This dissertation studies three public transit operations control strategies with automatic vehicle location (AVL) data available. Specifically, holding control, stop-skipping control and vehicle dispatching with swapping are investigated. Moreover, AVL data from Tucson, Arizona are employed to investigate the methodologies for deriving vehicle operating parameters.The problem of holding vehicles at multiple holding stations can be modeled as a convex mathematical programming problem which can be solved to near optimality by a proposed heuristic. A simulation study on the holding problem suggests that holding control based on the proposed problem formulation can effectively reduce the total passenger cost. Also, multiple holding stations may offer more opportunities to regularize vehicle headways so that holding vehicles at multiple stations can further reduce the passenger cost compared to holding vehicles only at a single station.Stop-skipping is investigated to respond more rapidly to vehicle disruptions occurring in the middle of a route. Based on a preliminary analysis of the basic stop-skipping policy, a policy alternative is constructed. The stop-skipping strategy is formulated separately for both policies as a nonlinear integer programming problem. The problem solution relies on an exhaustive search method. Another simulation study is conducted to examine how the performance of the two policies change with the passenger distribution pattern, the vehicle disruption location and length, and the vehicle travel time variability. The simulation result suggests selective superiority of the two policies.The vehicle dispatching problem investigates the potential of integrating real-time swapping into the vehicle dispatching strategies at a transit transfer terminal. With a hypothetical study design, simulation is employed again to evaluate the significance of real-time swapping by comparing the performance of a swapping-holding combined strategy with the holding-only strategy. A sensitivity analysis is also employed to compare these two strategies among key transit operating factors.Finally, using three different understandings (assumptions) of vehicle operating behavior, regression methods are proposed for using AVL data to derive the vehicle running speeds and passenger boarding rates, which serve as inputs to the operations control models. The regression results show that the day-specific operating behavior may not be appropriate, and that operating behavior combining both trip-specific and day-specific effects seems to be slightly superior to the trip-specific behavior overall.

In leadership development, an established literature and a fertile praxis fall short of clarifying how individuals may develop the many and varied capabilities that contribute to leadership processes. Literature promoting personal growth tends to reduce personal development to cognitive development or rely on broadly defined and under-evidenced notions. The adult development literature offers to this research a conceptualization of personal development as systemic qualitative change in individual sensemaking. As sensemaking develops, it progresses toward greater integration (of interdependent cognitive, emotive, purposive, and conative dimensions), sophistication, and self-determination. The research aimed to examine how changes in the sensemaking of individuals may result in developmental outcomes relevant for personal and leadership development. This inquiry moves from a perspective idealist ontology and a social constructivist epistemology, selects philosophical hermeneutics as a research paradigm, and embraces exploratory qualitative longitudinal research. Purposive sampling guided the selection of research context, a leadership program focused on personal growth. Transcripts from 32 semi-structured constructivist-phenomenological interviews, collected from nine participants across fourteen months, were analyzed through constructivist grounded theory. Development was assessed ipsatively according to a literature-based framework. Contributions, in terms of substantive theory, are not generalizable beyond research context and sample. This research advances the differentiation of developmental context, process and outcomes. Context is found to transcend holding environment—to be ideally conducive to a specific type of change in virtue of a distinctive emerging quality. While vector processes facilitate development, core processes (individual sensemaking) are development. In terms of outcomes, the research supports an association between personal development and development of leadership capabilities, but questions whether self-awareness or personality adjustments per se constitute authentic personal or leadership development. This research exposes a pattern of seeking affirmation, associated with disproportionate identity salience of external image, which is potentially capable of hindering personal development by triggering maladaptive rather than adaptive self-reflection.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate active stable systems, and their improvement of the horses on animal welfare and the horses’, natural behavior. The evaluation was made through interviews with the managers of two active stables in Piteå, Sweden and practical studies of the horses’ behavior at those two active stables and also one traditional stable. The results showed that the horse’s circadian rhythm differed between the various groups. The horses that were kept in the active stable systems rested and foraged spread over day and night while horses kept in the traditional stable mainly rested at night and ate during the day. The horses get better outlet for their natural behavior in the active stable system because the need of movement and socializing were met around the clock. Keeping horses in the active stable system, however, is associated with a risk of injury because of the competitive situations that occur around the feeding stations, and trauma injuries have occurred in both active stables in this study.

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Most studies view transaction costs and constraints separate in the mean-variance framework. As such, I evaluate the benefits of holding and turnover constraints in the presence of transaction costs on Swedish Asset Returns. In theory, the benefits should be limited when transaction costs are included in the portfolio rebalancing problem. By using the model developed by Mitchell and Braun (2003), my results indicate that there are benefits of holding constraints in the mean-variance optimization. The main issue with the long-only portfolio is its lack of diversification. The strategy allocates the majority of the investment in 15 out of 100 assets. By imposing holding constraints, the portfolio becomes more diversified while reducing turnover volume and increasing Sharpe ratio. I find that the homogenous 1/N holding constraint increases monthly Sharpe ratio performance by 50 percent over the entire sample. However, the results are not consistent over all samples and not statistically significant. Further, turnover constraints only marginally increase performance, which more likely originates from the increase in diversification.

There has been an increasing interest in the finance literature regarding the impact of transactions costs on US equity markets. The US empirical evidence indicates that transactions costs influence both trading volume (Atkins and Dyl (1997)) and asset returns (Amihud and Mendelson (1986)). Additionally, the theoretical finance literature also indicates that transactions costs affect equilibrium asset returns (Fisher (1994)). In this thesis we assess the impact of transactions costs on the UK equity markets, from four aspects. Firstly, we provide empirical support to the hypothesis that transactions costs affect the "holding period" of an asset in the portfolio of an investor. Secondly, we provide robust results showing that transactions costs affect equilibrium asset returns. Thirdly, we explain the variability of transactions costs with the use of information asymmetry, proxied by the variance of analysts' forecasts, in the spirit of Kim and Verrecchia (1994, 2001). Finally, we find that stock price and trading volume reaction to changes in the FTSE 100 list can be explained by liquidity effects, as proxied by the bid-ask spread. We provide overwhelming evidence, suggesting that transactions costs are important in UK equity markets.

Chicken dark meat has been considered as a major underutilized commodity due to the increasing demand for further processed breast meat products. Alkali aided protein extraction is an option to increase the utilization of chicken dark meat. First, the effect of pH (10.5-12.0) on alkaline extraction of chicken dark meat has been studied, and protein yield, composition, color, and TBARs of the extracted meat have been determined. Second, textural and rheological properties and water holding capacity (WHC) of alkali extracted chicken dark meat have been evaluated. The highest protein yield (94.2%) was obtained at pH 12.0. Lipid content of the extracted meat decreased by 50% compared to chicken dark meat. WHC, hardness and chewiness of extracted meat were greater at higher pH. The gel from recovered meat with added cryoprotectants showed more stability. This process may offer the possibility to use the underutilized poultry resources for preparation of functional foods. / Food Science and Technology

目前，許多跨國企業為了避免被課予重稅，紛紛於免稅天堂設立紙上公司，以使利潤留在較低稅率之國家，以節省稅賦。各國稅務機關對於此一問題，紛紛規定移轉訂價準則，以規範該稅收管轄權區域內之企業，以避免企業從事不合常規交易，影響稅收。 我國於93年12月28日發布營利事業所得稅不合常規移轉訂價查核準則，在在都顯示我國對於此一移轉訂價問題之重視，又金融控股公司制度已施行有三年之久，本研究擬針對金融控股公司內部，及金融控股公司與外部關係企業之移轉訂價政策進行研究。 研究結果發現國泰金控公司與外部關係企業、外部關係人之交易，分為有形資產移轉及使用、無形資產移轉及使用、資金使用，均採市價計算。合於OECD規定之可比較非受控制價格法 (CUP)及我國營利事業所得稅不合常規移轉訂價查核準則第五條規定之可比較未受控價格法。 另外，國泰金控母公司與金控子公司間之垂直交易，與金控子公司間之交易亦是採市價作計算。有關國泰金控內部跨售之行為，則是採取給付佣金之方式。然而，此一跨售之行為，應由銀行計算出投入各項銷售之成本，再將各銷售成本納入該當之子公司損益表項下，以充份反映銷壽產險之總成本，以檢視其金控集團是否有達其成本節省之綜效。若未來國內金控集團勢布局亞太地區或是全球，則金控公司不能忽視此一移轉訂價問題，必須準備移轉訂價報告，或是與各國之稅務機關簽訂預先訂價協議，避免重覆課稅。 / Nowadays, many multinational enterprises set up paper companies in the tax heaven, then they can increase income of the paper company. Because tax heaven impose lower tax rate or nil tax rate, they can reduce tax expenses. Many countries had set up transfer pricing regulation to avoid the companies have non-arm’s length transaction. We had issued transfer pricing regulation in Dec. 28, 2004 in Taiwan, and the financial holding company law had come into force for 3 years. The research make a study of transfer pricing policy of the intra-holding company and transfer pricing policy between holding company and related parties. The results of the research are that transaction prices between Cathay Holding Company and the related parties are according with the market prices, and this fit in with the comparable uncontrolled price method. In addition, transaction prices within the intra-holding company are according with the market prices, too. The cross selling between bank and insurance company, the insurance company will give bank appropriate commission fees. But bank should calculate the cost to sell the insurance, then the insurance company can summarize the total cost of selling insurance, to see that if they had achieve the goal of synergetic benefits. If the financial holding companies had become a world-wide companies, they should pay much attention to transfer pricing issue to avoid double taxation.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2004. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.