			Home About us Contact

Service Obligations (service + obligation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	57%
Medical Sciences	28%

Selected Abstracts

The Proposed Privatisation of Queensland Motorways

ECONOMIC PAPERS: A JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Issue 1 2010
Ross Guest
L51; R42; R48 This article evaluates the proposed sale of the tolling rights on Queensland Motorways from an economic welfare perspective. Weighing against the sale are arguments about optimal risk allocation and network externalities. In contrast, there is a productive efficiency case in favour of the sale. Privatisation also raises questions about private monopoly power and the delivery of community service obligations, although these could be handled through contract specifications. The sale price is essentially a distributional issue. The back-of-the-envelope financial analysis here suggests that the mooted sale price of $3 billion would undervalue the asset and therefore transfer net worth from Queensland taxpayers to private investors. [source]

Price competition under universal service obligations

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 3 2010
Axel Gautier
L13; L51 In industries like telecom, postal services or energy provision, universal service obligations (uniform price and universal coverage) are often imposed on one market participant. Universal service obligations are likely to alter firms' strategic behavior in such competitive markets. In the present paper, we show that, depending on the entrant's market coverage and the degree of product differentiation, the Nash equilibrium in prices involves either pure or mixed strategies. We show that the pure strategy market sharing equilibrium, as identified by Valletti, Hoernig, and Barros (2002), defines a lower bound on the level of equilibrium prices. [source]

Service Versus Education: Finding the Right Balance: A Consensus Statement from the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors 2009 Academic Assembly "Question 19" Working Group

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 2009
Antonia Quinn DO
Abstract Many emergency medicine (EM) residency programs have recently received citations for their residents' responses to Question 19 of the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education annual survey, which asks residents to rate their program's emphasis on clinical education over service obligations. To the best of our knowledge, no prior investigations or consensus statements exist that specifically address the appropriate balance between educational activity and clinical service in EM residency training. The objective of this project was to create a consensus statement based on the shared insights of academic faculty and educators in EM, with specific recommendations to improve the integration of education with clinical service in EM residency training programs. More than 80 EM program directors (PDs), associate and assistant PDs, and other academic EM faculty attending an annual conference of EM educators met to address this issue in a discussion session and working group. Participants examined the current literature on resident service and education and shared with the conference at large their collective insight and experience and possible solutions to this challenge. A consensus statement of specific recommendations and effective educational techniques aimed at balancing service and education requirements was created, based on the contributions of a diverse group of academic emergency physicians. Recommendations included identifying the teachable moment in all clinical service; promoting resident understanding of program goals and expectations from the beginning; educating residents about the ACGME resident survey; and engaging hospitals, institutional graduate medical education departments, and residents in finding solutions. [source]

Libéralisation des Services publics de réseau et jeux croisés de la régulation: le cas de l'électricité

ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2001
Frédéric Varone
This article analyses the liberalization of public services with a special focus on the (re)regulation process that is induced. Firstly, a conceptual framework is developed in order to identify the constitutive elements of the public regulation related to market competition, public service obligations, operators and public property, as well as the tension between them. Secondly, a comparative study describes the liberalization and the regulatory design of the electricity sector in England, France, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. As a conclusion, we note the necessity to further analyse the introduction of market mechanisms into formerly monopolistic network industries and its effects. [source]

Contemporary issues in dental education in Australia

AUSTRALIAN DENTAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010
TJ Freer
Abstract Australia has witnessed a proliferation of dental workforce training opportunities over the last 15 years, including dentists, dental therapists, dental hygienists and prosthetists. The reasons for this have not been examined critically. Universities have welcomed the opportunities to increase the student base but do not seem to have examined the advisability of continued expansion or its impact on the delivery and costs of health services. Nor have they enquired expressly whether they have any responsibility in these matters. Public health benefits should constitute a significant element of curriculum design. There seems to have been a general acceptance of the premise that more is necessarily better. Ironically, these developments have occurred in the face of significant recurrent cost increments and serious academic staff shortages. The schools have responded with alterations to curriculum content. Student cohort composition, course structures, educational focus, postgraduate training and research have been affected. The primary purpose of this review is to highlight the issues which currently drive workforce training and curriculum content and to suggest that some current practices should be re-examined as a starting point for setting defined common objectives within the Australian dental educational spectrum. Salient issues which require examination include course standards and accreditation, workforce mix, dental health demands, public service obligations and staffing profiles. [source]

Logistical Strategies and Risks in Canadian Grain Marketing

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2000
William W. Wilson
Logistics management in grain marketing has become very important with the maturity of the industry. This is particularly critical in the Canadian grain marketing system, which has experienced disruptions for various reasons over many years. These problems have been the topic of numerous industry evaluations, have resulted in a complaint about service obligations during the 1996,97 crop year, and were addressed by the Estey Commission. A detailed model of the Canadian grain logistics system is developed in this paper to evaluate factors that cause disruptions, as well as the effect of several important logistics and marketing strategies on system performance. The results illustrate that there is sufficient randomness throughout the various functions of the system that it is expected that demurrage at the west coast would periodically be an important cost. The frequency of service disruptions and demurrage are affected by several factors, including the distribution of tough and damp grains, mis-graded grain and the level of exportable supplies. Several strategic variables affect system performance. These include the aggressiveness in selling relative to capacity and the level of beginning port stocks. La gestion de la logistique dans le commerce des céréales a acquis une grande importance maintenant que ce secteur a atteint la maturité. C'est particulièrement important dans le système canadien de mise en marché des céréales lequel, pour diverses raisons, a essuyé bien des perturbations ces dernières années. Les problèmes en cause ont fait l'objet de nombreuses évaluations du secteur. Ils ont même abouti au dépôt d'une plainte sur les obligations de service dans la campagne agricole 1996,1997 et ont étéétudiés par la Commission Estey. Dans la présente communication nous avons construit un modèle détaillé du système canadien de logistique du marché des céréales ainsi que de l'effet de plusieurs stratégies importantes de logistique et de commercialisation sur la performance du systeme. Les résultats obtenus montrent qu'il y a suffisamment d'aléatoire dans les diverses fonctions du systeme pour conclure que les frais de séjour à quai sur la côte ouest seraient périodiquement un important poste de dépense. La fréquence des perturbations des services et les coûts a quai sont associés à plusieurs facteurs dont la livraison de grain gourd et humide, de grain mal classé et le niveau des disponibilités exportables. Plusieurs variables stratégiques influent sur le fonctionnement du système, notamment l'agressivité manifestée dans la vente par rapport aux stocks disponibles et le niveau des stocks disponibles dans les ports au début de la campagne d'exportation. [source]