Asymptotically distribution-free aligned rank order tests for composite hypotheses for general multivariate linear models

For general multivariate linear models, a composite hypothesis does not usually induce invariance of the joint distribution under appropriate groups of transformations, so that genuinely distribution-free tests do not usually exist. For this purpose, some aligned rank order statistics are incorporated in the proposal and study of a class of asymptotically distribution-free tests. Tests for the parallelism of several multiple regression surfaces are also considered. Finally the optimal properties of these tests are discussed.