This article describes the inferential procedures and Bayesian optimal life-testing issues under Type-II unified hybrid censoring scheme. First, the explicit expressions of expected number of failures, expected duration of testing and Fisher information matrix for the unknown parameters of the underlying lifetime model are derived. Then, using these quantities, the Bayesian optimal life-testing plans are computed in subsequent section. A cost constraint D-optimal optimization problem has been formulated and the corresponding solution algorithm is provided to obtain optimal plans. Computational procedures are illustrated through numerical examples.
We propose here a smooth estimator of the mean residual life function based on randomly censored data. This is derived by smoothing the product-limit estimator using the Chaubey-Sen technique (Chaubey and Sen (1998)). The resulting estimator does not suffer from boundary bias as is the case with standard kernel smoothing. The asymptotic properties of the estimator are investigated. We establish strong uniform consistency and asymptotic normality. This complements the work of Chaubey and Sen (1999) which considered a similar estimation procedure in the case of complete data. It is seen that the…
Accelerated life-testing (ALT) is a very useful technique for examining the reliability of highly reliable products. It allows testing the products at higher than usual stress conditions to induce failures more quickly and economically than under typical conditions. A special case of ALT are step-stress tests that allow experimenter to increase the stress levels at fixed times. This paper deals with the multiple step step-stress model under the cumulative exposure model with lognormally distributed lifetimes in the presence of Type-II and Progressive Type-II censoring. For this model, the maxi…
We propose a new class of semiparametric regression models of mean residual life for censored outcome data. The models, which enable us to estimate the expected remaining survival time and generalize commonly used mean residual life models, also conduct covariate dimension reduction. Using the geometric approaches in semiparametrics literature and the martingale properties with survival data, we propose a flexible inference procedure that relaxes the parametric assumptions on the dependence of mean residual life on covariates and how long a patient has lived. We show that the estimators for th…
Two requirements for pivoting a cumulative distribution function (CDF) in order to construct exact confidence intervals or bounds for a real-valued parameter $θ$ are the monotonicity of this CDF with respect to $θ$ and the existence of solutions of some pertinent equations for $θ$. The second requirement is not fulfilled by the CDF of the maximum likelihood estimator of the exponential scale parameter when the data come from some life-testing scenarios such as type-I censoring, hybrid type-I censoring, and progressive type-I censoring that are subject to time constraints. However, the method h…
In this paper, we focus on the parametric inference based on the Tampered Random Variable (TRV) model for simple step-stress life testing (SSLT) using Type-II censored data. The baseline lifetime of the experimental units, under normal stress conditions, follows the Gumbel Type-II distribution with $α$ and $λ$ being the shape and scale parameters, respectively. Maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and Bayes estimator of the model parameters are derived based on Type-II censored samples. We obtain asymptotic intervals of the unknown parameters using the observed Fisher information matrix. Bayes e…
In this paper a new decision theoretic sampling plan (DSP) is proposed for Type-I censored exponential distribution. The proposed DSP is based on a new estimator of the expected lifetime of an exponential distribution which always exists, unlike the usual maximum likelihood estimator. The DSP is a modification of the Bayesian variable sampling plan of \cite{Lam:1994}. An optimum DSP is derived in the sense that it minimizes the Bayes risk. In terms of the Bayes risks, it performs better than Lam's sampling plan and its performance is as good as the Bayesian sampling plan of \cite{LLH:2002}, al…
We consider a regression modeling of the quantiles of residual life, remaining lifetime at a specific time. We propose a smoothed induced version of the existing non-smooth estimating equations approaches for estimating regression parameters. The proposed estimating equations are smooth in regression parameters, so solutions can be readily obtained via standard numerical algorithms. Moreover, the smoothness in the proposed estimating equations enables one to obtain a robust sandwich-type covariance estimator of regression estimators aided by an efficient resampling method. To handle data subje…
In this paper, a competing risks model is analyzed based on improved adaptive type-II progressive censored sample (IAT-II PCS). Two independent competing causes of failures are considered. It is assumed that lifetimes of the competing causes of failure follow exponential distributions with different means. Maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs) for the unknown model parameters are obtained. Using asymptotic normality property of MLE, the asymptotic confidence intervals are constructed. Existence and uniqueness properties of the MLEs are studied. Further, bootstrap confidence intervals are comput…
Progressive censoring scheme has received considerable attention in recent years. In this paper we introduce a new type-II progressive censoring scheme for two samples. It is observed that the proposed censoring scheme is analytically more tractable than the existing joint progressive type-II censoring scheme proposed by Rasouli and Balakrishnan \cite{RB:2010}. It has some other advantages also. We study the statistical inference of the unknown parameters based on the assumptions that the lifetime distribution of the experimental units for the two samples follow exponential distribution with d…
The progressive Type-II hybrid censoring scheme introduced by Kundu and Joarder (\textit{Computational Statistics and Data Analysis}, 2509-2528, 2006), has received some attention in the last few years. One major drawback of this censoring scheme is that very few observations (even no observation at all) may be observed at the end of the experiment. To overcome this problem, Cho, Sun and Lee (\textit{Statistical Methodology}, 23, 18-34, 2015) recently introduced generalized progressive censoring which ensures to get a pre specified number of failures. In this paper we analyze generalized progr…
The inactivity time, or lost lifespan specifically for mortality data, concerns time from occurrence of an event of interest to the current time point and has recently emerged as a new summary measure for cumulative information inherent in time-to-event data. This summary measure provides several benefits over the traditional methods, including more straightforward interpretation yet less sensitivity to heavy censoring. However, there exists no systematic modeling approach to inferring the quantile inactivity time in the literature. In this paper, we propose a regression method for the quantil…
One-shot devices analysis involves an extreme case of interval censoring, wherein one can only know whether the failure time is either before or after the test time. Some kind of one-shot devices do not get destroyed when tested, and so can continue within the experiment, providing extra information for inference, if they did not fail before an inspection time. In addition, their reliability can be rapidly estimated via accelerated life tests (ALTs) by running the tests at varying and higher stress levels than working conditions. In particular, step-stress tests allow the experimenter to incre…
We propose a nonparametric test of independence, termed optHSIC, between a covariate and a right-censored lifetime. Because the presence of censoring creates a challenge in applying the standard permutation-based testing approaches, we use optimal transport to transform the censored dataset into an uncensored one, while preserving the relevant dependencies. We then apply a permutation test using the kernel-based dependence measure as a statistic to the transformed dataset. The type 1 error is proven to be correct in the case where censoring is independent of the covariate. Experiments indicate…
In this article, we consider the estimation of unknown parameters of Weibull distribution when the lifetime data are observed in the presence of progressively type-I hybrid censoring scheme. The Newton-Raphson algorithm, Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm and Stochastic EM (SEM) algorithm are utilized to derive the maximum likelihood estimates (MLEs) for the unknown parameters. Moreover, Bayesian estimators using Tierney-Kadane Method and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method are obtained under three different loss functions, namely, squared error loss (SEL), linear-exponential (LINEX) a…
The multiplicative censoring model introduced in Vardi [Biometrika 76 (1989) 751--761] is an incomplete data problem whereby two independent samples from the lifetime distribution $G$, $\mathcal{X}_m=(X_1,...,X_m)$ and $\mathcal{Z}_n=(Z_1,...,Z_n)$, are observed subject to a form of coarsening. Specifically, sample $\mathcal{X}_m$ is fully observed while $\mathcal{Y}_n=(Y_1,...,Y_n)$ is observed instead of $\mathcal{Z}_n$, where $Y_i=U_iZ_i$ and $(U_1,...,U_n)$ is an independent sample from the standard uniform distribution. Vardi [Biometrika 76 (1989) 751--761] showed that this model unifies …
Multistate process data are common in studies of chronic diseases such as cancer. These data are ideal for precision medicine purposes as they can be leveraged to improve more refined health outcomes, compared to standard survival outcomes, as well as incorporate patient preferences regarding quantity versus quality of life. However, there are currently no methods for the estimation of optimal individualized treatment rules with such data. In this article, we propose a nonparametric outcome weighted learning approach for this problem in randomized clinical trial settings. The theoretical prope…
Causal inference is best understood using potential outcomes. This use is particularly important in more complex settings, that is, observational studies or randomized experiments with complications such as noncompliance. The topic of this lecture, the issue of estimating the causal effect of a treatment on a primary outcome that is ``censored'' by death, is another such complication. For example, suppose that we wish to estimate the effect of a new drug on Quality of Life (QOL) in a randomized experiment, where some of the patients die before the time designated for their QOL to be assessed. …
Cox proportional hazard regression model is a popular tool to analyze the relationship between a censored lifetime variable with other relevant factors. The semi-parametric Cox model is widely used to study different types of data arising from applied disciplines like medical science, biology, reliability studies and many more. A fully parametric version of the Cox regression model, if properly specified, can yield more efficient parameter estimates leading to better insight generation. However, the existing maximum likelihood approach of generating inference under the fully parametric Cox reg…
One-shot devices data represent an extreme case of interval censoring.Some kind of one-shot units do not get destroyed when tested, and so, survival units can continue within the test providing extra information about their lifetime. Moreover, one-shot devices may last for long times under normal operating conditions, and so accelerated life tests (ALTs) may be used for inference. ALTs relate the lifetime distribution of an unit with the stress level at which it is tested via log-linear relationship.Then, mean lifetime of the devices are reduced during the test by increasing the stress level a…
