Newsletter Volume 33, No. 1 (97) 2009 -ISI Sections


		President	Prof. Jean Jacod Université Paris-6 175 rue du Chevaleret 75013 Paris, France E-mail: jj@ccr.jussieu.fr
		Website	http://isi.cbs.nl/bs.htm For information, see also the website of Bernoulli News at http://isi.cbs.nl/bnews/index.html

EMS 2009 2nd Announcement and Call for Papers

EMS 2009 will be the major European international meeting of 2009 covering mathematical statistics, statistical applications and applied probability. It will be held 20^th-24^th July in Toulouse at the Université Paul Sabatier.

The Meeting will be held under the auspices of the Bernoulli Society, the IMS and ISI. The programme will feature an opening lecture delivered by Emmanuel Candes (Caltech), the Forum lectures presented by Aad van der Vaart (Vrije Universiteit) and a closing lecture given by Jeff Steif (Chalmers University of Technology).

The Special Invited Lecturers will be Nina Gantert (University of Muenster), Tillmann Gneiting (University of Washington), Iain Johnstone (Stanford University), Gabor Lugosi (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Andrew Majda (New York University), Péter Major (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Geert Molenberghs (Hasselt University) and Thomas Nichols (GlaxoSmithKline).

The Scientific Programme Committee is: Trevor Sweeting (Chair, University College London), Jean-Marc Azais (Université Paul Sabatier), Petros Dellaportas (Athens University of Economics and Business), Mathisca de Gunst (Vrije Universiteit), Olle Häggström (Chalmers University of Technology), Peter Imkeller (Humbolt University at Berlin), Ingrid van Keilegom (Université Catholique de Louvain), Gyula Pap (University of Debrecen) and Eva B. Vedel Jensen (University of Aarhus).

Some of the themes from the Special Invited Lectures will be continued into the Invited Paper Sessions, specifically the sessions on Nonparametric and semi-parametric Bayesian procedures, Compressed sensing, Climate models, Design of computer experiments and sensitivity analysis, Statistical methods in neuroscience, Random walks with interactions, and Statistical learning. Other sessions will include:

Random walks with interactions, Gaussian Markov random fields, Modelling with Lévy and branching processes, Stochastics of complex networks, Coding theory/information theory, Compressed Sensing, Ill-posed inverse problems, Statistical learning, Nonparametric and semi-parametric Bayesian procedures, Confidence bounds, Multiscale modelling and geometric methodsand inference, Extreme values, Statistics of financial mathematics, New developments in goodness-of-fit testing, Auxiliary variable methods in modelling and Monte Carlo methods, Quantum statistical theory, Statistics in forensic science, Semi-parametrics in survival analysis, Statistics of biological networks, Stochastics of population genetics and evolutionary biology, Statistics of biological systems and delay differential equations, Information theory and statistics, Statistical methods in neuroscience, Climate models, Design of computer experiments and sensitivity analysis, Statistical and stochastic methods for computer codes in industry, Applied/industrial statistics.

We now call for contributions for any topics related to applied probability, mathematical statistics and or applied statistics. The deadline for submissions is March 20^th, 2009. New researchers and PhD students are especially invited to submit contributed papers.

(Please note that these fees do not include the conference dinner nor Wednesday’s social events.)

We will be able to host some participants in student rooms at a cost of € 20 per day, breakfast included, with low-cost meals.

Toulouse is an occitanian capital at the heart of the south-west of France, especially pleasant in summertime. The Conference will open with a "dégustation de vins et fromages" on Monday, 20^th July. Several mid-conference excursions and a conference dinner will help to create a friendly atmosphere in which participants can easily establish new contacts. During the free evenings, participants can enjoy the beautiful old town of Toulouse between the quays of the Garonne and the banks of the Canal du Midi.

• The next SPA (Stochasic Processes and their Applications) Meeting will be held in Berlin on July 27-31, 2009. As everyone knows, this is the biggest annual meeting sponsored by the Bernoulli Society, in collaboration with the IMS, and the program this year is particularly exciting. The registration is opened on the website: http://www.math.tu-berlin.de/SPA2009/.

• The next meeting of the Council of the Society will be held in Berlin during the SPA Meeting. The precise time, date and venue will be communicated later. There will also be a General Assembly of the Society during the Meeting.

Club Puerto Azul–Naiguatá–Venezuela
November 1-6, 2009
The next Latin American Congress in Probability and Mathematical Statistics, XI CLAPEM, will be held in Venezuela under the sponsorship of the Latin American Society for Probability and Mathematical Statistics (SLAPEM), the Latin American Chapter of the Bernoulli Society. The program includes courses, plenary talks, invited sessions as well as general poster and oral communication sessions.

The Scientific Committee is composed of José Rafael León (Chair, Universidad Central de Venezuela), Jean-Marc Azaïs (Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France), Jean Bertoin (Université Paris VI), Peter Bickel (University of California, Berkeley), David Elworthy (Warwick University, UK), Ricardo Fraiman (Universidad de la República, Uruguay), Graciela Gonzalez Farías (CIMAT, Mexico), Raul Gouet (Universidad de Chile), Jorge A. León (CINVESTAV, IPN, México) Carlos Matrán (Universidad de Valladolid, España), Alexandra M. Schmidt (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) and Maria Eulália Vares (Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Brasil).

The Local Committee is composed of Stella Brassesco (Chair, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas), Carenne Ludeña (Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas), José Gregorio Marcano (Universidad de Carabobo), José Rafael León (Universidad Central de Venezuela), Lelys Bravo (Universidad Simón Bolívar) and Saba Infante (Universidad de Carabobo).

Invited Speakers:
Peter Bickel (University of California, Berkeley)
Peter Bühlmann (ETH, Zürich)
David Donoho (Stanford University)
Luis Gorostiza (CINVESTAV, IPN, México)
Greg Lawler (University of Chicago)
Peter Hall (University of Melbourne)
Marta Sanz-Solé (Universitat de Barcelona)
Vladas Sidoravicius (IMPA–Brasil)

Confirmed Invited Sessions:
Probability Models in Biology, organized by Sylvie Meleard
Sea Modeling, organized by Georg Lindgren
Bayesian Methods, organized by Alicia Carriquiry
Environmental Statistics – sponsored by TIES, organized by Alexandra Schmidt and Lelys Bravo
Fractional Brownian Motion, organized by Cipriam Tudor
Levy Processes, organized by M. Emilia Caballero and Víctor Rivero
Statistical Mechanics and Interacting Particle Systems, organized by Pablo Ferrari
Random Media, organized by Alejandro Ramírez
Interphase between Probabilities and Statistics, organized by Gabor Lugosi
Topics in Robust Statistics, organized by Alfonso Gordaliza
Statistics in Manufacturing Technology, organized by Vijay Nair
Session in Honor of Mario Wschebor, organized by J.-M. Azaïs

Important dates:
Abstract submission for oral communications and posters: March 2 to June 30
Registration forms and accommodation reservations: March 2 to September 30
(Web page is under construction.)

A Seminar on Nonparametric Statistics was co-sponsored by the Bernoulli Society and hosted by the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Vigo (Vigo, Galicia, NW of Spain) from November 5-7, 2008. Recent advances in survival analysis, curve estimation, functional data analysis, goodness-of-fit tests, variable selection methods, extremes, and regression under shape constraints (among many other topics) were the focus along with the seventeen plenary invited talks. Special invited speakers were: Peter Hall (Melbourne), Hans Müller (Davis), Jan Swanepoel (North-West, Potchefstroom, South Africa), Anthony Davison (Lausanne), Lutz Duembgen (Bern), Anestis Antoniadis (Grenoble), Gerda Claeskens (Leuven), Natalie Neumeyer (Hamburg), and as young local researcher, Juan Carlos Pardo-Fernández (Vigo, PhD in 2005). In addition, about 30 contributed papers were presented. Almost one hundred people attended the Seminar.

The Statistical Inference, Decision and Operations Research (SiDOR) group organized the meeting, and the main person responsible is its scientist-in-charge Jacobo de Uña-Álvarez. ISNI2008 was launched by the Scientific Committee made up of Ricardo Cao (Coruña), Holger Dette (Bochum), Wenceslao González-Manteiga (Santiago de Compostela), Gábor Lugosi (Barcelona), Geert Molenberghs (Hasselt), Jean Opsomer (Colorado), Stefan Sperlich (Gottingen), Winfried Stute (Giessen), Jacobo de Uña-Álvarez (Vigo), Ingrid Van Keilegom (Louvain-la-Neuve), Noel Veraverbeke (Hasselt), and Philippe Vieu (Toulouse), as a continuation of the Galician ISNI series (ISNI2000 and ISNI2005 were previously organized in Santiago and Coruña).
The Proceedings can be downloaded for free from the website www.isni2008.com which also lists the institutions and organisations which supported the Conference, including the Bernoulli Society, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Section on Nonparametric Statistics of the ASA, and the Spanish and Galician Societies for Statistics and Operations Research. The Journal of Nonparametric Statistics will dedicate a Special Issue to ISNI2008.

International Association for Official Statistics

		Editorial Address	Stephen Penneck E-mail: Stephen.Penneck@ons.gsi.gov.uk
		President	Olav Ljones Statistics Norway, P.O. Box 8131, Dep., 0033 Oslo, Norway Tel: +47-21094841, Fax: +47-22864996 E-mail: olav.ljones@ssb.no
		Website	http://isi.cbs.nl/iaos

IAOS Conference on Reshaping Official Statistics

Shanghai, 14-16 October 2008
The Conference gathered 320 participants in five plenary sessions and 30 concurrent sessions. Altogether, the Conference comprised 100 presentations. Of the 320 delegates, 140 came from China, with a further 53 from the rest of Asia and the Pacific, and 82 from Europe.
Most of the papers/presentations are available at: www.iaos2008conf.cn/c_paper.html.

At the Conference’s opening ceremony, Mr. Ma Jiantang, Commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics of China, and Mr. Yang Xiong, Executive Vice Mayor of Shanghai, welcomed delegates and Mr. Ma Jiantang later gave a short introduction to the ongoing work in reshaping Chinese official statistics.

In his opening remarks, IAOS President Mr. Olav Ljones drew attention to the full title of the Conference which was: Smart Data, Innovative Uses – Reshaping Official Statistics. He pointed out that this was not intended to imply that Official Statistics are in bad shape, since it was his view that their status and quality have never been better.

However there are inevitably new challenges to be faced, especially relating to providing access to data and globalisation. The present status of official statistics enables us to take a step towards a fully integrated process approach for official statistics: greater use of electronic data capture and ‘smart’ data, to address quality in a more integrated way and to develop improved storage and dissemination of data. These processes will hopefully yield a double dividend – more efficient production of statistics and more consistent statistics.
The Conference demonstrated the interest in innovative use of data and new forms of data capture, better integration of statistical systems and the vision of ‘smart’ data. Both in the plenary and concurrent sessions, there were numerous examples of how these are dealt with in different ways in different countries. This sharing of information will hopefully aid better production and quality of official statistics in the years to come.

The Global Statistical System – Achievements and Challenges
The latest issue of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS, Vol. 25, No. 1-2, 2008, has been published on the online repository:
http://iospress.metapress.com/content/120808/. This is a special double issue on "The Global Statistical System – Achievements and Challenges".

The contents for this issue are:
1. Paul Cheung – Preface
2. Katherine Wallman and Suzann Evinger – “International standards for compilation of statistics: The gap between standards adoption and standards implementation”
3. Asad Elahi – “Challenges of data collection in developing countries – The Pakistani experience as a way forward”
4. Dennis Trewin – “Challenges for global statistics”
5. Pali Lehohla – “Statistical development in Africa in the context of the global statistical system”
6. Pedro Diaz Munoz – “The role of Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange in global statistical infrastructure”
7. Rob Edwards – “Developing international statistical standards: The System of National Accounts as a case study”
8. Fred Vogel – “Lessons learned about global statistical initiatives from the International Comparison Programme”
9. Hermann Habermann – “The role of National Statistical Offices in global statistical systems”
10. Pieter Everaers – “Future developments in the global statistical system”

Members of the IAOS should note that they can have access to the electronic version of the Journal free of charge. However, to do so, you need to have the relevant user id and pin. Late last year, the ISI Permanent Office sent these to IAOS members by e-mail. If you have not received the e-mail, or have forgotten the user id and/or password, please contact Ms. Shabani Mehta, at @cbs.nl, of the ISI Permanent Office.

Standing Committee on Regional and Urban Statistics

www.scorusnet.com

This year the IAOS and SCORUS jointly organized their biennial Conference in Shanghai. Two of the plenary sessions, “The harmonisation of regional and urban statistics, a challenge” presented by Dr. Berthold Feldmann, and “Innovative use of centrally collected data to inform policy at city and region levels” presented by Mr. Dev Virdee, were well received. The six SCORUS-focused sessions were well attended with up to 70 participants in each session. The insightful discussions focused on current issues, the inclusion of measurement of well-being in regions and cities, growing demand for regional and urban statistics, GIS and regional reference systems, new approaches to policy evaluation, and the application of urban and regional statistics in Asian cities.

Papers from the conference are available on the Conference website at: www.iaos2008conf.cn.

SCORUS General Assembly

The General Assembly of SCORUS was held in the afternoon of 16 October 2008 after the closing ceremony of the Conference. Some 30 participants had attended. Besides discussing various administrative issues of SCORUS, the General Assembly agreed on the composition of the 2009-2011 SCORUS Executive Committee as follows:
Chairperson – Dominic Leung (Hong Kong, China)
Vice-Chairperson – Dev Virdee (UK)
Secretary – Wendy Thomas (USA)
Treasurer – Teodora Brandmuller (Eurostat)

Moreover, the formation of a SCORUS Regional Group for Asia with Mr. Huang Langhui from China as the Organizer was also endorsed. Mr. Huang together with the Organizer of the Regional Group for Europe, Mr. Berthold Feldmann from Eurostat, will also serve as members of the SCORUS Management.

International Forum on Metropolitan Statistics, Beijing, 19 to 21 October 2008

SCORUS assisted the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics in organizing the “Metropolitan International Statistics Forum - Beijing 2008” in Beijing from 20-21 October 2008.

The Chair of SCORUS, Mr. Dominic Leung, was invited as one of the officiating guests at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Forum held on 20 October. In his address to the audience, Mr. Leung expressed his gratitude to all SCORUS colleagues for their support to the Forum, particularly the SCORUS Regional Group for Asia and the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for their efforts in assisting to organize the event.

Discussions at the Beijing Forum mainly focused on six major areas, viz.:
• Establishing and improving metropolitan statistics systems;
• Demand for statistics in metropolitan development;
• Statistics and policy-making;
• Applications of statistical data;
• Methods for compiling metropolitan statistics; and
• Establishment and application of IT-based statistics.

In addition to researchers and practitioners from the mainland of China who gave 13 presentations, about 20 professional statistical practitioners and scholars from a range of countries, economies and international organizations, including Australia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Macao, Ireland, Korea, The Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and Eurostat had also attended the Forum. The presentations provided new perspectives and inspired innovative ideas enhancing our knowledge and understanding of the practices, techniques and strategies adopted in research on urban and regional development.

The Forum was a great success achieving its goals and inspiring many fruitful exchanges. It provided a valuable platform for promoting developments in urban and regional statistics, and has resulted in positive feedback from participants.

13^th Annual Berlin SCORUS Conference 2009: Statistics and the Help of Young People in Big Cities

6 to 8 April 2009
The focus of this year’s conference will be on “Income and Life Conditions”. The annual Berlin SCORUS meetings are for scientists from universities and research institutes, statisticians, selected experts from welfare and public health institutions, from firms and unions, social workers and others. They are organized by Prof. Dr. Eckart Elsner to further the discussion on regional and urban issues concerning young people. The size and venue of these conferences provide an excellent opportunity to share experiences and research, and to develop valuable relationships while discussing these important issues.

Once again this year’s conference will be held in the south-west of Berlin in Bildungs- und Begegnungszentrum “Clara Sahlberg”, Koblankstrasse 10, 14109 Berlin-Wannsee. The BBZ is situated in the Berlin-Potsdam Cultural landscape protected by UNESCO. Please contact Prof. Dr. Eckart Elsner for additional information Profelsner@aol.com.

A special thanks to Mr. Dominic Leung for providing the report on the two meetings in China.

International Association for Statistical Computing

		Editorial Address	Francesco Palumbo, IASC Scientific Secretary Facoltà di Economia, University of Macerata, Via Crescimbeni, 20 – I-62100, Macerata, Italy Tel: +39 07332583242; Fax: +39 07332583205 E-mail: francesco.palumbo@unimc.it
		President	Jaromír Antoch, Matematicko fyzikální fakulta Charles University Prague Sokolovská 83, 186 75 Praha 8, Czech Republic Tel: +420 22191 3275; Fax: +420 222 323 316 E-mail: antoch@karlin.mff.cuni.cz
		Website	IASC website: http://www.iasc-isi.org CSDA SSN website: www.csdassn.org

IASC2008/ARS’08 Joint Meeting Report

The Joint Meeting of the Fourth World Conference on Computational Statistics & Data Analysis of the IASC and the Sixth Conference of the Asian Regional Section of the IASC was held during 5-8 December 2008 at Pacifico Yokohama Conference Center in Yokohama City, Japan.

The IASC has held several international conferences, including the Third World Conference of the IASC held in Cyprus in 2005, and the Fifth Conference of the ARS (Asian Regional Section) of the IASC held in Hong Kong, China, also in 2005. IASC2008 is a successor to these two Conferences and the first united conference in the history of the IASC.

IASC2008 was hosted jointly by the IASC2008 IOC (International Organizing Committee), JSCS (Japanese Society of Computational Statistics) and the ISM (Institute of Statistical Mathematics). As the Chair of the IASC2008 IOC, I would like to express sincere thanks to the volunteers from JSCS and the ISM (Masahiro Mizuta, Yuichi Mori, Yoshiro Yamamoto, to name a few) for their great efforts in running this Conference.

We had 464 participants: 231 from Japan and 233 from overseas countries. Countries with ten or more participants were: Taiwan (31), South Korea (28), Czech Republic (18), USA (17), Spain (16), Great Britain (13), Hong Kong (12), Germany (11) and Australia (10).
Additionally, we had one or more participants from 27 overseas countries. Thus, this Conference had a really international atmosphere.
290 papers were presented (252 by oral and 38 by poster presentations). We note that 306 abstracts were collected in the Program & Abstract book, of which 16 were cancelled.

At the opening ceremony, greetings were given by Junji Nakano as the Chair of the IASC2008 IOC, Jaromír Antoch as the President of the IASC and Wing Kam Fung as the Chairman of the ARS of the IASC. Then, Trevor Hastie of Stanford University gave the first keynote lecture. After the lecture, parallel sessions started in seven halls for three days.

In some sessions, we had standing audiences. The first poster presentations took place in the evening of that day.

Many speakers and participants had active discussions there. A welcome party followed with more than 300 participants. "Edo-Daikagura", one type of the traditional entertainment in Japan, where Japanese traditional juggling and a lion dance are performed, especially attracted foreign participants to the welcome party.

On the second day, seven parallel oral sessions and poster presentations were held. We also had a tea ceremony as a Japanese cultural experience which drew a lot of participants. The banquet on the night of the second day was held on the Yokohama Port cruise ship. On the final day, parallel oral sessions and poster presentations took place, and the second keynote lecture, by Ker-Chau Li of Academia Sinica Taiwan/UCLA, was given in the evening.

At the Conference venue, corporate booths exhibiting hardware, software and books related to statistics and the booth of the ISI Session in Durban were present and provided information to the participants.

Three satellite meetings and one tutorial were held before and after IASC2008 and several participants of IASC2008 also participated in these meetings. I would like to thank the Organizers of these meetings. The satellite meetings were "Statistical modeling for computer security" held by Jung Jin Lee in Seoul, South Korea, "Statistical computation and visualization" held by Chun-houh Chen in Taipei, Taiwan, and "Computational algebraic statistics, Theories and Applications" held by Akimichi Takemura in Kyoto, Japan, and the tutorial "Advanced R tutorial" was held in Yokohama, Japan.

Contributed by Junji Nakano
Chair of the International Organizing Committee of IASC2008

Compstat 2010, Paris

The COMPSTAT 2010 Symposium will take place in Paris. The meeting is scheduled for August 23^rd to 27^th, on the premises of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), located in the heart of Paris (http://www.cnam.fr/).

The Conference will be organized by CNAM statisticians with the support of INRIA, the French national institute in computer science and control (http://www.inria.fr/index.en.html).

Besides the main Conference, a satellite meeting or a tutorial will be organized at INRIA Rocquencourt Research Unit, a campus near Versailles, a few kilometres from Paris.

The Local Organizing Committee is chaired by Gilbert Saporta (CNAM), with Yves Lechevallier from INRIA as Vice-Chairman.

Members ex-officio:
COMPSTAT'2010 Organizer and Chairperson of SPC:
Gilbert Saporta, CNAM
Past Compstat Organizer:
Maria Paula Brito, University of Porto
Next Compstat Organizer:
Erricos Kontoghiorghes, University of Cyprus
Incoming IASC-ERS Chairman:
Patrick J.F. Groenen, Erasmus University, Rottterdam

Members:
Ana Maria Aguilera Universidad Granada
Avner Bar-Hen Université René Descartes, Paris
Christophe Croux Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Michel Denuit Université Catholique de Louvain
Gejza Dohnal Technical University, Prag
Georges Hébrail TELECOM ParisTech
Martina Mittlböck Medical University of Vienna
Christian P. Robert Université Paris-Dauphine
Maurizio Vichi Universita La Sapienza, Roma
Peter Winker Universität Giessen

Consultative Members:
Representative of the ARS of IASC:
Moon Yul Huh, SungKyunKwan University, Seoul, Korea

Representative of the IFCS:
Henk Kiers, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Representative of KDD community:
Djamel Zighed, Université Lumière, Lyon, France

Early Scientific Programme Information
Three eminent researchers have been invited to give the keynote lectures. They are:
Luc Devroye McGill University, Montréal
Lutz Edler German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg
David Hand Imperial College, London

Invited Sessions:
Each Compstat meeting is organized around a number of highlighted topics. During COMPSTAT'2010, sessions will be organized reflecting topics of major interest for statistical computing and developing novel areas. For each topic, a member of the SPC, or a recognized authority appointed by the SPC, is invited to organize a themed session. Each Organizer is responsible for his/her session and will invite two or three key speakers. Papers from these speakers will form a major part of the published proceedings volume. Up to 45 minutes are usually available for a presentation, including invited and open discussions.

In the next ISI Newsletter issue, the guidelines and the deadline for proposing Invited Paper Meeting Sessions sponsored or co-sponsored by the IASC will be announced.

The next IASC-ERS Summer School will be on "Computational Aspects in Environmental Statistics" and will be held on 7-11 September 2009 in the picturesque venue of the Gorni Voden Monastery "St. Kirik and Yulita", District of Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Organizing Committee:
Prof. N. Neykov, (Chair)
National Inst. of Meteorology and Hydrology
Prof. M. Bojkova, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ochridski"
Prof. K. Prodanova TU of Sofia
Prof. P. Neytchev National Inst. of Meteorology and Hydrology
Prof. V. Noncheva Plovdiv University "St. Kiril and Metodii"
Prof. N. Yanev Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Scientific Program and Lecturers:
1. P. Filzmoser - Applied environmental statistics;
2. N. Neykov and R. Gueorguieva - Modelling of environmental time series using Generalized, Linear and Mixed Models;
3. F. Leisch and B. Grün - Flexible mixture modelling of environmental data and some computational issues;
4. D. Jaruskova and E. Pancheva - Modelling environmental extremes;
5. J. Antoch and D. Jaruskova - Change points detection in environmental time series data.

All lectures and the work material will be in English. Case studies application and training in the PC room will be in R.
More information will be available on the IASC website.
Please see the school website for more details: http://info.meteo.bg/conferences/iasc09/.

Conferences Endorsed or Sponsored by the IASC
In the spirit of co-operation with other scientific communities and/or ISI Sections, and aiming at having an even wider horizon of scientific relationships, the IASC Council – according to the IASC statutes – may consider its possible sponsorship of conferences organized (or co-organized) by distinguished IASC members on topics close to Computational Statistics.

Cagliari, Italy, 30^th May - 3^rd June 2009
The International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS, a Section of the ISI) is organizing a Regional Meeting in Cagliari, Sardinia Island (Italy), during 30 May - 3 June 2009.

Professor Francesco Mola is in charge of the local organisation and along with Professor Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi and Dr. Nick Fisher PhD are co-chairing the Scientific Program Committee.
The conference themes will be related to Quantitative Methods for Banking and Finance, Environment, Services for SMEs, Transport and Tourism. Of course, issues relating to large and complex data sets occur with each of these themes. Upon invitation of Dr. Fisher on behalf of ISBIS, the IASC Council decided to co-sponsor the Conference.

IASC members will be eligible for the lowest registration fees.
More information will be available soon on the Conference website: http://www.eurisbis09.it.

PLS’09 – 6^th International Conference on Partial Least Squares and Related Methods

The Sixth International Conference on Partial Least Squares and Related Methods (PLS'09) will take place in Beijing, China, on September 4^th-7^th, 2009. PLS'09 focuses on research in Management, Engineering and Life Sciences. This Conference is a unique event through which outstanding experts in PLS methods, from all over the world, can meet and communicate.

Prof. Esposito Vinzi, who Co-Chairs the Program Committee, is an extremely active member of the IASC. Two IASC Past Presidents are in the Program Committee: Prof. Carlo Lauro (Italy) and Prof. Gilbert Saporta (France).

Program Committee is co-chaired by:
Prof. Michel Tenenhaus France
Prof. Xiangdong Chen China
Prof. Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi France
Prof. Huiwen Wang China

Members are:
A. Morineau, C. Lauro, F. L. Bookstein, G. Saporta, H. Martens, H. Hwang, M. Martens, N. Kettaneh-Wold, R. Rosipal, T. Naes, W.W. Chin.

Important Deadlines
Paper Submission:
Abstract Submission (3-4 pages) March 28, 2009
Notification of Acceptance May 15, 2009
Final Paper Submission June 1, 2009
Deadlines for Poster Submission:
Poster Submission Abstract May 1, 2009
Notification of Acceptance May 15, 2009
Deadlines for Registration:
Early Bird Fees June 10, 2009
Authors of Accepted Papers June 1, 2009

Computational and Financial Econometrics 3^rd International Conference, 29-31 October 2009

Grand Resort Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/cfe09m
Submissions to this Conference are now invited. Papers containing strong computational statistical or econometric components or substantive data-analytic elements will be considered for publication in a special peer-reviewed issue (6th special issue on Computational Econometrics), or in a regular issue of the journal Computational Statistics & Data Analysis. The Conference is endorsed by the IASC and takes place jointly with the ERCIM Working Group Meeting on Computing & Statistics.

2^nd International Workshop of the ERCIM Working Group on Computing & Statistics

29-31 October 2009
Grand Resort Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/ercim09/
All topics concerning the interface between Computing and Statistics are eligible for presentation in the Workshop. The organization of themes and suggestions for possible sessions within the remit of the Working Group are strongly encouraged.
The meeting is endorsed by the IASC and will take place jointly with the Third International Conference on Computational and Financial Econometrics (CFE09).

International Association for Statistics 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 Website: http://www.stat.sfu.ca/~weldon
	President		Allan J. Rossman, Department of Statistics, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA Tel: +1 805-756-2861, Fax: +1 805-756-2700 E-mail: arossman@calpoly.edu Website: http://statweb.calpoly.edu/arossman/
	Website		http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/

We are pleased to announce the establishment of the CATALST group in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. CATALST stands for Change Agents in Teaching and Learning STatistics.

We are conducting statistics education research studies, developing and evaluating new curriculum, hosting seminars and outside speakers, and more. We have several funded projects and new initiatives coming up.

Visiting scholars are welcome to come and share their work with us and form new collaborations. If you have a sabbatical coming up and would like to spend some time with us, please let us know. We also have possible teaching opportunities to supplement sabbatical support.
Please check out our website at: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~delma001/CATALST.

Introduction from the IASE President

Data are everywhere. Information from around the world is at our fingertips every minute of every day. As a statistician, I am thrilled with this development. However, the ubiquitous availability of data makes all the more important the need to train all citizens in how to use data for sound, evidence-based decision-making. This Conference is addressing two very important issues: how to better incorporate the teaching of statistics into school mathematics, and how to better prepare teachers for that challenge. The issue of teacher training is paramount. The impact of school teaching of statistics will be minimal until we statistics educators help prospective teachers to appreciate the benefits of statistical thinking. Once we develop that enthusiasm on the part of prospective teachers, and support it by providing a solid understanding of statistics ideas, then those teachers can convey to their students an excitement for learning statistics.

I am delighted that the IASE and ICMI (International Commission on Mathematical Instruction) are collaborating on this Conference and on the broader study of which this Conference is a part. ICMI’s interest in statistics education will help to bring more attention to this important issue, and IASE is very pleased to work collaboratively with ICMI on this study. The timing has worked out wonderfully for the 2008 IASE Round Table Conference to coincide with the ICMI Study Conference. Every four years the IASE organizes a round table conference that brings together statistics educators from around the world to share findings and discuss a particular topic. These conferences are much smaller than the ICOTS (International Conference on Teaching Statistics) meetings, and they also focus on one particular topic. The round table format allows for much more back-and-forth exchange of ideas than a typical conference.

Recent IASE Round Table Conferences have focused on curricular development, training of researchers, and the role of technology in statistics education. The issue of teacher training and the role of statistics in school mathematics are extremely appropriate for the topic of this Round Table Conference. I thank all of the conference participants for their valuable contributions. Special thanks to Carmen Batanero for chairing the International Programme Committee and to Blanca Ruiz for chairing the Local Organising Committee. I also appreciate very much the support and collaboration provided by Bernard Hodgson and Michele Artigue of ICMI. I trust that all of the participants will enjoy and learn from the discussions at the Conference, and I hope that all who read articles in the Proceedings will also benefit. Moreover, I respectfully ask that you find a way to extend those benefits to school teachers of statistics, so they can, in turn, influence their students.

Research and Development in the Teaching and Learning of Probability: TSG 13 at ICME11

(International Congress on Mathematical Education) - Monterrey, Mexico
July 6-13, 2008

Probability and statistics education are relatively new disciplines. Both have only recently been introduced into the main stream school curricula in man countries. While the application oriented statistics is undisputed in its relevance, discussion about probability is more ambivalent. Reduction of probability to the classical conception, mainly based on combinatorics, or its tight connection to higher mathematics, is an argument to abandon this part of the discipline in favour of the statistics part. However, there are some arguments for a strong role for probability within stochastics curricula:
1. Misconceptions on probability affect people’s decisions in important situations, such as medical tests, jury verdict, investment, assessment, etc.
2. Probability is essential to understand any inferential procedure of statistics.
3. Probability offers a tool for modelling and “creating” reality. For example, modern physics cannot be formulated without reference to probability concepts. The concepts of risk (not only in financial markets) and reliability are closely related to and dependent upon probability.

Thus, the challenge is to teach probability in order to let the students understand it. The focus has to be on creating approaches to probability that are more accessible and motivating. Additionally, the frequentist and subjectivist views of probability, and connections of probability to practical applications, should be taken into account. Simulation is one such strategy, as is visualization of abstract concepts; there are more. The use of technology also enables to reduce the calculation technicalities and focus the learner on the concepts instead. The world of personal attitudes and intuitions is another source for success or failure of teaching probability. With these challenges in mind, we have encouraged in our call for papers and presentations related to the following topics:
• Individuals’ corner
• Students’ understanding and misunderstanding of fundamental probabilistic concepts
Ideas of probability in young children
• Impact of technology
The use of technology for students’ learning of probability
Using specific software (Fathom, probability explorer, etc.) to study probability
Special issues in e-learning
• Teacher’s corner
Teacher education on the topic of probability
Teachers’ conceptions about teaching probability
• Fundamental ideas
The probabilistic idea of a random variable; distribution and expectation
The central limit theorem; convergence
Bayes’ theorem and conditional probability; independence; exchangeability
Probabilistic modelling – a probabilistic look at distributions

Out of the papers submitted, 17 papers have been accepted after careful examination. We grouped them into the following topics, which were the themes of our sessions at the Conference:
• Issues in Probability Teaching and Learning
• Informal Conceptions
• Conditional Probability and Bayes’ Theorem

A panel discussion on the topic ”Fundamental Ideas in Probability Teaching at School Level” completed our programme. It was intended to focus on the impact of recent trends in school curricula, which have removed probability at early stages in favour of data analysis techniques. The authors come from Europe, USA, Australia and Latin America, the English, the Spanish world, and the “rest” were distributed “evenly”. More details of the presentations are available from the Conference website (see below), including the full papers and the PowerPoint presentations. A critical review will follow.

The hope is that ICME will continue to organize topic study groups on probability and statistics separately. By this “strategy”, we did in fact split our potential audience as all the study groups were held during the same time slots. However, the great interest in our group on probability, as well as the number of persons who attended the parallel statistics group, confirm that we can attract many more people to our topic via two separate groups. The split into the two groups allowed also for a more convenient focus of the pertinent presentations and discussions. It showed that – against the international trend towards statistics and away from probability in all international curricula – there is still a substantial interest from the side of research in probability issues as it is highly relevant for any teaching and learning of statistics. This holds also for the joint study of ICMI and IASE, which was held one week prior to the ICME congress where a panel discussion about a vital role for probability within curricula met a strong echo and led to a lively discussion on the role of probability within educational research and in curricula.
Conference website: http://tsg.icme11.org/tsg/show/14

Dresden, Saxony, Germany, September 11-17, 2009

The Mathematics Education into the 21^st Century Project & the University of Applied Sciences (FH), Dresden (Germany), announce our 10^th (Anniversary!) International Conference: “Models in Developing Mathematics Education”, September 11-17, 2009, in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, in full cooperation with the Saxony Ministry of Education. All our Conferences have a strong Statistics Education component.

International Organisers:
Dr. Alan Rogerson, Coordinator of the Mathematics in Society Project (Poland)
Prof. Fayez Mina, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University (Egypt)
Chair of the Local Organising Committee:
Prof. Dr. Ludwig Paditz, Dresden University of Applied Sciences

Dear IASE member,
The International Association for Statistics Education and the International Statistical Institute, together with Co-Editors Peter Petocz and Tom Short, are pleased to announce the publication of a new issue of the Statistics Education Research Journal (SERJ).

SERJ Volume 7, Number 2 - CONTENTS:
• Dave Pratt and Janet Ainley (Guest Editors): Introducing the Special Issue on Informal Inferential Reasoning
• Allan J. Rossman (Invited): Reasoning about Informal Statistical Inference: A Statistician's View
• Ruth Beyth-Marom, Fiona Fidler, and Geoff Cumming: Statistical Cognition: Towards Evidence-Based Practice in Statistics and Statistics Education
• Andrew Zieffler, Joan Garfield, Robert delMas, and Chris Reading: A Framework to Support Research on Informal Inferential Reasoning
• Jane M. Watson: Exploring Beginning Inference With Novice Grade 7 Students
• Efi Paparistodemou and Maria Meletiou-Mavrotheris: Developing Young Students' Informal Inference Skills in Data Analysis
• Dave Pratt, Peter Johnston-Wilder, Janet Ainley, and John Mason: Local and Global Thinking in Statistical Inference
• Arthur Bakker, Phillip Kent, Jan Derry, Richard Noss, and Celia Hoyles: Statistical Inference at Work: Statistical Process Control as an Example
• Conferences
• Statistics Education Research Journal Referees

Please visit the main SERJ page at http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/serj for information about submitting manuscripts for review, and to access past issues.

Data and Context in Statistics Education: Towards an Evidence-Based Society
Ljubljana, Slovenia, 11-16 July 2010 - icots8.org

ICOTS is held every four years. Its main purpose is to give statistics educators and professionals around the world the opportunity to exchange information, ideas and experiences, to present recent innovation and research in the field of statistics education, and to expand their range of collaborators.

An Update

Planning is moving ahead at a fast pace for what promises to be another successful international conference on statistics education. The ten invited paper topics are listed below. Each topic is divided into sessions. There are 75 sessions of three or four invited speakers. A total of 240 invited speakers from 34 countries have been confirmed to present in these sessions. Details of sessions, their organizers and the invited speakers can be viewed on the website (icots8.org)

Invited Paper Topics

1. Data and context in statistics education:
Towards an evidence-based society
2. Statistics education at the school level
3. Learning to teach statistics
4. Statistics education at the post secondary level
5. Assessment in statistics education
6. Statistics education, training and the workplace
7. Statistics education and the wider society
8. Research in statistics education
9. Technology in statistics education
10. An international perspective on statistics education

Contributed Papers

Contributed paper sessions will be arranged in a variety of areas. Those interested in submitting a contributed paper should contact one of the three Convenors:
Flavia Jolliffe F.Jolliffe@kent.ac.uk
John McKenzie mckenzie@babson.edu
Gilberte Schuyten gilberte.schuyten@ugent.be

The authors of contributed papers can decide whether their paper should be refereed or not. If a contributed paper is to be refereed, an abstract should be submitted by 31^st August 2009 with the final version of the paper due by 31^st October 2009. If the contributed paper is not to be refereed, the abstract should be submitted by 30^th November 2009 with the final version of the paper due by 15^thDecember 2009.

Posters

Those interested in submitting a poster should contact the poster Convenors:
Mojca Bavdaz mojca.bavdaz@ef.uni-lj.si
Alesa Lotric Dolina alesa.lotric.dolinar@ef.uni-lj.si

The poster abstracts are due by 15^th January 2010 with the abstracts to be finalised by 15^th March 2010.

Keynote Speakers

I am happy to report that the keynote speakers are:
• Anuska Ferligoj, University of Ljubljana
• Gerd Gigerenzer, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
• Cliff Konold, University of Massachusetts
• Hans Rosling, Karolinske Institute
• Jessica Utts, University of California
There will also be a Plenary Panel Debate organised by Chris Wild, University of Auckland.
Abstracts for the plenary papers and the plenary debate can be viewed on the Conference website (icots8.org).

International Programme Committee Executive

Local Organising Committee

Andrej Blejec (University of Ljubljana) Chair andrej.blejec@nib.si
Irena Krizman (Statistical Office of Slovenia)
Katja Rostohar (Agriculture Institute of Slovenia)
Irena Vipavc-Brvar (University of Ljubljana)

Venue

The 2010 Conference will be in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in conjunction with the Statistical Society of Slovenia (SSS). It will be held at the Ljubljana Cultural and Congress Centre at Cankarjev Dom, a first-class conference venue providing many halls and meeting rooms and excellent facilities.

Due to its compact size, the capital city of Ljubljana is a walking and environmentally-friendly city. It has one of the best-preserved Baroque quarters in Europe that blends harmoniously with the younger Art Nouveau buildings. Bridges abound, and it is blessed with the talent of Joze Plecnik who created the cosmopolitan image of the city with his eclectic architecture.

Easily accessible from abroad and conveniently located in the centre of the country, Ljubljana is also an ideal departure point to discover all the amazingly diverse features of Slovenia. The unique Karst region, the Adriatic coast, the Alps and lakes region, the hilly wine-growing areas, the 15 natural spas and several historic towns are all within a two-hour drive.
If you go to the Conference website (icots8.org) and select the option ABOUT LJUBLJANA on the home page, you will be able to access a series of photos of Ljubljana and will be able to inspect Google Maps of the city, the country and the surrounding countries as well as locating three tourism links.

14-15 August 2009, Durban, South Africa

Continuing the successful tradition of satellite conferences coinciding with each ISI Session, the International Association for Statistics Education is pleased to announce that the sixth IASE Satellite Conference will be held in Durban, South Africa, on the 14^th and 15^th of August 2009. The IASE Satellite Conferences have proven to be a very popular component of the Statistics Education calendar. These Conferences are smaller and more personal in nature than the ICOTS conferences providing a wonderful opportunity for establishing new professional relationships and cementing existing ones. The format of this year’s Conference will follow that of the 2007 Satellite Conference: plenary sessions will be supplemented by two parallel breakaway sessions. The theme of the Conference is Next Steps in Statistics Education. All submissions addressing this theme will be welcome. This theme has been chosen to particularly attract papers under the following headings:

What constitutes best practice for the curriculum beyond the "Introductory Statistics" course? What courses should follow on for those wishing to major in Statistics and what additional training should we offer to those in other disciplines?
What elements of our undergraduate curriculum specifically
prepare our students for their careers post-graduation, either in the workplace or as masters/doctoral students? How can we improve these elements?
Since the 1949 formation of its precursor, the ISI Statistical Education Committee, the IASE has matured as an organisation. As we move towards ICOTS 8, we note that great progress has already been made in the field of Statistics Education, but the challenge we face now is to consider the next steps that we must take. How can we build on past progress to raise the profile of our field so that it becomes a more visible and vibrant pursuit?

We hope that you will be able to join us in Durban on the 14^th and 15^thof August 2009, so please put these dates in your diary.
For more information, visit the Conference website http://www.sastat.org.za/iase/ or contact Patrick Murphy (Chair of the IASE Satellite Conference), School of Mathematical Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Tel: +353-1-7167641, E-mail: Patrick.Murphy@ucd.ie.

16-22 August 2009, Durban, South Africa

This is the main conference of the ISI and will be held in Durban, South Africa, 16-22 August 2009. These Conferences are held every two years. The previous one was in Lisbon in 2007. As it does at each major ISI conference, the IASE will be organizing about 10 statistics education sessions for the 57^th ISI Session. Please check the website above for more information.

International Statistical Literacy Project

Countries participating in Phase I of the ISLP Statistical Literacy Competition and Committees for Phase II

The International Statistical Literacy Project has concluded phase I of the International Statistical Literacy competition. Table 1 below shows the number of students who participated and the number selected to participate in phase 2. Many additional teachers registered their students, but they did not feel well enough prepared to participate in phase I in 2008 and requested that a second international competition be organized for 2010.
Details on the phases of the competition and exams used in phase I can be found at http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/islp/competition.

Students selected from phase 1 will compete against other students in their countries in phase 2 which is designed to select the national champions who will represent the country in the International competition in order to select the overall world winner.

National committees with responsibility for conducting phase 2 of the competition are already in place in most countries and partially completed in others. You may see who is in these committees by visiting: http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/islp/committees-phase2-2009.

ISLP Newsletter
The ISLP Newsletter brings you up-to-date with the news of the ISLP and new resources to use in the classroom or in your other tasks to promote statistical literacy. It also provides information on statistical literacy conferences around the world, as well as new resources added to the ISLP website, whether they are for teaching, for adult literacy, for the media or any other use. You may find all the issues of the ISLP Newsletter at http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/islp/newsletter.

International Association of Survey Statisticians

	Editorial Address	Steven G. Heeringa, Scientific Secretary IASS, Institute for Social Research 426 Thompson St., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Tel: +1 734 647-4621 E-mail: sheering@isr.umich.edu
	President	Pedro Luis do Nascimento Silva, President, IASS, Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, U.K. Tel: +44-23-80597169 Fax: +44-23-80595763 E-mail: pedronsilva@gmail.com
	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: peronnet.michel@orange.fr E-mail: claude.olivier@insee.fr
	Executive Secretary	Anna Maria Vespa, INSEE, 18 Bd. Adolphe Pinard, 75014 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 4117 556 E-mail: annavespa@yahoo.fr
	Website	http://isi.cbs.nl/iass

As some of you may have seen in the previous issue or via the website, a position for the Director of the ISI Permanent Office has been advertised. In December 2008, by invitation from ISI President Denise Lievesley, I represented the IASS in the panel that convened in The Hague to interview the shortlisted candidates for the post.

The preparation of the programme of IASS short courses to be offered before the ISI Session in South Africa is in full gear. A contract with the venue has been signed and first class facilities are now secure in Durban. We have an exciting programme with top class instructors. This time the IASS short courses will be part of a wider programme of short courses to be offered by the ISI, and we are happy to see this idea extended to other areas of statistics and to draw contributions from other ISI Sections. Further details on the IASS short courses appear below. Do not miss these unique opportunities for personal development that will be provided in Durban.

The IASS Nominations Committee, chaired by Cynthia Clark (USA), charged with preparing the 2009 elections for the renewal of officers in the Executive and Council of the Association, has completed a selection of candidates and the ballot papers will be sent shortly to the IASS membership by the Secretariat.

The IPMs organised or co-sponsored by the IASS during the 2009 Session in Durban under the leadership of Council Member Leyla Mohadjer are now complete. The full list of topics, authors and discussants for IPM sessions is available from the 2009 ISI Session website http://www.statssa.gov.za/isi2009/ScientificProgramme/ipms.aspx. Time to start planning the trip to South Africa, to register and to make sure you do not miss the impressive scientific and social programme that is lined up for you in Durban.

The consultation process for the preparation of the Invited Paper Meetings for the 2011 ISI Session in Dublin will start shortly. Geoff Lee (Australia) chairs the IASS Programme Committee for Dublin. If you have any ideas for challenging and innovative topics, do not hesitate to let Geoff know your ideas.

The IASS is keen to welcome new members, both individual and institutional. The registration form for individual members can be found on our website (http://isi.cbs.nl/iass). For organizations wishing to join, please contact our Executive Director, Michel Peronnet (see address above).

The IASS has organized seven short courses to be offered prior to the start of the 57^th Session of the ISI. These will be offered in two 2-day sessions on August 12-13, 2009, and August 14-15, 2009. The following table lists the sessions, course topics and the instructors who have volunteered to present them. Short descriptions of the syllabus and aims of each course are provided as an addendum to this summary report.

ISI and IASS members who are planning their travel itinerary for the 2009 ISI Session in Durban should note that the IASS short courses will now be offered at a Durban venue, the Hotel Southern Sun Elangeni. Registration for the courses and local accommodation will be offered online through the official website of the 57^th Session of the ISI, http://www.statssa.gov.za/isi2009/. We expect that the short course registration page will become active shortly.

As IASS Scientific Secretary, I will be coordinating this activity in close liaison with the ISI short course coordinator and the Local Hosts in South Africa. If at any time you have questions or concerns about the 2009 IASS short courses, please do not hesitate to e-mail me directly sheering@isr.umich.edu.

Instructors: Wesley Yung and Mike Hidiroglou, Statistics Canada
Dates: August 12-13, 2009
Business surveys are important sources of information for producing key economic indicators that monitor the economy over time and for constructing official statistics such as national accounts. While business surveys typically use simple sample designs they are not without their methodological challenges. These include dealing with:

• Business populations that are highly skewed with a small number of large units and many small units.
• Business populations can be very unstable with respect to births, deaths and changes of classification.
• The quality and subsequent use of administrative and historical data in stratification, editing, imputation and estimation.

This workshop will describe methods for designing business surveys. It will cover topics including: building and maintaining a Business Register; sample design; data collection; outlier detection and treatment; Imputing for total and/or partial non-response; weighting and estimation; use of administrative data.

Instructors: John G. Kovar, Eric Rancourt and Jean-François Beaumont, Statistics Canada
Dates: August 12-13, 2009
Surveys and censuses conducted by national statistical agencies, research institutes and other survey organizations suffer from various degrees of non-response even under ideal conditions. In order to try to alleviate the problems caused by non-response, 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 introduce the students to methods of non-response prevention and the treatment of suspicious, inconsistent and missing responses. Evaluation of such methods and their impact on the survey outputs will be highlighted. Examples will be provided to illustrate the material presented.

Instructors: Colm O’Muircheartaigh, the University of Chicago and NORC; Steven Heeringa, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research
Dates: August 12-13, 2009
The workshop is intended to provide an appreciation of the underlying principles of sample design and estimation. The workshop will focus on practical aspects of sampling for household surveys. It will start from basic principles of sample design and selection beginning with simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, cluster sampling and build up to complex stratified multi-stage sample designs. It will cover the main sampling techniques and also discuss such issues as sampling frames and weighting. An introduction to variance estimation for complex sample designs will be presented at the end of the workshop.

The target audience for this course includes survey researchers, practitioners and statisticians who have not had extensive training in sampling methods but would benefit from a systematic introduction to (or review of) probability sampling methods. Examples and exercises will be used to reinforce the principles and techniques that are presented in this course.

Instructors: Jay Breidt, Colorado State University; Kirk Wolter, National Opinion Research Center (NORC); Wayne Fuller, Iowa State University
Dates: August 14-15, 2009
Estimation procedures appropriate for data collected under complex survey designs will be discussed. The first part of the course will cover estimation and variance estimation for standard statistics, such as means, ratios, domain totals, and the entries in two-way tables. The use of survey data for the estimation of the parameters of statistical models is the focus of the second part of the course. Emphasis will be placed on efficient estimation of the parameters of regression models.

Instructor: Paul Biemer, RTI International and the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.
Dates: August 15, 2009 (one-day course)
The course spans a range of topics dealing with the quality of data collected through the survey process including: components of total survey error such as non-response error, frame error, measurement error, specification error, data processing error, methods for evaluating survey data and how to reduce these errors by the best use of survey resources. It includes reviews of well-established as well as recently developed principles and concepts in the field. It also examines important issues that are still unresolved today and that are being actively pursued in the current survey methods literature. The course begins with a discussion of total survey error and its relationship to survey costs and provides a number of measures of measurement quality that will be used throughout the course. Then the major sources of survey error are discussed. The course examines: a) the origins of each error source (i.e. its root causes), b) the most successful methods that have been proposed for reducing the errors emanating from these error sources, and c) methods that are most often used in practice for evaluating the effects of the source on total survey error.

The target audience for the course is persons who perform tasks associated with surveys and may work with survey data but are not necessarily trained survey researchers. These are survey project directors, data collection managers, survey specialists, statisticians, data processors, interviewers, and other operations personnel who would benefit from a better understanding of the concepts of survey quality. The course is not designed to provide an in-depth study of any one topic, but rather to provide an introduction to the field of survey measurement quality.

IASS Short Course 6: Small Area Estimation: Methods, Applications and Practical Demonstration

Instructors: J.N.K. Rao, Carleton University, and Isabel Molina, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Dates: August 14-15, 2009
Demand for timely and reliable small area estimates derived from survey data has increased greatly in recent years due to, among other things, their growing use in formulating policies and programs, allocation of government funds, regional planning, small area business decisions and other applications. Traditional area-specific (direct) estimates may not provide acceptable precision for small areas, because sample sizes in small areas are seldom large enough or even zero sample sizes in many small areas of interest. This makes it necessary to borrow information across related areas through indirect estimation based on implicit or explicit linking models, using auxiliary information such as recent census data and current administrative data. Methods based on explicit linking models are now widely accepted. This workshop will provide an introduction to model-based small area estimation.
A variety of recent applications to real socio-economic data and practical demonstration of the methods will also be presented. The course is primarily aimed at methodologists in government statistical bureaux or survey organizations, statistics graduate students and faculty from universities and users with adequate background in linear regression models and survey sampling theory and methods.

Instructors: Dominique Ladiray, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), France, Craig McLaren, Office for National Statistics, Brian Monsell, United States Bureau of the Census, Benoit Quenneville, Statistics Canada
Dates: August 14-15, 2009
Time series estimates are collected, derived and published on a regular basis by government agencies around the world. Seasonally adjusted estimates are a common set of published outputs that can be calculated from the original collected time series and assist and aid interpretation of information over time. Knowledge and understanding of the seasonal adjustment process is essential.

This course gives a practical guide to the use of the two most popular seasonal adjustment packages for official statistics: X-12-ARIMA and TRAMO-SEATS. The aim of this course is to give a fundamental understanding underlying both X-12-ARIMA and TRAMO-SEATS with a focus on the practical use of these two seasonal adjustment packages. The course will alternate between theory and background of these two software packages and will include time for participants to use and explore the software with expert guidance by the instructors.

Broad topics that will be covered include: objectives of seasonal adjustment, pre-treatment of time series using TRAMO and REGARIMA, calendar effects such as trading day and Easter, prior adjustments, overview of the underlying X-11 and SEATS processes, and practical sessions.

There is no pre-requisite or previous knowledge required for this course, although it is primarily aimed at participants who are either interested in seasonal adjustment or are required to perform seasonal adjustment in their organisation.

Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC)

		Chairman	Mr. Manuel Marfán, Member of the Board, Central Bank of Chile, Santiago, Chile Tel: +56 2 670 2583, Fax: +56 2 670 2915 E-mail: mmarfan@bcentral.cl
		Secretariat	Paul Van den Bergh Christian Dembiermont 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: ifc.secretariat@bis.org
		Website	http://www.bis.org/ifc

In March 2008, the IFC organised a workshop on "Challenges to improve global comparison of securities statistics" at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. This workshop identified the need for international guidelines and recommendations for the compilation of debt securities statistics. This has now been followed up by the Working Group on Securities Databases sponsored by the BIS, ECB and IMF. A first version of a Handbook on Securities Statistics will be available for public comment in early 2009. It covers issuance of debt securities but will eventually be extended to cover other securities as well as statistics on holdings of securities. More information is available at http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/wgsd/index.htm.

Two regional central banking groups have expressed an interest in sponsoring a workshop with the IFC in 2009. The South East Asian Central Banks Research and Training Centre (SEACEN) is an institutional member of the IFC. The head office of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is located in Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency is an IFC institutional member. The topic would be on CPI measurement (headline, core, inflation perception, inflation expectations). Participation will be by invitation only.

The National Bank of Belgium (NBB), one of the founding members of the IFC, has agreed to organise a training event for IFC members on National Accounts methodology. It will build on its expertise in compiling the national accounts for Belgium, but will also draw on support of other IFC member institutions. Participation will be by invitation only.

The 29^th and the 30^th issues of the IFC Bulletin, which will contain the results of IFC organised workshops on "Challenges to improve global comparison of securities statistics" and "The use of surveys by central banks", will be published shortly.

The IFC also encourages the publication of analytical work on topical statistical issues of interest to the international central banking community, in addition to those presented at various IFC meetings. Analysis by experts of the Committee's institutional members as well as by other analysts, including outside the central banking community, can be submitted for publication in the IFC Working Paper series. More information on the criteria and review process is available on the IFC website http://www.bis.org/ifc/publications.htm.

The IFC will sponsor or co-sponsor 7 IPMs for the 57^th ISI Session in Durban, August 2009. The Committee will also organise a seminar with the South African Reserve Bank prior to the start of the ISI Session. The topic of the seminar is "Economic and financial convergence en route to regional economic integration: Experience, prospects and statistical issues amidst global financial turmoil". The seminar is aimed at IFC members and central banks from the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Participation will be by invitation only.

Furthermore, the IFC will organise an STCMP on the topic of "Data issues related to the financial crisis". Contributions are welcomed from members of other ISI Sections. For more information, please contact the IFC Secretariat.

International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics

		Editorial Address	Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi Department of Information Systems & Decision Sciences (SID) ESSEC Business School Paris Avenue Bernard Hirsch, B.P. 50105 95021 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex, France Tel: +33-1-3443-3656; Fax: +33-1-3443-3691 E-mail: vinzi@essec.fr
		Chairman	Nicholas Fisher ValueMetrics Australia Suite 251, 184 Blues Point Road McMahons Point NSW 2060 Australia Tel: +61 2 9922-1623; Fax: +61 2 9922-1635 E-mail: nif@valuemetrics.com.au
		Website	ISBIS website: www.isbis.org ISBIS official Journal - Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry (ASMBI): http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/66002616

Revision of Statutes: After three years of operation, the ISBIS Executive has been able to make an assessment of the founding Governance arrangements of the Society. An Ad hoc committee comprising Yves Grize, Vijay Nair (Chair) and Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi conducted a careful review of the Statutes, and produced a considerably revised draft. Significant changes include:
• Revision of the Executive Committee, with a clear statement of the role and responsibility of each member;
• Clarification of how long an individual can remain a member of the Executive;
• Revision of the membership of Council, with a clear statement of the role and responsibility of each member;
• Explicit provision for Special Interest groups, such as a Young Statisticians group;
• A revised process for conducting elections;
• Explicit provision for Standing Committees;
as well as several other minor changes.

The proposed changes will be submitted to the membership for approval in the near future.

Young Statistician activities: Plans are being developed to establish a Young Statisticians group within ISBIS. More information should be available on the ISBIS website by April 2009.

ISBIS has now implemented a program of its conference strategy, which involves
a. biennial international conferences, broad in scope and professionally organised; and
b. regional meetings that are more regionally focused, organised locally, but with strong ISBIS support.

Under (a), ISBIS-2008 was held in Prague, Czech Republic, during 1-4 July 2009.
Under (b), a regional meeting was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, during 1-3 December 2008 organized locally but with ISBIS actively involved through the Scientific Program Committee, and by providing several keynote speakers.
Reports on these meetings can be found at: http://www.isbis.org/pastconferences.html.

ISBIS has a significant share of the Scientific Program at the 57^th Session of the International Statistical Institute in Durban, South Africa, 16-22 August 2009.
http://www.statssa.gov.za/isi2009/

This is a call for proposals for ISBIS invited paper sessions for the 58^th Biennial Session of the ISI to be held in Dublin, Ireland, 20-27 August 2011.

As usual, a competitive procedure for determining the invited sessions has started. Candidate proposals from the various ISI Sections will be discussed at the upcoming Durban Session in August 2009.

Therefore, we solicit receiving proposals for invited sessions to be held under the auspices of ISBIS (or perhaps jointly with another ISI Section).

If you feel your topic meets (at least some of) the guidelines given, e.g. in ISBIS News 1(1), please do not hesitate and contact our member of the Program Coordinating Council Werner Müller (werner.mueller@jku.at) with your suggestions as soon and as detailed as possible.

EURISBIS’09: 30 May-3 June 2009

The European Regional Meeting of the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics (EURISBIS’09) will take place in Cagliari (Sardinia Island, Italy) on 30 May - 3 June 2009.

The International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC, a Section of the ISI) will be a Participating Organization in this meeting.
EURISBIS’09 themes will be related to Quantitative Methods for Banking and Finance, Environment, Quality of Services for SMEs, Transport and Tourism.
EURISBIS’09 will provide a varied and stimulating scientific program of invited and contributed papers, and excellent opportunities for formal and informal exchanges. Authors will have the opportunity to submit extended versions of their papers for publication in the ISBIS Society's journal, Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry, in the Springer’s journal Advances in Data Analysis and Classification (ADAC) and in the Italian Journal of Applied Statistics (Statistica Applicata).

The keynote speakers will be:
Bill Cleveland, Purdue University, USA
Alessandro Fassò, University of Bergamo, Italy

Moreover, there will be about 25 Invited Sessions focusing on specialized topics such as: On-Line Methods for Quality Control, Models and Quantitative Methods in Finance and Insurance, Statistics for Health and Environment, Statistical Process Control, Case Studies in Business and Industrial Statistics, Improving financial ratings through XBRL balance sheet analysis, Statistical Methods for Tourism, Applications in Transports, Mathematical Instruments in Decision-Making Processes, Statistical Methods for Transport Analysis, Banking, Statistics and Finance, Control Charts for Quality Improvement, E-data Mining, Computer Experiments for Innovation, Visual Data Exploration in the Business Process.

The EURISBIS’09 International Scientific Program Committee is co-chaired by:
Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi, ESSEC Business School of Paris, France – vinzi@essec.fr
Nicholas Fisher, ValueMetrics, Australia nif@valuemetrics.com.au
Francesco Mola, University of Cagliari, Italy mola@unica.it

Deadline for paper submission: 30 January 2009.
Call for papers and other useful information can be downloaded from: www.eurisbis09.it.

ISI Satellite Meeting Stellenbosch, South Africa

24-26 August 2009
ISBIS is organizing a Regional Meeting in Stellenbosch (South Africa) as a Satellite Meeting of the 57^th Session of the International Statistical Institute. For further enquiries, please contact Tertius De Wet at: tdewet@sun.ac.za.

International Symposium on Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS-2010)

The next biennial ISBIS International Conference will be held in Croatia in July 2010.
Stefan Steiner (shsteine@uwaterloo.ca) from the University of Waterloo (Canada) will chair the scientific program committee.
See www.action-m.com/isbis2010 for further information.

One of the objectives of ISBIS is to develop and promote relationships among national and regional organizations involved in activities similar to those of ISBIS.

The National Statistical Symposium in Cartagena, Colombia: 11-15 August 2008

The Colombian National Statistical Symposium took place in Cartagena, Colombia during 11-15 August 2008, with the main theme "Business and Industrial Statistics". ISBIS was part of this meeting, our participation having been approved by the Council in Azores. On behalf of ISBIS, Geoff Vining and Bovas Abraham organized 4 invited and 2 plenary sessions in English. Plenaries were given by Stuart Hunter and Bovas Abraham. It was a very successful meeting with more than 300 participants.

PLS’09: 6^th International Conference on Partial Least Squares and Related Methods

Beijing, 4-7 September 2009
ISBIS is sponsoring the 6th International Conference on Partial Least Squares and Related Methods taking place in Beijing, China, 4-7 September 2009. More details at: www.pls09.org.

The address of the official ISBIS website is www.isbis.org. This is the place to look for up-to-date information on the activities of ISBIS, including a member-only zone with electronic access to the ASMBI-Journal, list of members, papers from past conferences and much more.

For further information on the website, or suggestions for its content, please contact Yves Grize (ISBIS President-Elect) at: yves-laurent.grize@baloise.ch.

ISBIS membership is open to all individuals and organisations with a professional interest in any aspect of business, financial and industrial statistics. There are individual, institutional and student memberships. Details and application forms can be obtained from the ISBIS website (www.isbis.org) or contact Nicholas Fisher (nif@valuemetrics.com.au).

If you are already a member of the ISI and one of its Sections, you can add ISBIS to your membership for a small fee by sending an e-mail to Margaret de Ruiter-Molloy in the ISI Office (@cbs.nl).

The International Environmetrics Society (TIES)

TIES 2009 - the 20^thAnnual Conference of The International Environmetrics Society and GRASPA Conference 2009*
Bologna, Italy, July 5-9, 2009 - http://www2.stat.unibo.it/ties2009

ISI - INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTE