Effects of information asymmetry on cooperation in the prisoners’ dilemma game

Effects of information asymmetry on cooperation in the prisoners’ dilemma game are investigated. The amplitude A is introduced to describe the degree of information asymmetry. It is found that there exists an optimal value of amplitude Aopt at which the fraction of cooperation reaches its maximal value. The reason lies in that cooperators on the two-dimensional grid form large clusters at Aopt . In addition, the theoretical analysis in terms of the meanfield theory is used to understand this kind of phenomenon. It is confirmed that the information asymmetry plays an important role in the dynamics of the dilemma games of spatial prisoners.     

Design of interdigital transducers for crack detection in plates

Interdigital transducers (IDT) for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of cracks in plates are designed based on an analytical model established previously. Key considerations include mode selectivity, excitation strength, collimation of wave and cost. The advantage of mode selectivity of IDT over PZT patch is presented both analytically and experimentally. Effects of parameters, namely finger spacing, width, length, number of fingers, and the size of IDT, on the excitation strength and mode selectivity are considered. This led to the design of a mobile double-sided IDT as an efficient device where excitation strength is strong and focused. The device was fabricated in-house using commercially available piezoelectric ceramics and used to develop a procedure for accurate identification of the direction and extent of cracks in plates. Three aluminum plates, one with a linear deep crack, another with a piecewise linear shallower crack and the third with a curved crack, were used to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of both the proposed device and procedure for effective NDE.     

基于一维标定物和改进进化策略的相机标定

为了解决运动参数光电探测过程中的相机标定问题,制作一种两端及中间各安装一个红外反光标记球的一维标定物.不需要其它复杂标定装置,只要将这种特制的一维标定物在测量空间内多次随意移动并摄取其图像,即可实现标定.算法首先假定主点位于像面中心附近的某个位置,再求出焦距、旋转矩阵、平移向量和比例因子,最后通过评价函数将相机标定转换成寻找两相机最佳主点对的非线性最小化问题.在传统进化策略中引进个体的自我改进系数、个体间距离等概念,提出了求取子代个体间的欧式距离并排序的方法,设计了搜索最佳主点对的改进型进化策略算法.与传统标定方法相比,基于一维标定物的方法克服了多相机场合的遮挡问题,改进进化策略的引入打破了一维标定物需做某种特殊运动的限制,使一维标定物自由运动时相机内、外参数的同时求解成为可能,改进的模拟退火进化策略改善了算法的全局收敛性能并加快了收敛速度.     

Tracking problem under a time-varying topology

This paper studies the multi-agent tracking problem of a third-order maneuvering target under uncertain communication environments. Each tracking agent is assumed to be a third-order system and can only use its own and neighbors＇ position, velocity, and acceleration information to design its control input. In this work, the uncertain communication environments are modelled by a finite number of constant Laplacian matrices together with their corresponding scheduling functions. Sufficient conditions for the existence of a tracking strategy have been expressed in terms of the solvability of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, a numerical example is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed tracking strategy.     

Parallelization of a Two-Phase Metaheuristic for Routing Problems with Time Windows

This paper describes the parallelization of a two-phase metaheuristic for the vehicle routing problem with time windows and a central depot (VRPTW). The underlying objective function combines the minimization of the number of vehicles in the first search phase of the metaheuristic with the minimization of the total travel distance in the second search phase. The parallelization of the metaheuristic follows a type 3 parallelization strategy (cf. Crainic and Toulouse (2001). In F. Glover and G. Kochenberger (eds.). State-of-the-Art Handbook in Metaheuristics. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers), i.e. several concurrent searches of the solution space are carried out with a differently configured metaheuristic. The concurrently executed processes cooperate through the exchange of solutions. The parallelized two-phase metaheuristic was subjected to a comparative test on the basis of 358 problems from the literature with sizes varying from 100 to 1000 customers. The derived results seem to justify the proposed parallelization concept.     

Hedging of the European option in discrete time under proportional transaction costs

In the paper hedging of the European option in a discrete time financial market with proportional transaction costs is studied. It is shown that for a certain class of options the set of portfolios which allow to hedge an option in a discrete time model with a bounded set of possible changes in a stock price is the same as the set of such portfolios, under assumption that the stock price evolution is given by a suitable CRR model.     

On existence of undominated pure strategy Nash equilibria in anonymous nonatomic games: a generalization

In this paper, we generalize the exitence result for pure strategy Nash equilibria in anonymous nonatomic games. By working directly on integrals of pure strategies, we also generalize, for the same class of games, the existence result for undominated pure strategy Nash equilibria even though, in general, the set of pure strategy Nash equilibria may fail to be weakly compact. Received August 2001     

Initial guess by improved population-based intelligent algorithms for large inter-frame deformation measurement using digital image correlation

Digital image correlation (DIC) has received a widespread research and application in experimental mechanics. In DIC, the performance of subpixel registration algorithm (e.g., Newton-Raphson method, quasi-Newton method) relies heavily on the initial guess of deformation. In the case of small inter-frame deformation, the initial guess could be found by simple search scheme, the coarse-fine search for instance. While for large inter-frame deformation, it is difficult for simple search scheme to robustly estimate displacement parameters and deformation parameters simultaneously with low computational cost. In this paper, we proposed three improving strategies, i.e. Q-stage evolutionary strategy (T), parameter control strategy (C) and space expanding strategy (E), and then combined them into three population-based intelligent algorithms (PIAs), i.e. genetic algorithm (GA), differential evolution (DE) and particle swarm optimization (PSO), and finally derived eighteen different algorithms to calculate the initial guess for qN. The eighteen algorithms were compared in three sets of experiments including large rigid body translation, finite uniaxial strain and large rigid body rotation, and the results showed the effectiveness of proposed improving strategies. Among all compared algorithms, DE-TCE is the best which is robust, convenient and efficient for large inter-frame deformation measurement.     

Nanoscale Science and Technology at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Research in the emerging field of nanoscale science and technology has grown steadily at Los Alamos National Laboratory since 1990. This article summarizes some of this work, examining research highlights within the seven key categories of nanoscience in which Los Alamos has ongoing projects, capabilities, and facilities: (1) Materials and chemistry, (2) Theory and modeling, (3) Bioscience, (4) Investigative tools and facilities, (5) Sensors and devices, (6) Synthesis and fabrication, and (7) Education and outreach. Future research horizons are indicated throughout while institutional strategies for advancing nanoscale science are summarized at the end.     

Robust Optimal Stopping-Time Control for Nonlinear Systems

Abstract. We formulate a robust optimal stopping-time problem for a state-space system and give the connection between various notions of lower value function for the associated games (and storage function for the associated dissipative system) with solutions of the appropriate variational inequality (VI) (the analogue of the Hamilton—Jacobi—Bellman—Isaacs equation for this setting). We show that the stopping-time rule can be obtained by solving the VI in the viscosity sense and a positive definite supersolution of the VI can be used for stability analysis.