Reliability formula &; limit law of the failure time of “<Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis>-consecutive-<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-out-of-<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>:<Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis> system”

An “m-consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system” consists of n components ordered on a line; the system fails if and only if there are at least m nonoverlapping runs of k consecutive failed components. In this paper, we give a recursive formula to compute the reliability of such a system. Thereafter, we state two asymptotic results concerning the failure time Z _n of the system. The first result concerns a limit theorem for Z _n when the failure times of components are not necessarily with identical failure distributions. In the second one, we prove that, for an arbitrary common failure distribution of components, the limit system failure distribution is always of the Poisson class.      

Fast formula of a reliability ofm-consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system with cyclek

Anm-consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system is a system ofn linearly arranged components which fails if and only if at leastm non-overlapping sequences ofk components fail, when there arek distinct components with failure probabilitiesq _i fori=1,...,k and where the failure probability of thej-th component (j=rk+i (1 ≤i ≤k) isq _j =q _i , we call this system by anm-consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system with cycle (or period)k. In this paper we give a formula of the failure probability ofm-consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system with cyclek via the failure probability of consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system.     

Nonparametric inference for sequential <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-out-of-<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> systems

The k-out-of-n model is commonly used in reliability theory. In this model the failure of any component of the system does not influence the components still at work. Sequential k-out-of-n systems have been introduced as an extension of k-out-of-n systems where the failure of some component of the system may influence the remaining ones. We consider nonparametric estimation of the cumulative hazard function, the reliability function and the quantile function of sequential k-out-of-n systems. Furthermore, nonparametric hypothesis testing for sequential k-out-of-n-systems is examined. We make use of counting processes to show strong consistency and weak convergence of the estimators and to derive the asymptotic distribution of the test statistics.     

Balancing the n-Cube: A Census of Colorings

Weights of 1 or 0 are assigned to the vertices of the n-cube in n-dimensional Euclidean space. Such an n-cube is called balanced if its center of mass coincides precisely with its geometric center. The seldom-used n-variable form of Pólya's enumeration theorem is applied to express the number N _{n, 2k} of balanced configurations with 2k vertices of weight 1 in terms of certain partitions of 2k. A system of linear equations of Vandermonde type is obtained, from which recurrence relations are derived which are computationally efficient for fixed k. It is shown how the numbers N _{n, 2k} depend on the numbers A _{n, 2k} of specially restricted configurations. A table of values of N _{n, 2k} and A _{n, 2k} is provided for n = 3, 4, 5, and 6. The case in which arbitrary, nonnegative, integral weights are allowed is also treated. Finally, alternative derivations of the main results are developed from the perspective of superposition.     

Permutations with Low Discrepancy Consecutive k-sums

Consider the permutation π=(π₁,…, π_n) of 1,2,…, n as being placed on a circle with indices taken modulo n. For given kn there are n sums of k consecutive entries. We say the maximum difference of any consecutive k-sum from the average k-sum is the discrepancy of the permutation. We seek a permutation of minimum discrepancy. We find that in general the discrepancy is small, never more than k+6, independent of n. For g= gcd(n,k)>1, we show that the discrepancy is . For g=1 it is more complicated. Our constructions show that the discrepancy never exceeds k/2 by more than 9 for large n, while it is at least k/2 for infinitely many n.We also give an analysis for the easier case of linear permutations, where we view the permutation as written on a line. The analogous discrepancy is at most 2 for all n,k.     

Vertices of Degree 5 in a Contraction Critically 5-connected Graph

An edge of a k-connected graph is said to be k-contractible if the contraction of the edge results in a k-connected graph. A k-connected graph with no k-contractible edge is said to be contraction critically k-connected. We prove that a contraction critically 5-connected graph on n vertices has at least n/5 vertices of degree 5. We also show that, for a graph G and an integer k greater than 4, there exists a contraction critically k-connected graph which has G as its induced subgraph.     

Consecutive customer losses in oscillating GIX/M//n systems with state dependent services rates

We address the probability that k or more Consecutive Customer Losses take place during a busy period of a queue, the so-called k-CCL probability, for oscillating GI ^X /M//n systems with state dependent services rates, also denoted as GI ^X /M(m)−M(m)//n systems, in which the service rates oscillate between two forms according to the evolution of the number of customers in the system. We derive an efficient algorithm to compute k-CCL probabilities in these systems starting with an arbitrary number of customers in the system that involves solving a linear system of equations. The results derived are illustrated for specific sets of parameters.     

Lifetime distribution and estimation problems of consecutive-k-out-of-n:F systems

Explicit formula is given for the lifetime distribution of a consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system. It is given as a linear combination of distributions of order statistics of the lifetimes of n components. We assume that the lifetimes are independent and identically distributed. The results should make it possible to treat the parametric estimation problems based on the observations of the lifetimes of the system. In fact, we take up, as some examples, the cases where the lifetimes of the components follow the exponential, the Weibull, and the Pareto distributions, and obtain feasible estimators by moment method. In particular, it is shown that the moment estimator is quite good for the exponential case in the sense that the asymptotic efficiency is close to one.This research was partially supported by the ISM Cooperative Research Program (94-ISM-CRP-5).     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-factors in regular graphs

Plesnik in 1972 proved that an （m - 1）-edge connected m-regular graph of even order has a 1-factor containing any given edge and has another 1-factor excluding any given m - 1 edges. Alder et al. in 1999 showed that if G is a regular （2n ＋ 1）-edge-connected bipartite graph, then G has a 1-factor containing any given edge and excluding any given matching of size n. In this paper we obtain some sufficient conditions related to the edge-connectivity for an n-regular graph to have a k-factor containing a set of edges and （or） excluding a set of edges, where 1 ≤ k ≤n/2. In particular, we generalize Plesnik＇s result and the results obtained by Liu et al. in 1998, and improve Katerinis＇ result obtained 1993. Furthermore, we show that the results in this paper are the best possible.     

On nonautonomous linear systems of differential and difference equations with -symmetric coefficient matrices

Let denote the set of continuous n×n matrices on an interval . We say that is a nontrivial k-involution if where ζ=e^-2πi/k, d₀+d₁++d_k-1=n, and with . We say that is R-symmetric if R(t)A(t)R^-1(t)=A(t), , and we show that if A is R-symmetric then solving x^′=A(t)x or x^′=A(t)x+f(t) reduces to solving k independent d_ℓ×d_ℓ systems, 0ℓk-1. We consider the asymptotic behavior of the solutions in the case where . Finally, we sketch analogous results for linear systems of difference equations.     

On Macbeath-Singerman symmetries of Belyi surfaces with PSL(2,p) as a group of automorphisms

The famous theorem of Belyi states that the compact Riemann surface X can be defined over the number field if and only if X can be uniformized by a finite index subgroup Γ of a Fuchsian triangle group Λ. As a result such surfaces are now called Belyi surfaces. The groups PSL(2,q),q=p ⁿ are known to act as the groups of automorphisms on such surfaces. Certain aspects of such actions have been extensively studied in the literature. In this paper, we deal with symmetries. Singerman showed, using acertain result of Macbeath, that such surfaces admit a symmetry which we shall call in this paper the Macbeath-Singerman symmetry. A classical theorem by Harnack states that the set of fixed points of a symmetry of a Riemann surface X of genus g consists of k disjoint Jordan curves called ovals for some k ranging between 0 and g+1. In this paper we show that given an odd prime p, a Macbetah-Singerman symmetry of Belyi surface with PSL(2,p) as a group of automorphisms has at most     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Subscript>-nearest neighbor estimators of entropy

For estimating the entropy of an absolutely continuous multivariate distribution, we propose nonparametric estimators based on the Euclidean distances between the n sample points and their k _n -nearest neighbors, where {k _n : n = 1, 2, …} is a sequence of positive integers varying with n. The proposed estimators are shown to be asymptotically unbiased and consistent.      

Sequential order statistics and k-out-of-n systems with sequentially adjusted failure rates

k-out-of-n systems frequently appear in applications. They consist of n components of the same kind with independent and identically distributed life-lengths. The life-length of such a system is described by the (n–k+1)-th order statistic in a sample of size n when assuming that remaining components are not affected by failures. Sequential order statistics are introduced as a more flexible model to describe sequential k-out-of-n systems in which the failure of any component possibly influences the other components such that their underlying failure rate is parametrically adjusted with respect to the number of preceding failures. Useful properties of the maximum likelihood estimators of the model parameters are shown, and several tests are proposed to decide whether the new model is the more appropriate one in a given situation. Moreover, for specific distributions, e.g. Weibull distributions, simultaneous maximum likelihood estimation of the model parameters and distribution parameters is considered.     

Parallel and k-out-of-n: G systems with nonidentical components and their mean residual life functions

A system with n independent components which has a k-out-of-n: G structure operates if at least k components operate. Parallel systems are 1-out-of-n: G systems, that is, the system goes out of service when all of its components fail. This paper investigates the mean residual life function of systems with independent and nonidentically distributed components. Some examples related to some lifetime distribution functions are given. We present a numerical example for evaluating the relationship between the mean residual life of the k-out-of-n: G system and that of its components.     

The Width-Volume Inequality

We prove that a bounded open set U in has k-width less than C(n) Volume(U) ^k/n . Using this estimate, we give lower bounds for the k-dilation of degree 1 maps between certain domains in . In particular, we estimate the smallest (n – 1)-dilation of any degree 1 map between two n-dimensional rectangles. For any pair of rectangles, our estimate is accurate up to a dimensional constant C(n). We give examples in which the (n – 1)-dilation of the linear map is bigger than the optimal value by an arbitrarily large factor. Received: January 2006, Revision: May 2006, Accepted: June 2006     

Non-Zero Degree Maps Between <Emphasis Type="Italic">2n</Emphasis>-Manifolds

Abstract Thom–Pontrjagin constructions are used to give a computable necessary and sufficient condition for a homomorphism ϕ : H ⁿ (L;Z) → H ⁿ (M;Z) to be realized by a map f : M → L of degree k for closed (n − 1)-connected 2n-manifolds M and L, n > 1. A corollary is that each (n − 1)-connected 2n-manifold admits selfmaps of degree larger than 1, n > 1. In the most interesting case of dimension 4, with the additional surgery arguments we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a degree k map from a closed orientable 4-manifold M to a closed simply connected 4-manifold L in terms of their intersection forms; in particular, there is a map f : M → L of degree 1 if and only if the intersection form of L is isomorphic to a direct summand of that of M. Both authors are supported by MSTC, NSFC. The comments of F. Ding, J. Z. Pan, Y. Su and the referee enhance the quality of the paper     

Contact metric manifolds with <Emphasis Type="Italic">η</Emphasis>-parallel torsion tensor

We show that a non-Sasakian contact metric manifold with η-parallel torsion tensor and sectional curvatures of plane sections containing the Reeb vector field different from 1 at some point, is a (k, μ)-contact manifold. In particular for the standard contact metric structure of the tangent sphere bundle the torsion tensor is η-parallel if and only if M is of constant curvature, in which case its associated pseudo-Hermitian structure is CR- integrable. Next we show that if the metric of a non-Sasakian (k, μ)-contact manifold (M, g) is a gradient Ricci soliton, then (M, g) is locally flat in dimension 3, and locally isometric to E ⁿ⁺¹ × S ⁿ (4) in higher dimensions.      

Another Proof of Kasami's Theorem

We give a short direct proof for a famous theorem published by Kasami in 1971. In terms of Walsh analysis it states that for d = 2^2k - 2^k + 1 the Walsh spectrum of the Boolean function Tr(x ^d ) on GF(2 ⁿ ) consists precisely of the three values 0, ±2^(n+s)/2 if s = gcd(k, n) = gcd(2k, n).     

Graceful Signed Graphs

A (p, q)-sigraph S is an ordered pair (G, s) where G = (V, E) is a (p, q)-graph and s is a function which assigns to each edge of G a positive or a negative sign. Let the sets E ⁺ and E ^– consist of m positive and n negative edges of G, respectively, where m + n = q. Given positive integers k and d, S is said to be (k, d)-graceful if the vertices of G can be labeled with distinct integers from the set {0, 1, ..., k + (q – 1)d such that when each edge uv of G is assigned the product of its sign and the absolute difference of the integers assigned to u and v the edges in E ⁺ and E ^– are labeled k, k + d, k + 2d, ..., k + (m – 1)d and –k, – (k + d), – (k + 2d), ..., – (k + (n – 1)d), respectively.In this paper, we report results of our preliminary investigation on the above new notion, which indeed generalises the well-known concept of (k, d)-graceful graphs due to B. D. Acharya and S. M. Hegde.     

Graphic Sequences with a Realization Containing a Union of Cliques

An integer sequence π is said to be graphic if it is the degree sequence of some simple graph G. In this case we say that G is a realization of π. Given a graph H, and a graphic sequence π we say that π is potentially H-graphic if there is some realization of π that contains H as a subgraph. We define σ(H,n) to be the minimum even integer such that every graphic sequence with sum at least σ(H,n) is potentially H-graphic. In this paper, we determine σ(H,n) for the graph H = K_m1∪ K_m2∪...∪ K_mk when n is a sufficiently large integer. This is accomplished by determining σ(K_j + kK₂,n) where j and k are arbitrary positive integers, and considering the case where j = m − 2k and m = ∑ m_i.