Sufficient and admissible estimators in general multivariate linear model

The notion of linear sufficiency in general Gauss–Markov model is extended to a general multivariate linear model for any specific set of estimable functions. A general formula of the difference between the dispersion matrix of the BLUE in the original model and that in the transformed model is provided, which brings some further contributions to the theory of linear sufficiency. Moreover, a general formula of the change of BLUE due to transformation is obtained. The analysis here leads to some results, some of which are known in the literature. Besides linear sufficiency, the admissibility of a linear statistic is also extended to the multivariate case.     

Variance least squares estimators for multivariate linear mixed model

Non-iterative, distribution-free, and unbiased estimators of variance components by least squares method are derived for multivariate linear mixed model. A general inter-cluster variance matrix, a same-member only general inter-response variance matrix, and an uncorrelated intra-cluster error structure for each response are assumed. Projection method is suggested when unbiased estimators of variance components are not nonnegative definite matrices. A simulation study is conducted to investigate the properties of the proposed estimators in terms of bias and mean square error with comparison to the Gaussian (restricted) maximum likelihood estimators. The proposed estimators are illustrated by an application of gene expression familial study.     

Quadratic estimators of covariance components in a multivariate mixed linear model

It is known that the Henderson Method III (Biometrics 9:226–252, 1953) is of special interest for the mixed linear models because the estimators of the variance components are unaffected by the parameters of the fixed factor (or factors). This article deals with generalizations and minor extensions of the results obtained for the univariate linear models. A MANOVA mixed model is presented in a convenient form and the covariance components estimators are given on finite dimensional linear spaces. The results use both the usual parametric representations and the coordinate-free approach of Kruskal (Ann Math Statist 39:70–75, 1968) and Eaton (Ann Math Statist 41:528–538, 1970). The normal equations are generalized and it is given a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of quadratic unbiased estimators for covariance components in the considered model.     

Admissibilities of matrix linear estimators multivariate linear models

This article respectively provides sufficient conditions and necessary conditions of matrix linear estimators of an estimable parameter matrix linear function in multivariate linear models with and without the assumption that the underlying distribution is a normal one with completely unknown covariance matrix. In the latter model, a necessary and sufficient condition is given for matrix linear estimators to be admissible in the space of all matrix linear estimators under each of three different kinds of quadratic matrix loss functions, respectively. In the former model, a sufficient condition is first provided for matrix linear estimators to be admissible in the space of all matrix estimators having finite risks under each of the same loss functions, respectively. Furthermore in the former model, one of these sufficient conditions, correspondingly under one of the loss functions, is also proved to be necessary, if additional conditions are assumed.     

Asymptotic minimax rates for abstract linear estimators

Abstract linear estimation concerns the estimation of an abstract parameter that depends on the underlying density via a linear transformation. An important subclass is the class of inverse problems where this transformation is naturally described as the inverse of some bounded operator. Suitable preconditioning allows us to restrict ourselves to the inverse of some Hermitian operator, which does not remain restricted to the class of compact operators. A lower bound to the minimax risk is obtained for the class of all estimators satisfying a natural moment condition and certain submodels. To establish the bound we use the Bayesian van Trees inequality and systems of (pseudo) eigenvectors of the operator involved. We also briefly sketch a general construction method for estimators, based on a regularized inverse of the operator involved, and show that these estimators attain the asymptotic minimax rate in interesting examples.     

Asymptotic normality of generalized maximum spacing estimators for multivariate observations

In this paper, the maximum spacing method is considered for multivariate observations. Nearest neighbor balls are used as a multidimensional analogue to univariate spacings. A class of information-type measures is used to generalize the concept of maximum spacing estimators of model parameters. Asymptotic normality of these generalized maximum spacing estimators is proved when the assigned model class is correct, that is, the true density is a member of the model class.     

Monitoring multivariate simple linear profiles using robust estimators

Brief Abstract

This article focuses on estimation of multivariate simple linear profiles. While outliers may hamper the expected performance of the ordinary regression estimators, this study resorts to robust estimators as the remedy of the estimation problem in presence of contaminated observations. More specifically, three robust estimators M, S and MM are employed. Extensive simulation runs show that in the absence of outliers or for small amount of contamination, the robust methods perform as well as the classical least square method, while for medium and large amounts of contamination the proposed estimators perform considerably better than classical method.     

Asymptotic normality of estimators for parameters of a multivariate skew-normal distribution

In this paper, asymptotic normality is established for the parameters of the multivariate skew-normal distribution under two parametrizations. Also, an analytic expression and an asymptotic normal law are derived for the skewness vector of the skew-normal distribution. The estimates are derived using the method of moments. Convergence to the asymptotic distributions is examined both computationally and in a simulation experiment.     

Asymptotic normality of estimators in heteroscedastic errors-in-variables model

This article is concerned with the estimating problem of heteroscedastic partially linear errors-in-variables models. We derive the asymptotic normality for estimators of the slope parameter and the nonparametric component in the case of known error variance with stationary $\alpha $ -mixing random errors. Also, when the error variance is unknown, the asymptotic normality for the estimators of the slope parameter and the nonparametric component as well as variance function is considered under independent assumptions. Finite sample behavior of the estimators is investigated via simulations too.     

Admissible linear estimators of the multivariate normal mean without extra information

Suppose y is normally distributed with mean IRⁿ and covariance σ²V, where σ²>0 and V>0 is known. The n. s. conditions that a linear estimator Ay+a of μ be admissible in the class of all estimators of μ which depend only on y are derived. In particular, the usual estimator δ₀(y)=y is admissible in this class. The results are applied to the normal linear model and the admissibilities of many well-known linear estimators are demonstrated.     

Asymptotic estimators of the sample size in a record model

The connection between Stirling numbers of the first kind and records is well-known. Applying this relationship, we derive bounds for the maximum likelihood estimator of the sample size based on the number of observed records. The proof proceeds by a remarkable expression of the mode of the unsigned Stirling numbers of the the first kind due to Hammersley. Moreover, this representation of the mode leads to an accurate approximation of the maximum likelihood estimator.     

Mean-Squared errors of small area estimators under a multivariate linear model for repeated measures data

In this paper, we discuss the derivation of the first and second moments for the proposed small area estimators under a multivariate linear model for repeated measures data. The aim is to use these moments to estimate the mean-squared errors (MSE) for the predicted small area means as a measure of precision. At the first stage, we derive the MSE when the covariance matrices are known. At the second stage, a method based on parametric bootstrap is proposed for bias correction and for prediction error that reflects the uncertainty when the unknown covariance is replaced by its suitable estimator.     

Admissible linear estimators in the general Gauss-Markov model

This paper derives a complete characterization of estimators that are admissible for a given identifiable vector of parametric functions among the set of linear estimators under the general Gauss-Markov model with a dispersion matrix possibly singular. The characterization obtained implies some corollaries, which are then compared with the results known in the literature.     

The relative efficiency of the restricted estimators in linear regression models

This paper deals with the problem of multicollinearity in a multiple linear regression model with linear equality restrictions. The restricted two parameter estimator which was proposed in case of multicollinearity satisfies the restrictions. The performance of the restricted two parameter estimator over the restricted least squares (RLS) estimator and the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimator is examined under the mean square error (MSE) matrix criterion when the restrictions are correct and not correct. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the restricted ridge regression, restricted Liu and restricted shrunken estimators, which are the special cases of the restricted two parameter estimator, to have a smaller MSE matrix than the RLS and the OLS estimators are derived when the restrictions hold true and do not hold true. Theoretical results are illustrated with numerical examples based on Webster, Gunst and Mason data and Gorman and Toman data. We conduct a final demonstration of the performance of the estimators by running a Monte Carlo simulation which shows that when the variance of the error term and the correlation between the explanatory variables are large, the restricted two parameter estimator performs better than the RLS estimator and the OLS estimator under the configurations examined.     

Local efficiency of moment estimators in beta-binomial model

In this paper, the beta-binomial model is introduced as a Markov chain. It is shown that the correlated binomial model of Kupper and Haseman (1978) is identical to the additive binomial model of AItham(1978) and both are a first order approximation of the beta-binomial model. For small γ, the local efficiency of the moment estimators for the mean ρ and the extra-binomial variation γ is examined analytically. It is shown that, locally, the moment estimator for p is efficient up to the second order of y. Exact formulae for the relative efficiency are obtained for both the cases with γ known and unknown. Generalization to the unequal sample size case is also carried out. In particular, the gain in efficiency by using the quasi-likelihood estimator instead of the ratio estimator for p is studied when γ is known. These results are in agreement with the Monte Carlo results of Kleinman(1973) and Crowder(1985).     

Asymptotic properties of the estimators of the semi-parametric spatial regression model

Spatial data and non parametric methods arise frequently in studies of different areas and it is a common practice to analyze such data with semi-parametric spatial autoregressive (SPSAR) models. We propose the estimations of SPSAR models based on maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and kernel estimation. The estimation of spatial regression coefficient ρ was done by optimizing the concentrated log-likelihood function with respect to ρ. Furthermore, under appropriate conditions, we derive the limiting distributions of our estimators for both the parametric and non parametric components in the model.     

Improved ridge estimators in a linear regression model

In this paper, the notion of the improved ridge estimator (IRE) is put forward in the linear regression model y=X β+e. The problem arises if augmenting the equation 0=c′α+ε instead of 0=C α+? to the model. Three special IREs are considered and studied under the mean-squared error criterion and the prediction error sum of squares criterion. The simulations demonstrate that the proposed estimators are effective and recommendable, especially when multicollinearity is severe.