A new unbiased plotting position formula for Gumbel distribution

The probability plots (graphical approach) are used to fit the probability distribution to given series, to identify the outliers and to assess goodness of fit. The graphical approach requires probability of exceedence or non exceedence of various events. This is obtained through the use of plotting position formula. In literature many plotting position formulae have been reported. All of the many existing formulae provide different results particularly at the tails of the distribution and hence there is need of unbiased plotting position formulae for different distributions. Expression for the largest expected order statistics is found in a simple form. Using exact plotting position from Gumbel order statistics a new unbiased plotting position formula has been developed for the Gumbel distribution. The developed formula better approximates the exact plotting positions as compared to other existing formulae.     

Uncertainty Estimation for Resource Assessment—An Application to Coal

The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting a national assessment of coal resources. As part of that assessment, a geostatistical procedure has been developed to estimate the uncertainty of coal resources for the historical categories of geological assurance: measured, indicated, inferred, and hypothetical coal. Data consist of spatially clustered coal thickness measurements from coal beds and/or zones that cover, in some cases, several thousand square kilometers. Our procedure involved trend removal, an examination of spatial correlation, computation of a sample semivariogram, and fitting a semivariogram model. This model provided standard deviations for the uncertainty estimates. The number of sample points (drill holes) in each historical category also was estimated. Measurement error in the thickness of the coal bed/zone was obtained from the fitted model or supplied exogenously. From this information approximate estimates of uncertainty on the historical categories were computed. We illustrate the methodology using drill hole data from the Harmon coal bed located in southwestern North Dakota. The methodology will be applied to approximately 50 coal data sets.     

On a systematic bias in surface brightness fluctuations based distances due to gravitational microlensing

The effect of gravitational microlensing on the determination of extragalactic distances using the surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) technique is considered and a method to calculate SBF amplitudes in the presence of microlensing is presented. With a simple approximation for the magnification power spectrum at low optical depth, the correction to the SBF-based luminosity distance is calculated. The results suggest the effect can be safely neglected at present but may become important for SBF-based Hubble diagrams at luminosity distances of about 1 Gpc and beyond.     

Robust statistics and geochemical data analysis

Advantages of robust procedures over ordinary least-squares procedures in geochemical data analysis is demonstrated using NURE data from the Hot Springs Quadrangle, South Dakota, U.S.A. Robust principal components analysis with 5% multivariate trimming successfully guarded the analysis against perturbations by outliers and increased the number of interpretable factors. Regression with SINE estimates significantly increased the goodness-of-fit of the regression and improved the correspondence of delineated anomalies with known uranium prospects. Because of the ubiquitous existence of outliers in geochemical data, robust statistical procedures are suggested as routine procedures to replace ordinary least-squares procedures.     

High-resolution radio observations of Seyfert galaxies in the extended 12-μm sample – II. The properties of compact radio components

We discuss the properties of compact nuclear radio components in Seyfert galaxies from the extended 12-μm AGN sample of Rush et al. Our main results can be summarized as follows.
Type 1 and type 2 Seyferts produce compact radio components which are indistinguishable in strength and aspect, indicating that their central engines are alike, as proposed by the unification model. Infrared IRAS fluxes are more closely correlated with low-resolution radio fluxes than high-resolution radio fluxes, suggesting that they are dominated by kiloparsec-scale, extranuclear emission regions; extranuclear emission may be stronger in type 2 Seyferts. Early-type Seyfert galaxies tend to have stronger nuclear radio emission than late-type Seyfert galaxies. V-shaped extended emission-line regions, indicative of 'ionization cones', are usually found in sources with large, collimated radio outflows. Hidden broad lines are most likely to be found in sources with powerful nuclear radio sources. Type 1 and type 2 Seyferts selected by their IRAS 12-μm flux densities have well-matched properties.     

西太平洋西北海域海温与西副高和极涡的联系

本文通过西太平洋西北部海表温度与北半球500hpa西副高和极涡环流指数的典型相关分析,得到了一些有意义的环流超前与滞后的相关事实,证实了环流有3—6个月的滞后相关的存在。