Search results for "quantile"

P-spline quantile regression: a new algorithm for smoothing parameter selection

A penalized approach to covariate selection through quantile regression coefficient models

2019

The coefficients of a quantile regression model are one-to-one functions of the order of the quantile. In standard quantile regression (QR), different quantiles are estimated one at a time. Another possibility is to model the coefficient functions parametrically, an approach that is referred to as quantile regression coefficients modeling (QRCM). Compared with standard QR, the QRCM approach facilitates estimation, inference and interpretation of the results, and generates more efficient estimators. We designed a penalized method that can address the selection of covariates in this particular modelling framework. Unlike standard penalized quantile regression estimators, in which model selec…

A Log-Rank Test for Equivalence of Two Survivor Functions

1993

We consider a hypothesis testing problem in which the alternative states that the vertical distance between the underlying survivor functions nowhere exceeds some prespecified bound delta0. Under the assumption of proportional hazards, this hypothesis is shown to be (logically) equivalent to the statement [beta[log(1 + epsilon), where beta denotes the regression coefficient associated with the treatment group indicator, and epsilon is a simple strictly increasing function of delta. The testing procedure proposed consists of carrying out in terms of beta (i.e., the standard Cox likelihood estimator of beta) the uniformly most powerful level alpha test for a suitable interval hypothesis about…

Robust estimation and regression with parametric quantile functions

2022

A new, broad family of quantile-based estimators is described, and theoretical and empirical evidence is provided for their robustness to outliers in the response. The proposed method can be used to estimate all types of parameters, including location, scale, rate and shape parameters, extremes, regression coefficients and hazard ratios, and can be extended to censored and truncated data. The described estimator can be utilized to construct robust versions of common parametric and semiparametric methods, such as linear (Normal) regression, generalized linear models, and proportional hazards models. A variety of significant results and applications is presented to show the flexibility of the…

Parametric estimation of non-crossing quantile functions

2021

Quantile regression (QR) has gained popularity during the last decades, and is now considered a standard method by applied statisticians and practitioners in various fields. In this work, we applied QR to investigate climate change by analysing historical temperatures in the Arctic Circle. This approach proved very flexible and allowed to investigate the tails of the distribution, that correspond to extreme events. The presence of quantile crossing, however, prevented using the fitted model for prediction and extrapolation. In search of a possible solution, we first considered a different version of QR, in which the QR coefficients were described by parametric functions. This alleviated th…

Migration and students' performance: detecting geographical differences following a curves clustering approach

2020

Students’ migration mobility is the new form of migration: students migrate to improve their skills and become more valued for the job market. The data regard the migration of Italian Bachelors who enrolled at Master Degree level, moving typically from poor to rich areas. This paper investigates the migration and other possible determinants on the Master Degree students’ performance. The Clustering of Effects approach for Quantile Regression Coefficients Modelling has been used to cluster the effects of some variables on the students’ performance for three Italian macro-areas. Results show evidence of similarity between Southern and Centre students, with respect to the Northern ones.

Multiple smoothing parameters selection in additive regression quantiles

2021

We propose an iterative algorithm to select the smoothing parameters in additive quantile regression, wherein the functional forms of the covariate effects are unspecified and expressed via B-spline bases with difference penalties on the spline coefficients. The proposed algorithm relies on viewing the penalized coefficients as random effects from the symmetric Laplace distribution, and it turns out to be very efficient and particularly attractive with multiple smooth terms. Through simulations we compare our proposal with some alternative approaches, including the traditional ones based on minimization of the Schwarz Information Criterion. A real-data analysis is presented to illustrate t…

Posterior moments and quantiles for the normal location model with Laplace prior

2021

We derive explicit expressions for arbitrary moments and quantiles of the posterior distribution of the location parameter η in the normal location model with Laplace prior, and use the results to approximate the posterior distribution of sums of independent copies of η.

Quantile regression via iterative least squares computations

2012

We present an estimating framework for quantile regression where the usual L 1-norm objective function is replaced by its smooth parametric approximation. An exact path-following algorithm is derived, leading to the well-known ‘basic’ solutions interpolating exactly a number of observations equal to the number of parameters being estimated. We discuss briefly possible practical implications of the proposed approach, such as early stopping for large data sets, confidence intervals, and additional topics for future research.

On easily interpretable multivariate reference regions of rectangular shape

2011

Till now, multivariate reference regions have played only a marginal role in the practice of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. The major reason for this fact is that such regions are traditionally determined by means of concentration ellipsoids of multidimensional Gaussian distributions yielding reference limits which do not allow statements about possible outlyingness of measurements taken in specific diagnostic tests from a given patient or subject. As a promising way around this difficulty we propose to construct multivariate reference regions as p-dimensional rectangles or (in the one-sided case) rectangular half-spaces whose edges determine univariate percentile ranges of the…