<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.      

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.     

Compound Poisson Approximation for Multiple Runs in a Markov Chain

We consider a sequence X ₁, ..., X _n of r.v.'s generated by a stationary Markov chain with state space A = {0, 1, ..., r}, r 1. We study the overlapping appearances of runs of k _i consecutive i's, for all i = 1, ..., r, in the sequence X ₁,..., X _n. We prove that the number of overlapping appearances of the above multiple runs can be approximated by a Compound Poisson r.v. with compounding distribution a mixture of geometric distributions. As an application of the previous result, we introduce a specific Multiple-failure mode reliability system with Markov dependent components, and provide lower and upper bounds for the reliability of the system.     

Map Preserving Local Properties of a Digital Image

In order to study digital topological properties of a k-surface in Z ⁿ , we generalize the topological number in Bertrand (Pattern Recogn. Lett. 15:1003–1011, 1994). Furthermore, we show that a local (k ₀,k ₁)-isomorphism preserves some digital-topological properties, such as a generalized topological number and a simple k ₀-point, and prove that a local (k ₀,k ₁)-isomorphism takes a simple k ₀-surface in into a simple k ₁-surface in .      

KI,k-FACTORIZATION OF BIPARTITE GRAPHS

in this paper a necesssary condition for a bipartite graph λK,to be K1-factorizable and a sufficient condition for kk to have a k -factonrization whenever k is a prime number are given.     

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.     

The Threshold for the Erdos, Jacobson and Lehel Conjecture to Be True

Let σ（k, n） be the smallest even integer such that each n-term positive graphic sequence with term sum at least σ（k, n） can be realized by a graph containing a clique of k ＋ 1 vertices. Erdos et al. （Graph Theory, 1991, 439-449） conjectured that σ（k, n） = （k - 1）（2n- k） ＋ 2. Li et al. （Science in China, 1998, 510-520） proved that the conjecture is true for k 〉 5 and n ≥ （k2） ＋ 3, and raised the problem of determining the smallest integer N（k） such that the conjecture holds for n ≥ N（k）. They also determined the values of N（k） for 2 ≤ k ≤ 7, and proved that [5k-1/2] ≤ N（k） ≤ （k2） ＋ 3 for k ≥ 8. In this paper, we determine the exact values of σ（k, n） for n ≥ 2k＋3 and k ≥ 6. Therefore, the problem of determining σ（k, n） is completely solved. In addition, we prove as a corollary that N（k） -= [5k-1/2] for k ≥6.     

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.     

Commuting Involutions with Fixed Point Set of Variable Codimension

Special generators of the unoriented cobordism ring MO _* are constructed to determine some groups of cobordism classes in MO _n containing a representative M ⁿ admitting a (Z ₂) ^k -action with the fixed point set of (n−l _i )-dimensional submanifolds of M ⁿ . This work is supported by HNSF and BSHJJ     

Absolute summability of infinite series

It is shown in [4] that if a normal matrix,A satisfies some conditions then |C,1| _k summability implies |A| _k summability wherek≥1. In the present paper, we consider the converse implication.     

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.     

On the multi-phase M/G/1 queueing system with random feedback

In this paper we consider an M/G/1 queue with k phases of heterogeneous services and random feedback, where the arrival is Poisson and service times has general distribution. After the completion of the i-th phase, with probability θ _i the (i + 1)-th phase starts, with probability p _i the customer feedback to the tail of the queue and with probability 1 − θ _i − p _i  = q _i departs the system if service be successful, for i = 1, 2 , . . . , k. Finally in kth phase with probability p _k feedback to the tail of the queue and with probability 1 − p _k departs the system. We derive the steady-state equations, and PGF’s of the system is obtained. By using them the mean queue size at departure epoch is obtained.     

Commuting involutions with fixed point set of constant codimension

Special generators of the unoriented cobordism ringMO _* are constructed to determine the groupsJ _n,κ ^r ofn-dimensional cobordism classes inMO _n containing a representativeM ⁿ admitting a (Z ₂) ^k -action with fixed point set of constant codimension. This work is supported by HNSF     

Kp,q-factorization of complete bipartite graphs

Let K _m,nbe a complete bipartite graph with two partite sets having m and n vertices, respectively. A K _p,q-factorization of K _m,n is a set of edge-disjoint K _p,q-factors of K _m,n which partition the set of edges of K _m,n. When p = 1 and q is a prime number, Wang, in his paper “On K _1,k -factorizations of a complete bipartite graph” (Discrete Math, 1994, 126: 359—364), investigated the K _1,q -factorization of K _m,nand gave a sufficient condition for such a factorization to exist. In the paper “K _1,k -factorizations of complete bipartite graphs” (Discrete Math, 2002, 259: 301—306), Du and Wang extended Wang’s result to the case that q is any positive integer. In this paper, we give a sufficient condition for K _m,n to have a K _p,q-factorization. As a special case, it is shown that the Martin’s BAC conjecture is true when p : q = k : (k+ 1) for any positive integer k.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-point exponent set of primitive digraphs with girth 2

Let D = （V, E） be a primitive digraph. The vertex exponent of D at a vertex v∈ V, denoted by expD（v）, is the least integer p such that there is a v →u walk of length p for each u ∈ V. Following Brualdi and Liu, we order the vertices of D so that exPD（V1） ≤ exPD（V2） …≤ exPD（Vn）. Then exPD（Vk） is called the k- point exponent of D and is denoted by exPD （k）, 1≤ k ≤ n. In this paper we define e（n, k） ：= max{expD （k） ｜ D ∈ PD（n, 2）} and E（n, k） ：= {exPD（k）｜ D ∈ PD（n, 2）}, where PD（n, 2） is the set of all primitive digraphs of order n with girth 2. We completely determine e（n, k） and E（n, k） for all n, k with n ≥ 3 and 1 ≤ k ≤ n.     

Consecutive expansions of -out-of- systems

We introduce consecutive expansions of k–out–of–n systems, which have the property that components are totally ordered by the node criticality relation and with respect to well-known structural importance measures. We propose some formulae to easily compute these measures and study the hierarchies induced for them for large systems.     

k-Plane Clustering

A finite new algorithm is proposed for clustering m given points in n-dimensional real space into k clusters by generating k planes that constitute a local solution to the nonconvex problem of minimizing the sum of squares of the 2-norm distances between each point and a nearest plane. The key to the algorithm lies in a formulation that generates a plane in n-dimensional space that minimizes the sum of the squares of the 2-norm distances to each of m₁ given points in the space. The plane is generated by an eigenvector corresponding to a smallest eigenvalue of an n × n simple matrix derived from the m₁ points. The algorithm was tested on the publicly available Wisconsin Breast Prognosis Cancer database to generate well separated patient survival curves. In contrast, the k-mean algorithm did not generate such well-separated survival curves.     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Spaces and <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis></Subscript>-Spaces

In this note we study the relation between k _R -spaces and k-spaces and prove that a k _R -space with a σ-hereditarily closure-preserving k-network consisting of compact subsets is a k-space, and that a k _R -space with a point-countable k-network consisting of compact subsets need not be a k-space. This work was supported by the NSF of China (10271056).     

Reliability and covariance estimation of weighted k-out-of-n multi-state systems

In the literature of reliability engineering, reliability of the weighted k-out-of-n system can be calculated using component reliability based on the structure function. The calculation usually assumes that the true component reliability is completely known. However, this is not the case in practical applications. Instead, component reliability has to be estimated using empirical sample data. Uncertainty arises during this estimation process and propagates to the system level. This paper studies the propagation mechanism of estimation uncertainty through the universal generating function method. Equations of the complete solution including the unbiased system reliability estimator and the corresponding unbiased covariance estimator are derived. This is a unified approach. It can be applied to weighted k-out-of-n systems with multi-state components, to weighted k-out-of-n systems with binary components, and to simple series and parallel systems. It may also serve as building blocks to derive estimators of system reliability and uncertainty measures for more complicated systems.