An important feature of heat exchanger network design is the energy-capital tradeoff. This tradeoff has been regarded as complex due to the number of structural network alternatives usually available, each being subject to continuous optimization. Current procedures tend to first identify minimum energy networks. The total cost (capital and energy) can then be improved by evolution and continuo...

Previous work was done to create a baseline capital cost model for the SFR in which case studies were performed to identify ways to decrease the capital costs while maintaining safety and performance. This thesis expands on the capital cost model to include uncertainty analysis, as well as performing qualitative cost evaluations for the fuel cycle and O&M costs. An uncertainty model was develop...

A financial friction is a wedge between the return received by providers of financial capital—ultimately, consumers—and the cost of capital paid by businesses and consumers who use capital. I study two frictions. One raises the rental cost of capital to firms and the other raises the rental cost of housing and durable goods to consumers. My focus is on the effects of financial frictions—I take ...

This paper considers the impact of Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) on firms’ information environments and costs of capital. For NYSE/Amex firms we find little evidence of a change in the cost of capital attributable to Regulation FD. For Nasdaq firms we find that Regulation FD increased firms’ costs of capital by 10–19 basis points per annum though the statistical significance of this change is...

It is expected that more accounting conservation (environmental uncertainty) reduces manager optimism. Prior research, however, has struggled to establish this relation empirically. Moreover, some evidence points to the possibility that the manager optimism is lower for firms with more accounting conservation. In this paper, the author examine the link between accounting conservation, environme...

This study examines the association between the cost of debt capital and corporate governance practices. Utilizing a unique data set of firm-level corporate governance practices that is provided by the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS), this study examines whether sound corporate governance practices reduce agency costs and thus the default risk and cost of debt capital of a firm. The f...

he Federal Reserve System provides services to depository financial institutions through the twelve Federal Reserve Banks. According to the Monetary Control Act of 1980, the Reserve Banks must price these services at levels that fully recover their costs. The act specifically requires imputation of various costs that the Banks do not actually pay but would pay if they were commercial enterprise...

OBJECTIVE To explore the variance of unit costs of hospital medical services due to different costing methods employed in the analysis. METHODS Retrospective and descriptive study at Kaengkhoi District Hospital, Saraburi Province, Thailand, in the fiscal year 2002. The process started with a calculation of unit costs of medical services as a base case. After that, the unit costs were re-calcu...