Building Information Modeling has provided many benefits to the architectural, engineering, construction and facilities management communities. Many studies have been done to validate the asserted benefits, including benefits to the field of estimating. The studies on estimating are currently limited to the realm of conceptual estimates, and have only treated detailed estimates in the abstract. The purpose of this study was to determine how BIM was being used by companies in a hard bid, or detailed estimate scenario. The research team used the Deseret Towers housing project at Brigham Young University as the basis for the research. A building information model (BIM) was provided to all bidders on the project, and at the conclusion of the bidding process a survey was used to determine how the contractors used the model in their bidding processes. The findings determined that a few of the contractors did use the model for quantity takeoff, and one actually used the quantities as the basis for the submitted bid. Additionally, the survey attempted to determine the prevailing attitudes of the estimators toward BIM as a tool in estimating, and their opinions of the future of BIM in estimating.

Företags finansiella offentliggöranden når ofta endast ett begränsat antal investerare, vilket resulterar i ökad informationsasymmetri och som ett resultat lägre aktielikviditet. Detta är särskilt framträdande för företag som är mindre till storleken, eftersom dessa företag tenderar att få mindre täckning av traditionella kanaler såsom pressnyheter och analytiker. Samtidigt har företag i allt större utsträckning börjat använda Twitter som en del av sin strategi för investerarrelationer, där Twitter skiljer sig från traditionella investerarrelationer genom att information kan distribueras snabbare och blir mer lättillgängligt. Syftet med denna studie är således att testa om offentliggöranden och ökad spridning av finansiell information på Twitter kan minska informationsasymmetrier och därmed göra marknader mer effektiva för att allokera kapital från investerare till företag. Tidigare studier har studerat sambandet mellan ökad spridning av företagsinformation och dess påverkan på företags finansiella prestation och har funnit att spridning av finansiell information via Twitter påverkar informationsasymmetrin i företagsaktier. Genom att studera svenska små och medelstora företag (SME:s) fyller denna studie ett tidigare forskningsgap där vikten ligger i att studera vilken påverkan Twitter har på mindre företag som är mindre synliga i traditionell media och hos analytiker. Undersökningen har baserats på historiska aktiekurser från Nasdaq som sträcker sig över tidsperioden 2020 till 2022. Företagen som ingick i studien var listade på Nasdaqs First North Growth Market, för vilka datamaterial i form av börsdata och frekvens av Twitter-inlägg har samlats in. För att kvantifiera informationsasymmetri och aktielikviditet används avvikande bid-ask spread (eng. Abnormal bid-ask spread) och Amivest likviditetsratio. Studien har använt en kvantitativ forskningsansats för att visa hur sambandet ser ut mot Twitter och utifrån regressionsanalyser, där ett antal Twittervariabler inkluderats, har frågeställning kunnat studeras. Med hjälp av statistiska hypotesetester och en analys av den teoretiska referensramen med intressentmodellen, effektiva marknadshypoteser och investor recognition hypotheses försöker studien förklara hur informationsasymmetrier påverkar effektiviteten hos den finansiella marknaden och hur det kan motverkas genom ökad synlighet. Studien kunde inte hitta något signifikant samband mellan spridning av finansiell information på Twitter och en minskad informationsasymmetri eller ökad aktielikviditet. Resultatet indikerar att större företag som är mer synliga i medier och därmed har en högre grad av investor recognition har en lägre informationsasymmetri. I resultatet är det tydligt att det är få företag i populationen som använder Twitter aktivt för att sprida finansiell information, och de företag som gör det är inte konsekventa, vilket kan innebära att intressenter söker sig till andra mer pålitliga kanaler under rapportperioder. Slutsatsen lyder att företag inte kan ompaketera information och distribuera den via Twitter för att minska informationsasymmetri, då marknaden redan effektivt har tagit informationen i beaktelse på annat håll. Denna studie är ändå relevant för flertalet intressenter som studerar eller arbetar med investerarrelationer, då den bidrar med intressant information inom området.

The housing market in Sweden has been a central debate topic in media during the past few years. The increase of prices in the big cities has caused hectic auctions that leaves the bidders to question whether the process really passed as it should. The bidding process has today no regulation by law and it is therefore up to the seller to decide how he wants it to proceed. This brings consequences in form of unhappy customers that does not know what to expect of this process.One solution, that has been discussed in media already, is to make the bidding process more safe by making the bids legally binding. This thesis is written in order to find out how this kind of regulation would change the swedish housing market. To do so we will investigate the system in Norway to see how they handle the binding bids.The investigation is based on interviews with industry professionals that has knowledge of the subject. The interviews showed that there is split opinions about whether binding bids in the housing market would be a good regulation since both advantages and disadvantages were discussed. The regulation of the law is comprehensive and it would take many years to process before it would be applied. Thus the result of the investigation is that both the real estate industry as well as the customers will need time to adapt to the new law, since it is a major change. On the other hand, binding bids would contribute to a safer bidding process in the sense that the risk of false bids probably would be eliminated. That in combination with a slower and more serious bidding process makes the regulation reasonable in the long run. / The housing market in Sweden has been a central debate topic in media during the past few years. The increase of prices in the big cities has caused hectic auctions that leaves the bidders to question whether the process really passed as it should. The bidding process has today no regulation by law and it is therefore up to the seller to decide how he wants it to proceed. This brings consequences in form of unhappy customers that does not know what to expect of this process.One solution, that has been discussed in media already, is to make the bidding process more safe by making the bids legally binding. This thesis is written in order to find out how this kind of regulation would change the swedish housing market. To do so we will investigate the system in Norway to see how they handle the binding bids.The investigation is based on interviews with industry professionals that has knowledge of the subject. The interviews showed that there is split opinions about whether binding bids in the housing market would be a good regulation since both advantages and disadvantages were discussed. The regulation of the law is comprehensive and it would take many years to process before it would be applied. Thus the result of the investigation is that both the real estate industry as well as the customers will need time to adapt to the new law, since it is a major change. On the other hand, binding bids would contribute to a safer bidding process in the sense that the risk of false bids probably would be eliminated. That in combination with a slower and more serious bidding process makes the regulation reasonable in the long run.

This study examines asymmetric information content of REIT IPOs as compared to that of industrial IPOs matched by similar asset size, underwriter reputation ranking, and partial adjustment of the offer-price from the midpoint of the original file range. The asymmetric information level is proxied by the relative bid-ask spread (RELSPREAD), adverse selection component of Glosten and Harris (GH, 1988), and the adverse selection component of Lin, Sanger, and Booth (LSB, 1995). All three measures are estimated over 45- and 60-day windows. Using a sample of 78 equity REIT IPOs and 123 Industrial IPOs for the period of January 1, 1993 to December 31, 2007, the results indicate that REIT IPOs have less asymmetric information content as compared to mature industrial firms. All results control for leverage, beginning assets size, issue proceeds, underpricing, partial adjustment, number of IPOs within the same year, venture capital backing, underwriter reputation, average daily volume, average daily price, specialist’s inventory risk, and the turnover ratio. The results also control for the Nasdaq and NYSE rule change of minimum tick increments from 1/8th to 1/16th on June 2, 1997, and June 24, 1997, respectively. The findings provide strong support for the hypothesis that REIT IPOs have less asymmetric information content than non-REIT IPOs.

<p>Bid is a member of the Bcl-2 family of proteins, which are known as the regula- tors of apoptosis. Bid recruits Bax, another Bcl-2 family protein, which forms large oligomers that permeabilize the mitochonrdial outer membrane during apoptosis. In this thesis, Bid complexes embedded in a mitochondria-like supported lipid bilayer were investigated using single molecule fluorescence techniques. The bilayer, con- taining a lipophilic tracer, was formed on a mica surface and ATTO647 labelled Bid was added to it. For experiments where the effect of Bax on Bid complexes was investigated, a wild type Bax or a HiLyte488 labelled Bax was added as well. The protein-bilayer sample was imaged using total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF). The formation of a fluid bilayer was confirmed by the observation of the lateral diffusion of DiD. Single particle tracking of the lipid molecules was used to measure the diffusion coefficent of DiD which was determined to be 2.2μm2 /s. The TIRF images also revealed two populations of Bid complexes, immobile and mobile. The diffusion coefficient of the observed Bid complexes was determined to be about three times slower than that of DiD (0.8±0.5μm2 /s). This provides evidence that mobile Bid is embedded in the bilayer. Image analysis of immobile Bid complexes showed a step-wise decrease in the fluorescence intensity due to photobleaching. The oligomeric distribution of the immobile Bid complexes was determined from the num- ber of steps, which corresponds to the number of particles in each complex. From these distributions it was concluded that the imaged immobile Bid existed mainly as monomers. However dimer and trimer complexes of Bid were also observed. The detected oligomeric distribution was not affected by the presence of either wild type Bax or Hilyte488 Bax. However Bid was imaged for the first time participating in Bax complexes. The acquired results somewhat differ from what had been observed in confocal imaging of the same samples, where mostly larger Bid complexes (dimers and up) were detected. We attribute the difference to the superior sensitivity of the TIRF method presented here.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

This dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay develops a new methodology for estimating the probability of informed trading from the observed quotes and depths, by extending the Copeland and Galai (1983) model. This measure (PROBINF) can be computed for each quote and it represents the specialist's ex-ante estimate of the probability of informed trading. I show that PROBINF exhibits a strong and robust relationship with the observed level of insider trading and with measures of the price impact of trades (ë) estimated based on the models of Glosten and Harris (1988), Madhavan and Smidt (1991) and Foster and Viswanathan (1993). In contrast, the alternative measure of the probability of informed trading (PIN) developed by Easley, Kiefer, O'Hara and Paperman (1996) exhibits a weaker and less robust relationship with insider trading and price impact of trades. The time series pattern of PROBINF in an intra-day analysis around earnings announcement is consistent with previous findings regarding informed trading. An important advantage of PROBINF over PIN and other measures of information asymmetry such as price impact of trades and adverse selection component of the spread is that, unlike these measures, it can be estimated for each quote, and thus can also be used to measure intra-day changes in informed trading and information asymmetry. In the second essay, I examine whether the underwriting syndicate composition influences the secondary market liquidity for initial public offerings (IPOs). Specifically, I argue that co-managers improve the liquidity of IPOs through the other services they provide, besides market making. Using a comprehensive sample of initial public offerings completed between January 1993 and December 2005, I find that IPOs with a high number of co-managers in their syndicates have lower spreads and a lower level of information asymmetry in the aftermarket. I argue that the information produced during the premarket and the analyst coverage in the aftermarket are the main channels through which co-managers mitigate the information asymmetry risk in the secondary market. / Ph. D.

Electrical power systems consist of a large number of power generators connected to consumers through a complex system of transmission and distribution lines. Within the electric grid, a continuous balance between generation and consumption of electricity must be maintained., ensuring stable operation of the grid. In recent decades due to increasing electricity demand, there is an increased likelihood of electrical power systems experiencing stress conditions. These conditions lead to a limited supply and cascading failures throughout the grid that could lead to wide area outages. Demand Response (DR) is a method involving the curtailment of loads during critical peak load hours, that restores that balance between demand and supply of electricity. In order to implement DR and ensure efficient energy operation of buildings, detailed energy monitoring is essential. This information can then be used for energy management, by monitoring the power consumption of devices and giving users detailed feedback at an individual device level. Based on the data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), approximately half of all commercial buildings in the U.S. are 5,000 square feet or smaller in size, whereas the majority of the rest is made up of medium-sized commercial buildings ranging in size between 5,001 and 50,000 square feet. Given that these medium-size buildings account for a large portion of the total energy demand, these buildings are an ideal target for participating in DR. In this dissertation, two broad solutions for commercial building DR have been presented. The first is a load disaggregation technique to disaggregate the power of individual HVACs using machine learning classification techniques, where a single power meter is used to collect aggregated HVAC power data of a building. This method is then tested over a number of case studies, from which it is found that the aggregated power data can be disaggregated to accurately predict the power consumption and state of activity of individual HVAC loads. The second work focuses on a DR algorithm involving the determination of an optimal bid price for double auctioning between the user and the electric utility, in addition to a load scheduling algorithm that controls single floor HVAC and lighting loads in a commercial building, considering user preferences and load priorities. A number of case studies are carried out, from which it is observed that the algorithm can effectively control loads within a given demand limit, while efficiently maintaining user preferences for a number of different load configurations and scenarios. Therefore, the major contributions of this work include- A novel HVAC power disaggregation technique using machine learning methods, and also a DR algorithm for HVAC and lighting load control, incorporating user preferences and load priorities based on a double-auction approach. / Doctor of Philosophy / Electrical power systems consist of a large number of power generators connected to consumers through a complex system of transmission and distribution lines. Within the electric grid, a continuous balance between generation and consumption of electricity must be maintained., ensuring stable operation of the grid. When electricity demand is high, Demand Response (DR) is a method that can be used to reduce user loads, restoring the balance between demand and supply of electricity. Based on data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), half of all commercial buildings in the US measure 5,000 square feet or smaller in size, whereas the majority of the other half is made up of medium-sized commercial buildings measuring in at between 5,001 to 50,000 square feet. This makes these commercial buildings an ideal target for participating in DR. In this dissertation, two broad solutions for commercial building DR have been presented. The first is a load disaggregation technique, where power consumption and activity of individual HVACs can be obtained, using a single power meter. The second work focuses on a DR algorithm, that controls single floor HVAC and lighting loads in a commercial building, based on a user generated bid price for electricity, user preferences and load priorities, when electricity demand is at its peak.

Yes / The study examines the impact of liquidity risk on freight derivatives returns. The Amihud liquidity ratio and bid–ask spreads are utilized to assess the existence of liquidity risk in the freight derivatives market. Other macroeconomic variables are used to control for market risk. Results indicate that liquidity risk is priced and both liquidity measures have a significant role in determining freight derivatives returns. Consistent with expectations, both liquidity measures are found to have positive and significant effects on the returns of freight derivatives. The results have important implications for modeling freight derivatives, and consequently, for trading and risk management purposes.

Neste trabalho, apresentamos um conjunto de fatos empíricos e propriedades estatística de negociações em alta frequência, e discutimos algumas questões gerais comuns a dados de alta frequência tais: como discretização, espaçamento temporal irregular, durações correlacionadas, periodicidade diária, correlações temporais e as propriedades estatísticas dos fluxos de ordens. Logo apresentamos dois modelos da literatura,estilizados para a dinâmica do limit order book. No primeiro modelo os fluxo de ordens é descrito por processos de Poisson independentes, propomos para ele uma forma alternativa da prova de ergodicidade basejada em funções de Lyapunov. O segundo modelo é um modelo reduzido que toma em consideração dinâmicas tipo difusão para os tamanhos do bid e ask, e se foca só nas ordens como melhores preços, e modela explicitamente as cotações do bid e ask na presença de liquidez oculta. E por ultimo, propomos um modelo alternativo para a dinâmica do preço e do spread no limit order book, estudamos o comportamento assintótico do modelo e estabelecemos condições de ergodicidade e transitoridade. Além disso, consideramos a uma família de cadeias de Markov definidos nas sequências de caracteres (strings, ou palavras) com infinito alfabeto e para alguns exemplos inspirados nos modelos de negociações em alta frequência, obtemos condições para ergodicidade, transitoriedade e recorrência nula, para a qual usamos as técnicas de construção de funções Lyapunov. / In this work, we present a set of empirical facts and statistical properties of negotiations at high frequency and discuss some general issues common to high-frequency data such: as discretization, irregular spacing, correlated durations, daily periodicity, temporal correlations and the statistical properties of flows orders. Soon we present two models stylized in the literature for the dynamic limit order book. In the first model the order flow described by separate Poisson processes and we propose it to an alternative form of test ergodicity based on Lyapunov function. The second model is a reduced model that takes into consideration diffusion-type dynamics for the sizes of the bid and ask, and focus only on orders as best price and model explicitly quotes the bid and ask in the presence of hidden liquidity. And finally, we propose an alternative model for the price dynamics and spread in the limit order book, we study the asymptotic behavior of the model and established conditions of ergodicity. Furthermore, we consider the a family of Markov chains defined on the sequences of characters (strings, or words) with infinite alphabet. For some examples inspired by the models of high frequency trading we obtain a conditions for ergodicity, transience and null-recurrence. In order to prove this we use the construction of Lyapunov functions techniques.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:22:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniela Hummel Mungai.pdf: 4386470 bytes, checksum: ca219ba135089a85d3f55cf4179b89b6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-04 / The research deals with possibilities of developing urban projects in São Paulo through public-private partnerships, drawing a parallel with those implemented in the socioeconomic context of the central countries. When browsing for some urban instruments used by various municipal administrations of São Paulo since the late eighties, which are based on public-private partnerships and that led to the consolidation of the district of Vila Olímpia in an important business center of the capital, the work questions this mode of producing the city only by normative view regarding the construction of urban spaces. Thus, the impacts on that area are evaluated here. Then, when analyzing a project developed by the private sector for urban improvements in the neighborhood, the work provides insight into the positioning of the business elites in urban governance and its role in relation to changes in urban form that have been occurring in the region. / A pesquisa trata de possibilidades de desenvolvimento de projetos urbanos em São Paulo por meio das Parcerias Público-Privadas, traçando um paralelo com aqueles implementados no contexto socioeconômico dos países centrais. Ao percorrer por alguns instrumentos urbanísticos aplicados por diversas gestões municipais paulistanas desde o final da década de 1980, que são baseados em Parcerias Público-Privadas e que levaram à consolidação do bairro da Vila Olímpia em um importante centro de negócios da capital, o trabalho questiona o modo de produzir a cidade apenas pela visão normativa em relação à construção de espaços urbanos. Sendo assim, os impactos causados sobre aquele território também são aqui avaliados. Em seguida, ao analisar um projeto elaborado pelo setor privado para melhorias urbanas no bairro, o trabalho oferece uma visão sobre o posicionamento das elites empresariais na governança urbana e sua atuação nas transformações em relação à forma urbana que vêm ocorrendo na região.