Exploring the linkage effects of place attachment in rural areas using the fuzzy analytic network process

ABSTRACT

Though previous research has developed an evaluation measurement for place attachment, it has ignored the interdependence of the criteria and subcriteria associated with that evaluation tool. Because it is challenging for researchers to digest the multi-criteria messages presented in place attachment and to understand the multiple place attachment terms, this study adopts the fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) model to identify the characteristics of place attachment, and categorizes these characteristics into three dimensions, namely personal context, community context, and environment context. Using the FANP model, an empirical survey was conducted that included the collected survey data of 187 respondents from the Meinong region of Taiwan to determine the typical features of place attachment. Our research results demonstrate that, with respect to successful community involvement, familiarity is essential for place attachment. As familiarity establishes social ties with the setting, one’s emotional attachment to the location or environment increases. The ability to define clear priority weights for personal, community, and environment contexts is one of the benefits of using the FANP method to evaluate place attachment. Accordingly, the findings regarding these three contexts raise issues about the role of local government and self-efficacy in place attachment in Taiwanese environments.     

Using least squares support vector machines for the airframe structures manufacturing cost estimation

Accurate cost estimation plays a significant role in industrial product development and production. This research applied least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM) method solving the problem of estimating the manufacturing cost for airframe structural projects. This research evaluated the estimation performance using back-propagation neural networks and statistical regression analysis. In case studies, this research considered structural weight and manufacturing complexity as the main factors in determining the manufacturing labor hour. The test results verified that the LS-SVM model can provide accurate estimation performance and outperform other methods. This research provides a feasible solution for airframe manufacture industry.     

Reduction-consistency in collective choice problems

We consider the problem of choosing a subset of a feasible set over which each agent has a strict preference. We propose an invariance property, reduction-consistency, of choice rules and study its implications. The property is a natural expression for the problems of a general principle of consistency having been studied extensively in resource allocation problems. We show that no scoring rule satisfies reduction-consistency, and base a characterization of the top rule on the property. We also investigate the minimal extension of a rule needed to recover reduction-consistency, and identify the minimal extensions of several rules including the Borda and plurality rules.     

Periodical Preventive-Maintenance Contract for a Leased Facility with Weibull Life-Time

This paper develops a mathematical model to derive the optimal periodical preventive maintenance (PM) policy for a leased facility with Weibull life-time. Within a lease period, any failures of the facility are rectified by minimal repairs and a penalty may occur to the lessor when the time required to perform a minimal repair exceeds a reasonable time limit. To reduce failures of the facility, additional PM actions are carried out periodically during the lease period. When the life-time distribution of a product is Weibull, the optimal number of PM actions and the corresponding maintenance degrees are derived such that the expected total maintenance cost is minimized. The structural properties of the optimal policy are investigated and an efficient algorithm is provided to search for the optimal policy. Finally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate the features of the proposed model.     

Assessing value at risk with CARE, the Conditional Autoregressive Expectile models

In this paper we propose a downside risk measure, the expectile-based Value at Risk (EVaR), which is more sensitive to the magnitude of extreme losses than the conventional quantile-based VaR (QVaR). The index θ of an EVaR is the relative cost of the expected margin shortfall and hence reflects the level of prudentiality. It is also shown that a given expectile corresponds to the quantiles with distinct tail probabilities under different distributions. Thus, an EVaR may be interpreted as a flexible QVaR, in the sense that its tail probability is determined by the underlying distribution. We further consider conditional EVaR and propose various Conditional AutoRegressive Expectile models that can accommodate some stylized facts in financial time series. For model estimation, we employ the method of asymmetric least squares proposed by Newey and Powell [Newey, W.K., Powell, J.L., 1987. Asymmetric least squares estimation and testing. Econometrica 55, 819–847] and extend their asymptotic results to allow for stationary and weakly dependent data. We also derive an encompassing test for non-nested expectile models. As an illustration, we apply the proposed modeling approach to evaluate the EVaR of stock market indices.     

Which approach to accounting for employee stock options best reflects market pricing?

We use a residual income valuation framework to compare equity valuation implications of four approaches to employee stock options (ESOs) accounting: APB 25 “recognize nothing”, SFAS 123 (revised) “recognize ESO expense”, FASB Exposure Draft “recognize and expense ESO asset” and “recognize ESO asset and liability”. Theoretical analysis shows only grant date recognition of an asset and liability, and subsequent marking-to-market of the liability, results in accounting numbers that capture the dilution effects of ESOs on current shareholder value. Out-of-sample equity market value prediction tests and in-sample comparisons of model explanatory power also support the “recognize ESO asset and liability” method.     

Does a threshold inflation rate exist? Quantile inferences for inflation and its variability

Using quantile regressions and cross-sectional data from 152 countries, we examine the relationship between inflation and its variability. We consider two measures of inflation—the mean and median—and three different measures of inflation variability—the standard deviation, relative variation, and median deviation. All results from the mean and standard deviation, the mean and relative variation, or the median and the median deviation support both the hypothesis that higher inflation creates more inflation variability and that inflation variability raises inflation across quantiles. Moreover, higher quantiles in both cases lead to larger marginal effects of inflation (inflation variability) on inflation variability (inflation). We particularly consider whether thresholds for inflation rate or inflation variability exist before finding such positive correlations. We find evidence of thresholds for the effect of inflation (inflation variability) on inflation variability (inflation). That is, for low inflation (inflation variability) countries, inflation (inflation variability) does not affect inflation variability (inflation).     

Related-party transactions and corporate governance: The evidence from the Taiwan stock market

In this study we explore how corporate governance affects the level of related-party transactions (RPTs) and how it moderates the motives of using RPTs in Taiwan, an ownership-concentrated economy. The empirical results show that good corporate governance is effective in constraining RPTs with the negative relation being sustainable across different measures of RPTs (raw, residual and industry-adjusted RPTs) and across different types of RPTs (related sales, lending and guarantee, and related borrowings). The propping-up hypothesis indicates that the level of related sales is positively correlated with the condition that firms plan to issue seasoned equity next period and the condition of a decrease in the reported earnings. The internal capital market hypothesis indicates that the level of related lending and guarantee (related borrowing) is negatively (positively) correlated with the condition of an increase in capital expenditure and an increase in net working capital. The empirical results lend partial support to the two hypotheses. More importantly, we find that corporate governance moderates the relation between the motives and the level of RPTs.     

The Impact of Relational Governance on Relational Exchange Performance: A Case of the Taiwanese Automobile Industry

Relational governance affects manufacturers’ ability to adapt flexibly to uncertainty in manufacturer–supplier relationships. Enhancing manufacturer–supplier relationships requires considering supplier willingness and opinions on the relational governance of their focal manufacturer and the effect of relational governance on relational exchange performance. After reviewing the related literature, I identified the antecedents of relational governance affecting suppliers’ relationships with their focal manufacturers and explored the effect of relational governance on relational exchange performance, taking relationship value and relationship norms as the intervening constructs. Data were collected from 241 usable questionnaires that had been completed by suppliers for all Taiwanese automobile manufacturers. The hypotheses were tested with respondent data by using a structural equation model. The results indicated that relational governance directly and positively relates to relationship value and relationship norms, relationship value and relationship norms directly and positively relate to relational exchange performance, and customer focus and competitive priorities directly and positively relate to relational governance.     

Is there the threshold effect of cigarette price on smoking prevalence? A cross-country panel data analysis

This article shows new cross-country evidences by empirically investigating the joint effects of cigarette price levels and joining the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) on smoking prevalence in 74 countries over the period of 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2006. We assessed cigarette price elasticity for three national income levels using different databases on cigarette price from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), demographic and socioeconomic country characteristics from the World Bank and adjusted smoking prevalence rates published by various yearly WHO reports on the global tobacco epidemic from 2000 to 2010. A panel threshold regression was used to capture the nonlinear effects that cigarette prices on smoking prevalence at the three national income levels endogenously determined by estimation. Our findings supported the evidence that joining the WHO FCTC would have a positive effect on reducing cross-country smoking prevalence, especially among countries with low- and medium-income levels. Moreover, some simulated results show that a price hike of 10% would reduce smoking prevalence in countries with national income levels equal to or less than US$1900 and by 7.2% in countries with national income levels between US$1900 and US$2510 more than those with national income levels that are higher than US$2510.