On minimum Hellinger distance estimation

Efficiency and robustness are two fundamental concepts in parametric estimation problems. It was long thought that there was an inherent contradiction between the aims of achieving robustness and efficiency; that is, a robust estimator could not be efficient and vice versa. It is now known that the minimum Hellinger distance approached introduced by Beran [R. Beran, Annals of Statistics 1977;5:445–463] is one way of reconciling the conflicting concepts of efficiency and robustness. For parametric models, it has been shown that minimum Hellinger estimators achieve efficiency at the model density and simultaneously have excellent robustness properties. In this article, we examine the application of this approach in two semiparametric models. In particular, we consider a two‐component mixture model and a two‐sample semiparametric model. In each case, we investigate minimum Hellinger distance estimators of finite‐dimensional Euclidean parameters of particular interest and study their basic asymptotic properties. Small sample properties of the proposed estimators are examined using a Monte Carlo study. The results can be extended to semiparametric models of general form as well. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 37: 514–533; 2009 © 2009 Statistical Society of Canada     

Large sample interval mapping method for genetic trait loci in finite regression mixture models

This article investigates the large sample interval mapping method for genetic trait loci (GTL) in a finite non-linear regression mixture model. The general model includes most commonly used kernel functions, such as exponential family mixture, logistic regression mixture and generalized linear mixture models, as special cases. The populations derived from either the backcross or intercross design are considered. In particular, unlike all existing results in the literature in the finite mixture models, the large sample results presented in this paper do not require the boundness condition on the parametric space. Therefore, the large sample theory presented in this article possesses general applicability to the interval mapping method of GTL in genetic research. The limiting null distribution of the likelihood ratio test statistics can be utilized easily to determine the threshold values or p-values required in the interval mapping. The limiting distribution is proved to be free of the parameter values of null model and free of the choice of a kernel function. Extension to the multiple marker interval GTL detection is also discussed. Simulation study results show favorable performance of the asymptotic procedure when sample sizes are moderate.     

Bias bound for the minimax estimator

The bias bound function of an estimator is an important quantity in order to perform globally robust inference. We show how to evaluate the exact bias bound for the minimax estimator of the location parameter for a wide class of unimodal symmetric location and scale family. We show, by an example, how to obtain an upper bound of the bias bound for a unimodal asymmetric location and scale family. We provide the exact bias bound of the minimum distance/disparity estimators under a contamination neighborhood generated from the same distance.     

Semiparametric estimation for count data through weighted distributions

This paper is concerned with semiparametric discrete kernel estimators when the unknown count distribution can be considered to have a general weighted Poisson form. The estimator is constructed by multiplying the Poisson estimate with a nonparametric discrete kernel-type estimate of the Poisson weight function. Comparisons are then carried out with the ordinary discrete kernel probability mass function estimators. The Poisson weight function is thus a local multiplicative correction factor, and is considered as the uniform measure to detect departures from the equidispersed Poisson distribution. In this way, the effects of dispersion and zero-proportion with respect to the standard Poisson distribution are also minimized. This method of estimation is also applied to the weighted binomial form for the count distribution having a finite support. The proposed estimators, in addition to being simple, easy-to-implement and effective, also outperform the competing nonparametric and parametric estimators in finite-sample situations. Two examples illustrate this new semiparametric estimation.     

Inference of non-centrality parameter of a truncated non-central chi-squared distribution

Non-central chi-squared distribution plays a vital role in statistical testing procedures. Estimation of the non-centrality parameter provides valuable information for the power calculation of the associated test. We are interested in the statistical inference property of the non-centrality parameter estimate based on one observation (usually a summary statistic) from a truncated chi-squared distribution. This work is motivated by the application of the flexible two-stage design in case–control studies, where the sample size needed for the second stage of a two-stage study can be determined adaptively by the results of the first stage. We first study the moment estimate for the truncated distribution and prove its existence, uniqueness, and inadmissibility and convergence properties. We then define a new class of estimates that includes the moment estimate as a special case. Among this class of estimates, we recommend to use one member that outperforms the moment estimate in a wide range of scenarios. We also present two methods for constructing confidence intervals. Simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed point and interval estimates.     

Partitioning k multivariate normal populations according to equivalence with respect to a standard vector

We propose optimal procedures to achieve the goal of partitioning k multivariate normal populations into two disjoint subsets with respect to a given standard vector. Definition of good or bad multivariate normal populations is given according to their Mahalanobis distances to a known standard vector as being small or large. Partitioning k multivariate normal populations is reduced to partitioning k non-central Chi-square or non-central F distributions with respect to the corresponding non-centrality parameters depending on whether the covariance matrices are known or unknown. The minimum required sample size for each population is determined to ensure that the probability of correct decision attains a certain level. An example is given to illustrate our procedures.     

Goodness-of-fit tests and minimum distance estimation via optimal transformation to uniformity

A unified approach of parameter-estimation and goodness-of-fit testing is proposed. The new procedures may be applied to arbitrary laws with continuous distribution function. Specifically, both the method of estimation and the goodness-of-fit test are based on the idea of optimally transforming the original data to the uniform distribution, the criterion of optimality being an L2-type distance between the empirical characteristic function of the transformed data, and the characteristic function of the uniform (0,1)$(0,1)$ distribution. Theoretical properties of the new estimators and tests are studied and some connections with classical statistics, moment-based procedures and non-parametric methods are investigated. Comparison with standard procedures via Monte Carlo is also included, along with a real-data application.     

A nonparametric repeated significance test with adaptive target sample size

In this article a general result is derived that, along with a functional central limit theorem for a sequence of statistics, can be employed in developing a nonparametric repeated significance test with adaptive target sample size. This method is used in deriving a repeated significance test with adaptive target sample size for the shift model. The repeated significance test is based on a functional central limit theorem for a sequence of partial sums of truncated observations. Based on numerical results presented in this article one can conclude that this nonparametric sequential test performs quite well.     

Controlling Bayes directional false discovery rate in random effects model

Starting with a decision theoretic formulation of simultaneous testing of null hypotheses against two-sided alternatives, a procedure controlling the Bayesian directional false discovery rate (BDFDR) is developed through controlling the posterior directional false discovery rate (PDFDR). This is an alternative to Lewis and Thayer [2004. A loss function related to the FDR for random effects multiple comparison. J. Statist. Plann. Inference 125, 49–58.] with a better control of the BDFDR. Moreover, it is optimum in the sense of being the non-randomized part of the procedure maximizing the posterior expectation of the directional per-comparison power rate given the data, while controlling the PDFDR. A corresponding empirical Bayes method is proposed in the context of one-way random effects model. Simulation study shows that the proposed Bayes and empirical Bayes methods perform much better from a Bayesian perspective than the procedures available in the literature.     

Estimating parameters in extended growth curve models with special covariance structures

In this paper the estimation of the unknown parameters is considered in standard growth curve model with special covariance structures. Based on the unbiased estimating equations, some new methods are proposed. The resulting estimators can be expressed in explicit forms. The statistical properties of the proposed estimators are investigated. Some simulation results are presented to compare the performance of the proposed estimator with that of the existing approaches. Finally, these methods are applied in general extended growth curve model with special covariance structures.     

Nonparametric estimation of conditional expectation

Denote the integer lattice points in the N  -dimensional Euclidean space by Z^N${\mathbb{Z}}^N$ and assume that (_Xi,_Yi)$(X_{\mathbf{i}},Y_{\mathbf{i}})$, i∈Z^N$\mathbf{i}\in {\mathbb{Z}}^N$ is a mixing random field. Estimators of the conditional expectation r(x)=E[_Yi|_Xi=x]$r(\mathbf{x})=\mathrm{E}[Y_{\mathbf{i}}|X_{\mathbf{i}}=\mathbf{x}]$ by nearest neighbor methods are established and investigated. The main analytical result of this study is that, under general mixing assumptions, the estimators considered are asymptotically normal. Many difficulties arise since points in higher dimensional space N?2$N?2$ cannot be linearly ordered. Our result applies to many situations where parametric methods cannot be adopted with confidence.     

Testing for changes in the covariance structure of linear processes

We consider several procedures to detect changes in the mean or the covariance structure of a linear process. The tests are based on the weighted CUSUM process. The limit distributions of the test statistics are derived under the no change null hypothesis. We develop new strong and weak approximations for the sample mean as well as the sample correlations of linear processes. A small Monte Carlo simulation illustrates the applicability of our results.     

Some nonparametric precedence-type tests based on progressively censored samples and evaluation of power

In this paper, we consider the problem of testing the equality of two distributions when both samples are progressively Type-II censored. We discuss the following two statistics: one based on the Wilcoxon-type rank-sum precedence test, and the second based on the Kaplan–Meier estimator of the cumulative distribution function. The exact null distributions of these test statistics are derived and are then used to generate critical values and the corresponding exact levels of significance for different combinations of sample sizes and progressive censoring schemes. We also discuss their non-null distributions under Lehmann alternatives. A power study of the proposed tests is carried out under Lehmann alternatives as well as under location-shift alternatives through Monte Carlo simulations. Through this power study, it is shown that the Wilcoxon-type rank-sum precedence test performs the best.     

A reanalysis of a longitudinal scleroderma clinical trial using non-ignorable missingness models

When analyzing incomplete longitudinal clinical trial data, it is often inappropriate to assume that the occurrence of missingness is at random, especially in cases where visits are entirely missed. We present a framework that simultaneously models multivariate incomplete longitudinal data and a non-ignorable missingness mechanism using a Bayesian approach. A criterion measure is presented for comparing models. We demonstrate the feasibility of the methodology through reanalysis of two of the longitudinal measures from a clinical trial of penicillamine treatment for scleroderma patients. We compare the results for univariate and bivariate, ignorable and non-ignorable missingness models.     

D-optimal minimax regression designs on discrete design space

One classical design criterion is to minimize the determinant of the covariance matrix of the regression estimates, and the designs are called D-optimal designs. To reflect the nature that the proposed models are only approximately true, we propose a robust design criterion to study response surface designs. Both the variance and bias are considered in the criterion. In particular, D-optimal minimax designs are investigated and constructed. Examples are given to compare D-optimal minimax designs with classical D-optimal designs.