A new four-parameter lifetime distribution

Generalizing lifetime distributions is always precious for applied statisticians. In this paper, we introduce a new four-parameter generalization of the exponentiated power Lindley (EPL) distribution, called the exponentiated power Lindley geometric (EPLG) distribution, obtained by compounding EPL and geometric distributions. The new distribution arises in a latent complementary risks scenario, in which the lifetime associated with a particular risk is not observable; rather, we observe only the maximum lifetime value among all risks. The distribution exhibits decreasing, increasing, unimodal and bathtub-shaped hazard rate functions, depending on its parameters. It contains several lifetime distributions as particular cases: EPL, new generalized Lindley, generalized Lindley, power Lindley and Lindley geometric distributions. We derive several properties of the new distribution such as closed-form expressions for the density, cumulative distribution function, survival function, hazard rate function, the rth raw moment, and also the moments of order statistics. Moreover, we discuss maximum likelihood estimation and provide formulas for the elements of the Fisher information matrix. Simulation studies are also provided. Finally, two real data applications are given for showing the flexibility and potentiality of the new distribution.     

Estimation of a finite population distribution function based on a linear model with unknown heteroscedastic errors

The authors consider a finite population ρ = {(Y_k, x_k), k = 1,…,N} conforming to a linear superpopulation model with unknown heteroscedastic errors, the variances of which are values of a smooth enough function of the auxiliary variable X for their nonparametric estimation. They describe a method of the Chambers‐Dunstan type for estimation of the distribution of {Y_k, k = 1,…, N} from a sample drawn from without replacement, and determine the asymptotic distribution of its estimation error. They also consider estimation of its mean squared error in particular cases, evaluating both the analytical estimator derived by “plugging‐in” the asymptotic variance, and a bootstrap approach that is also applicable to estimation of parameters other than mean squared error. These proposed methods are compared with some common competitors in simulation studies.     

Exponentiated power Lindley power series class of distributions: Theory and applications

ABSTRACT

We introduce a new four-parameter generalization of the exponentiated power Lindley (EPL) distribution, called the exponentiated power Lindley power series (EPLPS) distribution. The new distribution arises on a latent complementary risks scenario, in which the lifetime associated with a particular risk is not observable; rather, we observe only the minimum lifetime value among all risks. The distribution exhibits a variety of bathtub-shaped hazard rate functions. It contains as particular cases several lifetime distributions. Various properties of the distribution are investigated including closed-form expressions for the density function, cumulative distribution function, survival function, hazard rate function, the rth raw moment, and also the moments of order statistics. Expressions for the Rényi and Shannon entropies are also given. Moreover, we discuss maximum likelihood estimation and provide formulas for the elements of the Fisher information matrix. Finally, two data applications are given showing flexibility and potentiality of the EPLPS distribution.     

Estimation of the Reliability of a Stress-Strength System from Power Lindley Distributions

In this paper, we are interested in the estimation of the reliability parameter R = P(X > Y) where X, a component strength, and Y, a component stress, are independent power Lindley random variables. The point and interval estimation of R, based on maximum likelihood, nonparametric and parametric bootstrap methods, are developed. The performance of the point estimate and confidence interval of R under the considered estimation methods is studied through extensive simulation. A numerical example, based on a real data, is presented to illustrate the proposed procedure.     

Inferences on stress–strength parameter based on GLD5 distribution

Let X and Y be independent random variables distributed as generalized Lindley distribution type 5 (GLD5). This article deals with the estimation of the stress–strength parameter R = P(Y < X), which plays an important role in reliability analysis. For this purpose, the maximum likelihood and the uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimators are presented in the explicit form. Moreover, considering Arnold and Strauss’ bivariate Gamma distribution as an informative prior and Jeffreys’ as noninformative prior, the Bayes estimators are derived. Various bootstrap confidence intervals are also proposed and, finally, the presented methods are compared using a simulation study.     

The inverse power Lindley distribution in the presence of left-censored data

In this study, classical and Bayesian inference methods are introduced to analyze lifetime data sets in the presence of left censoring considering two generalizations of the Lindley distribution: a first generalization proposed by Ghitany et al. [Power Lindley distribution and associated inference, Comput. Statist. Data Anal. 64 (2013), pp. 20–33], denoted as a power Lindley distribution and a second generalization proposed by Sharma et al. [The inverse Lindley distribution: A stress–strength reliability model with application to head and neck cancer data, J. Ind. Prod. Eng. 32 (2015), pp. 162–173], denoted as an inverse Lindley distribution. In our approach, we have used a distribution obtained from these two generalizations denoted as an inverse power Lindley distribution. A numerical illustration is presented considering a dataset of thyroglobulin levels present in a group of individuals with differentiated cancer of thyroid.     

Biased discriminant analysis: Evaluation of the optimum probability of misclassification

This article extends the work of DiPillo (1976) on the Biased Minimum x² Rule. The optimum value of k (the biasing factor) Is determined and the true probability of misclassification is found. The proportion improvements reported in the 1976 paper are shown to be conservative. Some suggestions for algorithms to determine the optimal value of k are presented.     

Parameter and reliability estimation for an exponentiated half-logistic distribution under progressive type II censoring

In this article, we deal with a two-parameter exponentiated half-logistic distribution. We consider the estimation of unknown parameters, the associated reliability function and the hazard rate function under progressive Type II censoring. Maximum likelihood estimates (M LEs) are proposed for unknown quantities. Bayes estimates are derived with respect to squared error, linex and entropy loss functions. Approximate explicit expressions for all Bayes estimates are obtained using the Lindley method. We also use importance sampling scheme to compute the Bayes estimates. Markov Chain Monte Carlo samples are further used to produce credible intervals for the unknown parameters. Asymptotic confidence intervals are constructed using the normality property of the MLEs. For comparison purposes, bootstrap-p and bootstrap-t confidence intervals are also constructed. A comprehensive numerical study is performed to compare the proposed estimates. Finally, a real-life data set is analysed to illustrate the proposed methods of estimation.     

On estimation of the PDF and CDF of the Lindley distribution

This article addresses two methods of estimation of the probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) for the Lindley distribution. Following estimation methods are considered: uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator (UMVUE) and maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). Since the Lindley distribution is more flexible than the exponential distribution, the same estimators have been found out for the exponential distribution and compared. Monte Carlo simulations and a real data analysis are performed to compare the performances of the proposed methods of estimation.     

Self-validated Computations for the Probabilities of the Central Bivariate Chi-square Distribution and a Bivariate F Distribution. This work partially supported by National Science Foundation grant DMS-9500831

Self-validated computations using interval analysis produce results with a guaranteed error bound. This article presents methods for self-validated computation of probabilities and percentile points of the bivariate chi-square distribution and a bivariate F distribution. For the computation of critical points (c ₁,c ₂) in the equation P(Y ₁ @ c ₁, Y ₂ ≤ c ₂) = 1 ? α, the case c ₁ = c ₂ is considered. A combination of interval secant and bisection algorithms is developed for finding enclosures of the percentile points of the distribution. Results are compared to previously published tables.     

Inferences on Stress-Strength Reliability from Lindley Distributions

This article deals with the estimation of the stress-strength parameter R = P(Y < X) when X and Y are independent Lindley random variables with different shape parameters. The uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator has explicit expression, however, its exact or asymptotic distribution is very difficult to obtain. The maximum likelihood estimator of the unknown parameter can also be obtained in explicit form. We obtain the asymptotic distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator and it can be used to construct confidence interval of R. Different parametric bootstrap confidence intervals are also proposed. Bayes estimator and the associated credible interval based on independent gamma priors on the unknown parameters are obtained using Monte Carlo methods. Different methods are compared using simulations and one data analysis has been performed for illustrative purposes.     

M-Estimators of Scale with Minimum Gross Errors Sensitivity

The median absolute deviation (MAD) is known to be the M-estimator of scale with minimum gross errors sensitivity (GES) when the error distribution is known to be symmetric and strongly unimodal. The problem considered here is to find the Fisher consistent M-estimator with minimum GES when the error distribution is symmetric but not necessarily unimodal. Under some general conditions, the score function χ corresponding to the minimizing M-estimator has the form χ(x) = ?1 when |x| < a; χ(x) = c when a < |x| < b; χ(x) = 1 when |x| > b. An example is given in which the M-estimator with minimum GES does not correspond to the MAD.     

Exponentiated power Lindley–Poisson distribution: Properties and applications

A new four-parameter distribution called the exponentiated power Lindley–Poisson distribution which is an extension of the power Lindley and Lindley–Poisson distributions is introduced. Statistical properties of the distribution including the shapes of the density and hazard functions, moments, entropy measures, and distribution of order statistics are given. Maximum likelihood estimation technique is used to estimate the parameters. A simulation study is conducted to examine the bias, mean square error of the maximum likelihood estimators, and width of the confidence interval for each parameter. Finally, applications to real data sets are presented to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed distribution.     

Estimation for the Parameters of Generalized Half-normal Distribution Based on Progressive Type-I Interval Censoring

Based on progressively Type-I interval censored sample, the problem of estimating unknown parameters of a two parameter generalized half-normal(GHN) distribution is considered. Different methods of estimation are discussed. They include the maximum likelihood estimation, midpoint approximation method, approximate maximum likelihood estimation, method of moments, and estimation based on probability plot. Several Bayesian estimates with respect to different symmetric and asymmetric loss functions such as squared error, LINEX, and general entropy is calculated. The Lindley’s approximation method is applied to determine Bayesian estimates. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to compare the performances of the different methods. Finally, analysis is also carried out for a real dataset.     

Bayes estimation of Gompertz distribution parameters and acceleration factor under partially accelerated life tests with type-I censoring

In this paper, the Bayesian approach is applied to the estimation problem in the case of step stress partially accelerated life tests with two stress levels and type-I censoring. Gompertz distribution is considered as a lifetime model. The posterior means and posterior variances are derived using the squared-error loss function. The Bayes estimates cannot be obtained in explicit forms. Approximate Bayes estimates are computed using the method of Lindley [D.V. Lindley, Approximate Bayesian methods, Trabajos Estadistica 31 (1980), pp. 223–237]. The advantage of this proposed method is shown. The approximate Bayes estimates obtained under the assumption of non-informative priors are compared with their maximum likelihood counterparts using Monte Carlo simulation.     

On a multivariate Lindley distribution

This article proposes a multivariate extension of the generalized Lindley distribution introduced by Abouammoh et al. (2015 Abouammoh, A.M., Alshangiti Arwa, M., Ragab, I.E. (2015). Reliability estimation of the generalized Lindley distributions. J. Stat. Comput. Simul. 85(17):3662–3678.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The proposed model is based on a probabilistic construction in which several Lindley random variables are connected by a common shock. Many statistical properties of this new distribution are explored. In particular, explicit forms of product moments, moment-generating function, and conditional moments are derived. Explicit expressions of moment-based estimators of the underlying parameters of the proposed model are established. Estimation using the maximum likelihood procedure is also investigated. Simulations attesting to the quality of the proposed estimators are presented. Application of the proposed model in reliability is also discussed.     

Statistical inference based on generalized Lindley record values

This paper addresses the problems of frequentist and Bayesian estimation for the unknown parameters of generalized Lindley distribution based on lower record values. We first derive the exact explicit expressions for the single and product moments of lower record values, and then use these results to compute the means, variances and covariance between two lower record values. We next obtain the maximum likelihood estimators and associated asymptotic confidence intervals. Furthermore, we obtain Bayes estimators under the assumption of gamma priors on both the shape and the scale parameters of the generalized Lindley distribution, and associated the highest posterior density interval estimates. The Bayesian estimation is studied with respect to both symmetric (squared error) and asymmetric (linear-exponential (LINEX)) loss functions. Finally, we compute Bayesian predictive estimates and predictive interval estimates for the future record values. To illustrate the findings, one real data set is analyzed, and Monte Carlo simulations are performed to compare the performances of the proposed methods of estimation and prediction.     

Non‐parametric Estimation of Extreme Risk Measures from Conditional Heavy‐tailed Distributions

In this paper, we introduce a new risk measure, the so‐called conditional tail moment. It is defined as the moment of order a ≥ 0 of the loss distribution above the upper α‐quantile where α ∈ (0,1). Estimating the conditional tail moment permits us to estimate all risk measures based on conditional moments such as conditional tail expectation, conditional value at risk or conditional tail variance. Here, we focus on the estimation of these risk measures in case of extreme losses (where α ↓0 is no longer fixed). It is moreover assumed that the loss distribution is heavy tailed and depends on a covariate. The estimation method thus combines non‐parametric kernel methods with extreme‐value statistics. The asymptotic distribution of the estimators is established, and their finite‐sample behaviour is illustrated both on simulated data and on a real data set of daily rainfalls.     

Transmuted two-parameter Lindley distribution

In this study, we propose a new distribution using the quadratic rank transmutation map named as transmuted two-parameter Lindley distribution (TTLD). This distribution is more flexible than the two-parameter Lindley distribution (TLD). The properties of the TTLD are examined, and estimation methods for the parameters of this distribution are discussed. The usefulness of the TTLD is demonstrated on some real data.