This thesis deals with univariate and multivariate rank methods in making statistical inference. It is assumed that the underlying distributions belong to the class of elliptical distributions. The class of elliptical distributions is an extension of the normal distribution and includes distributions with both lighter and heavier tails than the normal distribution. In the first part of the thesis the rank covariance matrices defined via the Oja median are considered. The Oja rank covariance matrix has two important properties: it is affine equivariant and it is proportional to the inverse of the regular covariance matrix. We employ these two properties to study the problem of estimating the rank covariance matrices when they have a certain structure. The second part, which is the main part of the thesis, is devoted to rank estimation in linear regression models with symmetric heteroscedastic errors. We are interested in asymptotic properties of rank estimates. Asymptotic uniform linearity of a linear rank statistic in the case of heteroscedastic variables is proved. The asymptotic uniform linearity property enables to study asymptotic behaviour of rank regression estimates and rank tests. Existing results are generalized and it is shown that the Jaeckel estimate is consistent and asymptotically normally distributed also for heteroscedastic symmetric errors.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Background: The hazard ratio (HR), representing the quantified estimate of treatment effect in survival analysis, measures the instantaneous relative difference of failure risk between two groups. The HR is typically assumed to be independent of time; however, this assumption is usually violated in practice. If the proportionality assumption holds, HR can be validly with the popular Cox proportional hazards model. When not proportional, the Wilcoxon-Gehan has been proposed to test the hypothesis of no difference. These have been recently generalized to evaluate differences in survival time for more than zero survival differences (the “net survival benefit”). Method: In this thesis, an attempt is made to illustrate the properties of generalized Wilcoxon Gehan tests as proposed by Buyse (2009). We use the concept of net survival benefit to re-analyze the trial by the Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group (1982) by comparing chemotherapy versus combined chemotherapy and radiation in the treatment of locally unresectable gastric cancer. Survival times in days, for the 45 patients were recorded in each treatment arm. In that trial, a delayed treatment effect was observed, thus the HR is non-proportional. To provide a flexible assessment of the treatment effect, the net survival benefit was computed using datasets simulated under typical scenarios of proportional hazards, such as delayed treatment effect. Results: The generalized Wilcoxon statistic U, favored not adding radiation to chemotherapy, but only for survival up to 12 months. At Δ=0, U (0) = 491. In the simulated data sets, the confidence interval under the null hypothesis U (0) is (-152, 388). The test statistic 491 is outside this interval indicating radiation treatment might be beneficial. At U(12) = 219, it is inside the confidence interval of no treatment effect (-154,268) indicating the benefit of Chemo only is gone after 12 months. Conclusions: The net survival benefit measured via Buyse’s generalized Wilcoxon statistic is a measure of treatment effect that is meaningful whether or not hazards are proportional. The associated statistical test is more powerful than the standard log-rank test when a delayed treatment effect is anticipated.

Submitted by ANA KARLA PEREIRA RODRIGUES (anakarla_@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-25T13:37:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1699241 bytes, checksum: 2f092c650c435ae41ec42c261fd9c3af (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-25T13:37:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1699241 bytes, checksum: 2f092c650c435ae41ec42c261fd9c3af (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In thisthesis,westudycertaindegenerations/specializationsofthegenericsquare matrix overa eld k of characteristiczeroalongitsmainrelatedstructures,suchthe determinantofthematrix,theidealgeneratedbyitspartialderivatives,thepolarmap de ned bythesederivatives,theHessianmatrixandtheidealofsubmaximalminorsof the matrix.Thedegenerationtypesofthegenericsquarematrixconsideredhereare: (1) degenerationby\cloning"(repeating)avariable;(2)replacingasubsetofentriesby zeros, inastrategiclayout;(3)furtherdegenerationsoftheabovetypesstartingfrom certain specializationsofthegenericsquarematrix,suchasthegenericsymmetric matrix andthegenericsquareHankelmatrix.Thefocusinallthesedegenerations is intheinvariantsdescribedabove,highlightingonthehomaloidalbehaviorofthe determinantofthematrix.Forthis,weemploytoolscomingfromcommutativealgebra, with emphasisonidealtheoryandsyzygytheory. / Nesta tese,estudamoscertasdegenera c~oes/especializa c~oesdamatrizquadradagen erica sobre umcorpo k de caracter sticazero,aolongodesuasprincipaisestruturasrela- cionadas, taiscomoodeterminantedamatriz,oidealgeradoporsuasderivadasparci- ais, omapapolarde nidoporessasderivadas,amatrizHessianaeoidealdosmenores subm aximosdamatriz.Ostiposdedegenera c~aodamatrizquadradagen ericacon- siderados aquis~ao:(1)degenera c~aopor\clonagem"(repeti c~ao)deumavari avel;(2) substitui c~aodeumsubconjuntodeentradasporzeros,emumadisposi c~aoestrat egica; (3) outrasdegenera c~oesdostiposacimapartindodecertasespecializa c~oesdamatriz quadrada gen erica,taiscomoamatrizgen ericasim etricaeamatrizquadradagen erica de Hankel.Ofocoemtodasessasdegenera c~oes enosinvariantesdescritosacima, com destaqueparaocomportamentohomaloidaldodeterminantedamatriz.Paratal, empregamos ferramentasprovenientesda algebracomutativa,com^enfasenateoriade ideais enateoriadesiz gias.