The use of residuals in statistical modeling for fatigue-crackgrowth under constant amplitude loading

Various models have been proposed over the years to fit crack growth data. Many papers have appeared in which one or more models are mooted and fitted, and various assessments made of the quality of the fit. At the basic level the data are plotted, together with the fitted curve, to show agreement of experimental and predicted values. In this paper we suggest that it can be useful and informative to go one step further, examining the residuals, i.e., the differences between the experimental and predicted values. We draw attention to certain statistical methods for such critical assessment and show by example that this can reveal deficiencies in fit not otherwise obvious. In this way suitable modifications to the model can be suggested. Additional plots of estimated parameters are also shown to be informative about models     

Integrated chaos generators

This paper surveys the different design issues, from mathematical model to silicon, involved in the design of analog CMOS integrated circuits for the generation of chaotic behavior     

Suspension force and mechanism of debris flows

The paper discusses the postulated suspension force, by which it is possible to explain some enigmatic phenomena observed in different types of mass movements. This force is generated in thick suspensions as a result of friction between sinking solid particles and static water. The suspension force is related to the seepage force but they have opposite directions. Both forces form flow networks. Having explained the suspension force, the paper describes how this influences the movement of material, particularly in debris flows. Enigmatic features and the mechanism of debris flows and lahars are explained by virtue of the suspension force. Electronic Publication     

Mobility management for VoIP service: Mobile IP vs. SIP

Wireless Internet access has gained significant attention as wireless/mobile communications and networking become widespread. The voice over IP service is likely to play a key role in the convergence of IP-based Internet and mobile cellular networks. We explore different mobility management schemes from the perspective of VoIP services, with a focus on Mobile IP and session initiation protocol. After illustrating the signaling message flows in these two protocols for diverse cases of mobility management, we propose a shadow registration concept to reduce the interdomain handoff (macro-mobility) delay in the VoIP service in mobile environments. We also analytically compute and compare the delay and disruption time for exchanging signaling messages associated with the Mobile IP and SIP-based solutions.     

A new statistical model for site-specific indoor radio propagationprediction based on geometric optics and geometric probability

The ray-tracing (RT) algorithm has been used for accurately predicting the site-specific radio propagation characteristics, in spite of its computational intensity. Statistical models, on the other hand, offers computational simplicity but low accuracy. In this paper, a new model is proposed for predicting the indoor radio propagation to achieve computational simplicity over the RT method and better accuracy than the statistical models. The new model is based on the statistical derivation of the ray-tracing operation, whose results are a number of paths between the transmitter and receiver, each path comprises a number of rays. The pattern and length of the rays in these paths are related to statistical parameters of the site-specific features of indoor environment, such as the floor plan geometry. A key equation is derived to relate the average path power to the site-specific parameters, which are: 1) mean free distance; 2) transmission coefficient; and 3) reflection coefficient. The equation of the average path power is then used to predict the received power in a typical indoor environment. To evaluate the accuracy of the new model in predicting the received power in a typical indoor environment, a comparison with RT results and with measurement data shows an error bound of less than 5 dB     

Neural Computation of the MoM Matrix Elements for Planar Configurations

In this paper a new artificial neural network (ANN) based model for the calculation of the method of moments (MoM) matrix elements is presented. Training sets that characterize the matrix elements are first constructed. These sets are then utilized to effectively train two radial basis function (RBF) neural networks to accurately estimate all the elements of the MoM matrix for any mesh used. The potential of the proposed approach is demonstrated in the case of a narrow microstrip line. The current distribution on the microstrip line produced by the trained RBF networks agrees very well with the exact distribution. In addition, the proposed ANN model is much faster than the conventional MoM procedure.     

Use of weibull statistics to quantify property variability in TiAl alloys

Tensile experiments have been performed on specimens of four different investment-cast TiAl-based alloys with variations in casting conditions. The average ductilities obtained in these experiments vary between approximately 0.8 to 2.0 pct plastic strain to failure in tension. By using the three-parameter form of the Weibull relation, with the 0.2 pct offset yield strength as the minimum failure strength, the resulting variability in the data can be quantified and is found to be similar for those alloys with similar microstructural scale (grain size). Large variations in lamellar volume fraction, segregation, and phase distribution have a minor influence on property variability, compared to changes in the scale of the grain structure caused by either variations in cooling rate during casting or the addition of grain refiners.     

Distribution of properties from sampling inhomogeneous materials by line transects

A theory related to the statistics of the structure and properties of inhomogeneous materials has been proposed, dealing with the distribution of properties from sampling of inhomogeneous structures by line transects. It is demonstrated that the empirical cumulative distribution functions of the intercepts from the microstructural constituents and their variances are important fingerprints of the inhomogeneous structures.Simulated sampling of the images of the microstructure by line transects has been proposed as a powerful method for characterization the distribution of properties of inhomogeneous structures. One of the advantages of the method based on the expected values of the order statistics of the intercepts is that the probability bounds of the property are determined without prior knowledge of the functional relationship between the property and the intercepts from the structural constituents.The concept intercept variance has an important application in determining the minimum transect length that stabilizes the variation of the intercept at a low value. Additionally, the concept ‘intercept variance’ can be used for topological optimization of the microstructure regarding the risk of intercepting a large amount of the weaker constituent. Equations regarding the variance of the intercepted fraction characterizing transect lengths with a specified distribution have also been derived.     

Scheduling railway traffic at a construction site

We consider the problem of rescheduling trains in the case where one track of a railway section consisting of two tracks in opposing directions is closed due to construction activities. After presenting an appropriate model for this situation we derive a polynomial algorithm for the subproblem of finding an optimal schedule with minimal latenesss if the subsequences of trains for both directions outside the construction site are fixed. Based on this algorithm we propose a local search procedure for the general problem of finding good schedules and report test results for some real world instances. Received: December 8, 1999 / Accepted: May 2, 2001