Statistical Modelling using Local Gaussian Approximation

This volume presents the latest advances and trends in stochastic models and related statistical procedures. Selected peer-reviewed contributions focus on statistical inference, quality control, change-point analysis and detection, empirical processes, time series analysis, survival analysis and reliability, statistics for stochastic processes, big data in technology and the sciences, statistical genetics, experiment design, and stochastic models in engineering. Stochastic models and related statistical procedures play an important part in furthering our understanding of the challenging problems currently arising in areas of application such as the natural sciences, information technology, engineering, image analysis, genetics, energy and finance, to name but a few. This collection arises from the 12th Workshop on Stochastic Models, Statistics and Their Applications, Wroclaw, Poland.

As one of the most important tasks in biomedical imaging, image segmentation provides the foundation for quantitative reasoning and diagnostic techniques. A large variety of different imaging techniques, each with its own physical principle and characteristics (e.g., noise modeling), often requires modality-specific algorithmic treatment. In recent years, substantial progress has been made to biomedical image segmentation. Biomedical image segmentation is characterized by several specific factors. This book presents an overview of the advanced segmentation algorithms and their applications.

Probabilistic Finite Element Model Updating Using Bayesian Statistics: Applications to Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering Tshilidzi Marwala and Ilyes Boulkaibet, University of Johannesburg, South Africa Sondipon Adhikari, Swansea University, UK Covers the probabilistic finite element model based on Bayesian statistics with applications to aeronautical and mechanical engineering Finite element models are used widely to model the dynamic behaviour of many systems including in electrical, aerospace and mechanical engineering. The book covers probabilistic finite element model updating, achieved using Bayesian statistics. The Bayesian framework is employed to estimate the probabilistic finite element models which take into account of the uncertainties in the measurements and the modelling procedure. The Bayesian formulation achieves this by formulating the finite element model as the posterior distribution of the model given the measured data within the context of computational statistics and applies these in aeronautical and mechanical engineering. Probabilistic Finite Element Model Updating Using Bayesian Statistics contains simple explanations of computational statistical techniques such as Metropolis-Hastings Algorithm, Slice sampling, Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, hybrid Monte Carlo as well as Shadow Hybrid Monte Carlo and their relevance in engineering. Key features: Contains several contributions in the area of model updating using Bayesian techniques which are useful for graduate students. Explains in detail the use of Bayesian techniques to quantify uncertainties in mechanical structures as well as the use of Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques to evaluate the Bayesian formulations. The book is essential reading for researchers, practitioners and students in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Multi-robot Exploration for Environmental Monitoring: The Resource Constrained Perspective provides readers with the necessary robotics and mathematical tools required to realize the correct architecture. The architecture discussed in the book is not confined to environment monitoring, but can also be extended to search-and-rescue, border patrolling, crowd management and related applications. Several law enforcement agencies have already started to deploy UAVs, but instead of using teleoperated UAVs this book proposes methods to fully automate surveillance missions. Similarly, several government agencies like the US-EPA can benefit from this book by automating the process. Several challenges when deploying such models in real missions are addressed and solved, thus laying stepping stones towards realizing the architecture proposed. This book will be a great resource for graduate students in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Robotics, Machine Learning and Mechatronics. Analyzes the constant conflict between machine learning models and robot resources Presents a novel range estimation framework tested on real robots (custom built and commercially available)

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to multiple-point geostatistics, where spatial continuity is described using training images. Multiple-point geostatistics aims at bridging the gap between physical modelling/realism and spatio-temporal stochastic modelling. The book provides an overview of this new field in three parts. Part I presents a conceptual comparison between traditional random function theory and stochastic modelling based on training images, where random function theory is not always used. Part II covers in detail various algorithms and methodologies starting from basic building blocks in statistical science and computer science. Concepts such as non-stationary and multi-variate modeling, consistency between data and model, the construction of training images and inverse modelling are treated. Part III covers three example application areas, namely, reservoir modelling, mineral resources modelling and climate model downscaling. This book will be an invaluable reference for students, researchers and practitioners of all areas of the Earth Sciences where forecasting based on spatio-temporal data is performed.

Composed of the proceedings of a symposium on engineering geology and the environment, held in Athens in June, 1997, this work provides a survey of trends in engineering geology, and an interdisciplinary collaboration with hydrogeology, geochemistry, geomorphology, and soil and rock mechanics.

Data-analytic approaches to regression problems, arising from many scientific disciplines are described in this book. The aim of these nonparametric methods is to relax assumptions on the form of a regression function and to let data search for a suitable function that describes the data well. The use of these nonparametric functions with parametric techniques can yield very powerful data analysis tools. Local polynomial modeling and its applications provides an up-to-date picture on state-of-the-art nonparametric regression techniques. The emphasis of the book is on methodologies rather than on theory, with a particular focus on applications of nonparametric techniques to various statistical problems. High-dimensional data-analytic tools are presented, and the book includes a variety of examples. This will be a valuable reference for research and applied statisticians, and will serve as a textbook for graduate students and others interested in nonparametric regression.

The two-volume set LNCS 3522 and 3523 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second Iberian Conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis, IbPRIA 2005, held in Estoril, Portugal in June 2005. The 170 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 292 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on computer vision, shape and matching, image and video processing, image and video coding, face recognition, human activity analysis, surveillance, robotics, hardware architectures, statistical pattern recognition, syntactical pattern recognition, image analysis, document analysis, bioinformatics, medical imaging, biometrics, speech recognition, natural language analysis, and applications.