Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Bakgrund: 1 januari 2014 blev det tvingande för mindre företag att tillämpa det nya K-regelverket i form av antingen K2 eller K3. Av den anledningen är det både aktuellt och intressant att identifiera och studera de kostnader som organisationer kan tänkas ha i samband med införandet av en redovisningsrekommendation. Vidare har det i media förts en debatt huruvida det nya Kregelverket är anpassat för bostadsrättsföreningar, varför det blir särskilt intressant och aktuellt att studera denna typ av organisation. Det saknas, enligt vår genomgång av tidigare forskning, studier som belyser kostnadsaspekten vid införandet av en ny redovisningsrekommendation för svenska organisationer. Med denna studie vill vi fylla den kunskapslucka som finns inom forskningsområdet redovisningsimplementering. Problemformulering: Vilka är kostnaderna för organisationer vid implementering av en redovisningsrekommendation och vad förklarar dessa kostnader? Syfte: Syftet med studien är att identifiera de kostnader som uppstår i samband med att en ny redovisningsrekommendation implementeras i organisationer. Vi vill åskådliggöra vilka de faktorer är som resulterar i de identifierade kostnaderna i samband med implementeringen. Metod: I vår kvantitativa studie har vi haft en deduktiv forskningsansats och använt oss av en teori som handlar om organisationsförändring. Denna teori har vi i ett senare skede applicerat på förändring i form av redovisningsimplementering i organisationer. Utifrån den befintliga teorin och våra egna antaganden har vi utformat hypoteser. Dessa har vi testat empiriskt med hjälp av två enkätundersökningar till bostadsrättsföreningars styrelse och till anställda på förvaltningsföretag. Datamaterialet från de båda enkätundersökningarna har utgjort grunden för vidare analys. Resultat och slutsats: Efter genomförda statistiska tester kan vi konstatera att det har skapats kostnader i samband med att en ny redovisningsrekommendation implementerats i bostadsrättsföreningar och i förvaltningsföretagen som upprättar redovisning åt föreningarna. För förvaltningsföretagens del tenderar antalet övertidstimmar att vara fler vid införandet av en mer avancerad redovisningsrekommendation. För styrelsernas del tenderar kostnad i form av utbildningstimmar och behovet av redovisningstjänster att öka vid införandet av en mer avancerad redovisningsrekommendation. Kostnad i form av arbetsbelastning tenderar att öka för de bostadsrättsföreningar som upprättar sin redovisning själva enligt en avancerad redovisningsrekommendation. Vi har även identifierat en kostnad i form av motstånd hos både bostadsrättsföreningarnas styrelse och hos förvaltningsföretagen till införandet av K-regelverket generellt. Motståndet tenderar även att vara mindre i äldre bostadsrättsföreningar. / Background: On the 1st January 2014 it became mandatory for smaller enterprises and economic associations to apply the Swedish generally accepted accounting principles, either with K2 or K3. For this reason, it is of current interest to examine and identify the costs organizations may face in connection with the implementation of a new accounting standard. There has been a debate in the media regarding whether or not the accounting standard is suitable for economic associations. Therefore, it becomes particularly interesting and urgent to study this unique type of organization. According to our review of earlier research, there are no illuminating studies regarding the cost aspect of implementation of a new GAAP in Swedish organizations. Thus, we aim to fill this gap in the research area of implementation of GAAP. Problem: What are the costs for organizations in the implementation of a GAAP and what explains these costs? Purpose: The purpose is to identify the costs of the implementation of a new GAAP of Swedish firms. We aim to illustrate which driving forces result in the identified costs of implementation. Methods: In our quantitative study, we apply deductive reasoning and have used a theory that deals with organizational change. Subsequently, we have applied an accepted theory in terms of implementary alterations in organizational accounting. Based on this existing theory and our own extrapolations, we have formed hypotheses. We have tested these hypotheses empirically by using two questionnaires sent to board members of economic associations and employees at companies who are managing the accounting for the economic associations, respectively. The data sets from both questionnaires have been the basis for further analysis. Result and conclusions: After completed statistical tests, we can state that there have been additional costs with the implementation of new GAAP in economic associations and at companies who are managing the accounting for the economic associations. In the case of companies who are managing the accounting for the economic associations, the costs of overtime hours tend to be more in connection with the implementation of a more complicated accounting standard. As for the board members, the costs of education hours and need for accounting services tend to increase with implementation a more complicated accounting standard. The cost in terms of an increased workload tends to increase for the board members who are managing the accounting. Additionally, we have identified cost in terms of resistance to implementation of the accounting standard in general for both economic associations and companies who are managing the accounting for these. The cost of resistance tends to be smaller in older economic associations.

Syftet med offentlig upphandling är att konkurrensutsätta marknader och skapa bästa möjligaaffär för de offentliga medel som den upphandlande myndigheten har till sitt förfogande.Offentlig upphandling ska ske med långsiktigt perspektiv och det finns verktyg för att tillse attett långsiktigt synsätt erhålls. Ett av dessa verktyg är livscykelkostnader (LCC) som beaktaren produkts anskaffning, ägande och avveckling. En produkt som har ett högtanskaffningsvärde men låga framtida kostnader, kan bli det mest kostnadseffektiva inköpet.LCC används för att göra en ekonomisk värdering av olika investeringsalternativ,diskonterade över produktens livslängd. Livscykelkostnader är ett synsätt som utforskar deolika investeringsalternativen och används aktivt för att föra en dialog mellan aktörerna iupphandlingsprocessen. Användningen av livscykelkostnader, kan antas vara till god hjälp för beslutsfattarna i vattenoch avloppsbranschen (VA) om de vill ta långsiktigt korrekta beslut. Problematiken är attingen har kartlagt hur ett livscykelkostnadsverktyg påverkar beslutsprocessen i offentligaupphandlingar inom VA-branschen och om det ger beställaren ett tydligt beslutsstöd. Dennastudie syftade därför att ta reda på hur livscykelkostnader används i praktiken och hur enanalys av livscykelkostnader bättre kan stödja beslutsprocessen för offentliga upphandlingarinom VA. Studien syftade även till att ta reda på hur ett livscykelkostnadsverktyg bör varautformat, genom att ge förslag på förutsättningar som måste tas hänsyn till. Detta examensarbete har utförts på uppdrag av Vattenreningsindustrins mötesplats (VARIM).En kvalitativ intervjustudie genomfördes, uppdelad i två faser, med 27 stycken intervjuer somgav upphov till ett rikt material. Intervjupersonerna hade fem olika aktörsroller: beställare,upphandlare, brukare, konsult och anbudsgivare. Studien avgränsades till att endast undersökafyra kommuntyper: storstäder, större städer, varuproducerande kommuner ochglesbygdskommuner. Resultatet från datainsamlingen analyserades med utgångspunkt i teorinfrån litteraturstudien. Resultaten visar att det finns ett stort behov av att använda livscykelkostnader iVA-upphandlingar. Det finns även stor potential för LCC-användande då majoriteten avintervjupersonerna ställde sig positiva till användandet av LCC, primärt vid upphandling avenergiförbrukande produkter eller processer. En stor resursskillnad identifierades mellanmindre beställare och större beställare, vilket resulterar i att de mindre beställarna inteanvänder livscykelkostnader som ett tilldelningskriterium. Resultaten pekar på attanvändningen av livscykelkostnader bidrar till ökad transparens i upphandlingsprocessen ochleder därför till en mindre risk för överprövning. Uppföljning av livscykelkostnader i kontraktär ett av de svåraste problemen visar studien. / The purpose of public procurement is to create competitive markets and generate the bestpossible deal for the contracting authority. Public procurement should aim for long-termperspective, and there are tools to ensure that a long-term view is obtained. One tool is lifecycle costs (LCC), where product acquisition, ownership and settlement are considered. Aproduct that has a high investment cost but low operating costs, may be the most costeffectivepurchase. LCC is used to achieve an economic evaluation of different investmentoptions, discounted over the lifetime of the product. Life-cycle costing is an approach thatexplores the various investment options and is used to as a basis of discussion by theparticipants in the procurement process. The use of life-cycle costs, are expected to be useful for decision makers in the water andwastewater industry if they want to take long-term correct decisions. The problem is that noone has studied how a life cycle cost tool affects the decision-making process in publicprocurement within the water and wastewater industry and if it gives the client a gooddecision making basis. This study therefore aimed to find out how life cycle costs are used inpractice and how these can be used in practice, as an aid in the decision making process forwater and wastewater procurements. The study also aimed to find out how a life cycle costtool should be designed, by giving suggestions on conditions that must be taken into account. This thesis has been carried out on behalf of The meeting place for the industry in watertreatment (VARIM), with the aim to investigate the procurement process within the water andwastewater trade. It also studies how life cycle costs are used in the process. The study wascarried out in two steps, consisting of qualitative interviews, 27 individual interviews gaverise to a rich material, which was subject to further analysis. The interviewees had fivedifferent roles in the procurement process: client, purchaser, user, consultant and bidder. Thestudy was limited to investigating four types of municipalities: large cities, major cities,manufacturing municipalities and rural municipalities. The results from the interviews wereanalyzed based on theory from the literature study, the results from the data collection wereanalyzed. The results show that life-cycle costs in water and wastewater procurement are needed. Thereis also great potential for LCC as the majority of respondents were in favor of the use of LCC,primarily in the procurement of energy-using products or processes. A great difference inaccess to resources was identified between smaller clients and major clients, resulting in thesmaller clients not using life-cycle costs as a criterion. Also the results indicate that the use oflife cycle costs contributes to greater transparency in the procurement process and thereforedecreases risk of appeals. The study shows that follow up of life cycle cost in a contract is oneof the most difficult problems in procurement.

This study used the Andersen Model for Health Services Utilization to examine a pharmacist-provided telephone MTM program among Medicare Part D beneficiaries. Predisposing (age, gender, race) and need factors (number of medications, number of chronic diseases, medication regimen complexity) were assessed. The health behavior, MTM utilization, distinguished the intervention and control groups. The health outcomes were change in number of medication-related problems, change in medication adherence [using the medication possession ratio (MPR)], and change in total drug costs. Medication knowledge, medication adherence (using the Morisky Scale), and patient satisfaction were also measured in the intervention group. The intervention and control groups were not significantly different in age (71.2 ± 7.5 vs. 73.9 ± 8.0 years), number of medications (13.0 ± 3.2 vs. 13.2 ± 3.4), number of chronic diseases (6.5 ± 2.3 vs. 7.0 ± 2.1), and medication regimen complexity [21.5 (range 8 – 43) vs. 22.8 (range 9 – 42.5)], respectively. For the subset of problems that was evaluated in the intervention and control groups, 4.8 (± 2.7) and 9.2 (± 2.9) problems were identified at baseline and 2.7 (± 2.3) and 8.6 (± 2.9) problems remained at the 3-month follow-up, respectively. Cost-related and preventative care needs and drug-drug interactions were the three most common problems identified. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the intervention group had significantly more problems resolved (p < 0.0001) when compared to the control group, while controlling for predisposing and need factors. Significantly fewer problems were resolved (p = 0.01) as number of diseases increased and significantly more problems were resolved (p = 0.01) as medication regimen complexity increased. There were no significant predictors of change in MPR or total drug costs from baseline to the 3-month follow-up. Medication knowledge and medication adherence measured by the Morisky scale did not change significantly from baseline to the 2-week follow-up. However, patients were very satisfied with the service. A pharmacist-provided telephone MTM program was an effective method for identifying and resolving medication and health-related problems. A longer follow-up period may be necessary to detect the impact of pharmacist provision of MTM on adherence, total drug costs, and knowledge. / text

Modern rendering systems require fast and efficient acceleration structures in order to compute visibility in real time. I present several novel data structures and algorithms for computing visibility with high performance. In particular, I present two algorithms for improving heuristic based acceleration structure build. These algorithms, when used in a demand driven way, have been shown to improve build performance by up to two orders of magnitude. Additionally, I introduce ray tracing in perspective transformed space. I demonstrate that ray tracing in this space can significantly improve visibility performance for near-common origin rays such as eye and shadow rays. I use these data structures and algorithms to support a key hypothesis of this dissertation: “There is no silver bullet for solving the visibility problem; many different acceleration structures will be required to achieve the highest performance.” Specialized acceleration structures provide significantly better performance than generic ones and building many specialized structures requires high performance build techniques. Additionally, I present an optimization-based taxonomy for classifying acceleration structures and algorithms in order to identify which optimizations provide the largest improvement in performance. This taxonomy also provides context for the algorithms I present. Finally, I present several novel cost metrics (and a correction to an existing cost metric) to improve visibility performance when using metric based acceleration structures. / text

Back pain is the 6th most costly condition in the United States and is responsible for the most workdays lost. Approximately 33 million American adults suffered from back and neck problems in 2005. The societal cost of chronic back pain (CBP) has not been calculated from a US perspective. Longitudinal data files from Panels 12, 13, and 14 of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) were used to estimate excess direct (ambulatory visits, inpatient admissions, emergency room visits, and prescription medication) costs and indirect (lost productivity) costs for persons 18 years and older reporting CBP compared to those not reporting back pain. Persons were included in the CBP group if they reported back pain (ICD-9-CM codes 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 737, 805, 806, 839, 846, 847) in at least 3 consecutive interview rounds. The complex sampling design of MEPS was taken into account to get accurate national estimates. All costs were adjusted to 2011 using Consumer Price Indices. All mean costs were computed using age-stratified regression models, after adjusting for demographic and clinical covariates. Utilization of provider-based complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among CBP patients was studied, and differences in costs between CAM users and non-users examined. Based on this analysis, the prevalence of CBP in the adult US population was estimated to be 3.76%. Total all-cause costs for CBP patients were estimated to be $187 billion over 2 years (direct costs = $176 billion, indirect cost = $11 billion). Overall estimates of excess costs of CBP over 2 years per person for direct medical costs were $37,129 ($25,273 vs. $48,984; p<0.001). This breaks down to $11,711 ($14,929 vs. $3,219; p<0.001) for ambulatory visits; $3,560 ($6,514 vs. $2,914; p<0.001) for inpatient admissions; $300 ($690 vs. $390; p<0.001) for emergency department visits; and $19,849 ($23,873 vs. $4,024; p<0.001) for prescription medications. Excess indirect costs for CBP patients were $1,668 ($2,329 vs. $661; p<0.001). Thirty-seven percent of CBP patients reported at least one CAM visit. There was no significant difference in overall costs between CAM users and non-users. The high cost of chronic back pain in the US population has potential implications for prioritizing policy, and in attempting to improve care and outcomes for these patients. / text

I examine the informational efficiency of stock markets by testing the relation between idiosyncratic volatility and equity mispricing. I find that the level of mispricing declines with idiosyncratic volatility consistent with the notion that greater levels of firm-specific risk reflect greater participation of informed traders in the market for the stock. However, I also find that mispricing increases with idiosyncratic volatility for highly volatile stocks, and this is attributed to both noise trading and arbitrage risk. In addition, I investigate the link between agency costs and equity mispricing, and whether it exists due to information asymmetry or the degree of conflict of interests between managers and shareholders. I provide evidence that the level of agency costs is positively related with mispricing. In contrast to previous studies' claim that the information asymmetry level is a key determinant in the equity mispricing, I find that the conflict of interests is more important than information asymmetry in explaining equity mispricing. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that stock option grants, originally intended to resolve conflicts of interests, actually exaggerate this problem.

This dissertation investigates transportation subsidies as sources of urban sprawl. Apart from tolls, motorists do not pay highway user-fees, but they do pay gasoline taxes. Gasoline tax revenues are insufficient to cover the U.S. highway costs. Government, therefore, uses general tax revenues to cover highway expenditures. Since users do not pay the full cost of their travel, they have an incentive to travel longer commuting distances. Highway subsidies are, therefore, a potential contributor to urban sprawl. A similar argument applies to public transit. To capture the effects of subsidized automobile and public transit travel, we ex-tend the standard urban spatial single-mode model (Brueckner, 1987) to incorporate public subsidies for both one and two modes. Comparative static analysis of both models produces empirically testable hypotheses. Our most important theoretical result is that transit subsidies are inversely related to urban sprawl while auto subsidies are directly related to urban sprawl. The empirical analysis focuses on tests of the two-mode model. For consistency with the monocentric assumption of our models, our sample consists of urbanized areas located within a single county and having only one central city. Spatial size of the urbanized area is the dependent variable. Following our theory, explanatory variables comprise the transit subsidy, the highway subsidy, number of households, agricultural land rent, mean household income, and fixed and variable costs for transit and auto. We find that the spatial size of the urbanized area shrinks with an increase in the transit subsidy. The effect of highway subsidies, however, is ambiguous. We apply both ordinary least squares and two-stage least square regression analyses, and the results are qualitatively the same for both methods of estimation.

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Male reproductive success in many mammals depends on their ability to allocate sufficient energetic resources to mating competition. Such costs are particularly pronounced in species with high levels of sexual body dimorphism, intense polygyny and distinct breeding seasons. I tested the hypothesis that male reproductive effort incurs significant energetic costs in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), a species with moderate sexual dimorphism, promiscuous mating and lack of breeding seasonality. My field studies combined behavioral observations on male chimpanzee behavior with non-invasive sampling of urinary C-peptide (UCP). UCP is a biomarker of insulin production that indexes individual energy balance. This dissertation contributes to the understanding of UCP as an energy assay by (1) validating the application of UCP for assessing dietary quality in bonobos (Pan paniscus) at Kokolopori, DRC and (2) providing a detailed assessment of diurnal variation in UCP levels in relation to short-term changes in food intake in chimpanzees at Kanyawara, Kibale NP, Uganda. I used UCP measurements in conjunction with full-day focal observations of male chimpanzees to assess the energetic costs of male-male competition for status and mating opportunities. Data on feeding time and rates of aggression suggested that males experience a reduction in energy intake and an increase in energy expenditure when highly attractive parous females were in estrus. UCP data supported these conclusions because males had lower UCP levels on mating days, and rates of aggression were negatively associated with UCP levels. Mean daily party size was also associated with low UCP levels, controlling for the presence of estrous females. Habitat-wide availability of preferred fruits was positively associated with male rates of aggression suggesting that energy availability mediates male investment towards energetically costly competitive behaviors. Contrary to expectations males who were most successful in obtaining copulations (high-ranking males) did not suffer higher energetic costs than lower-ranking males during periods of mating competition. Costs or reproductive effort include both direct competition for matings and long-term competition over social status. Maintenance of social rank over long periods appears to be particularly important in this slow-reproducing, long-lived and nonseasonally breeding primate. / Human Evolutionary Biology