A Proportional Hazard Marshall–Olkin Extended Family of Distributions and its Application to Gompertz Distribution

In this paper, we have presented a proportional hazard version of the Marshall–Olkin extended family of distributions. This family of distributions has been compared in terms of stochastic orderings with the Marshall-Olkin extended family of distributions. Considering the Gompertz distribution as the baseline, the monotonicity of the resulting failure rate is shown to be either increasing or bathtub, even though the Gompertz distribution has an increasing failure rate. The maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters has been studied and a data set, involving the serum–reversal times, has been analyzed and it has been shown that the model presented in this paper fit better than the Gompertz or even the Mrashall–Olkin Gompertz distribution. The extension presented in this paper can be used in other family of distributions as well.     

Stochastic comparisons in frailty models

The frailty model in survival analysis accounts for unobserved heterogeneity between individuals by assuming that the hazard rate of an individual is the product of an individual specific quantity, called “frailty” and a baseline hazard rate. It is well known that the choice of the frailty distribution strongly affects the nonparametric estimate of the baseline hazard as well as that of the conditional probabilities. This paper reviews the basic concepts of a frailty model, presents various probability inequalities and other monotonicity results which may prove useful in choosing among alternative specifications. More specifically, our main result lies in seeing how well known stochastic orderings between distributions of two frailities translate into orderings between the corresponding survival functions. Some probabilistic aspects and implications of the models resulting from competing choices of the distributions of frailty or the baseline are compared.     

New class of location-parameter discrete probability distributions and their characterizations

A new class of location-parameter discrete probability distributions (LDPD) has been defined where the population mean is the location parameter. It has been shown that some single parameter discrete distributions do not belong to this class and all discrete probability distributions belonging to this class can be characterized by their variances only. Expressions are given for the first four central moments and a recurrence formula for higher central moments has been obtained. Eight theorems are given to characterize the various distributions in the LDPD class.     

Tolerance limits - a review

This review covers some known results on tolerance limits for univariate distributions. Results for parametric continuous and discrete distributions as well as those based on nonparametric methods are included. Some general results, including those for certain restricted families of distributions are also covered. Sample size determination and related problems are discussed     

A discrete analogue of odd Weibull-G family of distributions: properties,classical and Bayesian estimation with applications to count data

In the statistical literature, several discrete distributions have been developed so far. However, in this progressive technological era, the data generated from different fields is getting complicated day by day, making it difficult to analyze this real data through the various discrete distributions available in the existing literature. In this context, we have proposed a new flexible family of discrete models named discrete odd Weibull-G (DOW-G) family. Its several impressive distributional characteristics are derived. A key feature of the proposed family is its failure rate function that can take a variety of shapes for distinct values of the unknown parameters, like decreasing, increasing, constant, J-, and bathtub-shaped. Furthermore, the presented family not only adequately captures the skewed and symmetric data sets, but it can also provide a better fit to equi-, over-, under-dispersed data. After producing the general class, two particular distributions of the DOW-G family are extensively studied. The parameters estimation of the proposed family, are explored by the method of maximum likelihood and Bayesian approach. A compact Monte Carlo simulation study is performed to assess the behavior of the estimation methods. Finally, we have explained the usefulness of the proposed family by using two different real data sets.     

Failure Rate and Aging Properties of Generalized Beta- and Gamma-generated Distributions

In the present article we study several characteristics of the families of generalized beta- and gamma- generated distributions introduced by Alexander et al. (2011) and Zografos and Balakrishnan (2009), respectively. Simple formulas are established for calculating the failure rate of the members of the aforementioned families by exploiting the failure rate of the parent distribution. In addition, the aging properties of the generalized beta- and gamma-generated distributions are explored in terms of the corresponding aging behavior of the parent family.     

Reference priors for constrained rate models of count data

We derive reference priors for constrained rate models of count data using the sequential algorithm of Berger and Bernardo (1992b). The event counts for various groups of subjects are modeled as discrete random variables (Poisson, binomial, or negative binomial) with group specific rates. We consider situations in which the groups can be completely ordered according to one covariate. The priors enforce monotonicity (or monotonicity and convexity) of the rates with respect to the ordering. We use the priors to model a data set on mortality rates for men in different age groups assuming that the mortality rates increase with respect to age. We also consider the situation in which the parameter space is augmented to include rates corresponding to unobserved age groups, and the case of a random upper bound on the mortality rates. In addition, we provide an evaluation of the out-of-sample predictive performance of the proposed methods.     

Reliability Studies of the Log-Exponential Inverse Gaussian Distribution

In this article, we investigate the monotonicity of the density, failure rate, and mean residual life functions of the log-exponential inverse Gaussian distribution. It turns out that, in this case, the monotonicity of the density, failure rate, and mean residual life functions take different forms depending on the range of the parameters. Maximum likelihood estimators of the critical points of the density, failure rate, and mean residual life functions of the model are evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations. An example of a published data set is used to illustrate the estimation of the critical points.     

Reliability functions of bivariate distributions with second kind of beta conditionals

The purpose of this article is to study the bivariate distributions with second kind of beta conditionals, presented by Castillo and Sarabia, from a reliability point of view. The reliability functions, viz the survival function, the failure rate and mean residual life function, are derived and their monotonicity is discussed for the univariate model as well as the conditional model. Finally, Clayton’s association measure is obtained in terms of the hazard gradient and its value, in the case of our model, is derived.     

On the problem of the unique characterization of discrete distributions by single regression of weak records

We consider the problem of the unique identification of discrete probability distributions by the single regression function of non-adjacent discrete weak record values. We present a new approach to this problem and we show that the uniqueness of the characterization is equivalent to the uniqueness of solution to a corresponding difference equation or an appropriate system of difference equations. This result is applied to obtain known as well as new characterizations of discrete distributions.     

On generalized four-parameter Charlier distribution

Some of the well known discrete distributions arise in a natural way through lattice path combinatorics (Mohanty, 1979). In this paper, we consider some discrete distributions from another point of view — as special cases of a generalized four-parameter Charlier distribution. Some properties of the distribution including recurrence relations for the mass function as well as for the moments and cumulants of the distribution are obtained. The distribution includes, as particular cases, negative binomial, Gegenbauer, and generalized Charlier distributions.Methods for fitting a three-parameter generalized Charlier distribution are indicated. The results are applied to data to which distributions were fitted earlier by Beall and Rescia (Biometrics, 1953) and Katti and Gurland (Biometrics, 1961). The distribution considered here appears to give better fit.     

Generalized Likelihood Ratio Tests and Uniformly Most Powerful Tests

For testing a one-sided hypothesis in a one-parameter family of distributions, it is shown that the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) test coincides with the uniformly most powerful (UMP) test, assuming certain monotonicity properties for the likelihood function. In particular, the equivalence of GLR tests and UMP tests holds for one-parameter exponential families. In addition, the relationship between GLR and UMPU (UMP unbiased) tests is considered when testing two-sided hypotheses.     

CHARACTERIZATIONS OF MULTINOMIAL AND NEGATIVE MULTINOMIAL MIXTURES BY REGRESSION

Characterizations are given for mixtures of multinomial and negative multinomial distributions with respect to their index parameter. Several well known multivariate discrete distributions are used as illustrative examples.     

On tail-ordering and comparison of failure rates

In this paper, we have studied some implications between tail-ordering (also known as dispersive ordering) and failure rate ordering (also called TP₂ ordering) of two probability distribution functions. Based on independent random samples from these distributions, a class of distribution-free tests has been proposed for testing the null hypothesis that the two life distributions are identical against the alternative that one failure rate is uniformly smaller than the other. The tests have good efficiencies as compared to their competitors.     

Nonnegative Unbiased Estimation of Scale Parameters and Associated Quantiles Based on a Ranked Set Sample

In this article, we are interested in estimating the scale parameter in location and scale families. It is well known that the best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE) of scale parameter based on a simple random sample (SRS) is nonnegative. However, the BLUE of scale parameter based on a ranked set sample (RSS) can assume negative values. We suggest various modifications of BLUE of scale parameter based on RSS so that the resulting estimators are unbiased as well as nonnegative. Their performances in terms of relative efficiencies are compared and some recommendations are made for normal, logistic, double exponential, two-parameter exponential and Weibull distributions. We also briefly discuss an application of the proposed nonnegative BLUE of scale parameter for quantile estimation for the above populations.     

The Likelihood Ratio Tests for Homogeneity of Inverse Gaussian Means Under Simple Order and Simple Tree Order

Abstract

The inverse Gaussian (IG) family is now widely used for modeling non negative skewed measurements. In this article, we construct the likelihood-ratio tests (LRTs) for homogeneity of the order constrained IG means and study the null distributions for simple order and simple tree order cases. Interestingly, it is seen that the null distribution results for the normal case are applicable without modification to the IG case. This supplements the numerous well known and striking analogies between Gaussian and inverse Gaussian families     

On Two General Classes of Discrete Bivariate Distributions

In this article, we develop two general classes of discrete bivariate distributions. We derive general formulas for the joint distributions belonging to the classes. The obtained formulas for the joint distributions are very general in the sense that new families of distributions can be generated just by specifying the “baseline seed distributions.” The dependence structures of the bivariate distributions belonging to the proposed classes, along with basic statistical properties, are also discussed. New families of discrete bivariate distributions are generated from the classes. Furthermore, to assess the usefulness of the proposed classes, two discrete bivariate distributions generated from the classes are applied to analyze a real dataset and the results are compared with those obtained from conventional models.     

Inverse Weibull power series distributions: properties and applications

Inverse Weibull (IW) distribution is one of the widely used probability distributions for nonnegative data modelling, specifically, for describing degradation phenomena of mechanical components. In this paper, by compounding IW and power series distributions we introduce a new lifetime distribution. The compounding procedure follows the same set-up carried out by Adamidis and Loukas [A lifetime distribution with decreasing failure rate. Stat Probab Lett. 1998;39:35–42]. We provide mathematical properties of this new distribution such as moments, estimation by maximum likelihood with censored data, inference for a large sample and the EM algorithm to determine the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters. Furthermore, we characterize the proposed distributions using a simple relationship between two truncated moments and maximum entropy principle under suitable constraints. Finally, to show the flexibility of this type of distributions, we demonstrate applications of two real data sets.     

Some results on discrete mixture failure rates

Some properties of the discrete mixture failure rates are studied. Specifically, similar to the continuous case, it is shown that the population mixture failure rate is always smaller than the unconditional expectation in the family of subpopulations failure rates. The analog of the multiplicative and the additive frailty models is introduced via the corresponding survival function. Another approach via the alternative discrete failure rate is also discussed. Stochastic comparisons for two mixed distributions with equal and different mixing distributions are studied.     

On the determination of mixing density in reliability studies

In reliability studies the three quantities (1) the survival function, (2) the failure rate and (3) the mean residual life function are all equivalent in the sense that given one of them, the other two can be determined. In this paper we have considered the class of exponential type distributions and studied its mixture. Given any one of the above mentioned three quantities of the mixture a method is developed for determining the mixing density. Some examples are provided as illustrations. Some well known results follow trivially.