In this paper, we study the performance of extremum estimators from the perspective of generalization ability (GA): the ability of a model to predict outcomes in new samples from the same population. By adapting the classical concentration inequalities, we derive upper bounds on the empirical out-of-sample prediction errors as a function of the in-sample errors, in-sample data size, heaviness in the tails of the error distribution, and model complexity. We show that the error bounds may be used for tuning key estimation hyper-parameters, such as the number of folds $K$ in cross-validation. We also show how $K$ affects the bias-variance trade-off for cross-validation. We demonstrate that the $\mathcal{L}_2$-norm difference between penalized and the corresponding un-penalized regression estimates is directly explained by the GA of the estimates and the GA of empirical moment conditions. Lastly, we prove that all penalized regression estimates are $L_2$-consistent for both the $n \geqslant p$ and the $n < p$ cases. Simulations are used to demonstrate key results.
Keywords: generalization ability, upper bound of generalization error, penalized regression, cross-validation, bias-variance trade-off, $\mathcal{L}_2$ difference between penalized and unpenalized regression, lasso, high-dimensional data.
We consider the nonparametric regression and the classification problems for $ψ$-weakly dependent processes. This weak dependence structure is more general than conditions such as, mixing, association, $\ldots$. A penalized estimation method for sparse deep neural networks is performed. In both nonparametric regression and binary classification problems, we establish oracle inequalities for the excess risk of the sparse-penalized deep neural networks estimators. Convergence rates of the excess risk of these estimators are also derived. The simulation results displayed show that, the proposed e…
Classical penalized likelihood regression problems deal with the case that the independent variables data are known exactly. In practice, however, it is common to observe data with incomplete covariate information. We are concerned with a fundamentally important case where some of the observations do not represent the exact covariate information, but only a probability distribution. In this case, the maximum penalized likelihood method can be still applied to estimating the regression function. We first show that the maximum penalized likelihood estimate exists under a mild condition. In the c…
In the regression setting, given a set of hyper-parameters, a model-estimation procedure constructs a model from training data. The optimal hyper-parameters that minimize generalization error of the model are usually unknown. In practice they are often estimated using split-sample validation. Up to now, there is an open question regarding how the generalization error of the selected model grows with the number of hyper-parameters to be estimated. To answer this question, we establish finite-sample oracle inequalities for selection based on a single training/test split and based on cross-valida…
For multivariate nonparametric regression, functional analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) modeling aims to capture the relationship between a response and covariates by decomposing the unknown function into various components, representing main effects, two-way interactions, etc. Such an approach has been pursued explicitly in smoothing spline ANOVA modeling and implicitly in various greedy methods such as MARS. We develop a new method for functional ANOVA modeling, based on doubly penalized estimation using total-variation and empirical-norm penalties, to achieve sparse selection of component functi…
This paper addresses the problem of Unbalanced Optimal Transport (UOT) in which the marginal conditions are relaxed (using weighted penalties in lieu of equality) and no additional regularization is enforced on the OT plan. In this context, we show that the corresponding optimization problem can be reformulated as a non-negative penalized linear regression problem. This reformulation allows us to propose novel algorithms inspired from inverse problems and nonnegative matrix factorization. In particular, we consider majorization-minimization which leads in our setting to efficient multiplicativ…
Many scientific studies collect data where the response and predictor variables are both functions of time, location, or some other covariate. Understanding the relationship between these functional variables is a common goal in these studies. Motivated from two real-life examples, we present in this paper a function-on-function regression model that can be used to analyze such kind of functional data. Our estimator of the 2D coefficient function is the optimizer of a form of penalized least squares where the penalty enforces a certain level of smoothness on the estimator. Our first result is …
In this paper we purpose a blockwise descent algorithm for group-penalized multiresponse regression. Using a quasi-newton framework we extend this to group-penalized multinomial regression. We give a publicly available implementation for these in R, and compare the speed of this algorithm to a competing algorithm --- we show that our implementation is an order of magnitude faster than its competitor, and can solve gene-expression-sized problems in real time.
We propose an algorithm, semismooth Newton coordinate descent (SNCD), for the elastic-net penalized Huber loss regression and quantile regression in high dimensional settings. Unlike existing coordinate descent type algorithms, the SNCD updates each regression coefficient and its corresponding subgradient simultaneously in each iteration. It combines the strengths of the coordinate descent and the semismooth Newton algorithm, and effectively solves the computational challenges posed by dimensionality and nonsmoothness. We establish the convergence properties of the algorithm. In addition, we p…
In this paper, we propose a one-pass algorithm on MapReduce for penalized linear regression \[f_λ(α, β) = \|Y - α\mathbf{1} - Xβ\|_2^2 + p_λ(β)\] where $α$ is the intercept which can be omitted depending on application; $β$ is the coefficients and $p_λ$ is the penalized function with penalizing parameter $λ$. $f_λ(α, β)$ includes interesting classes such as Lasso, Ridge regression and Elastic-net. Compared to latest iterative distributed algorithms requiring multiple MapReduce jobs, our algorithm achieves huge performance improvement; moreover, our algorithm is exact compared to the approximat…
This paper investigates tradeoffs among optimization errors, statistical rates of convergence and the effect of heavy-tailed errors for high-dimensional robust regression with nonconvex regularization. When the additive errors in linear models have only bounded second moment, we show that iteratively reweighted $\ell_1$-penalized adaptive Huber regression estimator satisfies exponential deviation bounds and oracle properties, including the oracle convergence rate and variable selection consistency, under a weak beta-min condition. Computationally, we need as many as $O(\log s + \log\log d)$ it…
This paper studies the non-asymptotic merits of the double $\ell_1$-regularized for heterogeneous overdispersed count data via negative binomial regressions. Under the restricted eigenvalue conditions, we prove the oracle inequalities for Lasso estimators of two partial regression coefficients for the first time, using concentration inequalities of empirical processes. Furthermore, derived from the oracle inequalities, the consistency and convergence rate for the estimators are the theoretical guarantees for further statistical inference. Finally, both simulations and a real data analysis demo…
Least Angle Regression is a promising technique for variable selection applications, offering a nice alternative to stepwise regression. It provides an explanation for the similar behavior of LASSO ($\ell_1$-penalized regression) and forward stagewise regression, and provides a fast implementation of both. The idea has caught on rapidly, and sparked a great deal of research interest. In this paper, we give an overview of Least Angle Regression and the current state of related research.
We propose a general technique for improving alternating optimization (AO) of nonconvex functions. Starting from the solution given by AO, we conduct another sequence of searches over subspaces that are both meaningful to the optimization problem at hand and different from those used by AO. To demonstrate the utility of our approach, we apply it to the matrix factorization (MF) algorithm for recommender systems and the coordinate descent algorithm for penalized regression (PR), and show meaningful improvements using both real-world (for MF) and simulated (for PR) data sets. Moreover, we demons…
It is often of interest to estimate regression functions non-parametrically. Penalized regression (PR) is one statistically-effective, well-studied solution to this problem. Unfortunately, in many cases, finding exact solutions to PR problems is computationally intractable. In this manuscript, we propose a mesh-based approximate solution (MBS) for those scenarios. MBS transforms the complicated functional minimization of NPR, to a finite parameter, discrete convex minimization; and allows us to leverage the tools of modern convex optimization. We show applications of MBS in a number of explici…
Penalized regression is an attractive framework for variable selection problems. Often, variables possess a grouping structure, and the relevant selection problem is that of selecting groups, not individual variables. The group lasso has been proposed as a way of extending the ideas of the lasso to the problem of group selection. Nonconvex penalties such as SCAD and MCP have been proposed and shown to have several advantages over the lasso; these penalties may also be extended to the group selection problem, giving rise to group SCAD and group MCP methods. Here, we describe algorithms for fitt…
We develop a penalized two-pass regression with time-varying factor loadings. The penalization in the first pass enforces sparsity for the time-variation drivers while also maintaining compatibility with the no-arbitrage restrictions by regularizing appropriate groups of coefficients. The second pass delivers risk premia estimates to predict equity excess returns. Our Monte Carlo results and our empirical results on a large cross-sectional data set of US individual stocks show that penalization without grouping can yield to nearly all estimated time-varying models violating the no-arbitrage re…
University of Reading（雷丁大学）；University of Southampton（南安普顿大学）；King Abdulaziz University（阿卜杜勒阿齐兹国王大学）；CSIRO Mathematics and Information Sciences（联邦科学与工业研究组织数学与信息科学研究所）；Charles Sturt University（查尔斯特大学）
A l1-norm penalized orthogonal forward regression (l1-POFR) algorithm is proposed based on the concept of leaveone- out mean square error (LOOMSE). Firstly, a new l1-norm penalized cost function is defined in the constructed orthogonal space, and each orthogonal basis is associated with an individually tunable regularization parameter. Secondly, due to orthogonal computation, the LOOMSE can be analytically computed without actually splitting the data set, and moreover a closed form of the optimal regularization parameter in terms of minimal LOOMSE is derived. Thirdly, a lower bound for regular…
We study a family of regularized score-based estimators for learning the structure of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) for a multivariate normal distribution from high-dimensional data with $p\gg n$. Our main results establish support recovery guarantees and deviation bounds for a family of penalized least-squares estimators under concave regularization without assuming prior knowledge of a variable ordering. These results apply to a variety of practical situations that allow for arbitrary nondegenerate covariance structures as well as many popular regularizers including the MCP, SCAD, $\ell_{0}…
We propose a penalized orthogonal-components regression (POCRE) for large p small n data. Orthogonal components are sequentially constructed to maximize, upon standardization, their correlation to the response residuals. A new penalization framework, implemented via empirical Bayes thresholding, is presented to effectively identify sparse predictors of each component. POCRE is computationally efficient owing to its sequential construction of leading sparse principal components. In addition, such construction offers other properties such as grouping highly correlated predictors and allowing for…
The $\ell_1$-penalized method, or the Lasso, has emerged as an important tool for the analysis of large data sets. Many important results have been obtained for the Lasso in linear regression which have led to a deeper understanding of high-dimensional statistical problems. In this article, we consider a class of weighted $\ell_1$-penalized estimators for convex loss functions of a general form, including the generalized linear models. We study the estimation, prediction, selection and sparsity properties of the weighted $\ell_1$-penalized estimator in sparse, high-dimensional settings where t…
Penalized Fair Regression for Multiple Groups in Chronic Kidney Disease
Department of Health Policy, Stanford University（健康政策系，斯坦福大学）；Stanford University（斯坦福大学）；Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University（流行病学与人口健康系，斯坦福大学）
This article is concerned with the Bridge Regression, which is a special family in penalized regression with penalty function $\sum_{j=1}^{p}|β_j|^q$ with $q>0$, in a linear model with linear restrictions. The proposed restricted bridge (RBRIDGE) estimator simultaneously estimates parameters and selects important variables when a prior information about parameters are available in either low dimensional or high dimensional case. Using local quadratic approximation, the penalty term can be approximated around a local initial values vector and the RBRIDGE estimator enjoys a closed-form expressio…
Confidence intervals based on penalized maximum likelihood estimators such as the LASSO, adaptive LASSO, and hard-thresholding are analyzed. In the known-variance case, the finite-sample coverage properties of such intervals are determined and it is shown that symmetric intervals are the shortest. The length of the shortest intervals based on the hard-thresholding estimator is larger than the length of the shortest interval based on the adaptive LASSO, which is larger than the length of the shortest interval based on the LASSO, which in turn is larger than the standard interval based on the ma…
When the design matrix has orthonormal columns, "soft thresholding" the ordinary least squares (OLS) solution produces the Lasso solution [Tibshirani, 1996]. If one uses the Puffer preconditioned Lasso [Jia and Rohe, 2012], then this result generalizes from orthonormal designs to full rank designs (Theorem 1). Theorem 2 refines the Puffer preconditioner to make the Lasso select the same model as removing the elements of the OLS solution with the largest p-values. Using a generalized Puffer preconditioner, Theorem 3 relates ridge regression to the preconditioned Lasso; this result is for the hi…
University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）；Newcastle University（纽卡斯尔大学）
High-dimensional biomarkers such as genomics are increasingly being measured in randomized clinical trials. Consequently, there is a growing interest in developing methods that improve the power to detect biomarker-treatment interactions. We adapt recently proposed two-stage interaction detecting procedures in the setting of randomized clinical trials. We also propose a new stage 1 multivariate screening strategy using ridge regression to account for correlations among biomarkers. For this multivariate screening, we prove the asymptotic between-stage independence, required for family-wise erro…
In recent years, there has been considerable theoretical development regarding variable selection consistency of penalized regression techniques, such as the lasso. However, there has been relatively little work on quantifying the uncertainty in these selection procedures. In this paper, we propose a new method for inference in high dimensions using a score test based on penalized regression. In this test, we perform penalized regression of an outcome on all but a single feature, and test for correlation of the residuals with the held-out feature. This procedure is applied to each feature in t…
We discuss the prediction accuracy of assumed statistical models in terms of prediction errors for the generalized linear model and penalized maximum likelihood methods. We derive the forms of estimators for the prediction errors, such as $C_p$ criterion, information criteria, and leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV) error, using the generalized approximate message passing (GAMP) algorithm and replica method. These estimators coincide with each other when the number of model parameters is sufficiently small; however, there is a discrepancy between them in particular in the parameter region w…
In traditional logistic regression models, the link function is often assumed to be linear and continuous in predictors. Here, we consider a threshold model that all continuous features are discretized into ordinal levels, which further determine the binary responses. Both the threshold points and regression coefficients are unknown and to be estimated. For high dimensional data, we propose a fusion penalized logistic threshold regression (FILTER) model, where a fused lasso penalty is employed to control the total variation and shrink the coefficients to zero as a method of variable selection.…
We propose a new algorithm called PLUTO for building logistic regression trees to binary response data. PLUTO can capture the nonlinear and interaction patterns in messy data by recursively partitioning the sample space. It fits a simple or a multiple linear logistic regression model in each partition. PLUTO employs the cyclical coordinate descent method for estimation of multiple linear logistic regression models with elastic net penalties, which allows it to deal with high-dimensional data efficiently. The tree structure comprises a graphical description of the data. Together with the logist…
It has been shown that AIC-type criteria are asymptotically efficient selectors of the tuning parameter in non-concave penalized regression methods under the assumption that the population variance is known or that a consistent estimator is available. We relax this assumption to prove that AIC itself is asymptotically efficient and we study its performance in finite samples. In classical regression, it is known that AIC tends to select overly complex models when the dimension of the maximum candidate model is large relative to the sample size. Simulation studies suggest that AIC suffers from t…
We develop estimation for potentially high-dimensional additive structural equation models. A key component of our approach is to decouple order search among the variables from feature or edge selection in a directed acyclic graph encoding the causal structure. We show that the former can be done with nonregularized (restricted) maximum likelihood estimation while the latter can be efficiently addressed using sparse regression techniques. Thus, we substantially simplify the problem of structure search and estimation for an important class of causal models. We establish consistency of the (rest…
The Graduate University for Advanced Science (SOKENDAI)（综合研究大学院大学（SOKENDAI））
We propose an estimator of prediction error using an approximate message passing (AMP) algorithm that can be applied to a broad range of sparse penalties. Following Stein's lemma, the estimator of the generalized degrees of freedom, which is a key quantity for the construction of the estimator of the prediction error, is calculated at the AMP fixed point. The resulting form of the AMP-based estimator does not depend on the penalty function, and its value can be further improved by considering the correlation between predictors. The proposed estimator is asymptotically unbiased when the compone…
We consider the problem of learning a coefficient vector $x_{0}$ in $R^{N}$ from noisy linear observations $y=Fx_{0}+w$ in $R^{M}$ in the high dimensional limit $M,N$ to infinity with $α=M/N$ fixed. We provide a rigorous derivation of an explicit formula -- first conjectured using heuristic methods from statistical physics -- for the asymptotic mean squared error obtained by penalized convex regression estimators such as the LASSO or the elastic net, for a class of very generic random matrices corresponding to rotationally invariant data matrices with arbitrary spectrum. The proof is based on …
The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) and ridge regression produce usually different estimates although input, loss function and parameterization of the penalty are identical. In this paper we look for ridge and lasso models with identical solution set. It turns out, that the lasso model with shrink vector $λ$ and a quadratic penalized model with shrink matrix as outer product of $λ$ with itself are equivalent, in the sense that they have equal solutions. To achieve this, we have to restrict the estimates to be positive. This doesn't limit the area of application since we…
High-dimensional data can often display heterogeneity due to heteroscedastic variance or inhomogeneous covariate effects. Penalized quantile and expectile regression methods offer useful tools to detect heteroscedasticity in high-dimensional data. The former is computationally challenging due to the non-smooth nature of the check loss, and the latter is sensitive to heavy-tailed error distributions. In this paper, we propose and study (penalized) robust expectile regression (retire), with a focus on iteratively reweighted $\ell_1$-penalization which reduces the estimation bias from $\ell_1$-pe…
