Extrapolation of accelerated thermooxidative tests to lower temperatures applying non-Arrhenius temperature functions

Extrapolations of the accelerated thermooxidative tests, based on the Arrhenius and two non-Arrhenius temperature functions, have been tested for 26 data sets. The data cover a wide range of materials from polyolefins and other polymers to biodiesel, edible oils and dried milk. It has been found that the extrapolation from high-temperature data to ambient temperature based on the Arrhenius temperature function leads to the estimations of unrealistically long durability. The best estimations corresponding most with experience are obtained for the extrapolation based on the temperature function k(T)=A _kexp(DT).     

Study on the Amyloid A $\beta$42 with Accelerated Molecular Dynamics Simulations *

One major cause of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is evidently due to the aggregation and deposition of amyloid $\beta$ peptides (A$\beta$) in the brain tissue of the patient. Preventing misfolding and self-aggregation of A$\beta$ protein can reduce the formation of highly toxic polymer, which is important for the treatment of AD. Among them, the $\alpha$-helix consisting of 42 residues (A$\beta$42) is the main component of senile plaques in AD. In this paper, 500 ns accelerated molecular dynamics are performed at different temperatures (300 K, 350 K, 400 K, 450 K) to study of the effect of temperature-induced conformation changes of A$\beta$42 protein during the unfolding process respectively.     

A system architecture for parallel analysis of flux-balanced metabolic pathways

Elementary flux mode (EFM) analysis is a well-studied method in constraint-based modeling of metabolic networks. In EFM analysis, a network is decomposed into minimal functional pathways based on the assumption of balanced metabolic fluxes. In this paper, a system architecture is proposed that approximately models the functionality of metabolic networks. The AND/OR graph model is used to represent the metabolic network and each processing element in the system emulates the functionality of a metabolite. The system is implemented on a graphics processing unit (GPU) as the hardware platform using CUDA environment. The proposed architecture takes advantage of the inherent parallelism in the network structure in terms of both pathway and metabolite traversal. The function of each element is defined such that it can find flux-balanced pathways. Pathways in both small and large metabolic networks are applied to the proposed architecture and the results are discussed.     

基于加速失效时间模型模拟生存时间应用于检测生存性状位点

对于考察预指定情形下的统计模型的性能、性质及适应性,模拟研究是非常重要的统计工具.作为生存分析中两个最受欢迎的模型之一,由于加速失效时间模型中的因变量是生存时间的对数,且此模型能够以线性形式回归带有易解释的参数的协变量,从而加速失效模型比COX比例风险模型更便于拟合生存数据.首先提出了关于带有广义F-分布的加速失效模型的模拟研究中生成生存时间的方法,然后给出了描述加速失效时间模型的误差分布和相应的生存时间之间的一般的关系式,并给出了广义F-分布是如何生成生存时间的.最后,为证实所建议模拟技术的性能和有效性,将此方法应用于检测生存性状位点的模型中.     

Elucidation of the accelerated sulfur vulcanization of bio oil-extended natural rubber compounds

The elucidation of the role of bio-oils on the accelerated sulfur vulcanization of natural rubber (NR) compounds is discussed in this study. Two types of bio-oil, palm oil and soybean oil, were studied in direct comparison with a distillate aromatic extract oil (DAE) as a reference. The scorch and cure times of the bio-oil-extended NR compounds were shorter than those containing DAE. The use of bio-oils gave a higher cure reaction rate constant along with a lower activation energy than the use of DAE. The attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed that the fatty acid segment of the bio-oils can react with zinc oxide to give zinc carboxylate, which is then involved in and promotes the vulcanization reaction. The use of bio-oils to increase the rate of vulcanization strongly influenced the crosslink density of the obtained NR vulcanizates, yielding NR vulcanizates with a lower crosslinking density. It is proposed here that the bio-oils might consume the curing agent via the reaction between their own unsaturated fatty acid and sulfur. This was supported by the increased viscosity of the oils after exposure to sulfur at a high temperature. The tensile strength and elongation at break of the bio-oil-extended NR compounds were lower and higher, respectively, than the NR extended with DAE oil due to the lower crosslink density of the bio oil-extended NR vulcanizates.     

Data analysis for accelerated life tests via Weibull-gamma frailty regression models

In this article, we study data analysis methods for accelerated life test (ALT) with blocking. Unlike the previous assumption of normal distribution for random block effects, we advocate the use of Weibull regression model with gamma random effects for making statistical inference of ALT data. To estimate the unknown parameters in the proposed model, maximum likelihood estimation and Bayesian estimation methods are provided. We illustrate the proposed methods using real data examples and simulation examples. Numerical results suggest that distribution of random effects has minimal impact on the estimation of fixed effects in the Weibull regression models. Furthermore, to demonstrate the advantage of our proposed model, we also provide methods to compare ALT plans and thus identify the optimal ALT plans.     

A stochastic approximation algorithm with multiplicative step size modification

An algorithm of searching a zero of an unknown function ϕ: ℝ → ℝ is considered: x _t = x _t−1 − γ _t−1 y _t , t = 1, 2, ..., where y _t = ϕ(x _t−1) + ξ _t is the value of ϕ measured at x _t−1 and ξ _t is the measurement error. The step sizes γ _t > 0 are modified in the course of the algorithm according to the rule: γ _t = min{uγ _t−1, } if y _t−1 y _t > 0, and γ _t = dγ _t−1, otherwise, where 0 < d < 1 < u, > 0. That is, at each iteration γ _t is multiplied either by u or by d, provided that the resulting value does not exceed the predetermined value . The function ϕ may have one or several zeros; the random values ξ _t are independent and identically distributed, with zero mean and finite variance. Under some additional assumptions on ϕ, ξ _t , and , the conditions on u and d guaranteeing a.s. convergence of the sequence {x _t }, as well as a.s. divergence, are determined. In particular, if P(ξ ₁ > 0) = P (ξ ₁ < 0) = 1/2 and P(ξ ₁ = x) = 0 for any x ∈ ℝ, one has convergence for ud < 1 and divergence for ud > 1. Due to the multiplicative updating rule for γ _t , the sequence {x _t } converges rapidly: like a geometric progression (if convergence takes place), but the limit value may not coincide with, but instead, approximate one of the zeros of ϕ. By adjusting the parameters u and d, one can reach arbitrarily high precision of the approximation; higher accuracy is obtained at the expense of lower convergence rate.      

Statistical analysis of progressive stress accelerated life test for the product of two-parameter Laplace BS fatigue life distribution under inverse power law model

Based on the product of two-parameter Laplace Birnbaum-Saunders fatigue life distribution, its failure distribution mode is theoretically derived under the progressive stress accelerated life test with inverse power law model, and then three-parameter generalized Laplace Birnbaum-Saunders fatigue life distribution is introduced. The basic properties of three-parameter generalized Laplace Birnbaum-Saunders fatigue life distribution are analyzed, and the image characteristics of its density function, failure rate function and average failure rate function are investigated. Meanwhile, the point estimate method is given for three parameters, and then the point estimates of parameters are obtained for the product of two-parameter Laplace Birnbaum-Saunders fatigue life distribution under the progressive stress accelerated life test with inverse power law model. In addition, the practical example and simulation examples are illustrated to show the feasibility of the proposed method.     

对数正态分布基于恒加试验的参数估计

讨论对数正态分布场合有非常数尺度参数恒加试验的参数估计,由最小均方误差准则导出基于完全样本恒加试验的点估计和近似区间估计.     

单参数指数分布产品截尾样本场合简单步进应力加速寿命试验损伤失效率模型下的统计分析

本文给出单参数指数分布产品截尾样本场合简单步进应力加速寿命试验损伤失效率模型下参数的极大似然估计和拟矩估计。