Analytic study of multiserver buffers with two-state Markovian arrivals and constant service times of multiple slots

In this paper, we study the behavior of a discrete-time multiserver buffer system with infinite buffer size. Packets arrive at the system according to a two-state Markovian arrival process. The service times of the packets are assumed to be constant, equal to multiple slots. The behavior of the system is analyzed by means of an analytical technique based on probability generating functions (PGF’s). Explicit expressions are obtained for the PGF’s of the system contents and the packet delay. From these, the mean values, the variances and the tail distributions of the system contents and the packet delay are calculated. Numerical examples are given to show the influence of various model parameters on the system behavior.     

Hyperpolarized 13C NMR Spectroscopy of Urine Samples at Natural Abundance by Quantitative Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

Hyperpolarized nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) offers an ensemble of methods that remarkably address the sensitivity issues of conventional NMR. Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (d-DNP) provides a unique and general way to detect ¹³C NMR signals with a sensitivity enhanced by several orders of magnitude. The expanding application scope of d-DNP now encompasses the analysis of complex mixtures at natural ¹³C abundance. However, the application of d-DNP in this area has been limited to metabolite extracts. Here, we report the first d-DNP-enhanced ¹³C NMR analysis of a biofluid -urine- at natural abundance, offering unprecedented resolution and sensitivity for this challenging type of sample. We also show that accurate quantitative information on multiple targeted metabolites can be retrieved through a standard addition procedure.     

A novel ultrasonic strain gauge for single-sided measurement of a local 3D strain field

A novel method is introduced for the measurement of a 3D strain field by exploiting the interaction between ultrasound waves and geometrical characteristics of the insonified specimen. First, the response of obliquely incident harmonic waves to a deterministic surface roughness is utilized. Analysis of backscattered amplitudes in Bragg diffraction geometry then yields a measure for the in-plane strain field by mapping any shift in angular dependency. Secondly, the analysis of the reflection characteristics of normal incident pulsed waves in frequency domain provides a measure of the out-of-plane normal strain field component, simply by tracking any change in the stimulation condition for a thickness resonance. As such, the developed ultrasonic strain gauge yields an absolute, contactless and single-sided mapping of a local 3D strain field, in which both sample preparation and alignment procedure are needless. Results are presented for cold-rolled DC06 steel samples onto which skin passing of the work rolls is applied. The samples have been mechanically loaded, introducing plastic strain levels ranging from 2 % up to 35 %. The ultrasonically measured strains have been validated with various other strain measurement techniques, including manual micrometer, longitudinal and transverse mechanical extensometer and optical mono- and stereovision digital image correlation. Good agreement has been obtained between the ultrasonically determined strain values and the results of the conventional methods. As the ultrasonic strain gauge provides all three normal strain field components, it has been employed for the extraction of Lankford ratios at different applied longitudinal plastic strain levels, revealing a strain dependent plastic anisotropy of the investigated DC06 steel sheet.     

Post-experiment introduction of constraints on parameters

An extension or modification of the output of least-squares computer subroutines is proposed in order to enable the researcher, who is confronted with an unreasonable parameter estimate, to investigate the effect of changing this value on the other parameter estimates and the estimated residual variance by simple hand computation.     

A curved no-slip boundary condition for the lattice Boltzmann method

We present a generalization of the no-slip boundary condition by Lätt et al. [J. Lätt, B. Chopard, O. Malaspinas, M. Deville, A. Michler, Straight velocity boundaries in the lattice Boltzmann method, Physical Review E 77 (5) (2008) 056703] from straight to curved geometries for the lattice Boltzmann Bhatnager–Gross–Krook method (LBGK). The boundary condition is based on a reconstruction of the populations from the density, velocity and rate of strain. For curved boundaries, the reconstruction reduces the question of accuracy to a technical issue of interpolation. We present a method of interpolation allowing a very accurate representation of the curved boundary. The resulting boundary condition is verified for three different test cases: Taylor–Couette flow in-between rotating cylinders, laminar flow around a cylinder and flow past an impulsively started cylinder, demonstrating its second order accuracy and low error constant. The present boundary is stable for relaxation frequencies close to two.     

Complete characterisation of the customer delay in a queueing system with batch arrivals and batch service

Whereas the buffer content of batch-service queueing systems has been studied extensively, the customer delay has only occasionally been studied. The few papers concerning the customer delay share the common feature that only the moments are calculated explicitly. In addition, none of these surveys consider models including the combination of batch arrivals and a server operating under the full-batch service policy (the server waits to initiate service until he can serve at full capacity). In this paper, we aim for a complete characterisation—i.e., moments and tail probabilities - of the customer delay in a discrete-time queueing system with batch arrivals and a batch server adopting the full-batch service policy. In addition, we demonstrate that the distribution of the number of customer arrivals in an arbitrary slot has a significant impact on the moments and the tail probabilities of the customer delay.     

A semi-preemptive priority scheduling discipline: Performance analysis

In this paper, we present an in-depth analytical study of a semi-preemptive priority scheduling discipline. This discipline eliminates the deficits of both the full- and non-preemptive versions. Under the non-preemptive category, in particular, higher-priority customers may have to wait even when the service of a lower-priority customer has just started, while under the full-preemptive discipline, the almost completed service of a lower-priority customer may be interrupted due to the arrival of higher-priority customers, possibly causing a large extra delay. For fixed low-priority service times, the semi-preemptive priority scheduling discipline shows a performance gain of up to 6% compared to the full- and non-preemptive versions.