Latent variable models for ordinal data represent a useful tool in different fields of research in which the constructs of interest are not directly observable so that one or more latent variables are required to reduce the complexity of the data. In these cases problems related to the...

The paper deals with the analysis of the effects of multiple exposures on the occurrence of a disease in observational case-control studies. We consider the case of multilevel data, with subjects nested in spatial clusters. As a result, we often face problems of small and sparse data, along with...

This paper offers reflections on the biostatistic sciences, from their origin to the present, following the path of two historic and prestigious journals: "Biometrika" and "Biometrics"

Corrado Gini (1884-1964) may be considered the greatest Italian statistician. We believe that his important contributions to statistics, however mainly limited to the univariate context, may be profitably employed in modern multivariate statistical methods, aimed at overcoming the curse of...

<em>A longitudinal analysis of academic achievements in the University of Bologna</em> (by Stefania Mignani, Paola Monari, Silvia Bianconcini, Silvia Cagnone). Objectives The aim of this paper is to analyze academic achievement of a cohort of students enrolled in 2001 at one of the most numerous...

The movements of students between the faculties of the University of Bologna represent a complex evolving network. By mapping the electronic database containing all relevant data about the students, named “datawarehouse”, for three academic years (2004-2007), we aim to infer on the dynamics...