Reproductive Dispersion Models Research Articles

Bayesian semiparametric reproductive dispersion mixed models for non-normal longitudinal data: estimation and case influence analysis

ABSTRACTSemiparametric reproductive dispersion mixed model (SPRDMM) is a natural extension of the reproductive dispersion model and the semiparametric mixed model. In this paper, we relax the normality assumption of random effects in SPRDMM and use a truncated and centred Dirichlet process prior to specify random effects, and present the Bayesian P-spline to approximate the smoothing unknown function. A hybrid algorithm combining the block Gibbs sampler and the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm is implemented to sample observations from the posterior distribution. Also, we develop Bayesian case deletion influence measure for SPRDMM based on the φ-divergence and present those computationally feasible formulas. Several simulation studies and a real example are presented to illustrate the proposed methodologies.

Maximum-likelihood estimation and influence analysis in multivariate skew-normal reproductive dispersion mixed models for longitudinal data

Various mixed models were developed to capture the features of between- and within-individual variation for longitudinal data under the normality assumption of the random effect and the within-individual random error. However, the normality assumption may be violated in some applications. To this end, this article assumes that the random effect follows a skew-normal distribution and the within-individual error is distributed as a reproductive dispersion model. An expectation conditional maximization (ECME) algorithm together with the Metropolis-Hastings (MH) algorithm within the Gibbs sampler is presented to simultaneously obtain estimates of parameters and random effects. Several diagnostic measures are developed to identify the potentially influential cases and assess the effect of minor perturbation to model assumptions via the case-deletion method and local influence analysis. To reduce the computational burden, we derive the first-order approximations to case-deletion diagnostics. Several simulation studies and a real data example are presented to illustrate the newly developed methodologies.

Local influence analysis for semiparametric reproductive dispersion nonlinear models

The present paper proposes a semiparametric reproductive dispersion nonlinear model (SRDNM) which is an extension of the nonlinear reproductive dispersion models and the semiparameter regression models. Maximum penalized likelihood estimates (MPLEs) of unknown parameters and nonparametric functions in SRDNM are presented. Assessment of local influence for various perturbation schemes are investigated. Some local influence diagnostics are given. A simulation study and a real example are used to illustrate the proposed methodologies.

An Efficient Stochastic Approximation Algorithm and Model Selection for a Class of Nonlinear Random Effect Models with Incomplete Responses

A stochastic approximation expectation maximum (EM) algorithm is proposed to obtain Maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of nonlinear random effect models in which the manifest variables are distributed as a reproductive dispersion model (RDM) and may be missing with ignorable missingness mechanism in this paper. A method composed of simulation step as well as stochastic approximation step is used to obtain the conditional expectation, whereas the M-step is executed via the method of conditional maximization. The most attractive point of this approach is that it is novel and non-trivial, which can be used to obtain the ML estimates and the estimation of standard errors simultaneously. Moreover, A model selection criterion is developed. Empirical results are used to illustrate the usefulness of the methodologies proposed above.

Influence Diagnostics of Semiparametric Nonlinear Reproductive Dispersion Models

This article proposes a semiparametric nonlinear reproductive dispersion model (SNRDM) which is an extension of nonlinear reproductive dispersion model and semiparametric regression model. Maximum penalized likelihood estimators (MPLEs) of unknown parameters and nonparametric functions in SNRDMs are presented. Some novel diagnostic statistics such as Cook distance and difference deviance for parametric and nonparametric parts are developed to identify influence observations in SNRDMs on the basis of case-deletion method, and some formulae readily computed with the MPLEs algorithm for diagnostic measures are given. The equivalency of case-deletion models and mean-shift outlier models in SNRDM is investigated. A simulation study and a real example are used to illustrate the proposed diagnostic measures.

Asymptotic Properties of the MLE in Nonlinear Reproductive Dispersion Models With Stochastic Regressors

Nonlinear reproductive dispersion models with stochastic regressors (NRDMWSR) includes generalized linear models with stochastic regressors (Fahrmer and Kaufmann, 1985) as a special case. This article presents some mild regularity conditions. On the basis of those mild conditions, the existence, strong consistency, and asymptotic normality of maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) are obtained in NRDMWSR.

A note on the properties of the reproductive dispersion model

In this paper, we investigate the conditions under which derivatives of integrals with respect to a one-dimensional parameter of the reproductive dispersion model (RDM) can be computed under the integral sign. Furthermore, our main results are applied to the generalized linear model (GLM) with error distributions from the RDM and to the Cramér–Rao inequality.

Bayesian analysis of semiparametric reproductive dispersion mixed-effects models

Semiparametric reproductive dispersion mixed-effects model (SPRDMM) is an extension of the reproductive dispersion model and the semiparametric mixed model, and it includes many commonly encountered models as its special cases. A Bayesian procedure is developed for analyzing SPRDMMs on the basis of P-spline estimates of nonparametric components. A hybrid algorithm combining the Gibbs sampler and the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm is used to simultaneously obtain the Bayesian estimates of unknown parameters, smoothing function and random effects, as well as their standard error estimates. The Bayes factor for model comparison is employed to select better approximation of the smoothing function via path sampling. Several simulation studies and a real example are used to illustrate the proposed methodologies.

On confidence regions of semiparametric nonlinear reproductive dispersion models

This article investigates the confidence regions for semiparametric nonlinear reproductive dispersion models (SNRDMs), which is an extension of nonlinear regression models. Based on local linear estimate of nonparametric component and generalized profile likelihood estimate of parameter in SNRDMs, a modified geometric framework of Bates and Wattes is proposed. Within this geometric framework, we present three kinds of improved approximate confidence regions for the parameters and parameter subsets in terms of curvatures. The work extends the previous results of Hamilton et al. [in Accounting for intrinsic nonlinearity in nonlinear regression parameter inference regions, Ann. Statist. 10, pp. 386–393, 1982], Hamilton [in Confidence regions for parameter subset in nonlinear regression, Biometrika, 73, pp. 57–64, 1986], Wei [in On confidence regions of embedded models in regular parameter families (a geometric approch), Austral. J. Statist. 36, pp. 327–338, 1994], Tang et al. [in Confidence regions in quasi-likelihood nonlinear models: a geometric approach, J. Biomath. 15, pp. 55–64, 2000b] and Zhu et al. [in On confidence regions of semiparametric nonlinear regression models, Acta. Math. Scient. 20, pp. 68–75, 2000].

Bayesian analysis of non-linear structural equation models with non-ignorable missing outcomes from reproductive dispersion models

Non-linear structural equation models are widely used to analyze the relationships among outcomes and latent variables in modern educational, medical, social and psychological studies. However, the existing theories and methods for analyzing non-linear structural equation models focus on the assumptions of outcomes from an exponential family, and hence can’t be used to analyze non-exponential family outcomes. In this paper, a Bayesian method is developed to analyze non-linear structural equation models in which the manifest variables are from a reproductive dispersion model (RDM) and/or may be missing with non-ignorable missingness mechanism. The non-ignorable missingness mechanism is specified by a logistic regression model. A hybrid algorithm combining the Gibbs sampler and the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm is used to obtain the joint Bayesian estimates of structural parameters, latent variables and parameters in the logistic regression model, and a procedure calculating the Bayes factor for model comparison is given via path sampling. A goodness-of-fit statistic is proposed to assess the plausibility of the posited model. A simulation study and a real example are presented to illustrate the newly developed Bayesian methodologies.

Consistency and asymptotic normality of profilekernel and backfitting estimators in semiparametric reproductive dispersion nonlinear models

Semiparametric reproductive dispersion nonlinear model (SRDNM) is an extension of nonlinear reproductive dispersion models and semiparametric nonlinear regression models, and includes semiparametric nonlinear model and semiparametric generalized linear model as its special cases. Based on the local kernel estimate of nonparametric component, profile-kernel and backfitting estimators of parameters of interest are proposed in SRDNM, and theoretical comparison of both estimators is also investigated in this paper. Under some regularity conditions, strong consistency and asymptotic normality of two estimators are proved. It is shown that the backfitting method produces a larger asymptotic variance than that for the profile-kernel method. A simulation study and a real example are used to illustrate the proposed methodologies.

Local influence analysis of nonlinear structural equation models with nonignorable missing outcomes from reproductive dispersion models

Nonlinear structural equation models with nonignorable missing outcomes from reproductive dispersion models are proposed to identify the relationship between manifest variables and latent variables in modern educational, medical, social and psychological studies. The nonignorable missing mechanism is specified by a logistic regression model. An EM algorithm is developed to obtain the maximum likelihood estimates of the structural parameters and parameters in the logistic regression model. Assessment of local influence is investigated in nonlinear structural equation models with nonignorable missing outcomes from reproductive dispersion models on the basis of the conditional expectation of the complete-data log-likelihood function. Some local influence diagnostics are obtained via observations of missing data and latent variables that are generated by the Gibbs sampler and Metropolis–Hastings algorithm on the basis of the conformal normal curvature. A simulation study and a real example are used to illustrate the application of the proposed methodologies.

Influence diagnostics in nonlinear reproductive dispersion mixed models

The class of nonlinear reproductive dispersion mixed models (NRDMMs) is an extension of nonlinear reproductive dispersion models and generalized linear mixed models. This paper discusses the influence analysis of the model based on Laplace approximation. The equivalence of case-deletion models and mean-shift outlier models in NRDMMs is investigated, and some diagnostic measures are proposed via the case-deletion method. We also investigate the assessment of local influence of various perturbation schemes. The proposed method is illustrated with an example.

Theory & Methods: Detection of influential observations in nonlinear reproductive dispersion models

A robust case‐deletion diagnostic which could avoid masking is presented for nonlinear reproductive dispersion models (NRDM) (Jorgensen, 1997) that include generalized linear models and exponential family nonlinear models as special cases. Based on the second‐order approximation of log‐likelihood displacement and Poon & Poon’s (1999) conformal normal curvature, a measure of local influence ranging from 0 to 1 is constructed. An example illustrates application of the techniques.

LOCAL INFLUENCE IN NONLINEAR REPRODUCTIVE DISPERSION MODELS

Nonlinear reproductive dispersion models (NRDM, Jorgensen 1997) include a wider range of distributions and nonlinear models such as the possibility of correlated errors and nonlinear hypotheses dropping the exponential family assumption. Based on the generalized Cook distance and the conformal normal curvature of Poon & Poon (1999), local influence of minor perturbations on the data set is investigated for NRDM. Two examples are used to illustrate our results.

Some diagnostics in nonlinear reproductive dispersion models

This article discusses the problem of the detection of influential cases in nonlinear reproductive dispersion models (NRDM). A diagnostic based on case-deletion approach in estimating equations is proposed. The relationships between the generalized leverage defined by Wei et al. in 1998, statistical curvature, and the local influence of the response vector perturbations are investigated in NRDM. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the results.

Influence diagnostics in nonlinear reproductive dispersion models

We extend some diagnostic methods studied by Pregibon (1981, Ann. Statist. 9, 705–724), Cook and Weisberg (1982, Residuals and Influence in Regression, Chapman & Hall, New York), and Wei (1998, Exponential Family Nonlinear Models, Springer, Singapore) to nonlinear reproductive dispersion models (NRDM, Jorgensen, 1997, The Theory of Dispersion Models, Chapman & Hall, London). The equivalency of case-deletion models and mean-shift outlier models in NRDM is investigated. Some of the diagnostic measures are illustrated with an example.