Book reviews

Third World Military Expenditure: Determinants and Implications. By Robert McKinlay. Frances Pinter, London (1989)

The UK Defence Industrial Base: Development and Future Policy Options. By Trevor Taylor and Keith Hayward. Brassey's, London, for Royal United Services Institute (1989), ISBN 0-08-036713-5, £22.50

Mutiny. By Lawrence James. Buchan & Enright, London (1987), ISBN 0-907675-70-0, £12.95; Scapegoat! Famous Courts Martial. By John Harris. Severn House, London (1988), ISBN 0-7278-2103-2, £12.95; In Glass Houses. By Robert Boyes. Military Provost Staff Corps Association, Colchester (1986), ISBN 0-9513467-0-9, £6.50 (paperback)

The Nuclear Weapons World: Who, How and Where. Edited by Patrick Burke. Frances Pinter, London (1988), ISBN 086187-705-5, £50.00

Merchants of Treason—America's Secrets for Sale. By Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar. Robert Hale, London (1988), ISBN 0-7090-3543-8, £14.95 ($21.95); Intelligence and Intelligence Policy in a Democratic Society. Edited by Stephen J. Cimbala. Transnational Publishers, Dobbs Ferry, NY (1987), ISBN 0-941320-44-8, $37.50; Catching Spies—Principles and Practices of Counterespionage. By H. H. A. Cooper and Lawrence J. Redlinger. Paladin Press, Boulder, CO (1988), ISBN 0-87364-466-2, $24.95

The BattleshipRoyal Sovereignand Her Sister Ships. By Peter C. Smith. William Kimber, Wellingborough (1988), ISBN 0-7183-0704-6, £12.95; Air Power at Sea, 1945 to Today. By John Winton. Sidgwick & Jackson, London (1987), £9.95     

An optimal sequential procedure for selecting the best bernoulli process—a review

This article describes a new closed adaptive sequential procedure proposed by Bechhofer and Kulkarni for selecting the Bernoulli population which has the largest success probability. It can be used effectively for selecting the production process with the largest proportion of conforming items, and thus is applicable in vendor selection situations. The performance of this procedure is compared to that of the Sobel-Huyett single-stage procedure, and to a curtailed version of the single-stage procedure, all of which guarantee the same probability of a correct selection. Optimal properties of the Bechhofer-Kulkarni procedure are stated; quantitative assessments of important performance characteristics of the procedure are given. These demonstrate conclusively the superiority of the new procedure over that of the competing procedures. Relevant areas of application (including clinical trials) are described. Appropriate literature references are provided.     

On finding spanning eulerian subgraphs

In this article, we examine the problem of producing a spanning Eulerian subgraph in an undirected graph. After the ?-completeness of the general problem is established, we present polynomial-time algorithms for both the maximization and minimization versions where instances are defined on a restricted class of graphs referred to as series-parallel. Some novelties in the minimization case are discussed, as are heuristic ideas.     

Inequalities involving the lifetime of series and parallel systems

Let {Xⁱ} be independent HNBUE (Harmonic New Better Than Used in Expectation) random variables and let {Yⁱ} be independent exponential random variables such that E{Xⁱ}=E{Yⁱ} It is shown that \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ E\left[{u\left({\mathop {\min \,X_i}\limits_{l \le i \le n}} \right)} \right] \ge E\left[{u\left({\mathop {\min \,Y_i}\limits_{l \le i \le n}} \right)} \right] $\end{document} for all increasing and concave u. This generalizes a result of Kubat. When comparing two series systems with components of equal cost, one with lifetimes {Xⁱ} and the other with lifetimes {Yⁱ}, it is shown that a risk-averse decision-maker will prefer the HNBUE system. Similar results are obtained for parallel systems.     

A class of inventory models with customer impatience

Classical inventory models generally assume either no backlogging of demands or unlimited backlogging. This paper treats the case wherein backlogged customers are willing to wait for a random period of time for service. A broad class of such models is discussed, with a more complete analysis performed on a simple subclass. Steady state equations are derived and solved assuming exponentially distributed interarrival times of customers, order delivery lead times, and customer patience.     

A note on a paper by houston and huffman

This paper calls attention to an experimental design which enhances the efficiency of the technique described by B. F. Houston and R. A. Huffman [3]. This alternative design is a modification of the simplex lattice design developed by Scheffé [6] for the mixture problem. While not possessing the optimal statistical properties of the central composite design proposed in [3], such as minimum bias and minimum variance, this modified design is optimum with respect to the number of design points employed; hence, it is the minimum cost design. Further, the design proposed in this note is excellent for use in multiple-block experimentation, which is very often required with constrained systems.     

An optimum t-test for the scale parameter of an extreme-value distribution

A Student's t-test proposed by Ogawa is considered for the hypothesis Ho: σ=σo against the alternative hypothesis H₁: σ ≠ σo, where σ is the scale parameter of the Extremevalue distribution of smallest values with known location parameter μ. The test is based on a few sample quantiles chosen from a large sample so as to give asymptotically maximum power to the test when the number of sample quantiles is fixed. A table which facilitates the computation of the test statistic is given. Several schemes for determining the ranks of the sample quantiles by the optimal spacings are compared and the effect of the bias of the estimate of σ on the test is investigated through a Monte Carlo study.