Publications by xi'an
Lack of confidence [revised]
Following the comments on our earlier submission to PNAS, we have written (and re-arXived) a revised version where we try to spell out (better) the distinction between ABC point (and confidence) estimation and ABC model choice, namely that the problem was at another level for Bayesian model choice (using posterior probabilities). When doing point...
3343 sym R (222 sym/2 pcs) 16 img
Statistical analyses using R
Another book I received from the Short Book Reviews section of the International Statistical Review is Everitt’s and Hothorn’s Handbook of statistical analyses using R. Here is a [blog-ified] version of my book review. This book is the second (blue) edition of a successful (violet) handbook that can benefit a wide audience interested in using...
4191 sym 18 img
Bayesian job in Cambridge
Here is an email that could appeal to some readers: Job in Cambridge MRC-BSU – Bayesian statistician Career development fellow MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge We are offering an exciting opportunity to work on Bayesian models for infectious disease dynamics. A statistician is required to contribute to a programme of research to develop infer...
2166 sym 16 img
Postdoc on adaptive MCMC in Paris
Although the official deadline is long past, I just became aware of this call for a postdoctoral position in Paris starting next Fall. Please feel free to apply: Summary Adaptive Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are currently a very active field of research. MCMC methods are sampling methods, based on Markov Chains which are ergodic with ...
2352 sym 18 img
Another review of Introducing … R
The March 2011 issue of JASA contains a review of Introducing Monte Carlo Methods with R by Hedibert Lopes. As in the previous review, the poor quality of the figures is (rightly) pointed out by Hedie. However, the main message of the review remains very positive and, furthermore, Hedie advertises the ‘Og itself in the review! E.g., Another dy...
2156 sym 18 img
Invisible blogs!
Julien just signaled an intermitent disappearance of the posts on the ‘Og, depending on the operating system: Ubuntu 10.10 seems to be working (most of the time!) while Mac and Windows are having problems… This is beyond my abilities, I have contacted WordPress support, maybe they are working on some new feature, maybe I once again incorporat...
1161 sym 20 img
Cuckoo eggs
In Tangente n⁰42, there was a [Latter, 1902] dataset about the size of cuckoo eggs against the species (goldcrest and warbler) which built the nest. (The whole dataset from Latter is analysed in Maindonald and Braun’s Data Analysis and Graphics Using R, with a degree of caution about how trustworthy this data is…) This is an old reference, ...
1531 sym R (247 sym/1 pcs) 20 img
Problems with plyr — the memory/complexity trade-off
Two types of R users My overwhelming impression from UseR 2010 is that, generally speaking, there are 2 types of regular R users — those who have heard and are made uncomfortable by the idea of the *apply() functions, and those who really get it. In UNM R programming group that I’ve been leading for about a year now, I’ve really tried to g...
4513 sym R (1135 sym/6 pcs)
ABC model choice by DIC
Yet another paper on ABC model choice was posted on arXiv a few days ago, just prior to the ABC in London meeting that ended in the pub above (most conveniently located next to my B&B!). It is written by Olivier Francois and Guillaume Laval and the approach relies on DIC for running model selection. Although I disagree with the reasons given for ...
3903 sym 18 img
The confusing gamma parameter
Boris from Ottawa sent me this email about Introducing Monte Carlo Methods with R: As I went through the exercises and examples, I believe I found a typo in exercise 6.4 on page 176 that is not in the list of typos posted on your website. For simulation of Gamma(a,1) random variables with candidate distribution Gamma([a],b), the optimal ch...
1873 sym R (801 sym/1 pcs) 20 img