Improved Transferability of Data‐Driven Damage Models Through Sample Selection Bias Correction

Damage models for natural hazards are used for decision making on reducing and transferring risk. The damage estimates from these models depend on many variables and their complex sometimes nonlinear relationships with the damage. In recent years, data‐driven modeling techniques have been used to capture those relationships. The available data to build such models are often limited. Therefore, in practice it is usually necessary to transfer models to a different context. In this article, we show that this implies the samples used to build the model are often not fully representative for the situation where they need to be applied on, which leads to a “sample selection bias.” In this article, we enhance data‐driven damage models by applying methods, not previously applied to damage modeling, to correct for this bias before the machine learning (ML) models are trained. We demonstrate this with case studies on flooding in Europe, and typhoon wind damage in the Philippines. Two sample selection bias correction methods from the ML literature are applied and one of these methods is also adjusted to our problem. These three methods are combined with stochastic generation of synthetic damage data. We demonstrate that for both case studies, the sample selection bias correction techniques reduce model errors, especially for the mean bias error this reduction can be larger than 30%. The novel combination with stochastic data generation seems to enhance these techniques. This shows that sample selection bias correction methods are beneficial for damage model transfer.     

A Bayesian Analysis of Abundance,Trend, and Population Viability for Harbor Seals in Iliamna Lake,Alaska

Harbor seals in Iliamna Lake, Alaska, are a small, isolated population, and one of only two freshwater populations of harbor seals in the world, yet little is known about their abundance or risk for extinction. Bayesian hierarchical models were used to estimate abundance and trend of this population. Observational models were developed from aerial survey and harvest data, and they included effects for time of year and time of day on survey counts. Underlying models of abundance and trend were based on a Leslie matrix model that used prior information on vital rates from the literature. We developed three scenarios for variability in the priors and used them as part of a sensitivity analysis. The models were fitted using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The population production rate implied by the vital rate estimates was about 5% per year, very similar to the average annual harvest rate. After a period of growth in the 1980s, the population appears to be relatively stable at around 400 individuals. A population viability analysis assessing the risk of quasi‐extinction, defined as any reduction to 50 animals or below in the next 100 years, ranged from 1% to 3%, depending on the prior scenario. Although this is moderately low risk, it does not include genetic or catastrophic environmental events, which may have occurred to the population in the past, so our results should be applied cautiously.     

工业企业经济效益综合评价与分析

利用SPSS软件,对我国31个省、直辖市的大中型工业企业的总资产贡献率、成本费用利润率、资本保值增值率、流动资产周转次数、全员劳动生产率、产品销售率、资产负债率、总资产周转率、净资产收益率、销售利润率等十个经济效益指标进行了因子分析,并将这十个指标归结为盈利、销售、运营、发展等多个因子。最后,根据每个因子得分情况将所有地区归为六类,进而做出综合评价。     

虢国车马坑葬初探

三门峡上村岭虢国墓地车马坑是迄今为止发现的西周春秋时期规模较大、等级齐全、排列有序的贵族墓祔葬车马坑。虢国车马坑葬继承和沿用商周车马殉葬制，又适应和迎合社会进步及变革需要，对车马坑的殉葬内容和形式进行变通与革新，摒弃车葬坑和同穴葬，整车葬成为主流形式，并盛行车马葬和异穴葬，车马排列有序，殉葬性质更加明确，是象征性、明器化殉葬的滥觞，殉人制消失，显示出传统车马坑葬制开始出现瓦解的苗头。大量车马坑葬在虢国墓地出现，反映了虢国生产力发展水平和崇勇尚武世风，更反映了车马坑主人的身份等级，它与列鼎制紧密配合，形成了一个不可分割的整体。     

On Block Updating in Markov Random Field Models for Disease Mapping

Gaussian Markov random field (GMRF) models are commonly used to model spatial correlation in disease mapping applications. For Bayesian inference by MCMC, so far mainly single-site updating algorithms have been considered. However, convergence and mixing properties of such algorithms can be extremely poor due to strong dependencies of parameters in the posterior distribution. In this paper, we propose various block sampling algorithms in order to improve the MCMC performance. The methodology is rather general, allows for non-standard full conditionals, and can be applied in a modular fashion in a large number of different scenarios. For illustration we consider three different applications: two formulations for spatial modelling of a single disease (with and without additional unstructured parameters respectively), and one formulation for the joint analysis of two diseases. The results indicate that the largest benefits are obtained if parameters and the corresponding hyperparameter are updated jointly in one large block. Implementation of such block algorithms is relatively easy using methods for fast sampling of Gaussian Markov random fields ( Rue, 2001 ). By comparison, Monte Carlo estimates based on single-site updating can be rather misleading, even for very long runs. Our results may have wider relevance for efficient MCMC simulation in hierarchical models with Markov random field components.     

Physiologically Based Liver Modeling and Risk Assessment

Because of the inherent complexity of biological systems, there is often a choice between a number of apparently equally applicable physiologically based models to describe uptake and metabolism processes in toxicology or risk assessment. These models may fit the particular data sets of interest equally well, but may give quite different parameter estimates or predictions under different (extrapolated) conditions. Such competing models can be discriminated by a number of methods, including potential refutation by means of strategic experiments, and their ability to suitably incorporate all relevant physiological processes. For illustration, three currently used models for steady-state hepatic elimination--the venous equilibration model, the parallel tube model, and the distributed sinusoidal perfusion model--are reviewed and compared with particular reference to their application in the area of risk assessment. The ability of each of the models to describe and incorporate such physiological processes as protein binding, precursor-metabolite relations and hepatic zones of elimination, capillary recruitment, capillary heterogeneity, and intrahepatic shunting is discussed. Differences between the models in hepatic parameter estimation, extrapolation to different conditions, and interspecies scaling are discussed, and criteria for choosing one model over the others are presented. In this case, the distributed model provides the most general framework for describing physiological processes taking place in the liver, and has so far not been experimentally refuted, as have the other two models. These simpler models may, however, provide useful bounds on parameter estimates and on extrapolations and risk assessments.     

Ranking Nuclear and Radiological Terrorism Scenarios: The Italian Case

A quantitative criterion for ranking the different scenarios of nuclear and radiological terrorism has been developed. The aim of the model is not to predict terroristic events but only to indicate which scenario has the higher utility from the point of view of a terroristic organization in terms of balance between factors favoring and discouraging the attack, respectively. All these factors were quantified according to a scoring system that takes into account the logarithmic relationship between perceptions and stimuli. The criterion was applied to several scenarios, each of which was modeled in a simple but not trivial way in order to estimate the expected damage in terms of probable life losses from both radiative and nonradiative effects. The outcome from the ranking method indicates that the attractive scenario appears to be the detonation of a low yield improvised nuclear device in the metropolitan area of a major city.     

浅析凤翔泥塑对现代设计的启示

中国的民间手工艺文化一直延续着中华本元文化的特征,保持了精神和物质统一的原生状态,同时包蕴了中华民族传统的自然观和思维方式,无论是其中的思想智慧还是造物工艺都为我们的现代设计在如何继承本土文化方面打开了一个可供吸收营养和借鉴的宝库。凤翔泥塑作为一种符号现象被现代设计加以运用,不能不说是民间传统手工艺术在现代的一次回归浪潮。文章探讨的是凤翔泥塑在纹饰、色彩、造型三个方面带给现代设计的启示。     

基于规则的客户关系管理系统建模方法

客户关系管理系统(CRM)是提高企业核心竞争力的有力武器。以工作流和过程建模技术为基础,研究CRM系统的建模,是CRM系统的建立和顺畅运行的关键。因此,将动态过程建模的思想引入CRM系统的建模过程中,按照逐层分解的建模方式来简化系统的复杂性,并采用事件驱动的、基于扩展业务规则的方法进行CRM系统的过程建模和系统性能评价,是针对CRM系统进行建模的有效手段。通过以上方法,可以建立出全面支持CRM系统运行、监控、仿真和性能评价的过程模型。根据该方法建立的CRM系统的模型经过仿真实验和企业实际应用,证明具有良好的应用效果。