We investigate how the use of bullet comparison algorithms and demonstrative evidence may affect juror perceptions of reliability, credibility, and understanding of expert witnesses and presented evidence. The use of statistical methods in forensic science is motivated by a lack of scientific validity and error rate issues present in many forensic analysis methods. We explore what our study says about how this type of forensic evidence is perceived in the courtroom – where individuals unfamiliar with advanced statistical methods are asked to evaluate results in order to assess guilt. In the co ..read more

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a frequent neurodevelopmental disorder in children that is commonly diagnosed subjectively. The objective detection of ADHD based on neuroimaging data has been a complex problem with low ranges of accuracy, possibly due to (among others) complex diagnostic processes, the high number of features considered and imperfect measurements in data collection. Hence, reliable neuroimaging biomarkers for detecting ADHD have been elusive. To address this problem we consider a recently proposed multi-model selection method called Sparse Wrapper AlGorithm ..read more

By its nature, data science uses ideas and methodologies from computer science and statistics, along with field-specific knowledge, to describe, learn and predict. Recently, storytelling has been highlighted as an important extension of more traditional data science skills such as coding and modeling. Three courses in our new Master in Data Science and Analytic Storytelling program were designed to include interdisciplinary modules, mainly taught by faculty in storytelling-related disciplines, such as Communication and Art & Design. These courses were PDAT 622: Narrative, Argument, and Per ..read more

There has been remarkable progress in the field of deep learning, particularly in areas such as image classification, object detection, speech recognition, and natural language processing. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have emerged as a dominant model of computation in this domain, delivering exceptional accuracy in image recognition tasks. Inspired by their success, researchers have explored the application of CNNs to tabular data. However, CNNs trained on structured tabular data often yield subpar results. Hence, there has been a demonstrated gap between the performance of deep learni ..read more

In randomized controlled trials, individual subjects experiencing recurrent events may display heterogeneous treatment effects. That is, certain subjects might experience beneficial effects, while others might observe negligible improvements or even encounter detrimental effects. To identify subgroups with heterogeneous treatment effects, an interaction survival tree approach is developed in this paper. The Classification and Regression Tree (CART) methodology (Breiman et al., 1984) is inherited to recursively partition the data into subsets that show the greatest interaction with th ..read more

Brain imaging research poses challenges due to the intricate structure of the brain and the absence of clearly discernible features in the images. In this study, we propose a technique for analyzing brain image data identifying crucial regions relevant to patients’ conditions, specifically focusing on Diffusion Tensor Imaging data. Our method utilizes the Bayesian Dirichlet process prior incorporating generalized linear models, that enhances clustering performance while it benefits from the flexibility of accommodating varying numbers of clusters. Our approach improves the performance of ident ..read more

The use of visuals is a key component in scientific communication. Decisions about the design of a data visualization should be informed by what design elements best support the audience’s ability to perceive and understand the components of the data visualization. We build on the foundations of Cleveland and McGill’s work in graphical perception, employing a large, nationally-representative, probability-based panel of survey respondents to test perception in stacked bar charts. Our findings provide actionable guidance for data visualization practitioners to employ in their work. PDF &nbs ..read more

Our contribution is to widen the scope of extreme value analysis applied to discrete-valued data. Extreme values of a random variable are commonly modeled using the generalized Pareto distribution, a peak-over-threshold method that often gives good results in practice. When data is discrete, we propose two other methods using a discrete generalized Pareto and a generalized Zipf distribution respectively. Both are theoretically motivated and we show that they perform well in estimating rare events in several simulated and real data cases such as word frequency, tornado outbreaks and multiple bi ..read more

One crucial aspect of precision medicine is to allow physicians to recommend the most suitable treatment for their patients. This requires understanding the treatment heterogeneity from a patient-centric view, quantified by estimating the individualized treatment effect (ITE). With a large amount of genetics data and medical factors being collected, a complete picture of individuals’ characteristics is forming, which provides more opportunities to accurately estimate ITE. Recent development using machine learning methods within the counterfactual outcome framework shows excellent potential in ..read more

The exploration of whether artificial intelligence (AI) can evolve to possess consciousness is an intensely debated and researched topic within the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Understanding this complex phenomenon hinges on integrating two complementary perspectives of consciousness: the objective and the subjective. Objective perspectives involve quantifiable measures and observable phenomena, offering a more scientific and empirical approach. This includes the use of neuroimaging technologies such as electrocorticography (ECoG), EEG, and fMRI to study bra ..read more