Data describe and represent the world. However, no matter how big they may be, data sets don't - indeed cannot - capture everything. Data are measurements - and, as such, they represent only what has been measured. They don't necessarily capture all the information that is relevant to the questions we may want to ask. If we do not take into account what may be missing/unknown in the data we have, we may find ourselves unwittingly asking questions that our data cannot actually address, come to mistaken conclusions, and make disastrous decisions. In this book, David Hand looks at the ubiquitous phenomenon of "missing data." He calls this "dark data" (making a comparison to "dark matter" - i.e., matter in the universe that we know is there, but which is invisible to direct measurement). He reveals how we can detect when data is missing, the types of settings in which missing data are likely to be found, and what to do about it. It can arise for many reasons, which themselves may not be obvious - for example, asymmetric information in wars; time delays in financial trading; dropouts in clinical trials; deliberate selection to enhance apparent performance in hospitals, policing, and schools; etc. What becomes clear is that measuring and collecting more and more data (big data) will not necessarily lead us to better understanding or to better decisions. We need to be vigilant to what is missing or unknown in our data, so that we can try to control for it. How do we do that? We can be alert to the causes of dark data, design better data-collection strategies that sidestep some of these causes - and, we can ask better questions of our data, which will lead us to deeper insights and better decisions"--
Measurement is a fundamental concept that underpins almost every aspect of the modern world. It is central to the sciences, social sciences, medicine, and economics, but it affects everyday life. We measure everything - from the distance of far-off galaxies to the temperature of the air, levels of risk, political majorities, taxes, blood pressure, IQ, and weight. The history of measurement goes back to the ancient world, and its story has been one of gradual standardization. Today there are different types of measurement, levels of accuracy, and systems of units, applied in different contexts. Measurement involves notions of variability, accuracy, reliability, and error, and challenges such as the measurement of extreme values. In this Very Short Introduction, David Hand explains the common mathematical framework underlying all measurement, the main approaches to measurement, and the challenges involved. Following a brief historical account of measurement, he discusses measurement as used in the physical sciences and engineering, the life sciences and medicine, the social and behavioural sciences, economics, business, and public policy. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Modern statistics is very different from the dry and dusty discipline of the popular imagination. In its place is an exciting subject which uses deep theory and powerful software tools to shed light and enable understanding. And it sheds this light on all aspects of our lives, enabling astronomers to explore the origins of the universe, archaeologists to investigate ancient civilisations, governments to understand how to benefit and improve society, and businesses to learn how best to provide goods and services. Aimed at readers with no prior mathematical knowledge, this Very Short Introduction explores and explains how statistics work, and how we can decipher them. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
In The Improbability Principle, the renowned statistician David J. Hand argues that extraordinarily rare events are anything but. In fact, they're commonplace. Not only that, we should all expect to experience a miracle roughly once every month. But Hand is no believer in superstitions, prophecies, or the paranormal. His definition of "miracle" is thoroughly rational. No mystical or supernatural explanation is necessary to understand why someone is lucky enough to win the lottery twice, or is destined to be hit by lightning three times and still survive. All we need, Hand argues, is a firm grounding in a powerful set of laws: the laws of inevitability, of truly large numbers, of selection, of the probability lever, and of near enough. Together, these constitute Hand's groundbreaking Improbability Principle. And together, they explain why we should not be so surprised to bump into a friend in a foreign country, or to come across the same unfamiliar word four times in one day. Hand wrestles with seemingly less explicable questions as well: what the Bible and Shakespeare have in common, why financial crashes are par for the course, and why lightning does strike the same place (and the same person) twice. Along the way, he teaches us how to use the Improbability Principle in our own lives—including how to cash in at a casino and how to recognize when a medicine is truly effective. An irresistible adventure into the laws behind "chance" moments and a trusty guide for understanding the world and universe we live in, The Improbability Principle will transform how you think about serendipity and luck, whether it's in the world of business and finance or you're merely sitting in your backyard, tossing a ball into the air and wondering where it will land.
The first truly interdisciplinary text on data mining, blending the contributions of information science, computer science, and statistics. The growing interest in data mining is motivated by a common problem across disciplines: how does one store, access, model, and ultimately describe and understand very large data sets? Historically, different aspects of data mining have been addressed independently by different disciplines. This is the first truly interdisciplinary text on data mining, blending the contributions of information science, computer science, and statistics. The book consists of three sections. The first, foundations, provides a tutorial overview of the principles underlying data mining algorithms and their application. The presentation emphasizes intuition rather than rigor. The second section, data mining algorithms, shows how algorithms are constructed to solve specific problems in a principled manner. The algorithms covered include trees and rules for classification and regression, association rules, belief networks, classical statistical models, nonlinear models such as neural networks, and local "memory-based" models. The third section shows how all of the preceding analysis fits together when applied to real-world data mining problems. Topics include the role of metadata, how to handle missing data, and data preprocessing.
Why can't we tickle ourselves? Why do footballers who hug score more goals? Why does holding a hot coffee make us feel more positively about people? Touch is the sense that make us human. It defines our experiences, shapes our sense of self, and bonds us together. This riveting book from acclaimed neuroscientist David J. Linden is full of revelations about the biology and psychology of touch. It will make you see the world differently - and feel the world differently, too.
The New York Times bestselling author examines how our sense of touch and emotion are interconnected Johns Hopkins neuroscientist and bestselling author of The Compass of Pleasure David J. Linden presents an engaging and fascinating examination of how the interface between our sense of touch and our emotional responses affects our social interactions as well as our general health and development. Accessible in its wit and clarity, Touch explores scientific advances in the understanding of touch that help explain our sense of self and our experience of the world. From skin to nerves to brain, the organization of the body’s touch circuits powerfully influences our lives—affecting everything from consumer choice to sexual intercourse, tool use to the origins of language, chronic pain to healing. Interpersonal touch is crucial to social bonding and individual development. Linden lucidly explains how sensory and emotional context work together to distinguish between perceptions of what feels good and what feels bad. Linking biology and behavioral science, Linden offers an entertaining and enlightening answer to how we feel in every sense of the word.
Of all the characters bequeathed to us by the Hebrew Bible, none is more compelling or complex than David. Divinely blessed, musically gifted, brave, and eloquent, David's famous slaying of Goliath also confirms that he is a redoubtable man of war. Yet, when his son Absalom rebels, David is dogged by the accusation than he will lose his kingdom because he is not merely a man of war, but a man of 'bloods' - guilty of shedding innocent blood. In this book, for the first time, this language of 'innocent blood' and 'bloodguilt' is traced throughout David's story in the books of Samuel and 1 Kings. The theme emerges initially in Saul's pursuit of David and resurfaces regularly as David rises and men like Nabal, Saul, Ishbosheth, and Abner fall. Innocent blood and bloodguilt also turn out to be central to David's reign. This is seen in a surprising way in David's killing of Uriah, but also in the subsequent deaths of his sons, Amnon and Absalom, his general, Amasa, and even in David's encounters with Shimei. The problem rears its head again when the innocent blood of the Gibeonites shed by Saul comes back to haunt David's kingdom. Finally, the problem reappears when Solomon succeeds David and orchestrates the executions of Joab and Shimei, and the exile of Abiathar. Attending carefully to the text and drawing extensively on previous biblical scholarship, David J. Shepherd suggests that innocent blood is not only a pre-eminent concern of David, and his story in Samuel and 1 Kings, but also shapes the entirety of David's history.
Since ROC curves have become ubiquitous in many application areas, the various advances have been scattered across disparate articles and texts. ROC Curves for Continuous Data is the first book solely devoted to the subject, bringing together all the relevant material to provide a clear understanding of how to analyze ROC curves.The fundamenta
Ideal for hand surgeons, residents in a hand surgery rotation, and therapists interested in a review of surgical principles, Principles of Hand Surgery and Therapy, 3rd Edition, by Drs. Thomas E. Trumble, Ghazi M. Rayan, Mark E. Baratz, Jeffrey E. Budoff, and David J. Slutsky, is a practical source of essential, up-to-date information in this specialized area. This single-volume, highly illustrated manual covers all areas of adult and pediatric hand surgery and therapy, including the elbow. You’ll find state-of-the-art basic science combined with step-by-step techniques and therapeutic protocols, helping you hone your skills and prescribe effective long-term care for every patient. An expanded therapy section with more than 50 diagnosis-specific rehabilitation protocols and more than 100 full-color photographs. New chapters on pediatric fractures; expanded coverage of carpal injuries, including fractures and ligament injuries and perilunate instability; a new chapter on diagnostic and therapeutic arthroscopy for wrist injuries; and expanded treatment of arthritis. New information on pediatric surgery with detailed surgical images. The latest information on pain management, as well as nerve physiology and nerve transfers. Core knowledge needed for the boards—including tumors, free tissue transfer, and thumb reconstruction. Consult this title on your favorite e-reader, conduct rapid searches, and adjust font sizes for optimal readability.
This book presents a summary of recent work on the interface between artificial intelligence and statistics. It does this through a series of papers by different authors working in different areas of this interface. These papers are a selected and referenced subset of papers presented at the 3rd Interntional Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, Florida, January 1991.
Sir David Cox is one of the seminal statistical thinkers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this selection of his work, Professor Cox reviews his most influential and interesting papers published before 1993. Each paper is the subject of a candid commentary written especially for this collection. In these he describes the context in which the papers arose and their subsequent influence. He also identifies avenues for future research. Organized in two volumes and grouped by theme, the papers and commentaries provide excellent coverage of many of the most significant advances in statistics in recent times.
This book is about the function and use of official statistics. It welcomes the aspiration for official statistics to be an indispensable element in the information system of a democratic society, serving the government, the economy and the public with data about the economic, demographic, social and environmental situation. The book identifies the political role of official statisticians, who decided what gets measured as well as how it is measured. While thousands of official statistics are published every year, and some are quoted by politicians, used by policy-makers or reported in the media, the authors observe that, in the main, official statistics do not feature much in everyday lives of people and businesses. The book concludes with suggestions for more that should be done, especially in the context of improving wellbeing and helping meet the worldwide set of sustainable development goals set for 2030.
This text describes regression-based approaches to analyzing longitudinal and repeated measures data. It emphasizes statistical models, discusses the relationships between different approaches, and uses real data to illustrate practical applications. It uses commercially available software when it exists and illustrates the program code and output. The data appendix provides many real data sets-beyond those used for the examples-which can serve as the basis for exercises.
Repeated measures data arise when the same characteristic is measured on each case or subject at several times or under several conditions. There is a multitude of techniques available for analysing such data and in the past this has led to some confusion. This book describes the whole spectrum of approaches, beginning with very simple and crude methods, working through intermediate techniques commonly used by consultant statisticians, and concluding with more recent and advanced methods. Those covered include multiple testing, response feature analysis, univariate analysis of variance approaches, multivariate analysis of variance approaches, regression models, two-stage line models, approaches to categorical data and techniques for analysing crossover designs. The theory is illustrated with examples, using real data brought to the authors during their work as statistical consultants.
For step-by-step, easy-to-follow guidance from an expert in the field, turn to Techniques in Wrist and Hand Arthroscopy, 2nd Edition. Dr. David J. Slutsky describes the utility and applications of wrist and small joint arthroscopy for a variety of clinical conditions. Each chapter contains a large literature review section which provides perspective as to the expected outcomes of any given procedure, in addition to multiple clinical examples. Covers hand and wrist arthroscopy in great detail, helping you enhance your arthroscopic skills in the surgical management of patients with chronic wrist pain, carpal instability, triangular fibrocartilage tears, distal radioulnar joint instability, arthroscopic resection arthroplasty of the trapeziometacarpal and scaphotrapezial joints, arthroscopic partial wrist fusions, and proximal row carpectomy, to name just a few. Offers detailed instruction in the use of arthroscopy as an adjunctive procedure to the open treatment of distal radius fractures, scapholunate ligament reconstruction, perilunate injuries, and more. Includes hundreds of high-quality color photographs. Uses a consistent, templated format so you can find the guidance you need quickly. Provides online access to over 100 videos of clinical case examples and anatomical demonstrations showcasing the application and technique of a variety of procedures.
Enhance your skills in arthroscopic surgery - an increasingly important aspect of the treatment of a variety of traumatic and degenerative ailments of the hand. Leaders in the field describe their preferred approaches in step-by-step detail - emphasizing what outcomes you can expect - and also examine the diagnostic advantages of this precise technique. A bonus DVD features video clips of the procedures described in the book, enabling you to see these performed in real time! Presents the practice-proven procedures preferred by leading experts, equipping you to obtain the best results. A consistent, templated format enables you to find the guidance you need quickly. Chapters covering arthritis and disease, carpal ligament injury, wrist and carpal fractures, and portals allow you to review the most pertinent topics affecting today's arthroscopic procedures. Video clips on the bonus DVD demonstrate step-by-step the procedures presented in the text.
Tired of guessing what they’re really thinking? Read people in every situation—in person, on a screen, or in writing—using the new science of psycholinguistics, from a New York Times bestselling author and consultant to the FBI, CIA, and NSA. “A treasure trove of concepts, ideas, and tools that we can all master to be safer and happier. It’s a must-read!”—Joe Navarro, author of Dangerous Personalities What did your boss mean in that email? Is your mechanic stretching the truth? Whether you’re engaged in a casual conversation or a high-stakes negotiation, it’s critical to understand the subtext of a situation. But with so much interaction happening on screens—via email, texts, or video chat—we are losing the ability to interpret expressions and cues. Furthermore, since many are now savvy about the meaning of body language, it’s become even harder to discern someone’s true thoughts or intentions. A leading lie-detection expert who instructs the FBI and other security agencies, noted psychotherapist David Lieberman, PhD, takes “people reading” to a whole new level. Drawing on the latest research in psycholinguistics—the cues embedded in spoken and written speech—he shows you how to apply his cutting-edge methods to countless everyday situations, including: • Detecting the messaging behind passive language, personal or impersonal descriptions, and level of detail. • Determining whether someone’s account of any incident is the truth or a work of fiction. • Finding out whether a potential hire, dating app match, or new babysitter is trustworthy or hiding something. Nobody wants to be played a fool. Mindreader will help us identify who can be trusted, and who may be out to get us.
Biplots are the multivariate analog of scatter plots, approximating the multivariate distribution of a sample in a few dimensions to produce a graphic display. In addition, they superimpose representations of the variables on this display so that the relationships between the sample and the variable can be studied. Like scatter plots, biplots are useful for detecting patterns and for displaying the results found by more formal methods of analysis. In recent years the theory of biplots has been considerably extended. The approach adopted here is geometric, permitting a natural integration of well-known methods, such as components analysis, correspondence analysis, and canonical variate analysis as well as some newer and less well-known methods, such as nonlinear biplots and biadditive models.
Fourteen years after the death of my mother, and the day before my fiftieth birthday, my father had a heart attack. It made me realize just how fast life was travelling—and that I would give anything to put life on hold. As I drove to the hospital, I wondered what it would be like to lose my last parent. Sights along the way brought me to fond memories of my incredible childhood. My entire family had always been there for me, no matter what. At the beginning of my career, when I’d needed Dad the most, he’d come to my aid, both physically and emotionally. His actions that day helped shape me into the person I am today. Now it was my turn to be there for Dad. I got to know him all over again as I visited him daily during his twelve-month stay at the hospital. One cold wintery night, he couldn't stop talking about the happy memories he had of our family over the years. By the end of that evening, we both fell fast asleep, emotionally exhausted from all the tears and laughter. With his hand twitching in mine, I faded into the most beautiful life-like dream where Mom came back to us, for just a day.
This book describes a practical aproach to univariate and multivariate analysis of variance. It starts with a general non-mathematical account of the fundamental theories and this is followed by a discussion of a series of examples using real data sets from the authors' own work in clinical trials, psychology and industry. Included are discussions of factorial and nested designs, structures on the multiple dependent variables measured on each subject, repeated measures analyses, covariates, choice of text statistic and simultaneous test procedures.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Intelligent Data Analysis, IDA-99 held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in August 1999. The 21 revised full papers and 23 posters presented in the book were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of more than 100 submissions. The papers address all current aspects of intelligent data analysis; they are organized in sections on learning, visualization, classification and clustering, integration, applications and media mining.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.