Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Exact One-Sided Confidence Limits For The Difference Between Two Correlated Proportions, Chris Lloyd, Max V. Moldovan

Chris J. Lloyd

We construct exact and optimal one-sided upper and lower confidence bounds for the difference between two probabilities based on matched binary pairs using well-established optimality theory of Buehler (1957). Starting with five different approximate loer and upper limits, we adjust them to have coverage probability exactly equal to the desired nominal level and then compare the resulting exact limits by their mean size. Exact limits based on the signed root likelihood ratio statistic are preferred and recommended for practical use.

Trends In Uspto Office Actions, Ron D. Katznelson

Ron D. Katznelson

No abstract provided.

Correction: Using Participatory Design To Develop (Public) Health Decision Support Systems Through Gis, S. Michelle Driedger, Anita Kothari, Jason Morrison, Michael Sawada, Eric J. Crighton, Ian D. Graham

Anita Kothari

Background: Organizations that collect substantial data for decision-making purposes are often characterized as being 'data rich' but 'information poor'. Maps and mapping tools can be very useful for research transfer in converting locally collected data into information. Challenges involved in incorporating GIS applications into the decision-making process within the non-profit (public) health sector include a lack of financial resources for software acquisition and training for nonspecialists to use such tools. This on-going project has two primary phases. This paper critically reflects on Phase 1: the participatory design (PD) process of developing a collaborative web-based GIS tool.

Methods: A case study …

Biogeographical Distribution And Natural Groupings Among Five Sympatric Wild Cats In Tropical South Asia, Mohammed Ashraf

Mohammed Ashraf

Individualized Treatment Rules: Generating Candidate Clinical Trials, Maya Petersen, Steven G. Deeks, Mark J. Van Der Laan

Maya Petersen

Individualized treatment rules, or rules for altering treatments over time in response to changes in individual covariates, are of primary importance in the practice of clinical medicine. Several statistical methods aim to estimate the rule, termed an optimal dynamic treatment regime, which will result in the best expected outcome in a population. In this article, we discuss estimation of an alternative type of dynamic regime—the statically optimal treatment rule. History-adjusted marginal structural models (HA-MSM) estimate individualized treatment rules that assign, at each time point, the first action of the future static treatment plan that optimizes expected outcome given a patient’s …

Approaches To Mitigating Decayed Buried Timber Within Railway Embankments, Barry A. Palynchuk Phd

Barry A. Palynchuk PhD

During the last three years, several sinkholes have been observed along CPR railway lines in Southern Ontario. The sinkholes have formed as a result of the decay of buried timber trestles in railway embankments. Although it has not occurred the sinkholes could result in hazardous changes in track geometry under load. This study summarizes the site investigation results and remedial methods implemented at five sites in southern Ontario. Remedial methods include placement geosynthetic reinforcement, soil-cement column reinforcement and grouting of voids at the trestle bents. The design, installation methods and construction constraints for the remedial options are described in this …

Exact P-Values For Discrete Models Obtained By Estimation And Maximisation, Chris Lloyd

Chris J. Lloyd

In constructing exact tests, one must deal with the possible dependence of the P-value on the nuisance parameter/s psi as well as discreteness of the sample space. A classical but heavy handed approach is to maximise over psi. We prove what has previously been understood informally, namely that maximisation produces the uinique and smallest possible P-value subject to the ordering induced by the underlying test statistic and test validity. On the other hand, allowing for the worst case will be more attractive when the P-value is less dependent on psi. We investigate the extent to which estimating psi under the …

Functional Principal Component Regression And Functional Partial Least Squares, Philip T. Reiss, R. Todd Ogden

Philip T. Reiss

Regression of a scalar response on signal predictors, such as near-infrared (NIR) spectra of chemical samples, presents a major challenge when, as is typically the case, the dimension of the signals far exceeds their number. Most solutions to this problem reduce the dimension of the predictors either by regressing on components--e.g. principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares (PLS)--or by smoothing methods which restrict the coefficient function to the span of a spline basis. This paper introduces functional versions of PCR and PLS, which combine both of the above dimension reduction approaches. Two versions of functional PCR are developed, …

Meta-Analysis Evidence Of A Differential Risk Of The Fcrl3 -169t->C Polymorphism In White And East Asian Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients, Steven J. Schrodi, Begovich Ann, Chang Monica

Steven J Schrodi

Association between a functional promoter polymorphism (rs7528684) in the Fc receptor-like gene, FCRL3, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been observed in 3 independent Japanese case-control sample sets ([1][2]). Studies examining the role of this polymorphism in risk of RA in 9 independent white sample sets, however, have yielded conflicting results ([3-8]). Further, a large study of Korean subjects failed to demonstrate association of this single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) with RA ([9]). Although the precise function of FCRL3, which has strong structural homology with the classic Fc receptors, is unknown, the existing data are consistent with the hypothesis that it may influence …

A Taxonomy Of Finance Theories, Grace S. Thomson

Dr. Grace S. Thomson

Finance Theories Taxonomy This document presents a taxonomy of selected finance theories developed in past 5 decades by academics, practitioners and scholars in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. A total of 14 theories and models are synthesized in this work, organized in five tables with the same structure: Theories of capital structure; capital budgeting and cost of equity; asset valuation, financial behavior and international finances. Each table contains theories organized alphabetically with an indication of its germinal or current character. The description of the theory is accompanied by current examples of empirical research that updates or contradicts …

A Large-Scale Rheumatoid Arthritis Genetic Study Identifies Association At Chr 9q33.2, Steven J. Schrodi

Steven J Schrodi

No abstract provided.

Pdf Submitted Jan Nineteen, Sid Twentythree

Sidney Twentythree Sr.

Chess, Chance And Conspiracy, Mark Segal

Mark R Segal

Chess and chance are seemingly strange bedfellows. Luck and/or randomness have no apparent role in move selection when the game is played at the highest levels. However, when competition is at the ultimate level, that of the World Chess Championship (WCC), chess and conspiracy are not strange bedfellows, there being a long and colorful history of accusations levied between participants. One such accusation, frequently repeated, was that all the games in the 1985 WCC (Karpov vs Kasparov) were fixed and prearranged move by move. That this claim was advanced by a former World Champion, Bobby Fischer, argues that it ought …

Software To Forecast The Global Burden Of Alzheimer's Disease, Ron Brookmeyer, Elizabeth Johnson, Kathryn Ziegler-Graham, H. Michael Arrighi

Ron Brookmeyer

Software was developed to forecast the global burden of Alzheimer’s disease and evaluate the potential impact of interventions that delay disease onset and progression. The output includes 50 year projections of Alzheimer's disease prevalence by stage of disease and region of the world. The methods are based on a stochastic multi-state model The software incorporates U.N. worldwide population forecasts and data from epidemiological studies on risks of Alzheimer’s disease. The user can also supply their own population projections, and modify input parameters for the model including the disease incidence rates, effects of interventions on disease onset and progression, and stages …

Bayesian Predictive Information Criterion For The Evaluation Of Hierarchical Bayesian And Empirical Bayes Models, Tomohiro Ando

Tomohiro Ando

No abstract provided.

Confidence Intervals For Biomarker-Based Human Immunodeficiecny Virus Incidence Estimates And Differences Using Prevalent Data, Ron Brookmeyer, S Cole, H Chu

Ron Brookmeyer

Prevalent biological specimens can be used to estimate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) incidence using a two-stage immunologic testing algorithm that hinges on the average time, say T, between testing HIV positive on highly and less sensitive enzyme immunoassays. Common approaches to confidence interval (CI) estimation for this incidence measure have included (1) ignoring the random error in T or (2) employing a Bonferroni adjustment to the box method. The authors present alternative Monte Carlo-based CIs for this incidence measure, as well as CIs for the biomarker-based incidence difference; standard approaches to CIs are typically appropriate for the incidence ratio. Using …

Multiple Regression, Brad Hartlaub

Brad Hartlaub

Singular Value Decomposition And Its Visualization, Lingsong Zhang, J. S. Marron, Haipeng Shen, Zhengyuan Zhu

Zhengyuan Zhu

Effects Of Support On The Initiation And Duration Of Breastfeeding, Sara L. Gill, Elizabeth Reifsnider, Joseph F. Lucke

Joseph Lucke

Researchers attempted to increase the initiation of breastfeeding and its duration to 6 months among a group of low-income, Hispanic women through an intervention program which included prenatal education and home based postpartum support. All participants were telephoned after delivery to determine infant feeding method. Duration of breastfeeding was determined by counting the number of days from initiation to the last day the baby was put to the breast. The Bayesian approach was used for the statistical analyses. In the intervention group, the propensity to initiate breastfeeding exceeded that of the control group. Results indicate the intervention group had twice …

Modeling The Effect Of Alzheimer's Disease On Mortality, Elizabeth Johnson, Ron Brookmeyer, Kathryn Ziegler-Graham

Ron Brookmeyer

Mortality rate ratios and the associated proportional hazards models have been used to summarize the effect of Alzheimer's disease on longevity. However, the mortality rate ratios vary by age and therefore do not provide a simple parsimonious summary of the effect of the disease on lifespan. Instead, we propose a new parameter that is defined by an additive multistate model. The proposed multistate model accounts for different stages of disease progression. The underlying assumption of the model is that the effect of disease on mortality is to add a constant amount to death rates once the disease progresses from an …

Predicting Breast-Feeding Attrition: Adapting The Breast-Feeding Attrition Prediction Tool, Elizabeth Reifsnider, Sarah L. Gill, Joseph F. Lucke, Angela R. Mann

Joseph Lucke

CONTEXT: Current breast-feeding rates fall short of the recommendations set forth in Health People 2010. The Breast-feeding Attrition Prediction Tool (BAPT), administered in the postpartum period, has been useful in predicting breast-feeding attrition. However, assessing a woman's intention to breast-feed prior to birth would identify women at risk for breast-feeding attrition.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe a revised BAPT, administered antepartally that measures intention to breast-feed.

METHODS: The BAPT, comprising 94 items on a 6-point Likert-type scale, was translated into Spanish and back-translated for accuracy. The BAPT was then revised by reducing the number of items …

A Practical Illustration Of The Importance Of Realistic Individualized Treatment Rules In Causal Inference, Oliver Bembom, Mark J. Van Der Laan

Oliver Bembom

The effect of vigorous physical activity on mortality in the elderly is difficult to estimate using conventional approaches to causal inference that define this effect by comparing the mortality risks corresponding to hypothetical scenarios in which all subjects in the target population engage in a given level of vigorous physical activity. A causal effect defined on the basis of such a static treatment intervention can only be identified from observed data if all subjects in the target population have a positive probability of selecting each of the candidate treatment options, an assumption that is highly unrealistic in this case since …

Digital Elevation Accuracy And Grid Cell Size: Effects On Computed Topographic Attributes, Rob H. Erskine, Timothy R. Green

Timothy R. Green

Terrain attributes are commonly used to explain the spatial variability of agronomic, pedologic, and hydrologic variables. The terrain attributes studied here (elevation, slope, aspect, and curvature) are estimated readily from digital elevation models (DEMs), but questions remain about how the accuracy and sample spacing of the elevation data affect the estimated attributes. The main objective of this study was to quantify differences in each terrain attribute due to factors affecting DEM accuracy and grid cell size. Three data sources were compared: (i) real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTKGPS); (ii) satellite-differentially corrected global positioning system (DGPS); and (iii) U.S. Geological Survey …