Spectrum Pricing for Cognitive Radio

This thesis examines how the price paid by the end users via an auction model can be used in regulating and controlling the admission process given a dynamic spectrum access and a heterogeneous small cell network. The performance of the system is judged by the energy consumed, the system throughput and the delay. A first price auction model with a reserve price is designed to take into consideration the signal to noise ratio of the users by introducing a novel tax and subsidy scheme called the green payments. Furthermore, the use of multiple bidding process and an admittance threshold, known as the probability of being among the highest bidders, helps in further reducing the energy consumed and improves the system throughput. A utility function is also found useful in determining the satisfaction of the users and in formulating a theoretical model for the admission process. Bid learning performance using Linear Reinforcement learning, Q learning, and Bayesian learning is compared and the results show that Bayesian learning converges faster because it incorporates prior information. It is shown that incorporating a price based utility function into the punishment or the reward weighting factor can help the learning process to converge at the optimal bidding price. A game model is formulated to allow all users in the system to learn depending on their priority. This enables users to learn different parameters such as the best offered bid price and the appropriate time to participate in the auction process. Results show that provided all the users take part in the learning process, a Nash Equilibrium can be established. The energy and the delay associated with the auction process are also further reduced when all the users are learning the different parameters

Unlocking markets to smallholders: Lessons from South Africa

This book assesses the institutional, technical and market constraints as well as opportunities for smallholders, notably, emerging farmers in disadvantaged areas such as the former homelands of South Africa. Emerging farmers are previously disadvantaged black people who started or will start their business with the support of special government programs. Public support programs have been developed as part of the Black Economic Empowerment strategy of the South African government. These programs aim to improve the performance of emerging farmers. This requires, first and foremost, upgrading the emerging farmers skills by providing access to knowledge about agricultural and entrepreneurial practices. To become or to remain good farmers they also need access to suitable agricultural land and sufficient water for irrigation and for feeding their cattle. Finally, for emerging farmers to be engaged in viable farming operations, various factors need to be in place such as marketing and service institutions to give credit for agricultural inputs and investments; input markets for farm machinery, farm implements, fertilizers and quality seeds; and accessible output markets for their end products. This book develops a policy framework and potential institutional responses to unlock the relevant markets for smallholders

Mitigating airport congestion : market mechanisms and airline response models

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-165).Efficient allocation of scarce resources in networks is an important problem worldwide. In this thesis, we focus on resource allocation problems in a network of congested airports. The increasing demand for access to the world's major commercial airports combined with the limited operational capacity at many of these airports have led to growing air traffic congestion resulting in several billion dollars of delay cost every year. In this thesis, we study two demand-management techniques -- strategic and operational approaches -- to mitigate airport congestion. As a strategic initiative, auctions have been proposed to allocate runway slot capacity. We focus on two elements in the design of such slot auctions -- airline valuations and activity rules. An aspect of airport slot market environments, which we argue must be considered in auction design, is the fact that the participating airlines are budget-constrained. -- The problem of finding the best bundle of slots on which to bid in an iterative combinatorial auction, also called the preference elicitation problem, is a particularly hard problem, even more in the case of airlines in a slot auction. We propose a valuation model, called the Aggregated Integrated Airline Scheduling and Fleet Assignment Model, to help airlines understand the true value of the different bundles of slots in the auction. This model is efficient and was found to be robust to data uncertainty in our experimental simulations.(cont.) -- Activity rules are checks made by the auctioneer at the end of every round to suppress strategic behavior by bidders and to promote consistent, continual preference elicitation. These rules find applications in several real world scenarios including slot auctions. We show that the commonly used activity rules are not applicable for slot auctions as they prevent straightforward behavior by budget-constrained bidders. We propose the notion of a strong activity rule which characterizes straightforward bidding strategies. We then show how a strong activity rule in the context of budget-constrained bidders (and quasilinear bidders) can be expressed as a linear feasibility problem. This work on activity rules also applies to more general iterative combinatorial auctions.We also study operational (real-time) demand-management initiatives that are used when there are sudden drops in capacity at airports due to various uncertainties, such as bad-weather. We propose a system design that integrates the capacity allocation, airline recovery and inter-airline slot exchange procedures, and suggest metrics to evaluate the different approaches to fair allocations.by Pavithra Harsha.Ph.D

Financial budget manual 2004

Information quoted has been gathered from sources throughout New Zealand, but some variation may occur between regions. Trade names have been used for clarity and convenience; no preferential endorsement by the University is intended, nor is any criticism implied of any product which does not appear in the Manual. This Manual has been prepared in good faith and is published with the condition that it and its owners, authors and editor disavow and exclude any liability in any way for any costs, claims, demands or actions arising from its use. In no event shall Lincoln University be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever arising from the use of the Manual. This disclaimer includes, but is not limited to, all implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability or non-infringement. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is accurate, no responsibility can be taken by Lincoln University for any error or omission in these pages, nor for any loss or damage resulting from the reliance on, or the use of information or opinions contained in this Manual. Lincoln University does not accept any liability for the accuracy, currency, reliability or correctness of any information provided by third parties.The Financial Budget Manual 2004 is an invaluable reference book for farmers and growers, consultants and students. It contains a wealth of up to date information on farm and orchard costs and prices, the profitability of different enterprises, and income taxation

Present value models of agricultural land prices in England and Wales

This study employs recently developed techniques in time series econometrics to estimate linear models of equilibrium price determination in a competitive market for durable assets. Motivating this study is the unstructured approach employed in previous land price research, where the theoretical model of agent behaviour is invariably mis-specified or left undeveloped and the empirical model prone to the problems of spurious regression. The joint issues of theoretical and statistical congruence play important roles here. Specifically, a theoretical model is developed in which market participants are assumed to price land using present value methods. At the market level this yields a reduced form expression of equilibrium price determination which can be estimated empirically using aggregate data for England and Wales. The concepts of error correction and cointegration are then investigated and applied to the land price model. A unique long run relationship is identified between real agricultural land prices, inflation and real agricultural rents. Taking account of inflation-hedging as a motivation for acquiring farmland, land prices are shown to be principally determined by the returns to land, as embodied by market rents. The empirical model is also congruent with theoretical predictions regarding the unit elasticity between asset prices and returns. The error correction representation of the cointegrating set indicates that the short run response of land prices to rent and inflation is larger than the long run response. Consequently, land prices initially overshoot their equilibrium values following changes in rents or inflation. The period of adjustment to long run equilibrium lasts around three or fours years. The long run real rate of discount on agricultural land is estimated at 3.6% confirming the widely held belief that real rates of return on farmland are low. Present value models incorporating naive, adaptive and rational expectations are also estimated and the adaptive model is favoured by the data

Massachusetts Domestic and Foreign Corporations Subject to an Excise: For the Use of Assessors (2004)

International audienc