Brownfields redevelopment has been encouraged by governments or the real estate market because of economic, social and environmental benefits. However, uncertainties in contaminated land redevelopment may cause massive investment risk and need to be managed so that contaminated land redevelopment is facilitated. This study was designed to address hydrogeological as well as economic uncertainty in a hypothetical contaminated land redevelopment project and manage the risk from these uncertainties through the integration of the hydrogeological and economic uncertainties. Hydrogeological uncertainty is derived from incomplete site information, including aquifer heterogeneity, and must be assessed with scientific expertise, given the short history of redevelopment projects and their unique hydrogeological characteristics. Hydrogeological uncertainty has not yet been incorporated in one framework with the economic uncertainty that has been relatively well observed in financial markets. Two cases of Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL) contamination were simulated using a physically-based hydrogeological model to address hydrogeological uncertainty: one concerns the effect of an ethanol spill on a light NAPL (LNAPL) contaminated area in the vadose zone, and the other is regarding the vapour phase intrusion of volatile organic compounds, in particular, Trichloroethylene (TCE), a dense NAPL (DNAPL), into indoor air through a variably saturated heterogeneous aquifer. The first simulation replicated experimental observations in the laboratory, such as the capillary fringe depressing and the NAPL pool remobilizing and collecting in a reduced area exhibiting higher saturations than observed prior to an ethanol injection. However, the data gap, in particular, on the chemical properties between the model and the experiment caused the uncertainty in the model simulation. The second NAPL simulation has been performed based on a hypothetical scenario where new dwellings in a redeveloped area have the potential risk of vapour phase intrusion from a subsurface source into indoor air because remediation or foundation design might fail. The simulation results indicated that the aquifer heterogeneity seemed the most significant factor controlling the indoor air exposure risk from a TCE source in the saturated zone. Then, the exposure risk was quantified using Monte Carlo simulations with 50 statistically equivalent heterogeneous aquifer permeability fields. The quantified risk (probability) represents the hydrogeological uncertainty in the scenario and gives the information on loss occurrence intensity of redevelopment failure. Probability of failure (or loss occurrence intensity) was integrated with cost of failure (or loss magnitude) to evaluate the risk capital in the hypothetical brownfields redevelopment project. The term “risk capital” is adopted from financial literature and is the capital you can lose from high risk investment. Cost of failure involves economic uncertainty and can be defined based on a developer’s financial agreement with new dwellers to prevent litigation in the case of certain events, such as an environmental event where indoor air concentrations of pollutants exceed regulatory limits during periodic inspections. The developer makes such a financial agreement with new dwellers because new dwellings have been constructed founded on flawed site information, and municipalities may require it if a land use planning approval is required. An agreement was presumed that the developer would repurchase the affected houses from new dwellers immediately, if indoor air contamination exceeded the regulatory limit. Furthermore, the developer would remediate any remaining contamination, demolish the affected houses and build new houses if they were worth investing in. With this financial plan assumed, the stochastic housing price, stochastic inflation rate and stochastic interest rate have been considered to cause the uncertainty in the cost of failure, and the information on these stochastic variables was obtained from the financial market due to its long history of observations. This research reviewed appropriate risk capital valuation methods for hydrogeologists to apply straightforwardly to their projects, with integrating probability of failure (hydrogeological uncertainty) and cost of failure (economic uncertainty). The risk capital is essentially the probability of failure times the cost of failure with safety loading added to compensate investors against hydrogeological and financial uncertainty. Fair market prices of risk capital have been valuated using financial mathematics and actuarial premium calculations, and each method has a specific safety loading term to reflect investors’ level of risk aversion. Risk capital results indicated that the price of the risk capital was much more sensitive to hydrogeological uncertainty than financial uncertainty. Developers can manage the risk capital by saving a contingency fee for future events or paying an insurance premium, given that the price of this risk capital is the price of a contingent claim, subsequent to failure in remediation or in foundation design, and equivalent to an environmental insurance premium if there is an insurance company to indemnify the liability for the developer. The optimal framework of investment strategy in brownfields redevelopment can be built by linkage of addressing and integrating uncertainties and valuating risk capital from the uncertainties. This framework involves balancing the costs associated with each step while maximizing a net profit from land redevelopment. The optimal investment strategy, such as if or when to remediate or redevelop and to what degree, is given when the future price of the land minus time and material costs as well as the contingency fee or insurance premium maximizes a net profit.

The induction of the tuition fee for higher education in Sweden for students arriving from outside the European Economic Area will affect Swedish universities and in particular Jönköping University considering its position on the educational market as one of the most international universities in Sweden. This, in combination with the BRIC countries’ expanding economies, has inspired the researchers to examine how these four countries experience the educational service quality offered by Jönköping University. With the new legislation of the introduction of the tuition fee, a major change affecting the Swedish educational system has taken place and it is therefore significant to examine the possible effects this might have. This research has used Jönköping University as a case, and the collection of data will be concentrated on international and exchange students attending the university. The reason behind the choice of Jönköping University is because of its strong international profile with many partner universities worldwide, which has resulted in a high rate of international and exchange students arriving to the university (Educations.com, 2011). Due to the nature of a service, the measurement tool of SERVQUAL has been used. Qualitative interviews were conducted to increase the reliability of the quantitative findings, where one student from each country was interviewed. In order to gain sufficient samples for the questionnaire, the researchers have used Geert Hofstede’s theory on cultural dimensions to compensate for the groups missing satisfactory population but also to examine whether students from the covered dimensions experience services differently. Due to the inability to measure the expectations of the students, the zone of tolerance was used in order to indirectly identify expectations of future students. The Total Perceived Quality model was used to demonstrate the connection between experience and expectation of a service in order facilitate the understanding of future expectations.  Descriptive- and factor analyses were used in combination with the zone of tolerance when examining the findings. The quantitative data imply that there is a gap in the educational service provided by Jönköping University and there were strong indications of the students being very satisfied with the educational quality however the qualitative data showed that the students who were interviewed were not willing to pay the fee. In the discussion part, the researchers argue for reasons why the quantitative data may be misleading since it was only implemented on students who had been at Jönköping University for free with an already established perception of the education being tuition free.

Brownfields redevelopment has been encouraged by governments or the real estate market because of economic, social and environmental benefits. However, uncertainties in contaminated land redevelopment may cause massive investment risk and need to be managed so that contaminated land redevelopment is facilitated. This study was designed to address hydrogeological as well as economic uncertainty in a hypothetical contaminated land redevelopment project and manage the risk from these uncertainties through the integration of the hydrogeological and economic uncertainties. Hydrogeological uncertainty is derived from incomplete site information, including aquifer heterogeneity, and must be assessed with scientific expertise, given the short history of redevelopment projects and their unique hydrogeological characteristics. Hydrogeological uncertainty has not yet been incorporated in one framework with the economic uncertainty that has been relatively well observed in financial markets. Two cases of Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL) contamination were simulated using a physically-based hydrogeological model to address hydrogeological uncertainty: one concerns the effect of an ethanol spill on a light NAPL (LNAPL) contaminated area in the vadose zone, and the other is regarding the vapour phase intrusion of volatile organic compounds, in particular, Trichloroethylene (TCE), a dense NAPL (DNAPL), into indoor air through a variably saturated heterogeneous aquifer. The first simulation replicated experimental observations in the laboratory, such as the capillary fringe depressing and the NAPL pool remobilizing and collecting in a reduced area exhibiting higher saturations than observed prior to an ethanol injection. However, the data gap, in particular, on the chemical properties between the model and the experiment caused the uncertainty in the model simulation. The second NAPL simulation has been performed based on a hypothetical scenario where new dwellings in a redeveloped area have the potential risk of vapour phase intrusion from a subsurface source into indoor air because remediation or foundation design might fail. The simulation results indicated that the aquifer heterogeneity seemed the most significant factor controlling the indoor air exposure risk from a TCE source in the saturated zone. Then, the exposure risk was quantified using Monte Carlo simulations with 50 statistically equivalent heterogeneous aquifer permeability fields. The quantified risk (probability) represents the hydrogeological uncertainty in the scenario and gives the information on loss occurrence intensity of redevelopment failure. Probability of failure (or loss occurrence intensity) was integrated with cost of failure (or loss magnitude) to evaluate the risk capital in the hypothetical brownfields redevelopment project. The term “risk capital” is adopted from financial literature and is the capital you can lose from high risk investment. Cost of failure involves economic uncertainty and can be defined based on a developer’s financial agreement with new dwellers to prevent litigation in the case of certain events, such as an environmental event where indoor air concentrations of pollutants exceed regulatory limits during periodic inspections. The developer makes such a financial agreement with new dwellers because new dwellings have been constructed founded on flawed site information, and municipalities may require it if a land use planning approval is required. An agreement was presumed that the developer would repurchase the affected houses from new dwellers immediately, if indoor air contamination exceeded the regulatory limit. Furthermore, the developer would remediate any remaining contamination, demolish the affected houses and build new houses if they were worth investing in. With this financial plan assumed, the stochastic housing price, stochastic inflation rate and stochastic interest rate have been considered to cause the uncertainty in the cost of failure, and the information on these stochastic variables was obtained from the financial market due to its long history of observations. This research reviewed appropriate risk capital valuation methods for hydrogeologists to apply straightforwardly to their projects, with integrating probability of failure (hydrogeological uncertainty) and cost of failure (economic uncertainty). The risk capital is essentially the probability of failure times the cost of failure with safety loading added to compensate investors against hydrogeological and financial uncertainty. Fair market prices of risk capital have been valuated using financial mathematics and actuarial premium calculations, and each method has a specific safety loading term to reflect investors’ level of risk aversion. Risk capital results indicated that the price of the risk capital was much more sensitive to hydrogeological uncertainty than financial uncertainty. Developers can manage the risk capital by saving a contingency fee for future events or paying an insurance premium, given that the price of this risk capital is the price of a contingent claim, subsequent to failure in remediation or in foundation design, and equivalent to an environmental insurance premium if there is an insurance company to indemnify the liability for the developer. The optimal framework of investment strategy in brownfields redevelopment can be built by linkage of addressing and integrating uncertainties and valuating risk capital from the uncertainties. This framework involves balancing the costs associated with each step while maximizing a net profit from land redevelopment. The optimal investment strategy, such as if or when to remediate or redevelop and to what degree, is given when the future price of the land minus time and material costs as well as the contingency fee or insurance premium maximizes a net profit.

Following the development and popularity of mutual funds among Swedish investors, the question of active fund management and return has become a central issue for private investors. 99 percent of the Swedish population invests in mutual funds, comprising a total net fund value of almost 2,000 billion SEK. The idea behind active management is for a charged fee, to generate a return higher than the return of the market. But statistics indicate a low level of competition between the largest providers and only one out of ten funds performs better than its index. Financial instability due to the last decade’s two recessions has indeed caused fluctuating performance of actively managed Swedish mutual funds. It has also spurred academics to investigate the role and effect of active management and attached management fees. The main purpose of this research is to investigate if there exist differences between the performance of benchmark indices and the performance of actively managed equity funds, balanced funds and money market funds provided by seven Swedish banks; Folksam, Länsförsäkringar, Handelsbanken, Nordea, SEB, Skandia and Swedbank. We also seek to investigate if the level of fee and total risk affect the fund performance. The research was deductively conducted with a quantitative method of inquiry. The ontological and epistemological positions are objectivism and positivism. Our sample of 21 Swedish mutual funds, with daily price observations was investigated between 2004 and 2011, with a division of four subperiods. To answer our research question and sub-questions, ten fictive portfolios were created and five hypotheses were formulated based on previous research and theories within the field. The data was analyzed with paired samples T-tests and multiple linear regression analyses. The portfolios included three risk-adjusted fund performance measures and Value at Risk.     We have concluded that on average both balanced funds and money market funds have performed worse than their benchmark indices in the period 2004 to 2011. The equity funds have also performed worse than their benchmark index but the difference is not statistically significant. The balanced funds had the highest return, the money market funds second highest return and equity funds the lowest return. Supported by the multiple regression analyses, we have concluded that fund performance is negatively related to the level of total risk in the period 2004 to 2011. There is no statistical relationship between fund performance and fund provider. We finally conclude that fund return during the entire investigation period, is negatively related to management fees.

Cognition, attitudes, behavior and feel things from the environment to explore the small Port of Kaohsiung residents in the air pollution control fee levied in the Republic of China 87 years, for housing the regional air pollution perception of air quality to improve satisfaction and surfacetake the behavior of the current situation of air pollution.To explore the residents of different backgrounds, perception, the air pollution and air quality to improve the satisfaction and take the differences of behavior. This study used a random convenience sampling questionnaire, collection of air pollution fee on air quality questionnaire "to refer to the relevant literature and experts to discuss the small port area residents as a research tool.In this study, questionnaire survey was small Port of Kaohsiung residents to random convenience sampling survey, issued 233 questionnaires were valid questionnaires was 212. Finally, the collected data using descriptive statistics, independent sample t test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and simple regression and other statistical methods, data processing analysis. The results of this study found that the small port area residents are the upper level air pollution Perception extent. However, a small port area residents as both are not satisfied with the degree of satisfaction for today's small port area of air quality improvement.Acts taken in the face of air pollution is mostly self-protection, and group behavior, and petition the face of lack of government subsidies, while complaints. The results showed that although the high degree of Perception of the small port area residents air pollution, but taken in the face of air pollution, but a means of self-protection, so this study will analyze relevant statistical data and the last suggestions reference, and more availableinformation for the government to improve air quality.

Ranching communities in Texas have long recognized fee hunting as a natural resource with the potential of directly affecting agricultural incomes. Hunting as an industry today, appears to be developing into an economic substitute for Texas ranchers who are accustomed to the variable nature of agricultural markets. To determine the economic impact of this market relative to its functional utilization by landowners, this research analyzed a large group of landowners in Central and South Texas. Information was collected through a personal interview process of 146 landowners. Data collected primarily related to the individual landowners' specific fee hunting operations and the economics associated with their enterprise operations. Response data was tabulated and examined through use of comparative analysis and bivariate methods when appropriate. Output yielded a descriptive demographic profile of landowners along with landowner opinion/attitude on ensuing constraints and values of enterprise operations. Additionally, costs and returns to operations were summarized through development of an enterprise budget by ecoregion. From this analysis, it became clear that many landowners possess strong 'feelings' about their lands and appear to share parallel ideologies relative to their properties as an earned entitlement and privilege to be passed along to their heirs. However, these Texas ranchers are well aware of the economic pressures under which they must operate and their commitment to sound land management practices increasingly includes wildlife management. This, much in part, is due to the dramatic increase in revenues generated by fee hunting enterprises over the past decade. However, the budget analysis indicates possible constraints when landownership size becomes smaller such as through the sale of parcels for business purposes or through inheritance.

The fiercer competition among international harbors drives every port to reinforce operation efficiency to attract carriers and to develop competition strategies to grow competence. In those years, Kaohsiung Harbor has slumped from the third to the fifth largest carrier harbor in the world. It is the overall symptom of competition risks for seaports in Taiwan. The severe situation, though, it is exactly what we can strive to revert the declining trend. Facing this topic composed of dynamic complexities, we can leverage systematic deliberation and dynamic simulation to revamp the status quo structure and create beneficial behavior model. In this thesis, we adopt system dynamics to build up a typical dynamic harbor model to dig out the crucial facets key to the growth of an international seaport and henceforth serve for basis of the decision-making. The main conclusions of this research are as follows: 1.The four facets that influence the development of a harbor are ¡§The economic strength of the hinterland,¡¨ ¡§The completeness of the harbor facilities, whether the construction of the harbor can keep in pace with the volume of containers,¡¨ ¡§The openness of the harbor,¡¨ ¡§The superiority of the geographic location.¡¨ 2.Whatever the import, export, or even transfer, the rate policy of a harbor will help little to the growth of the volume of containers with the other conditions unchanged. The disastrous effect of rate slash will be revenue decline; keeping volume while losing profit. In the long term, it will become a viscous circle. The freedom policy will be far more important than rate policy according to our policy analysis. 3.If the construction progress of wharfs can be in pace with the growth of enterprises, it will lower the interference between each other, reduce inefficient investment, and increase inter-stability. It¡¦s therefore the more accurate estimation of the growth of a harbor, the less disturbance effected by the other loops.

In recent years, the re-distribution of medical resources conducted by the government in general renders physicians to be anxious about the stability and fairness of their income. The worries are even aggravated by the policies such as ¡§secret in payment¡¨ or ¡§personalized payment¡¨ that are currently preceded by the hospitals. Since the as mentioned worries may affect physicians¡¦ attitudes toward their patients, factors affecting physicians¡¦ satisfaction in their income based on the stand point of ¡§salary justice¡¨ are thus important and will be the focus of the present research. Meanwhile, the influences of ¡§total budget system¡¨ on ¡§salary justice¡¨ and ¡§salary satisfaction¡¨ are also studied. The overall consequences to the physicians ¡§work attitude¡¨ are finally evaluated and analyzed in the present study. The research was conducted by distributing 319 questionnaires to the physicians belonging to eight hospitals in the middle area of Taiwan. Among these distributed questionnaires, 108 of them were retrieved. The retrieval rate is thus calculated as 33.9%. The results are presented as follows: 1.Gender, salary and position do not possess any influence on ¡§salary satisfaction¡¨ and ¡§working attitude¡¨. 2.A negative correlation is observed between ¡§age¡¨ and ¡§salary justice¡¨. This implies the elders demand higher base in their salary. 3.The more open in salary information and communications, the better in ¡§salary satisfaction¡¨. 4.The ¡§structure of income¡¨ should be consistent with one¡¦s recognition on the source of his or her salary. Together with a fair distribution in overall benefits would help in motivating positive work attitude. 5.More understanding in the method of benefit distribution as proposed in the ¡§total budget system¡¨ could lead to more negative attitude in working. 6.The ¡§total budget system¡¨ is still in the embryonic stage. No effects on ¡§salary justice¡¨ and ¡§salary satisfaction¡¨ have been observed yet. 7.A physician would possess a stronger commitment in job fair and team involvement when he/she feels satisfactory with the payment.

No description available.

<p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Antalet investeringsfonder och intresset för dessa har under de senaste åren ökat drama-tiskt. 94 % av den svenska befolkningen mellan 18-74 år sparar i någon form av fond. Un-der 2005 uppgick det totala fondkapitalet till ungefär 1,4 miljarder SEK. Det gör detta till ett viktigt ämne att studera vidare.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats att analysera om det är något samband mellan förvaltningsavgif-ter, avkastning, riskjusterad avkastning och marknadsanpassad förvaltningsavgift och av-kastning i svenska aktiefonder. Vidare, skiljer sig prestationen mellan fonder beroende på om de är förvaltade av banker, listade som premiepensionsfonder eller förvaltade av andra fondbolag?</p><p>För att analysera dessa frågor användes ’panel least square’ regressioner. Populationen bestod av 63 aktiefonder inom en tidsram av 20 kvartal. Dummy variabler användes för att särskilja bank- och premiepensionsfonder från den totala populationen.</p><p>Observationerna visade liksom tidigare forskningen blandade resultat. Ingen relation hitta-des mellan avkastning, riskjusterad avkastning och förvaltningsavgift. Detta indikerar att fondbolagen inte tar hänsyn till den förväntade avkastningen när de fastställer sin förvaltningsavgift, vilket överensstämmer med tidigare forskning.</p><p>Ett negativt samband hittades emellertid mellan den marknadsanpassade avkastningen och förvaltningsavgiften.</p><p>Generellt presterade banker i genomsnitt bättre än fondbolag som varken var bank- och/eller premiepensionsfonder när det gäller avkastning, riskjusterad avkastning och marknadsanpassad avkastning. Vidare, fonderna med någon avgift utöver förvaltningsavgif-ten var de med den i genomsnitt näst sämsta gällande avkastning.</p> / <p>The number of investmentfunds have dramatically increased in the last years and so have the interest in funds. 94% of the Swedish population between 18-74 years are investing in some kind of mutual fund. In 2005 the total fund capital was approximately 1.4 billion SEK. That makes this an important topic to investigate further.</p><p>Therefore this thesis purpose is to analyse if there is any relationship between administrationfees, returns, the risk-adjusted performances. Furthermore, does the performance of the Swedish mutual funds differ dependent on whether they are managed by banks or if they are listed as Premiepensionsmyndigheten (PPM) funds, or run by other mutual fund companies?</p><p>To analyse the problem a panel least square regression was used. The population consisted of 63 Swedish mutual equity funds over 20 quarters. Dummy variables were used to separate the banks- and PPM funds from the total population.</p><p>The findings are mixed compared to previous research. There seem to be no relationship between the return, the risk-adjusted return and the administration fee. This indicates that the fund companies do not set their administration fee based on the expected return.</p><p>However, a negative relationship was found between the market-adjusted return and administration fee.</p><p>In general, the banks, on average, outperformed, the mutual fund companies that were not bank and/or PPM funds, in return, risk-adjusted return and market-adjusted return. Further, the funds with some additional fee had the on average second lowest efficiency in terms of return on the market.</p>