Income Distribution, Spillover Effects And Choice Of Product Quality

We consider an MNC that is originated from a developed country where income is more or less evenly distributed and serves there a high quality product with the help of sophisticated technology of production. Under liberalized policy this MNC enters into a developing economy where income distribution is highly unequal. Due to prior experience of production it possesses a cost advantage in producing appropriate product quality in the developing country described by the spillover effect. It is shown that this discriminating monopolist serves a lower quality product in the developing country without any cost advantage. This happens due to its uneven income distribution. As spillover effect starts to rise, the product qualities between the countries differentiate more. At the same time profit of MNC rises. This may provide an explanation why MNCs are so eager to enter into a developing country. The developing country also gains in terms of welfare.Income Distribution, Product Quality, Trade Liberalization

INNOVATION UNDER THE THREAT OF DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT

We examine the implication of direct and indirect foreign competition on domestic innovation decision. In most of the existing theoretical analyses the foreign firms are assumed to enter the domestic-country market as an exporter and thus are subject to a tariff duty imposed by the local government. We consider a broader setting where the foreign firm also has the option of setting up a production unit in the domestic country to supply output to the domestic country. This enables it to avoid the tariff that it faces due to export. Once we allow for such a strategy option for the foreign firm, competition becomes more direct and intense since tariffs no longer discount for the technological inferiority of home firms. We show that innovation by the home firm will be discouraged at high tariffs under the threat of DFI. Again at low tariff rates exports by the foreign firm make market competition more intense and reduce the incentive for innovation. Hence the home firm always (never) innovates at low (high) R&D cost whatever be the tariff rate. For intermediate R&D cost the home firm innovates if the foreign firm opts for exports.Innovation, Tariff, Foreign Direct Investment, Foreign Competition

BRI3L: A Brightness Illusion Image Dataset for Identification and Localization of Regions of Illusory Perception

Visual illusions play a significant role in understanding visual perception. Current methods in understanding and evaluating visual illusions are mostly deterministic filtering based approach and they evaluate on a handful of visual illusions, and the conclusions therefore, are not generic. To this end, we generate a large-scale dataset of 22,366 images (BRI3L: BRightness Illusion Image dataset for Identification and Localization of illusory perception) of the five types of brightness illusions and benchmark the dataset using data-driven neural network based approaches. The dataset contains label information - (1) whether a particular image is illusory/nonillusory, (2) the segmentation mask of the illusory region of the image. Hence, both the classification and segmentation task can be evaluated using this dataset. We follow the standard psychophysical experiments involving human subjects to validate the dataset. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to develop a dataset of visual illusions and benchmark using data-driven approach for illusion classification and localization. We consider five well-studied types of brightness illusions: 1) Hermann grid, 2) Simultaneous Brightness Contrast, 3) White illusion, 4) Grid illusion, and 5) Induced Grating illusion. Benchmarking on the dataset achieves 99.56% accuracy in illusion identification and 84.37% pixel accuracy in illusion localization. The application of deep learning model, it is shown, also generalizes over unseen brightness illusions like brightness assimilation to contrast transitions. We also test the ability of state-of-theart diffusion models to generate brightness illusions. We have provided all the code, dataset, instructions etc in the github repo: https://github.com/aniket004/BRI3

Understanding of farmers' perception of climate change and adaptation strategies: A case study in Jhargram district of West Bengal, India

A study on farmers perceived prevalence of climate change, manifested by the phenomena like increasing temperature, fluctuating rainfall etc. and in the considered agro-ecological areas was conducted in Binpur II block of Jhargram district of West Bengal to assess the extent of farmers' perception about the climate change and their adaptation strategies to cope up with losses due to climate change. Results showed that the farmers' perception of climate change greatly influenced farmers' readiness to adapt climate change by considering some adjustments to their cultivation and production practices. The findings showed that the farmers' perception of climate change was at a high-level group of respondents. Results showed that 50% of respondents were optimistic with the idea that they can cope up the climate change problems if they get proper government assistance. Only about 13% of farmers perceived Government plans on climate change. Regarding the adaptation strategies, 40% of respondents followed more or less strategies, whereas most of the respondents did not adopt any strategies in this regard. &nbsp

INFLUENCE OF RECORD KEEPING ON THE PERFORMANCE OF MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES IN THE CONTEXT OF THEIR AREA OF OPERATION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Objective: The target of this paper is to look into how record keeping affects the performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in the context of their place of operation.   Theoretical Framework: After going through the literature, it is identified that not a single study has been done in the research area of this paper.   Method: In this study, a simple survey was conducted among 268 MSEs functioning in Karimganj District of Assam. Multiple regression analysis with SPSS 21 was used to analyse the data.   Results and Discussion: Result of the analysis shows that female participation is poor in the study area and there is a positive correlation with R2 = 0.460 implying that record keeping Practices in the context of their area of operation is 46% responsible for explaining the dependent variable i.e., Performance of MSEs.   Research Implications: The study suggests that maintaining proper records can significantly improve the performance of MSEs. Furthermore, the adoption of computerized accounting systems can provide a more efficient and accurate means of record keeping, which can lead to improved financial performance.   Originality/Value: The study revealed that the majority of micro and small businesses failed to keep accurate records of their commercial dealings. However, those enterprises that kept proper records had a better understanding of their business operations and could make more informed decisions

Test Time Adaptation for Blind Image Quality Assessment

While the design of blind image quality assessment (IQA) algorithms has improved significantly, the distribution shift between the training and testing scenarios often leads to a poor performance of these methods at inference time. This motivates the study of test time adaptation (TTA) techniques to improve their performance at inference time. Existing auxiliary tasks and loss functions used for TTA may not be relevant for quality-aware adaptation of the pre-trained model. In this work, we introduce two novel quality-relevant auxiliary tasks at the batch and sample levels to enable TTA for blind IQA. In particular, we introduce a group contrastive loss at the batch level and a relative rank loss at the sample level to make the model quality aware and adapt to the target data. Our experiments reveal that even using a small batch of images from the test distribution helps achieve significant improvement in performance by updating the batch normalization statistics of the source model.Comment: Accepted to ICCV 202

Assessing the association between pre-course metrics of student preparation and student performance in introductory statistics: Results from early data on simulation-based inference vs. nonsimulation based inference

The recent simulation-based inference (SBI) movement in algebra-based introductory statistics courses (Stat 101) has provided preliminary evidence of improved student conceptual understanding and retention. However, little is known about whether these positive effects are preferentially distributed across types of students entering the course. We consider how two metrics of Stat 101 student preparation (pre-course performance on concept inventory and math ACT score) may or may not be associated with end of course student performance on conceptual inventories. Students across all preparation levels tended to show improvement in Stat 101, but more improvement was observed across all student preparation levels in early versions of a SBI course. Furthermore, students' gains tended to be similar regardless of whether students entered the course with more preparation or less. Recent data on a sample of students using a current version of an SBI course showed similar results, though direct comparison with non-SBI students was not possible. Overall, our analysis provides additional evidence that SBI curricula are effective at improving students' conceptual understanding of statistical ideas post-course regardless student preparation. Further work is needed to better understand nuances of student improvement based on other student demographics, prior coursework, as well as instructor and institutional variables.Comment: 16 page

Bayesian Analysis of Markov Based Logistic Model

In analyzing longitudinal data the correlations between responses obtained from same individual need to be taken into account. Various models can be used to handle such correlations. This article focuses on the application of transition modeling using Bayesian approach for analyzing longitudinal binary data. For Bayesian estimation asymmetric loss functions, such as, linear exponential (LINEX) and modified linear exponential (MLINEX) loss function and Tierney and Kadnae (T.K.) approximation has been used. Comparison is made using Bayes factor and Bayesian approach under LINEX loss function can be suggested to estimate the parameters of transition model

Unutarsezonska varijabilnost naoblake nad indijskim potkontinentom tijekom monsunske sezone na temelju mjerenja oborine radarom TRMM

The intra-seasonal variability of the Indian summer monsoon, which manifests in the form of “active” and “break” phases in rainfall, is investigated with respect to the variability of the convective and stratiform precipitating cloud pattern over the region. Long period data from TRMM PR satellite (2A23 and 3B42 datasets) for the monsoon season of 2002 to 2010 over the Indian subcontinent is used for this purpose. The study reveals that the most significant spatial variation in convective and stratiform cloud amount in relation to the active and break phase occurs over the monsoon trough region in central India. The active phase is characterized by positive convective (~5%) and stratiform (~20%) precipitating cloud anomalies over this region. However, the maximum of the former precedes the latter by 1–2 days leading up to the active phase, indicating that the stratiform build up, is due to the gradual organization of the convective cloud systems over the region. The days leading up to the break phase are marked by negative anomalies in the convective and stratiform fractions of cloudiness over this region, which are in phase with each other, unlike the lead-up to the active phase. Analysis of the pattern of atmospheric heat source and sinks over the region from the NCEP–NCAR re-analysis data indicates that the engine for the growth/decay of convection over the monsoon trough region lies primarily in the Bay of Bengal and adjacent east India. The active phase is preceded by a heating pattern that promotes large scale, organized convective cloud growth over the Bay of Bengal preceding the actual onset, while the heating pattern leading up to the break phase promotes the formation of isolated convective clouds and decay of cloud organization over the monsoon trough region.U radu je ispitana unutarsezonska varijabilnost indijskog ljetnog monsuna, koja se očituje izmjenom „aktivnih“ faza i faza „stanke“ u polju oborine, obzirom na varijabilnost konvektivne i stratiformne naoblake nad razmatranim područjem. U tu su svrhu analizirane monsunske sezone nad indijskim potkontinentom za razdoblje od 2002. do 2010. godine na temelju dugačkog niza podataka dobivenih pomoću satelita TRMM PR (podaci 2A23 i 3B42). Pokazano je da se najznačajnije prostorne promjene konvektivne i stratiformne naoblake povezane s aktivnom fazom i fazom stanke javljaju u području monsunske doline u polju tlaka zraka nad središnjom Indijom. Aktivnu fazu karakteriziraju pozitivne anomalije konvektivne (~5%) i stratiformne (~20%) naoblake. Međutim, maksimum konvektivne naoblake prethodi maksimumu stratiformne naoblake i javlja se 1–2 dana prije nastupa same aktivne faze, što ukazuje na to da do porasta stratiformne naoblake dolazi zbog postepenog organiziranja sustava konvektivne naoblake nad razmatranim područjem. Fazi stanke prethode dani s negativnim anomalijama konvektivne i stratiformne naoblake nad razmatranim područjem, a njihov je razvoj istovremen za razliku od aktivne faze, kojoj prethode pozitivne anomalije konvektivne naoblake. Analiza polja atmosferskih izvora i ponora topline na temelju podataka NCEP-NCAR reanalize ukazala je na Bengalski zaljev i istočnu Indiju kao područja s glavnim uzročnicima porasta/smanjenja konvekcije u području monsunske doline u polju tlaka zraka. Aktivnoj fazi prethodi raspodjela izvora i ponora topline, koja podržava razvoj sustava velike skale, te sustavni porast konvektivne naoblake nad Bengalskim zaljevom, koji prethodi njenom samom početku, dok fazi stanke prethodi takva raspodjela izvora i ponora topline koja podržava razvoj izoliranih konvektivnih oblaka i potiskuje organizirano formiranje sustava oblaka nad područjem monsunske doline u polju tlaka zraka