Fang, Zaili2014-03-142014-03-142012-10-19etd-10212012-214919http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40090Model 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.In CopyrightVariable SelectionSmoothing SplinesSparsistencySemiparametric ModelPathway AnalysisAdditive ModelCluster AlgorithmGaussian Random ProcessGlobal-Local ShrinkageGraphical ModelIsing ModelKernel MachineKM ModelLASSOLong Tail PriorMixture NormalsModel SelectionMultivariate Smoothing FunctionNonnegative GarroteNonparametric ModelDissertationhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10212012-214919/