Inference for the generalized Rayleigh distribution based on progressively censored data

In this paper, and based on a progressive type-II censored sample from the generalized Rayleigh (GR) distribution, we consider the problem of estimating the model parameters and predicting the unobserved removed data. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches are used to estimate the scale and shape parameters. The Gibbs and Metropolis samplers are used to predict the life lengths of the removed units in multiple stages of the progressively censored sample. Artificial and real data analyses have been performed for illustrative purposes.     

Tests of non-monotonic stochastic aging notions in reliability theory

Testing of various classes of life distributions has been a subject of investigation for more than four decades. In this study we restrict ourselves to the problem of testing exponentiality against non-monotonic aging notions. We model non-monotonic aging using the notions of bathtub failure rate, increasing and then decreasing mean residual life and new worse then better than used in expectation classes. The different tests of exponentiality against these alternatives are discussed in detail.     

民族文化对电子政府准备的影响

本文以综合指标考察电子政府准备,主要目的是考察民族文化与电子政府之间的关系,建立民族文化对电子政府准备影响的理论框架,检验民族文化是否对电子政府准备具有重要作用.     

Generalized method of moments for an extended gamma process

In reliability theory, a widely used process to model the phenomena of the cumulative deterioration of a system over time is the standard gamma process (SGP). Based on several restrictions, such as a constant variance-to-mean ratio, this process is not always a suitable choice to describe the deterioration. A way to overcome these restrictions is to use an extended version of the gamma process introduced by Cinlar (1980), which is characterized by shape and scale functions. In this article, the aim is to propose statistical methods to estimate the unknown parameters of parametric forms of the shape and scale functions. We here develop two generalized methods of moments (Hansen 1982 Hansen, L. P. 1982. Large sample properties of generalized method of moments estimators. Econometrica 50 (4):1029–54.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), based either on the moments or on the Laplace transform of an extended gamma process. Asymptotic properties are provided and a Wald-type test is derived, which allows to test SGPs against extended ones with a specific parametric shape function. Also, the performance of the proposed estimation methods is illustrated on simulated and real data.     

Differential Relationships Between Religiosity,Cigarette Smoking,and Waterpipe Use: Implications for College Student Health

Abstract

Objective: Using a framework informed by problem behavior theory, ¹ Jessor, R and Jessor, S. 1977. Problem Behavior and Psychosocial Development: A Longitudinal Study of Youth, New York, NY: Academic Press.  [Google Scholar] the authors examined differential relationships between religiosity and the frequency of cigarette and waterpipe tobacco smoking. Participants: Six hundred fourteen individuals beginning their freshman year at a large, public, midwestern university. Methods: Paper-and-pencil surveys were administered to students who attended freshman orientation. Electronic surveys were sent to students who did not attend orientation. Results: Although a latent, generalized religiosity factor was negatively associated with frequency of cigarette smoking, there was no such relationship for frequency of waterpipe use. Conclusions: Conceptualizing waterpipe tobacco smoking in terms of problem behavior theory may be inappropriate, given its lack of association with religiosity. These results may reflect the perception that waterpipe use is a more socially acceptable form of tobacco use that is less harmful to health than cigarette smoking, despite medical evidence to the contrary. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.     

Recruitment,enrollment & data collection with victims of elder abuse and neglect identified from police incident reports

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the success of researcher-generated recruitment, enrollment, data collection, and safety protocols for field research with victims of elder abuse and neglect (EAN) identified from police incident reports in terms of their success including cost-effectiveness, ability to generate a representative sample, and safety. After reviewing 492 police incident reports involving victims age 65 years or older to identify cases of EAN 62 victims were identified. Mail, phone, and in-person recruitment strategies were used. After 259 recruitment attempts, 52 (84%) eligible victims were contacted, of which 24 (46%) consented to participate. Phone calls were the least expensive mechanism to produce a successfully enrolled participant. Findings from a regression show completion of a research interview could not be predicted by victim, suspect, or offense characteristics, indicating that the recruited victims likely represent the population they were drawn from. No safety or adverse events occurred.     

The Patriotic Consciousness of Young People in the Republic of Dagestan

Research data from a survey of young people in the Dagestan region of Russia show that there is a complex interaction between religious and national identities and allegiances.     

Mathematical analyses of casino rebate systems for VIP gambling

In Macao, the VIP gaming revenue accounts for over two thirds of the total gaming revenue. Since the VIP gaming market is highly competitive, several incentives such as rebates are used to attract the VIP players. There are two commonly used rebate systems in the VIP gaming market: rebate on buy-in and rebate on actual loss. The analysis of rebate on buy-in is relatively easy. However, the analysis of rebate on actual loss is more complicated, which involves the Unit Normal Linear Loss Integral. Using empirical data, MacDonald derived a simple approximation formula for computing the rebate rate on actual loss. In this paper, we use mathematical analysis to derive more accurate approximation formulas for computing the rebate rate on actual loss. Some practical examples are given to compare the accuracies of these formulas. We also discuss how these two rebate systems affect the fluctuations of the results.     

Military Invasion and Women's Political Representation

The bodies produced by the violent practice of suicide bombing are a source of horror and disgust. They are, in feminist psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva's concept, abject: that which defies borders and is expelled to create the self. As ‘abject bodies’, suicide bombers' bodies frustrate attempts at calculation and rational control of security risks, and, in their mutilated flesh, expose as unstable the idea of the body as a whole with clearly defined boundaries between inside and outside. Female suicide bombers, whose bodies are already considered ‘abject’, produce a politics of the body that exceeds narratives of victimhood, and whose very monstrosity symbolically threatens the foundations of the nation-state. Attempts at constructing subjects out of the mutilated bodily remains of victims and perpetrators of suicide bombings are key practices in the production of the state and gendered subjects. The practice of suicide bombing and efforts to recover and resignify bodies reveals how power molds and constitutes the border of the body and state simultaneously. The explosive body of the suicide bomber thus has destabilizing effects beyond the motivations of its perpetrators and exposes the political work necessary to maintain the illusion of secure, bounded bodies and states.