Natural language processing in local government
Natural Language Processing can offer invaluable benefits to councils and increase resident satisfaction.
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Shifting a date by a given number of workdays
This blog post demonstrates process and SAS coding techniques to shift dates by a given number of workdays accounting for weekends and holidays.
The Johnson SU distribution
The Johnson system (Johnson, 1949) contains a family of four distributions: the normal distribution, the lognormal distribution, the SB distribution (which models bounded distributions), and the SU distribution (which models unbounded distributions). Note that 'B' stands for 'bounded' and 'U' stands for 'unbounded.' A previous article explains the purpose of
Creating a map to track the coronavirus
The coronavirus has been a big item in the news lately - it's a pneumonia-like illness that has killed several people. It's thought to have started in China, and has spread to several other countries (including at least one case in the U.S.). The World Health Organization says the coronavirus
How will AI change how we think and learn maths?
Mathematics and artificial intelligence (AI) are natural partners. I can only apologise to anyone who hated maths at school for this statement, but to my mind, it’s impossible to engage with AI without understanding some maths. One commentator summed it up: “A person working in the field of AI who
Computer vision use case: Golden image helps detect product defects
In my previous post, I shared how I’ve been working on a fascinating project with one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. The company is applying SAS Viya computer vision capabilities to an advanced medical device to help identify potential quality issues on the production line. By providing 100% visual
How to prepare (your graphs) for flu season
The flu season has started here in the U.S., and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data it has caused 214 deaths in the first week of 2020. Is this number higher, or lower, than usual? When does the flu season start, and how long does
Make the most of SAS Global Forum with the session catalog
When I attend a conference, one of the first things I do is look at the agenda. This gives me a good overview of how my time will be spent. The next thing I do is find the detailed breakdown of sessions, so I can start building out my own
Collinearity in regression: The COLLIN option in PROC REG
I was recently asked about how to interpret the output from the COLLIN (or COLLINOINT) option on the MODEL statement in PROC REG in SAS. The example in the documentation for PROC REG is correct but is somewhat terse regarding how to use the output to diagnose collinearity and how
Why innovation succeeds or fails
This blog continues the conversation and about why innovations succeed or fail, and the importance of both timing and chance.
5 articles to read as you embark on data preparation
Learn how to get started with self-service data prep in these go-to articles.
How to Make Ghee
Ghee is a type of clarified butter that’s been used for thousands of years in Indian cooking and Ayurvedic medicine. Clarified butter simply means that the water and milk proteins have been removed from the butter, by cooking.
Should I Stay or Should I Go: The confusion of cutting ties with family
This guest post was written by Candice Creasman, PhD, owner of Creasman Counseling. The Work/Life Center is so grateful to Candice for sharing her expertise with SAS employees and their families. You can learn more about Candice and Creasman Counseling at the bottom of this page. Should I Stay or
Expand Your SAS Knowledge by Learning PROC SQL
One great thing about being a SAS programmer is that you never run out of new things to learn. SAS often gives us a variety of methods to produce the same result. One good example of this is the DATA step and PROC SQL, both of which manipulate data. The
The hidden cost of subscription fraud
Subscription fraud ‘disappearing acts’ have economic, human and reputational consequences. What were initially isolated cases have now become a systemic industry issue for telecommunication companies worldwide. In fact, the CFCA reports an approximate $2.03 Bn. lost to fraud every year due to subscription fraud through impersonation. Other variants of subscription fraud through applications and ‘credit muling’ contribute an additional $1.93 Bn. and $1.75 Bn. respectively.
Protecting your intellectual property in the brave new world of AI and machine learning
AI innovations range from unique modelling techniques and computer vision efforts to medical diagnostic tools and self-driving cars. Within that wide range of technology, what should you consider patenting? Which of your discoveries are true intellectual property that necessitate protection? A little thought upfront could help you to know what
The Johnson SB distribution
From the early days of probability and statistics, researchers have tried to organize and categorize parametric probability distributions. For example, Pearson (1895, 1901, and 1916) developed a system of seven distributions, which was later called the Pearson system. The main idea behind a "system" of distributions is that for each
Opportunities for analytics: Interpretation
Where in your business process can analytics and AI play a contributing role in enhancing your decision making capability? At the information interpretation stage. As a framework for understanding where analytic and AI opportunities may arise, the simple diagram below illustrates the relationships between data, information and knowledge, and how
Let’s play data: How data science could help in target sports
I asked Jaimy van Dijk if it's true or false if analytics has huge potential in sport.
Missing data? Quickly impute values using SAS Viya
This blog is part of a series on SAS Visual Data Mining and Machine Learning (VDMML). If you're new to SAS VDMML and you want a brief overview of the features available, check out my last blog post! This blog will discuss types of missing data and how to use imputation
Get Resourceful About People and Skills Transformation
Why HR is key to driving change in the public sector – powered by data and analytics.
How to utilize Customer Lifetime Value with SAS Visual Analytics
Some business models will segment the worth of their customers into categories that will often give different levels of service to the more “higher worth” customers. The metric most often used for that is called Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). CLV is simply a balance sheet look at the total cost spent versus the total revenue earned over a customer’s projected tenure or “life.”
Our analytics and AI predictions for 2020
We've made it to the halfway point of January, which means most of the industry's annual predictions have been published. Who's guessing what? And how should you prepare for the year ahead? From dark data to hyperpersonalization, analytics is at the core of all these predictions. SAS experts have been
Where's the best place to retire, in the U.S.?
As I get older, a few of my buddies are starting to retire. And this makes me think about my own retirement (not that I'm anywhere near old enough to retire, mind you!) Therefore when I saw a list of the "Best & Worst Cities for Retiring" it caught my
Ringing In a New Goal
It’s already mid-January and some of those resolutions/goals/fresh starts whatever-you-want-to-call-them are getting hard. Maybe you’re re-evaluating. I’ve set my sights on a Spartan SPRINT this year. As a 2x IRONMAN finisher, I’m no stranger to running or super challenging athletic events, so as far at that 5K run, I’m good.
The moment-ratio diagram
In my book Simulating Data with SAS, I show how to use a graphical tool, called the moment-ratio diagram, to characterize and compare continuous probability distributions based on their skewness and kurtosis (Wicklin, 2013, Chapter 16). The idea behind the moment-ratio diagram is that skewness and kurtosis are essential for
Foresight is 2020! New books to take your skills to the next level
Are you ready to get a jump start on the new year? If you’ve been wanting to brush up your SAS skills or learn something new, there’s no time like a new decade to start! SAS Press is releasing several new books in the upcoming months to help you stay
10 posts from 2019 that deserve a second look
Did you add "learn something new" to your list of New Year's resolutions? Last week, I wrote about the most popular articles from The DO Loop in 2019. The most popular articles are about elementary topics in SAS programming or univariate statistics because those topics have broad appeal. Advanced topics
Why does my SAS date have the wrong century?
2020 is here and systems that use 2-digit years in date values are getting confused. Do we mean 1920 or 2020? In SAS, the YEARCUTOFF= option lets you decide.
Get ready for M5 with launch of the Makridakis Open Forecasting Centre
With 2018's M4 Forecasting Competition behind us (although analysis, interpretation, and debate continue), the new M5 Competition starts March 2. Running through June 30, M5 is utilizing actual data provided by Walmart. It will be implemented using Kaggle's Platform, with $100,000 in prize money. Forecasting practitioners are encouraged to participate,