Third-order asymptotic expansion of <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>-estimators for diffusion processes

For an unknown parameter in the drift function of a diffusion process, we consider an M-estimator based on continuously observed data, and obtain its distributional asymptotic expansion up to the third order. Our setting covers the misspecified cases. To represent the coefficients in the asymptotic expansion, we derive some formulas for asymptotic cumulants of stochastic integrals, which are widely applicable to many other problems. Furthermore, asymptotic properties of cumulants of mixing processes will be also studied in a general setting.     

Asymptotic behavior of M-estimator and related random field for diffusion process

The M-estimate which maximizes a positive stochastic process Q is treated for multidimensional diffusion models. The convergence in distribution of the process of ratio of Q's after normalizing is proved. The asymptotic behavior of M-estimates is stated. We present the asymptotic variance in general cases and in estimation by misspecified models.     

Asymptotic results in robust quasi-bayesian estimation

Let Θ be a real random variable with a known (a priori) distribution. Let the observations given Θ be iid with a common distributionF₀(·)=F(·−0)F is known to belong to some family of distributions on the real line. We find estimators of Θ which are asymptotically minimax for two types of loss functions.     

Robust M-estimators in diffusion processes

Methods of robust estimation in diffusion processes are given by means of M-estimation. It is shown that the asymptotic variance of an M-estimator is obtained by applying a certain integral operator to the influence function and integrating its square. Under the condition of boundedness of the influence function, the existence of an optimal robust M-estimator is shown and an approximately optimal practical method is given. Moreover, as another criterion of robustness we consider a norm of integral type and show that the corresponding optimal robust M-estimator is obtained by solving a boundary value problem of a second order differential equation. Finally, as an illustrative example the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process is discussed.     

Asymptotic expansion formulas for functionals of ε-Markov processes with a mixing property

The ε-Markov process is a general model of stochastic processes which includes nonlinear time series models, diffusion processes with jumps, and many point processes. With a view to applications to the higher-order statistical inference, we will consider a functional of the ε-Markov process admitting a stochastic expansion. Arbitrary order asymptotic expansion of the distribution will be presented under a strong mixing condition. Applying these results, the third order asymptotic expansion of theM-estimator for a general stochastic process will be derived. The Malliavin calculus plays an essential role in this article. We illustrate how to make the Malliavin operator in several concrete examples. We will also show that the thirdorder expansion formula (Sakamoto and Yoshida (1998, ISM Cooperative Research Report, No. 107, 53–60; 1999, unpublished)) of the maximum likelihood estimator for a diffusion process can be obtained as an example of our result.     

Robust estimation in the linear model with asymmetric error distributions

In the linear model X^{n × 1} = C^{n × p}θ^{p × 1} + E^{n × 1}, Huber's theory of robust estimation of the regression vector θ^{p × 1} is adapted for two models for the partially specified common distribution F of the i.i.d. components of the error vector E^{n × 1}. In the first model considered, the restriction of F to a set [−a₀, b₀] is a standard normal distribution contaminated, with probability , by an unknown distribution symmetric about 0. In the second model, the restriction of F to [−a₀, b₀] is completely specified (and perhaps asymmetrical). In both models, the distribution of F outside the set [−a₀, b₀] is completely unspecified. For both models, consistent and asymptotically normal M-estimators of θ^{p × 1} are constructed, under mild regularity conditions on the sequence of design matrices {C^{n × p}}. Also, in both models, M-estimators are found which minimize the maximal mean-squared error. The optimal M-estimators have influence curves which vanish off compact sets.     

Mixed poisson processes and the probability of ruin

In the Poisson case there is a well known formula that relates the probability of ruin to the distribution function of aggregate claims. It is shown how this formula can be generalized to the mixed Poisson case.     

Bahadur representation of nonparametric M-estimators for spatial processes

Under some mild conditions, we establish a strong Bahadur representation of a general class of nonparametric local linear M-estimators for mixing processes on a random field. If the socalled optimal bandwidth hn = O（｜n｜^-1/5）, n ∈ Z^d, is chosen, then the remainder rates in the Bahadur representation for the local M-estimators of the regression function and its derivative are of order O（｜n｜^-4/5 log ｜n｜）. Moreover, we derive some asymptotic properties for the nonparametric local linear M-estimators as applications of our result.     

Note model-checking in non-stationary poisson processes

An approach to assessing the fit of a parametric non-stationary Poisson process model to data is presented. The approach uses kernel estimation in conjunction with a parametric bootstrap. An example is given.     

Effect of the initial estimator on the asymptotic behavior of one-step M-estimator

For a general (real) parameter, let M _nbe the M-estimator and M _n ⁽¹⁾ be its one-step version (based on a suitable initial estimator M _n ⁽⁰⁾). It is known that, under certain regularity conditions, n(M _n ⁽¹⁾-M _n)=O _p(1). The asymptotic distribution of n(M _n ⁽¹⁾-M _n) is studied; it is typically non-normal and it reveals the role of the initial estimator M _n ⁽⁰⁾.Work of this author was partially supported by the Office of Naval Research, Contract No. N00014-83-K-0387     

A local breakdown property of robust tests in linear regression

The breakdown slope, as a useful summary measure of local stability for estimators and test statistics, has been studied recently by He, Simpson, and Protnoy (1990, J. Amer. Statist. Assoc., 85). It is shown here that all regression estimates based on residuals alone in linear models have zero breakdown slopes in contamination neighborhoods, even though they can have breakdown points as high as one-half. The breakdown functions of tests based on the S-estimation are investigated. It is also shown that the Generalized M-estimators can have better local breakdown robustness. One way to obtain regression estimators with desirable local and global breakdown properties is discussed.     

On essential information in sequential decision processes

This paper provides sufficient conditions when certain information about the past of a stochastic decision processes can be ignored by a controller. We illustrate the results with particular applications to queueing control, control of semi-Markov decision processes with iid sojourn times, and uniformization of continuous-time Markov decision processes. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): Primary 60K25, Secondary 90C40     

M-estimators of structural parameters in pseudolinear models

Real valued M-estimators in a statistical model 1 with observations are replaced by -valued M-estimators in a new model with observations where are regressors, is a structural parameter and a structural function of the new model. Sufficient conditions for the consistency of are derived, motivated by the sufficiency conditions for the simpler parent estimator The result is a general method of consistent estimation in a class of nonlinear (pseudolinear) statistical problems. If F has a natural exponential density e^{x–b( x )} then our pseudolinear model with u = (g o )^–1 reduces to the well known generalized linear model, provided () = db()/d and g is the so-called link function of the generalized linear model. General results are illustrated for special pairs and leading to some classical M-estimators of mathematical statistics, as well as to a new class of generalized -quantile estimators.     

On risk processes with the Markov property and with independent increments

We study the influence on the underlying counting process of the Markov property and of the property of independent increments for a risk process.     

Analysis of customers’ impatience in queues with server vacations

Many models for customers impatience in queueing systems have been studied in the past; the source of impatience has always been taken to be either a long wait already experienced at a queue, or a long wait anticipated by a customer upon arrival. In this paper we consider systems with servers vacations where customers’ impatience is due to an absentee of servers upon arrival. Such a model, representing frequent behavior by waiting customers in service systems, has never been treated before in the literature. We present a comprehensive analysis of the single-server, M/M/1 and M/G/1 queues, as well as of the multi-server M/M/c queue, for both the multiple and the single-vacation cases, and obtain various closed-form results. In particular, we show that the proportion of customer abandonments under the single-vacation regime is smaller than that under the multiple-vacation discipline. This work was supported by the Euro-Ngi network of excellence.     

On priority queues with impatient customers

In this paper, we study three different problems where one class of customers is given priority over the other class. In the first problem, a single server receives two classes of customers with general service time requirements and follows a preemptive-resume policy between them. Both classes are impatient and abandon the system if their wait time is longer than their exponentially distributed patience limits. In the second model, the low-priority class is assumed to be patient and the single server chooses the next customer to serve according to a non-preemptive priority policy in favor of the impatient customers. The third problem involves a multi-server system that can be used to analyze a call center offering a call-back option to its impatient customers. Here, customers requesting to be called back are considered to be the low-priority class. We obtain the steady-state performance measures of each class in the first two problems and those of the high-priority class in the third problem by exploiting the level crossing method. We furthermore adapt an algorithm from the literature to obtain the factorial moments of the low-priority queue length of the multi-server system exactly.      

Asymtotics of <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>-estmation in Non-linear Regression

Consider the standard non-linear regression model y _i = g(x _i , θ ₀)+ε _i , i = 1, ... ,n where g(x, θ) is a continuous function on a bounded closed region X × Θ, θ ₀ is the unknown parameter vector in Θ ⊂ R ^p , {x ₁, x ₂, ... , x _n } is a deterministic design of experiment and {ε₁, ε₂, ... , ε _n } is a sequence of independent random variables. This paper establishes the existences of M-estimates and the asymptotic uniform linearity of M-scores in a family of non-linear regression models when the errors are independent and identically distributed. This result is then used to obtain the asymptotic distribution of a class of M-estimators for a large class of non-linear regression models. At the same time, we point out that Theorem 2 of Wang (1995) (J. of Multivariate Analysis, vol. 54, pp. 227–238, Corrigenda. vol. 55, p. 350) is not correct. This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 19831010 and grant No. 39930160) and the Doctoral Foundation of China     

On the poisson equation and optimal stopping of ergodic markov processes

Optimal stopping problems for Feller-Markov processes when the discount factor α→0 , and α=0 are studied under the assumption that the Markov semigroup is quasicompact. An ergodic structure of Markov process and solution of a so-called Poisson equation is found.     

A rank estimator in the two-sample transformation model with randomly censored data

We consider the transformation model which is a generalization of Lehmann alternatives model. This model contains a parameter and a nonparametric part F ₁ which is a distribution function. We propose a kind of M-estimator of based on ranks in the presence of random censoring. It is nonparametric in the sense that we do not have to know F ₁. Moreover, it is simple and asymptotically normal. For the proportional hazards model with special censoring, we obtain the asymptotic relative efficiency of our estimator with respect to the best nonparametric estimator for this model. It is quite efficient for special values of . We also make a comparison between our estimator and other proposed estimators with real data.     

Quasi-Profile Log Likelihoods for Unbiased Estimating Functions

This paper presents a new quasi-profile loglikelihood with the standard kind of distributional limit behaviour, for inference about an arbitrary one-dimensional parameter of interest, based on unbiased estimating functions. The new function is obtained by requiring the corresponding quasi-profile score function to have bias and information bias of order O(1). We illustrate the use of the proposed pseudo-likelihood with an application to robust inference in linear models.