Q$1.$ Explain the concept of a process in an operating system, including its states and transitions. Describe the various process states, including additional states that some operating systems may have, and the transitions between them.

Q$2.$ What is a process control block $($PCB$)$ and how is it used by operating systems to manage processes? Provide a detailed explanation of the structure and contents of a typical PCB$,$ and discuss how PCBs are organized and managed by the operating system, including different methods for allocating and deallocating PCBs and organizing them in lists.

Q$3.$ How do user$-$level threads differ from kernel$-$level threads, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? Additionally, how can a combined approach of both ULTs and KLTs be used to optimize the performance and concurrency of an application?

Q$4.$ What is multicore programming? What are the programming challenges in multicore systems? What is Amdahl's law, and what are the types of parallelism?

Q$5.$ What is the impact of scheduling algorithms $($FIFO$,$ SJF$,$ and SRT$)$ on the performance and fairness of batch processing? How can the total CPU time of processes be estimated for effective scheduling?

Q$6.$ Explain the $2-$tier approach with floating priorities, including the different scheduling algorithms used for real$-$time, interactive, and batch processes.

Q$7.$ What are the different criteria used for comparing CPU$-$scheduling algorithms, and how do they affect the choice of a particular algorithm in a given situation? Discuss the importance of maximizing CPU utilization and throughput while minimizing turnaround time, waiting time, and response time, and explain how these measures are optimized in most cases.

Q$8.$ Discuss the critical section problem and its solution. Give an example of a scenario where concurrent processes may access a common data area and explain how the solution to the critical section problem can be applied to ensure mutual exclusion, prevent lockout, starvation, and deadlock.

Q$9.$ Explain the implementation of semaphores and their significance in process synchronization. Discuss the difference between binary semaphores and general semaphores. Also, describe the implementation of P and V operations on general semaphores and explain how blocking and unblocking of processes take place in the waiting list associated with a semaphore.

Q$10.$ Discuss various methods of handling deadlocks in operating systems, including prevention, avoidance, and detection. Provide advantages and disadvantages of each method and situations in which each method is appropriate.