Search results

A regression kink design (RKD or RK design) can be used to identify casual effects in settings where the regressor of interest is a kinked function of an assignment variable. In this chapter, we apply an RKD approach to study the effect of unemployment benefits on the duration of joblessness in Austria, and discuss implementation issues that may arise in similar settings, including the use of bandwidth selection algorithms and bias-correction procedures. Although recent developments in nonparametric estimation (Calonico, Cattaneo, & Farrell, 2014; Imbens & Kalyanaraman, 2012) are sometimes interpreted by practitioners as pointing to a default estimation procedure, we show that in any given application different procedures may perform better or worse. In particular, Monte Carlo simulations based on data-generating processes that closely resemble the data from our application show that some asymptotically dominant procedures may actually perform worse than “sub-optimal” alternatives in a given empirical application.

The link between the magnitude of a bandwidth and the relevance of the corresponding covariate in a regression has recently garnered theoretical attention. Theory suggests that variables included erroneously in a regression will be automatically removed when bandwidths are selected via cross-validation procedure. However, the connections between the bandwidths of the variables that are smoothed away and the insights from these same variables when properly tested for statistical significance have not been previously studied. This paper proposes a variety of simulation exercises to examine the relative performance of both cross-validated bandwidths and individual and joint tests of significance. We focus on settings where the hypothesis of interest may focus on a single data type (e.g., continuous only) or a mix of discrete and continuous variables. Moreover, we propose an extension of a well-known kernel smoothing significance test to handle mixed data types. Our results suggest that individual tests of significance and variable-specific bandwidths are very close in performance, but joint tests and joint bandwidth recognition produce substantially different results. This underscores the importance of testing for joint significance when one is trying to arrive at the final nonparametric model of interest.

Regression discontinuity designs have become popular in empirical studies due to their attractive properties for estimating causal effects under transparent assumptions. Nonetheless, most popular procedures assume i.i.d. data, which is unreasonable in many common applications. To fill this gap, we derive the properties of traditional local polynomial estimators in a fixed- G setting that allows for cluster dependence in the error term. Simulation results demonstrate that accounting for clustering in the data while selecting bandwidths may lead to lower MSE while maintaining proper coverage. We then apply our cluster-robust procedure to an application examining the impact of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits on neighborhood characteristics and low-income housing supply.

In Aerospace applications, the inlet tubes are used to mount strain gauge type pressure sensors on the engine under static test to measure engine chamber pressure. This paper aims to focus on the limitations of the inlet tube and its design aspects to serve better in the static test environment. The different sizes of the inlet tubes are designed to meet the static test and safety requirements. This paper presents the performance evaluation of the designed inlet tubes with calibration results and the selection criteria of the inlet tube to measure combustion chamber pressure with the specified accuracy during static testing of engines.

Two sensors, specifically, one cavity type pressure sensor with the inlet tube of range 0-6.89 MPa having natural frequency of the diaphragm 17 KHz and another flush diaphragm type pressure sensor of the same range having −3 dB frequency response, 5 KHz are mounted on the same pressure port of the engine under static test to study the shortcomings of the inlet tube. The limitations of the inlet tube have been analyzed to aid the tube design. The different sizes of inlet tubes are designed, fabricated and tested to study the effect of the inlet tube on the performance of the pressure sensor. The dynamic calibration is used for this purpose. The dynamic parameters of the sensor with the designed tubes are calculated and analyzed to meet the static test requirements. The diaphragm temperature test is conducted on the representative hardware of pressure sensor with and without inlet tube to analyze the effect of the inlet tube against the temperature error. The inlet tube design is validated through the static test to gain confidence on measurement.

The cavity type pressure sensor failed to capture the pressure peak, whereas the flush diaphragm type pressure sensor captured the pressure peak of the engine under a static test. From the static test data and dynamic calibration results, the bandwidth of cavity type sensor with tube is much lower than the required bandwidth (five times the bandwidth of the measurand), and hence, the cavity type sensor did not capture the pressure peak data. The dynamic calibration results of the pressure sensor with and without an inlet tube show that the reduction of the bandwidth of the pressure sensor is mainly due to the inlet tube. From the analysis of dynamic calibration results of the sensor with the designed inlet tubes of different sizes, it is shown that the bandwidth of the pressure sensor decreases as the tube length increases. The bandwidth of the pressure sensor with tube increases as the tube inner diameter increases. The tube with a larger diameter leads to a mounting problem. The inlet tube of dimensions 6 × 4 × 50 mm is selected as it helps to overcome the mounting problem with the required bandwidth. From the static test data acquired using the pressure sensor with the selected inlet tube, it is shown that the selected tube aids the sensor to measure the pressure peak accurately. The designed inlet tube limits the diaphragm temperature within the compensated temperature of the sensor for 5.2 s from the firing of the engine.

Most studies of pressure sensor focus on the design of a sensor to measure static and slow varying pressure, but not on the transient pressure measurement and the design of the inlet tube. This paper presents the limitations of the inlet tube against the bandwidth requirement and recommends dynamic calibration of the sensor to evaluate the bandwidth of the sensor with the inlet tube. In this paper, the design aspects of the inlet tube and its effect on the bandwidth of the pressure sensor and the temperature error of the measured pressure values are presented with experimental results. The calibration results of the inlet tubes with different configurations are analyzed to select the best geometry of the tube and the selected tube is validated in the static test environment.

The paper seeks to explore the impact of a fibre optic network and increased bandwidth on access to electronic resources for libraries in Malawi.

This research adopted a case study methodology. Online interviews were conducted with ICT Directors in colleges of the University of Malawi and Mzuzu University. The ICT Directors provided information on bandwidth levels and estimated costs for libraries using VSAT and fibre optics for internet connectivity. User statistics from INASP for the years 2006, 2011 and 2012 were the main sources of information.

Libraries in Malawi have been affected by the fibre optic network. The fibre optic network has increased bandwidth from a maximum of 1,024 in Kbps around 2006 to between 4 and 8 Mbps per month. Bandwidth costs have been reduced from an average of $US3,000/Mbps in 2006 to around US$1,700/Mbps per month in 2012. The number of articles downloaded has increased from 6,075 in 2006 to 50,860 in 2011, representing a 737 per cent increase. Half‐year statistics for 2012 reveal that the number of articles downloaded increased from 50,860 in 2011 to 81,633, representing a 60.5 per cent increase.

The paper has practical implications on the impact of a fibre optic network and improved bandwidth on access to e‐resources in libraries.

There is an information gap on the impact of fibre optic internet connectivity and improved bandwidth on access to e‐resources in libraries in Africa, and in Malawi to be specific. This research paper seeks to fill and bridge the gap.

In this paper, the design of multiple channels to achieve the goal of a high‐performance medium access control (MAC) protocol is to be proposed to solve the problem of wasting bandwidth resources due to waiting for the backoff time.

In the MAC design of this paper, a control channel and a data channel are used to improve bandwidth utilization. When the control channel waits for the backoff time, the data channel may transfer data. As a result, bandwidth utilization can be improved. In order to have better bandwidth utilization in multiple channels, the authors also propose a bandwidth allocation strategy for control channels and data channels. According to the strategy, the control and data signals can be smoothly transmitted without blocking or waiting, thereby not wasting bandwidth resources. Finally, the authors propose multiple control sub‐channels and data sub‐channels to further reduce the backoff time penalty and make more communication pairs work in a transmission range to increase the throughput.

The paper solves the following problems bandwidth waste that results from waiting for the backoff time in the single channel model and bandwidth allocation strategy for the control and data sub‐channels in the multiple channel model to achieve throughput enhancement in mobile ad‐hoc networks.

The proposed method needs the support of multiple channels.

From the result, the bandwidth allocation ratio of the proposed method performs better than other various allocation ratios. In addition, the proposed method with the bandwidth allocation strategy and multiple data and control sub‐channels results in a better throughput than IEEE 802.11 DCF by 22.3 per cent.

The proposed method using multiple control and data sub‐channels can improve the throughput and reduce bandwidth waste over IEEE 802.11 DCF.

Quality communication is a big challenge in mobile ad hoc networks because of a restricted environment for mobile devices, bandwidth-constrained radio connections, random mobility of connected devices, etc. High-quality communication through wireless links mainly depends on available bandwidth, link stability, energy of nodes, etc. Many researchers proposed stability and link quality methods to improve these issues, but they still require optimization. This study aims to contribute towards better quality communication in temporarily formed networks. The authors propose the stable and bandwidth aware dynamic routing (SBADR) protocol with the aim to provide an efficient, stable path with sufficient bandwidth and enough energy hold nodes for all types of quality of service (QoS) data communication.

The proposal made in this work used received signal strength from the media access control (MAC) layer to estimate the stability of the radio connection. The proposed path stability model combines the stability of the individual link to compute path stability. The amount of bandwidth available for communication at a specific time on a link is defined as the available link bandwidth that is understood as the maximum throughput of that link. Bandwidth as a QoS parameter ensures high-quality communication for every application in such a network. One other improvement, towards quality data transmission, is made by incorporating residual energies of communicating and receiving nodes in the calculation of available link bandwidth.

Communication quality in mobile ad hoc network (MANET) does not depend on a single parameter such as bandwidth, energy, path stability, etc. To address and enhance quality communication, this paper focused on high impact factors, such as path stability, available link bandwidth and energy of nodes. The performance of SBADR is evaluated on the network simulator and compared with that of other routing protocols, i.e. route stability based QoS routing (RSQR), route stability based ad-hoc on-demand distance vector (RSAODV) and Ad-hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV). Experimental outcomes show that SBADR significantly enhanced network performance in terms of throughput, packet delivery ratio (PDR) and normalized control overhead (NCO). Performance shows that SBADR is suitable for any application of MANET having random and high mobility.

QoS in MANET is a challenging task. To achieve high-quality communication, the authors worked on multiple network parameters, i.e. path stability, available link bandwidth and energy of mobile nodes. The performance of the proposed routing protocol named SBADR is evaluated by a network simulator and compared with that of other routing protocols. Statistical analysis done on results proves significant enhancement in network performance. SBADR is suitable for applications of MANET having random and high mobility. It is also efficient for applications having a requirement of high throughput.

SBADR shows a significant enhancement in received data bytes, which are 1,709, 788 and 326 more in comparison of AODV, RSAODV and RSQR, respectively. PDR increased by 21.27%, 12.1%, 4.15%, and NCO decreased by 9.67%, 5.93%, 2.8% in comparison of AODV, RSAODV and RSQR, respectively.

Outcomes show SBADR will perform better with applications of MANET such as disaster recovery, city tours, university or hospital networks, etc. SBADR is suitable for every application of MANET having random and high mobility.

This is to certify that the reported work in the paper entitled “SBADR: stable and bandwidth aware dynamic routing protocol for mobile ad hoc network” is an original one and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. The authors further certify that proper citations to the previously reported work have been given and no data/tables/figures have been quoted verbatim from the other publications without giving due acknowledgment and without permission of the author(s).

The purpose of this paper is to propose a scheduling method called the “Hierarchical Asynchronous Harmonic Broadcasting (H‐AHB)” method, to reduce the waiting time for heterogeneous clients.

The authors analyze and evaluate the performance of the proposed H‐AHB method.

It was confirmed that the proposed method gives shorter average waiting time than the conventional methods.

A future direction of this study will involve making a scheduling method where the server broadcasts multiple videos.

In general broadcasting systems, the server broadcasts the same data repetitively and clients wait until the first portion of the data is broadcast. Although the server can deliver the data to many clients concurrently, clients have to wait until their desired data are broadcast.

The H‐AHB method further reduces waiting time by scheduling an effective broadcast that considers the number of clients' available channels.

For kernel-based estimators, smoothness conditions ensure that the asymptotic rate at which the bias goes to zero is determined by the kernel order. In a finite sample, the leading term in the expansion of the bias may provide a poor approximation. We explore the relation between smoothness and bias and provide estimators for the degree of the smoothness and the bias. We demonstrate the existence of a linear combination of estimators whose trace of the asymptotic mean-squared error is reduced relative to the individual estimator at the optimal bandwidth. We examine the finite-sample performance of a combined estimator that minimizes the trace of the MSE of a linear combination of individual kernel estimators for a multimodal density. The combined estimator provides a robust alternative to individual estimators that protects against uncertainty about the degree of smoothness.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a scheduling method called the “Asynchronous Harmonic Broadcasting Considering Commercial (AHB‐CC)” method, to reduce waiting time for continuous media data broadcasting.

The authors analyze and evaluate the performance of the proposed AHB‐CC method.

The authors confirm that the proposed method gives shorter average waiting times than the conventional methods.

A future direction of this study will involve making a scheduling method where the server concurrently broadcasts data and commercial contents. Also, maximum buffer size needs to be considered.

In general broadcasting systems, the server broadcasts the same data repetitively and clients wait until the first portion of the data is broadcast. Although the server can deliver the data to many clients concurrently, clients have to wait until their desired data are broadcast.

The AHB‐CC method presented in the paper further reduces waiting time by scheduling an effective broadcast that considers the playing time of commercial contents.