355
Views
5
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

A change-point detection and clustering method in the recurrent-event context

ORCID Icon, &
Pages 1131-1149 | Received 11 Mar 2019, Accepted 14 Jan 2020, Published online: 27 Jan 2020
 

Abstract

Change-point detection in the context of recurrent-event is a valuable analysis tool for the identification of the intensity rate changes. It has been an interesting topic in many fields, such as medical studies, travel safety analysis, etc. If subgroups exist, clustering can be incorporated into the change-point detection to improve the quality of the results. This paper develops a new algorithm named Recurrent-K-means to detect the change-points of the intensity rates and identify clusters of objects with recurrent events. It also proposes a test-based method to perform a heuristic search in determining the number of underlying clusters. In this study, the objects are assumed to fall in several clusters while the objects in the same cluster share identical change-points. The event count for an object is assumed to be a non-homogeneous Poisson process with a piecewise-constant intensity function. The methodology estimates the change-point as well as the intensity rates before and after the change-point for each cluster. The methodology establishes a clustering analysis based on K-means algorithm but enhances the procedure to be model based. The simulation study shows that the methodology performs well in parameter estimation and determination of the number of clusters in different scenarios. The methodology is applied to the UK coal mining disaster data to show its possible role in shaping government regulations and improving coal industry safety.

2010 MATHEMATICS SUBJECT CLASSIFICATIONS:

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mike Cammilleri, the Director of the IT Office in the Department of Statistics at University of Wisconsin-Madison for the support in high-performance computing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.