L'environnement s'est considérablement transformé au cours des dernières décennies sous l'effet du développement économique. Ces transformations se sont accompagnées d'effets positifs, mais aussi négatifs car l'homme se trouve exposé à un grand nombre de substances chimiques dont certaines présentent des risques pour sa santé. La dégradation de l'environnement et ses conséquences néfastes sur la santé ont fait prendre conscience progressivement aux décideurs publics de la nécessité de s'engager dans un développement durable reposant sur un modèle de croissance économiquement soutenable. Dans ce contexte, l'élaboration de politiques de prévention en santé environnementale repose sur une approche globale mobilisant différentes disciplines scientifiques allant de la toxicologie aux sciences sociales en passant par les sciences de l?ingénieur et l'écologie environnementale. En France, les politiques publiques de prévention mobilisent encore peu l'approche économique comme outil d'aide à la décision. Or la contribution de cette approche est indéniable : elle peut, notamment, mesurer la réduction du bien-être social liée aux effets des expositions sur la santé. L'évaluation économique peut permettre, entre autres, de faire révéler aux agents leur consentement à payer pour éviter une réduction de leur état de santé ou de leur bien-être, en donnant une valeur monétaire à ces externalités. Outre le fait d'aider à la décision, elle apporte aussi des éléments utiles et nécessaires au débat public. Dans cette thèse, nous avons retenu l'Impact Pathway Analysis (IPA) comme méthode d?évaluation parce qu'elle analyse un risque environnemental donné en définissant précisément sa nature, son ampleur et les probabilités qui le caractérisent et elle intègre ensuite l'évaluation économique afin de mesurer l'impact monétaire de la réduction du risque sur la santé. Cette thèse s'appuie sur deux exemples des conséquences de la pollution environnementale sur la santé des enfants, les cas du plomb et du mercure, et cherche à mettre en évidence le bien-fondé de l'intégration de l'évaluation économique dans les processus de décision publique. L'exposition au plomb et l'exposition au mercure altèrent la santé des enfants et provoquent des effets indésirables graves, tels que des troubles cognitifs et comportementaux. L'impact économique de l'exposition de la population infantile française à ces deux polluants et de sa réduction a été évalué par l'Analyse Coût Bénéfice (ACB) qui permet de rapprocher l'objectif à atteindre de l'optimisation des coûts. Les premiers résultats de l'évaluation montrent que des politiques publiques axées sur la réduction de l'exposition à ces polluants permettraient de réaliser des bénéfices monétaires de plusieurs milliards d'Euros par année comme le montrent les deux articles présentés 1,2. Ces bénéfices incluent une réduction des dépenses médicales futures et de la charge d'une éducation spécialisée des enfants en bas âge, et surtout l'augmentation de la productivité de ces derniers au cours de leur vie d'adulte. L'évaluation des coûts d'investissements dans des programmes de réduction des émissions des polluants est utile au décideur public afin qu'il puisse mettre en balance les coûts des interventions et le bénéfice de cette réduction. Différentes interventions pour réduire les émissions et/ou les expositions sont possibles : "réglementation - permis d'émission - information" et ont des coûts et des efficacités différents. Un troisième papier fait apparaître des bénéfices nets négatifs dans le cas des changements des canalisations d'eau contenant du plomb. Dans un contexte d'allocation de ressources rares, la recherche de l'efficience d'une politique publique nécessite de s'interroger sur le retour sur investissements, ce que permet l'évaluation économique / The environment has changed considerably in recent decades due to economic development. These changes have been accompanied by positive effects but also negative because people are exposed to many chemicals, some of which pose health risks. The environmental degradation and its adverse health effects have gradually led policy makers to become aware of the need to engage in development based on an economically sustainable growth model. In this context, prevention policies in environmental health I should be based on a comprehensive approach mobilizing various scientific fields, from toxicology to social sciences through engineering and environmental ecology. In France, public policies hardly use the economic approach as a tool for decision support. Now, the contribution of this approach is undeniable: it may, in particular, measure the reduction of social welfare associated with the health effects of exposure. Economic evaluation can help economic agents disclose their willingness to pay in order to avoid a degradation of their health or welfare, by giving a monetary value on these externalities. In addition to helping decision, it also provides useful and necessary items for public discussion. In this thesis, we selected the Impact Pathway Analysis (IPA) as an assessment method because it precisely defines the nature, magnitude and probability of a given environmental hazard and integrates the economic assessment to measure the monetary impact of reducing risk. This thesis is based on two examples of the effects of environmental pollution on children's health, the cases of lead and mercury, and seeks to highlight the validity of integrating economic evaluation in the process of public decision. Exposure to lead and mercury affects the health of children and may cause serious side effects, such as cognitive and behavioral disorders. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the economic impact of the exposure of the French child population to these pollutants, and to highlight the costs and benefits of measures that would reduce the risks. To do this, we selected the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), which encompasses a cost optimization assessment. The first results of the evaluation show that public policy focused on reducing exposure to these pollutants would achieve monetary benefits of several billion Euros per year as shown by the two first papers presented in the thesis1.2. These benefits include a reduction in future medical expenses and of the burden of special education of young children, and mainly increased productivity of the latter during their adult life. Assessing the costs of investments in programs to reduce emissions of pollutants is useful for public decision so that costs of intervention and the benefit of this reduction can be weighed. Different interventions are possible to reduce emissions and / or exposures: "regulation - emission permits - information" and have different costs and efficiencies. A third paper shows net negative benefits in the case of removal of water pipes containing lead. In a context of allocating scarce resources, the pursuit of efficiency in public policy requires to consider the return on investment, which is allowed by economic evaluation. Following the empirical work in the three articles, the general discussion comes back on contributions, limits and prospects of integration in the economic evaluation of prevention policies and environmental risks of their neurotoxic effects on the health of children

Dado o grande impacto econômico e social dos acidentes de trânsito no Brasil, a eficácia comprovada de medidas de controle de velocidade em reduzir acidentes de trânsito, o uso frequente de algumas dessas medidas no Brasil, a falta de estudos sobre o impacto econômico dessas medidas no Brasil e a especificidade regional das análises de custo-benefício, o objetivo deste estudo é fazer uma avaliação econômica das intervenções de segurança viária ondulação transversal e redutor eletrônico de velocidade no Brasil. Desenvolve-se um método para avaliar o custo-benefício destas intervenções de segurança viária para um conjunto de condições de tráfego definidas pelas variáveis velocidade de fluxo livre, volume de tráfego e quantidade de acidentes com vítima, e avalia-se sob quais dessas condições cada intervenção é custo-eficiente. Os resultados mostram que a relação custo-benefício dos dispositivos redutores de velocidade depende fortemente da acidentalidade do local de implementação e que os dispositivos são tanto mais custo-eficientes quanto maior for a acidentalidade e quanto menor for o volume de tráfego. / Given the large economic and social impact of traffic accidents in Brazil, the proven effectiveness of speed control measures to reduce traffic accidents, the frequent use of some of these measures in Brazil, the lack of studies on the economic impact of these measures in Brazil and the inapplicability of cost-benefit analyzes conducted in other countries for the Brazilian reality, the objective of this study is to make an economic evaluation of road safety interventions speed hump and electronic speed hump in Brazil. We develop a method to evaluate the cost effectiveness of these interventions in road safety based on a reduced set of parameters and evaluate under what conditions of free flow speed, traffic volume and number of injury accidents each intervention is cost-effective. Results show that the cost-benefit ratio of the speed reducing devices strongly depends on the accident rate and that the greater the accident rate and the lower the traffic volume are, more cost effective the devices are.

This Master's Thesis aims to apply methods of investmets to project of very specialized sports facilities. It uses Cost Benefit Analysis, Criteria Indicators, Risk Analysis to assess costs and benefits of sports infrastructure project. The theoretical part deals with a sport infrastructure definition, methodological part provides theoretical basis of methods used in next practical part. This is the previously mentioned Cost Benefit Analysis, Risk Analysis, SWOT Analysis and Marketing Strategy. To define real situation, practical part contains also statistic data regarding sports facilities in the Czech Republic and government strategy documents, which serves as basis of sociological part of the analysis.

There is an obligation to hold a minimal flow when running a water power plant in a current czech legistation. There are environmental reasons to determine the minimum discharge and the way to set it is not valid at the moment. We can see a difference in a type of water power stations when comparing the effects from electric power which is produced in water power plant situated on czech rivers and the damage that does not appear on the environment. The weir type of power plant harms the surroundings mildly except of the possible migration obstacles. But the derivation type makes loss that could be hardly compensate by the produced electricity. Different methods of evaluating the enrironment brinks various results and that is the reason why it is hard to say how much the effects from producing the electricity exceed the benefits arising from instream water or vice versa. The only conclusion that can be said is the advice about including more points of view when setting the minimum flowage.

The aim of the thesis is to valuate economic effectivity of radon mitigation countermeasures co-financed by the state applied in family houses which display high radon level. Feasibility of the mitigation is analysed without concering financing source. Furthermore, the project is valuated from the point of view of the house owner and from the state's point of view. Presence of residental radon is increasing lung cancer probability, radon has notable healt effects. Costs and benefit of the hypothetic project are vauated in CBA analysis. The author finds the project unfeasible. CBA is discussed as a suitable economic tool for fiding alternative technological method aiming to social effectivity. Providing feasible change of remediation parametres caused positive social value of the project, socioeconomic flow in the state point of view would remain negative. Therefore, state participation on the radon mitigation countermeasures of private family houses is not reccomended.

In this study cost-benefits problems concerning the knapsack problem of limited resources is studied and how this relates to an attacker perspective when choosing defense strategies. This is accomplished by adopting a cost-benefit method and merging it with game theory. The cost-benefit method chosen for this study is the Analytical Hierarchy Process and from the field of game theory the Bayesian Nash Equilibrium is used. The Analytical Hierarchy Process allows the user to determine internally comparable weights between elements, and to bring in a security dimension to the Analytical Hierarchy Process a sub category consisting of confidentiality, integrity and availability is used. To determine the attacker strategy and, in effect, determine the best defense strategy the Bayesian Nash Equilibrium is used.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Är införande och nyttjande av förstainsatsperson (FIP) samhällsekonomiskt lönsamt? En FIP är, i normalfallet, en deltidsbrandman som inte behöver inställa sig vid brandstationen när en olycka har inträffat då denne har ett eget utryckningsfordon och kan på så sätt fortare komma fram till olycksplats. Den här uppsatsen gör en utvärdering av fyra stationsområden i Jönköpings kommun som för FIP-verksamhet. Tidigare studier framställer att FIP har kortare responstid än nästkommande räddningsenhet. Om så är fallet är följden att räddningsarbetet kan påbörjas i ett tidigare skede och således kan det slutliga räddade värdet i en olyckssituation vara av större omfattning än vad som annars vore möjligt. Enligt teorin bör det finnas ett sätt att värdera denna effekt, vilket sedan kan ställas i förhållande till merkostnaden av införande av FIP. Är fördelarna av FIP-verksamhet av större magnitud än nackdelarna är projektet samhällsekonomiskt lönsamt. Metoden använd för att utvärdera FIP i Jönköpings kommun är kostnadsnyttoanalys (CBA), vari analysunderlaget består av 1150 insatser där FIP-rapport ifyllts. Resultatet visar att den årliga nyttan per FIP-enhet, det vill säga per stationsområde, är mellan 242,8 och 652,0 TSEK (ej extrapolerat värde). Den årliga kostnaden är cirka 76,5 TSEK och nettonuvärdet uppgår därför till mellan 166,2 och 509,1 TSEK. Nyttokostnadskvoten är mellan 3,17 och 8,52. Slutsatsen är att införande och nyttjande av FIP är samhällsekonomiskt lönsamt. / Is introduction of first responder economically beneficial to society? A first responder is, most commonly, a part-time firefighter who can directly head for the scene of an accident since he has his own emergency vehicle. This means that the first responder does not have to first go by the fire department, like other part-time firefighters, and thus will be able to help people, or other, in an early stage of the situation. This thesis evaluates four fire departments (areas) in the municipality of Jönköping, which have adopted the concept of first responders into their organizations. Previous studies have shown that first responders have, on average, a shorter response time than the next emergency unit called to a rescue scene. If this is a fact, the rescue work can begin at an earlier stage and thus the final value saved during a rescue operation will be of greater scope than otherwise would be possible. In theory there should be a way to evaluate this effect, which then can be compared with the additional cost of introducing first responders. If the benefits of first responders are of greater magnitude than the disadvantages, the project is economically beneficial to society. The method used to evaluate the project of first responders in the municipality of Jönköping is a cost-benefit analysis (CBA), where the analytical framework consists of 1150 emergency rescues where a first-responder report has been completed. The results show that the annual benefits per first-responder unit, i.e. per station area, is between SEK 242.8 thousand and SEK 652.0 thousand (with no extrapolation). The annual cost is approximately SEK 76.5 thousand. The net present value therefore is between SEK 166.2 thousand and SEK 509.1 thousand. The cost-benefit ratio is between 3.17 and 8.52. The con-clusion is that introduction and use of first responders in the municipality of Jönköping is economic-ally beneficial to society. / Effektsamband i samhället

The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive from the European Union strives to achieve a high level of environmental protection by preventing or reducing the pollution emanating from industrial installations directly at the source. The Directive implies that the emission limit values should be set in accordance with each industry&rsquo / s Best Available Techniques (BAT). In the present study, water recovery and wastewater treatability alternatives developed beforehand were evaluated towards the evaluation of BATs for the management of wastewaters from a denim textile mill. For this purpose, an assessment that translates the key environmental aspects into a quantitative measure of environmental performance and also financial analysis were performed for each of the alternatives. The alternatives considered for water recovery from dyeing wastewaters were nanofiltration (NF) with coagulation and/or microfiltration (MF) pretreatment, ozonation or peroxone and Fenton oxidation. On the other hand, for the end-of-pipe treatment of the mill&rsquo / s mixed wastewater / ozonation, Fenton oxidation, membrane bioreactor (MBR) and activated sludge process followed by membrane filtration technologies were evaluated. The results have indicated that membrane filtration process providing 70 % water recovery with the least environmental impacts is the BAT for water recovery. On the other side, MBR technology has appeared as the BAT for the end-of-pipe treatment of the mill&rsquo / s mixed wastewater. A technical and financial comparison of these two BAT alternatives revealed that water recovery via membrane filtration from dyeing wastewaters is selected as the BAT for the water and wastewater management in the mill.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) is used in traffic signals and highway illumination in the Texas Department of Transportation, Houston District (TxDOT). The thesis focuses on the cost of maintenance of the LED for signals on the highway system in the Houston District. This LED cost includes human and capital resources which are compared against the cost associated with the incandescent bulb used in traffic signals at a similar location in Houston. The analysis leads to actionable decisions to see if total migration of the LED is advisable or not, amidst budgetary constraints and the benefits thereof. / text