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Xu, Zusheng. "Automatically scheduling database utilities." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/MQ63394.pdf.
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Parker, Stuart J. "Supertargeting for multiple utilities." Thesis, University of Manchester, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.302837.
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Cheong, Kam-Hoong. "IT strategy for electric utilities." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Electric Power Systems, 1999. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-2879.
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Filipe, Luís Varela. "EDP Renováveis: Utilities: uncertainty ahead." Master's thesis, NSBE - UNL, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/9886.
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Santos, Nuno. "EDP Renováveis: renewable energy utilities." Master's thesis, NSBE - UNL, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/10337.
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Huss, William Reed. "Load forecasting for electric utilities /." The Ohio State University, 1985. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487263399023837.
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Kwok, Raymond. "Clinical Utilities of Transient Elastography." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/18044.
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Chronic liver disease causes 1.75 million deaths globally and is within the top 10 leading causes of death in middle income countries. Chronic liver injury occurs via a process of inflammation and fibrosis formation. Patients often do not present to healthcare until advanced stages of disease and when there is already decompensated cirrhosis. Liver biopsy has been used to identify earlier stages of fibrosis, but it is poorly accepted by patients and has limitations. Transient Elastography (TE) using Fibroscan ® is a non-invasive tool for the diagnosis liver fibrosis. The clinical application of Fibroscan in non-alcoholic fatty disease (NAFLD), chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and methotrexate induced liver fibrosis were examined. Clinical Utility of Transient Elastography in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Chapters 2, 3 & 4 Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease affects 20-35% of the global population, but only a small subset develop the histological subtype of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can lead to progressive liver disease by causing fibrosis and eventually cirrhosis. Fibroscan can potentially identify those patients who have fibrosis and are at increased risk of further progression. Patients with type 2 diabetes, who are at high risk of NASH, were assessed. A liver stiffness measurement (LSM) ≥9.8 kPa, used as a cut-off for advanced fibrosis (1), was found in 12% (10/77) of subjects. Higher LSM readings correlated with higher BMI and the use of insulin therapy. Patients on insulin had LSM ≥9.8 kPa with likelihood ratio (LR): 12.3, p=0.002 (Chapter 2). The study was limited by a small sample size, and a high failure rate as the medium (M) probe was only available. A systemic review evaluating all non-invasive methods for diagnosing NASH and NAFLD fibrosis was undertaken. This included a meta-analysis that focused on what was found to be the most widely studied markers of NASH and NAFLD fibrosis: cytokeratin-18 (CK-18) fragments and transient elastography respectively (Chapter 3). Not only was TE found to be the most extensively studied, it had also one of the highest diagnostic accuracies with pooled sensitivities and specificities to diagnose F≥2, 3 and 4 to be: 79% and 75%, 85% and 85%, and 92% and 92% respectively. We then proceeded to perform a much larger study in diabetic subjects using the latest generation of Fibroscan ® 502 touch model (Chapter 4). This included the extra-large (XL) probe for obese subjects and also featured the novel Controlled Attenuation Parameter (CAP), which assesses liver steatosis. A total of 1918 diabetes patients at Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong were recruited. Each had a TE and CAP to assess liver stiffness and steatosis. Reliable scans were achieved in 98.2% of patients using the M or XL probes. The proportion of patients with increased CAP (suggestive of steatosis) and increased LSM (suggestive of advanced fibrosis) were 72.8% and 17.7% respectively. By multivariate analysis, female gender, higher body mass index, triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose and alanine aminotransferase, and non-insulin use were associated with increased CAP. Longer duration of diabetes, higher body mass index, alanine aminotransferase, spot urine albumin-creatinine ratio, and lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol were associated with increased LSM. The17.7% prevalence of advanced fibrosis suggests type 2 diabetic patients would benefit from routine screening for liver disease. Clinical Utility of Transient Elastography in chronic hepatitis B: Chapters 5 and 6 Transient elastography was initially applied for staging patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) with data rapidly growing on its utility for the assessment in patients with CHB infection. Our study contributes to this by further evaluating the diagnostic accuracy and usefulness of TE, and also comparing its performance against the FIB4 index, Aspartate Platelet Ratio Index (APRI), Aspartate Alanine Aminotransferase Ratio (AAR), Age Platelet Index (API), Fibrosis Index (FI) and Caffeine Breath Test (CBT) (Chapter 5). In 71 CHB patients, the diagnostic performance of the LSM for Metavir fibrosis stage F≥1, 2, 3 and 4 were: Area under Receiver Operator Characteristic (AUROC) = 0.825, 0.792, 0.874 and 0.945 respectively. Patients with high ALT required higher LSM cut-offs. Dual cut-offs are needed to “rule in” and to “rule out” stage of fibrosis with a high level of certainty. Using normal vs high ALT specific cut-offs, F≥2 and F≥3 can be “ruled in” or “ruled out” with certainty in 49.3% and 57.7% of CHB patients respectively. TE was the superior non-invasive test when compared with FIB4-I, APRI, API, AAR and FI. Caffeine breath test compared well against TE in a small cohort, but is not as practical. Liver histology is limited by interobserver variability, with 44% of liver biopsies being classified a different stage on second evaluation, and the intraclass correlation coefficient showing moderate agreement (K =0.457). Although routinely compared, this highlights the limitations of assessing the accuracy of TE and other non-invasive tests against a reference standard that has such a degree of variation. The use of TE in the longitudinal monitoring of fibrosis is important in the follow up of patients with CHB (Chapter 6). Current literature was conflicting and seemed to suggest that decline in LSM was influenced more by the fall in ALT with decline in necroinflammatory activity, rather than fibrosis regression. We sought to evaluate the factors that affected LSM change and assess which clinical subgroups experienced an LSM decline. In 124 CHB patients who were followed for 31.2 months (SD 13.1), LSM decline was greatest in those who had active disease and were subsequently treated with antivirals. This is associated with ALT normalization, HBeAg seroconversion and viral suppression. In CHB patients with quiescent disease - ie did not require antiviral treatment, or who had persistently normal ALT irrespective of treatment - only a small or non-significant decline in LSM was observed. The change in LSM was strongly correlated with length of time and may suggest fibrosis regression. Further studies are required, as our findings are limited by a lack of correlation with liver biopsy, and the low baseline levels of liver stiffness in those with inactive CHB. Clinical Utility of Transient Elastography in methotrexate induced liver fibrosis: Chapter 7 Long term use of methotrexate has been associated with risk of liver fibrosis and the role of TE in this cohort was evaluated. The relationship between liver fibrosis and methotrexate dose, and other factors associated with moderate fibrosis (F2) using an LSM cut-off of ≥7.1 kPa were examined. In 39 patients with a mean intake dose of 5.3g of methotrexate, no correlation was found between the LSM and the cumulative dose or duration of treatment. Of the 7/39 cases of LSM≥7.1 kPa (17.9%), BMI≥30 was the only risk factor with a likelihood ratio (LR) of 4.442, p=0.029. One patient had cirrhosis (2.6%). This is much lower than rates reported from early studies [26% (2, 3)], and more in line with recent data [around 2% (4)], and lends support to the suggestion that early studies overestimated the risk of methotrexate induced fibrosis due to lack of controls for pre-existing liver disease (5). There was also no difference in the LSM of methotrexate subjects and matched population controls. Conclusion Our studies lend further support to the utility of LSM on identifying those at increased risk of liver fibrosis progression, which will continue to remain a significant clinical challenge in both individuals and as a public health burden. In particular we feel that major contributions have been made on the subject of screening for advanced fibrosis in a high-risk population of type II diabetic patients. Our longitudinal studies on the role of using TE in follow up and comparing its performance in CHB patients are also significant. Despite the small cohort of methotrexate users, this further supports the utility of TE in a wide range of liver diseases that manifest with progressive fibrosis. The next area of further development in the clinical use of TE is as a stand-alone marker that has prognostic significance.
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Hauser, Robert Sean. "Utilities of metastatic breast cancer patients treated with taxanes compared to utilities of oncology nurses." Access restricted to users with UT Austin EID Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3035947.
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Lam, Kai-chiu. "Demand side management of electricity in Hong Kong." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 1993. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B42128419.
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Fazekas, György. "Semantic audio analysis utilities and applications." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2012. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/8443.
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Extraction, representation, organisation and application of metadata about audio recordings are in the concern of semantic audio analysis. Our broad interpretation, aligned with recent developments in the field, includes methodological aspects of semantic audio, such as those related to information management, knowledge representation and applications of the extracted information. In particular, we look at how Semantic Web technologies may be used to enhance information management practices in two audio related areas: music informatics and music production. In the first area, we are concerned with music information retrieval (MIR) and related research. We examine how structured data may be used to support reproducibility and provenance of extracted information, and aim to support multi-modality and context adaptation in the analysis. In creative music production, our goals can be summarised as follows: O↵-the-shelf sound editors do not hold appropriately structured information about the edited material, thus human-computer interaction is inefficient. We believe that recent developments in sound analysis and music understanding are capable of bringing about significant improvements in the music production workflow. Providing visual cues related to music structure can serve as an example of intelligent, context-dependent functionality. The central contributions of this work are a Semantic Web ontology for describing recording studios, including a model of technological artefacts used in music production, methodologies for collecting data about music production workflows and describing the work of audio engineers which facilitates capturing their contribution to music production, and finally a framework for creating Web-based applications for automated audio analysis. This has applications demonstrating how Semantic Web technologies and ontologies can facilitate interoperability between music research tools, and the creation of semantic audio software, for instance, for music recommendation, temperament estimation or multi-modal music tutoring.
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Wren-Lewis, Liam. "Regulation of utilities in developing countries." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2010. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a64d775e-29f4-4c75-a6a3-d2c16098f2a1.
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The efficient operation and expansion of utilities in developing countries is crucial for growth and poverty reduction. However, recent reforms aimed at improving the performance of these sectors through privatization and the introduction of new regulatory regimes have had limited success. This thesis aims to consider the most pertinent problems for utility regulation in developing countries and how policy may need to be adapted appropriately. The thesis begins by surveying the most recent empirical and theoretical work on the area. I argue that four key institutional limitations commonly found in developing countries must be considered when designing regulatory policy: Limited capacity, limited accountability, limited commitment and limited fiscal efficiency. The remainder of the thesis then focuses on two of these weaknesses – limited commitment and limited accountability – to develop further insights into how regulatory policy may be most suitably adapted. In considering the effect of limited commitment, I pursue a theoretical approach. I first focus on the relationship between the government and the utility operator when the government cannot commit to a time-inconsistent policy of not expropriating investment. After building a model where reputation is used to sustain investment in equilibrium, I consider the model’s implications for policy. The thesis then builds a different model to consider the impact of governments’ inability to commit when trading electricity internationally. I focus on the resulting hold-up problem and the impact this has on investment levels within trading countries. The effect of limited accountability is then investigated empirically through the analysis of data on electricity firms and regulators in Latin America. In particular, I consider how firms’ performance is affected by corruption, ownership and regulatory governance, looking in detail at interactions between these variables and attempting to break down regulatory governance into its various components.
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Zhang, Penghe. "Mapping buried utilities in difficult environments." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51978/.
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There is a large number of underground utilities buried in urban areas, which is one of the most complex networks in the world. It has been estimated that only 50% of buried utilities are accurately recorded. However, failure to identify accurately the location of existing buried utilities results in numerous practical problems, costs and dangers for utility owners, contractors and road users. The underground utilities positioning accuracy requirement is 100 mm for both the accuracy of positioning system and the accuracy of detection devices. While the accuracy up to 300 mm would be acceptable for many respondents. This aim of this thesis is to research various means of improving the accuracy of positioning systems and the accuracy of detection devices for underground utilities in urban areas. GNSS is mainly used to find and record the position of utilities. However, the performance of GNSS is constrained by an insufficient number of visible satellites, poor satellite geometry and multipath in urban areas. The combination of GNSS systems increases the possible visible satellite number. Moreover, the geometry of satellites will be improved by integrating different GNSS constellations. This thesis evaluates the performance of different GNSS constellations such as GPS, GLONASS, BDS and QZSS and multi-GNSS integration in a controlled environment at UNNC and Ningbo city centre. The results provide evidence that using more than one GNSS constellation will significantly increase the availability of GNSS positions and improve the satellite geometry. There are 75% markers (21 out of 28) on campus of UNNC obtained the positioning error within 10cm either by GPS, BDS or GPS and BDS integration. In Ningbo city centre static test, 47% positions (7 out of 15) obtain ambiguity fixed solutions by GPS and BDS. For the underground utilities detection system, this thesis develops a low-cost IMU and odometer integration system to estimate the position of an approximately 30m long test pipeline. Moreover, a tightly coupled integration between IMU and odometer is developed to decrease error caused by the odometer installation attitude error and scale factor error. Besides this, a novel approach to this application of using a Robust Kalman filter is developed to remove the effect of odometer measurement outliers due to wheel-slip. Compared with the loosely coupled integration method, the use of loosely coupled integration with scale factor correction, tightly coupled integration and tightly coupled with Robust Kalman filter provide a horizontal position improvement of 11%, 41% and 43%, respectively. Similarly, the height accuracy is improved by 14%, 50% and 57% before the wheel-slip. The Wheel-slip leads to wrong odometer measurement that makes the positioning results far away from the truth. After applying Robust Kalman filter, the positioning error is reduced to 0.61 m in the horizontal plane, and 0.11 m in the height. Moreover, if using the forward and backward Kalman filter with known start and end positions, the test pipeline positioning maximum error in height is 4 cm, and the maximum horizontal error is 10 cm.
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Gomes, André. "EDP - energias de Portugal: electric utilities." Master's thesis, NSBE - UNL, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/10274.
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Gay, Alanis Leon F. "Measuring Energy Efficiency of Water Utilities." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/34231.
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Water infrastructure systems worldwide use large amounts of energy to operate. Energy efficiency efforts are relevant because even relatively small gains in efficiency have the potential to bring significant benefits to these utilities in terms of financial savings and enhanced sustainability and resiliency. In order to achieve higher efficiency levels, energy usage must be measured and controlled.
A common tool used to measure energy efficiency in water utilities and perform comparisons between utilities is metric benchmarking. Energy benchmarking scores are intended to measure how efficient water systems are among their peers, in a simple and accurate fashion. Although many different benchmarking methods are currently used, we chose to use the segregated benchmarking scores proposed by Carlson on his research report from 2007 (Carlson, 2007).
The research objective is to improve these production energy use and treatment energy use benchmarking scores by analyzing the systemâ s particular characteristics that might skew the results, such as topology, water loss and raw water quality. We propose that benchmarking metrics should be always used within a particular context for each specific utility being analyzed. A complementary score (Thermodynamic Score) was developed to provide context on how energy efficient is the utility not only compared with other utilities, but also compared with the potential maximum efficiency the utility can reach itself.
We analyzed eight utilities from Virginia to obtain production and treatment energy use benchmarking scores and also thermodynamic scores using the minimum required energy approach. Benchmarking scores were skewed in 50% of the studied utilities. This means that benchmarking scores should never be used as a black box. The thermodynamic score proved to be useful for measurement of energy efficiency of a water utility on its production phase. In addition, some utilities can detect significant financial saving opportunities using the minimum required energy analysis for production operations.Master of Science
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Leung, Tai-yan Daniel. "Develop a public opinion management plan for the electric utilities in Hong Kong /." [Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong], 1985. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B12317196.
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Lau, Wing Chi. "An analysis of electricity deregulation a lesson for Hong Kong /." access full-text access abstract and table of contents, 2005. http://libweb.cityu.edu.hk/cgi-bin/ezdb/dissert.pl?msc-meem-b19912973a.pdf.
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Thesis (M.Sc.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2005.Title from title screen (viewed on Jan. 10, 2005) "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering Management." Includes bibliographical references.
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Liu, Youfei. "Network and temporal effects on strategic bidding in electricity markets." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2006. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B36895763.
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Rebello, Derrick Michael. "Adjustment to time of use pricing : persistence of habits or change /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7469.
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Takeuchi, Takaaki. "Strategic issues for Japanese electric utilities in the telecommunications business : can utilities light up on the information superhighway?" Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35452.
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Seidler, Anna Lene, Constanze Rethberg, Jochen Schmitt, Albert Nienhaus, and Andreas Seidler. "Health utilities for chronic low back pain." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2017. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-230878.
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Background
Chronic low back pain (LBP) is a common health problem, with a large potential for primary prevention. Health utilities (HU) reflect which proportion of their expected remaining life time individuals would hypothetically trade to be alleviated of a health condition of interest. A value of 0 means “prefer to die immediately”, a value of 1 means “not willing to trade any life time”. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess HU for LBP patients and for healthy participants and to examine whether HU for LBP are useful indicators to substantiate preventive and therapeutic decision making.
Methods
Healthy participants (n = 126) and LBP patients (n = 32) were recruited mainly among the employees of a tertiary care hospital in Germany. Standardized LBP scenarios were presented to all participants and HU values were assessed using the time-trade-off method.
Results
Median HU for LBP were 0.90 (IQR 0.31) for participants and 0.93 (IQR 0.10) for LBP patients. Measurements were consistent across illness severity ratings with HU and with a visual analogue scale (VAS); in the healthy sample the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.61 (95% CI 0.23–1.00, F(1125) = 190, p < .001), in the patient sample the ICC was 0.66 (95% CI = 0.24–1.00, F(1,31) = 62, p < .001). 8% of participants reported HU of 1. There was no statistically significant relation between HU and age, income, or gender.
Conclusion
On average, participants chose a 7 to 10% shorter life expectancy to avoid LBP, but almost 1 in 10 participants were not willing to trade any life years. The results indicate a certain stability of HU due to the comparability of HU ratings across patients and healthy participants, the measurement consistency when comparing VAS and HU ratings, and the lack of association between demographic variables and HU. This underlines the usefulness of HU for measuring illness severity in comparative health economics evaluations of preventive and therapeutic measures that address chronic LBP or other pain-characterized diseases. Future studies should focus on different LBP intensities and derive stratified HU that reflect the distribution of pain intensity in the population.
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Dhal, Suvendu Kumar. "Natural gas options for Nova Scotia utilities." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/MQ63501.pdf.
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Datta, Sanjukta. "Market for corporate control and European utilities." Thesis, Open University, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.527451.
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Gassner, Katharina. "Liberalisation and regulation in European network utilities." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2002. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1656/.
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This thesis considers different aspects of the liberalisation and simultaneous economic regulation of network utilities in the European Union. Two groups of arguments justify that regulation is maintained in these industries after the removal of barriers to competitive entry. The first group of arguments is linked to the natural monopoly characteristics displayed by such services. These imply that competition cannot be relied upon to restrain the dominant position of network operators. The second group of arguments relates to the social dimension, or public service nature, of utility services. The essential role played by these services justifies government intervention in form of price controls, universal service obligations and other qualitative regulations. The thesis has two parts of different nature, each part comprising two chapters. In the first part, an introductory chapter describes the framework within which the economic regulation of network utilities is inscribed, and discusses key trade-offs between different regulatory policy objectives. The second chapter analyses how the regulatory framework for liberalised network industries developed in the UK compares to the framework in place in Germany. Germany has embarked on reform of its network utilities considerably later than the UK, and displays unique characteristics in its industry structures, in particular a strong federal element. The German case illustrates how the general economic principles underlying the liberalisation and regulation process are interpreted in the European environment, and are adapted to national characteristics. The second part of the thesis focuses on specific aspects of liberalisation and regulation using econometric techniques. In chapter 3, access price elasticities in the fixed telephony industry are estimated on the basis of a pseudo-panel. The main question addressed is whether the rebalancing of tariffs that has taken place in the wake of liberalisation has had the potential to deteriorate household access to the fixed telephone network. The last and fourth chapter looks at patterns and determinants of supplier switching in the domestic gas and electricity markets in Great Britain using data from a true household panel. Its main conclusion is that the likelihood of supplier switching is influenced more strongly by variables linked to cost savings than by socio-demographic factors such as income.
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Ngai, Chun-hung, and 魏駿雄. "A comparative study of two public utilities." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1987. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31263872.
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Hall, Stephen Geoffrey. "Targeting for multiple utilities in pinch technology." Thesis, University of Manchester, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.302853.
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Stead, Alexander David. "Regulation and efficiency in UK public utilities." Thesis, University of Hull, 2017. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:16418.
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[From the Introduction]: The divestiture of formerly nationalised public utilities during the 1980s and 1990s in the UK and elsewhere was accompanied by the vertical unbundling of their natural monopoly elements, i.e. the physical distribution networks, from upstream activities such as electricity generation and gas supply and downstream activities such as retail in order to facilitate competition in the latter. The expectation was that opening up these upstream activities to private firms would foster competition, which would in turn lead to improvements in efficiency, lower prices and increased consumer welfare. There are, on the other hand, possibilities for considerable rents to be made; these could be in the form of profits, but given the regulation that the firms face and the degree of informational asymmetry between utility managers and other stakeholders, such as regulators, shareholders, and customers, they may also take the form of slack within the firm, and the maximisation of managerial utility. We analyse the effect of RPI-X regulation on the efficiency of the UK’s water and sewage and electricity distribution industries using stochastic frontier analysis. We extend the literature in several ways; first, in the case of the water and sewage industry, we look at efficiency not only on the cost side, but also on the revenue side. Second, following the findings of Restrepo-Tobón and Kumbhakar (2014) on the shortcomings of the direct estimation of the alternative profit frontier, we show that the profit maximisation problem of a monopolist with fixed scale characteristics separates into separate cost minimisation and revenue maximisation problems, then derive an alternative specification for the revenue frontier with a firmer basis in theory. Third, we include the publicly-owned Northern Ireland Water and Scottish Water, and the three former Scottish Water Authorities that preceded the latter, in our water cost and revenue analyses, and likewise include Northern Ireland Electricity in one of our cost analyses, providing an original insight into the performance of these utilities relative to their English and Welsh and Great British counterparts, respectively. In addition, we use more recent samples than those found in the literature, providing new evidence relating to the latest price control periods in both industries. We derive two new formulae for calculating the marginal effects of environmental variables on efficiency, and apply these to analyse the impact of annual price caps and time trends on revenue and cost efficiency, giving an insight into the static and dynamic impacts of RPI-X regulation, while also examining the impact of board composition variables and public ownership. This thesis is organised into seven chapters. In the remainder of Chapter 1, we give a short history of the UK water and electricity industries. In Chapter 2, we introduce basic efficiency-related concepts, before moving on to discuss issues of market power and firm performance in utility firms, and the theory relating to utility regulation. In Chapter 3, we review the literature on frontier analysis, introducing some of the main data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) methods in particular. The relative advantages and disadvantages of each method are considered, and the features of the method used in the subsequent empirical chapters are discussed. Chapter 4 reviews the empirical literature on the performance of water and electricity utilities in the UK and internationally, along with several papers on the impact of regulation on the performance in other utility industries. Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 apply SFA to analyse the efficiency of UK water and sewage and electricity distribution utilities, respectively. Efficiency predictions are discussed and compared, trends are discussed, and the marginal effects of our environmental variables on the various efficiency measures are derived and discussed at length. Finally, Chapter 7 summarises the conclusions from our analyses and relates them back to the existing literature, and discusses implications for utility performance and policy. The limitations of this thesis, and suggestions for future research, are also discussed.
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Viney, Howard. "Identifying strategic content among former public utilities." Thesis, Middlesex University, 2001. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13436/.
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The importance of privatisation and other forms of market liberalisation as tools of economic and political policy is well documented, and the concepts continue to command prominence in a large number of economies across the globe. Most academic research undertaken to date has focussed upon its macro-economic motivations, the importance of regulation, and increasingly assessments of the economic benefits of instituting privatisation programmes. The literature indicates a dearth of empirical research on the managerial aspects of privatisation: the strategic responses of the companies emerging from such privatisation programmes, and the key influences which have shaped their strategic responses. In general, the industries which have witnessed privatisation have tended to be former state owned enterprises, or industries of strategic importance, where low performance standards and quality failures have been characterised as being endemic. Clearly, there is a real need to learn from existing responses, so that models of best practice can be established to smooth the transition of organisations encountering strategic reorientation, and to prevent the development of new sets of operating difficulties. In addition, the literature suggests that existing managerial models which aim to provide business decision makers with viable strategic responses to changing circumstances have not been adequately tested in non-traditional market conditions such as those experienced by companies following a major privatisation. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the content of corporate and business level strategy among a sample of recently privatised former public utilities: the Regional Electricity Companies of England and Wales, and to understand the nature of the strategi~drivers which have helped to shape these strategic responses. In so doing, the research aims to create an understanding of the suitability of a range of corporate and business strategy combinations for application in a partially regulated environment, in order to enable a company: to identify and pursue the appropriate strategies in pursuit of competitive advantage; manage its relationships with a variety of strategic drivers; to fulfil its public service obligations; and in so doing to navigate a potentially uncertain environment in a time of profound change. In addition, the study aims to review a series of existing managerial models in the light of the experiences of the RECs, and determine the degree of confidence that can be said to exist in their applicability in non-traditional market situations. In particular, the thesis comments upon the applicability of the Miles and Snow typology of organisational strategy, structure and process in a regulated environment, and suggests some tentative amendments. This research is identified as being primarily exploratory, based as it is upon a study of a single industry. While the author has confidence in the validity of the findings, this thesis is intended to be the first stage in an extended research project which would see these findings subjected to rigorous verification in a wider sample of companies of this type. As discussed earlier, the need for research of this nature at this time is identified as being compelling due to the current proliferation of privatisation programmes, the severity of the problems that they are trying to resolve, and the unique position of UK industry to provide recommendations based upon practical experience. The research utilises a broadly phenomenological method. An extensive review of the literature revealed not only limitations in existing knowledge, but the work of various authors in identifying the available corporate and business level strategic options available to organisational decision makers. These lists of options provided a broad framework for the identification and gathering of data, and its inductive interpretation. The process of data collection was undertaken initially using a form of content analysis of published sources, against a framework derived from the literature and a series of exploratory interviews. From this process a series of observations, in the form of tentative propositions, were drawn. These propositions were then tested deductively using multiple in-depth interviews within three case study companies and the degree of confidence in each proposition established. The case study companies were selected on the basis of their ability to represent the industry as a whole, based upon their current approach to growth; the research having earlier identified three distinct sub-groupings of behaviour in respect of strategies for growth. The research resulted in a number of key findings. Firstly, that despite expectations that differing patterns of strategic response would emerge following market liberalisation, the companies remaining within the industry appear to have gravitated towards three basic generic responses; broadly defined as concentrated growth, organic market development, and market development by acquisition. Consequently, there is a large degree of strategic symmetry although tactical differences do remain. Secondly, that the importance of regulation as a driver of strategy can not be underestimated, even in those parts of the industry which are theoretically free from regulatory influence. The findings suggest even allowing for the importance of regulation, other factors such as ownership, leadership, as well as other external and internal factors all need to be accounted for. The general conclusion here was that the impact of strategic drivers was situational. Thirdly, that companies have little or no flexibility in their choice of the business/competitive strategy that they pursue, with a combination of market regulatory and consumer expectancy factors dictating their terms of competition. Finally, the research suggests a need for the amendment of the Miles and Snow typology before it is applied in regulated environments, as well as suggesting that a degree of caution is exercised in the use of some other established and externally verified managerial models. The research produces a wide range of recommendations for further study. These recommendations concern (a) verification of conclusions drawn by the research and (b) exploration of issues which emerged during the research process. The research extends the existing literature's understanding of strategic content decisions among companies adapting to situations of strategic reorientation. It provides numerous examples of the responses organisations followed to a variety of strategic drivers, and identifies options which have been identified as viable in the UK energy industry as it currently stands. The research fills a number of gaps identified within the literature in relation to: the nature of organisational responses to strategic change; the relationship between strategic content and strategic drivers; the ability of long standing managerial models to perfonn in non-traditional market situations; and most importantly the viability of strategic responses in regulated environments. There are a number of limitations which can be identified within the research. The qualitative nature of the research reflects a reliance upon interpretive analysis and opinion, either by the author or the industry managers who provide the majority of the primary data. However, the author has striven at all times for objectivity and has utilised techniques such as triangulation of data sources and collection methods to ensure objectivity. In addition, the focus upon a single industry may be viewed as a limitation upon the applicability of the findings to a wider business audience. However, in both of these cases, the author argues that the exploratory nature of the research and the acknowledgement of the need for, and intention to pursue, external verification overcomes any concerns that may exist in relation to these possible limitations. The thesis comprises thirteen chapters. Chapter One introduces the study by providing a brief critique of the literature and establishes the study's aims and objectives. Chapters Two and Four provide a review of the relevant literature in relation to the general management literature and the literature concerning issues relating to privatisation. The methodology and research design are outlined in Chapter Three. The remaining chapters present the analysis and interpretation of data in two stages: the preliminary stage in Chapters Five to Seven, which is summarised in Chapter Eight; and the primary stage in Chapters Nine to Eleven, summarised in Chapter Twelve. The thesis is concluded in Chapter Thirteen where the major findings and recommendations for future study are annotated.
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Anthony, Abigail Walker. "Climate change and peak demand for electricity : evaluating policies for reducing peak demand under different climate change scenarios /." View online ; access limited to URI, 2009. http://0-digitalcommons.uri.edu.helin.uri.edu/dissertations/AAI3380541.
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Spence, Cecilia. "The regulation of energy utilities based on depreciated optimised replacement cost (DORC), valuation of assets." Department of Accounting and Finance - Faculty of Commerce, 2004. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/216.
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This study was prompted by the 1988 introduction by the Commonwealth Government, and later on by both Federal and State regulators, of a philosophy of wanting to achieve a target rate of return within the public sector to emulate private sector efficiency. At the core of the reforms was the adoption of replacement values for assets. This resulted in inflated prices to the users of public services and regulated monopoly assets such as energy utilities, while asset owners enjoyed windfall gains. In developing a form of regulation for natural monopolies the regulators initially looked to Accounting. However Finance Economics provided a structure called the Building Block approach to regulation that had at its center the notion of Depreciated Optimised Replacement Cost (DORC). Capture by Finance Economics, has meant that regulation has developed under the rules of Net Present Value based on the DORC value for assets. Net Present Value calculations are based on the timing and amounts of future cash transactions. This is the meat of regulation. The regulators have addressed the problem of circularity by developing a notion of Optimised Replacement Cost (ORC), and calling on the notion of Tobins Q to transform ORC to ORC used, or DORC. Deprival Value has been endorsed as a valuation principle by the Council Of Australian Governments; however Deprival Value conflicts with DORC in the valuation of sunk assets. This research has critically examined the regulators use of DORC and its inherent circularity and finds that DORC is a flawed concept. It is argued that actual or previously agreed values for assets would produce a better regulatory outcome and fairer prices for consumers. The International Financial Reporting Standards contain in their 2003 Framework notions of Fair Value and Capital Maintenance that address the aims of the regulators and are compatible with Deprival Value. Audited financial reports based on the regulators approved asset valuations and prepared in accordance with International Standards would provide cohesion between regulatory decisions and the financial results of natural monopoly companies.
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Oseni, Musiliu Olalekan. "Essays on self-generation and payments for quality of service in electricity markets." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709118.
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Yuan, Hui. "Systems dynamics modeling for understanding transmission investment incentives." Pullman, Wash. : Washington State University, 2009. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Dissertations/Fall2009/h_yuan_082909.pdf.
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Thesis (Ph. D. in electrical engineering)--Washington State University, December 2009.Title from PDF title page (viewed on Sept. 10, 2009). "School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-152).
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Lee, Wing-keung Chris. "A study of energy management in Hong Kong /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2001. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk:8888/cgi-bin/hkuto%5Ftoc%5Fpdf?B23427048.
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Uhlmann, Vikki. "An approach to sustainability management for water utilities /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2004. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe19069.pdf.
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Ekenberg, Love. "A unified framework for indeterminate probabilities and utilities /." Stockholm : Matematiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-358.
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Sun, Chun-lim, and 孫振廉. "Marketing by public utilities companies in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1991. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3126508X.
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Myers, Jametta. "Applications of Operations Research in Domestic Electric Utilities." VCU Scholars Compass, 2008. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1658.
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Since its inception in the 1950s, operations research has been used in a number of industries, including the energy industry. Documentation of its use in exploration, production, gasoline blending, oil spill management, coal mining, coal handling, and coal mixing is extensive. However, considerably less documented research exists for one significant customer of many of these products: the electric utility. This work reviews refereed literature from United States operations research journals that document the use of operations research in United States electric utility operations. Applications that centered specifically on the areas of thermal energy generation, transmission, distribution, capacity planning, electric power service options, and other general operations-related activities were included. Applications solely related to plant siting, general energy policy, or work that focused on electricity as a commodity and primarily investigated the use of financial instruments, were not included.
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Scott, David R. "Utilities privatization in the United States Air Force." College Park, Md. : University of Maryland, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/7784.
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Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2008.Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering . Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.
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Sun, Chun-lim. "Marketing by public utilities companies in Hong Kong /." [Hong Kong] : University of Hong Kong, 1991. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B13055239.
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BARONE, Andrea. "Three essays on the economics of public utilities." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/7011.
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Defence date: 22 May 2007Examining Board: Pascal Courty, (European University Institute) ; Natalia Fabra, (Universidad Carlos III, Madrid) ; Massimo Motta, (European University Institute) ; Frode Steen, (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Public utilities provide fundamental services both to households and firms. Continuous, adequate, and reasonably priced supplies of water, electricity and gas are essential for healthy living in every modern society. Moreover, while there is no direct physical need for telecommunication services, in today’s information economy they have clearly become a social need. At the same time infrastructure sectors are key for sustained economic growth and international competitiveness, since they also provide necessary inputs to firms, allowing them to produce and interact with both suppliers and customers. In this dissertation we will analyze some important policy issues that emerge in relation to these sectors.
-- Assessing the affordability consequences of tariff rebalancing : the case of the argentinean electricity sector -- Firminnovation activities in Latin America and the Caribbean : some evidence on the role of infrastructure -- The liberalization of the Italian electricity industry : a critical assessment
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Weber, Christoph. "Uncertainty in the electric power industry : methods and models for decision support /." New York : Springer, 2005. http://aleph.unisg.ch/hsgscan/hm00145851.pdf.
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Starkov, Vladimir V. "Essays on the restructuring of the electricity industry in the United States." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 2001. http://etd.wvu.edu/templates/showETD.cfm?recnum=1953.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001.Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 109 p. : ill., map. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-109).
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Peng, Tengshun. "Bidding strategy and empirical analysis of bidding in electrical power market." Online access for everyone, 2006. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Dissertations/Spring2006/t%5Fpeng%5F011406.pdf.
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Su, Jifeng. "An analytical assessment of generation asset in the restructured electricity industry." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2006. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B37116381.
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Liu, Kai. "A decentralized congestion management approach for the multilateral energy transaction via optimal resource allocation." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2007. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B38750107.
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Sozer, Sevin Park Chan S. "Transmission expansion planning to alleviate congestion in deregulated power markets." Auburn, Ala., 2006. http://repo.lib.auburn.edu/Send%206-15-07/SOZER_SEVIN_35.pdf.
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Jordan, Myron K. "The kilowatt wars : James D. Ross, public power, and the public relations contest for the hearts and minds of Pacific Northwesterners /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6160.
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Rhine, Russell. "Economies of scale, overcapitalization and asset pricing in the U.S. electric utility industry." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 1998. http://etd.wvu.edu/templates/showETD.cfm?recnum=294.
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Dykman, William George Harwood. "Entrepreneurship's contribution to the success of deregulated electricity utilities." Pretoria : [s.n.], 2005. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10052005-122601.
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Amoah, Anthony. "Estimating demand for utilities in Ghana : an empirical analysis." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2016. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/61277/.
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Using a variety of techniques, this doctoral thesis seeks to estimate the demand for key utilities such as electricity and residential water supply in Ghana. This thesis comprises of four chapters that estimate demand for electricity and residential water supply in Ghana. Chapter one is a joint paper published in the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal with Justice Tei Mensah and George Marbuah as co-authors. Although we all worked together from the introduction to the end of the paper; my principal role was writing literature review, sections of the data and discussion. The key idea was to disaggregate the energy sector and individually estimate the demand for each type of energy in Ghana. Chapter two estimates household demand for electricity in Ghana. We use the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to estimate the demand for a 24-hour electricity service among households in Ghana. In response to the current CVM debate, this study investigates critical issues such as hypothetical bias, WTA&WTP convergence/divergence, and scope sensitivity that can easily invalidate our estimates. Chapter three seeks to estimate demand for piped-water services in urban Ghana. The paper applies three different valuation methods to estimate demand, thus providing validity checks for our estimates using competing methods. Chapter four is a single authored paper published in Water Policy Journal. This chapter seeks to estimate demand for domestic water from an innovative borehole system in rural Ghana using stated and revealed preference approaches. First, the study investigates demand for domestic water supply from an innovative borehole system using the CVM. We further estimate demand for current service of domestic water supply in residences using the Hedonic Pricing Method (HPM). This is achieved through a survey from rural districts in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. Interval regression and ordinary least squares (OLS) are applied to investigate the determinants of willingness-to-pay (WTP). The main findings of this thesis may be summarised as follows: 1. Our results show that energy prices, income, urbanization and economic structure are significant demand drivers of the different energy types in Ghana with varying estimated elasticities. We find that there is a high degree of responsiveness of electricity demand to income changes by mainly the industrial sector relative to households. 2. Households are willing to pay between 7% and 15% of their income to have a 24hour supply of electricity in the GAR of Ghana. However, our cost & benefit analysis show a net cost of GHS567.52million ($146.97million) per annum. 3. The average amount that a household is willing to pay per month for a reliable piped-water services is GHS 44.73 or US$14.27 (HPM), GHS 22.72 or US$7.25 (TCM) and GHS 47.80 or US$15.25 (CVM) respectively. These amounts are equivalent to 3%-8% of households’ income. We find evidence of a positive net benefit of GHS 486.78million (US$155,49million) per annum. 4. Finally, regarding water supplied from the innovative borehole system and current improved water services, we find evidence that monthly WTP values are GHS35.90 (US$11.45) and GHS17.59 (US$5.61) in the CVM and HPM, respectively. These values represent approximately 3%-6% of household monthly income which is consistent with earlier studies. By way of conclusion, the author follows these empirical findings and prescribe several policy recommendations to inform policy direction in the utility sector(s) in Ghana and other developing countries with similar characteristics.
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Babalola, Olamide Akanbi. "Utilities optimization in a wax process plant / O.A. Babalola." Thesis, North-West University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/1790.
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