This study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of modeling decisions made by those charged with implementing teacher evaluation systems that incorporate student achievement data; such choices include how growth is to be modeled, whether student characteristics are to be controlled for, how many years of data are to be used, and which test subject is to be selected. Using a three-cohort longitudinal data set from a school district in which reading and mathematics test scores from a vertically-scaled assessment allowed determination of growth in grades three, four, and five, estimated teacher effects were derived from five value-added models, and the resulting rank orderings of the teachers were examined. The models compared were a covariate adjustment model that conditioned on prior achievement only, a covariate adjustment model that conditioned on certain student characteristics as well as prior achievement, a gain score model, the growth model underlying the vertically-scaled assessment, and student growth percentiles. Teacher rank orderings derived under the five models were highly consistent with one another using either one or three classroom years of test scores. Only when the movement of teachers between quartiles was examined did a difference in performance between some models emerge. The high degree of consistency between the two covariate adjustment models suggested that control for student-level characteristics was unnecessary. Using three years of test scores rather than one led to a small decrease in between-model correlations and a small increase in teacher movement between quartiles. Comparison of teacher value-added based on reading scores versus mathematics scores gave mixed results, with between-model correlations in mathematics being slightly higher than those for reading but with reading showing greater consistency in quartile movement between cohorts. The year-to-year change in teacher rank orderings was very striking, as low, and even negative, correlations emerged between years. Movement of teachers between quartiles from one year to the next was far greater than that observed when comparing the modeling conditions. Using a teacher rating scheme in which groups of teachers were distinguished from average effectiveness if they appeared in the extremes of the rankings, nearly half of teachers changed ratings from one year to the next. Such low inter-temporal stability of teacher value-added is a significant result that should be considered by all stakeholders in teacher evaluation.

<p>Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om det föreligger något samband mellan företags värdeskapande och nivå på ersättning till VD.</p><p>Metod: Den metod som används i denna studie är deduktiv, då undersökningsmaterialet till störst del består av årsredovisningar. Utifrån årsredovisningarna beräknas ett specifikt EVA-värde för varje företag.</p><p>Resultat/Slutsats: Av jämförelsen mellan EVA/Sysselsatt kapital och en VD:s totala ersättning kan inget direkt samband påvisas. En anledning till detta torde vara att modellen ställer höga krav på värdeskapande. Detta medför möjligen att företagen använder andra system för utvärdering av ersättningsnivåer, exempelvis utvecklingen av börskursen.</p><p>Studien kompletteras med en jämförelse av ersättningsnivå och börsvärde. Resultaten av denna granskning är att samband mellan de båda kan bevisas. En trolig anledning till att ersättningsnivåerna verkar vara generösare i företag med högre börsvärde kan vara att dessa företagsledare har ett större ansvar.</p>

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Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om det föreligger något samband mellan företags värdeskapande och nivå på ersättning till VD. Metod: Den metod som används i denna studie är deduktiv, då undersökningsmaterialet till störst del består av årsredovisningar. Utifrån årsredovisningarna beräknas ett specifikt EVA-värde för varje företag. Resultat/Slutsats: Av jämförelsen mellan EVA/Sysselsatt kapital och en VD:s totala ersättning kan inget direkt samband påvisas. En anledning till detta torde vara att modellen ställer höga krav på värdeskapande. Detta medför möjligen att företagen använder andra system för utvärdering av ersättningsnivåer, exempelvis utvecklingen av börskursen. Studien kompletteras med en jämförelse av ersättningsnivå och börsvärde. Resultaten av denna granskning är att samband mellan de båda kan bevisas. En trolig anledning till att ersättningsnivåerna verkar vara generösare i företag med högre börsvärde kan vara att dessa företagsledare har ett större ansvar.

<p>Glycerol is one of the by-products of transesterification of fatty acids for the production of bio-diesel. Value-added products such as hydrogen, wood stabilizers and liquid chemicals from catalytic treatment of glycerol can improve the economics of the bio-diesel production process. Catalytic conversion of glycerol can be used for production of value-added liquid chemicals. In this work, a systematic study has been conducted to evaluate the effects of operating conditions on glycerol conversion to liquid chemical products in the presence of acid catalysts. </p><p>Central composite design for response surface method was used to design the experimental plan. Experiments were performed in a fixed-bed reactor using HZSM-5, HY, silica-alumina and ã-alumina catalysts. The temperature, carrier gas flow rate and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) were maintained in the range of 350-500 oC, 20-50 mL/min and 5.40-21.60 h -1, respectively. </p><p>The main liquid chemicals detected in liquid product were acetaldehyde, acrolein, formaldehyde and hydroxyacetone. Under all experimental conditions complete glycerol conversion was obtained over silica-alumina and ã-alumina. A maximum liquid product yield of approximately 83 g/100g feed was obtained with these two catalysts when the operating conditions were maintained at 380 oC, 26 mL/min and 8.68 h-1. Maximum glycerol conversions of 100 wt% and 78.8 wt% were obtained in the presence of HY and HZSM-5 at temperature, carrier gas flow rate and WHSV of 470 oC, 26 mL/min and 8.68 h-1. HY and HZSM-5 produced maximum liquid product of 80.9 and 59.0 g/100 g feed at temperature of 425 and 470 oC, respectively.</p><p>Silica-alumina produced the maximum acetaldehyde (~24.5 g/100 g feed) whereas ã-alumina produced the maximum acrolein (~25 g/100 g feed). Also, silica-alumina produced highest formaldehyde yield of 9g/100 g feed whereas HY produced highest acetol yield of 14.7 g/100 g feed. The effect of pore size of these catalysts was studied on optimum glycerol conversion and liquid product yield. Optimum conversion increased from 80 to 100 wt% and optimum liquid product increased from 59 to 83.3 g/100 g feed when the pore size of catalyst was increased from 0.54 in case of HZSM-5 to 0.74 nm in case of HY, after which the effect of pore size was minimal.

<p>Glycerol is one of the by-products of transesterification of fatty acids for the production of bio-diesel. Value-added products such as hydrogen, wood stabilizers and liquid chemicals from catalytic treatment of glycerol can improve the economics of the bio-diesel production process. Catalytic conversion of glycerol can be used for production of value-added liquid chemicals. In this work, a systematic study has been conducted to evaluate the effects of operating conditions on glycerol conversion to liquid chemical products in the presence of acid catalysts. </p><p>Central composite design for response surface method was used to design the experimental plan. Experiments were performed in a fixed-bed reactor using HZSM-5, HY, silica-alumina and ã-alumina catalysts. The temperature, carrier gas flow rate and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) were maintained in the range of 350-500 oC, 20-50 mL/min and 5.40-21.60 h -1, respectively. </p><p>The main liquid chemicals detected in liquid product were acetaldehyde, acrolein, formaldehyde and hydroxyacetone. Under all experimental conditions complete glycerol conversion was obtained over silica-alumina and ã-alumina. A maximum liquid product yield of approximately 83 g/100g feed was obtained with these two catalysts when the operating conditions were maintained at 380 oC, 26 mL/min and 8.68 h-1. Maximum glycerol conversions of 100 wt% and 78.8 wt% were obtained in the presence of HY and HZSM-5 at temperature, carrier gas flow rate and WHSV of 470 oC, 26 mL/min and 8.68 h-1. HY and HZSM-5 produced maximum liquid product of 80.9 and 59.0 g/100 g feed at temperature of 425 and 470 oC, respectively.</p><p>Silica-alumina produced the maximum acetaldehyde (~24.5 g/100 g feed) whereas ã-alumina produced the maximum acrolein (~25 g/100 g feed). Also, silica-alumina produced highest formaldehyde yield of 9g/100 g feed whereas HY produced highest acetol yield of 14.7 g/100 g feed. The effect of pore size of these catalysts was studied on optimum glycerol conversion and liquid product yield. Optimum conversion increased from 80 to 100 wt% and optimum liquid product increased from 59 to 83.3 g/100 g feed when the pore size of catalyst was increased from 0.54 in case of HZSM-5 to 0.74 nm in case of HY, after which the effect of pore size was minimal.

Title: CSR and profitability in three dimensions – practical examples, Economic Value Added and previous research Authors: Linda-Marie Emilsson &amp; Martina Classon Subject: Business Administration Date: 2011-05-26 Mentor: Krister Bredmar Problem description: Scientists have for a very long time disagreed about whether or not companies should work with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and if there is any correlation between CSR and profitability. There are mainly three different views according the correlation: CSR have a neutral impact on financial performance, CSR have a positive impact on profitability and CSR have a negative impact on profitability. One of the reasons behind the disagreement is the complexity measuring CSR. Scientist claims that EVA is a measure that can be used to measure the correlation between CSR and profitability.         Purpose: The intention with our essay is to find out if there is any correlation between CSR and profitability. Another intention with our paper is to find out what kind of potential competitive advantages CSR is creating for a company. Method: To achieve the intention the study is based on an inductive approach and a combination of qualitative and quantitative strategies. The empirical data consists of interviews with our respondents and the calculation of the selected companies EVA-value from historical financial statements.   Conclusions: The calculation of Economic Value Added shows a low positive correlation between profitability and CSR. But previous research and the practical examples from the selected companies shows a strong positive correlation between CSR and profitability. The three dimensions together shows that CSR creates value and positively affect the financial performance, due to that we claim a positive correlation between CSR and profitability. CSR is also creating competitive advantages for companies by improving reputation and image, attracting workers, keeping and attracting new customers and also by reducing costs due to eco-efficiency. / Titel: CSR och lönsamhet i tre dimensioner – praktiska exempel, Economic Value Added och tidigare forskning Författare: Linda-Marie Emilsson &amp; Martina Classon Ämne: Företagsekonomi Datum: 2011-05-26 Handledare: Krister Bredmar Problem: Forskare har länge varit oeniga huruvida företag ska ägna sig åt Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) samt om det ger lönsamhet och konkurrensfördelar. Det finns framförallt tre motstridiga synsätt vad gäller kopplingen mellan CSR och lönsamhet: CSR står i motsättning till lönsamhet, CSR skapar lönsamhet eller att CSR inte har någon påverkan på lönsamheten. En av anledningarna till de olika synsätten är att mätningar av CSR är svåra och resultaten varierar därför brett. Många mätningar på CSR:s koppling till lönsamhet har gjorts med hjälp av traditionella lönsamhetsmått. Forskare anser dock att EVA är ett mer relevant prestationsmått i dagens kontext vid mätning av CSR. Syfte: Syftet mer vår uppsats är att finna svar på om det finns en koppling mellan CSR och lönsamhet utifrån EVA, praktiska exempel från intervjuer med studiens respondenter och tidigare forskning. Vi har också för avsikt att finna de potentiella konkurrensfördelar som ett CSR-arbete inom företaget kan bidra till. Metod: För att uppnå vårt syfte har vår studie utgått ifrån en induktiv ansats med en kombination av kvalitativt och kvantitativt angreppssätt. Den empiriska insamlingen har präglats av intervjuer med våra respondenter samt beräkning av EVA utifrån de utvalda företagens historiska årsredovisningar. Slutsatser: EVA-beräkningen visade en svag positiv korrelation mellan CSR och lönsamhet sett ur ett utvecklingsperspektiv. Tidigare forskning och empirisk insamling av praktiska exempel samt erfarenheter har dock åskådliggjort en starkare positiv koppling. Utifrån dessa tre dimensioner anser vi därför att vi har stöd att påstå att det föreligger en positiv koppling mellan CSR och lönsamhet. CSR kan vidare ge konkurrensfördelar genom att företaget attraherar kompetent personal, attraherar och behåller kunder, skapar en positiv relation till media, ökar ryktet och imagen samt genom eko-effektiva åtgärder som minskar företagets kostnader.

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Telecom market was opened due to the demand of Taiwan¡¦s joint WTO and Mobile operator became a ¡§new star¡¨ business then. The first private-owned telecom operator launched service in 1997, then, mobile phone penetration rate grew up rapidly from 6% of 1997 to more than 100% of 2003. Taiwan¡¦s mobile phone penetration rate has ranked No.1 in the world; meanwhile, mobile operators in Taiwan also faced the challenge of the coming new telecom era-mobile value added service. Mobile value added service was introduced to Taiwan market 5 years ago and it became the theme of competition within these two years. Most of the papers were focused on the entire telecom competing strategy, very few of them were involved the study of value added service. The study, therefore, tries to adopt case study to analyze the difference of key players in the market and hope to provide recommendation to those players in mobile telecom market. Following are the major discoveries: A. The marketing strategy and key elements of value added service of those key players are too similar to cause the competitive advantage B. Players are eager to win in launch timing and therefore, lack of solid marketing survey and study. C. Players need to enhance the conception and operation for service marketing because most of the marketing operation were still based on traditional 4P D. When there is no difference in either products or strategy, successful and complete execution will lead to the final succeed.