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We introduce a new generating function based method to compute the Banzhaf, Deegan–Packel, Public Good (a.k.a. the Holler power index) and Shapley–Shubik power indices in the presence of incompatibility among players. More precisely, given a graph G = V , E with V the set of players and E the edge set, our extension involves multiple weighted voting games (MWVG's) and incompatible players, i.e., pairs of players belonging to E are not allowed to cooperate. The route to obtain the aforementioned generating functions comprises the use of a key lemma characterizing the set of minimal winning coalitions of the game with incompatibility due to Alonso-Meijide et al. (Appl Math Comput 252(1):377–387, 2015), a tool from combinatorial analysis, namely, the Omega calculus in partition analysis, and basic tools borrowed from commutative algebra involving the computation of certain quotients of polynomial rings module polynomial ideals. Using partition analysis, we obtain new generating functions to compute the Deegan–Packel and Public Good power indices with incompatibility leading to lower time complexity than previous results of Chessa (TOP 22(2):658–673, 2014) and some results of Alonso-Meijide et al. (Appl Math Comput 219(8):3395–3402, 2012). Using a conjunction of partition analysis and commutative algebra, we extend to MWVG's the generating function approach to compute the Banzhaf and Shapley–Shubik power indices in the presence of incompatibility. Finally, an example taken from the real-world, i.e., the European Union under the Lisbon Treaty, is used to illustrate the usefulness of the Omega package, a symbolic computational package that implements the Omega calculus in Mathematica, due to Andrews et al. (Eur J Comb 22(7):887–904, 2001) in the context of MWVG's by computing the PG power index of the associated voting game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We revisit a single-server retrial queue with two independent Poisson streams (corresponding to two types of customers) and two orbits. The size of each orbit is infinite. The exponential server (with a rate independent of the type of customers) can hold at most one customer at a time and there is no waiting room. Upon arrival, if a type i customer $$(i=1,2)$$ finds a busy server, it will join the type i orbit. After an exponential time with a constant (retrial) rate $$\mu _i$$ , a type i customer attempts to get service. This model has been recently studied by Avrachenkov et al. (Queueing Syst 77(1):1-31, 2014) by solving a Riemann-Hilbert boundary value problem. One may notice that, this model is not a random walk in the quarter plane. Instead, it can be viewed as a random walk in the quarter plane modulated by a two-state Markov chain, or a two-dimensional quasi-birth-and-death process. The special structure of this chain allows us to deal with the fundamental form corresponding to one state of the chain at a time, and therefore it can be studied through a boundary value problem. Inspired by this fact, in this paper, we focus on the tail asymptotic behaviour of the stationary joint probability distribution of the two orbits with either an idle or a busy server by using the kernel method, a different one that does not require a full determination of the unknown generating function. To take advantage of existing literature results on the kernel method, we identify a censored random walk, which is an usual walk in the quarter plane. This technique can also be used for other random walks modulated by a finite-state Markov chain with a similar structure property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem with the FCFS server discipline in discrete-time queueing systems is that it doesn't actually determine what happens if multiple customers enter the system at the same time, which in the discrete-time paradigm translates into 'during the same time-slot'. In other words, it doesn't specify in which order such customers are served. When we consider multiple types of customers, each requiring different service time distributions, the precise order of service even starts to affect quantities such as queue content and delays of arbitrary customers, so specifying this order will be prime. In this paper we study a multi-class discrete-time queueing system with a general independent arrival process and generally distributed service times. The service discipline is FCFS and customers entering during the same time-slot are served in random order. It will be our goal to search for the steady-state distribution of queue content and delays of certain types of customers. If one thinks of the time-slot as a continuous but bounded time period, the random order of service is equivalent to FCFS if different customers have different arrival epochs within this time-slot and if the arrival epochs are independent of customer class. For this reason we propose two distinct ways of analysing; one utilizing permutations, the other considering a slot as a bounded continuous time frame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides “ready-to-apply” procedures, based on generating functions, which allow to compute power indices in weighted majority games restricted by an a priori system of unions. We illustrate these methods by an application to the International Monetary Fund. We compare the empirical properties of the coalitional and traditional power indices keeping the game fixed or allowing for variations in its set of parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]