Multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA) methods are illustrated in this book through theoretical and computational techniques utilizing Python. Existing methods are presented in detail with a step by step learning approach. Theoretical background is given for TOPSIS, VIKOR, PROMETHEE, SIR, AHP, goal programming, and their variations. Comprehensive numerical examples are also discussed for each method in conjunction with easy to follow Python code. Extensions to multiple criteria decision making algorithms such as fuzzy number theory and group decision making are introduced and implemented through Python as well. Readers will learn how to implement and use each method based on the problem, the available data, the stakeholders involved, and the various requirements needed. Focusing on the practical aspects of the multiple criteria decision making methodologies, this book is designed for researchers, practitioners and advanced graduate students in the applied mathematics, information systems, operations research and business administration disciplines, as well as other engineers and scientists oriented in interdisciplinary research. Readers will greatly benefit from this book by learning and applying various MCDM/A methods. (Adiel Teixeira de Almeida, CDSID-Center for Decision System and Information Development, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil) Promoting the development and application of multicriteria decision aid is essential to ensure more ethical and sustainable decisions. This book is a great contribution to this objective. It is a perfect blend of theory and practice, providing potential users and researchers with the theoretical bases of some of the best-known methods as well as with the computing tools needed to practice, to compare and to put these methods to use. (Jean-Pierre Brans, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium) This book is intended for researchers, practitioners and students alike in decision support who wish to familiarize themselves quickly and efficiently with multicriteria decision aiding algorithms. The proposed approach is original, as it presents a selection of methods from the theory to the practical implementation in Python, including a detailed example. This will certainly facilitate the learning of these techniques, and contribute to their effective dissemination in applications. (Patrick Meyer, IMT Atlantique, Lab-STICC, Univ. Bretagne Loire, Brest, France)

This book presents basic optimization principles and gradient-based algorithms to a general audience, in a brief and easy-to-read form. It enables professionals to apply optimization theory to engineering, physics, chemistry, or business economics.

This second edition is an intensively revised and updated version of the book MATLAB (R) and Design Recipes for Earth Sciences. It aims to introduce students to the typical course followed by a data analysis project in earth sciences. A project usually involves searching relevant literature, reviewing and ranking published books and journal articles, extracting relevant information from the literature in the form of text, data, or graphs, searching and processing the relevant original data using MATLAB, and compiling and presenting the results as posters, abstracts, and oral presentations using graphics design software. The text of this book includes numerous examples on the use of internet resources, on the visualization of data with MATLAB, and on preparing scientific presentations. As with the book MATLAB Recipes for Earth Sciences-4rd Edition (2015), which demonstrates the use of statistical and numerical methods on earth science data, this book uses state-of-the art software packages, including MATLAB and the Adobe Creative Suite, to process and present geoscientific information collected during the course of an earth science project. The book's supplementary electronic material (available online through the publisher's website) includes color versions of all figures, recipes with all the MATLAB commands featured in the book, the example data, exported MATLAB graphics, and screenshots of the most important steps involved in processing the graphics.

This book presents various recently developed and traditional statistical techniques, which are increasingly being applied in social science research. The social sciences cover diverse phenomena arising in society, the economy and the environment, some of which are too complex to allow concrete statements; some cannot be defined by direct observations or measurements; some are culture- (or region-) specific, while others are generic and common. Statistics, being a scientific method - as distinct from a 'science' related to any one type of phenomena - is used to make inductive inferences regarding various phenomena. The book addresses both qualitative and quantitative research (a combination of which is essential in social science research) and offers valuable supplementary reading at an advanced level for researchers.

This book expands the foundations of general systems theory to enable progress beyond the rich heuristic practices available today. It establishes a foundational framework for the development of scientific transdisciplinary systems principles and shows how these can amplify the potential of individuals and teams working in multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary contexts or striving to translate their progress across disciplinary boundaries. Three general scientific systems principles are presented, and their relevance to the design, analysis, management and transformation of systems is explored. Applying lessons from the history and philosophy science, this book disambiguates key concepts of general systemology, clarifies the role of general systemology within the field of systemology, and explains how general systemology supports other forms of transdisciplinarity. These insights are used to develop new perspectives, strategies and tools for addressing long-standing challenges to the advancement and transdisciplinary application of general insights into the nature of complex systems.The material presented in this book includes comprehensive models of the structure of systemology as a disciplinary field, the structure and significance of the general systems worldview, and the role of general systemology as the heart of systems science, systems engineering and systems practice. It explains what a fully-fledged general theory of systems would look like, what its potential is, what routes are available to us to develop it further, and how to leverage the knowledge we have attained so far. Many examples and analogies show how general systemology has the potential to enable scientific discovery, insightful theory building, and practical innovation in all the disciplines as they study, design, nurture or transform complex systems. This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to master the concepts, terminology, models and strategies needed to make effective use of current general systems knowledge and to engage in the further development of the philosophy, science, and practice of general systemology.

The quantity, diversity and availability of transport data is increasing rapidly, requiring new skills in the management and interrogation of data and databases. Recent years have seen a new wave of 'big data', 'Data Science', and 'smart cities' changing the world, with the Harvard Business Review describing Data Science as the "sexiest job of the 21st century". Transportation professionals and researchers need to be able to use data and databases in order to establish quantitative, empirical facts, and to validate and challenge their mathematical models, whose axioms have traditionally often been assumed rather than rigorously tested against data. This book takes a highly practical approach to learning about Data Science tools and their application to investigating transport issues. The focus is principally on practical, professional work with real data and tools, including business and ethical issues. "Transport modeling practice was developed in a data poor world, and many of our current techniques and skills are building on that sparsity. In a new data rich world, the required tools are different and the ethical questions around data and privacy are definitely different. I am not sure whether current professionals have these skills; and I am certainly not convinced that our current transport modeling tools will survive in a data rich environment. This is an exciting time to be a data scientist in the transport field. We are trying to get to grips with the opportunities that big data sources offer; but at the same time such data skills need to be fused with an understanding of transport, and of transport modeling. Those with these combined skills can be instrumental at providing better, faster, cheaper data for transport decision- making; and ultimately contribute to innovative, efficient, data driven modeling techniques of the future. It is not surprising that this course, this book, has been authored by the Institute for Transport Studies. To do this well, you need a blend of academic rigor and practical pragmatism. There are few educational or research establishments better equipped to do that than ITS Leeds". - Tom van Vuren, Divisional Director, Mott MacDonald "WSP is proud to be a thought leader in the world of transport modelling, planning and economics, and has a wide range of opportunities for people with skills in these areas. The evidence base and forecasts we deliver to effectively implement strategies and schemes are ever more data and technology focused a trend we have helped shape since the 1970's, but with particular disruption and opportunity in recent years. As a result of these trends, and to suitably skill the next generation of transport modellers, we asked the world-leading Institute for Transport Studies, to boost skills in these areas, and they have responded with a new MSc programme which you too can now study via this book." - Leighton Cardwell, Technical Director, WSP. "From processing and analysing large datasets, to automation of modelling tasks sometimes requiring different software packages to "talk" to each other, to data visualization, SYSTRA employs a range of techniques and tools to provide our clients with deeper insights and effective solutions. This book does an excellent job in giving you the skills to manage, interrogate and analyse databases, and develop powerful presentations. Another important publication from ITS Leeds." - Fitsum Teklu, Associate Director (Modelling & Appraisal) SYSTRA Ltd "Urban planning has relied for decades on statistical and computational practices that have little to do with mainstream data science. Information is still often used as evidence on the impact of new infrastructure even when it hardly contains any valid evidence. This book is an extremely welcome effort to provide young professionals with the skills needed to analyse how cities and transport networks actually work. The book is also highly relevant to anyone who will later want to build digital solutions to optimise urban travel based on emerging data sources". - Yaron Hollander, author of "Transport Modelling for a Complete Beginner"

This book provides practical applications of doubly classified models by using R syntax to generate the models. It also presents these models in symbolic tables so as to cater to those who are not mathematically inclined, while numerous examples throughout the book illustrate the concepts and their applications. For those who are not aware of this modeling approach, it serves as a good starting point to acquire a basic understanding of doubly classified models. It is also a valuable resource for academics, postgraduate students, undergraduates, data analysts and researchers who are interested in examining square contingency tables.

The statistical analyses that students of the life-sciences are being expected to perform are becoming increasingly advanced. Whether at the undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate level, this book provides the tools needed to properly analyze your data in an efficient, accessible, plainspoken, frank, and occasionally humorous manner, ensuring that readers come away with the knowledge of which analyses they should use and when they should use them. The book uses the statistical language R, which is the choice of ecologists worldwide and is rapidly becoming the 'go-to' stats program throughout the life-sciences. Furthermore, by using a single, real-world dataset throughout the book, readers are encouraged to become deeply familiar with an imperfect but realistic set of data. Indeed, early chapters are specifically designed to teach basic data manipulation skills and build good habits in preparation for learning more advanced analyses. This approach also demonstrates the importance of viewing data through different lenses, facilitating an easy and natural progression from linear and generalized linear models through to mixed effects versions of those same analyses. Readers will also learn advanced plotting and data-wrangling techniques, and gain an introduction to writing their own functions. Applied Statistics with R is suitable for senior undergraduate and graduate students, professional researchers, and practitioners throughout the life-sciences, whether in the fields of ecology, evolution, environmental studies, or computational biology.

This book explores inductive inference using the minimum message length (MML) principle, a Bayesian method which is a realisation of Ockham's Razor based on information theory. Accompanied by a library of software, the book can assist an applications programmer, student or researcher in the fields of data analysis and machine learning to write computer programs based upon this principle. MML inference has been around for 50 years and yet only one highly technical book has been written about the subject. The majority of research in the field has been backed by specialised one-off programs but this book includes a library of general MML-based software, in Java. The Java source code is available under the GNU GPL open-source license. The software library is documented using Javadoc which produces extensive cross referenced HTML manual pages. Every probability distribution and statistical model that is described in the book is implemented and documented in the software library. The library may contain a component that directly solves a reader's inference problem, or contain components that can be put together to solve the problem, or provide a standard interface under which a new component can be written to solve the problem. This book will be of interest to application developers in the fields of machine learning and statistics as well as academics, postdocs, programmers and data scientists. It could also be used by third year or fourth year undergraduate or postgraduate students.

Diagnostic Biomedical Signal and Image Processing Applications: With Deep Learning Methods presents comprehensive research on both medical imaging and medical signals analysis. The book discusses classification, segmentation, detection, tracking and retrieval applications of non-invasive methods such as EEG, ECG, EMG, MRI, fMRI, CT and X-RAY, amongst others. These image and signal modalities include real challenges, which are the main themes that medical imaging and medical signal processing researchers focus on today. The book also emphasizes removing noise and specifying dataset key properties, with each chapter containing details of one of the medical imaging or medical signal modalities. Focusing on solving real medical problems using new deep learning and CNN approaches, this book will appeal to research scholars, graduate students, faculty members, R&D engineers, and biomedical engineers who want to learn how medical signals and images play an important role in the early diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Practical Numerical and Scientific Computing with MATLAB (R) and Python concentrates on the practical aspects of numerical analysis and linear and non-linear programming. It discusses the methods for solving different types of mathematical problems using MATLAB and Python. Although the book focuses on the approximation problem rather than on error analysis of mathematical problems, it provides practical ways to calculate errors. The book is divided into three parts, covering topics in numerical linear algebra, methods of interpolation, numerical differentiation and integration, solutions of differential equations, linear and non-linear programming problems, and optimal control problems. This book has the following advantages: It adopts the programming languages, MATLAB and Python, which are widely used among academics, scientists, and engineers, for ease of use and contain many libraries covering many scientific and engineering fields. It contains topics that are rarely found in other numerical analysis books, such as ill-conditioned linear systems and methods of regularization to stabilize their solutions, nonstandard finite differences methods for solutions of ordinary differential equations, and the computations of the optimal controls. It provides a practical explanation of how to apply these topics using MATLAB and Python. It discusses software libraries to solve mathematical problems, such as software Gekko, pulp, and pyomo. These libraries use Python for solutions to differential equations and static and dynamic optimization problems. Most programs in the book can be applied in versions prior to MATLAB 2017b and Python 3.7.4 without the need to modify these programs. This book is aimed at newcomers and middle-level students, as well as members of the scientific community who are interested in solving math problems using MATLAB or Python.

This easy-to-follow applied book on semiparametric regression methods using R is intended to close the gap between the available methodology and its use in practice. Semiparametric regression has a large literature but much of it is geared towards data analysts who have advanced knowledge of statistical methods. While R now has a great deal of semiparametric regression functionality, many of these developments have not trickled down to rank-and-file statistical analysts. The authors assemble a broad range of semiparametric regression R analyses and put them in a form that is useful for applied researchers. There are chapters devoted to penalized spines, generalized additive models, grouped data, bivariate extensions of penalized spines, and spatial semi-parametric regression models. Where feasible, the R code is provided in the text, however the book is also accompanied by an external website complete with datasets and R code. Because of its flexibility, semiparametric regression has proven to be of great value with many applications in fields as diverse as astronomy, biology, medicine, economics, and finance. This book is intended for applied statistical analysts who have some familiarity with R.

This volume constitutes the proceedings of the 11th IFIP WG 8.1 Conference on the Practice of Enterprise Modeling held in October/November 12018 in Vienna, Austria. The conference was created by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 8.1 to offer a forum for knowledge transfer and experience sharing between the academic and practitioner communities. The 21 full papers and 5 short papers accepted were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. They are grouped by the following topics: business process modeling, model derivation; collaboration modeling; reviews and analyses of modeling methods; semantics and reasoning, experience reports; and teaching challenges.

This textbook addresses postgraduate students in applied mathematics, probability, and statistics, as well as computer scientists, biologists, physicists and economists, who are seeking a rigorous introduction to applied stochastic processes. Pursuing a pedagogic approach, the content follows a path of increasing complexity, from the simplest random sequences to the advanced stochastic processes. Illustrations are provided from many applied fields, together with connections to ergodic theory, information theory, reliability and insurance. The main content is also complemented by a wealth of examples and exercises with solutions.

This book presents a theoretical and practical overview of computational modeling in bioengineering, focusing on a range of applications including electrical stimulation of neural and cardiac tissue, implantable drug delivery, cancer therapy, biomechanics, cardiovascular dynamics, as well as fluid-structure interaction for modelling of organs, tissues, cells and devices. It covers the basic principles of modeling and simulation with ordinary and partial differential equations using MATLAB and COMSOL Multiphysics numerical software. The target audience primarily comprises postgraduate students and researchers, but the book may also be beneficial for practitioners in the medical device industry.

This new edition includes the latest advances and developments in computational probability involving A Probability Programming Language (APPL). The book examines and presents, in a systematic manner, computational probability methods that encompass data structures and algorithms. The developed techniques address problems that require exact probability calculations, many of which have been considered intractable in the past. The book addresses the plight of the probabilist by providing algorithms to perform calculations associated with random variables. Computational Probability: Algorithms and Applications in the Mathematical Sciences, 2nd Edition begins with an introductory chapter that contains short examples involving the elementary use of APPL. Chapter 2 reviews the Maple data structures and functions necessary to implement APPL. This is followed by a discussion of the development of the data structures and algorithms (Chapters 3-6 for continuous random variables and Chapters 7-9 for discrete random variables) used in APPL. The book concludes with Chapters 10-15 introducing a sampling of various applications in the mathematical sciences. This book should appeal to researchers in the mathematical sciences with an interest in applied probability and instructors using the book for a special topics course in computational probability taught in a mathematics, statistics, operations research, management science, or industrial engineering department.

This book focuses on the application and development of information geometric methods in the analysis, classification and retrieval of images and signals. It provides introductory chapters to help those new to information geometry and applies the theory to several applications. This area has developed rapidly over recent years, propelled by the major theoretical developments in information geometry, efficient data and image acquisition and the desire to process and interpret large databases of digital information. The book addresses both the transfer of methodology to practitioners involved in database analysis and in its efficient computational implementation.

This comprehensive and richly illustrated volume provides up-to-date material on Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA). SSA is a well-known methodology for the analysis and forecasting of time series. Since quite recently, SSA is also being used to analyze digital images and other objects that are not necessarily of planar or rectangular form and may contain gaps. SSA is multi-purpose and naturally combines both model-free and parametric techniques, which makes it a very special and attractive methodology for solving a wide range of problems arising in diverse areas, most notably those associated with time series and digital images. An effective, comfortable and accessible implementation of SSA is provided by the R-package Rssa, which is available from CRAN and reviewed in this book. Written by prominent statisticians who have extensive experience with SSA, the book (a) presents the up-to-date SSA methodology, including multidimensional extensions, in language accessible to a large circle of users, (b) combines different versions of SSA into a single tool, (c) shows the diverse tasks that SSA can be used for, (d) formally describes the main SSA methods and algorithms, and (e) provides tutorials on the Rssa package and the use of SSA. The book offers a valuable resource for a very wide readership, including professional statisticians, specialists in signal and image processing, as well as specialists in numerous applied disciplines interested in using statistical methods for time series analysis, forecasting, signal and image processing. The book is written on a level accessible to a broad audience and includes a wealth of examples; hence it can also be used as a textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate courses on time series analysis and signal processing.

This book is about the role and potential of using digital technology in designing teaching and learning tasks in the mathematics classroom. Digital technology has opened up different new educational spaces for the mathematics classroom in the past few decades and, as technology is constantly evolving, novel ideas and approaches are brewing to enrich these spaces with diverse didactical flavors. A key issue is always how technology can, or cannot, play epistemic and pedagogic roles in the mathematics classroom. The main purpose of this book is to explore mathematics task design when digital technology is part of the teaching and learning environment. What features of the technology used can be capitalized upon to design tasks that transform learners' experiential knowledge, gained from using the technology, into conceptual mathematical knowledge? When do digital environments actually bring an essential (educationally, speaking) new dimension to classroom activities? What are some pragmatic and semiotic values of the technology used? These are some of the concerns addressed in the book by expert scholars in this area of research in mathematics education. This volume is the first devoted entirely to issues on designing mathematical tasks in digital teaching and learning environments, outlining different current research scenarios.

This book traces the theory and methodology of multivariate statistical analysis and shows how it can be conducted in practice using the LISREL computer program. It presents not only the typical uses of LISREL, such as confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation models, but also several other multivariate analysis topics, including regression (univariate, multivariate, censored, logistic, and probit), generalized linear models, multilevel analysis, and principal component analysis. It provides numerous examples from several disciplines and discusses and interprets the results, illustrated with sections of output from the LISREL program, in the context of the example. The book is intended for masters and PhD students and researchers in the social, behavioral, economic and many other sciences who require a basic understanding of multivariate statistical theory and methods for their analysis of multivariate data. It can also be used as a textbook on various topics of multivariate statistical analysis.

This book on statistical disclosure control presents the theory, applications and software implementation of the traditional approach to (micro)data anonymization, including data perturbation methods, disclosure risk, data utility, information loss and methods for simulating synthetic data. Introducing readers to the R packages sdcMicro and simPop, the book also features numerous examples and exercises with solutions, as well as case studies with real-world data, accompanied by the underlying R code to allow readers to reproduce all results. The demand for and volume of data from surveys, registers or other sources containing sensible information on persons or enterprises have increased significantly over the last several years. At the same time, privacy protection principles and regulations have imposed restrictions on the access and use of individual data. Proper and secure microdata dissemination calls for the application of statistical disclosure control methods to the da ta before release. This book is intended for practitioners at statistical agencies and other national and international organizations that deal with confidential data. It will also be interesting for researchers working in statistical disclosure control and the health sciences.

This book discusses a variety of methods for outlier ensembles and organizes them by the specific principles with which accuracy improvements are achieved. In addition, it covers the techniques with which such methods can be made more effective. A formal classification of these methods is provided, and the circumstances in which they work well are examined. The authors cover how outlier ensembles relate (both theoretically and practically) to the ensemble techniques used commonly for other data mining problems like classification. The similarities and (subtle) differences in the ensemble techniques for the classification and outlier detection problems are explored. These subtle differences do impact the design of ensemble algorithms for the latter problem. This book can be used for courses in data mining and related curricula. Many illustrative examples and exercises are provided in order to facilitate classroom teaching. A familiarity is assumed to the outlier detection problem and also to generic problem of ensemble analysis in classification. This is because many of the ensemble methods discussed in this book are adaptations from their counterparts in the classification domain. Some techniques explained in this book, such as wagging, randomized feature weighting, and geometric subsampling, provide new insights that are not available elsewhere. Also included is an analysis of the performance of various types of base detectors and their relative effectiveness. The book is valuable for researchers and practitioners for leveraging ensemble methods into optimal algorithmic design.

This volume conveys some of the surprises, puzzles and success stories in high-dimensional and complex data analysis and related fields. Its peer-reviewed contributions showcase recent advances in variable selection, estimation and prediction strategies for a host of useful models, as well as essential new developments in the field. The continued and rapid advancement of modern technology now allows scientists to collect data of increasingly unprecedented size and complexity. Examples include epigenomic data, genomic data, proteomic data, high-resolution image data, high-frequency financial data, functional and longitudinal data, and network data. Simultaneous variable selection and estimation is one of the key statistical problems involved in analyzing such big and complex data. The purpose of this book is to stimulate research and foster interaction between researchers in the area of high-dimensional data analysis. More concretely, its goals are to: 1) highlight and expand the breadth of existing methods in big data and high-dimensional data analysis and their potential for the advancement of both the mathematical and statistical sciences; 2) identify important directions for future research in the theory of regularization methods, in algorithmic development, and in methodologies for different application areas; and 3) facilitate collaboration between theoretical and subject-specific researchers.

This book focuses on the methodological treatment of UML/P and addresses three core topics of model-based software development: code generation, the systematic testing of programs using a model-based definition of test cases, and the evolutionary refactoring and transformation of models. For each of these topics, it first details the foundational concepts and techniques, and then presents their application with UML/P. This separation between basic principles and applications makes the content more accessible and allows the reader to transfer this knowledge directly to other model-based approaches and languages. After an introduction to the book and its primary goals in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 outlines an agile UML-based approach using UML/P as the primary development language for creating executable models, generating code from the models, designing test cases, and planning iterative evolution through refactoring. In the interest of completeness, Chapter 3 provides a brief summary of UML/P, which is used throughout the book. Next, Chapters 4 and 5 discuss core techniques for code generation, addressing the architecture of a code generator and methods for controlling it, as well as the suitability of UML/P notations for test or product code. Chapters 6 and 7 then discuss general concepts for testing software as well as the special features which arise due to the use of UML/P. Chapter 8 details test patterns to show how to use UML/P diagrams to define test cases and emphasizes in particular the use of functional tests for distributed and concurrent software systems. In closing, Chapters 9 and 10 examine techniques for transforming models and code and thus provide a solid foundation for refactoring as a type of transformation that preserves semantics. Overall, this book will be of great benefit for practical software development, for academic training in the field of Software Engineering, and for research in the area of model-based software development. Practitioners will learn how to use modern model-based techniques to improve the production of code and thus significantly increase quality. Students will find both important scientific basics as well as direct applications of the techniques presented. And last but not least, the book will offer scientists a comprehensive overview of the current state of development in the three core topics it covers.

This text covers both multiple linear regression and some experimental design models. The text uses the response plot to visualize the model and to detect outliers, does not assume that the error distribution has a known parametric distribution, develops prediction intervals that work when the error distribution is unknown, suggests bootstrap hypothesis tests that may be useful for inference after variable selection, and develops prediction regions and large sample theory for the multivariate linear regression model that has m response variables. A relationship between multivariate prediction regions and confidence regions provides a simple way to bootstrap confidence regions. These confidence regions often provide a practical method for testing hypotheses. There is also a chapter on generalized linear models and generalized additive models. There are many R functions to produce response and residual plots, to simulate prediction intervals and hypothesis tests, to detect outliers, and to choose response transformations for multiple linear regression or experimental design models. This text is for graduates and undergraduates with a strong mathematical background. The prerequisites for this text are linear algebra and a calculus based course in statistics.