Influence functions of trimmed likelihood estimators for lifetime experiments

We provide a general approach for deriving the influence function for trimmed likelihood estimators using the implicit function theorem. The approach is applied to lifetime models with exponential or lognormal distributions possessing a linear or nonlinear link function. A side result is that the functional form of the trimmed estimator for location and linear regression used by Bednarski and Clarke (1993, 2002) and Bednarski et al. (2010) is not generally always the correct functional form of a trimmed likelihood estimator. However, it is a version for which the influence function has a treatable form. A real data example shows the effect of trimming using a nonlinear link function for either the exponential or lognormal distribution

Influence functions of trimmed likelihood estimators for lifetime experiments

We provide a general approach for deriving the influence function for trimmed likelihood estimators using the implicit function theorem. The approach is applied to lifetime models with exponential or lognormal distributions possessing a linear or nonlinear link function. A side result is that the functional form of the trimmed estimator for location and linear regression used by Bednarski and Clarke (1993, 2002) and Bednarski et al. (2010) is not generally always the correct functional form of a trimmed likelihood estimator. However, it is a version for which the influence function has a treatable form. A real data example shows the effect of trimming using a nonlinear link function for either the exponential or lognormal distribution

N,P,P-Triisopropyl-phosphinic amide

The title compound, C9H22NOP, was obtained by slow diffusion of oxygen into a toluene solution of iPr2PNHiPr. In the crystal, an inter-molecular N - H⋯O hydrogen bond occurs

1,1,2,2-Tetra-phenyl-15-diphosphane 1-sulfide

In the title mol-ecule, C24H20P2S, the P - P bond length is 2.2263 (5) Å. The two phenyl rings attached to the three- and five-coordinated P atoms, respectively, form dihedral angles of 56.22 (5) and 71.74 (5)°

Fuelwood savings and carbon emission reductions by the use of improved cooking stoves in an Afromontane forest, Ethiopia

In many Sub-Saharan African countries, fuelwood collection is among the most important drivers of deforestation and particularly forest degradation. In a detailed field study in the Kafa region of southern Ethiopia, we assessed the potential of efficient cooking stoves to mitigate the negative impacts of fuelwood harvesting on forests. Eleven thousand improved cooking stoves (ICS), specifically designed for baking Ethiopia’s staple food injera, referred to locally as “Mirt” stoves, have been distributed here. We found a high acceptance rate of the stove. One hundred forty interviews, including users and non-users of the ICS, revealed fuelwood savings of nearly 40% in injera preparation compared to the traditional three-stone fire, leading to a total annual savings of 1.28 tons of fuelwood per household. Considering the approximated share of fuelwood from unsustainable sources, these savings translate to 11,800 tons of CO2 saved for 11,156 disseminated ICS, corresponding to the amount of carbon stored in over 30 ha of local forest. We further found that stove efficiency increased with longer injera baking sessions, which shows a way of optimizing fuelwood savings by adapted usage of ICS. Our study confirms that efficient cooking stoves, if well adapted to the local cooking habits, can make a significant contribution to the conservation of forests and the avoidance of carbon emission from forest clearing and degradation

No-core shell model in an effective-field-theory framework

We present a new approach to the construction of effective interactions suitable for many-body calculations by means of the no-core shell model (NCSM). We consider an effective field theory (EFT) with only nucleon fields directly in the NCSM model spaces. In leading order, we obtain the strengths of the three contact terms from the condition that in each model space the experimental ground-state energies of 2H, 3H and 4He be exactly reproduced. The first (0^+;0) excited state of 4He and the ground state of 6Li are then obtained by means of NCSM calculations in several spaces and frequencies. After we remove the harmonic-oscillator frequency dependence, we predict for 4He an energy level for the first (0^+;0) excited state in remarkable agreement with the experimental value. The corresponding 6Li binding energy is about 70% of the experimental value, consistent with the expansion parameter of the EFT.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, revtex

Aspects of radiative K^+_e3 decays

We re-investigate the radiative charged kaon decay K+- --> pi0 e+- nu_e gamma in chiral perturbation theory, merging the chiral expansion with Low's theorem. We thoroughly analyze the precision of the predicted branching ratio relative to the non-radiative decay channel. Structure dependent terms and their impact on differential decay distributions are investigated in detail, and the possibility to see effects of the chiral anomaly in this decay channel is emphasized.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Patient and physician gender concordance in preventive care in university primary care settings.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of preventive care according to physician and patient gender in a country with universal health care coverage. METHODS: We assessed a retrospective cohort study of 1001 randomly selected patients aged 50-80years followed over 2years (2005-2006) in 4 Swiss university primary care settings (Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, Zürich). We used indicators derived from RAND's Quality Assessment Tools and examined percentages of recommended preventive care. Results were adjusted using hierarchical multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: 1001 patients (44% women) were followed by 189 physicians (52% women). Female patients received less preventive care than male patients (65.2% vs. 72.1%, p<0.001). Female physicians provided significantly more preventive care than male physicians (p=0.01) to both female (66.7% vs. 63.6%) and male patients (73.4% vs. 70.7%). After multivariate adjustment, differences according to physician (p=0.02) and patient gender (p<0.001) remained statistically significant. Female physicians provided more recommended cancer screening than male physicians (78.4 vs. 71.9%, p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In Swiss university primary care settings, female patients receive less preventive care than male patients, with female physicians providing more preventive care than male physicians. Greater attention should be paid to female patients in preventive care and to why female physicians tend to provide better preventive care

The large longitudinal spread of solar energetic particles during the January 17, 2010 solar event

We investigate multi-spacecraft observations of the January 17, 2010 solar energetic particle event. Energetic electrons and protons have been observed over a remarkable large longitudinal range at the two STEREO spacecraft and SOHO suggesting a longitudinal spread of nearly 360 degrees at 1AU. The flaring active region, which was on the backside of the Sun as seen from Earth, was separated by more than 100 degrees in longitude from the magnetic footpoints of each of the three spacecraft. The event is characterized by strongly delayed energetic particle onsets with respect to the flare and only small or no anisotropies in the intensity measurements at all three locations. The presence of a coronal shock is evidenced by the observation of a type II radio burst from the Earth and STEREO B. In order to describe the observations in terms of particle transport in the interplanetary medium, including perpendicular diffusion, a 1D model describing the propagation along a magnetic field line (model 1) (Dr\"oge, 2003) and the 3D propagation model (model 2) by (Dr\"oge et al., 2010) including perpendicular diffusion in the interplanetary medium have been applied, respectively. While both models are capable of reproducing the observations, model 1 requires injection functions at the Sun of several hours. Model 2, which includes lateral transport in the solar wind, reveals high values for the ratio of perpendicular to parallel diffusion. Because we do not find evidence for unusual long injection functions at the Sun we favor a scenario with strong perpendicular transport in the interplanetary medium as explanation for the observations.Comment: The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

Global models underestimate large decadal declining and rising water storage trends relative to GRACE satellite data

Assessing reliability of global models is critical because of increasing reliance on these models to address past and projected future climate and human stresses on global water resources. Here, we evaluate model reliability based on a comprehensive comparison of decadal trends (2002-2014) in land water storage from seven global models (WGHM, PCR-GLOBWB, GLDAS NOAH, MOSAIC, VIC, CLM, and CLSM) to trends from three Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite solutions in 186 river basins (∼60% of global land area). Medians of modeled basin water storage trends greatly underestimate GRACE-derived large decreasing (≤-0.5 km3/y) and increasing (≥0.5 km3/y) trends. Decreasing trends from GRACE are mostly related to human use (irrigation) and climate variations, whereas increasing trends reflect climate variations. For example, in the Amazon, GRACE estimates a large increasing trend of ∼43 km3/y, whereas most models estimate decreasing trends (-71 to 11 km3/y). Land water storage trends, summed over all basins, are positive for GRACE (∼71-82 km3/y) but negative for models (-450 to -12 km3/y), contributing opposing trends to global mean sea level change. Impacts of climate forcing on decadal land water storage trends exceed those of modeled human intervention by about a factor of 2. The model-GRACE comparison highlights potential areas of future model development, particularly simulated water storage. The inability of models to capture large decadal water storage trends based on GRACE indicates that model projections of climate and human-induced water storage changes may be underestimated