Uppsatsen behandlar begagnade livförsäkringar och de implikationer som dessa kan komma att innebära för den svenska livförsäkringsmarknaden i framtiden. Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera vinsterna och riskerna med marknaden för begagnade livförsäkringar i Sverige och utifrån detta resultat utvärdera vad reglerare av marknaden måste betänka. I uppsatsen avses med livförsäkringar enbart livförsäkringar med dödsfallsbelopp. Vi visar på hur livförsäkringar traditionellt är uppbyggda och hur livförsäkringspremiernas storlek bestäms. En bakgrund ges till den svenska försäkringsmarknaden och dess grundläggande principer samt den förändring som branschen genomgår och hur denna kan tänkas resultera i att ett större intresse för handel med livförsäkringar uppstår för både försäkrade och investerare. En jämförelse görs med den amerikanska livförsäkringsmarknaden för att få en uppfattning om riktningen som marknadskrafter kan tänkas föra en oreglerad marknad mot. Handeln med begagnade livförsäkringar är där väl utbredd och debatten kring dess konsekvenser för individer och livförsäkringsbranschen är omfattande. Uppsatsen finner att andrahandsmarknaden gör att livförsäkringar som redan tecknats blir en ren finansiell tillgång och att klassiska marknadsinslag som värdepapperisering är en tänkbar utveckling. Situationen i USA visar också att tillåtande av en andrahandsmarknad riskerar att leda till att livförsäkringar tecknas även för individer som inte utnyttjar dessa ur trygghetssynpunkt. Studien utnyttjar amerikansk forskning på området som underlag för vidare diskussion för andrahandsmarknadens konsekvenser. Hälsoförändringars påverkan på det förväntade värdet av ett livförsäkringskontrakt analyseras och de situationer där en försäljning av livförsäkringskontrakt är lönsam för den försäkrade och investerare diskuteras. Uppsatsen tar upp anledningar till att information kan fördelas asymmetriskt mellan aktörer och analyserar vilka konsekvenser detta kan få. Vi finner att bättre kännedom om individens hälsotillstånd leder till större vinster genom andrahandsmarknaden men att aktörer av olika anledningar kan vara förhindrade att utnyttja denna information. Uppsatsen analyserar hur olika aktörer påverkas av andrahandsmarknaden för livförsäkringar. Vi finner att vinnarna är investerare, mellanhänder och de individer som förlorat anledningen att behålla sina livförsäkringskontrakt. Livförsäkringsföretagen förlorar alltid på marknaden. Huruvida försäkringstagarkollektivet som helhet vinner eller förlorar genom andrahandsmarknaden beror på de antaganden som ligger till grund för livförsäkringspremiernas storlek. Marknadens storlek och dess betydelse för transaktionskostnader diskuteras, liksom olika moraliska aspekter av handel med begagnade livförsäkringar. Uppsatsen diskuterar också de samhällsrisker som är förenade med att aktörer kan vinna på individers död. Uppsatsen finner att begagnade livförsäkringar i vissa fall är önskvärt för samhället men att marknaden måste regleras hårt för att förhindra orättvisor och svaga positioner för de försäkrade. Höga kostnader kan uppstå både för reglering och för inhämtande av information för marknadens aktörer. Slutligen lyfter uppsatsen fram ett antal aspekter som reglerare av andrahandsmarknaden för livförsäkringar måste betänka.

The arctic and subarctic regions of Canada are increasingly developing as integral, participating parts of the total Canadian and world scene. Basic to this development in the North are the human, natural physical, and designed or man- made environments. This study is concerned with one aspect of the designed environment: human settlements. On the basis of an evaluation of the existing settlement planning situation, an attempt is made to develop a skeletal, yet consistent, theory and methodology for settlement planning in the Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories. The approach is from a comprehensive point of view, and includes social, economic and physical criteria directly in the planning process. A combined systems-factor analysis technique is experimentally developed as an aid to creativity in the planning process. Preliminary results indicate both an immediate practical use and a good potential for the further development of the approach as a panning tool.

Foundation performance is controlled significantly by the stress-strain behavior of the underlying soils. For geomaterials, the small-strain shear modulus Gmax is a fundamental stiffness applicable to both monotonic static and dynamic loading conditions, as well to both drained and undrained loading. Yet, Gmax is too stiff for direct use in computing foundation displacements. The main objectives of this research are to: (1) explore the scaled parallelism between the stress-strain-strength behavior of the single soil element response and the load-displacement-capacity of a shallow foundation system supported on soil; (2) develop a methodology for evaluating the performance of vertically-loaded footings using a rational framework based on the small-strain modulus Gmax, large-strain strength ( and #964;max or su) and strain at failure ( and #947;f); and (3) calibrate the proposed method using a foundation database of full-scale load tests under both undrained and drained conditions. In geotechnical practice, foundation bearing capacity is handled as a limit plasticity calculation, while footing displacements are evaluated separately via elastic continuum solutions. Herein, a hybrid approach is derived that combines these two facets into a closed-form analytical solution for vertical load-deflection-capacity based on numerical studies. Here, a non-linear elastic-plastic soil model was developed to simulate the stress-strain-strength curves for simple shearing mode (LOGNEP) for each soil element. The model was encoded into a subroutine within the finite difference program FLAC. A large mesh was used to generate load-displacement curves under circular and strip footings for undrained and drained loading conditions. With proper normalization, parametric foundation response curves were generated for a variety of initial stiffnesses, shear strengths, and degrees of non-linearity in the soil stress-strain-strength response. Soil stress-strain non-linearity is described by a logarithmic function (Puzrin and Burland, 1996, 1998) that utilizes a normalized strain xL that relates strain at failure and #947;f, shear strength ( and #964;max or su), and small-strain stiffness Gmax, all having physical meaning. A closed-form algorithm is proposed for generating non-linear load-displacement curves for footings and mats within an equivalent elastic framework. The proposed method was calibrated using a database of well-documented footing load tests where soil input parameters were available from laboratory and/or in-situ field test results.

Past events and present environmental conditions may alter vegetation cover and composition over decadal timescales by exerting persistent effects on modern vegetation patterns and consequently influencing species distribution and abundance. My aim was to reconstruct vegetation and analyze cover during early-European settlement in Brazos County using historical sources, mainly the surveyor’s files from the Original Texas Land Survey. The decoded trees from the surveyor’s notes resulted in 24 witness and bearing tree species being recorded, the most abundant species on the uplands was Post Oak (Quercus stellata) and for bottomlands was Pin Oak (Quercus phellos). Using the distances and directions given in the surveyor’s notes for witness and bearing trees, coordinates were calculated and species classified according to their National Wetland Indicator’ (NWI) status. Indicator kriging was performed to create a continuous vegetation cover of Brazos County by interpolating the point biogeographical data (i.e., witness trees, bearing trees and stake, mound and post locations) that had been spatially located and mapped onto the shapefile. The vegetation map showed 49% of vegetation in the county was covered by grassland during pre-European settlement. Most of these prairie areas were located in the northern portion of the county along the Old San Antonio Road. The bottomland forests covered 15% of Brazos County along the Navasota and Brazos Bottoms. Major expanses of bottomland hardwood occurred in the northwest of the county and at the confluence of the Navasota and Brazos rivers in the south. The Upland Oak Woodlands, mainly dominated by Post Oaks covered 36% of landscape, occurred mainly towards the western and eastern parts of the county and were interspersed with Grasslands. The vegetation map was verified using old photographs, traveler’s accounts and field checking for bottomland hardwoods. This research proves that the OTLS is a valid source for vegetation mapping during Pre-European settlement and for analyzing the tree species present at that time and helps in protecting and conserving our pristine environment at the present time.

No description available.

No description available.

Inaug.-Diss.--Leipzig. / "Diese Arbeit erscheint in gleicher Fassung in den 'Wissenschaftlichen Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Museums für Länderkunde zu Leipzig', N.F.4, Leipzig, 1936." Includes bibliographical references (p. 138-146).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-333).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-256).

This dissertation explores the process of city planning and construction of the Shanghai International Settlement between 1843 and 1937, where the city grew from a low mud bank to the foremost modern metropolis in China. Modern roads provided the basis and the primary engine for the urban transformation. The study investigates the initial modern street network laid out in the nineteenth century, the jurisdictional and administrative dispute between the Chinese and foreign authorities, the competition and negotiation on the boundaries, and the constant redefinition and reconstruction during the first two decades of the twentieth century. In particular, the study explores the formative process of the three most remarkable urban artifacts in the Settlement, namely, the Bund promenade, Nanjing Road, and the parkways of the garden suburb. Through the investigation of the form, meaning and historical influence of the modern road system, the dissertation argues that the modern road system in the International Settlement was not a copy of any existing “Western model.” Designed by British engineers and city planners, most road schemes were progressive in many important ways to solve the pragmatic, administrative, and financial problems at the time, and to realize a “sanitary, orderly, and profitable” urban enclave in the city. The modification of the road schemes through the prolonged social negotiations made roads the physical embodiment of the desires, ideals, and struggles of various social groups—Chinese and foreigners, locals and outsiders, political elite and businessmen—to design and use the urban space. With the emergence of Chinese nationalism in the early twentieth century, the Western-led city planning was decried by the new generation of Chinese politicians and social reformers, and its ideals and practices, successes and failures were gradually forgotten. Rather than describing the social confrontation between the various parties, the dissertation re-construct the historical narrative of Chinese city planning by considering the Western-led city planning as the first wave of modern city planning in China. This preliminary step toward a modern city which was led by Western city planners had an ambivalent yet profound influence on the following decades of city planning led by the Chinese elite: on the one hand, it successfully defined a progressive image of “Modern City” that all Chinese could easily access; on the other hand, although excluded Chinese from the decision-making process, it also enriched Chinese urban life by creating new amenity and the concept of public spaces which eventually engender a series of social reforms. The study not only highlights the complicated, fragmented and pragmatic nature of municipality in making planning decisions under the process of political, social and spatial struggle, it also reveals the origins and contested meanings of “modern,” “public,” and “beauty” in Chinese context, which remain fluid and disputable. The issues addressed in the study not only clarify the various forces that have shaped Shanghai’s modern built environment but also offer historical insights into the challenges and problems in urban development today. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy