Pareto optimality in multiobjective problems

In this study, the optimization theory of Dubovitskii and Milyutin is extended to multiobjective optimization problems, producing new necessary conditions for local Pareto optima. Cones of directions of decrease, cones of feasible directions and a cone of tangent directions, as well as, a new cone of directions of nonincrease play an important role here. The dual cones to the cones of direction of decrease and to the cones of directions of nonincrease are characterized for convex functionals without differentiability, with the aid of their subdifferential, making the optimality theorems applicable. The theory is applied to vector mathematical programming, giving a generalized Fritz John theorem, and other applications are mentioned. It turns out that, under suitable convexity and regularity assumptions, the necessary conditions for local Pareto optima are also necessary and sufficient for global Pareto optimum. With the aid of the theory presented here, a result is obtained for the, so-called, scalarization problem of multiobjective optimization.The author's work in this area is now supported by NIH grants HL 18968 and HL 4664 and NCI contract NO1-CB-5386.     

Continuous symmetry measures: Finding the closest C2-symmetric object or closest reflection-symmetric object using unit quaternions

A closed-form solution is provided for the problem of finding the closest reflection-symmetric object, and its relation to the problems of finding the closest achiral object, the closest inversion-symmetric object, and the closest projection plane is discussed. The key to the solution is reducing this problem to the problem of finding the best (least squares) c₂ rotation between two sets of points, in addition to solving the problem of finding the closest C₂-symmetric object. The solution is derived using the quaternion representation of rotation. It is shown that calculation of the best c₂ rotation can be reduced to the diagonalization of the outer product matrix of the pair (between the two sets). ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 20: 772–780, 1999     

Subdivisions,parity and well-covered graphs

A graph is well-covered if every maximal independent set is maximum. This concept, introduced by Plummer in 1970 (J. Combin. Theory 8 (1970)), is the focal point of much interest and current research. We consider well-covered 2-degenerate graphs and supply a structural (and polynomial time algorithm) characterization of the class called 3-separable graphs. Also we consider parity graphs studied by Finbow and Hartnell and answer the question posed by them (Ars. Combin. 40 (1995)) by proving, among other results, that the decision problem: “given a graph G which is a parity graph, is G also well-covered graph?” is in the class CO-NPC. In addition we supply some complexity results that answer some problems due to Plummer (Quaestiones Math. 16 (1993)) and Finbow, Hartnell, and Whitehead (Discrete Math. 125 (1994)). © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 25: 85–94, 1997     

Asymptotic bounds for some bipartite graph: complete graph Ramsey numbers

The Ramsey number r(H,K_n) is the smallest integer N so that each graph on N vertices that fails to contain H as a subgraph has independence number at least n. It is shown that r(K_2,m,K_n)(m−1+o(1))(n/log n)² and r(C_2m,K_n)c(n/log n)^m/(m−1) for m fixed and n→∞. Also r(K_2,n,K_n)=Θ(n³/log² n) and .     

A multiprojection algorithm using Bregman projections in a product space

Generalized distances give rise to generalized projections into convex sets. An important question is whether or not one can use within the same projection algorithm different types of such generalized projections. This question has practical consequences in the area of signal detection and image recovery in situations that can be formulated mathematically as a convex feasibility problem. Using an extension of Pierra's product space formalism, we show here that a multiprojection algorithm converges. Our algorithm is fully simultaneous, i.e., it uses in each iterative stepall sets of the convex feasibility problem. Different multiprojection algorithms can be derived from our algorithmic scheme by a judicious choice of the Bregman functions which govern the process. As a by-product of our investigation we also obtain blockiterative schemes for certain kinds of linearly constraned optimization problems.     

Reconstructing graphs from size and degree properties of their induced k-subgraphs

As a variant of the famous graph reconstruction problem we characterize classes of graphs of order n such that all their induced subgraphs on k?n vertices satisfy some property related to the number of edges or to the vertex degrees.We give complete solutions for the properties (i) to be regular, (ii) to be regular modulo m?2 or (iii) to have one of two possible numbers of edges. Furthermore, for an order n large enough, we give solutions for the properties (iv) to be bi-regular or (v) to have a bounded difference between the maximum and the minimum degree.     

Development of a chemiluminescent optical fiber immunosensor to detect Streptococcus pneumoniae antipolysaccharide antibodies

A chemiluminescent-based optical fiber immunosensor was developed for the detection of antipneumococcal antibodies. This was accomplished by developing a different chemical procedure utilizing 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane and cyanuric chloride to conjugate pneumococcal cell wall polysaccharides to the optical fiber tips, and by improving the sensitivity of the photodetection system. The lowest titer of antipneumococcal antibodies detected by the optical fiber was at a 1:819,200 dilution. The lowest corresponding value by standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was at a 1:98,415 dilution. It was concluded that the optical immunosensor system is an accurate and sensitive method to detect antipneumococcal antibodies and may be an adequate tool to monitor antibodies in specimens such as saliva and urine.     

Waveguiding in an exponentially decaying gain medium

The propagating mode solutions for a medium with an exponentially decaying gain profile are obtained. The mode profiles and the wavefronts were calculated numerically. The result explains satisfactorily the far field distribution observed in some of our new lasers.