The use of relative priorities in optimizing the performance of a queueing system

Relative priorities in an n-class queueing system can reduce server and customer costs. This property is demonstrated in a single server Markovian model where the goal is to minimize a non-linear cost function of class expected waiting times. Special attention is given to minimizing server’s costs when the expected waiting time of each class is restricted.     

Insulating phases and superfluid-insulator transition of disordered boson chains

Using a strong disorder real-space renormalization group, we study the phase diagram of a fully disordered chain of interacting bosons. Since this approach does not suffer from runaway flows, it allows a direct study of the insulating phases, not accessible in a weak disorder perturbative treatment. We find that the universal properties of the insulating phase are determined by the details and symmetries of the on-site chemical-potential disorder. Three insulating phases are possible: (i) an incompressible Mott glass with a finite superfluid susceptibility, (ii) a random-singlet glass with diverging compressibility and superfluid susceptibility, (iii) a Bose glass with a finite compressibility but diverging superfluid susceptibility. In addition to characterizing the insulating phases, we show that the superfluid-insulator transition is always described by Kosterlitz-Thouless-like flows.     

Sagnac interference in carbon nanotube loops

In this Letter we study electron interference in nanotube loops. The conductance as a function of the applied voltage is shown to oscillate due to interference between electron beams traversing the loop in two opposite directions, with slightly different velocities. The period of these oscillations with respect to the gate voltage, as well as the temperatures required for the effect to appear, are shown to be much larger than those of the related Fabry-Perot interference. We calculate interaction effects on the period of the oscillations, and show that even though interactions destroy much of the near degeneracy of velocities in the symmetric spin channel, the slow interference effects survive.     

Sharp superconductor-insulator transition in short wires

Recent experiments on short MoGe nanowires show a sharp superconducting-insulating transition at the universal resistance R(Q)=h/(4e(2)), contrary to the expectation of a smooth temperature dependence of the resistance for such Josephson-like systems. We present a self-consistent renormalization-group treatment of interacting quantum phase slips in short superconducting wires, which reproduces this sharp universal transition. Our method should also apply to other systems in the sine-Gordon universality class, in the previously inaccessible intermediate-coupling regime.     

Greedy heuristics with regret, with application to the cheapest insertion algorithm for the TSP

We consider greedy algorithms that allow partial regret. As an example we consider a variant of the cheapest insertion algorithm for the TSP. Our numerical study indicates that in most cases it significantly reduces the relative error, and the added computational time is quite small.     

ContributionsGraph partitions with minimum degree constraints

Given a graph with n nodes and minimum degree δ, we give a polynomial time algorithm that constructs a partition of the nodes of the graph into two sets X and Y such that the sum of the minimum degrees in X and in Y is at least δ and the cardinalities of X and Y differ by at most δ(δ + 1 if n ≠ δ(mod 2)). The existence of such a partition was shown by Sheehan (1988).     

Enhanced acidity, photophysical properties and liposome binding of perfluoroalkylated phthalocyanines lacking C-H bonds

The acid-base, spectroscopic, photophysical and liposome-binding properties of the recently synthesized free base, 29H,31H,1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octafluoro-2,3,9,10,16,17,23, 24-octakisperfluoro(isopropyl) phthalocyanine, F64PcH2, are reported. The perfluoroalkylation of the phthalocyanine core renders the hydrogen atoms acidic, with a pK(a) = 6. The F64Pc(-2) dianion is detected already at pH 3, by singular-value decomposition analysis of electronic spectra. F64Pc(-2) generates 1O2 with quantum yields phi(delta) = 0.252 (in MeOH) and 0.019 in liposomes. Metallation of the Pc macrocycle to yield F64PcZn increases phi(delta) to 0.606 and 0.126 in MeOH and liposomes, respectively. Surprisingly, F64Pc(-2) (but not F64PcH2 or F64PcZn) binds strongly to liposomes, with a binding constant K(b) = 25 (mg/mL)(-1). The fully protonated F64PcH2, but not the zwitterionic F64Pc(-2), might favor hydrogen bonding, thus reducing its lipophilicity. Similarly, the Lewis acidity of Zn in F64PcZn, and thus its ability to bind water within a hydrophobic perfluoroalkyl pocket, is significantly enhanced by the fluorinated substituents.     

An approximation algorithm for maximum triangle packing

We present a randomized -approximation algorithm for the weighted maximum triangle packing problem, for any given ε>0. This is the first algorithm for this problem whose performance guarantee is better than . The algorithm also improves the best-known approximation bound for the maximum 2-edge path packing problem.