Data on the weights and heights of children 2-18 yeas old in Iran were obtained in a National Health Survey of 10 660 families in 1990-92. Data were 'cleaned' in 1 year age groups. After excluding gross outliers by inspection of bivariate scatter plots, Box-Cox power transformations were used to...

In this paper, we study the distribution tables of imperfectly shuffled hands in a bridge game under a conditional Markov chain model, based on which a simple approximate test on the randomness of the decks is derived. The idea is to examine whether a stochastic process is a compound...

We develop a general statistical procedure to obtain linearly the best efficient estimate of existing estimations of the parameter of a probability process. This procedure is used to obtain the best efficient estimates of the shape parameter, the intensity failure function and its reciprocal of...

We live in a world full of variations. We need to understand its sources and we need a scientific method for predicting it, for reducing it and for controlling it. Statistical thinking is the only way to deal with variations. Continuous improvement means continuously solving the variation...

The presence of outliers in time series gives rise to important effects on the sample autocorrelation coefficients. In the case where these outliers are not adequately treated, their presence causes errors in the identification of the stochastic process generator of the time series under study....

A novel proposal for combining forecast distributions is to use quantile regression to combine quantile estimates. We consider the usefulness of the resultant linear combining weights. If the quantile estimates are unbiased, then there is strong intuitive appeal for omitting the constant and...

This paper presents a design for skip-lot sampling inspection plans with the double-sampling plan as the reference plan, so as to reduce the sample size and produce more efficient plans in return for the same sampling effort. The efficiency of the proposed plan compared with that of the...

This paper uses data for 44 countries from 1970-1990, to investigate the relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions. Empirical results are obtained from a structural model from the empirical growth literature modified to include environmental 'bads'. Results suggest that...

We analyze tidal data from Port Mansfield, TX, using Kunsch's blockwise bootstrap in the regression setting. In particular, we estimate the variability of parameter estimates in a harmonic analysis via block subsampling of residuals from a least-squares fit. We see that naive least-squares...

This paper extends our understanding of what determines the length of strikes, by comparing two alternative models of the strike settlement process, while simultaneously allowing for variation in this process as a result of economic conditions and unobserved heterogeneity. Some inconclusive...