Single-server queues with spatially distributed arrivals

Consider a queueing system where customers arrive at a circle according to a homogeneous Poisson process. After choosing their positions on the circle, according to a uniform distribution, they wait for a single server who travels on the circle. The server's movement is modelled by a Brownian motion with drift. Whenever the server encounters a customer, he stops and serves this customer. The service times are independent, but arbitrarily distributed. The model generalizes the continuous cyclic polling system (the diffusion coefficient of the Brownian motion is zero in this case) and can be interpreted as a continuous version of a Markov polling system. Using Tweedie's lemma for positive recurrence of Markov chains with general state space, we show that the system is stable if and only if the traffic intensity is less than one. Moreover, we derive a stochastic decomposition result which leads to equilibrium equations for the stationary configuration of customers on the circle. Steady-state performance characteristics are determined, in particular the expected number of customers in the system as seen by a travelling server and at an arbitrary point in time.     

Phase behaviour of colloid-polymer mixtures

Summary We review the phase behaviour of mixtures of colloids and non-adsorbing polymers. The exclusion of polymer molecules from overlapping ?depletion zones? between two neighbouring colloidal particles results in an unbalanced osmotic pressure pushing the particles together. This depletion potential is separately tunable in range and depth. Theory predicts that the resulting phase behaviour is sensitive to ξ=r _g/R, the ratio of the radius of gyration of a polymer molecule, to the radius of the colloid. At large ξ, a stable colloidalliquid phase becomes possible. This has been confirmed by recent experiments. The formation of non-equilibrium ?transient gel? states when the size ratio is small (≈0.08) is also introduced briefly. Paper presented at the I International Conference on Scaling Concepts and Complex Fluids, Copanello, Italy, July 4–8, 1994.     

Holographic image subtraction using a polarization technique

A holographic image subtraction technique is proposed. The vector nature of light is utilized in introducing a phase difference of π between the two reconstructed object waves. The experimental results are also presented.     

Taylor-Galerkin algorithms for viscoelastic flow: Application to a model problem

Coupled and decoupled Taylor-Galerkin algorithms are considered for viscoelastic flow and a model problem—transient startup Poiseuille flow in a channel under a fixed pressure gradient. All algorithms reproduce the steady-state solutions and are stable at high elasticity numbers (E). For a fixed mesh, the coupled and decoupled versions (TGC and TGD) give exceptional time-accuracy at low elasticity numbers [to within O(1%) at E = 1] and reasonable accuracy at high elasticity numbers [to within O(10%) at E = 10, 100]. By definition, the decoupled false-transient scheme (TGF), which uses different time scales for velocity and stress time stepping, provides a poor transient history. Where the main requirement is to compute a steady-state algorithm efficiency is crucial. The TGF scheme attains a steady state between six to eight times faster than does the TGC scheme, and the latter is over twice as fast as the TGD form. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A “Hybrid Plane” with spin-orbit interaction

In this paper, we attempt to reconstruct one of the last and incomplete projects of Volodya Geyler. We study the motion of a quantum particle in the plane to which a halfline lead is attached, assuming that the particle has spin ½ and the plane component of the Hamiltonian contains a spin-orbit interaction, of Rashba or Dresselhaus type. We construct a class of admissible Hamiltonians and derive an explicit expression for the Green function, which is applied to scattering in a system of this kind.     

DICSI station at KCSR and NT: Determination of optimal requirements to the formation of an SR beam using cylindrical x-ray optical zoom lenses

To modernize the DICSI station, new hardware and software have been created according to the conditions of the operating storage ring “Sibir’-2” beam channel. The recording system has been successfully tested on the operating channel of the storage ring VEPP-3 (Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk) using the time-resolved “diffraction cinema” technique in studying real biological objects in the static and dynamic modes of data accumulation. At the DICSI station, structural changes in medical and biological objects are permanently investigated. The specific structure dimensions of these objects are in the nanometric range.     

Heavy quark correlations ine + e − annihilations

In heavy quark jets the quark mass acts as a regulator of collinear singularities, making the quark momentum an infra-red safe variable in perturbative QCD. This allows a direct comparison of measured heavy hadron momentum spectra with perturbative calculations. We exploit the factorisation of heavy quark fragmentation to derive QCD predictions for momentum correlations between heavy hadrons produced ine ⁺ e ^? annihilations. We study the practical feasibility and model sensitivity of our approach using Monte Carlo simulations. Higher order perturbative corrections and contributions from non-perturbative effects are found to be at the level of 10%.     

Magnetic resonance imaging of the uterus at an ultra low (0.02 T) magnetic field.

In vivo pelvic imaging of 39 women and in vitro relaxation time measurements of four uterine specimens were performed using an ultra low field (0.02 T) MRI unit. Average T1 times measured in vitro at 37 degrees C for the myometrium and endometrium were 206 ms (SD 47 ms) and 389 ms (SD 21 ms), respectively. Corresponding T2 times were 95 ms (SD 20 ms) and 167 ms (SD 13 ms). The proton relaxation of almost all myometrial specimens proved to be biexponential, but of all endometrial specimens was monoexponential. Contrast measurements between endometrium versus myometrium and myometrium versus the junctional zone were performed after imaging 18 volunteer women using different pulse sequence parameters. Normal uterine structures were optimally demonstrated by SE 700/70. Relatively short repetition times could be used, because spin-lattice relaxation times were short at the low magnetic field. Consequently, the short repetition times allowed averaging of four excitations to create adequate images within an acceptable scanning time. In addition to T2-weighted images a T1-weighted inversion recovery sequence with a short inversion time of 50 ms (IR 1000/50/40) adequately differentiated the three uterine zones. Although pathologic lesions of the uterus including leiomyomas, anomalies and carcinomas were well demonstrated, especially with the T2-weighted spin echo pulse sequence, further investigations are needed to evaluate the optimal technique for ultra low field MR imaging of uterine tumors.