Calibrating software reliability models when the test environment does not match the user environment

Software failures have become the major factor that brings the system down or causes a degradation in the quality of service. For many applications, estimating the software failure rate from a user's perspective helps the development team evaluate the reliability of the software and determine the release time properly. Traditionally, software reliability growth models are applied to system test data with the hope of estimating the software failure rate in the field. Given the aggressive nature by which the software is exercised during system test, as well as unavoidable differences between the test environment and the field environment, the resulting estimate of the failure rate will not typically reflect the user‐perceived failure rate in the field. The goal of this work is to quantify the mismatch between the system test environment and the field environment. A calibration factor is proposed to map the failure rate estimated from the system test data to the failure rate that will be observed in the field. Non‐homogeneous Poisson process models are utilized to estimate the software failure rate in both the system test phase and the field. For projects that have only system test data, use of the calibration factor provides an estimate of the field failure rate that would otherwise be unavailable. For projects that have both system test data and previous field data, the calibration factor can be explicitly evaluated and used to estimate the field failure rate of future releases as their system test data becomes available. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bounds to optimal burn‐in and optimal work size

Burn‐in is a widely used method to improve the quality of products or systems after they have been produced. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining the optimal burn‐in time and optimal work size maximizing the long‐run average amount of work saved per time unit in the computer applications. Assuming that the underlying lifetime distribution of the computer has an initially decreasing or/and eventually increasing failure rate function, an upper bound for the optimal burn‐in time is derived for each fixed work size and a uniform (with respect to the burn‐in time) upper bound for the optimal work size is also obtained. Furthermore, it is shown that a non‐trivial lower bound for the optimal burn‐in time can be derived if the underlying lifetime distribution has a large initial failure rate. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

两相同部件温贮备可修的人机系统解的性质分析

本文首先用强连续算子半群理论证明了两相同部件温贮备可修的人机系统动态非负解的存在唯一性 ,然后证明了 0是系统主算子的本征值 ,并得到 0本征值对应的本征向量是正的 ,从而系统存在稳态正解 .     

A new insight into the understanding of the collapsed form of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) molecules

Possible collapsed forms of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) molecules are reviewed on the basis of first principle calculations. Various configurations and associated conformations are detailed. The calculated optimized structures exhibit different possibilities of creating networks of intra-molecular bonds of the hydrogen type. We show that the most remarkable one is able to form a local, self-saturated and well ordered helix. We also indicate in which direction the synthesis of the molecule should be oriented to improve its global behavior in term of hydrophobic/hydrophilic behavior.     

Representing the mean residual life in terms of the failure rate

In survival or reliability studies, the mean residual life or life expectancy is an important characteristic of the model. Whereas the failure rate can be expressed quite simply in terms of the mean residual life and its derivative, the inverse problem—namely that of expressing the mean residual life in terms of the failure rate—typically involves an integral of a complicated expression. In this paper, we obtain simple expressions for the mean residual life in terms of the failure rate for certain classes of distributions which subsume many of the standard cases. Several results in the literature can be obtained using our approach. Additionally, we develop an expansion for the mean residual life in terms of Gaussian probability functions for a broad class of ultimately increasing failure rate distributions. Some examples are provided to illustrate the procedure.     

Ab initio study of sodium intercalation into metal oxides

Using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method, we have studied the effect of chemistry on the average intercalation voltage (AIV) caused by the Na ions intercalating into transition metal oxides. The effect of transition metal was systematically studied by varying M=Co, Ni and Mn in NaMO₂ and fixing the α-NaFeO₂ layered structure. The effect of the guest atoms into the host material is discussed in terms of the structural and electronic properties. Comparatively to Li intercalation, a significant electron transfer towards transition metal was found. This observation suggests that the transition metal contribute to the AIV determination and confirms the common assumption that intercalated electron reduces M⁴⁺ to M³⁺.     

Micromechanisms and Mechanics of Damage and Fracture in Thin Film/Substrate Systems

The purpose of this paper is to review the mechanisms and available theoretical methods for modeling the strength and failure of thin film/substrate systems     

无失效数据的Bayes和多层Bayes分析

本文推广了文献[6]的结果，对指数分布无失效数据的失效率，给出了Bayes估计、Bayes置信上限以及多层Bayes估计，从而可以得到无失效数据可靠度的估计，最后，结合实际问题进行了计算。     

Mechanical endurance of polymer electrolyte membrane and PEM fuel cell durability

The life of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is currently limited by the mechanical endurance of polymer electrolyte membranes and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). In this paper, the authors report recent experimental and modeling work toward understanding the mechanisms of delayed mechanical failures of polymer electrolyte membranes and MEAs under relevant PEMFC operating conditions. Mechanical breach of membranes/MEAs in the form of pinholes and tears has been frequently observed after long‐term or accelerated testing of PEMFC cells/stacks. Catastrophic failure of cell/stack due to rapid gas crossover shortly follows the mechanical breach. Ex situ mechanical characterizations were performed on MEAs after being subjected to the accelerated chemical aging and relative humidity (RH) cycling tests. The results showed significant reduction of MEA ductility manifested as drastically reduced strain‐to‐failure of the chemically aged and RH‐cycled MEAs. Postmortem analysis revealed the formation and growth of mechanical defects such as cracks and crazing in the membranes and MEAs. A finite element model was used to estimate stress/strain states of an edge‐constrained MEA under rapid RH variations. Damage metrics for accelerated testing and life prediction of PEMFCs are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2346–2357, 2006     

Generalized Solution of a Kind of Nonparametric Curvature Evolution with Boundary Condition

The existence and uniqueness of the generalized solution for a kind of nonparametric curvature flow problem are obtained. This kind of curvature flow problem describes the evolution of graphs with speed depending on the reciprocal of the Gauss curvature.