Semiparametric inference in mixture models with predictive recursion marginal likelihood

Predictive recursion is an accurate and computationally efficient algorithm for nonparametric estimation of mixing densities in mixture models. In semiparametric mixture models, however, the algorithm fails to account for any uncertainty in the additional unknown structural parameter. As an alternative to existing profile likelihood methods, we treat predictive recursion as a filter approximation to fitting a fully Bayes model, whereby an approximate marginal likelihood of the structural parameter emerges and can be used for inference. We call this the predictive recursion marginal likelihood. Convergence properties of predictive recursion under model mis-specification also lead to an attractive construction of this new procedure. We show pointwise convergence of a normalized version of this marginal likelihood function. Simulations compare the performance of this new marginal likelihood approach that of existing profile likelihood methods as well as Dirichlet process mixtures in density estimation. Mixed-effects models and an empirical Bayes multiple testing application in time series analysis are also considered

Lightweight, high-strength, reinforced plastic tube-franging die

Dies of a phenolic molding compound with chopped glass fibers as fill material possess a flexural strength of 20,000 psi and a compressive strength of 28,500 psi

Optimal designs for stated choice experiments generated from fractional factorial designs

This article gives optimal designs obtained by developing a fractional factorial design for the estimation of main effects in stated choice experiments under the assumption of equal selection probabilities. This construction approach follows that of Burgess and Street (2005), who develop complete factorial designs to construct optimal designs for choice experiments, but we obtain choice experiments with fewer choice sets. We construct the fractional factorial designs using the Rao-Hamming method, which assumes all attributes have the same number of levels, which must be a prime or a prime power. We also find optimal designs for stated choice experiments that are generated from asymmetric fractional factorial designs constructed using expansive replacement under the same assumption. We use the multinomial logit model to analyze the results, and we make the assumption of equal selection probabilities when calculating optimality properties. The methods that we use to implement these constructions are given in the last section. Copyright © Grace Scientific Publishing, LLC

Sample size determination for logistic regression: A simulation study

This article considers the different methods for determining sample sizes for Wald, likelihood ratio, and score tests for logistic regression. We review some recent methods, report the results of a simulation study comparing each of the methods for each of the three types of test, and provide Mathematica code for calculating sample size. We consider a variety of covariate distributions, and find that a calculation method based on a first order expansion of the likelihood ratio test statistic performs consistently well in achieving a target level of power for each of the three types of test. © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Risk based bridge data collection and asset management and the role of structural health monitoring

Peer reviewedPostprin

Reaction as image: Comic books and American life, 1940-1955

The comic book became a mass medium during a series of defining moments in twentieth-century American history. By telling and retelling narratives of individual achievement during the Great Depression, and tales of patriotism during World War II, comic books gained a popular audience rivaling that of agenda-setting national periodicals such as Life or The Saturday Evening Post. In the first postwar decade, however, publishers experimented with themes of crime, horror, teen romance, and social satire in ways that provoked a wave of public hostility. Crusading psychiatrists, politicians, civic groups, and religious leaders led a campaign against the industry that revealed much about fundamental changes in American society. The extension of postwar prosperity to adolescent consumers was in the process of creating a youth-oriented market culture that would reshape the central traditions of American consensus. Agitation resulted in an investigation of comic books and juvenile delinquency under the auspices of the United States Senate, and the enacting of a strict censorship code that struck controversial images and stories from the pages of comic books. This containment of cultural divisions would prove temporary, but it prefigured the conflicts of the following decades

Philosophy for Teachers (p4t): A Study of the Philosophy for Children Hawai‘i (p4cHI) Educational Framework Applied in Pre-Service Teacher Education.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017