This paper attempts to provide a cost-benefit analysis of the economic and social effects of hosting the Olympic Games. I provide an overview of the economic and social impacts of the Games and analyze their effects. I focus the economic effects of the Games on tourism, trade, corporate sponsorship and the sale of television rights. I also look at the social effects of the Games on infrastructure and employment. Finally I assess why the Olympics remain an appealing venture for cities, despite evidence that demonstrates how they produce more actual harm than good for the host city. In addition, I provide predictions for two alternative directions that the Olympics could take in the future: to either continue in the current trend of immense growth and commercialization, or alternatively, implement a new Olympic bidding process that establishes stricter criteria for candidate cities.

Die Dissertation beschreibt am Beispiel einer Längsschnittstudie in der Papierindustrie, wie Effekte von Maßnahmen der betrieblichen Gesundheitsförderung in geschätzten ökonomischen Nutzen übertragen werden können. Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchung ist das Variablen-Modell nach Locke und Latham (1990). Darauf aufbauend wurden geeignete Indikatoren und Messinstrumente ausgewählt und in mehreren Voruntersuchungen überprüft. Hauptinstrument ist ein Fragebogen, der im quasiexperimentellen Design zur Ist-Analyse und nach Umsetzung der Maßnahmen eingesetzt wurde. An der ersten Befragung im Oktober 2000 nahmen 320 Gewerbliche und Angestellte des Unternehmens (Rücklauf 89%), an der zweiten drei Jahre später 402 Mitarbeiter (Rücklauf 91%) teil. Für den Längsschnitt standen die Fragebögen von 118 Mitarbeitern zur Verfügung. Neben den Fragebogendaten wurden personbezogene Daten zum Krankenstand erhoben, die auf freiwilliger Basis mit den Fragebogendaten verknüpft wurden, worauf sich 71% der im Jahr 2000 Befragten und 80% der im Jahr 2003 Befragten einlassen konnten. Zur Absicherung der Validität kamen weitere Untersuchungsmethoden zum Einsatz: für 19 Tätigkeiten wurde eine objektive arbeitspsychologische Tätigkeitsanalyse (Pohlandt, Schulze, Jordan & Richter, 2002) durchgeführt, die beteiligten Bereiche wurden in einem Rankingverfahren durch betriebliche Experten eingeschätzt, die organisationale Einbindung der betrieblichen Gesundheitsförderung wurde zu beiden Untersuchungszeitpunkten mit Hilfe des Fragebogens von Breucker (Prävention online, 2000) erfasst, es fanden 22 strukturierte Interviews mit den Beschäftigten zur Einschätzung der durchgeführten Maßnahmen statt. Die Ergebnisse der ersten Mitarbeiterbefragung wurden zurückgemeldet, diskutiert und zu 12 Maßnahmen verdichtet. Diese 12 Maßnahmen wurden in die Zweitbefragung mit aufgenommen, wobei die aktive Beteiligung an ihnen und die Zufriedenheit mit ihrer Umsetzung eingeschätzt werden sollten. Zur Ermittlung der Effizienz wurden eine erweiterte Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse (nach Schmidt, Hunter & Pearlman, 1982) und eine Kosten-Nutzwert-Analyse (nach Rinza & Schmitz, 1992) durchgeführt. Fast alle im Fragebogen erfassten Variablen hatten sich zwischen der ersten und zweiten Befragung signifikant verbessert (Arbeitsintensität, Tätigkeitsspielraum, Motivationspotenzial der Tätigkeit, soziale Unterstützung, sozialen Stressoren, Commitment, Arbeitszufriedenheit, allgemeines Befinden, psychosomatische Beschwerden). Nicht signifikant waren die Änderungen beim (multimodal beeinflussten) Krankenstand, sowie bei der Einschätzung der Führung. Bezüglich der Effektstärke konnte bei 9 der 12 Maßnahmen mindestens ein positiver Unterscheidungseffekt aufgezeigt werden. Bei der Ermittlung des (subjektiv erlebten) Nutzwertes der Maßnahmen kamen alle 12 Maßnahmen in den positiven Bereich. Mit der Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse wurde ein positives Kosten-Nutzen-Verhältnis für 6 der 9 verbleibenden Maßnahmen (zwischen 1:71 und 1:1,5) ermittelt. Diese Ergebnisse wurden kritisch hinterfragt und durch Einbeziehung von Diskontierung, spezifischen Effizienzkriterien, Sensitivitätsanalysen und Worst-Case-Berechnung relativiert (vgl. Anforderungen nach Drummond, O´Brien, Stoddart & Torrance, 1987/1997). Im Vergleich zur Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse wurden bei der Kosten-Nutzwert-Analyse deutlich andere Rangreihen ermittelt. Die kritische Gesamtschau der Ergebnisse ermöglicht spezifische Empfehlungen für fünf Maßnahmengruppen. Es zeigte sich, dass die gemeinsame Erörterung von Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse und Nutzwert zusätzliche und bisher nicht erfasste Aspekte beim Umgang mit den Maßnahmen eröffnet. / The thesis illustrates a longitudinal study in the paper industry. It shows how effects resulting from measures of occupational health promotion may be translated into an estimated economic advantage. The starting point of the study is the high performance cycle (Locke & Latham: 1990). Proceeding from that, appropriate indicators and measuring instruments were selected and tested in several pre-studies. The main instrument is a questionnaire, used in a comparative design before and after the translation of the measures into practice. 320 white- and blue-collar workers took part in the first survey in October 2000 (response rate 89%), whereas 402 workers participated in the second survey which was conducted three years later (response rate 91%). After all, complete data sets for the longitudinal analysis were available from 118 participants. Apart from that personal data concerning absenteeism were used, which were then connected to the questionnaire data on a voluntary basis. Whereas in 2000, in the first survey, 71% of the participants agreed to the connection of their personal data with the questionnaire, 80% agreed to it in the second survey, in 2003. To guarantee the questionnaire?s validity an array of additional methods was used: an objective occupational job analysis (Pohlandt, Schulze, Jordan & Richter, 2002) of 19 different occupations was carried out and the company?s experts evaluated the branches involved by ranking. Furthermore the organizational embedding of occupational health promotion measures was investigated in both surveys with the help of Breucker?s questionnaire (Prevention online, 2000) and additionally 22 structured interviews with the employees took place in order to evaluate the acceptance of the measures conducted. The results of the first employee survey were reported back, discussed and condensed into 12 measures. These 12 measures were then included in the second survey when the employees? active participation in the measures? implementation and their satisfaction with the measures? effects should be evaluated. To determine the measures? actual efficiency an extended cost-benefit-analysis (with reference to Schmidt, Hunter & Pearlman: 1982) and a cost-utility-analysis (with reference to Rinza & Schmitz: 1992) were conducted. Nearly all variables investigated in the questionnaire had significantly improved between the first and the second survey (indicators of job demands, occupational scope, motivational potential of occupation, social support, social stressors, commitment, job satisfaction, well-being, psychosomatic complaints). Changes in (multi-modally influenced) absenteeism and in the evaluation of the management?s style of leadership were not significant. Referring to the effects? impact 9 out of 12 measures proved to be positively significant in at least one criterion, whereas referring to (subjectively felt) utility all 12 measures turned out to be positively significant. In six of the remaining nine measures the cost-benefit-analysis resulted in a positive cost-benefit-relation (between 1:71 and 1:1,5). These results were critically discussed and taking into account discounting, specific result-criteria, sensitivity analyses and worst case assessment (see quality principles by Drummond, O´Brien, Stoddart & Torrance, 1987/1997) finally adjusted. Comparing the cost-benefit and cost-utility analyses resulted in significantly different rankings. The critical overall view allows for specific recommendations for five measure-groups. Finally, the joint discussion of the cost-benefit analysis and utility turned out to open up additional aspects of how to conduct the measures in future, which have not been described so far.

From the Proceedings of the 1977 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 15-16, 1977, Las Vegas, Nevada / The Laboratory of Native Development, Systems Analysis and Applied Technology (NADSAT) was established to provide technical assistance to southwestern Indian Tribes as an aid in the development and use of their natural resources according to their goals and objectives. NADSAT 's role is assistance and technology transfer, with an emphasis on alternative formulation and performance analysis and communicating the technological approach to tribal decision makers. The cost-effectiveness methodology provides a coherent framework and affords a mechanism for technology transfer, which makes it a useful tool in achieving tribal goals. This method was applied to the formulation of possible alternatives for use of the land and water resources of the Gila River Basin within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Criteria for devising various alternative utilization schemes are discussed, and the advantages of the cost effectiveness methodology.

From the Proceedings of the 1978 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 14-15, 1978, Flagstaff, Arizona / Land treatment of secondary municipal wastewater is an economical and aesthetic method of upgrading water quality, if hydrologic and geologic conditions are favorable. Costly conventional secondary treatment, which requires large quantities of electrical energy, can be bypassed by applying the primary effluent directly to the land. Soil- denitrifying bacteria use the organic carbon in the primary effluent as an energy source for biodenitrification and nitrogen removal. Laboratory and field studies indicated the quality of renovated wastewater meets standards for unrestricted irrigation and recreational uses. Considerable savings, both in capital and energy costs, can be realized by land treatment of primary effluent.

From the Proceedings of the 1978 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 14-15, 1978, Flagstaff, Arizona / The city of Tucson, Arizona, the largest city in the U.S. to meet its water needs entirely from diminishing underground sources, is presently experiencing increasing water rates and the political turmoil associated with those increases. With focus upon this increasingly serious problem, production function analysis and static linear programming are used here to estimate the impact of rising energy prices on farm profits, cropping patterns and irrigation water used in the Avra Valley, a periurban irrigated region adjacent to Tucson, in an effort to evaluate the impact of this community upon Tucson 's municipal water demand. It is concluded that as energy prices increase and land is removed from agricultural production within the Avra Valley, Tucson 's economic position will be bolstered in at least three ways: (1) there will be more water available, (2) the price which the city must pay for farmland in order to gain control of the underlying water should be diminished and the quantity of farmland for sale increased, and (3) with fewer people involved in irrigated agriculture, legal conflicts between competing users will be diminished.

No description available.

Les nouvelles technologies médicales contribuent aux dépenses en santé qui ne cessent de croître, alors que les budgets se trouvent limités. L’évaluation économique des technologies devraient permettre d’identifier quelles sont celles qui sont les plus rentables. Malgré cela, plusieurs technologies dont le rapport coût-efficacité reste plutôt limite ou défavorable sont utilisées en médecine moderne et remboursées par notre système public de santé. Ce mémoire se concentre sur deux technologies en santé cardiovasculaire dont le rapport coût-efficacité est plutôt limite mais qui sont fréquemment utilisées au Canada; les tuteurs médicamentés ou pharmaco-actifs et les défibrillateurs cardiaques implantables (DCI). Nous avons fait une évaluation contingente de ces technologies dans le but d’examiner si ce type d’évaluation économique complémentaire pouvait procurer un point de vue nouveau sur la valeur économique et sociétaire des ces technologies. Les résultats de ces deux évaluations indiquent que les patients accordent une grande importance aux bénéfices que procurent ces deux technologies. Nos résultats soutiennent les politiques de santé actuelles de rembourser de façon libérale ces deux technologies. / Technological innovations have greatly contributed to the rising costs in healthcare, while budgets have remained limited. Economic evaluations of technologies should identify which technologies are cost-effective. However, several technologies used in modern medicine are either borderline cost-effective or even not cost-effective according to many studies. This thesis focuses on two technologies in cardiovascular medicine which are considered borderline cost-effective; drug-eluting stents and implantable cardioverter defibrillators. We conducted a contingent valuation of these technologies in hopes of determining if this alternative type of economic evaluation could give a novel point of view on the economic and societal value of these technologies. Results indicated that patients greatly valued benefits provided by these two technologies. Our result support our public healthcare system policies’ of liberal reimbursement of these two technologies.

Population escalation in the developing world has been associated with increased poverty, food insecurity and environmental degradation. The situation in Rwanda, with 2.82% annual population increase is no exception. The objective of the present study was to investigate an innovative integrated system of sustainable production suitable for resource-poor rural farmers, the Integrated Rabbit–Fish–Rice (IRFR) system. The study was targeted towards contributing to Rwanda government’s goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, enhancing food security as well as abating environmental degradation. Three experiments, were carried out between 2008 and 2010, and designed to fertilise pond water with rabbit droppings and boost phytoplankton production. We also used results from our previous study, conducted in 2005 in the same ponds and under similar experimental conditions, especially rabbit and fish species and age, fishpond dimensions, as well as the fertilisation mode. The fishpond effluent was re-used to irrigate rice fields rather than being discharged into the environment. This study advocated the potential adaptation of rabbits to wetland conditions and the role of rabbit droppings as organic fertilisers in providing a better environment for fish production. On-farm resources, including rabbit droppings, were the main source of nutrients in the system. The analysis of nutrient flow revealed that 27% N and 79% P of the total nitrogen and phosphorus in fertilizing input in fishponds were supplied by rabbit droppings only. Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus were able to recover 18.5–37.6% N and 16.9–34.3% P of the total nitrogen and phosphorus inputs, the rest being accumulated in the pond water and the sediment, making them useful for soil fertilisation. The re-use of nutrient-rich effluent in rice irrigation increased rice production, allowing a successful complete substitution of inorganic fertilisers. The irrigation also reduced environmental pollution as the water seeping through rice field was 31.8 and 83.3% less concentrated in total phosphorus and nitrite pollutants, respectively, than was the pond water. Economically, the IRFR generated up to 597% net return over that of the rice inorganically fertilised, thereby substantiating the sustainability of the system. Overall, it is concluded that the IRFR system works well, is readily applicable, and capable of high, diversified, and sustainable production on limited land. As such, the study demonstrates the potentialities of the IRFR system to contribute successfully to poverty reduction, and the enhancement of food security in rural areas. The system promises economic returns and is environmental friendly. The research recommends the optimal range of rabbit density, that is, 800–1200 rabbits per hectare of pond, and the best fish stocking density, that is, 3 fish.mˉ², for a sustainable IRFR culture system. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

The Nigeria economy is wholly dependent on revenue from oil. However, bitumen has been discovered in the country since 1903 and has remained untapped over the years. The need for the country to complement oil exploration with the huge bitumen deposit cannot be overemphasized. This will help to improve the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and revenue available to government. Bitumen is classifled as heavy crude with API (American petroleum Institute) number ranging between 50 and 110 and occurs in Nigeria, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela etc from which petroleum products could be derived. This dissertation looked at the Canadian experience by comparing the oil and tar sand deposit found in Canada with particular reference to Athabasca (Grosmont, Wabiskaw McMurray and Nsiku) with that in Nigeria with a view of transferring process technology from Canada to Nigeria. The Nigeria and Athabasca tar sands occur in the same type of environment. These are the deltaic, fluvial marine deposit in an incised valley with similar reservoir, chemical and physical properties. However, the Nigeria tar sand is more asphaltenic and also contains more resin and as such will yield more product volume during hydro cracking albeit more acidic. The differences in the components (viscosity, resin and asphaltenes contents, sulphur and heavy metal contents) of the tar sands is within the limit of technology adaptation. Any of the technologies used in Athabasca, Canada is adaptable to Nigeria according to the findings of this research. The techno-economics of some of the process technologies are. x-rayed using the PTAC (petroleum technology alliance Canada) technology recovery model in order to obtain their unit cost for Nigeria bitumen. The unit cost of processed bitumen adopting steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), in situ combustion (ISC) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) process technology is 40.59, 25.00 and 44.14 Canadian dollars respectively. The unit cost in Canada using the same process technology is 57.27, 25.00 and 61.33 Canadian dollars respectively. The unit cost in Nigeria is substantively lesser than in Canada. A trade off is thereafter done using life cycle costing so as to select the best process technology for the Nigeria oil/tar sands. The net present value/internal rate of return is found to be B$3,062/36.35% for steam assisted gravity drainage, B$I,570124.51 % for cyclic steam stimulation and B$3,503/39.64% for in situ combustion. Though in situ combustion returned the highest net present value and internal rate of return, it proved not to be the best option for Nigeria due to environmental concern and response time to production. The best viable option for the Nigeria tar sand was then deemed to be steam assisted gravity drainage. An integrated oil strategy coupled with cogeneration using MSAR was also seen to considerably amplify the benefits accruable from bitumen exploration; therefore, an investment in bitumen exploration in Nigeria is a wise economic decision. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The Nigeria economy is wholly dependent on revenue from oil. However, bitumen has been discovered in the country since 1903 and has remained untapped over the years. The need for the country to complement oil exploration with the huge bitumen deposit cannot be overemphasized. This will help to improve the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and revenue available to government. Bitumen is classifled as heavy crude with API (American petroleum Institute) number ranging between 50 and 110 and occurs in Nigeria, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela etc from which petroleum products could be derived. This dissertation looked at the Canadian experience by comparing the oil and tar sand deposit found in Canada with particular reference to Athabasca (Grosmont, Wabiskaw McMurray and Nsiku) with that in Nigeria with a view of transferring process technology from Canada to Nigeria. The Nigeria and Athabasca tar sands occur in the same type of environment. These are the deltaic, fluvial marine deposit in an incised valley with similar reservoir, chemical and physical properties. However, the Nigeria tar sand is more asphaltenic and also contains more resin and as such will yield more product volume during hydro cracking albeit more acidic. The differences in the components (viscosity, resin and asphaltenes contents, sulphur and heavy metal contents) of the tar sands is within the limit of technology adaptation. Any of the technologies used in Athabasca, Canada is adaptable to Nigeria according to the findings of this research. The techno-economics of some of the process technologies are. x-rayed using the PTAC (petroleum technology alliance Canada) technology recovery model in order to obtain their unit cost for Nigeria bitumen. The unit cost of processed bitumen adopting steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), in situ combustion (ISC) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) process technology is 40.59, 25.00 and 44.14 Canadian dollars respectively. The unit cost in Canada using the same process technology is 57.27, 25.00 and 61.33 Canadian dollars respectively. The unit cost in Nigeria is substantively lesser than in Canada. A trade off is thereafter done using life cycle costing so as to select the best process technology for the Nigeria oil/tar sands. The net present value/internal rate of return is found to be B$3,062/36.35% for steam assisted gravity drainage, B$I,570124.51 % for cyclic steam stimulation and B$3,503/39.64% for in situ combustion. Though in situ combustion returned the highest net present value and internal rate of return, it proved not to be the best option for Nigeria due to environmental concern and response time to production. The best viable option for the Nigeria tar sand was then deemed to be steam assisted gravity drainage. An integrated oil strategy coupled with cogeneration using MSAR was also seen to considerably amplify the benefits accruable from bitumen exploration; therefore, an investment in bitumen exploration in Nigeria is a wise economic decision. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.