A simulation study was conducted to provide a more thorough account of measurement error associated with interval sampling methods. A computer program simulated the application of momentary time sampling, partial-interval recording, and whole-interval recording methods on target events randomly distributed across an observation period. The simulation yielded measures of error for multiple combi...

OBJECTIVE To identify the most prevalent patterns of technical errors in surgery, and evaluate commonly recommended interventions in light of these patterns. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA The majority of surgical adverse events involve technical errors, but little is known about the nature and causes of these events. We examined characteristics of technical errors and common contributing factors am...

Leaf margin analysis (LMA) is a widely used method that applies presentday linear correlation between the proportion of woody dicotyledonous species with untoothed leaves (P) and mean annual temperature (MAT) to estimate paleotemperatures from fossil leaf floras. Previous works demonstrate that LMA shows regional constraints and to date, no equation has been modeled directly from Chinese forest...

In most clinical and experimental studies, the standard deviation (SD) and the estimated standard error of the mean (SEM) are used to present the characteristics of sample data and to explain statistical analysis results. However, some authors occasionally muddle the distinctive usage between the SD and SEM in medical literature. Because the process of calculating the SD and SEM includes differ...

This work was initiated to address the gaps identified by Congress regarding validated biothreat environmental sampling and processing methods. Nine Laboratory Response Network-affiliated laboratories participated in a validation study of a cellulose sponge wipe-processing protocol for the recovery, detection, and quantification of viable Bacillus anthracis Sterne spores from steel surfaces. St...

Measurement error (ME) problems can cause bias or inconsistency of statistical inferences. When investigators are unable to obtain correct measurements of biological assays, special techniques to quantify MEs need to be applied. Sampling based on repeated measurements is a common strategy to allow for ME. This method has been well addressed in the literature under parametric assumptions. The ap...

Ecological studies require key decisions regarding the appropriate size and number of sampling units. No methods currently exist to measure precision for multivariate assemblage data when dissimilarity-based analyses are intended to follow. Here, we propose a pseudo multivariate dissimilarity-based standard error (MultSE) as a useful quantity for assessing sample-size adequacy in studies of eco...

Abstract In sample surveys, it is usual to make use of auxiliary information to increase the precision of estimators. A general class of estimators is suggested to estimate the population mean for the variable under study in two stage sampling scheme. Some special cases of this class of estimators are considered and are compared by using a data set. It turns out that the newly suggested estimat...