Yes / Bezier curves and surfaces are two very useful tools in Geometric Modeling, with many applications. In this paper, we will offer a new method to provide approximations of regular curves and surfaces by Bezier ones, with the corresponding examples.

Lorenz curves are extensively used in economics to analyze income inequality metrics. In this thesis, we discuss confidence interval estimation methods for generalized Lorenz curve. We first obtain normal approximation (NA) and empirical likelihood (EL) based confidence intervals for generalized Lorenz curves. Then we perform simulation studies to compare coverage probabilities and lengths of the proposed EL-based confidence interval with the NA-based confidence interval for generalized Lorenz curve. Simulation results show that the EL-based confidence intervals have better coverage probabilities and shorter lengths than the NA-based intervals at 100p-th percentiles when p is greater than 0.50. Finally, two real examples on income are used to evaluate the applicability of these methods: the first example is the 2001 income data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the second example makes use of households’ median income for the USA by counties for the years 1999 and 2006

Cox Proportional Hazard Model is one of the most popular tools used in the study of Survival Analysis. Empirical Likelihood (EL) method has been used to study the Cox Proportional Hazard Model. In recent work by Qin and Jing (2001), empirical likelihood based confidence region is constructed with the assumption that the baseline hazard function is known. However, in Cox’s regression model the baseline hazard function is unspecified. In this thesis, we re-formulate empirical likelihood for the vector of regression parameters by estimating the baseline hazard function. The EL confidence regions are obtained accordingly. In addition, Adjusted Empirical Likelihood (AEL) method is proposed. Furthermore, we conduct extensive simulation studies to evaluate the performance of the proposed empirical likelihood methods in terms of coverage probabilities by comparing with the Normal Approximation based method. The simulation studies show that all the three methods produce similar coverage probabilities.

This thesis consists of two parts.The first part considers further development of a model used for marital fertility, the Coale-Trussell's fertility model, which is based on age-specific fertility rates. A new model is suggested using individual fertility data and a waiting time after pregnancies. The model is named the waiting model and can be understood as an alternating renewal process with age-specific intensities. Due to the complicated form of the waiting model and the way data is presented, as given in the United Nation Demographic Year Book 1965, a normal approximation is suggested together with a normal approximation of the mean and variance of the number of births per summarized interval. A further refinement of the model was then introduced to allow for left truncated and censored individual data, summarized as table data. The waiting model suggested gives better understanding of marital fertility and by a simulation study it is shown that the waiting model outperforms the Coale-Trussell model when it comes to estimating the fertility intensity and to predict the mean and variance of the number of births for a population. The second part of the thesis focus on developing functional clustering methods.The methods are motivated by and applied to varved (annually laminated) sediment data from lake Kassj\"on in northern Sweden. The rich but complex information (with respect to climate) in the varves, including the shapes of the seasonal patterns, the varying varve thickness, and the non-linear sediment accumulation rates makes it non-trivial to cluster the varves. Functional representations, smoothing and alignment are functional data tools used to make the seasonal patterns comparable.Functional clustering is used to group the seasonal patterns into different types, which can be associated with different weather conditions. A new non-parametric functional clustering method is suggested, the Bagging Voronoi K-mediod Alignment algorithm, (BVKMA), which simultaneously clusters and aligns spatially dependent curves. BVKMA is used on the varved lake sediment, to infer on climate, defined as frequencies of different weather types, over longer time periods. Furthermore, a functional model-based clustering method is proposed that clusters subjects for which both functional data and covariates are observed, allowing different covariance structures in the different clusters. The model extends a model-based functional clustering method proposed by James and Suger (2003). An EM algorithm is derived to estimate the parameters of the model.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the known nonuniform version of Esseen's inequality in the Lp-metric, to get a numerical bound for the appearing constant L. For a long time the results given by several authors constate the impossibility of a nonuniform estimation in the most interesting case δ=1, because the effect L=L(δ)=O(1/(1-δ)), δ->1-0, was observed, where 2+δ, 0<δ<1, is the order of the assumed moments of the considered independent random variables X_k, k=1,2,...,n. Again making use of the method of conjugated distributions, we improve the well-known technique to show in the most interesting case δ=1 the finiteness of the absolute constant L and to prove L=L(1)=<127,74*7,31^(1/p), p>1. In the case 0<δ<1 we only give the analytical structure of L but omit numerical calculations. Finally an example on normal approximation of sums of l_2-valued random elements demonstrates the application of the nonuniform mean central limit bounds obtained here. / Das Anliegen dieses Artikels besteht in der Untersuchung einer bekannten Variante der Esseen'schen Ungleichung in Form einer ungleichmäßigen Fehlerabschätzung in der Lp-Metrik mit dem Ziel, eine numerische Abschätzung für die auftretende absolute Konstante L zu erhalten. Längere Zeit erweckten die Ergebnisse, die von verschiedenen Autoren angegeben wurden, den Eindruck, dass die ungleichmäßige Fehlerabschätzung im interessantesten Fall δ=1 nicht möglich wäre, weil auf Grund der geführten Beweisschritte der Einfluss von δ auf L in der Form L=L(δ)=O(1/(1-δ)), δ->1-0, beobachtet wurde, wobei 2+δ, 0<δ<1, die Ordnung der vorausgesetzten Momente der betrachteten unabhängigen Zufallsgrößen X_k, k=1,2,...,n, angibt. Erneut wird die Methode der konjugierten Verteilungen angewendet und die gut bekannte Beweistechnik verbessert, um im interessantesten Fall δ=1 die Endlichkeit der absoluten Konstanten L nachzuweisen und um zu zeigen, dass L=L(1)=<127,74*7,31^(1/p), p>1, gilt. Im Fall 0<δ<1 wird nur die analytische Struktur von L herausgearbeitet, jedoch ohne numerische Berechnungen. Schließlich wird mit einem Beispiel zur Normalapproximation von Summen l_2-wertigen Zufallselementen die Anwendung der gewichteten Fehlerabschätzung im globalen zentralen Grenzwertsatz demonstriert.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the known nonuniform version of Esseen''s inequality in the Lp-metric, to get a numerical bound for the appearing constant L. For a long time the results given by several authors constate the impossibility of a nonuniform estimation in the most interesting case δ=1, because the effect L=L(δ)=O(1/(1-δ)), δ->1-0, was observed, where 2+δ, 0<δ<1, is the order of the assumed moments of the considered independent random variables X_k, k=1,2,...,n. Again making use of the method of conjugated distributions, we improve the well-known technique to show in the most interesting case δ=1 the finiteness of the absolute constant L and to prove L=L(1)=<127,74*7,31^(1/p), p>1. In the case 0<δ<1 we only give the analytical structure of L but omit numerical calculations. Finally an example on normal approximation of sums of l_2-valued random elements demonstrates the application of the nonuniform mean central limit bounds obtained here.:1. Introduction S. 3 2. The nonuniform version of ESSEEN''s Inequality in the Lp-metrie S. 4 3. The partition of the domain of integration S. 5 4. The domain of moderate x S. 8 5. An error bound for large values of L2+δ,n S. 12 6. The proof of the inequality (2.1) S. 13 7. An application to normalapproximation of sums of l2-valued random elements S. 14 References S. 18 / Das Anliegen dieses Artikels besteht in der Untersuchung einer bekannten Variante der Esseen''schen Ungleichung in Form einer ungleichmäßigen Fehlerabschätzung in der Lp-Metrik mit dem Ziel, eine numerische Abschätzung für die auftretende absolute Konstante L zu erhalten. Längere Zeit erweckten die Ergebnisse, die von verschiedenen Autoren angegeben wurden, den Eindruck, dass die ungleichmäßige Fehlerabschätzung im interessantesten Fall δ=1 nicht möglich wäre, weil auf Grund der geführten Beweisschritte der Einfluss von δ auf L in der Form L=L(δ)=O(1/(1-δ)), δ->1-0, beobachtet wurde, wobei 2+δ, 0<δ<1, die Ordnung der vorausgesetzten Momente der betrachteten unabhängigen Zufallsgrößen X_k, k=1,2,...,n, angibt. Erneut wird die Methode der konjugierten Verteilungen angewendet und die gut bekannte Beweistechnik verbessert, um im interessantesten Fall δ=1 die Endlichkeit der absoluten Konstanten L nachzuweisen und um zu zeigen, dass L=L(1)=<127,74*7,31^(1/p), p>1, gilt. Im Fall 0<δ<1 wird nur die analytische Struktur von L herausgearbeitet, jedoch ohne numerische Berechnungen. Schließlich wird mit einem Beispiel zur Normalapproximation von Summen l_2-wertigen Zufallselementen die Anwendung der gewichteten Fehlerabschätzung im globalen zentralen Grenzwertsatz demonstriert.:1. Introduction S. 3 2. The nonuniform version of ESSEEN''s Inequality in the Lp-metrie S. 4 3. The partition of the domain of integration S. 5 4. The domain of moderate x S. 8 5. An error bound for large values of L2+δ,n S. 12 6. The proof of the inequality (2.1) S. 13 7. An application to normalapproximation of sums of l2-valued random elements S. 14 References S. 18