12,905 research outputs found
Optimal designs for minimising covariances among parameter estimators in a linear model
We construct approximate optimal designs for minimising absolute covariances between least-squares estimators of the parameters (or linear functions of the parameters) of a linear model, thereby rendering relevant parameter estimators approximately uncorrelated with each other. In particular, we consider first the case of the covariance between two linear combinations. We also consider the case of two such covariances. For this we first set up a compound optimisation problem which we transform to one of maximising two functions of the design weights simultaneously. The approaches are formulated for a general regression model and are explored through some examples including one practical problem arising in chemistry
Discrete spherical means of directional derivatives and Veronese maps
We describe and study geometric properties of discrete circular and spherical
means of directional derivatives of functions, as well as discrete
approximations of higher order differential operators. For an arbitrary
dimension we present a general construction for obtaining discrete spherical
means of directional derivatives. The construction is based on using the
Minkowski's existence theorem and Veronese maps. Approximating the directional
derivatives by appropriate finite differences allows one to obtain finite
difference operators with good rotation invariance properties. In particular,
we use discrete circular and spherical means to derive discrete approximations
of various linear and nonlinear first- and second-order differential operators,
including discrete Laplacians. A practical potential of our approach is
demonstrated by considering applications to nonlinear filtering of digital
images and surface curvature estimation
Inference Under Convex Cone Alternatives for Correlated Data
In this research, inferential theory for hypothesis testing under general
convex cone alternatives for correlated data is developed. While there exists
extensive theory for hypothesis testing under smooth cone alternatives with
independent observations, extension to correlated data under general convex
cone alternatives remains an open problem. This long-pending problem is
addressed by (1) establishing that a "generalized quasi-score" statistic is
asymptotically equivalent to the squared length of the projection of the
standard Gaussian vector onto the convex cone and (2) showing that the
asymptotic null distribution of the test statistic is a weighted chi-squared
distribution, where the weights are "mixed volumes" of the convex cone and its
polar cone. Explicit expressions for these weights are derived using the
volume-of-tube formula around a convex manifold in the unit sphere.
Furthermore, an asymptotic lower bound is constructed for the power of the
generalized quasi-score test under a sequence of local alternatives in the
convex cone. Applications to testing under order restricted alternatives for
correlated data are illustrated.Comment: 31 page
Imposing Economic Constraints in Nonparametric Regression: Survey, Implementation and Extension
Economic conditions such as convexity, homogeneity, homotheticity, and monotonicity are all important assumptions or consequences of assumptions of economic functionals to be estimated. Recent research has seen a renewed interest in imposing constraints in nonparametric regression. We survey the available methods in the literature, discuss the challenges that present themselves when empirically implementing these methods and extend an existing method to handle general nonlinear constraints. A heuristic discussion on the empirical implementation for methods that use sequential quadratic programming is provided for the reader and simulated and empirical evidence on the distinction between constrained and unconstrained nonparametric regression surfaces is covered.identification, concavity, Hessian, constraint weighted bootstrapping, earnings function
Labeling the Features Not the Samples: Efficient Video Classification with Minimal Supervision
Feature selection is essential for effective visual recognition. We propose
an efficient joint classifier learning and feature selection method that
discovers sparse, compact representations of input features from a vast sea of
candidates, with an almost unsupervised formulation. Our method requires only
the following knowledge, which we call the \emph{feature sign}---whether or not
a particular feature has on average stronger values over positive samples than
over negatives. We show how this can be estimated using as few as a single
labeled training sample per class. Then, using these feature signs, we extend
an initial supervised learning problem into an (almost) unsupervised clustering
formulation that can incorporate new data without requiring ground truth
labels. Our method works both as a feature selection mechanism and as a fully
competitive classifier. It has important properties, low computational cost and
excellent accuracy, especially in difficult cases of very limited training
data. We experiment on large-scale recognition in video and show superior speed
and performance to established feature selection approaches such as AdaBoost,
Lasso, greedy forward-backward selection, and powerful classifiers such as SVM.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1411.771
Minimum Divergence, Generalized Empirical Likelihoods, and Higher Order Expansions
This paper studies the Minimum Divergence (MD) class of estimators for econometric models specified through moment restrictions. We show that MD estimators can be obtained as solutions to a computationally tractable optimization problem. This problem is similar to the one solved by the Generalized Empirical Likelihood estimators of Newey and Smith (2004), but it is equivalent to it only for a subclass of divergences. The MD framework provides a coherent testing theory: tests for overidentification and parametric restrictions in this framework can be interpreted as semiparametric versions of Pearson-type goodness of fit tests. The higher order properties of MD estimators are also studied and it is shown that MD estimators that have the same higher order bias as the Empirical Likelihood (EL) estimator also share the same higher order Mean Square Error and are all higher order efficient. We identify members of the MD class that are not only higher order efficient, but, unlike the EL estimator, well behaved when the moment restrictions are misspecified.Minimum divergence; GMM; Generalized empirical likelihood; Higher order efficiency; Misspecified models
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