The following is a reprint of the first issue of the TIES Newsletter. To become a member of TIES and receive the current issue of our newsletter please fill out our membership form.
The International Environmetrics Society (TIES)
December 1994 Volume 1 Number 1
Newsletter
A Message from the PresidentThis first issue is the beginning of the publication on a regular basis of the Newsletter of the International Environmetrics Society (TIES). It is indeed a pleasure for me to express on your behalf, our sincere thanks and appreciation to the members of TIES Board of Directors and the Editor of the Newsletter for working hard to provide us with this valuable additional means to share our views, news and concerns and to learn about job and educational opportunities. In short, it is now available to us to serve our professional needs. At the outset, I would like to say that the Newsletter is potentially more valuable to members than any of the other activities of TIES, but for this to happen, we must collectively and actively participate in shaping its direction, by providing news items, writing about our research and teaching activities, expressing future needs and describing regional and global issues, and informing colleagues about job openings, educational programs and international environmental programs and organizations. The sharing of these items and others will make a viable and valuable newsletter. I therefore invite you to become actively involved. I would also like to encourage those who participate regularly in TIES Conferences, but have not yet joined the Society to do so, and members to invite their colleagues to join. TIES and the Environmetrics Conferences organized by TIES have succeeded because of your dedicated efforts and participation and I hope that you will continue your efforts to ensure that TIES is shaped in the direction of your choice.
A.H. El-Shaarawi
The International Environmetrics SocietyA meeting of delegates of the April 1989 Conference on Environmetrics in Cairo, Egypt, was called to discuss the formation of an environmetrics society. At that meeting the decision to form a society was made and the name, The International Environmetrics Society, was chosen. A.H. El-Shaarawi was elected President and I.B. MacNeill, Vice-President, and they were given the mandate to choose other members of an interim Board of Directors and to prepare a draft of a constitution for the new society. P.M. Berthouex (U.S.A.), S.R. Esterby (Canada), J.S. Hunter (U.S.A.), W.O. Pipes (U.S.A.), W.A. Rieger (Australia) and R. Viertl (Austria) accepted the invitation of the President to join the Board of Directors. A draft constitution, prepared by the Board under the coordination of S.R. Esterby, was accepted in principle at a meeting of delegates of the 1990 Conference on Environmetrics in Tremezzo, Italy. This document provided TIES with the set of objectives given below and formed the basis for the By-Law of TIES. The application by the Board, coordinated by A.H. El-Shaarawi and S.R. Esterby, for incorporation of TIES as a nonprofit corporation was accepted by Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada May 11, 1993.
The objectives of the Society are to foster the development and use of statistical and other quantitative methods in the environmental sciences, environmental engineering and environmental monitoring and protection. To this end, the Society promotes the participation of statisticians, mathematicians, scientists and engineers in the solution of environmental problems and emphasizes the need for collaboration and for clear communication between individuals from different disciplines and between researchers and practitioners.
The Society further promotes these objectives by conducting meetings and producing publications, and by encouraging a broad membership of statisticians, mathematicians, engineers, scientists and others interested in furthering the role of statistical and mathematical techniques in service to the environment. These objectives are being met through the organization of Environmetrics conferences, the adoption of Environmetrics as the official journal of TIES, the inception of an organized membership, a 1993 membership directory and, now with this first issue, the publication of a newsletter. Environmetrics, edited by A.H. El-Shaarawi, I.B. MacNeill and P.C. Young (as of volume 4), enters its 6th year of publication in 1995 and has aims and scope compatible and synchronously formulated with those of TIES.
The Environmetrics conferences have been attended by individuals from many countries and many disciplines. They have been highly successful in providing a formal means of exchanging ideas and, perhaps more importantly, in providing an atmosphere conducive to informal discussion. The location, dates and chairs of the past and the 1995 and 1996 conferences are as follows:
Cairo, Egypt
April 4-7, 1989
A.H. El-Shaarawi
I.B.MacNeill
Tremezzo, Italy
Sept. 27-30, 1990
A.H. El-Shaarawi
I.B.MacNeill
Madison, Wisconsin,USA
October 7-10,1991
A.H. El-Shaarawi
P.M. Berthouex
Espoo, Finland
August 17-21,1992
A.H. El-Shaarawi
J. Walden
Burlington,Canada
Aug. 12-15, 1994
A.H. El-Shaarawi
S.R.Esterby
Bangi, Malaysia
Dec. 6-9, 1995
A.H. El-Shaarawi
M. Abdullah
Brazil 1996
(to be announced)
S.R. Esterby
A Message from WileyThe International Environmetrics Society and Wiley first came together in late 1990 when it was agreed that Wiley would publish the journal Environmetrics on behalf of the Society, beginning with Volume 2 in 1991. It was always anticipated that there would be close links with TIES, original members having free subscriptions for Volume 2.
A huge promotion was undertaken in 1991 - over 45,000 leaflets being mailed, advertisements taken in statistical and environmental journals and sample copies and leaflets displayed at major international conferences. The response was even better than we expected. Subscriptions rose from 73 in 1991 to 211 in 1992 and 375 so far this year. This rate of growth is very healthy under current economic conditions.
In 1993 we decided to take the journal production 'in house' and changed the format to match our other journals. Our reasoning was that TIES was growing in importance and that the journal (now the official publication of the society) should reflect this. Another major promotion plan accompanied this decision.
At the moment we are electronically capturing as much of the material as we can. This will allow us to create an on-line service to subscribers at a later stage.
As Publishing Editor responsible for the journal, I have had enormous pleasure seeing the journal and the Society grow as well as the obvious enjoyment of attending the last two Society meetings in Perth and Burlington.
With the move to six issues next year I am sure that growth will be maintained and look forward to working with TIES for some years to come.
Helen Ramsey
Publishing Editor
John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
FIFTH ENVIRONMETRICS CONFERENCE HELD IN CANADAThe Fifth International Conference on Statistical Methods for the Environmental Sciences, held in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, August 12-15, 1994 was the largest of the Environmetrics Conferences to data. The attendance was approximately 400 and a total of 251 papers were presented and discussed.
Thirty-three nations were represented by senior authors on presented papers including the United States of America (75 papers), Canada (74 papers), the United Kingdom (16 papers), The Netherlands (10 papers), Australia (9 papers), Italy (9 papers), Russia (7 papers), the Republic of China (Taiwan) (5 papers), France (5 papers) and Sweden (4 papers). There were 3 papers with senior authors from the People's Republic of China, Germany, Mexico and New Zealand. There were 2 papers with senior authors from Belgium, Finland, Greece, Norway, Romania and the Ukraine. Nations represented by senior authors on one paper were Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, India, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka and Switzerland.
The Keynote Address, "The Human Support System: Non Linear Event on the Planet" was delivered by W.S. Fyfe of the University of Western Ontario. Special lectures on plenary session were presented by D.R. Cox, Nuffield College, Oxford; C.R. Rao, The Pennsylvania State University; D.R. Brillinger, University of California; P.C. Chatwin, University of Sheffield; Frank Hampel, Seminar fur Statistik, Zurich; Jan Beirlant and Jozeph L. Teugelf, Katholieke Univeiteit; V.P. Godambe, The University of Waterloo and Anders Grimvall, Linkoping University.
Special symposia which were organized as part of the conference included "Aluminum Toxicity in Humans: Evidence and Implications", "New Statistical Methods in Turbulent Diffusion", "Computer Intensive Methods in Environmental Science", and "Silver Jubilee of Statistical Ecology". The majority of the individual sessions were on applications of statistics to environmental problems such as atmospheric pollution, groundwater monitoring and soil transport, climatic impacts on agricultural systems, statistical hydrology and water quality, abundance and diversity, acid rain and assessment of intervention. However, there were also a number of sessions in which the emphasis was on statistical methods rather than on applications.
The fourth General Meeting of the International Environmetrics Society was held on August 12 and the newly elected Board of Directors met for the first time on August 13, 1994.
W.O. Pipes
Universita di GenovaV.G. Dovi, Universita di Genova, is presently engaged in trying to set up one or more joint research projects among the European members of The International Environmetrics Society with the intention of seeking financial support from the XII Directorate of the European Union on the occassion of the next call for proposals.
SIXTH ENVIRONMETRICS CONFERENCE and the fifth General Meeting of The International Environmetrics Society
Universiti Kebangsaan, Bangi,Selangor, Malaysia
December 6-9, 1995
The sixth Conference on Statistical Methods for the Environmental Sciences and the fifth General Meeting of The International Environmetrics Society will be held in Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia from December 6-9, 1995. The conference is jointly organized by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and The International Environmetrics Society and is organized in conjunction with the 25th anniversary celebration of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
The conference will promote the development and application of statistical methods in environmental assessment and provide a mechanism to maintain regular contact between statisticians and environmental scientists.
The scope of the conference will encompass topics such as climatic change, population growth, resource depletion and over consumption, biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability, water and air quality, regulation and control, waste management, transboundary pollution, health aspects of pollution, risk analysis, monitoring, field and laboratory quality control, stochastic hydrology, teaching environmetrics, trend assessment, censored data analysis and uncertainty in environmental models.
Abstracts are invited.
The registration fee is US $250.00.
Information:
Dr. A.H. El-Shaarawi,
National Water Research Institute,
P.O. Box 5050,
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
L7R 4A6
Telephone: +1 905 336-4584,
Fax: +1 905 336-4989
Email: u101@cs.cciw.ca
OR
Mokhtar B. Abdullah
Faculty of Mathematical Sciences
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor
D.E., Malaysia
Telephone: +60 3 829271
Fax: +60 3 8254519
Email: env95@sunmath.fsmk.ukn.my
International Congress on Modelling and Simulation
MODSIM 95
Theme: Regional Development and Environmental Change
University of Newcastle
27-30 November, 1995
Organized by
Modelling and Simulation Society of Australiav The International Environmetrics Society
International Society for Ecological Modelling
International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation
Japan Society for Simulation Technology
The Korean Simulation Society
Abstracts: 1 May 1995
Full Papers: 1 Aug. 1995
For further information contact:
Dr. Philip Binning,
Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying,
University of Newcastle,
NSW 2308 Australia.
Telephone: 61-49-21-5735.
Fax: 61-49- 21-6991.
Email: modsim95@newcastle.edu.au
Environmental Science Programmes
University of GuelphWithin the B.Sc. (Environmental Science) degree program at the University of Guelph, there are four major areas of emphasis and one of them is labelled Environmetrics. The four areas are: (1) Environmental Analysis (includes Environmental Chemistry, Biophysics, and Toxicology); (2) Natural Resource Management (includes Environmental Biology, Geography, Ecology, Earth and Atmospheric Science and Environmental Protection); (3) Resource and Environmental Economics (includes Environmental Health, International Development, Landscape Ecology, Soil and Water Conservation, and Waste Management); and (4) Environmetrics (includes courses in Statistics, Mathematics, and Computing Science). The degree program has many features which the students have welcomed; for example, the interdisciplinary nature and the opportunity to include an international semester at one of five other institutions.
This fall about 75 students are majoring in the Environmetrics major. The 16 course program is very interdisciplinary in character but has an emphasis in the mathematical sciences.
The program includes the following statistics courses:
Biostatistics I and II,
Mathematical Statistics I and II,
Regression Analysis,
Sampling Theory,
Non-Parametric Methods
Multivariate Methods,
Discrete Data Analysis,
Time Series, and
Environmental Risk Assessment I and II.
For further information contact:
O. Brian Allen,
Dept. Mathematics and Statistics
University of Guelph
Guelph Ontario
CANADA N1G 2W1
FAX: 519-837-0221
PHONE: 519-824-4120 ext. 3293
EMAIL:BALLEN@msnet.mathstat.uoguelph.ca
JJ Hubert, OB Allen
Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering
Institute of Mathematical Modelling
Technical University of DenmarkThe Technical University of Denmark has both M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs in applied statistics as well as environmental science and engineering. The two departments have a long standing tradition for co-operation. The major areas of co-operation are both related to flow of water:
Ground Water Pollution and Soil Contamination (Design of experiments, environmental chemistry, toxicology, biodegradation and ground water flow and Urban Storm Drainage) Treatment Plants and Receiving Waters (Time series analysis, modelling of dynamic physical systems, identification of stochastic differential equations, on-line control, detrimental effects and hydrology).
Graduate students are encouraged to participate in the research activities and will often have supervisors from both departments.
The two departments have more than 30 graduate courses covering the above topics as well as environmental biotechnology, industrial pollution, air pollution, mathematical statistics, operations research, and image analysis. It is furthermore possible to follow courses in other fields, for instance geology, hydrology, mathematics and computer science.
At present the two departments have approximately 100 graduate students. A substantial number of the above courses are offered in English or have parallel teaching in English. A two year M.Sc. program in Environmental Engineering with all courses offered in English is under development; planned start Autumn 1995.
Further information on the Technical University in general and I'M in particular can be found at World Wide Web - URL: http://www.dtu.dk/dtu/dtu.html or by writing to one of the following:
Mogens Henze
Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering
Building 115
Technical University of Denmark
DK-2800 Lyngby
Denmark
Fax +45 45 93 2850
Helle Holst, Henrik Madsen or Henrik Spliid
Institute of Mathematical Modelling
Building 321
Technical University of Denmark
DK-2800 Lyngby
Denmark
e-mail: hh@imm.dtu.dk /
hm@imm.dtu.dk /
hs@imm.dtu.dk
COLLOQUIA ON ENVIRONMETRICS AT WESTERNA series of 16 colloquia were held at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario Canada between July and November, 1994. The series was organized by the Department of Applied Mathematics, The Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, and The Steering Committee for the Centre for the Renewal of the Global Environment of the University of Western Ontario and The International Environmetrics Society with the Scientific Committee consisting of I.B. MacNeill, S.R. Ramsey, P.J. Sullivan. The series will resume in the new year.
BOOK REVIEWStatistical Method for Groundwater Modelling
R.D. Gibbons
John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1994
Reviewed by
E.P. Smith
Groundwater monitoring has become an increasingly important problem. In the United States, monitoring has been driven by legislation aimed at ensuring the safety of the groundwater near hazardous waste sites. Anyone involved in groundwater issues realizes there are difficulties, both statistical and nonstatistical. This book seems to have derived from the efforts of Robert Gibbons to make statistical sense of the legislation and data arising from the sampling programs at hazardous waste sites. This text focuses on several statistical problems arising in groundwatter monitoring. The initial statistical question addressed in the book is:
given information from a well site(s) in a control area, typically upstream of the hazardous waste site, how can information from well sites downstream of the waste site be used to assess if the water is contaminated in some way?This is addressed in several chapters describing methods based on parametric and nonparametric prediction intervals and tolerance intervals.Additional chapters in the text are devoted to the common problems of environmental data analysis: censored data, lack of normality, detection limits and outliers. The material on detection limits is particularly valuable for anyone entering this field. A chapter on trend analysis, based on the Mann-Kendall approach is provided as well as a chapter on some methods for classifying sites using parametic and nonparametric discriminant analysis. A brief chapter on the use of variance component analysis is also given. The final chapter of the book focuses on regulatory issues and is critical of approaches based on analysis of variance methods.
The book provided a good introduction to problems in groundwater data analysis. It is oriented toward regulations in the United States. Although informative, more advice and information would be valuable. For example, it is not clear what is the best method to apply in particular situations. Several case studies would have greatly benefited the material. Also, some of the material seems introductory rather than definitive. The chapter on variance components models is incomplete. Another introduction to its use in groundwater problems which I found more satisfactory is given in the recent paper by Davis (1994). More details about how to design a useful monitoring network would also be valuable. The paper by Lambert et al. (1991), considered by many in the statistical community as an important work is not discussed.
Despite what I believe are some (minor) limitations, the book is a useful guide to statistical issues and methods in groundwater analysis. Robert Gibbons has expended a good deal of effort in this area over a number of years and has had an impact on regulations. I recommend this book to anyone involved in groundwater monitoring.
References
Davis, C.B. Environmental regulatory statistics., Ch. 26 in Handbook of Statistics: Environmental Statistics, vol. 12., G.P. Patil and C.R. Rao (eds.) pp. 817-866.
Lambert, D., B. Peterson and I. Terpenning. 1991. Nondetects, detection limits and the probability of detection. Journal of the Americal Statistical Association 86: 266-277
The TIES NewsletterThe TIES Newsletter is published semiannually (November and May) by the International Environmetrics Society and provided to TIES members as part of their annual dues The objectives of the newsletter are
TIES members are encouraged to submit announcements, notices and items in keeping with the above objectives for publication in TIES Newsletter. Publication of such items is subject to editorial whim and to the availability of space in the next issue of TIES Newsletter.
- to provide a mechanism for the distribution of information of importance to the members of TIES
and
- to facilitate communication between environmental scientists (or environmental engineers) and statisticians about research problems of mutual interest.
Announcements should be no longer than one-half typewritten page and will be edited to fit the space available for printing.
"Announcements" includes but is not limited to the following:Notices should be no longer than one page and may be edited to fit the space available for printing.
- Announcements of Conferences, Seminars, Workshops and other meetings of interest to the TIES members;
- Announcements of academic positions and other job opportunities in the field of environmetrics;
- Announcement of prizes and/or awards for professional accomplishments won by a member of TIES.
"Notices" includes but is not limited to the following:Communication regarding TIES Newsletter may be sent to almost anyone but are more likely to receive serious attention if sent to one of the following:
- Notice of educational offerings such as courses or degree programs in environmetrics or related fields;
- Notices of the availability of fellowships for studying environmetrics;
- Notices of opportunities for research funding for environmetrics investigations or for investigation of environmental problems which require significant statistical application.
Henry K. Miyamoto,
TIES Newsletter Editor
52 Boustead Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M6R 1Y9
Wesley O. Pipes,
TIES Publication Office
The Environmental Studies Institute
Drexel University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
USA
email: pipewo@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu
Sylvia Esterby
TIES Treasurer
Aquatic Ecosystem Protection Branch
National Water Research Institute
P.O. Box 5050
Burlington, Ontario
Canada L7R 4A6
email: Sylvia.Esterby@cciw.ca
Eric P. Smith, Secretary
Department of Statistics
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and
State University
Blacksburg, Virginia VA
24061-0439
USA
email: erics@vtvm1.cc.vt.eduW.O. Pipes
Come to Malaysia for the 6th International Conference on Environmetrics6 - 9 December 1995
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Universiti Kebangsaan Recreation Club
43600 UKM Bangi
Selangor D.E., Malaysia
Jointly Organized by
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
The International Environmetrics Society
Scientific Committee
A.H. El-Shaarawi (Chair)
National Water Research Institute,
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
B. Abraham
University of Waterloo, Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada
D.R. Brillinger
University of California, Berkeley,
California, U.S.A.
P.C. Chatwin
University of Sheffield, Sheffield,
United Kingdom
V.G. Dovi
Univesita di Genova, Genova, Italy
S.R. Esterby
National Water Research Institute,
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
N.R.J. Fieller
University of Sheffield, Sheffield,
United Kingdom
J.S. Hunter
Princeton University, Princeton, New
Jersey, U.S.A.
A. Jakeman
Australian National University,
Canberra, Austrialia
I.B. MacNeill
University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada
A. Maul
University of Metz, Metz, Fance
V.N. Nair
University of Michigan, Michigan
, U.S.A.
W.O. Pipes
Drexel University, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Mohd. Sham Sani
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
K.P. Singh
Univeristy of Alabama at
Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama,
U.S.A.
E.P. Smith
Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
Blackburg, Virginia, U.S.A.
P.J. Sullivan
University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada
R. Viertl
Technical University of Vienna,
Vienna, Austria
J.A. Walden
Finnish Meterorological Institute,
Helsinki, Finland
Organizing Committee
Mokhtar B. Abdullah (Chair)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Abdul Aziz Jemain
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Najib Mahmood Rafee
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Ahmad Mahir Razali
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Nik Mat Daud
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Shyamala Nagarai
Universiti Malaysia
Rohani Hussin
Department of Environment, Ministry of
Technology, Science and Environment,
Malaysia
Tengku Bakri Shah Tengu Johan
Department of Environment, Ministry of
Technology, Science and Environment,
Malaysia
Zainodin B. Hj. Jubok
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
The conference format includes three types of presentations:
Invited talks contributed papers and poster sessions
The registration fee for the conference is $250 (US). This fee includes: welcoming reception, banquet, programme and book of abstracts, organized tours, lunches and coffees during the conference.
Reasonably priced accomodations will be made available on campus.
Local hotels also provide comfortable rooms at moderate rates.
Special tours will be arranged for visiting some of the many sightseeing attractions in Kuala Lumpur:
Karyaneka Handicraft Centre, 19th Century Moorish Buildings, Orchid Gardens, Batik Factory, Pewter Factory, Batu Caves, Butterfly and Insect Farms.
Call for Papers
Deadline for abstracts 30 May 1995
Confirmation of acceptance 15 July 1995
For further information please contact
A.H. El-ShaarawiTopics
National Water Research Institute
P.O. Box 5050
Burlington, Ontario Canada L7R
4A6
(905) 336-4584
FAX 336-4989
email: u101@cs.cciw.ca
or
Mokhtar B. Abdullah (Chair)
Faculty of Mathematical Sciences
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM Bangi
Selangor D.E., Malaysia
+60-3-829-2712
FAX 825-4519
email: env95@sunmath.fsmk.ukm.myClimatic change, air and water pollution, trend assessment, risk analysis, health aspects of pollution, regulation, management, monitoring and control, field laboratory studies, stochastic hydrology, uncertainty in environmental models, biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability, teaching envionmetrics and other environmental issues.
