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Survival (default) data are frequently encountered in financial (especially credit risk), medical, educational, and other fields, where the “default” can be interpreted as the failure to fulfill debt payments of a specific company or the death of a patient in a medical study or the inability to pass some educational tests.

This paper introduces the basic ideas of Cox's original proportional model for the hazard rates and extends the model within a general framework of statistical data mining procedures. By employing regularization, basis expansion, boosting, bagging, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and many other tools, we effectively calibrate a large and flexible class of proportional hazard models.

The proposed methods have important applications in the setting of credit risk. For example, the model for the default correlation through regularization can be used to price credit basket products, and the frailty factor models can explain the contagion effects in the defaults of multiple firms in the credit market.

Gaussian copula is by far the most popular copula used in the financial industry in default dependency modeling. However, it has a major drawback – it does not exhibit tail dependence, a very important property for copula. The essence of tail dependence is the interdependence when extreme events occur, say, defaults of corporate bonds. In this paper, we show that some tail dependence can be restored by introducing stochastic volatility on a Gaussian copula. Using perturbation methods we then derive an approximate copula – called perturbed Gaussian copula in this paper.

Rice is an important grain in Indian scenarios, and the purpose of the research work is to identify the attributes which can be the possible barriers in the traditional rice supply chain network.

A multilevel conceptual model is developed based on the literature review, and a field study is conducted by administering a questionnaire from the experts. Fuzzy logic methodology and a ranking score method is applied to identify the rice supply chain performance and the barriers of the traditional rice supply chain network.

The rice supply chain performance index for the traditional rice supply chain network is obtained, and the performance of the existing rice supply chain is found to be “fair”. The “information flow” is the attribute that can be a critical weak attribute in the traditional rice supply chain network. A proposed model of the blockchain technology-enabled rice supply chain network is developed as a solution for the “information flow” barrier.

The present research work is focussed on the generalized rice supply chain model of the Indian scenario, and more detailed studies can be carried out based on the regional issues.

The rice supply chain plays an important role in Indian economic development, and hence the current research paper focusses on identifying the barriers and the performance of the existing rice supply chain network.

Extends Mäler′s notion of weak complementarity between a private good and a public good to non‐homothetic demand functions which can be exactly aggregated. Aggregate demand functions depending on private prices, public good quantities and income distribution statistics can then be used to recover the private individual demand functions which reveal an individual′s willingness to pay for public goods.

Commercially, there are several part manipulators (robots) available today. The major task of these robots is to position parts accurately in space or to orient its gripper so as to pick up a part accurately. Several of these devices have a “teach” mode, where the positional commands can be recorded in some form of memory when the robot is moved manually through its task.

One of the major shortcomings in the data process of the traditional wheel force transducers (WFTs) is the theoretical errors of initial value determination. A new method to identify the initial values of the WFT for the solution of this problem is proposed in this paper. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

With this method, the initial values can be obtained by equations which are established based on multiple stops on horizontal road.

The calibration and contrast tests on the MTS calibration platform illustrate the better performance with the new method. Moreover, the real vehicle test confirms the effectiveness in practice.

The test results show that the new method of initial calibration has an advanced performance compared to the traditional one. In addition, it is effective in the brake test with a real vehicle.

Apparatus, for the lateral control of aeroplanes, comprises spoiler vanes adapted to be projected from the upper surface of the wings by the operation of a manual control device which operates so that a uniform increase in the displacement of the control device through substantially its full range of movement is arranged to effect a continuously decreasing increase in the effective extent of the projection of the spoiler vanes, whereby the rolling moment of the aeroplane is continuously increased during the displacement of the control device. The spoiler vane may be divided into two or more unequal sections in the direction of the wing span and the control device constructed so that in its initial movement it projects the smaller vane at a rapid rate and subsequently raises the larger vane or vanes at a reduced rate. In Fig. 7 (not shown), the spoiler vane is projected by a rotatable bell‐crank lever positioned so that rapid regular movement of the vane is attained during the initial movement of the bell‐crank lever. In an alternative construction Fig. 8 (not shown), a roller on the arm of a bell‐crank lever engages a cam‐shaped surface on the underside of the spoiler vane. As shown in Figs. 9, 10 the initial rapid movement may be effected by a shaped cam It and where the spoiler vane is divided into two unequal portions, the smaller part is projected by a cam k as shown in Fig. 9, whilst the slower movement of the larger vane is effected by a differently‐shaped cam k as shown in Fig. 10. In a modification Figs. 11, 12 the vane b is torsionally twisted, about an edge in the wing by a set of cams p1 . . p4 arranged along a rotatable shaft o and arranged to come into action successively with a decreasing rate of projection of the vane. In a further modified construction, Fig. 13, a vane b is projected from a slit in the wing d by a slider s formed with arms z1, z2 which engage lugs u2, u1 carried by the vane. The width of the vane may be varied along its length so that the area projected during the initial movement of the control member is additionally increased. The spoiler vanes may be held in their normal positions by springs arranged so that the spoiler vanes are automatically projected from their normal position when the pressure on the wing in the locality of the vanes is abnormally low, e.g., under high list conditions.

With increasing competition, Islamic banks in Kuwait are currently facing difficulties in retaining their customers as customers now have the option to switch from one bank to another. As the banking industry offers almost identical products and services, customers are more likely to change their bank when they get a better offer from another bank, especially if the customer is dissatisfied with the current bank. Thus, this study aims at identifying the most significant factors that make Islamic bank customers switch their bank.

The data for this study was collected through a survey with a response rate of 25.5%. Logistic regression was used to analyze the collected data and examine the effect of each factor on the customer switching behavior.

The results of empirical analysis reveal that the service convenience, service reliability, level of technology and Sharia compliance are the most significant factors influencing the customer switching behavior in Kuwaiti Islamic banks. Thus, Islamic bank managers should focus on these factors when building their strategies to increase their customer’s satisfaction and loyalty. Loyal customers are more profitable than new customers as they are more likely to use more services, spread a positive word of mouth and, more importantly, they are more likely to resist competitors’ offers.

Identifying and understanding these factors will enable Islamic bank managers to direct their efforts and resources to the most cost-effective ways that help them to retain their customers, and accordingly, increase bank profits.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the customer switching behavior in Kuwait, and one of the few to present a model that explains the stages through which customers pass until they reach the switching decision.