title: Methods for eliciting informative prior distributions: A critical review

authors: Falconer, Julia Ruth

subjects: computer science

abstract: Eliciting informative prior distributions for Bayesian inference can often be complex and challenging. Although popular methods rely on asking experts probability-based questions to quantify uncertainty, these methods are not without their drawbacks, and many alternative elicitation methods exist. This paper explores methods for eliciting informative priors categorized by type and briefly discusses their strengths and limitations. Most of the review literature in this field focuses on a particular type of elicitation approach. The primary aim of this work, however, is to provide a more complete yet macro view of the state of the art by highlighting new (and old) approaches in one clear easy-to-read article. Two representative applications are used throughout to explore the suitability, or lack thereof, of the existing methods, one of which highlights a challenge that has not been addressed in the literature yet. We identify some of the gaps in the present work and discuss directions for future research.

text: Methods for eliciting informative prior distributions: A critical review Eliciting informative prior distributions for Bayesian inference can often be complex and challenging. Although popular methods rely on asking experts probability-based questions to quantify uncertainty, these methods are not without their drawbacks, and many alternative elicitation methods exist. This paper explores methods for eliciting informative priors categorized by type and briefly discusses their strengths and limitations. Most of the review literature in this field focuses on a particular type of elicitation approach. The primary aim of this work, however, is to provide a more complete yet macro view of the state of the art by highlighting new (and old) approaches in one clear easy-to-read article. Two representative applications are used throughout to explore the suitability, or lack thereof, of the existing methods, one of which highlights a challenge that has not been addressed in the literature yet. We identify some of the gaps in the present work and discuss directions for future research.

year: 2022

title: Building a public digital library based on full-text retrieval

authors: Witten, Ian H.

subjects: computer science

abstract: Digital libraries are expensive to create and maintain, and generally restricted to a particular corporation or group of paying subscribers. While many indexes to the World Wide Web are freely available, the quality of what is indexed is extremely uneven. The digital analog of a public library a reliable, quality, community service has yet to appear. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a cost-effective collection of high-quality public-domain information, available free over the Internet. One obstacle to the creation of a digital library is the difficulty of providing formal cataloguing information. Without a title, author and subject database it seems hard to offer the searching facilities normally available in physical libraries. Full-text retrieval provides a way of approximating these services without a concomitant investment of resources. A second is the problem of finding a suitable corpus of material. Computer science research reports form the focus of our prototype implementation. These constitute a large body of high-quality public-domain documents. Given such a corpus, a third issue becomes the question of obtaining both plain text for indexing, and page images for readability. Typesetting formats such as PostScript provide some of the benefits of libraries scanned from paper documents such as paged-based indexing and viewing without the physical demands and error-prone nature of scanning and optical character recognition. However, until recently the difficulty of extracting text from PostScript seems to have encouraged indexing on plain-text abstracts or bibliographic information provided by authors. We have developed a new technique that overcomes the problem. This paper describes the architecture, the indexing, collection and maintenance processes, and the retrieval interface, to a prototype public digital library.

text: Building a public digital library based on full-text retrieval Digital libraries are expensive to create and maintain, and generally restricted to a particular corporation or group of paying subscribers. While many indexes to the World Wide Web are freely available, the quality of what is indexed is extremely uneven. The digital analog of a public library a reliable, quality, community service has yet to appear. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a cost-effective collection of high-quality public-domain information, available free over the Internet. One obstacle to the creation of a digital library is the difficulty of providing formal cataloguing information. Without a title, author and subject database it seems hard to offer the searching facilities normally available in physical libraries. Full-text retrieval provides a way of approximating these services without a concomitant investment of resources. A second is the problem of finding a suitable corpus of material. Computer science research reports form the focus of our prototype implementation. These constitute a large body of high-quality public-domain documents. Given such a corpus, a third issue becomes the question of obtaining both plain text for indexing, and page images for readability. Typesetting formats such as PostScript provide some of the benefits of libraries scanned from paper documents such as paged-based indexing and viewing without the physical demands and error-prone nature of scanning and optical character recognition. However, until recently the difficulty of extracting text from PostScript seems to have encouraged indexing on plain-text abstracts or bibliographic information provided by authors. We have developed a new technique that overcomes the problem. This paper describes the architecture, the indexing, collection and maintenance processes, and the retrieval interface, to a prototype public digital library.

year: 1995-08

title: The relationship between on-water performance and physical characteristics in elite and sub-elite outrigger canoe paddlers

authors: King, Tupuria

abstract: Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare and investigate the relationship between 500 m on-water performance and physical characteristics in elite and sub-elite outrigger canoe paddlers. Methods: A total of 16 males participated in the study including eight elite paddlers (age: 24.8 ± 10.5 yrs., total paddling experience: 12.5 ± 5.2 yrs.) and eight sub-elite paddlers (age: 34.4 ± 15.4 yrs., total paddling experience: 6.8 ± 5.2 yrs.). Body mass, height, sitting height, arm span, arm length, body fat percentage, 50 kg muscular endurance (bench press and bench pull), peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and Wingate performance (30 sec maximal effort) were assessed and subsequently correlated with 500 m outrigger canoeing performance at a national championship’s regatta. Results: When group data were combined, moderate to strong correlations were found between 500 m outrigger canoeing performance and absolute VO2peak (r = -0.61), upper limb length (r = -0.60) 50 kg bench press (r = -0.56), total paddling experience (r = -0.53), body mass (r = -0.51), sitting height (r = -0.51), singles paddling experience (r = -0.49), height (r = -0.48) and Wingate distance (r = -0.42). When groups were compared, elite paddlers showed significantly greater Wingate mean power and distance, paddling experience and 500 m on-water performance times than sub-elite paddlers (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in anthropometrical measures, muscular endurance and VO2peak between the two groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: VO2peak and upper limb length were the best predictors of performance over the 500 m sprint distance across the entire group. Thirty-second Wingate mean power and distance, years of paddling experience and subsequent 500 m on-water performance differentiated elite from sub-elite paddlers.

text: The relationship between on-water performance and physical characteristics in elite and sub-elite outrigger canoe paddlers Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare and investigate the relationship between 500 m on-water performance and physical characteristics in elite and sub-elite outrigger canoe paddlers. Methods: A total of 16 males participated in the study including eight elite paddlers (age: 24.8 ± 10.5 yrs., total paddling experience: 12.5 ± 5.2 yrs.) and eight sub-elite paddlers (age: 34.4 ± 15.4 yrs., total paddling experience: 6.8 ± 5.2 yrs.). Body mass, height, sitting height, arm span, arm length, body fat percentage, 50 kg muscular endurance (bench press and bench pull), peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and Wingate performance (30 sec maximal effort) were assessed and subsequently correlated with 500 m outrigger canoeing performance at a national championship’s regatta. Results: When group data were combined, moderate to strong correlations were found between 500 m outrigger canoeing performance and absolute VO2peak (r = -0.61), upper limb length (r = -0.60) 50 kg bench press (r = -0.56), total paddling experience (r = -0.53), body mass (r = -0.51), sitting height (r = -0.51), singles paddling experience (r = -0.49), height (r = -0.48) and Wingate distance (r = -0.42). When groups were compared, elite paddlers showed significantly greater Wingate mean power and distance, paddling experience and 500 m on-water performance times than sub-elite paddlers (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in anthropometrical measures, muscular endurance and VO2peak between the two groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: VO2peak and upper limb length were the best predictors of performance over the 500 m sprint distance across the entire group. Thirty-second Wingate mean power and distance, years of paddling experience and subsequent 500 m on-water performance differentiated elite from sub-elite paddlers.

year: 2019