The world is experiencing yet another energy- and fuel predicament as oil prices are escalating to new hights. Alternative fuels are being promoted globally as the increasing gasoline prices trigger inflation. Basic food commodities are some of the goods hit by this inflation and the purpose of this thesis is to analyse whether the higher maize and sugar prices are having any effect on the expanding ethanol production. This thesis focuses on the two major crop inputs in ethanol production: maize (in the US) and sugar cane (in Brazil). Econometric tests using cross-sectional data were carried through to find the elasticities of the variables. The crops prices were tested against ethanol output using the log-linear model in several regressions to find a relationship. In addition, the output levels of the crops were tested using the same method. It was found that maize prices and output affects ethanol production. Sugar cane prices do not have any significant impact on ethanol production while sugar cane output has a small, yet significant relationhip with ethanol. Consequently, ethanol’s rise in the fuel market could be a result of increased maize input, rather than sugar. / Dagens värld upplever ännu ett energi- och bränsle predikament när oljepriser eskalerar mot nya höjder. Alternativa bränslen marknadsförs globalt samtidigt som de stigande bensinpriserna stimulerar inflationen. Några av de varor som drabbas av denna inflation är grundläggande livsmedelsprodukter och syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera huruvida de högre priserna på majs och socker påverkar den expanderande etanolproduktionen. Uppsatsen fokuserar på de två stora grödor som används som insatsvaror vid framställningen av etanol: majs (i USA) och sockerrör (i Brasilien). Ekonometriska tester genomfördes för att erhålla variablernas elasticiteter med hjälp av den cross-sectional data som behandlades. Genom log-linear modellen utfördes det ett antal regressioner för att hitta ett samband mellan grödornas priser och etanolproduktionen. Därutöver genomfördes tester för att hitta sambandet mellan grödornas utbud och etanol med hjälp av samma modell. Det upptäcktes att både pris och utbudet av majs påverkar etanolproduktionen. Sockerrörspriser har ingen signifikant inverkan på etanolproduktionen medan utbudet av sockerrör har en signifikant, om än svag, relation till etanol. Följaktligen kan etanols tillväxt i  bränslemarknaden tolkas som ett resultat av en stigande majsinsats snarare än sockerinstats vid etanolframställningen.

<p> </p><p>The world is experiencing yet another energy- and fuel predicament as oil prices are escalating to new hights. Alternative fuels are being promoted globally as the increasing gasoline prices trigger inflation. Basic food commodities are some of the goods hit by this inflation and the purpose of this thesis is to analyse whether the higher maize and sugar prices are having any effect on the expanding ethanol production. This thesis focuses on the two major crop inputs in ethanol production: maize (in the US) and sugar cane (in Brazil). Econometric tests using cross-sectional data were carried through to find the elasticities of the variables. The crops prices were tested against ethanol output using the log-linear model in several regressions to find a relationship. In addition, the output levels of the crops were tested using the same method. It was found that maize prices and output affects ethanol production. Sugar cane prices do not have any significant impact on ethanol production while sugar cane output has a small, yet significant relationhip with ethanol. Consequently, ethanol’s rise in the fuel market could be a result of increased maize input, rather than sugar.</p><p> </p> / <p>Dagens värld upplever ännu ett energi- och bränsle predikament när oljepriser eskalerar mot nya höjder. Alternativa bränslen marknadsförs globalt samtidigt som de stigande bensinpriserna stimulerar inflationen. Några av de varor som drabbas av denna inflation är grundläggande livsmedelsprodukter och syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera huruvida de högre priserna på majs och socker påverkar den expanderande etanolproduktionen. Uppsatsen fokuserar på de två stora grödor som används som insatsvaror vid framställningen av etanol: majs (i USA) och sockerrör (i Brasilien). Ekonometriska tester genomfördes för att erhålla variablernas elasticiteter med hjälp av den cross-sectional data som behandlades. Genom log-linear modellen utfördes det ett antal regressioner för att hitta ett samband mellan grödornas priser och etanolproduktionen. Därutöver genomfördes tester för att hitta sambandet mellan grödornas utbud och etanol med hjälp av samma modell. Det upptäcktes att både pris och utbudet av majs påverkar etanolproduktionen. Sockerrörspriser har ingen signifikant inverkan på etanolproduktionen medan utbudet av sockerrör har en signifikant, om än svag, relation till etanol. Följaktligen kan etanols tillväxt i  bränslemarknaden tolkas som ett resultat av en stigande majsinsats snarare än sockerinstats vid etanolframställningen.</p>

The purpose of this paper is to give a log-linear representation of a generalized Bradley-Terry (BT-) Model for paired comparisons which allows the incorporation of ties, order effects, concomitant variables for the objects and categorical subject specific covariates and interactions between all of them. An advantage of this approach is that standard software for fitting log-linear models, such as GLIM, can be used. The approach is exemplified by analysing data from an experiment concerning the ranking of European universities. (author's abstract) / Series: Forschungsberichte / Institut für Statistik

This paper provides an alternative methodology for the analysis of a set of Likert responses measured on a common attitudinal scale when the primary focus of interest is on the relative importance of items in the set. The method makes fewer assumptions about the distribution of the responses than the more usual approaches such as comparisons of means, MANOVA or ordinal data methods. The approach transforms the Likert responses into paired comparison responses between the items. The complete multivariate pattern of responses thus produced can be analysed by an appropriately reformulated paired comparison model. The dependency structure between item responses can also be modelled flexibly. The advantage of this approach is that sets of Likert responses can be analysed simultaneously within the Generalized Linear Model framework, providing standard likelihood based inference for model selection. This method is applied to a recent international survey on the importance of environmental problems. (author's abstract) / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

This paper develops a new approach to the analysis of longitudinal paired comparison data, where comparisons of the same objects by the same judges are made on more than one occasion. As an alternative to other recent approaches to such data, which are based on Kalman filter- ing, our approach treats the problem as one of multivariate multinomial data, allowing dependence terms between comparisons over time to be incorporated. The resulting model can be fitted as a Poisson log-linear model and has parallels with the quadratic binary exponential distribution of Cox. An example from the British Household Panel Survey illustrates the approach. (author´s abstract) / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

There are surveys carried out repeatedly on the same set of units. In connection with such research, we are talking about the dependent samples. The aim and the contribution of this diploma thesis is a summary of available methods for analyzing data from dependent samples for both continuous and discrete variables. The Czech literature has been devoted to this topic only marginally. The theoretical part is divided into two main parts for two waves and for more waves of exploration, which are further divided according to the type of reference variable. The third part is devoted to the application of the theoretical information in a market research.

In this report mark-recapture data are analyzed with the use of weighted log-linear models, mosaics, and computer drawings of fish. The data are from salmon hatcheries, subsequent returns to the hatcheries and commercial catches of salmon. The log-linear models were used to study the effects of several variables on catches and returns. It is shown that these variables may have opposite effects depending on the brood year of the fish, that hatchery returns and commercial catches do not respond in the same way to the variables, and that more research is needed to determine the causes of the brood year differences. The mosaics and fish drawings were used to study the migration of the salmon in the ocean. The results confirm that chinook salmon decrease their food intake during the return trip to the hatchery, and they are consistent with theories of ocean migration of other species of salmon. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Classical and Bayesian methods for interval estimation of the ratio of two independent Poisson rates are examined and compared in terms of their exact coverage properties. Two methods to determine sampling effort requirements are derived.

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本文主要是在探討三個變數所構成之三維列聯表中，兩兩有序類別變數間的關係，而衡量的標準，我們則採用「兩兩變數所構成之二維列聯表中，相鄰兩列與相鄰兩行所求計出的相對成敗比（local odds ratios）」。在三維列聯表的資料架構下，我們可分別就固定某一變數水準之下兩個有序變數彼此間的「條件關係」，以及三個有序類別變數彼此兩兩間的「部分關係」，建構其各自的三維關係模型，並進行參數估計。此外，我們也提供必要的電腦程式，並舉出實例，加以說明。 / In analyzing a three-way contingency table with three ordinal variables, we can use association models suggested in Goodman (1979) to study the association between each pair of ordinal variables. The association was measured in terms of the local odds ratios formed from adjacent rows and adjacent columns of the cross-classification. This article investigates in great details the conditional association models and the partial association models for three-way cross-classifications. In addition, issues on estimating the para-meters in these two kinds of association models are discussed, and computer programs are provided. Some of the applications are illustrated.