Goodness-of-fit tests based on Verma Kullback–Leibler information

In this article, a new consistent estimator of Veram’s entropy is introduced. We establish the entropy test based on the new information namely Verma Kullback–Leibler discrimination methodology. The results are used to introduce goodness-of-fit tests for normal and exponential distributions. The root of mean square errors, critical values, and powers for some alternatives are obtained by simulation. The proposed test is compared with other tests.     

Interval estimation: An information theoretic approach

ABSTRACT

We develop here an alternative information theoretic method of inference of problems in which all of the observed information is in terms of intervals. We focus on the unconditional case in which the observed information is in terms the minimal and maximal values at each period. Given interval data, we infer the joint and marginal distributions of the interval variable and its range. Our inferential procedure is based on entropy maximization subject to multidimensional moment conditions and normalization in which the entropy is defined over discretized intervals. The discretization is based on theory or empirically observed quantities. The number of estimated parameters is independent of the discretization so the level of discretization does not change the fundamental level of complexity of our model. As an example, we apply our method to study the weather pattern for Los Angeles and New York City across the last century.     

The performance of model averaged tail area confidence intervals

We investigate the exact coverage and expected length properties of the model averaged tail area (MATA) confidence interval proposed by Turek and Fletcher, CSDA, 2012, in the context of two nested, normal linear regression models. The simpler model is obtained by applying a single linear constraint on the regression parameter vector of the full model. For given length of response vector and nominal coverage of the MATA confidence interval, we consider all possible models of this type and all possible true parameter values, together with a wide class of design matrices and parameters of interest. Our results show that, while not ideal, MATA confidence intervals perform surprisingly well in our regression scenario, provided that we use the minimum weight within the class of weights that we consider on the simpler model.     

信息内容可信度对消费者转基因食品接受程度的影响——以江苏省为例

深入研究外部信息传入特别是信息内容可信度对消费者转基因食品接受程度的影响对中国政府转基因科普宣传具有重要意义。利用江苏省消费者调查数据,定量研究信息内容可信度等因素对消费者转基因食品接受程度的影响,具体来说,定量研究积极属性信息内容和消极属性信息内容对不同风险人群(所有样本、低风险人群、高风险人群)转基因食品接受程度的影响。研究结果表明,外部信息传入更容易影响低风险人群对转基因食品的接受程度。积极属性和消极属性信息内容可信度分别显著正向和负向影响低风险人群对转基因食品的接受程度,且前者的作用较大。积极属性信息内容可信度对高风险人群转基因食品接受程度的影响较弱,而消极属性信息内容可信度对高风险人群几乎没有影响。     

图片信息丰裕度对消费者在线风险决策的影响

以图片标记信息丰裕度对消费者在线风险决策的影响为研究重点,引入详尽可能性模型(ELM),从购买行为发生之前的顾客关注度和购买之后的顾客满意度两个纬度,探索了消费者在线风险决策的影响因素。结果表明:信誉标记图片信息丰裕度中的评价方式种类和商家信用度、服务标记图片信息丰裕度中的保障服务以及商品促销标记,无论对消费者关注度还是消费者满意度均有显著的正向影响;支付服务图片信息丰裕度对消费者关注度影响不显著,但与消费者满意度有显著的正相关关系。另外,店铺动态评分、物流服务标记以及商品描述标记的图片信息丰裕度与消费者关注度及满意度相关性均不显著。研究结果为C2C交易平台以及网上卖家图片标记和信息展示提供了一定的理论指导。     

Electronic payment mechanisms in social security: Extending the reach of benefit and contribution transactions

More often than not, the existing modes of contribution collection and benefit payment of social security organizations are adapted to the collective arrangements that characterize employer‐employee relationships. Extending coverage to individuals in difficult‐to‐reach groups, however, may require new modalities of service that can cope with many separate, secure transactions rather than a few bulk data transfers between organizations. Recent developments in electronic payment show its wide applicability in enabling huge volumes of such individual transactions. It is in this light that the article explores the potentials of this technology and identifies possible arrangements through which electronic payments could surmount barriers that stand in the way of covering difficult‐to‐reach groups. The high level of mobile phone penetration on a global scale augurs well for using e‐payment mechanisms to collect social security contributions and to deliver social security benefits and services. A generic model is used to describe the requisite elements to implement electronic payments in social protection programmes. Based on empirical evidence of current social protection practices from around the world, five scenarios are presented to describe possible configurations for electronic payment, from the simplest to the most sophisticated. The broader objective is to contribute in a practical manner to the international commitment to extend social protection to all, as defined by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.     

The social security number: A small device underpinning big systems

The possession and use of a personal social security number helps to structure people's daily lives. However, despite its fundamental normative importance, the social security number remains a little‐known entity. Increasingly universal and yet diverse in form, it is a legal and technical norm which is as much a mechanism for surveillance and monitoring as it is a necessary instrument for giving effect to social rights. Analysis of this constituent element of social security systems permits as assessment of some of the technical difficulties presented by the ever‐increasing movement of people and data. Overcoming these technical difficulties should permit to envisage a first technical step towards realizing a universal and global social security system.     

Analysis of Blogs,Forums, and Social Networks

It is impossible to imagine the contemporary Internet without social media. Government agents, commercial, state, and social organizations, the opposition, and other citizens use social media as a giant turbine. Unfortunately, this turbine can also be used to spread disinformation as well as hostile propaganda on a mass scale. In this article we show how vulnerable social media are to infiltration by botnets with the goal of launching information attacks.     

Using Dialogic Principles on Websites

This research reports the results of the analysis of public benefit organization (PBO) websites as places for encouraging dialogic relationships with key members of the public. Using a modified Kent and Taylor's (1998) dialogic principle, we conducted a content analysis of 367 PBOs in Poland. The results suggest that analyzed organizations only marginally use the five principles of dialogic communication on their websites. The studies have identified only a few organizations, which have websites characterized as having a high level of dialogic potential. Websites usually contained only some elements, which gave them the appearance of a digital information brochure. In addition, the results indicate that website dialogic potential is significantly influenced by the amount of revenue and the extent of the organization. The higher the revenue and geographic service area, the greater the dialogic potential of websites is as well.     

There is an app for that? The impact of community knowledge workers in Uganda

Rapidly expanding mobile network coverage in developing countries offers new ways to reach poor farmers in isolated places. This article explores the potential for Information and Communication Technology to provide agricultural information and extension services to smallholder farmers, and links this to empirical insights of an intervention in Uganda, where community knowledge workers rely on mobile devices to deliver context- and time-sensitive data to farmers. Consistent with theoretical insights related to information inefficiencies, we find that the intervention leads farmers to move away from low-risk low-return crops toward more commercially oriented commodities. Our analysis also suggests that, for the case of maize, the intervention causes farmers to sell less on the market, but at significantly higher prices.