Modelling tree diameter distributions using mixture models I. Definition, characteristics and parameters estimation of mixtures distributions

Podlaski R. 2011. Modelowanie rozkladow piersnic drzew z wykorzystaniem rozkladow mieszanych. I. Definicja, charakterystyka i estymacja parametrow rozkladow mieszanych. Sylwan 155 (4): 244-252. The article presents an introduction to the theory of finite mixture distributions, discusses the ways of procedure in selecting the number and type of component distributions, the methods of assessing the initial values, and proposal of the procedure of estimating the parameters. The proposed procedure uses min.k/max.k (for k=1, 3, 6) and 0.5/1.5/average methods to select initial values for a numerical procedure (EM algorithm + Newton's method) allowing to calculate the extremum of the likelihood function. If at least two identical solutions for the extreme values are not obtained, the multistart method should additionally be applied.