Robust penalized regression for complex high-dimensional data

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Bin Luo (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Xiaoli Gao

Abstract: Robust high-dimensional data analysis has become an important and challenging task in complex Big Data analysis due to the high-dimensionality and data contamination. One of the most popular procedures is the robust penalized regression. In this dissertation, we address three typical robust ultra-high dimensional regression problems via penalized regression approaches. The first problem is related to the linear model with the existence of outliers, dealing with the outlier detection, variable selection and parameter estimation simultaneously. The second problem is related to robust high-dimensional mean regression with irregular settings such as the data contamination, data asymmetry and heteroscedasticity. The third problem is related to robust bi-level variable selection for the linear regression model with grouping structures in covariates. In Chapter 1, we introduce the background and challenges by overviews of penalized least squares methods and robust regression techniques. In Chapter 2, we propose a novel approach in a penalized weighted least squares framework to perform simultaneous variable selection and outlier detection. We provide a unified link between the proposed framework and a robust M-estimation in general settings. We also establish the non-asymptotic oracle inequalities for the joint estimation of both the regression coefficients and weight vectors. In Chapter 3, we establish a framework of robust estimators in high-dimensional regression models using Penalized Robust Approximated quadratic M estimation (PRAM). This framework allows general settings such as random errors lack of symmetry and homogeneity, or covariates are not sub-Gaussian. Theoretically, we show that, in the ultra-high dimension setting, the PRAM estimator has local estimation consistency at the minimax rate enjoyed by the LS-Lasso and owns the local oracle property, under certain mild conditions. In Chapter 4, we extend the study in Chapter 3 to robust high-dimensional data analysis with structured sparsity. In particular, we propose a framework of high-dimensional M-estimators for bi-level variable selection. This framework encourages bi-level sparsity through a computationally efficient two-stage procedure. It produces strong robust parameter estimators if some nonconvex redescending loss functions are applied. In theory, we provide sufficient conditions under which our proposed two-stage penalized M-estimator possesses simultaneous local estimation consistency and the bi-level variable selection consistency, if a certain nonconvex penalty function is used at the group level. The performances of the proposed estimators are demonstrated in both simulation studies and real examples. In Chapter 5, we provide some discussions and future work.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2020
Keywords
High dimensionality, M-estimator, Non-convexity
Subjects
Estimation theory
Dimensional analysis
Regression analysis
Least squares

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