Luc Pronzato - Böcker

The present volume is a collective monograph devoted to applications of the optimal design theory in optimization and statistics. The chapters re?ect the topics discussed at the workshop “W-Optimum Design and Related Statistical Issues” that took place in Juan-les-Pins, France, in May 2005. The title of the workshop was chosen as a light-hearted celebration of the work of Henry Wynn. It was supported by the Laboratoire I3S (CNRS/Universit´ e de Nice, Sophia Antipolis), to which Henry is a frequent visitor. The topics covered partly re?ect the wide spectrum of Henry’s research - terests. Algorithms for constructing optimal designs are discussed in Chap. 1, where Henry’s contribution to the ?eld is acknowledged. Steepest-ascent - gorithms used to construct optimal designs are very much related to general gradientalgorithmsforconvexoptimization. Inthelasttenyears,asigni?cant part of Henry’s research was devoted to the study of the asymptotic prop- ties of such algorithms. This topic is covered by Chaps. 2 and 3. The work by Alessandra Giovagnoli concentrates on the use of majorization and stoch- tic ordering, and Chap. 4 is a hopeful renewal of their collaboration. One of Henry’s major recent interests is what is now called algebraic statistics, the application of computational commutative algebra to statistics, and he was partly responsible for introducing the experimental design sub-area, reviewed in Chap. 5. One other sub-area is the application to Bayesian networks and Chap. 6 covers this, with Chap. 7 being strongly related.

The present volume is a collective monograph devoted to applications of the optimal design theory in optimization and statistics. The chapters re?ect the topics discussed at the workshop “W-Optimum Design and Related Statistical Issues” that took place in Juan-les-Pins, France, in May 2005. The title of the workshop was chosen as a light-hearted celebration of the work of Henry Wynn. It was supported by the Laboratoire I3S (CNRS/Universit´ e de Nice, Sophia Antipolis), to which Henry is a frequent visitor. The topics covered partly re?ect the wide spectrum of Henry’s research - terests. Algorithms for constructing optimal designs are discussed in Chap. 1, where Henry’s contribution to the ?eld is acknowledged. Steepest-ascent - gorithms used to construct optimal designs are very much related to general gradientalgorithmsforconvexoptimization. Inthelasttenyears,asigni?cant part of Henry’s research was devoted to the study of the asymptotic prop- ties of such algorithms. This topic is covered by Chaps. 2 and 3. The work by Alessandra Giovagnoli concentrates on the use of majorization and stoch- tic ordering, and Chap. 4 is a hopeful renewal of their collaboration. One of Henry’s major recent interests is what is now called algebraic statistics, the application of computational commutative algebra to statistics, and he was partly responsible for introducing the experimental design sub-area, reviewed in Chap. 5. One other sub-area is the application to Bayesian networks and Chap. 6 covers this, with Chap. 7 being strongly related.

Design of Experiments in Nonlinear Models: Asymptotic Normality, Optimality Criteria and Small-Sample Properties provides a comprehensive coverage of the various aspects of experimental design for nonlinear models. The book contains original contributions to the theory of optimal experiments that will interest students and researchers in the field. Practitionners motivated by applications will find valuable tools to help them designing their experiments. The first three chapters expose the connections between the asymptotic properties of estimators in parametric models and experimental design, with more emphasis than usual on some particular aspects like the estimation of a nonlinear function of the model parameters, models with heteroscedastic errors, etc. Classical optimality criteria based on those asymptotic properties are then presented thoroughly in a special chapter. Three chapters are dedicated to specific issues raised by nonlinear models. The construction of design criteria derived from non-asymptotic considerations (small-sample situation) is detailed. The connection between design and identifiability/estimability issues is investigated. Several approaches are presented to face the problem caused by the dependence of an optimal design on the value of the parameters to be estimated. A survey of algorithmic methods for the construction of optimal designs is provided.