Improved two‐stage group sequential procedures for testing a secondary endpoint after the primary endpoint achieves significance

In two‐stage group sequential trials with a primary and a secondary endpoint, the overall type I error rate for the primary endpoint is often controlled by an α‐level boundary, such as an O'Brien‐Fleming or Pocock boundary. Following a hierarchical testing sequence, the secondary endpoint is tested only if the primary endpoint achieves statistical significance either at an interim analysis or at the final analysis. To control the type I error rate for the secondary endpoint, this is tested using a Bonferroni procedure or any α‐level group sequential method. In comparison with marginal testing, there is an overall power loss for the test of the secondary endpoint since a claim of a positive result depends on the significance of the primary endpoint in the hierarchical testing sequence. We propose two group sequential testing procedures with improved secondary power: the improved Bonferroni procedure and the improved Pocock procedure. The proposed procedures use the correlation between the interim and final statistics for the secondary endpoint while applying graphical approaches to transfer the significance level from the primary endpoint to the secondary endpoint. The procedures control the familywise error rate (FWER) strongly by construction and this is confirmed via simulation. We also compare the proposed procedures with other commonly used group sequential procedures in terms of control of the FWER and the power of rejecting the secondary hypothesis. An example is provided to illustrate the procedures.     

Seismic and auditory tuning curves from bullfrog saccular and amphibian papular axons

We present seismic and auditory frequency tuning curves of individual bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana, saccular and amphibian papilla axons that responded to both seismic and auditory stimuli. In this study we found: 1) most saccular axons respond well to auditory stimuli with moderate signal strength (50-70 dB SPL) as well as to seismic stimuli; 2) most amphibian papilla axons respond well to seismic stimuli as well as to auditory stimuli, and their seismic sensitivities are comparable to those of saccular axons (responding to sinusoidal stimuli with peak accelerations in the range 0.001 to 0.1 cm/S2); 3) the responses to both seismic and auditory stimuli from both saccule and amphibian papilla are tuned, i.e. the strength of the response varies with the frequency of the stimulus; and this tuning is clearly not the result of second order resonance; 4) in individual axons the tuning properties for seismic stimuli often are not the same as those for auditory stimuli, a fact that may provide clues about how the stimulus signal energy is transferred to the hair cells in each case.     

大鼠尾壳核衰老变化定量分析：Ⅱ.多巴胺（DA）系统

本实验结果表明:衰老大鼠(26—27月龄)尾壳核多巴胺(DA)神经末梢膨体较成年组(3—4月龄)明显减少,而单个膨体内DA含量较成年组显著增多,提示纹状体DA系统在衰老过程中可能具有一定的代偿机制。本文对其意义进行了讨论。     

垂直绿化生态效益研究综述

全球气候变化和城市化背景下城市生态环境问题越发凸显，面对日趋紧张的土地资源现状，垂直绿化建设成为重要的城市绿地补充手段，对改善城市环境具有重要意义。垂直绿化具有多种生态效益，且其效益发挥受到多因素共同影响。如何统筹协调生态效益和影响因素之间的复杂关系，以使其综合生态效益最大化，是当前垂直绿化建设亟待解决的科学问题之一。基于文献综述法归纳了不同生态效益的机制及其关键影响因素，并对多效益和多影响因素进行了综合分析。结果表明，垂直绿化具有缓解城市热岛、建筑节能减排、固碳、净化空气、降噪、截留雨水和支持生物多样性等七种主要生态效益，并受到植被特征、设施结构特征、气象条件、空间格局等多方面因素的共同影响。基于对效益和影响因素的综合分析，进一步提出了两点规划思路：首先，关注环境需求和效益供给的耦合关系能够更加科学合理地指导区域垂直绿化建设布局。其次，关注生态效益间的关系，以区域关键生态环境问题为导向进行效益权衡并结合考虑其影响因素的重要性程度能为规划设计提供有效建议。     

Fisher information for a multivariate extreme value distribution

Explicit algebraic formulae for the Fisher information matrixof the multivariate extreme value distribution with generalisedextreme value margins and logistic dependence structure aregiven.