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A direct algorithm for solving a linear programming problem (LP), given in canonical form, is considered. The algorithm consists of two successive stages, in which the following LP problems are solved by a direct method: a non-degenerate auxiliary problem at the first stage and some problem equivalent to the original one at the second. The construction of the auxiliary problem is based on a multiplicative version of the Gaussian exclusion method, in the very structure of which there are possibilities: identification of incompatibility and linear dependence of constraints; identification of variables whose optimal values are obviously zero; the actual exclusion of direct variables and the reduction of the dimension of the space in which the solution of the original problem is determined. In the process of actual exclusion of variables, the algorithm generates a sequence of multipliers, the main rows of which form a matrix of constraints of the auxiliary problem, and the possibility of minimizing the filling of the main rows of multipliers is inherent in the very structure of direct methods. At the same time, there is no need to transfer information (basis, plan and optimal value of the objective function) to the second stage of the algorithm and apply one of the ways to eliminate looping to guarantee final convergence.

Two variants of the algorithm for solving the auxiliary problem in conjugate canonical form are presented. The first one is based on its solution by a direct algorithm in terms of the simplex method, and the second one is based on solving a problem dual to it by the simplex method. It is shown that both variants of the algorithm for the same initial data (inputs) generate the same sequence of points: the basic solution and the current dual solution of the vector of row estimates. Hence, it is concluded that the direct algorithm is an algorithm of the simplex method type. It is also shown that the comparison of numerical schemes leads to the conclusion that the direct algorithm allows to reduce, according to the cubic law, the number of arithmetic operations necessary to solve the auxiliary problem, compared with the simplex method. An estimate of the number of iterations is given.

The paper provides a solution of a task of calculating the parameters of a Rician distributed signal on the basis of the maximum likelihood principle in limiting cases of large and small values of the signal-tonoise ratio. The analytical formulas are obtained for the solution of the maximum likelihood equations’ system for the required signal and noise parameters for both the one-parameter approximation, when only one parameter is being calculated on the assumption that the second one is known a-priori, and for the two-parameter task, when both parameters are a-priori unknown. The direct calculation of required signal and noise parameters by formulas allows escaping the necessity of time resource consuming numerical solving the nonlinear equations’ s system and thus optimizing the duration of computer processing of signals and images. There are presented the results of computer simulation of a task confirming the theoretical conclusions. The task is meaningful for the purposes of Rician data processing, in particular, magnetic-resonance visualization.

The paper provides a solution of the two-parameter task of joint signal and noise estimation at data analysis within the conditions of the Rice distribution by the techniques of mathematical statistics: the maximum likelihood method and the variants of the method of moments. The considered variants of the method of moments include the following techniques: the joint signal and noise estimation on the basis of measuring the 2-nd and the 4-th moments (MM24) and on the basis of measuring the 1-st and the 2-nd moments (MM12). For each of the elaborated methods the explicit equations’ systems have been obtained for required parameters of the signal and noise. An important mathematical result of the investigation consists in the fact that the solution of the system of two nonlinear equations with two variables — the sought for signal and noise parameters — has been reduced to the solution of just one equation with one unknown quantity what is important from the view point of both the theoretical investigation of the proposed technique and its practical application, providing the possibility of essential decreasing the calculating resources required for the technique’s realization. The implemented theoretical analysis has resulted in an important practical conclusion: solving the two-parameter task does not lead to the increase of required numerical resources if compared with the one-parameter approximation. The task is meaningful for the purposes of the rician data processing, in particular — the image processing in the systems of magnetic-resonance visualization. The theoretical conclusions have been confirmed by the results of the numerical experiment.

We consider a numerically stable direct multiplicative algorithm of solving linear equations systems, which takes into account the sparseness of matrices presented in a packed form. The advantage of the algorithm is the ability to minimize the filling of the main rows of multipliers without losing the accuracy of the results. Moreover, changes in the position of the next processed row of the matrix are not made, what allows using static data storage formats. Linear system solving by a direct multiplicative algorithm is, like the solving with $LU$-decomposition, just another scheme of the Gaussian elimination method implementation.

In this paper, this algorithm is the basis for solving the following problems:

Problem 1. Setting the descent direction in Newtonian methods of unconditional optimization by integrating one of the known techniques of constructing an essentially positive definite matrix. This approach allows us to weaken or remove additional specific difficulties caused by the need to solve large equation systems with sparse matrices presented in a packed form.

Problem 2. Construction of a new mathematical formulation of the problem of quadratic programming and a new form of specifying necessary and sufficient optimality conditions. They are quite simple and can be used to construct mathematical programming methods, for example, to find the minimum of a quadratic function on a polyhedral set of constraints, based on solving linear equations systems, which dimension is not higher than the number of variables of the objective function.

Problem 3. Construction of a continuous analogue of the problem of minimizing a real quadratic polynomial in Boolean variables and a new form of defining necessary and sufficient conditions of optimality for the development of methods for solving them in polynomial time. As a result, the original problem is reduced to the problem of finding the minimum distance between the origin and the angular point of a convex polyhedron, which is a perturbation of the $n$-dimensional cube and is described by a system of double linear inequalities with an upper triangular matrix of coefficients with units on the main diagonal. Only two faces are subject to investigation, one of which or both contains the vertices closest to the origin. To calculate them, it is sufficient to solve $4n – 4$ linear equations systems and choose among them all the nearest equidistant vertices in polynomial time. The problem of minimizing a quadratic polynomial is $NP$-hard, since an $NP$-hard problem about a vertex covering for an arbitrary graph comes down to it. It follows therefrom that $P = NP$, which is based on the development beyond the limits of integer optimization methods.

A numerically stable direct multiplicative method for solving systems of linear equations that takes into account the sparseness of matrices presented in a packed form is considered. The advantage of the method is the calculation of the Cholesky factors for a positive definite matrix of the system of equations and its solution within the framework of one procedure. And also in the possibility of minimizing the filling of the main rows of multipliers without losing the accuracy of the results, and no changes are made to the position of the next processed row of the matrix, which allows using static data storage formats. The solution of the system of linear equations by a direct multiplicative algorithm is, like the solution with LU-decomposition, just another scheme for implementing the Gaussian elimination method.

The calculation of the Cholesky factors for a positive definite matrix of the system and its solution underlies the construction of a new mathematical formulation of the unconditional problem of quadratic programming and a new form of specifying necessary and sufficient conditions for optimality that are quite simple and are used in this paper to construct a new mathematical formulation for the problem of quadratic programming on a polyhedral set of constraints, which is the problem of finding the minimum distance between the origin ordinate and polyhedral boundary by means of a set of constraints and linear algebra dimensional geometry.

To determine the distance, it is proposed to apply the known exact method based on solving systems of linear equations whose dimension is not higher than the number of variables of the objective function. The distances are determined by the construction of perpendiculars to the faces of a polyhedron of different dimensions. To reduce the number of faces examined, the proposed method involves a special order of sorting the faces. Only the faces containing the vertex closest to the point of the unconditional extremum and visible from this point are subject to investigation. In the case of the presence of several nearest equidistant vertices, we investigate a face containing all these vertices and faces of smaller dimension that have at least two common nearest vertices with the first face.

Comets and asteroids are recognized by the scientists and the governments of all countries in the world to be one of the most significant threats to the development and even the existence of our civilization. Preventing this threat includes studying the motion of large meteors through the atmosphere that is accompanied by various physical and chemical phenomena. Of particular interest to such studies are the meteors whose trajectories have been recorded and whose fragments have been found on Earth. Here, we study one of such cases. We develop a model for the motion and destruction of natural bodies in the Earth’s atmosphere, focusing on the Benešov bolid (EN070591), a bright meteor registered in 1991 in the Czech Republic by the European Observation System. Unique data, that includes the radiation spectra, is available for this bolid. We simulate the aeroballistics of the Benešov meteoroid and of its fragments, taking into account destruction due to thermal and mechanical processes. We compute the velocity of the meteoroid and its mass ablation using the equations of the classical theory of meteor motion, taking into account the variability of the mass ablation along the trajectory. The fragmentation of the meteoroid is considered using the model of sequential splitting and the statistical stress theory, that takes into account the dependency of the mechanical strength on the length scale. We compute air flows around a system of bodies (shards of the meteoroid) in the regime where mutual interplay between them is essential. To that end, we develop a method of simulating air flows based on a set of grids that allows us to consider fragments of various shapes, sizes, and masses, as well as arbitrary positions of the fragments relative to each other. Due to inaccuracies in the early simulations of the motion of this bolid, its fragments could not be located for about 23 years. Later and more accurate simulations have allowed researchers to locate four of its fragments rather far from the location expected earlier. Our simulations of the motion and destruction of the Benešov bolid show that its interaction with the atmosphere is affected by multiple factors, such as the mass and the mechanical strength of the bolid, the parameters of its motion, the mechanisms of destruction, and the interplay between its fragments.

This paper is devoted to the application of the method of numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation for the solution of the problem of modeling the behavior of radionuclides in the cavity of the interelectric gap of a multielement electrogenerating channel. The analysis of gas-kinetic processes of thermionic converters is important for proving the design of the power-generating channel. The paper reviews two constructive schemes of the channel: with one- and two-way withdrawal of gaseous fission products into a vacuum-cesium system. The analysis uses a two-dimensional transport equation of the second-order accuracy for the solution of the left-hand side and the projection method for solving the right-hand side — the collision integral. In the course of the work, a software package was implemented that makes it possible to calculate on the cluster architecture by using the algorithm of parallelizing the left-hand side of the equation; the paper contains the results of the analysis of the dependence of the calculation efficiency on the number of parallel nodes. The paper contains calculations of data on the distribution of pressures of gaseous fission products in the gap cavity, calculations use various sets of initial pressures and flows; the dependency of the radionuclide pressure in the collector region was determined as a function of cesium pressures at the ends of the gap. The tests in the loop channel of a nuclear reactor confirm the obtained results.

The study of complex processes in various spheres of human activity is traditionally based on the use of mathematical models. In modern conditions, the development and application of such models is greatly simplified by the presence of high-speed computer equipment and specialized tools that allow, in fact, designing models from pre-prepared modules. Despite this, the known problems associated with ensuring the adequacy of the model, the reliability of the original data, the implementation in practice of the simulation results, the excessively large dimension of the original data, the joint application of sufficiency heterogeneous mathematical models in terms of complexity and integration of the simulated processes are becoming increasingly important. The more critical may be the external constraints imposed on the value of the optimized functional, and often unattainable within the framework of the constructed model. It is logical to assume that in order to fulfill these restrictions, a purposeful transformation of the original model is necessary, that is, the transition to a mathematical model with a deliberately improved solution. The new model will obviously have a different internal structure (a set of parameters and their interrelations), as well as other formats (areas of definition) of the source data. The possibilities of purposeful change of the initial model investigated by the authors are based on the realization of the idea of strategic reflection. The most difficult in mathematical terms practical implementation of the author's idea is the use of simulation models, for which the algorithms for finding optimal solutions have known limitations, and the study of sensitivity in most cases is very difficult. On the example of consideration of rather standard discrete- event simulation model the article presents typical methodological techniques that allow ranking variable parameters by sensitivity and, in the future, to expand the scope of definition of variable parameter to which the simulation model is most sensitive. In the transition to the “improved” model, it is also possible to simultaneously exclude parameters from it, the influence of which on the optimized functional is insignificant, and vice versa — the introduction of new parameters corresponding to real processes into the model.

The simplest and most desirable method of traffic signal control is precalculated regulation, when the parameters of the traffic light object operation are calculated in advance and activated in accordance to a schedule. This work proposes a method of forming a signal plan that allows one to calculate the control programs and set the period of their activity. Preparation of initial data for the calculation includes the formation of a time series of daily traffic intensity with an interval of 15 minutes. When carrying out field studies, it is possible that part of the traffic intensity measurements is missing. To fill up the missing traffic intensity measurements, the spline interpolation method is used. The next step of the method is to calculate the daily set of signal plans. The work presents the interdependencies, which allow one to calculate the optimal durations of the control cycle and the permitting phase movement and to set the period of their activity. The present movement control systems have a limit on the number of control programs. To reduce the signal plans' number and to determine their activity period, the clusterization using the $k$-means method in the transport phase space is introduced In the new daily signal plan, the duration of the phases is determined by the coordinates of the received cluster centers, and the activity periods are set by the elements included in the cluster. Testing on a numerical illustration showed that, when the number of clusters is 10, the deviation of the optimal phase duration from the cluster centers does not exceed 2 seconds. To evaluate the effectiveness of the developed methodology, a real intersection with traffic light regulation was considered as an example. Based on field studies of traffic patterns and traffic demand, a microscopic model for the SUMO (Simulation of Urban Mobility) program was developed. The efficiency assessment is based on the transport losses estimated by the time spent on movement. Simulation modeling of the multiprogram control of traffic lights showed a 20% reduction in the delay time at the traffic light object in comparison with the single-program control. The proposed method allows automation of the process of calculating daily signal plans and setting the time of their activity.

The article describes an improved paired comparison method, which systematizes in tables the rules of logical conclusions and formulas of checking indices for comparison of technical systems. To achieve this goal, the authors formulate rational rules of logical conclusions in making a paired comparison of the systems. In addition, for the purpose of consistency check of the results of the assessment, the authors introduce parameters such as «the number of scores gained by one system» and «systems’ quality index»; moreover, they design corresponding calculation formulas. For the purposes of practical application of this method to design computer programs, the authors propose to use formalized variants of interconnected tables: a table for processing and systematization of expert information, a table of possible logical conclusions based on the results of comparison of a set number of technical systems and a table of check values in the paired comparison method used in quality assessment of a definite number of technical systems. These tables allow one to organize procedures of the information processing in a more rational way and to predominantly exclude the influence of mistakes on the results of quality assessment of technical systems at the stage of data input. The main positive effect from the implementation of the paired comparison method is observed in a considerable reduction of time and resources needed to organize experts work, process expert information, and to prepare and conduct distant interviews with experts (on the Internet or a local computer network of an organization). This effect is achieved by a rational use of input data of the quality of the systems to be assessed. The proposed method is applied to computer programs used in assessing the effectiveness and stability of large technical systems.