Local Box–Cox transformation on time-varying parametric models for smoothing estimation of conditional CDF with longitudinal data

Nonparametric estimation and inferences of conditional distribution functions with longitudinal data have important applications in biomedical studies, such as epidemiological studies and longitudinal clinical trials. Estimation approaches without any structural assumptions may lead to inadequate and numerically unstable estimators in practice. We propose in this paper a nonparametric approach based on time-varying parametric models for estimating the conditional distribution functions with a longitudinal sample. Our model assumes that the conditional distribution of the outcome variable at each given time point can be approximated by a parametric model after local Box–Cox transformation. Our estimation is based on a two-step smoothing method, in which we first obtain the raw estimators of the conditional distribution functions at a set of disjoint time points, and then compute the final estimators at any time by smoothing the raw estimators. Applications of our two-step estimation method have been demonstrated through a large epidemiological study of childhood growth and blood pressure. Finite sample properties of our procedures are investigated through a simulation study. Application and simulation results show that smoothing estimation from time-variant parametric models outperforms the existing kernel smoothing estimator by producing narrower pointwise bootstrap confidence band and smaller root mean squared error.     

Concurrent generation of binary and nonnormal continuous data through fifth-order power polynomials

Data collection process in most observational and experimental studies yield different types of variables, leading to the use of joint models that are capable of handling multiple data types. Evaluation of various statistical techniques that have been developed for mixed data in simulated environments requires concurrent generation of multiple variables. In this article, I present an important augmentation to a unified framework proposed in our previously published work for simultaneously generating binary and nonnormal continuous data given the marginal characteristics and correlation structure, via fifth-order power polynomials that are known to extend the area covered in the skewness-elongation plane and to provide a better approximation to the probability density function of the continuous variables. I evaluate how well the improved methodology performs in comparison to the original one, in a simulated setting with illustrations of algorithmic steps. Although the relative gains for the associational quantities are not substantial, the augmented version appears to better capture the marginal quantities that are pertinent to the higher-order moments, as indicated by very close resemblance between the specified and empirically computed quantities on average.     

Orthogonal polynomials generated by random vectors

Every random q-vector with finite moments generates a set of orthonormal polynomials. These are generated from the basis functions xn = xn11…xnqq using Gram–Schmidt orthogonalization. One can cycle through these basis functions using any number of ways. Here, we give results using minimum cycling. The polynomials look simpler when centered about the mean of X, and still simpler form when X is symmetric about zero. This leads to an extension of the multivariate Hermite polynomial for a general random vector symmetric about zero. As an example, the results are applied to the multivariate normal distribution.     

用级数法导出各向同性谐振子径向矩阵元的通项

利用广义拉盖尔多项式的级数表达式和分步积分法,给出了各向同性谐振子径向矩阵元的另一种表达式.     

Projection de hájek et polynômes de bernstein

Under the hypothesis of white noise, the authors derive the explicit form of the asymptotic representation of linear rank statistics resulting from Hájek's (1968) celebrated projection lemma for linear rank statistics in the so‐called approximate score case. This representation based on Bernstein polynomials is better, in the quadratic mean sense, than the traditional one due to Hájek (1961, 1962). The polynomial representation allows for a new derivation of classical asymptotic results (asymptotic normality, Berry‐Essten bounds). Moreover, a simulation study shows that the quality of the polynomial approximation to the exact finite‐sample distributions of rank statistics is sizeably better than that resulting from the traditional approach.     

On variable bandwidth selection in local polynomial regression

The performances of data-driven bandwidth selection procedures in local polynomial regression are investigated by using asymptotic methods and simulation. The bandwidth selection procedures considered are based on minimizing 'prelimit' approximations to the (conditional) mean-squared error (MSE) when the MSE is considered as a function of the bandwidth h . We first consider approximations to the MSE that are based on Taylor expansions around h=0 of the bias part of the MSE. These approximations lead to estimators of the MSE that are accurate only for small bandwidths h . We also consider a bias estimator which instead of using small h approximations to bias naïvely estimates bias as the difference of two local polynomial estimators of different order and we show that this estimator performs well only for moderate to large h . We next define a hybrid bias estimator which equals the Taylor-expansion-based estimator for small h and the difference estimator for moderate to large h . We find that the MSE estimator based on this hybrid bias estimator leads to a bandwidth selection procedure with good asymptotic and, for our Monte Carlo examples, finite sample properties.     

Jacobi and Laguerre polynomial approximations for the distributions of statistics useful in testing for outliers in exponential and gamma samples

Recently, Sanjel and Balakrishnan [A Laguerre Polynomial Approximation for a goodness-of-fit test for exponential distribution based on progressively censored data, J. Stat. Comput. Simul. 78 (2008), pp. 503–513] proposed the use of Laguerre orthogonal polynomials for a goodness-of-fit test for the exponential distribution based on progressively censored data. In this paper, we use Jacobi and Laguerre orthogonal polynomials in order to obtain density approximants for some test statistics useful in testing for outliers in gamma and exponential samples. We first obtain the exact moments of the statistics and then the density approximants, based on these moments, are expressed in terms of Jacobi and Laguerre polynomials. A comparative study is carried out of the critical values obtained by using the proposed methods to the corresponding results given by Barnett and Lewis [Outliers in Statistical Data, 3rd ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1993]. This reveals that the proposed techniques provide very accurate approximations to the distributions. Finally, we present some numerical examples to illustrate the proposed approximations. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the proposed approximate densities are very accurate.