Separation of Circulating Tokens

Self-stabilizing distributed control is often modeled by token abstractions. A system with a single token may implement mutual exclusion; a system with multiple tokens may ensure that immediate neighbors do not simultaneously enjoy a privilege. For a cyber-physical system, tokens may represent physical objects whose movement is controlled. The problem studied in this paper is to ensure that a synchronous system with m circulating tokens has at least d distance between tokens. This problem is first considered in a ring where d is given whilst m and the ring size n are unknown. The protocol solving this problem can be uniform, with all processes running the same program, or it can be non-uniform, with some processes acting only as token relays. The protocol for this first problem is simple, and can be expressed with Petri net formalism. A second problem is to maximize d when m is given, and n is unknown. For the second problem, the paper presents a non-uniform protocol with a single corrective process.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, epsf and pstricks in LaTe

Wireless Channel Parameters Maximizing TCP Throughput

We consider a single TCP session traversing a wireless channel, with a constant signal to noise ratio (SINR) at the receiver. We consider the problem of determining the optimal transmission energy per bit, to maximize TCP throughput. Specifically, in the case where direct sequence spread spectrum modulation is used over a fixed bandwidth channel, we find the optimal processing gain $m$ that maximizes TCP throughput. In the case where there is a high signal to noise ratio, we consider the scenario where adaptive modulation is used over a fixed bandwidth channel, and find the optimal symbol alphabet size $M$ to maximize TCP throughput. Block codes applied to each packet for forward error correction can also be used, and in that case we consider the joint optimization of the coding rate to maximize TCP throughput. Finally, we discuss the issue of assigning target SINR values. In order to carry out our analysis, we obtain a TCP throughput formula in terms of the packet transmission error probability $p$ and the transmission capacity $C$, which is of independent interest. In our TCP model, the window size is cut in half for each packet transmission loss, and also cut in half whenever the window size exceeds the transmission capacity $C$. This formula is then used to characterize the optimal processing gain or the optimal symbol alphabet size as the solution of a simple fixed point equation that depends on the wireless channel parameters and the parameters of the TCP connection

Role of CBL Mutations in Cancer and Non-Malignant Phenotype

CBL plays a key role in different cell pathways, mainly related to cancer onset and progres-sion, hematopoietic development and T cell receptor regulation. Somatic CBL mutations have been reported in a variety of malignancies, ranging from acute myeloid leukemia to lung cancer. Growing evidence have defined the clinical spectrum of germline CBL mutations configuring the so-called CBL syndrome; a cancer-predisposing condition that also includes multisystemic involvement char-acterized by variable phenotypic expression and expressivity. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the molecular mechanisms in which CBL exerts its function and describes the clinical manifestation of CBL mutations in humans

Cyclic projectors and separation theorems in idempotent convex geometry

Semimodules over idempotent semirings like the max-plus or tropical semiring have much in common with convex cones. This analogy is particularly apparent in the case of subsemimodules of the n-fold cartesian product of the max-plus semiring it is known that one can separate a vector from a closed subsemimodule that does not contain it. We establish here a more general separation theorem, which applies to any finite collection of closed semimodules with a trivial intersection. In order to prove this theorem, we investigate the spectral properties of certain nonlinear operators called here idempotent cyclic projectors. These are idempotent analogues of the cyclic nearest-point projections known in convex analysis. The spectrum of idempotent cyclic projectors is characterized in terms of a suitable extension of Hilbert's projective metric. We deduce as a corollary of our main results the idempotent analogue of Helly's theorem.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur

Branching processes, the max-plus algebra and network calculus

Branching processes can describe the dynamics of various queueing systems, peer-to-peer systems, delay tolerant networks, etc. In this paper we study the basic stochastic recursion of multitype branching processes, but in two non-standard contexts. First, we consider this recursion in the max-plus algebra where branching corresponds to finding the maximal offspring of the current generation. Secondly, we consider network-calculus-type deterministic bounds as introduced by Cruz, which we extend to handle branching-type processes. The paper provides both qualitative and quantitative results and introduces various applications of (max-plus) branching processes in queueing theory

Semiring and semimodule issues in MV-algebras

In this paper we propose a semiring-theoretic approach to MV-algebras based on the connection between such algebras and idempotent semirings - such an approach naturally imposing the introduction and study of a suitable corresponding class of semimodules, called MV-semimodules. We present several results addressed toward a semiring theory for MV-algebras. In particular we show a representation of MV-algebras as a subsemiring of the endomorphism semiring of a semilattice, the construction of the Grothendieck group of a semiring and its functorial nature, and the effect of Mundici categorical equivalence between MV-algebras and lattice-ordered Abelian groups with a distinguished strong order unit upon the relationship between MV-semimodules and semimodules over idempotent semifields.Comment: This version contains some corrections to some results at the end of Section

Boundary driven zero-range processes in random media

The stationary states of boundary driven zero-range processes in random media with quenched disorder are examined, and the motion of a tagged particle is analyzed. For symmetric transition rates, also known as the random barrier model, the stationary state is found to be trivial in absence of boundary drive. Out of equilibrium, two further cases are distinguished according to the tail of the disorder distribution. For strong disorder, the fugacity profiles are found to be governed by the paths of normalized $\alpha$-stable subordinators. The expectations of integrated functions of the tagged particle position are calculated for three types of routes.Comment: 23 page

Metric properties of discrete time exclusion type processes in continuum

A new class of exclusion type processes acting in continuum with synchronous updating is introduced and studied. Ergodic averages of particle velocities are obtained and their connections to other statistical quantities, in particular to the particle density (the so called Fundamental Diagram) is analyzed rigorously. The main technical tool is a "dynamical" coupling applied in a nonstandard fashion: we do not prove the existence of the successful coupling (which even might not hold) but instead use its presence/absence as an important diagnostic tool. Despite that this approach cannot be applied to lattice systems directly, it allows to obtain new results for the lattice systems embedding them to the systems in continuum. Applications to the traffic flows modelling are discussed as well.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures; minor errors corrected; details added to proofs of Theorems 4.1 and 5.

Staffing a Call Center with Uncertain Arrival Rate and Absenteeism

This paper proposes simple methods for staffing a single-class call center with uncertain arrival rate and uncertain staffing due to employee absenteeism. The arrival rate and the proportion of servers present are treated as random variables. The basic model is a multi-server queue with customer abandonment, allowing non-exponential service-time and time-to-abandon distributions. The goal is to maximize the expected net return, given throughput benefit and server, customer-abandonment and customer-waiting costs, but attention is also given to the standard deviation of the return. The approach is to approximate the performance and the net return, conditional on the random model-parameter vector, and then uncondition to get the desired results. Two recently-developed approximations are used for the conditional performance measures: first, a deterministic fluid approximation and, second, a numerical algorithm based on a purely Markovian birth-and-death model, having state-dependent death rates