Estimation of parameters of SDE driven by fractional Brownian motion with polynomial drift

ABSTRACT

Strongly consistent and asymptotically normal estimators of the Hurst index and volatility parameters of solutions of stochastic differential equations with polynomial drift are proposed. The estimators are based on discrete observations of the underlying processes.     

Cumulative correspondence analysis using orthogonal polynomials

Taguchi's statistic has long been known to be a more appropriate measure of association of the dependence for ordinal variables compared to the Pearson chi-squared statistic. Therefore, there is some advantage in using Taguchi's statistic in the correspondence analysis context when a two-way contingency table consists at least of an ordinal categorical variable. The aim of this paper, considering the contingency table with two ordinal categorical variables, is to show a decomposition of Taguchi's index into linear, quadratic and higher-order components. This decomposition has been developed using Emerson's orthogonal polynomials. Moreover, two case studies to explain the methodology have been analyzed.     

Did small and medium enterprises maintain better jobs during the early years of the recession? Job quality multidimensional evidence from Spain

While the literature has indeed confirmed a general tendency linking small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to a dynamic of greater job creation, there is little available evidence on what has happened to job quality since the financial crisis. Through a representative sample of 5311 employees in 2008 (first year of job destruction) and 4925 employees in 2010 (last year for which data were available), and using a two-stage structural equation model, this article empirically analyses the multidimensional determinants of job quality, by enterprise-size class, in Spain. The research has revealed three main results. First, job quality in Spain improved in all enterprises, regardless of their size, during the early years of the recession. Second, the greatest improvements were found in SMEs. Although job quality was already better in SMEs than in large enterprises in 2008, the differences between them subsequently widened. Third, this accelerated divergence was explained by the following dimensions: working conditions, work intensity, health and safety at work, and work–life balance. These dimensions were much more positive in SMEs. Employment-related public policy should therefore focus more specifically on SMEs. There are two reasons for this. First, despite the recession, SMEs have shown themselves to be key factors in the explanation of job quality. Second, by making changes to their value generation model, they could continue to drive the creation of better quality jobs.     

Least squares estimation of varying‐coefficient hazard regression with application to breast cancer dose‐intensity data

To enhance modeling flexibility, the authors propose a nonparametric hazard regression model, for which the ordinary and weighted least squares estimation and inference procedures are studied. The proposed model does not assume any parametric specifications on the covariate effects, which is suitable for exploring the nonlinear interactions between covariates, time and some exposure variable. The authors propose the local ordinary and weighted least squares estimators for the varying‐coefficient functions and establish the corresponding asymptotic normality properties. Simulation studies are conducted to empirically examine the finite‐sample performance of the new methods, and a real data example from a recent breast cancer study is used as an illustration. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 37: 659–674; 2009 © 2009 Statistical Society of Canada     

Pre‐procreative ages in population stability and cyclicity

Age‐specific models of population renewal (with and without feedback) which imply convergence to a stable state for some levels of fertility or feedback may imply the presence of long‐term cycling around a constant or exponentially changing equilibrium for other levels of fertility or feedback. The switch from one regime to the other is a “bifurcation.”; The conditions for bifurcation involve the roots of an analogue of Lotka's Equation.

Typically bifurcation is induced by raising the strength of feedback or the level of fertility. It has been known since the early 1980s, however, that this is sometimes impossible. It is sometimes impossible even with the linear renewal equation itself and with the most basic of non‐linear models, Lee's cohort feedback model.

Here it is proved that this typical route to bifurcation does not fail for these basic models in the presence of a condition which always holds for realistic applications with higher organisms: the existence of a span of ages before the onset of fertility.

Specifically, a strictly positive lower bound on ages of procreation is proved to be sufficient to guarantee the existence of a rescaling of Lotka's Equation for which the real part of some complex root vanishes. This result holds for absolutely Lebesgue‐integrable (signed) net maternity functions on the positive real line and for absolutely summable (signed) net maternities on the positive integers.

It follows that Coale's rescaling device for the analysis of approach to stability in stable population theory can be implemented for all realistic human net maternity schedules. It also follows that the many special cases of the cohort feedback model throughout population biology will all generate persistent cycling instead of stability if feedback is sufficiently strong.     

Identifying radon-prone building typologies by marginal modelling

Radon is a naturally occurring decay product of uranium known to be the main contributor to natural background radiation exposure. It has been established that the health risk related to radon exposure is lung cancer. In fact, radon is considered to be a major leading cause of lung cancer, second only to smoking. In this paper, we identified building typologies that affect the probability of detecting indoor radon concentration above reference values, using the data collected within two monitoring campaigns recently conducted in Northern Italy. This information is fundamental both in prevention, i.e. when the construction of a new building is planned and in mitigation, i.e. when a high concentration detected inside buildings has to be reduced. A spatial regression approach for binary data was adopted for this goal where some relevant covariates on the soil were retrieved by linking external spatial databases.     

Ridge Regression: Degrees of Freedom in the Analysis of Variance

It appears to be common practice with ridge regression to obtain a decomposition of the total sum of squares, and assign degrees of freedom, according to established least squares theory. This discussion notes the obvious fallacies of such an approach, and introduces a decomposition based on orthogonality, and degrees of freedom based on expected mean squares, for non-stochastic k.     

《八月之光》的空间批评解读

《八月之光》以美国南方封闭守旧的杰佛生镇为背景,作为福克纳独创“约克纳帕塔法”世系的坐标因子,该地理空间延续着内战的精神创伤,铺设了种族歧视与迫害的温床。空间批评学聚焦空间的社会文化属性,文学文本空间成为内含多维指涉意义的指示系统。运用列斐伏尔的“空间三元辩证法”,从物理、心理以及社会空间3个层面展开探索,通过主人公乔·克里斯默斯的视角投射出该地理空间下黑白聚居区的冲突与碰撞,个人心理空间中疑似“黑白混血儿”的主体意识的坍塌及白人主导的社会空间对“无身份”种族的围剿。     

碳排放约束下能源经济效率的区域空间分布研究——基于能源消费结构门槛视角

利用2000—2012年样本数据对全要素省际能源经济效率进行了测算,研究发现样本期间绝大部分省市自治区能源经济效率整体都呈不断下降的趋势,并且生产过程中低效率地区大幅增加,分布状态由“点状”向“面状”扩散,尤其是中西部地区下降较为明显,究其原因主要为:二氧化碳排放和能源消费结构是能源经济效率变化和地区差异的重要影响因素;据此运用门槛分析方法对其进行区域空间分布研究,将全国30个省市自治区划分为低排放—结构较合理、低排放—结构欠合理、高排放—结构较合理类群、高排放—结构欠合理和高排放—结构不合理5大类群,最后结合各类型区域自身发展特点,提出因地制宜的低碳绿色发展建议,并从需求侧和供给侧两方面提出能源经济效率改善的政策建议。