TESTING SPHERICITY UNDER A MIXTURE MODEL

The robustness of Mauchly's sphericity test criterion when sampling from a mixture of two multivariate normal distributions is studied. The distribution of the sphericity test criterion when the sample covariance matrix has a non-central Wishart density of rank one is derived in terms of Meijer's G-functions; its distribution under the mixture model is then deduced. The robustness is studied by computing actual significance levels of the test under the mixture model using the critical values under the usual normal model.     

Proportional reversed hazard rate model and its applications

The purpose of this paper is to study the structure and properties of the proportional reversed hazard rate model (PRHRM) in contrast to the celebrated proportional hazard model (PHM). The monotonicity of the hazard rate and the reversed hazard rate of the model is investigated. Some criteria of aging are presented and the inheritance of the aging notions (of the base distribution) by the PRHRM is studied. Characterizations of the model involving Fisher information are presented and the statistical inference of the parameters is discussed. Finally, it is shown that several members of the proportional reversed hazard rate class have been found to be useful and flexible in real data analysis.     

Estimation of critical points in the mixture inverse Gaussian model

The maximum likelihood estimation for the critical points of the failure rate and the mean residual life function are presented in the case of mixture inverse Gaussian model. Several important data sets are analyzed from this point of view. For each of the data sets, Bootstrapping is used to construct confidence intervals of the critical points.     

On the effectiveness of cognitive feedback from an interface agent

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of task information (TI) provided by an interface agent during the idea evaluation and integration step of the problem formulation stage of the problem solving process. The effectiveness assessment was based on solving diagnostic decision problems in the domain of complex industrial machinery. Ten domain experts participated in this study. Decision support was provided by a case-based reasoning system. Findings suggest that TI provided by the interface agent had no effect on the decision maker's performance, nor on the associated cognitive effort. However, a verbal protocol analysis revealed that the ten subjects used the interface agent to verify their decision processes. The results and their implications are discussed with respect to current findings in the area of decision support systems.     

Penalty guided genetic search for redundancy optimization in multi-state series-parallel power system

This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA) for parallel redundancy optimization in series-parallel power systems exhibiting multi-state behavior, optimizing the reliability subject to constraints. The components are binary and chosen from a list of products available in the market, and are being characterized by their feeding capacity, reliability, cost and weight. System reliability is defined as the ability to satisfy consumer demand and is presented as a piecewise cumulative load curve. In GA, to handle infeasible solutions penalty strategies are used. Penalty technique keep a certain amount of infeasible solutions in each generation so as to enforce genetic search towards an optimal solution from sides of, both, feasible and infeasible regions. We here present a dynamic adaptive penalty function which helps the algorithm to search efficiently for optimal/near optimal solution. To evaluate system reliability, a fast procedure, based on universal generating function, is used. An example considering a multi-state series-parallel power system is solved considering both homogeneous and heterogeneous types of redundancy. Also an example considering price discounts is solved. The effectiveness of the penalty function and the proposed algorithm is studied and shown graphically.     

国内外研究《格萨尔》状况概述

《格萨尔》史诗虽然产生于青藏高原,但是它以独特的魅力,不仅冲出族属的省界,流传于大半个中国,而且早已跨越国境,在许多国家的文苑中竞相开放,为世界人民所喜爱。《格萨尔》研究究竟是从什么时候开始的,经历了怎样的过程?有人说国外对《格萨尔》的研究比国内早,而且成果颇丰,正如敦煌学在中国,而敦煌研究在国外一样。同样,《格萨尔》史诗在中国,而《格萨尔》研究在国外。其实不然,事实上,这部史诗以其“非凡的普及性”引起国外学者注意之前,早就受到了本族学者的热切关注。在国内,研究史诗的历史比国外早近200年,研究成果令人瞩目。     

民国年间（1912～1949年）汉藏佛教文化交流——内地僧人赴藏求法

汉藏佛教文化交流自唐朝开始,经宋、元、明、清历朝不断,进入民国达到高潮。大勇法师曾在北京组建留藏学法团,其中的部分成员进藏求法,将大量的藏文佛教典籍翻译成汉文,推动并加强了藏传佛教研究,增进了汉藏僧人的相互了解和汉藏民族文化的交流。     

Empirical likelihood based detection procedure for change point in mean residual life functions under random censorship

The mean residual life (MRL) function is one of the basic parameters of interest in survival analysis that describes the expected remaining time of an individual after a certain age. The study of changes in the MRL function is practical and interesting because it may help us to identify some factors such as age and gender that may influence the remaining lifetimes of patients after receiving a certain surgery. In this paper, we propose a detection procedure based on the empirical likelihood for the changes in MRL functions with right censored data. Two real examples are also given: Veterans' administration lung cancer study and Stanford heart transplant to illustrate the detecting procedure. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From the Mouths of Mothers: Can Drama Facilitate Reflective Learning for Social Workers?

This article explores and evaluates a cross-disciplinary small-scale project using applied theatre in social work education. The aim was to provide an ‘Affective Encounter’ where students could practice empathic engagement, understanding of the needs of children who have been sexually abused and their protective parents/carers and engage in the complexities of working with family members who may be resistant. The workshop took place five times over a period of three years and was attended by children and families social workers on a one year post-qualifying graduate diploma course. While the use of verbatim theatre does not offer a guarantee of factual truth, it provided the students with some performed moments of personal testimony which was taken word-for-word from mothers whose children had been sexually abused. This allowed the social workers to hear the marginalised narratives of the protective mothers and to practice without a negative impact on the service user. The evaluation identified from self-report the development of emotional and practical skills and knowledge of available resources. This paper focuses on the emotional skills reported and two emerging themes are discussed: learning for humane practice, and the use of this pedagogical approach to encourage affective reflection.     

西藏妇女的扫盲教育及其对策

扫盲教育是一项非长期性而又具有实用性、基础性、工具性的系统工程。推进贫困地区、少数民族地区和农村妇女的扫盲将是未来扫盲工作的重中之重;因此,抓准扫盲工作的重中之重,加大妇女扫盲力度是扫盲工作抓出成效的关键。