Dynamical Characteristics of Traveling Wave Packets of Total Electron Content Disturbances

Using the COPHASE method and the GPS interferometry method for travelling ionospheric disturbances, we analyze in detail the spatio-temporal properties of travelling wave packets (TWP) of total electron content (TEC) disturbances. The analysis is performed on the example of a clearest TWP manifestation observed in California, USA, in October 18, 2001, using the GLOBDET technique, developed at the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of RAS for global detection and monitoring of natural and technogenic ionospheric disturbances on the basis of TEC variations retrieved from the global network of GPS receivers. In the time domain, TWPs are quasi-periodic TEC oscillations of duration about 1 h, period of 10–20 min, and amplitude exceeding that of the background TEC fluctuations by at least one order of magnitude. The velocity and direction of TWP motion are similar to those of mid-latitude mesoscale travelling ionospheric disturbances, as obtained earlier from the analysis of phase parameters of HF radio signals and the signals of geostationary satellites and discrete space radio sources.     

On the critical exponents of random k‐SAT

There has been much recent interest in the satisfiability of random Boolean formulas. A random k‐SAT formula is the conjunction of m random clauses, each of which is the disjunction of k literals (a variable or its negation). It is known that when the number of variables n is large, there is a sharp transition from satisfiability to unsatisfiability; in the case of 2‐SAT this happens when m/n → 1, for 3‐SAT the critical ratio is thought to be m/n ≈ 4.2. The sharpness of this transition is characterized by a critical exponent, sometimes called ν = ν_k (the smaller the value of ν the sharper the transition). Experiments have suggested that ν₃ = 1.5 ± 0.1. ν₄ = 1.25 ± 0.05, ν₅ = 1.1 ± 0.05, ν₆ = 1.05 ± 0.05, and heuristics have suggested that ν_k → 1 as k → ∞. We give here a simple proof that each of these exponents is at least 2 (provided the exponent is well defined). This result holds for each of the three standard ensembles of random k‐SAT formulas: m clauses selected uniformly at random without replacement, m clauses selected uniformly at random with replacement, and each clause selected with probability p independent of the other clauses. We also obtain similar results for q‐colorability and the appearance of a q‐core in a random graph. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 21: 182–195, 2002     

A MODEL OF TROPICAL MARINE RESERVE‐FISHERY LINKAGES

ABSTRACT. The excessive and unsustainable exploitation of our marine resources has led to the promotion of marine reserves as a fisheries management tool. Marine reserves, areas in which fishing is restricted or prohibited, can offer opportunities for the recovery of exploited stock and fishery enhancement. In this paper we examine the contribution of fully protected tropical marine reserves to fishery enhancement by modeling marine reserve‐fishery linkages. The consequences of reserve establishment on the long‐run equilibrium fish biomass and fishery catch levels are evaluated. In contrast to earlier models this study highlights the roles of both adult (and juvenile) fish migration and larval dispersal between the reserve and fishing grounds by employing a spawner‐recruit model. Uniform larval dispersal, uniform larval retention and complete larval retention combined with zero, moderate and high fish migration scenarios are analyzed in turn. The numerical simulations are based on Mombasa Marine National Park, Kenya, a fully protected coral reef marine reserve comprising approximately 30% of former fishing grounds. Simulation results suggest that the establishment of a fully protected marine reserve will always lead to an increase in total fish biomass. If the fishery is moderately to heavily exploited, total fishery catch will be greater with the reserve in all scenarios of fish and larval movement. If the fishery faces low levels of exploitation, catches can be optimized without a reserve but with controlled fishing effort. With high fish migration from the reserve, catches are optimized with the reserve. The optimal area of the marine reserve depends on the exploitation rate in the neighboring fishing grounds. For example, if exploitation is maintained at 40%, the ‘optimal’ reserve size would be 10%. If the rate increases to 50%, then the reserve needs to be 30% of the management area in order to maximize catches. However, even in lower exploitation fisheries (below 40%), a small reserve (up to 20%) provides significantly higher gains in fish biomass than losses in catch. Marine reserves are a valuable fisheries management tool. To achieve maximum fishery benefits they should be complemented by fishing effort controls.     

Reductions of interval nonlinear programming problem

A general nonlinear programming problem with interval functions is considered. Two reductions of this problem to the deterministic nonlinear programming problem are proposed, and illustrative examples are discussed.     

A Modified Quasi-Newton Method for Structured Optimization with Partial Information on the Hessian

This paper develops a modified quasi-Newton method for structured unconstrained optimization with partial information on the Hessian, based on a better approximation to the Hessian in current search direction. The new approximation is decided by both function values and gradients at the last two iterations unlike the original one which only uses the gradients at the last two iterations. The modified method owns local and superlinear convergence. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method is encouraging comparing with the methods proposed in [4] for structured unconstrained optimization Presented at the 6th International Conference on Optimization: Techniques and Applications, Ballarat, Australia, December 9–11, 2004