Effect of a new selection procedure on adaptive estimation

Adaptive estimation of parameters of some failure time distributionsis considered. A new procedure named the F-procedure has beendeveloped for selecting an appropriate model out of two possible models by Pandey et.al. (1991). Applying this F-procedure adaptive estimatorsof parameters of exponential, Wei bull, inverse Gaussian (IG) and Wald failure time distributions have been proposed in this paper. Comparison of these estimators has been undertaken with MLE's of the respective parameters and with some previous adaptiveestimators by simulation of samples using the Monte Carlo method.Adaptive estimation of parameters of some failure time distributions is considered. A new procedure named the F-procedure has been developedfor selecting an appropriate model out of two possible models by Pandey et.al. (1991). Applying this F-procedure adaptive estimators of parameters of exponential, Wei bull, inverse Gaussian (IG) and Wald failure time distributions have been proposed in this paper. Comparison of these estimators has been undertaken with MLE's of the respective parameters and with some previous adaptive estimators by simulation of samples using the Monte Carlo method.     

Politics−Bureaucracy Relationship in Bangladesh: Consequences for the Public Service Commission

The paper attempts to analyze the consequences of political pressure placed on the Public Service Commission (PSC) of Bangladesh. Through extensive literature review and empirical research, the authors conclude that the independence, efficiency and effectiveness of the PSC largely depend on the politics–administration relationship. Furthermore, this relationship is affected by regime types and it regulates the optimum functioning or malfunctioning of the institution.

Supplier Strategies and Routines for Capability Development: Implications for Upgrading

This paper examines the strategies and routines adopted by small and medium-sized suppliers to develop capabilities that enable them to engage in upgrading, despite a precarious relational and institutional context. To this end, we investigate the strategic behaviour of two Bangladeshi garment manufacturers. Both started out as small suppliers for multinational enterprises (MNEs) and have eventually grown into micro-multinationals. The firms are involved in ‘tacit promissory contracting’ with their buyers, a specific form of international outsourcing relationship. The study adopts a multiple case study design that involves interviews with managers/owners of the firms. The analysis yields two key findings. Both firms have devised strategies and taken coherent routines involving actions to develop skills and motivation needed to perform appropriate functional activities (i.e. pre-production, production and post-production) as they embarked on different stages of upgrading. Furthermore, firms have designed routines to internalise the challenges originating from their relationships with their buyers and the institutional environment at the time that had the potential to affect their upgrading goals. The paper contributes to IB studies by highlighting how suppliers, even in a precarious context, can control their own strategies and routines, so as to develop capabilities that allow them to gradually redress the power imbalance between themselves and their buyers.     

Spatial smoothing of low birth weight rate in Bangladesh using Bayesian hierarchical model

The term low birth weight refers an event where a newborn baby has a weight that is less than 2500?g. This is an essential indicator while the interest is in public health issues such as infant mortality, maternal complications, and antenatal care, etc. of a country, particularly, for a developing country like Bangladesh. The regional development programs are in the current priority list of Bangladesh government and other policy makers. Many of such regional development programs may need the spatial distribution of relative risk for low birth weight that can be obtained by mapping the risks over small area domains like the districts of Bangladesh. This study aims to find whether is there any spatial dependence among the relative risks of low birth weight for the districts of Bangladesh. This has been investigated using Moran's I statistic and a significant spatial dependence in the relative risks was found. Then, attempt has been made to rediscover the spatial distribution based on the idea of spatial smoothing. A Bayesian hierarchical model is used considering percent received antenatal care and female labor force participation as covariates to smooth the observed relative risks of low birth weight in 64 districts of Bangladesh. Revised spatial distribution taking the spatial dependence under consideration through intrinsic conditional autoregressive model is derived and showed in choropleth map along with its different behaviors.     

Markov switch smooth transition HYGARCH model: Stability and estimation

Abstract

HYGARCH model is basically used to model long-range dependence in volatility. We propose Markov switch smooth-transition HYGARCH model, where the volatility in each state is a time-dependent convex combination of GARCH and FIGARCH. This model provides a flexible structure to capture different levels of volatilities and also short and long memory effects. The necessary and sufficient condition for the asymptotic stability is derived. Forecast of conditional variance is studied by using all past information through a parsimonious way. Bayesian estimations based on Gibbs sampling are provided. A simulation study has been given to evaluate the estimations and model stability. The competitive performance of the proposed model is shown by comparing it with the HYGARCH and smooth-transition HYGARCH models for some period of the S&P500 and Dow Jones industrial average indices based on volatility and value-at-risk forecasts.     

Stratagems and Spoils in US Policy in the Middle East

Current uprisings in the Middle East suggest a need for reform in US foreign policy, based in economic liberalism, to the exclusion of the needs of ordinary people. From the end of World War I to the present, the US has shaped a political economy in the Middle East, based on empowerment of patricians and oligarchies to develop a competitive edge over oil and oil-related industries. The geopolitics of US intervention has been based on forming binary categories of ‘allies’ and ‘foes’, to justify economic and political alliances, regardless of the histories behind the disenchantment of US presence in the Middle East. This has generated social conflict where people no longer seem to want to support the authoritarian regions which have allied with the US. These uprisings are a desperate call for democracy to end elitism, cronyism, and corruption—a reminder of the need to rethink inconsistent agendas and clandestine interventions which have destabilized the region for almost a century.

Los levantamientos actuales en el Medio Oriente sugieren una necesidad de reformar la política exterior de los E.E.U.U., en base al liberalismo económico, a la exclusión de las necesidades de la gente ordinaria. Desde el fin de la primera guerra mundial al presente, los E.E.U.U. han dado forma a una economía política en el Medio Oriente, en base al liberalismo económico, a la exclusión de las necesidades de la gente ordinaria. Desde el final de la primera guerra mundial a la actualidad, los E.E.U.U. han configurado una economía política en el Medio Oriente, basada en el empoderamiento de los patricios y las oligarquías para desarrollar una ventaja sobre la competencia en el petróleo e industrias relacionadas. La geopolítica de la intervención estadounidense se ha basado en la formación de categorías binarias de “aliados” y “enemigos”, para justificar alianzas económicas y políticas, no obstante las historias detrás del desencanto de la presencia de los E.E.U.U. en el Medio Oriente. Esto ha generado un conflicto social, en donde la gente ya no parece que quiera apoyar los regímenes autoritarios que se han aliado con los E.E.U.U. Estos levantamientos constituyen una llamada desesperada a la democracia para terminar con el elitismo, amiguismo y corrupción—un recordatorio de la necesidad de recapitular en las agendas inconsistentes e intervenciones clandestinas que han desestabilizado la región por cerca de un centenario.

中东当前的起义表明,建基于经济自由主义、将普通人的需要排除在外的美国外交政策需要改革。从一战结束至今,美国打造了中东的政治经济,它以授权贵族和寡头集团在石油及与石油相关工业领域中发展竞争性优势为基础。美国干预的地缘政治学一直是建立在形塑“盟友”和“敌人”的双重类别基础之上,以证明经济和政治同盟的正当性,而不管它迷恋于在中东维持存在背后的历史。这已经产生了社会冲突,在其中,人们似乎不再想支持已经与美国结成同盟的威权政体。这些起义是孤注一掷的民主吁求,以终结上流人士统治、任人唯亲和腐败——提醒人们需要重新思考前后不一的议程和暗中干预,这已使该地区动荡了近一个世纪。     

English as a medium of instruction and the discursive construction of elite identity

Debates over medium of instruction, as ideological skirmishes, showcase discursive identity construction, reproduction, and contestation by different social groups. Drawing on such debates in letters to the editor and internet‐based newsgroup posts written by Bangladeshi English‐medium (EM) and Bangla‐medium (BM) educated writers, this article examines the construction of elite identity by the EM educated group. It illustrates how this group drew on changing discourses of elitism, language ideologies, and other identity resources to construct self‐identity that emphasized the achievement of qualifications and attributes rather than unearned social privilege, and how the territorially bound elite identity was transformed into deterritorialized cosmopolitan identity in the process. The article contributes to our understanding of the relationship between language, identity, and society by illustrating struggles for identity and status maintenance in education that is increasingly being dominated by English and English as a medium of instruction under the influence of neoliberal globalization. It also suggests how English and national languages may relate to (post)colonialism, nationalism, national identity, and social class in a globalized world.     

Inclusive innovation and the role of technological capability-building: The social business Grameen Danone Foods Limited in Bangladesh

This article examines how a least developed country-based social business first creates operational capabilities (OCs) and then, over time, builds innovative capabilities (ICs) to fulfil a social need, be self-sustainable and achieve inclusive innovation. This relationship is examined in Bangladesh's Grameen Danone Foods Limited (GDFL) by integrating the technological capability and inclusive innovation theoretical frameworks and by using data gathered through extensive fieldwork. Broadly, our findings show how GDFL built and accumulated basic and intermediate ICs to undertake innovative activities in all areas of operation. Specifically, our findings scrutinize the process in which a social business develops and organizes its resources to initially build OCs and engage in the creation of ICs through various learning mechanisms to deliver inclusive innovation. From this process, we also observe a set of unpredicted positive spillovers to the community, which expands the inclusiveness effect. The findings also suggest that having a social orientation, triggers the use of different resources from within and outside the firm to achieve inclusive innovation. We conclude by discussing the study's implications for scholars, policy-makers and managers of multinational's social businesses. We also highlight future research areas, and crucially those related to key emerging conceptual limitations of inclusive innovation and development.     

Bispectral-Based Goodness-of-Fit Tests of Gaussianity and Linearity of Stationary Time Series

Spectral domain tests for time series linearity typically suffer from a lack of power compared to time domain tests. We present two tests for Gaussianity and linearity of a stationary time series. The tests are two-stage procedures applying goodness-of-fit techniques to the estimated normalized bispectrum. We illustrate the performances of the tests are competitive with time domain tests. The new tests typically outperform Hinich's (1982 Hinich , M. J. ( 1982 ). Testing for Gaussianity and linearity of a stationary time series . J. Time Ser. Anal. 3 : 169 – 176 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) bispectral based test, especially when the length of the time series is not large.     

Poverty, Social Exclusion and the Politics of Disability: Care as a Social Good and the Expenditure of Social Capital in Chuadanga, Bangladesh

People labelled with disabilities in Chuadanga, Bangladesh, are denied equitable access to social networks and formal services. In terms both of funding future formal service programmes and of designing community‐based outreach programmes, this lack of access is not a simple reflection of one's impairment but a facet of the social exclusion and stigma that is culturally ascribed to disability in Chuadanga. We utilize a social model to focus on the cultural processes initiated by the onset of illness or impairment. Our participants are drawn from four types of diagnosed disability: blindness, orthopaedic impairment, hearing impairment and mental disorder. Although this inquiry is in line with Daly's focus on how future spending on formal services to promote care and equity in Europe can be helped by searching out information that is often ignored, the particular focus of this study is Chuadanga and the research questions incorporate a disability studies perspective. The authors consider care as a social good and an expenditure of social capital, in reviewing findings from a recent empirical study of disability and employment in the Bangladesh district of Chuadanga. Regardless of disability, poverty can be a morally and socially devastating ordeal. However, the authors conclude that the added loss of social solidarity and equitable access, due to the social exclusion and stigma of disability for the families concerned, make it statistically far less likely that they will access formal services or be able to escape poverty.