Spatial dependence model with feature difference

This paper presents a new spatial dependence model with an adjustment of feature difference. The model accounts for the spatial autocorrelation in both the outcome variables and residuals. The feature difference adjustment in the model helps to emphasize feature changes across neighboring units, while suppressing unobserved covariates that are present in the same neighborhood. The prediction at a given unit incorporates components that depend on the differences between the values of its main features and those of its neighboring units. In contrast to conventional spatial regression models, our model does not require a comprehensive list of global covariates necessary to estimate the outcome variable at the unit, as common macro-level covariates are differenced away in the regression analysis. Using the real estate market data in Hong Kong, we applied Gibbs sampling to determine the posterior distribution of each model parameter. The result of our empirical analysis confirms that the adjustment of feature difference with an inclusion of the spatial error autocorrelation produces better out-of-sample prediction performance than other conventional spatial dependence models. In addition, our empirical analysis can identify components with more significant contributions.     

Forecasting under model uncertainty: Non-homogeneous hidden Markov models with Pòlya-Gamma data augmentation

We consider finite state-space non-homogeneous hidden Markov models for forecasting univariate time series. Given a set of predictors, the time series are modeled via predictive regressions with state-dependent coefficients and time-varying transition probabilities that depend on the predictors via a logistic/multinomial function. In a hidden Markov setting, inference for logistic regression coefficients becomes complicated and in some cases impossible due to convergence issues. In this paper, we aim to address this problem utilizing the recently proposed Pólya-Gamma latent variable scheme. Also, we allow for model uncertainty regarding the predictors that affect the series both linearly — in the mean — and non-linearly — in the transition matrix. Predictor selection and inference on the model parameters are based on an automatic Markov chain Monte Carlo scheme with reversible jump steps. Hence the proposed methodology can be used as a black box for predicting time series. Using simulation experiments, we illustrate the performance of our algorithm in various setups, in terms of mixing properties, model selection and predictive ability. An empirical study on realized volatility data shows that our methodology gives improved forecasts compared to benchmark models.     

Combining multivariate volatility forecasts using weighted losses

The ability to improve out-of-sample forecasting performance by combining forecasts is well established in the literature. This paper advances this literature in the area of multivariate volatility forecasts by developing two combination weighting schemes that exploit volatility persistence to emphasise certain losses within the combination estimation period. A comprehensive empirical analysis of the out-of-sample forecast performance across varying dimensions, loss functions, sub-samples and forecast horizons show that new approaches significantly outperform their counterparts in terms of statistical accuracy. Within the financial applications considered, significant benefits from combination forecasts relative to the individual candidate models are observed. Although the more sophisticated combination approaches consistently rank higher relative to the equally weighted approach, their performance is statistically indistinguishable given the relatively low power of these loss functions. Finally, within the applications, further analysis highlights how combination forecasts dramatically reduce the variability in the parameter of interest, namely the portfolio weight or beta.     

Identifying US business cycle regimes using dynamic factors and neural network models

We use dynamic factors and neural network models to identify current and past states (instead of future) of the US business cycle. In the first step, we reduce noise in data by using a moving average filter. Dynamic factors are then extracted from a large-scale data set consisted of more than 100 variables. In the last step, these dynamic factors are fed into the neural network model for predicting business cycle regimes. We show that our proposed method follows US business cycle regimes quite accurately in-sample and out-of-sample without taking account of the historical data availability. Our results also indicate that noise reduction is an important step for business cycle prediction. Furthermore, using pseudo real time and vintage data, we show that our neural network model identifies turning points quite accurately and very quickly in real time.     

Model averaging estimation for conditional volatility models with an application to stock market volatility forecast

This paper is concerned with model averaging estimation for conditional volatility models. Given a set of candidate models with different functional forms, we propose a model averaging estimator and forecast for conditional volatility, and construct the corresponding weight-choosing criterion. Under some regulatory conditions, we show that the weight selected by the criterion asymptotically minimizes the true Kullback–Leibler divergence, which is the distributional approximation error, as well as the Itakura–Saito distance, which is the distance between the true and estimated or forecast conditional volatility. Monte Carlo experiments support our newly proposed method. As for the empirical applications of our method, we investigate a total of nine major stock market indices and make a 1-day-ahead volatility forecast for each data set. Empirical results show that the model averaging forecast achieves the highest accuracy in terms of all types of loss functions in most cases, which captures the movement of the unknown true conditional volatility.     

Correcting the January optimism effect

Each month, various professional forecasters give forecasts for next year's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth and unemployment. January is a special month, when the forecast horizon moves to the following calendar year. Instead of deleting the January data when analyzing forecast updates, I propose a periodic version of a test regression for weak-form efficiency. An application of this periodic model for many forecasts across a range of countries shows that in January GDP forecast updates are positive, whereas the forecast updates for unemployment are negative. I document that this January optimism about the new calendar year is detrimental to forecast accuracy. To empirically analyze Okun's law, I also propose a periodic test regression, and its application provides more support for this law.     

基于解释结构模型和MICMAC的城市交通拥堵问题分析

通过对城市交通拥堵现状的调查研究,从管理、设施和交通参与者3个方面归纳出造成城市交通拥堵的11个主要因素,建立了解释结构模型,分析了各因素间的层级关系,通过交叉影响矩阵相乘法(matriced impacts corises-multiplication appliance classment, MICMAC)分析对影响因素进行了分类,进一步分析了各因素对交通拥堵的影响,找到了造成城市交通拥堵的表层、中层和底层影响因素,为缓解城市交通拥堵问题提供了可供借鉴的依据.     

栎树猝死病在中国的入侵风险评估

【目的】栎树猝死病是一种为害林木和观赏植物的毁灭性病害,发病迅速,短期内即可造成寄主植物大量死亡,寄主范围非常广泛,主要为害阔叶树树种。对其在我国的适生区范围进行预测,并系统评估其入侵风险,有助于更好地制定针对性的防治及检疫措施。【方法】采用MaxEnt生态位模型,以栎树猝死病菌现有分布点的环境变量为基础运算预测模型,结合地理信息系统ArcGIS绘制其在中国的适生预测图;并以南京林业大学有害生物入侵预防与控制重点实验室建立的多指标综合评价体系为标准,从5个准则层下设18个指标层因子,对栎树猝死病菌在我国的入侵风险进行了定性和定量的分析。【结果】MaxEnt模型测试遗漏率与预测遗漏率基本吻合,ROC(receiver operating characteristic, ROC)曲线的AUC值(area under curver, AUC)为0.974,标准差为0.008,明显高于随机分布模型,说明该模型对栎树猝死病菌在我国的适生区预测结果可信度较高,可作为后续评估依据。栎树猝死病菌在中国的适生范围在101.9°~122.9° E,18.9°~38.0° N,主要位于我国秦岭淮河以南的南方地区,集中在长江中下游平原和武夷山脉、南岭以南的沿海地区,约占中国行政区划面积的19.6%。栎树猝死病菌在中国的入侵风险指标值R为2.64,属于极高风险的有害生物。【结论】模型预测结果的可信度较高,鉴于栎树猝死病菌在我国暂无分布记录,且在多指标评价体系中被归为极高风险等级,建议在进境检疫中对其可能寄主植物实施严格检疫及2年以上的隔离试种,防止其进入中国。     

隧道爆破力学模型相似材料配比的正交试验

以砂岩作为模拟对象,研究满足隧道爆破力学模型试验要求的相似材料配比问题.基于正交试验法,选取石英砂、重晶石粉、石膏、水泥和水为相似材料,设置以石英砂/固体、水泥/石膏、重晶石粉/(重晶石粉+石英砂)的质量比为3个因素,每个因素3个水平,共9组配比的正交试验方案.通过室内试验,得到相似材料的密度、单轴抗压强度、弹性模量和声波波速的实测数据.试验结果表明:相似材料的物理力学参数分布范围较广,可满足不同隧道模型试验对相似材料的配比要求.利用极差敏感分析法分析各因素对相似材料参数的敏感性,并通过各因素对相似材料参数影响的直观分析图,分析各因素对相似材料物理力学参数的影响规律.对试验数据进行多元线性回归分析和室内试验,发现最优配合比下的相似材料与原型砂岩的单轴应力-应变曲线具有相似的脆性破坏特征;相似材料物理力学参数的设计值和实测值误差较小.     

基于多模态融合技术的用户画像方法

针对当前用户画像工作中各模态信息不能被充分利用的问题, 提出一种跨模态学习思想, 设计一种基于多模态融合的用户画像模型。首先利用 Stacking集成方法, 融合多种跨模态学习联合表示网络, 对相应的模型组合进行学习, 然后引入注意力机制, 使得模型能够学习不同模态的表示对预测结果的贡献差异性。改进后的模型具有精心设计的网络结构和目标函数, 能够生成一个由特征级融合和决策级融合组成的联合特征表示, 从而可以合并不同模态的相关特征。在真实数据集上的实验结果表明, 所提模型优于当前最好的基线方法。