We consider a call center model with multiple customer classes and multiple server pools. Calls arrive randomly over time, and the instantaneous arrival rates are allowed to vary both temporally and stochastically in an arbitrary manner. The objective is to minimize the sum of personnel costs and expected abandonment penalties by selecting an appropriate staffing level for each server pool. We ...

Pre-zygotic isolation is often maintained by species-specific signals and preferences. However, in species where signals are learnt, as in songbirds, learning errors can lead to costly hybridization. Song discrimination expressed during early developmental stages may ensure selective learning later in life but can be difficult to demonstrate before behavioural responses are obvious. Here, we us...

Surface Morphology and Optical Characterization of OC1 OC6-PPV Films A. Marletta1∗, C. A. Olivati2, M. Ferreira2, M. L. Vega3, D. T. Balogh3, R. M. Faria3, and O. N. Oliveira Jr.3 1Instituto de Fı́sica, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Caixa Postal 593, 38400-902, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil 2Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Caixa Postal 467, 19060-900, President...

This paper presents a packetization strategy for the reliable electronic distribution of Digital Cinema (DCinema, DC) content. In this paper, new experimental results and design improvements are introduced, with respect to those presented in [1]. A reliable multicast protocol was used to send high definition DC video contents to multiple receivers, allowing them to correctly acquire the entire ...

Reproduction is energetically financed using strategies that fall along a continuum from animals that rely on stored energy acquired prior to reproduction (i.e., capital breeders) to those that rely on energy acquired during reproduction (i.e., income breeders). Energy storage incurs a metabolic cost. However, previous studies suggest that this cost may be minimal for small-bodied ectotherms. H...

Predation theory and empirical evidence suggest that top predators benefit the survival of resource prey through the suppression of mesopredators. However, whether such behavioural suppression can also affect the physiology of resource prey has yet to be examined. Using a three-tier reef fish food web and intermittent-flow respirometry, our study examined changes in the metabolic rate of resour...

T he present paper investigates the impact of the financial crisis on the interaction between the lending rates, deposit rates and money market rates through the process of retail bank interest rate pass-through in the countries of the Euro area. Among our findings is the heterogeneity of bank rate adjustments across sectors, loans and deposits. That was mainly marked during the pre-...

The nature of the relationship between the metabolic rate (MR) and body mass (M) of animals has been the source of controversy for over seven decades, with much of the focus on the value of the scaling exponent b, where MR is proportional to M(b). While it is well known that MR does not generally scale isometrically (i.e. b is seldom equal to 1), the value of b remains the subject of heated deb...