A two phases queueing system with Bernoulli vacation schedule under multiple vacation policy

This paper deals with a single server Poisson arrival queue with two phases of heterogeneous service along with a Bernoulli schedule vacation model, where after two successive phases service the server either goes for a vacation with probability p (0≤p≤1) or may continue to serve the next unit, if any, with probability q(=1−p). Further the concept of multiple vacation policy is also introduced here. We obtained the queue size distributions at a departure epoch and at a random epoch, Laplace Stieltjes Transform of the waiting time distribution and busy period distribution along with some mean performance measures. Finally we discuss some statistical inference related issues.     

The cost of children: May the collective approach to household behavior help?

The collective approach to household consumption behavior tries to infer from variables supposed to affect the general bargaining position of household members information on the allocation of consumptions goods and tasks among them. This paper investigates the extension of previous work to the case where children may be considered as a public consumption good by the two adult members of a household. The main question being asked is whether it is possible to retrieve from the aggregate consumption behaviour of the household and the relative earnings of the parents information on the allocation of goods between them and children. This alternative approach to the estimation of the ‘cost of children’ is contrasted with the conventional approach based on a ‘unitary’ representation of and demographic separability assumptions on household consumption behaviour. Received: 29 August 1997/Accepted: 26 November 1998     

数字电视视频压缩标准

简述MPEG、JPEG与H系列图像压缩编码国际标准中与高清晰度数字电视视频相关的编码技术,并指出各自的特点、性能与应用。     

在现实主义和现代主义的视野里寻求和谐生存之道——论D·H·劳伦斯的《儿子与情人》

D.H.劳伦斯在小说《儿子与情人》中,通过批判现实主义手法描述了主人公保罗的爱情悲剧和家庭悲剧,揭示了英国工业文明对自然环境及人类和谐生存状态的破坏。同时,作为一个现代主义作家,劳伦斯探索了人的潜意识及如何在现代文明中构建和谐生存之道。劳伦斯认为,人类只有与自然界保持和谐的关系、重建两性之间和谐、自然的关系,才能克服现代文明社会带来的弊端,实现生存状态的和谐。劳伦斯对人类生存困境的探索不仅为同时代人提供了获得救赎的全新思路,在当今呼唤和谐社会的时代,仍为我们提供了有益的借鉴。     

Improving variance function estimation in semiparametric longitudinal data analysis

We propose an efficient and robust method for variance function estimation in semiparametric longitudinal data analysis. The method utilizes a local log‐linear approximation for the variance function and adopts a generalized estimating equation approach to account for within subject correlations. We show theoretically and empirically that our method outperforms estimators using working independence that ignores the correlations. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 39: 656–670; 2011. © 2011 Statistical Society of Canada     

Noninformative priors for linear combinations of normal means with unequal variances

For normal populations with unequal variances, we develop matching priors and reference priors for a linear combination of the means. Here, we find three second-order matching priors: a highest posterior density (HPD) matching prior, a cumulative distribution function (CDF) matching prior, and a likelihood ratio (LR) matching prior. Furthermore, we show that the reference priors are all first-order matching priors, but that they do not satisfy the second-order matching criterion that establishes the symmetry and the unimodality of the posterior under the developed priors. The results of a simulation indicate that the second-order matching prior outperforms the reference priors in terms of matching the target coverage probabilities, in a frequentist sense. Finally, we compare the Bayesian credible intervals based on the developed priors with the confidence intervals derived from real data.     

Empirical study of robust estimation methods for PAR models with application to the air quality area

Abstract

This paper compares three estimators for periodic autoregressive (PAR) models. The first is the classical periodic Yule-Walker estimator (YWE). The second is a robust version of YWE (RYWE) which uses the robust autocovariance function in the periodic Yule-Walker equations, and the third is the robust least squares estimator (RLSE) based on iterative least squares with robust versions of the original time series. The daily mean particulate matter concentration (PM10) data is used to illustrate the methodologies in a real application, that is, in the Air Quality area.     

The Past in the Present. Lessons on Semiotics of History from George H. Mead and Boris A. Uspensky

This article examines the parallels between George H. Mead's theory of time and Boris A. Uspensky's semiotics of history, looking for implications relevant to the symbolic interactionist theory of historical processes. It suggests that Mead's theory of time and theory of communication hold important implications for semiotic analysis of the historical dimension of sociocultural phenomena. A further aim is to link the symbolic interactionist tradition of the Chicago school with the Tartu school and its semiotics of history. This would fuel the further development of both theoretical orientations.