C.R. Smith - Böcker

Bayesian probability theory and maximum entropy methods are at the core of a new view of scientific inference. These "new" ideas, along with the revolution in computational methods afforded by modern computers, allow astronomers, electrical engineers, image processors of any type, NMR chemists and physicists and anyone at all who has to deal with incomplete and noisy data, to take advantage of methods that, in the past, have been applied only in some areas of theoretical physics. This volume records the proceedings of the 11th annual Maximum Entropy workshop, held at Seattle University in June, 1991. These workshops have been the focus of a group of researchers from many different fields, and this diversity is evident in this volume, There are tutorial papers, theoretical papers, and applications in a variety of fields. Almost any instance of dealing with incomplete and noisy data can be usefully treated by these methods and many areas of theoretical research are being enhanced by the application of Bayes' theorem. The contributions in this volume present a state-of-the-art review that should be useful for many years to come.

This volume contains a wide range of applications from Bayesian statistics and maximum entropy methods to problems of concern in such fields as image processing, coding theory, machine learning, economics, data analysis and various other problems. It is a compendium of papers by the leading researchers in the field of Bayesian statistics and maximum entropy methods and represents developments in the field. This should be of interest to researchers in applied statistics, information theory, coding theory, image and signal processing.

This volume contains the text of the twenty-five papers presented at two workshops entitled Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian Methods in Applied Statistics, which were held at the University of Wyoming from June 8 to 10, 1981, and from August 9 to 11, 1982. The workshops were organized to bring together researchers from different fields to critically examine maxi­ mum-entropy and Bayesian methods in science, engineering, medicine, oceanography, economics, and other disciplines. An effort was made to maintain an informal environment where ideas could be easily ~xchanged. That the workshops were at least partially successful is borne out by the fact that there have been two succeeding workshops, and the upcoming Fifth Workshop promises to be the largest of all. These workshops and their proceedings could not have been brought to their final form without the substantial help of a number of people. The support of David Hofmann, the past chairman, and Glen Rebka, Jr. , the present chairman of the Physics Department of the University of Wyoming, has been strong and essential. Glen has taken a special interest in seeing that the proceedings have received the support required for their comple­ tion. The financial support of the Office of University Research Funds, University of Wyoming, is gratefully acknowledged. The secretarial staff, in particular Evelyn Haskell, Janice Gasaway, and Marce Mitchum, of the University of Wyoming Physics Department has contributed a great number of hours in helping C. Ray Smith organize and direct the workshops.

This volume has its origin in the third ·Workshop on Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian Methods in Applied Statistics,· held at the University of Wyoming, August 1 to 4, 1983. It was anticipated that the proceedings of this workshop could not be prepared in a timely fashion, so most of the papers were not collected until a year or so ago. Because most of the papers are in the nature of advancing theory or solving specific problems, as opposed to status reports, it is believed that the contents of this volume will be of lasting interest to the Bayesian community. The workshop was organized to bring together researchers from differ­ ent fields to examine critically maximum-entropy and Bayesian methods in science, engineering, medicine, economics, and other disciplines. Some of the papers were chosen specifically to kindle interest in new areas that may offer new tools or insight to the reader or to stimulate work on pressing problems that appear to be ideally suited to the maximum-entropy or Bayes­ ian method.

Bayesian probability theory and maximum entropy methods are at the core of a new view of scientific inference. These `new' ideas, along with the revolution in computational methods afforded by modern computers, allow astronomers, electrical engineers, image processors of any type, NMR chemists and physicists, and anyone at all who has to deal with incomplete and noisy data, to take advantage of methods that, in the past, have been applied only in some areas of theoretical physics. This volume records the Proceedings of Eleventh Annual `Maximum Entropy' Workshop, held at Seattle University in June, 1991. These workshops have been the focus of a group of researchers from many different fields, and this diversity is evident in this volume. There are tutorial papers, theoretical papers, and applications in a very wide variety of fields. Almost any instance of dealing with incomplete and noisy data can be usefully treated by these methods, and many areas of theoretical research are being enhanced by the thoughtful application of Bayes' theorem. The contributions contained in this volume present a state-of-the-art review that will be influential and useful for many years to come.

This volume contains the text of the twenty-five papers presented at two workshops entitled Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian Methods in Applied Statistics, which were held at the University of Wyoming from June 8 to 10, 1981, and from August 9 to 11, 1982. The workshops were organized to bring together researchers from different fields to critically examine maxi­ mum-entropy and Bayesian methods in science, engineering, medicine, oceanography, economics, and other disciplines. An effort was made to maintain an informal environment where ideas could be easily ~xchanged. That the workshops were at least partially successful is borne out by the fact that there have been two succeeding workshops, and the upcoming Fifth Workshop promises to be the largest of all. These workshops and their proceedings could not have been brought to their final form without the substantial help of a number of people. The support of David Hofmann, the past chairman, and Glen Rebka, Jr. , the present chairman of the Physics Department of the University of Wyoming, has been strong and essential. Glen has taken a special interest in seeing that the proceedings have received the support required for their comple­ tion. The financial support of the Office of University Research Funds, University of Wyoming, is gratefully acknowledged. The secretarial staff, in particular Evelyn Haskell, Janice Gasaway, and Marce Mitchum, of the University of Wyoming Physics Department has contributed a great number of hours in helping C. Ray Smith organize and direct the workshops.

This volume has its origin in the Seventeenth International Workshop on Maximum Entropy and Bayesian Methods, MAXENT 97. The workshop was held at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho, on August 4 -8, 1997. As in the past, the purpose of the workshop was to bring together researchers in different fields to present papers on applications of Bayesian methods (these include maximum entropy) in science, engineering, medicine, economics, and many other disciplines. Thanks to significant theoretical advances and the personal computer, much progress has been made since our first Workshop in 1981. As indicated by several papers in these proceedings, the subject has matured to a stage in which computational algorithms are the objects of interest, the thrust being on feasibility, efficiency and innovation. Though applications are proliferating at a staggering rate, some in areas that hardly existed a decade ago, it is pleasing that due attention is still being paid to foundations of the subject. The following list of descriptors, applicable to papers in this volume, gives a sense of its contents: deconvolution, inverse problems, instrument (point-spread) function, model comparison, multi sensor data fusion, image processing, tomography, reconstruction, deformable models, pattern recognition, classification and group analysis, segmentation/edge detection, brain shape, marginalization, algorithms, complexity, Ockham's razor as an inference tool, foundations of probability theory, symmetry, history of probability theory and computability. MAXENT 97 and these proceedings could not have been brought to final form without the support and help of a number of people.

This volume has its origin in the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Workshops on and Bayesian Methods in Applied Statistics", held at "Maximum-Entropy the University of Wyoming, August 5-8, 1985, and at Seattle University, August 5-8, 1986, and August 4-7, 1987. It was anticipated that the proceedings of these workshops would be combined, so most of the papers were not collected until after the seventh workshop. Because all of the papers in this volume are on foundations, it is believed that the con­ tents of this volume will be of lasting interest to the Bayesian community. The workshop was organized to bring together researchers from different fields to critically examine maximum-entropy and Bayesian methods in science and engineering as well as other disciplines. Some of the papers were chosen specifically to kindle interest in new areas that may offer new tools or insight to the reader or to stimulate work on pressing problems that appear to be ideally suited to the maximum-entropy or Bayesian method. A few papers presented at the workshops are not included in these proceedings, but a number of additional papers not presented at the workshop are included. In particular, we are delighted to make available Professor E. T. Jaynes' unpublished Stanford University Microwave Laboratory Report No. 421 "How Does the Brain Do Plausible Reasoning?" (dated August 1957). This is a beautiful, detailed tutorial on the Cox-Polya-Jaynes approach to Bayesian probability theory and the maximum-entropy principle.

This volume has its origin in the third ·Workshop on Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian Methods in Applied Statistics,· held at the University of Wyoming, August 1 to 4, 1983. It was anticipated that the proceedings of this workshop could not be prepared in a timely fashion, so most of the papers were not collected until a year or so ago. Because most of the papers are in the nature of advancing theory or solving specific problems, as opposed to status reports, it is believed that the contents of this volume will be of lasting interest to the Bayesian community. The workshop was organized to bring together researchers from differ­ ent fields to examine critically maximum-entropy and Bayesian methods in science, engineering, medicine, economics, and other disciplines. Some of the papers were chosen specifically to kindle interest in new areas that may offer new tools or insight to the reader or to stimulate work on pressing problems that appear to be ideally suited to the maximum-entropy or Bayes­ ian method.