This is the first book on the Which-Is-Better (WIB) Problem. These are questions that in daily life include such as “Which is larger, younger and stronger?".   The main objective of this book is summarizing WIB Problems in maintenance and reliability theory. Optimal policies of replacement first, last and overtime are derived and compared theoretically and numerically, and WIB policies are determined. Furthermore, the reliability properties of parallel and standby systems are compared, and WIB system is determined. These WIB Problems are applied to shock and damage models and backup and checkpoint models of computer systems.

From 1858 to 1930 the concept of whiteness in British India was complex and contradictory. Under the Raj, the spread of racial ideologies was pervasive, but whiteness was never taken as self-evident. It was constantly called into question and its boundaries were disciplined and policed through socio-cultural and institutional practices.
Only those whites with social status, cultural refinement, and the right level of education were able to command the respect and awe of colonized subjects. Among those who straddled the boundaries of whiteness were the 'domiciled community', made up of mixed-descent 'Eurasians' and racially unmixed 'Domiciled Europeans', both of whom lived in India on a permanent basis. Members of this community, or those who were categorized as such under the Raj, unwittingly rendered the meaning of whiteness ambiguous in fundamental ways.
The colonial authorities quickly identified the domiciled community as a particularly malign source of political instability and social disorder, and were constantly urged to furnish various institutional measures - predominantly philanthropic and educational by character - that specifically targeted its degraded conditions. The Meaning of White reveals the precise ways in which the existence of this community was identified as a problem (the 'Eurasian Question') and examines the deeper historical meanings of this categorization. Dr Mizutani demystifies the ideology of whiteness, situating it within the concrete social realities of colonial history.

Discusses replacement, repair, and inspection Offers estimation and statistical tests Covers accelerated life testing Explores warranty analysis manufacturing Includes service reliability