Search results for " function"
showing 10 items of 9395 documents
Modeling temperature effects on mortality: multiple segmented relationships with common break points.
2008
We present a model for estimation of temperature effects on mortality that is able to capture jointly the typical features of every temperature-death relationship, that is, nonlinearity and delayed effect of cold and heat over a few days. Using a segmented approximation along with a doubly penalized spline-based distributed lag parameterization, estimates and relevant standard errors of the cold- and heat-related risks and the heat tolerance are provided. The model is applied to data from Milano, Italy.
A consistent modification of a test for independence based on the empirical characteristic function
1998
A modification of a test for independence based on the empirical characteristic function is investigated. The initial test is not consistent in the general case. The modification makes the test always consistent and asymptotically distribution free. It is based on a special transformation of the data.
On the use of asymptotic expansion in computing the null distribution of page's L-statistic
1989
Suppose that each out of n randomized complete blocks is obtained by observing a jointly continuous random variable taking values in Rk. Page's L-statistic is given then as a sum of i.i.d. lattice variables with finite moments of any order. Applying a well-known theorem on asymptotic expansions for the distribution function of such a sum yields higher order approximations to the significance probability of any observed value of L. The formula obtained by discarding terms smaller than o(n –1) is still very simple to use. Yet, due to it's strong analytical basis, it can be expected to provide substantial improvement on the traditional normal approximation. The results of extensive numerical i…
Converting retirement benefit into a life care annuity with graded benefits
2016
AbstractThis paper deals with life care annuities, i.e. bundled products comprising a life annuity and long-term care insurance. It aims to assess the cost of converting retirement benefit into a life care annuity with graded benefits using a pre-existing public pay-as-you-go pension scheme. With this objective in mind, we present an actuarial method based on array calculus for valuing this type of life care annuity. The health dynamics of the annuitant rely on a reversible illness-death multistate framework. The paper contains a numerical example in which mortality and disability assumptions are based on data from the USA and Australia, although this should be viewed simply as an illustrat…
Symmetrised M-estimators of multivariate scatter
2007
AbstractIn this paper we introduce a family of symmetrised M-estimators of multivariate scatter. These are defined to be M-estimators only computed on pairwise differences of the observed multivariate data. Symmetrised Huber's M-estimator and Dümbgen's estimator serve as our examples. The influence functions of the symmetrised M-functionals are derived and the limiting distributions of the estimators are discussed in the multivariate elliptical case to consider the robustness and efficiency properties of estimators. The symmetrised M-estimators have the important independence property; they can therefore be used to find the independent components in the independent component analysis (ICA).
Bayesian joint modeling for assessing the progression of chronic kidney disease in children.
2016
Joint models are rich and flexible models for analyzing longitudinal data with nonignorable missing data mechanisms. This article proposes a Bayesian random-effects joint model to assess the evolution of a longitudinal process in terms of a linear mixed-effects model that accounts for heterogeneity between the subjects, serial correlation, and measurement error. Dropout is modeled in terms of a survival model with competing risks and left truncation. The model is applied to data coming from ReVaPIR, a project involving children with chronic kidney disease whose evolution is mainly assessed through longitudinal measurements of glomerular filtration rate.
Tailoring sparse multivariable regression techniques for prognostic single-nucleotide polymorphism signatures.
2011
When seeking prognostic information for patients, modern technologies provide a huge amount of genomic measurements as a starting point. For single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), there may be more than one million covariates that need to be simultaneously considered with respect to a clinical endpoint. Although the underlying biological problem cannot be solved on the basis of clinical cohorts of only modest size, some important SNPs might still be identified. Sparse multivariable regression techniques have recently become available for automatically identifying prognostic molecular signatures that comprise relatively few covariates and provide reasonable prediction performance. For illus…
Maximum likelihood estimation for the exponential power function parameters
1995
This paper addresses the problem of obtaining maximum likelihood estimates for the three parameters of the exponential power function; the information matrix is derived and the covariance matrix is here presented; the regularity conditions which ensure asymptotic normality and efficiency are examined. A numerical investigation is performed for exploring the bias and variance of the maximum likelihood estimates and their dependence on sample size and shape parameter.
Maximum probability estimators in the case of exponential distribution
1975
In 1966–1969L. Weiss andJ. Wolfowitz developed the theory of „maximum probability” estimators (m.p.e.'s). M.p.e.'s have the property of minimizing the limiting value of the risk (see (2.10).) In the present paper, therfore, after a short description of the new method, a fundamental loss function is introduced, for which—in the so-called regular case—the optimality property of the maximum probability estimators yields the classical result ofR.A. Fisher on the asymptotic efficiency of the maximum likelihood estimator. Thereby it turns out that the m.p.e.'s possess still another important optimality property for this loss function. For the latter the parameters of the exponential distribution—…
Introducing libeemd: a program package for performing the ensemble empirical mode decomposition
2016
The ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and its complete variant (CEEMDAN) are adaptive, noise-assisted data analysis methods that improve on the ordinary empirical mode decomposition (EMD). All these methods decompose possibly nonlinear and/or nonstationary time series data into a finite amount of components separated by instantaneous frequencies. This decomposition provides a powerful method to look into the different processes behind a given time series data, and provides a way to separate short time-scale events from a general trend. We present a free software implementation of EMD, EEMD and CEEMDAN and give an overview of the EMD methodology and the algorithms used in the deco…