How data quality improves artificial intelligence – Part 2
Jim Harris shares three more examples of how data quality improves AI in Part 2 of his series.
English
Essentials of Map Coordinate Systems and Projections in Visual Analytics
If you spend any time working with maps and spatial data, having a fundamental understanding of coordinate systems and map projections becomes necessary. It’s the foundation of how spatial data and maps work. These areas invariably evoke trepidation and some angst, even in the most seasoned map professional. And rightfully
Keeping the public safe with analytics
Analytics has an important role to play in supporting the police to keep our communities safe, and I believe the benefits can be far-reaching. In my previous three posts, I discussed the role analytics can play in policing, reviewed the required data and highlighted a police force that is currently
Critical values of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test
Recently I wrote about how to compute the Kolmogorov D statistic, which is used to determine whether a sample has a particular distribution. One of the beautiful facts about modern computational statistics is that if you can compute a statistic, you can use simulation to estimate the sampling distribution of
Do books count as endangered species?
As a publishing house inside of SAS, we often hear: “Does anyone want to read books anymore?” Especially technical programmers who are “too busy” to read. About a quarter of American adults (24%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in
Using the Lua programming language within Base SAS®
Did you know that you can run Lua code within Base SAS? Learn more about what PROC LUA can do through some examples.
NC tornado animation (1950-2018)
We recently had some severe storms come through North Carolina, which even spawned a tornado in Wake county (the county where I live and work). This got me wondering when and where we've had tornadoes in NC in the past ... and, of course, I had to create a map!
The need for closer integration between risk and finance
A long time ago, I was working on analytics in a bank, primarily in the area of risk. One project I worked on was about working out which products were profitable to help clean up the product portfolio. The project involved people from both risk and finance. As we worked
GraphQL and SAS Viya applications - a good match
In the article Serverless functions and SAS Viya - a good match I discussed using serverless functions to deliver SAS Viya applications. Ignoring all the buzz words, a serverless function boils down to a set of REST APIs. So, if you tried the example you are now a REST API
SAS Customer Intelligence 360: Factorization machines, visual analytics, and personalized marketing [Part 2]
Competition in customer experience management has never been as challenging as it is now. Customers spend more money in aggregate, but less per brand. The average size of a single purchase has decreased, partly because competitive offers are just one click away. Predicting offer relevance to potential (and existing) customers plays a
Using optimization to define weights and parameters for customer risk rating models
Customer risk rating models play a crucial role in complying with the Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) requirements, which are designed to assess customer risk and prevent fraud. Today, the most common form of the Customer Risk Rating model is a score-based risk rating model. This
Strong Women: Preventing Osteoporosis with Exercise
The year was 1987. I was getting ready to enter my freshman year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – go ahead, do the math. My mom and I received a letter asking us to participate in some research. Would we participate in a mother-daughter bone density
What is Kolmogorov's D statistic?
Have you ever run a statistical test to determine whether data are normally distributed? If so, you have probably used Kolmogorov's D statistic. Kolmogorov's D statistic (also called the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic) enables you to test whether the empirical distribution of data is different than a reference distribution. The reference distribution
Geocoding US Street Addresses and Plotting Them with PROC SGMAP
I met many SAS programmers at the 2019 SAS Global Forum who geocode addresses using ArcGIS. Did you know that street address locations and other things can be found using the SAS GEOCODE procedure? PROC GEOCODE gives you coordinates for address, ZIP codes, ZIP+4 codes and cities. You can even
Big data in business analytics: Talking about the analytics process model
Interested in making business decisions with big data analytics? Our Wiley SAS Business Series book Profit Driven Business Analytics: A Practitioner’s Guide to Transforming Big Data into Added Value by Bart Baesens, Wouter Verbeke, and Cristian Danilo Bravo Roman has just the information you need to learn how to use
Write to a SAS data set from inside a SAS/IML loop
In SAS/IML programs, a common task is to write values in a matrix to a SAS data set. For some programs, the values you want to write are in a matrix and you use the CREATE FROM/APPEND FROM syntax to create the data set, as follows: proc iml; X =
Happy National Limerick Day from SAS Press!
May 12th is #NationalLimerickDay! If you saw our Valentine’s Day poem, you know we at SAS Press love creating poems and fun rhymes, so check out our limericks below! So, what’s a limerick? National Limerick Day is observed each year on May 12th and honors the birthday of the famed
US natural gas graph has 'flipped'!
You might have seen in the news that US exports of natural gas to Europe are up 300%. And we recently crossed the threshold where we export more natural gas than we import. This seems like a momentous occasion, and worthy of a graph! But first, let me make sure
The Gap Year Option
"I've gained so much self-assurance by taking a gap year. I navigated some difficult and confusing situations throughout my gap year that I wouldn't have encountered if I had stayed in the U.S., such as being lost on public transport, and relying on asking for directions in my limited Portuguese.
6 Steps to Manage PCOS Naturally
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. Many believe it’s simply an ovarian condition, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Instead, PCOS is a whole-body hormone condition that affects the ovaries. Hormones are the problem, ovaries are the victims.
Why meeting the cultural and ethical challenges of AI head-on is so critical for government
Speak to almost anyone about artificial intelligence, and you’ll likely be met with either a furrowed brow of concerned cynicism or a wide-eyed smile of enthusiasm. AI seems to have this kind of highly polarising effect, certainly on citizens and many organisations who are still, understandably, evaluating how AI will
Dividing by zero with SAS - myths and realities
To those of you who have not read my previous post, Dividing by zero with SAS, it's not too late to go back and make it up. You missed a lot of fun, deep thought and opportunity to solve an unusual SAS coding challenge. For those who have already read
Discrimination, accuracy, and stability in binary classifiers
At SAS Global Forum 2019, Daymond Ling presented an interesting discussion of binary classifiers in the financial industry. The discussion is motivated by a practical question: If you deploy a predictive model, how can you assess whether the model is no longer working well and needs to be replaced? Daymond
Rez Life Explained
Leaving home and moving onto a college campus is a point of significant transition for many young adults. Every non-commuting campus I am familiar with requires freshmen students to live on campus and there is good reason for this: students who live on campus have shown to earn a higher
Data governance implications of increased data privacy regulations: Information risk
David Loshin reminds us that data protection compliance applies to different individuals in different contexts – and not just GDPR and CCPA.
How to be a billionaire
To say Michio Kaku is smart is an understatement. For a science fair in high school, he built a particle accelerator made of 400 pounds of scrap metal. Have you ever watched the TV show, The Big Bang Theory? Sheldon and Leonard support string theory research on the show. Kaku
How artificial intelligence will affect business in the next decade
From the boardroom to your living room, artificial intelligence (AI) is nearly everywhere today. Tipped as the most disruptive technology of all time, it has already transformed industries across the globe. And companies are racing to understand how to integrate it into their own business processes. AI is not a
Five key security features in the SAS Visual Analytics app
App security is at the top of mind for just about everybody – users, IT folks, business executives. Rightfully so. Mobile apps and the devices on which they reside tend to travel around, without any physical boundaries that encompass the traditional desktop computers. In chatting with folks who are evaluating
Save Your Sanity: Pursue a Proactive Career Search
Riddled with stress, awkwardness and formalities - it’s no secret that the job search process probably isn’t topping anyone’s list of how they’d like to spend their time. According to Inc.com, 73% of job seekers say that looking for a new job is one of the most stressful things in
How to simulate data from a generalized linear model
Here's a simulation tip: When you simulate a fixed-effect generalized linear regression model, don't add a random normal error to the linear predictor. Only the response variable should be random. This tip applies to models that apply a link function to a linear predictor, including logistic regression, Poisson regression, and