Ajay Ohri

Review – R for SAS and SPSS Users

REVIEW

Introduction- Even though R is a very powerful tool and is free, people with SAS and SPSS background have trouble adapting to R language. That is because all data objects in SAS, SPSS are in fixed rectangular layout, and the programmer just needs to write a series of pre given functions to give results. In R the flexibility of functions, and the sheer diversity of it can confuse and confound the SAS and SPSS programmer wanting to learn it. Note that most SAS and SPSS programmers are corporate users, thus they pay for licenses only by just signing the approved email, and they have a paucity of time.

The technical review-

The book is lucid, exhaustive and lists down all reasons for and against R in an objective scientific manner. It goes in great detail, has ready datasets and offers the earlier reference sheet from its websites (http://RforSASandSPSSusers.com). At 75 $ it is not expensive considering the cost of other textbooks in this domain. Having both SAS and SPSS can be a distraction as many SPSS users actually use its click and point interface rather than write raw syntax- perhaps those screenshots should be included.

It thus gives you the side effect of teaching you twice the languages you wanted to learn, but that’s a good thing. Of course you can choose to ignore the second language if you don’t want to learn it.Maybe this book can be split into R for SAS users and R for SPSS users separately (unless Muenchen is trying an agenda of unifying the whole analytics world – a common theme in November 2008 in the USA 😉 )

The book is very easy to understand, providing a step by step way of learning R thoroughly. In addition it uses screenshots extensively to make the point. However this sometimes slows the pace down of the book as it resorts to oversimplification for an advanced SAS users . It does have a good reference guide for people who just need R for some functions like graphics to be used in combination with WPS or Base SAS. You can simply pick and choose.

However it would have been great if there was a CD version.Perhaps it would be in the next edition.

An additional point is that it tries to briefly explain advanced statistical functions (or SAS/STAT equivalents). Some more depth in this section especially to the very popular logistic and linear regression techniques would have helped.(I.e a Chapter on how to build, validate and test a scoring risk model using R).

However you can use the existing chapters to get started on the modeling and iteratively come to its solutions. Some more coverage of Graphical User Interface would have helped, even though that that would have helped many people to simply go to the easy way of using click and get results of the RCmdr and Rattle GUI.

Overall- a great textbook, you would need to spend an hour a day for as much as three weeks to master the book and once you do it would be worth it.

I highly recommend this book for both technical and business users, and for libraries as a reference guide. Both corporate and academic users would relate to the readability of the book and Amazon is also launching a kindle version soon.

The business case review-

In these troubled economic times, if you have to choose between cutting down your software costs or your supervisor having to choose all his software AND employee costs, would you take the time and 50 $ to learn two additional analytics platforms. Because that is what this book by Muenchen does, it can teach SAS to R programmers, and SPSS to both. It’s almost a triple pack combo.

Muenchen spent two years creating a textbook and off the shelf manual for all three languages. Given the fact that the Base SAS language is also supported by WPS ( a software that costs only 600 dollars a year and reads/writes SAS codes and datasets), this book deals with both SAS and WPS languages

Wait a minute ! That’s what all advertisers say…but this is an honest review.(Gandhian Economics-If price of everything was demand and supply, then price of honesty would be infinite- because the supply is so low and the demand so high.)

Summary-

Buying this book for yourself or a friend could thus save your organizations a lot of money, give you additional skills on your resume and give you bragging rights at the cooler for knowing three languages (SAS, SPSS and R) – all for the price of $ 75 .

PESTLE Analysis of George W Bush's Presidency

The article tries to use the PESTLE ( details below ) analysis framework for analyzing the 43 President of United States. It may be a bit biased , as all articles written by men are. It will try its best to be faithful to the facts , and not to the opinions surrounding this President.

The PESTLE framework stands for –

Political
Economic
Social
Technological
Legal
Environmental.

It will rate the Presidency as a Presidency, means it will evaluate his tenure as leader of the United States, not of the free world or anything else he was not elected or declared by the Supreme Court to be ( pun unintended). Scores are from 1 to 10, but you are free to comment with your own rating scores.

Political-6

The United States adopted the preemptive doctrine to eliminate hostile nations under the diplomatic leverage gained by the international sympathy to September 11. It fought a successful war in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban and included allies of it’s Nato alliance. The breach with Europe over the Iraq war has largely been remedied by the own admission of failure in that war. Overall the United States lost diplomatic leverage in 8 years but made it up with enhanced military prowess thanks to huge budgeted spending, and adaptable military planning leading to relative quite in both wars in Asia. The North Korean decision to give up nuclear weapons and the nuclear pact with India were notable though under rated successes.

Economic-6

The crisis of the last year tends to overshadow what has been terrific growth for the United States Economy , recovering from a severe crisis of 2001 , two wars and worldwide credit panic. Average incomes have fallen in the US economy, but it remains the freest and most innovative place for trading in the planet. The biggest crisis in confidence in it’s currency is now ebbing, as the cyclical slowdown (1992,1999,2001,2008) takes time to recover.

Social- 5

The Bush era was categorized by partisan politics, as Americans debated themselves on the direction their maturing super power needed to take. The falling standards of health care for the average American citizen, and the rising income inequality mark this as one of the most under performing sector of the 43 rd presidency.On an international arena, the Bush presidency is marked for both generous aid to Africa, as well as the displacements the wars in Asia caused.

Technology-8

Despite the fact that George W Bush knew less about the Internet in 2001, the past 8 years have broadly re affirmed as well as augmented the leadership of the United States in technology areas, including continuing co operation in space matters with other nations, telecommunications and new media convergence, and greater access to technology with partners like Russia and India.

Legal-7

Suspending habeas corpus, condoning water boarding , Geneva convention suspension on detainees, shows the administration was a successful failure in executing the needed legal tactics to keep mainland America largely safe over the past eight years but at a price to its own credibilty as a law abiding country for all and equal. Ironic for a presidency that was itself ushered by the law, this area became the most criticized of the George W Bush administration despite the astonishing fact that it hurt no American citizens and protected nearly all. That itself has more to say by the fair minded, freedom loving principles of America than of the 43rd presidency.

Environmental-7

Environmental record by a President groomed in the oil business is always going to be a tough question, and the Bush presidency had a dismal record both over seas and at home . The one success of promoting ethanol use has questionable gains ,but the administration did nothing extra ordinary on either side of the green debate and largely maintained the status quo.Its words however did more to provoke than re assure environmental minded people.

In summary ,

the George W Bush presidency would be judged much later for how much good or bad it actually did versus how much it got criticized for, but it did became one of the most discussed presidencies ( or maybe that it was due to the first pure Internet era President and thus had more avenues of criticism).

Judging by pure data – The stock market fell more than any time in 80 years, more Americans died both at peace since the beginning of the Federal Union and more soldiers died at war since past 36 years,it struggled with diplomatic containment of both Russia and China, and overall led to lower living standards for many American citizens from 2000 till 2008.

Conclusion- After effects of this tenure and decisions made will echo domestically in the United States and internationally for years if not decades in both macro economic as well as geo-political arenas.

PESTLE Analysis of George W Bush’s Presidency

The PESTLE framework stands for –

Political
Economic
Social
Technological
Legal
Environmental.

Political-6

Economic-6

Social- 5

Technology-8

Legal-7

Environmental-7

In summary ,

India gets cheaper

An untold story in the present financial crisis is how the Indian rupee is now at 50 rupees per dollar compared to last years 39 rupees per dollar. That basically means that all Indian offshoring projects now get 25-30% cheaper to you if you are dollar based.In addition the Indian stock market at 9000-10000 levels is 50 % down from last year.This effectively means for a new dollar investor, deal valuations become as much as 70% cheaper.

Even discounting for added risk sensitivities and projected lower growth rates of 7 % only in 2009, India today is much more attractive for investment and outsourcing purposes.

LinkedIn Introduces Apps

Worth a look especially the WordPress App.

Source-

http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=application_directory&trk=fapg_1800

Featured Applications

LinkedIn Applications enable you to enrich your profile, share and collaborate with your network, and get the key insights that help you be more effective. Applications are added to your homepage and profile enabling you to control who gets access to what information.

Reading List by Amazon

by Amazon

Extend your professional profile by sharing the books you’re reading with other LinkedIn members. Find out what you should be reading by following updates from your connections, people in your field, or other LinkedIn members of professional interest to you.
WordPress

by WordPress

Connect your virtual lives with the WordPress LinkedIn Application. With the WordPress App, you can sync your WordPress blog posts with your LinkedIn profile, keeping everyone you know in the know.

Box.net Files

by Box.net

Add the Box.net Files application to manage all your important files online. Box.net lets you share content on your profile, and collaborate with friends and colleagues.
Blog Link

by SixApart

With Blog Link, you can get the most of your LinkedIn relationships by connecting your blog to your LinkedIn profile. Blog Link helps you, and your professional network, stay connected.

Company Buzz

by LinkedIn

Ever wonder what people are saying about your company? Company Buzz shows you the twitter activity associated with your company. View tweets, trends and top key words. Customize your topics and share with your coworkers.
SlideShare Presentations

by SlideShare Inc

SlideShare is the best way to share presentations on LinkedIn! You can upload & display your own presentations, check out presentations from your colleagues, and find experts within your network.

Google Presentation

by Google

Present yourself and your work. Upload a .PPT or use Google’s online application to embed a presentation on your profile.
My Travel

by TripIt, Inc.

See where your LinkedIn network is traveling and when you will be in the same city as your colleagues. Share your upcoming trips, current location, and travel stats with your network.

Huddle Workspaces

by Huddle.net

Huddle gives you private, secure online workspaces packed with simple yet powerful project, collaboration and sharing tools for working with your connections.

Student Days-A Short Story

Hostels and their cultures

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Writing alumni flashbacks can be tricky affairs. You have to write something interesting without letting your community members know all the juicy or tasteless details. Its been seven years since I was first cultured in Hostel Ten in IIM Lucknow, and I will try to be faithful to both aging memories as well as nostalgic revisions.

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People sometimes ask me why I fight so much. Every time I ended up in an email war on the alumni e �groups, or in one more �important �debate, I manage to surprise and alienate more and more people. All except my hostel mates from the class of 2003, from the hostel Ten . Nopes, my hostel mates , the X men (see later) do not get surprised. For it is there , in hostel Ten 2001-2003 , that I honed my instincts from.

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In 2001, in a land far far away ,called Prabandh Nagar , group of smug yuppies entered many colleges. What was distinctive about that year was that it was the first batch with a size of 240 (as our equally smug seniors said quantity and quality are proportional), thus creating even more hostels (11 and 12). This led to temporary arrangements in Year 1 , and negotiations within Sikandar for the various football and other sports related activities.

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�Hostel 10 was divided into Ten tops and Ten bots (for the upper and lower floors), which was changed to a combined Hostel Ten in the second year.Hostel Ten along with Hostel Nine was a bit cut off from other hostels , due to the football field , was younger and newer in construction.We were different, and understandably proud of it . A collection of over erudite young people with time to spare had little encouragement for getting into me versus you contest and these were readily manifested in our contests in sports.

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In our first year, Ten Tops won Sikandar and Ten Bots came second, so we had a combined treat at the Fauji Dhaba, with the special black pepper chicken and cold beer. In addition Hostel Ten also had some of the toppers (they claimed the serenity of the cut off hostel helped them study in peace better). In our final year, Hostel Ten combined won the football trophy , and in both my years, the topper as well as the athletics best student award went to hostel Ten.

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Did Hostel Ten had a culture? We didn�t know it then, but we had a distinctive appeal of brashness, of aggression in sports and in classroom presentations too.� Did it help us � I don�t know, but a big majority of us did well in marketing as well as entrepreneurial careers.

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Being far away from Hostel Ten and our lady colleagues, gave rise to a pseudo macho culture leading to video games on the newly established computer networks to teasing of special people who were friendly with the exchange students .

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We even had a not very original nickname �X Men� where X stood for Ten as well as the then hit movies on mutants. We did have a cultural secretary, though he was responsible for Birthdays, and cultural activities like select foreign movie shows best not mentioned here. Our cultural introductions consisted of getting the juniors dressed up in formal suits , then taking them in the common courtyard, for a hilarious round of funny questions , in which they were subjected to buckets of water from floor 1. At the end of each introduction each new member of hostel Ten was� given a nick name. Many years later these nicknames endure to the point of occasional hilarity, as we call each other in ever diminishing frequency.

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Summing up, Hostel Ten was the place to be in during 2001-2003� and while 500 odd people might disagree , some of the lessons and experiences rubbed off inevitably on our persona. As the clich� goes , those were the good old days, when we weren�t good , we weren�t old and we were really talking of tho0se endless starry Lucknow nights.

Book Excerpt- Riding the Austin Metro bus

Previously-Airport and the Houston flight with the Professor.

The way from the airport was a bit unfamiliar as my hotel was located in the Austinarboretum, which was in North Austin. There were two cabbies waiting near the airport but coming from India puts you at an automatic disadvantage when it comes to trusting cab drivers. So I decided to tae the Austin Capital Metro bus. The charts and maps were all colorfully marked and it took my engineering brain to map out the path to my hotel and time taken to wait for it. Bus riders are mostly campus students and I ran into two Asian American (Chinese) �students at the bus stop . They had not heard of the arboretum either.

The bus came with clock work precision at the time promised.I climbed the bus to await my first american surprise- a frail old looing lady driver of the bus. While bus driving in India is considered mostly a macho blue collar profession , American roads and bus technology allow even Sandra Bullock, the film star to drive a bus as she did after the movie “Speed”. I followed the lead of the American students and dutifully dropped a 1 dollar bill in the note swallowing machine – another uniquely American technology. I got a day long pass. The bus lady told me I needed to catch another bus to reach my hotel, and she promised to drop me at the station for changing buses.This came after some half an hour at the sixth street, which my friends had promised me was a great and happening place. As I took my big suitcase and latop bag down, all I could see were deserted bars in the noon sun. The weather was nice and hot , forcing me to take my sweater off.

The bus stop was surprisingly crowded, with people who looked straight out of a Hollywood movie on the old and the destitute. Mostly African American with some frail white men and ladies , and a few Hispanic looking people who clustered tightly together. I clutched my suitcase with some nervousness. This was America after all, with all that crime you see in the big movies. It seemed the nervousness was mutual. After an awkward ,long silence and staring contest – one of the bus stop people finally spoke aloud- “Is that a bomb ?” , he pointed to my suitcase. “Nopes” , I said , “no Bombs here”.

Fortunately I was rescued by the arrival of the number 3 bus, and I used my day pass to swipe in and thus avoid paying another 50 cents for a single ticket ride. The Arboretum flashed on the bus quite helpfully, and I joined a wide variety of people on the very spacious air conditioned bus. “These guys should ride in a Delhi bus” , I thought to myself. They will then truly count their blessings . To my amazement, you could even stop the bus, by pulling a chain almost like a train back home. “STOP REQUESTED” chimed a nice metallic voice. The bus was colorfully festooned with ads promoting bus usage, spaces for luggage and even a row for maps, which I dutifully took.

Staring out of the window, at the uniformly ordered rows, blocks , and front drives of Austin – I settled down in the bus nicely. After a 45 minute , uneventful drive I arrived at a place where the new driver told me to stop for the Hyatt Austin aroboretum.

Next – The first ride to the Hotel.

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Excerpt from the book “Flying with the Cougars”- a fictionalized and exaggerated account of a brown boy’s travels and travails to the West. All copyrights reserved.