Film Games*

This paper presents data on how film students practice filmmaking skills by devising and playing games. In their games film students suggest images for films and correct one another's notions about the methods for or appropriateness of realizing these images on film. By using increasingly complex games as a series of exercises, students develop greater skill in anticipating programs in making films they imagine. The apparent effectiveness of these games suggests playful behaviors which may seem insignificant because they are not “serious” could be important mechanisms for socializing people's imaginations, tailoring them for a particular kind of problem and problem-solving.     

Jackknifing the Ridge Regression Estimator: A Revisit

Singh et al. (1986 Singh, B., Chaubey, Y.P., Dwivedi, T.D. (1986). An almost unbiased ridge estimator. Sankhya B48: 34236. [Google Scholar]) proposed an almost unbiased ridge estimator using Jackknife method that required transformation of the regression parameters. This article shows that the same method can be used to derive the Jackknifed ridge estimator of the original (untransformed) parameter without transformation. This method also leads in deriving easily the second-order Jackknifed ridge that may reduce the bias further. We further investigate the performance of these estimators along with a recent method by Batah et al. (2008 Batah, F. S.M., Ramanathan, T.V., Gore, S.D. (2008). The efficiency of modified Jack-knife and ridge type regression estimators: a comparison. Surv. Math. Applic. 3:111122. [Google Scholar]) called modified Jackknifed ridge theoretically as well as numerically.     

Estimating unmet need for contraception by district within Ghana: an application of small-area estimation techniques

The importance of meeting the unmet need for contraception is nowhere more urgent than in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, where the fertility decline is stalling and total unmet need exceeds 30 per cent among married women. In Ghana, where fertility levels vary considerably, demographic information at sub-national level is essential for building effective family planning programmes. We used small-area estimation techniques, linking data from the 2003 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey to the 2000 Ghana Population and Housing Census, to derive district-level estimates of contraceptive use and unmet need for contraception. The results show considerable variation between districts in contraceptive use and unmet need. The prevalence of contraceptive use varies from 4.1 to 41.7 per cent, while that of the use of modern methods varies from 4.0 to 34.8 per cent. The findings identify districts where family planning programmes need to be strengthened.     

《敦煌佛教绘画》前言

《敦煌佛教绘画》的前言介绍了敦煌第一石窟开凿的缘起、过程以及敦煌艺术的分期。全文探讨了华严与敦煌的关系,并以一些造像中手印的区域性特点为例提出研究印度国家博物馆馆藏敦煌绘画艺术的必要性和重要性。     

Inventory management with variable lead-time dependent procurement cost

A reduction in the inventory replenishment lead-time allows reducing safety stock requirements and improving customer service. However, it might be accompanied by increased procurement costs because of premium charges imposed by suppliers, or higher transportation costs. This paper studies a single-stage variable lead-time inventory system with lead-time dependent procurement cost. Selection of the lead-time value represents finding the trade-off between benefits of lead-time reduction and increase in the procurement cost. A model for joint optimization of inventory and procurement costs is developed. Numerical studies are conducted to identify conditions under which lead-time reduction is favorable compared to procuring at the lowest cost.     

Properties of the mixed regression estimator when disturbances are not necessarily normal

Small-disturbance approximations for the bias vector and mean squared error matrix of the mixed regression estimator for the coefficients in a linear regression model are derived and efficiency with respect to least squares estimator is examined.