Non-response is a problem for most surveys. In the sample design, non-response is often dealt with by setting a target response rate and inflating the sample size so that the desired number of interviews is reached. The decision to stop data collection is based largely on meeting the target response rate. A recent article by Rao, Glickman, and Glynn (RGG) suggests rules for stopping that are ba...

Understanding what structures ecological communities is vital to answering questions about extinctions, environmental change, trophic cascades, and ecosystem functioning. Optimal foraging theory was conceived to increase such understanding by providing a framework with which to predict species interactions and resulting community structure. Here, we use an optimal foraging model and allometries...

Group sequential trials are one important instance of studies for which the sample size is not fixed a priori but rather takes one of a finite set of pre-specified values, dependent on the observed data. Much work has been devoted to the inferential consequences of this design feature. Molenberghs et al (2012) and Milanzi et al (2012) reviewed and extended the existing literature, focusing on a...

The sample size of a statistical sample is the number of observations that constitute it. It is typically denoted n, a positive integer (natural number). Typically, all else being equal, a larger sample size leads to increased precision in estimates of various properties of the population. This can be seen in such statistical rules as the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. Repe...

We tested for the occurrence of Bergmann's rule, the pattern of increasing body size with latitude, and Rapoport's rule, the positive relationship between geographical range size and latitude, in 34 lineages of Liolaemus lizards that occupy arid regions of the Andean foothills. We tested the climatic-variability hypothesis (CVH) by examining the relationship between thermal tolerance breadth an...

This article deals with sample size reassessment for adaptive two-stage designs based on conditional power arguments utilizing the variability observed at the first stage. Fisher's product test for the p-values from the disjoint samples at the two stages is considered in detail for the comparison of the means of two normal populations. We show that stopping rules allowing for the early acceptan...

We consider sample size re-estimation in a clinical trial, in particular when there is a significant delay before the measurement of patient response. Mehta and Pocock have proposed methods in which sample size is increased when interim results fall in a 'promising zone' where it is deemed worthwhile to increase conditional power by adding more subjects. Our analysis reveals potential pitfalls ...

Although fertility decline often correlates with improvements in socioeconomic conditions, many demographers have found flaws in demographic transition theories that depend on changes in distal factors such as increased wealth or education. Human beings worldwide engage in sexual intercourse much more frequently than is needed to conceive the number of children they want, and for women who do n...

The island rule, a pattern of size shifts on islands, is an oft-cited but little understood phenomenon of evolutionary biology. Here, we explore the evolutionary mechanisms behind the rule in 184 mammal species, testing climatic, ecological and phylogenetic hypotheses in a robust quantitative framework. Our findings confirm the importance of species' ecological traits in determining both the st...

Software project management makes extensive use of predictive modeling to estimate product size, defect proneness and development effort. Although uncertainty is acknowledged in these tasks, fuzzy inference systems, designed to cope well with uncertainty, have received only limited attention in the software engineering domain. In this study we empirically investigate the impact of two choices o...