An Integrated Approach to Managing Change

Complex systems often involve a huge number of variables whose interdependence must be taken into account. This makes the adoption of an integrated approach essential for the proper management of a wide range of aspects related to human life, from social matters to the environment. In particular, this paper takes into consideration three different experiences in which the use of an integrated approach represented the most effective response for managing the evolving realities we took into consideration. We focused on the issue of land management, with particular attention to the problem of monoculture in Brazil. Then we analyzed the attempted cooperation between the States of the Aral Sea area for efficient water management of the basin and, finally, we dealt with the matter of energy efficiency and how the production of home integrated systems could lead to a better rationalization of energy consumption in the near future.      

Modified slashed generalized exponential distribution

Abstract

In this article, we introduce a new distribution for modeling positive data sets with high kurtosis, the modified slashed generalized exponential distribution. The new model can be seen as a modified version of the slashed generalized exponential distribution. It arises as a quotient of two independent random variables, one being a generalized exponential distribution in the numerator and a power of the exponential distribution in the denominator. We studied various structural properties (such as the stochastic representation, density function, hazard rate function and moments) and discuss moment and maximum likelihood estimating approaches. Two real data sets are considered in which the utility of the new model in the analysis with high kurtosis is illustrated.     

Quantity Competition When Most Favored Customers are Strategic

Legal studies usually treat a policy of a manufacturer or retailer as socially harmful if it reduces product output and increases the price. We consider a two‐period model where the first‐period price is fixed and resellers endogenously decide to use meet‐the‐competition clause with a most‐favored‐customer clause (MFC) to counteract strategic customer behavior. As a result of MFC, the second‐period (reduced) price increases and resellers’ inventories decrease. However, customer surplus may increase and aggregate welfare increases in the majority of market situations. MFC can mitigate the losses in welfare and resellers’ profits due to strategic customers. Moreover, under reseller competition, MFC may even lead to higher levels of these values than with myopic customers, that is, to gain from increased strategic behavior. With growing competition, benefits or losses from MFC can be higher than losses from strategic customer behavior.     

Public Opinion in the Political Looking Glass

The topic of one of the most recent studies of the All-Union Center for the Study of Public Opinion on Socioeconomic Questions attached to the VTsSPS and the State Committee on Labor of the USSR was the attitude of the population toward cooperatives. A survey was carried out in 41 cities of the country in April 1989. Altogether, a total of 3,000 persons living in the Baltic region, Central Asia, the Ukraine, Belorussia, Moldavia, and a number of other regions of the USSR were surveyed. The results are representative for the urban population of the country aged 16 years and older.     

Non-Gaussian limit distributions for U-statistics based on trimmed and Winsorized samples

Conditions ensuring the asymptotic normality of U-statistics based on either trimmed samples or Winsorized samples are well known [P. Janssen, R. Serfling, and N. Veraverbeke, Asymptotic normality of U-statistics based on trimmed samples, J. Statist. Plann. Inference 16 (1987), pp. 63–74; U-statistics on Winsorized and trimmed samples, Statist. Probab. Lett. 9 (1990), pp. 439–447]. However, the class of U-statistics has a much richer family of limiting distributions. This paper complements known results by providing general limit theorems for U-statistics based on trimmed or Winsorized samples where the limiting distribution is given in terms of multiple Ito–Wiener stochastic integrals.     

Nonparametric Tail Copula Estimation: An Application to Stock and Volatility Index Returns

In this study, we measure asymmetric negative tail dependence and discuss their statistical properties. In a simulation study, we show the reliability of nonparametric estimators of tail copula to measure not only the common positive lower and upper tail dependence, but also the negative “lower–upper” and “upper–lower” tail dependence. The use of this new framework is illustrated in an application to financial data. We detect the existence of asymmetric negative tail dependence between stock and volatility indices. Many common parametric copula models used in finance fail to capture this characteristic.     

Parameterized complexity of k-anonymity: hardness and tractability

The problem of publishing personal data without giving up privacy is becoming increasingly important. A precise formalization that has been recently proposed is the k-anonymity, where the rows of a table are partitioned into clusters of sizes at least k and all rows in a cluster become the same tuple after the suppression of some entries. The natural optimization problem, where the goal is to minimize the number of suppressed entries, is hard even when the stored values are over a binary alphabet or the table consists of a bounded number of columns. In this paper we study how the complexity of the problem is influenced by different parameters. First we show that the problem is W[1]-hard when parameterized by the value of the solution (and k). Then we exhibit a fixed-parameter algorithm when the problem is parameterized by the number of columns and the number of different values in any column. Finally, we prove that k-anonymity is still APX-hard even when restricting to instances with 3 columns and k=3.     

Learning through laughing: an ‘African-American’ singer with ‘Japanese soul’ and the possibility of a new subjectivity in Japan

In this article, we argue that laughter can be a catalyst in learning about a new subjectivity – simultaneously African-American and Japanese – by analyzing an audience’s initial reaction to Jero, a young ‘African-American’ singer wearing hip hop attire who sings enka, a genre of music that is considered the ‘heart and soul of Japan’. Using television clips uploaded to YouTube and the viewers’ comments left on the sites as data, we analyze the audience’s laughter and amazement, followed by the question, ‘Why?’ and explanation of his background. Drawing on Hervé Varenne’s argument that learning occurs when we acknowledge our ignorance and seek to change it, we argue that the laughter marks their ignorance of such subjectivity, followed by learning as to why such subjectivity is possible. Challenging hegemonic behavior in daily life is often considered ‘bad sport’ and thus difficult. While involving complex relations of power of consumer-performer relations and authenticator-authenticated relations as well as a problematic race-talent link, we suggest that learning-through-laughing may be a new field worth exploring as an effective strategy for social change.     

Correlates of Attitudes Toward Personal Aging in Older Assisted Living Residents

This study explored factors contributing to older adults’ self-perceptions about their own aging in assisted living (AL) communities. Data analysis was completed based on interviews with 150 older residents from 17 AL communities. Multiple regression analyses found that functional disability and hearing impairment negatively affected attitudes toward personal aging among AL residents, and satisfaction with social support positively influenced attitudes. Health perception mediated attitudes toward personal aging. Findings suggest the importance of social workers helping older AL residents recognize social support as a means of promoting their positive self-regard.     

自动穿鞋带机的柔性精准高效鞋面夹具与上下料机构设计

针对目前传统手工穿鞋带时鞋面夹具定位精度低、适应性差、拆装效率低下等缺点,设计了基于自动穿鞋带机的 新式鞋面夹具,采用梳齿结构,实现了贴近鞋孔附近区域鞋面的有效支撑;提出可动滑块式及可拆卸式2种柔性化夹具 方案,实现了鞋孔支撑结构间距可变。针对可行性更高的可拆卸式方案,设计了鞋孔支撑结构与配套的定位机构,实现 了鞋孔快速、精准定位;设计了基于双边对称同时夹紧方式的梳齿板式夹紧机构,实现了鞋面高效、平整的夹紧;设计了 鞋面单机、流水线高效上下料机构,实现一人分管多台机器时的连续鞋面装夹。结果表明可拆卸式夹具不仅具有精度 高、适应性广等特点,且可有效提高鞋面装夹、穿系效率。本夹具能改善鞋面的鞋带穿系现状,提高制鞋业自动化程度。