WorldWideScience

Sample records for billion dollars annually

  1. Proton collider breaks the six-billion-dollar barrier

    CERN Multimedia

    Vaughan, C

    1990-01-01

    The SSC will cost at least 1 billion more than its estimated final price of 5.9 billion dollars. Critics in congress believe the final bill could be double that figure. The director of the SSC blames most of the increase in cost on technical problems with developing the superconducting magnets for the SSC (1/2 page).

  2. Winglets Save Billions of Dollars in Fuel Costs

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    The upturned ends now featured on many airplane wings are saving airlines billions of dollars in fuel costs. Called winglets, the drag-reducing technology was advanced through the research of Langley Research Center engineer Richard Whitcomb and through flight tests conducted at Dryden Flight Research Center. Seattle-based Aviation Partners Boeing -- a partnership between Aviation Partners Inc., of Seattle, and The Boeing Company, of Chicago -- manufactures Blended Winglets, a unique design featured on Boeing aircraft around the world. These winglets have saved more than 2 billion gallons of jet fuel to date, representing a cost savings of more than $4 billion and a reduction of almost 21.5 million tons in carbon dioxide emissions.

  3. A billion-dollar bonanza

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isaacs, J.

    1993-01-01

    In late May -- only weeks after Congress had rejected the president's economic stimulus package because it would add to the federal deficit -- the House of Representatives generously allocated an extra $1.2 billion to the Pentagon. This article discusses some of the rationalizations House members gave for the gift and describes the attempts of a bipartisan group to defeat this request for funds propounded by Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha. This gist of the arguments for and against the $1.2 billion and the results of votes on the bill are presented

  4. 77 FR 54659 - Price for the 2012 Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Price for the 2012 Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set AGENCY: United States Mint, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The United States Mint is announcing a price of $54.95 for the 2012 Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set. This set...

  5. FY97 nuclear-related budgets total 493 billion yen (4.4 billion dollars)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1996-01-01

    On September 13, the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan announced the estimated nuclear-related budget requests for FY1997 (April, 1997 - Mach, 1998), giving the breakdowns for eight ministries and agencies. The total amount requested by the government bodies was 493.3 billion yen, 0.8% increase as compared with FY96. this figure includes the budget requests of the Science and Technology Agency (STA), the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Okinawa Development Agency, and the Ministry of Home Affairs, but excludes the budget request made by the Ministry of Education. The budget requests of STA and MITI are 360 billion yen and 126 billion yen, respectively. On August 29, STA released its estimated FY97 budget request. The nuclear-related 360.4 billion yen is 0.9% more than that in year before. Of this sum, 199.9 billion yen is in the general account, and 160.6 billion yen is in the special account for power source development. The details of the nuclear-related amounts are explained. On August 26, MITI released its estimated budget request for FY97, and of the nuclear-related 125.7 billion yen (0.1% increase from FY96), 200 million yen is in the general account, and 98.9 billion yen and 26.6 billion yen are in the special accounts for power resource development and power source diversification, respectively. (K.I.)

  6. Saving billions of dollars--and physicians' time--by streamlining billing practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanchfield, Bonnie B; Heffernan, James L; Osgood, Bradford; Sheehan, Rosemary R; Meyer, Gregg S

    2010-06-01

    The U.S. system of billing third parties for health care services is complex, expensive, and inefficient. Physicians end up using nearly 12 percent of their net patient service revenue to cover the costs of excessive administrative complexity. A single transparent set of payment rules for multiple payers, a single claim form, and standard rules of submission, among other innovations, would reduce the burden on the billing offices of physician organizations. On a national scale, our hypothetical modeling of these changes would translate into $7 billion of savings annually for physician and clinical services. Four hours of professional time per physician and five hours of practice support staff time could be saved each week.

  7. Advancing the design of a dynamic petro-dollar currency basket

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elbeck, Matt

    2010-01-01

    This study offers Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member nations a crude oil pricing currency basket based on currency liquidity, in contrast with prior emphasis on OPEC trading patterns. Motivating the search for an alternative US dollar pricing of crude oil is the significant and inverse relationship (r=-0.82, p<0.01) between the US dollar major currencies index and crude oil price over the period January 1999-March 2009. A dynamically weighted petro-dollar currency basket is proposed based on the five currency claims (US dollar, Euro, British pound, Japanese yen and Swiss franc) and their varying proportions of foreign exchange reserves held by central banks. The major currencies US dollar index is compared against the proposed petro-dollar index to reveal an average US$8.1 billion annual gain in favor of the petro-dollar currency basket, offering OPEC members a revenue stream of diversified and highly liquid currencies to transition away from complete dependence on the US dollar crude oil pricing. The proposed petro-dollar crude oil pricing schema offers OPEC a crude oil price dynamically denominated in currencies reflecting the global use and importance of crude oil. This paper concludes with implementation issues facing a move toward the dynamically weighted petro-dollar crude oil pricing schema. (author)

  8. Megacity Green Infrastructure Converts Water into Billions of Dollars in Ecosystem Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Endreny, T. A.; Ulgiati, S.; Santagata, R.

    2016-12-01

    Cities can invest in green infrastructure to purposefully couple water with urban tree growth, thereby generating ecosystem services and supporting human wellbeing as advocated by United Nations sustainable development initiatives. This research estimates the value of tree-based ecosystem services in order to help megacities assess the benefits relative to the costs of such investments. We inventoried tree cover across the metropolitan area of 10 megacities, in 5 continents and biomes, and developed biophysical scaling equations using i-Tree tools to estimate the tree cover value to reductions in air pollution, stormwater, building energy, and carbon emissions. Metropolitan areas ranged from 1173 to 18,720 sq km (median value 2530 sq km), with median tree cover 21%, and potential additional tree cover 19%, of this area. Median tree cover density was 39 m2/capita (compared with global value of 7800 m2/capita), with lower density in desert and tropical biomes, and higher density in temperate biomes. Using water to support trees led to median benefits of 1.2 billion/yr from reductions in CO, NO2, SO2, PM10, and PM2.5, 27 million/yr in avoided stormwater processing by wastewater facilities, 1.2 million/yr in building energy heating and cooling savings, and 20 million/yr in CO2 sequestration. These ecosystem service benefits contributed between 0.1% and 1% of megacity GDP, with a median contribution of 0.3%. Adjustment of benefit value between different city economies considered factors such as purchasing power parity and emergy to money ratio conversions. Green infrastructure costs billions of dollars less than grey infrastructure, and stormwater based grey infrastructure provides fewer benefits. This analysis suggests megacities should invest in tree-based green infrastructure to maintain and increase ecosystem service benefits, manage their water resources, and improve human wellbeing.

  9. 77 FR 61475 - Price for the 2012 Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Price for the 2012 Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set AGENCY: United States Mint, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: Because of the recent increase in the market price of silver, the United States Mint is announcing a new price of $59.95...

  10. Uranium in Canada: Billion-dollar industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whillans, R.T.

    1989-01-01

    In 1988, Canada maintained its position as the world's leading producer and exporter of uranium; five primary uranium producers reported concentrate output containing 12,400 MT of uranium, or about one-third of Western production. Uranium shipments made by these producers in 1988 exceeded 13,200 MT, worth Canadian $1.1 billion. Because domestic requirements represent only 15% of current Canadian output, most of Canada's uranium production is available for export. Despite continued market uncertainty in 1988, Canada's uranium producers signed new sales contracts for some 14,000 MT, twice the 1987 level. About 90% of this new volume is with the US, now Canada's major uranium customer. The recent implementation of the Canada/US Free Trade agreement brings benefits to both countries; the uranium industries in each can now develop in an orderly, free market. Canada's uranium industry was restructured and consolidated in 1988 through merger and acquisition; three new uranium projects advanced significantly. Canada's new policy on nonresident ownership in the uranium mining sector, designed to encourage both Canadian and foreign investment, should greatly improve efforts to finance the development of recent Canadian uranium discoveries

  11. Estimating annualized earthquake losses for the conterminous United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaiswal, Kishor S.; Bausch, Douglas; Chen, Rui; Bouabid, Jawhar; Seligson, Hope

    2015-01-01

    We make use of the most recent National Seismic Hazard Maps (the years 2008 and 2014 cycles), updated census data on population, and economic exposure estimates of general building stock to quantify annualized earthquake loss (AEL) for the conterminous United States. The AEL analyses were performed using the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Hazus software, which facilitated a systematic comparison of the influence of the 2014 National Seismic Hazard Maps in terms of annualized loss estimates in different parts of the country. The losses from an individual earthquake could easily exceed many tens of billions of dollars, and the long-term averaged value of losses from all earthquakes within the conterminous U.S. has been estimated to be a few billion dollars per year. This study estimated nationwide losses to be approximately $4.5 billion per year (in 2012$), roughly 80% of which can be attributed to the States of California, Oregon and Washington. We document the change in estimated AELs arising solely from the change in the assumed hazard map. The change from the 2008 map to the 2014 map results in a 10 to 20% reduction in AELs for the highly seismic States of the Western United States, whereas the reduction is even more significant for Central and Eastern United States.

  12. Sneak Peek to the 2016 Billion-Ton Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2016-06-01

    The 2005 Billion-Ton Study became a landmark resource for bioenergy stakeholders, detailing for the first time the potential to produce at least one billion dry tons of biomass annually in a sustainable manner from U.S. agriculture and forest resources. The 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update expanded and updated the analysis, and in 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office plans to release the 2016 Billion-Ton Report: Advancing Domestic Resources for a Thriving Bioeconomy.

  13. The trillion dollar power project jackpot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roseman, E.J.

    1994-01-01

    International power needs, if not insatiable, are certainly of a magnitude beyond anything heretofore imagined. The international opportunities for independent power development are huge: Power Plants -- $700 to $800 billion worth of the new facilities will be needed by the year 2000; Transmission and Distribution -- Expansion of services will require an additional $300 to $400 billion; and Repowering and Improving Existing Plants -- The estimate is $40-$60 billion. RCG/Hagler, Bailly tracks the international power project development activities of over a hundred developers, and monitors the emerging private power market in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. On behalf of private clients and multi-lateral institutions, the authors have worked in more than three dozen countries in the past two years. There are far-reaching global implications involved in this massive movement toward independent power projects. New levels of international economic growth depend on it. Far greater energy efficiencies must accompany it. Environmental problems which will arise must be recognized and solved. The results from the trillion dollars that are to be invested will be far-reaching, dramatic, and vastly beneficial

  14. Ubiquitous Supercritical Wing Design Cuts Billions in Fuel Costs

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    A Langley Research Center engineer’s work in the 1960s and ’70s to develop a wing with better performance near the speed of sound resulted in a significant increase in subsonic efficiency. The design was shared with industry. Today, Renton, Washington-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes, as well as most other plane manufacturers, apply it to all their aircraft, saving the airline industry billions of dollars in fuel every year.

  15. U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Downing, Mark [ORNL; Eaton, Laurence M [ORNL; Graham, Robin Lambert [ORNL; Langholtz, Matthew H [ORNL; Perlack, Robert D [ORNL; Turhollow Jr, Anthony F [ORNL; Stokes, Bryce [Navarro Research & Engineering; Brandt, Craig C [ORNL

    2011-08-01

    The report, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (generally referred to as the Billion-Ton Study or 2005 BTS), was an estimate of 'potential' biomass based on numerous assumptions about current and future inventory, production capacity, availability, and technology. The analysis was made to determine if conterminous U.S. agriculture and forestry resources had the capability to produce at least one billion dry tons of sustainable biomass annually to displace 30% or more of the nation's present petroleum consumption. An effort was made to use conservative estimates to assure confidence in having sufficient supply to reach the goal. The potential biomass was projected to be reasonably available around mid-century when large-scale biorefineries are likely to exist. The study emphasized primary sources of forest- and agriculture-derived biomass, such as logging residues, fuel treatment thinnings, crop residues, and perennially grown grasses and trees. These primary sources have the greatest potential to supply large, reliable, and sustainable quantities of biomass. While the primary sources were emphasized, estimates of secondary residue and tertiary waste resources of biomass were also provided. The original Billion-Ton Resource Assessment, published in 2005, was divided into two parts-forest-derived resources and agriculture-derived resources. The forest resources included residues produced during the harvesting of merchantable timber, forest residues, and small-diameter trees that could become available through initiatives to reduce fire hazards and improve forest health; forest residues from land conversion; fuelwood extracted from forests; residues generated at primary forest product processing mills; and urban wood wastes, municipal solid wastes (MSW), and construction and demolition (C&D) debris. For these forest resources, only residues, wastes, and small

  16. LLNL's Big Science Capabilities Help Spur Over $796 Billion in U.S. Economic Activity Sequencing the Human Genome

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stewart, Jeffrey S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2015-07-28

    LLNL’s successful history of taking on big science projects spans beyond national security and has helped create billions of dollars per year in new economic activity. One example is LLNL’s role in helping sequence the human genome. Over $796 billion in new economic activity in over half a dozen fields has been documented since LLNL successfully completed this Grand Challenge.

  17. Spring forward with improved Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus resistant to Streptococcus iniae and Streptococcus agalactiae IB

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilapia aquaculture worldwide is valued around US $ 7 billion. Tilapia are an important source of protein for domestic (top 5 most consumed seafoods) and global food security. Two gram postitive bacteria, Streptococcus iniae and S. agalactiae, are responsible for billion dollar losses annually. Gen...

  18. Defense Business Transformation: Status of Department of Defense Efforts to Develop a Management Approach to Guide Business Transformation

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Pickup, Sharon L; Yarborough, Deborah; Coleman, Grace; Harms, K. N; Perkins, Suzanne; Richardson, Terry; Watkins, Joseph; Watson, Angela

    2009-01-01

    .... The GAO has reported on weaknesses in DOD's business operations that result in billions of dollars being wasted annually, reduced efficiencies, ineffective performance, inadequate accountability...

  19. Four billion people facing severe water scarcity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mekonnen, Mesfin M; Hoekstra, Arjen Y

    2016-02-01

    Freshwater scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk. Previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture the seasonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability. We assess blue water scarcity globally at a high spatial resolution on a monthly basis. We find that two-thirds of the global population (4.0 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. Nearly half of those people live in India and China. Half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year round. Putting caps to water consumption by river basin, increasing water-use efficiencies, and better sharing of the limited freshwater resources will be key in reducing the threat posed by water scarcity on biodiversity and human welfare.

  20. 1998 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    Operational activities and financial performance of Purcell Energy Ltd., an emerging junior in oil and gas exploration and production in Alberta are detailed. Production in 1998 grew to 966 boe/day, up from 860 boe/day in 1997. Revenues of 5.6 million dollars were slightly under the 5.7 million dollars earned in 1997, due solely to the substantial decrease in product prices. Net income was recorded at a loss of 2.5 million dollars after four consecutive years of positive earnings. The company's future prospects and opportunities lie in the very positive results achieved at Fort Liard where preliminary K-29 reserves increased proven and probable reserves to 44.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas, in leveraging these results, in capitalizing on opportunities that arise in the low point of the price cycle and grassroots exploration. Details of the company's operations at its various sites in Saskatchewan and Alberta are reviewed. Audited financial reports are also provided

  1. Florida Progress Corporation 1991 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    Florida Progress Corporation is a utility holding company with assets of 5 billion dollars. Its principal subsidiary is the Florida Power Corporation; others are the Electric Fuels Corporation, the Mid-Continent Life Assurance Company, the Talquin Corporation, the Progress Credit Corporation and Advanced Separation Technologies Incorporated. The annual report describes achievements during the year. To meet growing energy demand Florida Power is building new peaking and base-load generating units, purchasing power from neighbouring utilities and cogenerators, and building more bulk power transmission line capacity in the state. Emphasis has been placed on meeting load growth by demand-site management. Attention is given to balancing energy needs with concerns for the environment, and there is an award-winning recycling program. The Electric Fuels Corporation major area of business is coal mining and transportation services. Advanced Separation Technologies has sold several of its patented ion separation machines. The report includes consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 1991

  2. Urologic diseases in America Project: analytical methods and principal findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Litwin, Mark S; Saigal, Christopher S; Yano, Elizabeth M; Avila, Chantal; Geschwind, Sandy A; Hanley, Jan M; Joyce, Geoffrey F; Madison, Rodger; Pace, Jennifer; Polich, Suzanne M; Wang, Mingming

    2005-03-01

    The burden of urological diseases on the American public is immense in human and financial terms but it has been under studied. We undertook a project, Urologic Diseases in America, to quantify the burden of urological diseases on the American public. We identified public and private data sources that contain population based data on resource utilization by patients with benign and malignant urological conditions. Sources included the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, and private data sets maintained by MarketScan Health and Productivity Management (MarketScan, Chichester, United Kingdom), Ingenix (Ingenix, Salt Lake City, Utah) and Center for Health Care Policy and Evaluation. Using diagnosis and procedure codes we described trends in the utilization of urological services. In 2000 urinary tract infections accounted for more than 6.8 million office visits and 1.3 million emergency room visits, and 245,000 hospitalizations in women with an annual cost of more than 2.4 billion dollars. Urinary tract infections accounted for more than 1.4 million office visits, 424,000 emergency room visits and 121,000 hospitalizations in men with an annual cost of more than 1 billion dollars. Benign prostatic hyperplasia was the primary diagnosis in more than 4.4 million office visits, 117,000 emergency room visits and 105,000 hospitalizations, accounting for 1.1 billion dollars in expenditures that year. Urolithiasis was the primary diagnosis for almost 2 million office visits, more than 600,000 emergency room visits, and more than 177,000 hospitalizations, totaling more than 2 billion dollars in annual expenditures. Urinary incontinence in women was the primary cause for more than 1.1 million office visits in 2000 and 452 million dollars in

  3. 29 CFR 779.342 - Methods of computing annual volume of sales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... STANDARDS ACT AS APPLIED TO RETAILERS OF GOODS OR SERVICES Exemptions for Certain Retail or Service...) of the Act are specified in terms of the “annual dollar volume of sales” of goods or of services (or... annual dollar volume before deduction of those taxes which are excluded in determining whether the $250...

  4. The market trend analysis and prospects of scaffolds for stem cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Seou; Kwon, Taehoon; Chung, Eun Kyung; Lee, Joon Woo

    2014-01-01

    Scaffolds are one of the three most important elements constituting the basic concept of regenerative medicine, and are included in the core technology of regenerative medicine along with stem cells and tissue engineering. Stem cells are very important technology because they are directly responsible for the regenerative treatment of the disease and the damaged tissue, but with regards to the technology and the products that use stem cells exclusively, there is a technical limitation of limited survival rate and the engraftment rate of the transplanted cell, and rather than recovering the damaged tissue fundamentally, there is a limit that the concept is more of just another medicine treatment using cells. A scaffold is a natural or synthetic biocompatible material transplanted into a human body to be used as the exclusive treatment or as an assisted method of another treatment of a disease and for the recovery of damaged tissue. Therefore, according to the characteristics of the tissue to be applied, scaffolds must have the characteristics such as the excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, minimum immunity and inflammation, proper mechanical strength and interaction between the material and the cells. The world stem cell market was approximately 2.715 billion dollars in 2010, and with a growth rate of 16.8% annually, a market of 6.877 billion dollars will be formed in 2016. From 2017, the expected annual growth rate is 10.6%, which would expand the market to 11.38 billion dollars by 2021. Meanwhile, the world scaffold element technology market was approximately 4.57 million dollars in 2013, and by increasing 13.4% annually, it is estimated to expand to 10.63 million dollars by 2020. The Korean scaffold element technology market was about 22 million dollars in 2013, and with a steady growth of approximately 13.4% every year, it is prospected to be about 52 million dollars by 2020. In comparison to the medical material and medicine sales growth rate, the

  5. Oil price and the dollar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coudert, V.; Mignon, V.; Penot, A.

    2007-01-01

    Oil prices and the United States (US) dollar exchange rate are driving the evolution of the world economy. This paper investigated long-term relationships between oil prices and the US effective exchange rate. An empirical study was performed on oil prices and the dollar real effective exchange rate between 1974 to 2004. The impact of the dollar exchange rate was also explored, and the effects of oil prices on supply and demand were considered. A dynamic partial equilibrium framework study was evaluated in order to compare how other countries used revenues from oil exports in dollars. The study showed that both variables had similar evolutions when price fluctuations were low. Strong increases in the dollar were associated with lower oil prices. However, adjustment speeds of the dollar real effective exchange rate was slow. Co-integration and causality tests showed that oil prices influenced the exchange rate, and that the link between the 2 variables was transmitted through the country's net foreign asset position. It was concluded that higher oil prices improved US net foreign asset position in relation to other countries, and had a positive impact on dollar appreciation. 24 refs., 6 tabs., 1 fig

  6. Terrorism Base Potential in the Tri-Border Area of Latin America

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Halaburda, Pablo

    2006-01-01

    .... It has always been considered fertile ground for terrorist groups. Illicit activities are common, generating annually billions of dollars in money laundering, arms and drug trafficking, money and document forgery, and electronic media counterfeiting...

  7. International trade and air pollution: estimating the economic costs of air emissions from waterborne commerce vessels in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallagher, Kevin P

    2005-10-01

    Although there is a burgeoning literature on the effects of international trade on the environment, relatively little work has been done on where trade most directly effects the environment: the transportation sector. This article shows how international trade is affecting air pollution emissions in the United States' shipping sector. Recent work has shown that cargo ships have been long overlooked regarding their contribution to air pollution. Indeed, ship emissions have recently been deemed "the last unregulated source of traditional air pollutants". Air pollution from ships has a number of significant local, national, and global environmental effects. Building on past studies, we examine the economic costs of this increasing and unregulated form of environmental damage. We find that total emissions from ships are largely increasing due to the increase in foreign commerce (or international trade). The economic costs of SO2 pollution range from dollars 697 million to dollars 3.9 billion during the period examined, or dollars 77 to dollars 435 million on an annual basis. The bulk of the cost is from foreign commerce, where the annual costs average to dollars 42 to dollars 241 million. For NOx emissions the costs are dollars 3.7 billion over the entire period or dollars 412 million per year. Because foreign trade is driving the growth in US shipping, we also estimate the effect of the Uruguay Round on emissions. Separating out the effects of global trade agreements reveals that the trade agreement-led emissions amounted to dollars 96 to dollars 542 million for SO2 between 1993 and 2001, or dollars 10 to dollars 60 million per year. For NOx they were dollars 745 million for the whole period or dollars 82 million per year. Without adequate policy responses, we predict that these trends and costs will continue into the future.

  8. Outdoor recreation in shifting societal and natural landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda H. Mockrin; J. M.  Bowker; Katherine  Smith; Cindi  West

    2014-01-01

    Outdoor recreation contributes to public health, supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, and  provides billions of dollars annually to rural economies. Visitors to federal lands alone spent $51  billion in 2012 in nearby communities during their trips to recreate on public lands and waters  (Forest Service National Center for Natural Resources Economic Research 2014)....

  9. 78 FR 38946 - National Conference on Weights and Measures 98th Annual Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-28

    ... variety of commodities (e.g., coal, grains, and chemicals) totaling billions of dollars each year. The... propellant is not expelled with the product when the valve is activated. BOV packaging has been in the...

  10. Applying cost analyses to drive policy that protects children. Mercury as a case study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leonardo Trasande; Clyde Schechter; Karla A. Haynes; Philip J. Landrigan [Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY (United States). Department of Community and Preventive Medicine

    2006-09-15

    Exposure in prenatal life to methylmercury (MeHg) has become the topic of intense debate in the United States after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal in 2004 to reverse strict controls on emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants that had been in effect for the preceding 15 years. This proposal failed to incorporate any consideration of the health impacts on children that would result from increased mercury emissions. We assessed the impact on children's health of industrial mercury emissions and found that between 316,588 and 637,233 babies are born with mercury-related losses of cognitive function ranging from 0.2 to 5.13 points. We calculated that decreased economic productivity resulting from diminished intelligence over a lifetime results in an aggregate economic cost in each annual birth cohort of $8.7 billion annually. $1.3 billion of this cost is attributable to mercury emitted from American coal-fired power plants. Downward shifts in intellectual quotient (IQ) are also associated with 1566 excess cases of mental retardation annually. This number accounts for 3.2% of MR cases in the United States. If the lifetime excess cost of a case of MR is $1,248,648 in 2000 dollars, then the cost of these excess cases of MR is $2.0 billion annually. Preliminary data suggest that more stringent mercury policy options would prevent thousands of cases of MR and billions of dollars over the next 25 years.

  11. Biological and ecological science for Nevada—The Silver State

    Science.gov (United States)

    ,

    2017-10-04

    Nevada is rich in minerals, energy, rangelands, mountains, deserts, lakes, fish, and wildlife. Many enterprises critical to Nevada's economy are based on natural resources including solar energy, livestock production, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation. Nevada is a national leader in both geothermal and solar utility-scale energy production, and invested more than $1.2 million in 2016 in solar development alone. Agriculture, primarily livestock production, generates more than half a billion dollars annually, and wildlife watching, hunting, and fishing contribute more than $1 billion to Nevada's economy annually.

  12. Federal climate change programs : funding history and policy issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-01

    In recent years, the federal government has allocated several billion dollars annually for projects to expand the understanding of climate change or to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Most of that spending is done by t...

  13. IMPACTS. Industrial Technologies Program: Summary of Program Results for CY 2009

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    none,

    2011-10-01

    This annual report tracks the energy and other benefits of our commercialized technologies. From the 1980s to 2009, cumulative net energy savings are estimated at 10.0 quads, with an associated cost savings of $50.55 billion (in 2009 dollars).

  14. Transcriptomics-guided development of RNA interference strategies to manage whiteflies: a globally distributed vector of crop viruses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Over 300 viruses are transmitted by the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, with 90% of them belonging to the genus, Begomovirus. Begomoviruses are exclusively transmitted by whiteflies to a range of agriculture crops, resulting in billions of dollars lost annually, while jeopardizing food security worldwide....

  15. Formalizing and appling compliance patterns for business process compliance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Elgammal, A.; Turetken, O.; van den Heuvel, W.; Papazoglou, M.

    2016-01-01

    Today’s enterprises demand a high degree of compliance of business processes to meet diverse regulations and legislations. Several industrial studies have shown that compliance management is a daunting task, and organizations are still struggling and spending billions of dollars annually to ensure

  16. Formalizing and applying compliance patterns for business process compliance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Elgammal, A.F.S.A.; Türetken, O.; van den Heuvel, W.J.A.M.; Papazoglou, M.

    Today’s enterprises demand a high degree of compliance of business processes to meet diverse regulations and legislations. Several industrial studies have shown that compliance management is a daunting task, and organizations are still struggling and spending billions of dollars annually to ensure

  17. 77 FR 16484 - Annual Stress Test

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-21

    ...-2011-0029] RIN 1557-AD58 Annual Stress Test AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Treasury... billion to conduct an annual stress test and comply with certain reporting and disclosure requirements. To... conduct annual stress tests pursuant to regulations prescribed by their respective Federal primary...

  18. Regional Inflation and Financial Dollarization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brown, M.; de Haas, R.; Sokolov, V.

    2013-01-01

    Abstract: We exploit variation in consumer price inflation across 71 Russian regions to examine the relationship between the perceived stability of the local currency and financial dollarization. Our results show that regions with higher inflation experience an increase in the dollarization of

  19. Chinese Doctoral Student Socialization in the United States: A Qualitative Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Wendan; Collins, Christopher S.

    2014-01-01

    Although international students annually contribute billions of dollars to the US economy, meaningful intercultural interaction between international students, peers, and faculty is often missing at US host campuses. Feelings of isolation, loneliness, and alienation are pervasive among international students at US campuses; these feelings can…

  20. Comparative Genomics Yields Insights into Niche Adaptation of Plant Vascular Wilt Pathogens

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klosterman, S.J.; Subbarao, K.V.; Kang, S.; Veronese, P.; Gold, S.E.; Thomma, B.P.H.J.; Chen, Z.J.; Henrissat, B.; Lee, Y.H.; Park, J.; Garcia-Pedrajas, M.D.; Barbara, D.J.; Anchieta, A.; Jonge, de R.; Santhanam, P.; Maruthachalam, K.; Atallah, Z.; Amyotte, S.G.; Paz, Z.; Inderbitzin, P.; Hayes, R.J.; Heiman, D.I.; Young, S.; Zeng, Q.; Engels, R.; Galagan, J.; Cuomo, C.; Dobinson, K.F.; Ma, L.J.

    2011-01-01

    The vascular wilt fungi Verticillium dahliae and V. albo-atrum infect over 200 plant species, causing billions of dollars in annual crop losses. The characteristic wilt symptoms are a result of colonization and proliferation of the pathogens in the xylem vessels, which undergo fluctuations in

  1. The streptococcal phage SA2 and B30 endolysins act synergistically and kill mastitis causing streptococci in milk

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bovine mastitis results in billion dollar losses annually in the United States alone. Among the most relevant causative agents of this disease are members of the genus Streptococcus, particularly the species S. agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus; GBS), S. dysgalactiae (Group C; GCS), and S. uberis....

  2. An annotated checklist of the Stomoxyini (Diptera: Muscidae) of the Levant with new records from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Sinai Egypt

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Stomoxyini are obligate blood feeders and several members of the tribe, especially Stomoxys and Haematobia, are major pests of domestic livestock causing billions of U.S. dollars in damages annually. Therefore, USDA-CMAVE scientists and Israeli scientists worked cooperatively to survey the spec...

  3. QTL-seq analysis of heat tolerance in broccoli

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) production, worth approximately a billion dollars annually in the United States alone, is restricted in terms of location and season, due to the sensitivity of commercial cultivars to high temperatures. Heat stress during heading causes yield and quality los...

  4. Overexpression of a soybean salicylic acid methlyltransferase gene confers resistance to soybean cyst nematode

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines Ichinohe, SCN) is the most pervasive pest of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in the USA and worldwide. SCN reduced soybean yields worldwide by an estimated billion dollars annually. These losses remained stable with the use of resistant cultivars but over ...

  5. Reciprocal Peer Coaching: A Critical Contributor to Implementing Individual Leadership Plans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldman, Ellen; Wesner, Marilyn; Karnchanomai, Ornpawee

    2013-01-01

    Billions of dollars are spent annually on programs to develop organizational leaders, yet the effectiveness of these programs is poorly understood. Scholars advise that value is enhanced by the development of individual leadership plans at program completion, followed by implementation experience with subsequent coaching and reflection. The…

  6. Development of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to Rose rosette virus nucleoprotein

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garden roses, which form the cornerstone of the multi-billion dollar landscape industry, annually generate wholesale US domestic production valued at ca. $400 million. Over the past few decades Rose rosette disease, caused by Rose rosette virus (RRV; genus Emaravirus), has become a major threat to t...

  7. Behind the ink : multi-billion dollar oil deal between Venezuela and China not necessarily bad for either the United States or Canada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bentein, J.

    2009-01-01

    Although China has recently signed large contracts with Venezuela for crude oil, experts are convinced that Chinese refiners will want more Canadian crude oil because they have greater confidence in Canada as a reliable provider. Production difficulties with nationalized oil industries in Venezuela and Mexico will create further opportunities for Canadian oil producers. The recent recession has caused delays in plans to increase pipeline capacity. China may invest $US 8 billion in Venezuelan oil in order to increase exports to China to over a million barrels per day by 2015. The Chinese government granted the Venezuelan government a $4 billion loan last year. The Venezuelan government has increased the maximum royalty rates paid by foreign oil companies. The Venezuelan-owned Citgo operates more than 7000 gasoline retail outlets in the United States. The country is capable of processing 1.3 million barrels per day. Studies have suggested that the Chinese see their investments as a business opportunity, and not as a means of antagonizing western countries. It was concluded that economists are predicting that Venezuela's currency will be devalued this year. 3 figs

  8. Expression of Arabidopsis genes AtNPR1 and AtTGA2 in transgenic soybean roots of composite plants confers resistance to root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Root-knot nematodes (RKN; Meloidogyne spp.) are among the most destructive of the plant parasitic nematodes, infecting almost all cultivated plants and resulting in yield losses of billions of dollars annually. NPR1 (nonexpresser of pathogenesis related genes 1, AtNPR1) plays a positive role in the ...

  9. Combating the Sigatoka disease complex on banana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banana is the fourth most important staple food in the world behind rice, wheat and maize, with more than 100 million tons produced annually. Although the majority of bananas produced are consumed locally, banana export is a multi-billion dollar business. Bananas are grown in more than 100 countri...

  10. The use of plants to protect plants and food against fungal pathogens

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: Plant fungal pathogens play a crucial role in the profitability, quality and quantity of plant production. These phytopathogens are persistent in avoiding plant defences causing diseases and quality losses around the world that amount to billions of US dollars annually. To control the scourge of plant fungal ...

  11. Towards a global land subsidence map

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Erkens, G.; Sutanudjaja, E. H.

    2015-01-01

    Land subsidence is a global problem, but a global land subsidence map is not available yet. Such map is crucial to raise global awareness of land subsidence, as land subsidence causes extensive damage (probably in the order of billions of dollars annually). With the global land subsidence map

  12. Microbial food safety - modeling and applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Microbial food safety is a key issue for the food processing industry, and enhancing food safety is everyone’s responsibility from food producers to consumers. Financial losses to the economy due to foodborne illness are in the billions of dollars, annually. Foodborne illness can be caused by patho...

  13. First-dollar cost-sharing for skilled nursing facility care in medicare advantage plans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keohane, Laura M; Grebla, Regina C; Rahman, Momotazur; Mukamel, Dana B; Lee, Yoojin; Mor, Vincent; Trivedi, Amal

    2017-08-29

    The initial days of a Medicare-covered skilled nursing facility (SNF) stay may have no cost-sharing or daily copayments depending on beneficiaries' enrollment in traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage. Some policymakers have advocated imposing first-dollar cost-sharing to reduce post-acute expenditures. We examined the relationship between first-dollar cost-sharing for a SNF stay and use of inpatient and SNF services. We identified seven Medicare Advantage plans that introduced daily SNF copayments of $25-$150 in 2009 or 2010. Copays began on the first day of a SNF admission. We matched these plans to seven matched control plans that did not introduce first-dollar cost-sharing. In a difference-in-differences analysis, we compared changes in SNF and inpatient utilization for the 172,958 members of intervention and control plans. In intervention plans the mean annual number of SNF days per 100 continuously enrolled inpatients decreased from 768.3 to 750.6 days when cost-sharing changes took effect. Control plans experienced a concurrent increase: 721.7 to 808.1 SNF days per 100 inpatients (adjusted difference-in-differences: -87.0 days [95% CI (-112.1,-61.9)]). In intervention plans, we observed no significant changes in the probability of any SNF service use or the number of inpatient days per hospitalized member relative to concurrent trends among control plans. Among several strategies Medicare Advantage plans can employ to moderate SNF use, first-dollar SNF cost-sharing may be one influential factor. Not applicable.

  14. U.S.-South Korea Relations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-15

    After Realignment Plan Is Implemented................................................... 22 Tables Table 1. Annual U.S.-South Korea Merchandise ...In addition to their formal dinner, Obama and Lee had a private dinner at a local Korean restaurant and made a joint visit to a General Motors...U.S. trade. Table 1. Annual U.S.-South Korea Merchandise Trade, Selected Years (Billions of Nominal U.S. Dollars) Year U.S. Exports U.S. Imports

  15. Essentially stronger -1999 EPCOR annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    This annual report provides details of the financial operations of EPCOR, the newly formed utility, combining together three essential elements of modern living --electric power, water and natural gas-- as a single entity. In addition to this report on financial management, there are two companion reports on environmental performance entitled E ssential Balance', and on contributions to the community with the title of 'Essential Spirit'. While this report focuses on the Corporation's financial performance, it also provides a summary on the Corporation's growth, operational excellence, regulatory matters, environmental achievements and management of the Corporation's people resources. The financial report includes the customary consolidated financial statements, the auditor's report, and management's discussion and analysis of the financial report. Revenues for 1999 totalled just over one billion dollars ($978 million in 1998); net income was $116 million ($121 million in 1998); operating expenses were higher than in 1998 ($765 million versus $642 million) due to higher natural gas prices; capital spending was $198 million, compared to $153 million in 1998. Operations, maintenance, and administrative costs were also higher in 1999 due to higher employee costs across the EPCOR Group, one-time costs associated with EPCOR's master branding initiative, Y2K testing and remediation, and increased business development costs

  16. Workplace Climate and Peer Support as Determinants of Training Transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Harry J.

    2010-01-01

    Although billions of dollars are spent annually on training and development, much about the transfer processes is not well understood. This study investigated the interaction of workplace climate and peer support on the transfer of learning in a corporate field setting. Supervisor ratings of performance on several skill dimensions were obtained…

  17. Smoking Behavior, Attitudes of Second-Hand Smoke, and No-Smoking Policies on a University Campus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polacek, Georgia N. L. Johnston; Atkins, Janet L.

    2008-01-01

    Smoking, when condoned as socially acceptable, overtly establishes such behavior as normal and risk-free. Scientific evidence verifies that cigarette smoking pervasively damages the body, causes early death, costs billions of dollars annually in medical care for smokers, and poses serious health risks to nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke. Yet…

  18. Cutting Costs and Improving Outcomes for Janitorial Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Jeffery L.

    2011-01-01

    Recent research reveals that janitorial services account for nearly 30 percent of facility budgets, which translates into billions of dollars annually. With janitorial services consuming such a large share of budgets, other industry findings are alarming. Most cleaning systems: 1) have no quantifiable standards; 2) are based solely on appearance;…

  19. Modeling containment of large wildfires using generalized linear mixed-model analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mark Finney; Isaac C. Grenfell; Charles W. McHugh

    2009-01-01

    Billions of dollars are spent annually in the United States to contain large wildland fires, but the factors contributing to suppression success remain poorly understood. We used a regression model (generalized linear mixed-model) to model containment probability of individual fires, assuming that containment was a repeated-measures problem (fixed effect) and...

  20. Health Barriers to Learning and the Education Opportunity Gap. Progress of Education Reform. Volume 15 Issue 3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basch, Charles E.; Gracy, Delaney; Johnson, Dennis; Fabian, Anupa

    2015-01-01

    Education is a critical pathway by which children can rise out of the cycle of poverty. Billions of dollars are invested annually in America's public schools and considerable improvement has been made in academic achievement and educational attainment. However, certain school-aged cohorts--entire communities of youth--have been left behind. An…

  1. Billion dollar paperclip think smarter about your data

    CERN Document Server

    Short, Gregory

    2014-01-01

    EVERY PRODUCT HAS A STORY TO BE TOLD Two nearly identical products are released: one breaks all sales records while the other sits on store shelves untouched. The products look the same. They have the same target market, the same price, and similar retailers. So why did one succeed, where the other failed? Market researchers and data analysts have been wrestling with questions like this for decades. As the flood of Big Data adds both possibilities and complexities to traditional research methodologies, the ultimate solution for companies seeking to become data enabled has finally emerged. Insp

  2. Tapping into a Billion Dollar Resource, SBIR/STTR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mexcur, Paul; Kalshoven, James

    2002-10-01

    This presentation provides an overview of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs as implemented by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). These programs, as mandated by Congress, provide an opportunity for small, high technology companies and research institutions to participate in Government sponsored research and development (R&D) efforts in key technology areas. This presentation describes the background and operation of these two programs and discusses what factors a business should consider in making the decision to participate.

  3. SQUID use for Geophysics: finding billions of dollars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foley, Catherine

    2014-03-01

    Soon after their discovery, Jim Zimmerman saw the potential of using Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices, SQUIDs, for the study of Geophysics and undertook experiments to understand the magnetic phenomena of the Earth. However his early experiments were not successful. Nevertheless up to the early 1980's, some research effort in the use of SQUIDs for geophysics continued and many ideas of how you could use SQUIDs evolved. Their use was not adopted by the mining industry at that time for a range of reasons. The discovery of high temperature superconductors started a reinvigoration in the interest to use SQUIDs for mineral exploration. Several groups around the world worked with mining companies to develop both liquid helium and nitrogen cooled systems. The realisation of the achievable sensitivity that contributed to successful mineral discoveries and delineation led to real financial returns for miners. By the mid 2000's, SQUID systems for geophysics were finally being offered for sale by several start-up companies. This talk will tell the story of SQUID use in geophysics. It will start with the early work of the SQUID pioneers including that of Jim Zimmerman and John Clarke and will also cover the development since the early 1990's up to today of a number of magnetometers and gradiometers that have been successfully commercialised and used to create significant impact in the global resources industry. The talk will also cover some of the critical technical challenges that had to be overcome to succeed. It will focus mostly on magnetically unshielded systems used in the field although some laboratory-based systems will be discussed.

  4. The Multi-Billion Dollar Drug-Sensitive Spending Opportunity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Easter, Jon C; Thorpe, Kenneth

    2018-01-01

    Chronic diseases increase utilization and avoidable drug-sensitive spending, but little is done to optimize medication use and drive value. Value-based approaches to health care financing should shift focus to drug-sensitive spending to balance patient access and quality improvement with cost containment. ©2018 by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and The Duke Endowment. All rights reserved.

  5. Nongovernment Philanthropic Spending on Public Health in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw-Taylor, Yoku

    2016-01-01

    The objective of this study was to estimate the dollar amount of nongovernment philanthropic spending on public health activities in the United States. Health expenditure data were derived from the US National Health Expenditures Accounts and the US Census Bureau. Results reveal that spending on public health is not disaggregated from health spending in general. The level of philanthropic spending is estimated as, on average, 7% of overall health spending, or about $150 billion annually according to National Health Expenditures Accounts data tables. When a point estimate of charity care provided by hospitals and office-based physicians is added, the value of nongovernment philanthropic expenditures reaches approximately $203 billion, or about 10% of all health spending annually.

  6. What fraction of the US GNP makes use of devices invented as a result of the success of the quantum theory of the atom?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lederman, L.M.; Carrigan, R.A. Jr.

    1987-01-01

    This paper estimates the fraction of the economic activity that makes use of quantum mechanical devices. The questionable methodology estimates the fraction of a given economic activity which uses post-atomic technology. The scheme arrives at 23% over a given set of direct activities. Scientist in a curiosity-driven quest for an understanding of what, in 1900, was a dimly conceived exotic concept, stimulated, by their discoveries, economic acitivity amounting to about $1000 billion (in 1987 dollars) of our annual GNP, which is about $4 trillion. One quarter of this part of the GNP, or $280 billion, is paid back to the federal government in taxes annually. This number can be very wrong, but still be an impressive return from science, compared to the $10 billions of federal funding which OMB defines as basic research. 1 figure

  7. Summary and Comparison of the 2016 Billion-Ton Report with the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2016-06-01

    In terms of the magnitude of the resource potential, the results of the 2016 Billion-Ton Report (BT16) are consistent with the original 2005 Billion-Ton Study (BTS) and the 2011 report, U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry (BT2. An effort was made to reevaluate the potential forestland, agricultural, and waste resources at the roadside, then extend the analysis by adding transportation costs to a biorefinery under specified logistics assumptions to major resource fractions.

  8. Projection matrices as a forest management tool: an invasive tree case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ian J. Renne; Benjamin F. Tracy; Timothy P. Spira

    2003-01-01

    Life history parameters of many forest-dwelling species are affected by native and non-native pests. In turn, these pests alter forest processes and cost the United States billions of dollars annually. Population projection matrices can aid ecologists and managers in evaluating the impact of pests on forest species as well as devising effective strategies for pest...

  9. Fumigant toxicity of essential oils to Reticulitermes flavipes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carol A. Clausen; Vina W. Yang

    2008-01-01

    Subterranean termite infestations occur in every state in the contiguous United States and are responsible for damage to wooden structures in excess of two billion dollars (U.S.) annually. Essential oils have historically been used to repel insects. They have relatively low toxicity and some of them are exempt from regulation by the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and...

  10. 75 FR 64776 - Initiation of Section 302 Investigation and Request for Public Comment: China-Acts, Policies and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-20

    ... annual U.S. trade deficit with China in green technology goods to increase by more than two billion dollars since China joined the WTO. The petition alleges that U.S. exports to China in the sector have grown only modestly, while U.S. imports from China in the sector are nearly five times higher than they...

  11. The Proposed U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA): Provisions and Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-06-17

    U.S.-South Korea Merchandise Trade, Selected Years ......................................7 The Proposed U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS...Research Service 7 Table 1. Annual U.S.-South Korea Merchandise Trade, Selected Years (Billions of U.S. Dollars) Year U.S. Exports U.S. Imports...household meat purchases, particularly on reducing beef consumption in restaurants . 157

  12. 31 CFR 103.51 - Dollars as including foreign currency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... RECORDKEEPING AND REPORTING OF CURRENCY AND FOREIGN TRANSACTIONS General Provisions § 103.51 Dollars as including foreign currency. Wherever in this part an amount is stated in dollars, it shall be deemed to mean... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Dollars as including foreign currency...

  13. Essentially stronger -1999 EPCOR annual report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-07-01

    This annual report provides details of the financial operations of EPCOR, the newly formed utility, combining together three essential elements of modern living --electric power, water and natural gas-- as a single entity. In addition to this report on financial management, there are two companion reports on environmental performance entitled {sup E}ssential Balance', and on contributions to the community with the title of 'Essential Spirit'. While this report focuses on the Corporation's financial performance, it also provides a summary on the Corporation's growth, operational excellence, regulatory matters, environmental achievements and management of the Corporation's people resources. The financial report includes the customary consolidated financial statements, the auditor's report, and management's discussion and analysis of the financial report. Revenues for 1999 totalled just over one billion dollars ($978 million in 1998); net income was $116 million ($121 million in 1998); operating expenses were higher than in 1998 ($765 million versus $642 million) due to higher natural gas prices; capital spending was $198 million, compared to $153 million in 1998. Operations, maintenance, and administrative costs were also higher in 1999 due to higher employee costs across the EPCOR Group, one-time costs associated with EPCOR's master branding initiative, Y2K testing and remediation, and increased business development costs.

  14. Areva - First quarter 2009 revenue climbs 8.5% to 3.003 billion euros

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-04-01

    First quarter 2009 revenue was up 8.5% compared with the same period last year, to 3.003 billion euros. At constant exchange rates and consolidation scope, growth came to 3.9%. Currency translation had a positive impact of 57 million euros over the quarter. Changes in the consolidation scope had an impact of 66 million euros, primarily due to the consolidation of acquisitions made in 2008 in Transmission and Distribution and in Renewable Energies. The growth engines for first quarter revenue were the Reactors and Services division and the Transmission and Distribution division, with growth of 9.2% and 16.1% respectively. Outside France, revenue rose to 2.032 billion euros, compared with 1.857 billion euros in the first quarter of 2008, and represents 68% of total revenue. Orders were steady in the first quarter, particularly in the Front End, which posted several significant contracts with US and Asian utilities, and in Transmission and Distribution, with orders up sharply in Asia and South America. As of March 31, 2009, the group's backlog reached 49.5 billion euros, for 28.3% growth year-on-year, including 31.3% growth in Nuclear and 10.2% in Transmission and Distribution. For the year as a whole, the group confirms its outlook for backlog and revenue growth as well as rising operating income It should be noted that revenue may vary significantly from one quarter to the next in nuclear operations. Accordingly, quarterly data cannot be viewed as a reliable indicator of annual trends

  15. Trends in business management strategies of major international oil companies; Kokusai sekiyu kigyo meja no keiei senryaku no doko

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kashio, H. [The Institute of Energy Economics, Tokyo (Japan)

    1995-07-01

    This paper summarizes the former half part of the analysis made on business strategies of major international oil companies. The net earning of R/D Shell in fiscal 1994 increased by 1.8 billion dollars to 6.3 billion dollars. Its loan rate decreased to 16.7%. It increased the crude oil production by 3% to 2.2 million B/D, and the natural gas production by 1.2% to 7.3 billion cfd. The upstream department had the net earning decreased by 23% to 2.4 billion dollars because of decline in crude oil price. The net earning of the downstream department showed an increase by 20% over that in the previous year to 3.2 billion dollars. The chemical department had its business turned to black ink. The net earning of Exxon in the same year decreased by 200 million dollars to 5.1 billion dollars due to the reduced crude oil price and low refining margin. The upstream and downstream departments showed a decrease of 530 million and 630 million dollars respectively. The chemical department had an increase of 130% to 950 million dollars as a result of the recovery in the European markets. The net earning of Mobile in the same year showed a decrease of 2.1 billion dollars, ending in the amount of 1.1 billion dollars. The decrease has been caused by the decline in crude oil and natural gas prices and a 30% reduction in the refining margin. The chemical department changed for the better, with improved sales margins in oil products sold in overseas markets. 28 figs.

  16. Hazus® estimated annualized earthquake losses for the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaiswal, Kishor; Bausch, Doug; Rozelle, Jesse; Holub, John; McGowan, Sean

    2017-01-01

    Large earthquakes can cause social and economic disruption that can be unprecedented to any given community, and the full recovery from these impacts may or may not always be achievable. In the United States (U.S.), the 1994 M6.7 Northridge earthquake in California remains the third costliest disaster in U.S. history; and it was one of the most expensive disasters for the federal government. Internationally, earthquakes in the last decade alone have claimed tens of thousands of lives and caused hundreds of billions of dollars of economic impact throughout the globe (~90 billion U.S. dollars (USD) from 2008 M7.9 Wenchuan China, ~20 billion USD from 2010 M8.8 Maule earthquake in Chile, ~220 billion USD from 2011 M9.0 Tohoku Japan earthquake, ~25 billion USD from 2011 M6.3 Christchurch New Zealand, and ~22 billion USD from 2016 M7.0 Kumamoto Japan). Recent earthquakes show a pattern of steadily increasing damages and losses that are primarily due to three key factors: (1) significant growth in earthquake-prone urban areas, (2) vulnerability of the older building stock, including poorly engineered non-ductile concrete buildings, and (3) an increased interdependency in terms of supply and demand for the businesses that operate among different parts of the world. In the United States, earthquake risk continues to grow with increased exposure of population and development even though the earthquake hazard has remained relatively stable except for the regions of induced seismic activity. Understanding the seismic hazard requires studying earthquake characteristics and locales in which they occur, while understanding the risk requires an assessment of the potential damage from earthquake shaking to the built environment and to the welfare of people—especially in high-risk areas. Estimating the varying degree of earthquake risk throughout the United States is critical for informed decision-making on mitigation policies, priorities, strategies, and funding levels in the

  17. Biological and ecological science for Florida—The Sunshine State

    Science.gov (United States)

    ,

    2017-08-30

    Florida is rich in sunshine and other natural resources essential to the State's economy. More than 100 million tourists visit Florida's beaches, wetlands, forests, oceans, lakes, and streams where they generate billions of dollars and sustain more than a million jobs. Florida also provides habitat for several thousand freshwater and marine fish, mammals, birds, and other wildlife that are viewed, hunted, or fished, or that provide valuable ecological services. Fertile soils and freshwater supplies support agriculture and forest industries and generate more than $8 billion of revenue annually and sustain thousands of jobs.

  18. AREVA annual results 2009

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    AREVA expanded its backlog and increased its revenues compared with 2008, on strong installed base business and dynamic major projects, fostering growth in operating income of 240 million euros. As announced previously, Areva is implementing a financing plan suited to its objectives of profitable growth. The plan was implemented successfully in 2009, including the conclusion of an agreement, under very satisfactory terms, to sell its Transmission and Distribution business for 4 billion euros, asset sales for more than 1.5 billion euros, and successful bond issues of 3 billion euros. The plan will continue in 2010 with a capital increase, the completion of asset disposals and cost reduction and continued operational performance improvement programs. Areva bolstered its Renewable Energies business segment by supplementing its offshore wind power and biomass businesses with the acquisition of Ausra, a California-based leader in concentrated solar power technology. Despite the sale of T and D, Areva is maintaining its financial performance outlook for 2012: 12% average annual revenue growth to 12 billion euros in 2012, double digit operating margin and substantially positive free operating cash flow. Annual results 2009: - For the group as a whole, including Transmission and Distribution: Backlog: euros 49.4 bn (+2.5%), Revenues: euros 14 bn (+6.4%), Operating income: euros 501 m (+20.1%); - Nuclear and Renewable Energies perimeter: Backlog: euros 43.3 bn (+1.8%), Strong revenue growth: +5.4% to euros 8.5 bn, Operating income before provision for the Finnish project in the first half of 2009: euros 647 m, Operating income: euros 97 m, for a euros 240 m increase from 2008; - Net income attributable to equity holders of the parent: euros 552 m, i.e. euros 15.59 per share; - Net debt: euros 6,193 m; - Pro-forma net debt, including net cash to be received from the sale of T and D in 2010: euros 3,022 m; - Dividend of euros 7.06 per share to be proposed during the Annual

  19. Projected national impact of colorectal cancer screening on clinical and economic outcomes and health services demand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladabaum, Uri; Song, Kenneth

    2005-10-01

    Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is effective and cost-effective, but the potential national impact of widespread screening is uncertain. It is controversial whether screening colonoscopy can be offered widely and how emerging tests may impact health services demand. Our aim was to produce integrated, comprehensive estimates of the impact of widespread screening on national clinical and economic outcomes and health services demand. We used a Markov model and census data to estimate the national consequences of screening 75% of the US population with conventional and emerging strategies. Screening decreased CRC incidence by 17%-54% to as few as 66,000 cases per year and CRC mortality by 28%-60% to as few as 23,000 deaths per year. With no screening, total annual national CRC-related expenditures were 8.4 US billion dollars. With screening, expenditures for CRC care decreased by 1.5-4.4 US billion dollars but total expenditures increased to 9.2-15.4 US billion dollars. Screening colonoscopy every 10 years required 8.1 million colonoscopies per year including surveillance, with other strategies requiring 17%-58% as many colonoscopies. With improved screening uptake, total colonoscopy demand increased in general, even assuming substantial use of virtual colonoscopy. Despite savings in CRC care, widespread screening is unlikely to be cost saving and may increase national expenditures by 0.8-2.8 US billion dollars per year with conventional tests. The current national endoscopic capacity, as recently estimated, may be adequate to support widespread use of screening colonoscopy in the steady state. The impact of emerging tests on colonoscopy demand will depend on the extent to which they replace screening colonoscopy or increase screening uptake in the population.

  20. Special Education Finance in California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Laura; Warren, Paul; Murphy, Patrick; Ugo, Iwunze; Pathak, Aditi

    2016-01-01

    California's system of special education served about 718,000 students in 2014-15, or about 11.5 percent of the K-12 population. It is expensive, consuming some $12 billion in federal, state, and local dollars annually. Special education operates within a legal framework that sets it apart from the rest of the K-12 system. The state's enactment of…

  1. China’s Bureaucracy Hinders Environmental Recovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lixin Guan; Ge Sun; Shixiong Cao

    2010-01-01

    Ecosystem restoration efforts have become a booming business in China. Billions of dollars are being spent annually to restore polluted waterways and ecosystems that have been degraded, fragmented, or paved over (Fu et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2007). However, China’s environmental sustainability index remains among the lowest in the world (World Bank 2009; Liu 2010). For...

  2. Hedge Effectiveness in the Brazilian US Dollar Futures Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo Lima Gomes

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, one could observe a very definite surge in dollar prices in Brazil. Many Brazilian Companies, especially those with large amounts of dollar denominated debt incurred substantial losses due to the strong and fast growth of the dollar. The subsequent dollar price collapse from 2002 to 2008 caused great losses to exporters. In the context of hedge being a form of protection against currency oscillations, this paper aimed to study its effectiveness using the dollar future market in the BM&FBovespa. Specifically, four alternatives for calculating the optimum hedge ratio were compared: a the so called naïve approach, where opposite positions are taken in the spot and future markets; b OLS – Ordinary Least Squares c symmetric bi-variate GARCH (Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity; d asymmetric bi-variate GARCH. The results showed that both GARCH supported hedge ratios presented higher effectiveness when compared to OLS, with in turn surpassed the naïve one.

  3. Targeting Inflation in a Dollarized Economy: The Peruvian Experience

    OpenAIRE

    Adrián Armas; Francisco Grippa

    2005-01-01

    This discusses the unique experience of Peru`s Central Bank with inflation targeting in an economy characterized by a high degree of financial dollarization. The paper outlines how Peru has taken financial dollarization into consideration in the design of monetary policy, then deals with monetary policy implementation and the Central Bank`s strategy for controlling financial dollarization risks. The paper concludes with analysis and lessons drawn from the Peruvian case.

  4. The impacts of policy mix for resolving overcapacity in heavy chemical industry and operating national carbon emission trading market in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Wei; Lu, Can; Ding, Yi; Zhang, Yan-Wu

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: •A STIRPAT embed dynamic CGE model is utilized to evaluate the whole impact. •Economy and trade increased slightly under scenario shock. •Global carbon emission reduction rate ranges from 3.33% to 7.46%. •Carbon emission peaks in 2022, 2024, 2026 beyond simulating scenarios. •Energy intensity decreases 19.58–23.71% upon 2020 in contrast with 2015. -- Abstract: In place to reduce greenhouse gas emission efficiently and accomplish carbon emission peak destination ahead of 2030, a variety of policy-based interventions grounded in optimizing energy structure and boosting emission mitigation have been put forward to target carbon-and resource-intensive enterprises across China. Both defusing overcapacity in heavy chemical industry and constructing national carbon trading market are recently attached with a stronger significant importance. A STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology) embed dynamic CGE (computable general equilibrium) model is applied in this study to evaluate the simulation effects focusing on China’s economy, energy, and household lifestyle. We devise nine scenarios in terms of the two aforementioned mitigation strategies. The results indicate that, the optimal policy mix, balancing economic improvement, energy mix readjustment, and emission reduction to the maximize value, is founded to be declining the proportion of heavy chemical industry capacity with an annual average level of 3%, 1%, 1%, stipulating carbon price in 5.8 dollar/ton, 11.6 dollar/ton, 14.5 dollar/ton, and distributing annual carbon allowance as 3.5 billion ton, 7 billion ton, 9 billion ton during 2017–2020, 2021–2025, and 2026–2030 respectively.

  5. Global Absolute Poverty: Behind the Veil of Dollars

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moatsos, M.

    2017-01-01

    The widely applied “dollar-a-day” methodology identifies global absolute poverty as declining precipitously since the early 80’s throughout the developing world. The methodological underpinnings of the “dollar-a-day” approach have been questioned in terms of adequately representing equivalent

  6. Countdown to Six Billion Teaching Kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zero Population Growth, Inc., Washington, DC.

    This teaching kit features six activities focused on helping students understand the significance of the world population reaching six billion for our society and our environment. Featured activities include: (1) History of the World: Part Six Billion; (2) A Woman's Place; (3) Baby-O-Matic; (4) Earth: The Apple of Our Eye; (5) Needs vs. Wants; and…

  7. Tort law and medical malpractice insurance premiums.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilgore, Meredith L; Morrisey, Michael A; Nelson, Leonard J

    2006-01-01

    This paper estimated the effects of tort law and insurer investment returns on physician malpractice insurance premiums. Data were collected on tort law from 1991 through 2004, and multivariate regression models, including fixed effects for state and year, were used to estimate the effect of changes in tort law on medical malpractice premiums. The premium consequences of national policy changes were simulated. The analysis found that the introduction of a new damage cap lowered malpractice premiums for internal medicine, general surgery, and obstetrics/gynecology by 17.3%, 20.7%, and 25.5%, respectively. Lowering damage caps by dollar 100,000 reduced premiums by 4%. Statutes of repose also resulted in lower premiums. No other tort law changes had the effect of lowering premiums. Simulation results indicate that a national cap of dollar 250,000 on awards for noneconomic damages in all states would imply premium savings of dollar 16.9 billion. Extending a dollar 250,000 cap to all states that do not currently have them would save dollar 1.4 billion annually, or about 8% of the total. A negative effect on malpractice premiums was found for the Dow Jones industrial average, but not for bond prices; effects of the Nasdaq index were not significant for internal medicine, but were marginally significant for surgery and obstetrics premiums.

  8. LE BINOME EURO-DOLLAR SOUS LE SIGNE DE L’INCERTITUDE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Bal

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Will the Dollar remain the dominant international currency (mainly as a reserve currency? To answer this question, the paper presents in the first part the opinions of the most prominent experts concerning the determinant factors of an international currency status, in the two sphere of utilization: public and private. The most important are: the magnitude of the economies of emission, the externalities of network, the liquidity of their financial market, the confidence in their stability. Then there follows the evaluations concerning the two international currencies, Dollar and Euro, from these perspectives. Finally, the paper evaluates their role as measure of value, instrument of reserve and instrument of payment in the international economic relations. In the second part, the paper evaluates the recent tendencies of the exchange rate Euro/Dollar (2006-2008 from the point of view of fundamentals. After a period of depreciation, from the middle of the year 2008 until now, the dollar marked an unexpected appreciation towards the euro. But, the global financial and economic crisis increases the incertitude concerning the evolution of the exchange rate euro/dollar. Undoubtedly the two currencies will remain the prominent international currencies and the dollar the main reserve currency. Finally the paper presents Mundell’s proposal of stabilization of the binomial euro/dollar.

  9. 26 CFR 1.7872-15 - Split-dollar loans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ...'s death benefit proceeds, the policy's cash surrender value, or both. (ii) Payments that are only... regarding certain split-dollar term loans payable on the death of an individual, certain split-dollar term... insurance arrangement make a representation—(i) Requirement. An otherwise noncontingent payment on a split...

  10. Use of chromium picolinate and biotin in the management of type 2 diabetes: an economic analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuhr, Joseph P; He, Hope; Goldfarb, Neil; Nash, David B

    2005-08-01

    This paper addresses the potential economic benefits of chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) use in people with Type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The economic model was developed to estimate the impact on health care systems' costs by improved HbA1C levels with chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome). Lifetimes cost savings were estimated by adjusting a benchmark from the literature, using a price index to adjust for inflation. The cost of diabetes is highly dependent on the HbA1C level with higher initial levels and higher annual increments increasing the cost. Improvement in glycemic control has proven to be cost-effective in delaying the onset and progression of T2DM, reducing the risk for diabetes-associated complications and lowering utilization and cost of care. Chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) showed greater improvement of glycemic control in poorly controlled T2DM patients (HbA(1C) > or = 10%) compared to their better controlled counterparts (HbA(1C) diabetes without heart diseases or hypertension, to 5,435 dollars for a poorly controlled patient with diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Average 3-year cost savings was estimated to be between 3.9 billion dollars and 52.9 billion dollars for the 16.3 million existing patients with diabetes. Chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) use among the 1.17 million newly diagnosed patients with T2DM each year could deliver lifetime cost savings of 42 billion dollars, or 36,000 dollars per T2DM patient. Affordable, safe, and convenient, chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) could prove to be a cost-effective complement to existing pharmacological therapies for controlling T2DM.

  11. Faktor - Faktor Determinan Kurs Rupiah Terhadap Dollar Amer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    elys fauziyah

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Indonesia is a developing country that is often affected by fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, especially US Dollar. This condition is the effect of the government policies that implement the floating exchange rate system since August 14, 1977. The aims of this study are to know the development and to analyze the effect of macroeconomic variables on the Rupiah exchange rate against US Dollar in 2008-2014. The method which used in this study is descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The results of the study show that during 2008-2014, the variables of inflation, interest rate (BI rate of Indonesia’s balance of payments, and exports fluctuated, while the variable of PDB tended to increase. Other results show that interest rates and gross domestic product have a positive effect on the exchange rate of Rupiah against US Dollar, whereas the inflation and exports have a negative effect. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s balance of payments does not significantly affect the Rupiah against US Dollar.

  12. Strong Dollar, Weak Dollar: Foreign Exchange Rates and the U.S. Economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schilling, Tim

    Many generalizations sound simple enough--for example, "strong is good, weak is bad"--but they can be confusing when talking about money. This booklet explores how the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies affect each other and how their interaction affects the individual and the economy. The booklet contains the following sections:…

  13. Evaluating the Impact of Macroeconomic Factors on the Level of Dollarization in Ukraine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krasnova Iryna V.

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The objectives of the article are identifying causal relationships between the macroeconomic determinants and the level of dollarization in Ukraine, as well as determining the activities for de-dollarization. The prerequisites, causes and consequences of dollarization have been covered. On the external grounds, dollarization is recognized as a manifestation of financial integration, on internal grounds, as a consequence of financial instability. The main types and forms of dollarization have been allocated. Forms of financial dollarization have been considered as: deposit, credit and monetary. The determinants that potentially impact the dollarization level have been allocated. According to the results of a correlation analysis, the thesis of direct strong connection between dollarization and currency deposits, i.e. the dominance of deposit dollarization, has been confirmed. In order to determine the causal nature of the interdependencies between variables and the level of dollarization, a Granger causality test was carried out, which confirmed the hypothesis of the significant influence of psychological attitudes and the distrust of economic agents towards the policies of government and monetary authorities. A set of macroeconomic, market and incentive de-dollarization activities have been proposed.

  14. Inventory - Dollars and sense

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samson, J.R.

    1992-01-01

    Nuclear utilities are becoming more aware of the importance of having an inventory investment that supports two opposing philosophies. The business philosophy wants a minimal inventory investment to support a better return on invested dollars. This increase in return comes from having the dollars available to invest versus having the money tied up in inventory sitting on the shelf. The opposing viewpoint is taken by maintenance/operations organizations, which desire the maximum inventory available on-site to repair any component at any time to keep the units on-line at all times. Financial managers also want to maintain cash flow throughout operations so that plants run without interruptions. Inventory management is therefore a mixture of financial logistics with an operation perspective in mind. A small amount of common sense and accurate perception also help. The challenge to the materials/inventory manager is to optimize effectiveness of the inventory by having high material availability at the lowest possible cost

  15. An Examination of Binder Systems and Their Influences on Burn Rates of High-Nitrogen Containing Formulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    sought-after to advance existing HHS technology. Currently existing HHS candle formulations contain significant amounts of potassium perchlorate...Defense spends tens of billions of dollars annually on per- chlorate remediation efforts. Therefore, efforts to elimi- nate perchlorate from military...develop per- chlorate -free formulations of the M126A1 red star para- chute. To maximize the performance of these formula- tions, KClO4 was replaced

  16. Reassessing the empirical relationship between the oil price and the dollar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coudert, Virginie; Mignon, Valérie

    2016-01-01

    This paper aims at reassessing the empirical relationship between the real price of oil and the U.S. dollar real effective exchange rate over the 1974–2015 period. We find that changes in both variables are now linked by a negative relationship, going from the dollar exchange rate to the real oil price. However, the same relationship is found positive when ending the sample in the mid-2000s, in line with the previous literature. To understand and investigate this evolution, we rely on a nonlinear, smooth transition regression model in which the oil price-dollar nexus depends on the dynamics followed by the U.S. currency. Our results show that the relationship is negative most of the times but turns positive when the dollar hits very high values, as in the early eighties. - Highlights: •We reassess the relationship between the real oil price and the dollar over the 1974–2015 period. •Changes in the two variables are linked by a negative relationship over the whole period. •The link between both variables is positive over the subsample ending in the mid-2000s. •We estimate a nonlinear model in which the oil price-dollar nexus depends on the evolution the dollar. •The relationship is negative most of the times, except when the dollar hits very high values.

  17. Energy consumption and economic growth in Turkey during the past two decades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balat, Mustafa

    2008-01-01

    The Turkish economy has undergone a transformation from agricultural to industrial, enhanced by rapid urbanization, especially after 1982. Turkey's gross national production has grown at an average annual rate of 5% since 1983, ranking it at the top of the OECD countries, although the growth pattern has been uneven. Economic growth in recent years has been associated with the privatization of public enterprises. Turkey's energy demand has risen rapidly as a result of social and economic development. The country's energy consumption has grown considerably since the beginning of the 1980s. The Turkish government encourages foreign and Turkish private sector investors to implement the energy projects and is currently working on a new investment model for the construction of new generation plants to create the additional capacity needed. The Turkish energy sector, with its current size of 30 billion US dollars and projected size of 55 billion US dollars by 2015, as well as the fundamental restructuring process it has been going through since 2001, attracts both local and foreign investors. The sector needs an investment amount of approximately 130 billion US dollars by 2020. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the increasing of Turkish energy demand with the growth of the economy and utilization of domestic energy sources and the case of investments and imports in Turkey during the past two decades

  18. Annual direct cost of dry eye in Japan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mizuno Y

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Yoshinobu Mizuno, Masakazu Yamada, Chika ShigeyasuDivision for Vision Research, National Institute of Sensory Organs, National Tokyo Medical Center, Tokyo, JapanOn behalf of The Dry Eye Survey Group, National Hospital Organization of JapanBackground: This study was performed to estimate the annual direct cost incurred by dry eye patients, which includes expenses for treatment and drugs, as well as the cost of punctal plugs.Methods: The study group consisted of 118 dry eye patients aged 20 years or older who visited any of the 15 medical care facilities that participated in this prospective cohort dry eye study. We estimated annual direct costs from outpatient medical records and survey questionnaires obtained from patients. Results: Of the total patients enrolled, 10 were men and 108 women, and their average age was 64.1 ± 11.2 years. The number of hospital visits made by patients was 5.8 ± 3.6 per year. Among those who used ophthalmic solutions, the numbers of bottles used per year were as follows: 32.1 ± 20.8 bottles of hyaluronic acid ophthalmic solution (87 patients, 53.1 ± 42.2 bottles of artificial tears (40 patients, and 33.2 ± 23.2 bottles of over-the-counter eyedrops (15 patients. In patients with punctal plugs, 4.1 ± 3.9 plugs were used annually. The annual drug cost was 32,000 ± 21,675 Japanese yen (323 ± 219 US dollars. The clinical cost was 16,318 ± 9961 Japanese yen (165 ± 101 US dollars. The total direct costs including punctal plug treatment amounted to 52,467 ± 38,052 Japanese yen (530 ± 384 US dollars. Conclusion: Although treatment modalities for dry eye in Japan were different from those in the US and in European countries, the direct cost of dry eye patients in Japan was comparable with that reported in those countries. Considering the high prevalence of dry eye, the direct cost of this chronic condition may be significant.Keywords: burden of disease, cost, dry eye, eyedrops, quality of life

  19. Dollar aina tugevneb / Kristel Raesaar

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Raesaar, Kristel

    2000-01-01

    Valuutaspekulantide hirm USA majanduse järsu halvenemise ees on lahtunud ja vahepeal nõrgenenud dollar võib lähinädalatel taas rünnata uusi rekordtasemeid. Graafik: Dollari kursi muutus alates euro loomisest

  20. The U.S. dollar exchange rate and the demand for oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schryder, Selien de; Peersman, Gert [Gent Univ. (Belgium). Dept. of Financial Economics

    2013-02-15

    Using recent advances in panel data estimation techniques, we find that an appreciation of the US dollar exchange rate leads to a significant decline in oil demand for a sample of 65 oil-importing countries. The estimated effect turns out to be much larger than the impact of a shift in the global crude oil price expressed in US dollar. Furthermore, the effect of the US dollar on oil demand tends to be declining over time and, for a subsample of OECD countries, stronger for an appreciation compared to a depreciation of the US dollar.

  1. The U.S. dollar exchange rate and the demand for oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schryder, Selien de; Peersman, Gert

    2013-01-01

    Using recent advances in panel data estimation techniques, we find that an appreciation of the US dollar exchange rate leads to a significant decline in oil demand for a sample of 65 oil-importing countries. The estimated effect turns out to be much larger than the impact of a shift in the global crude oil price expressed in US dollar. Furthermore, the effect of the US dollar on oil demand tends to be declining over time and, for a subsample of OECD countries, stronger for an appreciation compared to a depreciation of the US dollar.

  2. Philanthro-metrics: Mining multi-million-dollar gifts.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Una O Osili

    Full Text Available The Million Dollar List (MDL, online at http://www.milliondollarlist.org is a compilation of publicly announced charitable donations of $1 million or more from across the United States since 2000; as of December 2016, the database contains close to 80,000 gifts made by U.S. individuals, corporations, foundations, and other grant-making nonprofit organizations. This paper discusses the unique value of the Million Dollar List and provides unique insights to key questions such as: How does distance affect giving? How do networks impact million-dollar-plus gifts? Understanding the geospatial and temporal dimensions of philanthropy can assist researchers and policymakers to better understand the role of private funding in innovation and discovery. Moreover, the results from the paper emphasize the importance of philanthropy for fueling research and development in science, the arts, environment, and health. The paper also includes the limitations of the presented analyses and promising future work.

  3. Energy-political strategies. Blueprints for sustainable technologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Flavin, C.; Lenssen, N.

    1995-01-01

    The energy sector, with more than 800 billion Dollars annual turnover worldwide one of the most potent industries, is in for huge changes. Its structure and organization will become a different one altogether. New energy sources such as geothermal, wind and solar power need to be rendered accessible. The power industry needs to be transformed into a modern service industry in order to safeguard the sustainability of power generation. (orig.) [de

  4. Advanced Powder Coating Systems for Military Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-01

    UVCPC • Conclusions • DoD spends billions of dollars annually on protective organic coatings – Hexavalent chrome primer use still widespread – Contains...Elimination of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP) • Reduction/Elimination of ESOH Concerns – Elimination of hexavalent chromium – Elimination of free...production and release; hexavalent chromium; free isocyanates; up to 72 hrs “dry to fly” time Longer cure times than traditional primers and

  5. Anger, Hostility, and Re-hospitalizations in Patients with Heart Failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-04-08

    income, baseline creatinine levels, baseline ejection fraction, history of smoking, age, and all hostility/anger measures. 3Due to skewness, all- cause ...reported. These findings suggest that those in our study, with high total hostility may have poor medication adherence and thus cause more...health concern in the U.S., with billions of dollars spent annually on health care. The high number of re-hospitalizations significantly contributes to

  6. Evaluation and selection of security products for authentication of computer software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roenigk, Mark W.

    2000-04-01

    Software Piracy is estimated to cost software companies over eleven billion dollars per year in lost revenue worldwide. Over fifty three percent of all intellectual property in the form of software is pirated on a global basis. Software piracy has a dramatic effect on the employment figures for the information industry as well. In the US alone, over 130,000 jobs are lost annually as a result of software piracy.

  7. Annual report to shareholders 2000

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2001-07-01

    Esso Imperial is Canada's largest producer of crude oil and a major producer of natural gas. It is also the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products, including petrochemicals, with a coast-to-coast supply network. Due mainly to higher energy prices and strong refining margins, in 2000 the Company had the highest earnings in its 120-year history. Return on equity also rose to the highest level in two decades; returns to shareholders have exceeded 20 per cent per year compounded, over the last five years. Net earnings were $1.42 billion, or $3.40 per share, compared with $510 million and $1.18 per share in 1999. During the year the Company continued to adhere to its four guiding principles -- flawless execution of day-to-day fundamentals of all aspects of the business, growth in profitable sales volumes, best-in-class cost structure, and improved productivity of asset mix. Some operating highlights from the year 2000 include: (1) expansion of the Moncton, NB-based Customer Service and Support Centre, (2) significant reduction in the number of hazardous incidents, (3) increased production of natural gas, in part as a result of new production from the Sable Offshore Energy project, (4) beginning of production from the new Aurora Mine at Syncrude, (5) start of construction on the next three phases of development at Cold Lake, (6) commissioning further conceptual engineering work and initiation of baseline biophysical data collection in the Mackenzie Delta as part of the study of the feasibility of bringing northern gas to southern markets, (7) achieving best-in-class cost structure in some of the Company's business units, despite upward pressure on operating expenses from the increased cost of energy to run plants and facilities, (8) anticipated capital expenditures of over one billion dollars, and (9) reaching agreement with ExxonMobil Canada to share common business and support services in natural resources operations, and to jointly pursue new oil

  8. 1998 Annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    Globex Resources is a Calgary-based junior energy company doing exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas in Western Canada. This annual report contains an account of corporate accomplishments and operational performance during 1998, financial statements attesting to the fiscal situation of the company at year end, and management's analysis and discussion of operations and financial performance. In its first full year of operation the company completed equity financing to the tune of three million dollars, established proven and one-half probable reserves of over 1.7 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), increased production to 450 boe/day at year end, split almost equally between crude oil and natural gas, acquired 20,595 acres of undeveloped land, primarily in Alberta, and established a net asset value of seven million dollars on 1998 year-end proven and one-half probable reserves. In achieving these results the company laid the foundation for a successful junior oil and natural gas company with a balanced production and asset base

  9. CDC Grand Rounds: Improving Medication Adherence for Chronic Disease Management - Innovations and Opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neiman, Andrea B; Ruppar, Todd; Ho, Michael; Garber, Larry; Weidle, Paul J; Hong, Yuling; George, Mary G; Thorpe, Phoebe G

    2017-11-17

    Adherence to prescribed medications is associated with improved clinical outcomes for chronic disease management and reduced mortality from chronic conditions (1). Conversely, nonadherence is associated with higher rates of hospital admissions, suboptimal health outcomes, increased morbidity and mortality, and increased health care costs (2). In the United States, 3.8 billion prescriptions are written annually (3). Approximately one in five new prescriptions are never filled, and among those filled, approximately 50% are taken incorrectly, particularly with regard to timing, dosage, frequency, and duration (4). Whereas rates of nonadherence across the United States have remained relatively stable, direct health care costs associated with nonadherence have grown to approximately $100-$300 billion of U.S. health care dollars spent annually (5,6). Improving medication adherence is a public health priority and could reduce the economic and health burdens of many diseases and chronic conditions (7).

  10. Modeling study of air pollution due to the manufacture of export goods in China's Pearl River Delta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Streets, David G; Yu, Carolyne; Bergin, Michael H; Wang, Xuemei; Carmichael, Gregory R

    2006-04-01

    The Pearl River Delta is a major manufacturing region on the south coast of China that produces more than dollar 100 billion of goods annually for export to North America, Europe, and other parts of Asia. Considerable air pollution is caused by the manufacturing industries themselves and by the power plants, trucks, and ships that support them. We estimate that 10-40% of emissions of primary SO2, NO(x), RSP, and VOC in the region are caused by export-related activities. Using the STEM-2K1 atmospheric transport model, we estimate that these emissions contribute 5-30% of the ambient concentrations of SO2, NO(x), NO(z), and VOC in the region. One reason that the exported goods are cheap and therefore attractive to consumers in developed countries is that emission controls are lacking or of low performance. We estimate that state-of-the-art controls could be installed at an annualized cost of dollar 0.3-3 billion, representing 0.3-3% of the value of the goods produced. We conclude that mitigation measures could be adopted without seriously affecting the prices of exported goods and would achieve considerable human health and other benefits in the form of reduced air pollutant concentrations in densely populated urban areas.

  11. Shell Canada Limited 1998 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    A report of operational and financial achievements is reported. Shell Canada's Resources Division is one of Canada's largest producers of crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, sulphur and bitumen. This report presents an operations review, provides consolidated financial statements, and common share information, and summarizes revenue and expenditure statements. The company was one of Canada's most profitable integrated oil and gas companies in 1998. It was the second most profitable year in the company's history for continuing operations. Oil products earnings for 1998 were a record $275 million, mostly because of strong sales volumes and increased retail market share. The company also confronted several environmental issues in 1998, including climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gases. Construction of the Sable Project, offshore Nova Scotia, continued on budget and on schedule to bring natural gas to market by early 2000. Plans for the three elements of the Oil Sands project (the Muskeg River mine in the Athabaska Region, an upgrader at Shell's Scotford site and the Corridor Pipeline) proceeded on schedule. The Caroline complex made its expected contribution to the company's overall performance. Improved seismic technology helped to add new reserves through Shell's interest in wells in southern Alberta. Exploration activity in northeastern British Columbia and northern Alberta produced encouraging results. The work will continue in 1999. The company plans to invest some 4.9 billion dollars over the next five years in capital expenditures. Shell remains committed to the Voluntary Challenge and Registry Program. Annual reduction of CO 2 emissions increased by an estimated 800,000 tonnes

  12. 26 CFR 1.61-22 - Taxation of split-dollar life insurance arrangements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Taxation of split-dollar life insurance..., and Taxable Income § 1.61-22 Taxation of split-dollar life insurance arrangements. (a) Scope—(1) In general. This section provides rules for the taxation of a split-dollar life insurance arrangement for...

  13. Annual report 2011. Results and activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-01-01

    Enova is a state-owned enterprise, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Over a period of ten years, the enterprise has worked to trigger energy efficiency measures and renewable energy production by supporting proactive players that have paved the way for others. In the period 2002-2011, Enova has contracted an energy result of 16.6 TWh, Enova's Annual Report 2011 shows. This corresponds to the annual energy end-use of more than 35 per cent of Norways 2.2 million private households. Enova has allocated NOK 9 billion in support over ten years. This has resulted in project owners and other financiers investing about Nok 45 billion in capital for environmentally friendly energy projects in Norway, says Nils Kristian Nakstad, CEO of Enova. In 2011, Enova supported projects with an overall energy result of 1.35 TWh using resources from the Energy Fund, equally distributed between energy efficiency and renewable heating. The greatest contributors in 2011 are within energy conversion to renewable heating and energy efficiency measures in buildings.The climate impact of all of the projects where Enova has entered into contracts corresponds to 9.3 million tonnes in reduced CO2 emissions annually. The latter constitutes 17 per cent of domestic greenhouse gas emissions. (au)

  14. Annual report 2011. Results and activities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-07-25

    Enova is a state-owned enterprise, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Over a period of ten years, the enterprise has worked to trigger energy efficiency measures and renewable energy production by supporting proactive players that have paved the way for others. In the period 2002-2011, Enova has contracted an energy result of 16.6 TWh, Enova's Annual Report 2011 shows. This corresponds to the annual energy end-use of more than 35 per cent of Norways 2.2 million private households. Enova has allocated NOK 9 billion in support over ten years. This has resulted in project owners and other financiers investing about Nok 45 billion in capital for environmentally friendly energy projects in Norway, says Nils Kristian Nakstad, CEO of Enova. In 2011, Enova supported projects with an overall energy result of 1.35 TWh using resources from the Energy Fund, equally distributed between energy efficiency and renewable heating. The greatest contributors in 2011 are within energy conversion to renewable heating and energy efficiency measures in buildings.The climate impact of all of the projects where Enova has entered into contracts corresponds to 9.3 million tonnes in reduced CO2 emissions annually. The latter constitutes 17 per cent of domestic greenhouse gas emissions. (au)

  15. FGC Webinar: From Fires to Floods and Everything In Between

    Science.gov (United States)

    Federal Green Challenge presentations from the April 2018 'Billion Dollar Weather Events' webinar From Fires to Floods and Everything in Between: How Federal Facilities Can Thrive in an Era of Billion Dollar Weather Events.

  16. Follow the money: how the billions of dollars that flow from smokers in poor nations to companies in rich nations greatly exceed funding for global tobacco control and what might be done about it.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Callard, Cynthia

    2010-08-01

    The business of selling cigarettes is increasingly concentrated in the hands of five tobacco companies that collectively control almost 90% of the world's cigarette market, four of which are publicly traded corporations. The economic activities of these cigarette manufacturers can be monitored through their reports to shareholders and other public documents. Reports for 2008 show that the revenues of these five companies exceeded $300 billion, of which more than $160 billion was provided to governments as taxes, and that corporate earnings of the four publicly traded companies were over $25 billion, of which $14 billion was retained after corporate income taxes were paid. By contrast, funding for domestic and international tobacco control is not reliably reported. Estimated funding for global tobacco control in 2008, at $240 million, is significantly lower than resources provided to address other highmortality global health challenges. Tobacco control has not yet benefited from the innovative finance mechanisms that are in place for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Framework Convention On Tobacco Control (FCTC) process could be used to redirect some of the earnings from transnational tobacco sales to fund FCTC implementation or other global health efforts.

  17. Investigating the Impact of Dollarization on Economic Growth: A Case of Zimbabwe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruby NGAMANYA MUNHUPEDZI

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the effects of dollarization on business in Zimbabwe focusing on economic indicators such as inflation rate, GDP, employment and ease of doing business during the period 2009-2015. Zimbabwe experienced a very difficult economic phase characterised by hyperinflation, negative economic growth, unavailability of basic commodities and negative economic growth rates during the period 1998-2008. In 2009 the country adopted a multi-currency system whereby the Zimbabwean dollar was in circulation alongside various other currencies, with the United States Dollar and the South African Rand being the dominant ones. There has been general speculation that Zimbabwe’s economic problems are due to dollarization. Through analysing data from interviews and secondary sources, the research established that dollarization brought about stability in the economy, arrested inflation, and caused a marginal increase in GDP. However, the response of the employment rate was independent of the dollarization and may be attributed to other factors such as Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP in 1992, the global economic crisis in 2008 and the absence of reliable data.

  18. Growth regulators and essential oil production

    OpenAIRE

    Prins, Cláudia L; Vieira, Ivo J. C; Freitas, Silvério P

    2010-01-01

    The aroma and fragrance industry is a billion-dollar world market which grows annually. Essential oils comprise the majority of compounds used by these industries. These sets of metabolites are formed mainly by monoterpenes, which are products of the plants' secondary metabolism. Biosynthesized from mevalonate and methylerythitol phosphate, the essential oil production depends not only on genetic factors and the developmental stage of plants, but also on environmental factors which could resu...

  19. Novel Approaches to Preventing Urinary Tract Infection in Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-09-01

    prospective study of asymptomatic bacteriuria in young sexually active women. 2. Eschenbach DA, Thwin SS, Patton D, Hooton TM, Stapleton A, Agnew K, Winter...and S. saprophyticus occur in an estimated 7 million young women each year at an annual cost for diagnosis and treatment exceeding one billion dollars...increased risk of UTI (45), and during pregnancy , colonization with E. coli is associated with preterm birth and other perinatal complications (18, 34

  20. The twin risks in the dollarization debate: country and devaluation risks

    OpenAIRE

    Druck, Pablo; Morón, Eduardo

    2001-01-01

    This paper discusses dollarization from the perspective of the relation between country and devaluation risk. In the absence of balance sheet effects, we find that a full dollarization of an economy increases its country risk. On the other hand, when balance sheet effects are present, the full dollarization could reduce country risk. The link between these two risks is based on the government's financial needs. In this paper government devalue the currency for fiscal purposes. Consequently, a...

  1. Cognitive processing of currency: Euros and Dollars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macizo, Pedro; Morales, Luis

    2015-11-01

    In the current study, we evaluated whether the processing of currency was determined by familiarity of people with banknotes. In Experiment 1, participants who used the Euro currency named sequences of Euro banknotes and Dollar banknotes blocked by category or mixed with exemplars of other categories. The participants showed an interference effect in the blocked context with Dollar banknotes but not with Euro banknotes. In Experiment 2, the interference effect was observed with Euro banknotes when participants were not familiar with the Euro currency. These results suggest that the semantic processing of banknotes depends on the participants' familiarity with currency. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

  2. Areva excellent business volume: backlog as of december 31, 2008: + 21.1% to 48.2 billion euros. 2008 revenue: + 10.4% to 13.2 billion euros

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    AREVA's backlog stood at 48.2 billion euros as of December 31, 2008, for 21.1% growth year-on-year, including 21.8% growth in Nuclear and 16.5% growth in Transmission and Distribution. The Nuclear backlog came to 42.5 billion euros at December 31, 2008. The Transmission and Distribution backlog came to 5.7 billion euros at year-end. The group recognized revenue of 13.2 billion euros in 2008, for year-on-year growth of 10.4% (+9.8% like-for-like). Revenue outside France was up 10.5% to 9.5 billion euros, representing 72% of total revenue. Revenue was up 6.5% in the Nuclear businesses (up 6.3% LFL), with strong performance in the Reactors and Services division (+10.9% LFL) and the Front End division (+7.2% LFL). The Transmission and Distribution division recorded growth of 17% (+15.8% LFL). Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2008 rose to 4.1 billion euros, up 5.2% (+1.6% LFL) from that of the fourth quarter of 2007. Revenue for the Front End division rose to 3.363 billion euros in 2008, up 7.1% over 2007 (+7.2% LFL). Foreign exchange (currency translations) had a negative impact of 53 million euros. Revenue for the Reactors and Services division rose to 3.037 billion euros, up 11.8% over 2007 (+10.9% LFL). Foreign exchange (currency translations) had a negative impact of 47 million euros. Revenue for the Back End division came to 1.692 billion euros, a drop of 2.7% (-2.5% LFL). Foreign exchange (currency translations) had a negative impact of 3.5 million euros. Revenue for the Transmission and Distribution division rose to 5.065 billion euros in 2008, up 17.0% (+15.8% LFL)

  3. Canadian Food Dollar: Breakdown between Farm and Marketing Costs

    OpenAIRE

    Kelly, Jessica; Weersink, Alfons; Cranfield, John

    2013-01-01

    This poster assesses the breakdown of the Canadian food dollar between farm and marketing costs. It uses input-output methods, comparable to those used by the Economic Research Service (ERS), in order to allow for Canadian-American comparison. The farm share and marketing bill provide a valuable snapshot of the dynamics of the agri-food supply chain, changing consumer demands, and the resultant value distribution of the retail food dollar.

  4. US DOLLAR STABILITY AND THE GLOBAL CURRENCY RESERVES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristijan Gavranić

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The participation of the United States in the First and the Second World War, as well as in the Vietnam War led to an increase in expenditures for the US national defense and the need to finance such expenditures from the primary emission. This further led to the rising inflation and the falling value of the dollar. Since today the US dollar holds a leading position in the world's foreign exchange reserves, its decline would have an effect on reduction of the foreign exchange reserves value.

  5. The turning black tide : energy prices and the Canadian dollar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Issa, R.; Lafrance, R.; Murray, J.

    2008-01-01

    This paper examined the relationship between energy prices and the Canadian-United States dollar real exchange rate. The researchers evaluated the standard Amano-van Norden (AvN) equation formulated to demonstrate that higher real energy prices lead to a depreciation of the Canadian dollar. Major developments in the Canadian energy market were discussed, as well as policy initiatives designed to address Canada's trade balance by increasing energy exports. The study examined the AvN equation using Monte Carlo experiments to determine the parameter stability of the equation. Results indicated that the co-integrating relationship in the standard AvN equation were no longer supported. Structural break tests were used to demonstrate that major changes in Canada's energy policies and cross-border trade and investment strategies have led to an increase in the Canadian dollar's value when energy prices are high. The study presented a new equation designed to account for Canadian dollar's appreciation since 2003. It was concluded that net energy exports in the 1990s outweighed the negatives associated with Canada's energy-intensive production processes. 39 refs., 6 tabs., 10 figs

  6. Genetic Markers for Western Corn Rootworm Resistance to Bt Toxin

    OpenAIRE

    Flagel, Lex E.; Swarup, Shilpa; Chen, Mao; Bauer, Christopher; Wanjugi, Humphrey; Carroll, Matthew; Hill, Patrick; Tuscan, Meghan; Bansal, Raman; Flannagan, Ronald; Clark, Thomas L.; Michel, Andrew P.; Head, Graham P.; Goldman, Barry S.

    2015-01-01

    Western corn rootworm (WCR) is a major maize (Zea mays L.) pest leading to annual economic losses of more than 1 billion dollars in the United States. Transgenic maize expressing insecticidal toxins derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are widely used for the management of WCR. However, cultivation of Bt-expressing maize places intense selection pressure on pest populations to evolve resistance. Instances of resistance to Bt toxins have been reported in WCR. Developing genet...

  7. Pop Finance : Investment Clubs and the New Investor Populism

    OpenAIRE

    Harrington, B.

    2008-01-01

    During the 1990s, the United States underwent a dramatic transformation: investing in stocks, once the province of a privileged elite, became a mass activity involving more than half of Americans. Pop Finance follows the trajectory of this new market populism via the rise of investment clubs, through which millions of people across the socioeconomic spectrum became investors for the first time. As sociologist Brooke Harrington shows, these new investors pour billions of dollars annually into ...

  8. China and the relationship between the oil price and the dollar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benassy-Quere, Agnes; Mignon, Valerie; Penot, Alexis

    2007-01-01

    We study cointegration and causality between the real price of oil and the real price of the dollar over the 1974-2004 period. Our results suggest that a 10% rise in the oil price coincides with a 4.3% appreciation of the dollar in the long run, and that the causality runs from oil to the dollar. Through the development of a theoretical model, we then investigate possible reasons why this relationship could be reversed in the future due to the emergence of China as a major player on both the oil and the foreign exchange markets

  9. 77 FR 22467 - Common Crop Insurance Regulations; Fresh Market Tomato (Dollar Plan) Crop Provisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-16

    ...-0006] RIN 0563-AC32 Common Crop Insurance Regulations; Fresh Market Tomato (Dollar Plan) Crop... Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Fresh Market Tomato (Dollar... Common Crop Insurance Regulations (7 CFR part 457), Fresh Market Tomato (Dollar Plan) Crop Provisions...

  10. Suncor Energy Inc. seventh annual progress report : Canada's climate change voluntary challenge and registry program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-10-01

    This document detailed the various initiatives implemented by Suncor Energy Inc. in light of Climate Change Voluntary Challenge and Registry (VCR) Program. Project Millennium, which represents a 3.25 billion dollar expansion expected to lead to an increase production capacity for Oil Sands operations, was consolidated during 2000, along with the completion of restructuring, which led to the divestiture of conventional oil properties and the joint venture interest held by Suncor in the Stuart Oil Shale Project. In addition, there were some improvements made to the greenhouse gas management and reporting systems. Suncor is expected to invest funding in the order of 100 million dollars for the period 2000-2005 in the field of alternative and renewable energy. The reductions in greenhouse gas emissions achieved for the year 2000 were 404,000 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent. Each of these major endeavours was discussed in the document. tabs

  11. The turning black tide : energy prices and the Canadian dollar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Issa, R.; Lafrance, R.; Murray, J. [Bank of Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada)

    2008-08-15

    This paper examined the relationship between energy prices and the Canadian-United States dollar real exchange rate. The researchers evaluated the standard Amano-van Norden (AvN) equation formulated to demonstrate that higher real energy prices lead to a depreciation of the Canadian dollar. Major developments in the Canadian energy market were discussed, as well as policy initiatives designed to address Canada's trade balance by increasing energy exports. The study examined the AvN equation using Monte Carlo experiments to determine the parameter stability of the equation. Results indicated that the co-integrating relationship in the standard AvN equation were no longer supported. Structural break tests were used to demonstrate that major changes in Canada's energy policies and cross-border trade and investment strategies have led to an increase in the Canadian dollar's value when energy prices are high. The study presented a new equation designed to account for Canadian dollar's appreciation since 2003. It was concluded that net energy exports in the 1990s outweighed the negatives associated with Canada's energy-intensive production processes. 39 refs., 6 tabs., 10 figs.

  12. Currency speculation and dollar fluctuations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephan Schulmeister

    1988-12-01

    Full Text Available In this study the reasons behind the wide fluctuations of the dollar exchange rate following the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, for the most part unexplained by the prevailing exchange rate theories, are explored. To do so, the author investigates the exchange rate between the two most traded currencies, the dollar and the deutschemark, from 1973 to 1988. In the first part, the pattern of the daily exchange rate movements is examined to show that a sequence of upward and downward trends interrupted by non-directional movements is typical of exchange rate dynamics in the short run. Moreover, this pattern is systemically exploited through currency speculation, particularly through the use of “technical analysis”. In the second part, the author focuses on the medium-term, arguing that fluctuations can be explained as the result of interacting disequilibria in the goods and asset markets. Although currency speculation has been systemically profitable for most currencies, it should be considered to be destabilizing since the sequence of price runs caused large and persistent deviations of exchange rates from their equilibrium values (purchasing power parity.

  13. Costs to build Fermilab in 1984 dollars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jordan, N.G.; Livdahl, P.V.

    1984-02-01

    It is of current interest to examine the costs incurred to date to build Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and to determine what those costs are when stated in FY 1984 constant dollars. The appended tables are in support of this exercise and are based on all costs for Equipment items (reduced by obsolescence) and all Plant Projects which have been appropriated through FY 1984. Also included are non-plant costs which are required to complete the Energy Saver, Tevatron I and II projects (i.e., Equipment and R and D in support of Construction). This study makes the assumption that all funding through FY 1984 will have been costed by the end of FY 1986. Those costs incurred in FY 1985 and FY 1986 have been deflated to FY 1984 dollars. See Appendix A for the DOE inflation factors used in the conversion to FY 1984 dollars. The costs are identified in three categories. The Accelerator Facilities include all accelerator components, the buildings which enclose them and utilities which support them. The Experimental Facilities include all beam lines, enclosures, utilities and experimental equipment which are usable in current experimental programs. The Support Facilities include lab and office space, shops, assembly facilities, roads, grounds and the utilities which do not specifically support the Accelerator or Experimental Facilities, etc

  14. Improving Australia's renewable energy project policy and planning: A multiple stakeholder analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, Nigel; Rice, John

    2015-01-01

    Renewable Energy (RE) is part of Australia's and the world's energy supply matrix with over A$100 billion spent annually on RE projects since 2007. Businesses seeking to invest in RE projects, particularly in the wind and solar energy sectors, may face an onerous collection of planning approvals and permitting processes that impede investment and implementation. In this study, we draw on international and domestic stakeholder inputs to a governmental inquiry in Australia to show how RE projects might be approved in shortened timeframes with reduced associated costs. The process mapping and stakeholder analysis demonstrates that RE supply projects can benefit from standardized approval processes and documentation, a 360° deep engagement with stakeholders, and expanded electricity grid access in resource areas, augmented through supportive public policy and planning frameworks. In addition, stakeholder objections to project approval and implementation streamlining were used to contrast the efficacy of the proposed changes in policy. -- Highlights: •Highlights the over A$200 billion spent annually on global RE projects. •Describes a typical two stage, multi-layered governance RE project approval process. •Exposes long 3 year and multi-million dollar cost approvals for RE projects. •Identifies multi-million dollar remote grid connections as an RE project impediment. •Outlines RE project policy and guidelines shortcomings and proposed improvements

  15. Your Automobile Dollar. Money Management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baran, Nancy H., Ed.

    This booklet is designed to help first-time car buyers determine if they can or should buy a car and how to get the most from their car-buying dollar. Leasing and renting options also are discussed. The booklet outlines the process of buying a new car, starting with a review of sizes, types, and features. This is followed by a rundown on showroom…

  16. Field Performance of Heat Pump Water Heaters in the Northeast

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shapiro, Carl [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States); Puttagunta, Srikanth [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States)

    2016-02-01

    Heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) are finally entering the mainstream residential water heater market. Potential catalysts are increased consumer demand for higher energy efficiency electric water heating and a new Federal water heating standard that effectively mandates use of HPWHs for electric storage water heaters with nominal capacities greater than 55 gallons. When compared to electric resistance water heating, the energy and cost savings potential of HPWHs is tremendous. Converting all electric resistance water heaters to HPWHs could save American consumers 7.8 billion dollars annually ($182 per household) in water heating operating costs and cut annual residential source energy consumption for water heating by 0.70 quads.

  17. Optical measurements of microvascular circulatory function in the foot for detection of peripheral neuropathy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamora, G.; Chekh, V.; Burge, M.; Barriga, E. S.; Luan, S.; Heintz, P.; Edwards, A.; McGrew, E.; Soliz, P.

    2012-03-01

    The purpose of this research is to quantify functional signals in the microvascular circulation of the plantar. Our device is based on thermal and spectral technologies that can be easily adopted in clinical and tele-screening settings. Eightytwo thousand amputations are performed annually on diabetics in the US. The cost of foot disorder diagnosis and management are estimated at $10.9 billion dollars annually. Our experiments on normal controls and diabetics assess the temperature recovery time characteristics due to cold provocation to the bottom of the foot (plantar). A difference in the nature of the recovery time between normal controls and diabetics was observed.

  18. 26 CFR 1.1402(a)-18 - Split-dollar life insurance arrangements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... life insurance arrangements. See §§ 1.61-22 and 1.7872-15 for rules relating to the treatment of split-dollar life insurance arrangements. [T.D. 9092, 68 FR 54352, Sept. 17, 2003] ... 26 Internal Revenue 12 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Split-dollar life insurance arrangements. 1...

  19. Connecting the last billion

    OpenAIRE

    Ben David, Yahel

    2015-01-01

    The last billion people to join the online world, are likely to face at least one of two obstacles:Part I: Rural Internet AccessRural, sparsely populated, areas make conventional infrastructure investments unfeasible: Bigcorporations attempt to address this challenge via the launch of Low-Earth-Orbiting (LEO) satelliteconstellations, fleets of high-altitude balloons, and giant solar-powered drones; although thesegrandiose initiatives hold potential, they are costly and risky. At the same time...

  20. Healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke exposure at home for U.S. adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Tingting; Sung, Hai-Yen; Wang, Yingning; Lightwood, James; Max, Wendy

    2018-03-01

    To estimate healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure at home among nonsmoking adults (18+) in the U.S. We analyzed data on nonsmoking adults (N=67,735) from the 2000, 2005, and 2010 (the latest available data on SHS exposure at home) U.S. National Health Interview Surveys. This study was conducted from 2015 to 2017. We examined hospital nights, home care visits, doctor visits, and emergency room (ER) visits. For each, we analyzed the association of SHS exposure at home with healthcare utilization with a Zero-Inflated Poisson regression model controlling for socio-demographic and other risk characteristics. Excess healthcare utilization attributable to SHS exposure at home was determined and multiplied by unit costs derived from the 2014 Medical Expenditures Panel Survey to determine annual SHS-attributable healthcare costs. SHS exposure at home was positively associated with hospital nights and ER visits, but was not statistically associated with home care visits and doctor visits. Exposed adults had 1.28 times more hospital nights and 1.16 times more ER visits than non-exposed adults. Annual SHS-attributable healthcare costs totaled $4.6 billion (including $3.8 billion for hospital nights and $0.8 billion for ER visits, 2014 dollars) in 2000, $2.1 billion (including $1.8 billion for hospital nights and $0.3 billion for ER visits) in 2005, and $1.9 billion (including $1.6 billion for hospital nights and $0.4 billion for ER visits) in 2010. SHS-attributable costs remain high, but have fallen over time. Tobacco control efforts are needed to further reduce SHS exposure at home and associated healthcare costs. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  1. Dynamic linkages among the gold market, US dollar and crude oil market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mo, Bin; Nie, He; Jiang, Yonghong

    2018-02-01

    This paper aims to examine the dynamic linkages among the gold market, US dollar and crude oil market. The analysis also delves more deeply into the effect of the global financial crisis on the short-term relationship. We use fractional cointegration to analyze the long-term memory feature of these volatility processes to investigate whether they are tied through a common long-term equilibrium. The DCC-MGARCH model is employed to investigate the time-varying long-term linkages among these markets. The Krystou-Labys non-linear asymmetric Granger causality method is used to examine the effect of the financial crisis. We find that (i) there is clearly a long-term dependence among these markets; (ii) the dynamic gold-oil relationship is always positive and the oil-dollar relationship is always negative; and (iii) after the crisis, we can observe evidence of a positive non-linear causal relationship from gold to US dollar and US dollar to crude oil, and a negative non-linear causal relationship from US dollar to gold. Investors who want to construct their optimal portfolios and policymakers who aim to make effective macroeconomic policies should take these findings into account.

  2. Technology needs and trends for hazardous waste site remediation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kovalick, W.W. Jr.

    1995-01-01

    Over the next few decades, federal, state, and local governments and private industry will commit billions of dollars annually to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous waste and petroleum products. While these needs represent an obligation for society, they also represent an important business opportunity for vendors of remediation services. This presentation assesses the remediation market by characterizing sites that comprise the demand for cleanup services, observing remedy selection trends in the Superfund program, and discussing gaps in the supply of technologies

  3. Future U.S. Security in the Caribbean: The Caribbean Basin Initiative and the Economics of Jamaica

    Science.gov (United States)

    1985-03-01

    important part in its system. The Jamaican economy is a complex dynamic 14 KSKSSS W^^^M$MM^k^M^^iM^mk^%M^^ SmM ■nuCTHmrx«.M«WB«».SJUUa*UVaJI£A/U&.UIUIII...export markets due to worldwide recession, and a decline in tourism . The cumulative GNP of these nations is only 40 billion dollars annually...countries already have a well developed infrastructure for tourism , while others have enormous potential as convention sites. In both instances

  4. The UP/SP merger could derail Western bituminous

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaninetti, J.; Leshock, J.C.

    1995-01-01

    The 3 billion dollars per year US Western bituminous coal industry annually produces more than 100 million tons of compliance coal to utility, industrial and export markets. About half of production is consumed locally, this sector has grown most in recent years. New markets are utilities in the Mid-west. The UP and SP railroads have profited accordingly. The merger may cause a change in the pricing strategies for the new company, leading to increased freight and coal prices. 1 fig., 1 tab

  5. Restoring the Lost Rivers of Washington: Can a city's hydrologic past inform its future?

    OpenAIRE

    Millay, Curtis A.

    2005-01-01

    Washington, D.C., like many older U.S. cities, suffers the woes of rapid urbanization and aging infrastructure. The cityâ s combined sewer and stormwater system dumps millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers over 70 times annually during significant rain events. While many groups, both public and private, attempt to clean the river, billions of dollars are still necessary over several years to remedy the combined sewer overfl ow (CSO) problem alone. Current pla...

  6. Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Project Abstracts; May 25-27, Portland, Oregon, 1997 Annual Review.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allee, Brian J. (Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, Portland, OR)

    1997-06-26

    Abstracts are presented from the 1997 Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program Review of Projects. The purpose was to provide information and education on the approximate 127 million dollars in Northwest electric ratepayer fish and wildlife mitigation projects funded annually.

  7. 12 billion DM for Germany

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1975-01-01

    The German atomic industry has achieved the break-through to the world market: Brazil orders eight nuclear electricity generating plants from Siemens-AEG daughter Kraftwerk-Union. US concerns attacked the twelve billion DM deal, the biggest export order in the history of German industry. Without avail - the contract is to be signed in Bonn this week. (orig./LH) [de

  8. Report on financing the disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel and processed high-level radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benny, R.I.; Sprecher, W.M.

    1983-06-01

    Projected revenues generated from the 1.0 mill per kWh fee mandated by the Act are sufficient to cover the full range of reference case program costs, assuming 3% annual inflation and nuclear installed capacity of 165 gigawatts-electric by the year 2000. Total estimated costs of the reference waste disposal program, encompassing either spent nuclear fuel disposal or reprocessing waste disposal, range between $18 to 20 billion in constant 1982 dollars. Sensitivity case analyses established upper and lower program cost bounds of $28 billion and $16 billion, respectively (in 1982 dollars). In terms of discounted levelized unit costs, the disposal of spent fuel equates to $122 to 125 per kilogram (uranium) compared with $115 to 119 per kilogram for the reprocessing waste equivalent. The levelized unit costs for reprocessing exclude the solidification of liquid wastes. Such costs are estimated to be $8 per kilogram. Discounted levelized unit costs corresponding to the upper and lower limits of the sensitivity cases equate to $176 per kilogram and $107 per kilogram. The 1.0 mill per kWh fee will be reviewed annually and adjusted, if necessary, to accommodate changes in program costs due to inflation and program shifts. When adjustments are made for applicable discount rates, inflation, repository design changes, and other factors, levelized unit costs for the reference case presented in this analysis agree closely with the results of two previous Department of Energy studies concerning charges for spent fuel storage and disposal services provided by the Federal government. The cost estimates developed for the program were based on the best available data

  9. Dollarization in emerging markets: evidence from Georgia

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Loiseau-Aslanidi, Olga

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 48, č. 3 (2012), s. 70-84 ISSN 1540-496X Grant - others:UK(CZ) GAUK 259027 Institutional support: PRVOUK-P23 Keywords : dollarization * Georgia * money-in-utility function Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.190, year: 2012

  10. Institutionalisation of Mediation for Dispute Resolution in the Field of Social Bankruptcy of Citizens in Russia or how to prevent losses of 300 billions rubles of Russian Federation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Avdyev Marat Aleksandrovich

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The important problem of modern Russia is poverty of about 22,1 billions citizens. because of illegal action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest. About 4,2 billions citizens of Russian are social bankrupts. There are many obstacles for human right in court. Total budget for legal expenses may estimates over than 1,5-2 average annual income of household. Therefore author considers mediation as alternative procedure for dispute resolution between creditors and debtors. Some amendment of law desirable for institutionalization of mediation practice in this types conflicts such as mandatory mediation and so on.

  11. Quantifying exhaustible resource theory: an application to mineral taxation policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ward, F.A.; Kerkvliet, J.

    1993-01-01

    The paper presents the results of a dynamic nonlinear programming model of a mineral resource market with several features of heterogeneous quality in the mineral, links with related product markets, incorporation of institutional constraints, resource allocations for each year in the planning period, and analysis of outcomes under various severance tax rates. The model computes privately efficient competitive use paths to perform cost-benefit analysis of public mineral policies. Policy variables are evaluated for their impact on both private behaviour and public benefits. The application is to New Mexico's linked coal and electric power markets. Findings reveal that scarcity rents are currently 4% of coal's price, and peak at 27% in 43 years. Increasing the present 1 dollar/ton New Mexico severance tax to 11 dollars reduces current annual coal output by 25%, prolongs the life of the state's coal industry by three years, and increases discounted severance tax revenues by 850% or 4.2 billion dollars. 38 refs., 2 figs., 4 tabs

  12. 48 CFR 1.109 - Statutory acquisition-related dollar thresholds-adjustment for inflation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ...-related dollar thresholds-adjustment for inflation. 1.109 Section 1.109 Federal Acquisition Regulations..., Issuance 1.109 Statutory acquisition-related dollar thresholds—adjustment for inflation. (a) 41 U.S.C. 431a... the FAR for inflation, except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section. This adjustment is...

  13. The Role of Private Information in Short-term Fluctuations of Won/Dollar Exchange Rates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haesik Park

    1999-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we have examined the short-run movement of the won/dollar exchange rate using information obtained from the inter-bank market in Korea. First, we constructed the hourly measure of excess demand for dollar and used it as a proxy for the trading pattern of market participants. To construct this time series, we relied on the bid and ask won/dollar exchange rates collected on the two-minute interval. We then estimated the structural VAR model consisting of the actually observed won/dollar exchange rate and the proxied trading pattern of market participants to see if private information, as opposed to public information, is relevant for explaining the hourly movement of the won/dollar exchange rate. Private information is found to account for more 30% of hourly variations of the won/dollar exchange rate. Next, we constructed the trading pattern of market participants on a daily basis using the same data set employed to build the hourly measure. We then examined whether private information is useful for predicting the daily won/dollar exchange rate movement. We found that the forecast model using both private and public information reduces out-of-sample forecast errors of an alternative model relying only on public information by 20~25%. Also, the out-of-sample forecast of the model using both private and public information is found to be more accurate than the random walk model.

  14. Balassa-Samuelson Effect in Won/Dollar and Won/Yen Exchange Rates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donghwan Oh

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines, using various models including a non-linear one, that the Balassa-Samuelson (BS effect can account for the persistence of deviations from PPP in the long-run movements of won/dollar and won/yen real exchange rates. In test for PPP hypothesis that incorporates the BS effect, using the generalized Johansen' cointegration method, it is found that a cointegration relationship exists between each of won/dollar and won/yen real exchange rate and the productivity variables of two countries. And in test for PPP hypothesis that incorporates other fundamentals such as cumulative current account balance, foreign exchange reserve, terms of trade as well as productivity differentials, using a behavioral equilibrium exchange rate approach, it is found that a cointegration relationship exists between each of won/dollar and won/yen real exchange rate and all of these fundamentals. However, the plus sign of the estimated coefficient of the productivity differentials variable, which means that domestic productivity improvement produces increase in each of won/dollar and won/yen real exchange rate is not coincident with the result that the BS effect expects theoretically. Finally, in test for PPP hypothesis that incorporates the BS effect, using a non-linear STAR model, it is found that the adjustment process in case of won/dollar real exchange rate from the long-run equilibrium level can be adequately explained by a non-linear LSTAR model. But, the evidence of diagnostic statistics, which shows the existence of autocorrelation of the residuals in most of lags, might suggest the inadequacy of LSTAR model specification.

  15. Teaching Billing and Coding to Medical Students: A Pilot Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiaxin Tran

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Complex billing practices cost the US healthcare system billions of dollars annually. Coding for outpatient office visits [known as Evaluation & Management (E&M services] is commonly particularly fraught with errors. The best way to insure proper billing and coding by practicing physicians is to teach this as part of the medical school curriculum. Here, in a pilot study, we show that medical students can learn well the basic principles from lectures. This approach is easy to implement into a medical school curriculum.

  16. Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, April 2005

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2005-04-01

    The purpose of this report is to determine whether the land resources of the United States are capable of producing a sustainable supply of biomass sufficient to displace 30 percent or more of the country’s present petroleum consumption – the goal set by the Biomass R&D Technical Advisory Committee in their vision for biomass technologies. Accomplishing this goal would require approximately 1 billion dry tons of biomass feedstock per year.

  17. Paiton II financing locked up

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-04-01

    The 2 x 610 MW Paiton II coal-fired independent power project in Indonesia became a reality last week with the completion of a 1.36 billion dollars commercial financing for the 1.65 billion dollar undertaking. Details of the financing are given. A table lists Indonesia`s independent power projects and their current status.

  18. U.S. Geological Survey—Energy and wildlife research annual report for 2017

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khalil, Mona

    2017-09-08

    IntroductionTerrestrial and aquatic ecosystems provide valuable services to humans and are a source of clean water, energy, raw materials, and productive soils. The Nation’s food supply is more secure because of wildlife. For example, native pollinators enhance agricultural crops, and insect-eating bats provide pest control services worth billions of dollars to farmers annually. Fish and wildlife are also vital to a vibrant outdoor recreation and tourism industry. Recreational activities, such as hunting, shooting, boating, and angling, generated \\$1.1 billion in excise taxes paid to State wildlife agencies in 2017. National parks, wildlife refuges, and monuments accounted for $35 billion in economic output and 318,000 jobs nationwide in 2016. Additional economic benefits are generated from the use and enjoyment of wildlife in State-owned lands and waters.Although the United States is rich in natural resources, human activity continues to place new pressures on fish and wildlife and the habitats they rely on. The United States became the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas products in 2012, surpassing Russia’s natural gas production levels in 2009 and Saudi Arabia’s petroleum production in 2013. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that the demand for liquid fuel, natural gas, and renewable energy will show strong growth in the next 20 years. Wind energy has demonstrated consistent growth since 2007 with now more than 53,000 wind turbines contributing to power grids in 41 States, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Solar energy has seen rapid growth since 2013 and made up nearly one-third of the total electricity generation additions in 2016. Yet as our Nation works to advance energy security and sustain wildlife, some conflicts have surfaced. Impacts of an expanding energy infrastructure include fragmentation and loss of habitat as well as mortality of birds, bats, fish, and other animals from interactions with energy generation facilities

  19. Potential effects of the next 100 billion hamburgers sold by McDonald's.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, Elsa H; Frank, Erica; McIntosh, Nichole F

    2005-05-01

    McDonald's has sold >100 billion beef-based hamburgers worldwide with a potentially considerable health impact. This paper explores whether there would be any advantages if the next 100 billion burgers were instead plant-based burgers. Nutrient composition of the beef hamburger patty and the McVeggie burger patty were obtained from the McDonald's website; sales data were obtained from the McDonald's customer service. Consuming 100 billion McDonald's beef burgers versus the same company's McVeggie burgers would provide, approximately, on average, an additional 550 million pounds of saturated fat and 1.2 billion total pounds of fat, as well as 1 billion fewer pounds of fiber, 660 million fewer pounds of protein, and no difference in calories. These data suggest that the McDonald's new McVeggie burger represents a less harmful fast-food choice than the beef burger.

  20. Dollarization hysteresis, network externalities and the “past legacy” effect: the case of Bolivia

    OpenAIRE

    Bernardo X. Fernández Tellería

    2007-01-01

    Dollarization in Bolivia rose rapidly immediately after the hyperinflation and currency crisis episode that took place between 1984 and 1985, but failed to reduce and, in fact, continued increasing the following years. In order to explain this dollarization hysteresis, this document proposes and estimates a model, based in the work of Oomes (2003), where network externalities can generate multiple steady-states for dollarization while a so-called past legacy effect increases the likelihood of...

  1. AREVA 2010 annual results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-01-01

    remaining 49% of Multibrid) bring total gross capex to 2.176 billion euros, compared with 1.808 billion euros in 2009. Net capex came to 2.013 million euros in 2010, compared with 1.294 billion euros in 2009, reflecting asset disposals of 163 million euros in 2010 (mainly from the sale of 2% of the Georges Besse II plant), compared with 514 million euros in 2009. Free operating cash flow before tax went from -919 million euros in 2009 to -1.090 billion euros in 2010. Part of the increase in net capex is financed by the improved EBITDA and working capital requirement. The group's net financial debt comes to 3.672 billion euros at December 31, 2010 (based on the 2007 valuation of the debt to Siemens i.e. 2.049 billion euros, plus accrued interest) compared with 6.193 billion euros at December 31, 2009. The 2.521-billion euro reduction is due to the cash generated by the disposal of the Transmission and Distribution business (3.124 billion euros), by the transactions on Safran securities in the amount of 636 million euros, and by the 900-million euro capital increase, which helped largely offset the free operating cash flow described above, as well as the payment of dividends for 2009 to AREVA SA shareholders in the amount of 250 million euros. These amounts should be compared with equity of 9.578 billion euros at December 31, 2010, compared with 7.574 billion at year-end 2009. The group's gearing thus went from 45% in 2009 to 28% in 2010, illustrating the notable strengthening of the group's balance sheet. As part of this process, AREVA's Supervisory Board will not propose to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders the payment of a dividend for 2010. In addition, the group's liquidity was reinforced in 2010 by a fourth bond issue of 750 million euros. Excluding the debt to Siemens, the group has no major reimbursement due before 2016

  2. Union Gas Ltd. : 1998 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    Consolidated annual financial information from Union Gas Ltd. was presented along with a review of their 1998 operations. On January 1, 1998, Union Gas Ltd. amalgamated with Centra Gas Ontario Inc. Both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Westcoast Energy Inc., and had operated under a shared services arrangement since 1994. The assets, liabilities and shareholders equity of Union and Centra were combined and accounted for at their carrying amounts. In 1998, the customer base grew by 3.3 per cent. The distribution service area of Union Gas extends across northern Ontario from the Manitoba border to the North Bay/Muskoka area and through certain parts of southern Ontario. The company also provides natural gas storage and transportation services for other utilities and energy market participants in Ontario, Quebec and the United States. This report gives full account of the company's energy resource activities, presents a detailed operations review as well as the company's consolidated financial statements. Revenue for 1998 was $1.6 billion, net income was 109 million, and assets were $4 billion. Total throughput for 1998 was 31.8 billion cubic metres of natural gas. tabs., figs

  3. Seven Billion People: Fostering Productive Struggle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murawska, Jaclyn M.

    2018-01-01

    How can a cognitively demanding real-world task such as the Seven Billion People problem promote productive struggle "and" help shape students' mathematical dispositions? Driving home from school one evening, Jaclyn Murawska heard a commentator on the radio announce three statements: (1) experts had determined that the world population…

  4. Do You Automate? Saving Time and Dollars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carmichael, Christine H.

    2010-01-01

    An automated workforce management strategy can help schools save jobs, improve the job satisfaction of teachers and staff, and free up precious budget dollars for investments in critical learning resources. Automated workforce management systems can help schools control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve employee satisfaction.…

  5. Development of a risk-based approach to Hanford Site cleanup

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hesser, W.A.; Daling, P.M.; Baynes, P.A.

    1995-06-01

    In response to a request from Mr. Thomas Grumbly, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management, the Hanford Site contractors developed a conceptual set of risk-based cleanup strategies that (1) protect the public, workers, and environment from unacceptable risks; (2) are executable technically; and (3) fit within an expected annual funding profile of 1.05 billion dollars. These strategies were developed because (1) the US Department of Energy and Hanford Site budgets are being reduced, (2) stakeholders are dissatisfied with the perceived rate of cleanup, (3) the US Congress and the US Department of Energy are increasingly focusing on risk and riskreduction activities, (4) the present strategy is not integrated across the Site and is inconsistent in its treatment of similar hazards, (5) the present cleanup strategy is not cost-effective from a risk-reduction or future land use perspective, and (6) the milestones and activities in the Tri-Party Agreement cannot be achieved with an anticipated funding of 1.05 billion dollars annually. The risk-based strategies described herein were developed through a systems analysis approach that (1) analyzed the cleanup mission; (2) identified cleanup objectives, including risk reduction, land use, and mortgage reduction; (3) analyzed the existing baseline cleanup strategy from a cost and risk perspective; (4) developed alternatives for accomplishing the cleanup mission; (5) compared those alternatives against cleanup objectives; and (6) produced conclusions and recommendations regarding the current strategy and potential risk-based strategies

  6. State Electricity Commission of Victoria annual report 1991/92

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1992-01-01

    The 73rd annual report of the State Electricity Commission (SEC) of Victoria covers the financial year ended 30 June 1992. A total revenue of 3,300 million dollars and a net profit of 155.7 million dollars was recorded. There was continued improvement in employee productivity. Progress was made on the Victorian Power Pool (VicPool) pooling arrangement in anticipation of open access to the power grid. A 3-year business plan was formulated and corporate strategy revised. The Strategic Research Program on brown coal technologies, aimed at reducing costs of electricity and emissions of CO[sub 2], continued. Environmental activities continued in the areas of renewable energy source development, air quality monitoring, acid rain, water management, land rehabilitation and improvements to powerlines. The report includes statistical data on customer statistics, electricity sales, power stations, brown coal and briquette production and financial sales.

  7. The societal cost of heroin use disorder in the United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruixuan Jiang

    Full Text Available Heroin use in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. The objective of this paper is to estimate the annual societal cost of heroin use disorder in the United States in 2015 US dollars.An analytic model was created that included incarceration and crime; treatment for heroin use disorder; chronic infectious diseases (HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Tuberculosis and their treatments; treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome; lost productivity; and death by heroin overdose.Using literature-based estimates to populate the model, the cost of heroin use disorder was estimated to be $51.2 billion in 2015 US dollars ($50,799 per heroin user. One-way sensitivity analyses showed that overall cost estimates were sensitive to the number of heroin users, cost of HCV treatment, and cost of incarcerating heroin users.The annual cost of heroin use disorder to society in the United States emphasizes the need for sustained investment in healthcare and non-healthcare related strategies that reduce the likelihood of abuse and provide care and support for users to overcome the disorder.

  8. Regional Feedstock Partnership Summary Report: Enabling the Billion-Ton Vision

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Owens, Vance N. [South Dakota State Univ., Brookings, SD (United States). North Central Sun Grant Center; Karlen, Douglas L. [Dept. of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Ames, IA (United States). National Lab. for Agriculture and the Environment; Lacey, Jeffrey A. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Process Science and Technology Division

    2016-07-12

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Sun Grant Initiative established the Regional Feedstock Partnership (referred to as the Partnership) to address information gaps associated with enabling the vision of a sustainable, reliable, billion-ton U.S. bioenergy industry by the year 2030 (i.e., the Billion-Ton Vision). Over the past 7 years (2008–2014), the Partnership has been successful at advancing the biomass feedstock production industry in the United States, with notable accomplishments. The Billion-Ton Study identifies the technical potential to expand domestic biomass production to offset up to 30% of U.S. petroleum consumption, while continuing to meet demands for food, feed, fiber, and export. This study verifies for the biofuels and chemical industries that a real and substantial resource base could justify the significant investment needed to develop robust conversion technologies and commercial-scale facilities. DOE and the Sun Grant Initiative established the Partnership to demonstrate and validate the underlying assumptions underpinning the Billion-Ton Vision to supply a sustainable and reliable source of lignocellulosic feedstock to a large-scale bioenergy industry. This report discusses the accomplishments of the Partnership, with references to accompanying scientific publications. These accomplishments include advances in sustainable feedstock production, feedstock yield, yield stability and stand persistence, energy crop commercialization readiness, information transfer, assessment of the economic impacts of achieving the Billion-Ton Vision, and the impact of feedstock species and environment conditions on feedstock quality characteristics.

  9. Master plan envisions multi-billion-dollar expansion of Vietnam's electricity monopoly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-12-01

    Massive investment in Vietnam's electricity monopoly by Western aid and export credit agencies form part of the ten-year master plan developed for Vietnam. Central planning and political patronage, instead of market assessments and customer choice form the basis for monopoly investments in a centralized grid linking big hydro, gas, coal, and nuclear power projects. Western aid agencies might effectively crowd out viable private-sector energy investments by financing power projects considered too large and risky by the private sector. These investments by Western aid agencies would assist in winning contracts for favoured exporters of engineering services and equipment. It would be a breeding ground for corruption in Vietnam if market discipline, public oversight, and enforceable property rights are not present in the face of power sector aid. There is a real possibility that damages to the environment could result from electricity investments, and some communities might be victimized, electricity costs might increase, the indebtedness level of the population might increase

  10. Administrative waste in the U.S. health care system in 2003: the cost to the nation, the states, and the District of Columbia, with state-specific estimates of potential savings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Himmelstein, David U; Woolhandler, Steffie; Wolfe, Sidney M

    2004-01-01

    This report provides nationwide and state-specific estimates of U.S. health care administration spending and potential savings in 2003 were the United States to institute a Canadian-style national health insurance system. The United States wastes more on health care bureaucracy than it would cost to provide health care to all its uninsured. Administrative expenses will consume at least dollar 399.4 billion of a total health expenditure of dollar 1,660.5 billion in 2003. Streamlining administrative overhead to Canadian levels would save approximately dollar 286.0 billion in 2003, dollar 6,940 for each of the 41.2 million Americans who were uninsured as of 2001. This is substantially more than would be needed to provide full insurance coverage. The cost of excess health bureaucracy in individual states is equally striking. For example, Massachusetts, with 560,000 uninsured state residents, could save about dollar 8,556 million in 2003 (dollar 16,453 per uninsured resident of that state) if it streamlined administration to Canadian levels. New Mexico, with 373,000 uninsured, could save dollar 1,500 million on health bureaucracy (dollar 4,022 per uninsured resident). Only a single-payer national health insurance system could garner these massive administrative savings, allowing universal coverage without any increase in total health spending. Because incremental reforms necessarily preserve the current fragmented and duplicative payment structure, they cannot achieve significant bureaucratic savings.

  11. Hydro-Quebec 2004 annual report : growing strong

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    This report provides a consolidated review of the operations of Hydro-Quebec, with a focus on energy production, energy sales, and environmental commitment. Hydro-Quebec is a major producer, transmission provider and distributor of electricity, conducting research and promotional activities in energy and energy transformation and conservation. The Quebec government is its sole shareholder. The company is divided into six divisions and now competes freely with other power producers, while its transmission and distribution remain regulated. Sales totalled $10.7 billion, up 1.8 per cent over 2003. Net income rose to $2.4 billion, up $497 million over 2003, the increase being largely due to lower financial expenses and the disposal of interests in Noverco. Dividends declared amounted to $1.3 billion, or 55 per cent of net income. Cash from operations totaled $4.0 billion, Sources of revenue also included the sale of interests in Noverco, and investment in Meiya Power Company, with the consequent repayment of nearly $1 billion in debt. Major projects of 2004 included the start of operations at the Rocher-de-Grand-Mere generating station as well as work proceeding on Eastmain-1, Peribonka, Toulnustouc and Mercier. Other projects included a partnership with the Crees of Eeyou and the filing of the Energy Efficiency Plan 2005-2010. This annual report presented the company's financial performance, executive changes and reorganization. Financial statements included a review and analysis of financial transactions, the auditor's report as well as customary notes to the consolidated financial statement including balance sheets, assets, liabilities and capital. tabs., figs

  12. Nuclear budget for FY1991 up 3.6% to 409.7 billion yen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1991-01-01

    A total of yen409.7 billion was approved for the Governmental nuclear energy draft budget for fiscal 1991 on December 28, as the Cabinet gave its approval. The total, the highest ever, was divided into yen182.6 billion for the general account and yen227.1 billion for the special account for power resources development, representing a 3.6% increase over the ongoing fiscal year's level of yen395.5 billion. The draft budget will be examined for approval of the Diet session by the end of March. The nuclear energy budget devoted to research and development projects governed by the Science and Technology Agency amounts yen306.4 billion, up 3.5% exceeding yen300 billion for the first time. The nuclear budget for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry is yen98.1 billion, up 3.5%. For the other ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, yen5.1 billion was allotted to nuclear energy-related projects. The Government had decided to raise the unit cost of the power plant siting promotion subsidies in the special account for power resources development by 25% --- from yen600/kw to yen750/kw --- in order to support the siting of plants. Consequently, the power resources siting account of the special accounts for both STA and MITI showed high levels of growth rates: 6.3% and 7.5%, respectively. (N.K.)

  13. Dollarization in East Africa: Causes, Consequences, and Future Forecasts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Osman Sayid Hassan Musse

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The dollarization phenomenon has been widespread among the East African countries for many decades. This trend results in several consequences that might be either beneficial or harmful to these countries and their likes.The objective of this research was to empirically examine the causes, consequences and the future scenarios of dollarization in one of the leading regional countries such as Somalia. The research used a survey of over 100respondents and applied descriptive statistics and t-tests to achieve the above objectives. The findings show that the main causes of Dollarization in Somalia are the implementation of the Hawallah (money transfer system,the remarkable absence of the central bank and other monitoring financial authorities, the increasing exports and imports of the Somalian economy, the loss of confidence in the local Somalian Shilling, and the relative ease atwhich the Somalian Shilling can be printed and manipulated by selected market players. These causes are found to be mainly triggered by the revenue from exports, the policies and regulations implemented by the Somali government, the Somali Diaspora, and the international aid organizations. This has resulted in the foreign traders buying Somali goods at a relatively lower price and taking advantage of the depreciated Somali Shilling against most international currencies.

  14. EVOLUTION AND TRENDS IN TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela POPA

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Moldova's foreign trade value will exceed 10 billion U.S. dollars, exports increased by 12 percent annually andimports by about 9, 4 percent in the years 2014 to 2016, according to preliminary forecasts prepared by theMinistry of Economy. For 2013, an increase of 7,5 percent and 6 percent of exports imports. The foreign tradetrends may come back in 2011, when supplies of Moldovan goods to foreign markets grew faster than imports. In2012 exports fell by 2,5%, while imports rose 0,4%.

  15. Neumonía Adquirida en la comunidad

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cervantes-Coka, Manuel

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Acquired pneumonia by the NAC community is the second cause of mortality in our country. It's one of the most important causes of children death around the world. Its annual rate is still growing. The World Health Organization (WHO and UNICEFmade a prediction in order to invest 39 billion of dollars to save 5.3 million of human beings. Right now, in Ecuador, there have been diagnosed a lot of cases before complications caused by the sale of drugs without prescription, so we conclude authorities have to avoid this situation.

  16. Community access networks: how to connect the next billion to the ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Community access networks: how to connect the next billion to the Internet. Despite recent progress with mobile technology diffusion, more than four billion people worldwide are unconnected and have limited access to global communication infrastructure. The cost of implementing connectivity infrastructure in underserved ...

  17. Theoretical innovation and technical progress will usher in a production period of gas fields with an annual capacity of ten billion cubic meters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenwei Gan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Challenged by the increasing complexity of targets and the tense situation of turning losses into profits during the 12th Five-Year Plan, by virtue of technological innovation, Sinopec Southwest Oil & Gas Company proposed the theories of gas exploration in continental clastic rock and marine carbonate rock, and developed the development technologies for reef, channel sandstone and tight sandstone reservoirs. Moreover, it innovatively formed a series of engineering technologies, including intelligent sliding sleeve staged fracturing, blasting–packing–fracturing stimulation, impulse fracturing, and drilling, completion and production technologies for ultra-deep horizontal wells with high sulfur contents. With these innovated theories and improved technologies, great discoveries have been made in the continental clastic rocks and marine carbonate rocks in West Sichuan Basin, the marine shale in South Sichuan Basin, and the marine carbonate rocks in Yuanba area of NE Sichuan Basin, and three 100 billion-m3 class commercial gas reserves zones were discovered. Moreover, two medium- and large-sized gas fields were proved, and three medium- and large-sized gas fields were completely constructed. Both reserves and production reached a new record in history. During the 13th Five-Year Plan, Sinopec Southwest Oil & Gas Company will focus on the exploration and development of deep marine carbonate reservoirs, commercial development of deep shale gas, safe development of gas fields with high sulfur, and enhancement of recovery in mature gas fields. By the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan, it is expected that the annual gas production of (10–12 × 109 m3 will be achieved.

  18. 1997/98 Orphan Well Fund annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-04-01

    Alberta's Orphan Well Fund (previously referred as the Abandonment Fund) is funded by the oil and gas industry with provincial government support and approval. It was created to enforce and improve regulations regarding orphan wells. 1997/98 marked the year in which Orphan Well Fund activities included pipeline abandonments, facility decommissioning, and well site reclamation. The first part of this report includes the annual report of the Orphan Fund, while the second part includes the report on the Energy and Utilities Board's (EUB's) Liability Management activities which are an important part of enforcing and improving provincial regulations in the prevention of orphan wells. The fund allows liability management to be done with industry's dollars rather than taxpayer's dollars. Highlights for the year include the successful completion on eleven downhole and surface wells. Expanded activities also included the abandonment of eleven pipelines, and facilities decommissioning work at five locations. The report also includes a financial review, and a summary of the future goals of the program. The EUB enforcement activities and operations, as well as the EUB orphan prevention activities are also reviewed. tabs

  19. Youth substance use prevention interventions: Opportunities and challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Flavio F. Marsiglia

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The United Nations estimates that 1 in 20 adults, or a quarter of a billion people between the ages of 15 and 64 years, used at least one illicit drug in 2014, this number does not include tobacco and alcohol (UNODC, 2016. During the same year, more than 22 million Americans aged 12 and older self-reported needing treatment for alcohol or illicit drug use (SAMHA, 2016. Annually, drug abuse and addiction cost the USA society more than 200 billion US dollars in the healthcare, criminal justice, and legal systems, and in lost workplace production/participation (Office on National Drug Control Policy, 2011. The rippling social and health effects of abusing alcohol and other drugs not only negatively impact the individual users but their families, communities and society at large.

  20. Frenzy for green energies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Remoue, A.; Andreau, S.

    2007-01-01

    Renewable, CO 2 -free or clean energies are receiving the adhesion of politicians and investors. 21.5 billion dollar were invested in 2006 in new renewable energy production capacities at the world scale, indicating a real craze for a structuring industry which would carry on its growth. Many companies are now quoted at the stock exchange and this trend should increase with the competition of emerging countries, like China and India, in this sector. The need for new technologies remains important and the R and D budget reached 16.3 billion dollars at the world scale in 2006. The market of renewable equipments and facilities should quadruple in the next 10 years and should reach 226.7 billion dollars in 2016. (J.S.)

  1. Prediction of the dollar to the ruble rate. A system-theoretic approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borodachev, Sergey M.

    2017-07-01

    Proposed a simple state-space model of dollar rate formation based on changes in oil prices and some mechanisms of money transfer between monetary and stock markets. Comparison of predictions by means of input-output model and state-space model is made. It concludes that with proper use of statistical data (Kalman filter) the second approach provides more adequate predictions of the dollar rate.

  2. USA dollar langes eile alla 12 krooni / Andris Feldmanis

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Feldmanis, Andris, 1982-

    2004-01-01

    Odavast dollarist kaotavad Eesti ettevõtjatest dollaritsooni eksportijad, võidavad importijad. Skeem: Dollari kurss tagasi 90ndate aastate keskpaiga tasemel. Vt. samas: Tõnis Oja. Ameerikale nõrk dollar meeldib

  3. How do you interpret a billion primary care records?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Heaven

    2017-04-01

    To establish this we explored just over 1 billion unique Read coded records generated in the time period 1999 to 2015 by GP practices participating in the provision of anonymised records to SAIL, aligning, filtering and summarising the data in a series of observational exercises to generate hypotheses related to the capture and recording of the data. Results A fascinating journey through 1 billion GP practice generated pieces of information, embarked upon to aid interpretation of our Supporting People results, and providing insights into the patterns of recording within GP data.

  4. Cost for the radioactive wastes from nuclear power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-06-01

    The future cost for handling, storing and disposing of radioactive wastes from the Swedish nuclear power plants are calculated in this report. The following plants and systems are already operating: - Transportsystem for radioactive wastes. - A control spent fuel intermediate storage plant. - A repository for low and medium level wastes. These are planned: - A treatment plant for used fuels. A repository for high-level wastes and repository for decommissioning wastes. The costs include Rand D and decommissioning. Total future costs from 1990 are estimated to be 43 billion SEK (6,5 billion dollars), during 60 years. Up to 1990 7,4 billion SEK (1,1 billion dollars) have been spent. (L.E.)

  5. Interactive (statistical) visualisation and exploration of a billion objects with vaex

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Breddels, M. A.

    2016-01-01

    With new catalogues arriving such as the Gaia DR1, containing more than a billion objects, new methods of handling and visualizing these data volumes are needed. We show that by calculating statistics on a regular (N-dimensional) grid, visualizations of a billion objects can be done within a second

  6. Dollar as the world's reserve currency: Challenges and prospects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kovačević Radovan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The US dollar gained the status of the world's reserve currency in the Bretton Woods system and has preserved it until the present day. Such position in international finance entails both advantages and disadvantages to the USA as the issuer of this currency, and to the rest of the world using it in trading, as store of value, and for the purpose of various financial operations and transactions. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the regime of fixed FX rates was replaced by floating FX rates. Yet, regardless of this change, the dollar kept its role of the world's reserve currency. Numerous banking and currency crises following the transfer to the floating FX rates regime, along with the shifts in international capital flows, forced the developing countries and countries in transition to increase their FX reserves. In the tendency to store their value, central banks usually invest them into US Treasury securities, as liquid and reliable assets. However, due to the risk incurred by the reliance on a single national currency in the role of the world's reserve currency, there have been many proposals to reform the international monetary system. According to the current global tendencies, the most serious candidates for acquiring the status of the world's reserve currency in the future are the dollar, the euro, and the Chinese yuan.

  7. New York State Energy Research and Development Authority annual report, 1991--1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    To meet its energy and environmental goals, the Energy Authority faces a number of challenges affecting New York State's citizens. These include: Managing a nationally recognized energy research program of more than 250 ongoing projects located throughout the State that, through cutting-edge, energy-efficient technologies, identifies alternative energy sources; Participating in the joint Federal/State cleanup of a former nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at West Valley, an effort that will cost more than a billion dollars; Cleanup of the Malta Rocket Fuel Area Superfund site and maintenance of the shut-down State Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Area at West Valley; Issuing innovative tax-exempt bonds to finance utility projects, with $4.3 billion currently issued saving New York State citizens more than $4 billion; and Designing, building and operating a new low-level radioactive waste disposal facility for the State. In addition to these broad-based programs, the Energy Authority cosponsors the Student Energy Research Competition, a yearly science competition for high school students. Now in its eleventh year, the Competition continues to challenge students to explore solutions to meet our energy needs. This year, some 600 project proposals were submitted by 1217 students representing 85 schools throughout New York State. The Competition is cosponsored by the State Energy Office. Energy Authority programs help to ensure that, as we protect environmental values and promote economic growth, New York State has secure and economical future supplies of energy

  8. Uranium enrichment: heading for the abyss

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norman, C.

    1983-01-01

    This article discusses the federal government's $2.3 billion a year business enriching uranium for nuclear power plants which is heading toward a major crisis. Due to miscalculations by the Department of Energy, it is caught with billions of dollars of construction in progress just as projected demand for enriched uranium is decreasing. At the center of the controversy is the Gas Centrifuge Plant at Portsmouth, Ohio - estimated to cost $10 billion dollars. A review of how DOE got into this situation and how they plan to solve it is presented

  9. Analysis of the total system life cycle cost for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. Volume 1. The analysis and its results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1986-04-01

    The total-system life-cycle cost (TSLCC) analysis for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program is an ongoing activity that helps determine whether the revenue-producing mechanism established by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 is sufficient to cover the cost of the program. This report provides cost estimates for the fourth evaluation of the adequacy of the fee. The total-system cost for the reference authorized-system program is estimated to be 24 to 32 billion (1985) dollars. The total-system cost for the reference improved-performance system is estimated to be 26 to 34 billion dollars. A number of sensitivity cases were analyzed. For the authorized system, the costs for the sensitivity cases studied range from 21 to 39 billion dollars. For the improved-performance system, which includes a facility for monitored retrievable storage, the total-system cost in the sensitivity cases is estimated to be as high as 41 billion dollars. The factors that affect costs more than any other single factor for both the authorized and the improved-performance systems are delays in repository startup. A preliminary analysis of the impact of extending the burnup of nuclear fuel in the reactor was also performed; its results indicate that the impact is insignificant: the total-system cost is essentially unchanged from the comparable constant-burnup cases. The current estimate of the the total-system cost for the reference authorized system is zero to 3 billion dollars (9%) higher than the estimate for the reference system in the January 1985 TSLCC analysis

  10. Effect of construction time, interest rate, and inflation on the capital cost of nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abel, P.S.; Greybeck, E.M.; Omberg, R.P.

    1981-09-01

    Cost estimates for nuclear power plants currently under construction are on the order of four billion dollars. It will be shown, in this paper, that this is a direct consequence of relatively high inflation rates and relatively long construction times. If either inflation rates or construction times, or a combination thereof, should decrease significantly, cost estimates for nuclear power plants could return to approximately two billion dollars

  11. The Impact of Financial Dollarization on Inflation Targeting: Empirical Evidence from Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabris Nikola

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Serbia has applied inflation targeting against the backdrop of financial dollarization for almost a decade. In such circumstances, efficiency of monetary policy instruments decreases and begs the question of efficiency of the monetary regime efficiency issue. Although there is some empirical testing of financial dollarization effects on monetary policy performance in the inflation targeting regime for some countries, such studies for Serbia mostly cover periods of early application of the regime.

  12. 2016 Billion-Ton Report: Advancing Domestic Resources for a Thriving Bioeconomy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2016-07-06

    This product builds on previous efforts, namely the 2005 Billion-Ton Study (BTS) and the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update (BT2).With each report, greater perspective is gained on the potential of biomass resources to contribute to a national energy strategy. Similarly, each successive report introduces new questions regarding commercialization challenges. BTS quantified the broad biophysical potential of biomass nationally, and BT2 elucidated the potential economic availability of these resources. These reports clearly established the potential availability of up to one billion tons of biomass resources nationally. However, many questions remain, including but not limited to crop yields, climate change impacts, logistical operations, and systems integration across production, harvest, and conversion. The present report aims to address many of these questions through empirically modeled energy crop yields, scenario analysis of resources delivered to biorefineries, and the addition of new feedstocks. Volume 2 of the 2016 Billion-Ton Report is expected to be released by the end of 2016. It seeks to evaluate environmental sustainability indicators of select scenarios from volume 1 and potential climate change impacts on future supplies.

  13. Dollarization in transition economies: new evidence from Georgia

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aslanidi, Olga

    -, č. 366 (2008), s. 1-31 ISSN 1211-3298 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : dollarization * Georgia * money-in-utility-function Subject RIV: AH - Economics http://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp366.pdf

  14. Squeezing the most from your audit dollar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greenwell, W.D.

    1981-01-01

    Basic requirements for auditing nuclear power plant quality assurance programs are described to ANSI N45.2.12. The paper discusses the quality assurance discipline of auditing within the nuclear power industry. It reflects actual work philosophy and techniques developed by one Architect/Engineer/Construction Q.A. management Audit Group to assess implemented programs while providing maximum benefit from each audit dollar

  15. The Canadian Dollar and the Dutch and Canadian Diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serge Coulombe

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available With the spectacular rise of the dollar, along with rising natural-resource prices during the first decade of the 21st century, Canadians heard a great deal about Dutch disease. Many politicians and pundits blamed the phenomenon — in which a country’s currency, inflated by rising commodity prices, renders manufacturing exports increasingly uncompetitive — for rising unemployment in the Canadian manufacturing industry. But a close look at what happened during that period reveals that the Dutch disease mechanism was only part of the story. The other part, and quantitatively the most important, is an affliction of an altogether different providence: Canadian disease. Canadian disease is the economic trouble that can be caused by Canada’s extraordinarily heavy reliance on the United States as a trading partner. As a consequence, a sudden depreciation of the U.S, dollar will deteriorate the competitiveness of Canadian manufacturing exporters. Such a phenomenon was at work during the “Great Appreciation” of the Canadian dollar between 2002 and 2008 — the largest such appreciation on record in this country. The depreciation of the U.S. dollar is a phenomenon that is independent of the resource boom and the resulting consequences on the Canadian economy cannot be endorsed to a Dutch disease. Almost 2/3 of the employment losses that are exchange rate related in the trade-exposed manufacturers in Canada during the 2002–2008 period could be attributed to the Canadian disease. The Canadian dollar is partly driven by commodity prices, and the appreciation of the Canadian dollar exerts a negative impact on manufacturing industries that are exposed to international competition. This phenomenon can be coined as a Dutch Affair. The Dutch Affair becomes a disease in the long run when the non-renewable resource is depleted and the manufacturing base is gone. New manufacturing activities might not reappear due to a variety of obstacles. In Canada

  16. Enhanced situational technologies applied to ship channels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helgeson, Michael A.; Wacker, Roger A.

    1997-06-01

    The Houston Ship Channel ranks as America's number one port in foreign tonnage by welcoming more than 50,000 cargo ships and barges annually. Locally 196,000 jobs, 5.5 billion dollars in business revenue and 213 million dollars in taxes are generated. Unfortunately, 32 days of each year vessel traffic stops for hours due to fog causing an estimated 40- 100 million dollars loss as ships idly wait in the channel for weather to clear. In addition, poor visibility has contributed to past vessel collisions which have resulted in channel closure, and associated damage to property and the environment. Today's imaging technology for synthetic vision systems and enhanced situational awareness systems offers a new solution to this problem. Whereas, typically these systems have been targeted at aircraft landing systems the channel navigation application provides a peripheral ground based market. This paper describes two imaging solutions to the problem. One using an active 35 GHz scanning radar and the other using a 94 GHz passive millimeter wave camera.

  17. Cosmic rays and the biosphere over 4 billion years

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svensmark, Henrik

    2006-01-01

    Variations in the flux of cosmic rays (CR) at Earth during the last 4.6 billion years are constructed from information about the star formation rate in the Milky Way and the evolution of the solar activity. The constructed CR signal is compared with variations in the Earths biological productivit...... as recorded in the isotope delta C-13, which spans more than 3 billion years. CR and fluctuations in biological productivity show a remarkable correlation and indicate that the evolution of climate and the biosphere on the Earth is closely linked to the evolution of the Milky Way....

  18. Nuclear energy in Germany. Annual report 1999 - Deutsches Atomforum e.V.. Working report 1999. Special issue for members of Deutsches Atomforum e.V

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gey, A.

    2000-01-01

    Total nuclear power generation in Germany in 1999 sums up to 169.7 billion kWh and thus almost equals the all-time high of the operating year 1997, which was at 170.4 billion kWh. Power generation in nuclear power plants has been contributing well a third of the total domestic power supply since 1988, which is about ten per cent of the national power consumption. This is one aspect of the information contained in the annual report of Deutsches Atomforum e.V. Expressing this 1999 output in terms of carbon dioxide emissions avoided, the figure is 170 million tonnes. This is equal to the annual CO2 emissions in 1999 emanating from road transport and traffic in Germany. From the very beginning of nuclear power generation in 1961 until today, aggregated nuclear power generation from uranium and plutonium fuels amounts to about 2.8 billion kWh, which means that over this period, more than two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions have been avoided. (orig./CB) [de

  19. The state of advocacy in cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maxwell, G Larry

    2015-12-01

    Non-profit advocacy organizations have been important in raising public awareness, promoting education, and enhancing political activism for issues related to cancer. Grassroots efforts aimed at fund-raising have substantially augmented federal funding for community outreach and research. The objective of this review was to evaluate successful accomplishments of several major non-profit organizations that are focused on cancer. A review of news media, medical literature, and financial records (using GuideStar) was performed to access the organizational structure and productivity of several successful cancer advocacy organizations. Compared to other cancer advocacy groups, the American Cancer Society is the oldest (>100years old) and worth the most with net assets of over $1.25 billion dollars and an annual total revenue of over $900 million dollars. The ACS also has the highest overhead at 41%. Most of the gynecologic cancer advocacy groups are approximately 20years old and have collective total annual revenue of over $17M dollars. The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund has been the most successful at raising funds and building net assets to date while maintaining an overhead of active and financially successful cancer organizations tend to be older, have higher overhead, spend less on total administration, spend more on fund-raising, have more events (rather than a limited number), and use aggressive social media strategies. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  20. Faith community nursing demonstrates good stewardship of community benefit dollars through cost savings and cost avoidance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Ameldia R; Coppola, Patricia; Giacona, Marian; Petriches, Anne; Stockwell, Mary Ann

    2009-01-01

    Health systems seeking responsible stewardship of community benefit dollars supporting Faith Community Nursing Networks require demonstration of positive measurable health outcomes. Faith Community Nurses (FCNs) answer the call for measurable outcomes by documenting cost savings and cost avoidances to families, communities, and health systems associated with their interventions. Using a spreadsheet tool based on Medicare reimbursements and diagnostic-related groupings, 3 networks of FCNs have together shown more than 600 000 (for calendar year 2008) healthcare dollars saved by avoidance of unnecessary acute care visits and extended care placements. The cost-benefit ratio of support dollars to cost savings and cost avoidance demonstrates that support of FCNs is good stewardship of community benefit dollars.

  1. $17 billion needed by year 2000.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finger, W R

    1995-09-01

    The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that US$17 billion will be needed to fund reproductive health care in developing countries by the year 2000. About US$10 billion of would go for family planning: currently, the amount spent on family planning is about US$5 billion. Donors are focusing on fewer countries because of limited resources. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is planning to phase out support for family planning in Jamaica and Brazil because the programs there have advanced sufficiently. Resources will be shifted to countries with more pressing needs. Dr. Richard Osborn, senior technical officer for UNFPA, states that UNFPA works with national program managers in allocating resources at the macro level (commodities, training). Currently, two-thirds of family planning funds spent worldwide come from developing country governments (mainly China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, and Bangladesh). Sustaining programs, much less adding new services, will be difficult. User fees and public-private partnerships are being considered; worldwide, consumers provide, currently, about 14% of family planning funds (The portion is higher in most Latin American countries.). In a few countries, insurance, social security, and other public-private arrangements contribute. Social marketing programs are being considered that would remove constraints on prescriptions and prices and improve the quality of services so that clients would be more willing to pay for contraceptives. Although governments are attempting to fit family planning into their health care budgets, estimates at the national level are difficult to make. Standards are needed to make expenditure estimates quickly and at low cost, according to Dr. Barbara Janowitz of FHI, which is developing guidelines. Studies in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Ghana, Mexico, and the Philippines are being conducted, with the assistance of The Evaluation Project at the Population

  2. Dollar võib põhjustada ootamatuid arenguid / Sirje Rank

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Rank, Sirje, 1966-

    2004-01-01

    USA dollari jätkuv odavnemine ja jooksevkonto puudujäägist ning eelarvedefitsiidist tingitud ebastabiilne majanduskasv võivad analüütikute hinnangul avaldada negatiivset mõju kogu maailma majandusele. Diagramm: Dollar aastaga kukkunud ligi viiendiku

  3. Hydroelectric dams need billions for rehab

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carr, F.H.; Soast, A.

    1993-01-01

    Many of the Corps of Engineers older hydroelectric dams will require major rehabilitation over the next ten years. Preventive maintenance, repair work, and major rehabilitation of the Corp's hydro dams in inadequate because the revenue generated by sales of electricity, by law, is returned to the Treasury. Most multimillion dollar rehabilitation projects require specific approval for funding by Congress and securing it is a long and difficult process. It is hoped the funding problem will soon be addressed by the Clinton administration. Already, nearly one-sixth of the 2,154 Mw of hydro is unavailable because with hydro units are either out of service or operating at less than full capacity

  4. Fuel efficient stoves for the poorest two billion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gadgil, Ashok

    2012-03-01

    About 2 billion people cook their daily meals on generally inefficient, polluting, biomass cookstoves. The fuels include twigs and leaves, agricultural waste, animal dung, firewood, and charcoal. Exposure to resulting smoke leads to acute respiratory illness, and cancers, particularly among women cooks, and their infant children near them. Resulting annual mortality estimate is almost 2 million deaths, higher than that from malaria or tuberculosis. There is a large diversity of cooking methods (baking, boiling, long simmers, brazing and roasting), and a diversity of pot shapes and sizes in which the cooking is undertaken. Fuel-efficiency and emissions depend on the tending of the fire (and thermal power), type of fuel, stove characteristics, and fit of the pot to the stove. Thus, no one perfect fuel-efficient low-emitting stove can suit all users. Affordability imposes a further severe constraint on the stove design. For various economic strata within the users, a variety of stove designs may be appropriate and affordable. In some regions, biomass is harvested non-renewably for cooking fuel. There is also increasing evidence that black carbon emitted from stoves is a significant contributor to atmospheric forcing. Thus improved biomass stoves can also help mitigate global climate change. The speaker will describe specific work undertaken to design, develop, test, and disseminate affordable fuel-efficient stoves for internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Darfur, Sudan, where the IDPs face hardship, humiliation, hunger, and risk of sexual assault owing to their dependence on local biomass for cooking their meals.

  5. Annual Report 2001; Aarsrapport 2001

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2002-07-01

    This is the annual report 2001 for the TotalFinaElf oil company. This concern operates in more than 100 countries and covers all aspects of the energy industry, from oil- and gas exploration and production to refining and marketing of refined products and international trade with both unrefined and refined products. Through the Atofina division the concern is also a major player in the chemicals markets. The demonstrated reserves of TotalFinaElf has been calculated to more than ten billion barrels of oil equivalents. At a rate of 2.1 million barrels a day this ensures 14 years of production.

  6. Security systems engineering overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steele, Basil J.

    1997-01-01

    Crime prevention is on the minds of most people today. The concern for public safety and the theft of valuable assets are being discussed at all levels of government and throughout the public sector. There is a growing demand for security systems that can adequately safeguard people and valuable assets against the sophistication of those criminals or adversaries who pose a threat. The crime in this country has been estimated at 70 billion dollars in direct costs and up to 300 billion dollars in indirect costs. Health insurance fraud alone is estimated to cost American businesses 100 billion dollars. Theft, warranty fraud, and counterfeiting of computer hardware totaled 3 billion dollars in 1994. A threat analysis is a prerequisite to any security system design to assess the vulnerabilities with respect to the anticipated threat. Having established a comprehensive definition of the threat, crime prevention, detection, and threat assessment technologies can be used to address these criminal activities. This talk will outline the process used to design a security system regardless of the level of security. This methodology has been applied to many applications including: government high security facilities; residential and commercial intrusion detection and assessment; anti-counterfeiting/fraud detection technologies; industrial espionage detection and prevention; security barrier technology.

  7. Eesti ettevõtteid dollar ei heiduta / Piret Reiljan

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Reiljan, Piret, 1983-

    2007-01-01

    Kuigi dollar on aastate jooksul läbi teinud tugeva languse, on Eesti ettevõtted USA turu suhtes optimistlikud ning kasvatavad ka ekspordimahtusid. Kommenteerivad Ülo Kaasik ja Hardo Pajula. Diagramm: Euro on eelmise aasta oktoobrist sammhaaval dollari suhtes tugevnenud. Vt. samas: Kertu Ruus. USA ettevõtja näeb dollarit kui äri

  8. Effective interventions for unintentional injuries: a systematic review and mortality impact assessment among the poorest billion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andres I Vecino-Ortiz, PhD

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Background: Between 1990 and 2015, the global injury mortality declined, but in countries where the poorest billion live, injuries are becoming an increasingly prevalent cause of death. The vulnerability of this population requires immediate attention from policy makers to implement effective interventions that lessen the burden of injuries in these countries. Our aim was two-fold; first, to review all the evidence on effective interventions for the five main types of unintentional injury; and second, to estimate the potential number of lives saved by effective injury interventions among the poorest billion. Methods: For our systematic review we used references in the Disability Control Priorities third edition, and searched PubMed and the Cochrane database for papers published until Sept 10, 2016, using a comprehensive search strategy to find interventions for the five major causes of unintentional injuries: road traffic crashes, falls, drowning, burns, and poisoning. Studies were included if they presented evidence with significant effects sizes for any outcome; no inclusions or exclusions made on the basis of where the study was carried out (ie, low-income, middle-income, or high-income country. Then we used data from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study and a Monte Carlo simulation technique to estimate the potential annual attributable number of lives saved among the poorest billion by these evidence-based injury interventions. We estimated results for 84 countries where the poorest billion live. Findings: From the 513 papers identified, 47 were eligible for inclusion. We identified 11 interventions that had an effect on injury mortality. For road traffic deaths, the most successful interventions in preventing deaths are speed enforcement (>80 000 lives saved per year and drink-driving enforcement (>60 000 lives saved per year. Interventions potentially most effective in preventing deaths from drowning are formal swimming

  9. Canadian capital spending to slip 4.7% in 1993

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1993-01-01

    Total capital and exploration spending by the Canadian petroleum industry is estimated at $6.579 billion in 1993, a drop of 4.7% from estimated 1992 outlays. Last year Canadian capital spending of $6.9 billion represented a drop of 8.9% from 1991 outlays, according to an Oil and Gas Journal survey. All survey related spending estimates in this paper are in U.S. dollars. All individual company spending estimates are in Canadian dollars

  10. Throughput/inventory dollar-days

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gupta, Mahesh; Andersen, Soeren

    2018-01-01

    As the semiconductor industry moves away from vertical integration, performance measures play an increasingly important role to ensure effective collaboration. This paper demonstrates that the theory of constraints (TOC)-based measures, Throughput and Inventory Dollar-Days (T/IDD), induce...... autonomous supply chain (SC) links to function as a synergistic whole and thereby, improve the performance of the whole SC network significantly. We model an SC network of a well-known TOC case study using discrete event simulation and discuss managerial implications of these measures via a set of scenarios....... The scenarios explain how these measures – without sharing sensitive financial data – allow members of an SC network to monitor both the effectiveness (TDD) and efficiency (IDD) of SC members and lead them to create win-win solutions following well-known TOC-based planning and control concepts. We conclude...

  11. 1999 Annual report -- Charting a new course

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    Oil production in 1999 averaged 91,534 barrels per day; the average for natural gas production was 465 million cubic feet per day. Annual totals were 33,410,000 barrels of oil and 160,677,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Proven and probable reserves are estimated at 475 million barrels of oil and 1.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The company has 8,639,000 acres of undeveloped land, down from 11,981,000 acres in 1998, due to rationalization and disposition of non-core assets, and the expiry of special exploratory permits in the southern part of Saskatchewan. A total of 743 wells were drilled in 1999, with a success rate of 84 percent, a significant improvement over the 68 per cent success rate realized on 712 wells in 1998. Finding and on-stream costs declined from $8.67 per proven BOE in 1998 to $7.79 per proven BOE in 1999. Production was replaced 1.6 times with the addition of 81 million BOE to oil and gas reserves. Gross operating revenue was $1.09 billion, net earnings were $69 million, compared a $10 million loss in 1998. Outstanding debt was reduced to $ 1.1 billion from $1.4 billion in 1998. The debt reduction is the result on non-core property disposition in the fourth quarter and substantially improved cash flow in the last half of the year. Details of operations and the financial health of the company are provided in management's discussion and analysis which supplements the audited financial statement and supporting documentation

  12. 38 CFR 3.405 - Filipino veterans and their survivors; benefits at the full-dollar rate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Filipino veterans and... Compensation Effective Dates § 3.405 Filipino veterans and their survivors; benefits at the full-dollar rate... compensation at full-dollar rates to certain Filipino veterans and their survivors, are considered liberalizing...

  13. Missing billions. How the Australian government's climate policy is penalising farmers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riguet, T.

    2006-10-01

    The Climate Institute analysis suggests ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and implementing a national emissions trading scheme today could provide Australian farmers with an income of $1.8 billion over the period 2008-2012, due to the emissions saved by limiting land clearing. Separately, a report to the National Farmers Federation by the Allen Consulting Group earlier this year concluded that a carbon emission trading system which recognised Kyoto Protocol rules could create an additional income stream of $0.7-0.9 billion over a five year period from revenue to farmers from forestry sinks. These two studies suggest that ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and the introduction of a national emissions trading scheme could provide farmers an income stream in the order of $2.5 billion. A central tenet of the Federal Government's greenhouse policy for over a decade has been to not ratify Kyoto, but to meet its Kyoto target - a national emissions increase of 8% from 1990 levels, in the period 2008-2012. Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Accounts show that farmers, by reducing land clearing rates since 1990, have offset substantial increases in greenhouse gas emissions from other sectors, mainly energy. Official Federal Government projections show that without land clearing reductions, Australia's greenhouse emissions would be 30% above 1990 levels by 2010. Australia's farmers have been responsible for virtually the entire share of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions reductions, but their efforts, worth around $2 billion, have not been recognised or financially rewarded by the Government. By reducing land clearing, farmers have already reduced greenhouse gas emissions by about 75 million tonnes since 1990. By 2010, the savings are projected to be about 83 million tonnes. This level of emissions reductions is equivalent to eliminating the total annual emissions of New Zealand or Ireland. Over that same period, emissions from energy and transport have and continue to sky

  14. BUILDING A BILLION SPATIO-TEMPORAL OBJECT SEARCH AND VISUALIZATION PLATFORM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Kakkar

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available With funding from the Sloan Foundation and Harvard Dataverse, the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA has developed a prototype spatio-temporal visualization platform called the Billion Object Platform or BOP. The goal of the project is to lower barriers for scholars who wish to access large, streaming, spatio-temporal datasets. The BOP is now loaded with the latest billion geo-tweets, and is fed a real-time stream of about 1 million tweets per day. The geo-tweets are enriched with sentiment and census/admin boundary codes when they enter the system. The system is open source and is currently hosted on Massachusetts Open Cloud (MOC, an OpenStack environment with all components deployed in Docker orchestrated by Kontena. This paper will provide an overview of the BOP architecture, which is built on an open source stack consisting of Apache Lucene, Solr, Kafka, Zookeeper, Swagger, scikit-learn, OpenLayers, and AngularJS. The paper will further discuss the approach used for harvesting, enriching, streaming, storing, indexing, visualizing and querying a billion streaming geo-tweets.

  15. Building a Billion Spatio-Temporal Object Search and Visualization Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kakkar, D.; Lewis, B.

    2017-10-01

    With funding from the Sloan Foundation and Harvard Dataverse, the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) has developed a prototype spatio-temporal visualization platform called the Billion Object Platform or BOP. The goal of the project is to lower barriers for scholars who wish to access large, streaming, spatio-temporal datasets. The BOP is now loaded with the latest billion geo-tweets, and is fed a real-time stream of about 1 million tweets per day. The geo-tweets are enriched with sentiment and census/admin boundary codes when they enter the system. The system is open source and is currently hosted on Massachusetts Open Cloud (MOC), an OpenStack environment with all components deployed in Docker orchestrated by Kontena. This paper will provide an overview of the BOP architecture, which is built on an open source stack consisting of Apache Lucene, Solr, Kafka, Zookeeper, Swagger, scikit-learn, OpenLayers, and AngularJS. The paper will further discuss the approach used for harvesting, enriching, streaming, storing, indexing, visualizing and querying a billion streaming geo-tweets.

  16. $35 billion habit: will nuclear cost overruns bankrupt the utilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morgan, R.E.

    1980-01-01

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has proposed some 150 modifications in the design and operation of nuclear power plants as a result of the accident at Three Mile Island. The Atomic Industrial Forum estimates the total cost of the NRC's proposed rule changes at $35.5 billion ($3.5 billion in capital costs for the entire industry, and $32 billion in outage and construction-delay costs to the utilities) for existing facilities and for those with construction well underway. The changes range from improved training for reactor workers to a major overhaul of the reactor-containment design. The nuclear industry is asking the NRC to modify the proposals citing excessive costs (like the $100 million changes needed for a plant that cost $17 million to build) and safety (some of the complex regulations may interfere with safety). Financing the changes has become a major problem for the utilities. If the regulators allow all the costs to be passed along to the consumer, the author feels electricity will be too expensive for the consumer

  17. Backlog at December 31, 2007: euro 39,8 billion, up by 55% from year-end 2006. 2007 sales revenue: euro 11.9 billion, up by 9.8% (+10.4% like-for-like)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    The AREVA group's backlog reached a record level of euro 39.834 billion as of December 31, 2007, up by 55% from that of year-end 2006. In Nuclear, the backlog was euro 34.927 billion at year-end 2007 (+58%), due in particular to the signature of a contract in a record amount with the Chinese utility CGNPC. The series of agreements concluded provide among other things for the construction of two new-generation EPR nuclear islands and the supply of all of the materials and services needed for their operation through 2027. CGNPC also bought 35% of the production of UraMin, the mining company acquired by AREVA in August 2007. Industrial cooperation in the Back End of the cycle was launched with the signature of an agreement between China and France. In addition, the group signed several long-term contracts in significant amounts, particularly with KHNP of South Korea, EDF and Japanese utilities. The Transmission and Distribution division won several major contracts in Libya and Qatar at the end of the year approaching a total of euro 750 million. For the entire year, new orders grew by 34% to euro 5.816 billion. The backlog, meanwhile, grew by 40% to euro 4.906 billion at year-end. The group cleared sales revenue of euro 11.923 billion in 2007, up by 9.8% (+10.4% like-for-like) in relation to 2006 sales of euro 10.863 billion. Sales revenue for the 4. quarter of 2007 rose to euro 3.858 billion, for growth of 16.7% (+18.8% like-for-like) over one year. Sales revenue for the year was marked by: - Growth of 7.6% (+10.6% like-for-like) in Front End sales revenue, which rose to euro 3.140 billion. The division's Enrichment operations posted strong growth. - Sales were up by 17.5% (+15.2% like-for-like) to euro 2.717 billion in the Reactors and Services division. Sales revenue was driven in particular by the growth of Services operations, after weak demand in 2006, by progress on OL3 construction, and by the start of Flamanville 3, the second EPR. For the Back End division

  18. Actinide chemistry: From test tube to billion dollar plant--A BNFL perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parkes, Peter

    2000-01-01

    British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) is currently operating its third generation of nuclear plant for the management of irradiated nuclear fuel. Development for the fourth generation plant must meet requirements for processing higher burn-up fuel with lower unit costs, lower environmental impact, better process control, and more flexible control of actinides

  19. Smart Energy Choices Free Up Dollars for Capital Improvements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritchey, David

    2003-01-01

    Describes several ways to design or renovate school building to save thousand of dollars of energy costs. Considers site design, energy-efficient building envelope, renewable energy systems, lighting and electrical systems, mechanical and ventilation systems, water conservation, and transportation. Describes how to obtain information about the…

  20. The impacts of dollarization on Zimbabwe’s tourism industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kabote, F.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The word “dollarization” has been used to describe the adoption of United States Dollar (US$ or other major advanced country’s currency as the currency of choice in a foreign country. Upon adoption in 2009 February, Zimbabweans and the tourism industry were optimistic about the future as they thought it would bring a more stable economy. Three years down the line it is prudent to evaluate and see if this much talked about and praised economic move had any effect on the performance of one key sector of the Zimbabwean economy (Tourism. To answer this question a graphical and quantitative analysis of Zimbabwean Tourism industry performance indicators was done. The data was grouped into pre-2009 and post-2009 and compared the means and variables between these two eras. The results of the analysis lead us to conclude that there is a positive impact of dollarization on the Zimbabwean Tourism industry.

  1. The economic consequences of malnutrition in Cambodia, more than 400 million US dollar lost annually.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagriansky, Jack; Champa, Ngy; Pak, Kimchoeun; Whitney, Sophie; Laillou, Arnaud

    2014-01-01

    Cambodia is among the 28 worst countries globally with the highest rates of childhood malnutrition. The aim of the assessment was to apply published evidence associating malnutrition and a variety of functional consequences to project economic implications of this high rate of childhood malnutrition. Such information is vital to advocate for appropriate programs and action plan to reduce malnutrition (from severe stunting to micronutrient deficiencies). This exercise used a "consequence model" to apply these "coefficients of loss" established in the global scientific literature to Cambodia health, demographic and economic data to develop a national estimation of the economic losses link to malnutrition. The impact of the indicators of malnutrition analysed represent a burden to the national economy of Cambodia estimated at more than $400 million annually -2.5% of GDP. Micronutrient deficiencies suggest deficits in the quality of the diet - representing a national burden of more than $200 million annually while breastfeeding behaviours account for 6% of the burden. 57% of the losses emerge from indicators measured in children, while 43% of losses are from indicators independent of childhood measurements - indicators of maternal behaviour along with maternal and adult nutrition. Given the low cost of interventions and the high baseline losses, investment in nutrition programs in Cambodia is likely to offer high returns and attractive benefit cost ratios. Since nearly half the losses are determined prior to the birth of the child, this has implications for targeting and timing of programs.

  2. The impact of HMO penetration on the rate of hospital cost inflation, 1985-1993.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaskin, D J; Hadley, J

    1997-01-01

    This paper provides evidence that growth in health maintenance organization (HMO) enrollment slows hospital cost inflation. During the period 1985-1993, hospitals in areas with high rates of HMO penetration and growth had a slower rate of growth in expenses (8.3%) than hospitals in low penetration areas (11.2%). From 1992-1993, HMO growth lowered the rate of hospital cost inflation by .34 to 3.40 percentage points, depending on the base-year level and the annual change in HMO penetration. Declines in Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS) margins also lowered hospital cost inflation; over the time period, annual hospital cost inflation was reduced by .38 percentage points. The estimates imply that the cumulative effect of HMO growth on hospital costs has been a $56.2 billion reduction (in 1993 dollars).

  3. A two-billion-year history for the lunar dynamo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tikoo, Sonia M; Weiss, Benjamin P; Shuster, David L; Suavet, Clément; Wang, Huapei; Grove, Timothy L

    2017-08-01

    Magnetic studies of lunar rocks indicate that the Moon generated a core dynamo with surface field intensities of ~20 to 110 μT between at least 4.25 and 3.56 billion years ago (Ga). The field subsequently declined to lunar dynamo by at least 1 billion years. Such a protracted history requires an extraordinarily long-lived power source like core crystallization or precession. No single dynamo mechanism proposed thus far can explain the strong fields inferred for the period before 3.56 Ga while also allowing the dynamo to persist in such a weakened state beyond ~2.5 Ga. Therefore, our results suggest that the dynamo was powered by at least two distinct mechanisms operating during early and late lunar history.

  4. Strategy and your stronger hand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Geoffrey A

    2005-12-01

    There are two kinds of businesses in the world, says the author. Knowing what they are--and which one your company is--will guide you to the right strategic moves. One kind includes businesses that compete on a complex-systems model. These companies have large enterprises as their primary customers. They seek to grow a customer base in the thousands, with no more than a handful of transactions per customer per year (indeed, in some years there may be none), and the average price per transaction ranges from six to seven figures. In this model, 1,000 enterprises each paying dollar 1 million per year would generate dollar 1 billion in annual revenue. The other kind of business competes on a volume-operations model. Here, vendors seek to acquire millions of customers, with tens or even hundreds of transactions per customer per year, at an average price of relatively few dollars per transaction. Under this model, it would take 10 million customers each spending dollar 8 per month to generate nearly dollar 1 billion in revenue. An examination of both models shows that they could not be further apart in their approach to every step along the classic value chain. The problem, though, is that companies in one camp often attempt to create new value by venturing into the other. In doing so, they fail to realize how their managerial habits have been shaped by the model they've grown up with. By analogy, they have a "handedness"--the equivalent of a person's right- or left-hand dominance--that makes them as adroit in one mode as they are awkward in the other. Unless you are in an industry whose structure forces you to attempt ambidexterity (in which case, special efforts are required to manage the inevitable dropped balls), you'll be far more successful making moves that favor your stronger hand.

  5. Economic impact analysis of independent power projects in British Columbia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-12-01

    Independent power producer (IPP) projects have been active in British Columbia's (BC) regulated electricity market since the late 1980s. The 49 IPP projects developed in the province currently account for approximately 10 per cent of BC's electricity generation, and IPP development continues to expand in nearly every region. This study presented an economic impact analysis of IPP projects in BC. The economic impacts of IPP projects were divided into 2 categories: (1) existing IPP projects, and (2) potential IPP projects. The study showed that the total power potential supplied by BC IPP projects would increase from a current level of 5940 annual GWh to approximately 14,149 GWh. BC could also be generating a further 21,321 GWh of annual output to service demand domestically in addition to exporting to the United States. The value of capital investment in existing IPPs across BC was estimated at $2.8 billion. Capital investment in potential IPPs was estimated at $26.1 billion in 2009 constant dollars. Government revenues generated through the construction phase of potential IPP projects were estimated at $1.6 billion. IPP projects are expected to have a significant impact on First Nations groups, contribute to provincial energy self-sufficiency, and have little to no greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 25 refs., 19 tabs., 24 figs.

  6. North Korean Paradoxes. Circumstances, Costs, and Consequences of Korean Unification

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-01-01

    foreign exchange rates or about $23 billion at purchasing power parity rates, compared with corresponding fig- ures of $477 billion and $818 billion...3,900 and $5,500, depending on whether the dollar conversions are made at nominal foreign exchange rates or purchasing power parity rates

  7. Stabilization Policy and the Costs of Dollarization

    OpenAIRE

    Stephanie Schmitt-Grohe; Martin Uribe

    2000-01-01

    This paper compares the welfare costs of business cycles in a dollarized economy to those arising in economies with different monetary arrangements. The alternative monetary policy regimes studied belong to three broad families: devaluation rate rules, inflation targeting, and money growth rate rules. The analysis is conducted within an optimizing model of a small open economy with sticky prices. The model is calibrated to the Mexican economy and is driven by three external shocks: terms of t...

  8. Nonlinearity and fractional integration in the US dollar/euro exchange rate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kiran Burcu

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the nonlinear behavior and the fractional integration property of the US dollar/euro exchange rate over the period from January 1999 to August 2010 by extending the procedure of Peter M. Robinson (1994 to the case of nonlinearity. First, using the approach developed by Mehmet Caner and Bruce E. Hansen (2001, we investigate the possible presence of nonlinearity in the series through the estimation of a two-regime threshold autoregressive model. After finding nonlinearity, we also allow for disturbances to be fractionally integrated based on the different versions of Robinson (1994 tests. The findings show that the US dollar/euro exchange rate follows a stationary process with a weak evidence for long memory.

  9. Availability of Foods and Beverages in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Authorized Dollar Stores in a Region of North Carolina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Racine, Elizabeth F; Batada, Ameena; Solomon, Corliss A; Story, Mary

    2016-10-01

    There are >25,000 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-authorized dollar stores throughout the United States; many are located in lower-income neighborhoods and provide an accessible food and beverage source for area residents. The purpose of this research was to determine the percent of food deserts within 16 counties in North Carolina that include a SNAP dollar store; examine the types of foods and beverages at SNAP dollar stores in these counties; test whether the foods and beverages offered vary by SNAP dollar store chain; and test whether the foods and beverages available differ by rural and urban location. This cross-sectional study used a combination of publicly available data and primary data to investigate the research questions. Secondary data sources were obtained from the US Department of Agriculture's SNAP retailer locator, the US Census, and the US Department of Agriculture's Food Access Research Atlas. Availability of foods and beverages was assessed among a sample of 90 SNAP dollar stores in 16 counties in southern and western sections of North Carolina. Data were collected in June 2014. About half (52%) of the food deserts in the research area included a SNAP dollar store. Most of the sampled stores sold healthier food staples, such as frozen meats, brown rice, 100% whole-wheat bread, and dried beans. None of the stores sold fresh fruits or vegetables. Some of the foods and beverages offered (eg, frozen fruit, frozen unseasoned vegetables, nonfat or low-fat milk, frozen ground beef) varied by SNAP dollar store chain. The foods and beverages offered did not differ by rural or urban county location. SNAP dollar stores offer a number of healthy food staples; however, they do not sell fresh fruits or vegetables. Further food environment research should include dollar stores. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Evaluating direct medical expenditures estimation methods of adults using the medical expenditure panel survey: an example focusing on head and neck cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coughlan, Diarmuid; Yeh, Susan T; O'Neill, Ciaran; Frick, Kevin D

    2014-01-01

    To inform policymakers of the importance of evaluating various methods for estimating the direct medical expenditures for a low-incidence condition, head and neck cancer (HNC). Four methods of estimation have been identified: 1) summing all health care expenditures, 2) estimating disease-specific expenditures consistent with an attribution approach, 3) estimating disease-specific expenditures by matching, and 4) estimating disease-specific expenditures by using a regression-based approach. A literature review of studies (2005-2012) that used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) was undertaken to establish the most popular expenditure estimation methods. These methods were then applied to a sample of 120 respondents with HNC, derived from pooled data (2003-2008). The literature review shows that varying expenditure estimation methods have been used with MEPS but no study compared and contrasted all four methods. Our estimates are reflective of the national treated prevalence of HNC. The upper-bound estimate of annual direct medical expenditures of adult respondents with HNC between 2003 and 2008 was $3.18 billion (in 2008 dollars). Comparable estimates arising from methods focusing on disease-specific and incremental expenditures were all lower in magnitude. Attribution yielded annual expenditures of $1.41 billion, matching method of $1.56 billion, and regression method of $1.09 billion. This research demonstrates that variation exists across and within expenditure estimation methods applied to MEPS data. Despite concerns regarding aspects of reliability and consistency, reporting a combination of the four methods offers a degree of transparency and validity to estimating the likely range of annual direct medical expenditures of a condition. © 2013 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Published by International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) All rights reserved.

  11. Transportation Infrastructure: Managing the Costs of Large-Dollar Highway Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-02-01

    The General Accounting Office (GAO) was requested to assess the effectiveness of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) oversight of the costs of large-dollar highway and bridge projects (those with a total estimated cost of over $100 million)...

  12. Analysis of the total system life cycle cost for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-05-01

    The total-system life-cycle cost (TSLCC) analysis for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program is an ongoing activity that helps determine whether the revenue-producing mechanism established by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 -- a fee levied on electricity generated in commercial nuclear power plants -- is sufficient to cover the cost of the program. This report provides cost estimates for the sixth annual evaluation of the adequacy of the fee and is consistent with the program strategy and plans contained in the DOE's Draft 1988 Mission Plan Amendment. The total-system cost for the system with a repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a facility for monitored retrievable storage (MRS), and a transportation system is estimated at $24 billion (expressed in constant 1988 dollars). In the event that a second repository is required and is authorized by the Congress, the total-system cost is estimated at $31 to $33 billion, depending on the quantity of spent fuel to be disposed of. The $7 billion cost savings for the single-repository system in comparison with the two-repository system is due to the elimination of $3 billion for second-repository development and $7 billion for the second-repository facility. These savings are offset by $2 billion in additional costs at the first repository and $1 billion in combined higher costs for the MRS facility and transportation. 55 refs., 2 figs., 24 tabs

  13. Kaun Banega Crorepati - A Million Dollars for a Mathematician

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    after a long journey with his left and right hands interchanged as with the swimmer in the Moebius band. I can now state the million dollar question - the Poincare conjecture. Is any compact simply connected 3-manifold homeomorphic to the 3-sphere? This question can be suitably generalised to higher dimensions.

  14. 75 FR 62413 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Comment Request; HUD-Owned Real Estate-Dollar Home...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [Docket No. FR-5380-N-38] Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Comment Request; HUD- Owned Real Estate--Dollar Home Sales Program AGENCY: Office of... information: Title of Proposal: HUD-Owned Real Estate--Dollar Home Sales Program. OMB Control Number, if...

  15. 26 CFR 1.985-6 - Transition rules for a QBU that uses the dollar approximate separate transactions method for its...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... section sets forth transition rules for a QBU that used the dollar approximate separate transactions... QBU must determine the dollar and hyperinflationary currency basis of its assets and the dollar and hyperinflationary currency amount of its liabilities that were acquired or incurred in taxable years beginning...

  16. Effective interventions for unintentional injuries: a systematic review and mortality impact assessment among the poorest billion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vecino-Ortiz, Andres I; Jafri, Aisha; Hyder, Adnan A

    2018-05-01

    Between 1990 and 2015, the global injury mortality declined, but in countries where the poorest billion live, injuries are becoming an increasingly prevalent cause of death. The vulnerability of this population requires immediate attention from policy makers to implement effective interventions that lessen the burden of injuries in these countries. Our aim was two-fold; first, to review all the evidence on effective interventions for the five main types of unintentional injury; and second, to estimate the potential number of lives saved by effective injury interventions among the poorest billion. For our systematic review we used references in the Disability Control Priorities third edition, and searched PubMed and the Cochrane database for papers published until Sept 10, 2016, using a comprehensive search strategy to find interventions for the five major causes of unintentional injuries: road traffic crashes, falls, drowning, burns, and poisoning. Studies were included if they presented evidence with significant effects sizes for any outcome; no inclusions or exclusions made on the basis of where the study was carried out (ie, low-income, middle-income, or high-income country). Then we used data from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study and a Monte Carlo simulation technique to estimate the potential annual attributable number of lives saved among the poorest billion by these evidence-based injury interventions. We estimated results for 84 countries where the poorest billion live. From the 513 papers identified, 47 were eligible for inclusion. We identified 11 interventions that had an effect on injury mortality. For road traffic deaths, the most successful interventions in preventing deaths are speed enforcement (>80 000 lives saved per year) and drink-driving enforcement (>60 000 lives saved per year). Interventions potentially most effective in preventing deaths from drowning are formal swimming lessons for children younger than 14 years (>25 000 lives

  17. Housing and construction chapter 11

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delton Alderman

    2015-01-01

    Highlights •The new residential and renovation construction markets in the US and the Eurozone were valued at $338.7 billion (305.5 billion euros) and $673.3 billion dollars (614.4 billion euros), respectively, in 2014. •In Europe, 55% of the value of the new residential and renovation construction markets in 2014 was in...

  18. Fiscal 1988 draft budget for nuclear energy up 1.9% to yen 369 billion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1988-01-01

    AT the cabinet meeting held on December 28, the government approved the fiscal 1988 draft budget, with a general account of yen 56.6 trillion. The nuclear energy related budget is yen 181.124 billion from the general account and yen 186.098 billion from the special account for power sources development, totalling yen 367.222 billion, up 1.9% on the previous year. The largest appropriation goes to the Science and Technology Agency (STA) totaling yen 271 billion. The STA is promoting safety studies and R and D for extensive nuclear energy utilization but the budget shows a 0.7% decrease from the previous year, reflecting completion of the construction of JT-60, which is one of the Agency's major projects. MITI, with its budget of yen 91 billion will carry on policies related to the promotion of commercial nuclear power program as well as support for the industrialization program of the nuclear fuel cycle. Nuclear related budget of Ministry of Foreign Affairs is yen 2.8 billion, consisting mainly of IAEA subscriptions and contributions and OECD/NEA subscriptions. Besides these three government agencies, a large sum of yen 1.2 billion is allocated to the Okinawa Development Agency for the prevention and elimination of melon-flies in Kume Island and islands around Okinawa main island. The draft government budget will be submitted to the ordinary session of the Diet when it resumes towards the end of January. After deliberation in the Budget Committees of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors, the draft budget will be put to the vote in the plenary session. Assuming that all proceeds smoothly, the budget is expected to be approved by the end of March without any major revision. (author)

  19. Valuation of brands and intellectual capital

    OpenAIRE

    Fernández, Pablo

    2002-01-01

    In this paper we review several methods used for valuing brands. Among them, those of Interbrand, Damodaran, Financial World, Houlihan Valuation Advisors, Market Facts, Young & Rubicam and CDB Research & Consulting. In particular, we analyze in depth the valuations of Kellogg's and Coca-Cola performed by Damodaran and the method proposed by Interbrand. Damodaran valued the Coca-Cola brand at 24.6 billion dollars in 1993 and at 102.6 billion dollars in 1998. In recent years, a lot has been sai...

  20. The Measurement of Co-Circulation of Currencies and Dollarization in the Republic of Armenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hakob Zoryan

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper attempts to estimate the actual (de facto level of dollarization in Armenia. “Co-circulation” involves the regular use of two or more currencies within an economy. The existence of an unknown amount of foreign currency in circulation makes the outcome of domestic monetary policy uncertain. The volume of foreign currency deposits is easily obtained from the official statistics. However, it is very hard to determine the stock of foreign currency in circulation. The effective money supply may be much larger than the domestic money supply and is subject to behavioral responses which are very different than the movements of the presently measured money supply. The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of dollarization, that is, to evaluate the size and/or proportion of foreign currency in the total money stock of Armenia as a highly dollarized country.

  1. Cancellation of the Annual Facility Grant Creates More Shortfalls for School Districts. BCTF Research Report. Section V. 2009-EF-02

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Margaret

    2009-01-01

    The Ministry of Education recently announced the cancellation of the Annual Facility Grant (AFG) for 2009-10, resulting in a loss of $110 million dollars in revenue to school districts. This decision comes after Boards of Education submitted their 2009-10 balanced budgets by June 30, based on expected revenues for the coming school year. Boards of…

  2. Protecting Dark Skies as a State-Wide Resource

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Lori E.; Walker, Constance E.; Hall, Jeffrey C.; Larson, Steve; Williams, Grant; Falco, Emilio; Hinz, Joannah; Fortin, Pascal; Brocious, Dan; Corbally, Christopher; Gabor, Paul; Veillet, Christian; Shankland, Paul; Jannuzi, Buell; Cotera, Angela; Luginbuhl, Christian

    2018-01-01

    The state of Arizona contains the highest concentration of research telescopes in the continental United States, contributing more than a quarter of a billion dollars annually to the state's economy. Protecting the dark skies above these observatories is both good for astronomy and good for the state's economy. In this contribution we describe how a coalition of Arizona observatories is working together to protect our dark skies. Efforts date back to the creation of one of the first Outdoor Lighting Codes in the United States and continue today, including educational outreach, public policy engagement, and consensus building. We review some proven strategies, highlight recent successes and look at current threats.

  3. Energy and technology review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carr, R.B.

    1976-02-01

    During the past year, substantial progress has been made toward laser fusion, laser isotope separation, and the development of advanced laser media, the three main thrusts of the LLL laser program. A high-stability space frame to support the 20-beam Shiva laser system within exacting tolerances is described. Studies of small-scale self-focusing and whole-beam distortion on Cyclops have enabled one to control these nonlinear propagation phenomena and improve beam brightness. A new form of spectroscopy is providing important experimental data on the excited states of uranium. Practical application of this new knowledge--laser isotope separation--could save the nation billions of dollars annually

  4. Impact of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) on patient health-related behaviors and issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polen, Hyla H; Khanfar, Nile M; Clauson, Kevin A

    2009-01-01

    The pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars annually on direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). Patient perspectives on the impact of televised DTCA on health-related behaviors and issues were assessed by means of a 68-question survey. 58.6% of respondents believed that DTCA allowed consumers to have a more active role in managing their health. However, 27.6% felt DTCA caused confusion, and an alarming 17.8% of respondents stopped taking their medication because of concerns about serious side effects mentioned in DTCA. Overall, participants believed DTCA plays a useful role in health self-management; however, a considerable percentage thought that the cost outweighs the benefits.

  5. Airline Deregulation and Public Policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrison, Steven A.; Winston, Clifford

    1989-08-01

    An assessment of the effects of airline deregulation on travelers and carriers indicates that deregulation has provided travelers and carriers with 14.9 billion of annual benefits (1988 dollars). Airport congestion, airline safety, airline bankruptcy, and mergers are also analyzed and found in most cases to have reduced benefits. But, these costs should not be attributed to deregulation per se, but to failures by the government to pursue appropriate policies in these areas. Pursuit of policies that promote airline competition and efficient use of airport capacity would significantly increase the benefits from deregulation and would provide valuable guidance for other industries undergoing the transition to deregulation.

  6. Exchange rate of the US dollar and the J curve: the case of oil exporting countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yousefi, A.; Wirjanto, T.S.

    2003-01-01

    This study examines the effects of changes in the exchange rate of the US dollar on the trade balances of three oil-exporting countries, namely Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. An exchange rate pass-through model is applied to allow changes in the exchange rate of the dollar to affect prices of traded goods. Then, the impact of changes in prices on the quantities of imports and exports of these economies is estimated. The results suggest a partial exchange rate pass-through to these countries' import and export prices in terms of the US dollar. While the three countries raise the price of their primary export (namely crude oil) in response to a depreciation of the dollar, Saudi Arabia's long-run pricing strategy in securing a larger market share stands in contrast to that of the two other OPEC members. The sum of the estimated long-run price elasticities of demand for imports and exports is found to exceed unity for Iran and Venezuela, but less than unity for Saudi Arabia. (author)

  7. Exchange rate of the US dollar and the J curve. The case of oil exporting countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yousefi, Ayoub; Wirjanto, Tony S.

    2003-01-01

    This study examines the effects of changes in the exchange rate of the US dollar on the trade balances of three oil-exporting countries, namely Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. An exchange rate pass-through model is applied to allow changes in the exchange rate of the dollar to affect prices of traded goods. Then, the impact of changes in prices on the quantities of imports and exports of these economies is estimated. The results suggest a partial exchange rate pass-through to these countries' import and export prices in terms of the US dollar. While the three countries raise the price of their primary export (namely crude oil) in response to a depreciation of the dollar, Saudi Arabia's long-run pricing strategy in securing a larger market share stands in contrast to that of the two other OPEC members. The sum of the estimated long-run price elasticities of demand for imports and exports is found to exceed unity for Iran and Venezuela, but less than unity for Saudi Arabia

  8. Future fuels: Canada's coast-to-coast network of refineries is emerging from a $3-billion-plus spending binge to take the lead in producing low sulphur gasoline

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lunan, D.

    2004-01-01

    A series of investments to convert Canada's 22 operating refineries to produce low-sulphur gasoline are discussed. The investment involves more than $3-billion that will transform Canada's portfolio of aging refineries into one of the most efficient in the western world, and in the process reduce sulphur content in Canadian gasoline to 30 ppm. In some cases the refitting will be completed years ahead of the required 2005 deadline. Total refining capacity in Canada is about 2.5 million barrels per day of crude oil, which includes 580,000 barrels per day of capacity that is dedicated to upgrading bitumen into synthetic crude oil. The initiative to update the refineries was led by Irving Oil, which launched a one billion dollar refit of its 250,000 barrels per day Saint John refinery in the year 2000. Irving Oil's efforts were driven by the company's marketing program in the United States where regional fuel quality standards are higher than national standards either in Canada or the United States. Shell Canada and Imperial Oil are also on track to meet the 30 ppm sulphur level ahead of schedule. For example, Shell Canada is cooperating with Suncor Energy Products in the construction of a hydrotreater at Suncor's Sarnia refinery which will be used to reduce sulphur content of diesel from both the Shell and Suncor refineries, while Imperial Oil is investing over $520 million to refit its refineries in Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Petro-Canada too, has embarked on a $450 million capital program late in 2003 to introduce low sulphur gasoline; this was in addition to the $1.2 billion program to integrate its bitumen production, upgrading and refining operations. Ultramar launched its $300 million desulphurization program in late 2002; the project is now nearing completion. Refit of Ultramar's Jean Gaulin refinery on Quebec's South Shore will also include a 30,000 barrels per day continuous regeneration platformer to provide a second hydrogen source for the

  9. Million Dollar Baby (2004 and Palliative Care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Elías García Sánchez

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available The worst misfortune that can befall an old, tormented and fearful boxing trainer is that the pupil he is training and of whom he is very fond should have a lesion as serious as a quadriplegia. This is the crux of the plot in Million Dollar Baby. A person who suffers a quadriplegia sees how most of her physical and sensorial abilities disappear and habitually suffers psychological disturbances requiring palliative medical care. Relatives are subjected to great stress and suffering. All these aspects are reflected, in general accurately, in the film.

  10. The Consequences of a Strong Depreciation of the U.S. Dollar on Agricultural Markets

    OpenAIRE

    Charlebois, Pierre; Hamann, Nathalie

    2010-01-01

    World prices for basic food commodities increased significantly in 2007-2008, triggering a worldwide food crisis. Among all the factors that contributed to the rise in agricultural prices in 2008, the depreciation of the U.S. dollar relative to other major currencies cannot be overlooked. The currencies of the major players in agricultural markets have shown strong appreciation from 2002 to 2008. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of a strong depreciation of the U.S. dollar ...

  11. Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States, July/August 1985

    OpenAIRE

    Warden, Thomas

    1985-01-01

    U.S. agricultural exports slipped 14 percent to $25.6 billion during the first 9 months of fiscal year (FY) 1985 (October 1984-June 1985). Rising U.S. consumer demand and a strong dollar spurred U.S. agricultural. imports 8 percent over year-earlier levels to $15.1 billion. The U.S. dollar advanced against all five currencies most important to U.S. agricultural trade in May, immediately followed by declines in June. Agricultural exports under U.s. Government-financed programs totaled $1.5 bil...

  12. Outlook 2001

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon

    2000-01-01

    ABARE's Executive Director, Brian Fisher in his address at the annual assembly of economists and commodity producers (Outlook 2001) indicated that the world economic growth, which is of critical importance to the direction of world commodity prices, is assumed to ease in 2001 but to strengthen in 2002. Yet despite the slower world economic growth he forecast that Australia's commodity exports would rise to be worth $86 billion in 2000-2001 and $89 billion in 2001 - 2002 reflecting a relatively low Australian dollar. The value of commodity exports is then forecast to trend downwards in real terms for the remainder of the outlook period to 2005-2006. In preparing commodity projections ABARE assumed world economic growth to moderate to around 3.4% in 2001, and then strengthen to 3.9%, in 2002 supported by lower interest rates in key economies. Activity in the Australian economy is assumed to remain reasonably firm in the short term. While growth in domestic demand is likely to moderate, export performance is expected to remain strong. There has been a remarkable improvement in Australia's trade performance during the last year. This improvement is expected to continue in the short term. For energy commodities, export earnings are forecast to increase from $18.4 billion in 1999-2000 to $25.1 billion in 2000-2001 before declining to $24.4 billion in 2001-2002

  13. 77 FR 6865 - Pricing for 2012 Infantry Soldier Silver Dollar and 2012 Star-Spangled Banner Commemorative Coin...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Pricing for 2012 Infantry Soldier Silver Dollar and... Treasury. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The United States Mint is announcing adjusted pricing for the 2012...-Spangled Banner Bicentennial Silver N/A 53.95 Dollar Set The introductory pricing period for the 2012...

  14. AREVA 2010 annual results; AREVA resultats annuels 2010

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2010-07-01

    (100% of Ausra and the remaining 49% of Multibrid) bring total gross capex to 2.176 billion euros, compared with 1.808 billion euros in 2009. Net capex came to 2.013 million euros in 2010, compared with 1.294 billion euros in 2009, reflecting asset disposals of 163 million euros in 2010 (mainly from the sale of 2% of the Georges Besse II plant), compared with 514 million euros in 2009. Free operating cash flow before tax went from -919 million euros in 2009 to -1.090 billion euros in 2010. Part of the increase in net capex is financed by the improved EBITDA and working capital requirement. The group's net financial debt comes to 3.672 billion euros at December 31, 2010 (based on the 2007 valuation of the debt to Siemens i.e. 2.049 billion euros, plus accrued interest) compared with 6.193 billion euros at December 31, 2009. The 2.521-billion euro reduction is due to the cash generated by the disposal of the Transmission and Distribution business (3.124 billion euros), by the transactions on Safran securities in the amount of 636 million euros, and by the 900-million euro capital increase, which helped largely offset the free operating cash flow described above, as well as the payment of dividends for 2009 to AREVA SA shareholders in the amount of 250 million euros. These amounts should be compared with equity of 9.578 billion euros at December 31, 2010, compared with 7.574 billion at year-end 2009. The group's gearing thus went from 45% in 2009 to 28% in 2010, illustrating the notable strengthening of the group's balance sheet. As part of this process, AREVA's Supervisory Board will not propose to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders the payment of a dividend for 2010. In addition, the group's liquidity was reinforced in 2010 by a fourth bond issue of 750 million euros. Excluding the debt to Siemens, the group has no major reimbursement due before 2016

  15. Is the Return to the Virtual US Dollar Pegging of East Asian Currencies Correct? : The Impacts of the Yen-Dollar Exchange Rate on the East Asian Currencies in the Post Crisis Period

    OpenAIRE

    金, 炳宣; Byung Sun, Kim; 経済学研究科

    2004-01-01

    This paper studies the evolution of the exchange rate regime on East Asian economies between pre- and post-crisis periods, especially with a focus on the impacts of change in yen-dollar rate, using a regression model based on the work by Frankel and Wei (1994). As a result of the study, the following points are understood. Firstly, a greater diversity in exchange rate regime is seen for the post-crisis period than the pre-crisis period. At one extreme, Hong Kong under a stable dollar peg thro...

  16. Annual report 1991 TECO Energy Inc

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    Achievements of TECO energy during 1991 are summarized in the annual report which includes financial statements for the year up to 31 December 1991. Methane production from coal seams in the Black Warrior Basin of Alabama, by TECO Coalbed Methane, increased to 55 million cubic feet per day. The purchase of Gulf-States Paper's interest in two coalbed methane projects brought TECO's total commitment in coalbed methane to 135 million dollars. TECO Coal acquired additional reserves of low-sulphur coal in bringing total holdings to 175 million tons. Work continued on construction of TECO Power Services' combined cycle power plant. Tampa Electric announced plans to build a power plant in Polk County using the latest coal gasification technology TECO Transport ampersand Trade's shipping and transloading companies performed well during the year

  17. Linkage between Ringgit exchange rate and U.S Dollar | Idalisa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Malaysia, the movement of its currency rate i.e. Ringgit as against to US dollar are unpredictable and unregulated. Therefore, this causes some difficulty to appreciate the movement of macroeconomic analysis and market surveillance purposes. In 1965, Chaos theory was introduced, and it focused on behaviour and ...

  18. Moral Hazard of Ukraine’s External Debt Increase under Economy Dollarization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zoryana Lutsyshyn

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The article provides overview of Ukraine's international debt currency structure, urgency thereof as well as mutual interaction with internal dollarization processes in the country. Determinative analysis of «moral hazard» definition has been conducted.

  19. Valuing the human health damage caused by the fraud of Volkswagen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oldenkamp, Rik; Zelm, Rosalie van; Huijbregts, Mark A.J.

    2016-01-01

    Recently it became known that Volkswagen Group has been cheating with emission tests for diesel engines over the last six years, resulting in on-road emissions vastly exceeding legal standards for nitrogen oxides in Europe and the United States. Here, we provide an estimate of the public health consequences caused by this fraud. From 2009 to 2015, approximately nine million fraudulent Volkswagen cars, as sold in Europe and the US, emitted a cumulative amount of 526 ktonnes of nitrogen oxides more than was legally allowed. These fraudulent emissions are associated with 45 thousand disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and a value of life lost of at least 39 billion US dollars, which is approximately 5.3 times larger than the 7.3 billion US dollars that Volkswagen Group has set aside to cover worldwide costs related to the diesel emissions scandal. - Highlights: • Health damages from Volkswagen's emission fraud are estimated in the USA and Europe. • Combined health damages in the USA and Europe are estimated at 45 thousand DALYs. • Health damages will further increase to 119 thousand DALYs if cars are not recalled. • Combined health costs in the USA and Europe are estimated at 39 billion US dollars. • Costs will further increase to 102 billion US dollars if cars are not recalled. - The diesel emission fraud committed by Volkswagen Group has led to substantial unforeseen emissions of nitrogen oxides and subsequent health damage costs in Europe and the US.

  20. OMB estimates indicate that 900,000 children will lose health insurance due to reductions in federal SCHIP funding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Edwin; Ku, Leighton; Broaddus, Matthew

    2003-01-01

    Despite the success of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in reducing the ranks of uninsured children, the program now faces significant financing challenges. Analysis based on a model developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicates that by 2007, 20 states will have insufficient federal funding to sustain their current programs, with the first states affected in 2004. As a result, the Office of Management and Budget projected last year that SCHIP enrollment will fall by 900,000 children between 2003 and 2007. The funding shortfalls are the result of several factors. Federal SCHIP funding fell by 26 percent--by more than dollar 1 billion-in each of fiscal years 2002, 2003, and 2004; dollar 1.2 billion in SCHIP funds has already expired and reverted to the Treasury at the end of fiscal year 2002, and another dollar 1.5 billion will expire at the end of 2003. The SCHIP program also has a redistribution system with targeting and timing problems. However, proposed Congressional legislation restoring federal funding, extending the dollar 2.7 billion in expiring funds, and targeting the funds to the states that most need them could avert most, if not all, of the projected enrollment decline. On the other hand, the Bush administration proposed to extend the expiring funds but does not target them to needy states; the proposal will do little to reduce the magnitude of the decline.

  1. Working Paper 5: Beyond Collier's Bottom Billion | IDRC ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2010-12-16

    Dec 16, 2010 ... The heart of the narrative presented in the book is that a group of almost 60 countries, with a population of about a billion people, are caught in four main traps. Their prospects for escaping the traps are poor, and they need a set of actions from the international community to achieve the rapid rates of growth ...

  2. Congress OKs $2 Billion Boost for the NIH.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-07-01

    President Donald Trump last week signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill for fiscal year 2017, including a welcome $2 billion boost for the NIH that will support former Vice President Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot initiative, among other priorities. However, researchers who rely heavily on NIH grant funding remain concerned about proposed cuts for 2018. ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

  3. ANALISIS PARITAS DAYA BELI KURS RUPIAH TERHADAP DOLLAR AMERIKA SERIKAT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elysa Pernika Simanjuntak

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis bagaimana penerapan teori paritas daya beli kurs Rupiah terhadap Dollar AS dalam jangka panjang maupun jangka pendek dan pengaruh tingkat inflasi, produk domestik bruto, jumlah uang beredar, dan cadangan devisa terhadap kurs Rp/USD dengan menggunakan alat analisis Error Correction Model Engle-Granger. Variabel dependen dalam penelitian ini adalah kurs, sedangkan variabel independennya adalah inflasi, produk domesti bruto, jumlah uang beredar, dan cadangan devisa. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa dalam jangka panjang maupun jangka pendek, teori paritas daya beli berlaku pada kurs Rupiah terhadap Dollar Amerika Serikat. Variabel independen secara bersama-sama berpengaruh terhadap kurs Rupiah dalam jangka pendek maupun jangka panjang kecuali variabel jumlah uang beredar tidak berpengaruh dalam jangka panjang dan cadangan devisa tidak berpengaruh terhadap kurs dalam jangka pendek. Rekomendasi dari penelitian ini adalah Bank Indonesia selaku bank sentral Republik Indonesia diharapkan lebih berhati- hati dalam mengambil kebijakan yang tepat demi menjaga kestabilan nilai tukar Rupiah. Salah satunya tetap mengawasi kebijakan yang ditetapkan pemerintah mengenai pemakaian Rupiah untuk seluruh transaksi dalam negeri.  This research aims to analyze how the application of the theory of purchasing power parity exchange rate of the Rupiah against the US Dollar in the long term and short term and influence the rate of inflation, GDP, money supply, and the foreign exchange reserves of the exchange rate of Rp/USD by using analytical tools Error Correction Model Engle-Granger. Dependent variable in this study is the exchange rate, while the independent variables are inflation, gross domestic product, money supply, and the foreign exchange reserves. The results of this study indicated that in the long term and short term, the theory of purchasing power parity exchange rate prevailing at the Rupiah against the US

  4. Nõrkushoogudes vaevelnud dollar hakkab kosuma / Lauri Matsulevitsh, Liis Kängsepp

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Matsulevitsh, Lauri

    2005-01-01

    Viimastel aastatel langustrendis püsinud USA dollar on näitamas tugevnemise märke. Vt. samas: Euroopas jäävad intressid stabiilseks; Bensiin võib kallineda järgmise nädala alguses; Tekstiilitöösturid soovivad nõrka dollarit; Kalatööstused rõõmustavad

  5. Trends in prescription drug utilization and spending for the Department of Defense, 2002-2007.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devine, Joshua W; Trice, Shana; Spridgen, Stacia L; Bacon, Thomas A

    2009-09-01

    Examine trends in U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) outpatient drug spending and utilization between 2002 and 2007. We analyzed pharmacy claims data from the U.S. Military Health System (MHS), using a cross-sectional analysis at the prescription and patient-year level and measuring utilization in 30-day equivalent prescriptions and expenditures in dollars. Pharmaceutical spending more than doubled in DoD, from $3 billion in FY02 to $6.5 billion in FY07. The largest increase occurred in the DoD community pharmacy network, where utilization grew from 6 million 30-day equivalent prescriptions in the first quarter of FY02 to more than 16 million in the last quarter of FY07. The smallest increase in annual spending occurred in FY07 (5.5%), down from a high of 27.5% in FY03. The MHS has experienced rapid growth in pharmaceutical spending since FY02. However, there are signs that growth in pharmaceutical spending may be slowing.

  6. Fusion reactor design: On the road to commercialization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kulcinski, G.L.

    1984-01-01

    The worldwide effort in fusion is now approximately 2 billion dollars per year and over 12 billion dollars has been invested since 1951 in developing this energy source for the 21st century. A vital component of the past efforts in fusion research has been the conceptual design activities performed by scientists and engineers around the world. Almost 80 such major designs of Tokamak, Mirror, Laser and Ion Beam Reactors have been published and this article discusses how recent conceptual designs have afftected our perception of future fusion reactor performance. (orig.) [de

  7. 1.6 billion euros for nuclear research through the 'Horizon 2020' program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2014-01-01

    The European Union Council has approved the budget for the future European program for research and innovation called 'Horizon 2020'. A global funding of 77 billion euros has been allocated to 'Horizon 2020' for the 2014 to 2020 years. The share for nuclear sciences will reach 1.6 billion euros and will break down as follows: 316 million euros for fundamental research on fission, 728 million euros for fundamental research on fusion (ITER not included) and 560 million euros for the research projects of the European Joint Research Center (JRC). (A.C.)

  8. Areva revenue and data for the first quarter of 2008

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    First quarter 2008 revenue was up 12.1% year-on-year, to 2.769 billion euros. Like-for-like (at constant exchange rates and consolidation scope), growth came to 14.5%. Foreign exchange had a negative impact of 2.5%, or -69 million euros, mainly due to currency translation tied to the US dollar drop compared with the euro. The consolidation scope had a positive impact of +0.7% or 18 million euros, chiefly as a result of the consolidation of VEI Distribution (specializing in medium voltage distribution) and Passoni and Villa (world leader in the manufacture of high voltage bushings) in the Transmission and Distribution division. The main growth engines for first quarter revenue were the Reactors and Services division and the Back End division, with growth of 29.7% (+36.8% LFL1) and 13.8% (+14.1% LFL1) respectively. Outside France, revenue rose to 1.857 billion euros, compared with 1.753 billion euros in the first quarter of 2007. This represents 67% of total revenue. As a reminder, the group points out that: - revenue can vary significantly from one quarter to the next in the nuclear businesses, and quarterly operations should therefore not be taken as a reliable basis for annual projections; - the foreign exchange impact mentioned in this release comes from the translation of subsidiary accounts into the group's unit of account, and primarily reflects the US dollar in relation to the euro. AREVA also points out that its foreign exchange hedging policy for commercial operations aims to shield profitability from fluctuations in exchange rates in relation to the euro

  9. Areva revenue and data for the first quarter of 2008; Areva informations et chiffre d'affaires relatifs au 1. trimestre de l'exercice 2008

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2008-07-01

    First quarter 2008 revenue was up 12.1% year-on-year, to 2.769 billion euros. Like-for-like (at constant exchange rates and consolidation scope), growth came to 14.5%. Foreign exchange had a negative impact of 2.5%, or -69 million euros, mainly due to currency translation tied to the US dollar drop compared with the euro. The consolidation scope had a positive impact of +0.7% or 18 million euros, chiefly as a result of the consolidation of VEI Distribution (specializing in medium voltage distribution) and Passoni and Villa (world leader in the manufacture of high voltage bushings) in the Transmission and Distribution division. The main growth engines for first quarter revenue were the Reactors and Services division and the Back End division, with growth of 29.7% (+36.8% LFL1) and 13.8% (+14.1% LFL1) respectively. Outside France, revenue rose to 1.857 billion euros, compared with 1.753 billion euros in the first quarter of 2007. This represents 67% of total revenue. As a reminder, the group points out that: - revenue can vary significantly from one quarter to the next in the nuclear businesses, and quarterly operations should therefore not be taken as a reliable basis for annual projections; - the foreign exchange impact mentioned in this release comes from the translation of subsidiary accounts into the group's unit of account, and primarily reflects the US dollar in relation to the euro. AREVA also points out that its foreign exchange hedging policy for commercial operations aims to shield profitability from fluctuations in exchange rates in relation to the euro.

  10. 47. Annual Report for the year ended March 31, 1998

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    The annual report of the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board covers the financial and operational activities of Manitoba Hydro during the fiscal year ending March 31, 1998. During the year under review, Manitoba Hydro, a provincial Crown corporation, served 394,328 customers, generated 34 billion kWh of electricity, of which 19.1 billion kWh were supplied to Manitoba consumers, generated gross revenues of S 1.041 billion, and had a net income of $ 110.5 million. Power generation reached record levels for the fourth year in a row and net income reached record heights for the third consecutive year. Among operational highlights, fighting the Red River Valley 'flood of the century' in Manitoba and providing significant assistance to ice storm-beleaguered utilities in the north-central U.S. and eastern Canada during the January ice storm were highlighted. Another event was implementing the Northern Flood Agreement with the Norway House Cree Nation. Opening up of the Manitoba Hydro transmission system to other utilities as part of Manitoba Hydro becoming a full member of the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool (MAPP) was featured. The adoption by Manitoba Hydro (as a member of the Canadian Electricity Association) of the Environmental Commitment and Responsibility Program, as a sign of commitment to responsible environmental management was particularly noteworthy

  11. Novel model of direct and indirect cost-benefit analysis of mechanical embolectomy over IV tPA for large vessel occlusions: a real-world dollar analysis based on improvements in mRS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangla, Sundeep; O'Connell, Keara; Kumari, Divya; Shahrzad, Maryam

    2016-01-20

    Ischemic strokes result in significant healthcare expenditures (direct costs) and loss of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) (indirect costs). Interventional therapy has demonstrated improved functional outcomes in patients with large vessel occlusions (LVOs), which are likely to reduce the economic burden of strokes. To develop a novel real-world dollar model to assess the direct and indirect cost-benefit of mechanical embolectomy compared with medical treatment with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) based on shifts in modified Rankin scores (mRS). A cost model was developed including multiple parameters to account for both direct and indirect stroke costs. These were adjusted based upon functional outcome (mRS). The model compared IV tPA with mechanical embolectomy to assess the costs and benefits of both therapies. Direct stroke-related costs included hospitalization, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, home care, skilled nursing facilities, and long-term care facility costs. Indirect costs included years of life expectancy lost and lost QALYs. Values for the model cost parameters were derived from numerous resources and functional outcomes were derived from the MR CLEAN study as a reflective sample of LVOs. Direct and indirect costs and benefits for the two treatments were assessed using Microsoft Excel 2013. This cost-benefit model found a cost-benefit of mechanical embolectomy over IV tPA of $163 624.27 per patient and the cost benefit for 50 000 patients on an annual basis is $8 181 213 653.77. If applied widely within the USA, mechanical embolectomy will significantly reduce the direct and indirect financial burden of stroke ($8 billion/50 000 patients). Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  12. Taking out 1 billion tons of CO2: The magic of China's 11th Five-Year Plan?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhou, Nan; Lin, Jiang; Zhou, Nan; Levine, Mark; Fridley, David

    2007-07-01

    China's 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP) sets an ambitious target for energy-efficiency improvement: energy intensity of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) should be reduced by 20% from 2005 to 2010 (NDRC, 2006). This is the first time that a quantitative and binding target has been set for energy efficiency, and signals a major shift in China's strategic thinking about its long-term economic and energy development. The 20% energy intensity target also translates into an annual reduction of over 1.5 billion tons of CO2 by 2010, making the Chinese effort one of most significant carbon mitigation effort in the world today. While it is still too early to tell whether China will achieve this target, this paper attempts to understand the trend in energy intensity in China and to explore a variety of options toward meeting the 20% target using a detailed end-use energy model.

  13. Taking out one billion tones of carbon: the magic of China's 11thFive-Year Plan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Jiang; Zhou, Nan; Levine, Mark D.; Fridley, David

    2007-05-01

    China's 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP) sets an ambitious targetfor energy-efficiency improvement: energy intensity of the country sgross domestic product (GDP) should be reduced by 20 percent from 2005 to2010 (NDRC, 2006). This is the first time that a quantitative and bindingtarget has been set for energy efficiency, and signals a major shift inChina's strategic thinking about its long-term economic and energydevelopment. The 20 percent energy intensity target also translates intoan annual reduction of over one billion tons of CO2 by 2010, making theChinese effort one of most significant carbon mitigation effort in theworld today. While it is still too early to tell whether China willachieve this target, this paper attempts to understand the trend inenergy intensity in China and to explore a variety of options towardmeeting the 20 percent target using a detailed endues energymodel.

  14. SALMON IN CRISIS: IN SEARCH OF A SOLUTION FOR THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

    Science.gov (United States)

    Throughout the Pacific Northwest, since 1850, all wild salmon runs have declined and some have disappeared. Billions of dollars have been spent in a so-far failed attempt to reverse the long-term decline. Each year, hundreds of millions of dollars continue to be spent in variou...

  15. SCIENCE, POLITICS, AND PACIFIC NORTHWEST SALMON RECOVERY

    Science.gov (United States)

    Throughout the Pacific Northwest, since 1850, all wild salmon runs have declined and some have disappeared. Billions of dollars have been spent in a so-far failed attempt to reverse the long-term decline. Each year, hundreds of millions of dollars continue to be spent in variou...

  16. The U.S. Trade Deficit, The Dollar, and The Price of Oil

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Jackson, James K

    2008-01-01

    .... In mid-2008 as the price of oil rose to unprecedented heights and then dropped sharply, the international exchange value of the dollar fell and then rose relative to a broad basket of currencies...

  17. China's Exchange Rate Policy : The Case Against Abandoning the Dollar PEG

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Laurenceson, J.; Qin, F.

    2005-01-01

    This paper critically evaluates the policy literature surrounding China's exchange rate regime.It first discusses several popularly raised contentions in relation to the dollar peg employed by China, which in fact are poorly grounded in evidence.These include notions that the RMB is clearly

  18. Suburb-to-suburb intercity travel: Energy, time and dollar expenditures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fels, M. F.

    1976-01-01

    The effect of adding suburb to terminal and terminal to suburb travel is examined. The energy consumed in entire trips was estimated. The total energy costs are compared with total travel times, and dollar costs to the traveler. Trips between origins in seven suburbs of Newark, New Jersey and destinations in two Washington, D. C. suburbs are analyzed.

  19. Empowering billions with food safety and food security

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pillai, Suresh D.

    2009-01-01

    Full text: There are virtually millions of people -who die needlessly every year due to contaminated water and food. There are virtually many millions more who are starving due to an inadequate supply of food. Billions of pounds of food are unnecessarily wasted due to insect and other damage. Deaths and illness due to contaminated food or inadequate food are at catastrophic levels in many regions of the world. A majority of the food and water borne illnesses and deaths are preventable. It can be prevented by improved food production methods, improved food processing technologies, improved food distribution systems and improved personal hygiene. Food irradiation technology is over 100 years old. Yet, this technology is poorly understood by governments and corporate decision makers all around the world. Many consumers also are unfortunately misinformed of this technology. There is an urgent need for nations and people around the world to empower themselves with the knowledge and the expertise to harness this powerful technology. Widespread and sensible adoption of this technology can empower billions around the world with clean and abundant food supplies. It is unconscionable in the 21st century for governments to allow people to die or go hungry when the technology to prevent them is readily available

  20. Nuclear business worth billions begins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beer, G.; Marcan, P.; Slovak, K.

    2005-01-01

    specific data regarding the direct costs of decommissioning. Preliminary estimates state 50 billions Slovak crowns (1.28 billions EUR), but the actual costs will mainly depend on the volume of nuclear waste to be disposed of. (authors)

  1. Better Buildings Alliance 2013 Annual Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2014-01-31

    We are pleased to share with you a copy of the 2013 Annual Report. Inside, you’ll find significant program accomplishments, profiles on highlighted members, and plans for 2014. With your contributions, support, and leadership over the past 12 months, the program has reached significant milestones, including: Growing membership to over 200 members, to represent over 10 billion square feet of U.S. commercial building space and one-seventh of the market; Increasing participation in the 15 Solutions Teams by 75%; Developing 3 new high-efficiency technology specifications that if widely implemented, could save more than $5 billion in energy costs per year; Launching the Advanced RTU Campaign and Wireless Meter Challenge, and surpassing 100 million sq. ft. in the Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign; Welcoming partners in new sectors, including K-12 schools and local governments; The program is a critical element of the Better Buildings Initiative, driving 20% energy savings in the building sector by 2020 through innovation, new technologies, and profiling leadership. Thank you for your ongoing participation, we are looking forward to working with you in the new year on your energy saving targets and advancing technical and market practices that promote energy savings at your organization.

  2. Price of next big thing in physics: $6.7 billion

    CERN Multimedia

    Overbye, Dennis

    2007-01-01

    The price of exploring inner space went up Thursday. The machine discusses in a news conference in Beijing, will be 20 miles long and would cost about $6.7 billion and 13'000 person-years of labor to be built. (1,5 page)

  3. Peer Review Practices for Evaluating Biomedical Research Grants: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liaw, Lucy; Freedman, Jane E; Becker, Lance B; Mehta, Nehal N; Liscum, Laura

    2017-08-04

    The biomedical research enterprise depends on the fair and objective peer review of research grants, leading to the distribution of resources through efficient and robust competitive methods. In the United States, federal funding agencies and foundations collectively distribute billions of dollars annually to support biomedical research. For the American Heart Association, a Peer Review Subcommittee is charged with establishing the highest standards for peer review. This scientific statement reviews the current literature on peer review practices, describes the current American Heart Association peer review process and those of other agencies, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of American Heart Association peer review practices, and recommends best practices for the future. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  4. A review of temperature measurement in the steel reheat furnace

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martocci, A.P.; Mihalow, F.A.

    1985-01-01

    The incentive for conducting research and development on reheat furnaces is substantial; the domestic steel industry spent approximately one billion dollars on fuel in reheat furnaces in 1981. Bethlehem Steel Corp. spent /145 million of that total, and neither figure includes fuel consumed in soaking pits or annealing furnaces. If the authors set a goal to save 10% of these annual fuel costs, that translates into /100 million for the domestic steel industry and /14.5 million for Bethlehem Steel. These large sums of money are significant incentives. The purpose of this paper is to review the historical heating practices and equipment at steel reheat furnaces along with current practices and instrumentation

  5. USA program on the waste disposal of nuclear military complexes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vinogradova, I.

    1992-01-01

    The USA program on the nuclear military complex waste disposal which focuses on the problems of environment protection and recovery is briefly considered. A group of works on the updating of the existing and on the construction of new nuclear weapon undustries is chosen to be the priority direction. The problem of radioactive waste burial in the Hunford nuclear complex is discussed. Total expenses for military enterprise purification from radioactive wastes are estimated as 91.2-129 billion dollars, and expenses for realization of the whole program are estimated as 180 billion dollars for 50 years

  6. Bitcoin, gold and the dollar: A GARCH volatility analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Dyhrberg, Anne Haubo

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores the financial asset capabilities of bitcoin using GARCH models. The initial model showed several similarities to gold and the dollar indicating hedging capabilities and advantages as a medium of exchange. The asymmetric GARCH showed that bitcoin may be useful in risk management and ideal for risk averse investors in anticipation of negative shocks to the market. Overall bitcoin has a place on the financial markets and in portfolio management as it can be classified as some...

  7. The economic burden of dry eye disease in the United States: a decision tree analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Junhua; Asche, Carl V; Fairchild, Carol J

    2011-04-01

    The aim of this study was to estimate both the direct and indirect annual cost of managing dry eye disease (DED) in the United States from a societal and a payer's perspective. A decision analytic model was developed to estimate the annual cost for managing a cohort of patients with dry eye with differing severity of symptoms and treatment. The direct costs included ocular lubricants, cyclosporine, punctal plugs, physician visits, and nutritional supplements. The indirect costs were measured as the productivity loss because of absenteeism and presenteeism. The model was populated with data that were obtained from surveys that were completed by dry eye sufferers who were recruited from online databases. Sensitivity analyses were employed to evaluate the impact of changes in parameters on the estimation of costs. All costs were converted to 2008 US dollars. Survey data were collected from 2171 respondents with DED. Our analysis indicated that the average annual cost of managing a patient with dry eye at $783 (variation, $757-$809) from the payers' perspective. When adjusted to the prevalence of DED nationwide, the overall burden of DED for the US healthcare system would be $3.84 billion. From a societal perspective, the average cost of managing DED was estimated to be $11,302 per patient and $55.4 billion to the US society overall. DED poses a substantial economic burden on the payer and on the society. These findings may provide valuable information for health plans or employers regarding budget estimation.

  8. Document de travail 5: Beyond Collier's Bottom Billion | CRDI ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    16 déc. 2010 ... L'ouvrage de Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion, suscite un grand intérêt dans le domaine du développement. Il repose sur la thèse selon laquelle un groupe de près de 60 pays, dont la population totale avoisine un milliard de personnes, sont pris dans quatre pièges principaux.

  9. A parts-per-billion measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment

    CERN Document Server

    Smorra, C; Borchert, M J; Harrington, J A; Higuchi, T; Nagahama, H; Tanaka, T; Mooser, A; Schneider, G; Blaum, K; Matsuda, Y; Ospelkaus, C; Quint, W; Walz, J; Yamazaki, Y; Ulmer, S

    2017-01-01

    Precise comparisons of the fundamental properties of matter–antimatter conjugates provide sensitive tests of charge–parity–time (CPT) invariance1, which is an important symmetry that rests on basic assumptions of the standard model of particle physics. Experiments on mesons2, leptons3, 4 and baryons5, 6 have compared different properties of matter–antimatter conjugates with fractional uncertainties at the parts-per-billion level or better. One specific quantity, however, has so far only been known to a fractional uncertainty at the parts-per-million level7, 8: the magnetic moment of the antiproton, . The extraordinary difficulty in measuring with high precision is caused by its intrinsic smallness; for example, it is 660 times smaller than the magnetic moment of the positron3. Here we report a high-precision measurement of in units of the nuclear magneton μN with a fractional precision of 1.5 parts per billion (68% confidence level). We use a two-particle spectroscopy method in an advanced cryogenic ...

  10. The Allocation of Advertising and Research Dollars in the Florida Orange Juice Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark G. Brown

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This study considers the allocation of Florida citrus-grower money between advertising and research programs to maximize grower revenue net of program costs. The allocation depends on the impact of advertising on demand and the impacts of research on the cost of production and supply. A number of studies have estimated the impact of advertising on OJ demand, but little is known about the impact of research. Research on citrus greening, a disease that has no known cure, is examined in the present study. There are no past studies to reliably gauge the impact of this research. The approach taken here is to ask if a given amount of research dollars is needed to reduce average production costs by certain amount, then what should be spent on advertising based on past estimates of the elasticity of demand with respect to advertising. The optimal ratio of advertising to research dollars increases with the advertising elasticity and declines with the amount of research money needed to reduce average costs. The results of this study provide a range for this ratio based on different advertising elasticities and amounts of research dollars needed to reduce production costs. The approach provides an indication of the importance of advertising given expectations on the research needed to successfully fight this disease.

  11. 48 CFR 201.109 - Statutory acquisition-related dollar thresholds-adjustment for inflation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Statutory acquisition-related dollar thresholds-adjustment for inflation. 201.109 Section 201.109 Federal Acquisition...-adjustment for inflation. (d) A matrix showing the most recent escalation adjustments of statutory...

  12. Medical cost of type 2 diabetes attributable to physical inactivity in the United States in 2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, Priyank; Shamoon, Fayez; Bikkina, Mahesh; Kohl, Harold W

    Type 2 diabetes has grown to epidemic proportions in the U.S. and physical activity levels in the population continues to remain low, although it is one of the primary preventive strategies for diabetes. The objectives of this study were to estimate the direct medical costs of type 2 diabetes attributable to not meeting physical activity Guidelines and to physical inactivity in the U.S. in 2012. This was a cross sectional study that used physical activity prevalence data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate the population attributable risk percentage for type 2 diabetes. These data were combined with the prevalence and cost data of type 2 diabetes to estimate the cost of type 2 diabetes attributable to not meeting physical activity Guidelines and to inactivity in 2012. The cost of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. in 2012, attributable to not meeting physical activity guidelines was estimated to be $18.3 billion, and that attributable to physical inactivity was estimated to be $4.65 billion. Based on sensitivity analyses, these estimates ranged from $10.19 billion to $27.43 billion for not meeting physical activity guidelines and $2.59 billion-$6.98 billion for physical inactivity in the year 2012. This study shows that billions of dollars could be saved annually just in terms of type 2 diabetes cost in the U.S., if the entire adult population met physical activity guidelines. Physical activity promotion, particularly at the environmental and policy level should be a priority in the population. Copyright © 2016 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. International collaboration in SSC (or any $4 billion scientific project)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lederman, L.M.

    1988-01-01

    In this paper, the author discusses the superconducting supercollider. This is a project that costs U.S. $4.4 billion. The author spends a short time giving the motivation (which is a scientific motivation) and also giving the idea of how it is possible, with U.S. deficits

  14. Syncrude annual report 1994

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    Syncrude Canada Ltd. is the world's largest producer of custom made crude oil from the oil sands, and the largest single source of oil in Canada. This annual report claimed many outstanding achievements for 1994. A new production record resulted in higher revenue, lower unit operating costs, increased cash flow, improved productivity, and higher net income. With a focus on technology development and continuous improvement in operations, including environment, health and safety performance, operating results are projected to improve further. The formation of the Canadian Oil Sands Network for Research and Development (CONRAD) early in 1994 was a major step assuring maximum leverage from every dollar expended to realize this objective. Production of Syncrude Sweet Blend is expected to rise by over 10 million barrels to 81 million barrels a year at an average cash operating expenditure of Can$12.00/ barrel by the year 2000. The Corporation's business plans include capital investments for major projects, such as the North Mine hydrotransport, product quality enhancements, and upgrading facilities expansion. 4 tabs., 1 fig

  15. Oncology pharma costs to exceed $150 billion by 2020.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-10-01

    Worldwide costs of oncology drugs will rise above $150 billion by 2020, according to a report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. Many factors are in play, according to IMS, including the new wave of expensive immunotherapies. Pembrolizumab (Keytruda), priced at $150,000 per year per patient, and nivolumab (Opdivo), priced at $165,000, may be harbingers of the market for cancer immunotherapies.

  16. Cost of solving mysteries of universe: $6.7 billion

    CERN Multimedia

    Overbye, Dennis

    2007-01-01

    "An international consortium of physicists on Thursday released the first detailed design of what they believe will be the next big thing in physics. The machine, 20 miles long, will slam together electrons and their opposites, positrons, to produce fireballs of energy re-creating conditions when the universe was only a trillionth of a second old. It would cost about $6.7 billion." (1 page)

  17. Areva - First quarter 2009 revenue climbs 8.5% to 3.003 billion euros; Areva - Progression du chiffre d'affaires du 1. trimestre 2009: + 8,5% a 3003 millions d'euros

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2009-04-15

    First quarter 2009 revenue was up 8.5% compared with the same period last year, to 3.003 billion euros. At constant exchange rates and consolidation scope, growth came to 3.9%. Currency translation had a positive impact of 57 million euros over the quarter. Changes in the consolidation scope had an impact of 66 million euros, primarily due to the consolidation of acquisitions made in 2008 in Transmission and Distribution and in Renewable Energies. The growth engines for first quarter revenue were the Reactors and Services division and the Transmission and Distribution division, with growth of 9.2% and 16.1% respectively. Outside France, revenue rose to 2.032 billion euros, compared with 1.857 billion euros in the first quarter of 2008, and represents 68% of total revenue. Orders were steady in the first quarter, particularly in the Front End, which posted several significant contracts with US and Asian utilities, and in Transmission and Distribution, with orders up sharply in Asia and South America. As of March 31, 2009, the group's backlog reached 49.5 billion euros, for 28.3% growth year-on-year, including 31.3% growth in Nuclear and 10.2% in Transmission and Distribution. For the year as a whole, the group confirms its outlook for backlog and revenue growth as well as rising operating income It should be noted that revenue may vary significantly from one quarter to the next in nuclear operations. Accordingly, quarterly data cannot be viewed as a reliable indicator of annual trends.

  18. Development and validation of a weather-based warning system to advise fungicide applications to control dollar spot on turfgrass

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, D. L.; Kerns, J. P.; Walker, N. R.; Payne, A. F.; Horvath, B.; Inguagiato, J. C.; Kaminski, J. E.; Tomaso-Peterson, M.

    2018-01-01

    Dollar spot is one of the most common diseases of golf course turfgrass and numerous fungicide applications are often required to provide adequate control. Weather-based disease warning systems have been developed to more accurately time fungicide applications; however, they tend to be ineffective and are not currently in widespread use. The primary objective of this research was to develop a new weather-based disease warning system to more accurately advise fungicide applications to control dollar spot activity across a broad geographic and climactic range. The new dollar spot warning system was developed from data collected at field sites in Madison, WI and Stillwater, OK in 2008 and warning system validation sites were established in Madison, WI, Stillwater, OK, Knoxville, TN, State College, PA, Starkville, MS, and Storrs, CT between 2011 and 2016. A meta-analysis of all site-years was conducted and the most effective warning system for dollar spot development consisted of a five-day moving average of relative humidity and average daily temperature. Using this model the highest effective probability that provided dollar spot control similar to that of a calendar-based program across the numerous sites and years was 20%. Additional analysis found that the 20% spray threshold provided comparable control to the calendar-based program while reducing fungicide usage by up to 30%, though further refinement may be needed as practitioners implement this warning system in a range of environments not tested here. The weather-based dollar spot warning system presented here will likely become an important tool for implementing precision disease management strategies for future turfgrass managers, especially as financial and regulatory pressures increase the need to reduce pesticide usage on golf course turfgrass. PMID:29522560

  19. Merger mania: mergers and acquisitions in the generic drug sector from 1995 to 2016.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagnon, Marc-André; Volesky, Karena D

    2017-08-22

    Drug shortages and increasing generic drug prices are associated with low levels of competition. Mergers and acquisitions impact the level of competition. Record merger and acquisition activity was reported for the pharmaceutical sector in 2014/15, yet information on mergers and acquisitions in the generic drug sector are absent from the literature. This information is necessary to understand if and how such mergers and acquisitions can be a factor in drug shortages and increasing prices. Data on completed merger and acquisition deals that had a generic drug company being taken over (i.e. 'target') were extracted from Bloomberg Finance L.P. The number and announced value of deals are presented globally, for the United States, and globally excluding the United States annually from 1995 to 2016 in United States dollars. Generic drug companies comprised 9.3% of the value of all deals with pharmaceutical targets occurring from 1995 to 2016. Globally, in 1995 there were no deals, in 2014 there were 22 deals worth $1.86 billion, in 2015 there were 34 deals totalling $33.56 billion, and in 2016 there were 42 deals worth in excess of $44 billion. This substantial increase was partially attributed to Teva's 2016 acquisition of Allergan's generic drug business. The surge in mergers and acquisitions for 2015/16 was driven by deals in the United States, where they represented 89.7% of the dollar value of deals in those years. The recent blitz in mergers and acquisitions signals that the generic drug industry is undergoing a transformation, especially in the United States. This restructuring can negatively affect the level of competition that might impact prices and shortages for some products, emphasizing the importance of updating regulations and procurement policies.

  20. Taking out 1 billion tons of CO2: The magic of China's 11th Five-Year Plan?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin Jiang; Zhou Nan; Levine, Mark; Fridley, David

    2008-01-01

    China's 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP) sets an ambitious target for energy-efficiency improvement: energy intensity of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) should be reduced by 20% from 2005 to 2010 [National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), 2006. Overview of the 11th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development. NDRC, Beijing]. This is the first time that a quantitative and binding target has been set for energy efficiency, and signals a major shift in China's strategic thinking about its long-term economic and energy development. The 20% energy-intensity target also translates into an annual reduction of over 1.5 billion tons of CO 2 by 2010, making the Chinese effort one of the most significant carbon mitigation efforts in the world today. While it is still too early to tell whether China will achieve this target, this paper attempts to understand the trend in energy intensity in China and to explore a variety of options toward meeting the 20% target using a detailed end-use energy model

  1. 26 CFR 1.985-2 - Election to use the United States dollar as the functional currency of a QBU.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... functional currency of a QBU. 1.985-2 Section 1.985-2 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT... Election to use the United States dollar as the functional currency of a QBU. (a) Background and scope—(1... currency for taxable years beginning on or before August 24, 1994. An election to use a dollar functional...

  2. Analysis of the total system life cycle cost for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program: Volume 1, The analysis and its results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1987-06-01

    This report provides cost estimates for the fifth evaluation of the adequacy of the fee and is consistent with the program strategy and plans. The total-system cost for the reference cases in the improved-performance system is estimated at $32.1 to $38.2 billion (expressed in constant 1986 dollars) over the entire life of the system...or $1.5 to $1.6 billion more than that of the authorized system (i.e., the system without an MRS facility). The current estimate of the total-system cost for the reference cases in the improved-performance system is $3.8 to $5.4 billion higher than the estimate for the same system in the 1986 TSLCC analysis. In the case with the maximum increase, nearly all of the higher cost is due to a $5.2-billion increase in the costs of development and evaluation (D and E); all other system costs are essentially unchanged. The cost difference between the improved-performance system and the authorized system is smaller than the difference estimated in last year's TSLCC analysis. Volume 2 presents the detailed results for the 1987 analysis of the total-system life cycle cost (TSLCC). It consists of four sections: Section A presents the yearly flows of waste between waste-management facilities for the 12 aggregate logistics cases that were studied; Section B presents the annual total-system costs for each of the 30 TSLCC cases by major cost category; Section C presents the annual costs for the disposal of 16,000 canisters of defense high-level waste (DHLW) by major cost category for each of the 30 TSLCC cases; and Section D presents a summary of the cost-allocation factors that were calculated to determine the defense waste share of the total-system costs

  3. The cause and effect of exclusionary zoning within a jurisdiction, and, The stockpile of petroleum needed to contain OPEC's price shocks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vatter, Marc H.

    In Part I, I model a jurisdiction where residents differ by income, and housing confers benefits on neighbors. By majority vote, residents choose minima on consumption of housing that differ by neighborhood, and they separate into neighborhoods by income. In practice, such laws take the form of minimum lot sizes, bans on multi-family units, building codes, and other restrictions. This policy maximizes a benefit-cost welfare criterion. Alternative policies include no minima and a uniform minimum citywide, based on libertarian and utilitarian welfare criteria, respectively. I compare the policies in terms of efficiency, implementability, and distributional consequences, and give numerical examples based on U.S. data. Willingness to pay for the benefit-cost optimum is convex in income. This helps to explain why neighborhood stratification by income has outpaced stratification of income itself in U.S metropolitan areas since 1970. In the examples, gains to a rich household are in the thousands and losses to the poor in the hundreds of dollars annually. In Part II, I estimate the stockpile of petroleum sufficient to contain a price shock perpetrated by the OPEC. I estimate world demand for petroleum such that the long run price elasticity exceeds that in the short run, and supply from non-OPEC producers with a similar kind of lagged response. Given this structure for elasticities, OPEC profits from sudden increases in price. I simulate interaction among consumers, non-OPEC producers, OPEC, and an International Energy Agency (IEA) that punishes OPEC by releasing oil onto the market. I endow the IEA with increasingly large stockpiles until they suffice to limit price shocks to specified levels. Every 5 reduction in the shock raises present-valued world GDP by about 650 billion. The IEA now has 1.4 billion barrels of petroleum, including 700 million in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. A 3 billion barrel stockpile would suffice to reduce a 35 price shock to 20, raising

  4. Bringing healthcare closer to home: one province's approach to home care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witmer, E

    2000-01-01

    Ontario is implementing a number of steps to address the growing need for home care and continuing care. One of these steps is the establishment of Ontario's network of 43 Community Care Access Centres (CCACs). Responsible for aiding Ontario residents who seek community-based long-term healthcare, CCACs coordinate access to home services such as nursing and homemaking, manage placement to long-term care facilities and provide information and referral services. In 2000/01 the Ontario government announced 92.5 million Canadian dollars in new funding for long-term community services. This new funding includes 70.1 million Canadian dollars for CCACs. During this time, the provincial government will spend more than 1.6 billion Canadian dollars for long-term-care community-based services. Of this amount, 1.1 Canadian dollars billion will go to CCACs. Community Care Access Centres served more than 400,000 people in 1998/99 and are estimated to serve more than 420,000 in 2000/01. The administrative funds saved by this province-wide system are reinvested in front-line health services.

  5. ANALISIS PERUBAHAN KURS RUPIAH TERHADAP DOLLAR AMERIKA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Triyono Triyono

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available This research analyse influence of money supply, inflation, SBI rate of interest, and import to Indonesia Rupiah exchange rate to US Dollar. In analysis, used multiple regression analysis instrument with model Error Correction Model (ECM. With this method obtained equation of regression in long-run and short-run equilibrium. In the long run equilibrium model, covered series of adjustment process that bringing every shock to equilibrium. In other word, in the long run very possibly performed full adjustment to every changes in arising out. Estimation result from regression ECM and long-run analysis indicate that inflation variable, SBI rate of interest, and import have significant influence with positive direction to exchange rate. While variable JUB have influence with negative direction to exchange rate.

  6. Pioneering figures in medicine: Albert Bruce Sabin--inventor of the oral polio vaccine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Derek R; Leggat, Peter A

    2005-01-01

    Over ten years after his death, the Sabin oral vaccine continues its profound influence on public health throughout the world. The annual incidence of polio has fallen dramatically since its introduction, with more than 300,000 lives being spared each year and an annual global saving in excess of 1 billion US dollars. In many ways, the development of an effective oral vaccine and its subsequent regulation by the World Health Organization can serve as a model for medical researchers. Our review describes the contribution of Albert Sabin as a medical researcher, and how his vaccine had a profound impact on the global reduction of polio infections. As many different factors influenced health-care last century, we describe Sabin's involvement with respect to prevailing scientific paradigms and public health issues of the time. Our paper also outlines the basic epidemiology of poliovirus and the historical development of an effective vaccine, both with and without Albert Sabin.

  7. East Africa-India Security Relations/China-Africa Partnership: the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Kenyan media as well as international media such as VOX Africa continue to report that Uhuru Kenyatta returned this week with an investment package totaling 425 billion shillings (5 billion dollars) from China. The target domains are railroad from Mombasa to Kisumu and energy generation. The move is interpreted as the ...

  8. Genome sequences of two Phytophthora species responsible for Sudden Oak Death and Soybean Root Rot provide novel insights into their evolutionary origins and mechanisms of pathogenesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tyler, Brett M.; Tripathi, Sucheta; Aerts, Andrea; Bensasson, Douda; Dehal, Paramvir; Dubchak, Inna; Garbelotto, Matteo; Gijzen, Mark; Huang, Wayne; Ivors, Kelly; Jiang, Rays; Kamoun, Sophien; Krampis, Konstantinos; Lamour, Kurt; McDonald, Hayes; Medina, Monica; Morris, Paul; Putnam, Nik; Rash, Sam; Salamov, Asaf; Smith, Brian; Smith, Joe; Terry, Astrid; Torto, Trudy; Grigoriev, Igor; Rokhsar, Daniel; Boore, Jeffrey

    2005-12-01

    The approximately 60 species of Phytophthora are all destructive pathogens, causing rots of roots, stems, leaves and fruits of a wide range of agriculturally and ornamentally important plants (1). Some species, such as P. cinnamomi, P. parasitica and P. cactorum, each attack hundreds of different plant host species, whereas others are more restricted. Some of the crops where Phytophthora infections cause the greatest financial losses include potato, soybean, tomato, alfalfa, tobacco, peppers, cucurbits, pineapple, strawberry, raspberry and a wide range of perennial tree crops, especially citrus, avocado, almonds, walnuts, apples and cocoa, and they also heavily affect the ornamental, nursery and forestry industries. The economic damage overall to crops in the United States by Phytophthora species is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars, including the costs of control measures, and worldwide it is many times this amount (1). In the northern midwest of the U.S., P. sojae causes $200 million in annual losses to soybean alone, and worldwide causes around $1-2 billion in losses per year. P. infestans infections resulted in the Irish potato famine last century and continues to be a difficult and worsening problem for potato and tomato growers worldwide, with worldwide costs estimated at $5 billion per year.

  9. 26 CFR 1.472-8 - Dollar-value method of pricing LIFO inventories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... terms of total dollars rather than the quantity and price of specific goods as the unit of measurement... processes, and the maintenance of separate profit and loss records with respect to separate operations are... manufacturer or processor, a natural business unit ordinarily consists of the entire productive activity of the...

  10. Institutional Venture Capital for the Space Industry: Providing Risk Capital for Space Companies that Provide Investor Returns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Roscoe M., III

    2002-01-01

    provided by an institution. Those institutions tend to be Banks, Pension Funds, Insurance Funds, Corporations, and other incorporated entities that are obligated to earn a return on their invested capital. These institutions invest in a venture capital firm for the sole purpose of getting their money back with a healthy profit - within a set period of time. The venture capital firm is responsible for investing in and managing companies whose risk and return are higher than other less risky classes of investment. The venture capital firm's primary skill is its ability to manage the high risk of its venture investments while maintaining the high return potential of its venture investments. to businesses for the purpose of providing the above-mentioned Institutions a substantial return on their invested capital. Institutional Venture Capital for the Space Industry cannot be provided to projects or companies whose philosophy or intention is not to increase shareholder equity value within a set time period. efficiently when tied up in companies that intend to spend billions of dollars before the first dollar of revenue is generated. If 2 billion dollars of venture capital is invested in the equity of a Space Company for a minority equity position, then that Space Company must build that minority shareholder's equity value to a minimum investment return of 4 to 8 billion dollars. There are not many start-up companies that are able to reach public market equity valuations in the tens of billions of dollars within reasonable time horizons. Foundations, Manufacturers, and Strategic Investors can invest in projects that cannot realistically provide a substantial return on their equity to their investors within a reasonable period (5-7 years) of time. Venture Capitalists have to make money. Venture capitalists have made money on Satellite Television, Satellite Radio, Fixed Satellite Services, and other businesses. Venture capitalists have not made money on stand

  11. Solar power satellite - A geostationary channel tunnel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bulloch, C

    1981-12-01

    The concept-development status of solar power satellite (SPS) systems is considered, with attention to Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicles (HLLVs), the construction methods to be used in either geostationary or low earth orbit, and the configuration of the solar array. By comparison with the 30-ton payload of the Space Shuttle, HLLV designs under consideration have payloads of 114 to 425 tons. The unit cost for 5-GW satellites, in 1977 dollars, is estimated at five billion dollars. Consideration is given to the possible deleterious environmental effects of both the 400 or more launches required for each SPS and such results of radio frequency energy transfer beam operation as the suppression of blood platelet production in human beings and ionospheric heating. The uncertainty that still surrounds the relative advantages of competing designs and the need for long-range, billion-dollar funding appear to be insuperable obstacles to the construction of SPSs.

  12. Fusion energy and Canada's role

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drolet, T.S.

    1992-01-01

    Fusion is the process of releasing energy from matter which occurs in our sun. Canada is contributing to the development of technology which will permit this process to be harnessed and made available on earth. The international effort has increased from a modest beginning in the 1950s to a level of approximately two billion dollars annually in the 1980s. The purpose of this booklet is to introduce the concept of fusion energy as a technology which should make an important addition to the mix of energy sources for our future. Through a co-ordinated approach, Canada has established several projects which will contribute significantly to the development of technologies in specific areas leading to opportunities now for Canadian industry in the international effort

  13. Mejorando los procesos de presupuestación

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadia Ugalde Binda

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available A study by Hackett Benchmarking - Research, 1998 (quoted by Parmenter, 2004 reveals that, on average, 25,000 days are spent working for each billion dollars of income, it takes 4.5 months in the budgeting process and 60 % of CEOs indicated that the budget has no link with strategy. Although the planning and budgeting must be parallel processes in companies, usually are totally independent. The problem is that the annual budget has become the company's strategic plan. The specific objectives of this research are to describe the budget process and its relationship to strategic planning, research into recent literature the most common mistakes and best practices in budgeting processes and design a tool to evaluate this process internally.

  14. Superconducting magnet systems for MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hawksworth, D.G.

    1988-01-01

    MRI is the first large scale commercial application of superconductivity and has not achieved the status of a mature industry with an annual turnover in the magnet industry alone in excess of $150M. Conservative estimates put the investment of the medical industry in MRI as a whole at more than a billion dollars. In the nine years since shipment of the first superconducting whole body imaging magnets of 0.3 Tesla field the standard product of the industry has become a system of 1 meter bore and field strength 0.5 Tesla to 1.5 Tesla. In this paper the evolution of present day MRI magnets from small bore but high field spectrometer magnets is reviewed and the direction of future developments discussed

  15. Natural gas in the world - Cedigaz annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lecarpentier, A.

    2010-01-01

    The recent developments in gas E and P in the US with the huge ExxonMobil acquisition (41 Billion US $) of XTO Energy Inc and TOTAL's investment in Chesapeake Energy show if needed that the gas is more and more important in the world energy panorama. The new edition of the CEDIGAZ Annual Report is an indispensable tool for better knowledge of the international gas market. This report offers a compilation of the main statistical data in terms of reserves, gross and marketed production, the volume of international gas trade by pipe and by LNG Tanker, consumption, prices of the main contracts, new LNG Infrastructures in production, underground gas storage and so on

  16. Community access networks: how to connect the next billion to the ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Community access networks: how to connect the next billion to the Internet ... services is a prerequisite to sustainable socio-economic development. ... It will provide case studies and formulate recommendations with respect to ... An IDRC delegation will join international delegates and city representatives at the ICLEI World ...

  17. Interactive (statistical) visualisation and exploration of a billion objects with vaex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breddels, M. A.

    2017-06-01

    With new catalogues arriving such as the Gaia DR1, containing more than a billion objects, new methods of handling and visualizing these data volumes are needed. We show that by calculating statistics on a regular (N-dimensional) grid, visualizations of a billion objects can be done within a second on a modern desktop computer. This is achieved using memory mapping of hdf5 files together with a simple binning algorithm, which are part of a Python library called vaex. This enables efficient exploration or large datasets interactively, making science exploration of large catalogues feasible. Vaex is a Python library and an application, which allows for interactive exploration and visualization. The motivation for developing vaex is the catalogue of the Gaia satellite, however, vaex can also be used on SPH or N-body simulations, any other (future) catalogues such as SDSS, Pan-STARRS, LSST, etc. or other tabular data. The homepage for vaex is http://vaex.astro.rug.nl.

  18. Estimated effects of adding universal public coverage of an essential medicines list to existing public drug plans in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Steven G; Li, Winny; Yau, Brandon; Persaud, Nav

    2017-02-27

    Canada's universal health care system does not include universal coverage of prescription drugs. We sought to estimate the effects of adding universal public coverage of an essential medicines list to existing public drug plans in Canada. We used administrative and market research data to estimate the 2015 shares of the volume and cost of prescriptions filled in the community setting that were for 117 drugs on a model list of essential medicines for Canada. We compared prices of these essential medicines in Canada with prices in the United States, Sweden and New Zealand. We estimated the cost of adding universal public drug coverage of these essential medicines based on anticipated effects on medication use and pricing. The 117 essential medicines on the model list accounted for 44% of all prescriptions and 30% of total prescription drug expenditures in 2015. Average prices of generic essential medicines were 47% lower in the US, 60% lower in Sweden and 84% lower in New Zealand; brand-name drugs were priced 43% lower in the US. Estimated savings from universal public coverage of these essential medicines was $4.27 billion per year (range $2.72 billion to $5.83 billion; 28% reduction) for patients and private drug plan sponsors, at an incremental government cost of $1.23 billion per year (range $373 million to $1.98 billion; 11% reduction). Our analysis showed that adding universal public coverage of essential medicines to the existing public drug plans in Canada could address most of Canadians' pharmaceutical needs and save billions of dollars annually. Doing so may be a pragmatic step forward while more comprehensive pharmacare reforms are planned. © 2017 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors.

  19. One billion cubic meters of gas produced in Kikinda area

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vicicevic, M; Duric, N

    1969-10-01

    The Kikinda gas reservoir has just passed a milestone in producing one billion cubic meters of natural gas. The reservoir was discovered in 1962, and its present production amounts to 26 million cu m. One of the biggest problems was formation of hydrates, which has successfully been solved by using methanol. Four tables show production statistics by years and productive formations.

  20. Potential economic impact of introduction and spread of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, in Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutrich, J.J.; VanGelder, E.; Loope, L.

    2007-01-01

    Globally, many invasive alien species have caused extensive ecological and economic damage from either accidental or intentional introduction. The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, has created billions of dollars in costs annually, spreading as an invasive species across the southern United States. In 1998, the red imported fire ant spread into California creating a highly probable future introduction via shipped products to Hawaii. This paper presents the estimation of potential economic impacts of the red imported fire ant (RIFA) to the state of Hawaii. Evaluation of impacts focuses on the economic sectors of (1) households, (2) agriculture (cattle and crop production), (3) infrastructure (cemeteries, churches, cities, electrical, telephone, and cable services, highways, hospitals and schools), (4) recreation, tourism and business (hotels/resort areas, golf courses, commercial businesses and tourists), and (5) government expenditures (with minimal intervention). The full annual economic costs of the red imported fire ant to Hawaii are estimated (in US$ 2006) to be $211 million/year, comprised of $77 million in damages and expenditures and $134 million in foregone outdoor opportunities to households and tourists. The present value of the projected costs of RIFA over a 20-year period after introduction total $2.5 billion. RIFA invasions across the globe indicate that economic cost-effective action in Hawaii entails implementation of prevention, early detection and rapid response treatment programs for RIFA. ?? 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Spatial variability in oceanic redox structure 1.8 billion years ago

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulton, Simon W.; Fralick, Philip W.; Canfield, Donald Eugene

    2010-01-01

    to reconstruct oceanic redox conditions from the 1.88- to 1.83-billion-year-old Animikie group from the Superior region, North America. We find that surface waters were oxygenated, whereas at mid-depths, anoxic and sulphidic (euxinic) conditions extended over 100 km from the palaeoshoreline. The spatial extent...

  2. A panel-data analysis of interest rates and dollarization in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edmar L. Bacha

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the role of financial dollarization and systemic risks in the determination of real interest rates in Brazil. In a simple currency-choice portfolio model, we show that a strategy of reducing dollarization, if it fails to address fundamental macroeconomic risks, leads to higher domestic real interest rates. We confirm this prediction in an empirical panel-based model, involving systemic risk variables, but find that the effect is small after controlling for the risks of dilution and default. We apply our empirical estimates to the case of Brazil - a natural case study given its low degree of financial dollarization and very high real interest rates. The estimated model is unable to explain the high interest rate levels in the aftermath of Brazil's 1994 inflation stabilization. However, since the adoption in 1999 of inflation targeting and floating exchange rates, Brazil's real interest rates are found to be gradually converging to the model's predicted values. The estimation also shows that further reductions in Brazil's real interest rates could be achieved through sound fundamentals that led to investment-grade status rather than financial dollarization.Analisamos o papel da dolarização financeira e do risco sistêmico na determinação da taxa real de juros no Brasil. Em um modelo simples de portfólio, nós mostramos que a estratégia de reduzir a dolarização da economia, se ainda persistirem riscos macroeconômicos, leva a uma maior taxa real de juros doméstica. Nós confirmamos essa assertiva a partir de um modelo em painel, envolvendo variáveis de risco sistêmico; contudo, os efeitos são pequenos quando controlados por riscos de inflação e de default. Em seguida, aplicamos nossas estimações para o caso do Brasil - um caso natural dado seu baixo nível de dolarização financeira e altas taxas reais de juros. O modelo estimado é incapaz de explicar os elevados níveis de taxas de juros no Brasil após a

  3. Electricity-cost savings obtained by means of nuclear plant life extension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forest, L.; Fletcher, T.; DuCharme, A.; Harrison, D.L.

    1987-01-01

    This study examines savings caused by nuclear-plant life extension (NUPLEX) and describes the effects of changes in assumptions on costs and technology using an approach simpler than the large economic-model simulations used in other reports. Under the simplified approach, we estimate savings at the broad national level by comparing projected costs/kWh for the typical NUPLEX plant with those for new coal-fired plants, which seem the most likely alternative in most regions. While ignoring some complications handled by the large, regionally disaggregated econometric models, the approach used in this study has advantages in sensitivity analyses. It reveals relationships between savings and basic assumptions on costs and technology in a more transparent way than in large-model simulations. We find that, absent major technological breakthroughs for present generating options, NUPLEX saves consumers money on their electric bills under most plausible economic scenarios. Using mid-range assumptions, we find that NUPLEX saves consumers a total of about dollar 180 billion spread over the period 2010-50. Under optimistic assumptions, the savings swell to over dollar 900 billion. Under extremely pessimistic assumptions, the savings actually turn negative. This wide range of estimates largely reflects the uncertainty in cost projections. Within plausible limits, higher- or lower-than-expected load growth does not affect the savings estimates. The NUPLEX construction costs stand out as the most critical unknown. If they turn out to be 50% (dollar 500 billion) above the baseline estimate savings would fall by almost 60% (dollar 105 billion). A 50% rise in nuclear fuel costs would drop baseline savings by almost 22%. A 50% increase in nuclear-plant operations-and-maintenance costs, would cut baseline savings by about 36%. These sensitivities highlight the need for continued monitoring of economic developments

  4. Analysis of the total system life cycle cost for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program: executive summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-04-01

    The total-system life-cycle cost (TSLCC) analysis for the Department of Energy's Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Progrram is an ongoing activity that helps determine whether the revenue-producing mechanism established by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 is sufficient to cover the cost of the program. This report is an input into the third evaluation of the adequacy of the fee. The total-system cost for the reference waste-management program in this analysis is estimated to be 24 to 30 billion (1984) dollars. For the sensitivity cases studied in this report, the costs could be as high as 35 billion dollars and as low as 21 billion dollars. Because factors like repository location, the quantity of waste generated, transportation-cask technology, and repository startup dates exert substantial impacts on total-system costs, there are several tradeoffs between these factors, and these tradeoffs can greatly influence the total cost of the program. The total-system cost for the reference program described in this report is higher by 3 to 5 billion dollars, or 15 to 20%, than the cost for the reference program of the TSLCC analysis of April 1984. More than two-thirds of this increase is in the cost of repository construction and operation. These repository costs have increased because of changing design concepts, different assumptions about the effort required to perform the necessary activities, and a change in the source data on which the earlier analysis was based. Development and evaluation costs have similarly increased because of a net addition to the work content. Transportation costs have increased because of different assumptions about repository locations and several characteristics of the transportation system. It is expected that the estimates of total-system costs will continue to change in response to both an evolving program strategy and better definition of the work required to achieve the program objectives

  5. Report on annual expenses for travel, hospitality and conferences ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Expenditure Category, Expenditures for the year ending 31 March 2017 (in thousands of dollars), Expenditures for the year ending 31 March 2016 (in thousands of dollars), Variances (in thousands of dollars). Travel: IDRC Employees*, $3,866.2, $3,695.3, $170.9. Travel: Non-IDRC Employees, $458.9, $234.3, $224.6.

  6. Performance of Technical Trading Systems in the Yen/Dollar Market

    OpenAIRE

    Schulmeister, Stephan

    2007-01-01

    The study investigates the profitability of 1,024 moving average and momentum models and their components in the yen/dollar market. It turns out that all models would have been profitable between 1976 and 1999. The pattern of profitability is as follows: the models produce more single losses than single profits, however, the size of the single profits is on average much higher than the size of single losses. Hence, the profitability of technical currency trading is exclusively due to the expl...

  7. Sexospécificités | Page 199 | CRDI - Centre de recherches pour le ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Worried and depressed? Perhaps some St. John's wort will pick you up. The growth in popularity of these and hundreds of other herbal remedies in Europe and North America has created a multi-billion dollar industry over the past two decades — $27 billion in the US alone in 2001. Read more about Biodiversity and health: ...

  8. Health | Page 9 | IDRC - International Development Research Centre

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Worried and depressed? Perhaps some St. John's wort will pick you up. The growth in popularity of these and hundreds of other herbal remedies in Europe and North America has created a multi-billion dollar industry over the past two decades — $27 billion in the US alone in 2001. Read more about Biodiversity and health: ...

  9. Santé | Page 9 | CRDI - Centre de recherches pour le ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Worried and depressed? Perhaps some St. John's wort will pick you up. The growth in popularity of these and hundreds of other herbal remedies in Europe and North America has created a multi-billion dollar industry over the past two decades — $27 billion in the US alone in 2001. Read more about Biodiversity and health: ...

  10. 2016 Billion-ton report: Advancing domestic resources for a thriving bioeconomy, Volume 1: Economic availability of feedstock

    Science.gov (United States)

    M.H. Langholtz; B.J. Stokes; L.M. Eaton

    2016-01-01

    This product builds on previous efforts, namely the 2005 Billion-Ton Study (BTS) and the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update (BT2).With each report, greater perspective is gained on the potential of biomass resources to contribute to a national energy strategy. Similarly, each successive report introduces new questions regarding commercialization challenges. BTS quantified...

  11. 26 CFR 1.985-3 - United States dollar approximate separate transactions method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ...). For all purposes of subtitle A, this method of accounting must be used to compute the gross income... in section 989(a)) that has the dollar as its functional currency pursuant to § 1.985-1(b)(2). (2... currency (as defined in § 1.985-1(b)(2)(ii)(D)); (2) Making the adjustments necessary to conform such...

  12. Oil price fluctuations and U.S. dollar exchange rates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lizardo, Radhames A.; Mollick, Andre V.

    2010-01-01

    Adding oil prices to the monetary model of exchange rates, we find that oil prices significantly explain movements in the value of the U.S. dollar (USD) against major currencies from the 1970s to 2008. Our long-run and forecasting results are remarkably consistent with an oil-exchange rate relationship. Increases in real oil prices lead to a significant depreciation of the USD against net oil exporter currencies, such as Canada, Mexico, and Russia. On the other hand, the currencies of oil importers, such as Japan, depreciate relative to the USD when the real oil price goes up. (author)

  13. An Analysis of the President’s Budgetary Proposals for Fiscal Year 1979

    Science.gov (United States)

    1978-01-28

    1.1 billion in reforms, for a net corporate income tax reduction of $5.1 billion. These reductions are in addition to the $8.3 billion reduction that...treatment of capital gains and income from unemployment insurance benefits. The cuts in business taxes would include: o reducing the maximum corporate income tax rate...impact on business investment per dollar than the change in the corporate income tax rate. In addition, tax cuts that lower costs—such as the proposed

  14. Gaia: Science with 1 billion objects in three dimensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prusti, Timo

    2018-02-01

    Gaia is an operational satellite in the ESA science programme. It is gathering data for more than a billion objects. Gaia measures positions and motions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, but captures many asteroids and extragalactic sources as well. The first data release has already been made and exploitation by the world-wide scientific community is underway. Further data releases will be made with further increasing accuracy. Gaia is well underway to provide its promised set of fundamental astronomical data.

  15. Reaching out to retirees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adigozel, Ozgur; Huber, Celia; Lewis, Greg; Singhal, Shubham

    2006-01-01

    The numbers pertaining to the approaching demographic boom in health-care-related expenditures are eye-popping: Health-related financial products to help retiring baby boomers deal with out-of-pocket costs alone will generate up to 80 billion dollars in revenues and 8-12 billion dollars in pre-tax profits by 2014. But health insurers will have to refocus their efforts if they want to take full advantage of this opportunity. (For more, see "Turning Subscribers Into Customers: The Future Is Now" in the July/August issue, the first in this two-part series.) Two areas are critical: product innovation to provide comprehensive solutions that meet seniors' needs more effectively, and advice-based distribution that creates privileged customer relationships.

  16. The changing role of chemistry in the power industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caris, N.B.

    2006-01-01

    Corrosion costs the U.S. electricity industry between five and ten billion dollars a year. In steam generating plants it is estimated that over half the forced outages are caused by corrosion, and in the U.S. industry, corrosion increases the cost of electricity more than it increases the cost of any other product, adding over 10% to its price. The total cost of corrosion to U.S. industry is in excess of dollar 276 billion annually, of which more than 30% could be prevented through the use of optimum corrosion management practices. In order to effectively deal with these issues it will require a coordinated approach throughout the industry, in which chemistry has a major role to play. Chemistry has effectively moved from being a problem to being a solution for materials and corrosion issues, and judging by the current advances and initiatives, will continue to do so. The window of opportunity to positively influence the entire industry is here. This will be especially challenging for us as chemists in Eskom, with an ageing fleet and lack of excess generating capacity. The spin-off of taking up this challenge to 'get our chemistry right' and take a quantum step forward would be a significant positive effect on the unit capability factor (UCF) and the forced loss rate (UCLF) for the Generation Division. This could, in turn, influence issues as far reaching as the cost of electricity for the South African consumer and when the construction of new generating plant is scheduled. (orig.)

  17. Talking heads : the effects of ECB statements on the euro-dollar exchange rate

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jansen, DJ; De Haan, J

    This paper studies the reaction of the conditional mean and volatility of the euro-dollar exchange rate to statements by European Central Bank and national central bank officials. We focus on comments on monetary policy and the external value of the euro. We find that the Bundesbank has dominated

  18. Universities Report $1.8-Billion in Earnings on Inventions in 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blumenstyk, Goldie

    2012-01-01

    Universities and their inventors earned more than $1.8-billion from commercializing their academic research in the 2011 fiscal year, collecting royalties from new breeds of wheat, from a new drug for the treatment of HIV, and from longstanding arrangements over enduring products like Gatorade. Northwestern University earned the most of any…

  19. Fierce debate looms over funding of superconducting super collider

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lepkowski, W.

    1988-01-01

    The coming session of Congress looks like a crucial one in the present era of Big Science. Legislators will have to decide on whether to go ahead and approve construction funding for the biggest atom smasher of all time, the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC). The Administration will be asking for about $230 million (out of a scheduled $350 million) to begin work. But uncertainties loom, and the debate ahead looks bloody. The SSC is a project the Department of Energy says will cost $4.4 billion in fiscal 1988 dollars, rated according to a targeted completion date in 1996. The General Accounting Office pegs the cost at $4.9 billion in 1985 dollars. In inflationary and project stretchout dollars, the figure could easily double. But money for science is again tight in the government, and battles that lie ahead involve the competition between science and social programs, and, indeed, between the sciences themselves. This article discusses these battles

  20. An Initial Assessment of the Economic Value of Coastal and Freshwater Wetlands in West Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florian V. Eppink

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Many countries in West Asia, defined in this study as the Arabic-speaking countries of the Arabian Peninsula plus Turkey and Iran, have enacted environmental conservation laws but regional underlying drivers of environment change, such as rising incomes and fast-growing populations, continue to put pressure on remaining wetlands. This paper aims to inform conservation efforts by presenting the first regional assessment of the economic value of coastal and freshwater wetlands in West Asia. Using scenario analysis we find that, dependent on the discount rate used, the present value of the regional economic loss of not protecting wetlands by 2050 is between US dollar 2.3 billion and US dollar 7.2 billion (expressed in 2007 US dollars. The method used for this assessment, however, is not suitable for expressing national realities adequately. We therefore suggest that detailed localized studies are conducted to improve insight into the drivers and the social and economic effects of wetland loss in West Asia.

  1. 1999 Annual Report: Delivering energy value

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    Union Gas Limited, a subsidiary of Westcoast Energy Company, is a major Canadian natural gas utility, providing energy delivery and related services to 1.1 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in over 400 communities in northern, southwestern and eastern Ontario. Union Gas also provides natural gas storage and transportation services for other utilities and energy market participants in Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States. In 1999 the Company had revenues of 1.5 billion, net income of $ 95 million, and assets totalling $ 3.8 billion. Net income was down from $ 109 million in 1998, due mainly to the impact of the sale of the Company's retail merchandise program to Union Energy, a lower approved rate of return on common equity. Full-time employees number about 2,500. Total throughput for 1999 was 34.6 billion cubic metres of natural gas, up 8.9 per cent from 1998. The Company undertook significant reorganization and restructuring during 1999, to emphasize critical business processes. The reorganization, which saw the divestiture of the retail merchandise programs to an unregulated affiliate, Union Energy, resulted in a flat, flexible and efficient enterprise, more capable of timely response to changing market opportunities and customer needs. Union Gas also filed application with the Ontario Energy Board for rates for the year 2000 and beyond, using the performance-based regulation framework; completed construction of a $ 16 million, 90 km pipeline to make natural gas service available to Parry Sound; Launched 'enoms' a new Internet-based natural gas nominations system; completed the first phase of the $ 17 million Century Pools storage development project, and applied to build the second phase, comprising a $37 million addition to the storage pools at the Mandasumin, Bluewater and Oil City pools; and completed several smaller projects totalling $ 5.2 million to give access to natural gas to 2,300 new customers at various parts of

  2. Re-launching the production of green electricity in the United States: Prometheus meets Keynes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magaud, M.; Ochoa, D.

    2009-01-01

    During his campaign, Barack Obama insisted on the close tie between the recession, climate change and national security in matters of energy, given the country's excessive dependence on oil imports. He outlined the development of a low-carbon economy that would, in 2050, emit only 20% as much greenhouse gas as in 1990. He pledged to devote, over a ten-year period, 150 billion dollars to research and development on renewable energy, either through direct funding (grants, loan guarantees, purchases by the federal government, etc.) or tax incentives. He also spoke about the potential creation of five million jobs in environmental-friendly technology. Given his first official declarations on climate change and the importance of the theme of energy in the first measures taken by his administration, the new president has reflected the same level of concern as the candidate. Since his election, Obama has pursued the same policy line by orienting his massive economic stimulus plan (787 billion dollars) toward creating 'green jobs', especially in energy (85 billion dollars). In the stimulus package, research and development for new sources of low-carbon energy - stocking CO 2 underground, solar and geothermal energy, wind power, second-generation bio-fuels, etc. - are among the top priorities. (authors)

  3. Re-launching the production of green electricity in the United States: Prometheus meets Keynes;la relance de la production d'electricite verte aux Etats-Unis: une rencontre entre Promethee... et Keynes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Magaud, M. [Ambassade de France aux Etats-Unis, Mission pour la Science et la Technologie (United States); Ochoa, D. [Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines, Dir. de l' Innovation et du Developpement 42 - Saint-Etienne (France)

    2009-11-15

    During his campaign, Barack Obama insisted on the close tie between the recession, climate change and national security in matters of energy, given the country's excessive dependence on oil imports. He outlined the development of a low-carbon economy that would, in 2050, emit only 20% as much greenhouse gas as in 1990. He pledged to devote, over a ten-year period, 150 billion dollars to research and development on renewable energy, either through direct funding (grants, loan guarantees, purchases by the federal government, etc.) or tax incentives. He also spoke about the potential creation of five million jobs in environmental-friendly technology. Given his first official declarations on climate change and the importance of the theme of energy in the first measures taken by his administration, the new president has reflected the same level of concern as the candidate. Since his election, Obama has pursued the same policy line by orienting his massive economic stimulus plan (787 billion dollars) toward creating 'green jobs', especially in energy (85 billion dollars). In the stimulus package, research and development for new sources of low-carbon energy - stocking CO{sub 2} underground, solar and geothermal energy, wind power, second-generation bio-fuels, etc. - are among the top priorities. (authors)

  4. Energy Materials Coordinating Committee (EMaCC) annual technical report, fiscal year 1984 with fiscal year 1985 data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1985-07-01

    The Department of Energy funded about 374 million dollars of materials science and technology activities in both fiscal years 1984 and 1985. These funds and the commensurate program management responsibilities resided in 21 DOE program offices, each of which has its own mission and responsibilities. The Energy Materials Coordinating Committee (EMaCC) provides a formal mechanism to insure coordinated planning and maximum programmatic effectiveness for the Department's 374 million dollar per year materials effort. The EMaCC reports to the Director of the Office of Energy Research who in turn has oversight responsibilities for proper coordination of the technical programs of the Department. In carrying out this responsibility, EMaCC hosts meetings, organizes working groups, and publishes an annual technical report. This report is mandated by the EMaCC Terms of Reference. Its purpose is to disseminate information on the DOE materials programs for more effective coordination. It describes the materials research programs of various offices and divisions within the Department for FY 1984, contains funding information for FYs 1984 and 1985, and summarizes EMaCC activities for FY 1985.

  5. Energy Materials Coordinating Committee (EMaCC) annual technical report, fiscal year 1984 with fiscal year 1985 data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-07-01

    The Department of Energy funded about 374 million dollars of materials science and technology activities in both fiscal years 1984 and 1985. These funds and the commensurate program management responsibilities resided in 21 DOE program offices, each of which has its own mission and responsibilities. The Energy Materials Coordinating Committee (EMaCC) provides a formal mechanism to insure coordinated planning and maximum programmatic effectiveness for the Department's 374 million dollar per year materials effort. The EMaCC reports to the Director of the Office of Energy Research who in turn has oversight responsibilities for proper coordination of the technical programs of the Department. In carrying out this responsibility, EMaCC hosts meetings, organizes working groups, and publishes an annual technical report. This report is mandated by the EMaCC Terms of Reference. Its purpose is to disseminate information on the DOE materials programs for more effective coordination. It describes the materials research programs of various offices and divisions within the Department for FY 1984, contains funding information for FYs 1984 and 1985, and summarizes EMaCC activities for FY 1985

  6. Readability of the web: a study on 1 billion web pages

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Heus, Marije; Hiemstra, Djoerd

    We have performed a readability study on more than 1 billion web pages. The Automated Readability Index was used to determine the average grade level required to easily comprehend a website. Some of the results are that a 16-year-old can easily understand 50% of the web and an 18-year old can easily

  7. From the million dollar's web, to ‘seriespepito’ Is it a Bubble 2.0?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco José García-Ull

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available In 2005, a 21 years old English student created The Million Dollar Homepage. The idea was simple: he divided the site into 100 blocks of 10x10 pixels each with the aim to sell these spaces to the brands interested in advertising on the website. Each pixel would cost 1 dollar. That apparently naive idea ended reaching notoriety in the newly named Web 2.0 (O'Reilly, 2005. Worldwide online media, many of whom just began their journey through the Web, covered the curious initiative. The online media coverage also jumped to traditional media (crossmedia narrative, Jenkins, 2006 and this issue had a direct influence on the increase of visitors and number of page views in the site. It was, in fact, one of the first examples of a viral message in the Web. Advertising brands were attracted by the media impact of the website, which became a showcase. Companies such as The Times or Yahoo were attracted by the web influence. In a few months, the business student Alex Tew sold every single pixel of his website to advertising brands, amountig to a million dollars. In 2015, according to Alexa Rank, onclickads.net, publited.com, adcash.com, popads.net or adf.ly are among the 150 most visited websites in Spain, competing with companies like facebook.com, wordpress.es, marca.com, rtve.es or bbva.es, to name a few. We present in the following article the reasons why these affiliate advertising networks occupy key positions in the rankings of most visited websites and to this end, we will focus on studying the business model of some of the main links pages, which offer access to download or online viewing of media formats, including series, documentaries and film content. We will focus in particular on the business models like seriespepito.com, closed due to alleged intellectual property crime in 2014. They generated within months, about a million dollars profit. We studied, with this purpose, the role of the affiliate networks, the use of tracking tools such as

  8. Dissimilar Effects of World News Announcements on Euro/Dollar/Yen Exchange Rates: An Econophysics Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Matesanz

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper revisits the issue of the influence of macro-economic announcements over the exchange rates volatility, but from a different perspective as it is the usual in the econometric literature. By quantifying the impact of world-wide macroeconomic information published in the economic calendar in several recent years we were able to construct long events’ time series with the objective to test whether they influence exchange rate volatilities in several currencies. In order to do that, Granger causality test was employed by using a computational approach. Our results show that announcements from U.S.A are, by far, the most important influence over the three spot forex quotes, Euro/Dollar, Euro/Yen and Dollar/Yen. The method proposed here opens the door to address several open questions until now.

  9. The Boring Billion, a slingshot for Complex Life on Earth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukherjee, Indrani; Large, Ross R; Corkrey, Ross; Danyushevsky, Leonid V

    2018-03-13

    The period 1800 to 800 Ma ("Boring Billion") is believed to mark a delay in the evolution of complex life, primarily due to low levels of oxygen in the atmosphere. Earlier studies highlight the remarkably flat C, Cr isotopes and low trace element trends during the so-called stasis, caused by prolonged nutrient, climatic, atmospheric and tectonic stability. In contrast, we suggest a first-order variability of bio-essential trace element availability in the oceans by combining systematic sampling of the Proterozoic rock record with sensitive geochemical analyses of marine pyrite by LA-ICP-MS technique. We also recall that several critical biological evolutionary events, such as the appearance of eukaryotes, origin of multicellularity & sexual reproduction, and the first major diversification of eukaryotes (crown group) occurred during this period. Therefore, it appears possible that the period of low nutrient trace elements (1800-1400 Ma) caused evolutionary pressures which became an essential trigger for promoting biological innovations in the eukaryotic domain. Later periods of stress-free conditions, with relatively high nutrient trace element concentration, facilitated diversification. We propose that the "Boring Billion" was a period of sequential stepwise evolution and diversification of complex eukaryotes, triggering evolutionary pathways that made possible the later rise of micro-metazoans and their macroscopic counterparts.

  10. Alabama Disasters: Leveraging NASA EOS to Explore the Environmental and Economic Impact of the April 27 Tornado Outbreak

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herdy, Claire; Luvall, Jeff

    2012-01-01

    The disastrous tornado outbreak in Alabama on April 27, 2011 greatly impacted the economy of the state. On record, the tornado outbreak was the second deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. When considering the agricultural and value-added activities such as food and timber processing, farm inputs, manufacturing, transportation, and retail sales, the dollar value of Alabama agribusiness annually exceeds $40 billion (NASS, 2011). This research aims to examine how the timber and agriculture damage affected the state economy of Alabama and will be used to aid in long-term economic recovery. ASTER imagery was used along with ground-truthed NASS (National Agriculture Statistics Service) crop location records to verify the economic impact tornadoes had on the agricultural economy of the state. This swath damage can be calculated by correlating tornado path with NASS statistics on crop yield, precisely showing the fields affected and dollars lost to this disaster. Not only can this be executed manually using ENVI and ArcGIS, but also through the use of Python, a programming language that has the ability to automate the process, creating a product for initial damage assessment.

  11. [The Six Million Dollar Man: from fiction to reality].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langeveld, C H Kees

    2013-01-01

    The term 'bionic' has been in existence since 1958, but only gained general recognition from the television series 'The Six Million Dollar Man'. Following a crash, the central figure in this series - test pilot Steve Austin - has an eye, an arm and both legs replaced by prostheses which make him stronger and faster than a normal person. This story is based on the science fiction book 'Cyborg' by Martin Caidin. In the world of comic books and films there are a number of examples of people who are given superhuman powers by having technological gadgets built in. Although the latter is not yet possible, the bionic human has now become reality.

  12. Tactical Aircraft. DOD Needs a Joint and Integrated Investment Strategy

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2007-01-01

    .... DOD has already incurred substantial cost and schedule overruns in its acquisition of new systems, and further delays could require billions of dollars in additional investments to keep legacy...

  13. Galaxy growth in a massive halo in the first billion years of cosmic history

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marrone, D. P.; Spilker, J. S.; Hayward, C. C.; Vieira, J. D.; Aravena, M.; Ashby, M. L. N.; Bayliss, M. B.; Béthermin, M.; Brodwin, M.; Bothwell, M. S.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Chapman, S. C.; Chen, Chian-Chou; Crawford, T. M.; Cunningham, D. J. M.; De Breuck, C.; Fassnacht, C. D.; Gonzalez, A. H.; Greve, T. R.; Hezaveh, Y. D.; Lacaille, K.; Litke, K. C.; Lower, S.; Ma, J.; Malkan, M.; Miller, T. B.; Morningstar, W. R.; Murphy, E. J.; Narayanan, D.; Phadke, K. A.; Rotermund, K. M.; Sreevani, J.; Stalder, B.; Stark, A. A.; Strandet, M. L.; Tang, M.; Weiß, A.

    2018-01-01

    According to the current understanding of cosmic structure formation, the precursors of the most massive structures in the Universe began to form shortly after the Big Bang, in regions corresponding to the largest fluctuations in the cosmic density field. Observing these structures during their period of active growth and assembly—the first few hundred million years of the Universe—is challenging because it requires surveys that are sensitive enough to detect the distant galaxies that act as signposts for these structures and wide enough to capture the rarest objects. As a result, very few such objects have been detected so far. Here we report observations of a far-infrared-luminous object at redshift 6.900 (less than 800 million years after the Big Bang) that was discovered in a wide-field survey. High-resolution imaging shows it to be a pair of extremely massive star-forming galaxies. The larger is forming stars at a rate of 2,900 solar masses per year, contains 270 billion solar masses of gas and 2.5 billion solar masses of dust, and is more massive than any other known object at a redshift of more than 6. Its rapid star formation is probably triggered by its companion galaxy at a projected separation of 8 kiloparsecs. This merging companion hosts 35 billion solar masses of stars and has a star-formation rate of 540 solar masses per year, but has an order of magnitude less gas and dust than its neighbour and physical conditions akin to those observed in lower-metallicity galaxies in the nearby Universe. These objects suggest the presence of a dark-matter halo with a mass of more than 100 billion solar masses, making it among the rarest dark-matter haloes that should exist in the Universe at this epoch.

  14. Oak Ridge Reservation Annual Site Environmental Report Summary, 2002

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hughes, JF

    2003-11-25

    The ''State-of-the-Environment'' on and around the Oak Ridge Reservation is a mission of highest importance to the Department of Energy and our contractors. In order to be fully aware of the consequences of our operations and cleanup, an annual multimillion-dollar monitoring and surveillance program collects and analyzes tens of thousands of samples from air, surface and groundwater, soil, mud, plants, and animals. A mission of equal importance is to provide our stakeholders a complete understanding of this program. To do this we publish a detailed Annual Site Environmental Report and this summary document. The raw data is published separately in the Data Volume. All three documents can be found on the web, along with past documents, at http://www.ornl.gov/aser. Though I work on numerous technical documents throughout the year, no document is more important to me than the Annual Site Environmental Report and its Summary because: (1) they represent the efforts of many dedicated environmental scientists who carry out this extensive program, and who work hard to protect and enhance the environment; (2) they set out the programs in great detail to our legislatures, stakeholders, and the public; and (3) the Summary is directed to the public with the hope that the information is understandable and of value in gaining an accurate picture of the Oak Ridge Reservation as a neighbor. I thank the Karns High School students and their teacher for accepting my challenge in writing this Annual Site Environmental Report Summary, for thinking out of the box, for doing such a fine job, and for all the artwork and photographs (the morning coffee in the classroom was greatly appreciated, leaks and all). They were an especially enjoyable class to work with, and I hope you, our stakeholders and the public, find their efforts of value.

  15. HIPAA is larger and more complex than Y2K.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tempesco, J W

    2000-07-01

    The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a larger and more complex problem than Y2K ever was. According to the author, the costs associated with a project of such unending scope and in support of intrusion into both information and operational systems of every health care transaction will be incalculable. Some estimate that the administrative simplification policies implemented through HIPAA will save billions of dollars annually, but it remains to be seen whether the savings will outweigh implementation and ongoing expenses associated with systemwide application of the regulations. This article addresses the rules established for electronic data interchange, data set standards for diagnostic and procedure codes, unique identifiers, coordination of benefits, privacy of individual health care information, electronic signatures, and security requirements.

  16. The DOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management comprehensive integrated planning process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aiken, R.J.; Draffin, C.W. Jr.; Pflock, K.T.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that comprehensive integrated planning is critical to the ultimate success of the DOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management's (EM) program because of the significant technical and institutional complexities, the tens of billions of dollars required, the regulatory and fiscal uncertainty, and the multitude of federal, state, and private sector organizations involved. Using the philosophy that sound and forward looking planning should guide budgetary and management decisionmaking, and that clear priorities are essential to program success, EM's comprehensive approach includes strategic planning, the annually updated EM Five-Year Plan, the EM Management Plan, and Site Specific Plans. Roadmaps (which facilitate issue identification and resolution), Activity Data Sheets, prioritization methodologies, and installation-specific Progress Charts are among the tools employed in support of the EM integrated planning process

  17. Strategic imperatives for globalization of industries in developing countries: an Indian pharmaceutical industry example.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srivastava, Rajesh; Chandra, Ashish; Kumar, Girish

    2004-01-01

    The annual global pharmaceutical sales have grown over 466 billion dollars, almost 50% of which comes from North America. Among developing countries, India, with 16% of the world population, accounts for only a small percentage of the global pharmaceutical industry. Until recently, India has had virtually no pharmaceutical industry worth the name producing drugs from basic raw materials and it used to rely mostly on the imports from countries like the USA and England for all its requirements of drugs. On the other hand, India has seen a plethora of multinational pharmaceutical companies come and do business in India. This paper develops a matrix which provides a broad guidance to the mid- to large-size Indian pharmaceutical domestic companies, which should embark on the path to global expansion to establish their might as well.

  18. Food irradiation: chemistry and applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thakur, B.R.; Singh, R.K.

    1994-01-01

    Food irradiation is one of the most extensively and thoroughly studied methods of food preservation. Despite voluminous data on safety and wholesomeness of irradiated foods, food irradiation is still a “process in waiting.” Although some countries are allowing the use of irradiation technology on certain foods, its full potential is not recognized. Only 37 countries worldwide permit the use of this technology. If used to its full potential, food irradiation can save millions of human lives being lost annually due to food‐borne diseases or starvation and can add billions of dollars to the world economy. This paper briefly reviews the history and chemistry of food irradiation along with its main applications, impediments to its adoption, and its role in improving food availability and health situation, particularly in developing countries of the world

  19. Bioprocessing applications in the management of nuclear and chemical wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Genung, R.K.

    1988-01-01

    The projected requirements for waste management and environmental restoration activities within the United States will probably cost tens of billions of dollars annually during the next two decades. Expenditures of this magnitude clearly have the potential to affect the international competitiveness of many US industries and the continued operation of many federal facilities. It is argued that the costs of implementing current technology will be too high unless the standards and schedules for compliance are relaxed. Since this is socially unacceptable, efforts to improve the efficiency of existing technologies and to develop new technologies should be pursued. A sizable research, development, and demonstration effort can be easily justified if the potential for reducing costs can be shown. Bioprocessing systems for the treatment of nuclear and chemically hazardous wastes offer such promise. 11 refs

  20. [Economic aspects of migration: remittances by migrant workers].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prskawetz, A

    1995-01-01

    "Worldwide annual remittances...by migrant workers to their home countries amount to some 70 billion U.S. dollars, exceeded by oil export earnings only.... The amount of remittances depends on the income of both the migrants and their family members.... Remittances meant for investment at home are determined by interest rates, foreign exchange regulations, exchange rates, monetary stability etc. in the immigration and emigration countries. Home remittances and saving habits of emigrants also depend on whether or not they expect to return to their home countries and the prospects of family reunification, all of which is directly linked to the (immigration) policy and economic conditions of both the countries of origin and residence." The factors influencing remittances flowing into and out of Austria are analyzed using data from the Austrian National Bank. (EXCERPT)

  1. AREVA - First quarter 2011 revenue: 2.7% growth like for like to 1.979 billion euros

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-01-01

    The group reported consolidated revenue of 1.979 billion euros in the 1. quarter of 2011, for 2.2% growth compared with the 1. quarter of 2010 (+ 2.7% like for like). The increase was driven by the Mining / Front End Business Group (+ 20.8% LFL). Revenue from outside France rose 12.0% to 1.22 billion euros and represented 62% of total revenue. The impacts of foreign exchange and changes in consolidation scope were negligible during the period. The March 11 events in Japan had no significant impact on the group's performance in the 1. quarter of 2011. The group's backlog of 43.5 billion euros at March 31, 2011 was stable in relation to March 31, 2010. The growth in the backlog of the Mining / Front End and Renewable Energies Business Groups offset the partial depletion of the backlog in the Reactors and Services and Back End Business Groups as contracts were completed

  2. Two ten-billion-solar-mass black holes at the centres of giant elliptical galaxies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McConnell, Nicholas J; Ma, Chung-Pei; Gebhardt, Karl; Wright, Shelley A; Murphy, Jeremy D; Lauer, Tod R; Graham, James R; Richstone, Douglas O

    2011-12-08

    Observational work conducted over the past few decades indicates that all massive galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centres. Although the luminosities and brightness fluctuations of quasars in the early Universe suggest that some were powered by black holes with masses greater than 10 billion solar masses, the remnants of these objects have not been found in the nearby Universe. The giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 hosts the hitherto most massive known black hole, which has a mass of 6.3 billion solar masses. Here we report that NGC 3842, the brightest galaxy in a cluster at a distance from Earth of 98 megaparsecs, has a central black hole with a mass of 9.7 billion solar masses, and that a black hole of comparable or greater mass is present in NGC 4889, the brightest galaxy in the Coma cluster (at a distance of 103 megaparsecs). These two black holes are significantly more massive than predicted by linearly extrapolating the widely used correlations between black-hole mass and the stellar velocity dispersion or bulge luminosity of the host galaxy. Although these correlations remain useful for predicting black-hole masses in less massive elliptical galaxies, our measurements suggest that different evolutionary processes influence the growth of the largest galaxies and their black holes.

  3. Origins fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution

    CERN Document Server

    Tyson, Neil deGrasse

    2004-01-01

    Origins explores cosmic science's stunning new insights into the formation and evolution of our universe--of the cosmos, of galaxies and galaxy clusters, of stars within galaxies, of planets that orbit those stars, and of different forms of life that take us back to the first three seconds and forward through three billion years of life on Earth to today's search for life on other planets. Drawing on the current cross-pollination of geology, biology and astrophysics, Origins explains the thrilling daily breakthroughs in our knowledge of the universe from dark energy to life on Mars to the mysteries of space and time. Distilling complex science in clear and lively prose, co-authors Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith conduct a galvanising tour of the cosmos revealing what the universe has been up to while turning part of itself into us.

  4. The burden of hepatitis C to the United States Medicare system in 2009: Descriptive and economic characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rein, David B; Borton, Joshua; Liffmann, Danielle K; Wittenborn, John S

    2016-04-01

    The aim of this work was to estimate and describe the Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in 2009, incremental annual costs by disease stage, incremental total Medicare HCV payments in 2009 using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked data covering the years 2002 to 2009. We weighted the 2009 SEER-Medicare data to create estimates of the number of patients with an HCV diagnosis, used an inverse probability-weighted two-part, probit, and generalized linear model to estimate incremental per patient per month costs, and used simulation to estimate annual 2009 Medicare burden, presented in 2014 dollars. We summarized patient characteristics, diagnoses, and costs from SEER-Medicare files into a person-year panel data set. We estimated there were 407,786 patients with diagnosed HCV in 2009, of whom 61.4% had one or more comorbidities defined by the study. In 2009, 68% of patients were diagnosed with chronic HCV only, 9% with cirrhosis, 12% with decompensated cirrhosis (DCC), 2% with liver cancer, 2% with a history of transplant, and 8% who died. Annual costs for patients with chronic infection only and DCC were higher than the values used in many previous cost-effectiveness studies, and treatment of DCC accounted for 63.9% of total Medicare's HCV expenditures. Medicare paid $2.7 billion (credible interval: $0.7-$4.6 billion) in incremental costs for HCV in 2009. The costs of HCV to Medicare in 2009 were substantial and expected to increase over the next decade. Annual costs for patients with chronic infection only and DCC were higher than values used in many cost-effectiveness analyses. © 2015 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

  5. Engineered Nanoscale Materials and Derivative Products: Regulatory Challenges

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Schierow, Linda-Jo

    2008-01-01

    .... government has invested billions of dollars to ensure that American industry remains a global leader in the field, because the products of nanotechnology are seen to have great economic potential...

  6. The Determinants of won/dollar Exchange Rate Volatility and Policy Recommendations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chae-Shick Chung

    1998-09-01

    Full Text Available This thesis analyzed the feature and different points of the changing of the exchange rate of Korea won against US dollar, then discussed the direction of the completion of Korea exchange rate system. The prediction result of the model GARCH which vividly shows the phenomenon of the auto-regression of the exchange rate has indicated the level of the exchange rate yesterday could explain the circumstance of the change of exchange rate today. Meanwhile, the policy of the US exchange rate will affect the exchange rate of Korea won against US dollar and the volatility of foreign exchange rate. In the present situation of Korean economy in which the liberalization of capital and the independence of the central bank has been established, the choosing range of the exchange system could only be completely changeable exchange rate system or exchange rate system of multilateral arrangement like Europe. However, in terms of the condition of the world economy, the introduction of the latter system is too early. There is an idea that under the changeable exchange rate system which is the only choice, it is the right time to activate the main body of private economy, the financial derivatives market in which the exchange risk could be trade-off. Government should work on and create a policy that would be able to satisfy the expectations of the market participants.

  7. Comment on 'A Forecasting Equation for the Canada-US Dollar Real Exchange Rate'

    OpenAIRE

    Kollmann, Robert

    1993-01-01

    This paper is a comment on the paper 'A Forecasting Equation for the Canada-US Dollar Exchange Rate' (Robert Amano and Simon van Norden, Bank of Canada). The comment was published in: The Exchange Rate and the Economy, Proceedings of 1992 Bank of Canada Conference; Bank of Canada, 1993, Ottawa (ISBN 0-660-15195-2), pp. 266-271.

  8. Big gas project for Australia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jemain, A.

    2005-01-01

    Australia is re-launching its ambitions in liquefied natural gas (LNG) with the Greater Gorgon project of offshore exploitation of the natural gas reserves of the continental shelf of NW Australia. These reserves would represent 200 million tons of LNG which will be exported towards China and USA. The project will cost 11 billion dollars and will yield 2 billion dollars per year. It is managed by a consortium which groups together Chevron Corp. (50%), Shell (25%) and ExxonMobil (25%). Technip company is partner of the project. The China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has announced its intention to become also partner of the project, and maybe Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will wish too. Short paper. (J.S.)

  9. Healthcare Rationing by Proxy: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and the Misuse of the &dollar;50 000 Threshold in the US

    OpenAIRE

    John F.P. Bridges; Eberechukwu Onukwugha; C. Daniel. Mullins

    2010-01-01

    The application of cost-effectiveness analysis in healthcare has become commonplace in the US, but the validity of this approach is in jeopardy unless the proverbial &dollar;US50 000 per QALY benchmark for determining value for money is updated for the 21st century. While the initial aim of this article was to review the arguments for abandoning the &dollar;US50 000 threshold, it quickly turned to questioning whether we should maintain a fixed threshold at all. Our consideration of the releva...

  10. Energy efficiency and CO_2 mitigation potential of the Turkish iron and steel industry using the LEAP (long-range energy alternatives planning) system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ates, Seyithan A.

    2015-01-01

    With the assistance of the LEAP (long-range energy alternatives planning) energy modeling tool, this study explores the energy efficiency and CO_2 emission reduction potential of the iron and steel industry in Turkey. With a share of 35%, the steel and iron industry is considered as the most energy-consuming sector in Turkey. The study explores that the energy intensity rate can be lowered by 13%, 38% and 51% in SEI (slow-speed energy efficiency improvement), AEI (accelerating energy efficiency improvement) and CPT (cleaner production and technology scenario) scenarios, respectively. Particularly the projected aggregated energy savings of the scenarios CPT and AES are very promising with saving rates of 33.7% and 23% respectively. Compared to baseline scenarios, energy efficiency improvements correspond to economic potential of 0.1 billion dollars for SEI, 1.25 dollars for AEI and 1.8 billion dollars for CPT scenarios annually. Concerning GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, in 2030 the iron and steel industry in Turkey is estimated to produce 34.9 MtCO_2 in BAU (business-as-usual scenario), 32.5 MtCO_2 in SEI, 24.6 MtCO_2 in AEI and 14.5 MtCO_2 in CPT a scenario which corresponds to savings of 9%–39%. The study reveals that energy consumption and GHG emissions of the iron and steel industry can be lowered significantly if the necessary measures are implemented. It is expected that this study will fill knowledge gaps pertaining to energy efficiency potential in Turkish energy intensive industries and help stakeholders in energy intensive industries to realize the potential for energy efficiency and GHG mitigation. - Highlights: • This paper explores energy efficiency potential of iron and Steel industry in Turkey. • We applied the LEAP modeling to forecast future developments. • Four different scenarios have been developed for the LEAP modeling. • There is a huge potential for energy efficiency and mitigation of GHG emissions.

  11. EDF - Quarterly Financial Information

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trivi, Carole; Boissezon, Carine de; Hidra, Kader

    2014-01-01

    EDF's sales in the first quarter of 2014 were euro 21.2 billion, down 3.9% from the first quarter of 2013. At constant scope and exchange rates, sales were down 4.2% due to mild weather conditions, which impacted sales of electricity in France, gas sales abroad and trading activities in Europe. UK sales were nonetheless sustained by B2B sales due to higher realised wholesale market prices. In Italy, sales growth was driven by an increase in electricity volumes sold. The first quarter of 2014 also saw the strengthening of the Group's financial structure with the second phase of its multi-annual hybrid funding programme (nearly euro 4 billion equivalent) as well as the issue of two 100-year bonds in dollars and sterling aimed at significantly lengthening average debt maturity. 2014 outlook and 2014-2018 vision: - EDF Group has confirmed its financial objectives for 2014; - Group EBITDA excluding Edison: organic growth of at least 3%; - Edison EBITDA: recurring EBITDA target of euro 1 billion and at least euro 600 million in 2014 before effects of gas contract re-negotiations; - Net financial debt / EBITDA: between 2x and 2.5x; - Pay-out ratio of net income excluding non-recurring items post-hybrid: 55% to 65%. The Group has reaffirmed its goal of achieving positive cash flow after dividends, excluding Linky, in 2018

  12. Money Demand and Inflation in Dollarized Economies; The Case of Russia

    OpenAIRE

    Franziska L Ohnsorge; Nienke Oomes

    2005-01-01

    Money demand in dollarized economies often appears to be highly unstable, making it difficult to forecast and control inflation. In this paper, we show that a stable money demand function for Russia can be found for "effective broad money," which includes an estimate of foreign cash holdings. Moreover, we find that an excess supply of effective broad money is inflationary, while other excess money measures are not, and that effective broad money growth has the strongest and most persistent ef...

  13. Spacecraft Power Beaming and Solar Cell Annealing Using High-Energy Lasers

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Luce, Richard

    2002-01-01

    ... could alleviate this limitation, extending the lifetime of billions of dollars of satellite assets, as well as providing additional energy for electric propulsion that can be used for stationkeeping and orbital...

  14. Exchange-rate forecasts and asymmetric loss: empirical evidence for the yen/dollar exchange rate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stadtmann, Georg; Pierdzioch; Rülke

    2012-01-01

    We used the yen/dollar exchange-rate forecasts of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) poll to analyse whether exchange-rate forecasters have an asymmetric loss function. To this end, we applied an approach recently developed by Elliott et al. (2005). We found that only few forecasters seem to form...

  15. Estimation of the economic impacts of Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sagara, Aya; Fujimoto, Noboru; Fukuda, Kenji

    1998-01-01

    The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident had an immediate negative impact on the economy of the seven-country area which surrounds the plant site. In order to estimate the social effect of the nuclear power plant accident economically, immediate and short term economical impacts on some industrial classification have been evaluated. The economical effect to Metropolitan Edison Co., the circumstantial payment of the insurance and the lawsuit for the compensation for damages, etc. have been estimated at dollar 90 million for the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industry, dollar 5 million for the tourist industry and dollar 50,000 for agriculture. The total loss for the state and country governments is about dollar 90,000. Metropolitan Edison Co. expended also dollar 111 million for the substitute energy and dollar 760 million for the decontamination cost. Since the lawsuit for the compensation for damages is still continuing, the total impacts cost is calculated more than a billion dollar. (author)

  16. Anhui Tongling Invests 1 Billion Yuan to Set up “Copper Industry Fund”

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2012-01-01

    <正>On September 12, the signing ceremony for "Anhui Copper Industry Fund" set up by Anhui Tongling Development & Investment Group Co., Ltd. and Shanghai V. Stone Investment Management Co., Ltd. was held in Tongling. The fund is 1 billion yuan.

  17. Long-term risk from actinides in the environment: Modes of mobility. 1998 annual progress report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breshears, D.D.; Hakonson, T.E.; Ibrahim, S.A.; Whicker, F.W.; Whicker, J.J.

    1998-01-01

    'The mobility of actinides in surface soils is a key issue of concern at several DOE facilities in arid and semiarid environments, including Rocky Flats, Hanford, Nevada Test Site, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Key sources of uncertainty in assessing Pu mobility are the magnitudes of mobility resulting from three modes of transport: (1) wind erosion, (2) water erosion, and (3) vertical migration. Each of these three processes depend on numerous environmental factors and they compete with one another, particularly for actinides in very shallow soils (∼ 1 mm). The overall goal of the study is to quantify the mobility of soil actinides from all three modes. The authors study is using field measurements, laboratory experiments, and ecological modeling to address these three processes at three DOE facilities where actinide kinetics are of concern: WIPP, Rocky Flats, and Hanford. Wind erosion is being measured with suite of monitoring equipment, water erosion is being studied with rainfall simulation experiments, vertical migration is being studied in controlled laboratory experiments, and the three processes are being integrated using ecological modeling. Estimates for clean up of soil actinides for the extensive tracts of DOE land range to hundreds of billion $ in the US. Without studies of these processes, unnecessary clean-up of these areas may waste billions of dollars and cause irreparable ecological damage through the soil removal. Further, the outcomes of litigation against DOE are dependent on quantifying the mobility of actinides in surface soils.'

  18. Electron capture detection of sulphur gases in carbon dioxide at the parts-per-billion level

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pick, M.E.

    1979-01-01

    A gas chromatograph with an electron capture detector has been used to determine sulphur gases in CO 2 at the parts-per-billion level, with particular application to the analysis of coolant from CO 2 cooled nuclear reactors. For COS, CS 2 , CH 3 SH, H 2 S and (CH 3 ) 2 S 2 the detector has a sensitivity comparable with the more commonly used flame photometric detector, but it is much less sensitive towards (CH 3 ) 2 S and thiophene. In addition, the paper describes a simple method for trapping sulphur gases which might enable detection of sub parts-per-billion levels of sulphur compounds. (Auth.)

  19. Non-Dam Alternatives for Delivering Water Services at Least Cost and Risk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael P. Totten

    2010-06-01

    We present evidence that a value-adding and risk-minimising water planning process can be achieved by shifting from the conventional focus on supply expansion to one that concentrates on efficiently delivering services at and near the point of use. The State of California has two decades of experience with this approach, demonstrating that market-based policy and regulatory innovations can unleash efficiency gains resulting in more utility water services and energy services delivered with less supply expansion at lower costs, while minimising climate-change risk, pollution and the social cost that accompany large infrastructural projects. Efficiency in delivered water services could be accomplished with investments in the range of US$10-25 billion annually, while obviating the need for spending hundreds of billions of dollars on more expensive hydropower and related infrastructural expansion projects. The shift to a regulatory system that encompasses cost-effective end-use efficiency improvements in delivering water and energy services could eliminate the need for an estimated half of all proposed dams globally, thus allowing for the maintenance of other ecosystem service benefits and offer the best hopes of meeting basic human needs for water at a more achievable level of investment.

  20. US military expenditures to protect the use of Persian Gulf oil for motor vehicles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delucchi, Mark A.; Murphy, James J.

    2008-01-01

    Analyses of the full social cost of motor vehicle use in the US often estimate an 'oil import premium' that includes the military cost of defending oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. Estimates of this cost have ranged from essentially zero to upwards of a $1 per gallon (about $0.25 per liter). In this paper, we attempt to narrow this range, by carefully answering the question: 'If the US highway transportation sector did not use oil, how much would the US federal government reduce its military commitment in the Persian Gulf?' We work towards our answer in five steps, accounting for interests not related to oil, the interests of other oil-consuming countries, the interests of producers apart from the interests of consumers, and the interests of non-highway users of oil. We estimate that were there no oil in the Persian Gulf, then US combined peacetime and wartime defense expenditures might be reduced in the long run by roughly $27-$73 billion per year (in 2004 dollars), of which roughly $6-$25 billion annually ($0.03-$0.15 per gallon or $0.01-$0.04 per liter) is attributable to motor-vehicle use

  1. The Canadian Dollar versus the Collection: How Canadian University Libraries are Coping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David R. Scott

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Through 2015 and into 2016, Canadian academic libraries’ collections budgets were severely strained due to the steady decline of the CAD/USD exchange rate. As most subscription fees for electronic resources (e-resources are billed in US dollars, the falling value of the Canadian dollar significantly reduced libraries’ purchasing power. This study is based on a survey of the English-speaking member institutions of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN, a Canadian collections consortium, carried out to determine the impact of the poor exchange rate on collections development and how libraries are coping with new budgetary pressures. Librarians from 33 universities provided survey responses. Of these, 22 participated in telephone interviews to further discuss concerns and ideas regarding the current crisis. The study finds that all participant libraries have taken actions to address the budgetary shortfall, including cancelling serial and database subscriptions, negotiating lower costs with vendors, purchasing fewer monographs, and soliciting additional funding from their institutions. While the financial strain resulting from exchange rate fluctuations is indeed a significant problem for which solutions should be sought, several respondents stressed that it only exacerbates the ongoing inflation of e-resource subscriptions. This deeper and enduring issue, which is expected to outlast the present exchange rate crisis, is enabled by an inherently flawed scholarly publishing system. Thus, librarians engaged in discussions with their wider academic communities concerning collections budgets should not focus exclusively on the exchange rate but should leverage the opportunity to explore alternatives to the current scholarly communication model. If solutions exist, they will likely only be achieved through the support of faculty and university administrators, as well as cooperation among post-secondary institutions and library consortia. Au

  2. Rapid emergence of subaerial landmasses and onset of a modern hydrologic cycle 2.5 billion years ago.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bindeman, I N; Zakharov, D O; Palandri, J; Greber, N D; Dauphas, N; Retallack, G J; Hofmann, A; Lackey, J S; Bekker, A

    2018-05-01

    The history of the growth of continental crust is uncertain, and several different models that involve a gradual, decelerating, or stepwise process have been proposed 1-4 . Even more uncertain is the timing and the secular trend of the emergence of most landmasses above the sea (subaerial landmasses), with estimates ranging from about one billion to three billion years ago 5-7 . The area of emerged crust influences global climate feedbacks and the supply of nutrients to the oceans 8 , and therefore connects Earth's crustal evolution to surface environmental conditions 9-11 . Here we use the triple-oxygen-isotope composition of shales from all continents, spanning 3.7 billion years, to provide constraints on the emergence of continents over time. Our measurements show a stepwise total decrease of 0.08 per mille in the average triple-oxygen-isotope value of shales across the Archaean-Proterozoic boundary. We suggest that our data are best explained by a shift in the nature of water-rock interactions, from near-coastal in the Archaean era to predominantly continental in the Proterozoic, accompanied by a decrease in average surface temperatures. We propose that this shift may have coincided with the onset of a modern hydrological cycle owing to the rapid emergence of continental crust with near-modern average elevation and aerial extent roughly 2.5 billion years ago.

  3. Collision course with reality

    CERN Multimedia

    Cho, A

    2003-01-01

    "Particle physicists around the world have given themselves a year to settle on a design for a 6 billion dollar particle smasher. But can they disentangle the technology from hthe politics?" (2 pages).

  4. Addressing the IP Shorthall

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    RICHARDZHU

    2004-01-01

    hile many telecom companies and industry analys tsbelieve that coming third generation (3G) mobile phonete chnologies will create amulti-billion-dollar market inthe Chinese mainland, most of them have been ignoring an

  5. U of M seeking $1.1 billion in projects for Soudan Mine lab.

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    The University of Minnesota is hoping that groundbreaking research underway at its labs at the Soudan Underground Mine near Tower will help secure up to $1.1 billion in the next 5 to 20 years to expand its work into particle physics (1 page).

  6. China's Involvement in Economic Globalization

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2004-01-01

    @@ As China's fast-growing economy attracts the world's largest multinational companies to pour billions of dollars into the nation to capitalize on the business opportunities. China's companies, for their part, have also significantly increased the amount of their overseas investment. Research data recently released shows that, through mid-October, there were 43investment deals made by Chinese companies, up from 39 for all of last year. The total value of the deals, which were mergers and acquisitions overseas, was US$1.93 billion, compared with US$2.2 billion for all of 2003.

  7. Four billion people facing severe water scarcity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mekonnen, Mesfin; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert

    2016-01-01

    Freshwater scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk. Previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture the seasonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability. We assess blue

  8. Perspectives on domestication: the history of our relationship with man's best friend.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Case, L

    2008-11-01

    We are a nation of dog lovers. Never before in our history have we spent more time, money, and emotional energy on a group of animals that are kept solely for companionship. Pet food sales are a multi-billion dollar industry, and pet owners are spending more than 11 billion dollars each year on veterinary care. This devotion is further illustrated by the exponential growth of the pet supply industry, including increasing numbers of pet superstores, play-parks, training centers, and doggie day care centers. During the 1980s, recognition of the human-animal bond led to serious study of the roles that dogs play in our lives. These studies have shown that pets provide significant benefits to our emotional, physical, and social well being. It is ironic then, that at a time when we recognize and appreciate our bonds with animal companions, dark elements of this relationship are equally pervasive. Animal shelters in the United States kill between 3 and 4 million dogs and cats annually. Dog fighting, although outlawed, has reached epidemic proportions in some areas of the country. Episodes of animal cruelty and neglect are reported with alarming frequency in the media; so frequently that discussions of the connection between animal cruelty and human violence have become daily parlance. How then did we come to have such paradoxical perceptions and treatment of our canine companions? This question is explored through an examination of the ancestry of the dog and the prevailing myths and facts about domestication. Historical and present-day perceptions of the wolf and the impact that these attitudes may have upon perceptions of dogs are examined.

  9. Small bugs, big business: the economic power of the microbe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demain, A L

    2000-10-01

    The versatility of microbial biosynthesis is enormous. The most industrially important primary metabolites are the amino acids, nucleotides, vitamins, solvents, and organic acids. Millions of tons of amino acids are produced each year with a total multibillion dollar market. Many synthetic vitamin production processes are being replaced by microbial fermentations. In addition to the multiple reaction sequences of fermentations, microorganisms are extremely useful in carrying out biotransformation processes. These are becoming essential to the fine chemical industry in the production of single-isomer intermediates. Microbially produced secondary metabolites are extremely important to our health and nutrition. As a group, they have tremendous economic importance. The antibiotic market amounts to almost 30 billion dollars and includes about 160 antibiotics and derivatives such as the beta-lactam peptide antibiotics, the macrolide polyketide erythromycin, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides and others. Other important pharmaceutical products produced by microrganisms are hypocholesterolemic agents, enzyme inhibitors, immunosuppressants and antitumor compounds, some having markets of over 1 billion dollars per year. Agriculturally important secondary metabolites include coccidiostats, animal growth promotants, antihelmintics and biopesticides. The modern biotechnology industry has made a major impact in the business world, biopharmaceuticals (recombinant protein drugs, vaccines and monoclonal antibodies) having a market of 15 billion dollars. Recombinant DNA technology has also produced a revolution in agriculture and has markedly increased markets for microbial enzymes. Molecular manipulations have been added to mutational techniques as means of increasing titers and yields of microbial procresses and in discovery of new drugs. Today, microbiology is a major participant in global industry. The best is yet to come as microbes move into the environmental and energy sectors.

  10. Resourcing Army Transformation: Solid Plan or House of Cards?

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Brimberry, Darrell

    2007-01-01

    .... We are also an army that is embarking on a monumental transformation effort. This ambitious plan to modernize and reorganize the force will take 30 plus years and over 210 billion dollars to complete...

  11. Reassessment of NRC's dollar per person-rem conversion factor policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-12-01

    The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has completed a review and analysis of its dollar per person-rem conversion factor policy. As a result of this review, the NRC has decided to adopt a $2000 per person-rem conversion factor, subject it to present worth considerations, and limit its scope solely to health effects. This is in contrast to the previous policy and staff practice of using an undiscounted $1000 per person-rem conversion factor that served as a surrogate for all offsite consequences (health and offsite property). The policy shift has been incorporated in ''Regulatory Analysis Guidelines of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission,'' NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 2, November 1995

  12. Water and life from snow: A trillion dollar science question

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sturm, Matthew; Goldstein, Michael A.; Parr, Charles

    2017-05-01

    Snow provides essential resources/services in the form of water for human use, and climate regulation in the form of enhanced cooling of the Earth. In addition, it supports a thriving winter outdoor recreation industry. To date, the financial evaluation of the importance of snow is incomplete and hence the need for accelerated snow research is not as clear as it could be. With snow cover changing worldwide in several worrisome ways, there is pressing need to determine global, regional, and local rates of snow cover change, and to link these to financial analyses that allow for rational decision making, as risks related to those decisions involve trillions of dollars.

  13. FLUKTUASI KURS RUPIAH TERHADAP DOLLAR AMERIKA SERIKAT PADA PERIODE TAHUN 1997.I – 2004.IV

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anggyatika Mahda Kurnia

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to analyze the fluctuation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar. The data used in this study are quarterly time series data between the 1997.I to 2004.IV. Analysis tool used in this study is multiple linear regressions using the Error Correction Model (ECM. The results of this study concluded that variables such as exchange rates, inflation, SBI rate and the value of imports is stationary, only money supply variable that is not stationary. Based on the classical assumption was not found problem. Normality test showed normal distribution of Ut, tests of model specification with the Ramsey Reset test indicates the model used is linear. The coefficient of determination (R2 showed that approximately 90.5813 percent of the value of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar be explained by variables in the model. Result analysis by t test found that a significant variable is the money supply, inflation, and the value of imports.

  14. New perspectives on innovative drug discovery: an overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Si Yuan; Pan, Shan; Yu, Zhi-Ling; Ma, Dik-Lung; Chen, Si-Bao; Fong, Wang-Fun; Han, Yi-Fan; Ko, Kam-Ming

    2010-01-01

    Despite advances in technology, drug discovery is still a lengthy, expensive, difficult, and inefficient process, with a low rate of success. Today, advances in biomedical science have brought about great strides in therapeutic interventions for a wide spectrum of diseases. The advent of biochemical techniques and cutting-edge bio/chemical technologies has made available a plethora of practical approaches to drug screening and design. In 2010, the total sales of the global pharmaceutical market will reach 600 billion US dollars and expand to over 975 billion dollars by 2013. The aim of this review is to summarize available information on contemporary approaches and strategies in the discovery of novel therapeutic agents, especially from the complementary and alternative medicines, including natural products and traditional remedies such as Chinese herbal medicine.

  15. Ontario Hydro 1982 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-05-01

    Due to the economic recession, primary electrical energy demand for the year failed to exceed that of the previous year for the first time since 1944. Actual demand was 100.8 billion kWh, 0.8 per cent below 1981. However, annual peak demand reached 18.1 million kW on January 18, an all-time high, and 5.4 per cent over January 1981. There were 104.1 billion kWh of electricity generated during the year, nearly equally from nuclear, coal, and water power. Nuclear generating units continued their outstanding performance. Bruce-3 completed a 494-day run at continuous power. NPD Generating Station celebrated 20 years of operation. Pickering B unit 5 started up and produced its first power. At Bruce A, a remote-controlled vehicle was used to remove damaged fuel to a shielded flask, completing the job in a short time with low staff radiation exposure. Bruce B construction progressed on schedule; while at Darlington, design and construction continued at a high level, with 1700 workers on site at year-end. Actual net income was $348 million, $38 million below forecast. Coal deliveries were 13.4 million Mg (23 per cent over 1981). Nuclear fuel deliveries to generating stations were 996 Mg (3 per cent over 1981). Agreements were negotiated for the supply of 5200 Mg of uranium concentrates during 1985-93. Nuclear fuel manufacturing contracts were awarded at lower prices than previously attained. Income totalling $163 million from electricity exports to the U.S.A. reduced overall cost of providing electricity to Ontario customers by 5.1 per cent. The Residential Energy Advisory Program surveyed 16,000 homeowners wishing to improve home energy efficiency. There were 20,000 residential customers who received grants to convert from oil to electric heating. Additional consumption resulting from these conversions is estimated at 280 million kWh

  16. Budget Options

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2001-01-01

    ... (including the off-budget Social Security trust funds) to $281 billion. That surplus would be the largest in history in nominal dollars and the largest since 1948 as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP...

  17. 78 FR 290 - National Conference on Weights and Measures 98th Interim Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-03

    ... (e.g., coal, grains and chemicals) totaling billions of dollars each year. The intent of this... valve is activated. BOV packaging has been in the marketplace for many years and is used to sell the...

  18. 76 FR 52384 - Indexing the Annual Operating Revenues of Railroads

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-22

    ... level for Class I railroads from $50 million (1978 dollars) to $250 million (1991 dollars), effective... Board, William F. Huneke, Director, Office of Economics. Jeffrey Herzig, Clearance Clerk. [FR Doc. 2011...

  19. EDF group - Reference Document, Annual Financial Report 2012

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    The EDF Group is an integrated energy utility active in all areas of the electricity market: nuclear, renewable and fossil fuel energy generation, transmission, distribution and marketing, energy efficiency and management services, as well as energy trading. It is the leading player in the French electricity market, and holds strong positions in Europe (UK, Italy, Central and Eastern Europe) that make it one of the world's leading electricity utilities and a renowned player in the gas industry. With a net installed capacity of 139.5 GWe worldwide at 31 December 2012 (128.5 GWe in Europe), and global production of 642.6 TWh, the Group ranks among the world's leading energy utilities, with the biggest fleet emitting the least amount of CO 2 per kilowatt-hour generated 3 thanks to the proportion of nuclear, hydropower and other renewable energies in its generation mix. The EDF Group supplies electricity, gas and related services to more than 39.3 million customer accounts 4 worldwide (nearly 28.6 million in France). The Group's activities reflect the choice of a model balanced between France and international markets, spanning competitive and regulated operations and based on upstream-downstream integration. In 2012, the Group recorded consolidated revenue of euros 72.7 billion, operating profit before depreciation and amortisation of euros 16.1 billion and net income excluding non-recurring items of euros 4.2 billion. This document is EDF Group's Reference Document and Annual Financial Report for the year 2012. It contains information about: the Group activities, risk factors, Organisational charts, Property, plant and equipment, Operating and financial data, Cash flows and capital, Research and development, patents and licenses, Information on trends, Financial outlook, Administrative, management and supervisory bodies and Executive Management, Compensation and benefits, Functioning of administrative and management bodies, Employees - Human

  20. EDF group - Reference Document, Annual Financial Report 2013

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-01-01

    The EDF Group is an integrated energy utility active in all areas of the electricity market: nuclear, renewable and fossil fuel energy generation, transmission, distribution and marketing, energy efficiency and management services, as well as energy trading. It is the leading player in the French electricity market, and holds strong positions in Europe (UK, Italy, Central and Eastern Europe) that make it one of the world's leading electricity utilities and a renowned player in the gas industry. With a net installed capacity of 140.4 GWe worldwide at 31 December 2013 and global production of 653.9 TWh, the Group ranks among the world's leading energy utilities, with the biggest fleet emitting the least amount of CO 2 per kilowatt-hour generated 2 thanks to the proportion of nuclear, hydropower and other renewable energies in its generation mix. The EDF Group supplies electricity, gas and related services to more than 39.1 million customer accounts 3 worldwide (nearly 28.5 million in France). The Group's activities reflect the choice of a model balanced between France and international markets, spanning competitive and regulated operations and based on upstream-downstream integration. In 2013, the Group recorded consolidated revenue of euros 75.6 billion, operating profit before depreciation and amortisation of euros 16.8 billion and net income excluding non-recurring items of euros 4.1 billion. This document is EDF Group's Reference Document and Annual Financial Report for the year 2013. It contains information about: the Group activities, Organisational charts, Property, plant and equipment, Operating and financial data, Cash flows and capital, Research and development, patents and licenses, Information on trends, Financial outlook, Administrative, management and supervisory bodies and Executive Management, Compensation and benefits, Functioning of administrative and management bodies, Employees - Human Resources, Major Shareholders, Related

  1. Pharmacogenomics of GPCR Drug Targets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hauser, Alexander Sebastian; Chavali, Sreenivas; Masuho, Ikuo

    2018-01-01

    Natural genetic variation in the human genome is a cause of individual differences in responses to medications and is an underappreciated burden on public health. Although 108 G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the targets of 475 (∼34%) Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs...... and account for a global sales volume of over 180 billion US dollars annually, the prevalence of genetic variation among GPCRs targeted by drugs is unknown. By analyzing data from 68,496 individuals, we find that GPCRs targeted by drugs show genetic variation within functional regions such as drug......- and effector-binding sites in the human population. We experimentally show that certain variants of μ-opioid and Cholecystokinin-A receptors could lead to altered or adverse drug response. By analyzing UK National Health Service drug prescription and sales data, we suggest that characterizing GPCR variants...

  2. [Urinary tract infections : What has been confirmed in therapy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marcon, J; Stief, C G; Magistro, G

    2017-12-01

    Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect approximately 150 million people worldwide per year, causing annual health costs of over three billion dollars just in the USA. Every second woman experiences at least one UTI in her lifetime, with every one in four experiencing recurrence. Uncomplicated infections like single or recurrent cystitis and pyelonephritis can be distinguished from complicated disease. UTIs in men can spread to the male glands, causing prostatitis and epididymitis. Antibiotic therapy is the standard procedure for UTIs. However, the extensive and sometimes irrational use of antibiotics for the treatment of infections has led to an increase in the incidence of multiresistant pathogens in recent years. Therefore, preventive nonantibiotic approaches are of great interest. This article provides an overview of the current management of urological infections as well as an outline of nonantibiotic preventive treatment modalities.

  3. Complements and the Wound Healing Cascade: An Updated Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hani Sinno

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Wound healing is a complex pathway of regulated reactions and cellular infiltrates. The mechanisms at play have been thoroughly studied but there is much still to learn. The health care system in the USA alone spends on average 9 billion dollars annually on treating of wounds. To help reduce patient morbidity and mortality related to abnormal or prolonged skin healing, an updated review and understanding of wound healing is essential. Recent works have helped shape the multistep process in wound healing and introduced various growth factors that can augment this process. The complement cascade has been shown to have a role in inflammation and has only recently been shown to augment wound healing. In this review, we have outlined the biology of wound healing and discussed the use of growth factors and the role of complements in this intricate pathway.

  4. The impact of the petrochemical industry in the economic development framework of the Montreal region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Danis, M.

    1992-01-01

    A brief overview of the petrochemical industry in Canada was presented. The industry, which employs approximately 100,000 Canadians, has an annual production estimated to be in excess of 20 billion dollars. Similarly, in the province of Quebec, the petrochemical industry makes a very significant contribution to the economy of the province, especially to that of the Montreal region. Recent initiatives and investments by the Canadian Government in the petrochemical sector were summarized. Among these, subsidies to Petromont to improve and modernize its plant facilities in Varennes, to Himont Canada, also of Varennes, to develop a new manufacturing process, to Gaz Metropolitain to establish a centre of gas technology, were highlighted. These and other government measures and initiatives provide a solid foundation for the petrochemical industry to continue to play a pre-eminent role in the economy of the Montreal region

  5. On the Predictability of Hub Height Winds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Draxl, Caroline

    Wind energy is a major source of power in over 70 countries across the world, and the worldwide share of wind energy in electricity consumption is growing. The introduction of signicant amounts of wind energy into power systems makes accurate wind forecasting a crucial element of modern electrical...... grids. These systems require forecasts with temporal scales of tens of minutes to a few days in advance at wind farm locations. Traditionally these forecasts predict the wind at turbine hub heights; this information is then converted by transmission system operators and energy companies into predictions...... of power output at wind farms. Since the power available in the wind is proportional to the wind speed cubed, even small wind forecast errors result in large power prediction errors. Accurate wind forecasts are worth billions of dollars annually; forecast improvements will result in reduced costs...

  6. Plundering the poor: the role of the World Bank in the Third World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feder, E

    1983-01-01

    The World Bank, the most important so-called development assistance agency, annually dispenses billions of dollars to Third World governments, ostensibly to "develop" their economics through a variety of loan projects. But even a superficial analysis reveals that the Bank is the perfect mechanism to help (i.e., subsidize) the large transnational corporations from the industrial countries to expand their industrial, commercial, and financial activities in the Third World, at the expense of the latter and particularly at the expense of the rural and urban proletariat. This article discusses Cheryl Payer's recent book, The World Bank: A Critical Analysis, in which she analyzes the Bank's role in the Third World and sets forth the major reasons why poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, as well as unemployment, and all the adverse social phenomena associated with them, are on the increase.

  7. Digital rights management for digital cinema

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirovski, Darko; Peinado, Marcus; Petitcolas, Fabien A. P.

    2001-12-01

    There is a wide consensus among the feature film production studios that the Internet era brings a new paradigm for film distribution to cinemas worldwide. The benefits of digital cinema to both producers and cinemas are numerous: significantly lower distribution and maintenance costs, immediate access to film libraries, higher presentation quality, and strong potential for developing new business models. Despite these advantages, the studios are still reluctant to jump into the digital age. The main showstopper for digital cinema is the danger of widespread piracy. Piracy already costs Hollywood an estimated two billion dollars annually and digital cinema without proper copyright enforcement could increase this number. In this paper, we present a copyright management system that aims at providing the set of necessary security tools: standard cryptographic primitives and copyright protection mechanisms that enable a reliable and secure feature film delivery system.

  8. IAEA research contracts. Fourth annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1964-01-01

    This volume represents the fourth annual report on the results obtained under the Agency's research contract programme. During the short life of this programme, which is not quite six years old, a total investment of more than three million dollars has been made to support research in selected fields at institutes in 50 Member States. Extensive summaries are presented herein for all final reports relating to contracts which were completed during 1963. As it is the policy of the Agency to encourage publication in the open scientific literature of the results of work done under research contracts, a number of papers have also appeared in the appropriate journals - the Agency having been notified of 75 such publications in 1963. A complete list of references to these is given at the end of this report. The scientific data presented in the summaries of course remain the responsibility of the contractor. The Agency, however, is responsible for any additional observations. The reports presented are related to research in the field of radioactive waste management and environmental sciences; health physics and radiation protection; radiobiology; nuclear reactors physics and nuclear fuels; radioisotope applications in agriculture and medicine

  9. IAEA research contracts. Fourth annual report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1964-04-01

    This volume represents the fourth annual report on the results obtained under the Agency's research contract programme. During the short life of this programme, which is not quite six years old, a total investment of more than three million dollars has been made to support research in selected fields at institutes in 50 Member States. Extensive summaries are presented herein for all final reports relating to contracts which were completed during 1963. As it is the policy of the Agency to encourage publication in the open scientific literature of the results of work done under research contracts, a number of papers have also appeared in the appropriate journals - the Agency having been notified of 75 such publications in 1963. A complete list of references to these is given at the end of this report. The scientific data presented in the summaries of course remain the responsibility of the contractor. The Agency, however, is responsible for any additional observations. The reports presented are related to research in the field of radioactive waste management and environmental sciences; health physics and radiation protection; radiobiology; nuclear reactors physics and nuclear fuels; radioisotope applications in agriculture and medicine.

  10. Defense Business Transformation: A Comprehensive Plan, Integrated Efforts, and Sustained Leadership are Needed to Assure Success

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Walker, David M

    2006-01-01

    .... These high-risk areas relate to most of DOD's major business operations. DOD's failure to effectively resolve these high-risk areas has resulted in billions of dollars of waste each year, ineffective performance, and inadequate accountability...

  11. FEDERAL REAL PROPERTY: Better Governmentwide Data Needed for Strategic Decisionmaking

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2002-01-01

    ...) worldwide inventory of federal real property. According to GSAs fiscal year 2000 worldwide inventory report on owned property, over 30 federal agencies own hundreds of thousands of real property assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars...

  12. Twisting the Dollar? On the Consistency of Short-Run and Long-Run Exchange Rate Expectations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stadtmann, Georg; Rülke, Jan; Frenkel, Michael

    2012-01-01

    ’ in the dollar/euro expectation formation process, i.e. market participants expect bandwagon effects in the short run, while they have stabilizing expectations in their long-run forecasts. Applying a panel probit analysis we find that this twisting behavior is more likely to occur in periods of excess exchange...

  13. Examination of purchasing power parity hypothesis: Evidence from unit root and cointegration analysis of dinar-euro and dinar-dollar exchange rates

    OpenAIRE

    Petrović, Predrag

    2014-01-01

    The paper shows the results of an empirical analysis of the relative variant of purchasing power parity (PPP) for dinar-euro and dinar-dollar ex-change rates. The study was conducted for the period January 2007 - August 2013 and involved testing of the empirical foundation of strong and weak PPP forms. The first part of the strong PPP form testing comes down to examination of non-stationarity of dinar-euro and dinar-dollar real exchange rates by use of standard unit root tests (ADF, PP, KPSS,...

  14. De Facto Exchange Rate Regime in Korea: Is It Still A Dollar Peg?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han Geun Moon

    2002-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to test the common view on the actual exchange rate regime, using very simple but intuitive OLS regression models based on Frankel and Wei's work (1994. The results show that, firstly, East Asian countries including Korea have returned to the dollar peg or managed floating after the restoration from the crisis, as they did during the pre-crisis period. The results also show that Korea has substantially changed her exchange rate regime since January 2001, but other countries, even Taiwan and Singapore which had no crisis, are still the same as before. The sensitivity to the dollar has statistically significantly decreased, but sensitivity to the yen is almost twice as much as those in other countries. This result might come from the synchronization of Korean won with Japanese yen from November 2000, the change of the monetary policy framework from monetary targeting to the pure inflation targeting, and the full capital and foreign exchange liberalization since the second stage of foreign exchange liberalization (January 2001. However, 6 months (January 2001-June 15, 2001 is not enough to assess policy changes, and, we continuously need to monitor how the exchange rate policy evolves.

  15. Road Safety Data, Collection, Transfer and Analysis DaCoTa. Workpackage 3, Deliverable No. D 3.5: Annual Statistical Report 2011 based on data from CARE / EC from 2000 to 2009.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brandstaetter, C. Yannis, G. Evgenikos, P. Argyropoulou, E. Papantoniou, P. Broughton, J. Knowles, J. Reurings, M. Vis, M. Pace, J.-P. López de Cozar, E. Martinez-Pérez, C. Sanmartín, J. & Haddak, M.

    2013-01-01

    Road traffic accidents in the Member States of the European Union annually claim about 34.000 lives and leave more than 1.1 million people injured, representing estimated costs of 140 billion Euros. Since 1984, a large number of measures to reduce road accidents have been taken at a regional level.

  16. 2. The Three Faces of Culture

    OpenAIRE

    Stanley, Dick

    2017-01-01

    Canadian films represent only 2.1 per cent of the cinema market in Canada. Less than 15 per cent of magazines on Canadian newsstands are Canadian. Only 41 per cent of Canadian television shows are domestic, less for English television and less in prime time. The various levels of government in Canada (federal, provincial, and municipal) spend over 6 billion dollars (or two hundred dollars per capita) supporting and subsidizing domestic cultural activities. Broadcast content regulations are ne...

  17. Guangdong Aluminum to Raise RMB 3 billion for New Production Base in Guizhou

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2010-01-01

    <正>On July 7, a loan signing ceremony was held between the Guangdong Aluminum Group, China Construction Bank, Hua Xia Bank and Guangzhou Bank Consortium. It is reported that these banks will provide Guangdong Aluminum Group with RMB 30 billion for an alu-minum oxide and supporting bauxite mining project in Guizhou.

  18. Ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions: the first billion seconds

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baym, Gordon

    2016-12-15

    I first review the early history of the ultrarelativistic heavy ion program, starting with the 1974 Bear Mountain Workshop, and the 1983 Aurora meeting of the U.S. Nuclear Science Committtee, just one billion seconds ago, which laid out the initial science goals of an ultrarelativistic collider. The primary goal, to discover the properties of nuclear matter at the highest energy densities, included finding new states of matter – the quark-gluon plasma primarily – and to use collisions to open a new window on related problems of matter in cosmology, neutron stars, supernovae, and elsewhere. To bring out how the study of heavy ions and hot, dense matter in QCD has been fulfilling these goals, I concentrate on a few topics, the phase diagram of matter in QCD, and connections of heavy ion physics to cold atoms, cosmology, and neutron stars.

  19. Evaluation of a buried cable roadside animal detection system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-06-01

    Animal-vehicle collisions (AVC) are a concern for departments of transportation as they translate into hundreds of : human fatalities and billions of dollars in property damage each year. A recently published report states that the Virginia : Departm...

  20. The Effectiveness of Pharmaceutical Marketing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E.R. Kappe

    2011-01-01

    textabstractPharmaceutical marketing effectiveness comprises the measurement of marketing efforts of pharmaceutical firms towards doctors and patients. These firms spend billions of dollars yearly to promote their prescription drugs. This dissertation provides empirical analyses and methods to

  1. Lobbying Semi-Annual Activity

    Data.gov (United States)

    Montgomery County of Maryland — This dataset contains Registration and Activity Reporting information lobbyists have provided. The dollar figures in the far right columns are the total of expenses...

  2. Florida hospital saves 5.3 M dollars by adopting principles of lean manufacturing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-01-01

    Florida hospital saves 5.3M dollars by adopting principles of lean manufacturing. Surgery cancellations have been slashed from 13% of cases to less than 3%, while emergency department admissions have increased by 20%. Those are just two of the results of a quality improvement project at Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL, that focused on using the principles of lean manufacturing to improve patient flow in the five-hospital system

  3. The cost of respirable coal mine dust: an analysis based on new black lung claims

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Page, S.J.; Organiscak, J.A.; Lichtman, K. [US Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of the Interior

    1997-12-01

    The article provides summation of the monetary costs of new compensation claims associated with levels of unmitigated respirable coal mine dust and the resultant lung disease known as black lung and compares these compensation costs to the cost of dust control technology research by the US Bureau of Mines. It presents an analysis of these expenditures and projects these costs over the period from 1991 to 2010, based on projected future new claims which are assumed to be approved for federal and state benefit payment. Since current and future dust control research efforts cannot change past claim histories, a valid comparison of future research spending with other incurred costs must examine only the cost of future new claims. The bias of old claim costs was eliminated in this analysis by examining only claims since 1980. The results estimate that for an expected 339 new approved claims annually from 1991 to 2010, the Federal Trust Fund costs will be 985 million dollars. During this same period, state black lung compensation is estimated to be 18.2 billion dollars. The Bureau of Mines dust control research expenditures are estimated as 0.44% of the projected future black lung-related costs. 9 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.

  4. Impacts of a renewable portfolio generation standard on US energy markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kydes, Andy S.

    2007-01-01

    This paper analyzes the impacts of imposing a Federal 20 percent non-hydropower renewable generation portfolio standard (RPS) on US energy markets by 2020. The US currently has no RPS requirement although some state RPS regulations have been adopted but not uniformly enforced (see http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/analysispaper/rps/index.html for a recent summary on RPSs in the US). The renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requires that 20 percent of the power sold must come from qualifying renewable facilities. The analysis of the 20 percent RPS was developed by using the December 2001 version of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the assumptions and results of the Annual Energy Outlook 2002 (AEO2002) reference case. A policy that requires a 20 percent non-hydro-electric RPS by 2020 appears to be effective in promoting the adoption of renewable generation technologies while also reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides by 6 percent, mercury by 4 percent and carbon dioxide by about 16.5 percent relative to the reference case in 2020. Electricity prices are expected to rise about 3 percent while the cost to the electric power industry could rise between 35 and 60 billion dollars (in year 2000 dollars in net present value terms)

  5. 1984 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-04-01

    Ontario Hydro supplied 122.9 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 1984 to meet provincial and export demands. Total primary energy demand was 112.3 billion kWh, an increase of 5.9 percent. The year's peak demand of 18.9 kW occurred on January 12. In 1984 nuclear generating stations produced 40.4 billion kWh, 32.8 percent of the total energy supplied by Ontario Hydro. The additional output of two new nuclear units, Pickering-6 and Bruce-6, more than offset the loss of production caused by Pickering units 1 and 2 being out of service all year for retubing. In May, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. removed its Douglas Point nuclear station from service since it was no longer economic to operate the station. Nuclear plants produced electricity at an average cost of 2.2 cents per kWh, compared to 3.4 cents for fossil-fuelled plants

  6. Pharmacy benefits management in the Veterans Health Administration: 1995 to 2003.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sales, Mariscelle M; Cunningham, Francesca E; Glassman, Peter A; Valentino, Michael A; Good, Chester B

    2005-02-01

    The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Pharmacy Benefits Management Strategic Healthcare Group (VA PBM) oversees the formulary for the entire VA system, which serves more than 4 million veterans and provides more than 108 million prescriptions per year. Since its establishment in 1995, the VA PBM has managed pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical-related policies, including drug safety and efficacy evaluations, pharmacologic management algorithms, and criteria for drug use. These evidence-based practices promote, optimize, and assist VA providers with the safe and appropriate use of pharmaceuticals while allowing for formulary decisions that can result in substantial cost savings. The VA PBM also has utilized various contracting techniques to standardize generic agents as well as specific drugs and drug classes (eg, antihistamines, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, alpha-blockers, and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors [statins]). These methods have enabled the VA to save approximately dollar 1.5 billion since 1996 even as drug expenditures continued to rise from roughly dollar 1 billion in fiscal year (FY) 1996 to more than dollar 3 billion in FY 2003. Furthermore, the VA PBM has established an outcomes research section to undertake quality-improvement and safety initiatives that ultimately monitor and determine the clinical impact of formulary decisions on the VA system nationwide. The experiences of this pharmacy benefits program, including clinical and contracting processes/procedures and their impact on the VA healthcare system, are described.

  7. Slide 59

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Erythropoeitin, Cytokines, blood factors, HuMABs etc) market is worth more than 100 billion dollars. Indian Pharma industry has concentrated only on Biogenerics so far. Apart from cost-effectiveness, Smarter and better protein drugs are desirable! Indeed ...

  8. US seeks major Japanese role in supercollider

    CERN Multimedia

    Cross, M

    1990-01-01

    Japan is considering an offer to join the team building the SSC in Texas. The USA is hoping to raise 8 billion dollars, approximately a third of the money it needs to build the accelerator (1/2 page).

  9. End of the Ebola virus outbreak: time to reinforce the African health ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ebutamanya

    2016-03-24

    Mar 24, 2016 ... support) and financial assistance to the tune of billions of dollars. Response to the ... the virus which lead the World Health Organization (WHO) on 29 ... following three areas: 1) Prevention, 2) Response of major disease.

  10. Development and Application of an Integrated Health Impacts Assessment Tool for the Sacramento Region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-10-01

    Plans crafted by metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) lay out how billions of dollars in transportation investments will be made over a 20 to 30-year time horizon. Federal transportation authorizations require MPOs to identify and track key ind...

  11. Hospitalizations for critically ill children with traumatic brain injuries: a longitudinal analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilford, John M; Aitken, Mary E; Anand, K J S; Green, Jerril W; Goodman, Allen C; Parker, James G; Killingsworth, Jeffrey B; Fiser, Debra H; Adelson, P David

    2005-09-01

    This study examines the incidence, utilization of procedures, and outcomes for critically ill children hospitalized with traumatic brain injury over the period 1988-1999 to describe the benefits of improved treatment. Retrospective analysis of hospital discharges was conducted using data from the Health Care Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample that approximates a 20% sample of U.S. acute care hospitals. Hospital inpatient stays from all types of U.S. community hospitals. The study sample included all children aged 0-21 with a primary or secondary ICD-9-CM diagnosis code for traumatic brain injury and a procedure code for either endotracheal intubation or mechanical ventilation. None. Deaths occurring during hospitalization were used to calculate mortality rates. Use of intracranial pressure monitoring and surgical openings of the skull were investigated as markers for the aggressiveness of treatment. Patients were further classified by insurance status, household income, and hospital characteristics. Over the 12-yr study period, mortality rates decreased 8 percentage points whereas utilization of intracranial pressure monitoring increased by 11 percentage points. The trend toward more aggressive management of traumatic brain injury corresponded with improved hospital outcomes over time. Lack of insurance was associated with vastly worse outcomes. An estimated 6,437 children survived their traumatic brain injury hospitalization because of improved treatment, and 1,418 children died because of increased mortality risk associated with being uninsured. Improved treatment was valued at approximately dollar 17 billion, whereas acute care hospitalization costs increased by dollar 1.5 billion (in constant 2000 dollars). Increased mortality in uninsured children was associated with a dollar 3.76 billion loss in economic benefits. More aggressive management of pediatric traumatic brain injury appears to have contributed to reduced mortality rates over

  12. International Atomic Energy Agency Annual Report 2013

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-01-01

    Article VI.J of the Agency's Statute requires the Board of Governors to submit 'an annual report to the General Conference concerning the affairs of the Agency and any projects approved by the Agency'. This report covers the period 1 January to 31 December 2013. The IAEA Annual Report 2013 aims to summarize only the significant activities of the Agency during the year in question. The main part of the report, starting on page 15, generally follows the programme structure as given in The Agency's Programme and Budget 2012-2013 (GC(55)/5). The introductory chapter, 'The Year in Review', seeks to provide a thematic analysis of the Agency's activities within the context of notable developments during the year. More detailed information can be found in the latest editions of the Agency's Nuclear Safety Review, Nuclear Technology Review, Technical Cooperation Report and the Safeguards Statement for 2013 and Background to the Safeguards Statement. Additional information covering various aspects of the Agency's programme is available, in electronic form only, on iaea.org, along with the Annual Report. Except where indicated, all sums of money are expressed in United States dollars. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the Agency. The term 'non-nuclear-weapon State' is used as in the Final Document of the 1968 Conference of Non-Nuclear- Weapon States (United Nations document A/7277) and in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The term 'nuclear-weapon State' is as used in

  13. International Atomic Energy Agency Annual Report 2012

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    Article VI.J of the Agency's Statute requires the Board of Governors to submit 'an annual report to the General Conference concerning the affairs of the Agency and any projects approved by the Agency'. This report covers the period 1 January to 31 December 2012. - The IAEA Annual Report 2012 aims to summarize only the significant activities of the Agency during the year in question. The main part of the report, starting on page 17, generally follows the programme structure as given in The Agency's Programme and Budget 2012-2013 (GC(55)/5). - The introductory chapter, 'Overview', seeks to provide a thematic analysis of the Agency's activities within the context of notable developments during the year. More detailed information can be found in the latest editions of the Agency's Nuclear Safety Review, Nuclear Technology Review, Technical Cooperation Report and the Safeguards Statement for 2012 and Background to the Safeguards Statement. - Additional information covering various aspects of the Agency's programme is available, in electronic form only, on iaea.org, along with the Annual Report. - Except where indicated, all sums of money are expressed in United States dollars. - The designations employed and the presentation of material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. - The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the Agency. - The term 'non-nuclear-weapon State' is used as in the Final Document of the 1968 Conference of Non- Nuclear-Weapon States (United Nations document A/7277) and in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The term 'nuclear-weapon State' is as used

  14. The Canadian petroleum industry 1993 monitoring report: Annual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    The financial performance of the Canadian petroleum and natural gas industry during 1993 is reviewed. Data are given in graphic and tabular form on revenues, sources and destinations of funds (including financing, incentives, dividend payments, capital and operational expenditures); on comparisons with other industries; on how revenues are shared between the industry and various levels of government; on research and development activities; and on ownership and control trends. A section on preliminary results of financial performance during the first quarter of 1994 is also included. Highlights of 1993 included an increase in petroleum industry net income to $1.6 billion and an increase of $850 million in net income for Canadian-controlled companies. Revenues from upstream operations rose $1.7 billion to $20.3 billion as a result of higher prices and production volumes. Total downstream sales revenues increased $370 million to $28.2 billion, representing a slight increase in demand for petroleum products. Cash flow from total operations rose over $2 billion to $10.7 billion, the highest level since 1985. Total capital expenditures rose $2.5 billion to $10.4 billion, and exploration expenditure increased 48%. Canadian ownership and control of upstream plus downstream revenues also increased slightly, and in-house research and development expenditures grew by 7% to $170 million. 28 figs., 22 tabs. 27 figs., 22 tabs

  15. Orbital forcing of climate 1.4 billion years ago

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Shuichang; Wang, Xiaomei; Hammarlund, Emma U

    2015-01-01

    Fluctuating climate is a hallmark of Earth. As one transcends deep into Earth time, however, both the evidence for and the causes of climate change become difficult to establish. We report geochemical and sedimentological evidence for repeated, short-term climate fluctuations from the exceptionally...... well-preserved ∼1.4-billion-year-old Xiamaling Formation of the North China Craton. We observe two patterns of climate fluctuations: On long time scales, over what amounts to tens of millions of years, sediments of the Xiamaling Formation record changes in geochemistry consistent with long-term changes...... reflect what appear to be orbitally forced changes in wind patterns and ocean circulation as they influenced rates of organic carbon flux, trace metal accumulation, and the source of detrital particles to the sediment....

  16. Molecular dynamics beyonds the limits: Massive scaling on 72 racks of a BlueGene/P and supercooled glass dynamics of a 1 billion particles system

    KAUST Repository

    Allsopp, Nicholas

    2012-04-01

    We report scaling results on the world\\'s largest supercomputer of our recently developed Billions-Body Molecular Dynamics (BBMD) package, which was especially designed for massively parallel simulations of the short-range atomic dynamics in structural glasses and amorphous materials. The code was able to scale up to 72 racks of an IBM BlueGene/P, with a measured 89% efficiency for a system with 100 billion particles. The code speed, with 0.13. s per iteration in the case of 1 billion particles, paves the way to the study of billion-body structural glasses with a resolution increase of two orders of magnitude with respect to the largest simulation ever reported. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our code by studying the liquid-glass transition of an exceptionally large system made by a binary mixture of 1 billion particles. © 2012.

  17. Hybrid Laser/GMAW of High Strength Steel Gas Transmission Pipelines

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-07-01

    Pipelines will be an integral part of our energy distribution systems for the foreseeable future. Operators are currently considering the installation of tens of billions of dollars of pipeline infrastructure. In a number of cases, the cost of export...

  18. The replace repair decision for heavy equipment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2004-01-01

    The fleet of equipment operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) constitutes a large investment, on the order of half a billion dollars. A means of identifying earlier and more accurately those pieces of equipment whose timely repl...

  19. Beneficial Use of Scrap Tire Rubber in Low-volume Road and Bridge Construction with Expansive Soils

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-14

    Billions of dollars in damages are attributed to expansive soils in the United States (Jones and Jones 1987) and in many other countries each year. Geotechnical design and analyses in/on/with expansive soils may involve additional complications that ...

  20. Global particle accelerator gets the big chill

    CERN Multimedia

    Sherriff, Lucy

    2004-01-01

    Scientists at an international symposium in Beijing have recommended that a new global particle accelerator should be based on "cold" or superconducting technology, bringing the construction of the multi-billion dollar facility one step closer to reality (½ page)

  1. SKB annual report 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-05-01

    This is the annual report on the activities of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co, SKB. It contains in part 1 an overview of SKB activities in different fields. Part 2 gives a description of the research and development work on nuclear waste disposal performed during 1992. Lectures and publications during 1992 as well as reports issued in the SKB technical report series are listed in part 4. Part 5 contains the summaries of all technical reports issued during 1992. SKB is the owner of CLAB, the Central Facility for Interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, located at Oskarshamn. CLAB was taken into operation in July 1985 and to the end of 1992 in total 1684 tonnes of spent fuel (measured as uranium) has been received. Transportation from the nuclear site to CLAB is made by a special ship, M/S Sigyn. At Forsmark the final repository for Radioactive Waste -SFR- was taken in operation in April 1988. At the end of 1992 a total of 11000 m 3 of waste have been deposited in SFR. The total cost for R and D during 1992 was 192.3 MSEK of which 24.8 MSEK came from participants outside Sweden. Some of the main areas for SKB research are: groundwater movements, bedrock stability, groundwater chemistry and nuclide migration, method and instruments for in situ characterization of crystalline bedrock, characterization and leaching of spent nuclear fuel, properties of bentonite for buffer, backfilling and sealing, radionuclide transport in biosphere and dose evaluations, development of performance and safety assessment methodology and assessment models, construction of an underground research laboratory. Cost calculations for the total nuclear waste management system, including decommissioning of all reactors, are updated annually. The total cost is estimated to 55 billion SEK

  2. Energy tax price tag for CPI: $1.2 billion, jobs, and production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Begley, R.

    1993-01-01

    If President Clinton's proposed energy tax had been fully in place last year, it would have cost the US chemical industry an additional $1.2 billion and 9,900 jobs, according to Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA; Washington) estimates. It also would have driven output down 3% and prices up 5%, CMA says. Allen Lenz, CMA director/trade and economics, says the increase in production costs that would accompany the tax will not be shared by foreign competitors, cannot be neutralized with higher border taxes because of existing trade agreements, and provides another reason to move production offshore. Worse, the US chemical industry's generally impressive trade surplus declined by $2.5 billion last year, and a further drop is projected for this year. The margin of error gets thinner all the time as competition increases, Lenz says. We're not concerned only with the chemical industry, but the rest of US-based manufacturing because they taken half our output, he adds. One problem is the energy intensiveness of the chemical process industries-a CMA report says that 55% of the cost of producing ethylene glycol is energy related. And double taxation of such things as coproducts returned for credit to oil refineries could add up to $115 million/year, the report says

  3. The Singularity May Never Be Near

    OpenAIRE

    Walsh, Toby

    2017-01-01

    There is both much optimisim and pessimism around artificial intelligence (AI) today. The optimists are investing millions of dollars, and even in some cases billions of dollars into AI. The pessimists, on the other hand, predict that AI will end many things: jobs, warfare, and even the human race. Both the optimists and the pessimists often appeal to the idea of a technological singularity, a point in time where machine intelligence starts to run away, and a new, more in- telligent “species”...

  4. The Impact of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising on Health Insurance Markets

    OpenAIRE

    William Encinosa; Chad Meyerhoefer; Samuel Zuvekas; Dongyi Du

    2014-01-01

    Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for drugs has increased from US&dollar;200 million in 1997 to US&dollar;4 billion in 2011. While studies show that DTCA impacts the patient-physician relationship, little is known of the effect of DTCA on health insurance markets. We test whether DTCA raises the costs in these markets or makes the markets more efficient in drug pricing. Across 212 markets, we examine the impact of DTCA on insurers’ negotiated prices for 166 drugs. Controlling for unobserv...

  5. A parts-per-billion measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smorra, C; Sellner, S; Borchert, M J; Harrington, J A; Higuchi, T; Nagahama, H; Tanaka, T; Mooser, A; Schneider, G; Bohman, M; Blaum, K; Matsuda, Y; Ospelkaus, C; Quint, W; Walz, J; Yamazaki, Y; Ulmer, S

    2017-10-18

    Precise comparisons of the fundamental properties of matter-antimatter conjugates provide sensitive tests of charge-parity-time (CPT) invariance, which is an important symmetry that rests on basic assumptions of the standard model of particle physics. Experiments on mesons, leptons and baryons have compared different properties of matter-antimatter conjugates with fractional uncertainties at the parts-per-billion level or better. One specific quantity, however, has so far only been known to a fractional uncertainty at the parts-per-million level: the magnetic moment of the antiproton, . The extraordinary difficulty in measuring with high precision is caused by its intrinsic smallness; for example, it is 660 times smaller than the magnetic moment of the positron. Here we report a high-precision measurement of in units of the nuclear magneton μ N with a fractional precision of 1.5 parts per billion (68% confidence level). We use a two-particle spectroscopy method in an advanced cryogenic multi-Penning trap system. Our result  = -2.7928473441(42)μ N (where the number in parentheses represents the 68% confidence interval on the last digits of the value) improves the precision of the previous best measurement by a factor of approximately 350. The measured value is consistent with the proton magnetic moment, μ p  = 2.792847350(9)μ N , and is in agreement with CPT invariance. Consequently, this measurement constrains the magnitude of certain CPT-violating effects to below 1.8 × 10 -24 gigaelectronvolts, and a possible splitting of the proton-antiproton magnetic moments by CPT-odd dimension-five interactions to below 6 × 10 -12 Bohr magnetons.

  6. A 17-billion-solar-mass black hole in a group galaxy with a diffuse core.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Jens; Ma, Chung-Pei; McConnell, Nicholas J; Greene, Jenny E; Blakeslee, John P; Janish, Ryan

    2016-04-21

    Quasars are associated with and powered by the accretion of material onto massive black holes; the detection of highly luminous quasars with redshifts greater than z = 6 suggests that black holes of up to ten billion solar masses already existed 13 billion years ago. Two possible present-day 'dormant' descendants of this population of 'active' black holes have been found in the galaxies NGC 3842 and NGC 4889 at the centres of the Leo and Coma galaxy clusters, which together form the central region of the Great Wall--the largest local structure of galaxies. The most luminous quasars, however, are not confined to such high-density regions of the early Universe; yet dormant black holes of this high mass have not yet been found outside of modern-day rich clusters. Here we report observations of the stellar velocity distribution in the galaxy NGC 1600--a relatively isolated elliptical galaxy near the centre of a galaxy group at a distance of 64 megaparsecs from Earth. We use orbit superposition models to determine that the black hole at the centre of NGC 1600 has a mass of 17 billion solar masses. The spatial distribution of stars near the centre of NGC 1600 is rather diffuse. We find that the region of depleted stellar density in the cores of massive elliptical galaxies extends over the same radius as the gravitational sphere of influence of the central black holes, and interpret this as the dynamical imprint of the black holes.

  7. Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasability of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perlack, R.D.

    2005-12-15

    whether the land resources of the United States are capable of producing a sustainable supply of biomass sufficient to displace 30 percent or more of the country's present petroleum consumption--the goal set by the Advisory Committee in their vision for biomass technologies. Accomplishing this goal would require approximately 1 billion dry tons of biomass feedstock per year.

  8. 77 FR 15052 - Dataset Workshop-U.S. Billion Dollar Disasters Dataset (1980-2011): Assessing Dataset Strengths...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-14

    ..., located at 151 Patton Avenue, Asheville, North Carolina 28801. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Smith...-4183, Email: Adam.Smith@noaa.gov ) For RSVP responses, use the email address noted above ( Karen.L...

  9. Preventable health and cost burden of adverse birth outcomes associated with pregestational diabetes in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Cora; Grosse, Scott D; Li, Rui; Sharma, Andrea J; Razzaghi, Hilda; Herman, William H; Gilboa, Suzanne M

    2015-01-01

    Preconception care for women with diabetes can reduce the occurrence of adverse birth outcomes. We aimed to estimate the preconception care (PCC)-preventable health and cost burden of adverse birth outcomes associated with diagnosed and undiagnosed pregestational diabetes mellitus (PGDM) in the United States. Among women of reproductive age (15-44 years), we estimated age- and race/ethnicity-specific prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes. We applied age and race/ethnicity-specific pregnancy rates, estimates of the risk reduction from PCC for 3 adverse birth outcomes (preterm birth, major birth defects, and perinatal mortality), and lifetime medical and lost productivity costs for children with those outcomes. Using a probabilistic model, we estimated the reduction in adverse birth outcomes and costs associated with universal PCC compared with no PCC among women with PGDM. We did not assess maternal outcomes and associated costs. We estimated 2.2% of US births are to women with PGDM. Among women with diagnosed diabetes, universal PCC might avert 8397 (90% prediction interval [PI], 5252-11,449) preterm deliveries, 3725 (90% PI, 3259-4126) birth defects, and 1872 (90% PI, 1239-2415) perinatal deaths annually. Associated discounted lifetime costs averted for the affected cohort of children could be as high as $4.3 billion (90% PI, 3.4-5.1 billion) (2012 US dollars). PCC among women with undiagnosed diabetes could yield an additional $1.2 billion (90% PI, 951 million-1.4 billion) in averted cost. Results suggest a substantial health and cost burden associated with PGDM that could be prevented by universal PCC, which might offset the cost of providing such care. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  10. The production of fuels and chemicals from food processing wastes & cellulosics. Final research report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dale, M.C.; Okos, M.; Burgos, N. [and others

    1997-06-15

    High strength food wastes of about 15-20 billion pounds solids are produced annually by US food producers. Low strength food wastes of 5-10 billion pounds/yr. are produced. Estimates of the various components of these waste streams are shown in Table 1. Waste paper/lignocellulosic crops could produce 2 to 5 billion gallons of ethanol per year or other valuable chemicals. Current oil imports cost the US about $60 billion dollars/yr. in out-going balance of trade costs. Many organic chemicals that are currently derived from petroleum can be produced through fermentation processes. Petroleum based processes have been preferred over biotechnology processes because they were typically cheaper, easier, and more efficient. The technologies developed during the course of this project are designed to allow fermentation based chemicals and fuels to compete favorably with petroleum based chemicals. Our goals in this project have been to: (1) develop continuous fermentation processes as compared to batch operations; (2) combine separation of the product with the fermentation, thus accomplishing the twin goals of achieving a purified product from a fermentation broth and speeding the conversion of substrate to product in the fermentation broth; (3) utilize food or cellulosic waste streams which pose a current cost or disposal problem as compared to high cost grains or sugar substrates; (4) develop low energy recovery methods for fermentation products; and finally (5) demonstrate successful lab scale technologies on a pilot/production scale and try to commercialize the processes. The scale of the wastes force consideration of {open_quotes}bulk commodity{close_quotes} type products if a high fraction of the wastes are to be utilized.

  11. Tendances Carbone no. 75 'The CDM: let's not discard a tool that raised over US$ 200 billion'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shishlov, Igor

    2012-01-01

    Among the publications of CDC Climat Research, 'Tendances Carbone' bulletin specifically studies the developments of the European market for CO 2 allowances. This issue addresses the following points: Everyone wonders which miraculous instrument will enable the Green Climate Fund to mobilize the pledged US$100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020. Developing countries are now asking for interim targets to quench their mounting skepticism that this level of commitment can be reached. In the meantime paradoxically, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) - a tool that managed to leverage over US$200 billion of mostly private investment for climate change mitigation - is left dying without much regret

  12. Marine Phytophthora species can hamper conservation and restoration of vegetated coastal ecosystems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Govers, Laura L.; Man in 't Veld, Willem A.; Meffert, Johan P.; Bouma, Tjeerd J.; van Rijswick, Patricia C. J.; Heusinkveld, Jannes H. T.; Orth, Robert J.; van Katwijk, Marieke M.; van der Heide, Tjisse

    2016-01-01

    Phytophthora species are potent pathogens that can devastate terrestrial plants, causing billions of dollars of damage yearly to agricultural crops and harming fragile ecosystems worldwide. Yet, virtually nothing is known about the distribution and pathogenicity of their marine relatives. This is

  13. SWMM LID Module Validation Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a computational code heavily relied upon by industry for the simulation of wastewater and stormwater infrastructure performance. Many municipalities are relying on SWMM results to design multi-billion-dollar, multi-decade infrastructu...

  14. Addingtons' success

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanda, A P

    1989-04-01

    A profile of Addington Resources, Inc, is presented. The company started in 1972, and due to astute marketing strategies, entrepreneurship, an aggressive acquisition program and innovative management, it is currently on the threshold of becoming a billion dollar corporation. 4 figs.

  15. Efficient method for extracting DNA of parasites causing bovine babesiosis from tick vectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    The southern cattle tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, is an economically important pest costing animal agriculture billions of dollars worldwide. This research focuses on a comparison of three different tick DNA extraction methods: phenol-chloroform extraction (method 1), a modified version...

  16. Invasive Plants on Rangelands: a Global Threat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Invasive plant species are spreading and invading rangelands at an unprecedented rate costing ranchers billions of dollars to control invasive plants each year. In its simplest form, the invasion process has four primary stages, including introduction, establishment, spread and colonization. Th...

  17. Atom smash

    CERN Multimedia

    1993-01-01

    Congress has killed the SSC project after spending some 2 billion dollars digging the tunnel to house it. Europeans ministers should now find a way to tactfully invite the Americans to back the proposed LHC project in Geneva (1/2 page).

  18. Forestry-related pathways for the movement of exotic plant pests into and within the greater Caribbean region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leslie Newton; Heike Meissner; Andrea. Lemay

    2011-01-01

    Forests of the Greater Caribbean Region (GCR) are important ecologically and economically. These unique ecosystems are under increasing pressure from exotic pests, which may cause extensive environmental damage and cost billions of dollars in control programs, lost production, and forest restoration.

  19. Efficient Aviation Security: Strengthening the Analytic Foundation for Making Air Transportation Security Decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    tenfold to account for uninsured and other costs unaccounted for, the result would be in the low billions of dollars rather than tens of billions...Aviation Security GAO—See U.S. Government Accountability Office or, prior to 2004, U.S. General Accounting Office. Ghylin, K. M., C. G . Drury , and A...outweigh their costs . This document seeks to contribute to the national debate on avia- tion security by examining a set of issues that are either

  20. Profitability of Technical Currency Speculation. The Case of Yen-Dollar Trading 1976-2007

    OpenAIRE

    Schulmeister, Stephan

    2008-01-01

    The paper investigates the profitability of 1,024 moving average and momentum models and their components in the yen-dollar market. It turns out that all models would have been profitable between 1976 and 2007. The models produce more single losses than single profits. At the same time, the size of the single profits is on average much higher than the size of single losses because profitable positions last two to six times longer than unprofitable positions. Hence, the profitability of techni...

  1. De Facto Exchange Rate Regime in Korea: Is It Still A Dollar Peg?

    OpenAIRE

    Han Geun Moon

    2002-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to test the common view on the actual exchange rate regime, using very simple but intuitive OLS regression models based on Frankel and Wei's work (1994). The results show that, firstly, East Asian countries including Korea have returned to the dollar peg or managed floating after the restoration from the crisis, as they did during the pre-crisis period. The results also show that Korea has substantially changed her exchange rate regime since January 2001, but othe...

  2. Just the facts: 1999 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    TransAlta is an international electric energy company with about $ 6 billion in assets, and a generation capacity of more than 8,000 megawatts. In addition to about 4,500 megawatts of coal-fired and hydroelectric generation in Alberta, the company is closing a 1,340 megawatt acquisition in the United States and has almost 2,200 megawatts of gas-fired power projects operating or in development in North America, Mexico and Australia. This annual report reviews progress made by the corporation during 1999. Notable among these achievements were the acquisition of the 1,340 megawatts power generating plant and coal mine in Washington State; disposing of the less profitable Alberta-based distribution and retail businesses, and businesses with unacceptable risk profile in New Zealand; new profitable power purchase arrangements which will preserve the value of Alberta-based generation assets in a more competitive market; and transition into Y2K with no interruptions in service to customers. The Corporation intends to continue building on its core strengths as a low-cost operator of generation and transmission assets. The short-term target (2002) is 10,000 megawatts, while the longer term goal (2005 to 2007) is to reach 15,000 megawatts of generating capacity, focusing on growth in Canada, the United States and Mexico, as well as Australia. In 1999 the Corporation provided a 10.1 per cent return on investment to shareholders; it expects to do as well in the year 2000 and beyond. A complete audited financial statement is incorporated into the annual report

  3. Mars’ First Billion Years: Key Findings, Key Unsolved Paradoxes, and Future Exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehlmann, Bethany

    2017-10-01

    In the evolution of terrestrial planets, the first billion years are the period most shrouded in mystery: How vigorous is early atmospheric loss? How do planetary climates respond to a brightening sun? When and how are plate tectonic recycling processes initiated? How do voluminous volcanism and heavy impact bombardment influence the composition of the atmosphere? Under what conditions might life arise? Looking outward to terrestrial planets around other stars, the record from Venus, Earth and Mars in this solar system is crucial for developing models of physical can chemical processes. Of these three worlds, Mars provides the longest record of planetary evolution from the first billion years, comprising >50% of exposed geologic units, which are only lightly overprinted by later processes.Orbital observations of the last decade have revealed abundant evidence for surface waters in the form of lakes, valley networks, and evidence of chemically open-system near-surface weathering. Groundwaters at temperatures ranging from just above freezing to hydrothermal have also left a rich record of process in the mineralogical record. A rsuite of environments - similar in diversity to Earth’s - has been discovered on Mars with water pH, temperature, redox, and chemistries varying in space and time.Here, I will focus on the consequences of the aqueous alteration of the Martian crust on the composition of the atmosphere based on recent work studying aspects of the volatile budget (Usui et al., 2015; Edwards & Ehlmann, 2015; Hu et al., 2015; Jakosky et al., 2017, Wordsworth et al., 2017, and Ehlmann, in prep.). The solid crust and mantle of Mars act as volatile reservoirs and volatile sources through volcanism, mineral precipitation, and release of gases. We examine the extent to which the budget is understood or ill-understood for hydrogen and carbon, and associated phases H2O, CO2, and CH4. Additionally, I identify some key stratigraphies where a combination of focused in

  4. 77 FR 840 - Pricing for 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters® Products and American Eagle Silver Dollars

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Pricing for 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters[supreg] Products and American Eagle Silver Dollars AGENCY: United States Mint, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The United States Mint is announcing 2012 pricing for America the Beautiful...

  5. Galaxy evolution. Evidence for mature bulges and an inside-out quenching phase 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tacchella, S; Carollo, C M; Renzini, A; Förster Schreiber, N M; Lang, P; Wuyts, S; Cresci, G; Dekel, A; Genzel, R; Lilly, S J; Mancini, C; Newman, S; Onodera, M; Shapley, A; Tacconi, L; Woo, J; Zamorani, G

    2015-04-17

    Most present-day galaxies with stellar masses ≥10(11) solar masses show no ongoing star formation and are dense spheroids. Ten billion years ago, similarly massive galaxies were typically forming stars at rates of hundreds solar masses per year. It is debated how star formation ceased, on which time scales, and how this "quenching" relates to the emergence of dense spheroids. We measured stellar mass and star-formation rate surface density distributions in star-forming galaxies at redshift 2.2 with ~1-kiloparsec resolution. We find that, in the most massive galaxies, star formation is quenched from the inside out, on time scales less than 1 billion years in the inner regions, up to a few billion years in the outer disks. These galaxies sustain high star-formation activity at large radii, while hosting fully grown and already quenched bulges in their cores. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  6. A field like today's? The strength of the geomagnetic field 1.1 billion years ago

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sprain, Courtney J.; Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L.; Fairchild, Luke M.; Gaastra, Kevin

    2018-06-01

    Palaeomagnetic data from ancient rocks are one of the few types of observational data that can be brought to bear on the long-term evolution of Earth's core. A recent compilation of palaeointensity estimates from throughout Earth history has been interpreted to indicate that Earth's magnetic field strength increased in the Mesoproterozoic (between 1.5 and 1.0 billion years ago), with this increase taken to mark the onset of inner core nucleation. However, much of the data within the Precambrian palaeointensity database are from Thellier-style experiments with non-ideal behaviour that manifests in results such as double-slope Arai plots. Choices made when interpreting these data may significantly change conclusions about long-term trends in the intensity of Earth's geomagnetic field. In this study, we present new palaeointensity results from volcanics of the ˜1.1-billion-year-old North American Midcontinent Rift. While most of the results exhibit non-ideal double-slope or sagging behaviour in Arai plots, some flows have more ideal single-slope behaviour leading to palaeointensity estimates that may be some of the best constraints on the strength of Earth's field for this time. Taken together, new and previously published palaeointensity data from the Midcontinent Rift yield a median field strength estimate of 56.0 ZAm2—very similar to the median for the past 300 Myr. These field strength estimates are distinctly higher than those for the preceding billion years (Ga) after excluding ca. 1.3 Ga data that may be biased by non-ideal behaviour—consistent with an increase in field strength in the late Mesoproterozoic. However, given that ˜90 per cent of palaeointensity estimates from 1.1 to 0.5 Ga come from the Midcontinent Rift, it is difficult to evaluate whether these high values relative to those estimated for the preceding billion years are the result of a stepwise, sustained increase in dipole moment. Regardless, palaeointensity estimates from the Midcontinent

  7. Cost-effectiveness of annual versus biennial screening mammography for women with high mammographic breast density.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pataky, Reka; Ismail, Zahra; Coldman, Andrew J; Elwood, Mark; Gelmon, Karen; Hedden, Lindsay; Hislop, Greg; Kan, Lisa; McCoy, Bonnie; Olivotto, Ivo A; Peacock, Stuart

    2014-12-01

    The sensitivity of screening mammography is much lower among women who have dense breast tissue, compared with women who have largely fatty breasts, and they are also at much higher risk of developing the disease. Increasing mammography screening frequency from biennially to annually has been suggested as a policy option to address the elevated risk in this population. The purpose of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of annual versus biennial screening mammography among women aged 50-79 with dense breast tissue. A Markov model was constructed based on screening, diagnostic, and treatment pathways for the population-based screening and cancer care programme in British Columbia, Canada. Model probabilities and screening costs were calculated from screening programme data. Costs for breast cancer treatment were calculated from treatment data, and utility values were obtained from the literature. Incremental cost-effectiveness was expressed as cost per quality adjusted life year (QALY), and probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted. Compared with biennial screening, annual screening generated an additional 0.0014 QALYs (95% CI: -0.0480-0.0359) at a cost of $819 ($ = Canadian dollars) per patient (95% CI: 506-1185), resulting in an incremental cost effectiveness ratio of $565,912/QALY. Annual screening had a 37.5% probability of being cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000/QALY. There is considerable uncertainty about the incremental cost-effectiveness of annual mammography. Further research on the comparative effectiveness of screening strategies for women with high mammographic breast density is warranted, particularly as digital mammography and density measurement become more widespread, before cost-effectiveness can be reevaluated. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  8. Decreasing Stress and Burnout in Nurses: Efficacy of Blended Learning With Stress Management and Resilience Training Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magtibay, Donna L; Chesak, Sherry S; Coughlin, Kevin; Sood, Amit

    The study's purpose was to assess efficacy of blended learning to decrease stress and burnout among nurses through use of the Stress Management and Resiliency Training (SMART) program. Job-related stress in nurses leads to high rates of burnout, compromises patient care, and costs US healthcare organizations billions of dollars annually. Many mindfulness and resiliency programs are taught in a format that limits nurses' attendance. Consistent with blended learning, participants chose the format that met their learning styles and goals; Web-based, independent reading, facilitated discussions. The end points of mindfulness, resilience, anxiety, stress, happiness, and burnout were measured at baseline, postintervention, and 3-month follow-up to examine within-group differences. Findings showed statistically significant, clinically meaningful decreases in anxiety, stress, and burnout and increases in resilience, happiness, and mindfulness. Results support blended learning using SMART as a strategy to increase access to resiliency training for nursing staff.

  9. Quality and efficiency successes leveraging IT and new processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaiken, Barry P; Christian, Charles E; Johnson, Liz

    2007-01-01

    Today, healthcare annually invests billions of dollars in information technology, including clinical systems, electronic medical records and interoperability platforms. While continued investment and parallel development of standards are critical to secure exponential benefits from clinical information technology, intelligent and creative redesign of processes through path innovation is necessary to deliver meaningful value. Reports from two organizations included in this report review the steps taken to reinvent clinical processes that best leverage information technology to deliver safer and more efficient care. Good Samaritan Hospital, Vincennes, Indiana, implemented electronic charting, point-of-care bar coding of medications prior to administration, and integrated clinical documentation for nursing, laboratory, radiology and pharmacy. Tenet Healthcare, during its implementation and deployment of multiple clinical systems across several hospitals, focused on planning that included team-based process redesign. In addition, Tenet constructed valuable and measurable metrics that link outcomes with its strategic goals.

  10. DNA based identification of medicinal materials in Chinese patent medicines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Rong; Dong, Juan; Cui, Xin; Wang, Wei; Yasmeen, Afshan; Deng, Yun; Zeng, Xiaomao; Tang, Zhuo

    2012-12-01

    Chinese patent medicines (CPM) are highly processed and easy to use Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The market for CPM in China alone is tens of billions US dollars annually and some of the CPM are also used as dietary supplements for health augmentation in the western countries. But concerns continue to be raised about the legality, safety and efficacy of many popular CPM. Here we report a pioneer work of applying molecular biotechnology to the identification of CPM, particularly well refined oral liquids and injections. What's more, this PCR based method can also be developed to an easy to use and cost-effective visual chip by taking advantage of G-quadruplex based Hybridization Chain Reaction. This study demonstrates that DNA identification of specific Medicinal materials is an efficient and cost-effective way to audit highly processed CPM and will assist in monitoring their quality and legality.

  11. Positive-Strand RNA Viruses Infecting the Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steven M. Valles

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta and S. richteri were introduced into the USA between 1918 and 1945. Since that time, they have expanded their USA range to include some 138 million hectares. Their introduction has had significant economic consequences with costs associated with damage and control efforts estimated at 6 billion dollars annually in the USA. The general consensus of entomologists and myrmecologists is that permanent, sustainable control of these ants in the USA will likely depend on self-sustaining biological control agents. A metagenomics approach successfully resulted in discovery of three viruses infecting S. invicta. Solenopsis invicta virus 1 (SINV-1, SINV-2, and SINV-3 are all positive, single-stranded RNA viruses and represent the first viral discoveries in any ant species. Molecular characterization, host relationships, and potential development and use of SINV-1, SINV-2, and SINV-3 as biopesticides are discussed.

  12. Telemedicine as an innovative model for rebuilding medical systems in developing countries through multipartnership collaboration: the case of Albania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latifi, Rifat; Dasho, Erion; Shatri, Zhaneta; Tilley, Elizabeth; Osmani, Kalterina L; Doarn, Charles R; Dogjani, Agron; Olldashi, Fatos; Koçiraj, Agim; Merrell, Ronald C

    2015-06-01

    The U.S. Government and other developed nations provide billions of dollars annually in relief assistance to countries around the world. The long-term benefits of this aid, however, are often difficult to elucidate. The aim of this article is to present a model of a multipartnership collaboration among U.S. governmental, nongovernmental organizations, and academia to rebuild medical systems using telemedicine as a sustainable model of foreign aid. The International Virtual e-Hospital implemented the "initiate-build-operate-transfer" strategy to establish an effective telemedicine system in Albania that includes the National Telemedicine Center and 12 regional telemedicine centers. This nationwide telemedicine network has active clinical programs, virtual educational programs, and an electronic library that has substantially improved the access to care while advancing medical education. We propose that telemedicine is an optimal, sustainable, low-cost model for rebuilding medical systems of developing countries when implemented through a multipartnership approach.

  13. Analysis of Maize versus Ethanol Production in Nebraska, United States and International Agricultural Droughts: Lessons for Global Food Security

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boken, V.; Tenkorang, F.

    2012-04-01

    Nebraska is one of the eight main corn (maize) belt states of the United States. Maize is the major crop of Nebraska with an average annual production of about 38 million tons (about 12% of U.S. production), which contributes billions of dollars to the state's economy. The yield of maize has increased significantly over the past century - from 1.6 t/ha in 1900 to 10.4 t/ha in 2010. While the majority of maize (about 40%) is currently used for animal feed and ethanol production, only about six percent is exported. It is estimated that about one billion people accounting for about 15% population of the world live in chronic hunger because of low agricultural productivity and drought. Most of these people depend on the U.S. for grains including maize. If a greater quantity of maize is diverted to ethanol production, considerably less quantity of maize would be available for export to developing countries where it could be used for human consumption and to mitigate hunger and improve food security. This paper presents analysis of maize production in Nebraska for the past three decades and examines how its commercialization for ethanol production has affected its exports in the face of drought at an international level.

  14. The alarming reality of medication error: a patient case and review of Pennsylvania and National data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva, Brianna A; Krishnamurthy, Mahesh

    2016-01-01

    A 71-year-old female accidentally received thiothixene (Navane), an antipsychotic, instead of her anti-hypertensive medication amlodipine (Norvasc) for 3 months. She sustained physical and psychological harm including ambulatory dysfunction, tremors, mood swings, and personality changes. Despite the many opportunities for intervention, multiple health care providers overlooked her symptoms. Errors occurred at multiple care levels, including prescribing, initial pharmacy dispensation, hospitalization, and subsequent outpatient follow-up. This exemplifies the Swiss Cheese Model of how errors can occur within a system. Adverse drug events (ADEs) account for more than 3.5 million physician office visits and 1 million emergency department visits each year. It is believed that preventable medication errors impact more than 7 million patients and cost almost $21 billion annually across all care settings. About 30% of hospitalized patients have at least one discrepancy on discharge medication reconciliation. Medication errors and ADEs are an underreported burden that adversely affects patients, providers, and the economy. Medication reconciliation including an 'indication review' for each prescription is an important aspect of patient safety. The decreasing frequency of pill bottle reviews, suboptimal patient education, and poor communication between healthcare providers are factors that threaten patient safety. Medication error and ADEs cost billions of health care dollars and are detrimental to the provider-patient relationship.

  15. US military expenditures to protect the use of Persian Gulf oil for motor vehicles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Delucchi, Mark A. [Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 (United States); Murphy, James J. [Department of Economics, University of Alaska-Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99501 (United States)

    2008-06-15

    Analyses of the full social cost of motor vehicle use in the US often estimate an 'oil import premium' that includes the military cost of defending oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. Estimates of this cost have ranged from essentially zero to upwards of a $1 per gallon (about $0.25 per liter). In this paper, we attempt to narrow this range, by carefully answering the question: ''If the US highway transportation sector did not use oil, how much would the US federal government reduce its military commitment in the Persian Gulf?'' We work towards our answer in five steps, accounting for interests not related to oil, the interests of other oil-consuming countries, the interests of producers apart from the interests of consumers, and the interests of non-highway users of oil. We estimate that were there no oil in the Persian Gulf, then US combined peacetime and wartime defense expenditures might be reduced in the long run by roughly $27-$73 billion per year (in 2004 dollars), of which roughly $6-$25 billion annually ($0.03-$0.15 per gallon or $0.01-$0.04 per liter) is attributable to motor-vehicle use. (author)

  16. Uranium enrichment management review. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ellett, J.D.; Rieke, W.B.; Simpson, J.W.; Sullivan, P.E.

    1980-01-01

    The uranium enrichment enterprise of the US Department of Energy (DOE) provides enriched nuclear fuel for private and government utilities domestically and abroad. The enterprise, in effect, provides a commercial service and represents a signficant business operation within the US government: more than $1 billion in revenues annually and future capital expenditures estimated at several billions of dollars. As a result, in May 1980, the Assistant Secretary for Resource Applications within DOE requested that a group of experienced business executives be assembled to review the operation, financing, and management of the uranium enrichment enterprise as a basis for advising the Secretary of Energy. The review group was specifically asked to focus on the management activities to which sound business practices could be applied. The group developed findings and recommendations in six areas: management of operations and construction; long-range planning; marketing of enrichment services; financial management; research and development; and general management. The chapters of this report present first the management review group's recommendations in the six areas evaluated and then the findings and issues in each area. An appendix provides the group's calendar of meetings. A list of major reference sources used in the course of the study is also included. 12 references

  17. Annual report 2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    The Annual Report reviews the results of the Agency's programme according to the three 'pillars' of technology, safety and verification. The main part of the report, starting on page 9, generally follows the programme structure as it applied in 2003. The introductory chapter, seeks to provide a thematic analysis, based on the three pillars, of the Agency's activities within the overall context of notable developments during the year. Additional information on specific issues can be found in the latest editions of the Agency's Nuclear Safety Review, Nuclear Technology Review and Technical Co-operation Report. This material is also available on the Agency's WorldAtom web site (http://www.iaea.org/Worldatom/Documents/Anrep/Anrep2003/). All sums of money are expressed in United States dollars. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The topics covered in the chapter related to Technology are: Nuclear Power; Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Material Technologies; Analysis for Sustainable Energy Development; Nuclear Science; Food and Agriculture; Human Health; Water Resources; Protection of the Marine and Terrestrial Environments; Physical and Chemical Applications. Topics related to safety discussed in this report are: Safety of Nuclear Installations; Radiation Safety; Management of Radioactive Waste; Security of Material. Topics related to Verification are Safeguards and Verification in Iraq Pursuant to UNSC Resolutions. A separate chapter is devoted to Management of Technical Cooperation for Development

  18. Annual report 2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    The Annual Report reviews the results of the Agency's programme according to the three 'pillars' of technology, safety and verification. The main part of the report, starting on page 9, generally follows the programme structure as it applied in 2003. The introductory chapter, seeks to provide a thematic analysis, based on the three pillars, of the Agency's activities within the overall context of notable developments during the year. Additional information on specific issues can be found in the latest editions of the Agency's Nuclear Safety Review, Nuclear Technology Review and Technical Co-operation Report. This material is also available on the Agency's WorldAtom web site http://www.iaea.org/Worldatom/Documents/Anrep/Anrep2003/). All sums of money are expressed in United States dollars. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The topics covered in the chapter related to Technology are: Nuclear Power; Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Material Technologies; Analysis for Sustainable Energy Development; Nuclear Science; Food and Agriculture; Human Health; Water Resources; Protection of the Marine and Terrestrial Environments; Physical and Chemical Applications. Topics related to safety discussed in this report are: Safety of Nuclear Installations; Radiation Safety; Management of Radioactive Waste; Security of Material. Topics related to Verification are Safeguards and Verification in Iraq Pursuant to UNSC Resolutions. A separate chapter is devoted to Management of Technical Cooperation for Development

  19. The business case for One Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grace, Delia

    2014-04-23

    This article outlines a pathway to develop the business case for One Health. It describes the origin and development of One Health and then identifies five potential areas where One Health can add value and reduce costs. These are: (1) sharing health resources between the medical and veterinary sectors; (2) controlling zoonoses in animal reservoirs; (3) early detection and response to emerging diseases; (4) prevention of pandemics; and (5) generating insights and adding value to health research and development. Examples are given for each category along with preliminary estimates of the potential savings from adopting the One Health approach. The literature reviewed suggests that one dollar invested in One Health can generate five dollars worth of benefits and a global investment of US$25 billion over 10 years could generate benefits worth at least US$125 billion. Conservation implications: the time has come to make the bigger case for massive investment in One Health in order to transform the management of neglected and emerging zoonoses and to save the lives of millions of people and hundreds of millions of animals whose production supports and nourishes billions of impoverished people per annum.

  20. Testing of SWMM Model’s LID Modules

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a computational code heavily relied upon by industry for the simulation of wastewater and stormwater infrastructure performance to . design and build multi-billion-dollar, multi-decade infrastructure upgrades. Since the 1970’s, EPA a...

  1. Book review: Systematics of Cyst Nematodes (Nematoda: Heteroderinae)

    Science.gov (United States)

    The cyst nematodes are an important group of plant-parasitic nematodes that cause billions of dollars in economic damage to crops every year. This article reviews a recently published, two-volume monograph that describes the morphological and molecular characteristics of these agriculturally signif...

  2. A Future Outlook for Women Executives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1988-04-01

    revive Kentucky Fried Chicken . Maryann Schneider, 40; Beneficial Corp., Wilmington, Del.; senior vice-president for planning and administration; KS...Marion 0. Sandler -- co-chairman of the Golden West Financial Corporation, which has $34 billion dollars in assets, and Wendy Luscombe -- President of Pan

  3. Beyond Big Science

    CERN Multimedia

    Boyle, Alan

    2007-01-01

    "Billion-dollar science projects end up being about much more than the science, whether we're talking about particle physics, or fusion research, or the international space station, or missions to the moon and beyond, or the next-generation radio telescope." (3 pages)

  4. Why women's health business development?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuckerman, Alan M; Markham, Christine H

    2006-10-01

    Studies show that women are the primary healthcare decision makers in this country; 66 cents of every healthcare dollar is spent on or by women. The Department of Health and Human Services will spend $8.3 billion on women's health in 2006.

  5. Report on financing the new model of family medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spann, Stephen J

    2004-12-02

    family physicians who maintain their current number of work hours. Alternatively, physicians could choose to decrease their work hours by 12% and maintain their current compensation. This result is sensitive to physician practice group size. The societal level financial model shows that modifications in the current reimbursement system could lead to further improvements in compensation for family physicians practicing the New Model of care. Reimbursement for e-visits and chronic disease management could further increase total annual compensation to 229,849 dollars for prototypical family physicians maintaining their current number of work hours. The widespread introduction of quality-based physician incentive bonus payments similar to some current programs that have been implemented on a limited basis could further increase total annual compensation up to 254,500 dollars. The adoption of a mixed reimbursement model, which would add an annual per-patient fee, a chronic care bonus, and an overall performance bonus to the current reimbursement system, could increase total annual compensation for the prototypical family physician continuing the current number of hours worked to as much as 277,800 dollars, a 66% increase above current compensation levels. The cost of transition to the New Model is estimated to range from 23,442 dollars to 90,650 dollars per physician, depending on the assumed magnitude of productivity loss associated with implementing an electronic health record. The financial impact of enhanced use of primary care on the costs of health care in the United States was estimated. If every American used a primary care physician as their usual source of care, health care costs would likely decrease by 5.6%, resulting in national savings of 67 billion dollars per year, with an improvement in the quality of the health care provided. Family physicians could use New Model efficiency to increase compensation or to reduce work time. There are alternative reimbursement

  6. Plate tectonic influences on Earth's baseline climate: a 2 billion-year record

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenzie, R.; Evans, D. A.; Eglington, B. M.; Planavsky, N.

    2017-12-01

    Plate tectonic processes present strong influences on the long-term carbon cycle, and thus global climate. Here we utilize multiple aspects of the geologic record to assess the role plate tectonics has played in driving major icehouse­-greenhouse transitions for the past 2 billion years. Refined paleogeographic reconstructions allow us to quantitatively assess the area of continents in various latitudinal belts throughout this interval. From these data we are able to test the hypothesis that concentrating continental masses in low-latitudes will drive cooler climates due to increased silicate weathering. We further superimpose records of events that are believed to increase the `weatherability' of the crust, such as large igneous province emplacement, island-arc accretion, and continental collisional belts. Climatic records are then compared with global detrital zircon U-Pb age data as a proxy for continental magmatism. Our results show a consistent relationship between zircon-generating magmatism and icehouse-greenhouse transitions for > 2 billion years, whereas paleogeographic records show no clear consistent relationship between continental configurations and prominent climate transitions. Volcanic outgassing appears to exert a first-order control on major baseline climatic shifts; however, paleogeography likely plays an important role in the magnitude of this change. Notably, climatic extremes, such as the Cryogenian icehouse, occur during a combination of reduce volcanism and end-member concentrations of low-latitudinal continents.

  7. Valuing the human health damage caused by the fraud of Volkswagen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oldenkamp, Rik; van Zelm, Rosalie; Huijbregts, Mark A J

    2016-05-01

    Recently it became known that Volkswagen Group has been cheating with emission tests for diesel engines over the last six years, resulting in on-road emissions vastly exceeding legal standards for nitrogen oxides in Europe and the United States. Here, we provide an estimate of the public health consequences caused by this fraud. From 2009 to 2015, approximately nine million fraudulent Volkswagen cars, as sold in Europe and the US, emitted a cumulative amount of 526 ktonnes of nitrogen oxides more than was legally allowed. These fraudulent emissions are associated with 45 thousand disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and a value of life lost of at least 39 billion US dollars, which is approximately 5.3 times larger than the 7.3 billion US dollars that Volkswagen Group has set aside to cover worldwide costs related to the diesel emissions scandal. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. EDF group - Reference Document, Annual Financial Report 2011

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-01-01

    The EDF group is an integrated energy company with a presence in a wide range of electricity-related businesses: nuclear, renewable and fossil-fuel fired energy production, transmission, distribution, marketing as well as energy management and efficiency services, along with energy trading. It is France's leading electricity operator and has a strong position in Europe (United Kingdom, Italy, countries in Central and Eastern Europe), making it one of the world's leading electrical providers as well as a recognized player in the gas industry. With a worldwide net installed capacity of 134.6 GWe as of 31 December 2011 (124.2 GWe in Europe) and global energy generation of 628.2 TWh, the Group has one of the largest generating capacities of all the major worldwide energy corporations with the lowest level of CO 2 emissions per KWh generated due to the proportion of nuclear, hydroelectric power and other renewable energies in its generation mix. The EDF group supplies electricity, gas and associated services to more than 37.7 million customer accounts worldwide (including nearly 27.9 million in France). The Group's businesses reflect its adoption of a model aimed at finding the best balance between French and international activities, competitive and regulated operations and based on an upstream-downstream integration. In 2011, the Group's consolidated sales revenues was 65.3 billion Euros, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization came to 14.8 billion Euros, and net income excluding non-recurring items stood at 3.5 billion Euros. This document is EDF Group's Reference Document and Annual Financial Report for the year 2012. It contains information about: the Group activities, risk factors, Investments, Business, Strategy, Organisational charts, Property, plant and equipment, Operating and financial review, Cash flows and capital, Research and development, patents and licenses, Information on trends, Financial outlook

  9. The future of sustainable food production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ronald, Pamela; Adamchak, Raoul

    2010-03-01

    By the year 2050, the number of people on Earth is expected to increase from the current 6.7 to 9.2 billion. What is the best way to produce enough food to feed all these people? If we continue with current farming practices, vast amounts of wilderness will be lost, millions of birds and billions of insects will die, farm workers will be at increased risk for disease, and the public will lose billions of dollars as a consequence of environmental degradation. Clearly, there must be a better way to resolve the need for increased food production with the desire to minimize its impact.

  10. Fairer flying: an international air travel levy for adaptation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chambwera, Muyeye; Muller, Benito

    2008-11-15

    For the world's poorest countries and communities, adaptation to climate change is urgently needed, but costly: estimates run into tens of billions of dollars a year. Given the shortfall in current international adaptation funding, how can resources for the developing world be raised? An adaptation levy on international air travel could help fill the gap. A small per-trip payment by passengers could contribute US$8 billion to US$10 billion a year towards adaptation. Similar schemes in France and elsewhere show that this kind of ethical solidarity and 'polluter pays' approach would be simple to implement in practical and institutional terms.

  11. Annual report 1984

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-01-01

    After receiving a grant of 5.8 million dollars for an energy compressor system, a pulse stretcher ring and a new magnetic spectrometer, the Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory devoted itself mainly to an upgrading program in 1984. This report describes the project as well as the physics carried out to maintain contact with experiments

  12. Investing for the future : Athabasca Oil Sands Trust 1998 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    The Athabasca Oil Sand Trust was created in 1995 when a subsidiary of the Trust, Athabasca Oil Sands Investment Inc., acquired Alberta's 11.74 per cent working interest in the Syncrude Project, which is a joint venture involved in the mining and upgrading of bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands. The Trust is a closed-end investment trust which was created to provide an opportunity for direct public investment in Syncrude and oil sands development in northern Alberta. Syncrude, produced a record 76.7 million barrels of Syncrude Sweet Blend (SSB), and shipped its one billionth barrel on April 16, 1998. Another key achievement in 1998 was the investment the Syncrude Joint Venture Partners of almost half a billion dollars to maintain Syncrude's operations and pursue the Business Plan growth targets outlined in last year's report. By aggressively pursuing this capital investment program despite the current low oil prices, the Syncrude Joint Venture Partners expect to double SSB production to 155 million barrels per year by 2007. The Athabasca Trust's share of these capital expenditures to fuel the projected growth in production is about $ 70 million this year and the next. The report provides operating statistics on production, financial highlights and consolidated balance sheets for 1998, including operating expenditures, capital expenditures, and the usual notes to the consolidated financial statement. 10 tabs., 2 figs

  13. Unlocking the EUR53 billion savings from smart meters in the EU. How increasing the adoption of dynamic tariffs could make or break the EU's smart grid investment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faruqui, Ahmad; Hledik, Ryan; Harris, Dan

    2010-01-01

    We estimate the cost of installing smart meters in the EU to be EUR51 billion, and that operational savings will be worth between EUR26 and 41 billion, leaving a gap of EUR10-25 billion between benefits and costs. Smart meters can fill this gap because they enable the provision of dynamic pricing, which reduces peak demand and lowers the need for building and running expensive peaking power plants. The present value of savings in peaking infrastructure could be as high as EUR67 billion for the EU if policy-makers can overcome barriers to consumers adopting dynamic tariffs, but only EUR14 billion otherwise. We outline a number of ways to increase the adoption of dynamic tariffs. (author)

  14. Assessing the Role of User Computer Self-Efficacy, Cybersecurity Countermeasures Awareness, and Cybersecurity Skills toward Computer Misuse Intention at Government Agencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Min Suk

    2013-01-01

    Cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities are causing substantial financial losses for governments and organizations all over the world. Cybersecurity criminals are stealing more than one billion dollars from banks every year by exploiting vulnerabilities caused by bank users' computer misuse. Cybersecurity breaches are threatening the common…

  15. Lime application to manure as a management strategy for Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arrival of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) in 2013 resulted in billions of dollars in losses in the United States. Currently, increased on-farm biosecurity and mortality management help limit the virus spread. Managing PEDv infections requires mandatory reporting to the United States Depart...

  16. High Net Worth Individuals philanthropy trends : A comparative study of France and the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smeets, Paul

    2017-01-01

    Charitable giving is of great value to society. In particular, wealthy individuals and their families have the ability to make a significant impact on society. Many research papers and wealth briefings try to understand the multi-billion dollar global charitable giving market. These studies have

  17. The conundrum of chemical boll weevil control in subtropical regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    The boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a tropical Mesoamerican insect that invaded the United States in 1893, spreading across the Cotton Belt as the key pest of cotton and causing billions of dollars in yield losses and insecticide-based control efforts;...

  18. Agriculture urbaine : Rosario, en Argentine, récolte les fruits de ses ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    7 oct. 2010 ... Greening South America, one business at a time. Brand-name billion-dollar multinationals tend to get the lion's share of attention when the topic of environmentally-friendly industry comes up. View moreGreening South America, one business at a time ...

  19. Human Trafficking. Ministering to The 'Invisible' Victim.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scanlon, Colleen; Krausa, Laura

    2016-07-01

    Human trafficking is modern-day slavery - an insidious, criminal industry that gener- ates billions of dollars in labor trafficking alone. It knows no boundary of continent, country, race or class; it is a shattering, impartial predator that robs individuals of their basic human dignity.

  20. Prevalance and consequences of the most frequently observed alien molluse in US wadeable stream ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alien molluscs are widely distributed in U.S. streams. While some raise economic concerns on the order of billions of dollars, documentation of widespread ecological effects has, in some instances, been more elusive. A probability survey of wadeable streams of the coterminous U.S...