1. Balgobin Nandram is Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609 . Jai Won Choi is Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912 . The authors thank the editor for strong encouragement and the associate editor and the referees for helpful comments and suggestions. Parts of this article were previously presented at numerous professional meetings and universities, and the authors are extremely grateful for many...