Evolution, dynamics, and fixed points

Sign-compatible dynamics describe changes in the composition of a population driven by differences in fitness. A saturated equilibrium is a fixed point for sign-compatible dynamics where each subgroup with positive population share has highest fitness. An evolutionary stable equilibrium is a saturated equilibrium attracting all trajectories nearby, such that the Euclidean distance to it decreases monotonically. We address existence, multiplicity, and dynamical stability of fixed points of sign-compatible dynamics. A saturated equilibrium may be approximated by using a variable dimension restart algorithm for solving the nonlinear complementarity problem. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C62, C68, C72, C73. Keywords: Sign-compatible population dynamics, saturated equilibrium, evolutionary stable equilibrium, dynamic stability, nonlinear complementarity problem.mathematical economics and econometrics

Optimization. An attempt at describing the State of the Art

This paper is an attempt at describing the State of the Art of the vast field of continuous optimization. We will survey deterministic and stochastic methods as well as hybrid approaches in their application to single objective and multiobjective optimization. We study the parameters of optimization algorithms and possibilities for tuning them. Finally, we discuss several methods for using approximate models for computationally expensive problems

State Transition Algorithm

In terms of the concepts of state and state transition, a new heuristic random search algorithm named state transition algorithm is proposed. For continuous function optimization problems, four special transformation operators called rotation, translation, expansion and axesion are designed. Adjusting measures of the transformations are mainly studied to keep the balance of exploration and exploitation. Convergence analysis is also discussed about the algorithm based on random search theory. In the meanwhile, to strengthen the search ability in high dimensional space, communication strategy is introduced into the basic algorithm and intermittent exchange is presented to prevent premature convergence. Finally, experiments are carried out for the algorithms. With 10 common benchmark unconstrained continuous functions used to test the performance, the results show that state transition algorithms are promising algorithms due to their good global search capability and convergence property when compared with some popular algorithms.Comment: 18 pages, 28 figure

Remarks on Solving Methods of Nonlinear Equations

Abstract: In the field of mechanical engineering, many practical problems can be converted into nonlinear problems, such as the meshing problem of mechanical transmission. So the solution of nonlinear equations has important theoretical research and practical application significance. Whether the traditional Newton iteration method or the intelligent optimization algorithm after the popularization of computers, both them have been greatly enriched and developed through the continuous in-depth research of scholars at home and abroad, and a series of improved algorithms have emerged. This paper mainly reviews the research status of solving nonlinear equations from two aspects of traditional iterative method and intelligent optimization algorithm, systematically reviews the research achievements of domestic and foreign scholars, and puts forward prospects for future research directions

Estimation of constant and time-varying dynamic parameters of HIV infection in a nonlinear differential equation model

Modeling viral dynamics in HIV/AIDS studies has resulted in a deep understanding of pathogenesis of HIV infection from which novel antiviral treatment guidance and strategies have been derived. Viral dynamics models based on nonlinear differential equations have been proposed and well developed over the past few decades. However, it is quite challenging to use experimental or clinical data to estimate the unknown parameters (both constant and time-varying parameters) in complex nonlinear differential equation models. Therefore, investigators usually fix some parameter values, from the literature or by experience, to obtain only parameter estimates of interest from clinical or experimental data. However, when such prior information is not available, it is desirable to determine all the parameter estimates from data. In this paper we intend to combine the newly developed approaches, a multi-stage smoothing-based (MSSB) method and the spline-enhanced nonlinear least squares (SNLS) approach, to estimate all HIV viral dynamic parameters in a nonlinear differential equation model. In particular, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to propose a comparatively thorough procedure, accounting for both efficiency and accuracy, to rigorously estimate all key kinetic parameters in a nonlinear differential equation model of HIV dynamics from clinical data. These parameters include the proliferation rate and death rate of uninfected HIV-targeted cells, the average number of virions produced by an infected cell, and the infection rate which is related to the antiviral treatment effect and is time-varying. To validate the estimation methods, we verified the identifiability of the HIV viral dynamic model and performed simulation studies.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-AOAS290 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org