Raw Observations Research Articles

Summary value smoothing of physical time series with unequal intervals

An algorithm SUMMOOTH for smoothing raw observations that are unequally spaced is explained. The process generalizes the method of summary values introduced into geophysics by H. Jeffreys. Smoothed data points, defined as the intersection of the local linear and parabolic least-squares fits, are computed for overlapping intervals rather than fixed sequential intervals as in previous work. A new feature is the parallel computation of (smoothed) summary gradients, essential for the Herglotz velocity integration. The interval selection is objective because the position of the smoothed values at each stage depends only on the spacing of the raw sample points. Selection of the starting interval can be made objective by addition of a principle, such as symmetry, or a rule, such as the fitted local curvature must never exceed a fixed value. In practice, selection should employ a trade-off curve between resolution and variance. An advantage of the process is that uncertainties at the summary points are independent. A comparison is given, for scarce data of Mossbauer spectra, with the smoothing method of Talmi and Gilat. Application to ragged time series for v p v s observations in earthquake prediction studies and to the construction of seismological travel-time curves illustrates the value of the method in geophysics.

A Minicomputer Software Package for Reducing Digitized Spectrophotometric Data

SUMMARYThe advent of fast, multichannel detectors with their usually high data rates has lead to the steadily increasing use of small computers in data analysis. At York University a very simple and flexible system of computer programs has been developed to reduce spectroscopic and relative spectrophotometric data obtained with a SIT-Vidicon spectrometer'. The system is written for an HP2100A with peripherals and a DOS-M operating system. A disc storage device is used to store raw observations, partially processed, and calibration data. The programs are also kept on the disc unit in executable (machine language) form.The programs are written in HP FORTRAN IV and consist of several standalone units, each of which performs a specific task. The location of raw data on the disc, the destination of the results of the program and processing parameters are all read in from the card reader. This approach enables system command cards and program parameter cards to be combined into modules which are run in DOS-M ba...

Open Education as an Ideology

One hundred and twenty‐two elementary school classrooms reportedly engaged in open education in the State of New York were visited and a list of criteria produced. On the basis of raw scores and direct observation nine criteria appeared to be essential to the operation of open education, but, of these, only three conformed to variables outlined in a recent study. It would seem that educators in the United States have collected under the label of open education a number of ‘best existing practices’ and imbued them with the aura of an ideology. Whilst it is a healthy tendency to seek out such tried and true methods and combine them for optimum effectiveness, it is a mistake to see such a package as substantially different from ‘good’ education. Open education lacks the army of extraordinary teachers, the knowledge of how changes can be effectively introduced, the broad‐based active support of administrators and citizens and the conceptual clarity to make it a realistic alternative for the average school. ∗ ...

Towards a unified theory for immunogenetic systems. I. Probing the serologic field—A meta-serologic approach

A serologic field (SEF) is produced by the in vitro studies of antibody-antigen interactions and usually includes serologic information processing (SIF). SIF can be regarded as the process whereby essentially “meaningless” raw data or experimental observables emanating from an input reality are structuralized and hence falsified into a “meaningful” pattern, Gestalt or output image. According to this “black box model”, different “fact categories” (FC) can be identified in SEF. Traditional serology generally confounds its FC whereby fact category mistakes (FCM) are produced. Some FCM are structurally similar to the description of “mice” as four- letter animals or as a four- legged word—i.e. facts about “thing-properties” (animals, legs) are confounded with facts about “language-properties” (letters, words). In SEF, antibody and antigen molecules (thing-properties) are similarly endowed with “empty symbols” (language-properties). Due to such FCM, radically new meanings are assigned to experimental observables if the serologic language and/or theory is changed. The present meta-serologic approach consists of the design of a meta-serologic symbol language (SL-2) which includes the contemporary (simple-complex) conceptual framework (language and theory) as a limiting case. Consequently, some truly radical and revolutionary Gestalt switches will be generated when a specified SEF is mapped onto SL-2.

The Original Phillips Curve Estimates

In his original estimates of the relationship that subsequently became known as the (1958) adopted an unorthodox estimation procedure. This involved replacing the 53 raw observations with six averaged values and then estimating by means of a combination of least squares and graphical inspection. Recently, (1973, 1975) has suggested that Phillips' estimation procedure has interesting economic properties not shared by the orthodox methods used by subsequent workers, and has drawn a distinction between the Phillips Curve, as estimated by himself, and the estimated subsequently. He goes so far as to suggest that the procedure is a crucial part of Phillips' results and the validity of the original results depend on (Desai, 1975, p. 14). The traditional view of Phillips' procedure is that it was a short-cut method to enable the estimation of a nonlinear relationship prior to the widespread availability of modern computing methods (see, e.g., Lipsey, 1960, pp. 3-6). The purpose of this note is to reiterate this view. However, in view of Desai's suggestion, it is necessary to look at Phillips' procedure rather more closely than might otherwise have been necessary, in order to demonstrate precisely why he adopted his obviously inefficient and apparently ad hoc averaging procedure. If we can do this it will follow that Phillips' procedure is only of computational and of neither statistical nor economic interest. It will imply further that there is no distinction between the Curve and the Lipsey Curve although there may nevertheless be a valid distinction between the Curve and the Desai relationship. A byproduct of this study is the re-estimation of the original relationship by modern methods which enable the statistical properties of the relationship to be examined.

A proof of the separability of prefiltering and coding (Corresp.)

A random signal observed in additive noise is to be linearly preprocessed for transmission via a channel of dimensionality less than that of either the observations or the signal. At the receiver, the signal is to be linearly reconstructed under a weighted-mean-square-error criterion. It is shown that there is no loss of overall optimality if the operation on the raw observations is partitioned into an optimal (least mean-square-error) prefilter followed by a linear coder.

Electrophysiological signs of the readout from memory I. Raw data observations

A series of studies of the electrophysiological activity recorded from chronic intracerebral electrodes in trained cats responding to familiar and novel stimuli in a familiar environment has led us to the conclusion that certain features of the electrophysiological response reflect the release or reconstruction of representations of previous relevant experience which have been stored in memory. While our conclusions have relied heavily upon a large variety of control experiments and analysis of data by high speed computer which are the subject of the companion to this paper, our methods are based upon the precise classification of single evoked potentials. In view of the unfamiliar nature of the phenomenology of readout processes and the novelty of some of the analytical techniques presented in the companion paper, it becomes important to acquire familiarity with the raw, unprocessed data in order to understand the context from which the computer results are obtained and to be able to relate those results back to original observations. In this paper a survey is presented of representative kinds of electrophysiological observations (raw data) obtained in situations where two different responses were performed to the same cue stimulus. These data reveal the striking regularity displayed in certain details of the electrophysiological response, including characteristic nonstationarities, nuances of late component structure, and the reproducibility of the delicate fine structure of the evoked potential. At the same time, these data illustrate the necessity of devising methods to deal with such data in a quantitative manner without hopelessly obscuring those details.

Climatological Studies of the Large-Scale Circulation in the Northern Hemisphere

Within the framework of a detailed dynamic climatology of the large-scale circulation over the Northern Hemisphere, data from 15 yr of daily 700-mb maps have been used to investigate the temporal behavior of hemispherically averaged geostrophic zonal and meridional indices. A number of such indices were derived for both fixed and variable latitude bands. Their mean annual pattern, interannual variability, and time history through the 15 yr of record have been established. The absence of statistically significant correlations between zonal and meridional flow on a short-term time scale (days to weeks) is established, while high correlations are apparent on the annual scale. The 15-yr record also indicates the sensitivity of the meridional indices to changes in the analysis techniques used to derive the hemispheric gridpoint data from the raw radiosonde observations. Finally, the capability of attaining a high resolution in time (about 3 days on the average) because of the daily data record allows a much more detailed description of the annual change in the large-scale circulation character than was previously possible by means of monthly averages. Certain times of the year appear to be fairly quiet while, at other times, distinct breaks in the circulation patterns are evident. This is a first indication that hemispheric wide singularities indeed exist.

Matching of Observational Accuracy and Sampling Resolution in Meteorological Data Acquisition Experiments

On the basis of a 10-year record of rawin observations in the Caribbean, experiments were carried out to determine the appropriate matching between the accuracy and density of meteorological observations. The results indicate that at 850 mb, if the distance between neighboring stations is of the order of 800 km or more, it makes little difference whether the random errors of observations are 2 kt or twice this amount. This is especially true if the observations are used to construct a regular grid of interpolated values. At 200 mb, an even larger range of observational errors is permissible if the distance between stations is large. The experiments further demonstrate that the distance between the raw observations must be smaller than that between the reconstructed grid points if the field gradients are to be computed with reasonable accuracy. As the scale of interest becomes smaller, accuracy requirements become more stringent. For instance, if we can measure the zonal wind components at 850 mb in January with an accuracy of 3 kt and if we have two observations 100 km apart, there is only a 0.2 probability that the error in the measured difference between the two observations is equal to or less than one-fifth of the true difference. To increase this probability to 0.4, the accuracy of the measurement must be within 1 kt. Similarly, if the rms error of temperature observations, 100 km apart, is 1C, the probability is 0.15 that the error in the measured difference is equal to or less than one-fifth of the true. On the other hand, if the rms observation error is only 0.1C, the probability is 0.6 that the error is equal to or less than one-fifth of the true difference. The study is intended to provide planners of meteorological data acquisition experiments with some insight into the options at their disposal. Thus, for field experiments designed to delineate broad-scale atmospheric features, it should help identify the point of diminishing returns for instrumental accuracy. Conversely, if only a given instrumental accuracy is obtainable, it should provide an estimate of the maximum useful sampling resolution.

The Cell Cycle and Cancer

The cell cycle is the most recently formulated of those great biological circles that codify and simplify the otherwise intractable masses of raw observation. In the almost cabalistic diagram of the cell cycle, mitosis is reduced to an orgasmically brief M period separated by two gaps, G₁and G₂, from the synthetic period S in which the critical duplication of DNA is accomplished. The symmetry of the cycle is broken by the habit of some cells of leaving the cycle forever and others of temporary moving out of the stream and then reentering. The cells that have temporally withdrawn from their merry rounds of replication are consigned to limbo, gap o, while those which are never to divide again move before the inevitable arrow of time through senescence to death. If Dr. Baserga, the editor of<i>The Cell Cycle and Cancer</i>, had Humpty Dumpty's habit of paying words extra

Parametric equations in control survey adjustment

Abstract In recent years, most organizations have changed from the classical Correlate Method of Least Squares for the adjustment of control surveys to the Parametric Method. The availability of electronic computers and the feasibility of generalized programmes for the Parametric Method has caused this change. These programmes take the raw observations and give the adjusted co-ordinates in a single data pass without intervention from the operator and thus have much to recommend them.

American Science Comes of Age, 1780-1820

D URING the first century and a half of its existence, American science was a branch of British science and depended on Europe for inspiration and ideas, for models of scientific achievement, for medical training, for avenues of publication, for books and instruments, and for museums and herbaria-in short, for everything except native talent and the raw data provided by nature. In science, as in trade, the American colonies were purveyors of raw materials-astronomical observations, seeds, plants, shells, and fossils-which were worked into finished products in the scientific centers of the Old World.' But there were no Acts of Trade and Navigation in the scientific realm. Americans were free to send their specimens and observations wherever they pleased. Not a few corresponded directly with Linnaeus, Gronovius, and Jussieu as well as with British men of science. And well they might; British science in the mid-eighteenth century was at a low ebb compared with the rising tide of science on the Continent, where kings vied with each other to secure the services of an Euler, a Maupertuis, or a Bernoulli. Private enterprise rather than royal patronage was the rule in Britain. This system, or lack of system, had serious disadvantages; yet it provided a considerable stimulus to scientific activity in the colonies. Although the Royal Society of London had little money to support scientific research, it provided a model for colonial science, a place to send observations and publish findings, and hope of recognition of scientific achievement. Actual patronage of colonial science came from nobles, wealthy merchants, and physicians interested in science and horticulture. To a considerable degree this aid was inspired by the desire to procure exotic plants to beautify country estates. In less than half a century, Mark Catesby declared in the preface

Disturbance of airflow around Argus Island tower near Bermuda

The horizontal wind around the Argus Island tower, near Bermuda, was measured to establish the characteristic disturbance of the natural airflow caused by the tower. Observations were taken during periods of light to moderate southerly wind with near-neutral thermal stability. To obtain a generalized picture of the disturbance field, the raw observations were converted to ratios of the presumed undisturbed wind computed from the logarithmic profile. The field of disturbance thus demonstrated was highly distinctive and was rather insensitive to variations in undisturbed wind speed. It showed two jets of accelerated air: one above the platform extending upward at least 15 m and the other one below extending down to the water surface. A ‘nose’ of decelerated air extended about 15 m upwind of the enclosed platform, and a wake of reduced velocity was formed to leeward. The purpose of the work was to locate suitable sites for installing outrigged micrometeorological instruments for determining fluxes of momentum, heat, and water vapor. Two regions 18 m upwind, one above and the other below the platform, were judged to be favorable.