Paris : Bailliere, 1896.

[London] (Historic Gallery, Pall Mall) : Published by R. Bowyer, June 1804

François Bachoc, José Betancourt, Reinhard Furrer, Thierry Klein.

Source: Electronic Journal of Statistics, Volume 14, Number 1, 1962--2008.

Abstract:
The asymptotic analysis of covariance parameter estimation of Gaussian processes has been subject to intensive investigation. However, this asymptotic analysis is very scarce for non-Gaussian processes. In this paper, we study a class of non-Gaussian processes obtained by regular non-linear transformations of Gaussian processes. We provide the increasing-domain asymptotic properties of the (Gaussian) maximum likelihood and cross validation estimators of the covariance parameters of a non-Gaussian process of this class. We show that these estimators are consistent and asymptotically normal, although they are defined as if the process was Gaussian. They do not need to model or estimate the non-linear transformation. Our results can thus be interpreted as a robustness of (Gaussian) maximum likelihood and cross validation towards non-Gaussianity. Our proofs rely on two technical results that are of independent interest for the increasing-domain asymptotic literature of spatial processes. First, we show that, under mild assumptions, coefficients of inverses of large covariance matrices decay at an inverse polynomial rate as a function of the corresponding observation location distances. Second, we provide a general central limit theorem for quadratic forms obtained from transformed Gaussian processes. Finally, our asymptotic results are illustrated by numerical simulations.

Wanli Qiao.

Source: Electronic Journal of Statistics, Volume 14, Number 1, 302--344.

Abstract:
Bandwidth selection is crucial in the kernel estimation of density level sets. A risk based on the symmetric difference between the estimated and true level sets is usually used to measure their proximity. In this paper we provide an asymptotic $L^{p}$ approximation to this risk, where $p$ is characterized by the weight function in the risk. In particular the excess risk corresponds to an $L^{2}$ type of risk, and is adopted to derive an optimal bandwidth for nonparametric level set estimation of $d$-dimensional density functions ($dgeq 1$). A direct plug-in bandwidth selector is developed for kernel density level set estimation and its efficacy is verified in numerical studies.

Yuling Yan, Bret Hanlon, Sebastien Roch, Karl Rohe.

Source: Electronic Journal of Statistics, Volume 14, Number 1, 1577--1610.

Abstract:
Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) collects a sample of individuals in a networked population by incentivizing the sampled individuals to refer their contacts into the sample. This iterative process is initialized from some seed node(s). Sometimes, this selection creates a large amount of seed bias. Other times, the seed bias is small. This paper gains a deeper understanding of this bias by characterizing its effect on the limiting distribution of various RDS estimators. Using classical tools and results from multi-type branching processes [12], we show that the seed bias is negligible for the Generalized Least Squares (GLS) estimator and non-negligible for both the inverse probability weighted and Volz-Heckathorn (VH) estimators. In particular, we show that (i) above a critical threshold, VH converge to a non-trivial mixture distribution, where the mixture component depends on the seed node, and the mixture distribution is possibly multi-modal. Moreover, (ii) GLS converges to a Gaussian distribution independent of the seed node, under a certain condition on the Markov process. Numerical experiments with both simulated data and empirical social networks suggest that these results appear to hold beyond the Markov conditions of the theorems.

Vincent Brault, Christine Keribin, Mahendra Mariadassou.

Source: Electronic Journal of Statistics, Volume 14, Number 1, 1234--1268.

Abstract:
The Latent Block Model (LBM) is a model-based method to cluster simultaneously the $d$ columns and $n$ rows of a data matrix. Parameter estimation in LBM is a difficult and multifaceted problem. Although various estimation strategies have been proposed and are now well understood empirically, theoretical guarantees about their asymptotic behavior is rather sparse and most results are limited to the binary setting. We prove here theoretical guarantees in the valued settings. We show that under some mild conditions on the parameter space, and in an asymptotic regime where $log (d)/n$ and $log (n)/d$ tend to $0$ when $n$ and $d$ tend to infinity, (1) the maximum-likelihood estimate of the complete model (with known labels) is consistent and (2) the log-likelihood ratios are equivalent under the complete and observed (with unknown labels) models. This equivalence allows us to transfer the asymptotic consistency, and under mild conditions, asymptotic normality, to the maximum likelihood estimate under the observed model. Moreover, the variational estimator is also consistent and, under the same conditions, asymptotically normal.

Alessandro Casa, José E. Chacón, Giovanna Menardi.

Source: Electronic Journal of Statistics, Volume 14, Number 1, 835--856.

Abstract:
Density-based clustering relies on the idea of linking groups to some specific features of the probability distribution underlying the data. The reference to a true, yet unknown, population structure allows framing the clustering problem in a standard inferential setting, where the concept of ideal population clustering is defined as the partition induced by the true density function. The nonparametric formulation of this approach, known as modal clustering, draws a correspondence between the groups and the domains of attraction of the density modes. Operationally, a nonparametric density estimate is required and a proper selection of the amount of smoothing, governing the shape of the density and hence possibly the modal structure, is crucial to identify the final partition. In this work, we address the issue of density estimation for modal clustering from an asymptotic perspective. A natural and easy to interpret metric to measure the distance between density-based partitions is discussed, its asymptotic approximation explored, and employed to study the problem of bandwidth selection for nonparametric modal clustering.

Great attention has been paid to Big Data in recent years. Such data hold promise for scientific discoveries but also pose challenges to analyses. One potential challenge is noise accumulation. In this paper, we explore noise accumulation in high dimensional two-group classification. First, we revisit a previous assessment of noise accumulation with principal component analyses, which yields a different threshold for discriminative ability than originally identified. Then we extend our scope to its impact on classifiers developed with three common machine learning approaches---random forest, support vector machine, and boosted classification trees. We simulate four scenarios with differing amounts of signal strength to evaluate each method. After determining noise accumulation may affect the performance of these classifiers, we assess factors that impact it. We conduct simulations by varying sample size, signal strength, signal strength proportional to the number predictors, and signal magnitude with random forest classifiers. These simulations suggest that noise accumulation affects the discriminative ability of high-dimensional classifiers developed using common machine learning methods, which can be modified by sample size, signal strength, and signal magnitude. We developed the measure total signal index (TSI) to track the trends of total signal and noise accumulation.

We consider the standard model of distributed optimization of a sum of functions $F(mathbf z) = sum_{i=1}^n f_i(mathbf z)$, where node $i$ in a network holds the function $f_i(mathbf z)$. We allow for a harsh network model characterized by asynchronous updates, message delays, unpredictable message losses, and directed communication among nodes. In this setting, we analyze a modification of the Gradient-Push method for distributed optimization, assuming that (i) node $i$ is capable of generating gradients of its function $f_i(mathbf z)$ corrupted by zero-mean bounded-support additive noise at each step, (ii) $F(mathbf z)$ is strongly convex, and (iii) each $f_i(mathbf z)$ has Lipschitz gradients. We show that our proposed method asymptotically performs as well as the best bounds on centralized gradient descent that takes steps in the direction of the sum of the noisy gradients of all the functions $f_1(mathbf z), ldots, f_n(mathbf z)$ at each step.

Clément Marteau, Theofanis Sapatinas.

Source: Statistics Surveys, Volume 9, 253--297.

Abstract:
We are concerned with minimax signal detection. In this setting, we discuss non-asymptotic and asymptotic approaches through a unified treatment. In particular, we consider a Gaussian sequence model that contains classical models as special cases, such as, direct, well-posed inverse and ill-posed inverse problems. Working with certain ellipsoids in the space of squared-summable sequences of real numbers, with a ball of positive radius removed, we compare the construction of lower and upper bounds for the minimax separation radius (non-asymptotic approach) and the minimax separation rate (asymptotic approach) that have been proposed in the literature. Some additional contributions, bringing to light links between non-asymptotic and asymptotic approaches to minimax signal, are also presented. An example of a mildly ill-posed inverse problem is used for illustrative purposes. In particular, it is shown that tools used to derive ‘asymptotic’ results can be exploited to draw ‘non-asymptotic’ conclusions, and vice-versa. In order to enhance our understanding of these two minimax signal detection paradigms, we bring into light hitherto unknown similarities and links between non-asymptotic and asymptotic approaches.

As an important type of reinforcement learning algorithms, actor-critic (AC) and natural actor-critic (NAC) algorithms are often executed in two ways for finding optimal policies. In the first nested-loop design, actor's one update of policy is followed by an entire loop of critic's updates of the value function, and the finite-sample analysis of such AC and NAC algorithms have been recently well established. The second two time-scale design, in which actor and critic update simultaneously but with different learning rates, has much fewer tuning parameters than the nested-loop design and is hence substantially easier to implement. Although two time-scale AC and NAC have been shown to converge in the literature, the finite-sample convergence rate has not been established. In this paper, we provide the first such non-asymptotic convergence rate for two time-scale AC and NAC under Markovian sampling and with actor having general policy class approximation. We show that two time-scale AC requires the overall sample complexity at the order of $mathcal{O}(epsilon^{-2.5}log^3(epsilon^{-1}))$ to attain an $epsilon$-accurate stationary point, and two time-scale NAC requires the overall sample complexity at the order of $mathcal{O}(epsilon^{-4}log^2(epsilon^{-1}))$ to attain an $epsilon$-accurate global optimal point. We develop novel techniques for bounding the bias error of the actor due to dynamically changing Markovian sampling and for analyzing the convergence rate of the linear critic with dynamically changing base functions and transition kernel.

Jere Koskela, Paul A. Jenkins, Adam M. Johansen, Dario Spanò.

Source: The Annals of Statistics, Volume 48, Number 1, 560--583.

Abstract:
We study weighted particle systems in which new generations are resampled from current particles with probabilities proportional to their weights. This covers a broad class of sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods, widely-used in applied statistics and cognate disciplines. We consider the genealogical tree embedded into such particle systems, and identify conditions, as well as an appropriate time-scaling, under which they converge to the Kingman $n$-coalescent in the infinite system size limit in the sense of finite-dimensional distributions. Thus, the tractable $n$-coalescent can be used to predict the shape and size of SMC genealogies, as we illustrate by characterising the limiting mean and variance of the tree height. SMC genealogies are known to be connected to algorithm performance, so that our results are likely to have applications in the design of new methods as well. Our conditions for convergence are strong, but we show by simulation that they do not appear to be necessary.

Eric D. Kolaczyk, Lizhen Lin, Steven Rosenberg, Jackson Walters, Jie Xu.

Source: The Annals of Statistics, Volume 48, Number 1, 514--538.

Abstract:
It is becoming increasingly common to see large collections of network data objects, that is, data sets in which a network is viewed as a fundamental unit of observation. As a result, there is a pressing need to develop network-based analogues of even many of the most basic tools already standard for scalar and vector data. In this paper, our focus is on averages of unlabeled, undirected networks with edge weights. Specifically, we (i) characterize a certain notion of the space of all such networks, (ii) describe key topological and geometric properties of this space relevant to doing probability and statistics thereupon, and (iii) use these properties to establish the asymptotic behavior of a generalized notion of an empirical mean under sampling from a distribution supported on this space. Our results rely on a combination of tools from geometry, probability theory and statistical shape analysis. In particular, the lack of vertex labeling necessitates working with a quotient space modding out permutations of labels. This results in a nontrivial geometry for the space of unlabeled networks, which in turn is found to have important implications on the types of probabilistic and statistical results that may be obtained and the techniques needed to obtain them.

Adityanand Guntuboyina, Donovan Lieu, Sabyasachi Chatterjee, Bodhisattva Sen.

Source: The Annals of Statistics, Volume 48, Number 1, 205--229.

Abstract:
We study trend filtering, a relatively recent method for univariate nonparametric regression. For a given integer $rgeq1$, the $r$th order trend filtering estimator is defined as the minimizer of the sum of squared errors when we constrain (or penalize) the sum of the absolute $r$th order discrete derivatives of the fitted function at the design points. For $r=1$, the estimator reduces to total variation regularization which has received much attention in the statistics and image processing literature. In this paper, we study the performance of the trend filtering estimator for every $rgeq1$, both in the constrained and penalized forms. Our main results show that in the strong sparsity setting when the underlying function is a (discrete) spline with few “knots,” the risk (under the global squared error loss) of the trend filtering estimator (with an appropriate choice of the tuning parameter) achieves the parametric $n^{-1}$-rate, up to a logarithmic (multiplicative) factor. Our results therefore provide support for the use of trend filtering, for every $rgeq1$, in the strong sparsity setting.

Didier Chételat, Martin T. Wells.

Source: The Annals of Statistics, Volume 47, Number 5, 2639--2670.

Abstract:
We study the behavior of a real $p$-dimensional Wishart random matrix with $n$ degrees of freedom when $n,p ightarrowinfty$ but $p/n ightarrow0$. We establish the existence of phase transitions when $p$ grows at the order $n^{(K+1)/(K+3)}$ for every $Kinmathbb{N}$, and derive expressions for approximating densities between every two phase transitions. To do this, we make use of a novel tool we call the $mathcal{F}$-conjugate of an absolutely continuous distribution, which is obtained from the Fourier transform of the square root of its density. In the case of the normalized Wishart distribution, this represents an extension of the $t$-distribution to the space of real symmetric matrices.

Pier Luigi Conti, Daniela Marella, Fulvia Mecatti, Federico Andreis.

Source: Bernoulli, Volume 26, Number 2, 1044--1069.

Abstract:
In this paper, a class of resampling techniques for finite populations under $pi $ps sampling design is introduced. The basic idea on which they rest is a two-step procedure consisting in: (i) constructing a “pseudo-population” on the basis of sample data; (ii) drawing a sample from the predicted population according to an appropriate resampling design. From a logical point of view, this approach is essentially based on the plug-in principle by Efron, at the “sampling design level”. Theoretical justifications based on large sample theory are provided. New approaches to construct pseudo populations based on various forms of calibrations are proposed. Finally, a simulation study is performed.

Chris Englund
Jan 5, 2005; 25:247-251
BRIEF COMMUNICATION

Lennart Mucke
Jun 1, 2000; 20:4050-4058
Cellular

Before probing blots for the presence of an antigen, the total composition of the transferred proteins can be determined by staining the nitrocellulose or polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. Staining for proteins is useful to determine the position of the non-prestained molecular weight markers or individual lanes on the gel and to ensure that efficient transfer has occurred. It can be also used to verify equal loading of the samples in the gel when a comparison of the protein of interest between the different samples is important. The conventional procedures such as Coomassie Blue and silver staining methods used for staining polyacrylamide gels are incompatible with immunoblotting. Ponceau S is the more common staining method in immunoblotting protocols because it is compatible with antibody–antigen binding, is cost efficient, and provides a good contrast between the stained bands and background. In this protocol, nitrocellulose or PVDF membrane is rinsed with ultrapure H₂O after the transfer of proteins. Ponceau S dye is applied as an acidic aqueous solution, and the proteins on the membrane are stained with red color. The membrane is briefly destained with water and can be photographed or scanned to obtain the image of the total protein staining. Individual lane positions or the molecular weight standards can be marked with a pencil, if required.

1. Coronavirus Outbreak Updates: Maharashtra reports 1,089 new COVID-19 cases across state, 748 in Mumbai; total infections at 19,063  Firstpost
2. Migrant workers | Maharashtra train accident victims were battling hunger  The Hindu
3. Maharashtra: They thought no trains were running, loco driver spotted them too late to stop  The Indian Express
4. ‘Stay where you are’: Shivraj Chouhan appeals to migrants after train tragedy  Hindustan Times
5. MP Ministers Ask Shivraj to Probe Tenure of Kamal Nath to ‘Expose Massive Corruption’  News18
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Living on a 10-acre plot of land 100 kilometres outside Toronto, David Stevens thought he and his family were well prepared to ride out the COVID-19 quarantine. But after a call from his mother, he learned that even the best laid plans can go wrong.

Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia may progress to bilirubin encephalopathy. Findings from previous studies on long-term development of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia are conflicting.

Using Ages and Stages Questionnaire, we observed no association between bilirubin exposure and overall development in 1- to 5-year-old children who in the neonatal period had total serum bilirubin level ≥25 mg/dL and no or only minor neurologic symptoms. (Read the full article)

A dose-response relationship exists between light irradiance and decrease of total serum bilirubin concentration (TsB) at relatively low irradiances. It has been questioned whether by increasing irradiance a "saturation point" exists, above which no further decrease of TsB is seen.

We found a linear relation between light irradiance in the range of 20 to 55 μW/cm²/nm and decrease in TsB after 24 hours of therapy, with no evidence of a saturation point. (Read the full article)

Previous studies have found a relationship between exclusive breastfeeding for ≥6 months and iron deficiency. Little is known about the relationship between total breastfeeding duration, including the period after the introduction of complementary foods, and infant iron status.

Our results suggest that infants with longer total breastfeeding duration may be at risk for iron deficiency. Our findings highlight a clinically important association warranting additional investigation that may inform future guideline updates regarding assessment of risk for iron deficiency in young infants. (Read the full article)

Phototherapy decreases bilirubin concentration in skin more rapidly than in blood. During and after phototherapy, transcutaneous bilirubin measurements are considered unreliable and therefore discouraged.

Transcutaneous bilirubin underestimates total serum bilirubin by 2.4 mg/dL (SD, 2.1 mg/dL) during the first 8 hours after phototherapy. This gives a safety margin of ~7 mg/dL below the treatment threshold to omit confirmatory blood sampling. (Read the full article)

Timo Werner's penalty has given Leipzig a narrow advantage, although Spurs have history when it comes to turning round a 1-0 home defeat.

he Division of Public Health (DPH) has identified four more cases of the mumps in Delaware as part of its ongoing investigation of an outbreak among attendees at two multi-cultural dances in New Castle County, bringing the total number of mumps cases in 2018 to 19. At least 11 of the 19 persons with mumps attended either the Feb. 10, or March 3, 2018, social dance (Baile Mexicano) that took place at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington.

The stricter lockdown measures in select cities are in the wake of increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the state, especially in the urban areas.

Karnataka has crossed the "milestone" of one lakh COVID-19 tests, the government said today as the state reported 41 new coronavirus positive cases, taking the total number of infections to 794.

Out of the six fresh cases from Delhi, two were posted at the BSF's headquarters in the national capital and four were posted at other units in the city.

  Introduction Modern user interface design has evolved dramatically in the last few years, with animation-rich interactions becoming the norm. On mobile devices, where screen space is at a premium a...

The all-new i10 will receive its public world premiere, alongside a special version of the model

After 21 employees of Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals were found to be corona positive, the administration acted quickly and sanitised the entire campus of the company near Dholka.

GMCH has been closed for new patients and 386 people, including its Superintendent Dr R Talukdar, doctors, students and several grade three and four workers, have been quarantined.

Jaipur is the worst-hit Rajasthan district with a total of 1,165 case, including 54 deaths.

Home Minister Amit Shah has said he is totally healthy and not suffering from any disease.

Electric vehicles are being preferred and promoted over the conventionally operated vehicles, and soon enough, they will be the future. A lot of the top automobile manufacturing companies have launched multiple electric versions of their already existing models, such as the Hyundai Kona Electric, Mahindra e-Verito, Mahindra e2o, MG ZS EV, Tata Tigor EV 2019, […]

The post Tata Nexon EV Becomes India’s #1 Electric Car; Beats Hyundai Kona, MG ZS In Total Sales first appeared on Trak.in . Trak.in Mobile Apps: Android | iOS.

Vegas, here we come. All of us fun EDA engineers at once. Be prepared, next week’s Design Automation Conference will be busy! The trends I had outlined after last DAC in 2018—system design, cloud, and machine learning—have...(read more)

G DATA TOTAL SECURITY version 25.4.0.3 suffers from an active-x buffer overflow vulnerability.

VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France — October 24, 2019 — Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) announces IFRS unaudited financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2019. These results were reviewed by the Group’s Board of Directors on October 23, 2019. This press release also includes financial information on a non-IFRS basis with reconciliations included in the Appendix to this communication. All IFRS and non-IFRS figures are presented in compliance...

●Electric air mobility pioneer used the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud to develop prototype in two years ●“Reinvent the Sky” industry solution experience provides full data security in a single, standards-based environment ●Dassault Systèmes enables companies of all sizes to create new categories of sustainable air mobility systems that will change how the world travels

Totaljs CMS version 12.0 mints an insecure cookie that can be used to crack the administrator password.

This Metasploit module exploits a vulnerability in Total.js CMS. The issue is that a user with admin permission can embed a malicious JavaScript payload in a widget, which is evaluated server side, and gain remote code execution.

GE Renewable Energy announced the shipment of the four tower sections that will be part of GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW prototype to be installed later this summer in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam (NL). The four segments at tower manufacturer GRI’s site in Seville, will be arriving in the Netherlands before the end of the month.

According to a press release from Aquamarine Power, the marine hydrokinetic (MHK) Wave Power Offtake Device (WavePOD) 10th-scale prototype, a project run jointly by Aquamarine Power, Bosch Rexroth and Carnegie Wave Energy, has received US$3.1 million in new funding. 

British Columbia-based tidal developer, Yourbrook Energy Systems Ltd., is testing what it calls a prototype of a shallow water tidal-powered generator pump that could one day be used as part of a pumped storage hydroelectric project.