QaaS (quality as a service) model for web services using big data technologies

Quality of service (QoS) determines the service usability and utility and both of which influence the service selection process. The QoS varies from one service provider to other. Each web service has its own methodology for evaluating QoS. The lack of transparent QoS evaluation model makes the service selection challenging. Moreover, most QoS evaluation processes do not consider their historical data which not only helps in getting more accurate QoS but also helps for future prediction, recommendation and knowledge discovery. QoS driven service selection demands a model where QoS can be provided as a service to end users. This paper proposes a layered QaaS (quality as a service) model in the same line as PaaS and software as a service, where users can provide QoS attributes as inputs and the model returns services satisfying the user’s QoS expectation. This paper covers all the key aspects in this context, like selection of data sources, its transformation, evaluation, classification and storage of QoS. The paper uses server log as the source for evaluating QoS values, common methodology for its evaluation and big data technologies for its transformation and analysis. This paper also establishes the fact that Spark outperforms the Pig with respect to evaluation of QoS from logs.     

Is the Hybrid New Keynesian Phillips Curve Stable? Evidence from Some Emerging Economies

This paper primarily examines whether the ‘hybrid new Keynesian Phillips curve’ (HNKPC) holds for four important emerging economics viz., Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. This has been done after testing for the structural stability of this relationship. Econometric issues like the test of unit roots in presence of a structural break and estimation of output gap have also been done appropriately. Our findings suggest that the HNKPC is not stable for all the four countries. However, the analysis based on the two sub-periods thus formed clearly shows mixed evidence in respect of holding of this relationship.

     

On Delays in Project Completion with Cost Reduction: An Experiment

We examine the voluntary provision of a public project via binary contributions when contributions may be made over multiple periods. In many situations, early contributors are likely to pay a higher cost than those who wait. We show that in such circumstances the provision of the project always involves delay. Because this game involves coordination on complex, dynamic strategies in the face of asymmetries in payoffs, we examine behavior in the laboratory.     

Alliance portfolios and shareholder value in post-IPO firms: The moderating roles of portfolio structure and firm-level uncertainty

Using longitudinal data for initial public offering (IPO) firms, we examine the role played by structural differences between different types of alliance portfolios in the relationship between IPO firm alliance portfolios and shareholder returns. We show that because of the different signals they send to the capital market, different types of alliance portfolios affect IPO firm performance differently. Namely, financial markets seem to reward firms whose alliance portfolio is diversified across different types of alliances (a portfolio high in functional diversity), but not those who align their alliance partners into multiple functional points in the value chain (a portfolio high in vertical scope). We also examine the signaling role of alliance portfolios under different IPO firm uncertainty conditions. We note that uncertainty about the IPO firm is not limited to pre-IPO quality uncertainty. Investors also face transition uncertainty, post-IPO uncertainty about the ability of the firm to adapt to the new managerial challenges it faces and succeed post-IPO. We find that these two types of uncertainties moderate alliance portfolio effects in different ways. The beneficial effects of alliance portfolios in mitigating liabilities of newness is of greater importance for firms associated with higher quality uncertainty and for those associated with lower transition uncertainty.     

Technical Progress and the North–South Terms of Trade

In a classical world where prices of both northern manufactures and southern raw materials are determined by market demand and supply, technical progress in one region leads to a terms-of-trade improvement of the other region irrespective of whether technical progress is labor-saving or raw-material saving. But in a neo-Kaleckian framework characterized by surplus capacity, and an effective demand problem in the North and a capacity constraint in the South, the terms of trade would turn against the South even if the North experienced a higher rate of technical progress than that of the South.     

Analysis of binary data with the possibility of wrong ascertainment

Most genetic studies recruit high‐risk families, and the discoveries are based on non‐random selected groups. We must consider the consequences of this ascertainment process to apply the results of genetic research to the general population. In addition, in epidemiological studies, binary responses are often misclassified. We proposed a binary logistic regression model that provides a novel and flexible way to correct for misclassification in binary responses, taking into account the ascertainment issues. A hierarchical Bayesian analysis using Markov chain Monte Carlo method has been carried out to investigate the effect of covariates on disease status. The focus of this paper is to study the effect of classification errors and non‐random ascertainment on the estimates of the model parameters. An extensive simulation study indicated that the proposed model results in substantial improvement of the estimates. Two data sets have been revisited to illustrate the methodology.     

A Stackelberg Oligopoly with Nonidentical Firms

This paper extends the Stackelberg model to include any number of nonidentical firms and demonstrates significant counterintuitive results. For example, entry of an additional firm may increase the quantities and/or profits of some existing firms; it may also increase the total industry profit.     

Attracting private investment: Tax reduction,investment subsidy,or both?

This paper uses a real-option model to examine the net benefit to a government from using tax cut and/or investment subsidy as incentives to induce immediate investment. Although earlier papers generally concluded that investment subsidy dominates tax cut, it is observed that many governments use a combination of subsidy and tax cut. We show that, when the government uses a different discount rate from private firms, and when it has to borrow money to provide an investment subsidy, it is possible to get an internal optimum; that is, it might be optimal for the government to provide an investment subsidy as well as charge a positive tax rate on the profits from the project. Thus, we provide an explanation for the puzzling fact that many governments provide an investment subsidy to a firm while simultaneously taxing its profits.