Die Produktionsplanung in kommerziellen Enterprise Ressource Planning Systemen und Produktionsplanungs- und -steuerungssystemen erfolgt unter unzureichender Berücksichtigung von beschränkten Kapazitäten. Dies führt oft zu unzulässigen Plänen, welche nicht selten zu einer Verfehlung der termingerechten Bedarfsdeckung führen. Durch den Einsatz sogenannter Clearing Functions (CF) können die nicht linearen Abhängigkeiten zwischen der Arbeitslast eines Produktionssystems und der zu erwartenden Ausbringungsmenge beschrieben werden. Eine solche CF kann empirisch durch den Einsatz von Simulation ermittelt werden und zu einer verbesserten Kapazitätsabschätzung in der operativen Produktionsplanung und -steuerung beitragen.

A incessante busca do homem pela eficiência e sofisticação dos processos por ele manejados em todas as áreas do conhecimento, aliada aos grandes avanços tecnológicos das últimas décadas, tem gerado importantes alterações nos meios de pagamento e na sistemática de liquidação financeira de obrigações. Com o surgimento de mecanismos mais robustos de liquidação, estamos observando a substituição dos meios de pagamento em papel e das transações isoladas entre os indivíduos pela informatização da negociação e o aumento do raio de abrangência das caixas de liquidação. Este trabalho levanta o panorama histórico das câmaras de liquidação, traçando o estado da arte dessa figura no Brasil e suas principais questões jurídicas, também verificando sua aderência às melhores práticas experimentadas em mercados desenvolvidos / Mankinds endless quest for efficiency and sophistication of the processes managed by the men in all areas of knowledge, coupled with major technological advances of recent decades, has generated important changes in payment methods and the clearing of financial obligations. With the emergence of more robust mechanisms of settlement, we are watching the replacement of paper-based payment methods and transactions between isolated individuals by the computerization of trading and the increase of the radius of coverage of the settlement institutions. This work traces the historical view of the clearing houses, outlining the state of the art of this figure in Brazil and its main legal issues, and checking if it complies with the best practices already experienced in developed markets.

A incessante busca do homem pela eficiência e sofisticação dos processos por ele manejados em todas as áreas do conhecimento, aliada aos grandes avanços tecnológicos das últimas décadas, tem gerado importantes alterações nos meios de pagamento e na sistemática de liquidação financeira de obrigações. Com o surgimento de mecanismos mais robustos de liquidação, estamos observando a substituição dos meios de pagamento em papel e das transações isoladas entre os indivíduos pela informatização da negociação e o aumento do raio de abrangência das caixas de liquidação. Este trabalho levanta o panorama histórico das câmaras de liquidação, traçando o estado da arte dessa figura no Brasil e suas principais questões jurídicas, também verificando sua aderência às melhores práticas experimentadas em mercados desenvolvidos / Mankinds endless quest for efficiency and sophistication of the processes managed by the men in all areas of knowledge, coupled with major technological advances of recent decades, has generated important changes in payment methods and the clearing of financial obligations. With the emergence of more robust mechanisms of settlement, we are watching the replacement of paper-based payment methods and transactions between isolated individuals by the computerization of trading and the increase of the radius of coverage of the settlement institutions. This work traces the historical view of the clearing houses, outlining the state of the art of this figure in Brazil and its main legal issues, and checking if it complies with the best practices already experienced in developed markets.

Habitat fragmentation involves the break-up of continuous native vegetation into remnant patches that are set in a matrix of altered habitat. The consequences of habitat fragmentation include the loss of original habitat which is followed by reductions in remnant size that increase edge effects and reduce habitat quality, and also increase the isolation of remnants from one another. Habitat fragmentation is an international environmental concern that also effects Australia. Over the last ten years Queensland has been responsible for some ninety percent of the clearing occurring in Australia, and as a result recorded some of the highest vegetation clearing rates in the world. / thesis (PhDEnvironmentalManagement)--University of South Australia, 2004.

This thesis consists of four self-contained papers related to banking, credit markets and financial stability.    Paper [I] presents a credit market model and finds, using an agent based modeling approach, that credit crunches have a tendency to occur; even when credit markets are almost entirely transparent in the absence of external shocks. We find evidence supporting the asset deterioration hypothesis and results that emphasize the importance of accurate firm quality estimates. In addition, we find that an increase in the debt’s time to maturity, homogenous expected default rates and a conservative lending approach, reduces the probability of a credit crunch. Thus, our results suggest some up till now partially overlooked components contributing to the financial stability of an economy.     Paper [II] derives an econometric disequilibrium model for time series data. This is done by error correcting the supply of some good. The model separates between a continuously clearing market and a clearing market in the long-run such that we are able to obtain a novel test of clearing markets. We apply the model to the Swedish market for short-term business loans, and find that this market is characterized by a long-run nonmarket clearing equilibrium.    Paper [III] studies the risk-return profile of centralized and decentralized banks. We address the conditions that favor a particular lending regime while acknowledging the effects on lending and returns caused by the course of the business cycle. To analyze these issues, we develop a model which incorporates two stylized facts; (i) banks in which lendingdecisions are decentralized tend to have a lower cost associated with screening potential borrowers and (ii) decentralized decision-making may generate inefficient outcomes because of lack of coordination. Simulations are used to compare the two banking regimes. Among the results, it is found that even though a bank group where decisions are decentralizedmay end up with a portfolio of loans which is (relatively) poorly diversified between regions, the ability to effectively screen potential borrowers may nevertheless give a decentralized bank a lower overall risk in the lending portfolio than when decisions are centralized.    In Paper [IV], we argue that the practice used in the valuation of a portfolio of assets is important for the calculation of the Value at Risk. In particular, a seller seeking to liquidate a large portfolio may not face horizontal demand curves. We propose a partially new approach for incorporating this fact in the Value at Risk and Expected Shortfall measures and in an empirical illustration, we compare it to a competing approach. We find substantial differences.

Under deregulated electric market, electricity price is no longer set by the monopoly utility company rather it responds to the market and operating conditions. Offering the right amount of electricity at the right time with the right bidding price has become the key for utility companies pursuing maximum profits under deregulated electricity market. Therefore, electricity market clearing price (MCP) forecasting became essential for decision making, scheduling and bidding strategy planning purposes. However, forecasting electricity MCP is a very difficult problem due to uncertainties associated with input variables.<p> Neural network based approach promises to be an effective forecasting tool in an environment with high degree of non-linearity and uncertainty. Although there are several techniques available for short-term MCP forecasting, very little has been done to do mid-term MCP forecasting. Two new artificial neural networks have been proposed and reported in this thesis that can be utilized to forecast mid-term daily peak and mid-term hourly electricity MCP. The proposed neural networks can simulate the electricity MCP with electricity hourly demand, electricity daily peak demand, natural gas price and precipitation as input variables. Two situations have been considered; electricity MCP forecasting under real deregulated electric market and electricity MCP forecasting under deregulated electric market with perfect competition. The PJM interconnect system has been utilized for numerical results. Techniques have been developed to overcome difficulties in training the neural network and improve the training results.

This paper deals with the effects of minimum wages on human capital accumulation, and steady state employment and growth. The minimum wage is introduced in a model of endogenous growth driven by human capital accumulation. Unemployed agents maximize utility given the information that they are unemployed facing changed budget constraints. This situation is implemented in a "non-market-clearing equilibrium" framework. We show that the steady state rate of growth is not affected by the minimum wage and that in the steady state the system yields full employment. These effects are generated by intertemporal adjustments of the employed households who re-act to the relatively higher minimum wage which increases skills accumulation. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Under deregulated electric market, electricity price is no longer set by the monopoly utility company rather it responds to the market and operating conditions. Offering the right amount of electricity at the right time with the right bidding price has become the key for utility companies pursuing maximum profits under deregulated electricity market. Therefore, electricity market clearing price (MCP) forecasting became essential for decision making, scheduling and bidding strategy planning purposes. However, forecasting electricity MCP is a very difficult problem due to uncertainties associated with input variables.<p> Neural network based approach promises to be an effective forecasting tool in an environment with high degree of non-linearity and uncertainty. Although there are several techniques available for short-term MCP forecasting, very little has been done to do mid-term MCP forecasting. Two new artificial neural networks have been proposed and reported in this thesis that can be utilized to forecast mid-term daily peak and mid-term hourly electricity MCP. The proposed neural networks can simulate the electricity MCP with electricity hourly demand, electricity daily peak demand, natural gas price and precipitation as input variables. Two situations have been considered; electricity MCP forecasting under real deregulated electric market and electricity MCP forecasting under deregulated electric market with perfect competition. The PJM interconnect system has been utilized for numerical results. Techniques have been developed to overcome difficulties in training the neural network and improve the training results.

Background: The financial crisis of 2007-2010 had a massive impact on the financial markets worldwide. The crisis was partly blamed on the credit derivatives collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. These instruments were used to create leverage and speculation, which led to uncertainty in the financial system worldwide. There has been no recent documentation of how credit derivatives are used in Swedish banks, and what risks and opportunities they bring along. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe the use of credit derivatives in Swedish banks, what benefits and risks they may generate and how the recent financial crisis has affected their use. Research Method: This is a qualitative multiple case study which uses an inductive approach. The study covers four cases, three of the largest Swedish commercial banks, and a bank that specializes on international financing. Seven people working in different fields in these banks have been interviewed. Conclusions: Credit derivatives are mostly used for hedging in Swedish banks, which mainly involves the use of credit default swaps, and sometimes iTraxx. Purely speculative trades are rare. The risks that arise are mainly due to lack of transparency in OTC trading, and abusive use of these instruments. Credit derivatives greatly facilitate risk management in banks. Regulations have increased since the financial crisis and the demand for more complex products greatly decreased.

The objective of this dissertation is to model the volatility of financial time series data using ARCH, GARCH and stochastic volatility models. It is found that the ARCH and GARCH models are easy to fit compared to the stochastic volatility models which present problems with respect to the distributional assumptions that need to be made. For this reason the ARCH and GARCH models remain more widely used than the stochastic volatility models. The ARCH, GARCH and stochastic volatility models are fitted to four data sets consisting of daily closing prices of gold mining companies listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange. The companies are Anglo Gold Ashanti Ltd, DRD Gold Ltd, Gold Fields Ltd and Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd. The best fitting ARCH and GARCH models are identified along with the best error distribution and then diagnostics are performed to ensure adequacy of the models. It was found throughout that the student-t distribution was the best error distribution to use for each data set. The results from the stochastic volatility models were in agreement with those obtained from the ARCH and GARCH models. The stochastic volatility models are, however, restricted to the form of an AR(1) process due to the complexities involved in fitting higher order models. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.