A new heteroskedastic hedonic regression model is suggested. It takes into account time-varying volatility and is applied to a blue chips art market. Furthermore, a nonparametric local likelihood estimator is used. This estimator is more precise than the often used dummy variables method. The empirical analysis reveals that errors are considerably non-Gaussian, and that a student distribution w...

The goal of imitation learning is to mimic expert behavior without access to an explicit reward signal. Expert demonstrations provided by humans, however, often show significant variability due to latent factors that are typically not explicitly modeled. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm that can infer the latent structure of expert demonstrations in an unsupervised way. Our method, bui...

The paper is devoted to the local classification of generic control-affine systems on an n-dimensional manifold with scalar input for any n ≥ 4 or with two inputs for n = 4 and n = 5, up to state-feedback transformations, preserving the affine structure (in C∞ category for n = 4 and Cω category for n ≥ 5). First using the Poincare series of moduli numbers we introduce the intrinsic numbers of f...

In this paper, the general formulation of periodically time-varying state-feedback controllers with memory is considered for the first time. New analysis and synthesis conditions for robust stability are proposed. The flexibility of these new results allows the user to freely add degrees-of-freedom to the control law which appears to effectively reduce the conservatism of the synthesis conditio...

Mainstream traffic flow control (MTFC) enabled via variable speed limits (VSLs) has been investigated in previous studies, utilizing various control strategies. In this paper a new feedback control strategy is proposed for MTFC enabled via VSLs, considering multiple bottleneck locations. Results are evaluated using a validated macroscopic model. The feedback concept is robust and can be immedia...

Health Inequality over the Life-Cycle We investigate the evolution of health inequality over the life-course. Health is modeled as a latent variable that is determined by three factors: endowments, and permanent and transitory shocks. We employ Simulated Minimum Distance and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to estimate the model. We estimate that permanent shocks account for under 10% of the ...

In the Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE) analysis, the statistical procedures have been performed after aggregation of observations from the various libraries for the same class. Most studies have not accounted for the within-class variability. The identification of the differentially expressed genes based on the class separation has not been easy because of heteroscedasticity of librar...

Recent works question the benefit of Promotional Pricing (Hi-Lo) formats. In this essay, we characterize a setting in which cost-disadvantaged firms would rationally and profitably opt for the Hi-Lo format. Essentially, cost-disadvantaged retail firms, such as mall outlets and smaller chains lacking the economies of scale of their rivals, charge higher prices than their cost-competitive rivals....

The few known γ-ray binary systems are all associated with variable radio and Xray emission. The TeV source HESS J0632+057, apparently associated with the Be star MWC148, is plausibly a new member of this class. Following the identification of a variable X-ray counterpart to the TeV source we conducted GMRT and VLA observations in June-September 2008 to search for the radio counterpart of this ...

Heterogeneity and latent variables are now widely recognized as major sources of bias and variability in high-throughput experiments. The most well-known source of latent variation in genomic experiments are batch effects-when samples are processed on different days, in different groups or by different people. However, there are also a large number of other variables that may have a major impac...