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Parnell, Andrew C.
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Parnell, Andrew C.
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Parnell, Andrew C.
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 16
- PublicationRepeatability analysis of airborne electromagnetic surveys(SpringerOpen, 2016-09-09)
; ; ; ; Purpose: We provide methods for determining the repeatability of airborne electromagnetic surveys when conducted at different altitudes over a number of repeated flights. Our data arise from the TELLUS project carried out by the Geological Surveys of Ireland and Northern Ireland and we examine the repeatability of the apparent resistivity at different frequencies. Methods: After considering a number of issues with the data, we propose two different models from the functional data analysis literature; a Weiner process with random effects, and a penalised spline smoother. Results: Both methods arrive at the same conclusion regarding repeatability of the data; results obtained are more repeatable for flights at lower altitudes. Conclusions: The target altitude for aircraft carrying out airborne electromagnetic surveys should be as low as possible.261 - PublicationEngaging with feedback: How do students' remediate errors on their weekly quiz?(2018-04-07)
; ; ; Maths for Business is a first-year mathematics module for approximately 500 nonmathematics specialists. It has continuous assessment consisting of ten weekly quizzes, worth 40% of the final mark. In 2016/17, students who did not receive the maximum five marks on their weekly quiz were offered the opportunity to resubmit their quiz, with correction(s) and an explanation of their error(s), for one additional mark. We refer to this process as ‘remediation’. In this paper, we examine how students remediate their errors in order to identify features of a ‘good’ remediation. These features are identification, description, and correction of errors. By analysing a subset of students (n=31), we observe that a student’s quiz mark, and the cognitive level of the quiz question may impact the nature of the remediation provided.117 - PublicationJoint inference of misaligned irregular time series with application to Greenland ice core dataIce cores provide insight into the past climate over many millennia. Due to ice compaction, the raw data for any single core are irregular in time. Multiple cores have different irregularities; and when considered together, they are misaligned in time. After processing, such data are made available to researchers as regular time series: a data product. Typically, these cores are independently processed. This paper considers a fast Bayesian method for the joint processing of multiple irregular series. This is shown to be more efficient than the independent alternative. Furthermore, our explicit framework permits a reliable modelling of the impact of the multiple sources of uncertainty. The methodology is illustrated with the analysis of a pair of ice cores. Our data products, in the form of posterior marginals or joint distributions on an arbitrary temporal grid, are finite Gaussian mixtures. We can also produce process histories to study non-linear functionals of interest. More generally, the concept of joint analysis via hierarchical Gaussian process models can be widely extended, as the models used can be viewed within the larger context of continuous space–time processes.
228 - PublicationHighly variable recurrence of tsunamis in the 7,400 years before the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami(Springer Nature, 2017-07-19)
; ; ; ; The devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caught millions of coastal residents and the scientific community off-guard. Subsequent research in the Indian Ocean basin has identified prehistoric tsunamis, but the timing and recurrence intervals of such events are uncertain. Here we present an extraordinary 7,400 year stratigraphic sequence of prehistoric tsunami deposits from a coastal cave in Aceh, Indonesia. This record demonstrates that at least 11 prehistoric tsunamis struck the Aceh coast between 7,400 and 2,900 years ago. The average time period between tsunamis is about 450 years with intervals ranging from a long, dormant period of over 2,000 years, to multiple tsunamis within the span of a century. Although there is evidence that the likelihood of another tsunamigenic earthquake in Aceh province is high, these variable recurrence intervals suggest that long dormant periods may follow Sunda megathrust ruptures as large as that of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.313Scopus© Citations 78 - PublicationA Bayesian hierarchical model for reconstructing relative sea level: from raw data to rates of change(European Geosciences Union, 2016-02-29)
; ; ; We present a Bayesian hierarchical model for reconstructing the continuous and dynamic evolution of relative sea-level (RSL) change with quantified uncertainty. The reconstruction is produced from biological (foraminifera) and geochemical (δ13C) sea-level indicators preserved in dated cores of salt-marsh sediment. Our model is comprised of three modules: (1) a new Bayesian transfer (B-TF) function for the calibration of biological indicators into tidal elevation, which is flexible enough to formally accommodate additional proxies; (2) an existing chronology developed using the Bchron age–depth model, and (3) an existing Errors-In-Variables integrated Gaussian process (EIV-IGP) model for estimating rates of sea-level change. Our approach is illustrated using a case study of Common Era sea-level variability from New Jersey, USA We develop a new B-TF using foraminifera, with and without the additional (δ13C) proxy and compare our results to those from a widely used weighted-averaging transfer function (WA-TF). The formal incorporation of a second proxy into the B-TF model results in smaller vertical uncertainties and improved accuracy for reconstructed RSL. The vertical uncertainty from the multi-proxy B-TF is  ∼  28 % smaller on average compared to the WA-TF. When evaluated against historic tide-gauge measurements, the multi-proxy B-TF most accurately reconstructs the RSL changes observed in the instrumental record (mean square error  =  0.003 m2). The Bayesian hierarchical model provides a single, unifying framework for reconstructing and analyzing sea-level change through time. This approach is suitable for reconstructing other paleoenvironmental variables (e.g., temperature) using biological proxies.500Scopus© Citations 32 - PublicationChange points of global temperatureWe aim to address the question of whether or not there is a significant recent 'hiatus', 'pause' or 'slowdown' of global temperature rise. Using a statistical technique known as change point (CP) analysis we identify the changes in four global temperature records and estimate the rates of temperature rise before and after these changes occur. For each record the results indicate that three CPs are enough to accurately capture the variability in the data with no evidence of any detectable change in the global warming trend since∼1970. We conclude that the term 'hiatus' or 'pause' cannot be statistically justified.
301Scopus© Citations 70 - PublicationEffect of the First World War on suicide rates in Ireland: an investigation of the 1864-1921 suicide trendsSince the proposition of the social integration theory by Émile Durkheim, macro-sociological changes have been speculated to affect suicide rates. This study investigates the effect of the First World War on Irish suicide rates. We applied an interrupted time series design of 1864–1921 annual Irish suicide rates. The 1864–1913 suicide rates exhibited a slow-rising trend with a sharp decline from the year 1914 onwards. The odds for death by suicide for males during the 1914–1918 period was 0.811 (95% CI 0.768–0.963). Irish rates of suicide were significantly reduced during the First World War, most notably for males.
447Scopus© Citations 8 - PublicationPrediction of tool-wear in turning of medical grade cobalt chromium molybdenum alloy (ASTM F75) using non-parametric Bayesian models(Springer, 2017-03-23)
; ; ; ; ; We present a novel approach to estimating the effect of control parameters on tool wear rates and related changes in the three force components in turning of medical grade Co-Cr-Mo (ASTM F75) alloy. Co-Cr-Mo is known to be a difficult to cut material which, due to a combination of mechanical and physical properties, is used for the critical structural components of implantable medical prosthetics. We run a designed experiment which enables us to estimate tool wear from feed rate and cutting speed, and constrain them using a Bayesian hierarchical Gaussian Process model which enables prediction of tool wear rates for untried experimental settings. However, the predicted tool wear rates are non-linear and, using our models, we can identify experimental settings which optimise the life of the tool. This approach has potential in the future for realtime application of data analytics to machining processes.325Scopus© Citations 12 - PublicationSpatial Bayesian hierarchical modelling of extreme sea states(Elsevier, 2016-11)
; ; ; ; A Bayesian hierarchical framework is used to model extreme sea states, incorporating a latent spatial process to more effectively capture the spatial variation of the extremes. The model is applied to a 34-year hindcast of significant wave height off the west coast of Ireland. The generalised Pareto distribution is fitted to declustered peaks over a threshold given by the 99.8th percentile of the data. Return levels of significant wave height are computed and compared against those from a model based on the commonly-used maximum likelihood inference method. The Bayesian spatial model produces smoother maps of return levels. Furthermore, this approach greatly reduces the uncertainty in the estimates, thus providing information on extremes which is more useful for practical applications.271Scopus© Citations 7 - PublicationModeling sea-level change using errors-in-variables integrated Gaussian processes(Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2015-06)
; ; ; We perform Bayesian inference on historical and late Holocene (last 2000 years) rates of sea-level change. The input data to our model are tidegauge measurements and proxy reconstructions from cores of coastal sediment. These data are complicated by multiple sources of uncertainty, some of which arise as part of the data collection exercise. Notably, the proxy reconstructions include temporal uncertainty from dating of the sediment core using techniques such as radiocarbon. The model we propose places a Gaussian process prior on the rate of sea-level change, which is then integrated and set in an errors-in-variables framework to take account of age uncertainty. The resulting model captures the continuous and dynamic evolution of sea-level change with full consideration of all sources of uncertainty. We demonstrate the performance of our model using two real (and previously published) example data sets. The global tide-gauge data set indicates that sea-level rise increased from a rate with a posterior mean of 1.13 mm/yr in 1880 AD (0.89 to 1.28 mm/yr 95% credible interval for the posterior mean) to a posterior mean rate of 1.92 mm/yr in 2009 AD (1.84 to 2.03 mm/yr 95% credible interval for the posterior mean). The proxy reconstruction from North Carolina (USA) after correction for land-level change shows the 2000 AD rate of rise to have a posterior mean of 2.44 mm/yr (1.91 to 3.01 mm/yr 95% credible interval). This is unprecedented in at least the last 2000 years.220Scopus© Citations 39