Bivariate Constant-Stress Accelerated Degradation Model and Inference Based on the Inverse Gaussian Process

Modern highly reliable products may have two or more quality characteristics (QCs) because of their complex structures and abundant functions. Relations between the QCs should be considered when assessing the reliability of these products. This paper conducts a Bayesian analysis for a bivariate constant-stress accelerated degradation model based on the inverse Gaussian (IG) process. We assume that the product considered has two QCs and each of the QCs is governed by an IG process. The relationship between the QCs is described by a Frank copula function. We also assume that the stress on the products affects not only the parameters of the IG processes, but also the parameter of the Frank copula function. The Bayesian MCMC method is developed to calculate the maximum likelihood estimators (MLE) of the model parameters. The reliability function and the mean-time-to-failure (MTTF) are estimated through the calculation of the posterior samples. Finally, a simulation example is presented to illustrate the proposed bivariate constant-stress accelerated degradation model.     

Total losses and the peril of piracy in English law of marine insurance

Whereas the Marine Insurance Act 1906 provides substantial detail about total losses, very little is provided in relation to piracy in the said statute. The recent judgments in Masefield v Amlin by Steel J ([2010] 1Lloyd's Rep. IR 345) and then by the English Court of Appeal ([2011] EWCA Civ 24) have highlighted the difficulties associated with determining whether a seizure of the subject-matter of insurance, in this case cargo, by pirates, demanding a ransom, can give rise to a claim for a total loss. This is a very important matter which also raises issues of legality and public policy. This article examines the implications of this judgment against the backdrop of the English marine insurance definition of piracy and the intricacies of the law relating to constructive and actual total losses. The article concludes with the suggestion that possibly the marine insurance definition of piracy should tally with that in the domain of public international law, and further, that legislative intervention should be considered for the purpose of ascertaining the point in time whether and when seizure by pirates can constitute a total loss.     

Piracy off West Africa from 2010 to 2014: an analysis

Piracy is one of the most frequent maritime threats. However, despite the importance of how maritime piracy is to be reduced, it is substantially less investigated than maritime safety. Piracy off Somalia is the most investigated case of piracy, but those results are not necessarily generalizable. Piracy off West Africa has been shown to be more diverse, successful and dangerous. This study investigates and analyses piracy off West Africa with the aim to understand how different operations and security measures affect the consequences of piracy. This study has identified several different intents and shows that most attacks are relatively close to shore and correspond to areas of high ship density. Attacks with the intent of theft at night-time are generally performed close to shore, and more complicated attacks against ships under way are more common during daytime and farther from shore. Five types of measures are found to have high effectiveness if the attack is detected during approach; after boarding, only two measures have high effectiveness. Of the effective measures, it can be concluded that all but one are dependent on detecting the attack. Therefore, detecting the pirates is key but must be accompanied by a set of measures because no measure alone can protect a ship given the operational conditions off West Africa. The risks associated with piracy off West Africa are estimated to be of the same magnitude as the risks posed by Somali piracy at its peak.     

Pressure-Based Approach to Estimating the Injection Start and End in Single and Split Common Rail Injection Processes

The deep understanding on sand and sand dunes scale can be useful to reveal the formation mechanism of the sandstorm for early sandstorm forecast. The current sandstorm observation methods are mainly based on conventional meteorological station and satellites remote sensing, which are difficult to acquire sand scale information. A wireless sensing network is implemented in the hinterland of desert, which includes ad hoc network, sensor, global positioning system (GPS) and system integration technology. The wireless network is a three-layer architecture and daisy chain topology network, which consists of control station, master robots and slave robots. Every three robots including one master robot and its two slave robots forms an ad hoc network. Master robots directly communicate with radio base station. Information will be sent to remote information center. Data sensing system including different kinds of sensors and desert robots is developed. A desert robot is designed and implemented as unmanned probing movable nodes and sensors’ carrier. A new optical fiber sensor is exploited to measure vibration of sand in particular. The whole system, which is delivered to the testing field in hinterland of desert (25 km far from base station), has been proved efficient for data acquisition.     

A secure trust model for P2P systems based on trusted computing

Trust is one of the most important security requirements in the design and implementation of peer-to-peer （P2P） systems. In an environment where peers＇ identity privacy is important, it may conflict with trustworthiness that is based on the knowledge related to the peer＇s identity, while identity privacy is usually achieved by hiding such knowledge. A trust model based on trusted computing （TC） technology was proposed to enhance the identity privacy of peers during the trustworthiness evaluation process between peers from different groups. The simulation results show that, the model can be implemented in an efficient way, and when the degree of anonymity within group （DAWG） is up to 0.6 and the percentage of malicious peers is up to 70%7 the service selection failure rate is less than 0.15.     

Automatic software install/update for embedded Linux

Linux has a special feature of automount in the Linux kernel. Filesystem can be mounted and unmounted automatically. Its performance is similar to MS Windows. It works well under demands of more saving resources and automatization, like memory of system. An approach to install/update software automatically on embedded platform was proposed. This approach derives from above feature based on embedded environment with Linux OS. Configurations of files related to this feature were introduced. An example in practice was given to realize this approach from universal serial bus （USB） memory disk when USB disk is available.     

Identity-based verifiably committed signature scheme without random oracles

An identity-based verifiably committed signature scheme （IB-VCS） was proposed, which is proved secure in the standard model （i.e., without random oracles）. It enjoys the setup-free property and stand-alone property, both of which make an exchange protocol more practical. The scheme is unconditionally secure against the cheating signer, its security against the cheating verifier is reduced to the computational Diffie-Hellman （CDH） problem in the underlying group, it is secure against the cheating trusted third party if the underlying Paterson Schuldt＇s identity based signature （IBS） scheme is secure, which is proven true based on the CDH assumption in the standard model.     

Intelligent drug delivery system using UML diagrams analysis

A novel intelligent drug delivery system potential for the more effective therapy of the diabeticswas proposed, and the composition of system was analyzed. Based on the design of micro-electro-mechanicalsystems (MEMS), an iterative modeling process was introduced. Unified modeling language (UML) was em-ployed to describe the function requirement, and different diagrams were built up to explore the static model,the dynamic model and the employment model. The mapping analysis of different diagrams can simply verifythe consistency and completeness of the system model.     

An analysis of bicycle route choice preferences in Texas,US

In the US, the rise in motorized vehicle travel has contributed to serious societal, environmental, economic, and public health problems. These problems have increased the interest in encouraging non-motorized modes of travel (walking and bicycling). The current study contributes toward this objective by identifying and evaluating the importance of attributes influencing bicyclists’ route choice preferences. Specifically, the paper examines a comprehensive set of attributes that influence bicycle route choice, including: (1) bicyclists’ characteristics, (2) on-street parking, (3) bicycle facility type and amenities, (4) roadway physical characteristics, (5) roadway functional characteristics, and (6) roadway operational characteristics. The data used in the analysis is drawn from a web-based stated preference survey of Texas bicyclists. The results of the study emphasize the importance of a comprehensive evaluation of both route-related attributes and bicyclists’ demographics in bicycle route choice decisions. The empirical results indicate that travel time (for commuters) and motorized traffic volume are the most important attributes in bicycle route choice. Other route attributes with a high impact include number of stop signs, red light, and cross-streets, speed limits, on-street parking characteristics, and whether there exists a continuous bicycle facility on the route.

A traffic analysis zone definition: a new methodology and algorithm

This paper develops a comprehensive approach to the definition of transportation analysis zones (TAZ), and therein, presents a new methodology and algorithm for the definition of TAZ embedded in geographic information systems software, improves the base algorithm with several local algorithms, and comprehensively analyses the obtained results. The results obtained are then compared to these presently used in the transportation analysis process of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The proposed algorithm presents a new methodology for TAZ design based on a smoothed density surface of geocoded travel demand data. The algorithm aims to minimise the loss of information when moving from a continuous representation of the origin and destination of each trip to their discrete representations through zones, and focuses on the trade-off between the statistical precision, geographical error, and the percentage of intra-zonal trips of the resulting OD matrix. The results for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area case study suggest a significant improvement in OD matrix estimates compared to current transportation analysis practises based on administrative units.