Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Publication
- File Type
Articles 91 - 117 of 117
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Turning Back The Clock On The Extinction Of Megafauna In Australia, Richard Roberts, Barry Brook
Turning Back The Clock On The Extinction Of Megafauna In Australia, Richard Roberts, Barry Brook
Richard G Roberts
No abstract provided.
Late Acheulean Hominins At The Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e Transition In North-Central India, Michael Haslam, Richard Roberts, Ceri Shipton, J Pal, Jacqueline Fenwick, Peter Ditchfield, Nicole Boivin, A Dubey, M Gupta, Michael Petraglia
Late Acheulean Hominins At The Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e Transition In North-Central India, Michael Haslam, Richard Roberts, Ceri Shipton, J Pal, Jacqueline Fenwick, Peter Ditchfield, Nicole Boivin, A Dubey, M Gupta, Michael Petraglia
Richard G Roberts
Single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating was applied to Late Quaternary sediments at two sites in the Middle Son Valley, Madhya Pradesh, India. Designated Bamburi 1 and Patpara, thesse sites contain Late Acheulean stone tool assemblages, which we associate with non-modern hominins. Age determinations of 140-120. ka place the formation of these sites at around the Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 6-5 transition, placing them among the youngest Acheulean sites in the world. We present here the geochronology and sedimentological setting of these sites, and consider potential implications of Late Pleistocene archaic habitation in north-central India for the initial dispersal of modern …
And Then There Were None?, Richard G. Roberts, Barry W. Brook
And Then There Were None?, Richard G. Roberts, Barry W. Brook
Richard G Roberts
No abstract provided.
Illuminating Southeast Asian Prehistory : New Archaeological And Paleoanthropological Frontiers For Luminescence Dating, Richard G. Roberts, Michael J. Morwood, Kira E. Westaway
Illuminating Southeast Asian Prehistory : New Archaeological And Paleoanthropological Frontiers For Luminescence Dating, Richard G. Roberts, Michael J. Morwood, Kira E. Westaway
Richard G Roberts
Since the explorations of Alfred Russel Wallace and Eugène Dubois in the nineteenth century, Southeast Asia has been one of the world's focal points for studies of biogeography and biodiversity, human evolution and dispersal, environmental change, and the spread of culture, farming, and language. Yet despite its prominence, reliable chronologies are not available for many of the critical archaeological, evolutionary, and environmental turning points that have taken place in the region during the last 1.5 million years. In this paper, we discuss some of these chronological problems and describe how luminescence dating may help overcome them. "Luminescence dating" is a …
The Evolving Landscape And Climate Of Western Flores: An Environmental Context For The Archaeological Site Of Liang Bua, Kira Westaway, Richard Roberts, T Sutikna, Michael Morwood, R Drysdale, J Zhao, Allan Chivas
The Evolving Landscape And Climate Of Western Flores: An Environmental Context For The Archaeological Site Of Liang Bua, Kira Westaway, Richard Roberts, T Sutikna, Michael Morwood, R Drysdale, J Zhao, Allan Chivas
Richard G Roberts
The rapidly changing landscape of the eastern Indonesian archipelago has evolved at a pace dictated by its tropical climate and its geological and tectonic history. This has produced accelerated karstification, flights of alluvial terraces, and complex, multi-level cave systems. These cave systems sometimes contain a wealth of archaeological evidence, such as the almost complete skeleton of Homo floresiensis found at the site of Liang Bua in western Flores, but this information can only be understood in the context of the geomorphic history of the cave, and the more general geological, tectonic, and environmental histories of the river valley and region. …
Advances In Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Of Individual Grains Of Quartz From Archaeological Deposits, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs
Advances In Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Of Individual Grains Of Quartz From Archaeological Deposits, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs
Richard G Roberts
No abstract provided.
Afromontane Foragers Of The Late Pleistocene: Site Formation, Chronology And Occupational Pulsing At Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho, Brian Stewart, Genevieve Dewar, Mike Morley, Robyn Inglis, Mark Wheeler, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts
Afromontane Foragers Of The Late Pleistocene: Site Formation, Chronology And Occupational Pulsing At Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho, Brian Stewart, Genevieve Dewar, Mike Morley, Robyn Inglis, Mark Wheeler, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts
Richard G Roberts
This paper provides a preliminary chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework for the Late Pleistocene archaeological sequence at Melikane Rockshelter in mountainous eastern Lesotho. Renewed excavations at Melikane form part of a larger project investigating marginal landscape use by Late Pleistocene foragers in southern Africa. Geoarchaeological work undertaken at the site supports in-field observations that Melikane experienced regular, often intensive, input of groundwater via fissures in the shelter’s rear wall. This strong hydrogeological connection resulted in episodic disturbances of the sedimentary sequence, exacerbated by other processes such as bioturbation. Despite this taphonomic complexity, a robust chronology for Melikane has been developed, based …
Luminescence Characteristics And Dose Distributions For Quartz And Feldspar Grains From Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania, Luke Gliganic, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts
Luminescence Characteristics And Dose Distributions For Quartz And Feldspar Grains From Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania, Luke Gliganic, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts
Richard G Roberts
Mumba rockshelter is a key archaeological site for the Middle and Later Stone Age occupation of East Africa, but its chronology has remained unresolved. We report the results of a dating study, focussing on the characterisation of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) properties of quartz- and potassium-rich feldspar grains. Quartz has previously proven troublesome for dating in East Africa. We identified five general types of quartz grain behaviour, based on the shapes of their OSL decay and dose–response curves. Dose recovery experiments and measurement of the natural samples revealed particular problems with quartz grains that …
The Nubian Complex Of Dhofar, Oman: An African Middle Stone Age Industry In Southern Arabia, Jeffrey I. Rose, Vitaly I. Usik, Anthony E. Marks, Yamandu H. Hilbert, Christopher S. Galletti, Ash Parton, Jean Marie Geiling, Viktor Cerny, Mike W. Morley, Richard Roberts
The Nubian Complex Of Dhofar, Oman: An African Middle Stone Age Industry In Southern Arabia, Jeffrey I. Rose, Vitaly I. Usik, Anthony E. Marks, Yamandu H. Hilbert, Christopher S. Galletti, Ash Parton, Jean Marie Geiling, Viktor Cerny, Mike W. Morley, Richard Roberts
Richard G Roberts
Despite the numerous studies proposing early human population expansions from Africa into Arabia during the Late Pleistocene, no archaeological sites have yet been discovered in Arabia that resemble a specific African industry, which would indicate demographic exchange across the Red Sea. Here we report the discovery of a buried site and more than 100 new surface scatters in the Dhofar region of Oman belonging to a regionally-specific African lithic industry - the late Nubian Complex - known previously only from the northeast and Horn of Africa during Marine Isotope Stage 5, ~128,000 to 74,000 years ago. Two optically stimulated luminescence …
Single-Grain Osl Dating At La Grotte Des Contrebandiers ('Smugglers' Cave'), Morocco: Improved Age Constraints For The Middle Paleolithic Levels, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs, Michael Meyer, V Aldeias, M El Hajraoui, H Dibbie
Single-Grain Osl Dating At La Grotte Des Contrebandiers ('Smugglers' Cave'), Morocco: Improved Age Constraints For The Middle Paleolithic Levels, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs, Michael Meyer, V Aldeias, M El Hajraoui, H Dibbie
Richard G Roberts
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements of individual quartz grains are reported for Middle Paleolithic (MP) or Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits in La Grotte des Contrebandiers, Morocco. Single-grain measurements enable rejection of grains that may lead to under- or over-estimation of age due to malign luminescence properties or remobilisation of grains after burial. We identified the former using a range of experimental procedures and objective rejection criteria. Three post-depositional factors influenced the distribution pattern of equivalent dose (De) values for the remaining single grains: the disintegration of roof spall liberating unbleached, older grains into otherwise well-bleached sediments; the intrusion of …
Letter To The Editor, Noel A. Cressie
Spatial Statistics In The Presence Of Location Error With An Application To Remote Sensing Of The Environment, Noel A. Cressie, John Kornak
Spatial Statistics In The Presence Of Location Error With An Application To Remote Sensing Of The Environment, Noel A. Cressie, John Kornak
Professor Noel Cressie
Techniques for the analysis of spatial data have, to date, tended to ignore any effect caused by error in specifying the spatial locations at which measurements are recorded. This paper reviews the methods for adjusting spatial inference in the presence of data-location error, particularly for data that. have a continuous spatial index (geostatistical data). New kriging equations are developed and evaluated based on a simulation experiment. They are also applied to remote-sensing data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer instrument on the Nimbus-7 satellite, where the location error is caused by assignment of the data to their nearest grid-cell centers. …
Small-Area Estimation: An Appraisal - Comment, Noel A. Cressie, Mark S. Kaiser
Small-Area Estimation: An Appraisal - Comment, Noel A. Cressie, Mark S. Kaiser
Professor Noel Cressie
Malay Ghosh and Jon Rao have presented us with a well written exposition of the topic of small area estimation. The past literature has been de-cidedly influenced by linear modeling, and we see that clearly in their paper. There has also been a tendency to judge the performance of the estimation methods by concentrating on a single, arbitrary small area. In our comment, we shall discuss what opportunities there might be to expand the class of statistical models for small area data and to consider multivariate aspects of small area estimation.
The Vprt - A Sequential Testing Procedure Dominating The Sprt, Noel A. Cressie, Peter Morgan
The Vprt - A Sequential Testing Procedure Dominating The Sprt, Noel A. Cressie, Peter Morgan
Professor Noel Cressie
Under more general assumptions than those usually made in the sequential analysis literature, a variable-sample-size-sequential probability ratio test (VPRT) of two simple hypotheses is found that maximizes the expected net gain over all sequential decision procedures. In contrast, Wald and Wolfowitz [25] developed the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) to minimize expected sample size, but their assumptions on the parameters of the decision problem were restrictive. In this article we show that the expected net-gain-maximizing VPRT also minimizes the expected (with respect to both data and prior) total sampling cost and that, under slightly more general conditions than those imposed …
Spatial Mixture Models Based On Exponential Family Conditional Distributions, M Kaiser, Noel A. Cressie, J Lee
Spatial Mixture Models Based On Exponential Family Conditional Distributions, M Kaiser, Noel A. Cressie, J Lee
Professor Noel Cressie
Spatial statistical models are applied in many problems for which dependence in observed random variables is not easily explained by a direct scientific mechanism. In such situations there may be a latent spatial process that acts to produce the observed spatial pattern. Scientific interest often centers on the latent process and the degree of spatial dependence that characterizes it. Such latent processes may be thought of as spatial mixing distributions. We present methods for the specification of flexible joint distributions to model spatial processes through multi-parameter exponential family conditional distributions. One approach to the analysis of these models is Monte …
A Spatial Analysis Of Multivariate Output From Regional Climate Models, Stephan Sain, Reinhard Furrer, Noel A. Cressie
A Spatial Analysis Of Multivariate Output From Regional Climate Models, Stephan Sain, Reinhard Furrer, Noel A. Cressie
Professor Noel Cressie
Climate models have become an important tool in the study of climate and climate change, and ensemble experiments consisting of multiple climate-model runs are used in studying and quantifying the uncertainty in climate-model output. However, there are often only a limited number of model runs available for a particular experiment, and one of the statistical challenges is to characterize the distribution of the model output. To that end, we have developed a multivariate hierarchical approach, at the heart of which is a new representation of a multivariate Markov random field. This approach allows for flexible modeling of the multivariate spatial …
A Spatial Analysis Of Variance Applied To Soil-Water Infiltration, C Gotway, Noel A. Cressie
A Spatial Analysis Of Variance Applied To Soil-Water Infiltration, C Gotway, Noel A. Cressie
Professor Noel Cressie
A spatial analysis of variance uses the spatial dependence among the observations to modify the usual interference procedures associated with a statistical linear model. When spatial correlation is present, the usual tests for presence of treatment effects may no longer be valid, and erroneous conclusions may result from assuming that the usual F ratios are F distributed. This is demonstrated using a spatial analysis of soil-water infiltration data. Emphasis is placed on modeling the spatial dependence structure with geostatistical techniques, and this spatial dependence structure is then used to test hypotheses about fixed effects using a nested linear model. -Authors
Size And Power Considerations For Testing Loglinear Models Using Divergence Test Statistics, Noel A. Cressie, L Pardo, M Del Carmen Pardo
Size And Power Considerations For Testing Loglinear Models Using Divergence Test Statistics, Noel A. Cressie, L Pardo, M Del Carmen Pardo
Professor Noel Cressie
In this article, we assume that categorical data are distributed according to a multinomial distribution whose probabilities follow a loglinear model. The inference problem we consider is that of hypothesis testing in a loglinear-model setting. The null hypothesis is a composite hypothesis nested within the alternative. Test statistics are chosen from the general class of divergence statistics. This article collects together the operating characteristics of the hypothesis test based on both asymptotic (using large-sample theory) and finite-sample (using a designed simulation study) results. Members of the class of power divergence statistics are compared, and it is found that the Cressie-Read …
Fast, Resolution-Consistent Spatial Prediction Of Global Processes From Satellite Data, Hsin-Cheng Huang, Noel A. Cressie, John Gabrosek
Fast, Resolution-Consistent Spatial Prediction Of Global Processes From Satellite Data, Hsin-Cheng Huang, Noel A. Cressie, John Gabrosek
Professor Noel Cressie
Polar orbiting satellites remotely sense the earth and its atmosphere, producing datasets that give daily global coverage. For any given day, the data are many and measured at spatially irregular locations. Our goal in this article is to predict values that are spatially regular at different resolutions; such values are often used as input to general circulation models (GCMs) and the like. Not only do we wish to predict optimally, but because data acquisition is relentless, our algorithm must also process the data very rapidly. This article applies a multiresolution autoregressive tree-structured model, and presents a new statistical prediction methodology …
Random Set Theory And Problems Of Modeling, Noel A. Cressie, G M. Laslett
Random Set Theory And Problems Of Modeling, Noel A. Cressie, G M. Laslett
Professor Noel Cressie
The three- or four-dimensional world in which we live is full of objects to be measured and summarized. Very often a parsimonious finite collection of measurements is enough for scientific investigation into an object’s genesis and evolution. There is a growing need, however, to describe and model objects through their form as well as their size. The purpose of this article is to show the potentials and limitations of a probabilistic and statistical approach. Collections of objects (the data) are assimilated to a random set (the model), whose parameters provide description and/or explanation.
Some Diagnostics For Markov Random Fields, Noel A. Cressie, Prasenjit Kapat
Some Diagnostics For Markov Random Fields, Noel A. Cressie, Prasenjit Kapat
Professor Noel Cressie
The development of diagnostics to check the fit of a proposed Markov random field (MRP) to data is a very important problem in spatial statistics. In this article, the consequences of fitting a given MRF to spatial data are visualized using diagnostic plots. The Gaussian MRF known as the conditional autoregressive model is featured. Various types of departures of the data from the fitted MRF model are calculated, allowing locally influential observations to be highlighted using the MRF-Neighborhoods plot. Through a global summary statistic and the Model-Comparison plot, we compare MRF models that differ both in terms of the neighborhood …
Long-Lead Prediction Of Pacific Ssts Via Bayesian Dynamic Modeling, L M. Berliner, Christopher K. Wikle, Noel A. Cressie
Long-Lead Prediction Of Pacific Ssts Via Bayesian Dynamic Modeling, L M. Berliner, Christopher K. Wikle, Noel A. Cressie
Professor Noel Cressie
Tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and the accompanying El Nino-Southern Oscillation phenomenon are recognized as significant components of climate behavior. The atmospheric and oceanic processes involved display highly complicated variability over both space and time. Researchers have applied both physically derived modeling and statistical approaches to develop long-lead predictions of tropical Pacific SSTs. The comparative successes of these two approaches are a subject of substantial inquiry and some controversy. Presented in this article is a new procedure for long-lead forecasting of tropical Pacific SST fields that expresses qualitative aspects of scientific paradigms for SST dynamics in a statistical manner. …
Asymptotic Inference For Spatial Cdfs Over Time, Jun Zhu, S N. Lahiri, Noel A. Cressie
Asymptotic Inference For Spatial Cdfs Over Time, Jun Zhu, S N. Lahiri, Noel A. Cressie
Professor Noel Cressie
A spatial cumulative distribution function (SCDF) is a random function that provides a statistical summary of a random process over a spatial domain of interest. In this paper, we consider a spatio-temporal process and establish statistical methodology to analyze changes in the SCDF over time. We develop hypothesis testing to detect a difference in the spatial random processes at two time points, and we construct a prediction interval to quantify such discrepancy in the corresponding SCDFs. Using a spatial subsampling method, we show that our inferences are valid asymptotically. As an illustration, we apply these inference procedures to test and …
Minimum Phi Divergence Estimator And Hierarchical Testing In Loglinear Models, Noel A. Cressie, Leandro Pardo
Minimum Phi Divergence Estimator And Hierarchical Testing In Loglinear Models, Noel A. Cressie, Leandro Pardo
Professor Noel Cressie
In this paper we consider inference based on very general divergence measures, under assumptions of multinomial sampling and loglinear models. We define the minimum phi divergence estimator, which is seen to be a generalization of the maximum likelihood estimator. This estimator is then used in a phi divergence goodness-of-fit statistic, which is the basis of two new statistics for solving the problem of testing a nested sequence of loglinear models.
A Robust-Resistant Spatial Analysis Of Soil Water Infiltration., Noel A. Cressie, R Horton
A Robust-Resistant Spatial Analysis Of Soil Water Infiltration., Noel A. Cressie, R Horton
Professor Noel Cressie
Concentrates on estimating the spatial correlations between soil water infiltration observations, with special emphasis on resistant methods to remove nonstationarity. After this removal, robust semivariogram estimators are used to examine the spatial dependencies for various tillage treatments. There is some indication that infiltration characteristics inherit different types of spatial dependency, depending on the tillage treatment applied.-from Authors
Asymptotic Properties Of Maximum (Composite) Likelihood Estimators For Partially Ordered Markov Models, Hsin-Cheng Huang, Noel A. Cressie
Asymptotic Properties Of Maximum (Composite) Likelihood Estimators For Partially Ordered Markov Models, Hsin-Cheng Huang, Noel A. Cressie
Professor Noel Cressie
Partially ordered Markov models (POMMs) are Markov random fields (MRFs) with neighborhood structures derivable from an associated partially ordered set. The most attractive feature of POMMs is that their joint distributions can be written in closed and product form. Therefore, simulation and maximum likelihood estimation for the models is quite straightforward, which is not the case in general for MRF models. In practice, one often has to modify the likelihood to account for edge components; the resulting composite likelihood for POMMs is similarly straightforward to maximize. In this article, we use a martingale approach to derive the asymptotic properties of …
Flexible Spatial Models For Kriging And Cokriging Using Moving Averages And The Fast Fourier Transform (Fft), Jay M. Ver Hoef, Noel A. Cressie, Ronald P. Barry
Flexible Spatial Models For Kriging And Cokriging Using Moving Averages And The Fast Fourier Transform (Fft), Jay M. Ver Hoef, Noel A. Cressie, Ronald P. Barry
Professor Noel Cressie
Models for spatial autocorrelation and cross-correlation depend on the distance and direction separating two locations, and are constrained so that for all possible sets of locations, the covariance matrices implied from the models remain nonnegative-definite. Based on spatial correlation, optimal linear predictors can be constructed that yield complete maps of spatial fields from incomplete and noisy spatial data. This methodology is called kriging if the data are of only one variable type, and it is called cokriging if it is of two or more variable types. Historically, to satisfy the nonnegative-definite condition, cokriging has used coregionalization models for cross-variograms, even …