Estimation of common location parameter of several heterogeneous exponential populations based on generalized order statistics

In this article, several independent populations following exponential distribution with common location parameter and unknown and unequal scale parameters are considered. From these populations, several independent samples of generalized order statistics (gos) are drawn. Under the setup of gos, the problem of estimation of common location parameter is discussed and various estimators of common location parameter are derived. The authors obtained maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), modified MLE and uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator of common location parameter. Furthermore, under scaled-squared error loss function, a general inadmissibility result of invariant estimator is proposed. The derived results are further reduced for upper record values which is a special case of gos. Finally, simulation study and real life example are reported to show the performances of various competing estimators in terms of percentage risk improvement.     

Sequential estimation of the sum of sinusoidal model parameters

Estimating the parameters of the sum of a sinusoidal model in presence of additive noise is a classical problem. It is well known to be a difficult problem when the two adjacent frequencies are not well separated or when the number of components is very large. In this paper we propose a simple sequential procedure to estimate the unknown frequencies and amplitudes of the sinusoidal signals. It is observed that if there are p components in the signal then at the k  th (k?p)$(k?p)$ stage our procedure produces strongly consistent estimators of the k   dominant sinusoids. For k>p$k>p$, the amplitude estimators converge to zero almost surely. Asymptotic distribution of the proposed estimators is also established and it is observed that it coincides with the asymptotic distribution of the least squares estimators. Numerical simulations are performed to observe the performance of the proposed estimators for different sample sizes and for different models. One ECG data and one synthesized data are analyzed for illustrative purpose.     

Youth Participation in U.S. Contexts: Student Voice Without a National Mandate

Unlike the United Kingdom and other nations that mandate youth participation to some degree, U.S. policies instead tend to inhibit child participation rather than encourage it. Given these policy contexts, it can be challenging to locate spaces where robust opportunities for democratic participation and student voice exist. We use this article as an opportunity to examine the disciplinary, philosophical and methodological approaches that have framed youth participation in youth contexts. We conclude by identifying critical issues of citizenship and belonging that must be considered in participatory research.     

Merchandizing the Sacred: Commodifying Hindu Religion,Gods/Goddesses,and Festivals in the United States

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened the gates for immigrants from India, who have come to the United States for various reasons other than religion. Their religious consciousness has grown along with the age of their children who are born in the United States. They have felt the need to retain and hand down their tradition and culture. In the process, sustaining their tradition and culture has become equivalent with religion, so they express it through rituals and festivals. With these festive observances has developed an intimate connection between commerce and religion, fashion and festival, celebration and consumption. In this scholarly essay, I analyze how Hindu religion has succumbed to the world of advertisements, mass production, and marketing in the United States. This aspect is significant because it gives an opportunity to conceptualize a larger transnational space that deals with Hindu religious practices and sees the participation of retailers and businesses located in various Hindu diasporic spaces using various marketing media strategically.     

Technology Import and Industrial Employment: Evidence from Developing Countries

Abstract. This paper based on panel data across countries examines the possible effect of the imported technology on labour absorption in the industrial sector, after controlling for real wage rate and GDP per capita. Findings tend to suggest a negative relationship between the two. Technical efficiency index derived on the basis of the stochastic frontier function framework is also negatively affected by the import of technology. Without enhancing the knowledge relating to the mechanisms of exploiting the new technology acquired from abroad, a mere increase in import of technology would mean rising unutilized capacity. And this could be due to the poor skill base of the available human capital. Investment in human capital in terms of skill formation, up‐gradation, and training on the one hand and technological advancement to suit the internal labour market conditions are the two important policy conclusions for reviving the role of industry as the engine of pro‐poor growth.     

Pedagogy and Activism – Do the Two Mix? A Dialogue on Social Justice and Its Place in The Classroom

In this introductory essay, I reflect on the connection between pedagogy and activism and introduce the three contributors to this special section on the topic. More specifically, I chart key points in the history of sociology in the West asking readers to consider whether sociology has ever been value-free. In the process, I invoke sociologists who thought it essential for integration of sociological thought and practice (albeit not necessarily in the form of activism), ponder the meaning of science and think about the meaning of an education in sociology. As part of the discussion, I also present my position on sociology, pedagogy, and activism.     

Cultural adaptations in psychosocial interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder among refugees: A systematic review

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to systematically review randomized controlled trials on non-pharmaceutical interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adult refugees with a focus on identifying common cultural adaptations and reviewing possible effects of such adaptations on outcomes. The conducted systematic search yielded 11 studies. The strongest support was for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Commonly used cultural adaptations in the reviewed studies included modifications in personnel and setting context, changes in content, and translation or adaptation of evaluation tools.     

M-estimator-based robust estimation of the number of components of a superimposed sinusoidal signal model

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating the number of components of a superimposed nonlinear sinusoids model of a signal in the presence of additive noise. We propose and provide a detailed empirical comparison of robust methods for estimation of the number of components. The proposed methods, which are robust modifications of the commonly used information theoretic criteria, are based on various M-estimator approaches and are robust with respect to outliers present in the data and heavy-tailed noise. The proposed methods are compared with the usual non-robust methods through extensive simulations under varied model scenarios. We also present real signal analysis of two speech signals to show the usefulness of the proposed methodology.     

Economic Growth,Health and Poverty: An Exploratory Study for India

This article analyses the possible links between economic growth, poverty and health, using panel data for the Indian states. The findings indicate that, though growth tends to reduce poverty, significant improvements in health status are also necessary for poverty to decrease. Also, economic growth and health status are positively correlated and have a two‐way relationship, suggesting that better health enhances growth by improving productivity, and higher growth allows better human capital formation. Health expenditure is an important determinant of both higher growth and better health status, and is therefore a key tool available to policy‐makers. Among other exogenous variables, literacy and industrialisation seem to improve both health outcomes and growth, and to reduce poverty.     

On approximate least squares estimators of parameters of one-dimensional chirp signal

Chirp signals are quite common in many natural and man-made systems such as audio signals, sonar, and radar. Estimation of the unknown parameters of a signal is a fundamental problem in statistical signal processing. Recently, Kundu and Nandi [Parameter estimation of chirp signals in presence of stationary noise. Stat Sin. 2008;75:187–201] studied the asymptotic properties of least squares estimators (LSEs) of the unknown parameters of a simple chirp signal model under the assumption of stationary noise. In this paper, we propose periodogram-type estimators called the approximate least squares estimators (ALSEs) to estimate the unknown parameters and study the asymptotic properties of these estimators under the same error assumptions. It is observed that the ALSEs are strongly consistent and asymptotically equivalent to the LSEs. Similar to the periodogram estimators, these estimators can also be used as initial guesses to find the LSEs of the unknown parameters. We perform some numerical simulations to see the performance of the proposed estimators and compare them with the LSEs and the estimators proposed by Lahiri et al. [Efficient algorithm for estimating the parameters of two dimensional chirp signal. Sankhya B. 2013;75(1):65–89]. We have analysed two real data sets for illustrative purposes.