Three general multivariate semi-Pareto distributions and their characterizations

Three general multivariate semi-Pareto distributions are developed in this paper. First one—GMP^(k)(III) has univariate Pareto (III) marginals, it is characterized by the minimum of two independent and identically distributed random vectors. Second one—GMSP has univariate semi-Pareto marginals and it is characterized by finite sample minima. Third one—MSP is characterized through a geometric minimization procedure. All these three characterizations are based on the general and the particular solutions of the Euler's functional equations of k-variates.     

Multivariate order statistics via multivariate concomitants

Let denote a set of n independent identically distributed k-dimensional absolutely continuous random variables. A general class of complete orderings of such random vectors is supplied by viewing them as concomitants of an auxiliary random variable. The resulting definitions of multivariate order statistics subsume and extend orderings that have been previously proposed such as norm ordering and N-conditional ordering. Analogous concepts of multivariate record values and multivariate generalized order statistics are also described.     

Increasing directionally convex orderings of random vectors having the same copula, and their use in comparing ordered data

In this paper, we establish some results for the increasing convex comparisons of generalized order statistics. First, we prove that if the minimum of two sets of generalized order statistics are ordered in the increasing convex order, then the remaining generalized order statistics are also ordered in the increasing convex order. This result is extended to the increasing directionally convex comparisons of random vectors of generalized order statistics. For establishing this general result, we first prove a new result in that two random vectors with a common conditionally increasing copula are ordered in the increasing directionally convex order if the marginals are ordered in the increasing convex order. This latter result is, of course, of interest in its own right.     

A class of bivariate exponential distributions

We introduce a class of absolutely continuous bivariate exponential distributions, generated from quadratic forms of standard multivariate normal variates.This class is quite flexible and tractable, since it is regulated by two parameters only, derived from the matrices of the quadratic forms: the correlation and the correlation of the squares of marginal components. A simple representation of the whole class is given in terms of 4-dimensional matrices. Integral forms allow evaluating the distribution function and the density function in most of the cases.The class is introduced as a subclass of bivariate distributions with chi-square marginals; bounds for the dimension of the generating normal variable are underlined in the general case.Finally, we sketch the extension to the multivariate case.     

Dependence structures of multivariate Bernoulli random vectors

In some situations, it is difficult and tedious to check notions of dependence properties and dependence orders for multivariate distributions supported on a finite lattice. The purpose of this paper is to utilize a newly developed tool, majorization with respect to weighted trees, to lay out some general results that can be used to identify some dependence properties and dependence orders for multivariate Bernoulli random vectors. Such a study gives us some new insight into the relations between the concepts of dependence.     

Multivariate quadratic forms of random vectors

We obtain the distribution of the sum of n random vectors and the distribution of their quadratic forms: their densities are expanded in series of Hermite and Laguerre polynomials. We do not suppose that these vectors are independent. In particular, we apply these results to multivariate quadratic forms of Gaussian vectors. We obtain also their densities expanded in Mac Laurin series or in the form of an integral. By this last result, we introduce a new method of computation which can be much simpler than the previously known techniques. In particular, we introduce a new method in the very classical univariate case. We remark that we do not assume the independence of normal variables.     

From moments of sum to moments of product

We provide an identity that relates the moment of a product of random variables to the moments of different linear combinations of the random variables. Applying this identity, we obtain new formulae for the expectation of the product of normally distributed random variables and the product of quadratic forms in normally distributed random variables. In addition, we generalize the formulae to the case of multivariate elliptically distributed random variables. Unlike existing formulae in the literature, our new formulae are extremely efficient for computational purposes.     

Gauss inequalities on ordered linear spaces

Markov inequalities on ordered linear spaces are tightened through the α-unimodality of the corresponding measures. Modality indices are studied for various induced measures, including the singular values of a random matrix and the periodogram of a time series. These tools support a detailed study of linear inference and the ordering of random matrices, to include fixed and random designs and probability bounds on their comparative efficiencies. Other applications include probability bounds on quadratic forms and of order statistics on Rⁿ, on periodograms in the analysis of time series, and on run-length distributions in multivariate statistical process control. Connections to other topics in applied probability and statistics are noted.     

Conditional orderings and positive dependence

Every univariate random variable is smaller, with respect to the ordinary stochastic order and with respect to the hazard rate order, than a right censored version of it. In this paper we attempt to generalize these facts to the multivariate setting. It turns out that in general such comparisons do not hold in the multivariate case, but they do under some assumptions of positive dependence. First we obtain results that compare the underlying random vectors with respect to the usual multivariate stochastic order. A larger slew of results, that yield comparisons of the underlying random vectors with respect to various multivariate hazard rate orders, is given next. Some comparisons with respect to the orthant orders are also discussed.     

Conditional limiting distribution of Type III elliptical random vectors

In this paper we consider elliptical random vectors in R^d,d≥2 with stochastic representation RAU where R is a positive random radius independent of the random vector U which is uniformly distributed on the unit sphere of R^d and A∈R^d×d is a non-singular matrix. When R has distribution function in the Weibull max-domain of attraction we say that the corresponding elliptical random vector is of Type III. For the bivariate set-up, Berman [Sojurns and Extremes of Stochastic Processes, Wadsworth & Brooks/ Cole, 1992] obtained for Type III elliptical random vectors an interesting asymptotic approximation by conditioning on one component. In this paper we extend Berman's result to Type III elliptical random vectors in R^d. Further, we derive an asymptotic approximation for the conditional distribution of such random vectors.     

Reliability and expectation bounds for coherent systems with exchangeable components

Sharp upper and lower bounds are obtained for the reliability functions and the expectations of lifetimes of coherent systems based on dependent exchangeable absolutely continuous components with a given marginal distribution function, by use of the concept of Samaniego's signature. We first show that the distribution of any coherent system based on exchangeable components with absolutely continuous joint distribution is a convex combination of distributions of order statistics (equivalent to the k-out-of-n systems) with the weights identical with the values of the Samaniego signature of the system. This extends the Samaniego representation valid for the case of independent and identically distributed components. Combining the representation with optimal bounds on linear combinations of distribution functions of order statistics from dependent identically distributed samples, we derive the corresponding reliability and expectation bounds, dependent on the signature of the system and marginal distribution of dependent components. We also present the sequences of exchangeable absolutely continuous joint distributions of components which attain the bounds in limit. As an application, we obtain the reliability bounds for all the coherent systems with three and four exchangeable components, expressed in terms of the parent marginal reliability function and specify the respective expectation bounds for exchangeable exponential components, comparing them with the lifetime expectations of systems with independent and identically distributed exponential components.     

Sklar’s theorem obtained via regularization techniques

Sklar’s theorem establishes the connection between a joint d-dimensional distribution function and its univariate marginals. Its proof is straightforward when all the marginals are continuous. The hard part is the extension to the case where at least one of the marginals has a discrete component. We present a new proof of this extension based on some analytical regularization techniques (i.e., mollifiers) and on the compactness (with respect to the L^∞ norm) of the class of copulas.     

Regression models for multivariate ordered responses via the Plackett distribution

We investigate the properties of a class of discrete multivariate distributions whose univariate marginals have ordered categories, all the bivariate marginals, like in the Plackett distribution, have log-odds ratios which do not depend on cut points and all higher-order interactions are constrained to 0. We show that this class of distributions may be interpreted as a discretized version of a multivariate continuous distribution having univariate logistic marginals. Convenient features of this class relative to the class of ordered probit models (the discretized version of the multivariate normal) are highlighted. Relevant properties of this distribution like quadratic log-linear expansion, invariance to collapsing of adjacent categories, properties related to positive dependence, marginalization and conditioning are discussed briefly. When continuous explanatory variables are available, regression models may be fitted to relate the univariate logits (as in a proportional odds model) and the log-odds ratios to covariates.     

Non-Gaussian Malliavin calculus on real Lie algebras

The non-commutative Malliavin calculus on the Heisenberg-Weyl algebra is extended to the affine algebra. A differential calculus and a non-commutative integration by parts are established. As an application we obtain sufficient conditions for the smoothness of Wigner-type laws of non-commutative random variables with gamma or continuous binomial marginals.     

A new proof of Cheung’s characterization of comonotonicity

It is well known that if a random vector with given marginal distributions is comonotonic, it has the largest sum in the sense of the convex order. Cheung (2008) proved that the converse of this assertion is also true, provided that all marginal distribution functions are continuous and that the underlying probability space is atomless. This continuity assumption on the marginals was removed by Cheung (2010). In this short note, we give a new and simple proof of Cheung’s result without the assumption that the underlying probability space is atomless.     

The simplex dispersion ordering and its application to the evaluation of human corneal endothelia

A multivariate dispersion ordering based on random simplices is proposed in this paper. Given a R^d-valued random vector, we consider two random simplices determined by the convex hulls of two independent random samples of sizes d+1 of the vector. By means of the stochastic comparison of the Hausdorff distances between such simplices, a multivariate dispersion ordering is introduced. Main properties of the new ordering are studied. Relationships with other dispersion orderings are considered, placing emphasis on the univariate version. Some statistical tests for the new order are proposed. An application of such ordering to the clinical evaluation of human corneal endothelia is provided. Different analyses are included using an image database of human corneal endothelia.     

Dependence properties and bounds for ruin probabilities in multivariate compound risk models

In risk management, ignoring the dependence among various types of claims often results in over-estimating or under-estimating the ruin probabilities of a portfolio. This paper focuses on three commonly used ruin probabilities in multivariate compound risk models, and using the comparison methods shows how some ruin probabilities increase, whereas the others decrease, as the claim dependence grows. The paper also presents some computable bounds for these ruin probabilities, which can be calculated explicitly for multivariate phase-type distributed claims, and illustrates the performance of these bounds for the multivariate compound Poisson risk models with slightly or highly dependent Marshall-Olkin exponential claim sizes.     

Stochastic comparisons for time transformed exponential models

Different sufficient conditions for stochastic comparisons between random vectors have been described in the literature. In particular, conditions for the comparison of random vectors having the same copula, i.e., the same dependence structure, may be found in Müller and Scarsini (2001). Here we provide conditions for the comparison, in the usual stochastic order sense and in other weaker stochastic orders, of two time transformed exponential bivariate lifetimes having different copulas. Some examples of applications are provided too.     

Tail dependence between order statistics

In this work, we introduce the s,k-extremal coefficients for studying the tail dependence between the s-th lower and k-th upper order statistics of a normalized random vector. If its margins have tail dependence then so do their order statistics, with the strength of bivariate tail dependence decreasing as two order statistics become farther apart. Some general properties are derived for these dependence measures which can be expressed via copulas of random vectors. Its relations with other extremal dependence measures used in the literature are discussed, such as multivariate tail dependence coefficients, the coefficient η of tail dependence, coefficients based on tail dependence functions, the extremal coefficient ?, the multivariate extremal index and an extremal coefficient for min-stable distributions. Several examples are presented to illustrate the results, including multivariate exponential and multivariate Gumbel distributions widely used in applications.     

Some positive dependence stochastic orders

In this paper we study some stochastic orders of positive dependence that arise when the underlying random vectors are ordered with respect to some multivariate hazard rate stochastic orders, and have the same univariate marginal distributions. We show how the orders can be studied by restricting them to copulae, we give a number of examples, and we study some positive dependence concepts that arise from the new positive dependence orders. We also discuss the relationship of the new orders to other positive dependence orders that have appeared in the literature.