Parametric nonlinear programming approach to fuzzy queues with bulk service

This paper proposes a procedure to construct the membership functions of the performance measures in bulk service queuing systems with the arrival rate and service rate are fuzzy numbers. The basic idea is to transform a fuzzy queue with bulk service to a family of conventional crisp queues with bulk service by applying the α-cut approach. On the basis of α-cut representation and the extension principle, a pair of parametric nonlinear programs is formulated to describe that family of crisp bulk service queues, via which the membership functions of the performance measures are derived. To demonstrate the validity of the proposed procedure, two fuzzy queues often encountered in transportation management are exemplified. Since the performance measures are expressed by membership functions rather than by crisp values, they completely conserve the fuzziness of input information when some data of bulk-service queuing systems are ambiguous. Thus the proposed approach for vague systems can represent the system more accurately, and more information is provided for designing queuing systems in real life. By extending to fuzzy environment, the bulk service queuing models would have wider applications.     

Measuring performances of multiple-channel queueing systems with imprecise data: a membership function approach

This paper proposes a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) approach to measure the system performances of multiple-channel queueing models with imprecise data. The main idea is to transform a multiple-channel queue with imprecise data to a family of conventional crisp multiple-channel queues by applying the α-cut approach in fuzzy theory. On the basis of α-cut representation and the extension principle, two pairs of parametric MINLP are formulated to describe the family of crisp multiple-channel queues, via which the membership functions of the performance measures are derived. To demonstrate the validity of the proposed procedure, a real-world case of multiple-channel fuzzy queue is investigated successfully. Since the performance measures are expressed by membership functions rather than by crisp values, the fuzziness of input information is completed conserved. Thus, the results obtained from the proposed approach can represent the system more accurately, and more information is provided for system design in practice.     

Solving fuzzy queueing decision problems via a parametric mixed integer nonlinear programming method

This paper proposes a mathematical programming method to construct the membership functions of the fuzzy objective value of the cost-based queueing decision problem with the cost coefficients and the arrival rate being fuzzy numbers. On the basis of Zadeh’s extension principle, three pairs of mixed integer nonlinear programs (MINLP) parameterized by the possibility level α are formulated to calculate the lower and upper bounds of the minimal expected total cost per unit time at α, through which the membership function of the minimal expected total cost per unit time of the fuzzy objective value is constructed. To provide a suitable optimal service rate for designing queueing systems, the Yager’s ranking index method is adopted. Two numerical examples are solved successfully to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. Since the objective value is completely expressed by a membership function rather than by a crisp value, it conserves the fuzziness of the input information, thus more information is provided for designing queueing systems. The successful extension of queueing decision models to fuzzy environments permits queueing decision models to have wider applications in practice.     

Bifurcations of fuzzy nonlinear dynamical systems

We present some recent developments of the fuzzy generalized cell mapping method (FGCM) in this paper. The topological property of the FGCM and its finite convergence of membership distribution vector are discussed. Powerful algorithms of digraphs are adopted for the analysis of topological properties of the FGCM systems. Bifurcations of fuzzy nonlinear dynamical systems are studied by using the FGCM method. A backward algorithm is introduced to study the unstable equilibrium solutions and their bifurcation. We have found that near the deterministic bifurcation point, the fuzzy system undergoes a complex transition as the control parameter varies. In this transition region, the steady state membership distribution is dependent on the initial condition. If we use the measure and topology of the α-cut (α = 1) of the steady state membership function of the persistent group representing the stable fuzzy equilibrium solution to characterize the fuzzy bifurcation, assuming the uniform initial condition within the persistent group, the bifurcation of the fuzzy dynamical system is then completed within an interval of the control parameter, rather than at a point as is the case of deterministic systems.     

A redundant repairable system with imperfect coverage and fuzzy parameters

This paper proposes a procedure to construct the membership functions of the system characteristics of a redundant repairable system with two primary units and one standby in which the coverage factor is the same for an operating unit failure as that for a standby unit failure. Times to failure and times to repair of the operating and standby units are assumed to follow fuzzified exponential distributions. The α-cut approach is used to extract from the fuzzy repairable system a family of conventional crisp intervals for the desired system characteristics, determined with a set of parametric nonlinear programs using their membership functions. A numerical example is solved successfully to illustrate the practicality of the proposed approach. Because the system characteristics are governed by the membership functions, more information is provided for use by management, and because the redundant system is extended to the fuzzy environment, general repairable systems are represented more accurately and the analytic results are more useful for designers and practitioners.     

H∞ estimation for fuzzy membership function optimization

Given a fuzzy logic system, how can we determine the membership functions that will result in the best performance? If we constrain the membership functions to a specific shape (e.g., triangles or trapezoids) then each membership function can be parameterized by a few variables and the membership optimization problem can be reduced to a parameter optimization problem. The parameter optimization problem can then be formulated as a nonlinear filtering problem. In this paper we solve the nonlinear filtering problem using H_∞ state estimation theory. However, the membership functions that result from this approach are not (in general) sum normal. That is, the membership function values do not add up to one at each point in the domain. We therefore modify the H_∞ filter with the addition of state constraints so that the resulting membership functions are sum normal. Sum normality may be desirable not only for its intuitive appeal but also for computational reasons in the real time implementation of fuzzy logic systems. The methods proposed in this paper are illustrated on a fuzzy automotive cruise controller and compared to Kalman filtering based optimization.     

A preemptive discrete-time priority buffer system with partial buffer sharing

This paper considers a Geo/Geo/1 discrete-time queue with preemptive priority. Both the arrival and service processes are Bernoulli processes. There are two kinds of customers: low-priority and high-priority customers. The high-priority customers have a preemptive priority over low-priority customers. If the total number of customers is equal or more than the threshold (k), the arrival of low-priority customers will be ignored. Hence the system buffer size is finite only for the low-priority customers. A recursive numerical procedure is developed to find the steady-state probabilities. With the aid of recursive equations, we transform the infinite steady-state departure-epoch equations set to a set of (k + 1) × (k + 2)/2 linear equations set based on the embedded Markov Chain technique. Then, this reduced linear equations set is used to compute the steady-state departure-epoch probabilities. The important performance measures of the system are calculated. Finally, the applicability of the solution procedure is shown by a numerical example and the sensitivity of the performance measures to the changes in system parameters is analyzed.     

Performance analysis of GI/M/1 queue with working vacations and vacation interruption

In this paper, we analyze a single-server vacation queue with a general arrival process. Two policies, working vacation and vacation interruption, are connected to model some practical problems. The GI/M/1 queue with such two policies is described and by the matrix analysis method, we obtain various performance measures such as mean queue length and waiting time. Finally, using some numerical examples, we present the parameter effect on the performance measures and establish the cost and profit functions to analyze the optimal service rate η during the vacation period.     

A Functional Central Limit Theorem for a Markov-Modulated Infinite-Server Queue

We consider a model in which the production of new molecules in a chemical reaction network occurs in a seemingly stochastic fashion, and can be modeled as a Poisson process with a varying arrival rate: the rate is λ _i when an external Markov process J(?) is in state i. It is assumed that molecules decay after an exponential time with mean μ ^?1. The goal of this work is to analyze the distributional properties of the number of molecules in the system, under a specific time-scaling. In this scaling, the background process is sped up by a factor N ^α , for some α>0, whereas the arrival rates become N λ _i , for N large. The main result of this paper is a functional central limit theorem (F-CLT) for the number of molecules, in that, after centering and scaling, it converges to an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. An interesting dichotomy is observed: (i) if α > 1 the background process jumps faster than the arrival process, and consequently the arrival process behaves essentially as a (homogeneous) Poisson process, so that the scaling in the F-CLT is the usual \(\sqrt {N}\), whereas (ii) for α≤1 the background process is relatively slow, and the scaling in the F-CLT is N ^1?α/2. In the latter regime, the parameters of the limiting Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process contain the deviation matrix associated with the background process J(?).     

A note on measures of nonconvexity

We define the Hausdorff measure of nonconvexity β(C) of a nonempty bounded subset C of a Banach space X as the Hausdorff distance of C to the family of all the nonempty convex bounded subsets of X. We compare the measure β with the Eisenfeld-Lakshmikantham measure of nonconvexity α and prove that the two measures are equivalent (β≤α≤2β), but in general they are different.     

Analysis of critical paths in a project network with fuzzy activity times

This paper proposes an approach to critical path analysis for a project network with activity times being fuzzy numbers, in that the membership function of the fuzzy total duration time is constructed. The basic idea is based on the extension principle and linear programming formulation. A pair of linear programs parameterized by possibility level α is formulated to calculate the lower and upper bounds of the fuzzy total duration time at α. By enumerating different values of α, the membership function of the fuzzy total duration time is constructed, and the fuzzy critical paths are identified at the same time. Moreover, by applying the Yager ranking method, definitions of the most critical path and the relative degree of criticality of paths are developed; and these definitions are theoretically sound and easy to use in practice. Two examples with activity times being fuzzy numbers of L-R and L-L types discussed in previous studies are solved successfully to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach. Since the total duration time is completely expressed by a membership function rather than by a crisp value, the fuzziness of activity times is conserved completely, and more information is provided for critical path analysis.     

Performance evaluation of a single queue capable of handling two like jobs as a single entity

In this paper, we model an open queuing network and analyze performance measures with and without feedback as two individual cases. The model comprises a single queue with a dedicated processor capable of handling two like jobs as a single job. Two different job arrivals with different processing times are considered with an internal timer. Performance measures such as average queue length, average response time, average waiting time of the jobs are computed and plotted. The joint density function for the inter arrival time and arrival rate are derived. The probability mass function has been derived for all possible cases that may arise in a duration (0, t], considering n job arrivals during that period of time and an integer programming problem is formulated to obtain optimal sequence patterns which would maximize the efficiency of the model.     

Time-cost trade-off analysis of project networks in fuzzy environments

This paper proposes a novel approach for time-cost trade-off analysis of a project network in fuzzy environments. Different from the results of previous studies, in this paper the membership function of the fuzzy minimum total crash cost is constructed based on Zadeh’s extension principle and fuzzy solutions are provided. A pair of two-level mathematical programs parameterized by possibility level α is formulated to calculate the lower and upper bounds of the fuzzy minimum total crash cost at α. By enumerating different values of α, the membership function of the fuzzy minimum total crash cost is constructed, and the corresponding optimal activity time for each activity is also obtained at the same time. An example of time-cost trade-off problem with several fuzzy parameters is solved successfully to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach. Since the minimum total crash cost is expressed by a membership function rather than by a crisp value, the fuzziness of parameters is conserved completely, and more information is provided for time-cost trade-off analysis in project management. The proposed approach also can be applied to time-cost trade-off problems with other characteristics.     

Qualitative factors in data envelopment analysis: A fuzzy number approach

Qualitative factors are difficult to mathematically manipulate when calculating the efficiency in data envelopment analysis (DEA). The existing methods of representing the qualitative data by ordinal variables and assigning values to obtain efficiency measures only superficially reflect the precedence relationship of the ordinal data. This paper treats the qualitative data as fuzzy numbers, and uses the DEA multipliers associated with the decision making units (DMUs) being evaluated to construct the membership functions. Based on Zadeh’s extension principle, a pair of two-level mathematical programs is formulated to calculate the α-cuts of the fuzzy efficiencies. Fuzzy efficiencies contain more information for making better decisions. A performance evaluation of the chemistry departments of 52 UK universities is used for illustration. Since the membership functions are constructed from the opinion of the DMUs being evaluated, the results are more representative and persuasive.     

Analysis of the MAP/G/1/N queue with multiple vacations

This paper deals with a batch service queue and multiple vacations. The system consists of a single server and a waiting room of finite capacity. Arrival of customers follows a Markovian arrival process (MAP). The server is unavailable for occasional intervals of time called vacations, and when it is available, customers are served in batches of maximum size ‘b’ with a minimum threshold value ‘a’. We obtain the queue length distributions at various epochs along with some key performance measures. Finally, some numerical results have been presented.     

Measuring complexity with multifractals in texts. Translation effects

Should quality be almost a synonymous of complexity? To measure quality appears to be audacious, even very subjective. It is hereby proposed to use a multifractal approach in order to quantify quality, thus through complexity measures. A one-dimensional system is examined. It is known that (all) written texts can be one-dimensional nonlinear maps. Thus, several written texts by the same author are considered, together with their translation, into an unusual language, Esperanto, and asa baseline their corresponding shuffled versions.Different one-dimensional time series can be used: e.g. (i) one based on word lengths, (ii) the other based on word frequencies; both are used for studying, comparing and discussing the map structure. It is shown that a variety in style can be measured through the D(q) and f(α) curves characterizing multifractal objects. This allows to observe on the one hand whether natural and artificial languages significantly influence the writing and the translation, and whether one author’s texts differ technically from each other. In fact, the f(α) curves of the original texts are similar to each other, but the translated text shows marked differences. However in each case, the f(α) curves are far from being parabolic, – in contrast to the shuffled texts. Moreover, the Esperanto text has more extreme values. Criteria are thereby suggested for estimating a text quality, as if it is a time series only. A model is introduced in order to substantiate the findings: it consists in considering a text as a random Cantor set resulting from a binomial cascade of long and short words with appropriate weights. In an appendix, a connection is given with an analysis of turbulence by statistics based on Tsallis generalized entropy. In a second appendix, another view of text (language) complexity is outlined within the copying mistake map concept.     

A separation theorem for nonlinear inverse images of convex sets

This paper offers first- and higher-order necessary conditions for the local disjointness of a finite system of sets that are nonlinear inverse images of convex sets. The proof is based on the characterizations of α-admissible and α-tangent variations to nonlinear inverse images of convex sets and a necessary condition for the local disjointness in terms of these variations. As an application, the results are used to obtain first- and higher-order necessary conditions of optimality in constrained optimization problems.     

A disaster queue with Markovian arrivals and impatient customers

We consider a single server queueing system in which arrivals occur according to a Markovian arrival process. The system is subject to disastrous failures at which times all customers in the system are lost. Arrivals occurring during the time the system undergoes repair are stored in a buffer of finite capacity. These customers can become impatient after waiting a random amount of time and leave the system. However, these customers do not become impatient once the system becomes operable. When the system is operable, there is no limit on the number of customers who can be admitted. The structure of this queueing model is of GI/M/1-type that has been extensively studied by Neuts and others. The model is analyzed in steady state by exploiting the special nature of this type queueing model. A number of useful performance measures along with some illustrative examples are reported.     

Applications of the weighted scheme for GNLS equations in solving soliton solutions

Soliton solutions of a class of generalized nonlinear evolution equations are discussed analytically and numerically, which is achieved using a travelling wave method to formulate one-soliton solution and the finite difference method to the numerical solutions and the interactions between the solitons for the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The characteristic behavior of the nonlinearity admitted in the system has been investigated and the soliton state of the system in the limit ofα → 0 andα → ∞ has been studied. The results presented show that soliton phenomena are characteristics associated with the nonlinearities of the dynamical systems.     

Discrete-time GI/G/1 retrial queues with time-controlled vacation policies

A discrete-time GI/G/1 retrial queue with Bernoulli retrials and time-controlled vacation policies is investigated in this paper. By representing the inter-arrival, service and vacation tlmes using a Markov-based approach, we are able to analyze this model as a level-dependent quasi-birth-and-death （LDQBD） process which makes the model algorithmically tractable. Several performance measures such as the stationary probability distribution and the expected number of customers in the orbit have been discussed with two different policies： deterministic time-controlled system and random time-controlled system. To give a comparison with the known vacation policy in the literature, we present the exhaustive vacation policy as a contrast between these policies under the early arrival system （EAS） and the late arrival system with delayed access （LAS-DA）. Significant difference between EAS and LAS-DA is illustrated by some numerical examples.