Fools for Christ\u27S Sake

1 Corinthians 3:16-4:13

Nonparametric estimation and specification testing of a two-factor interest rate model

We propose a simple, flexible approach to nonparametric estimation and specification testing for a two-factor interest rate model. These methods are illustrated with a Monte Carlo experiment and an empirical example.Nonparametric local linear estimation, Two-factor term structure models, Model specification tests

Relationship between sensory attributes, hidden attributes and price in influencing consumer perception of organic foods

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Consumer attitudes to foods are mainly influenced by quality attributes. Ethical factors are important in some cases, but they may be overstated. The relationships between consumers' awareness of organic food, price and perceived quality of food were investigated by tests involving series of consumer panels and sensory evaluation. Sensory responses were also matched to instrumental analysis data. Results indicated that overall there was no relation between panellist’s views about organic foods and their sensory perceptions. Eighty percent of the panellists felt that organic products were too expensive, but would buy them if they were cheaper. However the study showed that most of the people would not be likely to change their preference once they had made a product choice based upon sensory attributes. This has important implications, indicating that not only price, but also sensory quality of organic food must be considered in order to maintain repeated purchases by most consumers

Dopant site selectivity in BaCe0.85M0.15O3-δ by extended x-ray absorption fine structure

Rare earth doped BaCeO3 has been widely investigated as a proton conducting material. Trivalent dopants are generally assumed to fully occupy the Ce4+-site, and thereby introduce oxygen vacancies into the perovskite structure. Recent studies indicate the possibility of partial dopant incorporation onto the Ba2+-site concomitant with BaO evaporation, reducing the oxygen vacancy content. Because proton incorporation requires, as a first step, the generation of oxygen vacancies such dopant partitioning is detrimental to protonic conductivity. A quantitative Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) study of BaCe0.85M0.15O3-δ (M=Yb,Gd) is presented here along with complementary x-ray powder diffraction and electron probe chemical analyses. The EXAFS results demonstrate that as much as 4.6% of the ytterbium and 7.2% of the gadolinium intended for incorporation onto the Ce site, in fact, resides on the Ba site. The results are in qualitative agreement with the diffraction and chemical analyses, which additionally show an even greater extent of Nd incorporation on the Ba site

Testing for Bivariate Stochastic Dominance Using Inequality Restrictions

In this paper, we propose of a test of bivariate stochastic dominance using a generalized framework for testing inequality constraints. Unlike existing tests, this test has the advantage of utilizing the covariance structure of the estimates of the joint distribution functions. The performance of our proposed test is examined by way of a Monte Carlo experiment. We also consider an empirical example which utilizes household survey data on income and health status.Stochastic dominance, inequality restrictions, multidimensional welfare