New Internet research tool
After a test launch in Germany, the Internet Rogator Market Research Survey Tool is now available in the U.S. Developed by Heidingsfelder-Gruppe in Germany and offered by MM Designs Inc., Big Rapids, Mich., the Internet Rogator is a multifunctional Internet market research instrument. Programmed in UNIX, it is controlled through HTML pages in order to avoid the safety gaps associated with Java, ActiveX and similar applications. The product is offered in four configurations: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. The free bronze introductory survey includes ad banners, a maximum of five questions (simple answer only), and one-month maximum exposure.
Updated flowchart package from SPSS
SPSS has released allCLEAR 4.5, a flowcharting package designed to help users create and revise process diagrams and organizational and deployment flowcharts without using a mouse. The upgrade builds on allCLEAR’s "text-to-flowchart" capability and gives users a way to draw flowcharts by typing in simple words and phrases. New features include advanced logic commands and a Web wizard.
Oakdale enhances curve fitting software
Oakdale Engineering, an Oakdale, Pa., software firm, is now shipping DataFit 6.0, a software tool used to perform nonlinear recession (curve fitting) and statistical analysis. DataFit is designed to determine whether or not a relationship exists between two or more variables, describe the nature of the relationship in the form of a mathematical equation, and then assess the degee of accuracy of prediction achieved by the equation.
The software can be used in a wide range of applications such as determining the relationship between crime rate and various economic and social conditions, or between life insurance premiums and health risk factors. DataFit automatically determines the optimal parameter values for selected pre-defmed and user-defined recession equations and sorts them according to how well they describe the sampled data, providing a best fit curve through the sampled data points.
The latest version 6.0 now contains over 350 predetermined regression equations commonly used in statistical and engineering applications, making it easier to find the best curve to describe a collection of data. Users can also define their own regression equations which, in the new version, can contain up to 100 fitting parameters. The software can now also handle datasets containing up to 20 independent variables. Other enhancements include: enhanced data editing and manipulation features; multiple-level "undo" capability; improved file importing capability and improved source code export.
Results obtained from the software include customizable, presentationquality plots of the sampled data, regression equations, residuals and residual probability. Also provided are the fitted model parameters and confidence intervals, sampled versus estimated data, error tables and regression goodness-of-fit statistics. DataFit can also automatically produce C or BASIC program code representing the solved regression equations, letting users incorporate them within their own computer programs.
Guide to tech info sources
Washington Researchers, Rockville, Md., has released the fifth edition of "Technology Opportunities: Researching Emerging & Critical Technologies," a resource guide to technology information sources, including federal government departments and agencies that have specific R&D activities in telecommunications, pharmaceuticals or environmental technologies. The new editiOn also includes international sources, including government offices in 35 countries that have responsibility for tracking science and technology policy, and international organizations and associations such as the International Federation of Associations for the Advancement of Science and Technology.
Site focuses on Canadian demographics
Interested in Canadian demographics? Take a quick quiz on the Internet at the FP Markets Canadian Demographics Web site, sponsored by Canada’s Financial Post. The Q&A’s come complete with data showing what percentage of quiz participants give the right answers. Visitors can also try a demo of a CD-ROM on Canadian demographics that puts data searching, detailed facts, figures and graphical analysis options at their fingertips.
StatSoft releases STATISTICA line for ’99
StatSoft, Inc., a developer of staffstics and graphing software, has released the STATISTICA’99 edition of its software products. The ’99 line includes three types of products: Statistical Solutions, tools for basic to very advanced analytic applications; Industrial/Statistical Process Control Solutions, a selection of tools for quality control and improvement; and Enterprise-wide Solutions, enterprisewide implementations of STATISTICA software.
STATISTICA’99 Statistical Solutions are designed to meet a variety of needs, from the most basic to the most advanced. STATISTICA’99 offers an array of general and specialized statistical and graphical methods in a single package, open architecture, and a powerful development environment. Quick STATISTICA’99, a subset of STATISTICA, features the complete graphing capabilities of the main program with the basic statistical tools. For more specialized needs, StatSoft also offers STATISTICA Neural Networks, a tool for data mining and exploration, and STATISTICA Power Analysis, a research tool for analyzing power and sample size (both are available as companion or stand-alone products).
STATISTICA’99 IndustriaYSPC Solutions offer products for quality control and improvement applications, including STATISTICA Quality Control Charts, STATISTICA Process Analysis, and STATISTICA Design of Experiments. Formerly packaged together as part of STATISTICA Industrial System, these modules are now available separately.
STATISTICA’99 Enterprise-wide Solutions are customizable off-the-shelf software products designed for efficient collaborative work and management of large amounts of data. The STATISTICA Enterprise-wide System is a groupware version of STATISTICA, fully integrated with a central data warehouse, that provides an efficient general interface to enterprise-wide repositories of data and a means for groupware functionality. The STATISTICA Enterprise-wide SPC System is an integrated multi-user software package that provides SPC functionality and all tools necessary to coordinate the work of multiple operators, QC engineers and managers.