<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "http://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en" article-type="research article">
 <front>
  <journal-meta>
   <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">
    am
   </journal-id>
   <journal-title-group>
    <journal-title>
     Applied Mathematics
    </journal-title>
   </journal-title-group>
   <issn pub-type="epub">
    2152-7385
   </issn>
   <issn publication-format="print">
    2152-7393
   </issn>
   <publisher>
    <publisher-name>
     Scientific Research Publishing
    </publisher-name>
   </publisher>
  </journal-meta>
  <article-meta>
   <article-id pub-id-type="doi">
    10.4236/am.2024.159038
   </article-id>
   <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">
    am-136240
   </article-id>
   <article-categories>
    <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
     <subject>
      Articles
     </subject>
    </subj-group>
    <subj-group subj-group-type="Discipline-v2">
     <subject>
      Physics 
     </subject>
     <subject>
       Mathematics
     </subject>
    </subj-group>
   </article-categories>
   <title-group>
    On Performance Characteristics of a Nonparametric Subset Selection Procedure with a Small Randomized Block Experimental Design
   </title-group>
   <contrib-group>
    <contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple">
     <name name-style="western">
      <surname>
       Gary C.
      </surname>
      <given-names>
       McDonald
      </given-names>
     </name>
    </contrib>
    <contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple">
     <name name-style="western">
      <surname>
       Sajidah
      </surname>
      <given-names>
       Alsaeed
      </given-names>
     </name>
    </contrib>
   </contrib-group> 
   <aff id="affnull">
    <addr-line>
     aDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA
    </addr-line> 
   </aff> 
   <pub-date pub-type="epub">
    <day>
     05
    </day> 
    <month>
     09
    </month>
    <year>
     2024
    </year>
   </pub-date> 
   <volume>
    15
   </volume> 
   <issue>
    09
   </issue>
   <fpage>
    630
   </fpage>
   <lpage>
    650
   </lpage>
   <history>
    <date date-type="received">
     <day>
      23,
     </day>
     <month>
      August
     </month>
     <year>
      2024
     </year>
    </date>
    <date date-type="published">
     <day>
      22,
     </day>
     <month>
      August
     </month>
     <year>
      2024
     </year> 
    </date> 
    <date date-type="accepted">
     <day>
      22,
     </day>
     <month>
      September
     </month>
     <year>
      2024
     </year> 
    </date>
   </history>
   <permissions>
    <copyright-statement>
     © Copyright 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. 
    </copyright-statement>
    <copyright-year>
     2014
    </copyright-year>
    <license>
     <license-p>
      This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
     </license-p>
    </license>
   </permissions>
   <abstract>
    This article addresses the issue of computing the constant required to implement a specific nonparametric subset selection procedure based on ranks of data arising in a statistical randomized block experimental design. A model of three populations and two blocks is used to compute the probability distribution of the relevant statistic, the maximum of the population rank sums minus the rank sum of the “best” population. Calculations are done for populations following a normal distribution, and for populations following a bi-uniform distribution. The least favorable configuration in these cases is shown to arise when all three populations follow identical distributions. The bi-uniform distribution leads to an asymptotic counterexample to the conjecture that the least favorable configuration, i.e., that configuration minimizing the probability of a correct selection, occurs when all populations are identically distributed. These results are consistent with other large-scale simulation studies. All relevant computational R-codes are provided in appendices.
   </abstract>
   <kwd-group> 
    <kwd>
     Rank Statistics
    </kwd> 
    <kwd>
      Least Favorable Configuration
    </kwd> 
    <kwd>
      Probability of Correct Selection
    </kwd> 
    <kwd>
      Slippage Configuration
    </kwd> 
    <kwd>
      Equal Spaced Configuration
    </kwd> 
    <kwd>
      Counterexample Configuration
    </kwd>
   </kwd-group>
  </article-meta>
 </front>
 <body>
  <sec id="s1">
   <title>1. Introduction</title>
   <p>Nonparametric (distribution-free) subset selection procedures have been developed by Gupta and McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-1">
     [1]
    </xref> for a one-way Analysis of Variance type model, and by McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-2">
     [2]
    </xref> for a two-way randomized block type model. These procedures are based on random data assumed to follow a continuous probability distribution stochastically ordered by the parameter of interest (e.g., a location or a scale parameter). The subset selection procedure selects a subset of the populations with the goal of including within the chosen subset the population which is “best” (e.g., that characterized with the largest mean), with a prescribed probability no less than a user prescribed probability, 
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      <msup> 
       <mi>
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       </mi> 
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      </msup> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>. Specifying such procedures requires determination of the parameter configuration that minimizes the probability of a correct selection and subsequent calculation of the constant required to implement the procedure so that the probabilistic inference is valid over the entire parameter space. This minimizing configuration is referred to as the “least favorable configuration” (LFC) and is the focus of this article for a randomized block nonparametric subset selection rule to be described. The foundations of the subset selection rule are taken from McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-2">
     [2]
    </xref> and also presented in McDonald and Alsaeed <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-3">
     [3]
    </xref>.</p>
   <p>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>Let 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msub> 
       <mi>
         π 
       </mi> 
       <mn>
         1 
       </mn> 
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     </mrow> 
    </math> be k (≥2) independent populations. Let X<sub>ij</sub>, 
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      <mi>
        j 
      </mi> 
      <mo>
        = 
      </mo> 
      <mn>
        1 
      </mn> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <mo>
        ⋯ 
      </mo> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <mi>
        n 
      </mi> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>; 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <mi>
        i 
      </mi> 
      <mo>
        = 
      </mo> 
      <mn>
        1 
      </mn> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <mo>
        ⋯ 
      </mo> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <mi>
        k 
      </mi> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>, be independent samples of size n from the k populations. Assume the random variables X<sub>ij</sub> have a continuous cumulative distribution function (CDF) F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ<sub>i</sub>), where θ<sub>i</sub>’s belong to some interval Θ on the real line. Suppose F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ) is a stochastically increasing family of distributions in θ; i.e., if θ<sub>1</sub> &lt; θ<sub>2</sub>, then F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ<sub>1</sub>) and F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ<sub>2</sub>) are distinct and F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ<sub>2</sub>) ≤ F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ<sub>1</sub>) for all x. Examples of such families of distributions are: 1) any location parameter family, i.e., F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ) = F<sub>j</sub>(x − θ); 2) any scale parameter family, i.e., F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ) = F<sub>j</sub>(x/θ), θ &gt; 0, x &gt; 0; any family of distribution functions whose densities possess the monotone likelihood ratio property (see Lehmann <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-4">
     [4]
    </xref>).</p>
   <p>Let R<sub>ij</sub> denote the rank of the observation x<sub>ij</sub> among 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msub> 
       <mi>
         x 
       </mi> 
       <mrow> 
        <mn>
          1 
        </mn> 
        <mi>
          j 
        </mi> 
       </mrow> 
      </msub> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <msub> 
       <mi>
         x 
       </mi> 
       <mrow> 
        <mn>
          2 
        </mn> 
        <mi>
          j 
        </mi> 
       </mrow> 
      </msub> 
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      </mo> 
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        ⋯ 
      </mo> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <msub> 
       <mi>
         x 
       </mi> 
       <mrow> 
        <mi>
          k 
        </mi> 
        <mi>
          j 
        </mi> 
       </mrow> 
      </msub> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>; i.e., if there are exactly r of the observations 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msub> 
       <mi>
         x 
       </mi> 
       <mrow> 
        <mi>
          m 
        </mi> 
        <mi>
          j 
        </mi> 
       </mrow> 
      </msub> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <mi>
        m 
      </mi> 
      <mo>
        = 
      </mo> 
      <mn>
        1 
      </mn> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <mo>
        ⋯ 
      </mo> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <mi>
        k 
      </mi> 
     </mrow> 
    </math> less than x<sub>ij</sub> then R<sub>ij</sub> = r + 1. These ranks are well-defined with probability one, since the random variables are assumed to have a continuous distribution, and take integer values from 1 to k inclusive. Now define the rank sums for the k populations as</p>
   <p>
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msub> 
       <mi>
         T 
       </mi> 
       <mi>
         i 
       </mi> 
      </msub> 
      <mo>
        = 
      </mo> 
      <mstyle displaystyle="true"> 
       <msubsup> 
        <mo>
          ∑ 
        </mo> 
        <mrow> 
         <mi>
           j 
         </mi> 
         <mo>
           = 
         </mo> 
         <mn>
           1 
         </mn> 
        </mrow> 
        <mi>
          n 
        </mi> 
       </msubsup> 
       <mrow> 
        <msub> 
         <mi>
           R 
         </mi> 
         <mrow> 
          <mi>
            i 
          </mi> 
          <mi>
            j 
          </mi> 
         </mrow> 
        </msub> 
       </mrow> 
      </mstyle> 
      <mo>
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      </mo> 
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      </mtext> 
      <mtext>
          
      </mtext> 
      <mi>
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      </mi> 
      <mo>
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      </mo> 
      <mn>
        1 
      </mn> 
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      </mo> 
      <mo>
        ⋯ 
      </mo> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
      <mi>
        k 
      </mi> 
      <mo>
        . 
      </mo> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>(1.1)</p>
   <p>The quantities T<sub>i</sub> will define the procedures for selecting a subset of the k populations. Letting θ<sub>[</sub><sub>i</sub><sub>]</sub> denote the i<sup>th</sup> smallest unknown parameter, it follows that</p>
   <p>
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msub> 
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         F 
       </mi> 
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      </mo> 
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       </mi> 
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    </math>(1.2)</p>
   <p>The population whose associated random variables have the distribution F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ<sub>[</sub><sub>k</sub><sub>]</sub>) is called the “best” population. In case several populations possess the largest parameter value θ<sub>[</sub><sub>k</sub><sub>]</sub>, one of these is tagged at random and called the best. A “Correct Selection” (CS) is said to occur if and only if the best population is included in the selected subset. In the subset selection formulation one wishes to select a subset such that the probability is at least equal to a preassigned constant 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
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    </math>) that the selected subset includes the best population. Formally, for a given selection rule R,</p>
   <p>
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    </math>,(1.3)</p>
   <p>where</p>
   <p>
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    </math>(1.4)</p>
   <p>The choice of 
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    </math> is specified by the analyst and represents the confidence level that the resultant selected subset will contain the best population. The number of populations in the selected subset is a random variable and is a nondecreasing function of 
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    </math>.</p>
   <p>In a similar fashion, the “worst” population can be defined as that population characterized by the probability distribution F<sub>j</sub>(x; θ<sub>[</sub><sub>1]</sub>). Selection procedures can analogously be defined with 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
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    </math> requirements on the selected subset to contain the worst population. The assignment of “best” and “worst” is problem specific noted in the applications.</p>
   <p>Four subset selection rules are considered for the analysis of state motor vehicle traffic fatality rates (MVTFRs) as given in McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-5">
     [5]
    </xref>. In this application the populations are states and the blocks are years. Since low (high) fatality rates are good (bad), the “best” (“worst”) state is the one with the smallest (largest) mean fatality rate.</p>
   <p>The two selection rules for choosing a subset containing the worst population are given by:</p>
   <p>R<sub>1</sub>: Select π<sub>i</sub> iff 
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         b 
       </mi> 
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       </mn> 
      </msub> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>(1.5)</p>
   <p>R<sub>2</sub>: Select π<sub>i</sub> iff 
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    </math>.</p>
   <p>Similarly, the two selection rules for choosing a subset containing the best population are given by:</p>
   <p>R<sub>3</sub>: Select π<sub>i</sub> iff 
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          , 
        </mo> 
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          k 
        </mi> 
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         ) 
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      <mo>
        + 
      </mo> 
      <msub> 
       <mi>
         b 
       </mi> 
       <mn>
         3 
       </mn> 
      </msub> 
     </mrow> 
    </math></p>
   <p>R<sub>4</sub>: Select π<sub>i</sub> iff 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msub> 
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      </mo> 
      <msub> 
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         b 
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       </mn> 
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    </math>.</p>
   <p>The non-negative constants b<sub>1</sub>, b<sub>3</sub>, and b<sub>4</sub> are chosen as small as possible and b<sub>2</sub> is chosen as large as possible preserving the probability 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
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    </math> goal. In cases considered here, these constants are calculated assuming the population parameters are equal and, thus, the distribution of the T statistics are distribution free. That is, the calculations required to implement the nonparametric selection rules do not depend on the particular statistical distribution of the populations. With many of the parametric subset selection procedures, the LFC is that configuration in which all the population parameters are equal (e.g., see Gupta and Panchapakesan <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-6">
     [6]
    </xref>). As derived in McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-2">
     [2]
    </xref> rules R<sub>1</sub> and R<sub>3</sub> are justified over a slippage space, Ω’, where all parameters θ<sub>i</sub> are equal with the possible exception of θ<sub>[</sub><sub>k</sub><sub>]</sub> (θ<sub>[</sub><sub>1]</sub>) in case of rule R<sub>1</sub> (R<sub>3</sub>); and rules R<sub>2</sub> and R<sub>4</sub> are applicable over the entire parameter space, Ω. That is, the probability of a correct selection will be no less than 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msup> 
       <mi>
         P 
       </mi> 
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    </math>. If k = 2, the two selection rules R<sub>1</sub> and R<sub>2</sub> are equivalent, as are R<sub>3</sub> and R<sub>4</sub>, since T<sub>1</sub> + T<sub>2</sub> is a constant.</p>
   <p>Rizvi and Woodworth <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-7">
     [7]
    </xref> and McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-2">
     [2]
    </xref> present a class of distributions for which the LFC for selection rules R<sub>1</sub> and R<sub>3</sub> does not occur when all of the population (location) parameters are equal. This article will investigate the LFC for selection rule R<sub>1</sub> for two cases: normal populations differing in their mean values (Section 2), and the counterexample distributions also differing in location parameters (Section 3). The normal distribution is chosen as an example of a widely used distribution in practice that is unimodal and symmetric. The counterexample distribution (bi-uniform distribution) is chosen since it is the singular example of a family of distributions which does not possess the “usual” property for the LFC and hence limits an unqualified endorsement for the nonparametric subset selection procedures (R<sub>1</sub> and R<sub>3</sub>) herein reviewed. The examples examined will be for k = 3 and n = 2 so as to facilitate exact calculations. A summary and conclusions are given in Section 4.</p>
  </sec><sec id="s2">
   <title>2. Normal Populations</title>
   <p>We begin by deriving a general expression for 
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    </math>, where X<sub>i</sub> follows a normal distribution with mean µ<sub>i</sub> and standard deviation σ<sub>i</sub>, i = 1, 2, 3, and the three variates are independent.</p>
   <p>
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    </math>(2.1)</p>
   <p>where Ф(x) and φ(x) are the cumulative distribution function (cdf) and probability density function (pdf), respectively, of a standard normal random variable (mean = 0, standard deviation = 1). While Equation (2.1) and Appendix A is structured for three independent normal distributions, they can be easily adjusted to handle other location-scale families of distributions such as the logistic, t-distributions, etc.</p>
   <p>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>There are six permutations of the digits 1, 2, and 3 and hence the orderings of X<sub>1</sub>, X<sub>2</sub>, and X<sub>3</sub>. Order 1 is (X<sub>1</sub> ≤ X<sub>2</sub> ≤ X<sub>3</sub>); Order 2 is (X<sub>1</sub> ≤ X<sub>3</sub> ≤ X<sub>2</sub>); Order 3 is (X<sub>2</sub> ≤ X<sub>1</sub> ≤ X<sub>3</sub>); Order 4 is (X<sub>2</sub> ≤ X<sub>3</sub> ≤ X<sub>1</sub>); Order 5 is (X<sub>3</sub> ≤ X<sub>1</sub> ≤ X<sub>2</sub>); and Order 6 is (X<sub>3</sub> ≤ X<sub>2</sub> ≤ X<sub>1</sub>). The probabilities of these orders are designated by: Prob1, Prob2, …, Prob6, respectively. These six probabilities are calculated with the R-code in Appendix A using (2.1) matching the specific population means and standard deviations with the appropriate permutation of the population indices (1, 2, 3). Appendix A, as herein stated, is set for the three means equal to 0 and the three standard deviations set equal to 1. These probabilities are the probabilities of the possible six orderings of the random draws from the three populations in each of the two blocks. There are thus 36 possible outcomes in the ordering of the data in a randomized block design for three populations and two blocks. The probability of permutation 1 for block one and permutation 2 for block two is, by block independence, Prob1 times Prob2. Similar calculations hold for the other thirty-five joint occurrences for the permutations. The probabilities of these 36 joint permutation events are given as the df1 data.frame output. The column under Prob1 are the probabilities of the six joint occurrences of permutation 1 with each of the six permutations 1 through 6 in that order. Similarly, the same type probabilities occur under the columns Prob2 through Prob6.</p>
   <p>The df1 data.frame provides the probabilities for the sample space of all possible rank orderings of a randomized block designed experiment with three normal populations and two blocks. The rank sums of the three populations can now be calculated along with the corresponding probabilities and from these, the probability mass function (pmf) and cumulative distribution function (cdf) of the statistic S = T<sub>max</sub> – T<sub>3</sub> can be determined, where T<sub>max</sub> = max(T<sub>i</sub>, i = 1, 2, 3). Note that a CS, using R<sub>1</sub>, occurs when T<sub>3</sub> ≥ T<sub>max</sub> – b<sub>1</sub>, or S ≤ b<sub>1</sub>. Thus, the cdf of the statistic S is the relevant quantity linking the value of b<sub>1</sub> with the preassigned constant 
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    </math>.</p>
   <p>To illustrate the appropriate computation, suppose both blocks 1 and 2 yield Order 1. Then T<sub>1</sub> = 2, T<sub>2</sub> = 4, and T<sub>3</sub> = 6, and so S = 0 with probability 0.5. The statistic S can assume only the values d = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. The subsets of the 36 permutation configurations that result in values of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 are given in Appendix A and, coupled with the probabilities of the configurations, yield the pmf of S (denoted by Pr0, …, Pr4) and the cdf of S (denoted by cumdf0, …, cumdf4) displayed in <xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">
     Table 1
    </xref>.</p>
   <table-wrap id="table1">
    <label>
     <xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">
      Table 1
     </xref></label>
    <caption>
     <title>
      <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>Table 1. Pmf and cdf for the statistic S = T<sub>max</sub> – T<sub>3</sub> with µ = c(0, 0, 0) and σ = c(1, 1, 1).</title>
    </caption>
    <table class="MsoTableGrid custom-table" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 
     <tr> 
      <td class="custom-bottom-td acenter" width="18.72%">d<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="custom-bottom-td acenter" width="26.44%">Pr(S = d)<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="custom-bottom-td acenter" width="28.74%">Pr(S ≤ d)<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
     </tr> 
     <tr> 
      <td class="custom-top-td acenter" width="18.72%">0<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="custom-top-td acenter" width="26.44%">0.5<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="custom-top-td acenter" width="28.74%">0.5<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
     </tr> 
     <tr> 
      <td class="acenter" width="18.72%">1<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="acenter" width="26.44%">0.11111<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="acenter" width="28.74%">0.61111<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
     </tr> 
     <tr> 
      <td class="acenter" width="18.72%">2<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="acenter" width="26.44%">0.16667<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="acenter" width="28.74%">0.77778<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
     </tr> 
     <tr> 
      <td class="acenter" width="18.72%">3<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="acenter" width="26.44%">0.16667<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="acenter" width="28.74%">0.94444<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
     </tr> 
     <tr> 
      <td class="acenter" width="18.72%">4<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="acenter" width="26.44%">0.05556<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
      <td class="acenter" width="28.74%">1<p style="text-align:center"></p></td> 
     </tr> 
    </table>
   </table-wrap>
   <p>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>Implementing the subset selection rule R<sub>1</sub> given in (1.5) requires the calculation of b<sub>1</sub> so that (1.3) is satisfied, i.e., that the probability of a correct selection is no less than a prescribed 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msup> 
       <mi>
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     </mrow> 
    </math> for any underlying population parameter configurations. When the populations are normally distributed differing only in their mean values, the LFC is that with all mean values equal. This is shown for several specific cases. The first is the slippage configuration, where two populations have an equal mean value of 0, and the third has a mean value δ ≥ 0. The R-code in Appendix A is run with standard deviations equal to 1 and the mean values set at c(0, 0, δ) with δ = 0 (0.1) 5.2. The values of the cumcdf0, …, cumcdf4 are entered into the R-code of Appendix B as Pr0, …, Pr4 which then generates <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">
     Figure 1
    </xref> left sketch.</p>
   <p>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>The second is the equi-spaced configuration, where the first population has mean value of 0, the second population has mean value δ, and the third mean value 2δ. As before, the R-code of Appendix A is run with standard deviations equal to 1 and the mean values set at c(0, δ, 2δ) with δ = 0 (0.1) 4.2. The values of the cumcdf0, …, cumcdf4 are entered into the R-code of Appendix C as Pr0, …, Pr4 which then generates <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">
     Figure 1
    </xref> right sketch. In both parameter configurations the Pr(CS|d) is a nondecreasing function of δ for d = 0 (1) 4 and is minimized at δ = 0, i.e., when the three populations have identical probability distributions.</p>
   <fig id="fig1" position="float">
    <label>Figure 1</label>
    <caption>
     <title>Figure 1. Pr(CS) for three normal populations with equal variances and slippage configuration (left) and equal spaced configuration (right), k =3, n = 2.</title>
    </caption>
    <graphic mimetype="image" position="float" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="https://html.scirp.org/file/7405321-rId62.jpeg?20240925031724" />
   </fig>
  </sec><sec id="s3">
   <title>3. Bi-Uniform Distributions</title>
   <p>McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-2">
     [2]
    </xref> gives a class of continuous distribution functions for which the Pr(CS) for nonparametric selection rule R<sub>1</sub> does not occur when the populations are identically distributed, and hence yields a counterexample to the hypothesis that the LFC occurs when the populations are identically distributed. For 0 &lt; a &lt; 1 &lt; c, let the cdf F(x) be defined as</p>
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         <mtr columnalign="left"> 
          <mtd columnalign="left"> 
           <mrow> 
            <mrow> 
             <mrow> 
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               <mo>
                 ( 
               </mo> 
               <mrow> 
                <mi>
                  c 
                </mi> 
                <mo>
                  + 
                </mo> 
                <mi>
                  x 
                </mi> 
               </mrow> 
               <mo>
                 ) 
               </mo> 
              </mrow> 
             </mrow> 
             <mo>
               / 
             </mo> 
             <mrow> 
              <mn>
                2 
              </mn> 
              <mi>
                c 
              </mi> 
             </mrow> 
            </mrow> 
            <mo>
              , 
            </mo> 
           </mrow> 
          </mtd> 
          <mtd columnalign="left"> 
           <mrow> 
            <mo>
              − 
            </mo> 
            <mi>
              c 
            </mi> 
            <mo>
              &lt; 
            </mo> 
            <mi>
              x 
            </mi> 
            <mo>
              ≤ 
            </mo> 
            <mn>
              0 
            </mn> 
           </mrow> 
          </mtd> 
         </mtr> 
         <mtr columnalign="left"> 
          <mtd columnalign="left"> 
           <mrow> 
            <mrow> 
             <mn>
               1 
             </mn> 
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               / 
             </mo> 
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             </mn> 
            </mrow> 
            <mo>
              , 
            </mo> 
           </mrow> 
          </mtd> 
          <mtd columnalign="left"> 
           <mrow> 
            <mn>
              0 
            </mn> 
            <mo>
              &lt; 
            </mo> 
            <mi>
              x 
            </mi> 
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              ≤ 
            </mo> 
            <mn>
              1 
            </mn> 
           </mrow> 
          </mtd> 
         </mtr> 
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          <mtd columnalign="left"> 
           <mrow> 
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                 ( 
               </mo> 
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                  a 
                </mi> 
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                  + 
                </mo> 
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                </mi> 
                <mo>
                  − 
                </mo> 
                <mn>
                  1 
                </mn> 
               </mrow> 
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                 ) 
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              </mrow> 
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               / 
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              <mn>
                2 
              </mn> 
              <mi>
                a 
              </mi> 
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            <mo>
              , 
            </mo> 
           </mrow> 
          </mtd> 
          <mtd columnalign="left"> 
           <mrow> 
            <mn>
              1 
            </mn> 
            <mo>
              &lt; 
            </mo> 
            <mi>
              x 
            </mi> 
            <mo>
              ≤ 
            </mo> 
            <mn>
              1 
            </mn> 
            <mo>
              + 
            </mo> 
            <mi>
              a 
            </mi> 
           </mrow> 
          </mtd> 
         </mtr> 
         <mtr columnalign="left"> 
          <mtd columnalign="left"> 
           <mrow> 
            <mn>
              1 
            </mn> 
            <mo>
              , 
            </mo> 
           </mrow> 
          </mtd> 
          <mtd columnalign="left"> 
           <mrow> 
            <mn>
              1 
            </mn> 
            <mo>
              + 
            </mo> 
            <mi>
              a 
            </mi> 
            <mo>
              &lt; 
            </mo> 
            <mi>
              x 
            </mi> 
           </mrow> 
          </mtd> 
         </mtr> 
        </mtable> 
       </mrow> 
      </mrow> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>(3.1)</p>
   <p>F(x) is composed of two nonoverlapping uniform distributions: one on the interval (−c, 0) and the other on the interval (1, 1 + 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mi>
       a 
     </mi> 
    </math>) and each scaled to have mass 0.5. The counterexample is constructed for k ≥ 3, the population location parameters are equal with the exception of the two largest which are themselves equal, and n is asymptotically large. A sufficiently large value of “c” can be chosen to establish the counterexample. The case with n = 2 is considered next.</p>
   <p>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>The R-code of Appendix D generates the cdf of the statistic S based on a large sample of bi-uniform variates as defined in (3.1). Based on input values of c, 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mi>
       a 
     </mi> 
    </math>, δ<sub>1</sub>, δ<sub>2</sub>, and nsim. The values δ<sub>1</sub>, δ<sub>2</sub> are location parameters of the second and third population, and nsim is the number of random draws from the three populations. The nsim draws are structured in pairs so as to provide nsim/2 random block experimental designs with three populations and two blocks. The R-codes of Appendix E and Appendix F generate output similar to that of Appendix B and Appendix C respectively. The output is displayed in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">
     Figure 2
    </xref>. The cdf of the statistic S is based on nsim = 200,000 in Appendix D. The patterns in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">
     Figure 2
    </xref> are qualitatively the same as those in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">
     Figure 1
    </xref>. That is, in both parameter configurations the Pr(CS|d) is a nondecreasing function of δ and is minimized at δ = 0, i.e., when the three populations have identical probability distributions.</p>
   <fig id="fig2" position="float">
    <label>Figure 2</label>
    <caption>
     <title>Figure 2. Pr(CS) for three bi-uniform populations with c = a = 1, slippage configuration (left) and equal spaced configuration (right), k = 3, n = 2.</title>
    </caption>
    <graphic mimetype="image" position="float" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="https://html.scirp.org/file/7405321-rId69.jpeg?20240925031724" />
   </fig>
  </sec><sec id="s4">
   <title>4. Summary and Conclusions</title>
   <p>The results given here in Sections 2 and 3 complement simulation studies investigating the LFC for the subset selection rule given in (1.5). Lorenzen and McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-8">
     [8]
    </xref> executed a large-scale simulation study quantifying the selection probabilities for the subset rule R utilized here with three populations and eight blocks. They considered location parameters with the following distributions: normal, logistic, double exponential, Cauchy, and the exponential with a threshold parameter. As noted, the chosen distributions cover a wide spectrum of tail densities including one non-symmetric density. They considered two distributions ordered by a scale parameter: the exponential distribution, and the gamma distribution. And, finally, they considered the counterexample distribution given in (3.1). In all cases, they considered three parameter configurations: the slippage, the reverse slippage (i.e., two parameters are equal and larger than the third), and the equal spaced. In all cases investigated, they found that the LFC occurred when the distribution of the three populations were identical.</p>
   <p>A critical inequality leading to the counterexample in McDonald <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-2">
     [2]
    </xref> is that given by Rizvi and Woodword <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-7">
     [7]
    </xref> in their Counterexample 3 Section. For any ɛ &gt; 0, there exists 0.5 &lt; P<sub>ɛ</sub> &lt; 1 such that</p>
   <p>
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <mi>
        A 
      </mi> 
      <mo>
        = 
      </mo> 
      <mi>
        A 
      </mi> 
      <mrow> 
       <mo>
         ( 
       </mo> 
       <mrow> 
        <msub> 
         <mi>
           P 
         </mi> 
         <mi>
           ε 
         </mi> 
        </msub> 
        <mo>
          , 
        </mo> 
        <mi>
          k 
        </mi> 
       </mrow> 
       <mo>
         ) 
       </mo> 
      </mrow> 
      <mo>
        ≤ 
      </mo> 
      <mrow> 
       <mo>
         ( 
       </mo> 
       <mrow> 
        <mn>
          1 
        </mn> 
        <mo>
          + 
        </mo> 
        <mi>
          ε 
        </mi> 
       </mrow> 
       <mo>
         ) 
       </mo> 
      </mrow> 
      <msup> 
       <mn>
         2 
       </mn> 
       <mrow> 
        <mrow> 
         <mn>
           1 
         </mn> 
         <mo>
           / 
         </mo> 
         <mn>
           2 
         </mn> 
        </mrow> 
       </mrow> 
      </msup> 
      <msup> 
       <mi>
         Φ 
       </mi> 
       <mrow> 
        <mo>
          − 
        </mo> 
        <mn>
          1 
        </mn> 
       </mrow> 
      </msup> 
      <mrow> 
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         ( 
       </mo> 
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           P 
         </mi> 
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           ε 
         </mi> 
        </msub> 
       </mrow> 
       <mo>
         ) 
       </mo> 
      </mrow> 
      <mo>
        , 
      </mo> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>(3.2)</p>
   <p>and A is given by</p>
   <p>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref> 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <mstyle displaystyle="true"> 
       <mrow> 
        <msubsup> 
         <mo>
           ∫ 
         </mo> 
         <mrow> 
          <mo>
            − 
          </mo> 
          <mi>
            ∞ 
          </mi> 
         </mrow> 
         <mi>
           ∞ 
         </mi> 
        </msubsup> 
        <mrow> 
         <msup> 
          <mi>
            Φ 
          </mi> 
          <mrow> 
           <mi>
             k 
           </mi> 
           <mo>
             − 
           </mo> 
           <mn>
             1 
           </mn> 
          </mrow> 
         </msup> 
         <mrow> 
          <mo>
            ( 
          </mo> 
          <mrow> 
           <mi>
             x 
           </mi> 
           <mo>
             + 
           </mo> 
           <mi>
             A 
           </mi> 
          </mrow> 
          <mo>
            ) 
          </mo> 
         </mrow> 
         <mi>
           φ 
         </mi> 
         <mrow> 
          <mo>
            ( 
          </mo> 
          <mi>
            x 
          </mi> 
          <mo>
            ) 
          </mo> 
         </mrow> 
         <mtext>
           d 
         </mtext> 
         <mi>
           x 
         </mi> 
        </mrow> 
       </mrow> 
      </mstyle> 
      <mo>
        = 
      </mo> 
      <msub> 
       <mi>
         P 
       </mi> 
       <mi>
         ε 
       </mi> 
      </msub> 
      <mo>
        . 
      </mo> 
     </mrow> 
    </math>(3.3)</p>
   <p>For k = 3, the value of ɛ for the counterexample can be shown to be (to 5 dp) 0.06066. Using the R-code in Appendix G yields the values of A and P<sub>ɛ</sub> to be 5.0 and 0.99960 (to 5 dp), respectively, to establish the counterexample for large sample sizes (blocks) n. The value of P<sub>ɛ</sub> is excessively large for most practical applications.</p>
   <p>The exact small model results given here, along with larger model simulation results, support the use of identical population distributions for the LFC and computation of 
    <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mrow> 
      <msup> 
       <mi>
         P 
       </mi> 
       <mo>
         ∗ 
       </mo> 
      </msup> 
     </mrow> 
    </math> for the lower bound of the Pr(CS).</p>
  </sec><sec id="s5">
   <title>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>Appendix A. Ordering Probabilities for Three Independent Normal Variates</title>
   <p>#General Normal Ordering for k=3 and n=2</p>
   <p>#Compute the Pr(X1&lt;X2&lt;X3) where Xi's are independent normal variates with</p>
   <p>#means m[i] and standard deviations s[i].</p>
   <p>#order 1 is (X1&lt;X2&lt;X3); order 2 is (X1&lt;X3&lt;X2); order 3 is (X2&lt;X1&lt;X3);</p>
   <p>#order 4 is (X2&lt;X3&lt;X1); order 5 is (X3&lt;X1&lt;X2); order 6 is (X3&lt;X2&lt;X1).</p>
   <p>#Input the values of the means and standard deviations in next line</p>
   <p>m=c(0,0,0);s=c(1,1,1)</p>
   <p>order&lt;-NULL; error&lt;-NULL</p>
   <p>Prob1&lt;-NULL;Prob2&lt;-NULL;Prob3&lt;-NULL;Prob4&lt;-NULL;Prob5&lt;-NULL;Prob6&lt;-NULL</p>
   <p>integrand1&lt;-function(x){</p>
   <p>((pnorm((s[2]*x+m[2]-m[1])/s[1]))*(pnorm((-x*s[2]+m[3]-m[2])/s[3]))*dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1))</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>int1&lt;-integrate(integrand1,lower=-Inf,upper=Inf)</p>
   <p>order[1]&lt;-int1$value</p>
   <p>order[1]</p>
   <p>error[1]&lt;-int1$abs.error</p>
   <p>integrand2&lt;-function(x){</p>
   <p>((pnorm((s[3]*x+m[3]-m[1])/s[1]))*(pnorm((-x*s[3]+m[2]-m[3])/s[2]))*dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1))</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>int2&lt;-integrate(integrand2,lower=-Inf,upper=Inf)</p>
   <p>order[2]&lt;-int2$value</p>
   <p>order[2]</p>
   <p>error[2]&lt;-int2$abs.error</p>
   <p>integrand3&lt;-function(x){</p>
   <p>((pnorm((s[1]*x+m[1]-m[2])/s[2]))*(pnorm((-x*s[1]+m[3]-m[1])/s[3]))*dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1))</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>int3&lt;-integrate(integrand3,lower=-Inf,upper=Inf)</p>
   <p>order[3]&lt;-int3$value</p>
   <p>order[3]</p>
   <p>error[3]&lt;-int3$abs.error</p>
   <p>integrand4&lt;-function(x){</p>
   <p>((pnorm((s[3]*x+m[3]-m[2])/s[2]))*(pnorm((-x*s[3]+m[1]-m[3])/s[1]))*dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1))</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>int4&lt;-integrate(integrand4,lower=-Inf,upper=Inf)</p>
   <p>order[4]&lt;-int4$value</p>
   <p>order[4]</p>
   <p>error[4]&lt;-int4$abs.error</p>
   <p>integrand5&lt;-function(x){</p>
   <p>((pnorm((s[1]*x+m[1]-m[3])/s[3]))*(pnorm((-x*s[1]+m[2]-m[1])/s[2]))*dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1))</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>int5&lt;-integrate(integrand5,lower=-Inf,upper=Inf)</p>
   <p>order[5]&lt;-int5$value</p>
   <p>order[5]</p>
   <p>error[5]&lt;-int5$abs.error</p>
   <p>integrand6&lt;-function(x){</p>
   <p>((pnorm((s[2]*x+m[2]-m[3])/s[3]))*(pnorm((-x*s[2]+m[1]-m[2])/s[1]))*dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1))</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>int6&lt;-integrate(integrand6,lower=-Inf,upper=Inf)</p>
   <p>order[6]&lt;-int6$value</p>
   <p>order[6]</p>
   <p>error[6]&lt;-int6$abs.error</p>
   <p>df&lt;-data.frame(order,error)</p>
   <p>df</p>
   <p>Total&lt;-sum(order)</p>
   <p>Total</p>
   <p>#ProbX is the probability that order X &amp; order[i] occur in 2 samples (blocks)</p>
   <p>for (i in 1:6){</p>
   <p>Prob1[i]&lt;-order[1]*order[i]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>for (i in 1:6){</p>
   <p>Prob2[i]&lt;-order[2]*order[i]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>for (i in 1:6){</p>
   <p>Prob3[i]&lt;-order[3]*order[i]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>for (i in 1:6){</p>
   <p>Prob4[i]&lt;-order[4]*order[i]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>for (i in 1:6){</p>
   <p>Prob5[i]&lt;-order[5]*order[i]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>for (i in 1:6){</p>
   <p>Prob6[i]&lt;-order[6]*order[i]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>df1&lt;-data.frame(Prob1,Prob2,Prob3,Prob4,Prob5,Prob6)</p>
   <p>round(df1,5)</p>
   <p>sum(Prob1,Prob2,Prob3,Prob4,Prob5,Prob6)</p>
   <p>#PrX is the probability that Tmax-T3 = X for X=0,1,2,3,4</p>
   <p>Pr0&lt;-Prob1[1]+Prob1[2]+Prob1[3]+Prob1[4]+Prob1[6]+Prob2[1]+</p>
   <p>Prob2[3]+Prob2[4]+Prob3[1]+Prob3[2]+Prob3[3]+</p>
   <p>Prob3[4]+Prob3[5]+Prob4[1]+Prob4[2]+Prob4[3]+</p>
   <p>Prob5[3]+Prob6[1]</p>
   <p>Pr1&lt;-Prob1[5]+Prob3[6]+Prob5[1]+Prob6[3]</p>
   <p>Pr2&lt;-Prob2[2]+Prob2[6]+Prob4[4]+Prob4[5]+Prob5[4]+Prob6[2]</p>
   <p>Pr3&lt;-Prob2[5]+Prob4[6]+Prob5[2]+Prob5[6]+Prob6[4]+Prob6[5]</p>
   <p>Pr4&lt;-Prob5[5]+Prob6[6]</p>
   <p>df2&lt;-data.frame(Pr0,Pr1,Pr2,Pr3,Pr4)</p>
   <p>round(df2,5)</p>
   <p>#cumdfX is the cdf of Tmax-T3 for X=0,1,2,3,4</p>
   <p>cumdf0&lt;-Pr0</p>
   <p>cumdf1&lt;-cumdf0+Pr1</p>
   <p>cumdf2&lt;-cumdf1+Pr2</p>
   <p>cumdf3&lt;-cumdf2+Pr3</p>
   <p>cumdf4&lt;-cumdf3+Pr4</p>
   <p>df3&lt;-data.frame(cumdf0,cumdf1,cumdf2,cumdf3,cumdf4)</p>
   <p>round(df3,5)</p>
  </sec><sec id="s6">
   <title>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>Appendix B. Pr(CS) for Three Independent Normal Populations with Slippage Configuration (Figure 1 Left Panel)</title>
   <p>#norm_ord_computations using normal ordering.txt</p>
   <p>#slippage parameter configurations</p>
   <p>#mu=(0,0,delta)</p>
   <p>require(splines)</p>
   <p>delta&lt;-seq(from=0,to=5.2,by=0.1)</p>
   <p>delta</p>
   <p>length(delta)</p>
   <p>Pr0&lt;-c(0.5,0.53756,0.57477,0.61131,0.64687,0.68115,0.71391,</p>
   <p>0.74494,0.77405,0.80114,0.82612,0.84895,0.86964,0.88822,</p>
   <p>0.90478,0.91942,0.93224,0.94338,0.95299,0.96121,0.96819,</p>
   <p>0.97407,0.97899,0.98308,0.98645,0.98922,0.99146,0.99328,</p>
   <p>0.99474,0.9959,0.99683,0.99756,0.99813,0.99857,0.99892,</p>
   <p>0.99918,0.99939,0.99954,0.99966,0.99975,0.99982,0.99987,</p>
   <p>0.9999,0.99993,0.99995,0.99996,0.99997,0.99998,0.99999,</p>
   <p>0.99999,0.99999,1,1)</p>
   <p>length(Pr0)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>fit0&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>lines(fit0,lwd=2,col="red")</p>
   <p>Pr1&lt;-c(0.61111,0.64818,0.68394,0.71811,0.75042,0.78069,0.80877,</p>
   <p>0.83454,0.85797,0.87906,0.89785,0.91444,0.92892,0.94145,</p>
   <p>0.95218,0.96127,0.96891,0.97525,0.98047,0.98473,0.98816,</p>
   <p>0.9909,0.99307,0.99477,0.99609,0.9971,0.99787,0.99845,</p>
   <p>0.99888,0.9992,0.99943,0.9996,0.99972,0.99981,0.99987,</p>
   <p>0.99991,0.99994,0.99996,0.99997,0.99999,0.99999,0.99999,</p>
   <p>1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1)</p>
   <p>length(Pr1)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>fit1&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>lines(fit1,lwd=2,col="blue")</p>
   <p>Pr2&lt;-c(0.77778,0.80502,0.83024,0.85338,0.87438,0.89328,0.91009,</p>
   <p>0.92491,0.93784,0.949,0.95853,0.9666,0.97334,0.97892,</p>
   <p>0.9835,0.9872,0.99017,0.99252,0.99437,0.9958,0.9969,</p>
   <p>0.99774,0.99836,0.99883,0.99917,0.99942,0.9996,0.99972,</p>
   <p>0.99981,0.99987,0.99992,0.99994,0.99996,0.99998,0.99999,</p>
   <p>0.99999,0.99999,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1)</p>
   <p>length(Pr2)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>fit2&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>lines(fit2,lwd=2,col="green")</p>
   <p>Pr3&lt;-c(0.94444,0.9533,0.9611,0.96789,0.97374,0.97873,0.98293,</p>
   <p>0.98644,0.98933,0.99169,0.99359,0.99511,0.99631,0.99724,</p>
   <p>0.99796,0.99851,0.99892,0.99922,0.99945,0.99962,0.99973,</p>
   <p>0.99982,0.99988,0.99992,0.99995,0.99996,0.99998,0.99999,</p>
   <p>0.99999,0.99999,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,</p>
   <p>1,1,1)</p>
   <p>length(Pr3)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>fit3&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>lines(fit3,lwd=2,col="purple")</p>
   <p>Pr4&lt;-c(rep(1,53))</p>
   <p>length(Pr4)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>fit4&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>lines(fit4,lwd=2,col="orange")</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr0,ylab="P(CS|d)")</p>
   <p>fit0&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>lines(fit0,lwd=2,col="red")</p>
   <p>title("Pr(T3&gt;=max(T1,T2,T3)-d) = Pr(CS|d)</p>
   <p>for 3 Normal Populations--slippage config &amp; 2 blocks")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>fit1&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>lines(fit1,lwd=2,col="blue")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>fit2&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>lines(fit2,lwd=2,col="green")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>fit3&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>lines(fit3,lwd=2,col="purple")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>fit4&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>lines(fit4,lwd=2,col="orange")</p>
   <p>legend(2.5,0.85,legend=c("d = 0","d = 1","d = 2","d = 3","d = 4"),</p>
   <p>col=c("red","blue","green","purple","orange"),pch=c("o","o","o","o","o"),</p>
   <p>lty=c(1,2,3,4,5),ncol=1)</p>
  </sec><sec id="s7">
   <title>
    <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.136240-"></xref>Appendix C. Pr(CS) for Three Independent Normal Populations with Equi-Spaced Configuration (Figure 1 Right Panel)</title>
   <p>#norm_ord_computations using normal ordering.txt</p>
   <p>#equi-spaced parameter configurations</p>
   <p>#mu=(0,delta,2*delta)</p>
   <p>require(splines)</p>
   <p>delta&lt;-seq(from=0,to=4.2,by=0.1)</p>
   <p>delta</p>
   <p>length(delta)</p>
   <p>Pr0&lt;-c(0.5,0.55563,0.60899,0.65921,0.70571,0.74812,0.78629,</p>
   <p>0.82026,0.85017,0.87625,0.89875,0.91797,0.93421,0.94777,</p>
   <p>0.95895,0.96806,0.97539,0.98122,0.98579,0.98933,0.99205,</p>
   <p>0.99412,0.99568,0.99684,0.99771,0.99835,0.99881,0.99915,</p>
   <p>0.9994,0.99958,0.9997,0.9998,0.99986,0.9999,0.99993,</p>
   <p>0.99996,0.99997,0.99998,0.99999,0.99999,0.99999,1,1)</p>
   <p>length(Pr0)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>fit0&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>lines(fit0,lwd=2,col="red")</p>
   <p>Pr1&lt;-c(0.61111,0.66562,0.71566,0.76058,0.80009,0.83419,0.8632,</p>
   <p>0.88756,0.90786,0.92467,0.93856,0.95001,0.95946,0.96725,</p>
   <p>0.97367,0.97895,0.98328,0.98681,0.98967,0.99197,0.99381,</p>
   <p>0.99527,0.99641,0.9973,0.99799,0.99851,0.99891,0.99921,</p>
   <p>0.99943,0.99959,0.99971,0.9998,0.99986,0.9999,0.99993,</p>
   <p>0.99996,0.99997,0.99998,0.99999,0.99999,0.99999,1,1)</p>
   <p>length(Pr1)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>fit1&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>lines(fit1,lwd=2,col="blue")</p>
   <p>Pr2&lt;-c(0.77778,0.81764,0.85252,0.88246,0.90774,0.92868,0.94573,</p>
   <p>0.95938,0.97011,0.97839,0.98466,0.98932,0.9927,0.99512,</p>
   <p>0.9968,0.99795,0.99871,0.99921,0.99953,0.99972,0.99984,</p>
   <p>0.99991,0.99995,0.99997,0.99999,0.99999,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,</p>
   <p>1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1)</p>
   <p>length(Pr2)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>fit2&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>lines(fit2,lwd=2,col="green")</p>
   <p>Pr3&lt;-c(0.94444,0.95735,0.96797,0.97649,0.9832,0.98829,0.99207,</p>
   <p>0.99478,0.99667,0.99794,0.99876,0.99928,0.9996,0.99978,</p>
   <p>0.99989,0.99994,0.99997,0.99999,0.99999,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,</p>
   <p>1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1)</p>
   <p>length(Pr3)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>fit3&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>lines(fit3,lwd=2,col="purple")</p>
   <p>Pr4&lt;-c(rep(1,43))</p>
   <p>length(Pr4)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>fit4&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>lines(fit4,lwd=2,col="orange")</p>
   <p>##########################</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr0,ylab="P(CS|d)")</p>
   <p>fit0&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>lines(fit0,lwd=2,col="red")</p>
   <p>title("Pr(T3&gt;=max(T1,T2,T3)-d) = Pr(CS|d)</p>
   <p>for 3 equi-spaced Normal Populations &amp; 2 blocks")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>fit1&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>lines(fit1,lwd=2,col="blue")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>fit2&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>lines(fit2,lwd=2,col="green")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>fit3&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>lines(fit3,lwd=2,col="purple")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>fit4&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>lines(fit4,lwd=2,col="orange")</p>
   <p>legend(2.5,0.85,legend=c("d = 0","d = 1","d = 2","d = 3","d = 4"),</p>
   <p>col=c("red","blue","green","purple","orange"),pch=c("o","o","o","o","o"),</p>
   <p>lty=c(1,2,3,4,5),ncol=1)</p>
  </sec><sec id="s8">
   <title>Appendix D. Ordering Probabilities for Three Independent Bi-Uniform Variates</title>
   <p>#Bi-Uniform for nonparametric block design, k=3,n=2</p>
   <p>#See McDonald (1972), Sankhya, Series A, Vol. 34, Part 1, pp.53-64</p>
   <p>#The distribution is a mixture of two uniform densities</p>
   <p>#Population 1: Uniform(-c,0) and uniform(1,1+a), c&gt;-0 and a&gt;-0</p>
   <p>#Population 2: Uniform(-c+delta1,delta1) and uniform(1+delta1,1+a+delta1),</p>
   <p>#c&gt;0, a&gt;0, delta1&gt;=0</p>
   <p>#Populatiom 3: Uniform(-c+delta2,delta2) and uniform(1+delta2,1+a+delta2),</p>
   <p>#c&gt;0, a&gt;0, delta2&gt;=delta1</p>
   <p>#set c, a, delta1, delta2 and number of random draws (nsim)</p>
   <p>c&lt;-5;a&lt;-1;delta1&lt;-0;delta2&lt;-0;nsim&lt;-200000</p>
   <p>y1=NULL;y2=NULL;y3=NULL</p>
   <p>z1=NULL;z2=NULL;z3=NULL</p>
   <p>p1=NULL;p2=NULL;p3=NULL</p>
   <p>for (i in 1:nsim){</p>
   <p>y1[i]&lt;-runif(1,-c,0)</p>
   <p>z1[i]&lt;-runif(1,1,1+a)</p>
   <p>p1[i]&lt;-rbinom(1,1,0.5)</p>
   <p>x1[i]&lt;-p1[i]*y1[i] + (1-p1[i])*z1[i]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>for (j in 1:nsim){</p>
   <p>y2[j]&lt;-runif(1,-c+delta1,delta1)</p>
   <p>z2[j]&lt;-runif(1,1+delta1,1+a+delta1)</p>
   <p>p2[j]&lt;-rbinom(1,1,0.5)</p>
   <p>x2[j]&lt;-p2[j]*y2[j] + (1-p2[j])*z2[j]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>for (k in 1:nsim){</p>
   <p>y3[k]&lt;-runif(1,-c+delta2,delta2)</p>
   <p>z3[k]&lt;-runif(1,1+delta2,1+a+delta2)</p>
   <p>p3[k]&lt;-rbinom(1,1,0.5)</p>
   <p>x3[k]&lt;-p3[k]*y3[k] + (1-p3[k])*z3[k]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>#######</p>
   <p>df&lt;-data.frame(x1,x2,x3)</p>
   <p>head(df,5)</p>
   <p>tail(df,5)</p>
   <p>avg&lt;-c(mean(x1),mean(x2),mean(x3))</p>
   <p>std&lt;-c(sd(x1),sd(x2),sd(x3))</p>
   <p>var&lt;-std^2</p>
   <p>avg</p>
   <p>std</p>
   <p>#######</p>
   <p>r1=NULL;r2=NULL;rk1=NULL;rk2=NULL;add=NULL</p>
   <p>d=NULL</p>
   <p>n1&lt;-floor((nsim+1)/2)</p>
   <p>for (i in 1:n1){</p>
   <p>j&lt;-2*i-1</p>
   <p>r1&lt;-c(x1[j],x2[j],x3[j])</p>
   <p>r2&lt;-c(x1[j+1],x2[j+1],x3[j+1])</p>
   <p>rk1&lt;-rank(r1)</p>
   <p>rk2&lt;-rank(r2)</p>
   <p>add&lt;-rk1+rk2</p>
   <p>d[i]&lt;-max(add)-add[3]</p>
   <p>}</p>
   <p>#######</p>
   <p>pd&lt;-table(d)</p>
   <p>pd</p>
   <p>sum(pd)</p>
   <p>den&lt;-pd/sum(pd)</p>
   <p>den</p>
   <p>cdf&lt;-cumsum(den)</p>
   <p>cdf</p>
   <p>summary&lt;-data.frame(den,cdf)</p>
   <p>summary</p>
  </sec><sec id="s9">
   <title>Appendix E. Pr(CS) for Three Independent Bi-Uniform Populations with Slippage Configuration (Figure 2 Left Panel)</title>
   <p>#Computations using Counterexample Distribution k=3,n=2</p>
   <p>#slippage parameter configurations</p>
   <p>#c=a=1; 200,000 simulations</p>
   <p># theta=(0,0,delta)</p>
   <p>require(splines)</p>
   <p>delta&lt;-seq(from=0,to=1.0,by=0.1)</p>
   <p>delta</p>
   <p>length(delta)</p>
   <p>###</p>
   <p>Pr0&lt;-c(0.50035,0.56392,0.61917,0.67020,0.70652,</p>
   <p>0.74557,0.76886,0.78770,0.80021,0.81007,0.81374)</p>
   <p>length(Pr0)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>fit0&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>lines(fit0,lwd=2,col="red")</p>
   <p>Pr1&lt;-c(0.61072,0.67262,0.72432,0.77131,0.80291,</p>
   <p>0.83586,0.85383,0.86842,0.88060,0.88930,0.89132)</p>
   <p>length(Pr1)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>fit1&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>lines(fit1,lwd=2,col="blue")</p>
   <p>Pr2&lt;-c(0.77821,0.82438,0.85743,0.88818,0.90752,</p>
   <p>0.92597,0.93527,0.94186,0.94859,0.95162,0.95389)</p>
   <p>length(Pr2)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>fit2&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>lines(fit2,lwd=2,col="green")</p>
   <p>Pr3&lt;-c(0.94404,0.95971,0.96915,0.97726,0.98219,</p>
   <p>0.98690,0.98899,0.99011,0.99115,0.99182,0.99229)</p>
   <p>length(Pr3)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>fit3&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>lines(fit3,lwd=2,col="purple")</p>
   <p>Pr4&lt;-c(rep(1,11))</p>
   <p>length(Pr4)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>fit4&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>lines(fit4,lwd=2,col="orange")</p>
   <p>##########################</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr0,ylab="P(CS|d)",xlim=c(0,1),ylim=c(0.5,1))</p>
   <p>fit0&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>lines(fit0,lwd=2,col="red")</p>
   <p>title("Pr(T3&gt;=max(T1,T2,T3)-d) = Pr(CS|d)</p>
   <p>for 3 slippage Counterexample Populations &amp; 2 blocks")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>fit1&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>lines(fit1,lwd=2,col="blue")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>fit2&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>lines(fit2,lwd=2,col="green")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>fit3&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>lines(fit3,lwd=2,col="purple")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>fit4&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>lines(fit4,lwd=2,col="orange")</p>
   <p>legend(0.8,0.7,legend=c("d = 0","d = 1","d = 2","d = 3","d = 4"),</p>
   <p>col=c("red","blue","green","purple","orange"),pch=c("o","o","o","o","o"),</p>
   <p>lty=c(1,2,3,4,5),ncol=1)</p>
  </sec><sec id="s10">
   <title>Appendix F. Pr(CS) for Three Independent Bi-Uniform Populations with Equi-Spaced Configuration (Figure 2 Right Panel)</title>
   <p>#Computations using Counterexample Distribution k=3,n=2</p>
   <p>#equi-spaced parameter configurations</p>
   <p>#c=a=1; 200,000 simulations</p>
   <p># theta=(0,delta,2*delta)</p>
   <p>require(splines)</p>
   <p>delta&lt;-seq(from=0,to=1.0,by=0.1)</p>
   <p>delta</p>
   <p>length(delta)</p>
   <p>###</p>
   <p>Pr0&lt;-c(0.50035,0.59002,0.66110,0.71370,0.74518,</p>
   <p>0.76439,0.76724,0.78088,0.80236,0.82969,0.86351)</p>
   <p>length(Pr0)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>fit0&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>lines(fit0,lwd=2,col="red")</p>
   <p>Pr1&lt;-c(0.61072,0.69698,0.76194,0.81093,0.84024,</p>
   <p>0.86286,0.87304,0.88545,0.90072,0.91396,0.92584)</p>
   <p>length(Pr1)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>fit1&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>lines(fit1,lwd=2,col="blue")</p>
   <p>Pr2&lt;-c(0.77821,0.84163,0.88157,0.91152,0.92619,</p>
   <p>0.93778,0.94237,0.94811,0.95687,0.96347,0.97230)</p>
   <p>length(Pr2)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>fit2&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>lines(fit2,lwd=2,col="green")</p>
   <p>Pr3&lt;-c(0.94404,0.96501,0.97582,0.98380,0.98613,</p>
   <p>0.98695,0.98671,0.98726,0.98959,0.99269,0.99564)</p>
   <p>length(Pr3)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>fit3&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>lines(fit3,lwd=2,col="purple")</p>
   <p>Pr4&lt;-c(rep(1,11))</p>
   <p>length(Pr4)</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>fit4&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>lines(fit4,lwd=2,col="orange")</p>
   <p>##########################</p>
   <p>par(ask=TRUE)</p>
   <p>plot(delta,Pr0,ylab="P(CS|d)",xlim=c(0,1),ylim=c(0.5,1))</p>
   <p>fit0&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr0)</p>
   <p>lines(fit0,lwd=2,col="red")</p>
   <p>title("Pr(T3&gt;=max(T1,T2,T3)-d) = Pr(CS|d)</p>
   <p>for 3 equi-spaced Bi-Uniform Populations &amp; 2 blocks")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>fit1&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr1)</p>
   <p>lines(fit1,lwd=2,col="blue")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>fit2&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr2)</p>
   <p>lines(fit2,lwd=2,col="green")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>fit3&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr3)</p>
   <p>lines(fit3,lwd=2,col="purple")</p>
   <p>points(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>fit4&lt;-smooth.spline(delta,Pr4)</p>
   <p>lines(fit4,lwd=2,col="orange")</p>
   <p>legend(0.8,0.7,legend=c("d = 0","d = 1","d = 2","d = 3","d = 4"),</p>
   <p>col=c("red","blue","green","purple","orange"),pch=c("o","o","o","o","o"),</p>
   <p>lty=c(1,2,3,4,5),ncol=1)</p>
  </sec><sec id="s11">
   <title>Appendix G. Calculation of A and P<sub>ɛ</sub> to Satisfy Equation (3.2)</title>
   <p>#For a given k and epsilon, solves for A and P</p>
   <p>#Specify k, epsilon, and an appropriate seq for A</p>
   <p>k&lt;-3;epsilon&lt;-0.06066</p>
   <p>integrand&lt;-function(x,A=0){((pnorm(x+A))^(k-1))*dnorm(x)}</p>
   <p>int&lt;-function(A){integrate(integrand,lower=-Inf,upper=Inf,A=A)$value}</p>
   <p>A = seq(0,10,by=0.5)</p>
   <p>len&lt;-length(A)</p>
   <p>pstar&lt;-sapply(A,int)</p>
   <p>df&lt;-data.frame(A,pstar)</p>
   <p>ipstar&lt;-qnorm(pstar)</p>
   <p>bound&lt;-ipstar*sqrt(2)*(1+epsilon)</p>
   <p>diff&lt;-bound-A</p>
   <p>print("If diff&gt;0, then A&lt;bound and counterexample inequality holds")</p>
   <p>df1&lt;-data.frame(A,pstar,ipstar,bound,diff)</p>
   <p>df1</p>
   <p>plot(A,bound,main=paste("bound vs. A, k = ",k,", epsilon = ",epsilon,</p>
   <p>"line is A = bound"), ylim=c(bound[1],bound[len]))</p>
   <p>abline(a = 0,b = 1)</p>
  </sec>
 </body><back>
  <ref-list>
   <title>References</title>
   <ref id="scirp.136240-ref1">
    <label>1</label>
    <mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">
     Gupta, S.S. and McDonald, G.C. (1970) On Some Classes of Selection Procedures Based on Ranks. In: Puri, M.L., Ed., Nonparametric Techniques in Statistical Inference, Cambridge University Press, 491-513.
    </mixed-citation>
   </ref>
   <ref id="scirp.136240-ref2">
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</article>