This book gives a systematic, comprehensive, and unified account of modern nonparametric statistics of density estimation, nonparametric regression, filtering signals, and time series analysis. The companion software package, available over the Internet, brings all of the discussed topics into the realm of interactive research. Virtually every claim and development mentioned in the book is illustrated with graphs which are available for the reader to reproduce and modify, making the material fully transparent and allowing for complete interactivity.

Kernel smoothing refers to a general methodology for recovery of underlying structure in data sets. The basic principle is that local averaging or smoothing is performed with respect to a kernel function. This book provides uninitiated readers with a feeling for the principles, applications, and analysis of kernel smoothers. This is facilita

Kernel smoothing refers to a general methodology for recovery of underlying structure in data sets. The basic principle is that local averaging or smoothing is performed with respect to a kernel function. This book provides uninitiated readers with a feeling for the principles, applications, and analysis of kernel smoothers. This is facilitated by the authors' focus on the simplest settings, namely density estimation and nonparametric regression. They pay particular attention to the problem of choosing the smoothing parameter of a kernel smoother, and also treat the multivariate case in detail. Kernal Smoothing is self-contained and assumes only a basic knowledge of statistics, calculus, and matrix algebra. It is an invaluable introduction to the main ideas of kernel estimation for students and researchers from other discipline and provides a comprehensive reference for those familiar with the topic.

This book describes computational problems related to kernel density estimation (KDE) – one of the most important and widely used data smoothing techniques. A very detailed description of novel FFT-based algorithms for both KDE computations and bandwidth selection are presented. The theory of KDE appears to have matured and is now well developed and understood. However, there is not much progress observed in terms of performance improvements. This book is an attempt to remedy this. The book primarily addresses researchers and advanced graduate or postgraduate students who are interested in KDE and its computational aspects. The book contains both some background and much more sophisticated material, hence also more experienced researchers in the KDE area may find it interesting. The presented material is richly illustrated with many numerical examples using both artificial and real datasets. Also, a number of practical applications related to KDE are presented.

Comprehensive theoretical overview of kernel smoothing methods with motivating examples Kernel smoothing is a flexible nonparametric curve estimation method that is applicable when parametric descriptions of the data are not sufficiently adequate. This book explores theory and methods of kernel smoothing in a variety of contexts, considering independent and correlated data e.g. with short-memory and long-memory correlations, as well as non-Gaussian data that are transformations of latent Gaussian processes. These types of data occur in many fields of research, e.g. the natural and the environmental sciences, and others. Nonparametric density estimation, nonparametric and semiparametric regression, trend and surface estimation in particular for time series and spatial data and other topics such as rapid change points, robustness etc. are introduced alongside a study of their theoretical properties and optimality issues, such as consistency and bandwidth selection. Addressing a variety of topics, Kernel Smoothing: Principles, Methods and Applications offers a user-friendly presentation of the mathematical content so that the reader can directly implement the formulas using any appropriate software. The overall aim of the book is to describe the methods and their theoretical backgrounds, while maintaining an analytically simple approach and including motivating examples—making it extremely useful in many sciences such as geophysics, climate research, forestry, ecology, and other natural and life sciences, as well as in finance, sociology, and engineering. A simple and analytical description of kernel smoothing methods in various contexts Presents the basics as well as new developments Includes simulated and real data examples Kernel Smoothing: Principles, Methods and Applications is a textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate students in statistics, as well as a reference book for applied statisticians and advanced researchers.

Because of the sheer size and scope of the plastics industry, the title Developments in Plastics Technology now covers an incredibly wide range of subjects or topics. No single volume can survey the whole field in any depth and what follows is, therefore, a series of chapters on selected topics. The topics were selected by us, the editors, because of their immediate relevance to the plastics industry. When one considers the advancements of the plastics processing machinery (in terms of its speed of operation and conciseness of control), it was felt that several chapters should be included which related to the types of control systems used and the correct usage of hydraulics. The importance of using cellular, rubber-modified and engineering-type plastics has had a major impact on the plastics industry and therefore a chapter on each of these subjects has been included. The two remaining chapters are on the characterisation and behaviour of polymer structures, both subjects again being of current academic or industrial interest. Each of the contributions was written by a specialist in that field and to them all, we, the editors, extend our heartfelt thanks, as writing a contribution for a book such as this, while doing a full-time job, is no easy task.