Some properties of Ramsey numbers

In this paper, some properties of Ramsey numbers are studied, and the following results are presented.

1. (1) For any positive integers k₁, k₂, …, k_m l₁, l₂, …, l_m (m> 1), we have

.

2. (2) For any positive integers k₁, k₂, …, k_m, l₁, l₂, …, l_n , we have

. Based on the known results of Ramsey numbers, some results of upper bounds and lower bounds of Ramsey numbers can be directly derived by those properties.

     

Considerations on the application of the chaos paradigm to describe the postural sway

Time-series of statokinesigram (SKG) of healthy subjects and parkinsonians are investigated and compared. This is done by employing the chaos paradigm in order to obtain the main characteristics of the SKG. The interpretation of our findings is twofold:

when a proper Theiler window is not used we find a virtual invariance of the chaos parameters when healthy subjects and parkinsonians are compared but a discrepancy of our values (correlation dimension equals to 1.4) with those found in previous works;

when a proper Theiler window is used (more) appropriately, the SKGs do not show a convergence of the fractal dimension estimates; therefore nothing can be said in terms of chaoticity of system.

Quasi-Greedy Triangulations Approximating the Minimum Weight Triangulation

This article settles the following two longstanding open problems:

• What is the worst case approximation ratio between the greedy triangulation and the minimum weight triangulation?

• Is there a polynomial time algorithm that always produces a triangulation whose length is within a constant factor from the minimum?

The answer to the first question is that the known lower bound is tight. The second question is answered in the affirmative by using a slight modification of anO(n log n) algorithm for the greedy triangulation. We also derive some other interesting results. For example, we show that a constant-factor approximation of the minimum weight convex partition can be obtained within the same time bounds.     

The fixed point property in -triples and preduals of -triples

We prove that for every member X in the class of real or complex JB^*-triples or preduals of JBW^*-triples, the following assertions are equivalent:

(1) X has the fixed point property.

(2) X has the super fixed point property.

(3) X has normal structure.

(4) X has uniform normal structure.

(5) The Banach space of X is reflexive.

As a consequence, a real or complex C^*-algebra or the predual of a real or complex W^*-algebra having the fixed point property must be finite-dimensional.

Repair-replace strategies for two-dimensional warranty policies

For repairable items sold with free replacement warranty, the actions available to the manufacturer to rectify failures under warranty are to

1. (1) repair the failed item or

2. (2) replace it with a new one.

A proper repair-replace strategy can reduce the expected cost of servicing the warranty. In this paper, we study repair-replace strategies for items sold with a two-dimensional free replacement warranty.     

Orthogonal polynomials and Gaussian quadrature for refinable weight functions

We show how to compute the modified moments of a refinable weight function directly from its mask in O(N²n) rational operations, where N is the desired number of moments and n the length of the mask. Three immediate applications of such moments are:

• the expansion of a refinable weight function as a Legendre series;

• the generation of the polynomials orthogonal with respect to a refinable weight function;

• the calculation of Gaussian quadrature formulas for refinable weight functions.

In the first two cases, all operations are rational and can in principle be performed exactly.

Dynamic Point Location in General Subdivisions

The dynamic planar point location problem is the task of maintaining a dynamic set S of n nonintersecting (except possibly at endpoints) line segments in the plane under the following operations:

• Locate (: point): Report the segment immediately above , i.e., the first segment intersected by an upward vertical ray starting at ;

• Insert (: segment): Add segment to the collection of segments;

• Delete (: segment): Remove segment from the collection of segments.

We present a solution which requires space O(n) and has query and insertion time O(log n log log n) and deletion time O(log²n). The bounds for insertions and deletions are amortized. A query time below O(log²n) was previously only known for monotone subdivisions and subdivisions consisting of horizontal segments and required nonlinear space.     

Decompositions of complete graphs and complete bipartite graphs into isomorphic supersubdivision graphs

A graph H is called a supersubdivison of a graph G if H is obtained from G by replacing every edge uv of G by a complete bipartite graph K_2,m (m may vary for each edge) by identifying u and v with the two vertices in K_2,m that form one of the two partite sets. We denote the set of all such supersubdivision graphs by SS(G). Then, we prove the following results.

1. Each non-trivial connected graph G and each supersubdivision graph HSS(G) admits an α-valuation. Consequently, due to the results of Rosa (in: Theory of Graphs, International Symposium, Rome, July 1966, Gordon and Breach, New York, Dunod, Paris, 1967, p. 349) and El-Zanati and Vanden Eynden (J. Combin. Designs 4 (1996) 51), it follows that complete graphs K_2cq+1 and complete bipartite graphs K_mq,nq can be decomposed into edge disjoined copies of HSS(G), for all positive integers m,n and c, where q=|E(H)|.

2. Each connected graph G and each supersubdivision graph in SS(G) is strongly n-elegant, where n=|V(G)| and felicitous.

3. Each supersubdivision graph in EASS(G), the set of all even arbitrary supersubdivision graphs of any graph G, is cordial.

Further, we discuss a related open problem.     

On spaces which are linearly D

We introduce a generalization of D-spaces, which we call linearly D-spaces. The following results are obtained for a T₁-space X.

– X is linearly Lindelöf if, and only if, X is a linearly D-space of countable extent.

– X is linearly D provided that X is submetaLindelöf.

– X is linearly D provided that X is the union of finitely many linearly D-subspaces.

– X is compact provided that X is countably compact and X is the union of countably many linearly D-subspaces.

On the correlation of binary sequences

In a series of papers Mauduit and Sárközy (partly with further coauthors) studied finite pseudorandom binary sequences. In particular, one of the most important applications of pseudorandomness is cryptography. If, e.g., we want to use a binary sequence E_N{-1,+1}^N (after transforming it into a bit sequence) as a key stream in the standard Vernam cipher [A. Menezes, P. van Oorschot, R. Vanstone, Handbook of Applied Cryptography, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1997], then E_N must possess certain pseudorandom properties. Does E_N need to possess both small well-distribution measure and, for any fixed small k, small correlation measure of order k? In other words, if W(E_N) is large, resp. C_k(E_N) is large for some fixed small k, then can the enemy utilize this fact to break the code? The most natural line of attack is the exhaustive search: the attacker may try all the binary sequences E_N{-1,+1}^N with large W(E_N), resp. large C_k(E_N), as a potential key stream. Clearly, this attack is really threatening only if the number of sequences E_N{-1,+1}^N with

(i) large W(E_N), resp.

(ii) large C_k(E_N)

is “much less” than the total number 2^N of sequences in {-1,+1}^N, besides one needs a fast algorithm to generate the sequences of type (i), resp. (ii).The case (i) is easy, thus, for the sake of completeness, here we just present an estimate for the number of sequences E_N with large W(E_N).The case (ii), i.e., the case of large correlation is much more interesting: this case will be studied in Section 2.In Section 3 we will sharpen the results of Section 2 in the special case when the order of the correlation is 2.Finally, in Section 4 we will study a lemma, which plays a crucial role in the estimation of the correlation in some of the most important constructions of pseudorandom binary sequences.     

Application of semi-definite programming to robust stability of delay systems

We study here robust stability of linear systems with several uncertain incommensurate delays, more precisely the property usually called delay-dependent stability. The main result of this paper consists in establishing that the latter is equivalent to the feasibility of some Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI), a convex optimization problem whose numerical solution is well documented.The method is based on two main techniques:

• use of Padé approximation to transform the system into some singularly perturbed finite-dimensional system, for which robust dichotomy has to be checked;

• recursive applications of Generalized Kalman–Yakubovich–Popov (KYP) lemma to characterise by an LMI the previous property.

Trade-off between sample size and accuracy: Case of measurements under interval uncertainty

In many practical situations, we are not satisfied with the accuracy of the existing measurements. There are two possible ways to improve the measurement accuracy:

• First, instead of a single measurement, we can make repeated measurements; the additional information coming from these additional measurements can improve the accuracy of the result of this series of measurements.

• Second, we can replace the current measuring instrument with a more accurate one; correspondingly, we can use a more accurate (and more expensive) measurement procedure provided by a measuring lab – e.g., a procedure that includes the use of a higher quality reagent.

In general, we can combine these two ways, and make repeated measurements with a more accurate measuring instrument. What is the appropriate trade-off between sample size and accuracy? This is the general problem that we address in this paper.     

Wiener-hopf equations for waves scattered by a system of parallel sommerfeld half-planes

A scalar time-harmonic wave (governed by Helmholtz's equation) impinges on N semi-infinite half-planes. The scattered field is sought when first, second, and third-kind boundary conditions or even general linear transmission conditions on the plates ∑_m and their complementary parts ∑ are prescribed. Making use of the Fourier transform a representation formula for H¹ (Ω) solutions is presented. The boundary/transmission problem is shown to be equivalent to a (2N × 2N)-Wiener–Hopf (WH) system for jumps of the Dirichlet–and Neumann–Cauchy data across the semi-infinite screens ∑_m. The (2N × 2N)-Fourier symbol matrix ??_?? contains N block matrices on the diagonal corresponding to Sommerfeld boundary/transmission problems for a single plate. These (2 × 2)-symbol matrices are factorizable and thus the full WH system is invertible by a perturbation argument for not too small spacings of neighbouring screens ∑_m.     

Stochastic portfolio specific mortality and the quantification of mortality basis risk

In the last decade a vast literature on stochastic mortality models has been developed. However, these models are often not directly applicable to insurance portfolios because:

(a) For insurers and pension funds it is more relevant to model mortality rates measured in insured amounts instead of measured in the number of policies.

(b) Often there is not enough insurance portfolio specific mortality data available to fit such stochastic mortality models reliably.

Therefore, in this paper a stochastic model is proposed for portfolio specific mortality experience. Combining this stochastic process with a stochastic country population mortality process leads to stochastic portfolio specific mortality rates, measured in insured amounts. The proposed stochastic process is applied to two insurance portfolios, and the impact on the Value at Risk for longevity risk is quantified. Furthermore, the model can be used to quantify the basis risk that remains when hedging portfolio specific mortality risk with instruments of which the payoff depends on population mortality rates.     

Character sets of strings

Given a string S over a finite alphabet Σ, the character set (also called the fingerprint) of a substring S^′ of S is the subset CΣ of the symbols occurring in S^′. The study of the character sets of all the substrings of a given string (or a given collection of strings) appears in several domains such as rule induction for natural language processing or comparative genomics. Several computational problems concerning the character sets of a string arise from these applications, especially:

(1) Output all the maximal locations of substrings having a given character set.

(2) Output for each character set C occurring in a given string (or a given collection of strings) all the maximal locations of C.

Denoting by n the total length of the considered string or collection of strings, we solve the first problem in Θ(n) time using Θ(n) space. We present two algorithms solving the second problem. The first one runs in Θ(n²) time using Θ(n) space. The second algorithm has Θ(n|Σ|log|Σ|) time and Θ(n) space complexity and is an adaptation of an algorithm by Amir et al. [A. Amir, A. Apostolico, G.M. Landau, G. Satta, Efficient text fingerprinting via Parikh mapping, J. Discrete Algorithms 26 (2003) 1–13].     

Universal entire functions with gap power series

Let be the family of all compact sets in which have connected complement. For K ε M we denote by A(K) the set of all functions which are continuous on K and holomorphic in its interior.Suppose that {z_n} is any unbounded sequence of complex numbers and let Q be a given sub-sequence of ₀.If Q has density Δ(Q) = 1 then there exists a universal entire function with lacunary power series

1. (1) (z) = ε^∞_{v = 0 v}Z^v, _v = 0 for v Q, which has for all K ε M the following properties simultaneously

2. (2) the sequence {(Z + Z_n)} is dense in A(K)

3. (3) the sequence { (ZZ_n)} is dense in A(K) if 0 K.

Also a converse result is proved: If is an entire function of the form (1) which satisfies (3), then Q must have maximal density Δ_max(Q) = 1.     

Stochastic control of funding systems

This paper is concerned with funding systems, i.e. systems which accumulate funds for the future payment of financial obligations. Commonly, such funding requires a balance between (1) the desire to minimise the contributions that need to be diverted from other use to the support of the Fund, and (2) the need to maintain reasonable solvency in the Fund.Such funding is discussed here in a general framework. Applications are numerous. The specific applications mentioned in the paper are:

• Defined benefit retirement funding,

• Maintenance of a prudential margin by a non-life insurer,

• Dividend payment strategy.

The paper applies stochastic optimal control theory to determine how rates of contribution to the Fund and allocation of its assets by asset sector should respond to changing solvency. These results are obtainable from a particular differential equation, which may be solved numerically. Detailed numerical examples are provided.     

Double piling structure of matrix monotone functions and of matrix convex functions

There are basic equivalent assertions known for operator monotone functions and operator convex functions in two papers by Hansen and Pedersen. In this note we consider their results as correlation problem between two sequences of matrix n-monotone functions and matrix n-convex functions, and we focus the following three assertions at each label n among them:

(i) f(0)0 and f is n-convex in [0,α),

(ii) For each matrix a with its spectrum in [0,α) and a contraction c in the matrix algebra M_n,

f(cac)cf(a)c,