L'analyse de sensibilité globale basée sur la variance permet de hiérarchiser les sources d'incertitude présentes dans un modèle numérique et d'identifier celles qui contribuent le plus à la variabilité de la sortie du modèle. Ce type d'analyse peine à se développer dans les sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement, en partie à cause de la dimension spatiale de nombreux modèles numériques, dont les variables d'entrée et/ou de sortie peuvent être des données distribuées dans l'espace. Le travail de thèse réalisé a pour ambition de montrer comment l'analyse de sensibilité globale peut être adaptée pour tenir compte des spécificités de ces modèles numériques spatialisés, notamment la dépendance spatiale dans les données d'entrée et les questions liées au changement d'échelle spatiale. Ce travail s'appuie sur une étude de cas approfondie du code NOE, qui est un modèle numérique spatialisé d'analyse coût-bénéfice de projets de prévention du risque d'inondation. On s'intéresse dans un premier temps à l'estimation d'indices de sensibilité associés à des variables d'entrée spatialisées. L'approche retenue du « map labelling » permet de rendre compte de l'auto-corrélation spatiale de ces variables et d'étudier son impact sur la sortie du modèle. On explore ensuite le lien entre la notion d'« échelle » et l'analyse de sensibilité de modèles spatialisés. On propose de définir les indices de sensibilité « zonaux » et « ponctuels » pour mettre en évidence l'impact du support spatial de la sortie d'un modèle sur la hiérarchisation des sources d'incertitude. On établit ensuite, sous certaines conditions, des propriétés formelles de ces indices de sensibilité. Ces résultats montrent notamment que l'indice de sensibilité zonal d'une variable d'entrée spatialisée diminue à mesure que s'agrandit le support spatial sur lequel est agrégée la sortie du modèle. L'application au modèle NOE des méthodologies développées se révèle riche en enseignements pour une meilleure prise en compte des incertitudes dans les modèles d'analyse coût-bénéfice des projets de prévention du risque d'inondation. / Variance-based global sensitivity analysis is used to study how the variability of the output of a numerical model can be apportioned to different sources of uncertainty in its inputs. It is an essential component of model building as it helps to identify model inputs that account for most of the model output variance. However, this approach is seldom applied in Earth and Environmental Sciences, partly because most of the numerical models developed in this field include spatially distributed inputs or outputs . Our research work aims to show how global sensitivity analysis can be adapted to such spatial models, and more precisely how to cope with the following two issues: i) the presence of spatial auto-correlation in the model inputs, and ii) the scaling issues. We base our research on the detailed study of the numerical code NOE, which is a spatial model for cost-benefit analysis of flood risk management plans. We first investigate how variance-based sensitivity indices can be computed for spatially distributed model inputs. We focus on the “map labelling” approach, which allows to handle any complex spatial structure of uncertainty in the modelinputs and to assess its effect on the model output. Next, we offer to explore how scaling issues interact with the sensitivity analysis of a spatial model. We define “block sensitivity indices” and “site sensitivity indices” to account for the role of the spatial support of model output. We establish the properties of these sensitivity indices under some specific conditions. In particular, we show that the relative contribution of an uncertain spatially distributed model input to the variance of the model output increases with its correlation length and decreases with the size of the spatial support considered for model output aggregation. By applying our results to the NOE modelling chain, we also draw a number of lessons to better deal with uncertainties in flood damage modelling and cost-benefit analysis of flood riskmanagement plans.

The topic of this thesis is "Unemployment benefit and its legal regulations in the Czech Republic and abroad - comparison of the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany." Taking into account that the problem of unemployment is very complex and cannot be viewed apart, this thesis attempts to analyse this problem from different perspectives. In the first chapter the essential terms are explained in detail for the sake of better comprehension of the whole matters. A different section of the thesis is also devoted to a brief description of the impact of unemployment not only on single individual, but also on the society as a unit. Another part of this work is conceived as a cross - section of how the unemployment security was solved in a light of various historical events and related attitudes and circumstances in the past. The mayor emphasis has been placed on the key period of 1918 - 1989. Considerable part of this work is given to the topic of employment policy and its instruments. Considering the fact the thesis seeks to bring the most possible complex view of the issue of unemployment benefit, could not be leaved out the explanation of the key concepts such as right to work and right to employment. The main part of the thesis is focused on the dilemma of recruitment by both employment...

The thesis deals with problems of unemployment and security of persons who have to face the difficulties of this social event. The decisive impulse for this topic's elaboration was particularly its high topicality and the effort to compare the regulation of the issues in terms of two different legal cultures. The aim of this work is to describe and assess the legal framework of the welfare in unemployment in the Czech republic and Great Britain. Taking into account that unemployment means all-society problem that need to be viewed comprehensively, the work is conceived to analyze the problem from the wide range of the perspective. The thesis is composed of the introduction, the main part and the conclusion. The main part is divided into eight chapters. Chapter One explores the conception and typology of unemployment, analyses its influence on individual and also examines groups of people who are at risk of unemployment especially. Chapter Two describes the evolution and possible causes of unemployment which can contribute to increased rate of unemployment in the Czech republic. Chapter Three is dealing with the concept of the right to work and its enshrinement in the international, European and national sources of law. Chapter Four examines employment policy and its measures which seeks to strike a...

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / John M. Crespi / The objective of this analysis is to develop a demand model for the Sunsweet Cooperative and from this model, determine if the benefits to Sunweet’s advertising, as measured by the change in revenues, exceed the advertising costs. Weekly retail scanner data from July 20, 2008 through June 13, 2010 were used. Ordinary least squares regression equations were estimated to determine the overall demand for Sunsweet dried prunes. Two different models were estimated, one for Sunsweet’s overall prune demand and another for the Sunsweet’s Ones product. The advertising elasticity for the total dried prune demand was 0.10 and for the Ones product was 0.24. The demand equations demonstrated that Sunsweet’s advertising expenditures are increasing the overall demand for their dried prunes and their specific Ones product. What cannot be determined from the demand estimations is whether increase in revenues was greater than the cost of the advertising program. This is an especially important question for Sunsweet as it can be discerned from the data that Sunsweet’s advertising expenditures are quite large as a fraction of its revenues when compared with other similar food sellers. Using the regression equations, a benefit-cost simulation was conducted. We developed a measure that tells us how much the quantities sold of prunes would be affected by increased advertising expenditures by Sunsweet while taking into account the costs of advertising under an assumption of monopolistic competition. Two different scenarios were evaluated, one with a shutdown condition that did not allow average revenue to be below average cost and another without this shutdown condition. The total Sunsweet prune model resulted in an average benefit cost of 2.143 with the shutdown constraint and 1.845 without the shutdown constraint. The Ones product model resulted in an average benefit-cost estimate of 2.672 with the shutdown constraint and 2.358 without the shutdown constraint. Overall these ratios are good for a company operating under monopolistic competition and suggest that for every dollar spent on the advertising campaign, the average return was near to or greater than $2. Overall our analysis showed that Sunsweet’s advertising expenditures are increasing their overall demand and their benefits of advertising are exceeding their costs of advertising.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Tim Keane / Climate change and declining ecological health of urban environments are global issues of growing concern. In order to mitigate these issues we must reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions and increase green infrastructure solutions. One way of doing this is through improving public transportation and decreasing parking areas. In this study, Manhattan, Kansas was used to illustrate how improvements to public transportation can reduce parking demand and to show how excess parking can be transformed into green space to improve the ecological health of the city. First a review of literature and case studies related to increasing ridership of public transportation, reducing parking demand, and calculating ecologic and economic benefits was done. Then ArcGIS was used to analyze the existing public transportation in Manhattan, Kansas. Improvements to the existing transit system were developed and potential increase in ridership was calculated. ArcGIS was then used to analyze existing parking in Manhattan, Kansas. Excess Parking was determined based on current parking demand and predicted transit ridership. A suitability study was then done in ArcGIS to determine which parking areas should be converted into green space. The suitability map assisted in choosing four specific parking areas to redesign in detail to incorporate additional green space and tree cover. It was estimated that improving Manhattan’s bus system could double its ridership. It was also estimated that with improved public transit and parking planning, 30% of Manhattan’s parking could be eliminated. Converting 30% of Manhattan’s parking into green space would decrease runoff and pollutants from parking lots. Ecological valuation methods were used to calculate the benefits of converting parking into green space. It was found that integrating green space into parking lots would decrease stormwater runoff, mitigate the heat island effect, store carbon, improve air quality and may have social benefits as well.

This thesis contains five papers studying the economic efficiency and political acceptability of road pricing policies and transport investments in distorted economies. Interactions between the transport market and other distorted markets, such as the labor market, can have a large impact on the welfare effect of a road pricing policy or a transport investment. Many road pricing studies therefore try to incorporate effects from other distorted markets in the analysis. Paper I analyzes how the economic efficiency of a road toll in a distorted economy depends on assumptions about the initial tax system. In the road pricing literature, the welfare effect of a road toll is often found to depend on revenue use. Using a simple general equilibrium model paper I shows that the relative efficiency of marginal revenue recycling policies depends more on assumptions regarding inefficiencies in the initial tax system than on the road toll per se. Paper II studies the effect on welfare, equity and labor supply from a road toll in a commuting population with heterogeneous value of time and endogenous labor supply. When explicitly taking into account that commuters have different value of time, the road toll can increase total labor supply even when the revenues are not recycled back to the commuters. The analysis stresses the importance of recognizing traveler heterogeneity when analyzing congestion pricing. Road pricing policies are often characterized by conflicting interests between different stakeholders and different geographical areas. Papers III and IV study the economic efficiency and political acceptability of pricing and investment policies in different institutional and geographical settings. The main contribution of the papers is to explain how political constraints can lead to inefficient tolling strategies. The papers contribute to the existing literature on political acceptability of road pricing by analyzing the conflict and potential trade-off between political acceptability and economic efficiency. A difficulty when assessing the welfare effect of a future transport policy is also that many factors and parameters needed for the analysis are uncertain. Paper V studies the climate benefit of an investment in high speed rail by calculating the magnitude of annual traffic emission reduction required to compensate for the annualized embedded emissions from the construction of the line. The paper finds that to be able to balance the annualized emissions from the construction, traffic volumes of more than 10 million annual one-way trips are usually required, and most of the traffic diverted from other transport modes must come from aviation. / <p>QC 20121010</p>

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) was signed into law on November 12, 1999. This act is regarded as the most influential deregulation for the U.S. financial services industry in the past one-century. The purpose of this study is to determine and analyze the wealth effects of the GLBA on U.S. and foreign banks and insurance companies. This dissertation is composed of four separate essays. In the first two chapters I investigate the wealth effects of the GLBA on domestic banks and insurance companies. I find that Money Center Banks followed by Super Regional Banks benefit most from this deregulation. I also find that banks with Section 20 investment subsidiaries benefit more than rest of the industry. For all types of banks exposure to systematic risk reduces following the enactment of the GLBA. In cross sectional analysis I find that banks size and change in exposure to systematic risk can explain the wealth effects at firm level. In the domestic insurance industry, property/casualty and life insurance companies have the highest wealth effect. Exposure to systematic risk also reduces for all types of insurance companies following the enactment of the GLBA. From cross sectional analysis I find that diversification opportunities and safeguards against excessive risk taking create value for property/casualty and all other (except life) insurance companies. I also test merger related hypothesis. The result shows that poor performing firms and larger firms gain more form this deregulation. In the third and fourth chapter I investigate the wealth effects of the GLBA on international banks and foreign insurance companies. I find that the events leading to the passage of the GLBA have significant negative wealth effects (spill-over effects) on the portfolios of banks and insurance companies for most of the developed countries I analyze. These effects are not same for any two countries. Most importantly I find that reduction in diversification opportunities for international banks and foreign insurance companies in the U.S. market can explain the wealth effects at firm level from the GLBA.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency with a mission to develop water resource projects to benefit the nation. Some of its large scale projects have been built to benefit cities, but through unintended consequences have caused economic and environmental damages. For example, its control of Mississippi River flooding has protected the City of New Orleans, but contributed to land loss in coastal Louisiana, and by some accounts, made the population more susceptible to hurricane damage. The agency has now embarked on a mission to restore some of the damaged environmental areas. This dissertation evaluates whether policies and practices used by the agency to evaluate and select plans to implement is logically flawed and could produce suboptimal project selection. The primary issue is the practice of including only implementation costs in the analysis while excluding other positive and negative economic impacts. A case study is performed using the method to evaluate a traditional economic development project for which optimal project selection has already been determined using widely accepted benefit-cost practices. The results show that the Corps' environmental project evaluation method would cause rejection of the most efficient plan. The loss of welfare that would result from using this technique is measured by comparing the welfare gain of the optimal project to the welfare gain of the suboptimal projects which could be selected using the flawed methodology. In addition, the dissertation evaluates whether suboptimal results could be produced using two other current Corps policies: selecting projects based on production efficiency, and the exclusion of environmental benefits from the discounting process. For the first policy, a simple counter example shows how clearly inferior choices may come from including only supply considerations in investment choices. For the second policy, it is demonstrated mathematically that refraining from discounting benefits while discounting costs causes a bias towards selection of plans that take longer to build, are delayed in their implantation, or a combination of the two.

The main aim of this thesis is to get acquainted with issues concerning the non-profit sector in Czech Republic. The first part is theoretical, and defines the concrete types of non-profit organizations and their legal regulations. Further attention is paid to accounting for non-profit organizations, and definitions of terms commonly used in connection with non-profit organizations such as fundraising or self-financing. The second part describes the economy of a specific non-profit organization, namely Domov Sue Ryder, a public benefit organization. This part analyzes the revenues, expenses, and profit of Domov Sue Ryder for the period 2006 - 2009 in distribution to main and additional activities.

The study tries to show how the private university to operate as a charitable society, especially in terms of accounting, tax and audit. The work is devoted to basic legal characteristics and responsibilities of public service companies in a particular case of private CEVRO Institute. The aim is to show consistency tax accounting with an emphasis on the interconnectedness of these aspects of the audit.