Search results for "certainty"
showing 10 items of 1057 documents
Extropy: Complementary Dual of Entropy
2015
This article provides a completion to theories of information based on entropy, resolving a longstanding question in its axiomatization as proposed by Shannon and pursued by Jaynes. We show that Shannon's entropy function has a complementary dual function which we call "extropy." The entropy and the extropy of a binary distribution are identical. However, the measure bifurcates into a pair of distinct measures for any quantity that is not merely an event indicator. As with entropy, the maximum extropy distribution is also the uniform distribution, and both measures are invariant with respect to permutations of their mass functions. However, they behave quite differently in their assessments…
Variability and Uncertainty Challenges in Scaling Imaging Spectroscopy Retrievals and Validations from Leaves Up to Vegetation Canopies
2019
Imaging spectroscopy of vegetation requires methods for scaling and generalizing optical signals that are reflected, transmitted and emitted in the solar wavelength domain from single leaves and observed at the level of canopies by proximal sensing, airborne and satellite spectroradiometers. The upscaling embedded in imaging spectroscopy retrievals and validations of plant biochemical and structural traits is challenged by natural variability and measurement uncertainties. Sources of the leaf-to-canopy upscaling variability and uncertainties are reviewed with respect to: (1) implementation of retrieval algorithms and (2) their parameterization and validation of quantitative products through…
Chronic cumulative risk assessment of the exposure to organophosphorus, carbamate and pyrethroid and pyrethrin pesticides through fruit and vegetable…
2015
In the present study, the chronic cumulative exposure to organophosphorus (OPs), carbamates (CBs) and pyrethroid and pyrethrin (PPs) pesticides in the region of Valencia through fruit and vegetables consumption is presented. A total of 752 samples and 84 pesticides were studied of which, 52 were OPs, 23 CBs and 9 PPs. Residue data were derived from the Valencia Region monitoring program 2007-2011 and food consumption levels from a questionnaire-based dietary survey conducted in 2010 in the same area. The relative potency factor (RPFs) approach was used to estimate chronic cumulative dietary exposure to OPs, CBs and PPs using acephate, oxamyl and deltamethrin as index compounds, respectively…
A practical approach to improve the statistical performance of surface water monitoring networks
2019
The representativeness of aquatic ecosystem monitoring and the precision of the assessment results are of high importance when implementing the EU’s Water Framework Directive that aims to secure a good status of waterbodies in Europe. However, adapting monitoring designs to answer the objectives and allocating the sampling resources effectively are seldom practiced. Here, we present a practical solution how the sampling effort could be re-allocated without decreasing the precision and confidence of status class assignment. For demonstrating this, we used a large data set of 272 intensively monitored Finnish lake, coastal, and river waterbodies utilizing an existing framework for quantifying…
Climate Change in the Mediterranean Basin (Part II): A Review of Challenges and Uncertainties in Climate Change Modeling and Impact Analyses
2023
AbstractThe Mediterranean basin is particularly prone to climate change and vulnerable to its impacts. One of the most relevant consequences of climate change, especially for the southern Mediterranean regions, is certainly water scarcity as result of a reduction of surface runoff and groundwater levels. Despite the progress achieved in recent years in the field of climate change and its impact on water resources, results and outcomes should be treated with due caution since any future climate projection and derived implications are inevitably affected by a certain degree of uncertainty arising from each different stage of the entire modeling chain. This work offers a comprehensive overview…
The Relationship between Subjective Risk Intelligence and Courage with Working Performance: The Potential Mediating Effect of Workplace Social Courage
2022
Background: There is a growing attention toward the construct of courage from a psychological point of view; recently, courage has been related with numerous positive individual behaviors and outcomes, such as coping strategies and subjective wellbeing, and an increasing number of studies explore the role of courage in the working and organizational environments. The present study is aimed to analyze the effect that individual courage—together with risk intelligence—and workplace social courage have on working performance; Methods: The participants are 961 Italian workers, balanced by gender; the measures used are: Courage, Subjective Risk Intelligence Scale, Workplace Social Courage Scale,…
Understanding and Integrating Multiple Science Texts: Summary Tasks are Sometimes Better Than Argument Tasks
2010
One of the major challenges of a knowledge society is that students as well as other citizens must learn to understand and integrate information from multiple textual sources. Still, task and reader characteristics that may facilitate or constrain such intertextual processes are not well understood by researchers. In this study, we compare the effects of summary and argument essay tasks when undergraduates read seven different texts on a particular scientific topic, finding that an instruction to write summaries may lead to better understanding and integration than an instruction to write argument essays. We discuss several possible explanations for this result. We also found that beliefs a…
Bayesian hypothesis testing: A reference approach
2002
Summary For any probability model M={p(x|θ, ω), θeΘ, ωeΩ} assumed to describe the probabilistic behaviour of data xeX, it is argued that testing whether or not the available data are compatible with the hypothesis H0={θ=θ0} is best considered as a formal decision problem on whether to use (a0), or not to use (a0), the simpler probability model (or null model) M0={p(x|θ0, ω), ωeΩ}, where the loss difference L(a0, θ, ω) –L(a0, θ, ω) is proportional to the amount of information δ(θ0, ω), which would be lost if the simplified model M0 were used as a proxy for the assumed model M. For any prior distribution π(θ, ω), the appropriate normative solution is obtained by rejecting the null model M0 wh…
The simplex dispersion ordering and its application to the evaluation of human corneal endothelia
2009
A multivariate dispersion ordering based on random simplices is proposed in this paper. Given a R^d-valued random vector, we consider two random simplices determined by the convex hulls of two independent random samples of sizes d+1 of the vector. By means of the stochastic comparison of the Hausdorff distances between such simplices, a multivariate dispersion ordering is introduced. Main properties of the new ordering are studied. Relationships with other dispersion orderings are considered, placing emphasis on the univariate version. Some statistical tests for the new order are proposed. An application of such ordering to the clinical evaluation of human corneal endothelia is provided. Di…
The McKay conjecture and Galois automorphisms
2004
The main problem of representation theory of finite groups is to find proofs of several conjectures stating that certain global invariants of a finite group G can be computed locally. The simplest of these conjectures is the ?McKay conjecture? which asserts that the number of irreducible complex characters of G of degree not divisible by p is the same if computed in a p-Sylow normalizer of G. In this paper, we propose a much stronger version of this conjecture which deals with Galois automorphisms. In fact, the same idea can be applied to the celebrated Alperin and Dade conjectures.