The problem of including systematic uncertainties in upper limits on Poisson processes and in hypothesis tests is solved in a consistent and straightforward way if the uncertain quantities are treated probabilistically. This is illustrated through examples taken from the searches for new particles at ZEUS.

OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were to determine the levels of 2,4-toluenediamine, 2,6-toluenediamine, 1,5-naphthtalenediamine and 4,4'-methylenediphenyldianiline in hydrolyzed urine and plasma for occupationally unexposed workers and to calculate upper reference limits (URLs). These analytes are biomarkers of exposure to 2,4-toluene diisocyanate and 2,6-toluene diisocyanate (2,4-TDI a...

A binary matrix is a matrix with entries from the set {0, 1}. We say that a binary matrix A contains a binary matrix S if S can be obtained from A by removal of some rows, some columns, and changing some 1-entries to 0-entries. If A does not contain S, we say that A avoids S. A k-permutation matrix P is a binary k× k matrix with exactly one 1-entry in every row and one 1-entry in every column. ...

The parallel, randomized, double-masked, activecontrolled trial is generally thought to be the most rigorous and unbiased design to adequately compare two glaucoma medicines. Important to this design is the intraocular pressure entry criteria. The lower limit of intraocular pressure is usually set at least >21 mmHg to help assure the study population has the appropriate diagnosis (ocular hypert...

Bayesian, classical, and extended maximum likelihood approaches to estimation of upper limits in experiments with small numbers of signal events are surveyed. The discussion covers only experiments whose outcomes are well described by a Poisson statistic. A new approach, based on the statistical significance of a signal rather than on the number of events in the signal region, is proposed. A to...

We report on a search for gravitational wave bursts using data from the first science run of the LIGO detectors. We focus on bursts with durations ranging from 4 msec to 100 msec, and with significant power in the LIGO sensitivity band of 150 to 3000 Hz. We bound the rate for such detected bursts at less than 1.6 events per day at 90% confidence level. This result is interpreted in terms of the...

Mass-specific rates of aerobic metabolism VO2/Mb) scale in inverse proportion to body mass (Mb). Thus, small hummingbirds display the highest VO2/Mb known among vertebrates. Among all animals, higher VO2/Mb values are known only in flying insects. The high body-mass-specific rates of metabolism seen in hummingbirds are made possible by high lung O2 diffusing capacities, cardiac outputs, ratios ...

Aims. We have searched for emission from the 557 GHz ortho-water line in the interstellar medium of six nearby starburst galaxies. Methods. We used the Odin satellite to observe the 110 − 101 transition of o-H2O in the galaxies NGC253, IC342, M82, NGC4258, CenA, and M51. None of the galaxies in our sample was detected. Results. We derive three sigma upper limits to the H2O abundance relative to...

Aims. In the dense stellar environment of globular clusters it is expected that compact binaries can be produced dynamically. This in turn would mean that the fraction of type Ia supernovae that will explode in globular clusters will be higher than would be expected from the mass of stars present. Therefore we wish to determine observational constraints on the number of supernovae type Ia explo...

We study 2-->n inelastic fermion-(anti)fermion scattering into multiple longitudinal weak gauge bosons and derive universal upper bounds on the scales of fermion mass generation by imposing unitarity of the S matrix. We place new upper limits on the scales of fermion mass generation, independent of the electroweak symmetry breaking scale. Strikingly, we find that the strongest 2-->n limits fall...