Discussion of "Statistical Inference: The Big Picture" by R. E. Kass

Discussion of "Statistical Inference: The Big Picture" by R. E. Kass [arXiv:1106.2895]Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-STS337D the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The Term Structure of Interest Rates

This paper consolidates and interprets the literature on the term structure, as it stands today. Definitions of rates of return, forward rates and holding returns for all time intervals are treated here in a uniform manner and their interrelations, exact or approximate, delineated. The concept of duration is used throughout to simplify mathematical expressions. Continuous compounding is used where possible, to avoid arbitrary distinctions based on compounding assumptions. Both the theoretical and the empirical literature are treated. The attached tables by J. Huston McCulloch give term structure data for U. S. government securities 1946-1987. The tables give discount bond yields, forward rates and par bond yields as defined in the paper. The data relate to the concepts in the paper more precisely than does any previously published data series.

Metasomatism between amphibolite and metaultramafic rocks during upper amphibolite facies metamorphism, Tobacco Root Mountains, southwest Montana

The purpose of this study is to characterize the metasomatism that has taken place as a result of the chemical incompatibility between mafic and metaultramafic bulk compositions during high-grade regional metamorphism in the Tobacco Root Mountains, southwest Montana. Metasomatism of these rocks took place by both diffusionand infiltration-dominated processes. The result of these processes are characterized mineralogically and geochemically in the rocks

INCIDENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GIARDIA LAMBLIA (LAMBL ) IN TEXAS BEAVER POPULATIONS

The Giardia lamblia (Lambl) protozoan is not a recently discovered parasite. It was. in fact, one of the first organisms viewed and described by Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1681) as he designed the first usable microscope. Leeuwenhoek found this organism in a sample of his own diarrhetic stool and thus he constitutes the first confirmed case of human giardiasis. His finding represents proof of glardiasis’ close association with man for many years. Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of the giardial trophozoite was not elaborated on for some 178 years, however, as it was not until 1859 that Wilhelm D. Lambl systematically described the organism as being a distinct genus of protozoan parasite (Kudo 1966). Unfortunately Lambl made little mention of guardias\u27 medical significance and the giardial protozoan was not accurately recognized as a major health concern until late in the twentieth century

Gaussian processes Correlated Bayesian Additive Regression Trees

In recent years, Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) has garnered increased attention, leading to the development of various extensions for diverse applications. However, there has been limited exploration of its utility in analyzing correlated data. This paper introduces a novel extension of BART, named Correlated BART (CBART). Unlike the original BART with independent errors, CBART is specifically designed to handle correlated (dependent) errors. Additionally, we propose the integration of CBART with Gaussian processes (GP) to create a new model termed GP-CBART. This innovative model combines the strengths of the Gaussian processes and CBART, making it particularly well-suited for analyzing time series or spatial data. In the GP-CBART framework, CBART captures the nonlinearity in the mean regression (covariates) function, while the Gaussian processes adeptly models the correlation structure within the response. Additionally, given the high flexibility of both CBART and GP models, their combination may lead to identification issues. We provide methods to address these challenges. To demonstrate the effectiveness of CBART and GP-CBART, we present corresponding simulated and real-world examples