1: Berg, C. C. and J. T. Wiebes. 1992. African fig trees and fig wasps. North-Holland, Amsterdam/Oxford/New York/Tokyo. Series: Verhandelingen Afdeling Natuurkunde. Tweede reeks / Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen ; d. 89
2: Berg, C. C. and E. J. H. Corner. 2005. Moraceae (Ficus). Flora Malesiana. Series I - Seed Plants. Volume 17. Part 2. Nationaal Herbarium Nederland.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I'm currently searching for the email addresses of Ficus experts so we could check with them the status of many un-accesses species.
Holding onto the files of monographs, revisions and floras, I have a sense of loss and wonder.
Loss because some of these experts have passed away. Some go without saying, because the manuscripts are ancient, others require a few google clicks. Yet, I stare at disbelief when I see the obvious. I'm starting to think a cross symbol next to a name signals a passing away. Is it so?
K.M. Matthew †
Late of the Rapinat Herbarium, St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirapalli, India, obit. 16th March 2004. Prepared for publication and edited by H.J. Noltie, Royal Botanic Garden, EH3 5LR Edinburgh, United Kingdom
I think the older generation of systematists/ecologists are not so active online as traces of them on the internet are hard to find.
Holding onto the files of monographs, revisions and floras, I have a sense of loss and wonder.
Loss because some of these experts have passed away. Some go without saying, because the manuscripts are ancient, others require a few google clicks. Yet, I stare at disbelief when I see the obvious. I'm starting to think a cross symbol next to a name signals a passing away. Is it so?
K.M. Matthew †
Late of the Rapinat Herbarium, St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirapalli, India, obit. 16th March 2004. Prepared for publication and edited by H.J. Noltie, Royal Botanic Garden, EH3 5LR Edinburgh, United Kingdom
I think the older generation of systematists/ecologists are not so active online as traces of them on the internet are hard to find.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Excel is my new best friend
Actually more like "Paste Special" is my new best friend.
And google as well and all those who pose questions about excel functions and those who reply them with the answers...
Wow, couldn't do you, without you guys.
Thank you!
And google as well and all those who pose questions about excel functions and those who reply them with the answers...
Wow, couldn't do you, without you guys.
Thank you!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Excel
My statistical analysis has led me to use R, SPSS and also Excel to a new level.
It's so important for a dataminer to be familiar with statistical tools and also data management programmes like Excel.
Because if one knows the tricks, it saves SO MUCH time.
I'm very grateful for all who have given me input on how I can cut down the amount of time I spend dealing with all the nitty gritties.
Excel functions are cool!
It's out of my personality to manage such things, but through this project, I believe it's one area I've grown in.
To be given a task, and to work out how to do it, instead of just lingering at the idea level and having no idea how to churn it out into something practical.
Now, I question myself if there are simpler and more cost-effective ways of doing things and I seek the easier and smarter ways.
It's so important for a dataminer to be familiar with statistical tools and also data management programmes like Excel.
Because if one knows the tricks, it saves SO MUCH time.
I'm very grateful for all who have given me input on how I can cut down the amount of time I spend dealing with all the nitty gritties.
Excel functions are cool!
It's out of my personality to manage such things, but through this project, I believe it's one area I've grown in.
To be given a task, and to work out how to do it, instead of just lingering at the idea level and having no idea how to churn it out into something practical.
Now, I question myself if there are simpler and more cost-effective ways of doing things and I seek the easier and smarter ways.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
"Models arise from questions about biology and the manner in which biological systems function." p. 16
"We recommend developing a set of candidate models prior to intensive data analysis, selecting one that is "best", and estimating the parameters of that model and their precision (using maximum likelihood or least square methods)." p. 22
"AIC is useful in selecting the best model in the set; however, if all the models are very poor, the AIC will still select the one estimated to be best, but even that relatively best model might be poor in an absolute sense." p. 62
"It is not the absolute size of the AIC value, it is the relative values over the set of models considered, and particularly the differences between AIC values, that are important." p.63
"AICc merely has an additional bias-correction term." "Unless the sample size is large with respect to the number of estimated parameters, use of AICc is recommended." p. 66
"change in AIC = AICi - AICmin"
"The model estimated to be best has change in AIC ~ 0" p. 71
"We can order teh change in AIC from smallest to largest, and the same ordering of the models indicates how good they are as an approximation to teh actual, expected K-L best model." p. 72
Burnham and Anderson, as below
"We recommend developing a set of candidate models prior to intensive data analysis, selecting one that is "best", and estimating the parameters of that model and their precision (using maximum likelihood or least square methods)." p. 22
"AIC is useful in selecting the best model in the set; however, if all the models are very poor, the AIC will still select the one estimated to be best, but even that relatively best model might be poor in an absolute sense." p. 62
"It is not the absolute size of the AIC value, it is the relative values over the set of models considered, and particularly the differences between AIC values, that are important." p.63
"AICc merely has an additional bias-correction term." "Unless the sample size is large with respect to the number of estimated parameters, use of AICc is recommended." p. 66
"change in AIC = AICi - AICmin"
"The model estimated to be best has change in AIC ~ 0" p. 71
"We can order teh change in AIC from smallest to largest, and the same ordering of the models indicates how good they are as an approximation to teh actual, expected K-L best model." p. 72
Burnham and Anderson, as below
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Modeling, Model Selection and Multimodel Inference
"A model is a representation of the world, but it is rarely a perfect representation. There will always be some differences between the model and the world, that is some error. If we could build a perfect copy, it would not be a model, it would be a duplicate."
"DATA = MODEL + ERROR"
From "Applying Regression and Correlation" by Miles, J. and Shevlin, M. (2001)
"This book is about making valid inferences from scientific data when a meaningful analysis depends on a model of the information in the data."
"There are many studies to understand our world; models are important because of the parameters in them and relationships expressed between and among variables. These parameters have relevant, useful interpretations, even when they relate to quantities that are not directly observable. Science would be very limited without such unobservables as constructs in models."
"We do not believe that model selection should be treated as an activity that precedes the analysis; rather, model selection is a critical and integral aspect of scientific data analysis that leads to valid inference."
"Often, one first develops a global model (or set of models) and then derives several other plausible candidate (sub)models postulated to represent good approximations to information at hand. This forms the set of candidate models."
"... selection of an estimated "best approximating model" from the a priori set of candidate models."
"Modeling is an art as well as a science and is directed toward finding a good approximating model of the information in empirical data as the basis for statistical inference from those data."
From "Model Selection and Multimodel Inference" by Burnham, K. P. and Anderson, D. R. (2002)
"DATA = MODEL + ERROR"
From "Applying Regression and Correlation" by Miles, J. and Shevlin, M. (2001)
"This book is about making valid inferences from scientific data when a meaningful analysis depends on a model of the information in the data."
"There are many studies to understand our world; models are important because of the parameters in them and relationships expressed between and among variables. These parameters have relevant, useful interpretations, even when they relate to quantities that are not directly observable. Science would be very limited without such unobservables as constructs in models."
"We do not believe that model selection should be treated as an activity that precedes the analysis; rather, model selection is a critical and integral aspect of scientific data analysis that leads to valid inference."
"Often, one first develops a global model (or set of models) and then derives several other plausible candidate (sub)models postulated to represent good approximations to information at hand. This forms the set of candidate models."
"... selection of an estimated "best approximating model" from the a priori set of candidate models."
"Modeling is an art as well as a science and is directed toward finding a good approximating model of the information in empirical data as the basis for statistical inference from those data."
From "Model Selection and Multimodel Inference" by Burnham, K. P. and Anderson, D. R. (2002)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I've come to such a stage that I cringe at seeing Chinese taxonomic description more than Latin or Spanish.
It's time to start with the thesis, with or without results.
It's time to prioritize and work smartly.
Proverbs 27:12
A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
It's time to start with the thesis, with or without results.
It's time to prioritize and work smartly.
Proverbs 27:12
A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
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