36490919
Estimating baseline distribution in proportional hazards cure models
Semiparametric proportional hazards cure models have been proposed recently for survival data from some clinical trials where cure is a possibility. However, it is known that the estimated baseline distribution in the proposed methods will not be proper if there is no restriction on the tail of the distribution, which leads to the identifiability problem. In this work, we investigate several methods that impose restrictions on the tail of the baseline distribution. A simulation study shows that the proposed methods are useful in reducing estimation errors in the cure models. The impact of the different methods on the estimation of regression parameters and survival probabilities of patients who are not cured is detailed in the paper. The results provide useful guidelines for practitioners to select appropriate estimation methods for the semiparametric cure model. The application of the results is illustrated with a real data set from a clinical trial of breast cancer.
21181741
An alternative estimation method for the accelerated failure time frailty model
Frailty models based on the proportional hazards model are useful to analyze correlated or clustered failure time data. However, there has been some recent interest in a frailty model based on the popular accelerated failure time model for correlated failure time data ([Pan, W., 2001. Using frailties in the accelerated failure time model. Lifetime Data Anal. 7(1), 55-64], for example). In this paper we review recent advances on this model in the literature. We propose a general estimation method based on M-estimators and the EM algorithm to estimate the parameters in the model. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, we carry out a simulation study. The results of the simulation study show that the proposed method performs well in comparison with existing estimation methods. As an illustration, the model and the proposed method are applied to analyze the effects of sublingual nitroglycerin and oral isosorbide dinitrate on angina pectoris of coronary heart disease patients [Danahy, D.T., Burwell, D.T., Aronow, W.S., Prakash, R., 1977. Sustained hemodynamic and antianginal effect of high dose oral isosorbide dinitrate. Circulation 55, 381-387].
42292049
Fitting semiparametric cure models
Survival data with a sizable cure fraction are commonly encountered in some cancer clinical researches and the semiparametric proportional hazards cure model has been recently investigated to analyze such data. However the estimation method of the model requires a special C program. The restrictive assumptions of the model also limit its application in broader settings. We present a new computational method for the cure model in this article. The method combines the computational methods for logistic regression and the Cox proportional hazards models and is easy to implement in many statistical packages. We also show how this method allows a number of useful extensions of the model to relax the restrictive assumptions. An illustrative example with survival times of lymphoma patients is provided.
9863446
ITTALKS: An Application of Agents in the Semantic Web
Effective use of the vast quantity of information now available on the web will require the use of "Semantic Web" markup languages such as the DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML). Such languages will enable the automated gathering and processing of much information that is currently available but insufficiently utilized. Effectively, such languages will facilitate the integration of multi-agent systems with the existing information infrastructure. As part of our exploration of SemanticWeb technology, and DAML in particular, we have constructed ITTALKS, a web-based system for automatic and intelligent notification of information technology talks. In this paper, we describe the ITTALKS system, and discuss the numerous ways in which the use of Semantic Web concepts and DAML extend its ability to provide an intelligent online service to both the human community and the agents assisting them.
17328688
Improved Dataset Characterisation for Meta-learning
This paper presents new measures, based on the induced decision tree, to characterise datasets for meta-learning in order to select appropriate learning algorithms. The main idea is to capture the characteristics of dataset from the structural shape and size of decision tree induced from the dataset. Totally 15 measures are proposed to describe the structure of a decision tree. Their effectiveness is illustrated through extensive experiments, by comparing to the results obtained by the existing data characteristics techniques, including data characteristics tool (DCT) that is the most wide used technique in meta-learning, and Landmarking that is the most recently developed method.
33972996
Chromatic equivalence classes of certain cycles with edges
Abstract Let P(G) denote the chromatic polynomial of a graph G . Two graphs G and H are chromatically equivalent, written G∼H , if P(G)=P(H) . A graph G is chromatically unique if for any graph H , G∼H implies that G is isomorphic with H . In this paper, we give the necessary and sufficient conditions for a family of generalized polygon trees to be chromatically unique.
17089555
Counting Small Cliques in 3-uniform Hypergraphs
Many applications of Szemeredi's Regularity Lemma for graphs are based on the following counting result. If ${\mathcal G}$ is an $s$-partite graph with partition $V({\mathcal G}) =\bigcup_{i=1}^{s} V_i$, $\vert V_i\vert =m$ for all $i\in [s]$, and all pairs $(V_i, V_j)$, $1\leq i < j\leq s$, are $\epsilon$-regular of density $d$, then $\mathcal{G}$ contains $(1\pm f(\epsilon))d^{({s\atop 2})}m^s$ cliques $K_{s}$, provided $\epsilon<\epsilon(d)$, where $f(\epsilon)$ tends to 0 as $\epsilon$ tends to 0.Guided by the regularity lemma for 3-uniform hypergraphs established earlier by Frankl and Rodl, Nagle and Rodl proved a corresponding counting lemma. Their proof is rather technical, mostly due to the fact that the ‘quasi-random’ hypergraph arising after application of Frankl and Rodl's regularity lemma is ‘sparse’, and consequently difficult to handle.When the ‘quasi-random’ hypergraph is ‘dense’ Kohayakawa, Rodl and Skokan (J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 97 307–352) found a simpler proof of the counting lemma. Their result applies even to $k$-uniform hypergraphs for arbitrary $k$. While the Frankl–Rodl regularity lemma will not render the dense case, in this paper, for $k=3$, we are nevertheless able to reduce the harder, sparse case to the dense case.Namely, we prove that a ‘dense substructure’ randomly chosen from the ‘sparse $\delta$-regular structure’ is $\delta$-regular as well. This allows us to count the number of cliques (and other subhypergraphs) using the Kohayakawa–Rodl–Skokan result, and provides an alternative proof of the counting lemma in the sparse case. Since the counting lemma in the dense case applies to $k$-uniform hypergraphs for arbitrary $k$, there is a possibility that the approach of this paper can be adopted to the general case as well.
9845111
Quantitative Agent Service Matching
The ultimate goal of service matching is to find the service provider(s) that would perform tasks of given description with the best overall degree of satisfaction. However, service description matching solves only part of the problem. Agents that match a given request may vary greatly in their actual capabilities to perform the tasks, and an agent may have strong and weak areas. In this work, we take a quantitative approach in which performance rating is considered an integral part of an agent's capability model and service distribution is taken into account in determining the degree of match. With the dynamic refinement of the agent capability model, the broker captures an agent's performance levels as well as its strong and weak areas. An experimental system has been designed and implemented within the OWL/OWL-S framework and the results statistics show significant advantage over other major levels of brokers.