Prediction of random effects is an important problem with expanding applications. In the simplest context, the problem corresponds to prediction of the latent value (the mean) of a realized cluster selected via two-stage sampling. Best linear unbiased predictors developed from mixed models are widely used, but their development requires distributional assumptions or an infinite population frame...

S sampling problems arise in stochastic simulation and many other applications. Sampling is used to infer the unknown performance of several alternatives before one alternative is selected as best. This paper presents new economically motivated fully sequential sampling procedures to solve such problems, called economics of selection procedures. The optimal procedure is derived for comparing a ...

In software defined radio systems, placing the analog-todigital converter (ADC) near the antenna part in the block diagram of the receiver is desired to improve the flexibility of the system. The radio frequency (RF) sampling method, in which the received signal is sampled at the RF stage, realizes such structure. The undersampling is a potential method to sample the RF signal using the existin...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the sampling plan and estimation methods used to collect and analyze data in the survey Sexual Behavior and Perceptions of the Brazilian Population concerning HIV/Aids in 2005. METHODS: The study presents the decisions that were made concerning population defi nition, strata of interest to the survey and to the sampling plan, main procedures for data analysis and sample p...

In practice, when conducting surveys to substantiate freedom from disease in large populations, two-stage sampling strategies are often used in order to account for herdlevel clustering of diseases. Using a modified hypergeometric formula the optimal sample size can elegantly be computed, while incorporating imperfect diagnostic tests and finite populations; see Cameron and Baldock (1998a,b). I...

Data at different levels of aggregation are often used in two-stage estimation, with estimates obtained at the higher level of aggregation entering the estimation at the lower level of aggregation. An example is customers within markets: first-stage estimates on market data provide variables that enter the second-stage model on customers. We derive the asymptotic covariance matrix of the second...

‎we extend the method of adaptive two-stage sequential sampling to‎‎include designs where there is more than one criteria is used in‎‎deciding on the allocation of additional sampling effort‎. ‎these‎‎criteria‎, ‎or conditions‎, ‎can be a measure of the target‎‎population‎, ‎or a measure of some related population‎. ‎we develop‎‎murthy estimator for the design that is unbiased estimators for‎‎t...

PURPOSE Repeated brain MRI scans are performed in many clinical scenarios, such as follow up of patients with tumors and therapy response assessment. In this paper, the authors show an approach to utilize former scans of the patient for the acceleration of repeated MRI scans. METHODS The proposed approach utilizes the possible similarity of the repeated scans in longitudinal MRI studies. Sinc...

We consider staged free-energy calculation methods in the context of phase-space overlap relations, and argue that the selection of work-based methods should be guided by consideration of the phase-space overlap of the systems of interest. Stages should always be constructed such that work is performed only into a system that has a phase-space subset relation with the starting system. Thus mult...

Parental care plays a key role in ontogeny, life-history trade-offs, sexual selection and intra-familial conflict. Studies focusing on understanding causes and consequences of variation in parental effort need to quantify parental behaviour accurately. The applied methods are, however, diverse even for a given species and type of parental effort, and rarely validated for accuracy. Here we focus...