Asymptotic theorems for estimating the distribution function under random truncation

Representation theorem and local asymptotic minimax theorem are derived for nonparametric estimators of the distribution function on the basis of randomly truncated data. The convolution-type representation theorem asserts that the limiting process of any regular estimator of the distribution function is at least as dispersed as the limiting process of the product-limit estimator. The theorems are similar to those results for the complete data case due to Beran (1977, Ann. Statist., 5, 400–404) and for the censored data case due to Wellner (1982, Ann. Statist., 10, 595–602). Both likelihood and functional approaches are considered and the proofs rely on the method of Begun et al. (1983, Ann. Statist., 11, 432–452) with slight modifications.Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Columbia Univ.     

Uniformly More Powerful, Two-Sided Tests for Hypotheses about Linear Inequalities

Let Xhave a multivariate, p-dimensional normal distribution (p 2) with unknown mean and known, nonsingular covariance . Consider testing H ₀ : b _i 0, for some i = 1,..., k, and b _i 0, for some i = 1,..., k, versus H ₁ : b _i < 0, for all i = 1,..., k, or b _i < 0, for all i = 1,..., k, where b ₁,..., b _k , k 2, are known vectors that define the hypotheses and suppose that for each i = 1,..., k there is an j {1,..., k} (j will depend on i) such that b _i b _j 0. For any 0 < < 1/2. We construct a test that has the same size as the likelihood ratio test (LRT) and is uniformly more powerful than the LRT. The proposed test is an intersection-union test. We apply the result to compare linear regression functions.     

A note on wavelet density deconvolution for weakly dependent data

In this paper we investigate the performance of a linear wavelet-type deconvolution estimator for weakly dependent data. We show that the rates of convergence which are optimal in the case of i.i.d. data are also (almost) attained for strongly mixing observations, provided the mixing coefficients decay fast enough. The results are applied to a discretely observed continuous-time stochastic volatility model.     

Estimating the intensity of a cyclic Poisson process in the presence of linear trend

We construct and investigate a consistent kernel-type nonparametric estimator of the intensity function of a cyclic Poisson process in the presence of linear trend. It is assumed that only a single realization of the Poisson process is observed in a bounded window. We prove that the proposed estimator is consistent when the size of the window indefinitely expands. The asymptotic bias, variance, and the mean-squared error of the proposed estimator are also computed. A simulation study shows that the first order asymptotic approximations to the bias and variance of the estimator are not accurate enough. Second order terms for bias and variance were derived in order to be able to predict the numerical results in the simulation. Bias reduction of our estimator is also proposed.     

Adaptive nonparametric estimation for Lévy processes observed at low frequency

This article deals with adaptive nonparametric estimation for Lévy processes observed at low frequency. For general linear functionals of the Lévy measure, we construct kernel estimators, provide upper risk bounds and derive rates of convergence under regularity assumptions.     

Re-formulation of inverse Gaussian,reciprocal inverse Gaussian,and Birnbaum–Saunders kernel estimators

We reveal the boundary bias problem of Birnbaum–Saunders, inverse Gaussian, and reciprocal inverse Gaussian kernel estimators (Jin and Kawczak, 2003, Scaillet, 2004) and re-formulate these estimators to solve the problem. We investigate asymptotic properties of a new class of asymmetric kernel estimators.     

Quantifying the risk using copulae with nonparametric marginals

We show that copulae and kernel estimation can be mixed to estimate the risk of an economic loss. We analyze the properties of the Sarmanov copula. We find that the maximum pseudo-likelihood estimation of the dependence parameter associated with the copula with double transformed kernel estimation to estimate marginal cumulative distribution functions is a useful method for approximating the risk of extreme dependent losses when we have large data sets. We use a bivariate sample of losses from a real database of auto insurance claims.     

Extension of Mood’s median test for survival data

Mood’s median test for testing the equality of medians is a nonparametric approach, which has been widely used for uncensored data in practice. For survival data, many nonparametric methods have been proposed to test for the equality of survival curves. However, if the survival medians, rather than the curves, are compared, those methods are not applicable. Some approaches have been developed to fill this gap. Unfortunately, in general those tests have inflated type I error rates, which make them inapplicable to survival data with small sample sizes. In this paper, Mood’s median test for uncensored data is extended for survival data. The results from a comprehensive simulation study show that the proposed test outperforms existing methods in terms of controlling type I error rate and detecting power.     

A family of minimax rates for density estimators in continuous time

In continuous time, rates of convergence of density estimators fluctuate with the nature of observed sample paths. In this paper, we give a family of rates reached by the kernel estimator and we show that these rates are minimax. Finally, we study applications of these results for specific classes of processes including the Gaussian ones     

Nonasymptotic analysis of robust regression with modified Huber's loss

To achieve robustness against the outliers or heavy-tailed sampling distribution, we consider an Ivanov regularized empirical risk minimization scheme associated with a modified Huber's loss for nonparametric regression in reproducing kernel Hilbert space. By tuning the scaling and regularization parameters in accordance with the sample size, we develop nonasymptotic concentration results for such an adaptive estimator. Specifically, we establish the best convergence rates for prediction error when the conditional distribution satisfies a weak moment condition.