On causality test for time series of counts based on poisson ingarch models with application to crime and temperature data

In this study, we consider the causality test for the integer-valued time series. Using the mean equation of Poisson INGARCH models, we construct a regression that includes exogenous variables. The test is then constructed based on the least squares estimator and is shown to follow a chi-square distribution under the null of no causal relationships. A simulation study and real data analysis using the crime and temperature data in Chicago are provided for illustration.     

Dynamic changepoint detection in count time series: a particle filter approach

We study Bayesian dynamic models for detecting changepoints in count time series that present structural breaks. As the inferential approach, we develop a parameter learning version of the algorithm proposed by Chopin [Chopin N. Dynamic detection of changepoints in long time series. Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics 2007;59:349–366.], called the Chopin filter with parameter learning, which allows us to estimate the static parameters in the model. In this extension, the static parameters are addressed by using the kernel smoothing approximations proposed by Liu and West [Liu J, West M. Combined parameters and state estimation in simulation-based filtering. In: Doucet A, de Freitas N, Gordon N, editors. Sequential Monte Carlo methods in practice. New York: Springer-Verlag; 2001]. The proposed methodology is then applied to both simulated and real data sets and the time series models include distributions that allow for overdispersion and/or zero inflation. Since our procedure is general, robust and naturally adaptive because the particle filter approach does not require restrictive specifications to ensure its validity and effectiveness, we believe it is a valuable alternative for dealing with the problem of detecting changepoints in count time series. The proposed methodology is also suitable for count time series with no changepoints and for independent count data.     

Threshold negative binomial autoregressive model

This article studies an observation-driven model for time series of counts, which allows for overdispersion and negative serial dependence in the observations. The observations are supposed to follow a negative binomial distribution conditioned on past information with the form of thresh old models, which generates a two-regime structure on the basis of the magnitude of the lagged observations. We use the weak dependence approach to establish the stationarity and ergodicity, and the inference for regression parameters are obtained by the quasi-likelihood. Moreover, asymptotic properties of both quasi-maximum likelihood estimators and the threshold estimator are established, respectively. Simulation studies are considered and so are two applications, one of which is the trading volume of a stock and another is the number of major earthquakes.     

Structural changes in autoregressive models for binary time series

We study autoregressive models for binary time series with possible changes in their parameters. A procedure for detection and testing of a single change is suggested. The limiting behavior of the test statistic is derived. The performance of the test is analyzed under the null hypothesis as well as under different alternatives via a simulation study. Application of the method to a real data set on US recession is provided as an illustration.     

Nonlinearity tests in time series analysis

Summary It is widely recognized that the class of ARIMA models may fail to capture fully the dynamics of real phenomena since these are often characterized by strong nonlinear components. Thus, it is important that any preliminary analysis (or evaluation of model adequacy) includes a check on the linearity of the generating process. The paper reviews recent developments in the theory of testing nonlinearity in time series analysis.     

A class of models for aggregated traffic volume time series

Summary. The development of time series models for traffic volume data constitutes an important step in constructing automated tools for the management of computing infrastructure resources. We analyse two traffic volume time series: one is the volume of hard disc activity, aggregated into half-hour periods, measured on a workstation, and the other is the volume of Internet requests made to a workstation. Both of these time series exhibit features that are typical of network traffic data, namely strong seasonal components and highly non-Gaussian distributions. For these time series, a particular class of non-linear state space models is proposed, and practical techniques for model fitting and forecasting are demonstrated.     

Modeling nonlinear time series with local mixtures of generalized linear models

The authors consider a novel class of nonlinear time series models based on local mixtures of regressions of exponential family models, where the covariates include functions of lags of the dependent variable. They give conditions to guarantee consistency of the maximum likelihood estimator for correctly specified models, with stationary and nonstationary predictors. They show that consistency of the maximum likelihood estimator still holds under model misspecification. They also provide probabilistic results for the proposed model when the vector of predictors contains only lags of transformations of the modeled time series. They illustrate the consistency of the maximum likelihood estimator and the probabilistic properties via Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, they present an application using real data.     

Priors and component structures in autoregressive time series models

New approaches to prior specification and structuring in autoregressive time series models are introduced and developed. We focus on defining classes of prior distributions for parameters and latent variables related to latent components of an autoregressive model for an observed time series. These new priors naturally permit the incorporation of both qualitative and quantitative prior information about the number and relative importance of physically meaningful components that represent low frequency trends, quasi-periodic subprocesses and high frequency residual noise components of observed series. The class of priors also naturally incorporates uncertainty about model order and hence leads in posterior analysis to model order assessment and resulting posterior and predictive inferences that incorporate full uncertainties about model order as well as model parameters. Analysis also formally incorporates uncertainty and leads to inferences about unknown initial values of the time series, as it does for predictions of future values. Posterior analysis involves easily implemented iterative simulation methods, developed and described here. One motivating field of application is climatology, where the evaluation of latent structure, especially quasi-periodic structure, is of critical importance in connection with issues of global climatic variability. We explore the analysis of data from the southern oscillation index, one of several series that has been central in recent high profile debates in the atmospheric sciences about recent apparent trends in climatic indicators.     

On consistent testing for serial correlation in seasonal time series models

The author considers serial correlation testing in seasonal time series models. He proposes a test statistic based on a spectral approach. Many tests of this type rely on kernel-based spectral density estimators that assign larger weights to low order lags than to high ones. Under seasonality, however, large autocorrelations may occur at seasonal lags that classical kernel estimators cannot take into account. The author thus proposes a test statistic that relies on the spectral density estimator of Shin (2004), whose weighting scheme is more adapted to this context. The distribution of his test statistic is derived under the null hypothesis and he studies its behaviour under fixed and local alternatives. He establishes the consistency of the test under a general fixed alternative. He also makes recommendations for the choice of the smoothing parameters. His simulation results suggest that his test is more powerful against seasonality than alternative procedures based on classical weighting schemes. He illustrates his procedure with monthly statistics on employment among young Americans.     

A recursive approach to parameter estimation in regression and time series models

In this paper we discuss the recursive (or on line) estimation in (i) regression and (ii) autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series models. The adopted approach uses Kalman filtering techniques to calculate estimates recursively. This approach is used for the estimation of constant as well as time varying parameters. In the first section of the paper we consider the linear regression model. We discuss recursive estimation both for constant and time varying parameters. For constant parameters, Kalman filtering specializes to recursive least squares. In general, we allow the parameters to vary according to an autoregressive integrated moving average process and update the parameter estimates recursively. Since the stochastic model for the parameter changes will "be rarely known, simplifying assumptions have to be made. In particular we assume a random walk model for the time varying parameters and show how to determine whether the parameters are changing over time. This is illustrated with an example.     

Preliminary test of fit in a general class of conditionally heteroscedastic nonlinear time series

This article is concerned with a general class of conditionally heteroscedastic time series including possibly nonlinear and asymmetric autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (ARCH) and generalized ARCH models. A problem of preliminary test of fit (PTF, hereafter) within the broad class under consideration is discussed. It is noted that contrary to usual tests in the literature of conditionally heteroscedastic time series, PTF does not require any specification of the conditional variance in advance. Based on the joint limit distributions of sample autocorrelations, a certain Portmanteau-type statistic for PTF is proposed, and its limit is shown to be a chi-square distribution. In addition, some simulation studies, under various innovations, are reported to support our theoretical results.     

Estimation of zero-inflated parameter-driven models via data cloning

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we propose the use of the Data Cloning (DC) approach to estimate parameter-driven zero-inflated Poisson and Negative Binomial models for time series of counts. The data cloning algorithm obtains the familiar maximum likelihood estimators and their standard errors via a fully Bayesian estimation. This provides some computational ease as well as inferential tools such as confidence intervals and diagnostic methods which, otherwise, are not readily available for parameter-driven models. To illustrate the performance of the proposed method, we use Monte Carlo Simulations and real data on asthma-related emergency department visits in the Canadian province of Ontario.     

On nonlinear models for time series

The paper is a review of nonlinear processes used in time series analysis and presents some new original results about stationary distribution of a nonlinear autoregres-sive process of the first order. The following models are considered: nonlinear autoregessive processes, threshold AR processes, threshold MA processes, bilinear models, auto-regressive models with random parameters including double stochastic models, exponential AR models, generalized threshold models and smooth transition autoregressive models, Some tests for linearity of processes are also presented.     

Indirect inference for fractional time series models

In this paper we present an indirect estimation procedure for (ARFIMA) fractional time series models.The estimation method is based on an ‘incorrect’criterion which does not directly provide a consistent estimator of the parameters of interest,but leads to correct inference by using simulations.

The main steps are the following. First,we consider an auxiliary model which can be easily estimated.Specifically,we choose the finite lag Autoregressive model.Then, this is estimated on the observations and simulated values drawn from the ARFIMA model associated with a given value of the parameters of interest.Finally,the latter is calibrated in order to obtain close values of the two estimators of the auxiliary parameters.

In this article,we describe the estimation procedure and compare the performance of the indirect estimator with some alternative estimators based on the likelihood function by a Monte Carlo study.     

Monitoring parameter shift with Poisson integer-valued GARCH models

This study examines the statistical process control chart used to detect a parameter shift with Poisson integer-valued GARCH (INGARCH) models and zero-inflated Poisson INGARCH models. INGARCH models have a conditional mean structure similar to GARCH models and are well known to be appropriate to analyzing count data that feature overdispersion. Special attention is paid in this study to conditional and general likelihood ratio-based (CLR and GLR) CUSUM charts and the score function-based CUSUM (SFCUSUM) chart. The performance of each of the proposed methods is evaluated through a simulation study, by calculating their average run length. Our findings show that the proposed methods perform adequately, and that the CLR chart outperforms the GLR chart when there is an increased shift of parameters. Moreover, the use of the SFCUSUM chart in particular is found to lead to a lower false alarm rate than the use of the CLR chart.     

Autoregressiv model identification for multivariate time series

A procedure is developed for the identification of autoregressive models for stationary invertible multivariate Gaussian time series. Model selection is based on either the AIC information criterion or on a statistic called CVR, cross-validatory residual sum of squares. An example is given to show that the forecasts generated by these models compare favorably with those generated by other common time series modeling techniques.     

Simple detection of outlying short time series

Sets of relatively short time series arise in many situations. One aspect of their analysis may be the detection of outlying series. We examine the performance of standard normal outlier tests applied to the means, or to simple functions of the means, of AR(1) series, not necessarily of equal lengths. Although unequal lengths of series implies that the means have unequal variances, that are only known approximately, it is shown that nominal significance levels hold good under most circumstances. Thus a standard outlier test can usefully be applied, avoiding the complication of estimating the time series' parameters. The test's power is affected by unequal lengths, being higher when the slippage occurs in one of the longer series     

Bayesian break-point forecasting in parallel time series,with application to university admissions

A regular supply of applicants to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario is provided by 65 high schools. Each high school can be characterized by a series of grading standards which change from year to year. To aid admissions decisions, it is desirable to forecast the current year's grading standards for all 65 high schools using grading standards estimated from past year's data. We develop and apply a Bayesian break-point time-series model that generates forecasts which involve smoothing across time for each school and smoothing across schools. “Break point” refers to a point in time which divides the past into the “old past” and the “recent past” where the yearly observations in the recent past are exchangeable with the observations in the year to be forecast. We show that this model works fairly well when applied to 11 years of Queen's University data. The model can be applied to other data sets with the parallel time-series structure and short history, and can be extended in several ways to more complicated structures.     

Dynamic structural models with covariates for short-term forecasting of time series with complex seasonal patterns

This work presents a framework of dynamic structural models with covariates for short-term forecasting of time series with complex seasonal patterns. The framework is based on the multiple sources of randomness formulation. A noise model is formulated to allow the incorporation of randomness into the seasonal component and to propagate this same randomness in the coefficients of the variant trigonometric terms over time. A unique, recursive and systematic computational procedure based on the maximum likelihood estimation under the hypothesis of Gaussian errors is introduced. The referred procedure combines the Kalman filter with recursive adjustment of the covariance matrices and the selection method of harmonics number in the trigonometric terms. A key feature of this method is that it allows estimating not only the states of the system but also allows obtaining the standard errors of the estimated parameters and the prediction intervals. In addition, this work also presents a non-parametric bootstrap approach to improve the forecasting method based on Kalman filter recursions. The proposed framework is empirically explored with two real time series.     

Negative binomial time series models based on expectation thinning operators

The study of count data time series has been active in the past decade, mainly in theory and model construction. There are different ways to construct time series models with a geometric autocorrelation function, and a given univariate margin such as negative binomial. In this paper, we investigate negative binomial time series models based on the binomial thinning and two other expectation thinning operators, and show how they differ in conditional variance or heteroscedasticity. Since the model construction is in terms of probability generating functions, typically, the relevant conditional probability mass functions do not have explicit forms. In order to do simulations, likelihood inference, graphical diagnostics and prediction, we use a numerical method for inversion of characteristic functions. We illustrate the numerical methods and compare the various negative binomial time series models for a real data example.