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Volume 8, September
 
 

Stats, Volume 8, Issue 4 (December 2025) – 13 articles

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14 pages, 426 KB  
Article
Robust Parameter Designs Constructed from Hadamard Matrices
by Yingfu Li and Kalanka P. Jayalath
Stats 2025, 8(4), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040096 (registering DOI) - 11 Oct 2025
Viewed by 96
Abstract
The primary objective of robust parameter design (RPD) is to determine the optimal settings of control factors in a system to minimize response variance while achieving a desirable mean response. This article investigates fractional factorial designs constructed from Hadamard matrices of orders 12, [...] Read more.
The primary objective of robust parameter design (RPD) is to determine the optimal settings of control factors in a system to minimize response variance while achieving a desirable mean response. This article investigates fractional factorial designs constructed from Hadamard matrices of orders 12, 16, and 20 to meet RPD requirements with minimal runs. For various combinations of control and noise factors, rather than recommending a single “best” design, up to the top ten good candidate designs are identified. All listed designs permit the estimation of all control-by-noise interactions and the main effects of both control and noise factors. Additionally, some nonregular RPDs allow for the estimation of one or two control-by-control interactions, which may be critical for achieving optimal mean response. These results provide practical options for efficient, resource-constrained experiments with economical run sizes. Full article
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11 pages, 272 KB  
Article
Bayesian Bell Regression Model for Fitting of Overdispersed Count Data with Application
by Ameer Musa Imran Alhseeni and Hossein Bevrani
Stats 2025, 8(4), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040095 - 10 Oct 2025
Viewed by 123
Abstract
The Bell regression model (BRM) is a statistical model that is often used in the analysis of count data that exhibits overdispersion. In this study, we propose a Bayesian analysis of the BRM and offer a new perspective on its application. Specifically, we [...] Read more.
The Bell regression model (BRM) is a statistical model that is often used in the analysis of count data that exhibits overdispersion. In this study, we propose a Bayesian analysis of the BRM and offer a new perspective on its application. Specifically, we introduce a G-prior distribution for Bayesian inference in BRM, in addition to a flat-normal prior distribution. To compare the performance of the proposed prior distributions, we conduct a simulation study and demonstrate that the G-prior distribution provides superior estimation results for the BRM. Furthermore, we apply the methodology to real data and compare the BRM to the Poisson and negative binomial regression model using various model selection criteria. Our results provide valuable insights into the use of Bayesian methods for estimation and inference of the BRM and highlight the importance of considering the choice of prior distribution in the analysis of count data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Computational Statistics)
15 pages, 721 KB  
Article
Rank-Based Control Charts Under Non-Overlapping Counting with Practical Applications in Logistics and Services
by Ioannis S. Triantafyllou
Stats 2025, 8(4), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040094 - 9 Oct 2025
Viewed by 115
Abstract
In this article, we establish a constructive nonparametric scheme for monitoring the quality of services provided by a transportation company. The proposed methodology aims at achieving the diligent tracking of the underlying process and the swift detection of any potential malfunctions. The implementation [...] Read more.
In this article, we establish a constructive nonparametric scheme for monitoring the quality of services provided by a transportation company. The proposed methodology aims at achieving the diligent tracking of the underlying process and the swift detection of any potential malfunctions. The implementation of the new framework requires the construction of appropriate schemes, which follow the set-up of a Shewhart chart and are connected to ranks and multiple run decision criteria. The dispersion and the mean value of the run length distribution for the suggested distribution-free scheme are investigated for the special case k=2. For illustration purposes, a real-data logistics environment is discussed, whereas the proposed approach is applied for improving the quality of the provided services. Full article
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19 pages, 339 KB  
Article
Improper Priors via Expectation Measures
by Peter Harremoës
Stats 2025, 8(4), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040093 - 9 Oct 2025
Viewed by 172
Abstract
In Bayesian statistics, the prior distributions play a key role in the inference, and there are procedures for finding prior distributions. An important problem is that these procedures often lead to improper prior distributions that cannot be normalized to probability measures. Such improper [...] Read more.
In Bayesian statistics, the prior distributions play a key role in the inference, and there are procedures for finding prior distributions. An important problem is that these procedures often lead to improper prior distributions that cannot be normalized to probability measures. Such improper prior distributions lead to technical problems, in that certain calculations are only fully justified in the literature for probability measures or perhaps for finite measures. Recently, expectation measures were introduced as an alternative to probability measures as a foundation for a theory of uncertainty. Using expectation theory and point processes, it is possible to give a probabilistic interpretation of an improper prior distribution. This will provide us with a rigid formalism for calculating posterior distributions in cases where the prior distributions are not proper without relying on approximation arguments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Bayesian Methods)
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9 pages, 590 KB  
Article
Predictions of War Duration
by Glenn McRae
Stats 2025, 8(4), 92; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040092 - 9 Oct 2025
Viewed by 147
Abstract
The durations of wars fought between 1480 and 1941 A.D. were found to be well represented by random numbers chosen from a single-event Poisson distribution with a half-life of (1.25 ± 0.1) years. This result complements the work of L.F. Richardson who found [...] Read more.
The durations of wars fought between 1480 and 1941 A.D. were found to be well represented by random numbers chosen from a single-event Poisson distribution with a half-life of (1.25 ± 0.1) years. This result complements the work of L.F. Richardson who found that the frequency of outbreaks of wars can be described as a Poisson process. This result suggests that a quick return on investment requires a distillation of the many stressors of the day, each one of which has a small probability of being included in a convincing well-orchestrated simple call-to-arms. The half-life is a measure of how this call wanes with time. Full article
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10 pages, 697 KB  
Article
Benford Behavior in Stick Fragmentation Problems
by Bruce Fang, Ava Irons, Ella Lippelman and Steven J. Miller
Stats 2025, 8(4), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040091 - 8 Oct 2025
Viewed by 469
Abstract
Benford’s law states that in many real-world datasets, the probability that the leading digit is d equals log10((d+1)/d) for all 1d9. We call this weak Benford behavior. A [...] Read more.
Benford’s law states that in many real-world datasets, the probability that the leading digit is d equals log10((d+1)/d) for all 1d9. We call this weak Benford behavior. A dataset is said to follow strong Benford behavior if the probability that its significand (i.e., the significant digits in scientific notation) is at most s equals log10(s) for all s[1,10). We investigate Benford behavior in a multi-proportion stick fragmentation model, where a stick is split into m substicks according to fixed proportions at each stage. This generalizes previous work on the single proportion stick fragmentation model, where each stick is split into two substicks using one fixed proportion. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition under which the lengths of the stick fragments converge to strong Benford behavior in the multi-proportion model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Benford's Law(s) and Applications (Second Edition))
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12 pages, 683 KB  
Review
The Use of Double Poisson Regression for Count Data in Health and Life Science—A Narrative Review
by Sebastian Appelbaum, Julia Stronski, Uwe Konerding and Thomas Ostermann
Stats 2025, 8(4), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040090 - 1 Oct 2025
Viewed by 370
Abstract
Count data are present in many areas of everyday life. Unfortunately, such data are often characterized by over- and under-dispersion. In 1986, Efron introduced the Double Poisson distribution to account for this problem. The aim of this work is to examine the application [...] Read more.
Count data are present in many areas of everyday life. Unfortunately, such data are often characterized by over- and under-dispersion. In 1986, Efron introduced the Double Poisson distribution to account for this problem. The aim of this work is to examine the application of this distribution in regression analyses performed in health-related literature by means of a narrative review. The databases Science Direct, PBSC, Pubmed PsycInfo, PsycArticles, CINAHL and Google Scholar were searched for applications. Two independent reviewers extracted data on Double Poisson Regression Models and their applications in the health and life sciences. From a total of 1644 hits, 84 articles were pre-selected and after full-text screening, 13 articles remained. All these articles were published after 2011 and most of them targeted epidemiological research. Both over- and under-dispersion was present and most of the papers used the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape (GAMLSS) framework. In summary, this narrative review shows that the first steps in applying Efron’s idea of double exponential families for empirical count data have already been successfully taken in a variety of fields in the health and life sciences. Approaches to ease their application in clinical research should be encouraged. Full article
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22 pages, 1227 KB  
Article
Theoretically Based Dynamic Regression (TDR)—A New and Novel Regression Framework for Modeling Dynamic Behavior
by Derrick K. Rollins, Marit Nilsen-Hamilton, Kendra Kreienbrink, Spencer Wolfe, Dillon Hurd and Jacob Oyler
Stats 2025, 8(4), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040089 - 28 Sep 2025
Viewed by 265
Abstract
The theoretical modeling of a dynamic system will have derivatives of the response (y) with respect to time (t). Two common physical attributes (i.e., parameters) of dynamic systems are dead-time (θ) and lag (τ). Theoretical [...] Read more.
The theoretical modeling of a dynamic system will have derivatives of the response (y) with respect to time (t). Two common physical attributes (i.e., parameters) of dynamic systems are dead-time (θ) and lag (τ). Theoretical dynamic modeling will contain physically interpretable parameters such as τ and θ with physical constraints. In addition, the number of unknown model-based parameters can be considerably smaller than empirically based (i.e., lagged-based) approaches. This work proposes a Theoretically based Dynamic Regression (TDR) modeling approach that overcomes critical lagged-based modeling limitations as demonstrated in three large, multiple input, highly dynamic, real data sets. Dynamic Regression (DR) is a lagged-based, empirical dynamic modeling approach that appears in the statistics literature. However, like all empirical approaches, the model structures do not contain first-principle interpretable parameters. Additionally, several time lags are typically needed for the output, y, and input, x, to capture significant dynamic behavior. TDR uses a simplistic theoretically based dynamic modeling approach to transform xt into its dynamic counterpart, vt, and then applies the methods and tools of static regression to vt. TDR is demonstrated on the following three modeling problems of freely existing (i.e., not experimentally designed) real data sets: 1. the weight variation in a person (y) with four measured nutrient inputs (xi); 2. the variation in the tray temperature (y) of a distillation column with nine inputs and eight test data sets over a three year period; and 3. eleven extremely large, highly dynamic, subject-specific models of sensor glucose (y) with 12 inputs (xi). Full article
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2 pages, 162 KB  
Correction
Correction: Chen et al. Scoring Individual Moral Inclination for the CNI Test. Stats 2024, 7, 894–905
by Yi Chen, Benjamin Lugu, Wenchao Ma and Hyemin Han
Stats 2025, 8(4), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040088 - 28 Sep 2025
Viewed by 139
Abstract
Error in Table [...] Full article
14 pages, 434 KB  
Article
Energy Statistic-Based Goodness-of-Fit Test for the Lindley Distribution with Application to Lifetime Data
by Joseph Njuki and Ryan Avallone
Stats 2025, 8(4), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040087 - 26 Sep 2025
Viewed by 349
Abstract
In this article, we propose a goodness-of-fit test for a one-parameter Lindley distribution based on energy statistics. The Lindley distribution has been widely used in reliability studies and survival analysis, especially in applied sciences. The proposed test procedure is simple and more powerful [...] Read more.
In this article, we propose a goodness-of-fit test for a one-parameter Lindley distribution based on energy statistics. The Lindley distribution has been widely used in reliability studies and survival analysis, especially in applied sciences. The proposed test procedure is simple and more powerful against general alternatives. Under different settings, Monte Carlo simulations show that the proposed test is able to be well controlled for any given nominal levels. In terms of power, the proposed test outperforms other existing similar methods in different settings. We then apply the proposed test to real-life datasets to demonstrate its competitiveness and usefulness. Full article
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32 pages, 1136 KB  
Article
Enhancing Diversity and Improving Prediction Performance of Subsampling-Based Ensemble Methods
by Maria Ordal and Qing Wang
Stats 2025, 8(4), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040086 - 26 Sep 2025
Viewed by 248
Abstract
This paper investigates how diversity among training samples impacts the predictive performance of a subsampling-based ensemble. It is well known that diverse training samples improve ensemble predictions, and smaller subsampling rates naturally lead to enhanced diversity. However, this approach of achieving a higher [...] Read more.
This paper investigates how diversity among training samples impacts the predictive performance of a subsampling-based ensemble. It is well known that diverse training samples improve ensemble predictions, and smaller subsampling rates naturally lead to enhanced diversity. However, this approach of achieving a higher degree of diversity often comes with the cost of a reduced training sample size, which is undesirable. This paper introduces two novel subsampling strategies—partition and shift subsampling—as alternative schemes designed to improve diversity without sacrificing the training sample size in subsampling-based ensemble methods. From a probabilistic perspective, we investigate their impact on subsample diversity when utilized with tree-based sub-ensemble learners in comparison to the benchmark random subsampling. Through extensive simulations and eight real-world examples in both regression and classification contexts, we found a significant improvement in the predictive performance of the developed methods. Notably, this gain is particularly pronounced on challenging datasets or when higher subsampling rates are employed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Applied Statistics and Machine Learning Methods)
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13 pages, 357 KB  
Review
An Overview of Economics and Econometrics Related R Packages
by Despina Michelaki, Michail Tsagris and Christos Adam
Stats 2025, 8(4), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040085 - 26 Sep 2025
Viewed by 565
Abstract
This study provides a systematic overview of 207 econometrics-related R packages identified through CRAN and the Econometrics Task View. Using descriptive and inferential statistics and text mining to compute the word frequency and association among words (n-grams and correlations), we evaluate the development [...] Read more.
This study provides a systematic overview of 207 econometrics-related R packages identified through CRAN and the Econometrics Task View. Using descriptive and inferential statistics and text mining to compute the word frequency and association among words (n-grams and correlations), we evaluate the development patterns, documentation practices, publication outcomes, and methodological scope. The findings reveal that most packages are created by small-to-mid-sized teams in Europe and North America, with mid-sized collaborations and packages including vignettes being significantly more likely to achieve journal publication. While reverse dependencies indicate strong ecosystem integration, they do not predict publication, and Bayesian or dataset-only packages remain underrepresented. Growth has accelerated since 2010, but newer packages exhibit fewer updates, raising concerns about sustainability. These findings highlight both the central role of R in contemporary econometrics and the need for broader participation, methodological diversity, and long-term maintenance. Full article
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19 pages, 1013 KB  
Article
A Simulation-Based Comparative Analysis of Two-Parameter Robust Ridge M-Estimators for Linear Regression Models
by Bushra Haider, Syed Muhammad Asim, Danish Wasim and B. M. Golam Kibria
Stats 2025, 8(4), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/stats8040084 - 24 Sep 2025
Viewed by 359
Abstract
Traditional regression estimators like Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and classical ridge regression often fail under multicollinearity and outlier contamination respectively. Although recently developed two-parameter ridge regression (TPRR) estimators improve efficiency by introducing dual shrinkage parameters, they remain sensitive to extreme observations. This study [...] Read more.
Traditional regression estimators like Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and classical ridge regression often fail under multicollinearity and outlier contamination respectively. Although recently developed two-parameter ridge regression (TPRR) estimators improve efficiency by introducing dual shrinkage parameters, they remain sensitive to extreme observations. This study develops a new class of Two-Parameter Robust Ridge M-Estimators (TPRRM) that integrate dual shrinkage with robust M-estimation to simultaneously address multicollinearity and outliers. A Monte Carlo simulation study, conducted under varying sample sizes, predictor dimensions, correlation levels, and contamination structures, compares the proposed estimators with OLS, ridge, and the most recent TPRR estimators. The results demonstrate that TPRRM consistently achieves the lowest Mean Squared Error (MSE), particularly in heavy-tailed and outlier-prone scenarios. Application to the Tobacco and Gasoline Consumption datasets further validates the superiority of the proposed methods in real-world conditions. The findings confirm that the proposed TPRRM fills a critical methodological gap by offering estimators that are not only efficient under multicollinearity, but also robust against departures from normality. Full article
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