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Pasteurised donor human milk is recommended for very low birthweight infants who do not have access to their mother's milk. Although the use of donor milk continues to increase, little is known about the donation experiences of milk bank donors. We aimed to describe and compare enablers, barriers and patterns of human milk donation and identify factors predicting donation volume in a convenience sample of approved milk bank donors in the United Kingdom and the United States. A cross‐sectional online survey was conducted from August 2022 to December 2022. Approved milk bank donors (n = 556) from three milk banks in the United States (n = 369, Mothers' Milk Bank of Florida, Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas and Northwest Mothers Milk Bank) and one milk bank in the United Kingdom (n = 187, Hearts Milk Bank) completed the survey. A substantial portion of donors in both settings reported participating in other forms of milk exchange (51% of U.S. donors vs. 39% of UK donors, p = 0.009). Top donation barriers reported in both settings were completing the serological screening and having enough space to store collected milk. Most donors started donating when their infant was 3 months old or older and reported donating mature milk. The most common source of information related to milk banking in each setting was the internet (United Kingdom–70% vs. United States ‐ 63%, p = 0.112). Variables that predicted lifetime donation volume differed between the United States and the United Kingdom, highlighting the importance of setting‐specific milk banking research. Key messages: Milk bank donors in the United Kingdom and the United States reported primarily receiving milk banking information from the internet and not their health care provider.A substantial portion of human milk bank donors in the United Kingdom and the United States participate in other forms of milk exchange, including sharing with a peer.Participating in other forms of milk exchange did not predict lower milk bank donation volumes.Barriers to donation and predictors of donation volume differed between donors in the United Kingdom and the United States, suggesting setting‐specific research is warranted to improve the donation process globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Improving infant and young child feeding practices is critical for improving growth and reducing child mortality and morbidity. This paper aims to compare predictors of minimum dietary diversity, an important indicator of adequate complementary feeding practices, in Bangladesh in 2011 and 2014. The 2011 and 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey were used to examine predictors of minimum dietary diversity among 6–23 months. An additional analysis was conducted for the 18–23‐month group, because a significant increase in meeting minimum dietary diversity recommendations was seen in this age group only. Factors found to be associated with practices were compared across time points. In 2011, minimum dietary diversity was 23.8% and increased to 28.8% in 2014. Among children 18–23 months, in 2011, minimum dietary diversity was 32.5% and increased to 42.8% in 2014. Among all children, wealth, education, exposure to media, and antenatal care were significant predictors of dietary diversity. In the 18–23‐month age group, significant predictors in 2011 were wealth and decision making. In 2014, significant predictors were education and exposure to media. Demographic trends indicated a significant increase in education and exposure to media between 2011 and 2014. As these were significant for minimum dietary diversity in 2014 overall and for 18–23 months, they might be important targets of future interventions, specifically utilizing media channels and tailoring special strategies for women with low education and limited exposure to media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practical applications, when testing parametric restrictions for hidden Markov models (HMMs), one frequently encounters non-standard situations such as testing for zero entries in the transition matrix, one-sided tests for the parameters of the transition matrix or for the components of the stationary distribution of the underlying Markov chain, or testing boundary restrictions on the parameters of the state-dependent distributions. In this paper, we briefly discuss how the relevant asymptotic distribution theory for the likelihood ratio test (LRT) when the true parameter is on the boundary extends from the independent and identically distributed situation to HMMs. Then we concentrate on discussing a number of relevant examples. The finite-sample performance of the LRT in such situations is investigated in a simulation study. An application to series of epileptic seizure counts concludes the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-normality has a significant effect on the performance of control charts for averages. The design considerations for a control chart for averages must include recognition of the degree of non-normality of the underlying data. The performance of a control chart may be judged on its ability to correctly identify the probabilities of assignable causes of variation and chance causes of variation in a process. This paper examines the effects of non-normality, as measured by skewness and kurtosis, on the performance, and hence the design, of control charts for averages and provides an alternative method of designing charts for averages of data with non-normal distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this note is the present simpler analytical solution procedures for some of the problems posed by Ismail and Louderback. For the inventory item considered in Ismail and Louderback's newsboy problem, each unit sold brings in $c of contribution. Although not considered in Ismail and Louderback's paper, the beta and gamma distributions are often used to represent stochastic demand, and one might consider ismail and Louderback's newsboy problem with beta or gamma distributed D. One may also wish to compute the variance, skewness, kurtosis and the higher-order moments of Z. Ismail and Louderback posed a version of the newsboy problem and considered the determination of (1) X and E(Z) for the optimizing criterion and (2) X** and E(Z) for the satisficing criterion, but they used tedious numerical procedures to compute E(Z) and X**.

When people are asked to express uncertainty in the form of probability distributions (by assessing several fractiles of the cumulative distributions), experiments have shown that most subjects exhibit systematic biases in describing the extremes or tails of the distributions. This paper discusses methods designed to refine the assessments of such extremes of probability distributions. The techniques were tested on large samples of assessors; the effectiveness of different methods is reported. The methods include asking for the assessment of additional fractiles in the extremes, asking for different fractiles in the extremes (.10 and .90 instead of .01 and .99 fractiles), making the assessment a two-step process by separating the questions about central fractiles from those requesting extreme values, and varying the order in which different fractile values are requested. All these methods except the two-step process resulted in improved estimation of the extreme values of the distributions when compared to some of the early work in this field where five fractile assessments were made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Bayesian analysis of multiplicative treatment effects is given for a normally distributed population. The two samples taken, one for each treatment, are used to make inferences on the multiplicative effect. An analysis of the general problem with uneven sample sizes and prior information is rather untractable, which leads to the use of numerical integration methods. A special case for which analytical results are available is discussed. Finally, the method suggested in this paper is compared with an approach utilizing a logarithmic transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a brief review of the role of dummy variables in regression analysis and the current state-of-the art in rounding/truncation error detection in computerized least squares programs, this paper presents a theorem that can be used to detect this type of error whenever an analyst is running a regression program that has one (or more) dummy variables as independent variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the reliability of health rankings and how it can be too unreliable to be helpful. Topics discussed include the innovative aspects of the work of C. Courtemanche, R. Tchernis and S. Soneji on modeling area-level health rankings, a statistical analysis of mortality in Iowa, and the reliability of final rankings which were found to vary from state to state.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Statistics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Statistical Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Statistical Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Statistical Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The confluence of statistics and probability into mathematical statistics in the Russian Empire through the interaction, 1910–1917, of A.A. Chuprov and A.A. Markov was influenced by the writings of the English Biometric School, especially those of Karl Pearson. The appearance of the Russian-language exposition of Pearsonian ideas by E. E. Slutsky in 1912 was instrumental in this confluence. Slutsky's predecessors in such writings (Lakhtin, Orzhentskii, and Leontovich) were variously of mathematical, political economy, and biological backgrounds. Work emanating from the interpolational nature of Pearson's system of frequency curves was continued subsequently through the work of Markov, Bernstein, Romanovsky, and Kravchuk (Krawtchouk), who laid a solid probabilistic foundation. The correlational nature in the interpolational early work of Chebyshev, and work of the English Biometric School in the guise of linear least-squares fitting exposited as the main component of Slutsky's book, was developed in population as well as sample context by Chuprov. He also championed the expectation operation in providing exact relations between sample and population moments, in direct interaction with Karl Pearson. Romanovsky emerges as the most adaptive and modern mathematical statistician. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Statistical Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Standard economic theory identifies a trade-off between up-or-stay and up-or-out promotion rules. Up-or-stay never wastes the skills of those not promoted but may provide insufficient incentives to invest in skills. Up-or-out can always induce investment in skill acquisition but may waste the skills of those not promoted. The paper reports an experiment designed to study this trade-off. Under up-or-out, parties behave almost exactly as theory predicts. But under up-or-stay (and stay-or-stay), results differ markedly from theoretical predictions. In that case workers invest rather frequently, although the prediction is that they would not. These deviations can be explained by various reciprocity mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last couple of decades, data depth has emerged as a powerful exploratory and inferential tool for multivariate data analysis with wide-spread applications. This paper investigates the possible use of different notions of data depth in non-parametric discriminant analysis. First, we consider the situation where the prior probabilities of the competing populations are all equal and investigate classifiers that assign an observation to the population with respect to which it has the maximum location depth. We propose a different depth-based classification technique for unequal prior problems, which is also useful for equal prior cases, especially when the populations have different scatters and shapes. We use some simulated data sets as well as some benchmark real examples to evaluate the performance of these depth-based classifiers. Large sample behaviour of the misclassification rates of these depth-based non-parametric classifiers have been derived under appropriate regularity conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new test for fractionally integrated (FI) processes. In particular, we propose a testing procedure in the time domain that extends the well-known Dickey-Fuller approach, originally designed for the I(1) versus I(0) case, to the more general setup of FI(d[sub 0.) versus FI(d[sub 1]), with d[sub 1] < D[sub 0]. When d[sub 0] = 1, the proposed test statistics are Δy[sub t] on Δ[sup d, sub y-1] and possibly, some lags of Δy[sub t]. When d[sub 1] is not taken to be known a priori, a pre-estimation of d[sub 1] is needed to implement the test. We show that the choice of any T[sup 1/2]-consistent estimator of d[sub 1] ε[0,1) suffices to make the test feasible, while achieving asymptotic normality. Monte-Carlo simulations support the analytical results derived in the paper and show that proposed tests fare very well, both in terms of power and size, when compared with others available in the literature. The paper ends with two empirical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we define different concepts of noncausality for continuous-time processes, using conditional independence and decomposition of semi-martingales. These definitions extend the ones already given in the case of discrete-time processes. As in the discrete-time setup, continuous-time noncausality is a property concerned with the prediction horizon (global versus instantaneous noncausality) and the nature of the prediction (strong versus weak noncausality). Relations between the resulting continuous-time noncausality concepts are then studied for the class of decomposable semi-martingales, for which, in general, the weak instantaneous noncausality does not imply the strong global noncausality. The paper then characterizes these different concepts of noncausality in the cases of counting processes and Markov processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the test proposed by J. Durbin and G.S. Watson for serial correlation in the disturbance vector of the linear regression model. The results are computed using the method outlined by Koerts and Abrahamse. The results demonstrate that a healthy reduction in the probability of d being in the inconclusive region can be achieve by the use of the bounds tabulated in the paper. The paper indicates that the decline in probability decreases as the sample size increases, ceteris paribus.

In recent years more and more emphasis has been placed on model discrimination procedures. In this paper we propose some new procedures for the selection of the most adequate regression model. Properties of those procedures are analyzed and compared. Their relationship with classical informal procedures is fully discussed. Our procedures are called the information criteria because we base our loss function on the Kullback-Leibler information measure of the distance between two probability density functions. The basic framework of our approach was originated by Akaike in his sequence of papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the determination of reorder points and safety-stock levels for situations where both the demand and lead-time distributions are discrete and independent. Formulas are developed for computing exact probabilities for the lead-time demand distribution on the basis of empirical distributions. Practitioners can use the model to obtain exact probabilities for situations where the computational burden is justified, while academicians can use the model to evaluate heuristic approaches to the reorder-point problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Theoretical distributions frequently used to model fire loss amount discussed. The problem of selecting models solely on the basis of statistics is addressed. Use of probabilistic arguments applied in Reliability theory to infer the type of probability distribution, is explored. Toe concept of failure rate of a fire is discussed and used to explore implications of the Pareto and Lognormal models as to the fire growth phenomenon. It is concluded that probabilistic arguments, regarding the nature of the fire growth process eau aid analysts in their choice of an appropriate model for the probability distribution of fire loss amount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are some kinds of violent conflicts between factions in which one generation of belligerents trains a successive generation to continue and! or enlarge the scale of conflict in an arena where the hostilities are internecine A model is developed of the devolution of internecine conflict using the lexicon of game theory and the simple mathematics of probability Assumptions pertaining to the behavior and attitudes of factions are transcribed into mathematics to formulate a theory of conflict resolution The theory is general enough to be applied to the struggles in the Middle East as well as to warfare among youth gangs The chief proposition to emerge from the analysis demonstrates how the statistical incidence of aggressive and peaceable factions varies over time The time path has the characteristics of a stochastic process with estimable parameters [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses some methodological issues that upset her and about which she keeps repeatedly asking for modifications to papers. She is troubled by the issue of sampling, the purpose of which is to learn about the larger population. Another issue is the problem of missing data, and severity of the problem depends on the nature and magnitude. She comments that no study is perfect, and authors must be self-critical and resist the temptation to overstate the implications of their findings.

Background: To investigate the impact of station 3A lymph node dissection (LND) on overall survival (OS) and disease‐free survival (DFS) in completely resected right‐side non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods: A total of 1661 cases with completely resected right‐side NSCLC were included. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to minimize selection bias, and a logistic regression model was conducted to investigate the risk factors associated with station 3A lymph node metastasis (LNM). The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model were used to evaluate the impact of station 3A LND on survival. Results: For the entire cohort, 503 patients (30.3%) underwent station 3A LND. Of those, 11.3% (57/503) presented station 3A LNM. Univariate and multivariate logistic analyses showed that station 10 LNM, tumor location, and the number of resected lymph nodes were independent risk factors associated with station 3A LNM. Before PSM, patients with station 3A LND had worse 5‐year OS (p = 0.002) and DFS (p = 0.011), and more drainage on postoperative day 1 (p = 0.041) than those without. After PSM, however, station 3A LND was not associated with the 5‐year OS (65.7% vs. 63.6%, p = 0.432) or DFS (57.4% vs. 56.0%, p = 0.437). The multivariate analysis further confirmed that station 3A LND was not a prognostic factor (OS, p = 0.361; DFS, p = 0.447). Conclusions: Station 3A LND could not improve long‐term outcomes and it was unnecessary to dissect station 3A lymph nodes during surgery of right‐side NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on vibration‐based damage detection for a structure that has nonlinear behavior even in the undamaged state. Based on the vibration responses of a single sensor, a non‐Gaussian multivariate probability density function (PDF) is developed and used as a feature. The change between the PDF of the undamaged state and that of a potentially damaged state is used to indicate the damage. Since what of interest is the change of the PDF, instead of estimating the two PDFs separately, the ratio of them is estimated directly using a density ratio estimation method. In addition, principal component analysis is applied to reduce the dimensionality of the PDFs. The effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method are demonstrated in two case studies: an experimental nonlinear beam and simulations of an offshore wind turbine subjected to nonlinear pile‐soil interaction. Compared with a second‐order statistical method, the proposed method shows better damage detection performance due to the integration of higher order statistical information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used data from the 2016 Nepal National Micronutrient Status Survey to evaluate factors associated with anaemia (World Health Organization cut‐points using altitude‐ and smoking‐adjusted haemoglobin [Hb]) among nationally representative samples of adolescents 10–19 years. Hb, biomarkers of micronutrients, infection and inflammation were assessed from venous blood. Sociodemographic and household characteristics, dietary diversity, pica and recent morbidity were ascertained by interview. We explored bivariate relationships between candidate predictors and anaemia among boys (N = 967) and girls (N = 1,680). Candidate predictors with P < 0.05 in bivariate analyses were included in sex‐specific multivariable logistic regression models. Anaemia prevalence was 20.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] [17.1, 24.1]) among girls and 10.9% (95% CI [8.2, 13.6]) among boys. Among girls, living in the Mountain and Hill ecological zones relative to the Terai (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.28, 95% CI [0.15, 0.52] and AOR 0.42, 95% CI [0.25, 0.73], respectively), ln ferritin (μg/L) (AOR 0.53, 95% CI [0.42, 0.68]) and ln retinol binding protein (RBP) (μmol/L) (AOR 0.08, 95% CI [0.04, 0.16]) were associated with reduced anaemia odds. Older age (age in years AOR 1.19, 95% CI [1.12, 1.27]) and Janajati ethnicity relative to the Muslim ethnicity (AOR 3.04, 95% CI [1.10, 8.36]) were associated with higher anaemia odds. Among boys, ln RBP [μmol/L] (AOR 0.25, 95% CI [0.10, 0.65]) and having consumed flesh foods (AOR 0.57, 95% CI [0.33, 0.99]) were associated with lower anaemia odds. Open defecation (AOR 2.36, 95% CI [1.15, 4.84]) and ln transferrin receptor [mg/L] (AOR 3.21, 95% CI [1.25, 8.23]) were associated with increased anaemia odds. Anaemia among adolescents might be addressed through effective public health policy and programs targeting micronutrient status, diet and sanitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We, as statisticians, are living in interesting times. New scientifically significant questions are waiting for our contributions, new data accumulate at a fast rate, and the rapid increase of computing power gives us unprecedented opportunities to meet these challenges. Yet, many members of our community are still turning the old wheel as if nothing dramatic had happened. There are ideas, methods and techniques which are commonly used but outdated and should be replaced by new ones. Can we expect to see, as has been suggested, a consolidation of statistical methodologies towards a new synthesis, or is perhaps an even wider separation and greater divergence the more likely scenario? In this talk these issues are discussed, and some conjectures and suggestions are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Statistics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Statistics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Fathers' support can influence mothers' breastfeeding decisions and behavior. Potentially supportive behaviors have been reported in previous studies, but no studies have directly examined which, if any, of those actions are actually more likely to result in desired breastfeeding outcomes. The two studies reported in this paper address this gap by examining relationships between fathers' reported breastfeeding support and mothers' perceptions of received support and breastfeeding intentions, satisfaction, and duration. The Partner Breastfeeding Influence Scale (PBIS) was used in an online survey with 64 women and 41 men (34 couples) and a telephone survey with 80 mothers and 65 fathers (63 couples). Fathers' and mothers' reports of how often fathers engage in the types of support measured by the PBIS were used to predict breastfeeding intentions, satisfaction, and duration. In Study 1, responsiveness predicted breastfeeding success and satisfaction for men and satisfaction for women. However, mothers' intended breastfeeding duration was shorter when fathers both wanted them to breastfeed for a long time and were more appreciative and savvy about breastfeeding. In Study 2, when fathers reported being more appreciative and directly involved in breastfeeding, mothers reported shorter breastfeeding duration. In both studies, mothers' perceptions of their partners' responsiveness and fathers' reports of their own responsiveness predicted longer breastfeeding intentions and duration. These findings suggest that the most effective breastfeeding support is delivered using a sensitive, coordinated teamwork approach that is responsive to the mother's needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Positive predictive values (PPVs) and negative predictive values (NPVs) are frequently reported to put estimates of accuracy of a diagnostic test in clinical context and to obtain risk estimates for a given patient taking into account baseline prevalence in the population. In order to calculate PPV and NPV, tests with ordinally or continuously scaled results are commonly dichotomized at the expense of a loss of information. Methods: Extending the rationale for the calculation of PPV and NPV, Bayesian theorem is used to calculate the probability of disease given the outcome of a continuously or ordinally scaled test. Probabilities of test results conditional on disease status are modeled in a Bayesian framework and subsequently transformed to probabilities of disease status conditional on test result. Results: Using publicly available data, probability of a clinical depression diagnosis given PROMIS Depression scores was estimated. Comparison with PPV and NPV based on dichotomized scores shows that a more fine‐grained interpretation of test scores is possible. Conclusions: The proposed method bears the chance to facilitate accurate and meaningful interpretation of test results in clinical settings by avoiding unnecessary dichotomization of test scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homestead food production (HFP) programmes improve the availability of vegetables by providing training in growing nutrient‐dense crops. In rural Tanzania, most foods consumed are carbohydrate‐rich staples with low micronutrient concentrations. This cluster‐randomized controlled trial investigated whether women growing home gardens have higher dietary diversity, household food security or probability of consuming nutrient‐rich food groups than women in a control group. We enrolled 1,006 women of reproductive age in 10 villages in Pwani Region in eastern Tanzania, split between intervention (INT) and control (CON) groups. INT received (a) agricultural training and inputs to promote HFP and dietary diversity and (b) nutrition and public health counselling from agricultural extension workers and community health workers. CON received standard services provided by agriculture and health workers. Results were analysed using linear regression models with propensity weighting adjusting for individual‐level confounders and differential loss to follow up. Women in INT consumed 0.50 (95% CI [0.20, 0.80], p = 0.001) more food groups per day than women in CON. Women in INT were also 14 percentage points (95% CI [6, 22], p = 0.001) more likely to consume at least five food groups per day, and INT households were 6 percentage points (95% CI [−13, 0], p = 0.059) less likely to experience moderate‐to‐severe food insecurity compared with CON. This home gardening intervention had positive effects on diet quality and food security after 1 year. Future research should explore whether impact is sustained over time as well as the effects of home garden interventions on additional measures of nutritional status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaemia has serious effects on human health and has multifactorial aetiologies. This study aimed to determine putative risk factors for anaemia in children 6–59 months and 15‐ to 49‐year‐old non‐pregnant women living in Ghana. Data from a nationally representative cross‐sectional survey were analysed for associations between anaemia and various anaemia risk factors. National and stratum‐specific multivariable regressions were constructed separately for children and women to calculate the adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) for anaemia of variables found to be statistically significantly associated with anaemia in bivariate analysis. Nationally, the aPR for anaemia was greater in children with iron deficiency (ID; aPR 2.20; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.88, 2.59), malaria parasitaemia (aPR 1.96; 95% CI: 1.65, 2.32), inflammation (aPR 1.26; 95% CI: 1.08, 1.46), vitamin A deficiency (VAD; aPR 1.38; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.60) and stunting (aPR 1.26; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.46). In women, ID (aPR 4.33; 95% CI: 3.42, 5.49), VAD (aPR 1.61; 95% CI: 1.24, 2.09) and inflammation (aPR 1.59; 95% CI: 1.20, 2.11) were associated with anaemia, whereas overweight and obese women had lower prevalence of anaemia (aPR 0.74; 95% CI: 0.56, 0.97). ID was associated with child anaemia in the Northern and Middle belts, but not in the Southern Belt; conversely, inflammation was associated with anaemia in both children and women in the Southern and Middle belts, but not in the Northern Belt. Anaemia control programmes should be region specific and aim at the prevention of ID, malaria and other drivers of inflammation as they are the main predictors of anaemia in Ghanaian children and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many econometric testing problems involve nuisance parameters which are not identified under the null hypotheses. This paper studies the asymptotic distribution theory for such tests. The asymptotic distributions of standard test statistics are described as functionals of chi-square processes. In general, the distributions depend upon a large number of unknown parameters. We show that a transformation based upon a conditional probability measure yields an asymptotic distribution free of nuisance parameters, and we show that this transformation can be easily approximated via simulation. The theory is applied to threshold models, with special attention given to the so-called self-exciting threshold autoregressive model. Monte Carlo methods are used to assess the finite sample distributions. The tests are applied to U.S. GNP growth rates, and we find that Potter's (1995) threshold effect in this series can be possibly explained by sampling variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a generic uniform law of large numbers (LLN) that is sufficiently general to incorporate most applications of uniform LLN in the nonlinear econometrics literature. It presents a result that can be used to turn state of the art pointwise law of LLN into uniform LLN over compact sets with the addition of a single smoothness condition. A frequently used uniform LLN, due to Hoadley (1971), only applies to bounded random variables. It prevents the use of Hoadley's uniform LLN in standard proofs of consistency of least squares in regression models with normally distributed errors.

This paper investigates the effect that common knowledge of public information has on individual beliefs. We assume that n individuals start with the same prior beliefs over a finite probability space, and then each observes private information. We prove that if an admissible statistic of their posterior probabilities of an event becomes common knowledge, then everyone's posterior probabilities for that event must be the same. The class of admissible statistics includes any statistic which is an invertible function of a stochastically monotone function. We also prove that if information partitions are finite, an iterative procedure of public announcement of the statistic—where the statistic is publicly announced and then individuals recompute posterior probabilities based on their previous information plus the announced value of the statistic—converges in a finite number of steps to the common knowledge situation described above. The result has applications to asymmetric information models in economics, where private information becomes incorporated into an aggregate, publicly observed statistic such as a price or quantity in a market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the classical linear regression model the conflict between the W, LR, and LM tests is due to the tests not having the correct significance level. This paper shows that the probability of conflict can be substantial when the three tests are based on the asymptotic chi-square critical value. For this model some computable correction factors for the chi-square critical values are examined, including those derived from a second-order Edgeworth approximation to the exact distributions. It is shown that the probability of conflict between the Edgeworth size-corrected tests is of no practical importance over a wide range of conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the problem of testing statistical hypotheses in linear regression models with inequality constraints on the regression coefficients. The Kuhn-Tucker multiplier test statistic is defined and its relationships with the likelihood ratio test and the Wald test are examined. It is shown, in particular, that these relationships are the same as in the equality constrained case. It is emphasized, however, that their common asymptotic distribution is a mixture of chi-square distributions under the null hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses inferential procedures for the family of stable distributions, when the data are tabulated in the form of interval frequencies. The estimation criteria used are minimum chi-square and multinomial maximum likelihood, in evaluating the theoretical probabilities corresponding to the intervals, use is made of the inversion theorem for characteristic functions. Chi-square tail probabilities for independent samples are pooled by means of the Kolmogorov statistic. As an illustration, the methods are applied to Dutch and Australian income data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is threefold: (i) to provide a unified iterative generalized least squares approach for computing FIML estimates for both linear and nonlinear simultaneous equations models of medium size (containing about 50 parameters in the nonlinear case and 75 in the linear case); (ii) to suggest a useful procedure to determine the length of the step to be made at each iteration of the algorithm; (iii) to report on numerical results which illustrate the robustness and relative efficiency of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A commentary on the likelihood principle in statistics is presented. He claims that the identifiable subsets for which the probability statement should differ are clear in the finite case. He admits that he has reservations about the appropriateness of L. He cites some examples appreciated by Bayesians.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Statistics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article reexamines Stein's 1959 antifiducial example which purports to discredit the fiducial probability concept by showing that confidence sets translated from fiducial estimating sets may have extremely poor coverage frequency. According to it, for any sample with a sufficiently large n, a confidence set within two regular confidence belts is embedded simultaneously. Therefore, Stein's example can reportedly be viewed as an anticonfidence example of mutually conflicting confidence statements.

In this article, the author acknowledges the discussants for making comments on his article "In defense of P values" appeared within the issue. The author comments on articles by K.P. Burnham, a professor of statistic, and scientist D.R. Anderson regarding their misunderstanding of differences between Akanke information criterion (AIC) and P values. He mentions that AIC and P value can be compared and measured non-nested models.

Objectives: If a patient wishes to refuse treatment in the prehospital setting, prehospital providers and consulting emergency physicians must establish that the patient possesses the capacity to do so. The objective of this study is to assess agreement among prehospital providers and emergency physicians in performing patient capacity assessments. Methods: This study involved 139 prehospital providers and 28 emergency medicine physicians. Study participants listened to 30 medical control calls pertaining to patient capacity and were asked to interpret whether the patients in the scenarios had the capacity to refuse treatment. Participants also reported their comfort level using modified Likert scales. Inter‐rater reliability was calculated utilizing Fleiss' and Model B kappa statistics. Fisher's exact tests were used to calculate p‐values comparing the proportion in each cohort that responded "no capacity." Primary outcomes included inter‐rater reliability in the physician and prehospital provider cohorts. Results: The inter‐rater agreement between the physicians was low (Fleiss' kappa = 0.31, standard error [SE] =0.06; model‐based kappa = 0.18, SE = 0.04). Agreement was similarly low for the 135 prehospital providers (Fleiss' kappa = 0.30, SE = 0.06; model‐based kappa = 0.28, SE = 0.04). The difference between the proportion of physicians and prehospital providers who responded "no capacity" was statistically significant in five of 30 scenarios. Median prehospital provider and physician confidence, on a 1 to 4 scale, was 2.00 (Q1–Q3 = 1.00–3.00 for prehospital providers and Q1–Q3 =1.0–2.0 for physicians). Conclusions: There was poor inter‐rater reliability in capacity determination between and among the prehospital provider and physician cohorts. This suggests that there is need for additional study and standardization of this task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Guidelines recommend chest radiography (CR) in the workup of suspected acute aortic syndromes (AASs) if the pretest clinical probability is low. However, the diagnostic impact of CR integration for the rule‐in and rule‐out of AASs is unknown. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of the ADvISED multicenter study. Emergency department outpatients were eligible if an AAS was clinically suspected. Clinical probability was defined with the aortic dissection detection risk score (ADD‐RS). CR was evaluated blindly by a radiologist, who judged on mediastinum enlargement (ME) and other signs. Results: In 2014 through 2016, a total of 1,129 patients were enrolled and 1,030 were analyzed, including 48 (4.7%) with AASs. ADD‐RS/ME and ADD‐RS/any CR sign (aCRs) integration were more accurate than ADD‐RS alone (area under the curve = 0.8 and 0.78 vs. 0.66, p < 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of the integrated strategies were 66.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 51.5% to 79.9%) and 82.5% (95% CI = 79.9% to 84.8%) for ADD‐RS/ME and 68.8% (95% CI = 53.6% to 80.9%) and 76.5% (95% CI = 73.7% to 79.1%) for ADD‐RS/aCRs, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of CR per se were 54.2% (95% CI = 39.2% to 68.6%) and 92.4% (95% CI = 90.5% to 93.9%) for ME and 60.4% (95% CI = 45.3% to 74.2%) and 85.2% (95% CI = 82.9% to 87.4%) for aCRs. The agreement (κ) between attending physicians and radiologists for ME was 0.44 (95% CI = 0.35 to 0.54). ADD‐RS/ME rule‐in (ADD‐RS ≤ 1 and ME‐present, or ADD‐RS > 1) applied to 204 versus 130 patients with ADD‐RS > 1, including 14 with AAS and 60 false‐positives (FP). ADD‐RS/aCRs rule‐in (ADD‐RS ≤ 1 and aCRs‐present, or ADD‐RS > 1) applied to 264 patients, including 15 with AAS and 119 FP. ADD‐RS/ME rule‐out (ADD‐RS ≤ 1 and ME‐absent) applied to 826 (80.2%) patients, including 16 with AAS (33.3% of cases). ADD‐RS/aCRs rule‐out (ADD‐RS ≤ 1 and aCRs‐absent) applied to 766 patients (74.4%), including 15 with AAS (31.3% of cases). Conclusions: CR integration with clinical probability assessment showed modest rule‐in efficiency and insufficient sensitivity for conclusive rule‐out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an exploration of the utilization of subjective probabilities into accounting methods. The potential for applying subjective probabilities to problems such as depreciation measurement and audit sample evaluation is described. A review of accounting research literature is provided, outlining key factors of performance differences in paradigm usage, particularly highlighting the manner of elicitation, or questioning, the type of probability distribution, and user statistical information background.

Using a test statistic which specifically allows for parameter shifts over time, we investigate the time-variance relationship of security returns. The null hypothesis of stationary and independent increments is rejected, and the existence of a complex short-term reversal phenomenon is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]