Businesses often want to target promotional offers to a particular subset of their customers. For example, a mobile network provider may wish to target customers who make longer calls. Customer segmentation is a statistical method that divides a market into subsets of customers who share similar characteristics.
read moreThe Big Bang South West is an annual science fair aimed at inspiring young scientists. Students can exhibit science projects which are judged throughout the day. By using a formal design, projects can be allocated to judges that meet any organisational constraints as well as ensuring that each project is given a fair score.
read moreTo test the effectiveness of a new device designed to eliminate smoke in the surgical field, an experiment was designed that collected information on the clarity of view during the surgery. By analysing these data it was possible to detect a positive effect of the new device and compare the effectiveness relative to alternative methods.
read moreEnergy suppliers have a regulatory duty to help combat fuel poverty through the take-up of energy efficiency practices. However, information on an individual's energy use is not always available. By combining a variety of Official Statistics in a statistical model, it's possible to identify areas in the country that are at greatest risk of fuel poverty and where the take-up of efficiency measures is likely to be low.
read moreEstimating population sizes for wild animals and how they are changing is critical for the conservation of biodiversity. The difficulty is that it's often impossible to physically count them. Data from capture-recapture methods can be used with a statistical model to estimate population sizes and, by including environmental information, it is possible to understand what factors influence changes in population.
read moreMutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are known to lead to an increased risk of cancer in humans. Elective surgery can reduce the cancer risk, but is an incredibly difficult and personal decision for healthy patients to take. Statistical techniques can be used to produce a personalised risk profile with likely timescales of disease onset allowing a patient to make a more informed decision.
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