Factor PD-Clustering

Factorial clustering methods have been developed in recent years thanks to the improving of computational power. These methods perform a linear transformation of data and a clustering on transformed data optimizing a common criterion. Factorial PD-clustering is based on Probabilistic Distance clustering (PD-clustering). PD-clustering is an iterative, distribution free, probabilistic, clustering method. Factor PD-clustering make a linear transformation of original variables into a reduced number of orthogonal ones using a common criterion with PD-Clustering. It is demonstrated that Tucker 3 decomposition allows to obtain this transformation. Factor PD-clustering makes alternatively a Tucker 3 decomposition and a PD-clustering on transformed data until convergence. This method could significantly improve the algorithm performance and allows to work with large dataset, to improve the stability and the robustness of the method

Extending the Lee Carter Model: a Three-way Decomposition

In this paper, we focus on a Multidimensional Data Analysis approach to the Lee-Carter (LC) model of mortality trends . In particular, we extend the bilinear LC model and specify a new model based on a three-way structure, which incorporates a further component in the decomposition of the log-mortality rates. A multi-way component analysis is performed using the Tucker 3 model. The suggested methodology allows us to obtain combined estimates for the three modes: i) time, ii) agegroups and iii) different populations. From the results obtained by the Tucker 3 decomposition, we can jointly compare, in both a numerical and graphical way, the relationships among all three modes and obtain a time series component as a leading indicator of the mortality trend for a group of populations. Further, we carry out a correlation analysis of the estimated trends in order to assess the reliability of the results of the three-way decomposition. The model’s goodness of fit is assessed using an analysis of the residuals. Finally, we discuss how the synthesised mortality index can be used to build concise projected life tables for a group of populations. An application which compares ten European countries is used to illustrate the approach and provide a deeper insight into the model and its implementation

Dependent Attachment: B-4 Children in the Strange Situation

FSW - Gezinsopvoeding - Ou

Late Little Ice Age palaeoenvironmental records from the Anzali and Amirkola Lagoons (south Caspian Sea): Vegetation and sea level changes

This is a postprint version of the article. The official published article can be found from the link below - Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier Ltd.Two internationally important Ramsar lagoons on the south coast of the Caspian Sea (CS) have been studied by palynology on short sediment cores for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic investigations. The sites lie within a small area of very high precipitation in a region that is otherwise dry. Vegetation surveys and geomorphological investigations have been used to provide a background to a multidisciplinary interpretation of the two sequences covering the last four centuries. In the small lagoon of Amirkola, the dense alder forested wetland has been briefly disturbed by fire, followed by the expansion of rice paddies from AD1720 to 1800. On the contrary, the terrestrial vegetation reflecting the diversity of the Hyrcanian vegetation around the lagoon of Anzali remained fairly complacent over time. The dinocyst and non-pollen palynomorph assemblages, revealing changes that have occurred in water salinity and water levels, indicate a high stand during the late Little Ice Age (LIA), from AD < 1620 to 1800–1830. In Amirkola, the lagoon spit remained intact over time, whereas in Anzali it broke into barrier islands during the late LIA, which merged into a spit during the subsequent sea level drop. A high population density and infrastructure prevented renewed breaking up of the spit when sea level reached its maximum (AD1995). Similar to other sites in the region around the southern CS, these two lagoonal investigations indicate that the LIA had a higher sea level as a result of more rainfall in the drainage basin of the CS.The coring and the sedimentological analyses were funded by the Iranian National Institute for Oceanography in the framework of a research project entitled “Investigation of the Holocene sediment along the Iranian coast of Caspian Sea: central Guilan”. The radiocarbon date of core HCGL02 was funded by V. Andrieu (Europôle Méditerranéen de l'Arbois, France) and that of core HCGA04 by Brunel University

Requests On E-Mail: a Cross-Cultural Comparison

This study investigates differences in request e-mails written in English by Chinese English learners and native American English speakers The results show that while Chinese English learners treat e-mail communications like either formal letters or telephone conversations, native American English speakers regard e-mail communications as closer to written memos It was also found that although the native American English speakers structure their e-mail request messages in a rather direct sequence, the linguistic forms they employ to express their requests are more indirect In contrast, the Chinese English learners structure their request messages in an indirect sequence, but the linguistic forms they use to realize their requests are more direct Given this contrast, it is not surprising that some of the request samples written by Chinese English learners were judged as very impolite by the native English speaking evaluators in this study The findings of this study thus demonstrate the importance of studying requests within the overall discourse in which they occur. Studying only the linguistic forms used in phrasing the request itself, as in the studies conducted by Blum-Kulka et al (1989), cannot provide us with a full picture of the cultural differences inherent in making requestsPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69055/2/10.1177_003368829802900206.pd

Quaternary time scales for the Pontocaspian domain: interbasinal connectivity and faunal evolution

The Pontocaspian (Black Sea - Caspian Sea) region has a very dynamic history of basin development and biotic evolution. The region is the remnant of a once vast Paratethys Sea. It contains some of the best Eurasian geological records of tectonic, climatic and paleoenvironmental change. The Pliocene-Quaternary co-evolution of the Black Sea-Caspian Sea is dominated by major changes in water (lake and sea) levels resulting in a pulsating system of connected and isolated basins. Understanding the history of the region, including the drivers of lake level and faunal evolution, is hampered by indistinct stratigraphic nomenclature and contradicting time constraints for regional sedimentary successions. In this paper we review and update the late Pliocene to Quaternary stratigraphic framework of the Pontocaspian domain, focusing on the Black Sea Basin, Caspian Basin, Marmara Sea and the terrestrial environments surrounding these large, mostly endorheic lake-sea systems