Practical Data Processing and Analysis Using R

This book has become one of the main statistical tools for the analysis of economic and financial data. Designed for both theoreticians and practitioners, this book provides a comprehensive treatment

Applied statisticians often need to perform analyses of multivariate data; for these they will typically use one of the statistical software packages, S-Plus or R. This book sets out how to use these

This highly illustrated monograph provides a comprehensive study of the structure and function of proteins, nucleic acids and viruses using synchrotron radiation and crystallography. Synchrotron radiation is intense, polychromatic and finely collimated, and is highly effective for probing the structure of macromolecules. This is a fast-expanding field, and this timely monograph gives a complete introduction to the technique and its uses. Beginning with chapters on the fundamentals of macromolecular crystallography and macromolecular structure, the book goes on to review the sources and properties of synchrotron radiation, instrumentation and data collection. There are chapters on the Laue method, on diffuse X-ray scattering and on variable wavelength dispersion methods. The book concludes with a description and survey of applications including studies at high resolution, the use of small crystals, the study of large unit cells, and time-resolved crystallography (particularly of enzymes

Radio pulsars are rapidly rotating highly magnetized neutron stars. Studies of these fascinating objects have provided applications in solid-state physics, general relativity, galactic astronomy, astrometry, planetary physics and even cosmology. Most of these applications and much of what we know about neutron stars are derived from single-dish radio observations using state-of-the-art receivers and data acquisition systems. This comprehensive 2004 book is a unique resource that brings together the key observational techniques, background information and a review of results, including the discovery of a double pulsar system. Useful software tools are provided which can be used to analyse example data, made available on a related website. This work will be of great value not only to graduate students but also to researchers wishing to carry out and interpret a wide variety of radio pulsar observations.

This book examines the economic bases of regional sovereignty movements in the Russian Federation from 1990–1993. The analysis is based on an original data set of Russian regional sovereignty movements and the author employs a variety of methods including quantitative statistical analysis, as well as qualitative case studies of Sverdlovsk and Samara oblasts using systematic content analysis of local newspaper articles. The central finding of the book is that variation in Russian regional activism is explained not by differences in economic conditions but by differences in the construction or imagination of economic interests; to put it in the language of other contemporary debates, economic advantage and disadvantage are as imagined as nations. In arguing that regional economic interests are inter-subjective, contingent, and institutionally specific, the book addresses a major question in political economy, namely the origin of economic interests. In addition, by engaging the national

Learn to understand and influence attitudes and behaviors of diverse constituencies. Includes attitude scales, steps in attitude-behavior study, data tables, and easily applied data analysis.

Written to address technical concerns that mobile developers face regardless of the platform (J2ME, WAP, Windows CE, etc.), this 2005 book explores the differences between mobile and stationary applications and the architectural and software development concepts needed to build a mobile application. Using UML as a tool, Reza B'far guides the developer through the development process, showing how to document the design and implementation of the application. He focuses on general concepts, while using platforms as examples or as possible tools. After introducing UML, XML and derivative tools necessary for developing mobile software applications, B'far shows how to build user interfaces for mobile applications. He covers location sensitivity, wireless connectivity, mobile agents, data synchronization, security, and push-based technologies, and finally homes in on the practical issues of mobile application development including the development cycle for mobile applications, testing mobile

Expanded and revised to include new computing exercises using actual data along with tips, solutions and a set of updated questions. Computer use is encouraged to facilitate analysis of data sets too

Japan's economy has long been described as network-centric. A web of stable, reciprocated relations among banks, firms, and ministries, is thought to play an important role in Japan's ability to navigate smoothly around economic shocks. Now those networks are widely blamed for Japan's faltering competitiveness. This book applies structural sociology to a study of how the form and functioning of this network economy has evolved from the prewar era to the late 90s. It asks whether, in the face of deregulation, globalization, and financial disintermediation, Japan's corporate networks - the keiretsu groupings particularly - have 'withered away', losing their cohesion and their historical function of supporting member firms in hard times. Using detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis, this book's conclusion is a qualified 'yes'. Relationships remain central to the Japanese way of business, but are much more subordinated to the competitive strategy of the enterprise than the network

Michael McMillan provides a complete presentation of the object-oriented features of the Visual Basic .NET language for advanced Visual Basic programmers. Beginning with an introduction to abstract data types and their initial implementation using structures, he explains standard OOP topics including class design, inheritance, access modifiers and scoping issues, abstract classes, design and implemention of interfaces and design patterns, and refactoring in VB.NET. More advanced OOP topics are included as well, such as reflection, object persistence, and serialization. To tie everything together, McMillan demonstrates sound OOP design and implementation principles through practical examples of standard Windows applications, database applications using ADO.NET, Web-based applications using ASP.NET, and Windows service applications.

Astrometry encompasses all that is necessary to provide the positions and motions of celestial bodies. This includes observational techniques, instrumentation, processing and analysis of observational data, reference systems and frames, and the resulting astronomical phenomena. Astrometry is fundamental to all other fields of astronomy, from the pointing of telescopes, to navigation and guidance systems, to distance and motion determinations for astrophysics. In the last few decades, new observational techniques have enabled improvements in accuracy by orders of magnitude. Starting from basic principles, this book provides the fundamentals for this new astrometry at milli- and micro-arcsecond accuracies. Topics include: basics of general relativity; co-ordinate systems; vectors, tensors, quaternions, and observational uncertainties; determination and use of the celestial and terrestrial reference systems and frames; applications of new observational techniques; present and future star

Analyzing Syntax: A Lexical-Functional Approach is a comprehensive and accessible 2004 textbook on syntactic analysis, designed for students of linguistics at advanced undergraduate or graduate level. Working within the 'Lexical Functional Grammar' (LFG) approach, it provides students with a framework for analyzing and describing grammatical structure, using extensive examples from both European and non-European languages. Topics covered include: tests for constituency, passivization and other relation-changing processes, reflexive pronouns, the control relation, Topic and Focus, relative clauses and Wh-questions, causative constructions, serial verbs, 'quirky case', and ergativity. As well as building on what linguists have learned about language in general, particular attention is paid to the unique features of individual languages. While its primary focus is on syntactic structure, the book also deals with aspects of meaning, function and word-structure that are directly relevant to

Event History Modeling, first published in 2004, provides an accessible guide to event history analysis for researchers and advanced students in the social sciences. The substantive focus of many social science research problems leads directly to the consideration of duration models, and many problems would be better analyzed by using these longitudinal methods to take into account not only whether the event happened, but when. The foundational principles of event history analysis are discussed and ample examples are estimated and interpreted using standard statistical packages, such as STATA and S-Plus. Critical innovations in diagnostics are discussed, including testing the proportional hazards assumption, identifying outliers, and assessing model fit. The treatment of complicated events includes coverage of unobserved heterogeneity, repeated events, and competing risks models. The authors point out common problems in the analysis of time-to-event data in the social sciences and make

Event History Modeling, first published in 2004, provides an accessible guide to event history analysis for researchers and advanced students in the social sciences. The substantive focus of many social science research problems leads directly to the consideration of duration models, and many problems would be better analyzed by using these longitudinal methods to take into account not only whether the event happened, but when. The foundational principles of event history analysis are discussed and ample examples are estimated and interpreted using standard statistical packages, such as STATA and S-Plus. Critical innovations in diagnostics are discussed, including testing the proportional hazards assumption, identifying outliers, and assessing model fit. The treatment of complicated events includes coverage of unobserved heterogeneity, repeated events, and competing risks models. The authors point out common problems in the analysis of time-to-event data in the social sciences and make

In an in-depth comparative and long-term analysis, first published in 2004, Daniele Caramani studies the macro-historical process of the nationalization of politics. Using a great wealth of data on single constituencies in seventeen West European countries, he reconstructs the territorial structures of electoral support for political parties, as well as their evolution since the mid-nineteenth century from highly fragmented politics in the early stages toward nation-wide alignments. Caramani provides a multi-pronged empirical analysis through time, across countries, and between party families. The inclusion in the analysis of all the most important social and political cleavages - class, state-church, rural-urban, ethno-linguistic and religious - allows him to assess the nationalizing impact of the class cleavage that emerged from national and industrial revolutions, and the resistance of preindustrial cultural factors to national integration. Institutional and socio-economic factors a

In an in-depth comparative and long-term analysis, first published in 2004, Daniele Caramani studies the macro-historical process of the nationalization of politics. Using a great wealth of data on single constituencies in seventeen West European countries, he reconstructs the territorial structures of electoral support for political parties, as well as their evolution since the mid-nineteenth century from highly fragmented politics in the early stages toward nation-wide alignments. Caramani provides a multi-pronged empirical analysis through time, across countries, and between party families. The inclusion in the analysis of all the most important social and political cleavages - class, state-church, rural-urban, ethno-linguistic and religious - allows him to assess the nationalizing impact of the class cleavage that emerged from national and industrial revolutions, and the resistance of preindustrial cultural factors to national integration. Institutional and socio-economic factors a

Wavelet Transformations and Their Applications in Chemistry pioneers a new approach to classifying existing chemometric techniques for data analysis in one and two dimensions, using a practical applic

Written for SAR system designers and remote sensing specialists, this practical reference shows you how to produce higher quality SAR images using data-driven algorithms, and how to apply powerful new

Over the past half-century, Europe has experienced the most radical reallocation of authority that has ever taken place in peace-time, yet the ideological conflicts that will emerge from this are only now becoming apparent. The editors of this 2004 volume, Gary Marks and Marco Steenbergen, have brought together a formidable group of scholars of European and comparative politics to investigate patterns of conflict that are arising in the European Union. Using diverse sources of data, and examining a range of actors, including citizens, political parties, members of the European Parliament, social movements, and interest groups, the authors of this volume conclude that political contestation concerning European integration is indeed rooted in the basic conflicts that have shaped political life in Western Europe for many years. This comprehensive volume provides an analysis of political conflict in the European Union.

Using multiple data sources and methods, this book involves a micro-historical analysis of the nature of change and stability in homicide situations over time. It focuses on the homicide situation as the unit of analysis, and explores similarities and differences in the context of homicide for different social groups. For example, using Qualitative Comparative Analysis, we investigate whether various social groups (e.g., men vs women, teenagers vs adults, strangers vs intimates, Blacks vs Whites) kill under qualitatively different circumstances and, if so, what are the characteristics of these unique profiles. The analysis of over 400,000 US homicides is supplemented with qualitative analysis of narrative accounts of homicide events to more fully investigate the structure and process underlying these lethal situations. Our findings of unique and common homicide situations across different time periods and social groups are then discussed in terms of their implications for criminologica

Over the past half-century, Europe has experienced the most radical reallocation of authority that has ever taken place in peace-time, yet the ideological conflicts that will emerge from this are only now becoming apparent. The editors of this 2004 volume, Gary Marks and Marco Steenbergen, have brought together a formidable group of scholars of European and comparative politics to investigate patterns of conflict that are arising in the European Union. Using diverse sources of data, and examining a range of actors, including citizens, political parties, members of the European Parliament, social movements, and interest groups, the authors of this volume conclude that political contestation concerning European integration is indeed rooted in the basic conflicts that have shaped political life in Western Europe for many years. This comprehensive volume provides an analysis of political conflict in the European Union.

Acoustic logging is a multidisciplinary technology involving basic theory, instrumentation, and data processing/interpretation methodologies. The advancement of the technology now allows for a broad r

Using multiple data sources and methods, this book involves a micro-historical analysis of the nature of change and stability in homicide situations over time. It focuses on the homicide situation as the unit of analysis, and explores similarities and differences in the context of homicide for different social groups. For example, using Qualitative Comparative Analysis, we investigate whether various social groups (e.g., men vs women, teenagers vs adults, strangers vs intimates, Blacks vs Whites) kill under qualitatively different circumstances and, if so, what are the characteristics of these unique profiles. The analysis of over 400,000 US homicides is supplemented with qualitative analysis of narrative accounts of homicide events to more fully investigate the structure and process underlying these lethal situations. Our findings of unique and common homicide situations across different time periods and social groups are then discussed in terms of their implications for criminologica

Going beyond the usual focus on unemployment, this 2004 book explores the health effects of other kinds of underemployment including forms of inadequate employment as involuntary part-time and poverty wage work. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this compares falling into unemployment versus inadequate employment relative to remaining adequately employed. Outcomes include self-esteem, alcohol abuse, depression, and low birth weight. The panel data permit study of the plausible reverse causation hypothesis of selection. Because the sample is national and followed over two decades, the study explores cross-level effects (individual change and community economic climate) and developmental transitions. Special attention is given to school leavers and welfare mothers, and, in cross-generational analysis, the effect of mothers' employment on babies' birth weights. There emerges a way of conceptualizing employment status as a continuum ranging from good jobs to bad jobs to empl

This book provides a manual on quantitative financial analysis. Focusing on advanced methods for modelling financial markets in the context of practical financial applications, it will cover data, sof

Semiparametric regression is concerned with the flexible incorporation of non-linear functional relationships in regression analyses. Any application area that benefits from regression analysis can also benefit from semiparametric regression. Assuming only a basic familiarity with ordinary parametric regression, this user-friendly book explains the techniques and benefits of semiparametric regression in a concise and modular fashion. The authors make liberal use of graphics and examples plus case studies taken from environmental, financial, and other applications. They include practical advice on implementation and pointers to relevant software. The 2003 book is suitable as a textbook for students with little background in regression as well as a reference book for statistically oriented scientists such as biostatisticians, econometricians, quantitative social scientists, epidemiologists, with a good working knowledge of regression and the desire to begin using more flexible semiparame

Semiparametric regression is concerned with the flexible incorporation of non-linear functional relationships in regression analyses. Any application area that benefits from regression analysis can also benefit from semiparametric regression. Assuming only a basic familiarity with ordinary parametric regression, this user-friendly book explains the techniques and benefits of semiparametric regression in a concise and modular fashion. The authors make liberal use of graphics and examples plus case studies taken from environmental, financial, and other applications. They include practical advice on implementation and pointers to relevant software. The 2003 book is suitable as a textbook for students with little background in regression as well as a reference book for statistically oriented scientists such as biostatisticians, econometricians, quantitative social scientists, epidemiologists, with a good working knowledge of regression and the desire to begin using more flexible semiparame

Space-time coding is a technique that promises greatly improved performance in wireless networks by using multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver. Space-Time Block Coding for Wireless Communications, first published in 2003, is an introduction to the theory of this technology. The authors develop the topic using a unified framework and cover a variety of topics ranging from information theory to performance analysis and space-time coding methods for both flat and frequency-selective fading multiple-antenna channels. The authors concentrate on key principles rather than specific practical applications, and present the material in a concise and accessible manner. Their treatment reviews the fundamental aspects of multiple-input, multiple-output communication theory, and guides the reader through a number of topics at the forefront of research and development. The book includes homework exercises and is aimed at graduate students and researchers working on wireless communication

Permutation group algorithms are one of the workhorses of symbolic algebra systems computing with groups. They played an indispensable role in the proof of many deep results, including the construction and study of sporadic finite simple groups. This book describes the theory behind permutation group algorithms, including developments based on the classification of finite simple groups. Rigorous complexity estimates, implementation hints, and advanced exercises are included throughout. The central theme is the description of nearly linear time algorithms, which are extremely fast both in terms of asymptotic analysis and of practical running time. A significant part of the permutation group library of the computational group algebra system GAP is based on nearly linear time algorithms. The book fills a significant gap in the symbolic computation literature. It is recommended for everyone interested in using computers in group theory, and is suitable for advanced graduate courses.

Large transaction-processing applications, such as banking, flight reservations, telecommunications, and networking, demand increasingly high throughput and fast response times. Coupling multiple syst

This book broadens the range of theoretically informed empirical research on business ethics (using data from major American corporations) and addresses the underlying questions about business ethics

A multi-disciplinary team of authors analyze the economics of Brazilian deforestation using a large data set of ecological and economic variables. They survey the most up to date work in this field and present their own dynamic and spatial econometric analysis based on municipality level panel data spanning the entire Brazilian Amazon from 1970 to 1996. By observing the dynamics of land use change over such a long period the team is able to provide quantitative estimates of the long-run economic costs and benefits of both land clearing and government policies such as road building. The authors find that some government policies, such as road paving in already highly settled areas, are beneficial both for economic development and for the preservation of forest, while other policies, such as the construction of unpaved roads through virgin areas, stimulate wasteful land uses to the detriment of both economic growth and forest cover.

In this short and very practical 2002 introduction to econometrics Philip Hans Franses guides the reader through the essential concepts of econometrics. Central to the book are practical questions in various economic disciplines, which can be answered using econometric methods and models. The book focuses on a limited number of the essential, most widely used methods, before going on to review the basics of econometrics. The book ends with a number of case studies drawn from recent empirical work to provide an intuitive illustration of what econometricians do when faced with practical questions. Throughout the book Franses emphasises the importance of specification, evaluation and implementation of models appropriate to the data. Assuming basic familiarity only with matrix algebra and calculus the book is designed to appeal as either a short stand-alone introduction for students embarking on an empirical research project or as a supplement to any standard introductory textbook.

Many physical anthropologists study populations using data that come primarily from the historical record. For this volume's authors, the classic anthropological 'field' is not the glamour of an exotic locale, but the sometimes tedium of the dusty back rooms of libraries, archives and museum collections. This book tells of the way in which archival data inform anthropological questions about human biology and health. The authors present a diverse array of human biological evidence from a variety of sources including the archaeological record, medical collections, church records, contemporary health and growth data and genetic information from the descendants of historical populations. The papers demonstrate how the analysis of historical documents expands the horizons of research in human biology, extends the longitudinal analysis of microevolutionary and social processes into the present and enhances our understanding of the human condition.

Investigation of the functional architecture of the human brain using modern noninvasive imaging techniques is a rapidly expanding area of research. A proper knowledge of methodology is needed to appreciate the burgeoning literature in the field. This timely publication provides an excellent catalogue of the main techniques.The authors offer an invaluable analysis of mapping strategies and techniques, providing everything from the foundations to the major pitfalls and practical applications of the modern techniques used in neuroimaging. Contains over 1000 full color pages with more than 200 color figures. Spanning the methodological gamut from the molecular level to the whole brain while discussing anatomy, physiology, and pathology, as well as their integration, Brain Mapping: The Methods, 2e, brings the reader a comprehensive, well-illustrated and entirely readable description of the methods for brain mapping. Drs. Toga and Mazziotta provide everything from the foundations to the maj

Stochastic processes with jumps and random measures are importance as drivers in applications like financial mathematics and signal processing. This 2002 text develops stochastic integration theory for both integrators (semimartingales) and random measures from a common point of view. Using some novel predictable controlling devices, the author furnishes the theory of stochastic differential equations driven by them, as well as their stability and numerical approximation theories. Highlights feature DCT and Egoroff's Theorem, as well as comprehensive analogs results from ordinary integration theory, for instance previsible envelopes and an algorithm computing stochastic integrals of càglàd integrands pathwise. Full proofs are given for all results, and motivation is stressed throughout. A large appendix contains most of the analysis that readers will need as a prerequisite. This will be an invaluable reference for graduate students and researchers in mathematics, physics, electrical en

This 2002 introduction to the use of radar for remote sensing of natural surfaces provides the reader with a thorough grounding in practical applications, focusing particularly on terrestrial studies that may be extended to other planets. An historical overview of the subject is followed by an introduction to the nomenclature and methodology pertaining to radar data collection, image interpretation and surface roughness analysis. The author then presents a summary (illustrated with black and white examples from the natural environment) of theoretical explanations for the backscatter properties of continuous rough surfaces, collections of discrete objects, and layered terrain. Case studies of radar surveys of the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars complete the book. The level is appropriate for students and professionals across a broad range of scientific disciplines including Earth and planetary sciences, electrical engineering, and remote sensing. Particular emphasis is given to practical

Provides an innovative hands-on introduction to techniques for specifying the behaviour of software components. It is primarily intended for use as a text book for a course in the 2nd or 3rd year of Computer Science and Computer Engineering programs, but it is also suitable for self-study. Using this book will help the reader improve programming skills and gain a sound foundation and motivation for subsequent courses in advanced algorithms and data structures, software design, formal methods, compilers, programming languages, and theory. The presentation is based on numerous examples and case studies appropriate to the level of programming expertise of the intended readership. The main topics covered are techniques for using programmer-friendly assertional notations to specify, develop, and verify small but non-trivial algorithms and data representations, and the use of state diagrams, grammars, and regular expressions to specify and develop recognizers for formal languages.

Provides an innovative hands-on introduction to techniques for specifying the behaviour of software components. It is primarily intended for use as a text book for a course in the 2nd or 3rd year of Computer Science and Computer Engineering programs, but it is also suitable for self-study. Using this book will help the reader improve programming skills and gain a sound foundation and motivation for subsequent courses in advanced algorithms and data structures, software design, formal methods, compilers, programming languages, and theory. The presentation is based on numerous examples and case studies appropriate to the level of programming expertise of the intended readership. The main topics covered are techniques for using programmer-friendly assertional notations to specify, develop, and verify small but non-trivial algorithms and data representations, and the use of state diagrams, grammars, and regular expressions to specify and develop recognizers for formal languages.

Neutron scattering is an extremely powerful tool in the study of elemental excitations in condensed matter. This book provides a practical guide to basic techniques using a triple-axis spectrometer. Introductory chapters summarize useful scattering formulas and describe the components of a spectrometer, followed by a comprehensive discussion of the resolution function and focusing effects. Later sections include simple examples of phonon and magnon measurements, and an analysis of spurious effects in both inelastic and elastic measurements, and how to avoid them. Finally, polarization analysis techniques and their applications are covered. This guide will allow graduate students and experienced researchers new to neutron scattering to make the most efficient use of their experimental time.