Minimal inference from incomplete 2x2-tables

Estimates based on 2x2 tables of frequencies are widely used in statistical applications. However, in many cases these tables are incomplete in the sense that the data required to compute the frequencies for a subset of the cells defining the table are unavailable. Minimal inference addresses those situations where this incompleteness leads to target parameters for these tables that are interval, rather than point, identifiable. In particular, we develop the concept of corroboration as a measure of the statistical evidence in the observed data that is not based on likelihoods. The corroboration function identifies the parameter values that are the hardest to refute, i.e., those values which, under repeated sampling, remain interval identified. This enables us to develop a general approach to inference from incomplete 2x2 tables when the additional assumptions required to support a likelihood-based approach cannot be sustained based on the data available. This minimal inference approach then provides a foundation for further analysis that aims at making sharper inference supported by plausible external beliefs

Using Mathematica to build Non-parametric Statistical Tables

In this paper, I present computational procedures to obtian statistical tables. The tables of the asymptotic distribution and the exact distribution of Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic D_n for one population, the table of the distribution of the runs R, the table of the distribution of Wilcoxon signed-rank statistic W^+ and the table of the distribution of Mann-Whitney statistic U_x using Mathematica, Version 3.9 under Window98. I think that it is an interesting cuestion because many statistical packages give the asymptotic significance level in the statistical tests and with these porcedures one can easily calculate the exact significance levels and the left-tail and right-tail probabilities with non-parametric distributions. I have used mathematica to make these calculations because one can use symbolic language to solve recursion relations. It's very easy to generate the format of the tables, and it's possible to obtain any table of the mentioned non-parametric distributions with any precision, not only with the standard parameters more used in Statistics, and without transcription mistakes. Furthermore, using similar procedures, we can generate tables for the following distribution functions: Binomial, Poisson, Hypergeometric, Normal, x^2 Chi-Square, T-Student, F-Snedecor, Geometric, Gamma and Beta.

The Complexity of Three-Way Statistical Tables

Multi-way tables with specified marginals arise in a variety of applications in statistics and operations research. We provide a comprehensive complexity classification of three fundamental computational problems on tables: existence, counting and entry-security. One major outcome of our work is that each of the following problems is intractable already for "slim" 3-tables, with constant and smallest possible number 3 of rows: (1) deciding existence of 3-tables with given consistent 2-marginals; (2) counting all 3-tables with given 2-marginals; (3) finding whether an integer value is attained in entry (i,j,k) by at least one of the 3-tables satisfying given (feasible) 2-marginals. This implies that a characterization of feasible marginals for such slim tables, sought by much recent research, is unlikely to exist. Another important consequence of our study is a systematic efficient way of embedding the set of 3-tables satisfying any given 1-marginals and entry upper bounds in a set of slim 3-tables satisfying suitable 2-marginals with no entry bounds. This provides a valuable tool for studying multi-index transportation problems and multi-index transportation polytopes

The Geometry of Statistical Models for Two-Way Contingency Tables with Fixed Odds Ratios

We study the geometric structure of the statistical models for two-by-two contingency tables. One or two odds ratios are fixed and the corresponding models are shown to be a portion of a ruled quadratic surface or a segment. Some pointers to the general case of two-way contingency tables are also given and an application to case-control studies is presented.Comment: References were not displaying properly in the previous versio

Understanding Database Reconstruction Attacks on Public Data

In 2020 the U.S. Census Bureau will conduct the Constitutionally mandated decennial Census of Population and Housing. Because a census involves collecting large amounts of private data under the promise of confidentiality, traditionally statistics are published only at high levels of aggregation. Published statistical tables are vulnerable to DRAs (database reconstruction attacks), in which the underlying microdata is recovered merely by finding a set of microdata that is consistent with the published statistical tabulations. A DRA can be performed by using the tables to create a set of mathematical constraints and then solving the resulting set of simultaneous equations. This article shows how such an attack can be addressed by adding noise to the published tabulations, so that the reconstruction no longer results in the original data

Strangeness and Statistical QCD

We discuss properties of statistical QCD relevant in Fermi phase space model analysis of strange hadron production experimental data. We argue that the analysis results interpreted using established statistical QCD properties are demonstrating formation of the color deconfined state of matter in relativistic heavy ion collisions at highest CERN-SPS energies and at BNL-RHIC, comprising deconfined matter composed of nearly massless quarks and gluons, in statistical equilibrium.Comment: 22 pages, including 7 figures, 3 tables, to appear in Nuclear Physics Proceedings Supplement: STATISTICAL QCD, held at Bielefeld August 200

About the Statistical Properties of Cosmological Billiards

We summarize some recent progress in the understanding of the statistical properties of cosmological billiards.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, Proceedings of The second Galileo-XuGuangqi Meeting, 11-16/07/2010, Ventimiglia, Ital

Descriptive Analysis of Matrix-Valued Time-Series

In this article we present a technique of data analysis applied to three-dimensional tables as, for instance, matrix-valued time-series. The main goal of the method is to describe the evolution of the statistical units with respect to time in a space summarizing the set of matrices. Moreover, our technique points out similar statistical units provided by a classification of their trajectories.matrix-valued time-series; data analysis; statistical units