Methods of analysing risk exposure in the cost estimates of high quality offices

1992 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 431-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Newton ◽  
V.K. Smith
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (23) ◽  
pp. 20-30
Author(s):  
Taras Pechonchyk ◽  
◽  
Vitaliy Ivanchenko ◽  

AbstractIntroduction. Effective management of road indstry is particularly important in conditions of limited funding, as it is not possible to provide adequate funding of the economic entity that has the functions of a customer service. The cost of the customer service maintenance depends directly on the compliance with applicable regulations for these works cost determination. One of the aspects that form a considerable part of the costs of customer service is the maintenance of service vehicles.Problem Statement. Road services in the regions (hereinafter RSR) are the recipients and managers of the funds from the State Budget of Ukraine that are directed for the development and maintenance of public roads of state importance, being as well the asset holders of these roads. To perform their functions, the RSR have vehicles on their balance, the use of which involves a number of costs, including fuel and lubricants, repair, maintenance, replacement of tires, etc. The most important of the steps involved in setting the costs of vehicle maintenance is the process of cost planning. Planning has to be based on the structure of the vehicle fleet (own or leased), functional responsibilities and scope of road works.Planning is carried out for vehicles on the balance of the RSR, as well as for leased vehicles. In the case of leasing, the costs mentioned above are added by the vehicles leasing costs. These costs must be forecasted, justified and performed within the approved cost estimates of the customer service expenses.Purpose. The purpose of the article is to highlight the theoretical and methodological approaches to the calculation of planned costs for the maintenance of service vehicles of the road works customer.Materials and methods. Dialectical methods of knowledge, such as analysis and synthesis of fleet composition characteristics and approaches to cost planning methods, as well as induction, were used in writing the article to explore some aspects of the process of calculating the planned cost of maintenance of the road works customer's service vehicles.Results. The study highlights and describes the main approaches to the calculation of planned costs for the maintenance of service vehicles of the road works customer. The methodology of calculation of planned costs for the maintenance of service vehicles is explored.Conclusions. The introduction of a clear methodology and analytical toolkit for calculating all necessary expenditure items for the maintenance of the road works customer's vehicles in the cost planning process will establish the implementation of a clear mechanism for calculating the planned costs of maintenance of the road works customer's vehicles. It will also provide an automated information-analytical complex for planning of cost estimates, with information entry and reporting in standard forms and possibility of prompt response to changes in fleet composition, needs for spare parts, repairs or other expenses for the maintenance of service vehicles and making changes in cost estimates.Keywords: motor vehicles, costs, cost planning, customer service, maintenance of service vehicles


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 572-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Bakhsheshian ◽  
Vivek A. Mehta ◽  
John C. Liu

Study Design: Review. Objectives: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is a major cause of disability, particular in elderly patients. Awareness and understanding of CSM is imperative to facilitate early diagnosis and management. This review article addresses CSM with regard to its epidemiology, anatomical considerations, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, imaging characteristics, treatment approaches and outcomes, and the cost-effectiveness of surgical options. Methods: The authors performed an extensive review of the peer-reviewed literature addressing the aforementioned objectives. Results: The clinical presentation and natural history of CSM is variable, alternating between quiescent and insidious to stepwise decline or rapid neurological deterioration. For mild CSM, conservative options could be employed with careful observation. However, surgical intervention has shown to be superior for moderate to severe CSM. The success of operative or conservative management of CSM is multifactorial and high-quality studies are lacking. The optimal surgical approach is still under debate, and can vary depending on the number of levels involved, location of the pathology and baseline cervical sagittal alignment. Conclusions: Early recognition and treatment of CSM, before the onset of spinal cord damage, is essential for optimal outcomes. The goal of surgery is to decompress the cord with expansion of the spinal canal, while restoring cervical lordosis, and stabilizing when the risk of cervical kyphosis is high. Further high-quality randomized clinical studies with long-term follow up are still needed to further define the natural history and help predict the ideal surgical strategy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
José Carlos Ortiz-Bayliss ◽  
Ivan Amaya ◽  
Santiago Enrique Conant-Pablos ◽  
Hugo Terashima-Marín

When solving constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs), it is a common practice to rely on heuristics to decide which variable should be instantiated at each stage of the search. But, this ordering influences the search cost. Even so, and to the best of our knowledge, no earlier work has dealt with how first variable orderings affect the overall cost. In this paper, we explore the cost of finding high-quality orderings of variables within constraint satisfaction problems. We also study differences among the orderings produced by some commonly used heuristics and the way bad first decisions affect the search cost. One of the most important findings of this work confirms the paramount importance of first decisions. Another one is the evidence that many of the existing variable ordering heuristics fail to appropriately select the first variable to instantiate. Another one is the evidence that many of the existing variable ordering heuristics fail to appropriately select the first variable to instantiate. We propose a simple method to improve early decisions of heuristics. By using it, performance of heuristics increases.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hema Mistry

Objectives: In economic evaluations of healthcare technologies, situations arise where data are not randomized and numbers are small. For this reason, obtaining reliable cost estimates of such interventions may be difficult. This study explores two approaches in obtaining cost estimates for pregnant women screened for a fetal cardiac anomaly.Methods: Two methods to reduce selection bias in health care: regression analyses and propensity scoring methods were applied to the total mean costs of pregnancy for women who received specialist cardiac advice by means of two referral modes: telemedicine and direct referral.Results: The observed total mean costs of pregnancy were higher for the telemedicine group than the direct referral group (4,918 versus 4,311 GBP). The regression model found that referral mode was not a significant predictor of costs and the cost difference between the two groups was reduced from 607 to 94 GBP. After applying the various propensity score methods, the groups were balanced in terms of sizes and compositions; and again the cost differences between the two groups were smaller ranging from -62 (matching “by hand”) to 333 GBP (kernel matching).Conclusions: Regression analyses and propensity scoring methods applied to the dataset may have increased the homogeneity and reduced the variance in the adjusted costs; that is, these methods have allowed the observed selection bias to be reduced. I believe that propensity scoring methods worked better for this dataset, because after matching the two groups were similar in terms of background characteristics and the adjusted cost differences were smaller.


2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (4_suppl3) ◽  
pp. S381-S389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Guinot ◽  
Vincent Jallier ◽  
Alessandro Blasi ◽  
Christophe Guyondet ◽  
Marc Van Ameringen

Background Vitamin and mineral premix is one of the most significant recurring input costs for large-scale food fortification programs. A number of barriers exist to procuring adequate quality premix, including accessing suppliers, volatile prices for premix, lack of quality assurance and monitoring of delivered products, and lack of funds to purchase premix. Objective To develop and test a model to procure premix through a transparent and efficient process in which an adequate level of quality is guaranteed and a financial mechanism is in place to support countries or specific target groups when there are insufficient resources to cover the cost of premix. Methods Efforts focused on premixes used to fortify flour, such as wheat or maize (iron, zinc, B vitamins, and vitamin A), edible oils (vitamins A and D), and other food vehicles, such as fortified complementary foods, complementary food supplements, and condiments. A premix procurement model was set up with three distinct components: a certification process that establishes industry-wide standards and guidelines for premix, a procurement facility that makes premix more accessible to countries and private industry engaged in fortification, and a credit facility mechanism that helps projects finance premix purchases. Results After three years of operation, 15 premix suppliers and 29 micronutrient manufacturers have been certified, and more than US$23 million worth of premix that met quality standards has been supplied in 34 countries in Africa, Central and Southern Asia, and Eastern Europe, reaching an estimated 242 million consumers. Conclusions The Premix Facility demonstrated its effectiveness in ensuring access to high-quality premixes, therefore enabling the success of various fortification programs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Agung Listiadi

Cost is an important factor in ensuring the company win in the competition on the market. Consumers will choose a manufacturer that is able to produce products and services that have high quality with low prices. Costs of Management Systems Contemporary emphasis on search than the allocation. And management based activities are at the heart of contemporary operating control system. At least two major factors that must be considered in the selection of cost driver (cost driver) are: the cost of measurement and the degree of correlation between the consumption cost driver with the actual overhead. Cost driver is divided into two categories, namely the structural cost driver and executional cost driver. Cost driver is the basis used to charge collected on cost pool to the product. So that the calculation of the cost through Time Driven activity-based costing system, the company obtain more precise information and accurate.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Driguez ◽  
Salim Bougouffa ◽  
Karen Carty ◽  
Alexander Putra ◽  
Kamel Jabbari ◽  
...  

AbstractRecent years have witnessed a rapid development of sequencing technologies. Fundamental differences and limitations among various platforms impact the time, the cost and the accuracy for sequencing whole genomes. Here we designed a complete de novo plant genome generation workflow that starts from plant tissue samples and produces high-quality draft genomes with relatively modest laboratory and bioinformatic resources within seven days. To optimize our workflow we selected different species of plants which were used to extract high molecular weight DNA, to make PacBio and ONT libraries for sequencing with the Sequel I, Sequel II and GridION platforms. We assembled high-quality draft genomes of two different Eucalyptus species E. rudis, and E. camaldulensis to chromosome level without using additional scaffolding technologies. For the rapid production of de novo genome assembly of plant species we showed that our DNA extraction protocol followed by PacBio high fidelity sequencing, and assembly with new generation assemblers such as hifiasm produce excellent results. Our findings will be a valuable benchmark for groups planning wet- and dry-lab plant genomics research and for high throughput plant genomics initiatives.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Lucas

This review develops a theoretical framework that highlights the principles governing economically meaningful estimates of the cost of bailouts. Drawing selectively on existing cost estimates and augmenting them with new calculations consistent with this framework, I conclude that the total direct cost of the 2008 crisis-related bailouts in the United States was on the order of $500 billion, or 3.5% of GDP in 2009. The largest direct beneficiaries of the bailouts were the unsecured creditors of financial institutions. The estimated cost stands in sharp contrast to popular accounts that claim there was no cost because the money was repaid, and with claims of costs in the trillions of dollars. The cost is large enough to suggest the importance of revisiting whether there might have been less expensive ways to intervene to stabilize markets. At the same time, it is small enough to call into question whether the benefits of ending bailouts permanently exceed the regulatory burden of policies aimed at achieving that goal.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e024828
Author(s):  
Katharine J Looker ◽  
Erna Buitendam ◽  
Sarah C Woodhall ◽  
Emma Hollis ◽  
Koh-Jun Ong ◽  
...  

ObjectivesThe National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) in England opportunistically screens eligible individuals for chlamydia infection. Retesting is recommended three3 months after treatment following a positive test result, but no guidance is given on how local areas should recall individuals for retesting. Here , we compare cost estimates for different recall methods to inform the optimal delivery of retesting programmes.DesignEconomic evaluation.SettingEngland.MethodsWe estimated the cost of chlamydia retesting for each of the six most commonly used recall methods in 2014 based on existing cost estimates of a chlamydia screen. Proportions accepting retesting, opting for retesting by post, returning postal testing kits and retesting positive were informed by 2014 NCSP audit data. Health professionals ‘sense-checked’ the costs.Primary and secondary outcomesCost and adjusted cost per chlamydia retest; cost and adjusted cost per chlamydia retest positive.ResultsWe estimated the cost of the chlamydia retest pathway, including treatment/follow-up call, to be between £45 and £70 per completed test. At the lower end, this compared favourably to the cost of a clinic-based screen. Cost per retest positive was £389–£607. After adjusting for incomplete uptake, and non-return of postal kits, the cost rose to £109–£289 per completed test (cost per retest positive: £946–£2,506). The most economical method in terms of adjusted cost per retest was no active recall as gains in retest rates with active recall did not outweigh the higher cost. Nurse-led client contact by phone was particularly uneconomical, as was sending out postal testing kits automatically.ConclusionsRetesting without active recall is more economical than more intensive methods such as recalling by phone and automatically sending out postal kits. If sending a short message service (SMS) could be automated, this could be the most economical way of delivering retesting. However, patient choice and local accessibility of services should be taken into consideration in planning.


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