The asymptotic behavior of linear placement statistics

Orban and Wolfe (1982) and Kim (1999) provided the limiting distribution for linear placement statistics under null hypotheses only when one of the sample sizes goes to infinity. In this paper we prove the asymptotic normality and the weak convergence of the linear placement statistics of Orban and Wolfe (1982) and Kim (1999) when the sample sizes of each group go to infinity simultaneously.     

An asymptotic theory for sample covariances of Bernoulli shifts

Covariances play a fundamental role in the theory of stationary processes and they can naturally be estimated by sample covariances. There is a well-developed asymptotic theory for sample covariances of linear processes. For nonlinear processes, however, many important problems on their asymptotic behaviors are still unanswered. The paper presents a systematic asymptotic theory for sample covariances of nonlinear time series. Our results are applied to the test of correlations.     

On the singularity of multivariate skew-symmetric models

In recent years, the skew-normal models introduced by Azzalini (1985) [1]-and their multivariate generalizations from Azzalini and Dalla Valle (1996) [4]-have enjoyed an amazing success, although an important literature has reported that they exhibit, in the vicinity of symmetry, singular Fisher information matrices and stationary points in the profile log-likelihood function for skewness, with the usual unpleasant consequences for inference. It has been shown (DiCiccio and Monti (2004) [23], DiCiccio and Monti (2009) [24] and Gómez et al. (2007) [25]) that these singularities, in some specific parametric extensions of skew-normal models (such as the classes of skew-t or skew-exponential power distributions), appear at skew-normal distributions only. Yet, an important question remains open: in broader semiparametric models of skewed distributions (such as the general skew-symmetric and skew-elliptical ones), which symmetric kernels lead to such singularities? The present paper provides an answer to this question. In very general (possibly multivariate) skew-symmetric models, we characterize, for each possible value of the rank of Fisher information matrices, the class of symmetric kernels achieving the corresponding rank. Our results show that, for strictly multivariate skew-symmetric models, not only Gaussian kernels yield singular Fisher information matrices. In contrast, we prove that systematic stationary points in the profile log-likelihood functions are obtained for (multi)normal kernels only. Finally, we also discuss the implications of such singularities on inference.     

The asymptotic distribution of weighted empirical distribution functions

Let G_n denote the empirical distribution based on n independent uniform (0, 1) random variables. The asymptotic distribution of the supremum of weighted discrepancies between G_n(u) and u of the forms 6w_v(u)D_n(u)6 and 6w_v(G_n(u))D_n(u)6, where D_n(u) = G_n(u)?u, w_v(u) = (u(1?u))^?1+v and 0 ? v < $\text{1}\text{2}$ is obtained. Goodness-of-fit tests based on these statistics are shown to be asymptotically sensitive only in the extreme tails of a distribution, which is exactly where such statistics that use a weight function w_v with $\text{1}\text{2}$ ? v ? 1 are insensitive. For this reason weighted discrepancies which use the weight function w_v with 0 ? v < $\text{1}\text{2}$ are potentially applicable in the construction of confidence contours for the extreme tails of a distribution.     

On the chernoff-savage theorem for dependent sequences

Summary Given a sequence of ϕ-mixing random variables not necessarily stationary, a Chernoff-Savage theorem for two-sample linear rank statistics is proved using the Pyke-Shorack [5] approach based on weak convergence properties of empirical processes in an extended metric. This result is a generalization of Fears and Mehra [4] in that the stationarity is not required and that the condition imposed on the mixing numbers is substantially relaxed. A similar result is shown to hold for strong mixing sequences under slightly stronger conditions on the mixing numbers. Research partially supported by the National Research Council of Canada under Grant No. A-3954.     

On the asymptotic power of some k-sample statistics based on the multivariate empirical process

Some k-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Cramér-von Mises-type statistics, based on the multivariate empirical process, are studied. Expressions for their asymptotic power are obtained against various classes of alternative distribution functions.     

The multivariate Behrens-Fisher distribution

The main purpose of this paper is the study of the multivariate Behrens-Fisher distribution. It is defined as the convolution of two independent multivariate Student t distributions. Some representations of this distribution as the mixture of known distributions are shown. An important result presented in the paper is the elliptical condition of this distribution in the special case of proportional scale matrices of the Student t distributions in the defining convolution. For the bivariate Behrens-Fisher problem, the authors propose a non-informative prior distribution leading to highest posterior density (H.P.D.) regions for the difference of the mean vectors whose coverage probability matches the frequentist coverage probability more accurately than that obtained using the independence-Jeffreys prior distribution, even with small samples.     

Limit theorems for some polynomial statistics of the poisson process

The central limit theorem and the theorem on large deviations for the functionals of the Poisson random process are proved. The formulas for cumulants of multiple stochastic integrals (m.s.i.) with respect to the Poisson process are obtained. The m.s.i. may be considered as anU-statistics arising in queueing theory as well as a generalization of the well-known Poisson shot-noise process, having wide applications.     

On a “lack of memory” property

For two independent nonnegative random variablesX andY we say thatX is ageless relative toY if the conditional probability P[X> Y+x|X>Y] is defined and is equal to P[X>x] for allx>0. Suppose thatX is ageless relative to a nonlatticeY with P[Y=0]<P [Y<X]. We show that the only suchX is the exponential variable. As a corollary it follows that exponential variable is the only one which possesses the ageless property relative to a continuous variable. Research partially supported by NRC of Canada grants #A8057 and #T0500. Work partially completed while on leave at Division of Math. Stat., C.S.I.R.O., Australia.     

Innovations algorithm asymptotics for periodically stationary time series with heavy tails

The innovations algorithm can be used to obtain parameter estimates for periodically stationary time series models. In this paper we compute the asymptotic distribution for these estimates in the case where the underlying noise sequence has infinite fourth moment but finite second moment. In this case, the sample covariances on which the innovations algorithm are based are known to be asymptotically stable. The asymptotic results developed here are useful to determine which model parameters are significant. In the process, we also compute the asymptotic distributions of least squares estimates of parameters in an autoregressive model.     

On the ruin probability in a dependent discrete time risk model with insurance and financial risks

This paper considers the discrete-time risk model with insurance risk and financial risk in some dependence structures. Under assumptions that the insurance risks are heavy tailed (belong to the intersection of the long-tailed class and the dominatedly varying-tailed class) and the financial risks satisfy some moment conditions, the asymptotic and uniformly asymptotic relations for the finite-time and ultimate ruin probabilities are derived.     

On the asymptotics of numbers of observations in random regions determined by order statistics

In this paper, we consider random variables counting numbers of observations that fall into regions determined by extreme order statistics and Borel sets. We study multivariate asymptotic behavior of these random variables and express their joint limiting law in terms of independent multinomial and negative multinomial laws. First, we give our results for samples with deterministic size; next we explain how to generalize them to the case of randomly indexed samples.     

Moment properties of multivariate infinitely divisible laws and criteria for multivariate self-decomposability

Ramachandran (1969) [9, Theorem 8] has shown that for any univariate infinitely divisible distribution and any positive real number α, an absolute moment of order α relative to the distribution exists (as a finite number) if and only if this is so for a certain truncated version of the corresponding Lévy measure. A generalized version of this result in the case of multivariate infinitely divisible distributions, involving the concept of g-moments, was given by Sato (1999) [6, Theorem 25.3]. We extend Ramachandran’s theorem to the multivariate case, keeping in mind the immediate requirements under appropriate assumptions of cumulant studies of the distributions referred to; the format of Sato’s theorem just referred to obviously varies from ours and seems to have a different agenda. Also, appealing to a further criterion based on the Lévy measure, we identify in a certain class of multivariate infinitely divisible distributions the distributions that are self-decomposable; this throws new light on structural aspects of certain multivariate distributions such as the multivariate generalized hyperbolic distributions studied by Barndorff-Nielsen (1977) [12] and others. Various points relevant to the study are also addressed through specific examples.     

On the covariance of the asymptotic empirical copula process

Conditions are given under which the empirical copula process associated with a random sample from a bivariate continuous distribution has a smaller asymptotic covariance function than the standard empirical process based on observations from the copula. Illustrations are provided and consequences for inference are outlined.     

Weak convergence in the functional autoregressive model

The functional autoregressive model is a Markov model taylored for data of functional nature. It revealed fruitful when attempting to model samples of dependent random curves and has been widely studied along the past few years. This article aims at completing the theoretical study of the model by addressing the issue of weak convergence for estimates from the model. The main difficulties stem from an underlying inverse problem as well as from dependence between the data. Traditional facts about weak convergence in non-parametric models appear: the normalizing sequence is not an , a bias term appears. Several original features of the functional framework are pointed out.     

A multivariate semi-logistic autoregressive process and its characterization

An autoregressive multivariate stochastic model is constructed which yields a stationary Markov process with a marginal invariant distribution as a multivariate semi-logistic distribution. This model is denoted as an MSL-AR(1) process. Some properties of the MSL-AR(1) process are studied and its characterization is also derived.