Just received the news that the COMPSTAT 2020 meeting that was supposed to take place in Bologna, late August 2020, has been postponed by a year. Meaning that, reasonably, all future COMPSTAT conferences are postponed by a year. This gap policy should apply to all conference cycles, I believe.
Archive for coronavirus epidemics
COMPSTAT 2020 moved to 2021
Posted in Statistics with tags Compstat 2020, Compstat 2021, computational statistics, conference cancellation, coronavirus epidemics, COVID-19, Italia, Università di Bologna on April 2, 2020 by xi'anon an absurd climbing competition
Posted in Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags 9c, Adam Ondra, bouldering, coronavirus epidemics, heptathlon, Japan, lead climbing, Olympics, pentathlon, speed climbing, The New York Times on April 1, 2020 by xi'an
The New York Times has a very interesting piece on why Adam Ondra, arguably the best sport climber in the World, who climbed the very first 9c route in 2018, with a supernatural move involving hanging head down, actually has little hope of winning the Olympics. Assuming there will be Olympics this year. It is essentially because there is only one single medal for the sport, merging the radically different skills of bouldering, lead climbing and the absurd addition of speed climbing, which involves a single route, always the same, not particularly hard (6b) but to be climbed as fast as possible. To be a top contender on two categories is already pretty rare, with Ondra an exception. To master all three… Only cumulated athletic categories like heptathlon or pentathlon compare, but they come on top of existing competitions for every single of the seven or five events they are made of. Ondra came second or first in bouldering and lead, but closer to last for speed climbing. At least he made it through the qualifications.
IMS-Bernoulli congress delayed [WC2020]
Posted in Mountains, pictures, Running, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Bernoulli society, coronavirus epidemics, COVID-19, IMS, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, Korean Statistical Society, Seoul, Seoul National University, South Korea, WC2020 on March 30, 2020 by xi'an
Just received the sad news that the 10th World Congress in Probability and Statistics (WC2020), jointly organized by the Bernoulli Society and IMS, in Seoul, 17-21 August 2020, must be delayed till next year. I expect the same to happen for JSM 2020 in Philly.
against method
Posted in Books, Statistics, University life with tags Against Method, clinical trials, coronavirus epidemics, COVID-19, drugs, hydroxychloroquine sulfate, Marseille, Mediterranean Sea, Paul Feyerabend, placebo effect on March 29, 2020 by xi'an
A vitriolic tribune in Le Monde this weekend by the microbologist Didier Raoult, head of the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Marseille, campaining for the immediate use of the hydroxychloroquine sulfate drug for coronavirus patients. Arguing that the major emergency of the coronavirus pandemic calls for this use without waiting for confirmation from clinical trials, without controlled comparison with other drugs or a placebo. Solely a study of patients being administered the drug, outside the usual practice of clinical trials.
“Enfin, l’envahissement des méthodologistes amène à avoir des reflexions purement mathématiques.” [At last, the invasion of methodologists leads to purely mathematical reasonings.]
“Ce modèle, qui a nourri une quantité de méthodologistes, est devenu une dictature morale.” [This model, which has fed quantity of methodologists, has become a moral dictatorship.]
“…il faut nous débarasser des mathématiciens, des metéorologistes [sic] dans ce domaine.” [we must get rid of mathematicians and meteorologists in this domain]
“…conseil scientifique dans lequel on trouvait deux modélisateurs de l’avenir (qui pour moi représentent l’équivalent de l’astrologie), des maniaques de la méthodologie. Les médecins confrontés au problème du soin représentaient une minorité qui n’avait pas nécessairement l’habitude de s’exprimer et qui se trouvait noyée par cet habillage pseudo-scientifique.” […scientific committee including two modelisators of the future (equivalent in my opinion to astrologers), manics of methodology. Physicians facing treatment problems were a minority not necessarily used to intervene, overwhelmed by this pseudo-scientific babbling.]
Obviously I have no expertise in drug development or even in epidemiology, but the name-calling tone of this tribune, as illustrated by the above quotes, is appalling and populist, more in the spirit of Trump than of a rational search for scientific evidence. On the opposite, the arguments therein are a-scientific and reject the use of mathematical and statistical methodology for being… mathematical. And resort to name-calling, while not considering the more than philosophical aspect that opting for this drug rather than another one may be reducing survival chances for some groups of patients. (While the title chosen for this post reflects the title of Raoult’s tribune, with its philosophical pretenses, let me stress that Feyerabend’s book is not mentioned therein and that the article contains no indication that the author relates to Feyerabend’s views.)
hope from Switzerland
Posted in Statistics with tags Cervin, Cervino, coronavirus epidemics, Matterhorn, Suisse, Svizzera, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Valais, Visp, Zermatt on March 28, 2020 by xi'an
