Planning accelerated life tests for censored two‐parameter exponential distributions

We consider optimal test plans involving life distributions with failure‐free life, i.e., where there is an unknown threshold parameter below which no failure will occur. These distributions do not satisfy the regularity conditions and thus the usual approach of using the Fisher information matrix to obtain an optimal accelerated life testing (ALT) plan cannot be applied. In this paper, we assume that lifetime follows a two‐parameter exponential distribution and the stress‐life relationship is given by the inverse power law model. Near‐optimal test plans for constant‐stress ALT under both failure‐censoring and time‐censoring are obtained. We first obtain unbiased estimates for the parameters and give the approximate variance of these estimates for both failure‐censored and time‐censored data. Using these results, the variance for the approximate unbiased estimate of a percentile at a design stress is computed and then minimized to produce the near‐optimal plan. Finally, a numerical example is presented together with simulation results to study the accuracy of the approximate variance given by the proposed plan and show that it outperforms the equal‐allocation plan. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 46: 169–186, 1999     

Efficient multinomial selection in simulation

Consider a simulation experiment consisting of v independent vector replications across k systems, where in any given replication one system is selected as the best performer (i.e., it wins). Each system has an unknown constant probability of winning in any replication and the numbers of wins for the individual systems follow a multinomial distribution. The classical multinomial selection procedure of Bechhofer, Elmaghraby, and Morse (Procedure BEM) prescribes a minimum number of replications, denoted as v*, so that the probability of correctly selecting the true best system (PCS) meets or exceeds a prespecified probability. Assuming that larger is better, Procedure BEM selects as best the system having the largest value of the performance measure in more replications than any other system. We use these same v* replications across k systems to form (v*)^k pseudoreplications that contain one observation from each system, and develop Procedure AVC (All Vector Comparisons) to achieve a higher PCS than with Procedure BEM. For specific small-sample cases and via a large-sample approximation we show that the PCS with Procedure AVC exceeds the PCS with Procedure BEM. We also show that with Procedure AVC we achieve a given PCS with a smaller v than the v* required with Procedure BEM. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 45: 459–482, 1998     

Inference for the maximum cell probability under multinomial sampling

This article investigates inference for p_max, the largest cell probability in multinomial trials for the case of a small to moderate number of trials. Emphasis focuses on point and interval estimation. Both frequentist and Bayesian approaches are developed. The results of extensive simulation investigation are included as well as the analysis of a set of crime data for the city of New Orleans taken from the National Crime Survey.     

Parallel machine replacement

We consider the parallel replacement problem in which there are both fixed and variable costs associated with replacing machines. Increasing maintenance costs motivate replacements, and the fixed replacement cost provides incentive for replacing machines of different ages together in “clusters.” We prove two intuitive results for this problem. First, it is never optimal to split a cluster of like-aged machines, and second, it is never optimal to replace newer clusters before older clusters. By incorporating these two results into an algorithmic approach, we vastly reduce the amount of computation required to identify an optimal replacement policy.     

A game with distorted information

This article considers a two-person game in which the first player has access to certain information that is valuable but unknown to the second player. The first player can distort the information before it is passed on to the second player. The purpose in distorting the information is to render it as useless as possible to the second player. Based on the distorted information received, the second player then maximizes some given objective. In certain cases he may still be able to use the distorted information, but sometimes the information has been so badly distorted that it becomes completely useless to him. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On gamma estimation via matrix kriging

In financial engineering, sensitivities of derivative prices (also known as the Greeks) are important quantities in risk management, and stochastic gradient estimation methods are used to estimate them given the market parameters. In practice, the surface (function) of the Greeks with respect to the underlying parameters is much more desired, because it can be used in real‐time risk management. In this paper, we consider derivatives with multiple underlying assets, and propose three stochastic kriging‐based methods, the element‐by‐element, the importance mapping, and the Cholesky decomposition, to fit the surface of the gamma matrix that can fulfill the time constraint and the precision requirement in real‐time risk management. Numerical experiments are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

水平集方法中速度停止项函数的改进

对速度停止项函数的研究发现,现今的速度停止项采用的单一全局阈值法很难使经典水平集算法得到较准确的分割效果。为此,提出了一种新的速度停止项函数,该函数通过引入变阈值较好的区分了图像的边缘区与同质区,以使采用该速度停止项函数的水平集方程实现在同质区加速演化,在边缘区停止演化的目的。实验结果表明,采用速度停止项函数能够使水平集方法获取更好的分割结果。     

地基C~4I系统的高空核爆电磁脉冲易损性分析

建立了C4I系统的毁伤等级,完成了毁伤机理与毁伤模式分析,运用毁伤树分析方法构建毁伤树模型,确定了C4I系统的致命性部件,对进一步开展新型号导弹武器系统系统易损性评估研究具有一定的参考应用价值。     

C~4ISR系统开发的仿真支持过程分析与建模

C4ISR(Command、Control、Communication、Computer、Intelligence、Surveillance and Reconnaissance)系统开发的仿真活动贯穿于系统全生命周期的各个阶段,仿真支持过程联系着C4ISR系统开发仿真的各类要素。首先对C4ISR系统开发仿真支持的内容进行分析,从生命周期维、仿真产品维和仿真任务维三个维度描述仿真支持内容之间的联系。然后分析了C4ISR系统开发仿真支持过程的层次性,应用UML描述了支持过程中的仿真项目模型和仿真过程模型。在此基础上,应用基于Petri网的工作流网,对C4ISR系统开发的仿真支持过程进行建模,分析了支持过程中活动、产品、角色、约束四类要素的Petri网表示方式。最后在一个C4ISR系统开发仿真支持实例中应用以上分析和建模方法,验证了方法的可行性和应用效果。