The aim of the thesis is to describe effective legislation that regulates collecting fees for removal and other disposal of municipal waste organised by municipalities. There are used also various socioeconomic approaches and the thesis seeks for the best solution how to collect the fees for the service. The study is mainly focused on Municipal Fees Act and its regulations because they cause most of problems in practice. Author's opinion is that such a regulation is completely wrong. According to the author of the thesis, there were found features of The Tragedy of the Commons theory in the regulations which means in practice that the whole system is going to either collapse or cost even more money to be kept. The next negative of the legislation is the possibility to circumvent paying the fees. Then, it was proved in the study that the main principle which is the legislation built on, does not work in practice. The principle is that costs paid for the removal and other disposal of municipal waste are supposed to be equivalent to a number of inhabitants living in a town. Because of an absolute personal principle, it was also described in the thesis that minors become debtors when they turn 18 because of their irresponsible parents who do not pay the fees for them. It was recognized in the thesis...

It is widely accepted in the literature that high lending fees predict negative returns because high fees capture the negative information from short sellers, on the demand side. Traditionally, the supply side is seen as passive, in which stock lenders act as price takers. Recent studies, however, have shown that this passivity of lenders no longer perpetuates. Faced with this discussion, the present study analyze the Brazilian stock loan market and disentangles the shorting demand and shorting supply curve shifts in order to understand the driving mechanism linking the supply side and stock returns. We also link the shorting supply curve with new announcements and verify how lenders react to a new information in the market. Our results indicate that lenders decrease the loan supply when they predict negative future returns and that they use new information to change supply conditions, indicating that lenders are not price takers / É amplamente aceito na literatura que altas taxas de empréstimo de ações preveem retornos negativos, uma vez que altas taxas capturam as informações negativas de vendedores a descoberto, do lado da demanda. Tradicionalmente, o lado da oferta é visto como passivo, no qual os credores das ações agem como tomadores de preços. Estudos recentes, entretanto, mostram que essa passividade dos emprestadores não mais se perpetua. Diante dessa discussão, o presente estudo analisa o mercado de crédito acionário brasileiro e separa a curva de demanda da curva de oferta por short para entender o mecanismo de condução que liga o lado da oferta aos retornos acionários. Analisa-se, também, a relação da curva de oferta de short com novas informações e verifica-se como os credores reagem a uma nova informação no mercado. Nossos resultados indicam que os credores restringem a oferta de empréstimo de ações quando preveem retornos futuros negativos e que usam novas informações para alterar as condições de empréstimo, indicando que os credores não são tomadores de preço

Thesis advisor: Hideo Konishi / This paper will review prior research to support the notion that innovation does in fact lead to a competitive advantage for business, and that this competitive advantage is translated into increased profitability and productivity. Though the body of work reviewed here will by no means unequivocally prove that this relationship always holds true in real-world markets, it will provide a convincing argument that fostering innovation will likely have positive economic affects. Building off this assumption, this paper will then focus specifically on examining the relationship between environmental regulation and innovation in more detail. This paper looks to answer the question: Under what conditions will environmental regulation cause firms to begin choosing to innovate technologically rather than simply to meet regulation with compliance? Using a simple model of price competition between two firms it will be shown that environmental regulation can effectively induce innovation through spending on R&D projects to develop more efficient technology. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

In the United States, children must be vaccinated in order to attend school, although parents also have the right to request a vaccine exemption. The type of vaccine exemption varies by state but can include exemption for religious, philosophical, medical, and temporary medical reasons. The purpose of this research was to identify the use of provider signature requirements and fees in states during the vaccine exemption process. A questionnaire was sent to immunization managers in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, the United States Indian Health Service, and eight United States territories. The managers were asked if their states required a provider, or other individual, to sign the exemption form prior to granting a vaccine exemption. If a provider signature was required to validate the vaccine exemption form, immunization managers were then asked to identify what type of provider was allowed to sign the form. Immunization managers also reported on whether parents needed to pay a fee in order to obtain a vaccine exemption. A provider signature was most frequently required on medical vaccine exemption forms. For religious exemptions, only two states required a signature from a religious leader. Three states allowed a physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, and naturopath to sign philosophical vaccine exemption forms. For medical and temporary medical vaccine exemption forms, the majority of states allowed a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to sign the form. Only one state, Utah, confirmed that a fee was required to obtain religious or philosophical vaccine exemptions. With the hope of reducing vaccine exemption rates, some states employ various obstacles to obtaining and validating a vaccine exemption form, such as requiring a provider signature or charging a fee to process the exemption form. Surprisingly, only a few states required a provider signature on religious and philosophical exemption forms and only one state reported charging a fee to obtain a vaccine exemption form. Identifying these data provides opportunities to further study the effectiveness of various vaccine exemption obstacles.

Masters of Public Health - see Magister Public Health / Overreliance on donor supported health programs has crippled many African countries and there is inadequate long-term planning on the future sustainability of health systems. In the age of uncertainty in global politics and global economy, the future of these donor funded programs is also uncertain. It is imperative for African nations to begin to take responsibility for their health programs. In as much as the name “donation” suggests that something is given free of charge, in actual sense this may not be the case due to hidden costs attached. In medicine access, the hidden costs are the supply chain costs including cost for clearance, storage and distribution of such medicines which are charged as a percentage of claimed commodity costs on donors’ or suppliers’ invoices. Since the medicines donated are in originators’ brands, the invoiced prices are high thus supply chain costs are high as well. In some cases, it is thought that the hidden costs are higher than the cost of medicines had they been sourced locally as generics. The aim of this research was to assess and determine the hidden supply chain costs associated with the four medicine donation programs supporting the Tanzania Neglected Tropical Diseases Program and inform policy decision on optimal financing options for the program Methodology The cost analysis of the two options was undertaken from a payers’ perspective which in this case is the Government of Tanzania (Ministry of Health). Data was collected on both product and supply chain cost drivers incurred in the medicine donation programs from July 2014 to June 2017. Costs of the current mechanism were obtained from the program’s quantification reports and transaction data for the study period. Transactional data was obtained from shipment documents including sales invoices, parking list, proof of delivery and goods receiving notes were evaluated for actual quantities shipped, commodity prices and other supply chain cost. To verify the actual supply chain cost charged by the program, both the official bills from Medical Stores Department (MSD) to the program and the electronic bills available at MSD electronic database covering the study period were studied.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-128).

Travelers experience different transportation-related problems on roadways ranging from congestion, delay, and crashes, which are partially due to growing background traffic and traffic generated by new developments. With regards to congestion, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) pursue a variety of plans for mitigating congestion. These plans include, amongst other measures, imposing impact fees. The current research evaluates how delay and safety can be incorporated in the mitigation process as special impact fees. This study also evaluates traffic projection methodologies used in traffic impact studies. Traffic volume is a critical factor in determining both current and future desired and undesired highway operations. Highway crashes are also influenced by traffic volume, as a higher frequency of crashes is expected at more congested locations and vice versa. Accurately forecasted traffic data is required for accurate future planning, traffic operations, safety evaluation, and countermeasures. Adhering to the importance of accurate traffic projection, this study introduces a simplistic traffic projection methodology for small-scale projection utilizing three parameters logistic function as a forecasting tool. Three parameters logistic function produced more accurate future traffic prediction compared to other functions. When validation studies were performed, the coefficient of correlation was found to be above 90 percent in each location. The t-values for the three parameters were highly significant in the projection. The confidence intervals have been calculated at a 95 percent confidence level using the delta method to address the uncertainty and reliability factor in the projection using logistic function. A delay mitigation fee resulting from increases in travel time is also analyzed in this research. In regular traffic flow, posted speed limit is the base of measuring travel time within the segment of the road. The economic concept of congestion pricing is used to evaluate the impact of this travel time delay per unit trip. If the relationship between the increase in time and trip is known, then the developer can be charged for the costs of time delays for travelers by using that relationship. The congestion pricing approach determines the average and marginal effect of the travel time. With the known values of time, vehicle occupancy, and number of travel days per year, the extra cost per trip caused by additional trips is estimated. This cost becomes part of the mitigation fee that the developer incurs as a result of travel time delays for the travelers due to the development project. Using the Bureau of Public Road (BPR) travel time function and parameters found in 2000 HCM (Highway Capacity Manual), the average and marginal travel times were determined. The value of time was taken as $7.50 per hour after reviewing different publications, which relate it to minimum wage. The vehicle occupancy is assumed as 1.2 persons per vehicle. Other assumptions include 261 working days per year and 4 percent rate of return. The total delay impact fee will depend on the number of years needed for the development to have effect. Since the developer is charged a road impact fee due to constructions cost for the road improvement, the delay mitigation fee should be credited to the road impact fee to avoid double charging the developer. As an approach to incorporate safety into mitigation fees, the study developed a crash prediction model in which all factors significantly influencing crash occurrences are considered and modeled. Negative binomial (NB) is selected as the best crash modeling distribution among other generalized linear models. The developed safety component of the mitigation fee equation considers scenarios in which the proposed new development is expected to increase crash frequency. The mitigation fee equation is designed to incorporate some roadway features and traffic characteristics generated by the new development that influence crash occurrence. Crash reduction factors are introduced and incorporated in the safety mitigation fees equation. The difference between crash frequency before and after the development is multiplied by the crash cost then divided by the trips to obtain crash cost per trip. Crash cost is taken as $28,000/crash based on literature review. To avoid double charging the developer, either the road impact fee is applied as a credit to the delay mitigation fee or vice versa. In summary, this study achieved and contributed the following to researchers and practitioners: ... Developed logistic function as a simplified approach for traffic projection ... Developed crash model for crash prediction ... Developed safety mitigation fee equation utilizing the crash modeling ... Developed delay mitigation fee equation using congestion pricing approach

This thesis applies a Partial Integral Differential Equation model, along with a Monte Carlo approach to quantitatively analyze the no arbitrage value of hedge fund performance fees. From a no-arbitrage point of view, the investor in a hedge fund is providing a free option to the manager of the hedge fund. The no-arbitrage value of this option can be locked in by the hedge fund manager using a simple hedging strategy. Interpolation methods, grid construction techniques and parallel computation techniques are discussed to improve the performance of the numerical methods for valuing this option.

This thesis applies a Partial Integral Differential Equation model, along with a Monte Carlo approach to quantitatively analyze the no arbitrage value of hedge fund performance fees. From a no-arbitrage point of view, the investor in a hedge fund is providing a free option to the manager of the hedge fund. The no-arbitrage value of this option can be locked in by the hedge fund manager using a simple hedging strategy. Interpolation methods, grid construction techniques and parallel computation techniques are discussed to improve the performance of the numerical methods for valuing this option.

Study on Service Quality of and Users¡¦ Satisfaction with Nursing Homes for the Aged ¡V Old People¡¦s Apartments in Kaohsiung County Abstract Raising children as insurance against the insecurity of old age has been a deep-rooted concept of the Chinese people. Traditionally, care and nursing of the aged are mostly done in families. However, with the change of social and life styles, as well as the reduction of fertility rate, such kind of concept has been put to a severe test now. In the early stage, a nursing home was mainly the shelter for homeless, solitary and poor old people. The concept of social welfare still remains in the stage of providing relief. Therefore, the old people who lived in the nursing homes were labeled as poor. Besides, ¡§the standard, contents and methods of service provided by the nursing homes also make the general people to halt in hesitation.¡¨ In fact, in addition to physiological satisfaction, the aged will also pursue the psychological satisfaction, i.e., a living worthy of human dignity, at their old age. This is right the ultimate goal to promote the business of nursing homes. Owing to the increasing demand for care and nursing of the aged, the government also encourages the establishment of private nursing organizations for the aged. Hence, the fee-for-service private nursing organizations of ¡§service¡¨ nature emerge gradually, apart from the government-supported nursing organizations of ¡§relief¡¨ nature. The old people who live in such an organization become ¡§welfare consumers¡¨. In Kaohsiung County, the old people¡¦s apartments are run in a fee-for-service mode under the sponsorship of the government, but they have to be responsible for the profit and loss of the apartments by themselves. The purpose of this study is to know the service quality of nursing homes at present and the old people¡¦s satisfaction with the service they received. (1) To understand the service quality of the nursing homes in order to provide a basis of their management for the government. (2) To understand the users¡¦ satisfaction with nursing homes in order to meet the demands of the aged. (3) To discuss the relationship between service quality of the nursing homes and the user¡¦s satisfaction.