Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-192). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 107 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-107).

Cette thèse a pour objet de répondre à la question suivante : un choix de service public est-il compatible avec un choix d’ordre financier, car faisant intervenir des critères financiers, parmi lesquels celui de rentabilité financière ? Elle se situe dans un contexte de profondes mutations du secteur public. Prenant comme cadre théorique le New Public Management, constatant une appropriation par le droit administratif des notions d’intérêt financier et de rentabilité, cette recherche exploratoire se poursuit par des entretiens auprès d’élus et d’administratifs de 26 communes. Elle montre un poids des critères financiers proche de celui des critères de service public et un net intérêt porté à un outil de calcul de rentabilité financière, répondant là positivement à la question. Elle démontre également que les administratifs jouent un véritable rôle d’experts financiers. Enfin elle laisse entrevoir qu’élus et administratifs pourraient exercer un micro-pouvoir sur les spécialistes français du management public et les personnalités politiques, adhérant plutôt à l’idée d’incompatibilité d’un choix de service public et de la notion de rentabilité financière. / This thesis has for object to answer the following question : is a choice of public utility compatible with a choice of financial order, because bringing in financial criteria, among which that of financial profitability ? It takes place in a context of deep changes of the public sector. Taking as theoretical frame the New Public Management, noticing an appropriation by the administrative law of the notions of financial interest and profitability, this exploratory research goes on by interviews with elected representatives and administration staff of 26 municipalities. It shows a weight of the financial criteria close to that of the criteria of public utility and a clear interest for a tool of financial profitability calculation, answering positively the question. It also demonstrates that the administration staff play a real role of financial experts. Finally it lets glimpse that elected representatives and administration staff could exercise a micro-power on the French specialists of public management and the political personalities, subscribing rather to the idea of incompatibility of a choice of public utility and the notion of financial profitability.

Preventative interventions often demand that resources be consumed in the present in exchange for future benefits. Understanding these trade-offs, in a context of resource constraints, is essential for policy makers. Cost-effectiveness analysis is one tool to inform decision-making. Targeted testing and treatment (TTT) for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) consists in identifying people at high risk for LTBI for preventive treatment to decrease the risk that they will develop active tuberculosis disease (ATBD). The state of Tennessee began conducting TTT statewide in 2001. This study uses a decision tree to evaluate the cost and outcomes of TTT for LTBI in Tennessee, compared to passive ATBD case finding (PACF). Key event probabilities were obtained from the Tennessee TTT program and from the literature. Outcomes are measured in terms of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY). The cost-effectiveness threshold was set at $100,000/QALY saved. One-way sensitivity analyses around factors related to study design (exclusion of patient costs, secondary transmission, discount rate and analytical horizon), the program’s environment (prevalence of LTBI and drug resistance, ATBD treatment costs) and program performance (program maturity, treatment initiation and completion rate, testing in low-risk group, test characteristics, screening costs) were conducted, as was probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) which takes into account the uncertainty in multiple parameters simultaneously. The base case, with a 25-year time horizon and 3% discount rate, shows that TTT prevents 47 ATBD cases, and saves 31 QALYs per 100,000 patients screened for LTBI at a societal cost of $12,579 (2011 US$) per QALY saved. Sensitivity analyses identified value thresholds that would trigger a change in preferred policy. PSA shows that the likelihood that TTT would be cost-effective is low. Decision makers interested in implementing TTT should carefully assess the characteristics of the local TB epidemic and expected program performance to determine whether TTT is preferable over PACF from a cost-effectiveness viewpoint.

This study examined the long-term predictive validity of four reading fluency measures on a statewide reading assessment. The reading fluency measures were administered to a group of first and second grade students and their utility for predicting outcomes on a state's reading assessment in third grade was examined. Specifically, the amount of variance accounted for on the outcome assessment by Curriculum-Based Measurement - Reading (R-CBM) probes from two sources, a list fluency measure, and a group measure of fluency was investigated. The extent to which each is an accurate predictor of long-term performance when considered individually and in combination with the other measures was included in the analyses, along with an examination of whether a difference exists in the obtained prediction between grade levels.

For any given reason, every year many countries spend a lot of money purchasing at least one weapon. Due to the secret character of the military, the decision process for specific weapon procurement is shrouded. Moreover, there are several funds loss cases due to mistakes in weapon contractions. Weapon procurement requires very large amounts of money which comes from tax payers. Therefore, an effort to reduce a possible monetary loss is needed. A decision process based on an analytic model can present a better chance to decision makers for better weapon decisions. In general, weapon procurement decision is a multi criteria environment. Decision making in such environments is defined as Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). MCDM is broadly classified into two areas: Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) and Multi-Objective Decision Making (MODM). MADM methods are used for selecting an alternative from a small explicit list of alternatives. MODM methods are used for designing problems involving an infinite number of alternatives implicitly defined by mathematical constraints. This research is intended to be used by the South Korean Navy when there is a need to select one weapon type among several candidate types. Therefore, MADM methods are used in this research.Many researches for developing an analytical model for better decision-making have been done. However, there is no research for a generalized weapon procurement decision model that is easy to implement. For this reason, whenever there is a need for weapon procurement decision, the Navy has to spend a lot of effort in determining the best weapon. These efforts can be reduced with a generalized model that is proposed in this research for naval weapon procurement. MADM methods determine alternatives ranking orders and the highest ranked alternative is the best one. Various MADM methods are used in computing the alternatives ranking scores.

Maintenance, repair, and replacement of transmission mains and distribution system piping is expected to cost approximately $75 billion over the next two decades to ensure that public water systems are capable of providing the United States with safe drinking water. However, there is a significant gap between the funds available and the projected costs of infrastructure replacement or rehabilitation. Infrastructure Management Systems (IMS) have been developed to assist utilities and decision-makers in determining how to allocate resources for infrastructure. This project utilizes theTampa Water Department (TWD) as a case study to develop a tool for prioritizing infrastructure replacement. TWD is responsible for managing over 2,240 miles of pipeline. Building booms in the 1920s and 1950s have inadvertently resulted in a significant need to replace or rehabilitate pipelines due to the aging of the overall water supply infrastructure. To address this problem, TWD is taking the first steps in applying IMS to transmission anddistribution pipelines. Currently, approximately 500 miles of water mains have been slated for replacement or rehabilitation. The TWD has a GIS that has been used to map and integrate information on main breaks, service line breaks, customer complaints and modeled water age. Information on fire hydrant spacing and line flushing dates are also integrated into the GIS. Following development of the GIS based infrastructure replacement prioritization system, approximately 3,000 pipe segments were identified and queries were performed to help develop cost to benefit analyses. The results were used to develop a prioritized list of potential capital projects and incorporate the time value of money and event forecasting. The GIS was also used to develop indicators of the overall infrastructure condition. From this analysis it was possible to develop an approach to categorize projects and identify the resources needed to address high priority problems associated with undersized mains, unlined cast iron mains, asbestos cement mains, and hydraulic looping projects. As water infrastructure rehabilitation and replacement needs increase in the future, the need for adaptable methods to prioritize capital spending will also increase.This study has demonstrated the ability to prioritize long-term and short-term infrastructure projects using a GIS platform in conjunction with databases and spreadsheets.

In this report, we explore the theory behind utility-based valuation of stock options. In particular, we focus on the underwater employee stock options, which give rise to an incomplete-market setting. We begin with basic concepts and terminology in stock-option pricing. Then, we review the valuation by replication process both in the binomial model and the Black-Scholes model. These two methods apply to valuation in the complete-market setting. Then we introduce the concept of utility function and utility maximization in the context of portfolio allocation. An example is worked out to demonstrate how to solve the optimization problem subject to a portfolio constraint. In the end, we explore indifference pricing, i.e., utility-based valuation of stock options in an incomplete single-period binomial model. / text

In most cases, a city provides water and wastewater service within its boundaries, but when development occurs outside city limits or when the city cannot provide services, there must be some method for paying for the water and wastewater services. In Texas, a developer can create a Municipal Utility District (MUD), which is a political subdivision authorized by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to provide water, wastewater, drainage and other services within its boundaries. In this arrangement, the infrastructure is paid for through bonds; and these bonds are then paid back through a tax levied on the homeowners within the MUD boundaries. Developers often form MUDs when there is not another financially feasible option for the infrastructure. Often the city nearest to the MUD may feel that it is losing developmental control and can see MUDs (that have bond debt) as a hindrance to growth through annexation. In the city of Austin, MUD development allowed development to occur in sensitive areas in which the city did not wish to see growth. In 1997 the city eradicated many MUDs through annexation, in which the city assumed significant MUD debt. With substantial growth and a new state highway under construction, MUDs are still continuing to form in the Central Texas Region. Without a clear plan and significant regional cooperation, Austin has little control over the development of MUDs. But with regional cooperation and a vision for future growth, MUDs can become a funding mechanism for accommodating healthy and well planned growth consistent with a larger vision. / text

Risk management plans improve the likelihood of mission success by identifying potential failures early and planning mitigation methods to circumvent any issues. However, in the aerospace industry to date, risk management plans have typically only been used for larger and more expensive satellites, and have rarely been applied to satellites in the shape of 10 x 10 x 10 centimeter cubes, called CubeSats. Furthermore, existing risk management plans typically require experienced personnel and significant time to run the analysis. The purpose of this research was to develop two risk management software tools, the CubeSat Risk Analysis tool and the CubeSat Decision Advisor tool, which could be used by anyone with any level of experience. Moreover, the tools simply require the user to enter their mission-specific data; the software tools calculate the required analysis. The CubeSat Risk Analysis tool was developed for the purpose of reducing the subjectivity associated with estimating the likelihood and consequence of spacecraft mission risks. The tool estimates mission risk in terms of input characteristics, such as satellite form factor, mass, and development cycle. Using a historical database of small satellite missions, which was gathered in the course of this research, the software determines the mission risk root causes which are of the highest concern for the given mission. The CubeSat Decision Advisor tool uses components of decision theory such as decision trees, multi-attribute utility theory, and utility elicitation methods to determine the expected utility of a mitigation technique alternative. Based on the user’s value preference system, assessment of success probabilities, and resources required for a given mitigation technique, the tool suggests the course of action which will normatively yield the most value for the cost, personnel, and time resources required. The goals of this research were met in the development of two easily-accessible and free risk management software tools to assist in university satellite mission development. But more importantly, these tools will reach beyond the academic setting and allow small satellites to continue to evolve as a platform to accomplish educational, scientific, and military objectives. / text