Opportunities and challenges for industrial statisticians

The last 20 years have seen significant advances in the use of statistical methodology in industry, with applications in new product design and development, optimization and control of manufacturing processes, and in the service industries. The field of industrial statistics has emerged as an important branch of statistical science that focuses on this application environment. Yet as applications of statistics in industry have expanded, creating many new opportunities for the modern industrial statistician, many new challenges have arisen. Some of these challenges are technical, while others have managerial and organizational aspects. There are also important concerns pertaining to training and education. This presentation focuses on some of these issues, and identifies some potential solutions.     

统计学在20世纪的开拓性应用回顾

20世纪以来,作为数据搜集、整理和分析的一门重要工具,统计学在众多领域里得到了极其广泛的应用,统计学的作用及其重要性已渐渐显现出来。为了使统计学在20世纪所取得的进展及其重要性能为更多的人所认识和接受,并促进中国统计学的发展,对其在社会经济、自然科学以及生物医学等相关重要领域中的开拓性应用进行了简要的概述。这些应用一方面为统计学的发展提供了机遇,同时也向统计学提出了许多新的方法和应用上的挑战,为今后统计学的发展指明了方向。因而,对这些应用的回顾具有重要的实际意义。     

新时代中国经济社会统计的创新与发展

新时代,我国经济社会发展产生了许多新情况,经济社会管理产生了许多新需求,经济社会统计的理论、方法和应用要实现创新与发展,以适应新时代、反映新情况、满足新需求,在服务宏观经济决策和促进经济社会健康发展,以及促进经济学、社会学发展等方面发挥更加重要的作用。本文从统计理论和方法、学术研究和人才培养等方面阐述了新时代我国经济社会统计面临的严峻挑战和重大发展机遇;从创新研究领域、创新研究方法和创新人才培养方式等方面探讨了新时代我国经济社会统计如何实现创新与发展,以服务于国家重大发展战略、助力解决我国经济社会发展现实问题、对接国际前沿研究领域;提出了新时代我国经济社会统计的若干重点研究领域,包括新经济统计理论和方法研究、全要素生产率研究、服务业核算问题研究、无形资产测度问题研究、全球价值链研究等。     

大数据分析仍需要统计思想——以ARGO模型为例

在大数据时代,传统的统计学是否还有用武之地成为很多人的争议。本文以ARGO模型为案例,介绍了统计方法在大数据分析中的应用和取得的成果,并从统计学的角度出发,提出改进的措施与方法。通过ARGO模型的分析结果发现,大数据分析的很多根本性问题仍然是统计问题,而数据中的统计规律仍然是数据分析要挖掘的最大价值,这也意味着统计思想在大数据分析中只能越来越重要。而对于结构复杂、来源多样的大数据来说,统计学方法也需要新的探索和尝试,这将是统计学所面临的机遇和挑战。     

A review of parallel processing for statistical computation

Parallel computers differ from conventional serial computers in that they can, in a variety of ways, perform more than one operation at a time. Parallel processing, the application of parallel computers, has been successfully utilized in many fields of science and technology. The purpose of this paper is to review efforts to use parallel processing for statistical computing. We present some technical background, followed by a review of the literature that relates parallel computing to statistics. The review material focuses explicitly on statistical methods and applications, rather than on conventional mathematical techniques. Thus, most of the review material is drawn from statistics publications. We conclude by discussing the nature of the review material and considering some possibilities for the future.     

The Rise of Statistical Phylogenetics

This paper provides a review of the many applications of statistics within the field of phylogenetics, that is, the study of evolutionary history. The reader is assumed to be a statistician rather than a phylogeneticist, so some background is given on what phylogenetics is, along with a brief history of different approaches to phylogenetic inference. The latter half of the paper focuses on a series of open statistical problems in the field with the aim of encouraging more statisticians to engage with this fascinating area of research.     

Statistics development: statistical methods meeting the user’s needs

Statistical methods have the potential of being effectively used by industrial practitioners if they satisfied two criteria: functionality and usability. Statistical methods are usually the product of statistical research activities of universities and other research organizations. Some already satisfy these criteria; however, many do not. The effect is that potentially relevant methods are not used in practice as often as they could be. In this paper we will present an approach regarding ‘statistics development,’ in which the end-user is given a central position, so that the results from statistical research aim to meet the needs and requirements of the practitioner. Examples of known and new methods will be presented, and we will discuss issues such as education in statistics, the link with statistical consultancy and publication of methods through various channels.     

互联网统计与广义统计学

论文论述了互联网统计与广义统计学的基本学说和时代要求,提出了以互联网智能化为目标的统计设计及模型开发的全面量化新统计时代的丰富内容,研究了统计工作实践向互联网统计转变、互联网统计和广义统计学对统计工作和统计学科发展的关键作用、互联网统计和广义统计学的理论方法发展,以及政府统计改革的科学性问题和统计挑战人工智能的重要作用等,这些研究对于深刻认识统计实践发展和统计学科建设具有重要的意义。     

Modern statistics: the myth and the magic

Summary.  The paper is a personal exploration of the puzzling contradiction between the fundamental excitement of statistics and its poor public image. It begins with the historical foundations and proceeds through the role of applications and the dramatic impact of the computer in shaping the discipline. The mismatch between the reality of statistics and its public perception arises from a number of dichotomies, some of which are explored. In particular, although statistics is perhaps typically seen as an impersonal discipline, in some sense it is very personal, and many of its applications are aimed at providing unique benefit to individuals. This benefit depends on the creation of detailed data sets describing individuals, but the contrary view is that this represents an invasion of privacy. Some observations on statistical education are made, and issues which will affect the future health of the discipline are examined.     

STATISTICAL CHALLENGES OF AIDS: (The 1990 Knibbs Lecture, Canberra, 27 November 1990)

Issues that are central to the understanding and management of the HIV epidemic have generated numerous statistical challenges. This paper considers questions concerning the incubation period, the effects of treatments, pre diction of AIDS cases, the choice of surrogate end points for the assessment of treatments and design of strategies for screening blood samples. These issues give rise to a broad range of intriguing problems for statisticians. We describe some of these problems, how they have been tackled so far and what remains to be done. The discussion touches on topical statistical methods such as smoothing, bootstrapping, interval censoring and the ill-posed inverse problem, as well as asking fundamental questions for frequentist statistics.     

农业指数保险定价模型的研究进展及改进策略

农业指数保险是一种新型的农业保险产品,在农业风险管理中具有独特的优势和应用价值,但同时也在风险建模和费率厘定中面临着一系列挑战,近年来受到业界和学界的广泛关注。区域产量保险和天气指数保险是目前应用最为广泛的两种农业指数保险,它们在风险定价中面临的挑战主要包括经验数据不足、不同风险之间相依关系复杂、普遍存在基差风险等。通过对区域产量风险建模、天气指数构造及其分布拟合、农业相依风险建模、基差风险度量和控制等方面对相关研究成果的系统梳理和评述,指出了现有定价模型存在的不足和未来研究需要重点关注的问题,对于进一步完善农业指数保险的风险建模方法,提高农业指数保险定价结果的合理性和准确性具有重要现实意义。     

统计概念解析

本文从分析统计的本质属性出发,根据统计广泛性特点,归纳广义统计和狭义统计的概念,建立“统计概念总系”,力求能够包罗统计万象,体现统计全貌,使统计这一事物有一个总纲纪,为人们全面认识统计提供了一个新的视角。文中重点对政府统计纵向构成进行了分析和解读,解开人们在传统认识上的挽扣儿,这是正确理解政府统计构成的关键认识点,由此方能建立起统计概念体系。     

国家统计机构比较研究

 内容提要：本研究报告在广泛收集和研究国外相关资料的基础上，介绍了国家统计机构的一般组织结构、官方统计基本原则在各国的实施和经验。在此基础上，剖析了官方统计10项基本原则在我国统计工作中的实施情况，通过对照、检查，指出我国统计工作在很多方面已经达到国际通行的官方统计基本原则要求，在一些方面甚至处于国际领先水平。但是，在某些方面与国际标准相比，仍有一定的差距，需要进一步改进、提高。为此，提出了完善我国统计工作的初步建议。     

Econometric Time Series Analysis Software: A Review

This article assesses the impact that the late W. Edwards Deming had on statistical practice in general and industrial statistics in particular. It provides a direct-from-the-trenches comparison of Deming's goals with their realizations and a commentary on the relevance and challenges of Deming's concepts to today's industrial environment.     

La revue canadiennede statistique statistical science: Concepts,opportunities and challenges

Advances in computing and information technology have had a profound impact on many areas of human activity. Statistical tools are ever more widely used, often in new and unconventional environments. Opportunities for statisticians have never been greater, and at the same time, the use of statistics by others is increasing. The author discusses challenges which arise from these conditions, with emphasis on the identity, activities and education of statisticians.     

RAO'S SCORE TESTS IN SURVIVAL ANALYSIS: EXAMPLES AND BARTLETT TYPE ADJUSTMENTS

Score method in hypothesis testing is one of Professor C. R. Rao's great contributions to statistics. It provides a simple and unified way to test some simple and composite hypotheses in many statistical problems. Some popular tests in statistical practice derived with the help of intuitions can be shown as score tests under some statistical models. The subject-years test and log-rank test in survival analysis are two of the examples. In this paper, we first introduce these two examples. After formulating these two tests as score tests, we then review some recent results on the Bartlett type adjustments for these tests.     

产业系统演化模型及实证研究

摘　　要:产业系统是由诸多相互作用的经济元组成的动态演化系统,其主体要素是各产业部门。产业系统的演化意味着系统内各产业部门之间比例关系的变化。由于产业系统的开放性、层次性和非线性,必须从动态意义上去理解产业系统的状态变量。新产业的产生以及由此引起的产业系统内产业分化与产业重组是产业系统结构演进的关键环节和主要内容,产业系统演化本质上是系统内产生结构的调整、重组和升级。利用产业演化模型相关指标对中国部分制造类产业1985-2004年的整体演化轨迹进行了测定。计算结果表明,在研究时限内除普通机械制造业和化学纤维制造业目前已经进入产业演化周期的衰退期以外,家具制造业、医药制造业和仪器仪表及文化设备制造业目前均处于成熟期,只有电子及通信设备制造业正处于成长期,发展态势良好。电子及通信设备制造业是产业系统演化的典型代表,其技术创新效率与工业经济增长呈现高度的正相关性。产业技术创新弹性能够反映出不同产业演化水平变化对工业经济增长产生的不同影响,可以为我们评价和发展产业系统演化提供决策参考。     

中国数字经济卫星账户框架设计研究

数字经济日新月异的发展对现行统计核算体系提出了挑战。本文主要针对其在经济生产、收入分配和资本核算方面的挑战，研究了中国数字经济卫星账户框架的设计原理及可行性。首先，探讨了数字经济活动对现有核算体系中生产核算、收入分配核算、资本核算、金融核算的影响，包括数字经济核算与中心框架中产业单位、交易特征、生产者、生产范围、收入分配等的关系。然后，基于国内外数字经济相关分类和中国核算实践分析了中国产业、产品分类的国际可比性和可行性，形成了对数字经济生产核算、资金流量核算和资本核算的专门性设计，并构建了一般性的核算指标。在框架设计的基础上，对2012-2017年中国数字经济主要产业部门的增加值进行了初步测算。最后，结合中国数字经济研究现状，对中国开展数字经济核算工作提出了建议，即建议深化中国数字经济卫星账户核算体系及相应的核算方法体系、研究开发中国数字经济高频大数据的获取方法、完善中国数字经济产业产品分类标准及相关统计规章制度。     

What Your Future Doctor Should Know About Statistics: Must-Include Topics for Introductory Undergraduate Biostatistics

The increased emphasis on evidence-based medicine creates a greater need for educating future physicians in the general domain of quantitative reasoning, probability, and statistics. Reflecting this trend, more medical schools now require applicants to have taken an undergraduate course in introductory statistics. Given the breadth of statistical applications, we should cover in that course certain essential topics that may not be covered in the more general introductory statistics course. In selecting and presenting such topics, we should bear in mind that doctors also need to communicate probabilistic concepts of risks and benefits to patients who are increasingly expected to be active participants in their own health care choices despite having no training in medicine or statistics. It is also important that interesting and relevant examples accompany the presentation, because the examples (rather than the details) are what students tend to retain years later. Here, we present a list of topics we cover in the introductory biostatistics course that may not be covered in the general introductory course. We also provide some of our favorite examples for discussing these topics.     

Methodological issues with adaptation of clinical trial design

Adaptation of clinical trial design generates many issues that have not been resolved for practical applications, though statistical methodology has advanced greatly. This paper focuses on some methodological issues. In one type of adaptation such as sample size re-estimation, only the postulated value of a parameter for planning the trial size may be altered. In another type, the originally intended hypothesis for testing may be modified using the internal data accumulated at an interim time of the trial, such as changing the primary endpoint and dropping a treatment arm. For sample size re-estimation, we make a contrast between an adaptive test weighting the two-stage test statistics with the statistical information given by the original design and the original sample mean test with a properly corrected critical value. We point out the difficulty in planning a confirmatory trial based on the crude information generated by exploratory trials. In regards to selecting a primary endpoint, we argue that the selection process that allows switching from one endpoint to the other with the internal data of the trial is not very likely to gain a power advantage over the simple process of selecting one from the two endpoints by testing them with an equal split of alpha (Bonferroni adjustment). For dropping a treatment arm, distributing the remaining sample size of the discontinued arm to other treatment arms can substantially improve the statistical power of identifying a superior treatment arm in the design. A common difficult methodological issue is that of how to select an adaptation rule in the trial planning stage. Pre-specification of the adaptation rule is important for the practicality consideration. Changing the originally intended hypothesis for testing with the internal data generates great concerns to clinical trial researchers.