A new characterization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">PSU</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">p,q</Emphasis>)

Summary Let G be a finite group. Order components of G were introduced in Chen [5]. Let OC(G) be the set of order components of G. Some finite groups are characterizable by their order components. This assertion was proved for the simple groups PSU(p,q), where p=3, 5, 7 and 11. In this paper, we prove that the simple groups PSU(p,q) can be uniquely determined by their order components, where p&ge;13 is a prime number. Main consequences of our results are the validity of a conjecture of J. G. Thompson and another conjecture of W. Shi and J. Bi for the groups under consideration.     

Weyl's theorem for operator matrices

Weyl's theorem holds for an operator when the complement in the spectrum of the Weyl spectrum coincides with the isolated points of the spectrum which are eigenvalues of finite multiplicity. By comparison Browder's theorem holds for an operator when the complement in the spectrum of the Weyl spectrum coincides with Riesz points. Weyl's theorem and Browder's theorem are liable to fail for 2×2 operator matrices. In this paper we explore how Weyl's theorem and Browder's theorem survive for 2×2 operator matrices on the Hilbert space.Supported in part by BSRI-97-1420 and KOSEF 94-0701-02-01-3.     

Large transversals to small families of unit disks

Summary It is proved that if the nonempty intersection of bounded closed convex sets AnB is contained in (A + F)U(B+F) and one of the following holds true: (i) the space X is less-than-three dimensional, (ii) AUB is convex, (iii) F is a one-point set, then AnBCA+F or AnBCB+F (Theorems 2 and 3). Moreover, under some hypotheses the characterization of A and B such that AnB is a summand of AUB is given (Theorem 3).     

Zum heutigen Stand der nichtlinearen Optimierungstheorie

Zusammenfassung Die einleitenden Überlegungen gelten der Hauptidee desKuhn-Tucker-Theorems. In die erste Gruppe werden die Cutting plane-Methoden eingereiht. Die zweite Gruppe befaßt sich mit den sogenannten Kleinen-Schritt-Verfahren. Die dritte Gruppe enthält die bekannten Großen-Schritt-Verfahren. In der vierten Gruppe werden die Inneren-Punkt-Verfahren behandelt. Abschließend werden noch einige neuere Methoden vom praktischen und theoretischen Standpunkt aus kurz beleuchtet.

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Summary The introduction is concerned with theKuhn-Tucker theorem. Then the following methods are discussed: cutting plane, small step and large step methods, then the interior point methods. Finally some new methods are studied from the practical and theoretical point of view.

     

Role of information in the stochastic zero-sum differential game

In this paper, a linear-quadratic Gaussian zero-sum differential game is studied. Maneuverability is defined to measure players' strength. It is shown that a more maneuverable player would prefer a more observable information system. An example is given to show that a more controllable player might not prefer more observable measurements in the stochastic environment.The research reported in this paper was made possible through support extended to the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, Harvard University, by the US Office of Naval Research under the Joint Services Electronics Program by Contract No. N00014-75-c-0648 and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. GK31511.     

On the continuity of midpoint hull convex set-valued functions

Summary The concept of hull convexity (midpoint hull convexity) for set-valued functions in vector spaces is examined. This concept, introduced by A. V. Fiacco and J. Kyparisis (Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications,43 (1986), 95–126), is weaker than one of convexity (midpoint convexity).The main result is a sufficient condition for a midpoint hull convex set-valued function to be continuous. This theorem improves a result obtained by K. Nikodem (Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Mathematics,34 (1986), 393–399).     

Fixed-width confidence intervals for contrasts in the means

The sequential procedure developed by Bhargava and Srivastava (1973, J. Roy. Statist. Soc. Ser. B, 35, 147–152) to construct fixed-width confidence intervals for contrasts in the means is further analyzed. Second-order approximations for the first two moments of the stopping time and the coverage probability associated with the sequential procedure, are obtained. A lower bound for the number of additional observations after stopping is derived, which ensures the mxact probability of coverage. Moreover, two-stage, three-stage and modified sequential procedures are proposed for the same estimation problem. Relative advantages and disadvantages of these sampling schemes are discussed and their properties are studied.     

On a partition analog of the Cauchy-Davenport theorem

Summary Let G be a finite abelian group, and let n be a positive integer. From the Cauchy-Davenport Theorem it follows that if G is a cyclic group of prime order, then any collection of n subsets A_1,A_2,\ldots,A_n of G satisfies \bigg|\sum_{i=1}^n A_i\bigg| \ge \min \bigg\{|G|,\,\sum_{i=1}^n |A_i|-n+1\bigg\}. M.~Kneser generalized the Cauchy--Davenport Theorem for any abelian group. In this paper, we prove a sequence-partition analog of the Cauchy--Davenport Theorem along the lines of Kneser&apos;s Theorem. A particular case of our theorem was proved by J.~E. Olson in the context of the Erd&odblac;s--Ginzburg--Ziv Theorem.     

A new class of cutting planes for the symmetric travelling salesman problem

A comprehensive class of cutting planes for the symmetric travelling salesman problem (TSP) is proposed which contains the known comb inequalities, the path inequalities and the 3-star constraints as special cases. Its relation to the clique tree inequalities is discussed. The cutting planes are shown to be valid for a relaxed version of the TSP, the travelling salesman problem on a road network, and—under certain conditions—to define facets of the polyhedron associated with this problem.     

Using “quasiphotons” to compute wave fields in an elastic medium

Quasiphoton solutions are constructed for longitudinal and transversal waves in an elastic medium. The quasiphotons are then applied to determine the fields of nonstationary high-frequency point sources in a medium with parameters dependent on two Euclidean coordinates.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova AN SSSR, Vol. 148, pp. 89–103, 1985.     

Compact elements in the lattice of radicals

Summary A radical R, in the sense of Kurosh--Amitsur, is said to be compact if, given any collection of radicals X such that R &le;;VX, we have R &le;;VX&apos; for some finite subcollection X&apos; of X. A ring A is said to be radical compact if the lower radical on the singleton {A} is compact. This paper explores the relationship between radical compact rings and rings satisfying certain finiteness conditions. Closure properties of the class of all radical compact rings are also investigated.     

Central limit theorem for shot noise fields

One investigates the asymptotic normality of integrals over unboundedly increasing sets of a random field, describing a shot noise in ^d ,d1. One shows how important here are roles played by the growth character of the considered sets and by the dimension d.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova Akademii Nauk SSSR, Vol. 177, pp. 28–36, 1989.     

Threshold theorems for a stochastic model of an epidemic with natural immunization

A stochastic model of an epidemic is investigated, taking account of the removal of ill members of the population (by death, by recovery with immunization, by isolation) and natural immunization. Limiting distributions are found for the size of the epidemic, the number immunized ₁, and their sum, under the assumption that the original number of susceptible individuals n and the number of ill individuals m , while n 1,n ₀< , where and are the coefficients for the contraction of the disease and of immunization respectively.Translated from Matematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 385–392, September, 1970.     

Stellare Abänderungen und Schälbarkeit von Komplexen und Polytopen

Brugesser and Mani proved that the boundary-complex of a convex polytope can be shelled. This result lead to McMullen's proof of the Upper-bound-conjecture. We show that the shellability of complexes has a close connection to the theory of stellar operations. Several results on special shelling procedures and on non-shellable complexes are obtained.     

Model reduction techniques for sampled-data systems

An approximately balanced realization of linear finite-dimensional sampled-data systems is proposed. The theoretical support of the approximately balancing algorithm is represented by a result on the asymptotic expansions with respect to the sampling step of the sampled controllability and observability graminas. Reduced order models obtained as singular perturbational approximations of approximately balanced realizations of sampled-data systems are shown to be acceptable solutions to the sampled-data system model reduction problem in the sense that, enjoying some asymptotic properties, they come close to the exact solutions as the sampling step decreases. An example illustrates the results.     

The rank of a commutative cancellative semigroup

Summary For a commutative cancellative semigroup S, we define the rank of S intrinsically. This definition implies that the rank of S equals the usual rank of its group of quotients. We also characterize the rank in terms of embeddability into a rational vector space of the greatest power cancellative image of S.     

A Weakly Nonideal Bose Gas Model Leading to the Fountain Effect

The ordinary thermodynamics corresponds to the equilibrium ground state of the system. We present a model making it possible to construct a second thermodynamics, an analogue of an equilibrium state of a superfluid, based on which we explain the effect of the appearance of a bottleneck in a thin capillary for a moving superfluid if it is heated to the critical point in the second thermodynamics.     

A Kantorovich-type convergence analysis for the Gauss-Newton-Method

Summary We present a (semilocal) Kantorovich-type convergence analysis for the Gauss-Newton-Method which reduces to the wellknown Newton-Kantorovich-Theorem for the Newton-Method in a natural way. Additionnally a classification of the nonlinear regression problem into adequate and not-adequate models is obtained.     

Partly convex programming and zermelo's navigation problems

Mathematical programs, that become convex programs after freezing some variables, are termed partly convex. For such programs we give saddle-point conditions that are both necessary and sufficient that a feasible point be globally optimal. The conditions require cooperation of the feasible point tested for optimality, an assumption implied by lower semicontinuity of the feasible set mapping. The characterizations are simplified if certain point-to-set mappings satisfy a sandwich condition.The tools of parametric optimization and basic point-to-set topology are used in formulating both optimality conditions and numerical methods. In particular, we solve a large class of Zermelo's navigation problems and establish global optimality of the numerical solutions.Research partly supported by NSERC of Canada.     

A note on sequence-covering mappings

Summary Let f: X &rarr; Y be a mapping. f is called a sequence-covering mapping if in case S is a convergent sequence containing its limit point in Y then there is a compact subset K of X such that f(K) = S. It is shown that each quotient and compact mapping of a metric space is sequence-covering.