The index of decent subsistence

The index of decent subsistence (IDS) is a price index that allows for purchasing substitutions when food prices change. The consumer's food basket is represented by a utility maximizing quadratic program that computes the cost of decent subsistence (CDS) and assures gastronomic equivalence among the food baskets optimized at various price levels. This IDS is the ratio of respective CDS measures. IDS estimates from USDA food group data are presented for the 1965–1975 and 1978–1989 time periods. These estimates are shown to be inconsistent with fixed weight price indexes computed for the same periods. Implications for the food stamp program and institution feeding systems are discussed.     

Developing a multivariate approach to monitor fuzzy quality profiles

Referring to several applications in which the response quality characteristic is fuzzy, this paper studies how the profile functional relationship between a fuzzy response variable and a predictor variable can be monitored by using a fuzzy regression model which is referred to as profile. The purpose of this paper is to develop a multivariate approach for monitoring process/product fuzzy quality profiles in phase I for applications where the quality characteristic is linguistic, imprecise, vague or deficient. The multivariate approach includes three fuzzy multivariate control charts which are developed by using fuzzy set theory to monitor fuzzy profiles in order to achieve an in-control process. The performance of developed approach is investigated on the basis of signal probability in various out-of-control scenarios through a simulation study. Compared with univariate approach, the results indicate a good performance of our multivariate approach in detecting all sized shifts in process profiles. A real case in tourism industry is utilized to show the applicability of the proposed approach.     

Modeling the supplementing of human diets

This paper looks at the economic benefits of nutritional supplement use. Food plans, with and without nutritional supplements, are developed by maximizing a quadratic food utility function subject to nutrient and budget constraints. The quadratic programming solutions, which include both the marginal utilities and marginal costs of nutrients, are then presented. The results demonstrate the economic optimality of partial supplementation.     

COMPARISON OF MODEL AVERAGING TECHNIQUES: ASSESSING GROWTH DETERMINANTS

This paper investigates the replicability of three important studies on growth theory uncertainty that employed Bayesian model averaging tools. We compare these results with estimates obtained using alternative, recently developed model averaging techniques. Overall, we successfully replicate all three studies, find that the sign and magnitude of these new estimates are reasonably close to those produced via traditional Bayesian methods and deploy a novel strategy to implement one of the new averaging estimators. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.