In this paper, we investigate the effect of pre-smoothing on model selection. Christobal et al 6 showed the beneficial effect of pre-smoothing on estimating the parameters in a linear regression model. Here, in a regression setting, we show that smoothing the response data prior to model...

In this article, the authors demonstrate the utility of an extended latent Markov model for analyzing temporal configurations in the behaviors of a sample of 550 domestic violence batterers. Domestic violence research indicates that victims experience a constellation of abusive behaviors rather...

Structural equation models (SEMs) have been widely used in behavioural, educational, medical and socio-psychological research for exploring and confirming relations among observed and latent variables. In the existing SEMs, the unknown coefficients in the measurement and structural equations are...

This paper uses a large dataset combining census, household survey and budgetary data for nearly 4.000 Brazilian municipalities to estimate the impact of government spending on education and health outcomes. We deal with the multi-dimensional nature of the population’s social status by...

A differential structural equation system including latent variables was applied for analyzing the sources of technical change in the agricultural sector of Iran, 1971-2005. The findings indicated that international knowledge spillover, human capital, and internal research and development...

When a firm allows the return of previously purchased merchandise, it provides customers with an option that has measurable value. Whereas the option to return merchandise leads to an increase in gross revenue, it also creates additional costs. Selecting an optimal return policy requires...