Employee assistance program (EAP) is a counseling benefit that claims to address any personal concerns and improve workplace productivity. Starting with alcoholism and substance abuse issues, past studies always put their emphasis on the effectiveness of healing or the financial returns, not considering the impact on employee behavior. We tried to take a different point of view on EAP, examined the linkage between EAP and organizational commitment, using benefit satisfaction and perceived organizational support as intermediate variables, to see if EAP has more effects than curing. Using survey data from 103 employees, a series of path analyses supported a mediated model in which EAP usage and EAP knowledge both exert indirect effects on affective, continuance and normative commitment, while all of these effects are totally mediated by perceived organizational support and some are partially mediated by benefit system satisfaction. Our findings suggest that EAP is a good benefit that not only deals with personal problems but also helps remaining talented employee. The differences between EAP usage and EAP knowledge benefit shows that maybe what employees really care is the feeling that their company cares about them, not financial gains from benefits.

While considering disposing the priority of various kinds of communal facilities, the cost that must assess benefit and make the investment first, will not just have waste or the improper situation of resource distribution. Seeing that public goods importance that benefit assess, it is market that appraise law develop successively and extensive application, it is a law of appraisal more feasible and with more potentiality among them to assess the law in condition, so this research does deep discussion to this. Because the traditional demand theory has it to limit to the public goods short of marketing, unable to get consumer's appraisal on the public goods, this research attempts to bring the public goods into personal utility function, via the deriving of mathematics and physics, under the same demand principle, give monetary value to the public goods. Set up the compensation demand function of the public wealth, and can lead and pay wishing to pay prices of public goods from this. Utilize the compensating demand function, the valuation of pushing away regarded in order to wish to pay prices as benefit of public wealth of the income. To the increase or reduction of the quantity of the public goods, generally often use WTP or WTA. A lot of theories or positive research, mostly inclined to use WTP to draw benefit value in the past. Because target, tour of benefit numerous, visit offering, the estimate of benefit of recreation resources have model public characteristic of wealth, so this text attempts to use the public wealth promptly, and wide CVM (contingent valuation method) accepted, apply to Kaohsiung on resource of recreation, rest of resource assess, hope via personal inherent attitude and wishing pairs of behavior is it is it visit benefit, rest of resource to assess to come different of partiality, this is a purpose of this research. It is 23.94 yuan that visitors, willingness to pay ,the average amount of money of the maintenance expense, develop some continuously forever by safeguarding local ecological resources and tour industry in collecting the maintenance expense, up to 53% of the visitors and will to pay, the amount of money is 23.94 yuan to like to pay on average. If can collect the charges with 2007, calculate in accordance with 580,591 persons, it is 13,902,586.8 yuan.

The construction of traditional large-scale central power plants and the extension of power lines in Taiwan have tremendous difficulties in terms of land acquisition and environmental protection for a long time. In addition, one potential risk of energy supply is that over 95% of energy source is imported overseas. Therefore, the most important goal of Taiwan energy policy is to cut down the amount of energy import. To achieve the goal, it is important to explore innovatively local energy source by developing renewable and clean energy. Around the available renewable energy technologies, wind power technique is the most mature one in addition to hydraulic power generation. However due to limited land resources and restrictive regulations, it is expected that wind farm development in Taiwan can only be located offshore, instead of inland. Besides, a multi-functional wind farm site, which involves ocean farm ranch, is desirable to bring mutual benefits for both developers and local stake holders. The current study has used System Dynamics(SD) to analyze the influence of Multi-functional offshore wind farm on economic. We discuss the change of fish catch with building offshore wind farm¡Aand the change of economic output in open ocean with offshore wind farm combine marine ranching. It is therefore easy for the decision makers to comprehend the economical benefit difference if an offshore multi-functional wind farm were to develop in the future. The result of this study is building offshore wind farm will reduced the fishing revenue in a short time¡Abut the total fishing revenue will increased in a long time. The Multi-functional offshore wind farm has better economic output than offshore wind farm.

This study examined the determinants of public pension fund performance through the lens of agency theory. The study sought to answer the following questions: (1) How much of the fluctuation in the performance of pension plans is due to political interference - either directly from decisions made by legislatures or through the governance structure of the pension boards, after controlling for asset allocation, plan size, and other external factors? (2) Do pension board expertise, education and training, and information disclosure requirements improve the performance of pension plans? (3) Do pension trustees strategically determine the actuarial rate of return (discount rate) in order to reduce contributions in times of fiscal stress for the pension sponsor? Using longitudinal data of pension fund performance over the period 2000 to 2009 and instrumental variables methods to address endogeneity issues, the study found partial support for the agency theory hypotheses. The results indicate that political interference through reduced contributions was the main factor explaining pension performance. There was no direct evidence about the negative impact of politically appointed trustees on pension performance. The impact of these findings for current policy and future research are discussed.

<p>Three senior consultants, that primary work with organisational development and project management has created a model, named PENG, specially adjusted for evaluation of IT-investments. The purpose of this model is to evaluate both the financial and the “softer” values of IT. According to IT’s major role of supporting the business concept, “soft” val-ues like; improved customer service, fewer complaints, more reliable deliveries and et cetera becomes very important. An interesting feature of the PENG-model is that it promises to, as the name indicates (PENG means coin in Swedish), transform all aspects of IT into monetary terms. This makes it possible to quantifiably measure all the aspects of IT, not just the ones that can be counted for as reduced costs. This attribute makes PENG different compared to other models that we have found. In this thesis we have chosen to study how the use of PENG affects evaluations of IT-investments, by focusing on both restricting and enabling aspects.</p><p>The studies that have been performed are mainly based on qualitative methods. We have used a literature study to see which aspects that are of most importance when evaluating IT. Further on we have studied descriptions, by the originators of PENG, to see how an actual evaluation process is supposed to be done. Based on this we have performed an in-terview at Kalmar county council, who have used and are using the model in several of their IT-projects, in order to see how PENG serves in real life situations.</p><p>We have found out that the PENG-model certainly has good intentions in capturing the complexity inherent in IT, by valuing “soft” and “hard” aspects and for illustrating an in-vestment from different perspectives. The model involves a working procedure consisting of ten steps that serves as a guideline for the evaluator. However, the model lacks a clear framework describing how the actual work in each step shall be performed.</p><p>The model generates in a clear and easily understandable result that can be understood through out the organisation, this mostly due to the use of money as the unit of measure-ment. The quality of the result is however largely dependent on the judgements of the persons involved. Depending on how you value the benefits and costs of IT, you will end up with diverse results. From this, we can see that the model has problems in terms of trustworthiness. We believe that PENG, despite its credibility issues, can be useful when discussing IT in order to illustrate the implications of an investment. We can also see the worth of the model when comparing different kinds of IT-investments; to see where the money can be of best use. The study further shows that PENG can be used in any type of organisation, even though it may be better suited for the public sector, where “soft” bene-fits are an essential part of the business concept.</p> / <p>Tre senior konsulter som primärt arbetar med organisationsutveckling och projektstyrning har tagit fram en modell speciellt utvecklad för utvärderingar av IT-investeringar. Modellen heter PENG och har som syfte att utvärdera både finansiella och kvalitativa aspekter av IT.</p><p>Då IT har som primärt syfte att stödja kärnverksamheten, så blir ”mjuka” aspekter såsom, ökad kundservice, färre klagomål, säkrare och mer spårbara leveranser et cetera mycket viktiga. En intressant egenskap som PENG-modellen besitter är att den utlovar att, som namnet antyder, värdera alla aspekter av IT i monetära termer. Detta skapar möjligheter att kvantitativt mäta IT:s totala påverkan i en organisation, vilket gör denna modell annorlunda från övriga modeller som vi har funnit. Denna uppsats har som syfte att studera hur användandet av PENG-modellen påverkar utvärderingen av IT-investeringar.</p><p>Studien är baserad på kvalitativ metodik. Till att börja med har vi genomfört en litteratur-studie för att undersöka vilka aspekter som skiljer en IT-investering från andra typer inve-steringar, samt för att ta reda på vad som krävs för att en IT-utvärdering skall bli så rättvisande som möjligt. Efter detta har vi studerat beskrivningar, gjorda av upphovsmännen bakom PENG, för att undersöka hur modellen är tänkt att användas. Baserat på detta har vi sedan genomfört en intervju vid Kalmar läns landsting, vilka har använt och fortfarande använder sig av denna modell i flera av sina IT-projekt, för att undersöka hur väl modellen fungerar i realiteten.</p><p>Baserat på detta drar vi slutsatsen att PENG-modellen har goda intentioner i att återspegla komplexiteten i IT, genom att värdera ”mjuka” och ”hårda” nyttor och att beskriva investeringar från olika perspektiv. Modellen består av tio steg som syftar till att guida utvärderaren genom hela processen. Modellen saknar dock tydliga riktlinjer som beskriver hur varje steg av utvärderingen skall gå till och många beslut blir därför godtyckliga.</p><p>Modellen generar i ett klart och lättförståeligt resultat, vilket beror på att alla aspekter av IT omvandlas till kronor. Kvaliteten på resultatet är dock till stor del beroende av de bedömningar som de involverade personerna gör under utvärderingsprocessen. Beroende på hur nyttor och kostnader av IT värderas så kommer detta att resultera i olika resultat. Av detta drar vi slutsatsen att modellen har trovärdighetsproblem. Vi menar dock att mo-dellen, trots detta, kan vara användbar för att illustrera innebörden av IT-investeringar. Vi kan också se att modellen har potential att jämföra olika IT-investeringar, i syfte att utvärdera var pengarna kan komma till störst nytta. Vidare visar vår studie att PENG kan användas i alla typer av organisationer, även om den troligen är bäst lämpad för den offentliga sektorn, där ”mjuka” nyttor är en viktig del av kärnverksamheten.</p>

<p>Global warming is an international problem which has led to that many corporations today has an increased environmental awareness.</p><p>This thesis includes a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) approach which evaluates whether carbon offsetting is a profitable alternative for corporations and society wide. The study is predominately focusing on the emissions of the greenhouse gas . The calculations of CBA show the difference between the scenarios with or without the carbon offsetting. In the CBA approach effects are divided into benefits and costs.</p><p>The study includes a case study of Husqvarna AB and is carried through with aim to get a decision support whether or not to make the corporation carbon neutral. Basic data from Husqvarna AB has been used.</p>

<p>Global warming is an international problem which has led to that many corporations today has an increased environmental awareness.</p><p>This thesis includes a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) approach which evaluates whether carbon offsetting is a profitable alternative for corporations and society wide. The study is predominately focusing on the emissions of the greenhouse gas . The calculations of CBA show the difference between the scenarios with or without the carbon offsetting. In the CBA approach effects are divided into benefits and costs.</p><p>The study includes a case study of Husqvarna AB and is carried through with aim to get a decision support whether or not to make the corporation carbon neutral. Basic data from Husqvarna AB has been used.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-143).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 3, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-75).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of hearing aid benefit, as measured by the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB; Cox & Alexander, 1995), between three months post hearing aid fitting and at next the annual audiological re-evaluation. The annual re-evaluation was at least, and as close to nine months as possible, after the previous audiological. The maximum time between the two evaluations was 18 months. Thirty-six hearing aid patients participated in this study. The participants were both male andfemale, and were fitted monaurally or binaurally with hearing aid(s). All participants had sensorineural hearing loss with no ongoing or permanent conductive or retrocochlear pathology. The APHAB scale was administered at the three month hearing aid check (HAC) and again at the annual audiometric re-evaluation. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), with length of time between the three month hearing aid check (HAC) and the next audiological re-evaluation as a covariate, was used to examine the main effects of time of administration and subscale [e.g., ease of communication (EC), reverberant conditions (RV), background noise (BN), and aversiveness of sounds (AV) and their interactions. Results revealed a significant reduction in the mean benefit scores between the 3-month HAC and annual re-evaluation APHAB administration. It is hypothesized that the causal factor of the decrease in benefit in the EC, RV, & BN are multifactorial. These reductions in benefits may be do to the Hawthorne effect, unrealistic hearing aid benefit expectations by the participants, or a heightened expectation of hearing aid benefit due to the financial expense. It should also be noted, however, that using the 90% confidence interval for "true" clinical benefit, 21 of the participants maintained stable benefit over the course of the study. Finally, although not statistically significant, the fourth APHAB scale, aversiveness of sounds (AV), improved over time.