Monetary Value Research Articles

Linear and Nonlinear Modelling of the Usable Area of Buildings with Multi-Pitched Roofs

One of the key elements in real estate appraisal of residential buildings is the usable area. To determine the monetary value of real estate, appraisers in Poland often rely on transaction data registered in the Real Estate Price Register (REPR). However, the REPR may contain meaningful gaps, particularly on information concerning usable areas. This may lead to difficulties in finding suitable comparative properties, resulting in mispricing of the property. To address this problem, we used linear and nonlinear models to estimate the usable area of buildings with multi-pitched roofs. Utilizing widely available data from the Topographic Objects Database (BDOT10k) based on LiDAR technology, we have shown that three parameters (building’s covered area, building’s height, and optionally the number of storeys) are sufficient for a reliable estimate of the usable area of a building. The best linear model, using design data from architectural offices, achieved a fit of 95%, while the best model based on real data of existing buildings in the city of Koszalin, Poland achieved 92% fit. The best nonlinear model achieved slightly better results than the linear model in the case of design data (better fit by approximately 0.2%). In the case of existing buildings in Koszalin, the best fit was at 93%. The proposed method may help property appraisers determine a more accurate estimation of the usable area of comparative buildings in the absence of this information in the REPR.

Hippocampal Discoveries: Spatial View Cells, Connectivity, and Computations for Memory and Navigation, in Primates Including Humans.

Two key series of discoveries about the hippocampus are described. One is the discovery of hippocampal spatial view cells in primates. This discovery opens the way to a much better understanding of human episodic memory, for episodic memory prototypically involves a memory of where people or objects or rewards have been seen in locations "out there" which could never be implemented by the place cells that encode the location of a rat or mouse. Further, spatial view cells are valuable for navigation using vision and viewed landmarks, and provide for much richer, vision-based, navigation than the place to place self-motion update performed by rats and mice who live in dark underground tunnels. Spatial view cells thus offer a revolution in our understanding of the functions of the hippocampus in memory and navigation in humans and other primates with well-developed foveate vision. The second discovery describes a computational theory of the hippocampal-neocortical memory system that includes the only quantitative theory of how information is recalled from the hippocampus to the neocortex. It is shown how foundations for this research were the discovery of reward neurons for food reward, and non-reward, in the primate orbitofrontal cortex, and representations of value including of monetary value in the human orbitofrontal cortex; and the discovery of face identity and face expression cells in the primate inferior temporal visual cortex and how they represent transform-invariant information. This research illustrates how in order to understand a brain computation, a whole series of integrated interdisciplinary discoveries is needed to build a theory of the operation of each neural system.

Sample Gifts (In)consistent With the Focal Product: On the Effect of Gift Quantity in Consumer Evaluation

ABSTRACTAiming to boost sales, marketers often conduct sales promotions that offer sample gifts of the same brand, conditional on the purchase of a focal product. Based on the monetary value and volume of samples, these promotions can be presented in different formats. For example, when purchasing a focal product, consumers can obtain either a 30 mL sample gift or three 10 mL sample gifts that are either consistent or inconsistent with the focal product. Three experiments were conducted to test this; they revealed that compared with buying a product and getting one gift (vs. multiple), presenting sample gifts consistent (vs. inconsistent) with the focal product is more persuasive regarding consumers' perceived gift benefits. This effect occurs through a repack (vs. unpack) tendency. The observed effect can be accentuated (vs. attenuated) by priming consumers with variety‐seeking (vs. monetary‐saving) motivation.

Exploring the social value and design preferences for a home-based dementia community program in Australia.

We study the monetary value and the relative importance of several program characteristics for an evidence-based intervention provided at home for people living with dementia and their carers in Australia. Using a discrete choice experiment, advised through an expert and consumer co-design approach, we consider the total number of sessions, the delivery mode, the primary outcome and focus of the program as well as its costs as attributes. Results from a representative sample of the Australian adult population show a high willingness to pay for the program overall, even greater than the actual costs. Choice data from 940 respondents show preferences for in-person sessions over telehealth options and respondents place a high value on improving mood and dementia-related behaviour as well as independence in daily activities. Preference heterogeneity shows that people who have experience with home care services place an even higher monetary value on the program, compared to the rest of the sample. In light of the increased emphasis of governments on expanding home care options over residential care, these results contribute towards the design and implementation of a home-based program for people with dementia and their carers and highlight its social value.

Assessing the Monetary Value and Environmental Impact of Household Food Waste in Italy

Household food waste accounts for a significant share of total food waste. In 2022, around 1.05 billion tons of food waste were generated—60% of which came from households. In the EU, households generate 54% of the total food waste. In Italy, according to a former diary study, avoidable household food waste accounts for 529.9 g per capita per week. Building on this data, this study assesses the monetary value of food waste at the household level in 6 provinces across the country, considering the prices of food items recorded by the Italian Observatory of market prices. Moreover, the environmental impacts of household food waste (greenhouse gas emissions, water consumed, and land used) were investigated based on existing data from well-grounded scientific literature. The results show that the monetary value of food waste ranges from EUR 357.43 to EUR 404.62 per household per year, corresponding to 5–7% of the average household expenditure for food. The environmental impacts per household per year account for 149 kgCO2eq, which contributes to climate change. In addition, household food waste is responsible for 303,498 L of water consumed and 1426 m2 of land used. The results of this study can be integrated into National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), to integrate food waste reduction into energy savings and greenhouse gas mitigation strategies.

Discussing the role of urban renewal incentive policies based on housing price effects

Although policies to reward urban renewal are essential, their effects are difficult to measure. This paper takes Taipei City's “bulk reward policy” as an example to illustrate that the effectiveness of this type of incentive policy can be measured by changes in housing premiums of the properties that meet the policy. The policy is a floor area ratio reward policy, which is adopted to encourage people to renovate their old and dilapidated houses, solving the problem of buildings and infrastructure wearing out. This paper uses a theoretical model of real options to illustrate the possible impact of this rewarding policy, which states that if the policy is effective, the buildings that meet the reward type will increase the housing price due to the increase in the probability of redevelopment. This paper uses 16,865 transaction samples from 2019 to 2020 to verify the effect of the incentive policy revised by the Taipei City Government on December 19, 2019. The empirical tests also provide evidence showing that the increase in rewards can indeed boost housing prices. Through the analysis of this study, we can quantitatively measure the effectiveness of reward urban renewal policies based on changes in housing prices of old houses to be renovated. It will not only show the market's response to policies, but also capitalize the effects of urban renewal policies, providing a way to compare the benefits of urban renewal policies with their costs using monetary values. Urban renewal policies often involve the interests of many people and are complex. This paper contributes to this topic by providing a method for evaluating policies from a financial perspective.

Exploring the Role of Community Organisations as Environmental Vulnerability Insurance for Cacao Smallholders in Colombia

The future of replacing illicit crops with cacao in the South Pacific region of Colombia transcends the economic viability of these plantations. The process of social-ecological restoration is intrinsically linked to the role of local organisations and the support of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which introduce the main technical improvements conditional on the achievement of social improvements. The situation in the South Pacific region of Colombia, a territory historically characterised by illicit crop cultivation and inhabited by vulnerable Afro-Colombian communities, is analysed. This region is particularly significant for post-conflict agreements due to its high level of violence. This study analyses the determinants of differences in the selling price of cacao, assuming that the decision to sell dry cacao and access international markets is related to the support and assistance provided to farmers and their families than to their monetary value. The sustainable production of high-quality dry cacao, which is a main requirement for accessing international market prices, depends on access to adequate infrastructure. Inadequate access to high-quality production neutralises the substitution of illicit crops, and thus the environmental sustainability and social cohesion of the territory. The determinants of farmers’ ability to sell dry cacao are explored using a spatial econometric model that accounts for the influence of neighbouring areas. The findings indicate that enhancing producers' participation in community councils, supported by international NGOs, is crucial for addressing environmental risks.

Flexibility is the key to decarbonizing heat supply: A case study based on the German energy system

Decarbonizing the heating sector is a key challenge in Europe and Germany and lags significantly behind the electricity sector regarding the share of renewable energies. This is also due to municipal heating planning being still in progress in many places, and decision-makers being uncertain about efficient technologies. We apply an advanced energy system model with linear optimization to the German energy system with special consideration of district heating. Our goal is to determine the near-optimal solution space in the heating sector, which we define as solutions within a 1% increase in optimal system cost. We show that the optimal share of district heating on the German heat demand is only 8.3%, but 27.2% of the demand can be supplied in the near-optimal solution. Larger shares are inefficient due to higher investments caused by lower heat density in sparsely populated regions. The wide range of solutions at comparable costs must encourage urban authorities to implement and communicate consistent heat planning regardless of the choice between centralized and decentralized heat supply. Direct electrification dominates both centralized and decentralized heat generation in all scenarios. Combined heat and power (CHP) plants are part of the optimal solution, but their heat production is limited by high fuel cost. It is therefore risky to plan with high shares (>20%) of CHP in heating networks. Alternative flexibility options such as water-based seasonal heat storage and the use of excess heat from power-to-x plants show promising results. They increase the district heating share in the near-optimal solution to 42.2%, but are limited by the amount of land required and the monetary value of the excess heat, respectively.

Water, Heritage, and Community

The paper is trying to create a connection between water heritage structure, community, and urbanization. Many scholars have studied the importance of the revival of these water structures, focusing on the architectural value linked to it. Their focus was always on the architecture of the stepwell (underground water structure), construction materials, functionality, and designs. Another important aspect that needs to be consider while reviving the structure is its community. David Harvey's theory of the body as the driving machine can be applied to the community as a driving force in urban development. Here community also needs to be considered as the important infrastructure of the city. The modern perspective of urbanization is to make the city more livable, but the problem is the policies adopted are mainly making the community lose its culture and religious beliefs as well as the informal economy. The transformation of culture and value in present urban settlements concerning the people who are living there for a very long time is the reason for their criticism of the development proposed by the government. It's the dilemma that the community face force to choose between their space of hope And Hope of the future. On one hand, the proposal of new development is increasing the migration of people from their place, resulting in a massive demographic shift. Overcrowding, pollution, ethnic conflict are the problems that can be easily noticed. Whereas on the other hand it promises to give a new identity and vision of modernity to the community. People living around this historical underground structure have very bad living conditions, economically they are not stable because the traditional craft that they are skilled in is vanishing just like the heritage water structure. This urbanization is associated with these tow's major social, economic, and cultural transformations. The question is how people are surviving in this urban context and how WILL they survive if changes take place in their surroundings. The paper also tries to shed light on how these urban changes are used as leverages to lead monetary value by people at power and how it affects the community and the heritage they are connected to.

LPPAC: Lightweight privacy-preserving distributed payments with access control

The privacy-preserving distributed payment system leverages the advantages of its decentralized form while upholding data privacy. Currently, numerous solutions effectively safeguard users’ privacy, encompassing transaction amounts and identities, but in practical deployments, these solutions may impose limitations due to their indiscriminate treatments. Recognizing that real-world transactions involve not only the exchange of funds but also the transfer of assets, we introduce a lightweight privacy-preserving distributed payment scheme called LPPAC, which differentiates its treatment of different levels of private data. The transformation of amounts, which directly involves monetary values, is rigorously protected using appropriate encryption techniques. Additionally, we incorporate transaction pruning techniques to reduce storage overhead and enhance operational efficiency. In the context of asset transfers, there may be instances where parties other than the transacting entities need to be informed to make adequate preparations. However, the information related to asset transfers is inherently linked to transaction amounts. Therefore, we introduce an access control mechanism to allocate corresponding access rights. Through this approach, we theoretically establish that LPPAC can offer a precise privacy protection solution without compromising privacy. Furthermore, experimental results show the strong performance of LPPAC in practical applications.

Utilizing the value added intellectual capital (VAIC) to tourism-related industries in a tourism intensively dependent country

This research examines intangible assets or intellectual capital (IC) performance of tourism-related industries in an underexplored area which is a tourism intensively-dependent country. In this study, VAIC which is a monetary valuation method and also the most widely applied measurement method, is utilized as the performance measurement method for quantifying IC performance to monetary values. Moreover, to better understand performance, the standard efficiency levels are further applied for classifying the performance levels of tourism industries. The sample sizes of study are 20 companies operating in the tourism-related industries in the world top travel destination or Thailand, and the companies’ data are collected from 2012 to 2021. Therefore, finally, there are 187 firm-year observations. The utilization of VAIC could assess IC performance of tourism firms and industries, and the standard efficiency levels further support the uniform interpretation of IC efficiency levels. The obtained results show the strong performance of both human and structural capital of the focused tourism dependent country especially in the logistics industry that directly supports and connects to the tourism attractions. Moreover, the finding also highlights the significance of human capital which plays as a major contributor for overall IC performance in this tourism dependent economy. This study contributes the new exploration of IC in the high impact industries and also specifically in the top significant tourism country. Moreover, the application of VAIC also confirms a practical application for management. The limited number of studied countries is a limitation of study. However, these new obtained data and information could be further applied for making comparisons or in-depth or statistical analysis in the future works.

Utilization and Reimbursements of Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty in Ambulatory Surgical Centers: Analysis of Medicare Part A and B Databases

BackgroundRecent changes in Medicare reimbursement policies have facilitated the shift of primary total joint arthroplasty (TJA) volume to ambulatory surgical centers (ASC). The ASCs potentially provide a more cost-effective alternative to a hospital-setting TJA. This study investigated Medicare primary TJA utilization and reimbursement trends at ACSs compared to inpatient and outpatient settings between 2019 and 2022. MethodsMedicare Part A and B claims data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) databases were analyzed. Primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA) procedures were identified using Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, Diagnostic Related Group (DRG) codes, and Comprehensive Ambulatory Payment Classification (C-APC) codes based on respective settings. The ASC utilization data was extracted based on year. Billing data for ASCs, hospital outpatient departments (HOPD), and inpatient TJA were compared. Monetary values were adjusted to 2022 dollars using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). ResultsFrom 2019 to 2022, 1,665,237 primary TJA claims were billed (TKA 1,079,846 claims; THA 585,391 claims), with a 6.1% increase in total utilization. The volume of ASC TJAs increased by 327.1% (TKA 193.8% from 2020 to 2022; THA 61.1% from 2021 to 2022). In the same period, average reimbursement for ASC TJAs rose by 3.9% (TKA 3.4%; THA 1.3%) but showed an 8.1% decline after adjusting for inflation (TKA -8.4%; THA -6.2%). By 2022, ASCs accounted for 8.6% of the total TJAs with the lowest reimbursement per procedure (TKA $8,472.3; THA $8578.7). This shift to ASCs corresponded with $235 million saved compared to inpatient settings and $137 million saved compared to HOPDs per year. ConclusionOur study highlights a marked increase in TJA volume at ASCs, with the procedure costing significantly less than HODP or inpatient TJAs. The findings underscore the growing acceptance of these centers as viable, cost-effective alternatives to traditional hospital settings. However, with the declining value of ASC reimbursements, continued monitoring of reimbursement policy is necessary to ensure the sustainability of these cost-effective ASCs for TJAs.

Juggling to stay afloat: Debt and health under financialization

Household debt has dramatically increased in the United States in the past four decades, notwithstanding a temporary reprieve during the Covid-19 Pandemic. While debt has expanded across social groups, low-income individuals are most negatively impacted, taking on high-cost debt that they struggle to repay, often simply to meet basic needs. This article explores indebtedness among low- and moderate-income US households, and its association with physical and mental health. While most existing studies explore health effects of specific debt types, or monetary value of total debt, our research proposes a categorization of debt into three types (potential wealth-building, problem short-term, and non-loan debt) that is more meaningful in health research and addresses the experience of managing multiple and intersecting debts, common among low-income households. Using mixed methods, we show how these debts are experienced by debtors, resulting in them feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed, ultimately taking a toll on both their physical and mental health.

Global and Regional Economic Burden of Eating Disorders: A Systematic Review and Critique of Methods.

This systematic review aims to comprehensively examine up-to-date evidence on the economic burden of eating disorders (EDs), both globally and by region. A comprehensive search within five electronic databases, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and EconLit, retrieved studies published from August 1, 2013, to June 30, 2024. Cost of illness (COI) studies, burden of disease, and other cost studies that reported costs in monetary values were included, and cost-effectiveness analysis studies were excluded. The quality of COI studies was assessed using Schnitzler's checklist. All cost estimates were converted into 2024 USD purchasing power parity (PPP). The PROSPERO registration number is CRD42022358136. Twenty-six studies were identified for inclusion in this review, with 11 COI studies. The nationwide annual financial cost of EDs is estimated at PPP-USD 70.5 billion. Indirect costs contributed 70%-93% of total financial costs in the reviewed studies. Intangible costs (burden of disease) were estimated to be PPP-USD 355.6 billion. About half of the COI studies met 60% of the elements of Schnitzler's checklist, either completely or partly. The number of COI studies has more than doubled in the last 10 years. Findings can inform healthcare administrators/policymakers to understand the magnitude of this burden when setting healthcare priorities and allocating resources to maximize social welfare. However, there are variations in the methods (thus quality) and perspectives used to assess this economic burden. Findings suggest that there is potential for enhancing the methodological rigor of future research.

The valuation of marine reserves: Linking ecological, economic, social, and political aspects

Valuing nature is an ongoing interdisciplinary debate between ecologists and socio-economists, centred on the trade-offs between long-term marine conservation outcomes and short-term economic returns. By using Marine Protected Areas (MPA) as an analytical framework, researchers can address these challenges and reach conclusions that satisfy both ecological and economic perspectives. This research serves as a good case study, employing an ecology-based monetary valuation method to link ecological empirical evidence with economic values, demonstrating the monetary contribution of Marine Reserves (MR) to communities and beyond. The spillover and recruitment effects of MR are estimated to provide a significant boost to the commercial fishery, with an annual catch landing value of NZ$ 1.49 million. The average gross output, including contributions from the MR's recruitment effect, amounts to NZ$4.89 million, with value added (GDP) of NZ$1.86 million, indirectly supporting 16 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). The direct value contributed to snapper recreational fishing is NZ$3.21 million per annum, while indirect value from fishing equipment spending is NZ$3.30 million per annum. This research represents the first estimation of the monetary value of spillover and recruitment effects from a well-established, no-take MPA (MR), illustrating the contribution of marine conservation to society.

External environmental costs of electricity generation using a life cycle approach: A case study of Spain

Electricity generation produces impacts on the natural and human environment that need to be measured and properly managed. This investigation describes the potential of integrating LCA with monetary valuation to quantify the magnitude of these impacts in economic terms (€). Fourteen power generation technologies (5 fossil, 8 renewable and nuclear, based in Spain) were evaluated using LCA on 18 midpoint and 3 endpoint categories, as listed in ReCiPe2016. The results showed very high external costs in fossil technologies (from 435 to 636 €/MWh for coal-based to 109–154 €/MWh for natural gas) and significantly lower for renewables (5–77 €/MWh) and nuclear (3.3 €/MWh), with higher values corresponding to biomass and lowest to wind power and nuclear. External costs from fossil technologies were dominated by damage to human health caused by climate change, particulate emissions and exhaustion of fossil resources generated during the operation stage. External costs from renewables were dominated by the same categories plus exhaustion of mineral resources, in this case produced during the extraction of raw materials stage. These results demonstrate the profound unsustainability of fossil, whose external costs largely exceed wholesale market prices.

The allure of rarity: investigating the impact of consumers’ perceived scarcity in AI-designed clothing on purchase intentions

ABSTRACT In light of the emerging use of AI in design, we investigate consumer responses to clothing marketed as AI-designed. We examine how the perceived scarcity of AI-designed clothing influences purchase intentions, with perceived monetary value acting as a mediator, and consider the moderating effects of fashion involvement. Data was collected via an online survey (n = 311) and analysed using SPSS 28.0. Participants were presented to an image of a jacket described as being created by AI technology and then answered a series of questions about the AI-designed jacket and about themselves. Results indicated that the scarcity of AI-designed clothing by itself may not significantly boost purchase intentions. However, fashion brands can capitalise on the perception of scarcity if the product is seen as offering good value for money. This effect is especially pronounced among consumers who have low involvement in fashion.

Valuation and conflicts in the Peruvian extractive frontier: Towards a politics of value analytical framework

This article contributes to the on-going debate about how to understand extractive conflicts. What drives conflicts in areas of extraction? Do local people mobilize to reject extraction outright, or do they mobilize to secure rents and compensation from extractive projects? Political ecologists and ecological economists argue that different incommensurable languages of valuation challenge monetary value in a contest of values. Political economists disagree and argue that the majority of conflicts are about compensation, not alternative valuations. In this article, I suggest that value does indeed play a key role in extractive conflicts, but I also recognize the criticisms presented by political economy. To explore an alternative usage of value for understanding extractive conflicts, I draw on David Graebers anthropological notion of value, through which I elaborate an analytical framework of a politics of value, illustrated by three case studies of extractive conflicts in the Peruvian Andes. By analyzing conflicts in the extractive frontier as a ‘politics of value’, this article re-thinks how we understand the complicated dynamics of value and valuation in the extractive frontier and develops an analytical framework of a politics of value, to understand how conflict dynamics shape valuation, and how valuation, in turn, shapes conflict dynamics.

Securing transactions: a hybrid dependable ensemble machine learning model using IHT-LR and grid search

Financial institutions and businesses face an ongoing challenge from fraudulent transactions, prompting the need for effective detection methods. Detecting credit card fraud is crucial for identifying and preventing unauthorized transactions. While credit card fraud incidents are relatively rare, they can result in substantial financial losses, particularly due to the high monetary value associated with fraudulent transactions. Timely detection of fraud enables investigators to take swift actions to mitigate further losses. However, the investigation process is often time-consuming, limiting the number of alerts that can be thoroughly examined each day. Therefore, the primary objective of a fraud detection model is to provide accurate alerts while minimizing false alarms and missed fraud cases. In this paper, we introduce a state-of-the-art hybrid ensemble (ENS) dependable machine learning (ML) model that intelligently combines multiple algorithms with proper weighted optimization using grid search, including decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), and multilayer perceptron (MLP), to enhance fraud identification. To address the data imbalance issue, we employ the instant hardness threshold (IHT) technique in conjunction with logistic regression (LR), surpassing conventional approaches. Our experiments are conducted on a publicly available credit card dataset comprising 284,807 transactions. The proposed model achieves impressive accuracy rates of 99.66%, 99.73%, 98.56%, and 99.79%, and a perfect 100% for the DT, RF, KNN, MLP and ENS models, respectively. The hybrid ensemble model outperforms existing works, establishing a new benchmark for detecting fraudulent transactions in high-frequency scenarios. The results highlight the effectiveness and reliability of our approach, demonstrating superior performance metrics and showcasing its exceptional potential for real-world fraud detection applications.

Evaluating the social return on investment of dance movement for wellbeing in the prevention of burnout among healthcare staff: a study protocol.

Improvement in the National Health Service (NHS) employees' mental well-being and staff retention are current key issues. Evidence indicates that dance movement therapy (DMT) has been effective in improving mental health and well-being; however, a social return on investment (SROI) evaluation on DMT interventions aimed at NHS staff has not been performed. This protocol for an SROI study will explore the social value generated from DMT, specifically 'The Body Moving Self-Compassion' programme, as measured by the increase in personal well-being and resilience experienced by participants. The SROI evaluation aims to measure the monetary and social value generated through DMT by placing a monetary value which is essential for sound policy in accessing investment while contributing evidence of dance/movement's impact on health. SROI is a pragmatic form of social cost-benefit analysis which uses quantitative and qualitative methods to value relevant costs, outcomes and associated impact. A mixed-methods approach design (focus group, online questionnaire and semistructured interviews) will be employed in this SROI study. SROI takes a societal perspective and considers relevant and significant outcomes for participants. Monetary values which often do not have a market price are then assigned to these outcomes. Contingent valuation is integrated into this study to estimate individuals' choices, preferences and values associated with DMT. The social value generated by the identified outcomes will then be estimated in a similar way to cost-benefit analysis, and the ratio of social value generated per £1 invested is then calculated. Ethical approval for this study has been granted by the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education Ethics Subgroup at the University of South Wales, with Reference No. 230 236LR. The findings from this SROI study will result in a report and academic publications.