On Estimating the Finite Population Mean Using Two Auxiliary Variables in Two Phase Sampling in the Presence of Non Response

This article considers the problem of estimating the population mean using information on two auxiliary variables in the presence of non response under two-phase sampling. Some improved ratio-in-regression type estimators have been proposed in four different situations of non response along with their properties under large sample approximation. Efficiency comparisons of the proposed estimators with the usual unbiased estimator by Hansen and Hurwitz (1946 Hansen , M. H. , Hurwitz , W. N. ( 1946 ). The problem of non response in sample surveys . J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 41 : 517 – 529 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), conventional ratio and regression estimators using single auxiliary variable and Singh and Kumar (2010b Singh , H. P. , Kumar , S. ( 2010b ). Improved estimation of population mean under double sampling with sub-sampling the non-respondents . J. Statist. Plann. Infer. 140 ( 9 ): 2536 – 2550 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) estimators using two auxiliary variables have been made. Finally, these theoretical findings are illustrated by a numerical example.     

A Right to Exist: A Palestinian speaks

This paper links theory with practice. It discusses original video footage of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories, filmed by an all-woman crew of Western film-makers and Palestinians, which aims to challenge mainstream Orientalist discourses. The footage was shot in and around Al Aroub refugee camp in the West Bank and distributed through a variety of exhibition platforms. Western representations of Arabs are normally framed in a manner that allows little sympathy and/or understanding of their plight. Research has also shown a lack of knowledge in the West about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Focusing on “ordinary and everyday” aspects of Palestinian life, rendered often “extraordinary” by the circumstances of occupation, the footage attempts to draw connections and similarities for a Western audience and to illustrate that Palestinian daily lives are not “played out” only in opposition to the Israeli regime. The paper explores methods of enabling access to Palestinian voices in their own terms, while eliciting the empathy of audiences more accustomed to dramatised and stereotyped images of Palestinian life in Western news and current affairs footage.     

中沙关系回顾与展望

中国和沙特政治制度不同,但两国发展积极友好的关系没有障碍.目前,沙特是中国在西亚和非洲最大的贸易伙伴,两国经贸合作前景广阔.同时,中沙双方均奉行独立自主的外交政策,拥有良好的政治关系,未来在区域组织和联合国等国际舞台上将有更广泛的合作领域.     

The impact of financial sanctions: The case of Iran

This study provides a detailed analysis of the impact of financial sanctions on publicly traded companies. We consider the effect of imposing and lifting sanctions on the target country’s traded equities and examine the differences in the reaction of politically connected firms and those without such connections. The paper focuses on Iran due to (1) its sizable financial markets, (2) imposition of sanctions of varying severity and duration on private and state-owned companies, (3) the significant presence of politically connected firms in the stock market, and (4) the unique event of the 2015 nuclear deal, resulting in fairly rapid lifting of a sizable portion of imposed sanctions. We find that sanctions affect politically connected firms more than ordinary firms, have lasting negative effects on profitability ratios, and that politically connected firms stock prices bounce back more slowly after removal of sanctions. Firms targeted by financial sanctions decrease their leverage and increase their cash holding to manage their perceived increase in risk profile.     

Political connections and firm operational efficiencies: evidence from a developing country

This paper investigates the impact of political connections on firm operational efficiencies. We test the political interventions in investment and employment decisions. Our results provide strong support for the presence of investment inefficiencies and excessive employment amongst politically connected firms, whereas the detrimental effect of political interventions is substantially larger on employment decisions. We further find that such operational inefficiencies are more pronounced for low-growth connected firms. Finally, the economy-wide cost of the excessive employments is estimated to be 0.19 % of GDP annually.     

Forecasting before,during, and after recession with singular spectrum analysis

The aim of this research is to apply the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) technique, which is a relatively new and powerful technique in time series analysis and forecasting, to forecast the 2008 UK recession, using eight economic time series. These time series were selected as they represent the most important economic indicators in the UK. The ability to understand the underlying structure of these series and to quickly identify turning points such as the on-set of the recent recession is of key interest to users. In recent years, the SSA technique has been further developed and applied to many practical problems. Hence, these series will provide an ideal practical test of the potential benefits from SSA during one of the most challenging periods for econometric analyses of recent years. The results are compared with those obtained using the ARIMA and Holt–Winters models as these methods are currently used as standard forecasting methods in the Office for National Statistics in the UK.     

Examining the Impact of Pre‐Implementation Expectations on Post‐Implementation Use of Enterprise Systems: A Longitudinal Study

This article builds upon the technology acceptance model and theories of technology sensemaking to explore pre‐enterprise system adoption expectations and post‐enterprise system adoption outcomes in a longitudinal setting. Building on the exploitation and exploration paradigm, we propose that task productivity and task innovation expectations are the key drivers of users’ pre‐adoption enterprise system usage intention. Further, we argue that the enterprise system facilitates generation of a common knowledge base that may encourage a more integrated organizational culture and promote shared understanding among employees. Considering the distinction between mandatory and voluntary contexts, we propose that user acceptance of the enterprise system at the pre‐ and post‐adoption stages will mediate these relationships in a mandatory context. The results show that the influence of pre‐adoption expectations regarding task productivity and task innovation on intention to use an enterprise system is mediated by user acceptance of the enterprise system. Intention to use an enterprise system is positively related to actual use. At the post‐adoption stage, the influence of actual use on shared understanding is mediated by user acceptance of an enterprise system and enterprise system use has a direct negative impact on task efficiency in the initial period after implementation. Overall, the results highlight that user acceptance at both pre‐ and post‐adoption stages are critical factors when usage is mandatory. These findings suggest a number of important implications for research and for managerial action.     

Religion,classification struggles,and the state’s exercise of symbolic power

Theory and Society - The capacity to classify social groups legally is a central characteristic of modern states. Social groups, however, often resist the classificatory schemas of the state. This...     

Unbiased and almost unbiased ratio estimators of the population mean in ranked set sampling

In this paper we study the problem of reducing the bias of the ratio estimator of the population mean in a ranked set sampling (RSS) design. We first propose a jackknifed RSS-ratio estimator and then introduce a class of almost unbiased RSS-ratio estimators of the population mean. We also present an unbiased RSS-ratio estimator of the mean using the idea of Hartley and Ross (Nature 174:270?C271, 1954) which performs better than its counterpart with simple random sample data. We show that under certain conditions the proposed unbiased and almost unbiased RSS-ratio estimators perform better than the commonly used (biased) RSS-ratio estimator in estimating the population mean in terms of the mean square error. The theoretical results are augmented by a simulation study using a wheat yield data set from the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture to demonstrate the practical benefits of our proposed ratio-type estimators relative to the RSS-ratio estimator in reducing the bias in estimating the average wheat production.