WHAT IS GEOSTATISTICS?
WHAT IS GEOSTATISTICS?
You need not be a statistician to make good use of geostatistics, but you may need the assistance, support, guidance of a (geo?)statistician. A good engineer, ecologist, biologist, plant scientist, hydrologist, soil physicist already has a good start, because geostatistics is only good science brought up to date by the recognition that natural phenomena are subject to spatial variation. Your study of geostatistics will not displace other knowledge that you have; rather, it will extend your knowledge and make it more useful.
(paraphrased from a quotation of William Edwards Deming)
A BIT OF HISTORY
The application of statistics to problems in geology and mining as well as to hydrology date back a considerable time. For a time, geostatistics meant statistics applied to geology or perhaps more generally to problems in the earth sciences. Beginning in the mid-60's and especially in the mid-70's it became much more closely affiliated with the work of Georges Matheron and perhaps that connection is still the prevailing one today. Because much of his early work and also that of his students appeared primarily in French it was not as well known in the US and other countries. Several events began to change that however. In 1975 a NATO ASI was held near Rome, Italy on Advanced Geostatistics in the Mining Industry. The proceedings contained papers that were primarily in English. This had been preceded by a set of notes (by Matheron) prepared for a summer program in Fontainebleau. These notes were in English but not readily available. A more definitive theoretical article appeared in the J. Applied Probability in 1973.
Professeur Matheron was at the Ecole Normale Superieure des Mines de Paris (School of Mines), one of the Grande Ecoles. As part of a general move of research units out from the main location in Paris (adjacent to the Jardin du Luxembourg), Matheron established the Centre de Morphologie Mathematique. Later this became two programs, one on mathematical morphology and on on geostatistics. Matheron retired as Director of the Center only last year. Jean Serra's two volume series on mathematical morphology and image analysis is well-known and is based on Matheron's earlier book on random set theory. Two of Matheron's students were instrumental in implanting geostatistics in North America. Andre Journel moved to Stanford University in 1978 and also co-authored Mining Geostatistics with Ch. Huijbrechts. Michel David had earlier moved to the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and in 1977 published Geostatistical Ore Reserve Estimation. Journel was in the Department of Applied Earth Sciences but more recently that department has been closed and he is now in the Department of Petroleum Engineering and has established (with the aid of various oil companies) the Stanford Center for Reservoir Forecasting.
Matheron's work was not very well accepted in the statistical community for a period of time although a number of prominent statisticians were visitors at Fountainebleau in the '70's, '80's and '90's. In part this was because of a feeling that some of the work was a duplication of results that were already well-known but with different names. Matheron's propensity to only publish in French and only in "internal notes" at the Center probably contributed to this perception. Now however, geostatistics has established a place for itself both within the statistics journals and at national meeings. In the mid-'80's, with the help of M. Armstrong, an index of those notes was published in Mathematical Geology, while it was possible to order zeroxed copies from the Center there was no generally accessible repository outside of the Center. The index noted above is now well out of date. Again with the assistance of M. Armstrong, a small number of these notes have appeared as journal articles. GLOSSARY
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Biostatistics-INTRODUCTION-
INTRODUCTION
(a portmanteau of biology and statistics; sometimes referred to as biometry or biometrics) is the application of statisticsto a wide range of topics in biology. The science of biostatistics encompasses the design of biological experiments, especially inmedicine, pharmacy, agriculture and fishery; the collection, summarization, and analysis of data from those experiments; and the interpretation of, and inference from, the results. A major branch of this is medical biostatistics, which is exclusively concerned with medicine and health.
Biostatistics and the history of biological thought
Biostatistical reasoning and modeling were of critical importance to the foundation theories of modern biology. In the early 1900s, after the rediscovery of Mendel's work, the gaps in understanding between genetics and evolutionary Darwinism led to vigorous debate among biometricians, such as Walter Weldon and Karl Pearson, and Mendelians, such as Charles Davenport, William Bateson andWilhelm Johannsen. By the 1930s, statisticians and models built on statistical reasoning had helped to resolve these differences and to produce the neo-Darwinian modern evolutionary synthesis.
The leading figures in the establishment of this synthesis all relied on statistics and developed its use in biology.
- Sir Ronald A. Fisher developed several basic statistical methods in support of his work The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection
- Sewall G. Wright used statistics in the development of modern population genetics
- J. B. S Haldane's book, The Causes of Evolution, reestablished natural selection as the premier mechanism of evolution by explaining it in terms of the mathematical consequences of Mendelian genetics.
These individuals and the work of other biostatisticians, mathematical biologists, and statistically inclined geneticists helped bring together evolutionary biology and genetics into a consistent, coherent whole that could begin to be quantitatively modeled.
In parallel to this overall development, the pioneering work of D'Arcy Thompson in On Growth and Form also helped to add quantitative discipline to biological study.
Despite the fundamental importance and frequent necessity of statistical reasoning, there may nonetheless have been a tendency among biologists to distrust or deprecate results which are not qualitatively apparent. One anecdote describes Thomas Hunt Morganbanning the Friden calculator from his department at Caltech, saying "Well, I am like a guy who is prospecting for gold along the banks of the Sacramento River in 1849. With a little intelligence, I can reach down and pick up big nuggets of gold. And as long as I can do that, I'm not going to let any people in my department waste scarce resources in placer mining.
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Quality control-INTRODUCTION-
Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:
- Elements such as controls, job management, defined and well managed processes,performance and integrity criteria, and identification of records
- Competence, such as knowledge, skills, experience, and qualifications
- Soft elements, such as personnel, integrity, confidence, organizational culture,motivation, team spirit, and quality relationships.
Controls include product inspection, where every product is examined visually, and often using a stereo microscope for fine detail before the product is sold into the external market. Inspectors will be provided with lists and descriptions of unacceptable product defects such as cracks or surface blemishes for example.
The quality of the outputs is at risk if any of these three aspects is deficient in any way.
Quality control emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects and reporting to management who make the decision to allow or deny product release, whereas quality assurance attempts to improve and stabilize production (and associated processes) to avoid, or at least minimize, issues which led to the defect(s) in the first place.For contract work, particularly work awarded by government agencies, quality control issues are among the top reasons for not renewing a contract.
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Benefits of being a Muslim-part 1-
Paradise (part 1 of 2)
Description: A two-part lesson providing a glimpse of Paradise and what it holds for the believer with reference to the Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Part 1: Definition and types of happiness and the desire of Paradise as a significant factor in motivating a Muslim’s behavior and sense of happiness.
Objectives
· To learn the definition and types of happiness.
· To realize that the desire for Paradise is a significant factor in motivating a Muslim to do good deeds.
· To become familiar by means of a modest prelude, the nature of the gardens of Paradise.
What drives us? What makes us do the things we do? What makes us happy?
Many people will answer maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain is the ultimate key to human happiness.
If so, how come people can be happy while in pain and unhappy while experiencing pleasure? If pleasure is not the only motivating force that drives us, what does? What desires must we fulfill to live a happy life?
For most of those who see happiness in the carnal, rather than the spiritual, it is pretty basic: desire to avoid pain and anxiety, desire to spend time with relatives, desire to eat, desire for sexual gratification, desire for companionship, and desire for recognition to name a few.
Life for such can be toilsome, provoking the plain query; what is it really aiming for? In their quest for happiness, all too often people fall short of achieving any kind of inner peace. We think that by always reaching higher and accomplishing more - more money, a better body, the perfect mate - we will automatically be happy. That is an illusion. People get caught up in chasing the materialistic dream under the illusion money can buy happiness until they discover the limits of materialism. Impressing the neighbors and envy of possessions leaves us devoid of passion and depth in our lives, leading to the Modern Man’s Paradox: Spiritual hunger in an age of plenty.
What is the paradox? Simply put, it is this: As members of certain materialistic societies have grown richer, they have grown less content with their lives. No society in the history of the world has ever enjoyed the standard of living known today in these societies: Incomes are up, prices are stable, unemployment is down, life expectancy is rising; they enjoy more freedom and opportunity than ever before. Even their poor live well by world standards. Yet in America, for example, since 1960, the divorce rate has doubled, teen suicide has tripled, violent crime has quadrupled, the prison population has quintupled, and some estimates put the incidence of depression in the year 2000 at ten times what it was in the year 1900. Americans are less happy today than they were 40 years ago, despite the fact that they make 2.5 times as much money. Our bellies may be filled, but we are left spiritually hungry.
To find out what really drives human behavior, two kinds of happiness must be distinguished: feel-good happiness and value-based happiness. Feel-good happiness is sensation-based pleasure. When we joke around or eat our favorite food, we experience feel-good happiness. This type of happiness rarely lasts longer than a few hours at a time.
Value-based happiness is a sense that our lives have meaning and fulfill the larger purpose of our existence by connecting us to Allah. It represents a spiritual source of satisfaction, stemming from our deeper purpose and values. Living a God-conscious life rooted in the values of the Quran and Sunnah, a Muslim is driven - beyond sensual pleasures - by the desire to make it to Paradise and to be safe from Hell after death.
Islamic values that take a person towards Paradise and away from Hell are the most significant factors in motivating a Muslim’s behavior and in contributing to his or her sense of happiness. The desire to achieve Paradise in the afterlife puts the meaning back into life, superseding all other desires, to bring a sense of direction. An empty lifestyle focused on wealth, possessions, drugs, alcohol, and sex is replaced with the hope of making it to Paradise, a sense of connection with God’s creation, and a life of devotion to Allah instead of wealth and possessions. A person is focused on pleasing Allah even at the cost of our fellow human beings' disapproval. One must remember that the jewel of Paradise is veiled by hardships.
To be happy, wake up from materialistic dreams and realize that nothing save Allah alone is capable of satisfying man!
Ultimate satisfaction will be in reaching our ultimate goal – Paradise, not in this world, where we are like travelers and strangers. Paradise is not God’s residence, or a spiritual state where one becomes a part of God, as some mistakenly think. Paradise is a spiritual and sensual residence of pleasure in which all one’s senses will be gratified to the fullest. It is an abode of manifold enjoyments for the faithful, its dwellers will not feel the least pain or sadness. A place where every aspiration will be finally realized.
Islamic Gardens
Jannah (a beautiful garden) has historically inspired beauty, something which can be clearly seen in the beautiful gardens which were present throughout the Muslim world, such as those in Persia, Spain, and India, typically designed as a sort of escape or peaceful seclusion from the outside world. Waterworks and fountains were a common inclusion in Muslim gardens for their free flowing beauty and soothing sound. Artificial decorative elements were used in Muslim gardens as well, including the making of carpet-like parterres, and artificial trees and flowers made of precious metals and gemstones.
For generations of Muslims, these gardens represented a kind of sacred art, the aim of which was to draw the visitor closer to God. Today, the Muslim gardens on earth are like shadows of the true Paradise. These gardens serve as reminders to mankind of the heavenly abode to which the righteous will return.
Shade is provided by canopies and pavilions. Emphasis is placed on creating a space that indulges all the senses. Fragrance is a common feature of Muslim gardens, and herbs were potted up to fulfill this role. The decking provides a space for teaching and relaxing. Muslim gardens never contain statues, carved stone fountains with figures, or representational sculptures. Islam does not allow the use of such images. Some Muslim gardens are so famed for their beauty that people come from far and wide to enjoy their tranquility. Among them are the Alhambra Palace garden in Granada, Spain, the Jag Mandir Palace garden in India and the Major Elle residence garden in Marrakech, Morocco.
The lush gardens created by Muslims are man-made inspirations for an earthly Paradise. A secret haven secluded from the outside world; a place of tranquility, meditation, reflection, and prayer. A modest prelude for what it is to come for believers in the Hereafter.
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The history of Algeria -introduction-
The history of Algeria takes place in the fertile coastal plain of North Africa, which is often called the Maghreb (or Maghrib). North Africa served as a transit region for people moving towards Europe or the Middle East, thus, the region's inhabitants have been influenced by populations from other areas. Out of this mix developed the Berber people, whose language and culture, although pushed from coastal areas by conquering and colonizing Carthaginians, Romans, and Byzantines, dominated most of the land until the spread of Islam and the coming of the Arabs. The most significant forces in the country's history have been the spread of Islam, Arabization, Ottoman and French colonization, and the struggle for independence.
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