Use of the Correlation Coefficient with Normal Probability Plots

The use of the correlation coefficient is suggested as a technique for summarizing and objectively evaluating the information contained in probability plots. Goodness-of-fit tests are constructed using this technique for several commonly used plotting positions for the normal distribution. Empirical sampling methods are used to construct the null distribution for these tests, which are then compared on the basis of power against certain nonnormal alternatives. Commonly used regression tests of fit are also included in the comparisons. The results indicate that use of the plotting position p_i = (i - .375)/(n + .25) yields a competitive regression test of fit for normality.     

A New Approach for Testing Periodicity

This article describes testing for periodicity in the presence of FD processes. We propose two approaches for testing the periodicity based on Fisher's test. The first one is performed using the periodogram which has been divided into different parts. The second one is based on the discrete wavelet transform. Properties of the tests are illustrated by means of Monte Carlo simulations.     

Spatial Clustering Tests Based on the Domination Number of a New Random Digraph Family

We use the domination number of a parametrized random digraph family called proportional-edge proximity catch digraphs (PCDs) for testing multivariate spatial point patterns. This digraph family is based on relative positions of data points from various classes. We extend the results on the distribution of the domination number of proportional-edge PCDs, and use the domination number as a statistic for testing segregation and association against complete spatial randomness. We demonstrate that the domination number of the PCD has binomial distribution when size of one class is fixed while the size of the other (whose points constitute the vertices of the digraph) tends to infinity and has asymptotic normality when sizes of both classes tend to infinity. We evaluate the finite sample performance of the test by Monte Carlo simulations and prove the consistency of the test under the alternatives. We find the optimal parameters for testing each of the segregation and association alternatives. Furthermore, the methodology discussed in this article is valid for data in higher dimensions also.     

More on the Preliminary Test Estimator in Almost Unbiased Liu Regression

This article is concerned with the parameter estimation in linear regression model when it is suspected that the regression coefficients are the subspace of the equality restrictions. The objective of this article is to introduce the preliminary test almost unbiased Liu estimators (PTAULE) based on the Wald (W), the likelihood ratio (LR), and the Lagrangian multiplier (LM) tests and compare the proposed estimators in the sense of the quadratic bias and mean square error (MSE) criterion.     

Tests for Equality of Inflation Parameters of Two Zero-Inflated Power Series Distributions

In this article, we consider two independent zero-inflated power series distributions and provide likelihood ratio test for equality of inflation parameters of the same. As an illustration, testing equality of inflation parameters of two zero inflated Poisson distributions is provided. Further, simulation study to investigate power of likelihood ratio tests has been carried out.     

A Test for Constant Hazard Against a Change-Point Alternative

In this article, we consider the change-point hazard rate model which arises quite commonly in mechanical or biological systems, which experience a high hazard rate early in their lifetime due to infant mortality and then a constant or steady hazard rate after the threshold time. We first derive the corresponding mean residual life function (MRLF) and observe that the MRLF is initially increasing and then constant. Here, we derive a test statistic for exponentiality against Increasing Initially then Constant Mean Residual Life (ICMRL). We also derive the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic and compare the power of the test with other existing tests such as likelihood ratio, Weibull, and Log gamma tests considered in the literature. The test performs quite well as compared to other alternatives studied.     

Binomial Mixture Modeling of University Credits

The paper reviews finite mixture models for binomial counts with concomitant variables. These models are well known in theory, but they are rarely applied. We use a binomial finite mixture to model the number of credits gained by freshmen during the first year at the School of Economics of the University of Florence. The finite mixture approach allows us to appropriately account for the large number of zeroes and the multimodality of the observed distribution. Moreover, we rely on a concomitant variable specification to investigate the role of student background characteristics and of a compulsory pre-enrollment test in predicting gained credits. In the paper, we deal with model selection, including the choice of the number of components, and we devise numerical and graphical summaries of the model results in order to exploit the information content of the concomitant variable specification. The main finding is that the introduction of the pre-enrollment test gives additional information for student tutoring, even if the predictive power is modest.     

Generalized Analysis-of-variance-type Test for the Single-index Quantile Model

In this paper, we are concerned with a test for the index parameter and index function in the single-index model. Based on the estimates obtained by the quantile regression, we extend the generalized analysis-of-variance-type test to the single-index model. We investigate the asymptotic behavior of the proposed test and demonstrate that its limiting null distribution follows an asymptotically χ²-distribution. The simulation studies and real data applications are conducted to illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed methods.     

Non parametric portmanteau tests for detecting non linearities in high dimensions

ABSTRACT

We propose two non parametric portmanteau test statistics for serial dependence in high dimensions using the correlation integral. One test depends on a cutoff threshold value, while the other test is freed of this dependence. Although these tests may each be viewed as variants of the classical Brock, Dechert, and Scheinkman (BDS) test statistic, they avoid some of the major weaknesses of this test. We establish consistency and asymptotic normality of both portmanteau tests. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the small sample properties of the tests for a variety of data generating processes with normally and uniformly distributed innovations. We show that asymptotic theory provides accurate inference in finite samples and for relatively high dimensions. This is followed by a power comparison with the BDS test, and with several rank-based extensions of the BDS tests that have recently been proposed in the literature. Two real data examples are provided to illustrate the use of the test procedure.     

Diagnostic tests for the distribution of random effects in multivariate mixed effects models

Abstract

Fourier methods are proposed for testing the distribution of random effects in classical and robust multivariate mixed effects models. The test statistics involve estimation of the characteristic function of random effects. Theoretical and computational issues are addressed while Monte Carlo results show that the new procedures compare favorably with other methods.