Towards Strong Duality in Integer Programming

We consider in this paper the Lagrangian dual method for solving general integer programming. New properties of Lagrangian duality are derived by a means of perturbation analysis. In particular, a necessary and sufficient condition for a primal optimal solution to be generated by the Lagrangian relaxation is obtained. The solution properties of Lagrangian relaxation problem are studied systematically. To overcome the difficulties caused by duality gap between the primal problem and the dual problem, we introduce an equivalent reformulation for the primal problem via applying a pth power to the constraints. We prove that this reformulation possesses an asymptotic strong duality property. Primal feasibility and primal optimality of the Lagrangian relaxation problems can be achieved in this reformulation when the parameter p is larger than a threshold value, thus ensuring the existence of an optimal primal-dual pair. We further show that duality gap for this partial pth power reformulation is a strictly decreasing function of p in the case of a single constraint. Dedicated to Professor Alex Rubinov on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Research supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong under Grant CUHK 4214/01E, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 79970107 and 10571116.     

Large Sample Properties of Mixture Models with Covariates for Competing Risks

We study the large-sample properties of a class of parametric mixture models with covariates for competing risks. The models allow general distributions for the survival times and incorporate the idea of long-term survivors. Asymptotic results are obtained under a commonly assumed independent censoring mechanism and some modest regularity conditions on the survival distributions. The existence, consistency, and asymptotic normality of maximum likelihood estimators for the parameters of the model are rigorously derived under general sufficient conditions. Specific conditions for particular models can be derived from the general conditions for ready check. In addition, a likelihood-ratio statistic is proposed to test various hypotheses of practical interest, and its asymptotic distribution is provided.     

On error bounds for lower semicontinuous functions

We give some sufficient conditions for proper lower semicontinuous functions on metric spaces to have error bounds (with exponents). For a proper convex function f on a normed space X the existence of a local error bound implies that of a global error bound. If in addition X is a Banach space, then error bounds can be characterized by the subdifferential of f. In a reflexive Banach space X, we further obtain several sufficient and necessary conditions for the existence of error bounds in terms of the lower Dini derivative of f. Received: April 27, 2001 / Accepted: November 6, 2001?Published online April 12, 2002     

Sums of Two Exact Powers

An asymptotic formula is obtained for the number of representations of an element of a finite field as a weighted sum of two prescribed powers of primitive elements. This generalises previous work on sums of primitive elements, including that relating to some conjectures of Golomb.     

关于三次高斯和的均值

主要研究三次高斯和的均值性质，并给出一个较强的渐近公式。     

搜索三个目标

本文通过建立简洁而有效的搜索方法 ,证明了对于无穷多个n来说 ,三个目标的最优搜索问题的最小试验次数等于信息论下界 .同时也研究了上述问题的修正情形 ,证明了对于所有整数n来说 ,对应的最小试验次数或者等于信息论下界或者超过信息论下界 1次并且对于无穷多个区间 ,信息论下界均是可以达到的 .     

PERSISTENCE AND GLOBAL STABILITY FOR TWO-SPECIES NONAUTONOMOUS PREDATOR-PREY SYSTEM WITH DIFFUSION AND TIME DELAY

In this paper, a non-autonomous predator-prey model with diffusion andcontinuous time delay is studied, where the prey can diffuse between two pat-ches of a heterogeneous environment with barriers between patches, but for thepredator, the diffusion does not involve a barrier between patches, further itis assumed that all the parameters are time-dependent. It is shown that thesystem can be made persistent under some appropriate conditions. Moreover,sufficient conditions that guarantee the existence of a unique periodic solutionwhich is globally asymptotic stable are derived.     

一个反应扩散方程的门槛结果

本文讨论反应扩散方程Ｃａｕｃｈｙ问题解的整体存在性，渐近性质和Ｂｌｏｗｕｐ问题．其中或者１＜ｑ＜ｐ＜＋∞，ｎ＝２．得到门槛结果．     

ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOUR OF THE SOLUTIONS OF A CERTAIN FOURTH-ORDER DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION

The present paper establishes sufficient conditions for the uniformly bounded of any solution of (1.1) and which tend to zero as t → ∞.     

Periodic solutions of a second order forced sublinear differential equation with delay

In this paper, existence criteria are established for the existence of periodic solutions of a second order sublinear differential equation with delay and forcing function. Our method is based on careful a priori estimation and continuation theorems, and our sublinear condition is an improvement of the boundedness condition in some recent results.