Congestion is one of the most pressing urban issues Texans face today — it imposes steep social and economic costs on citizens and businesses and shows no sign of subsiding without substantial intervention. This thesis will argue that in the current environment of austerity and sharp political tension, it is of critical importance to implement low cost, politically amicable strategies to manage congestion. Flexible work arrangements like telework and flextime have been developed in the private sector as a cost-saving measure and as a reward for exceptional employees. When workers adopt a non-traditional schedule, the transportation network benefits as vehicles are removed or shifted from the peak period. Despite being widely available, non-traditional work arrangements are little used by employers and employees since both parties are uncertain if the new arrangement will benefit their career path and job security. Recently, public agencies and executives have launched programs and passed mandates that force or greatly incentivize employers to adopt flexible work arrangements. The case studies examined in this thesis show that modern programs can provide cheap, temporary congestion relief for urban areas while substantially benefitting the businesses and agencies who adopt them. / text

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Thesis--Hannover, 1999. / Includes index and bibliographies.

Thesis (doctoral)--Ruhr-Universität, Bochum, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 427-440) and index.

[pt] O sistema de geração de energia elétrica do Brasil é hidrotérmico e de grande porte, com predominância de usinas hidrelétricas. O seu tamanho e características peculiares permitem considerá-lo único em todo o mundo. Conseqüentemente a coordenação de todo esse sistema é uma tarefa de extrema complexidade e, portanto, há a necessidade de um correto planejamento e operação para evitar ou amenizar problemas relacionados a segurança de suprimento. Neste contexto, esta dissertação estuda as condições que resultaram no racionamento de energia elétrica no ano de 2001 e no início de 2002, além dos seus efeitos no curto e médio prazo e posteriormente infere sobre um possível novo racionamento. Para isto foram realizadas previsões do consumo de energia, durante o período de crise e foi desenvolvida uma modelagem computacional para simular os seus efeitos. Para obter os indicativos do racionamento passado e inferir sobre um novo, foram realizadas simulações no Modelo Computacional de Otimização Hidrotérmica de Médio Prazo - NEWAVE, desenvolvido pelo CEPEL. / [en] The Brazilian electric energy generation system is a hydrothermal system of great size, with predominance hydroelectric plants. Its peculiar size and characteristics is the only one in the world. Consequently, its coordination is very complex and, therefore, it´s necessary the correct planning and operation to prevent or reduce problems related to supplement security. In this context, this work studies the conditions that resulted in the rationing of electric energy in 2001 and in the beginning of 2002, as well as the effect in the short term and the medium term and infers on a new rationing possible. For this, energy consumption estimations were done, during the period of crisis and was developed a computational modeling to simulate its effect. To get the indicative of the last rationing and to infer on a new one was done simulations in the Computational Model NEWAVE, developed by CEPEL.

Cooperation among humanitarian organizations has attracted increasing attention to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of relief supply chains. Our research focuses on horizontal cooperation in inventory management which is currently implemented in the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) network. The present work follows a two-step research approach, which involves collection of empirical data and quantitative modeling to examine and overcome the coordination challenges of the network. Our interviews with members of the network identified several managerial issues for sustainable cooperative inventory management that the UNHRD network pursues. Using a newsvendor model in the context of non-cooperative game theory, our research has explored member humanitarian organizations' incentive of joining the network, a coordination mechanism which achieves system optimality, and impacts of members' decisions about stock rationing. Our results indicate that behaviors of member HOs do not necessarily align with the UNHRD's expectation. Our results suggest that for system optimality, a system coordinator should carefully assess the circumstances, including demand coefficient and stock rationing. Our research also proposes a policy priority for the first-best system optimal inventory management.

La thèse s'interroge sur l'existence du rationnement du crédit de PME vietnamiennes. Ce sujet est important car ces entreprises sont à l'origine de l'essentiel de la croissance du pays. La thèse présente les théories pouvant expliquer le rationnement du crédit dans les PME des pays en voie de développement. Elle détaille les spécificités des PME et du système du crédit au Vietnam. A l'aide d'un questionnaire, nous avons analysé les déterminants du rationnement et des caractéristiques des crédits proposés aux PME. Les données ont été traitées en utilisant les méthodes de l'économétrie des variables qualitatives. Les principaux résultats obtenus sont : les caractéristiques du chef d'entreprise (niveaux d'instruction, l'année d'expérience, ancien fonctionnaire, etc.), les caractéristiques économiques et juridiques de l'entreprise (la taille, le chiffre d'affaire,..), caractéristiques financières de PME (profitabilité, taux d'endettement...?), et caractéristiques du prêt sont importantes pour expliquer l'acceptation ou le refus du crédit bancaire. Nous avons également analysé l'impact de ces caractéristiques sur l'exigence de garantie, et la satisfaction à l'égard du service bancaire. / The purpose of this research work is to analyse the existence of credit rationing of Vietnamese SMEs. This subject is important because these firms are the main source of the country's economic growth. The research presents theories which explain the credit rationing in SMEs within developing countries. It also outlines the characteristics of SMEs and the credit system in Vietnam. We analysed the factors affecting the rationing and the characteristics of loans offered to SMEs using data collected from our questionnaire. We then processed the data, analysing the qualitative variables using econometric methods. The results of this piece of research show that there are several important factors which explain the acceptance or refusal of bank credit to SMEs. These factors include : the characteristics of the entrepreneur (education, experience, civil-servant status, etc.), the economic and legal characteristics of the firm (size, sales volume,...), the financial characteristics of the SME (profitability, debt ratio,...), and the characteristics of the loan. We also analysed the impact of these characteristics on the attitude of the bank relative to the demand of collateral, and on the different satisfaction levels of the SME's regarding the banking service.

In a democracy, what should a healthcare system do? It is a question of relevance to many disciplines. In this thesis, I examine that question, and add something original to the existing debate by drawing on, and synthesizing, thinking from several disciplines, and especially philosophical ethics, economics and systems theory. Paper 6 in this thesis, entitled “In a democracy, what should a healthcare system do?”, tackles the thesis question directly. The central conclusion of that paper, and of this thesis, is that a healthcare system in a democracy should do as much good as possible, although sometimes some overall good should be sacrificed for the sake of fairness, as John Broome has argued. However, what counts as the good of healthcare, and when good should be traded off for fairness, depend on your weltanschauung (or worldview). Political pluralism is normal, and every democracy has institutions and processes for making policy when people disagree because their worldviews differ. Ultimately, elected policymakers are accountable for making decisions. This analysis is complemented by paper 5, entitled “Accountability for reasonableness – as unfair as QALYs?”. It assesses the vulnerability of three theories of resource allocation to injustice. It concludes that Daniels and Sabins’ accountability for reasonableness approach is vulnerable because it does not require evidence of costs and benefits. Maximising quality-adjusted life years can also lead to large-scale injustice because it is concerned only with health gain, and not with fairness. I conclude that a “good and fairness framework”, which is drawn from the writing of John Broome, is the least vulnerable to large-scale injustice. There are four other papers in this thesis. “What has the state got to do with healthcare?” (paper 3) makes the case for an important assumption underpinning this thesis, namely that the question of what a healthcare system should do is a question of public policy. Paper 1, entitled “It’s time for rational rationing” argues that efficiency gains are not inexhaustible, and to continue with its austerity programme, policymakers should assess whether the NHS in England could do more good with the same money by doing different things. I explore how philosophical ethics can contribute to policy, and the importance of context when writing papers about policy, in: “Should policy ethics come in one of two colours: green or white?” (paper 2) and “How can one be both a philosophical ethicist and a democrat?” (paper 4).These latter two papers, and much of the narrative within this thesis, explain how my thinking has developed during the course of my PhD, and why I have looked within and beyond philosophical ethics for an answer to my central research question.

This thesis presents a reanalysis of data collected between 1999 and 2006 by the Institute for Outdoor Recreation and Tourism (IORT) at Utah State University. These data concern a variety of outdoor recreation sites in Utah, Idaho, and South Dakota, and were collected via intercept, mail, and, to a very limited extent, telephone surveys. Survey instruments contained questions related to visitor perceptions of crowding, overall satisfaction, support for use limits/rationing, and estimates of use density, in addition to other conceptually related factors. Analyses consisted of multiple regression models for both perceived crowding and visitor support for use limits dependent variables for each suitable data set. These were intended to ascertain the dependent variables' relationships with various factors hypothesized to contribute to both crowding perceptions and a perceived need for use limits--notably variations in use level. This thesis also incorporated bivariate and univariate analyses intended to investigate the relationship between perceived crowding and satisfaction, reasons for respondent support for use limits, and the potential of displacing visitors to similar recreation sites via use rationing. Side-by-side comparison of results yielded several interesting findings. First, use level was the variable most consistently showing a statistically significant association with perceived crowding. However, the amount of variation explained by use level variables was small, particularly from a managerial perspective. Results suggested support for use limits may have more to do with fears about potential changes in future conditions than actual on-site crowding. Results were not suggestive of a strong or consistent relationship between perceived crowding and satisfaction. Apprehensions about crowding were the most prevalent stated reason for respondents' support of use rationing, but concerns about safety at motorized (land- and water-based) sites were also a major factor, as was recreational conflict, though to a lesser extent. Results of all analyses highlighted the uniqueness of each study area. Overall, results suggested crowding-based recreational carrying capacities may lack utility as a generalized management framework and are perhaps best reserved for sites specifically managed for low use levels or solitude experiences. Results also support calls for regional scale, rather than site-specific, recreation planning.

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