Model comparison of linear and nonlinear Bayesian structural equation models with dichotomous data

In this article, dichotomous variables are used to compare between linear and nonlinear Bayesian structural equation models. Gibbs sampling method is applied for estimation and model comparison. Statistical inferences that involve estimation of parameters and their standard deviations and residuals analysis for testing the selected model are discussed. Hidden continuous normal distribution (censored normal distribution) is used to solve the problem of dichotomous variables. The proposed procedure is illustrated by a simulation data obtained from R program. Analyses are done by using R2WinBUGS package in R-program.     

Which Domestic Firms Benefit from FDI? Evidence from Selected African Countries

The existing literature on the effects of FDI inflows on domestic firms' performance offers ambiguous evidence. Macro‐level studies suggest that the characteristics of inward FDI and the ‘absorptive capacity’ of the host economy matter in determining the sign (or the mere existence) of these effects. Studies based on micro‐level data have so far mostly focused on finding a nexus between FDI inflows and the productivity of domestic firms, suggesting that the effects might be highly heterogeneous. This article, using a recent firm‐level survey conducted by UNIDO in 19 sub‐Saharan African countries, explores the channels through which multinational enterprises may exert an impact on local firms: products’ market, input availability and costs, access to finance and export opportunities, and analyses the strategic reactions of domestic firms induced by the presence of foreign affiliates.     

Simulated Distribution of the Kullback-Leibler Information Measure

This paper provides the percentiles obtained by simulation of an informational test statistic. It gives evidence that the widely used chi-square approximation to this test statistic is not suitable.     

Immigrant Settlement Work in Canada: Limits and Possibilities for Professionalization

Cet article dépeint l’émergence du travail d’établissement auprès des immigrants au Canada et explore les perspectives d'avenir de celui‐ci en tant que profession. À l'heure actuelle, le travail d'établissement comprend trois formes de pratique : (1) un travail aux contours flous; (2) une spécialité du travail social; et (3) une profession en émergence. Cet article soutient que le travail d'établissement aura probablement un avenir professionnel. Cependant, la question de savoir s'il devient une profession indépendante dépend en grande partie du régime de financement du secteur des services d'établissement. Si le régime de financement fédéral et à court terme continue d'exister, le travail d'établissement cherchera encore sa définition au sein du domaine général du travail de service social. S'il émerge un régime de financement provincial et à long terme, les perspectives d'un travail d'établissement professionnel et indépendant s'amélioreront. This paper portrays the emergence of Canadian settlement work with immigrants and explores its prospects as an occupation. Currently, settlement work includes three forms of practice: (1) a loose occupation; (2) a specialty of social work; and (3) an emerging profession. The paper argues that settlement work is likely to have a professional future. However, whether or not it will become an independent profession depends largely on the funding regime of the settlement service sector. If the existing federal and short‐term funding regime continues, settlement work will still be trying to define itself in the broader field of social service work. If a provincial and long‐term funding regime emerges, prospects for an independent professional settlement work will improve.     

On the fisher β-sufficient partition

This paper shows that the Fisher information in a partition of the space of a random variable X is less than or equal to the Fisher information of X about the unknown parameter. It also provides tables to construct β-sufficient partitions if X has an exponential distribution or a geometric distribution. Simulation study was conducted to show the advantage of using these tables over the usual methods used to construct histograms.     

Normality Test Based on a Truncated Mean Characterization

This article generalizes a characterization based on a truncated mean to include higher truncated moments, and introduces a new normality goodness-of-fit test based on the truncated mean. The test is a weighted integral of the squared distance between the empirical truncated mean and its expectation. A closed form for the test statistic is derived. Assuming known parameters, the mean and the variance of the test are derived under the normality assumption. Moreover, a limiting distribution for the proposed test as well as an approximation are obtained. Also, based on Monte Carlo simulations, the power of the test is evaluated against stable, symmetric, and skewed classes of distributions. The test proves compatibility with prominent tests and shows higher power for a wide range of alternatives.     

A new flexible generalized family for constructing many families of distributions

We propose a new flexible generalized family (NFGF) for constructing many families of distributions. The importance of the NFGF is that any baseline distribution can be chosen and it does not involve any additional parameters. Some useful statistical properties of the NFGF are determined such as a linear representation for the family density, analytical shapes of the density and hazard rate, random variable generation, moments and generating function. Further, the structural properties of a special model named the new flexible Kumaraswamy (NFKw) distribution, are investigated, and the model parameters are estimated by maximum-likelihood method. A simulation study is carried out to assess the performance of the estimates. The usefulness of the NFKw model is proved empirically by means of three real-life data sets. In fact, the two-parameter NFKw model performs better than three-parameter transmuted-Kumaraswamy, three-parameter exponentiated-Kumaraswamy and the well-known two-parameter Kumaraswamy models.     

Lie detection across cultures

Can people detect deception by watching a liar's nonverbal behavior? Can lies be detected across cultures? In the current paper, we report the first cross-cultural study to date of the detection of deception from nonverbal behavior. Americans and Jordanians were videotaped while telling lies and truths; other Americans and Jordanians watched the resulting videotapes and made lie detection judgments. Results showed similar patterns of lie detection within each of the two culture but no lie detection across cultures. In both the U.S. and Jordan, people who avoided eye contact and paused in the middle of speaking were judged to be deceptive. The findings are discussed within an adaptive perspective.