Housing Demand with Random Group Effects

This paper examines the random group effect, which has usually not been considered in traditional housing demand studies. Frequently, group level variables are used in housing demand estimation due to the data constraint. For instance, the US Index of Housing Price per administrative area is often used to measure the housing price when estimating the US price elasticity of demand for housing, and the average household income is often used as a proxy for the individual income in Taiwan when estimating the income elasticity of demand for housing. Econometricians argue that the traditional OLS estimation, when the random group effect is ignored, has been considered to have a downward bias in the estimated standard error. By following Amemiya (1978) and Borjas and Sueyoshi (1994), we propose a two-stage estimation technique to estimate housing demand with the random group effect. Using Taiwan’s cross-sectional survey data, we found that the standard error of the estimated coefficient for the group level income variable is underestimated in the traditional unadjusted OLS specification. This finding suggests that there may be a danger of spurious regression in the traditional OLS housing demand estimation.Housing Demand, Random Group Effect, Two-stage Estimation

Theory and design of portable parallel programs for heterogeneous computing systems and networks

A recurring problem with high-performance computing is that advanced architectures generally achieve only a small fraction of their peak performance on many portions of real applications sets. The Amdahl\u27s law corollary of this is that such architectures often spend most of their time on tasks (codes/algorithms and the data sets upon which they operate) for which they are unsuited. Heterogeneous Computing (HC) is needed in the mid 90\u27s and beyond due to ever increasing super-speed requirements and the number of projects with these requirements. HC is defined as a special form of parallel and distributed computing that performs computations using a single autonomous computer operating in both SIMD and MIMD modes, or using a number of connected autonomous computers. Physical implementation of a heterogeneous network or system is currently possible due to the existing technological advances in networking and supercomputing. Unfortunately, software solutions for heterogeneous computing are still in their infancy. Theoretical models, software tools, and intelligent resource-management schemes need to be developed to support heterogeneous computing efficiently. In this thesis, we present a heterogeneous model of computation which encapsulates all the essential parameters for designing efficient software and hardware for HC. We also study a portable parallel programming tool, called Cluster-M, which implements this model. Furthermore, we study and analyze the hardware and software requirements of HC and show that, Cluster-M satisfies the requirements of HC environments

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis dissertation discusses various transmission line forward modeling techniques in both time and frequency domains. Although time domain methods offer simplicity in most cases, the computational inefficiency and lack of fidelity make these methods less attractive. Therefore, the more efficient frequency domain technique is emphasized - a modified transmission matrix (also known as ABCD) method. One of the most difficult problems in electrical wire fault location nowadays is detecting and locating frayed wiring, where the wire is only partially damaged. This type of fault can be very small and extremely difficult to detect. Most inversion schemes used to locate faults require forward models that accurately represent detailed reflections. Resolving these very small faults requires an especially accurate forward model where not only the fault but also all the other very small changes caused by normal aspects of the wiring system are included. A very high resolution Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method can be used to simulate this type of fault and details of the surrounding wiring system with enough fidelity to distinguish the small fault. However, this is very costly in terms of computational resources. This dissertation demonstrates a quick way of building the fray profile that significantly reduces the simulation time. Finally, the ultimate goal of the highly realistic forward modeling is the inversion, in which a set of measured data is given and the inversion algorithm interprets the location and the nature of fault on the wire. Multiple iterations are typically required, and thus, high efficiency is necessary. A new method introduced in this dissertation is capable of identifying multiple unknown parameters in just a few steps

Motivating English as a Foreign Language Teachers to Cultivate Intercultural Competence through an Online Module: An Instructional Design Project

Academic papers and online resourcesMost teaching pedagogies in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes focused on enhancing students’ linguistic skills rather than exploring how cultures or politics influenced the interpretation of the English language. To address the challenge, computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools were used to foster online intercultural communication. Attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) motivational design model and critical pedagogy were used in developing this online professional development module. To cultivate EFL teachers’ intercultural competence, this language and identity unit utilized multimedia resources to raise participants’ attention, news articles to relate their lived experiences, online forums to establish their confidence, and intercultural experiences to increase their satisfaction. Data was collected from 16 EFL teachers’ questionnaires, online comments, and interviews. It was found that task attractiveness and online environment were factors that motivated participants to become critically literate. Current research only reveals a partial view of motivation, and thus long-range research would be worthwhile to investigate how cultural dynamics within groups may influence online communication