Background: Lung cancer was the fifth leading cause of mortality globally in 2010, and the leading cause of cancer mortality in Canada, representing 26% of all cancer deaths for both men and women in 2017. Radon is a very modifiable environmental exposure that is the second most important cause of lung cancer. Objectives: The objectives of this thesis are to quantify the lung cancer burden associated with residential radon and to identify the most cost effective mitigation options to reduce residential radon in Canada. Methods: The global burden of lung cancer mortality attributable to radon in 2012 was estimated from the 66 countries for which a representative national radon survey was available, using several different models for excess relative risk (ERR) of lung cancer from radon studies. Cost-utility analyses are conducted for 20 practical radon interventions scenarios to reduce residential radon exposures in new and existing housing in Canada, each province/territory and 17 census metropolitan areas. A societal perspective and a lifetime horizon are adopted. A Markov cohort model and a discrete event simulation are used to model residents by household, based on a period-life table analysis, at a discount rate of 1.5%. Results: The estimates of the global median PAR were consistent, ranging from 16.5% to 13.6% for the three ERR models based on miners, and the mean estimates of PAR for Canada ranged from 16.3% to 14.6%. It is very cost effective to install radon preventive measures in new construction compared to no radon control in all regions across Canada. At a radon mitigation threshold of 100 Bq/m3, the sequential analysis recommends the combination of the activation of preventive measures in new housing with the mitigation of existing housing at current testing and mitigation rates for cost effectiveness thresholds between 51,889 and 92,072 $/QALY for Canada, between 27,558 and 85,965 $/QALY for Manitoba, and between 15,801 and 36,547 $/QALY for the Yukon. The discounted ICER for screening and mitigation of existing housing at current rates relative to no radon control measures is 62,451 (66,421) $/QALY using a Markov cohort model (discrete event simulation model) for mitigation of housing above a threshold of 200 Bq/m3, and is 58,866 (59,556) $/QALY using a Markov cohort model (discrete event simulation model) for mitigation of housing above a threshold of 100 Bq/m3. Conclusions: Cost effective residential radon interventions should be implemented across Canada to reduce exposures to this very modifiable cause of lung cancer and to help reduce the increasing lung cancer burden in an ageing Canadian population.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil Engineering. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.S.

We analyze which utility function would best represent the Brazilian representative investor with a one-month investment horizon who has to allocate his wealth across three main asset classes (bonds, equities, and risk free). To do this, we compute the optimal portfolio weights by considering four different specifications for the utility function: (i) mean-variance, (ii) constant relative risk aversion (expected utility functions), (iii) ambiguity aversion, and (iv) loss aversion (non-expected utility functions). We compare the optimal portfolio weights to the empirical portfolio - computed by considering the market value of all the assets in our sample - using the Mahalanobis distance. Our results indicate that the traditional utility function, the mean-variance utility, should not be used to represent the behavior of the Brazilian investor. All other utilities are statistically equal and could be used to compute optimal portfolios for the Brazilian investor. However, the constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) and the ambiguity aversion functions are only justified for extremely high levels of risk aversion. As the loss averse function showed the lowest Mahalanobis distance, we propose that the Brazilian investor is best represented by a utility function that incorporates aversion to losses, in which the decrease of utility caused by a loss is much greater than the increase caused by a gain of equal magnitude. Moreover, this different impact of gains and losses on the investor\'s utility leads individuals to behave as investors with high risk aversion and justifies the fact that loss-aversion preferences have also been widely used to explain why the high risk premium might be consistent with high levels of risk aversion. / Analisamos qual função utilidade representa melhor o investidor representativo brasileiro que aloca sua riqueza em três principais classes de ativos (títulos, ações e livre de risco) e com um horizonte de investimento de um mês. Para isso, calculamos os pesos ótimos do portfólio considerando quatro especificações diferentes para a função utilidade: (i) média-variância, (ii) aversão relativa ao risco constante (funções utilidade esperadas), (iii) aversão à ambiguidade, (iv) aversão à perdas (funções utilidade não esperadas). Comparamos os pesos do portfólio ótimo com o portfólio empírico - calculado considerando o valor de mercado de todos os ativos em nossa amostra - usando a distância de Mahalanobis. Nossos resultados indicam que a função utilidade tradicional de média-variância não deve ser utilizada para representar o comportamento do investidor brasileiro. Todas as demais especificações de função utilidade são estatisticamente iguais e podem ser utilizadas para computar o portfólio ótimo do investidor brasileiro. Entretanto, as funções CRRA e de aversão à ambiguidade são justificadas apenas com níveis extremamente elevados de aversão ao risco. Como o portfólio ótimo com função utilidade do tipo aversão à perdas apresentou a menor distância de Mahalanobis, propomos que o investidor brasileiro é melhor representado por uma função que incorpora aversão à perdas, em que a diminuição da utilidade causada por uma perda é muito maior do que o aumento causado por um ganho de igual magnitude. Além disso, esse impacto diferente de ganhos e perdas na utilidade do investidor leva os indivíduos a comportar-se como investidores com grande aversão ao risco e justifica o fato de que as preferências de aversão à perdas também foram amplamente utilizadas para explicar por que o prêmio de risco pode ser consistente com altos níveis de aversão ao risco.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

My work explores domesticity, the role reversal happening in the family dynamics, the banality of home life, and the common escapism that occurs in parents. Men play a larger role in the home and women play a larger role outside the home blurring the lines of responsibility and changing expectations. This emasculating process often creates a power struggle within the home. These common issues are the fodder for my artistic practice. Domestic pattern, utility, sexual frustration, chaos and contentment all play a part.

No description available.

Urban drinking-water supplies are still implicated as pathways for the transmission of waterborne disease. A move toward risk informed, proactive water system management has occurred over the past decade and is advocated in current international drinking water guidelines. Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) is a tool with potential for aiding health risk management; however the refinement of scientific based practical methods to support that philosophy still requires development. This thesis focused on the water utility, its responsibility to manage microbial water safety, and how probabilistic QMRA may aid in developing management strategies. A framework for waterborne disease risk assessment from urban supply systems was derived and tested on an Australian case study. The main premise was that, in order for risk assessment outcomes to inform the management process, the steps should incorporate the concepts of risk variability, the explicit event conditions that can drive it, and that examination of QMRA sensitivity to various risk scenarios/model uncertainties is undertaken. The identified management uses were: (i) prioritising for attention issues hampering the system's ability to meet or the assessor's ability to interpret against (e.g. knowledge gaps about the system), a water quality health target; and (ii) identifying potential strategies or control points for addressing those issues. Additionally, rarely occurring, high impact, adverse fluctuations in treated water quality (and consumer infection risks), especially from source water contaminant "peaks", are highly, nearly totally, influential over the extent of risks averaged over longer, say annual, periods. As such, a case is made calling for widespread adoption of health targets that refer to tolerable consumer risks per exposure, rather than or as well as the current common practice of expressing targets in terms of risks from exposure over a year or lifetime. Doing so may provide incentive and opportunities for improved management, and the future derivation of specific microbial treatment or treated water quality targets, with a view toward protecting the community from extreme high risk periods associated with disease outbreaks.

Dans un contexte d'ouverture à la concurrence et d'émergence des marchés de l'énergie, la production d'électricité est affectée par de nouvelles sources d'aléas : le risque de marché. Nous étudions la possibilité d'introduire des contraintes de risque financier dans le processus d'optimisation de la production de l'électricité. Nous distinguons l'approche "ingénieur" (prise en compte du risque par des mesures de risque) de l'approche "économiste" (prise en compte du risque par des fonctions d'utilité), au Chapitre 1. Ces deux points de vue sont rapprochés dans le Chapitre 2. Une application numérique relativement simple est présentée pour illustrer le lien qui existe entre la Conditional Value-at-Risk et l'aversion aux pertes. Le résultat d'équivalence obtenu dans le Chapitre 2 est étendu à un cadre d'optimisation dynamique dans le Chapitre 3. Une application numérique de cette approche et une programmation dynamique sous contrainte de risque sont faites au Chapitre 4 pour résoudre un problème de gestion de production de l'électricité sous une contrainte de Condition al Value-at-Risk.

<p>The research area of recruitment utility analysis (RUA) models has</p><p>been somewhat unexplored for decades, and has earlier been reduced</p><p>to simplified mathematic formulas measuring only dollar term value.</p><p>The need for more dynamic models and theories surrounding the area</p><p>has been voiced numerous times, yet little has been done. The purpose</p><p>of this study was to highlight this need to encourage to further</p><p>research, and to examine the managerial perspective on RUA from a</p><p>semi explorative perspective. Eight interviews were conducted where</p><p>the managers received questions concerning the recruitment process</p><p>and the method used to conduct RUA. The results of this study</p><p>indicate somewhat unimpressed attitudes toward the added value of</p><p>conducting RUA. The reasons for not conducting</p><p>RUA were found to be due to time constraint, lack of skills and</p><p>managerial support. The majority of the RUA was found to be reactive</p><p>and based on gut feeling implying a need for proactive RUA hence</p><p>ensuring the value of the recruitment process.</p>

This research investigated the association of street network connectivity differences across travel modes with travel behaviour – mode choice, distance traveled and number of trips. To date research on travel behaviour relationships with urban form has not developed empirical evidence on street designs as distinct networks for walking and driving. A street network having greater connectivity and continuity for the pedestrian mode of travel vis-à-vis the vehicular network, like the Fused Grid, will likely encourage more walking. This hypothesis was investigated using a quasi-experimental approach within a rational utility behavioural framework. Local travel behaviour is theorized to be affected by desire to access goods and services (broadly termed, ‘activities’) in the community where people live. Using inferential statistics, the research tested for relationships between measured street patterns and self-reported local travel by King County, WA households. The main variables were ratios (walking : driving) of network connectivity and density, in the vicinity of travel survey households. Demographics and household characteristics, as well as other behaviourally influential urban form factors (residential density, proximity of destinations, etc.), were included in regression models, allowing control for confounding factors. Findings suggest that street networks with connectivity that provides better routing for one mode of transportation over others encourage more travel by the favored mode. The regression model demonstrated that a change from a pure small-block grid to a modified grid (i.e. Fused Grid) can result in an 11.3% increase in odds of a home-based trip being walked. The modified street pattern like a Fused Grid is also associated with a 25.9% increase, over street patterns with equivalent route directness for walking and driving, in the odds a person will meet recommended levels of physical activity. Finally, the Fused Grid’s 10% increase in relative connectivity for pedestrians is associated with a 23% decrease in local vehicle travel distance (VMT), and its improved continuity is associated with increased walking trips and distance. Conclusions: Other factors being equal, residential street networks with either more direct routing for pedestrians or more pedestrian facilities relative to vehicular network are associated with improved odds of walking and reduced odds of driving.