Robustness of a Class of Partial Diallel Cross Designs to the Unavailability of a Complete Block of Observations

Complete and partial diallel cross designs are examined as to their construction and robustness against the loss of a block of observations. A simple generalized inverse is found for the information matrix of the line effects, which allows evaluation of expressions for the variances of the line-effect differences with and without the missing block. A-efficiencies, based on average variances of the elementary contrasts of the line-effects, suggest that these designs are fairly robust. The loss of efficiency is generally less than 10%, but it is shown that specific comparisons might suffer a loss of efficiency of as much as 40%.     

Selecting the normal population with the smallest variance: A restricted subset selection rule

Consider k( ? 2) normal populations whose means are all known or unknown and whose variances are unknown. Let σ²_[1] ? ??? ? σ_[k]² denote the ordered variances. Our goal is to select a non empty subset of the k populations whose size is at most m(1 ? m ? k ? 1) so that the population associated with the smallest variance (called the best population) is included in the selected subset with a guaranteed minimum probability P* whenever σ²_[2]/σ_[1]² ? δ* > 1, where P* and δ* are specified in advance of the experiment. Based on samples of size n from each of the populations, we propose and investigate a procedure called R_BCP. We also derive some asymptotic results for our procedure. Some comparisons with an earlier available procedure are presented in terms of the average subset sizes for selected slippage configurations based on simulations. The results are illustrated by an example.     

Testing equality of variances for several normal populations

In this study, we develop a test based on computational approach for the equality of variances of several normal populations. The proposed method is numerically compared with the existing methods. The numeric results demonstrate that the proposed method performs very well in terms of type I error rate and power of test. Furthermore we study the robustness of the tests by using simulation study when the underlying data are from t, exponential and uniform distributions. Finally we analyze a real dataset that motivated our study using the proposed test.     

Noninformative priors for the between-group variance in the unbalanced one-way random effects model with heterogeneous error variances

For the unbalanced one-way random effects model with heterogeneous error variances, we propose the non-informative priors for the between-group variance and develop the first- and second-order matching priors. It turns out that the second-order matching priors do not exist and the reference prior and Jeffreys prior do not satisfy a first-order matching criterion. We also show that the first-order matching prior meets the frequentist target coverage probabilities much better than the Jeffreys prior and reference prior through simulation study, and the Bayesian credible intervals based on the matching prior and reference prior give shorter intervals than the existing confidence intervals by examples.     

An improved cluster two-stage randomized response model

In this paper, Abdelfatah and Mazloum's (2015) two-stage randomized response model is extended to unequal probability sampling and stratified unequal probability sampling, both with and without replacement. The extended models result in more efficient estimators than Lee et al.'s (2014) estimators of the proportion of the population having a sensitive attribute.     

Estimation of variance in bivariate normal distribution after the preliminary test of homogeneity

A preliminary test estimator of variance in the bivariate normal distribution is proposed after the Pitman–Morgan test of homogeneity of two variances. The bias and mean square error of the estimator are derived. The relative efficiency (RE) of the preliminary test estimator is studied. Computations and 3D graphs of RE for different parameters are analyzed. In order to get the maximum RE, recommendations of the significance level for the preliminary test are given for various sample sizes by using the max–min criterion.     

A modified subset selection formulation with special reference to one-way and two-way layout experiments

The usual formulation of subset selection due to Gupta (1956) requires a minimum guaranteed probability of a correct selection. The modified formulation of the present paper includes an additional requirement that the expected number of the nonbest populations be bounded above by a specified constant when the best and the next best populations are ‘sufficiently’ apart. A class of procedures is defined and the determination of the minimum sample size required is discussed. The specific problems discussed for normal populations include selection in terms of means and variances, and selection in terms of treatment effects in a two-way layout.     

Use of prior information for estimating the variance components

The MINQUE and its modifications are considered for estimating the variances of the balanced one-way random effects model. The effects of the a priori values on the estimators of the variances are examined in detail. The Mean Square Errors of the estimators are compared for variations in the prior values of the unknown variances.     

Asymptotic properties of a generalized regression-type predictor of a finite population variance in probability sampling

A system of predictors for estimating a finite population variance is defined and shown to be asymptotically design-unbiased (ADU) and asymptotically design-consistent (ADC) under probability sampling. An asymptotic mean squared error (MSE) of a generalized regression-type predictor, generated from the system, is obtained. The suggested predictor attains the minimum expected variance of any design-unbiased estimator when the superpopulation model is correct. The generalized regression-type predictor and the predictor suggested by Mukhopadhyay (1990) are compared.     

Partitioning with Respect to a Control: Unequal Sample Sizes Case

This article describes a method for partitioning with respect to a control for the situation in which the treatment sample sizes are unequal and also for the situation where the treatment sample sizes are equal except for a few missing values. Calculation of the critical values required for finding confidence limits is discussed and tables are presented for the “almost equal” sample size case. An application of this method to length of stay data for congestive heart failure patients is also provided.