Evaluation of the location of cities in terms of land cover on the example of Poland

Urban Ecosystems - The increasing availability of remote sensing materials of varying spatial resolution inclines to look for methods enabling their use, both at planning the spatial structure of...     

On exact strong laws of large numbers for ratios of random variables and their applications

Abstract

We study the almost sure convergence of weighted sums of ratios of independent random variables satisfying some general, mild conditions. The obtained results are applied to exact laws for order statistics. An exact law for independent random variables which are nonidentically distributed is also proved and applied to ratios of adjacent order statistics for a sample of uniformly distributed random variables.     

Social Enterprises’ Hybridity in the Concept of Institutional Logics: Evidence from Polish NGOs

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Social enterprises have gained wide recognition as a tool for solving social and environmental problems. They generate new...     

Upper and lower bounds on the variances of linear combinations of the kth records

We describe a method of determining upper bounds on the variances of linear combinations of the kth records values from i.i.d. sequences, expressed in terms of variances of parent distributions. We also present conditions for which the bounds are sharp, and those for which the respective lower ones are equal to zero. A special attention is paid to the case of the kth record spacings, i.e. the differences of consecutive kth record values.     

Some results on random design regression with long memory errors and predictors

This paper studies nonparametric regression with long memory (LRD) errors and predictors. First, we formulate general conditions which guarantee the standard rate of convergence for a nonparametric kernel estimator. Second, we calculate the mean integrated squared error (MISE). In particular, we show that LRD of errors may influence MISE. On the other hand, an estimator for a shape function is typically not influenced by LRD in errors. Finally, we investigate properties of a data-driven bandwidth choice. We show that averaged squared error (ASE) is a good approximation of MISE; however, this is not the case for a cross-validation criterion.     

A note on generalized ridge estimators

It is shown that a necessary and sufficient condition derived by Farebrother (1984)for a generalized ridge estimator to dominate the ordinary least-squares estimator with respect to the mean-square-error-matrix criterion in the linear regression model admits a similar interpretation as the well known criterion of Toro-Viz-carrondo and Wallace (1968)for the dominance of a restricted least-squares estimator over the ordinary least-squares estimator. Two other properties of the generalized ridge estimators, referring to the concept of admissibility, are also pointed out.     

The spatial genetic structure of the yellow-necked mouse in an urban environment – a recent invader vs. a closely related permanent inhabitant

We analyse the genetic variability in the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) population in the city of Warsaw, Poland, and its surroundings - a species that has begun to occupy the city only in the last 30 years. We also compare the genetic variability of this species with corresponding data collected in the same time and areas for another species - the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius). The results indicate a gradual decrease in genetic diversity and increase in relatedness in the population of A. flavicollis from non-urban locations towards sites with the highest anthropopressure. The genetic structure was more pronounced in the 'recent invader' (A. flavicollis) than in the 'permanent inhabitant' (A. agrarius), which has a much longer city colonization history (more than 100 years). In general, FST was higher in A. flavicollis, which may indicate different and independent ways of city colonization by the species. The process by which urban areas are settled by a new, typically forest-dwelling species such as A. flavicollis, more 'sensitive' to the conditions of life in a city, probably includes not only successful events of penetration of the city by small groups of individuals (the founder effect), but also temporary extinctions of local urban populations of A. flavicollis or at least marked fluctuations in species population numbers. Suitably planned areas at the city borders could play an important role as 'gateways' through which individuals from non-urban populations could migrate into the city and join urban populations.     

Sharp bounds on the expectations of L-statistics expressed in the Gini mean difference units

We describe a method of calculating sharp lower and upper bounds on the expectations of arbitrary, properly centered L-statistics expressed in the Gini mean difference units of the original i.i.d. observations. Precise values of bounds are derived for the single-order statistics, their differences, and some examples of L-estimators. We also present the families of discrete distributions which attain the bounds, possibly in the limit.     

Connectedness of complete block designs under an interference model

We consider an experiment with fixed number of blocks, in which a response to a treatment can be affected by treatments from neighboring units. For such experiment the interference model with neighbor effects is studied. Under this model we study connectedness of binary complete block designs. Assuming the circular interference model with left-neighbor effects we give the condition for minimal number of blocks necessary to obtain connected design. For a specified class of binary, complete block designs, we show that all designs are connected. Further we present the sufficient and necessary conditions of connectedness of designs with arbitrary, fixed number of blocks.