En écologie, dans le cadre par exemple d’études des services fournis par les écosystèmes, les modélisations descriptive, explicative et prédictive ont toutes trois leur place distincte. Certaines situations bien précises requièrent soit l’un soit l’autre de ces types de modélisation ; le bon choix s’impose afin de pouvoir faire du modèle un usage conforme aux objectifs de l’étude. Dans le cadre de ce travail, nous explorons dans un premier temps le pouvoir explicatif de l’arbre de régression multivariable (ARM). Cette méthode de modélisation est basée sur un algorithme récursif de bipartition et une méthode de rééchantillonage permettant l’élagage du modèle final, qui est un arbre, afin d’obtenir le modèle produisant les meilleures prédictions. Cette analyse asymétrique à deux tableaux permet l’obtention de groupes homogènes d’objets du tableau réponse, les divisions entre les groupes correspondant à des points de coupure des variables du tableau explicatif marquant les changements les plus abrupts de la réponse. Nous démontrons qu’afin de calculer le pouvoir explicatif de l’ARM, on doit définir un coefficient de détermination ajusté dans lequel les degrés de liberté du modèle sont estimés à l’aide d’un algorithme. Cette estimation du coefficient de détermination de la population est pratiquement non biaisée. Puisque l’ARM sous-tend des prémisses de discontinuité alors que l’analyse canonique de redondance (ACR) modélise des gradients linéaires continus, la comparaison de leur pouvoir explicatif respectif permet entre autres de distinguer quel type de patron la réponse suit en fonction des variables explicatives. La comparaison du pouvoir explicatif entre l’ACR et l’ARM a été motivée par l’utilisation extensive de l’ACR afin d’étudier la diversité bêta. Toujours dans une optique explicative, nous définissons une nouvelle procédure appelée l’arbre de régression multivariable en cascade (ARMC) qui permet de construire un modèle tout en imposant un ordre hiérarchique aux hypothèses à l’étude. Cette nouvelle procédure permet d’entreprendre l’étude de l’effet hiérarchisé de deux jeux de variables explicatives, principal et subordonné, puis de calculer leur pouvoir explicatif. L’interprétation du modèle final se fait comme dans une MANOVA hiérarchique. On peut trouver dans les résultats de cette analyse des informations supplémentaires quant aux liens qui existent entre la réponse et les variables explicatives, par exemple des interactions entres les deux jeux explicatifs qui n’étaient pas mises en évidence par l’analyse ARM usuelle. D’autre part, on étudie le pouvoir prédictif des modèles linéaires généralisés en modélisant la biomasse de différentes espèces d’arbre tropicaux en fonction de certaines de leurs mesures allométriques. Plus particulièrement, nous examinons la capacité des structures d’erreur gaussienne et gamma à fournir les prédictions les plus précises. Nous montrons que pour une espèce en particulier, le pouvoir prédictif d’un modèle faisant usage de la structure d’erreur gamma est supérieur. Cette étude s’insère dans un cadre pratique et se veut un exemple pour les gestionnaires voulant estimer précisément la capture du carbone par des plantations d’arbres tropicaux. Nos conclusions pourraient faire partie intégrante d’un programme de réduction des émissions de carbone par les changements d’utilisation des terres. / In ecology, in ecosystem services studies for example, descriptive, explanatory and predictive modelling all have relevance in different situations. Precise circumstances may require one or the other type of modelling; it is important to choose the method properly to insure that the final model fits the study’s goal. In this thesis, we first explore the explanatory power of the multivariate regression tree (MRT). This modelling technique is based on a recursive bipartitionning algorithm. The tree is fully grown by successive bipartitions and then it is pruned by resampling in order to reveal the tree providing the best predictions. This asymmetric analysis of two tables produces homogeneous groups in terms of the response that are constrained by splitting levels in the values of some of the most important explanatory variables. We show that to calculate the explanatory power of an MRT, an appropriate adjusted coefficient of determination must include an estimation of the degrees of freedom of the MRT model through an algorithm. This estimation of the population coefficient of determination is practically unbiased. Since MRT is based upon discontinuity premises whereas canonical redundancy analysis (RDA) models continuous linear gradients, the comparison of their explanatory powers enables one to distinguish between those two patterns of species distributions along the explanatory variables. The extensive use of RDA for the study of beta diversity motivated the comparison between its explanatory power and that of MRT. In an explanatory perspective again, we define a new procedure called a cascade of multivariate regression trees (CMRT). This procedure provides the possibility of computing an MRT model where an order is imposed to nested explanatory hypotheses. CMRT provides a framework to study the exclusive effect of a main and a subordinate set of explanatory variables by calculating their explanatory powers. The interpretation of the final model is done as in nested MANOVA. New information may arise from this analysis about the relationship between the response and the explanatory variables, for example interaction effects between the two explanatory data sets that were not evidenced by the usual MRT model. On the other hand, we study the predictive power of generalized linear models (GLM) to predict individual tropical tree biomass as a function of allometric shape variables. Particularly, we examine the capacity of gaussian and gamma error structures to provide the most precise predictions. We show that for a particular species, gamma error structure is superior in terms of predictive power. This study is part of a practical framework; it is meant to be used as a tool for managers who need to precisely estimate the amount of carbon recaptured by tropical tree plantations. Our conclusions could be integrated within a program of carbon emission reduction by land use changes.

O padrão espacial de ocorrência de atributos de espécies florestais, tal como a área basal das árvores, pode fornecer informações para o entendimento da estrutura da comunidade vegetal. Uma vez que fatores ambientais podem influenciar tanto o padrão espacial de ocorrência quanto os atributos das espécies em florestas nativas. Desse modo, investigar a relação entre as características ambientais e o padrão espacial de espécies florestais pode ajudar a entender a dinâmica das florestas. Especificamente, neste trabalho, o objetivo é avaliar métodos estatísticos que permitam identificar quais atributos do solo são capazes de explicar a variação da área basal de cada espécie de árvore. A área basal foi considerada como variável resposta e como covariáveis, um grande número de atributos físicos e químicos do solo, medidos em uma malha de localizações cobrindo a área de estudo. Foram revisados e utilizados os métodos de regressão linear múltipla com método de seleção stepwise, modelos aditivos generalizados e árvores de regressão. Em uma segunda fase das análises, adicionou-se um efeito espacial aos modelos, com o intuito de verificar se havia ainda padrões na variabilidade, não capturados pelos modelos. Com isso, foram considerados os modelos autoregressivo simultâneo, condicional autoregressivo e geoestatístico. Dado o grande número de atributos do solo, as análises foram também conduzidas utilizando-se as covariáveis originais, fatores identificados em uma análise fatorial prévia dos atributos de solo. A seleção de modelos com melhor ajuste foi utilizada para identificar os atributos de solo relevantes, bem como a presença e melhor descrição de padrões espaciais. A área de estudo foi a Estação Ecológica de Assis, da Unidade de Conservação do Estado de São Paulo em parcelas permanentes, dentro do projeto \"Diversidade, Dinâmica e Conservação em Florestas do Estado de São Paulo: 40 ha de parcelas permanentes\", do programa Biota da FAPESP. As análises reportadas aqui se referem à área basal das espécies Copaifera langsdorffii, Vochysia tucanorum e Xylopia aromatica. Com os atributos de solo reduzidos e consistentemente associados à área basal, a declividade, altitude, saturação por alumínio e potássio mostraram-se relevantes para duas das espécies. Resultados obtidos mostraram a presença de um padrão na variabilidade, mesmo levando-se em consideração os efeitos das covariáveis, ou seja, os atributos do solo explicam parcialmente a variabilidade da área basal, mas existe um padrão que ocorre no espaço que não é capturado por essas covariáveis. / The spatial pattern of occurrenceis of forest species and their attributes, such as the basal area of trees, can provide information for understanding the structure of the vegetable community. Considering the environmental factors can influence the spatial pattern of occurrences of species in native forests and related attributes, describing relationship between environmental characteristics and spatial pattern of forest species can be associated with the dynamics of forests. The objective of the present study is to assess different statistical methods used to identify which soil attributes are associated with the basal area of each tree selected species. The basal area was considered as the response variable and the covariates are given by a large number of physical and chemical attributes of the soil, measured at a grid of locations covering the study area. The methods considered are the multiple linear regression with stepwise model selection, generalized additive models and regression trees. Spatial effects were added to the models, in order to ascertain whether there is residual spatial patterns not captured by the covariates. Thus, simultaneous autoregressive model, autoregressive conditional and geostatistical were considered. Considering the large number of soil attributes, analysis were were conducted both ways, using the original covariates, and using factors identified in a preliminar factor analysis of the soil attributes. Model selection was used to identify the relevant attributes of soil as well as the presence and better description of spatial patterns. The study area was the Ecological Station of Assis, the Conservation Unit of the State of São Paulo in permanent plots within the \"Diversity Dynamics and Conservation Forests in the State of São Paulo: 40 ha of permanent plots\" project, under the research project FAPESP biota. The analyzes reported here refer to the basal area of the species Copaifera langsdorffii, Vochysia tucanorum and Xylopia aromatica. Results differ among the considered methods reinforcing the reccomendation of considering differing modeling strategies. Covariates consistently associated with basal area are slope, altitude and aluminum saturation, potassium, relevant to at least two of the species. Results obtained showed the presence of patterns in residual variability, even taking into account the effects of covariates. The soil characteristics only partially explain the variability of the basal area and there are spatial patterns not captured by these covariates.

This report focus upon implied volatility for American styled Asian options, and a least squares approximation method as a way of estimating its magnitude. Asian option prices are calculated/approximated based on Quasi-Monte Carlo simulations and least squares regression, where a known volatility is being used as input. A regression tree then empirically builds a database of regression vectors for the implied volatility based on the simulated output of option prices. The mean squared errors between imputed and estimated volatilities are then compared using a five-folded cross-validation test as well as the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis hypothesis test of equal distributions. The study results in a proposed semi-parametric model for estimating implied volatilities from options. The user must however be aware of that this model may suffer from bias in estimation, and should thereby be used with caution.

En écologie, dans le cadre par exemple d’études des services fournis par les écosystèmes, les modélisations descriptive, explicative et prédictive ont toutes trois leur place distincte. Certaines situations bien précises requièrent soit l’un soit l’autre de ces types de modélisation ; le bon choix s’impose afin de pouvoir faire du modèle un usage conforme aux objectifs de l’étude. Dans le cadre de ce travail, nous explorons dans un premier temps le pouvoir explicatif de l’arbre de régression multivariable (ARM). Cette méthode de modélisation est basée sur un algorithme récursif de bipartition et une méthode de rééchantillonage permettant l’élagage du modèle final, qui est un arbre, afin d’obtenir le modèle produisant les meilleures prédictions. Cette analyse asymétrique à deux tableaux permet l’obtention de groupes homogènes d’objets du tableau réponse, les divisions entre les groupes correspondant à des points de coupure des variables du tableau explicatif marquant les changements les plus abrupts de la réponse. Nous démontrons qu’afin de calculer le pouvoir explicatif de l’ARM, on doit définir un coefficient de détermination ajusté dans lequel les degrés de liberté du modèle sont estimés à l’aide d’un algorithme. Cette estimation du coefficient de détermination de la population est pratiquement non biaisée. Puisque l’ARM sous-tend des prémisses de discontinuité alors que l’analyse canonique de redondance (ACR) modélise des gradients linéaires continus, la comparaison de leur pouvoir explicatif respectif permet entre autres de distinguer quel type de patron la réponse suit en fonction des variables explicatives. La comparaison du pouvoir explicatif entre l’ACR et l’ARM a été motivée par l’utilisation extensive de l’ACR afin d’étudier la diversité bêta. Toujours dans une optique explicative, nous définissons une nouvelle procédure appelée l’arbre de régression multivariable en cascade (ARMC) qui permet de construire un modèle tout en imposant un ordre hiérarchique aux hypothèses à l’étude. Cette nouvelle procédure permet d’entreprendre l’étude de l’effet hiérarchisé de deux jeux de variables explicatives, principal et subordonné, puis de calculer leur pouvoir explicatif. L’interprétation du modèle final se fait comme dans une MANOVA hiérarchique. On peut trouver dans les résultats de cette analyse des informations supplémentaires quant aux liens qui existent entre la réponse et les variables explicatives, par exemple des interactions entres les deux jeux explicatifs qui n’étaient pas mises en évidence par l’analyse ARM usuelle. D’autre part, on étudie le pouvoir prédictif des modèles linéaires généralisés en modélisant la biomasse de différentes espèces d’arbre tropicaux en fonction de certaines de leurs mesures allométriques. Plus particulièrement, nous examinons la capacité des structures d’erreur gaussienne et gamma à fournir les prédictions les plus précises. Nous montrons que pour une espèce en particulier, le pouvoir prédictif d’un modèle faisant usage de la structure d’erreur gamma est supérieur. Cette étude s’insère dans un cadre pratique et se veut un exemple pour les gestionnaires voulant estimer précisément la capture du carbone par des plantations d’arbres tropicaux. Nos conclusions pourraient faire partie intégrante d’un programme de réduction des émissions de carbone par les changements d’utilisation des terres. / In ecology, in ecosystem services studies for example, descriptive, explanatory and predictive modelling all have relevance in different situations. Precise circumstances may require one or the other type of modelling; it is important to choose the method properly to insure that the final model fits the study’s goal. In this thesis, we first explore the explanatory power of the multivariate regression tree (MRT). This modelling technique is based on a recursive bipartitionning algorithm. The tree is fully grown by successive bipartitions and then it is pruned by resampling in order to reveal the tree providing the best predictions. This asymmetric analysis of two tables produces homogeneous groups in terms of the response that are constrained by splitting levels in the values of some of the most important explanatory variables. We show that to calculate the explanatory power of an MRT, an appropriate adjusted coefficient of determination must include an estimation of the degrees of freedom of the MRT model through an algorithm. This estimation of the population coefficient of determination is practically unbiased. Since MRT is based upon discontinuity premises whereas canonical redundancy analysis (RDA) models continuous linear gradients, the comparison of their explanatory powers enables one to distinguish between those two patterns of species distributions along the explanatory variables. The extensive use of RDA for the study of beta diversity motivated the comparison between its explanatory power and that of MRT. In an explanatory perspective again, we define a new procedure called a cascade of multivariate regression trees (CMRT). This procedure provides the possibility of computing an MRT model where an order is imposed to nested explanatory hypotheses. CMRT provides a framework to study the exclusive effect of a main and a subordinate set of explanatory variables by calculating their explanatory powers. The interpretation of the final model is done as in nested MANOVA. New information may arise from this analysis about the relationship between the response and the explanatory variables, for example interaction effects between the two explanatory data sets that were not evidenced by the usual MRT model. On the other hand, we study the predictive power of generalized linear models (GLM) to predict individual tropical tree biomass as a function of allometric shape variables. Particularly, we examine the capacity of gaussian and gamma error structures to provide the most precise predictions. We show that for a particular species, gamma error structure is superior in terms of predictive power. This study is part of a practical framework; it is meant to be used as a tool for managers who need to precisely estimate the amount of carbon recaptured by tropical tree plantations. Our conclusions could be integrated within a program of carbon emission reduction by land use changes.

No description available.

[pt] volatilidade dos ativos financeiros reflete uma reação prosseguida dos agentes a choques no passado ou alterações nas condições dos mercados determinam mudanças na dinâmica da variável? Enquanto modelos fracionalmente integrados vêm sendo extensamente utilizados como uma descrição adequada do processo gerador de séries de volatilidade, trabalhos teóricos recentes indicaram que mudanças estruturais podem ser uma relevante alternativa empírica para o fato estilizado de memória longa. O presente trabalho investiga o que alterações nos mercados significam nesse contexto, introduzindo variações de preços como uma possível fonte de mudanças no nível da volatilidade durante algum período, com grandes quedas (ascensões) nos preços trazendo regimes persistentes de variância alta (baixa). Uma estratégia de modelagem sistemática e flexível é estabelecida para testar e estimar essa assimetria através da incorporação de retornos acumulados passados num arcabouço não-linear. O principal resultado revela que o efeito é altamente significante - estima-se que níveis de volatilidade 25% e 50% maiores estão associados a quedas nos preços em períodos curtos - e é capaz de explicar altos valores de estimativas do parâmetro de memória longa. Finalmente, mostra-se que a modelagem desse efeito traz ganhos importantes para aplicações fora da amostra em períodos de volatilidade alta. / [en] Does volatility reflect lasting reactions to past shocks or changes in the markets induce shifts in this variable dynamics? In this work, we argue that price variations are an essential source of information about multiple regimes in the realized volatility of stocks, with large falls (rises) in prices bringing persistent regimes of high (low) variance. The study shows that this asymmetric effect is highly significant (we estimate that falls of different magnitudes over less than two months are associated with volatility levels 20% and 60% higher than the average of periods with stable or rising prices) and support large empirical values of long memory parameter estimates. We show that a model based on those findings significantly improves out of sample performance in relation to standard methods {specially in periods of high volatility.

[pt] Esta dissertação tem por objetivo comparar o desempenho de modelos não lineares de previsão de retornos em 10 ativos do mercado acionário brasileiro. Entre os modelos escolhidos, pode-se citar o STAR-Tree, que combina conceitos da metodologia STAR (Smooth Transition AutoRegression) e do algoritmo CART (Classification And Regression Trees), tendo como resultado final uma regressão com transição suave entre múltiplos regimes. A especificação do modelo é feita através de testes de hipótese do tipo Multiplicador de Lagrange que indicam o nó a ser dividido e a variável explicativa correspondente. A estimação dos parâmetros é feita pelo método de Mínimos Quadrados Não Lineares para determinar o valor dos parâmetros lineares e não lineares. Redes Neurais, modelos ARMAX (estes lineares) e ainda o método Naive também foram incluídos na análise. Os resultados das previsões foram avaliados a partir de medidas estatísticas e financeiras e se basearam em um negociador automático que informa o instante correto de assumir uma posição comprada ou vendida em cada ativo. Os melhores desempenhos foram alcançados pelas Redes Neurais, pelos modelos ARMAX e pela forma de previsão ARC (Adaptative Regime Combination) derivada da metodologia STAR-Tree, sendo ambos ainda superiores ao retorno das ações durante o período de teste / [en] The goal of this dissertation is to compare the performance of non linear models to forecast return on 10 equities in the Brazilian Stock Market. Among the chosen ones, it can be cited the STAR-Tree, which matches concepts from the STAR (Smooth Transition AutoRegression) methodology and the CART (Classification And Regression Trees) algorithm, having as the resultant structure a regression with smooth transition among multiple regimes. The model specification is done by Lagrange Multiplier hypothesis tests that indicate the node to be splitted and the corresponding explanatory variable. The parameter estimation is done by the Non Linear Least Squares method that determine the linear and non linear parameters. Neural Netwoks, ARMAX models (these ones linear) and the Naive method were also included in the analysis. The forecasting results were calculated using statistical and financial measures and were based on an automatic negociator that signaled the right instant to take a short or a long position in each stock. The best results were reached by the Neural Networks, ARMAX models and ARC (Adaptative Regime Combination ) forecasting method derived from STAR-Tree, with all of them performing better then the equity return during the test period.

[pt] O objetivo principal desta tese introduzir um modelo estruturado por árvores que combina aspectos de duas metodologias: CART (Classification and Regression Tree) e STR (Smooth Transition Regression). O modelo aqui denominado STR-Tree. A idéia especificar um modelo não-linear paramétrico através da estrutura de uma árvore de decisão binária. O modelo resultante pode ser analisado como uma regressão com transição suave entre múltiplos regimes. As decisões sobre as divisões dos nós são inteiramente baseadas em testes do tipo Multiplicadores de Lagrange. Uma especificação alternativa baseada em validação cruzada também utilizada. Um experimento de Monte Carlo utilizado para avaliar o desempenho da metodologia proposta comparando-a com outras técnicas comumente utilizadas. Como resultado verifica-se que o modelo STR- Tree supera o tradicional CART quando seleciona a arquitetura de árvores simuladas. Além do mais, utilizar testes do tipo Multiplicadores de Lagrange gera resultados melhores do que procedimentos de validação cruzada. Quando foram utilizadas bases de dados reais, o modelo STR-Tree demonstrou habilidade preditiva superior ao CART. Através de uma aplicação, extende-se a metodologia para a análise de séries temporais. Neste caso, o modelo denominado STAR- Tree, sendo obtido através de uma árvore de decisão binária que ajusta modelos autoregressivos de primeira ordem nos regimes. A série de retornos da taxa de câmbio Euro/Dólar foi modelada e a capacidade preditiva e o desempenho financeiro do modelo foi comparado com metodologias padrões como previsões ingênuas e modelos ARMA. Como resultado obtido um modelo parcimonioso que apresenta desempenho estatístico equivalente às estratégias convencionais, porém obtendo resultados financeiros superiores. / [en] He main goal of this Thesis is to introduce a tree- structured model that combines aspects from two methodologies: CART (Classification and Regression Trees) and STR (Smooth Transition Regression). The model is called STR-Tree, The idea is to specify a nonlinear parametric model through the structure of a binary decision tree. The resulting modelo can be analyzed as a smooth transition regression model with multiple regimes. The decisions for splitting the nodes of the tree are entirely based on Lagrange Multipliers tests. An alternative specification that uses cross- validation is also tried. A Monte Carlo Experiment is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed methodology and to compare with other techniques that are commonly used. The results showed that the STRTree model outperformed the traditional CART when specifying the architecture of a simulated tree. Moreover, the use of Lagrange Multipliers tests gave better results than a cross-validation procedure. After applying the model to real datasets, it could be seen that STR-Tree showed superior predictive ability when compared to CART. The idea was extended to time series analysis through an application. In this situation, we call the model as STAR- Tree which is obtained through a binary decision tree that fits first-order autoregressive models for different regimes. The model was fitted to the returns of Euro/Dolar exchange rate time series and then evaluated statistically and financially. Comparing with the naive approach and ARMA methodology, the STAR-Tree was parsimonious and presented statistical performance equivalent to others. The financial results were better than the others.

O padrão espacial de ocorrência de atributos de espécies florestais, tal como a área basal das árvores, pode fornecer informações para o entendimento da estrutura da comunidade vegetal. Uma vez que fatores ambientais podem influenciar tanto o padrão espacial de ocorrência quanto os atributos das espécies em florestas nativas. Desse modo, investigar a relação entre as características ambientais e o padrão espacial de espécies florestais pode ajudar a entender a dinâmica das florestas. Especificamente, neste trabalho, o objetivo é avaliar métodos estatísticos que permitam identificar quais atributos do solo são capazes de explicar a variação da área basal de cada espécie de árvore. A área basal foi considerada como variável resposta e como covariáveis, um grande número de atributos físicos e químicos do solo, medidos em uma malha de localizações cobrindo a área de estudo. Foram revisados e utilizados os métodos de regressão linear múltipla com método de seleção stepwise, modelos aditivos generalizados e árvores de regressão. Em uma segunda fase das análises, adicionou-se um efeito espacial aos modelos, com o intuito de verificar se havia ainda padrões na variabilidade, não capturados pelos modelos. Com isso, foram considerados os modelos autoregressivo simultâneo, condicional autoregressivo e geoestatístico. Dado o grande número de atributos do solo, as análises foram também conduzidas utilizando-se as covariáveis originais, fatores identificados em uma análise fatorial prévia dos atributos de solo. A seleção de modelos com melhor ajuste foi utilizada para identificar os atributos de solo relevantes, bem como a presença e melhor descrição de padrões espaciais. A área de estudo foi a Estação Ecológica de Assis, da Unidade de Conservação do Estado de São Paulo em parcelas permanentes, dentro do projeto \"Diversidade, Dinâmica e Conservação em Florestas do Estado de São Paulo: 40 ha de parcelas permanentes\", do programa Biota da FAPESP. As análises reportadas aqui se referem à área basal das espécies Copaifera langsdorffii, Vochysia tucanorum e Xylopia aromatica. Com os atributos de solo reduzidos e consistentemente associados à área basal, a declividade, altitude, saturação por alumínio e potássio mostraram-se relevantes para duas das espécies. Resultados obtidos mostraram a presença de um padrão na variabilidade, mesmo levando-se em consideração os efeitos das covariáveis, ou seja, os atributos do solo explicam parcialmente a variabilidade da área basal, mas existe um padrão que ocorre no espaço que não é capturado por essas covariáveis. / The spatial pattern of occurrenceis of forest species and their attributes, such as the basal area of trees, can provide information for understanding the structure of the vegetable community. Considering the environmental factors can influence the spatial pattern of occurrences of species in native forests and related attributes, describing relationship between environmental characteristics and spatial pattern of forest species can be associated with the dynamics of forests. The objective of the present study is to assess different statistical methods used to identify which soil attributes are associated with the basal area of each tree selected species. The basal area was considered as the response variable and the covariates are given by a large number of physical and chemical attributes of the soil, measured at a grid of locations covering the study area. The methods considered are the multiple linear regression with stepwise model selection, generalized additive models and regression trees. Spatial effects were added to the models, in order to ascertain whether there is residual spatial patterns not captured by the covariates. Thus, simultaneous autoregressive model, autoregressive conditional and geostatistical were considered. Considering the large number of soil attributes, analysis were were conducted both ways, using the original covariates, and using factors identified in a preliminar factor analysis of the soil attributes. Model selection was used to identify the relevant attributes of soil as well as the presence and better description of spatial patterns. The study area was the Ecological Station of Assis, the Conservation Unit of the State of São Paulo in permanent plots within the \"Diversity Dynamics and Conservation Forests in the State of São Paulo: 40 ha of permanent plots\" project, under the research project FAPESP biota. The analyzes reported here refer to the basal area of the species Copaifera langsdorffii, Vochysia tucanorum and Xylopia aromatica. Results differ among the considered methods reinforcing the reccomendation of considering differing modeling strategies. Covariates consistently associated with basal area are slope, altitude and aluminum saturation, potassium, relevant to at least two of the species. Results obtained showed the presence of patterns in residual variability, even taking into account the effects of covariates. The soil characteristics only partially explain the variability of the basal area and there are spatial patterns not captured by these covariates.

Få studier om ljudsymbolik, d.v.s. kopplingen mellan ords form och betydelse, har baserats på statistisk analys. I denna studie använder vi random forests med måttet permutation variable importance för att utforska vilka fonem (språkljud) som är prevalenta i engelska ord som beskriver hårdhet eller mjukhet. Denna icke-parametriska maskininlärningsmetod har funnits vara användbar för identifiering av ett fåtal inflytelserika förklaringsvariabler i situationer där n < p eller interkorrelationer förekommer. Vårt material och val av metod grundar sig på en tidigare studie, som fann att r-ljud hade starkt samband med betydelsen ‘strävhet’, men som inte kontrollerade för betydelsen ‘hårdhet’ trots att dessa korrelerar med varandra. Vi kontrollerar för dimensionen strävhet-lenhet genom att utföra random forest-analysen på två delmängder: ord som används för att beskriva hårdhet eller mjukhet (n = 81), samt den delmängd av dessa ord som inte beskriver strävhet eller lenhet (n  = 40). Samtliga regressorer är binära variabler, som anger förekomsten eller avsaknaden av varsitt fonem; vi utförde separata analyser på respektive datamängd för att se vilka fonem som hade störst effekt, då man betraktade specifika stavelsekomponenter. Vi fann att r-ljuden hade starkt samband med betydelsen ‘hårdhet’ både före och efter kontrollen för ‘strävhet’. Vi fann även att ljudet med symbolen i (t.ex. sista vokalen i fluffy) hade starkt samband med betydelsen ‘mjukhet’ före och efter kontroll, men vi misstänker att detta egentligen reflekterar sambandet mellan ‘mjukhet’ och exkluderade bakgrundsvariabler. / Few studies about sound symbolism, i.e. the association between the shape and meaning of words, have been based on statistical analysis. In this study, we use random forests and the permutation variable importance measure to explore which phonemes (language sounds) are prevalent in English descriptors of hardness or softness. This non-parametric machine learning method has been found useful for identification of a few influential predictors in situations where n < p or intercorrelations are present. Our materials and choice of method are based on an earlier study, in which a strong association was found between r-sounds and ‘roughness’, but which did not control for the meaning ‘hardness’ despite the correlation between them. We control for the dimension ‘roughness-smoothness’ by performing the random forest-analysis on two subsets of data: descriptors of hardness or softness (n = 81), and descriptors of hardness or softness which are not used to describe roughness or smoothness (n = 40). All regressors are binary variables indicating the presence or absence of a phoneme. Separate analyses were conducted on each subset to see which phonemes had the largest effect when specific syllable compontents were considered. We found that r-sounds had a strong association with ‘hardness’ both before and after controlling for ‘roughness’. We also found that the sound here symbolized by i (e.g. the last vowel of fluffy) had a strong association with ‘softness’ before and after control, but we suspect that this might instead reflect an association between ‘softness’ and excluded variables.