The MGS Blog

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Bank of Ireland Social Entrepreneur Challenge 2018

The Bank of Ireland are running a social entrepreneurship challenge with the Jack and Jill Foundation. It's quite simple to enter and there is €3000 in one4all vouchers in prizes for the winner, as well as a paid internship with the Bank if desired. All the details are at https://www.jackandjill.ie/sec2018/



Friday, January 26, 2018

Pearson's Correlation Coefficient

Linear regression: The appearance of presence and strength of a linear relationship or correlation between two quantitative variables. A linear regression can be tested by calculating the correlation coefficient (r) between variables. This approach is one of (many) tools for data analysis. A caveat however, correlations don't always correspond to actual, causal, linked relationships - they may simply be coincidental.

Pearson's correlation coefficient is calculated as the ratio of covariance between two sets of paired data values, easily represented visually as a scatter plot. In essence it is a line fitted to a cloud plot of points, data pairs along two axes (x and y). This test assumes that a linear dependence can be fitted between pairs of x & y values on the scatter plot. (review the Wikipedia article for examples of false correlations). Note, it ignores sequence importance (for example if a third property/value like time is recorded). It simply focuses on whether value ordered pairs exhibit correlation - but remember, correlation is not causation.

The correlation coefficient, known as r, is somewhat like the normalised sum of distances from a straight line best-fitted to the cloud plot. The magnitude value of r is a measure of closeness of fit between pairs to the fitted trend-line. It may vary from -1 to 1. Values closer to +/- 1 suggest a very close relationship between the value of data pairs. Values closer to 0 suggest small to zero relationship between pairs. A correlation coefficient with +ve sign indicates that when x is large y will be large; and when x is small y will be small. A correlation coefficient with -ve sign indicates that when x is large y will be small; and when x is small y will be large.

Example:


xy
yearUnemployment rateIMF Japan Position
19973.41,464.13
19984.11,936.85
19994.78,539.35
20004.79,281.27
200159,294.58
20025.48,015.22
20035.28,109.09
20044.78,942.11
20054.411,300.41
20064.112,028.59
20073.812,431.28
2008411,587.69
20095.110,562.95
20105.110,320.52
20114.611,509.82
20124.314,631.47
2013415,023.61
20143.615,239.68
20153.415,177.52
20163.127,204.34

scatter plot and correlation trend line fitted


Notes on using a spreadsheet:
See the spreadsheet in the sandbox area (drive link)

Notes on using R:
Getting started with R. The software first.
Download and install R from CRAN http://cran.r-project.org/
Download and install R Studio for the desktop (the same people also run/operate Shiny) http://www.rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/
R reference card (PDF) by Tom Short (more can be found under Short Documents and Reference Cards here)

Steps
japan <- read_csv("simplecorrelationexercise.csv")
head(japan)
names(japan)
plot(japan$`Unemployment rate (x)`, japan$`IMF Japan Position (y)`)
summary(japan)
cor(japan$`Unemployment rate (x)`, japan$`IMF Japan Position (y)`)

Notes on sources:
Statistics Bureau of Japan (http://www.stat.go.jp/english/)

Unemployment FAQs (http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/roudou/qa-1.htm)
Historical data (http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/roudou/lngindex.htm) Report a-1
(file Japan_EmploymentRatesHistorical_lt01-a10.xls)

IMF's Holdings of Currency (Holdings Rate) SDR Million
IMF Japan Position at Dec31/year e.g. https://goo.gl/tB37m2
(file IMFHoldingYen_1984-2016.csv)

Historical Statistics of Japan http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/chouki/index.htm

OECD data on Japan https://data.oecd.org/
Measuring the Digital Economy: A New Perspective (link to pdf)

Footnote:
The P-value is a probability test used to infer a level confidence that there is a relationship between two populations, that a relationship holds for some percentage of cases.
Null hypothesis - that there is no relationship between the two populations
The P-value is the percentage or decimal to support or reject the null hypothesis.
Typically we infer that the Significant: <=5%; Marginally significant: <=10%; Insignificant: >10%

Africa Business Students Conference 2018

Registration is now open for the third annual AFRICA BUSINESS STUDENTS’ CONFERENCE. Since 2016, the ABSC has been bringing together African, Irish, and international business students and members of Africa Business community for discussions and an in-depth learning experience about emerging businesses, entrepreneurship, research, internship, and career opportunities in Africa, and in established African businesses and African divisions of major Irish and European companies.
Register on EventBrite

DATE AND TIME
Sat 24 February 2018. 
11:00 – 16:00 GMT

LOCATION
UCD Quinn School of Business
University College Dublin
Belfield
4 Dublin

Lecture 1 - Ideas




Is outsourcing evil?
What is wrong with outsourcing?
What is right about outsourcing?

What is outsourcing?
What can we outsource?

Is outsourcing a new strategy?
Is ITO different to other kinds of outsourcing?
Is BPO different to other kinds of outsourcing?

What is its history?
Does its history matter?

UCD Writing Centre

"Master students - if you got your assignments back, are not happy with the results and would like us to take a look and give you some feedback on your writing, do come to the Writing Centre. If you are working on an assignment now, we can see if your writing is clear and coherent, your argument well developed, your structure and phrasing logical and effective."
UCD Writing Centre provides free, one-to-one tuition and a range of workshops on all aspects of the writing process. You can find us in Link Space 2 of the James Joyce Library http://www.ucd.ie/writingcentre/.
Ionad Scríobhneoireachta UCD

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

100,000th computer milestone event at Camara!

100,000 Computers

Tuesday, November 14th was a big day for us! President Michael D. Higgins (and Patron of Camara Education) along with his wife Sabina presided over the milestone event which saw our 100,000th computer presented to St. Patrick’s National School, Chapelizod, Dublin. In the words of President Higgins:
“I just think the work of Camara is so important. It is a form of literacy really, that every child would have access to a computer. One of the most important moral issues of our time is the form in which science and technology will impact our lives, and the importance in delivering advances in science and technology, and intelligence in a way that the largest numbers of people will have their lives enhanced, rather than endangered. We’re standing here today and celebrating a very important event in Camara’s story.”
For more see the #ReuseIT Campaign
President Michael D. Higgins celebrates 100,000th computer milestone event with Camara!

UCDVO Development Film Series - Free event in the UCD Cinema

Five high quality feature documentary films on subjects relating to development and global justice issues. The series is located in the UCD Student Centre Cinema for five consecutive Mondays beginning the 29 January – 26 February 2018 at 6pm. 

Each screening is followed by a Q&A session with a guest speaker and pizza. All welcome! 
Please reserve a seat online.

Refreshers Day 2018 - Clubs & Societies Day! #GetInvolved

Refreshers' Day is your chance to visit each of the UCD Sports Clubs and UCD Student Societies, sign-up and get involved in all that UCD student activities have to offer. 


Refreshers' Day takes place on 31 January from 10am-4pm in the Astra Hall, UCD Student Centre. With over 80 societies and 55 sports clubs, there is something for everyone!

Friday, January 19, 2018

Researcher Clinics, Presentations & Workshops : Spring 2018


UCD Library Researcher Clinics, Presentations & Workshops : Spring 2018

For details and booking please visit our schedule at :