Yanhong Wu

Applying the framework of the Prosodic Model to naturalistic data, this book presents a systematic study of the phonological structure of Shanghai Sign Language (SHSL). It examines the handshape inventory of SHSL in terms of its underlying featural specifications, phonetic realization and phonological processes such as assimilation, epenthesis, deletion, coalescence, non-dominant hand spread and weak drop. The authors define the role of the prosodic hierarchy in SHSL and analyze the linguistic functions of non-manual markers. This systematic investigation not only contributes to our understanding of SHSL itself, but also informs typological research on sign languages in the world.

Probability models are now a vital componentof every scienti c investigation. This book is intended to introduce basic ideas in stochastic modeling, with emphasis on models and techniques. These models lead to well-known parametric lifetime distributions, such as exponential, Weibull, and gamma distributions, as well as the change-point and mixture models. They also motivate us to consider more general notions of nonparametric lifetime distribution classes. Particular attention has been paid to their applications in reliability, insurance mathematics, and economics. The following topics are the focus in this volume: 1. Exponential Distributions and the Poisson Process; 2. Parametric Lifetime Distributions; 3. Nonparametric Lifetime Distribution Classes; 4. Multivariate Exponential Extensions; 5. Association and Dependence; 6. Renewal Theory; 7. Applications to Reliability, Insurance, Finance, and Credit Risk. Chapter1providesnotationandbasicresultsinprobabilitytheorythatareneeded in the consequent chapters. Chapters 2 and 3 are devoted to models related to exponential distribution and Poisson processes. Particular attentions is paid to the characterizations of exponential distribution and the Poisson process. Two of the most important properties that characterize exponential distribution: the lack of memory property and constant failure rate are discussed in detail. Then the g- eralizations of exponential distribution are examined in three directions: through its parametric form that leads to parametric families of lifetime distributions; via notionsof aging(such as monotonefailure rate) that lead to a varietyof lifetime d- tribution classes; and through lifetime distributions of multiple component systems that lead to multivariate (mainly bivariate) exponential extension.

The change-point problem has attracted many statistical researchers and practitioners during the last few decades. Here, we only concentrate on the sequential change-point problem. Starting from the Shewhart chart with app- cations to quality control [see Shewhart (1931)], several monitoring procedures have been developed for a quick detection of change. The three most studied monitoring procedures are the CUSUM procedure [Page (1954)], the EWMA procedure [Roberts (1959)] and the Shiryayev? Roberts procedure [Shiryayev (1963) and Roberts (1966)]. Extensive studies have been conducted on the p- formancesofthesemonitoringproceduresandcomparisonsintermsofthedelay detection time. Lai (1995) made a review on the state of the art on these charts and proposed several possible generalizations in order to detect a change in the case of the unknown post-change parameter case. In particular, a wind- limited version of the generalized likelihood ratio testing procedure studied by Siegmund and Venkatraman (1993) is proposed for a more practical treatment even when the observations are correlated. In this work, our main emphasis is on the inference problem for the chan- point and the post-change parameters after a signal of change is made. More speci?cally, due to its convenient form and statistical properties, most d- cussions are concentrated on the CUSUM procedure. Our goal is to provide some quantitative evaluations on the statistical properties of estimators for the change-point and the post-change parameters.