a b s t r a c tIn this paper, the multilinear normal distribution is introduced as an extension of the matrix-variate normal distribution. Basic properties such as marginal and conditional distributions, moments, and the characteristic function, are also presented. A trilinear example is used to explain the general contents at a simpler level. The estimation of parameters using a flip-flop algorithm is also briefly discussed.

The problem of estimating parameters of a multivariate normal p-dimensional random vector is considered for a banded covariance structure reflecting m-dependence. A simple non-iterative estimation procedure is suggested which gives an explicit, unbiased and consistent estimator of the mean and an explicit and consistent estimator of the covariance matrix for arbitrary p and m.

a b s t r a c tEstimation of parameters in the classical Growth Curve model, when the covariance matrix has some specific linear structure, is considered. In our examples maximum likelihood estimators cannot be obtained explicitly and must rely on optimization algorithms. Therefore explicit estimators are obtained as alternatives to the maximum likelihood estimators. From a discussion about residuals, a simple non-iterative estimation procedure is suggested which gives explicit and consistent estimators of both the mean and the linear structured covariance matrix.

In this paper, we consider profile analysis of several groups where the groups have partly equal means. This leads to a profile analysis for a growth curve model. The likelihood ratio statistics are given for the three hypotheses known in literature as parallelism, level hypothesis and flatness. Furthermore, exact and asymptotic distributions are given in the relevant cases.

We present a long-term model of asset liability management for Tanzania pension funds. The pension system is pay-as-you-go where contributions are used to pay current benefits. The pension plan is a final salary defined benefit. Two kinds of pension benefits, a commuted (at retirement) and a monthly (old age) pension are considered. A decisive factor for a long-term asset liability management is that, Tanzania pension funds face an increase of their members' life expectancy, which will cause the retirees to contributors dependence ratio to increase. We present a stochastic programming approach which allocates assets with the best return to raise the asset value closer to the level of liabilities. The model is based on work by Kouwenberg in 2001, with features from Tanzania pension system. In contrast to most asset liability management models for pension funds by stochastic programming, liabilities are modeled by using number of years of life expectancy for monthly benefit. Scenario trees are generated by using Monte Carlo simulation. Numerical results suggest that, in order to improve the long-term sustainability of the Tanzania pension fund system, it is necessary to make reforms concerning the contribution rate, investment guidelines and formulate target funding ratios to characterize the pension funds' solvency situation.