Search results for "Statistical thinking"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Building a statistical surveillance dashboard for COVID-19 infection worldwide
2020
When a pandemic like the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) breaks out, it is important that authorities, healthcare organizations and official decision makers, have in place an effective monitoring system to promptly analyze data, create new insights into problematic areas and generate actionable knowledge for fact-based decision making. The aim of this article is to describe an initial work focused on building a comprehensive statistical surveillance dashboard for the epidemic of COVID-19, which can be exploited also for future needs. We propose novel ways of exploring, analyzing and presenting data, using metrics that have not been used previously. We also show the steps necessary to b…
A Robustness Approach to Reliability
2012
Reliability of products is here regarded with respect to failure avoidance rather than probability of failure. To avoid failures, we emphasize variation and suggest some powerful tools for handling failures due to variation. Thus, instead of technical calculation of probabilities from data that usually are too weak for correct results, we emphasize the statistical thinking that puts the designers focus on the critical product functions. Making the design insensitive to unavoidable variation is called robust design and is handled by (i) identification and classification of variation, (ii) design of experiments to find robust solutions, and (iii) statistically based estimations of proper safe…
An inquiry-based approach to Maxwell distribution: a case study with engineering students
2013
The concept of distribution is a fundamental component of statistical thinking. This paper describes a teaching approach for it that uses a specific activity related to the field of statistical mechanics. The concept of the velocity distribution of a particle system is dealt with using an inquiry-based approach involving an experimental examination of Maxwell’s distribution. Some outcomes of a teaching experiment held at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Palermo, Italy are described.