Variable selection and weighted composite quantile estimation of regression parameters with left-truncated data

In this paper, we consider the weighted composite quantile regression for linear model with left-truncated data. The adaptive penalized procedure for variable selection is proposed. The asymptotic normality and oracle property of the resulting estimators are also established. Simulation studies are conducted to illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed methods.     

Variable selection for generalized linear mixed models by L 1-penalized estimation

Generalized linear mixed models are a widely used tool for modeling longitudinal data. However, their use is typically restricted to few covariates, because the presence of many predictors yields unstable estimates. The presented approach to the fitting of generalized linear mixed models includes an L ₁-penalty term that enforces variable selection and shrinkage simultaneously. A gradient ascent algorithm is proposed that allows to maximize the penalized log-likelihood yielding models with reduced complexity. In contrast to common procedures it can be used in high-dimensional settings where a large number of potentially influential explanatory variables is available. The method is investigated in simulation studies and illustrated by use of real data sets.     

Penalized inverse probability weighted estimators for weighted rank regression with missing covariates

Abstract

In this article, we study the variable selection and estimation for linear regression models with missing covariates. The proposed estimation method is almost as efficient as the popular least-squares-based estimation method for normal random errors and empirically shown to be much more efficient and robust with respect to heavy tailed errors or outliers in the responses and covariates. To achieve sparsity, a variable selection procedure based on SCAD is proposed to conduct estimation and variable selection simultaneously. The procedure is shown to possess the oracle property. To deal with the covariates missing, we consider the inverse probability weighted estimators for the linear model when the selection probability is known or unknown. It is shown that the estimator by using estimated selection probability has a smaller asymptotic variance than that with true selection probability, thus is more efficient. Therefore, the important Horvitz-Thompson property is verified for penalized rank estimator with the covariates missing in the linear model. Some numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the performance of the estimators.     

Variable selection for varying dispersion beta regression model

The beta regression models are commonly used by practitioners to model variables that assume values in the standard unit interval (0, 1). In this paper, we consider the issue of variable selection for beta regression models with varying dispersion (VBRM), in which both the mean and the dispersion depend upon predictor variables. Based on a penalized likelihood method, the consistency and the oracle property of the penalized estimators are established. Following the coordinate descent algorithm idea of generalized linear models, we develop new variable selection procedure for the VBRM, which can efficiently simultaneously estimate and select important variables in both mean model and dispersion model. Simulation studies and body fat data analysis are presented to illustrate the proposed methods.     

New Robust Variable Selection Methods for Linear Regression Models

Motivated by an entropy inequality, we propose for the first time a penalized profile likelihood method for simultaneously selecting significant variables and estimating unknown coefficients in multiple linear regression models in this article. The new method is robust to outliers or errors with heavy tails and works well even for error with infinite variance. Our proposed approach outperforms the adaptive lasso in both theory and practice. It is observed from the simulation studies that (i) the new approach possesses higher probability of correctly selecting the exact model than the least absolute deviation lasso and the adaptively penalized composite quantile regression approach and (ii) exact model selection via our proposed approach is robust regardless of the error distribution. An application to a real dataset is also provided.     

Robust group-Lasso for functional regression model

In this article, we consider the problem of selecting functional variables using the L1 regularization in a functional linear regression model with a scalar response and functional predictors, in the presence of outliers. Since the LASSO is a special case of the penalized least-square regression with L1 penalty function, it suffers from the heavy-tailed errors and/or outliers in data. Recently, Least Absolute Deviation (LAD) and the LASSO methods have been combined (the LAD-LASSO regression method) to carry out robust parameter estimation and variable selection simultaneously for a multiple linear regression model. However, variable selection of the functional predictors based on LASSO fails since multiple parameters exist for a functional predictor. Therefore, group LASSO is used for selecting functional predictors since group LASSO selects grouped variables rather than individual variables. In this study, we propose a robust functional predictor selection method, the LAD-group LASSO, for a functional linear regression model with a scalar response and functional predictors. We illustrate the performance of the LAD-group LASSO on both simulated and real data.     

Variable selection in quantile regression when the models have autoregressive errors

This paper considers a problem of variable selection in quantile regression with autoregressive errors. Recently, Wu and Liu (2009) investigated the oracle properties of the SCAD and adaptive-LASSO penalized quantile regressions under non identical but independent error assumption. We further relax the error assumptions so that the regression model can hold autoregressive errors, and then investigate theoretical properties for our proposed penalized quantile estimators under the relaxed assumption. Optimizing the objective function is often challenging because both quantile loss and penalty functions may be non-differentiable and/or non-concave. We adopt the concept of pseudo data by Oh et al. (2007) to implement a practical algorithm for the quantile estimate. In addition, we discuss the convergence property of the proposed algorithm. The performance of the proposed method is compared with those of the majorization-minimization algorithm (Hunter and Li, 2005) and the difference convex algorithm (Wu and Liu, 2009) through numerical and real examples.     

Weighted composite quantile regression for partially linear varying coefficient models

Partially linear varying coefficient models (PLVCMs) with heteroscedasticity are considered in this article. Based on composite quantile regression, we develop a weighted composite quantile regression (WCQR) to estimate the non parametric varying coefficient functions and the parametric regression coefficients. The WCQR is augmented using a data-driven weighting scheme. Moreover, the asymptotic normality of proposed estimators for both the parametric and non parametric parts are studied explicitly. In addition, by comparing the asymptotic relative efficiency theoretically and numerically, WCQR method all outperforms the CQR method and some other estimate methods. To achieve sparsity with high-dimensional covariates, we develop a variable selection procedure to select significant parametric components for the PLVCM and prove the method possessing the oracle property. Both simulations and data analysis are conducted to illustrate the finite-sample performance of the proposed methods.     

Empirical likelihood weighted composite quantile regression with partially missing covariates

This paper develops a novel weighted composite quantile regression (CQR) method for estimation of a linear model when some covariates are missing at random and the probability for missingness mechanism can be modelled parametrically. By incorporating the unbiased estimating equations of incomplete data into empirical likelihood (EL), we obtain the EL-based weights, and then re-adjust the inverse probability weighted CQR for estimating the vector of regression coefficients. Theoretical results show that the proposed method can achieve semiparametric efficiency if the selection probability function is correctly specified, therefore the EL weighted CQR is more efficient than the inverse probability weighted CQR. Besides, our algorithm is computationally simple and easy to implement. Simulation studies are conducted to examine the finite sample performance of the proposed procedures. Finally, we apply the new method to analyse the US news College data.     

Component Selection in the Additive Regression Model

Abstract. Similar to variable selection in the linear model, selecting significant components in the additive model is of great interest. However, such components are unknown, unobservable functions of independent variables. Some approximation is needed. We suggest a combination of penalized regression spline approximation and group variable selection, called the group‐bridge‐type spline method (GBSM), to handle this component selection problem with a diverging number of correlated variables in each group. The proposed method can select significant components and estimate non‐parametric additive function components simultaneously. To make the GBSM stable in computation and adaptive to the level of smoothness of the component functions, weighted power spline bases and projected weighted power spline bases are proposed. Their performance is examined by simulation studies. The proposed method is extended to a partial linear regression model analysis with real data, and gives reliable results.     

Adaptive LASSO for linear mixed model selection via profile log-likelihood

Mixed model selection is quite important in statistical literature. To assist the mixed model selection, we employ the adaptive LASSO penalized term to propose a two-stage selection procedure for the purpose of choosing both the random and fixed effects. In the first stage, we utilize the penalized restricted profile log-likelihood to choose the random effects; in the second stage, after the random effects are determined, we apply the penalized profile log-likelihood to select the fixed effects. In each stage, the Newton–Raphson algorithm is performed to complete the parameter estimation. We prove that the proposed procedure is consistent and possesses the oracle properties. The simulations and a real data application are conducted for demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed selection procedure.     

Variable selection in robust semiparametric modeling for longitudinal data

This paper considers robust variable selection in semiparametric modeling for longitudinal data with an unspecified dependence structure. First, by basis spline approximation and using a general formulation to treat mean, median, quantile and robust mean regressions in one setting, we propose a weighted M-type regression estimator, which achieves robustness against outliers in both the response and covariates directions, and can accommodate heterogeneity, and the asymptotic properties are also established. Furthermore, a penalized weighted M-type estimator is proposed, which can do estimation and select relevant nonparametric and parametric components simultaneously, and robustly. Without any specification of error distribution and intra-subject dependence structure, the variable selection method works beautifully, including consistency in variable selection and oracle property in estimation. Simulation studies also confirm our method and theories.     

Adaptation over parametric families of symmetric linear estimators

This paper treats an abstract parametric family of symmetric linear estimators for the mean vector of a standard linear model. The estimator in this family that has smallest estimated quadratic risk is shown to attain, asymptotically, the smallest risk achievable over all candidate estimators in the family. The asymptotic analysis is carried out under a strong Gauss–Markov form of the linear model in which the dimension of the regression space tends to infinity. Leading examples to which the results apply include: (a) penalized least squares fits constrained by multiple, weighted, quadratic penalties; and (b) running, symmetrically weighted, means. In both instances, the weights define a parameter vector whose natural domain is a continuum.     

Robust logistic regression modelling via the elastic net-type regularization and tuning parameter selection

The penalized logistic regression is a useful tool for classifying samples and feature selection. Although the methodology has been widely used in various fields of research, their performance takes a sudden turn for the worst in the presence of outlier, since the logistic regression is based on the maximum log-likelihood method which is sensitive to outliers. It implies that we cannot accurately classify samples and find important factors having crucial information for classification. To overcome the problem, we propose a robust penalized logistic regression based on a weighted likelihood methodology. We also derive an information criterion for choosing the tuning parameters, which is a vital matter in robust penalized logistic regression modelling in line with generalized information criteria. We demonstrate through Monte Carlo simulations and real-world example that the proposed robust modelling strategies perform well for sparse logistic regression modelling even in the presence of outliers.     

Robust estimation and selection for single-index regression model

In this paper, we consider a single-index regression model for which we propose a robust estimation procedure for the model parameters and an efficient variable selection of relevant predictors. The proposed method is known as the penalized generalized signed-rank procedure. Asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator are established under mild regularity conditions. Extensive Monte Carlo simulation experiments are carried out to study the finite sample performance of the proposed approach. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method dominates many of the existing ones in terms of robustness of estimation and efficiency of variable selection. Finally, a real data example is given to illustrate the method.     

Penalized weighted composite quantile regression in the linear regression model with heavy-tailed autocorrelated errors

In this paper, a penalized weighted composite quantile regression estimation procedure is proposed to estimate unknown regression parameters and autoregression coefficients in the linear regression model with heavy-tailed autoregressive errors. Under some conditions, we show that the proposed estimator possesses the oracle properties. In addition, we introduce an iterative algorithm to achieve the proposed optimization problem, and use a data-driven method to choose the tuning parameters. Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed new estimation method is robust and works much better than the least squares based method when there are outliers in the dataset or the autoregressive error distribution follows heavy-tailed distributions. Moreover, the proposed estimator works comparably to the least squares based estimator when there are no outliers and the error is normal. Finally, we apply the proposed methodology to analyze the electricity demand dataset.     

Outlier detection and robust variable selection via the penalized weighted LAD-LASSO method

This paper studies the outlier detection and robust variable selection problem in the linear regression model. The penalized weighted least absolute deviation (PWLAD) regression estimation method and the adaptive least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) are combined to simultaneously achieve outlier detection, and robust variable selection. An iterative algorithm is proposed to solve the proposed optimization problem. Monte Carlo studies are evaluated the finite-sample performance of the proposed methods. The results indicate that the finite sample performance of the proposed methods performs better than that of the existing methods when there are leverage points or outliers in the response variable or explanatory variables. Finally, we apply the proposed methodology to analyze two real datasets.     

随机效应半参数logit模型的惩罚似然估计研究

 在颇具争议的收入差距和健康关系研究中,为了降低可能存在的模型设定和遗漏变量偏误,本文提出了随机效应半参数logit模型,其中非参数的设定还可用于数据的初探性分析。随后本文提出了模型非参数和参数部分的估计方法。这里涉及的难点是随机效应的存在导致似然函数中的积分没有解析式,而非参数的存在更加大了估计难度。本文基于惩罚样条非参数估计方法和四阶Laplace近似方法建立了惩罚对数似然函数,其最大化采用了Newton_Raphson近似方法。文章还建立了惩罚样条中重要光滑参数的选取准则。模型在收入差距和健康实例中的估计结果表明数据支持收入差距弱假说,且非参数估计结果表明其具有U型形式,与实例估计结果的比较指出本文提出的估计方法是较准确的。     

Estimation and variable selection for partially functional linear models

In this paper, a new estimation procedure based on composite quantile regression and functional principal component analysis (PCA) method is proposed for the partially functional linear regression models (PFLRMs). The proposed estimation method can simultaneously estimate both the parametric regression coefficients and functional coefficient components without specification of the error distributions. The proposed estimation method is shown to be more efficient empirically for non-normal random error, especially for Cauchy error, and almost as efficient for normal random errors. Furthermore, based on the proposed estimation procedure, we use the penalized composite quantile regression method to study variable selection for parametric part in the PFLRMs. Under certain regularity conditions, consistency, asymptotic normality, and Oracle property of the resulting estimators are derived. Simulation studies and a real data analysis are conducted to assess the finite sample performance of the proposed methods.     

SCAD惩罚逻辑回归的财务预警模型

作为一种有监督学习算法,逻辑回归(Logistic Regression,LR)已广泛应用于财务危机建模分析,但其潜在地存在过拟合问题。鉴此,提出一种基于平滑削边绝对偏离(Smoothly Clipped Absolute Deviation,SCAD)惩罚逻辑回归的财务预警模型。该模型不仅能很好地解决模型过拟合问题,而且还可以同时实现变量选择和模型系数估计,并提高了模型的解释性。结合沪深股市A股制造业上市公司的财务数据进行实证研究,同时对比一般的L1正则化和L2正则化逻辑回归模型的预警效果进行实证分析,实验结果表明:SCAD惩罚逻辑回归模型具有较好的分类效果和较强的经济解释能力。