Robust Variable Selection in Linear Mixed Models

In this article, we develop a robust variable selection procedure jointly for fixed and random effects in linear mixed models for longitudinal data. We propose a penalized robust estimator for both the regression coefficients and the variance of random effects based on a re-parametrization of the linear mixed models. Under some regularity conditions, we show the oracle properties of the proposed robust variable selection method. Simulation study shows the robustness of the proposed method against outliers. In the end, the proposed methods is illustrated in the analysis of a real data set.     

联合广义线性模型中的变量选择

在联合广义线性模型中,散度参数与均值都被赋予了广义线性模型的结构,本文主要考虑在只有分布的一阶矩和二阶矩指定的条件下,联合广义线性模型中均值部分的变量选择问题。本文采用广义拟似然函数,提出了新的模型选择准则(EAIC);该准则是Akaike信息准则的推广。论文通过模拟研究验证了该准则的效果。     

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.     

Finite Mixture of Generalized Semiparametric Models: Variable Selection via Penalized Estimation

Selection of the important variables is one of the most important model selection problems in statistical applications. In this article, we address variable selection in finite mixture of generalized semiparametric models. To overcome computational burden, we introduce a class of variable selection procedures for finite mixture of generalized semiparametric models using penalized approach for variable selection. Estimation of nonparametric component will be done via multivariate kernel regression. It is shown that the new method is consistent for variable selection and the performance of proposed method will be assessed via simulation.     

Variable Selection for Partially Linear Models with Randomly Censored Data

This article proposes a variable selection procedure for partially linear models with right-censored data via penalized least squares. We apply the SCAD penalty to select significant variables and estimate unknown parameters simultaneously. The sampling properties for the proposed procedure are investigated. The rate of convergence and the asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators are established. Furthermore, the SCAD-penalized estimators of the nonzero coefficients are shown to have the asymptotic oracle property. In addition, an iterative algorithm is proposed to find the solution of the penalized least squares. Simulation studies are conducted to examine the finite sample performance of the proposed method.     

Smooth-Threshold GEE Variable Selection in High-Dimensional Partially Linear Models with Longitudinal Data

We consider the problem of variable selection in high-dimensional partially linear models with longitudinal data. A variable selection procedure is proposed based on the smooth-threshold generalized estimating equation (SGEE). The proposed procedure automatically eliminates inactive predictors by setting the corresponding parameters to be zero, and simultaneously estimates the nonzero regression coefficients by solving the SGEE. We establish the asymptotic properties in a high-dimensional framework where the number of covariates p_n increases as the number of clusters n increases. Extensive Monte Carlo simulation studies are conducted to examine the finite sample performance of the proposed variable selection procedure.     

Multilevel Mixed Linear Models for Survival Data

For the analysis of correlated survival data mixed linear models are useful alternatives to frailty models. By their use the survival times can be directly modelled, so that the interpretation of the fixed and random effects is straightforward. However, because of intractable integration involved with the use of marginal likelihood the class of models in use has been severely restricted. Such a difficulty can be avoided by using hierarchical-likelihood, which provides a statistically efficient and fast fitting algorithm for multilevel models. The proposed method is illustrated using the chronic granulomatous disease data. A simulation study is carried out to evaluate the performance.     

变量选择方法在医疗保险赔付评估中的应用

在广义线性模型假设下,采用Lin的医疗费用模型,运用LASSO和SCAD方法对影响医疗费用的因素进行选择,并对两种方法的有效性进行了对比分析,从而得出影响医疗保险赔付的重要因素,解决了高维变量带来的一系列问题。实例分析中,由于两种方法注重的统计性质不同,选择出的解释变量略微不同,但通过分析发现,两种结果都具有良好的解释性,反映了影响医疗保险赔付的重要信息。     

Variable Selection for Semiparametric Partially Linear Covariate-Adjusted Regression Models

In this article, the partially linear covariate-adjusted regression models are considered, and the penalized least-squares procedure is proposed to simultaneously select variables and estimate the parametric components. The rate of convergence and the asymptotic normality of the resulting estimators are established under some regularization conditions. With the proper choices of the penalty functions and tuning parameters, it is shown that the proposed procedure can be as efficient as the oracle estimators. Some Monte Carlo simulation studies and a real data application are carried out to assess the finite sample performances for the proposed method.     

A Robust Variable Selection to t-type Joint Generalized Linear Models via Penalized t-type Pseudo-likelihood

Although the t-type estimator is a kind of M-estimator with scale optimization, it has some advantages over the M-estimator. In this article, we first propose a t-type joint generalized linear model as a robust extension to the classical joint generalized linear models for modeling data containing extreme or outlying observations. Next, we develop a t-type pseudo-likelihood (TPL) approach, which can be viewed as a robust version to the existing pseudo-likelihood (PL) approach. To determine which variables significantly affect the variance of the response variable, we then propose a unified penalized maximum TPL method to simultaneously select significant variables for the mean and dispersion models in t-type joint generalized linear models. Thus, the proposed variable selection method can simultaneously perform parameter estimation and variable selection in the mean and dispersion models. With appropriate selection of the tuning parameters, we establish the consistency and the oracle property of the regularized estimators. Simulation studies are conducted to illustrate the proposed methods.     

Estimating Moments in Linear Mixed Models

In this article, we investigate estimating moments, up to fourth order, in linear mixed models. For this estimation, we only assume the existence of moments. The obtained estimators of the model parameters and the third and fourth moments of the errors and random effects are proved to be consistent or asymptotically normal. The estimation provides a base for further statistical inference such as confidence region construction and hypothesis testing for the parameters of interest. Moreover, the method is readily extended to estimate higher moments. A simulation is carried out to examine the performance of this estimating method.     

Hierarchical-Likelihood Approach for Mixed Linear Models with Censored Data

Mixed linear models describe the dependence via random effects in multivariate normal survival data. Recently they have received considerable attention in the biomedical literature. They model the conditional survival times, whereas the alternative frailty model uses the conditional hazard rate. We develop an inferential method for the mixed linear model via Lee and Nelder's (1996) hierarchical-likelihood (h-likelihood). Simulation and a practical example are presented to illustrate the new method.     

Bayesian Variable Selection in Markov Mixture Models

Monte Carlo simulation is used to evaluate the actual confidence levels of five different approximations for confidence intervals for the probability of success in Markov dependent trials. The approximations involve the conditional probability of success as a nuisance parameter, and the effects of substituting Klotz's (1973), Price's (1976), and a new estimator are also evaluated. The new estimator is less biased and tends to increase the confidence level. A program for calculating the estimator and the confidence interval approximations is available.     

Estimation of the Force of Infection from Current Status Data Using Generalized Linear Mixed Models

Based on sero-prevalence data of rubella, mumps in the UK and varicella in Belgium, we show how the force of infection, the age-specific rate at which susceptible individuals contract infection, can be estimated using generalized linear mixed models (McCulloch & Searle, 2001). Modelling the dependency of the force of infection on age by penalized splines, which involve fixed and random effects, allows us to use generalized linear mixed models techniques to estimate both the cumulative probability of being infected before a given age and the force of infection. Moreover, these models permit an automatic selection of the smoothing parameter. The smoothness of the estimated force of infection can be influenced by the number of knots and the degree of the penalized spline used. To determine these, a different number of knots and different degrees are used and the results are compared to establish this sensitivity. Simulations with a different number of knots and polynomial spline bases of different degrees suggest - for estimating the force of infection from serological data - the use of a quadratic penalized spline based on about 10 knots.     

Weighting Method for a Linear Mixed Model

Maximum likelihood is a widely used estimation method in statistics. This method is model dependent and as such is criticized as being non robust. In this article, we consider using weighted likelihood method to make robust inferences for linear mixed models where weights are determined at both the subject level and the observation level. This approach is appropriate for problems where maximum likelihood is the basic fitting technique, but a subset of data points is discrepant with the model. It allows us to reduce the impact of outliers without complicating the basic linear mixed model with normally distributed random effects and errors. The weighted likelihood estimators are shown to be robust and asymptotically normal. Our simulation study demonstrates that the weighted estimates are much better than the unweighted ones when a subset of data points is far away from the rest. Its application to the analysis of deglutition apnea duration in normal swallows shows that the differences between the weighted and unweighted estimates are due to large amount of outliers in the data set.     

An Orthogonality‐Based Estimation of Moments for Linear Mixed Models

Abstract. Estimating higher‐order moments, particularly fourth‐order moments in linear mixed models is an important, but difficult issue. In this article, an orthogonality‐based estimation of moments is proposed. Under only moment conditions, this method can easily be used to estimate the model parameters and moments, particularly those of higher order than the second order, and in the estimators the random effects and errors do not affect each other. The asymptotic normality of all the estimators is provided. Moreover, the method is readily extended to handle non‐linear, semiparametric and non‐linear models. A simulation study is carried out to examine the performance of the new method.     

Grouping Variable Selection by Weight Fused Elastic Net for Multi-Collinear Data

In this article, we consider the problem of variable selection and estimation with the strongly correlated multi-collinear data by using grouping variable selection techniques. A new grouping variable selection method, called weight-fused elastic net(WFEN), is proposed to deal with the high dimensional collinear data. The proposed model, combined two different grouping effect mechanisms induced by the elastic net and weight-fused LASSO, respectively, can be easily unified in the frame of LASSO and computed efficiently. The performance with the simulation and real data sets shows that our method is competitive with other related methods, especially when the data present high multi-collinearity.     

Linear Transformations of Linear Mixed-Effects Models

A number of articles have discussed the way lower order polynomial and interaction terms should be handled in linear regression models. Only if all lower order terms are included in the model will the regression model be invariant with respect to coding transformations of the variables. If lower order terms are omitted, the regression model will not be well formulated. In this paper, we extend this work to examine the implications of the ordering of variables in the linear mixed-effects model. We demonstrate how linear transformations of the variables affect the model and tests of significance of fixed effects in the model. We show how the transformations modify the random effects in the model, as well as their covariance matrix and the value of the restricted log-likelihood. We suggest a variable selection strategy for the linear mixed-effects model.     

基于统计学变量筛选方法的心理测验题目的维度识别

近年来多维心理测验被广泛应用于各类评估,虽然编制测验时知道整个测验考察的潜在特质(或称为维度),但是测验题目具体考察的维度仍需确定。借助多维项目反应理论模型与广义线性模型的关系,使用LASSO和弹性网两种变量筛选方法,可解决测验题目的维度识别问题。模拟研究发现,LASSO方法比弹性网方法具有更好的维度识别效果,前者对不同类型的多维测验具有较高的维度识别准确率。