Director of Graduate Studies

Many people have helped and motivated me during the last three years in Florence. I think that acknowledgements to these people therefore represent the best starting point for my PhD thesis. Firstly, I really would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Giovanni Maria Marchetti, for his availability and his great support both in method-ological studies and in computational analysis. He introduced me graphical modelling research sharing his knowledge and also directing me towards stud-ies for discrete distributions. As regards models for discrete distributions, I would like to thank Wicher Bergsma. He gave me the opportunity to stay at the EURANDOM research centre in Eindhoven, Holland. In that period he encouraged me with interest-ing and stimulating discussions. Moreover, I would like to thank him for his interest in my work and for his kindness in always answering my questions. I would also like to mention Professor Alan Agresti who encouraged me in my work during the brief period he spent in Florence. Many thanks to Ann