In two experiments, groups of children received interest money contingent upon their savings; yoked control subjects received identical interest irrespective of their savings. In the first experiment, interest was paid every 3 days by parents for the average savings of the period. In Experiment II, interest was paid on a daily basis and control subjects received instructions concerning the lack of a relationship between interest and their savings. In both experiments savings and magnitude of expenditures increased systematically across the research phases for contingent and non-contingent interest subjects alike. Neither interest nor subject wealth was found to relate to subject savings, or expenditures in Experiment I. Contingent-interest subjects' frequency of expenditures, during the interest and reversal phases was reduced relative to that of baseline and the expenditures of yoked controls. Additionally, an increase in the conditional probability of an expenditure at longer inter-expenditure intervals developed during the interest phase and was maintained into the reversal phase. The contingent interest procedures of Experiment II differentially reinforced longer times between expenditures without affecting savings. Control subjects who received instructions regarding the absence of a relation between savings and interest did not alter the time between their expenditures.

The aim of this thesis is to discover useful measures and worthwhile lessons in increasing savings for capital formation to promote economic growth in underdeveloped countries. In order to accomplish this goal, the following steps will be taken: (1) The various kinds or concepts of savings, i.e., voluntary saving (including savings from utilization of under-employed labor), compulsory saving through taxation, and forced saving from inflation resulting from deficit financing of investment by means of bank loans or fiat money will be examined, analyzed, and discussed with the aim of finding useful measures for increasing savings from them to promote capital formation.; (2) The ideas of various writers on economic development that are directly related to the problem will be analyzed to discover worthwhile lessons from them.; (3) The relevant experiences of certain developed and underdeveloped countries will be looked into, and any useful measures or lessons discovered from them will be presented and their significance indicated.

<p>Internet access using IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks has become very common. In home and office networks where voice, video and audio will be delivered, quality of service (QoS) support is essential so that customers can be offered video on demand, audio on demand, voice over IP and high-speed Internet access. In addition to the proliferation of WLAN hotspots, WLAN mesh networks are now being used as a cost-effective means for coverage extension and backhaul relaying between IEEE 802.11 access points (APs).</p> <p> In conventional IEEE 802.11, APs are always continuously powered using fixed wired connections. In future WLAN mesh networks however, wired power connections may not always be readily available, especially in Wi-Fi hotzone installations which cover expansive outdoor areas. In such cases, fixed power connections can often be replaced by a battery operated or solar powered design. For this reason, power saving on the AP is highly desirable for this type of application. Unfortunately, this is not possible since the existing IEEE 802.11 standard requires that APs remain active at all times.</p> <p> In this thesis, we propose and investigate a comprehensive framework for a power saving QoS-enabled access point (PSQAP), intended for use in solar and low power IEEE 802.11 infrastructure applications. An energy-efficient media access control protocol is proposed using the contention-based channel access mode for IEEE 802.11. When real-time flows are present, a PSQAP schedules its awakening/sleeping pattern in a manner that satisfies the delay and packet loss requirements for the admitted real-time flows. A dynamic connection-admission control algorithm is proposed for efficient management of wireless resources. We show that both background traffic and the synchronization of stations' transmissions due to AP's alternating between awake and sleep states can cause excess queuing and packet collision rate. These effects result in an increase in packet delay and power consumption at the mobile stations in contention-based channel access mode. We propose and investigate several scheduling methods for mitigating these effects. It is also shown that voice over IP over WLAN (VoWLAN) suffers a low capacity problem and high handset/AP power consumption. A novel adaptive voice packetization scheme is proposed which improves VoIP capacity and reduces power consumption. The work in this thesis is characterized by analytical models and evaluated through extensive network simulations to study and analyze the key performance aspects of the proposed framework and the associated protocols.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Macro lambda is a parameter for predicting the weight savings for using different material. Macro lambda approximates the response of a thin-walled structure to a change in material thickness. The relationship between macro lambda and weight savings for material substitution is given. The results of nine major joints for a car cab model are given. Two kinds of structural element for weight advantage of aluminum, magnesium and other light materials are given: curved beam in-plane bending, curved beam out-of-plane bending. Bulkhead reinforcement is given for a T-Joint model. The application shows a dramatic reduction of macro lambda for T-Joint x moment and y moment load, which means the weight advantage of light materials is reduced after the reinforcement applied. For the z moment load T-Joint model, adding center layer reinforcement gives the largest reduction of macro lambda and maximum von Mises stress. The bulkhead reinforcement is then used for two car cab joints: B-pillar to rocker joint and hinge pillar to rocker joint. The results indicate that the bulkhead reinforcement near the center area gives the biggest reduction for macro lambda. Micro lambda, which is a value for element level, is introduced. The relationship between micro lambda and force distribution is given. Then it is used for the analysis of the force distribution along curved beam model when the thickness of the model is doubled. The results indicate that the force is redistributed from the corner to center of the flange for the curved beam model. So for curved beam model, light material such as aluminum, magnesium, which is thicker, is more efficiently used than steel. Micro lambda is used for the analysis of B-pillar to rocker joint of a car cab. The result indicates that the maximum micro lambda area is just the area where we apply the optimum bulkhead reinforcement. Micro lambda is also used for the analysis of AISI PNGV bending model. The result shows that the C-pillar area is the major problem area. Several reinforcements for the C-pillar area are given. The result shows that layer 31172 is most important for increasing the stiffness.

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Recent developments in compact fluorescent lamps, electronic ballasts and adjustable speed drives have expedited the process of taping energy saving potential of these technologies. The proliferation of these. loads, however, has raised new concerns about the power quality in commercial buildings. Higher cost of repair and the reduction in average life of equipment, both on the supply and load sides, could become obvious if these issues are overlooked or ignored. As lighting loads are the largest fraction of the load in most of commercial buildings, a small increase in harmonic distortion level in commercial buildings may jeopardize other loads in the building or the loads connected to the same utility bus. As these devices were tested to quantify their energy saving potential, it was found that they can create undesirable harmonic problems. Such characteristics were quantified for different samples. It was observed that certain combinations of these lamps and ballasts are much more acceptable from power quality viewpoints than when tested individually. A generic algorithm was developed that can help to select certain energy efficient lighting technologies and will minimize the harmonic distortion level in the building. Results from the algorithm were validated on a building load model to test the accuracy of the algorithm results. The proposed algorithm helps to avoid the problems of selecting energy efficient technologies randomly during retrofitting of commercial buildings for energy savings. Pollution mitigation features, and a summary of environmental and power quality status of energy efficient lighting devices were also discussed. A brief description of other nonlinear loads, present in commercial facilities, was also given to evaluate their role in reaping the benefit of energy savings in new lighting technologies. Energy savings and environmental benefits of new lighting devices were highlighted in the presence of other nonlinear loads. This study provides a complete illustration of the benefits and power quality issues related to these technologies. / Ph. D.

The integrated solar roof collector system can bring the house year-round energy saving benefit. In heating season, part of the space heating and preheating domestic hot water demand can be met by this integrated system. In the cooling season, cooling load reduction and preheating domestic hot water can be achieved by operating this system. The traditional solar thermal system is an add-on system rather than integrated, which increases the cost-benefit ratio. The current system is integrated with the roof structure. Except for the energy collecting benefit, it will reduce the material cost, labor cost and construction period. The objectives of this research is to estimate the energy performance of three collector configurations including space heating saving, and preheat hot water saving. This study also compares energy performance for the three collectors on two types of evaluated houses in Roanoke, Virginia. / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Economics / Master / Master of Philosophy

We introduce the tractable buffer stock savings setup of Carroll (2009 NBER Working Paper) into an otherwise conventional New-Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with financial frictions. The introduction of a precautionary saving motive arising from an uninsurable risk of permanent income loss, affects the model's properties in a number of interesting ways: it produces a more hump-shaped reaction of consumption in response to both supply (technology) and demand (monetary) shocks, and more pronounced reactions in response to demand shocks. Adoption of the buffer stock savings setup thus offers a more microfounded way, compared to, e.g., habit preferences in consumption, to introduce Keynesian features into the model, serving as a device to curbing excessive consumption smoothing, and to attributing a higher role to demand driven fluctuations. We also discuss steady state effects, determinacy properties as well as other practical issues. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series