An interesting epidemiological problem is the analysis of geographical variation in rates of disease incidence or mortality. One goal of such an analysis is to detect clusters of elevated (or lowered) risk in order to identify unknown risk factors regarding the disease. We propose a nonparametric Bayesian approach for the detection of such clusters based on Green's (1995) reversible jump MCMC methodology. The prior model assumes that geographical regions can be combined in clusters with constant relative risk within a cluster. The number of clusters, the location of the clusters and the risk within each cluster is unknown. This specification can be seen as a change-point problem of variable dimension in irregular, discrete space. We illustrate our method through an analysis of oral cavity cancer mortality rates in Germany and compare the results with those obtained by the commonly used Bayesian disease mapping method of Besag, York and Molli'e (1991). Key words: Cancer atlas; Clusterin...

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This paper analyzes the Gibbs sampler applied to a standard variance component model, and considers the question of how many iterations are required for convergence. It is proved that for K location parameters, with J observations each, the number of iterations required for convergence (for large K and J) is a constant times

This paper presents a spatial regression analysis of the effect of traffic pollution on respiratory disorders in children. The analysis features data measured at disparate, non-nested scales, including spatially varying covariates, latent spatially varying risk factors, and case-specific individual attributes

Dynamic models extend state space models to non-normal observations. This paper suggests a specific hybrid Metropolis-Hastings algorithm as a simple device for Bayesian inference via Markov chain Monte Carlo in dynamic models. Hastings proposals from the (conditional) prior distribution of the unknown, time-varying parameters are used to update the corresponding full conditional distributions. It is shown through simulated examples that the methodology has optimal performance in situations where the prior is relatively strong compared to the likelihood. Typical examples include smoothing priors for categorical data. A specific blocking strategy is proposed to ensure good mixing and convergence properties of the simulated Markov chain. It is also shown that the methodology is easily extended to robust transition models using mixtures of normals. The applicability is illustrated with an analysis of a binomial and a binary time series, known in the literature.

This paper combines existing models for longitudinal and spatial data in a hierarchical Bayesian framework, with particular emphasis on the role of time-- and space-- varying covariate effects. Data analysis is implemented via Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The methodology is illustrated by a tentative re-analysis of Ohio lung cancer data 1968-88. Two approaches that adjust for unmeasured spatial covariates, particularly tobacco consumption, are described. The first includes random effects in the model to account for unobserved heterogeneity; the second adds a simple urbanization measure as a surrogate for smoking behaviour. The Ohio dataset has been of particular interest because of the suggestion that a nuclear facility in the southwest of the state may have caused increased levels of lung cancer there. However, we contend here that the data are inadequate for a proper investigation of this issue. Email: leo@stat.uni-muenchen.de 1 Introduction Data on disease incidence or mor...

Chain graphs combine directed and undirected graphs and their underlying mathematics combines properties of the two. This paper gives a simplified definition of chain graphs based on a hierarchical combination of Bayesian (directed) and Markov (undirected) networks. Examples of a chain graph are multivariate feed-forward networks, clustering with conditional interaction between variables, and forms of Bayes classifiers. Chain graphs are then extended using the notation of plates so that samples and data analysis problems can be represented in a graphical model as well. Implications for learning are discussed in the conclusion. 1 Introduction Probabilistic networks are a notational device that allow one to abstract forms of probabilistic reasoning without getting lost in the mathematical detail of the underlying equations. They offer a framework whereby many forms of probabilistic reasoning can be combined and performed on probabilistic models without careful hand programming. Efforts ...

this paper, we consider multicategorical time-space data (Y it ; x it ; s i ); i = 1; : : : ; n; t = 1; : : : ; T; where the spatial location or site s i of individual i is given as an additional information. A typical example are monthly register data from the German Employment Office 1 for the years 1980-1995, where Y it is the employment status (e.g. unemployed, part time job, full time job, others) of individual i during month t and s i is the district in Germany where i has its domicile. Data from surveys on forest damage are a further example: Damage state Y it of tree i in year t, indicated by the defoliation degree, is measured in ordered categories (none to severe) and s i is the site of the tree on a lattice map. In both examples, covariates can be categorical or continuous, and possibly time-varying

. I describe a simple procedure for investigating the convergence properties of Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling schemes. The procedure employs multiple runs from a sampler, using the same random deviates for each run. When the sample paths from all sequences converge, it is argued that approximate equilibrium conditions hold. The procedure also provides a simple diagnostic for detecting modes in multimodal posteriors. Several examples of the procedure are provided. In Ising models, the relation between the correlation parameter and the convergence rate of rudimentary Gibbs samplers is investigated. In another example, the effects of multiple modes on the convergence of coupled paths are explored using mixtures of bivariate normal distributions. The technique is also used to evaluate the convergence properties of a Gibbs sampling scheme applied to a model for rat growth rates (Gelfand et al 1990). Acknowledgements I would like to thank Steve MacEachern, Julian Besag, Donald Rubin, A...

We give an approach for using flow information from a system of wells to characterize hydrologic properties of an aquifer. In particular, we consider experiments where an impulse of tracer fluid is injected along with the water at the input wells and its concentration is recorded over time at the uptake wells. We focus on characterizing the spatially varying permeability field which is a key attribute of the aquifer for determining flow paths and rates for a given flow experiment. As is standard for estimation from such flow data, we make use of complicated subsurface flow code which simulates the fluid flow through the aquifer for a particular well configuration and aquifer specification, which includes the permeability field over a grid. This ill-posed problem requires that some regularity be imposed on the permeability field. Typically this is accomplished by specifying a stationary Gaussian process model for the permeability field. Here we use an intrinsically stationary Markov random field which compares favorably and offers some additional flexibility and computational advantages. Our interest in quantifying uncertainty leads us to take a Bayesian approach, using Markov chain Monte Carlo for exploring the high-dimensional posterior distribution. We demonstrate our approach with several examples.