Observational studies assessing causal or non-causal relationships between an explanatory measure and an outcome can be complicated by hosts of confounding measures. Large numbers of confounders can lead to several biases in conventional regression based estimation. Inference is more easily conducted if we reduce the number of confounders to a more manageable number. We discuss use of sufficien...

We study the asymptotic behavior of a class of methods for sufficient dimension reduction in high-dimension regressions, as the sample size and number of predictors grow in various alignments. It is demonstrated that these methods are consistent in a variety of settings, particularly in abundant regressions where most predictors contribute some information on the response, and oracle rates are ...

Although the concept of sufficient dimension reduction has been proposed for a long time, studies in the literature have largely focused on properties of estimators of dimension-reduction subspaces in the classical “small p, and large n” setting. Rather than the subspace, this paper considers directly the set of reduced predictors, which we believe are more relevant for subsequent analyses, and...

A family of dimension reduction methods was developed by Cook and Ni [Sufficient dimension reduction via inverse regression: a minimum discrepancy approach. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 100, 410–428.] via minimizing a quadratic objective function. Its optimal member called the inverse regression estimator (IRE) was proposed. However, its calculation involves higher order moments of the predictors. ...

OBJECTIVE To develop a simple, reproducible validation test protocol for classification of air-loss support systems. DESIGN Simultaneous experimental measurement of moisture loss and temperature reduction at the air-loss support surface-human body equivalent interface from a sweating human skin analogue. SETTING A hospital department of physical medicine and rehabilitation. OTHER PARTICIP...

Habitat distribution and seasonal occurrence of carabid beetles were determined using pitfall traps in 1999 and 2000 in the temperate forest zone of the Dongling Mountain, North China. Eight sites differing in vegetation and moisture were selected so as to represent four habitat types. Carabid assemblages of the six forested habitats (lowland, upland and coppice) were more similar to each other...

High-altitude and alpine areas are predicted to experience rapid and substantial increases in future temperature, which may have serious impacts on soil carbon, nutrient and soil fauna. Here we report the impact of 20 years of experimental warming on soil properties and soil mites in three contrasting plant communities in alpine/subarctic Sweden. Long-term warming decreased juvenile oribatid mi...

UNLABELLED The aim of this study was to assess occurrence of dampness and mold in school buildings in three European countries (the Netherlands, Spain, and Finland), representing different climatic regions. An assessment was performed utilizing both questionnaires and on-site building investigations, and the agreement between these two methods was evaluated for validation purposes. On the basis...

The element lithium has been discovered 200 years ago. Due to its unique properties it has emerged to play a vital role in industry, esp. for energy storage, and lithium-based products and processes support sustainable technological developments. In addition to the many uses of lithium in its inorganic forms, lithium has a rich organometallic chemistry. The development of organometallic chemist...

Vertical movement and distribution of Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Laemophloeidae) adults in stored wheat and corn were studied in small (0.1 x 0.1 x 1 m) and large (0.6 m diameter and 1.12 m high) columns. The adults were introduced at the top, middle, and bottom of the small columns with a uniform moisture content (wheat: 14.5 +/- 0.1%, corn 13.5 +/- 0.1%, 15.5 +/- 0.1%, and 17.5 +/-...