Washington State Surplus, Creating a Larger Return on Investment of Tax Payer Dollars

The topic of this study is Washington State vehicle surplus and whether a higher yield on tax payer investment in the purchase, sale and use of state motor vehicles can be achieved. The hypothesis that will be addressed is: Can Washington State create a higher return on investment from tax payer dollars by donating vehicles to automotive training programs? I explore this topic by asking, a) What is the current policy? b) What is the perception of automotive educators on that policy? c) What are the returns currently and could they be improved through policy change? The methodology for testing is by obtaining quantitative data from the state and other entities on vehicle purchases, costs, and responses to surveys by automotive educators in the state. Qualitative data will be explored in context to the policies, and education then incorporating it into a Cost/Benefit analysis on the return on investment to taxpayers.

Hiánygazdaság - többletgazdaság. Tanulmány a piac elméletéről - I. rész = Shortage economy surplus economy. A study on market theory I

A főáramlat közgazdászai elismerik, hogy a szocialista rendszert a krónikus hiány jellemezte, de úgy vélik, hogy a kapitalista rendszerben - kisebb vagy nagyobb ingadozások közepette - piaci egyensúly uralkodik. Ezzel szemben a tanulmány két piaci állapotot állít egymással szembe. Az egyikben dominálnak a túlkeresleti jelenségek, bár előfordulnak túlkínálati jelenségek is, ezt nevezi a szerző hiánygazdaságnak. A másikban dominálnak a túlkínálati jelenségek, bár előfordulnak túlkeresleti jelenségek is, amit a szerző többletgazdaságnak nevez. A hiánygazdaságot magyarázó tényezőket a szerző korábbi munkái írták le. A jelen tanulmány I. része azokat a mechanizmusokat mutatja be, amelyek a kapitalizmus keretei között létrehozzák a többletgazdaságot: a korlátozott verseny, a schumpeteri "teremtő rombolás", a vállalat törekvése biztonsági tartalékok kiépítésére és a növekvő skálahozadék. Foglalkozik azokkal a jelenségekkel, amelyek fékezik a kereslet és az árak alkalmazkodását. Külön fejezet tárgyalja a többlet mérésének (és ezzel szoros összefüggésben a fogalmak szigorú definícióinak) nehézségeit. ______ Mainstream economists recognize that the socialist system was marked by chronic shortage, but they consider that the capitalist system exhibits market equilibrium, give or take some greater or lesser fluctuations. This study, however, contrasts two market states. One is dominated by phenomena of excess demand, though instances of excess supply appear as well; this the author calls a shortage economy. The other is dominated by phenomena of excess supply, though instances of excess demand appear as well; this the author terms a surplus economy. The author has described in earlier works the factors explaining the shortage economy. Part I of the study presents the mechanisms generating a surplus economy under capitalism: imperfect competition, Schumpeterian "creative destruction" , the efforts of firms to build up safety reserves, and increasing economies of scale. It also covers phenomena that curb accommodation of demand and prices. Discussed in a separate chapter are the difficulties of measuring surplus (and closely tied with this, of strictly defining the concepts).

Hiánygazdaság − többletgazdaság. Tanulmány a piac elméletéről – II. rész = Shortage economy - surplus economy. A study on market theory II

A főáramlat közgazdászai elismerik, hogy a szocialista rendszert a krónikus hiány jellemezte, de úgy vélik, hogy a kapitalista rendszerben - kisebb vagy nagyobb ingadozások közepette - piaci egyensúly uralkodik. Ezzel szemben a tanulmány két piaci állapotot állít egymással szembe. Az egyikben dominálnak a túlkeresleti jelenségek, bár előfordulnak túlkínálati jelenségek is, ezt nevezi a szerző hiánygazdaságnak. A másikban dominálnak a túlkínálati jelenségek, bár előfordulnak túlkeresleti jelenségek is, amit a szerző többletgazdaságnak nevez. A tanulmány II. része összefoglalja a tanulmány fő állításait. Ezek szerint a szocialista rendszer veleszületett immanens tulajdonsága a hiánygazdaság, míg a kapitalista rendszer veleszületett immanens tulajdonsága a többletgazdaság létrehozása és állandó reprodukciója. Állami beavatkozások erősíthetik vagy gyengíthetik ezeket a genetikus tulajdonságokat, de nem szüntethetik meg. A tanulmány áttekinti a többletgazdaság kedvező és kedvezőtlen hatásait. A kedvező hatások között különleges nyomatékkal emeli ki, hogy a többlet (elsősorban többletkapacitások) nélkül nem alakulhat ki a termelők, illetve az eladók rivalizálása, ami az innovációs folyamat legfontosabb hajtóereje. A többletgazdaság általános esetének vizsgálata után különböző speciális esetekkel foglalkozik a tanulmány: a gazdaság konjunkturális hullámzásával, a hadigazdasággal, a modern kapitalizmusban mutatkozó történelmi léptékű változásokkal, valamint a szocialista rendszeren belül megjelent piacorientált reformokkal és a posztszocialista átmenettel. ____ Mainstream economists recognize that the socialist system was marked by chronic shortage, but they consider that the capitalist system exhibits market equilibrium, give or take some greater or lesser fluctuations. This study, however, contrasts two market states. One is dominated by phenomena of excess demand, though instances of excess supply appear as well; this the author calls a shortage economy. The other is dominated by phenomena of excess supply, though instances of excess demand appear as well; this the author terms a surplus economy. Part II of the study starts by summing up its main propositions. Just as the shortage economy is an intrinsic, immanent trait of the socialist system, so the creation and continual reproduction of the surplus economy is an intrinsic, immanent trait of the capitalist system. Such genetic traits may be strengthened or weakened by state intervention, but not eliminated by it. The study reviews the favourable and detrimental effects of the surplus economy. Of the favourable effects, it is emphasized that without surplus there cannot develop among producers or sellers the rivalry that provides the main impetus for the innovation process. Having examined the general case of the surplus economy, the study turns to various special cases: to the trade-cycle fluctuations of the economy, the war economy, the historic changes appearing in modern capitalism, the market-oriented reforms that appear within the socialist system, and the post-socialist transition.

Solvency considerations in the gamma-omega surplus model

Ce mémoire de maîtrise traite de la théorie de la ruine, et plus spécialement des modèles actuariels avec surplus dans lesquels sont versés des dividendes. Nous étudions en détail un modèle appelé modèle gamma-omega, qui permet de jouer sur les moments de paiement de dividendes ainsi que sur une ruine non-standard de la compagnie. Plusieurs extensions de la littérature sont faites, motivées par des considérations liées à la solvabilité. La première consiste à adapter des résultats d’un article de 2011 à un nouveau modèle modifié grâce à l’ajout d’une contrainte de solvabilité. La seconde, plus conséquente, consiste à démontrer l’optimalité d’une stratégie de barrière pour le paiement des dividendes dans le modèle gamma-omega. La troisième concerne l’adaptation d’un théorème de 2003 sur l’optimalité des barrières en cas de contrainte de solvabilité, qui n’était pas démontré dans le cas des dividendes périodiques. Nous donnons aussi les résultats analogues à l’article de 2011 en cas de barrière sous la contrainte de solvabilité. Enfin, la dernière concerne deux différentes approches à adopter en cas de passage sous le seuil de ruine. Une liquidation forcée du surplus est mise en place dans un premier cas, en parallèle d’une liquidation à la première opportunité en cas de mauvaises prévisions de dividendes. Un processus d’injection de capital est expérimenté dans le deuxième cas. Nous étudions l’impact de ces solutions sur le montant des dividendes espérés. Des illustrations numériques sont proposées pour chaque section, lorsque cela s’avère pertinent.

Net-surplus as a useful tool to analyse financial information in co-op societies

This paper aims to analyse a sample of Galician co-ops to verify whether or not it is possible to deduce different financial behaviours among co-op partners from the amount of net-surplus. To this end, our study adds net-surplus to the variation registered in some account entries so that other residual incomes yielded by the co-op may be considered. The distribution of these revenues shows that partners do not usually choose to fully anticipate residual incomes. This reveals that some firms follow a positive net-surplus strategy, which is actually different from the null net-surplus strategy asserted by the classical financial theory. Furthermore, results show that differences between both strategies are statistically significant. This opens a path to future research on determinants explaining why co-op partners voluntarily renounce to anticipating these residual incomes. Such behaviour only arises when yearly accounts render a positive result, thereby making the accounting net-surplus a useful tool to analyse financial information in co-op societies.

Solvency considerations in the gamma-omega surplus model

Ce mémoire de maîtrise traite de la théorie de la ruine, et plus spécialement des modèles actuariels avec surplus dans lesquels sont versés des dividendes. Nous étudions en détail un modèle appelé modèle gamma-omega, qui permet de jouer sur les moments de paiement de dividendes ainsi que sur une ruine non-standard de la compagnie. Plusieurs extensions de la littérature sont faites, motivées par des considérations liées à la solvabilité. La première consiste à adapter des résultats d’un article de 2011 à un nouveau modèle modifié grâce à l’ajout d’une contrainte de solvabilité. La seconde, plus conséquente, consiste à démontrer l’optimalité d’une stratégie de barrière pour le paiement des dividendes dans le modèle gamma-omega. La troisième concerne l’adaptation d’un théorème de 2003 sur l’optimalité des barrières en cas de contrainte de solvabilité, qui n’était pas démontré dans le cas des dividendes périodiques. Nous donnons aussi les résultats analogues à l’article de 2011 en cas de barrière sous la contrainte de solvabilité. Enfin, la dernière concerne deux différentes approches à adopter en cas de passage sous le seuil de ruine. Une liquidation forcée du surplus est mise en place dans un premier cas, en parallèle d’une liquidation à la première opportunité en cas de mauvaises prévisions de dividendes. Un processus d’injection de capital est expérimenté dans le deuxième cas. Nous étudions l’impact de ces solutions sur le montant des dividendes espérés. Des illustrations numériques sont proposées pour chaque section, lorsque cela s’avère pertinent.

Optimization of microwave-assisted extraction of hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidants from a surplus tomato crop by response surface methodology

Tomato is the second most important vegetable crop worldwide and a rich source of industrially interesting antioxidants. Hence, the microwave-assisted extraction of hydrophilic (H) and lipophilic (L) antioxidants from a surplus tomato crop was optimized using response surface methodology. The relevant independent variables were temperature (T), extraction time (t), ethanol concentration (Et) and solid/liquid ratio (S/L). The concentration-time response methods of crocin and β-carotene bleaching were applied, since they are suitable in vitro assays to evaluate the antioxidant activity of H and L matrices, respectively. The optimum operating conditions that maximized the extraction were as follows: t, 2.25 min; T, 149.2 ºC; Et, 99.1 %; and S/L, 45.0 g/L for H antioxidants; and t, 15.4 min; T, 60.0 ºC; Et, 33.0 %; and S/L, 15.0 g/L for L antioxidants. This industrial approach indicated that surplus tomatoes possess a high content of antioxidants, offering an alternative source for obtaining natural value-added compounds. Additionally, by testing the relationship between the polarity of the extraction solvent and the antioxidant activity of the extracts in H and L media (polarity-activity relationship), useful information for the study of complex natural extracts containing components with variable degrees of polarity was obtained.

On the duration of negative surplus

Doutoramento em Matemática

Distribution of benefits of irrigation induced technological changes and commodity markets : new evidence

A plethora of literature exists on irrigation development. However, only a few studies analyse the distributional issues associated with irrigation induced technological changes (IITC) in the context of commodity markets. Furthermore, these studies deal with only the theoretical arguments and to date no proper investigation has been conducted to examine the long-term benefits of adopting modern irrigation technology. This study investigates the long-term benefit changes of irrigation induced technological changes using data from Sri Lanka with reference to rice farming. The results show that (1) adopting modern technology on irrigation increases the overall social welfare through consumption of a larger quantity at a lower cost (2) the magnitude, sensitivity and distributional gains depend on the price elasticity of demand and supply as well as the size of the marketable surplus (3) non-farm sector gains are larger than farm sector gains (4) the distribution of the benefits among different types of producers depend on the magnitude of the expansion of the irrigated areas as well as the competition faced by traditional farmers (5) selective technological adoption and subsidies have a detrimental effect on the welfare of other producers who do not enjoy the same benefits (6) the short-term distributional effects are more severe than the long-term effects among different groups of farmers.

The Green Falcon - Solar Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

In recent months the extremes of Australia’s weather have affected, killed a good number of people and millions of dollars lost. Contrary to a manned aircraft or a helicopter; which have restricted air time, a UAS or a group of UAS could provide 24 hours coverage of the disaster area and be instrumented with infrared cameras to locate distressed people and relay information to emergency services. The solar powered UAV is capable of carrying a 0.25Kg payload consuming 0.5 watt and fly continuously for at low altitude for 24 hrs ,collect the data and create a special distribution . This system, named Green Falcon, is fully autonomous in navigation and power generation, equipped with solar cells covering its wing, it retrieves energy from the sun in order to supply power to the propulsion system and the control electronics, and charge the battery with the surplus of energy. During the night, the only energy available comes from the battery, which discharges slowly until the next morning when a new cycle starts. The prototype airplane was exhibited at the Melbourne Museum form Nov09 to Feb 2010.

Essays on irrigation development, farm production and unaccounted costs : theory and empirical evidence

A review of the literature related to issues involved in irrigation induced agricultural development (IIAD) reveals that: (1) the magnitude, sensitivity and distribution of social welfare of IIAD is not fully analysed; (2) the impacts of excessive pesticide use on farmers’ health are not adequately explained; (3) no analysis estimates the relationship between farm level efficiency and overuse of agro-chemical inputs under imperfect markets; and (4) the method of incorporating groundwater extraction costs is misleading. This PhD thesis investigates these issues by using primary data, along with secondary data from Sri Lanka. The overall findings of the thesis can be summarised as follows. First, the thesis demonstrates that Sri Lanka has gained a positive welfare change as a result of introducing new irrigation technology. The change in the consumer surplus is Rs.48,236 million, while the change in the producer surplus is Rs. 14,274 millions between 1970 and 2006. The results also show that the long run benefits and costs of IIAD depend critically on the magnitude of the expansion of the irrigated area, as well as the competition faced by traditional farmers (agricultural crowding out effects). The traditional sector’s ability to compete with the modern sector depends on productivity improvements, reducing production costs and future structural changes (spillover effects). Second, the thesis findings on pesticides used for agriculture show that, on average, a farmer incurs a cost of approximately Rs. 590 to 800 per month during a typical cultivation period due to exposure to pesticides. It is shown that the value of average loss in earnings per farmer for the ‘hospitalised’ sample is Rs. 475 per month, while it is approximately Rs. 345 per month for the ‘general’ farmers group during a typical cultivation season. However, the average willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid exposure to pesticides is approximately Rs. 950 and Rs. 620 for ‘hospitalised’ and ‘general’ farmers’ samples respectively. The estimated percentage contribution for WTP due to health costs, lost earnings, mitigating expenditure, and disutility are 29, 50, 5 and 16 per cent respectively for hospitalised farmers, while they are 32, 55, 8 and 5 per cent respectively for ‘general’ farmers. It is also shown that given market imperfections for most agricultural inputs, farmers are overusing pesticides with the expectation of higher future returns. This has led to an increase in inefficiency in farming practices which is not understood by the farmers. Third, it is found that various groundwater depletion studies in the economics literature have provided misleading optimal water extraction quantity levels. This is due to a failure to incorporate all production costs in the relevant models. It is only by incorporating quality changes to quantity deterioration, that it is possible to derive socially optimal levels. Empirical results clearly show that the benefits per hectare per month considering both the avoidance costs of deepening agro-wells by five feet from the existing average, as well as the avoidance costs of maintaining the water salinity level at 1.8 (mmhos/Cm), is approximately Rs. 4,350 for farmers in the Anuradhapura district and Rs. 5,600 for farmers in the Matale district.

Benchmarking local E-Government

Increasingly, almost everything we do in our daily lives is being influenced by information and communications technologies (ICTs) including the Internet. The task of governance is no exception with an increasing number of national, state, and local governments utilizing ICTs to support government operations, engage citizens, and provide government services. As with other things, the process of governance is now being prefixed with an “e”. E-governance can range from simple Web sites that convey basic information to complex sites that transform the customary ways of delivering all sorts of government services. In this respect local e-government is the form of e-governance that specifically focuses on the online delivery of suitable local services by local authorities. In practice local e-government reflects four dimensions, each one dealing with the functions of government itself. The four are: (a) e-services, the electronic delivery of government information, programs, and services often over the Internet; (b) e-management, the use of information technology to improve the management of government. This might range from streamlining business processes to improving the flow of information within government departments; (c) e-democracy the use of electronic communication vehicles, such as e-mail and the Internet, to increase citizen participation in the public decision-making process; (d) e-commerce, the exchange of money for goods and services over the Internet which might include citizens paying taxes and utility bills, renewing vehicle registrations, and paying for recreation programs, or government buying office supplies and auctioning surplus equipment (Cook, LaVigne, Pagano, Dawes, & Pardo, 2002). Commensurate with the rapid increase in the process of developing e-governance tools, there has been an increased interest in benchmarking the process of local e-governance. This benchmarking, which includes the processes involved in e-governance as well as the extent of e-governance adoption or take-up is important as it allows for improved processes and enables government agencies to move towards world best practice. It is within this context that this article discusses benchmarking local e-government. It brings together a number of discussions regarding the significance of benchmarking, best practices and actions for local e-government, and key elements of a successful local e-government project.

Design for eco-services. Part A - Environmental Services

Without the virtually free services of nature like clean air and water, humans would not last long. Natural systems can be incorporated in existing urban structures or spaces to add public amenity, mitigate the heat island effect, reduce pollution, add oxygen, and ensure water, electricity and food security in urban areas. Th ere are many eco-solutions that could radically reduce resource consumption and pollution and even provide surplus ecosystem services in the built environment at little or no operational cost, if adequately supported by design. Th is paper is the fi rst of a two part paper that explains what eco-services are, then provides examples of how design can generate natural as well as social capital. Using examples of actual and notional solutions, both papers set out to challenge designers to ‘think again’, and invent ways of creating net positive environmental gains through built environment design.

Design for eco-services. Part B - Building Services

Without the virtually free services of nature like clean air and water, humans would not last long. Natural systems can be incorporated in existing urban structures or spaces to add public amenity, mitigate the heat island eff ect, reduce pollution, add oxygen, and ensure water, electricity and food security in urban areas. Th ere are many eco-solutions that could radically reduce resource consumption and pollution and even provide surplus ecosystem services in the built environment at little or no operational cost, if adequately supported by design. Th is is the second part of a two part paper that explains what eco-services are, then provides examples of how design can generate natural as well as social capital. Using examples of actual and notional solutions, both papers set out to challenge designers to ‘think again’, and invent ways of creating net positive environmental gains through built environment design.