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Abstract:
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We study a generalization of the two-groups model in the presence of covariates; a problem that has recently received much attention in the statistical literature due to its applicability in multiple hypotheses testing problems. Our model allows for infinite dimensional parameters and offers flexibility in modeling the dependence of the response on the covariates. We discuss the identifiability issues arising in this model and study several estimation strategies. We propose a tuning parameter-free nonparametric maximum likelihood method, implementable via the EM algorithm, to estimate the unknown parameters. Further, we derive the rate of convergence of the proposed estimators; in particular, we show that the finite sample Hellinger risk for every `approximate' nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator achieves a parametric rate up to log factors. In addition, we propose and theoretically study two `marginal' methods that are more scalable and easily implementable. We demonstrate the efficacy of our procedures through extensive simulation studies and relevant data analyses (from neuroscience and for astronomy). We also outline the application of our methods to multiple testing.
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