On the distribution of a test for exponentiality based on progressively type-II right censored spacings

A test for exponentiality based on progressively Type-II right censored spacings has been proposed recently by Balakrishnan et al. (2002). They derived the asymptotic null distribution of the test statistic. In this work, we utilize the algorithm of Huffer and Lin (2001) to evaluate the exact null probabilities and the exact critical values of this test statistic.     

Progressively Type-II censored competing risks data for exponential distributions based on sequential order statistics

We consider the progressively Type-II censored competing risks model based on sequential order statistics. It is assumed that the latent failure times are independent and the failure of each unit influences the lifetime distributions of the latent failure times of surviving units. We provide explicit expressions for the likelihood function of the available data under the conditional proportional hazard rate (CPHR) and the power trend conditional proportional hazard rate (PTCPHR) models. Under CPHR and PTCPHR models and assumption that the baseline distributions of the latent failure times are exponential, classical and Bayesian estimates of the unknown parameters are provided. Monte Carlo simulations are then performed for illustrative purposes. Finally, two datasets are analyzed.     

On the exact distribution of the MLEs based on Type-II progressively hybrid censored data from exponential distributions

ABSTRACT

Distributions of the maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs) in Type-II (progressive) hybrid censoring based on two-parameter exponential distributions have been obtained using a moment generating function approach. Although resulting in explicit expressions, the representations are complicated alternating sums. Using the spacings-based approach of Cramer and Balakrishnan [On some exact distributional results based on Type-I progressively hybrid censored data from exponential distributions. Statist Methodol. 2013;10:128–150], we derive simple expressions for the exact density and distribution functions of the MLEs in terms of B-spline functions. These representations can be easily implemented on a computer and provide an efficient method to compute density and distribution functions as well as moments of Type-II (progressively) hybrid censored order statistics.     

Quantile estimation for a progressively censored exponential distribution

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating the quantile of a two-parameter exponential distribution with respect to an arbitrary strictly convex loss function under progressive type II censoring. Inadmissibility of the best affine equivariant (BAE) estimator is established through a conditional risk analysis. In particular we provide dominance results for quadratic, linex and absolute value loss functions. Further, a class of dominating estimators is derived using the IERD (integral expression of risk difference) approach of Kubokawa (1994 Kubokawa, T. 1994. A unified approach to improving equivariant estimators. The Annals of Statistics 22 (1):290–9. doi:10.1214/aos/1176325369.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). In sequel the generalized Bayes estimator is shown to improve the BAE estimator.     

Likelihood inference for the component lifetime distribution based on progressively censored parallel systems data

Point and interval estimators for the scale parameter of the component lifetime distribution of a k-component parallel system are obtained when the component lifetimes are assumed to be independently and identically exponentially distributed. We prove that the maximum likelihood estimator of the scale parameter based on progressively Type-II censored system lifetimes is unique and can be obtained by a fixed-point iteration procedure. In particular, we illustrate that the Newton–Raphson method does not converge for any initial value. Furthermore, exact confidence intervals are constructed by a transformation using normalized spacings and other component lifetime distributions including Weibull distribution are discussed.     

On adaptive progressively Type-II censored competing risks data

In this article, a competing risks model based on exponential distributions is considered under the adaptive Type-II progressively censoring scheme introduced by Ng et al. [2009, Naval Research Logistics 56:687-698], for life testing or reliability experiment. Moreover, we assumed that some causes of failures are unknown. The maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs) of unknown parameters are established. The exact conditional and the asymptotic distributions of the obtained estimators are derived to construct the confidence intervals as well as the two different bootstraps of different unknown parameters. Under suitable priors on the unknown parameters, Bayes estimates and the corresponding two sides of Bayesian probability intervals are obtained. Also, for the purpose of evaluating the average bias and mean square error of the MLEs, and comparing the confidence intervals based on all mentioned methods, a simulation study was carried out. Finally, we present one real dataset to conduct the proposed methods.     

On the power of goodness-of-fit tests for the exponential distribution under progressive Type-II censoring

The aim of this article is to review existing goodness-of-fit tests for the exponential distribution under progressive Type-II censoring and to provide some new ideas and adjustments. In particular, we consider two-parameter exponentially distributed random variables and adapt the proposed test procedures to our scenario if necessary. Then, we compare their power by an extensive simulation study. Furthermore, we propose five new test procedures that provide reasonable alternatives to those already known.     

Jacobi and Laguerre polynomial approximations for the distributions of statistics useful in testing for outliers in exponential and gamma samples

Recently, Sanjel and Balakrishnan [A Laguerre Polynomial Approximation for a goodness-of-fit test for exponential distribution based on progressively censored data, J. Stat. Comput. Simul. 78 (2008), pp. 503–513] proposed the use of Laguerre orthogonal polynomials for a goodness-of-fit test for the exponential distribution based on progressively censored data. In this paper, we use Jacobi and Laguerre orthogonal polynomials in order to obtain density approximants for some test statistics useful in testing for outliers in gamma and exponential samples. We first obtain the exact moments of the statistics and then the density approximants, based on these moments, are expressed in terms of Jacobi and Laguerre polynomials. A comparative study is carried out of the critical values obtained by using the proposed methods to the corresponding results given by Barnett and Lewis [Outliers in Statistical Data, 3rd ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1993]. This reveals that the proposed techniques provide very accurate approximations to the distributions. Finally, we present some numerical examples to illustrate the proposed approximations. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the proposed approximate densities are very accurate.     

Exact likelihood inference based on an unified hybrid censored sample from the exponential distribution

Recently, exact confidence bounds and exact likelihood inference have been developed based on hybrid censored samples by Chen and Bhattacharyya [Chen, S. and Bhattacharyya, G.K. (1998). Exact confidence bounds for an exponential parameter under hybrid censoring. Communications in Statistics—Theory and Methods, 17, 1857–1870.], Childs et al. [Childs, A., Chandrasekar, B., Balakrishnan, N. and Kundu, D. (2003). Exact likelihood inference based on Type-I and Type-II hybrid censored samples from the exponential distribution. Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, 55, 319–330.], and Chandrasekar et al. [Chandrasekar, B., Childs, A. and Balakrishnan, N. (2004). Exact likelihood inference for the exponential distribution under generalized Type-I and Type-II hybrid censoring. Naval Research Logistics, 51, 994–1004.] for the case of the exponential distribution. In this article, we propose an unified hybrid censoring scheme (HCS) which includes many cases considered earlier as special cases. We then derive the exact distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator as well as exact confidence intervals for the mean of the exponential distribution under this general unified HCS. Finally, we present some examples to illustrate all the methods of inference developed here.     

Interval estimation for exponential progressive Type-II censored step-stress accelerated life-testing

This paper derives the exact confidence intervals for the exponential step-stress accelerated life-testing model as well as the approximate confidence intervals for the k-step exponential step-stress accelerated life-testing model under progressive Type-II censoring. A Monte Carlo simulation study is carried out to examine the performance of these confidence intervals. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the proposed procedures.     

Goodness-of-fit test for exponentiality based on spacings for general progressive Type-II censored data

There have been numerous tests proposed to determine whether or not the exponential model is suitable for a given data set. In this article, we propose a new test statistic based on spacings to test whether the general progressive Type-II censored samples are from exponential distribution. The null distribution of the test statistic is discussed and it could be approximated by the standard normal distribution. Meanwhile, we propose an approximate method for calculating the expectation and variance of samples under null hypothesis and corresponding power function is also given. Then, a simulation study is conducted. We calculate the approximation of the power based on normality and compare the results with those obtained by Monte Carlo simulation under different alternatives with distinct types of hazard function. Results of simulation study disclose that the power properties of this statistic by using Monte Carlo simulation are better for the alternatives with monotone increasing hazard function, and otherwise, normal approximation simulation results are relatively better. Finally, two illustrative examples are presented.     

Estimation for exponential distribution based on competing risk middle censored data

Abstract

For a general censoring scheme called “middle censoring” scheme which was proposed by Jammalamadaka and Mangalam (2003 Jammalamadaka, S.R., Mangalam, V. (2003). Nonparametric estimation for middle censored data. J. Nonparametric Statist. 15:253–265.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in nonparametric set up. In this article, point and interval estimation problems are considered for the exponential distribution when the failure data is middle censored with two independent competing failure risks. Different methods are introduced to estimate the unknown model parameters such as maximum likelihood estimation, midpoint approximation, equivalent quantities estimation. The Bayesian estimation is also considered with gamma priors. Two numerical examples are analyzed to show the performance of the proposed methods.     

On the likelihood estimation of the parameters of Gompertz distribution based on complete and progressively Type-II censored samples

In this paper, by considering a progressively Type-II censored sample from the two-parameter Gompertz distribution, a necessary and sufficient condition is established for the existence and uniqueness of the maximum-likelihood estimates of the shape and scale parameters. The results for the special cases of complete and ordinary Type-II right censored samples are then deduced. Several numerical examples from the literature are presented for the purpose of illustrating the established results.     

Pivotal inference for the inverse Rayleigh distribution based on general progressively Type-II censored samples

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating the scale parameter of the inverse Rayleigh distribution based on general progressively Type-II censored samples and progressively Type-II censored samples. The pivotal quantity method is used to derive the estimator of the scale parameter. Besides, considering that the maximum likelihood estimator is tough to obtain for this distribution, we derive an explicit estimator of the scale parameter by approximating the likelihood equation with Taylor expansion. The interval estimation is also studied based on pivotal inference. Then we conduct Monte Carlo simulations and compare the performance of different estimators. We demonstrate that the pivotal inference is simpler and more effective. The further application of the pivotal quantity method is also discussed theoretically. Finally, two real data sets are analyzed using our methods.     

Optimal step-stress testing for progressively Type-I censored data from exponential distribution

In this paper, a k  -step-stress accelerated life-testing is considered with an equal step duration τ$\tau$. For small to moderate sample sizes, a practical modification is made to the model previously considered by Gouno et al. [2004. Optimal step-stress test under progressive Type-I censoring. IEEE Trans. Reliability 53, 383–393] in order to guarantee a feasible k  -step-stress test under progressive Type-I censoring, and the optimal τ$\tau$ is determined under this model. Next, we discuss the determination of optimal τ$\tau$ under the condition that the step-stress test proceeds to the k  -th stress level, and the efficiency of this conditional inference is compared to that of the previous case. In all cases considered, censoring is allowed at each point of stress change (viz., iτ$i\tau$, i=1,2,…,k$i=1,2,\dots ,k$). The determination of optimal τ$\tau$ is discussed under C-optimality, D-optimality, and A-optimality criteria. We investigate in detail the case of progressively Type-I right censored data from an exponential distribution with a single stress variable.     

Likelihood estimation for a general class of inverse exponentiated distributions based on complete and progressively censored data

In this paper, we establish the existence and uniqueness of the maximum-likelihood estimates of the parameters of a general class of inverse exponentiated distributions based on complete as well as progressively Type-I and Type-II censored data.     

Exact inference for exponential distribution with multiply Type-I censored data

In this paper, we focus on exact inference for exponential distribution under multiple Type-I censoring, which is a general form of Type-I censoring and represents that the units are terminated at different times. The maximum likelihood estimate of mean parameter is calculated. Further, the distribution of maximum likelihood estimate is derived and it yields an exact lower confidence limit for the mean parameter. Based on a simulation study, we conclude that the exact limit outperforms the bootstrap limit in terms of the coverage probability and average limit. Finally, a real dataset is analyzed for illustration.     

Statistical inference for the Gompertz distribution based on Type-II progressively hybrid censored data

In this article, the statistical inference for the Gompertz distribution based on Type-II progressively hybrid censored data is discussed. The estimation of the parameters for Gompertz distribution is obtained using maximum likelihood method (MLE) and Bayesian method under three different loss functions. We also proved the existence and uniqueness of the MLE. The one-sample Bayesian prediction intervals are obtained. The work is done for different values of the parameters. We apply the Monto Carlo simulation to compare the proposed methods, also an example is discussed to construct the Prediction intervals.     

Inference and prediction for pareto progressively censored data

Progressively censored data from a classical Pareto distribution are to be used to make inferences about its shape and precision parameters and the reliability function. An approximation form due to Tierney and Kadane (1986) is used for obtaining the Bayes estimates. Bayesian prediction of further observations from this distribution is also considered. When the Bayesian approach is concerned, conjugate priors for either the one or the two parameters cases are considered. To illustrate the given procedures, a numerical example and a simulation study are given.     

Point predictors of the latent failure times of censored units in progressively Type-II censored competing risks data from the exponential distributions

In this paper, we discuss the problem of predicting times to the latent failures of units censored in multiple stages in a progressively Type-II censored competing risks model. It is assumed that the lifetime distribution of the latent failure times are independent and exponential-distributed with the different scale parameters. Several classical point predictors such as the maximum likelihood predictor, the best unbiased predictor, the best linear unbiased predictor, the median unbiased predictor and the conditional median predictor are obtained. The Bayesian point predictors are derived under squared error loss criterion. Moreover, the point estimators of the unknown parameters are obtained using the observed data and different point predictors of the latent failure times. Finally, Monte-Carlo simulations are carried out to compare the performances of the different methods of prediction and estimation and one real data is used to illustrate the proposed procedures.