SYSTAT INTERFACE FOR THE CONTINUOUS TIME PROGRAM

CTM, A PROGRAM FOR THE ESTIMATION AND TESTING OF CONTINUOUS-TIME, MULTISTATE MULTISPELL MODELING, EMBODIES RECENT MAJOR ADVANCES IN THE MODELING OF SURVIVAL AND TRANSITION DATA. IT INCLUDES MODELING OF SEVERAL TYPES OF PARAMETRIC AND NONPARAMETRIC UNOBSERVED HETEROGENEITY (STATE AND PERSON SPECIFIC), MULTISPELL DATA (SUCH AS BIRTH-SPACING INTERVALS, REPEATED EPISODES OF REMISSION FROM DISEASE) AND MULTISTATE DATA (AS IN MARKOV PROCESSES), AND SIMULATIONS FOR GOODNESS-OF-FIT TESTS, ALL FEATURES NOT FOUND IN OTHER PROGRAMS. CURRENTLY, THIS COMPLEX STAND-ALONE PROGRAM IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO USE. ITS OUTPUT IS DIFFICULT TO INTERPRET, ITSSUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE OFTEN REQUIRES EXPERT INTERVENTION, AND IT IS IMPLEMENTED ONLY ON MAINFRAMES. SALFORD SYSTEMS WILL SIMPLIFY AND ABBREVIATE THE PROGRAM, INTEGRATING CTM INTO THE SYSTAT PACKAGE AND RENDERING A VERSION FOR MICROS. AN EASY-TO-USE, FAULT-TOLERANT, ERROR-HANDLING, USER-ASSISTING INTERFACE WILL BE PROVIDED, TOGETHER WITH ENHANCED INTELLIGENCE WITHIN THE PROGRAM TO PROPOSE DIAGNOSIS OF ESTIMATION PROBLEMS AND AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT OFESTIMATION STRATEGIES WITHIN THE PROGRAM. THE INTEGRATION INTO SYSTAT WILL ALSO PROVIDE CONNECTION TO HIGH-RESOLUTION GRAPHICS SERVICES, EFFECTIVE DATABASE MANAGEMENT, AND CONVENTIONAL STATISTICAL ROUTINES.