This article presents an econometric analysis of the maintenance costs for the Austrian railway system. The data contain observations of track maintenance costs from 1998 to 2000. Our analysis identifies the cost driving factors in order to determine estimates of marginal costs, as required by the infrastructure provision principles of the European Union. The analysis identifies the variables "track length" and "transported gross-tons" as the principal cost determinants. Furthermore, we observe that total costs as well as marginal costs increase with (i) a high proportion of the track occupied by train stations, (ii) the number of switches within a track, (iii) narrow bends, and (iv) considerable slopes. Moreover average as well as marginal costs for secondary lines are significantly higher than for main lines. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

In recent years, there has been much debate regarding the rationality of consumption and cost effectiveness of antidepressants. The economic aspects of treating depression are becoming more frequently evaluated as newer antidepressants become available and as healthcare entities attempt to address increasing costs. The aim of the research. To investigate and assess the possibilities of a more rational use of the public and private funds of the Lithuanian population in the cases of medicament depression treatment. The tasks of the research: 1. To perform a comparative analysis of the antidepressant consumption in the years 2004 to 2009 in Lithuania. 2. To evaluate depression diagnosis and treatment effectiveness and depression diagnosis dynamics in Lithuania from 2004 to 2009. 3. To perform antidepressant cost analysis from 2004 to 2009 in Lithuania. 4. To perform the cost-effectiveness analysis of depression treatment and propose the possible ways for costs rationalization. Scientific novelty of the research. For the first time, depression relapse rate was used as a medicament depression treatment effectiveness evaluation indicator in assessing the rationality of the costs of treatment with antidepressants. The survey data can be used in practice when dealing with antidepressants consumption and the improvement of the effectiveness of evaluation and reimbursement systems in Lithuania. / Pastaraisiais metais kyla daug diskusijų dėl antidepresantų panaudojimo racionalumo bei sąnaudų efektyvumo. Rinkoje atsirandant naujiems antidepresantams vis dažniau analizuojami ekonominiai depresijos gydymo aspektai, o sveikatos priežiūros sektoriaus valdymo institucijos bando spręsti išlaidų didėjimo problemą. Darbo tikslas. Ištirti ir įvertinti galimybes racionaliau naudoti viešąsias ir privačias Lietuvos gyventojų lėšas vaistams, skiriamiems medikamentiniam depresijos atvejų gydymui. Darbo uždaviniai. 1. Atlikti lyginamąją antidepresantų sunaudojimo 2004–2009 m. Lietuvoje analizę. 2. Įvertinti depresijos diagnozavimo ir gydymo efektyvumą bei depresijos diagnozavimo dinamiką Lietuvoje 2004–2009 m. 3. Atlikti išlaidų antidepresantams per 2004–2009 m. Lietuvoje analizę. 4. Atlikti depresijos gydymo sąnaudų efektyvumo analizę ir pateikti galimus išlaidų racionalizavimo būdus. Darbo mokslinis naujumas ir praktinė reikšmė. Vertinant gydymo antidepresantais išlaidų racionalumą, pirmą kartą kaip medikamentinio depresijos atvejų efektyvaus gydymo vertinimo indikatorius buvo panaudotas depresijos pasikartojimo rodiklis. Tyrimo rezultatai gali būti naudojami praktikoje, nagrinėjant antidepresantų panaudojimą, sąnaudų efektyvumo vertinimą ir kompensavimo sistemos tobulinimą Lietuvoje.

Aquatic organisms in response to toxic insults from environmental pollutants activate defence systems including the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in an attempt to metabolize and excrete these toxicants and their metabolites. These detoxification mechanisms however may come with certain energetic costs. I hypothesize that the activation of the AhR by β-Naphthoflavone (β-NF), a model AhR agonist, results in increased energetic costs requiring metabolic reorganization in rainbow trout hepatocytes. While the results obtained suggest that there are no significant energetic costs of AhR activation, analysis of enzyme activities suggests possible metabolic reorganization. This study also showed significant changes in cellular processes in hepatocytes over the incubation periods which previously were not reported. Furthermore, for the first time in fish hepatocytes, metabolic flux analysis (MFA) was used to examine intra-cellular metabolism, the applicability of which is discussed.

This book deals with the inner life of the capitalist firm. There we find numerous conflicts, the most important of which concerns the individual employment relationship which is understood as a principal-agent problem between the manager, the principal, who issues orders that are to be followed by the employee, the agent. Whereas economic theory traditionally analyses this relationship from a (normative) perspective of the firm in order to support the manager in finding ways to influence the behavior of the employees, such that the latter – ideally – act on behalf of their superior, this book takes a neutral stance. It focusses on explaining individual behavioral patterns and the resulting interactions between the actors in the firm by taking sociological, institutional, and above all, psychological research into consideration. In doing so, insights are gained which challenge many assertions economists take for granted.

The purpose of this thesis is finding out whether offering an Online STPS Graduate Program with a tuition fee is feasible or not. Firstly, definition and brief history of distance education is given. Secondly, distance education applications in the world and in Turkey are studied. The main part of the thesis is the cost analysis made about the online delivery of STPS Graduate Program. The cost items of offering an online course are determined and then specific cost values are assigned to these items. By determining the cost items and related cost values, course development cost is calculated. In the course development cost calculation, fixed and variable costs are seperated. Fixed cost are the set-up costs that do not depend on any variable. Variable costs on the other hand are the costs that change with the number of students attending to the online course. A specific price value ( 100$ ) is assigned as the tuition fee for one credit hour of an online course. At the end of the cost analysis, the number of students required to meet the total cost of an online course is calculated. In addition, a questionnaire made on STPS students by STPS department is used in the thesis. The results of the questionnaire and the cost analysis are combined in order to analyze the feasibility of offering an online STPS Graduate Program.

This thesis is about software project scheduling and use of earned value method on software projects. As a result of the study, a solution for software project scheduling problems is proposed. A mathematical formulation, developed using integer programming method, is at the heart of the solution. Objective of the formulation is to minimize the development costs consisting of direct labor cost, indirect costs and probable penalty costs. The formulation takes the capability and compatibility variances among resources into account whereas contemporary approaches mostly focus on resource availability. Formulation is of type discrete time and takes the time span to be searched as input. Therefore a heuristic approach has been developed for providing time span input to the models developed using the formulation. The heuristic approach has been proven to be calculating a time span that does not hinder achieving the absolute optimum schedule and shortens the solution time of the integer programs. The heuristic approach and problem formulation have been incorporated into a computer program that generates integer programs and heuristic solutions. This thesis also describes a method for preparing an earned value plan, based on the scheduling solution defined. The method aims to help project managers in determining the status of their projects and deciding whether any corrective action is required or not. Besides the method, approaches for incorporating indirect costs and penalty costs, which are not explicitly discussed in literature, into final cost estimation have been described.

This quantitative study aims to contribute to the understanding of how increasing educational costs on the Swedish market for upper secondary schools can be explained. With insights from previous research, a multiple regression analysis is performed to answer if competition implicates economic efficiency, why are upper secondary school costs for municipalities increasing along with increasing competition on the Swedish school market? Data on municipality-level was collected for the period of 2000-2011 and the results show that increasing educational costs are explained by increasing competition. In addition, increasing pupils’ change of school and/or program, and increasing overcapacity are statistically significant predictors of increasing educational costs. Furthermore, this study contributes to previous research as it takes an extended view of competition and demonstrates that is well founded when evaluating the effect of competition on educational costs. In addition, the results indicates that there are additional aspects to address namely, that competition affects costs indirectly by creating more complex competitive conditions with regards to education providers’ possibility to plan and set dimensions of their operations.

Retail centres are a visible sign of developed capitalist societies and make an appreciable contribution to these economies. For the firms involved in supplying air conditioning maintenance to retail centres, governance structures (that incorporate the make-or-buy decision and the decision concerning the nature of the exchange relationship) are fundamental business decisions. The absence of literature in this area creates a research opportunity to undertake a theoretical and empirical investigation into the determinants of the governance of air conditioning maintenance in Australian retail centres. The research objectives revolve around a microeconomic theory (Transaction Cost Economics) and two related theories – one from strategic management (Resource-Based Theory) and one from a power-based perspective (Resource Dependency Theory). In terms of the make-or-buy decision, an integrative framework of vertical integration is developed that aims to create a clearer understanding of the conditions under which Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and Resource-Based Theory (RBT) are dominant. This approach is encouraged by the similarity of the assumptions made in TCE and RBT concerning rationality and which envisage a short term approach to profits. If a wider view is taken, that includes supply chains in which firms take a longer term approach to profits, then Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) can also be considered as a complementary theory to TCE. In order to test TCE on the issue of the nature of the exchange relationship, TCE's contractual schema is developed, along with a new type of asset specificity (Ongoing Asset Specificity). Case studies and a nationwide postal survey are used to collect data from multiple sources, comprising 51 interviews, the collection of documentary information, as well as 18 completed case study questionnaires and 205 useable survey questionnaires. Multiple research methods allow the relative strengths of different methods to be combined to more effectively test the hypotheses. Pattern matching and regression analysis are the main techniques used to analyse the data. The results provide a successful testing of the integrative framework of vertical integration. That is, this framework is shown to be more powerful in accounting for the make-or-buy decisions in the supply chains in this thesis, than the singular deployment of either TCE or RBT. With regard to the nature of the exchange relationship decision, the results also support the development of TCE's contractual schema and Ongoing Asset Specificity. Through the incorporation of these developments, TCE outperforms RDT across all of the internal and external exchanges in the supply chains in this thesis. In total, it is concluded that transaction costs and production costs can both be key determinants of the governance of air conditioning maintenance in the chain that supplies this activity to Australian retail centres. Moreover, and in this chain, upstream exchange relationships are not determined by downstream external exchange relationships. The implications of the results for practice - in more mainstream construction, and concerning the make-or-buy decision, particularly concern trades in close physical and intellectual proximity to the main contractor’s key activity of planning and coordinating site activity. Here, the results indicate that main contractors would benefit from focusing on the possibility of hold-up and not production cost improvements. With respect to external relationships, the results show that even when clients have an ongoing requirement for an activity, a discrete exchange can be both economical and effective. This suggests that calls by some government sponsored reports for all clients buying services from main contractors to seek a relational exchange are not justified. In terms of the firm's internal relationships and upstream external relationships, the evidence from this thesis is that these relationships should not necessarily be determined by the firm’s downstream external relationships. Here, for example, main contractors might not allow their exchanges with their staff and subcontractors to be determined by exchanges with their clients. More specifically, this thesis suggests that main contractors can prosper from developing relational exchanges with their staff, core subcontractors and suppliers despite engaging in discrete and arms-length exchanges with their clients. This finding may encourage main contractors to help move mainstream construction away from any "command and control" image.

This is the first academic study of well costs and drilling times for Australia???s petroleum producing basins, both onshore and offshore. I analyse a substantial database of well times and costs sourced from government databases, industry and over 400 recent well completion reports. Three well phases are studied - Pre-Spud, Drilling and Completion. Relationships between well cost factors are considered, including phase time, phase cost, daily cost, rig day rate, well depth, basin, rig type, water depth, well direction, well objective (e.g. exploration), and type of completion (P&A or producer). Times and costs are analysed using scatter plots, frequency distributions, correlation and regression analyses. Drilling times are analysed for the period 1980 to 2004. Well time and variability in well time tend to increase exponentially with well depth. Technical Limits are defined for both onshore and offshore drilling times to indicate best performance. Well costs are analysed for the period 1996 to 2004. Well costs were relatively stable for this period. Long term increases in daily costs were offset to some extent by reductions in drilling times. Onshore regions studied include the Cooper/Eromanga, Surat/Bowen, Otway and Perth Basins. Offshore regions studied include the Carnarvon Basin shallow and deepwater, the Timor Sea and Victorian Basins. Correlations between regional well cost and well depth are usually high. Well costs are estimated based on well location, well depth, daily costs and type of completion. In 2003, the cost of exploration wells in Australia ranged from A$100,000 for shallow coal seam gas wells in the Surat/Bowen Basins to over A$50 million for the deepwater well Gnarlyknots-1 in the Great Australian Bight. Future well costs are expected to be substantially higher for some regions. This study proposes methods to index historical daily costs to future rig day rates as a means for estimating future well costs. Regional well cost models are particularly useful for the economic evaluation of CO2 storage sites which will require substantial numbers of petroleum-type wells.

Bibliography: leaves 350-383 / xx, 383 leaves : ill ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dept. of Economics, University of Adelaide, 1984