On Local Polynomial Modelling of the Additive Risk Model

The additive risk model provides an alternative modelling technique for failure time data to the proportional hazards model. In this article, we consider the additive risk model with a nonparametric risk effect. We study estimation of the risk function and its derivatives with a parametric and an unspecified baseline hazard function respectively. The resulting estimators are the local likelihood and the local score estimators. We establish the asymptotic normality of the estimators and show that both methods have the same formula for asymptotic bias but different formula for variance. It is found that, in some special cases, the local score estimator is of the same efficiency as the local likelihood estimator though it does not use the information about the baseline hazard function. Another advantage of the local score estimator is that it has a closed form and is easy to implement. Some simulation studies are conducted to evaluate and compare the performance of the two estimators. A numerical example is used for illustration.     

Estimation of the binomial parameter,using an apriori hypothesis about its value

We study estimation of the parameter p of a r.v. x ～ Bin(p,n) using the prior hypothesis that p equals a prepecified value P_o when we entertain the possibility that P_o is not the right value of p, which then could be any value in (0.1). We apply notions of Hodges and Lehmann (1952), Bickel (1984) and Berger (1982) to obtain (biased) estimators which do well under the hypothesis that p = p_o at a small price in maximum risk. A number of examples and comparisons are discussed at the end of the paper.     

Linear approximate ML estimation in scaled Type I generalized logistic distribution based on Type-II censored samples

The scaled (two-parameter) Type I generalized logistic distribution (GLD) is considered with the known shape parameter. The ML method does not yield an explicit estimator for the scale parameter even in complete samples. In this article, we therefore construct a new linear estimator for scale parameter, based on complete and doubly Type-II censored samples, by making linear approximations to the intractable terms of the likelihood equation using least-squares (LS) method, a new approach of linearization. We call this as linear approximate maximum likelihood estimator (LAMLE). We also construct LAMLE based on Taylor series method of linear approximation and found that this estimator is slightly biased than that based on the LS method. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to investigate the performance of LAMLE and found that it is almost as efficient as MLE, though biased than MLE. We also compare unbiased LAMLE with BLUE based on the exact variances of the estimators and interestingly this new unbiased LAMLE is found just as efficient as the BLUE in both complete and Type-II censored samples. Since MLE is known as asymptotically unbiased, in large samples we compare unbiased LAMLE with MLE and found that this estimator is almost as efficient as MLE. We have also discussed interval estimation of the scale parameter from complete and Type-II censored samples. Finally, we present some numerical examples to illustrate the construction of the new estimators developed here.     

On progressively censored generalized inverted exponential distribution

A generalized version of inverted exponential distribution (IED) is considered in this paper. This lifetime distribution is capable of modeling various shapes of failure rates, and hence various shapes of aging criteria. The model can be considered as another useful two-parameter generalization of the IED. Maximum likelihood and Bayes estimates for two parameters of the generalized inverted exponential distribution (GIED) are obtained on the basis of a progressively type-II censored sample. We also showed the existence, uniqueness and finiteness of the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters of GIED based on progressively type-II censored data. Bayesian estimates are obtained using squared error loss function. These Bayesian estimates are evaluated by applying the Lindley's approximation method and via importance sampling technique. The importance sampling technique is used to compute the Bayes estimates and the associated credible intervals. We further consider the Bayes prediction problem based on the observed samples, and provide the appropriate predictive intervals. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to compare the performances of the proposed methods and a data set has been analyzed for illustrative purposes.     

Estimation of the failure rate-a survey of nonparametric methods Part I: Non-Bayesian Methods

In this paper several nonparametric, non-Bayesian methods for estimating the failure rate function on which no monotonicity conditions have been imposed are surveyed. The survey attempts to consolidate and synthesize literature from several diverse areas of application, and endeavors to be as up-to-date as is feasible.     

Robust estimation for the coefficient of a first order autoregressive process

Nonparametric methods, Theil's method and Hussain's method have been applied to simple linear regression problems for estimating the slope of the regression line.We extend these methods and propose a robust estimator to estimate the coefficient of a first order autoregressive process under various distribution shapes, A simulation study to compare Theil's estimator, Hus-sain's estimator, the least squares estimator, and the proposed estimator is also presented.     

Maximum likelihood estimation for the generalized poisson distribution when sample mean is larger than sample variance

The generalized Poisson distribution (GPD), studied by many researchers and containing two parameters θ and λ, has been found to fit very well data sets arising in biological, ecological, social and marketing fields. Consul and Shoukri (1985) have shown that for negative values of λ the GPD gets truncated and the model becomes deficient; however, the truncation error becomes less than 0.0005 if the minimum number of non-zero probability classes ≥ 4 for all values of θ and λ and the GPD model can be safely used in all such cases. The problem of admissible maximum likelihood (ML) estimation when the sample mean is larger than the sample variance is considered in this paper which complements the earlier work of Consul and Shoukri (1984) on the existence of unique ML estimators of θ and λ when the sample mean is smaller than or equal to the sample variance.     

后方法理论视角下“成果法”与“写长法”教学模式对比研究

基于后方法理论的指导,就“成果法”和“写长法”这两种不同的教学模式对不同写作水平的大学英语学习者所产生的影响进行了对比实验研究.研究发现,尽管教学方法本身并无孰优孰劣之分,“成果法”与“写长法”都能一定程度上提高不同写作水平受试者的成绩,但是“写长法”对于不同写作水平受试者的效果显著优于“成果法”.     

Some inference results on pr(x < y) in the bivariate exponential model

This paper provides three different estimators for Pr(X < Y) when X and Y have a bivariate exponential distribution. The asymptotic variances of the three estimators are also derived. A test for the equality of the means of X and Y and confidence limits for the difference of the two means are presented. Our results are directly applicable in a reliability context with underlying bivariate exponential distribution.     

Sur la convergence des tests de Schlee et de Yatchew

L'auteur adapte l'approche de Schlee (1980) et de Yatchew (1992) à la construction de deux tests de convexité pour une fonction de régression dans un modèle non paramétrique. Il établit de nouveaux résultats de convergence pour ces tests et étudie leur comportement dans de petits échantillons à l'aide de simulations.