, and an example given of a cost based balance to select an optimal inspection period. Although addressing ship reliability, the model has relevance to the mission reliability of any repairable equipment with remote main repair facilities.     

On Martingale Approximation of Adapted Processes

We show that the existence of a martingale approximation of a stationary process depends on the choice of the filtration. There exists a stationary linear process which has a martingale approximation with respect to the natural filtration, but no approximation with respect to a larger filtration with respect to which it is adapted and regular. There exists a stationary process adapted, regular, and having a martingale approximation with respect to a given filtration but not (regular and having a martingale approximation) with respect to the natural filtration.     

Price coordination in distribution channels: A dynamic perspective

In this study, we investigate two important questions related to dynamic pricing in distribution channels: (i) Are coordinated pricing decisions efficient in a context where prices have carry-over effects on demand? (ii) Should firms practice a skimming or a penetration strategy if they choose to coordinate or to decentralize their activities? To answer these questions, we consider a differential game that takes place in a bilateral monopoly where the past retail prices paid by consumers contribute to the building of a reference price. The latter is used by consumers as a benchmark to evaluate the value of the product, and by firms to decide whether to adopt a skimming or a penetration strategy.     

Lifting Property of Direct Sums of Hollow Modules

We give necessary and sufficient conditions for a module M with a decomposition that complements maximal direct summands to be a lifting module. We apply our results to get a necessary and sufficient condition for a direct sum of modules to be a quasi-discrete (discrete) module. We also give some sufficient conditions for a lifting module to be a direct sum of indecomposables.     

On the properties of orthorecursive expansions with respect to subspaces

In a Hilbert space, for orthorecursive expansions with respect to closed subspaces, we establish a criterion for expansions of elements of a certain finite-dimensional subspace with respect to a finite sequence of subspaces to coincide with the expanded elements. This implies a criterion for an element to be equal to its orthorecursive expansion with respect to a finite sequence of subspaces. We also obtain a number of results related to the best approximations of elements by partial sums of their orthorecursive expansions with respect to a sequence of finite-dimensional subspaces.     

Linear facility location — Solving extensions of the basic problem

The basic problem is to locate a linear facility to minimize the sume of weighted shortest Euclidean distances from demand points to the facility. We extend the analysis to locating a constrained linear facility, a radial facility, a linear facility where distances are rectangular and a linear facility under the minimax criterion. Each case is shown to admit a simple solution technique.     

A parallel domain reduction method

We relate a particular version of a parallel multigrid method to a domain decomposition method, showing that the parallel multigrid method reduces computation to a small portion of the domain and then extends the solution to the entire domain using the correct reflections to get the exact solution. We extend a particular example to double the parallelism in a nonobvious manner. While the techniques of this paper are applied to twodimensional problems, they can be applied to higher dimensional problems in an obvious manner.     

Characterization of isolated homogeneous hypersurface singularities in C~4 Dedicated to Professor Sheng GONG on the occasion of his 75th birthday

Let V be a hypersurface with an isolated singularity at the origin in Cn 1. It is a natural question to ask when V is defined by weighted homogeneous polynomial or homogeneous polynomial up to biholomorphic change of coordinates. In 1971, a beautiful theorem of Saito gives a necessary and sufficient condition for V to be defined by a weighted homogeneous polynomial. For a two-dimensional isolated hypersurface singularity V, Xu and Yau found a coordinate free characterization for V to be defined by a homogeneous polynomial. Recently Lin and Yau gave necessary and sufficient conditions for a 3-dimensional isolated hypersurface singularity with geometric genus bigger than zero to be defined by a homogeneous polynomial. The purpose of this paper is to prove that Lin-Yau's theorem remains true for singularities with geometric genus equal to zero.     

Koszul Bicomplexes and Generalized Koszul Complexes in Projective Dimension One

We describe Koszul type complexes associated with a linear map from any module to a free module, and vice versa with a linear map from a free module to an arbitrary module, generalizing the classical Koszul complexes. Given a short complex of finite free modules, we assemble these complexes to what we call Koszul bicomplexes. They are used in order to investigate the homology of the Koszul complexes in projective dimension one. As in the case of the classical Koszul complexes, this homology turns out to be grade sensitive. In a special setup, we obtain necessary conditions for a map of free modules to be lengthened to a short complex of free modules.     

Simd language design using prescriptive semantics

The goal of this article is to isolate a set of primitives necessary for the construction of SIMD programs and to give a denotational semantics for these primitives. The intent is to devise a language with a simple semantics rather than to propose a language which may be conveniently implemented. The approach taken results in the addition of a synchronous parallel assignment statement and a synchronous communication statement to the familiar sequential programming language control structures of composition, projection and iteration.     

Perturbation singulière d'un problème de frottement sec non monotone

In this Note we deal with a singularly perturbed system constituted by a differential inclusion which has a unique solution for each value of the perturbation parameter. The associated degenerated problem, that corresponds to a dynamic dry friction problem, has many solutions. We show that perturbed problem solutions converge to a particular solution of the degenerated problem when the perturbation parameter goes to zero. The singular perturbation approach allows an analysis of a criterion used to select a solution of the degenerated problem, and suggests a method to study more elaborated dry friction problems.     

On a Mathematical Comparison between Hierarchy and Network with a Classification of Coordination Structures

This paper proposes a mathematical model to compare a network organization with a hierarchical organization. In order to formulate the model, we define a three-dimensional framework of the coordination structure of a network and of other typical coordination structures. In the framework, we can define a network structure by contrasting it with a hierarchy, in terms of the distribution of decision making, which is one of the main features of information processing. Based on this definition, we have developed a mathematical model for evaluating coordination structures. Using this model, we can derive two boundary conditions among the coordination structures with respect to the optimal coordination structure. The boundary conditions help us to understand why an organization changes its coordination structure from a hierarchy to a network and what factors cause this change. They enable us, for example, to find points of structural change where the optimal coordination structure shifts from a hierarchy to a hierarchy with delegation or from a hierarchy with delegation to a network, when the nature of the task changes from routine to non-routine. In conclusion, our framework and model may provide a basis for discussing the processes that occur when coordination structures change between a hierarchy and a network.     

A Note On A Loaded Piezoelectric Transformer

Due to the coupling of mechanical and electrical quantities in a piezoceramic material, it is possible to transform a harmonic input voltage to a harmonic output voltage by using a piezoceramic transformer. The advantage of such a transformer is the avoidance of magnetic fields and the very simple assembly. The piezoelectric transformer considered here consists of several parts. Three brass and two piezoceramic rods, that are glued together. The purpose of the system is to transform a determined input voltage to a determined ouput voltage with a high efficiency. Therefore, one of the piezoceramics is excited harmonically with a frequency close to a resonance frequency of the system. According to the electromechanical coupling in piezoceramics, the transformer oscillates with the excitation frequency. Due to the piezoelectric effect an electric displacement or an electric voltage is generated between the electrodes of the second piezoceramic. The amplitude of the output voltage depends on the geometry and the load connected between the electrodes of the second piezoceramic. In this paper a theoretical model to determine the gain and input impedance for such a transformer is derived and the results are compared with experiments.     

Ideals in Graph Algebras

We show that the graph construction used to prove that a gauge-invariant ideal of a graph C ^???-algebra is isomorphic to a graph C ^???-algebra, and also used to prove that a graded ideal of a Leavitt path algebra is isomorphic to a Leavitt path algebra, is incorrect as stated in the literature. We give a new graph construction to remedy this problem, and prove that it can be used to realize a gauge-invariant ideal (respectively, a graded ideal) as a graph C ^???-algebra (respectively, a Leavitt path algebra).     

A confidence headway for safe car-following

The delay time in a non-linear car-following equation is taken to be a random variable. A confidence interval is determined for the response of the follower to a sufficiently small perturbation of the leader velocity to be a safe one according to a natural safety criterion.     

Stochastic integration,trace and the skeleton of wiener functionals

It is shown that the notion of trace induced by a given complete orthonormal system relates the Skorohod integral with a corresponding Ogawa‐type integral evaluated with respect to the same orthonormal systems. Similarly the multiple Wiener‐Ito integral is shown to be related to a multiple Ogawa‐type integral induced by a complete orthonormal system via the Hu‐Meyer formula with suitably defined multiple traces. The notion of skeleton of a Wiener functional relative to a given orthonormal system is defined and yields what seems to be a “natural” extension of Wiener functionals to the Cameron Martin space and the Wiener processes with a different scale.     

Managing supply chain backorders under vendor managed inventory: An incentive approach and empirical analysis

This paper shows how a manufacturer may use an incentive contract with a distributor under a VMI arrangement to gain market share. The manufacturer promises a distributor lower inventory levels in exchange for efforts by the distributor to convert potential lost sales due to stockouts to backorders. Data gathered from a third party provider of information services are then used to illustrate that this incentive arrangement may, at least implicitly, be employed in industry. Our data estimations show that when a manufacturer and distributor are operating under a VMI arrangement, lower inventory at the distributor is associated with a higher conversion rate of lost sales stockouts to backorders.     

On Testing for the Number of Components in a Mixed Poisson Model

Poisson mixtures are usually used to describe overdispersed data. Finite Poisson mixtures are used in many practical situations where often it is of interest to determine the number of components in the mixture. Identifying how many components comprise a mixture remains a difficult problem. The likelihood ratio test (LRT) is a general statistical procedure to use. Unfortunately, a number of specific problems arise and the classical theory fails to hold. In this paper a new procedure is proposed that is based on testing whether a new component can be added to a finite Poisson mixture which eventually leads to the number of components in the mixture. It is a sequential testing procedure based on the well known LRT that utilises a resampling technique to construct the distribution of the test statistic. The application of the procedure to real data reveals some interesting features of the distribution of the test statistic.