Semiparametric estimation for seasonal long-memory time series using generalized exponential models

We consider a generalized exponential (GEXP) model in the frequency domain for modeling seasonal long-memory time series. This model generalizes the fractional exponential (FEXP) model [Beran, J., 1993. Fitting long-memory models by generalized linear regression. Biometrika 80, 817–822] to allow the singularity in the spectral density occurring at an arbitrary frequency for modeling persistent seasonality and business cycles. Moreover, the short-memory structure of this model is characterized by the Bloomfield [1973. An exponential model for the spectrum of a scalar time series. Biometrika 60, 217–226] model, which has a fairly flexible semiparametric form. The proposed model includes fractionally integrated processes, Bloomfield models, FEXP models as well as GARMA models [Gray, H.L., Zhang, N.-F., Woodward, W.A., 1989. On generalized fractional processes. J. Time Ser. Anal. 10, 233–257] as special cases. We develop a simple regression method for estimating the seasonal long-memory parameter. The asymptotic bias and variance of the corresponding long-memory estimator are derived. Our methodology is applied to a sunspot data set and an Internet traffic data set for illustration.     

Social Acceleration Theory and the Self

In recent years, there has been a rapidly growing body of work in the social sciences that underscores the prevalence of the phenomenon of ‘social acceleration'—the speeding up of social life— in many parts of the Western world. Although research on social acceleration has tended to analyze the phenomenon on a social‐structural level, there is also a need to investigate how social acceleration has ‘ramifications for the socially dominant forms of self‐relation’. One way to gain a more in‐depth understanding of this facet of social acceleration is to investigate the speeding up of social life through the prism of the self. The central argument of this article is that there are at least five images of the self which can be associated with the social acceleration phenomenon: (1) the ‘detached’ self, (2) the ‘reflexive’ self, (3) the ‘reinventive’ self, (4) the ‘stationary’ self and (5) the ‘decelerating’ self. By explaining how these kinds of self relate to the speeding up process, we seek to advance a more nuanced and sophisticated theory of social acceleration, which captures some of the complexities and paradoxes that the phenomenon involves.     

Constant Stress Accelerated Life Test on a Multiple-Component Series System under Weibull Lifetime Distributions

We will discuss the reliability analysis of the constant stress accelerated life test on a series system connected with multiple components under independent Weibull lifetime distributions whose scale parameters are log-linear in the level of the stress variable. The system lifetimes are collected under Type I censoring but the components that cause the systems to fail may or may not be observed. The data are so called masked for the latter case. Maximum likelihood approach and the Bayesian method are considered when the data are masked. Statistical inference on the estimation of the underlying model parameters as well as the mean time to failure and the reliability function will be addressed. Simulation study for a three-component case shows that Bayesian analysis outperforms the maximum likelihood approach especially when the data are highly masked.     

Precision parameter in the variable precision rough sets model: an application

Despite their diverse applications in many domains, the variable precision rough sets (VPRS) model lacks a feasible method to determine a precision parameter (β)$(\beta )$ value to control the choice of β$\beta$-reducts. In this study we propose an effective method to find the β$\beta$-reducts. First, we calculate a precision parameter value to find the subsets of information system that are based on the least upper bound of the data misclassification error. Next, we measure the quality of classification and remove redundant attributes from each subset. We use a simple example to explain this method and even a real-world example is analyzed. Comparing the implementation results from the proposed method with the neural network approach, our proposed method demonstrates a better performance.     

On the equitable k *-laceability of hypercubes

Let G be a finite undirected bipartite graph. Let u, v be two vertices of G from different partite sets. A collection of k internal vertex disjoint paths joining u to v is referred as a k-container C _k (u,v). A k-container is a k ^*-container if it spans all vertices of G. We define G to be a k ^*-laceable graph if there is a k ^*-container joining any two vertices from different partite sets. A k ^*-container C _k ^*(u,v)={P ₁,…,P _k } is equitable if ||V(P _i )|−|V(P _j )||≤2 for all 1≤i,j≤k. A graph is equitably k ^*-laceable if there is an equitable k ^*-container joining any two vertices in different partite sets. Let Q _n be the n-dimensional hypercube. In this paper, we prove that the hypercube Q _n is equitably k ^*-laceable for all k≤n−4 and n≥5. Dedicated to Professor Frank K. Hwang on the occasion of his 65th birthday. The work of H.-M. Huang was supported in part by the National Science Council of the Republic of China under NSC94-2115-M008-013.     

Socioeconomic Status and Health Well-Being during Later Life: Potential Mediating Factors

This study explores the socioeconomic status (SES)-perceived health association, with special attention on living arrangements. It improves upon existing explanations of causal mechanisms underlying the impact of SES on health among the elderly. Using Health and Retirement Study to run ordered logistic regression, it addresses the importance of living arrangements for self-reported health. Income and education are both important predictors of self-reported health and that after controlling them, living arrangements also affect self-reported health. Future research should highlight nuanced measures of living arrangements and should explore longitudinal analyses to determine the long-term effects of these factors on self-reported health.     

海峡两岸高等技术职业教育体系优势互补与合作

台湾自1950年代开始全力发展经济以来,从劳力密集型经济走向技术密集型经济,高等技术职业教育是最大的驱动力。知识即教育,台湾高等技术职业教育的优势在于丰沛的创意与创新力,在教育政策、产业发展、创新育成、产学合作、人才培育、技术管理等方面,拥有核心价值和丰富的成功经验和能力,促进了台湾经济高速发展。内地拥有广大优质的人力资源、丰富的物产资源及文化资源,两岸高等技术职业教育合作,将深化两岸经济、文化、技术交流,携手在经济全球化的舞台上为华人建立全世界最大的经济体,共创两岸人民富裕幸福的生活。     

The History of Chinese Medicine in the People’s Republic of China and its Globalization

This introductory article provides an overview over the history of Chinese medicine, as it evolved in the People’s Republic of China over the last 60 years. In particular, it highlights how Traditional Chinese Medicine (zhongyi), as invented in the 1950s during a period of nationalism marked by idealism and pride in China’s ancient philosophy and cultural heritage, has evolved into a medicine that thrives on the contemporary global health market in a neoliberal climate. This latter form of Chinese medicine, which the author, in accordance with its Chinese promoters, calls zhongyiyao “Chinese medicine and pharmacotherapy,” has led to a further materialization of the once scholarly medical currents of Chinese medicine. However, as this volume will show, the globalization of Chinese medicine should not merely be considered in respect of those aspects that are being sold in those niches of society that offer a cure for bodily ailments but also in respect of those that—in accordance with the way Cartesian dualism has divided health care—are increasingly consumed as aspects of preventive medicine, namely taijiquan, and qigong.

Green Purchasing by MNC Subsidiaries: The Role of Local Tailoring in the Presence of Institutional Duality

To examine the essential determinants of green purchasing by multinational corporations’ (MNC) subsidiaries, this study takes institutional theory as a foundation and focuses on the institutional duality associated with localization and globalization. Specifically, we develop a model to explain subsidiaries’ green purchasing and empirically test the model with data from 141 purchasing managers and senior purchasing staff members from subsidiaries in 39 countries. Our results suggest that pressures from headquarters and the local environment do not affect subsidiaries’ green purchasing directly; rather, they exert indirect influences through local tailoring. This study contributes to extant literature by revealing the significance of local tailoring in an MNC context. In addition, our findings offer several implications for practice by providing a roadmap for disseminating green purchasing across the subsidiaries of an MNC, as well as highlighting the importance of both clear communication about the benefits of green purchasing and internal audits.     

A Selection Procedure for the Number of Signals in Presence of Colored Noise

Ranking and selection theory is used to estimate the number of signals present in colored noise. The data structure follows the well-known MUSIC (MUltiple SIgnal Classification) model. We deal with the eigenvalues of a covariance matrix, using the MUSIC model and colored noise. The data matrix can be written as the product of two matrices. The first matrix is the sample covariance matrix of the observed vectors. The second matrix is the inverse of the sample covariance matrix of reference vectors. We propose a multi-step selection procedure to construct a confidence interval on the number of signals present in a data set. Properties of this procedure will be stated and proved. Those properties will be used to compute the required parameters (procedure constants). Numerical examples are given to illustrate our theory.