Comparison of two models for managing reliability growth during product design

Relying on reliability growth testing to improve system designis neither usually effective nor efficient. Instead it is importantto design in reliability. This requires models to estimate reliabilitygrowth in the design that can be used to assess whether goalreliability will be achieved within the target timescale forthe design process. Many models have been developed for analysisof reliability growth on test, but there has been much lessattention given to reliability growth in design. This paperdescribes and compares two models: one motivated by the practicalengineering process; the other by extending the reasoning ofstatistical reliability growth modelling. Both models are referencedin the recently revised edition of international standard IEC61164. However, there has been no reported evaluation of theirproperties. Therefore, this paper explores the commonalitiesand differences between these models through an assessment oftheir logic and their application to an industrial example.Recommendations are given for the use of reliability growthmodels to aid management of the design process and to informproduct development.     

Skew-Hermitian Triangular Splitting Iteration Methods for Non-Hermitian Positive Definite Linear Systems of Strong Skew-Hermitian Parts

By further generalizing the skew-symmetric triangular splitting iteration method studied by Krukier, Chikina and Belokon (Applied Numerical Mathematics, 41 (2002), pp. 89–105), in this paper, we present a new iteration scheme, called the modified skew-Hermitian triangular splitting iteration method, for solving the strongly non-Hermitian systems of linear equations with positive definite coefficient matrices. We discuss the convergence property and the optimal parameters of this new method in depth. Moreover, when it is applied to precondition the Krylov subspace methods like GMRES, the preconditioning property of the modified skew-Hermitian triangular splitting iteration is analyzed in detail. Numerical results show that, as both solver and preconditioner, the modified skew-Hermitian triangular splitting iteration method is very effective for solving large sparse positive definite systems of linear equations of strong skew-Hermitian parts.     

Design of an experimental procedure for energy evaluation from biomass

The rational and sustainable exploitation of nature resources is one of the priority objectives of our society. In this article a method is proposed to evaluate and exploit the energetic resources contained in different forest formations. This method is based on the use of a combustion bomb calorimeter to determine the calorific values of the different samples studied. These results were complemented with chemical analysis of the samples and with environmental and geomorphological studies of the zones were samples were taken. The results obtained during the last 3 years for the residual biomass originated from the forest formations existing in Galicia ensure the reliability and usefulness of the method that can be extended to any forest formation all over the world.     

Generalized lattice model of liquid state and its relation to Ginzburg–Landau theory

Basic principles of the generalized lattice model of multicomponent condensed systems are formulated. Short-range parts of interatomic interactions are taken into account by means of the geometric constraints method. Long-range parts of the interactions are taken into account in mean field approximation. The expression for Helmholtz free energy is obtained. A system of integral equations for the equilibrium distributions of components is derived. The asymptotic properties of its solutions are investigated. Moment expansion of interatomic interactions and localization of integral terms in free energy is obtained. A Ginzburg–Landau-like functional of free energy is derived.     

Structure and electrochemical behaviour of 4,7-diazaheptyl-trimethoxy-silane and vinyl-trialkoxy-silane adsorbed at silver surface

Novel self-assembled monolayers were obtained on silver using 4,7-diazaheptyl-trimethoxy-silane (SiN) and vinyl-trialkoxy-silane (SiVA, where the alkyl group is 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36,39,42,45,48,51,54,57,60-eicozaoxa- hexaheptaconan). It was shown that thus modified metal surface was protected against electrooxidation. A densely packed monolayer remained stable and did not desorb from the Ag electrode on the potential cycling. The structure of SiN and SiVA as well as their complexes with Li⁺ cations were calculated and visualised by the AM1d and PM5 semi-empirical methods.     

Phenylene dendrimers and novel hyperbranched polyphenylenes as light emissive materials for blue OLEDs

New materials based on low-generation polyphenylene dendrimers with the light emission in the blue spectrum range were synthesized and examined for an efficient organic light emitting diodes (OLED) application. It has been shown that the ratio of p-phenylene groups with high fluorescence parameters to 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene groups with low fluorescent parameters may be the possible reason for the experimental variations of relative quantum yield of photoluminescence in the compounds explored. The quantum yield value is increased with a number of dendrimer generations up to 50–70%. The role of bromine atoms as the luminescence quenchers have been demonstrated, which is important for synthesis route choice.     

广义Sierpinski集

本文考察了包括平面上的各种广义 Cantor集 ,Sierpinski集和包括某些连续不可微曲线在内的广义 Sierpinski集 .由相似变换 ,导出了它们的级数表达式 ,并利用它和字符串空间的对应关系 ,计算出它们的Hausdorff维数     

Ultraslow phonon-assisted collapse of tubular image states

We predict ultraslow collapse of “tubular image states” (TIS) on material surfaces. TIS are bound Rydberg-like electronic states formed at large distances (∼30 nm) from the surfaces of suspended circularly-symmetric nanowires, such as metallic C nanotubes. The states are formed in potential wells, resulting from a combination of the TIS-electron attraction to image charges in the nanotube and its centrifugal repulsion, caused by spinning around the tube. We demonstrate that TIS can collapse on the tube surface by passing their angular momentum l to circularly polarized flexural phonons excited in the tube. Our analysis shows that for highly detached TIS with l ? 6 the relaxation lifetimes are of the order of 10 ns-1 μs, while for l < 6 these lifetimes are reduced by several orders of magnitude.     

四阶非线性边值问题解的存在性与上下解方法

该文讨论四阶常微分方程边值问题u^(4)(t)=f(t,u,u″), t∈［0,1］,u(0)=u(1)=u″(0)=u″(1)=0解的存在性, 其中f(t,u,v):［0,1］×R×R→R为Carathéodory函数. 在不限制f关于u,v的增长阶, 不假定f关于u,v的单调性的一般情形下, 用上下解方法获得了解的存在性结果,并讨论了单调迭代求解的有效性.     

Designing an effective federal biomass program

This article addresses two questions: Has the effectiveness of the US governments federal research and development (R&;D) spending suffered from the post-1980 strategic change from freely shared and publicly owned to privately owned scientific advances? What criteria would a federal R&;D program use to design a strategy that most effectively enhances the well-being of farmers and rural communities? Several studies found that the pre-1980 US Department of Agriculture research strategy was very effective. No comparable studies have analyzed the comparative effectiveness of the post-1980 strategy of restricting access to the results of public research. Recent experience and several analytical studies suggest that to significantly enhance the health of rural economies from an expanded use of plant matter as an industrial material, federal policy should channel scientific and engineering research into small- and medium-sized production and processing technologies and should encourage farmer-owned, value-added enterprises.