Sequential determination of the number of bootstrap samples

The primary purpose of this paper is that of developing a sequential Monte Carlo approximation to an ideal bootstrap estimate of the parameter of interest. Using the concept of fixed-precision approximation, we construct a sequential stopping rule for determining the number of bootstrap samples to be taken in order to achieve a specified precision of the Monte Carlo approximation. It is shown that the sequential Monte Carlo approximation is asymptotically efficient in the problems of estimation of the bias and standard error of a given statistic. Efficient bootstrap resampling is discussed and a numerical study is carried out for illustrating the obtained theoretical results.     

Analytical approximations for iterated bootstrap confidence intervals

Standard algorithms for the construction of iterated bootstrap confidence intervals are computationally very demanding, requiring nested levels of bootstrap resampling. We propose an alternative approach to constructing double bootstrap confidence intervals that involves replacing the inner level of resampling by an analytical approximation. This approximation is based on saddlepoint methods and a tail probability approximation of DiCiccio and Martin (1991). Our technique significantly reduces the computational expense of iterated bootstrap calculations. A formal algorithm for the construction of our approximate iterated bootstrap confidence intervals is presented, and some crucial practical issues arising in its implementation are discussed. Our procedure is illustrated in the case of constructing confidence intervals for ratios of means using both real and simulated data. We repeat an experiment of Schenker (1985) involving the construction of bootstrap confidence intervals for a variance and demonstrate that our technique makes feasible the construction of accurate bootstrap confidence intervals in that context. Finally, we investigate the use of our technique in a more complex setting, that of constructing confidence intervals for a correlation coefficient.     

A central limit theorem for generalized discounting

A central limit theorem is derived for the discounted sum of a sequence of i.i.d. random variables with finite first and second moment, where the rate of interest may depend on time. For the special case of constant rate of interest GERBER (1971) obtains a Berry-Esséen result assuming finite third moment. The same result is shown to hold in the non-const ant case.     

A note on the almost sure central limit theorem for the product of partial sums of m-dependent random variables

We present an almost sure central limit theorem for the product of the partial sums of m-dependent random variables. In order to obtain the main result, we prove a corresponding almost sure central limit theorem for a triangular array.     

Adaptive resampling algorithms for estimating bootstrap distributions

Based on recent developments in the field of operations research, we propose two adaptive resampling algorithms for estimating bootstrap distributions. One algorithm applies the principle of the recently proposed cross-entropy (CE) method for rare event simulation, and does not require calculation of the resampling probability weights via numerical optimization methods (e.g., Newton's method), whereas the other algorithm can be viewed as a multi-stage extension of the classical two-step variance minimization approach. The two algorithms can be easily used as part of a general algorithm for Monte Carlo calculation of bootstrap confidence intervals and tests, and are especially useful in estimating rare event probabilities. We analyze theoretical properties of both algorithms in an idealized setting and carry out simulation studies to demonstrate their performance. Empirical results on both one-sample and two-sample problems as well as a real survival data set show that the proposed algorithms are not only superior to traditional approaches, but may also provide more than an order of magnitude of computational efficiency gains.     

Slepian's inequality via the central limit theorem

We define a partial ordering of distributions which is preserved under convolutions and scale transformations. Some properties of this partial ordering are developed and then used to give a new argument for Slepian's inequality (1962).     

Variance estimation in the central limit theorem for Markov chains

This article concerns the variance estimation in the central limit theorem for finite recurrent Markov chains. The associated variance is calculated in terms of the transition matrix of the Markov chain. We prove the equivalence of different matrix forms representing this variance. The maximum likelihood estimator for this variance is constructed and it is proved that it is strongly consistent and asymptotically normal. The main part of our analysis consists in presenting closed matrix forms for this new variance. Additionally, we prove the asymptotic equivalence between the empirical and the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) for the stationary distribution.     

A simulation study of balanced and antithetic bootstrap resampling methods

An extensive simulation study is conducted to compare the performance between balanced and antithetic resampling for the bootstrap in estimation of bias, variance, and percentiles when the statistic of interest is the median, the square root of the absolute value of the mean, or the median absolute deviations from the median. Simulation results reveal that balanced resampling provide better efficiencies in most cases; however, antithetic resampling is superior in estimating bias of the median. We also investigate the possibility of combining an existing efficient bootstrap computation of Efron (1990) with balanced or antithetic resampling for percentile estimation. Results indicate that the combination method does indeed offer gains in performance though the gains are much more dramatic for the bootstrap t statistic than for any of the three statistics of interest as described above.     

Importance resampling for the smoothed bootstrap

Alternative methods of estimating properties of unknown distributions include the bootstrap and the smoothed bootstrap. In the standard bootstrap setting, Johns (1988) introduced an importance resam¬pling procedure that results in more accurate approximation to the bootstrap estimate of a distribution function or a quantile. With a suitable “exponential tilting” similar to that used by Johns, we derived a smoothed version of importance resampling in the framework of the smoothed bootstrap. Smoothed importance resampling procedures were developed for the estimation of distribution functions of the Studentized mean, the Studentized variance, and the correlation coefficient. Implementation of these procedures are presented via simulation results which concentrate on the problem of estimation of distribution functions of the Studentized mean and Studentized variance for different sample sizes and various pre-specified smoothing bandwidths for the normal data; additional simulations were conducted for the estimation of quantiles of the distribution of the Studentized mean under an optimal smoothing bandwidth when the original data were simulated from three different parent populations: lognormal, t(3) and t(10). These results suggest that in cases where it is advantageous to use the smoothed bootstrap rather than the standard bootstrap, the amount of resampling necessary might be substantially reduced by the use of importance resampling methods and the efficiency gains depend on the bandwidth used in the kernel density estimation.     

Non uniform bound on a combinatorial central limit theorem

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we give a non uniform bound on combinatorial central limit theorem by using Stein’s method. This improves the result of Neammanee and Rattanawong (2009 Neammanee, K., Rattanawong, P. (2009). Non-uniform bound on normal approximation of Latin hypercube sampling. JMR 1:28–42. [Google Scholar]) from the finiteness of the sixth moment to the finiteness of the third moment.     

A central limit theorem for correlated variables with limited normal or gamma distributions

Abstract

Non-negative limited normal or gamma distributed random variables are commonly used to model physical phenomenon such as the concentration of compounds within gaseous clouds. This paper demonstrates that when a collection of random variables with limited normal or gamma distributions represents a stationary process for which the underlying variables have exponentially decreasing correlations, then a central limit theorem applies to the correlated random variables.     

A note on asymptotic expansions for the power of perturbed tests

For simplicity or tractability reasons one sometimes uses modified test statistics, which differ from the original ones up to O_p(a_n) terms with a_n→0. In this note, some technical conditions are provided under which a corresponding expansion for the powers of such perturbed tests holds. The necessity of some of these conditions is discussed and illustrated by examples. An application to invariant testing multivariate normality is presented.     

A comparison between bootstrap methods and generalized estimating equations for correlated outcomes in generalized linear models

We discuss and evaluate bootstrap algorithms for obtaining confidence intervals for parameters in Generalized Linear Models when the data are correlated. The methods are based on a stratified bootstrap and are suited to correlation occurring within “blocks” of data (e.g., individuals within a family, teeth within a mouth, etc.). Application of the intervals to data from a Dutch follow-up study on preterm infants shows the corroborative usefulness of the intervals, while the intervals are seen to be a powerful diagnostic in studying annual measles data. In a simulation study, we compare the coverage rates of the proposed intervals with existing methods (e.g., via Generalized Estimating Equations). In most cases, the bootstrap intervals are seen to perform better than current methods, and are produced in an automatic fashion, so that the user need not know (or have to guess) the dependence structure within a block.     

A modified bootstrap estimator for the mean of an asymmetric distribution

A modified bootstrap estimator of the population mean is proposed which is a convex combination of the sample mean and sample median, where the weights are random quantities. The estimator is shown to be strongly consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. The small- and moderate-sample-size behavior of the estimator is investigated and compared with that of the sample mean by means of Monte Carlo studies. It is found that the newly proposed estimator has much smaller mean squared errors and also yields significantly shorter confidence intervals for the population mean.     

An improvement of a non-uniform bound for combinatorial central limit theorem

In this article, we develop a new Rosenthal Inequality for uniform random permutation sums of random variables with finite third moments and apply it to obtain a sharp non-uniform bound for the combinatorial central limit theorem using the Stein's method and the exchangeable pair techniques. The obtained bound is shown to be sharper than other existing bounds.     

A functional central limit theorem for the quadratic variation of a class of gaussian random fields

We prove a central limit theorem for the quadratic variation process of some Lévy-Baxter-type Gaussian random fields.