active library

masked-series-companions

Companion research directions for masked series systems likelihood framework

Started 2026

Resources & Distribution

Source Code

GitHub Repository

Package Registries

Companion Research Directions for Masked Series Systems

Research ideas, ablation studies, and companion paper drafts building on the foundation paper:

Towell, A. (2025). Masked Causes of Failure in Series Systems: A Likelihood Framework. [arXiv/Zenodo forthcoming]

Ecosystem Map

                    Foundation Paper
                  (distribution-agnostic
                   C1-C2-C3 likelihood)
                          |
          +---------------+---------------+
          |               |               |
    Identifiability   Information     Observation
    & Separability    Loss from       Scheme
    (this repo)       Masking         Composition
                      (this repo)     (this repo)
          |
          +-------+-------+-------+
          |       |       |       |
        Expo    Weibull  Model   Other
        Case    Case     Select  Families
        (done)  (planned)(exists)(planned)

Existing Papers/Repos

Paper	Repo	Status
Foundation (C1-C2-C3 framework)	`masked-causes-in-series-systems`	Draft complete
Exponential case (closed-form FIM)	`expo-masked-fim`	Draft complete
Model selection (LRT, nesting chain)	`maskedselect`	Refactoring → R package + JOSS
Master’s project (original Weibull treatment)	`reliability-estimation-in-series-systems`	Published
Relaxed C1/C2/C3 conditions	`mdrelax/paper`	Draft

R Package Stack

flexhaz --> serieshaz --> maskedhaz
                              |
                        maskedcauses       mdrelax

For the full ecosystem map (all papers, packages, dependencies, and local paths), see ECOSYSTEM.md.

Research Directions in This Repo

Each directory contains a research brief, literature notes, and (eventually) draft content.

Directory	Working Title	Novelty	Effort
`01-identifiability/`	Identifiability and Diagnostic Design for Masked Series Systems	High	Medium
`02-information-loss/`	Fisher Information Loss from Masking: Quantifying the Cost of Incomplete Diagnostics	High	Medium
`03-observation-composition/`	Composable Observation Schemes for Masked Reliability Data	Medium	Low
`04-nesting-vs-structure/`	Statistical Parsimony vs Physical Structure in Series System Modeling	Medium	Low
`05-weibull-companion/`	MLE for Weibull Series Systems with Masked Failure Causes	Medium	High

How to Use This Repo

Each research direction has a brief.md with the core idea, scope, and open questions
As ideas mature, they get promoted to their own paper repo
Cross-reference the foundation paper’s theorems and notation throughout