Comparing several treatments with a control

Consider the partially balanced one-way layout for comparing k   treatments _μi,${\mu }_i,$1?i?k,$1?i?k,$ with a control _μ0${\mu }_0$. We propose a new test which is similar to the test statistics of Marcus [1976. The powers of some tests of the equality of normal means against an ordered alternative. Biometrika 63, 177–183]. By simulation we find that the proposed test has a good power performance when compared with other tests. Moreover, it can produce confidence intervals for _μi-_μ0,1?i?k.${\mu }_i-{\mu }_0,1?i?k.$     

Consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimated effective doses in bioassay

In order to estimate the effective dose such as the 0.5 quantile _ED50${\mathrm{ED}}_{50}$ in a bioassay problem various parametric and semiparametric models have been used in the literature. If the true dose–response curve deviates significantly from the model, the estimates will generally be inconsistent. One strategy is to analyze the data making only a minimal assumption on the model, namely, that the dose–response curve is non-decreasing. In the present paper we first define an empirical dose–response curve based on the estimated response probabilities by using the “pool-adjacent-violators” (PAV) algorithm, then estimate effective doses _ED100p${\mathrm{ED}}_{100p}$ for a large range of p by taking inverse of this empirical dose–response curve. The consistency and asymptotic distribution of these estimated effective doses are obtained. The asymptotic results can be extended to the estimated effective doses proposed by Glasbey [1987. Tolerance-distribution-free analyses of quantal dose–response data. Appl. Statist. 36 (3), 251–259] and Schmoyer [1984. Sigmoidally constrained maximum likelihood estimation in quantal bioassay. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 79, 448–453] under the additional assumption that the dose–response curve is symmetric or sigmoidal. We give some simulations on constructing confidence intervals using different methods.     

A sequential design for a clinical trial with a linear prognostic factor

We study a randomized adaptive design to assign one of the L$L$ treatments to patients who arrive sequentially by means of an urn model. At each stage n$n$, a reward is distributed between treatments. The treatment applied is rewarded according to its response, 0?_Yn?1$0?Y_n?1$, and 1-_Yn$1-Y_n$ is distributed among the other treatments according to their performance until stage n-1$n-1$. Patients can be classified in K+1$K+1$ levels and we assume that the effect of this level in the response to the treatments is linear. We study the asymptotic behavior of the design when the ordinary least square estimators are used as a measure of performance until stage n-1$n-1$.     

Detecting linear sequences and subsequences

Greenwood [1946. The statistical study of infectious diseases (with discussion). J. Roy. Statist. Soc. 109, 85–110], using an _L2$L_2$ distance, and others have addressed the question of detecting a too-linear fit of the occurrence times _T0<_T1<?<_Tn$T_0<T_1<?<T_n$ of a sequence of random events. Two convenient distances are introduced here, then applied to the more challenging problem of detecting too-linear subsequences, where the multiple subsequence effect must be taken into account. Two interpretations of “linear subsequence” are considered.     

Multivariate orthogonal series estimates for random design regression

In this paper a new multivariate regression estimate is introduced. It is based on ideas derived in the context of wavelet estimates and is constructed by hard thresholding of estimates of coefficients of a series expansion of the regression function. Multivariate functions constructed analogously to the classical Haar wavelets are used for the series expansion. These functions are orthogonal in _L2(_μn)$L_2({\mu }_n)$, where _μn${\mu }_n$ denotes the empirical design measure. The construction can be considered as designing adapted Haar wavelets.     

Prediction of long memory processes on same-realisation

For the class of stationary Gaussian long memory processes, we study some properties of the least-squares predictor of _Xn+1$X_{n+1}$ based on (_Xn,…,_X1)$(X_n,\dots ,X_1)$. The predictor is obtained by projecting _Xn+1$X_{n+1}$ onto the finite past and the coefficients of the predictor are estimated on the same realisation. First we prove moment bounds for the inverse of the empirical covariance matrix. Then we deduce an asymptotic expression of the mean-squared error. In particular we give a relation between the number of terms used to estimate the coefficients and the number of past terms used for prediction, which ensures the L²$L^2$- sense convergence of the predictor. Finally we prove a central limit theorem when our predictor converges to the best linear predictor based on all the past.     

On boosting kernel regression

In this paper we propose a simple multistep regression smoother which is constructed in an iterative manner, by learning the Nadaraya–Watson estimator with _L2$L_2$ boosting. We find, in both theoretical analysis and simulation experiments, that the bias converges exponentially fast, and the variance diverges exponentially slow. The first boosting step is analysed in more detail, giving asymptotic expressions as functions of the smoothing parameter, and relationships with previous work are explored. Practical performance is illustrated by both simulated and real data.     

Robust median estimator in logistic regression

This paper introduces a median estimator of the logistic regression parameters. It is defined as the classical _L1$L_1$-estimator applied to continuous data _Z1,…,_Zn$Z_1,\dots ,Z_n$ obtained by a statistical smoothing of the original binary logistic regression observations _Y1,…,_Yn$Y_1,\dots ,Y_n$. Consistency and asymptotic normality of this estimator are proved. A method called enhancement is introduced which in some cases increases the efficiency of this estimator. Sensitivity to contaminations and leverage points is studied by simulations and compared in this manner with the sensitivity of some robust estimators previously introduced to the logistic regression. The new estimator appears to be more robust for larger sample sizes and higher levels of contamination.     

Optimal global rates of convergence for nonparametric regression with unbounded data

Estimation of regression functions from independent and identically distributed data is considered. The _L2$L_2$ error with integration with respect to the design measure is used as an error criterion. Usually in the analysis of the rate of convergence of estimates a boundedness assumption on the explanatory variable X$X$ is made besides smoothness assumptions on the regression function and moment conditions on the response variable Y$Y$. In this article we consider the kernel estimate and show that by replacing the boundedness assumption on X$X$ by a proper moment condition the same (optimal) rate of convergence can be shown as for bounded data. This answers Question 1 in Stone [1982. Optimal global rates of convergence for nonparametric regression. Ann. Statist., 10, 1040–1053].     

Nonparametric Bayes estimation in repair models

Consider a sequence of dependent random variables _X1,_X2,…,_Xn$X_1,X_2,\dots ,X_n$, where _X1$X_1$ has distribution F (or probability measure P  ), and the distribution of _Xi+1$X_{i+1}$ given _X1,…,_Xi$X_1,\dots ,X_i$ and other covariates and environmental factors depends on F   and the previous data, i=1,…,n-1$i=1,\dots ,n-1$. General repair models give rise to such random variables as the failure times of an item subject to repair. There exist nonparametric non-Bayes methods of estimating F in the literature, for instance, Whitaker and Samaniego [1989. Estimating the reliability of systems subject to imperfect repair. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 84, 301–309], Hollander et al. [1992. Nonparametric methods for imperfect repair models. Ann. Statist. 20, 879–896] and Dorado et al. [1997. Nonparametric estimation for a general repair model. Ann. Statist. 25, 1140–1160], etc. Typically these methods apply only to special repair models and also require repair data on N independent items until exactly only one item is left awaiting a “perfect repair”.     

Reduced-rank estimation of the difference between two covariance matrices

We consider m×m$m\times m$ covariance matrices, _Σ1${\Sigma }_1$ and _Σ2${\Sigma }_2$, which satisfy _Σ2-_Σ1=Δ${\Sigma }_2-{\Sigma }_1=\Delta$, where Δ$\Delta$ has a specified rank. Maximum likelihood estimators of _Σ1${\Sigma }_1$ and _Σ2${\Sigma }_2$ are obtained when sample covariance matrices having Wishart distributions are available and rank(Δ)$\text{rank}(\Delta )$ is known. The likelihood ratio statistic for a test about the value of rank(Δ)$\text{rank}(\Delta )$ is also given and some properties of its null distribution are obtained. The methods developed in this paper are illustrated through an example.