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This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Cost and statistical efficiency of posture assessment by inclinometry and observation, exemplified by paper mill work." The correction is related to an error in Figure 2, specifically the efficiency ordinate scale in panel B. The corrected figure is provided in the document. The article discusses the sampling efficiency and costs associated with different strategies for posture assessment using inclinometry and observation in the context of paper mill work. The authors of the article are Svend Erik Mathiassen, Amanda Waleh Åström, Annika Strömberg, and Marina Heiden. [Extracted from the article]

The June 2024 issue of Visual Computer includes six best papers from the Cyberworlds 2022 conference, five best papers from the second part of the special issue on Deep Learning for 3D Segmentation, and 34 regular papers. The selected papers from the Cyberworlds conference cover topics such as procedural modeling, context-aware personality estimation, immersive haptic simulation, video compression-cum-classification, semantics-aware addition and LoD of 3D window details, and military education in extended reality. The papers from the Deep Learning for 3D Segmentation section focus on point cloud semantic segmentation, structure-preserving image smoothing, multimodal feature fusion network, unsupervised contrastive learning, and 6D pose estimation of reflective texture-less objects. The regular papers cover a wide range of topics in computer graphics and visualization. The issue is edited by Nadia Magnenat Thalmann, the Editor-in-Chief of the Visual Computer. [Extracted from the article]

There are many potential sources of bias in the radar rainfall estimation process. This study classified the biases from the rainfall estimation process into the reflectivity measurement bias and QPE model bias and also conducted the bias correction methods to improve the accuracy of the Radar-AWS Rainrate (RAR) calculation system operated by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). For the Z bias correction, this study utilized the bias correction algorithm for the reflectivity. The concept of this algorithm is that the reflectivity of target single-pol radars is corrected based on the reference dual-pol radar corrected in the hardware and software bias. This study, and then, dealt with two post-process methods, the Mean Field Bias Correction (MFBC) method and the Local Gauge Correction method (LGC), to correct rainfall-bias. The Z bias and rainfall-bias correction methods were applied to the RAR system. The accuracy of the RAR system improved after correcting Z bias. For rainfall types, although the accuracy of Changma front and local torrential cases was slightly improved without the Z bias correction, especially, the accuracy of typhoon cases got worse than existing results. As a result of the rainfall-bias correction, the accuracy of the RAR system performed Z bias_LGC was especially superior to the MFBC method because the different rainfall biases were applied to each grid rainfall amount in the LGC method. For rainfall types, Results of the Z bias_LGC showed that rainfall estimates for all types was more accurate than only the Z bias and, especially, outcomes in typhoon cases was vastly superior to the others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Rapid-exploration Random Tree (RRT) autonomous detection algorithm based on the multi-guide-node deflection strategy andKarto Simultaneous Localization andMapping (SLAM) algorithmwas proposed to solve the problems of low efficiency of detecting frontier boundary points and drift distortion in the process of map building in the traditional RRT algorithm in the autonomous detection strategy of mobile robot. Firstly, an RRT global frontier boundary point detection algorithm based on the multi-guide-node deflection strategy was put forward, which introduces the reference value of guide nodes' deflection probability into the random sampling function so that the global search tree can detect frontier boundary points towards the guide nodes according to random probability. After that, a new autonomous detection algorithm for mobile robots was proposed by combining the graph optimization-based Karto SLAM algorithm with the previously improved RRT algorithm. The algorithm simulation platform based on the Gazebo platform was built. The simulation results show that compared with the traditional RRT algorithm, the proposed RRT autonomous detection algorithm can effectively reduce the time of autonomous detection, plan the length of detection trajectory under the condition of high average detection coverage, and complete the task of autonomous detection mapping more efficiently. Finally, with the help of the ROS-based mobile robot experimental platform, the performance of the proposed algorithm was verified in the real environment of different obstacles. The experimental results show that in the actual environment of simple and complex obstacles, the proposed RRT autonomous detection algorithm was superior to the traditional RRT autonomous detection algorithm in the time of detection, length of detection trajectory, and average coverage, thus improving the efficiency and accuracy of autonomous detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new methodology for solving the fuzzy multiobjective optimization problems is proposed in this paper by considering the fusion of cooperative game theory and genetic algorithm. The original fuzzy multiobjective optimization problem needs to be transformed into a scalar optimization problem, which is a conventional optimization problem. Usually, the assignments of suitable coefficients to the corresponding scalar optimization problem are subjectively determined by the decision makers. However, these assignments may cause some biases by their subjectivity. Therefore, this paper proposes a mechanical procedure to avoid this subjective biases. We are going to formulate a cooperative game using the α -level functions of the multiple fuzzy objective functions. Under this setting, the suitable coefficients can be determined mechanically by involving the core values of the cooperative game, which is formulated using the multiple fuzzy objective functions. We shall prove that the optimal solutions of the transformed scalar optimization problem are indeed the nondominated solutions of fuzzy multiobjective optimization problem. Since the core-nondominated solutions will depend on the coefficients that are determined by the core values of cooperative game, there will be a lot of core-nondominated solutions that will also depend on the corresponding coefficients. In order to obtain the best core-nondominated solution, we shall invoke the genetic algorithms by evolving the coefficients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourier ptychographic microscopy, as a computational imaging method, can reconstruct high-resolution images but suffers optical aberration, which affects its imaging quality. For this reason, this paper proposes a network model for simulating the forward imaging process in the Tensorflow framework using samples and coherent transfer functions as the input. The proposed model improves the introduced Wirtinger flow algorithm, retains the central idea, simplifies the calculation process, and optimizes the update through back propagation. In addition, Zernike polynomials are used to accurately estimate aberration. The simulation and experimental results show that this method can effectively improve the accuracy of aberration correction, maintain good correction performance under complex scenes, and reduce the influence of optical aberration on imaging quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple measures, such as WEAT or MAC, attempt to quantify the magnitude of bias present in word embeddings in terms of a single-number metric. However, such metrics and the related statistical significance calculations rely on treating pre-averaged data as individual data points and utilizing bootstrapping techniques with low sample sizes. We show that similar results can be easily obtained using such methods even if the data are generated by a null model lacking the intended bias. Consequently, we argue that this approach generates false confidence. To address this issue, we propose a Bayesian alternative: hierarchical Bayesian modeling, which enables a more uncertainty-sensitive inspection of bias in word embeddings at different levels of granularity. To showcase our method, we apply it to Religion, Gender, and Race word lists from the original research, together with our control neutral word lists. We deploy the method using Google, GloVe, and Reddit embeddings. Further, we utilize our approach to evaluate a debiasing technique applied to the Reddit word embedding. Our findings reveal a more complex landscape than suggested by the proponents of single-number metrics. The datasets and source code for the paper are publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vibration of a transformer core induced by magnetostriction is closely related to the environment and safety of devices. The DC bias excitation leads to the over saturation of the transformer core and causes more severe vibration. In this paper, a magnetic-mechanical strong coupling model based on a fixed-point time-periodic 2D finite element method with excitation voltage and DC bias current as the input is established in which the vector magnetic potential A, winding current I, and displacement in the core u are simultaneously taken as solution variables, and the fixed-point reluctivity is introduced to deal with the nonlinear problem of the core. In this model, the magnetic field and mechanical field are associated with the piezomagnetic equations and variational principle, and the circuit and magnetic fields are connected through the law of electromagnetic induction. The equivalent thickness of the core model and the determination of the initial value are discussed. A test transformer with a laminated core is made for experimental measurement. The accuracy and efficiency of the model proposed are verified by comparing the calculated results with the experimental results, and the influence of DC bias components on the magnetic characteristics and vibration of the transformer core is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One difficulty in using circular distribution is the existence of the modified Bessel function, Ip(κ), which cannot be computed easily. In this paper, we consider the problem of calculating the solution of the ratio, I1(κ)(I0(κ))-1 , to extract the value of the parameter κ, one of the parameters of the sine-model circular distribution. At first, a direct calculation is suggested in this paper to compute the solution of the ratio by using optimization approach with the nonlinear minimization (Newton-Raphson method). After that, to check whether the direct computation for the solution of the ratio is better than the function, Alinv(⋅), in R's circular package, or not, we consider a simulation study designed to compare the results of the function that we have suggested with the estimator Alinv(⋅) . Also, we examine the difference between the true value of κ and the estimated values using a t-test with level of significance α=0.05 and we compare the estimated biases of the estimators with the approximation to the bias for the concentration parameter κ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:In order to save teachers' correcting time, improve the accuracy and efficiency of English composition grading.Methods: This paper briefly introduces the algorithm of deep sentence smoothness and text semantic matching based on graph neural network, and then designs an automatic scoring algorithm for English text. Result: The experimental data was collected from 12,000 essays written by international students in the United States in the Pratt & Whitney Foundation's Automated Student Value Assessment Project (ASAP), and these data were graded through a comparative experiment,Through comparative tests, the automatic scoring algorithm designed in this paper can achieve better scoring results and better handle automatic essay scoring problems. Among all the experimental mean values of evaluation methods, the experimental mean value of the algorithm designed in this paper is 0.790, the smoothness algorithm is 0.768, and the text matching vector is 0.759. The experimental mean values of the other two traditional automatic scoring algorithms are 0.710 and 0.712 respectively, and the results are lower than the algorithm designed in this paper. Conclusion: According to the experimental results, it can be concluded that good feature selection can give good scoring performance to the algorithm and cope with the problem of automatic scoring. At the same time, it also confirms the feasibility of the algorithm designed in this paper, which can be effectively applied in practical English composition scoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selection of an appropriate ridge parameter plays a crucial role in ridge estimation. A smaller ridge parameter leads to larger residuals, while a larger ridge parameter reduces the unbiasedness of the estimation. This paper proposes a constrained L-curve method to accurately select the optimal ridge parameter. Additionally, the constrained L-curve method, traditional L-curve method, and ridge trace method are individually coupled with the system differential response curve to update the streamflow in the Jianyang Basin using the SWAT model. Multiple evaluation criteria are employed to analyze the efficacy of the three methods for correction. The results demonstrate that the constrained L-curve method accurately identifies the optimal ridge parameter in the actual model. Furthermore, the coupling of the constrained L-curve method with the system differential response curve exhibits markedly superior accuracy of simulated streamflow compared to the traditional L-curve and ridge trace methods, with the mean Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) improving from 0.71 to 0.88 after correction. The constrained L-curve method, which incorporates the physical interpretation of the estimated parameters, effectively identifies the optimal ridge parameter in practical scenarios. As a result, it demonstrates superior usability and applicability when compared to the traditional L-curve method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum vortices in Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) are essential phenomena in condensed matter physics, and precisely locating their positions, especially the vortex core, is a precondition for studying their properties. With the rise of machine learning, there is a possibility to expedite the localization process and provide accurate predictions. However, traditional machine learning requires particular considerable amount of manual data annotation, leading to uncontrollable accuracy. In this paper, we utilize the U-Net method to detect vortex positions accurately at the pixel level and propose an Automatic Correction Labeling (ACL) approach to optimize the acquisition of data sets for vortex localization in BECs. This approach addresses inaccuracies in the labeled vortex positions and improves the accuracy of vortex localization, especially the vortex core positions, while enhancing the tolerance for human mislabeling. The main process involves Rough Labeling → Machine Learning → Probability Region Search → Data Relabeling → Machine Learning again. The objective of ACL is to secure more accurate labeled data for model retraining. Through vortex localization experiments conducted in a two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate, our results establish the following: 1. Even under conditions of biased and missing manual annotations, U-Net can still accurately locate vortex positions; 2. Vortices exhibit certain regularities, and training U-Net with a small number of samples yields excellent predictive consequences; 3. The machine learning vortex locator based on the ACL method effectively corrects errors in manually annotated data, significantly improving the model's performance metrics, thus enhancing the precision and metrics of vortex localization. This substantial advancement in the application of machine learning in vortex localization provides an effective way for vortex dynamics localization. Furthermore, this method of obtaining more accurate positions of approximate human labels through machine learning offers new insights for machine learning in other types of image recognition problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bolt loosening detection method has been paid attention by engineering and academic scholars. The presented methods only focus on the identification of the bolt based on deep learning, and the problem of bolt localization and the influence of shadow on distortion correction is seldom studied. In this paper, a bolt self-localization method based on YOLOv4 deep learning algorithm is proposed. A bolt numbering rule is established and the deep learning is introduced to identify the number and locate the bolt. A new square bolt gasket is proposed and four corner points are used for distortion correction. In order to reduce the influence of shadows, a grayscale enhancement strategy is proposed to improve the correction stability. Finally, a laboratory flange joint is used to verify the proposed method. The results show that the bolt self-localization method is feasible and the new bolt gasket can effectively improve the stability of distortion correction and bolt loosening detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate medium- and long-term power load forecasting is of great significance for the scientific planning and safe operation of power systems. Monthly power load has multiscale time series correlation and seasonality. The existing models face the problems of insufficient feature extraction and a large volume of prediction models constructed according to seasons. Therefore, a hybrid feature pyramid CNN-LSTM model with seasonal inflection month correction for medium- and long-term power load forecasting is proposed. The model is constructed based on linear and nonlinear combination forecasting. With the aim to address the insufficient extraction of multiscale temporal correlation in load, a time series feature pyramid structure based on causal dilated convolution is proposed, and the accuracy of the model is improved by feature extraction and fusion of different scales. For the problem that the model volume of seasonal prediction is too large, a seasonal inflection monthly load correction strategy is proposed to construct a unified model to predict and correct the monthly load of the seasonal change inflection point, so as to improve the model's ability to deal with seasonality. The model proposed in this paper is verified on the actual power data in Shaoxing City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns direction of arrival (DOA) estimation based on a sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) approach. We address two inherent problems of this class of DOA estimation methods: (i) a predefined dictionary can generate off-grid problems to a SBL DOA estimator; (ii) a parametric prior generally enforces the solution to be sparse, but the existence of noise can greatly affect the sparsity of the solution. Both of these issues may have a negative impact on the estimation accuracy. In this paper, we propose an improved root SBL (IRSBL) method for off-grid DOA estimation that adopts a coarse grid to generate an initial dictionary. To reduce the bias caused by dictionary mismatch, we integrate the polynomial rooting approach into the SBL method to refine the spatial angle grid. Then, we integrate a constant false alarm rate rule in the SBL framework to enforce sparsity and improve computational efficiency. Finally, we generalize the IRSBL method to the case of non-uniform linear arrays. Numerical analysis demonstrates that the proposed IRSBL method provides improved performance in terms of both estimation accuracy and computational complexity over the most relevant existing method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer has high incidences and mortality rates in women worldwide. Malignancy could be detected manually by experienced pathologists based on Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained images. However, it is time‐consuming and experience‐dependent, making early diagnosis a big challenge. In this paper, a methodology for breast cancer classification based on histopathological images with deep learning was described. A residual learning‐based convolutional neural network named myResNet‐34 was designed for malignancy‐and‐benign classification. In addition, an algorithm automatically generating the target image for stain normalization was proposed, which eliminated the bias caused by manual selection of the reference image. Elastic distortion was introduced and combined with affine transformation for data augmentation considering the characteristics of the H&E images. Experiments were conducted on BreakHis dataset with the proposed framework. Promising results were achieved with an average classification accuracy of around 91% on image‐level classification. Results indicated that both our data augmentation and stain normalization effectively improved the classification accuracy by 2‐3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We correct a logic mistake in our paper "On statistical convergence and strong Cesàro convergence by moduli for double sequences" (León-Saavedra et al. in J. Inequal. Appl. 2022:62, 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main contribution of this paper lies in the extension towards group lasso of a Mallows' Cp-like information criterion used in finetuning the lasso selection in a high-dimensional, sparse regression model. The optimisation of an information criterion paired with an ℓ 1 -norm regularisation method of the lasso leads to an overestimation of the model size. This is because the shrinkage following from the ℓ 1 regularisation is too permissive towards false positives, since shrinkage reduces the effects of false positives. The problem does not arise with ℓ 0 -norm regularisation but this is a combinatorial problem, which is computationally unfeasible in the high-dimensional setting. The strategy adopted in this paper is to select the non-zero variables with ℓ 1 method and estimate their values with the ℓ 0 , meaning that lasso is used for selection, followed by an orthogonal projection, i.e., debiasing after selection. This approach necessitates the information criterion to be adapted, in particular, by including what is called a "mirror correction", leading to smaller models. A second contribution of the paper is situated at the methodological level, more precisely in the development of the corrected information criterion using random hard thresholds as a model for the selection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linear exponential distribution is a generalization of the exponential and Rayleigh distributions. This distribution is one of the best models to fit data with increasing failure rate (IFR). But it does not provide a reasonable fit for modeling data with decreasing failure rate (DFR) and bathtub shaped failure rate (BTFR). To overcome this drawback, we propose a new record-based transmuted generalized linear exponential (RTGLE) distribution by using the technique of Balakrishnan and He. The family of RTGLE distributions is more flexible to fit the data sets with IFR, DFR, and BTFR, and also generalizes several well-known models as well as some new record-based transmuted models. This paper aims to study the statistical properties of RTGLE distribution, like, the shape of the probability density function and hazard function, quantile function and its applications, moments and its generating function, order and record statistics, Rényi entropy. The maximum likelihood estimators, least squares and weighted least squares estimators, Anderson-Darling estimators, Cramér-von Mises estimators of the unknown parameters are constructed and their biases and mean squared errors are reported via Monte Carlo simulation study. Finally, the real data sets illustrate the goodness of fit and applicability of the proposed distribution; hence, suitable recommendations are forwarded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid developments in satellite remote-sensing technology have enabled the collection of geospatial data on a global scale, hence increasing the need for covariance functions that can capture spatial dependence on spherical domains. We propose a general method of constructing nonstationary, locally anisotropic covariance functions on the sphere based on covariance functions in R 3 . We also provide theorems that specify the conditions under which the resulting correlation function is isotropic or axially symmetric. For large datasets on the sphere commonly seen in modern applications, the Vecchia approximation is used to achieve higher scalability on statistical inference. The importance of flexible covariance structures is demonstrated numerically using simulated data and a precipitation dataset. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating logical reasoning and machine learning by approximating logical inference with differentiable operators is a widely used technique in the field of Neuro-Symbolic Learning. However, some differentiable operators could introduce significant biases during backpropagation, which can degrade the performance of Neuro-Symbolic systems. In this paper, we demonstrate that the loss functions derived from fuzzy logic operators commonly exhibit a bias, referred to as Implication Bias. To mitigate this bias, we propose a simple yet efficient method to transform the biased loss functions into Reduced Implication-bias Logic Loss (RILL). Empirical studies demonstrate that RILL outperforms the biased logic loss functions, especially when the knowledge base is incomplete or the supervised training data is insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper assesses how top incomes biases affect the estimation of income inequality in the United States using the Current Population Survey (the March Annual Social and Economic Supplement) and two alternative correction methods – a stochastic approach based on reweighting and a semi‐parametric approach based on replacing observations. Consistently with previous studies, both methods and their joint application show that income inequality in the United States between 1979 and 2014 has been consistently underestimated by several percentage points. The level of underestimation is positively and significantly associated with mean income, non‐response rates and the initial level of inequality. Reweighting is found to address top incomes biases – specifically those related to unit and item non‐response – consistently and more effectively than replacing, possibly because widely used parametric distributions do not represent US top incomes accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Shanxi Agricultural Sciences is the property of Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) plays an increasingly important role in image‐guided radiation therapy. However, the image quality of CBCT is severely degraded by excessive scatter contamination, especially in the abdominal region, hindering its further applications in radiation therapy. Purpose: To restore low‐quality CBCT images contaminated by scatter signals, a scatter correction algorithm combining the advantages of convolutional neural networks (CNN) and Swin Transformer is proposed. Methods: In this paper a scatter correction model for CBCT image, the Flip Swin Transformer U‐shape network (FSTUNet) model, is proposed. In this model, the advantages of CNN in texture detail and Swin Transformer in global correlation are used to accurately extract shallow and deep features, respectively. Instead of using the original Swin Transformer tandem structure, we build the Flip Swin Transformer Block to achieve a more powerful inter‐window association extraction. The validity and clinical relevance of the method is demonstrated through extensive experiments on a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation dataset and frequency split dataset generated by a validated method, respectively. Result: Experimental results on the MC simulated dataset show that the root mean square error of images corrected by the method is reduced from over 100 HU to about 7 HU. Both the structural similarity index measure (SSIM) and the universal quality index (UQI) are close to 1. Experimental results on the frequency split dataset demonstrate that the method not only corrects shading artifacts but also exhibits a high degree of structural consistency. In addition, comparison experiments show that FSTUNet outperforms UNet, Deep Residual Convolutional Neural Network (DRCNN), DSENet, Pix2pixGAN, and 3DUnet methods in both qualitative and quantitative metrics. Conclusions: Accurately capturing the features at different levels is greatly beneficial for reconstructing high‐quality scatter‐free images. The proposed FSTUNet method is an effective solution to CBCT scatter correction and has the potential to improve the accuracy of CBCT image‐guided radiation therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-channel Gallium Nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) often utilize T-shape gates due to their large gate-line cross-sectional area and subsequent fMAX increase. In this paper, we report the linearity trade-offs associated with varying the T-gate geometries of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on Si, specifically the gate extensions which serve as field plates and their impact on the large-signal performance. Small-signal characterization and modeling, in addition to TCAD, provide initial guidelines for the optimal dimensions for the gate field plates using the ratio of fT and the product of the gate resistance and the gate-to-drain capacitance. We utilize various characterization methods, including 6 GHz non-linear vector network analyzer characterization in addition to load-pull, to quantify the amplitude and phase distortion and their subsequent impact on the large-signal metrics of the devices under differing matching conditions and bias points. We deduce that the influence of the gate field plates on the amplitude and phase distortion is non-negligible, particularly under matched conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impressive performance has been achieved when learning graphs from data in clustering tasks. However, real data often contain considerable noise, which leads to unreliable or inaccurate constructed graphs. In this paper, we propose adaptive data correction-based graph clustering (ADCGC), which can be used to adaptively remove errors and noise from raw data and improve the performance of clustering. The ADCGC method mainly contains three advantages. First, we design the weighted truncated Schatten p-norm (WTSpN) instead of the nuclear norm to recover the low-rank clean data. Second, we choose clean data samples that represent the essential properties of the data as the vertices of the undirected graph, rather than using all the data feature points. Third, we adopt the block-diagonal regularizer to define the edge weights of the graph, which helps to learn an ideal affinity matrix and improve the performance of clustering. In addition, an efficient iterative scheme based on the generalized soft-thresholding operator and alternating minimization is developed to directly solve the nonconvex optimization model. Experimental results show that ADCGC both quantitatively and visually outperforms existing advanced methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the problem of the networked set-membership state estimation is discussed for a class of nonlinear discrete time-varying systems subject to cyber attacks and time delays. Two forms of malicious attacks (i.e. Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack and bias injection attack) are taken into account to describe the adversary's attempt to destroy/deteriorate the system performance via communication network. It is the aim of the investigated issue to propose a set-membership state estimator ensuring the required estimation performance despite the existence of both the external mixed attacks and internal time delays. By resorting to the feasibility of a series of matrix inequalities, sufficient conditions are provided for the solvability of the addressed state estimator design problem. Furthermore, an optimisation strategy is developed with the purpose of seeking the local optimal estimator parameters. At last, a numerical simulation example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focusses on the estimation of the extreme value index in terms of k-records based on a maximum likelihood approach, which is suggested recently by Louzaoui and El Arrouchi (J Probab Stat, 2020). Its asymptotic normality is well investigated in order to propose a bias correction while ensuring that the new estimator becomes asymptotically unbiased and still normal. Some numerical studies are also provided in order to show how the proposed estimators behave in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the context of global warming, compound dry and hot events (CDHEs) will increase and bring serious losses to society and the economy. The projection of CDHEs is of great significance for policy-making and risk assessment. In this paper, two large ensemble simulations, CanESM2-LE and CESM-LE, are used to estimate the risk of extreme CDHEs under different warming scenarios in China. First, the biases of the model in the simulation of the temperature and precipitation over the China region are corrected, and the index of CDHEs is established based on a copula function. The results show that extreme CDHEs will occur more often in China with the increase in global warming and the more severe extreme CDHEs are, the greater the risk will be in the future with higher uncertainties. Events that would be attained once every 50 and 100 years in the current climate from CESM-LE (CAanESM2-LE) will be 1.2/1.6 (1.1/1.5) times and 1.3/2.3 (1.5/2.0) times more likely to occur in a 1.5°C/2.0°C warmer climate, respectively. Northwestern China will experience the greatest increase in the risk of extreme CDHEs. Extreme CDHEs expected once every 100 years in the current period over NW China are expected to occur approximately every 5 and 4 years under a 4.0°C warmer world in CanESM2-LE and CESM-LE, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the problem of source localization using signal time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) measurements in the presence of clock synchronization bias and sensor position errors. Our existing work has developed a unified solution for TDOA localization in the presence of sensor position errors but clock synchronization bias was not considered. Clock synchronization bias is a more complex problem often encountered in practical localization networks. This paper further generalizes this framework to include clock synchronization bias. The proposed technique employs multiple calibration emitters to simultaneously alleviate both the sensor position errors and clock synchronization bias. The maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) for this problem is optimal, but too complex to be applied in practice. We develop a semidefinite programming (SDP) based localization algorithm to effectively solve the MLE problem. This SDP algorithm can reach the Cram $\acute{\text{e}}$ r-Rao lower bound when sensor position errors are not unrealistically large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two main goals in model selection are firstly introducing an approach to test homogeneity of several rival models and secondly selecting a set of reasonable models or estimating the best rival model to the true one. In this paper we extend Vuong's method for several models to cluster them. Based on the working paper of Katayama (2008), we propose an approach to test whether rival models have expected relations. The multivariate extension of Vuong's test gives the opportunity to examine some hypotheses about the rival models and their relations with respect to the unknown true model. On the other hand, the standard method of model selection provides an implementation of Occam's razor, in which parsimony or simplicity is balanced against goodness of fit. Therefore, we are interested in clustering the rival models based on their divergence from the true model to select a suitable set of rival models. In this paper we have introduced two approaches to select suitable sets of rival models based on the multivariate extension of Vuong's test and quasi clustering approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently proposed semantic-aligned matching detection transformer (SAM–DETR model) accelerates the convergence of the detection transformer (DETR) by mapping object queries into an identical embedding space as the encoder's output feature map. However, SAM–DETR model has the problem of low detection accuracy compared to other DETR variants. We observe that the lower detection accuracy of SAM–DETR model is caused by the insufficient number of sample points and the inaccurate localization of the sample points during re-sampling, which blurs the generated attention map. This paper proposes an object detector based on a feature correction and double sampling DETR (FCDS-DETR) to solve this problem. FCDS-DETR takes SAM–DETR model as a baseline and builds on it by adding a feature correction module and a double sampling mechanism to achieve further improvement in detection accuracy with a limited number of additional parameters without sacrificing convergence speed. Firstly, FCDS-DETR improves the sampling point localization accuracy by adding a feature correction module to model the inter-channel dependence of the feature maps to be sampled. Secondly, the number of sampled points is increased by the double sampling mechanism, and attention fusion is used to fuse the attention weight maps corresponding to the two sets of sampled points to improve the recognizability of the attention weight maps. The experimental results show that the average precision is improved by +0.7 on the COCO dataset compared with the SAM–DETR model, and the number of parameters is increased by only 10.34 % , which improves the detection performance of the model very well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Irrigation & Drainage is the property of Journal of Irrigation & Drainage Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

BeiDou Global Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3) broadcasts multifrequency signals that offer more choices of frequencies and more signal combinations for positioning. This paper analyzes the effect of timing group delay (TGD) and differential code bias (DCB) of BDS-3 on the corresponding triple-frequency positioning. The triple-frequency observation models of BDS-3 are summarized and the DCB correction models are derived for the four different frequency combinations of triple-frequency ionospheric-free (IF) combination (IF123), two dual-frequency IF combinations (IF1213) and triple-frequency uncombined (UC123) positioning modes. Standard point positioning (SPP) and precise point positioning (PPP) experiments were conducted using 30 days of observations from 25 multi-GNSS experiment (MGEX) stations. The results show that the TGD/DCB correction has a significant impact on the accuracy of SPP. The positioning accuracy using IF123 and IF1213 models improved by about 73~90% after TGD correction, in comparison to a 27~30% improvement achieved using the UC123 model. In addition, the correction effect of DCB is slightly better than TGD. The DCB correction significantly improves accuracy in the initial epoch of the PPP, which helps the convergence of the filtering and reduces the convergence time. The average convergence times of IF123, IF1213 and UC123 are 26.1, 26.9 and 38.3 min, respectively, which are reduced by 6.79, 2.54 and 8.59% with DCB correction. The pseudorange residuals are closer to zero-mean random noise after DCB correction. Furthermore, the DCB affects the evaluation of the inter-frequency bias (IFB), ionospheric delay and floating ambiguity parameters. However, the tropospheric delay is almost unaffected by DCB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a total fractional-order variation model for multiplicative noise removal and contrast enhancement of real SAR images. Inspired by the high dynamic intensity range of SAR images, the full content of the SAR images is preserved by normalizing the original data in this model. Then, we propose a degradation model based on the nonlinear transformation to adjust the intensity of image pixel values. With MAP estimator, a corresponding fidelity term is introduced into the model, which is beneficial for contrast enhancement and bias correction in the denoising process. For the regularization term, a gray level indicator is used as a weighted matrix to make the model adaptive. We first apply the scalar auxiliary variable algorithm to solve the proposed model and prove the convergence of the algorithm. By virtue of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), the model is solved by an iterative scheme in the frequency domain. Experimental results show that the proposed model can enhance the contrast of natural and SAR images while removing multiplicative noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been growing interest in using machine learning methods for causal inference due to their automatic and flexible ability to model the propensity score and the outcome model. However, almost all the machine learning methods for causal inference have been studied under the assumption of no unmeasured confounding and there is little work on handling omitted/unmeasured variable bias. This paper focuses on a machine learning method based on random forests known as Causal Forests and presents five simple modifications for tuning Causal Forests so that they are robust to cluster-level unmeasured confounding. Our simulation study finds that adjusting the default tuning procedure with the propensity score from fixed effects logistic regression or using variables that are centered to their cluster means produces estimates that are more robust to cluster-level unmeasured confounding. Also, when these parametric propensity score models are mis-specified, our modified machine learning methods remain robust to bias from cluster-level unmeasured confounders compared to existing parametric approaches based on propensity score weighting. We conclude by demonstrating our proposals in a real data study concerning the effect of taking an eighth-grade algebra course on math achievement scores from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the performance of a variety of frequentist estimation techniques for the scale and shape parameters of the Lomax distribution. These methods include traditional methods such as the maximum likelihood estimator and the method of moments estimator. A version of the maximum likelihood estimator adjusted for bias is included as well. Furthermore, an alternative moment-based estimation technique, the L-moment estimator, is included, along with three different minimum distance estimators. The finite sample performances of each of these estimators are compared in an extensive Monte Carlo study. We find that no single estimator outperforms its competitors uniformly. We recommend one of the minimum distance estimators for use with smaller samples, while a bias-reduced version of maximum likelihood estimation is recommended for use with larger samples. In addition, the desirable asymptotic properties of traditional maximum likelihood estimators make them appealing for larger samples. We include a practical application demonstrating the use of the described techniques on observed data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Missing data is a common problem in credit evaluation practice and can obstruct the development and application of an evaluation model. Block-wise missing data is a particularly troublesome issue. Based on multi-task feature selection approach, this paper proposes a method called MMPFS to build a model for credit evaluation that primarily includes two steps: (1) dividing the dataset into several nonoverlapping subsets based on missing patterns, and (2) integrating the multi-task feature selection approach using logistic regression to perform joint feature learning on all subsets. The proposed method has the following advantages: (1) missing data do not need to be managed in advance, (2) available data can be fully used for model learning, (3) information loss or bias caused by general missing data processing methods can be avoided, and (4) overfitting risk caused by redundant features can be reduced. The implementation framework and algorithm principle of the proposed method are described, and three credit datasets from UCI are investigated to compare the proposed method with other commonly used missing data treatments. The results show that MMPFS can produce a better credit evaluation model than data preprocessing methods, such as sample deletion and data imputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extreme value distribution was developed for modeling extreme-order statistics or extreme events. In this study, we discuss the distribution of the largest extreme. The main objective of this paper is to determine the best estimators of the unknown parameters of the extreme value distribution. Thus, both classical and Bayesian methods are used. The classical estimation methods under consideration are maximum likelihood estimators, moment's estimators, least squares estimators, and weighted least squares estimators, percentile estimators, the ordinary least squares estimators, best linear unbiased estimators, L-moments estimators, trimmed L-moments estimators, and Bain and Engelhardt estimators. We also propose new estimators for the unknown parameters. Bayesian estimators of the parameters are derived by using Lindley's approximation and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. The asymptotic confidence intervals are considered by using maximum likelihood estimators. The Bayesian credible intervals are also obtained by using Gibbs sampling. The performances of these estimation methods are compared with respect to their biases and mean square errors through a simulation study. The maximum daily flood discharge (annual) data sets of the Meriç River and Feather River are analyzed at the end of the study for a better understanding of the methods presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While numerous studies have assessed the effects of environmental (meteorological variables and air pollutants) and socioeconomic variables on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of them, however, have significant methodological limitations and errors that could call their results into question. Our main objective in this paper is to assess the methodological limitations in studies that evaluated the effects of environmental and socioeconomic variables on the spread of COVID-19. Main body: We carried out a systematic review by conducting searches in the online databases PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus up to December 31, 2020. We first excluded those studies that did not deal with SAR-CoV-2 or COVID-19, preprints, comments, opinion or purely narrative papers, reviews and systematic literature reviews. Among the eligible full-text articles, we then excluded articles that were purely descriptive and those that did not include any type of regression model. We evaluated the risk of bias in six domains: confounding bias, control for population, control of spatial and/or temporal dependence, control of non-linearities, measurement errors and statistical model. Of the 5631 abstracts initially identified, we were left with 132 studies on which to carry out the qualitative synthesis. Of the 132 eligible studies, we evaluated 63.64% of the studies as high risk of bias, 19.70% as moderate risk of bias and 16.67% as low risk of bias. Conclusions: All the studies we have reviewed, to a greater or lesser extent, have methodological limitations. These limitations prevent conclusions being drawn concerning the effects environmental (meteorological and air pollutants) and socioeconomic variables have had on COVID-19 outcomes. However, we dare to argue that the effects of these variables, if they exist, would be indirect, based on their relationship with social contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical rainfall data registered by siphoned rainfall recorder (SRW) devices have been widely used for a long time in rainfall intensity investigations. A relatively known counting error of the SRW devices is the siphoning error, when the registration of rainfall is blocked temporarily, during the drainage of measure tank. This issue causes a systematic underestimation in the rainfall and rainfall intensity measurement results. To reduce its consequences, a data correction is crucial when SRW data are used, for example as a reference for climate comparison studies, or for proceeding of intensity-durationfrequency curves, etc. In this paper, a formula is presented to fix the siphonage error of SRW devices for historical rainfall data. The early measures were processed in a significant percentage of cases, and sometimes the original measurement results (registration ribbon) have been lost. An essential advantage of the presented formula is that it can be applied for these processed data, which show only the intensity of a known length time interval. For this correction, the average rainfall intensity and the length of the time window are needed, over the physical parameters of the SRW device. The data correction can provide a fixed value of the rainfall intensity, which is undoubtedly closer to the real average rainfall intensity. The importance of this formula is in the reprocessing and validation of the historical rainfall intensity data, measured by siphoned rainfall recorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a bias correction scheme for reparametrized inverse gamma regression models with varying precision [Bourguignon M, Gallardo DI. Reparametrized inverse gamma regression models with varying precision. Stat Neerl. 2020;74(4):611–627], which is tailored to situations where the response variable has an asymmetrical shape on the positive real line. In particular, we discuss maximum-likelihood estimation for the model parameters and derive closed-form expressions for the first-order bias of the estimators. The expressions derived are simple and only require the definition of a few matrices. This enables us to obtain corrected estimators that are approximately unbiased. We conduct an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study to evaluate the performance of the proposed corrected estimators. Finally, we apply the results obtained in three real-world datasets. This paper contains Supplementary Material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with inference about the conditional quantile function in a nonparametric quantile regression model. Any method for constructing a confidence interval or band for this function must deal with the asymptotic bias of nonparametric estimators of the function. In such estimation methods, as local polynomial estimation, this is usually done through undersmoothing or explicit bias correction. The latter usually requires oversmoothing. However, there are no satisfactory empirical methods for selecting bandwidths that under- or oversmooth. This paper extends the bootstrap method of Hall and Horowitz (2013) for conditional mean functions to conditional quantile functions. The paper also shows how the bootstrap method can be used to obtain uniform confidence bands. The bootstrap method uses only bandwidths that are selected by standard methods such as cross validation and plug-in. It does not use under- or oversmoothing. The results of Monte Carlo experiments illustrate the numerical performance of the bootstrap method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel system of data-driven approaches for simulating the dynamics of electricity demand profiles. Demand profiles of individual dwellings are decomposed into deterministic (e.g. 'Trends' and 'Seasonal') and stochastic ('remainder') components using the STL (a Seasonal-Trend decomposition procedure based on Loess) approach. Stochastic components are modelled using a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and combined with deterministic components to generate synthetic demand profiles. To simulate extreme (peak) demand, the synthetic profiles were post-processed using a Generalised Pareto (GP) distribution, and a percentile-based bias-correction scheme. All the techniques are systematically coupled into a hybrid system, referred to as 'STL_HMM_GP'. The STL_HMM_GP system is thoroughly accessed and validated by comparing a range of statistical characteristic of observed and simulated profiles for three case study communities. The potentials of the STL_HMM_GP system is demonstrated for simulating aggregated demand profiles, generated using an accessible small sample of observed individual demand profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many problems in biomedical and other sciences are subject to biased estimates (maximum likelihood or of similar types). In two seminal papers Cox and Snell (1968) and Firth (1993) deal with first order bias of maximum likelihood estimates. Cox and Snell obtain a correction term that corrects, approximately, first order bias and Firth uses an adjustment to the score function; the solution of the estimating equation obtained by solving the adjusted score function to zero, removes the first order bias of the maximum likelihood estimates approximately. In many applications authors use one of these two procedures for bias correction without being aware that the other exists or whether these two procedures are equivalent. In this paper we investigate the equivalence issue of the two methods through theoretical analysis, simulation study and data analysis. We show that the two methods yield either exactly the same estimates or that the preventive method has some edge over the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Scattering photons can seriously contaminate cone‐beam CT (CBCT) image quality with severe artifacts and substantial degradation of CT value accuracy, which is a major concern limiting the widespread application of CBCT in the medical field. The scatter kernel deconvolution (SKD) method commonly used in clinic requires a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation to determine numerous quality‐related kernel parameters, and it cannot realize intelligent scatter kernel parameter optimization, causing limited accuracy of scatter estimation. Purpose: Aiming at improving the scatter estimation accuracy of the SKD algorithm, an intelligent scatter correction framework integrating the SKD with deep reinforcement learning (DRL) scheme is proposed. Methods: Our method firstly builds a scatter kernel model to iteratively convolve with raw projections, and then the deep Q‐network of the DRL scheme is introduced to intelligently interact with the scatter kernel to achieve a projection adaptive parameter optimization. The potential of the proposed framework is demonstrated on CBCT head and pelvis simulation data and experimental CBCT measurement data. Furthermore, we have implemented the U‐net based scatter estimation approach for comparison. Results: The simulation study demonstrates that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the proposed method is less than 9.72% and the peak signal‐to‐noise ratio (PSNR) is higher than 23.90 dB, while for the conventional SKD algorithm, the minimum MAPE is 17.92% and the maximum PSNR is 19.32 dB. In the measurement study, we adopt a hardware‐based beam stop array algorithm to obtain the scatter‐free projections as a comparison baseline, and our method can achieve superior performance with MAPE < 17.79% and PSNR > 16.34 dB. Conclusions: In this paper, we propose an intelligent scatter correction framework that integrates the physical scatter kernel model with DRL algorithm, which has the potential to improve the accuracy of the clinical scatter correction method to obtain better CBCT imaging quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with a new two-parameter lifetime distribution with increasing, decreasing and constant hazard rate. This distribution allows the occurrence of zero values and involves the exponential, linear exponential and other combinations of Weibull distributions as submodels. Many statistical properties of the distribution are derived. Maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters and a bias corrective approach is investigated with a simulation study for performance of the estimators. Four real data sets are analyzed for illustrative purposes and it is noted that the distribution is a highly alternative to the gamma, Weibull, Lognormal and exponentiated exponential distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground Control Points (GCPs) are needed in most geometric processing of satellite images. Generally used geometric model is based on the use of rational polynomials. The Coefficients of Rational Polynomials (RPCs) are provided by image vendors which are contaminated by some biases. In this paper, a no-GCP bias correction method for RPCs of satellite stereo images is introduced. The method uses global DEMs as ground control information: First, a point cloud is generated from stereo pair, then using the DEM matching strategy it is aligned to the global DEM for estimation of 3D rigid transformation parameters. This transformation is performed with our originally developed method which separates three planimetric parameters from three leveling parameters. They are then employed for bias correction in object space. For DEM matching and also for bias correction, we developed new formulae given directly in geodetic longitude and latitude format, instead of Cartesian map projection coordinates. Numerical results of this research are reported in two categories: with or without (1) GCPs and (2) map projection step. Experiments on two Cartosat-1 stereo pairs show in category (1), improvement in geopositioning accuracy from 399.2 m and 124.0 m to 7.6 m and 2.6 m, respectively. In category (2), we observed RMS improvement in both datasets and in all components up to 3.1 m in longitude, 6.8 m in latitude and 1.2 m in height. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]