Hierarchical Bayesian variable selection in the probit model with mixture of nominal and ordinal responses

Multi-class classification problems have been studied for pure nominal and pure ordinal responses. However, there are some cases where the multi-class responses are a mixture of nominal and ordinal. To address this problem we build a hierarchical multinomial probit model with a mixture of both types of responses using latent variables. The nominal responses are each associated to distinct latent variables whereas the ordinal responses have a single latent variable. Our approach first treats the ordinal responses as a single nominal category and then separates the ordinal responses within this category. We introduce sparsity into the model using Bayesian variable selection (BVS) within the regression in order to improve variable selection classification accuracy. Two indicator vectors (indicating presence of the covariate) are used, one for nominal and one for ordinal responses. We develop efficient posteriorsampling. Using simulated data, we compare the classification accuracy of our method to existing ones

Radon measurements along active faults in the Langadas Basin, northern Greece

A network of three radon stations has been established in the Langadas Basin, northern Greece for radon monitoring by various techniques in earthquake prediction studies. Specially made devices with plastic tubes including Alpha Tracketch Detectors (ATD) were installed for registering alpha particles from radon and radon decay products exhaled from the ground, every 2 weeks, by using LR-115, type II, non-strippable Kodak films, starting from December 1996. Simultaneous measurements started using Lucas cells alpha spectrometer for instantaneous radon measurements in soil gas, before and after setting ATDs at the radon stations. Continuous monitoring of radon gas exhaling from the ground started from the middle of August 1999 by using silicon diode detectors, which simultaneously register meteorological parameters, such as rainfall, temperature and barometric pressure. The obtained data were studied together with the data of seismic events, such as the magnitude, <i>M_L</i>, of earthquakes that occurred at the Langadas Basin during the period of measurements, as registered by the Laboratory of Geophysics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in order to find out any association between them

Eco-friendly one-pot synthesis of Prussian blue-embedded magnetic hydrogel beads for the removal of cesium from water

A simple one-step approach to fabricating Prussian blue-embedded magnetic hydrogel beads (PBMHBs) was fabricated for the effective magnetic removal of radioactive cesium (Cs-137) from water. Through the simple dropwise addition of a mixed aqueous solution of iron salts, commercial PB and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to an ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) solution, the formation of hydrogel beads and the encapsulation of PB in beads were achieved in one pot through the gelation of PVA with in situ-formed iron oxide nanoparticles as the cross-linker. The obtained PB-MHBs, with 43.77 weight %of PB, were stable without releasing PB for up to 2 weeks and could be effectively separated from aqueous solutions by an external magnetic field, which is convenient for the large-scale treatment of Cs-contaminated water. Detailed Cs adsorption studies revealed that the adsorption isotherms and kinetics could be effectively described by the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order model, respectively. Most importantly, the PB-MHBs exhibited excellent selectivity for Cs-137 in (137)Cscontaminated simulated groundwater (55 Bq/g) with a high removal efficiency (&gt;99.5%), and the effective removal of Cs-137 from real seawater by these PB-MHBs demonstrated the excellent potential of this material for practical application in the decontamination of Cs-137-contaminated seawate

An overview of sheep farming features and management practices in the region of south western Peloponnese and how they reflect on milk microbial load

Στην έρευνα αυτή εξετάσθηκαν δημογραφικά στοιχεία, ζωοτεχνικά χαρακτηριστικά και παράμετροι της ποιότητας του γάλακτος σε εκτροφές γαλακτοπαραγωγικών προβάτων, στην περιοχή της βορειοδυτικής Πελοποννήσου. Η έρευνα περιέλαβε 128 εκτροφείς προβάτων και διεξήχθη με χρήση προσχεδιασμένου ερωτηματολογίου. Οι παραγωγοί στους οποίους έγινε η έρευνα, ήταν υπό τον έλεγχο του ΕΛΓΟ «Δήμητρα» και παρέδιδαν το γάλα σε μη αυτοελεγχόμενες τυροκομικές μονάδες. Από τα στοιχεία της έρευνας προέκυψαν τα πιο κάτω δεδομένα. Το 23.26% των κτηνοτρόφων ήταν από 31 έως40 ετών. Τo 64% αυτών ήταν απόφοιτοι δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης και είχαν παρακολουθήσει κάποια ενημερωτικά σεμινάρια γεωργικού και κτηνοτροφικού περιεχομένου ως «Νέοι αγρότες» (17%) ή από ενημερώσεις κτηνιάτρων της κτηνιατρικής υπηρεσίας της περιοχής τους (11%). Το μέσο μέγεθος της εκτροφής ήταν 148 πρόβατα. Στο 77% των ερωτηθέντων οι υποδομές ήταν παραδοσιακού τύπου.Πολύ περιορισμένη ήταν η τεχνολογική διείσδυση στο θέμα της άμελξης αφού στο 83% διεξαγόταν με παραδοσιακό τρόπο. Σε ότι αφορά την ποιότητα του γάλακτος, από τα δεδομένα των μετρήσεων που μας παραχωρήθηκαν από το εργαστήριο ποιοτικού ελέγχου του ΕΛΓΟ «Δήμητρα», υπολογίστηκαν οι μέσες τιμές της (%) περιεκτικότητας σε λίπος, πρωτεΐνη, λακτόζη και στο στερεό υπόλοιπο άνευ λίπους, στα 6.54 ± 0.88, 5. 56 ± 0.36, 4.59 ± 0.23 και 10.95 ± 0.42 αντίστοιχα. Επιπλέον, η μέση τιμή του συνολικού μικροβιακού φορτίου βρέθηκε στο 5.38 ± 0.55 log cfu/ml και η μέση τιμή του pH των εξετασθέντων δειγμάτων γάλακτος ήταν στο 6.71 ± 0.11. Από την επεξεργασία των απαντήσεων στις ερωτήσεις που απευθύνθηκαν στους κτηνοτρόφους, προέκυψε ότι σε γενικές γραμμές, οι εκτροφείς των προβάτων είχαν καλή αντίληψη σε θέματα που αφορούσαν την ολοκληρωμένη διαχείριση και η προοπτική για την εκτροφή προβάτων στο μέλλον φάνηκε να είναι αισιόδοξη. Ως αντίκτυπος της μελέτης αυτής φάνηκε ότι ενισχύθηκε η εμπιστοσύνη των κτηνοτρόφων στα εκπαιδευτικά ιδρύματα και από τη συζήτηση μαζί τους προέκυψε ότι είναι δεκτικοί σε αλλαγές και επιζητούν την ενημέρωση και τη γενικότερη υποστήριξη.In this study the demographic features, various farm characteristics and milk quality parameters were investigated in sheep farms (n =128) from the North West Peloponnese region, using a prescreen questionnaire. The interviewed sheep farmers were under the control of the regional milk control laboratory of the Hellenic Milk Organization ELGO «Dimitra», which provided us with the corresponding milk quality data for the first quarter of 2014. Our findings regarding the demographic data demonstrated that 23% of farmers were 31-40 years old, 64% of them were high school graduates and 28% had received relevant farming general training; namely 17% of them has designated as “young farmers” in the frame of Third Axis of the Operational Program «Rural Development-Regeneration of the Countryside 2000-2006» and 11% have attended briefings by veterinarians and agriculturists. Ιn terms of farm characteristics, it has been revealed that the mean flock size was 148 sheep and regarding the farming system, the majority of the farms (89.15%) applied a mixed extensive / indoors system. Additionally, regarding building infrastructures and the way of milking, there was limited technological penetration, since the buildings were old-style (77%) and the milking procedure was performed by hands (83%). Concerning the milk composition, the measurements showed mean values of (%) content of fat, protein, lactose and non-fat dry matter (NFDM) at 6.54±0.88, 5.56±0.36, 4.59±0.23 and 10.95±0.42, respectively. Furthermore, the mean value of the total bacterial count (TBC) was found 5.38±0.55 log cfu/ml and the pH value at 6.71±0.11. In general, sheep farmers had a good perception of the integrated management and their prospect for sheep farming was optimistic. The impact of this study is that farmers increase their trust to the educational institutions and are prompted to become more receptive to new adaptive trends

Dark Energy Surveyed Year 1 results: calibration of cluster mis-centring in the redMaPPer catalogues

The centre determination of a galaxy cluster from an optical cluster finding algorithm can be offset from theoretical prescriptions or N-body definitions of its host halo centre. These offsets impact the recovered cluster statistics, affecting both richness measurements and the weak lensing shear profile around the clusters. This paper models the centring performance of the redMaPPer cluster finding algorithm using archival X-ray observations of redMaPPer selected clusters. Assuming the X-ray emission peaks as the fiducial halo centres, and through analysing their offsets to the redMaPPer centres, we find that ∼75 ± 8 per cent of the redMaPPer clusters are well centred and the mis-centred offset follows a Gamma distribution in normalized, projected distance. These mis-centring offsets cause a systematic underestimation of cluster richness relative to the well-centred clusters, for which we propose a descriptive model. Our results enable the DES Y1 cluster cosmology analysis by characterizing the necessary corrections to both the weak lensing and richness abundance functions of the DES Y1 redMaPPer cluster catalogue

Radon measurements along active faults in the Langadas Basin, northern Greece

International audienc

Radon measurements in association with earthquakes

A network of three radon stations has been established in the Langadas basin, North Greece. Newly made devices with plastic tubes are in operation with a-particle track detectors (ATDs) in registering a-particles from radon and radon decay products exhaled from the ground, every two weeks, starting from December 1996, by using LR-115, type II, nonstrippable Kodak films. Simultaneous measurements are made by using Lucas a-scintillation cells for instantaneous measurements of radon in soil gas, before and after setting the ATDs at the radon stations. The new devices used have the advantage of not using heating systems nor electrical power in the nearby area of the stations. Radon flux registrations ranged between 507 and 85880 tr cm22 or 1.5 and 188.9 tr cm22 h21, in the period of measurement, while radon concentrations in soil gas ranged between 528 and 35095 Bq m23 at the same time

Radionuclide Analysis on Bamboos following the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

In response to contamination from the recent Fukushima nuclear accident, we conducted radionuclide analysis on bamboos sampled from six sites within a 25 to 980 km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Maximum activity concentrations of radiocesium 134Cs and 137Cs in samples from Fukushima city, 65 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, were in excess of 71 and 79 kBq/kg, dry weight (DW), respectively. In Kashiwa city, 195 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi, the sample concentrations were in excess of 3.4 and 4.3 kBq/kg DW, respectively. In Toyohashi city, 440 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi, the concentrations were below the measurable limits of up to 4.5 Bq/kg DW. In the radiocesium contaminated samples, the radiocesium activity was higher in mature and fallen leaves than in young leaves, branches and culms