Who's on First is a novel of international espionage and intrigue that hooks the reader from the very beginning. The year is 1956, and the United States is locked in a do-or-die space race with the Russians. Who will get to outer space first? Once again Blackford Oakes is called upon. This time he kidnaps two Russian missile scientists who can help put the Americans out in front for good. But he must dodge a murderous entourage of KGB agents and Hungarian freedom fighters if he is to accomplish his mission.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)9780385152310 20160527

• Introduction to ranking
• Massey's method
• Colley's method
• Keener's method
• Elo's system
• The Markov method
• The offense-defense rating method
• Ranking by reordering methods
• Point spreads
• User preference ratings
• Handling ties
• Incorporating weights
• "What if--" scenarios and sensitivity
• Rank aggregation : part 1
• Rank aggregation : part 2
• Methods of comparison
• Data
• Epilogue.

A website's ranking on Google can spell the difference between success and failure for a new business. NCAA football ratings determine which schools get to play for the big money in postseason bowl games. Product ratings influence everything from the clothes we wear to the movies we select on Netflix. Ratings and rankings are everywhere, but how exactly do they work? "Who's #1?" offers an engaging and accessible account of how scientific rating and ranking methods are created and applied to a variety of uses. Amy Langville and Carl Meyer provide the first comprehensive overview of the mathematical algorithms and methods used to rate and rank sports teams, political candidates, products, Web pages, and more. In a series of interesting asides, Langville and Meyer provide fascinating insights into the ingenious contributions of many of the field's pioneers. They survey and compare the different methods employed today, showing why their strengths and weaknesses depend on the underlying goal, and explaining why and when a given method should be considered. Langville and Meyer also describe what can and can't be expected from the most widely used systems. The science of rating and ranking touches virtually every facet of our lives, and now you don't need to be an expert to understand how it really works. "Who's #1?" is the definitive introduction to the subject. It features easy-to-understand examples and interesting trivia and historical facts, and much of the required mathematics is included.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)9780691154220 20160607

• Preface xiii Purpose xiii Audience xiii Prerequisites xiii Teaching from This Book xiv Acknowledgments xiv Chapter 1. Introduction to Ranking 1 Social Choice and Arrow's Impossibility Theorem 3 Arrow's Impossibility Theorem 4 Small Running Example 4 Chapter 2. Massey's Method 9 Initial Massey Rating Method 9 Massey's Main Idea 9 The Running Example Using the Massey Rating Method 11 Advanced Features of the Massey Rating Method 11 The Running Example: Advanced Massey Rating Method 12 Summary of the Massey Rating Method 13 Chapter 3. Colley's Method 21 The Running Example 23 Summary of the Colley Rating Method 24 Connection between Massey and Colley Methods 24 Chapter 4. Keener's Method 29 Strength and Rating Stipulations 29 Selecting Strength Attributes 29 Laplace's Rule of Succession 30 To Skew or Not to Skew? 31 Normalization 32 Chicken or Egg? 33 Ratings 33 Strength 33 The Keystone Equation 34 Constraints 35 Perron-Frobenius 36 Important Properties 37 Computing the Ratings Vector 37 Forcing Irreducibility and Primitivity 39 Summary 40 The 2009-2010 NFL Season 42 Jim Keener vs. Bill James 45 Back to the Future 48 Can Keener Make You Rich? 49 Conclusion 50 Chapter 5. Elo's System 53 Elegant Wisdom 55 The K-Factor 55 The Logistic Parameter ? 56 Constant Sums 56 Elo in the NFL 57 Hindsight Accuracy 58 Foresight Accuracy 59 Incorporating Game Scores 59 Hindsight and Foresight with ? = 1000, K = 32, H = 15 60 Using Variable K-Factors with NFL Scores 60 Hindsight and Foresight Using Scores and Variable K-Factors 62 Game-by-Game Analysis 62 Conclusion 64 Chapter 6. The Markov Method 67 The Markov Method 67 Voting with Losses 68 Losers Vote with Point Differentials 69 Winners and Losers Vote with Points 70 Beyond Game Scores 71 Handling Undefeated Teams 73 Summary of the Markov Rating Method 75 Connection between the Markov and Massey Methods 76 Chapter 7. The Offense-Defense Rating Method 79 OD Objective 79 OD Premise 79 But Which Comes First? 80 Alternating Refinement Process 81 The Divorce 81 Combining the OD Ratings 82 Our Recurring Example 82 Scoring vs. Yardage 83 The 2009-2010 NFL OD Ratings 84 Mathematical Analysis of the OD Method 87 Diagonals 88 Sinkhorn-Knopp 89 OD Matrices 89 The OD Ratings and Sinkhorn-Knopp 90 Cheating a Bit 91 Chapter 8. Ranking by Reordering Methods 97 Rank Differentials 98 The Running Example 99 Solving the Optimization Problem 101 The Relaxed Problem 103 An Evolutionary Approach 103 Advanced Rank-Differential Models 105 Summary of the Rank-Differential Method 106 Properties of the Rank-Differential Method 106 Rating Differentials 107 The Running Example 109 Solving the Reordering Problem 110 Summary of the Rating-Differential Method 111 Chapter 9. Point Spreads 113 What It Is (and Isn't) 113 The Vig (or Juice) 114 Why Not Just Offer Odds? 114 How Spread Betting Works 114 Beating the Spread 115 Over/Under Betting 115 Why Is It Difficult for Ratings to Predict Spreads? 116 Using Spreads to Build Ratings (to Predict Spreads?) 117 NFL 2009-2010 Spread Ratings 120 Some Shootouts 121 Other Pair-wise Comparisons 124 Conclusion 125 Chapter 10. User Preference Ratings 127 Direct Comparisons 129 Direct Comparisons, Preference Graphs, and Markov Chains 130 Centroids vs. Markov Chains 132 Conclusion 133 Chapter 11. Handling Ties 135 Input Ties vs. Output Ties 136 Incorporating Ties 136 The Colley Method 136 The Massey Method 137 The Markov Method 137 The OD, Keener, and Elo Methods 138 Theoretical Results from Perturbation Analysis 139 Results from Real Datasets 140 Ranking Movies 140 Ranking NHL Hockey Teams 141 Induced Ties 142 Summary 144 Chapter 12. Incorporating Weights 147 Four Basic Weighting Schemes 147 Weighted Massey 149 Weighted Colley 150 Weighted Keener 150 Weighted Elo 150 Weighted Markov 150 Weighted OD 151 Weighted Differential Methods 151 Chapter 13. "What If ..." Scenarios and Sensitivity 155 The Impact of a Rank-One Update 155 Sensitivity 156 Chapter 14. Rank Aggregation-Part 1 159 Arrow's Criteria Revisited 160 Rank-Aggregation Methods 163 Borda Count 165 Average Rank 166 Simulated Game Data 167 Graph Theory Method of Rank Aggregation 172 A Refinement Step after Rank Aggregation 175 Rating Aggregation 176 Producing Rating Vectors from Rating Aggregation-Matrices 178 Summary of Aggregation Methods 181 Chapter 15. Rank Aggregation-Part 2 183 The Running Example 185 Solving the BILP 186 Multiple Optimal Solutions for the BILP 187 The LP Relaxation of the BILP 188 Constraint Relaxation 190 Sensitivity Analysis 191 Bounding 191 Summary of the Rank-Aggregation (by Optimization) Method 193 Revisiting the Rating-Differential Method 194 Rating Differential vs. Rank Aggregation 194 The Running Example 196 Chapter 16. Methods of Comparison 201 Qualitative Deviation between Two Ranked Lists 201 Kendall's Tau 203 Kendall's Tau on Full Lists 204 Kendall's Tau on Partial Lists 205 Spearman's Weighted Footrule on Full Lists 206 Spearman's Weighted Footrule on Partial Lists 207 Partial Lists of Varying Length 210 Yardsticks: Comparing to a Known Standard 211 Yardsticks: Comparing to an Aggregated List 211 Retroactive Scoring 212 Future Predictions 212 Learning Curve 214 Distance to Hillside Form 214 Chapter 17. Data 217 Massey's Sports Data Server 217 Pomeroy's College Basketball Data 218 Scraping Your Own Data 218 Creating Pair-wise Comparison Matrices 220 Chapter 18. Epilogue 223 Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) 223 The Redmond Method 223 The Park-Newman Method 224 Logistic Regression/Markov Chain Method (LRMC) 224 Hochbaum Methods 224 Monte Carlo Simulations 224 Hard Core Statistical Analysis 225 And So Many Others 225 Glossary 231 Bibliography 235 Index 241.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)9780691154220 20160607

A website's ranking on Google can spell the difference between success and failure for a new business. NCAA football ratings determine which schools get to play for the big money in postseason bowl games. Product ratings influence everything from the clothes we wear to the movies we select on Netflix. Ratings and rankings are everywhere, but how exactly do they work? "Who's #1?" offers an engaging and accessible account of how scientific rating and ranking methods are created and applied to a variety of uses. Amy Langville and Carl Meyer provide the first comprehensive overview of the mathematical algorithms and methods used to rate and rank sports teams, political candidates, products, Web pages, and more. In a series of interesting asides, Langville and Meyer provide fascinating insights into the ingenious contributions of many of the field's pioneers. They survey and compare the different methods employed today, showing why their strengths and weaknesses depend on the underlying goal, and explaining why and when a given method should be considered. Langville and Meyer also describe what can and can't be expected from the most widely used systems. The science of rating and ranking touches virtually every facet of our lives, and now you don't need to be an expert to understand how it really works. "Who's #1?" is the definitive introduction to the subject. It features easy-to-understand examples and interesting trivia and historical facts, and much of the required mathematics is included.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)9780691154220 20160607

• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1- Setting the Table: Preparing the Learning Environment for Greatness Chapter 2- This Classroom is Open for Business! Chapter 3- How People See Things: Glass Half Full? Chapter 4- When Customers Ask for More Chapter 5- The Taste Test: Time to Assess Mastery Chapter 6- Keeping the Business, and the Shopkeeper, Afloat Chapter 7- Celebrating: See? That Wasn't So Bad Chapter 8- Closing Time: Leaving One Year Behind and Looking Ahead to Another Appendix A- Forms and Reflection Surveys About the Author.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)9781475841275 20180319

Asking "Who's Being Served?" reveals who truly benefits from what gets planned, implemented and assessed in today's classrooms. Think about what student-centered classrooms and good restaurants have in common: they each put the customer first! Education is a service industry where relationship building matters. Learn how to transform schools and learning opportunities to be more engaging and effective for students. In this helpful and relevant volume, John Hayward offers advice from over twenty years of teaching about how and why to make the move from teacher-centric control to student-centered facilitation. Each chapter references secrets from the dining industry in regards to how research, planning and observation influence how one serves others. Whether you are an administrator, instructor or school staff, your daily interaction with students needs to be at the level outlined in this book to make a lasting, positive difference. When students choose more, interact more and fully live their learning, their education serves them for longer than a unit or a year. If schools focus on students personally, putting relationships first, the experience and the positive results will last for a lifetime.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)9781475841275 20180319

• Frontmatter
• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1. Introduction to Ranking
• Chapter 2. Massey’s Method
• Chapter 3. Colley’s Method
• Chapter 4. Keener’s Method
• Chapter 5. Elo’s System
• Chapter 6. The Markov Method
• Chapter 7. The Offense–Defense Rating Method
• Chapter 8. Ranking by Reordering Methods
• Chapter 9. Point Spreads
• Chapter 10. User Preference Ratings
• Chapter 11. Handling Ties
• Chapter 12. Incorporating Weights
• Chapter 13. "What If..." Scenarios and Sensitivity
• Chapter 14. Rank Aggregation–Part 1
• Chapter 15. Rank Aggregation–Part 2
• Chapter 16. Methods of Comparison
• Chapter 17. Data
• Chapter 18. Epilogue
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index.

A website's ranking on Google can spell the difference between success and failure for a new business. NCAA football ratings determine which schools get to play for the big money in postseason bowl games. Product ratings influence everything from the clothes we wear to the movies we select on Netflix. Ratings and rankings are everywhere, but how exactly do they work? Who's #1? offers an engaging and accessible account of how scientific rating and ranking methods are created and applied to a variety of uses. Amy Langville and Carl Meyer provide the first comprehensive overview of the mathematical algorithms and methods used to rate and rank sports teams, political candidates, products, Web pages, and more. In a series of interesting asides, Langville and Meyer provide fascinating insights into the ingenious contributions of many of the field's pioneers. They survey and compare the different methods employed today, showing why their strengths and weaknesses depend on the underlying goal, and explaining why and when a given method should be considered. Langville and Meyer also describe what can and can't be expected from the most widely used systems. The science of rating and ranking touches virtually every facet of our lives, and now you don't need to be an expert to understand how it really works. Who's #1? is the definitive introduction to the subject. It features easy-to-understand examples and interesting trivia and historical facts, and much of the required mathematics is included.

From the best-selling author of "The Rise of the Creative Class", a brilliant new book on the surprising importance of place, with advice on how to find the right place for you.It's a mantra of the age of globalization that where we live doesn't matter. We can innovate just as easily from a ski chalet in the Alps or a cottage in Provence as in the office of a Silicon Valley startup.According to Richard Florida, this is wrong. Globalization is not flattening the world; in fact, place is increasingly relevant to the global economy and our individual lives. Where we live determines the jobs and careers we have access to, the people we meet and the "mating markets" in which we participate. And everything we think we know about cities and their economic roles is up for grabs."Who's Your City?" is the first book to report on the growing body of research on what qualities of cities and towns actually make people happy in their lives. Choosing a place to live is as important as choosing a spouse or career, but until now, no one has rigorously explored this powerful component of subjective well-being to uncover what people want, need, and get out of the places they live. For everyone from urban planners and mayors to recent graduates, this book will be the essential guide to how people choose where to live, and what those choices mean to their lives and their communities.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)9780465003525 20160528

• 1. The question of where
• pt. 1. Why place matters
• 2. Spiky world
• 3. Rise of the mega-region
• 4. The clustering force
• pt. 2. The wealth of place
• 5. The mobile and the rooted
• 6. Where the brains are
• 7. Job-shift
• 8. Superstar cities
• pt. 3. The geography of happiness
• 9. Shiny happy places
• 10. Beyond Maslow's city
• 11. Cities have personalities, too
• pt. 4. Where we live now
• 12. Three big moves
• 13. The young and the restless
• 14. Married with children
• 15. When the kids are gone
• 16. Place yourself
• Acknowledgments
• Appendices
• Notes
• Index.

From the best-selling author of "The Rise of the Creative Class", a brilliant new book on the surprising importance of place, with advice on how to find the right place for you.It's a mantra of the age of globalization that where we live doesn't matter. We can innovate just as easily from a ski chalet in the Alps or a cottage in Provence as in the office of a Silicon Valley startup.According to Richard Florida, this is wrong. Globalization is not flattening the world; in fact, place is increasingly relevant to the global economy and our individual lives. Where we live determines the jobs and careers we have access to, the people we meet and the "mating markets" in which we participate. And everything we think we know about cities and their economic roles is up for grabs."Who's Your City?" is the first book to report on the growing body of research on what qualities of cities and towns actually make people happy in their lives. Choosing a place to live is as important as choosing a spouse or career, but until now, no one has rigorously explored this powerful component of subjective well-being to uncover what people want, need, and get out of the places they live. For everyone from urban planners and mayors to recent graduates, this book will be the essential guide to how people choose where to live, and what those choices mean to their lives and their communities.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)9780465003525 20160528