Group Presentations:

I present four different topics here for group presentations. I provide **some** references and ask that you find others. You should plan on using a class period for a class presentation. Your group should also submit a small (5 to 10 page) paper.

What you need to do soon : form a group of 1 to 3 people and tell me who is in your group!

1) Greenhouse gases and global warming 


A big topic here!! Let's avoid the politics and stick to the facts. Many suggest that carbon dioxide emissions are a major cause of global warming. A well known paper supporting this view is from Mann [MNB98] where the famous "hockey stick" proposal is mentioned. Several scientists cite error with the methods reported in this paper, claiming that Mann's  use of Principal Component Analysis would cause a "spike" in any data set (and not only data with CO2 data). Needless to say, the critics have themselves been criticized. OK. Let's find some references here:

Names to do google searches on:  Mann, McIntyre and McKitrick

Canadian critics of the Mann report can be found here
Some more critics here
Web site of climatologists supporting the idea of greenhouse gas warming can be found here  . Do a search on "hockey stick" at this site for some interesting reading.

There is some pretty techincal reading here. Does either side do anything you find questionable ?

2) Data Mining and Wall Street Investing 
Again, another big topic. There are many papers (and ideas!!) concerning data mining applications to successful investing, but here's a cute one I think is worth looking at. Several authorities (and I provide two here) suggest that the two weeks of the new moon, that is, the seven days leading to the new moon and the subsequent seven days following are better times to invest!! How did the researchers (some from University of Michigan) come up with this ?

Lunar Cycle Effects in Stock Returns
Are Investors Moonstruck

3) Logistic Regression and e-mail SPAM 

We have already seen application of Naive Bayesian inference to spam detection. Recent work suggests that logistic regression is better; its easier to train and faster. So what is logistic regression and how can we use it for spam detection. Do a google search on logistic regression. A reasonable place to start is here.
Joshua Goodman of Microsoft research has many papers related to logistic regression and spam. Another place to look is at this conference web site , again, scan the page for logistic regression.

4) Social Network Analysis and Terrorists 


The President wants to tap your phone. Not really...but he wouldn't mind keeping track of what numbers you call and what numbers call you. It is felt that data mining of social networks can provide useful information in finding terrorists. Here are some interesting articles:

Can Network Theory Thwart Terrorists
Social Network Analysis of the 9/11 Terrorist Network
Nice reference Page for Social Network Analysis