Analysis of nonlinear modes of variation for functional data

A set of curves or images of similar shape is an increasingly common functional data set collected in the sciences. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is the most widely used technique to decompose variation in functional data. However, the linear modes of variation found by PCA are not always interpretable by the experimenters. In addition, the modes of variation of interest to the experimenter are not always linear. We present in this paper a new analysis of variance for Functional Data. Our method was motivated by decomposing the variation in the data into predetermined and interpretable directions (i.e. modes) of interest. Since some of these modes could be nonlinear, we develop a new defined ratio of sums of squares which takes into account the curvature of the space of variation. We discuss, in the general case, consistency of our estimates of variation, using mathematical tools from differential geometry and shape statistics. We successfully applied our method to a motivating example of biological data. This decomposition allows biologists to compare the prevalence of different genetic tradeoffs in a population and to quantify the effect of selection on evolution.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/07-EJS080 the Electronic Journal of Statistics (http://www.i-journals.org/ejs/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

\u3cem\u3eIndependent Ink\u3c/em\u3e at the Crossroads of Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law: The Court\u27s Holding Regarding Market Power in Cases Involving Patents and Implications in Cases Involving Copyrights

By eliminating the market power presumption for patent holders, Independent Ink calls into question the presumption\u27s continued validity for tying arrangements involving copyrights. While the Court\u27s holding directly applies only to patents, we present three reasons why, after Independent Ink, the presumption can no longer be viable in antitrust lawsuits challenging a tying arrangement involving a copyrighted product. First, the Court\u27s rationale for eliminating the presumption including citations to extensive academic writings, agency guidelines, and legislative amendments precludes the presumption\u27s continued application in any other context. Second, copyrights are significantly less likely than patents to confer market power because the scope of the limited monopoly granted by the copyright laws is narrower than that conferred by the patent laws. Therefore, once the Court has found the presumption to be invalid in the patent context, there is no reasonable basis for its continued application to tying arrangements involving copyrights. Third, as the Court\u27s tolerance toward tying arrangements has increased over the past thirty years, the Court has become increasingly reluctant to find the market power required to make tying arrangements per se illegal. Given Independent Ink\u27s holding that many tying arrangements, even those involving patents and requirements ties, are fully consistent with a free, competitive market, \u27 it would be anomalous to preserve a presumption that condemns all copyright tying arrangements without requiring any showing of market power or anticompetitive effect. In Part II of this article we review the history of the Court\u27s tying cases, chronicling the steady construction of the market power presumption as well as the Court\u27s increasing distrust of tying arrangements in general. We also note the Court\u27s particular antipathy toward tying arrangements involving intellectual property. We then describe the partial deconstruction of those presumptions, culminating in the recent abolition of the presumption of market power for patent holders in Independent Ink. In Part III, we argue that, consistent with the Court\u27s reasoning in the patent context, Independent Ink should signal the end of the market power presumption for copyright holders in antitrust cases. Accordingly, just as tying arrangements involving patented products are not condemned per se, tying arrangements involving copyrighted products should not be condemned per se under the antitrust laws unless the plaintiff is able to prove market power

\u3cem\u3eIndependent Ink\u3c/em\u3e at the Crossroads of Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law: The Court\u27s Holding Regarding Market Power in Cases Involving Patents and Implications in Cases Involving Copyrights

By eliminating the market power presumption for patent holders, Independent Ink calls into question the presumption\u27s continued validity for tying arrangements involving copyrights. While the Court\u27s holding directly applies only to patents, we present three reasons why, after Independent Ink, the presumption can no longer be viable in antitrust lawsuits challenging a tying arrangement involving a copyrighted product. First, the Court\u27s rationale for eliminating the presumption including citations to extensive academic writings, agency guidelines, and legislative amendments precludes the presumption\u27s continued application in any other context. Second, copyrights are significantly less likely than patents to confer market power because the scope of the limited monopoly granted by the copyright laws is narrower than that conferred by the patent laws. Therefore, once the Court has found the presumption to be invalid in the patent context, there is no reasonable basis for its continued application to tying arrangements involving copyrights. Third, as the Court\u27s tolerance toward tying arrangements has increased over the past thirty years, the Court has become increasingly reluctant to find the market power required to make tying arrangements per se illegal. Given Independent Ink\u27s holding that many tying arrangements, even those involving patents and requirements ties, are fully consistent with a free, competitive market, \u27 it would be anomalous to preserve a presumption that condemns all copyright tying arrangements without requiring any showing of market power or anticompetitive effect. In Part II of this article we review the history of the Court\u27s tying cases, chronicling the steady construction of the market power presumption as well as the Court\u27s increasing distrust of tying arrangements in general. We also note the Court\u27s particular antipathy toward tying arrangements involving intellectual property. We then describe the partial deconstruction of those presumptions, culminating in the recent abolition of the presumption of market power for patent holders in Independent Ink. In Part III, we argue that, consistent with the Court\u27s reasoning in the patent context, Independent Ink should signal the end of the market power presumption for copyright holders in antitrust cases. Accordingly, just as tying arrangements involving patented products are not condemned per se, tying arrangements involving copyrighted products should not be condemned per se under the antitrust laws unless the plaintiff is able to prove market power

Pusat Pelatihan Kepemimpinan Pemuda Gmim (Arsitektur Metabolisme)

Adanya issue krisis kepemimpinan di Indonesia merupakan masalah yang berpengaruh bagi kelangsungan kehidupan bernegara. Perlu adanya kesadaran dan rasa tanggung jawab bersama untuk mengatasi dan menyelesaikan krisis kepemimpinan ini, baik dari pihak Pemerintah hingga masyarakat Indonesia. Gereja merupakan bagian dari negara Indonesia, khususnya GMIM yang berkembang di Sulawesi Utara, memiliki rasa tanggung jawab akan kelangsungan kehidupan bernegara, dalam hal ini bagaimana membentuk dan menyiapkan kader-kader pemimpin yang berkarakter. Hal ini sesuai dengan Garis Besar Program Umum GMIM. Adanya program Latihan Kepemimpinan Pemuda GMIM merupakan program kegiatan tahunan yang dilakukan oleh Komisi Pemuda GMIM, akan tetapi GMIM belum memiliki wadah / tempat khusus untuk pelaksanaan kegiatan tersebut sehingga dalam pelaksanaannya kurang optimal. Oleh karena itu adanya Pusat Pelatihan Kepemimpinan Pemuda GMIM diharapkan dapat mengoptimalisasikan kegiatan Latihan Kepemimpinan Pemuda GMIM dengan menitikberatkan pada Kenyamanan pengguna, penataan massa dan fasilitas – fasilitas pendukung lainnya dengan menerapkan konsep Arsitektur Metabolisme pada rancangan bangunan

Assessing how disruption of methanogenic communities and their syntrophic relationships in tidal freshwater marshes via saltwater intrusion may affect CH4 emissions

Tidal freshwater wetlands (TFW), which lie at the interface of saltwater and freshwater ecosystems, are predicted to experience moderate salinity increases due to sea level rise. Increases in salinity generally suppress CH4 production, but it is uncertain to what extent elevated salinity will affect CH4 cycling in TFW. It is also unknown whether CH4 production will resume when freshwater conditions return. The ability to produce CH4 is limited to a monophyletic group of the Euryarchaeota phylum called methanogens (MG), who are limited to a small number of substrates (e.g., acetate, H2, and formate) produced from the breakdown of fermentation products. In freshwater anaerobic soils, the degradation of certain fermentation products (e.g., butyrate, propionate) is only energetically favorable when their catabolic byproduct, H2 or formate, is consumed to low concentrations by MGs. This is considered a form of obligate syntrophy. Sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) are capable of utilizing a larger variety of substrates than MG, including substrates degraded by methanogenic syntrophy (e.g., butyrate, propionate). The introduction of sulfate (SO4 -2) into TFW via saltwater intrusion events may allow SRB to disrupt syntrophic relationships between hydrogenotrophic MG and syntrophic fermenters. This may select for MG taxa that differ in their rate of CH4 production. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of oligohaline SO4 -2 concentrations on MG community functions (i.e., CH4 production and syntrophic butyrate degradation); and, to assess whether these functions recover after competition with SRB has been removed

Are Islamic Investment Certificates Special? Evidence on the Post-Announcement Performance of Sukuk Issues

The last decade has witnessed rapid expansion of Islamic financial instruments, notably with the proliferation of Islamic investment certificates called Sukuk. Sukuk generally represent the Islamic financial instrument equivalent to conventional bonds. We evaluate the economic differences between these financing techniques and appraise the implications on the future expansion of Sukuk. We use a market-based approach to investigate whether investors react differently to the announcements of issues of Sukuk and conventional bonds. We find that the stock market is neutral to the announcement of conventional bonds, but we observe a significant negative stock market reaction to the announcement of Sukuk. We explain this different stock market reaction using the adverse selection mechanism, which favors Sukuk issuance by lower-quality debtor companies. Unlike arguments presented in prior literature, our results support the view that differences exist between Sukuk and conventional bonds because the market is able to distinguish among these securities.Financial instruments, Islamic finance, sukuk, event studies.

Air pollution burden of disease over highly populated states in the Middle East

BackgroundRecent epidemiological research has proven that air pollution triggers the risk of morbidity and mortality due to respiratory and cardiovascular-related diseases. More specifically, fine particulate matter with a diameter of <2.5 μm (PM2.5) can penetrate deeply into the lung and bloodstream, causing critical adverse effects on human health.ObjectiveIt is found that there is inadequate published research related to the health impact of ambient air pollution in the Middle East region. Some states are well studied, while others are not. This work aims to evaluate the health impact of long-term exposure to PM2.5 in the nine most populated countries in the Middle East region, with a total population of about 363 million (in 2012).MethodsIn this study, the human health impacts in terms of total mortality and the estimated attributable proportion (AP) due to long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 were estimated using the World Health Organization method and software (AirQ+).ResultsIn 2012, the annual median PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 34 μg/m3 in Turkey and Syria to 108 μg/m3 in Saudi Arabia. The total estimated mortalities in the nine most populated countries in the Middle East due to long-term exposure to fine particulate matter was about 152,925 (half of which were residents in Egypt). Moreover, the relative risk (RR) was the highest for Saudi Arabia at 1.8031 and the lowest for Turkey and Syria at a value of 1.1553. The highest AP (central value) was 44.5% in Saudi Arabia, while the lowest was 13.4% in Turkey and Syria.ConclusionsThe results indicate a significant impact of air pollution due to long-term exposure to fine particles resulting in early mortality. This urges the collaboration between the governments and different sectors to adopt stringent regulations to control the anthropogenic sources related to traffic and industrial emissions in the Middle East in order to reduce the health burden of air pollution

Peer-to-peer support on Facebook for caregivers of children and youth with complex care needs in New Brunswick: An environmental scan

This environmental scan aimed to describe the purpose, use, and reach of health-related peer-to-peer support groups on Facebook for caregivers of children and youth with complex care needs in New Brunswick. A total of 3,104 searches on Facebook and consultations with thirty-two stakeholders led to the identification of forty-seven Facebook support groups (twenty-one active). Groups targeted a range of conditions, with autism and related intellectual disabilities appearing most frequently. Content analysis of posts indicated that groups were primarily used to exchange informational support. This study showed that Facebook-based peer-to-peer support groups are available to families of children and youth with complex care needs in the province. This work also lays a foundation for future scans of Facebook-based support groups in other Canadian provinces and beyond.La présente analyse du milieu visait à décrire l’objectif, l’utilisation et la portée des groupes de soutien entre pairs liés à la santé sur Facebook pour les personnes qui s’occupent d’enfants et de jeunes ayant des besoins de soins complexes au Nouveau-Brunswick. En tout, 3 104 recherches sur Facebook et des consultations auprès de 32 intervenants ont permis de repérer 47 groupes de soutien sur Facebook, dont 21 groupes actifs. Des groupes ciblaient un éventail de troubles; l’autisme et les déficiences intellectuelles connexes étaient ceux qui étaient les plus fréquents. Les analyses de contenu des messages ont révélé que les groupes étaient principalement utilisés pour échanger des informations de soutien. Selon cette étude, des groupes de soutien entre pairs sur Facebook sont offerts aux familles d’enfants et de jeunes ayant des besoins de soins complexes dans la province. De plus, ce travail jette les bases de futures analyses de groupes de soutien sur Facebook d’autres provinces canadiennes et d’ailleurs