Iterated monoidal categories

We develop a notion of an n-fold monoidal category and show that it corresponds in a precise way to the notion of an n-fold loop space. Specifically, the group completion of the nerve of such a category is an n-fold loop space, and free n-fold monoidal categories give rise to a finite simplicial operad of the same homotopy type as the classical little cubes operad used to parametrize the higher H-space structure of an n-fold loop space. We also show directly that this operad has the same homotopy type as the n-th Smith filtration of the Barratt-Eccles operad and the n-th filtration of Berger's complete graph operad. Moreover, this operad contains an equivalent preoperad which gives rise to Milgram's small model for when n=2 and is very closely related to Milgram's model of for n>2.     

Elliptic problems with critical exponents and Hardy potentials

This paper is devoted to the existence of positive solutions of a Dirichlet problem with critical exponent and a singular potential. Under various assumption on the domain Ω, which include some kinds of unbounded domains, we prove the existence of ground states and of symmetric solutions.     

Reflexivity and hyperreflexivity of operator spaces

In this paper, we show that if is an n-dimensional subspace of L(V) such that every nonzero transformation of has rank greater than or equal to 2n−1 then is algebraically reflexive. If is an n-dimensional subspace of B(H) such that every nonzero transformation of  has rank greater than or equal to 2n−1 then is hyperreflexive. We also consider how to construct some new hyperreflexive subspaces.     

On a free boundary problem for the Reynolds equation derived from the Stokes system with Tresca boundary conditions

The asymptotic behaviour of a Stokes flow with Tresca free boundary friction conditions when one dimension of the fluid domain tends to zero is studied. A specific Reynolds equation associated with variational inequalities is obtained and uniqueness is proved.     

Sub-bundles of the complexified tangent bundle

We study embeddings of complex vector bundles, especially line bundles, in the complexification of the tangent bundle of a manifold. The aim is to understand implications of properties of interest in partial differential equations.

     

Zeroes of complete polynomial vector fields

We prove that a complete polynomial vector field on has at most one zero, and analyze the possible cases of those with exactly one which is not of Poincaré-Dulac type. We also obtain the possible nonzero first jet singularities of the foliation at infinity and the nongenericity of completeness. Connections with the Jacobian Conjecture are established.

     

Some noncoercive parabolic equations with lower order terms in divergence form

This paper deals with existence and regularity results for the problem $ \cases{u_t-\mathrm{div}(a(x,t,u )\nabla u)=-\mathrm{div}(u\,E) \qquad in \Omega\times (0,T),\cr u=0 \qquad on \partial \Omega\times (0,T), \cr u (0)= u_0 \qquad in \Omega ,\cr} $ under various assumptions on E and $ u_0 $. The main difculty in studying this problem is due to the presence of the term div(uE), which makes the differential operator non coercive on the "energy space" $ L^2 (0, T; H_0^1 (\Omega)) $.AMS Subject Classification: 35K10, 35K15, 35K65.     

The Dial-a-Ride Problem (DARP): Variants,modeling issues and algorithms

The Dial-a-Ride Problem (DARP) consists of designing vehicle routes and schedules for n users who specify pick-up and drop-off requests between origins and destinations. The aim is to plan a set of m minimum cost vehicle routes capable of accommodating as many users as possible, under a set of constraints. The most common example arises in door-to-door transportation for elderly or disabled people. The purpose of this article is to review the scientific literature on the DARP. The main features of the problem are described and classified and some modeling issues are discussed. A summary of the most important algorithms is provided.AMS classification: 90B06, 90C27, 90C59     

Speeding up the FMMR perfect sampling algorithm: A case study revisited

In a previous paper by the second author, two Markov chain Monte Carlo perfect sampling algorithms—one called coupling from the past (CFTP) and the other (FMMR) based on rejection sampling—are compared using as a case study the move‐to‐front (MTF) self‐organizing list chain. Here we revisit that case study and, in particular, exploit the dependence of FMMR on the user‐chosen initial state. We give a stochastic monotonicity result for the running time of FMMR applied to MTF and thus identify the initial state that gives the stochastically smallest running time; by contrast, the initial state used in the previous study gives the stochastically largest running time. By changing from worst choice to best choice of initial state we achieve remarkable speedup of FMMR for MTF; for example, we reduce the running time (as measured in Markov chain steps) from exponential in the length n of the list nearly down to n when the items in the list are requested according to a geometric distribution. For this same example, the running time for CFTP grows exponentially in n. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2003     

Two Dimensional Interface Problems for Elliptic Equations

We study the structure of solutions to the interface problems for second order quasi-linear elliptic partial differential equations in two dimensional space. We prove that each weak solution can be decomposed into two parts near singular points, a finite sum of functions in the form of cr^α log^m rφ(θ) and a regular one w. The coefficients c and the C^{1,α} norm of w depend on the H¹-norm and the C^{º,α}-norm of the solution, and the equation only.