Ohio Economic Insects and Related Anthropods

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Shrunken p -Values for Assessing Differential Expression with Applications to Genomic Data Analysis

In many scientific problems involving high-throughput technology, inference must be made involving several hundreds or thousands of hypotheses. Recent attention has focused on how to address the multiple testing issue; much focus has been devoted toward the use of the false discovery rate. In this article, we consider an alternative estimation procedure titled shrunken p -values for assessing differential expression (SPADE). The estimators are motivated by risk considerations from decision theory and lead to a completely new method for adjustment in the multiple testing problem. In addition, the decision-theoretic framework can be used to derive a decision rule for controlling the number of false positive results. Some theoretical results are outlined. The proposed methodology is illustrated using simulation studies and with application to data from a prostate cancer gene expression profiling study.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66004/1/j.1541-0420.2006.00616.x.pd

A false-discovery-rate-based loss framework for selection of interactions

Interaction effects have been consistently found important in explaining the variation in outcomes in many scientific research fields. Yet, in practice, variable selection including interactions is complicated due to the limited sample size, conflicting philosophies regarding model interpretability, and accompanying amplified multiple-testing problems. The lack of statistically sound algorithms for automatic variable selection with interactions has discouraged activities in exploring important interaction effects. In this article, we investigated issues of selecting interactions from three aspects: (1) What is the model space to be searched? (2) How is the hypothesis-testing performed? (3) How to address the multiple-testing issue? We propose loss functions and corresponding decision rules that control FDR in a Bayesian context. Properties of the decision rules are discussed and their performance in terms of power and FDR is compared through simulations. Methods are illustrated on data from a colorectal cancer study assessing the chemotherapy treatments and data from a diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma study assessing the prognostic effect of gene expressions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58564/1/3118_ftp.pd

Nitrogen and harvest date affect developmental morphology and biomass yield of warm-season grasses

Information on the growth and development of warm-season grasses in response to management is required to use them successfully as a biomass crop. Our objectives were to determine optimum harvest periods and effect of N fertilization rates on the biomass production of four warm-season grasses, and to investigate if traits of canopy structure can explain observed yields with varying harvest dates and N rates. A field study was conducted at Sorenson Research Farm near Ames, IA, during 2006 and 2007. The experimental design was split-split plot arranged in a randomized complete block with four replications. Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman), eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides L.), indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutrans L. Nash), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) were main plots. Three N application rates (0, 65, and 140 kg ha−1) were subplots, and 10 harvest dates were sub-sub plots. Biomass of warm-season grasses increased with advanced maturity, but differently among species. The maximum yield of eastern gamagrass occurred at the highest MSC (1.6 and 2.2) when the largest seed ripening tillers were present. Big bluestem, switchgrass, and indiangrass obtained the maximum yields at MSC 3.5, 3.9, and 2.9, respectively when the largest reproductive tillers were present. In terms of a biomass supply strategy, eastern gamagrass may be used during early summer, while big bluestem and switchgrass may be best used between mid- and late- summer, and indiangrass in early fall. Nitrogen fertilization increased yield by increasing tiller development. Optimum biomass yields were obtained later in the season when they were fertilized with 140 kg ha−1

Standards for midwife Practitioners of external cephalic version: A Delphi study

IntroductionExpansion of advanced and specialist midwifery practitioner roles across professional boundaries requires an evidence-based framework to evaluate achievement and maintenance of competency. In order to develop the role of Breech Specialist Midwife to include the autonomous performance of external cephalic version within one hospital, guidance was required on standards of training and skill development, particularly in the use of ultrasound

A decision-analysis-based framework for analyzing stakeholder behaviour in scenario planning

Scenario planning is a method widely used by strategic planners to address uncertainty about the future. However, current methods either fail to address the future behaviour and impact of stakeholders or they treat the role of stakeholders informally. We present a practical decision-analysis-based methodology for analysing stakeholder objectives and likely behaviour within contested unfolding futures. We address issues of power, interest, and commitment to achieve desired outcomes across a broad stakeholder constituency. Drawing on frameworks for corporate social responsibility (CSR), we provide an illustrative example of our approach to analyse a complex contested issue that crosses geographic, organisational and cultural boundaries. Whilst strategies can be developed by individual organisations that consider the interests of others - for example in consideration of an organisation's CSR agenda - we show that our augmentation of scenario method provides a further, nuanced, analysis of the power and objectives of all concerned stakeholders across a variety of unfolding futures. The resulting modelling framework is intended to yield insights and hence more informed decision making by individual stakeholders or regulators. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. and Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) within the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS)

What is Community Operational Research?

Community Operational Research (Community OR) has been an explicit sub-domain of OR for more than 30 years. In this paper, we tackle the controversial issue of how it can be differentiated from other forms of OR. While it has been persuasively argued that Community OR cannot be defined by its clients, practitioners or methods, we argue that the common concern of all Community OR practice is the meaningful engagement of communities, whatever form that may take – and the legitimacy of different forms of engagement may be open to debate. We then move on to discuss four other controversies that have implications for the future development of Community OR and its relationship with its parent discipline: the desire for Community OR to be more explicitly political; claims that it should be grounded in the theory, methodology and practice of systems thinking; the similarities and differences between the UK and US traditions; and the extent to which Community OR offers an enhanced understanding of practice that could be useful to OR more generally. Our positions on these controversies all follow from our identification of ‘meaningful engagement’ as a central feature of Community OR