OBJECTIVE To identify the spatial and temporal clusters of Barmah Forest virus (BFV) disease in Queensland in Australia, using geographical information systems and spatial scan statistic (SaTScan). METHODS We obtained BFV disease cases, population and statistical local areas (SLAs) boundary data from Queensland Health and Australian Bureau of Statistics, respectively, during 1992-2008 for Que...

One of the most widely used tests for spatial dependence is Moran’s (1950) I test. The power of the test will depend on the extent to which the spatial-weights matrix employed in computing the Moran I test statistic properly specifies existing interaction links between spatial units. Empirical researchers are often unsure about the use of a particular spatial-weights matrix. In light of this Pr...

Background Spatial scan statistic has been shown as a useful tool to investigate spatial patterns and detecting the spatial clusters of cancer. This study conducted to study spatial analysis of breast cancer and its late-stage cases, one of the most common women cancers in Iran and the world. Methods We used space-time and purely spatial scan statistic implemented in SaTScan software to detec...

This paper presents the first application of spatially correlated neutral models to the detection of changes in mortality rates across space and time using the local Moran's I statistic. Sequential Gaussian simulation is used to generate realizations of the spatial distribution of mortality rates under increasingly stringent conditions: 1) reproduction of the sample histogram, 2) reproduction o...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a chronic infectious disease that affects both domestic animals and wildlife. Veterinary epidemiology studies evaluate bTB using geographic information systems (GIS), which can characterise the spatial and temporal distribution of diseases and identify the geographic areas and animal populations at risk of contracting a disease. The present study used space‑time per...

We have extended and improved the statistical test recently developed by Rauzy for assessing the completeness in apparent magnitude of magnitude-redshift surveys. Our improved test statistic retains the robust properties – specifically independence of the spatial distribution of galaxies within a survey – of the Tc statistic introduced in Rauzy’s seminal paper, but now accounts for the presence...

For the evaluation of results from remote sensing and high-resolution spatial models it is often necessary to assess the similarity of sets of maps. This paper describes a method to compare raster maps of categorical data. The method applies fuzzy set theory and involves both fuzziness of location and fuzziness of category. The fuzzy comparison yields a map, which specifies for each cell the de...

Until a few decades ago it was very easy to distinguish between city and country: in most cases the edge was defined by defensive barriers. In recent times, the relationships between urban and rural areas completely changed, placing the country in a subordinate position. Consequently, many terms have been coined in order to describe the new phenomena taking place between city and country. The t...

Curran-Everett D. Explorations in statistics: the bootstrap. Adv Physiol Educ 33: 286–292, 2009; doi:10.1152/advan.00062.2009.— Learning about statistics is a lot like learning about science: the learning is more meaningful if you can actively explore. This fourth installment of Explorations in Statistics explores the bootstrap. The bootstrap gives us an empirical approach to estimate the theor...