On universal central extensions of precrossed and crossed modules

We study the connection between universal central extensions in the categories of precrossed and crossed modules. They are compared with several kinds of universal central extensions in the categories of groups, epimorphisms of groups, groups with operators and modules over a group. We study the relationship between the homologies defined in these categories. Applications to relative algebraic K-theory are also obtained.     

Inherited LU-factorizations of matrices

Various types of LU-factorizations for nonsingular matrices, where L is a lower triangular matrix and U is an upper triangular matrix, are defined and characterized. These types of LU-factorizations are extended to the general m × n case. The more general conditions are considered in the light of the structures of [C.R. Johnson, D.D. Olesky, P. Van den Driessche, Inherited matrix entries: LU factorizations, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 10 (1989) 99-104]. Applications to graphs and adjacency matrices are investigated. Conditions for the product of a lower and an upper triangular matrix to be the zero matrix are also obtained.     

On order-preservation and positive correlations for multidimensional diffusion processes

Summary As a continuation of the study by Herbst and Pitt (1991), this note presents two criteria. The first one is on the order-preservation for two (may be different) multidimensional diffusion processes. The second one is on the preservation of positive correlations for a diffusion process.Research supported in part by the Ying-Tung Fok Educational Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

GLq(N)-covariant braided differential bialgebras

We study the possibility of defining the (braided) comultiplication for the GL _q (N)-covariant differential complexes on some quantum spaces. We discover suchdifferential bialgebras (and Hopf algebras) on the bosonic and fermionic quantum hyperplanes (with additive coproduct) and on the braided matrix algebra BM _q (N) with both multiplicative and additive coproducts. The latter case is related (forN = 2) to theq-Minkowski space andq-Poincaré algebra.     

On a generalized $L_2$ projection and some related stability estimates in Sobolev spaces

Summary. In this paper we investigate a stability estimate needed in hybrid finite and boundary element methods, especially in hybrid coupled domain decomposition methods including mortar finite elements. This stability estimate is equivalent to the stability of a generalized projection in certain Sobolev spaces. Using piecewise linear trial spaces and appropriate piecewise constant test spaces, the stability of the generalized projection is proved assuming some mesh conditions locally. Received April 11, 2000 / Revised version received February 15, 2001 / Published online July 25, 2001     

Non-local approximation of the Mumford-Shah functional

The Mumford-Shah functional, introduced to study image segmentation problems, is approximated in the sense of -convergence by a sequence of non-local integral functionals. Received June 6, 1996 / Accepted July 11, 1996     

Nonnegative quadratic estimation and quadratic sufficiency in general linear models

Notions of linear sufficiency and quadratic sufficiency are of interest to some authors. In this paper, the problem of nonnegative quadratic estimation for β^′Hβ+hσ² is discussed in a general linear model and its transformed model. The notion of quadratic sufficiency is considered in the sense of generality, and the corresponding necessary and sufficient conditions for the transformation to be quadratically sufficient are investigated. As a direct consequence, the result on (ordinary) quadratic sufficiency is obtained. In addition, we pose a practical problem and extend a special situation to the multivariate case. Moreover, a simulated example is conducted, and applications to a model with compound symmetric covariance matrix are given. Finally, we derive a remark which indicates that our main results could be extended further to the quasi-normal case.