The first aim of the present paper, is to establish strong approximations of the uniform non-overlapping k-spacings process extending the results of Aly et al. (1984). Our methods rely on the invariance principle in Mason and van Zwet (1987). The second goal, is to generalize the Dindar (1997) results for the increments of the spacings quantile process to the uniforme non-overlapping k-spacings quantile process. We apply the last result to characterize the limit laws of functionals of the increments k-spacings quantile process.
Kernel-based nonparametric hazard rate estimation is considered with a special class of infinite-order kernels that achieves favorable bias and mean square error properties. A fully automatic and adaptive implementation of a density and hazard rate estimator is proposed for randomly right censored data. Careful selection of the bandwidth in the proposed estimators yields estimates that are more efficient in terms of overall mean squared error performance, and in some cases achieves a nearly parametric convergence rate. Additionally, rapidly converging bandwidth estimates are presented for use in second-order kernels to supplement such kernel-based methods in hazard rate estimation. Simulations illustrate the improved accuracy of the proposed estimator against other nonparametric estimators of the density and hazard function. A real data application is also presented on survival data from 13,166 breast carcinoma patients.
In this paper we consider the nonparametric functional estimation of the drift of Gaussian processes using Paley-Wiener and Karhunen-Lo`eve expansions. We construct efficient estimators for the drift of such processes, and prove their minimaxity using Bayes estimators. We also construct superefficient estimators of Stein type for such drifts using the Malliavin integration by parts formula and stochastic analysis on Gaussian space, in which superharmonic functionals of the process paths play a particular role. Our results are illustrated by numerical simulations and extend the construction of James-Stein type estimators for Gaussian processes by Berger and Wolper.
In this note we provide explicit expressions and expansions for a special function which appears in nonparametric estimation of log-densities. This function returns the integral of a log-linear function on a simplex of arbitrary dimension. In particular it is used in the R-package LogCondDEAD by Cule et al. (2007).
Inspired by sample splitting and the reusable holdout introduced in the field of differential privacy, we consider selective inference with a randomized response. We discuss two major advantages of using a randomized response for model selection. First, the selectively valid tests are more powerful after randomized selection. Second, it allows consistent estimation and weak convergence of selective inference procedures. Under independent sampling, we prove a selective (or privatized) central limit theorem that transfers procedures valid under asymptotic normality without selection to their corresponding selective counterparts. This allows selective inference in nonparametric settings. Finally, we propose a framework of inference after combining multiple randomized selection procedures. We focus on the classical asymptotic setting, leaving the interesting high-dimensional asymptotic questions for future work.
We propose a geometric approach for bounding average stopping times for stopped random walks in discrete and continuous time. We consider stopping times in the hyperspace of time indexes and stochastic processes. Our techniques relies on exploring geometric properties of continuity or stopping regions. Especially, we make use of the concepts of convex sets and supporting hyperplane. Explicit formulae and efficiently computable bounds are obtained for average stopping times. Our techniques can be applied to bound average stopping times involving random vectors, nonlinear stopping boundary, and constraints of time indexes. Moreover, we establish a stochastic characteristic of convex sets and generalize Jensens inequality, Walds equations and Lordens inequality, which are useful for investigating average stopping times.
We propose a new one-sample test for normality in a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS). Namely, we test the null-hypothesis of belonging to a given family of Gaussian distributions. Hence our procedure may be applied either to test data for normality or to test parameters (mean and covariance) if data are assumed Gaussian. Our test is based on the same principle as the MMD (Maximum Mean Discrepancy) which is usually used for two-sample tests such as homogeneity or independence testing. Our method makes use of a special kind of parametric bootstrap (typical of goodness-of-fit tests) which is computationally more efficient than standard parametric bootstrap. Moreover, an upper bound for the Type-II error highlights the dependence on influential quantities. Experiments illustrate the practical improvement allowed by our test in high-dimensional settings where common normality tests are known to fail. We also consider an application to covariance rank selection through a sequential procedure.
We propose an update estimation method for a diffusion parameter from high-frequency dependent data under a nuisance drift element. We ensure the asymptotic equivalence of the estimator to the corresponding quasi-MLE, which has the asymptotic normality and the asymptotic efficiency. We give a simulation example to illustrate the theory.
In quantum optics, the quantum state of a light beam is represented through the Wigner function, a density on $mathbb R^2$ which may take negative values but must respect intrinsic positivity constraints imposed by quantum physics. In the framework of noisy quantum homodyne tomography with efficiency parameter $1/2 < eta leq 1$, we study the theoretical performance of a kernel estimator of the Wigner function. We prove that it is minimax efficient, up to a logarithmic factor in the sample size, for the $mathbb L_infty$-risk over a class of infinitely differentiable. We compute also the lower bound for the $mathbb L_2$-risk. We construct adaptive estimator, i.e. which does not depend on the smoothness parameters, and prove that it attains the minimax rates for the corresponding smoothness class functions. Finite sample behaviour of our adaptive procedure are explored through numerical experiments.
This paper constructs a doubly robust estimator for continuous dose-response estimation. An outcome regression model is augmented with a set of inverse generalized propensity score covariates to correct for potential misspecification bias. From the augmented model we can obtain consistent estimates of mean average potential outcomes for distinct strata of the treatment. A polynomial regression is then fitted to these point estimates to derive a Taylor approximation to the continuous dose-response function. The bootstrap is used for variance estimation. Analytical results and simulations show that our approach can provide a good approximation to linear or nonlinear dose-response functions under various sources of misspecification of the outcome regression or propensity score models. Efficiency in finite samples is good relative to minimum variance consistent estimators.
