Estimating Device Reliability: Assessment of Credibility is concerned with the plausibility of reliability estimates obtained from statistical models. Statistical predictions are necessary because technology is always pushing into unexplored areas faster than devices can be made long-lived by design. Flawed reliability methodologies can produce disastrous results, an outstanding example of which is the catastrophic failure of the manned space shuttle CHALLENGER in January 1986. This issue is not whether, but which, statistical models should be used. The issue is not making reliability estimates, but is instead their credibility. The credibility questions explored in the context of practical applications include: What does the confidence level associated with the use of statistical model mean? Is the numerical result associated with a high confidence level beyond dispute? When is it appropriate to use the exponential (constant hazard rate) model? Does this model always provide the most conservative reliability estimate? Are the results of traditional random' failure hazard rate calculations tenable? Are there persuasive alternatives? What model should be used to describe the useful life of a device when wearout is absent? When Weibull and lognormal failure plots containing a large number of failure times appear similar, how should the correct wearout model be selected? Is it important to distinguish between a conservative upper bound on a probability of failure and a realistic estimate of the same probability? Estimating Device Reliability: Assessment of Credibility is for those who are obliged to make reliability calculations with a paucity of somewhat corrupt data, by using inexactmodels, and by making physical assumptions which are impractical to verify. Illustrative examples deal with a variety of electronic devices, ICs and lasers.

The adventures of life as seen through the eyes of Lila and Lester whom I have given the age of four years old. Big Sis is ten years old.

Essays by Herman Beavers, Gena Chandler, Marc C. Conner, William Gleason, William R. Nash, Linda Selzer, Gary Storhoff, and John Whalen-Bridge

In "Charles Johnson: The Novelist as Philosopher," leading scholars examine the African American author's literary corpus and major themes, ideas, and influences. The essays explore virtually all of Johnson's writings: each of his novels, his numerous short stories, the range of his nonfiction essays, his many book reviews, and even several unpublished works.

These essays engage Johnson's work from a variety of critical perspectives, revealing the philosophical, cultural, and political implications of his writings. The authors seek especially to understand "philosophical black fiction" and to provide the multifocal, "whole sight" analysis Johnson's work demands.

Johnson (b. 1948)--author of "Dreamer," "Oxherding Tale," and the National Book Award-winning "Middle Passage"--draws upon influences as diverse as Richard Wright, Herman Melville, Thomas Aquinas, Franz Kafka, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He combines rigorous training in western philosophy with a lifelong practice in eastern religious and philosophical traditions. He has repeatedly told interviewers that he became a writer specifically to strengthen the interplay between philosophy and fiction.

Marc C. Conner is associate professor of English at Washington and Lee University. William R. Nash is associate professor of American studies and director of African American studies at Middlebury College.

The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis is the long overdue successor to Fromm and Nash's Contemporary Hypnosis Research (Guilford Press), which has been regarded as the field's authoritative scholarly reference for over 35 years. This new book is a comprehensive summary of where field has been, where it stands today, and its future directions. The volume's lucid and engaging chapters on the scientific background to the field, fully live up to this uncompromising scholarly legacy. In addition, the scope of the book includes 17 clinical chapters which comprehensively describe how hypnosis is best used with patients across a spectrum of disorders and applied settings. Authored by the world's leading practitioners these contributions are sophisticated, inspiring, and richly illustrated with case examples and session transcripts. For postgraduate students, researchers and clinicians, or anyone wanting to understand hypnosis as a form of treatment, this is the starting point. Unequalled in its breadth and quality, The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis is the definitive reference text in the field.