Statistics and Probability Commons^™

Gets: Greenhouse Environment Time Series, Scott Grimshaw, Natalie J. Blades, Grant R. Mcqueen

ScholarsArchive Data

This dataset contains high-frequency environmental measurements from a single greenhouse used to study multivariate statistical process control under strong autocorrelation. The data consist of a continuous Phase 1 monitoring period of approximately four weeks, during which environmental sensors recorded conditions inside the greenhouse once per minute.

The primary variables included in the archived dataset are:

• date – Date-time stamp at one-minute resolution (local greenhouse time).

• co2_ppm – Carbon dioxide concentration in parts per million (ppm).

• humidity_pct – Relative humidity (%).

• soil_temp_F – Soil temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Decision Based Learning Course Design & Implementation For Introductory Statistics, Austin Heath

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Researchers in multiple industries (biomedicine, engineering, etc.) cite the selection of an appropriate statistical test as a common problem. Experts draw on a framework of conceptual and procedural knowledge to navigate when to use statistical methods. Students also struggle determining the correct statistical method to use for a given research question. This is because they lack the opportunity to practice recognizing a host of features in each research question that provide clues for experts as to which method is most appropriate. “Decision Based Learning” (DBL) is a teaching method designed to help teachers and students address this struggle. In this …

Intermountain West Lichen Dna Reference Library, Brian Colgrove

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Accurate estimates of biodiversity can play crucial roles in monitoring ecological health. BYU’s Lichen Air Quality Biomonitoring program (Wright) represents one of the largest biomonitoring programs in the nation. Recently, DNA metabarcoding approaches have shown promise in streamlining lichen biodiversity inventories. However, to date, lichen diversity of western North America is poorly represented in available DNA reference libraries, preventing biologists and land managers from using DNA barcoding to identify unknown specimens. To solve this problem, I have developed a DNA reference library for over 500 species occurring in the Intermountain West region. Using bioinformatic and statistical tools, I created a …

An Actuarial Approach To Personal Injury Protection Severity, Jason Colgrove

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Insurance companies examine the risk of financial losses for their policyholders as a way to accurately price insurance policies. Within the automobile insurance sector, the frequency of crashes and the associated liabilities started to increase in late 2013 when it had been on the decline for close to a decade. The purpose of this research focuses on the possible correlated variables that could lead to a better understanding of this change. To embark on this task, we teamed up with the Society of Actuaries, Casualty Actuarial Society, and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association to obtain data regarding frequency, severity, …

Cancerous Male And Female Gene Expression, Clarissa Farmer, E. Shannon Tass

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Genetic diagnosing is becoming more popular, as well as more and more accurate. However, many genetic diseases have complex genetic effects and are still not fully understood. Transthyretin Amyloidosis (ATTR; also known as familial or hereditary amyloidosis) is a terminal genetic disease. It is caused by unstable transthyretin proteins that fold improperly, and then deteriorate. The fragmented proteins are deposited outside of the cell and build up in the tissues over time, forming insoluble oligomers. The oligomers continue to grow into Amyloid fibrils, which adversely affect many organs in the body, eventually causing their failure. In order to accurately diagnose, …

Cluster Analysis Via Random Partition Distributions, Brandon Carter, Dr. David B. Dahl

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Cluster analysis is an important exploratory data analysis technique used in a wide variety of fields. Cluster analysis seeks to discover a natural grouping of the data, where items in the same cluster or group are more similar than items from different clusters. Through our research, we developed a novel method for cluster analysis which takes pairwise distance information as input. Our new method improves upon traditional cluster analysis methods which also take pairwise distance information as input, such as hierarchical clustering. Our method, cluster analysis via random partition distributions (CaviarPD) is based on probability distributions and therefore allows the …

Examining Multimorbidities Using Association Rule Learning, Kaylee Dudley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

All insurance companies, regardless of the kind of insurance they offer, do their best to predict the future by comparing current to historical information. Any statistically significant correlation, regardless of expectations and hidden factors, can help to actuarially model future behavior. Using deidentified data from over 6 million health insurance policies over one year, we looked for any significant groupings of medical issues. The medical issues are defined based on the commercial “Episode Treatment Groups” (ETGs) classification, and our claims contain 347 different ETGs. We performed different kinds of analysis, including Bayesian posterior cluster analysis, k-means cluster analysis, and association …

Identifying Risk Factors For Interstate Crashes Using Spatial Statistics, Kaitlin Gibson, Matthew Heaton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of systemic highway safety improvement is to identify road characteristics, called risk factors, associated with a higher prevalence of crashes, so that the roads can be modified to avoid these characteristics. However, the statistical analyses these improvement projects are based on generally use methods which are not appropriate for the data. Our project implements novel spatial statistical methodology which is appropriate and state-of-the-art to identify these risk factors.

An Algorithm For Multiple Regression Variable Selection For Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Zach White, Dr. William Christensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is used to measure of the amount of oxygen required by aerobic bacteria and other microorganisms to stabilize decomposable organic matter. It is run as a laboratory based biodegradation test and relies upon the presence of a thriving microbial community that may be naturally present in the sample or artificially introduced by addition of a seed, commonly a known volume of sewage effluent of known BOD. A standard BOD test is run in the dark at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius for 5 days. This is defined as a five-day BOD (BOD5), which is the …

Bayesian Model For Antarctic Accumulation And Proposing Field Measurement, Philip White, Shane Reese

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Antarctica’s significance to the global climate is due to the vast amounts of water stored in its ice sheet. Indeed, its ice sheet stores enough water to increase the global sea level by about 200 feet if it were to melt. Even though radical climate change could not melt the entire Antarctic ice sheet for thousands of years, smaller, more realistic changes would still make a significant impact in the global climate, sea level, and growing seasons. For this reason, climatologists and geologists model water accumulation and loss over the Antarctic ice sheet. Accumulation, as defined here, is the net …

Gaussian Process Modeling Of Modern Mass Spectrometry Computer Experimental Data, Mickey Warner, C. Shane Reese

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Introduction A new mass spectrometry technique (VENDAMS) has been developed to allow the quantification of rate constants for complicated chemical reactions. Due to the expensive nature of the method, computer experiments designed to solve a set of equations provide supplemental information to the process.

Asset Returns From A Distance-Based Random Partition Model, Richard D. Payne, David B. Dahl, Brian M. Hartman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When pricing an insurance product, many factors a ect market returns. Policyholder behavior (lapses, mortality, morbidity, etc.), policy riders (guarantees, look-backs, ratchets, etc.), industry and government forces (competition and regulation), among others can all depend on the asset returns and a ect the total risk exposure from the market. In these complicated settings, an analytical solution is often unavailable and the asset returns will need to be simulated. Regime- switching models are important in nance and actuarial science because they are often successful in simulating asset returns. These models t the complicated nature of market risk exposure more e ectively …

Biological Pathways In Determining Personalized Treatments, Ariana Hedges, Dr. W. Evan Johnson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

At the current state of diagnostic capability, two patients with the same cancer diagnosis may respond very differently to the same treatment. Unfortunately, failure to respond to a particular treatment wastes valuable time and may result in disease progression that may be detrimental for the patient. Therefore, diagnoses finely tuned to individual patients would better guide treatment while eliminating the trial and error that is often part of current medical practice.

Smoking And Tuberculosis In Ukraine, Noel Ellison, Dr. Bruce Collings

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious bacterial infection caused by mycobacterium Tuberculosis. While some people consider TB to be a “dead” disease that was eradicated years ago, it is, in fact, very much alive in the world today. It is estimated that more than two billion people are infected with TB bacilli1; this is approximately one third of the world’s population. There are many factors associated with the development of TB. Previous research links socioeconomic factors as well as HIB-TB co-infection with the TB epidemic. Countries that are poorer and have higher levels of HIV tend to have more cases of …

Statistical Analysis Of The Comet Assay Using A Mixture Of Gamma Distributions, Bryan E. Shepherd, Dr. G. Bruce Schaalje

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The comet (single cell gel electrophoresis) assay is a highly sensitive method of detecting cellular DNA damage that is often used in cancer research. The “tail moment” is the most widely used measurement of DNA damage in the comet assay. A higher tail moment indicates more DNA damage. In almost all cases the tail moments of a sample of cells do not follow the normal distribution, and often the variation of tail moments between samples of cells exposed to different treatments is unequal. This causes difficulty when performing statistical analyses because these assumptions are necessary in order for t-tests or …

A Comparison Of Statistical Software Packages In The Analysis Of Survey Sample Data, Landon Sego, Dr. Howard B. Christensen, Dr. Stephen J. Bahr

Journal of Undergraduate Research

To investigate and quantitatively document the differences between analyzing survey sample data with traditional statistical software (SAS) and with statistical software designed for the analysis of survey samples (SUDAAN).

A Comparison Of Statistical Software Packages In The Analysis Of Survey Sample Data, Landon Sego, Dr. Howard B. Christensen, Stephen J. Bahr

Journal of Undergraduate Research

To investigate and quantitatively document the differences between analyzing survey sample data with traditional statistical software (SAS) and with statistical software designed for the analysis of survey samples (SUDAAN).

Sample Survey Of Utah Educators, Ben Saville, Dr. Lara Wolfson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In assessing the performance of schools in Utah (or any other state), a critical component of valid assessment of school performance is hard data. In areas such as student performance, that information is readily available from test scores; but in understanding the job burden of teachers in the Utah educational system, very little hard data is available. I proposed to design a sample survey to address issues in which the state of Utah is “data deficient”, impairing the state’s ability to make well-informed decisions about improving working conditions for teachers. Some issues to be addressed include: the amount of money …

A Statistical Analysis Of Rater Consensus In The Byu Premedical Committee, Alane Izu, Dr. David G. Whiting

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The premedical committee at Brigham Young University exists to assist students in successfully applying to medical school. The committee consists of professors from various departments across campus as well as senior premedical students. Two different committee members interview each eligible student in March and April of the year before the student plans to enter medical school. The interviewers rate the student on a continuous scale from one to five in nine different areas: academic performance, MCAT scores, letters of recommendation, written and personal presentation, personal characteristics, reasons for choosing a medical career, extracurricular activities, involvement in community service, and demonstration …

Significance Of Introduced Bias In The Utah Colleges Exit Poll, Sherstin Merx, Dr. Scott Grimshaw

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Since 1982, Brigham Young University Departments of Statistics and Political Science have sponsored the Utah Colleges Exit Poll (UCEP) as both a research tool and as an experience in applied statistics. However, in designing the poll, UCEP routinely deals with administrative and geographic issues that make the task more difficult. For example, just collecting the necessary information from all 29 Utah counties requires the full attention of a designated “Public Relations” committee. Geography is another problem for UCEP. Certain counties are so remote that it is difficult and expensive to include them in the sample.

Destructive Testing Versus Nondestructive Evaluation: A Statistical Comparison, Geraldine Hansen, Dr. C. Shane Reese

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Researchers and developers in manufacturing and industry are often confronted with the problem of testing component functionality. Two important testing methods used on equipment are destructive testing (DT) or nondestructive evaluation (NDE). DT implies that the part is destroyed by disassembly, or it is destroyed by utilizing the equipment to determine if the part was defective. In the case we examined, DT is like exploding a weapon. DT is very expensive and reduces valuable assets, but it is consistently very accurate. This type of testing is often referred to as obtaining a “snapshot in time” because we know at that …

Statistical Process Control Methods For Multiple Stream Processes: A Comparative Study, Jared Caleb Christensen, Dr. Scott D. Grimshaw

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Shewhart control chart is the most common statistical process control (SPC) tool used to determine stability. One fundamental assumption of the Shewhart chart is that the output comes from a single, continuous stream. This implies the monitoring of a single source of variation. Filling machines at many beverage plants violate this assumption because there are central filling units with multiple heads filling individual bottles. The variability of the central filling units is the “natural, continuous variability” of the process in terms of a Shewhart chart. The heads add another source of variability. A different methodology needs to be implemented …

Gender Differences In Byu Communications Students’ Career Attitudes, Alexis Allen, Dr. Shane Reese

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Women have made vast advancements in the workplace within the last thirty years, but gender career issues still exist today. The field of communications presents an interesting case study about discrepancies between male and female employees’ contrasting earnings and career roles. A phenomenon called the Glass Ceiling Effect exists in the public relations field, for example. Essentially, the Glass Ceiling Effect says that although there are more women practitioners in the field, male practitioners attain management positions more frequently and earn higher salaries than their female counterparts.

The Physiological Effects Of Music On Children In Health Clinics And Orphanages In Beira, Mozambique And Bapatla, India, Jordan Joseph Ash, Dr. Shane Reece

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Music therapy seeks to take advantage of specific sounds and rhythms that promote physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being. While the physiological benefits of music have long been recognized, there have been few attempts to quantify the results and document their application. This paper seeks to provide numerical evidence of the effects of music on destitute children in third-world settings.

Revised Estimates Of World Wide Anemia, Kentron R. Wride, Dr. Gilbert W. Fellingham

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The stated mission of the World Health Organization (WHO) is to improve health around the world. One aspect of this mission involves preparing reliable models to describe patterns of health world wide. WHO has built a summary data file based on nearly 700 published and unpublished reports of anemia rates of women worldwide. Fellingham et. al (1996) prepared a preliminary report of the first model developed from this data as well as the resulting estimates of world wide anemia. The study was based on 448 records from 83 countries. The data included the mean hemoglobin concentration, sample size, a country …

Control Chart Development For The Coefficient Of Variation, Geraldine Madariaga, Dr. C. Shane Reese

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Industries use control charts to evaluate whether or not a process is “in control” or producing parts that meet the standards of quality. Control charts are based on the principle that variation between samples can be predicted based on sampling distributions. Parts are measured and the computed test statistic is plotted within limits that are based on the standard deviation or quantiles of the sampling distribution of the test statistic.

Operation Export A Study Of Small- To Mid-Size Export Manufacturing Businesses In The Philippines, Anthony J. Familia, Dr. Paul J. Fields

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Market globalization gives developing countries a better opportunity to start successful export manufacturing operations than ever before. However, because virtually no research exists on export manufacturing companies in developing countries, many micro-entrepreneurs are unable to tap into these vast international markets. Consequently, potential export manufacturers typically start small family businesses that struggle to stay afloat in their own local economies.

The Identity Of Socially Responsible Business, Ryan Quinn, Dr. David A. Whetten

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the popular press of today’s business world, socially responsible business is a hot topic. Periodicals, books, mutual funds, associations, and countless other media, groups, and people tout socially responsible business as the “right” thing for forward-looking companies to do. Underlying all of the claims of benefits that come from social responsibility is the assumption that becoming a socially responsible company is a simple task that any firm can accomplish. The purpose of this study was to question that assumption. It may (or may not) be a simple task to acquire a socially responsible image, but to become a truly …

Three Classification Techniques In Explaining Health Insurance Coverage, David Boyack Dahl, Dr. Scott D. Grimshaw

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Classification is the assignment of objects to categories using a decision rule based on observed characteristics. Several classification techniques are available to form the decision rule. Each builds the decision rule by modeling the relationship between the actual categories and observed characteristics. The decision rule can then be used to classify other objects for which the true category is unknown. Three popular classification techniques are logistic regression, discriminant analysis, and classification trees. While all three of these classification techniques seem to work with some success, the literature has not come to uniformly accept one technique.