A note on the multivariate generalized asymmetric Laplace motion

Abstract

In this note, we use multivariate subordination to introduce a multivariate extension of the generalized asymmetric Laplace motion. The class introduced provides a unified framework for several multivariate extensions of the popular variance gamma process. We also show that the associated time one distribution extends the multivariate generalized asymmetric Laplace distributions proposed in the statistical literature.     

Statistical applications of the multivariate skew normal distribution

Azzalini and Dalla Valle have recently discussed the multivariate skew normal distribution which extends the class of normal distributions by the addition of a shape parameter. The first part of the present paper examines further probabilistic properties of the distribution, with special emphasis on aspects of statistical relevance. Inferential and other statistical issues are discussed in the following part, with applications to some multivariate statistics problems, illustrated by numerical examples. Finally, a further extension is described which introduces a skewing factor of an elliptical density.     

The flexible skew Laplace distribution

ABSTRACT

Skew-symmetric distributions have been discussed by several research-ers. In this article we construct a skew-symmetric Laplace distribution, which is the generalization of distribution given by Ali et al. (2009 Ali, M., Pal, M., Woo, J. (2009). Skewed reflected distributions generated by the Laplace kernel. Aust. J. Statist. 38:45–58. [Google Scholar]) and Nekoukhou and Alamatsaz (2012 Nekoukhou, V., Alamatsaz, M.H. (2012). A family of skew-symmetric-Laplace distributions. Statist. Papers. 53(3):685–696.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This new distribution contains more parameters, and this induces flexibility properties, such as unimodality or bimodality. We study on some properties of this distribution. In the last section we also provide an application with a real data. Concerning example has recently been discussed by Nekoukhou et al. (2013 Nekoukhou, V., Alamatsaz, M.H., Aghajani, A.H. (2013). A flexible skew-generalized normal distribution. Commun. Statist. Theory Methods. 42(13):2324–2334.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to apply to their model. We compare the behavior of our distribution to their distribution on this example.     

Mixture of linear mixed models using multivariate t distribution

Linear mixed models are widely used when multiple correlated measurements are made on each unit of interest. In many applications, the units may form several distinct clusters, and such heterogeneity can be more appropriately modelled by a finite mixture linear mixed model. The classical estimation approach, in which both the random effects and the error parts are assumed to follow normal distribution, is sensitive to outliers, and failure to accommodate outliers may greatly jeopardize the model estimation and inference. We propose a new mixture linear mixed model using multivariate t distribution. For each mixture component, we assume the response and the random effects jointly follow a multivariate t distribution, to conveniently robustify the estimation procedure. An efficient expectation conditional maximization algorithm is developed for conducting maximum likelihood estimation. The degrees of freedom parameters of the t distributions are chosen data adaptively, for achieving flexible trade-off between estimation robustness and efficiency. Simulation studies and an application on analysing lung growth longitudinal data showcase the efficacy of the proposed approach.     

An alternative skew exponential power distribution formulation

In this note we propose a newly formulated skew exponential power distribution that behaves substantially better than previously defined versions. This new model performs very well in terms of the large sample behavior of the maximum likelihood estimation procedure when compared to the classically defined four parameter model defined by Azzalini. More recently, approaches to defining a skew exponential power distribution have used five or more parameters. Our approach improves upon previous attempts to extend the symmetric power exponential family to include skew alternatives by maintaining a minimum set of four parameters corresponding directly to location, scale, skewness and kurtosis. We illustrate the utility of our proposed model using translational and clinical data sets.     

A new family of multivariate skew slash distribution

In this article, the new family of multivariate skew slash distribution is defined. According to the definition, a stochastic representation of the multivariate skew slash distribution is derived. The first four moments and measures of skewness and kurtosis of a random vector with the multivariate skew slash distribution are obtained. The distribution of quadratic forms for the multivariate skew slash distribution and the non central skew slash χ² distribution are studied. Maximum likelihood inference and real data illustration are discussed. In the end, the potential extension of multivariate skew slash distribution is discussed.     

A multivariate two-factor skew model

It is well known that many data, such as the financial or demographic data, exhibit asymmetric distributions. In recent years, researchers have concentrated their efforts to model this asymmetry. Skew normal model is one of such models that are skew and yet possess many properties of the normal model. In this paper, a new multivariate skew model is proposed, along with its statistical properties. It includes the multivariate normal distribution and multivariate skew normal distribution as special cases. The quadratic form of this random vector follows a χ² distribution. The roles of the parameters in the model are investigated using contour plots of bivariate densities.     

Tail dependence for skew Laplace distribution and skew Cauchy distribution

ABSTRACT

Coefficient of tail dependence measures the strength of dependence in the tail of a bivariate distribution and it has been found useful in the risk management. In this paper, we derive the upper tail dependence coefficient for a random vector following the skew Laplace distribution and the skew Cauchy distribution, respectively. The result shows that skew Laplace distribution is asymptotically independent in upper tail, however, skew Cauchy distribution has asymptotic upper tail dependence.     

Marshall-Olkin extended weibull distribution and its application to censored data

In this paper we show that the Marshall-Olkin extended Weibull distribution can be obtained as a compound distribution with mixing exponential distribution. In addition, we provide simple sufficient conditions for the shape of the hazard rate function of the distribution. Moreover, we extend the considered distribution to accommodate randomly right censored data. Finally, application of the extended distribution to a data set representing the remission times of bladder cancer patients is given and its goodness-of-fit is demonstrated.     

An empirical goodness-of-fit test for multivariate distributions

An empirical test is presented as a tool for assessing whether a specified multivariate probability model is suitable to describe the underlying distribution of a set of observations. This test is based on the premise that, given any probability distribution, the Mahalanobis distances corresponding to data generated from that distribution will likewise follow a distinct distribution that can be estimated well by means of a large sample. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the test for detecting departures from several multivariate distributions. We then apply the test to a real multivariate data set to confirm that it is consistent with a multivariate beta model.     

Estimation for two-parameter weibull distribution and extreme-value distribution under multiply type-II censoring

Compared to Type-II censoring, multiply Type-II censoring is a more general, yet mathematically and numerically much more complicated censoring scheme. For multiply Type II censored data from a two-parameter Weibull distribution, we propose several estimators, including MLE, approximate MLE, and estimators corresponding to the BLUE and BLIE from estimating parameters in extreme-value distribution. An approximately unbiased estimator for the shape parameter is also proposed which has the smallest MSE. Numerical examples show that this estimator is the best in terms of bias and MSE. Numerical examples also show that the approximate MLE which admits a closed form is better for estimating the scale parameter.     

Regression for doubly inflated multivariate Poisson distributions

Dependent multivariate count data occur in several research studies. These data can be modelled by a multivariate Poisson or Negative binomial distribution constructed using copulas. However, when some of the counts are inflated, that is, the number of observations in some cells are much larger than other cells, then the copula-based multivariate Poisson (or Negative binomial) distribution may not fit well and it is not an appropriate statistical model for the data. There is a need to modify or adjust the multivariate distribution to account for the inflated frequencies. In this article, we consider the situation where the frequencies of two cells are higher compared to the other cells and develop a doubly inflated multivariate Poisson distribution function using multivariate Gaussian copula. We also discuss procedures for regression on covariates for the doubly inflated multivariate count data. For illustrating the proposed methodologies, we present real data containing bivariate count observations with inflations in two cells. Several models and linear predictors with log link functions are considered, and we discuss maximum likelihood estimation to estimate unknown parameters of the models.     

Some results on interval estimation for the two-parameter weibull or extreme-value distribution

Two statistics based on simple, closed form estimators are examined for use in interval estimation of reliability and of the location parameter of the extreme-value distribution. Properties of the estimators are studied by Monte Carlo simulation, and procedures for interval estimation and tests of hypotheses for the location parameter and reliability are provided.     

On the construction of bayesian prediction limits for the weibull distribution

This paper is concerned with a BAYESian construction of the prediction limits for the Weibull distribution as an example of extreme value distributions. Thus, considering Weibull and Uniform distributions for the parameters, the predictive functions, which may lead to approximative evaluation of the prediction limits, is determined by using simulation methods     

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.     

Robust multivariate mixture regression models with incomplete data

Multivariate mixture regression models can be used to investigate the relationships between two or more response variables and a set of predictor variables by taking into consideration unobserved population heterogeneity. It is common to take multivariate normal distributions as mixing components, but this mixing model is sensitive to heavy-tailed errors and outliers. Although normal mixture models can approximate any distribution in principle, the number of components needed to account for heavy-tailed distributions can be very large. Mixture regression models based on the multivariate t distributions can be considered as a robust alternative approach. Missing data are inevitable in many situations and parameter estimates could be biased if the missing values are not handled properly. In this paper, we propose a multivariate t mixture regression model with missing information to model heterogeneity in regression function in the presence of outliers and missing values. Along with the robust parameter estimation, our proposed method can be used for (i) visualization of the partial correlation between response variables across latent classes and heterogeneous regressions, and (ii) outlier detection and robust clustering even under the presence of missing values. We also propose a multivariate t mixture regression model using MM-estimation with missing information that is robust to high-leverage outliers. The proposed methodologies are illustrated through simulation studies and real data analysis.     

Discriminant coordinates analysis for multivariate functional data

Abstract

One of the basic statistical methods of dimensionality reduction is analysis of discriminant coordinates given by Fisher (1936 Fisher, R. A. 1936. The use of multiple measurements in taxonomic problem. Annals of Eugenics 7 (2):179–88. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.1936.tb02137.x.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and Rao (1948). The space of discriminant coordinates is a space convenient for presenting multidimensional data originating from multiple groups and for the use of various classification methods (methods of discriminant analysis). In the present paper, we adapt the classical discriminant coordinates analysis to multivariate functional data. The theory has been applied to analysis of textural properties of apples of six varieties, measured over a period of 180?days, stored in two types of refrigeration chamber.     

On a multivariate log-gamma distribution and the use of the distribution in the Bayesian analysis

In this article, we propose a new generalized multivariate log-gamma distribution. We consider the usage of the proposed multivariate distribution as the prior distribution in the Bayesian analysis. The generalized multivariate log-gamma distribution allows for the inclusion of prior knowledge on correlations between model parameters when likelihood is not in the form of a normal distribution. Use of the proposed distribution in the Bayesian analysis of log-linear models is also discussed.     

Modeling with a large class of unimodal multivariate distributions

In this paper we introduce a new class of multivariate unimodal distributions, motivated by Khintchine's representation for unimodal densities on the real line. We start by introducing a new class of unimodal distributions which can then be naturally extended to higher dimensions, using the multivariate Gaussian copula. Under both univariate and multivariate settings, we provide MCMC algorithms to perform inference about the model parameters and predictive densities. The methodology is illustrated with univariate and bivariate examples, and with variables taken from a real data set.