George Christakos - Böcker

Spatiotemporal Random Fields: Theory and Applications, Second Edition, provides readers with a new and updated edition of the text that explores the application of spatiotemporal random field models to problems in ocean, earth, and atmospheric sciences, spatiotemporal statistics, and geostatistics, among others.

The new edition features considerable detail of spatiotemporal random field theory, including ordinary and generalized models, as well as space-time homostationary, isostationary and hetrogeneous approaches. Presenting new theoretical and applied results, with particular emphasis on space-time determination and interpretation, spatiotemporal analysis and modeling, random field geometry, random functionals, probability law, and covariance construction techniques, this book highlights the key role of space-time metrics, the physical interpretation of stochastic differential equations, higher-order space-time variability functions, the validity of major theoretical assumptions in real-world practice (covariance positive-definiteness, metric-adequacy etc.), and the emergence of interdisciplinary phenomena in conditions of multi-sourced real-world uncertainty.

Contains applications in the form of examples and case studies, providing readers with first-hand experiences Presents an easy to follow narrative which progresses from simple concepts to more challenging ideas Includes significant updates from the previous edition, including a focus on new theoretical and applied results

Quantitative Analysis and Modeling of Earth and Environmental Data: Space-Time and Spacetime Data Considerations introduces the notion of chronotopologic data analysis that offers a systematic, quantitative analysis of multi-sourced data and provides information about the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of natural attributes (physical, biological, health, social). It includes models and techniques for handling data that may vary by space and/or time, and aims to improve understanding of the physical laws of change underlying the available numerical datasets, while taking into consideration the in-situ uncertainties and relevant measurement errors (conceptual, technical, computational). It considers the synthesis of scientific theory-based methods (stochastic modeling, modern geostatistics) and data-driven techniques (machine learning, artificial neural networks) so that their individual strengths are combined by acting symbiotically and complementing each other.

The notions and methods presented in Quantitative Analysis and Modeling of Earth and Environmental Data: Space-Time and Spacetime Data Considerations cover a wide range of data in various forms and sources, including hard measurements, soft observations, secondary information and auxiliary variables (ground-level measurements, satellite observations, scientific instruments and records, protocols and surveys, empirical models and charts). Including real-world practical applications as well as practice exercises, this book is a comprehensive step-by-step tutorial of theory-based and data-driven techniques that will help students and researchers master data analysis and modeling in earth and environmental sciences (including environmental health and human exposure applications).

Explores the analysis and processing of chronotopologic (i.e., space-time and spacetime) data that varies spatially and/or temporally, which is the case with the majority of data in scientific and engineering disciplines Studies the synthesis of scientific theory and empirical evidence (in its various forms) that offers a mathematically rigorous and physically meaningful assessment of real-world phenomena Covers a wide range of data describing a variety of attributes characterizing physical phenomena and systems including earth, ocean and atmospheric variables, environmental and ecological parameters, population health states, disease indicators, and social and economic characteristics Includes case studies and practice exercises at the end of each chapter for both real-world applications and deeper understanding of the concepts presented

This text should provide a holistic, conceptual and quantitative framework for environmental health modelling in space-time. The holistic framework integrates two aspects of Environmental Health Science that have been previously treated separately: the environmental aspect, which involves the natural processes that bring about human exposure to harmful substances; and the health aspect, which focuses on the interactions of these substances with the human body. Some of the fundamental issues addressed in this work include variability, scale, uncertainty, and space-time connectivity. These topics are important in the characterization of natural systems and health processes. The text explains why modern stochastics is the appropriate mechanical vehicle for addressing such issues in a rigorous way. In particular, modern stochastics incorporates concepts and methods from probability, classical statistics, geostatistics, statistical mechanics and field theory. The authors present a synthetic view of environmental health that embraces all of the various components and focuses on their mutual interactions.The text includes material on Bayesian maximum entropy estimation techniques and space-time random field estimation methods. The authors show why these methods have clear advantages over the classical geostatistical estimation procedures and how they can be used to provide accurate space-time maps of environmental health processes. Also included are expositions of diagrammatic perturbation and renormalization group analysis, which have not been previously discussed within the context of Environmental Health. Finally, the authors present stochastic indicators that can be used for large-scale characterization of contamination and investigations of health effects at the microscopic level.

Spatiotemporal Environmental Health Modelling: A Tractatus Stochasticus provides a holistic, conceptual and quantitative framework for Environmental Health Modelling in space-time. The holistic framework integrates two aspects of Environmental Health Science that have been previously treated separately: the environmental aspect, which involves the natural processes that bring about human exposure to harmful substances; and the health aspect, which focuses on the interactions of these substances with the human body. Some of the fundamental issues addressed in this work include variability, scale, uncertainty, and space-time connectivity. These topics are important in the characterization of natural systems and health processes. Spatiotemporal Environmental Health Modelling: A Tractatus Stochasticus explains why modern stochastics is the appropriate mechanical vehicle for addressing such issues in a rigorous way. In particular, modern stochastics incorporates concepts and methods from probability, classical statistics, geostatistics, statistical mechanics and field theory.The authors present a synthetic view of environmental health that embraces all of the various components and focuses on their mutual interactions. Spatiotemporal Environmental Health Modeling: A Tractatus Stochasticus includes new material on Bayesian maximum entropy estimation techniques and space-time random field estimation methods. The authors show why these methods have clear advantages over the classical geostatistical estimation procedures and how they can be used to provide accurate space-time maps of environmental health processes. Also included are expositions of diagrammatic perturbation and renormalization group analysis, which have not been previously discussed within the context of Environmental Health. Finally, the authors present stochastic indicators that can be used for large-scale characterization of contamination and investigations of health effects at the microscopic level. This book will be a useful reference to both researchers and practitioners of Environmental Health Sciences.It will appeal specifically to environmental engineers, geographers, geostatisticians, earth scientists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, pharmacologists, applied mathematicians, physicists and biologists.

The validity of certain critical reasoning steps carried out during or on the sidelines of the environmental science, public health survey, medical experiment, population risk assessment, or disease space-time mapping under conditions of in situ uncertainty and space-time heterogeneity, is often not given sufficient attention and may even be out of the investigator's line of thought. For example, the technical complexity of an environmental exposure experiment may overshadow the logical assumptions made when moving from one phase of the experiment to the next, or the study of population risk assessment may focus on analytical and computational matters, whereas methodological and cultural factors are neglected.This book helps health investigators structure their thinking so that they avoid logical mistakes and argument pitfalls, and also gain new insights about reality, improve their awareness of the environment and context within which one's thinking takes place.

This book introduces a novel synthetic paradigm of public health reasoning and epidemic modelling, and then implements it in the study of the infamous 14th century AD Black Death disaster that killed at least one-fourth of the European population. The book starts by focusing on the intellectual context in which epidemic research takes place, in a way that accounts for the interdisciplinary and multicultural trends of the emerging Conceptual Age. The authors maintain that for public health scientists to function in an often complex environment, they should be aware of the divergent conceptions of knowledge and the technological changes that these imply, the multiple and often uncertain databases available and their reliability, the different styles of thinking adopted by the disciplines involved, and the importance of developing sound interdisciplinary knowledge integration skills.A unique feature of the book is that it takes the reader through all four major phases of interdisciplinary inquiry: adequate conceptualization (in terms of metaphors, methodological principles, epistemic rules, and argumentation modes), rigorous formulation (involving sophisticated mathematical models), substantive interpretation (in terms of correspondence principles between form and meaning), and innovative implementation (using advanced systems technology and multi-sourced real world databases). This approach is then applied to scientifically advance the spatiotemporal characterization of the Black Death epidemic, thus going beyond the sensationalistic narration of events found in other publications.The book includes the most complete collection of interdisciplinary information sources available about the Black Death epidemic, each one systematically documented, tabulated, and analyzed. It also presents, for the first time, a series of detailed space-time maps of Black Death mortality, infected area propagation, and epidemic centroid paths throughout the 14th century AD Europe.Preparation of the maps took into account the uncertain nature of the data and integrated a variety of interdisciplinary knowledge bases about the devastating epidemic. These maps provide researchers and the interested public with an informative and substantive description of the Black Death dynamics (temporal evolution, local and global geographical patterns, etc.), and can help one discover an underlying coherence in disease distribution that was buried within reams of contemporary evidence that had so far defied quantitative understanding. The book carefully analyzes the findings of synthetic space-time modelling that enlighten considerably the long-lasting controversy about the nature and origins of the Black Death epidemic. Comparisons are made between the spatiotemporal characteristics of Black Death and bubonic plague, thus contributing to the debate concerning the Black Death etiology. Since Black Death had grave societal, public health, and financial effects, its rigorous study can offer valuable insight into these effects, as well as into similar effects that could result from potential contemporary epidemics.

Trustonlymovement. Life happens at the level of events not of words. Trust movement. A. Adler As its title suggests,the main goal of this book is the development of advanced fu- tions for field-based Temporal Geographical Information Systems (TGIS).These fields may describe a variety of natural, epidemiological, economical, and social phen- ena distributed across space and time.Within such a framework,the book makes an attempt to establish links between, (a) the currently conceived TGIS techniques, and (b) the Bayesian maximum entropy (BME) techniques of Modern Spatiotemporal G- statistics.This link could be vital for offering significant improvements in the advanced functions of TGIS analysis and modelling, as well as generating useful information in a variety of real-world decision making and planning situations. To achieve the above goals, the eight Chapters of the book are organized around four main themes: Concepts, mathematical tools, computer programs, and applications. In fact, the focus is mainly on the step-by-step implementation of the compu- tional BME approach and the extensive use of illustrative examples and real-world applications.Indeed,because of the applied character of the present book,no detailed theoretical explanations or mathematical derivations are included.Instead,the reader is referred to the earlier book by Christakos (Modern Spatiotemporal Geostatistics, Oxford Univ.Press,New York, N.Y., 2000) for a comprehensive presentation of these BME aspects.With this in mind, the chapter-by-chapter organization of the book is described next.

If you want to achieve something, if you want to write a book, paint a picture, be sure the center of your existence is somewhere else and that it’s solidly grounded; only then will you be able to keep your cool and laugh at the attacks that are bound to come. ” P. Feyerabend This is a book about interdisciplinary public health reasoning and epidemic m- th elling, in general, and the study of the infamous 14 century AD Black Death d- aster, in particular. We focus on the intellectual context in which epidemic mod- ling takes place, in a way that accounts for the present-day interdisciplinary and multicultural trends in scientific inquiry. Like most scientific fields, public health research defines itself based on knowledge, which raises serious epistemic and cognitive issues. Therefore, we maintain that for public health modellers to fu- tion in an often complex environment, they should be aware of the divergent c- ceptions of knowledge and the technological changes that these imply, the mul- ple sources of information commonly available and their reliability, the different styles of thinking adopted by the disciplines involved, and the importance of - veloping sound interdisciplinary knowledge integration skills.

Trustonlymovement. Life happens at the level of events not of words. Trust movement. A. Adler As its title suggests,the main goal of this book is the development of advanced fu- tions for field-based Temporal Geographical Information Systems (TGIS).These fields may describe a variety of natural, epidemiological, economical, and social phen- ena distributed across space and time.Within such a framework,the book makes an attempt to establish links between, (a) the currently conceived TGIS techniques, and (b) the Bayesian maximum entropy (BME) techniques of Modern Spatiotemporal G- statistics.This link could be vital for offering significant improvements in the advanced functions of TGIS analysis and modelling, as well as generating useful information in a variety of real-world decision making and planning situations. To achieve the above goals, the eight Chapters of the book are organized around four main themes: Concepts, mathematical tools, computer programs, and applications. In fact, the focus is mainly on the step-by-step implementation of the compu- tional BME approach and the extensive use of illustrative examples and real-world applications.Indeed,because of the applied character of the present book,no detailed theoretical explanations or mathematical derivations are included.Instead,the reader is referred to the earlier book by Christakos (Modern Spatiotemporal Geostatistics, Oxford Univ.Press,New York, N.Y., 2000) for a comprehensive presentation of these BME aspects.With this in mind, the chapter-by-chapter organization of the book is described next.

Presents a unique study of Integrative Problem-Solving (IPS). The consideration of 'Decadence' is essential in the scientific study of environmental and other problems and their rigorous solution, because the broad context within which the problems emerge can affect their solution. Stochastic reasoning underlines the conceptual and methodological framework of IPS, and its formulation has a mathematical life of its own that accounts for the multidisciplinarity of real world problems, the multisourced uncertainties characterizing their solution, and the different thinking modes of the people involved. Only by interpolating between the full range of disciplines (including stochastic mathematics, physical science, neuropsychology, philosophy, and sociology) and the associated thinking modes can scientists arrive at a satisfactory account of problem-solving, and be able to distinguish between a technically complete problem-solution, and a solution that has social impact.