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International Futures Help System

Lesson 4: Extended Features

The following lessons will guide you to topics that explain different characteristics of the Extended Features option of IFs. Feel free to read the introduction to each section and follow the link to the topic. When you are finished with the topic, you should be able to answer/do the following prompts.

Manage Country Data

This Extended Features sub-option is for those who would like to change data sets for countries, or who would like to display historic data.

After you have finished with the Manage Country Data topic, you should be able to do/answer the following:

  • How would you add missing data sets to IFs? Say you have a relatively good idea of the level of corruption in North Korea. How would you add this to the data set that underpins IFs?
  • What is the difference between displaying historic data and displaying processed data?
  • How would you import data on a large scale to IFs?

Manage Regionalization

This Extended Features sub-option is for those who would like to change regional groupings and display regionally aggregated data.

After you have finished with the Manage Regionalization topic, you should be able to do/answer the following:

  • What countries are represented in the OPEC grouping?
  • Say you would like to create a new group to analyze data that included all countries that participated in the 2002 war in Iraq. How would you go about creating this group?
  • How could you look at data on a regional scale? How would you be able to change this data?

Show Computed Functions

This Extended Features sub-option is for those who would like to graphically represent the relationship between two variables as well as display the underlying mathematical function.

After you have finished with the Show Computed Functions topic, you should be able to do/answer the following:

  • What is the relationship between GDP per capita verses the use of contraception? .
  • What does it mean to track values?
  • What does the R-Squared tell you? If you draw a graph for the relationship between GDP per capita and contraception use, is the R-Squared high or low? What does this tell you?

Rebuild Model Base

This Extended Features sub-option is for those who would like to change the features of the base-case file.

After you have finished with the Rebuild Model Base topic, you should be able to do/answer the following:

  • Understand in what situations it is necessary to rebuild the base.
  • Understand the difference between rebuilding the base and rebuilding the historic base.

Model Integration

This Extended Features sub-option is for those who would like to integrate another model into IFs. The Model Integration topic is currently under development.

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