Statistical Modelling 2 (2002), 123–137
Semiparametric modelling of spatial binary observations
Marco Alfò,
Dipartimento di Statistica, Probabilita e Statistiche Applicate,
P.le A. Moro,
I–00185 Roma
Italy
e-mail: marco.alfo@uniroma1.it
Paolo Postiglione,
Dipartimento di Scienze,
Università degli Studi ''G. d'Annunzio'' di Chieti
Italy
Abstract:
In the past decade
various attempts have been made to extend standard random effects models to the
analysis of spatial observations. This extension is a source of theoretical
difficulty due to the multidirectional dependence among nearest observations;
much of the previous work was based on parametric assumptions about the random
effects distribution. To avoid any restriction, we propose a conditional model
for spatial binary responses, without assuming a parametric distribution for
the random effects. The model parameters are estimated using the EM algorithm
for nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation of a mixing distribution. To
illustrate the proposed approach, the model is applied to a remote sensed image
of the Nebrodi Mountains (Italy).
Keywords:
Spatial binary responses, Autologistic model, Random effects, Nonparametric
maximum likelihood
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