An asymptotic analysis of stochastic block replacement policies for a multicomponent system with fast Markov switches is provided. It is proved that this system can be approximated by a simpler system with exponential failures and averaged failure rates. The optimality of the long-run cost function is studied, as well. c © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We demonstrate how to use SAS to design experiments for multicomponent interventions for multifactorial health syndromes. Multifactorial syndromes are health conditions that have more than one risk factor related to the outcome and require interventions with several components that target different risk factors. The design and analysis of multicomponent trials are complicated by the number of f...

Many animals produce and respond to signals made up of multiple components. For example, many avian sexual displays are highly extravagant combinations of visual and acoustic elements, and are described as being 'multicomponent'. One possible reason for the evolution of such complex signals is that they provide more reliable information for receivers. However, receivers also influence signal ev...

We calculate multicomponent line-driven wind models of stars at extremely low metallicity suitable for massive first generation stars. For most of the models we find that the multicomponent wind nature is not important for either wind dynamics or for wind temperature stratification. However, for stars with the lowest metallicities we find that multicomponent effects influence the wind structure...

RNA viruses exhibit a variety of genome organization strategies, including multicomponent genomes in which each segment is packaged separately. Although multicomponent genomes are common among viruses infecting plants and fungi, their prevalence among those infecting animals remains unclear. We characterize a multicomponent RNA virus isolated from mosquitoes, designated Guaico Culex virus (GCXV...