Model and variable selection have attracted considerable attention in areas of application where datasets usually contain thousands of variables. Variable selection is a critical step to reduce the dimension of high dimensional data by eliminating irrelevant variables. The general objective of variable selection is not only to obtain a set of cost-effective predictors selected but also to improve prediction and prediction variance. We have made several contributions to this issue through a range of advanced topics: providing a graphical view of Bayesian Variable Selection (BVS), recovering sparsity in multivariate nonparametric models and proposing a testing procedure for evaluating nonlinear interaction effect in a semiparametric model. To address the first topic, we propose a new Bayesian variable selection approach via the graphical model and the Ising model, which we refer to the ``Bayesian Ising Graphical Model'' (BIGM). There are several advantages of our BIGM: it is easy to (1) employ the single-site updating and cluster updating algorithm, both of which are suitable for problems with small sample sizes and a larger number of variables, (2) extend this approach to nonparametric regression models, and (3) incorporate graphical prior information. In the second topic, we propose a Nonnegative Garrote on a Kernel machine (NGK) to recover sparsity of input variables in smoothing functions. We model the smoothing function by a least squares kernel machine and construct a nonnegative garrote on the kernel model as the function of the similarity matrix. An efficient coordinate descent/backfitting algorithm is developed. The third topic involves a specific genetic pathway dataset in which the pathways interact with the environmental variables. We propose a semiparametric method to model the pathway-environment interaction. We then employ a restricted likelihood ratio test and a score test to evaluate the main pathway effect and the pathway-environment interaction. / Ph. D.

本文主要是在探討三個變數所構成之三維列聯表中，兩兩有序類別變數間的關係，而衡量的標準，我們則採用「兩兩變數所構成之二維列聯表中，相鄰兩列與相鄰兩行所求計出的相對成敗比（local odds ratios）」。在三維列聯表的資料架構下，我們可分別就固定某一變數水準之下兩個有序變數彼此間的「條件關係」，以及三個有序類別變數彼此兩兩間的「部分關係」，建構其各自的三維關係模型，並進行參數估計。此外，我們也提供必要的電腦程式，並舉出實例，加以說明。 / In analyzing a three-way contingency table with three ordinal variables, we can use association models suggested in Goodman (1979) to study the association between each pair of ordinal variables. The association was measured in terms of the local odds ratios formed from adjacent rows and adjacent columns of the cross-classification. This article investigates in great details the conditional association models and the partial association models for three-way cross-classifications. In addition, issues on estimating the para-meters in these two kinds of association models are discussed, and computer programs are provided. Some of the applications are illustrated.