Risk management for traffic safety control

This paper offers a range of modelling ideas and techniques from mathematical statistics appropriate for analysing traffic accident data for the East region operation of CLP Power Hong Kong Limited and for the Hong Kong population in general. We further make proposals for alternative ways to record and collect data, and discuss ways to identify the major contributing factors behind accidents. We hope that our findings will enable the design of effective accident prevention strategies for CLP

Whole-genome sequencing of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to track strain progression in a single patient with recurrent urinary tract infection

Klebsiella pneumoniae is an important uropathogen that increasingly harbors broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance determinants. Evidence suggests that some same-strain recurrences in women with frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs) may emanate from a persistent intravesicular reservoir. Our objective was to analyze K. pneumoniae isolates collected over weeks from multiple body sites of a single patient with recurrent UTI in order to track ordered strain progression across body sites, as has been employed across patients in outbreak settings. Whole-genome sequencing of 26 K. pneumoniae isolates was performed utilizing the Illumina platform. PacBio sequencing was used to create a refined reference genome of the original urinary isolate (TOP52). Sequence variation was evaluated by comparing the 26 isolate sequences to the reference genome sequence. Whole-genome sequencing of the K. pneumoniae isolates from six different body sites of this patient with recurrent UTI demonstrated 100% chromosomal sequence identity of the isolates, with only a small P2 plasmid deletion in a minority of isolates. No single nucleotide variants were detected. The complete absence of single-nucleotide variants from 26 K. pneumoniae isolates from multiple body sites collected over weeks from a patient with recurrent UTI suggests that, unlike in an outbreak situation with strains collected from numerous patients, other methods are necessary to discern strain progression within a single host over a relatively short time frame.</p

Optimal rate of convergence for nonparametric change-point estimators for nonstationary sequences

Let $(X_i)_{i=1,...,n}$ be a possibly nonstationary sequence such that $\mathscr{L}(X_i)=P_n$ if $i\leq n\theta$ and $\mathscr{L}(X_i)=Q_n$ if $i>n\theta$, where $0<\theta <1$ is the location of the change-point to be estimated. We construct a class of estimators based on the empirical measures and a seminorm on the space of measures defined through a family of functions $\mathcal{F}$. We prove the consistency of the estimator and give rates of convergence under very general conditions. In particular, the $1/n$ rate is achieved for a wide class of processes including long-range dependent sequences and even nonstationary ones. The approach unifies, generalizes and improves on the existing results for both parametric and nonparametric change-point estimation, applied to independent, short-range dependent and as well long-range dependent sequences.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053606000001596 the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Solidarity and correality

This volume represents the first of a series of studies which , it is hoped, will eventually embrace a considerable portion of Roman law. I propose shortly to publish a monograph entitled 'General Observations oft the Law of Stipulation', in which a number of subjects incidentally touched on in the present work will be considered in more detail. I have also in course of preparation a, translation of Professor's Riccobono's Stipulatio ed Instrumentum nel Diritto giustinianeo from vols. 35 and 43 of the Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung, which will show English students the methods pursued in elucidating the law of stipulation by one of the greatest modern masters of our tee science. It is impossible to exaggerate the debt which research on numerous branches of Roman law owes to Professor Riccobono's efforts, and I take this,opportunity of gratefully acknowledging my personal obligations to this learned and courteous teacher. Another master to whom I must acknowledge special indebtedness is Professor Ernst Levy, of Frankfurt-am-Main. But for the assistance derived from Professor's Levy's writings, the present work could never have been accomplished

Acoustic suppression of the coffee-ring effect

We study the influence of acoustic fields on the evaporative self-assembly of solute particles suspended inside sessile droplets of complex fluids. The self-assembly process often results in an undesirable ring-like heterogeneous residue, a phenomenon known as the coffee-ring effect. Here we show that this ring-like self-assembly can be controlled acoustically to form homogeneous disc-like or concentrated spot-like residues. The principle of our method lies in the formation of dynamic patterns of particles in acoustically excited droplets, which inhibits the evaporation-driven convective transport of particles towards the contact line. We elucidate the mechanisms of this pattern formation and also obtain conditions for the suppression of the coffee-ring effect. Our results provide a more general solution to suppress the coffee-ring effect without any physiochemical modification of the fluids, the particles or the surface, thus potentially useful in a broad range of industrial and analytical applications that require homogenous solute depositions