The areal modeling of the extremes of a natural process such as rainfall or temperature is important in environmental statistics; for example, understanding extreme areal rainfall is crucial in flood protection. This article reviews recent progress in the statistical modeling of spatial extremes, starting with sketches of the necessary elements of extreme value statistics and geostatistics. The...

Creole languages do not fit into the traditional tree model of evolutionary history because multiple languages are involved in their formation. In this paper, we present several statistical models to explore the nature of creole genesis. After reviewing quantitative studies on creole genesis, we first tackle the question of whether creoles are typologically distinct from non-creoles. By formali...

Hierarchical Modeling: Into Statistical Practice Alan M. Zaslavsky Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Pardoe, Weidner, and Friese (henceforth PWF) present a nice application of hierarchical modeling, representative of current practice of this methodology. Hierarchical regression modeling now occupies a methodological middle ground. The main principles have been established, as h...

There are two cultures in the use of statistical modeling to reach conclusions from data. One assumes that the data are generated by a given stochastic data model. The other uses algorithmic models and treats the data mechanism as unknown. The statistical community has been committed to the almost exclusive use of data models. This commitment has led to irrelevant theory, questionable conclusio...