Government policies and corporate financing decisions in China: Theory and evidence

This paper examines the effect of government policies on the financing decisions of firms in China. A real options model is developed to understand how fiscal and monetary policies affect corporate leverage.The model predictions will be tested with a comprehensive panel data set spanning from 2002 to 2011.This work documents robust evidence that show the positive association of both tax and risk-free rate with firm leverage:increase in tax rate and risk free rate by one standard deviation results in the increase in corporate leverages by 0.61 to 1.06 percent and 2.54 to 3.68 percent,respectively.In addition,the productions of the firms are not affected by the tax rate in the short run,and the firms are operating in their optimal market leverage.The implied tax rate and risk free rate are solved by assuming that the firms achieve their optimal leverages.The implied tax rate declines with the size, whereas the opposite goes for implied risk-free rate.     

Study on China＇s Economic Vulnerability to Energy Import Using Decomposition Method

Vulnerability means the degree to which that a system is susceptible to suffer damage. This paper focuses on the economic vulnerability to risk of energy import by employing ratio of net energy import to GDP as indicator, and decomposes the vulnerability change into effects of energy import, structure and intensity in order to find out key factors that influence economic security to energy import. Decomposition analysis on China indicates that effect of rising energy import takes more than 90 percent of total vulnerability change during the last 10 years, along with insignificant effect of structural change and intensity decline. International analysis on cross- section data of net energy importers also presents the positive relationship between external energy dependence and economic vulnerability. However, results of America show that long-term effect of energy intensity is much larger than China from 1954 to 2007, which is 70.8% of its total vulnerability change. Experience from developed countries confirms the necessary and validity of improving energy efficiency on depressing economic vulnerability to energy import, which provides lessons for the energy development of China.     

Tax Evasion: Models with Self-Audit

Different from traditional tax audit, supervision with self-audit is a combination of audit by the taxpayer himself and audit by the tax authority. This paper mainly studies a taxpayer＇s optimal policy of tax evasion under supervision with self-audit and its related properties, in order to deduce some effective suggestions and theoretical bases to restrain tax evasion. Assuming that only a certain proportion of evaded tax can be discovered when the audit is executed, the authors first formulate a static model with self-audit. This model is divided into two stages. At the first stage, taxpayers declare their taxes, then the tax authority chooses audit objects, based on a known probability, and announces the result; if the taxpayer is chosen, he will enter the second stage, during which he has a chance to pay the evaded tax and the corresponding late fees and then is audited by the tax authority. The authors show the existence and uniqueness of the optimal amount of tax evasion at the first stage and the optimal proportion to self-expose at the second stage. The authors also discuss the related properties of the interior solution, and do elasticity analyses on some parameters. Besides, the authors extend the static model into the corresponding two-period model, and study the existence and uniqueness of the solution of the extended model. Finally, under the assumption that tax evasion can only be discovered with a certain probability when the audit is executed, the authors formulate another static model with self-audit and investigate its properties.     

Study on Participant Behavior Game of Electronic Products Reverse Supply Chain Based on ECP

In this paper, a game model composed of three subjects — government, manufacturer and consumer has been built by using Evolutionary Game Theory on the basis of analyzing the trilateral game strategy of waste mobile reverse supply chain based on ECP; an evolutionary equilibrium model is to be sought for by utilizing the replication dynamic differential equation method; and the trilateral game strategy's revolutionary trend and consistency have been analyzed by means of SD simulation method when government implements the static or dynamic reward and punishment strategy. The finding results reveal that, under the static reward and punishment strategy, the revolutionary process of trilateral game strategy is always unstable whether the initial behavior strategy is unitary or mixed.Therefore, it is more reasonable for the government to adopt the strategy of dynamic reward and punishment, and it is also stable and reciprocal for all the stakeholders when implementing this strategy.     

Will Tax Burden Be a Stumbling Block to Carbon-Emission Reduction?Evidence from OECD Countries

The influence of taxation on the economy and society is everywhere. Given the fact that CO2 emission is closely connected with human activities, the question naturally arises whether the tax burden affects the carbon emissions. To address this issue, based on the data of 21 OECD countries over the period from 1991–2014, we use the ratio of tax revenue to GDP as a proxy of the tax burden and employ a panel quantile model with the non-additive fixed effects for analysis. The results suggest that the impact of the tax burden on carbon emissions is heterogeneous across countries based on the level of carbon emissions. Moreover, we find a stable U-shaped relationship between the tax burden and carbon emissions whether for countries with a high or low level of carbon emissions. Our findings suggest that moderate taxes could help reduce carbon emissions, but the effect of excessive taxation is the opposite.     

Method for uncertain multi-attribute decisionmaking with preference information in the form of interval numbers complementary judgment matrix

The uncertain multi-attribute decision-making problems because of the information about attribute weights being known partly, and the decision maker's preference information on alternatives taking the form of interval numbers complementary to the judgment matrix, are investigated. First, the decision-making information, based on the subjective uncertain complementary preference matrix on alternatives is made uniform by using a translation function, and then an objective programming model is established. The attribute weights are obtained by solving the model, thus the overall values of the alternatives are gained by using the additive weighting method. Second, the alternatives are ranked, by using the continuous ordered weighted averaging (C-OWA) operator. A new approach to the uncertain multi-attribute decision-making problems, with uncertain preference information on alternatives is proposed. It is characterized by simple operations and can be easily implemented on a computer. Finally, a practical example is illustrated to show the feasibility and availability of the developed method.     

Region-based classification by combining MS segmentation and MRF for POLSAR images

Speckle effects on classification results can be suppressed to some extent by introducing the contextual information.An unsupervised classification algorithm is proposed for polarimetric synthetic aperture radar(POLSAR) images based on the mean shift(MS) segmentation and Markov random field(MRF).First,polarimetric features are exacted by target decomposition for MS segmentation.An initial classification is executed by using the target decomposition and the agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm.Thereafter,a classification step based on MRF is performed by using the mean coherence matrices obtained for each segment.Under the MRF framework,the smoothness term is defined according to the distance between neighboring areas.By using POLSAR images acquired by the German Aerospace Centre and National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory,the experimental results confirm that the proposed method has higher accuracy and better regional connectivity than other classification methods.     

A STACKELBERG DIFFERENTIAL GAMES SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM OF OPTIMAL INTERTEMPORAL INVESTMENT AND TAX RATE DESIGN

Using the Stackelberg differential games(SDG) theory, we quantitatively study a problem of optimal intertemporal investment and tax rate design. Under some appropriate assumptions, the open-loop Stackelberg equilibrium solutions are obtained. Equilibrium solutions show that: 1. The optimal strategies derived from differential game and unilateral optimal control approaches are different; 2. It is not always the best strategy for the government to use a constant tax rate over the whole time period; 3. The admissible size of tax rate adjustment may have great effect on the government's optimal strategy; 4. SDG approach has no significant effect on the firm's optimal investment strategy.     

Modelling of a Class of Nonstationary Time Series with Kalman Filter Using Moving Window

In this paper a method for modelling and forecasting of a class of nonstationary time series with Kalmnan filter using moving window is proposed. The procedure of the method is as follows: in terms of parameter estimation during recursive process by using LSM, the state space equation is constructed, then the Kahnan filter using moving window is made to get the data with reduced level of observation noise. Finally, the precise parameter estimation can be obtained by using the LSM again. The algorithm is carried on recursively. Good results for estimating and forecasting are shown by simulation, examples. The algorithm of Kalman filter using moving window proposed by us is introduced in this paper, which can guarantee the precision and convergence of Kalman filter.     

Research for the orientation detection system using L-shape reticle

The basic scheme of the orientation detection system using L-shape reticle is introduced. The dimension of the patterns on the reticle of the system in practical applications is designed and an analysis of the principle of abstracting the orientation information of the target and the effects and formation method of self-adapting tracking gate is presented. The research result shows that the orientation detection system using L-shape reticle has a good effect on space-filtering, the signals that the orientation detection system sends out are easy to be processed by computer, its self-adapting tracking gate has a strong anti-interference ability, and the whole system＇s searching and tracking performances are quite high.     

Web software reliability modeling with random impulsive shocks

As the web-server based business is rapidly developed and popularized, how to evaluate and improve the reliability of web-servers has been extremely important. Although a large num- ber of software reliability growth models （SRGMs）, including those combined with multiple change-points （CPs）, have been available, these conventional SRGMs cannot be directly applied to web soft- ware reliability analysis because of the complex web operational profile. To characterize the web operational profile precisely, it should be realized that the workload of a web server is normally non-homogeneous and often observed with the pattern of random impulsive shocks. A web software reliability model with random im- pulsive shocks and its statistical analysis method are developed. In the proposed model, the web server workload is characterized by a geometric Brownian motion process. Based on a real data set from IIS server logs of ICRMS website （www.icrms.cn）, the proposed model is demonstrated to be powerful for estimating impulsive shocks and web software reliability.     

SimCLIC: A Simple Framework for Contrastive Learning of Image Classification

Contrastive learning, a self-supervised learning method, is widely used in image representation learning. The core idea is to close the distance between positive sample pairs and increase the distance between negative sample pairs in the representation space. Siamese networks are the most common structure among various current contrastive learning models. However, contrastive learning using positive and negative sample pairs on large datasets is computationally expensive. In addition,there are c...     

Empirical Analysis on Chinese Urban Residents＇ Behavior＇s Differences in Different income -a SAM Multiplier Analysis

Based on SAM Multiplier theory, this paper discloses the structural characteristics of Chinese Urban Residents＇ Consumption. The main conclusions are as follows. Firstly, economic development in different sectors is unbalanced and especially consumption insufficiency is emerging; secondly, the effects of households by income group on the commodities are different; thirdly, consumption capability of Chinese urban residents is in the stage of durable consumable, but the highest income group is swifting to the higher stage and households with low income are entering the stage; finally, Chinese clothing, service and information industries have huge potential to develop while the latent demands are scarcity for that of the food, resident and education, cultural and entertainment industries.     

Condition-Based Spare Ordering Model for a Two-Stage Degrading System

Proper supply of spares is critical to guarantee safe operation,improve service quality and reduce maintenance costs.This paper proposes a condition-based spare ordering model for a two-stage degrading system,which consists of inflection point transfer process and two-stage degradation process with continuous degradation process and random external shocks.External shocks itself does not directly lead to system failure,but it will speed up the degradation process.In turn,degradation can also make the system more vulnerable to shocks.In general,the degradation rate at the defective stage is greater than that at the normal stage.The proposed model depends on system degradation process and spare lead-time.In order to achieve accurate maintenance and deal with emergency maintenance caused by system rapid degradation after inflection point transfer time,the model considers both the regular lead-time and expedited lead-time.Before inflection point transfer time,regular spare ordering policy is performed.After inflection point transfer time,expedited spare ordering policy is implemented.The decision variable of the model is the ordering time.The objective of this study is to determine the optimal ordering time such that the expected cost rate is minimized.Finally,a numerical example is presented to illustrate the proposed model and sensitivity analysis on critical parameters is carried out.     

American continuous-installment options of barrier type

This paper analyzes and values an American barrier option with continuous payment plan written on a dividend paying asset under the classical Black-Scholes model.The integral representation of the initial premium along with the delta hedge parameter for an American continuous-installment down-and-out call option are obtained by using the decomposition technique.This offers a system of nonlinear integral equations for determining the optimal exercise and stopping boundaries,which can be utilized to approximate the option price and delta hedge parameter.The implementation is based on discretizing the quadrature formula in the system of equations and using the Newton-Raphson method to compute the two optimal boundaries at each time points.Numerical results are provided to illustrate the computational accuracy and the effects on the initial premium and optimal boundaries with respect to barrier.     

Kind of deadlock-free scheduling method

Deadlock must be avoided in a manufacturing system. In this paper, an efficient algorithm for finding an optimal deadlock-free schedules in a manufacturing system with very limited buffer is presented. This algorithm is based on the effective genetic algorithm (GA) search method, and a formal Petri net structure is introduced to detect the token player assuring deadlock-free. In order to make the scheduling strategy generated by GA meet the required constraint of deadlock-free, some results of the structure analysis of Petri net are involved as a criterion to select deadlock-free schedule from the population generated by GA. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach is illustrated by using an example.     

A TABU SEARCH APPROACH TOWARDS CONGESTION AND TOTAL FLOW MINIMIZATION IN OPTICAL NETWORKS

This paper considers rearrangeable multihop lightwave networks whereby each network node is equipped with a number p of transmitters and receivers, and a spectrum of wavelengths is accessible by, and shared among, all nodes by using the Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM). Depending on input traffic flow, nodal transmitters and receivers can be re-tuned to create virtual connectivity best suited with respect to a given optimization criterion. We present an efficient heuristic algorithm that combines two criteria for optimization: throughput maximization, as well as total flow minimization. Throughput maximization criterion is equivalent to congestion minimization, while minimizing total flow under the assumption of having links with equal lengths implies minimization of the average number of hops. Taking into account lengths of the links (i.e. link costs proportional with distances), the total flow minimization becomes equivalent to the total delay minimization. Tabu search is implemented as a two-ph     

REGULARITY AND RECURRENCE OF SWITCHING DIFFUSIONS

This work is concerned with switching diffusion processes, also known as regime-switching diffusions. Our attention focuses on regularity, recurrence, and positive recurrence of the underlying stochastic processes. The main effort is devoted to obtaining easily verifiable conditions for the aforementioned properties. Continuous-state-dependent jump processes are considered. First general criteria on regularity and recurrence using Liapunov functions are obtained. Then we focus on a class of problems, in which both the drift and the diffusion coefficients are ＂linearizable＂ with respect to the continuous state, and suppose that the generator of the jump part of the process can be approximated by a generator of an ergodic Markov chain. Sufficient conditions for regularity, recurrence, and positive recurrence are derived, which are linear combination of the averaged coefficients （averaged with respect to the stationary measure of the Markov chain）.     

Optimizing polyphase sequences for orthogonal netted radar systems

Orthogonal netted radar systems (ONRS) can fundamentally improve the radar performance by using a group of specially designed orthogonal polyphase code signals which require a very low aperiodic autocorrelation peak sidelobe level, low aperiodic cross-correlation, and a good resilience to small Doppler shifts. However, the existing numerical solutions degrade severely in the presence of small Doppler shifts. A new set of polyphase sequences is presented with good correlation properties as well as resilience to Doppler shifts. These sequences are built by using numerical optimization based on correlation properties as well as the Doppler effects on matched filter outputs, which maintains the Doppler tolerance. The statistical simulated annealing algorithm and the greedy code search method are used to optimize the sequences. Correlation and Doppler results are compared with the best-known sequences and show to be superior.     

Comparisons of low carbon policies in supply chain coordination

This paper investigates the influence of low-carbon policies on channel coordination for a two-echelon supply chain consisting of one supplier and one retailer. Four different models are considered： the basic model, the carbon emission model, the carbon emission trading model and the carbon tax model. We find that the government policy on all carbon emission models is not universal among the firms as well as the customers. The carbon emission trading policy is always better than the carbon emission policy and the carbon tax policy when the allocated carbon emission quotas are greater than the carbon emissions. The carbon emission trading policy is proved to be an effective mechanism which can motivate the supply chain to reduce carbon emissions. Under certain conditions, the supply chain prefers the carbon emission trading policy with higher carbon price to other policies. In the framework of Stackelberg game with the supplier as the leader, for each carbon policy, the paper presents coordination mechanism with the all-unit wholesale quantity discount contract （AWQD）. We analyze and compare the influence of low-carbon policies on channel coordination for the foul＂ low-carbon policies. Numerical experiments are conducted to examine our findings.