Buildings are among the largest consumers of energy. Part of the energy is wasted due to the habits of users and equipment conditions. A solution to this problem is efficient energy usage. To this end, an energy audit can be conducted to assess the energy efficiency. This study aims to analyze the energy usage of a primary school and identify the potential energy reductions and cost savings. A ...

Medical savings accounts (MSAs) belong to a larger class of incentive-based health care plans. Using a model that allows the consumer to invest in healthy activities, we examine the efficiency properties of incentive plans and compare them to traditional full-coverage and deductible plans, under both experience rating and community rating. The model also is extended to include utilization of pr...

ISO 9000 is the most popular and widely adopted meta-standard for quality and operational improvements in manufacturing supply chains. However, few studies have quantitatively examined its impact on supply chain efficiency. In this paper we measure the material and cash flow efficiency of ISO 9000 certified firms in terms of inventory days and account receivable days. We analyzed changes in the...

point, these fields have not completely merged. For ex-fer into technologies that are impacting everyday life. Notwithstanding recent difficulties in the technology ample, we don't fully understand how the effects of sector, science and technology are recognized as major various chromatin-modifying activities on the transcrip-economic engines, distinguishing the national haves tional machinery ...

Better insurance against rainfall risk could improve the security of hundreds of millions of agricultural households around the world. This paper theoretically and experimentally analyzes an innovative financial product called a Weather Insurance Savings Account (WISA), which combines savings and rainfall insurance. We index the insurance share of the WISA by γ ∈ [0, 1] and use a standard model...

Decreased criminal recidivism, particularly resulting from new crimes with new victims, is the measure most consistently desired by programs, policymakers, and funding agencies for justice-involved individuals with mental illness. This one measure captures both improved client stability and public safety, while providing support for the promised decreased jail-day cost savings required to susta...

BACKGROUND Broad adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is a potential strategy for curbing healthcare cost growth, which is particularly vital for Medicaid. Despite limited evidence for EHR-related cost savings, the 2009 HITECH Act included incentives for providers to become meaningful users of EHRs. We evaluated a large Massachusetts EHR pilot to obtain early insight into the potential ...

We use an OLG model with heterogenous agents who choose how much to spend on their health under health uncertainty in order to study the effect of transitioning from a system with private health insurance for young agents and Medicare for old agents to a system with health savings accounds (HSAs) for young agents and Medicare for the old. We focus on possible cost savings, the effects on output...

As the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) grows, so do the costs it imposes on society. Scientific, clinical, and financial interests have focused current drug discovery efforts largely on the single biological pathway that leads to amyloid deposition. This effort has resulted in slow progress and disappointing outcomes. Here, we describe a "portfolio approach" in which multiple distinct dr...