[Babase] ranking clarification needed

Susan Alberts alberts at duke.edu
Sun Sep 2 08:58:16 EDT 2007


Hi Jun,


> 1. Given a month, a group, and a ranktype, there is just one ranking.

Yes this is correct. In the RANKS table in babase, each "rank" refers  
to exactly one month, group and ranktype.

> In particular, we never produce a ranking that "spans" multiple
> months. This assumption is reflected by the current design of the
> RANKS table.

We never produce rankings in the ranks file that span multiple  
months. However, we do sometimes want to produce matrices that span  
multiple months. We do this in order to help us more easily visualize  
patterns and rank changes that emerge over time. For instance, if a  
given female is dropping in rank, the agonistic interactions of any  
given month may be a bit confusing and even result in circularities,  
and it can be difficult to "see" what is going on unless you  
visualize a matrix that has all the interactions from several months  
combined. We still only assign her one rank for each month.

Having said that, upon looking back at Tabby's document, I am not  
sure what she meant by " I’d rather not have the programmed dumbed  
down to say “January” or “January-June”.  I like to see the selected  
dates print out below the matrix as the old ranker did."  My  
impression was that you are asking Jun specifically to provide the  
opportunity to see either Jan or Jan - Jun or whatever period you  
want -- this doesn't fit with the "dumbed down" comment or what I  
thought you were asking for - Please clarify?

>
> 2. Although a ranking is only for a particular month, when we produce
> this ranking, we can a) look at the history of interactions in any
> period preceding the month, possibly spanning multiple months, and b)
> consult an earlier ranking with the same group and ranktype.

Yes, exactly. However, we have found over the years that although  
month by month matrices have all the information that a "summary" 6  
month matrix has, it is still helpful to visualize the summary  
matrix, for the process of pattern recognition.
>
> 3. When we update a ranking, it is possible that we may look at the a
> period of interaction history that is different from the period that
> we previously looked at when producing the earlier version of this
> ranking. This is okay, and there is no need to record this information
> (how ranking is derived) in the database.

This is correct.
>
> 4. The current ranker equates the month of the ranking to the period
> used to produce this ranking, which is incorrect. We will get this
> fixed, and allow user to explicit specify both.

OK.

Thanks,
Susan
>
> Thanks,
>
> --- Jun Y.
> _______________________________________________
> Babase mailing list
> Babase at www.eco.princeton.edu
> http://www.eco.princeton.edu/mailman/listinfo/babase

-----------------------------------------------
Susan Alberts, Dept. Biology, Duke University, Durham NC 27708. Phone  
919-660-7272, Fax 919-660-7293. alberts at duke.edu



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