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In this paper, we consider two variants of the concept of sharp minimum for mathematical programming problems with quasiconvex objective function and inequality constraints. It investigated the problem of describing a variant of a simple subgradient method with switching along productive and non-productive steps, for which, on a class of problems with Lipschitz functions, it would be possible to guarantee convergence with the rate of geometric progression to the set of exact solutions or its vicinity. It is important that to implement the proposed method there is no need to know the sharp minimum parameter, which is usually difficult to estimate in practice. To overcome this problem, the authors propose to use a step adjustment procedure similar to that previously proposed by B. T. Polyak. However, in this case, in comparison with the class of problems without constraints, it arises the problem of knowing the exact minimal value of the objective function. The paper describes the conditions for the inexactness of this information, which make it possible to preserve convergence with the rate of geometric progression in the vicinity of the set of minimum points of the problem. Two analogs of the concept of a sharp minimum for problems with inequality constraints are considered. In the first one, the problem of approximation to the exact solution arises only to a pre-selected level of accuracy, for this, it is considered the case when the minimal value of the objective function is unknown; instead, it is given some approximation of this value. We describe conditions on the inexact minimal value of the objective function, under which convergence to the vicinity of the desired set of points with a rate of geometric progression is still preserved. The second considered variant of the sharp minimum does not depend on the desired accuracy of the problem. For this, we propose a slightly different way of checking whether the step is productive, which allows us to guarantee the convergence of the method to the exact solution with the rate of geometric progression in the case of exact information. Convergence estimates are proved under conditions of weak convexity of the constraints and some restrictions on the choice of the initial point, and a corollary is formulated for the convex case when the need for an additional assumption on the choice of the initial point disappears. For both approaches, it has been proven that the distance from the current point to the set of solutions decreases with increasing number of iterations. This, in particular, makes it possible to limit the requirements for the properties of the used functions (Lipschitz-continuous, sharp minimum) only for a bounded set. Some computational experiments are performed, including for the truss topology design problem.

A two-dimensional mathematical model was developed for estimating the stresses in welded joints formed during multipass welding of multilayer steels. The basis of the model is the system of equations that includes the Lagrange variational equation of incremental plasticity theory and the variational equation of heat conduction, which expresses the principle of M. Biot. Variational-difference method was used to solve the problems of heat conductivity and calculation of the transient temperature field, and then at each time step – for the quasi-static problem of thermoplasticity. The numerical scheme is based on triangular meshes, which gives a more accuracy in describing the boundaries of structural elements as compared to rectangular grids.

The paper develops a new mathematical method of the joint signal and noise calculation at the Rice statistical distribution based on combing the maximum likelihood method and the method of moments. The calculation of the sough-for values of signal and noise is implemented by processing the sampled measurements of the analyzed Rician signal’s amplitude. The explicit equations’ system has been obtained for required signal and noise parameters and the results of its numerical solution are provided confirming the efficiency of the proposed technique. It has been shown that solving the two-parameter task by means of the proposed technique does not lead to the increase of the volume of demanded calculative resources if compared with solving the task in one-parameter approximation. An analytical solution of the task has been obtained for the particular case of small value of the signal-to-noise ratio. The paper presents the investigation of the dependence of the sought for parameters estimation accuracy and dispersion on the quantity of measurements in experimental sample. According to the results of numerical experiments, the dispersion values of the estimated sought-for signal and noise parameters calculated by means of the proposed technique change in inverse proportion to the quantity of measurements in a sample. There has been implemented a comparison of the accuracy of the soughtfor Rician parameters’ estimation by means of the proposed technique and by earlier developed version of the method of moments. The problem having been considered in the paper is meaningful for the purposes of Rician data processing, in particular, at the systems of magnetic-resonance visualization, in devices of ultrasonic visualization, at optical signals’ analysis in range-measuring systems, at radar signals’ analysis, as well as at solving many other scientific and applied tasks that are adequately described by the Rice statistical model.

A dynamic game theoretic model of struggle against corruption in resource allocation is considered. It is supposed that the system of resource allocation includes one principal, one or several supervisors, and several agents. The relations between them are hierarchical: the principal influences to the supervisors, and they in turn exert influence on the agents. It is assumed that the supervisor can be corrupted. The agents propose bribes to the supervisor who in exchange allocates additional resources to them. It is also supposed that the principal is not corrupted and does not have her own purposes. The model is investigated from the point of view of the supervisor and the agents. From the point of view of agents a non-cooperative game arises with a set of Nash equilibria as a solution. The set is found analytically on the base of Pontryagin maximum principle for the specific class of model functions. From the point of view of the supervisor a hierarchical Germeyer game of the type Г_2t is built, and the respective algorithm of its solution is proposed. The punishment strategy is found analytically, and the reward strategy is built numerically on the base of a discrete analogue of the initial continuous- time model. It is supposed that all agents can change their strategies in the same time instants only a finite number of times. Thus, the supervisor can maximize his objective function of many variables instead of maximization of the objective functional. A method of qualitatively representative scenarios is used for the solution. The idea of this method consists in that it is possible to choose a very small number of scenarios among all potential ones that represent all qualitatively different trajectories of the system dynamics. These scenarios differ in principle while all other scenarios yield no essentially new results. Then a complete enumeration of the qualitatively representative scenarios becomes possible. After that, the supervisor reports to the agents the rewardpunishment control mechanism.

In the conditions of the development of modern economy, human capital is one of the main factors of economic growth. The formation of human capital begins with the birth of a person and continues throughout life, so the value of human capital is inseparable from its carriers, which in turn makes it difficult to account for this factor. This has led to the fact that currently there are no generally accepted methods of calculating the value of human capital. There are only a few approaches to the measurement of human capital: the cost approach (by income or investment) and the index approach, of which the most well-known approach developed under the auspices of the UN.

This paper presents the assigned task in conjunction with the task of demographic dynamics solved in the time-age plane, which allows to more fully take into account the temporary changes in the demographic structure on the dynamics of human capital.

The task of demographic dynamics is posed within the framework of the Mac-Kendrick – von Foerster model on the basis of the equation of age structure dynamics. The form of distribution functions for births, deaths and migration of the population is determined on the basis of the available statistical information. The numerical solution of the problem is given. The analysis and forecast of demographic indicators are presented. The economic and mathematical model of human capital dynamics is formulated on the basis of the demographic dynamics problem. The problem of modeling the human capital dynamics considers three components of capital: educational, health and cultural (spiritual). Description of the evolution of human capital components uses an equation of the transfer equation type. Investments in human capital components are determined on the basis of budget expenditures and private expenditures, taking into account the characteristic time life cycle of demographic elements. A one-dimensional kinetic equation is used to predict the dynamics of the total human capital. The method of calculating the dynamics of this factor is given as a time function. The calculated data on the human capital dynamics are presented for the Russian Federation. As studies have shown, the value of human capital increased rapidly until 2008, in the future there was a period of stabilization, but after 2014 there is a negative dynamics of this value.

The aim of the paper is to obtain a numerical solution for linear and higher-order delay differential equations (DDEs) using the coded differential transform method (CDTM). The CDTM is developed and applied to delay problems to show the efficiency of the proposed method. The coded differential transform method is a combination of the differential transform method and Mathematica software. We construct recursive relations for a few delay problems, which results in simultaneous equations, and solve them to obtain various series solution terms using the coded differential transform method. The numerical solution obtained by CDTM is compared with an exact solution. Numerical results and error analysis are presented for delay differential equations to show that the proposed method is suitable for solving delay differential equations. It is established that the delay differential equations under discussion are solvable in a specific domain. The error between the CDTM solution and the exact solution becomes very small if more terms are included in the series solution. The coded differential transform method reduces complex calculations, avoids discretization, linearization, and saves calculation time. In addition, it is easy to implement and robust. Error analysis shows that CDTM is consistent and converges fast. We obtain more accurate results using the coded differential transform method as compared to other methods.

In this paper, we discuss the procedure for finding nominal trajectories of the planar five-link bipedal robot with point contact. To this end we use a virtual constraints method that transforms robot’s dynamics to a lowdimensional zero manifold; we also use a nonlinear optimization algorithms to find virtual constraints parameters that minimize robot’s cost of transportation. We analyzed the effect of the degree of Bezier polynomials that approximate the virtual constraints and continuity of the torques on the cost of transportation. Based on numerical results we found that it is sufficient to consider polynomials with degrees between five and six, as further increase in the degree of polynomial results in increased computation time while it does not guarantee reduction of the cost of transportation. Moreover, it was shown that introduction of torque continuity constraints does not lead to significant increase of the objective function and makes the gait more implementable on a real robot.

We propose a two step procedure for finding minimum of the considered optimization problem with objective function in the form of cost of transportation and with high number of constraints. During the first step we solve a feasibility problem: remove cost function (set it to zero) and search for feasible solution in the parameter space. During the second step we introduce the objective function and use the solution found in the first step as initial guess. For the first step we put forward an algorithm for finding initial guess that considerably reduced optimization time of the first step (down to 3–4 seconds) compared to random initialization. Comparison of the objective function of the solutions found during the first and second steps showed that on average during the second step objective function was reduced twofold, even though overall computation time increased significantly.

In this paper, we address the mathematical modeling of robots based on tensegrity structures. The pivotal property of such structures is the forming elements working only for compression or tension, which allows the use of materials and structural solutions that minimize the weight of the structure while maintaining its strength.

Tensegrity structures hold several properties important for collaborative robotics, exploration and motion tasks in non-deterministic environments: natural compliance, compactness for transportation, low weight with significant impact resistance and rigidity. The control of such structures remains an open research problem, which is associated with the complexity of describing the dynamics of such structures.

We formulate an approach for describing the dynamics of such structures, based on second-order dynamics of the Cartesian coordinates of structure elements (rods), first-order dynamics for angular velocities of rods, and first-order dynamics for quaternions that are used to describe the orientation of rods. We propose a numerical method for solving these dynamic equations. The proposed methods are implemented in the form of a freely distributed mathematical package with open source code.

Further, we show how the provided software package can be used for modeling the dynamics and determining the operating modes of tensegrity structures. We present an example of a tensegrity structure moving in zero gravity with three rigid rods and nine elastic elements working in tension (cables), showing the features of the dynamics of the structure in reaching the equilibrium position. The range of initial conditions for which the structure operates in the normal mode is determined. The results can be directly used to analyze the nature of passive dynamic movements of the robots based on a three-link tensegrity structure, considered in the paper; the proposed modeling methods and the developed software are suitable for modeling a significant variety of tensegrity robots.

This article solves the problem of developing a technology for collecting initial data for building models for assessing the functional state of a person. This condition is assessed by the pupil response of a person to a change in illumination based on the pupillometry method. This method involves the collection and analysis of initial data (pupillograms), presented in the form of time series characterizing the dynamics of changes in the human pupils to a light impulse effect. The drawbacks of the traditional approach to the collection of initial data using the methods of computer vision and smoothing of time series are analyzed. Attention is focused on the importance of the quality of the initial data for the construction of adequate mathematical models. The need for manual marking of the iris and pupil circles is updated to improve the accuracy and quality of the initial data. The stages of the proposed technology for collecting initial data are described. An example of the obtained pupillogram is given, which has a smooth shape and does not contain outliers, noise, anomalies and missing values. Based on the presented technology, a software and hardware complex has been developed, which is a collection of special software with two main modules, and hardware implemented on the basis of a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B microcomputer, with peripheral equipment that implements the specified functionality. To evaluate the effectiveness of the developed technology, models of a single-layer perspetron and a collective of neural networks are used, for the construction of which the initial data on the functional state of intoxication of a person were used. The studies have shown that the use of manual marking of the initial data (in comparison with automatic methods of computer vision) leads to a decrease in the number of errors of the 1st and 2nd years of the kind and, accordingly, to an increase in the accuracy of assessing the functional state of a person. Thus, the presented technology for collecting initial data can be effectively used to build adequate models for assessing the functional state of a person by pupillary response to changes in illumination. The use of such models is relevant in solving individual problems of ensuring transport security, in particular, monitoring the functional state of drivers.

A simple model based on a kinetic-type equation is proposed to describe the spread of a virus in space through the migration of virus carriers from a certain center. The consideration is carried out on the example of three countries for which such a one-dimensional model is applicable: Russia, Italy and Chile. The geographical location of these countries and their elongation in the direction from the centers of infection (Moscow, Milan and Lombardia in general, as well as Santiago, respectively) makes it possible to use such an approximation. The aim is to determine the dynamic density of the infected in time and space. The model is two-parameter. The first parameter is the value of the average spreading rate associated with the transfer of infected moving by transport vehicles. The second parameter is the frequency of the decrease of the infected as they move through the country, which is associated with the passengers reaching their destination, as well as with quarantine measures. The parameters are determined from the actual known data for the first days of the spatial spread of the epidemic. An analytical solution is being built; simple numerical methods are also used to obtain a series of calculations. The geographical spread of the disease is a factor taken into account in the model, the second important factor is that contact infection in the field is not taken into account. Therefore, the comparison of the calculated values with the actual data in the initial period of infection coincides with the real data, then these data become higher than the model data. Those no less model calculations allow us to make some predictions. In addition to the speed of infection, a similar “speed of recovery” is possible. When such a speed is found for the majority of the country's population, a conclusion is made about the beginning of a global recovery, which coincides with real data.