arXiv subjects

Yi Lian

Publications and source records attributed to Yi Lian.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Fast Computational Methods for Regularized Estimating Equations

Estimating equations arise in a wide range of statistical applications, including longitudinal and clustered data analysis, survival analysis, econometrics, and semiparametric inference. In high-dimensional settings, adding sparsity-inducing regularization often leads to computational challenges that are not fully addressed by standard penalized optimization routines. These challenges are closely tied to the structural form of the underlying estimating problem: mainly, the estimating function needs not be the gradient of a scalar objective and may involve asymmetric Jacobians, overidentification, nonsmoothness, nonconvexity, or nested optimization. This article first reviews the application areas of estimating equations, and then the computational methods for regularized estimating equations by organizing them into four broad formulations: minimization-type, Dantzig-type, regularization-type, and fixed-point-type approaches. We discuss the main numerical strategies associated with each formulation, including penalized optimization, constrained linear programming, iterative root-solving, and proximal fixed-point iteration. We also highlight the connection between regularized estimating equations and fixed-point problems, which provides a unified computational perspective for analyzing and solving regularized estimating equations.

stat.CO↗

arXiv2026

Adaptive Sparse Group Lasso Penalized Quantile Regression via Dual ADMM

Sparse penalized quantile regression provides an effective framework for variable selection and robust estimation in high-dimensional data analysis. When ex planatory variables are organized into groups, achieving sparsity both within and between groups is essential. However, existing quantile regression methods often fail to meet this dual objective. To address this gap, we introduce the adaptive sparse group lasso penalized quantile regression, which integrates adaptive lasso and adaptive group lasso penalties. We optimize the model parameters via the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) applied to the dual problem, and establish global convergence. Through extensive simulation studies and real data analyses, we demonstrate (i) the efficacy of the proposed method in achieving simultaneous within- and between-group sparsity, and (ii) the computational efficiency of our algorithm relative to existing alternatives.

stat.CO↗

arXiv2025

Figame: A Family Digital Game Based on JME for Shaping Parent-Child Healthy Gaming Relationship

With the development of technology, digital games have permeated into family and parent-child relationships, leading to cognitive deficiencies and inter-generational conflicts that have yet to be effectively addressed. Building on previous research on digital games and parent-child relationships, we have developed Figame, a Joint Media Engagement (JME) based parent-child digital game aimed at fostering healthy family gaming relationships through co-playing experiences. The game itself involves providing game-related cognitive support, facilitating role-switching between parent and child, encouraging discussions both within and outside the game, and balancing competition and collaboration. During the study, we assessed the gameplay experiences of 8 parent-child pairs (aged between 8 and 12 years). The results indicated that Figame effectively enhances parent-child digital gaming relationships and promotes a willingness to engage in shared gameplay, thereby fostering positive family dynamics within the context of digital gaming.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

CausalMetaR: An R package for performing causally interpretable meta-analyses

Researchers would often like to leverage data from a collection of sources (e.g., primary studies in a meta-analysis) to estimate causal effects in a target population of interest. However, traditional meta-analytic methods do not produce causally interpretable estimates for a well-defined target population. In this paper, we present the CausalMetaR R package, which implements efficient and robust methods to estimate causal effects in a given internal or external target population using multi-source data. The package includes estimators of average and subgroup treatment effects for the entire target population. To produce efficient and robust estimates of causal effects, the package implements doubly robust and non-parametric efficient estimators and supports using flexible data-adaptive (e.g., machine learning techniques) methods and cross-fitting techniques to estimate the nuisance models (e.g., the treatment model, the outcome model). We describe the key features of the package and demonstrate how to use the package through an example.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2024

Structured Learning in Time-dependent Cox Models

Cox models with time-dependent coefficients and covariates are widely used in survival analysis. In high-dimensional settings, sparse regularization techniques are employed for variable selection, but existing methods for time-dependent Cox models lack flexibility in enforcing specific sparsity patterns (i.e., covariate structures). We propose a flexible framework for variable selection in time-dependent Cox models, accommodating complex selection rules. Our method can adapt to arbitrary grouping structures, including interaction selection, temporal, spatial, tree, and directed acyclic graph structures. It achieves accurate estimation with low false alarm rates. We develop the sox package, implementing a network flow algorithm for efficiently solving models with complex covariate structures. sox offers a user-friendly interface for specifying grouping structures and delivers fast computation. Through examples, including a case study on identifying predictors of time to all-cause death in atrial fibrillation patients, we demonstrate the practical application of our method with specific selection rules.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2021

A Unified Framework for Regularized Estimating Equations via Fixed-Point and Variational Inequality Problems

Many statistics problems are formulated within an estimating equation framework instead of a minimization framework. However, the regularized estimating equations (REE) have been much less extensively studies than regularized minimization problems. In this paper, we study an improved regularized estimating equation formulation and explore its subsequent equivalences in terms of (1) fixed-point problem specified via the proximal operator of the corresponding regularizer, and (2) generalized variational inequality problems. Such equivalences hold under general conditions and accommodate nonconvex regularizers. Moreover, these equivalences open up new possibilities in theoretical analysis and computational algorithms when studying the REE.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2019

Generalizable Meta-Heuristic based on Temporal Estimation of Rewards for Large Scale Blackbox Optimization

The generalization abilities of heuristic optimizers may deteriorate with the increment of the search space dimensionality. To achieve generalized performance across Large Scale Blackbox Optimization (LSBO) tasks, it ispossible to ensemble several heuristics and devise a meta-heuristic to control their initiation. This paper first proposes a methodology of transforming LSBO problems into online decision processes to maximize efficiency of resource utilization. Then, using the perspective of multi-armed bandits with non-stationary reward distributions, we propose a meta-heuristic based on Temporal Estimation of Rewards (TER) to address such decision process. TER uses a window for temporal credit assignment and Boltzmann exploration to balance the exploration-exploitation tradeoff. The prior-free TER generalizes across LSBO tasks with flexibility for different types of limited computational resources (e.g. time, money, etc.) and is easy to be adapted to new tasks for its simplicity and easy interface for heuristic articulation. Tests on the benchmarks validate the problem formulation and suggest significant effectiveness: when TER is articulated with three heuristics, competitive performance is reported across different sets of benchmark problems with search dimensions up to 10000.

cs.NE↗