The Transition cost accounting system integrates clinical, resource utilization, and financial information and is currently being used by several hospitals in Canada and the United States to calculate the costs of patient care. Our objectives were to review the use of hospital-based cost accounting ...

This study identified factors associated with higher medical costs for patients with terminal cancer in hospice units in order to develop a daily payment system for hospice services within Korea's National Health Insurance (NHI) program. Through chart reviews conducted by staff nurses, medical information and costs were obtained for 274 patients with terminal cancer in 20 hospice units in October 2007. The daily medical cost per patient was calculated based on the fee-for-service scheme. The characteristics of the hospice units were examined by means of a semistructured questionnaire administered to hospice unit coordinators. Higher daily costs were associated with general hospital-based hospice units (as compared with free-standing units: pfever (p<0.01). In multivariate analysis, hospice unit type was found to be the factor most strongly associated with medical cost. A hospice payment system based on patient characteristics should be thoroughly considered. PMID:22582466

Costs of several ultrafiltration and nanofiltration processes are compared with the cost of conventional liquid-solid separation with and without GAC adsorption for small water treatment facilities. Data on raw-water quality, permeate flux, recovery, frequency of backflushing, and chemical dosage obtained from a pilot study were used with a previously developed model for membrane costs to calculate anticipated capital and operating costs for each instance. Data from the US Environmental Protection Agency were used to estimate conventional treatment costs. All of the membrane process calculations showed comparable or lower total costs per unit volume treated compared with conventional treatment for small facilities (drinking water.

Concerning the spent fuel storage away from reactor, economical comparison was carried out between metal cask and water pool storage technology. The economic index was defined by levelized cost (Unit storage cost) calculated on the assumption that the storage cost is paid at the receipt of the spent fuel at the storage facility. It is found that the cask storage is economical for small and large storage capacity. Unit storage cost of pool storage, however, is getting close to that of cask storage in case of storage capacity of 10,000 ton. Then, the unit storage cost is converted to power generation cost using data of the burn up of the fuel, etc. The cost is obtained as yen 0.09/kWh and yen 0. 15/kWh for cask storage and pool storage, respectively in case of the capacity of 5,000 tonU and the cooling time of 5 years. (author)

...response costs incurred by the Environmental Protection Agency...Response Costs among the United States Environmental Protection Agency...Response Costs may be obtained...United States Environmental Protection...

A cost-benefit analysis of the ultrasound-assisted oxidative desulfurization (UAOD) continuous-flow process in organic sulfur removal from pyrolysis oil was carried out. Two separate studies using one and two UAOD units were compared by cost and percentage of sulfur removal. The desulfurization cost for a single UAOD unit was calculated at $0.70/gal with sulfur removal of 68%, whereas the cost and removal percentage were $1.39/gal and 90.91%, respectively, for two UAOD units connected in a series. The monetary value of the health benefits was around $466.59/d for one unit and $623.78/d for two units. Moreover, the best gross income for desulfurized pyrolysis oil after the UAOD system was $1916.46/d in Taiwan. Economic and risk evaluations demonstrated that pyrolysis oil desulfurization usi...

Despite significant investment in improving service infrastructure and training of staff, public primary healthcare services in low-income and middle-income countries tend to perform poorly in reaching coverage targets. One of the factors identified in Aceh, Indonesia was the lack of operational funds for service provision. The objective of this study was to develop a simple and transparent costing tool that enables health planners to calculate the unit costs of providing basic health services to estimate additional budgets required to deliver services in accordance with national targets. The tool was developed using a standard economic approach that linked the input activities to achieving six national priority programs at primary healthcare level: health promotion, sanitation and environment health, maternal and child health and family planning, nutrition, immunization and communicable diseases control, and treatment of common illness. Costing was focused on costs of delivery of the programs that need to be funded by local government budgets. The costing tool consisting of 16 linked Microsoft Excel worksheets was developed and tested in several districts enabled the calculation of the unit costs of delivering of the six national priority programs per coverage target of each program (such as unit costs of delivering of maternal and child health program per pregnant mother). This costing tool can be used by health planners to estimate additional money required to achieve a certain level of coverage of programs, and it can be adjusted for different costs and program delivery parameters in different settings. PMID:22887349

Biomass processing plants have a trade-off between two competing cost factors: as size increases, the economy of scale reduces per unit processing cost, while a longer biomass transportation distance increases the delivered cost of biomass. The competition between these cost factors leads to an optimum size at which the cost of energy produced from biomass is minimized. Four processing options are evaluated: power production via direct combustion and via biomass integrated gasification and combined cycle (BIGCC), ethanol production via fermentation, and syndiesel via Fischer Tropsch. The optimum size is calculated as a function of biomass gross yield (the biomass available to the processing plant from the total surrounding area) and processing cost (capital recovery and operating costs). Higher biomass gross yield and higher processing cost each lead to a higher optimum size. For most cases, a small relaxation in the objective of minimum cost, 3%, leads to a halving of plant size. Direct combustion and BIGCC each produce power, with BIGCC having a higher capital cost and conversion efficiency. When the delivered cost of biomass is high, BIGCC produces power at a lower cost than direct combustion. The crossover point at which this occurs is calculated as a function of the purchase cost of biomass and the biomass gross yield. PMID:19015821

...Percentage rate of the total annual loan cost per unit-period, expressed as a decimal equivalent. j...the reverse mortgage agreement for the loan cost rate per unit-period (the loan cost rate per unit-period is then...

In this study, the efficiency analyses of ten hydro-power plants (HPP) used for electricity generation were conducted through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and window analysis (WA). Two efficiency indexes, based on production and energy unit cost performance were defined and pursued. In the calculation of operational performance, the main production factors were used as inputs, and net production was used as the output (Model 1). On the other hand, in the calculation of energy costs, the cost of generating a unit energy in terms of TL (Turkish Liras), were used as the output (Model 2). Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is the main instrument for measurement of relative performances of decision making units with multiple inputs and outputs. Constant returns to scale (CRS or CCR) and variabl...

In this study, we investigate biomass-based hydrogen production through exergy and exergoeconomic analyses and evaluate all components and associated streams using an exergy, cost, energy and mass (EXCEM) method. Then, we define the hydrogen unit cost and examine how key system parameters affect the unit hydrogen cost. Also, we present a case study of the gasification process with a circulating fluidized bed gasifier (CFBG) for hydrogen production using the actual data taken from the literature. We first calculate energy and exergy values of all streams associated with the system, exergy efficiencies of all equipment, and determine the costs of equipment along with their thermodynamic loss rates and ratio of thermodynamic loss rate to capital cost. Furthermore, we evaluate the main system ...

The TTS-Institutes's Forestry Department has developed a computer based cost-calculation model, 'TTS-Polttopuu', for the calculation of unit costs and resource needs in the harvesting systems for wood chips and split firewood. The model enables to determine the productivity and device cost per operating hour by each working stage of the harvesting system. The calculation model also enables the user to find out how changes in the productivity and cost bases of different harvesting chains influence the unit cost of the whole system. The harvesting chain includes the cutting of delimbed and non-delimbed fuelwood, forest haulage, road transportation, chipping and chopping of longwood at storage. This individually operating software was originally developed to serve research needs, but it also serves the needs of the forestry and agricultural education, training and extension as well as individual firewood producers. The system requirements for this cost calculation model are at least 486- level processor with the Windows 95/98 -operating system, 16 MB of memory (RAM) and 5 MB of available hard-disk. This development work was carried out in conjunction with the nation-wide BIOENERGY-research programme. (orig.)

With a view to evaluate the effects of hydraulic retention time and volatile solids loading rate on methane production using water hyacinth, experiments were conducted in 160 dm/sup 3/ capacity, well-mixed continuous digestion unit at ambient temperature. The optimal design of biogas plant using water hyacinth was elucidated, to provide a unit giving a maximum methane yield of 0.16 nmm/sup 3/ volatile solids added, which was 60% greater than the conventional plant using cowdung. The calculations of optimal design factors were based on reactor size, hydraulic retention time and volatile solids loading rate; considerations were made of capital cost, running costs and operational revenue. 25 references.

Abstract in english Linezolid, an oxazolidinone-class antimicrobial agent, is a new drug; its use has frequently been questioned due to its high price. However, recent trials have demonstrated that the use of linezolid in mechanical ventilation-associated nosocomial pneumonia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VAP-MRSA) may be justified due to its improved efficacy compared to vancomycin. Price and cost have different magnitudes, and clinical efficacy should always be con (more) sidered in the decision-making process. Our objective was to determine whether linezolid treatment was more cost-effective than vancomycin for treating VAP-MRSA. METHODOLOGY: Elaboration of an economic model from a metanalysis of previous clinical trials comparing both drugs, through a cost-effectiveness analysis. Costs of the treatments were calculated using Brazilian parameters and were compared to the results obtained in the metanalysis. In order to compare the results with real life conditions, costs were calculated for both name brand and for generic vancomycin. RESULTS: The cost (May/2004) per unit (vial, ampoule or bag) was R$ 47.73 for the name-brand vancomycin, R$ 14.45 for generic vancomycin and R$ 214.04 for linezolid. Linezolid's efficacy in VAP-MRSA according to the metanalysis was 62.2% and vancomycin's efficacy was 21.2%. The total cost per cured patient was R$ 13,231.65 for the name-brand vancomycin, R$ 11,277.59 for generic vancomycin and R$ 7,764.72 for linezolid. CONCLUSION: Despite the higher price per unit, linezolid was more cost-effective than vancomycin.

A generic methodology is devised for estimating the capital costs of small-scale tidal power plants (1-100 MW rated power). In addition to the general dimensions determining the size of the tidal pond resource (surface area and tidal range) two site-specific dimensions (depth and length of closure structure) are required for this estimate. Dimensionless parameters and variables describing the power plant performance are used in the cost analysis to specify the relative sizes of the power plant components (turbine-generator, power house, sluice gates, cofferdam, and barrage). The generic cost estimates are compared with those used in several site-specific studies. Unit total capital cost (cost per unit of average power produced) is calculated as a function of the size of the tidal pond resource, the latter being measured in terms of the ideal tidal pond power. A range of closure depths and lengths was used in these generic cost estimates. The minimum unit capital cost is shown to depend upon the size of the tidal pond as well as the site-specific dimensions. An optimum turbogenerator size can be determined to minimize the capital cost.

Although the cost allocation method does not change the total benefits of CHP, the use of various cost allocation methods generally results in significant differences in costs allocated for CHP products. In order to overcome the inadequacy of existing cost allocating methods in theory and in practice, according to the different roles of anergy and exergy in heat supply process of CHP plant, the reduced exergy method for cost allocation is formulated by introducing the concepts of the available anergy and reduced exergy. The contribution of the available anergy is expressed with a user factor, which can reflect different utilization for different practical conditions. Some practical conditions for typical CHP units are computed and compared with existing methods. Calculations show that the cost allocation by using the reduced exergy model is more rational and practical than those by using existing models in terms of embodying the physical meaning.

A specific net present value (SNPV) approach is introduced as a criterion in economic engineering decisions. The SNPV expresses average costs, including the growth rate and plant utilisation over the planning horizon, factors that are excluded from a standard net present value approach. The use of SNPV favours alternatives that are cheaper per service unit and are therefore closer to the costs that a user has to cover. It also shows that demand growth has a similar influence on average costs as an economy of scale. In a high growth scenario, solutions providing less idle capacity can have higher present value costs and still be economically favourable. The SNPV approach is applied in two examples to calculate acceptable additional costs for modularisation and comparable costs for on-site t...

The operation of a district heating system depends on the heat load demand, which varies throughout the year. In this paper, we analyze the coproduction of district heat and electricity or biomotor fuels. We demonstrate how three different taxation scenarios and two crude oil price levels influence the selection of production units to minimize the district heat production cost and calculate the resulting primary energy use. Our analysis is based on the annual measured heat load of a district heating system. The minimum-cost district heat production system comprises different production units that meet the district heat demand and simultaneously minimize the district heat production cost. First, we optimize the cost of a district heat production system based on the cogeneration of electrici...

BackgroundFood allergy is reported to affect 4% to 6% of children and 1% to 2% of adults in the United States. Every year, allergic reactions result in visits to physicians, emergency departments, and hospitals. However, the economic burden of food-induced allergic reactions is unknown. ObjectiveWe sought to estimate the direct medical costs and indirect costs of food-induced allergic reactions and anaphylaxis in the United States. MethodsCosts were estimated with a bottom-up approach from a societal perspective: the average cost of illness per patient was calculated and multiplied by reported prevalence estimates. Patients with an inpatient admission, emergency department admission, office-based physician visit, or outpatient visit for a food-induced allergic reaction were identified from...

The publication presents in tabulated form: a) prices and price indices, as well as their changes between 1970 and 1985, for energy sources, farming products and operating media (Federal Republic of Germany, USA, Brazil, world market); b) regression equations to deduce the prices of heating oil, petrol, and diesel fuel; c) energy and economic-efficiency calculations (computer calculations) for sugar-beet, fodder-beet, potato, grain-maize, corn-cob-mix, wheat, barley, rape in the Federal Republic of Germany, for grain-maize in the United States, and for sugar cane in Brazil; d) transport cost functions for farming products, ethanol and vegetable oil in the Federal Republic of Germany; e) energy and economic-efficiency calculations for changes in the initial parameters (fall or rise in the price of energy) for West Germany, USA, Brazil; f) characterization of different agricultural transport units and transport costs 1985/86 in West Germany.

Three cost estimating models developed by personnel of the Minerals Availability Field Office of the United States Bureau of Mines for use in developing an order-of-magnitude cost evaluation for the recovery of thorium from domestic deposits are described. The models can be used to calculate the cost, in 1977 dollars, for recovery of thorium contained in (1) thorite vein deposits similar to deposits at Wet Mountain, Colorado, and Lemhi Pass, Idaho, (2) fluviatile placer deposits similar to deposits found in the Piedmont Belt of North and South Carolina, and (3) massive carbonatite deposits similar to those found in the Powderhorn District of Colorado. The basic concepts of the cost models are discussed and a cost format, which can be used for applying the models to specific deposits, is presented.

...operating cost (including all overhead costs pro-rated to the development...costs (including pro-rated overhead costs and appropriate P...unit-weighted average of the distribution. For instance, consider a...property. As a separate line item to be added...

Electrocoagulation could be an attractive and suitable method for separating solids from waste water. The electrocoagulation of kaolinite and bentonite suspensions was studied in a pilot electrocoagulation unit to assess the cost and efficiency of the process. Factors affecting cost such as the formation of passivation layers on electrode plates and the recirculation and concentration of sodium chloride were examined. Colorimetry was used to analyze aluminum content in the suspension. The results were used to calculate the cost due to consumption of electrode material (aluminium) during the process. Total cost was assumed to comprise the energy cost and the cost of electrode material. Comparison was based on the settling properties of the treated product: turbidity, settling rate, and cake height. In most cases, aluminium efficiency averaged around 200% and material cost accounted for 80% of total cost. Although higher concentrations of sodium chloride could only slightly increase aluminium efficiency and electrode efficiency, the higher concentrations resulted in much greater total cost, due to the greater current generated by the increased suspension conductivity, which in turn dissolved a larger amount of aluminium. The recirculation loop increased the flow rate by 3-10 times, enhancing the mass transport between the electrodes and resulting in lower cost and better settling properties. Over the course of two months the electrodes coatings became thicker while efficiency decreased. The electrode efficiency was found to be as high as 94% for virgin electrodes and as low as 10% after two months. 8 refs., 25 figs., 9 tabs.

The survey indicated an increase in the number of multiple-unit stations, an increased use of coal and an increase in costs. Charts showing operating costs, fixed charges, total energy costs, fuel costs, manpower requirements, % shutdowns, unit investment, design features of the newest units in 22 stations, general data and station performance, and space factors were given.

In order to maximize the efficiency of ever increasing aluminium recycling, different mutually related aspects need to be optimised. Economic efficiency of aluminium recycling is crucially dependent on the costs, arising at different stages of recycling process. Among these, transportation costs represent very important part of overall cost balance. The general model, based on the principles of reverse logistics, was developed and applied with the aim of reducing the extent of internal aluminium scrap transportation required between certain production units of an aluminium manufacturing plant. Linear optimisation model was used for calculating minimum annual transport costs and optimal way of in-plant transport for two transport models in order to determine the most efficient option. In case of in-plant aluminium recycling only collected aluminium materials are transported which means that the most important factors in such case are fixed transport costs and variable transport costs, latter depending on distance, transported quantity, energy used for transport and other operating costs. In the first transport model, the direct transport of collected aluminium scrap from each individual source to in-plant processing units was assumed. In the second transport model, one collection site was assumed where scrap is collected and then transported to in-plant processing units. The optimisation model was also applied for determining a dependence of optimal transport model on annual quantities transported internally and on the distances between sources and processing units. It was found out that the annual transported quantities and distances between sources and in-plant processing units have a significant impact on the optimal transport model. The developed optimisation model showed that environmental and economic objectives are not always in conflict. It is also shown and commented which aspects influence reverse logistics model for in-plant recycling. (author)

This study developed models for computing the variable operating costs (i.e., fuel, labor equipment and maintenance) associated with moving coal from mines to power plants. The study also refined previous research which found that certain portions of the rail and waterways networks could become congested if greatly increased use of coal by utilities is realized. The incremental cost of routing coal shipments around the congested areas was calculated using the cost models. An analysis was made of interegional movements of coal but did not consider all factors affecting costs. It did not assess local collection and distribution capabilities or the future demands on those capabilities. In computing the capacities of origin/destination routes, the study did not consider the existence of deteriorated roadbeds, weight limitations or other constraints, such as those imposed by local communities or states. Nor did the analysis consider institutional impediments to the free movement of unit trains from one carrier's line to another, such as inter-carrier competition, differing work rules, noncompensating revenue splits, and incompatible freight rates. All of these factors can reduce the capacity of a route, thus increasing rail congestion and cost. To the extent that water carriers are used for interregional moves, the demands on the rail system will be lessened. Three computerized coal transportation cost models were developed: (1) rail; (2) inland river, Great Lakes, and coastal ocean waterways; and (3) origin/destination-loading/unlodaing and for the transfer of coal between rail and barge at intermodal transshipment points. The models calculate the costs of owning, maintaining, and operating transportation and related equipment, including: propulsion equipment, load-carrying equipment (e.g., hopper cars or barges,), crew costs, fuel costs, maintenance costs, other operating costs, and the cost of capital.

The retrospective cost analysis estimates direct in-patient costs and length of stay (LOS) in hospital for acute heart failure (AHF). Patients were hospitalized with acute decompensation (ADHF) or de novo AHF in the Faculty Hospital Brno in 2005 and 2006. Burden incurred is divided to standard cardiology unit (SCU) and intensive care unit (ICU). In-patient care costs include flat rate of admission, stay and medicinal procedures. The pharmaceuticals are included in daily in-patient rate; angiography, revascularizations and antiarrhythmic interventions are calculated separately. In total, 734 patients (57% male, mean age 71.7 years) with AHF were analyzed. De novo AHF (58.6%) was more common than ADHF; according to the clinical classification AHF with mild signs and symptoms prevailed (46%)....

Rice husk generated as a by-product of rice processing is an important energy resource. The availability of this resource in India has been assessed and the technologies for exploitation of its energy potential in rice processing industry discussed. Nomographs have been developed for estimation of the husk required to meet the energy demand of parboiling, drying and milling operations. The unit cost of electricity using rice husk gasifier-based power generation systems has been calculated and its financial feasibility assessed in comparison with utility-supplied and diesel-generated electricity. With the cost and efficiency data assumed here, the unit cost of electricity produced by rice husk gasifier-dual fuel engine-generator system varies between Rs 2/kWh and Rs 7/kWh. (author)

The integration of production and marketing planning is crucial in practice for increasing a firm's profit. However, the conventional inventory models determine the selling price and demand quantity for a retailer's maximal profit with exactly known parameters. When the demand quantity, unit cost, and production rate are represented as fuzzy numbers, the profit calculated from the model should be fuzzy as well. Unlike previous studies, this paper develops a solution method to find the fuzzy profit of the integrated production and marketing planning problem when the demand quantity, unit cost, and production rate are represented as fuzzy numbers. Based on Zadeh's extension principle, we transform the problem into a pair of two-level mathematical programming models to calculate the lower bou...

...ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9116-4...Past Response Costs Colorado Bumper...CO AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION...United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA...Past Response Costs, as...

In an environmentally harmonized society the most cost effective measures to reduce the total effluent discharges should be taken into account. Generalised discharge values are presented for organic material and nutrients in this paper. Depending on conditions in the receiving water any of these parameters can be the determining factor for the eutrophication and oxygen demand. These parameters can be generalized into equivalent loads of TOC, nitrogen or phosphorus by recalculation according to the Redfield ratio. The cost for reduction of organic material and nutrients from a pulp and paper mill is calculated as a cost per unit pollutant (cost equivalent). This cost equivalent is compared with alternative costs, expressed in the same way, for reduction of organic material and nutrients in adjacent industries, municipal treatment plants, impact from transportation, farming, air deposits etc. In order to find where the most cost efficient measures for the society should be taken the cost equivalent for the mill is compared with the alternative measures and their equivalent costs. PMID:20935381

The lifecycle cost analysis was based on corrosion costs for the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complexes and Mobile Launch Platforms. The first step in the study involved identifying the relevant assets that would be included. Secondly, the identification and collection of the corrosion control cost data for the selected assets was completed. Corrosion control costs were separated into four categories. The sources of cost included the NASA labor for civil servant personnel directly involved in overseeing and managing corrosion control of the assets, United Space Alliance (USA) contractual requirements for performing planned corrosion control tasks, USA performance of unplanned corrosion control tasks, and Testing and Development. Corrosion control operations performed under USA contractual requirements were the most significant contributors to the total cost of corrosion. The operations include the inspection of the pad, routine maintenance of the pad, medium and large scale blasting and repainting activities, and the repair and replacement of structural metal elements. Cost data was collected from the years between 2001 and 2007. These costs were then extrapolated to future years to calculate the 20 year lifecycle costs.

We propose a bit-shifting-based fuzzy inference method for an efficient digital hardware implementation. The proposed fuzzy inference method includes two new techniques which are a membership function generating method and a fast defuzzification method using only “active units”. These techniques reduce a hardware cost and a calculation cost for the membership function and the defuzzification, respectively. In this paper, we apply the proposed method to an execution mode of self-organizing relationship network. Simulation results show that the proposed method has a good approximation ability of a nonlinear I/O relationship as well as the ordinary method.   

Report describing current garbage collection services for residential properties, retail stores, restaurants, and apartment buildings along with their quantities and costs; comments on current recycling programs and the marketing of materials collected; recycling experiences in Ontario, including programs in Kitchener, Mississauga, Ajax, and Ottawa, and in Europe and the United States; and markets for recoverable materials, their quantities, revenues, diversion credits, and subsidies. The report then addresses material recovery opportunities; alternative plans of operation and their estimated costs, revenues, and subsidies; and provides a recommended plan of operation and implementation. Appendices give calculations of eligible subsidies and examples of state-wide legislation in the U.S. for waste reduction and recycling.

Unduly conservative predictions of CO{sub 2}-corrosion may prevent cost-effective solutions for corrosion control. Similarly, field experience has demonstrated that over-optimistic assumptions of the efficiency of planned corrosion mitigation may cause excessive costs not anticipated during the initial design; including monitoring, maintenance, repair and early condemnation. This paper propounds a probabilistic approach to the design of CO{sub 2}-corrosion control where both the prediction of CO{sub 2}-corrosion rate and inhibitor efficiency factors are treated as stochastic parameters, i.e. their reliabilities are assessed in quantitative terms. Such an approach allows the probability of achieving efficient corrosion control to be calculated for the specific corrosion modes which are relevant (pitting, preferential weld corrosion, longitudinal grooving and uniform corrosion). When the estimated cost consequences for the associated failure modes (leakage, rupture, collapse, etc.) are combined with the results of the probabilistic calculations, the ``Total Risk Cost`` associated with the use of C-steel can be included in a Life Cycle Cost Analysis, together with costs for investment and the scheduled operational costs for corrosion control. The penalties and benefits of increasing the wall thickness for C-steel, or the alternative use of CRA`S, can thus be compared in monetary units. Two examples of subsea pipeline cases show how a probabilistic evaluation may result in a different corrosion control strategy than that derived by a traditional deterministic treatment, even though both approaches use the same ``nominal`` CO{sub 2}-corrosion rate predictions and inhibitor treatment efficiencies.

Justifying the costs of starting and maintaining an in-house infrared thermography program is essential in ensuring continued funding and sponsorship. Cost benefit studies, whether brief and general, or strictly formalized, tend to focus on costs associated with projected equipment failure and production downtime. While these numbers can be quite dramatic, their validity rests on acceptance of the predicted failure which is inevitably the subject of some conjecture. Sometimes overlooked in these cost benefit analyses is the savings from avoided work through the optimization of routine time-directed tasks and the identification of non-problems. This includes condition based maintenance superseding preventive maintenance, and the value of including thermography in the troubleshooting process of known or suspected equipment performance problems. Using thermography inspection results to direct maintenance to the root cause of a performance problem can shorten downtime and eliminate unnecessary work and material expenditure. Cost benefit analysis of this type of inspection can be considered ``hard dollars,`` that is to say, that the money saved can be accurately calculated based on the repair costs which would normally have taken place if the information from the infrared thermography inspection had not been available. This type of savings, when presented to the administrator of the predictive maintenance program or the head of the maintenance department, represents real savings which are uncontestable in contrast to the postulated failure scenario calculations. This cost benefit analysis was done for PECO`s nuclear units.

This paper analyzes the cost efficiency and optimal scale of Taiwan's electricity distribution industry. Due to the substantial difference in network density, firms may differ widely in production technology. We employ the stochastic metafrontier approach to estimate the cost efficiency of 24 distribution units during the period 1997?2002. Empirical results find that the average cost efficiency is overestimated using the traditional stochastic frontier model, especially for low density regions. The average cost efficiency of the high density group is significantly higher than that of the low density group as it benefits from network economies. This study also calculates both short-term and long-term optimal scales of electricity distribution firms, lending policy implications for the dereg...

Background & AimsThe incidence of cirrhosis and subsequent development of organ dysfunction (OD) requiring intensive care unit (ICU) support is rising. Historically, critically ill cirrhotics are perceived as having poor prognosis and substantial cost of care. MethodsThe aim was to prospectively analyse resource utilisation and cost of a large cohort of patients (n=660) admitted to a Liver ICU from 2000 to 2007 with cirrhosis and OD. Child Pugh, MELD, SOFA, APACHE II, and organ support requirements were collected. The Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS) score, a validated tool for estimating cost in ICU, was calculated daily. Logistic regression was used to determine independent predictors of increased cost. ResultsAlcohol was the most common etiology (47%) and variceal bleeding...

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease of increasing significance in terms of economic and social burden due to its increasing prevalence and high costs. Direct costs of COPD are mostly associated with hospitalization expenditures. In this study, our objective was to investigate the costs of hospitalization and factors affecting these costs in patients hospitalized due to acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD). Methods: A total of 284 patients hospitalized AECOPD were included in the study. Data were examined retrospectively using the electronic hospital charts. Results: Mean duration of hospitalization was 11.38 ± 6.94 days among study patients. Rates of admission to the intensive care unit, initiation of non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) and invasive mechanical ventilation (MIV) were 37.3% (n=106), 44.4% (n=126) and 18.3% (n=52) respectively. The rate of mortality was 14.8% (n=42). Mean cost of a single patient hospitalized for an AECOPD was calculated as $1765 ± 2139. Mean cost of admission was $889 ± 533 in standard ward, and $2508 ± 2857 in intensive care unit (ICU). The duration of hospitalization, a FEV1% predicted value below 30%, having smoked 40 package-years or more, the number of co-morbidities, NIMV, IMV, ICU, exitus and the number of hospitalizations in the past year were among the factors that increased costs significantly. Hospital acquired pneumonia, chronic renal failure and anemia also increased the costs of COPD significantly. Conclusion: The costs of treatment increase with the severity of COPD or with progression to a higher stage. Efforts and expenditures aimed at preventing COPD exacerbations might decrease the costs in COPD. PMID:16582674

...2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Maximum project cost. 941.306 Section 941.306 Housing...and Proposal § 941.306 Maximum project cost. (a) Calculation of maximum project cost. The maximum project cost represents...

... observations of temperature and moisture profiles at high temporal resolution ( ~ daily). .... estimates of the program acquisition unit cost or procurement unit costs are reasonable ... Multiple Missions; Rapid Reprocessing; Parallel Processing ...

Problems associated with reducing the labour content and duration of construction for the RBMK-1000 NPPs are considered. General and specific labour contents for construction of the first units at the Kursk and Chernobylsk, NPPs as well as progress chart for construction-installation work at the 1-st unit of the Smolensk and 3-d unit of the Chernobylsk NPPs are presented. The analysis has shown that reduction in the general labour costs and therefore, duration of construction can be attained by reducing the number of auxiliary objects, increasing the level and mechanization of construction (with optimum utilization of gantry and turret cranes) as well as by mechanization of placing concrete mortars and use of large-block structures. According to preliminary calculations, the introduction of new solutions would ensure reduction of construction periods to 24 months for the second units and reduction of labour content by 8 to 10% at the Kursk and Chernobylsk NPPs.

The exponential growth of floating point power in graphics processing units (GPUs), together with their low cost, has given rise to an attractive platform upon which to deploy lattice QCD calculations. GPUs are essentially many (O(100)) core chips, that are programmed using a massively threaded environment, and so are representative of the future of high performance computing (HPC). The large ratio of raw floating point operations per second to memory bandwidth that is characteristic of GPUs necessitates that unique algorithmic design choices are made to harness their full potential. We review the progress to date in using GPUs for large scale calculations, and contrast GPUs against more traditional HPC architectures

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus is the standard of care for treating medically intractable Parkinson's disease. Although the adjunct of microelectrode recording improves the targeting accuracy of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation in comparison with image guidance alone, there has been no investigation of the financial cost of intraoperative microelectrode recording. This study was performed to address this issue. A comprehensive literature search of large subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation series (minimum, 75 patients) was performed, revealing a mean operating room time of 223.83 minutes for unilateral and 279.79 minutes for simultaneous bilateral implantation. The baseline operating room time was derived from the published operating room time for subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation without microelectrode recording. The total cost (operating room, anesthesia, neurosurgery) was then calculated based on hospitals geographically representative of the entire United States. The average cost for subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation implantation with microelectrode recording per patient is $26,764.79 for unilateral, $33,481.43 for simultaneous bilateral, and $53,529.58 for staged bilateral. For unilateral implantation, the cost of microelectrode recording is $19,461.75, increasing the total cost by 267%. For simultaneous bilateral implantation, microelectrode recording costs $20,535.98, increasing the total cost by 159%. For staged bilateral implantation, microelectrode recording costs $38,923.49, increasing the total cost by 267%. Microelectrode recording more than doubles the cost of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease and more than triples the cost for unilateral and staged bilateral procedures. The cost burden of microelectrode recording to subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation requires the clinical efficacy of microelectrode recording to be proven in a prospective evidence-based manner in order to curtail the potential for excessive financial burden to the health care system. PMID:21674622

... 2005 Generate your own Cost of Injury Reports! Cost of Injury Reports This application produces reports showing ... calendar years (when using your own data). The Cost of Injury and Violence in the United States ...

...National Housing Act. Financing Cost Contingency (FCC). ...except for the performance of audit, systems work and tax preparation...difference between an HFA's cost of borrowing on obligations...of the unit. Replacement cost â(a) New...

Cell concentrating and washing techniques are widely accepted and believed to be beneficial to cardiac surgery patients. During cell processing, platelets, proteins, and clotting factors are wasted as the plasma is washed away by saline. Beneficial and costly plasma constituents are sacrificed for the sake of removing potentially harmful drugs, debris, and naturally activated cells and chemical mediators. An interactive Microsoft Excel spreadsheet was designed to input patient and autotransfusion system (ATS) reservoir blood values, processed centrifugal bowl data, and hospital allogeneic blood product concentration and cost information. The spreadsheet calculates the number of wasted platelets, grams of protein, and milligrams of fibrinogen. The calculator further estimates the number of units and cost of allogeneic blood products needed to replace the wasted blood components. The simulation allows for variable levels of platelet activation and protein removal during centrifugal cell processing. Specific case scenarios may be simulated with the calculator. If a known volume of residual extracorporeal circuit blood with a known hematocrit, platelet count, and protein concentration is diverted to the ATS reservoir to be processed and washed after bypass, the number of units of fresh frozen plasma, platelet packs, and albumin concentrate needed to replace the wasted proteins and platelets may be calculated. When typical end-bypass patient and blood bank product values are input, the cost to replace the wasted blood components in 1550 mL of residual circuit blood with allogeneic blood products is about US $2097. There are risks and costs associated with replacing the platelets, proteins, and clotting factors wasted during cell washing compared with other techniques such as whole blood ultrafiltration. PMID:18389669

This paper presents an analysis of the nuclear generation expansion for the period 2008-2030. The main objective is to plan the expansion of electrical generation system at long term taking into account four decision criteria. These are, the total cost of generation, the risk associated whit changes in fuel prices, the diversity of the generation park and polluting emissions of global impact (greenhouse effect gases) and local effects (acid rain and suspended particles). The analyzed expansion plans were developed using a model of uni nodal planning called WASP-IV. The analysis methodology was based on four steps. The first consisted in developing, with model WASP-IV, different expansion plans of the electrical generation system that fulfill the energy demand and certain conditions of the study in which was optimized the additions program of generator units searching the minimal cost of electrical generation. The second step was to calculate the generation costs of each plan for two scenarios of fuel prices, also with model WASP-IV. Later was calculated the diversity index and the accumulated emissions during the expansion and the avoided emission of CO{sub 2} when units of combined cycle that burn natural gas are replaced by nuclear power units. (Author)

The objective of this project was to determine the savings in utility operating costs that could be obtained by installing a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). The target utility was Kansas City Power and Light (KCPL), a typical Midwestern utility with a mix of generating plants and many interconnections. The following applications of battery energy storage were modeled using an Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) developed and supported program called DYNASTORE: (1) Spinning Reserve Only (2) Load Leveling with Spinning Reserve (3) Load Leveling Only (4) Frequency Control DYNASTORE commits energy storage units along with generating units and calculates operating costs with and without energy storage, so that savings can be estimated. Typical weeks of hourly load data are used to make up a yearly load profile. For this study, the BESS power ranged from ``small`` to 300 MW (greater than the spinning reserve requirement). BESS storage time ranged from 1 to 8 hours duration (to cover the time-width of most peaks). Savings in operating costs were calculated for each of many sizes of MW capacity and duration. Graphs were plotted to enable the reader to readily see what size of BESS affords the greatest savings in operating costs.

Immobilized enzymes are used today in various industrial technologies, and further widespread application may by expected in the years to come. An essential precondition to this is to compare methods described in the literature for a given enzyme and recently developed immobilization techniques from aspects of economic efficiency. Comparison may be drawn on the basis of results reported in scientific papers. The study of various immobilized enzymes led to the conclusion that only material expenses can be accepted as comparative fundamental data. On the basis of this, immobilized enzymes may be described by calculation and comparison of the following three characteristic values: 1. Specific material costs of immobilization; 2. initial productivity of unit volume of the reactor, or total product formation of the immobilized enzyme applied for one half-life; 3. costs of enzymes in unit product formation. Applicability of the method is presented in the evaluation of amyloglucosidase enzymes.

The recovery of uranium from seawater is performed with synthesized amidoxime fibers. The adsorption rate of the fiber dispersed in seawater is correlated with fiber size, swelling ratio, liquid phase-side mass transfer and adsorption time. Next, balls formed with the fiber are randomly packed in a cage used as an adsorption unit. The cage is held in an ocean current, and seawater percolates through the packed bed and then permeates each ball. The adsorption yield of uranium at the outlet of the bed is calculated as a function of adsorption time. After the configurations and operational conditions of the adsorption unit are examined, the overall adsorption efficiency becomes higher than 0.5. Factors affecting the cost of recovery are evaluated, and the recovery cost is estimated with no assumption of adsorption efficiency. (author).

In this paper, to evaluate the hydrogen production cost per unit volume, system optimization of solar hydrogen energy system is discussed. Based on the simulation of the I-V characteristics of amorphous Si (a-Si) photovoltaic array, the working point between the array and hydrogen generator was determined. The cost ratio of each design point was calculated. The optimum design points were 500 W/m{sup 2} for the single crystal Si system, and 600 W/m{sup 2} for the a-Si system. When the rating capacity of design point was constant, almost constant cost ratio was obtained independent of the type of photovoltaic cells. It was found that the photovoltaic cells can be fabricated in about 15% lower cost at maximum. It was also found that the optimum design point sifts to the lower insolation site due to reduction of the photovoltaic cell cost. Since the annual hydrogen generation quantity does not depend on the type of photovoltaic cells under the constant rating capacity of design point, hydrogen can be produced in lower cost by using photovoltaic cell of lower cost. 5 refs., 10 figs., 5 tabs.

Background Given the size of the HIV epidemic in South Africa and other developing countries, scaling up antiretroviral treatment (ART) represents one of the key public health challenges of the next decade. Appropriate priority setting and budgeting can be assisted by economic data on the costs and cost-effectiveness of ART. The objectives of this research were therefore to estimate HIV healthcare utilisation, the unit costs of HIV services and the cost per life year (LY) and quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained of HIV treatment interventions from a provider's perspective. Methods Data on service utilisation, outcomes and costs were collected in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Utilisation of a full range of HIV healthcare services was estimated from 1,729 patients in the Khayelitsha cohort (1,146 No-ART patient-years, 2,229 ART patient-years) using a before and after study design. Full economic costs of HIV-related services were calculated and were complemented by appropriate secondary data. ART effects (deaths, therapy discontinuation and switching to second-line) were from the same 1,729 patients followed for a maximum of 4 years on ART. No-ART outcomes were estimated from a local natural history cohort. Health-related quality of life was assessed on a sub-sample of 95 patients. Markov modelling was used to calculate lifetime costs, LYs and QALYs and uncertainty was assessed through probabilistic sensitivity analysis on all utilisation and outcome variables. An alternative scenario was constructed to enhance generalizability. Results Discounted lifetime costs for No-ART and ART were US$2,743 and US$9,435 over 2 and 8 QALYs respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio through the use of ART versus No-ART was US$1,102 (95% CI 1,043-1,210) per QALY and US$984 (95% CI 913-1,078) per life year gained. In an alternative scenario where adjustments were made across cost, outcome and utilisation parameters, costs and outcomes were lower, but the ICER was similar. Conclusion Decisions to scale-up ART across sub-Saharan Africa have been made in the absence of incremental lifetime cost and cost-effectiveness data which seriously limits attempts to secure funds at the global level for HIV treatment or to set priorities at the country level. This article presents baseline cost-effectiveness data from one of the longest running public healthcare antiretroviral treatment programmes in Africa that could assist in enhancing efficient resource allocation and equitable access to HIV treatment.

To remove the difficulty caused by different profit frontiers in different periods of time for calculating profit efficiency changes and its components, this paper proposes a circular global profit Malmquist productivity index. This index is applicable when the input costs and output prices are known and when producers seek to maximize the total profit of their decision making units (DMUs). To this end, first, two methods are introduced to obtain the common costs and prices with or without the decision maker's preferences, and then, a common profit efficient frontier is obtained. The proposed index can be decomposed into several circular components, viz., profit efficiency change, profit technical change, technical efficiency change, allocative efficiency change, technical change, and cost...

This document presents the estimated amount of the charges of the power production public utility for 2003. This estimation is based on the detailed data supplied by the operators, like Electricite de France (EdF), who bear the charges and by the managers of the public networks. The calculation method used for the estimation is detailed in the appendix: production cost overruns in non-interconnected areas, cost overruns due to the obligation of electricity purchase and to the contracts of purchase anterior to the law from February 10, 2000, estimated amount of the charges to be compensated and of the treasury management costs, estimated number of kWh submitted to contribution in 2003 and unit estimated contribution. (J.S.)

This report presents a practical model for designers whose job it is to dimension a plate heat exchanger used especially in heat recovery systems for ventilation. Special attention was given to the economic optimization of such a unit. The first part of the report presents the most important types of heat exchangers and then goes on to present those that are normally used in ventilation systems for heat recovery. The second part discusses the operating costs, investments required and the savings in costs that can be achieved through heat recovery. The third part takes a look at the theory of heat transfer and the characteristics of heat exchanger. In the finally part, a utilization of this model is presented. The results from this are discussed in the following. The developed equations have been calculated and plotted by the use of the numeric software MATLAB. The code used for calculation with MATLAB is listed in the appendix. (orig.) 16 refs.

Background: Studies assessing fibrin sealants use during total knee replacement (TKR) have produced inconsistent results. We evaluated fibrin sealant therapy in TKR procedures performed without tourniquet and without postoperative drains. Hypothesis: Use of a fibrin sealant during TKR decreases calculated total blood loss, thereby diminishing blood transfusion requirements and costs. Patients and methods: We studied 62 patients with primary knee osteoarthritis who underwent TKR by the same surgeon between September 2009 and December 2010. Fibrin sealant was used only in the last 31 patients, who were compared to the first 31 patients regarding calculated total blood loss, blood transfusion rate, and mean number of red-blood-cell units used per patient. Costs were compared in the two groups...

Abstract in english Background: Stroke is the second specific cause of death in Chile, with a mortality rate of 48.6 per 100.000 inhabitans. It accounts for 6% of all hospitalizations among adults. Aim: To study the type of patients hospitalized at a Stroke Unit in a general hospital and the costs and benefits of such unit. Material and methods: A descriptive and retrospective study using a patient registry, developed in Access® that included separate sections for ischemic and hemorrhagic s (more) troke. Established diagnostic criteria were used. The mean costs per patient and complications were also calculated. Results: During 2003, 425 stroke patients were admitted to our hospital and 105 (age range 30-89 years, 58% female) were hospitalized at the Stroke Unit. Eighty three percent had ischemic and 16% had hemorrhagic stroke. The most common etiologies were thrombosis in 41%, embolism in 36%, lacunar in 13%, arterial dissection in 5% and transient ischemic attack in 3%. Fifty eight percent of patients had partial anterior ischemic stroke (PACI), 73% had hypertension and 29.5% diabetes. Only 18% arrived to the Stroke Unit with less of 6 hours of evolution, 7% of patients were admitted within the 3 hours after the onset of symptoms and 18%, from 3 to 6 hours. The mean lenght of stay in the Stroke Unit was 6.6 days and at the hospital 9.9 days (p

The Integrated Biomass Supply & Logistics (IBSAL) model is a dynamic (time dependent) model of operations that involve collection, harvest, storage, preprocessing, and transportation of feedstock for use at a biorefinery. The model uses mathematical equations to represent individual unit operations. These unit operations can be assembled by the user to represent the working rate of equipment and queues to represent storage at facilities. The model calculates itemized costs, energy input, and carbon emissions. It estimates resource requirements and operational characteristics of the entire supply infrastructure. Weather plays an important role in biomass management and thus in IBSAL, dictating the moisture content of biomass and whether or not it can be harvested on a given day. The model calculates net biomass yield based on a soil conservation allowance (for crop residue) and dry matter losses during harvest and storage. This publication outlines the development of the model and provides examples of corn stover harvest and logistics.

This article presents new estimates of how much the unit costs of public services, such as the NHS and schools, have changed compared to unit costs in general: the change in the relative cost of public service output. Between 1997 and 2007, the unit cost of public service output in total grew by 13.7 per cent more than unit costs for the whole economy, an annual average relative rise of 1.3 per cent. In 2007, the unit cost of public service output rose by 0.6 per cent less than costs in general, the only time relative costs fell over the 10 year period. The relative cost of public service output changes as a result of a combination of two factors: changes in the price of inputs used in the public service, such as pay rates for people employed and prices paid for the goods and services used...

Economic impact of introduction in the future of photovoltaic power generation (PV) systems into the commercial power system is discussed from the electric utilities` point of view. In the discussion, future demand for power is predicted from the demand for power in the base year, and the optimum power source configuration corresponding to the future demand and power generation curve are worked out by use of linear programming. Then, the fixed cost and variable cost are calculated for each of the power source components, and then the expected reduction in cost per unit of power generated is calculated. As the power sources, the hydroelectric, pumped storage, oil-fired, coal-fired, LNG-fired, combined cycle, and atomic technologies are considered. The conclusion is stated below. Upon introduction of PV power equivalent to 10% of the maximum demand power, the maximum power in the service area of Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc., will be reduced by 1.23GW in 2025, and the yearly demand power by 5472GWh. Since PV lowers the peak, an increased number of power sources low in variable cost will be used although such will be low in tracking capability. An increase in power demand will enhance the cost reducing effect of the PV system. 5 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.

At the request of the Western Area Power Administration (Western), an audit of 17 areas was conducted with respect to possible overcharges on a power contract between Western and Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin), Contract No. DE-MP65-82WP-19001. The contract for Western`s purchase of electric power from Basin was entered into on April 15, 1982, and was in effect from January 1, 1986, through October 31, 1990. During this 58-month period, Basin billed Western approximately $197.6 million. Overall, it was found that Basin overcharged Western approximately $23.8 million. These overcharges occurred because Basin: (1) did not recognize or amortize as gain its overestimate of completion and correction costs for Antelope Valley Station (AVS) Unit 2; (2) did not amortize the gain on the sale/leaseback of AVS Unit 2 as an offset to lease costs; (3) billed Western prematurely for lease and interest costs; (4) overcharged for the cost of coal by including administrative and general expenses and profit, as well as incorrectly calculating discounts, royalty payments, and imputed interest costs; (5) made faulty calculations of amortization rates for deferred costs; (6) used a shorter depreciation period for AVS common facilities than it had used for other power plants; (7) retained tax benefit transfers; and (8) charged Western for interest and depreciation that had been paid by others. In addition to the $23.8 million in overcharges, interest accrued on the overcharges through December 31, 1996 was estimated to be approximately $22.1 million, resulting in a total of $45.9 million due Western.

Landscape management grass is generally harvested late, resulting in unfavorable composition for many utilization purposes. This study explores various technical concepts of biogas production and their economic viability. The Lower Oder Valley National Park is taken here as an example. This National Park in North-East Germany comprises large grassland areas with conservation-related restrictions on management. The concepts of biogas production and use considered are: (1) decentralized digestion and use of biogas at five autonomous combined heat and power (CHP) units, (2) decentralized digestion and delivery of the biogas to a centralized CHP unit, (3) decentralized digestion, upgrading of the biogas and feeding into the natural gas grid, and (4) one central biogas plant with centralized CHP unit. Annual costs and revenues of biogas production were calculated for each alternative. Biogas production from landscape management grass meets the conservational demands of late cutting periods and under certain circumstances shows a profit. PMID:20801018

Using the simulation program CHEMCAD, performance characteristics, design optimization, and costs of an absorption/stripping system used to purify 100 kg h?1 of biogas in a biogas power plant were investigated. Potential absorbents used in the chemical absorption process were the following aqueous solutions: pure diglycolamine, diglycolamine/piperazine, and diglycolamine/methyldiethanolamine/piperazine. Mixtures for agricultural biogas purification to below 1 vol. % of CO2 and 4 × 10?4 mass % of H2S were determined via a simulation in the above mentioned program. The chosen mixtures were then entered into an absorption/desorption system and simulations for each unit were provided by CHEMCAD. From the simulation results, the design parameters were calculated and entered into each unit?s ?co...

This report is a result of an additional study made of the economic feasibility of producing substitute natural gas (SNG) from wood via catalytic gasification with steam. The report has as its basis the original 2000 tons of wood per day study generated from process development unit testing performed by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory. The goal of this additional work was to determine the feasibility of a smaller scale plant one-tenth the size of the original or 200 tons of dry wood feed per day. Plant production based on this wood feed is 2.16 MM Scfd of SNG with a HHV of 956 Btu per Scf. All process and support facilities necessary to convert wood to SNG are included in this study. The plant location is Newport, Oregon. The capital cost for the plant is $26,680,000 - September 1980 basis. Gas production costs which allow for return on capital have been calculated for various wood prices for both utility and private investor financing. These wood prices represent the cost of unchipped wood delivered to the plant site. For utility financing, the gas production costs are, respectively, $14.34, $14.83, $15.86, and $17.84 per MM Btu for wood costs of $5, $10, $20, and $40 per dry ton. For private investor financing, the corresponding product costs are $18.76, $19.26, $20.28, and $22.31 per MM Btu for the corresponding wood costs. The costs calculated by the utility financing method includes a return on equity of 15% and an interest rate of 10% on the debt. The private investor financing method, which is 100% equity financing, incorporates a discounted cash flow (DCF) return on equity of 12%. The thermal efficiency without taking an energy credit for char is 57.4%.

We describe the use of graphics processing units (GPUs) for speeding up the code NBODY6 which is widely used for direct N-body simulations. Over the years, the N2 nature of the direct force calculation has proved a barrier for extending the particle number. Following an early introduction of force polynomials and individual time steps, the calculation cost was first reduced by the introduction of a neighbour scheme. After a decade of GRAPE computers which speeded up the force calculation further, we are now in the era of GPUs where relatively small hardware systems are highly cost effective. A significant gain in efficiency is achieved by employing the GPU to obtain the so-called regular force which typically involves some 99 per cent of the particles, while the remaining local forces are evaluated on the host. However, the latter operation is performed up to 20 times more frequently and may still account for a significant cost. This effort is reduced by parallel SSE/AVX procedures where each interaction term is calculated using mainly single precision. We also discuss further strategies connected with coordinate and velocity prediction required by the integration scheme. This leaves hard binaries and multiple close encounters which are treated by several regularization methods. The present NBODY6-GPU code is well balanced for simulations in the particle range 104-2 × 105 for a dual-GPU system attached to a standard PC.

A workbook for implementing an abbreviated version of the RD and D portfolio selection methodology described in A Resource Allocation Methodology for Establishing RD and D Budgetary Priorities is presented. The purpose of the abbreviated methodology is to allow a fast, first-cut analysis of a set of programs and to provide a means of discovering important issues that deserve more detailed analysis. The use of the abbreviated methodology in the overall process of evaluating RD and D programs is outlined. The effect of the program on a process is represented by the process model. Those process cost and performance characteristics that are important to the market for an energy product are described. The product cost model takes the cost and performance characteristics and the feedstock price and calculates the cost of producing a unit of energy using the technology in question. The market model takes this cost, the demand for the energy product, and the characteristics of alternative sources of the same product, and specifies the market share captured by the new technology. From this point it is relatively straightforward to infer the impacts of the new technology on the energy system. The benefit model evaluates the impacts in a consistent way, given the cost of the Federal support.

This document reviews the work performed during the quarter April-June 2004. Task 1 (Site Preparation) had been completed 2003, along with three weeks of oxycombustion tests in Task 2 (experimental test performance) of the project. In current reporting period, the experimental testing has been completed: one additional week of tests has been performed to finalize the optimization of the combustion characteristics in O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} environment ; two more days of testing were dedicated to mercury sampling in air-fired or O{sub 2}-fired conditions, and to characterization of heat transfer in O{sub 2} conditions vs. to air-blown conditions. Task 3 (Techno-Economic Study) has also been completed in current quarter: 250MWe, 500MWe and 1000MWe oxygen-fired PC unit have been simulated and quoted, and their performance and cost have been compared to same-capacity air-fired pulverized coal (PC) unit and IGCC. New and retrofit cases have been evaluated. The comparison has been completed in terms of capital cost, operating cost, cost of electricity and cost of CO{sub 2} avoided. The scope of task 4 (Conceptual Boiler Design) had been modified as per DOE request in previous quarter. Engineering calculations are currently in progress. Next steps include detail review of the experimental data collected during the entire testing campaign, finalization of detailed report on economic task, and reporting of the preliminary results in the boiler design task. Two papers summarizing the project main achievements have been presented at Clearwater coal conference in April 2004 (overall project results), and at the CO{sub 2} sequestration conference in May 2004 (emphasis on economics). Out of the {approx}$785k allocated DOE funds in this project, $545k have been spent to date, mainly in site preparation, test performance and economics assessment. In addition to DOE allocated funds, to date approximately $400k have been cost-shared by the participants, bringing the total project cost up to $945k as on June 30, 2004.

Electricity generated by distributed energy resources (DER) located close to end-use loads has the potential to meet consumer requirements more efficiently than the existing centralized grid. Installation of DER allows consumers to circumvent the costs associated with transmission congestion and other non-energy costs of electricity delivery and potentially to take advantage of market opportunities to purchase energy when attractive. On-site thermal power generation is typically less efficient than central station generation, but by avoiding non-fuel costs of grid power and utilizing combined heat and power (CHP) applications, i.e., recovering heat from small-scale on-site generation to displace fuel purchases, then DER can become attractive to a strictly cost-minimizing consumer. In previous efforts, the decisions facing typical commercial consumers have been addressed using a mixed-integer linear programme, the DER Customer Adoption Model(DER-CAM). Given the site s energy loads, utility tariff structure, and information (both technical and financial) on candidate DER technologies, DER-CAM minimizes the overall energy cost for a test year by selecting the units to install and determining their hourly operating schedules. In this paper, the capabilities of DER-CAM are enhanced by the inclusion of the option to store recovered low-grade heat. By being able to keep an inventory of heat for use in subsequent periods, sites are able to lower costs even further by reducing off-peak generation and relying on storage. This and other effects of storages are demonstrated by analysis of five typical commercial buildings in San Francisco, California, and an estimate of the cost per unit capacity of heat storage is calculated.

A study was undertaken to review the application of variable speed drives in various utility applications such as: boiler feed pumps, condensate extraction pumps, condenser cooling water pumps, forced draft fans and induced draft fans. The various types of drive considered were: fluid couplings, hydroviscous couplings, steam turbines, eddy current couplings, two or three speed motors, wound rotor induction motors with rheostat control and with static slip recovery, dc motors, rectifier inverter synchronous motors and converter fed squirrel cage induction motors. It was found that fluid couplings and hydroviscous couplings had the lowest efficiencies and lowest capital costs, whereas steam turbines and rectifier inverter synchronous motors had the highest efficiencies and capital costs. It was found that the selection of variable speed drives was very dependent on energy costs, capital costs, operating time at different loads, and methods of depreciation for tax purposes. Because of the complex nature of the economic analysis, an evaluation using Texas Instruments TI-59 programmable calculators, based on life cycle costing, was developed. Sample economic evaluations were made for retrofitting a 150 MW oil-fired unit with variable speed drives and also for using these on a new 400 MW coal-fired unit. It was found that variable speed drives were viable with earliest paybacks falling within the range of less than one year to ten years. The lower operating costs of the steam turbines and rectifier inverter synchronous motors did not justify their higher capital costs while the high speed rectifier inverter synchronous motor driving a boiler feed pump was uneconomical due to a payback period of greater than 35 years. 13 refs., 33 figs., 9 tabs

The broad objective of this study was to improve the efficiency of combine harvesting of sugar cane in Barbados. The harvesting process was broken down into two subsystems: a field subsystem and a factory yard subsystem. Two computer simulation models structured in GASP IV simulation language, were developed to model the operations involved in these systems. Model FIELDOP simulated the activities involved in the harvesting and loading of cane in the field, and in its transportation to the factory for processing. Model FACYARD simulated the weighing and unloading activities performed on cane transport units at the factory. Output from the models included utilization factors for the various component machines, daily cane delivery from the field system, and daily amounts of cane handled by the factory yard system. This output was fed into a cost program which calculated unit harvesting costs and total annual cane delivery for the equipment combinations simulated. Results indicated that a second scale at the factory can reduce the factory residence time of transport units by 88%, increase combine harvester utilization efficiency by 50-60%, increase daily cane receipts at the factory by more than 30%, and eliminate milling lost time due to lack of cane. The economic analysis demonstrated that harvesting cost per tonne can be significantly reduced.

Development of liquid biofuels has entered a new phase of large scale pilot demonstration. A number of plants that are in operation or under construction face the task of addressing the engineering challenges of creating a viable plant design, scaling up and optimizing various unit operations. It is well-known that separation technologies account for 50-70% of both capital and operating cost. Additionally, reduction of environmental impact creates technological challenges that increase project cost without adding to the bottom line. Different technologies vary in terms of selection of unit operations; however, solid-liquid separations are likely to be a major contributor to the overall project cost. Despite the differences in pretreatment approaches, similar challenges arise for solid-liquid separation unit operations. A typical process for ethanol production from biomass includes several solid-liquid separation steps, depending on which particular stream is targeted for downstream processing. The nature of biomass-derived materials makes it either difficult or uneconomical to accomplish complete separation in a single step. Therefore, setting realistic efficiency targets for solid-liquid separations is an important task that influences overall process recovery and economics. Experimental data will be presented showing typical characteristics for pretreated cane bagasse at various stages of processing into cellulosic ethanol. Results of generic material balance calculations will be presented to illustrate the influence of separation target efficiencies on overall process recoveries and characteristics of waste streams. PMID:20607445

This report compares the energy performance and life-cycle cost of central and individual heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems as well as domestic hot water (DHW) systems in new multifamily buildings. The different systems were analyzed by using DOE-2.1C to model prototypical apartment buildings in Chicago and Atlanta with Weather Year for Energy Calculation weather data. The building is equipped with either a central chiller and gas-fired boiler, which supply four-pipe fan coils in each apartment, or is conditioned by individual packaged terminal air conditioners in each apartment. The building with central HVAC also has a central, gas-fired domestic hot water system; the building with individual units has electric water heaters in each apartment. The individual systems were modeled with and without a setback thermostat. The use of natural gas for space and water heating and the more efficient central chiller resulted in an annual energy cost savings for the central system in both cities. A life-cycle cost comparison of system types shows that apartment buildings with as few as five units in Chicago and as few as 30 units in Atlanta should be designed with central HVAC and DHW systems.

The report is the culmination of a study performed to develop designs and associated capital cost estimates for multi-unit nuclear and coal commercial electric power stations, and to determine the distribution of these costs among the individual units. This report addresses six different types of 2400 MWe (nominal) multi-unit stations as follows: -Two Unit PWR Station - 1139 MWe Each; -Two Unit BWR Station - 1190 MWe Each; -Two Unit High Sulfur Coal-Fired Station - 1232 MWe Each; -Two Unit Low Sulfur Coal-Fired Station - 1243 MWe Each; -Three Unit High Sulfur Coal-Fired Station - 794 MWe Each; -Three Unit Low Sulfur Coal-Fired Station - 801 MWe Each. Recent capital cost studies performed for ERDA/NRC of single unit nuclear and coal stations are used as the basis for developing the designs and costs of the multi-unit stations. These single unit capital cost studies are identified in the Foreward of this report. This report includes, the Major Study Groundrules, a Summary of Single and Multi-Unit Stations Total Base Cost Estimates, Details of Cost Estimates at the three digit account level and Plot Plan Drawings for each multi-unit station identified above.

This report presents a number of reduction initiatives for 2020 and 2050 which can reduce Danish emission of greenhouse gases with up to 58% in 2020 and 73% in 2050 compared with 1990 emissions. Annual costs of these reduction levels correspond to 0.6% and 0.8% respectively of the Danes' income in 2020 and 2050. Some of the reductions can profitably be carried out in the power and heat production process. However, new technological possibilities within the transportation sector, e.g. hydrogen, hybrid or electric-powered vehicles can prove to be promising and important sources of further reductions. Initiatives in within the transportation sector are at any rate necessary in order to reach reduction goals of this size. The aim of the project is detailed analyses of specific reduction initiatives within transport and energy. For each initiative both potential and unit costs are computed. By ranking the initiatives according to unit costs, a cost-efficient composition of initiatives for a given reduction target can be calculated. (BA)

It is well known that algorithms exist for reducing pipeline operating costs. These algorithms are exact for ideal pipelines and need to be modified to provide solutions for the real world. The issues include pipeline configurations, utility cost structures, and quantification of hydraulic safety. Successful modification requires understanding of the pipeline operating environment (on-line operations) and must be linked to pipeline operating conditions. Many of the optimization tools available to the pipeline industry today are based upon a dynamic programming algorithm attributed to Bellman. The costs of unit operations are balanced with the energy absorbed in heat due to frictional and other losses. This is carried out in such a way as to reduce the massive computational effort of an exhaustive solution search to a manageable level. For a pedagogical treatment of the problem, this is adequate. However, there are many significant factors which need to be added into and around this basic calculation. First, an algorithm with electrical cost factors only cannot evaluate penalties associated with poor hydraulics choices. Demand grouping, parallel pipelines, large amplitude pressure cycles, look ahead, and unit cycling also can and should be included in a full analysis. A modification to Bellman`s algorithm for non-linear pipeline configurations and electrical contracts will be developed and discussed in the context of a real-world petroleum pipeline operation.

Rational use of energy has to be supported by special accounting and supervision of the energy input. It was shown how to account energy consumption in complex livestock farming enterprises by cost centre and cost unit accounting. By this method the energy costs per responsibility basis and product unit can be ascertained and controlled in the enterprises.

Abstract in spanish Objetivo: Actualmente, los programas de mantenimiento con metadona (PMM) son la mejor alternativa de tratamiento para los adictos a opiáceos. Se pretende valorar el coste-efectividad de tres PMM que ofrecían diferentes servicios auxiliares utilizando como medida de efectividad el incremento de la calidad de vida. Métodos: Estudio de seguimiento a 12 meses de 586 pacientes que iniciaron tratamiento con metadona en los centros de atención y seguimiento municipales de Ba (more) rcelona. Para medir la evolución de la calidad de vida se utilizó el Perfil de Salud de Nottingham (PSN). Se calcularon los costes unitarios estándar y el coste total por paciente a partir de los registros de actividad. Los datos sociodemográficos, de salud y toxicológicos se obtuvieron a través de una entrevista semiestructurada. El análisis coste-efectividad se realizó mediante dos modelos multivariados con idénticas variables de ajuste. Resultados: Cuanto mayor es la intensidad de programa, más elevado es el coste. Los modelos ajustados detectaron un aumento significativo de la calidad de vida (mejora de un 8% en el PSN) y de los costes (17%) entre el programa de intensidad baja y el de intensidad media. Conclusiones: El programa de media intensidad demostró la mejor relación coste-efectividad pero, dadas las limitaciones del estudio, es difícil ser taxativo en la generalización de sus resultados. Abstract in english Objective: Methadone maintenance programs (MMP) currently offer the best treatment for opioid-addicted patients. The aim of this study was to examine the cost-effectiveness of three MMPs that offered varying levels of supplementary services. Health-related quality of life was used as a measure of effectiveness. Methods: A 12-month follow-up study of 586 patients beginning methadone treatment in Drug Care Centers in Barcelona was performed. The Nottingham Health Profile wa (more) s used to measure quality of life. Standard unit costs and total cost per patient were calculated from activity registries. Sociodemographic, health-related and toxicological data were collected through a semi-structured interview. A cost-effectiveness analysis was performed through two multiple linear regressions with the same adjusting variables. Results: The greater the number of supplementary services involved, the higher the costs. The adjusted models revealed a significant increase in health-related quality of life (an increase of 8% in the Nottingham Health Profile) and in costs (17%) between low- and medium-intensity programs. Conclusion: The medium-intensity program showed the best cost-effectiveness ratio. However, the study's limitations preclude categoric generalization of the data.

The use of optimization on the rescheduling of replacement dates provided a very proactive approach to deciding when components on individual units need to be addressed with a run/repair/replace decision. Including the effects of time value of money and taxes and unit need inside the spreadsheet model allowed the decision maker to concentrate on the effects of engineering input and replacement date decisions on the final net present value (NPV). The personal computer (PC)-based model was applied to a group of 140 forced outage critical fossil plant tube components across a power system. The estimated resulting NPV of the optimization was in the tens of millions of dollars. This PC spreadsheet model allows the interaction of inputs from structural reliability risk assessment models, plant foreman interviews, and actual failure history on a by component by unit basis across a complete power production system. This model includes not only the forced outage performance of these components caused by tube failures but, in addition, the forecasted need of the individual units on the power system and the expected cost of their replacement power if forced off line. The use of cash flow analysis techniques in the spreadsheet model results in the calculation of an NPV for a whole combination of replacement dates. This allows rapid assessments of {open_quotes}what if{close_quotes} scenarios of major maintenance projects on a systemwide basis and not just on a unit-by-unit basis.

Abstract in spanish Objetivos: Comparar los costes del tratamiento ambulatorio por una Unidad de Hospitalización a Domicilio (HADO) frente a la hospitalización convencional en el tratamiento agudo de la trombosis venosa profunda (TVP) y embolismo pulmonar (EP). Métodos: Durante el año 2002 se trataron 21 pacientes con TVP en la Unidad de HADO. La mediana de edad fue de 81 años, 11 fueron mujeres (52%) y, excepto uno, todos los pacientes presentaban importante comorbilidad. El diagnósti (more) co se realizó en el hospital por ecografía-doppler. En 13 casos se realizó además una gammagrafía pulmonar, objetivándose EP concomitante en 7 pacientes. El tratamiento se realizó mediante heparinas de bajo peso molecular (HBPM) seguidas de anticoagulantes orales en 3 pacientes. No hubo complicaciones excepto un caso que requirió un ingreso breve debido al pobre control sintomático de la TVP y cuyos costes se imputaron a HADO. El estudio comparativo de costes se realizó con respecto a pacientes con TVP (grupo de diagnóstico relacionado, GDR 131) y EP ingresados (GDR: 78). El coste farmacológico para pacientes de HADO se calculó para 10 días. Resultados: La estancia media hospitalaria de los pacientes ingresados fue de 8,1 días en TVP y 13,1 en TEP frente a 1 día en los pacientes en HADO. El ahorro de costes en HADO para el tratamiento agudo fue estimado en 1.680 e por paciente. Conclusiones: El tratamiento ambulatorio mediante una unidad de HADO de pacientes con TVP (y TEP seleccionados) resultó una estrategia segura, eficaz y coste-efectiva. Abstract in english Aims: To compare the home-care management of deep vein thromboses (DVT) by a Home Care Unit (HCU) respect to conventional inpatient treatment. Methods: Twenty-one patients with a doppler-ecography diagnosis of DVT were managed by the HCU during 2002. In 7 out 13 a concomitant diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) was made by lung scan. Median age was 81 years, 52% were women and all, except one case, showed severe medical concomitant conditions. All patients received low-w (more) eight molecular heparin, followed by oral anticoagulants in 3 patients. No patients died and only one was hopitalized briefly due to a poor thrombosis-related pain control. Costs of this patient were added to those of HCU. A comparison was made between ambulatory and hospitalary costs for EP and DVT. Pharmacological treatment costs were calculated for a 10-days period. Results: The length of inhospital stay was 1 day for HCU vs. 8 days (DVT) and 13 days (EP). There was a estimated cost-saving of 1680 € per patient. Conclusions: The management of DVT in patients with serious conditions, can be accomplished safely and in a cost-saving manner by a Home Care Unit.

Research in this project centers upon developing a new approach to the direct liquefaction of coal to produce an all-distillate product slate at a sizable cost reduction over current technology. The approach integrates all aspects of the coal liquefaction process including coal selection, pretreatment, coal swelling with catalyst impregnation, coal liquefaction experimentation, product recovery with characterization, alternate bottoms processing, and a technical assessment including an economic evaluation. Work has centered upon obtaining bulk samples of feedstocks for the project, up-dating the background literature, and preparing and testing a computer program to perform material balance calculations for the continuous flow liquefaction unit.

Innovations made at Hershey Chocolate Company's Oakdale, California plant eliminated simultaneous cool-reheat-cycles by incorporating dead band controls into existing HVAC systems. Calculated savings of the project are about 90% of former heating and cooling energy usage for HVAC operation. Electric power savings amount to about $75,000/y, and natural gas savings about $185,000/y, using 1980 fuel costs, with an approximate 4-month payback. Because of the reduced demand for chilled water, a smaller water chiller carries full plant load for 4 to 5 months of the year without operating two existing 500-ton units.

Economic load dispatch among thermal units has been one of the most important problems in the field of power systems operation. Usually so called equal marginal cost criterion is adopted to this calculation. Recently global trend of utilizing more and more renewable energy makes this problem more important than ever. In case of large penetration of fluctuating power sources such as PV or wind, thermal units are more often required to change their prescheduled operation pattern because the outputs from PV and wind power generators are affected by uncertain change of weather condition. In a sense the large scale utilization of natural energy depends on the flexible and adaptive operation of the thermal units. In such a situation it is easily imagined that thermal units would be required to change their output faster than before sometimes violating the limitation due to the physical constraints of the plant including boilers. We will need a load dispatch calculation method which maximally utilizes their output change capability within the upper limits of the ramp rate. Dynamic economic load dispatch has been studied for a long time to give appropriate load dispatch among generators considering the above stated constraints. However the existing methods are not enough in case of the scenario of very steep demand change. Some more sophisticated calculation scheme is highly needed today which gives us feasible solution in severer situations. This paper proposes a new calculation scheme for the above stated dynamic economic load dispatch problem based on functional optimization which numerically solves Euler's differential equation in the field of calculus of variations. The constraints related to units output and output ramp rate are readily considered by the logarithmic penalty function terms in the objective function together with the equality constraint regarding the total demand balance. Numerical examples show that the proposed method can solve the above stated severe situation which has been difficult to treat by the existing methods. Convergence performance is also discussed.

Background Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is a source of hematopoietic precursor cells for transplantation. The creation of UCB banks in 1992 led to the possibility of storing units of UCB for unrelated transplants. The distribution of cell contents in historical inventories is not homogenous and many units are not, therefore, suitable for adults. The aim of this study was to analyse our UCB bank inventory, evaluate the units released for transplantation and calculate the cost of the current process per unit of UCB stored. Methods Three study periods were defined. In the first period, from January 1996 to January 2006, the total nucleated cell (TNC) count acceptable for processing was 4–6×108 and a manual processing system was used. In the second period, from October 2006 to July 2010, processing was automated and the acceptable TNC count varied from 8–10×108. In the third period, from January 2009 to June 2010, an automated Sepax-BioArchive procedure was used and the accepted initial TNC count was >10×108. Within each period the units were categorised according to various ranges of cryopreserved TNC counts in the units: A, >16.2×108; B1, from 12.5–16.1×108; B2, from 5.2–12.4×108; and C, bank should store units of high-quality, in terms of the TNC count of units issued for transplantation, have a training programme to optimise the selection of donors prior to delivery, use similar volume reduction systems and homogenous recovery indices, express its indicators in the same units, use validated analytical techniques, and bear in mind ethnic minorities. PMID:16266332

We describe the use of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for speeding up the code NBODY6 which is widely used for direct $N$-body simulations. Over the years, the $N^2$ nature of the direct force calculation has proved a barrier for extending the particle number. Following an early introduction of force polynomials and individual time-steps, the calculation cost was first reduced by the introduction of a neighbour scheme. After a decade of GRAPE computers which speeded up the force calculation further, we are now in the era of GPUs where relatively small hardware systems are highly cost-effective. A significant gain in efficiency is achieved by employing the GPU to obtain the so-called regular force which typically involves some 99 percent of the particles, while the remaining local forces are evaluated on the host. However, the latter operation is performed up to 20 times more frequently and may still account for a significant cost. This effort is reduced by parallel SSE/AVX procedures where each interaction ...

Activity-based costing (ABC) is an accounting technique designed to guard against potentially serious financial problems that can arise when an organization's accounting costs deviate significantly from its actual costs. In general, an ABC analysis considers two factors: a cost element (a directly measurable unit of cost, such as the cost of an item) and a cost driver (a directly measurable feature of the service, such as how often the item is used). ABC is best applied to specific service areas, orservice packages, for which consumption of resources is largely predictable and atomic units of services can be accurately identified. PMID:23173369

Electricity produced by distributed energy resources (DER)located close to end-use loads has the potential to meet consumerrequirements more efficiently than the existing centralized grid.Installation of DER allows consumers to circumvent the costs associatedwith transmission congestion and other non-energy costs of electricitydelivery and potentially to take advantage of market opportunities topurchase energy when attractive. On-site, single-cycle thermal powergeneration is typically less efficient than central station generation,but by avoiding non-fuel costs of grid power and by utilizing combinedheat and power (CHP) applications, i.e., recovering heat from small-scaleon-site thermal generation to displace fuel purchases, DER can becomeattractive to a strictly cost-minimizing consumer. In previous efforts,the decisions facing typical commercial consumers have been addressedusing a mixed-integer linear program, the DER Customer Adoption Model(DER-CAM). Given the site s energy loads, utility tariff structure, andinformation (both technical and financial) on candidate DER technologies,DER-CAM minimizes the overall energy cost for a test year by selectingthe units to install and determining their hourly operating schedules. Inthis paper, the capabilities of DER-CAM are enhanced by the inclusion ofthe option to store recovered low-grade heat. By being able to keep aninventory of heat for use in subsequent periods, sites are able to lowercosts even further by reducing lucrative peak-shaving generation whilerelying on storage to meet heat loads. This and other effects of storageare demonstrated by analysis of five typical commercial buildings in SanFrancisco, California, USA, and an estimate of the cost per unit capacityof heat storage is calculated.

To estimate the transportation energy implications of residential development, the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) from that development was calculated for each individual unit of government in Dane County. The VMT incorporates the trip frequency and the associated trip length for vehicular trips made by occupants of single and multi-family dwelling units for any given location in the county. The methodology involved ten basic steps which included: defining the overall study area, defining subareas, determining the average number of household trips by dwelling unit type in each subarea, determining the average trip length for each household type, calculating the resulting VMT, applying the VMT factors to the existing fleet of vehicles and the estimated miles per gallon (MPG) rating, estimating the gallons of fuel consumed, converting gallons to Btu's, determining density and transportation energy relationships, and developing a system for tracking transportation energy consumption trends from residential development. The results available include trip frequency rates, average trip length, annual vehicle miles traveled, the resulting gallons of fuel consumed and costs of that fuel. These factors are provided for single-family and multi-family units. The data are presented in two different categories: community class and geographic area.

African swine fever remains the greatest limitation to the development of the pig industry in Africa, and parts of Asia and Europe. It is especially important in West and Central African countries where the disease has become endemic. Biosecurity is the implementation of a set of measures that reduce the risk of infection through segregation, cleaning and disinfection. Using a 122-sow piggery unit, a financial model and costing were used to estimate the economic benefits of effective biosecurity against African swine fever. The outcomes suggest that pig production is a profitable venture that can generate a profit of approximately US$109,637.40 per annum and that an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) has the potential to cause losses of up to US$910,836.70 in a single year. The implementation of biosecurity and its effective monitoring can prevent losses owing to ASF and is calculated to give a benefit-cost ratio of 29. A full implementation of biosecurity will result in a 9.70% reduction in total annual profit, but is justified in view of the substantial costs incurred in the event of an ASF outbreak. Biosecurity implementation is robust and capable of withstanding changes in input costs including moderate feed price increases, higher management costs and marginal reductions in total outputs. It is concluded that biosecurity is a key to successful pig production in an endemic situation. PMID:21929615

...whole, such as groundskeeping costs and general administrative costs, may be paid from project rental assistance on a pro-rata basis according to the percentage of 202 or 811 supportive housing units as compared to the total number of...

Contents: Specific compliance requirements under RCRA; Unit costs; Off-site waste disposal prices; Projected U.S. inflation rates; Cost of capital; Economic characterization and impact on selected generator industries.

The aim of this work ware simulation, optimization and to find the biodiesel production cost produced by enzymatic route. Consequently, it was carried out a methodology of economic calculations and sensitivity analyses for this process. It was used a computational software from balance equations for obtaining the biodiesel cost. The economical analysis was obtained by capital cost of biofuel. The whole process was developed according analysis of fixed capital cost, total manufacturing cost, raw material cost, and chemical cost. The results of economic calculations to biodiesel production showed efficient. The model was meant for use in assessing the effects on estimated biodiesel production cost of changes in different types of oils. (author)

SUMMARY There are nearly 150,000 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) admissions in the USA, annually incurring 2.7 million hospital days. Although packed red blood cell (pRBC) transfusions increase the risk of developing ARDS, nearly one-half of intensive care unit (ICU) patients receive pRBCs. The rate of transfusion-attributable ARDS remains unknown. I estimated this annual rate, and the hospital utilization and costs in the USA. A model utilizing inputs from publicly available sources was constructed. Step 1 calculated the at-risk population. In step 2, the proportion of ARDS cases attributable to pRBC transfusion was estimated. Step 3 computed excess annual ARDS cases related to transfusion. Step 4 quantified hospital utilization and costs. Of 141,500 annual ARDS cases, 86,315 (...

The equipment layout of a process plant is a multi-objective problem in which not only various costs (piping, site and so on) but also preferences about the equipment arrangement influencing its operability, maintenance and the like. It is difficult to obtain the best solution of this problem analytically. In this study, preferences are weighted as penalities so that they can be evaluated in an objective function with costs. To reduce the calculation load, equipment having spatial relations in a local area is put together into “modules” as units in layout work, and these modules are grouped into “sections” as functional groups of equipment. Furthermore, the module arrangement in each section is considered to be two variables (permutation and partition), and an algorithm based on an evolutionary method is developed to search a good plot plan efficiently. The effectiveness of this proposed method is demonstrated by an example problem.   

One of the advantages of fuel cell (FC) power plants is fuel versatility. With changes only in the fuel processor, the power plant will be able to accept a variety of fuels. This study was performed to design process diagrams, evaluate performance, and to estimate cost of 100 MW coal gasifier (CG)/phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) power plant systems utilizing coal, which is the largest single potential source of alternate hydrocarbon liquids and gases in the United States, as the fuel. Results of this study will identify the most promising integrated CG/PAFC design and its near-optimal operating conditions. The comparison is based on the performance and cost of electricity which is calculated under consistent financial assumptions.

The primary purpose of this study was to update conceptual design cost estimates for remedial action unit operations portrayed in earlier reports. Thirty-five remedial action unit operations conceptual designs, addressing uncontrolled landfill or impoundment disposal sites, were ...

...hospital/unit would become subject to IRF- PPS. CMS proposes to continue to use...unit's cost reporting period of the IRF's compliance or non-compliance with...with other information submitted by the IRF is necessary for determining exclusion...

...AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION...the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation...the United States Environmental Protection Agency has entered...for past response costs concerning the...

...AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION...the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation...the United States Environmental Protection Agency has entered...for past response costs concerning the...

...AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION...The United States Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA...the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation...of certain response costs incurred by EPA...

...AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION...The United States Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA...the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation...payment of certain past costs incurred at the...

...AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION...the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation...the United States Environmental Protection Agency has entered...for past response costs concerning the...

...AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION...The United States Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA...the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation...of certain response costs incurred by EPA...

...AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION...The United States Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA...the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation...of certain response costs incurred by EPA...

A reference design for a commercial-scale high-temperature electrolysis (HTE) plant for hydrogen production was developed to provide a basis for comparing the HTE concept with other hydrogen production concepts. The reference plant design is driven by a high-temperature helium-cooled reactor coupled to a direct Brayton power cycle. The reference design reactor power is 600 MWt, with a primary system pressure of 7.0 MPa, and reactor inlet and outlet fluid temperatures of 540°C and 900°C, respectively. The electrolysis unit used to produce hydrogen consists of 4,009,177 cells with a per-cell active area of 225 cm2. A nominal cell area-specific resistance, ASR, value of 0.4 Ohm•cm2 with a current density of 0.25 A/cm2 was used, and isothermal boundary conditions were assumed. The optimized design for the reference hydrogen production plant operates at a system pressure of 5.0 MPa, and utilizes an air-sweep system to remove the excess oxygen that is evolved on the anode side of the electrolyzer. The inlet air for the air-sweep system is compressed to the system operating pressure of 5.0 MPa in a four-stage compressor with intercooling. The alternating current, AC, to direct current, DC, conversion is 96%. The overall system thermal-to-hydrogen production efficiency (based on the low heating value of the produced hydrogen) is 47.12% at a hydrogen production rate of 2.356 kg/s. An economic analysis of the plant was also performed using the H2A Analysis Methodology developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen Program. The results of the economic analysis demonstrated that the HTE hydrogen production plant driven by a high-temperature helium-cooled nuclear power plant can deliver hydrogen at a competitive cost using realistic financial and cost estimating assumptions. A required cost of $3.23 per kg of hydrogen produced was calculated assuming an internal rate of return of 10%. Approximately 73% of this cost ($2.36/kg) is the result of capital costs associated with the construction of the combined nuclear plant and hydrogen production facility. Operation and maintenance costs represent about 18% of the total cost ($0.57/kg). Variable costs (including the cost of nuclear fuel) contribute about 8.7% ($0.28/kg) to the total cost of hydrogen production, and decommissioning and raw material costs make up the remaining fractional cost.

BackgroundDigital amputation in children is a very strong indication for replantation, but little is known about the epidemiology and distribution of care for pediatric finger amputation injuries in the United States. The specific aims of this study were to examine trends in the surgical management of pediatric finger amputation injuries in the United States from 2000 to 2006, and to identify potential treatment disparities among various demographic groups. Study DesignData from the 2000, 2003, and 2006 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids' Inpatient Database were used to identify discharge records containing at least one ICD-9-CM procedure code corresponding to digit amputation or replantation. National estimates were generated using weighted frequency calculations, and a weighted...

Abstract in spanish OBJETIVO: Analizar la relación coste-eficacia del artesunato parenteral en el tratamiento de la malaria grave infantil y su posible impacto en los presupuestos hospitalarios. MÉTODOS: En cuatro de los 11 centros incluidos en el Estudio comparativo de los tratamientos de la malaria con artesunato y quinina en África participaron más de 5400 niños. Para calcular el coste de la hospitalización se registraron los fármacos, las pruebas clínicas y los líquidos endoveno (more) sos suministrados a 2300 pacientes, desde su ingreso hasta el alta, según la duración del ingreso del paciente. Los datos se compararon con los resultados clínicos agrupados e introducidos en un modelo de decisión para calcular el coste por año de vida ajustada por discapacidad (AVAD) evitada y el coste por muerte evitada. RESULTADOS: El coste medio del tratamiento de los pacientes con malaria grave fue similar en los dos grupos del estudio: 63,5 dólares estadounidenses (US$) (intervalo de confianza del 95%, IC: 61,7- 65,2) en el grupo de quinina y US$ 66,5 (IC del 95%: 63,7-69,2) en el grupo de artesunato. Los niños tratados con artesunato presentaron una mortalidad un 22,5% inferior que los tratados con quinina y la misma tasa de secuelas neurológicas: (grupo de artesunato: 2,3 AVAD por paciente; grupo de quinina: 3,0 AVAD por paciente). En comparación con la quinina como referencia, el artesunato ha mostrado un coste incremental por AVAD evitado y un coste incremental por muerte evitada de US$ 3,8 y US$ 123, respectivamente. CONCLUSIÓN: El artesunato es una alternativa a la quinina muy rentable y con una excelente relación coste-eficacia para el tratamiento de niños con malaria grave. Las implicaciones presupuestarias de la adopción del artesunato para su uso sistemático en la asistencia hospitalaria son insignificantes. Abstract in english OBJECTIVE: To explore the cost-effectiveness of parenteral artesunate for the treatment of severe malaria in children and its potential impact on hospital budgets. METHODS: The costs of inpatient care of children with severe malaria were assessed in four of the 11 sites included in the African Quinine Artesunate Malaria Treatment trial, conducted with over 5400 children. The drugs, laboratory tests and intravenous fluids provided to 2300 patients from admission to dischar (more) ge were recorded, as was the length of inpatient stay, to calculate the cost of inpatient care. The data were matched with pooled clinical outcomes and entered into a decision model to calculate the cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted and the cost per death averted. FINDINGS: The mean cost of treating severe malaria patients was similar in the two study groups: 63.5 United States dollars (US$) (95% confidence interval, CI: 61.7-65.2) in the quinine arm and US$ 66.5 (95% CI: 63.7-69.2) in the artesunate arm. Children treated with artesunate had 22.5% lower mortality than those treated with quinine and the same rate of neurological sequelae: (artesunate arm: 2.3 DALYs per patient; quinine arm: 3.0 DALYs per patient). Compared with quinine as a baseline, artesunate showed an incremental cost per DALY averted and an incremental cost per death averted of US$ 3.8 and US$ 123, respectively. CONCLUSION: Artesunate is a highly cost-effective and affordable alternative to quinine for treating children with severe malaria. The budgetary implications of adopting artesunate for routine use in hospital-based care are negligible.

In the Brazilian Electric System about 92% of the generated electricity is of hydraulic origin. Today the system is operating practically in the limit of your capacity. Solutions of short time to make possible the expansion of the offer of electricity generation go by the installation of cycle combining thermal using natural gas as fuel. In this dissertation, it was used the real options theory to evaluate generation assets in the Brazilian electricity sector. In Brazil, central operator dispatches a flexible thermal when the electricity spot price is larger than the operation costs. The operation decision is like an European call, where underlying asset is the electricity and the strike price is the operation cost. The value of the capacity is the sum of all decisions to operate the thermal unit, in the remaining life of unit. It was used Monte Carlo Simulation and Dynamic Programming to evaluate this model. The problem is divided in two parts. In the first part, the base case is fixed and evaluated and the expected NPV and project risk are calculated in function of contract level. In the second part, many sensibilities are done in relation to base case. At the end, the value of flexibility is calculated for each contract level. (author)

At the middle of 1997 the basic design of the EPR (European Pressurized Water Reactor) will be completed by having provided all information necessary for the elaboration of a site independent preliminary safety analysis report and by providing bill of quantities for reliable cost calculation. Therefore, EPR is directly after basic design ready to apply for a construction license in France and Germany. Furthermore, from that time on EPR is also ready for marketing on the international market. Through the basic design an amount of about one million engineering hours will have been spent to design a nuclear power plant that ensures the economic competitiveness of nuclear power with alternative primary energy sources. This prime target of the EPR development will be achieved by keeping the investment costs under control by an extensive standardization of the design to allow EPR to be built in series on most of the potential sites in Europe and worldwide. By this measure the engineering and first of a kind costs can be distributed over a number of plants, so that the individual plant investment costs are significantly reduced. Also under economic considerations, the EPR unit size has been selected to 1500 MW in order to draw profit from economy of scale effects, so that the specific investment costs remain in the range of current plants although additional investments for an enhanced safety level have to be considered. Additional savings will be materialized in the field of the fuel costs, mainly by an increased average batch burnup of 60 MWd/kg and an increased efficiency of 36%. Further savings shall result from lower operation and maintenance costs due to an optimized preventive maintenance concept leading to an high availability target of 87% over the lifetime of the plant of 60 years. 3 figs., 1 tab.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) has significant economies of scale, i.e. per unit processing costs decrease with increasing size. The economics of AD to produce biogas and in turn electric power in farm or feedlot based units as well as centralized plants is evaluated for two settings in Alberta: a mixed farming area, Red Deer County, and an area of concentrated beef cattle feedlots, Lethbridge County. A centralized plant drawing manure from 61 sources in the mixed farming area could produce power at a cost of 218 MWh-1 (2005 US). A centralized plant drawing manure from 560,000 beef cattle in Lethbridge County, can produce power at a cost of 138 MWh-1. Digestate processing, if commercially available, shifts the balance in favor of centralized processing. At larger scales, pipelines could be used to deliver manure to a centralized plant and return the processed digestate back to the manure source for spreading. Pipeline transport of beef cattle manure is more economic than truck transport for the manure produced by more than 90,000 animals. Pipeline transport of digestate is more economic when manure from more than 21,000 beef cattle is available and two-way pipelining of manure plus digestate is more economic when manure from more than 29,000 beef cattle is available. The value of carbon credits necessary to make AD profitable in a mixed farming region is also calculated based on a detailed analysis of manure and digestate transport and processing costs at an AD plant. Carbon emission reductions from power generation are calculated for displacement of power from coal and natural gas. The required carbon credit to cover the cost of AD processing of manure is greater than 150 per tonne of CO2. These results show that AD treatment of manure from mixed farming areas is not economic given current values of carbon credits. Power from biogas has a high cost relative to current power prices and to the cost of power from other large scale renewable sources. Power from biogas would need to be justified by other factors than energy value alone, such as phosphate, pathogen or odor control.

Healthcare leaders should address three important questions as they prepare to implement new costing systems: Do all providers in their organizations' systems, networks, or partnerships share the same definitions of unit of care and of fixed, variable, incremental, direct, and indirect costs? What are the maintenance processes and protocols for cost center and period matching of revenues and costs? If some providers within a network or partnership are not using costing systems, can an enterprise derive surrogate cost per unit of care? PMID:22372291

The High Pressure Autothermal Reformer (HP ATR) for production of synthesis gas has been evaluated. The aim of using HP ATR is to lower the plant investment costs by converting more gas per unit volume and eliminating the synthesis gas compression step, bringing the synthesis gas from 20-40 up to 70-100 bars, needed for the methanol and DME synthesis. The energy efficiency of the process may also be improved. Thermodynamic calculations have been performed showing the possibility to obtain a low methane slip at high pressures. Fluid flow simulations and combustion kinetic calculations are carried out to study the performance of the ATR in the high pressure range (70-100 bar). Detailed reaction mechanisms were used to study the pressure effect on the tendency to form higher hydrocarbons in the combustion chamber. 8 refs.

General purpose graphical processing units (GPU's) offer high processing speeds for certain classes of highly parallelizable computations, such as matrix operations and Fourier transforms, that lie at the heart of first-principles electronic structure calculations. Inclusion of exact-exchange increases the cost of density functional theory by orders of magnitude, motivating the use of GPU's. Porting the widely used electronic density functional code VASP to run on a GPU results in a 5-20 fold performance boost of exact-exchange compared with a traditional CPU. We analyze performance bottlenecks and discuss classes of problems that will benefit from the GPU. As an illustration of the capabilities of this implementation, we calculate the lattice stability ?- and ?-rhombohedral boron structures utilizing exact-exchange. Our results confirm the energetic preference for symmetry-breaking partial occupation of the ?-rhombohedral structure at low temperatures, but does not resolve the stability of ? relative to ?.

Abstract: The primary goals of reserve selection are to represent all chosen units of biodiversity and to ensure their long-term persistence while minimizing costs. We considered two simple proxies of species persistence: a time series of point-count data to calculate abundance and a time series of presence-absence data to calculate permanence (a measure of consistent occupancy over time). Using two 10-year intervals of data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, we compared the performance of each measure at predicting persistence 18 years later. For nonrare species, abundance and permanence predicted persistence similarly well. We performed complementarity-based reserve selections with data on species abundance and permanence (from 1970 to 1979) and then evaluated the effectivenes...

Objective: Obesity is associated with several chronic conditions, increased medical costs, and premature death. Proper assessment of changes in body weight is crucial to control the spread of obesity. We used data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to explore how adults in the United States recall their weight change and to identify characteristics associated with weight changes. Methods: Data from two cross-sections of adults aged >=18years from the 2008 (n=385,416) and 2009 (n=394,700) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were analyzed. Body mass index was calculated from self-reported height and weight. Self-reported estimates of weight 1year prior to the interview were used to calculate changes in weight and obesity status between 2008 and 2009. Results: If self-...

A major milestone in the efforts to strengthen the Safeguards System was reached in May 1997 when the Board of Governors approved a `Model Protocol Additional to Safeguards Agreements`. The Protocol provides the legal basis necessary to enhance the Agency`s ability to detect undeclared nuclear material and activities by using information available from open sources to complement the declarations made by Member States. Commercially available high-resolution satellite data has emerged as one potential complementary open information source to support the traditional and extended Safeguard activities of IAEA. This document constitutes a first report from SSC Satellitbild giving the Agency tentative and initial estimates of the potential cost and time-savings possible with the new proposed technology. The initial cost/benefit simulation will be further finalised in the following `Implementation Blueprint` study. The general foundation and starting point for the cost/benefit calculation is to simulate a new efficient and relatively small `imagery unit` within the IAEA, capable of performing advanced image processing as a tool for various safeguards tasks. The image processing capacity is suggested to be task- and interpretation-oriented. The study was performed over a period of 1,5 weeks in late 1998, and is based upon interviews of IAEA staff, reviews of existing IAEA documentation as well as from SSC Satellitbild`s long-standing experience of satellite imagery and field missions. The cost/benefit analysis is based on a spreadsheet simulation of five potential applications of commercial satellite imagery: Reference information; Confirmation of Agency acquired and Member State supplied data; Change detection and on-going monitoring; Assessing open source information available to the Agency; Detecting undeclared activities and undeclared sites. The study confirms that the proposed concept of a relatively small `imagery unit` using high-resolution data will be a sound and feasible undertaking. Such a unit capable of performing advanced image processing as a tool for various safeguard tasks will give the Agency an effective instrument for reference, monitoring, verification, and detection of declared and undeclared activities. It is also demonstrated in the study that more than 20% of the envisaged work tasks in all of the major Safeguards applications will achieve a better decision support from the use of commercial satellite imagery. At the same time the potential savings in costs is calculated to approximately USD 500,000 per year by reductions in on-site inspections and by more efficient planning and logistics. The total cost for implementing commercial satellite imagery at the Department for Safeguards, as simulated in this study, is approximately USD 1,500,000 per year. This cost rises when utilising the full potential of high-resolution imagery in all five applications including monitoring and detection of undeclared facilities. The cost/benefit simulation is founded on an activity scenario with a staff of 4 experts working in an IAEA imagery unit with a workload of three dossiers or `issues` per week. The imagery unit is built around an advanced workstation PC image processing system capable of handling several hundreds of pre-processed imagery per year 10 refs, 9 figs, 5 tabs

Background: In Germany, cost calculations on the financial burden of wound treatment are scarce. Studies for attributable costs in hospitalized patients estimate for pressure ulcer additional costs of € 6,135.50 per patient, a calculation based on the assumption that pressure ulcers will lead to pro...

Progress in the development of large, superconducting generators for utilities in the United States is described, and the cost-benefits are analyzed. Benefits (other than efficiency and direct generator costs) such as smaller size and weight and lower transportation costs, plant building costs and installation costs are mentioned, but assigned no dollar value. Proposed testing and criteria to be met to ensure Westinghouse's 300 MVA superconducting generator design is commercially viable are discussed.

The optimized assured isolation facility (AIF) consists of waste shipping containers being placed inside steel-reinforced concrete overpacks, which are, in turn, placed in steel-reinforced concrete vaults without an earthen cover system. The concrete vaults are designed to remain in service for hundreds of years, with the aid of ongoing active maintenance. This will be required since the facility will remain under license as long as waste is present in the facility. The estimated present value of life-cycle costs total about $318 million. Of this amount, over 30 percent is attributable to the need to accumulate the financial assurance fund which allows future management options to be implemented. The charge for waste received at the AIF in order to recover all costs and ensure proper facility function following the waste acceptance period was calculated for each year of AIF operation, considering annual variations in the volume received and the costs that must be recovered. The present value of the AID unit charges range for $84 to $420 per cubic foot with a life-cycle average of about $177 per cubic foot. When making decisions on cost factors and comparing alternatives, the lifetime average of $177 per cubic foot is most meaningful.

Sugammadex is known to rapidly and completely reverse the effects of amino-steroidal neuromuscular blocking agents. However, the high costs of sugammadex have so far prevented its introduction as the standard reversal agent in most healthcare systems. At the Royal Perth Hospital, sugammadex was recently introduced as an unrestricted alternative to neostigmine for the reversal of amino-steroidal neuromuscular blocking agents. The aim of this retrospective observational audit was to investigate the impact of this change on clinical practice and associated healthcare costs. Data from all patients intubated during a one-month period in April to May 2010 and for a similar period in 2011 were retrospectively collected and the use of neuromuscular blocking agents and reversal agents were identified and the associated costs were calculated. More steroidal neuromuscular blocking agents and sugammadex (+743%), but less glycopyrrolate and neostigmine (-48%) were used in 2011. Using the manufacturer's list price, muscle relaxation and reversal costs increased from about A$42 per case to about A$127 per case. Between the investigated time periods no differences were found for anaesthesia time, operating time or time spent in the post anaesthesia care unit. However, there was a statistically significant decrease in the time between surgery and discharge (median 2.0 vs 2.2 days). While the design of the audit was such that no inferences can be made about the cause of this change, this is an interesting observation worthy of further investigation. PMID:22417031

As fossil fuel prices increase and environmental concerns gain prominence, the development of alternative fuels from biomass has become more important. Biodiesel produced from microalgae is becoming an attractive alternative to share the role of petroleum. Currently it appears that the production of microalgal biodiesel is not economically viable in current environment because it costs more than conventional fuels. Therefore, a new concept is introduced in this article as an option to reduce the total production cost of microalgal biodiesel. The integration of biodiesel production system with methane production via anaerobic digestion is proved in improving the economics and sustainability of overall biodiesel stages. Anaerobic digestion of microalgae produces methane and further be converted to generate electricity. The generated electricity can surrogate the consumption of energy that require in microalgal cultivation, dewatering, extraction and transesterification process. From theoretical calculations, the electricity generated from methane is able to power all of the biodiesel production stages and will substantially reduce the cost of biodiesel production (33% reduction). The carbon emissions of biodiesel production systems are also reduced by approximately 75% when utilizing biogas electricity compared to when the electricity is otherwise purchased from the Victorian grid. The overall findings from this study indicate that the approach of digesting microalgal waste to produce biogas will make the production of biodiesel from algae more viable by reducing the overall cost of production per unit of biodiesel and hence enable biodiesel to be more competitive with existing fuels. (author)

There is not much knowledge at present of the relative cost-effectiveness of health services offered in the Zimbabwean public health care sector. In addition, the information on the relative importance of diseases is less than complete. Such information may however be useful for assessing the efficiency of resources used in a situation of dwindling health care funds and increasing demand.The main objectives of this thesis were therefore to provide a more complete picture of the pattern of diseases in Zimbabwe as well as assessing the efficiency of resource utilisation in the public health care sector.A new health status indicator entitled Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) was used to describe the level of ill health from the most common health problems in the Zimbabwean population in 1997. Epidemiological information was derived from multiple sources. The cause of death pattern was determined based on data from the Vital Registration System, which was adjusted for underreporting of human immunodeficiencyvirus (HIV) and reallocation of ill-defined causes. Non-fatal disease figures were estimated based on local disease registers, surveys and routine health service data supplemented by estimates from epidemiological studies from other settings if no Zimbabwean sources were available. Disease and public health experts were consulted about the identification of the best possible sources of information, the quality of these sources and the data adjustments made. Epidemiological information was utilised to calculate the burden of disease as measured by DALYs lost. HIV infection emerged from the information collected as the single most serious public health problem in Zimbabwe responsible for 49% of the total disease burden.In order to confirm some of the findings of the above study component, a small population survey was designed to estimate the population prevalence of serious health problems in an urban area of Zimbabwe through the application of verbal autopsy and morbidity interview techniques. The survey confirmed to some extent the pattern of diseases found in the nationwide study.Cost-effectiveness analysis and the calculation of cost-effectiveness ratios for the selected health interventions required information on the value of resources necessary for performing a health service of a given level as well as the effects in terms of improved health resulting from this particular health service. A total of 69 preventive and curative health interventions offered by the public health care sector was included in the analysis. Costing data were collected through visits to a sample of health centres, hospitals and vertical control programmes. Unit costs were calculated using a combination of the standard step-down costing methodology and the bottom-up costing approach. Effectiveness of health interventions was estimated based on published information on the efficacy of drugs and experts' advice on various factors such as coverage and compliance in order to reflect the actual situation in Zimbabwe. Effectiveness estimates were subsequently transformed into Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost. Very cost-effective interventions were available for some of the major health problems in Zimbabwe including pneumonia, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and tuberculosis. Generally, the cost-effectiveness ratios calculated suggested that there was a good potential for improving the allocative efficiency in the health care sector. Possible strategies included a reallocation of resources from the interventions with high cost-effectiveness ratios to interventions with low cost-effectiveness ratios, ensuring that a given health problem was taken care of at the lowest level of the referral system as possible and to focus more on preventive health interventions. Finally, the research also revealed that it was possible to collect acceptable costing data within a relatively short time span. In contrast to this, evidence on the effectiveness of health services was in extremely short supply.

Video conferencing service requires a multicast tree to distribute its multimedia contents to all participants. Link cost is very important in building such media distribution trees. In this research work, a multi-variable cost function is proposed. This cost function can calculate links' costs base...

The net cost of heat production at cogeneration stations equipped with gas turbine units, steam turbine units, and combined-cycle plants is analyzed by way of comparison. It is shown that the minimal net cost will be achieved in the case of using certain types of power installations depending on the network tariff for electric energy.

Objective? The study aims to obtain the mean relative weights (MRWs) of the cost of care through the retrospective application of the adjusted clinical groups (ACGs) in several primary health care (PHC) centres in Catalonia (Spain) in routine clinical practice. Methods? This is a retrospective study based on computerized medical records. All patients attended by 13 PHC teams in 2008 were included. The principle measurements were: demographic variables (age and sex), dependent variables (number of diagnoses and total costs), and case-mix or co-morbidity variables (International Classification of Primary Care). The costs model for each patient was established by differentiating the fix costs from the variable costs. In the bivariate analysis, the Student's t, analysis of variance, chi-squared, Pearson's linear correlation and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests were used. In order to compare the MRW of the present study with those of the United States (US), the concordance [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and concordance correlation coefficient (CCC)] and the correlation (coefficient of determination: R(2) ) were measured. Results? The total number of patients studied was 227?235, and the frequentation was 5.9 visits/habitant/year) and with a mean diagnoses number of 4.5 (3.2). The distribution of costs was €148.7?million, of which 29.1% were fixed costs. The mean total cost per patient/year was €654.2 (851.7), which was considered to be the reference MRW. Relationship between study-MRW and US-MRW: ICC was 0.40 [confidential interval (CI) 95%: 0.21-0.60] and the CCC was 0.42 (CI 95%: 0.35-0.49). The correlation between the US MRW and the MRW of the present study can be seen; the adjusted R(2) value is 0.691. The explanatory power of the ACG classification was 36.9% for the total costs. The R(2) of the total cost without considering outliers was 56.9%. Conclusions? The methodology has been shown appropriate for promoting the calculation of the MRW for each category of the classification. The results provide a possible practical application in PHC clinical management. PMID:22458780

A series of relationships have been developed for estimating unit decontamination and dismantlement (D&D) costs for a number of building types which may be applied in the absence of other data to obtain rough order-of-magnitude (ROM) cost estimates for D&D activities. The relationships were developed using unit D&D costs for a number of building structure types at the Department of Energy Fernald site. These unit costs into account the level of radioactive contamination as well as the, building size.

Major benefits were weighed against major costs associated with recent saltcedar control efforts along the Middle Pecos River, New Mexico. The area of study was restricted to both sides of the channel and excluded tributaries along the 370 km between Sumner and Brantley dams. Direct costs (helicopter spraying, dead tree removal, and revegetation) within the study area were estimated to be 2.2 million but possibly rising to 6.4 million with the adoption of an aggressive revegetation program. Indirect costs associated with increased potential for erosion and reservoir sedimentation would raise the costs due to increased evaporation from more extensive shallows in the Pecos River as it enters Brantley Reservoir. Actions such as dredging are unlikely given the conservative amount of sediment calculated (about 1% of the reservoir pool). The potential for water salvage was identified as the only tangible benefit likely to be realized under the current control strategy. Estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) using Landsat TM data allowed estimation of potential water salvage as the difference in ET before and after treatment, an amount totaling 7.41 million m3 (6010 acre-ft) per year. Previous saltcedar control efforts of roughly the same magnitude found that salvaged ET recharged groundwater and no additional flows were realized within the river. Thus, the value of this recharge is probably less than the lowest value quoted for actual in-channel flow, and estimated to be sedimentation. It differs from previous efforts by focusing on evaluating the impacts of actual control efforts within a specific system. Total costs (direct plus potential indirect) far outweighed benefits in this simple comparison and are expected to be ongoing. Problems induced by saltcedar control may permanently reduce reservoir capacity and increase reservoir evaporation rates, which could further deplete supplies on this water short system. These potential negative consequences highlight that such costs and benefits need to be considered before initiating extensive saltcedar control programs on river systems of the western United States.

This publication provides a basis for calculation of expected average construction costs and equipment costs for large hydroelectric power plants in Norway. The publication is not intended to be a tool for projecting with regard to optimization or choice ...

This study, which uses a cost-minimization code that incorporates the ARIES costing and reactor component models with a I-D energy transport calculation, shows that a torsatron reactor could be competitive with a tokamak reactor.

for each cost element, consistent with the offeror's cost accounting system. ...... first-principles approaches to rotorcraft stability calculation, including finite state and ...... oxygen saturation level, intra-cranial pressure, and ocular blood flow rates; ...

This paper presents results from calculations on both once-through and reprocessing fuel cycles. Different fuel management schemes have been considered. Fuel costs are evaluated for a wide range of values for the cost parameters involved. (auth)

...relationship between the cost and efficiency of the equipment DOE...serves as the basis for cost-benefit calculations for individual...The engineering analysis identifies representative...technologies that provide energy efficiency improvements....

These self-instructional resources have their origins in a workshop on the Costs and Financing of Open & Distance Learning which took place from 6-10 August 2007 in Gabarone, Botswana. The workshop was sponsored by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) with the overall aim of building capacity to plan, negotiate and manage appropriate financial arrangements for the development and maintenance of ODL in member states. Twenty-five participants from eight countries attended the workshop. These resources were created by the facilitator for the following target groups: (1) chief executive officers, chief financial officers and senior managers in open schools, colleges or universities or in dual-mode institutions; (2) members of governing bodies or advisory committees for ODL institutions; (3) political office-holders, permanent secretaries and senior managers in ministries of education; (4) members of higher education authorities or funding bodies; (5) other professional and managerial staff in ODL institutions; and (6) anyone who is interested in the development of open & distance learning. The materials comprise a series of eleven units, each of which includes specific learning objectives, explanatory text, practical exercises, questions for discussion and recommendations for further reading. The units are as follows: (Unit 1): Some basic Concepts of Cost Analysis ; (Unit 2): How Student Numbers Affect Costs; (Unit 3): Capital Costs: (Unit 4): Overheads; (Unit 5): Unit Costs: determining costs per student, per course or per programme; (Unit 6): Costing a New Course or Programme ; (Unit 7): Budgeting: preparing estimates of income & expenditure; (Unit 8): Full-Time Equivalent Students: establishing a basis of comparison with conventional education; (Unit 9) Efficiency & Effectiveness of ODL; (Unit 10): Funding Open & Distance Learning; and (Unit 11): Student Fees: determining fee levels & devising a fee structure. This report also includes a glossary, a bibliography, and resources. (Contains 15 figures, 10 tables, 35 exercises.)

A new heat exchanger program, SIZEHX, is described. This program allows single step multiparameter cost optimizations on single phase or supercritical exchanger arrays with variable properties and arbitrary fouling for a multitude of matrix configurations and fluids. SIZEHX uses a simplified form of Tinker's method for characterization of shell side performance; the Starling modified BWR equation for thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons; and transport properties developed by NBS. Results of four parameter cost optimizations on exchangers for specific geothermal applications are included. The relative mix of capital cost, pumping cost, and brine cost ($/Btu) is determined for geothermal exchangers illustrating the invariant nature of the optimal cost distribution for fixed unit costs.

Product unit cost accounting for cost evaluation purposes and cost-oriented pricing has been increasingly practiced by the electric supply utilities since the late 60s and is still being applied by a growing number of users. Although applied for the first time only recently by the gas and water utilities, product unit cost accounting has already proved to be an essential help in their pricing, too. This is especially true for natural gas which due to its competition with different energy sources on the heat market is at best priced according to the costs.

Coal fired MHD repowering is considered for the TVA Allen Steam Plant. The performance of the repowered plant is presented. Cost comparisons are made of the cost of repowering with MHD versus the cost of meeting similar standards by installing scrubbers and selective catalytic NO{sub x} reduction (SCNR). For repowering of a single 250 MW{sub e} unit, the capital costs favor scrubbing and SCNR, but the repowered plant has a higher efficiency. If one considers a single repowering of all three 250 MW{sub e} units by a single MHD topping cycle and boiler, MHD repowering has lower capital costs and higher efficiency. Environmental emissions from the repowered plant are estimated.

Introduction: Intensive care unit (ICU) costs account for up to 20% of a hospital's costs. We aimed to analyse the individual patient-related cost of intensive care at various hospital levels and for different groups of disease. Methods: Data from 51 ICUs all over Germany (15 primary care hospitals ...

The unit cost of cataloging current English language monographs was studies and compared with the cost of purchasing catalog cards from a commercial source. Two hypotheses were proposed: (1) in-library costs for cataloging and card production are higher than those for the purchased-card method; (2) ...

Hazardous waste operating permits issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) often impose requirements that specific components and equipment be used. Consequently, changing these items, may first require that the owner/operator request a potentially time-consuming and costly permit modification. However, the owner/operator may demonstrate that a modification is not required because the planned changes are ``functionally equivalent.`` The Controlled-Air Incinerator at Los Alamos National Laboratory is scheduled for maintenance and improvements. The incinerator`s carbon adsorption unit/high efficiency particulate air filtration system, was redesigned to improve reliability and minimize maintenance. A study was performed to determine whether the redesigned unit would qualify as functionally equivalent to the original component. In performing this study, the following steps were taken: (a) the key performance factors were identified; (b) performance data describing the existing unit were obtained; (c) performance of both the existing and redesigned units was simulated; and (d) the performance data were compared to ascertain whether the components could qualify as functionally equivalent. In this case, the key performance data included gas residence time and distribution of flow over the activated carbon. Because both units were custom designed and fabricated, a simple comparison of manufacturers` specifications was impossible. Therefore, numerical simulation of each unit design was performed using the TEMPEST thermal-hydraulic computer code to model isothermal hydrodynamic performance under steady-state conditions. The results of residence time calculations from the model were coupled with flow proportion and sampled using a Monte Carlo-style simulation to derive distributions that describe the predicted residence times.

Currently, several cost-per-mile calculators exist that can provide estimates of acquisition and operating costs for consumers and fleets. However, these calculators are limited in their ability to determine the difference in cost per mile for consumer versus fleet ownership, to calculate the costs beyond one ownership period, to show the sensitivity of the cost per mile to the annual vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and to estimate future increases in operating and ownership costs. Oftentimes, these tools apply a constant percentage increase over the time period of vehicle operation, or in some cases, no increase in direct costs at all over time. A more accurate cost-per-mile calculator has been developed that allows the user to analyze these costs for both consumers and fleets. The calculator was developed to allow simultaneous comparisons of conventional light-duty internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, mild and full hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). This paper is a summary of the development by the authors of a more accurate cost-per-mile calculator that allows the user to analyze vehicle acquisition and operating costs for both consumer and fleets. Cost-per-mile results are reported for consumer-operated vehicles travelling 15,000 miles per year and for fleets travelling 25,000 miles per year.

Abstract in spanish Objetivo. Diseñar una metodología para calcular el costo de producción de la leche en un sistema vacuno doble propósito en la Región Caribe, como herramienta para la medición de la eficiencia del sistema. Materiales y métodos. La metodología implementada consideró la estructura de costos de la actividad de ordeño, incluyó el costo del arrendamiento de la tierra, más el valor de los kilogramos de carne que deja de ganar el ternero durante la etapa de lactancia, (more) respecto al sistema vacuno cría, donde no se ordeña la vaca. Resultados. Se halló un costo medio anual de US$ 0,11 por litro de leche producida (48,38% costos fijos y 51,62% costos variables). Existió una relación de inversa proporcionalidad entre los costos y el volumen de producción y venta de leche en el período analizado, con un coeficiente de determinación de 82,34%. Conclusión. La metodología permitió determinar el costo de producción de un litro de leche. La actividad lechera resultó rentable, ya que el 47,36% del precio de venta de la leche equivalió al costo de producirla. El punto de equilibrio en unidades producidas e ingresos fue de 29,47% (60 litros/día), respecto a la producción diaria de leche. Abstract in english Objective. To design a methodology to calculate the cost of milk production in a system bovine double purpose in the Caribbean Region as tool to measure the system efficiency. Materials and methods. The implemented methodology considered the costs structure of milking activity, it included the cost of land rent, plus the value of beef kilogram that stops to win the calf during lactating stage regarding bovine breeding system where the cow is not milked. Results. It was fo (more) und an annual average cost of US$0,11 per liter of produced milk (48,38% fixed costs and 51,62% variable costs). There was a relation of inverse proportionality between costs and production volume and milk sale in the analyzed period with a coefficient of determination of 82,34%. Conclusion. The methodology allowed to determine the production cost of a liter of milk. The milkmaid activity was profitable since the 47,36% of milk sale price was equal to cost of producing it. The balance point in produced units and revenues was of 29,47% (60 liters/day), regarding the daily production of milk.

Load of photomask manufacturing for the most advanced semiconductor devices is increasing due to the complexity of mask layouts caused by highly accurate RET or OPC, tight specification for 2D/3D mask structures, and requirements of quick deliveries. The mask cost becomes a concern of mask users especially in SoC businesses because the number of masks required throughout the wafer process is almost the same for each product regardless of the variety in production volume when a unified platform is applied to the designs. Shares of mask cost within total production cost cannot be ignored especially in small volume SoC products. DFM (design for manufacturing) is inevitable in a mask level as well as in a wafer level to solve the cost problem. "Mask-DFM" is a method to decrease the burden of mask manufacturing and to improve the yield and quality of masks, not only by modification of mask pattern layouts (design) but also all other things including utilization of designer's intents. We have developed our Mask-DFM system called "MiLE", that calculates mask-manufacturing workload through layout analyses combining information of mask configuration, and visualizes the consequence of Mask-DFM efforts. "MiLE (Mask manufacturIng Load Estimation)" calculates a relative index which represents the mask manufacturing workload determined by factors of 1) EB writing, 2) defect inspection/repair, 3) materials and processes and 4) specification. All the factors are computed before tape-outs for mask making in the system by the following methods. To estimate EB writing time, we applied high-throughput simulator and counted the number of "shot", minimum figure unit in EB writing, by using post-OPC layout data. Mask layout that caused troubles and extra load in mask inspection or repair was specified from MRC (mask rule checking) of the same post-OPC data. Additional layout analysis perceives designer's intents that are described in the layout data and these are reflected in the calculation of the "MiLE" index. Finally, chip arrangement on a mask is retrieved from so-called electronic mask spec sheets to construct mask layouts. "MiLE" notifies to designers the index of mask manufacturing workload that is caused by mask layout, while modification and adjustments of design or OPC are iterated to maximize device productivity in early design phases. Therefore, designers can judge and control the mask manufacturability, or mask cost by designs and additional intents useful for mask making. In the production phases, our system releases useful information for mask manufacturing to a mask shop and decreases the mask manufacturing workload. In this paper, we report the outline and functions of MiLE system and the results of mask manufacturing workload calculation using post-OPC layout data.

...engineering analysis establishes...equipment efficiency that DOE is evaluating for energy conservation...basis for cost-benefit calculations...engineering analysis identifies...that provide energy efficiency...

...engineering analysis establishes...equipment efficiency that DOE is evaluating for energy conservation...basis for cost-benefit calculations...engineering analysis identifies...that provide energy efficiency...

This paper presents nanofluid convective heat transfer and viscosity measurements, and evaluates how they perform heating buildings in cold regions. Nanofluids contain suspended metallic nanoparticles, which increases the thermal conductivity of the base fluid by a substantial amount. The heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids increases with volume concentration. To determine how nanofluid heat transfer characteristics enhance as volume concentration is increased; experiments were performed on copper oxide, aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide nanofluids, each in an ethylene glycol and water mixture. Calculations were performed for conventional finned-tube heat exchangers used in buildings in cold regions. The analysis shows that using nanofluids in heat exchangers could reduce volumetric and mass flow rates, and result in an overall pumping power savings. Nanofluids necessitate smaller heating systems, which are capable of delivering the same amount of thermal energy as larger heating systems using base fluids, but are less expensive; this lowers the initial equipment cost excluding nanofluid cost. This will also reduce environmental pollutants because smaller heating units use less power, and the heat transfer unit has less liquid and material waste to discard at the end of its life cycle. (author)

New processing technology is now available to improve refinery operating margins. The cost of this technology is minor if a refiner has a VGO or Resid hydrotreater and an FCCU. The primary requirement is changing the way work is done. Addition of new capital can be an optional step. The New technology is Hydroprocessing-FCC Synergy. Redirecting the work effort to operate, optimize, and budget the FCC pretreater, the FCC and any FCC post-treaters as one unit can optimize margins. Calculating the unit operating margins on the difference of FCC final product value minus the pretreater and FCC operating costs highlights the new technology`s enhanced profitability. The synergy connectiveness is made through the hydrocarbon flow and properties. Selecting the proper conditions and catalyst to complement each other`s performance is the technical key. This paper discusses the techniques for catalyst and operating condition selection. The concept of changing formulations with processing age is discussed. Finally a case study comparing Hydroprocessing-FCC Synergy versus classical non-synergistic approaches is presented, including the effect of new Hydroprocessing and FCC catalysts on the profitability increase.

The Monsanto Chemical Company operates a plastics and resins plant located in Addyston, Ohio. The process equipment requires routine rinsing with technical grade acetone between batches. Due to the volumes of spent acetone generated and the associated RCRA hazardous waste regulations, the plant sought to recycle and reuse the acetone to reduce the purchase cost of virgin acetone and the cost of spent acetone disposal. One of the first options explored was package unit distillation units. The cost of these units was in the $20--$30,000 range in 1989 dollars. Even though the cost of a package unit was not deemed unreasonable, there were additional costs and concerns that led to elimination of this option. The unit would have required additional manpower to operate and maintain, i.e., at least a fraction of an operator and mechanic. For plant safety reasons, it was desired to operate this package unit outside the production building, thus construction of an outbuilding would have added to the expense of the project. Additionally, there were concerns of package unit reliability. During this evaluation, tractor-trailer mounted distillation units were discovered. The portable units were equipped with either thin-film evaporator technology capable of processing 240 to 480 gallons per hour, or pot still (batch) distillation technology capable of rates from 120 to 240 gallons per hour. Both units were constructed of stainless steel.

The banded sunflower moth, Cochylis hospes Walsingham (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is an important economic pest of sunflower in the Upper Great Plains of North America. Economic losses due to reductions in seed number, weight, and quality can be significant. Previously, the potential for economic losses were estimated by sampling for adult moths. However, sampling for moths can be difficult and inaccurate. An alternative is to sample for banded sunflower moth eggs, which can be accurately counted in the field by using a binocular 3.5 headband magnifier. The egg counts are used to calculate the economic injury level (EIL) (EIL = C/VWPK), where C is the cost of treatment per unit area, V is the crop market value per unit of weight, W is the slope of the regression between banded sunflower moth egg densities and weight loss per plant, P is a term for plant population per unit area, and K is the control treatment efficacy. Estimates of populations of banded sunflower moth eggs are taken from the center of 400-m spans along all field sides. From these samples and the calculated EIL, a map of the extent of the economically damaging banded sunflower moth population throughout the field is made using economic distance; ED = e ( ( (EIL/E)-1.458)/-0.262). Economic distance estimates the distance an economic population extends into the field interior along a transect from the sampling site. By using egg samples to calculate the EIL and mapping the distribution of economic populations throughout a field, producers can then make more effective pest management decisions. PMID:18613601

An updated reference design for a commercial-scale high-temperature electrolysis (HTE) plant for hydrogen production has been developed. The HTE plant is powered by a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) whose configuration and operating conditions are based on the latest design parameters planned for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP). The current HTGR reference design specifies a reactor power of 600 MWt, with a primary system pressure of 7.0 MPa, and reactor inlet and outlet fluid temperatures of 322°C and 750°C, respectively. The reactor heat is used to produce heat and electric power to the HTE plant. A Rankine steam cycle with a power conversion efficiency of 44.4% was used to provide the electric power. The electrolysis unit used to produce hydrogen includes 1.1 million cells with a per-cell active area of 225 cm2. The reference hydrogen production plant operates at a system pressure of 5.0 MPa, and utilizes a steam-sweep system to remove the excess oxygen that is evolved on the anode (oxygen) side of the electrolyzer. The overall system thermal-to-hydrogen production efficiency (based on the higher heating value of the produced hydrogen) is 42.8% at a hydrogen production rate of 1.85 kg/s (66 million SCFD) and an oxygen production rate of 14.6 kg/s (33 million SCFD). An economic analysis of this plant was performed with realistic financial and cost estimating The results of the economic analysis demonstrated that the HTE hydrogen production plant driven by a high-temperature helium-cooled nuclear power plant can deliver hydrogen at a competitive cost. A cost of $3.03/kg of hydrogen was calculated assuming an internal rate of return of 10% and a debt to equity ratio of 80%/20% for a reactor cost of $2000/kWt and $2.41/kg of hydrogen for a reactor cost of $1400/kWt.

All spinal magnetic resonance imaging examinations carried out during a three month period were analysed retrospectively in order to determine the clinical reasons for the scan requests. Technical details of the examinations they received and the clinical profiles formed a data set which revealed 10 separate "Clinical groups" for management purposes. Hardware, salary and expendables were costed as though the imaging unit had been sited within a National Health Service radiology department. A spread sheet was designed capable of calculating costs per patient for a variety of types of working week and of different staffing structures, sensitive to the mixture of clinical groups referred for examination. The spreadsheet also accomodated straight line depreciation for hardware value and interest rates for borrowed capital. A second, prospectively observed, sample of spinal MR examinations was used to improve the accuracy of the timing of the length of patient examinations. Costs were compared with those for patients submitted for myelography and radiculography at the adjacent hospital during the same period. The comparison indicated that spinal MR was less costly than myelography and radiculography. The most important element of the extra cost of myelography related to the need to admit patients to hospital for at least one night for this examination because of the likelihood of headache and other common (though usually minor) complications following lumbar puncture and/or the injection of contrast medium. From the limited information that it was possible to obtain in the period of follow up, it appeared that MR had either been superior or equivalent to myelography or radiculography in all the clinical groups of patients where both could be tested. There were a number of groups in which no myelograms had been requested, presumably because clinical suspicions had pointed toward conditions like tumours, developmental abnormalities and demyelinating diseases in which neurologists and neurosurgeons have already made up their minds about the superiority of MR. PMID:2119006

This paper investigates the costs and benefits of a modest nuclear power programme in the European Union to combat the threat of global warming. The nuclear programme is found to bring a double benefit. The first and more obvious benefit is that the economic impacts of global warming are reduced. The second benefit is counter-intuitive; most people would expect it to be a cost. It comes from the stimulus to the economy from the construction of the nuclear plant, which, with the recycling of carbon tax revenues, offsets its construction and operating costs, and may even cause consumers' expenditure to rise. Calculations in this paper show that over the period to 2100 the mean net present value of the first benefit is 6 billion European Currency Units (ECU; 1 ECU is about Dollars 1), while the second benefit has a mean net present value of 159 billion ECU. However both benefits, particularly the second, are still very uncertain, to the extent that even their sign is not yet definitely established. (author).

This work investigates whether and to what extent industrial plants in the Federal Republic of Germany are capable of reacting to time-variable power prices by load-management measures and which factors may determine load management. It is shown that industrial plants are in principle capable of reacting to day-time-dependent, variable power prices by load-management measures, and that load management can be done by adapting the intensity, duration, or quantity of power consumption to different power prices. According to what was established, some 12 per cent of power consumed by the analyzed industrial plants during main working hours could easily be shifted with reference to time. Because of the heterogeneity of the industrial plants, load-management potential is plant-specific. A model developed in the framework of this study can contribute to assessing the load-management potential of industrial plants. The model breaks up the power supply of an industrial plant into different types of units; for these, load and cost curves can be made up. For two industrial plants, model calculations were done. The results indicate that industrial plants can react to time-variable power prices by load-management measures and can thus help to cut down power consumption cost and increase power consumption cost and increase power consumption efficiency. (orig./UA).

A large number of heavy-duty trucks idle a significant amount. Heavy-duty line-haul truck engines idle about 20-40% of the time the engine is running, depending on season and operation. Drivers idle engines to power climate control devices (e.g., heaters and air conditioners) and sleeper compartment accessories (e.g., refrigerators, microwave ovens, and televisions) and to avoid start-up problems in cold weather. Idling increases air pollution and energy use, as well as wear and tear on engines. Efforts to reduce truck idling in the US have been sporadic, in part because it is widely viewed in the trucking industry that further idling restrictions would unduly compromise driver comfort and truck operations. The auxiliary power units (APUs) available to replace the idling of the diesel traction engine all have had limited trucking industry acceptance. Fuel cells are a promising APU technology. Fuel cell APUs have the potential to greatly reduce emissions and energy use and save money. In this paper, we estimate costs and benefits of fuel cell APUs. We calculate the payback period for fuel cell APUs to be about 2.6-4.5 years. This estimate is uncertain since future fuel cell costs are unknown and cost savings from idling vary greatly across the truck fleet. The payback period is particularly sensitive to diesel fuel consumption at idle. Given the large potential environmental and economic benefits of fuel cell APUs, the first major commercial application of fuel cells may be as truck APUs. (Author)

A methodology that simulates outcomes from future data collection programs, utilizes Bayesian Monte Carlo analysis to predict the resulting reduction in uncertainty, and estimates the expected value of this reduction to a risk based environmental remediation decision is illustrated considering polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) sediment contamination and uptake by winter flounder in New Bedford Harbor, MA. The expected value of including uncertainty (EVIU), the difference between the expected loss of the nominal decision and the expected loss of the optimal decision based on the uncertainty analysis, is calculated. In addition, the expected value of sample information (EVSI), the difference between the expected loss of the optimal decision based on the uncertainty analysis and the expected loss of the optimal decision from an updated information state, is calculated for several sampling plans. For the illustrative application the authors have posed, the EVSI for a sampling plan of two data points is $9.4 million, for five data points is $10.4 million, and for ten data points is $11.5 million. The EVSI for sampling plans involving larger numbers of data points is bounded by the expected value of perfect information, $15.6 million. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine the effect of selected model structure and parametric assumptions on the optimal decision and the EVSI. The EVSI is most sensitive to the unit cost of remediation and rather insensitive to the penalty cost associated with under-remediation.