A Strategic Bargaining Game for a Spectrum Sharing Scheme in Cognitive Radio-Based Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Mao, Yuxing; Cheng, Tao; Zhao, Huiyuan; Shen, Na

2017-11-27

In Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), unlicensed users, that is, sensor nodes, have excessively exploited the unlicensed radio spectrum. Through Cognitive Radio (CR), licensed radio spectra, which are owned by licensed users, can be partly or entirely shared with unlicensed users. This paper proposes a strategic bargaining spectrum-sharing scheme, considering a CR-based heterogeneous WSN (HWSN). The sensors of HWSNs are discrepant and exist in different wireless environments, which leads to various signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) for the same or different licensed users. Unlicensed users bargain with licensed users regarding the spectrum price. In each round of bargaining, licensed users are allowed to adaptively adjust their spectrum price to the best for maximizing their profits. . Then, each unlicensed user makes their best response and informs licensed users of "bargaining" and "warning". Through finite rounds of bargaining, this scheme can obtain a Nash bargaining solution (NBS), which makes all licensed and unlicensed users reach an agreement. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can quickly find a NBS and all players in the game prefer to be honest. The proposed scheme outperforms existing schemes, within a certain range, in terms of fairness and trade success probability.

An efficient and provable secure revocable identity-based encryption scheme.

PubMed

Wang, Changji; Li, Yuan; Xia, Xiaonan; Zheng, Kangjia

2014-01-01

Revocation functionality is necessary and crucial to identity-based cryptosystems. Revocable identity-based encryption (RIBE) has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, many RIBE schemes have been proposed in the literature but shown to be either insecure or inefficient. In this paper, we propose a new scalable RIBE scheme with decryption key exposure resilience by combining Lewko and Waters' identity-based encryption scheme and complete subtree method, and prove our RIBE scheme to be semantically secure using dual system encryption methodology. Compared to existing scalable and semantically secure RIBE schemes, our proposed RIBE scheme is more efficient in term of ciphertext size, public parameters size and decryption cost at price of a little looser security reduction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first construction of scalable and semantically secure RIBE scheme with constant size public system parameters.

Extracting Baseline Electricity Usage Using Gradient Tree Boosting

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Taehoon; Lee, Dongeun; Choi, Jaesik

To understand how specific interventions affect a process observed over time, we need to control for the other factors that influence outcomes. Such a model that captures all factors other than the one of interest is generally known as a baseline. In our study of how different pricing schemes affect residential electricity consumption, the baseline would need to capture the impact of outdoor temperature along with many other factors. In this work, we examine a number of different data mining techniques and demonstrate Gradient Tree Boosting (GTB) to be an effective method to build the baseline. We train GTB onmore » data prior to the introduction of new pricing schemes, and apply the known temperature following the introduction of new pricing schemes to predict electricity usage with the expected temperature correction. Our experiments and analyses show that the baseline models generated by GTB capture the core characteristics over the two years with the new pricing schemes. In contrast to the majority of regression based techniques which fail to capture the lag between the peak of daily temperature and the peak of electricity usage, the GTB generated baselines are able to correctly capture the delay between the temperature peak and the electricity peak. Furthermore, subtracting this temperature-adjusted baseline from the observed electricity usage, we find that the resulting values are more amenable to interpretation, which demonstrates that the temperature-adjusted baseline is indeed effective.« less

Linking payment to health outcomes: a taxonomy and examination of performance-based reimbursement schemes between healthcare payers and manufacturers.

PubMed

Carlson, Josh J; Sullivan, Sean D; Garrison, Louis P; Neumann, Peter J; Veenstra, David L

2010-08-01

To identify, categorize and examine performance-based health outcomes reimbursement schemes for medical technology. We performed a review of performance-based health outcomes reimbursement schemes over the past 10 years (7/98-010/09) using publicly available databases, web and grey literature searches, and input from healthcare reimbursement experts. We developed a taxonomy of scheme types by inductively organizing the schemes identified according to the timing, execution, and health outcomes measured in the schemes. Our search yielded 34 coverage with evidence development schemes, 10 conditional treatment continuation schemes, and 14 performance-linked reimbursement schemes. The majority of schemes are in Europe and Australia, with an increasing number in Canada and the U.S. These schemes have the potential to alter the reimbursement and pricing landscape for medical technology, but significant challenges, including high transaction costs and insufficient information systems, may limit their long-term impact. Future studies regarding experiences and outcomes of implemented schemes are necessary. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Irrigation water policy analysis using a business simulation game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buchholz, M.; Holst, G.; Musshoff, O.

2016-10-01

Despite numerous studies on farmers' responses to changing irrigation water policies, uncertainties remain about the potential of water pricing schemes and water quotas to reduce irrigation. Thus far, policy impact analysis is predominantly based upon rational choice models that assume behavioral assumptions, such as a perfectly rational profit-maximizing decision maker. Also, econometric techniques are applied which could lack internal validity due to uncontrolled field data. Furthermore, such techniques are not capable of identifying ill-designed policies prior to their implementation. With this in mind, we apply a business simulation game for ex ante policy impact analysis of irrigation water policies at the farm level. Our approach has the potential to reveal the policy-induced behavioral change of the participants in a controlled environment. To do so, we investigate how real farmers from Germany, in an economic experiment, respond to a water pricing scheme and a water quota intending to reduce irrigation. In the business simulation game, the participants manage a "virtual" cash-crop farm for which they make crop allocation and irrigation decisions during several production periods, while facing uncertain product prices and weather conditions. The results reveal that a water quota is able to reduce mean irrigation applications, while a water pricing scheme does not have an impact, even though both policies exhibit equal income effects for the farmers. However, both policies appear to increase the variation of irrigation applications. Compared to a perfectly rational profit-maximizing decision maker, the participants apply less irrigation on average, both when irrigation is not restricted and when a water pricing scheme applies. Moreover, the participants' risk attitude affects the irrigation decisions.

Price regulation and generic competition in the pharmaceutical market.

PubMed

Dalen, Dag Morten; Strøm, Steinar; Haabeth, Tonje

2006-09-01

In March 2003 the Norwegian government implemented yardstick-based price regulation schemes on a selection of drugs subjected to generic competition. The retail price cap, termed the "index price," on a drug (chemical substance) was set equal to the average of the three lowest producer prices on that drug, plus a fixed wholesale and retail margin. This is supposed to lower barriers of entry for generic drugs and to trigger price competition. Using monthly data over the period 1998-2004 for the six drugs (chemical entities) included in the index price system, we estimate a structural model enabling us to examine the impact of the reform on both demand and market power. Our results suggest that the index price helped to increase the market shares of generic drugs and succeeded in triggering price competition.

Numerically pricing American options under the generalized mixed fractional Brownian motion model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Wenting; Yan, Bowen; Lian, Guanghua; Zhang, Ying

2016-06-01

In this paper, we introduce a robust numerical method, based on the upwind scheme, for the pricing of American puts under the generalized mixed fractional Brownian motion (GMFBM) model. By using portfolio analysis and applying the Wick-Itô formula, a partial differential equation (PDE) governing the prices of vanilla options under the GMFBM is successfully derived for the first time. Based on this, we formulate the pricing of American puts under the current model as a linear complementarity problem (LCP). Unlike the classical Black-Scholes (B-S) model or the generalized B-S model discussed in Cen and Le (2011), the newly obtained LCP under the GMFBM model is difficult to be solved accurately because of the numerical instability which results from the degeneration of the governing PDE as time approaches zero. To overcome this difficulty, a numerical approach based on the upwind scheme is adopted. It is shown that the coefficient matrix of the current method is an M-matrix, which ensures its stability in the maximum-norm sense. Remarkably, we have managed to provide a sharp theoretic error estimate for the current method, which is further verified numerically. The results of various numerical experiments also suggest that this new approach is quite accurate, and can be easily extended to price other types of financial derivatives with an American-style exercise feature under the GMFBM model.

Research on intelligent power consumption strategy based on time-of-use pricing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Wei; Gong, Li; Chen, Heli; He, Yu

2017-06-01

In this paper, through the analysis of shortcomings of the current domestic and foreign household power consumption strategy: Passive way of power consumption, ignoring the different priority of electric equipment, neglecting the actual load pressure of the grid, ignoring the interaction with the user, to decrease the peak-valley difference and improve load curve in residential area by demand response (DR technology), an intelligent power consumption scheme based on time-of-use(TOU) pricing for household appliances is proposed. The main contribution of this paper is: (1) Three types of household appliance loads are abstracted from different operating laws of various household appliances, and the control models and DR strategies corresponding to these types are established. (2) The fuzzified processing for the information of TOU price, which is based on the time intervals, is performed to get the price priority, in accordance with such DR events as the maximum restricted load of DR, the time of DR and the duration of interruptible load and so on, the DR control rule and pre-scheduling mechanism are led in. (3) The dispatching sequence of household appliances in the control and scheduling queue are switched and controlled to implement the equilibrium of peak and valley loads. The equilibrium effects and economic benefits of power system by pre-scheduling and DR dispatching are compared and analyzed by simulation example, and the results show that using the proposed household appliance control (HAC) scheme the overall cost of consumers can be reduced and the power system load can be alleviated, so the proposed household appliance control (HAC) scheme is feasible and reasonable.

Financial Symmetry and Moods in the Market

PubMed Central

Savona, Roberto; Soumare, Maxence; Andersen, Jørgen Vitting

2015-01-01

This paper studies how certain speculative transitions in financial markets can be ascribed to a symmetry break that happens in the collective decision making. Investors are assumed to be bounded rational, using a limited set of information including past price history and expectation on future dividends. Investment strategies are dynamically changed based on realized returns within a game theoretical scheme with Nash equilibria. In such a setting, markets behave as complex systems whose payoff reflect an intrinsic financial symmetry that guarantees equilibrium in price dynamics (fundamentalist state) until the symmetry is broken leading to bubble or anti-bubble scenarios (speculative state). We model such two-phase transition in a micro-to-macro scheme through a Ginzburg-Landau-based power expansion leading to a market temperature parameter which modulates the state transitions in the market. Via simulations we prove that transitions in the market price dynamics can be phenomenologically explained by the number of traders, the number of strategies and amount of information used by agents, all included in our market temperature parameter. PMID:25856392

Financial symmetry and moods in the market.

PubMed

Savona, Roberto; Soumare, Maxence; Andersen, Jørgen Vitting

2015-01-01

This paper studies how certain speculative transitions in financial markets can be ascribed to a symmetry break that happens in the collective decision making. Investors are assumed to be bounded rational, using a limited set of information including past price history and expectation on future dividends. Investment strategies are dynamically changed based on realized returns within a game theoretical scheme with Nash equilibria. In such a setting, markets behave as complex systems whose payoff reflect an intrinsic financial symmetry that guarantees equilibrium in price dynamics (fundamentalist state) until the symmetry is broken leading to bubble or anti-bubble scenarios (speculative state). We model such two-phase transition in a micro-to-macro scheme through a Ginzburg-Landau-based power expansion leading to a market temperature parameter which modulates the state transitions in the market. Via simulations we prove that transitions in the market price dynamics can be phenomenologically explained by the number of traders, the number of strategies and amount of information used by agents, all included in our market temperature parameter.

Analysis of the discontinuous Galerkin method applied to the European option pricing problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hozman, J.

2013-12-01

In this paper we deal with a numerical solution of a one-dimensional Black-Scholes partial differential equation, an important scalar nonstationary linear convection-diffusion-reaction equation describing the pricing of European vanilla options. We present a derivation of the numerical scheme based on the space semidiscretization of the model problem by the discontinuous Galerkin method with nonsymmetric stabilization of diffusion terms and with the interior and boundary penalty. The main attention is paid to the investigation of a priori error estimates for the proposed scheme. The appended numerical experiments illustrate the theoretical results and the potency of the method, consequently.

Fourth order scheme for wavelet based solution of Black-Scholes equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finěk, Václav

2017-12-01

The present paper is devoted to the numerical solution of the Black-Scholes equation for pricing European options. We apply the Crank-Nicolson scheme with Richardson extrapolation for time discretization and Hermite cubic spline wavelets with four vanishing moments for space discretization. This scheme is the fourth order accurate both in time and in space. Computational results indicate that the Crank-Nicolson scheme with Richardson extrapolation significantly decreases the amount of computational work. We also numerically show that optimal convergence rate for the used scheme is obtained without using startup procedure despite the data irregularities in the model.

Dual pricing algorithm in ISO markets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

O'Neill, Richard P.; Castillo, Anya; Eldridge, Brent

The challenge to create efficient market clearing prices in centralized day-ahead electricity markets arises from inherent non-convexities in unit commitment problems. When this aspect is ignored, marginal prices may result in economic losses to market participants who are part of the welfare maximizing solution. In this essay, we present an axiomatic approach to efficient prices and cost allocation for a revenue neutral and non-confiscatory day-ahead market. Current cost allocation practices do not adequately attribute costs based on transparent cost causation criteria. Instead we propose an ex post multi-part pricing scheme, which we refer to as the Dual Pricing Algorithm. Lastly,more » our approach can be incorporated into current dayahead markets without altering the market equilibrium.« less

Dual pricing algorithm in ISO markets

DOE PAGES

O'Neill, Richard P.; Castillo, Anya; Eldridge, Brent; ...

2016-10-10

The challenge to create efficient market clearing prices in centralized day-ahead electricity markets arises from inherent non-convexities in unit commitment problems. When this aspect is ignored, marginal prices may result in economic losses to market participants who are part of the welfare maximizing solution. In this essay, we present an axiomatic approach to efficient prices and cost allocation for a revenue neutral and non-confiscatory day-ahead market. Current cost allocation practices do not adequately attribute costs based on transparent cost causation criteria. Instead we propose an ex post multi-part pricing scheme, which we refer to as the Dual Pricing Algorithm. Lastly,more » our approach can be incorporated into current dayahead markets without altering the market equilibrium.« less

A scalable delivery framework and a pricing model for streaming media with advertisements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Hadrusi, Musab; Sarhan, Nabil J.

2008-01-01

This paper presents a delivery framework for streaming media with advertisements and an associated pricing model. The delivery model combines the benefits of periodic broadcasting and stream merging. The advertisements' revenues are used to subsidize the price of the media content. The pricing is determined based on the total ads' viewing time. Moreover, this paper presents an efficient ad allocation scheme and three modified scheduling policies that are well suited to the proposed delivery framework. Furthermore, we study the effectiveness of the delivery framework and various scheduling polices through extensive simulation in terms of numerous metrics, including customer defection probability, average number of ads viewed per client, price, arrival rate, profit, and revenue.

Risk neutral second best toll pricing.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-08-01

We propose a risk-neutral second best toll pricing scheme to account for the possible no uniqueness : of user equilibrium solutions. The scheme is designed to optimize for the expected objective value : as the UE solution varies within the solution s...

A Comparison of Some Difference Schemes for a Parabolic Problem of Zero-Coupon Bond Pricing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernogorova, Tatiana; Vulkov, Lubin

2009-11-01

This paper describes a comparison of some numerical methods for solving a convection-diffusion equation subjected by dynamical boundary conditions which arises in the zero-coupon bond pricing. The one-dimensional convection-diffusion equation is solved by using difference schemes with weights including standard difference schemes as the monotone Samarskii's scheme, FTCS and Crank-Nicolson methods. The schemes are free of spurious oscillations and satisfy the positivity and maximum principle as demanded for the financial and diffusive solution. Numerical results are compared with analytical solutions.

Mixed integer nonlinear programming model of wireless pricing scheme with QoS attribute of bandwidth and end-to-end delay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Irmeilyana, Puspita, Fitri Maya; Indrawati

2016-02-01

The pricing for wireless networks is developed by considering linearity factors, elasticity price and price factors. Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming of wireless pricing model is proposed as the nonlinear programming problem that can be solved optimally using LINGO 13.0. The solutions are expected to give some information about the connections between the acceptance factor and the price. Previous model worked on the model that focuses on bandwidth as the QoS attribute. The models attempt to maximize the total price for a connection based on QoS parameter. The QoS attributes used will be the bandwidth and the end to end delay that affect the traffic. The maximum goal to maximum price is achieved when the provider determine the requirement for the increment or decrement of price change due to QoS change and amount of QoS value.

Nonlinear Road Pricing : [Summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

Nonlinear pricing is an unfamiliar term for a familiar idea. Linear pricing charges all consumers the same price for the same quantity of goods or services; in nonlinear schemes, the price varies, depending, for example, on quantity purchased or a co...

Electricity market pricing, risk hedging and modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Xu

In this dissertation, we investigate the pricing, price risk hedging/arbitrage, and simplified system modeling for a centralized LMP-based electricity market. In an LMP-based market model, the full AC power flow model and the DC power flow model are most widely used to represent the transmission system. We investigate the differences of dispatching results, congestion pattern, and LMPs for the two power flow models. An appropriate LMP decomposition scheme to quantify the marginal costs of the congestion and real power losses is critical for the implementation of financial risk hedging markets. However, the traditional LMP decomposition heavily depends on the slack bus selection. In this dissertation we propose a slack-independent scheme to break LMP down into energy, congestion, and marginal loss components by analyzing the actual marginal cost of each bus at the optimal solution point. The physical and economic meanings of the marginal effect at each bus provide accurate price information for both congestion and losses, and thus the slack-dependency of the traditional scheme is eliminated. With electricity priced at the margin instead of the average value, the market operator typically collects more revenue from power sellers than that paid to power buyers. According to the LMP decomposition results, the revenue surplus is then divided into two parts: congestion charge surplus and marginal loss revenue surplus. We apply the LMP decomposition results to the financial tools, such as financial transmission right (FTR) and loss hedging right (LHR), which have been introduced to hedge against price risks associated to congestion and losses, to construct a full price risk hedging portfolio. The two-settlement market structure and the introduction of financial tools inevitably create market manipulation opportunities. We investigate several possible market manipulation behaviors by virtual bidding and propose a market monitor approach to identify and quantify such behavior. Finally, the complexity of the power market and size of the transmission grid make it difficult for market participants to efficiently analyze the long-term market behavior. We propose a simplified power system commercial model by simulating the PTDFs of critical transmission bottlenecks of the original system.

Sharing Regional Cooperative Gains From Reusing Effluent for Irrigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dinar, Ariel; Yaron, Dan; Kannai, Yakar

1986-03-01

This paper is concerned with the allocation of cost and benefits from regional cooperation, with respect to reuse of municipal effluent for irrigation at the Ramla region of Israel. An efficient regional solution provides the maximal regional income which has to be redistributed among the town and several farms. Different allocations based on marginal cost pricing and schemes from cooperative game theory like the core, Shapley value, generalized Shapley value, and nucleolus are applied. The town and farm A have the main additional gains according to all allocation schemes presented. Advantages and disadvantages of these allocation schemes are examined in order to suggest a fair and acceptable allocation of the regional cooperative gains. Although no method has been preferred, the marginal cost pricing was found to be unacceptable by the participants. The conclusion is that the theory of cooperative games may provide guidelines while comparing the different solutions.

User Access Management Based on Network Pricing for Social Network Applications

PubMed Central

Ma, Xingmin; Gu, Qing

2018-01-01

Social applications play a very important role in people’s lives, as users communicate with each other through social networks on a daily basis. This presents a challenge: How does one receive high-quality service from social networks at a low cost? Users can access different kinds of wireless networks from various locations. This paper proposes a user access management strategy based on network pricing such that networks can increase its income and improve service quality. Firstly, network price is treated as an optimizing access parameter, and an unascertained membership algorithm is used to make pricing decisions. Secondly, network price is adjusted dynamically in real time according to network load. Finally, selecting a network is managed and controlled in terms of the market economy. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can effectively balance network load, reduce network congestion, improve the user's quality of service (QoS) requirements, and increase the network’s income. PMID:29495252

Competition and the Reference Pricing Scheme for pharmaceuticals.

PubMed

Ghislandi, Simone

2011-12-01

By introducing n (>1) firms with infinite cross-price elasticity (i.e. generic drugs), we explore the effects of competition on the optimal pricing strategies under a Reference Pricing Scheme (RPS). A two-stage model repeated infinite number of times is presented. When stage 1 is competitive, the equilibrium in pure strategies exists and is efficient only if the reference price (R) does not depend on the price of the branded product. When generics collude, the way R is designed is crucial for both the stability of the cartel among generics and the collusive prices in equilibrium. An optimally designed RPS must set R as a function only of the infinitely elastic side of the market and should provide the right incentives for competition. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A discontinuous Galerkin method for numerical pricing of European options under Heston stochastic volatility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hozman, J.; Tichý, T.

2016-12-01

The paper is based on the results from our recent research on multidimensional option pricing problems. We focus on European option valuation when the price movement of the underlying asset is driven by a stochastic volatility following a square root process proposed by Heston. The stochastic approach incorporates a new additional spatial variable into this model and makes it very robust, i.e. it provides a framework to price a variety of options that is closer to reality. The main topic is to present the numerical scheme arising from the concept of discontinuous Galerkin methods and applicable to the Heston option pricing model. The numerical results are presented on artificial benchmarks as well as on reference market data.

Multi-indication and Combination Pricing and Reimbursement of Pharmaceuticals: Opportunities for Improved Health Care through Faster Uptake of New Innovations.

PubMed

Persson, Ulf; Norlin, J M

2018-04-01

Many pharmaceuticals are effective in multiple indications and the degree of effectiveness may differ. A product-based pricing and reimbursement system with a single price per product is insufficient to reflect the variable values between different indications. The objective of this article is to present examples of actual pricing and reimbursement decisions using current value-based pricing in Sweden and to discuss their implications and possible solutions. The value of several cancer drugs was estimated for various indications based on a willingness-to-pay threshold of 1 million SEK (EUR 104,000) per QALY gained. For some drugs, the estimated value was higher than the drug acquisition cost in several indications, whilst in others, the estimated value was lower than the drug acquisition cost. Drugs used in combination present a special case. If a drug prolongs survival and consequently also a continued use of the anchor drug, the combination use may not be cost effective even at a zero price. In a product-based pricing and reimbursement system, patients may not get access to drugs or access may be delayed and manufacturers may be discouraged to invest in future indications. To overcome these issues, there are several approaches to link price and value. One approach is a "weighted-average" price based on an average of the value across all indications. Another is "multi-indication pricing," which enables price differentiation between indications. However, there are several barriers for applying multi-indication pricing and reimbursement schemes. One barrier is the lack of existing administrative infrastructure to track patients' indications.

Viability of Carbon Capture and Sequestration Retrofits for Existing Coal-Fired Power Plants under an Emission Trading Scheme.

PubMed

Talati, Shuchi; Zhai, Haibo; Morgan, M Granger

2016-12-06

Using data on the coal-fired electric generating units (EGUs) in Texas we assess the economic feasibility of retrofitting existing units with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in order to comply with the Clean Power Plan's rate-based emission standards under an emission trading scheme. CCS with 90% capture is shown to be more economically attractive for a range of existing units than purchasing emission rate credits (ERCs) from a trading market at an average credit price above $28 per MWh under the final state standard and $35 per MWh under the final national standard. The breakeven ERC trading prices would decrease significantly if the captured CO 2 were sold for use in enhanced oil recovery, making CCS retrofits viable at lower trading prices. The combination of ERC trading and CO 2 use can greatly reinforce economic incentives and market demands for CCS and hence accelerate large-scale deployment, even under scenarios with high retrofit costs. Comparing the levelized costs of electricity generation between CCS retrofits and new renewable plants under the ERC trading scheme, retrofitting coal-fired EGUs with CCS may be significantly cheaper than new solar plants under some market conditions.

Research on WNN Modeling for Gold Price Forecasting Based on Improved Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Gold price forecasting has been a hot issue in economics recently. In this work, wavelet neural network (WNN) combined with a novel artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is proposed for this gold price forecasting issue. In this improved algorithm, the conventional roulette selection strategy is discarded. Besides, the convergence statuses in a previous cycle of iteration are fully utilized as feedback messages to manipulate the searching intensity in a subsequent cycle. Experimental results confirm that this new algorithm converges faster than the conventional ABC when tested on some classical benchmark functions and is effective to improve modeling capacity of WNN regarding the gold price forecasting scheme. PMID:24744773

The role of economic evaluation in the pricing and reimbursement of medicines.

PubMed

Drummond, M; Jönsson, B; Rutten, F

1997-06-01

In most countries, governments or health insurers have taken initiatives to influence the price and utilization of medicines. One stated objective of these schemes is to encourage efficiency, or cost-effectiveness. In principle, economic evaluation should to be relevant to decisions about the pricing and reimbursement of health technologies, since it offers a way of estimating the additional value to society of a new intervention (e.g. medicine) relative to current therapy. However, the application of economic evaluation in drug pricing and reimbursement schemes is variable. Therefore, this paper reviews the actual and potential role of economic evaluation in different drug pricing and reimbursement schemes, such as 'free pricing' systems (United Kingdom, United States), two-stage administered systems (France), reference pricing systems (Germany, Netherlands, Sweden) and economic evaluation systems (Australia, Canada). It is concluded that, other than in the case of Australia and Canada, the potential role of economic evaluation could be greatly developed, especially in the case of new medicines, for which there is no close substitute. Comments are also given on the practical problems of using this approach. However, it is noted that economic evaluation alone cannot set a price for a medicine, since a decision has to be made about the proportion of added value going to society and the proportion going to the pharmaceutical company as a reward for innovation.

Price dynamics and market power in an agent-based power exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cincotti, Silvano; Guerci, Eric; Raberto, Marco

2005-05-01

This paper presents an agent-based model of a power exchange. Supply of electric power is provided by competing generating companies, whereas demand is assumed to be inelastic with respect to price and is constant over time. The transmission network topology is assumed to be a fully connected graph and no transmission constraints are taken into account. The price formation process follows a common scheme for real power exchanges: a clearing house mechanism with uniform price, i.e., with price set equal across all matched buyer-seller pairs. A single class of generating companies is considered, characterized by linear cost function for each technology. Generating companies compete for the sale of electricity through repeated rounds of the uniform auction and determine their supply functions according to production costs. However, an individual reinforcement learning algorithm characterizes generating companies behaviors in order to attain the expected maximum possible profit in each auction round. The paper investigates how the market competitive equilibrium is affected by market microstructure and production costs.

Water-quality trading: Can we get the prices of pollution right?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konishi, Yoshifumi; Coggins, Jay S.; Wang, Bin

2015-05-01

Water-quality trading requires inducing permit prices that account properly for spatially explicit damage relationships. We compare recent work by Hung and Shaw (2005) and Farrow et al. (2005) for river systems exhibiting branching and nonlinear damages. The Hung-Shaw scheme is robust to nonlinear damages, but not to hot spots occurring at the confluence of two branches. The Farrow et al. (2005) scheme is robust to branching, but not to nonlinear damages. We also compare the two schemes to each other. Neither dominates from a welfare perspective, but the comparison appears to tilt in favor of the Farrow et al. scheme.

Finite Volume Method for Pricing European Call Option with Regime-switching Volatility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lista Tauryawati, Mey; Imron, Chairul; Putri, Endah RM

2018-03-01

In this paper, we present a finite volume method for pricing European call option using Black-Scholes equation with regime-switching volatility. In the first step, we formulate the Black-Scholes equations with regime-switching volatility. we use a finite volume method based on fitted finite volume with spatial discretization and an implicit time stepping technique for the case. We show that the regime-switching scheme can revert to the non-switching Black Scholes equation, both in theoretical evidence and numerical simulations.

Changes in animal performance and profitability of Holstein dairy operations after introduction of crossbreeding with Montbéliarde, Normande, and Scandinavian Red.

PubMed

Dezetter, C; Bareille, N; Billon, D; Côrtes, C; Lechartier, C; Seegers, H

2017-10-01

An individual-based mechanistic, stochastic, and dynamic simulation model was developed to assess economic effects resulting from changes in performance for milk yield and solid contents, reproduction, health, and replacement, induced by the introduction of crossbreeding in Holstein dairy operations. Three crossbreeding schemes, Holstein × Montbéliarde, Holstein × Montbéliarde × Normande, and Holstein × Montbéliarde × Scandinavian Red, were implemented in Holstein dairy operations and compared with Holstein pure breeding. Sires were selected based on their estimated breeding value for milk. Two initial operations were simulated according to the prevalence (average or high) of reproductive and health disorders in the lactating herd. Evolution of operations was simulated during 15 yr under 2 alternative managerial goals (constant number of cows or constant volume of milk sold). After 15 yr, breed percentages reached equilibrium for the 2-breed but not for the 3-breed schemes. After 5 yr of simulation, all 3 crossbreeding schemes reduced average milk yield per cow-year compared with the pure Holstein scheme. Changes in other animal performance (milk solid contents, reproduction, udder health, and longevity) were always in favor of crossbreeding schemes. Under an objective of constant number of cows, margin over variable costs in average discounted value over the 15 yr of simulation was slightly increased by crossbreeding schemes, with an average prevalence of disorders up to €32/cow-year. In operations with a high prevalence of disorders, crossbreeding schemes increased the margin over variable costs up to €91/cow-year. Under an objective of constant volume of milk sold, crossbreeding schemes improved margin over variable costs up to €10/1,000L (corresponding to around €96/cow-year) for average prevalence of disorders, and up to €13/1,000L (corresponding to around €117/cow-year) for high prevalence of disorders. Under an objective of constant number of cows, an unfavorable pricing context (milk price vs. concentrates price) increased slightly crossbreeding positive effects on margin over variable costs. Under an objective of constant volume of milk, only very limited changes in differences of margins were found between the breeding schemes. Our results, obtained conditionally to the parameterization values used here, suggest that dairy crossbreeding should be considered as a relevant option for Holstein dairy operations with a production level until 9,000 kg/cow-year in France, and possibly in other countries. Copyright © 2017 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Economic considerations and decision support tool for wastewater reuse scheme planning.

PubMed

Hochstrat, R; Joksimovic, D; Wintgens, T; Melin, T; Savic, D

2007-01-01

The reuse of upgraded wastewater for beneficial uses is increasingly adopted and accepted as a tool in water management. However, funding of schemes is still a critical issue. The focus of this paper is on economic considerations of water reuse planning. A survey of pricing mechanisms for reclaimed water revealed that most schemes are subsidised to a great extent. In order to minimise these state contributions to the implementation and operation of reuse projects, their planning should identify a least cost design option. This also has to take into account the established pricing structure for conventional water resources and the possibility of gaining revenues from reclaimed water pricing. The paper presents a case study which takes into account these aspects. It evaluates different scheme designs with regard to their Net Present Value (NPV). It could be demonstrated that for the same charging level, quite different amounts of reclaimed water can be delivered while still producing an overall positive NPV. Moreover, the economic feasibility and competitiveness of a reuse scheme is highly determined by the cost structure of the conventional water market.

Why do Economic Instruments Fail? The role of Water trading and Pricing at a River Basin Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pérez-Blanco, C. D.; Gomez, C.; Loch, A. J.; Adamson, D. C.

2016-12-01

Water management problems stem from the mismatch between a multitude of individual decisions, on the one hand, and the current and projected status of water resources, on the other. Economics provides valuable information on the incentives that drive individual decisions and can be used to design instruments that address the problem. Yet, proposals from economists regarding instruments like water pricing or trading are mostly based upon basic and general principles of welfare economics that are not straightaway applicable to assets as complex as water. For example, while water markets clearly serve to the parts directly involved in the transaction, the unique characteristics of water often leads to Pareto inefficient allocations that affect the environment and related economic uses. The flaw in this approach lies in the understanding that water prices and water trading schemes may be good or bad on their own (e.g. finding the "right" price). This vision changes radically when we focus on the problem, instead of the instrument. In this case addressing water management challenges is equivalent to making the multitude of decisions people do about water compatible with collective water governance goals such as curbing degradation trends or building water security for the future. These ideas provide both the basis for assessing existing incentives such as pricing and trading schemes and reshaping economic instruments to serve the objectives of an integrated water resources management.

Beneficial impacts of an international grain reserve on global food security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otto, C.; Schewe, J.; Puma, M. J.; Frieler, K.

2017-12-01

Highly volatile food prices on global markets challenge food security. Only in the last decade, two pronounced food price spikes severely affected vulnerable populations worldwide by increasing malnutrition and hunger. This has stirred up the debate upon the usefulness of an international grain reserve. Whereas advocates argue that it could damp damaging price extremes, opponents question its effectiveness and are concerned about associated market distortions and costs. However, to our knowledge, a comprehensive quantitative assessment is still missing. For this purpose, we introduce an agent-based dynamic multi-regional model that consistently accounts for intra-annual strategic as well as commercial storage holding. For the case of wheat, we first show that the model is able to reproduce historical world market prices (see Fig. 1(a)) and regional ending stocks (stocks see Fig.1(b) for global ending stocks) from 1980 to the present. Having a bi-annual timestep, the model enables us to single out the main drivers of past short-term price volatility: regional, mainly weather induced, production variations followed by trade policies as the second most important driver. The latter include, both, long-term stockholding management decisions as well as short-term regional political responses to scarcity situations such as export restrictions and restocking attempts. We then quantitatively model a strategic wheat reserve managed by an international body such as the UN. We discuss a management scheme for the reserve that aims at stabilizing prices within a price band by buying at low and selling at high prices (cf. Fig. 1). Importantly, in order to minimize market distortions, this scheme is not designed to damp out price volatility completely, but to merely avoid damaging price extremes. Thus, it preserves the incentive for producers to invest in agricultural development and it can only complement and not replace local efforts to increase the food system's resilience. Eventually, we compare the necessary size of such a reserve to present national reserves and discuss the related costs.

Comparison of medicines management strategies in insurance schemes in middle-income countries: four case studies.

PubMed

Kaplan, Warren A; Ashigbie, Paul G; Brooks, Mohamad I; Wirtz, Veronika J

2017-01-01

Many middle-income countries are scaling up health insurance schemes to provide financial protection and access to affordable medicines to poor and uninsured populations. Although there is a wealth of evidence on how high income countries with mature insurance schemes manage cost-effective use of medicines, there is limited evidence on the strategies used in middle-income countries. This paper compares the medicines management strategies that four insurance schemes in middle-income countries use to improve access and cost-effective use of medicines among beneficiaries. We compare key strategies promoting cost-effective medicines use in the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) in China, National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana, Jamkesmas in Indonesia and Seguro Popular in Mexico. Through the peer-reviewed and grey literature as of late 2013, we identified strategies that met our inclusion criteria as well as any evidence showing if, and/or how, these strategies affected medicines management. Stakeholders involved and affected by medicines coverage policies in these insurance schemes were asked to provide relevant documents describing the medicines related aspects of these insurance programs. We also asked them specifically to identify publications discussing the unintended consequences of the strategies implemented. Use of formularies, bulk procurement, standard treatment guidelines and separation of prescribing and dispensing were present in all four schemes. Also, increased transparency through publication of tender agreements and procurement prices was introduced in all four. Common strategies shared by three out of four schemes were medicine price negotiation or rebates, generic reference pricing, fixed salaries for prescribers, accredited preferred provider network, disease management programs, and monitoring of medicines purchases. Cost-sharing and payment for performance was rarely used. There was a lack of performance monitoring strategies in all schemes. Most of the strategies used in the insurance schemes focus on containing expenditure growth, including budget caps on pharmaceutical expenditures (Mexico) and ceiling prices on medicines (all four countries). There were few strategies targeting quality improvement as healthcare providers are mostly paid through fixed salaries, irrespective of the quality of their prescribing or the health outcomes actually achieved. Monitoring healthcare system performance has received little attention.

Reinventing the Training Business.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forman, David C.

2003-01-01

Discusses steps that companies who develop and distribute technology-based training products need to take in order to be more successful, including focusing on the customer; moving away from large, generic courseware libraries; better pricing schemes; commitment to produce learning outcomes; and partnerships with clients to produce documented…

Employer contribution and premium growth in health insurance.

PubMed

Liu, Yiyan; Jin, Ginger Zhe

2015-01-01

We study whether employer premium contribution schemes could impact the pricing behavior of health plans and contribute to rising premiums. Using 1991-2011 data before and after a 1999 premium subsidy policy change in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), we find that the employer premium contribution scheme has a differential impact on health plan pricing based on two market incentives: 1) consumers are less price sensitive when they only need to pay part of the premium increase, and 2) each health plan has an incentive to increase the employer's premium contribution to that plan. Both incentives are found to contribute to premium growth. Counterfactual simulation shows that average premium would have been 10% less than observed and the federal government would have saved 15% per year on its premium contribution had the subsidy policy change not occurred in the FEHBP. We discuss the potential of similar incentives in other government-subsidized insurance systems such as the Medicare Part D and the Health Insurance Marketplace under the Affordable Care Act. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distribution Locational Real-Time Pricing Based Smart Building Control and Management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hao, Jun; Dai, Xiaoxiao; Zhang, Yingchen

This paper proposes an real-virtual parallel computing scheme for smart building operations aiming at augmenting overall social welfare. The University of Denver's campus power grid and Ritchie fitness center is used for demonstrating the proposed approach. An artificial virtual system is built in parallel to the real physical system to evaluate the overall social cost of the building operation based on the social science based working productivity model, numerical experiment based building energy consumption model and the power system based real-time pricing mechanism. Through interactive feedback exchanged between the real and virtual system, enlarged social welfare, including monetary cost reductionmore » and energy saving, as well as working productivity improvements, can be achieved.« less

An Efficient Identity-Based Key Management Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks Using the Bloom Filter

PubMed Central

Qin, Zhongyuan; Zhang, Xinshuai; Feng, Kerong; Zhang, Qunfang; Huang, Jie

2014-01-01

With the rapid development and widespread adoption of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), security has become an increasingly prominent problem. How to establish a session key in node communication is a challenging task for WSNs. Considering the limitations in WSNs, such as low computing capacity, small memory, power supply limitations and price, we propose an efficient identity-based key management (IBKM) scheme, which exploits the Bloom filter to authenticate the communication sensor node with storage efficiency. The security analysis shows that IBKM can prevent several attacks effectively with acceptable computation and communication overhead. PMID:25264955

Pricing and reimbursement of drugs in Ireland.

PubMed

Barry, Michael; Tilson, Lesley; Ryan, Máirín

2004-06-01

Expenditure on healthcare in Ireland, which is mainly derived from taxation, has increased considerably in recent years to an estimated 9.2 billion euro in 2003. Pharmaceuticals account for approximately 10% of total healthcare expenditure. Approximately one-third of patients receive their medications free of charge whilst the remaining two-thirds are subject to a co-payment threshold of 78 euro per month, i.e. 936 euro per year. The price of medications in Ireland is linked to those of five other member states where the price to the wholesaler of any medication will not exceed the lesser of the currency-adjusted wholesale price in the United Kingdom or the average of wholesale prices in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. A price freeze at the introduction price has been in existence since 1993. Despite the price freeze, expenditure on medicines on the community drugs scheme has increased from 201 million euro in 1993 to 898 million euro in 2002. The two main factors contributing to the increased expenditure on medicines include "product mix", the prescribing of new and more expensive medication, and "volume effect" comprising growth in the number of prescription items. Changing demographics and the extension of the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme to provide free medicines for all those over the age of 70 years have also contributed. Prior to reimbursement under the community drugs schemes, a medicine must be included in the GMS code book or positive list. A demonstration of cost-effectiveness is not a pre-requisite for reimbursement.

Pricing by timing: innovating broadband data plans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ha, Sangtae; Joe-Wong, Carlee; Sen, Soumya; Chiang, Mung

2012-01-01

Wireless Internet usage is doubling every year. Users are using more of high bandwidth data applications, and the heavy usage concentrates on several peak hours in a day, forcing ISPs to overprovision their networks accordingly. In order to remain profitable, ISPs have been using pricing as a congestion management tool. We review many of such pricing schemes in practice today and argue that they do not solve ISPs' problem of growing data traffic. We believe that dynamic, time-dependent usage pricing, which charges users based on when they access the Internet, can incentivize users to spread out their bandwidth consumption more evenly across different times of the day, thus helping ISPs to overcome the problem of peak congestion. Congestion pricing is not a new idea in itself, but the time for its implementation in data networks has finally arrived. Our key contribution lies in developing new analysis and a fully integrated system architecture, called TUBE (Time-dependent Usage-based Broadband price Engineering) that enables ISPs to implement the proposed TDP plan. The theory, simulation, and system implementation of TUBE system is further complemented with consumer surveys conducted in India and the US, along with preparations for a field trial that is currently underway.

If it ain't broke, don't price fix it: the OFT and the PPRS.

PubMed

Towse, Adrian

2007-07-01

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) Report on the UK Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) recommends that when the current five-year PPRS expires in 2010 it be replaced with 'value-based pricing' which involves pre-launch centralised government price setting based on a cost-per-QALY threshold plus periodic ex post reviews. I examine the validity of the OFTs criticisms of the existing PPRS, review its proposals and propose an alternative way forward. I conclude that PPRS has performed well as a procurement bargain between industry and the UK government. It does not, however, incentivise efficient relative prices. That is not its job. I identify a number of problems with the OFT proposals. I recommend that key elements of a reformed UK pharmaceutical environment for 2010 should include an expanded role for HTA but with companies retaining freedom to set prices at launch; HTA use targeted via a contingent value of information approach; a retained backstop PPRS, perhaps moving to an RPI-X type control; the use of risk sharing and non-linear pricing arrangements; measures to ensure more effective therapeutic switching at local level; and measures to improve the take up of cost-effective treatments. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Opto-microwave Butler matrixes based front-end for a multi-beam large direct radiating array antenna

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piqueras, M. A.; Mengual, T.; Navasquillo, O.; Sotom, M.; Caille, G.

2017-09-01

The evolution of broadband communication satellites shows a clear trend towards beam forming and beam-switching systems with efficient multiple access schemes with wide bandwidths, for which to be economically viable, the communication price shall be as low as possible.

Impact of the Minimum Pricing Policy and introduction of brand (generic) substitution into the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in Australia.

PubMed

McManus, P; Birkett, D J; Dudley, J; Stevens, A

2001-01-01

To describe the effects of introducing the Minimum Pricing Policy (MPP) and generic (brand) substitution in 1990 and 1994 respectively on the dispensing of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescriptions both at the aggregate and individual patient level. The relative proportion of prescriptions with a brand premium and those at benchmark was examined 4 years after introduction of the MPP and again 5 years later after generic substitution by pharmacists was permitted. To determine the impact of a price signal at the individual level, case studies involving a patient tracking methodology were conducted on two drugs (fluoxetine and ranitidine) that received a brand premium. From a zero base when the MPP was introduced in 1990, there were 5.4 million prescriptions (17%) dispensed for benchmark products 4 years later in 1994. At this stage generic (brand) substitution by pharmacists was then permitted and the market share of benchmark brands increased to 45% (25.2 million) by 1999. In the patient tracking studies, a significantly lower proportion of patients was still taking the premium brand of fluoxetine 3 months after the introduction of a price signal compared with patients taking paroxetine which did not have a generic competitor. This was also the case for the premium brand of ranitidine when compared to famotidine. The size of the price signal also had a marked effect on dispensing behaviour with the drug with the larger premium (fluoxetine) showing a significantly greater switch away from the premium brand to the benchmark product. The introduction in 1990 of the Minimum Pricing Policy without allowing generic substitution had a relatively small impact on the selection of medicines within the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. However the effect of generic substitution at the pharmacist level, which was introduced in December 1994, resulted in a marked increase in the percentage of eligible PBS items dispensed at benchmark. Case studies showed a larger premium resulted in a greater shift of patients from drugs with a brand premium to the benchmark alternative.

Pulp & paper markets cope with high energy prices and growth in Asia : markets for paper, paperboard and woodpulp, 2005-2006

Treesearch

Peter J. Ince

2006-01-01

\\tPulp and paper markets in the UNECE region were influenced by higher energy prices and demand growth in Asia in 2005 and 2006. Important developments in Europe included the launching of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which was followed by substantial increases in electrical energy prices. High global energy prices pushed up costs of production and prices for pulp...

Impact of cross-reference pricing on pharmaceutical prices: manufacturers' pricing strategies and price regulation.

PubMed

Stargardt, Tom; Schreyögg, Jonas

2006-01-01

Several EU countries are determining reimbursement prices of pharmaceuticals by cross-referencing prices of foreign countries. Our objective is to quantify the theoretical cross-border spill-over effects of cross-reference pricing schemes on pharmaceutical prices in the former EU-15 countries. An analytical model was developed estimating the impact of pharmaceutical price changes in Germany on pharmaceutical prices in other countries in the former EU-15 using cross-reference pricing. We differentiated between the direct impact (from referencing to Germany directly) and the indirect impact (from referencing to other countries that conduct their own cross-reference pricing schemes). The relationship between the direct and indirect impact of a price change depends mainly on the method applied to set reimbursement prices. When applying cross-reference pricing, the reimbursement price is either determined by the lowest of foreign prices (e.g. Portugal), the average of foreign prices (e.g. Ireland) or a weighted average of foreign prices (e.g. Italy). If the respective drug is marketed in all referenced countries and prices are regularly updated, a price reduction of 1.00 euro in Germany will reduce maximum reimbursement prices in the former EU-15 countries from 0.15 euros in Austria to 0.36 euros in Italy. On one side, the cross-border spill-over effects of price reductions are undoubtedly welcomed by decision makers and may be favourable to the healthcare system in general. On the other side, these cross-border spill-over effects also provide strong incentives for strategic product launches, launch delays and lobbying activities, and can affect the effectiveness of regulation. To avoid the negative effects of cross-reference pricing, a weighted index of prices from as many countries as possible should be used to determine reimbursement prices in order to reduce the direct and indirect impact of individual countries.

Feynman perturbation expansion for the price of coupon bond options and swaptions in quantum finance. I. Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baaquie, Belal E.

2007-01-01

European options on coupon bonds are studied in a quantum field theory model of forward interest rates. Swaptions are briefly reviewed. An approximation scheme for the coupon bond option price is developed based on the fact that the volatility of the forward interest rates is a small quantity. The field theory for the forward interest rates is Gaussian, but when the payoff function for the coupon bond option is included it makes the field theory nonlocal and nonlinear. A perturbation expansion using Feynman diagrams gives a closed form approximation for the price of coupon bond option. A special case of the approximate bond option is shown to yield the industry standard one-factor HJM formula with exponential volatility.

Feynman perturbation expansion for the price of coupon bond options and swaptions in quantum finance. I. Theory.

PubMed

Baaquie, Belal E

2007-01-01

European options on coupon bonds are studied in a quantum field theory model of forward interest rates. Swaptions are briefly reviewed. An approximation scheme for the coupon bond option price is developed based on the fact that the volatility of the forward interest rates is a small quantity. The field theory for the forward interest rates is Gaussian, but when the payoff function for the coupon bond option is included it makes the field theory nonlocal and nonlinear. A perturbation expansion using Feynman diagrams gives a closed form approximation for the price of coupon bond option. A special case of the approximate bond option is shown to yield the industry standard one-factor HJM formula with exponential volatility.

Pricing and components analysis of some key essential pediatric medicine in Odisha state.

PubMed

Samal, Satyajit; Swain, Trupti Rekha

2017-01-01

Study highlighting prices, i.e., the patients actually pay at ground level is important for interventions such as alternate procurement schemes or to expedite regulatory assessment of essential medicines for children. The present study was undertaken to study pricing and component analysis of few key essential medicines in Odisha state. Six child-specific medicines of different formulations were selected based on use in different disease condition and having widest pricing variation. Data were collected, entered, and analyzed in the price components data collection form of the World Health Organization-Health Action International (WHO-HAI) 2007 Workbook version 5 - Part II provided as part of the WHO/HAI methodology. The analysis includes the cumulative percent markup, total cumulative percent markup, and percent contribution of individual components to the final medicine price in both public and private sector of Odisha state. Add-on costs such as taxes, wholesale, and retail markups contribute substantially to the final price of medicines in private sector, particularly for branded-generic products. The largest contributor to add-on costs is at the level of retailer shop. Policy should be framed to achieve a greater transparency and uniformity of the pricing of medicines at different health sectors of Odisha.

Models and strategies for electricity distribution companies in emerging economies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaragocin Espinosa, Leonardo Vicente

Unbundling and privatization have become key elements of restructuring in the Electric Power Industry of Emerging Economies. These processes have concentrated on the Generation and Transmission areas, leaving Distribution as lower priority. Based on a comparison between the old role of Distribution Companies (DISCOS) and its new potential role this study identifies the main issues and challenges that DISCOS will face in the new environment once structural and ownership changes are completed. For the specific case of DISCOS in Emerging Economies, regulatory policies are reviewed and strategies identified in order to facilitate the transition and to assist in the integration of DISCOS with other agents in the evolving electric power market. Of particular importance in this research is the analysis of the role of Energy Efficiency (EE) in the new structural and governance environment. A theoretical study of the effects of energy efficiency measures, specifically loss reduction, on price regulation is developed within a proposed regulatory regime of privatization together with Price-Cap Regulation. This theoretical benchmark is then used as a starting point for a case study, the Electric System of Ecuador, where an analysis of the current Ecuadorian price regulation scheme (the Distribution Value Added Charge, VAD, scheme) is presented and analyzed in detail. General recommendations for improving the application of the VAD pricing approach are advanced, with special reference to the current situation in Ecuador.

A DG approach to the numerical solution of the Stein-Stein stochastic volatility option pricing model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hozman, J.; Tichý, T.

2017-12-01

Stochastic volatility models enable to capture the real world features of the options better than the classical Black-Scholes treatment. Here we focus on pricing of European-style options under the Stein-Stein stochastic volatility model when the option value depends on the time, on the price of the underlying asset and on the volatility as a function of a mean reverting Orstein-Uhlenbeck process. A standard mathematical approach to this model leads to the non-stationary second-order degenerate partial differential equation of two spatial variables completed by the system of boundary and terminal conditions. In order to improve the numerical valuation process for a such pricing equation, we propose a numerical technique based on the discontinuous Galerkin method and the Crank-Nicolson scheme. Finally, reference numerical experiments on real market data illustrate comprehensive empirical findings on options with stochastic volatility.

76 FR 64984 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-19

... trading day's last sale price was greater than $100) in premium in each of the front two expiration months... options whose underlying stock's previous trading day's last sale price was greater than $100) in premium... other exchanges employing similar pricing schemes.\\18\\ \\18\\ The Boston Options Exchange currently...

Pricing of American style options with an adjoint process correction method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaekel, Uwe

2005-07-01

Pricing of American options is a more complicated problem than pricing of European options. In this work a formula is derived that allows the computation of the early exercise premium, i.e. the price difference between these two option types in terms of an adjoint process evolving in the reversed time direction of the original process determining the evolution of the European price. We show how this equation can be utilised to improve option price estimates from numerical schemes like finite difference or Monte Carlo methods.

A pharmacoeconomic modeling approach to estimate a value-based price for new oncology drugs in Europe.

PubMed

Dranitsaris, George; Ortega, Ana; Lubbe, Martie S; Truter, Ilse

2012-03-01

Several European governments have recently mandated price cuts in drugs to reduce health care spending. However, such measures without supportive evidence may compromise patient care because manufacturers may withdraw current products or not launch new agents. A value-based pricing scheme may be a better approach for determining a fair drug price and may be a medium for negotiations between the key stakeholders. To demonstrate this approach, pharmacoeconomic (PE) modeling was used from the Spanish health care system perspective to estimate a value-based price for bevacizumab, a drug that provides a 1.4-month survival benefit to patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The threshold used for economic value was three times the Spanish per capita GDP, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). A PE model was developed to simulate outcomes in mCRC patients receiving chemotherapy ± bevacizumab. Clinical data were obtained from randomized trials and costs from a Spanish hospital. Utility estimates were determined by interviewing 24 Spanish oncology nurses and pharmacists. A price per dose of bevacizumab was then estimated using a target threshold of € 78,300 per quality-adjusted life year gained, which is three times the Spanish per capita GDP. For a 1.4-month survival benefit, a price of € 342 per dose would be considered cost effective from the Spanish public health care perspective. The price may be increased to € 733 or € 843 per dose if the drug were able to improve patient quality of life or enhance survival from 1.4 to 3 months. This study demonstrated that a value-based pricing approach using PE modeling and the WHO criteria for economic value is feasible and perhaps a better alternative to government mandated price cuts. The former approach would be a good starting point for opening dialog between European government payers and the pharmaceutical industry.

Real-time dynamic pricing for bicycle sharing programs.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-10-01

This paper presents a new conceptual approach to improve the operational performance of public bike sharing systems : using pricing schemes. Its methodological developments are accompanied by experimental analyses with bike demand : data from Capital...

How Readers and Advertisers Benefit from Local Newspaper Competition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Everett, Shu-Ling Chen; Everett, Stephen E.

1989-01-01

Explores relations among three competitive schemes with respect to newspapers' price structures, including advertising rates and prices to consumers. Finds that readers get some benefit from greater competition, but that advertisers do not. (MM)

76 FR 50805 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-16

... trading day's last sale price was greater than $100) in premium in each of the front two expiration months... options whose underlying stock's previous trading day's last sale price was greater than $100) in premium... is within the range of fees assessed by other exchanges employing similar pricing schemes. For...

77 FR 16295 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-20

... trading day's last sale price was greater than $100) in premium in each of the front two expiration months... options whose underlying stock's previous trading day's last sale price was greater than $100) in premium... employing similar pricing schemes and in some cases, is lower that the fees assessed by other exchanges. For...

Numerical solution of the Black-Scholes equation using cubic spline wavelets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Černá, Dana

2016-12-01

The Black-Scholes equation is used in financial mathematics for computation of market values of options at a given time. We use the θ-scheme for time discretization and an adaptive scheme based on wavelets for discretization on the given time level. Advantages of the proposed method are small number of degrees of freedom, high-order accuracy with respect to variables representing prices and relatively small number of iterations needed to resolve the problem with a desired accuracy. We use several cubic spline wavelet and multi-wavelet bases and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. We also compare an isotropic and anisotropic approach. Numerical experiments are presented for the two-dimensional Black-Scholes equation.

Pricing and components analysis of some key essential pediatric medicine in Odisha state

PubMed Central

Samal, Satyajit; Swain, Trupti Rekha

2017-01-01

Objective: Study highlighting prices, i.e., the patients actually pay at ground level is important for interventions such as alternate procurement schemes or to expedite regulatory assessment of essential medicines for children. The present study was undertaken to study pricing and component analysis of few key essential medicines in Odisha state. Methodology: Six child-specific medicines of different formulations were selected based on use in different disease condition and having widest pricing variation. Data were collected, entered, and analyzed in the price components data collection form of the World Health Organization-Health Action International (WHO-HAI) 2007 Workbook version 5 – Part II provided as part of the WHO/HAI methodology. The analysis includes the cumulative percent markup, total cumulative percent markup, and percent contribution of individual components to the final medicine price in both public and private sector of Odisha state. Results: Add-on costs such as taxes, wholesale, and retail markups contribute substantially to the final price of medicines in private sector, particularly for branded-generic products. The largest contributor to add-on costs is at the level of retailer shop. Conclusion: Policy should be framed to achieve a greater transparency and uniformity of the pricing of medicines at different health sectors of Odisha. PMID:28458429

75 FR 5372 - Proposed Collection: Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-02

...: Special Bond of Indemnity by Purchaser of United States Bonds/Notes Involved in a Chain Letter Scheme. OMB... for refund of the purchase price of savings bonds purchased in a chain letter scheme. Current Actions...

75 FR 28321 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-20

... Involved in a Chain Letter Scheme. Form: PD F 2966. Abstract: Used by the purchaser of savings bonds in a chain letter scheme to request refund purchase price of the bonds. Respondents: Individuals or...

Profitability Analysis of Residential Wind Turbines with Battery Energy Storage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

She, Ying; Erdem, Ergin; Shi, Jing

Residential wind turbines are often accompanied by an energy storage system for the off-the-grid users, instead of the on-the-grid users, to reduce the risk of black-out. In this paper, we argue that residential wind turbines with battery energy storage could actually be beneficial to the on-the-grid users as well in terms of monetary gain from differential pricing for buying electricity from the grid and the ability to sell electricity back to the grid. We develop a mixed-integer linear programming model to maximize the profit of a residential wind turbine system while meeting the daily household electricity consumption. A case study is designed to investigate the effects of differential pricing schemes and sell-back schemes on the economic output of a 2-kW wind turbine with lithium battery storage. Overall, based on the current settings in California, a residential wind turbine with battery storage carries more economical benefits than the wind turbine alone.

An Efficient Scheduling Scheme on Charging Stations for Smart Transportation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Hye-Jin; Lee, Junghoon; Park, Gyung-Leen; Kang, Min-Jae; Kang, Mikyung

This paper proposes a reservation-based scheduling scheme for the charging station to decide the service order of multiple requests, aiming at improving the satisfiability of electric vehicles. The proposed scheme makes it possible for a customer to reduce the charge cost and waiting time, while a station can extend the number of clients it can serve. A linear rank function is defined based on estimated arrival time, waiting time bound, and the amount of needed power, reducing the scheduling complexity. Receiving the requests from the clients, the power station decides the charge order by the rank function and then replies to the requesters with the waiting time and cost it can guarantee. Each requester can decide whether to charge at that station or try another station. This scheduler can evolve to integrate a new pricing policy and services, enriching the electric vehicle transport system.

Evaluation of the Impact of Wind Generation on the Electricity Market Prices and on the Profitability of New Wind Investments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, A. J.; Saraiva, J. T.

2012-10-01

This paper describes a Dynamic Model of the electricity sector that can be used to simulate the evolution of some key variables on the long term, namely the evolution of the electricity price, of the demand and of the capacity factors of the technologies in the generation mix. This model can be used in different ways and by several agents, for instance to estimate the impact on the electricity price of the increasing presence of renewable power stations, namely using wind power and PV systems. In several countries these stations are paid feed-in tariffs with a fixed price but in some cases this scheme is under discussion and there are opinions that payments determined by the market price are more adequate and would bring fewer costs to final consumers. Such a change has to be carefully evaluated given that the presence of renewable stations bidding at an infra marginal price will affect the price itself. The model described in this paper can be used in a profitable way both by governmental agencies when preparing or studying alternative remuneration schemes to renewable stations or by promoters themselves to get more insight to the profitability of their investments, namely if the fixed feed-in tariffs in force in several countries are changed.

Farmers' valuation of incentives to produce genetically modified organism-free milk: Insights from a discrete choice experiment in Germany.

PubMed

Schreiner, J A; Latacz-Lohmann, U

2015-11-01

This paper investigates farmers' willingness to participate in a genetically modified organism (GMO)-free milk production scheme offered by some German dairy companies. The empirical analysis is based upon discrete choice experiments with 151 dairy farmers from 2 regions in Germany. A conditional logit estimation reveals a strong positive effect of the price premium on offer. Reliable feed monitoring and free technical support increase the likelihood of scheme adoption, the latter however only in farms that have been receiving technical support in other fields. By contrast, any interference with the entrepreneurial autonomy of farmers, through pre-arranged feed procurement or prescriptive advice on the part of the dairy company, lowers acceptance probabilities. Farmers' attitudes toward cultivation of genetically modified soy, their assessment of the market potential of GMO-free milk and future feed prices were found to be significant determinants of adoption, as are farmer age, educational status, and current feeding regimens. Respondents requested on average a mark-up of 0.80 eurocents per kilogram of milk to accept a contract. Comparison of the estimates for the 2 regions suggests that farmers in northern Germany are, on average, more likely to convert to genetically modified-free production; however, farmers in the south are, ceteris paribus, more responsive to an increase in the price premium offered. A latent class model reveals significant differences in the valuation of scheme attributes between 2 latent classes of adopters and nonadopters. Copyright © 2015 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introducing taxes, subsidies or both: the effects of various food pricing strategies in a web-based supermarket randomized trial.

PubMed

Waterlander, Wilma E; Steenhuis, Ingrid H M; de Boer, Michiel R; Schuit, Albertine J; Seidell, Jacob C

2012-05-01

Fiscal policies may form a solution in improving dietary intake. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of varying taxing and subsiding schemes to stimulate healthier food purchases. A randomized controlled trial with three levels of price reduction on healthy foods (no; 25%; 50%)×three levels of price increase on unhealthy foods (5%; 10%; 25%) factorial design was used. 150 participants were randomized into one of nine conditions and were asked to purchase groceries at a web-based supermarket. Data were collected in the Netherlands in January-February 2010 and analyzed using analysis of covariance. Subjects receiving 50% discount purchased significantly more healthy foods than subjects receiving no (mean difference=6.62 items, p<0.01) or 25% discount (mean difference=4.87 items, p<0.05). Moreover, these subjects purchased more vegetables (mean difference=821 g;p<0.05 compared to no discount). However, participants with the highest discount also purchased significantly more calories. No significant effects of the price increases on unhealthy foods were found. Price decreases are effective in stimulating healthy food purchases, but the proportion of healthy foods remains unaffected. Price increases up to 25% on unhealthier products do not significantly affect food purchases. Future studies are important to validate these results in real supermarkets and across different countries. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Novel Model for Stock Price Prediction Using Hybrid Neural Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senapati, Manas Ranjan; Das, Sumanjit; Mishra, Sarojananda

2018-06-01

The foremost challenge for investors is to select stock price by analyzing financial data which is a menial task as of distort associated and massive pattern. Thereby, selecting stock poses one of the greatest difficulties for investors. Nowadays, prediction of financial market like stock market, exchange rate and share value are very challenging field of research. The prediction and scrutinization of stock price is also a potential area of research due to its vital significance in decision making by financial investors. This paper presents an intelligent and an optimal model for prophecy of stock market price using hybridization of Adaline Neural Network (ANN) and modified Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The connoted model hybrid of Adaline and PSO uses fluctuations of stock market as a factor and employs PSO to optimize and update weights of Adaline representation to depict open price of Bombay stock exchange. The prediction performance of the proposed model is compared with different representations like interval measurements, CMS-PSO and Bayesian-ANN. The result indicates that proposed scheme has an edge over all the juxtaposed schemes in terms of mean absolute percentage error.

Econophysics of adaptive power markets: When a market does not dampen fluctuations but amplifies them

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krause, Sebastian M.; Börries, Stefan; Bornholdt, Stefan

2015-07-01

The average economic agent is often used to model the dynamics of simple markets, based on the assumption that the dynamics of a system of many agents can be averaged over in time and space. A popular idea that is based on this seemingly intuitive notion is to dampen electric power fluctuations from fluctuating sources (as, e.g., wind or solar) via a market mechanism, namely by variable power prices that adapt demand to supply. The standard model of an average economic agent predicts that fluctuations are reduced by such an adaptive pricing mechanism. However, the underlying assumption that the actions of all agents average out on the time axis is not always true in a market of many agents. We numerically study an econophysics agent model of an adaptive power market that does not assume averaging a priori. We find that when agents are exposed to source noise via correlated price fluctuations (as adaptive pricing schemes suggest), the market may amplify those fluctuations. In particular, small price changes may translate to large load fluctuations through catastrophic consumer synchronization. As a result, an adaptive power market may cause the opposite effect than intended: Power demand fluctuations are not dampened but amplified instead.

Do diagnosis-related group-based payments incentivise hospitals to adjust output mix?

PubMed

Liang, Li-Lin

2015-04-01

This study investigates whether the diagnosis-related group (DRG)-based payment method motivates hospitals to adjust output mix in order to maximise profits. The hypothesis is that when there is an increase in profitability of a DRG, hospitals will increase the proportion of that DRG (own-price effects) and decrease those of other DRGs (cross-price effects), except in cases where there are scope economies in producing two different DRGs. This conjecture is tested in the context of the case payment scheme (CPS) under Taiwan's National Health Insurance programme over the period of July 1999 to December 2004. To tackle endogeneity of DRG profitability and treatment policy, a fixed-effects three-stage least squares method is applied. The results support the hypothesised own-price and cross-price effects, showing that DRGs which share similar resources appear to be complements rather substitutes. For-profit hospitals do not appear to be more responsive to DRG profitability, possibly because of their institutional characteristics and bonds with local communities. The key conclusion is that DRG-based payments will encourage a type of 'product-range' specialisation, which may improve hospital efficiency in the long run. However, further research is needed on how changes in output mix impact patient access and pay-outs of health insurance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Payers' experiences with confidential pharmaceutical price discounts: A survey of public and statutory health systems in North America, Europe, and Australasia.

PubMed

Morgan, Steven G; Vogler, Sabine; Wagner, Anita K

2017-04-01

Institutional payers for pharmaceuticals worldwide appear to be increasingly negotiating confidential discounts off of the official list price of pharmaceuticals purchased in the community setting. We conducted an anonymous survey about experiences with and attitudes toward confidential discounts on patented pharmaceuticals in a sample of high-income countries. Confidential price discounts are now common among the ten health systems that participated in our study, though some had only recently begun to use these pricing arrangements on a routine basis. Several health systems had used a wide variety of discounting schemes in the past two years. The most frequent discount received by participating health systems was between 20% and 29% of official list prices; however, six participants reported their health system received one or more discount over the past two years that was valued at 60% or more of the list prices. On average, participants reported that confidential discounts were more common, complex, and significant for specialty pharmaceuticals than for primary care pharmaceuticals. Participants had a more favorable view of the impact of confidential discount schemes on their health systems than on the global marketplace. Overall, the frequency, complexity, and scale of confidential discounts being routinely negotiated suggest that the list prices for medicines bear limited resemblance to what many institutional payers actually pay. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Demand side management in recycling and electricity retail pricing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazan, Osman

This dissertation addresses several problems from the recycling industry and electricity retail market. The first paper addresses a real-life scheduling problem faced by a national industrial recycling company. Based on their practices, a scheduling problem is defined, modeled, analyzed, and a solution is approximated efficiently. The recommended application is tested on the real-life data and randomly generated data. The scheduling improvements and the financial benefits are presented. The second problem is from electricity retail market. There are well-known patterns in daily usage in hours. These patterns change in shape and magnitude by seasons and days of the week. Generation costs are multiple times higher during the peak hours of the day. Yet most consumers purchase electricity at flat rates. This work explores analytic pricing tools to reduce peak load electricity demand for retailers. For that purpose, a nonlinear model that determines optimal hourly prices is established based on two major components: unit generation costs and consumers' utility. Both are analyzed and estimated empirically in the third paper. A pricing model is introduced to maximize the electric retailer's profit. As a result, a closed-form expression for the optimal price vector is obtained. Possible scenarios are evaluated for consumers' utility distribution. For the general case, we provide a numerical solution methodology to obtain the optimal pricing scheme. The models recommended are tested under various scenarios that consider consumer segmentation and multiple pricing policies. The recommended model reduces the peak load significantly in most cases. Several utility companies offer hourly pricing to their customers. They determine prices using historical data of unit electricity cost over time. In this dissertation we develop a nonlinear model that determines optimal hourly prices with parameter estimation. The last paper includes a regression analysis of the unit generation cost function obtained from Independent Service Operators. A consumer experiment is established to replicate the peak load behavior. As a result, consumers' utility function is estimated and optimal retail electricity prices are computed.

Financial methods in competitive electricity markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Shijie

The restructuring of electric power industry has become a global trend. As reforms to the electricity supply industry spread rapidly across countries and states, many political and economical issues arise as a result of people debating over which approach to adopt in restructuring the vertically integrated electricity industry. This dissertation addresses issues of transmission pricing, electricity spot price modeling, as well as risk management and asset valuation in a competitive electricity industry. A major concern in the restructuring of the electricity industries is the design of a transmission pricing scheme that will ensure open-access to the transmission networks. I propose a priority-pricing scheme for zonal access to the electric power grid that is uniform across all buses in each zone. The Independent System Operator (ISO) charges bulk power traders a per unit ex ante transmission access fee based on the expected option value of the generated power with respect to the random zonal spot prices. The zonal access fee depends on the injection zone and a self-selected strike price determining the scheduling priority of the transaction. Inter zonal transactions are charged (or credited) with an additional ex post congestion fee that equals the zonal spot price difference. The unit access fee entitles a bulk power trader to either physical injection of one unit of energy or a compensation payment that equals to the difference between the realized zonal spot price and the selected strike price. The ISO manages congestion so as to minimize net compensation payments and thus, curtailment probabilities corresponding to a particular strike price may vary by bus. The rest of the dissertation deals with the issues of modeling electricity spot prices, pricing electricity financial instruments and the corresponding risk management applications. Modeling the spot prices of electricity is important for the market participants who need to understand the risk factors in pricing electricity financial instruments such as electricity forwards, options and cross-commodity derivatives. It is also essential for the analysis of financial risk management, asset valuation, and project financing. In the setting of diffusion processes with multiple types of jumps, I examine three mean-reversion models for modeling the electricity spot prices. I impose some structure on the coefficients of the diffusion processes, which allows me to easily compute the prices of contingent claims (or, financial instruments) on electricity by Fourier methods. I derive the pricing formulas for various electricity derivatives and examine how the prices vary with different modeling assumptions. I demonstrate a couple of risk management applications of the electricity financial instruments. I also construct a real options approach to value electric power generation and transmission assets both with and without accounting for the operating characteristics of the assets. The implications of the mean-reversion jump-diffusion models on financial risk management and real asset valuation in competitive electricity markets are illustrated. With a discrete trinomial lattice modeling the underlying commodity prices, I estimate the effects of operational characteristics on the asset valuation by means of numerical examples that incorporate these aspects using stochastic dynamic programming. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Effectiveness of unit-based pricing of waste in the Netherlands: applying a general equilibrium model.

PubMed

van Beukering, Pieter J H; Bartelings, Heleen; Linderhof, Vincent G M; Oosterhuis, Frans H

2009-11-01

Differential and variable rates (DVR) in waste collection charging give a price incentive to households to reduce their waste and increase recycling. International empirical evidence confirms the effectiveness of DVR schemes, with limited unwanted side effects. In the Netherlands, currently some 20% of the population is charged at DVR. This is less than in several other countries. Taking into account differences between types of households and dwellings, this study analyses various scenarios for extended use of DVR in the Netherlands. The analysis shows that further penetration of DVR is a cost-effective instrument for waste reduction and more recycling. Moreover, DVR can itself be seen as a necessary condition for the successful implementation of other economic instruments, such as waste taxes. It is therefore recommended to stimulate municipalities to adopt DVR schemes in the Netherlands, accompanied by the provision of adequate facilities for waste separation by households. Before introducing DVR in 'very strongly urbanized' municipalities (i.e. the 12 largest cities in the Netherlands) a pilot experiment in one of them might be useful to test the behavioral response in this category.

Complementing carbon prices with technology policies to keep climate targets within reach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertram, Christoph; Luderer, Gunnar; Pietzcker, Robert C.; Schmid, Eva; Kriegler, Elmar; Edenhofer, Ottmar

2015-03-01

Economic theory suggests that comprehensive carbon pricing is most efficient to reach ambitious climate targets, and previous studies indicated that the carbon price required for limiting global mean warming to 2 °C is between US$16 and US$73 per tonne of CO2 in 2015 (ref. ). Yet, a global implementation of such high carbon prices is unlikely to be politically feasible in the short term. Instead, most climate policies enacted so far are technology policies or fragmented and moderate carbon pricing schemes. This paper shows that ambitious climate targets can be kept within reach until 2030 despite a sub-optimal policy mix. With a state-of-the-art energy-economy model we quantify the interactions and unique effects of three major policy components: (1) a carbon price starting at US$7 per tonne of CO2 in 2015 to incentivize economy-wide mitigation, flanked by (2) support for low-carbon energy technologies to pave the way for future decarbonization, and (3) a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants to limit stranded assets. We find that such a mix limits the efficiency losses compared with the optimal policy, and at the same time lowers distributional impacts. Therefore, we argue that this instrument mix might be a politically more feasible alternative to the optimal policy based on a comprehensive carbon price alone.

Canada's new national energy program on oil and gas: What are the main provisions? What are the reactions so far?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burr, K. K.

1981-04-01

The Canadian federal government announced a National Energy Program (NEP) for oil and natural gas to achieve energy self sufficiency. The program deals with two major political and economic influences in Canadian energy: provincial ownership of natural resources and 70% of foreign ownership in the Canadian petroleum industry. The objectives to achieve national energy security, create opportunities for Canadian participation, and share resource benefits among the provinces. The major provisions include: a 80% federal tax on oil and gas production; a natural gas federal excise tax; a pricing scheme which holds conventional oil prices down but gives incentives for oil sands, heavy oil, and tertiary recovery production; a gas pricing scheme which encourages substitution of gas for oil; a 25% carried interest for the government on federal leases; and a Canadianization incentives grant system which replace the depletion allowance system.

Confidence-Building in Cyberspace: A Comparison of Territorial and Weapons-based Regimes

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

censorship , Internet surveillance, and pricing schemes for Internet usage, including whether the state should subsidize the costs of Internet usage. If...differences of opinion regarding practices of Internet censorship and policies on gay rights in the two nations) and the personal relationships between...Ham- bali, Megan Hafizal, Megan Ramli, Noorliza Hamdan, and Zalini Yunus point to the absence of an awareness among scientists in Malaysia about

Global Tuition Pricing: An In-Depth Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cupp, Jason W.

2012-01-01

This study was conducted to determine if there is a relationship between select pricing schemes used throughout the world and positive social outcomes. The rising costs of college tuition and escalating student debt has raised the concern about how students should pay for financing their education and whether the current system is the most…

Relative Impact of Print and Database Products on Database Producer Expenses and Income--A Follow-Up.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Martha E.

1982-01-01

Provides update to 13-year analysis of finances of major database producer noting actions taken to improve finances (decrease expenses, increase efficiency, develop new products, market strategies and services, change pricing scheme, omit print products, increase prices) and consequences of actions (revenue increase, connect hour increase). Five…

Reactive granular optics for passive tracking of the sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frenkel, I.; Niv, A.

2017-08-01

The growing need for cost-effective renewable energy sources is hampered by the stagnation in solar cell technology, thus preventing a substantial reduction in the module and energy-production price. Lowering the energy-production cost could be achieved by using modules with efficiency. One of the possible means for increasing the module efficiency is concentrated photovoltaics (CPV). CPV, however, requires complex and accurate active tracking of the sun that reduces much of its cost-effectiveness. Here, we propose a passive tracking scheme based on a reactive optical device. The optical reaction is achieved by a new kind of light activated mechanical force that acts on micron-sized particles. This optical force allows the formation of granular disordered optical media that can be switched from being opaque to become transparent based on the intensity of light it interacts with. Such media gives rise to an efficient passive tracking scheme that when combined with an external optical cavity forms a new solar power conversion approach. Being external to the cell itself, this approach is indifferent to the type of semiconducting material that is used, as well as to other aspects of the cell design. This, in turn, liberates the cell layout from its optical constraints thus paving the way to higher efficiencies at lower module price.

Comparing pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies in Croatia to the European Union Member States.

PubMed

Vogler, Sabine; Habl, Claudia; Bogut, Martina; Voncina, Luka

2011-04-15

To perform a comparative analysis of the pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement systems in Croatia and the 27 European Union (EU) Member States. Knowledge about the pharmaceutical systems in Croatia and the 27 EU Member States was acquired by literature review and primary research with stakeholders. Pharmaceutical prices are controlled at all levels in Croatia, which is also the case in 21 EU Member States. Like many EU countries, Croatia also applies external price referencing, i.e., compares prices with other countries. While the wholesale remuneration by a statutorily regulated linear mark-up is applied in Croatia and in several EU countries, the pharmacy compensation for dispensing reimbursable medicines in the form of a flat rate service fee in Croatia is rare among EU countries, which usually apply a linear or regressive pharmacy mark-up scheme. Like in most EU countries, the Croatian Social Insurance reimburses specific medicines at 100%, whereas patients are charged co-payments for other reimbursable medicines. Criteria for reimbursement include the medicine's importance from the public health perspective, its therapeutic value, and relative effectiveness. In Croatia and in many EU Member States, reimbursement is based on a reference price system. The Croatian pharmaceutical system is similar to those in the EU Member States. Key policies, like external price referencing and reference price systems, which have increasingly been introduced in EU countries are also applied in Croatia and serve the same purpose: to ensure access to medicines while containing public pharmaceutical expenditure.

Support schemes and ownership structures - the policy context for fuel cell based micro-combined heat and power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schroeder, Sascha Thorsten; Costa, Ana; Obé, Elisabeth

In recent years, fuel cell based micro-combined heat and power (mCHP) has received increasing attention due to its potential contribution to European energy policy goals, i.e., sustainability, competitiveness and security of supply. Besides technical advances, regulatory framework and ownership structures are of crucial importance in order to achieve greater diffusion of the technology in residential applications. This paper analyses the interplay of policy and ownership structures for the future deployment of mCHP. Furthermore, it regards the three country cases Denmark, France and Portugal. Firstly, the implications of different kinds of support schemes on investment risk and the diffusion of a technology are explained conceptually. Secondly, ownership arrangements are addressed. Then, a cross-country comparison on present support schemes for mCHP and competing technologies discusses the national implementation of European legislation in Denmark, France and Portugal. Finally, resulting implications for ownership arrangements on the choice of support scheme are explained. From a conceptual point of view, investment support, feed-in tariffs and price premiums are the most appropriate schemes for fuel cell mCHP. This can be used for improved analysis of operational strategies. The interaction of this plethora of elements necessitates careful balancing from a private- and socio-economic point of view.

New Drug Reimbursement and Pricing Policy in Taiwan.

PubMed

Chen, Gau-Tzu; Chang, Shu-Chen; Chang, Chee-Jen

2018-05-01

Taiwan has implemented a national health insurance system for more than 20 years now. The benefits of pharmaceutical products and new drug reimbursement scheme are determined by the Expert Advisory Meeting and the Pharmaceutical Benefit and Reimbursement Scheme (PBRS) Joint Committee in Taiwan. To depict the pharmaceutical benefits and reimbursement scheme for new drugs and the role of health technology assessment (HTA) in drug policy in Taiwan. All data were collected from the Expert Advisory Meeting and the PBRS meeting minutes; new drug applications with HTA reports were derived from the National Health Insurance Administration Web site. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the timeline of a new drug from application submission to reimbursement effective, the distribution of approved price, and the approval rate for a new drug with/without local pharmacoeconomic study. After the second-generation national health insurance system, the timeline for a new drug from submission to reimbursement effective averages at 436 days, and that for an oncology drug reaches an average of 742 days. New drug approval rate is 67% and the effective rate (through the approval of the PBRS Joint Committee and the acceptance of the manufacturer) is 53%. The final approved price is 53.6% of the international median price and 70% of the proposed price by the manufacturer. Out of 95 HTA reports released during the period January 2011 to February 2017, 28 applications (30%) conducted an HTA with a local pharmacoeconomic study, and all (100%) received reimbursement approval. For the remaining 67 applications (70%) for which HTA was conducted without a local pharmacoeconomic analysis, 54 cases (81%) were reimbursed. New drug applications with local pharmacoeconomic studies are more likely to get reimbursement. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Pharmaceutical Pricing and Market Access Outlook Europe 2010-HealthNetwork Communications' fourth annual conference. 24-25 March 2010, London, UK.

PubMed

Ogbighele, Erhimuvi

2010-05-01

The HealthNetwork Communications' Fourth Annual Conference on Pharmaceutical Pricing and Market Access Outlook Europe 2010, held in London, included topics covering the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry, specifically related to pricing and reimbursement, and demonstrating the value of a pharmaceutical. This conference report highlights selected presentations on a global perspective on pricing and reimbursement, with an analysis of the specific, unique challenges in the six major markets, Europe, the US, Canada, Germany, the UK and Japan, and a discussion of the benefits of risk-sharing schemes.

On the demand for prescription drugs: heterogeneity in price responses.

PubMed

Skipper, Niels

2013-07-01

This paper estimates the price elasticity of demand for prescription drugs using an exogenous shift in consumer co-payment caused by a reform in the Danish subsidy scheme for the general public. Using purchasing records for the entire Danish population, I show that the average price response for the most commonly used drug yields demand elasticities in the range of -0.36 to -0.5. The reform is shown to affect women, the elderly, and immigrants the most. Furthermore, this paper shows significant heterogeneity in the price response over different types of antibiotics, suggesting that the price elasticity of demand varies considerably even across relatively similar drugs. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pay less, consume more? The price elasticity of home care for the disabled elderly in France.

PubMed

Roquebert, Quitterie; Tenand, Marianne

2017-09-01

Little is known about the price sensitivity of demand for home care of the disabled elderly. We partially fill this knowledge gap by using administrative data on the beneficiaries of the main French home care subsidy program in a department and exploiting interindividual variation in provider prices. We address the potential endogeneity of prices by taking advantage of the unequal spatial coverage of providers and instrumenting price by the number of municipalities served by a provider. We estimate a price elasticity of around -0.4 that is significantly different from both 0 and -1. This less than proportionate response of consumption to price has implications for the efficiency and redistributive impact of variation in the level of copayments in home care subsidy schemes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

76 FR 63964 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-14

... stock's previous trading day's last sale price was greater than $100) in premium in each of the front... greater than $100) in premium across all expiration months in order to receive the rebate. The Exchange... fee is within the range of fees assessed by other exchanges employing similar pricing schemes and the...

77 FR 42026 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-17

... greater than $100) in premium in each of the front two expiration months and 80% of the time for series... previous trading day's last sale price was greater than $100) in premium across all expiration months in... by other exchanges employing similar pricing schemes. For example, NASDAQ OMX PHLX, Inc. (``PHLX...

Fuel quality/processing study. Volume 3: Fuel upgrading studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, G. E., Jr.; Bruggink, P.; Sinnett, C.

1981-01-01

The methods used to calculate the refinery selling prices for the turbine fuels of low quality are described. Detailed descriptions and economics of the upgrading schemes are included. These descriptions include flow diagrams showing the interconnection between processes and the stream flows involved. Each scheme is in a complete, integrated, stand alone facility. Except for the purchase of electricity and water, each scheme provides its own fuel and manufactures, when appropriate, its own hydrogen.

Customer response to day-ahead wholesale market electricity prices: Case study of RTP program experience in New York

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldman, C.; Hopper, N.; Sezgen, O.

2004-07-01

There is growing interest in policies, programs and tariffs that encourage customer loads to provide demand response (DR) to help discipline wholesale electricity markets. Proposals at the retail level range from eliminating fixed rate tariffs as the default service for some or all customer groups to reinstituting utility-sponsored load management programs with market-based inducements to curtail. Alternative rate designs include time-of-use (TOU), day-ahead real-time pricing (RTP), critical peak pricing, and even pricing usage at real-time market balancing prices. Some Independent System Operators (ISOs) have implemented their own DR programs whereby load curtailment capabilities are treated as a system resource andmore » are paid an equivalent value. The resulting load reductions from these tariffs and programs provide a variety of benefits, including limiting the ability of suppliers to increase spot and long-term market-clearing prices above competitive levels (Neenan et al., 2002; Boren stein, 2002; Ruff, 2002). Unfortunately, there is little information in the public domain to characterize and quantify how customers actually respond to these alternative dynamic pricing schemes. A few empirical studies of large customer RTP response have shown modest results for most customers, with a few very price-responsive customers providing most of the aggregate response (Herriges et al., 1993; Schwarz et al., 2002). However, these studies examined response to voluntary, two-part RTP programs implemented by utilities in states without retail competition.1 Furthermore, the researchers had limited information on customer characteristics so they were unable to identify the drivers to price response. In the absence of a compelling characterization of why customers join RTP programs and how they respond to prices, many initiatives to modernize retail electricity rates seem to be stymied.« less

Entropy, pricing and macroeconomics of pumped-storage systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karakatsanis, Georgios; Mamassis, Nikos; Koutsoyiannis, Demetris; Efstratiadis, Andreas

2014-05-01

We propose a pricing scheme for the enhancement of macroeconomic performance of pumped-storage systems, based on the statistical properties of both geophysical and economic variables. The main argument consists in the need of a context of economic values concerning the hub energy resource; defined as the resource that comprises the reference energy currency for all involved renewable energy sources (RES) and discounts all related uncertainty. In the case of pumped-storage systems the hub resource is the reservoir's water, as a benchmark for all connected intermittent RES. The uncertainty of all involved natural and economic processes is statistically quantifiable by entropy. It is the relation between the entropies of all involved RES that shapes the macroeconomic state of the integrated pumped-storage system. Consequently, there must be consideration on the entropy of wind, solar and precipitation patterns, as well as on the entropy of economic processes -such as demand preferences on either current energy use or storage for future availability. For pumped-storage macroeconomics, a price on the reservoir's capacity scarcity should also be imposed in order to shape a pricing field with upper and lower limits for the long-term stability of the pricing range and positive net energy benefits, which is the primary issue of the generalized deployment of pumped-storage technology. Keywords: Entropy, uncertainty, pricing, hub energy resource, RES, energy storage, capacity scarcity, macroeconomics

Harnessing the private health sector by using prices as a policy instrument: Lessons learned from South Africa.

PubMed

Barber, Sarah L; Kumar, Ankit; Roubal, Tomas; Colombo, Francesca; Lorenzoni, Luca

2018-05-01

Governments frequently draw upon the private health care sector to promote sustainability, optimal use of resources, and increased choice. In doing so, policy-makers face the challenge of harnessing resources while grappling with the market failures and equity concerns associated with private financing of health care. The growth of the private health sector in South Africa has fundamentally changed the structure of health care delivery. A mutually reinforcing ecosystem of private health insurers, private hospitals and specialists has grown to account for almost half of the country's spending on health care, despite only serving 16% of the population with the capacity to pay. Following years of consolidation among private hospital groups and insurance schemes, and after successive failures at establishing credible price benchmarks, South Africa's private hospitals charge prices comparable with countries that are considerably richer. This compromises the affordability of a broad-based expansion in health care for the population. The South African example demonstrates that prices can be part of a structure that perpetuates inequalities in access to health care resources. The lesson for other countries is the importance of norms and institutions that uphold price schedules in high-income countries. Efforts to compromise or liberalize price setting should be undertaken with a healthy degree of caution. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Toward a Hedonic Value Framework in Health Care.

PubMed

Basu, Anirban; Sullivan, Sean D

2017-02-01

In well-functioning markets, a hedonic pricing scheme can reflect the marginal valuation of various attributes of a differentiated product at market equilibrium. It serves as an important tool to inform pricing of a new product with a specific combination of attributes. Because health cannot be bought and sold in a market setting, and health care markets are distorted by insurance or government subsidies, direct valuation of a health intervention as a differentiated good through observed market prices is difficult. In this article, we discuss the rationale of using stated preference methods for developing a hedonic value framework for health insurance products to inform the decision on whether a product should be covered or subsidized by insurance, given its price. This value index will not reflect marginal value at market equilibrium, as in a hedonic pricing scheme, but would capture the distribution of marginal value in the population. We discuss how affordability concerns can be integrated into the development of a hedonic valuation model. We compare this framework with traditional cost-effectiveness analysis and also the existing value frameworks put forth by various organizations. The framework can be adopted to inform other decisions such as pricing. We argue that developing such a comprehensive and decision-theoretic value framework is feasible and, if successful, can serve to inform health care resource allocation in this country for decades to come in a systematic manner. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparing pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies in Croatia to the European Union Member States

PubMed Central

Vogler, Sabine; Habl, Claudia; Bogut, Martina; Vončina, Luka

2011-01-01

Aim To perform a comparative analysis of the pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement systems in Croatia and the 27 European Union (EU) Member States. Methods Knowledge about the pharmaceutical systems in Croatia and the 27 EU Member States was acquired by literature review and primary research with stakeholders. Results Pharmaceutical prices are controlled at all levels in Croatia, which is also the case in 21 EU Member States. Like many EU countries, Croatia also applies external price referencing, ie, compares prices with other countries. While the wholesale remuneration by a statutorily regulated linear mark-up is applied in Croatia and in several EU countries, the pharmacy compensation for dispensing reimbursable medicines in the form of a flat rate service fee in Croatia is rare among EU countries, which usually apply a linear or regressive pharmacy mark-up scheme. Like in most EU countries, the Croatian Social Insurance reimburses specific medicines at 100%, whereas patients are charged co-payments for other reimbursable medicines. Criteria for reimbursement include the medicine’s importance from the public health perspective, its therapeutic value, and relative effectiveness. In Croatia and in many EU Member States, reimbursement is based on a reference price system. Conclusion The Croatian pharmaceutical system is similar to those in the EU Member States. Key policies, like external price referencing and reference price systems, which have increasingly been introduced in EU countries are also applied in Croatia and serve the same purpose: to ensure access to medicines while containing public pharmaceutical expenditure. PMID:21495202

Monitoring, reporting and verifying emissions in the climate economy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bellassen, Valentin; Stephan, Nicolas; Afriat, Marion; Alberola, Emilie; Barker, Alexandra; Chang, Jean-Pierre; Chiquet, Caspar; Cochran, Ian; Deheza, Mariana; Dimopoulos, Christopher; Foucherot, Claudine; Jacquier, Guillaume; Morel, Romain; Robinson, Roderick; Shishlov, Igor

2015-04-01

The monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse-gas emissions is the cornerstone of carbon pricing and management mechanisms. Here we consider peer-reviewed articles and 'grey literature' related to existing MRV requirements and their costs. A substantial part of the literature is the regulatory texts of the 15 most important carbon pricing and management mechanisms currently implemented. Based on a comparison of key criteria such as the scope, cost, uncertainty and flexibility of procedures, we conclude that conventional wisdom on MRV is not often promoted in existing carbon pricing mechanisms. Quantification of emissions uncertainty and incentives to reduce this uncertainty are usually only partially applied, if at all. Further, the time and resources spent on small sources of emissions would be expected to be limited. Although provisions aiming at an effort proportionate to the amount of emissions at stake -- 'materiality' -- are widespread, they are largely outweighed by economies of scale: in all schemes, MRV costs per tonne are primarily driven by the size of the source.

Bus-based park-and-ride system: a stochastic model on multimodal network with congestion pricing schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhiyuan; Meng, Qiang

2014-05-01

This paper focuses on modelling the network flow equilibrium problem on a multimodal transport network with bus-based park-and-ride (P&R) system and congestion pricing charges. The multimodal network has three travel modes: auto mode, transit mode and P&R mode. A continuously distributed value-of-time is assumed to convert toll charges and transit fares to time unit, and the users' route choice behaviour is assumed to follow the probit-based stochastic user equilibrium principle with elastic demand. These two assumptions have caused randomness to the users' generalised travel times on the multimodal network. A comprehensive network framework is first defined for the flow equilibrium problem with consideration of interactions between auto flows and transit (bus) flows. Then, a fixed-point model with unique solution is proposed for the equilibrium flows, which can be solved by a convergent cost averaging method. Finally, the proposed methodology is tested by a network example.

Climate Change Impacts on Rice Farming Systems in Northwestern Sri Lanka. Chapter 10

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zubair, Lareef; Nissanka, Sarath P.; Weerakoon, W. M. W.; Herath, Dumindu I.; Karunaratne, Asha S; Prabodha, A. S. M.; Agalawatte, M. B.; Herath, Rasnayaka; Yahiya, S. Zeenas; Punyawardhene, B. V. R.;

Managing imperfect competition by pay for performance and reference pricing.

PubMed

Mak, Henry Y

2018-01-01

I study a managed health service market where differentiated providers compete for consumers by choosing multiple service qualities, and where copayments that consumers pay and payments that providers receive for services are set by a payer. The optimal regulation scheme is two-sided. On the demand side, it justifies and clarifies value-based reference pricing. On the supply side, it prescribes pay for performance when consumers misperceive service benefits or providers have intrinsic quality incentives. The optimal bonuses are expressed in terms of demand elasticities, service technology, and provider characteristics. However, pay for performance may not outperform prospective payment when consumers are rational and providers are profit maximizing, or when one of the service qualities is not contractible. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic indicators for integrated assessment models of climate policy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kriegler, Elmar; Petermann, Nils; Krey, Volker

2015-01-01

Integrated assessments of how climate policy interacts with energy-economic systems can be performed by a variety of models with different functional structures. This article proposes a diagnostic scheme that can be applied to a wide range of integrated assessment models to classify differences among models based on their carbon price responses. Model diagnostics can uncover patterns and provide insights into why, under a given scenario, certain types of models behave in observed ways. Such insights are informative since model behavior can have a significant impact on projections of climate change mitigation costs and other policy-relevant information. The authors propose diagnosticmore » indicators to characterize model responses to carbon price signals and test these in a diagnostic study with 11 global models. Indicators describe the magnitude of emission abatement and the associated costs relative to a harmonized baseline, the relative changes in carbon intensity and energy intensity and the extent of transformation in the energy system. This study shows a correlation among indicators suggesting that models can be classified into groups based on common patterns of behavior in response to carbon pricing. Such a classification can help to more easily explain variations among policy-relevant model results.« less

Achieving high value care for all and the perverse incentives of 340B price agreements.

PubMed

Whittington, Melanie D; Campbell, Jonathan D; McQueen, R Brett

2018-04-01

Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act requires drug manufacturers to enter into price agreements with the Department of Health and Human Services. These agreements result in variation in the price paid to acquire a drug by sector, which complicates the price used in cost-effectiveness analyses. We describe the transactions and sectors in a 340B agreement using a multiple sclerosis drug. Cost-effectiveness estimates were calculated for the drug using drug prices from the manufacturer and payer perspective. We found the amount paid to the manufacturer (340B price) was a good value ($118,256 per quality-adjusted life-year); however, from the payer drug cost perspective, good value ($196,683 per quality-adjusted life-year) was not achieved. Given that emerging value frameworks incorporate cost-effectiveness, these price variations may have downstream negative consequences, including inaccurate coverage and reimbursement policy recommendations. Upcoming policy changes to the 340B program should incentivize pricing schemes hinged on transparency and value.

Higher fuel prices are associated with lower air pollution levels.

PubMed

Barnett, Adrian G; Knibbs, Luke D

2014-05-01

Air pollution is a persistent problem in urban areas, and traffic emissions are a major cause of poor air quality. Policies to curb pollution levels often involve raising the price of using private vehicles, for example, congestion charges. We were interested in whether higher fuel prices were associated with decreased air pollution levels. We examined an association between diesel and petrol prices and four traffic-related pollutants in Brisbane from 2010 to 2013. We used a regression model and examined pollution levels up to 16 days after the price change. Higher diesel prices were associated with statistically significant short-term reductions in carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Changes in petrol prices had no impact on air pollution. Raising diesel taxes in Australia could be justified as a public health measure. As raising taxes is politically unpopular, an alternative political approach would be to remove schemes that put a downward pressure on fuel prices, such as industry subsidies and shopping vouchers that give fuel discounts. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of cigarette price increase on the cigarette consumption in Taiwan: evidence from the National Health Interview Surveys on cigarette consumption

PubMed Central

Lee, Jie-Min; Hwang, Tsorng-Chyi; Ye, Chun-Yuan; Chen, Sheng-Hong

2004-01-01

Background This study uses cigarette price elasticity to evaluate the effect of a new excise tax increase on cigarette consumption and to investigate responses from various types of smokers. Methods Our sample consisted of current smokers between 17 and 69 years old interviewed during an annual face-to-face survey conducted by Taiwan National Health Research Institutes between 2000 to 2003. We used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) procedure to estimate double logarithmic function of cigarette demand and cigarette price elasticity. Results In 2002, after Taiwan had enacted the new tax scheme, cigarette price elasticity in Taiwan was found to be -0.5274. The new tax scheme brought about an average annual 13.27 packs/person (10.5%) reduction in cigarette consumption. Using the cigarette price elasticity estimate from -0.309 in 2003, we calculated that if the Health and Welfare Tax were increased by another NT$ 3 per pack and cigarette producers shifted this increase to the consumers, cigarette consumption would be reduced by 2.47 packs/person (2.2%). The value of the estimated cigarette price elasticity is smaller than one, meaning that the tax will not only reduce cigarette consumption but it will also generate additional tax revenues. Male smokers who had no income or who smoked light cigarettes were found to be more responsive to changes in cigarette price. Conclusions An additional tax added to the cost of cigarettes would bring about a reduction in cigarette consumption and increased tax revenues. It would also help reduce incidents smoking-related illnesses. The additional tax revenues generated by the tax increase could be used to offset the current financial deficiency of Taiwan's National Health Insurance program and provide better public services. PMID:15598345

The effect of cigarette price increase on the cigarette consumption in Taiwan: evidence from the National Health Interview Surveys on cigarette consumption.

PubMed

Lee, Jie-Min; Hwang, Tsorng-Chyi; Ye, Chun-Yuan; Chen, Sheng-Hong

2004-12-14

This study uses cigarette price elasticity to evaluate the effect of a new excise tax increase on cigarette consumption and to investigate responses from various types of smokers. Our sample consisted of current smokers between 17 and 69 years old interviewed during an annual face-to-face survey conducted by Taiwan National Health Research Institutes between 2000 to 2003. We used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) procedure to estimate double logarithmic function of cigarette demand and cigarette price elasticity. In 2002, after Taiwan had enacted the new tax scheme, cigarette price elasticity in Taiwan was found to be -0.5274. The new tax scheme brought about an average annual 13.27 packs/person (10.5%) reduction in cigarette consumption. Using the cigarette price elasticity estimate from -0.309 in 2003, we calculated that if the Health and Welfare Tax were increased by another NT 3 dollars per pack and cigarette producers shifted this increase to the consumers, cigarette consumption would be reduced by 2.47 packs/person (2.2%). The value of the estimated cigarette price elasticity is smaller than one, meaning that the tax will not only reduce cigarette consumption but it will also generate additional tax revenues. Male smokers who had no income or who smoked light cigarettes were found to be more responsive to changes in cigarette price. An additional tax added to the cost of cigarettes would bring about a reduction in cigarette consumption and increased tax revenues. It would also help reduce incidents smoking-related illnesses. The additional tax revenues generated by the tax increase could be used to offset the current financial deficiency of Taiwan's National Health Insurance program and provide better public services.

Considerations on fundamental issues in establishing a universal coverage system for health in China.

PubMed

Lei, Hai Chao

2008-11-01

This study discusses basic health services in China. In this study common sense and international experience in establishing a high-performing health system were introduced. Five components are identified: basic qualified human resources for health; basic infrastructure; essential medicines; essential technology and procedures; and basic service pathways. Recommendations were presented based upon the Chinese situation. They are: increase public financing and lower private out-of-pocket payment for services; revitalize the functions of public facilities; merge different health financing schemes; co-ordinate public fiscal and pricing policies; prioritize public financing to preventive and primary healthcare; establish and strengthen the partnership between public and private facilities and insurance schemes; and re-organize the administrative system in health-based upon the rules of simplicity, unity, and efficiency. © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University.

Evidence-based decision-making within Australia's pharmaceutical benefits scheme.

PubMed

Lopert, Ruth

2009-07-01

In Australia, most prescription drugs are subsidized through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), one of several government programs in which evidence-based decision making is applied to the funding of health technologies. PBS processes are intended to ensure "value for money" for the Australian taxpayer and to support affordable, equitable access to prescription medicines; they are not intended as a mechanism for cost containment. The inclusion of a drug on the national formulary depends on the recommendation of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), which considers not only the comparative effectiveness but also the comparative cost-effectiveness of drugs proposed for listing. While some decisions have been controversial, the PBS retains strong public support. Moreover, evidence does not suggest that the consideration of cost-effectiveness has created a negative environment for the drug industry: Australia has a high penetration of patented medicines, with prices for some recently approved drugs at U.S. levels.

Method for a dummy CD mirror server based on NAS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Muna; Pei, Jing

2002-09-01

With the development of computer network, information sharing is becoming the necessity in human life. The rapid development of CD-ROM and CD-ROM driver techniques makes it possible to issue large database online. After comparing many designs of dummy CD mirror database, which are the embodiment of a main product in CD-ROM database now and in near future, we proposed and realized a new PC based scheme. Our system has the following merits, such as, supporting all kinds of CD format; supporting many network protocol; the independence of mirror network server and the main server; low price, super large capacity, without the need of any special hardware. Preliminarily experiments have verified the validity of the proposed scheme. Encouraged by the promising application future, we are now preparing to put it into market. This paper discusses the design and implement of the CD-ROM server detailedly.

Improving the secrecy rate by turning foes to allies: An auction scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Ya-Yan; Wang, Bao-Yun

2015-09-01

Security against eavesdroppers is a critical issue in cognitive radio networks (CRNs). In this paper, a scenario consisting of one primary pair and multiple secondary pairs is considered. The secondary transmitters (STs) work in half-duplex mode and they are potential eavesdroppers on the primary transmission unless they are allowed to simultaneously transmit with the primary transmitter (PT). A modified second-price sealed-bid auction scheme is employed to model the interaction between the PT and STs. With the proposed auction scheme, the hostile relationship between the PT and STs is transformed into a cooperative relationship. An iterative algorithm based on the max-min criteria is proposed to find the optimal bidding power of the STs for an access chance in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers. Numerical results show that the proposed auction scheme not only improves the PT’s security but also increases the access opportunities of the STs. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61271232 and 61372126) and the University Postgraduate Research and Innovation Project in Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. CXZZ12-0472).

Hedged Monte-Carlo: low variance derivative pricing with objective probabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potters, Marc; Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe; Sestovic, Dragan

2001-01-01

We propose a new ‘hedged’ Monte-Carlo ( HMC) method to price financial derivatives, which allows to determine simultaneously the optimal hedge. The inclusion of the optimal hedging strategy allows one to reduce the financial risk associated with option trading, and for the very same reason reduces considerably the variance of our HMC scheme as compared to previous methods. The explicit accounting of the hedging cost naturally converts the objective probability into the ‘risk-neutral’ one. This allows a consistent use of purely historical time series to price derivatives and obtain their residual risk. The method can be used to price a large class of exotic options, including those with path dependent and early exercise features.

Multi-factor energy price models and exotic derivatives pricing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hikspoors, Samuel

The high pace at which many of the world's energy markets have gradually been opened to competition have generated a significant amount of new financial activity. Both academicians and practitioners alike recently started to develop the tools of energy derivatives pricing/hedging as a quantitative topic of its own. The energy contract structures as well as their underlying asset properties set the energy risk management industry apart from its more standard equity and fixed income counterparts. This thesis naturally contributes to these broad market developments in participating to the advances of the mathematical tools aiming at a better theory of energy contingent claim pricing/hedging. We propose many realistic two-factor and three-factor models for spot and forward price processes that generalize some well known and standard modeling assumptions. We develop the associated pricing methodologies and propose stable calibration algorithms that motivate the application of the relevant modeling schemes.

Frequency Based Real-time Pricing for Residential Prosumers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hambridge, Sarah Mabel

This work is the first to explore frequency based pricing for secondary frequency control as a price-reactive control mechanism for residential prosumers. A frequency based real-time electricity rate is designed as an autonomous market control mechanism for residential prosumers to provide frequency support as an ancillary service. In addition, prosumers are empowered to participate in dynamic energy transactions, therefore integrating Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), and increasing distributed energy storage onto the distributed grid. As the grid transitions towards DERs, a new market based control system will take the place of the legacy distributed system and possibly the legacy bulk power system. DERs provide many benefits such as energy independence, clean generation, efficiency, and reliability to prosumers during blackouts. However, the variable nature of renewable energy and current lack of installed energy storage on the grid will create imbalances in supply and demand as uptake increases, affecting the grid frequency and system operation. Through a frequency-based electricity rate, prosumers will be encouraged to purchase energy storage systems (ESS) to offset their neighbor's distributed generation (DG) such as solar. Chapter 1 explains the deregulation of the power system and move towards Distributed System Operators (DSOs), as prosumers become owners of microgrids and energy cells connected to the distributed system. Dynamic pricing has been proposed as a benefit to prosumers, giving them the ability to make decisions in the energy market, while also providing a way to influence and control their behavior. Frequency based real-time pricing is a type of dynamic pricing which falls between price-reactive control and transactive control. Prosumer-to-prosumer transactions may take the place of prosumer-to-utility transactions, building The Energy Internet. Frequency based pricing could be a mechanism for determining prosumer prices and supporting stability in a free, competitive, market. Frequency based pricing is applied to secondary frequency control in this work, providing support at one to five minute time intervals. In Chapter 2, a frequency based pricing curve is designed as a preliminary study and the response of the prosumer is optimized for economic dispatch. In Chapter 3, a day-ahead schedule and real-time adjustment energy management framework is presented for the prosumer, creating a market structure similar to the existing energy market supervised by Independent System Operators (ISOs). Enabling technology, such as the solid state transformer (SST) is described for prosumer energy transactions, controlling power flow from the prosumer's energy cell to the grid or neighboring prosumer as an energy router. Experimental results are shown to demonstrate this capability. Additionally, the SST is capable of measuring the grid frequency. Lastly, a frequency based real-time hybrid electricity rate is presented in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. Chapter 4 specializes in a single direction rate while Chapter 5 presents a bi-directional rate. A Time-of-use (TOU) rate is combined with the real-time frequency based price to lower energy bills for a residential prosumer with ESS, in agreement with the proposed day-ahead and real-time energy management framework. The cost to the ESS is also considered in this section. Linear programming and strategic rule based methods are utilized to find the lowest energy bill. As a result, prosumers can use ESS to balance the grid, reducing their bill as much per kWh as PV or DG under a TOU net-metering price scheme, while providing distributed frequency support to the grid authority. The variability of the frequency based rate is similar to variability in the stock market, which gives a sense of how prosumers will interact with variable prices in a system supported by The Energy Internet.

On the battleground of environmental and competition policy: The renewable electricity market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meszaros, Matyas Tamas

Renewable energy sources have become increasingly important in the efforts to provide energy security and to fight global warming. In the last decade environmental policy has increased the support for renewable electricity. At the same time the electricity sector was often subject of antitrust investigation because of relevant market concentration, and market power. This dissertation looks at the renewable electricity market to analyze the effect of environmental policy on competition. The first chapter provides a short introduction into the regulatory schemes of electricity markets. The second chapter analyzes the demand side of the electricity market. The estimations show that there was no significant change in the income and price elasticity in the electricity consumption of the US households between 1993 an 2001, although there was several policy initiatives to increase energy efficiency and decrease consumption. The third chapter derives a theoretical model where the feed-in tariff and the tradable green certificate system can be analyzed under oligopolistic market structure. The results of the model suggest that the introduction of the environmentally friendly regulatory schemes can decrease the electricity prices compared to the case when there is no support for renewable energy. The other findings of this model is that the price of electricity rises when the requirement for renewable energy increases. In the fourth chapter a simulation model of the UK electricity market is used to test the effect of mergers and acquisitions under the environmental support scheme. The results emphasize the importance of the capacity limit, because it can constrain the strategic action of the electricity producers. The results of the simulation also suggest that the increasing concentration can increase the production and lower the price of electricity and renewable energy certificates in the British Renewable Obligation system.

The Influence of a CO2 Pricing Scheme on Distributed Energy Resources in California's Commercial Buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stadler, Michael; Marnay, Chris; Lai, Judy

2010-06-01

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is working with the California Energy Commission (CEC) to determine the potential role of commercial-sector distributed energy resources (DER) with combined heat and power (CHP) in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions. Historically, relatively little attention has been paid to the potential of medium-sized commercial buildings with peak electric loads ranging from 100 kW to 5 MW. In our research, we examine how these medium-sized commercial buildings might implement DER and CHP. The buildings are able to adopt and operate various technologies, e.g., photovoltaics (PV), on-site thermal generation, heat exchangers, solar thermal collectors,more » absorption chillers, batteries and thermal storage systems. We apply the Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM), which is a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) that minimizes a site?s annual energy costs and/or CO2 emissions. Using 138 representative mid-sized commercial sites in California, existing tariffs of major utilities, and expected performance data of available technologies in 2020, we find the GHG reduction potential for these buildings. We compare different policy instruments, e.g., a CO2 pricing scheme or a feed-in tariff (FiT), and show their contributions to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) goals of additional 4 GW CHP capacities and 6.7 Mt/a GHG reduction in California by 2020. By applying different price levels for CO2, we find that there is competition between fuel cells and PV/solar thermal. It is found that the PV/solar thermal adoption increases rapidly, but shows a saturation at high CO2 prices, partly due to limited space for PV and solar thermal. Additionally, we find that large office buildings are good hosts for CHP in general. However, most interesting is the fact that fossil-based CHP adoption also increases with increasing CO2 prices. We will show service territory specific results since the attractiveness of DER varies widely by climate zone and service territory.« less

Efficient Pricing Technique for Resource Allocation Problem in Downlink OFDM Cognitive Radio Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdulghafoor, O. B.; Shaat, M. M. R.; Ismail, M.; Nordin, R.; Yuwono, T.; Alwahedy, O. N. A.

2017-05-01

In this paper, the problem of resource allocation in OFDM-based downlink cognitive radio (CR) networks has been proposed. The purpose of this research is to decrease the computational complexity of the resource allocation algorithm for downlink CR network while concerning the interference constraint of primary network. The objective has been secured by adopting pricing scheme to develop power allocation algorithm with the following concerns: (i) reducing the complexity of the proposed algorithm and (ii) providing firm power control to the interference introduced to primary users (PUs). The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested for OFDM- CRNs. The simulation results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm approached the performance of the optimal algorithm at a lower computational complexity, i.e., O(NlogN), which makes the proposed algorithm suitable for more practical applications.

Black-Scholes finite difference modeling in forecasting of call warrant prices in Bursa Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansor, Nur Jariah; Jaffar, Maheran Mohd

2014-07-01

Call warrant is a type of structured warrant in Bursa Malaysia. It gives the holder the right to buy the underlying share at a specified price within a limited period of time. The issuer of the structured warrants usually uses European style to exercise the call warrant on the maturity date. Warrant is very similar to an option. Usually, practitioners of the financial field use Black-Scholes model to value the option. The Black-Scholes equation is hard to solve analytically. Therefore the finite difference approach is applied to approximate the value of the call warrant prices. The central in time and central in space scheme is produced to approximate the value of the call warrant prices. It allows the warrant holder to forecast the value of the call warrant prices before the expiry date.

Protecting tropical forests from the rapid expansion of rubber using carbon payments.

PubMed

Warren-Thomas, Eleanor M; Edwards, David P; Bebber, Daniel P; Chhang, Phourin; Diment, Alex N; Evans, Tom D; Lambrick, Frances H; Maxwell, James F; Nut, Menghor; O'Kelly, Hannah J; Theilade, Ida; Dolman, Paul M

2018-03-02

Expansion of Hevea brasiliensis rubber plantations is a resurgent driver of deforestation, carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian rubber extent is massive, equivalent to 67% of oil palm, with rapid further expansion predicted. Results-based carbon finance could dis-incentivise forest conversion to rubber, but efficacy will be limited unless payments match, or at least approach, the costs of avoided deforestation. These include opportunity costs (timber and rubber profits), plus carbon finance scheme setup (transaction) and implementation costs. Using comprehensive Cambodian forest data, exploring scenarios of selective logging and conversion, and assuming land-use choice is based on net present value, we find that carbon prices of $30-$51 per tCO 2 are needed to break even against costs, higher than those currently paid on carbon markets or through carbon funds. To defend forests from rubber, either carbon prices must be increased, or other strategies are needed, such as corporate zero-deforestation pledges, and governmental regulation and enforcement of forest protection.

Genetic and economic benefits of selection based on performance recording and genotyping in lower tiers of multi-tiered sheep breeding schemes.

PubMed

Santos, Bruno F S; van der Werf, Julius H J; Gibson, John P; Byrne, Timothy J; Amer, Peter R

2017-01-17

Performance recording and genotyping in the multiplier tier of multi-tiered sheep breeding schemes could potentially reduce the difference in the average genetic merit between nucleus and commercial flocks, and create additional economic benefits for the breeding structure. The genetic change in a multiple-trait breeding objective was predicted for various selection strategies that included performance recording, parentage testing and genomic selection. A deterministic simulation model was used to predict selection differentials and the flow of genetic superiority through the different tiers. Cumulative discounted economic benefits were calculated based on trait gains achieved in each of the tiers and considering the extra revenue and associated costs of applying recording, genotyping and selection practices in the multiplier tier of the breeding scheme. Performance recording combined with genomic or parentage information in the multiplier tier reduced the genetic lag between the nucleus and commercial flock by 2 to 3 years. The overall economic benefits of improved performance in the commercial tier offset the costs of recording the multiplier. However, it took more than 18 years before the cumulative net present value of benefits offset the costs at current test prices. Strategies in which recorded multiplier ewes were selected as replacements for the nucleus flock did modestly increase profitability when compared to a closed nucleus structure. Applying genomic selection is the most beneficial strategy if testing costs can be reduced or by genotyping only a proportion of the selection candidates. When the cost of genotyping was reduced, scenarios that combine performance recording with genomic selection were more profitable and reached breakeven point about 10 years earlier. Economic benefits can be generated in multiplier flocks by implementing performance recording in conjunction with either DNA pedigree recording or genomic technology. These recording practices reduce the long genetic lag between the nucleus and commercial flocks in multi-tiered breeding programs. Under current genotyping costs, the time to breakeven was found to be generally very long, although this varied between strategies. Strategies using either genomic selection or DNA pedigree verification were found to be economically viable provided the price paid for the tests is lower than current prices, in the long-term.

Prioritized service system behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliver, Huw

2001-07-01

Internet technology is becoming the infrastructure of the future for any information that can be transmitted digitally, including voice, audio, video and data services of all kinds. The trend to integrate voice and data traffic observed in the Internet is expected to continue until the full integration of all media types is achieved. At the same time it is obvious that the business model employed for current Internet usage is not sustainable for the creation of an infrastructure suitable to support a diverse and ever-increasing range of application services. Currently the Internet provides only a single class of best-effort service and prices are mainly built on flat-fee, access based schemes. We propose the use of pricing mechanisms for controlling demand for scarce resources, in order to improve the economic efficiency of the system. Standard results in economic theory suggest that increasing the value of the network services to the users is beneficial to both the users and the network operator (since he can charge them more and get back a bigger percentage of their surplus). Using pricing mechanisms helps in that respect. When demand is high, prices are being raised and hence deter the users with low valuation for the service to use it. This leaves resources to be available for the users that value them more, and hence are ready to pay more.

A boundary PDE feedback control approach for the stabilization of mortgage price dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rigatos, G.; Siano, P.; Sarno, D.

2017-11-01

Several transactions taking place in financial markets are dependent on the pricing of mortgages (loans for the purchase of residences, land or farms). In this article, a method for stabilization of mortgage price dynamics is developed. It is considered that mortgage prices follow a PDE model which is equivalent to a multi-asset Black-Scholes PDE. Actually it is a diffusion process evolving in a 2D assets space, where the first asset is the house price and the second asset is the interest rate. By applying semi-discretization and a finite differences scheme this multi-asset PDE is transformed into a state-space model consisting of ordinary nonlinear differential equations. For the local subsystems, into which the mortgage PDE is decomposed, it becomes possible to apply boundary-based feedback control. The controller design proceeds by showing that the state-space model of the mortgage price PDE stands for a differentially flat system. Next, for each subsystem which is related to a nonlinear ODE, a virtual control input is computed, that can invert the subsystem's dynamics and can eliminate the subsystem's tracking error. From the last row of the state-space description, the control input (boundary condition) that is actually applied to the multi-factor mortgage price PDE system is found. This control input contains recursively all virtual control inputs which were computed for the individual ODE subsystems associated with the previous rows of the state-space equation. Thus, by tracing the rows of the state-space model backwards, at each iteration of the control algorithm, one can finally obtain the control input that should be applied to the mortgage price PDE system so as to assure that all its state variables will converge to the desirable setpoints. By showing the feasibility of such a control method it is also proven that through selected modification of the PDE boundary conditions the price of the mortgage can be made to converge and stabilize at specific reference values.

Pricing strategies in inelastic energy markets: can we use less if we can't extract more?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voinov, Alexey; Filatova, Tatiana

2014-03-01

Limited supply of nonrenewable energy resources under growing energy demand creates a situation when a marginal change in the quantity supplied or demanded causes non-marginal swings in price levels. The situation is worsened by the fact that we are currently running out of cheap energy resources at the global scale while adaptation to climate change requires extra energy costs. It is often argued that technology and alternative energy will be a solution. However, alternative energy infrastructure also requires additional energy investments, which can further increase the gap between energy demand and supply. This paper presents an explorative model that demonstrates that a smooth transition from an oil-based economy to alternative energy sources is possible only if it is started well in advance while fossil resources are still abundant. Later the transition looks much more dramatic and it becomes risky to rely entirely on technological solutions. It becomes increasingly likely that in addition to technological solutions that can increase supply we will need to find ways to decrease demand and consumption. We further argue that market mechanisms can be just as powerful tools to curb demand as they have traditionally been for stimulating consumption. We observe that individuals who consume more energy resources benefit at the expense of those who consume less, effectively imposing price externalities on the latters. We suggest two transparent and flexible methods of pricing that attempt to eliminate price externalities on energy resources. Such pricing schemes stimulate less consumption and can smooth the transition to renewable energy.

Pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals in Norway.

PubMed

Hågå, A; Sverre, J M

2002-01-01

Although not a member of the EU, Norway participates in the European-wide regulatory framework for granting marketing authorization to pharmaceutical products. Maximum prices for prescription medicines are determined by the Norwegian Medicines Agency that sets pharmacy purchase prices (based on prices in other Northern European countries) and the Ministry of Health that sets pharmacy margins. A "discount sharing model" encourages pharmacies to perform parallel import and generic switching by allowing them to keep up to 50% of the difference between maximum price and actual price. The costs of pharmaceuticals in Norway are covered in part by the public budget and in part directly by the patient. Over one-half of pharmaceutical costs are borne by the Norwegian National Insurance Administration through the reimbursement scheme; membership in this program is mandatory, and costs are covered through taxes from employers and employees. Over 90% of reimbursed drug sales are accounted for by the established product list for general reimbursement, but supplementary reimbursement can be granted on the basis of individual patient applications and also to ensure that all patients with serious communicable diseases are given adequate treatment without costs to the patient (e.g., HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis). Patient copayment currently amounts to 36% of the total amount of prescriptions; the maximum per prescription is 48 euros, and total within a single calendar year is 180 euros. Copayments for physician visits, radiology examinations, and laboratory tests, can be included in this amount. The overall system is now undergoing reevaluation, as it has been criticized for being complicated and difficult to comprehend for the users.

Generic drug prices and policy in Australia: room for improvement? a comparative analysis with England.

PubMed

Mansfield, Sarah J

2014-02-01

To assess the degree to which reimbursement prices in Australia and England differ for a range of generic drugs, and to analyse the supply- and demand-side factors that may contribute to these differences. Australian and English reimbursement prices were compared for a range of generic drugs using pricing information obtained from government websites. Next, a literature review was conducted to identify supply- and demand-side factors that could affect generic prices in Australia and England. Various search topics were identified addressing potential supply-side (e.g. market approval, intellectual property protection of patented drugs, generic pricing policy, market size, generic supply chain and discounting practices) and demand-side (consumers, prescribers and pharmacists) factors. Related terms were searched in academic databases, official government websites, national statistical databases and internet search engines. Analysis of drug reimbursement prices for 15 generic molecules (representing 45 different drug presentations) demonstrated that Australian prices were on average over 7-fold higher than in England. Significant supply-side differences included aspects of pricing policy, the relative size of the generics markets and the use of clawback policies. Major differences in demand-side policies related to generic prescribing, pharmacist substitution and consumer incentives. Despite recent reforms, the Australian Government continues to pay higher prices than its English counterpart for many generic medications. The results suggest that particular policy areas may benefit from review in Australia, including the length of the price-setting process, the frequency of subsequent price adjustments, the extent of price competition between originators and generics, medical professionals' knowledge about generic medicines and incentives for generic prescribing. WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE TOPIC? Prices of generic drugs have been the subject of much scrutiny over recent years. From 2005 to 2010 the Australian Government responded to observations that Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prices for many generics were higher than in numerous comparable countries by instituting several reforms aimed at reducing the prices of generics. Despite this, several studies have demonstrated that prices for generic statins (one class of cholesterol-lowering drug) are higher in Australia compared with England and many other developed countries, and prices of numerous other generics remain higher than in the USA and New Zealand. Recently there has been increasing interest in why these differences exist. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD? By including a much larger range of commonly used and costly generic drugs, this paper builds significantly on the limited previous investigations of generic drug prices in Australia and England. Additionally, this is the first comprehensive investigation of multiple supply- and, in particular, demand-side factors that may explain any price differences between these countries. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITIONERS? Practitioners may contribute to the higher prices of generic medications in Australia compared with England through relatively low rates of generic prescribing. There are also significant implications for health policy makers, as this paper demonstrates that if Australia achieved the same prices as England for many generic drugs there could be substantial savings for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Price elasticities in the German Statutory Health Insurance market before and after the health care reform of 2009.

PubMed

Pendzialek, Jonas B; Danner, Marion; Simic, Dusan; Stock, Stephanie

2015-05-01

This paper investigates the change in price elasticity of health insurance choice in Germany after a reform of health insurance contributions. Using a comprehensive data set of all sickness funds between 2004 and 2013, price elasticities are calculated both before and after the reform for the entire market. The general price elasticity is found to be increased more than 4-fold from -0.81 prior to the reform to -3.53 after the reform. By introducing a new kind of health insurance contribution the reform seemingly increased the price elasticity of insured individuals to a more appropriate level under the given market parameters. However, further unintended consequences of the new contribution scheme were massive losses of market share for the more expensive sickness funds and therefore an undivided focus on pricing as the primary competitive element to the detriment of quality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The PBS in a globalised world: free trade and reference pricing.

PubMed

Searles, Andrew

2009-05-01

In January 2005 Australia implemented the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA). The agreement had placed domestic health policy and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in particular, on the trade negotiating table. At the time Australians were told the PBS would not be undermined, but why was it included in a trade agreement? This article argues that recent reforms to the PBS partially delivered on an issue that the US has compelled its trade negotiators to ensure since 2002: the elimination of reference pricing. In Australia, reference pricing, as used by the PBS, had been credited with obtaining money when buying new medicines.

A case-study of landfill minimization and material recovery via waste co-gasification in a new waste management scheme.

PubMed

Tanigaki, Nobuhiro; Ishida, Yoshihiro; Osada, Morihiro

2015-03-01

This study evaluates municipal solid waste co-gasification technology and a new solid waste management scheme, which can minimize final landfill amounts and maximize material recycled from waste. This new scheme is considered for a region where bottom ash and incombustibles are landfilled or not allowed to be recycled due to their toxic heavy metal concentration. Waste is processed with incombustible residues and an incineration bottom ash discharged from existent conventional incinerators, using a gasification and melting technology (the Direct Melting System). The inert materials, contained in municipal solid waste, incombustibles and bottom ash, are recycled as slag and metal in this process as well as energy recovery. Based on this new waste management scheme with a co-gasification system, a case study of municipal solid waste co-gasification was evaluated and compared with other technical solutions, such as conventional incineration, incineration with an ash melting facility under certain boundary conditions. From a technical point of view, co-gasification produced high quality slag with few harmful heavy metals, which was recycled completely without requiring any further post-treatment such as aging. As a consequence, the co-gasification system had an economical advantage over other systems because of its material recovery and minimization of the final landfill amount. Sensitivity analyses of landfill cost, power price and inert materials in waste were also conducted. The higher the landfill costs, the greater the advantage of the co-gasification system has. The co-gasification was beneficial for landfill cost in the range of 80 Euro per ton or more. Higher power prices led to lower operation cost in each case. The inert contents in processed waste had a significant influence on the operating cost. These results indicate that co-gasification of bottom ash and incombustibles with municipal solid waste contributes to minimizing the final landfill amount and has great possibilities maximizing material recovery and energy recovery from waste. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does reimportation reduce price differences for prescription drugs? Lessons from the European Union.

PubMed

Kyle, Margaret K; Allsbrook, Jennifer S; Schulman, Kevin A

2008-08-01

To examine the effect of parallel trade on patterns of price dispersion for prescription drugs in the European Union. Longitudinal data from an IMS Midas database of prices and units sold for drugs in 36 categories in 30 countries from 1993 through 2004. The main outcome measures were mean price differentials and other measures of price dispersion within European Union countries compared with within non-European Union countries. We identified drugs subject to parallel trade using information provided by IMS and by checking membership lists of parallel import trade associations and lists of approved parallel imports. Parallel trade was not associated with substantial reductions in price dispersion in European Union countries. In descriptive and regression analyses, about half of the price differentials exceeded 50 percent in both European Union and non-European Union countries over time, and price distributions among European Union countries did not show a dramatic change concurrent with the adoption of parallel trade. In regression analysis, we found that although price differentials decreased after 1995 in most countries, they decreased less in the European Union than elsewhere. Parallel trade for prescription drugs does not automatically reduce international price differences. Future research should explore how other regulatory schemes might lead to different results elsewhere.

EAF Management Optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costoiu, M.; Ioana, A.; Semenescu, A.; Marcu, D.

2016-11-01

The article presents the main advantages of electric arc furnace (EAF): it has a great contribution to reintroduce significant quantities of reusable metallic materials in the economic circuit, it constitutes itself as an important part in the Primary Materials and Energy Recovery (PMER), good productivity, good quality / price ratio, the possibility of developing a wide variety of classes and types of steels, including special steels and high alloy. In this paper it is presented some important developments of electric arc furnace: vacuum electric arc furnace, artificial intelligence expert systems for pollution control Steelworks. Another important aspect presented in the article is an original block diagram for optimization the EAF management system. This scheme is based on the original objective function (criterion function) represented by the price / quality ratio. The article presents an original block diagram for optimization the control system of the EAF. For designing this concept of EAF management system, many principles were used.

Game-Theoretic Models for Usage-based Maintenance Contract

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Husniah, H.; Wangsaputra, R.; Cakravastia, A.; Iskandar, B. P.

2018-03-01

A usage-based maintenance contracts with coordination and non coordination between two parties is studied in this paper. The contract is applied to a dump truck operated in a mining industry. The situation under study is that an agent offers service contract to the owner of the truck after warranty ends. This contract has only a time limit but no usage limit. If the total usage per period exceeds the maximum usage allowed in the contract, then the owner will be charged an additional cost. In general, the agent (Original Equipment Manufacturer/OEM) provides a full coverage of maintenance, which includes PM and CM under the lease contract. The decision problem for the owner is to select the best option offered that fits to its requirement, and the decision problem for the agent is to find the optimal maintenance efforts for a given price of the service option offered. We first find the optimal decisions using coordination scheme and then with non coordination scheme for both parties.

Nuclear techniques for the on-line bulk analysis of carbon in coal-fired power stations.

PubMed

Sowerby, B D

2009-09-01

Carbon trading schemes usually require large emitters of CO(2), such as coal-fired power stations, to monitor, report and be audited on their CO(2) emissions. The emission price provides a significant additional incentive for power stations to improve efficiency. In the present paper, previous work on the bulk determination of carbon in coal is reviewed and assessed. The most favourable method is that based on neutron inelastic scattering. The potential role of on-line carbon analysers in improving boiler efficiency and in carbon accounting is discussed.

Cancer Drugs: An International Comparison of Postlicensing Price Inflation.

PubMed

Savage, Philip; Mahmoud, Sarah; Patel, Yogin; Kantarjian, Hagop

2017-06-01

The cost of cancer drugs forms a rising proportion of health care budgets worldwide. A number of studies have examined international comparisons of initial cost, but there is little work on postlicensing price increases. To examine this, we compared cancer drug prices at initial sale and subsequent price inflation in the United States and United Kingdom and also reviewed relevant price control mechanisms. The 10 top-selling cancer drugs were selected, and their prices at initial launch and in 2015 were compared. Standard nondiscounted prices were obtained from the relevant annual copies of the RED BOOK and the British National Formulary. At initial marketing, prices were on average 42% higher in the United States than in the United Kingdom. After licensing in the United States, all 10 drugs had price rises averaging an overall annual 8.8% (range, 1.4% to 24.1%) increase. In comparison, in the United Kingdom, six drugs had unchanged prices, two had decreased prices, and two had modest price increases. The overall annual increase in the United Kingdom was 0.24%. Cancer drug prices are rising substantially, both at their initial marketing price and, in the United States, at postlicensing prices. In the United Kingdom, the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, an agreement between the government and the pharmaceutical industry, controls health care costs while allowing a return on investment and funds for research. The increasing costs of cancer drugs are approaching the limits of sustainability, and a similar government-industry agreement may allow stability for both health care provision and the pharmaceutical industry in the United States.

Optimizing the Operation of Windfarms, Energy Storage and Flexible Loads in Modern Power Systems and Deregulated Electricity Markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dar, Zamiyad

The amount of wind energy in power systems is increasing at a significant rate. With this increased penetration, there are certain problems associated with the operation of windfarms which need careful attention. In the operations side, the wake effects of upstream wind turbines on downstream wind turbines can cause a reduction in the total generated power of a windfarm. On the market side, the fluctuation of real-time prices can make the operation of windfarms less profitable. Similarly, the intermittent nature of wind power prevents the windfarms from participating in the day-ahead and forward markets. On the system side, the volatile nature of wind speeds is also an obstacle for windfarms to provide frequency regulation to the system. In this thesis, we address these issues and optimize the operation of windfarms in power systems and deregulated electricity markets. First, the total power generation in a windfarm is maximized by using yaw angle of wind turbines as a control variable. We extend the existing wake models to include the effects of yaw misalignment and wake deflection of wind turbines. A numerical study is performed to find the optimal values of induction factor and yaw misalignment angle of wind turbines in a single row of a windfarm for achieving the maximum total power with wake effects. The numerical study shows that the maximum power is achieved by keeping the induction factor close to 1/3 and only changing the yaw angle to deflect the wake. We then propose a Dynamic Programming Framework (DPF) to maximize the total power production of a windfarm using yaw angle as the control variable. We compare the windfarm efficiency achieved with our DPF with the efficiency values obtained through greedy control strategy and induction factor optimization. We also extend our expressions to a windfarm with multiple rows and columns of turbines and perform simulations on the 3x3 and 4x4 grid topologies. Our results show that the optimal induction factor for most turbines is quite close to 1/3 and yaw angle acts as the dominant optimization variable. In the next part of this dissertation, a system comprising of a windfarm and energy storage operating in real-time electricity markets is studied. An Energy-balancing Threshold Price (ETP) policy is proposed to maximize the revenue of a windfarm with on-site storage. We propose and analyze a scheme for a windfarm to store or sell energy based on a threshold price. The threshold price is calculated based on long-term distributions of the electricity price and wind power generation processes, and is chosen so as to balance the energy flows in and out of the storage-equipped windfarm. It is also shown mathematically that the proposed policy is optimal in terms of the long-term revenue generated. Comparing it with the optimal policy that has knowledge of the future, we observe that the revenue obtained by the proposed ETP policy is approximately 90% of the maximum attainable revenue at a storage capacity of 10-15 times the power rating of the windfarm. The intermittent nature of wind power is a hindrance to the efficient participation of windfarms in the day-ahead and forward electricity markets. In this regard, a flexible forward contract is proposed in this dissertation which allows the windfarms to enter into a forward contract with flexible load with an option to deviate from the contracted amount of power. Using such a flexible contract would allow the windfarms to supply more or less than the contracted amount of power in case of unexpected wind conditions or real-time prices. We also propose models for forecasting wind power and real-time electricity prices. The comparison between the proposed contracting framework and a simple fixed contract (currently existing in the market) for different levels of flexibility and load shows that there is a net gain in windfarm revenues, if the transaction price of the two contracts are set equal. Lastly, we present and analyze distributed control schemes for frequency regulation in a smart grid using energy storage, wind generators, demand response and conventional generators while having no communication or data sharing between them. We also propose a novel control scheme for frequency support by energy storage in which the power output of energy storage changes proportionally with the reduction in its available energy. The application of the proposed control schemes indicates an improvement in system frequency characteristics, when there is a sudden net loss of generation.

Pricing and simulation for real estate index options: Radial basis point interpolation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Pu; Zou, Dong; Wang, Jiayue

2018-06-01

This study employs the meshfree radial basis point interpolation (RBPI) for pricing real estate derivatives contingent on real estate index. This method combines radial and polynomial basis functions, which can guarantee the interpolation scheme with Kronecker property and effectively improve accuracy. An exponential change of variables, a mesh refinement algorithm and the Richardson extrapolation are employed in this study to implement the RBPI. Numerical results are presented to examine the computational efficiency and accuracy of our method.

Drug Policy in the Czech Republic.

PubMed

Skoupá, Jana

2017-09-01

The legal background of the current pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement (P&R) setting in the Czech Republic is based on Act 48/1997. Since 2008, the P&R process has been coordinated by the State Institute for Drug Control, which is the main stakeholder in the decision-making process; marketing authorization holders and insurance funds (IFs) also participate. To present a general overview of the current Czech health care system and its P&R principles. The study used publicly available sources concerning health care, mainly acts related to public health care and public health care insurance, public notices related to P&R setting, and statistical data. Regulation covers P&R. The official price represents the highest exfactory price, which cannot be exceeded. It is calculated as the mean of the three lowest prices in the European Union reference basket. Reimbursement is based on the lowest price per daily dose across the whole European Union. For reimbursement, products can be clustered into jumbo groups (mutually interchangeable), stated by law. In each group, reimbursement is set at the lowest price of any substance within the group. For highly innovative drugs a temporary reimbursement can be granted for a period of 3 years. During the administrative proceeding, efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness, and budget impact are assessed. The cost-effectiveness principles are aligned with the guidelines of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Care Excellence, preferring cost-utility analyses. The willingness-to-pay threshold has been implicitly set at 3 times the gross domestic product per capita. Products exceeding this threshold are subject to further risk-sharing negotiations. Budget impact is becoming increasingly important mainly for IFs. The IFs have recently introduced their own methodology, which allows only products with a budget impact in the range of CZK16 to CZK48 million (CZK = Czech koruna; ∼€600,000 to €1.8 million) to enter the system. Products exceeding this budget impact have to negotiate risk-sharing schemes, mainly further discounts and/or budget caps. The Czech pricing and reimbursement system is rather complex, taking into account clinical evidence, cost-effectiveness and budget impact. The strict regulations are a result of financial scarcity. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Building Loss Estimation for Earthquake Insurance Pricing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durukal, E.; Erdik, M.; Sesetyan, K.; Demircioglu, M. B.; Fahjan, Y.; Siyahi, B.

2005-12-01

After the 1999 earthquakes in Turkey several changes in the insurance sector took place. A compulsory earthquake insurance scheme was introduced by the government. The reinsurance companies increased their rates. Some even supended operations in the market. And, most important, the insurance companies realized the importance of portfolio analysis in shaping their future market strategies. The paper describes an earthquake loss assessment methodology that can be used for insurance pricing and portfolio loss estimation that is based on our work esperience in the insurance market. The basic ingredients are probabilistic and deterministic regional site dependent earthquake hazard, regional building inventory (and/or portfolio), building vulnerabilities associated with typical construction systems in Turkey and estimations of building replacement costs for different damage levels. Probable maximum and average annualized losses are estimated as the result of analysis. There is a two-level earthquake insurance system in Turkey, the effect of which is incorporated in the algorithm: the national compulsory earthquake insurance scheme and the private earthquake insurance system. To buy private insurance one has to be covered by the national system, that has limited coverage. As a demonstration of the methodology we look at the case of Istanbul and use its building inventory data instead of a portfolio. A state-of-the-art time depent earthquake hazard model that portrays the increased earthquake expectancies in Istanbul is used. Intensity and spectral displacement based vulnerability relationships are incorporated in the analysis. In particular we look at the uncertainty in the loss estimations that arise from the vulnerability relationships, and at the effect of the implemented repair cost ratios.

Watershed-based point sources permitting strategy and dynamic permit-trading analysis.

PubMed

Ning, Shu-Kuang; Chang, Ni-Bin

2007-09-01

Permit-trading policy in a total maximum daily load (TMDL) program may provide an additional avenue to produce environmental benefit, which closely approximates what would be achieved through a command and control approach, with relatively lower costs. One of the important considerations that might affect the effective trading mechanism is to determine the dynamic transaction prices and trading ratios in response to seasonal changes of assimilative capacity in the river. Advanced studies associated with multi-temporal spatially varied trading ratios among point sources to manage water pollution hold considerable potential for industries and policy makers alike. This paper aims to present an integrated simulation and optimization analysis for generating spatially varied trading ratios and evaluating seasonal transaction prices accordingly. It is designed to configure a permit-trading structure basin-wide and provide decision makers with a wealth of cost-effective, technology-oriented, risk-informed, and community-based management strategies. The case study, seamlessly integrating a QUAL2E simulation model with an optimal waste load allocation (WLA) scheme in a designated TMDL study area, helps understand the complexity of varying environmental resources values over space and time. The pollutants of concern in this region, which are eligible for trading, mainly include both biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N). The problem solution, as a consequence, suggests an array of waste load reduction targets in a well-defined WLA scheme and exhibits a dynamic permit-trading framework among different sub-watersheds in the study area. Research findings gained in this paper may extend to any transferable dynamic-discharge permit (TDDP) program worldwide.

An ex-ante economic evaluation of the Maternal and Child Health Voucher Scheme as a decision-making tool in Myanmar

PubMed Central

Kingkaew, Pritaporn; Werayingyong, Pitsaphun; Aye, San San; Tin, Nilar; Singh, Alaka; Myint, Phone; Teerawattananon, Yot

2016-01-01

Reducing child and maternal mortality in order to meet the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 remains a major challenge in Myanmar. Inadequate care during pregnancy and labour plays an important role in the maternal mortality rate in Myanmar. A Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Voucher Scheme comprising a subsidization for pregnant women to receive four antenatal care (ANC), delivery and postnatal care (PNC) free-of-charge was planned to help women overcome financial barriers in addition to raising awareness of ANC and delivery with skilled birth attendants (SBA), which can reduce the rate of maternal and neonatal death. This study is part of an ex-ante evaluation of a feasibility study of the MCH Voucher Scheme. A cost-utility analysis was conducted using a decision tree model to assess the cost per disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted from the MCH Voucher Scheme compared with the current situation. Most input parameters were obtained from Myanmar context. From the base-case analysis, where the financial burden on households was fully subsidized, the MCH Voucher Scheme increased utilization for ANC from 73% up to 93% and for delivery from SBAs from 51% up to and 71%, respectively; hence, it is considered to be very cost-effective with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of 381 027 kyats per DALY averted (2010, price year). From the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, the MCH Voucher Scheme had a 52% chance of being a cost-effective option at 1 GDP per capita threshold compared to the current situation. Given that the Voucher Scheme is currently being implemented in one township in Myanmar as a result of this study, ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this scheme is warranted. PMID:26412858

A Generalized Formulation of Demand Response under Market Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Minh Y.; Nguyen, Duc M.

2015-06-01

This paper presents a generalized formulation of Demand Response (DR) under deregulated electricity markets. The problem is scheduling and controls the consumption of electrical loads according to the market price to minimize the energy cost over a day. Taking into account the modeling of customers' comfort (i.e., preference), the formulation can be applied to various types of loads including what was traditionally classified as critical loads (e.g., air conditioning, lights). The proposed DR scheme is based on Dynamic Programming (DP) framework and solved by DP backward algorithm in which the stochastic optimization is used to treat the uncertainty, if any occurred in the problem. The proposed formulation is examined with the DR problem of different loads, including Heat Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), Electric Vehicles (EVs) and a newly DR on the water supply systems of commercial buildings. The result of simulation shows significant saving can be achieved in comparison with their traditional (On/Off) scheme.

Does Reimportation Reduce Price Differences for Prescription Drugs? Lessons from the European Union

PubMed Central

Kyle, Margaret K; Allsbrook, Jennifer S; Schulman, Kevin A

2008-01-01

Objective To examine the effect of parallel trade on patterns of price dispersion for prescription drugs in the European Union. Data Sources Longitudinal data from an IMS Midas database of prices and units sold for drugs in 36 categories in 30 countries from 1993 through 2004. Study Design The main outcome measures were mean price differentials and other measures of price dispersion within European Union countries compared with within non-European Union countries. Data Collection/Extraction Methods We identified drugs subject to parallel trade using information provided by IMS and by checking membership lists of parallel import trade associations and lists of approved parallel imports. Principal Findings Parallel trade was not associated with substantial reductions in price dispersion in European Union countries. In descriptive and regression analyses, about half of the price differentials exceeded 50 percent in both European Union and non-European Union countries over time, and price distributions among European Union countries did not show a dramatic change concurrent with the adoption of parallel trade. In regression analysis, we found that although price differentials decreased after 1995 in most countries, they decreased less in the European Union than elsewhere. Conclusions Parallel trade for prescription drugs does not automatically reduce international price differences. Future research should explore how other regulatory schemes might lead to different results elsewhere. PMID:18355258

Concurrent Transmission Based on Channel Quality in Ad Hoc Networks: A Game Theoretic Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chen; Gao, Xinbo; Li, Xiaoji; Pei, Qingqi

In this paper, a decentralized concurrent transmission strategy in shared channel in Ad Hoc networks is proposed based on game theory. Firstly, a static concurrent transmissions game is used to determine the candidates for transmitting by channel quality threshold and to maximize the overall throughput with consideration of channel quality variation. To achieve NES (Nash Equilibrium Solution), the selfish behaviors of node to attempt to improve the channel gain unilaterally are evaluated. Therefore, this game allows each node to be distributed and to decide whether to transmit concurrently with others or not depending on NES. Secondly, as there are always some nodes with lower channel gain than NES, which are defined as hunger nodes in this paper, a hunger suppression scheme is proposed by adjusting the price function with interferences reservation and forward relay, to fairly give hunger nodes transmission opportunities. Finally, inspired by stock trading, a dynamic concurrent transmission threshold determination scheme is implemented to make the static game practical. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme is feasible to increase concurrent transmission opportunities for active nodes, and at the same time, the number of hunger nodes is greatly reduced with the least increase of threshold by interferences reservation. Also, the good performance on network goodput of the proposed model can be seen from the results.

Pricing the Computing Resources: Reading Between the Lines and Beyond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nakai, Junko; Veronico, Nick (Editor); Thigpen, William W. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Distributed computing systems have the potential to increase the usefulness of existing facilities for computation without adding anything physical, but that is realized only when necessary administrative features are in place. In a distributed environment, the best match is sought between a computing job to be run and a computer to run the job (global scheduling), which is a function that has not been required by conventional systems. Viewing the computers as 'suppliers' and the users as 'consumers' of computing services, markets for computing services/resources have been examined as one of the most promising mechanisms for global scheduling. We first establish why economics can contribute to scheduling. We further define the criterion for a scheme to qualify as an application of economics. Many studies to date have claimed to have applied economics to scheduling. If their scheduling mechanisms do not utilize economics, contrary to their claims, their favorable results do not contribute to the assertion that markets provide the best framework for global scheduling. We examine the well-known scheduling schemes, which concern pricing and markets, using our criterion of what application of economics is. Our conclusion is that none of the schemes examined makes full use of economics.

Utilization of BIM for automation of quantity takeoffs and cost estimation in transport infrastructure construction projects in the Czech Republic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vitásek, Stanislav; Matějka, Petr

2017-09-01

The article deals with problematic parts of automated processing of quantity takeoff (QTO) from data generated in BIM model. It focuses on models of road constructions, and uses volumes and dimensions of excavation work to create an estimate of construction costs. The article uses a case study and explorative methods to discuss possibilities and problems of data transfer from a model to a price system of construction production when such transfer is used for price estimates of construction works. Current QTOs and price tenders are made with 2D documents. This process is becoming obsolete because more modern tools can be used. The BIM phenomenon enables partial automation in processing volumes and dimensions of construction units and matching the data to units in a given price scheme. Therefore price of construction can be estimated and structured without lengthy and often imprecise manual calculations. The use of BIM for QTO is highly dependent on local market budgeting systems, therefore proper push/pull strategy is required. It also requires proper requirements specification, compatible pricing database and software.

Determining consumer purchase intentions: the importance of dry matter, size, and price of kiwifruit.

PubMed

Jaeger, Sara R; Harker, Roger; Triggs, Chris M; Gunson, Anne; Campbell, Rachel L; Jackman, Richard; Requejo-Jackman, Cecilia

2011-04-01

Knowledge of the relative importance of food quality attributes in determining consumer purchase intention is critical for robust assessment of economic opportunities for industry growth. The aim of this study is to demonstrate how conjoint analysis methodology that incorporates tasting of fruit can be used to collect such information. Three hundred Japanese consumers took part in research designed to measure the importance of dry matter (DM), size, and price of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa "Hayward" and Actinidia chinensis "Hort16A") for purchase intention. Measurement of consumer liking for kiwifruit of different DM content was a key first step. Liking increased as DM increased and was accompanied by increased purchase likelihood/choice probability for kiwifruit. The size of kiwifruit presented to consumers varied from "small" to "extra large." Consumers liked "mid-sized" kiwifruit over "small" or "extra-large" kiwifruit. Despite these differences in liking, size was of little importance in determining purchase likelihood/choice probability for kiwifruit. Price was a very important factor in determining purchase likelihood/choice probability but was less important than DM content. As price increased, purchase likelihood/choice probability decreased. Beneath these general findings, heterogeneity existed. Some consumers placed more/less importance on the focal purchase drivers than suggested by the aggregate model. Overall, the results suggest that incentive schemes already implemented by industry should consider rewarding high-DM fruit more than fruit size.   This research has contributed to the New Zealand kiwifruit industry gaining a better understanding of the relative importance consumers place on DM, size, and price of kiwifruit and has resulted in changes to grower incentive schemes. The research approach presented forces consumer to tradeoff attributes of kiwifruit against each other and decide on how important two key quality attributes-DM and size-are relative to each other and relative to price. The application of conjoint analysis in this article can be transferred to other fruits, food, and beverages and help guide consumer-led innovation.

Introducing risk adjustment and free health plan choice in employer-based health insurance: Evidence from Germany.

PubMed

Pilny, Adam; Wübker, Ansgar; Ziebarth, Nicolas R

2017-12-01

To equalize differences in health plan premiums due to differences in risk pools, the German legislature introduced a simple Risk Adjustment Scheme (RAS) based on age, gender and disability status in 1994. In addition, effective 1996, consumers gained the freedom to choose among hundreds of existing health plans, across employers and state-borders. This paper (a) estimates RAS pass-through rates on premiums, financial reserves, and expenditures and assesses the overall RAS impact on market price dispersion. Moreover, it (b) characterizes health plan switchers and investigates their annual and cumulative switching rates over time. Our main findings are based on representative enrollee panel data linked to administrative RAS and health plan data. We show that sickness funds with bad risk pools and high pre-RAS premiums lowered their total premiums by 42 cents per additional euro allocated by the RAS. Consequently, post-RAS, health plan prices converged but not fully. Because switchers are more likely to be white collar, young and healthy, the new consumer choice resulted in more risk segregation and the amount of money redistributed by the RAS increased over time. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Innovation in diagnostic imaging services: assessing the potential for value-based reimbursement.

PubMed

Garrison, Louis P; Bresnahan, Brian W; Higashi, Mitchell K; Hollingworth, William; Jarvik, Jeffrey G

2011-09-01

Innovation in the field of diagnostic imaging is based primarily on the availability of new and improved equipment that opens the door for new clinical applications. Payments for these imaging procedures are subject to complex Medicare price control schemes, affecting incentives for appropriate use and innovation. Achieving a "dynamically efficient" health care system-one that elicits a socially optimal amount of innovation-requires that innovators be rewarded in relation to the value they add and can demonstrate with evidence. The authors examine how and whether value-based reimbursement for diagnostic imaging services might better reward innovation explicitly for expected improvements in health and economic outcomes. Copyright © 2011 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Truthful Channel Sharing for Self Coexistence of Overlapping Medical Body Area Networks

PubMed Central

Dutkiewicz, Eryk; Zheng, Guanglou

2016-01-01

As defined by IEEE 802.15.6 standard, channel sharing is a potential method to coordinate inter-network interference among Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs) that are close to one another. However, channel sharing opens up new vulnerabilities as selfish MBANs may manipulate their online channel requests to gain unfair advantage over others. In this paper, we address this issue by proposing a truthful online channel sharing algorithm and a companion protocol that allocates channel efficiently and truthfully by punishing MBANs for misreporting their channel request parameters such as time, duration and bid for the channel. We first present an online channel sharing scheme for unit-length channel requests and prove that it is truthful. We then generalize our model to settings with variable-length channel requests, where we propose a critical value based channel pricing and preemption scheme. A bid adjustment procedure prevents unbeneficial preemption by artificially raising the ongoing winner’s bid controlled by a penalty factor λ. Our scheme can efficiently detect selfish behaviors by monitoring a trust parameter α of each MBAN and punish MBANs from cheating by suspending their requests. Our extensive simulation results show our scheme can achieve a total profit that is more than 85% of the offline optimum method in the typical MBAN settings. PMID:26844888

The short-term impact of Ontario's generic pricing reforms.

PubMed

Law, Michael R; Ystma, Alison; Morgan, Steven G

2011-01-01

Canadians pay amongst the highest generic drug prices in the world. In July 2010, the province of Ontario enacted a policy that halved reimbursement for generic drugs from the public drug plan, and substantially lowered prices for private purchases. We quantified the impact of this policy on overall generic drug expenditures in the province, and projected the impact in other provinces had they mimicked this pricing change. We used quarterly prescription generic drug dispensing data from the IMS-Brogan CompuScript Audit. We used the price per unit in both the pre- and post-policy period and two economics price indexes to estimate the expenditure reduction in Ontario. Further, we used the post-policy Ontario prices to estimate the potential reduction in other provinces. We estimate that total expenditure on generic drugs in Ontario during the second half of 2010 was between $181 and $194 million below what would be expected if prices had remained at pre-policy level. Over half of the reduction in spending was due to savings on just 10 generic ingredients. If other provinces had matched Ontario's prices, their expenditures over during the latter half of 2010 would have been $445 million lower. We found that if Ontario's pricing scheme were adopted nationally, overall spending on generic drugs in Canada would drop at least $1.28 billion annually--a 5% decrease in total prescription drug expenditure. Other provinces should seriously consider both changes to their generic drug prices and the use of more competitive bulk purchasing policies.

Developing a goal programming model for ideal/mutual house price

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saiddin, Nor Syuhadah; Zaibidi, Nerda Zura; Sulaiman, Nor Intan Saniah

2015-12-01

One cannot deny the importance of a house as a living need. Unfortunately, the unreasonable house price makes it approximately impossible to be owned, mostly for middle income group. Nowadays, the middle income house buyers have two alternatives, whether to buy it from a private developer or through PR1MA and My First Home scheme, since both parties have their own advantages. Goal programming has been employed to resolve the multi objective problem among parties. Due to the complex decision making in house price determination between the parties, this study purposely modeled the problem using interval goal programming approach. Goal programming and interval goal programming can be differ based on their goal (i.e. the aspire level) which is in the form of interval. This study employed primary data and secondary data, which primary data is acquired from semi-structured interview with private developer, while secondary data is the data obtained from literature review. Initial result shows the satisfactory house price over preferences and needs of the decision makers, which are RM454, 050.00 for the private developer, RM322, 880.00 for the government and range of RM2380.95 to RM245, 100.00 for the house buyer. This suggests the house price range that is satisfied by all parties which is about RM238, 000.95 to RM460, 000.00.The satisfaction might occurred when they are all cooperating, which the way could enlighten the impact of collaboration between the parties. This could be the limitations for this study.

A discontinuous Galerkin method for two-dimensional PDE models of Asian options

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hozman, J.; Tichý, T.; Cvejnová, D.

2016-06-01

In our previous research we have focused on the problem of plain vanilla option valuation using discontinuous Galerkin method for numerical PDE solution. Here we extend a simple one-dimensional problem into two-dimensional one and design a scheme for valuation of Asian options, i.e. options with payoff depending on the average of prices collected over prespecified horizon. The algorithm is based on the approach combining the advantages of the finite element methods together with the piecewise polynomial generally discontinuous approximations. Finally, an illustrative example using DAX option market data is provided.

Comparing risk in conventional and organic dairy farming in the Netherlands: an empirical analysis.

PubMed

Berentsen, P B M; Kovacs, K; van Asseldonk, M A P M

2012-07-01

This study was undertaken to contribute to the understanding of why most dairy farmers do not convert to organic farming. Therefore, the objective of this research was to assess and compare risks for conventional and organic farming in the Netherlands with respect to gross margin and the underlying price and production variables. To investigate the risk factors a farm accountancy database was used containing panel data from both conventional and organic representative Dutch dairy farms (2001-2007). Variables with regard to price and production risk were identified using a gross margin analysis scheme. Price risk variables were milk price and concentrate price. The main production risk variables were milk yield per cow, roughage yield per hectare, and veterinary costs per cow. To assess risk, an error component implicit detrending method was applied and the resulting detrended standard deviations were compared between conventional and organic farms. Results indicate that the risk included in the gross margin per cow is significantly higher in organic farming. This is caused by both higher price and production risks. Price risks are significantly higher in organic farming for both milk price and concentrate price. With regard to production risk, only milk yield per cow poses a significantly higher risk in organic farming. Copyright © 2012 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Country watch: Pakistan.

PubMed

Toll, K; Agha, S

1999-01-01

In Pakistan, which has a high fertility rate, affordable prices of condoms and family planning services attract low-income residents. This was shown by the two projects: the condom distribution scheme and the family planning franchise. A condom social marketing (CSM) program started by Population Services International (PSI) increased contraceptive use in urban areas and sold low-priced condoms. However, in 1991 the price doubled in order to recover the costs, which resulted in a decline in sales. Thus, in 1995 PSI and Social Marketing Pakistan franchised the Green Star project that aimed to raise the quality of private sector family planning clinics serving low-income women and to increase the availability and use of female-controlled contraception. By 1996, the CSM project was selling over 80 million condoms annually.

Cubature on Wiener Space: Pathwise Convergence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bayer, Christian, E-mail: christian.bayer@wias-berlin.de; Friz, Peter K., E-mail: friz@math.tu-berlin.de

2013-04-15

Cubature on Wiener space (Lyons and Victoir in Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 460(2041):169-198, 2004) provides a powerful alternative to Monte Carlo simulation for the integration of certain functionals on Wiener space. More specifically, and in the language of mathematical finance, cubature allows for fast computation of European option prices in generic diffusion models.We give a random walk interpretation of cubature and similar (e.g. the Ninomiya-Victoir) weak approximation schemes. By using rough path analysis, we are able to establish weak convergence for general path-dependent option prices.

Genetic Parameter Estimates of Carcass Traits under National Scale Breeding Scheme for Beef Cattle.

PubMed

Do, ChangHee; Park, ByungHo; Kim, SiDong; Choi, TaeJung; Yang, BohSuk; Park, SuBong; Song, HyungJun

2016-08-01

Carcass and price traits of 72,969 Hanwoo cows, bulls and steers aged 16 to 80 months at slaughter collected from 2002 to 2013 at 75 beef packing plants in Korea were analyzed to determine heritability, correlation and breeding value using the Multi-Trait restricted maximum likelihood (REML) animal model procedure. The traits included carcass measurements, scores and grades at 24 h postmortem and bid prices at auction. Relatively high heritability was found for maturity (0.41±0.031), while moderate heritability estimates were obtained for backfat thickness (0.20±0.018), longissimus muscle (LM) area (0.23±0.020), carcass weight (0.28±0.019), yield index (0.20±0.018), yield grade (0.16±0.017), marbling (0.28±0.021), texture (0.14±0.016), quality grade (0.26±0.016) and price/kg (0.24±0.025). Relatively low heritability estimates were observed for meat color (0.06±0.013) and fat color (0.06±0.012). Heritability estimates for most traits were lower than those in the literature. Genetic correlations of carcass measurements with characteristic scores or quality grade of carcass ranged from -0.27 to +0.21. Genetic correlations of yield grade with backfat thickness, LM area and carcass weight were 0.91, -0.43, and -0.09, respectively. Genetic correlations of quality grade with scores of marbling, meat color, fat color and texture were -0.99, 0.48, 0.47, and 0.98, respectively. Genetic correlations of price/kg with LM area, carcass weight, marbling, meat color, texture and maturity were 0.57, 0.64, 0.76, -0.41, -0.79, and -0.42, respectively. Genetic correlations of carcass price with LM area, carcass weight, marbling and texture were 0.61, 0.57, 0.64, and -0.73, respectively, with standard errors ranging from ±0.047 to ±0.058. The mean carcass weight breeding values increased by more than 8 kg, whereas the mean marbling scores decreased by approximately 0.2 from 2000 through 2009. Overall, the results suggest that genetic improvement of productivity and carcass quality could be obtained under the national scale breeding scheme of Korea for Hanwoo and that continuous efforts to improve the breeding scheme should be made to increase genetic progress.

The constitutional protection of trade secrets and patents under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009.

PubMed

Epstein, Richard A

2011-01-01

The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 ("Biosimilars Act") is for the field of pharmaceutical products the single most important legislative development since passage of the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 ("Hatch-Waxman Act"), on which portions of the Biosimilars Act are clearly patterned. Congress revised section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to create a pathway for FDA approval of "biosimilar" biological products. Each biosimilar applicant is required to cite in its application a "reference product" that was approved on the basis of a full application containing testing data and manufacturing information, which is owned and was submitted by another company and much of which constitutes trade secret information subject to constitutional protection. Because the Biosimilars Act authorizes biosimilar applicants to cite these previously approved applications, the implementation of the new legislative scheme raises critical issues under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, pursuant to which private property--trade secrets included--may not be taken for public use, without "just compensation." FDA must confront those issues as it implements the scheme set out in the Biosimilars Act. This article will discuss these issues, after providing a brief overview of the Biosimilars Act and a more detailed examination of the law of trade secrets.

High prices for generics in Australia - more competition might help.

PubMed

Bulfone, Liliana

2009-05-01

It is commonly believed that dispensed prices of medicines in Australia are substantially lower than those in other developed countries, particularly the US. This article reports the results of an analysis comparing dispensed prices for the most commonly prescribed and the highest cost items in Australia with dispensed prices in the US. Although a large majority of items are less expensive in Australia than in the US, Australian prices are higher for a substantial number of products, particularly generic drugs. This article examines various policies affecting the pricing of generics in Australia. It is postulated that the main cause for higher prices for a substantial number of generic products is the lack of price competition. This results from government policy which ensures that a price reduction by one company is communicated immediately to all competitors in that market along with an invitation to match the reduced price. The dominant strategy for all suppliers is to only reduce their price in response to a reduction in price by a competitor. The result is a lack of differentiation in pricing across brands of a medicine on the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits. The government could improve the structure of the generics market and encourage greater competition by ceasing to disclose competitor firms' offers to other competitors. The government could conduct pricing reviews of each generic product relatively infrequently (eg, only once annually or every 18 months). At the time of the pricing review, the government would request confidential offers on price for a generic from all players in the market. Brands should then all be listed under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) at the offered price. Prices offered by the individual supplier would apply until the next pricing review. The PBS would continue to subsidise up to the price of the lowest priced brand, with brand premiums applying to all brands priced higher than the benchmark price. Such an approach would provide opportunity for players in the market to capture market share by being the lowest priced brand.

Public policy and risk financing strategies for global catastrophe risk management - the role of global risk initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McSharry, Patrick; Mitchell, Andrew; Anderson, Rebecca

2010-05-01

Decision-makers in both public and private organisations depend on accurate data and scientific understanding to adequately address climate change and the impact of extreme events. The financial impacts of catastrophes on populations and infrastructure can be offset through effective risk transfer mechanisms, structured to reflect the specific perils and levels of exposure to be covered. Optimal strategies depend on the likely socio-econonomic impact, the institutional framework, the overall objectives of the covers placed and the level of both the frequency and severity of loss potential expected. The diversity of approaches across different countries has been documented by the Spanish "Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros". We discuss why international public/private partnerships are necessary for addressing the risk of natural catastrophes. International initiatives such as the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) and the World Forum of Catastrophe Programmes (WFCP) can provide effective guidelines for constructing natural catastrophe schemes. The World Bank has been instrumental in the creation of many of the existing schemes such as the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility and the Mongolian Index-Based Livestock Insurance Program. We review existing schemes and report on best practice in relation to providing protection against natural catastrophe perils. The suitability of catastrophe modelling approaches to support schemes across the world are discussed and we identify opportunities to improve risk assessment for such schemes through transparent frameworks for quantifying, pricing, sharing and financing catastrophe risk on a local and global basis.

Drug Pricing Evolution in Hepatitis C.

PubMed

Vernaz, Nathalie; Girardin, François; Goossens, Nicolas; Brügger, Urs; Riguzzi, Marco; Perrier, Arnaud; Negro, Francesco

2016-01-01

We aimed to determine the association between the stepwise increase in the sustained viral response (SVR) and Swiss and United States (US) market prices of drug regimens for treatment-naive, genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the last 25 years. We identified the following five steps in the development of HCV treatment regimens: 1) interferon (IFN)-α monotherapy in the early '90s, 2) IFN-α in combination with ribavirin (RBV), 3) pegylated (peg) IFN-α in combination with RBV, 4) the first direct acting antivirals (DAAs) (telaprevir and boceprevir) in combination with pegIFN-α and RBV, and 5) newer DAA-based regimens, such as sofosbuvir (which is or is not combined with ledipasvir) and fixed-dose combination of ritonavir-boosted paritaprevir and ombitasvir in combination with dasabuvir. We performed a linear regression and mean cost analysis to test for an association between SVRs and HCV regimen prices. We conducted a sensitivity analysis using US prices at the time of US drug licensing. We selected randomized clinical trials of drugs approved for use in Switzerland from 1997 to July 2015 including treatment-naïve patients with HCV genotype 1 infection. We identified a statistically significant positive relationship between the proportion of patients achieving SVRs and the costs of HCV regimens in Switzerland (with a bivariate ordinary least square regression yielding an R2 measure of 0.96) and the US (R2 = 0.95). The incremental cost per additional percentage of SVR was 597.14 USD in Switzerland and 1,063.81 USD in the US. The pricing of drugs for HCV regimens follows a value-based model, which has a stable ratio of costs per achieved SVR over 25 years. Health care systems are struggling with the high resource use of these new agents despite their obvious long-term advantages for the overall health of the population. Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry, health care payers and other stakeholders are challenged with finding new drug pricing schemes to treat the entire population infected with HCV.

Drug Pricing Evolution in Hepatitis C

PubMed Central

Vernaz, Nathalie; Girardin, François; Goossens, Nicolas; Brügger, Urs; Riguzzi, Marco; Perrier, Arnaud; Negro, Francesco

2016-01-01

Objective We aimed to determine the association between the stepwise increase in the sustained viral response (SVR) and Swiss and United States (US) market prices of drug regimens for treatment-naive, genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the last 25 years. We identified the following five steps in the development of HCV treatment regimens: 1) interferon (IFN)-α monotherapy in the early '90s, 2) IFN-α in combination with ribavirin (RBV), 3) pegylated (peg) IFN-α in combination with RBV, 4) the first direct acting antivirals (DAAs) (telaprevir and boceprevir) in combination with pegIFN-α and RBV, and 5) newer DAA-based regimens, such as sofosbuvir (which is or is not combined with ledipasvir) and fixed-dose combination of ritonavir-boosted paritaprevir and ombitasvir in combination with dasabuvir. Design We performed a linear regression and mean cost analysis to test for an association between SVRs and HCV regimen prices. We conducted a sensitivity analysis using US prices at the time of US drug licensing. We selected randomized clinical trials of drugs approved for use in Switzerland from 1997 to July 2015 including treatment-naïve patients with HCV genotype 1 infection. Results We identified a statistically significant positive relationship between the proportion of patients achieving SVRs and the costs of HCV regimens in Switzerland (with a bivariate ordinary least square regression yielding an R2 measure of 0.96) and the US (R2 = 0.95). The incremental cost per additional percentage of SVR was 597.14 USD in Switzerland and 1,063.81 USD in the US. Conclusion The pricing of drugs for HCV regimens follows a value-based model, which has a stable ratio of costs per achieved SVR over 25 years. Health care systems are struggling with the high resource use of these new agents despite their obvious long-term advantages for the overall health of the population. Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry, health care payers and other stakeholders are challenged with finding new drug pricing schemes to treat the entire population infected with HCV. PMID:27310294

The Short-Term Impact of Ontario's Generic Pricing Reforms

PubMed Central

Law, Michael R.; Ystma, Alison; Morgan, Steven G.

2011-01-01

Background Canadians pay amongst the highest generic drug prices in the world. In July 2010, the province of Ontario enacted a policy that halved reimbursement for generic drugs from the public drug plan, and substantially lowered prices for private purchases. We quantified the impact of this policy on overall generic drug expenditures in the province, and projected the impact in other provinces had they mimicked this pricing change. Methods We used quarterly prescription generic drug dispensing data from the IMS-Brogan CompuScript Audit. We used the price per unit in both the pre- and post-policy period and two economics price indexes to estimate the expenditure reduction in Ontario. Further, we used the post-policy Ontario prices to estimate the potential reduction in other provinces. Results We estimate that total expenditure on generic drugs in Ontario during the second half of 2010 was between $181 and $194 million below what would be expected if prices had remained at pre-policy level. Over half of the reduction in spending was due to savings on just 10 generic ingredients. If other provinces had matched Ontario's prices, their expenditures over during the latter half of 2010 would have been $445 million lower. Discussion We found that if Ontario's pricing scheme were adopted nationally, overall spending on generic drugs in Canada would drop at least $1.28 billion annually—a 5% decrease in total prescription drug expenditure. Other provinces should seriously consider both changes to their generic drug prices and the use of more competitive bulk purchasing policies. PMID:21829581

Challenges of medicines management in the public and private sector under Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme - A qualitative study.

PubMed

Ashigbie, Paul G; Azameti, Devine; Wirtz, Veronika J

2016-01-01

Ghana established its National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2003 with the goal of ensuring more equitable financing of health care to improve access to health services. This qualitative study examines the challenges and consequences of medicines management policies and practices under the NHIS as perceived by public and private service providers. This study was conducted in health facilities in the Eastern, Greater Accra and Volta regions of Ghana between July and August 2014. We interviewed 26 Key Informants (KIs) from a purposively selected sample of public and private sector providers (government and mission hospitals, private hospitals and private standalone pharmacies), pharmaceutical suppliers and NHIS district offices. Data was collected using semi-structured interview guides which covered facility accreditation, reimbursement practices, medicines selection, purchasing and pricing of medicines, and utilization of medicines. Codes for data analysis were developed based on the study questions and also in response to themes that emerged from the transcripts and notes. Most KIs agreed that the introduction of the NHIS has increased access to and utilization of medicines by removing cost barriers for patients; however, some pointed out the increased utilization could also be corollary to moral hazard. Common concerns across all facilities were the delays in receiving NHIS reimbursements, and low reimbursement rates for medicines which result in providers asking patients to pay supplementary fees. KIs reported important differences between private and public sectors including weak separation of prescribing and dispensing and limited use of drugs and therapeutic committees in the private sector, the disproportionate effects of unfavorable reimbursement prices for medicines, and inadequate participation of the private sector providers (especially pharmacies and licensed chemical sellers) in the NHIS. Health providers generally perceive the NHIS to have had a largely positive impact on access to medicines. However, concerns remain about equity in access to medicines and the differences in quality of pharmaceutical care delivered by private and public providers. Routine monitoring of medicines use during the implementation of health insurance schemes is important to identify and address the potential consequences of medicines policies and practices under the scheme.

Three Essays in Energy Economics and Industrial Organization, with Applications to Electricity and Distribution Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dimitropoulos, Dimitrios

Electricity industries are experiencing upward cost pressures in many parts of the world. Chapter 1 of this thesis studies the production technology of electricity distributors. Although production and cost functions are mathematical duals, practitioners typically estimate only one or the other. This chapter proposes an approach for joint estimation of production and costs. Combining such quantity and price data has the effect of adding statistical information without introducing additional parameters into the model. We define a GMM estimator that produces internally consistent parameter estimates for both the production function and the cost function. We consider a multi-output framework, and show how to account for the presence of certain types of simultaneity and measurement error. The methodology is applied to data on 73 Ontario distributors for the period 2002-2012. As expected, the joint model results in a substantial improvement in the precision of parameter estimates. Chapter 2 focuses on productivity trends in electricity distribution. We apply two methodologies for estimating productivity growth . an index based approach, and an econometric cost based approach . to our data on the 73 Ontario distributors for the period 2002 to 2012. The resulting productivity growth estimates are approximately 1% per year, suggesting a reversal of the positive estimates that have generally been reported in previous periods. We implement flexible semi-parametric variants to assess the robustness of these conclusions and discuss the use of such statistical analyses for calibrating productivity and relative efficiencies within a price-cap framework. In chapter 3, I turn to the historically important problem of vertical contractual relations. While the existing literature has established that resale price maintenance is sufficient to coordinate the distribution network of a manufacturer, this chapter asks whether such vertical restraints are necessary. Specifically, I study the vertical contracting problem between an upstream manufacturer and its downstream distributors in a setting where spot market contracts fail, but resale price maintenance cannot be appealed to due to legal prohibition. I show that a bonus scheme based on retail revenues is sufficient to provide incentives to decentralized retailers to elicit the correct levels of both price and service.

Three Essays in Energy Economics and Industrial Organization, with Applications to Electricity and Distribution Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dimitropoulos, Dimitrios

Electricity industries are experiencing upward cost pressures in many parts of the world. Chapter 1 of this thesis studies the production technology of electricity distributors. Although production and cost functions are mathematical duals, practitioners typically estimate only one or the other. This chapter proposes an approach for joint estimation of production and costs. Combining such quantity and price data has the effect of adding statistical information without introducing additional parameters into the model. We define a GMM estimator that produces internally consistent parameter estimates for both the production function and the cost function. We consider a multi-output framework, and show how to account for the presence of certain types of simultaneity and measurement error. The methodology is applied to data on 73 Ontario distributors for the period 2002-2012. As expected, the joint model results in a substantial improvement in the precision of parameter estimates. Chapter 2 focuses on productivity trends in electricity distribution. We apply two methodologies for estimating productivity growth---an index based approach, and an econometric cost based approach---to our data on the 73 Ontario distributors for the period 2002 to 2012. The resulting productivity growth estimates are approximately -1% per year, suggesting a reversal of the positive estimates that have generally been reported in previous periods. We implement flexible semi-parametric variants to assess the robustness of these conclusions and discuss the use of such statistical analyses for calibrating productivity and relative efficiencies within a price-cap framework. In chapter 3, I turn to the historically important problem of vertical contractual relations. While the existing literature has established that resale price maintenance is sufficient to coordinate the distribution network of a manufacturer, this chapter asks whether such vertical restraints are necessary. Specifically, I study the vertical contracting problem between an upstream manufacturer and its downstream distributors in a setting where spot market contracts fail, but resale price maintenance cannot be appealed to due to legal prohibition. I show that a bonus scheme based on retail revenues is sufficient to provide incentives to decentralized retailers to elicit the correct levels of both price and service.

Joint decision of pricing and order quantity by considering product substitution in dual channel supply chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widodo, Erwin

2017-11-01

Dual channel supply chain (DCSC) has been attracting many researchers' attention. Their contributions mainly are in two folds, namely pricing problem and inventory policy. However, research to address both pricing and inventory problems simultaneously are still scarce. Meanwhile in recent competitive market, product substitution is an unavoidable practice in fulfilling customer demand when the main product is unavailable. Thus how to decide price and order quantity by considering product substitution under DCSC setting is an interesting topic to address. In this paper, corresponding mathematical model incorporating such problem is proposed. This model consists of objective function measuring sales revenue and inventory cost, and some constraints to assure positive profit margin, interplaying price between online and offline channel, and positive demand. Two pricing schemes, namely Vertical Nash and Stackelberg Leadership are evaluated. The result shows that in any situation of substitution level, Vertical Nash solution provides higher financial performance than that under Stackelberg Leadership. In addition, this work's results have also revealed that there exist some threshold values differentiating when it is better off to apply Vertical Nash scenario an, when Stackelberg Leadership scenario is preferable.

Price subsidies and the market for mosquito nets in developing countries: A study of Tanzania's discount voucher scheme.

PubMed

Gingrich, Chris D; Hanson, Kara; Marchant, Tanya; Mulligan, Jo-Ann; Mponda, Hadji

2011-07-01

This study uses a partial equilibrium simulation model to explore how price subsidies for insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) affect households' purchases of ITNs. The model describes the ITN market in a typical developing country and is applied to the situation in Tanzania, where the Tanzania National Voucher Scheme (TNVS) provides a targeted subsidy to vulnerable population groups by means of a discount voucher. The data for this study come from a nationally-representative household survey completed July-August 2006 covering over 4300 households in 21 districts. The simulation results show the impact of the voucher program on ITN coverage among target households, namely those that experienced the birth of a child. More specifically, the share of target households purchasing an ITN increased from 18 to 62 percent because of the discount voucher. The model also suggests that the voucher program could cause the retail ITN price to rise due to an overall increase in demand. As a result, ITN purchases by households without a voucher may actually decline. The simulation model suggests that additional increases toward the stated goal of 80 percent ITN coverage for pregnant women and children could best be achieved through a combination of "catch up" mass distribution programs and expanding the target group for the voucher program to cover additional households. The model can be employed in other countries considering use of a targeted price subsidy for ITNs, and could be adapted to assess the impact of subsidies for other public health commodities. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Addressing forecast uncertainty impact on CSP annual performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferretti, Fabio; Hogendijk, Christopher; Aga, Vipluv; Ehrsam, Andreas

2017-06-01

This work analyzes the impact of weather forecast uncertainty on the annual performance of a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant. Forecast time series has been produced by a commercial forecast provider using the technique of hindcasting for the full year 2011 in hourly resolution for Ouarzazate, Morocco. Impact of forecast uncertainty has been measured on three case studies, representing typical tariff schemes observed in recent CSP projects plus a spot market price scenario. The analysis has been carried out using an annual performance model and a standard dispatch optimization algorithm based on dynamic programming. The dispatch optimizer has been demonstrated to be a key requisite to maximize the annual revenues depending on the price scenario, harvesting the maximum potential out of the CSP plant. Forecasting uncertainty affects the revenue enhancement outcome of a dispatch optimizer depending on the error level and the price function. Results show that forecasting accuracy of direct solar irradiance (DNI) is important to make best use of an optimized dispatch but also that a higher number of calculation updates can partially compensate this uncertainty. Improvement in revenues can be significant depending on the price profile and the optimal operation strategy. Pathways to achieve better performance are presented by having more updates both by repeatedly generating new optimized trajectories but also more often updating weather forecasts. This study shows the importance of working on DNI weather forecasting for revenue enhancement as well as selecting weather services that can provide multiple updates a day and probabilistic forecast information.

Construct the stable vendor managed inventory partnership through a profit-sharing approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, S.; Yu, Z.; Dong, M.

2015-01-01

In real life, the vendor managed inventory (VMI) model is not always a stable supply chain partnership. This paper proposes a cooperative game based profit-sharing method to stabilize the VMI partnership. Specifically, in a B2C setting, we consider a VMI program including a manufacturer and multiple online retailers. The manufacturer provides the finished product at the equal wholesale price to multiple online retailers. The online retailers face the same customer demand information. We offer the model to compute the increased profits generated by information sharing for total possible VMI coalitions. Using the solution concept of Shapley value, the profit-sharing scheme is produced to fairly divide the total increased profits among the VMI members. We find that under a fair allocation scheme, the higher inventory cost of one VMI member increases the surplus of the other members. Furthermore, the manufacturer is glad to increase the size of VMI coalition, whereas, the retailers are delighted to limit the size of the alliance. Finally, the manufacturer can select the appropriate retailer to boost its surplus, which has no effect on the surplus of the other retailers. The numerical examples indicate that the grand coalition is stable under the proposed allocation scheme.

The effect of Taiwan's tax-induced increases in cigarette prices on brand-switching and the consumption of cigarettes.

PubMed

Tsai, Yi-Wen; Yang, Chung-Lin; Chen, Chin-Shyan; Liu, Tsai-Ching; Chen, Pei-Fen

2005-06-01

The effect of raising cigarette taxes to reduce smoking has been the subject of several studies, which often treat the price of cigarettes as an exogenous factor given to smokers who respond to it by adjusting their smoking behavior. However, cigarette prices vary with brand and quality, and smokers can and do switch to lower-priced brands to reduce the impact of the tax on the cost of cigarettes as they try to consume the same number of cigarettes as they had before a tax hike. Using data from a two-year follow-up interview survey conducted before and after a new cigarette tax scheme was imposed in Taiwan in 2002, this study examines three behavioral changes smokers may make to respond to tax-induced cigarette price increase: brand-switching, amount consumed, and amount spent on smoking. These changes were studied in relation to smoker income, before-tax cigarette price, level of addiction, exposure to advertizing, and consumer loyalty. We found that smokers, depending upon exposure to advertizing, level of consumer loyalty and initial price of cigarettes, switched brands to maintain current smoking habits and control costs. We also found that the initial amount smoked and level of addiction, not price, at least not at the current levels in Taiwan, determined whether a smoker reduced the number of cigarettes he consumed. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Financing pharmaceuticals in transition economies.

PubMed

Kanavos, P

1999-06-01

This paper (a) provides a methodological taxonomy of pricing, financing, reimbursement, and cost containment methodologies for pharmaceuticals; (b) analyzes complex agency relationships and the health versus industrial policy tradeoff; (c) pinpoints financing measures to balance safety and effectiveness of medicines and their affordability by publicly funded systems in transition; and (d) highlights viable options for policy-makers for the financing of pharmaceuticals in transition. Three categories of measures and their implications for pharmaceutical policy cost containing are analyzed: supply-side measures, targeting manufacturers, proxy demand-side measures, targeting physicians and pharmacists, and demand-side measures, targeting patients. In pursuing supply side measures, we explore free pricing for pharmaceuticals, direct price controls, cost-plus and cost pricing, average pricing and international price comparisons, profit control, reference pricing, the introduction of a fourth hurdle, positive and negative lists, and other price control measures. The analysis of proxy-demand measures includes budgets for physicians, generic policies, practice guidelines, monitoring the authorizing behavior of physicians, and disease management schemes. Demand-side measures explore the effectiveness of patient co-payments, the impact of allowing products over-the-counter and health promotion programs. Global policies should operate simultaneously on the supply, the proxy demand, and the demand-side. Policy-making needs to have a continuous long-term planning. The importation of policies into transition economy may require extensive and expensive adaptation, and/or lead to sub-optimal policy outcomes.

Generic drugs: international trends and policy developments in Australia.

PubMed

Lofgren, Hans

2004-01-01

Public and private third-party payers in many countries encourage or mandate the use of generic drugs. This article examines the development of generics policy in Australia, against the background of a description of international trends in this area, and related experiences of reference pricing programs. The Australian generics market remains underdeveloped due to a historical legacy of small Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme price differentials between originator brands and generics. It is argued that policy measures open to the Australian government can be conceived as clustering around two different approaches: incremental changes within the existing regulatory framework, or a shift towards a high volume/low price role of generics which would speed up the delivery of substantial cost savings, and could provide enhanced scope for the financing of new, patented drugs.

Optimal Multi-scale Demand-side Management for Continuous Power-Intensive Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitra, Sumit

With the advent of deregulation in electricity markets and an increasing share of intermittent power generation sources, the profitability of industrial consumers that operate power-intensive processes has become directly linked to the variability in energy prices. Thus, for industrial consumers that are able to adjust to the fluctuations, time-sensitive electricity prices (as part of so-called Demand-Side Management (DSM) in the smart grid) offer potential economical incentives. In this thesis, we introduce optimization models and decomposition strategies for the multi-scale Demand-Side Management of continuous power-intensive processes. On an operational level, we derive a mode formulation for scheduling under time-sensitive electricity prices. The formulation is applied to air separation plants and cement plants to minimize the operating cost. We also describe how a mode formulation can be used for industrial combined heat and power plants that are co-located at integrated chemical sites to increase operating profit by adjusting their steam and electricity production according to their inherent flexibility. Furthermore, a robust optimization formulation is developed to address the uncertainty in electricity prices by accounting for correlations and multiple ranges in the realization of the random variables. On a strategic level, we introduce a multi-scale model that provides an understanding of the value of flexibility of the current plant configuration and the value of additional flexibility in terms of retrofits for Demand-Side Management under product demand uncertainty. The integration of multiple time scales leads to large-scale two-stage stochastic programming problems, for which we need to apply decomposition strategies in order to obtain a good solution within a reasonable amount of time. Hence, we describe two decomposition schemes that can be applied to solve two-stage stochastic programming problems: First, a hybrid bi-level decomposition scheme with novel Lagrangean-type and subset-type cuts to strengthen the relaxation. Second, an enhanced cross-decomposition scheme that integrates Benders decomposition and Lagrangean decomposition on a scenario basis. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our developed methodology, we provide several industrial case studies throughout the thesis.

Incentive-Based Voltage Regulation in Distribution Networks: Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhou, Xinyang; Chen, Lijun; Dall'Anese, Emiliano

This paper considers distribution networks fea- turing distributed energy resources, and designs incentive-based mechanisms that allow the network operator and end-customers to pursue given operational and economic objectives, while concurrently ensuring that voltages are within prescribed limits. Two different network-customer coordination mechanisms that require different amounts of information shared between the network operator and end-customers are developed to identify a solution of a well-defined social-welfare maximization prob- lem. Notably, the signals broadcast by the network operator assume the connotation of prices/incentives that induce the end- customers to adjust the generated/consumed powers in order to avoid the violation of the voltagemore » constraints. Stability of the proposed schemes is analytically established and numerically corroborated.« less

Incentive-Based Voltage Regulation in Distribution Networks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dall-Anese, Emiliano; Baker, Kyri A; Zhou, Xinyang

This paper considers distribution networks fea- turing distributed energy resources, and designs incentive-based mechanisms that allow the network operator and end-customers to pursue given operational and economic objectives, while concurrently ensuring that voltages are within prescribed limits. Two different network-customer coordination mechanisms that require different amounts of information shared between the network operator and end-customers are developed to identify a solution of a well-defined social-welfare maximization prob- lem. Notably, the signals broadcast by the network operator assume the connotation of prices/incentives that induce the end- customers to adjust the generated/consumed powers in order to avoid the violation of the voltagemore » constraints. Stability of the proposed schemes is analytically established and numerically corroborated.« less

Cost accounting and public reimbursement schemes in Spanish hospitals.

PubMed

Sánchez-Martínez, Fernando; Abellán-Perpiñán, José-María; Martínez-Pérez, Jorge-Eduardo; Puig-Junoy, Jaume

2006-08-01

The objective of this paper is to provide a description and analysis of the main costing and pricing (reimbursement) systems employed by hospitals in the Spanish National Health System (NHS). Hospitals cost calculations are mostly based on a full costing approach as opposite to other systems like direct costing or activity based costing. Regional and hospital differences arise on the method used to allocate indirect costs to cost centres and also on the approach used to measure resource consumption. Costs are typically calculated by disaggregating expenditure and allocating it to cost centres, and then to patients and DRGs. Regarding public reimbursement systems, the impression is that unit costs are ignored, except for certain type of high technology processes and treatments.

Annuity payments can increase patient access to innovative cell and gene therapies under England’s net budget impact test

PubMed Central

Jørgensen, Jesper; Kefalas, Panos

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: Cell and gene therapies have the potential to provide therapeutic breakthroughs, but the high costs of researching, developing, manufacturing and delivering them translate into prices that may challenge healthcare budgets. Various measures exist that aim to address the affordability challenge, including reducing price, limiting patient numbers and/or linking remuneration to product performance. Objective: To explore how the net budget impact test recently introduced in England can affect patient access to high-value, one-off cell and gene therapies, and how managed entry agreements can improve access. Methods: We use a hypothetical example where a new high-value, one-off therapy launches in an indication where it displaces a relatively low cost chronic treatment. We calculate the number of patients that can be treated without exceeding the £20 million net budget impact threshold, and compare results for scenarios where a full upfront payment is used, and where annuity-based payments are used. Results: Charging a full upfront payment at the time of treatment can lead to suboptimal patient access. Conclusion: Annuity-based payments in combination with an outcomes-based remuneration scheme reduce consequences of decision uncertainty and can increase patient access, without exceeding the net budget impact test. PMID:28839525

Cost analysis of an electricity supply chain using modification of price based dynamic economic dispatch in wheeling transaction scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahyuda; Santosa, Budi; Rusdiansyah, Ahmad

2018-04-01

Deregulation of the electricity market requires coordination between parties to synchronize the optimization on the production side (power station) and the transport side (transmission). Electricity supply chain presented in this article is designed to facilitate the coordination between the parties. Generally, the production side is optimized with price based dynamic economic dispatch (PBDED) model, while the transmission side is optimized with Multi-echelon distribution model. Both sides optimization are done separately. This article proposes a joint model of PBDED and multi-echelon distribution for the combined optimization of production and transmission. This combined optimization is important because changes in electricity demand on the customer side will cause changes to the production side that automatically also alter the transmission path. The transmission will cause two cost components. First, the cost of losses. Second, the cost of using the transmission network (wheeling transaction). Costs due to losses are calculated based on ohmic losses, while the cost of using transmission lines using the MW - mile method. As a result, this method is able to provide best allocation analysis for electrical transactions, as well as emission levels in power generation and cost analysis. As for the calculation of transmission costs, the Reverse MW-mile method produces a cheaper cost than the Absolute MW-mile method

Simulation of financial market via nonlinear Ising model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ko, Bonggyun; Song, Jae Wook; Chang, Woojin

2016-09-01

In this research, we propose a practical method for simulating the financial return series whose distribution has a specific heaviness. We employ the Ising model for generating financial return series to be analogous to those of the real series. The similarity between real financial return series and simulated one is statistically verified based on their stylized facts including the power law behavior of tail distribution. We also suggest the scheme for setting the parameters in order to simulate the financial return series with specific tail behavior. The simulation method introduced in this paper is expected to be applied to the other financial products whose price return distribution is fat-tailed.

A survey of GPU-based acceleration techniques in MRI reconstructions

PubMed Central

Wang, Haifeng; Peng, Hanchuan; Chang, Yuchou

2018-01-01

Image reconstruction in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) clinical applications has become increasingly more complicated. However, diagnostic and treatment require very fast computational procedure. Modern competitive platforms of graphics processing unit (GPU) have been used to make high-performance parallel computations available, and attractive to common consumers for computing massively parallel reconstruction problems at commodity price. GPUs have also become more and more important for reconstruction computations, especially when deep learning starts to be applied into MRI reconstruction. The motivation of this survey is to review the image reconstruction schemes of GPU computing for MRI applications and provide a summary reference for researchers in MRI community. PMID:29675361

A survey of GPU-based acceleration techniques in MRI reconstructions.

PubMed

Wang, Haifeng; Peng, Hanchuan; Chang, Yuchou; Liang, Dong

2018-03-01

Image reconstruction in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) clinical applications has become increasingly more complicated. However, diagnostic and treatment require very fast computational procedure. Modern competitive platforms of graphics processing unit (GPU) have been used to make high-performance parallel computations available, and attractive to common consumers for computing massively parallel reconstruction problems at commodity price. GPUs have also become more and more important for reconstruction computations, especially when deep learning starts to be applied into MRI reconstruction. The motivation of this survey is to review the image reconstruction schemes of GPU computing for MRI applications and provide a summary reference for researchers in MRI community.

Stochastic user equilibrium model with a tradable credit scheme and application in maximizing network reserve capacity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Fei; Cheng, Lin

2017-04-01

The tradable credit scheme (TCS) outperforms congestion pricing in terms of social equity and revenue neutrality, apart from the same perfect performance on congestion mitigation. This article investigates the effectiveness and efficiency of TCS on enhancing transportation network capacity in a stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) modelling framework. First, the SUE and credit market equilibrium conditions are presented; then an equivalent general SUE model with TCS is established by virtue of two constructed functions, which can be further simplified under a specific probability distribution. To enhance the network capacity by utilizing TCS, a bi-level mathematical programming model is established for the optimal TCS design problem, with the upper level optimization objective maximizing network reserve capacity and lower level being the proposed SUE model. The heuristic sensitivity analysis-based algorithm is developed to solve the bi-level model. Three numerical examples are provided to illustrate the improvement effect of TCS on the network in different scenarios.

The effectiveness of Hong Kong's Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme.

PubMed

Hao, Jane L; Hills, Martin J; Tam, Vivian W Y

2008-12-01

The Hong Kong Government introduced the Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme in December 2005 to ensure that disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste is properly priced to reduce such waste. The charging scheme is not only intended to provide an economic incentive for contractors and developers to reduce waste but also to encourage reuse and recycling of waste material thereby slowing down the depletion of limited landfill and public filling capacities. This paper examines the effectiveness of the charging scheme 1 year after implementation. A survey was conducted at Tseung Kwan O Area 137 and Tuen Mun Area 38, and daily C&D waste records were collected from landfills and public filling facilities between January 2006 and December 2006. The results of the survey show that waste has been reduced by approximately 60% in landfills, by approximately 23% in public fills, and by approximately 65% in total waste between 2005 and 2006. Suggestions for improving the scheme are provided.

A unified REC market and composite RPO scheme for promotion of renewable energy in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shereef, R. M.; Khaparde, S. A.

2017-07-01

In India, uniform price was assigned to renewable energy certificate (REC) irrespective of renewable energy (RE) type, technology, and location. Moreover REC price bands are higher than existing preferential tariff. There are distinct renewable purchase obligations (RPOs) specified for various RE types, whereas there is lack of efficient tools to check RPO compliance. Because of these reasons, REC market stabilisation is getting delayed. This paper proposes a method using plant performance multiplier to convert non-solar and solar REC to single equivalent REC with competitive REC pricing, which can be traded on unified REC market. The method combines solar and non-solar RPOs into a single composite RPO, to make RPO compliance and its checking simple and efficient. A sample illustration of the proposed method is given. The benefits offered by the proposed method in REC pricing, REC trading and RPO compliance are discussed. A comparative economic analysis of present and proposed method is reported.

An ex-ante economic evaluation of the Maternal and Child Health Voucher Scheme as a decision-making tool in Myanmar.

PubMed

Kingkaew, Pritaporn; Werayingyong, Pitsaphun; Aye, San San; Tin, Nilar; Singh, Alaka; Myint, Phone; Teerawattananon, Yot

2016-05-01

Reducing child and maternal mortality in order to meet the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 remains a major challenge in Myanmar. Inadequate care during pregnancy and labour plays an important role in the maternal mortality rate in Myanmar. A Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Voucher Scheme comprising a subsidization for pregnant women to receive four antenatal care (ANC), delivery and postnatal care (PNC) free-of-charge was planned to help women overcome financial barriers in addition to raising awareness of ANC and delivery with skilled birth attendants (SBA), which can reduce the rate of maternal and neonatal death. This study is part of an ex-ante evaluation of a feasibility study of the MCH Voucher Scheme. A cost-utility analysis was conducted using a decision tree model to assess the cost per disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted from the MCH Voucher Scheme compared with the current situation. Most input parameters were obtained from Myanmar context. From the base-case analysis, where the financial burden on households was fully subsidized, the MCH Voucher Scheme increased utilization for ANC from 73% up to 93% and for delivery from SBAs from 51% up to and 71%, respectively; hence, it is considered to be very cost-effective with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of 381 027 kyats per DALY averted (2010, price year). From the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, the MCH Voucher Scheme had a 52% chance of being a cost-effective option at 1 GDP per capita threshold compared to the current situation. Given that the Voucher Scheme is currently being implemented in one township in Myanmar as a result of this study, ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this scheme is warranted. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Routine real-time cost-effectiveness monitoring of a web-based depression intervention: a risk-sharing proposal.

PubMed

Naveršnik, Klemen; Mrhar, Aleš

2014-02-27

A new health care technology must be cost-effective in order to be adopted. If evidence regarding cost-effectiveness is uncertain, then the decision maker faces two choices: (1) adopt the technology and run the risk that it is less effective in actual practice, or (2) reject the technology and risk that potential health is forgone. A new depression eHealth service was found to be cost-effective in a previously published study. The results, however, were unreliable because it was based on a pilot clinical trial. A conservative decision maker would normally require stronger evidence for the intervention to be implemented. Our objective was to evaluate how to facilitate service implementation by shifting the burden of risk due to uncertainty to the service provider and ensure that the intervention remains cost-effective during routine use. We propose a risk-sharing scheme, where the service cost depends on the actual effectiveness of the service in real-life setting. Routine efficacy data can be used as the input to the cost-effectiveness model, which employs a mapping function to translate a depression specific score into quality-adjusted life-years. The latter is the denominator in the cost-effectiveness ratio calculation, required by the health care decision maker. The output of the model is a "value graph", showing intervention value as a function of its observed (future) efficacy, using the €30,000 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) threshold. We found that the eHealth service should improve the patient's outcome by at least 11.9 points on the Beck Depression Inventory scale in order for the cost-effectiveness ratio to remain below the €30,000/QALY threshold. The value of a single point improvement was found to be between €200 and €700, depending on depression severity at treatment start. Value of the eHealth service, based on the current efficacy estimates, is €1900, which is significantly above its estimated cost (€200). The eHealth depression service is particularly suited to routine monitoring, since data can be gathered through the Internet within the service communication channels. This enables real-time cost-effectiveness evaluation and allows a value-based price to be established. We propose a novel pricing scheme where the price is set to a point in the interval between cost and value, which provides an economic surplus to both the payer and the provider. Such a business model will assure that a portion of the surplus is retained by the payer and not completely appropriated by the private provider. If the eHealth service were to turn out less effective than originally anticipated, then the price would be lowered in order to achieve the cost-effectiveness threshold and this risk of financial loss would be borne by the provider.

Genetic Parameter Estimates of Carcass Traits under National Scale Breeding Scheme for Beef Cattle

PubMed Central

Do, ChangHee; Park, ByungHo; Kim, SiDong; Choi, TaeJung; Yang, BohSuk; Park, SuBong; Song, HyungJun

2016-01-01

Carcass and price traits of 72,969 Hanwoo cows, bulls and steers aged 16 to 80 months at slaughter collected from 2002 to 2013 at 75 beef packing plants in Korea were analyzed to determine heritability, correlation and breeding value using the Multi-Trait restricted maximum likelihood (REML) animal model procedure. The traits included carcass measurements, scores and grades at 24 h postmortem and bid prices at auction. Relatively high heritability was found for maturity (0.41±0.031), while moderate heritability estimates were obtained for backfat thickness (0.20±0.018), longissimus muscle (LM) area (0.23±0.020), carcass weight (0.28±0.019), yield index (0.20±0.018), yield grade (0.16±0.017), marbling (0.28±0.021), texture (0.14±0.016), quality grade (0.26±0.016) and price/kg (0.24±0.025). Relatively low heritability estimates were observed for meat color (0.06±0.013) and fat color (0.06±0.012). Heritability estimates for most traits were lower than those in the literature. Genetic correlations of carcass measurements with characteristic scores or quality grade of carcass ranged from −0.27 to +0.21. Genetic correlations of yield grade with backfat thickness, LM area and carcass weight were 0.91, −0.43, and −0.09, respectively. Genetic correlations of quality grade with scores of marbling, meat color, fat color and texture were −0.99, 0.48, 0.47, and 0.98, respectively. Genetic correlations of price/kg with LM area, carcass weight, marbling, meat color, texture and maturity were 0.57, 0.64, 0.76, −0.41, −0.79, and −0.42, respectively. Genetic correlations of carcass price with LM area, carcass weight, marbling and texture were 0.61, 0.57, 0.64, and −0.73, respectively, with standard errors ranging from ±0.047 to ±0.058. The mean carcass weight breeding values increased by more than 8 kg, whereas the mean marbling scores decreased by approximately 0.2 from 2000 through 2009. Overall, the results suggest that genetic improvement of productivity and carcass quality could be obtained under the national scale breeding scheme of Korea for Hanwoo and that continuous efforts to improve the breeding scheme should be made to increase genetic progress. PMID:27004809

Global Phosphorus Fertilizer Market and National Policies: A Case Study Revisiting the 2008 Price Peak.

PubMed

Khabarov, Nikolay; Obersteiner, Michael

2017-01-01

The commodity market super-cycle and food price crisis have been associated with rampant food insecurity and the Arab spring. A multitude of factors were identified as culprits for excessive volatility on the commodity markets. However, as it regards fertilizers, a clear attribution of market drivers explaining the emergence of extreme price events is still missing. In this paper, we provide a quantitative assessment of the price spike of the global phosphorus fertilizer market in 2008 focusing on diammonium phosphate (DAP). We find that fertilizer market policies in India, the largest global importer of phosphorus fertilizers and phosphate rock, turned out to be a major contributor to the global price spike. India doubled its import of P-fertilizer in 2008 at a time when prices doubled. The analysis of a wide set of factors pertinent to the 2008 price spike in phosphorus fertilizer market leads us to the discovery of a price spike magnification and triggering mechanisms. We find that the price spike was magnified on the one hand by protective trade measures of fertilizer suppliers leading to a 19% drop in global phosphate fertilizer export. On the other hand, the Indian fertilizer subsidy scheme led to farmers not adjusting their demand for fertilizer. The triggering mechanism appeared to be the Indian production outage of P-fertilizer resulting in the additional import demand for DAP in size of about 20% of annual global supply. The main conclusion is that these three factors have jointly caused the spike, underscoring the need for ex ante improvements in fertilizer market regulation on both national and international levels.

Trace fossils from storm-influenced, oxygen-deficient outer shelf: lower Mississippian Price Formation of southern West Virginia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bjerstedt, T.W.

The Price Formation in southern West Virginia was deposited dominantly in an oxygen-deficient, outer shelf environment along a siliciclastic profile from the basin plain to the alluvial plain. An overturned section at Bluefield, West Virginia, exposes the following lithofacies and environments in ascending order: laminated black silt-shales from the basin plain; a sand-rich submarine fan; outer shelf tempestites of hummocky, cross-stratified fine sandstone and completely bioturbated grayish-black, silt-shales; and shoreline sands in transition to thin, dirty coals of the coastal plain and Maccrady red beds of the alluvial plain. Trace fossils are abundant and are best preserved on the solesmore » of hummocky, cross-stratified sandstones. The Zoophycos ichnofacies occurs throughout 80 m of outer shelf deposits, which accumulated above storm wave base. The Zoophycos ichnofacies grades into the nearshore Skolithus ichnofacies with no apparent intervening Cruziana ichnofacies. Most ichnotaxa identified from the outer shelf are fodinichnia or pascichnia. Planar and helical Zoophycos, Helminthopsis, Helminthoida, Sclarituba (neonereites form), and Chondrites are characteristics. In most schemes, the Zoophycos ichnofacies occurs below storm wave base. At Bluefield, it has displaced the Cruziana ichnofacies above storm wave base due to the maintenance of a dysaerobic environment. The abundant organic matter preserved in a density-stratified water column was continually replenished during periods of upwelling. Conditions were extremely favorable for deposit feeders, but inhibiting to suspension feeders that were less tolerant of oxygen stress. The absence of distributary channel sands in the vertical sequence also indicates that offshore environments received no influx of oxygenated waters from the Price delta.« less

Pharmaceutical Regulation in Central and Eastern European Countries: A Current Review

PubMed Central

Kawalec, Paweł; Tesar, Tomas; Vostalova, Lenka; Draganic, Pero; Manova, Manoela; Savova, Alexandra; Petrova, Guenka; Rugaja, Zinta; Männik, Agnes; Sowada, Christoph; Stawowczyk, Ewa; Harsanyi, Andras; Inotai, Andras; Turcu-Stiolica, Adina; Gulbinovič, Jolanta; Pilc, Andrzej

2017-01-01

Objectives: The aim of this study was to review reimbursement environment as well as pricing and reimbursement requirements for drugs in selected Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was performed in the period from November 2016 to March 2017 among experts involved in reimbursement matters from CEE countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania. A review of requirements for reimbursement and implications of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) was performed to compare the issues in above-mentioned countries. For each specified country, data for reimbursement costs, total pharmaceutical budget, and total public health care budget in the years 2014 and 2015 were also collected. Questionnaires were distributed via emails and feedback data were obtained in the same way. Additional questions, if any, were also submitted to respondents by email. Pricing and reimbursement data were valid for March 2017. Results: The survey revealed that the relation of drug reimbursement costs to total public healthcare spending ranged from 0.12 to 0.21 in the year 2014 and 2015 (median value). It also revealed that pricing criteria for drugs, employed in the CEE countries, were quite similar. External reference pricing as well as internal reference pricing were common in mentioned countries. Positive reimbursement lists were valid in all countries of the CEE region, negative ones were rarely used; reimbursement decisions were regularly revised and updated in the majority of countries. Copayment was common and available levels of reimbursement differed within and between the countries and ranged from 20 to 100%. Risk-sharing schemes were often in use, especially in the case of innovative, expensive drugs. Generic substitution was also possible in all analyzed CEE countries, while some made it mandatory. HTA was carried out in almost all of the considered CEE countries and HTA dossier was obligatory for submitting a pricing and reimbursement application. Conclusions: Pricing and reimbursement requirements are quite similar in the CEE region although some differences were identified. HTA evaluations are commonly used in considered countries. PMID:29326583

Workers' Compensation Insurance and Occupational Injuries

PubMed Central

Oh, Jun-Byoung; Yi, Hyung Kwan

2011-01-01

Objectives Although compensation for occupational injuries and diseases is guaranteed in almost all nations, countries vary greatly with respect to how they organize workers' compensation systems. In this paper, we focus on three aspects of workers' compensation insurance in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries - types of systems, employers' funding mechanisms, and coverage for injured workers - and their impacts on the actual frequencies of occupational injuries and diseases. Methods We estimated a panel data fixed effect model with cross-country OECD and International Labor Organization data. We controlled for country fixed effects, relevant aggregate variables, and dummy variables representing the occupational accidents data source. Results First, the use of a private insurance system is found to lower the occupational accidents. Second, the use of risk-based pricing for the payment of employer raises the occupational injuries and diseases. Finally, the wider the coverage of injured workers is, the less frequent the workplace accidents are. Conclusion Private insurance system, fixed flat rate employers' funding mechanism, and higher coverage of compensation scheme are significantly and positively correlated with lower level of occupational accidents compared with the public insurance system, risk-based funding system, and lower coverage of compensation scheme. PMID:22953197

Assistive technology pricing in Australia: is it efficient and equitable?

PubMed

Summers, Michael P; Verikios, George

2018-02-01

Objective To examine available systematically collected evidence regarding prices for assistive technology (AT; e.g. disability aids and equipment) in Australia with other comparable countries. Issues of appropriate AT pricing are coming to the fore as a consequence of efforts to move to consumer-centric purchasing decisions with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and also in the recent aged care reforms. Methods We identified and present three sets of AT price comparisons. Two comparisons were based solely on the lowest prices advertised on the internet, and one comparison examined recommended retail prices. Variables essential to ensuring accurate comparisons, as well as significant supply-chain issues were also examined and considered in the analyses. Results The first internet-only price comparison found that overall AT prices were 38% higher in Australia compared to other countries, but did not factor in shipping and other related costs that are essential to include given that most AT is imported. The second internet-only price comparison found that overall Australian prices were 24% lower when shipping and related costs were included. The recommended retail price comparisons found that Australian prices were between 14% and 27% lower. Prices for internet-only retailers (those with no bricks-and-mortar presence) are consistently lower for all products than those sold by retailers with actual shop-fronts. Further, there is no evidence of suppliers earning supranormal profits in Australia. Conclusions The results indicate that AT prices in Australia are efficient and equitable, with no significant indicators of market failure which would require government intervention. Efforts to reduce prices through the excessive use of large-scale government procurement programs are likely to reduce diversity and innovation in AT and raise AT prices over time. Open markets and competition with centralised tracking of purchases and providers to minimise possible over-servicing/over-charging align well with the original intention of the NDIS, and are likely to yield the best outcomes for consumers at the lowest costs. What is known about the topic? Government-funded programs are used extensively to purchase AT because it is a primary enabler for people of all ages with disabilities. Perceptions of unreasonably high prices for AT in Australia are resulting in the widespread adoption of bulk purchasing and related strategies by governments. What does this paper add? Carefully undertaken systematic price comparisons between Australia and comparable Organization For Economic Cooperation and Development countries indicate that, on average, Australian prices are lower than elsewhere when delivery to Australia is taken into account. It was also found that prices at brick-and-mortar shops, with all the services they provide to ensure the appropriateness of the products provided to meet the consumers' needs and goals, are substantially higher than Internet purchases in which the consumer bears all the risks and responsibilities for outcomes. What are the implications? Overuse of government bulk purchasing and similar arrangements will lead to less diversity in the available AT products, related services and retail outlets, resulting in less choice for consumers and higher risks of poor outcomes through less focus on matching consumers with the 'right' products for their needs and goals, and ultimately higher AT prices over time as competition is reduced to a few major suppliers.

Optimal Scheduling Method of Controllable Loads in DC Smart Apartment Building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimoji, Tsubasa; Tahara, Hayato; Matayoshi, Hidehito; Yona, Atsushi; Senjyu, Tomonobu

2015-12-01

From the perspective of global warming suppression and the depletion of energy resources, renewable energies, such as the solar collector (SC) and photovoltaic generation (PV), have been gaining attention in worldwide. Houses or buildings with PV and heat pumps (HPs) are recently being used in residential areas widely due to the time of use (TOU) electricity pricing scheme which is essentially inexpensive during middle-night and expensive during day-time. If fixed batteries and electric vehicles (EVs) can be introduced in the premises, the electricity cost would be even more reduced. While, if the occupants arbitrarily use these controllable loads respectively, power demand in residential buildings may fluctuate in the future. Thus, an optimal operation of controllable loads such as HPs, batteries and EV should be scheduled in the buildings in order to prevent power flow from fluctuating rapidly. This paper proposes an optimal scheduling method of controllable loads, and the purpose is not only the minimization of electricity cost for the consumers, but also suppression of fluctuation of power flow on the power supply side. Furthermore, a novel electricity pricing scheme is also suggested in this paper.

A case-study of landfill minimization and material recovery via waste co-gasification in a new waste management scheme

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tanigaki, Nobuhiro, E-mail: tanigaki.nobuhiro@eng.nssmc.com; Ishida, Yoshihiro; Osada, Morihiro

Highlights: • A new waste management scheme and the effects of co-gasification of MSW were assessed. • A co-gasification system was compared with other conventional systems. • The co-gasification system can produce slag and metal with high-quality. • The co-gasification system showed an economic advantage when bottom ash is landfilled. • The sensitive analyses indicate an economic advantage when the landfill cost is high. - Abstract: This study evaluates municipal solid waste co-gasification technology and a new solid waste management scheme, which can minimize final landfill amounts and maximize material recycled from waste. This new scheme is considered for amore » region where bottom ash and incombustibles are landfilled or not allowed to be recycled due to their toxic heavy metal concentration. Waste is processed with incombustible residues and an incineration bottom ash discharged from existent conventional incinerators, using a gasification and melting technology (the Direct Melting System). The inert materials, contained in municipal solid waste, incombustibles and bottom ash, are recycled as slag and metal in this process as well as energy recovery. Based on this new waste management scheme with a co-gasification system, a case study of municipal solid waste co-gasification was evaluated and compared with other technical solutions, such as conventional incineration, incineration with an ash melting facility under certain boundary conditions. From a technical point of view, co-gasification produced high quality slag with few harmful heavy metals, which was recycled completely without requiring any further post-treatment such as aging. As a consequence, the co-gasification system had an economical advantage over other systems because of its material recovery and minimization of the final landfill amount. Sensitivity analyses of landfill cost, power price and inert materials in waste were also conducted. The higher the landfill costs, the greater the advantage of the co-gasification system has. The co-gasification was beneficial for landfill cost in the range of 80 Euro per ton or more. Higher power prices led to lower operation cost in each case. The inert contents in processed waste had a significant influence on the operating cost. These results indicate that co-gasification of bottom ash and incombustibles with municipal solid waste contributes to minimizing the final landfill amount and has great possibilities maximizing material recovery and energy recovery from waste.« less

The impact of cost and network topology on urban mobility: a study of public bicycle usage in 2 U.S. cities.

PubMed

Jurdak, Raja

2013-01-01

Understanding the drivers of urban mobility is vital for epidemiology, urban planning, and communication networks. Human movements have so far been studied by observing people's positions in a given space and time, though most recent models only implicitly account for expected costs and returns for movements. This paper explores the explicit impact of cost and network topology on mobility dynamics, using data from 2 city-wide public bicycle share systems in the USA. User mobility is characterized through the distribution of trip durations, while network topology is characterized through the pairwise distances between stations and the popularity of stations and routes. Despite significant differences in station density and physical layout between the 2 cities, trip durations follow remarkably similar distributions that exhibit cost sensitive trends around pricing point boundaries, particularly with long-term users of the system. Based on the results, recommendations for dynamic pricing and incentive schemes are provided to positively influence mobility patterns and guide improved planning and management of public bicycle systems to increase uptake.

Stochastic optimal control of ultradiffusion processes with application to dynamic portfolio management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marcozzi, Michael D.

2008-12-01

We consider theoretical and approximation aspects of the stochastic optimal control of ultradiffusion processes in the context of a prototype model for the selling price of a European call option. Within a continuous-time framework, the dynamic management of a portfolio of assets is effected through continuous or point control, activation costs, and phase delay. The performance index is derived from the unique weak variational solution to the ultraparabolic Hamilton-Jacobi equation; the value function is the optimal realization of the performance index relative to all feasible portfolios. An approximation procedure based upon a temporal box scheme/finite element method is analyzed; numerical examples are presented in order to demonstrate the viability of the approach.

Flexible Residential Smart Grid Simulation Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, Wang

Different scheduling and coordination algorithms controlling household appliances' operations can potentially lead to energy consumption reduction and/or load balancing in conjunction with different electricity pricing methods used in smart grid programs. In order to easily implement different algorithms and evaluate their efficiency against other ideas, a flexible simulation framework is desirable in both research and business fields. However, such a platform is currently lacking or underdeveloped. In this thesis, we provide a simulation framework to focus on demand side residential energy consumption coordination in response to different pricing methods. This simulation framework, equipped with an appliance consumption library using realistic values, aims to closely represent the average usage of different types of appliances. The simulation results of traditional usage yield close matching values compared to surveyed real life consumption records. Several sample coordination algorithms, pricing schemes, and communication scenarios are also implemented to illustrate the use of the simulation framework.

Some drugs more equal than others: pseudo-generics and commercial practice.

PubMed

Probyn, Andrew J

2004-11-08

This article analyses the impact of the Department of Health and Ageing's brand price premium policy for some products listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The policy, introduced in 1990, allows pharmaceutical companies to charge patients an out-of-pocket expense for post-patent brands of pharmaceuticals. One of the policy's intended goals was to increase consumer awareness of price differentials between competing brands, with a view to encouraging greater use of cheaper generic products. More than fourteen years since its introduction, it is debatable whether the policy has achieved this aim. This article looks at how the brand price premium policy can be exploited by global pharmaceutical giants to entrench big-name brands in the Australian pharmaceutical market and, in some cases, prevent 'true' competition from generic pharmaceuticals. This is being done through the establishment of 'pseudo-generics' that are sourced from the same factory floor as the original product.

Half-size me? How calorie and price information influence ordering on restaurant menus with both half and full entrée portion sizes.

PubMed

Haws, Kelly L; Liu, Peggy J

2016-02-01

Many restaurants are increasingly required to display calorie information on their menus. We present a study examining how consumers' food choices are affected by the presence of calorie information on restaurant menus. However, unlike prior research on this topic, we focus on the effect of calorie information on food choices made from a menu that contains both full size portions and half size portions of entrées. This different focus is important because many restaurants increasingly provide more than one portion size option per entrée. Additionally, we examine whether the impact of calorie information differs depending on whether full portions are cheaper per unit than half portions (non-linear pricing) or whether they have a similar per unit price (linear pricing). We find that when linear pricing is used, calorie information leads people to order fewer calories. This decrease occurs as people switch from unhealthy full sized portions to healthy full sized portions, not to unhealthy half sized portions. In contrast, when non-linear pricing is used, calorie information has no impact on calories selected. Considering the impact of calorie information on consumers' choices from menus with more than one entrée portion size option is increasingly important given restaurant and legislative trends, and the present research demonstrates that calorie information and pricing scheme may interact to affect choices from such menus. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global Phosphorus Fertilizer Market and National Policies: A Case Study Revisiting the 2008 Price Peak

PubMed Central

Khabarov, Nikolay; Obersteiner, Michael

2017-01-01

The commodity market super-cycle and food price crisis have been associated with rampant food insecurity and the Arab spring. A multitude of factors were identified as culprits for excessive volatility on the commodity markets. However, as it regards fertilizers, a clear attribution of market drivers explaining the emergence of extreme price events is still missing. In this paper, we provide a quantitative assessment of the price spike of the global phosphorus fertilizer market in 2008 focusing on diammonium phosphate (DAP). We find that fertilizer market policies in India, the largest global importer of phosphorus fertilizers and phosphate rock, turned out to be a major contributor to the global price spike. India doubled its import of P-fertilizer in 2008 at a time when prices doubled. The analysis of a wide set of factors pertinent to the 2008 price spike in phosphorus fertilizer market leads us to the discovery of a price spike magnification and triggering mechanisms. We find that the price spike was magnified on the one hand by protective trade measures of fertilizer suppliers leading to a 19% drop in global phosphate fertilizer export. On the other hand, the Indian fertilizer subsidy scheme led to farmers not adjusting their demand for fertilizer. The triggering mechanism appeared to be the Indian production outage of P-fertilizer resulting in the additional import demand for DAP in size of about 20% of annual global supply. The main conclusion is that these three factors have jointly caused the spike, underscoring the need for ex ante improvements in fertilizer market regulation on both national and international levels. PMID:28660192

An Adaptive Tradeoff Algorithm for Multi-issue SLA Negotiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Son, Seokho; Sim, Kwang Mong

Since participants in a Cloud may be independent bodies, mechanisms are necessary for resolving different preferences in leasing Cloud services. Whereas there are currently mechanisms that support service-level agreement negotiation, there is little or no negotiation support for concurrent price and timeslot for Cloud service reservations. For the concurrent price and timeslot negotiation, a tradeoff algorithm to generate and evaluate a proposal which consists of price and timeslot proposal is necessary. The contribution of this work is thus to design an adaptive tradeoff algorithm for multi-issue negotiation mechanism. The tradeoff algorithm referred to as "adaptive burst mode" is especially designed to increase negotiation speed and total utility and to reduce computational load by adaptively generating concurrent set of proposals. The empirical results obtained from simulations carried out using a testbed suggest that due to the concurrent price and timeslot negotiation mechanism with adaptive tradeoff algorithm: 1) both agents achieve the best performance in terms of negotiation speed and utility; 2) the number of evaluations of each proposal is comparatively lower than previous scheme (burst-N).

7 CFR 1427.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... they conflict with definitions in this section. Adjusted spot price means the spot price adjusted to reflect any lack of data for base quality to make the adjusted spot price comparable to a spot price assuming the base quality. If base quality spot price data are not available, spot prices for other...

7 CFR 1427.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... they conflict with definitions in this section. Adjusted spot price means the spot price adjusted to reflect any lack of data for base quality to make the adjusted spot price comparable to a spot price assuming the base quality. If base quality spot price data are not available, spot prices for other...

An Auction-Based Spectrum Leasing Mechanism for Mobile Macro-Femtocell Networks of IoT.

PubMed

Chen, Xin; Xing, Lei; Qiu, Tie; Li, Zhuo

2017-02-16

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a vision of the upcoming society. It can provide pervasive communication between two or more entities using 4G-LTE (Long Term Evolution) communication technology. In 4G-LTE networks, there are two important problems: helping manage the spectrum demands of IoT devices and achieving much more revenue with the limited resource. This paper proposes a pricing framework to investigate the spectrum leasing in mobile heterogeneous networks with single macrocell and multiple femtocells. We modeled the leasing procedure between the macrocell service provider (MSP) and femtocell holders (FHs) as an auction to motivate the MSP to lease its spectrum resource. All FHs act as the bidders, and the monopolist MSP acts as the auctioneer. In the auction, FHs submit their bids to rent the spectrum resource so that they can make a profit by selling it to their subscribers. The MSP determines the spectrum leasing amount and chooses the winning FHs by solving the dynamic programming-based 0-1 knapsack problem. In our proposed framework, we focus on the spectrum pricing strategy and revenue maximization of the MSP. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme provides effective motivation for the MSP to lease the spectrum to FHs, and both the MSP and FHs can benefit from spectrum leasing.

GIS-based integrated assessment and decision support system for land use planning in consideration of carbon sequestration benefits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jun; Chen, J. M.; Li, Manchun; Ju, Weimin

2007-06-01

As the major eligible land use activities in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), afforestation and reforestation offer opportunities and potential economic benefits for developing countries to participate in carbon-trade in the potential international carbon (C) sink markets. However, the design and selection of appropriate afforestation and reforestation locations in CDM are complex processes which need integrated assessment (IA) of C sequestration (CS) potential, environmental effects, and socio-economic impacts. This paper promotes the consideration of CS benefits in local land use planning and presents a GIS-based integrated assessment and spatial decision support system (IA-SDSS) to support decision-making on 'where' and 'how' to afforest. It integrates an Integrated Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Model (InTEC) and a GIS platform for modeling regional long-term CS potential and assessment of geo-referenced land use criteria including CS consequence, and produces ranking of plantation schemes with different tree species using the Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. Three land use scenarios are investigated: (i) traditional land use planning criteria without C benefits, (ii) land use for CS with low C price, and (iii) land use for CS with high price. Different scenarios and consequences will influence the weights of tree-species selection in the AHP decision process.

Prediction-based manufacturing center self-adaptive demand side energy optimization in cyber physical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Xinyao; Wang, Xue; Wu, Jiangwei; Liu, Youda

2014-05-01

Cyber physical systems(CPS) recently emerge as a new technology which can provide promising approaches to demand side management(DSM), an important capability in industrial power systems. Meanwhile, the manufacturing center is a typical industrial power subsystem with dozens of high energy consumption devices which have complex physical dynamics. DSM, integrated with CPS, is an effective methodology for solving energy optimization problems in manufacturing center. This paper presents a prediction-based manufacturing center self-adaptive energy optimization method for demand side management in cyber physical systems. To gain prior knowledge of DSM operating results, a sparse Bayesian learning based componential forecasting method is introduced to predict 24-hour electric load levels for specific industrial areas in China. From this data, a pricing strategy is designed based on short-term load forecasting results. To minimize total energy costs while guaranteeing manufacturing center service quality, an adaptive demand side energy optimization algorithm is presented. The proposed scheme is tested in a machining center energy optimization experiment. An AMI sensing system is then used to measure the demand side energy consumption of the manufacturing center. Based on the data collected from the sensing system, the load prediction-based energy optimization scheme is implemented. By employing both the PSO and the CPSO method, the problem of DSM in the manufacturing center is solved. The results of the experiment show the self-adaptive CPSO energy optimization method enhances optimization by 5% compared with the traditional PSO optimization method.

A DDS-Based Energy Management Framework for Small Microgrid Operation and Control

DOE PAGES

Youssef, Tarek A.; El Hariri, Mohamad; Elsayed, Ahmed T.; ...

2017-09-26

The smart grid is seen as a power system with realtime communication and control capabilities between the consumer and the utility. This modern platform facilitates the optimization in energy usage based on several factors including environmental, price preferences, and system technical issues. In this paper a real-time energy management system (EMS) for microgrids or nanogrids was developed. The developed system involves an online optimization scheme to adapt its parameters based on previous, current, and forecasted future system states. The communication requirements for all EMS modules were analyzed and are all integrated over a data distribution service (DDS) Ethernet network withmore » appropriate quality of service (QoS) profiles. In conclusion, the developed EMS was emulated with actual residential energy consumption and irradiance data from Miami, Florida and proved its effectiveness in reducing consumers’ bills and achieving flat peak load profiles.« less

Marketing and social change: the parallels.

PubMed

Da Cunha, G

1995-01-01

Social marketing became respectable only in the late 1970s in places like Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt, Honduras, and Gambia. In practice social change and marketing are both about modifying group behavior. Social change provides opportunities for marketing, which is the process that identifies the unmet consumer need and satisfies it at a profit. Social research and production technologies are involved in market segmentation, target group selection, pricing, distribution, selling, and promotion. The crucial, people-centered and community-based characteristic of marketing is its social relevance. Marketing is a neutral methodology and social marketing is its adaptation to social imperatives. Among a set of underlying ideas related to marketing is the primacy of the consumer in all marketing decisions. Marketing clusters are a way of analyzing a situation, making a product, and pricing and distributing it. Demand is the driving force behind marketing with the components of price, performance, and decision. The benefit obtained from the product must justify the price. Advertising is commercial mass persuasion, the centerpiece of promotion; it is also needed for marketing communications. Promotional tools include special price offers, merchandizing, and dealer incentive schemes. Straightforward information rarely causes lasting behavioral changes. In a Bangladeshi community, 90% of women could have correct knowledge about oral rehydration salts, yet only 8% of them might actually use them correctly. Information that is resisted does not work, yet huge amounts of money go into producing manuals, leaflets, radio programs, and posters. The issues of distribution and competition are often neglected in social marketing programs. Other deficiencies are failure to monitor, evaluate, and innovate. To be successful, social marketing must aim at a 100% conversion of the market actors. Some successes of the social marketing approach include: a nutrition education and behavior change project in Indonesia, a diarrhea management program in Egypt, and breast-feeding promotion in Brazil.

Analysis of farmers' willingness to participate in pasture grazing programs: Results from a discrete choice experiment with German dairy farmers.

PubMed

Danne, M; Musshoff, O

2017-09-01

Over the last decades, the usage of pasture for grazing of dairy cows has decreased considerably. Pasture grazing programs initiated by dairy companies try to counteract this trend. The present paper investigates farmers' willingness to participate in such grazing programs. A special aim was to quantify the price premiums farmers require for program participation and to identify determinants influencing the premium level. The empirical analysis is based on a discrete choice experiment with 293 German dairy farmers. Models are estimated in terms of willingness to accept. It was found that farmers have no substantial preference for whether the pasture grazing program is financed by the food industry, a governmental scheme, or the dairy company. However, an extension of the annual or daily grazing period results in a decreasing willingness of farmers to participate in a pasture grazing program. In addition, farmers decline the option of a feeding standard prescribing the use of only green fodder when offered an alternative program that merely reduces the amount of concentrated feed or maize silage in the diet. Farmers' with an aversion toward program participation have a significant higher price demand for fulfilling the program requirements. Furthermore, the required price premiums increase with growing milk yields and a greater number of cows kept on the farm. However, if the availability of pasture is high, farmers are more likely to participate. The estimated price premiums and factors influencing farmers' willingness to participate found by this study should be considered by dairies and policymakers to gain insights into the design of possible pasture grazing programs from the perspective of farmers. Thereby, paying price premiums to farmers may increase the attractiveness of pasture grazing, which could finally result in an extended usage of pasture grazing. Copyright © 2017 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Meat standards and grading: a world view.

PubMed

Polkinghorne, R J; Thompson, J M

2010-09-01

This paper addresses the principles relating to meat standards and grading of beef and advances the concept that potential exists to achieve significant desirable change from adopting more consumer focused systems within accurate value-based payment frameworks. The paper uses the definitions that classification is a set of descriptive terms describing features of the carcass that are useful to those involved in the trading of carcasses, whereas grading is the placing of different values on carcasses for pricing purposes, depending on the market and requirements of traders. A third definition is consumer grading, which refers to grading systems that seek to define or predict consumer satisfaction with a cooked meal. The development of carcass classification and grading schemes evolved from a necessity to describe the carcass using standard terms to facilitate trading. The growth in world trade of meat and meat products and the transition from trading carcasses to marketing individual meal portions raises the need for an international language that can service contemporary needs. This has in part been addressed by the United Nations promoting standard languages on carcasses, cuts, trim levels and cutting lines. Currently no standards exist for describing consumer satisfaction. Recent Meat Standards Australia (MSA) research in Australia, Korea, Ireland, USA, Japan and South Africa showed that consumers across diverse cultures and nationalities have a remarkably similar view of beef eating quality, which could be used to underpin an international language on palatability. Consumer research on the willingness to pay for eating quality shows that consumers will pay higher prices for better eating quality grades and generally this was not affected by demographic or meat preference traits of the consumer. In Australia the MSA eating quality grading system has generated substantial premiums to retailers, wholesalers and to the producer. Future grading schemes which measure both carcass yield and eating quality have the potential to underpin the development and implementation of transparent value-based payment systems which will encourage improved production efficiency throughout the supply chain.

The Questionable Economic Case for Value-Based Drug Pricing in Market Health Systems.

PubMed

Pauly, Mark V

2017-02-01

This article investigates the economic theory and interpretation of the concept of "value-based pricing" for new breakthrough drugs with no close substitutes in a context (such as the United States) in which a drug firm with market power sells its product to various buyers. The interpretation is different from that in a country that evaluates medicines for a single public health insurance plan or a set of heavily regulated plans. It is shown that there will not ordinarily be a single value-based price but rather a schedule of prices with different volumes of buyers at each price. Hence, it is incorrect to term a particular price the value-based price, or to argue that the profit-maximizing monopoly price is too high relative to some hypothesized value-based price. When effectiveness of treatment or value of health is heterogeneous, the profit-maximizing price can be higher than that associated with assumed values of quality-adjusted life-years. If the firm sets a price higher than the value-based price for a set of potential buyers, the optimal strategy of the buyers is to decline to purchase that drug. The profit-maximizing price will come closer to a unique value-based price if demand is less heterogeneous. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research on Bifurcation and Chaos in a Dynamic Mixed Game System with Oligopolies Under Carbon Emission Constraint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Junhai; Yang, Wenhui; Lou, Wandong

This paper establishes an oligopolistic game model under the carbon emission reduction constraint and investigates its complex characteristics like bifurcation and chaos. Two oligopolistic manufacturers comprise three mixed game models, aiming to explore the variation in the status of operating system as per the upgrading of benchmark reward-penalty mechanism. Firstly, we set up these basic models that are respectively distinguished with carbon emission quantity and study these models using different game methods. Then, we concentrate on one typical game model to further study the dynamic complexity of variations in the system status, through 2D bifurcation diagrams and 4D parameter adjustment features based on the bounded rationality scheme for price, and the adaptive scheme for carbon emission. The results show that the carbon emission constraint has significant influence on the status variation of two-oligopolistic game operating systems no matter whether it is stable or chaotic. Besides, the new carbon emission regulation meets government supervision target and achieves the goal of being environment friendly by motivating the system to operate with lower carbon emission.

Switching insurer in the Irish voluntary health insurance market: determinants, incentives, and risk equalization.

PubMed

Keegan, Conor; Teljeur, Conor; Turner, Brian; Thomas, Steve

2016-09-01

The determinants of consumer mobility in voluntary health insurance markets providing duplicate cover are not well understood. Consumer mobility can have important implications for competition. Consumers should be price-responsive and be willing to switch insurer in search of the best-value products. Moreover, although theory suggests low-risk consumers are more likely to switch insurer, this process should not be driven by insurers looking to attract low risks. This study utilizes data on 320,830 VHI healthcare policies due for renewal between August 2013 and June 2014. At the time of renewal, policyholders were categorized as either 'switchers' or 'stayers', and policy information was collected for the prior 12 months. Differences between these groups were assessed by means of logistic regression. The ability of Ireland's risk equalization scheme to account for the relative attractiveness of switchers was also examined. Policyholders were price sensitive (OR 1.052, p < 0.01), however, price-sensitivity declined with age. Age (OR 0.971; p < 0.01) and hospital utilization (OR 0.977; p < 0.01) were both negatively associated with switching. In line with these findings, switchers were less costly than stayers for the 12 months prior to the switch/renew decision for single person (difference in average cost = €540.64) and multiple-person policies (difference in average cost = €450.74). Some cost differences remain for single-person policies following risk equalization (difference in average cost = €88.12). Consumers appear price-responsive, which is important for competition provided it is based on correct incentives. Risk equalization payments largely eliminated the profitable status of switchers, although further refinements may be required.

A discrete event simulation to model the cost-utility of fingolimod and natalizumab in rapidly evolving severe relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in the UK.

PubMed

Montgomery, Stephen M; Maruszczak, Maciej J; Slater, David; Kusel, Jeanette; Nicholas, Richard; Adlard, Nicholas

2017-05-01

Two disease-modifying therapies are licensed in the EU for use in rapidly-evolving severe (RES) relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), fingolimod and natalizumab. Here a discrete event simulation (DES) model to analyze the cost-effectiveness of natalizumab and fingolimod in the RES population, from the perspective of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, is reported. A DES model was developed to track individual RES patients, based on Expanded Disability Status Scale scores. Individual patient characteristics were taken from the RES sub-groups of the pivotal trials for fingolimod. Utility data were in line with previous models. Published costs were inflated to NHS cost year 2015. Owing to the confidential patient access scheme (PAS) discount applied to fingolimod in the UK, a range of discount levels were applied to the fingolimod list price, to capture the likelihood of natalizumab being cost-effective in a real-world setting. At the lower National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) threshold of £20,000/quality-adjusted life year (QALY), fingolimod only required a discount greater than 0.8% of list price to be cost-effective. At the upper threshold of £30,000/QALY employed by the NICE, fingolimod was cost-effective if the confidential discount is greater than 2.5%. Sensitivity analyses conducted using fingolimod list-price showed the model to be most sensitive to changes in the cost of each drug, particularly fingolimod. The DES model shows that only a modest discount to the UK fingolimod list-price is required to make fingolimod a more cost-effective option than natalizumab in RES RRMS.

A game theory model for stabilizing price of chili: A case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wardayanti, Ari; Aviv, Afgan Suffan; Sutopo, Wahyudi; Hisjam, Muh.

2017-11-01

Chili is one of the important agricultural commodity in Indonesia because of its widely consumption by the Indonesian. Chili becomes one of the commodities that experience price fluctuations and important cause of yearly inflation in Indonesia. The unstable price of chili is affected by the scarcity of the commodity in some months and the difference of the harvest season. This study proposes a model to solve the problem by considering the substitution of fresh chilies with dried chili. We propose the cooperative of chili's farmer as entities that process fresh chili into dry ones. The existence of substitution products is expected to maintain the price stability chili. This research was conducted by taking a case study on chili commodity markets in Surakarta which consists of 19 traditional markets. This study aims to create a price stabilization scheme with product substitution using a game theory model. There are 4 strategies proposed in game theory model to describe the relationship between producers and consumers. In this case, the producers are the farmers and the consumers are the trade market. A mixed strategy of was chosen to determine the optimal value among 4 strategies. From the calculation results obtained optimal value when doing a mixed strategy of IDR 201,188,829,000.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Youssef, Tarek A.; El Hariri, Mohamad; Elsayed, Ahmed T.

The smart grid is seen as a power system with realtime communication and control capabilities between the consumer and the utility. This modern platform facilitates the optimization in energy usage based on several factors including environmental, price preferences, and system technical issues. In this paper a real-time energy management system (EMS) for microgrids or nanogrids was developed. The developed system involves an online optimization scheme to adapt its parameters based on previous, current, and forecasted future system states. The communication requirements for all EMS modules were analyzed and are all integrated over a data distribution service (DDS) Ethernet network withmore » appropriate quality of service (QoS) profiles. In conclusion, the developed EMS was emulated with actual residential energy consumption and irradiance data from Miami, Florida and proved its effectiveness in reducing consumers’ bills and achieving flat peak load profiles.« less

Pricing Medicare's diagnosis-related groups: Charges versus estimated costs

PubMed Central

Price, Kurt F.

1989-01-01

Hospital payments under Medicare's prospective payment system (PPS) are based on prices established for 474 diagnosis-related groups (DRG's). Previous analyses using 1981 data demonstrated that DRG prices based on charges alone were not that different from prices calculated from estimated costs. Data for 1986 were used in this study to show that the differences between the two sets of DRG prices are much larger than previously reported. If DRG prices were once again based on estimated costs instead of the current charge-based prices, payments would be significantly redistributed. PMID:10313356

Reduced-Order Models for Load Management in the Power Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alizadeh, Mahnoosh

In recent years, considerable research efforts have been directed towards designing control schemes that can leverage the inherent flexibility of electricity demand that is not tapped into in today's electricity markets. It is expected that these control schemes will be carried out by for-profit entities referred to as aggregators that operate at the edge of the power grid network. While the aggregator control problem is receiving much attention, more high-level questions of how these aggregators should plan their market participation, interact with the main grid and with each other, remain rather understudied. Answering these questions requires a large-scale model for the aggregate flexibility that can be harnessed from the a population of customers, particularly for residences and small businesses. The contribution of this thesis towards this goal is divided into three parts: In Chapter 3, a reduced-order model for a large population of heterogeneous appliances is provided by clustering load profiles that share similar degrees of freedom together. The use of such reduced-order model for system planning and optimal market decision making requires a foresighted approximation of the number of appliances that will join each cluster. Thus, Chapter 4 provides a systematic framework to generate such forecasts for the case of Electric Vehicles, based on real-world battery charging data. While these two chapters set aside the economic side that is naturally involved with participation in demand response programs and mainly focus on the control problem, Chapter 5 is dedicated to the study of optimal pricing mechanisms in order to recruit heterogeneous customers in a demand response program in which an aggregator can directly manage their appliances' load under their specified preferences. Prices are proportional to the wholesale market savings that can result from each recruitment event.

Revolving drug funds at front-line health facilities in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

PubMed

Murakami, H; Phommasack, B; Oula, R; Sinxomphou, S

2001-03-01

Pharmaceutical cost recovery programmes, which have been mainly implemented in Africa, are gradually spreading to Southeast Asian countries that formerly belonged to the socialist bloc. This report describes the economic and operational realities of revolving drug funds (RDFs) at district hospitals and health centres in the capital of the Lao PDR by reviewing research conducted by the implementing department. People in the municipality spent an average of US$11 on drugs in 1996. The RDFs comprised only 3% of the total yearly drug sales in the municipality, whereas private pharmacies accounted for 75%. The RDFs were forced to operate in conjunction with the remaining government drug endowment and the thriving private pharmacies. This scheme has provided a stable supply of essential drugs. The assurance of drug availability at the front-line health facilities has resulted in increased utilization of the facilities despite the introduction of a drug fee. The cost recovery rate was 107% at health centres and 108% at district hospitals in two monitored districts during the 10 months from November 1997. Decentralized financial management was essential for cost recovery, allowing timely adjustment of selling prices as purchase prices rapidly inflated after the Asian economic crisis. The health staff observed that the people perceived drugs as everyday commodities that they should buy and take based on self-diagnosis and personal preference. Adaptation of the public health authorities to market-oriented thinking along with the establishment of pharmaceutical cost recovery occurred with few problems. However, both financial and operational management capacity at the municipal level pose a major challenge to policy clarification and scheme setting, especially in procurement, control of prescribing practices and the integration of drug dispensing with other components of quality clinical care.

Why and how did Israel adopt activity-based hospital payment? The Procedure-Related Group incremental reform.

PubMed

Brammli-Greenberg, Shuli; Waitzberg, Ruth; Perman, Vadim; Gamzu, Ronni

2016-10-01

Historically, Israel paid its non-profit hospitals on a perdiem (PD) basis. Recently, like other OECD countries, Israel has moved to activity-based payments. While most countries have adopted a diagnostic related group (DRG) payment system, Israel has chosen a Procedure-Related Group (PRG) system. This differs from the DRG system because it classifies patients by procedure rather than diagnosis. In Israel, the PRG system was found to be more feasible given the lack of data and information needed in the DRG classification system. The Ministry of Health (MoH) chose a payment scheme that depends only on inhouse creation of PRG codes and costing, thus avoiding dependence on hospital data. The PRG tariffs are priced by a joint Health and Finance Ministry commission and updated periodically. Moreover, PRGs are believed to achieve the same main efficiency objectives as DRGs: increasing the volume of activity, shortening unnecessary hospitalization days, and reducing the gaps between the costs and prices of activities. The PRG system is being adopted through an incremental reform that started in 2002 and was accelerated in 2010. The Israeli MoH involved the main players in the hospital market in the consolidation of this potentially controversial reform in order to avoid opposition. The reform was implemented incrementally in order to preserve the balance of resource allocation and overall expenditures of the system, thus becoming budget neutral. Yet, as long as gaps remain between marginal costs and prices of procedures, PRGs will not attain all their objectives. Moreover, it is still crucial to refine PRG rates to reflect the severity of cases, in order to tackle incentives for selection of patients within each procedure. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

7 CFR 1427.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... reflect any lack of data for base quality to make the adjusted spot price comparable to a spot price assuming the base quality. If base quality spot price data are not available, spot prices for other... warehouses that have entered into a Cotton Storage Agreement with CCC. Current Far East shipment price means...

Resourse Allocation and Pricing Principles for a University Computer Centre. Working Paper Series Number 6819.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Possen, Uri M.; And Others

As an introduction, this paper presents a statement of the objectives of the university computing center (UCC) from the viewpoint of the university, the government, the typical user, and the UCC itself. The operating and financial structure of a UCC are described. Three main types of budgeting schemes are discussed: time allocation, pseudo-dollar,…

Testing the social competition hypothesis of depression using a simple economic game.

PubMed

Kupferberg, Aleksandra; Hager, Oliver M; Fischbacher, Urs; Brändle, Laura S; Haynes, Melanie; Hasler, Gregor

2016-03-01

Price's social competition hypothesis interprets the depressive state as an unconscious, involuntary losing strategy, which enables individuals to yield and accept defeat in competitive situations. We investigated whether patients who suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD) would avoid competition more often than either patients suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD) or healthy controls. In a simple paper-folding task healthy participants and patiens with MDD and BPD were matched with two opponents, one with an unknown diagnosis and one who shared their clinical diagnosis, and they had to choose either a competitive or cooperative payment scheme for task completion. When playing against an unknown opponent, but not the opponent with the same diagnosis, the patients with depression chose the competitive payment scheme statistically less often than healthy controls and patients diagnosed with BPD. The competition avoidance against the unknown opponent is consistent with Price's social competition hypothesis. G.H. received research support, consulting fees and speaker honoraria from Lundbeck, AstraZeneca, Servier, Eli Lilly, Roche and Novartis. © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

An implementation of particle swarm optimization to evaluate optimal under-voltage load shedding in competitive electricity markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosseini-Bioki, M. M.; Rashidinejad, M.; Abdollahi, A.

2013-11-01

Load shedding is a crucial issue in power systems especially under restructured electricity environment. Market-driven load shedding in reregulated power systems associated with security as well as reliability is investigated in this paper. A technoeconomic multi-objective function is introduced to reveal an optimal load shedding scheme considering maximum social welfare. The proposed optimization problem includes maximum GENCOs and loads' profits as well as maximum loadability limit under normal and contingency conditions. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) as a heuristic optimization technique, is utilized to find an optimal load shedding scheme. In a market-driven structure, generators offer their bidding blocks while the dispatchable loads will bid their price-responsive demands. An independent system operator (ISO) derives a market clearing price (MCP) while rescheduling the amount of generating power in both pre-contingency and post-contingency conditions. The proposed methodology is developed on a 3-bus system and then is applied to a modified IEEE 30-bus test system. The obtained results show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in implementing the optimal load shedding satisfying social welfare by maintaining voltage stability margin (VSM) through technoeconomic analyses.

Pharmaceutical cost-containment policies and sustainability: recent Irish experience.

PubMed

Kenneally, Martin; Walshe, Valerie

2012-01-01

Our objective is to review and assess the main pharmaceutical cost-containment policies used in Ireland in recent years, and to highlight how a policy that improved fiscal sustainability but worsened economic sustainability could have improved both if an option-based approach was implemented. The main public pharmaceutical cost-containment policy measures including reducing the ex-factory price of drugs, pharmacy dispensing fees and community drug scheme coverage, and increasing patient copayments are outlined along with the resulting savings. We quantify the cost implications of a new policy that restricts the entitlement to free prescription drugs of persons older than 70 years and propose an alternative option-based policy that reduces the total cost to both the state and the patient. This set of policy measures reduced public spending on community drugs by an estimated €380m in 2011. The policy restricting free prescription drugs for persons older than 70 years, though effective in reducing public cost, increased the total cost of the drugs supplied. The policy-induced cost increase stems from a fees anomaly between the two main community drugs schemes which is circumvented by our alternative option-based policy. Our findings highlight the need for policymakers, even when absorbed with reducing cost, to design cost-containment policies that are both fiscally and economically sustainable. Copyright © 2012 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Microgrid to enable optimal distributed energy retail and end-user demand response

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jin, Ming; Feng, Wei; Marnay, Chris

In the face of unprecedented challenges in environmental sustainability and grid resilience, there is an increasingly held consensus regarding the adoption of distributed and renewable energy resources such as microgrids (MGs), and the utilization of flexible electric loads by demand response (DR) to potentially drive a necessary paradigm shift in energy production and consumption patterns. However, the potential value of distributed generation and demand flexibility has not yet been fully realized in the operation of MGs. This study investigates the pricing and operation strategy with DR for a MG retailer in an integrated energy system (IES). Based on co-optimizing retailmore » rates and MG dispatch formulated as a mixed integer quadratic programming (MIQP) problem, our model devises a dynamic pricing scheme that reflects the cost of generation and promotes DR, in tandem with an optimal dispatch plan that exploits spark spread and facilitates the integration of renewables, resulting in improved retailer profits and system stability. Main issues like integrated energy coupling and customer bill reduction are addressed during pricing to ensure rates competitiveness and customer protection. By evaluating on real datasets, the system is demonstrated to optimally coordinate storage, renewables, and combined heat and power (CHP), reduce carbon dioxide emission while maintaining profits, and effectively alleviate the PV curtailment problem. Finally, the model can be used by retailers and MG operators to optimize their operations, as well as regulators to design new utility rates in support of the ongoing transformation of energy systems.« less

Microgrid to enable optimal distributed energy retail and end-user demand response

DOE PAGES

Jin, Ming; Feng, Wei; Marnay, Chris; ...

2018-06-07

In the face of unprecedented challenges in environmental sustainability and grid resilience, there is an increasingly held consensus regarding the adoption of distributed and renewable energy resources such as microgrids (MGs), and the utilization of flexible electric loads by demand response (DR) to potentially drive a necessary paradigm shift in energy production and consumption patterns. However, the potential value of distributed generation and demand flexibility has not yet been fully realized in the operation of MGs. This study investigates the pricing and operation strategy with DR for a MG retailer in an integrated energy system (IES). Based on co-optimizing retailmore » rates and MG dispatch formulated as a mixed integer quadratic programming (MIQP) problem, our model devises a dynamic pricing scheme that reflects the cost of generation and promotes DR, in tandem with an optimal dispatch plan that exploits spark spread and facilitates the integration of renewables, resulting in improved retailer profits and system stability. Main issues like integrated energy coupling and customer bill reduction are addressed during pricing to ensure rates competitiveness and customer protection. By evaluating on real datasets, the system is demonstrated to optimally coordinate storage, renewables, and combined heat and power (CHP), reduce carbon dioxide emission while maintaining profits, and effectively alleviate the PV curtailment problem. Finally, the model can be used by retailers and MG operators to optimize their operations, as well as regulators to design new utility rates in support of the ongoing transformation of energy systems.« less

Well-balanced high-order centered schemes on unstructured meshes for shallow water equations with fixed and mobile bed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canestrelli, Alberto; Dumbser, Michael; Siviglia, Annunziato; Toro, Eleuterio F.

2010-03-01

In this paper, we study the numerical approximation of the two-dimensional morphodynamic model governed by the shallow water equations and bed-load transport following a coupled solution strategy. The resulting system of governing equations contains non-conservative products and it is solved simultaneously within each time step. The numerical solution is obtained using a new high-order accurate centered scheme of the finite volume type on unstructured meshes, which is an extension of the one-dimensional PRICE-C scheme recently proposed in Canestrelli et al. (2009) [5]. The resulting first-order accurate centered method is then extended to high order of accuracy in space via a high order WENO reconstruction technique and in time via a local continuous space-time Galerkin predictor method. The scheme is applied to the shallow water equations and the well-balanced properties of the method are investigated. Finally, we apply the new scheme to different test cases with both fixed and movable bed. An attractive future of the proposed method is that it is particularly suitable for engineering applications since it allows practitioners to adopt the most suitable sediment transport formula which better fits the field data.

Creative compliance in pharmaceutical markets: the case of profit controls.

PubMed

Bradley, James; Vandoros, Sotiris

2012-02-01

This article discusses the issue of creative compliance in pharmaceutical markets. In particular, we explore the case of profit controls in the UK as an indirect way of regulating prices of in-patent originators. We study creative compliance in the presence of profit controls, rather than price controls or the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme in general. We use lessons from the accounting literature to explain firm behavior and reveal potential weaknesses in profit control regulation and use data to show changes in trends following the introduction of this policy. We demonstrate that in the presence of profit controls there is an incentive for producers to increase costs (leading to inefficiencies) or to inflate reported costs. We find some evidence that the behavior of pharmaceutical firms in the UK may have changed as a result of the introduction of profit controls. Although the evidence is in line with what we would expect to occur as a result of creative compliance, establishing a concrete causal relationship between such a pricing policy and costs is not possible. As institutions or organizations look to achieve legitimacy for their actions, they will use the tools they have, whether accounting or regulatory, to best represent themselves.

The global biopharma industry and the rise of Indian drug multinationals: implications for Australian generics policy.

PubMed

Löfgren, Hans

2007-06-01

This article provides a synopsis of the new dynamics of the global biopharma industry. The emergence of global generics companies with capabilities approximating those of 'big pharma' has accelerated the blurring of boundaries between the innovator and generics sectors. Biotechnology-based products form a large and growing segment of prescription drug markets and regulatory pathways for biogenerics are imminent. Indian biopharma multinationals with large-scale efficient manufacturing plants and growing R&D capabilities are now major suppliers of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and generic drugs across both developed and developing countries. In response to generic competition, innovator companies employ a range of life cycle management techniques, including the launch of 'authorised generics'. The generics segment in Australia will see high growth rates in coming years but the prospect for local manufacturing is bleak. The availability of cheap generics in international markets has put pressure on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) pricing arrangements, and a new policy direction was announced in November 2006. Lower generics prices will have a negative impact on some incumbent suppliers but industrial renewal policies for the medicines industry in Australia are better focused on higher value R&D activities and niche manufacturing of sophisticated products.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, poverty and prices in rural India.

PubMed

Gaiha, Raghav; Kulkarni, Vani S; Pandey, Manoj K; Imai, Katsushi S

2010-01-01

The objective of this analysis is mainly to construct an intuitive measure of the performance of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in India. The focus is on divergence between demand and supply at the district level. Some related issues addressed are: (i) whether the gap between demand and supply responds to poverty; and (ii) whether recent hikes in NREGS wages are inflationary. Our analysis confirms responsiveness of the positive gap between demand and supply to poverty. Also, apprehensions expressed about the inflationary potential of recent hikes in NREGS wages have been confirmed. More importantly, higher NREGS wages are likely to undermine self-selection of the poor in it.

Do cost-sharing and entry deregulation curb pharmaceutical innovation?

PubMed

Grossmann, Volker

2013-09-01

This paper examines the role of both cost-sharing schemes in health insurance systems and the regulation of entry into the pharmaceutical sector for pharmaceutical R&D expenditure and drug prices. The analysis suggests that both an increase in the coinsurance rate and stricter price regulations adversely affect R&D spending in the pharmaceutical sector. In contrast, entry deregulation may lead to higher R&D spending of pharmaceutical companies. The relationship between R&D spending per firm and the number of firms may be hump-shaped. In this case, the number of rivals which maximizes R&D expenditure per firm is decreasing in the coinsurance rate and increasing in labor productivity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Framework for Using Rural Markets to Analyze Local Food Shortage Resilience and Mitigation Potential in sub-Saharan Africa based on Evidence from Zambia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montgomery, M. J.; Baylis, K.; Evans, T. P.

2016-12-01

Climate change is predicted to have negative impacts on agriculture and food security in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Regional and temporal climate variability will disburse these effects, creating opportunities to mitigate food shortages through well-studied international, regional, and national food flows and associated food prices. However, most food products consumed and traded by rural smallhold farmers rely on local market exchanges that take place outside the scope of prevalent regional and national market analysis. There is little empirical evidence on these rural markets outside of their potential for smallholder agribusiness. However, they offer an unopened window into local food supply and the nuances of food movements in rural areas. Our research explores how to analyze the cost and availability of food products in rural markets and their connection with each other, as well as with nearby households' food security. This new approach of using food markets as a unit of analysis necessitates a new framework that groups markets based on a hierarchy of variables relevant to their role as food movers and suppliers. In our research, we collected price and source data for 22 commodities bought and sold within 52 rural markets in 12 districts spatially distributed throughout Zambia. We continue to collect data via phone interviews with 206 traders and market managers within these markets each month. We used this data to develop a typology of stationary rural food markets based on their size in terms of traders and buyers, the diversity of commodities available year-round and seasonally, their price transmission with other markets, and their trading scheme and governance. The result is a dynamic framework with varying weights on each variable that classifies which characteristic of markets under which conditions increase their potential for local food shortage resilience and mitigation. We also allocate for commodity-specific scenarios to allow for modeling under climate conditions conducive to different crops.

The Pricing of Information--A Search-Based Approach to Pricing an Online Search Service.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyle, Harry F.

1982-01-01

Describes innovative pricing structure consisting of low connect time fee, print fees, and search fees, offered by Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) ONLINE--an online searching system used to locate chemical substances. Pricing options considered by CAS, the search-based pricing approach, and users' reactions to pricing structures are noted. (EJS)

Electricity Prices in a Competitive Environment: Marginal Cost Pricing

EIA Publications

1997-01-01

Presents the results of an analysis that focuses on two questions: (1) How are prices for competitive generation services likely to differ from regulated prices if competitive prices are based on marginal costs rather than regulated cost-of-service pricing? (2) What impacts will the competitive pricing of generation services (based on marginal costs) have on electricity consumption patterns, production costs, and the financial integrity of electricity suppliers?

An Auction-Based Spectrum Leasing Mechanism for Mobile Macro-Femtocell Networks of IoT

PubMed Central

Chen, Xin; Xing, Lei; Qiu, Tie; Li, Zhuo

2017-01-01

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a vision of the upcoming society. It can provide pervasive communication between two or more entities using 4G-LTE (Long Term Evolution) communication technology. In 4G-LTE networks, there are two important problems: helping manage the spectrum demands of IoT devices and achieving much more revenue with the limited resource. This paper proposes a pricing framework to investigate the spectrum leasing in mobile heterogeneous networks with single macrocell and multiple femtocells. We modeled the leasing procedure between the macrocell service provider (MSP) and femtocell holders (FHs) as an auction to motivate the MSP to lease its spectrum resource. All FHs act as the bidders, and the monopolist MSP acts as the auctioneer. In the auction, FHs submit their bids to rent the spectrum resource so that they can make a profit by selling it to their subscribers. The MSP determines the spectrum leasing amount and chooses the winning FHs by solving the dynamic programming-based 0–1 knapsack problem. In our proposed framework, we focus on the spectrum pricing strategy and revenue maximization of the MSP. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme provides effective motivation for the MSP to lease the spectrum to FHs, and both the MSP and FHs can benefit from spectrum leasing. PMID:28212317

Variationally consistent discretization schemes and numerical algorithms for contact problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wohlmuth, Barbara

We consider variationally consistent discretization schemes for mechanical contact problems. Most of the results can also be applied to other variational inequalities, such as those for phase transition problems in porous media, for plasticity or for option pricing applications from finance. The starting point is to weakly incorporate the constraint into the setting and to reformulate the inequality in the displacement in terms of a saddle-point problem. Here, the Lagrange multiplier represents the surface forces, and the constraints are restricted to the boundary of the simulation domain. Having a uniform inf-sup bound, one can then establish optimal low-order a priori convergence rates for the discretization error in the primal and dual variables. In addition to the abstract framework of linear saddle-point theory, complementarity terms have to be taken into account. The resulting inequality system is solved by rewriting it equivalently by means of the non-linear complementarity function as a system of equations. Although it is not differentiable in the classical sense, semi-smooth Newton methods, yielding super-linear convergence rates, can be applied and easily implemented in terms of a primal-dual active set strategy. Quite often the solution of contact problems has a low regularity, and the efficiency of the approach can be improved by using adaptive refinement techniques. Different standard types, such as residual- and equilibrated-based a posteriori error estimators, can be designed based on the interpretation of the dual variable as Neumann boundary condition. For the fully dynamic setting it is of interest to apply energy-preserving time-integration schemes. However, the differential algebraic character of the system can result in high oscillations if standard methods are applied. A possible remedy is to modify the fully discretized system by a local redistribution of the mass. Numerical results in two and three dimensions illustrate the wide range of possible applications and show the performance of the space discretization scheme, non-linear solver, adaptive refinement process and time integration.

The Effect of Forest Management Strategy on Carbon Storage and Revenue in Western Washington: A Probabilistic Simulation of Tradeoffs.

PubMed

Fischer, Paul W; Cullen, Alison C; Ettl, Gregory J

2017-01-01

The objectives of this study are to understand tradeoffs between forest carbon and timber values, and evaluate the impact of uncertainty in improved forest management (IFM) carbon offset projects to improve forest management decisions. The study uses probabilistic simulation of uncertainty in financial risk for three management scenarios (clearcutting in 45- and 65-year rotations and no harvest) under three carbon price schemes (historic voluntary market prices, cap and trade, and carbon prices set to equal net present value (NPV) from timber-oriented management). Uncertainty is modeled for value and amount of carbon credits and wood products, the accuracy of forest growth model forecasts, and four other variables relevant to American Carbon Registry methodology. Calculations use forest inventory data from a 1,740 ha forest in western Washington State, using the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) growth model. Sensitivity analysis shows that FVS model uncertainty contributes more than 70% to overall NPV variance, followed in importance by variability in inventory sample (3-14%), and short-term prices for timber products (8%), while variability in carbon credit price has little influence (1.1%). At regional average land-holding costs, a no-harvest management scenario would become revenue-positive at a carbon credit break-point price of $14.17/Mg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e). IFM carbon projects are associated with a greater chance of both large payouts and large losses to landowners. These results inform policymakers and forest owners of the carbon credit price necessary for IFM approaches to equal or better the business-as-usual strategy, while highlighting the magnitude of financial risk and reward through probabilistic simulation. © 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.

The economic-engineering of smart-meter-enabled dynamic water pricing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rougé, Charles; Harou, Julien

2016-04-01

The introduction of smart metering is set to revolutionize in many ways how water utilities conduct their business and interact with customers. Among those is the possibility of changing water prices during the day or seasonally. This work presents the engineering and economic implications of dynamic pricing implemented at two distinct timescales, 1) a seasonal scarcity tariff aimed at reducing consumption during drier period or droughts, and 2) time-of-day tariffs aimed at reducing peak-hour water use. Sophisticated dynamic pricing schemes are hard to understand for many users, and this reduces their social acceptability because it gives the impression that they help the water utility charge more for water. Therefore, we focus on simple pricing mechanisms, and estimating their short- and long-term benefits for communication with regulators and consumers. Seasonal scarcity tariffs are designed by adjusting prices such that the increased expenditure is commensurate with economic gains in other uses such as the environment and recreation. These tariffs could promote efficient use of limited supplies during relatively dry periods. In the long term, consistently reducing water consumption when it is scarce delays the need to invest in new sources of supply meant only for dry periods (e.g. desalination) which can bring down supply costs in the long-term. Reducing peak-hour use through time-of-day tariffs in the short run decreases peak-hour energy consumption and delays maintenance by reducing the likelihood of pipe burst. In the long run it delays capacity expansion of the distribution network. We develop and demonstrate a simple economic model of water supply to a generic city to demonstrate these concepts. This simple model is applied to London's water supply to better understand the scale of potential price changes and savings given London's environmental flow demands.

Modeling regulated water utility investment incentives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Padula, S.; Harou, J. J.

2014-12-01

This work attempts to model the infrastructure investment choices of privatized water utilities subject to rate of return and price cap regulation. The goal is to understand how regulation influences water companies' investment decisions such as their desire to engage in transfers with neighbouring companies. We formulate a profit maximization capacity expansion model that finds the schedule of new supply, demand management and transfer schemes that maintain the annual supply-demand balance and maximize a companies' profit under the 2010-15 price control process in England. Regulatory incentives for costs savings are also represented in the model. These include: the CIS scheme for the capital expenditure (capex) and incentive allowance schemes for the operating expenditure (opex) . The profit-maximizing investment program (what to build, when and what size) is compared with the least cost program (social optimum). We apply this formulation to several water companies in South East England to model performance and sensitivity to water network particulars. Results show that if companies' are able to outperform the regulatory assumption on the cost of capital, a capital bias can be generated, due to the fact that the capital expenditure, contrarily to opex, can be remunerated through the companies' regulatory capital value (RCV). The occurrence of the 'capital bias' or its entity depends on the extent to which a company can finance its investments at a rate below the allowed cost of capital. The bias can be reduced by the regulatory penalties for underperformances on the capital expenditure (CIS scheme); Sensitivity analysis can be applied by varying the CIS penalty to see how and to which extent this impacts the capital bias effect. We show how regulatory changes could potentially be devised to partially remove the 'capital bias' effect. Solutions potentially include allowing for incentives on total expenditure rather than separately for capex and opex and allowing both opex and capex to be remunerated through a return on the company's regulatory capital value.

Incentive-compatible demand-side management for smart grids based on review strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jie; van der Schaar, Mihaela

2015-12-01

Demand-side load management is able to significantly improve the energy efficiency of smart grids. Since the electricity production cost depends on the aggregate energy usage of multiple consumers, an important incentive problem emerges: self-interested consumers want to increase their own utilities by consuming more than the socially optimal amount of energy during peak hours since the increased cost is shared among the entire set of consumers. To incentivize self-interested consumers to take the socially optimal scheduling actions, we design a new class of protocols based on review strategies. These strategies work as follows: first, a review stage takes place in which a statistical test is performed based on the daily prices of the previous billing cycle to determine whether or not the other consumers schedule their electricity loads in a socially optimal way. If the test fails, the consumers trigger a punishment phase in which, for a certain time, they adjust their energy scheduling in such a way that everybody in the consumer set is punished due to an increased price. Using a carefully designed protocol based on such review strategies, consumers then have incentives to take the socially optimal load scheduling to avoid entering this punishment phase. We rigorously characterize the impact of deploying protocols based on review strategies on the system's as well as the users' performance and determine the optimal design (optimal billing cycle, punishment length, etc.) for various smart grid deployment scenarios. Even though this paper considers a simplified smart grid model, our analysis provides important and useful insights for designing incentive-compatible demand-side management schemes based on aggregate energy usage information in a variety of practical scenarios.

Res-E Support Policies in the Baltic States: Electricity Price Aspect (Part II)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobinaite, V.; Priedite, I.

2015-04-01

Increasing volumes of electricity derived from renewable energy sources (RES-E) affect the electricity market prices and the prices for final electricity consumers in the Baltic States. The results of a multivariate regression analysis show that in 2013 the RES-E contributed to decreasing the electricity market prices in the Baltic States. However, the final electricity consumers pay for the promotion of RES-E through the approved RES-E component which has a tendency to increase. It is estimated that in 2013 the net benefits from the wind electricity promotion were achieved in Lithuania and Latvia while the net cost - in Estonia. This suggests that the economic efficiency of the wind electricity support scheme based on the application of feed-in tariffs was higher than that based on the feed-in premium. Rakstā analizēta elektroenerģijas ražošanas no atjaunojamiem energoresursiem (AER-E) palielināšanas ietekme uz elektroenerģijas tirgus cenu un gala cenu elektroenerģijas lietotājiem Baltijas valstīs. Daudzfaktoru regresijas analīzes rezultāti atklāja, ka AER-E 2013. gadā varētu samazināt elektroenerģijas tirgus cenas Baltijas valstīs. Tomēr jāņem vērā, ka elektroenerģijas lietotāja gala cenā ir iekļauta AER-E atbalsta komponente, kurai ir raksturīgi palielināties. Aprēķināts, ka no vēja elektroenerģijas ražošanas Latvijā un Lietuvā tika iegūta tīrā peļņa, bet Igaunijā tikai nosedza pašizmaksu. Tas liecina, ka vēja elektroenerģijas atbalsta shēmai, kas balstīta uz obligātā iepirkuma atbalsta principu, ir augstāka ekonomiskā efektivitāte, nekā atbalsta shēmai, kas balstīta uz piemaksu par no AER saražoto elektroenerģiju obligātā iepirkuma ietvaros.

Empirical studies of regulatory restructuring and incentives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knittel, Christopher Roland

This dissertation examines the actions of firms when faced with regulatory restructuring. Chapter I examines the equilibrium pricing behavior of local exchange telephone companies under a variety of market structures. In particular, the pricing behavior of three services are analyzed: residential local service, business local service, and intraLATA toll service. Beginning in 1984, a variety of market structure changes have taken place in the local telecommunications industry. I analyze differences in the method of price-setting regulation and the restrictions on entry. Specifically, the relative pricing behavior under rate of return and price cap regulation is analyzed, as well as the impact of entry in the local exchange and intraLATA toll service markets. In doing so, I estimate an empirical model that accounts for the stickiness of rates in regulated industries that is based on firm and regulator decision processes in the presence of adjustment costs. I find that, faced with competitive pressures that reduce rates in one service, incumbent firm rates increase in other services, thereby reducing the benefits from competition. In addition, the findings suggest that price cap regulation leads to higher rates relative to rate-of-return regulation. Chapter 2 analyzes the pricing and investment behavior of electricity firms. Electricity and natural gas markets have traditionally been serviced by one of two market structures. In some markets, electricity and natural gas are sold by a dual-product regulated monopolist, while in other markets, electricity and natural gas are sold by separate single-product regulated monopolies. This paper analyzes the relative pricing and investment decisions of electricity firms operating in the two market structures. The unique relationship between these two products imply that the relative incentives of single and dual-product firms are likely to differ. Namely electricity and natural gas are substitutes in consumption while natural gas is also an input into the generation of electricity. However because these firms are regulated, these differing incentives would only be acted upon if regulation is imperfect in some way. Chapter 2 analyzes these issues. In particular, I estimate equilibrium pricing and investment equations that capture the relative incentives of single and dual-product electricity firms. The results imply that both electricity prices and reliance on natural gas generation are higher in a dual-product setting, both suggesting that regulators respond to the relative incentives of electricity and natural gas firms. Chapter 3 analyzes electricity firm production incentives when regulated via performance based regulation. Although many electricity markets are currently considering adopting a competitive market for electricity generation, and still others have already done so, the vast majority of electricity markets remain tightly regulated. Within this traditional regulatory environment, the use of incentive regulation schemes in US electricity markets has grown during the past two decades. While every state has some program that it refers to as an incentive regulation program, these programs differ in both their goals and how they attempt to meet these goals. In this chapter, I discuss the wide array of programs that have been utilized to alter the incentives of US investor-owned utilities (IOUs). In addition, using stochastic frontier methods, I provide empirical analysis of the impact that a number of incentive regulation programs have on the efficiency of a large set of coal and natural gas generator units.

Value-based differential pricing: efficient prices for drugs in a global context.

PubMed

Danzon, Patricia; Towse, Adrian; Mestre-Ferrandiz, Jorge

2015-03-01

This paper analyzes pharmaceutical pricing between and within countries to achieve second-best static and dynamic efficiency. We distinguish countries with and without universal insurance, because insurance undermines patients' price sensitivity, potentially leading to prices above second-best efficient levels. In countries with universal insurance, if each payer unilaterally sets an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) threshold based on its citizens' willingness-to-pay for health; manufacturers price to that ICER threshold; and payers limit reimbursement to patients for whom a drug is cost-effective at that price and ICER, then the resulting price levels and use within each country and price differentials across countries are roughly consistent with second-best static and dynamic efficiency. These value-based prices are expected to differ cross-nationally with per capita income and be broadly consistent with Ramsey optimal prices. Countries without comprehensive insurance avoid its distorting effects on prices but also lack financial protection and affordability for the poor. Improving pricing efficiency in these self-pay countries includes improving regulation and consumer information about product quality and enabling firms to price discriminate within and between countries. © 2013 The Authors. Health Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Innovative medicines and market access agreements].

PubMed

Toumi, M; Zard, J; Duvillard, R; Jommi, C

2013-09-01

Market Access Agreements (MAA) for drugs have emerged in response to the need to control health expenditures, as well as to the uncertainty about the true benefit of a drug. It is possible to group MAA in two types of agreements: financial agreements and outcome-based agreements. MAA is a growing trend and is shifting towards conditional access. However, the willingness to use these contracts and their implementation differ across countries, and some are still resistant to put them in place. The MAA challenges to overcome encompass the complexity of the schemes, the administrative burden and the difficulty of evaluating MAA. It is likely that these agreements might experience further evolution in the future to become a faster pathway for therapeutic innovations, at a fair price. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A Novel High-Efficiency Rear-Contact Solar Cell with Bifacial Sensitivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hezel, R.

At present, wafer-based silicon solar cells have a share of more than 90% of the photovoltaic market. Despite rapid growth in the manufacturing volume, accompanied by a significant drop in the module selling price, the high costs currently associated with photovoltaic power generation are one of the most important obstacles to widespread global use of solar electricity. Up to a certain level, a higher production volume is a key driver in cost reduction. However, apart from a drastic reduction of the silicon wafer thickness in conjunction with improved light-trapping schemes, innovative processing sequences combining very high solar cell efficiencies with simple and cost-effective fabrication techniques are needed to become competitive with conventional energy sources and thus to move solar energy from niche to mainstream.

A Distribution-class Locational Marginal Price (DLMP) Index for Enhanced Distribution Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akinbode, Oluwaseyi Wemimo

The smart grid initiative is the impetus behind changes that are expected to culminate into an enhanced distribution system with the communication and control infrastructure to support advanced distribution system applications and resources such as distributed generation, energy storage systems, and price responsive loads. This research proposes a distribution-class analog of the transmission LMP (DLMP) as an enabler of the advanced applications of the enhanced distribution system. The DLMP is envisioned as a control signal that can incentivize distribution system resources to behave optimally in a manner that benefits economic efficiency and system reliability and that can optimally couple the transmission and the distribution systems. The DLMP is calculated from a two-stage optimization problem; a transmission system OPF and a distribution system OPF. An iterative framework that ensures accurate representation of the distribution system's price sensitive resources for the transmission system problem and vice versa is developed and its convergence problem is discussed. As part of the DLMP calculation framework, a DCOPF formulation that endogenously captures the effect of real power losses is discussed. The formulation uses piecewise linear functions to approximate losses. This thesis explores, with theoretical proofs, the breakdown of the loss approximation technique when non-positive DLMPs/LMPs occur and discusses a mixed integer linear programming formulation that corrects the breakdown. The DLMP is numerically illustrated in traditional and enhanced distribution systems and its superiority to contemporary pricing mechanisms is demonstrated using price responsive loads. Results show that the impact of the inaccuracy of contemporary pricing schemes becomes significant as flexible resources increase. At high elasticity, aggregate load consumption deviated from the optimal consumption by up to about 45 percent when using a flat or time-of-use rate. Individual load consumption deviated by up to 25 percent when using a real-time price. The superiority of the DLMP is more pronounced when important distribution network conditions are not reflected by contemporary prices. The individual load consumption incentivized by the real-time price deviated by up to 90 percent from the optimal consumption in a congested distribution network. While the DLMP internalizes congestion management, the consumption incentivized by the real-time price caused overloads.

Nutrition and the commercialization of agriculture: ten years later.

PubMed

DeWalt, K M

1993-06-01

This paper reviews the results of studies examining the impacts of agricultural commercialization on food consumption and nutritional status carried out over the last 10 years. Several conclusions can be drawn. First, the income effects of shifts to cash cropping are highly dependent on pricing policy for cash crops. Short term gains seen in some schemes are often highly dependent on the maintenance of high prices for commercial crops. Second, those schemes in which subsistence production is protected or stabilized are more likely to show positive results with an increase in income generated from cash cropping. Third, increased income does not translate directly into increased food consumption at either the household or individual (child) level. Shifts in control of income from women to men are important. Fourth, morbidity, especially from diarrheal disease is an important predictor of child growth. A failure to improve morbidity of children may offset gains in food consumption and in some instances a decrease in the time women have to care for their children as a result of commercialization has resulted in greater morbidity among children. Finally, the question "Who benefits and who loses?" is rarely addressed in these studies. The impacts of commercialization are mixed. They are highly dependent on the nature of the crop, the control of production and income, the allocation of household labor, the maintenance of subsistence production, land tenure, and pricing policies for both cash crops and food stuffs. It is these 'intervening' factors, not crop choice, that appear to be the most crucial in the nutritional status of rural people. Economic, food and agricultural policies and programs that advantage the most vulnerable population groups are the most likely to provide positive benefits in terms of food security and nutritional status. To place the emphasis on commercialization per se is to misplace it.

Profitability of a dairy sheep genetic improvement program using artificial insemination.

PubMed

Valergakis, G E; Gelasakis, A I; Oikonomou, G; Arsenos, G; Fortomaris, P; Banos, G

2010-10-01

This simulation study investigated the farm-level economic benefits of a genetic improvement scheme using artificial insemination (AI) with fresh ram semen in dairy sheep of the Chios breed in Greece. Data were collected from 67 farms associated with the Chios Sheep Breeders' Cooperative 'Macedonia', describing the percentage of ewes that would be artificially inseminated in the flock, pregnancy rate, annual ram costs that could be saved using AI rather than natural mating, expected improvement in milk production, annual costs of semen and feed, milk price and number of years of AI usage. The study considered 77 760 possible scenarios in a 3 × 4 × 4 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 4 × 15 factorial arrangement. Analysis of variance was used to investigate the effect of each factor on farm profitability. All factors considered were statistically significant (P < 0.001), but their effect varied. The number of years using AI had the greatest effect on profitability and farmers should become aware that using AI is a long-term investment. Semen price, pregnancy rate and improvement in milk production also had substantial effects. The price of milk and feed had a considerably lower effect on profitability, as did the annual cost of maintaining rams that would be replaced by AI. A positive annual and cumulative return was achieved in the model within the first 6 years. The cost of semen was estimated at 8€ to 10€ per dose for the first 5 years. Where the annual improvement in milk production was 1% of annual phenotypic mean (e.g. 3.0 kg) profitability of the scheme was improved greatly.

Analysis and Countermeasures of Wind Power Accommodation by Aluminum Electrolysis Pot-Lines in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hongliang; Ran, Ling; He, Guixiong; Wang, Zhenyu; Li, Jie

2017-10-01

The unit energy consumption and its price have become the main obstacles for the future development of the aluminum electrolysis industry in China. Meanwhile, wind power is widely being abandoned because of its instability. In this study, a novel idea for wind power accommodation is proposed to achieve a win-win situation: the idea is for nearby aluminum electrolysis plants to absorb the wind power. The features of the wind power distribution and aluminum electrolysis industry are first summarized, and the concept of wind power accommodation by the aluminum industry is introduced. Then, based on the characteristics of aluminum reduction cells, the key problems, including the bus-bar status, thermal balance, and magnetohydrodynamics instabilities, are analyzed. In addition, a whole accommodation implementation plan for wind power by aluminum reduction is introduced to explain the theoretical value of accommodation, evaluation of the reduction cells, and the industrial experiment scheme. A numerical simulation of a typical scenario proves that there is large accommodation potential for the aluminum reduction cells. Aluminum electrolysis can accommodate wind power and remain stable under the proper technique and accommodation scheme, which will provide promising benefits for the aluminum plant and the wind energy plant.

European healthcare policies for controlling drug expenditure.

PubMed

Ess, Silvia M; Schneeweiss, Sebastian; Szucs, Thomas D

2003-01-01

In the last 20 years, expenditures on pharmaceuticals - as well as total health expenditures - have grown faster than the gross national product in all European countries. The aim of this paper was to review policies that European governments apply to reduce or at least slow down public expenditure on pharmaceutical products. Such policies can target the industry, the wholesalers and retailers, prescribers, and patients. The objectives of pharmaceutical policies are multidimensional and must take into account issues relating to public health, public expenditure and industrial incentives. Both price levels and consumption patterns determine the level of total drug expenditure in a particular country, and both factors vary greatly across countries. Licensing and pricing policies intend to influence the supply side. Three types of pricing policies can be recognised: product price control, reference pricing and profit control. Profit control is mainly used in the UK. Reference pricing systems were first used in Germany and The Netherlands and are being considered in other countries. Product price control is still the most common method for establishing the price of drugs. For the aim of fiscal consolidation, price-freeze and price-cut measures have been frequently used in the 1980s and 1990s. They have affected all types of schemes. For drug wholesalers and retailers, most governments have defined profit margins. The differences in price levels as well as the introduction of a Single European Pharmaceutical Market has led to the phenomenon of parallel imports among member countries of the European Union. This may be facilitated by larger and more powerful wholesalers and the vertical integration between wholesalers and retailers. To control costs, the use of generic drugs is encouraged in most countries, but only few countries allow pharmacists to substitute generic drugs for proprietary brands. Various interventions are used to reduce the patients' demand for drugs by either denying or limiting reimbursement of products and providing an incentive for patients to reduce their consumption of drugs. These interventions include defining a list either of drugs reimbursed (positive list) or one of drugs not reimbursed (negative list), and patient co-payments, which require patients to pay a proportion of the cost of a prescribed product or a fixed charge. Policies intended to affect physicians' prescribing behaviour include guidelines, information (about price and less expensive alternatives) and feedback, and the use of budgetary restrictions.

The low-cost microwave plasma sources for science and industry applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tikhonov, V. N.; Aleshin, S. N.; Ivanov, I. A.; Tikhonov, A. V.

2017-11-01

Microwave plasma torches proposed in the world market are built according to a scheme that can be called classical: power supply - magnetron head - microwave isolator with water load - reflected power meter - matching device - actual plasma torch - sliding short circuit. The total cost of devices from this list with a microwave generator of 3 kW in the performance, for example, of SAIREM (France), is about 17,000 €. We have changed the classical scheme of the microwave plasmathrone and optimised design of the waveguide channel. As a result, we can supply simple and reliable sources of microwave plasma (complete with our low-budget microwave generator up to 3 kW and a simple plasmathrone of atmospheric pressure) at a price from 3,000 €.

The case for Ofsmoke: the potential for price cap regulation of tobacco to raise £500 million per year in the UK.

PubMed

Branston, J Robert; Gilmore, Anna B

2014-01-01

A system of price-cap regulation has previously been suggested to address the market failure inherent to the tobacco industry. This would benefit public health directly (eg, by making it extremely difficult for the industry to sell cut-price cigarettes, or use price as a marketing strategy) and indirectly (eg, by reducing the available money the industry has for spending on marketing and lobbying). This paper explores the feasibility of applying such a scheme in the UK. The impact of price-capping is modelled using optimistic and conservative scenarios, each with different assumptions, and using 2009 and 2010 profit data for the major companies selling tobacco in the UK. The models are used to calculate by how much would profit be reduced through the imposition of price caps, and thus, how much revenue could be raised in additional taxes, assuming the end price the consumer pays does not change. Tobacco companies enjoy massive profit margins, up to 67%, in the UK. The optimistic scenario suggests a potential increase in UK tobacco tax revenue of £585.7 million in 2010 (£548.4 million in 2009), while the conservative model suggests an increase in revenue of £433.6 million in 2010 (£399.2 million in 2009). This would be approximately enough to fund, twice over, UK-wide antitobacco smuggling measures, and smoking cessation services in England, including the associated pharmacotherapies, to help people stop smoking. Applying a system of price-cap regulation in the UK would raise around £500 million per annum (US$750 million). This is likely to be an underestimate because of cautious assumptions used in the model. These significant financial benefits, in addition to the public health benefits that would be generated, suggest this is a policy that should be given serious consideration.

THE CASE FOR OFSMOKE: THE POTENTIAL FOR PRICE CAP REGULATION OF TOBACCO TO RAISE £500M PER YEAR IN THE UK

PubMed Central

Robert Branston, J.; Gilmore, Anna B.

2013-01-01

Objective A system of price-cap regulation has previously been suggested to address the market failure inherent to the tobacco industry. This would benefit public health directly (for example, by making it extremely difficult for the industry to sell cut price cigarettes or use price as a marketing strategy) and indirectly (for example, by reducing the money industry has available to spend on marketing and lobbying). This paper explores the feasibility of applying such a scheme in the UK. Methods The impact of price-capping is modelled using optimistic and conservative scenarios, each with different assumptions, and using 2009 and 2010 profit data for the major companies selling tobacco in the UK. The models are used to calculate by how much profit would be reduced through the imposition of price caps, and thus how much revenue could be raised in additional taxes, assuming the end price the consumer pays does not change. Results Tobacco companies enjoy massive profit margins, up to 67%, in the UK. The optimistic scenario suggests a potential increase in UK tobacco tax revenue of £585.7m in 2010 (£548.4m in 2009), while the conservative model suggests an increase in revenue of £433.6m in 2010 (£399.2m in 2009). This would be approximately enough to fund, twice over, UK wide anti-tobacco smuggling measures and smoking cessation services in England including the associated pharmacotherapies. Conclusions Applying a system of price cap regulation in the UK would raise around £500m per annum (US$750m). This is likely to be an under-estimate because of cautious assumptions used in the model. These significant financial benefits, in addition to the public health benefits that would be generated, suggest this is a policy that should be given serious consideration. PMID:23322310

Two-part payments for the reimbursement of investments in health technologies.

PubMed

Levaggi, Rosella; Moretto, Michele; Pertile, Paolo

2014-04-01

The paper studies the impact of alternative reimbursement systems on two provider decisions: whether to adopt a technology whose provision requires a sunk investment cost and how many patients to treat with it. Using a simple economic model we show that the optimal pricing policy involves a two-part payment: a price equal to the marginal cost of the patient whose benefit of treatment equals the cost of provision, and a separate payment for the partial reimbursement of capital costs. Departures from this scheme, which are frequent in DRG tariff systems designed around the world, lead to a trade-off between the objective of making effective technologies available to patients and the need to ensure appropriateness in use. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three Essays Examining Household Energy Demand and Behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, Anthony G.

This dissertation consists of three essays examining household energy decisions and behavior. The first essay examines the adoption of energy efficient Energy Star home appliances by U.S. households. Program effectiveness requires that consumers be aware of the labeling scheme and also change their purchase decisions based on label information. The first essay examines the factors associated with consumer awareness of the Energy Star label of recently purchased major appliances and the factors associated with the choice of Energy Star labeled appliances. The findings suggest that eliminating identified gaps in Energy Star appliance adoption would result in house electricity cost savings of $164 million per year and associated carbon emission reductions of about 1.1 million metric tons per year. The second essay evaluates household energy security and the effectiveness of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the single largest energy assistance program available to poor households within the United States. Energy security is conceptually akin to the well-known concept of food security. Rasch models and household responses to energy security questions in the 2005 Residential Energy Consumption Survey are used to generate an energy insecurity index that is consistent with those found in the food insecurity literature. Participating in LIHEAP is found to significantly reduce household energy insecurity score in the index. Further, simulations show that the elimination of the energy assistance safety net currently available to households increases the number of energy insecure house- holds by over 16 percent. The third essay develops a five equation demand system to estimate household own-price, cross-price and income elasticities between electricity, natural gas, food at home, food away from home, and non-durable commodity groups. Household cross-price elasticities between energy and food commodities are of particular importance. Energy price shocks reduce food expenditures for low-income households, as indicated by negative cross-price elasticity estimates for food and energy commodities. Additionally, low-income households reduce energy expenditures more than other households, further indicating "heat or eat" behavior. Results from all three essays provide policy makers with helpful information to shape future federal energy programs.

Carbon payments and low-cost conservation.

PubMed

Crossman, Neville D; Bryan, Brett A; Summers, David M

2011-08-01

A price on carbon is expected to generate demand for carbon offset schemes. This demand could drive investment in tree-based monocultures that provide higher carbon yields than diverse plantings of native tree and shrub species, which sequester less carbon but provide greater variation in vegetation structure and composition. Economic instruments such as species conservation banking, the creation and trading of credits that represent biological-diversity values on private land, could close the financial gap between monocultures and more diverse plantings by providing payments to individuals who plant diverse species in locations that contribute to conservation and restoration goals. We studied a highly modified agricultural system in southern Australia that is typical of many temperate agriculture zones globally (i.e., has a high proportion of endangered species, high levels of habitat fragmentation, and presence of non-native species). We quantified the economic returns from agriculture and from carbon plantings (monoculture and mixed tree and shrubs) under six carbon-price scenarios. We also identified high-priority locations for restoration of cleared landscapes with mixed tree and shrub carbon plantings. Depending on the price of carbon, direct annual payments to landowners of AU$7/ha/year to $125/ha/year (US$6-120/ha/year) may be sufficient to augment economic returns from a carbon market and encourage tree plantings that contribute more to the restoration of natural systems and endangered species habitats than monocultures. Thus, areas of high priority for conservation and restoration may be restored relatively cheaply in the presence of a carbon market. Overall, however, less carbon is sequestered by mixed native tree and shrub plantings. © 2011 Society for Conservation Biology.

Convergence of decision rules for value-based pricing of new innovative drugs.

PubMed

Gandjour, Afschin

2015-04-01

Given the high costs of innovative new drugs, most European countries have introduced policies for price control, in particular value-based pricing (VBP) and international reference pricing. The purpose of this study is to describe how profit-maximizing manufacturers would optimally adjust their launch sequence to these policies and how VBP countries may best respond. To decide about the launching sequence, a manufacturer must consider a tradeoff between price and sales volume in any given country as well as the effect of price in a VBP country on the price in international reference pricing countries. Based on the manufacturer's rationale, it is best for VBP countries in Europe to implicitly collude in the long term and set cost-effectiveness thresholds at the level of the lowest acceptable VBP country. This way, international reference pricing countries would also converge towards the lowest acceptable threshold in Europe.

Framework to evaluate the worth of hydraulic conductivity data for optimal groundwater resources management in ecologically sensitive areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feyen, Luc; Gorelick, Steven M.

2005-03-01

We propose a framework that combines simulation optimization with Bayesian decision analysis to evaluate the worth of hydraulic conductivity data for optimal groundwater resources management in ecologically sensitive areas. A stochastic simulation optimization management model is employed to plan regionally distributed groundwater pumping while preserving the hydroecological balance in wetland areas. Because predictions made by an aquifer model are uncertain, groundwater supply systems operate below maximum yield. Collecting data from the groundwater system can potentially reduce predictive uncertainty and increase safe water production. The price paid for improvement in water management is the cost of collecting the additional data. Efficient data collection using Bayesian decision analysis proceeds in three stages: (1) The prior analysis determines the optimal pumping scheme and profit from water sales on the basis of known information. (2) The preposterior analysis estimates the optimal measurement locations and evaluates whether each sequential measurement will be cost-effective before it is taken. (3) The posterior analysis then revises the prior optimal pumping scheme and consequent profit, given the new information. Stochastic simulation optimization employing a multiple-realization approach is used to determine the optimal pumping scheme in each of the three stages. The cost of new data must not exceed the expected increase in benefit obtained in optimal groundwater exploitation. An example based on groundwater management practices in Florida aimed at wetland protection showed that the cost of data collection more than paid for itself by enabling a safe and reliable increase in production.

Pricing and reimbursement of in-patent drugs in seven European countries: a comparative analysis.

PubMed

Garattini, Livio; Cornago, Dante; De Compadri, Paola

2007-08-01

The main objective of this comparative analysis was to assess regulations applied by EU governments to reward potentially innovative drugs. We focused on the pharmaceutical policy for in-patent drugs in seven EU countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. A common scheme was applied to all seven countries: first, pricing and reimbursement procedures for new and innovative drugs were investigated; secondly, we focused on the use in the regulatory process of economic evaluations. The analysis involved reviewing the literature and interviewing a selected panel of local experts in each country. According to our comparative analysis, a first sensible step might be to classify active ingredients as those addressing neglected pathologies and those for diseases that are already successfully treated, thus offering more limited therapeutic gains by definition. A reasonable solution to reward real innovation could be to admit a premium price for very innovative drugs according to their estimated cost-effectiveness. New drugs with modest improvement could be grouped in therapeutic clusters and submitted to a common reference price, despite patent expiration. Such a "dual approach" could be a sensible compromise to restrict pharmaceutical expenditure while at the same time rewarding companies that invest in high-risk basic research.

How to design the cost-effectiveness appraisal process of new healthcare technologies to maximise population health: A conceptual framework.

PubMed

Johannesen, Kasper M; Claxton, Karl; Sculpher, Mark J; Wailoo, Allan J

2018-02-01

This paper presents a conceptual framework to analyse the design of the cost-effectiveness appraisal process of new healthcare technologies. The framework characterises the appraisal processes as a diagnostic test aimed at identifying cost-effective (true positive) and non-cost-effective (true negative) technologies. Using the framework, factors that influence the value of operating an appraisal process, in terms of net gain to population health, are identified. The framework is used to gain insight into current policy questions including (a) how rigorous the process should be, (b) who should have the burden of proof, and (c) how optimal design changes when allowing for appeals, price reductions, resubmissions, and re-evaluations. The paper demonstrates that there is no one optimal appraisal process and the process should be adapted over time and to the specific technology under assessment. Optimal design depends on country-specific features of (future) technologies, for example, effect, price, and size of the patient population, which might explain the difference in appraisal processes across countries. It is shown that burden of proof should be placed on the producers and that the impact of price reductions and patient access schemes on the producer's price setting should be considered when designing the appraisal process. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pricing decisions from experience: the roles of information-acquisition and response modes.

PubMed

Golan, Hagai; Ert, Eyal

2015-03-01

While pricing decisions that are based on experience are quite common, e.g., setting a selling price for a used car, this type of decision has been surprisingly overlooked in psychology and decision research. Previous studies have focused on either choice decisions from experience, or pricing decisions from description. Those studies revealed that pricing involves cognitive mechanisms other than choice, while experience-based decisions involve mechanisms that differ from description-based ones. Thus, the mutual effect of pricing and experience on decision-making remains unclear. To test this effect, we experimentally compared real-money pricing decisions from experience with those from description, and with choices from experience. The results show that the mode of acquiring information affects pricing: the tendency to underprice high-probability prospects and overprice low-probability ones is diminished when pricing is based on experience rather than description. The findings further reveal attenuation of the tendency to underweight rare events, which underlies choices from experience, in pricing decisions from experience. The difference occurs because the response mode affects the search effort and decision strategy in decisions from experience. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Costs of paying higher prices for equivalent effects on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

PubMed

Karnon, Jonathan; Edney, Laura; Sorich, Michael

2017-03-01

Objective The aims of the present study were to illustrate and discuss the effects of the non-maintenance of equivalent prices when the comparators of pharmaceuticals listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS) on a cost-minimisation basis come off-patent and are subject to statutory price reductions, as well as further potential price reductions because of the effects of price disclosure. Methods Service use, benefits paid, and price data were analysed for a selected sample of pharmaceuticals recommended for listing on a cost-minimisation basis between 2008 and 2011, and their comparators, to estimate the cost savings to the PBS of maintaining equivalent prices. Results Potential cost savings for 12 pharmaceuticals, including alternative compounds and combination products across nine therapeutic groups, ranged from A$570000 to A$40million to April 2015. Potential savings increased significantly following recent amendments to the price disclosure process. Conclusions Potential savings from maintaining equivalent prices for all pharmaceuticals listed on the PBS on a cost-minimisation basis could be over A$500million per year. Actions to reduce these costs can be taken within existing policy frameworks, but legislative and political barriers may need to be addressed to minimise these costs, which are incurred by the taxpayer for no additional benefit. What is known about the topic? Pharmaceuticals listed on the PBS must provide value for money. Many pharmaceuticals achieve this by demonstrating equal effectiveness to an already listed pharmaceutical and requesting the same price as this comparator; that is, listing on a cost-minimisation basis. When the comparator moves off-patent, the price of the still-patented pharmaceutical is protected, whereas the off-patent drug is subject to price disclosure and often steep price reductions. What does this paper add? This paper adds to recent evidence on the costs to government of paying different prices for two or more pharmaceuticals that are equally effective. Between 2008 and 2011, the direct comparators for 68 pharmaceuticals listed on a cost-minimisation basis have moved onto the price disclosure list. Across 12 of these listings, the potential cost savings in the 10 months to April 2015 were A$73million. What are the implications for practitioners? The PBS costs the Australian government over A$9 billion per year. Annual savings over A$500million per year could be achieved by maintaining cost-minimisation across equally effective pharmaceuticals. This would improve the efficiency of the PBS at no risk to patients. Legislation is required to remove the existing F1 and F2 categorisation of listed pharmaceuticals, but the proposed changes would remove the need for therapeutic group premiums and simplify the pricing of PBS items.

Can you shrinkwrap a cow? Protections available for the intellectual property of the animal breeding industry.

PubMed

Ogden, E R; Weigel, K

2007-12-01

There are currently four main intellectual property protection statutory schemes available: copyright, trade secret, trademark and patent. Each of these protects a different aspect of intellectual property, which leaves gaps of protection when an innovation does not fit squarely within the boundaries of the statutes. Contracts allow the industry to tailor the protection desired. One very common approach is to license the product via contract. Licences allow intellectual property owners to retain ownership and give permission to others to use the product. Although there are several types of licences, the most common is the field of use licence, which limits the licensee's use of the product. This often leads to price discrimination where various levels of restriction are offered at corresponding prices. The more rights retained by the owner, the more restricted the buyer is and the lower the purchase price allowing customers to choose the level of restriction they are willing to accept. Therefore, the different uses and needs of various customers can be accounted for and reflected in the price. The animal breeding industry is currently struggling to protect their innovations falling into these statutory gaps. The protection for animal breeding industry innovations is most likely through contract law rather than traditional intellectual property law. By taking advantage of the unique nature of contracts, industry will be able to tailor protection and pricing to best suit the variety of customers and uses for the products sold.

Comprehensive taxonomy and worldwide trends in pharmaceutical policies in relation to country income status.

PubMed

Maniadakis, N; Kourlaba, G; Shen, J; Holtorf, A

2017-05-25

Rapidly evolving socioeconomic and technological trends make it challenging to improve access, effectiveness and efficiency in the use of pharmaceuticals. This paper identifies and systematically classifies the prevailing pharmaceutical policies worldwide in relation to a country's income status. A literature search was undertaken to identify and taxonomize prevailing policies worldwide. Countries that apply those policies and those that do not were then grouped by income status. Pharmaceutical policies are linked to a country's socioeconomics. Developed countries have universal coverage and control pharmaceuticals with external and internal price referencing systems, and indirect price-cost controls; they carry out health technology assessments and demand utilization controls. Price-volume and risk-sharing agreements are also evolving. Developing countries are underperforming in terms of coverage and they rely mostly on restrictive state controls to regulate prices and expenditure. There are significant disparities worldwide in the access to pharmaceuticals, their use, and the reimbursement of costs. The challenge in high-income countries is to maintain access to care whilst dealing with trends in technology and aging. Essential drugs should be available to all; however, many low- and middle-income countries still provide most of their population with only poor access to medicines. As economies grow, there should be greater investment in pharmaceutical care, looking to the policies of high-income countries to increase efficiency. Pharmaceutical companies could also develop special access schemes with low prices to facilitate coverage in low-income countries.

78 FR 69711 - Change in Postal Rates

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-20

.... Domestic Extra Services. Premium Forwarding Service prices increase slightly, and a new pricing option is... volume threshold for cubic pricing and other Commercial Plus offerings are decreased to 50,000 packages... methods for which GXG Commercial Base and PMEI Commercial Base pricing is available; the establishment of...

Why Are Product Prices in Online Markets Not Converging?

PubMed Central

Mizuno, Takayuki; Watanabe, Tsutomu

2013-01-01

Why are product prices in online markets dispersed in spite of very small search costs? To address this question, we construct a unique dataset from a Japanese price comparison site, which records price quotes offered by e-retailers as well as customers’ clicks on products, which occur when they proceed to purchase the product. The novelty of our approach is that we seek to extract useful information on the source of price dispersion from the shape of price distributions rather than focusing merely on the standard deviation or the coefficient of variation of prices, as previous studies have done. We find that the distribution of prices retailers quote for a particular product at a particular point in time (divided by the lowest price) follows an exponential distribution, showing the presence of substantial price dispersion. For example, 20 percent of all retailers quote prices that are more than 50 percent higher than the lowest price. Next, comparing the probability that customers click on a retailer with a particular rank and the probability that retailers post prices at a particular rank, we show that both decline exponentially with price rank and that the exponents associated with the probabilities are quite close. This suggests that the reason why some retailers set prices at a level substantially higher than the lowest price is that they know that some customers will choose them even at that high price. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that price dispersion in online markets stems from heterogeneity in customers’ preferences over retailers; that is, customers choose a set of candidate retailers based on their preferences, which are heterogeneous across customers, and then pick a particular retailer among the candidates based on the price ranking. PMID:24015219

Why are product prices in online markets not converging?

PubMed

Mizuno, Takayuki; Watanabe, Tsutomu

2013-01-01

Why are product prices in online markets dispersed in spite of very small search costs? To address this question, we construct a unique dataset from a Japanese price comparison site, which records price quotes offered by e-retailers as well as customers' clicks on products, which occur when they proceed to purchase the product. The novelty of our approach is that we seek to extract useful information on the source of price dispersion from the shape of price distributions rather than focusing merely on the standard deviation or the coefficient of variation of prices, as previous studies have done. We find that the distribution of prices retailers quote for a particular product at a particular point in time (divided by the lowest price) follows an exponential distribution, showing the presence of substantial price dispersion. For example, 20 percent of all retailers quote prices that are more than 50 percent higher than the lowest price. Next, comparing the probability that customers click on a retailer with a particular rank and the probability that retailers post prices at a particular rank, we show that both decline exponentially with price rank and that the exponents associated with the probabilities are quite close. This suggests that the reason why some retailers set prices at a level substantially higher than the lowest price is that they know that some customers will choose them even at that high price. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that price dispersion in online markets stems from heterogeneity in customers' preferences over retailers; that is, customers choose a set of candidate retailers based on their preferences, which are heterogeneous across customers, and then pick a particular retailer among the candidates based on the price ranking.

Finding the multipath propagation of multivariable crude oil prices using a wavelet-based network approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Xiaoliang; An, Haizhong; Sun, Xiaoqi; Huang, Xuan; Gao, Xiangyun

2016-04-01

The globalization and regionalization of crude oil trade inevitably give rise to the difference of crude oil prices. The understanding of the pattern of the crude oil prices' mutual propagation is essential for analyzing the development of global oil trade. Previous research has focused mainly on the fuzzy long- or short-term one-to-one propagation of bivariate oil prices, generally ignoring various patterns of periodical multivariate propagation. This study presents a wavelet-based network approach to help uncover the multipath propagation of multivariable crude oil prices in a joint time-frequency period. The weekly oil spot prices of the OPEC member states from June 1999 to March 2011 are adopted as the sample data. First, we used wavelet analysis to find different subseries based on an optimal decomposing scale to describe the periodical feature of the original oil price time series. Second, a complex network model was constructed based on an optimal threshold selection to describe the structural feature of multivariable oil prices. Third, Bayesian network analysis (BNA) was conducted to find the probability causal relationship based on periodical structural features to describe the various patterns of periodical multivariable propagation. Finally, the significance of the leading and intermediary oil prices is discussed. These findings are beneficial for the implementation of periodical target-oriented pricing policies and investment strategies.

Sub-Saharan Africa Report, No. 2830

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-08-12

proceeds abroad and earn in- come. This scheme would require suffi- cient forex reserves. It would provide a counter revenue which could be set...also as- sisted our credit rating. Forex controls Your Money: Is there a benchmark gold price for the lifting of foreign exchange controls? Dc...first and lest it before tak- ing the next step. Your Money: The lift- ing of forex controls could lead to a vola- tile exchange rate. De Loor

High Fidelity and Multiscale Algorithms for Collisional-radiative and Nonequilibrium Plasmas (Briefing Charts)

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-01

of models for variable conditions: – Use implicit models to eliminate constraint of sequence of fast time scales: c, ve, – Price to pay: lack...collisions: – Elastic – Bragiinski terms – Inelastic – warning! Rates depend on both T and relative velocity – Multi-fluid CR model from...merge/split for particle management, efficient sampling, inelastic collisions … – Level grouping schemes of electronic states, for dynamical coarse

The global biopharma industry and the rise of Indian drug multinationals: implications for Australian generics policy

PubMed Central

Löfgren, Hans

2007-01-01

This article provides a synopsis of the new dynamics of the global biopharma industry. The emergence of global generics companies with capabilities approximating those of 'big pharma' has accelerated the blurring of boundaries between the innovator and generics sectors. Biotechnology-based products form a large and growing segment of prescription drug markets and regulatory pathways for biogenerics are imminent. Indian biopharma multinationals with large-scale efficient manufacturing plants and growing R&D capabilities are now major suppliers of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and generic drugs across both developed and developing countries. In response to generic competition, innovator companies employ a range of life cycle management techniques, including the launch of 'authorised generics'. The generics segment in Australia will see high growth rates in coming years but the prospect for local manufacturing is bleak. The availability of cheap generics in international markets has put pressure on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) pricing arrangements, and a new policy direction was announced in November 2006. Lower generics prices will have a negative impact on some incumbent suppliers but industrial renewal policies for the medicines industry in Australia are better focused on higher value R&D activities and niche manufacturing of sophisticated products. PMID:17543115

Option pricing: Stock price, stock velocity and the acceleration Lagrangian

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baaquie, Belal E.; Du, Xin; Bhanap, Jitendra

2014-12-01

The industry standard Black-Scholes option pricing formula is based on the current value of the underlying security and other fixed parameters of the model. The Black-Scholes formula, with a fixed volatility, cannot match the market's option price; instead, it has come to be used as a formula for generating the option price, once the so called implied volatility of the option is provided as additional input. The implied volatility not only is an entire surface, depending on the strike price and maturity of the option, but also depends on calendar time, changing from day to day. The point of view adopted in this paper is that the instantaneous rate of return of the security carries part of the information that is provided by implied volatility, and with a few (time-independent) parameters required for a complete pricing formula. An option pricing formula is developed that is based on knowing the value of both the current price and rate of return of the underlying security which in physics is called velocity. Using an acceleration Lagrangian model based on the formalism of quantum mathematics, we derive the pricing formula for European call options. The implied volatility of the market can be generated by our pricing formula. Our option price is applied to foreign exchange rates and equities and the accuracy is compared with Black-Scholes pricing formula and with the market price.

[The price-based certainty of purchase influences consumer behavior for discount].

PubMed

Arihara, Katsuhiko; Ariga, Atsunori; Furuya, Takeshi

2016-04-01

Tversky & Kahneman (1981) reported that most participants decided to drive when they could save money on a low-price good as compared to when they could save on a high-price good, even though the discount prices were same. Although this irrational decision making has been interpreted as a rate-dependent estimation of value (prospect theory), this study newly proposes that it can be explained by the certainty of purchase based on the price of goods. Experiment 1 replicated the previously reported difference in decision making, and additionally demonstrated that participants' certainty of purchase was lower for a high- than a low-price good. When it was emphasized that participants' intention to purchase high- and low-price goods were equally sure, decision making did not significantly differ (Experiment 2). Furthermore, decision making differed based only on the certainty of purchase even,when prices of goods were-same (Experiment 3). Consumers' decision making may be rather rational, depending straightforwardly on the certainty of purchase that is susceptible to price.

Trading Network Predicts Stock Price

PubMed Central

Sun, Xiao-Qian; Shen, Hua-Wei; Cheng, Xue-Qi

2014-01-01

Stock price prediction is an important and challenging problem for studying financial markets. Existing studies are mainly based on the time series of stock price or the operation performance of listed company. In this paper, we propose to predict stock price based on investors' trading behavior. For each stock, we characterize the daily trading relationship among its investors using a trading network. We then classify the nodes of trading network into three roles according to their connectivity pattern. Strong Granger causality is found between stock price and trading relationship indices, i.e., the fraction of trading relationship among nodes with different roles. We further predict stock price by incorporating these trading relationship indices into a neural network based on time series of stock price. Experimental results on 51 stocks in two Chinese Stock Exchanges demonstrate the accuracy of stock price prediction is significantly improved by the inclusion of trading relationship indices. PMID:24429767

Trading network predicts stock price.

PubMed

Sun, Xiao-Qian; Shen, Hua-Wei; Cheng, Xue-Qi

2014-01-16

Stock price prediction is an important and challenging problem for studying financial markets. Existing studies are mainly based on the time series of stock price or the operation performance of listed company. In this paper, we propose to predict stock price based on investors' trading behavior. For each stock, we characterize the daily trading relationship among its investors using a trading network. We then classify the nodes of trading network into three roles according to their connectivity pattern. Strong Granger causality is found between stock price and trading relationship indices, i.e., the fraction of trading relationship among nodes with different roles. We further predict stock price by incorporating these trading relationship indices into a neural network based on time series of stock price. Experimental results on 51 stocks in two Chinese Stock Exchanges demonstrate the accuracy of stock price prediction is significantly improved by the inclusion of trading relationship indices.

Estimated Effects of Different Alcohol Taxation and Price Policies on Health Inequalities: A Mathematical Modelling Study.

PubMed

Meier, Petra S; Holmes, John; Angus, Colin; Ally, Abdallah K; Meng, Yang; Brennan, Alan

2016-02-01

While evidence that alcohol pricing policies reduce alcohol-related health harm is robust, and alcohol taxation increases are a WHO "best buy" intervention, there is a lack of research comparing the scale and distribution across society of health impacts arising from alternative tax and price policy options. The aim of this study is to test whether four common alcohol taxation and pricing strategies differ in their impact on health inequalities. An econometric epidemiological model was built with England 2014/2015 as the setting. Four pricing strategies implemented on top of the current tax were equalised to give the same 4.3% population-wide reduction in total alcohol-related mortality: current tax increase, a 13.4% all-product duty increase under the current UK system; a value-based tax, a 4.0% ad valorem tax based on product price; a strength-based tax, a volumetric tax of £0.22 per UK alcohol unit (= 8 g of ethanol); and minimum unit pricing, a minimum price threshold of £0.50 per unit, below which alcohol cannot be sold. Model inputs were calculated by combining data from representative household surveys on alcohol purchasing and consumption, administrative and healthcare data on 43 alcohol-attributable diseases, and published price elasticities and relative risk functions. Outcomes were annual per capita consumption, consumer spending, and alcohol-related deaths. Uncertainty was assessed via partial probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) and scenario analysis. The pricing strategies differ as to how effects are distributed across the population, and, from a public health perspective, heavy drinkers in routine/manual occupations are a key group as they are at greatest risk of health harm from their drinking. Strength-based taxation and minimum unit pricing would have greater effects on mortality among drinkers in routine/manual occupations (particularly for heavy drinkers, where the estimated policy effects on mortality rates are as follows: current tax increase, -3.2%; value-based tax, -2.9%; strength-based tax, -6.1%; minimum unit pricing, -7.8%) and lesser impacts among drinkers in professional/managerial occupations (for heavy drinkers: current tax increase, -1.3%; value-based tax, -1.4%; strength-based tax, +0.2%; minimum unit pricing, +0.8%). Results from the PSA give slightly greater mean effects for both the routine/manual (current tax increase, -3.6% [95% uncertainty interval (UI) -6.1%, -0.6%]; value-based tax, -3.3% [UI -5.1%, -1.7%]; strength-based tax, -7.5% [UI -13.7%, -3.9%]; minimum unit pricing, -10.3% [UI -10.3%, -7.0%]) and professional/managerial occupation groups (current tax increase, -1.8% [UI -4.7%, +1.6%]; value-based tax, -1.9% [UI -3.6%, +0.4%]; strength-based tax, -0.8% [UI -6.9%, +4.0%]; minimum unit pricing, -0.7% [UI -5.6%, +3.6%]). Impacts of price changes on moderate drinkers were small regardless of income or socioeconomic group. Analysis of uncertainty shows that the relative effectiveness of the four policies is fairly stable, although uncertainty in the absolute scale of effects exists. Volumetric taxation and minimum unit pricing consistently outperform increasing the current tax or adding an ad valorem tax in terms of reducing mortality among the heaviest drinkers and reducing alcohol-related health inequalities (e.g., in the routine/manual occupation group, volumetric taxation reduces deaths more than increasing the current tax in 26 out of 30 probabilistic runs, minimum unit pricing reduces deaths more than volumetric tax in 21 out of 30 runs, and minimum unit pricing reduces deaths more than increasing the current tax in 30 out of 30 runs). Study limitations include reducing model complexity by not considering a largely ineffective ban on below-tax alcohol sales, special duty rates covering only small shares of the market, and the impact of tax fraud or retailer non-compliance with minimum unit prices. Our model estimates that, compared to tax increases under the current system or introducing taxation based on product value, alcohol-content-based taxation or minimum unit pricing would lead to larger reductions in health inequalities across income groups. We also estimate that alcohol-content-based taxation and minimum unit pricing would have the largest impact on harmful drinking, with minimal effects on those drinking in moderation.

7 CFR 457.168 - Mustard crop insurance provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... count by using your highest base contract price first and will continue in decreasing order to your.... 1. Definitions Base contract price. The price per pound (U.S. dollars) stipulated in the processor contract (without regard to discounts or incentives) that will be used to determine your price election...

48 CFR 515.209-70 - Examination of records by GSA clause.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... payments based on cost, or guaranteed loan. (3) Contain a price warranty or price reduction clause. (4.... (5) Include an economic price adjustment clause where the adjustment is not based solely on an... property, compliance with the price reduction clause). Counsel and the Assistant Inspector General—Auditing...

Dynamic pricing of network goods with boundedly rational consumers.

PubMed

Radner, Roy; Radunskaya, Ami; Sundararajan, Arun

2014-01-07

We present a model of dynamic monopoly pricing for a good that displays network effects. In contrast with the standard notion of a rational-expectations equilibrium, we model consumers as boundedly rational and unable either to pay immediate attention to each price change or to make accurate forecasts of the adoption of the network good. Our analysis shows that the seller's optimal price trajectory has the following structure: The price is low when the user base is below a target level, is high when the user base is above the target, and is set to keep the user base stationary once the target level has been attained. We show that this pricing policy is robust to a number of extensions, which include the product's user base evolving over time and consumers basing their choices on a mixture of a myopic and a "stubborn" expectation of adoption. Our results differ significantly from those that would be predicted by a model based on rational-expectations equilibrium and are more consistent with the pricing of network goods observed in practice.

Dynamic pricing of network goods with boundedly rational consumers

PubMed Central

Radner, Roy; Radunskaya, Ami; Sundararajan, Arun

2014-01-01

We present a model of dynamic monopoly pricing for a good that displays network effects. In contrast with the standard notion of a rational-expectations equilibrium, we model consumers as boundedly rational and unable either to pay immediate attention to each price change or to make accurate forecasts of the adoption of the network good. Our analysis shows that the seller’s optimal price trajectory has the following structure: The price is low when the user base is below a target level, is high when the user base is above the target, and is set to keep the user base stationary once the target level has been attained. We show that this pricing policy is robust to a number of extensions, which include the product’s user base evolving over time and consumers basing their choices on a mixture of a myopic and a “stubborn” expectation of adoption. Our results differ significantly from those that would be predicted by a model based on rational-expectations equilibrium and are more consistent with the pricing of network goods observed in practice. PMID:24367101

Spectrum Sharing Based on a Bertrand Game in Cognitive Radio Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Zeng, Biqing; Zhang, Chi; Hu, Pianpian; Wang, Shengyu

2017-01-01

In the study of power control and allocation based on pricing, the utility of secondary users is usually studied from the perspective of the signal to noise ratio. The study of secondary user utility from the perspective of communication demand can not only promote the secondary users to meet the maximum communication needs, but also to maximize the utilization of spectrum resources, however, research in this area is lacking, so from the viewpoint of meeting the demand of network communication, this paper designs a two stage model to solve spectrum leasing and allocation problem in cognitive radio sensor networks (CRSNs). In the first stage, the secondary base station collects the secondary network communication requirements, and rents spectrum resources from several primary base stations using the Bertrand game to model the transaction behavior of the primary base station and secondary base station. The second stage, the subcarriers and power allocation problem of secondary base stations is defined as a nonlinear programming problem to be solved based on Nash bargaining. The simulation results show that the proposed model can satisfy the communication requirements of each user in a fair and efficient way compared to other spectrum sharing schemes. PMID:28067850

Patient access to new cancer drugs in the United States and Australia.

PubMed

Wilson, Andrew; Cohen, Joshua

2011-01-01

In light of the current debate on the use value and potential impact of comparative effectiveness research on patient access, it may prove insightful to compare a health-care system that systematically bases its reimbursement decisions on comparative effectiveness evidence with the United States (US) system that hitherto has only been informed by such evidence on an ad hoc basis. For a set of 2000-2009 approved new molecular entities and biologics indicated for cancer, we compared patient access between US Medicare and Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) beneficiaries. Here, access is defined in terms of marketing availability, payer coverage, and patient out-of-pocket costs. Although 34 drugs and biologics were approved for cancer in the US, just more than one-third (35%) were ultimately covered by the Australian PBS. The PBS also placed more restrictions on use. On the other hand, prices and patient out-of-pocket costs were greater for the US Medicare population. Our analysis points to a possible trade-off in market access to oncology drugs. Although more oncology drugs are available in the US and a higher percentage of available drugs are covered, the evidence-based approach adopted by Australia has contributed to reduced prices, thereby improving affordability for payers and patients for those medications deemed cost-effective by the reimbursement authority. Copyright © 2011 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the production process of optically pure D-lactic acid from raw glycerol using engineered Escherichia coli strains.

PubMed

Posada, John A; Cardona, Carlos A; Gonzalez, Ramon

2012-02-01

Glycerol has become an ideal feedstock for producing fuels and chemicals. Here, five technological schemes for optically pure D: -lactic acid production from raw glycerol were designed, simulated, and economically assessed based on five fermentative scenarios using engineered Escherichia coli strains. Fermentative scenarios considered different qualities of glycerol (pure, 98 wt.%, and crude, 85 wt.%) with concentrations ranging from 20 to 60 g/l in the fermentation media, and two fermentation stages were also analyzed. Raw glycerol (60 wt.%) was considered as the feedstock feeding the production process in all cases; then a purification process of raw glycerol up to the required quality was required. Simulation processes were carried out using Aspen Plus, while economic assessments were performed using Aspen Icarus Process Evaluator. D: -Lactic acid recovery and purification processes were based on reactive extraction with tri-n-octylamine using dichloromethane as active extractant agent. The use of raw glycerol represents only between 2.4% and 7.8% of the total production costs. Also, the total production costs obtained of D: -lactic acid in all cases were lower than its sale price indicating that these processes are potentially profitable. Thus, the best configuration process requires the use of crude glycerol diluted at 40 g/l with total glycerol consumption and with D: -lactic acid recovering by reactive extraction. The lowest obtained total production cost was 1.015 US$/kg with a sale price/production cost ratio of 1.53.

Drug pricing and reimbursement information management: processes and decision making in the global economy.

PubMed

Tsourougiannis, Dimitrios

2017-01-01

Background : Cost-containment initiatives are re-shaping the pharmaceutical business environment and affecting market access as well as pricing and reimbursement decisions. Effective price management procedures are too complex to accomplish manually. Prior to February 2013, price management within Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd was done manually using an Excel database. The system was labour intensive, slow to update, and prone to error. An innovative web-based pricing information management system was developed to address the shortcomings of the previous system. Development : A secure web-based system for submitting, reviewing and approving pricing requests was designed to: track all pricing applications and approval status; update approved pricing information automatically; provide fixed and customizable reports of pricing information; collect pricing and reimbursement rules from each country; validate pricing and reimbursement rules monthly. Several sequential phases of development emphasized planning, time schedules, target dates, budgets and implementation of the entire system. A test system was used to pilot the electronic (e)-pricing system with three affiliates (four users) in February 2013. Outcomes : The web-based system was introduced in March 2013, currently has about 227 active users globally and comprises more than 1000 presentations of 150 products. The overall benefits of switching from a manual to an e-pricing system were immediate and highly visible in terms of efficiency, transparency, reliability and compliance. Conclusions : The e-pricing system has improved the efficiency, reliability, compliance, transparency and ease of access to multinational drug pricing and approval information.

Drug pricing and reimbursement information management: processes and decision making in the global economy

PubMed Central

Tsourougiannis, Dimitrios

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: Cost-containment initiatives are re-shaping the pharmaceutical business environment and affecting market access as well as pricing and reimbursement decisions. Effective price management procedures are too complex to accomplish manually. Prior to February 2013, price management within Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd was done manually using an Excel database. The system was labour intensive, slow to update, and prone to error. An innovative web-based pricing information management system was developed to address the shortcomings of the previous system. Development: A secure web-based system for submitting, reviewing and approving pricing requests was designed to: track all pricing applications and approval status; update approved pricing information automatically; provide fixed and customizable reports of pricing information; collect pricing and reimbursement rules from each country; validate pricing and reimbursement rules monthly. Several sequential phases of development emphasized planning, time schedules, target dates, budgets and implementation of the entire system. A test system was used to pilot the electronic (e)-pricing system with three affiliates (four users) in February 2013. Outcomes: The web-based system was introduced in March 2013, currently has about 227 active users globally and comprises more than 1000 presentations of 150 products. The overall benefits of switching from a manual to an e-pricing system were immediate and highly visible in terms of efficiency, transparency, reliability and compliance. Conclusions: The e-pricing system has improved the efficiency, reliability, compliance, transparency and ease of access to multinational drug pricing and approval information. PMID:28740622

Pediatric Price Transparency: Still Opaque With Opportunities for Improvement.

PubMed

Faherty, Laura J; Wong, Charlene A; Feingold, Jordyn; Li, Joan; Town, Robert; Fieldston, Evan; Werner, Rachel M

2017-10-01

Price transparency is gaining importance as families' portion of health care costs rise. We describe (1) online price transparency data for pediatric care on children's hospital Web sites and state-based price transparency Web sites, and (2) the consumer experience of obtaining an out-of-pocket estimate from children's hospitals for a common procedure. From 2015 to 2016, we audited 45 children's hospital Web sites and 38 state-based price transparency Web sites, describing availability and characteristics of health care prices and personalized cost estimate tools. Using secret shopper methodology, we called children's hospitals and submitted online estimate requests posing as a self-paying family requesting an out-of-pocket estimate for a tonsillectomy-adenoidectomy. Eight children's hospital Web sites (18%) listed prices. Twelve (27%) provided personalized cost estimate tool (online form n = 5 and/or phone number n = 9). All 9 hospitals with a phone number for estimates provided the estimated patient liability for a tonsillectomy-adenoidectomy (mean $6008, range $2622-$9840). Of the remaining 36 hospitals without a dedicated price estimate phone number, 21 (58%) provided estimates (mean $7144, range $1200-$15 360). Two of 4 hospitals with online forms provided estimates. Fifteen (39%) state-based Web sites distinguished between prices for pediatric and adult care. One had a personalized cost estimate tool. Meaningful prices for pediatric care were not widely available online through children's hospital or state-based price transparency Web sites. A phone line or online form for price estimates were effective strategies for hospitals to provide out-of-pocket price information. Opportunities exist to improve pediatric price transparency. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Did state renewable portfolio standards induce technical change in methane mitigation in the U.S. landfill sector?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delhotal, Katherine Casey

Landfill gas (LFG) projects use the gas created from decomposing waste, which is approximately 49% methane, and substitute it for natural gas in engines, boilers, turbines, and other technologies to produce energy or heat. The projects are beneficial in terms of increased safety at the landfill, production of a cost-effective source of energy or heat, reduced odor, reduced air pollution emissions, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However, landfills sometimes face conflicting policy incentives. The theory of technical change shows that the diffusion of a technology or groups of technologies increases slowly in the beginning and then picks up speed as knowledge and better understanding of using the technology diffuses among potential users. Using duration analysis, data on energy prices, State and Federal policies related to landfill gas, renewable energy, and air pollution, as well as control data on landfill characteristics, I estimate the influence and direction of influence of renewable portfolio standards (RPS). The analysis found that RPS positively influences the diffusion of landfill gas technologies, encouraging landfills to consider electricity generation projects over direct sales of LFG to another facility. Energy price increases or increased revenues for a project are also critical. Barriers to diffusion include air emission permits in non-attainment areas and policies, such as net metering, which promote other renewables over LFG projects. Using the estimates from the diffusion equations, I analyze the potential influence of a Federal RPS as well as the potential interaction with a Federal, market based climate change policy, which will increase the revenue of a project through higher energy sale prices. My analysis shows that a market based climate change policy such as a cap-and-trade or carbon tax scheme would increase the number of landfill gas projects significantly more than a Federal RPS.

Exploration of approaches to adjusting brand-name drug prices in Mainland of China: based on comparison and analysis of some brand-name drug prices of Mainland and Taiwan, China.

PubMed

Weng, Geng; Han, Sheng; Pu, Run; Pan, Wynn H T; Shi, Luwen

2014-01-01

Under the circumstance of the New Medical Reform in Mainland of China, lowering drug prices has become an approach to relieving increase of medical expenses, and lowering brand-name medication price is a key strategy. This study, by comparing and analyzing brand-name medication prices between Mainland of China and Taiwan, explores how to adjust brand-name medication prices in Mainland of China in the consideration of the drug administrative strategies in Taiwan. By selecting brand-name drug with generic name and dose types matched in Mainland and Taiwan, calculate the average unit price and standard deviation and test it with the paired t-test. In the mean time, drug administrative strategies between Mainland and Taiwan are also compared systematically. Among the 70 brand-name medications with generic names and matched dose types, 54 are at higher prices in Mainland of China than Taiwan, which is statistically significant in t-test. Also, among the 47 medications with all of matched generic names, dose types, and manufacturing enterprises, 38 are at higher prices in Mainland than Taiwan, and the gap is also statistically significant in t-test. In Mainland of China, brand-name medication took cost-plus pricing and price-based price adjustment, while in Taiwan, brand-name medication took internal and external reference pricing and market-based price adjustment. Brand-name drug prices were higher in Mainland of China than in Taiwan. The adjustment strategies of drug prices are scientific in Taiwan and are worth reference by Mainland of China.

Penalty methods for the numerical solution of American multi-asset option problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nielsen, Bjørn Fredrik; Skavhaug, Ola; Tveito, Aslak

2008-12-01

We derive and analyze a penalty method for solving American multi-asset option problems. A small, non-linear penalty term is added to the Black-Scholes equation. This approach gives a fixed solution domain, removing the free and moving boundary imposed by the early exercise feature of the contract. Explicit, implicit and semi-implicit finite difference schemes are derived, and in the case of independent assets, we prove that the approximate option prices satisfy some basic properties of the American option problem. Several numerical experiments are carried out in order to investigate the performance of the schemes. We give examples indicating that our results are sharp. Finally, the experiments indicate that in the case of correlated underlying assets, the same properties are valid as in the independent case.

On the control of the chaotic attractors of the 2-d Navier-Stokes equations.

PubMed

Smaoui, Nejib; Zribi, Mohamed

2017-03-01

The control problem of the chaotic attractors of the two dimensional (2-d) Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations is addressed in this paper. First, the Fourier Galerkin method based on a reduced-order modelling approach developed by Chen and Price is applied to the 2-d N-S equations to construct a fifth-order system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The dynamics of the fifth-order system was studied by analyzing the system's attractor for different values of Reynolds number, R e . Then, control laws are proposed to drive the states of the ODE system to a desired attractor. Finally, an adaptive controller is designed to synchronize two reduced order ODE models having different Reynolds numbers and starting from different initial conditions. Simulation results indicate that the proposed control schemes work well.

On the control of the chaotic attractors of the 2-d Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smaoui, Nejib; Zribi, Mohamed

2017-03-01

The control problem of the chaotic attractors of the two dimensional (2-d) Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations is addressed in this paper. First, the Fourier Galerkin method based on a reduced-order modelling approach developed by Chen and Price is applied to the 2-d N-S equations to construct a fifth-order system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The dynamics of the fifth-order system was studied by analyzing the system's attractor for different values of Reynolds number, Re. Then, control laws are proposed to drive the states of the ODE system to a desired attractor. Finally, an adaptive controller is designed to synchronize two reduced order ODE models having different Reynolds numbers and starting from different initial conditions. Simulation results indicate that the proposed control schemes work well.

Operation Valuation: Teaching Pricing Concepts in an Experiential Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mills, Adam J.; Treen, Emily

2016-01-01

Although marketing education has seen a dramatic shift toward hands-on, experiential learning in recent years, the teaching of pricing has fallen behind complementary elements of the marketing mix in pedagogical execution. Although the teaching of pricing has shifted focus from economic-based models to value-based pricing in theory, available…

The transmission of fluctuation among price indices based on Granger causality network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Qingru; Gao, Xiangyun; Wen, Shaobo; Chen, Zhihua; Hao, Xiaoqing

2018-09-01

In this paper, we provide a method of statistical physics to analyze the fluctuation of transmission by constructing Granger causality network among price indices (PIGCN) from a systematical perspective, using complex network theory combined with Granger causality method. In economic system, there are numerous price indices, of which the relationships are extreme complicated. Thus, time series data of 6 types of price indices of China, including 113 kinds of sub price indices, are selected as example of empirical study. Through the analysis of the structure of PIGCN, we identify important price indices with high transmission range, high intermediation capacity, high cohesion and the fluctuation transmission path of price indices, respectively. Furthermore, dynamic relationships among price indices are revealed. Based on these results, we provide several policy implications for monitoring the diffusion of risk of price fluctuation. Our method can also be used to study the price indices of other countries, which is generally applicable.

48 CFR 15.402 - Pricing policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... determining the type of data required: (i) No additional data from the offeror, if the price is based on... reasonable price. (3) Obtain the type and quantity of data necessary to establish a fair and reasonable price... AND CONTRACT TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 15.402 Pricing policy. Contracting...

48 CFR 15.402 - Pricing policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... determining the type of data required: (i) No additional data from the offeror, if the price is based on... reasonable price. (3) Obtain the type and quantity of data necessary to establish a fair and reasonable price... AND CONTRACT TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 15.402 Pricing policy. Contracting...

48 CFR 15.402 - Pricing policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... determining the type of data required: (i) No additional data from the offeror, if the price is based on... reasonable price. (3) Obtain the type and quantity of data necessary to establish a fair and reasonable price... AND CONTRACT TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 15.402 Pricing policy. Contracting...

Optimal rotated staggered-grid finite-difference schemes for elastic wave modeling in TTI media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Lei; Yan, Hongyong; Liu, Hong

2015-11-01

The rotated staggered-grid finite-difference (RSFD) is an effective approach for numerical modeling to study the wavefield characteristics in tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) media. But it surfaces from serious numerical dispersion, which directly affects the modeling accuracy. In this paper, we propose two different optimal RSFD schemes based on the sampling approximation (SA) method and the least-squares (LS) method respectively to overcome this problem. We first briefly introduce the RSFD theory, based on which we respectively derive the SA-based RSFD scheme and the LS-based RSFD scheme. Then different forms of analysis are used to compare the SA-based RSFD scheme and the LS-based RSFD scheme with the conventional RSFD scheme, which is based on the Taylor-series expansion (TE) method. The contrast in numerical accuracy analysis verifies the greater accuracy of the two proposed optimal schemes, and indicates that these schemes can effectively widen the wavenumber range with great accuracy compared with the TE-based RSFD scheme. Further comparisons between these two optimal schemes show that at small wavenumbers, the SA-based RSFD scheme performs better, while at large wavenumbers, the LS-based RSFD scheme leads to a smaller error. Finally, the modeling results demonstrate that for the same operator length, the SA-based RSFD scheme and the LS-based RSFD scheme can achieve greater accuracy than the TE-based RSFD scheme, while for the same accuracy, the optimal schemes can adopt shorter difference operators to save computing time.

Software is a Product...Not

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-09-01

understand the process if we consider software as a service , not a prod- uct. Let me expand on this statement. I do not believe we must do any of the... software -building activities differently. Instead, from the perspective of schedul- ing, budgeting, and delivering software , we should use the service ...While we’re not perfect, we do a fairly its upgrades. The pricing scheme be- good job of managing hardware engi- Software as a service . What is a

You save money when you buy in bulk: does volume-based pricing cause people to buy more beer?

PubMed

Bray, Jeremy W; Loomis, Brett R; Engelen, Mark

2009-05-01

This paper uses supermarket scanner data to estimate brand- and packaging-specific own- and cross-price elasticities for beer. We find that brand- and packaging-specific beer sales are highly price elastic. Cross-price elasticity estimates suggest that individuals are more likely to buy a higher-volume package of the same brand of beer than they are to switch brands. Policy simulations suggest that regulation of volume-based price discounts is potentially more effective than a tax increase at reducing beer consumption. Our results suggest that volume-based price discounting induces people to buy larger-volume packages of beer and may lead to an increased overall beer consumption. (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Real-time pricing strategy of micro-grid energy centre considering price-based demand response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Zhiheng; Zhang, Yongjun; Wang, Gan

2017-07-01

With the development of energy conversion technology such as power to gas (P2G), fuel cell and so on, the coupling between energy sources becomes more and more closely. Centralized dispatch among electricity, natural gas and heat will become a trend. With the goal of maximizing the system revenue, this paper establishes the model of micro-grid energy centre based on energy hub. According to the proposed model, the real-time pricing strategy taking into account price-based demand response of load is developed. And the influence of real-time pricing strategy on the peak load shifting is discussed. In addition, the impact of wind power predicted inaccuracy on real-time pricing strategy is analysed.

Price comparisons on the internet based on computational intelligence.

PubMed

Kim, Jun Woo; Ha, Sung Ho

2014-01-01

Information-intensive Web services such as price comparison sites have recently been gaining popularity. However, most users including novice shoppers have difficulty in browsing such sites because of the massive amount of information gathered and the uncertainty surrounding Web environments. Even conventional price comparison sites face various problems, which suggests the necessity of a new approach to address these problems. Therefore, for this study, an intelligent product search system was developed that enables price comparisons for online shoppers in a more effective manner. In particular, the developed system adopts linguistic price ratings based on fuzzy logic to accommodate user-defined price ranges, and personalizes product recommendations based on linguistic product clusters, which help online shoppers find desired items in a convenient manner.

Price Comparisons on the Internet Based on Computational Intelligence

PubMed Central

Kim, Jun Woo; Ha, Sung Ho

2014-01-01

Information-intensive Web services such as price comparison sites have recently been gaining popularity. However, most users including novice shoppers have difficulty in browsing such sites because of the massive amount of information gathered and the uncertainty surrounding Web environments. Even conventional price comparison sites face various problems, which suggests the necessity of a new approach to address these problems. Therefore, for this study, an intelligent product search system was developed that enables price comparisons for online shoppers in a more effective manner. In particular, the developed system adopts linguistic price ratings based on fuzzy logic to accommodate user-defined price ranges, and personalizes product recommendations based on linguistic product clusters, which help online shoppers find desired items in a convenient manner. PMID:25268901

E-Valuation: Pricing E-Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartley, Darin E.

2001-01-01

Looks at the ways that electronic learning is priced in organizations and the factors that influence the pricing. Discusses pros and cons of several pricing options: price per seat, subscription, pay as you go, per server, free, and payment based on time. (JOW)

48 CFR 552.216-70 - Economic Price Adjustment-FSS Multiple Award Schedule Contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... appropriate index such as the Producer Prices and Price Index during the most recent 6-month period indicates... determined based on the trend established by an appropriate index such as the Producer Prices and Price Index...

Optimal policies for simultaneous energy consumption and ancillary service provision for flexible loads under stochastic prices and no capacity reservation constraint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kefayati, Mahdi; Baldick, Ross

2015-07-01

Flexible loads, i.e. the loads whose power trajectory is not bound to a specific one, constitute a sizable portion of current and future electric demand. This flexibility can be used to improve the performance of the grid, should the right incentives be in place. In this paper, we consider the optimal decision making problem faced by a flexible load, demanding a certain amount of energy over its availability period, subject to rate constraints. The load is also capable of providing ancillary services (AS) by decreasing or increasing its consumption in response to signals from the independent system operator (ISO). Under arbitrarily distributed and correlated Markovian energy and AS prices, we obtain the optimal policy for minimising expected total cost, which includes cost of energy and benefits from AS provision, assuming no capacity reservation requirement for AS provision. We also prove that the optimal policy has a multi-threshold form and can be computed, stored and operated efficiently. We further study the effectiveness of our proposed optimal policy and its impact on the grid. We show that, while optimal simultaneous consumption and AS provision under real-time stochastic prices are achievable with acceptable computational burden, the impact of adopting such real-time pricing schemes on the network might not be as good as suggested by the majority of the existing literature. In fact, we show that such price responsive loads are likely to induce peak-to-average ratios much more than what is observed in the current distribution networks and adversely affect the grid.

Market Access Agreements for pharmaceuticals in Europe: diversity of approaches and underlying concepts.

PubMed

Jarosławski, Szymon; Toumi, Mondher

2011-10-08

Market Access Agreements (MAA) between pharmaceutical industry and health care payers have been proliferating in Europe in the last years. MAA can be simple discounts from the list price or very sophisticated schemes with inarguably high administrative burden. We distinguished and defined from the health care payer perspective three kinds of MAA: Commercial Agreements (CA), Payment for Performance Agreements (P4P) and Coverage with Evidence Development (CED). Apart from CA, the agreements assumed collection and analysis of real-life health outcomes data, either from a cohort of patients (CED) or on per patient basis (P4P). We argue that while P4P aim at reducing drug cost to payers without a systematic approach to addressing uncertainty about drugs' value, CED were implemented provisionally to reduce payer's uncertainty about value of a medicine within a defined time period. We are of opinion that while CA and P4P have a potential to reduce payers' expenditure on costly drugs while maintaining a high list price, CED address initial uncertainty related to assessing the real-life value of new drugs and enable a final HTA recommendation or reimbursement and pricing decisions. Further, we suggest that real cost to health care payers of drugs in CA and P4P should be made publicly available in a systematic manner, to avoid a perverse impact of these MAA types on the international reference pricing system.

Auctionable fixed transmission rights for congestion management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alomoush, Muwaffaq Irsheid

Electric power deregulation has proposed a major change to the regulated utility monopoly. The change manifests the main part of engineers' efforts to reshape three components of today's regulated monopoly: generation, distribution and transmission. In this open access deregulated power market, transmission network plays a major role, and transmission congestion is a major problem that requires further consideration especially when inter-zonal/intra-zonal scheme is implemented. Declaring that engineering studies and experience are the criteria to define zonal boundaries or defining a zone based on the fact that a zone is a densely interconnected area (lake) and paths connecting these densely interconnected areas are inter-zonal lines will render insufficient and fuzzy definitions. Moreover, a congestion problem formulation should take into consideration interactions between intra-zonal and inter-zonal flows and their effects on power systems. In this thesis, we introduce a procedure for minimizing the number of adjustments of preferred schedules to alleviate congestion and apply control schemes to minimize interactions between zones. In addition, we give the zone definition a certain criterion based on the Locational Marginal Price (LMP). This concept will be used to define congestion zonal boundaries and to decide whether any zone should be merged with another zone or split into new zones. The thesis presents a unified scheme that combines zonal and FTR schemes to manage congestion. This combined scheme is utilized with LMPs to define zonal boundaries more appropriately. The presented scheme gains the best features of the FTR scheme, which are providing financial certainty, maximizing the efficient use of the system and making users pay for the actual use of congested paths. LMPs may give an indication of the impact of wheeling transactions, and calculations of and comparisons of LMPs with and without wheeling transactions should be adequate criteria to approve the transaction by the ISO, take a decision to expand the existing system, or retain the original structure of the system. Also, the thesis investigates the impact of wheeling transactions on congestion management, where we present a generalized mathematical model for the Fixed Transmission Right (FTR) auction. The auction guarantees FTR availability to all participants on a non-discriminatory basis, in which system users are permitted to buy, sell and trade FTRs through an auction. When FTRs are utilized with LMPs, they increase the efficient use of the transmission system and let a transmission customer gain advantageous features such as acquiring a mechanism to offset the extra cost due to congestion charges, providing financial and operational certainty and making system users pay for the actual use of the congested paths. The thesis also highlighted FTR trading in secondary markets to self-arrange access across different paths, create long-term transmission rights and provide more commercial certainty.

Applying Activity Based Costing (ABC) Method to Calculate Cost Price in Hospital and Remedy Services

PubMed Central

Rajabi, A; Dabiri, A

2012-01-01

Background Activity Based Costing (ABC) is one of the new methods began appearing as a costing methodology in the 1990’s. It calculates cost price by determining the usage of resources. In this study, ABC method was used for calculating cost price of remedial services in hospitals. Methods: To apply ABC method, Shahid Faghihi Hospital was selected. First, hospital units were divided into three main departments: administrative, diagnostic, and hospitalized. Second, activity centers were defined by the activity analysis method. Third, costs of administrative activity centers were allocated into diagnostic and operational departments based on the cost driver. Finally, with regard to the usage of cost objectives from services of activity centers, the cost price of medical services was calculated. Results: The cost price from ABC method significantly differs from tariff method. In addition, high amount of indirect costs in the hospital indicates that capacities of resources are not used properly. Conclusion: Cost price of remedial services with tariff method is not properly calculated when compared with ABC method. ABC calculates cost price by applying suitable mechanisms but tariff method is based on the fixed price. In addition, ABC represents useful information about the amount and combination of cost price services. PMID:23113171

Financial derivative pricing under probability operator via Esscher transfomation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Achi, Godswill U.

2014-10-01

The problem of pricing contingent claims has been extensively studied for non-Gaussian models, and in particular, Black- Scholes formula has been derived for the NIG asset pricing model. This approach was first developed in insurance pricing9 where the original distortion function was defined in terms of the normal distribution. This approach was later studied6 where they compared the standard Black-Scholes contingent pricing and distortion based contingent pricing. So, in this paper, we aim at using distortion operators by Cauchy distribution under a simple transformation to price contingent claim. We also show that we can recuperate the Black-Sholes formula using the distribution. Similarly, in a financial market in which the asset price represented by a stochastic differential equation with respect to Brownian Motion, the price mechanism based on characteristic Esscher measure can generate approximate arbitrage free financial derivative prices. The price representation derived involves probability Esscher measure and Esscher Martingale measure and under a new complex valued measure φ (u) evaluated at the characteristic exponents φx(u) of Xt we recuperate the Black-Scholes formula for financial derivative prices.

A comparison of generic drug prices in seven European countries: a methodological analysis.

PubMed

Wouters, Olivier J; Kanavos, Panos G

2017-03-31

Policymakers and researchers frequently compare the prices of medicines between countries. Such comparisons often serve as barometers of how pricing and reimbursement policies are performing. The aim of this study was to examine methodological challenges to comparing generic drug prices. We calculated all commonly used price indices based on 2013 IMS Health data on sales of 3156 generic drugs in seven European countries. There were large differences in generic drug prices between countries. However, the results varied depending on the choice of index, base country, unit of volume, method of currency conversion, and therapeutic category. The results also differed depending on whether one looked at the prices charged by manufacturers or those charged by pharmacists. Price indices are a useful statistical approach for comparing drug prices across countries, but researchers and policymakers should interpret price indices with caution given their limitations. Price-index results are highly sensitive to the choice of method and sample. More research is needed to determine the drivers of price differences between countries. The data suggest that some governments should aim to reduce distribution costs for generic drugs.

Assessing surface water flood risk and management strategies under future climate change: Insights from an Agent-Based Model.

PubMed

Jenkins, K; Surminski, S; Hall, J; Crick, F

2017-10-01

Climate change and increasing urbanization are projected to result in an increase in surface water flooding and consequential damages in the future. In this paper, we present insights from a novel Agent Based Model (ABM), applied to a London case study of surface water flood risk, designed to assess the interplay between different adaptation options; how risk reduction could be achieved by homeowners and government; and the role of flood insurance and the new flood insurance pool, Flood Re, in the context of climate change. The analysis highlights that while combined investment in property-level flood protection and sustainable urban drainage systems reduce surface water flood risk, the benefits can be outweighed by continued development in high risk areas and the effects of climate change. In our simulations, Flood Re is beneficial in its function to provide affordable insurance, even under climate change. However, the scheme does face increasing financial pressure due to rising surface water flood damages. If the intended transition to risk-based pricing is to take place then a determined and coordinated strategy will be needed to manage flood risk, which utilises insurance incentives, limits new development, and supports resilience measures. Our modelling approach and findings are highly relevant for the ongoing regulatory and political approval process for Flood Re as well as for wider discussions on the potential of insurance schemes to incentivise flood risk management and climate adaptation in the UK and internationally. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Estimated Effects of Different Alcohol Taxation and Price Policies on Health Inequalities: A Mathematical Modelling Study

PubMed Central

Meier, Petra S.; Holmes, John; Angus, Colin; Ally, Abdallah K.; Meng, Yang; Brennan, Alan

2016-01-01

Introduction While evidence that alcohol pricing policies reduce alcohol-related health harm is robust, and alcohol taxation increases are a WHO “best buy” intervention, there is a lack of research comparing the scale and distribution across society of health impacts arising from alternative tax and price policy options. The aim of this study is to test whether four common alcohol taxation and pricing strategies differ in their impact on health inequalities. Methods and Findings An econometric epidemiological model was built with England 2014/2015 as the setting. Four pricing strategies implemented on top of the current tax were equalised to give the same 4.3% population-wide reduction in total alcohol-related mortality: current tax increase, a 13.4% all-product duty increase under the current UK system; a value-based tax, a 4.0% ad valorem tax based on product price; a strength-based tax, a volumetric tax of £0.22 per UK alcohol unit (= 8 g of ethanol); and minimum unit pricing, a minimum price threshold of £0.50 per unit, below which alcohol cannot be sold. Model inputs were calculated by combining data from representative household surveys on alcohol purchasing and consumption, administrative and healthcare data on 43 alcohol-attributable diseases, and published price elasticities and relative risk functions. Outcomes were annual per capita consumption, consumer spending, and alcohol-related deaths. Uncertainty was assessed via partial probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) and scenario analysis. The pricing strategies differ as to how effects are distributed across the population, and, from a public health perspective, heavy drinkers in routine/manual occupations are a key group as they are at greatest risk of health harm from their drinking. Strength-based taxation and minimum unit pricing would have greater effects on mortality among drinkers in routine/manual occupations (particularly for heavy drinkers, where the estimated policy effects on mortality rates are as follows: current tax increase, −3.2%; value-based tax, −2.9%; strength-based tax, −6.1%; minimum unit pricing, −7.8%) and lesser impacts among drinkers in professional/managerial occupations (for heavy drinkers: current tax increase, −1.3%; value-based tax, −1.4%; strength-based tax, +0.2%; minimum unit pricing, +0.8%). Results from the PSA give slightly greater mean effects for both the routine/manual (current tax increase, −3.6% [95% uncertainty interval (UI) −6.1%, −0.6%]; value-based tax, −3.3% [UI −5.1%, −1.7%]; strength-based tax, −7.5% [UI −13.7%, −3.9%]; minimum unit pricing, −10.3% [UI −10.3%, −7.0%]) and professional/managerial occupation groups (current tax increase, −1.8% [UI −4.7%, +1.6%]; value-based tax, −1.9% [UI −3.6%, +0.4%]; strength-based tax, −0.8% [UI −6.9%, +4.0%]; minimum unit pricing, −0.7% [UI −5.6%, +3.6%]). Impacts of price changes on moderate drinkers were small regardless of income or socioeconomic group. Analysis of uncertainty shows that the relative effectiveness of the four policies is fairly stable, although uncertainty in the absolute scale of effects exists. Volumetric taxation and minimum unit pricing consistently outperform increasing the current tax or adding an ad valorem tax in terms of reducing mortality among the heaviest drinkers and reducing alcohol-related health inequalities (e.g., in the routine/manual occupation group, volumetric taxation reduces deaths more than increasing the current tax in 26 out of 30 probabilistic runs, minimum unit pricing reduces deaths more than volumetric tax in 21 out of 30 runs, and minimum unit pricing reduces deaths more than increasing the current tax in 30 out of 30 runs). Study limitations include reducing model complexity by not considering a largely ineffective ban on below-tax alcohol sales, special duty rates covering only small shares of the market, and the impact of tax fraud or retailer non-compliance with minimum unit prices. Conclusions Our model estimates that, compared to tax increases under the current system or introducing taxation based on product value, alcohol-content-based taxation or minimum unit pricing would lead to larger reductions in health inequalities across income groups. We also estimate that alcohol-content-based taxation and minimum unit pricing would have the largest impact on harmful drinking, with minimal effects on those drinking in moderation. PMID:26905063

Giving you the business - Competitive pricing of selected Predicasts' databases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jack, Robert F.

1987-01-01

The pricing policies of different data-base services offering Predicast data bases are examined from a user perspective. The services carrying these data bases are listed; the problems introduced by varying exchange rates and seemingly idiosyncratic price structures are discussed; and numerous specific examples are given.

Efficient analytical implementation of the DOT Riemann solver for the de Saint Venant-Exner morphodynamic model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carraro, F.; Valiani, A.; Caleffi, V.

2018-03-01

Within the framework of the de Saint Venant equations coupled with the Exner equation for morphodynamic evolution, this work presents a new efficient implementation of the Dumbser-Osher-Toro (DOT) scheme for non-conservative problems. The DOT path-conservative scheme is a robust upwind method based on a complete Riemann solver, but it has the drawback of requiring expensive numerical computations. Indeed, to compute the non-linear time evolution in each time step, the DOT scheme requires numerical computation of the flux matrix eigenstructure (the totality of eigenvalues and eigenvectors) several times at each cell edge. In this work, an analytical and compact formulation of the eigenstructure for the de Saint Venant-Exner (dSVE) model is introduced and tested in terms of numerical efficiency and stability. Using the original DOT and PRICE-C (a very efficient FORCE-type method) as reference methods, we present a convergence analysis (error against CPU time) to study the performance of the DOT method with our new analytical implementation of eigenstructure calculations (A-DOT). In particular, the numerical performance of the three methods is tested in three test cases: a movable bed Riemann problem with analytical solution; a problem with smooth analytical solution; a test in which the water flow is characterised by subcritical and supercritical regions. For a given target error, the A-DOT method is always the most efficient choice. Finally, two experimental data sets and different transport formulae are considered to test the A-DOT model in more practical case studies.

Electricity prices in a competitive environment: Marginal cost pricing of generation services and financial status of electric utilities. A preliminary analysis through 2015

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1997-08-01

The emergence of competitive markets for electricity generation services is changing the way that electricity is and will be priced in the United States. This report presents the results of an analysis that focuses on two questions: (1) How are prices for competitive generation services likely to differ from regulated prices if competitive prices are based on marginal costs rather than regulated {open_quotes}cost-of-service{close_quotes} pricing? (2) What impacts will the competitive pricing of generation services (based on marginal costs) have on electricity consumption patterns, production costs, and the financial integrity patterns, production costs, and the financial integrity of electricity suppliers? Thismore » study is not intended to be a cost-benefit analysis of wholesale or retail competition, nor does this report include an analysis of the macroeconomic impacts of competitive electricity prices.« less

Impact of reference-based pricing of nitrates on the use and costs of anti-anginal drugs.

PubMed

Grootendorst, P V; Dolovich, L R; O'Brien, B J; Holbrook, A M; Levy, A R

2001-10-16

Reference-based pricing limits reimbursement for a group of drugs that are deemed therapeutically equivalent to the cost of the lowest-priced product within that group. We estimated the effect of reference-based pricing of nitrate drugs used for long-term prophylaxis on prescribing of and expenditures on nitrates and other anti-anginal drugs dispensed to senior citizens in British Columbia. We assessed trends in the monthly volume of prescriptions of anti-anginal drugs and the associated drug ingredient cost paid by the province's publicly funded drug subsidy program, Pharmacare, and by the patients themselves for the period April 1994 to May 1999. Trends in monthly rates of nitrate expenditures per 100,000 senior citizens before the introduction of reference-based pricing were extrapolated to infer what expenditures would have been without the policy. During the 3 1/2 years after reference-based pricing was introduced, Pharmacare expenditures on nitrates prescribed to senior citizens declined by $14.9 million (95% confidence interval $10.7 to $19.1 million). Most of these savings were due to the lower prices that Pharmacare paid for sustained-release nitroglycerin tablets and the nitroglycerin patch, which were the 2 most frequently prescribed nitrates before the introduction of reference-based pricing; $1.2 million (8%) of the savings represented expenditures by senior citizens who purchased drugs that were only partially reimbursed. There were no compensatory increases in expenditures for other anti-anginal drugs. Use of sublingual nitroglycerin--a marker for deteriorating health in patients with angina--did not increase after the introduction of reference-based pricing. The nitroglycerin patch is now the most frequently prescribed nitrate, owing to the fact that Pharmacare resumed the provision of full subsidies for the drug after its manufacturers voluntarily reduced retail prices. Evidence to date suggests that reference-based pricing of nitrates has achieved its primary goal of reducing drug expenditures. The effects of this policy on patient health, associated health care costs and administrative costs remain to be investigated.

A comparison of alternative methods for measuring cigarette prices.

PubMed

Chaloupka, Frank J; Tauras, John A; Strasser, Julia H; Willis, Gordon; Gibson, James T; Hartman, Anne M

2015-05-01

Government agencies, public health organisations and tobacco control researchers rely on accurate estimates of cigarette prices for a variety of purposes. Since the 1950s, the Tax Burden on Tobacco (TBOT) has served as the most widely used source of this price data despite its limitations. This paper compares the prices and collection methods of the TBOT retail-based data and the 2003 and 2006/2007 waves of the population-based Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS). From the TUS-CPS, we constructed multiple state-level measures of cigarette prices, including weighted average prices per pack (based on average prices for single-pack purchases and average prices for carton purchases) and compared these with the weighted average price data reported in the TBOT. We also constructed several measures of tax avoidance from the TUS-CPS self-reported data. For the 2003 wave, the average TUS-CPS price was 71 cents per pack less than the average TBOT price; for the 2006/2007 wave, the difference was 47 cents. TUS-CPS and TBOT prices were also significantly different at the state level. However, these differences varied widely by state due to tax avoidance opportunities, such as cross-border purchasing. The TUS-CPS can be used to construct valid measures of cigarette prices. Unlike the TBOT, the TUS-CPS captures the effect of price-reducing marketing strategies, as well as tax avoidance practices and non-traditional types of purchasing. Thus, self-reported data like TUS-CPS appear to have advantages over TBOT in estimating the 'real' price that smokers face. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

The development of a value based pricing index for new drugs in metastatic colorectal cancer.

PubMed

Dranitsaris, George; Truter, Ilse; Lubbe, Martie S

2011-06-01

Worldwide, prices for cancer drugs have been under downward pressure where several governments have mandated price cuts of branded products. A better alternative to government mandated price cuts would be to estimate a final price based on drug performance, cost effectiveness and a country's ability to pay. We developed a global pricing index for new cancer drugs in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) that encompasses all of these attributes. A pharmacoeconomic model was developed to simulate mCRC patients receiving chemotherapy plus a 'new drug' that improves survival by 1.4, 3 and 6months, respectively. Cost and utility data were obtained from cancer centres and oncology nurses (n=112) in Canada, Spain, India, South Africa and Malaysia. Multivariable analysis was then used to develop the pricing index, which considers survival benefit, per capita GDP and income dispersion (as measured by the Gini coefficient) as predictor variables. Higher survival benefits were associated with elevated drug prices, especially in higher income countries such as Canada. For Argentina with a per capita GDP of $15,000 and a Gini coefficient of 51, the index estimated that for a drug which provides a 4month survival benefit in mCRC, the value based price would be $US 630 per dose. In contrast, the same drug in a wealthier country like Norway (per capita GDP=$50,000) could command a price of $US 2,775 per dose. The application of this index to estimate a price based on cost effectiveness and the wealth of a nation would be important for opening dialogue between the key stakeholders and a better alternative to government mandated price cuts. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Scenario analysis of carbon emissions' anti-driving effect on Qingdao's energy structure adjustment with an optimization model, Part II: Energy system planning and management.

PubMed

Wu, C B; Huang, G H; Liu, Z P; Zhen, J L; Yin, J G

2017-03-01

In this study, an inexact multistage stochastic mixed-integer programming (IMSMP) method was developed for supporting regional-scale energy system planning (EPS) associated with multiple uncertainties presented as discrete intervals, probability distributions and their combinations. An IMSMP-based energy system planning (IMSMP-ESP) model was formulated for Qingdao to demonstrate its applicability. Solutions which can provide optimal patterns of energy resources generation, conversion, transmission, allocation and facility capacity expansion schemes have been obtained. The results can help local decision makers generate cost-effective energy system management schemes and gain a comprehensive tradeoff between economic objectives and environmental requirements. Moreover, taking the CO 2 emissions scenarios mentioned in Part I into consideration, the anti-driving effect of carbon emissions on energy structure adjustment was studied based on the developed model and scenario analysis. Several suggestions can be concluded from the results: (a) to ensure the smooth realization of low-carbon and sustainable development, appropriate price control and fiscal subsidy on high-cost energy resources should be considered by the decision-makers; (b) compared with coal, natural gas utilization should be strongly encouraged in order to insure that Qingdao could reach the carbon discharges peak value in 2020; (c) to guarantee Qingdao's power supply security in the future, the construction of new power plants should be emphasised instead of enhancing the transmission capacity of grid infrastructure. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

7 CFR 5.3 - Selection of calendar year price data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... year price data. In computing the adjusted base price for those commodities for which calendar year price data are used, “* * * the average of the prices received by farmers for such commodity, at such... 7 Agriculture 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Selection of calendar year price data. 5.3 Section 5.3...

Documentation of the Retail Price Model

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Retail Price Model (RPM) provides a first‐order estimate of average retail electricity prices using information from the EPA Base Case v.5.13 Base Case or other scenarios for each of the 64 Integrated Planing Model (IPM) regions.

Inequitable Access to Health Care by the Poor in Community-Based Health Insurance Programs: A Review of Studies From Low- and Middle-Income Countries

PubMed Central

Umeh, Chukwuemeka A; Feeley, Frank G

2017-01-01

Background: Out-of-pocket payments for health care services lead to decreased use of health services and catastrophic health expenditures. To reduce out-of-pocket payments and improve access to health care services, some countries have introduced community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes, especially for those in rural communities or who work in the informal sector. However, there has been little focus on equity in access to health care services in CBHI schemes. Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, African Journals OnLine, and Africa-Wide Information for studies published in English between 2000 and August 2014 that examined the effect of socioeconomic status on willingness to join and pay for CBHI, actual enrollment, use of health care services, and drop-out from CBHI. Our search yielded 755 articles. After excluding duplicates and articles that did not meet our inclusion criteria (conducted in low- and middle-income countries and involved analysis based on socioeconomic status), 49 articles remained that were included in this review. Data were extracted by one author, and the second author reviewed the extracted data. Disagreements were mutually resolved between the 2 authors. The findings of the studies were analyzed to identify their similarities and differences and to identify any methodological differences that could account for contradictory findings. Results: Generally, the rich were more willing to pay for CBHI than the poor and actual enrollment in CBHI was directly associated with socioeconomic status. Enrollment in CBHI was price-elastic—as premiums decreased, enrollment increased. There were mixed results on the effect of socioeconomic status on use of health care services among those enrolled in CBHI. We found a high drop-out rate from CBHI schemes that was not related to socioeconomic status, although the most common reason for dropping out of CBHI was lack of money to pay the premium. Conclusion: The effectiveness of CBHI schemes in achieving universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries is questionable. A flexible payment plan where the poor can pay in installments, subsidized premiums for the poor, and removal of co-pays are measures that can increase enrollment and use of CBHI by the poor. PMID:28655804

Comparing Utilization and Costs of Care in Freestanding Emergency Departments, Hospital Emergency Departments, and Urgent Care Centers.

PubMed

Ho, Vivian; Metcalfe, Leanne; Dark, Cedric; Vu, Lan; Weber, Ellerie; Shelton, George; Underwood, Howard R

2017-12-01

We compare utilization, price per visit, and the types of care delivered across freestanding emergency departments (EDs), hospital-based EDs, and urgent care centers in Texas. We analyzed insurance claims processed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas from 2012 to 2015 for patient visits to freestanding EDs, hospital-based EDs, or urgent care centers in 16 Texas metropolitan statistical areas containing 84.1% of the state's population. We calculated the aggregate number of visits, average price per visit, proportion of price attributable to facility and physician services, and proportion of price billed to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas versus out of pocket, by facility type. Prices for the top 20 diagnoses and procedures by facility type are compared. Texans use hospital-based EDs and urgent care centers much more than freestanding EDs, but freestanding ED utilization increased 236% between 2012 and 2015. The average price per visit was lower for freestanding EDs versus hospital-based EDs in 2012 ($1,431 versus $1,842), but prices in 2015 were comparable ($2,199 versus $2,259). Prices for urgent care centers were only $164 and $168 in 2012 and 2015. Out-of-pocket liability for consumers for all these facilities increased slightly from 2012 to 2015. There was 75% overlap in the 20 most common diagnoses at freestanding EDs versus urgent care centers and 60% overlap for hospital-based EDs and urgent care centers. However, prices for patients with the same diagnosis were on average almost 10 times higher at freestanding and hospital-based EDs relative to urgent care centers. Utilization of freestanding EDs is rapidly expanding in Texas. Higher prices at freestanding and hospital-based EDs relative to urgent care centers, despite substantial overlap in services delivered, imply potential inefficient use of emergency facilities. Copyright © 2017 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attempts at a numerical realisation of stochastic differential equations containing Preisach operator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCarthy, S.; Rachinskii, D.

2011-01-01

We describe two Euler type numerical schemes obtained by discretisation of a stochastic differential equation which contains the Preisach memory operator. Equations of this type are of interest in areas such as macroeconomics and terrestrial hydrology where deterministic models containing the Preisach operator have been developed but do not fully encapsulate stochastic aspects of the area. A simple price dynamics model is presented as one motivating example for our studies. Some numerical evidence is given that the two numerical schemes converge to the same limit as the time step decreases. We show that the Preisach term introduces a damping effect which increases on the parts of the trajectory demonstrating a stronger upwards or downwards trend. The results are preliminary to a broader programme of research of stochastic differential equations with the Preisach hysteresis operator.

Effects of NCMS on access to care and financial protection in China.

PubMed

Hou, Zhiyuan; Van de Poel, Ellen; Van Doorslaer, Eddy; Yu, Baorong; Meng, Qingyue

2014-08-01

The introduction of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) in rural China has been the most rapid and dramatic extension of health insurance coverage in the developing world in this millennium. The literature to date has mainly used the uneven rollout of NCMS across counties as a way of identifying its effects on access to care and financial protection. This study exploits the cross-county variation in NCMS generosity in 2006 and 2008 in the Ningxia and Shandong provinces to estimate the effect of coverage generosity on utilization and financial protection. Our results confirm earlier findings of NCMS being effective in increasing access to care but not in increasing financial protection. In addition, we find NCMS enrollees to be sensitive to the price incentives set in the NCMS design when choosing their provider and providers to respond by increasing prices and/or providing more expensive care. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

16 CFR 640.3 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a specific type of credit product, based in whole or... that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage rates of 8, 10, 12, and 14 percent would...

12 CFR 222.72 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a specific type of credit product, based in whole or... that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage rates of 8, 10, 12, and 14 percent would...

16 CFR 640.3 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a specific type of credit product, based in whole or... that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage rates of 8, 10, 12, and 14 percent would...

12 CFR 222.72 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a specific type of credit product, based in whole or... that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage rates of 8, 10, 12, and 14 percent would...

16 CFR 640.3 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a specific type of credit product, based in whole or... that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage rates of 8, 10, 12, and 14 percent would...

Data-Centric Situational Awareness and Management in Intelligent Power Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Xiaoxiao

The rapid development of technology and society has made the current power system a much more complicated system than ever. The request for big data based situation awareness and management becomes urgent today. In this dissertation, to respond to the grand challenge, two data-centric power system situation awareness and management approaches are proposed to address the security problems in the transmission/distribution grids and social benefits augmentation problem at the distribution-customer lever, respectively. To address the security problem in the transmission/distribution grids utilizing big data, the first approach provides a fault analysis solution based on characterization and analytics of the synchrophasor measurements. Specically, the optimal synchrophasor measurement devices selection algorithm (OSMDSA) and matching pursuit decomposition (MPD) based spatial-temporal synchrophasor data characterization method was developed to reduce data volume while preserving comprehensive information for the big data analyses. And the weighted Granger causality (WGC) method was investigated to conduct fault impact causal analysis during system disturbance for fault localization. Numerical results and comparison with other methods demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of this analytic approach. As more social effects are becoming important considerations in power system management, the goal of situation awareness should be expanded to also include achievements in social benefits. The second approach investigates the concept and application of social energy upon the University of Denver campus grid to provide management improvement solutions for optimizing social cost. Social element--human working productivity cost, and economic element--electricity consumption cost, are both considered in the evaluation of overall social cost. Moreover, power system simulation, numerical experiments for smart building modeling, distribution level real-time pricing and social response to the pricing signals are studied for implementing the interactive artificial-physical management scheme.

Renewable resources in the chemical industry--breaking away from oil?

PubMed

Nordhoff, Stefan; Höcker, Hans; Gebhardt, Henrike

2007-12-01

Rising prices for fossil-based raw materials suggest that sooner or later renewable raw materials will, in principle, become economically viable. This paper examines this widespread paradigm. Price linkages like those seen for decades particularly in connection with petrochemical raw materials are now increasingly affecting renewable raw materials. The main driving force is the competing utilisation as an energy source because both fossil-based and renewable raw materials are used primarily for heat, electrical power and mobility. As a result, prices are determined by energy utilisation. Simple observations show how prices for renewable carbon sources are becoming linked to the crude oil price. Whether the application calls for sugar, starch, virgin oils or lignocellulose, the price for the raw material rises with the oil price. Consequently, expectations regarding price trends for fossil-based energy sources can also be utilised for the valuation of alternative processes. However, this seriously calls into question the assumption that a rising crude oil price will favour the economic viability of alternative products and processes based on renewable raw materials. Conversely, it follows that these products and processes must demonstrate economic viability today. Especially in connection with new approaches in white biotechnology, it is evident that, under realistic assumptions, particularly in terms of achievable yields and the optimisation potential of the underlying processes, the route to utilisation is economically viable. This makes the paradigm mentioned at the outset at least very questionable.

New design and new challenge for space large ultralightweight and stable Zerodur© mirror for future high resolution observation instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devilliers, C.; Du Jeu, C.; Costes, V.; Suau, A.; Girault, N.; Cornillon, L.

2017-11-01

Space telescopes pupil diameter increases continuously to reach higher resolutions and associated optical scheme become more sensitive. As a consequence the size of these telescopes but also their stability requirements increase. Therefore, mass of space telescopes becomes a strong design driver to be still compatible with price competitive launcher capabilities. Moreover satellite agility requirements are more and more severe and instruments shall be compatible with quick evolution of thermal environment.

Essays on microgrids, asymmetric pricing and market power in electricity markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lo Prete, Chiara

This dissertation presents four studies of the electricity industry. The first and second essays use economic-engineering models to assess different aspects of microgrid penetration in regional electricity markets, while the last two studies contain empirical analyses aimed at evaluating the performance of wholesale electricity markets. Chapter 2 develops a framework to quantify economic, environmental, efficiency and reliability impacts of different power production scenarios in a regional system, focusing on the interaction of microgrids with the existing transmission and distribution grid. The setting is the regional network formed by Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The study presents simulations of power market outcomes under various policies and levels of microgrid penetration, and evaluates them using a diverse set of metrics. Chapter 3 studies the interaction between a microgrid and a regulated electric utility in a regional electricity market. I consider the interaction among the utility, the microgrid developer and consumers in the framework of cooperative game theory (assuming exchangeable utility), and use regional market models to simulate scenarios in which microgrid introduction may or may not be socially beneficial. Under the assumptions of this chapter, customer participation is essential to the development of socially beneficial microgrids, while the utility has little or no gain from it. Discussed incentives to avoid that utilities block microgrid entry include additional revenue drivers related to microgrid connection, decoupling and performance-based mechanisms targeted at service quality. When prices are below marginal costs of utility provided power, microgrid development may be socially beneficial, but unprofitable for microgrid customers and its developer. By imposing lower charges and higher remuneration for its services, the regulator could ensure that microgrid value is positive, without adversely impacting the utility. Chapter 4 examines the possibility of asymmetric transmission of CO 2 and fuel prices to electricity futures prices in the second phase of the European Emission Trading Scheme. The goal is to assess whether output prices tend to respond more quickly to input price increases than decreases: this phenomenon is known as "rockets and feathers" in the literature. Results do not provide empirical evidence of statistically significant differences in the response of power prices to positive and negative shocks in CO 2 allowance and fuel markets. Chapter 5 re-examines the issue of the potential exercise of market power in California after liberalization, with a focus on its day-ahead energy market (the former PX) and its five largest thermal generators. The analysis focuses on a peak hour of operation (hour 18) and disregards hours in which congestion occurred. First, I define a direct measure of unilateral market power for each firm, equal to the hourly inverse elasticity of its residual demand function. The second part of the analysis aims at assessing whether the necessary conditions for the unilateral exercise of market power were satisfied in practice, based on a comparison of PX market-clearing prices, estimated marginal revenues and estimated bounds for the marginal costs of generation of each supplier. By conservatively assuming that the estimated upper bound is close to each firm's actual marginal cost of generation, the analysis suggests that in a large fraction of hours the thermal generators were acting less competitively that what implied by unilateral profit maximization. If instead I explicitly account for uncertainty in the marginal cost estimates with the introduction of a +/-10% margin on the estimated bounds, thermal generators are equally likely to bid close to their marginal costs or above them. Among the hours characterized by market-clearing prices above marginal costs, 64% present, on average, evidence of less competitive than Nash behavior. Two possible explanations for the observed restrained quantities, relative to the Nash level, include firms' coordinating efforts to raise prices on the day-ahead market and a Cournot game among the thermal generators, since the Cournot equilibrium represents an upper bound on supply function equilibria. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Financial derivative pricing under probability operator via Esscher transfomation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Achi, Godswill U., E-mail: achigods@yahoo.com

2014-10-24

The problem of pricing contingent claims has been extensively studied for non-Gaussian models, and in particular, Black- Scholes formula has been derived for the NIG asset pricing model. This approach was first developed in insurance pricing{sup 9} where the original distortion function was defined in terms of the normal distribution. This approach was later studied6 where they compared the standard Black-Scholes contingent pricing and distortion based contingent pricing. So, in this paper, we aim at using distortion operators by Cauchy distribution under a simple transformation to price contingent claim. We also show that we can recuperate the Black-Sholes formula usingmore » the distribution. Similarly, in a financial market in which the asset price represented by a stochastic differential equation with respect to Brownian Motion, the price mechanism based on characteristic Esscher measure can generate approximate arbitrage free financial derivative prices. The price representation derived involves probability Esscher measure and Esscher Martingale measure and under a new complex valued measure φ (u) evaluated at the characteristic exponents φ{sub x}(u) of X{sub t} we recuperate the Black-Scholes formula for financial derivative prices.« less

Application of the Price-Volume Approach in Cases of Innovative Drugs Where Value-Based Pricing is Inadequate: Description of Real Experiences in Italy.

PubMed

Messori, Andrea

2016-08-01

Several cases of expensive drugs designed for large patient populations (e.g. sofosbuvir) have raised a complex question in terms of drug pricing. Even assuming value-based pricing, the treatment with these drugs of all eligible patients would have an immense budgetary impact, which is unsustainable also for the richest countries. This raises the need to reduce the prices of these agents in comparison with those suggested by the value-based approach and to devise new pricing methods that can achieve this goal. The present study discusses in detail the following two methods: (i) The approach based on setting nation-wide budget thresholds for individual innovative agents in which a fixed proportion of the historical pharmaceutical expenditure represents the maximum budget attributable to an innovative treatment; (ii) The approach based on nation-wide price-volume agreements in which drug prices are progressively reduced as more patients receive the treatment. The first approach has been developed in the USA by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review and has been applied to PCSK9 inhibitors (alirocumab and evolocumab). The second approach has been designed for the Italian market and has found a systematic application to manage the price of ranibizumab, sofosbuvir, and PCSK9 inhibitors. While, in the past, price-volume agreements have been applied only on an empirical basis (i.e. in the absence of any quantitative theoretical rule), more recently some explicit mathematical models have been described. The performance of these models is now being evaluated on the basis of the real-world experiences conducted in some European countries, especially Italy.

10 CFR 218.12 - Pricing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Pricing. 218.12 Section 218.12 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OIL STANDBY MANDATORY INTERNATIONAL OIL ALLOCATION Supply Orders § 218.12 Pricing. The price for oil subject to a supply order issued pursuant to this subpart shall be based on the price conditions...

Mass distribution of free insecticide-treated nets do not interfere with continuous net distribution in Tanzania

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background To protect the most vulnerable groups from malaria (pregnant women and infants) the Tanzanian Government introduced a subsidy (voucher) scheme in 2004, on the basis of a public-private partnership. These vouchers are provided to pregnant women at their first antenatal care visit and mothers of infants at first vaccination. The vouchers are redeemed at registered retailers for a long-lasting insecticidal net against the payment of a modest top-up price. The present work analysed a large body of data from the Tanzanian National Voucher Scheme, focusing on interactions with concurrent mass distribution campaigns of free nets. Methods In an ecologic study involving all regions of Tanzania, voucher redemption data for the period 2007 2011, as well as data on potential determinants of voucher redemption were analysed. The four outcome variables were: pregnant woman and infant voucher redemption rates, use of treated bed nets by all household members and by under- five children. Each of the outcomes was regressed with selected determinants, using a generalized estimating equation model and accounting for regional data clustering. Results There was a consistent improvement in voucher redemption rates over the selected time period, with rates >80% in 2011. The major determinants of redemption rates were the top-up price paid by the voucher beneficiary, the retailer- clinic ratio, and socio-economic status. Improved redemption rates after 2009 were most likely due to reduced top-up prices (following a change in policy). Redemption rates were not affected by two major free net distribution campaigns. During this period, there was a consistent improvement in net use across all the regions, with rates of up to 75% in 2011. Conclusion The key components of the National Treated Nets Programme (NATNETS) seem to work harmoniously, leading to a high level of net use in the entire population. This calls for the continuation of this effort in Tanzania and for emulation by other countries with endemic malaria. PMID:24884786

Mass distribution of free insecticide-treated nets do not interfere with continuous net distribution in Tanzania.

PubMed

Eze, Ikenna C; Kramer, Karen; Msengwa, Amina; Mandike, Renata; Lengeler, Christian

2014-05-27

To protect the most vulnerable groups from malaria (pregnant women and infants) the Tanzanian Government introduced a subsidy (voucher) scheme in 2004, on the basis of a public-private partnership. These vouchers are provided to pregnant women at their first antenatal care visit and mothers of infants at first vaccination. The vouchers are redeemed at registered retailers for a long-lasting insecticidal net against the payment of a modest top-up price. The present work analysed a large body of data from the Tanzanian National Voucher Scheme, focusing on interactions with concurrent mass distribution campaigns of free nets. In an ecologic study involving all regions of Tanzania, voucher redemption data for the period 2007-2011, as well as data on potential determinants of voucher redemption were analysed. The four outcome variables were: pregnant woman and infant voucher redemption rates, use of treated bed nets by all household members and by under- five children. Each of the outcomes was regressed with selected determinants, using a generalized estimating equation model and accounting for regional data clustering. There was a consistent improvement in voucher redemption rates over the selected time period, with rates >80% in 2011. The major determinants of redemption rates were the top-up price paid by the voucher beneficiary, the retailer- clinic ratio, and socio-economic status. Improved redemption rates after 2009 were most likely due to reduced top-up prices (following a change in policy). Redemption rates were not affected by two major free net distribution campaigns. During this period, there was a consistent improvement in net use across all the regions, with rates of up to 75% in 2011. The key components of the National Treated Nets Programme (NATNETS) seem to work harmoniously, leading to a high level of net use in the entire population. This calls for the continuation of this effort in Tanzania and for emulation by other countries with endemic malaria.

Can and should value-based pricing be applied to molecular diagnostics?

PubMed

Garau, Martina; Towse, Adrian; Garrison, Louis; Housman, Laura; Ossa, Diego

2013-01-01

Current pricing and reimbursement systems for diagnostics are not efficient. Prices for diagnostics are often driven by administrative practices and expected production cost. The purpose of the paper is to discuss how a value-based pricing framework being used to ensure efficient use and price of medicines could also be applied to diagnostics. Diagnostics not only facilitates health gain and cost savings, but also information to guide patients' decisions on interventions and their future 'behaviors'. For value assessment processes we recommend a two-part approach. Companion diagnostics introduced at the launch of the drug should be assessed through new drug assessment processes considering a broad range of value elements and a balanced analysis of diagnostic impacts. A separate diagnostic-dedicated committee using value-based pricing principles should review other diagnostics lying outside the companion diagnostics-and-drug 'at-launch' situation.

Price adjustment for traditional Chinese medicine procedures: Based on a standardized value parity model.

PubMed

Wang, Haiyin; Jin, Chunlin; Jiang, Qingwu

2017-11-20

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important part of China's medical system. Due to the prolonged low price of TCM procedures and the lack of an effective mechanism for dynamic price adjustment, the development of TCM has markedly lagged behind Western medicine. The World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized the need to enhance the development of alternative and traditional medicine when creating national health care systems. The establishment of scientific and appropriate mechanisms to adjust the price of medical procedures in TCM is crucial to promoting the development of TCM. This study has examined incorporating value indicators and data on basic manpower expended, time spent, technical difficulty, and the degree of risk in the latest standards for the price of medical procedures in China, and this study also offers a price adjustment model with the relative price ratio as a key index. This study examined 144 TCM procedures and found that prices of TCM procedures were mainly based on the value of medical care provided; on average, medical care provided accounted for 89% of the price. Current price levels were generally low and the current price accounted for 56% of the standardized value of a procedure, on average. Current price levels accounted for a markedly lower standardized value of acupuncture, moxibustion, special treatment with TCM, and comprehensive TCM procedures. This study selected a total of 79 procedures and adjusted them by priority. The relationship between the price of TCM procedures and the suggested price was significantly optimized (p < 0.01). This study suggests that adjustment of the price of medical procedures based on a standardized value parity model is a scientific and suitable method of price adjustment that can serve as a reference for other provinces and municipalities in China and other countries and regions that mainly have fee-for-service (FFS) medical care.

Pricing of alcohol in Canada: A comparison of provincial policies and harm-reduction opportunities.

PubMed

Giesbrecht, Norman; Wettlaufer, Ashley; Thomas, Gerald; Stockwell, Tim; Thompson, Kara; April, Nicole; Asbridge, Mark; Cukier, Samantha; Mann, Robert; McAllister, Janet; Murie, Andrew; Pauley, Chris; Plamondon, Laurie; Vallance, Kate

2016-05-01

Alcohol pricing is an effective prevention policy. This paper compares the 10 Canadian provinces on three research-based alcohol pricing policies-minimum pricing, pricing by alcohol content and maintaining prices relative to inflation. The selection of these three policies was based on systematic reviews and seminal research papers. Provincial data for 2012 were obtained from Statistics Canada and relevant provincial ministries, subsequently sent to provincial authorities for verification, and then scored by team members. All provinces, except for Alberta, have minimum prices for at least one beverage type sold in off-premise outlets. All provinces, except for British Columbia and Quebec, have separate (and higher) minimum pricing for on-premise establishments. Regarding pricing on alcohol content, western and central provinces typically scored higher than provinces in Eastern Canada. Generally, minimum prices were lower than the recommended $1.50 per standard drink for off-premise outlets and $3.00 per standard drink in on-premise venues. Seven of 10 provinces scored 60% or higher compared to the ideal on indexing prices to inflation. Prices for a representative basket of alcohol products in Ontario and Quebec have lagged significantly behind inflation since 2006. While examples of evidence-based alcohol pricing policies can be found in every jurisdiction in Canada, significant inter-provincial variation leaves substantial unrealised potential for further reducing alcohol-related harm and costs. This comparative assessment of alcohol price policies provides clear indications of how individual provinces could adjust their pricing policies and practices to improve public health and safety. [Giesbrecht N, Wettlaufer A, Thomas G, Stockwell T, Thompson K, April N, Asbridge M, Cukier S, Mann R, McAllister J, Murie A, Pauley C, Plamondon L, Vallance K. Pricing of alcohol in Canada: A comparison of provincial policies and harm-reduction opportunities. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:289-297]. © 2015 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Simulated Models Suggest That Price per Calorie Is the Dominant Price Metric That Low-Income Individuals Use for Food Decision Making123

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Background: The price of food has long been considered one of the major factors that affects food choices. However, the price metric (e.g., the price of food per calorie or the price of food per gram) that individuals predominantly use when making food choices is unclear. Understanding which price metric is used is especially important for studying individuals with severe budget constraints because food price then becomes even more important in food choice. Objective: We assessed which price metric is used by low-income individuals in deciding what to eat. Methods: With the use of data from NHANES and the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, we created an agent-based model that simulated an environment representing the US population, wherein individuals were modeled as agents with a specific weight, age, and income. In our model, agents made dietary food choices while meeting their budget limits with the use of 1 of 3 different metrics for decision making: energy cost (price per calorie), unit price (price per gram), and serving price (price per serving). The food consumption patterns generated by our model were compared to 3 independent data sets. Results: The food choice behaviors observed in 2 of the data sets were found to be closest to the simulated dietary patterns generated by the price per calorie metric. The behaviors observed in the third data set were equidistant from the patterns generated by price per calorie and price per serving metrics, whereas results generated by the price per gram metric were further away. Conclusions: Our simulations suggest that dietary food choice based on price per calorie best matches actual consumption patterns and may therefore be the most salient price metric for low-income populations. PMID:27655757

Simulated Models Suggest That Price per Calorie Is the Dominant Price Metric That Low-Income Individuals Use for Food Decision Making.

PubMed

Beheshti, Rahmatollah; Igusa, Takeru; Jones-Smith, Jessica

2016-11-01

The price of food has long been considered one of the major factors that affects food choices. However, the price metric (e.g., the price of food per calorie or the price of food per gram) that individuals predominantly use when making food choices is unclear. Understanding which price metric is used is especially important for studying individuals with severe budget constraints because food price then becomes even more important in food choice. We assessed which price metric is used by low-income individuals in deciding what to eat. With the use of data from NHANES and the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, we created an agent-based model that simulated an environment representing the US population, wherein individuals were modeled as agents with a specific weight, age, and income. In our model, agents made dietary food choices while meeting their budget limits with the use of 1 of 3 different metrics for decision making: energy cost (price per calorie), unit price (price per gram), and serving price (price per serving). The food consumption patterns generated by our model were compared to 3 independent data sets. The food choice behaviors observed in 2 of the data sets were found to be closest to the simulated dietary patterns generated by the price per calorie metric. The behaviors observed in the third data set were equidistant from the patterns generated by price per calorie and price per serving metrics, whereas results generated by the price per gram metric were further away. Our simulations suggest that dietary food choice based on price per calorie best matches actual consumption patterns and may therefore be the most salient price metric for low-income populations. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.

Sample selection and spatial models of housing price indexes, and, A disequilibrium analysis of the U.S. gasoline market using panel data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Haixin

This dissertation consists of two parts. The first part studies the sample selection and spatial models of housing price index using transaction data on detached single-family houses of two California metropolitan areas from 1990 through 2008. House prices are often spatially correlated due to shared amenities, or when the properties are viewed as close substitutes in a housing submarket. There have been many studies that address spatial correlation in the context of housing markets. However, none has used spatial models to construct housing price indexes at zip code level for the entire time period analyzed in this dissertation to the best of my knowledge. In this paper, I study a first-order autoregressive spatial model with four different weighing matrix schemes. Four sets of housing price indexes are constructed accordingly. Gatzlaff and Haurin (1997, 1998) study the sample selection problem in housing index by using Heckman's two-step method. This method, however, is generally inefficient and can cause multicollinearity problem. Also, it requires data on unsold houses in order to carry out the first-step probit regression. Maximum likelihood (ML) method can be used to estimate a truncated incidental model which allows one to correct for sample selection based on transaction data only. However, convergence problem is very prevalent in practice. In this paper I adopt Lewbel's (2007) sample selection correction method which does not require one to model or estimate the selection model, except for some very general assumptions. I then extend this method to correct for spatial correlation. In the second part, I analyze the U.S. gasoline market with a disequilibrium model that allows lagged-latent variables, endogenous prices, and panel data with fixed effects. Most existing studies (see the survey of Espey, 1998, Energy Economics) of the gasoline market assume equilibrium. In practice, however, prices do not always adjust fast enough to clear the market. Equilibrium assumptions greatly simplify statistical inference, but are very restrictive and can produce conflicting estimates. For example, econometric models of markets that assume equilibrium often produce more elastic demand price elasticity than their disequilibrium counterparts (Holt and Johnson, 1989, Review of Economics and Statistics, Oczkowski, 1998, Economics Letters). The few studies that allow disequilibrium, however, have been limited to macroeconomic time-series data without lagged-latent variables. While time series data allows one to investigate national trends, it cannot be used to identify and analyze regional differences and the role of local markets. Exclusion of the lagged-latent variables is also undesirable because such variables capture adjustment costs and inter-temporal spillovers. Simulation methods offer tractable solutions to dynamic and panel data disequilibrium models (Lee, 1997, Journal of Econometrics), but assume normally distributed errors. This paper compares estimates of price/income elasticity and excess supply/demand across time periods, regions, and model specifications, using both equilibrium and disequilibrium methods. In the equilibrium model, I compare the within group estimator with Anderson and Hsiao's first-difference 2SLS estimator. In the disequilibrium model, I extend Amemiya's 2SLS by using Newey's efficient estimator with optimal instruments.

Reinforcement Learning for Constrained Energy Trading Games With Incomplete Information.

PubMed

Wang, Huiwei; Huang, Tingwen; Liao, Xiaofeng; Abu-Rub, Haitham; Chen, Guo

2017-10-01

This paper considers the problem of designing adaptive learning algorithms to seek the Nash equilibrium (NE) of the constrained energy trading game among individually strategic players with incomplete information. In this game, each player uses the learning automaton scheme to generate the action probability distribution based on his/her private information for maximizing his own averaged utility. It is shown that if one of admissible mixed-strategies converges to the NE with probability one, then the averaged utility and trading quantity almost surely converge to their expected ones, respectively. For the given discontinuous pricing function, the utility function has already been proved to be upper semicontinuous and payoff secure which guarantee the existence of the mixed-strategy NE. By the strict diagonal concavity of the regularized Lagrange function, the uniqueness of NE is also guaranteed. Finally, an adaptive learning algorithm is provided to generate the strategy probability distribution for seeking the mixed-strategy NE.

Companies' opinions and acceptance of global food safety initiative benchmarks after implementation.

PubMed

Crandall, Phil; Van Loo, Ellen J; O'Bryan, Corliss A; Mauromoustakos, Andy; Yiannas, Frank; Dyenson, Natalie; Berdnik, Irina

2012-09-01

International attention has been focused on minimizing costs that may unnecessarily raise food prices. One important aspect to consider is the redundant and overlapping costs of food safety audits. The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) has devised benchmarked schemes based on existing international food safety standards for use as a unifying standard accepted by many retailers. The present study was conducted to evaluate the impact of the decision made by Walmart Stores (Bentonville, AR) to require their suppliers to become GFSI compliant. An online survey of 174 retail suppliers was conducted to assess food suppliers' opinions of this requirement and the benefits suppliers realized when they transitioned from their previous food safety systems. The most common reason for becoming GFSI compliant was to meet customers' requirements; thus, supplier implementation of the GFSI standards was not entirely voluntary. Other reasons given for compliance were enhancing food safety and remaining competitive. About 54 % of food processing plants using GFSI benchmarked schemes followed the guidelines of Safe Quality Food 2000 and 37 % followed those of the British Retail Consortium. At the supplier level, 58 % followed Safe Quality Food 2000 and 31 % followed the British Retail Consortium. Respondents reported that the certification process took about 10 months. The most common reason for selecting a certain GFSI benchmarked scheme was because it was widely accepted by customers (retailers). Four other common reasons were (i) the standard has a good reputation in the industry, (ii) the standard was recommended by others, (iii) the standard is most often used in the industry, and (iv) the standard was required by one of their customers. Most suppliers agreed that increased safety of their products was required to comply with GFSI benchmarked schemes. They also agreed that the GFSI required a more carefully documented food safety management system, which often required improved company food safety practices and increased employee training. Adoption of a GFSI benchmarked scheme resulted in fewer audits, i.e., one less per year. An educational opportunity exists to acquaint retailers and suppliers worldwide with the benefits of having an internationally recognized certification program such as that recognized by the GFSI.

TRICARE revision to CHAMPUS DRG-based payment system, pricing of hospital claims. Final rule.

PubMed

2014-05-21

This Final rule changes TRICARE's current regulatory provision for inpatient hospital claims priced under the DRG-based payment system. Claims are currently priced by using the rates and weights that are in effect on a beneficiary's date of admission. This Final rule changes that provision to price such claims by using the rates and weights that are in effect on a beneficiary's date of discharge.

External referencing and pharmaceutical price negotiation.

PubMed

Garcia Mariñoso, Begoña; Jelovac, Izabela; Olivella, Pau

2011-06-01

External referencing (ER) imposes a price cap for pharmaceuticals, based on prices of identical or comparable products in foreign countries. Suppose a foreign country (F) negotiates prices with a pharmaceutical firm, whereas a home country (H) can either negotiate prices independently or implement ER, based on the foreign price. We show that country H prefers ER if copayments in H are relatively high. This preference is reinforced when H's population is small. Irrespective of relative country sizes, ER by country H harms country F. Our model is inspired by the wide European experience with this cost-containment policy. Namely, in Europe, drug authorization and price negotiations are carried out by separate agencies. We confirm our main results in two extensions. The first one allows for therapeutic competition between drugs. In the second one, drug authorization and price negotiation take place in a single agency. 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Accounting for fuel price risk: Using forward natural gas prices instead of gas price forecasts to compare renewable to natural gas-fired generation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bolinger, Mark; Wiser, Ryan; Golove, William

2003-08-13

Against the backdrop of increasingly volatile natural gas prices, renewable energy resources, which by their nature are immune to natural gas fuel price risk, provide a real economic benefit. Unlike many contracts for natural gas-fired generation, renewable generation is typically sold under fixed-price contracts. Assuming that electricity consumers value long-term price stability, a utility or other retail electricity supplier that is looking to expand its resource portfolio (or a policymaker interested in evaluating different resource options) should therefore compare the cost of fixed-price renewable generation to the hedged or guaranteed cost of new natural gas-fired generation, rather than to projectedmore » costs based on uncertain gas price forecasts. To do otherwise would be to compare apples to oranges: by their nature, renewable resources carry no natural gas fuel price risk, and if the market values that attribute, then the most appropriate comparison is to the hedged cost of natural gas-fired generation. Nonetheless, utilities and others often compare the costs of renewable to gas-fired generation using as their fuel price input long-term gas price forecasts that are inherently uncertain, rather than long-term natural gas forward prices that can actually be locked in. This practice raises the critical question of how these two price streams compare. If they are similar, then one might conclude that forecast-based modeling and planning exercises are in fact approximating an apples-to-apples comparison, and no further consideration is necessary. If, however, natural gas forward prices systematically differ from price forecasts, then the use of such forecasts in planning and modeling exercises will yield results that are biased in favor of either renewable (if forwards < forecasts) or natural gas-fired generation (if forwards > forecasts). In this report we compare the cost of hedging natural gas price risk through traditional gas-based hedging instruments (e.g., futures, swaps, and fixed-price physical supply contracts) to contemporaneous forecasts of spot natural gas prices, with the purpose of identifying any systematic differences between the two. Although our data set is quite limited, we find that over the past three years, forward gas prices for durations of 2-10 years have been considerably higher than most natural gas spot price forecasts, including the reference case forecasts developed by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). This difference is striking, and implies that resource planning and modeling exercises based on these forecasts over the past three years have yielded results that are biased in favor of gas-fired generation (again, presuming that long-term stability is desirable). As discussed later, these findings have important ramifications for resource planners, energy modelers, and policy-makers.« less

A transaction assessment method for allocation of transmission services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banunarayanan, Venkatasubramaniam

The purpose of this research is to develop transaction assessment methods for allocating transmission services that are provided by an area/utility to power transactions. Transmission services are the services needed to deliver, or provide the capacity to deliver, real and reactive power from one or more supply points to one or more delivery points. As the number of transactions increase rapidly in the emerging deregulated environment, accurate quantification of the transmission services an area/utility provides to accommodate a transaction is becoming important, because then appropriate pricing schemes can be developed to compensate for the parties that provide these services. The Allocation methods developed are based on the "Fair Resource Allocation Principle" and they determine for each transaction the following: the flowpath of the transaction (both real and reactive power components), generator reactive power support from each area/utility, real power loss support from each area/utility. Further, allocation methods for distributing the cost of relieving congestion on transmission lines caused by transactions are also developed. The main feature of the proposed methods is representation of actual usage of the transmission services by the transactions. The proposed method is tested extensively on a variety of systems. The allocation methods developed in this thesis for allocation of transmission services to transactions is not only useful in studying the impact of transactions on a transmission system in a multi-transaction case, but they are indeed necessary to meet the criteria set forth by FERC with regard to pricing based on actual usage. The "consistency" of the proposed allocation methods has also been investigated and tested.

Copula-based nonlinear modeling of the law of one price for lumber products

Treesearch

Barry K. Goodwin; Matthew T. Holt; Gülcan Önel; Jeffrey P. Prestemon

2018-01-01

This paper proposes an alternative and potentially novel approach to analyzing the law of one price in a nonlinear fashion. Copula-based models that consider the joint distribution of prices separated by space are developed and applied to weekly...

A quadranomial real options model for evaluation of emissions trading and technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarkis, Joseph; Tamarkin, Maurry

2005-11-01

Green house gas (GHG) emissions have been tied to global climate change. One popular policy instrument that seems to have gained credibility with explicit mention of its application in the Kyoto Protocol is the use of permit trading and cap-and-trade mechanisms. Organizations functioning within this environment will need to manage their resources appropriately to remain competitive. Organizations will either have the opportunity to purchase emissions credits (offsets) from a market trading scheme or seek to reduce their emissions through different measures. Some measures may include investment in new technologies that will reduce their reliance on GHG emitting practices. In many countries, large organizations and institutions generate their own power to operate their facilities. Much of this power is generated (or bought) from GHG producing technology. Specific renewable energy sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic technology may become more feasible alternatives available to a large percentage of these organizations if they are able to take advantage and incorporate the market for GHG emissions trading in their analyses. To help organizations evaluate investment in these renewable energy technologies we introduce a real options based model that will take into consideration uncertainties associated with the technology and those associated with the GHG trading market. The real options analysis will consider both the stochastic (uncertainty) nature of the exercise price of the technology and the stochastic nature of the market trading price of the GHG emissions.

48 CFR 252.247-7001 - Price adjustment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Price adjustment. 252.247... Clauses 252.247-7001 Price adjustment. As prescribed in 247.270-4(b), use the following clause: Price Adjustment (JAN 1997) (a) The Contractor warrants that the prices set forth in this contract— (1) Are based...

47 CFR 51.503 - General pricing standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false General pricing standard. 51.503 Section 51.503... Pricing of Elements § 51.503 General pricing standard. (a) An incumbent LEC shall offer elements to... commission— (1) Pursuant to the forward-looking economic cost-based pricing methodology set forth in §§ 51...

7 CFR 5.2 - Marketing season average price data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Marketing season average price data. 5.2 Section 5.2 Agriculture Office of the Secretary of Agriculture DETERMINATION OF PARITY PRICES § 5.2 Marketing season... adjusted base prices and, therefore, marketing season average prices will be used. An allowance for any...

30 CFR 206.104 - What publications are acceptable to MMS?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... price and ANS spot price based on certain criteria, including, but not limited to: (1) Publications... daily surveys of buyers and sellers of crude oil, and, for ANS spot prices, buyers and sellers of ANS... represent NYMEX prices or differentials or ANS spot market prices or differentials. [65 FR 14088, Mar. 15...

Using time series structural characteristics to analyze grain prices in food insecure countries

USGS Publications Warehouse

Davenport, Frank; Funk, Chris

2015-01-01

Two components of food security monitoring are accurate forecasts of local grain prices and the ability to identify unusual price behavior. We evaluated a method that can both facilitate forecasts of cross-country grain price data and identify dissimilarities in price behavior across multiple markets. This method, characteristic based clustering (CBC), identifies similarities in multiple time series based on structural characteristics in the data. Here, we conducted a simulation experiment to determine if CBC can be used to improve the accuracy of maize price forecasts. We then compared forecast accuracies among clustered and non-clustered price series over a rolling time horizon. We found that the accuracy of forecasts on clusters of time series were equal to or worse than forecasts based on individual time series. However, in the following experiment we found that CBC was still useful for price analysis. We used the clusters to explore the similarity of price behavior among Kenyan maize markets. We found that price behavior in the isolated markets of Mandera and Marsabit has become increasingly dissimilar from markets in other Kenyan cities, and that these dissimilarities could not be explained solely by geographic distance. The structural isolation of Mandera and Marsabit that we find in this paper is supported by field studies on food security and market integration in Kenya. Our results suggest that a market with a unique price series (as measured by structural characteristics that differ from neighboring markets) may lack market integration and food security.

12 CFR 222.72 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... provided to a consumer by placing the consumer within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a... lowest-priced tier). For example, a person that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage...

12 CFR 1022.72 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... provided to a consumer by placing the consumer within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a... lowest-priced tier). For example, a person that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage...

12 CFR 1022.72 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... consumer by placing the consumer within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a specific type of...-priced tier). For example, a person that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage rates of...

12 CFR 1022.72 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... provided to a consumer by placing the consumer within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a... lowest-priced tier). For example, a person that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage...

12 CFR 222.72 - General requirements for risk-based pricing notices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... provided to a consumer by placing the consumer within one of a discrete number of pricing tiers for a... lowest-priced tier). For example, a person that uses a tiered pricing structure with annual percentage...

Can't get no satisfaction? Will pay for performance help?: toward an economic framework for understanding performance-based risk-sharing agreements for innovative medical products.

PubMed

Towse, Adrian; Garrison, Louis P

2010-01-01

This article examines performance-based risk-sharing agreements for pharmaceuticals from a theoretical economic perspective. We position these agreements as a form of coverage with evidence development. New performance-based risk sharing could produce a more efficient market equilibrium, achieved by adjustment of the price post-launch to reflect outcomes combined with a new approach to the post-launch costs of evidence collection. For this to happen, the party best able to manage or to bear specific risks must do so. Willingness to bear risk will depend not only on ability to manage it, but on the degree of risk aversion. We identify three related frameworks that provide relevant insights: value of information, real option theory and money-back guarantees. We identify four categories of risk sharing: budget impact, price discounting, outcomes uncertainty and subgroup uncertainty. We conclude that a value of information/real option framework is likely to be the most helpful approach for understanding the costs and benefits of risk sharing. There are a number of factors that are likely to be crucial in determining if performance-based or risk-sharing agreements are efficient and likely to become more important in the future: (i) the cost and practicality of post-launch evidence collection relative to pre-launch; (ii) the feasibility of coverage with evidence development without a pre-agreed contract as to how the evidence will be used to adjust price, revenues or use, in which uncertainty around the pay-off to additional research will reduce the incentive for the manufacturer to collect the information; (iii) the difficulty of writing and policing risk-sharing agreements; (iv) the degree of risk aversion (and therefore opportunity to trade) on the part of payers and manufacturers; and (v) the extent of transferability of data from one country setting to another to support coverage with evidence development in a risk-sharing framework. There is no doubt that--in principle--risk sharing can provide manufacturers and payers additional real options that increase overall efficiency. Given the lack of empirical evidence on the success of schemes already agreed and on the issues we set out above, it is too early to tell if the recent surge of interest in these arrangements is likely to be a trend or only a fad.

Crude oil price analysis and forecasting based on variational mode decomposition and independent component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

E, Jianwei; Bao, Yanling; Ye, Jimin

2017-10-01

As one of the most vital energy resources in the world, crude oil plays a significant role in international economic market. The fluctuation of crude oil price has attracted academic and commercial attention. There exist many methods in forecasting the trend of crude oil price. However, traditional models failed in predicting accurately. Based on this, a hybrid method will be proposed in this paper, which combines variational mode decomposition (VMD), independent component analysis (ICA) and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), called VMD-ICA-ARIMA. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence factors of crude oil price and predict the future crude oil price. Major steps can be concluded as follows: Firstly, applying the VMD model on the original signal (crude oil price), the modes function can be decomposed adaptively. Secondly, independent components are separated by the ICA, and how the independent components affect the crude oil price is analyzed. Finally, forecasting the price of crude oil price by the ARIMA model, the forecasting trend demonstrates that crude oil price declines periodically. Comparing with benchmark ARIMA and EEMD-ICA-ARIMA, VMD-ICA-ARIMA can forecast the crude oil price more accurately.

Pricing of NASA Space Shuttle transportation system cargo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hale, C. W.

1979-01-01

A two-part pricing policy is investigated as the most feasible method of pricing the transportation services to be provided by NASA's SSTS. Engineering cost estimates and a deterministic operating cost model generate a data base and develop a procedure for pricing the services of the SSTS. It is expected that the SSTS will have a monopoly on space material processing in areas of crystal growth, glass processing, metallurgical space applications, and biomedical processes using electrophoresis which will require efficient pricing. Pricing problems, the SSTS operating costs based on orbit elevation, number of launch sites, and number of flights, capital costs of the SSTS, research and development costs, allocation of joint transportation costs of the SSTS to a particular space processing activity, and rates for the SSTS are discussed. It is concluded that joint costs for commercial cargoes carried in the SSTS can be most usefully handled by making cost allocations based on proportionate capacity utilization.

The cost effectiveness of dry powder antibiotics for the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with cystic fibrosis.

PubMed

Tappenden, Paul; Harnan, Sue; Uttley, Lesley; Mildred, Matthew; Walshaw, Martin; Taylor, Christopher; Brownlee, Keith

2014-02-01

Cystic fibrosis (CF) affects over 9,000 people in the UK and limits life expectancy. CF patients are susceptible to lung infections, most commonly Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Once infection is established, patients require lifetime treatment using nebulised antibiotics. Newer dry powder formulations of antibiotics may reduce treatment burden and improve compliance. Our objective was to evaluate the cost effectiveness of (i) colistimethate sodium dry powder for inhalation (DPI) and (ii) tobramycin DPI versus nebulised tobramycin for the treatment of chronic P. aeruginosa lung infection in patients with CF from the perspective of the National Health Service (NHS) and Personal Social Services (PSS). We developed a state transition model based on transitions between three strata of lung function measured in terms of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) % predicted. Additional health states representing post-lung transplantation and dead are also modelled. The model structure was informed by systematic reviews of evidence concerning the plausibility of potential relationships between intermediate endpoints and final outcomes. The model assumes that treatment impacts on FEV1 trajectory, which manifest as changes in health-related quality of life. No survival benefit is assumed due to the absence of robust quantifiable evidence. Model parameters were informed by patient-level and aggregate data from two randomised controlled trials together with the best available evidence from the literature. Resource use and costs associated with drug acquisition, the management of exacerbations and reduced nebuliser maintenance were drawn from reference sources and expert opinion. Costs were valued at 2011/2012 prices. Costs and health outcomes were discounted at a rate of 3.5 %. Simple and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were undertaken, including additional analyses of Patient Access Scheme (PAS) price discounts offered by the manufacturers of both DPI products. Colistimethate sodium DPI is expected to produce fewer quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) than nebulised tobramycin. Based on its list price, colistimethate sodium DPI is expected to be dominated by nebulised tobramycin. When the PAS is incorporated, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for colistimethate sodium DPI versus nebulised tobramycin is expected to be approximately £288,600 saved per QALY lost. Based on its current list price, the ICER for tobramycin DPI versus nebulised tobramycin is expected to be approximately £124,000 per QALY gained. When the proposed PAS is included, tobramycin DPI is expected to dominate nebulised tobramycin. Under their list prices, neither DPI product is likely to represent good value for money for the NHS given current cost-effectiveness thresholds. The PAS discounts have a significant impact upon the economic attractiveness of both DPI products compared against nebulised tobramycin. The clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of the DPIs against other nebulised antibiotics, such as aztreonam and inhaled colistimethate sodium, remains unclear.

[Exploration of influencing factors of price of herbal based on VAR model].

PubMed

Wang, Nuo; Liu, Shu-Zhen; Yang, Guang

2014-10-01

Based on vector auto-regression (VAR) model, this paper takes advantage of Granger causality test, variance decomposition and impulse response analysis techniques to carry out a comprehensive study of the factors influencing the price of Chinese herbal, including herbal cultivation costs, acreage, natural disasters, the residents' needs and inflation. The study found that there is Granger causality relationship between inflation and herbal prices, cultivation costs and herbal prices. And in the total variance analysis of Chinese herbal and medicine price index, the largest contribution to it is from its own fluctuations, followed by the cultivation costs and inflation.

Drug Pricing in South Korea.

PubMed

Kwon, Hye-Young; Godman, Brian

2017-08-01

Between 2000 and 2013, spending on medicines in Korea increased by 275.3%. In order to curb this trend, several pricing policies and measures were introduced. This study reviews these policies and their implications based on pricing regulations as well as a literature review. New medicines now undergo both a reimbursement assessment and price negotiations. The reimbursement of new medicines is based on their cost effectiveness. The prices of new medicines are subsequently fixed through negotiations between the payer, the National Health Insurance Service, and the relevant manufacturer. Generic drugs are automatically priced via a new standard methodology. Repricing mechanisms were complicated and now redundant. Simple and efficient measures rather than complex and inefficient measures are needed to maintain the value-for-money principle for new medicines as well as achieve financial efficiency through price competition among generic drugs.

The role of bioethics in the international prescription drug market: economics and global justice.

PubMed

Newland, Shelby E

2006-01-01

In terms of health care access, bioethics has an important role to inform and shape policy issues and develop interdisciplinary ideas and interventions. The rising price of prescription drugs presents one of the most looming barriers to health care access in the world today. Including both theoretical and practical features of the pharmaceutical industry's behavior is necessary to find ethical solutions towards increasing access. Bioethics can evaluate global justice by weighing human rights theory and future innovation at the macro level, and by addressing market forces and responsibilities at the micro level. Inherent structural features of pharmaceuticals, such as its reliance on research and development, cause the industry to employ pricing strategies that seem counter-intuitive to conventional wisdom, but that result in producing a just allocation as defined by market forces. Parallel trade and drug exportation/reimportation threaten the saliency of the industry's differential pricing scheme; a case-study of a single "Euro-price" within the European Union illustrates how this will actually create harm to the most needy member states. This complex situation requires solutions weighing arguments from human rights theory with those from economic theory to arrive at the most globally just allocation of prescription drugs in the global marketplace, as well as to ensure future innovation and scientific progress. Bioethicists as well as economists need to partake urgently in this discourse for the betterment of the global injustices in the international prescription drug market.

Chinese farmers' willingness to accept compensation to practice safe disposal of HPAI infected chicken.

PubMed

Huang, Zeying; Wang, Jimin; Zuo, Alec

2017-04-01

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is a high morbidity and mortality zoonotic disease, which threatens poultry and human health. An outbreak of disease in China requires strict slaughter and disposal of all chickens within a three-kilometer radius, incurring large private costs for farmers and encouraging black market transactions. A stated preference survey of 331 farmers across six provinces in China was conducted in 2015, in order to measure the responsiveness of farmers to accept various compensation prices for safely disposing of HPAI infected chicken. Findings suggest that about 25% and 40% of farmers in South and North China respectively would not adopt safe disposal at the current compensation price (10 yuan/bird) offered by the government. However, 80% of farmers would adopt safe disposal if the compensation price increased to 14.1 yuan in South China and 18.9 yuan in North China. The adoption of safe disposal by farmers was positively and significantly influenced by compensation price (p=0.000) and regular contact with epidemic prevention staff (p=0.094). However, adoption was negatively and significantly influenced by net farm income (p=0.100) and chicken production income percentage (p=0.014). Although half of (51%) of farmers were willing to receive zero compensation, a reasonable compensation scheme along with strengthened supervision, may be considered the most effective strategy to encourage safe disposal of HPAI infected chicken and reduce the risks associated with black market transactions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

7 CFR 5.3 - Selection of calendar year price data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... payments as provided by section 301(a)(1)(B). For Maryland Tobacco, type 32, the price data for each... 7 Agriculture 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Selection of calendar year price data. 5.3 Section 5.3... year price data. In computing the adjusted base price for those commodities for which calendar year...

7 CFR 5.5 - Publication of season average, calendar year, and parity price data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... cases where preliminary marketing season average price data are used in estimating the adjusted base... parity price data. 5.5 Section 5.5 Agriculture Office of the Secretary of Agriculture DETERMINATION OF PARITY PRICES § 5.5 Publication of season average, calendar year, and parity price data. (a) New adjusted...

Application of Neural Network Technologies for Price Forecasting in the Liberalized Electricity Market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerikh, Valentin; Kolosok, Irina; Kurbatsky, Victor; Tomin, Nikita

2009-01-01

The paper presents the results of experimental studies concerning calculation of electricity prices in different price zones in Russia and Europe. The calculations are based on the intelligent software "ANAPRO" that implements the approaches based on the modern methods of data analysis and artificial intelligence technologies.

Adaptive Packet Combining Scheme in Three State Channel Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saring, Yang; Bulo, Yaka; Bhunia, Chandan Tilak

2018-01-01

The two popular techniques of packet combining based error correction schemes are: Packet Combining (PC) scheme and Aggressive Packet Combining (APC) scheme. PC scheme and APC scheme have their own merits and demerits; PC scheme has better throughput than APC scheme, but suffers from higher packet error rate than APC scheme. The wireless channel state changes all the time. Because of this random and time varying nature of wireless channel, individual application of SR ARQ scheme, PC scheme and APC scheme can't give desired levels of throughput. Better throughput can be achieved if appropriate transmission scheme is used based on the condition of channel. Based on this approach, adaptive packet combining scheme has been proposed to achieve better throughput. The proposed scheme adapts to the channel condition to carry out transmission using PC scheme, APC scheme and SR ARQ scheme to achieve better throughput. Experimentally, it was observed that the error correction capability and throughput of the proposed scheme was significantly better than that of SR ARQ scheme, PC scheme and APC scheme.

Optimal Electricity Charge Strategy Based on Price Elasticity of Demand for Users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xin; Xu, Daidai; Zang, Chuanzhi

The price elasticity is very important for the prediction of electricity demand. This paper mainly establishes the price elasticity coefficient for electricity in single period and inter-temporal. Then, a charging strategy is established based on these coefficients. To evaluate the strategy proposed, simulations of the two elastic coefficients are carried out based on the history data of a certain region.

A Case Study of Pharmaceutical Pricing in China: Setting the Price for Off-Patent Originators.

PubMed

Hu, Shanlian; Zhang, Yabing; He, Jiangjiang; Du, Lixia; Xu, Mingfei; Xie, Chunyan; Peng, Ying; Wang, Linan

2015-08-01

This article aims to define a value-based approach to pricing and reimbursement for off-patent originators using a multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach centered on a systematic analysis of current pricing and reimbursement policies in China. A drug price policy review was combined with a quantitative analysis of China's drug purchasing database. Policy preferences were identified through a MCDA performed by interviewing well-known academic experts and industry stakeholders. The study findings indicate that the current Chinese price policy includes cost-based pricing and the establishment of maximum retail prices and premiums for off-patent originators, whereas reference pricing may be adopted in the future. The literature review revealed significant differences in the dissolution profiles between originators and generics; therefore, dissolution profiles need to be improved. Market data analysis showed that the overall price ratio of generics and off-patent originators was around 0.54-0.59 in 2002-2011, with a 40% price difference, on average. Ten differentiating value attributes were identified and MCDA was applied to test the impact of three pricing policy scenarios. With the condition of implementing quality consistency regulations and controls, a reduction in the price gap between high-quality off-patent products (including originator and generics) seemed to be the preferred policy. Patents of many drugs will expire within the next 10 years; thus, pricing will be an issue of importance for off-patent originators and generic alternatives.

Backup agreements with penalty scheme under supply disruptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hou, Jing; Zhao, Lindu

2012-05-01

This article considers a supply chain for a single product involving one retailer and two independent suppliers, when the main supplier might fail to supply the products, the backup supplier can always supply the products at a higher price. The retailer could use the backup supplier as a regular provider or a stand-by source by reserving some products at the supplier. A backup agreement with penalty scheme is constructed between the retailer and the backup supplier to mitigate the supply disruptions and the demand uncertainty. The expected profit functions and the optimal decisions of the two players are derived through a sequential optimisation process. Then, the sensitivity of two players' expected profits to various input factors is examined through numerical examples. The impacts of the disruption probability and the demand uncertainty on the backup agreement are also investigated, which could provide guideline for how to use each sourcing method.

Control of parallel manipulators using force feedback

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nanua, Prabjot

1994-01-01

Two control schemes are compared for parallel robotic mechanisms actuated by hydraulic cylinders. One scheme, the 'rate based scheme', uses the position and rate information only for feedback. The second scheme, the 'force based scheme' feeds back the force information also. The force control scheme is shown to improve the response over the rate control one. It is a simple constant gain control scheme better suited to parallel mechanisms. The force control scheme can be easily modified for the dynamic forces on the end effector. This paper presents the results of a computer simulation of both the rate and force control schemes. The gains in the force based scheme can be individually adjusted in all three directions, whereas the adjustment in just one direction of the rate based scheme directly affects the other two directions.

Multi-attribute Regret-Based Dynamic Pricing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jumadinova, Janyl; Dasgupta, Prithviraj

In this paper, we consider the problem of dynamic pricing by a set of competing sellers in an information economy where buyers differentiate products along multiple attributes, and buyer preferences can change temporally. Previous research in this area has either focused on dynamic pricing along a limited number of (e.g. binary) attributes, or, assumes that each seller has access to private information such as preference distribution of buyers, and profit/price information of other sellers. However, in real information markets, private information about buyers and sellers cannot be assumed to be available a priori. Moreover, due to the competition between sellers, each seller faces a tradeoff between accuracy and rapidity of the pricing mechanism. In this paper, we describe a multi-attribute dynamic pricing algorithm based on minimax regret that can be used by a seller's agent called a pricebot, to maximize the seller's utility. Our simulation results show that the minimax regret based dynamic pricing algorithm performs significantly better than other algorithms for rapidly and dynamically tracking consumer attributes without using any private information from either buyers or sellers.

Sensitivity analysis of numerical weather prediction radiative schemes to forecast direct solar radiation over Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukkavilli, S. K.; Kay, M. J.; Taylor, R.; Prasad, A. A.; Troccoli, A.

2014-12-01

The Australian Solar Energy Forecasting System (ASEFS) project requires forecasting timeframes which range from nowcasting to long-term forecasts (minutes to two years). As concentrating solar power (CSP) plant operators are one of the key stakeholders in the national energy market, research and development enhancements for direct normal irradiance (DNI) forecasts is a major subtask. This project involves comparing different radiative scheme codes to improve day ahead DNI forecasts on the national supercomputing infrastructure running mesoscale simulations on NOAA's Weather Research & Forecast (WRF) model. ASEFS also requires aerosol data fusion for improving accurate representation of spatio-temporally variable atmospheric aerosols to reduce DNI bias error in clear sky conditions over southern Queensland & New South Wales where solar power is vulnerable to uncertainities from frequent aerosol radiative events such as bush fires and desert dust. Initial results from thirteen years of Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) deseasonalised DNI and MODIS NASA-Terra aerosol optical depth (AOD) anomalies demonstrated strong negative correlations in north and southeast Australia along with strong variability in AOD (~0.03-0.05). Radiative transfer schemes, DNI and AOD anomaly correlations will be discussed for the population and transmission grid centric regions where current and planned CSP plants dispatch electricity to capture peak prices in the market. Aerosol and solar irradiance datasets include satellite and ground based assimilations from the national BOM, regional aerosol researchers and agencies. The presentation will provide an overview of this ASEFS project task on WRF and results to date. The overall goal of this ASEFS subtask is to develop a hybrid numerical weather prediction (NWP) and statistical/machine learning multi-model ensemble strategy that meets future operational requirements of CSP plant operators.

Pricing Structures for Automated Library Consortia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machovec, George S.

1993-01-01

Discusses the development of successful pricing algorithms for cooperative library automation projects. Highlights include desirable characteristics of pricing measures, including simplicity and the ability to allow for system growth; problems with transaction-based systems; and a review of the pricing strategies of seven library consortia.…

What is a new drug worth? An innovative model for performance-based pricing.

PubMed

Dranitsaris, G; Dorward, K; Owens, R C; Schipper, H

2015-05-01

This article focuses on a novel method to derive prices for new pharmaceuticals by making price a function of drug performance. We briefly review current models for determining price for a new product and discuss alternatives that have historically been favoured by various funding bodies. The progressive approach to drug pricing, proposed herein, may better address the views and concerns of multiple stakeholders in a developed healthcare system by acknowledging and incorporating input from disparate parties via comprehensive and successive negotiation stages. In proposing a valid construct for performance-based pricing, the following model seeks to achieve several crucial objectives: earlier and wider access to new treatments; improved transparency in drug pricing; multi-stakeholder involvement through phased pricing negotiations; recognition of innovative product performance and latent changes in value; an earlier and more predictable return for developers without sacrificing total return on investment (ROI); more involved and informed risk sharing by the end-user. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Information-driven trade and price-volume relationship in artificial stock markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xinghua; Liu, Xin; Liang, Xiaobei

2015-07-01

The positive relation between stock price changes and trading volume (price-volume relationship) as a stylized fact has attracted significant interest among finance researchers and investment practitioners. However, until now, consensus has not been reached regarding the causes of the relationship based on real market data because extracting valuable variables (such as information-driven trade volume) from real data is difficult. This lack of general consensus motivates us to develop a simple agent-based computational artificial stock market where extracting the necessary variables is easy. Based on this model and its artificial data, our tests have found that the aggressive trading style of informed agents can produce a price-volume relationship. Therefore, the information spreading process is not a necessary condition for producing price-volume relationship.

48 CFR 15.407-1 - Defective certified cost or pricing data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Defective certified cost or pricing data. (a) If, before agreement on price, the contracting officer learns... based on an agreement about the total cost of the contract and there was no agreement about the cost of..., based on prime contract progress billings or deliveries, which included payments for a completed and...

Early warning model based on correlated networks in global crude oil markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Jia-Wei; Xie, Wen-Jie; Jiang, Zhi-Qiang

2018-01-01

Applying network tools on predicting and warning the systemic risks provides a novel avenue to manage risks in financial markets. Here, we construct a series of global crude oil correlated networks based on the historical 57 oil prices covering a period from 1993 to 2012. Two systemic risk indicators are constructed based on the density and modularity of correlated networks. The local maximums of the risk indicators are found to have the ability to predict the trends of oil prices. In our sample periods, the indicator based on the network density sends five signals and the indicator based on the modularity index sends four signals. The four signals sent by both indicators are able to warn the drop of future oil prices and the signal only sent by the network density is followed by a huge rise of oil prices. Our results deepen the application of network measures on building early warning models of systemic risks and can be applied to predict the trends of future prices in financial markets.

[Prudent use price controls in Chinese medicines market: based on statistical data analysis].

PubMed

Yang, Guang; Wang, Nuo; Huang, Lu-Qi; Qiu, Hong-Yan; Guo, Lan-Ping

2014-01-01

A dispute about the decreasing-price problem of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has recently arisen. This article analyzes the statistical data of 1995-2011 in China, the results showed that the main responsibility of expensive health care has no direct relationship with the drug price. The price index of TCM rose significantly slower than the medicine prices, the production margins of TCM affected by the material prices has been diminishing since 1995, continuous price reduction will further depress profits of the TCM industry. Considering the pros and cons of raw materials vary greatly in price, decreasing medicine price behavior will force enterprises to use inferior materials in order to maintain corporate profits. The results have the guiding meaning to medicine price management.

Perspectives on Pricing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaman, Susan; Zemsky, Robert M.

1984-01-01

A discussion of college pricing policy results in three observations: (1) trends toward differentiation of base prices by program and other disaggregation such as level of study will continue; (2) competitive price discounting will intensify through the period of shrinking enrollments; and (3) for most families, discussion of college costs and…

Marketing Theory Applied to Price Discrimination in Journals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talaga, James; Haley, Jean Walstrom

1991-01-01

Discussion of discriminatory pricing by journal publishers and its effects on libraries focuses on six prerequisites for successful discriminatory pricing that are based on marketing theory. Strategies to eliminate some of these prerequisites--and therefore eliminate discriminatory pricing--are suggested, including the need to change the attitudes…

A study on pricing decision of supply chain based on fairness concern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Hongxiong; Sun, Xiongle

2017-03-01

The fairness concern is introduced into a closed-loop supply chain, which includes a manufacturer and a retailer. This paper study the effect of fairness concern on wholesale price, retail price, recycling prices, manufacturer profits and retails profits under two situation: only the manufacturer is fairness concern and only the retailer is fairness concern. Studies show that: Retailer's fairness concern will reduce the price of the wholesale price, while the retail price and the recycling price unchanged, which led to the retailer to get more supply chain profits. Manufacturers' fairness concerns will raise the wholesale price, thereby increasing the manufacturer's supply chain profit, and the retailer's profit is compromised.

Equilibrium pricing in an order book environment: Case study for a spin model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meudt, Frederik; Schmitt, Thilo A.; Schäfer, Rudi; Guhr, Thomas

2016-07-01

When modeling stock market dynamics, the price formation is often based on an equilibrium mechanism. In real stock exchanges, however, the price formation is governed by the order book. It is thus interesting to check if the resulting stylized facts of a model with equilibrium pricing change, remain the same or, more generally, are compatible with the order book environment. We tackle this issue in the framework of a case study by embedding the Bornholdt-Kaizoji-Fujiwara spin model into the order book dynamics. To this end, we use a recently developed agent based model that realistically incorporates the order book. We find realistic stylized facts. We conclude for the studied case that equilibrium pricing is not needed and that the corresponding assumption of a ;fundamental; price may be abandoned.

A General Econometric Model of the Determinants of Library Subscription Prices of Scholarly Journals: The Role of Exchange Rate Risk and Other Factors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chressanthis, George A.; Chressanthis, June D.

1994-01-01

Provides regression-based empirical evidence of the effects of variations in exchange rate risk on 1985 library prices of the top-ranked 99 journals in economics. The relationship between individual journal prices and library prices is shown, and other factors associated with increases and decreases in library journal prices are given. (Contains…

78 FR 8652 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Y-Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-06

... and re-displays an order at a more aggressive price based on changes in the national best bid (``NBB...-displayed to the extent it achieves a more aggressive price. However, the Exchange proposes to re-rank an order at the same price as the displayed price (i.e., a less aggressive price) in the event such order's...

30 CFR 203.54 - How does my relief arrangement for an oil and gas lease operate if prices rise sharply?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... gas lease operate if prices rise sharply? 203.54 Section 203.54 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT... arrangement for an oil and gas lease operate if prices rise sharply? In those months when your current reference price rises by at least 25 percent above your base reference price, you must pay the effective...

48 CFR 32.501-3 - Contract price.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract price. 32.501-3... REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT FINANCING Progress Payments Based on Costs 32.501-3 Contract price. (a) For the purpose of making progress payments and determining the limitation on progress payments, the contract price...

7 CFR 1955.113 - Price (housing).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 14 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Price (housing). 1955.113 Section 1955.113 Agriculture... § 1955.113 Price (housing). Real property will be offered or listed for its present market value, as adjusted by any administrative price reductions provided for in this section. Market value will be based...

78 FR 69755 - International Product and Price Changes

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-21

... provides reliable, high-speed service to over 185 countries with a money-back, date- certain delivery... Price Group Price groups 1-14 will have shaped-based pricing and will be require separate containers (i... decrease the minimum weight for a direct country container from 3 pounds to 2 pounds. Destination Countries...

Creating New Pricing Models for Electronic Publishing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boelio, David B.; Knight, Nancy H.

Establishing pricing policies for electronic publishing that are fair and flexible is of vital importance to the information industry. The pricing of most information available electronically is far less efficient and market-sensitive than it could be. Some of the new approaches to pricing, emphasizing a usage-based metric providing qualitative…

A pricing policy towards the sourcing of cheaper drugs in Cyprus.

PubMed

Merkur, Sherry; Mossialos, Elias

2007-05-01

In contrast to other EU countries, Cyprus lacks comprehensive health care coverage for its population, thus a significant portion of the population lacks insurance for medicines. Due to the small size of the country and small indigenous pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceuticals are mainly imported. Prices in the private sector are determined based on the ex-factory price from the country of origin. Distribution margins are calculated as a percentage of the import price, which creates perverse incentives for wholesalers to import products from high price countries, or import very expensive products, to maximize their income. In this article, we compare pharmaceutical prices in Cyprus to other EU counties with higher or similar GDP per capita and found Cyprus to be a high price country. We then propose a new pricing system to change wholesaler incentives, which would encourage them to shop around for the best buy in Europe. Prices can be set based on average prices from a basket of European countries, and adjusted to reflect the GDP per capita level in Cyprus. This will establish the wholesale price that the government will accept, and wholesalers can procure products from any country at a lower rate. Thus, wholesalers would be encouraged to go for the lowest prices and the authorities would be indifferent to the actual price they obtain, so long as the necessary criteria (good manufacturing practice, safety, effectiveness and efficacy) are met. Our proposal has implications for low and middle income countries where this system of pharmaceutical pricing and wholesaler incentives can be used.

Managed care contracting: a systematic approach.

PubMed

Flores, K

1987-12-01

Managed care is sweeping the health care industry and has produced some special challenges for providers. Success in contracting depends on preparation. In this article, the author defines managed care and outlines who should be involved in the contracting for these services. Special attention is given to how to develop the appropriate internal support. The author contends that a provider should not embrace all contracting offers and suggests criteria for selection of the best offers. Finally, the prevailing pricing schemes are reviewed and caveats given on their interpretation and use.

A Model-Free No-arbitrage Price Bound for Variance Options

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bonnans, J. Frederic, E-mail: frederic.bonnans@inria.fr; Tan Xiaolu, E-mail: xiaolu.tan@polytechnique.edu

2013-08-01

We suggest a numerical approximation for an optimization problem, motivated by its applications in finance to find the model-free no-arbitrage bound of variance options given the marginal distributions of the underlying asset. A first approximation restricts the computation to a bounded domain. Then we propose a gradient projection algorithm together with the finite difference scheme to solve the optimization problem. We prove the general convergence, and derive some convergence rate estimates. Finally, we give some numerical examples to test the efficiency of the algorithm.

Concentrating Solar Power Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitz-Paal, R.

2017-07-01

Development of Concentrating Solar Power Systems has started about 40 years ago. A first commercial implementation was performed between 1985 and 1991 in California. However, a drop in gas prices caused a longer period without further deployment. It was overcome in 2007 when new incentive schemes for renewables in Spain and the US enabled a commercial restart. In 2016, almost 100 commercial CSP plants with more than 5GW are installed worldwide. This paper describes the physical background of CSP technology, its technical characteristics and concepts. Furthermore, it discusses system performances, cost structures and the expected advancement.

Secure Metering Schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blundo, Carlo; Cimato, Stelvio; Masucci, Barbara

The current trend on the Internet suggests that the majority of revenues of web sites come from the advertising potential of the World Wide Web. Advertising is arguably the type of commercial information exchange of the greatest economic importance in the real world. Indeed, advertising is what funds most other forms of information exchange, including radio stations, television stations, cable networks, magazines, and newspapers. According to the figures provided by the Internet Advertising Bureau [24] and Price Waterhouse Coopers [43], advertising revenue results for the first 9 months of 2004 totaled slightly over 7.0 billion dollars.

Orphan drugs for rare diseases: is it time to revisit their special market access status?

PubMed

Simoens, Steven; Cassiman, David; Dooms, Marc; Picavet, Eline

2012-07-30

Orphan drugs are intended for diseases with a very low prevalence, and many countries have implemented legislation to support market access of orphan drugs. We argue that it is time to revisit the special market access status of orphan drugs. Indeed, evidence suggests that there is no societal preference for treating rare diseases. Although society appears to assign a greater value to severity of disease, this criterion is equally relevant to many common diseases. Furthermore, the criterion of equity in access to treatment, which underpins orphan drug legislation, puts more value on health improvement in rare diseases than in common diseases and implies that population health is not maximized. Finally, incentives for the development, pricing and reimbursement of orphan drugs have created market failures, including monopolistic prices and the artificial creation of rare diseases. We argue that, instead of awarding special market access status to orphan drugs, there is scope to optimize research and development (R&D) of orphan drugs and to control prices of orphan drugs by means of, for example, patent auctions, advance purchase commitments, pay-as-you-go schemes and dose-modification studies. Governments should consider carefully the right incentive strategy for R&D of orphan drugs in rare diseases.

Design and analysis of biorefineries based on raw glycerol: addressing the glycerol problem.

PubMed

Posada, John A; Rincón, Luis E; Cardona, Carlos A

2012-05-01

Glycerol as a low-cost by-product of the biodiesel industry can be considered a renewable building block for biorefineries. In this work, the conversion of raw glycerol to nine added-value products obtained by chemical (syn-gas, acrolein, and 1,2-propanediol) or bio-chemical (ethanol, 1,3-propanediol, d-lactic acid, succinic acid, propionic acid, and poly-3-hydroxybutyrate) routes were considered. The technological schemes for these synthesis routes were designed, simulated, and economically assessed using Aspen Plus and Aspen Icarus Process Evaluator, respectively. The techno-economic potential of a glycerol-based biorefinery system for the production of fuels, chemicals, and plastics was analyzed using the commercial Commercial Sale Price/Production Cost ratio criteria, under different production scenarios. More income can be earned from 1,3-propanediol and 1,2-propanediol production, while less income would be obtained from hydrogen and succinic acid. This analysis may be useful mainly for biodiesel producers since several profitable alternatives are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling spot markets for electricity and pricing electricity derivatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ning, Yumei

Spot prices for electricity have been very volatile with dramatic price spikes occurring in restructured market. The task of forecasting electricity prices and managing price risk presents a new challenge for market players. The objectives of this dissertation are: (1) to develop a stochastic model of price behavior and predict price spikes; (2) to examine the effect of weather forecasts on forecasted prices; (3) to price electricity options and value generation capacity. The volatile behavior of prices can be represented by a stochastic regime-switching model. In the model, the means of the high-price and low-price regimes and the probabilities of switching from one regime to the other are specified as functions of daily peak load. The probability of switching to the high-price regime is positively related to load, but is still not high enough at the highest loads to predict price spikes accurately. An application of this model shows how the structure of the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland market changed when market-based offers were allowed, resulting in higher price spikes. An ARIMA model including temperature, seasonal, and weekly effects is estimated to forecast daily peak load. Forecasts of load under different assumptions about weather patterns are used to predict changes of price behavior given the regime-switching model of prices. Results show that the range of temperature forecasts from a normal summer to an extremely warm summer cause relatively small increases in temperature (+1.5%) and load (+3.0%). In contrast, the increases in prices are large (+20%). The conclusion is that the seasonal outlook forecasts provided by NOAA are potentially valuable for predicting prices in electricity markets. The traditional option models, based on Geometric Brownian Motion are not appropriate for electricity prices. An option model using the regime-switching framework is developed to value a European call option. The model includes volatility risk and allows changes in prices and volatility to be correlated. The results show that the value of a power plant is much higher using the financial option model than using traditional discounted cash flow.

Availability, price and promotions for cigarettes and non-cigarette tobacco products: an observational comparison of US Air Force bases with nearby tobacco retailers, 2016.

PubMed

Kong, Amanda Y; Golden, Shelley D; Myers, Allison E; Little, Melissa A; Klesges, Robert; Talcott, Wayne; Vandegrift, Sara M; Cassidy, Daniel G; Ribisl, Kurt M

2018-04-28

Active duty military personnel have higher cigarette and smokeless tobacco use rates than civilian populations. Although US Airmen (called Airmen regardless of gender or rank) are required to be tobacco-free during initial training, many resume use once this period ends, perhaps as a result of easy access to cheap tobacco products. Between July and September 2016, we collected tobacco product, price and promotion information by visiting on-base (n=28) and off-base (n=80) tobacco retailers near the eight technical training bases where approximately 99% of Airmen attend training. We conducted mixed linear effects models to examine on-base versus off-base differences. Cigarette packs were 11%-12% cheaper at on-base retailers compared with off-base retailers. Newport Menthol and Marlboro Red cigarette packs were $0.87 and $0.80 lower on-base (p<0.001) while the cheapest pack available was $0.54 lower on-base (p<0.01). Copenhagen smokeless tobacco was also significantly cheaper on-base (B=-0.65, p<0.01). Interior price promotions were more common on-base. Retail stores located on Air Force bases sell cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products at prices well below those in nearby off-base retailers: the vast majority of these retailers feature interior price promotions for these products. Federal policies regulating prices of on-base tobacco sales, if implemented more effectively, have the potential to protect the health of Airmen by helping them remain tobacco-free after technical training. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Automated Demand Response Approaches to Household Energy Management in a Smart Grid Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adika, Christopher Otieno

The advancement of renewable energy technologies and the deregulation of the electricity market have seen the emergence of Demand response (DR) programs. Demand response is a cost-effective load management strategy which enables the electricity suppliers to maintain the integrity of the power grid during high peak periods, when the customers' electrical load is high. DR programs are designed to influence electricity users to alter their normal consumption patterns by offering them financial incentives. A well designed incentive-based DR scheme that offer competitive electricity pricing structure can result in numerous benefits to all the players in the electricity market. Lower power consumption during peak periods will significantly enhance the robustness of constrained networks by reducing the level of power of generation and transmission infrastructure needed to provide electric service. Therefore, this will ease the pressure of building new power networks as we avoiding costly energy procurements thereby translating into huge financial savings for the power suppliers. Peak load reduction will also reduce the inconveniences suffered by end users as a result of brownouts or blackouts. Demand response will also drastically lower the price peaks associated with wholesale markets. This will in turn reduce the electricity costs and risks for all the players in the energy market. Additionally, DR is environmentally friendly since it enhances the flexibility of the power grid through accommodation of renewable energy resources. Despite its many benefits, DR has not been embraced by most electricity networks. This can be attributed to the fact that the existing programs do not provide enough incentives to the end users and, therefore, most electricity users are not willing to participate in them. To overcome these challenges, most utilities are coming up with innovative strategies that will be more attractive to their customers. Thus, this dissertation presents various demand response schemes that can be deployed by electricity providers to manage customer loads. This study also addresses the problem of manual demand response by proposing smart systems that will autonomously execute the DR programs without the direct involvement of the customers.

Pricing medicines: theory and practice, challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Gregson, Nigel; Sparrowhawk, Keiron; Mauskopf, Josephine; Paul, John

2005-02-01

The pricing of medicines has become one of the most hotly debated topics of recent times, with the pharmaceutical industry seemingly being attacked from all quarters. From a company perspective, determining the price for each new product is more crucial than ever, given the present dearth of new drug introductions. But how are pricing strategies developed in practice? What is value-based pricing and how are financial models of return on investment constructed? What are the challenges faced in setting the price for a particular product, and how will scientific and environmental trends provide future pricing challenges or opportunities?

A Non-Gaussian Stock Price Model: Options, Credit and a Multi-Timescale Memory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borland, L.

We review a recently proposed model of stock prices, based on astatistical feedback model that results in a non-Gaussian distribution of price changes. Applications to option pricing and the pricing of debt is discussed. A generalization to account for feedback effects over multiple timescales is also presented. This model reproduces most of the stylized facts (ie statistical anomalies) observed in real financial markets.

An annual quasidifference approach to water price elasticity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, David R.; Griffin, Ronald C.

2008-08-01

The preferred price specification for retail water demand estimation has not been fully settled by prior literature. Empirical consistency of price indices is necessary to enable testing of competing specifications. Available methods of unbiasing the price index are summarized here. Using original rate information from several hundred Texas utilities, new indices of marginal and average price change are constructed. Marginal water price change is shown to explain consumption variation better than average water price change, based on standard information criteria. Annual change in quantity consumed per month is estimated with differences in climate variables and the new quasidifference marginal price index. As expected, the annual price elasticity of demand is found to vary with daily high and low temperatures and the frequency of precipitation.

Examining A Health Care Price Transparency Tool: Who Uses It, And How They Shop For Care.

PubMed

Sinaiko, Anna D; Rosenthal, Meredith B

2016-04-01

Calls for transparency in health care prices are increasing, in an effort to encourage and enable patients to make value-based decisions. Yet there is very little evidence of whether and how patients use health care price transparency tools. We evaluated the experiences, in the period 2011-12, of an insured population of nonelderly adults with Aetna's Member Payment Estimator, a web-based tool that provides real-time, personalized, episode-level price estimates. Overall, use of the tool increased during the study period but remained low. Nonetheless, for some procedures the number of people searching for prices of services (called searchers) was high relative to the number of people who received the service (called patients). Among Aetna patients who had an imaging service, childbirth, or one of several outpatient procedures, searchers for price information were significantly more likely to be younger and healthier and to have incurred higher annual deductible spending than patients who did not search for price information. A campaign to deliver price information to consumers may be important to increase patients' engagement with price transparency tools. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Multi-step-ahead crude oil price forecasting using a hybrid grey wave model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yanhui; Zhang, Chuan; He, Kaijian; Zheng, Aibing

2018-07-01

Crude oil is crucial to the operation and economic well-being of the modern society. Huge changes of crude oil price always cause panics to the global economy. There are many factors influencing crude oil price. Crude oil price prediction is still a difficult research problem widely discussed among researchers. Based on the researches on Heterogeneous Market Hypothesis and the relationship between crude oil price and macroeconomic factors, exchange market, stock market, this paper proposes a hybrid grey wave forecasting model, which combines Random Walk (RW)/ARMA to forecast multi-step-ahead crude oil price. More specifically, we use grey wave forecasting model to model the periodical characteristics of crude oil price and ARMA/RW to simulate the daily random movements. The innovation also comes from using the information of the time series graph to forecast crude oil price, since grey wave forecasting is a graphical prediction method. The empirical results demonstrate that based on the daily data of crude oil price, the hybrid grey wave forecasting model performs well in 15- to 20-step-ahead prediction and it always dominates ARMA and Random Walk in correct direction prediction.

Problems in the regulatory policy of the drug market

PubMed Central

Miziara, Nathália Molleis; Coutinho, Diogo Rosenthal

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE Analyze the implementation of drug price regulation policy by the Drug Market Regulation Chamber. METHODS This is an interview-based study, which was undertaken in 2012, using semi-structured questionnaires with social actors from the pharmaceutical market, the pharmaceuticals industry, consumers and the regulatory agency. In addition, drug prices were compiled based on surveys conducted in the state of Sao Paulo, at the point of sale, between February 2009 and May 2012. RESULTS The mean drug prices charged at the point of sale (pharmacies) were well below the maximum price to the consumer, compared with many drugs sold in Brazil. Between 2009 and 2012, 44 of the 129 prices, corresponding to 99 drugs listed in the database of compiled prices, showed a variation of more than 20.0% in the mean prices at the point of sale and the maximum price to the consumer. In addition, many laboratories have refused to apply the price adequacy coefficient in their sales to government agencies. CONCLUSIONS The regulation implemented by the pharmaceutical market regulator was unable to significantly control prices of marketed drugs, without succeeding to push them to levels lower than those determined by the pharmaceutical industry and failing, therefore, in its objective to promote pharmaceutical support for the public. It is necessary reconstruct the regulatory law to allow market prices to be reduced by the regulator as well as institutional strengthen this government body. PMID:26083945

Income-based equity impacts of congestion pricing

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-12-01

This equity primer was produced to examine the impacts of congestion pricing on low-income groups, public opinion as expressed by various income groups, and ways to mitigate the equity impacts of congestion pricing

Income-based equity impacts of congestion pricing.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-12-01

This equity primer was produced to examine the impacts of congestion pricing on low-income groups, public opinion as expressed by various income groups, and ways to mitigate the equity impacts of congestion pricing.

Price elasticity matrix of demand in power system considering demand response programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Xinyao; Hui, Hongxun; Yang, Shengchun; Li, Yaping; Ding, Yi

2018-02-01

The increasing renewable energy power generations have brought more intermittency and volatility to the electric power system. Demand-side resources can improve the consumption of renewable energy by demand response (DR), which becomes one of the important means to improve the reliability of power system. In price-based DR, the sensitivity analysis of customer’s power demand to the changing electricity prices is pivotal for setting reasonable prices and forecasting loads of power system. This paper studies the price elasticity matrix of demand (PEMD). An improved PEMD model is proposed based on elasticity effect weight, which can unify the rigid loads and flexible loads. Moreover, the structure of PEMD, which is decided by price policies and load types, and the calculation method of PEMD are also proposed. Several cases are studied to prove the effectiveness of this method.

78 FR 18407 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-26

... with customer bases of potential product users have indicated a preference that premium pricing for... clarity as to the minimum pricing increments for Mini Options, the filing would harmonize penny pricing... symbol'' of an underlying security and cannot differentiate, for purposes of minimum variation pricing...

A Toolbox for Teaching Price Comparison to Students with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weng, Pei-Lin; Bouck, Emily C.

2017-01-01

Price comparison is a functional mathematics skill involving purchasing, use of money, and budgeting, with the goal of selecting the best deal based on a person's financial resources (Browder, Spooner, & Trela, 2011). The operational definition of "price comparison" is to compare the magnitudes of the price numbers and then select…

Relationship between financial speculation and food prices or price volatility: applying the principles of evidence-based medicine to current debates in Germany.

PubMed

Bozorgmehr, Kayvan; Gabrysch, Sabine; Müller, Olaf; Neuhann, Florian; Jordan, Irmgard; Knipper, Michael; Razum, Oliver

2013-10-16

There is an unresolved debate about the potential effects of financial speculation on food prices and price volatility. Germany's largest financial institution and leading global investment bank recently decided to continue investing in agricultural commodities, stating that there is little empirical evidence to support the notion that the growth of agricultural-based financial products has caused price increases or volatility. The statement is supported by a recently published literature review, which concludes that financial speculation does not have an adverse effect on the functioning of the agricultural commodities market. As public health professionals concerned with global food insecurity, we have appraised the methodological quality of the review using a validated and reliable appraisal tool. The appraisal revealed major shortcomings in the methodological quality of the review. These were particularly related to intransparencies in the search strategy and in the selection/presentation of studies and findings; the neglect of the possibility of publication bias; a lack of objective or rigorous criteria for assessing the scientific quality of included studies and for the formulation of conclusions. Based on the results of our appraisal, we conclude that it is not justified to reject the hypothesis that financial speculation might have adverse effects on food prices/price volatility. We hope to initiate reflections about scientific standards beyond the boundaries of disciplines and call for high quality, rigorous systematic reviews on the effects of financial speculation on food prices or price volatility.

[Mechanics and effects of European reference pricing for vaccines in Germany according to §130a Abs. 2 SGB V: an analysis using the example of influenza vaccines].

PubMed

Barth, J; Hammerschmidt, T; Vollmar, J; Bierbaum, M; Schöffski, O

2014-04-01

On 01 January 2011 the bill for the reorganisation of the pharmaceutical market became effective. Since that time there is a European reference pricing (ERP) system for vaccines in order to bring down the German vaccine prices to an assumed lower European level. This study describes the implementation, functioning and effect of this new system. For influenza vaccines the impact of ERP on the price level and spread of prices is analysed. The description of the mechanism is based on the law and corresponding regulations of the head association of sickness funds (GKV-SV). The analysis of vaccine prices is based on the data of the i:data report (status of 01 September 2011) of ifap Service Institute. The European reference price is calculated as the average price of the manufacturer-selling-prices of the corresponding vaccine in the 4 countries of the European Union whose gross national income comes closest to the German one and in which the vaccine is distributed. The relied prices are weighted by sales and purchasing power parities of the respective countries. This analysis suggests that in particular the practical implementation of the reference price system should be further improved and specified. The calculation of the reference prices should ensure price comparability. In addition, significant problems remain in the deduction of discounts, because no distinction is made in the documentation of vaccinating doctors, whether vaccination was performed as a compulsory or statutory benefit. The comparison of the manufacturer-selling-prices of individual influenza vaccines with the corresponding reference prices shows an enlargement of the existing price differences, which have evolved in a competitive environment, after the implementation of the reference pricing -system. There is still a need for improvement in implementing the reference pricing system. In the most competitive vaccine market of influenza vaccines, the ERP-system lowers the prices, but seems to distort the market prices. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Genetic algorithms with memory- and elitism-based immigrants in dynamic environments.

PubMed

Yang, Shengxiang

2008-01-01

In recent years the genetic algorithm community has shown a growing interest in studying dynamic optimization problems. Several approaches have been devised. The random immigrants and memory schemes are two major ones. The random immigrants scheme addresses dynamic environments by maintaining the population diversity while the memory scheme aims to adapt genetic algorithms quickly to new environments by reusing historical information. This paper investigates a hybrid memory and random immigrants scheme, called memory-based immigrants, and a hybrid elitism and random immigrants scheme, called elitism-based immigrants, for genetic algorithms in dynamic environments. In these schemes, the best individual from memory or the elite from the previous generation is retrieved as the base to create immigrants into the population by mutation. This way, not only can diversity be maintained but it is done more efficiently to adapt genetic algorithms to the current environment. Based on a series of systematically constructed dynamic problems, experiments are carried out to compare genetic algorithms with the memory-based and elitism-based immigrants schemes against genetic algorithms with traditional memory and random immigrants schemes and a hybrid memory and multi-population scheme. The sensitivity analysis regarding some key parameters is also carried out. Experimental results show that the memory-based and elitism-based immigrants schemes efficiently improve the performance of genetic algorithms in dynamic environments.

Glaucoma risk index: automated glaucoma detection from color fundus images.

PubMed

Bock, Rüdiger; Meier, Jörg; Nyúl, László G; Hornegger, Joachim; Michelson, Georg

2010-06-01

Glaucoma as a neurodegeneration of the optic nerve is one of the most common causes of blindness. Because revitalization of the degenerated nerve fibers of the optic nerve is impossible early detection of the disease is essential. This can be supported by a robust and automated mass-screening. We propose a novel automated glaucoma detection system that operates on inexpensive to acquire and widely used digital color fundus images. After a glaucoma specific preprocessing, different generic feature types are compressed by an appearance-based dimension reduction technique. Subsequently, a probabilistic two-stage classification scheme combines these features types to extract the novel Glaucoma Risk Index (GRI) that shows a reasonable glaucoma detection performance. On a sample set of 575 fundus images a classification accuracy of 80% has been achieved in a 5-fold cross-validation setup. The GRI gains a competitive area under ROC (AUC) of 88% compared to the established topography-based glaucoma probability score of scanning laser tomography with AUC of 87%. The proposed color fundus image-based GRI achieves a competitive and reliable detection performance on a low-priced modality by the statistical analysis of entire images of the optic nerve head. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Toward Value-Based Pricing to Boost Cancer Research and Innovation.

PubMed

Ocana, Alberto; Amir, Eitan; Tannock, Ian F

2016-06-01

The high market price of new anticancer agents has stimulated debate about the long-term sustainability of healthcare systems and whether these new agents can continue to be supported by public healthcare or by private insurers. In addition, some drugs have been approved with limited clinical benefit, raising concerns about setting a minimum requirement for medical benefit. Options to resolve these problems include raising the bar for approval of new drugs and/or pricing of new agents based on the medical benefit that they offer to patients. In this commentary, we suggest that new agents should be marketed in a two-step process that would include first the approval of the new drug by the regulatory agencies and second the introduction of a market price based on the medical benefit that the new intervention offers to patients. Introduction of value-based pricing would maintain the sustainability of health care systems and would improve drug development, as it would pressure pharmaceutical companies to become more innovative and avoid the development of compounds with limited benefit. Value-based pricing could also stimulate the funding of research directed to development of new anticancer drugs with novel mechanisms of action. Cancer Res; 76(11); 3127-9. ©2016 AACR. ©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.

77 FR 55186 - Light-Walled Rectangular Pipe and Tube From Mexico: Preliminary Results and Partial Rescission of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-07

... HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written description of the.... The normal-value level of trade is based on the starting prices of sales in the home market or, when... level of trade is based on the starting price, which is usually the price from the exporter to the...

48 CFR 52.212-3 - Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... which are, or are based on, established catalog or market prices (see FAR 22.1003-4(c)(2)(ii)) for the... furnished at prices that are, or are based on, established catalog or market prices (see FAR 22.1003-4(d)(2... disadvantaged in paragraph (c)(4) or (c)(10) of this provision.) _Black American. _Hispanic American. _Native...

An Analysis of the Air Force Working Capital Fund’s Performance and the Pricing Strategy of the Materiel Support Division

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-03-25

Leland G. “ Defense Business Operations Fund (DBOF): Problems and Promise,” Public Budgeting & Finance, 15: 38-57 (Winter 1995). 80 Kotler , Philip ...knows if they will reach their desired rate-of return or profit level ( Kotler , 2000: 466). Market-Based Pricing The strength of market-based pricing

Innovation and The Welfare Effects of Public Drug Insurance*

PubMed Central

Lakdawalla, Darius; Sood, Neeraj

2010-01-01

Rewarding inventors with inefficient monopoly power has long been regarded as the price of encouraging innovation. Prescription drug insurance escapes that trade-off and achieves an elusive goal: lowering static deadweight loss, without reducing incentives for innovation. As a result of this feature, the public provision of drug insurance can be welfare-improving, even for risk-neutral and purely self-interested consumers. The design of insurers’ cost-sharing schedules can either reinforce or mitigate this result. Schedules that impose higher consumer cost-sharing requirements on more expensive drugs help ensure that insurance subsidies translate into higher utilization, rather than pure increases in manufacturer profits. Moreover, some degree of price-negotiation with manufacturers is likely to be welfare-improving, but the optimal degree depends on the size of such transactions costs, as well as the social cost of weakening innovation incentives by lowering innovator profits. These results have practical implications for the evaluation of public drug insurance programs like the US Medicaid and Medicare Part D programs, along with European insurance schemes. PMID:20454467

Optimal scheduling and its Lyapunov stability for advanced load-following energy plants with CO 2 capture

DOE PAGES

Bankole, Temitayo; Jones, Dustin; Bhattacharyya, Debangsu; ...

2017-11-03

In this study, a two-level control methodology consisting of an upper-level scheduler and a lower-level supervisory controller is proposed for an advanced load-following energy plant with CO 2 capture. With the use of an economic objective function that considers fluctuation in electricity demand and price at the upper level, optimal scheduling of energy plant electricity production and carbon capture with respect to several carbon tax scenarios is implemented. The optimal operational profiles are then passed down to corresponding lower-level supervisory controllers designed using a methodological approach that balances control complexity with performance. Finally, it is shown how optimal carbon capturemore » and electricity production rate profiles for an energy plant such as the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant are affected by electricity demand and price fluctuations under different carbon tax scenarios. As a result, the paper also presents a Lyapunov stability analysis of the proposed scheme.« less

Optimal scheduling and its Lyapunov stability for advanced load-following energy plants with CO 2 capture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bankole, Temitayo; Jones, Dustin; Bhattacharyya, Debangsu

In this study, a two-level control methodology consisting of an upper-level scheduler and a lower-level supervisory controller is proposed for an advanced load-following energy plant with CO 2 capture. With the use of an economic objective function that considers fluctuation in electricity demand and price at the upper level, optimal scheduling of energy plant electricity production and carbon capture with respect to several carbon tax scenarios is implemented. The optimal operational profiles are then passed down to corresponding lower-level supervisory controllers designed using a methodological approach that balances control complexity with performance. Finally, it is shown how optimal carbon capturemore » and electricity production rate profiles for an energy plant such as the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant are affected by electricity demand and price fluctuations under different carbon tax scenarios. As a result, the paper also presents a Lyapunov stability analysis of the proposed scheme.« less

Regulation of distribution network business

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roman, J.; Gomez, T.; Munoz, A.

1999-04-01

The traditional distribution function actually comprises two separate activities: distribution network and retailing. Retailing, which is also termed supply, consists of trading electricity at the wholesale level and selling it to the end users. The distribution network business, or merely distribution, is a natural monopoly and it must be regulated. Increasing attention is presently being paid to the regulation of distribution pricing. Distribution pricing, comprises two major tasks: global remuneration of the distribution utility and tariff setting by allocation of the total costs among all the users of the network services. In this paper, the basic concepts for establishing themore » global remuneration of a distribution utility are presented. A remuneration scheme which recognizes adequate investment and operation costs, promotes losses reduction and incentivates the control of the quality of service level is proposed. Efficient investment and operation costs are calculated by using different types of strategic planning and regression analysis models. Application examples that have been used during the distribution regulation process in Spain are also presented.« less

Fuel switching in the electricity sector under the EU ETS: Review and prospective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Delarue, E.; Voorspools, K.; D'haeseleer, W.

2008-06-15

The European Union has implemented the European Union emission trading scheme (EU ETS) as an instrument to facilitate greenhouse gas (GHG) emission abatement stipulated in the Kyoto protocol. Empirical data show that in the early stages of the EU ETS, the value of a ton of CO{sub 2} has already led to emission abatement through switching from coal to gas in the European electric power sector. In the second part of this paper, an electricity generation simulation model is used to perform simulations on the switching behavior in both the first and the second trading periods of the EU ETS.more » In 2005, the reduction in GHG emissions in the electric power sector due to EU ETS is estimated close to 88 Mton. For the second trading period, a European Union allowance (EUA) price dependent GHG reduction curve has been determined. The obtained switching potential turns out to be significant, up to 300 Mton/year, at sufficiently high EUA prices.« less

Patients Who Choose Primary Care Physicians Based On Low Office Visit Price Can Realize Broader Savings.

PubMed

Mehrotra, Ateev; Huckfeldt, Peter J; Haviland, Amelia M; Gascue, Laura; Sood, Neeraj

2016-12-01

Price transparency initiatives encourage patients to save money by choosing physicians with a relatively low price per office visit. Given that the price of such visits represents a small fraction of total spending, the extent of the savings from choosing such physicians has not been clear. Using a national sample of commercial claims data, we compared the care received by patients of high- and low-price primary care physicians. The median price for an established patient's office visit was $60 among low-price physicians and $86 among high-price physicians (price was calculated as reimbursement plus out-of-pocket spending). Patients of low-price physicians also received, on average, relatively low-price lab tests, imaging, and other procedures. Total spending per year among patients cared for by low-price physicians was $690 less than spending among patients cared for by high-price physicians. There were no consistent differences in patients' use of services between high- and low-price physicians. Despite modest differences in physicians' office visit prices, patients of low-price physicians had substantively lower overall spending, compared to patients of high-price physicians. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Effect of cost sharing on adherence to evidence-based medications in patients with acute coronary syndrome

PubMed Central

González López-Valcárcel, Beatriz; Librero, Julián; García-Sempere, Aníbal; Peña, Luz María; Bauer, Sofía; Puig-Junoy, Jaume; Oliva, Juan; Peiró, Salvador; Sanfélix-Gimeno, Gabriel

2017-01-01

Objectives Cost-sharing scheme for pharmaceuticals in Spain changed in July 2012. Our aim was to assess the impact of this change on adherence to essential medication in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the region of Valencia. Methods Population-based retrospective cohort of 10 563 patients discharged alive after an ACS in 2009–2011. We examined a control group (low-income working population) that did not change their coinsurance status, and two intervention groups: pensioners who moved from full coverage to 10% coinsurance and middle-income to high-income working population, for whom coinsurance rose from 40% to 50% or 60%. Weekly adherence rates measured from the date of the first prescription. Days with available medication were estimated by linking prescribed and filled medications during the follow-up period. Results Cost-sharing change made no significant differences in adherence between intervention and control groups for essential medications with low price and low patient maximum coinsurance, such as antiplatelet and beta-blockers. For costlier ACE inhibitor or an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ACEI/ARB) and statins, it had an immediate effect in the proportion of adherence in the pensioner group as compared with the control group (6.8% and 8.3% decrease of adherence, respectively, p<0.01 for both). Adherence to statins decreased for the middle-income to high-income group as compared with the control group (7.8% increase of non-adherence, p<0.01). These effects seemed temporary. Conclusions Coinsurance changes may lead to decreased adherence to proven, effective therapies, especially for higher priced agents with higher patient cost share. Consideration should be given to fully exempt high-risk patients from drug cost sharing. PMID:28249992

Residential Consumer-Centric Demand-Side Management Based on Energy Disaggregation-Piloting Constrained Swarm Intelligence: Towards Edge Computing

PubMed Central

Hu, Yu-Chen

2018-01-01

The emergence of smart Internet of Things (IoT) devices has highly favored the realization of smart homes in a down-stream sector of a smart grid. The underlying objective of Demand Response (DR) schemes is to actively engage customers to modify their energy consumption on domestic appliances in response to pricing signals. Domestic appliance scheduling is widely accepted as an effective mechanism to manage domestic energy consumption intelligently. Besides, to residential customers for DR implementation, maintaining a balance between energy consumption cost and users’ comfort satisfaction is a challenge. Hence, in this paper, a constrained Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)-based residential consumer-centric load-scheduling method is proposed. The method can be further featured with edge computing. In contrast with cloud computing, edge computing—a method of optimizing cloud computing technologies by driving computing capabilities at the IoT edge of the Internet as one of the emerging trends in engineering technology—addresses bandwidth-intensive contents and latency-sensitive applications required among sensors and central data centers through data analytics at or near the source of data. A non-intrusive load-monitoring technique proposed previously is utilized to automatic determination of physical characteristics of power-intensive home appliances from users’ life patterns. The swarm intelligence, constrained PSO, is used to minimize the energy consumption cost while considering users’ comfort satisfaction for DR implementation. The residential consumer-centric load-scheduling method proposed in this paper is evaluated under real-time pricing with inclining block rates and is demonstrated in a case study. The experimentation reported in this paper shows the proposed residential consumer-centric load-scheduling method can re-shape loads by home appliances in response to DR signals. Moreover, a phenomenal reduction in peak power consumption is achieved by 13.97%. PMID:29702607

Estimated generic prices for novel treatments for drug-resistant tuberculosis.

PubMed

Gotham, Dzintars; Fortunak, Joseph; Pozniak, Anton; Khoo, Saye; Cooke, Graham; Nytko, Frederick E; Hill, Andrew

2017-04-01

The estimated worldwide annual incidence of MDR-TB is 480 000, representing 5% of TB incidence, but 20% of mortality. Multiple drugs have recently been developed or repurposed for the treatment of MDR-TB. Currently, treatment for MDR-TB costs thousands of dollars per course. To estimate generic prices for novel TB drugs that would be achievable given large-scale competitive manufacture. Prices for linezolid, moxifloxacin and clofazimine were estimated based on per-kilogram prices of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Other costs were added, including formulation, packaging and a profit margin. The projected costs for sutezolid were estimated to be equivalent to those for linezolid, based on chemical similarity. Generic prices for bedaquiline, delamanid and pretomanid were estimated by assessing routes of synthesis, costs/kg of chemical reagents, routes of synthesis and per-step yields. Costing algorithms reflected variable regulatory requirements and efficiency of scale based on demand, and were validated by testing predictive ability against widely available TB medicines. Estimated generic prices were US$8-$17/month for bedaquiline, $5-$16/month for delamanid, $11-$34/month for pretomanid, $4-$9/month for linezolid, $4-$9/month for sutezolid, $4-$11/month for clofazimine and $4-$8/month for moxifloxacin. The estimated generic prices were 87%-94% lower than the current lowest available prices for bedaquiline, 95%-98% for delamanid and 94%-97% for linezolid. Estimated generic prices were $168-$395 per course for the STREAM trial modified Bangladesh regimens (current costs $734-$1799), $53-$276 for pretomanid-based three-drug regimens and $238-$507 for a delamanid-based four-drug regimen. Competitive large-scale generic manufacture could allow supplies of treatment for 5-10 times more MDR-TB cases within current procurement budgets. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The price may not be right: the value of comparison shopping for prescription drugs.

PubMed

Arora, Sanjay; Sood, Neeraj; Terp, Sophie; Joyce, Geoffrey

2017-07-01

To measure variations in drug prices across and within zip codes that may reveal simple strategies to improve patients' access to prescribed medications. We compared drug prices at different types of pharmacies across and within local markets. In-store prices were compared with a Web-based service providing discount coupons for prescription medications. Prices were collected for 2 generic antibiotics because most patients have limited experience with them and are less likely to know the price ranges for them. Drug prices were obtained via telephone from 528 pharmacies in Los Angeles (LA) County, California, from July to August 2014. Online prices were collected from GoodRx, a popular Web-based service that aggregates available discounts and directly negotiates with retail outlets. Drug prices found at independent pharmacies and by using discount coupons available online were lower on average than at grocery, big-box, or chain drug stores for 2 widely prescribed antibiotics. The lowest-price prescription was offered at a grocery, big-box, or chain drug store in 6% of zip codes within the LA County area. Drug prices varied dramatically within a zip code, however, and were less expensive in lower-income areas. The average price difference within a zip code was $52 for levofloxacin and $17 for azithromycin. Price shopping for medications within a small geographic area can yield considerable cost savings for the uninsured and consumers in high-deductible health plans with high negotiated prices. Clinicians and patient advocates have an incentive to convey this information to patients to improve adherence to prescribed medicines and lower the financial burden of purchasing prescription drugs.

Reactive Power Pricing Model Considering the Randomness of Wind Power Output

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Zhong; Wu, Zhou

2018-01-01

With the increase of wind power capacity integrated into grid, the influence of the randomness of wind power output on the reactive power distribution of grid is gradually highlighted. Meanwhile, the power market reform puts forward higher requirements for reasonable pricing of reactive power service. Based on it, the article combined the optimal power flow model considering wind power randomness with integrated cost allocation method to price reactive power. Meanwhile, considering the advantages and disadvantages of the present cost allocation method and marginal cost pricing, an integrated cost allocation method based on optimal power flow tracing is proposed. The model realized the optimal power flow distribution of reactive power with the minimal integrated cost and wind power integration, under the premise of guaranteeing the balance of reactive power pricing. Finally, through the analysis of multi-scenario calculation examples and the stochastic simulation of wind power outputs, the article compared the results of the model pricing and the marginal cost pricing, which proved that the model is accurate and effective.

Elasticity of demand for water in Khartoum, Sudan.

PubMed

Cairncross, S; Kinnear, J

1992-01-01

A survey of the quantities of water purchased from vendors in the squatter areas of Khartoum, Sudan, was used to assess the effect of the price charged for water and of household income on domestic water consumption. Households in two squatter communities--Meiyo and Karton Kassala--were studied by observation and by interview. In spite of the substantially higher charges, water consumption in Karton Kassala was as high as that in Meiyo. Households within these communities showed no tendency to use less water when paying a higher price for it, or when their income was below average. In other words, no price elasticity or income elasticity was detectable. This was all the more striking in view of the high proportion of income that was spent on water; 17% in Meiyo, and 56% in Karton Kassala. One consequence of this lack of elasticity is that the poorest households devote the greatest percentage of their income to the purchase of water, although the only major item in their household budget which can be sacrificed to make this possible is food. The high price of water in urban Sudan is probably a major cause of the malnutrition prevalent in the squatter areas. Another consequence is that a low-income household's consumer surplus for domestic water is very high, amounting to a substantial proportion of its total income. This has important consequences for the economic appraisal of urban water supply schemes. It also follows that wealthier households with private connections would be willing to pay at least as much for water as that currently paid by the poor.

Climate change and peak demand for electricity: Evaluating policies for reducing peak demand under different climate change scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anthony, Abigail Walker

This research focuses on the relative advantages and disadvantages of using price-based and quantity-based controls for electricity markets. It also presents a detailed analysis of one specific approach to quantity based controls: the SmartAC program implemented in Stockton, California. Finally, the research forecasts electricity demand under various climate scenarios, and estimates potential cost savings that could result from a direct quantity control program over the next 50 years in each scenario. The traditional approach to dealing with the problem of peak demand for electricity is to invest in a large stock of excess capital that is rarely used, thereby greatly increasing production costs. Because this approach has proved so expensive, there has been a focus on identifying alternative approaches for dealing with peak demand problems. This research focuses on two approaches: price based approaches, such as real time pricing, and quantity based approaches, whereby the utility directly controls at least some elements of electricity used by consumers. This research suggests that well-designed policies for reducing peak demand might include both price and quantity controls. In theory, sufficiently high peak prices occurring during periods of peak demand and/or low supply can cause the quantity of electricity demanded to decline until demand is in balance with system capacity, potentially reducing the total amount of generation capacity needed to meet demand and helping meet electricity demand at the lowest cost. However, consumers need to be well informed about real-time prices for the pricing strategy to work as well as theory suggests. While this might be an appropriate assumption for large industrial and commercial users who have potentially large economic incentives, there is not yet enough research on whether households will fully understand and respond to real-time prices. Thus, while real-time pricing can be an effective tool for addressing the peak load problems, pricing approaches are not well suited to ensure system reliability. This research shows that direct quantity controls are better suited for avoiding catastrophic failure that results when demand exceeds supply capacity.

Pricing hospital care: Global budgets and marginal pricing strategies.

PubMed

Sutherland, Jason M

2015-08-01

The Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) is adding financial incentives to increase the volume of surgeries provided by hospitals using a marginal pricing approach. The objective of this study is to calculate marginal costs of surgeries based on assumptions regarding hospitals' availability of labor and equipment. This study is based on observational clinical, administrative and financial data generated by hospitals. Hospital inpatient and outpatient discharge summaries from the province are linked with detailed activity-based costing information, stratified by assigned case mix categorizations. To reflect a range of operating constraints governing hospitals' ability to increase their volume of surgeries, a number of scenarios are proposed. Under these scenarios, estimated marginal costs are calculated and compared to prices being offered as incentives to hospitals. Existing data can be used to support alternative strategies for pricing hospital care. Prices for inpatient surgeries do not generate positive margins under a range of operating scenarios. Hip and knee surgeries generate surpluses for hospitals even under the most costly labor conditions and are expected to generate additional volume. In health systems that wish to fine-tune financial incentives, setting prices that create incentives for additional volume should reflect knowledge of hospitals' underlying cost structures. Possible implications of mis-pricing include no response to the incentives or uneven increases in supply. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Comparison of the co-gasification of sewage sludge and food wastes and cost-benefit analysis of gasification- and incineration-based waste treatment schemes.

PubMed

You, Siming; Wang, Wei; Dai, Yanjun; Tong, Yen Wah; Wang, Chi-Hwa

2016-10-01

The compositions of food wastes and their co-gasification producer gas were compared with the existing data of sewage sludge. Results showed that food wastes are more favorable than sewage sludge for co-gasification based on residue generation and energy output. Two decentralized gasification-based schemes were proposed to dispose of the sewage sludge and food wastes in Singapore. Monte Carlo simulation-based cost-benefit analysis was conducted to compare the proposed schemes with the existing incineration-based scheme. It was found that the gasification-based schemes are financially superior to the incineration-based scheme based on the data of net present value (NPV), benefit-cost ratio (BCR), and internal rate of return (IRR). Sensitivity analysis was conducted to suggest effective measures to improve the economics of the schemes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hazard Analysis and Safety Requirements for Small Drone Operations: To What Extent Do Popular Drones Embed Safety?

PubMed

Plioutsias, Anastasios; Karanikas, Nektarios; Chatzimihailidou, Maria Mikela

2018-03-01

Currently, published risk analyses for drones refer mainly to commercial systems, use data from civil aviation, and are based on probabilistic approaches without suggesting an inclusive list of hazards and respective requirements. Within this context, this article presents: (1) a set of safety requirements generated from the application of the systems theoretic process analysis (STPA) technique on a generic small drone system; (2) a gap analysis between the set of safety requirements and the ones met by 19 popular drone models; (3) the extent of the differences between those models, their manufacturers, and the countries of origin; and (4) the association of drone prices with the extent they meet the requirements derived by STPA. The application of STPA resulted in 70 safety requirements distributed across the authority, manufacturer, end user, or drone automation levels. A gap analysis showed high dissimilarities regarding the extent to which the 19 drones meet the same safety requirements. Statistical results suggested a positive correlation between drone prices and the extent that the 19 drones studied herein met the safety requirements generated by STPA, and significant differences were identified among the manufacturers. This work complements the existing risk assessment frameworks for small drones, and contributes to the establishment of a commonly endorsed international risk analysis framework. Such a framework will support the development of a holistic and methodologically justified standardization scheme for small drone flights. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

Are Price Limits Effective? An Examination of an Artificial Stock Market.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaotao; Ping, Jing; Zhu, Tao; Li, Yuelei; Xiong, Xiong

2016-01-01

We investigated the inter-day effects of price limits policies that are employed in agent-based simulations. To isolate the impact of price limits from the impact of other factors, we built an artificial stock market with higher frequency price limits hitting. The trading mechanisms in this market are the same as the trading mechanisms in China's stock market. Then, we designed a series of simulations with and without price limits policy. The results of these simulations demonstrate that both upper and lower price limits can cause a volatility spillover effect and a trading interference effect. The process of price discovery will be delayed if upper price limits are imposed on a stock market; however, this phenomenon does not occur when lower price limits are imposed.

Are Price Limits Effective? An Examination of an Artificial Stock Market

PubMed Central

Zhu, Tao; Li, Yuelei; Xiong, Xiong

2016-01-01

We investigated the inter-day effects of price limits policies that are employed in agent-based simulations. To isolate the impact of price limits from the impact of other factors, we built an artificial stock market with higher frequency price limits hitting. The trading mechanisms in this market are the same as the trading mechanisms in China’s stock market. Then, we designed a series of simulations with and without price limits policy. The results of these simulations demonstrate that both upper and lower price limits can cause a volatility spillover effect and a trading interference effect. The process of price discovery will be delayed if upper price limits are imposed on a stock market; however, this phenomenon does not occur when lower price limits are imposed. PMID:27513330

Designing a food tax to impact food-related non-communicable diseases: the case of Chile.

PubMed

Caro, Juan Carlos; Smith-Taillie, Lindsey; Ng, Shu Wen; Popkin, Barry

2017-08-01

The global shift towards diets high in sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and energy dense ultra-processed foods is linked to higher prevalence of obesity, diabetes and most other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), causing significant health costs. Chile has the highest SSB consumption in the world, very high junk food intake and very rapid increases in these poor components of the diet plus obesity prevalence. This study's purpose is to compare the effect of different tax schemes for SSBs and ultra-processed foods on nutrient availability, utilizing price-elasticities, which are estimated from a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model, using the 2011-2012 Income and Expenditure survey. We take into account the high proportion of households not purchasing various food and beverage groups (censored nature of data). The food groups considered were: sweets and desserts; salty snacks and chips; meat products and fats; fruits, vegetables and seafood; cereals and cereal products; SSB ready-to-drink; SSB from concentrate; plain water, coffee and tea; and milk, which together represent 90% of food expenditures. The simulated taxes were: (1) 40% price tax on SSBs(22% above the current tax level); (2) a 5 cents per gram of sugar tax on products with added sugar; and (3) 30% price tax on all foods(27% above current tax levels) and beverages (12% above the current tax level) exceeding thresholds on sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar and for which marketing is restricted (based on a Chilean law, effective June 16 2016). Unhealthy foods are price-elastic (-1.99 for salty snacks and chips, -1.06 for SSBs ready-to-drink, and -1.27 for SSBs from concentrate), meaning that the change in consumption is proportionally larger with respect to a change in price. Results are robust to different model specification, and consistent among different socioeconomic sub-populations. Overall, the tax on marketing controlled foods and beverages is associated with the largest reduction in household purchases of sodium, added sugar, saturated fat and calorie purchases. Chile is unique in currently having instituted a small current SSB tax as well as marketing controls and front-of-package labeling of unhealthy foods and beverages. The design of a larger, more comprehensive tax to enhance the overall effect of these policies on healthier diets is a next critical step. This study shows that a large tax on the same foods and beverages already delineated as unhealthy by the marketing controls and front-of-pack labeling should prove to be more effective for promoting a healthier diet.

Designing a food tax to impact food-related non-communicable diseases: the case of Chile

PubMed Central

Caro, Juan Carlos; Smith-Taillie, Lindsey; Ng, Shu Wen; Popkin, Barry

2018-01-01

The global shift towards diets high in sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and energy dense ultra-processed foods is linked to higher prevalence of obesity, diabetes and most other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), causing significant health costs. Chile has the highest SSB consumption in the world, very high junk food intake and very rapid increases in these poor components of the diet plus obesity prevalence. This study’s purpose is to compare the effect of different tax schemes for SSBs and ultra-processed foods on nutrient availability, utilizing price-elasticities, which are estimated from a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model, using the 2011–2012 Income and Expenditure survey. We take into account the high proportion of households not purchasing various food and beverage groups (censored nature of data). The food groups considered were: sweets and desserts; salty snacks and chips; meat products and fats; fruits, vegetables and seafood; cereals and cereal products; SSB ready-to-drink; SSB from concentrate; plain water, coffee and tea; and milk, which together represent 90% of food expenditures. The simulated taxes were: (1) 40% price tax on SSBs(22% above the current tax level); (2) a 5 cents per gram of sugar tax on products with added sugar; and (3) 30% price tax on all foods(27% above current tax levels) and beverages (12% above the current tax level) exceeding thresholds on sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar and for which marketing is restricted (based on a Chilean law, effective June 16 2016). Unhealthy foods are price-elastic (−1.99 for salty snacks and chips, −1.06 for SSBs ready-to-drink, and −1.27 for SSBs from concentrate), meaning that the change in consumption is proportionally larger with respect to a change in price. Results are robust to different model specification, and consistent among different socioeconomic sub-populations. Overall, the tax on marketing controlled foods and beverages is associated with the largest reduction in household purchases of sodium, added sugar, saturated fat and calorie purchases. Chile is unique in currently having instituted a small current SSB tax as well as marketing controls and front-of-package labeling of unhealthy foods and beverages. The design of a larger, more comprehensive tax to enhance the overall effect of these policies on healthier diets is a next critical step. This study shows that a large tax on the same foods and beverages already delineated as unhealthy by the marketing controls and front-of-pack labeling should prove to be more effective for promoting a healthier diet. PMID:29375180

76 FR 31991 - All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers; United States City Average

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-02

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Office of the Secretary All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers... United States City Average All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (1967=100) increased... 1974 as a base (1974=100), I certify that the United States City Average All Items Consumer Price Index...

78 FR 35054 - All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers United States City Average

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-11

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Office of the Secretary All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers... United States City Average All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (1967=100) increased... 1974 as a base (1974=100), I certify that the United States City Average All Items Consumer Price Index...

75 FR 22164 - All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers United States City Average

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-27

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Office of the Secretary All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers... United States City Average All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (1967=100) increased... 1974 as a base (1974=100), I certify that the United States City Average All Items Consumer Price Index...

STS pricing policy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, C. M.; Stone, B.

1982-01-01

In 1977 NASA published Shuttle Reimbursement Policies for Civil U.S. Government, DOD and Commercial and Foreign Users. These policies were based on the principle of total cost recovery over a period of time with a fixed flat price for initial period to time to enhance transition. This fixed period was to be followed with annual adjustments thereafter, NASA is establishing a new price for 1986 and beyond. In order to recover costs, that price must be higher than the initial fixed price through FY 1985. NASA intends to remain competitive. Competitive posture includes not only price, but other factors such as assured launch, reliability, and unique services. NASA's pricing policy considers all these factors.

Methodology for the assessment of oxygen as an energy carrier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Ming Wei

Due to the energy intensity of the oxygen generating process, the electric power grid would benefit if the oxygen generating process was consumed electric power only during low demand periods. Thus, the question to be addressed in this study is whether oxygen production and/or usage can be modified to achieve energy storage and/or transmission objectives at lower cost. The specific benefit to grid would be a leveling, over time, of the demand profile and thus would require less installation capacity. In order to track the availability of electricity, a compressed air storage unit is installed between the cryogenic distillation section and the main air compressor of air separation unit. A profit maximizing scheme for sizing storage inventory and related equipments is developed. The optimum scheme is capable of market responsiveness. Profits of steel maker, oxy-combustion, and IGCC plants with storage facilities can be higher than those plants without storage facilities, especially, at high-price market. Price tracking feature of air storage integration will certainly increase profit margins of the plants. The integration may push oxy-combustion and integrated gasification combined cycle process into economic viability. Since oxygen is used in consumer sites, it may generate at remote locations and transport to the place needed. Energy losses and costs analysis of oxygen transportation is conducted for various applications. Energy consumptions of large capacity and long distance GOX and LOX pipelines are lower than small capacity pipelines. However, transportation losses and costs of GOX and LOX pipelines are still higher than electricity transmission.

Implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive: Opportunities and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zīgurs, A.; Sarma, U.

2015-12-01

Discussions in Latvia are ongoing regarding the optimum solution to implementing Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC (Directive 2012/27/EU). Without a doubt, increased energy efficiency contributes significantly to energy supply security, competitive performance, increased quality of life, reduced energy dependence and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, Directive 2012/27/EU should be implemented with careful planning, evaluating every aspect of the process. This study analyses a scenario, where a significant fraction of target energy efficiency is achieved by obliging energy utilities to implement user-end energy efficiency measures. With implementation of this scheme towards energy end-use savings, user payments for energy should be reduced; on the other hand, these measures will require considerable investment. The energy efficiency obligation scheme stipulates that these investments must be paid by energy utilities; however, they will actually be covered by users, because the source of energy utilities' income is user payments for energy. Thus, expenses on such measures will be included in energy prices and service tariffs. The authors analyse the ways to achieve a balance between user gains from energy end-use savings and increased energy prices and tariffs as a result of obligations imposed upon energy utilities. Similarly, the suitability of the current regulatory regime for effective implementation of Directive 2012/27/EU is analysed in the energy supply sectors, where supply tariffs are regulated.

Availability and Use of Cheap Tobacco in the United Kingdom 2002-2014: Findings From the International Tobacco Control Project.

PubMed

Partos, Timea R; Gilmore, Anna B; Hitchman, Sara C; Hiscock, Rosemary; Branston, J Robert; McNeill, Ann

2018-05-03

Raising tobacco prices is the most effective population-level intervention for reducing smoking, but this is undermined by the availability of cheap tobacco. This study monitors trends in cheap tobacco use among adult smokers in the United Kingdom between 2002 and 2014 via changes in product type, purchase source, and prices paid. Weighted data from 10 waves of the International Tobacco Control policy evaluation study were used. This is a longitudinal cohort study of adult smokers with replenishment; 6169 participants provided 15812 responses. Analyses contrasted (1) product type: roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco, factory-made packs (FM-P), and factory-made cartons (FM-C); (2) purchase source: UK store-based sources (e.g., supermarkets and convenience stores) with non-UK/nonstore sources representing tax avoidance/evasion (e.g., outside the UK, duty free, and informal sellers); and (3) prices paid (inflation-adjusted to 2014 values). Generalized estimating equations tested linear changes over time. (1) RYO use increased significantly over time as FM decreased. (2) UK store-based sources constituted approximately 80% of purchases over time, with no significant increases in tax avoidance/evasion. (3) Median RYO prices were less than half that of FM, with FM-C cheaper than FM-P. Non-UK/nonstore sources were cheapest. Price increases of all three product types from UK store-based sources from 2002 to 2014 were statistically significant but not substantial. Wide (and increasing for FM-P) price ranges meant each product type could be purchased in 2014 at prices below their 2002 medians from UK store-based sources. Options exist driving UK smokers to minimize their tobacco expenditure; smokers do so largely by purchasing cheap tobacco products from UK stores. The effectiveness of price increases as a deterrent to smoking is being undermined by the availability of cheap tobacco such as roll-your-own tobacco and cartons of packs of factory-made cigarettes. Wide price ranges allowed smokers in 2014 to easily obtain cigarettes at prices comparable to 12 years prior, without resorting to tax avoidance or evasion. UK store-based sources accounted for 80% or more of all tobacco purchases between 2002 and 2014, suggesting little change in tax avoidance or evasion over time. There was a widening price range between the cheapest and most expensive factory-made cigarettes.

Availability and Use of Cheap Tobacco in the United Kingdom 2002–2014: Findings From the International Tobacco Control Project

PubMed Central

Partos, Timea R; Gilmore, Anna B; Hitchman, Sara C; Hiscock, Rosemary; Branston, J Robert; McNeill, Ann

2018-01-01

Abstract Introduction Raising tobacco prices is the most effective population-level intervention for reducing smoking, but this is undermined by the availability of cheap tobacco. This study monitors trends in cheap tobacco use among adult smokers in the United Kingdom between 2002 and 2014 via changes in product type, purchase source, and prices paid. Methods Weighted data from 10 waves of the International Tobacco Control policy evaluation study were used. This is a longitudinal cohort study of adult smokers with replenishment; 6169 participants provided 15812 responses. Analyses contrasted (1) product type: roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco, factory-made packs (FM-P), and factory-made cartons (FM-C); (2) purchase source: UK store-based sources (e.g., supermarkets and convenience stores) with non-UK/nonstore sources representing tax avoidance/evasion (e.g., outside the UK, duty free, and informal sellers); and (3) prices paid (inflation-adjusted to 2014 values). Generalized estimating equations tested linear changes over time. Results (1) RYO use increased significantly over time as FM decreased. (2) UK store-based sources constituted approximately 80% of purchases over time, with no significant increases in tax avoidance/evasion. (3) Median RYO prices were less than half that of FM, with FM-C cheaper than FM-P. Non-UK/nonstore sources were cheapest. Price increases of all three product types from UK store-based sources from 2002 to 2014 were statistically significant but not substantial. Wide (and increasing for FM-P) price ranges meant each product type could be purchased in 2014 at prices below their 2002 medians from UK store-based sources. Conclusions Options exist driving UK smokers to minimize their tobacco expenditure; smokers do so largely by purchasing cheap tobacco products from UK stores. Implications The effectiveness of price increases as a deterrent to smoking is being undermined by the availability of cheap tobacco such as roll-your-own tobacco and cartons of packs of factory-made cigarettes. Wide price ranges allowed smokers in 2014 to easily obtain cigarettes at prices comparable to 12 years prior, without resorting to tax avoidance or evasion. UK store-based sources accounted for 80% or more of all tobacco purchases between 2002 and 2014, suggesting little change in tax avoidance or evasion over time. There was a widening price range between the cheapest and most expensive factory-made cigarettes. PMID:28525594

Paying more for faster care? Individuals' attitude toward price-based priority access in health care.

PubMed

Benning, Tim M; Dellaert, Benedict G C

2013-05-01

Increased competition in the health care sector has led hospitals and other health care institutions to experiment with new access allocation policies that move away from traditional expert based allocation of care to price-based priority access (i.e., the option to pay more for faster care). To date, little is known about individuals' attitude toward price-based priority access and the evaluation process underlying this attitude. This paper addresses the role of individuals' evaluations of collective health outcomes as an important driver of their attitude toward (price-based) allocation policies in health care. The authors investigate how individuals evaluate price-based priority access by means of scenario-based survey data collected in a representative sample from the Dutch population (N = 1464). They find that (a) offering individuals the opportunity to pay for faster care negatively affects their evaluations of both the total and distributional collective health outcome achieved, (b) however, when health care supply is not restricted (i.e., when treatment can be offered outside versus within the regular working hours of the hospital) offering price-based priority access affects total collective health outcome evaluations positively instead of negatively, but it does not change distributional collective health outcome evaluations. Furthermore, (c) the type of health care treatment (i.e., life saving liver transplantation treatment vs. life improving cosmetic ear correction treatment - priced at the same level to the individual) moderates the effect of collective health outcome evaluations on individuals' attitude toward allocation policies. For policy makers and hospital managers the results presented in this article are helpful because they provide a better understanding of what drives individuals' preferences for health care allocation policies. In particular, the results show that policies based on the "paying more for faster care" principle are more attractive to the general public when treatment takes place outside the regular working hours of a hospital. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pricing effects on food choices.

PubMed

French, Simone A

2003-03-01

Individual dietary choices are primarily influenced by such considerations as taste, cost, convenience and nutritional value of foods. The current obesity epidemic has been linked to excessive consumption of added sugars and fat, as well as to sedentary lifestyles. Fat and sugar provide dietary energy at very low cost. Food pricing and marketing practices are therefore an essential component of the eating environment. Recent studies have applied economic theories to changing dietary behavior. Price reduction strategies promote the choice of targeted foods by lowering their cost relative to alternative food choices. Two community-based intervention studies used price reductions to promote the increased purchase of targeted foods. The first study examined lower prices and point-of-purchase promotion on sales of lower fat vending machine snacks in 12 work sites and 12 secondary schools. Price reductions of 10%, 25% and 50% on lower fat snacks resulted in an increase in sales of 9%, 39% and 93%, respectively, compared with usual price conditions. The second study examined the impact of a 50% price reduction on fresh fruit and baby carrots in two secondary school cafeterias. Compared with usual price conditions, price reductions resulted in a four-fold increase in fresh fruit sales and a two-fold increase in baby carrot sales. Both studies demonstrate that price reductions are an effective strategy to increase the purchase of more healthful foods in community-based settings such as work sites and schools. Results were generalizable across various food types and populations. Reducing prices on healthful foods is a public health strategy that should be implemented through policy initiatives and industry collaborations.

Differential responsiveness to cigarette price by education and income among adult urban Chinese smokers: findings from the ITC China Survey.

PubMed

Huang, Jidong; Zheng, Rong; Chaloupka, Frank J; Fong, Geoffrey T; Jiang, Yuan

2015-07-01

Few studies have examined the impact of tobacco tax and price policies in China. In addition, very little is known about the differential responses to tax and price increases based on socioeconomic status in China. To estimate the conditional cigarette consumption price elasticity among adult urban smokers in China and to examine the differential responses to cigarette price increases among groups with different income and/or educational levels. Multivariate analyses employing the general estimating equations method were conducted using the first three waves of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) China Survey. Analyses based on subsample by education and income were conducted. Conditional cigarette demand price elasticity ranges from -0.12 to -0.14. No differential responses to cigarette price increase were found across education levels. The price elasticity estimates do not differ between high-income smokers and medium-income smokers. Cigarette consumption among low-income smokers did not decrease after a price increase, at least among those who continued to smoke. Relative to other low-income and middle-income countries, cigarette consumption among Chinese adult smokers is not very sensitive to changes in cigarette prices. The total impact of cigarette price increase would be larger if its impact on smoking initiation and cessation, as well as the price-reducing behaviours such as brand switching and trading down, were taken into account. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

30 CFR 203.78 - Do I keep relief approved by MMS under §§ 203.60-203.77 for my lease, unit or project if prices...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Do I keep relief approved by MMS under §§ 203.60-203.77 for my lease, unit or project if prices rise significantly? 203.78 Section 203.78 Mineral....77 for my lease, unit or project if prices rise significantly? If prices rise above a base price...

PMD compensation in multilevel coded-modulation schemes with coherent detection using BLAST algorithm and iterative polarization cancellation.

PubMed

Djordjevic, Ivan B; Xu, Lei; Wang, Ting

2008-09-15

We present two PMD compensation schemes suitable for use in multilevel (M>or=2) block-coded modulation schemes with coherent detection. The first scheme is based on a BLAST-type polarization-interference cancellation scheme, and the second scheme is based on iterative polarization cancellation. Both schemes use the LDPC codes as channel codes. The proposed PMD compensations schemes are evaluated by employing coded-OFDM and coherent detection. When used in combination with girth-10 LDPC codes those schemes outperform polarization-time coding based OFDM by 1 dB at BER of 10(-9), and provide two times higher spectral efficiency. The proposed schemes perform comparable and are able to compensate even 1200 ps of differential group delay with negligible penalty.

The effects of the vegetable prices insurance on the fluctuation of price: Based on Shanghai evidences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Chunhong; Li, Huishang; Hao, Shuai; Zhang, Xuebiao; Yang, Wei

2017-10-01

Taking Shanghai as an example, the influence of the vegetable price insurance on the fluctuation of prices was analyzed in the article. It was found that the sequence of seasonal fluctuations characteristics of leafy vegetable prices was changed by the vegetable cost-price insurance, the period of price fluctuation was elongated from 12-to-18 months to 37 months, and the influence of random factors on the price fluctuations was reduced in some degree. There was still great space for innovation of the vegetable prices insurance system in Shanghai. Some countermeasures would be suggested to develop the insurance system to better to play the role of insurance and promote the market running more smoothly in Shanghai such as prolonging the insurance cycle, improving the price information monitoring mechanism and innovating income insurance products and so on.

Modelling energy costs for different operational strategies of a large water resource recovery facility.

PubMed

Póvoa, P; Oehmen, A; Inocêncio, P; Matos, J S; Frazão, A

2017-05-01

The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of applying dynamic modelling and real energy prices on a full scale water resource recovery facility (WRRF) for the evaluation of control strategies in terms of energy costs with aeration. The Activated Sludge Model No. 1 (ASM1) was coupled with real energy pricing and a power consumption model and applied as a dynamic simulation case study. The model calibration is based on the STOWA protocol. The case study investigates the importance of providing real energy pricing comparing (i) real energy pricing, (ii) weighted arithmetic mean energy pricing and (iii) arithmetic mean energy pricing. The operational strategies evaluated were (i) old versus new air diffusers, (ii) different DO set-points and (iii) implementation of a carbon removal controller based on nitrate sensor readings. The application in a full scale WRRF of the ASM1 model coupled with real energy costs was successful. Dynamic modelling with real energy pricing instead of constant energy pricing enables the wastewater utility to optimize energy consumption according to the real energy price structure. Specific energy cost allows the identification of time periods with potential for linking WRRF with the electric grid to optimize the treatment costs, satisfying operational goals.

Can Payers Use Prices to Improve Quality? Evidence from English Hospitals.

PubMed

Allen, Thomas; Fichera, Eleonora; Sutton, Matt

2016-01-01

In most activity-based financing systems, payers set prices reactively based on historical averages of hospital reported costs. If hospitals respond to prices, payers might set prices proactively to affect the volume of particular treatments or clinical practice. We evaluate the effects of a unique initiative in England in which the price offered to hospitals for discharging patients on the same day as a particular procedure was increased by 24%, while the price for inpatient treatment remained unchanged. Using national hospital records for 205,784 patients admitted for the incentivised procedure and 838,369 patients admitted for a range of non-incentivised procedures between 1 December 2007 and 31 March 2011, we consider whether this price change had the intended effect and/or produced unintended effects. We find that the price change led to an almost six percentage point increase in the daycase rate and an 11 percentage point increase in the planned daycase rate. Patients benefited from a lower proportion of procedures reverted to open surgery during a planned laparoscopic procedure and from a reduction in long stays. There was no evidence that readmission and death rates were affected. The results suggest that payers can set prices proactively to incentivise hospitals to improve quality. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Report on Pairing-based Cryptography.

PubMed

Moody, Dustin; Peralta, Rene; Perlner, Ray; Regenscheid, Andrew; Roginsky, Allen; Chen, Lily

2015-01-01

This report summarizes study results on pairing-based cryptography. The main purpose of the study is to form NIST's position on standardizing and recommending pairing-based cryptography schemes currently published in research literature and standardized in other standard bodies. The report reviews the mathematical background of pairings. This includes topics such as pairing-friendly elliptic curves and how to compute various pairings. It includes a brief introduction to existing identity-based encryption (IBE) schemes and other cryptographic schemes using pairing technology. The report provides a complete study of the current status of standard activities on pairing-based cryptographic schemes. It explores different application scenarios for pairing-based cryptography schemes. As an important aspect of adopting pairing-based schemes, the report also considers the challenges inherent in validation testing of cryptographic algorithms and modules. Based on the study, the report suggests an approach for including pairing-based cryptography schemes in the NIST cryptographic toolkit. The report also outlines several questions that will require further study if this approach is followed.

Report on Pairing-based Cryptography

PubMed Central

Moody, Dustin; Peralta, Rene; Perlner, Ray; Regenscheid, Andrew; Roginsky, Allen; Chen, Lily

2015-01-01

This report summarizes study results on pairing-based cryptography. The main purpose of the study is to form NIST’s position on standardizing and recommending pairing-based cryptography schemes currently published in research literature and standardized in other standard bodies. The report reviews the mathematical background of pairings. This includes topics such as pairing-friendly elliptic curves and how to compute various pairings. It includes a brief introduction to existing identity-based encryption (IBE) schemes and other cryptographic schemes using pairing technology. The report provides a complete study of the current status of standard activities on pairing-based cryptographic schemes. It explores different application scenarios for pairing-based cryptography schemes. As an important aspect of adopting pairing-based schemes, the report also considers the challenges inherent in validation testing of cryptographic algorithms and modules. Based on the study, the report suggests an approach for including pairing-based cryptography schemes in the NIST cryptographic toolkit. The report also outlines several questions that will require further study if this approach is followed. PMID:26958435

Mitigation Strategies for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture and Land-Use Change: Consequences for Food Prices.

PubMed

Stevanović, Miodrag; Popp, Alexander; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Humpenöder, Florian; Müller, Christoph; Weindl, Isabelle; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Kreidenweis, Ulrich; Rolinski, Susanne; Biewald, Anne; Wang, Xiaoxi

2017-01-03

The land use sector of agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) plays a central role in ambitious climate change mitigation efforts. Yet, mitigation policies in agriculture may be in conflict with food security related targets. Using a global agro-economic model, we analyze the impacts on food prices under mitigation policies targeting either incentives for producers (e.g., through taxes) or consumer preferences (e.g., through education programs). Despite having a similar reduction potential of 43-44% in 2100, the two types of policy instruments result in opposite outcomes for food prices. Incentive-based mitigation, such as protecting carbon-rich forests or adopting low-emission production techniques, increase land scarcity and production costs and thereby food prices. Preference-based mitigation, such as reduced household waste or lower consumption of animal-based products, decreases land scarcity, prevents emissions leakage, and concentrates production on the most productive sites and consequently lowers food prices. Whereas agricultural emissions are further abated in the combination of these mitigation measures, the synergy of strategies fails to substantially lower food prices. Additionally, we demonstrate that the efficiency of agricultural emission abatement is stable across a range of greenhouse-gas (GHG) tax levels, while resulting food prices exhibit a disproportionally larger spread.

75 FR 77926 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Order Granting Accelerated Approval of a Proposed...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-14

... below. For example, investors may obtain on a 24-hour basis gold pricing information based on the spot... spot price of gold and last sale prices of gold futures, as well as information about news and... trading of spot gold, as well as a feed of live streaming prices to Reuters and Moneyline Telerate...

Assessing Pricing and Aid Strategies: Rethinking Planning and Evaluation Practices. AIR 1994 Annual Forum Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. John, Edward P.

This paper explores the need for a better understanding of the influences of prices and student aid on student enrollment and college budgets. The theory of net price has not been found to adequately explain changes in enrollment. Based on a critical review of recent research on student price response, this paper develops an alternative approach…

Designing an agricultural vegetative waste-management system under uncertain prices of treatment-technology output products.

PubMed

Broitman, D; Raviv, O; Ayalon, O; Kan, I

2018-05-01

Setting up a sustainable agricultural vegetative waste-management system is a challenging investment task, particularly when markets for output products of waste-treatment technologies are not well established. We conduct an economic analysis of possible investments in treatment technologies of agricultural vegetative waste, while accounting for fluctuating output prices. Under a risk-neutral approach, we find the range of output-product prices within which each considered technology becomes most profitable, using average final prices as the exclusive factor. Under a risk-averse perspective, we rank the treatment technologies based on their computed certainty-equivalent profits as functions of the coefficient of variation of the technologies' output prices. We find the ranking of treatment technologies based on average prices to be robust to output-price fluctuations provided that the coefficient of variation of the output prices is below about 0.4, that is, approximately twice as high as that of well-established recycled-material markets such as glass, paper and plastic. We discuss some policy implications that arise from our analysis regarding vegetative waste management and its associated risks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determinants of the Price of High-Tech Metals: An Event Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wanner, Markus, E-mail: markus.wanner@mrm.uni-augsburg.de; Gaugler, Tobias; Gleich, Benedikt

The growing demand for high-tech products has resulted in strong growth in demand for certain minor metals. In combination with production concentrated in China, this caused strong and unpredicted price movements in recent years. As a result, manufacturing companies have to cope with additional risks. However, the detailed reasons for the price development are only partially understood. Therefore, we analyzed empirically which determinants can be assigned to price movements and performed an event study on the high-tech metals neodymium, indium, and gallium. Based on our dataset of news items, we were able to find coinciding events to almost 90% ofmore » all price jumps (recall). We showed that if any information about these events occurred with a probability of over 50% there would also be a price jump within 10 days (precision). However, the classical set of price determinants has to be extended for these specific markets, as we found unorthodox factors like holidays or weather that may be indicators for price movements. Therefore, we hope that our study supports industry for instance in performing more informed short-term planning of metals purchasing based on information about specific events.« less

Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems.

PubMed

Yun, Seong Do; Hutniczak, Barbara; Abbott, Joshua K; Fenichel, Eli P

2017-06-20

We merge inclusive wealth theory with ecosystem-based management (EBM) to address two challenges in the science of sustainable management of ecosystems. First, we generalize natural capital theory to approximate realized shadow prices for multiple interacting natural capital stocks (species) making up an ecosystem. These prices enable ecosystem components to be better included in wealth-based sustainability measures. We show that ecosystems are best envisioned as portfolios of assets, where the portfolio's performance depends on the performance of the underlying assets influenced by their interactions. Second, changes in ecosystem wealth provide an attractive headline index for EBM, regardless of whether ecosystem wealth is ultimately included in a broader wealth index. We apply our approach to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, focusing on the interacting community of three commercially important fish species: cod, herring, and sprat. Our results incorporate supporting services embodied in the shadow price of a species through its trophic interactions. Prey fish have greater shadow prices than expected based on market value, and predatory fish have lower shadow prices than expected based on market value. These results are because correctly measured shadow prices reflect interdependence and limits to substitution. We project that ecosystem wealth in the Baltic Sea fishery ecosystem generally increases conditional on the EBM-inspired multispecies maximum sustainable yield management beginning in 2017, whereas continuing the current single-species management generally results in declining wealth.

Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems

PubMed Central

Yun, Seong Do; Hutniczak, Barbara; Abbott, Joshua K.; Fenichel, Eli P.

2017-01-01

We merge inclusive wealth theory with ecosystem-based management (EBM) to address two challenges in the science of sustainable management of ecosystems. First, we generalize natural capital theory to approximate realized shadow prices for multiple interacting natural capital stocks (species) making up an ecosystem. These prices enable ecosystem components to be better included in wealth-based sustainability measures. We show that ecosystems are best envisioned as portfolios of assets, where the portfolio’s performance depends on the performance of the underlying assets influenced by their interactions. Second, changes in ecosystem wealth provide an attractive headline index for EBM, regardless of whether ecosystem wealth is ultimately included in a broader wealth index. We apply our approach to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, focusing on the interacting community of three commercially important fish species: cod, herring, and sprat. Our results incorporate supporting services embodied in the shadow price of a species through its trophic interactions. Prey fish have greater shadow prices than expected based on market value, and predatory fish have lower shadow prices than expected based on market value. These results are because correctly measured shadow prices reflect interdependence and limits to substitution. We project that ecosystem wealth in the Baltic Sea fishery ecosystem generally increases conditional on the EBM-inspired multispecies maximum sustainable yield management beginning in 2017, whereas continuing the current single-species management generally results in declining wealth. PMID:28588145

Buyer and seller data from pay what you want and name your own price laboratory markets.

PubMed

Krämer, Florentin; Schmidt, Klaus M; Spann, Martin; Stich, Lucas

2017-06-01

Pay What You Want (PWYW) and Name Your Own Price (NYOP) are customer-driven pricing mechanisms that give customers (some) pricing power and that have been used in service industries with high fixed costs to price discriminate without setting a reference price. This paper describes buyer and seller data in a series of induced-value laboratory experiments that compare PWYW and NYOP in monopoly and competitive situations. Sellers are in a one-shot interaction with buyers. Sellers using customer-driven pricing mechanisms may exogenously or endogenously receive additional promotional benefits, for instance through word-of-mouth effects. The major findings based on the data presented here are reported in the paper "Delegating Pricing Power to Customers: Pay What You Want or Name Your Own Price?" (Krämer et al., 2017) [3].

Biogas slurry pricing method based on nutrient content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chang-ai; Guo, Honghai; Yang, Zhengtao; Xin, Shurong

2017-11-01

In order to promote biogas-slurry commercialization, A method was put forward to valuate biogas slurry based on its nutrient contents. Firstly, element contents of biogas slurry was measured; Secondly, each element was valuated based on its market price, and then traffic cost, using cost and market effect were taken into account, the pricing method of biogas slurry were obtained lastly. This method could be useful in practical production. Taking cattle manure raw meterial biogas slurry and con stalk raw material biogas slurry for example, their price were 38.50 yuan RMB per ton and 28.80 yuan RMB per ton. This paper will be useful for recognizing the value of biogas projects, ensuring biogas project running, and instructing the cyclic utilization of biomass resources in China.

Carbon Management In the Post-Cap-and-Trade Carbon Economy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeGroff, F. A.

2012-12-01

Global carbon management is a pressing issue and will remain so for the balance of the 21st century. Without a worldwide comprehensive carbon management strategy in place,the economic, social, military, and humanitarian impact of excess carbon in our biosphere will preoccupy humanity until an efficient and effective strategy for carbon pricing can be implemented. In this paper, we discuss a possible strategy and construct model for comprehensive carbon management for the balance of this century. The focus of our strategy is an economic model with a carbon construct and metric that assigns a value to all states and forms of carbon involved with any anthropogenic activity. Any changes in the state or form of carbon due to anthropogenic activity will thereby generate discrete, finite, and measurable economic costs, or tolls, for the associated activity. All activities within a jurisdiction (or between jurisdictions with equivalent carbon toll treatment) that lack any change in the state or form of carbon will be free of any carbon toll. All goods and services crossing jurisdictions with dissimilar toll treatment will be assessed (or credited) to reflect the carbon toll differential. This model has three clear advantages. First, the carbon pricing and cost scheme uses existing and generally accepted accounting and economic methodologies to ensure the veracity and verifiability of carbon management efforts with minimal effort and expense using standard, existing auditing protocols. Implementing this model will not require any new, special, unique, or additional training, tools, or systems for any entity to achieve their minimum carbon target goals within their jurisdictional framework. Second, given the wide spectrum of carbon affinities across jurisdictions worldwide, our strategy recognizes and provides for flexible carbon pricing regimes, but does not undermine or penalize domestic carbon-consuming producers subject to imports from exporters in lower carbon pricing jurisdictions. Thus, this strategy avoids a key shortcoming of cap-and-trade carbon pricing, and eliminates any incentive to shift carbon consumption to jurisdictions with lower carbon tolls. Third, the model is a comprehensive, efficient, and effective strategy that allows for the implementation of a carbon pricing structure without the complete, explicit agreement of carbon consumers worldwide.

Comparing The Effects Of Reference Pricing And Centers-Of-Excellence Approaches To Value-Based Benefit Design.

PubMed

Zhang, Hui; Cowling, David W; Facer, Matthew

2017-12-01

Various health insurance benefit designs based on value-based purchasing have been promoted to steer patients to high-value providers, but little is known about the designs' relative effectiveness and underlying mechanisms. We compared the impact of two designs implemented by the California Public Employees' Retirement System on inpatient hospital total hip or knee replacement: a reference-based pricing design for preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and a centers-of-excellence design for health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Payment and utilization data for the procedures in the period 2008-13 were evaluated using pre-post and quasi-experimental designs at the system and health plan levels, adjusting for demographic characteristics, case-mix, and other confounders. We found that both designs prompted higher use of designated low-price high-quality facilities and reduced average replacement expenses per member at the plan and system levels. However, the designs used different routes: The reference-based pricing design reduced average replacement payments per case in PPOs by 26.7 percent in the first year, compared to HMOs, but did not lower PPO members' utilization rates. In contrast, the centers-of-excellence design lowered HMO members' utilization rates by 29.2 percent in the first year, compared to PPOs, but did not reduce HMO average replacement payments per case. The reference-based pricing design appears more suitable for reducing price variation, and the centers-of-excellence design for addressing variation in use.

Locational Marginal Pricing in the Campus Power System at the Power Distribution Level

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hao, Jun; Gu, Yi; Zhang, Yingchen

2016-11-14

In the development of smart grid at distribution level, the realization of real-time nodal pricing is one of the key challenges. The research work in this paper implements and studies the methodology of locational marginal pricing at distribution level based on a real-world distribution power system. The pricing mechanism utilizes optimal power flow to calculate the corresponding distributional nodal prices. Both Direct Current Optimal Power Flow and Alternate Current Optimal Power Flow are utilized to calculate and analyze the nodal prices. The University of Denver campus power grid is used as the power distribution system test bed to demonstrate themore » pricing methodology.« less

Stock price prediction using geometric Brownian motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farida Agustini, W.; Restu Affianti, Ika; Putri, Endah RM

2018-03-01

Geometric Brownian motion is a mathematical model for predicting the future price of stock. The phase that done before stock price prediction is determine stock expected price formulation and determine the confidence level of 95%. On stock price prediction using geometric Brownian Motion model, the algorithm starts from calculating the value of return, followed by estimating value of volatility and drift, obtain the stock price forecast, calculating the forecast MAPE, calculating the stock expected price and calculating the confidence level of 95%. Based on the research, the output analysis shows that geometric Brownian motion model is the prediction technique with high rate of accuracy. It is proven with forecast MAPE value ≤ 20%.

North American tidal power prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wayne, W. W., Jr.

1981-07-01

Prospects for North American tidal power electrical generation are reviewed. Studies by the US Army Corps of Engineers of 90 possible generation schemes in Cobscook Bay, ME, indicated that maximum power generation rather than dependable capacity was the most economic method. Construction cost estimates for 15 MW bulb units in a single effect mode from basin to the sea are provided; five projects were considered ranging from 110-160 MW. Additional tidal power installations are examined for: Half-Moon Cove, ME (12 MW, 18 ft tide); Cook Inlet, AK, which is shown to pose severe environmental and engineering problems due to fish migration, earthquake hazards, and 300 ft deep silt deposits; and the Bay of Fundy, Canada. This last has a 17.8 MW plant under construction in a 29 ft maximum tide area. Other tidal projects of the Maritime Provinces are reviewed, and it is noted that previous economic evaluations based on an oil price of $16/barrel are in need of revision.

[Extension of cardiac monitoring function by used of ordinary ECG machine].

PubMed

Chen, Zhencheng; Jiang, Yong; Ni, Lili; Wang, Hongyan

2002-06-01

This paper deals with a portable monitor system on liquid crystal display (LCD) based on this available ordinary ECG machine, which is low power and suitable for China's specific condition. Apart from developing the overall scheme of the system, this paper also has completed the design of the hardware and the software. The 80c196 single chip microcomputer is taken as the central microprocessor and real time electrocardiac single is data treated and analyzed in the system. With the performance of ordinary monitor, this machine also possesses the following functions: five types of arrhythmia analysis, alarm, freeze, and record of automatic pappering, convenient in carrying, with alternate-current (AC) or direct-current (DC) powered. The hardware circuit is simplified and the software structure is optimized in this paper. Multiple low power designs and LCD unit design are adopted and completed in it. Popular in usage, low in cost price, the portable monitor system will have a valuable influence on China's monitor system field.

Stochastic Dual Algorithm for Voltage Regulation in Distribution Networks with Discrete Loads: Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dall-Anese, Emiliano; Zhou, Xinyang; Liu, Zhiyuan

This paper considers distribution networks with distributed energy resources and discrete-rate loads, and designs an incentive-based algorithm that allows the network operator and the customers to pursue given operational and economic objectives, while concurrently ensuring that voltages are within prescribed limits. Four major challenges include: (1) the non-convexity from discrete decision variables, (2) the non-convexity due to a Stackelberg game structure, (3) unavailable private information from customers, and (4) different update frequency from two types of devices. In this paper, we first make convex relaxation for discrete variables, then reformulate the non-convex structure into a convex optimization problem together withmore » pricing/reward signal design, and propose a distributed stochastic dual algorithm for solving the reformulated problem while restoring feasible power rates for discrete devices. By doing so, we are able to statistically achieve the solution of the reformulated problem without exposure of any private information from customers. Stability of the proposed schemes is analytically established and numerically corroborated.« less

Economic Operation of Supercritical CO2 Refrigeration Energy Storage Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hay, Ryan

With increasing penetration of intermittent renewable energy resources, improved methods of energy storage are becoming a crucial stepping stone in the path toward a smarter, greener grid. SuperCritical Technologies is a company based in Bremerton, WA that is developing a storage technology that can operate entirely on waste heat, a resource that is otherwise dispelled into the environment. The following research models this storage technology in several electricity spot markets around the US to determine if it is economically viable. A modification to the storage dispatch scheme is then presented which allows the storage unit to increase its profit in real-time markets by taking advantage of extreme price fluctuations. Next, the technology is modeled in combination with an industrial load profile on two different utility rate schedules to determine potential cost savings. The forecast of facility load has a significant impact on savings from the storage dispatch, so an exploration into this relationship is then presented.

A secure smart-card based authentication and key agreement scheme for telecare medicine information systems.

PubMed

Lee, Tian-Fu; Liu, Chuan-Ming

2013-06-01

A smart-card based authentication scheme for telecare medicine information systems enables patients, doctors, nurses, health visitors and the medicine information systems to establish a secure communication platform through public networks. Zhu recently presented an improved authentication scheme in order to solve the weakness of the authentication scheme of Wei et al., where the off-line password guessing attacks cannot be resisted. This investigation indicates that the improved scheme of Zhu has some faults such that the authentication scheme cannot execute correctly and is vulnerable to the attack of parallel sessions. Additionally, an enhanced authentication scheme based on the scheme of Zhu is proposed. The enhanced scheme not only avoids the weakness in the original scheme, but also provides users' anonymity and authenticated key agreements for secure data communications.