This paper analyzes the cost efficiency and optimal scale of the electricity distribution industry in Taiwan. Due to the substantial difference in network density, firms may differ widely in production technology. We employ the stochastic metafrontier approach to estimate the cost efficiency of 24 distribution units during the period of 1997 and 2002. Empirical results find that the average cos...

This study examines the determinants of bank profitability in China over the period 2003-2009. The determinants are divided into three groups: bank-specific, industryspecific and macroeconomic variables. The two-step General Method of Moments (GMM) system estimator is used. The results show that there is a positive relationship between bank profitability, cost efficiency, banking sector develop...

Are organized markets necessary in the U.S. Western Interconnection for cost-optimal integration of renewable energy resources that, in accordance with state mandates, must be brought online in the coming decades? We examine the technological components of the western power grid as well as its political, institutional, economic, legal, and cultural attributes to assess the potential and feasibi...

It has been debated whether the Global Fund (GF), which is supporting the implementation of programs on the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, should consider the value-for-money (VFM) for programs/interventions that they are supporting. In this paper, we critically analyze the uses of economic information for GF programs, not only to ensure accountability to the...

the present study is an attempt towards remodeling cost, revenue and profit relationship within the network process. the previous models of data envelopment analysis (dea) have been too general in their scope and focused on the input and the output within a black box system, therefore they have not been able to measure various phases simultaneously within a network system. by using these models...

This paper is concerned with the mixed H2/H∞ control problem via static output feedback control. The main purpose of this paper is to give an iterative method for finding a sub-optimal static output-feedback controller for the mixed H2/H∞ control problem. The contribution of this paper is to derive a gradient of the H2 cost function. Using this gradient, we propose a gradient method for H2 and ...

We propose a cost-efficient concurrent error detection (CED) scheme for finite state machines (FSMs) designed for implementation with embedded memory blocks (EMBs) available in today’s SRAM-based FPGAs. The proposed scheme is proven to detect each permanent or transient fault associated with a single input or output of any component of the circuit that results in its incorrect state or output. ...

in this paper, a crack localization method for euler-bernoulli beams via an efficient static data based indicator is proposed. the crack in beams is simulated here using a triangular variation in the stiffness. static responses of a beam are obtained by the finite element modeling. in order to reduce the computational cost of damage detection method, the beam deflection is fitted through a poly...

Most research in computer science, software engineering, formal methods, and perhaps a few other programming-related disciplines contributes techniques and ideas that improve the quality of software. The quality has two faces. A program is good if it does what the programmers intended. A program is really good if it does what its users want. The problem of making programmers’ intentions agree w...