International Conference on Spatial Point Process Modelling and its Applications (SPPA)

Benicassim, Castellón (Spain)

4-8 April 2004


General Index
  • Introduction and Aims
  • Paticipants: Invited and Contributed Speakers
  • Programme
  • Proceedings
  • Dates, Venue and Accomodation
  • Excursion
  • How to arrive
  • Organizing Committee
  • Registration (deadline by 15 March 2004)
  • Contacting with the organization

    • Introduction and Aims


    Spatial point processes are complex stochastic models that describe the locations of “interesting” events, and (possibly) some information about each event. Some examples include locations of tree trunks, bird nests, pottery shards, or cancer cases. Usually, the most common case is that in which the location is recorded in two dimensions (x, y). Similar techniques can be used for three dimensional data (e.g. locations of galaxies in space) or one dimensional data (e.g. nesting sites along a coastline or along a riverbank). Usually, the locations of all events in a specified area are observed (completely mapped data), but occasionally only a subset of locations are observed (sparsely sampled data). Univariate point process data includes only the locations of the events; marked point process data includes additional information about the event at each location. For example, the species may be recorded for each tree, some cultural indentification may be recorded for each pottery shard, and nest success or nest failure may be recorded for each bird nest.

    Location or marked location data can be used to answer many different sorts of questions. The scientific context for a question depends on the area of application, but the questions can be grouped into general categories. One very common category of questions concerns the spatial pattern of the observations. Are the locations spatially clustered? Do they tend to be regularly distributed, or are they random (i.e a realization of a homogeneous Poisson process)? A second common set of questions concerns the relationships between different types of events in a marked point process. Do two different species of tree tend to occur together? Are locations of cancer cases more clustered than a random subset of a control group? A third set of questions deals with the density (number of events per unit area). What is the average density of trees in an area? What does a map of density look like?

    Sciences such as agriculture, astronomy, bacteriology, biology, climatology, ecology, environmetrics, epidemiology, forestry, geography, geology, meteorology, etc. have in these set of points data the basis of their research. Statistics has provided a number of tools in order to analyze any given set of points. And the field of spatial point processes provide a large variety of complex patterns to model particular plant behaviours. Besides the description of spatial data, statistics provide models or processes which can generate point data following some stochastic law. These models are often the result of the consideration of a real situation such as, in the biological context, the location of animal or plants depending on the existence of predators or food. Once we have a family of models, an important task is to determine when a given mapped data is the result of one of such models, then nonparametric or parametric inference is needed. Some other models are built upon the preceding ones, generalizing them and enlarging the family of models, as long as the existing ones prove to be unrealistic for many applications.

    Models for spatially structured data have been the focus of active statistical research for a number of years. They pose challenging theoretical problems and lead directly to a broad range of exciting applications in a variety of fields. The variety of applications has led to the development of different approaches to model building of spatial phenomena.

    With the goal of joining together in an informal basis international groups working on this interesting topic, we are organizing this International Conference on Spatial Point Process Modelling and its Applications (SPPA).

    The structure of the conference will be based upon 1-hour talks (50 minutes + 10 minutes questions) and 20-minute talks (15 minutes + 5 minutes questions). We want this not to be a huge conference, rather a small workshop. Therefore, we think that the number of participants has to be not greater than 60. The first aim of this conference is to join together most of the "big" names to guarantee the high scientific quality of the meeting to foster the theoretical and practical use of point processes. The second one consists of creating the oportunity for younger researchers (PhDs and post-docs) to present their work and to obtain a feed-back coming from the reknown specialists in the domain.

    It is expected that sessions will cover the wide range of applications of spatial point process modelling, but also the last methodological developments in those different fields.

    Participants: Invited and Contributed Speakers

    The list of invited speakers, which have already confirmed their participation, is the following:


    F. Baccelli, Francois.Baccelli@ens.fr, INRIA-ENS, Liens, Paris, FRANCE.
    A. Baddeley, adrian@maths.uwa.edu.au, University of Western Australia, AUSTRALIA.
    D. Daley, daryl@maths.anu.edu.au, Australian National University, Canberra, AUSTRALIA.
    V. Martínez, vicent.martinez@uv.es, University of Valencia, Burjassot, SPAIN.
    J. Moller, jm@math.auc.dk, Aalborg University, DENMARK.
    Y. Ogata, ogata@ism.ac.jp, The Institute of Statitical Mathematics, Tokyo, JAPAN.
    A. Penttinen, penttine@maths.jyu.fi, Jyväskylä, FINLAND.
    V. Schmidt, schmidt@mathematik.uni-ulm.de, University of Ulm, GERMANY.
    A. Stein, Alfred.Stein@wur.nl, University of Waageningen, THE NETHERLANDS.
    D. Stoyan, stoyan@orion.hrz.tu-freiberg.de, Institute of Statistics, Freiberg, GERMANY.
    E. Vedel Jensen, eva@imf.au.dk, University of Aarhus, DENMARK.
    J. Zerubia, Josiane.Zerubia@sophia.inria.fr, INRIA, Nice, FRANCE.
    Sergei Zuyev, sergei@stams.strath.ac.uk, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.


    The list of contributed speakers and rest of participants, which have already confirmed their participation, is the following:


    F. Ballani, ballani@math.tu-freiberg.de, Institute of Statistics, Freiberg, GERMANY.
    V. Benes, benesv@karlin.mff.cuni.cz, Charles University, Praha, Czech REPUBLIC.
    C. Benoist, Christophe.BENOIST@obs-nice.fr, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, NICE, FRANCE.
    K. Berthelsen, kkb@math.auc.dk, Aalborg University, DENMARK.
    B. Blaszczyszyn, Bartek.Blaszczyszyn@ens.fr, INRIA-ENS, FRANCE.
    C. Bordenave, Charles.Bordenave@ens.fr , INRIA-ENS, FRANCE.
    P. Botella, , Conselleria de Sanidad, Valencia, SPAIN.
    P. Bremaud, pierre.bremaud@ens.fr, INRIA-ENS, FRANCE.
    M.A. Calduch, mcalduch@eio.upv.es, Polythecnic University of Valencia, SPAIN.
    C. Comas, carles@stams.strath.ac.uk , University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
    P.J. De la Cruz, padela@alumni.uv.es, University of Valencia, SPAIN.
    X. Descombes, Xavier.Descombes@sophia.inria.fr, INRIA, Nice, FRANCE.
    S. Fenton, sfenton@liverpool.ac.uk, University of Liverpool, UK.
    I. Fuentes, , University of Santiago de Compostela, SPAIN.
    P. Gregori, gregori@mat.uji.es, University Jaume I, Castellón, SPAIN.
    J. Illian, j.illian@tay.ac.uk, University of Abertay Dundee, UK.
    E. Järpe, eric.jarpe@ide.hh.se , Halmstad University, SWEDEN.
    K. Jónsdóttir, , University of Aarhus, DENMARK.
    C. Lacoste, Caroline.Lacoste@sophia.inria.fr , INRIA-NICE, FRANCE.
    G. Last, last@mspcdip.mathematik.uni-karlsruhe.de, University of Karlsruhe, GERMANY.
    A. López, antonio.lopez@uv.es, University of Valencia, SPAIN.
    M.A. Martínez, , Conselleria de Sanidad, Valencia, SPAIN.
    J. Mateu, mateu@mat.uji.es, University Jaume I, Castellón, SPAIN.
    F. Montes, montes@uv.es, University of Valencia, SPAIN.
    M. Ortner, Mathias.Ortner@sophia.inria.fr , INRIA-NICE, FRANCE.
    Z. Pawlas, pawlas@karlin.mff.cuni.cz, Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Praha, Czech REPUBLIC.
    M.J. Pons, Maria.Pons@upct.es , Politechnic University of Cartagena, SPAIN.
    E. Porcu, emilio.porcu@unimib.it, University of Milan, ITALY.
    M. Prokesova, prokesov@karlin.mff.cuni.cz , Charles University, Praha, Czech REPUBLIC.
    A. Särkkä, aila@math.chalmers.se, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg, SWEDEN.
    F. Saura, igual@mat.uji.es, University Jaume I, Castellón, SPAIN.
    K. Schladitz, schladitz@itwm.uni-kl.de, Institut für Techno- und Wirtschaftsmathematik, Kaiserlautern, GERMANY.
    K. Shimatani, shimatan@ism.ac.jp, The Institute of Statitical Mathematics, Tokyo, JAPAN.
    E. Spodarev, spodarev@mathematik.uni-ulm.de, University of Ulm, GERMANY.
    R. Stoica, stoica@guest.uji.es, University Jaume I, Castellón, SPAIN.
    R. Turner, rolf@math.unb.ca, University of New Brunswick, CANADA.
    R. Waagepetersen, rw@math.auc.dk, Aalborg University, DENMARK.
    S. Webster, swebster@liverpool.ac.uk, University of Liverpool, UK.


    The complete list with all the participants (invited, contributed and those only attending) can be found at LIST.

    Programme

    The programme will be completed as soon as possible. The possible schedule will keep in mind having enough time for informal discussions between the programmed talks.

    The (almost) final programme is available here:

    Programme

    Saturday 3, April 2004

    Afternoon-evening:Hotel arrangements and informal dinner
     
     

    Sunday 4, April 2004

    16.30-18.30: Opening & Registration (Hall of Hotel Bonaire)

    18.30-19.30: Breaking ice party and drinks reception

    20.30: Welcoming dinner
     
     

    Monday 5, April 2004

    9.00-10.00: I1: Dietrich STOYAN:"On ratio estimators of summary statistics for stationary point processes"

    10.00-11.00: I2: Eva VEDEL JENSEN:"Inhomogeneous spatial point processes - with a view to time-space modelling"

    11.00-11.30: Coffee Break

    11.30-12.30: I3: Jesper MOLLER:"Perfect and approximate simulation of Hawkes processes". "An efficient MCMC method for distributions with intractable normalising constants - illustrated with applications for spatial point processes - part 1"

    12.30-12.50: C1: Kasper BERTHELSEN:"An efficient MCMC method for distributions with intractable normalising constants - illustrated with applications for spatial point processes - part 2"

    12.50-13.10: C2: Viktor BENES:"Selected point process applications"

    13.10-14.30 Lunch

    14.30-15.30: I4: Vicente MARTINEZ:"Cosmic clustering: a paradigm for point processes"

    15.30-16.00: Coffee Break

    16.00-16.20: C3: Radu STOICA:"Bisous model : a marked point process for pattern recognition problems"

    16.20-16.40: C4: Zbynek PAWLAS:"Weak and strong convergence of empirical distribution functions in germ-grain models"

    16.40-17.00: C5: Rasmus WAAGEPETERSEN:"Analysis of line transect data using spatial point process modelling"

    17.00-17.20: C6: Bartek BLASZCZYSZYN:"Approximate decomposition of some modulated-Poisson Voronoi tessellations"

    17.20-17.40: C7: Sarah FENTON:"An Investigation of the Effect of Under Reporting of Disease Cases on the Space-Time K-function"
     
     

    Tuesday 6, April 2004

    9.00-10.00: I5: Adrian BADDELEY:"Residuals and diagnostics for fitted spatial point process models"

    10.00-11.00: I6: Sergei ZUYEV:"Strong Markov property of Poisson processes and Slivnyak formula"

    11.00-11.30: Coffee Break

    11.30-12.30: I7: Francois BACCELLI:"Signal-to-interference-ratio cells of a spatial point process"

    12.30-12.50: C8: Michaela PROKESOVA:"Statistics for locally scaled point processes"

    12.50-14.00 Lunch

    14.30 Bus to Peñagolosa and walking excurssion

    20.30 Conference Dinner
     
     

    Wednesday 7, April 2004

    9.00-10.00: I8: Antti PENTTINEN:" Measuring spatial association between species and between mark-variates"

    10.00-11.00: I9: Alfred STEIN:"Spatial point patterns for herd dispersion in a savanna wildlife herbivore community in Kenya"

    11.00-11.30: Coffee Break

    11.30-11.50: C9: Aila SÄRKKÄ:"Some space-time interaction models for marked point processes"

    11.50-12.10: C10: Felix BALLANI:"Modelling the microstructure of samples of concrete"

    12.10-12.30: C11: Janine ILLIAN:"Multivariate methods for spatial point patterns"

    12.30-12.50: C12: Evgueni SPODAREV:"A new approach to the computation of Minkowski functionals of germ-grain models"

    12.50-14.30 Lunch

    14.30-15.30: I10: Xavier DESCOMBES:"Marked point processes in image analysis: from context to geometry"

    15.30-15.50: C13: Mathias ORTNER:"Detecting precise features on Digital Elevation Models"

    15.50-16.20: Coffee Break

    16.20-16.40: C14: Caroline LACOSTE:"CAROLINE: a CARtographic Oriented LIne Network Extraction model"

    16.40-17.00: C15: Pierre BREMAUD:"The power spectral measure of the spatial linear birth and death process"

    17.00-17.20: C16: Charles BORDENAVE:"Macrodiversity in wireless networks"
     
     

    Thursday 8, April 2004

    9.00-10.00: I11: Jiancang ZHUANG:"Diagnostic analysis of space-time branching processes for earthquakes"

    10.00-11.00: I12: Daryl J. DALEY:"Germ-grain models from the lilypond growth Protocol"

    11.00-11.30: Coffee Break

    11.30-11.50: C17: Simon WEBSTER:"An approach to strain-typing Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies using replicated spatial data"

    11.50-12.50: I13: Volker SCHMIDT:"Stationary Tessellations with Random Inner Cell Structures -- A Point Process Approach"

    13.00-13.15: Closening & Farewell

    13.15 Lunch
     
     

    Proceedings


    The University Jaume I has offered the possibility to publish the proceedings book, coming from extended abstracts, with ISBN published to be handed as material of the conference. We are now thinking of other post-conference publication possibilities, such as a volume in the Springer Lecture Notes in Statistics.
    Papers must be written in LaTeX using this style (click here for a postscript example or here for the corresponding tex file). The original tex file with the necessary figures must be submitted to mateu@mat.uji.es  by February 28, 2004.  The minimum length allowed will be 3 pages, and no restriction for the maximum. We encourage the authors to send full versions, that will help us with the posterior selection of the papers for the Lecture Notes

    Dates, Venue and Accomodation

    The conference, hosted by the Department of Mathematics of University Jaume I, will be held at the Bonaire Hotel, situated in Benicassim (Castellón, Spain) from 4-8 April 2004.


    The Bonaire Hotel is situated at 100 m. from Heliopolis beach, the best beach of Benicassim. Its guest facilities include cafeteria, restaurant, swimming pools, gardens, parking, tennis, football field, mini golf, table tennis, disco and convention rooms.

    The accomodation will be in the same conference place at Bonaire Hotel, where a sufficient number of rooms have been pre-booked. The final booking has to be done directly by the registered participants and they will be allocated on a first come - first served basis.

    Benicassim, located by the Mediterranean sea, is one of the most famous holiday resorts on the Costa del Azahar. Apart from the natural conditions of clean beaches and excellent temperatures all year round, thanks to the mild winters, Benicassim offers to visitors a wide range of tourist infrastucture to guarantee excitement and entertainment for everyone. There are interesting historic sights around the village of Benicassim, which was founded by the scholar Perez Bayer. The parish church of Santo Tomas de Villanueva, decorated with frescoes by Camaron Bonanat, the San Vicente watchtower (16th-century), the medieval castle of Montornes (11th-century) and the monastery of Desierto de las Palmas, built by the Carmelite order, are the most representative points in this tourist resort.

    The special prices Bonaire hotel has offered for our conference are the following:


    Each participant has to contact Bonaire hotel (Tel: 964.392480, Fax: 964.395601, email: comercial@intur.com, centres@intur.com) and book a room for the wished days. To apply for the above rates, remember to quote the acronym SPPA. The best and quickest way is by email to the attention of Mar Martinez stating: the acronym SPPA, your name, the number of days, type of room (single, double, etc) and the full set of digits of your credit card. At this stage nothing will be charged in your card, and the payment, if appropriate, will be done at the departure. For those of you that do not wish, because of security reasons, to send the credit card numbers by email, you can send an email (attention Mar Martinez as specified) omitting the credit card number and saying that you would follow up the email with a fax providing the credit card number.
     
     
    BONAIRE Hotel
    Avda. Gimeno Tomas, 3 
    Benicassim (Castellon) 
    Tel: 964 392 480 
    Fax: 964 395 601

    Excursion

    On Tuesday 6, there will be an excursion to the second highest mountain (1813 m.) in this province. The bus will wait for us at the hotel at 15.00 pm and after one and a half hours driving we shall get there. Then, we shall start climbing to the top of the mountain. So bring your mountain boots! The conference dinner will be in an old monastery, at the base of the mountain. The Penyagolosa mountain (see some photographs at Photos), in the province of Castellón, is the second highest of the Valencian Community, after the Calderón hill (1836 m.), situated in the inner region of the Corner of Ademuz. Located in the castellonense region of the Maestrat, it is visible from almost all the coast of the province of Castellón. Its summit is divided in three tops, being the eastern top the highest. The southern wall, a vertical precipice of almost 300 meters is point of contact of climbers. The North wall, much more accessible and of relatively smooth slope, is the one that allows the access to the top in a calmed way, taking about 45 minutes from the base. Please bring your climbing boots for the excursion. 

    How to arrive

    The nearest airports to Castellon are Valencia (65 km) and Barcelona (285 km). From Valencia airport, you have to go to downtown to the train station and get a train to Castellon/Benicassim (1 hour). From Barcelona airport you have to get a train to Sans train station (20 minutes) and there a high speed train to Castellon/Benicassim (2 hours). Please visit How to arrive for a more complete information. In this web site click on Tourist Info and then on How to get there. In any case, most of you need the train timetable:

    Organizing Committee

    The organizing committee is formed by:


    Adrian Baddeley, adrian@maths.uwa.edu.au, University of Western Australia, Australia.
    Pablo Gregori, gregori@mat.uji.es, Department of Mathematics, University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
    Jorge Mateu, mateu@mat.uji.es, Department of Mathematics, University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
    Radu Stoica, stoica@guest.uji.es, Department of Mathematics, University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
    Dietrich Stoyan, stoyan@orion.hrz.tu-freiberg.de, Institut fur Stochastik, Freiberg, Germany.

    Registration

    The registration fee is 100 EUROS and covers documentation, coffee-breaks, excursion, welcome party and the conference dinner. Deadline is March 15, 2004.

    THE PROCEDURE IS SIMPLE:

    Order a bank transfer of 100 EUROS to the following account:

    Bank details

         Bank name: Bancaja

         Bank branch:  Urb. Cavallers

         Complete address:  Cavallers, 2, E-12001 Castellón (Spain)

         Account holder:  Universitat Jaume I

         Account no:  2077 0580 40 3105126592

         SWIFT code:  CVALESVV

         IBAN code: IBAN ES33.2077.0580.4031.0512.6592

         Description code: SPPA 2004 + YOUR NAME 

    Fax a copy of the bank transfer to +34 964 728 429, and make sure your NAME and the subject SPPA 2004 appears on it. 

    Contact Person in case of problems: Jorge Mateu (mateu@mat.uji.es)


    Contacting with the organization

    For further information and queries, please contact:

                Jorge Mateu
               Department of Mathematics
                Campus Riu Sec
                Universitat Jaume I
                E-12071-Castellón
                Spain
                Tel: +34 964 728391   Fax: +34 964 728429
               Email:mateu@mat.uji.es

    Collaborations

           
     

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    Last updated: 2 April 2004