On asymptotic properties of Bayesian partially linear models

In this paper, we present large sample properties of a partially linear model from the Bayesian perspective, in which responses are explained by the semiparametric regression model with the additive form of the linear component and the nonparametric component. For this purpose, we investigate asymptotic behaviors of posterior distributions in terms of consistency. Specifically, we deal with a specific Bayesian partially linear regression model with additive noises in which the nonparametric component is modeled using Gaussian process priors. Under the Bayesian partially linear model using Gaussian process priors, we focus on consistency of posterior distribution and consistency of the Bayes factor, and extend these results to generalized additive regression models and study their asymptotic properties. In addition we illustrate the asymptotic properties based on empirical analysis through simulation studies.     

‘Asian fail’: Chinese Canadian men talk about race,masculinity, and the nerd stereotype

Popular representations of Asians – and especially Asian men – often stereotype them as nerds. Drawing on qualitative field studies of Chinese Canadians' beliefs about ‘authentic’ identity and of an urban ‘nerd-culture scene,’ this article examines the perceived nerdiness of Asians. Membership Categorization Analysis is used as a framework to analyze two Chinese Canadian men's self-categorizing discourses. One embraces his nerdiness but is ambivalent about his racial/ethnic identity; the other is comfortable being categorized as Asian but distances himself from what he describes as the ‘typical’ nerdy Asian male. Although orientations to their presumptive categorization as Chinese or Asian differ, both design their self-presentations to manage inferences made about them. We argue that Canadian multiculturalism complicates these processes by discursively transforming racial difference into ‘cultural diversity’. This produces systematic errors in categorization, leading to inaccurate inferences of cultural competences or stereotypes social attributes from perceptions of physical difference. Under these conditions, the linking of nerds and Asians not only constrains individual life projects but can function as the ‘benign discourse’ that hides a racial subtext, reproducing historic, anti-Asian stereotypes in a seemingly neutral guise.     

Production quantity allocation for order fulfilment in the supply chain: a neural network based approach

In the current global business environment, it is very important to know how to allocate products from the producer to buyers (or distributors). If products are not appropriately distributed due to absence of an effective allocation policy, the producer and buyers cannot expect to increase customer satisfaction and financial profit. Sometimes some buyers can order more than the actual demand due to inappropriately forecasting customer orders. This is the big obstacle to the effective allocation of products. If the producer can become aware of buyers’ actual demands, it is possible to realise high-level order fulfilment through the effective allocation of products. In this study, new allocation policies are proposed considering buyers’ demands. The back propagation algorithm, one of the learning algorithms in neural network theory, is used to recognise actual demands from the previous buyers’ orders. After excluding surplus demands included in buyers’ demands, products are allocated to buyers according to one of the existing allocation policies depending on the company's decision. In the numerical examples, new allocation policies reducing buyers’ surplus demands outperform previous allocation policies with respect to average amount of backorder.     

A matching prior for the product of normal means based on the modified profile likelihood

In this paper, we develop a matching prior for the product of means in several normal distributions with unrestricted means and unknown variances. For this problem, properly assigning priors for the product of normal means has been issued because of the presence of nuisance parameters. Matching priors, which are priors matching the posterior probabilities of certain regions with their frequentist coverage probabilities, are commonly used but difficult to derive in this problem. We developed the first order probability matching priors for this problem; however, the developed matching priors are unproper. Thus, we apply an alternative method and derive a matching prior based on a modification of the profile likelihood. Simulation studies show that the derived matching prior performs better than the uniform prior and Jeffreys’ prior in meeting the target coverage probabilities, and meets well the target coverage probabilities even for the small sample sizes. In addition, to evaluate the validity of the proposed matching prior, Bayesian credible interval for the product of normal means using the matching prior is compared to Bayesian credible intervals using the uniform prior and Jeffrey’s prior, and the confidence interval using the method of Yfantis and Flatman.     

Does social capital always raise life satisfaction? A comparison of South Korea and Taiwan

This study examined the relationship between social capital and life satisfaction in an Asian context, focusing on South Korea and Taiwan. We considered two components of social capital – networks and trust – and argue that the ability of social capital to increase life satisfaction depends on the context. Using the national Life and Society survey data from South Korea (N = 978) and Taiwan (N = 1,200), our analysis found that, when several control variables, such as subjective social status, self‐reported health condition, sex and belief in individualism, were considered, social capital was positively related to life satisfaction in Taiwan, while there was no significant association between social capital and life satisfaction in South Korea. The South Korean case revealed that social capital is not a good predictor of life satisfaction in a context in which being successful is overwhelmingly emphasised.     

Novel symptom questionnaire for the differential diagnosis of detrusor underactivity and bladder outlet obstruction in men

Objective: To develop a questionnaire for the differential diagnosis of detrusor underactivity (DUA) and bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) without performing invasive pressure flow studies.

Study design and methods: Symptoms of men with DUA were analyzed and compared with those of men with BOO using eight questions from the developing questionnaire. Patients with DUA have a bladder contractility index (PdetQmax+5xQmax) less than 100, whereas those with BOO have a BOO index (PdetQmax?2xQmax) greater than 40 in urodynamic studies (UDS). Men with detrusor overactivity in UDS and neurogenic issues were excluded from the analysis. One urologist reviewed patients’ medical records, and responded to eight questions without using information from UDS. Scores in the developing questionnaire were then compared to make a differential diagnosis between DUA and BOO.

Results: Overall, 318 men who underwent UDS were included. Symptoms were compared in patients diagnosed with DUA without BOO (n?=?165) and BOO without DUA (n?=?153). Questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were significantly different between groups. The sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire were 95.8% and 95.4%, respectively, for predicting DUA in patients with scores greater than 45 points (cutoff value).

Conclusions: Men with DUA and BOO may be distinguished using a developing questionnaire without invasive evaluation. Men with scores greater than 45 points would be expected to have DUA but not BOO.     

Who uses tips as a reward for service and when? An examination of potential moderators of the service-tipping relationship

Consumers in many countries often give voluntary payments of money (tips) to the workers who have served them. These tips are supposed to be a reward for service and research indicates that they do increase with customers’ perceptions of service quality. This paper contributes to the service-tipping literature by examining numerous potential moderators of this relationship in two studies. Results indicate that the service-tipping relationship is robust across meal type, day of week, sex and race of server as well as customers’ alcohol consumption, education, income, race, worship frequency, and hospitality work experience, but that it is stronger for older consumers than for younger ones and for parties with large bills than for parties with smaller bills. The practical and theoretical implications of these and other findings are discussed.     

Objective Bayesian multiple comparisons for normal variances

This paper considers the multiple comparisons problem for normal variances. We propose a solution based on a Bayesian model selection procedure to this problem in which no subjective input is considered. We construct the intrinsic and fractional priors for which the Bayes factors and model selection probabilities are well defined. The posterior probability of each model is used as a model selection tool. The behaviour of these Bayes factors is compared with the Bayesian information criterion of Schwarz and some frequentist tests.     

论古希腊—罗马与中国传统中的表达伦理学

在西方的古典修辞学理论中,品德、逻辑与情感构成了修辞说服的三个要素。演说者可以通过自身的道德品质和人格魅力,通过逻辑推理,通过调动自身或受众的情感因素,进行说服,达到预期的修辞目的。在古希腊、罗马的修辞学传统中,关于演说者品德形成方式及其功能的看法,既有唯心主义的观点,也有实用主义的观点,品德既可以是与生俱来、现实的,也可以是通过演说建构的。在中国先秦时期的修辞思想中,言说者的道德品质也被看做是影响说服效果的重要因素。在此问题上,儒家、道家、法家等的观点也存在许多差异。在本文中,作者对东西方古典时期的表达伦理传统进行了比较系统的梳理,对古希腊、罗马和中国先秦时期的表达伦理思想进行了比较分析,概括了唯心主义与实用主义两种表达伦理思想,揭示了中西方修辞伦理观上的异同。