published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Energy policies in favor of a larger adoption of renewable energy sources for electricity production purposes and the significant progress of several renewable technologies are among the main drivers behind an increasing integration of distributed generation (DG) in distribution networks. DG affects distribution network planning and operation and, consequently, higher or lower network costs than in a traditional passive network scenario arise. Two main complementary tools for an efficient integration of DG have been identified in this thesis: (i) a sound economic regulation of Distribution System Operators (DSOs) for taking into account DG-driven potential costs and accordingly remunerating DSOs, and (ii) network tariff design, in order to allocate network costs and re-distribute potential benefits to different grid users. Distribution economic regulations vary from country to country with grid characteristics and regulatory customs. In order for Regulators to promote the integration of DG units according to policy objectives, the potential impact of DG on the different distribution costs needs to be analyzed and quantitatively assessed: in this thesis, these objectives are achieved by using a novel model that combines the technical characteristics of distribution grids with the regulatory details specific of each regulation. Once computed, DSOs' total allowed revenue is allocated to different users' categories according to the adopted tariff structures. This thesis focuses on the challenges arising within the traditional paradigm of distribution tariff design when an increasing amount of DG is connected to the grids. In particular, the consequences of DG exemption from distribution tariffs and the application of load-tailored tariff schemes to DG are investigated, both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view; cross subsidies between consumers and DG owners are computed by applying a cost causality principle. / <p>The Doctoral Degrees issued upon completion of the programme are issued by Comillas Pontifical University, Delft University of Technology and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The invested degrees are official in Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden, respectively. QC 20151009</p>

The potential relationship between riparian arachnids and aquatic insect productivity was assessed in forest streams throughout the central South Island of New Zealand. Initially, a survey was conducted of thirty seven, first-third order forest streams. Streams were selected to represent a range of benthic invertebrate standing crops (as a surrogate measure of "productivity") from Banks Peninsula streams with relatively high benthic invertebrate densities to acid mine drainage streams near Reefton that were almost devoid of aquatic life. At each site benthic invertebrate densities and biomass were measured in riffle habitats and adjacent gravel bars were sampled for terrestrial invertebrates. At a sub-set of 16 sites, a 20 metre longitudinal web-building spider survey was conducted along each bank of the stream. As an additional component, a 20 metre transect starting at the stream margin and running perpendicularly into the forest was used to survey the density of web-building spiders with increasing distance from the stream. Results from the survey of in-situ stream insect biomass and gravel bar invertebrates showed a strong relationship between aquatic insect biomass and the biomass of riparian arachnids (R2 = 0.42, P < 0.001) having accounted for potentially confounding factors such as stream size, elevation, substrate and disturbance. The 20 metre longitudinal survey showed that streams with the highest in-situ insect biomass had significantly higher densities of web-building spiders along their banks (R2 = 0.28, P < 0.05), having accounted for potential confounding variables of elevation, habitat architecture and stream and channel width. The stream to forest survey showed a strong exponential decay in web-building spider densities with increasing distance from the stream (R2 = 0.96, P < 0.0001). Regardless of stream productivity web-building spiders were most abundant at the stream margins and rapidly declined to very low densities 20 metres from the stream. In order to further test the relationship between riparian web-building spider densities and stream insect productivity, a stream fertilization experiment was conducted on six first-second order streams in the Maimai experimental catchment, Reefton. Three streams were enriched by the addition of a fertiliser solution mainly consisting of sodium nitrate for seven months, and the other three streams were used as controls. Water chemistry, benthic invertebrate communities, emerging aquatic adults, and the densities of web-building spiders along the stream corridor and in the forest were monitored in three seasons (spring, summer and autumn) over the course of the nutrient-addition. By the end of the experiment, conductivity was significantly higher in nutrient-addition streams than in the control streams (F = 80.5, P < 0.001), but chlorophyll concentrations showed no significant differences between treatments. Both benthic mayfly densities (F = 6.15, P < 0.05) and the biomass of adult aquatic dipterans (Chironomidae, Simuliidae) (F = 9.25, P < 0.01) were significantly higher in nutrient-addition streams in the last sampling round. Spiders recorded from intercept traps indicated that by the end of the experiment spider activity was significantly higher within 2.5 metres of the nutrient-addition streams (F = 5.70, P < 0.01). However, seasonal densities of web-building spiders along the stream margin and in the forest decreased with no significant differences observed between nutrient-addition and control streams. The results from these studies indicate that adult insects emerging from streams represent an important source of prey that could influence the biomass and abundance of riparian arachnids. Additionally, the results imply that stream productivity and size could mediate the strength of the interaction between riparian and stream habitats. Moreover, feedback mechanisms present in both systems could have implications for such interactions. The elevated densities of web-building spiders observed at the stream margin led to the proposal of the "Highway Robber" hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that such higher densities of spiders are the result of increased insect activity along the stream corridor: the emergence of adult aquatic insects was predicted to vary less over temporal and spatial scales than that of terrestrial insects due to the poorly synchronized life histories in many New Zealand stream insects. I conclude by suggesting that there are numerous anthropocentric perturbations such as loss of heterogeneity, introduced species, pollution and habitat degradation that could undermine and decouple the intimate linkages between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

The Farm Bill is a large omnibus bill that covers many titles, including commodity programs, and accounted for $23.9 billion in government spending in 2006. The purposes of this study are to determine if commodity variables are the only variables that are closely correlated to government commodity payments, and if government payments are distributed equitably by Farm Resource Region, based on the inequitable distribution of payments cited by other researchers. Data included economics, operator characteristics, farm typologies, tenure, and geographic variables. Kendall’s correlations and location quotients examined the relationship between these variables and government payments. Choropleth maps were created to visually examine the relationships. This study found that corn, soybean, wheat, and cropland variables were strongly correlated to government payment variables, supporting the hypothesis. However, other variables were also strongly correlated to government payment variables, and payments varied widely by Farm Resource Region. The hypotheses were rejected. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

Intercollegiate athletics are a prominent feature of American higher education. They have been characterized as the “front door” to the university due to their unique ability to draw alumni and other supporters to campus. It is often supposed that the exposure from high-profile athletics produces a number of indirect benefits including greater institutional prestige. Such exposure comes at a cost, however, as most Division I athletics programs are not financially self-sufficient and receive institutional subsidies to balance their budgets. At present, it is unclear how institutions budget for athletics subsidies or whether the recent increases in subsidies have impacted the overall financial picture of colleges and universities. Prior research has shown that athletics subsidies and student tuition and fees are not significantly correlated for public Division I institutions, which suggests the possibility that institutions have reallocated funds from other core areas to athletics. In this dissertation, the relationship between athletics subsidies and one of the most important core areas of the university – education and related activities – was examined. This relationship was investigated using fixed-effects structural equation models to analyze a panel dataset of public Division I institutions. It was found that total athletics subsidies (school funds and student fees) per student and education and related spending per student were positively correlated. This suggests that rather than decrease educational spending, institutions that increase total athletics subsidies have simultaneously increased their educational expenditures. However, in the analyses involving the more restrictive definition of athletics subsidies, it was shown that athletics subsidies from school funds was not correlated with educational spending. The results also provided some evidence that differences in the relationship between athletics subsidies and educational spending exist according to Carnegie classification and level of athletics competition. The findings from this study have a number of implications for higher education policy and future research. The absence of a negative relationship between athletics subsidies and educational spending suggests that athletics subsidies are not associated with decreases in educational spending that could ultimately harm the quality of education provided by colleges and universities. Furthermore, the existence of a positive correlation between athletics subsidies and educational spending and the fact that core revenues were controlled for in the models suggest the possibility that institutions have redirected funds from other areas to support education and athletics.

Le droit antisubvention est construit par une combinaison des éléments de l'Accord SMC et des solutions du droit interne. Il se trouve au milieu de multiples tensions: l'obligation de conformité à l'égard des accords OMC v. l'autonomie du droit interne, l'équilibre institutionnel interne v. la prévisibilité du droit. La méthode de coordination multilatérale est dans un dilemme: la diffusion de ces tensions risque de laisser trop de marge de manoeuvre au pouvoir exécutif, tandis que trop d'ingérence créera une instabilité systémique. Dans son état actuel, en droit de l'Union européen comme en droit chinois, le droit antisubvention souffre encore d'incohérence entre sa mission et ses moyens: l'effectivité des règles de droit en face des faits économiques complexes reste un défi à relever. Pour la coordination multilatérale du droit antisubvention, l'arrivée de la Chine est à la fois un test de sa crédibilité et une opportunité. L'agressivité de la Chine réveillera éventuellement un besoin et un consensus pour un meilleur encadrement juridique du droit antisubvention. / The antisubsidy law created by dispositions of WTO rules and internal solutions, is situated in the center of multiple normative conflicts: firstly between obligation of compliance and the autonomy of internal legal order; and secondly between the need of institutional balance and the predictability of rules. The method of multilateral coordination is facing a dilemma, the diffusion of those tensions will give the executing authority too much leeway, but intervention will create systematical difficulties. As it is, both in European Union Law and in Chinese Law, the antisubsidy law suffers an incoherence between its mission and its capacity in terms of the effectiveness of its rules facing complexes economic realities. The arrival of China, is both a test and an oppotunity to the multilateral legal coordination on the use of countervailing duty. The aggressive use of the trade defense arm such as countervailing duty, could eventually awake a nee d and a consensus of better legal framework of the antisubsidy law.