[R] 'asymmetric span' for 2D loess?

[Tokuyasu, Taku]

Dear Prof Ripley,

> > Hello,
> >
> > I am interested in performing a 2D loess smooth on microarray data, i.e.
> > log2 ratios on a 2D grid, using different spans in the horizontal and
> > vertical directions (the immediate reason being that replicate spots are
> > laid out in the horizontal direction).  Is it possible to do this in R?
> > Functions like loess(stats) seem to apply the same span for all
> > predictors, which carries over to functions like ma2D(marray).
> 
> See the next comment.  'span' applies to 2D distances, and I think you
> need to rescale your inputs so Euclidean distance is appropriate.

That's a great idea.

> 
> > As an elementary second question, are there circumstances where one
> > expects to see a substantial difference in the fits between say loess(y
> > ~ x1 + x2) and loess(y ~ x1 * x2) with an interaction term (and if so,
> > what are they)?
> 
> From the help page:
> 
>   formula: a formula specifying the numeric response and one to four
>            numeric predictors (best specified via an interaction, but
>            can also be specified additively).  Will be coerced to a
>            formula if necessary.
> 
> So the two versions both specify smoothing in 2D.
> 
> You can use things like lo(x1) + lo(x2) in some gam fits.

Hadn't thought of that, I will explore this.

> 
> It often helps to read the primary sources, in this case chapters in the
> White Book (Chambers & Hastie, nominally 1992, actually published in
> 1991).
> 
> --
> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
> 

Thanks very much for the help.  Nice photos on the Web, by the way.

Regards,

_Taku

Taku A. Tokuyasu, PhD
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
San Francisco, CA 94143-0808