Is Asian per capita GDP panel stationary?

The goal of this paper is to examine whether per capita GDP for 15 Asian countries is panel stationary. We apply a panel test for stationarity that allows for multiple structural breaks developed by Carrion-i-Silvestre et al. (Econ J 8: 159–179, 2005). Our main findings are: (1) when we apply conventional tests, such as the ADF and KPSS univariate tests without structural breaks, we find little evidence for stationarity; (2) when we apply the KPSS univariate test with multiple structural breaks, we find evidence of stationarity for 10 out of 15 countries; and (3) when we apply the KPSS panel test with multiple structural breaks, we find overwhelming evidence of panel stationarity of per capita real GDP for different panels of Asian countries.

Are G7 per capita real GDP levels non-stationary, 1870–2001?

In this paper we examine whether or not G7 per capita income can be classified as a stationary process using data for over a century. The unit root null hypothesis is tested using the recently developed Lagrange multiplier test which allows for at most two structural breaks. We are able to reject the unit root null hypothesis for all the countries at the 5 percent level or better, except for Italy and Germany.

Phylogenetic relationships among nine scallop species (Bivalvia : Pectinidae) inferred from nucleotide sequences of one mitochondrial and three nuclear gene regions

Current knowledge of the evolutionary relationships among scallop species (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pectinidae) in the Indo-Pacific region is rather scanty. To enhance the understanding of the relationships within this group, phylogenies of nine species of scallops with the majority from coastal regions of Thailand, were reconstructed by maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods using sequences of the 16S rRNA of the mitochondrial genome, and a fragment containing the ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 genes of the nuclear DNA. The trees that resulted from the three methods of analysis were topologically identical, however, gained different levels of support at some nodes. Nine species were clustered into two major clades, corresponding to two subfamilies (Pectininae and Chlamydinae) of the three currently recognized subfamilies within Pectinidae. Overall, the relationships reported herein are mostly in accordance with the previous molecular studies that used sequences of the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I, and the classification system based on microsculpture of shell features and morphological characteristics of juveniles. Levels of divergences were different among genes (i.e., the 5.8S gene showed the lowest levels of nucleotide divergence at all levels, whereas the 16S rRNA showed the highest level of variation within species, and ITS2 gene revealed the highest level of divergence at higher levels).

Extensible motif and aberrant nucleotide extraction in genomic sequences

The project focusses on the discovery of conserved DNA sequences in bacterial genomes and comparative analysis of bacterial genomes to elicit evolutionary trends. The outcomes have produced novel techniques for modelling motifs in DNA and the characterisation of evolutionary processes in medically significant bacterial pathogens.

The assessment of тт-тт selective stationary phases for two-dimensional HPLC analysis of foods : application to the analysis of coffee

Differences between alkyl, dipole–dipole, hydrogen bonding, and π-π selective surfaces represented by non-resonance and resonance π-stationary phases have been assessed for the separation of ‘Ristretto’ café espresso by employing 2DHPLC techniques with C18 phase selectivity detection. Geometric approach to factor analysis (GAFA) was used to measure the detected peaks (N), spreading angle (β), correlation, practical peak capacity (n_p) and percentage usage of the separations space, as an assessment of selectivity differences between regional quadrants of the two-dimensional separation plane. Although all tested systems were correlated to some degree to the C18 dimension, regional measurement of separation divergence revealed that performance of specific systems was better for certain sample components. The results illustrate that because of the complexity of the ‘real’ sample obtaining a truly orthogonal two-dimensional system for complex samples of natural origin may be practically impossible.

Are business cycles stationary fluctuations around a deterministic trend? empirical evidence from 79 developing countries

There is a large literature that tests the univariate time series properties of the real output series following the seminal work of Nelson and Plosser (1982). Whether or not real output is characterized by a unit root process has important implications. A unit root in real output, for instance, is inconsistent with the notion that business cycles are stationary fluctuations around a deterministic trend. In this paper, we investigate the univariate time series properties of real output for 79 developing countries using the conventional augmented Dickey and Fuller (1979) unit root test, the Zivot and Andrews’ (1992) one structural break unit root test, and the Lumsdaine and Papell (1997) two structural breaks unit root test. Our main finding is that, for 40 countries, real output is stationary around a trend. This indicates that business cycles are stationary fluctuations around a deterministic trend for only 51% of the developing countries in our sample.

A study on the accuracy of frequency measures and its impact on knowledge discovery in single sequences

In knowledge discovery in single sequences, different results could be discovered from the same sequence when different frequency measures are adopted. It is natural to raise such questions as (1) do these frequency measures reflect actual frequencies accurately? (2) what impacts do frequency measures have on discovered knowledge? (3) are discovered results accurate and reliable? and (4) which measures are appropriate for reflecting frequencies accurately? In this paper, taking three major factors (anti-monotonicity, maximum-frequency and window-width restriction) into account, we identify inaccuracies inherent in seven existing frequency measures, and investigate their impacts on the soundness and completeness of two kinds of knowledge, frequent episodes and episode rules, discovered from single sequences. In order to obtain more accurate frequencies and knowledge, we provide three recommendations for defining appropriate frequency measures. Following the recommendations, we introduce a more appropriate frequency measure. Empirical evaluation reveals the inaccuracies and verifies our findings. 

The Carboniferous and Permian sequences in north and south of the Longmucuo-Shuanghu suture zone in Tibet

The location of the Palaeo-tethys suture in Tibet has been in great dispute for past two decades. The Longmucuo-Shuanghu suture has long been considered as the Palaeo-tethys in Tibet. Restudy of the Carboniferous and Permian sequences in the north and south of this suture reveal that: (1) the Carboniferous and Permian sequence of the North Qiangtang Block is characterized by containing compound corals and intact fusulinids zones from Moscovian Fusulinella, Fusulina to Changhsingian Palaeofusulina zones; (2) the Early Permian of the South Qiangtang Block is

Fast mining of non-derivable episode rules in complex sequences

Researchers have been endeavoring to discover concise sets of episode rules instead of complete sets in sequences. Existing approaches, however, are not able to process complex sequences and can not guarantee the accuracy of resulting sets due to the violation of anti-monotonicity of the frequency metric. In some real applications, episode rules need to be extracted from complex sequences in which multiple items may appear in a time slot. This paper investigates the discovery of concise episode rules in complex sequences. We define a concise representation called non-derivable episode rules and formularize the mining problem. Adopting a novel anti-monotonic frequency metric, we then develop a fast approach to discover non-derivable episode rules in complex sequences. Experimental results demonstrate that the utility of the proposed approach substantially reduces the number of rules and achieves fast processing.