Comparison of Interval Estimators of Pr(X < Y) in the Two-parameter Exponential Distribution

We consider confidence intervals for the stress–strength reliability Pr(X< Y) in the two-parameter exponential distribution. We have derived the Bayesian highest posterior density interval using non-informative prior distributions. We have compared its performance with the intervals based on the generalized pivot variable intervals in terms of their coverage probabilities and expected lengths. Our simulation study shows that the Bayesian interval performs better according to the criteria used, especially when the sample sizes are very small. An example is given.     

Mixed-effects Models with Skewed Distributions for Time-varying Decay Rate in HIV Dynamics

After initiation of treatment, HIV viral load has multiphasic changes, which indicates that the viral decay rate is a time-varying process. Mixed-effects models with different time-varying decay rate functions have been proposed in literature. However, there are two unresolved critical issues: (i) it is not clear which model is more appropriate for practical use, and (ii) the model random errors are commonly assumed to follow a normal distribution, which may be unrealistic and can obscure important features of within- and among-subject variations. Because asymmetry of HIV viral load data is still noticeable even after transformation, it is important to use a more general distribution family that enables the unrealistic normal assumption to be relaxed. We developed skew-elliptical (SE) Bayesian mixed-effects models by considering the model random errors to have an SE distribution. We compared the performance among five SE models that have different time-varying decay rate functions. For each model, we also contrasted the performance under different model random error assumptions such as normal, Student-t, skew-normal, or skew-t distribution. Two AIDS clinical trial datasets were used to illustrate the proposed models and methods. The results indicate that the model with a time-varying viral decay rate that has two exponential components is preferred. Among the four distribution assumptions, the skew-t and skew-normal models provided better fitting to the data than normal or Student-t model, suggesting that it is important to assume a model with a skewed distribution in order to achieve reasonable results when the data exhibit skewness.     

Exponentiality Test Based on the Progressive Type II Censoring via Cumulative Entropy

In this article, we use cumulative residual Kullback-Leibler information (CRKL) and cumulative Kullback-Leibler information (CKL) to construct two goodness-of-fit test statistics for testing exponentiality with progressively Type-II censored data. The power of the proposed tests are compared with the power of goodness-of-fit test for exponentiality introduced by Balakrishnan et al. (2007 Balakrishnan, N., Habibi Rad, A., Arghami, N.R. (2007). Testing exponentiality based on Kullback-Leibler information with progressively type-II censored data. IEEE Transactions on Reliability 56(2):301–307.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We show that when the hazard function of the alternative is monotone decreasing, the test based on CRKL has higher power and when the hazard function of the alternative is non-monotone, the test based on CKL has higher power. But, when it is monotone increasing the power difference between test based on CKL and their proposed test is not so remarkable. The use of the proposed tests is shown in an illustrative example.     

A New Quantile Function with Applications to Reliability Analysis

In this article, we propose a new class of distributions defined by a quantile function, which nests several distributions as its members. The quantile function proposed here is the sum of the quantile functions of the generalized Pareto and Weibull distributions. Various distributional properties and reliability characteristics of the class are discussed. The estimation of the parameters of the model using L-moments is studied. Finally, we apply the model to a real life dataset.     

An Improved Distribution-free EWMA Mean Chart

Control charts are effective tools for signal detection in both manufacturing processes and service processes. Much service data come from a process with variables having nonnormal or unknown distributions. The commonly used Shewhart variable control charts, which depend heavily on the normality assumption, should not be properly used here. In this article, we propose an improved asymmetric EWMA mean chart based on a simple statistic to monitor process mean shift. We explored the sampling properties of the new monitoring statistic and calculated the average run lengths of the proposed asymmetric EWMA mean chart. We recommend the proposed improved asymmetric EWMA mean chart because the average run lengths of the modified charts are more accurate and reasonable than those of the five existed mean charts. A numerical example of service times with a right skewed distribution from a service system of a bank branch is used to illustrate the application of the improved asymmetric EWMA mean chart and to compare it with the five existing mean charts. The proposed chart showed better detection performance than those of the five existing mean charts in monitoring and detecting shifts in the process mean.     

Bayesian Conditional Mean Estimation in Log‐Normal Linear Regression Models with Finite Quadratic Expected Loss

Log‐normal linear regression models are popular in many fields of research. Bayesian estimation of the conditional mean of the dependent variable is problematic as many choices of the prior for the variance (on the log‐scale) lead to posterior distributions with no finite moments. We propose a generalized inverse Gaussian prior for this variance and derive the conditions on the prior parameters that yield posterior distributions of the conditional mean of the dependent variable with finite moments up to a pre‐specified order. The conditions depend on one of the three parameters of the suggested prior; the other two have an influence on inferences for small and medium sample sizes. A second goal of this paper is to discuss how to choose these parameters according to different criteria including the optimization of frequentist properties of posterior means.     

The k-factor GARMA Process with Infinite Variance Innovations

In this article, we develop the theory of k-factor Gegenbauer Autoregressive Moving Average (GARMA) process with infinite variance innovations which is a generalization of the stable seasonal fractional Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model introduced by Diongue et al. (2008 Diongue, A.K., Guégan, D. (2008). Estimation of k-Factor GIGARCH Process: A Monte Carlo Study. Communications in Statistics-Simulation and Computation 37:2037–2049.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Stationarity and invertibility conditions of this new model are derived. Conditional Sum of Squares (CSS) and Markov Chains Monte Carlo (MCMC) Whittle methods are investigated for parameter estimation. Monte Carlo simulations are also used to evaluate the finite sample performance of these estimation techniques. Finally, the usefulness of the model is corroborated with the application to streamflow data for Senegal River at Bakel.     

Conditional VAR and Expected Shortfall: A New Functional Approach

We estimate two well-known risk measures, the value-at-risk (VAR) and the expected shortfall, conditionally to a functional variable (i.e., a random variable valued in some semi(pseudo)-metric space). We use nonparametric kernel estimation for constructing estimators of these quantities, under general dependence conditions. Theoretical properties are stated whereas practical aspects are illustrated on simulated data: nonlinear functional and GARCH(1,1) models. Some ideas on bandwidth selection using bootstrap are introduced. Finally, an empirical example is given through data of the S&P 500 time series.     

Influence diagnostics for the Weibull-Negative-Binomial regression model with cure rate under latent failure causes

In this paper, we propose a flexible cure rate survival model by assuming that the number of competing causes of the event of interest follows the Negative Binomial distribution and the time to event follows a Weibull distribution. Indeed, we introduce the Weibull-Negative-Binomial (WNB) distribution, which can be used in order to model survival data when the hazard rate function is increasing, decreasing and some non-monotonous shaped. Another advantage of the proposed model is that it has some distributions commonly used in lifetime analysis as particular cases. Moreover, the proposed model includes as special cases some of the well-know cure rate models discussed in the literature. We consider a frequentist analysis for parameter estimation of a WNB model with cure rate. Then, we derive the appropriate matrices for assessing local influence on the parameter estimates under different perturbation schemes and present some ways to perform global influence analysis. Finally, the methodology is illustrated on a medical data.     

Bayesian variable selection approach to a Bernstein polynomial regression model with stochastic constraints

This paper provides a Bayesian estimation procedure for monotone regression models incorporating the monotone trend constraint subject to uncertainty. For monotone regression modeling with stochastic restrictions, we propose a Bayesian Bernstein polynomial regression model using two-stage hierarchical prior distributions based on a family of rectangle-screened multivariate Gaussian distributions extended from the work of Gurtis and Ghosh [7 S.M. Curtis and S.K. Ghosh, A variable selection approach to monotonic regression with Bernstein polynomials, J. Appl. Stat. 38 (2011), pp. 961–976. doi: 10.1080/02664761003692423[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]]. This approach reflects the uncertainty about the prior constraint, and thus proposes a regression model subject to monotone restriction with uncertainty. Based on the proposed model, we derive the posterior distributions for unknown parameters and present numerical schemes to generate posterior samples. We show the empirical performance of the proposed model based on synthetic data and real data applications and compare the performance to the Bernstein polynomial regression model of Curtis and Ghosh [7 S.M. Curtis and S.K. Ghosh, A variable selection approach to monotonic regression with Bernstein polynomials, J. Appl. Stat. 38 (2011), pp. 961–976. doi: 10.1080/02664761003692423[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]] for the shape restriction with certainty. We illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed method that incorporates the uncertainty of the monotone trend and automatically adapts the regression function to the monotonicity, through empirical analysis with synthetic data and real data applications.