Low Order-Value Optimization and applications

Given r real functions F ₁(x),...,F _r (x) and an integer p between 1 and r, the Low Order-Value Optimization problem (LOVO) consists of minimizing the sum of the functions that take the p smaller values. If (y ₁,...,y _r ) is a vector of data and T(x, t _i ) is the predicted value of the observation i with the parameters , it is natural to define F _i (x) =  (T(x, t _i ) − y _i )² (the quadratic error in observation i under the parameters x). When p =  r this LOVO problem coincides with the classical nonlinear least-squares problem. However, the interesting situation is when p is smaller than r. In that case, the solution of LOVO allows one to discard the influence of an estimated number of outliers. Thus, the LOVO problem is an interesting tool for robust estimation of parameters of nonlinear models. When p ≪ r the LOVO problem may be used to find hidden structures in data sets. One of the most successful applications includes the Protein Alignment problem. Fully documented algorithms for this application are available at www.ime.unicamp.br/~martinez/lovoalign. In this paper optimality conditions are discussed, algorithms for solving the LOVO problem are introduced and convergence theorems are proved. Finally, numerical experiments are presented.     

Oscillation criteria for nonlinear second order differential equations with damping

Summary Using the integral average method, we give some new oscillation criteria for the second order differential equation with damped term (a(t)Ψ(x(t))K(x'(t)))'+p(t)K(x'(t))+q(t)f(x(t))=0, t<span style='font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"'>≧t₀. These results improve and generalize the oscillation criteria in<span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'>[1], because they eliminate both the differentiability of p(t) and the sign of p(t), q(t). As a consequence, improvements of Sobol's type oscillation criteria are obtained.     

On the Instability of Linear Nonautonomous Delay Systems

The unstable properties of the linear nonautonomous delay system x(t) = A(t)x(t) + B(t)x(t – r(t)), with nonconstant delay r(t), are studied. It is assumed that the linear system y(t) = (A(t) + B(t))y(t) is unstable, the instability being characterized by a nonstable manifold defined from a dichotomy to this linear system. The delay r(t) is assumed to be continuous and bounded. Two kinds of results are given, those concerning conditions that do not include the properties of the delay function r(t) and the results depending on the asymptotic properties of the delay function.     

Global asymptotic stability for damped half-linear oscillators

A necessary and sufficient condition is established for the equilibrium of the oscillator of half-linear type with a damping term, (?_p(x^′))^′+h(t)?_p(x^′)+?_p(x)=0 to be globally asymptotically stable. The obtained criterion is given by the form of a certain growth condition of the damping coefficient h(t) and it can be applied to not only the cases of large damping and small damping but also the case of fluctuating damping. The presented result is new even in the linear cases (p=2). It is also discussed whether a solution of the half-linear differential equation (r(t)?_p(x^′))^′+c(t)?_p(x)=0 that converges to a non-zero value exists or not. Some suitable examples are included to illustrate the results in the present paper.     

Two problems on independent sets in graphs

Let i_t(G) denote the number of independent sets of size t in a graph G. Levit and Mandrescu have conjectured that for all bipartite G the sequence (i_t(G))_t≥0 (the independent set sequence of G) is unimodal. We provide evidence for this conjecture by showing that this is true for almost all equibipartite graphs. Specifically, we consider the random equibipartite graph G(n,n,p), and show that for any fixed p∈(0,1] its independent set sequence is almost surely unimodal, and moreover almost surely log-concave except perhaps for a vanishingly small initial segment of the sequence. We obtain similar results for .We also consider the problem of estimating i(G)=∑_t≥0i_t(G) for G in various families. We give a sharp upper bound on the number of independent sets in an n-vertex graph with minimum degree δ, for all fixed δ and sufficiently large n. Specifically, we show that the maximum is achieved uniquely by K_δ,n−δ, the complete bipartite graph with δ vertices in one partition class and n−δ in the other.We also present a weighted generalization: for all fixed x>0 and δ>0, as long as n=n(x,δ) is large enough, if G is a graph on n vertices with minimum degree δ then ∑_t≥0i_t(G)x^t≤∑_t≥0i_t(K_δ,n−δ)x^t with equality if and only if G=K_δ,n−δ.     

On the instability of differential systems with varying delay

The unstable properties of the null solution of the nonautonomous delay system x′(t)=A(t)x(t)+B(t)x(t−r₁(t))+f(t,x(t),x(t−r₂(t))) are examined; the nonconstant delays r₁, r₂ are assumed to be continuous bounded functions. The case A=constant is reviewed, where a theorem, recalling the Perron instability theorem for ordinary differential equations, is obtained.     

Lorentz Spaces and Lie Groups

This paper is motivated by the behavior of the heat diffusion kernelp_t(x) on a general unimodular Lie group. Indeed, contrary to what happens in ^n:, theP_t(x) on a general Lie group is behaving liket^−δ(t)/2for two possibly distinct integersδ(t), one forttending to 0 and another forttending to ∞, namelydandD. This forces us to consider a natural generalization of Lorentz spaces with different indices at “zero” and at “infinity.”     

Regularization of a non-characteristic Cauchy problem for the heat equation

The non-characteristic Cauchy problem for the heat equation u_xx(x,t) = u₁(x,t), 0 ? x ? 1, ? ∞ < t < ∞, u(0,t) = φ(t), u_x(0, t) = ψ(t), ? ∞ < t < ∞ is regularizèd when approximate expressions for φ and ψ are given. Properties of the exact solution are used to obtain an explicit stability estimate.     

L p approximation by Bernstein-Kantorovich quasi-interpolants

Bernstein-Kantorovich quasi-interpolants K^（2r-1）n（f, x） are considered and direct, inverse and equivalence theorems with Ditzian-Totik modulus of smoothness ω^2rφ（f, t）p （1 ≤ p ≤＋∞） are obtained.     

Singular solutions of some nonlinear parabolic equations

We consider the existence and uniqueness of singular solutions for equations of the formu ₁=div(|Du|^p−2 Du)-φu), with initial datau(x, 0)=0 forx⇑0. The function ϕ is a nondecreasing real function such that ϕ(0)=0 andp>2. Under a growth condition on ϕ(u) asu→∞, (H1), we prove that for everyc>0 there exists a singular solution such thatu(x, t)→cδ(x) ast→0. This solution is unique and is called a fundamental solution. Under additional conditions, (H2) and (H3), we show the existence of very singular solutions, i.e. singular solutions such that ∫_|x|≤r u(x,t)dx→∞ ast→0. Finally, for functions ϕ which behave like a power for largeu we prove that the very singular solution is unique. This is our main result. In the case ϕ(u)=u ^q, 1≤q, there are fundamental solutions forq<p*=p-1+(p/N) and very singular solutions forp-1<q<p*. These ranges are optimal. Dedicated to Professor Shmuel Agmon     

Global existence for one-dimensional motion of non-isentropic viscous fluids

We study the p-system with viscosity given by v_t ? u_x = 0, u_t + p(v)_x = (k(v)u_x)_x + f(∫ vdx, t), with the initial and the boundary conditions (v(x, 0), u(x,0)) = (v₀, u₀(x)), u(0,t) = u(X,t) = 0. To describe the motion of the fluid more realistically, many equations of state, namely the function p(v) have been proposed. In this paper, we adopt Planck's equation, which is defined only for v > b(> 0) and not a monotonic function of v, and prove the global existence of the smooth solution. The essential point of the proof is to obtain the bound of v of the form b < h(T) ? v(x, t) ? H(T) < ∞ for some constants h(T) and H(T).     

Nonoscillation theorems for certain second order nonlinear differential equations

Some necessary and sufficient conditions for nonoscillation are established for the second order nonlinear differential equation (r(t)y(x(t))|x^￠(t)|^p-1x^￠(t))^￠+c(t)f(x(t))=0,    t 3 t₀,(r(t)\psi(x(t))\vert x^{\prime}(t)\vert^{p-1}x^{\prime}(t))^{\prime}+c(t)f(x(t))=0,\quad t\ge t_0,     

Nonradial Large Solutions of Sublinear Elliptic Equations

We show that the equation Δu = p(x)f(u) has a positive solution on R ^N , N ≥ 3, satisfying <artwork name="GAPA31011ei1"> <artwork name="GAPA31011ei2"> if and only if <artwork name="GAPA31011ei3"> when ψ(r) = min{p(x): |x| = r}. The nondecreasing continuous function f satisfies f(0) = 0, f (s) > 0 for s > 0, and sup _{s ≥ 1} f(s)/s<∞, and the nonnegative continuous function p is required to be asymptotically radial. This extends previous results which required the function p to be constant or radial.     

Nested Log-Concavity

We give conditions on the coefficients of a polynomial p(x) so that p(x + t) be log-concave or strictly log-concave. Several applications are given: if p(x) is a polynomial with nonnegative and nondecreasing coefficients, then p(x + t) is strictly log-concave for all t ≥ 1; for any polynomial p(x) with positive leading coefficient, there is t ₀ ≥ 0 such that for any t ≥ t ₀ it holds that the coefficients of p(x + t) are positive, strictly decreasing, and strictly log-concave; if p(x) is a log-concave polynomial with nonnegative coefficients and no internal zeros, then p(x + t) is strictly log-concave for all t > 0; Betti numbers of lexsegment monomial ideals are strictly log-concave.     

The Instability of Nonmonotonic Wave Solutions of Parabolic Equations

We consider the class of equations u_t=f(u_xx, u_x, u) under the restriction that for all a,b,c. We first consider this equation over the unbounded domain ? ∞ < x < + ∞, and we show that very nearly every bounded nonmonotonic solution of the form u(t, x)=?(x?ct) is unstable to all nonnegative and all nonpositive perturbations. We then extend these results to nonmonotonic plane wave solutions u(t, x, y)=?(x?ct) of u_t = F(u_xx, u_xy, u_x, u_y, u). Finally, we consider the class of equations u_t=f(u_xx, u_x, u) over the bounded domain 0 < x < 1 with the boundary conditions u(t, x)=A at x=0 and u(t, x)=B at x=1, and we find the stability of all steady solutions u(t, x)=?(x).     

The radial basis functions method for identifying an unknown parameter in a parabolic equation with overspecified data

Parabolic partial differential equations with overspecified data play a crucial role in applied mathematics and engineering, as they appear in various engineering models. In this work, the radial basis functions method is used for finding an unknown parameter p(t) in the inverse linear parabolic partial differential equation u_t = u_xx + p(t)u + φ, in [0,1] × (0,T], where u is unknown while the initial condition and boundary conditions are given. Also an additional condition ∫₀¹k(x)u(x,t)dx = E(t), 0 ≤ t ≤ T, for known functions E(t), k(x), is given as the integral overspecification over the spatial domain. The main approach is using the radial basis functions method. In this technique the exact solution is found without any mesh generation on the domain of the problem. We also discuss on the case that the overspecified condition is in the form ∫₀^s(t) u(x,t)dx = E(t), 0 < t ≤ T, 0 < s(t) < 1, where s and E are known functions. Some illustrative examples are presented to show efficiency of the proposed method. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2007     

The Navier-Stokes equations with regularization

We consider the initial boundary value problem for the nonstationary Navier-Stokes equations in a bounded three dimensional domain Ω with a sufficiently smooth compact boundary ∂Ω. These equations describe the motion of a viscous incompressible fluid contained in Ω for 0 < t < T and represent a system of nonlinear partial differential equations concerning four unknown functions: the velocity vector v = (v₁ (t, x), v₂ (t, x), v₃ (t, x)) and the kinematic pressure function p = p(t, x) of the fluid at time t ∈ (0, T) in x ∈ Ω. The purpose of this paper is to construct a regularized Navier-Stokes system, which can be solved globally in time. Our construction is based on a coupling of the Lagrangian and the Eulerian representation of the fluid flow. (© 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Problem with periodicity conditions for a degenerating equation of mixed type

For the equation K(t)u _xx + u _tt − b ² K(t)u = 0 in the rectangular domain D = “(x, t)‖ 0 < x < 1, −α < t < β”, where K(t) = (sgnt)|t| ^m , m > 0, and b > 0, α > 0, and β > 0 are given real numbers, we use the spectral method to obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the unique solvability of the boundary value problem u(0, t) = u(1, t), u _x (0, t) = u _x (1, t), −α ≤ t ≤ β, u(x, β) = φ(x), u(x,−α) = ψ(x), 0 ≤ x ≤ 1.     

Asymptotic behaviour of a Brownian motion on exterior domains

We study the asymptotic behaviour of the transition density of a Brownian motion in ?, killed at ∂?, where ? ^c is a compact non polar set. Our main result concern dimension d = 2, where we show that the transition density p ^? _t (x, y) behaves, for large t, as u(x)u(y)(t(log t)²)⁻¹ for x, y∈?, where u is the unique positive harmonic function vanishing on (∂?) ^r , such that u(x) ∼ log ∣x∣. Received: 29 January 1999 / Revised version: 11 May 1999     

Global asymptotic stability for half-linear differential systems with generalized almost periodic coefficients

The following system considered in this paper: