Estimation of location parameters for spherically symmetric distributions

Estimation of the location parameters of a p×1 random vector with a spherically symmetric distribution is considered under quadratic loss. The conditions of Brandwein and Strawderman [Ann. Statist. 19(1991) 1639-1650] under which estimators of the form dominate are (i) where -h is superharmonic, (ii) is nonincreasing in R, where has a uniform distribution in the sphere centered at with a radius R, and (iii) . In this paper, we not only drop their condition (ii) to show the dominance of over but also obtain a new bound for a which is sometimes better than that obtained by Brandwein and Strawderman. Specifically, the new bound of a is 0<a<[μ₁/(p²μ_-1)][1-(p-1)μ₁/(pμ_-1μ₂)]^-1 with for i=-1,1,2. The generalization to concave loss functions is also considered. Additionally, we investigate estimators of the location parameters when the scale is unknown and the observation contains a residual vector.     

Estimation of the ratio of the scale parameters of two exponential distributions with unknown location parameters

We consider the estimation of the ratio of the scale parameters of two independent two-parameter exponential distributions with unknown location parameters. It is shown that the best affine equivariant estimator (BAEE) is inadmissible under any loss function from a large class of bowl-shaped loss functions. Two new classes of improved estimators are obtained. Some values of the risk functions of the BAEE and two improved estimators are evaluated for two particular loss functions. Our results are parallel to those of Zidek (1973, Ann. Statist., 1, 264–278), who derived a class of estimators that dominate the BAEE of the scale parameter of a two-parameter exponential distribution.     

Minimax estimation of location parameters for certain spherically symmetric distributions

Families of minimax estimators are found for the location parameters of a p-variate distribution of the form

, where G(·) is a known c.d.f. on (0, ∞), p ≥ 3 and the loss is sum of squared errors. The estimators are of the form $\text{(1 ? ar(X′X)}\text{E}{}_0\text{(}\text{1}\text{X′X}\text{)X′X)X}$ where 0 ≤ a ≤ 2, r(X′X) is nondecreasing, and $\text{r(X′X)}\text{X′X}$ is nonincreasing. Generalized Bayes minimax estimators are found for certain G(·)'s.     

On exponential rates of likelihood ratio estimators for location parameters

In this paper the exponential rates, bounds, and local exponential rates for likelihood ratio estimators are studied. Under certain regularity conditions, a family of likelihood ratio estimators is shown to be admissible in exponential rate. It is also shown that the maximum likelihood estimator is the limit of this family of estimators.     

A class of uniform tests for goodness-of-fit of the multivariate $$L_p$$ -norm spherical distributions and the $$l_p$$ -norm symmetric distributions

In this paper we employ the conditional probability integral transformation (CPIT) method to transform a d-dimensional sample from two classes of generalized multivariate distributions into a uniform sample in the unit interval \((0,\,1)\) or in the unit hypercube \([0,\,1]^{d-1}\) (\(d\ge 2\)). A class of existing uniform statistics are adopted to test the uniformity of the transformed sample. Monte Carlo studies are carried out to demonstrate the performance of the tests in controlling type I error rates and power against a selected group of alternative distributions. It is concluded that the proposed tests have satisfactory empirical performance and the CPIT method in this paper can serve as a general way to construct goodness-of-fit tests for many generalized multivariate distributions.

     

Maximum likelihood character of distributions

In this paper,some distributions in the family of those with invariance under orthogonaltransformations within an s-dimensional linear subspace are characterized by maximun likelihoodcriteria.Specially,the main result is:suppose P_v is a projection matrix of a given s-dimensionalsubspace V,and x_1,…,x_n are i.i.d.samples drawn from a population with a pdf f(x′P_vx),wheref(·) is a positive and continuously differentiable function.Then P_v(M_n) is the maximum likelihoodestimator of P_v ifff(x)=c_kexp(kx) (k>0),where M_n=sum from i=1 to n x_ix′_i,P_v(M_n)=sum from i=1 to (?) (?)_i(?)′_t,λ_1,…,λ_(?) are the first s largest eigenvalues of matrix M_n,and(?)_1,…,(?)_(?) are their associated eigenvectors.     

Maximum integrated likelihood estimator of the interest parameter when the nuisance parameter is location or scale

The problem of estimation of an interest parameter in the presence of a nuisance parameter, which is either location or scale, is studied. Two estimators are considered: the usual maximum likelihood estimator and the estimator based on maximization of the integrated likelihood function. The estimators are compared, asymptotically, with respect to the bias and with respect to the mean squared error. The examples are given.     

Near-exact distributions for the independence and sphericity likelihood ratio test statistics

In this paper we show how, based on a decomposition of the likelihood ratio test for sphericity into two independent tests and a suitably developed decomposition of the characteristic function of the logarithm of the likelihood ratio test statistic to test independence in a set of variates, we may obtain extremely well-fitting near-exact distributions for both test statistics. Since both test statistics have the distribution of the product of independent Beta random variables, it is possible to obtain near-exact distributions for both statistics in the form of Generalized Near-Integer Gamma distributions or mixtures of these distributions. For the independence test statistic, numerical studies and comparisons with asymptotic distributions proposed by other authors show the extremely high accuracy of the near-exact distributions developed as approximations to the exact distribution. Concerning the sphericity test statistic, comparisons with formerly developed near-exact distributions show the advantages of these new near-exact distributions.     

Shrinkage estimators of the location parameter for certain spherically symmetric distributions

We consider estimation of a location vector for particular subclasses of spherically symmetric distributions in the presence of a known or unknown scale parameter. Specifically, for these spherically symmetric distributions we obtain slightly more general conditions and larger classes of estimators than Brandwein and Strawderman (1991,Ann. Statist.,19, 1639–1650) under which estimators of the formX +ag(X) dominateX for quadratic loss, concave functions of quadratic loss and general quadratic loss.Research supported by NSF grant DMS-88-22622     

The effects of nonnormality on asymptotic distributions of some likelihood ratio criteria for testing covariance structures under normal assumption

This paper examines asymptotic distributions of the likelihood ratio criteria, which are proposed under normality, for several hypotheses on covariance matrices when the true distribution of a population is a certain nonnormal distribution. It is well known that asymptotic distributions of test statistics depend on the fourth moments of the true population's distribution. We study the effects of nonnormality on the asymptotic distributions of the null and nonnull distributions of likelihood ratio criteria for covariance structures.     

Limiting distributions of the likelihood ratio and estimators from censored samples

Limiting distributions are constructed for the log likelihood ratio of close hypotheses and for estimators from censored samples.Translated from Statisticheskie Metody Otsenivaniya i Proverki Gipotez, pp. 95–104, 1986.     

Asymptotic distributions of the likelihood ratio test statistics for covariance structures of the complex multivariate normal distributions

In this paper, the authors derived asymptotic expressions for the null distributions of the likelihood ratio test statistics for multiple independence and multiple homogeneity of the covariance matrices when the underlying distributions are complex multivariate normal. Also, asymptotic expressions are obtained in the non-null cases for the likelihood ratio test statistics for independence of two sets of variables and the equality of two covariance matrices. The expressions obtained in this paper are in terms of beta series. In the null cases, the accuracy of the first terms alone is sufficient for many practical purposes.     

Generalized Bayes minimax estimators of location vectors for spherically symmetric distributions

Let X∼f(∥x-θ∥²) and let δ_π(X) be the generalized Bayes estimator of θ with respect to a spherically symmetric prior, π(∥θ∥²), for loss ∥δ-θ∥². We show that if π(t) is superharmonic, non-increasing, and has a non-decreasing Laplacian, then the generalized Bayes estimator is minimax and dominates the usual minimax estimator δ₀(X)=X under certain conditions on . The class of priors includes priors of the form for and hence includes the fundamental harmonic prior . The class of sampling distributions includes certain variance mixtures of normals and other functions f(t) of the form e^-αtβ and e^-αt+βφ(t) which are not mixtures of normals. The proofs do not rely on boundness or monotonicity of the function r(t) in the representation of the Bayes estimator as .     

Probability distributions of the Kolmogorov and omega-square statistics for continuous distributions with shift and scale parameters

The paper is devoted to the application of the statistical Kolmogorov and omega-square criteria to verification of a complex hypothesis H₀ according to which the independent, identically and continuously distributed random variables X₁,...,X_n have the law G[(x– ₁)/ ₂].Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova AN SSSR, Vol. 85, pp. 46–74, 1979.     

约束下多子女家系数据重组率的最大似然估计

本文针对相型信息未知的三回交家系,讨论了在自然的序约束下重组率的估计问题.考虑了多后代数据的后代表型分类问题,给出了后代表型分类数的一个具体公式.基于表型分类所得数据,采用约束EM算法(REM)估计了两位点重组率.鉴于交换干扰的存在可能会影响到基因定位的精度,基于该估计,进一步考虑了有关生物体基因组中交换干扰的统计推断问题.实例和模拟研究均显示REM算法要优于无约束算法,并证实了多后代家庭会提供更多连锁信息这一观点.     

Estimate for Euclidean parameters of a mixture of two symmetric distributions

A sample from a mixture of two symmetric distributions is observed. The considered distributions differ only by a shift. Estimates are constructed by the method of estimating equations for parameters of mean locations and concentrations (mixing probabilities) of both components. We obtain conditions for the asymptotic normality of these estimates. The greatest lower bounds for the coefficients of dispersion of the estimates are determined.