A Modern Course on Statistical Distributions in Scientific Work: Volume 2 — Model Building and Model Selection Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute held at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, (17 NATO Science Series C)

These three volumes constitute the edited Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Statistical Distributions in Scientific Work held at the University of Calgary from July 29 to August 10, 1974. The general title of the volumes is "Statistical Distributions in Scientific Work". The individual volumes are: Volume 1 - Models and Structures; Volume 2 - Model Building and Model Selection; and Volume 3 - Characterizations and Applications. These correspond to the three advanced seminars of the Institute devoted to the respective subject areas. The planned activities of the Institute consisted of main lectures and expositions, seminar lectures and study group dis­ cussions, tutorials and individual study. The activities included meetings of editorial committees to discuss editorial matters for these proceedings which consist of contributions that have gone through the usual refereeing process. A special session was organized to consider the potential of introducing a course on statistical distributions in scientific modeling in the curriculum of statistics and quantitative studies. This session is reported in Volume 2. The overall perspective for the Institute is provided by the Institute Director, Professor G. P. Patil, in his inaugural address which appears in Volume 1. The Linnik Memorial Inaugural Lecture given by Professor C. R. Rao for the Characterizations Seminar is included in Volume 3.

Table of Contents:
1. Modelling and Simulation.- 1.1 Statistical Modelling: An Alternative View.- 1.2 Chance Mechanisms for Discrete Distributions in Scientific Modelling.- 1.3 Random Numbers: The Need, the History, the Generators.- 1.4 Chance Mechanisms in the Computer Generation of Random Variables.- 1.5 A Probability Distribution with Applications to Monte Carlo Simulation Studies.- 2. Model Indentification and Discrimination.- 2.1 On the Discrimination Between Two Location and Scale Parameter Models.- 2.2 Applications of Characterizations in the Area of Goodness of Fit.- 2.3 Test for Normality Using a Characterization.- 2.4 Tests for Normality Using Minimum Chi-Square.- 2.5 A New Statistic for Testing an Assumed Distribution.- 2.6 The Poisson Distribution: The Theory and Application of Some Conditional Tests.- 3. Models in the Social Sciences and Management.- 3.1 The Size of Human Settlements.- 3.2 Statistical Models for Personal Income Distributions.- 3.3 Symmetric Distributions With Fat Tails: Interrelated Compound Distributions Estimated by Box-Jenkins Methods.- 3.4 A Marketing Application of a Characterization Theorem.- 4. Models in the Physical and Biomedical Sciences.- 4.1 Statistical Problems of Size and Shape,I.- 4.2 Statistical Problems of Size and Shape,II.- 4.3 Skew Distributions in Biomedicine Including Some With Negative Powers of Time.- 4.4 Models in Medicine and Toxicology.- 4.5 Mass-Size Distributions — A Review and a Proposed New Model.- 4.6 Application of Statistical Models to Engineering Problems.- 4.7 Failure and Mortality from Wear and Ageing. The Teissier Model.- 4.8 Some Statistical Models for Seismological Discrimination.- 5. Models in the Environment Sciences.- 5.1 Probability Laws for Topological Properties of Drainage Basins.- 5.2 Indices and Models forAggregation in Spatial Patterns.- 5.3 Extreme Order Statistics in Large Samples from Exponential Type Distributions and Their Application to Fire Loss.- 5.4 Statistical Distributions in Forestry and Forest Products Research.- 6. A Modern Course on Statistical Distributions.- 6.1 Introduction and Discussion.