In fields such as biology, medical sciences, sociology, and economics researchers often face the situation where the number of available observations, or the amount of available information, is sufficiently small that approximations based on the normal distribution may be unreliable. Theoretical work over the last quarter-century has led to new likelihood-based methods that lead to very accurate approximations in finite samples, but this work has had limited impact on statistical practice. This book illustrates by means of realistic examples and case studies how to use the new theory, and investigates how and when it makes a difference to the resulting inference. The treatment is oriented towards practice and comes with code in the R language (available from the web) which enables the methods to be applied in a range of situations of interest to practitioners. The analysis includes some comparisons of higher order likelihood inference with bootstrap or Bayesian methods. Author resource page: http: //www.isib.cnr.it/~brazzale/AA/

Sir David Cox is among the most important statisticians of the past half-century. He has made pioneering and highly influential contributions to a uniquely wide range of topics in statistics and applied probability. His teaching has inspired generations of students, and many well-known researchers have begun as his graduate students or have worked with him at early stages of their careers. Legions of others have been stimulated and enlightened by the clear, concise, and direct exposition exemplified by his many books, papers, and lectures. This book presents a collection of chapters by major statistical researchers who attended a conference held at the University of Neuchatel in July 2004 to celebrate David Cox's 80th birthday. Each chapter is carefully crafted and collectively present current developments across a wide range of research areas from epidemiology, environmental science, finance, computing and medicine. Edited by Anthony Davison, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland; Yadolah Dodge, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; and N. Wermuth, Goteborg University, Sweden, with chapters by Ole E. Barndorff-Nielsen, Sarah C. Darby, Christina Davies, Peter J. Diggle, David Firth, Peter Hall, Valerie S. Isham, Kung-Yee Liang, Peter McCullagh, Paul McGale, Amilcare Porporato, Nancy Reid, Brian D. Ripley, Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, Andrea Rotnitzky, Neil Shephard, Scott L. Zeger, and including a brief biography of David Cox, this book is suitable for students of statistics, epidemiology, environmental science, finance, computing and medicine, and academic and practising statisticians.

Models and likelihood are the backbone of modern statistics and data analysis. The coverage is unrivalled, with sections on survival analysis, missing data, Markov chains, Markov random fields, point processes, graphical models, simulation and Markov chain Monte Carlo, estimating functions, asymptotic approximations, local likelihood and spline regressions as well as on more standard topics. Anthony Davison blends theory and practice to provide an integrated text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and practicioners. Its comprehensive coverage makes this the standard text and reference in the subject.

This book gives a broad and up-to-date coverage of bootstrap methods, with numerous applied examples, developed in a coherent way with the necessary theoretical basis. Applications include stratified data; finite populations; censored and missing data; linear, nonlinear, and smooth regression models; classification; time series and spatial problems. Special features of the book include: extensive discussion of significance tests and confidence intervals; material on various diagnostic methods; and methods for efficient computation, including improved Monte Carlo simulation. Each chapter includes both practical and theoretical exercises. Included with the book is a disk of purpose-written S-Plus programs for implementing the methods described in the text. Computer algorithms are clearly described, and computer code is included on a 3-inch, 1.4M disk for use with IBM computers and compatible machines. Users must have the S-Plus computer application.

Models and likelihood are the backbone of modern statistics. This 2003 book gives an integrated development of these topics that blends theory and practice, intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and practitioners. Its breadth is unrivaled, with sections on survival analysis, missing data, Markov chains, Markov random fields, point processes, graphical models, simulation and Markov chain Monte Carlo, estimating functions, asymptotic approximations, local likelihood and spline regressions as well as on more standard topics such as likelihood and linear and generalized linear models. Each chapter contains a wide range of problems and exercises. Practicals in the S language designed to build computing and data analysis skills, and a library of data sets to accompany the book, are available over the Web.