From Archimedean to Liouville copulas

We use a recent characterization of the d-dimensional Archimedean copulas as the survival copulas of d-dimensional simplex distributions (McNeil and Nešlehová (2009) [1]) to construct new Archimedean copula families, and to examine the relationship between their dependence properties and the radial parts of the corresponding simplex distributions. In particular, a new formula for Kendall’s tau is derived and a new dependence ordering for non-negative random variables is introduced which generalises the Laplace transform order. We then generalise the Archimedean copulas to obtain Liouville copulas, which are the survival copulas of Liouville distributions and which are non-exchangeable in general. We derive a formula for Kendall’s tau of Liouville copulas in terms of the radial parts of the corresponding Liouville distributions.     

Empirical likelihood analysis of the Buckley-James estimator

The censored linear regression model, also referred to as the accelerated failure time (AFT) model when the logarithm of the survival time is used as the response variable, is widely seen as an alternative to the popular Cox model when the assumption of proportional hazards is questionable. Buckley and James [Linear regression with censored data, Biometrika 66 (1979) 429-436] extended the least squares estimator to the semiparametric censored linear regression model in which the error distribution is completely unspecified. The Buckley-James estimator performs well in many simulation studies and examples. The direct interpretation of the AFT model is also more attractive than the Cox model, as Cox has pointed out, in practical situations. However, the application of the Buckley-James estimation was limited in practice mainly due to its illusive variance. In this paper, we use the empirical likelihood method to derive a new test and confidence interval based on the Buckley-James estimator of the regression coefficient. A standard chi-square distribution is used to calculate the P-value and the confidence interval. The proposed empirical likelihood method does not involve variance estimation. It also shows much better small sample performance than some existing methods in our simulation studies.     

On weighting of bivariate margins in pairwise likelihood

Composite and pairwise likelihood methods have recently been increasingly used. For clustered data with varying cluster sizes, we study asymptotic relative efficiencies for various weighted pairwise likelihoods, with weight being a function of cluster size. For longitudinal data, we also study weighted pairwise likelihoods with weights that can depend on lag. Good choice of weights are needed to avoid the undesirable behavior of estimators with low efficiency. Some analytic results are obtained using the multivariate normal distribution. For clustered data, a practically good choice of weight is obtained after study of relative efficiencies for an exchangeable multivariate normal model; they are different from weights that had previously been suggested. For longitudinal data, there are advantages to only include bivariate margins of adjacent or nearly adjacent pairs in the weighted pairwise likelihood.     

Joint modeling of longitudinal proportional measurements and survival time with a cure fraction

In cancer clinical trials and other medical studies, both longitudinal measurements and data on a time to an event (survival time) are often collected from the same patients. Joint analyses of these data would improve the efficiency of the statistical inferences. We propose a new joint model for the longitudinal proportional measurements which are restricted in a finite interval and survival times with a potential cure fraction. A penalized joint likelihood is derived based on the Laplace approximation and a semiparametric procedure based on this likelihood is developed to estimate the parameters in the joint model. A simulation study is performed to evaluate the statistical properties of the proposed procedures. The proposed model is applied to data from a clinical trial on early breast cancer.     

The new Neyman type A beta Weibull model with long-term survivors

For the first time, we propose a flexible cure rate survival model by assuming that the number of competing causes of the event of interest follows the Neyman type A distribution and the time to this event has the beta Weibull distribution. This new model can be used to analyze survival data when the hazard rate function is increasing, decreasing, bathtub or unimodal-shaped. It includes some commonly used lifetime distributions and some well-known cure rate models as special cases. Maximum likelihood and non-parametric bootstrap are used to estimate the regression parameters. We derive the appropriate matrices for assessing local influence on the parameter estimates under different perturbation schemes and present some ways to perform global influence analysis. The usefulness of the new model is illustrated by means of an application in the medical area.     

Bias-corrected empirical likelihood in a multi-link semiparametric model

In this paper, we investigate the empirical likelihood for constructing a confidence region of the parameter of interest in a multi-link semiparametric model when an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter exists. The new model covers the commonly used varying coefficient, generalized linear, single-index, multi-index, hazard regression models and their generalizations, as its special cases. Because of the existence of the infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter, the classical empirical likelihood with plug-in estimation cannot be asymptotically distribution-free, and the existing bias correction is not extendable to handle such a general model. We then propose a link-based correction approach to solve this problem. This approach gives a general rule of bias correction via an inner link, and consists of two parts. For the model whose estimating equation contains the score functions that are easy to estimate, we use a centering for the scores to correct the bias; for the model of which the score functions are of complex structure, a bias-correction procedure using simpler functions instead of the scores is given without loss of asymptotic efficiency. The resulting empirical likelihood shares the desired features: it has a chi-square limit and, under-smoothing technique, high order kernel and parameter estimation are not needed. Simulation studies are carried out to examine the performance of the new method.     

Estimation for a marginal generalized single-index longitudinal model

In this paper, we suggest an estimating equations based approach to study a general single-index model with a given out-layer link for longitudinal data and treat the classical one as its special case. Within a wide range of bandwidths which is for estimating the inner-layer nonparametric link, the root-n consistency of the estimator of the index can be proved. The estimation efficiency can be achieved even when there is an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter to be estimated. The performance of the new method is assessed through the comparison with other existing methods and through an application to an epileptic seizure study.     

Empirical likelihood inference in partially linear single-index models for longitudinal data

The empirical likelihood method is especially useful for constructing confidence intervals or regions of parameters of interest. Yet, the technique cannot be directly applied to partially linear single-index models for longitudinal data due to the within-subject correlation. In this paper, a bias-corrected block empirical likelihood (BCBEL) method is suggested to study the models by accounting for the within-subject correlation. BCBEL shares some desired features: unlike any normal approximation based method for confidence region, the estimation of parameters with the iterative algorithm is avoided and a consistent estimator of the asymptotic covariance matrix is not needed. Because of bias correction, the BCBEL ratio is asymptotically chi-squared, and hence it can be directly used to construct confidence regions of the parameters without any extra Monte Carlo approximation that is needed when bias correction is not applied. The proposed method can naturally be applied to deal with pure single-index models and partially linear models for longitudinal data. Some simulation studies are carried out and an example in epidemiology is given for illustration.     

On sparse estimation for semiparametric linear transformation models

Semiparametric linear transformation models have received much attention due to their high flexibility in modeling survival data. A useful estimating equation procedure was recently proposed by Chen et al. (2002) [21] for linear transformation models to jointly estimate parametric and nonparametric terms. They showed that this procedure can yield a consistent and robust estimator. However, the problem of variable selection for linear transformation models has been less studied, partially because a convenient loss function is not readily available under this context. In this paper, we propose a simple yet powerful approach to achieve both sparse and consistent estimation for linear transformation models. The main idea is to derive a profiled score from the estimating equation of Chen et al. [21], construct a loss function based on the profile scored and its variance, and then minimize the loss subject to some shrinkage penalty. Under regularity conditions, we have shown that the resulting estimator is consistent for both model estimation and variable selection. Furthermore, the estimated parametric terms are asymptotically normal and can achieve a higher efficiency than that yielded from the estimation equations. For computation, we suggest a one-step approximation algorithm which can take advantage of the LARS and build the entire solution path efficiently. Performance of the new procedure is illustrated through numerous simulations and real examples including one microarray data.     

On Hadamard differentiability in k-sample semiparametric models—with applications to the assessment of structural relationships

Semiparametric models to describe the functional relationship between k groups of observations are broadly applied in statistical analysis, ranging from nonparametric ANOVA to proportional hazard (ph) rate models in survival analysis. In this paper we deal with the empirical assessment of the validity of such a model, which will be denoted as a “structural relationship model”. To this end Hadamard differentiability of a suitable goodness-of-fit measure in the k-sample case is proved. This yields asymptotic limit laws which are applied to construct tests for various semiparametric models, including the Cox ph model. Two types of asymptotics are obtained, first when the hypothesis of the semiparametric model under investigation holds true, and second for the case when a fixed alternative is present. The latter result can be used to validate the presence of a semiparametric model instead of simply checking the null hypothesis “the model holds true”. Finally, various bootstrap approximations are numerically investigated and a data example is analyzed.     

A multivariate extension of Sarhan and Balakrishnan’s bivariate distribution and its ageing and dependence properties

A new class of bivariate distributions (NBD) was recently introduced by Sarhan and Balakrishnan [A.M. Sarhan, N. Balakrishnan, A new class of bivariate distributions and its mixture, J. Multivariate Anal. 98 (2007) 1508-1527]. In this note, we give the joint survival function of a multivariate extension of the NBD, which is not an absolutely continuous multivariate distribution, and its marginal and extreme order statistics distributions are also derived. The multivariate ageing and dependence properties of the proposed n-dimensional distribution are also discussed, and then we analyze the stochastic ageing of its marginals and its minimum and maximum order statistics.     

Strong convergence in nonparametric regression with truncated dependent data

In this paper we derive rates of uniform strong convergence for the kernel estimator of the regression function in a left-truncation model. It is assumed that the lifetime observations with multivariate covariates form a stationary α-mixing sequence. The estimation of the covariate’s density is considered as well. Under the assumption that the lifetime observations are bounded, we show that, by an appropriate choice of the bandwidth, both estimators of the covariate’s density and regression function attain the optimal strong convergence rate known from independent complete samples.     

Order restricted inference for sequential k-out-of-n systems

Sequential order statistics have been introduced to model sequential k-out-of-n systems which, as an extension of k-out-of-n systems, allow the failure of some components of the system to influence the remaining ones. Based on an independent sample of vectors of sequential order statistics, the maximum likelihood estimators of the model parameters of a sequential k-out-of-n system are derived under order restrictions. Special attention is paid to the simultaneous maximum likelihood estimation of the model parameters and the distribution parameters for a flexible location-scale family. Furthermore, order restricted hypothesis tests are considered for making the decision whether the usual k-out-of-n model or the general sequential k-out-of-n model is appropriate for a given data.     

Effective PCA for high-dimension, low-sample-size data with singular value decomposition of cross data matrix

In this paper, we propose a new methodology to deal with PCA in high-dimension, low-sample-size (HDLSS) data situations. We give an idea of estimating eigenvalues via singular values of a cross data matrix. We provide consistency properties of the eigenvalue estimation as well as its limiting distribution when the dimension d and the sample size n both grow to infinity in such a way that n is much lower than d. We apply the new methodology to estimating PC directions and PC scores in HDLSS data situations. We give an application of the findings in this paper to a mixture model to classify a dataset into two clusters. We demonstrate how the new methodology performs by using HDLSS data from a microarray study of prostate cancer.     

Empirical likelihood for a varying coefficient partially linear model with diverging number of parameters

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, for the estimation or inference about the parameters of interest in semiparametric models, the commonly used plug-in estimation for infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter creates non-negligible bias, and the least favorable curve or under-smoothing is popularly employed for bias reduction in the literature. To avoid such strong structure assumptions on the models and inconvenience of estimation implementation, for the diverging number of parameters in a varying coefficient partially linear model, we adopt a bias-corrected empirical likelihood (BCEL) in this paper. This method results in the distribution of the empirical likelihood ratio to be asymptotically tractable. It can then be directly applied to construct confidence region for the parameters of interest. Second, different from all existing methods that impose strong conditions to ensure consistency of estimation when diverging the number of the parameters goes to infinity as the sample size goes to infinity, we provide techniques to show that, other than the usual regularity conditions, the consistency holds under moment conditions alone on the covariates and error with a diverging rate being even faster than those in the literature. A simulation study is carried out to assess the performance of the proposed method and to compare it with the profile least squares method. A real dataset is analyzed for illustration.     

A profile-type smoothed score function for a varying coefficient partially linear model

The varying coefficient partially linear model is considered in this paper. When the plug-in estimators of coefficient functions are used, the resulting smoothing score function becomes biased due to the slow convergence rate of nonparametric estimations. To reduce the bias of the resulting smoothing score function, a profile-type smoothed score function is proposed to draw inferences on the parameters of interest without using the quasi-likelihood framework, the least favorable curve, a higher order kernel or under-smoothing. The resulting profile-type statistic is still asymptotically Chi-squared under some regularity conditions. The results are then used to construct confidence regions for the parameters of interest. A simulation study is carried out to assess the performance of the proposed method and to compare it with the profile least-squares method. A real dataset is analyzed for illustration.     

Multivariate dependence of spacings of generalized order statistics

Multivariate dependence of spacings of generalized order statistics is studied. It is shown that spacings of generalized order statistics from DFR (IFR) distributions have the CIS (CDS) property. By restricting the choice of the model parameters and strengthening the assumptions on the underlying distribution, stronger dependence relations are established. For instance, if the model parameters are decreasingly ordered and the underlying distribution has a log-convex decreasing (log-concave) hazard rate, then the spacings satisfy the MTP₂ (S- MRR₂) property. Some consequences of the results are given. In particular, conditions for non-negativity of the best linear unbiased estimator of the scale parameter in a location-scale family are obtained. By applying a result for dual generalized order statistics, we show that in the particular situation of usual order statistics the assumptions can be weakened.     

Identification of graphical models for nonignorable nonresponse of binary outcomes in longitudinal studies

In this paper, we use directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) with temporal structure to describe models of nonignorable nonresponse mechanisms for binary outcomes in longitudinal studies, and we discuss identification of these models under an assumption that the sequence of variables has the first-order Markov dependence, that is, the future variables are independent of the past variables conditional on the present variables. We give a stepwise approach for checking identifiability of DAG models. For an unidentifiable model, we propose adding completely observed variables such that this model becomes identifiable.     

Analysis of NMAR missing data without specifying missing-data mechanisms in a linear latent variate model

It is natural to assume that a missing-data mechanism depends on latent variables in the analysis of incomplete data in latent variate modeling because latent variables are error-free and represent key notions investigated by applied researchers. Unfortunately, the missing-data mechanism is then not missing at random (NMAR). In this article, a new estimation method is proposed, which leads to consistent and asymptotically normal estimators for all parameters in a linear latent variate model, where the missing mechanism depends on the latent variables and no concrete functional form for the missing-data mechanism is used in estimation. The method to be proposed is a type of multi-sample analysis with or without mean structures, and hence, it is easy to implement. Complete-case analysis is shown to produce consistent estimators for some important parameters in the model.     

Oracally efficient spline smoothing of nonlinear additive autoregression models with simultaneous confidence band

Under weak conditions of smoothness and mixing, we propose spline-backfitted spline (SBS) estimators of the component functions for a nonlinear additive autoregression model that is both computationally expedient for analyzing high dimensional large time series data, and theoretically reliable as the estimator is oracally efficient and comes with asymptotically simultaneous confidence band. Simulation evidence strongly corroborates with the asymptotic theory.