Case Studies 2010

Case Studies in Data Analysis poster sessions will be held during the SSC Annual Meeting in Quebec City May 23 - 26, 2010. The case studies are intended for teams of graduate and senior undergraduate students working either with or without faculty mentors. (See the Guidelines for Mentors.) Each participating team will choose to analyse one of the two data sets described below and the teams will present summaries of the methods they used and the results of their analyses in a poster presentation session at the meeting.
 

One award will be presented for the best case study poster in each of the two case studies. The Committee of the Award for Case Studies in Data Analysis will consider the quality of both the analysis of the data and the presentation of the results in reaching its decision. The value of the award for each case study in the 2010 competition will be $500. This is to be shared equally among the participants of each winning team. The Committee of the Award for Case Studies in Data Analysis reserves the right to decline to make an award for a given case study if numbers of entries are insufficient. For further information about the awards, please contact Kevin J. Keen.
 

A subject-matter expert will prepare a poster introducing each case study, so teams presenting their analyses do not have to repeat the background information.
 

If you would like to participate, contact Kevin J. Keen. He will need to know the list of names for your team and the university, or univerisities, that you represent. He will also need to know if you are giving any other oral or poster presentations at the meeting so that scheduling conflicts can be avoided. The deadline for contacting Kevin is March 15, 2010.
 

You will doubtless have questions once you start working with the data. You can ask the organizers of each case study. Answers to frequently-asked questions will be added to the web page for each case study. Questions can be submitted in either English or French.
 

Case Studies

Click on the titles below for full information about the case studies.
 

Case Study 1: The effects of photo-interpreted variables in the estimation of stand-level merchantable volumes in the Province of Québec

The Quebec forest inventory uses aerial photos of target forest management units at the first step of the sampling process. Photo interpreters then divide the territory into homogeneous polygons and, for each of those polygons, estimate the value of specific biological and physical variables. Once the photo-interpretation is completed, polygons with similar photo-interpreted characteristics are grouped into strata. The stratification is used to direct the field inventory in which plots are established and in which forest properties are measured. The primary objective of the case study is to predict different stand-level volumes using photo-interpreted, climatic, geographical and ecological classification variables.
 

Case Study 2: Metabolism of bradykinin and endogenous des-Arg9 bradykinin in human plasma: contribution to the pathophysiology of angioedema associated with ACE inhibitors

Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are an important class of drugs used over the last 30 years to treat cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and congestive heart failure. These drugs cause potentially lethal side effects, including angioedema, in some patients. The objective of this case study is to compare kinetic profiles of two peptides between cases and controls in the search for evidence of a possible anomaly in the metabolism of these peptides for cases, those with and those without a history of angioedema, who have been treated with ACE inhibitors.
 

Contact information

Organizer and Chair of the Committee of the Award for Case Studies in Data Analysis:

Kevin J. Keen, Ph.D., P.Stat.
Mathematics
University of Northern British Columbia
Telelphone: (250) 960-5014
E-mail: keenk@unbc.ca

Organizer and Local Arrangements:

Lajmi Lakhal-Chaieb, Ph.D.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Laval University
Telelphone: (418) 656-2131, extension 2977
E-mail: Lajmi.Lakhal@mat.ulaval.ca

Guidelines for Mentors:

The SSC Case Studies in Data Analysis exist for participation by teams of undergraduate and/or graduate students. All participating teams, if they desire, may recruit a non-student mentor, for example, a faculty member. In order to have the ability to fairly evaluate the work of the student teams, student teams and non-student mentors are encouraged to consider the following guidelines for their participation.

1. Role of the student team: The approach to the case study should be planned, developed, and executed primarily by the student team. The student team also has responsibility for the organization and presentation of its findings.
2. Role of the mentor: The mentor should encourage and support the student team. This may include listening to ideas, suggesting references, and asking questions to stimulate consideration of additional aspects of the case study. To be fair to all participating teams, the mentor should not take an active role in the development of the statistical analyses.