Importance of the prior mass for agreement between frequentist and Bayesian approaches in the two-sided test

We study distributional properties of generalized order statistics (gos) related by a random shift or scaling scheme in the continuous and discrete case, respectively. In the continuous case, we obtain new characterizations of distributions relating non-neighbouring gos extending some results given in the literature for the neighbouring cases. On the other hand, in the discrete case, we investigate the existence and uniqueness of a discrete parent distribution supported on the integers whose gos are related by a random translation.     

A robust test for asymptotic independence of bivariate extremes

We show that the existing tests for asymptotic independence are sensitive to outliers. A robust test is proposed. The new test is made stable under contamination through a shrinkage scheme. Simulations show that the new test performs well in the presence of contaminated data while maintaining good properties when there is no contamination. An application to real data shows the added value of our new robust approach.     

Control charts for location based on different sampling schemes

Control charts are the most important statistical process control tool for monitoring variations in a process. A number of articles are available in the literature for the X? control chart based on simple random sampling, ranked set sampling, median-ranked set sampling (MRSS), extreme-ranked set sampling, double-ranked set sampling, double median-ranked set sampling and median double-ranked set sampling. In this study, we highlight some limitations of the existing ranked set charting structures. Besides, we propose different runs rules-based control charting structures under a variety of sampling strategies. We evaluate the performance of the control charting structures using power curves as a performance criterion. We observe that the proposed merger of varying runs rules schemes with different sampling strategies improve significantly the detection ability of location control charting structures. More specifically, the MRSS performs the best under both single- and double-ranked set strategies with varying runs rules schemes. We also include a real-life example to explain the proposal and highlight its significance for practical data sets.     

Number of Replications Required in Control Chart Monte Carlo Simulation Studies

Monte Carlo simulations have been used extensively in studying the performance of control charts. Researchers have used various numbers of replications in their studies, but almost none of them provided justifications for the number of replications used. Currently, there are no empirically based recommendations regarding the required number of replications to ensure accurate results. This research examined six recently published studies to develop recommendations for the minimum number of replications necessary to reproduce the reported results within a specified degree of accuracy. The results of this study indicated that using 10,000 replications was unnecessarily large and a smaller number of replications could be used to reproduce the target ARLs within the 2% error bands satisfying the modified Mundfrom's criteria. In many cases, only 5,000 replications or fewer were required. In general, the number of replications required to reproduce the target ARL decreased as the shift size increased. In addition, the results of this study provide general recommendations for the required number of replications to use in future SPC simulation studies.     

Semiparametric multiple kernel estimators and model diagnostics for count regression functions

Abstract

This study concerns semiparametric approaches to estimate discrete multivariate count regression functions. The semiparametric approaches investigated consist of combining discrete multivariate nonparametric kernel and parametric estimations such that (i) a prior knowledge of the conditional distribution of model response may be incorporated and (ii) the bias of the traditional nonparametric kernel regression estimator of Nadaraya-Watson may be reduced. We are precisely interested in combination of the two estimations approaches with some asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators. Asymptotic normality results were showed for nonparametric correction terms of parametric start function of the estimators. The performance of discrete semiparametric multivariate kernel estimators studied is illustrated using simulations and real count data. In addition, diagnostic checks are performed to test the adequacy of the parametric start model to the true discrete regression model. Finally, using discrete semiparametric multivariate kernel estimators provides a bias reduction when the parametric multivariate regression model used as start regression function belongs to a neighborhood of the true regression model.     

Combined multiple testing of multivariate survival times by censored empirical likelihood

In each study testing the survival experience of one or more populations, one must not only choose an appropriate class of tests, but further an appropriate weight function. As the optimal choice depends on the true shape of the hazard ratio, one is often not capable of getting the best results with respect to a specific dataset. For the univariate case several methods were proposed to conquer this problem. However, most of the interesting datasets contain multivariate observations nowadays. In this work we propose a multivariate version of a method based on multiple constrained censored empirical likelihood where the constraints are formulated as linear functionals of the cumulative hazard functions. By considering the conditional hazards, we take the correlation between the components into account with the goal of obtaining a test that exhibits a high power irrespective of the shape of the hazard ratio under the alternative hypothesis.     

Copula representation of bivariate L-moments: a new estimation method for multiparameter two-dimensional copula models

Serfling and Xiao [A contribution to multivariate L-moments, L-comoment matrices. J Multivariate Anal. 2007;98:1765–1781] extended the L-moment theory to the multivariate setting. In the present paper, we focus on the two-dimensional random vectors to establish a link between the bivariate L-moments (BLM) and the underlying bivariate copula functions. This connection provides a new estimate of dependence parameters of bivariate statistical data. Extensive simulation study is carried out to compare estimators based on the BLM, the maximum likelihood, the minimum distance and a rank approximate Z-estimation. The obtained results show that, when the sample size increases, BLM-based estimation performs better as far as the bias and computation time are concerned. Moreover, the root-mean-squared error is quite reasonable and less sensitive in general to outliers than those of the above cited methods. Further, the proposed BLM method is an easy-to-use tool for the estimation of multiparameter copula models. A generalization of the BLM estimation method to the multivariate case is discussed.     

A statistical procedure for representing state fragility and transition paths

State fragility is a concept that entered the political discourse in the last decades producing remarkable implications for aid allocation and international policies. The operationalization of this concept has generated a number of composite indices to produce rankings of fragile states. However, the temporal dimension of the driving forces leading to fragility has been rather neglected. This article discusses a statistical procedure that helps to represent the global fragility of a country and the path that a country has followed or will follow in the future when possibly entering into (or escaping from) a fragility condition. Specifically, multiple factor analysis is applied to depict vulnerable and weak countries, and to identify the fundamental forces that determine their overall fragility. Moreover, the trajectories of countries along the years are estimated using partial factor scores. Finally, the path of each country is predicted by means of parsimonious regression models, based on a reduced set of explanatory variables, and according to scenarios elaborated from available international outlooks.