A retrial system with two input streams and two orbit queues

Two independent Poisson streams of jobs flow into a single-server service system having a limited common buffer that can hold at most one job. If a type- $i$ job ( $i=1,2$ ) finds the server busy, it is blocked and routed to a separate type- $i$ retrial (orbit) queue that attempts to re-dispatch its jobs at its specific Poisson rate. This creates a system with three dependent queues. Such a queueing system serves as a model for two competing job streams in a carrier sensing multiple access system. We study the queueing system using multi-dimensional probability generating functions, and derive its necessary and sufficient stability conditions while solving a Riemann–Hilbert boundary value problem. Various performance measures are calculated and numerical results are presented. In particular, numerical results demonstrate that the proposed multiple access system with two types of jobs and constant retrial rates provides incentives for the users to respect their contracts.     

The Israeli queue with retrials

The so-called “Israeli queue” (Boxma et al. in Stoch Model 24(4):604–625, 2008; Perel and Yechiali in Probab Eng Inf Sci, 2013; Perel and Yechiali in Stoch Model 29(3):353–379, 2013) is a multi-queue polling-type system with a single server. Service is given in batches, where the batch sizes are unlimited and the service time of a batch does not depend on its size. After completing service, the next queue to be visited by the server is the one with the most senior customer. In this paper, we study the Israeli queue with retrials, where the system is comprised of a “main” queue and an orbit queue. The main queue consists of at most \(M\) groups, where a new arrival enters the main queue either by joining one of the existing groups, or by creating a new group. If an arrival cannot join one of the groups in the main queue, he goes to a retrial (orbit) queue. The orbit queue dispatches orbiting customers back to the main queue at a constant rate. We analyze the system via both probability generating functions and matrix geometric methods, and calculate analytically various performance measures and present numerical results.     

Methyl 4-Carbomethoxy-3-Hydroxy-5-Methyl-Phenyl-Acetoacetate from the Disilylated Dianion of Methyl Acetoacetate

Recently, Chaley and Chan¹ reported a novel synthesis of methyl olivetolate (3a) from the annelation of 1,3-bis(trimethylsiloxy)-1-methoxybuta-1,3-diene (1) with the acid chloride 2a and titanium tetrachloride at room temperature. In view of their success, we attempted to apply this methodology for a convenient synthesis of isotopically labelled orsellinic acid in order to unravel its biosynthesis to cyclopentanoids.     

Formulation of Bayesian analysis for games with incomplete information

A formal model is given of Harsanyi's infinite hierarchies of beliefs. It is shown that the model closes with some Bayesian game with incomplete information, and that any such game can be approximated by one with a finite number of states of world.     

Photochemistry of homoconjugated ketones: 2-(carbomethoxy)spiro[5.5]undeca-1, 3-dien-7-one.

The direct and sensitized irradiation of the title compound ($\text{2}$c) was studied with particular attention to its oxa-di-π-methane rearrangement, the product of which is of notable structural and synthetic interest. X-ray diffraction data of the final product (8) are given to support structural assignments.     

Examination-Type Preferences of College Science Students and Their Faculty in Israel and USA: A Comparative Study

The science-examination preferences of college science students and their science faculty were surveyed, using the TOPE questionnaire at a teacher training and a community college in Israel and the U.S., respectively. The results obtained in the two countries were “intrally” and “interly” compared, in total and by gender, in terms of significant/no significant differences in the preferences made and the reasons provided by the students and faculty for their ranking. The findings suggest that: (a) college science students prefer mostly, the Israelis more so than the Americans, the nonconventional, written exams in which time is unlimited and any materials are allowed; (b) American college science students prefer the traditional class science examination (G) significantly more than their Israeli counterparts; (c) the preference of higher order cognitive skills (HOCS)-oriented exams (B. I and H) is significantly higher for female science students in Israel compared with no gender difference concerning the preferred examinations in the US, and rejection of oral examinations by all in both countries, significantly more by female students; and (d) there exists a significant gap between the preferred type of examinations of science students and their faculty in both countries. In view of the HOCS-orientation and the goal of conceptual understanding in current reforms of science education worldwide, the consonance between these curriculum objectives and examination practices is advocated. This, in turn, requires that provisions be made to lessen the gap between science teachers and their students' examination type preferences for better science learning to occur.     

The complex coordinate scattering theroy and its application to the study of the surface asymmetry effect in helium diffraction from copper

The Complex Coordinate Scattering Theory is reformulated for the general case of a time-independent Hamiltonian. It is applied to scattering of He atoms from a Cu(115) crystal surface by constracting the Green operator for the T-matrix from the eigenvectors of both the complex scaled Hamiltonian and its transposed (“right” and “left” eigenvectors), which are different in this case. The weakly asymmetric corrugation function describing the (115) face of Cu is shown to cause a strong dependence of the calculated diffraction intensities upon the direction of the incident atomic beam. The calculated transition probabilities are in excellent agreement with the experimentally measured ones, previously obtained by Perreau and Lapujoulade. We show that additional information about the gas atom/surface physisorption interaction potential can be obtained if the incident angle of the atomic beam (the angles between the beam and the surface normal) is changed from γ to ?γ. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Interactions of glucose and polyacrylamide in solutions and gels

The swelling of polyacrylamide (PAAm) gels increased with rising glucose concentrations, and so did the osmotic pressure of the soluble polymer and its intrinsic viscosity. A Flory–Huggins‐based model for the osmotic pressure of a nonionic hydrophilic polymer in a ternary solution consisting of a main solvent, a polymer, and a nondissociating low‐molecular‐weight cosolute was developed and examined. The model‐calculated values were in reasonably good agreement with experimental results for the water–PAAm–glucose system studied when PAAm–water and glucose–water interaction coefficients from the binary systems were used, and only the PAAm–glucose interaction coefficient was adjusted. Its negative value suggested a favorable interaction of glucose and PAAm, supporting the notion of glucose being a good cosolvent for PAAm. Isothermal titration microcalorimetry results showed no evidence for the binding of glucose to PAAm, but an exothermic interaction was indicated between glucose and PAAm. Microcalorimetrically determined enthalpic contributions to the Flory–Huggins interaction coefficients showed enthalpically favorable binary interactions, particularly the enthalpic component of the PAAm–glucose interaction coefficient (χ_H23), which was slightly negative. The enthalpically favorable interaction between glucose and PAAm may explain the increased osmotic pressure of PAAm in glucose solutions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 3053–3063, 2003     

Equistable graphs

An equistable graph is a graph for which the incidence vectors of the maximal stable sets are the 0–1 solutions of a linear equation. A necessary condition and a sufficient condition for equistability are given. They are used to characterize the equistability of various classes of perfect graphs, outerplanar graphs, and pseudothreshold graphs. Some classes of equistable graphs are shown to be closed under graph substitution.