No description available.

No description available.

The objectives of the research are to: (1) Model and analyse the unique risk relationship between senior management and labour in environmental management; (2) Analyse various contractual mechanisms and compensation schemes that reduce the human resource management risk and minimise the dissonance between profit and stewardship goals; (3) Analyse the implications of the performance measurement problem on the principal-agent contract and the efficient delivery of abatement. / Chapter 2 reviews literature pertinent to environmental management and the application of principal-agent theory. Chapter 3, entitled "Environmental Management Systems and the Intra-Firm Risk Relationship" is an analysis of the role of these incentives and risk-sharing mechanisms in decreasing environmental risk exposure and achieving stewardship. Chapter 4, entitled "Incentive Contracts and Environmental Performance Indicators" focuses on the problem of environmental performance measurement and its impact on the P-A contract and on the efficient delivery of abatement. In chapter 5, general conclusions and suggestions for further research are discussed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

No description available.

We propose a systematic framework for designing adaptive trading strategies that minimize both the mean and the variance of the execution costs. This is achieved by diversifying risk over sequential decisions in discrete time. By incorporating previous trading performance as a state variable, the framework can dynamically adjust the risk-aversion level for future trading. This incorporation also allows the framework to solve the mean-variance problems for different risk aversion factors all at once. After developing this framework, it is then applied to solve three algorithmic trading problems. The first two are trade scheduling problems, which address how to split a large order into sequential small orders in order to best approximate a target price – in our case, either the arrival price, or the Volume-Weighed-Average-Price (VWAP). The third problem is one of optimal execution of the resulting small orders by submitting market and limit orders. Unlike the tradition in both academia and industry of treating the scheduling and order placement problems separately, our approach treats them together and solves them simultaneously. In out-of-sample tests, this unified strategy consistently outperforms strategies that treat the two problems separately.

Deregulation is a growing trend and the electricity industry has not escaped its reaches. With worldwide experiences spanning only thirty years, there is substantial interest in analyzing current and future market designs so that market power cannot be used to increase the price of electricity significantly. / This thesis analyzes market power in electricity markets through the notion of Nash equilibrium (NE) and, more specifically, through Supply Function Equilibrium (SFE). We will examine how SFE can be modified to incorporate capacity constraints on generators and generating companies (gencos) controlling more than one generator for a Poolco electricity market with marginal pricing. / A genco's supply function is assumed to be of the form gi=l-aibi . Gaming is done either with ai or bi only, while keeping the other parameter at true cost. Gaming with both variables cannot be analyzed since the problem would have too many degrees of freedom. For each possible generator output level (minimum output, maximum output, or in between), analytical methods are employed to determine all candidate Nash equilibria. Then, simulations are performed over the range of possible genco offers to determine whether these candidates meet the complete set of Nash equilibrium criteria, specifically whether any genco can or cannot improve its profit by gaming. / For various inelastic demand levels, study cases indicate that there are either no Nash equilibria or only one. In the multi-unit genco case, the price of electricity is found to be higher than in the case where each genco owns only one generator, illustrating the effect of market concentration on the price. Whether capacity constraints are considered or not, the price of electricity appears to be higher if gencos are allowed to game with bi instead of ai. / The inclusion of capacity constraints on generators and the consideration of the multi-unit genco case will allow for better genco modeling in a Poolco market with marginal pricing. In turn, this will lead to more accurate analysis of the effects of current and possible rules and regulations on the price of electricity.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Co-Chair: Erera, Alan L.; Committee Co-Chair: Savelsbergh, Martin W. P.; Committee Member: Ergun, Ozlem; Committee Member: Ferguson, Mark; Committee Member: Kleywegt, Anton J.. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

No abstract supplied / Dissertation (MSc (Mathematics of Finance))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / unrestricted

This study considers the dynamical interaction of two predatory carnivores (Lions (Panthera leo) and Spotted Hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta)) and three of their common prey (Buffalo (Syncerus caffer), Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) and Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)). The dependence on spatial structure of species’ interaction stimulated the author to formulate reaction-diffusion models to explain the dynamics of predator-prey relationships in ecology. These models were used to predict and explain the effect of threshold populations, predator additional food and prey refuge on the general species’ dynamics. Vital parameters that model additional food to predators, prey refuge and population thresholds were given due attention in the analyses. The stability of a predator-prey model for an ecosystem faced with a prey out-flux which is analogous to and modelled as an Allee effect was investigated. The results highlight the bounds for the conversion efficiency of prey biomass to predator biomass (fertility gain) for which stability of the three species ecosystem model can be attained. Global stability analysis results showed that the prey (warthog) population density should exceed the sum of its carrying capacity and threshold value minus its equilibrium value i.e., W >(Kw + $) −W . This result shows that the warthog’s equilibrium population density is bounded above by population thresholds, i.e., W < (Kw+$). Besides showing the occurrence under parameter space of the so-called paradox of enrichment, early indicators of chaos can also be deduced. In addition, numerical results revealed stable oscillatory behaviour and stable spirals of the species as predator fertility rate, mortality rate and prey threshold were varied. The stabilising effect of prey refuge due to variations in predator fertility and proportion of prey in the refuge was studied. Formulation and analysis of a robust mathematical model for two predators having an overlapping dietary niche were also done. The Beddington-DeAngelis functional and numerical responses which are relevant in addressing the Principle of Competitive Exclusion as species interact were incorporated in the model. The stabilizing effect of additional food in relation to the relative diffusivity D, and wave number k, was investigated. Stability, dissipativity, permanence, persistence and periodicity of the model were studied using the routine and limit cycle perturbation methods. The periodic solutions (b 1 and b 3), which influence the dispersal rate (') of the interacting species, have been shown to be controlled by the wave number. For stability, and in order to overcome predator natural mortality, the nutritional value of predator additional food has been shown to be of high quality that can enhance predator fertility gain. The threshold relationships between various ecosystem parameters and the carrying capacity of the game park for the prey species were also deduced to ensure ecosystem persistence. Besides revealing irregular periodic travelling wave behaviour due to predator interference, numerical results also show oscillatory temporal dynamics resulting from additional food supplements combined with high predation rates.

Since General Motors initiated its automobile dealer franchise system in about 1930, it has had a vested interest in the survival of those who have signed the 'Dealer Sales and Service Agreement’. Through its Motors Holdings dealers,General Motors makes a direct retail profit, and so its concern for them is obvious; but they are a small proportion (i.e. less than 10 percent of all General Motors Dealers in Canada), and its major concern is to ensure that those privately owned GM franchised dealers remain in business through both good and bad economic times, to bring in the wholesale revenue to the corporation through the sale of G.M. cars, trucks, parts, and accessories. Deducted from the Gross Sales Revenue of the Dealership, are the many factors in the category called Cost of Sales, to give the Gross Profit. Two significant factors in the Cost of Sales category are the building rent factor, and the employee salaries. Efficient management of each, independently and together, contributes greatly to the profits of a business. It has for a long time been a GM policy to encourage its franchised dealers to have its Service and Parts Department cover at least eighty percent of the total overhead of the business in order to permit the Sales Department to operate competitively in the new and used car markets. By its success in those markets, increasing Service and Parts business is generated. However, if the customers are not satisfied with the Service and Parts sales, they will not return to buy new and used cars, so the Service and Parts departments are in fact playing key roles in the growth and profitability of the automobile dealership. A basic assumption in this thesis is that a service customer who obtains fast, low cost, quality service is a satisfied one. Thus to capture service business, and as pointed out above, in turn, new and used car sales, the dealer must concentrate his efforts on meeting each of the three requirements as best he can. His means of doing so is to properly manage his employees and facilities, and as the size of his business increases, this task becomes more and more complex The relative effect of a manpower plan and a facility plan is difficult to assess, considering all of the possible interactions a service customer's job may have with each; and so, at best it has been an intuitive judgement on the part of a General Motors Service Department advisor, or the dealership General and Service managers. The technique of computer simulation offers a better insight into the effects of manpower and facility operating policies and changes in those policies, by quantifying every basic element, and determining the interaction of every element with every other one, in order to eliminate that intuitive requirement of previous techniques. Computer simulation does not however make the final decision, but if properly employed can be offered as a strong, new tool to back up those important decisions which must be made. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate