This book is the product of several years of research devoted to data processing, statistics and econometrics in the TRIS (traitement et recherche de l’information et de la statistique) laboratory. It is the fruit of several projects carried out within the framework of research and development for several startups within the Languedoc-Roussillon region and large private and public groups.

I would like to thank all of the members of the RRI (réseau de recherche sur l’innovation), and more particularly, Dimitri Uzunidis, its president, for his attentive and careful reading of the first version, and who encouraged us to publish this book.

Thanks also to M. Bernard Marques, who had the difficult task of proofreading the manuscript and who had many important notes to help with the understanding of the book.

I would also like to thank my teacher and friend Jean Matouk, who was the cause of this publication, thank you for his encouragement and unfailing support over the years.

Many thanks to all the researchers at the laboratory for their help and support and most especially to Soraya Sedkaoui; without her this book would never have seen the light of day.

Thanks to all those who have supported me through difficult times and who have transformed an individual intellectual adventure into a collective one, in particular Alain Iozzino, director of the startup E-prospects, with whom we have carried out many research and development projects over the years.

Finally, I must express my special gratitude to those dear to me, my family, and most of all to my wife, who has had to put up with my moods over the last few years.

Jean-Louis MONINO

This book was a work of adaptation, updating and rewriting in order to adapt all of the work of the TRIS laboratory. Its creation was fed by exchanges and discussions with my teacher Jean-Louis Monino, without whom this book would never have seen the light of day. I am infinitely grateful to him for having included me in this adventure.

It would not have been possible to produce this book without my family who have always encouraged and supported me throughout all my ideas and projects, no matter how far away they have sometimes been. Special mention must go to my mother, there are no words to express how important she is and how much she has done in making me what I am today.

Finally, I would like to thank Hans-Werner Gottinger, Mohamed Kasmi and Mustapha Ghachem for their unfailing support and for the interest that they have always shown in what I am doing.

Soraya SEDKAOUI