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This paper studies density estimation and regression analysis with data observed on a general unit hypersphere and contaminated by measurement errors. We establish novel density and regression estimators, and study their asymptotic properties such as the rates of convergence and asymptotic normality. We also provide two types of asymptotic confidence intervals for both density and regression functions. One type is based on the asymptotic normality of their estimators and the other type is based on the empirical likelihood technique. We present practical details on the implementation of our method as well as simulation studies and real data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through exploiting information from the source data to improve the fit performance on the target data, transfer learning estimations for high‐dimensional linear regression models have drawn much attention recently, but few studies focus on statistical inference and robust learning in the presence of heavy‐tailed/asymmetric errors. Using adaptive Huber regression (AHR) to achieve the bias and robustness tradeoff, in this paper we propose a robust transfer learning algorithm with high‐dimensional covariates, then construct valid confidence intervals and hypothesis tests based on the debiased lasso approach. When the transferable sources are known, a two‐step ℓ1$$ {\ell}_1 $$‐penalized transfer AHR estimator is firstly proposed and the error bounds are established. To correct the biases caused by the lasso penalty, a unified debiasing framework based on the decorrelated score equations is considered to establish asymptotic normality of the debiased lasso transfer AHR estimator. Confidence intervals and hypothesis tests for each component can be constructed. When the transferable sources are unknown, a data‐driven source detection algorithm is proposed with theoretical guarantee. Numerical studies verify the performance of our proposed estimator and confidence intervals, and an application to Genotype‐Tissue Expression data is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose new asymptotic confidence intervals for extreme quantiles, that is, for quantiles located outside the range of the available data. We restrict ourselves to the situation where the underlying distribution is heavy‐tailed. While asymptotic confidence intervals are mostly constructed around a pivotal quantity, we consider here an alternative approach based on the distribution of order statistics sampled from a uniform distribution. The convergence of the coverage probability to the nominal one is established under a classical second‐order condition. The finite sample behavior is also examined and our methodology is applied to a real dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well‐recommended methods of forming "confidence intervals" for a binomial proportion give interval estimates that do not actually meet the definition of a confidence interval, in that their coverages are sometimes lower than the nominal confidence level. The methods are favoured because their intervals have a shorter average length than the Clopper–Pearson (gold‐standard) method, whose intervals really are confidence intervals. As the definition of a confidence interval is not being adhered to, another criterion for forming interval estimates for a binomial proportion is needed. In this paper, we suggest a new criterion for forming one‐sided intervals and equal‐tail two‐sided intervals. Methods which meet the criterion are said to yield locally correct confidence intervals. We propose a method that yields such intervals and prove that its intervals have a shorter average length than those of any other method that meets the criterion. Compared with the Clopper–Pearson method, the proposed method gives intervals with an appreciably smaller average length. For confidence levels of practical interest, the mid‐p method also satisfies the new criterion and has its own optimality property. It gives locally correct confidence intervals that are only slightly wider than those of the new method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some inferential statistical methods, such as tests and confidence intervals, it is important to describe the stochastic behavior of statistical functionals, aside from their large sample properties. We study such a behavior in terms of the usual stochastic order. For this purpose, we introduce a generalized family of stochastic orders, which is referred to as transform orders, showing that it provides a flexible framework for deriving stochastic monotonicity results. Given that our general definition makes it possible to obtain some well known ordering relations as particular cases, we can easily apply our method to different families of functionals. These include some prominent inequality measures, such as the generalized entropy, the Gini index, and its generalizations. We also illustrate the applicability of our approach by determining the least favorable distribution, and the behavior of some bootstrap statistics, in some goodness‐of‐fit testing procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling survey data often requires having the knowledge of design and weighting variables. With public‐use survey data, some of these variables may not be available for confidentiality reasons. The proposed approach can be used in this situation, as long as calibrated weights and variables specifying the strata and primary sampling units are available. It gives consistent point estimation and a pivotal statistics for testing and confidence intervals. The proposed approach does not rely on with‐replacement sampling, single‐stage, negligible sampling fractions, or noninformative sampling. Adjustments based on design effects, eigenvalues, joint‐inclusion probabilities or bootstrap, are not needed. The inclusion probabilities and auxiliary variables do not have to be known. Multistage designs with unequal selection of primary sampling units are considered. Nonresponse can be easily accommodated if the calibrated weights include reweighting adjustment for nonresponse. We use an unconditional approach, where the variables and sample are random variables. The design can be informative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greenwood statistic Tn and its functions, including sample coefficient of variation, often arise in testing exponentiality or detecting clustering or heterogeneity. We provide a general result describing stochastic behavior of Tn in response to stochastic behavior of the sample data. Our result provides a rigorous base for constructing tests and assuring that confidence regions are actually intervals for the tail parameter of many power‐tail distributions. We also present a result explaining the connection between clustering and heaviness of tail for several classes of distributions and its extension to general heavy tailed families. Our results provide theoretical justification for Tn being an effective and commonly used statistic discriminating between regularity/uniformity and clustering in presence of heavy tails in applied sciences. We also note that the use of Greenwood statistic as a measure of heterogeneity or clustering is limited to data with large outliers, as opposed to those close to zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]