Spatial point processes play a fundamental role in spatial statistics and today they are a very active area of research with many new and emerging applications. Although published works address different aspects of spatial point processes, most of the classical literature deals only with nonparametric methods, and nowhere can one find a comprehensive treatment of the theory and applications of simulation-based inference. Written by researchers at the top of the field, this book collects and unifies recent theoretical advances and examples of applications. The authors examine Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms and explore one of the most important recent developments in MCMC-perfect simulation procedures.

This book discusses dynamical systems that are typically driven by stochastic dynamic noise. It is written by two statisticians essentially for the statistically inclined readers. It covers many of the contributions made by the statisticians in the past twenty years or so towards our understanding of estimation, the Lyapunov-like index, the nonparametric regression, and many others, many of which are motivated by their dynamical system counterparts but have now acquired a distinct statistical flavor.

This book discusses dynamical systems that are typically driven by stochastic dynamic noise. It is written by two statisticians essentially for the statistically inclined readers, although readers whose primary interests are in determinate systems will find some of the methodology explained in this book of interest. The statistical approach adopted in this book differs in many ways from the deterministic approach to dynamical systems. Even the very basic notion of initial-value sensitivity requires careful development in the new setting provided. This book covers, in varying depth, many of the contributions made by the statisticians in the past twenty years or so towards our understanding of estimation, the Lyapunov-like index, the nonparametric regression, and many others, many of which are motivated by their dynamical system counterparts but have now acquired a distinct statistical flavour. Kung-Sik Chan is a professor at the University of Iowa, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science. He is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics and Statistica Sinica. He received a Faculty Scholar Award from the University of Iowa in 1996. Howell Tong holds the Chair of Statistics at the London School of Economics and the University of Hong Kong. He is a foreign member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and a Council member of its Bernoulli Society, an elected fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and an honorary fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (London). He was the Founding Dean of the Graduate School and sometimes the Acting Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Hong Kong. He has served on the editorial boards of several international journals, including Biometrika, Journal of Royal Statistical Society (Series B), Statistica Sinica, and others. He is a guest professor of the Academy of Mathematical and System Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and received a National Natural Science Prize (China) in the category of Mathematics and Mechanics (Class II) in 2001. He has also held visiting professorships at various universities, including the Imperial College in London, the ETH in Zurich, the Fourier University in Grenoble, the Wall Institute at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Set-Indexed Martingales offers a unique, comprehensive development of a general theory of Martingales indexed by a family of sets. The authors establish-for the first time-an appropriate framework that provides a suitable structure for a theory of Martingales with enough generality to include many interesting examples. Developed from first principles, the theory brings together the theories of Martingales with a directed index set and set-indexed stochastic processes. Part One presents several classical concepts extended to this setting, including: stopping, predictability, Doob-Meyer decompositions, martingale characterizations of the set-indexed Poisson process, and Brownian motion. Part Two addresses convergence of sequences of set-indexed processes and introduces functional convergence for processes whose sample paths live in a Skorokhod-type space and semi-functional convergence for processes whose sample paths may be badly behaved. Completely self-contained, the theoretical aspects of this work are rich and promising. With its many important applications-especially in the theory of spatial statistics and in stochastic geometry- Set Indexed Martingales will undoubtedly generate great interest and inspire further research and development of the theory and applications.

The analysis of time series data has for many years been a central component of statistical research and practice. Although the theory of linear time series is now well established, that of non-linear time series is still a rapidly developing subject. This book, now available in paperback, is an introduction to some of these developments and the present state of research. This book is intended for statistical theoreticians applied statisticians dynamicists, engineers, and scientists.