Tandem queues with finite buffer capacity commonly exist in practical applications. By viewing a tandem queue as an integrated system, an innovative approach has been developed to analyze its performance through the insight from Friedman's reduction method. Fundamental properties of tandem queues with finite buffer capacity are examined. We show that in general system service rate of a dual tan...

in recent years, virtual communities have been significantly popular and almost all of them are targeted for business profitability. in our study, the profitability of these communities for businesses has been analyzed from a commercial perspective. the study considers virtual community as a business model which can have a great impact on consumer purchase decision process. with respect to refe...

This work presents an experimental study of MIMO channel statistics and capacity via the recently proposed virtual channel representation, which describes the channel by a finite number of fixed virtual transmit/receive angles and delays. Our results confirm two important implications of virtual path partitioning: the virtual coefficients are approximately uncorrelated, and there exist fundamen...

This paper develops an analytical method to calculate seismic bearing capacity of a strip footing, which is located on a slope reinforced with rows of pile. The resistance of passive pile is determined based on normal and shear stress of the soil around the pile, which is then compared to other analytical methods. This comparison indicates an acceptable agreement. The variants of the study incl...

Network Virtualization promotes the development of new architectures and protocols by enabling the creation of multiple virtual networks on top of the same physical substrate. One of its main advantages is the use of isolation to limit the scope of attacks – that is, avoiding traffic from one virtual network to interfere with the others. However, virtual networks are still vulnerable to disrupt...

Our approach to tissue modeling incorporates biologically derived primitives into a computational engine (CellSim) coupled with a genetic search algorithm. By expanding an evolved synthetic genome CellSim is capable of developing a virtual tissue with higher order properties. Using primitives based on cell signaling, gene networks, cell division, growth, and death, we have encoded a 64-cell cub...

This paper studies virtual organization (VO) creation through an application of mathematical programming. We present a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to support VO configuration in a virtual organization breeding environment (VBE). The model allows for multiple criteria, of which we give several examples: One objective is to minimize total fixed and variable costs. Another object...

This paper documents the growing linkages between primary care-centered medical groups and specialists and between physicians and hospitals under managed care. We evaluate the two alternative forms of organizational coordination: "vertical integration," based on unified ownership, and "virtual integration," based on contractual networks. Excess capacity and the need for investment capital are m...

BACKGROUND Knowledge in the era of Omics and Big Data has been increasingly conceptualized as a public good. Sharing of de-identified patient data has been advocated as a means to increase confidence and public trust in the results of clinical trials. On the other hand, research has shown that the current research and development model of the biopharmaceutical industry has reached its innovatio...

the subject under investigation has been electronic learning (e-learning) or electronic education (e-education), specifically concentrating on virtual university. virtual university has been the subject of much debate in recent years. in short, the concept of virtual university denotes a learning/educational system/environment based on internet where higher education is promoted using tools and...