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Front Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Preface -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- 1.0 Definition of Affordability -- 2.0 Purpose and Objective -- 3.0 References -- Chapter 2: Understanding and Measuring Customer Affordability -- 1.0 Purpose of Affordability Metrics -- 1.1 Policy Context -- 1.2 Rate Context -- 2.0 Limitations of Affordability Metrics -- 3.0 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Affordability Metrics -- 3.1 History of Bills as a Percentage of Income and Thresholds -- 3.2 Updated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Affordability and Financial Capability Assessment Guidance -- 3.2.1 Lowest Quintile Income -- 3.2.2 Total Water Sector Service Over Time -- 3.2.3 Poverty Measures -- 3.2.4 Household Types -- 4.0 Alternative Affordability Metrics and Thresholds -- 4.1 Household Burden and Poverty Prevalence Indicators -- 4.2 Weighted Average Residential Index -- 4.3 Household Water Service Costs as a Percentage of Discretionary Income -- 4.4 Hours of Minimum Wage Equivalent -- 4.5 Percentage of Household Income Spent on Housing -- 4.6 Additional Prevalence Measures -- 5.0 Understanding Vulnerable Populations -- 6.0 Conclusions -- 7.0 References -- Chapter 3: Approaches to Addressing Affordability -- 1.0 Policy Consideration: Water as a Human Right -- 2.0 Importance of Managing Total Utility Costs as an Element of Providing Affordable Services -- 3.0 Mechanisms for Addressing Affordability -- 3.1 Customer Assistance Programs -- 3.2 Bill Discounts -- 3.2.1 Fixed-Dollar-Amount Discount -- 3.2.2 Percentage-of-Bill Discount -- 3.2.3 Percentage-of-Bill Discount up to a Maximum -- 3.2.4 Percentage-of-Bill Discount Graduated by Income Level -- 3.2.5 Federal- or State-Subsidized Bill Assistance -- 3.3 Emergency Assistance -- 3.3.1 Crisis Vouchers -- 3.3.2 Bill Forgiveness/Write-Offs.

A study designed to investigate the incidence of worker burnout examined worker, client, job, and agency characteristics in twelve family service agencies. Emphasis was placed on identifying factors associated with burnout so that steps can be devised to work toward its prevention or elimination.

It would be nice If all visually impaired persons would travel to a short-term residential center for training in all needed areas. Since this is not feasible, services must be provided by itinerant specialists. The suggestions outlined above are not offered as a panacea; they merely provide ways for personnel to cope with problems inherent in itinerant services. Along with these suggestions must come individual endurance and a willingness to serve clients in need, regardless of the location of these clients. In other words, suggestions are great, and they may indeed help, but the real variable in success of itinerant programs is the personal qualities of the staff who provide those services.

This paper examines the reasons that people give for switching services. It is designed to test previous work and to extend knowledge by showing how the frequencies of different reasons vary by type of service. Unlike previous work using Critical Incident Technique (CIT), surveys are used to gather data on switching reasons. It is argued that CIT tends to select in favour of event-related reasons and against condition-related reasons. The research reveals a much lower frequency of event-related reasons for switching and more condition-related reasons compared with earlier work, particularly when services are delivered at a specific location. The research is extended to different types of switching. When customers have to switch, they often cited conditions; when they switch because of dissatisfaction with a supplier, they give more event-based reasons; when they discover a better supplier without previous dissatisfaction, they most often cite competition reasons. These findings have practical implications. First, previous work has claimed that service switching is preventable because event-related reasons can often be avoided by management; the present work, by showing that avoidable reasons are rarer, shifts the focus from customer retention to customer acquisition. Second, this work informs practitioners about the reasons that are likely to be given by defectors in their service category; this assists strategy decisions on retaining and acquiring customers.

Cover -- Copyright -- Content -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Measurement Units and Symbols -- Abbreviations -- Other Conventions -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 Background -- 1.2 Why use performance indicators -- 1.3 Usage of performance indicators -- 1.4 Performance indicators as a component of benchmarking -- 1.5 International Standardisation of water supply and wastewater services -- 2. Development of a manual for wastewater service PIs from the water supply manual -- 2.1 The IWA manual of PIs for water supply -- 2.2 Lessons from the water supply PI pilot testing -- 3. About this manual -- 3.1 Scope -- 3.2 Structure of the document -- 4. The wastewater PI system -- 4.1 Outline -- 4.2 The PI and CI concepts -- 4.3 The wastewater undertaking context -- 4.4 Wastewater system description -- 4.5 Organisational functions and definitions -- 4.6 Financial aspects -- 4.7 Structure of the PI system -- 5. Implementation strategy of a PI system -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Definition of the strategic performance assessment policy -- 5.3 Selection of PIs to be assessed -- 5.4 Implementation of important PIs -- 5.5 PI assessment, reporting and result interpretation -- 5.6 Definition and implementation of improvement measures -- 6. Data reporting -- 6.1 Confidence grading scheme -- 6.2 Confidence grades -- 6.3 Confidence grades examples -- 6.4 Periods for data assessment -- 7. Performance Indicators -- 7.1 The PI framework -- 7.2 Environmental indicators (wEn) -- 7.3 Personnel indicators (wPe) -- 7.4 Physical indicators (wPh) -- 7.5 Operational indicators (wOp) -- 7.6 Quality of service indicators (wQS) -- 7.7 Economic and financial indicators (wFi) -- 8. Context information -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Undertaking profile -- 8.3 System profile -- 8.4 Region profile -- 9. References -- 10. About the authors.

To evaluate and reflect the sustainability of services in the region, an overall sector sustainability assessment was conducted taking into account four main dimensions: access to services, quality of services, efficiency of services, and financing of services. Each of these dimensions is measured through three simple and objective indicators. For each indicator, best practice values are established by looking at the best performers in the region, and countries closest to those best performers are deemed to have a more mature sector. A more complete description of the methodology to assess sector sustainability is included in the annex of the state of the sector regional report from the Danube water program. The outcomes of this assessment for the Kosovo water sector are presented, which also shows average and best practices in the Danube region. As a result, the Kosovo sector sustainability score is 63, which is close to the Danube average sustainability of 64. The assessment shows that, on average, the country performs well in terms of access to piped water and flush toilets, continuity of service, staffing level and operating cost ratio. The main deficiencies identified through the sector sustainability assessment are the investment level, nonrevenue water, and wastewater treatment coverage. The main sector challenges are: securing stable and long-term financing for compliance investments; increasing water utility billing collection; and improving the efficiency of utilities to enhance their sustainability.

Intro -- Contents -- About the Authors -- Chapter 1: A Comparative Analysis of the Secondary Liability of Online Service Providers -- Introduction -- I. Definitional Questions -- A. Online Service Providers -- B. "Secondary" Liability -- II. The Rise of Secondary Liability Claims -- III. Defining Liability Positively or Negatively -- A. The Positive Approach: Standards Establishing Secondary Liability -- B. Immunity Provisions Precluding Liability -- IV. Notice and Takedown -- V. Obligations Without "Liability" -- A. Explicit Regulatory Responses -- B. Cooperative Mechanisms: Assistance in Preventing Unlawful Conduct -- VI. Assimilation and General Principles -- Conclusion -- Chapter 2: Secondary Liability of Internet Service Providers in Poland -- Introduction -- Secondary Liability-Indirect Infringements -- Polish Tort Law and Secondary Liability -- Remedies -- Safe Harbours for ISPs -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3: Secondary Liability of Internet Service Providers in the United States: General Principles and Fragmentation -- Introduction -- Secondary Liability Standards -- Immunity from Secondary Liability and Safe Harbours -- Best Practices -- Conclusions -- Chapter 4: ISP Secondary Liability: A Portuguese Perspective on Omissions as the Basis for Secondary Liability -- Overview of the Portuguese Legal Framework of ISP's Secondary Liability -- Historical Development of the Secondary Liability of Service Providers in Portugal -- The Concept of an Intermediary Service Provider -- The Relationship Between Primary and Secondary Liability -- The Liability Immunity Standard -- ISP Omissions as Grounds for Liability -- Ascertaining the Liability for Omission in the Case of 'Caching', Hosting and Content Association Services.