Performance measures for asymmetric power loss functions

ABSTRACT

Robust parameter design, known as Taguchi’s design of experiments, are statistical optimization procedures designed to improve the quality of the functionality or quality characteristics of products or processes. In this article, we introduce a new performance measure based on asymmetric power loss functions for positive variables and discuss its applications to robust parameter design.     

Has the Youth Labor Market in Japan Changed? An Event History Analysis Approach

Abstract: This paper examines whether the Japanese youth labor market has become more unstable, particularly since the 1990s. To address this problem, I suggest that we consider the transition rate of job exit to be the benchmark of instability in the labor market and focus on workers' career histories until they reach the age of 34 years. This paper presents six hypotheses that explain the instability of the youth labor market as follows: the total increase in the job-exit transition rate, the higher risk of job exit for provisional workers, the increase in the number of provisional workers, the increasing transition rate for provisional workers and stable regular workers, the impact of firm size, and the impact of the collapse of the bubble economy. I present the summary statistics of job exit rates and the results of the Cox partial likelihood estimation models. A conspicuous phenomenon of the 1990s entailed an increasing number of provisional workers who ran a higher risk of job exits compared to regular workers. However, the job exit transition rates are generally stable. Moreover, the transition rates for regular female workers have decreased since the 1980s due to the increasing realization of gender equality in society. Although partial likelihood estimation states that firm size and the type of officer concerned (public/private) had significant effects on the transition rates, their effect did not intensify after the collapse of the bubble economy. In sum, the evidence that the Japanese youth labor market changed in the 1990s is limited.     

International factor mobility and production technology

The present paper systematically investigates the pattern and effect of international factor mobility caused by international differences of production technology in an endogenous-population-growth and overlapping-generations model. We show here that if the autarkic steady state in each country is characterized by under-investment relative to the Golden Rule, international labour migration will take place to the country with a more capital-saving or a neutrally superior technology, and then the capital-labour ratio and the demand for children per family in that country will be lower. On the other hand, international capital will move to the country with a more labour-saving or a neutrally superior technology and will decrease the per worker domestic capital stock in that country.I am very grateful to Professor Murray C. Kemp and two anonymous referees for valuable comments and discussion.     

Questionnaire survey of customer satisfaction for product categories towards certification of ergonomic quality in design

Customer satisfaction was surveyed for 6 product categories (consumer electronics, daily commodities, home equipment, information systems, cars, and health appliances) by questionnaires based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Analyzing weight of evaluation factors, the 6 product categories were reorganized into 4 categories, those were related to 4 aspects in daily living that formed by two axes: home living - mobility life and healthy life - active communication. It was found that consumers were attracted by the actual user test by public institutes for all product categories. The certification based on the design process standard established by authorities, such as EQUID was the second best attractor for consumers.     

Number of generations necessary to attain eradication of an insect pest with sterile insect release method: A model study

Summary Simulation of the sterile insect release process was carried out based on a system which consisted of a logistic population model and Poisson-binomial model for normal, sterile and combined matings. From the results, relationship between the intrinsic rate of natural increase and the sterile vs. normal ratio necessary to attain eradication of the target pest species were presented. The effects of weakened sperm competitiveness and the increased number of matings per female were not so strong. On the other hand, a given rate of immigration could be a cause of failure of the eradication. A simple method to calculate relationship between hatchability and sterile vs. normal ratio was presented.     

Minimax Empirical Bayes Estimators in Multivariate Mixed Linear Models with Unequal Replications

Predictive influence of explanatory variables has been studied in both univariate and multivariate distributions. In the Bayesian approach, the same problem is considered in absence of multicollinearity in the dataset. The aim of this article is to study the same in the presence of perfect multicollinearity. To do this, we first derived the predictive distributions for full model and reduced model using vague prior density. Then the discrepancies between these predictive distributions are measured by the Kullback–Leibler (K–L) directed measure of divergence to assess the influence of deleted explanatory variables. Finally, distribution of the discrepancies is derived and the test procedure is performed.     

Analysis of completed parity using microsimulation modeling

"This paper aims to construct a demographic microsimulation model, which is easily applicable to gene transmission..., and to examine the distribution of completed parity as a fertility measure at a population level according to the schedule of individual life course....The simulation model was applied to the data of the Gidra-speaking people living in the lowlands of Papua New Guinea."