Joint modelling of location and scale parameters of the skew-normal distribution

Joint location and scale models of the skew-normal distribution provide useful ex- tension for joint mean and variance models of the normal distribution when the data set under consideration involves asymmetric outcomes. This paper focuses on the maximum likelihood estimation of joint location and scale models of the skew-normal distribution. The proposed procedure can simultaneously estimate parameters in the location model and the scale model. Simulation studies and a real example are used to illustrate the proposed methodologies.

计及多重不确定性的规模化电动汽车接入配电网调度方法

规模日益增长的电动汽车和可再生能源带来的不确定性给配电网的安全运营带来了严峻挑战。为综合考虑多重不确定性、平衡运营成本与系统可靠性,首先,提出一种基于分布鲁棒联合机会约束的电动汽车-配电网充放电调度模型。该模型将节点电压、支路功率、备用需求等通过联合机会约束建模,可以直观地管理系统整体的可靠性。然后,为求解该模型,基于最优Bonferroni近似方法将联合机会约束问题转化为混合整数二次规划模型,其中,风险等级也被视为决策变量。随后,在不同电力系统上验证了所提模型的有效性和可扩展性。结果表明,所提模型克服了经典的随机优化和鲁棒优化存在的问题,能够有效平衡成本和可靠性,计算效率高、可扩展性好,较Bonferroni近似方法降低约6.5%的成本。

Stresses induced by post-tensioned anchor in jointed rock mass

A new analytical study on stresses around a post-tensioned anchor in rocks with two perpendicular joint sets is presented. The assumptions of orthotropic elastic rock with plane strain conditions are made in derivation of the formulations. A tri-linear bond-slip constitutive law is used for modeling the tendon-grout interface behavior and debonding of this interface. The bearing plate width is also considered in the analysis. The obtained solutions are in the integral forms and numerical techniques that have been used for evaluation. In the illustrative example given, the major principal stress is compressive in the anchor free zone and compressive stress concentrations of 815 k Pa and 727 k Pa(for the anchor load of 300 k N) are observed under the bearing plate and the bond length proximal end, respectively. However, large values of tensile stresses with the maximum of-434 k Pa are formed at the bond length distal end. The results obtained using the proposed solution are compared very those of numerical method(FEM).

Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering

Background: Gradients in local environmental characteristics may favour the abundance of species with particular traits, while other species decline, or favour species with different traits at the same time, without an increase in average species abundances. Therefore, we asked: do variations in species and traits differ along gradients of deadwood variables? Do species abundance and trait occurrence change with species richness within or between functional groups? Thus, we analysed the beetle assemblages of five forest sites located in Italy, along the Apennines mountains.Methods: From 2012 to 2018 we sampled beetles and five deadwood types in 193 plots to characterise the deadwood gradient: standing dead trees, snags, dead downed trees, coarse woody debris, and stumps. We modelled beetle species relative abundances and trophic traits occurrences against the deadwood variables using joint species distribution models.Results: Out of 462 species, only 77 showed significant responses to at least one deadwood type, with a weak mean response across species. Trophic groups showed mostly negative responses to deadwood variables. Species abundance increased with species richness among sites only for phytophagous and saproxylophagous. Trait occurrence did not increase with species richness among sites, except for phytophagous and saproxylophagous.However, trait occurrence changed significantly with species richness of several trophic groups within some sites.We found that increases in species richness do not result in decreases in species abundance of a given trophic group, but rather null or positive relationships were found suggesting low interspecific competition.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that in Mediterranean mountain forests there is still room for increasing the level of naturalness, at least for what concerns deadwood management. On one side, our findings suggest that competition for deadwood substrates is still low, on the other side they indicate that increasing deadwood volume and types to improve overall beetle richness may increase also beetle abundances.

Joint modeling of longitudinal proportional measurements and survival time with a cure fraction

In cancer clinical trials and other medical studies, both longitudinal measurements and data on a time to an event(survival time) are often collected from the same patients. Joint analyses of these data would improve the efficiency of the statistical inferences. We propose a new joint model for the longitudinal proportional measurements which are restricted in a finite interval and survival times with a potential cure fraction. A penalized joint likelihood is derived based on the Laplace approximation and a semiparametric procedure based on this likelihood is developed to estimate the parameters in the joint model. A simulation study is performed to evaluate the statistical properties of the proposed procedures. The proposed model is applied to data from a clinical trial on early breast cancer.