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We consider a time-delayed quadratic discrete model of population dynamics under the influence of random perturbations. Analysis of stochastic attractors of the model is performed using the methods of direct numerical simulation and the stochastic sensitivity function technique. A deformation of the probability distribution of random states around the stable equilibria and cycles is studied parametrically. The phenomenon of noise-induced transitions in the zone of discrete cycles is demonstrated.

The most important principle of military science and border security is the principle of concentrating the main efforts on the main directions and tasks. At the tactical level, there are many mathematical models for computing the optimal resource allocation by directions and objects, whereas at the state level there are no corresponding models. Using the statistical data on the results of the protection of the US border, an exponential type border production function parameter is calculated that reflects the organizational and technological capabilities of the border guard. The production function determines the dependence of the probability of detaining offenders from the density of border guards per kilometer of the border. Financial indicators in the production function are not taken into account, as the border maintenance budget and border equipment correlate with the number of border agents. The objective function of the border guards is defined — the total prevented damage from detained violators taking into account their expected danger for the state and society, which is to be maximized. Using Slater's condition, the solution of the problem was found — optimal density of border guard was calculated for the regions of the state. Having a model of resource allocation, the example of the three border regions of the United States has also solved the reverse problem — threats in the regions have been assessed based on the known allocation of resources. The expected danger from an individual offender on the US-Canada border is 2–5 times higher than from an offender on the US-Mexican border. The results of the calculations are consistent with the views of US security experts: illegal migrants are mostly detained on the US-Mexican border, while potential terrorists prefer to use other channels of penetration into the US (including the US-Canadian border), where the risks of being detained are minimal. Also, the results of the calculations are consistent with the established practice of border protection: in 2013 the number of border guards outside the checkpoints on the US-Mexican border increased by 2 times compared with 2001, while on the American-Canadian border — 4 times. The practice of border protection and the views of specialists give grounds for approval of the verification of the model.

Nowadays the situation of supply-demand imbalances in the professionals’ labor markets causes human capital losses as far as hampers scientific and innovation development. In Russia, supply-demand imbalances in the engineering labor market are associated with deindustrialization processes and manufacturing decline, resulted in a negative public perception of the engineering profession and high rates of graduates not working within the specialty or changing their occupation.

For analysis of the supply-demand imbalances in the engineering labor market, we elaborated a macroeconomic model. The model consists of 14 blocks, including blocks for demand and supply for engineers and technicians, along with the blocks for macroeconomic indicators as industry and service sector output, capital investment. Using this model, we forecasted the perspective supply-demand imbalances in the engineering labor market in a short-term period and examined the parameters of getting supply-demand balance in the medium-term perspective.

The results obtained show that situation of more balanced supply and demand for engineering labor is possible if there is simultaneous increase in the share of investments in fixed assets of manufacturing and relative wages in industry, besides getting to balance is facilitated by a decrease of the share of graduates not working by specialty. It is worth noting that a decrease in the share of graduates not working by specialty may be affected whether by the growth of relative wages in industry and number of vacancies or by the implementation of measures aimed at improving the working conditions of the engineering workforce and increasing the attractiveness of the profession. To summarize, in the case of the simplest scenario, not considering additional measures of working conditions improvement and increasing the attractiveness of the profession, the conditions of supply-demand balance achievement implies slightly lower growth rates of investment in industry than required in scenarios that involve increasing the share of engineers and technicians working in their specialty after graduation. The latter case, where a gradual decrease in the proportion of those who do not work in engineering specialty is expected, requires, probably, higher investment costs for attracting specialists and creating new jobs, as well as additional measures to strengthen the attractiveness of the engineering profession.

The paper considers the problem of estimating the parameters of time series described by regression models with Markov switching of two regimes at random instants of time with independent Gaussian noise. For the solution, we propose a variant of the EM algorithm based on the iterative procedure, during which an estimation of the regression parameters is performed for a given sequence of regime switching and an evaluation of the switching sequence for the given parameters of the regression models. In contrast to the well-known methods of estimating regression parameters in the models with Markov switching, which are based on the calculation of a posteriori probabilities of discrete states of the switching sequence, in the paper the estimates are calculated of the switching sequence, which are optimal by the criterion of the maximum of a posteriori probability. As a result, the proposed algorithm turns out to be simpler and requires less calculations. Computer modeling allows to reveal the factors influencing accuracy of estimation. Such factors include the number of observations, the number of unknown regression parameters, the degree of their difference in different modes of operation, and the signal-to-noise ratio which is associated with the coefficient of determination in regression models. The proposed algorithm is applied to the problem of estimating parameters in regression models for the rate of daily return of the RTS index, depending on the returns of the S&P 500 index and Gazprom shares for the period from 2013 to 2018. Comparison of the estimates of the parameters found using the proposed algorithm is carried out with the estimates that are formed using the EViews econometric package and with estimates of the ordinary least squares method without taking into account regimes switching. The account of regimes switching allows to receive more exact representation about structure of a statistical dependence of investigated variables. In switching models, the increase in the signal-to-noise ratio leads to the fact that the differences in the estimates produced by the proposed algorithm and using the EViews program are reduced.

Modeling combat operations is an urgent scientific and practical task aimed at providing commanders and staffs with quantitative grounds for making decisions. The authors proposed the function of victory in combat and military operations, based on the function of the conflict by G. Tullock and taking into account the scale of combat (military) operations. On a sufficient volume of military statistics, the scale parameter was assessed and its values were found for the tactical, operational and strategic levels. The game-theoretic models «offensive – defense», in which the sides solve the immediate and subsequent tasks, having the formation of troops in one or several echelons, have been investigated. At the first stage of modeling, the solution of the immediate task is found — the breakthrough (holding) of defense points, at the second — the solution of the subsequent task — the defeat of the enemy in the depth of the defense (counterattack and restoration of defense). For the tactical level, using the Nash equilibrium, solutions were found for the closest problem (distribution of the forces of the sides by points of defense) in an antagonistic game according to three criteria: a) breakthrough of the weakest point, b) breakthrough of at least one point, and c) weighted average probability. It is shown that it is advisable for the attacking side to use the criterion of «breaking through at least one point», in which, all other things being equal, the maximum probability of breaking through the points of defense is ensured. At the second stage of modeling for a particular case (the sides are guided by the criterion of breaking through the weakest point when breaking through and holding defense points), the problem of distributing forces and facilities between tactical tasks (echelons) was solved according to two criteria: a) maximizing the probability of breaking through the defense point and the probability of defeating the enemy in depth defense, b) maximizing the minimum value of the named probabilities (the criterion of the guaranteed result). Awareness is an important aspect of combat operations. Several examples of reflexive games (games characterized by complex mutual awareness) and information management are considered. It is shown under what conditions information control increases the player’s payoff, and the optimal information control is found.

The collective behavior of crowd leaving a room is modeled. The model is based on molecular dynamics approach with a mixture of socio-psychological and physical forces. The new algorithm for complicatedly branched space is proposed. It suggests that each individual develops its own plan of escape, which is stochastically transformed during the evolution. The algorithm includes also the separation of original space into rooms with possible exits selected by individuals according to their probability distribution. The model is calibrated on the base of empirical data provided by fire case in the nightclub “Lame Horse” (Perm, 2009). The algorithm is realized as an end-user Java software. It is assumed that this tool could help to test the buildings for their safety for humans.

In the first section of the paper a definition of presentation (perception) functions — components of individual’s subjective view of the world — are proposed. Using the basic psychophysical law formulated by S. Stevens, and relying on the hypotheses of socialization, rationality, individual choice, complexity of informational influences, dynamics of ideas and perceptions, and accessibility, formal dependence was derived allowing to calculate the function of presentation (perception) for probabilistic indicators (with known distribution function or subjective probability) and of interval type. In the second and third sections parameters of the presentation function according to surveys of the U.S. population related to the war in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq are estimated.

In the present article we explore the process of changing the level of approval of a political leader under the influence of the processes taking place in online platforms (social networks, forums, etc.). The driver of these changes is the interaction of users, through which they can exchange opinions with each other and formulate their position in relation to the political leader. In addition to interpersonal interaction, we will consider such factors as the information impact, expressed in the creation of an information flow with a given power and polarity (positive or negative, in the context of influencing the image of a political leader), as well as the presence of a group of agents (opinion leaders), supporting the leader, or, conversely, negatively affecting its representation in the media space.

The mathematical basis of the presented research is the Kirman model, which has its roots in biology and initially found its application in economics. Within the framework of this model it is considered that each user is in one of the two possible states, and a Markov jump process describing transitions between these states is given. For the problem under consideration, these states are 0 or 1, depending on whether a particular agent is a supporter of a political leader or not. For further research, we find its diffusional approximation, known as the Jacoby process. With the help of spectral decomposition for the infinitesimal operator of this process we have an opportunity to find an analytical representation for the transition probability density.

Analyzing the probabilities obtained in this way, we can assess the influence of individual factors of the model: the power and direction of the information flow, available to online users and relevant to the tasks of rating formation, as well as the number of supporters or opponents of the politician. Next, using the found eigenfunctions and eigenvalues, we derive expressions for the evaluation of conditional mathematical expectations of a politician’s rating, which can serve as a basis for building forecasts that are important for the formation of a strategy of representing a political leader in the online environment.

In this work, we analyze the system of contracts made by Russian defense enterprises in the process of state defense order execution. We conclude that methods of statistical mechanics can be applied to the description of the given system. Following the original grand-canonical ensemble approach, we can create the statistical ensemble under investigation as a set of instant snapshots of indistinguishable contracts having individual values. We show that due to government regulations of contract prices the contract system can be described in terms of nonextensive Tsallis statistics. We have found that probability distributions of contract prices correspond to deformed Bose – Einstein distributions obtained using nonextensive Tsallis entropy. This conclusion is true both in the case of the whole set of contracts and in the case of the contracts made by an individual defense company as a seller.

In order to analyze how deformed Bose – Einstein distributions fit the empirical contract price distributions we compare the corresponding cumulative distribution functions. We conclude that annual distributions of individual sales which correspond to each company’s contract (order) can be used as relevant data for contract price distributions analysis. The empirical cumulative distribution functions for the individual sales ranking of Concern CSRI Elektropribor, one of the leading Russian defense companies, are analyzed for the period 2007–2021. The theoretical cumulative distribution functions, obtained using deformed Bose – Einstein distributions in the case of «rare contract gas» limit, fit well to the empirical cumulative distribution functions. The fitted values for the entropic index show that the degree of nonextensivity of the system under investigations is rather high. It is shown that the characteristic prices of distributions can be estimated by weighing the values of annual individual sales with the escort probabilities. Given that the fitted values of chemical potential are equal to zero, we suggest that «gas of contracts» can be compared to photon gas in which the number of particles is not conserved.

In some cases, information warfare results in almost whole population accepting one of two contesting points of view and rejecting the other. In other cases, however, the “majority party” gets only a small advantage over the “minority party”. The relevant question is which network characteristics of a population contribute to the minority being able to maintain some significant numbers. Given that some societies are more connected than others, in the sense that they have a higher density of social ties, this question is specified as follows: how does the density of social ties affect the chances of a minority to maintain a significant number? Does a higher density contribute to a landslide victory of majority, or to resistance of minority? To address this issue, we consider information warfare between two parties, called the Left and the Right, in the population, which is represented as a network, the nodes of which are individuals, and the connections correspond to their acquaintance and describe mutual influence. At each of the discrete points in time, each individual decides which party to support based on their attitude, i. e. predisposition to the Left or Right party and taking into account the influence of his network ties. The influence means here that each tie sends a cue with a certain probability to the individual in question in favor of the party that themselves currently support. If the tie switches their party affiliation, they begin to agitate the individual in question for their “new” party. Such processes create dynamics, i. e. the process of changing the partisanship of individuals. The duration of the warfare is exogenously set, with the final time point roughly associated with the election day. The described model is numerically implemented on a scale-free network. Numerical experiments have been carried out for various values of network density. Because of the presence of stochastic elements in the model, 200 runs were conducted for each density value, for each of which the final number of supporters of each of the parties was calculated. It is found that with higher density, the chances increase that the winner will cover almost the entire population. Conversely, low network density contributes to the chances of a minority to maintain significant numbers.