Tree-based multivariate regression and density estimation with right-censored data

We propose a unified strategy for estimator construction, selection, and performance assessment in the presence of censoring. This approach is entirely driven by the choice of a loss function for the full (uncensored) data structure and can be stated in terms of the following three main steps. (1) First, define the parameter of interest as the minimizer of the expected loss, or risk, for a full data loss function chosen to represent the desired measure of performance. Map the full data loss function into an observed (censored) data loss function having the same expected value and leading to an efficient estimator of this risk. (2) Next, construct candidate estimators based on the loss function for the observed data. (3) Then, apply cross-validation to estimate risk based on the observed data loss function and to select an optimal estimator among the candidates. A number of common estimation procedures follow this approach in the full data situation, but depart from it when faced with the obstacle of evaluating the loss function for censored observations. Here, we argue that one can, and should, also adhere to this estimation road map in censored data situations.Tree-based methods, where the candidate estimators in Step 2 are generated by recursive binary partitioning of a suitably defined covariate space, provide a striking example of the chasm between estimation procedures for full data and censored data (e.g., regression trees as in CART for uncensored data and adaptations to censored data). Common approaches for regression trees bypass the risk estimation problem for censored outcomes by altering the node splitting and tree pruning criteria in manners that are specific to right-censored data. This article describes an application of our unified methodology to tree-based estimation with censored data. The approach encompasses univariate outcome prediction, multivariate outcome prediction, and density estimation, simply by defining a suitable loss function for each of these problems. The proposed method for tree-based estimation with censoring is evaluated using a simulation study and the analysis of CGH copy number and survival data from breast cancer patients.     

On the rates of decay to equilibrium in degenerate and defective Fokker–Planck equations

We establish sharp long time asymptotic behaviour for a family of entropies to defective Fokker–Planck equations and show that, much like defective finite dimensional ODEs, their decay rate is an exponential multiplied by a polynomial in time. The novelty of our study lies in the amalgamation of spectral theory and a quantitative non-symmetric hypercontractivity result, as opposed to the usual approach of the entropy method.     

Generalized Smooth Monotonic Regression in Additive Modeling

Common approaches to monotonic regression focus on the case of a unidimensional covariate and continuous response variable. Here a general approach is proposed that allows for additive structures where one or more variables have monotone influence on the response variable. In addition the approach allows for response variables from an exponential family, including binary and Poisson distributed response variables. Flexibility of the smooth estimate is gained by expanding the unknown function in monotonic basis functions. For the estimation of coefficients and the selection of basis functions a likelihood-based boosting algorithm is proposed which is simple to implement. Stopping criteria and inference are based on AIC-type measures. The method is applied to several datasets.     

Weighted Poisson Cells as Models for Random Convex Polytopes

We introduce a parametric family for random convex polytopes in ? ^d which allows for an easy generation of samples for further use, e.g., as random particles in materials modelling and simulation. The basic idea consists in weighting the Poisson cell, which is the typical cell of the stationary and isotropic Poisson hyperplane tessellation, by suitable geometric characteristics. Since this approach results in an exponential family, parameters can be efficiently estimated by maximum likelihood. This work has been motivated by the desire for a flexible model for random convex particles as can be found in many composite materials such as concrete or refractory castables.     

Nonlife ratemaking and risk management with Bayesian generalized additive models for location,scale, and shape

Generalized additive models for location, scale and, shape define a flexible, semi-parametric class of regression models for analyzing insurance data in which the exponential family assumption for the response is relaxed. This approach allows the actuary to include risk factors not only in the mean but also in other key parameters governing the claiming behavior, like the degree of residual heterogeneity or the no-claim probability. In this broader setting, the Negative Binomial regression with cell-specific heterogeneity and the zero-inflated Poisson regression with cell-specific additional probability mass at zero are applied to model claim frequencies. New models for claim severities that can be applied either per claim or aggregated per year are also presented. Bayesian inference is based on efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation techniques and allows for the simultaneous estimation of linear effects as well as of possible nonlinear effects, spatial variations and interactions between risk factors within the data set. To illustrate the relevance of this approach, a detailed case study is proposed based on the Belgian motor insurance portfolio studied in Denuit and Lang (2004).     

Bayesian estimation of mixed weibull exponential in life testing

This paper deals with estimating the parameters of a mixed Weibull exponential model using a Bayesian method for type I censored samples. A numerical comparison between maximum likelihood and Bayes results has been carried out, using a numerical example and computer facilities for different prior information. Bayesian results in the cases of mixed exponential (complete and censored), single exponential and single Weibull may be consider as special cases of the results of this paper. The problem can be extended to the case of more than two causes of failure.     

Exponential family non-linear models for categorical data with errors of observation

We present a general framework for treating categorical data with errors of observation. We show how both latent class models and models for doubly sampled data can be treated as exponential family nonlinear models. These are extended generalized linear models with the link function substituted by an observationwise defined non-linear function of the model parameters. The models are formulated in terms of structural probabilities and conditional error probabilities, thus allowing natural constraints when modelling errors of observation. We use an iteratively reweighted least squares procedure for obtaining maximum likelihood estimates. This is faster than the traditionally used EM algorithm and the computations can be made in GLIM.¹ As examples we analyse three sets of categorical data with errors of observation which have been analysed before by Ashford and Sowden,² Goodman³ and Chen,⁴ respectively.     

A new piecewise exponential estimator of a survival function

In 1983, Kitchin, Langberg and Proschan introduced a piecewise exponential estimator (PEXE) of a survival function for censored data that is undefined beyond the last observation. We propose a new PEXE that provides an exponential tail with a hazard rate determined by a novel nonparametric consideration.     

Unbiased Recursive Partitioning: A Conditional Inference Framework

Recursive binary partitioning is a popular tool for regression analysis. Two fundamental problems of exhaustive search procedures usually applied to fit such models have been known for a long time: overfitting and a selection bias towards covariates with many possible splits or missing values. While pruning procedures are able to solve the overfitting problem, the variable selection bias still seriously affects the interpretability of tree-structured regression models. For some special cases unbiased procedures have been suggested, however lacking a common theoretical foundation. We propose a unified framework for recursive partitioning which embeds tree-structured regression models into a well defined theory of conditional inference procedures. Stopping criteria based on multiple test procedures are implemented and it is shown that the predictive performance of the resulting trees is as good as the performance of established exhaustive search procedures. It turns out that the partitions and therefore the models induced by both approaches are structurally different, confirming the need for an unbiased variable selection. Moreover, it is shown that the prediction accuracy of trees with early stopping is equivalent to the prediction accuracy of pruned trees with unbiased variable selection. The methodology presented here is applicable to all kinds of regression problems, including nominal, ordinal, numeric, censored as well as multivariate response variables and arbitrary measurement scales of the covariates. Data from studies on glaucoma classification, node positive breast cancer survival and mammography experience are re-analyzed.     

Asymptotic theory of nonparametric regression estimates with censored data

For regression analysis, some useful information may have been lost when the responses are right censored. To estimate nonparametric functions, several estimates based on censored data have been proposed and their consistency and convergence rates have been studied in literature, but the optimal rates of global convergence have not been obtained yet. Because of the possible information loss, one may think that it is impossible for an estimate based on censored data to achieve the optimal rates of global convergence for nonparametric regression, which were established by Stone based on complete data. This paper constructs a regression spline estimate of a general nonparametric regression function based on right_censored response data, and proves, under some regularity conditions, that this estimate achieves the optimal rates of global convergence for nonparametric regression. Since the parameters for the nonparametric regression estimate have to be chosen based on a data driven criterion, we also obtain the asymptotic optimality of AIC, AICC, GCV, Cp and FPE criteria in the process of selecting the parameters.     

Forecasting daily supermarket sales using exponentially weighted quantile regression

Inventory control systems typically require the frequent updating of forecasts for many different products. In addition to point predictions, interval forecasts are needed to set appropriate levels of safety stock. The series considered in this paper are characterised by high volatility and skewness, which are both time-varying. These features motivate the consideration of forecasting methods that are robust with regard to distributional assumptions. The widespread use of exponential smoothing for point forecasting in inventory control motivates the development of the approach for interval forecasting. In this paper, we construct interval forecasts from quantile predictions generated using exponentially weighted quantile regression. The approach amounts to exponential smoothing of the cumulative distribution function, and can be viewed as an extension of generalised exponential smoothing to quantile forecasting. Empirical results are encouraging, with improvements over traditional methods being particularly apparent when the approach is used as the basis for robust point forecasting.     

含右删失数据的ZIP模型及其应用

零膨胀Poisson回归(ZIP)是处理零频数过多计数资料的有效模型,而计数数据一般含有删失或不精密的特点.本文将删失数据引入到ZIP模型中来,分别建立含右删失数据的固定效应ZIP模型,随机效应ZIP模型,通过极大边际似然函数估计法对模型进行参数估计.最后,利用实例分析验证了上述模型的可行性.     

Bayesian demand updating in the lost sales newsvendor problem: A two-moment approximation

We consider Bayesian updating of demand in a lost sales newsvendor model with censored observations. In a lost sales environment, where the arrival process is not recorded, the exact demand is not observed if it exceeds the beginning stock level, resulting in censored observations. Adopting a Bayesian approach for updating the demand distribution, we develop expressions for the exact posteriors starting with conjugate priors, for negative binomial, gamma, Poisson and normal distributions. Having shown that non-informative priors result in degenerate predictive densities except for negative binomial demand, we propose an approximation within the conjugate family by matching the first two moments of the posterior distribution. The conjugacy property of the priors also ensure analytical tractability and ease of computation in successive updates. In our numerical study, we show that the posteriors and the predictive demand distributions obtained exactly and with the approximation are very close to each other, and that the approximation works very well from both probabilistic and operational perspectives in a sequential updating setting as well.     

Multivariate Tweedie distributions and some related capital-at-risk analyses

We study a multivariate extension of the univariate exponential dispersion Tweedie family of distributions. The class, referred to as the multivariate Tweedie family (MTwF), on the one hand includes multivariate Poisson, gamma, inverse Gaussian, stable and compound Poisson distributions and on the other hand introduces a high variety of new dependent probabilistic models unstudied so far. We investigate various properties of MTwF and discuss its possible applications to financial risk management.     

A Dimensionally Continued Poisson Summation Formula

We generalize the standard Poisson summation formula for lattices so that it operates on the level of theta series, allowing us to introduce noninteger dimension parameters (using the dimensionally continued Fourier transform). When combined with one of the proofs of the Jacobi imaginary transformation of theta functions that does not use the Poisson summation formula, our proof of this generalized Poisson summation formula also provides a new proof of the standard Poisson summation formula for dimensions greater than 2 (with appropriate hypotheses on the function being summed). In general, our methods work to establish the (Voronoi) summation formulae associated with functions satisfying (modular) transformations of the Jacobi imaginary type by means of a density argument (as opposed to the usual Mellin transform approach). In particular, we construct a family of generalized theta series from Jacobi theta functions from which these summation formulae can be obtained. This family contains several families of modular forms, but is significantly more general than any of them. Our result also relaxes several of the hypotheses in the standard statements of these summation formulae. The density result we prove for Gaussians in the Schwartz space may be of independent interest.     

Uniform Growth in Groups of Exponential Growth

This is an exposition of examples and classes of finitely-generated groups which have uniform exponential growth. The main examples are non-Abelian free groups, semi-direct products of free Abelian groups with automorphisms having an eigenvalue of modulus distinct from 1, and Golod–Shafarevich infinite finitely-generated p-groups. The classes include groups which virtually have non-Abelian free quotients, nonelementary hyperbolic groups, appropriate free products with amalgamation, HNN-extensions and one-relator groups, as well as soluble groups of exponential growth. Several open problems are formulated.     

A class of estimators of the mean survival time from interval censored data with application to linear regression

A class of estimators of the mean survival time with interval censored data are studied by unbiased transformation method. The estimators are constructed based on the observations to ensure unbiasedness in the sense that the estimators in a certain class have the same expectation as the mean survival time. The estimators have good properties such as strong consistency （with the rate of O（n^-1/1 （log log n）^1/2）） and asymptotic normality. The application to linear regression is considered and the simulation reports are given.     

Asymptotic Properties of a Class of Mixture Models for Failure Data: The Interior and Boundary Cases

We analyse an exponential family of distributions which generalises the exponential distribution for censored failure time data, analogous to the way in which the class of generalised linear models generalises the normal distribution. The parameter of the distribution depends on a linear combination of covariates via a possibly nonlinear link function, and we allow another level of heterogeneity: the data may contain "immune" individuals who are not subject to failure. Thus the data is modelled by a mixture of a distribution from the exponential family and a "mass at infinity" representing individuals who never fail. Our results include large sample distributions for parameter estimators and for hypothesis test statistics obtained by maximising the likelihood of a sample. The asymptotic distribution of the likelihood ratio test statistic for the hypothesis that there are no immunes present in the population is shown to be "non-standard"; it is a 50-50 mixture of a chi-squared distribution on 1 degree of freedom and a point mass at 0. Our analysis clearly shows how "negligibility" of individual covariate values and "sufficient followup" conditions are required for the asymptotic properties.     

Distribution free tests for comparing trends in Poisson series

Tests are presented for comparing trends in the rate of occurence of events for two Poisson series. The tests are based on a product model which is similar to the one proposed by Cox [2]. The model allows arbitrary trends in the individual series. Although the density function of the observable variables does not belong to the exponential family, the method often used for exponential families is shown to be applicable for constructing the tests.     

指数分布危险函数的经验Bayes双侧检验的收敛速度: Ⅱ型截尾情形

本文讨论了Ⅱ型截尾情形下指数分布危险函数的经验Bayes (EB)双侧检验问题. 利用概率密度函数的核估计构造了经验Bayes检验函数, 在适当的条件下获得了它的收敛速度.