No description available.

The measures studied in this thesis were a measure of disorder, D, and a measure of the individual part of the disagreement, the measure of relative rank variance, RV, proposed by Svensson in 1993. The measure of disorder is a useful measure of order consistency in paired assessments of scales with a different number of possible values. The measure of relative rank variance is a useful measure in evaluating reliability and for evaluating change in qualitative outcome variables. In Paper I an overview of methods used in the analysis of dependent ordinal data and a comparison of the methods regarding the assumptions, specifications, applicability, and implications for use were made. In Paper II an application, and a comparison of the results of some standard models, tests, and measures to two different research problems were made. The sampling distribution of the measure of disorder was studied both analytically and by a simulation experiment in Paper III. The asymptotic normal distribution was shown by the theory of U-statistics and the simulation experiments for finite sample sizes and various amount of disorder showed that the sampling distribution was approximately normal for sample sizes of about 40 to 60 for moderate sizes of D and for smaller sample sizes for substantial sizes of D. The sampling distribution of the relative rank variance was studied in a simulation experiment in Paper IV. The simulation experiment showed that the sampling distribution was approximately normal for sample sizes of 60-100 for moderate size of RV, and for smaller sample sizes for substantial size of RV. In Paper V a procedure for inference regarding relative rank variances from two or more samples was proposed. Pair-wise comparison by jackknife technique for variance estimation and the use of normal distribution as approximation in inference for parameters in independent samples based on the results in Paper IV were demonstrated. Moreover, an application of Kruskal-Wallis test for independent samples and Friedman’s test for dependent samples were conducted. / Statistical methods for ordinal data

The field of medicine is regularly faced with the challenge of utilizing information that is complicated or difficult to characterize. Physicians often must use their best judgment in reaching decisions or recommendations for treatment in the clinical setting. The goal of this thesis is to use innovative statistical tools in tackling three specific challenges of this nature from current healthcare applications. The first aim focuses on developing a novel approach to meta-analysis when combining binary data from multiple studies of paired design, particularly in cases of high heterogeneity between studies. The challenge is in properly accounting for heterogeneity when dealing with a low or moderate number of studies, and with a rarely occurring outcome. The proposed approach uses a Rasch model for translating data from multiple paired studies into a unified structure that allows for properly handling variability associated with both pair effects and study effects. Analysis is then performed using a Bayesian hierarchical structure, which accounts for heterogeneity in a direct way within the variances of the separate generating distributions for each model parameter. This approach is applied to the debated topic within the dental community of the comparative effectiveness of materials used for pit-and-fissure sealants. The second and third aims of this research both have applications in early detection of breast cancer. The interpretation of a mammogram is often difficult since signs of early disease are often minuscule, and the appearance of even normal tissue can be highly variable and complex. Physicians often have to consider many important pieces of the whole picture when trying to assess next steps. The final two aims focus on improving the interpretation of findings in mammograms to aid in early cancer detection. When dealing with high frequency and irregular data, as is seen in most medical images, the behaviors of these complex structures are often difficult or impossible to quantify by standard modeling techniques. But a commonly occurring phenomenon in high-frequency data is that of regular scaling. The second aim in this thesis is to develop and evaluate a wavelet-based scaling estimator that reduces the information in a mammogram down to an informative and low-dimensional quantification of the innate scaling behavior, optimized for use in classifying the tissue as cancerous or non-cancerous. The specific demands for this estimator are that it be robust with respect to distributional assumptions on the data, and with respect to outlier levels in the frequency domain representation of the data. The final aim in this research focuses on enhancing the visualization of microcalcifications that are too small to capture well on screening mammograms. Using scale-mixing discrete wavelet transform methods, the existing detail information contained in a very small and course image will be used to impute scaled details at finer levels. These "informed" finer details will then be used to produce an image of much higher resolution than the original, improving the visualization of the object. The goal is to also produce a confidence area for the true location of the shape's borders, allowing for more accurate feature assessment. Through the more accurate assessment of these very small shapes, physicians may be more confident in deciding next steps.

The aim of this work is optimalisation of induction furnace in foundry for company PROMET FOUNDRY a.s. The company has two induction furnances. There are installed as identical construction. They have 2 modes of operation. First mode is founding and second mode is mode, where is temperature in maintain mode. Only one induction furnance can work in the founding mode at a time though. Inducion furnances are in the single-phase connection and they cause unbalance in the distribution network. Near the foundry there is a small network area whitch it is operated by company Zásobování teplem Vsetín a.s. The consumption of electrical energy in foundry so big, that in the year 2009 was made elaborate for Zásobování teplem Vsetín a.s. It was write at Laboratoře diagnostiky výkonů (Laboratory of performance diagnostics), which is a part of Electrotechnic Department at Technical Univarsity of Ostrava. The ordered study was named “Verification of causes of increased reactive energy consumption during transition from electricity delivery to electricity consumption”. The conclusion of this assignment confirms that in distribution network in the Jiráskova area in Vsetín there is unbalance of electrical energy and there is high part of reactive power. The next conclusion is crucial to find the customer who made the unbalance and to set relevant remedy. The last step will be the identification whether such device can actually be effectively balanced. It was subsequently proved that the Promet Foundry was causing the unbalance and that balanced consumption would be reasonable. Promet Foundry thus addressed Autel a.s. company with an inquiry to make a study of removing the causes of the unbalance which is caused by current induction furnaces operation at a minimum possible cost, least possible influence on the performance and minimum construction changes concerning the building. In this thesis there will be some topics. The result of which will be introducing of used heating technology, introducing of company and of effective plant performance and subsequent suggestions of possible unbalance removal or reactive power decrease. Several ways which are being implemented in the industry in order to balance consumption will be described. A suitable balancing plant will be subsequently chosen and its parameters will be calculated.