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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

A Sketch-Based Language For Representing Uncertainty In The Locations Of Origin Of Herbarium Specimens, Barry J. Kronenfeld, Andrew Weeks Jan 2010

A Sketch-Based Language For Representing Uncertainty In The Locations Of Origin Of Herbarium Specimens, Barry J. Kronenfeld, Andrew Weeks

Barry J. Kronenfeld

Uncertainty fields have been suggested as an appropriate model for retrospective georeferencing of herbarium specimens. Previous work has focused only on automated data capture methods, but techniques for manual data specification may be able to harness human spatial cognition skills to quickly interpret complex spatial propositions. This paper develops a formal modeling language by which location uncertainty fields can be derived from manually sketched features. The language consists of low-level specification of critical probability isolines from which a surface can be uniquely derived, and high-level specification of features and predicates from which low-level isolines can be derived. In a case …


A Plotless Density Estimator Based On The Asymptotic Limit Of Ordered Distance Estimation Values, Barry J. Kronenfeld Jan 2009

A Plotless Density Estimator Based On The Asymptotic Limit Of Ordered Distance Estimation Values, Barry J. Kronenfeld

Barry J. Kronenfeld

Estimation of tree density from point-tree distances is an attractive option for quick inventory of new sites, but estimators that are unbiased in clustered and dispersed situations have not been found. Noting that bias of an estimator derived from distances to the kth nearest neighbor from a random point tends to decrease with increasing k, a method is proposed for estimating the limit of an asymptotic function through a set of ordered distance estimators. A standard asymptotic model is derived from the limiting case of a clustered distribution. The proposed estimator is evaluated against 13 types of simulated generating processes, …