Adaptive designs for sequential experiments

Various adaptive designs have been proposed and applied to clinical trials, bio assay, psychophysics, etc.Adaptive designs are also useful in high cost engineering trials.More and more people have been paying attention to these design methods. This paper introduces several broad families of designs, such as the play-the-winner rule, randomized play-the-winner rule and its generalization to the multi-arm case, doubly biased coin adaptive design, Markov chain model.

Macro-mechanical properties of columnar jointed basaltic rock masses

From the geological structure of the columnar jointed rock mass, a visual model was established in software AUTOCAD by programming based on the algorithm of the Voronoi diagram. Furthermore, a program to convert the AUTOCAD model into 3DEC (3-dimensional distinct element code) model was developed, and a numerical model was established in 3DEC. Moreover, the results of triaxial compression tests of columnar jointed rock masses were simulated numerically. The REV (representative element volume) scale was studied, and the result shows that the REV size is 3 m × 3 m. The proposed approach, the established model and the numerical simulation were applied to study the macro-mechanical properties and the equivalent strength parameters of the columnar jointed rock mass. The numerical simulation results are in good accordance with the in-situ test results.

Testable model specification via statechart schema

XML is an important technology for Internet-based data exchange with far reaching capabilities be-yond for just data exchange. The paper describes the first results of a project that aims to explore the applicabil-ity of XML technology for web-based software engineering with the emphasis on collaborative software testing in-volving the use of statechart. The paper presents the approach of building the statechart schema with XML Sche-ma. It also describes the use of the schema in a web-based collaborative software testing CASE environment.

Research on Partial Coefficients for Design of Quarter-circular Caisson Breakwater

The quarter-circular caisson breakwater （QCB） is a new type of breakwater, and it can be applied in deepwater. The stability of QCB under wave force action can be enhanced, and the rubble mound engineering can be less than that of semi-circular breakwaters in deepwater. In order to study the wave force distribution acting on the QCB, to find wave force formula for this type of breakwater, firstly in this paper, the distribution characteristics of the horizontal force, the downward vertical force and the uplift force on the breakwater were gotten based on physical model wave flume experiments and on the analysis of the wave pressure experimental data. Based on a series of physical model tests acted by irregular waves, a kind of calculation method, which was modified by Goda formula, was proposed to carry out the wave force on the QCB. Secondly, the reliability method with correlated variables was adopted to analyze the QCB, considering the high correlation between wave forces or moments. Utilizing the observed wave data in engineering field, the reliability index and failure probability of QCB were obtained. Finally, a factor Q=0.9 is given to modify the zero pressure height above SWL of QCB, and wave force partial coefficient 1.34 to the design expressions of QCB for anti-sliding, as well as 1.67 for anti-overturning, were presented.