Goal Programming Approach for Selection of COTS Components in Designing a Fault Tolerant Modular Software System under Consensus Recovery Block Scheme

The application of computer systems has now crossed many different fields. Systems are becoming more software intensive. The requirements of the customer for a more reliable software led to the fact that software reliability is now an important research area. One method to improve software reliability is by the application of redundancy. A careful use of redundancy may allow the system to tolerate faults generated during software design and coding thus improving software reliability. The fault tolerant software systems are usually developed by integrating COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) software components. This paper is designed to select optimal components for a fault tolerant modular software system so as to maximize the overall reliability of the system with simultaneously minimizing the overall cost. A chance constrained goal programming model has been designed after considering the parameters corresponding to reliability and cost of the components as random variable. The random variable in this case has been considered as value which has known mean and standard deviation. A chance constraint goal programming technique is used to solve the model. The issue of compatibility among different commercial off-the shelf alternatives is also considered in the paper. Numerical illustrations are provided to demonstrate the model

Analytical solution to position dependent mass Schr\"odinger equation

Using a recently developed technique to solve Schr\"odinger equation for constant mass, we studied the regime in which mass varies with position i.e position dependent mass Schr\"odinger equation(PDMSE). We obtained an analytical solution for the PDMSE and applied our approach to study a position dependent mass $m(x)$ particle scattered by a potential $\mathcal{V}(x)$. We also studied the structural analogy between PDMSE and two-level atomic system interacting with a classical field.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Optimal Control Policy of a Production and Inventory System for multi-product in Segmented Market

In this paper, we use market segmentation approach in multi-product inventory - production system with deteriorating items. The objective is to make use of optimal control theory to solve the production inventory problem and develop an optimal production policy that maximize the total profit associated with inventory and production rate in segmented market. First, we consider a single production and inventory problem with multi-destination demand that vary from segment to segment. Further, we described a single source production multi destination inventory and demand problem under the assumption that firm may choose independently the inventory directed to each segment. This problem has been discussed using numerical example

Optimal pricing and promotional effort control policies for a new product growth in segmented market

Market segmentation enables the marketers to understand and serve the customers more effectively thereby improving company’s competitive position. In this paper, we study the impact of price and promotion efforts on evolution of sales intensity in segmented market to obtain the optimal price and promotion effort policies. Evolution of sales rate for each segment is developed under the assumption that marketer may choose both differentiated as well as mass market promotion effort to influence the uncaptured market potential. An optimal control model is formulated and a solution method using Maximum Principle has been discussed. The model is extended to incorporate budget constraint. Model applicability is illustrated by a numerical example. Since the discrete time data is available, the formulated model is discretized. For solving the discrete model, differential evolution algorithm is used

Care-seeking decisions for worsening symptoms in heart failure: a qualitative metasynthesis

Purpose: Over 50% of heart failure (HF) patients delay seeking help for worsening symptoms until these reach acute levels and require emergency hospitalisation. This metasynthesis aimed to identify and explore factors influencing timely care-seeking in patients with HF. Methods: Electronic databases searched were Medline, EMBASE and CINAHL. Studies were included if they were peer reviewed journal articles written in English, and reported perspectives of HF patients following qualitative data collection and analysis. Forty articles underwent analysis following the approach of Thomas and Harden. Leventhal's self-regulatory model (SRM) was used to organise the literature. Results: Much of the literature fit within the SRM, however this model did not account for all factors that influence patients’ care-seeking for worsening symptoms. Factors not accounted for included patients’ appraisals of previous care-seeking experiences, perceived system and provider barriers to accessing care, and the influence of external appraisals. When added to factors already represented in the model, such as misattribution of symptoms, not identifying with HF diagnosis, cognitive status, lack of understanding information provided, adaptation to symptoms, and emotional responses, a more comprehensive account of patients’ decision-making was revealed. Implications: This metasynthesis identified factors, as yet unaccounted for, in a prominent model, and has suggested a more comprehensive framework for addressing care-seeking in HF patients. This information can be used to tailor education, communication, and service initiatives to improve HF patients’ responses to worsening symptoms

Reversed Procrastination by Focal Disruption of Medial Frontal Cortex.

An enduring puzzle in the neuroscience of voluntary action is the origin of the remarkably wide dispersion of the reaction time distribution, an interval far greater than is explained by synaptic or signal transductive noise [1, 2]. That we are able to change our planned actions-a key criterion of volition [3]-so close to the time of their onset implies decision-making must reach deep into the execution of action itself [4-6]. It has been influentially suggested the reaction time distribution therefore reflects deliberate neural procrastination [7], giving alternative response tendencies sufficient time for fair competition in pursuing a decision threshold that determines which one is behaviorally manifest: a race model, where action selection and execution are closely interrelated [8-11]. Although the medial frontal cortex exhibits a sensitivity to reaction time on functional imaging that is consistent with such a mechanism [12-14], direct evidence from disruptive studies has hitherto been lacking. If movement-generating and movement-delaying neural substrates are closely co-localized here, a large-scale lesion will inevitably mask any acceleration, for the movement itself could be disrupted. Circumventing this problem, here we observed focal intracranial electrical disruption of the medial frontal wall in the context of the pre-surgical evaluation of two patients with epilepsy temporarily reversing such hypothesized procrastination. Effector-specific behavioral acceleration, time-locked to the period of electrical disruption, occurred exclusively at a specific locus at the ventral border of the pre-supplementary motor area. A cardinal prediction of race models of voluntary action is thereby substantiated in the human brain

Reversed Procrastination by Focal Disruption of Medial Frontal Cortex.

An enduring puzzle in the neuroscience of voluntary action is the origin of the remarkably wide dispersion of the reaction time distribution, an interval far greater than is explained by synaptic or signal transductive noise [1, 2]. That we are able to change our planned actions-a key criterion of volition [3]-so close to the time of their onset implies decision-making must reach deep into the execution of action itself [4-6]. It has been influentially suggested the reaction time distribution therefore reflects deliberate neural procrastination [7], giving alternative response tendencies sufficient time for fair competition in pursuing a decision threshold that determines which one is behaviorally manifest: a race model, where action selection and execution are closely interrelated [8-11]. Although the medial frontal cortex exhibits a sensitivity to reaction time on functional imaging that is consistent with such a mechanism [12-14], direct evidence from disruptive studies has hitherto been lacking. If movement-generating and movement-delaying neural substrates are closely co-localized here, a large-scale lesion will inevitably mask any acceleration, for the movement itself could be disrupted. Circumventing this problem, here we observed focal intracranial electrical disruption of the medial frontal wall in the context of the pre-surgical evaluation of two patients with epilepsy temporarily reversing such hypothesized procrastination. Effector-specific behavioral acceleration, time-locked to the period of electrical disruption, occurred exclusively at a specific locus at the ventral border of the pre-supplementary motor area. A cardinal prediction of race models of voluntary action is thereby substantiated in the human brain

Fine Selmer Groups and Isogeny Invariance

We investigate fine Selmer groups for elliptic curves and for Galois representations over a number field. More specifically, we discuss Conjecture A, which states that the fine Selmer group of an elliptic curve over the cyclotomic extension is a finitely generated $\mathbb{Z}_p$-module. The relationship between this conjecture and Iwasawa's classical $\mu=0$ conjecture is clarified. We also present some partial results towards the question whether Conjecture A is invariant under isogenies.Comment: 20 page

Evidence of Levy stable process in tokamak edge turbulence

The time series of floating potential and poloidal electric field fluctuations in the edge plasma of ohmically heated ADITYA tokamak [Phys. Plasmas 4, 4292 (1997)] are analyzed for self-similarity. It is observed that the distribution function of a sum of n data points converges to a self-similar distribution of Levy scale index, α=1.1-1.3 for n ≤ 40 and α=1.8-2.0 for larger n. This shows that the scaling properties of small scale fluctuations are non-Gaussian and those of large scale fluctuations are Gaussian. Implication of this observation to our understanding of plasma transport is discussed