Newsletter Volume 30 No. 3 (90) 2006 -ISI Sections

		Editorial Address	Arnoldo Frigessi, Section of Biostatistics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1122 Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway Tel: +4722851004; Fax: +4722851313 E-mail: frigessi@medisin.uio.no
		President	Peter Jagers, Chalmers University of Technology S-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden Phone: +46 31 772 35 20 (office); Fax: +46 31 772 35 08 (office) E-mail: jagers@math.chalmers.se
		Website	http://isi.cbs.nl/bs.htm For information, see also the website of Bernoulli News at http://isi.cbs.nl/bnews/index.html

Professor Holger Rootzén has been enthusiastically appointed as Editor of Bernoulli journal. He succeeds Peter McCullagh, who has been leading the journal after Ole E. Barndorff-Nielsen (1995-2000) and Willem R. van Zwet (2000-2003). We are very thankful to Peter for his enthusiasm and excellent work of the past several years. Holger Rootzén is Professor in Mathematical Statistics at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden. Among his many and broad scientific interests, we mention stochastic processes, statistics, extreme values, image analysis, data traffic modelling, financial risk, applications in engineering, medicine and industry. Holger has been Editor of the journal Extremes since 1996 and served as Associated Editor for Annals of Applied Probability, Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Stochastic Processes and their Applications. Take a look at his web page for more information: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~rootzen/. We wish Holger success in this new activity!

The BS has several permanent committees. You are welcome to join their activities!
• Committee for Conferences on Stochastic Processes
• Committee of Stochastic Science Institutes
• The Committee on Probability and Statistics in the Physical Sciences
• East Asian and Pacific Regional Committee
• European Regional Committee
• Latin American Regional Chapter

The ISI, the Bernoulli Society and the IMS announce joint membership. In 2006, a joint membership option for all ISI/BS/IMS members was introduced at a rate of €131 per year, which represents a considerable discount over the combined individual membership rates. This membership includes a subscription to the Bernoulli journal. Only existing qualified ISI members may apply for joint ISI/BS/IMS membership. If you are not an ISI member but would like information as to how you can become a member, please contact Mrs. Ann Daniels (@cbs.nl). To register as an ISI/BS/IMS member, you can make use of the application form available at: http://isi.cbs.nl/bern_ims_isi-form.htm.

Séminaire Européen de Statistique 2007 on Statistics for Stochastic Differential Equation Systems, La Manga del Mar Menor, May 6-12, 2007

This summer school is organised by the European Mathematical Society together with the European Regional Committee of the Bernoulli Society. Courses will be delivered by Valentine Genon-Catalot (Paris), Jean Jacod (Paris), Alexander Lindner (Munich), Per Mykland (Chicago), Gareth Roberts (Lancaster), Michael Sørensen (Copenhagen), Andrew Stuart (Warwick) and Lan Zhang (Chicago). The summer school is intended for up to 40 Postdocs and PhD students interested in the subject. Contributed talks or poster presentations are possible. The summer school is funded by the European Commission, which will cover major parts of travel and living expenses. Applications including CV, list of publications, a short letter of reference and optionally the title and abstract for a proposed presentation should be sent electronically to semstat@upct.es by January 19, 2007. More information is available at www.dmae.upct.es/semstat2007/.

The 5^th International Conference on Lévy Processes: Theory and Applications Copenhagen, August 13-17, 2007

Satellite Summer School on Lévy Processes: Theory and Applications, Sandbjerg (Denmark), August 9-12, 2007

The following speakers have agreed to give talks: Victor Perez Abreu (Mexico), Soren Asmussen (Aarhus), Jean Bertoin (Paris VI), Loic Chaumont (Paris VI), Serge Cohen (Toulouse), Rama Cont (ENS Paris), Giulia Di Nunno (Oslo), Ron Doney (Manchester), Vicky Fasen (TU Munich), Niels Richard Hansen (Copenhagen), Henrik Hult (Brown), Niels Jacob (Swansea) Jean Jacod (Paris VI), Anders Tolver Jensen (Copenhagen), Ingemar Kaj (Uppsala), Jan Kallsen (TU Munich), Davar Khosnevisan (Utah), Claudia Kluppelberg (TU Munich), Andreas Kyprianou (Heriot-Watt), Jean-Francois Le Gall (Paris VI), Alexander Lindner (TU Munich), Filip Lindskog (KTH Stockholm), Makoto Maejima (Keio), Tina Marquardt (TU Munich), Mark Meerschaert (Otago), Bernt Oksendal (Oslo), Martijn Pistorius (King's College), Philip Protter (Cornell), Sid Resnick (Cornell), Holger Rootzen (Chalmers), Jan Rosinski (Knoxville), Francois Roueff (ENST/TSI), Gennady Samorodnitsky (Cornell), Ken-iti Sato (Nagoya), Rene Schilling (Marburg), Thomas Simon (d'Évry-Val d'Essonne), Philippe Soulier (Paris X), Donatas Surgailis (Vilnius), Jeannette Woerner (Goettingen), Ymin Xiao (Michigan State).

7^th Bernoulli Society World Congress and the 71^stInstitute of Mathematical Statistics Annual Meeting (BCIMS08), to be held in Singapore from July 14 to 19, 2008

The Seventh Joint Meeting of the Bernoulli Society and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics will take place in Singapore from July 14 to 19, 2008. This quadrennial Joint Meeting is a major worldwide event featuring the latest scientific developments in the fields of statistics and probability and their applications.

The programme will cover a wide range of topics and will include about a dozen plenary lectures presented by leading specialists. In addition, there will be invited paper sessions highlighting topics of current research interest, as well as many contributed talks and posters.

The venue for the Meeting is the National University of Singapore. Singapore is a vibrant, multi-cultural, cosmopolitan city-state that expresses the essence of today's New Asia. The BS World Congress is jointly organised by the Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, Department of Mathematics and Institute for Mathematical Sciences of the National University of Singapore. Louis Chen chairs the Local Organising Committee and Ruth Williams chairs the Scientific Programme Committee. The Scientific Programme Committee includes Vivek Borkar (Tata Institute, India), Peter Bühlmann (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Louis Chen (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Jim Fill (Johns Hopkins University, USA), Arnoldo Frigessi (University of Oslo, Norway), Peter Green (University of Bristol, UK), Peter Hall (University of Melbourne, Australia), Steve Lalley (University of Chicago, USA), Petr Lansky (Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic), Jean-François Le Gall (ENS and University of Paris XI, France), Makoto Maejima (Keio University, Japan), Andrew Nobel (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), Marta Sanz-Solé (University of Barcelona, Spain), Qi-Man Shao (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China and University of Oregon, USA), Bernard Silverman (University of Oxford, UK), Mike Steel (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Maria Eulalia Vares (CBPF, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Ruth Williams (University of California at San Diego, USA – Chair), Henry Wynn (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK), Keith Worsley (McGill University, Canada), Bin Yu (University of California at Berkeley, USA).

Abraham, R. and Delmas, J.-F.: Asymptotics for the small fragments of the fragmentation at nodes.

Aoyama, T. and Maejima, M.: Characterizations of subclasses of type G distributions on R^d by stochastic integral representations.

Azzalini, A. and Genton, M.G.: On Gauss' characterization of the normal distribution.

Bentkus, V., Jing, B.-Y., Shao, Q.-M. and Zhou, W.: Limiting distributions of the non-central t-statistic and their applications to the power of t-tests under non-normality.

Bojdecki, T., Gorostiza, L.G. and Talarcxyk, A.: Occupation time fluctuations of an infinite variance branching system in large dimensions.

Briand, P., Lepeltier, J.P. and San Martín, J.: One-dimensional BSDE's whose coefficient is monotonic in y and non-Lipschitz in z.

Cai, T.T., Low, M.G. and Zhao, L.H.: Tradeoffs between global and local risks in nonparametric function estimation.

Cohen, S. and Rosiński, J.: Gaussian approximation of multivariate Lévy processes with applications to simulation of tempered stable processes.

Cosma, A., Scaillet, O. and von Sachs, R.: Multivariate wavelet-based shape preserving estimation for dependent observations.

Cox, A.M.G. and Hobson, D.G.: A unifying class of Skorokhod embeddings: connecting the Azéma–Yor and Vallois embeddings.

Haeusler, E. and Segers, J.: Assessing confidence intervals for the tail index by Edgeworth expansions for the Hill estimator.

Klüppelberg, C., Kuhn, G. and Peng, Liang: Estimating the tail dependence function of an elliptical distribution.

Manstavičius, M.: Hausdorff-Besicovitch dimension of graphs and p-variation of some Lévy processes.

Moulines, E., Roueff, F., Souloumiac, A. and Trigano, T.: Nonparametric inference of photon energy distribution from indirect measurements.

Pons, O.: Estimation of absolutely continuous distributions for censored variables in two-sample nonparametric and semi-parametric models.

Puig, P. and Valero, J.: Characterization of count data distributions involving additivity and binomial subsampling.

International Association for Official Statistics

		Editorial Address	Paul J. Crowley, Senior Statistician, Business Statistics Integration & International Relations, Central Statistics Office, Ireland Tel: +353-21-4535501 Fax: +353-21-4535433 E-mail: paul.j.crowley@cso.ie
		President	Brian N. Pink, Government Statistician, Statistics New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand Tel: +64-49314606; Fax: +64-49314882 E-mail: brian.pink@stats.govt.nz
		Website	http://www.stats.govt.nz/iaos

Readers are encouraged to visit the IAOS http://www.stats.govt.nz/iaos for the latest information on IAOS activities. The website is updated on a regular basis. Comments or suggestions for improving the content and design of the website can be sent to iaos@stats.govt.nz.

The IAOS is a Section of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), which was founded in 1885 and is one of the oldest international scientific associations functioning today. The IAOS is an international organisation that brings together both the producers and users of official statistics. Its objectives are to promote the understanding, use and advancement of official statistics and to foster the development of effective and efficient official statistical services on a global basis.

2006 IAOS Conference - People on the Move: Measuring Environmental, Social and Economic Impacts Within and Between Nations

The 2006 IAOS Conference was hosted by Statistics Canada in Canada's capital city, Ottawa, from 6^th to 8^th September. The Conference Programme focused on issues associated with measuring the environmental, social and economic impacts of people on the move, both within and between nations. The principle themes covered in the Conference were:
• The Statistical Infrastructure Needed to Understand Sub-national Population Changes
• Economies Without Borders
• Communities That Cross National Boundaries

A number of sessions, dealing with various aspects of these themes, were held during the three-day Conference. The sessions dealt with the following topics:

• Monitoring internal migration, including the measurement of highly mobile people in populations;
• Aging as an accelerator of regional population shifts;
• Challenges in understanding the impacts of international migration;
• Challenges in compiling migration statistics;
• The growth in international services;
• The effects of Foreign Direct Investment;
• Environmental Economy Links;
• International Cooperation between National Statistical Offices;
• Small area data for investment decisions;
• Remittances as a National Income source - Financial Aspects of Migration;
• Integration of migrants into their new country;
• International Demography;
• Challenges in Social Statistics.

Approximately 280 delegates from over 40 countries attended the Conference. There were also representatives from a number of international organisations, including the European Commission, World Bank, IMF, ILO, World Trade Organization, OECD, UNECE and UNESCO.
The Conference was opened jointly by Mr. Ivan Fellegi, Chief Statistician of Canada, and Mr. Brian Pink, Government Statistician, New Zealand. The importance of this Conference was stressed by both speakers. Such an event provides a forum for both official statisticians and the users of official statistics to interact and discuss a range of issues of importance. Secondly, it allows official statisticians to speak on professional issues in a personal capacity without the constraint of having to present or represent an official national position.

The Conference was addressed by two keynote speakers: Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland and Mr. Donald J. Johnston.
Dr. Brundtland is the Director-General Emeritus of the World Health Organization and a former Prime Minister of Norway. She also chaired the World Commission on the Environment and Development, which popularised the concept of sustainable development in its landmark report Our Common Future published in 1987.
Mr. Donald J. Johnston is the retiring Secretary-General of the OECD and has also served in a number of positions in the Canadian Government.
Both of the keynote speakers acknowledged the importance of statistics and the role of information in the decision-making process. The role of official statistics is to provide objective and impartial information upon which society can make judgments. It was essential that people have good quality information and sound evidence when making decisions. Official statistics have an important role to play in this process and provides policy makers the evidence upon which decisions can be taken.
The 2006 IAOS Ottawa Conference website (www.iaos2006conf.ca) will shortly contain all papers presented at the Conference.
The Executive would like to thank Statistics Canada for hosting the event and the Organising Committee for organising an excellent and well organised Conference.

An update on the content of the IAOS Programme for the 2007 ISI Session will be presented in the next issue of this Newsletter.

The IAOS is pleased to announce a competition for young official statisticians. The purpose of the competition is to encourage more young official statisticians to take an active interest in the activities of the IAOS. The competition is for the best paper in the field of official statistics written by young official statisticians.
Prize
The Author(s) of the best paper will be awarded the following prize:
• A cash prize valued at €1,500;
• Invitation to the ISI Session in Lisbon, Portugal, in August 2007;
• Airfare and Hotel Accommodation for the ISI Session;
• An opportunity to present their paper at the Session;
• 2 years of IAOS membership;
• A certificate of award from the IAOS acknowledging their success in this competition.

The Executive has decided to award additional prizes to those in second and third place, respectively. The awards shall comprise:
• 2^nd Place - Prize valued at €1000, 2 years of IAOS membership and certificate;
• 3^rd Place - Prize valued at €500, 2 years of IAOS membership and certificate.

Conditions
There is no restriction with respect to the topic. The paper may not exceed ten pages. The paper will be judged by an international panel with President-Elect Olav Ljones as the Chair. The adjudication panel for the prize will make their recommendations of the best paper based on the following:
• Scientific merit;
• Originality;
• Applicability of ideas in statistical offices; and
• Quality of the exposition.
The decision of the panel will be final. To be eligible, you must:
be under the age of 35 on 1 January 2007;
be employed by an official statistics agency; and
be prepared to travel to Lisbon in August 2007 to present the paper.

Deadline for submission of papers
Submission of papers for the 2007 competition is now called. If you are interested, please send your paper, preferably in MSWord format, to sharleen.forbes@stats.govt.nz. If you have any questions, she will be happy to assist you.
The deadline for submissions is 28 February 2007.
The winner will be announced by the end of April 2007 and will have an opportunity to present the paper in one of the IAOS session, at the 56^thISI Session in Lisbon (22-29 August 2007).

Future activity will be concerned with the organisation of the 2008 IAOS Conference (venue will be announced in the next issue of the Newsletter) and the 2009 ISI Session in South Africa. The 2008 Conference will incorporarate the SCORUS Conference and is likely to take place in October 2008. Members who may have suggestions about the 2008 and 2009 Conferences are invited to send their comments to the President, Brian Pink, or the President-Elect, Olav Ljones.

1. 2007 ISI Session, August 2007, Lisbon, Portugal
2. 2008 IAOS - to be announced
3. 2009 ISI Session, August 2009, Durban, South Africa
If you have any suggestions on items for inclusion in future editions of the Newsletter, please contact Paul J. Crowley, Editor.

Standing Committee on Regional and Urban Statistics

www.scorusnet.com

The 25^th SCORUS Conference on Regional and Urban Statistics and Research was held at Wrocław University of Economics in Poland under the theme Globalization Impact on Regional and Urban Statistics
A full schedule of presentations, an excellent social programme, and the opportunity to discuss common interests with distant colleagues resulted in another successful SCORUS Conference. We extend our thanks to our hosts Wrocław University of Economics and Józef Dziechciarz for their support. Special thanks go to Anna Król, Local Organiser, and Dev Virdee, Scientific Programme Chair, for all their work in preparing for the Conference.

With the 25^thSCORUS Conference, we celebrate the beginning of the 50^th year of activities in the ISI, focused on urban and regional statistics. The Conference opened with keynote presentations by Bogulsaw Fiedor (Wrocław University of Economics, Poland), Brian Pink (Statistics New Zealand, New Zealand), Dominka Felczak (Central Statistical Office, Poland) and Derek Bond (University of Ulster, United Kingdom).

Following the keynote presentations, Derek Bond, current Chair of the SCORUS Steering Committee, presided over a session on 50 years of SCORUS. Erhard Hruschka took us through our history within the ISI, underscoring the varying titles and relationships this group has had over the years. Brian Pink provided a perspective of the challenges facing us in the years to come while Asta Manninen, Berthold Feldman, Huang Langhui and Wendy Thomas provided the perspectives of the role of urban and regional statistics in regional decision-making and the national development processes in the European Community, China and the United States.

The three days of topical sessions raised issues for future discussions and cooperative work, as well as new areas of research to explore. We examined the growing interest in urban statistics, the challenges of collecting comparable data, the development of valuable indexes, and harmonizing definitions, including a definition of the term “urban” itself. There was also continued interest in attracting new members in varying parts of the world and in developing closer connections with national level organisations. Of particular interest was a session chaired by Huang Langhui (National Bureau of Statistics, China) and presented by members of the Chinese delegation on the role of urban and regional statistics in city development and comparison within China.

The closing session discussed where we need to direct our attention in the coming years. It was noted that most of the current sessions focused on the urban component of our name and that we need to start taking a closer look at the rising importance of rural regions and their relationship to urban zones. In conjunction with this, an increased interest in the use of spatial analysis and the need for consistent spatial definitions and coding should continue to be part of the SCORUS programme. The development of a strong conceptual framework for geographic dimensions needs to involve a broad range of participants and must be a structure that covers developing equally well.

“I think the most important part of the Conference is discussion. Exchange of thought…exchange of ideas.”
-- Józef Dziechciarz

The SCORUS Steering Committee met during the course of the Conference and plans were discussed for the next SCORUS Conference to take place in October 2008. At the Wrocław Meeting of SCORUS, the names of the main office holders for the 2007-2009 session were agreed and announced in general session. They are:
Chair: Dominic Leung; Vice-Chair: Dev Virdee; Secretary: Wendy Thomas; Treasurer: Leili Lankinen.

11^th Annual Berlin SCORUS Conference 2007: Statistics and the Help of Young People in Big Cities,
8-10 January 2007, Wannsee Forum

Labour Market: Working Places and Working Possibilities
After 10 successful meetings, the Statistics and the Help of Young People in Big Cities begins its second decade under the organisation and care of Eckart Elsner. This intimate Conference provides a unique opportunity to share ideas and build international networks with others interested in the lives of young people in urban settings. The Conference is still accepting contributions, but please act quickly. Additional information can be found on the SCORUS website or by contacting Dr. Elsner at profelsner@aol.com.

SCORUS is organising two Invited Paper Meetings at the next ISI Session in Lisbon:

IPM19 International comparative city and regional statistics on social cohesion and economic diversity
Organiser: Dominic Leung

International Association for Statistical Computing

		Editorial Address	Paula Brito, Ph.D., IASC Scientific Secretary, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal Tel: (+351) 225571233; Fax: (+351) 225505050 E-mail: mpbrito@fep.up.pt
		President	Gilbert Saporta, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Chaire de Statistique Appliquée, 292 rue Saint Martin, 75141 Paris cedex 03, France Tel: +33-1 40 27 22 68 ; Fax: +33-1 40 27 27 46 E-mail: saporta@cnam.fr
		Website	IASC website: http://www.iasc-isi.org CSDA SSN website: www.csdassn.org

The European Regional Section (ERS) of IASC celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year.
The IASC General Assembly approved the establishment of the European Regional Section during the 43^rd Session of the ISI in Buenos Aires (December 11, 1981). In August 1982, the newly elected members of the Board of Directors (BoD) of ERS, jointly with the old European Regional Committee (ERC) members, held the first meeting in Toulouse during the 5^th COMPSTAT Symposium. The Meeting was chaired by N. Victor, former Chairman of the ERC. During the Meeting John Ashworth Nelder was selected as first ERS Chairman.

The mission of the ERS is to promote European co-operation in pursuing the aims of the IASC. In particular, the ERS-IASC, in the European context, aims to further the progress of theory, methods and practice of statistical computing and to foster interest and knowledge in effective and efficient statistical computing through international contacts among statisticians, computing professionals, organisations, institutions, governments. To achieve its mission the ERS-IASC organises international or regional seminars, conferences, meetings. In particular, the ERS is responsible for arranging European meetings on computational statistics, known as COMPSTAT Meetings. This year, the 17^th COMPSTAT Meeting took place in Rome, gathering around 500 researchers from all over the world (see below for details). The ERS also promotes Summer Schools in different topics, and has organised 8 editions since 1991. The next Summer School is foreseen for Capua, Italy, in 2007 (see below for details).
Gianfranco Galmacci, former ERS Chairman, is preparing a document on the history and milestones of the ERS. This will be published in a subsequent edition of the Newsletter.

II. Board of Directors of the European Regional Section 2006 – 2010 Election Results

The results of the recent IASC European Board elections for the period 2006-2010 have been the following:
Total number of electors: 315
Total number of ballot papers received: 109 (35%)
Those elected were:
Chairman-Elect:
Erricos Konthogiorgues (University of Cyprus, Cyprus)
Members of the BoD:
Paula Brito (University of Porto, Portugal);
Andrew Westlake (consultant, UK);
Vladimir Batagelj (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia);
Rosaria Lombardo (Second University of Naples, Italy);
Abdelkader Djamel Zighed (University of Lyon 2, France).
The IASC European Section Election Committee was formed by Tomàs Aluja (Chairman), John Hinde and Martin Theus.

The IASC Asian Regional Section (ARS) now has a new and interesting web page, to be found at http://www.iasc-ars.org/ The ARS is composed of the members of the IASC residing in Asia. The Officers of the Board of Directors are Wing Kam Fung (Chairperson, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China), Yutaka Tanaka (Past Chairperson, Nanzan University, Japan, Moon Yul Huh (Chairperson-Elect, SungKyunKwan University, Korea) and Philip Leung-ho Yu (Scientific Secretary, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China).

The 17^th Conference of ERS-IASC, the biennial meeting of European Regional Section of the IASC, was held in Rome from August 28-1 September 2006. This Conference took place in Rome exactly 20 years after the 7^th COMPSTAT Symposium held in Rome in 1986.
The Programme of the Conference included: 4 keynote speakers, 14 invited and 7 solicited sessions, 54 contributed sessions for a total of 327 papers and 32 posters. The four keynote speakers were: A. Agresti – Reducing Conservatism of Exact Small-Sample, Y. Escoufier – Operator Related to a Data Matrix: A Survey, M. Greenacre – Tying up the Loose Ends in Simple, Multiple, Joint Correspondence Analysis and G. Kitagawa – Signal Extraction and Knowledge Discovery from Massive Time Series. The Conference included sessions on new advances in computational statistics in statistical software, exploratory data analysis, data mining, pattern recognition, statistical graphics and data visualisation, statistical data bases, and related fields, according to the mission of IASC to link traditional statistical methodology, modern computer technology, and the knowledge of domain experts in order to convert data into information and knowledge.
The Proceedings of the Conference have been published by Springer after a peer-review refereeing process that led to the selection of 182 papers focusing on a wide range of different topics. In particular, the volume of Proceedings has the following chapters: Classification and Clustering, Image Analysis and Signal Processing, Data Visualization, Multivariate Analysis, Web based teaching, Algorithms, Categorical Data Analysis, Data Mining, Biostatistics, Resampling methods, Functional Data Analysis, Time Series Analysis and Spatial Statistics, Nonparametric Statistics and Smoothing, Statistical Software and Optimization algorithms, Computational Bayesian Methods, Computational Methods in Official Statistics, Computational methods in Finance, Industry and Economics, Microarray Data, Statistical Education.

Over 550 participants attended this Conference coming from a broad number of countries around world.
An exhibition of ancient books, with a guided visit, took place at the library of the Department of Statistics, Probability and Applied Statistics.

The Social Programme included a reception at Villa Miani, where participants could enjoy a magnificent view over Rome at sunset, a concert at the chuch Santa Maria in Trastevere, an excursion to the beautiful Tivoli Gardens and a Gala dinner.

A tutorial on Data Mining was held by Professor Jerome H. Friedman from Stanford University on August 23, 2006 at the Institute for Statistics and Econometrics at Humboldt-Universität Berlin. Professor Friedman is one of the leading researchers in the field of data mining. There were about fifty participants from different professional fields from all over the world.

The amount of information that is collected for scientific purposes as well as for non-scientific purposes is increasing exponentially. More and more powerful computers and methods of analysis allow for more detailed weather forecasts. The demand for methods that are able to present the data as well as the information that can be taken from the data visual increases along with the amount of data. Modern software allows one to transform even huge amounts of data as needed when applying Bootstrapping, MCMC methods or Data Mining into informative graphics. That was one of the reasons for the Institute of Statistics and Econometrics at Humboldt-Universität at Berlin to give a Workshop on Data and Information Visualization from August 24 until August 25, 2006.

About 70 researchers attended this Workshop. The participants had the possibility to hear talks held by the authors of the Handbook of Data Visualization, which will be published next year in April. The Workshop was a good combination of interesting talks and constructive discussions. The participants had the possibility to exchange experiences and continue the discussions on a boat trip through Berlin, which also provided an opportunity to view some sightseeing spots close to the River Spree and the Landwehr Channel. All of the participants were satisfied with the results of the Workshop and some are even looking forward to the next visit in Berlin.

Professor Antony Unwin, University of Augsburg, Editor of the Handbook of Data Visualization
during the boat tour.

VI. Eighth Workshop of the ERCIM Working Group on Matrix Computations and Statistics

The Eighth Workshop of the ERCIM Working Group on Matrix Computations and Statistics took place in Salerno, Italy, on September 2-3, 2006. The Workshop was a satellite meeting of COMPSTAT 2006, the seventeenth Conference of IASC-ERS, and is associated with Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, the official journal of IASC. More details can be found on the Workshop web page, http://www.dimat.unina2.it/ercim/8thworkshop.html.

The Workshop aimed at bringing together researchers and practitioners working in the interface of Numerical Linear Algebra and Statistics. This includes the adaptation of recent advances in Scientific Computing, Algorithms and Software Tools in order to tackle Large-Scale Statistical Applications. The fifth and the seventh ERCIM WG Workshops were satellite meetings of the COMPSTAT 2004 and IASC-CSDA 2005 Conferences, respectively.
The Workshop is the result of the efforts of the Scientific Programme Committee, the Organising Committee and a few volunteers.

Scientific Programme Committee Co-Chairs:
Stanley P. Azen, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA; Daniela di Serafino, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy; Erricos J. Kontoghiorghes, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus; Bernard Philippe, INRIA/IRISA, Rennes, France.

Committee Members:
Alessandra Amendola (Italy), Moon Huh (Korea), Jesse Barlow (USA), Michele La Rocca (Italy), David Belsley (USA), Jae Chang Lee (Korea), Xiao-Wen Chang (Canada), Jan Magnus (The Netherlands), Claudio Conversano (Italy), Jacqueline Meulman (The Netherlands), Renato Coppi (Italy), Stephen Pollock (UK), Pasqua D'Ambra (Italy), Tommaso Proietti (Italy), Lars Elden (Sweden), Marco Riani (Italy), Paolo Foschi (Italy), Gerardo Toraldo (Italy), Christian Gatu (Switzerland), Petko Yanev (Switzerland), Manfred Gilli (Switzerland), Peter Winker (Germany), Gene Golub (USA), Achim Zeileis (Austria), John Gower (UK), Zahari Zlatev (Denmark), Patrick Groenen (The Netherlands).

Organising Committee:
Daniela di Serafino (Chair), Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy; Alessandra Amendola, University of Salerno, Fisciano (SA), Italy; Pasqua D'Ambra, ICAR-CNR, Naples, Italy; Michele La Rocca, University of Salerno, Fisciano (SA), Italy

Volunteers:
Stefano Angelone, Second University of Naples; Dora Cerbone, University of Salerno; Maria Luisa Restaino, University of Salerno; Filippo Riccio, Second University of Naples.

The Workshop was supported by the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM), the International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC), the International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (IMACS), the Italian Statistical Society (SIS), the Second University of Naples, the Department of Mathematics of the Second University of Naples, the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of the Second University of Naples, the University of Salerno, the Department of Economics and Statistics of the University of Salerno, the Institute for High-Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR), CN.

The Scientific Programme consisted of 4 plenary sessions, each with an invited keynote talk, and 12 parallel sessions, for a total of 55 contributed talks. The speakers included not only members of the ERCIM Working Group but also many non-members, comprising people from countries outside Europe. Around 80 participants attended the Workshop.

The following keynote talks were given:
“Bayesian Parameter Estimation for Underdetermined Large-Scale Systems Arising from Cellular Metabolic Models” by
Daniela Calvetti (Department of Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA); “Two-way and Three-way Fuzzy Clustering”, by Renato Coppi (Department of Statistics, Probability and Applied Statistics, University of Rome La Sapienza", Italy); “Matrix Calculus and Statistics” by Jan Magnus (CentER, Tilburg University, The Netherlands); “Polynomial Algebra, Matrix Algebra and Linear Filters” by Stephen Pollock (Department of Economics, Queen Mary College, London, UK.
Two special meetings will be held during the Workshop: ERCIM Working Group Meeting (Discussion on the current status and the future directions of the Working Group); Ph.D. Honoris Causa Ceremony: Stanley P. Azen, Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC), received a Ph.D. Honoris Causa in Engineering and Economics of Innovations from the University of Salerno in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Biomedicine.

Two social events have been organized:
Reception in honour of Professor Stanley P. Azen, at the Palazzo Arcivescovile, in the Sala degli Stemmi, after the Ph.D. Honoris Causa Ceremony; Gala Dinner at the Arechi Castle, which is located on Bonadies hill, 300 meters above the sea level, and which offers spectacular views of the town and the gulf of Salerno.

The KNEMO’06 (KNowledge Extraction and MOdelling) International Workshop takes place in Anacapri (Italy), from September 4^th-6^th (www.knemo.unina.it). The Workshop, a satellite meeting of the COMPSTAT’06 Conference, was organised by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of Naples “Federico II” with the scientific sponsorship of the IASC (International Association for Statistical Computing), the INTERFACE Foundation of North America and the IFCS (International Federation of Classification Societies).
The objective of the Workshop was to give an overview of 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.
Namely, the Workshop was 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, where the challenge consists in considering the interaction between Knowledge Extraction and Modelling along two possible directions: Knowledge Extraction from Models and Knowledge Extraction by Modelling.

The Steering Committee of the Workshop was made up of:
Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi – Co-Chairman
Carlo Lauro – Co-Chairman
Amy Braverman (as the INTERFACE representative)
Henk A.L. Kiers (as the IFCS representative)
Michael G. Schimek (as the IASC representative).
The Organising Committee was made up of members from the University of Naples “Federico II”, the University of Cassino and the University of Macerata in Italy.
The Workshop enjoyed the attendance of 94 participants from 19 different countries. The Scientific Programme of the Workshop comprised 55 contributions presented during 15 plenary sessions organised as follows:
• 1 Keynote Lecture session on:
Mixture-Model Cluster Analysis and Genetic Algorithms
Functional Data Analysis
Extraction of Metadata
• 5 Invited Papers Sessions on:
Model Selection and Assessment
Data Mining Solutions 1 & 2
Data Analysis Issues
Three-Way Clustering and Segmentation
• 3 Specialized Topics Sessions on:
Extracting Information on Complex Data from Models
PLS Path Modelling & Multilevel Models: Studying or Looking for a Group Structure
The Analysis of Complex Biological Systems
• 6 Contributed Papers Sessions on:
Discrimination and Clustering Approaches
Time Series, Dynamic Data and Markov Process
PLS Regression, Path Modelling and Generalized Linear Models
Developments in Multivariate and Factor Analysis
Model Choice
Application of Statistical Methods and Models

The closing event of the Workshop was a Round Table for discussing the theme: “Knowledge Extraction & Modelling: What’s Next?”. The discussion will be moderated by C. Lauro. The discussants will be: S. Azen, H. Bozdogan, H.A.L. Kiers, G. McLachlan, A. Morineau, J. Ramsay, G. Saporta, M.G. Schimek, E.J. Wegman.
A Book of Abstracts has been printed and delivered to all participants together with a CD-ROM comprising the full papers sent by the Authors. Authors of a few selected papers will be encouraged to submit their papers for publication in Computational Statistics and Data Analysis (CSDA) - the official journal of the IASC.

VIII. International Conference on “Statistical Latent Variables Models in the Health Sciences”

The International Conference on “Statistical Latent Variables Models in the Health Sciences” took place in Perugia, Italy, on September 6^th-8^th, as a satellite meeting of the COMPSTAT’06 Conference. The primary objective of the Conference was 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 would be biostatisticians, psychometricians and public health professionals active in the field of Latent Variable modelling and related methods.

The meeting was 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. The Conference was an occasion for people to present new ideas as well as problems that are worth considering for further investigation, special attention was given to encourage graduate students and new researchers to participate. The Conference had 103 participants coming from 20 different countries.
The Organising Committee was formed by the following persons: Mounir Mesbah (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France), Antonio Forcina (University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy) and Mei-Ling Ting Lee (The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA).
The members of the Scientific Committee were: David Cox, Peter van der Heijden, Svend Kreiner, Sophia Rabe-Hesketh, James Robins Harward, Nozer Singpurwalla, Elena Stanghellini, George Alex Whitmore and Zhiliang Ying.
Invited talks were addressed by David Cox (Oxford University, UK), James Robins (Harvard School of Public Health, USA), Sharon-Lise Normand (Harvard School of Public Health, USA), Nanny Wermuth (Chalmers/Gothenburg University, Sweden), Martin Crowder (Imperial College, London, UK), Geert Molenberghs (Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium), Irini Mustaki (Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece), Philip Hougaard (Biostatistics Department, International Clinical Research, Danemark) and Z. Ying (Columbia University, USA).
Abstracts of Invited and Contributed Papers have been collected in a booklet available at http://www.stat.unipg.it/shlav/book.pdf.

IX. IASC-ERS Summer School on Data Mining and Statistical Learning Techniques, 2007

An IASC-ERS Summer School on Data Mining and Statistical Learning Techniques will take place in Italy from September 3^rd until September 7^th, 2007. The Summer School is locally organised by the Second University of Naples, the University of Naples “Federico II”, the University of Orientale and the University of Benevento; Professor Rosaria Lombardo (Faculty of Economics of the Second University of Naples) is the Chairperson.
In the context of the Data Mining process, the main goal is to discover knowledge from large database using statistical learning techniques. Parametric (Bayesian) and non-parametric (non-linear) regression models, classification and regression trees can address to identify special patterns and/or the basic nature of the underlying phenomena, permitting to aggregate or amalgamate the information contained in large data-sets into smaller manageable information nuggets, for prediction and prevision final aims. A strong emphasis will be given to case studies and live applications on PCs.

The IASC-ERS school is intended to achieve postgraduate training in special areas of statistics. The participants are expected to have a good background in statistics at the Ph.D. level, although not necessarily oriented to the subject of the course. Also, professionals working in industry interested in Data Mining are invited to participate.
The participation of young researchers is favoured through scholarships that will be limited and granted according to strict criteria.
For further information, please contact Professor Rosaria Lombardo, rosaria.lombardo@unina2.it.

X. IASC International Conference on Statistics for Data Mining, Learning and Knowledge Extraction – Aveiro, Portugal, 2007

The International Conference on Statistics for Data Mining, Learning and Knowledge Extraction, a Satellite Conference of the 56^th Session of the ISI, will take place in Aveiro, Portugal, on the 30^th, 31^st August and 1^stSeptember 2007. The purpose of this Meeting is to foster the interaction of researchers in the interface between computational statistics, data mining, knowledge discovery and statistical learning.
The Meeting will consist of invited lectures, specialised sessions, contributed papers, posters and software demonstrations. Contributions related to the following list of topics are welcome:
Aggregation of predictors (bagging, boosting ....), Association rules, Business Intelligence, Classification and Discrimination, Clustering, Computational Statistics, Data streams and dynamic data mining, Data warehousing, Data mining for social network analysis and graph-structured data, Data Visualization, Dimensionality Reduction, Foundations of data mining, Functional Data Analysis, Interactive and online data mining, KDD framework and process, Knowledge management, Machine Learning including feature selection and feature construction, learnability and separability, Metadata and Data Representation, Mining complex and multimedia data, Multivariate Data Analysis, Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms, Pattern Recognition, Quality measures, Robust Data Mining, Sampling in huge data bases, Search engines, Software, Statistical Matching, Missing Data, Imputation, Support Vector Machine, Textual Data Analysis and Information Retrieva, Web Mining.

The Conference’s Scientific Committee is formed by Carlo Lauro (Universita' degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II”, Italy) and Gilbert Saporta (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, France), as Co-Chairs, and also Jaromir Antoch (Charles University, Czech Republic), Stanley P. Azen (University of Southern California, USA), Tu Bao Ho (Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan), Pavel Brazdil (University of Porto, Portugal), Paula Brito (University of Porto, Portugal), Paolo Giudici (Università di Pavia, Italy), Erricos Kontoghiorghes (University of Cyprus, Cyprus), Gregory Piatetski-Shapiro (SIGKDD, USA), Edward J. Wegman (George Mason University, USA) and Djamel Zighed (Université Lumière Lyon 2, France). Manuela Souto de Miranda and Carlos Ferreira (Univ. of Aveiro, Portugal) are Co-Chairs of the Local Organising Committee.
The Conference’s invited speakers are Mário Figueiredo (Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal), Donato Malerba (University of Bari, Italy), Gilbert Ritschard (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and Arno Siebes (Utrech University, The Netherlands).

Known as the Venice of Portugal, Aveiro is surrounded by salt-flats, beaches and lagoons, and dominated by the Central Canal running through the town. Famous for its moliceiros - typical fishing boats with gaily painted prows - Aveiro was once a busy and prosperous port town several centuries ago. Aveiro is located 250 km north of Lisbon and 10 km from the Atlantic coastline. The silting up of the entrance to the harbour by deposits brought down by the River Vouga, combined with a build-up of sand from the sea, meant that by the end of the 17^th century, following some exceptionally rough seas, the port became locked. In 1808, a successful attempt was made to pierce an entrance to the sand-bar, but it is unlikely that Aveiro will ever become a major port again. It is a lively city at the focus of an important region of business and enterprise. The City offers a wide choice of entertainment including bars, restaurants, night-clubs, cinemas, theatre and concerts and, of course, there are the thriving Portuguese cafés. If you're looking for history and art, Aveiro has museums, churches, monuments and public buildings of architectural importance and the town is very popular for its gastronomy, fairs and exhibitions.
Founded in 1973, the University of Aveiro is one of Portugal's leading institutions of higher education. It enjoys an excellent reputation for academic excellence, innovation, state-of-the-art technology and cultural intervention. The University has 17 academic Departments offering a full range of innovative taught/research programmes at graduate and postgraduate levels in a number of key areas: Science and Technology; Engineering; Education and Humanities; Communications, Arts and Design; Management, Accountancy and Economics; Planning. Research is carried out in 17 research units coordinated by the Research Institute. Most of Aveiro University facilities are covered by wireless network.
Further information may be found on the Conference web page, http://www.mat.ua.pt/iasc07.

The 18^th COMPSTAT Symposium will take place in Porto, Portugal, on August 24^th-29^th, 2008. The Conference, sponsored by the European Regional Section of the IASC, is locally organised by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (www.fep.up.pt); Paula Brito, IASC Scientific Secretary is the Conference Chair. The Conference logo is a bridge – referring to Porto’s historical bridges – for we hope that COMPSTAT-2008 is a place for making bridges, between disciplines – statistics, computer science, multivariate data analysis, data mining,… and the so many application fields – but also between people, countries and research institutions.
Porto is the second largest town of Portugal. The town has about 300,000 inhabitants, but it is the centre of an urban agglomeration with more than 1.2 million people. It is one of the most important Portuguese cities in what concerns economic activity and a gateway to explore the beautiful northern region of Portugal. It is an attractive town located at the mouth of the River Douro and next to the sea and its historical centre has been considered by UNESCO as being World Heritage. People of Porto are known as being friendly and welcoming as well as dedicated to their traditions and community.
Further information will be posted on the Conference website, www.fep.up.pt/compstat08/.

The Board of Directors of the European Regional Section has accepted the proposal of IASC President to hold COMPSTAT 2010 in Paris. The Meeting will take place from August 23^rd till August 27^th in the premises of Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), located in the heart of Paris.
CNAM is a higher public institution devoted to long life training, founded in 1794 during the French Revolution era by Abbot Grégoire.
COMPSTAT 2010 will be organised by CNAM statisticians with the support of INRIA, the French National Institute for Computer Science.

XIII. The 4^th World Conference on Computational Statistics & Data Analysis of the International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC) and the 6^th Conference of Asian Regional Section of IASC

The Joint Meeting of 4^th World Conference of the IASC and 6^th Conference of the Asian Regional Section of the IASC on Computational Statistics & Data Analysis (IASC2008) will be held at Pacifico Yokohama in Japan on 5^th-8^th December 2008.

The Conference aims to bringing together researchers and practitioners to discuss recent developments in computational methods, methodology and applications in statistics.
The scope of the Conference includes: bioinformatics, biometrics, business statistics, clinical trials, computational-intensive methods, data mining, machine learning, statistical systems, statistics education, quantitative finance, risk analysis, and other areas related to computational statistics.
It is associated with the Computational Statistics & Data Analysis (CSDA), the official journal of the IASC.
E-mail: iasc2008@ism.ac.jp
Website: http://www.iasc-ars.org/IASC2008/

IASC members are invited to submit proposals for suitable topics and Organisers of Invited Paper Meetings to be organised during the 57^th ISI Session (Durban, August 16^th-22^nd, 2009). The proposals shall be sent to the IASC Programme Committee Chairpersons:
Yutaka Tanaka - ytanaka@ms.nanzan-u.ac.jp or
Stan Azen - sazen@usc.edu
or be submitted through http://www.iasc-isi.org/proposal-isi09/ by no later than January 15^th, 2007.
The Committee will rank proposals according to the topics of greatest interest to IASC with special attention to topics not dealt with during the previous ISI Sessions. Moreover, the Committee shall take into account that the final list of Organisers shall include some names from developing and transitional countries and shall have a good gender distribution.

The XII^th Applied Stochastic Models and Data Analysis International Conference, ASMDA2007, will take place in Chania, Crete, on May 29^th to June 1^st, 2007.
Since 1981, the aim of ASMDA has been to serve as an interface between Stochastic Modeling and Data Analysis and their real life applications such as business, finance and insurance, management, production and reliability, biology and medicine. Both theoretical and practical contributions presenting new results and having the potential for solving real-life problems are concerned. More specifically, one main goal of the Symposium is to promote new methods for analysing data, in fields like stochastic modeling, optimization techniques, statistical methods and inference, data mining and knowledge systems, computing-aided decision supports and neural networks. The Symposium will include keynote presentations, invited sessions and regular papers and a poster session. Some papers will be selected for publication in international journals after an extended version has been reviewed. The deadline for paper and invited session submission is December 15^th, 2006. Further information may be found on the Conference web page, http://www.asmda.com/id7.html.

International Association for Statistical Education

	Editorial Addresses		Andrej Blejec, National Institute of Biology, Vecna pot 111 POB 141, Sl-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Tel: +386 1 423 33 88, Fax: +386 1 2412 980 E-mail: andrej.blejec@nib.si and K. Laurence Weldon, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6 Tel: +1 604 291 3667, Fax: +1 604 291 4368 E-mail: weldon@sfu.ca
	President		Gilberte Schuyten, Department Data Analysis University Ghent, H. Dunantlaan 1, B-9000 Gent, Belgium Tel: +32 92 64 63 86, Fax: +32 92 64 64 87 E-mail: gilberte.schuyten@ugent.be Website: http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/members/profile_view_ind.php?id=545
	Website		http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/

Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 2-7 July 2006
Working Cooperatively in Statistics Education

The International Conferences on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS) are the most important means of interchange that the International Association for Statistical Education (IASE) offers to the community of professionals and researchers concerned with statistics education. ICOTS history started 24 years ago when the Education Committee of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) decided to hold an International Conference on Teaching Statistics. The success of ICOTS-1 (1982, Sheffield, UK), ICOTS-2 (1986, Victoria, Canada), ICOTS-3 (1990, Dunedin, New Zealand) demonstrated that statistics teachers felt a strong need to unite, talk and discuss the problems experienced in the course of their daily activities. In the meantime, it gave specialists in statistics, psychology and statistics education a forum to present the results of their research. Since the creation in 1991 of IASE as a Section of the ISI, IASE continued organising ICOTS every four year (ICOTS-4, 1994, Marrakech, Morocco; ICOTS-5, 1998, Singapore; ICOTS-6, 2002, Cape Town, South Africa).

ICOTS-7 ‘Working Cooperatively in Statistics Education’ is the first ICOTS Conference on the South American continent. It was attended by a total of 520 delegates from 55 countries. It was organised in collaboration with the Brazilian Statistical Association (ABE) with support by the American Statistical Association and other institutions (see list on the ICOTS-7 web page).

The high number of Latin American delegates (over 170) reflects the mature state of statistics education in Latin America. Their participation was stimulated by reducing the fees for these delegates and by running some activities in Spanish and Portuguese.

The Conference was a great success thanks to the excellent work by the International Programme Committee and, in particular, by the efforts of Carmen Batanero, Susan Starkings, Lisbeth Cordani, John Harraway and John Shanks, as well as all Topic Organisers and Organisers of contributed papers and of posters. The efficient local organisation and hospitality by Pedro Morettin, Lisbeth Cordani, Pedro Silva, Clelia Toloi, Gilenio Borges, Wilton Bussab and their team, as well as the warm atmosphere and natural beauty of Salvador, resulted in an excellent Conference. Two main results are the beautiful web page managed by John Shanks and the ICOTS-7 Proceedings CD-ROM edited by Allan Rossman and Beth Chance with over 350 papers and 120 posters abstracts. The ICOTS-7 Proceedings will soon be freely accessible via the IASE website on the IASE publication page.

Special Interest Groups of Latin American educators started working one year before ICOTS-7 via Internet forums and met twice during the Conference: SIG1 ‘Training Mathematics teachers to teach Statistics in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries’, SIG 2 ‘Young Latin American researchers in Statistics education’ and SIG 4 ‘Curricular development in Statistics education in Latin America’. Also the exhibition of concrete models in mathematics and statistics of the ‘Laboratório de Ensino de Matemática’ coordinated by Elinalva Vasconcelos attracted many delegates. Special sessions and administrative meetings completed the Programme. In one of these special sessions, the forthcoming ICMI /IASE Study Conference to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, June 30-July 4, 2008, organised in collaboration with ICMI, the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, was announced. Also, several activities of the IASE journal Statistics Education Research Journal (SERJ) were organised by the SERJ Editor Iddo Gal. Two workshops were run: one for current and new referees and the other for prospective authors. In the panel ‘Statistics Education Journals: Cooperating not competing’, the Editors of SERJ, Teaching Statistics and Journal Statistics Education (JSE) discussed how to join efforts.

The theme ‘Working Cooperatively’ has many faces. International cooperation was clearly emphasised in sessions under topic 1 ‘Working cooperatively in Statistics education’, topic 9 ‘An international perspective on Statistics Education’ and in other invited paper sessions. Also, in the seven plenary lectures, speakers enlightened different aspects of ‘working cooperatively’. Statistics education is indeed based on many different disciplines such as statistics, education, mathematics education, psychology, sociology, philosophy which makes interdisciplinary cooperation for research beneficial for the advancement of statistics education research. Recent trends in teaching-learning theories emphasize the role of student activity and social interaction in learning. Cooperative learning is said to stimulate depth of understanding, acquisition of problem-solving skills and formation of positive attitudes toward the subject being taught. The traditional model of teaching as a ‘transmission’ is changing into a ‘transformation’ model of learning.

Following the example of ICOTS-6 in South Africa, where teacher training activities were for the first time organised as a separate stream throughout ICOTS, the Local Organising Committee and in particular Lisbeth Cordani, Lilia Carolina Costa and 20 lecturers and observers organised a series of workshops attended by 60 local school teachers. The active approach of these activities was highly appreciated by the participants and they are looking forward for more. All this was possible thanks to financial support by the American Statistical Association and local support by the Universidade Federal da Bahia and the Instituto Anisio Teixeira. By supporting these local workshops, IASE aims to stimulate statistics education in that part of the world where the conference takes place and aims to attract people to research in statistics education.

During twenty four years of continuous critical work and progress in the field of statistics education, the ICOTS Conferences have provided international fora for those involved in statistics education to exchange their ideas and to present their research and experiences in teaching statistics. This effort is reflected in the seven volumes of ICOTS Proceedings, which now constitute a valuable contribution to statistics education as a research discipline and a desired reference for teachers and researchers. In order to enhance the quality of the papers, the International Programme Committee organised, from ICOTS-6 onwards, a refereeing option for people submitting a paper. The papers presented in the ICOTS-7 Proceedings are the product of the effort of more than 500 educators, statisticians, psychologists, researchers and lecturers. The more than 220 invited papers of the Conference aim to present a synthesis of the main tendencies and developments in statistics education. They have been organised around the following 9 main topics: Working cooperatively in Statistics education, Statistics education at school level, Statistics education at the post-secondary level, Statistics education/training and the workplace, Statistics education and the wider society, Research in Statistics education, Technology in Statistics education, Other determinants & developments in Statistics education, An international perspective on Statistics education. The Proceedings are completed with keynote lectures, about 110 Contributed Papers and about 120 summaries of Posters.

A conference like ICOTS only can happen because of the commitment of a large number of people from around the world who are prepared to freely give much time and effort. We would like to pay tribute to the great support we received from so many people who helped in making the conference such a success.

After having ICOTS Conferences on different continents, next ICOTS-8 will return to Europe where it started in 1982; this time in Slovenia in 2010 at Ljubljana. Please already note the dates in your diary: July 11-16, 2010, we are looking forward to meet you there!
Visit our website at http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/index.php

The theme of the ICOTS-8 Conference will be 'Data and context in statistics education: Towards an evidence-based society.' The venue and dates are now set: Cankarjev Dom Cultural & Congress Centre (http://www.cd-cc.si), Ljubljana, Slovenia, Sunday, July 11–Friday, July 16, 2010.
Andrej Blejec had made the initial proposal and arrangements, and these have now been accepted by the IASE Executive Committee.
Appointments for ICOTS-8 IPC and LOC:
• LOC Chair: Andrej Blejec
• IPC Chair: John Harraway
• Programme Chair: Roxy Peck
• Information Manager: John Shanks
• Scientific Secretary: Helen MacGillivray
• Editor Proceedings: Allan McLean

At a meeting at ICOTS-7 with IASE Executive Members, an expression of interest was received from a Chinese delegation to hold the ICOTS-9 Conference in China in 2014.

• IASE Satellite on Assessing Student Learning in Statistics, 19-21 August 2007, Guimarães, Portugal. Brian Phillips is initial contact. (BPhillips@swin.edu.au)
• IASE sessions at ISI-56, August 22-29, 2007, Lisboa, Portugal. Allan Rossman is initial contact. (arossman@calpoly.edu)
• IASE 2008 Round Table Conference. Carman Batanero is initial contact. (batanero@ugr.es)
• ICOTS-8, 2010: July 11-16, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Andrej Blejec is initial contact. (Andrej.Blejec@nib.si)
• IASE sessions at ISI-57, 2009, Durban. Helen MacGillivray is initial contact. (h.macgillivray@qut.edu.au)
• IASE activities at International Conference on Applied Statistics for Development in Africa - SADA'07, February 26^th-March 2^nd, 2007, Cotonou, Benin.
(http://lma.univ-pau.fr/meet/sada2007/)

STEPS will be launched soon; it will be the first international online community that will connect students undertaking doctoral work in statistics education. The address is: http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~step/.

The Fifth International Research Forum on Statistical Reasoning, Thinking, and Literacy
The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK, August 11-17, 2007
Reasoning about Statistical Inference:
Innovative Ways of Connecting Chance and Data

The Forum's focus will be on informal ideas of inference rather than on formal methods of estimation and tests of significance. This topic is emerging from the presentations and discussions at SRTL-3 and 4 and is a topic of current interest to many researchers as well as teachers of statistics. As new courses and curricula are developed, a greater role for informal types of statistical inference is anticipated, introduced early, revisited often, and developed through use of simulation and technological tools. We encourage research papers that address reasoning about statistical inference at all levels of education, including the professional development of elementary and secondary teachers.

We encourage submission of research papers that address questions such as the following:
1. What are the simplest forms of statistical inference that students can understand?
2. How does reasoning about statistical inference develop from the simplest forms (informal) to the more complex ones (formal)?
3. How can instructional tasks and technological tools be used to promote the understanding of statistical inference?
4. What are sequences of activities that can help student develop a conceptual understanding of statistical inference?
5. What types of misconceptions are found in students’ reasoning about statistical inference?
6. What types of foundational knowledge and reasoning are needed for students to understand and reason about statistical inference?
7. How do students develop an understanding of the language used in describing statistical inference (e.g., significance, confidence)?
8. How does an understanding of statistical inference connect and effect understanding of other statistical concepts?
9. What are useful items and questions to use to assess understanding of statistical inference?

IASE organises several sessions at the 56^th Session of the ISI, to be held in Lisbon from 22-29 August 2007:
• Research on Reasoning about Distribution, Joan Garfield
• How modern technologies have changed the curriculum in introductory courses, Lucette Carter
• Preparing Teachers of Statistics, Allan Rossman
• Research on the Use of Simulation in Teaching Statistics and Probability, Rolf Biehler
• Optimising Internet-based Resources for Teaching Statistics, Ginger Holmes Rowell
• Observational Studies, Confounding and Multivariate Thinking, Milo Schield
• Teaching of Official Statistics, Sharleen Forbes
• Teaching of Survey Statistics, Steve Heeringa
• Studying Variability through Sports Phenomena, TBD
• Use of Symbolic Computing Systems in Teaching Statistics, Zaven Karian
IASE Organising Committee:
Allan J. Rossman (USA) arossman@calpoly.edu
Gilberte Schuyten (Belgium) gilberte.schuyten@UGent.be
Chris Wild (New Zealand) c.wild@auckland.ac.nz

For more information, visit the ISI-56 website at http://www.isi2007.com.pt/ or contact members of the OC.

Local Organiser:
Bruno C. de Sousa (Portugal) bruno@mct.uminho.pt
Theme
This Satellite Conference invites papers on all aspects of assessing student learning in statistics. For example, we expect to have papers on writing effective exam questions, on exam implementation strategies, and on alternative assessment methods such as projects, lab assignments, and writing assignments. We also encourage submissions on how to use assessment to improve student learning, and on developing and administering assessment items to conduct research into student learning. Proceedings will be available free on the publication page of IASE.

In order to improve the usefulness of the ISLP web pages, we are conducting a survey of users and potential users of these web pages. If you have not yet filled out this (anonymous) survey, please go to http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/survey.htm.

For those unfamiliar with the ISLP, its mission is to provide those interested in statistical literacy with information and resources, and to aid them in the development of statistical literacy around the world. Presently, the major focus has been on web pages that list these resources in useful groupings. For each resource, a few sentences are given that describe that item, and complete access or ordering information is given. The emphasis is on items available for free on the Internet.

As you may be aware, the web pages of the International Statistical Literacy Project have been on the Internet for three years now. So, several of the page coordinators have decided to step down. Hence, we are seeking new page coordinators or co-coordinators for several of the pages. In particular, coordinators or co-coordinators are needed for the General Resources, Primary Level, Secondary Level, Adult Learner, Teacher Training, and Journalists and other Mass Media web pages. To explore these pages and the other pages of the website, go to http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/islplist.htm.

We would like to expand the material on the web page (http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/islpart.htm) that has publicly available newspaper and Internet articles and reports (both good and bad) that can be used when teaching statistics. If you have any good articles or reports (especially from countries other than the USA), please submit the articles along with an approximately 3- to 5-sentence paragraph of how they can be used when training teachers to Eunice Goldberg at egoldberg@nl.edu. Make sure to include a complete reference to where the article is located and, if possible, information on who needs to be contacted to get permission to reproduce the article on our website.

Finally, the website mostly contains resources in English. If you know of any applicable resources in a language other than English, please send me (at cblumberg@winona.edu; Fax: +1-507-457-5376) a description of the item in the language of publication. Also, include an English translation of the description. Descriptions of items in English are also welcome and can be sent either to me or to the appropriate page coordinator. (http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/islpcoord.htm).
Please feel free to contact me directly, or by using the (http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/survey.htm) survey form, with any suggestions that you have for the ISLP and its web pages.

Visit the IASE web page: http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase! It is a valuable resource of statistics education information. In past few months, the web page has become richer for the extensive list of links and publications. The “Links” section provides links categorised in several groups: Research, Learning, Assessment, Curriculum Guidelines, Bibliographies, Discussion lists, Indexes and Abstracting Services, Major Journals, Other Journals, Newsletters, Publishers, Datasets, Java Applets, Software, Statistical Calculators, Organisations, International Agencies and Non-Profit Organisations. Each group provides links to interesting and useful pages for statistics educators and researchers. The other interesting link is the “Publications” section with a list of IASE past publications and links to many other sites. Of special interest are the Dissertations in Stats Ed section. IASE is beginning to build what we intend to become a comprehensive archive of doctoral dissertations in Statistics Education. We have to thank Chris Wild for the careful updating and maintenance of the IASE web pages.

CERME 5: Group 5 Stochastic Thinking (Research on probabilistic and statistical thinking)

The Fifth Conference of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME) is a conference organised by the European Society for Research in Education, and is designed to foster a communicative spirit. It deliberately and distinctively moves away from research presentations by individuals towards collaborative group work. Its main feature is to be a number of thematic groups whose members will work together in a common research area. This message refers to one, Group 5, of 15 such groups.
We will have 12 hours over four days in which to meet and progress our work on stochastic thinking. Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed by reviewers, as far as possible chosen from the group of participants in Group 5. The process will NOT be a blind review. If you submit a paper to Group 5, you are likely to be asked to review one or more papers. Please indicate when submitting a paper if you think this is inappropriate. All accepted papers will be published on the Internet and made available to participants in the group to read before the Conference. The group leaders will organise activity and discussion in the Conference around issues raised by the papers.
For more details about CERME 5, see http://www.cyprusisland.com/cerme/.

The Organisers for Group 5 invite research-based papers on stochastic thinking, including probability, statistics and the interface betweenthese domains. We will be particularly interested in theoretical, empirical or developmental papers that address one or more of the following themes (though any papers of relevance to the overall focus of the group will also be considered):

The nature and development of stochastic thinking and its relationship to other types of mathematical thinking, including the interface between probabilistic and statistical thinking, such as in modelling or data exploration.
The relationship between stochastic thinking and externalfactors such as teaching methodologies, tools, tasks and setting.
The role of computer-based tools, including microworlds, onstochastic thinking.
The elaboration of theoretical frameworks that may provideinsightful models for interpreting evidence from research on stochastic thinking.

We wish to encourage papers from researchers worldwide. Papers for Group 5 on Stochastic Thinking should be submitted electronically by October 10^th, 2006, to Rolf Biehler (biehler@mathematik.uni-kassel.de), together with the submission form. The submission form has to be sent to the Conference Secretary (cerme5@ucy.ac.cy) as well. This form and further details of format for papers are given on the CERME 5 website (see above for URL). If you have further questions, please contact any of the leaders of the group (e-mail addresses are given below). Rolf Biehler (Group 5 Coordinator) biehler@mathematik.uni-kassel.de, Maria Meletiou-Mavrotheris meletiu@spidernet.com.cy, Maria-Gabriella Ottaviani mariagabriella.ottaviani@uniroma1.it, Dave Pratt dave.pratt@warwick.ac.uk.

Call for Nominations: Director of the International Statistical Literacy Project

The International Association for Statistical Education (IASE) is starting a search for the Director for the International Statistical Literacy Project. The Director will serve a four-year term starting Jan 1, 2007, replacing Carol Joyce Blumberg who has recently resigned from the role. (The previous job title was “Coordinator”)

The International Statistical Literacy Project (ISLP) is an IASE project with a mission of providing those interested in statistical literacy with information and resources and to aid them in the development of statistical literacy around the world. To date the main focus of the project has been on the development of a series of webpages providing users with resources that are useful for the development of statistical literacy at all levels from Primary/Elementary School through Adult Learners. There are also webpages for official statisticians and for journalists and the mass media. Further, there are webpages devoted statistical literacy projects, websites, etc. that have been developed by national statistical offices, national statistical societies, and other non-profit organizations.
A listing of these webpages is at http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/islplist.htm.
The webpages have been developed by Page Coordinators who are experts in statistical literacy. A listing of Advisory Committee members is at http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/islpadvis.htm and Page Coordinators at http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/islpcoord.htm.

With Carol Joyce Blumberg’s retirement from Winona State University it is envisaged that the web pages will be moved to the main IASE website at the University of Auckland which will take care of most of the hands-on website development with ongoing page-updating performed, wherever possible, by the Page Coordinators themselves.
The ISLP Director’s role will be one of leadership, management and facilitation. The Director will be responsible for formulating a vision for future directions for the project and maintaining the advances that have already been made. The Director will re-evaluate ISLP aims in consultation with the Advisory Committee and the IASE Executive, foster the initiation of new pages and find new Page Coordinators, manage turnover of existing Page Coordinators, feed ideas to Page Coordinators, lead decision-making processes about the overall design and structure of the ISLP site, oversee the progress being made by pages, lead promotion of the ISLP and coordinate with related sites. The Director will also communicate regularly with and chair meetings of the ISLP Advisory Committee at major conferences such as ICOTS and ISI Sessions, and ensure that Page Coordinators who do not have the technical skills to update their own pages get the support they need.

Overall, IASE sees the ISLP initiative as a strategically important project for statistics education worldwide and expects the Director to help ISLP gain international visibility and prominence. As with all other IASE leadership roles this is a voluntary (unpaid) professional-service role.

IASE encourages both self-nominations from interested individuals and nominations of suitable candidates. All nominations and self-nominations will be considered by the Search Committee, which can also propose additional nominees. Candidates or self-nominees will be asked to prepare a brief statement describing their vision for ISLP and how they might go about discharging the responsibilities above, along with a statement of their qualifications for the position, and an academic vita or professional resumé. Candidates might also be asked to respond to additional questions by the search committee.
For more information about the search process, or to submit a nomination, please contact the Chair of the Search Committee, Chris Wild, (U. of Auckland. NZ): < c.wild@auckland.ac.nz >. Nominations should be submitted by 15 October 2006.

International Association of Survey Statisticians

	Editorial Address	Lilli Japec, Scientific Secretary IASS, R&D Department, Statistics Sweden, Box 24 300, 104 51 Stockholm, Sweden Tel: +46 8 5069 4794 Fax: +46 8 5069 4599 E-mail: lilli.japec@scb.se
	President	Gordon Brackstone, 78 Charing Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2G 4C9 Tel.: +1 613 224 0513 Fax: +1 613 951 1394 E-mail : gordon.brackstone@sympatico.ca
	Secretariat	Michel Péronnet, Executive Director Claude Olivier, Secretary INSEE/CEFIL, 3 rue de la Cité, 33500 Libourne, France. Tel.: +33 5 5755 5600 Fax: +33 5 5755 5620 E-mail: michel.peronnet@insee.fr E-mail: claude.olivier@insee.fr
		Anna Maria Vespa, Executive Secretary, Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales (CEPII), 9 rue Georges Pitard, 75015 Paris, France. Tel.:+33-1-53685571 Fax : +33-1-53685501 E-mail: vespa@cepii.fr
	Website	http://isi.cbs.nl/iass

As you will read below, much of our current focus is on developing the sessions and short courses for the 2007 ISI Session in Lisbon. However, it is not too early to start thinking beyond Lisbon to Durban in 2009. To that end, I am pleased that Leyla Mohadjer has agreed to act as IASS Programme Chair for the 2009 Session. A Programme Committee is being formed to support her, but all members are encouraged to make suggestions for session topics that IASS might sponsor in 2009. Our proposed topics need to be ready before the 2007 ISI Session, so please communicate any suggestions to Leyla at Leylamohadjer@westat.com over the next few months.

I would also like to remind members again that nominations for the 2007 Cochran-Hansen Prize must be received by the end of 2006. Please see the announcement in this and earlier Newsletters for details.

In early June, the IASS short course programme, which will be held in connection to the 56^th ISI Session in Lisbon 2007, was finalised. With great help from Evelise Domingues, the Event Manger in charge of the ISI Session at the Lisboa Congress Centre, we were able to pick a nice location for the courses. You can read more about the courses in this issue of the ISI Newsletter. In this issue, you can also read about the ISO Standard for Marketing, Opinion and Social Research. This standard will influence the way many organisations conduct surveys within these areas.

If you did not have the opportunity to attend the MOLS Conference in Essex in July, you can read Peter Lynn’s report below and download papers from the Internet. Finally in this issue of the ISI Newsletter, you will find information about a new electronic journal, The International Journal of Public Information Systems, that is free of charge and of relevance to our field.

Future meetings of interest to IASS members include:
• The International Conference on Establishment Surveys (ICES III), Montreal, Canada, June 18-21, 2007. Website: http://www.amstat.org/meetings/ices/2007
• The Second Baltic-Nordic Conference on Survey Sampling, Kuusamo, Finland, June 2-7, 2007. Website: http://www.mathstat.helsinki.fi/msm/banocoss/
• Small Area Estimation SAE2007, Satellite Meeting to the ISI Lisbon Session - Pisa, Italy, September 3-5, 2007. Contact: Monica Pratesi (m.pratesi@ec.unipi.it)

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have suggestions or questions regarding any of the IASS activities.

The IASS Programme Committee, lead by David Steel, has put together a number of sections for the ISI Session in Lisbon 2007. Below you can find the section topics and names of the Organisers.

The impact of new information technologies: on survey research design; on a totally new information production model.
Jonathan Palmer, jonathan.palmer@abs,gov.au

Teaching of Survey Statistics.
Steve Heeringa, sheering@isr.umich.edu
Information integration: statistical theory when combining and using multiple data sets in concert.
Dean Judson, Dean.H.Judson@census.gov

Using multiple modes to collecting data in surveys.
Peter Lynn, plynn@essex.ac.uk

Confidentialising tables and data with geographically fine breakdown.
Larry Cox, LCOX@CDC.GOV

Prioritising non-response follow-up to minimise mean square error.
Cynthia Clark, cynthia.clark@ons.gov.uk

What Censuses and administrative sources can tell us about Non Sampling Errors?
Ray Chambers, ray@uow.edu.au

Measuring and reporting quality of small area estimates.
Daniella Cocchi, daniela.cocchi@unibo.it

Randomisation-assisted model-based survey sampling.
Phil Kott, pkott@nass.usda.gov

How ISI can encourage donor and international organisations to strengthen their own statistical capacities.
Ibrahin Yansaneh, yansaneh@un.org

Report from The International Conference on Methodology of Longitudinal Surveys (MOLS)

The MOLS Conference attracted just over 200 delegates to the University of Essex, U.K., in July. Delegates were academics, government statisticians and survey professionals, and came from 26 different countries.

An underlying theme of the Conference was the impression that growth in demand for longitudinal data, and consequently in the number and complexity of longitudinal and panel surveys carried out, has not been equalled by expansion of our knowledge of how best to design and implement such surveys. On the one hand, several papers described new or planned longitudinal surveys – often with rather complex and demanding objectives. On the other hand, several papers reviewed a particular aspect of methodology and concluded that very little research had been carried out into that aspect in a longitudinal context. Consequently, researchers can only speculate about how findings based on cross-sectional surveys will translate to longitudinal surveys: In some cases the translation may be simple, but in many cases it probably is not. Between them, the Conference presenters identified a large methodological research agenda!

Topics discussed at MOLS included sample design (including, for example, how to identify the optimal level of clustering at wave 1 when the sample is geographically mobile), rotating panel designs, the role of interviewers (and particularly the effects of interviewer continuity over waves), dependent interviewing, mixed mode methods, tailoring approaches to respondents (for example, in terms of mode, incentives or timing), data linkage, ethics, and modelling and estimation methods. An omnipresent issue was attrition, with many papers treating methods to minimise it, research to understand the nature of it, and methods to deal with it in analysis, including imputation and weighting methods.

Around 75 papers were presented, including 22 invited papers, which will form the chapters of a monograph book to be edited by the Conference Organiser, Peter Lynn, and published by Wiley. Most of the papers can be downloaded from the Conference website, www.iser.essex.ac.uk/ulsc/mols2006. A prize for best student paper was generously sponsored by Wiley and was awarded to Mario Callegaro, a PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, for his paper, Seam effects in panel data collected with Event History Calendar methodology: The case of labor force transitions in the PSID. Two short courses were also offered the day before the Conference and were well attended with almost 100 participants in total. The courses were Handling incomplete data in longitudinal surveys, presented by Joop Hox and Edith deLeeuw, and Multilevel modelling for longitudinal survey data, presented by Sophia Rabe-Hesketh and Anders Skrondal.

The electronic journal with scientifically reviewed articles, published by the Mid Sweden University (www.miun.se), is available free of charge at www.ijpis.net. The International Journal of Public Information Systems aims at publishing studies of public information systems. The journal acknowledges the interdisciplinary nature of such studies. Topics include, but are not restricted to:

• User-centred design, usability, usefulness, citizens perspectives
• Customer relations, different forms of interactions
• Quality and security
• Governance and democracy, political prerequisites
• Decision support systems, risk and decision analysis
• Integration and segregation, cooperation between public administrations/government agencies
• Digital archives
• Multimedia communications

• Provide services to the public (people and companies/organisations)
• Empower citizens and organisations to exercise democratic influence
• Support governments on all levels to perform their tasks in an efficient and reliable way
• Capture, preserve and make available useful data for analysis, planning and research

Information systems supporting the communication of official statistics can be seen as public information systems.

The International Journal of Public Information Systems wants to link researchers and other professionals who share an interest in the process, nature, significance and implications of public information systems design. The journal is a forum for analytical and comparative articles, essays, case-studies and book reviews on such topics as innovation and research, intellectual property, entrepreneurship and products. The journal publishes insightful pieces intended for general readers as well as specialists. To illuminate important debates and draw attention to specific topics, the journal occasionally publishes thematic issues.

More information about the journal is available at www.ijpis.net. The website also contains all issues and articles that have been published so far.

May 2006 saw the publication of a new ISO Quality Standard designed specifically for Survey Research. ISO 20252 - Market, Opinion and Social Research - Vocabulary and Service Requirements, to give its full title, is the response of the international survey research community to the increasing need of their multi-national users to have consistent process quality standards. In the face of this demand, survey practitioners have acknowledged that even best local practice is insufficient to provide such attributes and, thus, set about the lengthy process of defining and agreeing an international standard.

Over thirty countries were participants in the drafting of the standard and came from all continents. Work on the formal drafting of the standard commenced in 2003 with AENOR, the Spanish standards authority, acting as the lead co-ordinator. The main body of work was carried out by a Working Party drawn from twenty countries together with observers from professional bodies such as WAPOR and ESOMAR. Participants were typically survey research professionals from the participating countries drawn from across government, academic and commercial organisations. They were supported by a number of national standards body staff who ensured that the standard stayed firmly in the area of the practical and capable of consistent implementation anywhere in the world.

The standard draws heavily on earlier national standards from Germany, Spain and the UK, together with synthesis of these made by the European Market Research Trade Association (EFAMRO) some years earlier. The time span from initial meeting to formal publication of just under three years is extremely short by ISO standards and reflects the remarkably high level of concord that existed in the discussions. Drafting took place by means of lead countries drafting defined sections with circulation, feedback, face-to-face discussion and re-iteration of the process over several rounds of drafting and discussion. National representatives consulted locally with other survey researchers to ensure as wide a range of opinion as possible was canvassed.

The standard is restricted to Process Management issues. This was because it was believed that agreement for formal standards could be achieved around the components of this, whereas Design Quality was more a matter of budgetary and other resources, together with local, cultural and structural issues that are not amenable to standardisation. The standard is designed to stand alone, without the need for ISO 9001 to underwrite the Quality Assurance elements. It covers the full range of the survey process from commissioning through to reporting and is written for both qualitative and quantitative research. On some elements - for example data collection - the standard is prescriptive, requiring back-checking/validation on 10% of fieldwork. Requirements for validation are also spelt out on data preparation, coding and editing in a similar fashion. A fundamental requirement is that it is applicable in any country of the world and thus no presumption is made about the availability of computerised records or other technological support.

It is intended that the standard is audited by external inspectors from authorised agencies working to agreed inspection guidelines. In the UK, these have already been drafted and accreditation has commenced to the standard by some survey practitioners. It is anticipated that in the coming months this process will be emulated internationally as the process rolls out. The standard is expected to attract support from both international users of survey research and survey research practioners who supply their needs.

Whilst independent formal quality standards are relatively uncommon in the area of national statistics, their use in independent survey organisations in many countries in Europe, Australia, Japan and elsewhere has demonstrated that they improve quality and consistency of the survey process. Additionally, they enable users to concentrate on the features of ‘fitness’ that are priorities and relegate basic process competence to a given.

The Working Party will continue to meet regularly to review the Standard, agree implementation procedures and extend them as necessary into new areas. For example, a group is now examining the area of internet data collection with a view to formulating similar guidelines, if agreement can be obtained.

To obtain a copy of the ISO, contact should be made with national standards bodies.

The International Association of Survey Statisticians has finalized the short courses programme to be offered just prior to and after the 56^th Session of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, August 2007. Funding assistance for supporting statisticians from developing and transitional countries is being sought. The courses will be held at the Lisboa Congress Centre. The following courses will be offered.

Course A: Workshop on Survey Sampling
Presented by: Colm O’Muircheartaigh and Steven Heeringa
Duration 2.5 days, August 18-20, 2007

The workshop will focus on practical aspects of sampling for household surveys. It will start from basic principles and build up to complex stratified multi-stage sample designs. It will cover the main sampling techniques and also such issues as sampling frames, weighting, and imputation. It will end with an introduction to variance estimation with complex sample designs.

Course B: Variance Estimation in Complex Surveys
Presented by: Wayne Fuller, Kirk Wolter, F. Jay Breidt, and Anthony An
Duration 2 days, August 20-22, 2007

The purpose of this course is to provide training in variance estimation in complex surveys for survey statisticians, especially those from developing countries. The course will cover methods of estimating variances for statistics such as means, proportions, ratios, and regression coefficients. Variance estimation for imputed samples will be discussed. Both linearisation and replication methods will be presented. The use of computer software for computing variances of statistics from complex sample designs will be demonstrated and instruction will be given in practical applications. About one-half of the course will be devoted to computer implementation.

Course C: Workshop on Editing and Imputation of Survey Data
Presented by: John G. Kovar and Eric Rancourt
Duration 1.5 days, August 21-22, 2007

Surveys and censuses conducted by national statistical agencies, research institutes and other survey organisations suffer from various degrees of nonresponse even under ideal conditions. In order to try to alleviate the problems caused by nonresponse, editing and imputation methods are usually applied. Since the process of editing and imputation is time and resource intensive, care must be exercised in controlling the efficiency as well as the effectiveness of the methods. The aim of this short course is to provide the students with an introductory level description and discussion of the methods of prevention, detection and treatment of nonresponse. Evaluation of such methods and their impact on the survey outputs will be highlighted. Existing edit and imputation software will be compared. Numerous examples will be provided to illustrate the material presented.

Course D: Introduction to Survey Quality
Presented by: Paul Biemer and Lars Lyberg
Duration 2 days, August 20-22, 2007

The course is designed for a broad audience that includes experienced survey researchers and practitioners who would
benefit from a better understanding of the survey quality, as well as others with little prior experience in survey methods. It provides an introduction to the concepts, principles and terminology used in the study of survey quality. Accuracy is but one dimension, albeit a critical one, of a multi-dimensional framework that embodies survey quality. The course examines the goals of survey design with particular emphasis on minimising total mean squared error of key survey estimates subject to costs constraints as well as constraints on some quality dimensions. The sources of survey error are discussed within this scheme, focusing on four major sources: coverage error, nonresponse, data processing error and measurement error. Methods that are most often used in practice for evaluating the effects of the survey error will also be covered.

Course E: Statistical Disclosure Control
Presented by: Anco Hundepool, Eric Schulte Nordholt and Peter-Paul de Wolf
Duration 2 days, August 30-31, 2007

The purpose of this course is to provide the participants with an understanding of the methodological aspects of Statistical Disclosure Control, to train them in solving problems on this topic and to demonstrate the ARGUS software. The meaning and impact of Statistical Disclosure Control can only be appreciated in the light of practical problems and policy related issues. Therefore, some attention is also paid to such topics without putting heavy emphasis on them. Topics covered include theory and methods on microdata, exercises on microdata, demonstration of Mu-ARGUS, theory and methods on tabular data, exercises on tabular data, demonstration of Tau-ARGUS, legal issues, on-site facilities and remote access.

Course F: Design and Analysis of Repeated Surveys
Presented by: David Steel and Craig McLaren
Duration 2 days, August 30-31, 2007

This course will consider the interaction between the design of a repeated survey and the methods used for estimation and analysis. The choice of rotation pattern will be considered in terms of the impact on the estimation of levels and changes. Composite and other forms of estimators will be reviewed and the interaction between design and estimation explored. Estimation of seasonally adjusted and trend estimates from repeated surveys will also be considered.

Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC)

		Editorial Address	Mr. Christian Dembiermont, Monetary and Economic Department, Bank for International Settlements, Basel, Switzerland Tel: +41 61 280 8313, Fax: +41 61 280 9100 E-mail: christian.dembiermont@bis.org and Ms. Madeleine Op't Hof, Monetary and Economic Department, Bank for International Settlements, Basel, Switzerland Tel: +41 61 280 8335, Fax: +41 61 280 9100 E-mail: madeleine.opt-hof@bis.org
		Chairman	Jan Smets, Executive Director, National Bank of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 221 2046, Fax: +32 2 2213239 E-mail: jan.smets@nbb.be
		Website	http://www.ifcommittee.org/

Since the beginning of 2006, the IFC has engaged itself in the implementation of a more formal structure and appropriate governance rules. As a starting point, central banks that are shareholders of the BIS have been invited to formally become institutional members of the Committee. Most of them have accepted the invitation and at the end of August 2006 the Committee boasted no less than 53 members. The first meeting of the Council, at which the institutional members were represented, was held on 29 August 2006. Besides taking decisions on important issues related to the functioning and future activities of the Committee, the Council also constituted a new Executive on this occasion. The Council confirmed that institutional membership was open to all interested central banks, and that the Committee would also welcome associate members.

The Third IFC Conference took place on 30 and 31 August 2006 at the BIS in Basel. The theme of the Conference was “Measuring the Financial Position of the Household Sector”. The importance of this topic in central banking circles was reflected in the overwhelming interest shown in the Conference. More than 130 experts from 68 central banks participated in the Conference and 42 papers were presented. The themes that were covered included: measurement issues related to household wealth and debt, distributional aspects of household finances and the use of household surveys to gather information on household finances. Participants exchanged views and shared national experiences in lively and fruitful discussions. The results of the Conference will be published in the next IFC Bulletin.

The Committee contributed to a conference organised by the International Association of Official Statistics (IAOS) in September 2006. The IAOS had invited the Committee to organise a plenary session on “People on the Move”. The topic of the IFC session was “Financial Aspects of Migration: The Measurement of Remittances”. Mr. Cadete de Matos, Director of the Statistics Department at the Bank of Portugal, structured and chaired the session.

The Committee will organise various meetings at the 56^th Session of the ISI. Some of them will be co-sponsored with other ISI Sections. The IFC website, www.ifcommittee.org, provides more information on all these activities.

International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics

		Editorial Address	Bovas Abraham, Dept. of Statistics and Act. Sci., Univ. of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1 Tel: +1-519-888-4567 Ext. 447 Fax: +1-519-746-1875 E-mail: babraham@math.uwaterloo.ca
		Chairman	Bovas Abraham, Dept. of Statistics and Act. Sci., Univ. of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1 Tel: +1-519-888-4567 Ext. 447 Fax: +1-519-746-1875 E-mail: babraham@math.uwaterloo.ca
		Website	http://www.stats.wits.ac.za/isbis/

We are delighted to invite you to join us at the upcoming ISBIS-2007 Symposium sponsored by the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS). The Symposium will be held on 18-20 August, 2007, in the Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal. The University of the Azores will be our host. The official language of the Conference is English.

ISBIS-2007 is a Satellite Conference to the 56^th Session of the International Statistical Institute (Lisboa, 22-29 August 2007). It will provide a forum for presenting and exchanging ideas in statistical methods applicable to business, finance and industry. Talks will range from very applied to cutting edge research. The exchange of knowledge and experiences will foster international collaboration in research and other technology transfer activities, and will provide an opportunity for dialogue between statisticians working in business, finance and industry, and academia.

We are working on an exciting Scientific Programme that will explore real world problems of interest to researchers involved in statistical theory or applications motivated by work in business, finance or industry. Potential topics meriting special mention include:

Business and quality management
Chemometrics
Computer experiments
Data mining and machine learning
Design of experiments
Financial engineering
Forecasting
Large data sets in business, finance and industry
Market research
Network modeling
Process control
Quality in health care
Reliability theory/applications
Risk analysis/management
Six sigma and other management paradigms
Statistical Education and Statistical Thinking
Statistical modeling in business/finance/industry
Warranty modeling.

Case studies and novel applications are also encouraged. Many leading statisticians working on problems in business, finance and industry will be participating.

In addition to the Invited Programme, the Symposium will feature some Contributed Paper sessions. Details will be available shortly on the Conference website. If you are interested in participating, please feel free to contact Francisco Samaniego (Programme Chair) or Bovas Abraham (ISBIS President).

We hope that you will give some serious thought to participating in ISBIS-2007 next summer. We can guarantee that you will be very pleased with the stimulating Scientific Programme, the enjoyable social activities that are planned and the delightful surroundings. You should be able to combine ISBIS-2007 with a fabulous vacation on Sao Miguel Island of the Azores archipelago, one of Portugal's most coveted vacation spots.

ISBIS is sponsoring several Invited Paper Meetings during the ISI Lisboa Session:
1. Risk-Utility Formulations for Statistical Disclosure Limitation Problems
Organiser: Alan Karr, National Institute for Statistical Sciences (NISS), USA (karr@niss.org)
2. Stochastic Volatility Modeling: Reflections, recent developments and the future
Organiser: E. Xekalaki, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece (exek@aueb.gr)

3. Design of Experiments in Marketing and Advertising Testing
Organiser: Johannes Ledolter, School of Business, University of Iowa, Iowa, USA (johannes-ledolter@uiowa.edu)

4. Issues in Business and Industrial Statistics in the Developing world (Panel Discussion)
Organiser: Jacky Galpin, University of Witswatersrand, South Africa (jacky@galpin.co.za)

5. Statistical Issues in Wired, Wireless, and Sensor Networks
Organiser: Lorraine Denby, AVAYA, USA (ld@avaya.com)

6. Six Sigma: A Business Strategy or a Management Fad (Panel Discussion)
Organiser: Sung H. Park, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea (parksh@plaza.snu.ac.kr)

ISBIS will be sponsoring some Invited Paper Meetings at the ISI biennial Session in 2009. Vijay Nair has agreed to be ISBIS Program Chair for this Session.

One of the objectives of ISBIS is to develop and promote relationships among national and regional organisations involved in activities similar to those of ISBIS. With this in mind, ISBIS is planning to organise an Invited Paper Meeting in the next Quality and Productivity Research Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico (June 4-6, 2007). This Conference is sponsored by the Quality and Productivity section of the American Statistical Association.

The Special Issue of Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry (ASMBI) containing edited Proceedings from ISBIS-4 at Palm Cove, Australia, will be published shortly. Dennis Lin is the Special Guest Editor and Jef Teugels is Editor-in-Chief of ASMBI.

The Sixteenth Colombian National Statistical Conference was in Bucaramanga, Colombia, from July 29-August 3, 2006. This year the main theme was Industrial Statistics. Bovas Abraham (ISBIS President) and Geoff Vining (Chair of ISBIS-5 in Peru) gave plenary talks at this Conference. We were invited because of the ISBIS-5 Conference in Peru. Some statisticians from Colombia had participated in ISBIS-5 and had requested us to participate in the Colombian meeting.

It was a great opportunity for us to hear about the various industrial statistics activities in Colombia and to talk about ISBIS activities. Subsequently, several people expressed interest in being part of ISBIS.

ISBIS 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 and reliability improvement, software development, financial statistics, business and management, etc.

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 Permanent 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.

ISI - INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTE