Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
External
Big Data for Epidemiology: Applied Data Analysis Using National Health Surveys
Tiffany Kindratt · Mavs Open Press · 2022
National data sets provide an avenue for students to practice data analytic skills while also answering meaningful research questions. This open education resource was developed to train future public health professionals how to conduct secondary data analysis of national health surveys using SAS statistical software. SAS software was selected because it is one of the most commonly used software programs used among public health departments and academia. The book includes details on how to analyze public-use data from five common national health surveys, including the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and National Health and Nutrition and Examination Survey (NHANES). All datasets and corresponding syntax files are available from the Open ICPSR Data Repository.
External
Answering questions with data: Introductory Statistics for Psychology Students
Matthew Crump · Crump Lab · 2018
This is a free textbook teaching introductory statistics for undergraduates in Psychology. This textbook is part of a larger OER course package for teaching undergraduate statistics in Psychology, including this textbook, a lab manual, and a course website. All of the materials are free and copiable, with source code maintained in Github repositories.
External
Discrete Math with SageMath: Learn math with open-source software
Zunaid Ahmed; Hellen Colman; Samuel Lubliner · Zunaid Ahmed, Hellen Colman, Samuel Lubliner · 2025
Our book is intended to provide concise and complete instructions on how to use Sage to solve problems in Discrete Math. It is appropriate for a first or second year undergraduate course for math and computer science majors. Our goal is to streamline the learning process with SageMath. This approach helps students focus more on mathematics and reduces the friction of learning how to code. Our resources are designed for all math students, regardless of programming experience. The novelty of our project is that the textbook is authored by students under faculty supervision. With Open Pedagogy as a guiding praxis, we present this student-created textbook as a more effective alternative in promoting student learning and engagement. Students present the contents in new and inventive ways, from the overall voice of the textbook to the actual examples drawn from their and their peers' lives. The text began as a support textbook for our undergraduate Discrete Math course developed at Wright College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. Despite the fabulous capabilities of SageMath, students in Discrete Math were often frustrated by the lack of specific documentation geared towards beginning undergrad students in Discrete Math. We developed an OER for our students to use this mathematical software effectively.
External
Data Analysis in the Psychological Sciences: A Practical, Applied, Multimedia Approach
Leyre Castro; J. Toby Mordkoff · University of Iowa Libraries · 2023
This open resources textbook contains 10 Units that describe and explain the main concepts in statistical analysis of psychological data. In addition to conceptual descriptions and explanations of the basic analyses for descriptive statistics, this textbook also explains how to conduct those analyses with common statistical software (Excel) and open-source free software (R).
External
Linear Regression Using R: An Introduction to Data Modeling
David Lilja · University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing · 2016
Linear Regression Using R: An Introduction to Data Modeling presents one of the fundamental data modeling techniques in an informal tutorial style. Learn how to predict system outputs from measured data using a detailed step-by-step process to develop, train, and test reliable regression models. Key modeling and programming concepts are intuitively described using the R programming language. All of the necessary resources are freely available online.
External
Computer-Aided Exercises in Civil Procedure
Roger Park; Douglas McFarland · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2014
The sixth edition, first published as an ebook, and this seventh edition carry forward the philosophy and structure of the earlier editions. This book is not a comprehensive treatise on the subject of civil procedure, yet it provides a mixture of expository text, cases, and self-testing questions in nearly all of the major areas of the subject. In order to maximize accessibility, flexibility, and compatibility of the book, the authors have chosen CALI's eLangdell Press to publish and distribute the sixth edition (as chapters) and this revised seventh (as a complete book) electronically with a Creative Commons license. Publishing a law textbook electronically with far fewer restrictions than most commercial books and using a somewhat new, boutique outfit such as eLangdell Press is an unconventional choice, to say the least. But the authors share the eLangdell vision of more flexible teaching materials for professors and more cost-effective books for students. Professors may now edit and remix this work to match their teaching without worry of copyright infringement. Students may now adopt this book, read it using any number of software or devices, and even print it - all for free. The book's authors, like its publishers, believe that this new book model represents an important and long overdue step forward in the way law school books are published. All the exercises have been substantially revised for this edition. The individual exercises also are reorganized and expanded so that they follow a more standardized pattern: expository text on the topic area, work-book questions, and introduction to the related online CALI lessons. This book, and the accompanying interactive exercises known as CALI Lessons available online through the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) at www.cali.org, are intended to provide a challenging educational experience. For each exercise, students should read the text in this book and answer the questions before accessing the
![The Data Renaissance: Analyzing the Disciplinary Effects of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Beyond [Revised Edition]](/api/files/covers/otl-1718.webp)
External
The Data Renaissance: Analyzing the Disciplinary Effects of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Beyond [Revised Edition]
J.J. Sylvia IV · ROTEL · 2024
The Data Renaissance delves into the complexities of data's role in various industries and its broader impact on society. It highlights the challenges in investigating data practices, citing examples like TikTok, where algorithms and data handling are closely guarded secrets. The content, contributed by students under the guidance of an expert, covers a wide range of topics, including the ethical aspects of generative AI in education and the workplace, and case studies reflecting real-world experiences. This evolving text, intended to be updated with each class, serves as a dynamic resource for educators and students alike, offering insights and discussion guides for an in-depth understanding of the ever-changing landscape of data in our digital age.
External
The Data Journalism Handbook
Liliana Bounegru; Lucy Chambers; Jonathan Gray · European Journalism Centre · 2012
When you combine the sheer scale and range of digital information now available with a journalist’s "nose for news" and her ability to tell a compelling story, a new world of possibility opens up. With The Data Journalism Handbook, you’ll explore the potential, limits, and applied uses of this new and fascinating field. This valuable handbook has attracted scores of contributors since the European Journalism Centre and the Open Knowledge Foundation launched the project at MozFest 2011. Through a collection of tips and techniques from leading journalists, professors, software developers, and data analysts, you’ll learn how data can be either the source of data journalism or a tool with which the story is told—or both.
External
Web Writing
Amber Pfannenstiel · The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT) · 2023
Web Writing (2023) by Dr. A Nicole Pfannenstiel is designed to provide a practical, rhetorical approach to web writing and content strategy analysis for students completing advanced writing courses. The eTextbook uses the rhetorical situation and key concepts to help readers/students understand how to write within specific web spaces for specific audiences drawing on appropriate discourse community conventions. It includes a chapter devoted to the rhetorical situation and key concepts to help students analyze and build their understanding of existing communication. It also includes a chapter outlining approaches to content strategy analysis, using the rhetorical situation and key concepts to understand the rich public data provided through social media accounts to support learners understanding effective web writing. The content analysis overview helps students build skills for analyzing writing, for collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative social media data, and for drawing conclusions about content strategy best practices.
External
Writing Spaces Web Writing Style Guide
Matt Barton; James Kalmbach; Charles Lowe · Grand Valley State University · 2011
The Writing Spaces Web Writing Style Guide was created as a crowdsourcing project of Collaborvention 2011: A Computers and Writing Unconference. College writing teachers from around the web joined together to create this guide (see our Contributors list). The advice within it is based on contemporary theories and best practices. While the text was originally written for students in undergraduate writing classes, it can also be a suitable resource for other writers interested in learning more about writing for the web. This document is available as a web text for reading online, a printer-friendly PDF, and an EPUB ereader versions.
External
Process Improvement using Data
Kevin Dunn · Kevin Dunn · 2026
There is no other free, coherent text that covers what engineers and scientists actually do with process data (visualization, regression, designed experiments, process monitoring, and multivariate / latent-variable methods) in one volume. Most textbooks pick one of those topics and go deep. Practitioners need all of them, and need to see how they fit together, because real industrial problems don't respect chapter boundaries. Process Improvement using Data was written to fill that gap, and has been continuously refined in industry-facing classrooms and in industrial practice since 2010. It is suitable for upper-undergraduate or introductory-graduate courses, and for self-study by working engineers and data scientists with a basic statistics background.
External
Digital Design: A Datapath and Control
Christopher Coulston · Colorado School of Mines · 2024
This text was written for faculty and students wanting a structured approach to the design of complex digital systems. It guides students and faculty through the process by exposing critical skills gradually through the text.
External
Network quality control
Peter Teunissen · TU Delft Open · 2024
The aim of computing a geodetic network is to determine the geometry of the configuration of a set of points from spatial observations (e.g. GPS baselines and/or terrestrial measurements). The configuration of points usually consists of newly established points, of which the coordinates still need to be determined, and already existing points, the so-called control points, of which the coordinates are known. Network quality control deals with the qualitative aspects of network design, network adjustment, network validation and network connection. By means of a network adjustment the relative geometry of the new points is determined and integrated into the geometry of the existing control points. Prior to the network adjustment, the geometry of the network is designed on the basis of precision and reliability criteria. The adjustment and validation of the overall geometry can be divided in two phases, the free network phase and the connected network phase. In the free network phase, the known coordinates of the control points do not take part in the adjustment and validation. The possible use of a free network phase is based on the idea that a good geodetic network should be sufficiently precise and reliable in itself, without the need of external control. Moreover, it allows one to validate the quality of the external control. In the connected network phase, the geometry of the free network is integrated into the geometry of the control points. Adjustment and validation in this second phase differs from the free network phase. The adjustment in the second phase is a constrained connection adjustment, since it is often not practical to see the coordinates of the control points change every time a free network is connected to them. For the validation of the connected network however, the unconstrained connected adjustment is used as input. This allows one to take the intrinsic uncertainty of the coordinates of the control points in the connection phase into account. T
External
Design for Electrical and Computer Engineers
Christopher Coulston; Ralph Ford · Ralph Ford and Christopher Coulston · 2024
Originally published by McGraw Hill in 2009, Design for Electrical and Computer Engineers is written for students and teachers engaged in electrical and computer engineering design projects, primarily in the senior year. It guides students and faculty through the steps necessary for the successful execution of design projects. The objective is to provide a treatment of the design process with a sound academic basis that is integrated with practical application. The foundation of the book is a strong vision — that a solid understanding of the Design Process, Design Tools, and the right mix of Professional Skills are critical for project and career success. This text is unique in providing a comprehensive design treatment for electrical and computer engineering.
External
Dynamic data processing: Recursive least-squares
Peter Teunissen · TU Delft Open · 2024
This book is a follow-up on Adjustment theory. It extends the theory to the case of time-varying parameters with an emphasis on their recursive determination. Least-squares estimation will be the leading principle used. A least-squares solution is said to be recursive when the method of computation enables sequential, rather than batch, processing of the measurement data. The recursive equations enable the updating of parameter estimates for new observations without the need to store all past observations. Methods of recursive least-squares estimation are therefore particularly useful for applications in which the time-varying parameters need to be instantly determined. Important examples of such applications can be found in the fields of real-time kinematic positioning, navigation and guidance, or multivariate time series analysis. The goal of this book is therefore to convey the necessary knowledge to be able to process sequentially collected measurements for the purpose of estimating time-varying parameters. When determining time-varying parameters from sequentially collected measurement data, one can discriminate between three types of estimation problems: filtering, prediction and smoothing. Filtering aims at the determination of current parameter values, while smoothing and prediction aim at the determination of respectively past and future parameter values. The emphasis in this book will be on recursive least-squares filtering. The theory is worked out for the important case of linear(ized) models. The measurement-update and time-update equations of recursive least-squares are discussed in detail. Models with sequentially collected data, but time-invariant parameters are treated first. In this case only the measurement-update equations apply. State-space models for dynamic systems are discussed so as to include time-varying parameters. This includes their linearization and the construction of the state transition matrix. Elements from the theory of random fun
External
Basic Engineering Data Collection and Analysis
Steve Vardeman; J. Marcus Jobe · Iowa State University · 2001
In Basic Engineering Data Collection and Analysis, Stephen B. Vardeman and J. Marcus Jobe stress the practical over the theoretical. Step by step, students get real engineering data and scenario examples along with chapter-long case studies that illustrate concepts in realistic, thoroughly detailed situations. This approach encourages students to work through the material by carrying out data collection and analysis projects from problem formulation through the preparation of professional technical reports—just as if they were on the job.
External
Microwave and RF Design: Networks
Michael Steer · North Carolina State University Libraries · 2019
Microwave and RF Design: Networks presents the tools and techniques required to analyze and design microwave and RF circuits. Because of the finite speed of light, microwave circuits must be considered to be spatially distributed and so there is not a single ground. As such metrics that can be used to describe power flow are of most use. The topics covered include scattering parameters, signal flow graphs, and Smith charts. Acquiring expertise in these is the biggest barriers to a successful career in microwave and RF engineering. This book is suitable as both an undergraduate and graduate textbook, as well as a career-long reference book.
External
Conducting Mixed-Methods Research: From Classical Social Sciences to the Age of Big Data and Analytics
Viswanath Venkatesh; Susan (Sue) Brown; Yulia Sullivan · Virginia Tech Libraries · 2023
Scholars in the social sciences are increasingly expected to incorporate both quantitative and qualitative techniques and methods into their research. The growth of “mixed-methods” research is evident in social science disciplines ranging from psychology and management to marketing and information systems. This book is designed to provide principles, strategies, and guidance specifically for researchers in these disciplines so that they can use mixed-methods research more effectively. In thirteen chapters, Conducting Mixed-Methods Research takes readers through the research process, from defining research questions to writing articles using a mixed-methods approach. For those who are well trained in either qualitative or quantitative methods, the book shows them how to think about the purposes of mixed-methods research, design mixed-methods studies, and develop meta-inferences by integrating findings from both methods. Throughout, the discussion is grounded in examples taken from published research, carefully chosen to highlight best practices, thus opening a window into a broad body of mixed-methods research applications.
External
Technology in Schools
Gary Ackerman · hackscience.education · 2022
My purpose in writing this book is to give readers a view into the work of managing information technology in schools. IT professionals will notice differences (some nuanced and some significant) between the needs and expectations of IT users in business and IT in school. With the more complete and more accurate concept the nature of the computing environment necessary for successful schooling, which I intend to provide through this book, IT professionals will be better prepared to meet those needs. Educators will also benefit from this book by clarifying the nature of their IT needs and how these may be different from those that are familiar to IT professionals who are hired to work in your school.
External
Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Cyber Domain
Randall Nichols; Hans Mumm; Wayne Lonstein · New Prairie Press · 2019
Unmanned Aircraft Systems are an integral part of the US national critical infrastructure. The authors have endeavored to bring a breadth and quality of information to the reader that is unparalleled in the unclassified sphere. This textbook will fully immerse and engage the reader / student in the cyber-security considerations of this rapidly emerging technology that we know as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The first edition topics covered National Airspace (NAS) policy issues, information security (INFOSEC), UAS vulnerabilities in key systems (Sense and Avoid / SCADA), navigation and collision avoidance systems, stealth design, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms; weapons systems security; electronic warfare considerations; data-links, jamming, operational vulnerabilities and still-emerging political scenarios that affect US military / commercial decisions.