This book brings together two major trends: data science and blockchains. It is one of the first books to systematically cover the analytics aspects of blockchains, with the goal of linking traditional data mining research communities with novel data sources. Data science and big data technologies can be considered cornerstones of the data-driven digital transformation of organizations and society. The concept of blockchain is predicted to enable and spark transformation on par with that associated with the invention of the Internet. Cryptocurrencies are the first successful use case of highly distributed blockchains, like the world wide web was to the Internet. The book takes the reader through basic data exploration topics, proceeding systematically, method by method, through supervised and unsupervised learning approaches and information visualization techniques, all the way to understanding the blockchain data from the network science perspective. Chapters introduce the cryptocurrency blockchain data model and methods to explore it using structured query language, association rules, clustering, classification, visualization, and network science. Each chapter introduces basic concepts, presents examples with real cryptocurrency blockchain data and offers exercises and questions for further discussion. Such an approach intends to serve as a good starting point for undergraduate and graduate students to learn data science topics using cryptocurrency blockchain examples. It is also aimed at researchers and analysts who already possess good analytical and data skills, but who do not yet have the specific knowledge to tackle analytic questions about blockchain transactions. The readers improve their knowledge about the essential data science techniques in order to turn mere transactional information into social, economic, and business insights.

This book presents strategies for analyzing qualitative and mixed methods data with MAXQDA software, and provides guidance on implementing a variety of research methods and approaches, e.g. grounded theory, discourse analysis and qualitative content analysis, using the software. In addition, it explains specific topics, such as transcription, building a coding frame, visualization, analysis of videos, concept maps, group comparisons and the creation of literature reviews. The book is intended for masters and PhD students as well as researchers and practitioners dealing with qualitative data in various disciplines, including the educational and social sciences, psychology, public health, business or economics.

A Hands-On Approach to Understanding and Using Actuarial Models Computational Actuarial Science with R provides an introduction to the computational aspects of actuarial science. Using simple R code, the book helps you understand the algorithms involved in actuarial computations. It also covers more advanced topics, such as parallel computing and C/C++ embedded codes. After an introduction to the R language, the book is divided into four parts. The first one addresses methodology and statistical modeling issues. The second part discusses the computational facets of life insurance, including life contingencies calculations and prospective life tables. Focusing on finance from an actuarial perspective, the next part presents techniques for modeling stock prices, nonlinear time series, yield curves, interest rates, and portfolio optimization. The last part explains how to use R to deal with computational issues of nonlife insurance. Taking a do-it-yourself approach to understanding algorithms, this book demystifies the computational aspects of actuarial science. It shows that even complex computations can usually be done without too much trouble. Datasets used in the text are available in an R package (CASdatasets).

The most crucial ability for machine learning and data science is mathematical logic for grasping their essence rather than relying on knowledge or experience. This textbook addresses the fundamentals of kernel methods for machine learning by considering relevant math problems and building Python programs. The book's main features are as follows: The content is written in an easy-to-follow and self-contained style. The book includes 100 exercises, which have been carefully selected and refined. As their solutions are provided in the main text, readers can solve all of the exercises by reading the book. The mathematical premises of kernels are proven and the correct conclusions are provided, helping readers to understand the nature of kernels. Source programs and running examples are presented to help readers acquire a deeper understanding of the mathematics used. Once readers have a basic understanding of the functional analysis topics covered in Chapter 2, the applications are discussed in the subsequent chapters. Here, no prior knowledge of mathematics is assumed. This book considers both the kernel for reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) and the kernel for the Gaussian process; a clear distinction is made between the two.

This contributed book focuses on major aspects of statistical quality control, shares insights into important new developments in the field, and adapts established statistical quality control methods for use in e.g. big data, network analysis and medical applications. The content is divided into two parts, the first of which mainly addresses statistical process control, also known as statistical process monitoring. In turn, the second part explores selected topics in statistical quality control, including measurement uncertainty analysis and data quality. The peer-reviewed contributions gathered here were originally presented at the 13th International Workshop on Intelligent Statistical Quality Control, ISQC 2019, held in Hong Kong on August 12-14, 2019. Taken together, they bridge the gap between theory and practice, making the book of interest to both practitioners and researchers in the field of statistical quality control.

This text examines the goals of data analysis with respect to enhancing knowledge, and identifies data summarization and correlation analysis as the core issues. Data summarization, both quantitative and categorical, is treated within the encoder-decoder paradigm bringing forward a number of mathematically supported insights into the methods and relations between them. Two Chapters describe methods for categorical summarization: partitioning, divisive clustering and separate cluster finding and another explain the methods for quantitative summarization, Principal Component Analysis and PageRank. Features: * An in-depth presentation of K-means partitioning including a corresponding Pythagorean decomposition of the data scatter. * Advice regarding such issues as clustering of categorical and mixed scale data, similarity and network data, interpretation aids, anomalous clusters, the number of clusters, etc. * Thorough attention to data-driven modelling including a number of mathematically stated relations between statistical and geometrical concepts including those between goodness-of-fit criteria for decision trees and data standardization, similarity and consensus clustering, modularity clustering and uniform partitioning. New edition highlights: * Inclusion of ranking issues such as Google PageRank, linear stratification and tied rankings median, consensus clustering, semi-average clustering, one-cluster clustering * Restructured to make the logics more straightforward and sections self-contained Core Data Analysis: Summarization, Correlation and Visualization is aimed at those who are eager to participate in developing the field as well as appealing to novices and practitioners.

This book discusses all major topics on survey sampling and estimation. It covers traditional as well as advanced sampling methods related to the spatial populations. The book presents real-world applications of major sampling methods and illustrates them with the R software. As a large sample size is not cost-efficient, this book introduces a new method by using the domain knowledge of the negative correlation between the variable of interest and the auxiliary variable in order to control the size of a sample. In addition, the book focuses on adaptive cluster sampling, rank-set sampling and their applications in real life. Advance methods discussed in the book have tremendous applications in ecology, environmental science, health science, forestry, bio-sciences, and humanities. This book is targeted as a text for undergraduate and graduate students of statistics, as well as researchers in various disciplines.

In honor of professor and renowned statistician R. Dennis Cook, this festschrift explores his influential contributions to an array of statistical disciplines ranging from experimental design and population genetics, to statistical diagnostics and all areas of regression-related inference and analysis. Since the early 1990s, Prof. Cook has led the development of dimension reduction methodology in three distinct but related regression contexts: envelopes, sufficient dimension reduction (SDR), and regression graphics. In particular, he has made fundamental and pioneering contributions to SDR, inventing or co-inventing many popular dimension reduction methods, such as sliced average variance estimation, the minimum discrepancy approach, model-free variable selection, and sufficient dimension reduction subspaces. A prolific researcher and mentor, Prof. Cook is known for his ability to identify research problems in statistics that are both challenging and important, as well as his deep appreciation for the applied side of statistics. This collection of Prof. Cook's collaborators, colleagues, friends, and former students reflects the broad array of his contributions to the research and instructional arenas of statistics.

This book provides a concise point of reference for the most commonly used regression methods. It begins with linear and nonlinear regression for normally distributed data, logistic regression for binomially distributed data, and Poisson regression and negative-binomial regression for count data. It then progresses to these regression models that work with longitudinal and multi-level data structures. The volume is designed to guide the transition from classical to more advanced regression modeling, as well as to contribute to the rapid development of statistics and data science. With data and computing programs available to facilitate readers' learning experience, Statistical Regression Modeling promotes the applications of R in linear, nonlinear, longitudinal and multi-level regression. All included datasets, as well as the associated R program in packages nlme and lme4 for multi-level regression, are detailed in Appendix A. This book will be valuable in graduate courses on applied regression, as well as for practitioners and researchers in the fields of data science, statistical analytics, public health, and related fields.

This book provides a complete and comprehensive guide to Pyomo (Python Optimization Modeling Objects) for beginning and advanced modelers, including students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, academic researchers, and practitioners. Using many examples to illustrate the different techniques useful for formulating models, this text beautifully elucidates the breadth of modeling capabilities that are supported by Pyomo and its handling of complex real-world applications. In the third edition, much of the material has been reorganized, new examples have been added, and a new chapter has been added describing how modelers can improve the performance of their models. The authors have also modified their recommended method for importing Pyomo. A big change in this edition is the emphasis of concrete models, which provide fewer restrictions on the specification and use of Pyomo models. Pyomo is an open source software package for formulating and solving large-scale optimization problems. The software extends the modeling approach supported by modern AML (Algebraic Modeling Language) tools. Pyomo is a flexible, extensible, and portable AML that is embedded in Python, a full-featured scripting language. Python is a powerful and dynamic programming language that has a very clear, readable syntax and intuitive object orientation. Pyomo includes Python classes for defining sparse sets, parameters, and variables, which can be used to formulate algebraic expressions that define objectives and constraints. Moreover, Pyomo can be used from a command-line interface and within Python's interactive command environment, which makes it easy to create Pyomo models, apply a variety of optimizers, and examine solutions.

This book is a text for a one-semester course for upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduate students in engineering, science, and mathematics. Prerequisites are a first course in the theory of ODEs and a survey course in numerical analysis, in addition to specific programming experience, preferably in MATLAB, and knowledge of elementary matrix theory. Professionals will also find that this useful concise reference contains reviews of technical issues and realistic and detailed examples. The programs for the examples are supplied on the accompanying web site and can serve as templates for solving other problems. Each chapter begins with a discussion of the "facts of life" for the problem, mainly by means of examples. Numerical methods for the problem are then developed, but only those methods most widely used. The treatment of each method is brief and technical issues are minimized, but all the issues important in practice and for understaning the codes are discussed. The last part of each chapter is a tutorial that shows how to solve problems by means of small, but realistic, examples.

This book is dedicated to the systematization and development of models, methods, and algorithms for queuing systems with correlated arrivals. After first setting up the basic tools needed for the study of queuing theory, the authors concentrate on complicated systems: multi-server systems with phase type distribution of service time or single-server queues with arbitrary distribution of service time or semi-Markovian service. They pay special attention to practically important retrial queues, tandem queues, and queues with unreliable servers. Mathematical models of networks and queuing systems are widely used for the study and optimization of various technical, physical, economic, industrial, and administrative systems, and this book will be valuable for researchers, graduate students, and practitioners in these domains.

This thesis presents a revolutionary technique for modelling the dynamics of a quantum system that is strongly coupled to its immediate environment. This is a challenging but timely problem. In particular it is relevant for modelling decoherence in devices such as quantum information processors, and how quantum information moves between spatially separated parts of a quantum system. The key feature of this work is a novel way to represent the dynamics of general open quantum systems as tensor networks, a result which has connections with the Feynman operator calculus and process tensor approaches to quantum mechanics. The tensor network methodology developed here has proven to be extremely powerful: For many situations it may be the most efficient way of calculating open quantum dynamics. This work is abounds with new ideas and invention, and is likely to have a very significant impact on future generations of physicists.

This advanced textbook explores small area estimation techniques, covers the underlying mathematical and statistical theory and offers hands-on support with their implementation. It presents the theory in a rigorous way and compares and contrasts various statistical methodologies, helping readers understand how to develop new methodologies for small area estimation. It also includes numerous sample applications of small area estimation techniques. The underlying R code is provided in the text and applied to four datasets that mimic data from labor markets and living conditions surveys, where the socioeconomic indicators include the small area estimation of total unemployment, unemployment rates, average annual household incomes and poverty indicators. Given its scope, the book will be useful for master and PhD students, and for official and other applied statisticians.

This open access book presents a set of basic techniques for estimating the benefit of IT development projects and portfolios. It also offers methods for monitoring how much of that estimated benefit is being achieved during projects. Readers can then use these benefit estimates together with cost estimates to create a benefit/cost index to help them decide which functionalities to send into construction and in what order. This allows them to focus on constructing the functionality that offers the best value for money at an early stage. Although benefits management involves a wide range of activities in addition to estimation and monitoring, the techniques in this book provides a clear guide to achieving what has always been the goal of project and portfolio stakeholders: developing systems that produce as much usefulness and value as possible for the money invested. The techniques can also help deal with vicarious motives and obstacles that prevent this happening. The book equips readers to recognize when a project budget should not be spent in full and resources be allocated elsewhere in a portfolio instead. It also provides development managers and upper management with common ground as a basis for making informed decisions.

Inverse problems such as imaging or parameter identification deal with the recovery of unknown quantities from indirect observations, connected via a model describing the underlying context. While traditionally inverse problems are formulated and investigated in a static setting, we observe a significant increase of interest in time-dependence in a growing number of important applications over the last few years. Here, time-dependence affects a) the unknown function to be recovered and / or b) the observed data and / or c) the underlying process. Challenging applications in the field of imaging and parameter identification are techniques such as photoacoustic tomography, elastography, dynamic computerized or emission tomography, dynamic magnetic resonance imaging, super-resolution in image sequences and videos, health monitoring of elastic structures, optical flow problems or magnetic particle imaging to name only a few. Such problems demand for innovation concerning their mathematical description and analysis as well as computational approaches for their solution.

The Distributed and Unified Numerics Environment (Dune) is a set of open-source C++ libraries for the implementation of finite element and finite volume methods. Over the last 15 years it has become one of the most commonly used libraries for the implementation of new, efficient simulation methods in science and engineering. Describing the main Dune libraries in detail, this book covers access to core features like grids, shape functions, and linear algebra, but also higher-level topics like function space bases and assemblers. It includes extensive information on programmer interfaces, together with a wealth of completed examples that illustrate how these interfaces are used in practice. After having read the book, readers will be prepared to write their own advanced finite element simulators, tapping the power of Dune to do so.

Learn how to program by diving into the R language, and then use your newfound skills to solve practical data science problems. With this book, you'll learn how to load data, assemble and disassemble data objects, navigate R's environment system, write your own functions, and use all of R's programming tools. RStudio Master Instructor Garrett Grolemund not only teaches you how to program, but also shows you how to get more from R than just visualizing and modeling data. You'll gain valuable programming skills and support your work as a data scientist at the same time. Work hands-on with three practical data analysis projects based on casino games Store, retrieve, and change data values in your computer's memory Write programs and simulations that outperform those written by typical R users Use R programming tools such as if else statements, for loops, and S3 classes Learn how to write lightning-fast vectorized R code Take advantage of R's package system and debugging tools Practice and apply R programming concepts as you learn them

This book features selected papers presented at the 2nd International Conference on Advanced Computing Technologies and Applications, held at SVKM's Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai, India, from 28 to 29 February 2020. Covering recent advances in next-generation computing, the book focuses on recent developments in intelligent computing, such as linguistic computing, statistical computing, data computing and ambient applications.

Highlighting the latest advances in nonparametric and semiparametric statistics, this book gathers selected peer-reviewed contributions presented at the 4th Conference of the International Society for Nonparametric Statistics (ISNPS), held in Salerno, Italy, on June 11-15, 2018. It covers theory, methodology, applications and computational aspects, addressing topics such as nonparametric curve estimation, regression smoothing, models for time series and more generally dependent data, varying coefficient models, symmetry testing, robust estimation, and rank-based methods for factorial design. It also discusses nonparametric and permutation solutions for several different types of data, including ordinal data, spatial data, survival data and the joint modeling of both longitudinal and time-to-event data, permutation and resampling techniques, and practical applications of nonparametric statistics. The International Society for Nonparametric Statistics is a unique global organization, and its international conferences are intended to foster the exchange of ideas and the latest advances and trends among researchers from around the world and to develop and disseminate nonparametric statistics knowledge. The ISNPS 2018 conference in Salerno was organized with the support of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability, the Journal of Nonparametric Statistics and the University of Salerno.

This book offers a systematic and rigorous treatment of continuous-time Markov decision processes, covering both theory and possible applications to queueing systems, epidemiology, finance, and other fields. Unlike most books on the subject, much attention is paid to problems with functional constraints and the realizability of strategies. Three major methods of investigations are presented, based on dynamic programming, linear programming, and reduction to discrete-time problems. Although the main focus is on models with total (discounted or undiscounted) cost criteria, models with average cost criteria and with impulsive controls are also discussed in depth. The book is self-contained. A separate chapter is devoted to Markov pure jump processes and the appendices collect the requisite background on real analysis and applied probability. All the statements in the main text are proved in detail. Researchers and graduate students in applied probability, operational research, statistics and engineering will find this monograph interesting, useful and valuable.

This book provides an introduction to quantitative marketing with Python. The book presents a hands-on approach to using Python for real marketing questions, organized by key topic areas. Following the Python scientific computing movement toward reproducible research, the book presents all analyses in Colab notebooks, which integrate code, figures, tables, and annotation in a single file. The code notebooks for each chapter may be copied, adapted, and reused in one's own analyses. The book also introduces the usage of machine learning predictive models using the Python sklearn package in the context of marketing research. This book is designed for three groups of readers: experienced marketing researchers who wish to learn to program in Python, coming from tools and languages such as R, SAS, or SPSS; analysts or students who already program in Python and wish to learn about marketing applications; and undergraduate or graduate marketing students with little or no programming background. It presumes only an introductory level of familiarity with formal statistics and contains a minimum of mathematics.

Master the syntax for working with R's plotting functions in graphics and stats in this easy reference to formatting plots. The approach in Visualizing Data in R 4 toward the application of formatting in ggplot() will follow the structure of the formatting used by the plotting functions in graphics and stats. This book will take advantage of the new features added to R 4 where appropriate including a refreshed color palette for charts, Cairo graphics with more fonts/symbols, and improved performance from grid graphics including ggplot 2 rendering speed. Visualizing Data in R 4 starts with an introduction and then is split into two parts and six appendices. Part I covers the function plot() and the ancillary functions you can use with plot(). You'll also see the functions par() and layout(), providing for multiple plots on a page. Part II goes over the basics of using the functions qplot() and ggplot() in the package ggplot2. The default plots generated by the functions qplot() and ggplot() give more sophisticated-looking plots than the default plots done by plot() and are easier to use, but the function plot() is more flexible. Both plot() and ggplot() allow for many layers to a plot. The six appendices will cover plots for contingency tables, plots for continuous variables, plots for data with a limited number of values, functions that generate multiple plots, plots for time series analysis, and some miscellaneous plots. Some of the functions that will be in the appendices include functions that generate histograms, bar charts, pie charts, box plots, and heatmaps. What You Will Learn Use R to create informative graphics Master plot(), qplot(), and ggplot() Discover the canned graphics functions in stats and graphics Format plots generated by plot() and ggplot() Who This Book Is For Those in data science who use R. Some prior experience with R or data science is recommended.

This book provides a general introduction to Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods, also known as particle filters. These methods have become a staple for the sequential analysis of data in such diverse fields as signal processing, epidemiology, machine learning, population ecology, quantitative finance, and robotics. The coverage is comprehensive, ranging from the underlying theory to computational implementation, methodology, and diverse applications in various areas of science. This is achieved by describing SMC algorithms as particular cases of a general framework, which involves concepts such as Feynman-Kac distributions, and tools such as importance sampling and resampling. This general framework is used consistently throughout the book. Extensive coverage is provided on sequential learning (filtering, smoothing) of state-space (hidden Markov) models, as this remains an important application of SMC methods. More recent applications, such as parameter estimation of these models (through e.g. particle Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques) and the simulation of challenging probability distributions (in e.g. Bayesian inference or rare-event problems), are also discussed. The book may be used either as a graduate text on Sequential Monte Carlo methods and state-space modeling, or as a general reference work on the area. Each chapter includes a set of exercises for self-study, a comprehensive bibliography, and a "Python corner," which discusses the practical implementation of the methods covered. In addition, the book comes with an open source Python library, which implements all the algorithms described in the book, and contains all the programs that were used to perform the numerical experiments.

This book introduces the basic methodologies for successful data analytics. Matrix optimization and approximation are explained in detail and extensively applied to dimensionality reduction by principal component analysis and multidimensional scaling. Diffusion maps and spectral clustering are derived as powerful tools. The methodological overlap between data science and machine learning is emphasized by demonstrating how data science is used for classification as well as supervised and unsupervised learning.