Estimation of location parameter within pre-specified error bound with second-order efficient two-stage procedure

This paper develops a general approach for constructing a confidence interval for a parameter of interest with a specified confidence coefficient and a specified width. This is done assuming known a positive lower bound for the unknown nuisance parameter and independence of suitable statistics. Under mild conditions, we develop a modified two-stage procedure which enjoys attractive optimality properties including a second-order efficiency property and asymptotic consistency property. We extend this work for finding a confidence interval for the location parameter of the inverse Gaussian distribution. As an illustration, we developed a modified mean absolute deviation-based procedure in the supplementary section for finding a fixed-width confidence interval for the normal mean.

On Strategyproof Conference Peer Review

We consider peer review under a conference setting where there are conflicts between the reviewers and the submissions. Under such conflicts, reviewers can manipulate their reviews in a strategic manner to influence the final rankings of their own papers. Present-day peer-review systems are not designed to guard against such strategic behavior, beyond minimal (and insufficient) checks such as not assigning a paper to a conflicted reviewer. In this work, we address this problem through the lens of social choice, and present a theoretical framework for strategyproof and efficient peer review. Given the conflict graph which satisfies a simple property, we first present and analyze a flexible framework for reviewer-assignment and aggregation for the reviews that guarantees not only strategyproofness but also a natural efficiency property (unanimity). Our framework is based on the so-called partitioning method, and can be treated as a generalization of this type of method to conference peer review settings. We then empirically show that the requisite property on the (authorship) conflict graph is indeed satisfied in the ICLR-17 submissions data, and further demonstrate a simple trick to make the partitioning method more practically appealing under conference peer-review settings. Finally, we complement our positive results with negative theoretical results where we prove that under slightly stronger requirements, it is impossible for any algorithm to be both strategyproof and efficient.

Property Rights and Sustainable Natural Resource Management

<p class="emsd"><span lang="EN-GB">This paper reviews recent research articles in the field of property rights and natural resources management, with the goal of identifying the most effective policy measures to achieve sustainable resource management through well designed property rights. Scarcity of economic resources is a major cause of conflict in human society. Institutions impact the resilience of the environment, and the institutions which guide humans as they employ resources from the environment are therefore essential to sustainable resource management. Institutions which create and enforce property rights can control resource degradation and improve both economic and ecological efficiency. Property rights which lead to an equitable allocation of natural resources and delegation of management authority among stakeholders is the most likely pathway to sustainable ecosystem management. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the best system of property rights to achieve sustainability. The ‘best system’ is contextual and spatiotemporal dynamic. </span></p>

Enhancing Both Efficiency and Representational Capability of Isomap by Extensive Landmark Selection

The problems of improving computational efficiency and extending representational capability are the two hottest topics in approaches of global manifold learning. In this paper, a new method called extensive landmark Isomap (EL-Isomap) is presented, addressing both topics simultaneously. On one hand, originated from landmark Isomap (L-Isomap), which is known for its high computational efficiency property, EL-Isomap also possesses high computational efficiency through utilizing a small set of landmarks to embed all data points. On the other hand, EL-Isomap significantly extends the representational capability of L-Isomap and other global manifold learning approaches by utilizing only an available subset from the whole landmark set instead of all to embed each point. Particularly, compared with other manifold learning approaches, the data manifolds with intrinsic low-dimensional concave topologies and essential loops can be unwrapped by the new method more successfully, which are shown by simulation results on a series of synthetic and real-world data sets. Moreover, the accuracy, robustness, and computational complexity of EL-Isomap are analyzed in this paper, and the relation between EL-Isomap and L-Isomap is also discussed theoretically.

Quantum chemistry studies of meta-tetra(hydroxyphenyl)chlorin (mTHPC) and its isomers

Quantum chemistry methods were used to study the meta-tetra(hydroxyphenyl)chlorin (mTHPC) and its isomers. The mTHPC (Foscan®) is a commercial chlorin, used in photodynamic therapy (PDT) and is classified as a second-generation drug in PDT. The present work is to obtain quantum chemistry properties which can explain the high efficiency of the mTHPC compared with its isomers (ortho and para) and other chlorins. Based in the chemical hardness and ionization potential obtained from HOMO and LUMO orbitals energy, our results show that all chlorins have similar reactivity. Moreover, all chlorins have approximately the same capacity to storage energy in the triplet excited state, with energy differences between the ground state and the triplet excited state of 1.38, 1.39 and 1.36 eV for oTHPC, mTHPC and pTHPC, respectively. The calculated UV spectra (a very important quantity which can be correlated with the photosensitizer (PS) efficiency property), shows that the present chlorins all have a peak at 622 nm. Finally, after analysis of the dipole moment differences, between the three isomers, an explanation about the greater mTHPC efficiency in PDT, was possible. Due to its greater lipophilic character, mTHPC is absorbed by tumor cells to a greater degree than oTHPC and pTHPC. Our findings are consistent with literature and can be used to help new drug design for use in PDT.

Illumination Control System and Drive Design of Large Power LED Lights

In view of the LED lights' high efficiency property, compared to the common driving circuit of large power LED, ARM microprocessor and Buck-Boost power converter are used to design the high efficiency LED lights' driving circuit. At the same time, PID adjustment mode is applied to realize Illumination control of the high efficiency LED lights, which improves the adjustable speed of the system and reduces the power loss. According the principle of design, experiment platform is rebuilt. Tests to the different kinds of lamps indicate that the driving is stable and realizes the Illumination setting and automatic Illumination adjustment.

Productive efficiency, property rights, and sustainable renewable resource development in the mini-purse seine fishery of the Java Sea

The relationship between productive efficiency and sustainable development of fishing industries in developing countries has received little attention. Ill-structured property rights in common-pool resources lead to a contradiction between private and social technical efficiency, with private and social costs dependent on the level of technical efficiency. Development policies that increase private efficiency can increase the social cost with ill-structured property rights and common-pool resources, and thereby increase social inefficiency. This paper examines this relationship through a case study of the mini purse seine fishery of the Java Sea, and finds that private technical efficiency does not depend on any measurable attributes of human capital, diverges substantially between the peak and off seasons, and differs between vessels more within the off season.