Seminar Notice

                Statistical Laboratory
                 Iowa State University

DATE AND TIME:     Monday, September 22, 1997, 4:10 p.m.

PLACE:             319 Snedecor Hall

SPEAKER:           Stephen B. Vardeman
                   Department of Statistics
                   Iowa State University
                   
TITLE:             Development Programs for 1-Shot Systems: 
                   Decoupled Tests and Redesigns, With the
                   Possibility of Design Degradation

                       ABSTRACT

    This talk extends in two important directions the recent work of Huang,
McBeth and Vardeman (1996 _IEEE Transactions on Reliability_) on efficient
development testing for 1-shot systems.  First, the testing and redesign
activities are decoupled.  They are assigned their own costs and development
strategies are allowed to include multiple tests between redesigns and vice
versa.  Second, the possibility that in fact an engineering redesign degrades
design reliability is allowed.  Backwards induction is used to find optimal 
test-and-redesign programs.  The theory developed here characterizes optimal
programs and allows for computation and the study of numerical examples.
    
COFFEE: 3:45 p.m., 104 Snedecor Hall