Calendar
During the fall 2018 semester, the Computational Social Science (CSS) and the Computational Sciences and Informatics (CSI) Programs have merged their seminar/colloquium series where students, faculty and guest speakers present their latest research. These seminars are free and are open to the public. This series takes place on Fridays from 3-4:30 in Center for Social Complexity Suite which is located on the third floor of Research Hall.
If you would like to join the seminar mailing list please email Karen Underwood.
Computational Social Science Research Colloquium /
Colloquium in Computational and Data Sciences
J. Brent Williams
Founder and CEO
Euclidian Trust
Improved Entity Resolution as a Foundation for Model Precision
Friday, November 2, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity, 3rd Floor Research Hall
All are welcome to attend.
Abstract: Analyzing behavior, identifying and classifying micro-differentiations, and predicting outcomes relies on the establishment of a core foundation of reliable and complete data linking. Whether data about individuals, families, companies, or markets, acquiring data from orthogonal sources results in significant matching challenges. These matching challenges are difficult because attempts to eliminate (or minimize) false positives yields an increase in false negatives. The converse is true also.
This discussion will focus on the business challenges in matching data and the primary and compounded impact on subsequent outcome analysis. Through practical experience, the speaker led the development and first commercialization of novel approach to “referential matching”. This approach leads to a more comprehensive unit data model (patient, customer, company, etc.), which enables greater computational resolution and model accuracy by hyper-accurate linking, disambiguation, and detection of obfuscation. The discussion also covers the impact of enumeration strategies, data obfuscation/hashing, and natural changes in unit data models over time.
Computational Social Science Research Colloquium /
Colloquium in Computational and Data Sciences
William Lamberti, CSI PhD Student
Department of Computational and Data Sciences
George Mason University
Classifying Pill Spies Using Storks
Friday, November 9, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity, 3rd Floor Research Hall
All are welcome to attend.
Abstract: Simple and intuitive measures of shape are substantial challenges in image analysis and computer vision. While measures of shape do exist, there are only a few intuitive and mathematically derived measures for other polygons. In this talk, a measure, which we call shape proportions, for regular polygons and circles are shown. From these proportions, we find the corresponding encircled image-histograms for classification purposes. This method of using shape proportions and encircled image-histograms is called SPEIs (which is pronounced as ‘spy’). An analysis using simulated and actual shape images were compared to ensure its utility. Future work regarding applying SPEIs to NIH pill data using stratified over-representative k-folds cross-validation (abbreviated as STORKC, which is pronounced as ‘stork’) will be discussed.
There will be no Computational Social Science Research Colloquium /Colloquium in Computational and Data Sciences talk on Friday, November 23 due to Thanksgiving break.
Computational Social Science Research Colloquium /Colloquium in Computational and Data Sciences
Sanjay Nayar
CSS PhD Student
Title: Interlocking Directorates Analysis: Evidence from India BSE-100
Friday, November 30, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity, 3rd Floor Research Hall
All are welcome to attend.
Abstract:
Interlocked directorates among companies are common across the world and have been studied quite extensively in the Western World. This study focuses on interlocking directorates, also referred to as inter-organizational elite cooptation (Allen, 1974), among the top 100 publicly traded companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE-100) in India. The time period analyzed is between 2006 and 2010, the years spanning the recent great recession. While De (2012) looked at the performance effects of interlocking directorates within Indian business groups irrespective of their membership in BSE-100, it did not address in the analysis the key players, cliques, etc., the evolution of the interlocking over time, or any comparisons with the United States. This broad exploratory study is the first to look at the BSE-100 interlocking directorates’ network to see how it has or has not been dominated by a select group of individuals, companies or sectors during 2006-2010, along with the companies’ performances in the longer-term, given their position in the network. Some comparisons are also made with the US market using information available in published papers (Everard, 2002). This study also serves a secondary purpose of being an introduction to the interconnections between some of the biggest players in the Indian Economy/Stock Market and thus would also be of interest to those studying business in India.
