Does the Past Predict the Future? The Case of Delay Announcements in Service Systems

Motivated by the recent interest in making delay announcements in large service systems, such as call centers, we investigate the accuracy of announcing the waiting time of the Last customer to Enter Service (LES). In practice, customers typically respond to delay announcements by either balking or by becoming more or less impatient, and their response alters system performance. We study the accuracy of the LES announcement in single-class multi-server Markovian queueing models with announcement-dependent customer behavior. We show that, interestingly, even in this stylized setting, the LES announcement may not always be accurate. This motivates the need to study its accuracy carefully, and to determine conditions under which it is accurate. Since the direct analysis of the system with customer response is prohibitively difficult, we focus on many-server heavy-traffic analysis instead. We consider the quality-and-efficiency-driven (QED) and the efficiency-driven (ED) many-server heavy-traffic regimes and prove, under both regimes, that the LES prediction is asymptotically accurate if, and only if, asymptotic fluctuations in the queue length process are small as long as some regulatory conditions apply. This result provides an easy check for the accuracy of LES in practice. We supplement our theoretical results with an extensive simulation study to generate practical managerial insights

Fermion-Boson Interactions and Quantum Algebras

Quantum Algebras (q-algebras) are used to describe interactions between fermions and bosons. Particularly, the concept of a su_q(2) dynamical symmetry is invoked in order to reproduce the ground state properties of systems of fermions and bosons interacting via schematic forces. The structure of the proposed su_q(2) Hamiltonians, and the meaning of the corresponding deformation parameters, are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures. Physical Review C (in press

Brief Report: Attenuated Emotional Suppression of the Attentional Blink in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Another Non-Social Abnormality?

Twenty-five individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and 25 typically developed individuals participated in an Attentional Blink paradigm to determine whether emotional words would capture attention similarly in the two groups. Whilst the emotionality of words facilitated attention in typical comparison participants, this effect was attenuated in the ASD group. The magnitude of the emotional modulation of attention in ASD also correlated significantly with participants’ VIQ, which was not observed for the comparison group. Together these observations replicate and extend the findings of Corden et al. (J Autism Develop Disord 38:1072–1080, 2008) and implicate abnormalities in emotional processes outside the broader context of social cognition in ASD. We discuss our findings in relation to possible abnormalities in amygdala function that may underlie the disorder

Introduction revisiting the Argentine crisis a decade on: changes and continuities

This introductory chapter to the book "Argentina Since the 2001 Crisis Recovering the Past, Reclaiming the Future" analyses crisis and its associated responses and subsequent recovery in the context of Argentina’s multiple implosion of 2001-02 whilst also assessing its legacies for the country’s social, cultural, economic and political realms during the last decade. It recognises that "crisis" is a term that is much used in the post-Lehman Brothers world and that the subsequent responses and associated recoveries (or lack of) have been the subject of a cascade of academic, government, media, and think-tank investigation ever since. The chapter instead seeks to understand the nature of how crisis and its impacts should be investigated and interrogated, by rejecting false dichotomies of ‘old’ and ‘new’ and synthesising understanding to form an analysis that draws both elements of continuity and elements of change. Secondly, it argues that crisis manifests itself in a number of realms, and that heuristic devices employed to investigate them must subsequently also be drawn from across a range of disciplinary perspectives. Thirdly, it examines how the 2001-02 crisis in Argentina led to a series of responses that both rejected the neoliberal model yet also recovered elements of it. Finally it outlines the structure of the rest of the book, briefly summarising the chapters in turn

Modo borderline e mundo do trabalho: um ensaio sobre implicações e perspectivas atuais

Resumo Partindo do pressuposto de que o modo border line parece constituir uma nova "normalidade" atualmente, este artigo busca discutir a sociedade contemporânea em seus modos de vida e o impacto sobre o mundo do trabalho. A busca constante pelo sucesso e pela realização profissional atravessa, consequentemente, as relações de trabalho, que constituem o sujeito. Não há tempo para vazios! É preciso produzir. Considera-se para a discussão o que chamamos de "modo borderline", pensado a partir de sua dimensão fenomenológica e não estrutural, portanto, não a partir do paradigma da psicopatologia individual, mas como sintoma da cultura, em uma sociedade marcada pela im pulsividade, fragilidade dos laços sociais e pela chamada "cultura do narcisismo". Através de uma abordagem psicanalítica e com breve descrição da evolução dos modos de trabalho e produção ao longo dos anos, propõe-se uma discussão a respeito dessas novas configurações de vida implicadas no mundo do trabalho, pensando, sobretudo, em como se dá essa relação na contemporaneidade, em pleno capitalismo flexível

Monitoring M-Protein, Therapeutic Antibodies, and Polyclonal Antibodies in a Multiparametric Mass Spectrometry Assay Provides Insight into Therapy Response Kinetics in Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Background/Objectives: Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a hematologic malignancy caused by clonally expanded plasma cells that produce a monoclonal immunoglobulin (M-protein), a personalized biomarker. Recently, we developed an ultra-sensitive mass spectrometry method to quantify minimal residual disease (MS-MRD) by targeting unique M-protein peptides. Therapeutic antibodies (t-Abs), key in MM treatment, often lead to deep and long-lasting responses. However, t-Abs can significantly decrease the total polyclonal immunoglobulin (Ig) levels which require supplemental IgG infusion. Here, we demonstrate the simultaneous monitoring of M-proteins, t-Abs, and polyclonal Ig-titers using an untargeted mass spectrometry assay, offering a comprehensive view of therapy response. Methods: Sera collected between 2013 and 2024 from four patients and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from one patient who received various t-Abs were analyzed with MS-MRD. M-protein sequences were obtained with a multi-enzyme de novo protein sequencing approach. Unique peptides for M-proteins and t-Abs were selected based on linearity, sensitivity, and slope coefficient in serial dilutions. Ig constant regions were monitored using isotype-specific peptides. Results: The MS-MRD multiplex analysis provided detailed information on drug concentrations and therapy response kinetics. For example, in two patients with refractory disease over five lines of therapy, the MS-MRD analysis showed that the deepest responses were achieved with bispecific t-Ab (teclistamab) treatment. M-protein and t-Ab were also detectable in the CSF of one patient with MS-MRD.Conclusions: This proof-of-concept study shows that the multiplex monitoring of the M-protein, any t-Ab combination, and all Ig-isotypes within one mass spectrometry run is feasible and provides unique insight into therapy response kinetics.</p

work for the nation obey the state praise the ummah turkey s government oriented youth organizations in cultivating a new nation

AbstractModern Turkey's emergence was a nationalist struggle that aimed to cultivate youth as secular citizens. Almost a century later, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) attempts to re..

Auditory-Visual Object Recognition Time Suggests Specific Processing for Animal Sounds

cote interne IRCAM: Suied09bNone / NoneNational audienceAuditory-visual object recognition time suggests specific processing for animal sound

Altered oscillatory brain dynamics after repeated traumatic stress

Kolassa I-T, Wienbruch C, Neuner F, et al. Altered oscillatory brain dynamics after repeated traumatic stress. BMC Psychiatry. 2007;7(1): 56.BACKGROUND: Repeated traumatic experiences, e.g. torture and war, lead to functional and structural cerebral changes, which should be detectable in cortical dynamics. Abnormal slow waves produced within circumscribed brain regions during a resting state have been associated with lesioned neural circuitry in neurological disorders and more recently also in mental illness. METHODS: Using magnetoencephalographic (MEG-based) source imaging, we mapped abnormal distributions of generators of slow waves in 97 survivors of torture and war with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in comparison to 97 controls. RESULTS: PTSD patients showed elevated production of focally generated slow waves (1-4 Hz), particularly in left temporal brain regions, with peak activities in the region of the insula. Furthermore, differential slow wave activity in right frontal areas was found in PTSD patients compared to controls. CONCLUSION: The insula, as a site of multimodal convergence, could play a key role in understanding the pathophysiology of PTSD, possibly accounting for what has been called posttraumatic alexithymia, i.e., reduced ability to identify, express and regulate emotional responses to reminders of traumatic events. Differences in activity in right frontal areas may indicate a dysfunctional PFC, which may lead to diminished extinction of conditioned fear and reduced inhibition of the amygdala

Do Associations Support Authoritarian Rule? Tentative Answers from Algeria, Mozambique, and Vietnam

Whether associations help to democratise authoritarian rule or support those in power is a contested issue that so far lacks a cross-regional perspective. Drawing on relational sociology, this paper explores the impact of state power in Algeria, Mozambique, and Vietnam on associations and vice versa. We focus on decision-making in associations and on three policy areas - welfare policy concerning HIV/AIDS, economic policy concerning small and mediumsized enterprises, policies concerning gender equality and the rights of women and sexual minorities - to assess the relations between associations and the state's infrastructural and discursive power. Most associations interviewed by us in the three countries accept or do not openly reject the state's and/or the state ruling party's various forms of interference in internal decision-making processes. Whereas associations in Algeria and Vietnam help to maintain the state's control through welfare provision, associations in Mozambique can weaken this form of infrastructural state power. Moreover, business and professionals' associations in all three countries help maintain the state's control through limited participation, i.e. another form of infrastructural state power. Finally, associations in all three countries support the state's discourse and policies in the area of gender equality and women's rights, though in all three countries at least some NGOs help weaken this form of state power