Nonparametric methods have been very popular in the last couple of decades in time series and regression, but no such development has taken place for spatial models. A rather obvious reason for this is the curse of dimensionality. For spatial data on a grid evaluating the conditional mean given its closest neighbors requires a four-dimensional nonparametric regression. In this paper a semiparametric spatial regression approach is proposed to avoid this problem. An estimation procedure based on combining the so-called marginal integration technique with local linear kernel estimation is developed in the semiparametric spatial regression setting. Asymptotic distributions are established under some mild conditions. The same convergence rates as in the one-dimensional regression case are established. An application of the methodology to the classical Mercer and Hall wheat data set is given and indicates that one directional component appears to be nonlinear, which has gone unnoticed in earlier analyses.
Logistic regression with unknown sizes has many important applications in biological and medical sciences. All models about this problem in the literature are parametric ones. A semiparametric regression model is proposed. This model incorporates overdispersion due to the variation of sizes, and allows general dose-response relations. An Expectation Conditional Maximization algorithm is provided to maximize the log likelihood. The bootstrap method can be used to construct confidence intervals for regression coefficients. Simulation is performed to study the behavior of the proposed model. Two …
In this paper, we propose a new semiparametric regression estimator by using a hybrid technique of a parametric approach and a nonparametric penalized spline method. The overall shape of the true regression function is captured by the parametric part, while its residual is consistently estimated by the nonparametric part. Asymptotic theory for the proposed semiparametric estimator is developed, showing that its behavior is dependent on the asymptotics for the nonparametric penalized spline estimator as well as on the discrepancy between the true regression function and the parametric part. As …
We investigate a semiparametric regression model where one gets noisy non linear non invertible functions of the observations. We focus on the application to bearings-only tracking. We first investigate the least squares estimator and prove its consistency and asymptotic normality under mild assumptions. We study the semiparametric likelihood process and prove local asymptotic normality of the model. This allows to define the efficient Fisher information as a lower bound for the asymptotic variance of regular estimators, and to prove that the parametric likelihood estimator is regular and asym…
In this article, we consider an imputation method to handle missing response values based on semiparametric quantile regression estimation. In the proposed method, the missing response values are generated using the estimated conditional quantile regression function at given values of covariates. We adopt the generalized method of moments for estimation of parameters defined through a general estimation equation. We demonstrate that the proposed estimator, which combines both semiparametric quantile regression imputation and generalized method of moments, has competitive edge against some of t…
This paper considers an estimation of semiparametric functional (varying)-coefficient quantile regression with spatial data. A general robust framework is developed that treats quantile regression for spatial data in a natural semiparametric way. The local M-estimators of the unknown functional-coefficient functions are proposed by using local linear approximation, and their asymptotic distributions are then established under weak spatial mixing conditions allowing the data processes to be either stationary or nonstationary with spatial trends. Application to a soil data set is demonstrated wi…
Estimating the effective dimension reduction (EDR) space, related to the semiparametric regression model introduced by Li \cite{sir}, is based on the estimation of the covariance matrix $Λ$ of the conditional expectation of the vector of predictors given the response. An estimator $\widehatΛ_n$ of $Λ$ based on kernel method was introduced by Zhu and Fang \cite{Asymptotics} who then derived, under some conditions, the asymptotic distribution of $\sqrt{n}\left(\widehatΛ_n-Λ\right)$, as $n\rightarrow +\infty$. In this paper, we obtain, under specified conditions, the almost sure convergence of $\…
We study semiparametric inference in some linear regression models with time-varying coefficients, dependent regressors and dependent errors. This problem, which has been considered recently by Zhang and Wu (2012) under the functional dependence measure, is interesting for parsimony reasons or for testing stability of some coefficients in a linear regression model. In this paper, we propose a different procedure for estimating non time-varying parameters at the rate root n, in the spirit of the method introduced by Robinson (1988) for partially linear models. When the errors in the model are m…
In this paper, we are concerned with how to select significant variables in semiparametric modeling. Variable selection for semiparametric regression models consists of two components: model selection for nonparametric components and selection of significant variables for the parametric portion. Thus, semiparametric variable selection is much more challenging than parametric variable selection (e.g., linear and generalized linear models) because traditional variable selection procedures including stepwise regression and the best subset selection now require separate model selection for the non…
Binomial data with unknown sizes often appear in biological and medical sciences and are usually overdispersed. All previous methods used parametric models and only considered overdispersion due to the variation of sizes. The proposed semiparametric model considers overdispersion due to the variation of sizes and that of probabilities. By doing this, it can include variations caused by observations, missing covariates, and random measurement errors in covariates. An Expectation Conditional Maximization algorithm is provided to stabilize the loglikelihood optimization. Selecting the number of s…
This paper addresses the problem of semiparametric efficiency bounds for conditional moment restriction models with different conditioning variables. We characterize such an efficiency bound, that in general is not explicit, as a limit of explicit efficiency bounds for a decreasing sequence of unconditional (marginal) moment restriction models. An iterative procedure for approximating the efficient score when this is not explicit is provided. Our theoretical results complete and extend existing results in the literature, provide new insight for the theory of semiparametric efficiency bounds li…
In this paper we study the problem of semiparametric estimation for a class of McKean-Vlasov stochastic differential equations. Our aim is to estimate the drift coefficient of a MV-SDE based on observations of the corresponding particle system. We propose a semiparametric estimation procedure and derive the rates of convergence for the resulting estimator. We further prove that the obtained rates are essentially optimal in the minimax sense.
We consider in this paper a contamined regression model where the distribution of the contaminating component is known when the Eu- clidean parameters of the regression model, the noise distribution, the contamination ratio and the distribution of the design data are un- known. Our model is said to be semiparametric in the sense that the probability density function (pdf) of the noise involved in the regression model is not supposed to belong to a parametric density family. When the pdf's of the noise and the contaminating phenomenon are supposed to be symmetric about zero, we propose an estim…
We consider parameter estimation in a regression model corresponding to an iid sequence of censored observations of a finite state modulated renewal process. The model assumes a similar form as in Cox regression except that the baseline intensities are functions of the backwards recurrence time of the process and a time dependent covariate. As a result of this it falls outside the class of multiplicative intensity models. We use kernel estimation to construct estimates of the regression coefficints and the baseline cumulative hazards. We give conditions for consistency and asymptotic normality…
This paper introduces and analyzes a stochastic search method for parameter estimation in linear regression models in the spirit of Beran and Millar (1987). The idea is to generate a random finite subset of a parameter space which will automatically contain points which are very close to an unknown true parameter. The motivation for this procedure comes from recent work of Duembgen, Samworth and Schuhmacher (2011) on regression models with log-concave error distributions.
This paper is devoted to the parametric estimation of a shift together with the nonparametric estimation of a regression function in a semiparametric regression model. We implement a very efficient and easy to handle Robbins-Monro procedure. On the one hand, we propose a stochastic algorithm similar to that of Robbins-Monro in order to estimate the shift parameter. A preliminary evaluation of the regression function is not necessary to estimate the shift parameter. On the other hand, we make use of a recursive Nadaraya-Watson estimator for the estimation of the regression function. This kernel…
This paper considers a wide family of semiparametric repeated measures regression models, in which the main interest is on estimating population-level quantities such as mean, variance, probabilities etc. Examples of our framework include generalized linear models for clustered/longitudinal data, among many others. We derive plug-in kernel-based estimators of the population level quantities and derive their asymptotic distribution. An example involving estimation of the survival function of hemoglobin measures in the Kenya hemoglobin study data is presented to demonstrate our methodology.
We propose a new class of semiparametric regression models of mean residual life for censored outcome data. The models, which enable us to estimate the expected remaining survival time and generalize commonly used mean residual life models, also conduct covariate dimension reduction. Using the geometric approaches in semiparametrics literature and the martingale properties with survival data, we propose a flexible inference procedure that relaxes the parametric assumptions on the dependence of mean residual life on covariates and how long a patient has lived. We show that the estimators for th…
We derive independence tests by means of dependence measures thresholding in a semiparametric context. Precisely, estimates of phi-mutual informations, associated to phi-divergences between a joint distribution and the product distribution of its margins, are derived through the dual representation of phi-divergences. The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimates are established, including consistency, asymptotic distributions and large deviations principle. The obtained tests of independence are compared via their relative asymptotic Bahadur efficiency and numerical simulations. It foll…
We investigate the asymptotic behavior of the Nadaraya-Watson estimator for the estimation of the regression function in a semiparametric regression model. On the one hand, we make use of the recursive version of the sliced inverse regression method for the estimation of the unknown parameter of the model. On the other hand, we implement a recursive Nadaraya-Watson procedure for the estimation of the regression function which takes into account the previous estimation of the parameter of the semiparametric regression model. We establish the almost sure convergence as well as the asymptotic nor…
In this work we present a simple estimation procedure for a general frailty model for analysis of prospective correlated failure times. Earlier work showed this method to perform well in a simulation study. Here we provide rigorous large-sample theory for the proposed estimators of both the regression coefficient vector and the dependence parameter, including consistent variance estimators.
This paper complements the results of Andresen et. al "Critical dimension in profile semiparametric estimation" (2014) on profile estimators in semiparametric models. We present two examples. One that illustrates that the smoothness constraint on the expected value of the contrast functional used to define the profile M-estimator is necessary for the bound derived for the critical ratio of dimension to sample size. A second one to show that in the case that the target dimension is proportional to the full dimension the critical ratio for the Fisher type result stays the same while for the Wilk…
In this paper, we consider nonparametric multidimensional finite mixture models and we are interested in the semiparametric estimation of the population weights. Here, the i.i.d. observations are assumed to have at least three components which are independent given the population. We approximate the semiparametric model by projecting the conditional distributions on step functions associated to some partition. Our first main result is that if we refine the partition slowly enough, the associated sequence of maximum likelihood estimators of the weights is asymptotically efficient, and the poste…
There is a difficulty in finding an estimate of variance of the profile likelihood estimator in the joint model of longitudinal and survival data. We solve the difficulty by introducing the ``statistical generalized derivative''. The derivative is used to show the asymptotic normality of the estimator without assuming the second derivative of the density function in the model exists.
We propose a new class of R-estimators for semiparametric VARMA models in which the innovation density plays the role of the nuisance parameter. Our estimators are based on the novel concepts of multivariate center-outward ranks and signs. We show that these concepts, combined with Le Cam's asymptotic theory of statistical experiments, yield a class of semiparametric estimation procedures, which are efficient (at a given reference density), root-$n$ consistent, and asymptotically normal under a broad class of (possibly non elliptical) actual innovation densities. No kernel density estimation i…
In this article, we propose a penalized high dimensional semiparametric model average quantile prediction approach that is robust for forecasting the conditional quantile of the response. We consider a two-step estimation procedure. In the first step, we use a local linear regression approach to estimate the individual marginal quantile functions, and approximate the conditional quantile of the response by an affine combination of one-dimensional marginal quantile regression functions. In the second step, based on the nonparametric kernel estimates of the marginal quantile regression functions…
Case-cohort design, an outcome-dependent sampling design for censored survival data, is increasingly used in biomedical research. The development of asymptotic theory for a case-cohort design in the current literature primarily relies on counting process stochastic integrals. Such an approach, however, is rather limited and lacks theoretical justification for outcome-dependent weighted methods due to non-predictability. Instead of stochastic integrals, we derive asymptotic properties for case-cohort studies based on a general Z-estimation theory for semiparametric models with bundled parameter…
Analyzing polytomous response from a complex survey scheme, like stratified or cluster sampling is very crucial in several socio-economics applications. We present a class of minimum quasi weighted density power divergence estimators for the polytomous logistic regression model with such a complex survey. This family of semiparametric estimators is a robust generalization of the maximum quasi weighted likelihood estimator exploiting the advantages of the popular density power divergence measure. Accordingly robust estimators for the design effects are also derived. Robust testing of general li…
It was shown that when one disposes of a parametric information of the truncation distribution, the semiparametric estimator of the distribution function for truncated data (Wang, 1989) is more efficient than the nonparametric one. On the basis of this estimation method, we derive an estimator for the tail index of Pareto-type distributions that are randomly right-truncated and establish its consistency and asymptotic normality. The finite sample behavior of the proposed estimator is carried out by simulation study. We point out that, in terms of both bias and root of the mean squared error, o…
Semiparametric regression offers a flexible framework for modeling non-linear relationships between a response and covariates. A prime example are generalized additive models where splines (say) are used to approximate non-linear functional components in conjunction with a quadratic penalty to control for overfitting. Estimation and inference are then generally performed based on the penalized likelihood, or under a mixed model framework. The penalized likelihood framework is fast but potentially unstable, and choosing the smoothing parameters needs to be done externally using cross-validation…
Consider the semiparametric transformation model $Λ_{θ_o}(Y)=m(X)+ε$, where $θ_o$ is an unknown finite dimensional parameter, the functions $Λ_{θ_o}$ and $m$ are smooth, $ε$ is independent of $X$, and $\esp(ε)=0$. We propose a kernel-type estimator of the density of the error $ε$, and prove its asymptotic normality. The estimated errors, which lie at the basis of this estimator, are obtained from a profile likelihood estimator of $θ_o$ and a nonparametric kernel estimator of $m$. The practical performance of the proposed density estimator is evaluated in a simulation study.
Consider $M$-estimation in a semiparametric model that is characterized by a Euclidean parameter of interest and an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter. As a general purpose approach to statistical inferences, the bootstrap has found wide applications in semiparametric $M$-estimation and, because of its simplicity, provides an attractive alternative to the inference approach based on the asymptotic distribution theory. The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical justifications for the use of bootstrap as a semiparametric inferential tool. We show that, under general conditions, the…
Interval-censored multi-state data arise in many studies of chronic diseases, where the health status of a subject can be characterized by a finite number of disease states and the transition between any two states is only known to occur over a broad time interval. We formulate the effects of potentially time-dependent covariates on multi-state processes through semiparametric proportional intensity models with random effects. We adopt nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation (NPMLE) under general interval censoring and develop a stable expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. We show that …
In many semiparametric models that are parameterized by two types of parameters---a Euclidean parameter of interest and an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter---the two parameters are bundled together, that is, the nuisance parameter is an unknown function that contains the parameter of interest as part of its argument. For example, in a linear regression model for censored survival data, the unspecified error distribution function involves the regression coefficients. Motivated by developing an efficient estimating method for the regression parameters, we propose a general sieve M-theorem…
A common practice in obtaining a semiparametric efficient estimate is through iteratively maximizing the (penalized) log-likelihood w.r.t. its Euclidean parameter and functional nuisance parameter via Newton-Raphson algorithm. The purpose of this paper is to provide a formula in calculating the minimal number of iterations $k^\ast$ needed to produce an efficient estimate $\hatθ_n^{(k^\ast)}$ from a theoretical point of view. We discover that (a) $k^\ast$ depends on the convergence rates of the initial estimate and nuisance estimate; (b) more than $k^\ast$ iterations, i.e., $k$, will only impro…
Robust and semiparametric statistics are of the same historical origin and largely employ the same locally asymptotically normal framework. In our talk, we consider he following more intrinsic connections of both fields: 1) Robust influence curves for semiparametric models with infinite dimensional nuisance parameter; for example, for semiparametric regression (Cox), and mixture models (Neyman--Scott). 2) Adaptiveness in the sense of Stein's necessary condition of robust neighborhood models and estimators with respect to a finite dimensional nuisance parameter; for example, location, linear re…
It is well known that the minimax rates of convergence of nonparametric density and regression function estimation of a random variable measured with error is much slower than the rate in the error free case. Surprisingly, we show that if one is willing to impose a relatively mild assumption in requiring that the error-prone variable has a compact support, then the results can be greatly improved. We describe new and constructive methods to take full advantage of the compact support assumption via spline-assisted semiparametric methods. We further prove that the new estimator achieves the usua…
This paper revisits the classical inference results for profile quasi maximum likelihood estimators (profile MLE) in the semiparametric estimation problem. We mainly focus on two prominent theorems: the Wilks phenomenon and Fisher expansion for the profile MLE are stated in a new fashion allowing finite samples and model misspecification. The method of study is also essentially different from the usual analysis of the semiparametric problem based on the notion of the hardest parametric submodel. Instead we derive finite sample deviation bounds for the linear approximation error for the gradien…
There are many interesting and widely used estimators of a functional with finite semiparametric variance bound that depend on nonparametric estimators of nuisance functions. We use cross-fitting (i.e. sample splitting) to construct novel estimators with fast remainder rates. We give cross-fit doubly robust estimators that use separate subsamples to estimate different nuisance functions. We obtain general, precise results for regression spline estimation of average linear functionals of conditional expectations with a finite semiparametric variance bound. We show that a cross-fit doubly robust…
The complexity of semiparametric models poses new challenges to statistical inference and model selection that frequently arise from real applications. In this work, we propose new estimation and variable selection procedures for the semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear model. We first study quantile regression estimates for the nonparametric varying-coefficient functions and the parametric regression coefficients. To achieve nice efficiency properties, we further develop a semiparametric composite quantile regression procedure. We establish the asymptotic normality of proposed …
We disucss a statistical estimation problem of an optimal dividend barrier when the surplus process follows a Lévy insurance risk process. The optimal dividend barrier is defined as the level of the barrier that maximizes the expectation of the present value of all dividend payments until ruin. In this paper, an estimatior of the expected present value of all dividend payments is defined based on ``quasi-process'' in which sample paths are generated by shuffling increments of a sample path of the Lévy insurance risk process. The consistency of the optimal dividend barrier estimator is shown. M…
We consider semiparametric transformation models, where after pre-estimation of a parametric transformation of the response the data are modeled by means of nonparametric regression. We suggest subsequent procedures for testing lack-of-fit of the regression function and for significance of covariables, which - in contrast to procedures from the literature - are asymptotically not influenced by the pre-estimation of the transformation. The test statistics are asymptotically pivotal and have the same asymptotic distribution as in regression models without transformation. We show validity of a mu…
The bootstrap variance estimate is widely used in semiparametric inferences. However, its theoretical validity is a well known open problem. In this paper, we provide a {\em first} theoretical study on the bootstrap moment estimates in semiparametric models. Specifically, we establish the bootstrap moment consistency of the Euclidean parameter which immediately implies the consistency of $t$-type bootstrap confidence set. It is worth pointing out that the only additional cost to achieve the bootstrap moment consistency in contrast with the distribution consistency is to simply strengthen the $…
As a competitive alternative to least squares regression, quantile regression is popular in analyzing heterogenous data. For quantile regression model specified for one single quantile level $τ$, major difficulties of semiparametric efficient estimation are the unavailability of a parametric efficient score and the conditional density estimation. In this paper, with the help of the least favorable submodel technique, we first derive the semiparametric efficient scores for linear quantile regression models that are assumed for a single quantile level, multiple quantile levels and all the quanti…
Regularly varying space-time processes have proved useful to study extremal dependence in space-time data. We propose a semiparametric estimation procedure based on a closed form expression of the extremogram to estimate parametric models of extremal dependence functions. We establish the asymptotic properties of the resulting parameter estimates and propose subsampling procedures to obtain asymptotically correct confidence intervals. A simulation study shows that the proposed procedure works well for moderate sample sizes and is robust to small departures from the underlying model. Finally, w…
In fitting a mixture of linear regression models, normal assumption is traditionally used to model the error and then regression parameters are estimated by the maximum likelihood estimators (MLE). This procedure is not valid if the normal assumption is violated. To relax the normal assumption on the error distribution hence reduce the modeling bias, we propose semiparametric mixture of linear regression models with unspecified error distributions. We establish a more general identifiability result under weaker conditions than existing results, construct a class of new estimators, and establis…
The detectors in mass spectrometers are precise enough to count ion events. In practice, the statistics of chemical noise are affected by large quantization errors and overdispersion because of amplification in the detector. The detector signal is modelled as X =floor(t N) where N represents integer-valued ion counts and t represents the gain parameter. When t <= 1, the gain parameter cannot be recovered without a priori information on N. When t > 1 however, we introduce compatible lattices and derive an estimator for t that is optimal, independent of N and enables subsequent analyses of the i…
When facing multivariate covariates, general semiparametric regression techniques come at hand to propose flexible models that are unexposed to the curse of dimensionality. In this work a semiparametric copula-based estimator for conditional quantiles is investigated for complete or right-censored data. In spirit, the methodology is extending the recent work of Noh et al. (2013) and Noh et al. (2015), as the main idea consists in appropriately defining the quantile regression in terms of a multivariate copula and marginal distributions. Prior estimation of the latter and simple plug-in lead to…
Institute of Statistics and Data Science, Nanjing Audit University（南京审计大学统计与数据科学学院）
China has made great achievements in electric power industry during the long-term deepening of reform and opening up. However, the complex regional economic, social and natural conditions, electricity resources are not evenly distributed, which accounts for the electricity deficiency in some regions of China. It is desirable to develop a robust electricity forecasting model. Motivated by which, we propose a Panel Semiparametric Quantile Regression Neural Network (PSQRNN) by utilizing the artificial neural network and semiparametric quantile regression. The PSQRNN can explore a potential linear…
"For how many days during the past 30 days was your mental health not good?" The responses to this question measure self-reported mental health and can be linked to important covariates in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). However, these count variables present major distributional challenges: the data are overdispersed, zero-inflated, bounded by 30, and heaped in five- and seven-day increments. To meet these challenges, we design a semiparametric estimation and inference framework for count data regression. The data-generating process is defined by simultaneously …
Parameter shrinkage applied optimally can always reduce error and projection variances from those of maximum likelihood estimation. Many variables that actuaries use are on numerical scales, like age or year, which require parameters at each point. Rather than shrinking these towards zero, nearby parameters are better shrunk towards each other. Semiparametric regression is a statistical discipline for building curves across parameter classes using shrinkage methodology. It is similar to but more parsimonious than cubic splines. We introduce it in the context of Bayesian shrinkage and apply it …
In this paper we study the problem of statistical inference on the parameters of the semiparametric variance-mean mixtures. This class of mixtures has recently become rather popular in statistical and financial modelling. We design a semiparametric estimation procedure that first estimates the mean of the underlying normal distribution and then recovers nonparametrically the density of the corresponding mixing distribution. We illustrate the performance of our procedure on simulated and real data.
We consider a semiparametric generalized linear model and study estimation of both marginal and quantile effects in this model. We propose an approximate maximum likelihood estimator, and rigorously establish the consistency, the asymptotic normality, and the semiparametric efficiency of our method in both the marginal effect and the quantile effect estimation. Simulation studies are conducted to illustrate the finite sample performance, and we apply the new tool to analyze a Swiss non-labor income data and discover a new interesting predictor.
Interval-censored competing risks data arise when each study subject may experience an event or failure from one of several causes and the failure time is not observed exactly but rather known to lie in an interval between two successive examinations. We formulate the effects of possibly time-varying covariates on the cumulative incidence or sub-distribution function (i.e., the marginal probability of failure from a particular cause) of competing risks through a broad class of semiparametric regression models that captures both proportional and non-proportional hazards structures for the sub-d…
Using the classical estimation method of moments, we propose a new semiparametric estimation procedure for multi-parameter copula models. Consistency and asymptotic normality of the obtained estimators are established. By considering an Archimedean copula model, an extensive simulation study, comparing these estimators with the pseudo maximum likelihood, rho-inversion and tau-inversion ones, is carried out. We show that, with regards to the other methods, the moment based estimation is quick and simple to use with reasonable bias and root mean squared error.
We consider the estimation of dynamic discrete choice models in a semiparametric setting, in which the per-period utility functions are known up to a finite number of parameters, but the distribution of utility shocks is left unspecified. This semiparametric setup differs from most of the existing identification and estimation literature for dynamic discrete choice mod- els. To show identification we derive and exploit a new Bellman-like recursive representation for the unknown quantile function of the utility shocks. Our estimators are straightforward to compute; some are simple and require n…
