Sharing delay information in service systems: a literature survey

Service providers routinely share information about upcoming waiting times with their customers, through delay announcements. The need to effectively manage the provision of these announcements has led to a substantial growth in the body of literature which is devoted to that topic. In this survey paper, we systematically review the relevant literature, summarize some of its key ideas and findings, describe the main challenges that the different approaches to the problem entail, and formulate research directions that would be interesting to consider in future work.     

On the multiplicity of solutions in generation capacity investment models with incomplete markets: a risk-averse stochastic equilibrium approach

Investment in generation capacity has traditionally been evaluated by computing the present value of cashflows accruing from new equipment in a market with globally optimized capacity mix. The competition and risk that now prevail in the sector may require a more refined analysis. We consider a competitive market with agents investing in some mix of capacities: the risk exposure of a plant and the attitude towards risk of the owner depend on the plant and the portfolio of its capacities. They may also depend on hedging contracts acquired by the investor on the market if such contracts exist. We represent these effects through equilibrium models of generation capacity in incomplete markets. The models come in different versions depending on the portfolio of physical plants and hedging contracts. These modify the long-term risk of the plants, the attitude of the owners towards risk, and hence the incentive to invest. The models involve risk-averse producers and consumers, and their behavior is represented by convex risk measures. We use degree theory to prove existence and explore multiplicity of equilibrium solutions.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the redox reaction of N,N′-phenylenebis-(salicylideneiminato)iron(III) with oxalic acid in mixed aqueous medium

Transition Metal Chemistry - The kinetics of electron transfer between N,N′-phenylenebis-(salicylideneiminato)iron(III), hereafter referred to as [Fe(Salphen)]+, and oxalic acid was studied...     

Frontal free‐radical photopolymerization of thick samples: Applications to LED‐induced fiber‐reinforced polymers

Free‐radical photopolymerization is scarcely used for the manufacturing of fiber‐reinforced polymers. The main issue relies on the penetration depth of light which affects the conversion degree when photopolymerizing thick samples. Consequently, this could lead to inhomogeneous polymer properties. The ability of acylphosphine oxides to photobleach under near UV irradiation makes them of great interest for the curing of thick samples. Therefore, the influence of (2,4,6‐trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide on the curing of composites under LED is investigated. Although that a frontal photopolymerization process can be evidenced, it was found that full photobleaching is hardly obtained at high concentration of photoinitiator. Six layers laminates made of unidirectional fiber glass and unsaturated polyester resin were prepared. The existence of an optimal range of concentration for which the conversion of the resin is the most homogeneous throughout its thickness was pointed out, a fact that is confirmed by dynamic mechanical analysis. Interestingly, this effect is reflected in the shrinkage of the resin as shown by direct measurements or deflection experiments. Mechanical analysis was undertaken whose results correlate well with the aforementioned study, demonstrating the occurrence of a balance between the concentration of photoinitiator and the mechanical properties of the samples. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 898–906     

Ring Opening and Recyclization Reactions of 3‐Nitrochromone with Some Nucleophilic Reagents

The chemical reactivity of 3‐nitrochromone ( 1 ) was studied towards some nucleophilic reagents. Reaction of 3‐nitrochromone ( 1 ) with some carbon nucleophiles revealed existence of ring‐opening ring‐closure reactions, and the mode of cyclization depends on the nucleophile used. Treatment of 3‐nitrochromone ( 1 ) with malononitrile and ethyl cyanoacetate produced benzoxocinone derivatives 2 and 3 , respectively. Boiling compound 1 with cyanoacetamide and 2‐aminoprop‐1‐ene‐1,1,3‐tricarbonitrile afforded pyridine derivatives 4 and 5 , respectively. Reaction of compound 1 with 1H‐benzimidazol‐2‐ylacetonitrile, 5‐amino‐2,4‐dihydro‐3H‐pyrazol‐3‐one, and dimedone led to pyrido[1,2‐a]benzimidazole 6 , pyrazolo[3,4‐b]pyridine 7 , and chromenone 8 , respectively. Treating 3‐nitrochromone ( 1 ) with heterocyclic amines gave enaminones 11 and 12 via nucleophilic attack at C‐2 position with ring opening. The structures of the newly synthesized products were deduced on the basis of their analytical and spectral data.     

Random excitation of coupled oscillators with single and simultaneous internal resonances

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the random response characteristics of coupled nonlinear oscillators in the presence of single and simultaneous internal resonances. A model of two coupled beams with nonlinear inertia interaction is considered. The primary beam is directly excited by a random support motion, while the coupled beam is indirectly excited through autoparametric coupling and parametric excitation. For a single one-to-two internal resonance, we used Gaussian and non-Gaussian closures, Monte Carlo simulation, and experimental testing to predict and measure response statistics and stochastic bifurcation in the mean square. The mean square stability boundaries of the coupled beam equilibrium position are obtained by a Gaussian closure scheme. The stochastic bifurcation of the coupled beam is predicted theoretically and experimentally. The stochastic bifurcation predicted by non-Gaussian closure is found to take place at a lower excitation level than the one predicted by Gaussian closure and Monte Carlo simulation. It is also found that above a certain excitation level, the solution obtained by non-Gaussian closure reveals numerical instability at much lower excitation levels than those obtained by Gaussian and Monte Carlo approaches. The experimental observations reveal that the coupled beam does not reach a stationary state, as reflected by the time evolution of the mean square response. For the case of simultaneous internal resonances, both Gaussian and non-Gaussian closures fail to predict useful results, and attention is focused on Monte Carlo simulation and experimental testing. The effects of nonlinear coupling parameters, internal detuning ratios, and excitation spectral density level are considered in both investigations. It is found that both studies reveal common nonlinear features such as bifurcations in the mean square responses of the coupled beam and modal interaction in the neighborhood of internal resonances. Furthermore, there is an upper limit for the excitation level above which the system experiences unbounded response in the neighborhood of simultaneous internal resonances.     

Experimental investigation of a scaled-up passive micromixer with uneven interdigital inlet and teardrop obstruction elements

Micromixers are vital components in micro total analysis systems. It is desirable to develop micromixers which are capable of rapidly mixing two or more fluids in a small footprint area, while minimizing mechanical losses. A novel planar scaled-up passive micromixer is experimentally investigated in this study. The design incorporates a 7-substream uneven interdigital inlet which supplies two liquid species in a parallel arrangement and promotes diffusion along the side walls. Forty-eight staggered teardrop-shaped obstruction elements located along the channel length combined with 32 side walls protrusions increase the two-fluid interfacial area while converging the flow due to periodic reductions in cross-sectional area. The scaled-up micromixer has a mixing channel length of 110 mm with a mixing channel height and width of 2 and 5 mm, respectively. Experimental investigations are carried out at four locations along the channel length and at Reynolds numbers equal to 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100, where the Reynolds number is calculated based on total two-fluid flow and the mixing channel hydraulic diameter. Flow visualization is employed to study flow patterns, while induced fluorescence (IF), using de-ionized water and low concentration Rhodamine 6G solutions, provides mixing efficiency data. Results show a change in dominant mixing mechanism from mass diffusion to mass advection, with a critical Reynolds number of 25. At high Reynolds numbers, the formation of additional lamellae is observed, as is the formation of Dean vortices in the vicinity of the teardrop obstructions. Of the tested cases, the highest outlet mixing efficiency, 68.5%, is achieved at a Reynolds number of 1, where mass diffusion dominates. At low Reynolds numbers, superior mixing efficiency is due primarily to the implementation of the uneven interdigital inlet. A comparable mixing length is proposed to allow for reasonable comparison with published studies.