The economic policy uncertainty and firm investment in Australia

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the Australian firm investment activity. We find a significant positive relationship between the EPU and the firm investment over 2002 to 2017 period. Our main results remain unchanged after several endogeneity tests. Further analysis reveals that this relationship becomes pronounced for firms if their headquarters located in small states, firms with more tangible assets, higher operating cash flows and cash holdings, higher profits and leverage, but firms with fewer dividend payouts. Our paper sheds lights on the unique attribute of the impact of the EPU on the Australian firm investment activity and offers important policy and managerial implications.     

Prevention of childhood poisoning in the home: overview of systematic reviews and a systematic review of primary studies

Unintentional poisoning is a significant child public health problem. This systematic overview of reviews, supplemented with a systematic review of recently published primary studies synthesizes evidence on non-legislative interventions to reduce childhood poisonings in the home with particular reference to interventions that could be implemented by Children's Centres in England or community health or social care services in other high income countries. Thirteen systematic reviews, two meta-analyses and 47 primary studies were identified. The interventions most commonly comprised education, provision of cupboard/drawer locks, and poison control centre (PCC) number stickers. Meta-analyses and primary studies provided evidence that interventions improved poison prevention practices. Twenty eight per cent of studies reporting safe medicine storage (OR from meta-analysis 1.57, 95% CI 1.22–2.02), 23% reporting safe storage of other products (OR from meta-analysis 1.63, 95% CI 1.22–2.17) and 46% reporting availability of PCC numbers (OR from meta-analysis 3.67, 95% CI 1.84–7.33) demonstrated significant effects favouring the intervention group. There was a lack of evidence that interventions reduced poisoning rates. Parents should be provided with poison prevention education, cupboard/drawer locks and emergency contact numbers to use in the event of a poisoning. Further research is required to determine whether improving poison prevention practices reduces poisoning rates.     

Uncertainty-Based Multi-Objective Decision Making with Hierarchical Reliability Analysis Under Water Resources and Environmental Constraints

Water Resources Management - Rapid urbanization and population growth have resulted in worldwide serious water shortage and environmental deterioration. It is then essential for efficient and...     

Dynamic Agency and Investment Theory under Model Uncertainty

We extend dynamic agency and investment theory by incorporating model uncertainty. As concerns regarding model uncertainty induce a trade‐off between incentives and ambiguity sharing, the principal tends to delay the cash payout to the agent. We find model uncertainty lowers the firm value, the average q and marginal q, where q is defined as the ratio between a physical asset's market value and its replacement value. Furthermore, model uncertainty leads to insufficient investment, which provides an alternative explanation for under‐investment. Finally, the optimal pay‐performance sensitivity of the agent's continuation value to the firm's output is state dependent and exceeds the lower bound when it is close to the payout boundary.     

Water Poverty in Urban and Rural China Considered Through the Harmonious and Developmental Ability Model

Water Resources Management - This paper details an application of the Water Poverty Index (WPI), a holistic tool for water resources planning and management, to evaluate the water resources...     

The Global Economic Crisis and The Effect of Immigrant Workers on Native‐born Employment in Europe

The debate regarding the economic effects of employing immigrants has attracted renewed interest in European countries since the economic crisis. We provide an approximation of the labour market effects of immigrant workers in four European countries during the global economic crisis after briefly analysing native and foreign‐born worker conditions for the most recent period. Our analysis focuses on the correlation between the stock of immigrant workers and the number of native labour market workers across several segments of the labour market using a simple model approach. Using Eurostat and LFS (Labour Force Survey) data, we estimate a structural dynamic model using the generalised method of moments (GMM) to examine adjustment dynamics in the labour market and labour market segment and worker educational levels, countries of origin and genders. Overall, the empirical results suggest that immigrant labour force effects on native‐born worker employment rates have been persistent and but weak throughout the business cycle. These effects are globally positive, and immigrant origins do not appear to change the nature of their impact. We offer some explanations for these findings related to dual labour markets and to differences in levels of substitution among native and immigrant workers.     

以太网供电电源的设计与实现

以太网供电技术的核心是利用信号线传输直流电能,它既省去了架设供电线路的成本,又为供电的集中管理创造了条件,在通讯设备繁多、使用环境复杂的背景下具有较高的使用价值。给出了基于以太网供电协议IEEE802.3at的以太网供电系统设计方案。选用德州仪器公司(TI)的TPS23851作为供电设备控制芯片,用以对受电设备进行识别、分级、供电、检测等操作;受电设备选用TPD2376-H用以辅助供电设备完成供电协议要求的供电操作;后级的DC-DC降压变换器选用Power Integrations的DPASwitch424,将直流电压变换为适宜于以太网供电的电压等级。基于以上方案,研制了一套以太网供电系统,系统能满足IEEE802.3at标准要求,实现了以太网供电功能。     

Economic impact of using fesoterodine for the treatment of overactive bladder with urge urinary incontinence in a vulnerable elderly population in the United States

Objectives:

To assess the costs of treating overactive bladder (OAB) with fesoterodine compared to no OAB pharmacotherapy among vulnerable elderly from the US payer perspective.

Methods:

A decision analytic cost model was developed to estimate the 52-week costs of a cohort of vulnerable elderly with OAB initiating treatment with fesoterodine or no OAB pharmacotherapy. Vulnerable elderly OAB patients were defined as those aged ≥65 years with self-reported urge urinary incontinence (UUI) symptoms for ≥3 months, 2–15 UUI episodes/day, and at risk of deteriorating health by a score of ≥3 on the Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES)-13. Patients were evaluated for fesoterodine treatment response (defined as no UUI episodes) and persistence at weeks 12, 26, and 52. The model included a hypothetical health plan with 100,000 elderly members. A total of 7096 vulnerable elderly subjects were identified as the model target population based on the percentage of vulnerable elderly and annual prevalence of OAB among vulnerable elderly. OAB-related costs included fesoterodine drug acquisition costs, healthcare resource use (inpatient hospitalization, outpatient visits, and physician office visits), and OAB-related co-morbidities (falls/fractures, urinary tract infections, depression, and nursing home admissions). All costs were inflated to 2013 US$ using the medical care component of the consumer price index (CPI).

Results:

When 7096 vulnerable elderly OAB patients were treated with fesoterodine, US healthcare payers could save $11,463,981 per year, or $1616 per patient vs no OAB pharmacotherapy. Univariate one-way sensitivity analyses supported the robustness of the findings and showed results were most sensitive to changes in fesoterodine efficacy followed by annual costs of inpatient hospitalization.

Conclusions:

From a US payer perspective, treating vulnerable elderly OAB patients with fesoterodine was cost-saving compared to no OAB pharmacotherapy.     

水轮发电机功率摆动的分析和处理

某机组在偏离最优工况运行时,进入尾水管的水流夹带着空化气泡在离心力的作用下形成同水流共同旋进的尾水涡带,并在周期性非平衡因素的影响下产生偏心。尾水管压力脉动频率和发电机在电网中的自然振荡频率相近引起输出功率剧烈摆动。采用CFD分析确定尾水管内安装导流板方案以及有限元方法分析导流板的刚强度,最终圆满处理功率摆动问题。     

浅谈季节性指数平滑法在供水管网漏损预测中的应用

给水管网的漏损是不可避免的,但每月的漏损量与温度有关。根据原始数据,通过季节性指数平滑法对每月的漏损管件数进行预测,对管网未来的漏损程度进行估计。