Fundamental solutions of the acoustic and diffusion equations in nonhomogeneous medium

A fundamental solution of the acoustical equation with a variable refraction coefficient is constructed. The solution satisfies the limiting absorption and radiation conditions. The optimal high frequency estimate is proved for square means of the solution. The source function for the diffusion equation is a by-product of this construction. Partially supported by a stipend of the Mathematical Scientific Research Institute at Berkeley, 2001.     

On Totally Ordered Rings Whose Positive Cones are Finitely Generated

This paper is mainly dealt with the structure of totally ordered rings (t.o. rings) whose positive cones are finitely generated as multiplicative right ideals.AMS Subject Classification (1991): 16W80, 13J25     

Covering group and graph of discretized volumes

We consider a discretized volume V consisting of finite, congruent and attached copies of a tile t. We find a group L _V the orbit of which, when applied to t, is just V. We show the connection between the structural matrixQ in the formal solution of a boundary value problem formulated for volume V and the so called auxiliary matrix of the graph Γ _v associated with V. We show boundary value problems to be isomorphic if the graphs associated with the volumes are isomorphic, or, if the covering groups are Sunada pairs.     

Analysis of blockwise shrinkage wavelet estimates via lower bounds for no-signal setting

A blockwise shrinkage is a popular procedure of adaptation that has allowed the statisticians to establish an impressive bouquet of asymptotic mathematical results and develop softwares for solving practical problems. Traditionally risks of the estimates are studied via upper bounds that imply sufficient conditions for a blockwise shrinkage procedure to be minimax. This article suggests to analyze the estimates via exact (non-asymptotic) lower bounds established for a no-signal setting. The approach complements the familiar minimax, Bayesian and numerical analysis, it allows to find necessary conditions for a procedure to attain desired rates, and it sheds a new light on popular choices of blocks and thresholds recommended in the literature. Mathematical results are complemented by a numerical study. Supported in part by NSF Grants DMS-9971051 and DMS-0243606.     

On the structure of hyperbolic manifolds

Forn≥2, we quantify the Margulis constant ε(n) giving rise to a thick and thin decomposition of hyperbolicn-manifolds of finite volume. As a consequence, we obtain new universal lower bounds for the volume and Gromov's invariant as well as a geometrical inequality between injectivity radius and diameter for compact manifolds. Finally, we concretise the upper bound for the counting function of hyperbolic manifolds of dimension >4 as described by Burger, Gelander, Lubotzky and Mozes. Partially supported by Schweizerischer Nationalfonds No. 20-61379.00 and 20-67619.02.     

Pointwise gradient estimates of solutions to onedimensional nonlinear parabolic equations

We present here an improved version of the method introduced by the first author to derive pointwise gradient estimates for the solutions of one-dimensional parabolic problems. After considering a general qualinear equation in divergence form we apply the method to the case of a nonlinear diffusion-convection equation. The conclusions are stated first for classical solutions and then for generalized and mild solutions. In the case of unbounded initial datum we obtain several regularizing effects for t > 0. Some unilateral pointwise gradient estimates are also obtained. The case of the Dirichlet problem is also considered. Finally, we collect, in the last section, several comments showing the connections among these estimates and the study of the free boundaries associated to the solutions of the diffusion-convection equation.     

Optimal volume-corrected laplace-metropolis method

The article provides a refinement for the volume-corrected Laplace-Metropolis estimator of the marginal likelihood of DiCiccioet al. The correction volume of probability α in DiCiccioet al. is fixed and suggested to take the value α=0.05. In this article α is selected based on an asymptotic analysis to minimize the mean square relative error (MSRE). This optimal choice of α is shown to be invariant under linear transformations. The invariance property leads to easy implementation for multivariate problems. An implementation procedure is provided for practical use. A simulation study and a real data example are presented.     

A periodic review production and maintenance model with random demand,deteriorating equipment,and binomial yield

In many environments, product yield is heavily influenced by equipment condition. Despite this fact, previous research has either focused on the issue of maintenance, ignoring the effect of equipment condition on yield, or has focused on the issue of production, omitting the possibility of actively changing the machine state. We formulate a Markov decision process model of a single-stage production system in which demand is random. The product yield has a binomial distribution that depends on the equipment condition, which deteriorates over time. The objective is to choose simultaneously the equipment maintenance schedule as well as the quantity to produce in a way that minimizes the sum of expected production, backorder, and holding costs. After proving some results about the structural properties of the optimal policy, numerical problems are used to compare this method to the typical approach of solving the maintenance and production problems sequentially. The results show that the simultaneous solution provides substantial gains over the sequential approach. In the cases studied, the proposed method resulted in an average cost savings of approximately 18%.