A modified generalized mixed regression estimator when disturbances are nonnormal

A generalized mixed regression estimator for the estimation of the regression coefficients in the linear regression model with incomplete prior information is proposed and its properties are studied considering the risk under the general quadratic loss function when the disturbances are small and non normal.     

E-Government and Bureaucracy: Toward a Better Understanding of Intranet Implementation and Its Effect on Red Tape

This article examines the interaction between bureaucratic redtape and intranet usage in state human service agencies. Wepropose a sociotechnical model for the relationship betweenintranet usage and bureaucratic red tape that takes into accountthe complexities of causal linkages including bidirectionalcausal relationships and a range of internal and external influences.This model is tested with data from the National AdministrativeStudies Project, Phase II. While we are not able to corroboratethe "demand pull" hypothesis advanced by Bretschneider and colleagues,we do find support for its corollary (the "technology push"hypothesis) indicating that intranet usage is associated withreduction in red tape. This finding on the salutary effect ofintranet usage holds for both a global measure of red tape anda more specific procurement red tape measure. We conclude witha discussion of the implications of our findings.     

Development of supplier relationship including cost of defectives in the cyclic production

In the supply chain situation, a decision regarding supplier relationship is of high importance. This usually happens on the basis of supplier company parameters. In order to satisfy the demands, a buyer company often expects the supplier company to expedite their operations, i.e., to enhance the related production rate. In this context, presently the focus of this article is on the cyclic production environment at the supplier company premises. Any practical production process is expected to generate defective products also along with the normal usable products. After an estimation of this and the costs concerning defectives, it needs to be modelled in the cyclic manufacturing. This article incorporates specifically the cost of defectives along with the other relevant costs. After developing an interest in the inclusion of these costs, the supplier company is categorised. A contribution of this article is the development of supplier relationship in the discussed environment.     

Analytic evaluation of the expectation and variance of different performance measures of a schedule on a single machine under processing time variability

In this paper, we present closed-form expressions, wherever possible, or devise algorithms otherwise, to determine the expectation and variance of a given schedule on a single machine. We consider a variety of completion time and due date-based objectives. The randomness in the scheduling process is due to variable processing times with known means and variances of jobs and, in some cases, a known underlying processing time distribution. The results that we present in this paper can enable evaluation of a schedule in terms of both the expectation and variance of a performance measure considered, and thereby, aid in obtaining a stable schedule. Additionally, the expressions and algorithms that are presented, can be incorporated in existing scheduling algorithms in order to determine expectation-variance efficient schedules.     

Estimation of Population Mean Using Known Coefficient of Variation of the Study Character in the Presence of Non Response

Using the known coefficient of variation of the study character, generalized and regression-type estimators for the population mean using two phase sampling in the presence of non response were proposed and their properties have been studied. The conditions under which the proposed estimators are more efficient than the relevant estimators have been obtained. The empirical studies were given in the support of the problems in the case of positive and negative correlation between the study and the auxiliary characters which show the increase in the efficiency of the proposed estimators using known coefficient of variation of the study character with respect to the relevant estimators.     

Bayesian estimation of parameters of inverse Weibull distribution

The present paper describes the Bayes estimators of parameters of inverse Weibull distribution for complete, type I and type II censored samples under general entropy and squared error loss functions. The proposed estimators have been compared on the basis of their simulated risks (average loss over sample space). A real-life data set is used to illustrate the results.     

On length and area-biased Maxwell distributions

This article addresses the various properties and different methods of estimation of the unknown parameter of length and area-biased Maxwell distributions. Although, our main focus is on estimation from both frequentist and Bayesian point of view, yet, various mathematical and statistical properties of length and area-biased Maxwell distributions (such as moments, moment-generating function (mgf), hazard rate function, mean residual lifetime function, residual lifetime function, reversed residual life function, conditional moments and conditional mgf, stochastic ordering, and measures of uncertainty) are derived. We briefly describe different frequentist approaches, namely, maximum likelihood estimator, moments estimator, least-square and weighted least-square estimators, maximum product of spacings estimator and compare them using extensive numerical simulations. Next we consider Bayes estimation under different types of loss function (symmetric and asymmetric loss functions) using inverted gamma prior for the scale parameter. Furthermore, Bayes estimators and their respective posterior risks are computed and compared using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. Also, bootstrap confidence intervals using frequentist approaches are provided to compare with Bayes credible intervals. Finally, a real dataset has been analyzed for illustrative purposes.     

Unpacking Self-Rated Health and Quality of Life in Older Adults and Elderly in India: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

The Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) aims at improving empirical understanding of the health and well-being of older adults in low- and middle-income countries. A total of 321 adults aged 50 years and older were interviewed in rural Pune district, India, in 2007. We used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to examine the pathways through which social factors, functional disability, risk behaviours, and chronic disease experience influence self-rated health (SRH) and quality of life (QOL) amongst older adults in India. Both SRH and QOL worsened with increased age (indirect effect) and limitations in functional ability (direct effect). QOL, socio-economic status (SES), and social networking had no significant effect on SRH. Smoking was associated with the presence of at least one chronic illness, but this did not have a statistically significant effect on SRH. Higher social networking was seen amongst the better educated and those with regular income, which in turn positively affected the QOL rating. QOL had a direct, but statistically not significant, effect on SRH. In conclusion, the indirect effects of age on SRH mediated through functional ability, and the effects of SES on QOL mediated through social networking, provide new understanding of how age and socio-economic status affect SRH and QOL. By allowing for measurement errors, solving for collinearity in predictor variables by integrating them into measurement models, and specifying causal dependencies between the underlying latent constructs, SEM provides a strong link between theory and empirics.     

The role of reversals in order‐restricted inference

A statistical model is said to be an order‐restricted statistical model when its parameter takes its values in a closed convex cone C of the Euclidean space. In recent years, order‐restricted likelihood ratio tests and maximum likelihood estimators have been criticized on the grounds that they may violate a cone order monotonicity (COM) property, and hence reverse the cone order induced by C. The authors argue here that these reversals occur only in the case that C is an obtuse cone, and that in this case COM is an inappropriate requirement for likelihood‐based estimates and tests. They conclude that these procedures thus remain perfectly reasonable procedures for order‐restricted inference.