A class of constacyclic codes over ring <Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis> + <Emphasis Type="Italic">vR</Emphasis>

By constructing a Gray map, a class of constacyclic codes over ring R = R+vR is studied. Using cyclic codes and negacyclic codes of length p ^s over ring R, the structure of (1?2v)-constacyclic codes and dual codes of length p ^s over ring R are given, the Gray images of (1 ? 2v)-constacyclic codes in a particular case are also studied. It is shown that linear codes of length p ^s over ring R are (1?2v)-constacyclic codes if and only if their Gray images are distance-invariant cyclic codes of length 2p ^s over ring R.     

Construction of one-Lee weight and two-Lee weight codes over F<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis></Subscript> + <Emphasis Type="Italic">v</Emphasis>F<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis></Subscript>

This paper is devoted to the construction of one-Lee weight codes and two-Lee weight codes over F _p + vF _p (v ² = v) with type \({p^{2{k_1}}}{p^{{k_2}}}{p^{{k_3}}}\) based on two different distance-preserving Gray maps from ((F _p + vF _p ) ⁿ , Lee weight) to (F _p ²ⁿ , Hamming weight), where p is a prime. Moreover, the authors prove that the obtained two-Lee weight codes are projective only when p = 2.     

Queue size distribution of Geo/G/1 queue under the Min(<Emphasis Type="Italic">N,D</Emphasis>)-policy

This paper considers a discrete-time Geo/G/1 queue under the Min(N,D)-policy in which the idle server resumes its service if either N customers accumulate in the system or the total backlog of the service times of the waiting customers exceeds D, whichever occurs first (Min(N,D)-policy). By using renewal process theory and total probability decomposition technique, the authors study the transient and equilibrium properties of the queue length from the beginning of the arbitrary initial state, and obtain both the recursive expression of the z-transformation of the transient queue length distribution and the recursive formula for calculating the steady state queue length at arbitrary time epoch n ⁺. Meanwhile, the authors obtain the explicit expressions of the additional queue length distribution. Furthermore, the important relations between the steady state queue length distributions at different time epochs n ^-, n and n ⁺ are also reported. Finally, the authors give numerical examples to illustrate the effect of system parameters on the steady state queue length distribution, and also show from numerical results that the expressions of the steady state queue length distribution is important in the system capacity design.     

An improved algorithm for solving all <Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>-MPs in multi-state networks

Reliability is a desirable performance indicator of many real-world systems to measure the quality level. One general method for evaluating multi-state reliability is using d-minimal paths (d-MPs). However, being an NP-hard problem, searching for all d-MPs is a rather challenging task. This paper proposes an improved algorithm to solve the d-MP problem. To reduce the search space of d-MPs, a concept of lower capacity bound is introduced into the d-MP problem, and an effective technique is developed to find lower capacity bounds. Meanwhile, the fast enumeration method which is a recent improvement to the traditional enumeration method is employed to solve d-MPs. In addition, by introducing the operation of transforming undirected edges into directed edges, the proposed algorithm is applicable to solving both directed networks and undirected networks. Through numerical experiments, it is found that the proposed algorithm holds a distinct advantage over the existing methods in solving all d-MPs.     

The structure of departure process and optimal control strategy <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>* for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geo/G</Emphasis>/1 discrete-time queue with multiple server vacations and Min(<Emphasis Type="Italic">N,V</Emphasis>)-Policy

This paper considers the departure process and the optimal control strategy for a discretetime Geo/G/1 queueing model in which the system operates under the control of multiple server vacations and Min(N, V)-policy. Using the law of total probability decomposition, the renewal theory and the probability generating function technique, the transient and the steady-state probabilities that the server is busy at any epoch n⁺ are derived. The authors also obtain the explicit expression of the probability generating function for the expected number of departures occurring in the time interval (0⁺, n⁺] from any initial state. Meanwhile, the relationship among departure process, server’s state process and service renewal process in server busy period is found, which shows the special structure of departure process. Especially, some corresponding results of departure process for special discrete-time queues are directly gained by our results. Furthermore, the approximate expansion for calculating the expected number of departures is presented. In addition, some other important performance measures, including the expected length of server busy period, server’s actual vacation period and busy cycle period etc., are analyzed. Finally, some numerical results are provided to determine the optimum value N* for minimizing the system cost under a given cost structure.     

Weighted <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript>-estimates of solutions for damped wave equations with variable coefficients

The authors establish weighted L²-estimates of solutions for the damped wave equations with variable coefficients u _tt ? divA(x)?u+au _t = 0 in ? ⁿ under the assumption a(x) ≥ a₀[1+ρ(x)]^?l, where a₀ > 0, l < 1, ρ(x) is the distance function of the metric g = A^?1(x) on ? ⁿ . The authors show that these weighted L²-estimates are closely related to the geometrical properties of the metric g = A^?1(x).     

An FE-Inexact Heterogeneous ADMM for Elliptic Optimal Control Problems with <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Superscript>1</Superscript>-Control Cost

Elliptic PDE-constrained optimal control problems with L¹-control cost (L¹-EOCP) are considered. To solve L¹-EOCP, the primal-dual active set (PDAS) method, which is a special semismooth Newton (SSN) method, used to be a priority. However, in general solving Newton equations is expensive. Motivated by the success of alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), we consider extending the ADMM to L¹-EOCP. To discretize L¹-EOCP, the piecewise linear finite element (FE) is considered. However, different from the finite dimensional l1-norm, the discretized L¹-norm does not have a decoupled form. To overcome this difficulty, an effective approach is utilizing nodal quadrature formulas to approximately discretize the L¹-norm and L²-norm. It is proved that these approximation steps will not change the order of error estimates. To solve the discretized problem, an inexact heterogeneous ADMM (ihADMM) is proposed. Different from the classical ADMM, the ihADMM adopts two different weighted inner products to define the augmented Lagrangian function in two subproblems, respectively. Benefiting from such different weighted techniques, two subproblems of ihADMM can be efficiently implemented. Furthermore, theoretical results on the global convergence as well as the iteration complexity results o(1/k) for ihADMM are given. In order to obtain more accurate solution, a two-phase strategy is also presented, in which the primal-dual active set (PDAS) method is used as a postprocessor of the ihADMM. Numerical results not only confirm error estimates, but also show that the ihADMM and the two-phase strategy are highly efficient.     

The determination on weight hierarchies of <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>-ary linear codes of dimension 5 in class IV

The weight hierarchy of a linear [n; k; q] code C over GF(q) is the sequence (d ₁, d ₂, ···, d _k ) where d _r is the smallest support of any r-dimensional subcode of C. “Determining all possible weight hierarchies of general linear codes” is a basic theoretical issue and has important scientific significance in communication system. However, it is impossible for q-ary linear codes of dimension k when q and k are slightly larger, then a reasonable formulation of the problem is modified as: “Determine almost all weight hierarchies of general q-ary linear codes of dimension k”. In this paper, based on the finite projective geometry method, the authors study q-ary linear codes of dimension 5 in class IV, and find new necessary conditions of their weight hierarchies, and classify their weight hierarchies into 6 subclasses. The authors also develop and improve the method of the subspace set, thus determine almost all weight hierarchies of 5-dimensional linear codes in class IV. It opens the way to determine the weight hierarchies of the rest two of 5-dimensional codes (classes III and VI), and break through the difficulties. Furthermore, the new necessary conditions show that original necessary conditions of the weight hierarchies of k-dimensional codes were not enough (not most tight nor best), so, it is important to excogitate further new necessary conditions for attacking and solving the k-dimensional problem.     

The equivalent representation of the breadth-one <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis>-invariant polynomial subspace and its discretization

This paper demonstrates the equivalence of two classes of D-invariant polynomial subspaces, i.e., these two classes of subspaces are different representations of the breadth-one D-invariant subspace. Moreover, the authors solve the discrete approximation problem in ideal interpolation for the breadth-one D-invariant subspace. Namely, the authors find the points, such that the limiting space of the evaluation functionals at these points is the functional space induced by the given D-invariant subspace, as the evaluation points all coalesce at one point.     

Distributed Consensus-Based <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-Means Algorithm in Switching Multi-Agent Networks

This paper discusses a distributed design for clustering based on the K-means algorithm in a switching multi-agent network, for the case when data are decentralized stored and unavailable to all agents. The authors propose a consensus-based algorithm in distributed case, that is, the double-clock consensus-based K-means algorithm (DCKA). With mild connectivity conditions, the authors show convergence of DCKA to guarantee a distributed solution to the clustering problem, even though the network topology is time-varying. Moreover, the authors provide experimental results on various clustering datasets to illustrate the effectiveness of the fully distributed algorithm DCKA, whose performance may be better than that of the centralized K-means algorithm.     

Efficient Asymmetrical Extended Designs Under Wrap-Around <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript>-Discrepancy

The purpose of the present article is to introduce a class of mixed two- and three-level extended designs obtained by adding some new runs to an existing mixed two-and three-level design. A formulation of wrap-around L₂-discrepancy for the extended designs is developed. As a benchmark of obtaining (nearly) uniform asymmetrical extended designs, a lower bound to the wrap-around L₂-discrepancy for our proposed designs is established. Thorough numerical results are displayed, which provide further corroboration to the derived theoretical results.     

The generalized Serre problem over <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-Hermite rings

This paper investigates the completion and the zero prime factorization for matrices over a K-Hermite ring. The authors have generalized Kaplansky’s related results, solved similar Lin-Bose problem and generalized Serre problem over a K-Hermite ring.     

Effective lower bounds of wrap-around <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript>-discrepancy on three-level combined designs

How to obtain an effective design is a major concern of scientific research. This topic always involves high-dimensional inputs with limited resources. The foldover is a quick and useful technique in construction of fractional designs, which typically releases aliased factors or interactions. This paper takes the wrap-around L₂-discrepancy as the optimality measure to assess the optimal three-level combined designs. New and efficient analytical expressions and lower bounds of the wraparound L₂-discrepancy for three-level combined designs are obtained. The new lower bound is useful and sharper than the existing lower bound. Using the new analytical expression and lower bound as the benchmarks, the authors may implement an effective algorithm for constructing optimal three-level combined designs.     

Strong Approximation Method and the(Functional) Law of Iterated Logarithm for GI/G/1 Queue

In this paper, a unified method based on the strong approximation(SA) of renewal process(RP) is developed for the law of the iterated logarithm(LIL) and the functional LIL(FLIL), which quantify the magnitude of the asymptotic rate of the increasing variability around the mean value of the RP in numerical and functional forms respectively. For the GI/G/1 queue, the method provides a complete analysis for both the LIL and the FLIL limits for four performance functions: The queue length, workload, busy time and idle time processes, covering three regimes divided by the traffic intensity.     

<Emphasis Type="Bold">An Engineering View for Social Systems: Agency as an Operational Principle for Designing Higher Education Access Policies</Emphasis>

Access to higher education (HE) has been a persistent concern for governments, practitioners and researchers. Access to HE has been widely studied from scientific perspectives that have focussed on the factors that contribute to the problem; however, authors have highlighted the need for systemic and design perspectives on education systems. The need to connect research with policy remains one of the most challenging issues for education researchers. In view of this gap, this paper argues that engineering thinking and methods represent an opportunity for the design of HE access policies because engineering rationality (distinct from scientific rationalities) matches the concerns and goals of any policymaking attempt. Engineers design artefacts to meet particular goals. These artefacts are artificial systems, tangible or intangible, such as hammers, bridges or whole organizations, which are designed in particular contexts to meet precise goals. Policies for access to HE are good examples of artefacts that seek to fulfil specific needs under concrete constraints inherent to a country or region. More specifically, HE systems are social systems; in other words, they are created and recreated by the interactions and decisions of diverse actors. Hence, to change, redesign or improve such types of systems involves engineering their very interactions that are the outcomes of institutional and human actions. In particular, engineering design requires operational principles. Thus, we propose agency as a fundamental design concept for the improvement of HE systems, which opens new possibilities for a distinct type of policy-making that takes excellent advantage of what engineering can offer, while at the same time expanding on traditional expectations for engineering.     

On Fuzzy <Emphasis Type="Italic">h</Emphasis>-Ideals of Hemirings

The concept of quasi-coincidence of a fuzzy interval value in an interval valued fuzzy set is considered. In fact, this concept is a generalized concept of the quasi-coincidence of a fuzzy point in a fuzzy set. By using this new concept, the authors define the notion of interval valued （∈, ∈ Vq）fuzzy h-ideals of hemirings and study their related properties. In addition, the authors also extend the concept of a fuzzy subgroup with thresholds to the concept of an interval valued fuzzy h-ideal with thresholds in hemirings.     

THE M/M/c QUEUE WITH （e,d） SETUP TIME

The authors present a new queueing model with （e, d） setup time. Using the quasi-birth-and-death process and matrix-geometric method, the authors obtain the stationary distribution of queue length and the LST of waiting time of a customer in the system. Furthermore, the conditional stochastic decomposition results of queue length and waiting time are given.     

RELIABILITY OF LINEAR （n,f, k） SYSTEMS WITH WEIGHTED COMPONENTS

The (n, f, k): F(G) system consists of n components and the system fails (works) if and only if there are at least f failed (working) components or at least k consecutive failed (working) components. These system models can be used in electronic equipment, automatic payment systems in banks, and furnace systems. In this paper we introduce and study the (n, f, k):F and (n, f, k): G systems consisting of weighted components. Recursive equations are presented for reliability evaluation of these new models. We also provide some conditions on the weights to represent weighted-(n, f, k) systems as usual (n, f, k) systems.     

Partially function linear error-in-response models with validation data

This paper considers partial function linear models of the form Y =∫X(t)β(t)dt + g(T)with Y measured with error. The authors propose an estimation procedure when the basis functions are data driven, such as with functional principal components. Estimators of β(t) and g(t) with the primary data and validation data are presented and some asymptotic results are given. Finite sample properties are investigated through some simulation study and a real data application.     

Testing <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-edge-connectivity of digraphs

This paper presents an algorithm that tests whether a given degree-bounded digraph is k-edge-connected or ɛ-far from k-edge-connectivity. This is the first testing algorithm for k-edgeconnectivity of digraphs whose running time is independent of the number of vertices and edges. A digraph of n vertices with degree bound d is ɛ-far from k-edge-connectivity if at least ɛdn edges have to be added or deleted to make the digraph k-edge-connected, preserving the degree bound. Given a constant error parameter ɛ and a degree bound d, our algorithm always accepts all k-edge-connected digraphs and rejects all digraphs that is ɛ-far from k-edge-connectivity with probability at least 2/3. It runs in $ O\left( {d\left( {\frac{c} {{\varepsilon d}}} \right)^k log\frac{1} {{\varepsilon d}}O} \right) $ O\left( {d\left( {\frac{c} {{\varepsilon d}}} \right)^k log\frac{1} {{\varepsilon d}}O} \right) (c > 1 is a constant) time when input digraphs are restricted to be (k-1)-edge connected and runs in $ O\left( {d\left( {\frac{{ck}} {{\varepsilon d}}} \right)^k log\frac{k} {{\varepsilon d}}O} \right) $ O\left( {d\left( {\frac{{ck}} {{\varepsilon d}}} \right)^k log\frac{k} {{\varepsilon d}}O} \right) (c > 1 is a constant) time for general digraphs.