Demonstration of an optical self-clocked time-division switch

A novel architecture for an optical time-division switch is investigated and demonstrated at a bit rate of 625 Mbit/s. The self-clocked configuration eliminates some of the limitations found in previous optical implementations of time-division switches: the switch operation is asynchronous, no read gate is required, and an optimal number of delay lines is used. Furthermore, this paper reports the first experimental demonstration of optical space-sorting demultiplexing.     

A framework for the automated real-time detection of short tonal sounds from ocean observatories

Acquisition of acoustic data from ocean observatories is expected to play a key role for the long-term monitoring of marine mammals and anthropogenic noise. It typically requires processing of a large volume of acoustic data and it must rely on automated identification of signals. We present an algorithmic framework for the detection of short tonal sounds (e.g. cetacean calls, anthropogenic pings) intended to act as a first stage in a system for the automated real-time detection, classification, and localisation of acoustic sources. The algorithm was validated under a diversity of scenarios expected at ocean observatories. Using simulated signals that emulate a variety of cetacean call-types, perfect identification of signal position was obtained for signal to noise ratios of ?15 to ?5 dB, depending on the signal-type. Separation of real-world data segments with short tonal sounds (mainly cetacean calls) from segments with other sounds or noise resulted in Area Under the ROC Curve values between 0.96 and 0.98. The algorithm can be used to automatically identify cetacean calls and anthropogenic short tonal sounds much faster than in real-time, thereby reducing the burden put on data transmission, storage, or processing by classification and localisation algorithms.     

Asymptotic behavior in chemical reaction-diffusion systems with boundary equilibria

We consider the asymptotic behavior for large time of solutions to reaction-diffusion systems modeling reversible chemical reactions. We focus on the case where multiple equilibria exist. In this case, due to the existence of so-called "boundary equilibria", the analysis of the asymptotic behavior is not obvious. The solution is understood in a weak sense as a limit of adequate approximate solutions. We prove that this solution converges in L^1 toward an equilibrium as time goes to infinity and that the convergence is exponential if the limit is strictly positive.     

On robust maximum flow with polyhedral uncertainty sets

We address the problem of determining a robust maximum flow value in a network with uncertain link capacities taken in a polyhedral uncertainty set. Besides a few polynomial cases, we focus on the case where the uncertainty set is taken to be the solution set of an associated (continuous) knapsack problem. This class of problems is shown to be polynomially solvable for planar graphs, but NP-hard for graphs without special structure. The latter result provides evidence of the fact that the problem investigated here has a structure fundamentally different from the robust network flow models proposed in various other published works.     

Infinite-server systems with Coxian arrivals

We consider a network of infinite-server queues where the input process is a Cox process of the following form: The arrival rate is a vector-valued linear transform of a multivariate generalized (i.e., being driven by a subordinator rather than a compound Poisson process) shot-noise process. We first derive some distributional properties of the multivariate generalized shot-noise process. Then these are exploited to obtain the joint transform of the numbers of customers, at various time epochs, in a single infinite-server queue fed by the above-mentioned Cox process. We also obtain transforms pertaining to the joint stationary arrival rate and queue length processes (thus facilitating the analysis of the corresponding departure process), as well as their means and covariance structure. Finally, we extend to the setting of a network of infinite-server queues.

     

Continuity properties of the normal cone to the level sets of a quasiconvex function

Two main properties of the subgradient mapping of convex functions are transposed for quasiconvex ones. The continuity of the functionxf(x)^–1f(x) on the domain where it is defined is deduced from some continuity properties of the normal coneN to the level sets of the quasiconvex functionf. We also prove that, under a pseudoconvexity-type condition, the normal coneN(x) to the set {x:f(x)f(x)} can be expressed as the convex hull of the limits of type {N(x _n)}, where {x _n} is a sequence converging tox and contained in a dense subsetD. In particular, whenf is pseudoconvex,D can be taken equal to the set of points wheref is differentiable.This research was completed while the second author was on a sabbatical leave at the University of Montreal and was supported by a NSERC grant. It has its origin in the doctoral thesis of the first author (Ref. 1), prepared under the direction of the second author.The authors are grateful to an anonymous referee and C. Zalinescu for their helpful remarks on a previous version of this paper.     

Stability and fairness in models with a multiple membership

This article studies a model of coalition formation for the joint production (and finance) of public projects, in which agents may belong to multiple coalitions. We show that, if projects are divisible, there always exists a stable (secession-proof) structure, i.e., a structure in which no coalition would reject a proposed arrangement. When projects are indivisible, stable allocations may fail to exist and, for those cases, we resort to the least core in order to estimate the degree of instability. We also examine the compatibility of stability and fairness in metric environments with indivisible projects, where we also explore the performance of well-known solutions, such as the Shapley value and the nucleolus.     

Implicit depot assignments and rotations in vehicle routing heuristics

Vehicle routing variants with multiple depots and mixed fleet present intricate combinatorial aspects related to sequencing choices, vehicle type choices, depot choices, and depots positioning. This paper introduces a dynamic programming methodology for efficiently evaluating compound neighborhoods combining sequence-based moves with an optimal choice of vehicle and depot, and an optimal determination of the first customer to be visited in the route, called rotation. The assignment choices, making the richness of the problem, are thus no more addressed in the solution structure, but implicitly determined during each move evaluation. Two meta-heuristics relying on these concepts, an iterated local search and a hybrid genetic algorithm, are presented. Extensive computational experiments demonstrate the remarkable performance of these methods on classic benchmark instances for multi-depot vehicle routing problems with and without fleet mix, as well as the notable contribution of the implicit depot choice and positioning methods to the search performance. New state-of-the-art results are obtained for multi-depot vehicle routing problems (MDVRP), and multi-depot vehicle fleet mix problems (MDVFMP) with unconstrained fleet size. The proposed concepts are fairly general, and widely applicable to many other vehicle routing variants.     

Direct measurement of the flow field around swimming microorganisms

Swimming microorganisms create flows that influence their mutual interactions and modify the rheology of their suspensions. While extensively studied theoretically, these flows have not been measured in detail around any freely-swimming microorganism. We report such measurements for the microphytes Volvox carteri and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The minute (～0.3%) density excess of V. carteri over water leads to a strongly dominant Stokeslet contribution, with the widely-assumed stresslet flow only a correction to the subleading source dipole term. This implies that suspensions of V. carteri have features similar to suspensions of sedimenting particles. The flow in the region around C. reinhardtii where significant hydrodynamic interaction is likely to occur differs qualitatively from a puller stresslet, and can be described by a simple three-Stokeslet model.