Testing for Unit Roots in Dynamic Panels with Smooth Breaks and Cross-Sectionally Dependent Errors

We develop the extended unit root testing procedure for dynamic panels characterised by slowly moving trends (SMT) and cross-section dependence (CSD). We allow SMT to follow the smooth logistic transition function and the components error terms to contain the unobserved common factors. We propose the two panel unit root test statistics, one derived by the extended common correlated effects (CCE) estimator and the other based on the Sieve bootstrap. We have conducted extensive simulation exercises and document that the failure to take into account SMT and CSD may lead to misleading inference. On the other hand, we find that both bootstrap and CCE-based tests maintain good power properties in small samples in the presence SMT and CSD. We apply our proposed tests to real interest rates for 17 OECD countries and find overwhelming evidence in favour of the Fisher hypothesis.     

Simplified Spreadsheet Solutions.?I: Subcontractor Information System

This paper presents a subcontractor information system (SIS) to support the estimating and project control functions of subcontractors and small∕medium-size contractors. For the proposed SIS to be simple and practical, it was developed in a spreadsheet program designed to maintain information related to resources and projects and to generate important business reports. Resource data are stored in six worksheets for labor, equipment, crews, material, subcontractors, and alternative methods of construction for various tasks. In addition, a separate worksheet is designed for each project to be used for estimating and control purposes. The latter worksheet allows the user to specify the work breakdown structure and optional methods for construction. As such, it represents a transparent estimating model that allows for quick what-if analysis regarding time and cost. In addition, the reporting worksheet provides information related to time, cost, and resource use at the individual and the multiproject levels. In a companion paper, the use of the SIS as basis for overall schedule optimization is described.     

Path to success: an analysis of US educated elite academics in the United States

Few academics go on to become professors at prestigious universities. Candidates must have a very strong educational background in addition to demonstrating a high level of effort and academic ability. We analyze the educational backgrounds of elite academics with two main objectives. First, we evaluate the educational institutions in terms of the number of graduates who have become professors at prestigious universities. Second, we analyze the professor’s path to success to shed light on issues such as mobility and inbreeding. We analyze the educational backgrounds of 14,310 full professors from 48 top universities in the United States. We confine our analysis to undergraduate and graduate degrees attained within the United States. Some of our main findings are as follows: (a) 72% (44%) of the professors obtained their Ph.D. (undergraduate) degrees from 20 universities. (b) The top 17 universities with the highest number of Ph.D. alumni who became professors at prestigious universities were also among the top 20 universities with the highest number of undergraduate alumni who became professors at prestigious universities. (c) 70% of the professors who work at private universities obtained their degrees from private universities, whereas only half of the professors who work at public universities obtained their degrees from public universities. (d) Only 16% of the professors live in the same state in which they obtained their undergraduate degrees, which indicates a much higher mobility than the average graduate degree holder. (e) Only 4% of the professors work at the universities from which they graduated. (f) Professors graduate significantly faster than the median Ph.D. graduate.     

The measures weighted stratum and weighted compactness on the weighted digraph-based models of the hypermedia and navigation

This study focuses on carrying out weighted digraph-based mathematical construction of hypermedia and user navigation on hypermedia and making a presentation of “weighted” forms of known stratum and compactness. In the instructional Web design researches, the structural analysis of navigation on the hypermedia is important in modeling the behaviors that the learners perform while using this kind of media. Therefore, new conceptions of the presented usage of new measures towards this goal are also discussed within the scope of our study.     

Robust online detection of pipeline corrosion from range data

We present the Finite-Window Robust Sequential Estimator for the detection and analysis of corrosion in range images of gas pipelines. This statistically robust, real-time technique estimates the pipeline surface range function in the presence of noise, surface deviations, and changes in the underlying model. Deviations from the robust surface fit, corresponding to statistical outliers, represent potential areas of corrosion. Because the algorithm estimates surface parameters over a finite, sliding window of data, it can track moderately high-order surfaces using lower order models. The system is consistent, objective, and non-destructive and can be used with the pipeline in service. Received: 7 September 1999 / Accepted: 2 November 2000     

The State of the Art in Mobile Graphics Research

High-quality computer graphics let mobile-device users access more compelling content. Still, the devices' limitations and requirements differ substantially from those of a PC. This survey of mobile graphics research describes current solutions in terms of specialized hardware (including 3D displays), rendering and transmission, visualization, and user interfaces.     

Digital bundling

Increasingly, we see that firms offer many items on information-intensive channels and the Internet. Especially with low-marginal-cost digital goods, bundling may be a beneficial strategy. Different bundles may help customers become more discriminating and maximize profits. However, the marketplace evidence provides mixed observation of bundling rigorously pursued. In this study, we provide a general framework to analyze when and how bundling may be beneficial. We compare and contrast the firm and customer characteristics on bundling strategy. We analyze when individual sales can be beneficial. We find that when costs do not increase relative to the bundle valuation, firms find it beneficial to limit the number of bundles offered in the market. A low (zero) marginal cost firm benefits from offering just one big bundle. Such a firm obtains a higher profit compared to a firm that offers many bundles. With high marginal costs, the number of bundles increases with increasing customer valuation and/or heterogeneity. When a firm offers all the bundles, prices and profit increase as customer heterogeneity and valuation increase. When the number of offered items is high, individual sale (unbundling) may be preferred over bundling and bundling becomes an inferior strategy. Interestingly, a firm may benefit from unbundling the items when customers have higher valuations.     

Prediction of rotation capacity of wide flange beams using neural networks

This study proposes Neural Networks (NN) as a new approach for the estimation and explicit formulation of available rotation capacity of wide flange beams. Rotation capacity is an important phenomenon which determines the plastic behaviour of steel structures. Thus the database for the NN training is directly based on extensive experimental results from literature. The results of the NN approach are compared with numerical results obtained by a specialized computer. Available rotation capacity is also introduced in a closed form solution based on the proposed NN model. The proposed NN method is seen to be more accurate than numerical results, practical and fast compared to FE models.     

Exact algorithms for the joint object placement and request routing problem in content distribution networks

This paper describes two exact algorithms for the joint problem of object placement and request routing in a content distribution network (CDN). A CDN is a technology used to efficiently distribute electronic content throughout an existing Internet Protocol network. The problem consists of replicating content on the proxy servers and routing the requests for the content to a suitable proxy server in a CDN such that the total cost of distribution is minimized. An upper bound on end-to-end object transfer time is also taken into account. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear integer programming formulation which is linearized in three different ways. Two algorithms, one based on Benders decomposition and the other based on Lagrangean relaxation and decomposition, are described for the solution of the problem. Computational experiments are conducted by comparing the proposed linearizations and the two algorithms on randomly generated Internet topologies.