Researcher Output Prize 2012

Dirichlet and Related Distributions: Theory, Methods and Applications, 2011, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley, 310 pages,

by Professor NG Kai Wang, Dr TIAN Guoliang and Dr TANG Man Lai.

Although the Dirichlet distribution – a multivariate version of the beta distribution – has a wide range of uses in statistical literature and applications, extensions of the Dirichlet family of distributions are needed in different directions to enrich the application methodologies. The authors have developed flexible parametric classes of distributions, including the Grouped Dirichlet Distribution, the Nested Dirichlet Distribution, and a number of other distributions with close relations. This book systematically presents these distributions, their underlying relationships with other distributions and intrinsic properties, methods for their Monte Carlo sampling, and their various important applications in practice, particularly to incomplete categorical data analyses.