Topic: Data Analytics
Experts Struggle to Accurately Forecast Societal Change
On COVID-19’s impacts, social scientists’ predictions weren’t much better than those of laypeople
How Many Pairs of Sandals Would You Look at Online?
On your phone, about 20. How retailers can best harvest sales from those glances
Testing 17 Theories on the Development of Complex Civilizations
Large-scale data project produces stark conclusion: military technology + agricultural productivity caused the takeoff
Matching Algorithms Work Fine — Until Bypassed By External Links
How to rebalance supply and demand amid today’s chaotic internet traffic
A Matching Mechanism to Reduce Uber/Lyft Customer Wait, Improve Revenue
Queuing models aren’t simple but offer big potential service improvements
Deciding When to Decide Can Lead to Better Outcomes
An interpretable model versus black-box algorithms for complex decision making
A Data-Driven Approach to Optimizing Bike Paths
A model for cities to boost ridership, without snarling car traffic
Can Algorithms Help Reduce Hospital Readmissions?
Measuring the utility of increased care and testing, inputs that aren’t always immediately available
Old Ways of Thinking Cause Managers to Disregard Analytics
Highlighting the right data and making it relevant can help overcome resistance
A Scheduling Tool that Considers Employee Preferences
A model for staffing O.R.s incorporates the costs of worker dissatisfaction and idle time
Graphic Presentation of COVID-19 Data Can Skew Perceptions of Risk
Showing cumulative cases — not day-to-day trends — could nudge people to avoid reckless behavior
Why the Online Ad World Abandoned Soft-Floor Auctions
Complexity and a failure to boost platform revenue were culprits
Motivation to Begin or an Excuse to Slack Off?
Fresh-start dates can serve as either — it’s a two-way nudge
Machine Learning Can Help Reduce Post-Surgical Hospital Readmissions
A model outperformed simpler statistical approaches in predicting which patients would encounter trouble
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics — and Data Visualization
How we interpret time-series data is dependent on the designer’s chosen format
94% of China’s Pollution Inspections Find No Violation
Researchers offer a model for more effectively targeting wrongdoers