This book presents ground-breaking advances in the domain of causal structure learning. The problem of distinguishing cause from effect (“Does altitude cause a change in atmospheric pressure, or vice versa?”) is here cast as a binary classification problem, to be tackled by machine learning algorithms. Based on the results of the ChaLearn Cause-Effect Pairs Challenge, this book reveals that the joint distribution of two variables can be scrutinized by machine learning algorithms t...

Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are among the most important recent developments in pattern recognition and statistical machine learning. They have found a great range of applications in various fields including biology and medicine. However, biomedical researchers often experience difficulties grasping both the theory and applications of these important methods because of lack of technical background. The purpose of this book is to introduce SVMs and their extensions and allow biomedical r...

This text is intended for a broad audience as both an introduction to predictive models as well as a guide to applying them. Non-mathematical readers will appreciate the intuitive explanations of the techniques while an emphasis on problem-solving with real data across a wide variety of applications will aid practitioners who wish to extend their expertise. Readers should have knowledge of basic statistical ideas, such as correlation and linear regression analysis. While the text is biased...

Data Mining Applications with R is a great resource for researchers and professionals to understand the wide use of R, a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics, in solving different problems in industry. R is widely used in leveraging data mining techniques across many different industries, including government, finance, insurance, medicine, scientific research and more. This book presents 15 different real-world case studies illustrating various techniques in rap...

Bayesian Networks in R with Applications in Systems Biology is unique as it introduces the reader to the essential concepts in Bayesian network modeling and inference in conjunction with examples in the open-source statistical environment R. The level of sophistication is also gradually increased across the chapters with exercises and solutions for enhanced understanding for hands-on experimentation of the theory and concepts. The application focuses on systems biology wit...

A comprehensive compilation of new developments in data linkage methodologyThe increasing availability of large administrative databases has led to a dramatic rise in the use of data linkage, yet the standard texts on linkage are still those which describe the seminal work from the 1950-60s, with some updates. Linkage and analysis of data across sources remains problematic due to lack of discriminatory and accurate identifiers, missing data and regulatory issues. R...

Essential Statistical Methods for Medical Statistics presents only key contributions which have been selected from the volume in the Handbook of Statistics: Medical Statistics, Volume 27 (2009). While the use of statistics in these fields has a long and rich history, the explosive growth of science in general, and of clinical and epidemiological sciences in particular, has led to the development of new methods and innovative adaptations of standard methods. This volume is appropriately foc...

Introducing Survival Analysis and Event History Analysis is an accessible, practical and comprehensive guide for researchers and students who want to understand the basics of survival and event history analysis and apply these methods without getting entangled in mathematical and theoretical technicalities. Inside, readers are offered a blueprint for their entire research project from data preparation to model selection and diagnostics.Engaging, easy to read, functional and packed ...

Applied Survival Analysis Using R covers the main principles of survival analysis, gives examples of how it is applied, and teaches how to put those principles to use to analyze data using R as a vehicle. Survival data, where the primary outcome is time to a specific event, arise in many areas of biomedical research, including clinical trials, epidemiological studies, and studies of animals. Many survival methods are extensions of techniques used in linear regression and categoric...

Classic biostatistics, a branch of statistical science, has as its main focus the applications of statistics in public health, the life sciences, and the pharmaceutical industry. Modern biostatistics, beyond just a simple application of statistics, is a confluence of statistics and knowledge of multiple intertwined fields. The application demands, the advancements in computer technology, and the rapid growth of life science data (e.g., genomics data) have promoted the formation of modern b...

Since it first appeared in 1996, the open-source programming language R has become increasingly popular as an environment for statistical analysis and graphical output. In addition to being freely available, R offers several advantages for biostatistics, including strong graphics capabilities, the ability to write customized functions, and its extensibility. This is the first textbook to present classical biostatistical analysis for epidemiology and related public health sciences to studen...

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is the latest high throughput technology to revolutionize genomic research. NGS generates massive genomic datasets that play a key role in the big data phenomenon that surrounds us today. To extract signals from high-dimensional NGS data and make valid statistical inferences and predictions, novel data analytic and statistical techniques are needed. This book contains 20 chapters written by prominent statisticians working with NGS data. The topics range fro...