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Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability
News on Bernoulli News Bernoulli News is the news bulletin of the BS, published about two times per year and sent to all BS members. The Editor of Bernoulli News, Rodney Wolff has asked to be replaced from 2006. First of all, we like to thank him very much for his excellent work over the past several years! Secondly, we are happy to announce our next Bernoulli News editorial team: Dr. Krzysztof Debicki and Dr. Zbigniew Palmowski, both at the Mathematical Institute of the Wrocław University, Poland. Their e-mail addresses are: zpalma@math.uni.wroc.pl and krzysztof.debicki@math.uni.wroc.pl BS looks forward to the next issue of Bernoulli News. Meetings (new announcements only): 9th Vilnius Conference on Probability and StatisticsJune 25-30, 2006, Vilnius, Lithuania. http://www.balticconference.com/ivc9/index.php For three decades, the Vilnius Conferences on Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics have provided an important venue for our science. The 9th meeting will follow the well-established pattern of Vilnius Conferences with a few plenary talks and sessions on important subfields. The Conference will provide a forum for the international exchange of knowledge among scientists and give an impulse for international relations between participants, statistical societies and other official and non-official organisations. The Conference will be dedicated to the memory of academician V. Statulevicius, who was the main Organiser of all eight previous Vilnius Conferences. Important Deadlines: Plenary Speakers: Invited Sections: XXVI International Seminar on Stability Problems for Stochastic Models August 27-September 2, 2006The Conference will be held in Sovata-Bai, Romania, between August 27-September 2, 2006, and it will be the next item of a long series of conferences founded by Professor V.M. Zolotarev (Moscow, Russia). The Organisers of the Seminar are the Faculty of Informatics of the University of Debrecen, Hungary, the Moscow State University and the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in Moscow. The scope of the Seminar is traditional and embraces limit theorems of probability theory and mathematical statistics, characterizations of probability distribution and their stability, theory of probability metrics, limit theorems and characterization problems in stochastic analysis, stochastic processes and queuing theory, applied statistics, actuarial and financial mathematics, and applications in informatics and computer sciences. The Seminar is dedicated to the 75th jubilees of Mátyás Arató, the Organiser and Chairman of some previous seminars, and Vladimir Zolotarev, the founder and Chairman of the Seminars on Stability Problems for Stochastic Models. For further information, contact Contributed by Arnoldo Frigessi International Association for Official Statistics
Paul J. Crowley Reports:Readers are encouraged to visit the IAOS website http://www.stats.govt.nz/iaos for the latest information on IAOS activities. The website is regularly updated. Comments or suggestions for improving the website can be sent to iaos@stats.govt.nz. The 2006 IAOS Conference will be hosted by Statistics Canada in Canada's capital city, Ottawa, from 6-8 September 2006. It will be held at the Château Laurier Hotel, an historic venue located adjacent to Canada's Parliament buildings. The Conference will focus on issues associated with measuring the social and economic impacts of people on the move, both within and between nations. The principle themes are: The statistical infrastructure needed to understand
sub national population change; Theme 1 - The Statistical Infrastructure needed to understand sub national population changes(1) Monitoring internal migration including the
measurement of highly mobile people in populations:There are significant
resource allocation and policy choices arising from internal population shifts.
This entails measurement issues and challenges. Theme II - Economies without Borders(1) Growth in International Services:The growth in
international services and the General Agreement in Trade in Services increase
the need to keep pace with the changing service types available in national
economies. What measurements have been implemented to deal with this development
and what are the future challenges? Theme III - Communities that cross national boundaries(1) Remittances as a National Income Source &
Financial Aspects of Migration:These can be very significant in some economies
and can pose significant measurement challenges. Conference Details Plans for the 2006 IAOS Conference being hosted by Statistics Canada in Ottawa on September 6-8 are progressing well. A preliminary programme has been developed and session organisers have been identified. This information is available from the IAOS website.The Organising Committee, in collaboration with session organisers, will be contacting potential presenters for invited papers during January. Members interested in presenting contributed papers related to topics on the programme can either contact the designated session organiser or Mr. Denis Desjardins, the Statistics Canada contact (denis.desjardins@statcan.ca). An invitation to attend the Conference will be sent
to IAOS members under the joint signatures of the current President of the IAOS,
Mr. Brian Pink, Government Statistician, Statistics New Zealand, and Dr. Ivan
Fellegi, Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada. The following is the most up-to-date version of the Programme for ISI 2007. A small number of changes have taken place in the draft programme since the previous version of this Newsletter. The most notable changes are (a) the organiser of the session on Measuring Productivity has vacated his position and the Irving Fisher Society is seeking a replacement; (b) the session on "The impact of new information technologies: on survey research design; on a totally new information production model" is being organised by Jonathan Palmer of ABS.
1. 2006 IAOS Conference, September 2006, Ottawa, Canada If you have any suggestions on items for inclusion in future editions of the Newsletter, please contact Paul J. Crowley. Future activity will be concerned with the organisation of the subsequent 2008 IAOS Conference (venue still to be decided) and the 2009 ISI Session in South Africa. Members who may have suggestions about the 2008 and 2009 Conferences are invited to send their comments to the President, Brian Pink. Standing Committee on Regional and Urban Statisticswww.scorusnet.com
The 25th SCORUS Conference celebrates the 50th year of SCORUS activity within ISI. Focusing on the role of urban and regional development in the world, SCORUS has encouraged groups of individuals working at the local level to look beyond their region, learn how economic and social activity at the local level affects national and international events, and supports the sharing of experience and expertise. The members of SCORUS embody the adage "think globally, act locally". This year's Conference opens with a plenary examining the first 50 years of SCORUS, celebrating the achievements of the past, and looking forward to how we can contribute to the development of local knowledge and international cooperation in the future. The developing
programme includes the following: Additional parallel sessions:China:
Session in Chinese, devoted to the main interests of the Chinese audience. Parallel sessions on:Specific
regions of the world and their role in/impact on the global economy: SCORUS
regions of Africa, the Americas, Europe, India and China. Join us this summer to celebrate the 50th anniversary of SCORUS in beautiful Wrocław, Poland, to explore the role of urban centres in the development of national and international social and economic structures. For information on contributing papers, programme development and conference attendance; please visit the Conference site at http://www.scorus2006.ae.wroc.pl/. Competing and Caring: Urban Research for European Urban Policy - Amsterdam, 14-17 September 2005We urge all of
you to take the time to visit the website for the "Competing and Caring: Urban
Research for European Urban Policy" Conference held in September 2005 and
sponsored by SCORUS, KCGS International, and O+S (the Department of Research and
Statistics) of the Municipality of Amsterdam. The Conference site has posted PowerPoint presentations and papers from the Conference, as well as a Conference Journal. The following quotes from the Conference Journal indicate both the quality and scope of this Conference, as well as highlighting the concerns of SCORUS as expressed over the past 50 years of its existence. "At the national level, the roles of cities are more and explicitly recognized. At the same time, the cities themselves have increasingly gone in search of cooperation. The most important aspect is the exchange of knowledge between cities. Cities can inspire each other. This means that the wheel does not need to be invented over and over again. By learning from each other, we build on successes, and the quality and effectiveness of urban policy is visibly increasing." "The point of creating encounters was a recurring issue: Bringing people into contact with each other within the community. Supporting creativity and engagement with everybody in the community were the final points related to governance. A second central theme was leadership, important to create initiatives from the public and the private sector, and who can work with young and older people in education. People are needed who can make new combinations in the cities. And embedded leadership is required so that there is a structure that the community can fall back on when the leader is gone. A long-term perspective and planning is welcomed by researchers who are often asked for short-term results. Without urgency from outside for change, there won't be any change in policy." For general
information on SCORUS or to join in an open dialogue among SCORUS members,
please visit: International Association for Statistical Computing
The IASC Council has approved a revision of the
IASC Committees. The new Committees and their respective Chairpersons are as
follows: It is with deep regret that we announce the death of Professor Albert Prat, Professor at the Technological University of Catalonia (UPC), on January 1st 2006 after a sudden heart attack. His loss has been a very severe blow for his friends, colleagues and the Statistics Community. Albert Prat held the post of Chairman of the Department of Statistics at UPC in the years 1983 to 1987, 1996 to 2002, and at the moment since July 2005. He was a member of the IASC Council for the years 1999-2003, and Chairman of COMPSTAT 96 in Barcelona. III. The 3rd World Conference on Computational Statistics and Data Analysis The 3rd World Conference on
Computational Statistics and Data Analysis took place in Cyprus from 28th-31st
October Cyprus (Host country)
15 The Conference comprised 4 keynote talks, 4 Tutorials, 28 Tracks, 70 sessions and around to 400 presentations. It should be noted that there are "Call for Papers" for 12 thematic CSDA special issues based on the Conference presentations. The plenary talks, all very interesting and presenting challenging topics, were been given by Prof. Rand Wilcox - "Comparing Groups and Studying Associations", Prof. Manfred Gilli - "Optimization Heuristics in Economics and Statistics", Prof. Gilbert Saporta - "Some Statistical Aspects of Credit Scoring" and Prof. Joyce C. Niland - "Biomedical Informatics: The Key to Translational Research". It is important to stress that there were more than 100 presentations related to computational econometrics and statistical finance. The biggest track (35 talks) was on "Nonlinear time series modelling and Financial Econometrics". Thanks to the conditions offered by the Organisers, some important meetings took place during the Conference: The IASC Council Meeting took place on the 28th
October 2005. The social programme will certainly be long remembered by all who took part! The reception at the venue's hotel, on the first evening, with over 500 guests, gave participants the opportunity for an informal get-together... And tasting some local delicacies, the Conference dinner took place on the 29th of October 2005, also at the venue's hotel, where over 400 guests participated. An excursion to visit archaeological sites and have dinner at a typical village took place on the 30th of October 2005 and counted 200 participants.
Present and past IASC Presidents at the reception IV. The 5th IASC Asian Conference on Statistical Computing The Asian Regional Section of the International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC) held its 5th Asian Conference on Statistical Computing in Hong Kong, 15-17th December 2005. This Conference was co-organised by the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science of the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Statistical Society. Statistical computing provides a link between statistical theory and applied statistics. The Conference provided a forum for researchers and practitioners in Asian countries and countries in other parts of the world to share their knowledge in the advancement of the theories, methods and practice of statistical computing, and to foster interest and ideas in effective and efficient statistical computing through international contacts. While the focus was on statistical computing, the Conference was also of direct relevance to statisticians who had been working in statistical methods and data analysis with applications in various disciplines such as medicine, business, ecology, biology, engineering, etc. There were about 150 participants at the Conference, and about 100 papers were presented. Over 50 papers were published in the Conference Proceedings. Most of the participants came from Asian countries including China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Thailand, and we also had participants from other countries such as Australia, France, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, UK and USA. Professor Gilbert Saporta, IASC President, also attended the Conference. The Conference provided a good opportunity for participants to exchange views on their research. The feedback from the participants on the Conference was very positive. Wing K Fung
Participants at the 5th IASC Asian Conference on Statistical Computing The 17th Conference of IASC-ERS, COMPSTAT 2006, will be held in Roma, from August 28th to September 1st 2006, organised by the Dipartimento de Statistica, Probabilitŕ e Statistiche Applicate of La Sapienza, Universitŕ degli Studi di Roma.The provisional Programme comprises two keynote lectures, fourteen invited sessions, four special solicited sessions and one joint tutorial. The keynote lectures will be addressed by A. Agresti (topic to be announced), M. Greenacre on Data Visualization, and G. Kitagawa on Time Series Analysis. The tutorial, on Statistical Signal Extraction and Filtering, will be presented by D.S.G. Pollock (Queen Mary, University of London) and T. Proietti (Universitŕ degli studi di Udine, Italia). IMPORTANT DATES: Submissions could relate to subject areas such as, but not limited to: Biostatistics, Business Intelligence, Categorical Data Analysis, Classification and Discrimination, Clustering, Computational Bayesian Methods, Computational Econometrics, Computational Methods for Industry, Computational Methods in Official Statistics, Computational Statistics in Finance, Data Mining, Design of Experiments, Dimensionality Reduction, Environmental Statistics, Functional Data Analysis, Graphics and Data Visualization, Image and Signal Processing, Imprecise Data and Fuzzy Methods, Internet Based Methods, Machine Learning, Matrix Computations and Statistics, Metadata and Data Representation, Microarray Data Analysis, Multivariate Data Analysis, Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms, Nonparametric Statistics and Smoothing, Optimization Algorithms, Partial Least Squares, Pattern Recognition, Resampling Methods, Robustness, Simulation, Software Evaluation, Spatial Statistics, Statistical Databases, Statistical Education and Web Based Teaching, Statistical Matching and Data Imputation, Statistical Methods for Market Analysis, Statistical Musicology, Statistical Software, Support Vector Machine, Symbolic Data Analysis, Textual Data Analysis and Information Retrieval, Time Series Analysis and Web Mining. More information can be found on the COMPSTAT website: http://w3.uniroma1.it/compstat2006. The following Satellite Conferences are announced (see below for details on each one): KNEMO - Workshop on Knowledge Extraction and Modelling (http://www.knemo.unina.it).Organised by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Naples - Federico II. Villa Orlandi, Island of Capri, Italy, September 4-6th, 2006. Workshop on Data and Information Visualization(http://appel.rz.huberlin.de/Zope/ise_stat/wbiwi/ise/stat/forschung/veranstaltungen/div2006).
International Conference on Statistical Latent Variables Models in the Health Sciences(http://www.stat.unipg.it/forcina/shlav/shlav.html). Perugia University, Perugia, Italy, September 6-8th, 2006. VI. International Workshop on Knowledge Extraction and Modelling (KNEMO'06) The International Workshop on Knowledge Extraction
and Modelling (KNEMO'06) (www.knemo.unina.it)
will take place from September 4-6th, 2006, on the Island of Capri,
Italy. It is organised by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of the
University of Naples "Federico II", Italy, and jointly sponsored by: The objective of the Workshop (a satellite event of the COMPSTAT 2006 Conference in Rome) is to give an overview on the theme of "Knowledge Extraction & Modelling" with up-to-date lectures showing the state-of-the-art but also the most recent advances and future challenges. The Workshop is aimed at focusing on a theme that is not yet firmly established in literature or research. Namely, the Workshop is meant to address the analysis of "complex systems", where the difficulty of analysis is not only the availability of huge masses of data, but also the complex structure of relationships. It is somehow the problem of extracting information from models, not just data. The challenge consists in considering the interaction between Knowledge Extraction and Modelling by investigating two possible directions: Knowledge Extraction from models, Knowledge Extraction by modelling.The structure of the Workshop foresees keynote speakers who can provide lectures on the theme of interest from different points of view (data analysis, machine learning, statistical modelling, data mining, etc.), discuss among them and with the other attendees during the days of the Workshop, and then conclude the Workshop with a round table, where the results of the discussion held and the thinking done during the Workshop, are expressed. A group of scientists have been invited to discuss
the theme of the Workshop during the forthcoming months that precede the
Workshop. The idea is to collect all possible opinions from the known
international leaders in the different fields of interest to the themes of the
Workshop, and then produce a document that will represent the Manifesto of the
Workshop. This Manifesto will comprise the leading thread that shall give life
to the presentations and discussions held during the Workshop. Among the
scientists invited to the pre-Workshop discussion and tentative invited speakers
are: Aside from the keynote speakers, tutorials will be ensured and, finally, research papers may be submitted and presented by other scientists who wish to contribute and do not necessarily come from the field of Statistics (e.g. computer science, machine learning, bioinformatics, etc., with a background related also to application fields). Prospective authors are invited to submit an extended abstract (2 pages) of their paper to Prof. Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi no later than March 24th, 2006. The contents of the abstract should clearly contain the following information about the paper: *Relationship with literature For more information, please contact: VII. Workshop on Data and Information Visualization The Workshop, a satellite event of COMPSTAT 2006,
is hosted by the Institute for Statistics and Econometrics of the School for
Business and Economics, from August 23rd to 25th, 2006, at
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The purpose of the Workshop on Data and
Information Visualization is to provide a forum to exchange ideas, experiences
and information about the latest developments of visualization, including links
between theory and applications. Abstracts for contributed talks (max. 1 page)
should be submitted by the 31st of March. More information is
available at: VIII. International Conference on "Statistical Latent Variables Models in the Health Sciences "The International Conference on "Statistical
Latent Variables Models in the Health Sciences", satellite of COMPSTAT 2006,
will be held in Perugia, Italy, from 6-8th September 2006.The primary
objective of the Conference is to bring together statisticians from academia as
well as other research institutions working on different theoretical aspects and
relevant applications of latent variable models to the health sciences, and to
provide a forum to share ideas, problems and methodologies. Potential
participants could be biostatisticians, psychometricians and public health
professionals active in the field of Latent Variable modelling and related
methods. The meeting is intended to serve as an interdisciplinary workshop to
discuss theoretical and applied statistical issues concerning design,
measurement and analysis, and to foster interaction among researchers who are
likely to bring important interdisciplinary insights to the field. Thus, we hope
that the Conference will be an occasion for people to present new ideas as well
as problems that are worth considering for further investigation. Special
attention will be given to encourage graduate students and new researchers to
participate.The Conference will include invited lectures, organised sessions, a
limited number of contributed papers and a poster session. The deadline for
submission of contributed papers is January 15th, 2006. More
information can be found at: The IASC is organising an International Conference on Statistics for Data Mining, Learning and Knowledge Extraction, as a Satellite Conference of the 56th Session of the ISI. The Conference will take place in Aveiro, Portugal, from 30th August to 1st September 2007. Carlos Ferreira (University of Aveiro), Manuela Souto de Miranda (University of Aveiro) and Paula Brito (University of Porto) are in charge of the local organisation. More information will be given in the next Newsletter and on the IASC website. After Rome, next summer, Porto (Portugal) will host the following COMPSTAT symposium, to take place in August 2008. Paula Brito, IASC Scientific Secretary, will be Chair of this Conference. The Local Organising Committee is now formed, and enthusiastic to start its activities. The 4th World Conference on
Computational Statistics & Data Analysis of the International Association for
Statistical Computing (IASC) and the 6th Conference of the Asian
Regional Section of IASC will be held in Yokohama, Japan, from December 5-8th,
2008. The Conference is jointly organised by the IASC 2008 Executive Committee,
the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and the Japanese Society of
Computational Statistics. Information can be found at: SMAP06 International Workshop on Statistical Methods for Performance AnalysisThe SMAP06 International Workshop on Statistical Methods for Performance Analysis will take place in Cassino, Italy, 20th-21st April 2006.The deadline for submission of papers is 31st January 2006. Selected peer-review papers will be published in the journal Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry after the Conference. More information and the call for papers can be found at: http://www.prinpie.unisa.it/smap/. Fourth International Chemometrics Research Meeting (ICRM 2006)The Fourth International Chemometrics Research
Meeting (ICRM 2006) will take place on 28th May-1st June
2006 in Veldhoven, The Netherlands. The format of the Conference is quite
unique, because we offer a limited number of invited speakers whose extended
lectures serve as a starting point for intensive plenary discussions between the
participants. In addition, there are two extended poster sessions. In general,
the topics of this Conference relate to new chemometric developments and
possible applications of multivariate data analysis in (analytical) chemistry,
systems biology or life sciences. Topics include Data fusion, Multilevel
analysis, Model validation, Process Analytical Technology (PAT), Kernel methods,
Clustering and Interpretation of data-driven methods. For more information,
please contact: International Association for Statistical Education
ICOTS-7: Working Cooperatively in Statistics Education Information about Registration, Accommodation, and Tours, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil, July 2-7, 2006Local Organisers: Pedro Alberto Morettin (Chair), Lisbeth K. Cordani,
Pedro Silva, Clélia Maria C. Toloi and Wilton de Oliveira Bussab. Almost all the information about ICOTS-7 is on the website:
http://www.maths.otago.ac.nz/icots7/icots7.php and, in particular under the
"Registration" tab, there is information about registration, accommodation and
tours. Please note the following recent message from the Organisers: Although the ICOTS-7 information is on the website, we draw your attention to the following: There are reduced fees for IASE/ISI members, and participants from Latin American or Developing Countries. There is a program for accompanying persons - some details are given on the web page. Accompanying persons may choose what they wish to attend and pay for the items they choose while in Salvador. There are some details on the web page about the pre-arranged tours. Proceedings of Round Table on Curricular Development now available The Proceedings of the 2004 IASE Round Table on "Curricular Development in Statistics Education" held in Lund, Sweden, in 2004 are now available from the IASE site http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/ (see the left-hand panel of the Publications page). The Editors of this 300-page proceedings volume were Gail Burrill (Michigan
State University, USA) and Mike Camden (Statistics New Zealand, NZ). The
Technical Editor was Glenda Breaux (Michigan State University). Research - What do we know and what do we need to know? The papers were clustered into five sections:
Also included are reports arising from the discussions of Working Groups. The discussion ranged from the development of a statistics curriculum to common issues and promising solutions to questions of how to best construct learning trajectories that will enable all students to make sense of data and to apply statistical reasoning when making decisions based on data. The conversation was framed by questions, such as: How do we help the world understand that statistics education is vital in a world where social policy, technology, environment, allocation of resources depend strongly on careful design of investigations and very fine analysis of data? What topics are important to teach? When and how should the important topics be taught? How do we carefully structure the curriculum? What do we know about when and how particular concepts should be taught? How can we make statistics education more inviting? What do we know about teaching and learning statistics? What do we still need to know? How does research on statistical education link to practice? Who is responsible for developing and implementing the curriculum? The table of contents is just mouse click away at http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications.php?show=rt04 Contributed by Chris Wild Statistical Grammar? Many of our institutions, including the IASE, speak of "statistical education". The meaning of the phrase is presumably education in the discipline of statistics, and yet the adjective "statistical" suggests that it is the mode of education that is being described. For example, "statistical education" in art might include a look at the frequency of production of paintings by the great masters by decade. Statistical education in music might be an analysis of the melodies associated with the most popular songs. Some have suggested that "statistics education" might better describe the interest of the IASE. If you wish to comment on this, the Editors would be glad to receive your comments via e-mail. International Association of Survey Statisticians
Message from the IASS President As we enter another new year, it is an appropriate time to acknowledge the large number of individuals, across many countries, who are engaged in different ways in supporting the activities of the IASS. Since taking over as President, I have been most impressed by the number of members, some elected - many unelected, who are volunteering their time and energy to our Association. We depend on these people, appreciate their contributions, and could use more of them. If any members would like to become more involved in the activities of the Association, please feel free to contact me. It is already time to start thinking about our next slate of elected Officers and Council members to take office in 2007. Beverley Carlson, a former IASS Vice-President, has kindly accepted to Chair the Nominations Committee for the 2007 elections. Other members of the Committee will be appointed shortly. In the meantime, ideas or suggestions for potential candidates should be communicated to Beverley (bcarlson@un.org). Following discussions in Sydney, we have renewed our intention to continue with the Cochran-Hansen Prize in 2007, despite some disappointment in the number of entries for the 2005 Prize. The Cochran-Hansen Prize was introduced in 2000 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of IASS and honours the names of two heroes of our profession. The Prize is aimed at young statisticians from developing and transition countries. The invitation to make nominations for the 2007 Prize is now open and I would like to urge IASS and ISI members from all countries to consider and encourage possible candidates. Those of you in universities might consider current or recent students, or young faculty members, who meet the criteria and encourage them to apply. Those of you working in statistical agencies, in industry, or elsewhere could do the same with respect to new recruits or young professionals in your organisations. Sarah Nusser, a member of the IASS Council, has kindly agreed to Chair the Cochran-Hansen Prize Committee for 2007 and can be contacted at nusser@iastate.edu for further information. Preparations for the 2007 ISI sessions in Lisbon
continue under our Programme Chair, David Steel, and you will find a list of
IASS sponsored topics and organisers below. Other professional meetings that the
IASS is supporting or sponsoring are also listed below. Gordon Brackstone Message from the Scientific Secretary I would like to start with extending my best wishes to all members for 2006. The year 2005 has been an eventful one with highlights such as the ISI Session in Sydney with IASS short courses, and IASS sponsored conferences in New Zealand and Canada. In Europe, we have seen a number of initiatives, both within and outside the IASS, to strengthen survey methodology including the launching of the European Association of Survey Research. I am convinced that 2006 will show continued progress. The IASS already has a number of activities planned. The preparations for the IASS Short Courses in Lisbon have started. I have contacted potential lecturers and also the Local Organising Committee in Lisbon to help find a suitable venue for the Short Courses. The Course package consists of topics such as survey sampling, variance estimation in complex surveys, editing and imputation, survey quality, disclosure control, and design and analysis of repeated surveys. Some additional courses may be added to the list depending on the size of the venue. The IASS is sponsoring a number of conferences. The next conference sponsored by IASS is the European Conference on Quality in Survey Statistics (Q2006) that will take place in Cardiff (Wales) from 24-26 April 2006. The Conference is jointly organised by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Eurostat. The call for abstracts received a very positive response with over 220 abstract submissions, covering a wide range of survey quality topics. In November 2005, the Programme Committee met and decided the conference programme. The Committee selected approximately 140 papers to be presented at the Conference. In addition to the two days of paper presentations, there will be five training courses offered on Monday, 24 April: (1) Quality Management in Statistical Agencies, (2) Small Area Estimation, (3) Sampling and Estimation in Business Surveys, (4) Introduction to Survey Quality, and (4) Practical Tools for Nonresponse Bias Studies. There will also be a Q2006 Satellite Meeting on Data Quality for International Organizations on 27-28 April 2006.You can find the Q2006 programme and other information about the event on the web (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/events/q2006/). Other future meetings of interest to IASS members
include: Lilli Japec Report on IASS Lisbon 2007 Programme Committee List of topics and Organisers: *The impact of new information technologies: on
survey research design; on a totally new information production model.
Organiser: TBA David Steel Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC)
IFC Secretariat hosted by BIS On 10 January 2006, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced that it has agreed to provide the Secretariat for the IFC with immediate effect. The BIS is an international organisation that fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks. The decision, endorsed by the Governors of the BIS shareholding central banks, reflects the fact that statistical data and related methodological issues are becoming increasingly important to central banks, from the perspectives of both monetary and financial stability. In welcoming the decision, the Committee's Chairman Jan Smets, Director at the National Bank of Belgium and alternate Board Member of the BIS, said that he felt it would enhance the Committee's contribution to international cooperation by central banks over the longer run. He also looked forward to enhanced cooperation between the Committee and other Basel-based groups on various statistical issues, as well as to continued interaction with the ISI and its different Committees. New Statutes for the IFC In order to ensure the long-run success of the Committee, and to anchor it
both as an ISI Section and a BIS-sponsored group, the IFC Chairman and
Executive, with the help of a core group of central banks participating in key
BIS meetings, have developed draft statutes. These will be presented to and
discussed with the ISI governing bodies in the course of 2006 (amongst others,
the name of the Committee still needs to be formally agreed). Forthcoming Events The Committee has a number of initiatives planned for the near future, including a workshop on consumer price indices in April this year and a conference on the measurement of the financial position of the household sector in August. It will also contribute to a conference organised by the International Association of Official Statistics in September and organise various meetings at the 56th Session of the ISI.
The IFC Chair and Secretariat meeting at the Bank for International Settlements International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics
Message from the ISBIS President FormationThe International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS) is one of the newest Sections of the International Statistical Institute and was founded in April 2005 during the Sydney Session of the ISI. ISBIS is devoted to the advancement and exchange of knowledge in business, financial and industrial statistics. ISBIS does this by promoting research and applications, and best practice; by enabling technology transfer; and by fostering communication amongst its members. ObjectivesTo promote the advancement and exchange of knowledge in business, financial and industrial statistics; To build international collaboration among statisticians and users of statistics in business, finance and industry; To exchange ideas and information at an international level through conferences, workshops and publications; To encourage links between statisticians from developing and developed countries; To develop and promote relationships among national and regional professional societies or groups involved in activities related to business, financial and industrial statistics. MembershipISBIS membership is open to all individuals and organisations with a professional interest in any aspect of business, financial and industrial statistics, including: Research, teaching, training and consulting; Involvement in the use of statistics in areas such as quality improvement, software development, financial statistics, business and management, etc. ISBIS members pay a basic fee, which entitles them
to the benefits of belonging to an international community of statisticians.
They receive a number of publications, including the ISI Newsletter. They may
also subscribe to the International Statistical Review (ISR) at a discounted
price. Furthermore, they may subscribe to future ISBIS journals or publications
at discounted prices. Members also benefit from reduced registration fees for
regular conferences such as ISI Sessions, and other ISBIS organised meetings.
ExecutiveThe Society is run by an Executive Committee with
the help of a Council. The Executive and Council are elected for two years. The
current Executive and Council members are given below. Membership Drive:Since ISBIS is a new Society our first priority is
to attract people to become members. The individual membership form is provided
on the website. Interested persons can download the form and fax the filled-in
form to the ISI Permanent Office as directed in the form. We have made
announcements in several professional societies, and sent e-mails to many people
around the world for individual membership. People are beginning to sign up. If
you are already a member of the ISI, you can become a member of ISBIS
free-of-charge by sending an e-mail to Margaret in the ISI Office (@cbs.nl), provided you are not a member of another Section. If you are
already a member of another Section, you can add ISBIS membership for a small
fee. Journal CommitteeISBIS is looking into the possibility of having a journal for the Society. There have been some initial discussions and a small committee is looking into this issue. ISBIS-5 Lima, Peru The Fifth International Symposium on Business and
Industrial Statistics (ISBIS5), organised by ISBIS, was held from 11-13 January
2006 in Lima, Peru. ISBIS5 is a follow-up conference to the Fourth International
Symposium on Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS4), which was held in
Cairns, Australia, last year. The official languages of the Conference are English and Spanish. The first two days of the Symposium will feature parallel sessions in English and Spanish. The English language portion is organised by Bovas Abraham, Soren Bisgaard, and Geoff Vining. Thus far, 22 English sessions have already been organised. San Marcos is co-ordinating the Spanish language portion. The plenary sessions in English will be translated into Spanish and vice versa. The third day of the Conference will bring together the English and Spanish portions and will consist of three two-hour panel presentations. The purpose of these panels is to facilitate a dialogue about (i) Future of Quality Technology, Business and Industrial Statistics, (ii) Six Sigma, and (iii) Business and Industrial Statistics in Latin America and beyond. Sessions in ISI-2007 ISBIS is sponsoring several invited sessions at the ISI Lisboa Session.
ISBIS-2007: August 18-20, Azores ISBIS is planning a Satellite Meeting to the ISI Biennial Session in Lisbon, Portugal. This Meeting will be held in Azores, hosted by the University of Azores. The dates are August 18-20, 2007. Details will be announced as they become available. You may contact Bovas Abraham for further information (babraham@uwaterloo.ca). Back to the content of this Newsletter |
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Bernoulli 
