On the reliability function of a double redundant system with general repair time distribution

The reliability function is considered for a hot double redundant repairable heterogeneous system with exponentially distributed lifetimes and generally distributed repair times of its components. The problem of its sensitivity to the repair time distribution is discussed.     

Assessing the reliability of a nanocomponent using nanocrack growth

In nanoscience and nanotechnology, much attention has been given to the dual problem of designing nanocomponents with novel physical properties and how such nanocomponents can be fabricated. Receiving less attention has been the question of the nanocomponent's reliability; how does a nanocomponent fail and how long does a nanocomponent survive under typical operating conditions? High reliability is necessary to guarantee the advancement and utilization of nanocomponents due to the fact that they account for a high proportion of costs of newly designed nanosystems as well as multiscale systems. A nanocomponent is a component that is made of atoms, and its reliability is determined by these atoms. There are situations where it is hard or impossible to extract information from a nanocomponent about its relationship to its atoms. In this article, we assess the nanocomponent's reliability by using its physical properties. Specifically, it is known that nanocrack growth involves considerable statistical variability and such variability should be accounted for assessing growth. In this paper, we first provide a stochastic nanocrack growth model and then evaluate the reliability of a nanocomponent based on this model. Various properties of this model are obtained. We also evaluate the reliability of a nanocomponent under different assumptions on our proposed growth model. This paper is a modification of the extensive literature on modeling fatigue cracks in materials on a larger scale, applied to nanoscale where growth is not a function of cumulative stress on the component but related to the time to first exceedance of a threshold. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some properties of the bivariate lognormal distribution for reliability applications

In this paper, we study the bivariate lognormal distribution from a reliability point of view. The conditional distribution of X given Y > y is found to be log‐skew normal. The monotonicity of the hazard rates of the univariate as well as the conditional distributions is discussed. Clayton's association measure is obtained in terms of the hazard gradient, and its value in the case of our model is derived. The probability distributions, in the case of series and parallel systems, are derived, and the monotonicity of their failure rates is discussed. Three real applications of the bivariate lognormal distribution are provided, two from financial economics and one from reliability. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial behaviour of solutions of the dual‐phase‐lag heat equation

In this paper we study the spatial behaviour of solutions of some problems for the dual‐phase‐lag heat equation on a semi‐infinite cylinder. The theory of dual‐phase‐lag heat conduction leads to a hyperbolic partial differential equation with a third derivative with respect to time. First, we investigate the spatial evolution of solutions of an initial boundary‐value problem with zero boundary conditions on the lateral surface of the cylinder. Under a boundedness restriction on the initial data, an energy estimate is obtained. An upper bound for the amplitude term in this estimate in terms of the initial and boundary data is also established. For the case of zero initial conditions, a more explicit estimate is obtained which shows that solutions decay exponentially along certain spatial‐time lines. A class of non‐standard problems is also considered for which the temperature and its first two time derivatives at a fixed time T are assumed proportional to their initial values. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A delay decomposition approach for robust dissipativity and passivity analysis of neutral‐type neural networks with leakage time‐varying delay

This article presents the robust dissipativity and passivity analysis of neutral‐type neural networks with leakage time‐varying delay via delay decomposition approach. Using delay decomposition technique, new delay‐dependent criteria ensuring the considered system to be ‐γ dissipative are established in terms of strict linear matrix inequalities. A new Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional is constructed by dividing the discrete and neutral delay intervals into m and l segments, respectively, and choosing different Lyapunov functionals to different segments. Further, the dissipativity behaviors of neural networks which are affected due to the sensitiveness of the time delay in the leakage term have been taken into account. Finally, numerical examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 248–264, 2016     

Solving 2D time‐fractional diffusion equations by a pseudospectral method and Mittag‐Leffler function evaluation

Two‐dimensional time‐fractional diffusion equations with given initial condition and homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions in a bounded domain are considered. A semidiscrete approximation scheme based on the pseudospectral method to the time‐fractional diffusion equation leads to a system of ordinary fractional differential equations. To preserve the high accuracy of the spectral approximation, an approach based on the evaluation of the Mittag‐Leffler function on matrix arguments is used for the integration along the time variable. Some examples along with numerical experiments illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Birnbaum‐Saunders distribution: A review of models,analysis, and applications

Birnbaum and Saunders introduced a two‐parameter lifetime distribution to model the fatigue life of a metal, subject to cyclic stress. Since then, extensive work has been done on this model providing different interpretations, constructions, generalizations, inferential methods, and extensions to bivariate, multivariate, and matrix‐variate cases. More than 200 papers and one research monograph have already appeared describing all these aspects and developments. In this paper, we provide a detailed review of all these developments and, at the same time, indicate several open problems that could be considered for further research.     

The reliability analysis of probabilistic and interval hybrid structural system

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the reliability of probabilistic and interval hybrid structural system. The hybrid structural system includes two kinds of uncertain parameters—probabilistic parameters and interval parameters. Based on the interval reliability model and probabilistic operation, a new probabilistic and interval hybrid reliability model is proposed. Firstly, we use the interval reliability model to analyze the performance function, and then sum up reliability of all regions divided by the failure plane. Based on the presented optimal criterion enumerating the main failure modes of hybrid structural system and the relationship of failure modes, the reliability of structure system can be obtained. By means of the numerical examples, the hybrid reliability model and the traditional probabilistic reliability model are critically contrasted. The results indicate the presented reliability model is more suitable for analysis and design of these structural systems and it can ensure the security of system well, and it only needs less uncertain information.     

Symmetry group analysis and similarity solutions for the (2+1)‐dimensional coupled Burger's system

Symmetry group analysis and similarity reduction of nonlinear system of coupled Burger equations in the form of nonlinear partial differential equation are analyzed via symmetry method. The symmetry method has led to similarity reductions of this equation to solvable form to third‐order partial differential equation. The infinitesimal, similarity variables, dependent variables, and reduction have been tabulated. The search for solutions of these systems by using the improved tanh method has yielded certain exact solutions expressed by rational functions. Some figures are given to show the properties of the solutions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Boundary stabilization of a Bresse‐type system

In this paper, we are concerned with asymptotic stability of a class of Bresse‐type system with three boundary dissipations. The beam has a rigid body attached to its free end. We show that exponential stabilization can be achieved by applying force and moment feedback boundary controls on the shear, longitudinal, and transverse displacement velocities at the point of contact between the mass and the beam. Our method is based on the operator semigroup technique, the multiplier technique, and the contradiction argument of the frequency domain method. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonstandard finite difference schemes for Michaelis–Menten type reaction‐diffusion equations

We compare and investigate the performance of the exact scheme of the Michaelis–Menten (M–M) ordinary differential equation with several new nonstandard finite difference (NSFD) schemes that we construct using Mickens' rules. Furthermore, the exact scheme of the M–M equation is used to design several dynamically consistent NSFD schemes for related reaction‐diffusion equations, advection‐reaction equations, and advection‐reaction‐diffusion equations. Numerical simulations that support the theory and demonstrate computationally the power of NSFD schemes are presented. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2013     

Zero‐Hopf bifurcation in the Volterra‐Gause system of predator‐prey type

We prove that the Volterra‐Gause system of predator‐prey type exhibits 2 kinds of zero‐Hopf bifurcations for convenient values of their parameters. In the first, 1 periodic solution bifurcates from a zero‐Hopf equilibrium, and in the second, 4 periodic solutions bifurcate from another zero‐Hopf equilibrium. This study is done using the averaging theory of second order.     

Qualitative analysis of a new Lorenz‐type chaotic system and its simulation

In this paper, the ultimate bound for a new chaotic system is derived based on stability theory of dynamical systems. The meaningful contribution of this article is that the results presented in this paper contain the existing results as special cases. Finally, numerical simulations are given to verify the effectiveness and correctness of the obtained results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A linearization‐based approach of homotopy analysis method for non‐linear time‐fractional parabolic PDEs

In this paper, a novel approach, namely, the linearization‐based approach of homotopy analysis method, to analytically treat non‐linear time‐fractional PDEs is proposed. The presented approach suggests a new optimized structure of the homotopy series solution based on a linear approximation of the non‐linear problem. A comparative study between the proposed approach and standard homotopy analysis approach is illustrated by solving two examples involving non‐linear time‐fractional parabolic PDEs. The performed numerical simulations demonstrate that the linearization‐based approach reduces the computational complexity and improves the performance of the homotopy analysis method.     

Ground state solutions for a coupled Kirchhoff‐type system

In this paper, we consider the coupled Kirchhoff‐type system where ε is a small positive parameter and a_i>0, b_i≥0 are constants for i = 1,2, P,Q are positive continuous potentials satisfying some conditions. Using minimax theorem and the Ljusternik‐Schnirelmann category theory, we obtain the existence and multiplicity results of ground state solutions for the aforementioned system as ε > 0 small enough. Moreover, the concentration phenomena of solutions is also explored. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the asymptotics of fault probability in least‐recently‐used caching with Zipf‐type request distribution

We consider the least‐recently‐used cache replacement rule with a Zipf‐type page request distribution and investigate an asymptotic property of the fault probability with respect to an increase of cache size. We first derive the asymptotics of the fault probability for the independent‐request model and then extend this derivation to a general dependent‐request model, where our result shows that under some weak assumptions the fault probability is asymptotically invariant with regard to dependence in the page request process. In a previous study, a similar result was derived by applying a Poisson embedding technique, where a continuous‐time proof was given through some assumptions based on a continuous‐time modeling. The Poisson embedding, however, is just a technique used for the proof and the problem is essentially on a discrete‐time basis; thus, it is preferable to make assumptions, if any, directly in the discrete‐time setting. We consider a general dependent‐request model and give a direct discrete‐time proof under different assumptions. A key to the proof is that the numbers of requests for respective pages represent conditionally negatively associated random variables. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2006     

Convergence analysis for parallel‐in‐time solution of hyperbolic systems

Parallel‐in‐time algorithms have been successfully employed for reducing time‐to‐solution of a variety of partial differential equations, especially for diffusive (parabolic‐type) equations. A major failing of parallel‐in‐time approaches to date, however, is that most methods show instabilities or poor convergence for hyperbolic problems. This paper focuses on the analysis of the convergence behavior of multigrid methods for the parallel‐in‐time solution of hyperbolic problems. Three analysis tools are considered that differ, in particular, in the treatment of the time dimension: (a) space–time local Fourier analysis, using a Fourier ansatz in space and time; (b) semi‐algebraic mode analysis, coupling standard local Fourier analysis approaches in space with algebraic computation in time; and (c) a two‐level reduction analysis, considering error propagation only on the coarse time grid. In this paper, we show how insights from reduction analysis can be used to improve feasibility of the semi‐algebraic mode analysis, resulting in a tool that offers the best features of both analysis techniques. Following validating numerical results, we investigate what insights the combined analysis framework can offer for two model hyperbolic problems, the linear advection equation in one space dimension and linear elasticity in two space dimensions.     

Persistence properties and wave‐breaking criteria for the Geng‐Xue system

Considered herein is a two‐component Novikov equations (called Geng‐Xue system for short) with cubic nonlinearities. The persistence properties and some unique continuation properties of the solutions to the system in weighted L_p spaces are established. Moreover, a wave‐breaking criterion for strong solutions is determined in the lowest Sobolev space by using the localization analysis in the transport equation theory, and we also give a lower bound for the maximal existence time.     

Optimal replacement and allocation of multi‐state elements in k‐within‐m‐from‐r/n sliding window systems

This paper proposes a new model that generalizes the linear sliding window system to the case of multiple failures. The considered k ‐within‐ m ‐from‐ r / n sliding window system consists of n linearly ordered multi‐state elements and fails if at least k groups out of m consecutive groups of r consecutive multi‐state elements have cumulative performance lower than the demand W . A reliability evaluation algorithm is suggested for the proposed system. In order to increase the system availability, maintenance actions can be performed, and the elements can be optimally allocated. A joint element allocation and maintenance optimization model is formulated with the objective of minimizing the total maintenance cost subjected to the pre‐specified system availability requirement. Basic procedures of genetic algorithms are adapted to solve the optimization problem. Numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the applications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.