International Journal of Performability Engineering Editor-in-Chief Krishna B. Misra, RAMS Consultants, Jaipur, India   Regional Editors THE AMERICAS EUROPE ASIA PACIFIC Michael G. Pecht Uday Kumar Liyang Xie University of Maryland, U.S.A. Luleĺ University of Tech, Sweden Northeastern University, China

Editorial Board   Group 1: Product Design, Quality, Manufacturing Systems & Management and Human Factors Group 3: : System Analysis and Computational Intelligence (Fuzzy sets, Neural Networks, Genetic Alg., BDD, Boolean Systems etc.) Group 5: System Safety & Risk Assessment, Management and Governance   Thong-Ngee Goh, Singapore Yuanshun Dai, U.S.A. John Andrews, U.K. K. C. Kapur, U.S.A Blas J. Galván, Spain Terje Aven, Norway P. K. Kapur, India Madan M. Gupta, Canada Per Hokstad, Norway Andre Kleyner, U.S.A. Hong-Zhong Huang, China Peter Kafka, Germany H. C. Moon, Korea Zhibin Jiang, China Takehisa Kohda, Japan Albert F. Myers, U.S.A. Abdulla Konak, U.S.A. Hiromitsu Kumamoto, Japan Vivek Nanda, U.S.A. Gregory Levitin, Israel Sebastián Martorell, Spain S. M. Rizwan, Oman Mitchell Locks, U.S.A M. Modarres, U.S.A. Gordon J. Savage, Canada Mustapha Nourelfath, Canada Rausand Marvin, Norway Joseph Sharit, U.S.A. Claudio Rocco, Venezuela Bernhard Reer, Switzerland Gurunatha Thimmiah, U.S.A. K. S. Trivedi, U.S.A. Ortwin Renn, Germany L. C. Tang, Singapore S. Verduyn Lunel, Netherlands K. Suzuki, Japan John P. Ulhři, Denmark Enrico Zio, Italy Charles S. Tapiero, U.S.A. Masataka Yoshimura, Japan Ming J. Zuo, Canada P. V. Varde, India   Group 2: Reliability Modelling, Analysis, Design, Testing and Demonstration Group 4: System Support, Supportability, Tribology, Maintenance & Maintainability Group 6: Sustainability (Design for Environment, Ecology and Environmental Management & Regulations)   Suprasad V. Amari, U.S.A. Olov Candell, Sweden Leo Alting, Denmark Swapna Gokhale, U.S.A. Lirong Cui, China Beng Wah Ang, Singapore Harry Guo, U.S.A. Pierre Dersin, France Leo Baas, The Netherlands Achintya Haldar, U.S.A. B. S. Dhillon, Canada Giancarlo Barbiroli, Italy Gregg K. Hobbs, U.S.A. Kenneth Holmberg, Finland Rod Barratt, U.K. Karama Kanoun, France Andrew K.S. Jardine, Canada R. van Dam-Mieras, Holland John M. Kontoleon, Greece Renyan Jiang, China Toni Gladding, U.K. Nikolaos Limnios, France Krzysztof Kolowrocki, Poland Thornton (Ted) Gogoll, U.S.A. Yi-Kuei Lin, Taiwan Vilium Makis, Canada Seth Guikema, U.S.A. D.N.P. Murthy, Australia Toshio Nakagawa, Japan S. Mohan, India Hoang Pham, U.S.A. Aditya Parida, Sweden Walter R. Stahel, Switzerland Suresh Rai, U.S.A. P. Sandborn, U.S.A. T. Viraraghavan, Canada Antoine Rauzy, France Shey-Huei Sheu, Taiwan Ronald Wennersten, Sweden Michael Todinov, U.K. A. K. Verma, India Peng Zhou, Singapore

Editorial Group Coordinators Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 M. Yoshimura, Japan S. V. Amari, U.S.A Gregory Levitin, Israel       Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Lirong Cui, China Terje Aven, Norway Rod Barratt, U.K.

Editor for Short Communications Liudong Xing, University of  Massachusetts, Dartmouth, U.S.A.

Associate Editors Lisa Bartlett, U.K. M. S. Kulkarni, India Sieteng Soh, Australia  S. K. Chaturvedi, India Yung-wen Liu, U.S.A. Heidi A. Taboada, U.S.A. Jose F. Espiritu, U.S.A. Jose E. Ramirez-Marquez, U.S.A. Nikhil Vichare, U.S.A.

Website Developer & Ecommerce Adviser Rayomond Chinoy, Tampa, USA

Publication Advisors Vinita Chinoy, Tampa Vivek Misra, Pittsburgh Kavita Trivedi, Toronto

Financial Adviser Manoj Trivedi, Toronto, Canada

In addition to the members of Editorial Board,  we have other reviewers as well, who help us in the refereeing process. Acknowledgement to such reviewers is published in the last issue of the year.