Curtis Miller

Throughout his life, Curtis Miller has always endeavored to follow the Lord's leading, even when it meant relocating his family to the Middle East Division of Seventh-day Adventists. As a child, he grew up hearing the thrilling mission stories told by his uncle Clarence and his aunts Mary and Bess-some of the earliest Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to far-away lands.This compelling story of how a young boy grows up to be a dedicated foreign missionary will captivate the reader as they read about his early school years struggling with what we know now as ADHD; his academy years navigating the ups and downs of relationships; his time in college and deciding to become a minister; and finally, his call to be a missionary in Turkey.The adventure begins with the family taking a trans-Atlantic voyage to Italy. Curtis recalls, "As I turned to walk to our cabin, a knife flew past my shoulder, striking the wall behind me, then hitting the floor at my feet." This was one of the many times that God put a hand of protection on Curtis and his family as they braved a foreign country to share the Gospel of Christ. During the six years the family spent in Turkey, they worked hand-in-hand with the local people to bring things such as Vacation Bible School, Pathfinders, and health and temperance presentations to the community.As Curtis is placed in situations that require the utmost faith in God to prevail, he never lets go of God's guiding hand. Sometimes the road is hard and the outcome a disappointment, but he always remembers Who brought him to this mission field and his purpose in being there. While successes did abound, there will always be that one unkept promise that will forever be in his heart.

Leverage the power of Python and statistical modeling techniques for building accurate predictive modelsKey FeaturesGet introduced to Python's rich suite of libraries for statistical modelingImplement regression, clustering and train neural networks from scratchIncludes real-world examples on training end-to-end machine learning systems in PythonBook DescriptionPython's ease of use and multi-purpose nature has led it to become the choice of tool for many data scientists and machine learning developers today. Its rich libraries are widely used for data analysis, and more importantly, for building state-of-the-art predictive models. This book takes you through an exciting journey, of using these libraries to implement effective statistical models for predictive analytics.You’ll start by diving into classical statistical analysis, where you will learn to compute descriptive statistics using pandas. You will look at supervised learning, where you will explore the principles of machine learning and train different machine learning models from scratch. You will also work with binary prediction models, such as data classification using k-nearest neighbors, decision trees, and random forests. This book also covers algorithms for regression analysis, such as ridge and lasso regression, and their implementation in Python. You will also learn how neural networks can be trained and deployed for more accurate predictions, and which Python libraries can be used to implement them.By the end of this book, you will have all the knowledge you need to design, build, and deploy enterprise-grade statistical models for machine learning using Python and its rich ecosystem of libraries for predictive analytics.What you will learnUnderstand the importance of statistical modelingLearn about the various Python packages for statistical analysisImplement algorithms such as Naive Bayes, random forests, and moreBuild predictive models from scratch using Python's scikit-learn libraryImplement regression analysis and clusteringLearn how to train a neural network in PythonWho this book is forIf you are a data scientist, a statistician or a machine learning developer looking to train and deploy effective machine learning models using popular statistical techniques, then this book is for you. Knowledge of Python programming is required to get the most out of this book.

Get to grips with the most popular Python packages that make data analysis possibleKey FeaturesExplore the tools you need to become a data analystDiscover practical examples to help you grasp data processing conceptsWalk through hierarchical indexing and grouping for data analysisBook DescriptionPython, a multi-paradigm programming language, has become the language of choice for data scientists for visualization, data analysis, and machine learning.Hands-On Data Analysis with NumPy and Pandas starts by guiding you in setting up the right environment for data analysis with Python, along with helping you install the correct Python distribution. In addition to this, you will work with the Jupyter notebook and set up a database. Once you have covered Jupyter, you will dig deep into Python’s NumPy package, a powerful extension with advanced mathematical functions. You will then move on to creating NumPy arrays and employing different array methods and functions. You will explore Python’s pandas extension which will help you get to grips with data mining and learn to subset your data. Last but not the least you will grasp how to manage your datasets by sorting and ranking them. By the end of this book, you will have learned to index and group your data for sophisticated data analysis and manipulation.What you will learnUnderstand how to install and manage AnacondaRead, sort, and map data using NumPy and pandasFind out how to create and slice data arrays using NumPyDiscover how to subset your DataFrames using pandasHandle missing data in a pandas DataFrameExplore hierarchical indexing and plotting with pandasWho this book is forHands-On Data Analysis with NumPy and Pandas is for you if you are a Python developer and want to take your first steps into the world of data analysis. No previous experience of data analysis is required to enjoy this book.