We study minimization problems with respect to a one-parameter family of generalized relative entropies. These relative entropies, which we call relative -entropies (denoted I (P; Q)), arise as redundancies under mismatched compression when cumulants of compression lengths are considered instead of expected compression lengths. These parametric relative entropies are a generalization of the usual relative entropy (Kullback-Leibler divergence). Just like relative entropy, these relative -entropies behave like squared Euclidean distance and satisfy the Pythagorean property. We explore the geometry underlying various statistical models and its relevance to information theory and to robust statistics. The thesis consists of three parts. In the first part, we study minimization of I (P; Q) as the first argument varies over a convex set E of probability distributions. We show the existence of a unique minimizer when the set E is closed in an appropriate topology. We then study minimization of I on a particular convex set, a linear family, which is one that arises from linear statistical constraints. This minimization problem generalizes the maximum Renyi or Tsallis entropy principle of statistical physics. The structure of the minimizing probability distribution naturally suggests a statistical model of power-law probability distributions, which we call an -power-law family. Such a family is analogous to the exponential family that arises when relative entropy is minimized subject to the same linear statistical constraints. In the second part, we study minimization of I (P; Q) over the second argument. This minimization is generally on parametric families such as the exponential family or the - power-law family, and is of interest in robust statistics ( > 1) and in constrained compression settings ( < 1). In the third part, we show an orthogonality relationship between the -power-law family and an associated linear family. As a consequence of this, the minimization of I (P; ), when the second argument comes from an -power-law family, can be shown to be equivalent to a minimization of I ( ; R), for a suitable R, where the first argument comes from a linear family. The latter turns out to be a simpler problem of minimization of a quasi convex objective function subject to linear constraints. Standard techniques are available to solve such problems, for example, via a sequence of convex feasibility problems, or via a sequence of such problems but on simpler single-constraint linear families.

The term aggregation refers to overdispersion and both are used interchangeably in this thesis. In addressing the problem of prevalence of infectious parasite species faced by most rural livestock farmers, we model the distribution of faecal egg counts of 15 parasite species (13 internal parasites and 2 ticks) common in sheep and goats. Aggregation and excess zeroes is addressed through the use of generalised linear models. The abundance of each species was modelled using six different distributions: the Poisson, negative binomial (NB), zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP), zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB), zero-altered Poisson (ZAP) and zero-altered negative binomial (ZANB) and their fit was later compared. Excess zero models (ZIP, ZINB, ZAP and ZANB) were found to be a better fit compared to standard count models (Poisson and negative binomial) in all 15 cases. We further investigated how distributional assumption a↵ects aggregation and zero inflation. Aggregation and zero inflation (measured by the dispersion parameter k and the zero inflation probability) were found to vary greatly with distributional assumption; this in turn changed the fixed-effects structure. Serial autocorrelation between adjacent observations was later taken into account by fitting observation driven time series models to the data. Simultaneously taking into account autocorrelation, overdispersion and zero inflation proved to be successful as zero inflated autoregressive models performed better than zero inflated models in most cases. Apart from contribution to the knowledge of science, predictability of parasite burden will help farmers with effective disease management interventions. Researchers confronted with the task of analysing count data with excess zeroes can use the findings of this illustrative study as a guideline irrespective of their research discipline. Statistical methods from model selection, quantifying of zero inflation through to accounting for serial autocorrelation are described and illustrated. / Statistics / M.Sc. (Statistics)

Ce travail de thèse porte sur différentes caractérisations des modèles multivariés de stables-Tweedie multiples dans le cadre des familles exponentielles naturelles sous la propriété de "steepness". Ces modèles parus en 2014 dans la littérature ont été d’abord introduits et décrits sous une forme restreinte des stables-Tweedie normaux avant les extensions aux cas multiples. Ils sont composés d’un mélange d’une loi unidimensionnelle stable-Tweedie de variable réelle positive fixée, et des lois stables-Tweedie de variables réelles indépendantes conditionnées par la première fixée, de même variance égale à la valeur de la variable fixée. Les modèles stables-Tweedie normaux correspondants sont ceux du mélange d’une loi unidimensionnelle stable-Tweedie positive fixé et les autres toutes gaussiennes indépendantes. A travers des cas particuliers tels que normal, Poisson, gamma, inverse gaussienne, les modèles stables-Tweedie multiples sont très fréquents dans les études de statistique et probabilités appliquées. D’abord, nous avons caractérisé les modèles stables-Tweedie normaux à travers leurs fonctions variances ou matrices de covariance exprimées en fonction de leurs vecteurs moyens. La nature des polynômes associés à ces modèles est déduite selon les valeurs de la puissance variance à l’aide des propriétés de quasi orthogonalité, des systèmes de Lévy-Sheffer, et des relations de récurrence polynomiale. Ensuite, ces premiers résultats nous ont permis de caractériser à l’aide de la fonction variance la plus grande classe des stables-Tweedie multiples. Ce qui a conduit à une nouvelle classification laquelle rend la famille beaucoup plus compréhensible. Enfin, une extension de caractérisation des stables-Tweedie normaux par fonction variance généralisée ou déterminant de la fonction variance a été établie via leur propriété d’indéfinie divisibilité et en passant par les équations de Monge-Ampère correspondantes. Exprimées sous la forme de produit des composantes du vecteur moyen aux puissances multiples, la caractérisationde tous les modèles multivariés stables-Tweedie multiples par fonction variance généralisée reste un problème ouvert. / In the framework of natural exponential families, this thesis proposes differents characterizations of multivariate multiple stables-Tweedie under "steepness" property. These models appeared in 2014 in the literature were first introduced and described in a restricted form of the normal stables-Tweedie models before extensions to multiple cases. They are composed by a fixed univariate stable-Tweedie variable having a positive domain, and the remaining random variables given the fixed one are reals independent stables-Tweedie variables, possibly different, with the same dispersion parameter equal to the fixed component. The corresponding normal stables-Tweedie models have a fixed univariate stable-Tweedie and all the others are reals Gaussian variables. Through special cases such that normal, Poisson, gamma, inverse Gaussian, multiple stables-Tweedie models are very common in applied probability and statistical studies. We first characterized the normal stable-Tweedie through their variances function or covariance matrices expressed in terms of their means vector. According to the power variance parameter values, the nature of polynomials associated with these models is deduced with the properties of the quasi orthogonal, Levy-Sheffer systems, and polynomial recurrence relations. Then, these results allowed us to characterize by function variance the largest class of multiple stables-Tweedie. Which led to a new classification, which makes more understandable the family. Finally, a extension characterization of normal stable-Tweedie by generalized variance function or determinant of variance function have been established via their infinite divisibility property and through the corresponding Monge-Ampere equations. Expressed as product of the components of the mean vector with multiple powers parameters reals, the characterization of all multivariate multiple stable- Tweedie models by generalized variance function remains an open problem.