Empirical likelihood confidence intervals for the mean of a population containing many zero values

If a population contains many zero values and the sample size is not very large, the traditional normal approximation‐based confidence intervals for the population mean may have poor coverage probabilities. This problem is substantially reduced by constructing parametric likelihood ratio intervals when an appropriate mixture model can be found. In the context of survey sampling, however, there is a general preference for making minimal assumptions about the population under study. The authors have therefore investigated the coverage properties of nonparametric empirical likelihood confidence intervals for the population mean. They show that under a variety of hypothetical populations, these intervals often outperformed parametric likelihood intervals by having more balanced coverage rates and larger lower bounds. The authors illustrate their methodology using data from the Canadian Labour Force Survey for the year 2000.     

Sampling Strategies for Toxic Air Contaminants

Annual concentrations of toxic air contaminants are of primary concern from the perspective of chronic human exposure assessment and risk analysis. Despite recent advances in air quality monitoring technology, resource and technical constraints often impose limitations on the availability of a sufficient number of ambient concentration measurements for performing environmental risk analysis. Therefore, sample size limitations, representativeness of data, and uncertainties in the estimated annual mean concentration must be examined before performing quantitative risk analysis. In this paper, we discuss several factors that need to be considered in designing field-sampling programs for toxic air contaminants and in verifying compliance with environmental regulations. Specifically, we examine the behavior of SO2, TSP, and CO data as surrogates for toxic air contaminants and as examples of point source, area source, and line source-dominated pollutants, respectively, from the standpoint of sampling design. We demonstrate the use of bootstrap resampling method and normal theory in estimating the annual mean concentration and its 95% confidence bounds from limited sampling data, and illustrate the application of operating characteristic (OC) curves to determine optimum sample size and other sampling strategies. We also outline a statistical procedure, based on a one-sided t-test, that utilizes the sampled concentration data for evaluating whether a sampling site is compliance with relevant ambient guideline concentrations for toxic air contaminants.     

A Non-parametric Frailty Model for Temporally Clustered Multivariate Failure Times

Abstract A model is introduced here for multivariate failure time data arising from heterogenous populations. In particular, we consider a situation in which the failure times of individual subjects are often temporally clustered, so that many failures occur during a relatively short age interval. The clustering is modelled by assuming that the subjects can be divided into ‘internally homogenous’ latent classes, each such class being then described by a time‐dependent frailty profile function. As an example, we reanalysed the dental caries data presented earlier in Härkänen et al. [Scand. J. Statist. 27 (2000) 577], as it turned out that our earlier model could not adequately describe the observed clustering.     

Uncertain Numbers and Uncertainty in the Selection of Input Distributions—Consequences for a Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Contaminated Land

Risks from exposure to contaminated land are often assessed with the aid of mathematical models. The current probabilistic approach is a considerable improvement on previous deterministic risk assessment practices, in that it attempts to characterize uncertainty and variability. However, some inputs continue to be assigned as precise numbers, while others are characterized as precise probability distributions. Such precision is hard to justify, and we show in this article how rounding errors and distribution assumptions can affect an exposure assessment. The outcome of traditional deterministic point estimates and Monte Carlo simulations were compared to probability bounds analyses. Assigning all scalars as imprecise numbers (intervals prescribed by significant digits) added uncertainty to the deterministic point estimate of about one order of magnitude. Similarly, representing probability distributions as probability boxes added several orders of magnitude to the uncertainty of the probabilistic estimate. This indicates that the size of the uncertainty in such assessments is actually much greater than currently reported. The article suggests that full disclosure of the uncertainty may facilitate decision making in opening up a negotiation window. In the risk analysis process, it is also an ethical obligation to clarify the boundary between the scientific and social domains.     

Confidence Intervals for Current Status Data

Abstract.  The likelihood ratio statistic for testing pointwise hypotheses about the survival time distribution in the current status model can be inverted to yield confidence intervals (CIs). One advantage of this procedure is that CIs can be formed without estimating the unknown parameters that figure in the asymptotic distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the distribution function. We discuss the likelihood ratio-based CIs for the distribution function and the quantile function and compare these intervals to several different intervals based on the MLE. The quantiles of the limiting distribution of the MLE are estimated using various methods including parametric fitting, kernel smoothing and subsampling techniques. Comparisons are carried out both for simulated data and on a data set involving time to immunization against rubella. The comparisons indicate that the likelihood ratio-based intervals are preferable from several perspectives.     

Measuring credibility of compensatory preference statements when trade-offs are interval determined

This paper studies how an overall fuzzy preference relation can be constructed in the compensatory context of the simple additive difference model, when imprecision on the trade-offs has to be taken into account. Three credibility indices of preferences are analysed and illustrated by a numerical example. Arguments are presented supporting the use of the third index, for which an interesting transitivity property (which was an open problem) is proved.     

Any complete preference structure without circuit admits an interval representation

This article proves that all complete preference structures where the strict preference relation (P) has no circuit admit a representation by intervals of the real line; the rule for deciding whether an interval is indifferent or preferred to another is less straightforward than for interval orders: strict preference is indeed compatible with a certain degree of overlapping of intervals, the allowed degree being specified by means of a so-called tolerance function.     

企业投资决策分析方法及应用

目的/意义针对投资决策中偏好信息为区间模糊数的多准则决策问题,提出了一种基于冲突最小化的群体决策方法。设计/方法首先,以决策整体最优为目标,构建极大熵规划模型求解决策准则权重;其次,以决策总冲突程度最小化为目标,构建优化模型求解决策成员权重;然后,建立决策方案的比较可能度矩阵和排序向量模型,获得问题决策方案排序结果。最后,通过一个投资决策实例进行应用,验证了方法的有效性和科学性。结论/发现该方法能够解决投资群体决策中的冲突问题,在投资决策中形成偏好最一致的决策方案。     

能源价格波动对中国物价水平的潜在与实际影响

目的/意义原油作为重要的工业原料、大宗商品和战略储备物资,其价格波动对全球经济发展具有重大影响,对原油价格进行预测是能源经济领域的热点研究课题。对国际原油价格预测的主要方法进行系统梳理并展望未来研究方向,有助于该研究领域的纵深发展。设计/方法基于295篇国际期刊文献,对国际油价预测的发展阶段、发表期刊、研究机构等进行归纳总结,然后对近二十年油价预测领域的主要研究方法进行系统梳理和分析,最后对油价预测工作进行评述和趋势展望。结论/发现自2008年金融危机后,油价预测研究快速发展,相关文章主要发表于能源经济领域的权威期刊《Energy Economic》。现有油价预测方法主要包括计量模型、机器学习和混合预测模型。展望未来,利用高频日内交易数据,融合计量和机器学习前沿方法,对原油价格进行区间预测或概率密度预测是值得探索的方向,此外还应深化油价预测结果的实际应用价值。