An optimal search procedure

Consider the following problem. There are exactly two defective (unknown) elements in the set X={x₁, x₂,…,x_n}, all possibilities occuring with equal probabilities. We want to identify the unknown (defective) elements by testing some subsets A of X, and for each such set A determining whether A contains any of them. The test on an individual subset A informs us that either all elements of the tested set A are good, or that at least one of them is defective (but we do not know which ones or how many). A set containing at least one defective element is said to be defective. Our aim is to minimize the maximal number of tests. For the optimal strategy, let the maximal test length be denoted by l₂(n). We obtain the value of this function for an infinite sequence of values of n.     

An asymmetric multivariate weibull distribution

Abstract

A class of multivariate laws as an extension of univariate Weibull distribution is presented. A well known representation of the asymmetric univariate Laplace distribution is used as the starting point. This new family of distributions exhibits some similarities to the multivariate normal distribution. Properties of this class of distributions are explored including moments, correlations, densities and simulation algorithms. The distribution is applied to model bivariate exchange rate data. The fit of the proposed model seems remarkably good. Parameters are estimated and a bootstrap study performed to assess the accuracy of the estimators.     

Shiftwork tolerance and circadian rhythms in oral temperature and heart rate

Abstract

The study aimed at establishing differences in the circadian rhythm parameters of oral temperature and heart rate between three groups of workers matched by age: tolerant shiftworkers with good sleep quality and few psychosomatic and digestive complaints, intolerant shiftworkers with poor sleep quality and more psychosomatic and digestive complaints, and workers who had never worked in shifts. The study was performed at an oil refinery recreation centre where the subjects were isolated for three days. During that period they lived under constant conditions, i.e. their activities, timing and content of meals, ambient temperature and light were controlled. Hourly measurements of oral temperature and heart rate were performed over a 24-h period. The parameters of the physiological rhythms were estimated by means of the COSINA method. Generally, the differences between the groups were low and not statistically significant. The authors could find no difference in the amplitude and phase position between the tolerant shiftworkers unlike other authors. The difference between these results and those of others is likely to be due to the fact that earlier studies were performed in field conditions where many factors that could have masked the results were not controlled for.     

Flora of the tram tracks of Bratislava

Urban Ecosystems - Tram and railway tracks represent specific urban habitats, which host a specific type of flora. This study aims to compile the information about species composition of flora of...     

Is tolerance to shiftwork predictable from individual difference measures?

Abstract

This study was aimed at evaluating the most important relations between individual characteristics of shiftworkers and their subjective health complaints, obtained by cross-sectional and longitudinal procedures. A total of 604 shiftworkers and 185 young subjects who were going to enter shiftwork were examined by means of individual difference and subjective health questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered concurrently to the group of workers already involved in shiftwork. In the other group studied, the questionnaires were administered before they entered shiftwork, and subjective health was re-examined after the first and third year of work on shifts. More health complaints were reported by the group of older workers and those with longer shiftwork experience, with higher scores of neuroticism, hard-driving and competitiveness, speed and impatience, and rigidity of sleeping habits, and lower scores on relaxedness, efficiency and vigorousness. However, the correlations between these dimensions, when taken before entering shiftwork, and subjective health complaints obtained after a few years working on shifts were small or absent, indicating low validity of the individual difference measures for predicting subsequent health problems in shiftworkers.     

Monetary transmission: Are emerging market and low-income countries different?

We use the Christensen, Diebold, and Rudebusch (2011) representation of the yield curve to test the functioning of the interest rate transmission mechanism along the yield curve based on government paper in advanced, emerging market, and low-income countries. We find a robust link from the policy and short-term interbank rates to the longer-term bond yields in all countries. Two policy implications emerge. First, the presence of well-developed secondary markets does not seem to affect transmission of short term rates along the yield curve. Second, the strength of the transmission mechanism seems to be affected by the choice of the monetary regime and the level of development: advanced countries with a credible inflation targeting regime seem to have better-behaved yield curves than the countries with other monetary regimes.     

Battling the Eighth Stage: Incrimination of Genocide Denial in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Denial is considered to be the eighth and the final stage of genocide. Facing this issue, many European Union countries have opted to incriminate genocide denial. Furthermore, with the aim of harmonising national legislations, Framework Decision No. 2008/913/JHA was adopted in 2008, obliging the Member States to incriminate “publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes”. Genocide and other crimes denial is still present in Bosnia and Herzegovina, even though the rulings of the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have shown that genocide was committed over Bosnian Muslims, in July 1995 in Srebrenica and its surrounding areas, as well as other numerous crimes against humanity and war crimes across entire Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 2007 there have been a number of attempts to incriminate genocide denial at the state level in Bosnia, but all of them were unsuccessful due to the opposition by representatives of Republika Srpska. Finally, in 2014, the genocide denial was incriminated in the Criminal Code of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an act of encouraging “national, racial and religious hatred, rift and intolerance”.