A criterion for positive completeness in ternary logic

The operator of positive closure is considered on the set P _k of functions of k-valued logic. Some positive complete systems of functions are defined. It is proved that every positive complete class of functions from P _k is positive generated by the set of all functions depending on at most k variables. For each k ? 3, the three families of positive precomplete classes are defined. It is shown that, for k = 3, the 10 classes of these families constitute a criterion system.     

Stability results for approximation by positive definite functions on SO(3)

We consider interpolation methods defined by positive definite functions on a locally compact group G. Estimates for the smallest and largest eigenvalue of the interpolation matrix in terms of the localization of the positive definite function on G are presented, and we provide a method to get positive definite functions explicitly on compact semisimple Lie groups. Finally, we apply our results to construct well-localized positive definite basis functions having nice stability properties on the rotation group SO(3).     

Positive Harmonic Functions that Vanish on a Subset of a Cylindrical Surface

This paper investigates positive harmonic functions on domains that are complementary to a subset of a cylindrical surface. It characterizes, both in terms of harmonic measure and of a Wiener-type criterion, those domains that admit minimal harmonic functions with exponential growth. Illustrative examples are provided. Two applications are also given. The first of these concerns minimal harmonic functions associated with an irregular boundary point, and amplifies a recent construction of Gardiner and Hansen. The second concerns the possible non-approximability of positive harmonic functions by integrable positive harmonic functions. This research was supported by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant 06/RFP/MAT057, and is also part of the programme of the ESF Network “Harmonic and Complex Analysis and Applications” (HCAA).     

Some positive definite functions on sets and their application to the Ising model

Consideration of correlation inequalities for Ising ferromagnets with arbitrary spins has led to the discovery of a class of positive definite functions on sets. These functions are linear combinations of the functions which enter into Muirhead's Theorem. We prove these functions to be positive definite and also show how they can be applied to the Ising problem to prove Griffiths second inequality for arbitrary spins.     

Spaces with Almost Strictly Totally Positive Bases

In spline spaces there are often totally positive bases possessing a strong property called almost strictly total positivity. In this paper, it is proved that, for totally positive bases of continuous functions B, the following concepts are equivalent: (i) B is almost strictly totally positive, (ii) B satifies a Schoenberg-Whitney Theorem, (iii) The functions in B are locally linearly independent. Some classical examples of almost strictly totally positive bases are given, completing the knowledge of their properties known in the mathematical literature. Some criteria to know the existence of almost strictly totally positive bases are also derived.     

Two minimal positive bases based direct search conjugate gradient methods for computationally expensive functions

Positive basis is an important concept in direct search methods. Although any positive basis can ensure the convergence in theory, the maximum positive bases are often used to construct direct search algorithms. In this paper, two direct search methods for computational expensive functions are proposed based on the minimal positive bases. The Coope–Price’s frame-based direct search framework is employed to insure convergence. PRP+ method and a recently developed descent conjugate gradient method are employed respectively to accelerate convergence. The data profiles and the performance profiles of the numerical experiments show that the proposed methods are effective for computational expensive functions.     

Harmonic functions and exit boundary of superdiffusion

All positive harmonic functions in an arbitrary domain of a Euclidean space can be described in terms of the so-called exit boundary. This was established in 1941 by R.S. Martin. A probabilistic approach to the Martin theory is due to Doob and Hunt. It was extended later to harmonic functions associated with a wide class of Markov processes. The subject of this paper are harmonic functions associated with a superdiffusion X (we call them X-harmonic). The results of Evans and Perkins imply the existence and uniqueness of an integral representation of positive X-harmonic functions through extreme functions. An outstanding problem is to find all extremal functions (they are in 1-1 correspondence with the points of the exit boundary).An interest in X-harmonic functions is motivated, in part, by the fact that each of them provides a way of conditioning a superprocess. Path properties of conditioned superprocesses (corresponding to various special X-harmonic functions) were investigated by a number of authors.Important classes of X-harmonic functions are related to positive solutions of semilinear partial differential equations. Almost nothing is known about their decomposition into extreme elements. A progress in this direction may create new tools for investigating solutions of the equations.The goal of this paper is to summarize all known facts about X-harmonic functions, to present the results of various authors in a more general setting in a unified form and to outline a program of further work.     

Schur positivity of skew Schur function differences and applications to ribbons and Schubert classes

Some new relations on skew Schur function differences are established both combinatorially using Schützenberger’s jeu de taquin, and algebraically using Jacobi-Trudi determinants. These relations lead to the conclusion that certain differences of skew Schur functions are Schur positive. Applying these results to a basis of symmetric functions involving ribbon Schur functions confirms the validity of a Schur positivity conjecture due to McNamara. A further application reveals that certain differences of products of Schubert classes are Schubert positive. For Manfred Schocker 1970–2006. S.J. van Willigenburg was supported in part by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

The Gerber–Shiu discounted penalty functions for a risk model with two classes of claims

In this paper, we consider the ruin problems for a risk model involving two independent classes of insurance risks. We assume that the claim number processes are independent Poisson and generalized Erlang(n) processes, respectively. When the generalized Lundberg equation has distinct roots with positive real parts, both of the Gerber–Shiu discounted penalty functions with zero initial surplus and the Laplace transforms of the Gerber–Shiu discounted penalty functions are obtained. Finally, some explicit expressions for the Gerber–Shiu discounted penalty functions with positive initial surplus are given when the claim size distributions belong to the rational family.     

Positive Periodic Solution of a Periodic Cooperative Model with State Dependent Delays

By using the continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory, sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of positive periodic solution for the periodic cooperative system with state dependent delays where r i , a i , c i , i = 1, 2 are positive continuous y -periodic functions, b i , i = 1, 2 are nonnegative continuous y -periodic functions, and ij , i = 1, 2; j = 1, 2, 3 are nonnegative continuous functions and y -periodic with respect to their first argument.     

Interpolation by positive definite functions on locally compact groups with application to SO (3)

In this research a method for interpolation on arbitrary locally compact groups is developed. The method is based on positive definite functions definable on spaces with group multiplication. To be able to use these functions two steps are necessary. First, positive semidefinite functions are determined using Bochners theorem on commutative groups respectively representation theory in the non commutative case. Then transformations are given to get positive definite out of positive semidefinite functions. For the compact group 50(3) the result is explicitly calculated and implemented in the case of three and five dimensional representations, and is applied to the approximation of energy functions of molecule interactions in 3-space.     

Recurrence relations for radial positive definite functions

In the theory of radial basis functions as well as in the theory of spherically symmetric characteristic functions recurrence relations are used to construct d-dimensional functions starting with lower-dimensional ones. We show that the operators used so far are special cases of one step recurrence relations for ?₂-radial positive definite functions. We further give the analogue for ?₁-radial functions and thereby define a turning bands operator for 1-symmetric characteristic functions.     

Positive definite symmetric functions on linear spaces

If Φ is a positive definite function on a real linear space E of infinite dimension and Φ enjoys certain symmetry conditions we are able to show that Φ is expressible as a certain Laplace-Stieltjes transform. Conversely, if Φ is given by such a transform we can often show that Φ is positive definite on E. In particular, our results apply to the L^p spaces, 0 < p < ∞, as well as to other Orlicz spaces. We also are able to show that the only positive definite continuous sup-norm symmetric functions on C(T), the space of bounded real continuous functions on T, are constants whenever C(T) contains a sequence of functions with sup-norm one and disjoint support. Finally, we apply these ideas to obtain a result on radial exponentially convex functions on a Hilbert space.     

A function class of strictly positive definite and logarithmically completely monotonic functions related to the modified Bessel functions

In this paper, we give some conditions for a class of functions related to Bessel functions to be positive definite or strictly positive definite. We present some properties and relationships involving logarithmically completely monotonic functions and strictly positive definite functions. In particular, we are interested with the modified Bessel functions of the second kind. As applications, we prove the logarithmically monotonicity for a class of functions involving the modified Bessel functions of second kind and we established new inequalities for this function.     

On progressive functions

Progressive functions at time t involve only the progressive functions at time before t and some nice compactly supported function at time t. We give sufficient conditions and explicit formulas to construct progressive functions with exponential decay and characterize the conditions on which the positive integer translates of a progressive function are orthonormal or a Riesz sequence. We provide explicit ways for construction of orthonormal progressive functions and for construction of the biorthogonal functions of nonorthogonal progressive functions. Such progressive functions can be used to construct wavelets with arbitrary smoothness on the half line if they are generated by a smooth refinable compactly supported function.     

Eigenvalue inequalities for convex and log-convex functions

We give a matrix version of the scalar inequality f(a + b) ? f(a) + f(b) for positive concave functions f on [0, ∞). We show that Choi’s inequality for positive unital maps and operator convex functions remains valid for monotone convex functions at the cost of unitary congruences. Some inequalities for log-convex functions are presented and a new arithmetic-geometric mean inequality for positive matrices is given. We also point out a simple proof of the Bhatia-Kittaneh arithmetic-geometric mean inequality.     

Extended Harnack inequalities with exceptional sets and a boundary Harnack principle

Harnack’s inequality is one of the most fundamental inequalities for positive harmonic functions and has been extended to positive solutions of general elliptic equations and parabolic equations. This article gives a different generalization; namely, we generalize Harnack chains rather than equations. More precisely, we allow a small exceptional set and yet obtain a similar Harnack inequality. The size of an exceptional set is measured by capacity. The results are new even for classical harmonic functions. Our extended Harnack inequality includes information about the boundary behavior of positive harmonic functions. It yields a boundary Harnack principle for a very nasty domain whose boundary is given locally by the graph of a function with modulus of continuity worse than Hölder continuity.     

Effects of a Degeneracy in the Competition Model: Part I. Classical and Generalized Steady-State Solutions

We study the competition model where the coefficient functions are strictly positive over the underlying spatial region Ω except b(x), which vanishes in a nontrivial subdomain of Ω, and is positive in the rest of Ω. We show that there exists a critical number λ* such that if λ <λ*, then the model behaves similarly to the well-studied classical competition model where all the coefficient functions are positive constants, but when λ>λ*, new phenomena occur. Our results demonstrate the fact that heterogeneous environmental effects on population models are not only quantitative, but can be qualitative as well. In part I here, we mainly study two kinds of steady-state solutions which determine the dynamics of the model: one consists of finite functions while the other consists of generalized functions which satisfy (u, v)=(∞, 0) on the part of the domain that b(x) vanishes, but are positive and finite on the rest of the domain, and are determined by certain boundary blow-up systems. The research is continued in part II, where these two kinds of steady-state solutions will be used to determine the dynamics of the model.     

半群上条件正定函数的扩张

讨论半群上条件正定函数的扩张问题.得到一个扩张定理.作为应用,得到有界扩张定理和Pontryagin空间上量子力学的一个基本定理.     

Intrinsic Data Depth for Hermitian Positive Definite Matrices

Nondegenerate covariance, correlation, and spectral density matrices are necessarily symmetric or Hermitian and positive definite. This article develops statistical data depths for collections of Hermitian positive definite matrices by exploiting the geometric structure of the space as a Riemannian manifold. The depth functions allow one to naturally characterize most central or outlying matrices, but also provide a practical framework for inference in the context of samples of positive definite matrices. First, the desired properties of an intrinsic data depth function acting on the space of Hermitian positive definite matrices are presented. Second, we propose two pointwise and integrated data depth functions that satisfy each of these requirements and investigate several robustness and efficiency aspects. As an application, we construct depth-based confidence regions for the intrinsic mean of a sample of positive definite matrices, which is applied to the exploratory analysis of a collection of covariance matrices in a multicenter clinical trial. Supplementary materials and an accompanying R-package are available online.