Fuzzy modelling of static system optimum traffic assignment problem having multi origin-destination pair

Traffic congestion is an unpreventable problem to avoid in a transportation network and it has negative effects on traffic accident, time wasting, traffic delay and safety problem. Besides, in transportation networks, drivers do not want to deal with traffic jam while traversing between specified origin-destination pair. Therefore, traffic assignment (TA) is imperative to improve traffic management, transportation safety, time, and cost savings. System Optimum Traffic Assignment Problem (SOTAP) is a kind of TA model which aims to minimize the total system travel time on the network, and satisfies the flow conservation constraints. To model the SOTAP more realistically, the imprecise parameters can be taken as fuzzy. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on converting the conventional SOTAP to a fuzzy quadratic programming problem (QPP) which is named System Optimum Fuzzy Traffic Assignment Problem (SOFTAP). Here, link travel time is expressed with BPR function as generally used in the literature by converting to fuzzy except link-dependent parameters. Thus, the nonlinear objective function of SOFTAP is expressed in terms of fuzzy link flows and fuzzy link travel times. A solution approach from the literature is modified to the reconstructed SOFTAP.     

Analytical approximations of local‐Heston volatility model and error analysis

This paper studies the expansion of an option price (with bounded Lipschitz payoff) in a stochastic volatility model including a local volatility component. The stochastic volatility is a square root process, which is widely used for modeling the behavior of the variance process (Heston model). The local volatility part is of general form, requiring only appropriate growth and boundedness assumptions. We rigorously establish tight error estimates of our expansions, using Malliavin calculus. The error analysis, which requires a careful treatment because of the lack of weak differentiability of the model, is interesting on its own. Moreover, in the particular case of call–put options, we also provide expansions of the Black–Scholes implied volatility that allow to obtain very simple formulas that are fast to compute compared to the Monte Carlo approach and maintain a very competitive accuracy.     

New development: China renews reform of central–local fiscal relations and provides for basic national public services

China’s reform on central–local fiscal reform has slowed down in recent years. The appointment of a new finance minister experienced in local government affairs is expected to renew the reform affirmed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) congress in late 2017. China has unprecedentedly identified a comprehensive list of 81 national basic public services as entitlements. Eighteen of them are subject to national and local standards, and co-financed by central and local governments. A new cost-sharing method for 10 of these services classifies sub-national jurisdictions into five tiers, in which the central government’s share declines from 80% to 10%. These measures, effective in 2019, aim at creating a ‘harmonious and moderately prosperous society’.     

Predictive regressions under asymmetric loss: Factor augmentation and model selection

This paper discusses the specifics of forecasting using factor-augmented predictive regressions under general loss functions. In line with the literature, we employ principal component analysis to extract factors from the set of predictors. In addition, we also extract information on the volatility of the series to be predicted, since the volatility is forecast-relevant under non-quadratic loss functions. We ensure asymptotic unbiasedness of the forecasts under the relevant loss by estimating the predictive regression through the minimization of the in-sample average loss. Finally, we select the most promising predictors for the series to be forecast by employing an information criterion that is tailored to the relevant loss. Using a large monthly data set for the US economy, we assess the proposed adjustments in a pseudo out-of-sample forecasting exercise for various variables. As expected, the use of estimation under the relevant loss is found to be effective. Using an additional volatility proxy as the predictor and conducting model selection that is tailored to the relevant loss function enhances the forecast performance significantly.     

Impact of state-dependent oil price on US stock returns using local projections

In this paper, we investigate the impact of oil prices on both aggregate and industry US real stock returns over the period 1973–2017. The empirical analysis contributes to the related literature introducing a state-dependent oil price (high and low) and the local projections approach. Our main finding is that, depending on the nature of the shock and industry, the negative effects of oil price shocks become exacerbated -and the positive effects get moderated- if oil prices are already high.     

Local opinions on trophy hunting in Kyrgyzstan

As traditional international trophy hunting destinations are becoming less accessible due to hunting restrictions and regulations, new destinations are entering the scene, such as the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, located in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan has grown to be one of the top destinations for international trophy hunting of argali Ovis ammon and ibex Capra sibirica, both of which are in danger of extinction. Empirically, the article draws on a case study from the largest region in Kyrgyzstan, At-Bashy, and 395 questionnaires with local inhabitants from 5 villages, and 1 interview with an international trophy hunting tour operator. In this article, the impacts of trophy hunting as a tourism practice in a rural context is discussed in terms of its sustainability and through the opinions of the local inhabitants. In sum, the negative impacts of trophy hunting in At-Bashy seem to overrule the positive ones, and in its current form it is not sustainable. The local inhabitants report about a decrease in argali and ibex during the last years; they receive basically no economic benefits from hunting tourism; and not surprisingly, 70% of the population rejects the further development of the industry in its current shape.     

基于投影寻踪的径向基函数网络在参考腾发量预测中的应用

径向基函数网络(RBFN)已广泛应用于参考腾发量预测等领域，但常用的K均值聚类和自组织特征映射等方法在求取径向基函数网络隐层节点中心时存在较大不足。针对这一问题，本文引入投影寻踪方法，在投影降维的基础上实现对大量高维数据的聚类，建立了基于投影寻踪的径向基函数网络模型，并将该模型应用于山西潇河灌区参考腾发量的预测，研究了不同气象因子输入对参考腾发量预测精度的影响。结果表明，基于投影寻踪的径向基函数网络具有较强的适用性，只需使用最高温度、最低温度、日照时数和旬序数作为输入因子，就能以较高的精度预测参考腾发量。     

信息技术提高企业组织敏捷性的作用机理

从考察企业组织的敏捷性与交易成本的相互关系入手,对企业组织敏捷性的影响因素进行了剖析。详细分析了信息技术(IT)对提高企业组织敏捷性的作用机理。指出IT正是通过降低企业内、外部的交易成本、缩短流程时间、提高人的认识理性、扼制机会主义、促进企业组织结构、决策方式     

CHAOTIC HYDRODYNAMICS IN HORIZONTAL GAS-LIQUID BUBBLY FLOW

ＮＯＭＥＮＣＬＡＴＵＲＥｄ———ｅｍｂｅｄｄｉｎｇｄｉｍｅｎｓｉｏｎ ,ｄｉｍｅｎｓｉｏｎｌｅｓｓＣｄ(ｒ)———ｃｏｒｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｕｍ ,ｄｉｍｅｎｓｉｏｎｌｅｓｓＮ———ｎｕｍｂｅｒｏｆｐａｉｒｓｏｆｐｏｉｎｔｓｏｎｔｈｅｒｅｃｏｎ ｓｔｒｕｃｔｅｄａｔｔｒａｃｔｏｒ,ｄｉｍｅｎｓｉｏｎｌｅｓｓｒ———ｓｃａｌｉｎｇｄｉｓｔａｎｃｅ ,ｄｉｍｅｎｓｉｏｎｌｅｓｓＤｃ ———ｃｏｒｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｄｉｍｅｎｓｉｏｎ ,ｄｉｍｅｎｓｉｏｎｌｅｓｓＫ———Ｋｏｌｍｏｇｏｒｏｖｅｎｔｒｏｐｙ ,ｂｉｔｓ/ｓＲ…     

Time Inhomogeneous Multiple Volatility Modeling

Price variations at speculative markets exhibit positive autocorrelationand cross correlation. Due to large parameter spaces necessaryfor joint modeling of variances and covariances, multivariateparametric volatility models become easily intractable in practice.We propose an adaptive procedure that identifies periods ofsecond-order homogeneity for each moment in time. To overcomethe high dimensionality of the problem we transform the multivariateseries into a set of univariate processes. We discuss thoroughlythe implementation of the adaptive technique. Theoretical andMonte Carlo results are given. We provide two applications ofthe new method. For a bivariate exchange rate series we comparethe multivariate GARCH approach with our method and find thelatter to be more in line with the underlying assumption ofindependently distributed innovations. Analyzing a 23-dimensionalvector of asset returns we underscore the case for adaptivemodeling in high-dimensional systems.