A reference prior for the analysis of a response surface

Standard response surface methodology employs a second order polynomial model to locate the stationary point ξ$\mathit{\xi }$ of the true response function. To make Bayesian analysis more direct and simpler, we refer to an alternative and equivalent parametrization, which contains ξ$\mathit{\xi }$ as parameter of interest. The marginal reference prior of ξ$\mathit{\xi }$ is derived in its general form and particular cases are also given in detail, showing the Bayesian role of rotatability.     

Linear sufficiency and completeness in the context of estimating the parametric function in the general Gauss–Markov model

In this paper we consider linear sufficiency and linear completeness in the context of estimating the estimable parametric function K^′β${\mathbf{K}}^{\prime }\mathit{\beta }$ under the general Gauss–Markov model {y,Xβ,σ²V}$\{\mathbf{y},\mathbf{X}\mathit{\beta },{\sigma }^2\mathbf{V}\}$. We give new characterizations for linear sufficiency, and define and characterize linear completeness in a case of estimation of K^′β${\mathbf{K}}^{\prime }\mathit{\beta }$. Also, we consider a predictive approach for obtaining the best linear unbiased estimator of K^′β${\mathbf{K}}^{\prime }\mathit{\beta }$, and subsequently, we give the linear analogues of the Rao–Blackwell and Lehmann–Scheffé Theorems in the context of estimating K^′β${\mathbf{K}}^{\prime }\mathit{\beta }$.     

Distribution theory of quadratic forms for matrix multivariate elliptical distribution

This paper proposes the density and characteristic functions of a general matrix quadratic form X^(?)AX${\mathbf{X}}^{(?)}\mathbf{AX}$, when A=A^(?)$\mathbf{A}={\mathbf{A}}^{(?)}$ is a positive semidefinite matrix, X$\mathbf{X}$ has a matrix multivariate elliptical distribution and X^(?)${\mathbf{X}}^{(?)}$ denotes the usual conjugate transpose of X$\mathbf{X}$. These results are obtained for real normed division algebras. With particular cases we obtained the density and characteristic functions of matrix quadratic forms for matrix multivariate normal, Pearson type VII, t and Cauchy distributions.     

A marked point process perspective in fitting spatial point process models

This paper discusses a new perspective in fitting spatial point process models. Specifically the spatial point process of interest is treated as a marked point process where at each observed event x$\mathbf{x}$ a stochastic process M(x;t)$M(\mathbf{x};t)$, 0<t<r$0<t<r$, is defined. Each mark process M(x;t)$M(\mathbf{x};t)$ is compared with its expected value, say F(t;θ)$F(t;\theta )$, to produce a discrepancy measure at x$\mathbf{x}$, where θ$\theta$ is a set of unknown parameters. All individual discrepancy measures are combined to define an overall measure which will then be minimized to estimate the unknown parameters. The proposed approach can be easily applied to data with sample size commonly encountered in practice. Simulations and an application to a real data example demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.     

The use of an identity in Anderson for multivariate multiple testing

Consider the model where there are I$I$ independent multivariate normal treatment populations with p×1$p\times 1$ mean vectors _μi${\mathit{\mu }}_i$, i=1,…,I$i=1,\dots ,I$, and covariance matrix Σ$\Sigma$. Independently the (I+1)$(I+1)$st population corresponds to a control and it too is multivariate normal with mean vector _μI+1${\mathit{\mu }}_{I+1}$ and covariance matrix Σ$\Sigma$. Now consider the following two multiple testing problems.     

A counterexample to Beder's conjectures about Hadamard matrices

In this note we provide a counterexample which resolves conjectures about Hadamard matrices made in this journal. Beder [1998. Conjectures about Hadamard matrices. Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference 72, 7–14] conjectured that if H$\mathit{H}$ is a maximal m×n$m\times n$ row-Hadamard matrix then m is a multiple of 4; and that if n   is a power of 2 then every row-Hadamard matrix can be extended to a Hadamard matrix. Using binary integer programming we obtain a maximal 13×32$13\times 32$ row-Hadamard matrix, which disproves both conjectures. Additionally for n being a multiple of 4 up to 64, we tabulate values of m   for which we have found a maximal row-Hadamard matrix. Based on the tabulated results we conjecture that a m×n$m\times n$ row-Hadamard matrix with m?n-7$m?n-7$ can be extended to a Hadamard matrix.     

Empirical Bayes regression analysis with many regressors but fewer observations

In this paper, we consider the prediction problem in multiple linear regression model in which the number of predictor variables, p, is extremely large compared to the number of available observations, n  . The least-squares predictor based on a generalized inverse is not efficient. We propose six empirical Bayes estimators of the regression parameters. Three of them are shown to have uniformly lower prediction error than the least-squares predictors when the vector of regressor variables are assumed to be random with mean vector zero and the covariance matrix (1/n)X^tX$(1/n){\mathit{X}}^{\mathrm{t}}\mathit{X}$ where X^t=(_x1,…,_xn)${\mathit{X}}^{\mathrm{t}}=({\mathit{x}}_1,\dots ,{\mathit{x}}_n)$ is the p×n$p\times n$ matrix of observations on the regressor vector centered from their sample means. For other estimators, we use simulation to show its superiority over the least-squares predictor.     

Asymptotic linearity and limit distributions,approximations

Linear and quadratic forms as well as other low degree polynomials play an important role in statistical inference. Asymptotic results and limit distributions are obtained for a class of statistics depending on μ+X$\mu +\mathbf{X}$, with X any random vector and μ$\mu$ non-random vector with ∥μ∥→+∞$\parallel \mu \parallel \to +\infty$. This class contain the polynomials in μ+X$\mu +\mathbf{X}$. An application to the case of normal X is presented. This application includes a new central limit theorem which is connected with the increase of non-centrality for samples of fixed size. Moreover upper bounds for the suprema of the differences between exact and approximate distributions and their quantiles are obtained.     

Nonparametric estimation of conditional expectation

Denote the integer lattice points in the N  -dimensional Euclidean space by Z^N${\mathbb{Z}}^N$ and assume that (_Xi,_Yi)$(X_{\mathbf{i}},Y_{\mathbf{i}})$, i∈Z^N$\mathbf{i}\in {\mathbb{Z}}^N$ is a mixing random field. Estimators of the conditional expectation r(x)=E[_Yi|_Xi=x]$r(\mathbf{x})=\mathrm{E}[Y_{\mathbf{i}}|X_{\mathbf{i}}=\mathbf{x}]$ by nearest neighbor methods are established and investigated. The main analytical result of this study is that, under general mixing assumptions, the estimators considered are asymptotically normal. Many difficulties arise since points in higher dimensional space N?2$N?2$ cannot be linearly ordered. Our result applies to many situations where parametric methods cannot be adopted with confidence.     

Improving the estimators of the parameters of a probit regression model: A ridge regression approach

This paper considered the estimation of the regression parameters of a general probit regression model. Accordingly, we proposed five ridge regression (RR) estimators for the probit regression models for estimating the parameters (β)$(\beta )$ when the weighted design matrix is ill-conditioned and it is suspected that the parameter β$\beta$ may belong to a linear subspace defined by Hβ=h$H\beta =h$. Asymptotic properties of the estimators are studied with respect to quadratic biases, MSE matrices and quadratic risks. The regions of optimality of the proposed estimators are determined based on the quadratic risks. Some relative efficiency tables and risk graphs are provided to illustrate the numerical comparison of the estimators. We conclude that when q≥3$q\ge 3$, one would uses PRRRE; otherwise one uses PTRRE with some optimum size α$\alpha$. We also discuss the performance of the proposed estimators compare to the alternative ridge regression method due to Liu (1993).     

Truncated linear estimation of a bounded multivariate normal mean

We consider the problem of estimating the mean θ$\theta$ of an _Np(θ,_Ip)${\mathrm{N}}_{\mathrm{p}}(\theta ,I_p)$ distribution with squared error loss ∥δ−θ∥²$\parallel \delta -\theta {\parallel }^2$ and under the constraint ∥θ∥≤m$\parallel \theta \parallel \le m$, for some constant m>0$m>0$. Using Stein's identity to obtain unbiased estimates of risk, Karlin's sign change arguments, and conditional risk analysis, we compare the risk performance of truncated linear estimators with that of the maximum likelihood estimator _δmle${\delta }_{\mathrm{mle}}$. We obtain for fixed (m,p)$(m,p)$ sufficient conditions for dominance. An asymptotic framework is developed, where we demonstrate that the truncated linear minimax estimator dominates _δmle${\delta }_{\mathrm{mle}}$, and where we obtain simple and accurate measures of relative improvement in risk. Numerical evaluations illustrate the effectiveness of the asymptotic framework for approximating the risks for moderate or large values of p.     

Optimality of the quasi-score estimator in a mean–variance model with applications to measurement error models

We consider a regression of y$y$ on x$x$ given by a pair of mean and variance functions with a parameter vector θ$\theta$ to be estimated that also appears in the distribution of the regressor variable x$x$. The estimation of θ$\theta$ is based on an extended quasi-score (QS) function. We show that the QS estimator is optimal within a wide class of estimators based on linear-in-y$y$ unbiased estimating functions. Of special interest is the case where the distribution of x$x$ depends only on a subvector α$\alpha$ of θ$\theta$, which may be considered a nuisance parameter. In general, α$\alpha$ must be estimated simultaneously together with the rest of θ$\theta$, but there are cases where α$\alpha$ can be pre-estimated. A major application of this model is the classical measurement error model, where the corrected score (CS) estimator is an alternative to the QS estimator. We derive conditions under which the QS estimator is strictly more efficient than the CS estimator.     

Confidence intervals in regression utilizing prior information

We consider a linear regression model with regression parameter β=(_β1,…,_βp)$\beta =({\beta }_1,\dots ,{\beta }_p)$ and independent and identically N(0,σ²)$N(0,{\sigma }^2)$ distributed errors. Suppose that the parameter of interest is θ=a^Tβ$\theta =a^T\beta$ where a$a$ is a specified vector. Define the parameter τ=c^Tβ-t$\tau =c^T\beta -t$ where the vector c$c$ and the number t$t$ are specified and a$a$ and c$c$ are linearly independent. Also suppose that we have uncertain prior information that τ=0$\tau =0$. We present a new frequentist 1-α$1-\alpha$ confidence interval for θ$\theta$ that utilizes this prior information. We require this confidence interval to (a) have endpoints that are continuous functions of the data and (b) coincide with the standard 1-α$1-\alpha$ confidence interval when the data strongly contradict this prior information. This interval is optimal in the sense that it has minimum weighted average expected length where the largest weight is given to this expected length when τ=0$\tau =0$. This minimization leads to an interval that has the following desirable properties. This interval has expected length that (a) is relatively small when the prior information about τ$\tau$ is correct and (b) has a maximum value that is not too large. The following problem will be used to illustrate the application of this new confidence interval. Consider a 2×2$2\times 2$ factorial experiment with 20 replicates. Suppose that the parameter of interest θ$\theta$ is a specified simple   effect and that we have uncertain prior information that the two-factor interaction is zero. Our aim is to find a frequentist 0.95 confidence interval for θ$\theta$ that utilizes this prior information.