The aim of this PhD project is to design profit scorecards for a revolving credit using alternative measures of profit that have not been considered in previous research. The data set consists of customers from a lending institution that grants credit to those that are usually financially excluded due to the lack of previous credit records. The study presents for the first time a relative profit measure (i.e.: returns) for scoring purposes and compares results with those obtained from usual monetary profit scores both in cumulative and average terms. Such relative measure can be interpreted as the productivity per customer in generating cash flows per monetary unit invested in receivables. Alternatively, it is the coverage against default if the lender discontinues operations at time t. At an exploratory level, results show that granting credit to financially excluded customers is a profitable business. Moreover, defaulters are not necessarily unprofitable; in average the profits generated by profitable defaulters exceed the losses generated by certain non-defaulters. Therefore, it makes sense to design profit (return) scorecards. It is shown through different methods that it makes a difference to use alternative profit measures for scoring purposes. At a customer level, using either profits or returns alters the chances of being accepted for credit. At a portfolio level, in the long term, productivity (coverage against default) is traded off if profits are used instead of returns. Additionally, using cumulative or average measures implies a trade off between the scope of the credit programme and customer productivity (coverage against default). The study also contributes to the ongoing debate of using direct and indirect prediction methods to produce not only profit but also return scorecards. Direct scores were obtained from borrower attributes, whilst indirect scores were predicted using the estimated probabilities of default and repurchase; OLS was used in both cases. Direct models outperformed indirect models. Results show that it is possible to identify customers that are profitable both in monetary and relative terms. The best performing indirect model used the probabilities of default at t=12 months and of repurchase in t=12, 30 months as predictors. This agrees with banking practices and confirms the significance of the long term perspective for revolving credit. Return scores would be preferred under more conservative standpoints towards default because of unstable conditions and if the aim is to penetrate relatively unknown segments. Further ethical considerations justify their use in an inclusive lending context. Qualitative data was used to contextualise results from quantitative models, where appropriate. This is particularly important in the microlending industry, where analysts’ market knowledge is important to complement results from scorecards for credit granting purposes. Finally, this is the first study that formally defines time-to-profit and uses it for scoring purposes. Such event occurs when the cumulative return exceeds one. It is the point in time when customers are exceedingly productive or alternatively when they are completely covered against default, regardless of future payments. A generic time-to-profit application scorecard was obtained by applying the discrete version of Cox model to borrowers’ attributes. Compared with OLS results, portfolio coverage against default was improved. A set of segmented models predicted time-to-profit for different loan durations. Results show that loan duration has a major effect on time-to-profit. Furthermore, inclusive lending programmes can generate internal funds to foster their growth. This provides useful insight for investment planning objectives in inclusive lending programmes such as the one under analysis.

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<p>Special interest money enters politics in a number of ways: Politicians solicit contributions that help in their election campaigns; they enrich themselves while in office by accepting bribes; or, increasingly in many countries, they go through the "revolving door" and take up lucrative post-government jobs in companies that were affected by their decisions in office. The central argument I make in this dissertation is that these different types of special interest money can act as functional substitutes and that their prevalence is a strategic choice. I examine this strategic choice theoretically and empirically, and provide insights into the consequences it has for policy and voters. I focus on two main factors: First, what consequences does the legal environment have? Second, what is the effect of the political environment? </p><p>Chapter 1 lays the theoretical groundwork. I study a formal model of political competition that determines whether and how special interest money enters politics. I show that laws criminalizing bribery or restricting campaign contributions lead to substitution effects and make other types of special interest money more common, in particular the revolving door. I also study the effect of legal restrictions on equilibrium policy and demonstrate that it only moves policy towards the median voter under certain circumstances. Higher political competitiveness leads incumbents to solicit campaign contributions, whereas the absence of competitiveness provides leeway for personal enrichment.</p><p>I test the effect of the legal and the political environment on the types of special interest money empirically, using newly assembled data from the world's two largest democracies. Chapter 2 examines the effect of the degree of political competition on the choice between personal enrichment while in office and campaign spending in India. Making use of detailed mandatory asset disclosure data of state assembly members that run in consecutive elections, I show that candidates with ties to business groups increase their wealth to a higher degree when they are electorally secure. Conversely, they hold larger cash reserves, which are crucial in campaigns, the less electorally secure they are. Using a survey experiment, I show that the way special interest money is used matters to voters.</p><p>Chapter 3 asks where tougher regulations of money in politics comes from. I argue that political entrepreneurs running on an anti-corruption platform play an important role and provide a simple formal exposition of the conditions under which voters are willing to vote for them. The implications of the model are tested for one of the most successful electoral performances of an anti-corruption party of our time: the 2013 debut of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in state elections in Delhi in India. Analyzing three rounds of pre-election surveys with a total of more than 40,000 respondents and election outcomes at the polling-booth level, I provide empirical support for the central insights of the formal model.</p><p>Finally, in Chapter 4 I study the effect of stricter regulations of bribery and campaign contributions on the revolving door, exploiting regulatory variation among the 50 state legislatures of the United States. Using a series of multilevel regression models, I show that former legislators are more likely to go through the revolving door and become lobbyists in states that make politicians less dependent on campaign contributions from special interests and that make it harder to earn money while in office. This suggests that politicians' movement into the private sector upon exiting office can act as a substitute for other types of special interest money.</p> / Dissertation

Revolving Scenarios is an arts-performing center located in San Juan, Puerto Rico, intended to hold different cultural / theatrical and social events. The project is presented as a sequence of acts or events that directs the observer through its different spaces. Revolving scenarios becomes a performing piece which tries to recreate a monumental and dramatic architectural spectacle in itself. It is a play performing in the landscape where the visitors / spectators become the leading actor. Due to the nature of the building's geometry and location (inspired by the site's curvilinear lines and the nautilus shell), the project continuously provides multiple opportunities for scenic tropes from the indoor / outdoors. Therefore, views revolve around the landscape, different theatre halls which continuously change and revolve around the theatrical spectacles. As humans, we constantly move and live among scenarios that continuously change, evolve and revolve around ordinary life. The performing arts center becomes a microcosm of the macrocosmic everyday performances occurring in Puerto Rico. The performing piece allows us to expand our vision, vision of the worldâ ¦our worldviews. The thesis allowed discovering poetic architectural views revolving around the theatre, the arts and culture which are constantly changing and evolving along time. / Master of Architecture

This paper examines the determinants of tax lobbying report compliance and issues lobbied. Disclosure rules under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 and Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 require lobbyists to disclose the issues on which they lobby the U.S. federal government. Despite these disclosure rules, I find substantial variation in the level of compliance with the Act related to tax issues. Using a hand-collected dataset of corporate tax lobbying reports, I find that only 68.4% of these reports are fully compliant with the Act, on average. Notably, the percentage of compliant tax lobbying reports has declined significantly over time, from almost 90% compliance in 2008 to less than 50% compliance by 2017, with some rebound to about 60% by 2019. I find greater compliance when lobbying reports are filed by in-house lobbyists, by revolving door lobbyists, for lobbying activity related to the Department of the Treasury, later in the year, and with a higher tax lobbying dollar amount, and lower compliance for larger firms. Additionally, I identify that the major tax issues lobbied relate to international taxes, investment incentives, and non-income taxes. I find that lobbying reports that mention either international taxes or investment incentives are more likely to have a higher tax lobbying dollar value, suggesting they are more valuable to corporations than non-income taxes. Overall, this paper provides detailed evidence on firms’ compliance with federal disclosure laws related to tax lobbying, the nature of tax issues being lobbied, and the role of lobbyists in advocating for those issues.

In my desertion I focus on financing the development of local Agenda 21 from the Revolving Fund of the Department of the Environment. Financial resources of this fund were transferred from the former revolving funds Phare, which were sponsored by the European Union. I concern with the principles of using these resources, keeping on them and possibilities of their drawing. I pay attention mostly to grants (e.g. form of non-returnable money), that are aimed at sustainable development on the local level. I put all my knowledge from this area into effect working on case study of the town Uherské Hradiště. This town received money from the Revolving Fund of the Department of the Environment in the first appeal which was proclaimed in January 2008. Nowadays Uherské Hradiště has fulfilled all the necessary criteria to be shifted into higher category in the system of local Agenda 21 and therefore is a suitable subject for applying for the next grant from this fund within the third appeal. This appeal is going from the end of April 2009. Uherské Hradiště has significantly changed in the right way from receiving the extra money to help the town with sustainable development. Communication with public is on the highest level ever.

This thesis deals with Revolving Theatre in landscape of Český Krumlov and its influence on landscape character. First part of thesis deals with conservation of landscape character and castle parks in general. Then I describe history of Revolving Theatre placement issues in castle garden and I compare substitutive alternatives of its placement. I evaluate influence of Revolving Theatre on landscape character using ICOMOS methodology. In the end I evaluate short questionnaires which ask whether people agree with placement of Revolving Theatre in the castle garden of Český Krumlov.

This thesis deals with the issue of hydrostatic bearings. The aim was to design a test rig for an axial hydrostatic bearing. The axial hydrostatic bearing was calculated and designed with respect to the function of the tester. The construction of the test equipment was further supported by calculations of the main parts together with FEM analyses. The design was also accompanied by an introduction to the hydraulic parts of the hydrostatic bearing, which took place in consultation with Bosch Rexroth. The aim of the work, the design of a test device in a scale of 1:10, was completed. The following results from hydrostatic bearing tests will allow the introduction of new procedures in the production of turntables mounted on a hydrostatic bearing. Examination of operating conditions and permissible assembly inaccuracies will make it possible to reduce the production requirements for bearing mounting.

The goal of this diploma thesis is to design a robotized workplace for treatment of thermoplastic products based on documentation from a real project announced by Form s. r. o. In order to understand a problematic of robots and robotized workplaces, the theoretic introduction in the beginning of work is reserved for. Besides a brief summary of robot history the introduction brings also some overview on present robot applications and it tries to classify robots into various groups according different standpoints. The main part of the theory however deals with optimized design of robotized workplaces by using a systematic approach. The topic covers also a robot safety. There are mentioned sources of safety risks and ways how to avoid them. The presented theory is at last used in the following, most crucial, part of the thesis – the final design itself. An attention is focused mainly to a design of a revolving positioner, which becomes a key element of whole workplace. Different design variants of inner most significant mechanisms are presented and by using sophisticated methods, the best solutions are chosen. Finally a simulation of whole robotized workplace is made and conclusions based on real implementation are summarized.

This diploma thesis aims to uncover through personal testimonies by (self)reflection of the world of one of the regional theaters and its officials. The first part is devoted to South Bohemian Theatre as a whole. Primarily presents with such ambitions and the conditions in which this regional theater actor in the cultural field. You can also find alternative scene, Revolving Theatre in Cesky Krumlov, especially in terms of repertoire and his superiority and operational limits. In the second part of the thesis is the theater, and especially the officials undergo reflection in the eyes of spectators and the "other" people. Perception is positive or negative in nature and is aware of the public need to culture and its influence on daily life or the difficulty of acting as a profession? In the third part speaks actors themselves and people from the theater and with their help it is reconstructed the art world and the reflection of ourselves and the acting craft in general. Space is also given thought to whether the difference in regionálnálním be an artist or a Prague theater and whether in the theater world has changed a lot with the year of 1989. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)