Efficiency of a Liu-type estimator in semiparametric regression models

In this paper we consider the semiparametric regression model, y=Xβ+f+ε. Recently, Hu [11] proposed ridge regression estimator in a semiparametric regression model. We introduce a Liu-type (combined ridge-Stein) estimator (LTE) in a semiparametric regression model. Firstly, Liu-type estimators of both β and f are attained without a restrained design matrix. Secondly, the LTE estimator of β is compared with the two-step estimator in terms of the mean square error. We describe the almost unbiased Liu-type estimator in semiparametric regression models. The almost unbiased Liu-type estimator is compared with the Liu-type estimator in terms of the mean squared error matrix. A numerical example is provided to show the performance of the estimators.     

A Computationally Efficient Oracle Estimator for Additive Nonparametric Regression with Bootstrap Confidence Intervals

Abstract

This article makes three contributions. First, we introduce a computationally efficient estimator for the component functions in additive nonparametric regression exploiting a different motivation from the marginal integration estimator of Linton and Nielsen. Our method provides a reduction in computation of order n which is highly significant in practice. Second, we define an efficient estimator of the additive components, by inserting the preliminary estimator into a backfitting˙ algorithm but taking one step only, and establish that it is equivalent, in various senses, to the oracle estimator based on knowing the other components. Our two-step estimator is minimax superior to that considered in Opsomer and Ruppert, due to its better bias. Third, we define a bootstrap algorithm for computing pointwise confidence intervals and show that it achieves the correct coverage.     

不等式约束条件下部分线性回归模型的参数估计

本文研究了不等式约束条件下部分线性回归模型的参数估计问题，利用最优化方法和贝叶斯方法，给出了不等式约束条件下部分线性回归模型的最小二乘核估计和最佳贝叶斯估计，并且证明了在一定条件下，带约束条件的最小二乘核估计在均方误差意义下要优于无约束条件的最小二乘核估计。     

Robust Depth-Weighted Wavelet for Nonparametric Regression Models

In the nonparametric regression models, the original regression estimators including kernel estimator, Fourier series estimator and wavelet estimator are always constructed by the weighted sum of data, and the weights depend only on the distance between the design points and estimation points. As a result these estimators are not robust to the perturbations in data. In order to avoid this problem, a new nonparametric regression model, called the depth-weighted regression model, is introduced and then the depth-weighted wavelet estimation is defined. The new estimation is robust to the perturbations in data, which attains very high breakdown value close to 1/2. On the other hand, some asymptotic behaviours such as asymptotic normality are obtained. Some simulations illustrate that the proposed wavelet estimator is more robust than the original wavelet estimator and, as a price to pay for the robustness, the new method is slightly less efficient than the original method.     

Local Weighted Composite Quantile Estimating for Varying Coefficient Models

A generalization of classical linear models is varying coefficient models, which offer a flexible approach to modeling nonlinearity between covariates. A method of local weighted composite quantile regression is suggested to estimate the coefficient functions. The local Bahadur representation of the local estimator is derived and the asymptotic normality of the resulting estimator is established. Comparing to the local least squares estimator, the asymptotic relative efficiency is examined for the local weighted composite quantile estimator. Both theoretical analysis and numerical simulations reveal that the local weighted composite quantile estimator can obtain more efficient than the local least squares estimator for various non-normal errors. In the normal error case, the local weighted composite quantile estimator is almost as efficient as the local least squares estimator. Monte Carlo results are consistent with our theoretical findings. An empirical application demonstrates the potential of the proposed method.     

Stahel-Donoho kernel estimation for fixed design nonparametric regression models

This paper reports a robust kernel estimation for fixed design nonparametric regression models. A Stahel-Donoho kernel estimation is introduced, in which the weight functions depend on both the depths of data and the distances between the design points and the estimation points. Based on a local approximation, a computational technique is given to approximate to the incomputable depths of the errors. As a result the new estimator is computationally efficient. The proposed estimator attains a high breakdown point and has perfect asymptotic behaviors such as the asymptotic normality and convergence in the mean squared error. Unlike the depth-weighted estimator for parametric regression models, this depth-weighted nonparametric estimator has a simple variance structure and then we can compare its efficiency with the original one. Some simulations show that the new method can smooth the regression estimation and achieve some desirable balances between robustness and efficiency.     

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.     

Nonparametric estimation of distributions with categorical and continuous data

In this paper we consider the problem of estimating an unknown joint distribution which is defined over mixed discrete and continuous variables. A nonparametric kernel approach is proposed with smoothing parameters obtained from the cross-validated minimization of the estimator's integrated squared error. We derive the rate of convergence of the cross-validated smoothing parameters to their ‘benchmark’ optimal values, and we also establish the asymptotic normality of the resulting nonparametric kernel density estimator. Monte Carlo simulations illustrate that the proposed estimator performs substantially better than the conventional nonparametric frequency estimator in a range of settings. The simulations also demonstrate that the proposed approach does not suffer from known limitations of the likelihood cross-validation method which breaks down with commonly used kernels when the continuous variables are drawn from fat-tailed distributions. An empirical application demonstrates that the proposed method can yield superior predictions relative to commonly used parametric models.     

半相依模型参数估计的改进

对于m个半相依回归系统的未知回归系数, 文献[7]提出一种利用信息逐次迭加的方法, 该文首先在其基础上给出一种进一步改进形式, 并得到了其相合性, 同时作者借鉴文献[7]提出逐次迭加信息的构造估计思想给出一种具有小样本优良性的可行估计, 模拟研究也表明作者的改进估计是有效的.文献[10]根据Rao的协方差改进思想, 给出一种更为简洁的两步估计, 该文在此估计基础上给出一种改进形式, 新估计具有更好的可操作性和均方误差意义下的优良性.     

Randomly censored partially linear single-index models

This paper proposes a method for estimation of a class of partially linear single-index models with randomly censored samples. The method provides a flexible way for modelling the association between a response and a set of predictor variables when the response variable is randomly censored. It presents a technique for “dimension reduction” in semiparametric censored regression models and generalizes the existing accelerated failure-time models for survival analysis. The estimation procedure involves three stages: first, transform the censored data into synthetic data or pseudo-responses unbiasedly; second, obtain quasi-likelihood estimates of the regression coefficients in both linear and single-index components by an iteratively algorithm; finally, estimate the unknown nonparametric regression function using techniques for univariate censored nonparametric regression. The estimators for the regression coefficients are shown to be jointly root-n consistent and asymptotically normal. In addition, the estimator for the unknown regression function is a local linear kernel regression estimator and can be estimated with the same efficiency as all the parameters are known. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to illustrate the proposed methodology.