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We propose a strategy for computing estimators in some non-standard M-estimation problems, where the data are distributed across different servers and the observations across servers, though independent, can come from heterogeneous sub-populations, thereby violating the identically distributed assumption. Our strategy fixes the super-efficiency phenomenon observed in prior work on distributed computing in (i) the isotonic regression framework, where averaging several isotonic estimates (each computed at a local server) on a central server produces super-efficient estimates that do not replicate the properties of the global isotonic estimator, i.e. the isotonic estimate that would be constructed by transferring all the data to a single server, and (ii) certain types of M-estimation problems involving optimization of discontinuous criterion functions where M-estimates converge at the cube-root rate. The new estimators proposed in this paper work by smoothing the data on each local server, communicating the smoothed summaries to the central server, and then solving a non-linear optimization problem at the central server. They are shown to replicate the asymptotic properties of the corresponding global estimators, and also overcome the super-efficiency phenomenon exhibited by existing estimators. 

Inference for high-dimensional models is challenging as regular asymptotic the- ories are not applicable. This paper proposes a new framework of simultaneous estimation and inference for high-dimensional linear models. By smoothing over par- tial regression estimates based on a given variable selection scheme, we reduce the problem to a low-dimensional least squares estimation. The procedure, termed as Selection-assisted Partial Regression and Smoothing (SPARES), utilizes data split- ting along with variable selection and partial regression. We show that the SPARES estimator is asymptotically unbiased and normal, and derive its variance via a non- parametric delta method. The utility of the procedure is evaluated under various simulation scenarios and via comparisons with the de-biased LASSO estimators, a major competitor. We apply the method to analyze two genomic datasets and obtain biologically meaningful results.