http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/statistics/ Statistics. Read about statistics software, news and research from research institutes around the world. en-us Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:05:01 EDT Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/statistics/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172148.htm Researchers have developed an improved statistical model that could help ensure that the sickest patients receive liver transplants first. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172148.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804190639.htm Researchers have uncovered new information about how we perceive fast moving, incoming objects -- such as tennis or cricket balls. The new research studies why the human brain has difficulty perceiving fast moving objects coming from straight ahead; something that should be a key survival skill. This has implications for understanding how sportspeople make decisions about playing a shot but could also be important for improving road safety and for the development of robotic vision systems. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804190639.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731173129.htm The Viterbi Algorithm, the elegant 41-year-old logical tool for rapidly eliminating dead end possibilities in reception of digital data, has a new application to go alongside its ubiquitous daily use in cell phone communications, bioinformatics, speech recognition and many other areas of information technology. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731173129.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080723144710.htm To help IT managers safeguard valuable information most efficiently, computer scientists are applying security metrics to computer network pathways to assign a probable risk of attack, calculating the most vulnerable points of attack. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080723144710.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717174939.htm In studying how animals change size as they evolve, biologists have unearthed several interesting patterns. For instance, most species are small, but the largest members of a taxonomic group -- such as the great white shark, the Komodo dragon, or the African elephant -- are often thousands or millions of times bigger than the typical species. Now for the first time researchers explain these patterns within an elegant statistical framework. Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717174939.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080602152904.htm Physicians and other researchers have developed a unique statistical model that predicts the probability of a patient being cancer free 12 years after initial surgical treatment. Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080602152904.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080528172013.htm A biostatistician is using statistics to explain variations in genome-wide association studies. Scientists use genome-wide association studies to compare the genes of people with health conditions to the genes of healthy people, thereby better understanding basic biological processes that affect health and possibly how to better diagnose and treat disease. Some studies account for differences by using control groups who self-report similar ethnicities. But there can be wide variations because people are not always completely aware of their ancestry. Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080528172013.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080529141354.htm Scientists have taken an important step toward understanding how the human brain codes the meanings of words by creating the first computational model that can predict the unique brain activation patterns associated with names for things that you can see, hear, feel, taste or smell. The model predicts brain activation patterns for thousands of concrete nouns. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080529141354.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080523163059.htm Video games that energize players and induce a positive mood could also enhance creativity, according to media researchers. However, the study also finds that players who were not highly energized and had a negative mood, registered the highest creativity. Sun, 25 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080523163059.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080522210025.htm A statistical approach to studying genetic variation promises to shed new light on the history of human migration. Application of the method has already turned up such surprising findings as a strong Mongolian contribution to the genes of the Native American Pima people and gene flow from the north of Europe to Eastern Siberia. Sat, 24 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080522210025.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105644.htm A new way to measure breathing patterns in sleeping infants which may also work for adults has just been created. The researcher has created a mathematical formula that measures varying breathing patterns which indicate different sleep states such as active or quiet sleep. Wed, 07 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105644.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502111638.htm A new mathematical and statistical method allows the virus population in a diseased organism to be determined quickly and economically. Using this method, medicines and vaccines against diseases caused by viral infections could be developed and deployed in a more targeted way in the future. Through their diversity resulting from continuous mutation, viruses easily develop drug resistance. This is also why the manufacture of a vaccine against HIV has been unsuccessful up to now. To bring both under control, the strains of virus present in the host must be known. A new method developed by researchers from Switzerland and America now promises help in identifying diverse virus populations. Mon, 05 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502111638.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326111638.htm Ten years ago great attention was attracted by the discovery that it was possible to demonstrate signal transfer in proteins using statistical methods. In a new article Swedish researchers are now presenting results of experiments that contradict the theory. Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326111638.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080324124643.htm Mathematicians have developed powerful new tools for winnowing out the genes behind some of humanity's most intractable diseases. With one, they can cast back through generations to pinpoint the genes behind inherited illness. With another, they have isolated 11 variations within genes -- called single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs or "snips"--associated with type 2 diabetes. Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080324124643.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080229090817.htm Brown applied mathematicians have found a new way to sift through mountains of data and draw reliable inferences from it -- a Holy Grail in science and technology. Their pioneering work, the development of a new class of statistical estimators, could lead to better methods for analyzing the large data sets that are increasingly common in fields from biology to business. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080229090817.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080229075232.htm Many areas of research and medicine rely critically upon knowing a person's individual immune system proteins, as they determine an individual's ability to fight disease or mistakenly attack their own tissues. However, obtaining this information is costly and difficult. A new study demonstrate how statistical modeling can help researchers obtain this information more easily and cost effectively. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080229075232.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226092812.htm Researchers have developed the SOMA Terror Organization Portal allowing analysts to query automatically learned rules on terrorist organization behavior, forecast potential behavior based on these rules, and, most importantly, to network with other analysts examining the same subjects. Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226092812.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080221101659.htm Efforts to use computers to translate languages, known as machine translation, date from the 1950s, yet computers still cannot compete with human translators for the quality of the results. Machine translation works best for formal texts in specialized areas where vocabulary is unambiguous and sentence patterns are limited. Aircraft manufacturers, for example, have devised their own systems for quickly translating technical manuals into many languages. Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080221101659.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080215103312.htm Researchers have developed a new method that essentially does for the genetic pathways underlying cancer what social networking web sites can do for people: It finds the connections among them. The researchers first identified familiar sets of genes that work together to support the development of cancer by allowing uncontrolled growth or encouraging the development of blood vessels, for example. Then they used their new statistical techniques to look for relationships, or dependencies, that tie those separate gene sets together. Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080215103312.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080215082756.htm If you were a man on the Titanic, which side of the ship would have given you the best chance of making it into a lifeboat -- and surviving? Well, according to data analysis, the boats launched from each side of the doomed ship show a different pattern when it comes to percentage of men on board: on the port (left) side, the first few boats were only lightly loaded, and contained a large number of male passengers and crewmen. On the starboard side, where good order was maintained throughout, the boats were fully loaded -- and almost completely with women and children. Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080215082756.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080211220251.htm Adversaries the U.S. currently faces in Iraq rely on surprise and apparent randomness to compensate for their lack of organization, technology and firepower. If one could find some method to their madness, however, the asymmetric threat could be made significantly less serious. These scientists hope to help provide a better intelligence posture on these asymmetric threats by developing computer models that identify trends in the behaviors of the adversaries. Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080211220251.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080124103159.htm A new study of worldwide technological competitiveness suggests China may soon rival the United States as the principal driver of the world's economy -- a position the US has held since the end of World War II. If that happens, it will mark the first time in nearly a century that two nations have competed for leadership as equals. Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080124103159.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080122102101.htm Climate scientists are collaborating with experts in economic theory to improve their forecasting models and assess more accurately the impact of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Although there is broad consensus that there will be a significant rise in average global temperature, there is great uncertainty over the extent of the change, and the implications for different regions. Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080122102101.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080104171618.htm Animal populations and the stock market are hard to forecast. Both are generated by complicated, interdependent systems. Unlike financial stocks, where trades are meticulously recorded, scientists began estimating animal populations only a few decades ago. But a new technique makes it possible to use the same tools some banks use to forecast the stock market and apply them to ecology. Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080104171618.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203164738.htm Why does it take so long for soul mates to find each other? How does disease spread through a person's body? When will the next computer virus attack your hard-drive? A new theory on the statistical concept of "First Passage Time," may provide the key to answering at least a few of these questions. And the answers may lead to breakthroughs in medicine, mathematics, the environment, and elsewhere. Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203164738.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071029172900.htm In general, people who are optimistic are more likely than others to display prudent financial behaviors, according to new research. In small doses optimism can lead to wise decision making, but extreme optimists "display financial habits and behavior that are generally not considered prudent," according to researchers. Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071029172900.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071012080135.htm The search for a vaccination against HIV has been in progress since 1984, with very little success. Traditional methods used for identifying potential cellular targets can be very costly and time-consuming. The key to creating a vaccination lies in knowing which parts of the pathogen to target with which antibodies. A new study has come up with a way to match pathogens to their antibodies. Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071012080135.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070917173137.htm A review of six publicly available hospital comparison Web sites suggests that they display inconsistent results and use inappropriate or incomplete standards to measure quality, according to a new report. Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070917173137.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070830150102.htm Agencies like the US Census Bureau produce a voluminous amount of data, much of which is of tremendous value to researchers. But the data also includes personal information that could be harmful were it to fall into the wrong hands. Thus, organizations that maintain such databases need to devise ways to protect individuals' privacy while preserving the value of the information to researchers, writes Carnegie Mellon University Statistics in a recent article. Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070830150102.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070821153921.htm An eye tracking experiment revealed that college student Internet users have an inherent trust in Google's ability to rank results by their true relevance to the query. When participants selected a link from Google's result pages, their decisions were strongly biased towards links higher in position, even if that content was less relevant to the search query. Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070821153921.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070809105347.htm Researchers have found a powerful technique that could be used to detect precisely when ordered patterns form in everything from plasma in the solar wind and fusion reactors, to crowds of people, or flocks of birds. The technique could even be used to find unusual patterns in stock market behavior. Sun, 19 Aug 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070809105347.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070816151640.htm Researchers have developed a mathematical formula to assess whether concentrated disease outbreaks can be ascribed to random-chance events or, instead, suggest a contagious or environmental effect that requires epidemiological investigation. A feature of the formula is that, given the relevant data, the required probability calculations can be done in less than five seconds on a personal computer. Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070816151640.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070809112459.htm Penn State researchers have developed a search engine -- TableSeer -- which not only can identify and extract tables from PDF documents but also can index and rank the search results using factors including the table's title, text references to the table and date of publication. Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070809112459.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070809111507.htm A reanalysis of the data used in a previous analysis of the drug Rosiglitazone -- marketed by GlaxoSmithKoine as Avandia -- using different statistical models suggests that the earlier methodology may have resulted in inflated risk estimates. Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070809111507.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070730141145.htm A recent statistical analysis strengthens evidence that human activities are causing world temperatures to rise. Most climate change scientists model Earth systems from the ground up, attempting to account for all climate driving forces. Unfortunately, small changes in the models can lead to a broad range of outcomes, inviting debate over the actual causes of climate change. By applying sophisticated analysis techniques to data, researchers have mathematically stitched together known facts about the global climate into a more objective and coherent picture. Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070730141145.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070726142017.htm Researchers have found that high school coursework in one of the sciences, generally does not predict better college performance in other scientific disciplines. But there's one notable exception: Students with the most rigorous high school preparation in mathematics, perform significantly better in college courses in biology, chemistry, and physics. Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070726142017.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070723125532.htm What do sand, cereal, ice cubes, gravel, sugar, pills, and powders have in common? They are members of an unruly family of substances that refuse to completely conform to the laws of behavior for either solids or liquids -- much to the consternation of theoretical physicists and manufacturers alike. Whether it's a huge grain silo, a coal hopper or a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, being able to predict the behavior of dense granular packings is key to keeping things from jamming up or collapsing. Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070723125532.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070628071618.htm Random Technologies, the newest start-up company to emerge from the University of Rochester Medical Center, launched its new statistical analysis software package at an international conference of drug industry professionals this week. The package is based on the open source software system "R" -- the most widely used statistical computing and graphics system in biomedical research. Fri, 06 Jul 2007 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070628071618.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070628161330.htm A new Northwestern University study shows that juries in criminal cases many times are getting it wrong. In a set of 271 cases from four areas, juries gave wrong verdicts in at least one out of eight cases, according to a statistician whose paper is being published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070628161330.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627131913.htm Researchers have developed a Web-based software program that can help head and neck cancer patients better predict their survivability. Conditional survival is a statistical system that takes into account the age when the patient was diagnosed with cancer and the time elapsed since diagnosis. The new Web-browser software tool, called the regression model, can calculate a patient's conditional survival based on the patient's age, gender, race and tumor site, stage and aggressiveness. Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627131913.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070620073400.htm A food aid expert outlines emerging best practice standards for emergency international food aid, including areas such as information systems, analytical tools and strategic targeting of beneficiaries. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070620073400.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070618153832.htm Climate models are reliable tools that help researchers better understand the observed record of ocean warming and variability. Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070618153832.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070601130046.htm A team of biomedical engineers has developed a computer model that makes use of more or less predictable "guesstimates" of human muscle movements to explain how the brain draws on both what it recently learned and what it's known for some time to anticipate what it needs to develop new motor skills. Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070601130046.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070523153056.htm A data-driven computational approach developed by a University of Illinois statistician is revealing secrets about inner Earth and discovering unique gene expressions in fruit flies, zebra fish and other living organisms. Fri, 25 May 2007 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070523153056.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070523095948.htm Experts analyzed the probability of 852 counties getting struck by hurricane-force winds this year. They based their analysis on statistical models that incorporate the paths of storms from the past 155 years, along with models using the actual climate conditions for January through May 2007 that compute the expected global climate conditions for the rest of the year. Thu, 24 May 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070523095948.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070411110003.htm Robust statistical analysis methods capable of dealing with large complex data sets are required more than ever before in almost all branches of science. The European Science Foundation's three-year SACD network developed new methods for extracting key structural features within the data. Such features can include outlying values that may be particularly significant within the increasingly large and complex data sets generated in financial markets, medical diagnostics, environmental surveys, and other sources. Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070411110003.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070323171514.htm Statisticians and genetic epidemiologists from Rice University and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have used computer simulations to trace genetic changes over thousands of generations in a simulated population to find out whether the tools that statistical geneticists use to pinpoint disease genes are up to the task of identifying multiple genes that cause complex diseases like cancer. Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070323171514.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319174632.htm Ohio State University scientists have created software that can identify traffic accident hotspots on state roadways. The software is publicly available and can be adapted for use by any state. Currently, the Ohio State Highway Patrol is using it to help position its cruisers during major holidays. Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319174632.htm