WorldWideScience

Sample records for delayed environmental costs

  1. The economic and environmental cost of delayed GM crop adoption: The case of Australia's GM canola moratorium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biden, Scott; Smyth, Stuart J; Hudson, David

    2018-01-02

    Incorporating socio-economic considerations (SECs) into national biosafety regulations regarding genetically modified (GM) crops have opportunity costs. Australia approved the cultivation of GM canola through a science-based risk assessment in 2003, but allowed state moratoria to be instituted based on potential trade impacts over the period 2004 to 2008 and 2010 in the main canola growing states. This analysis constructs a counterfactual assessment using Canadian GM canola adoption data to create an S-Curve of adoption in Australia to measure the environmental and economic opportunity costs of Australia's SEC-based moratoria between 2004 and 2014. The environmental impacts are measured through the amount of chemical active ingredients applied during pest management, the Environmental Impact Quotient indicator, and greenhouse gas emissions. The economic impacts are measured through the variable costs of the weed control programs, yield and the contribution margin. The environmental opportunity costs from delaying the adoption of GM canola in Australia include an additional 6.5 million kilograms of active ingredients applied to canola land; a 14.3% increase in environmental impact to farmers, consumers and the ecology; 8.7 million litres of diesel fuel burned; and an additional 24.2 million kilograms of greenhouse gas (GHG) and compound emissions released. The economic opportunity costs of the SEC-based moratoria resulted in foregone output of 1.1 million metric tonnes of canola and a net economic loss to canola farmers' of AU$485.6 million. The paper provides some of the first quantified, post-adoption evidence on the opportunity cost and environmental impacts of incorporating SECs into GM crop regulation.

  2. On the cost/delay tradeoff of wireless delay tolerant geographic routing

    OpenAIRE

    Tasiopoulos, Argyrios; Tsiaras, Christos; Toumpis, Stavros

    2012-01-01

    In Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), there is a fundamental tradeoff between the aggregate transport cost of a packet and the delay in its delivery. We study this tradeoff in the context of geographical routing in wireless DTNs.We ?rst specify the optimal cost/delay tradeoff, i.e., the tradeoff under optimal network operation, using a dynamic network construction termed the Cost/Delay Evolving Graph (C/DEG) and the Optimal Cost/Delay Curve (OC/DC), a function that gives the minimum possible agg...

  3. Delay-Dependent Guaranteed Cost Control of an Interval System with Interval Time-Varying Delay

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao Min

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper concerns the problem of the delay-dependent robust stability and guaranteed cost control for an interval system with time-varying delay. The interval system with matrix factorization is provided and leads to less conservative conclusions than solving a square root. The time-varying delay is assumed to belong to an interval and the derivative of the interval time-varying delay is not a restriction, which allows a fast time-varying delay; also its applicability is broad. Based on the Lyapunov-Ktasovskii approach, a delay-dependent criterion for the existence of a state feedback controller, which guarantees the closed-loop system stability, the upper bound of cost function, and disturbance attenuation lever for all admissible uncertainties as well as out perturbation, is proposed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs. The criterion is derived by free weighting matrices that can reduce the conservatism. The effectiveness has been verified in a number example and the compute results are presented to validate the proposed design method.

  4. Schedule Matters: Understanding the Relationship between Schedule Delays and Costs on Overruns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majerowicz, Walt; Shinn, Stephen A.

    2016-01-01

    This paper examines the relationship between schedule delays and cost overruns on complex projects. It is generally accepted by many project practitioners that cost overruns are directly related to schedule delays. But what does "directly related to" actually mean? Some reasons or root causes for schedule delays and associated cost overruns are obvious, if only in hindsight. For example, unrealistic estimates, supply chain difficulties, insufficient schedule margin, technical problems, scope changes, or the occurrence of risk events can negatively impact schedule performance. Other factors driving schedule delays and cost overruns may be less obvious and more difficult to quantify. Examples of these less obvious factors include project complexity, flawed estimating assumptions, over-optimism, political factors, "black swan" events, or even poor leadership and communication. Indeed, is it even possible the schedule itself could be a source of delay and subsequent cost overrun? Through literature review, surveys of project practitioners, and the authors' own experience on NASA programs and projects, the authors will categorize and examine the various factors affecting the relationship between project schedule delays and cost growth. The authors will also propose some ideas for organizations to consider to help create an awareness of the factors which could cause or influence schedule delays and associated cost growth on complex projects.

  5. Separate valuation subsystems for delay and effort decision costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prévost, Charlotte; Pessiglione, Mathias; Météreau, Elise; Cléry-Melin, Marie-Laure; Dreher, Jean-Claude

    2010-10-20

    Decision making consists of choosing among available options on the basis of a valuation of their potential costs and benefits. Most theoretical models of decision making in behavioral economics, psychology, and computer science propose that the desirability of outcomes expected from alternative options can be quantified by utility functions. These utility functions allow a decision maker to assign subjective values to each option under consideration by weighting the likely benefits and costs resulting from an action and to select the one with the highest subjective value. Here, we used model-based neuroimaging to test whether the human brain uses separate valuation systems for rewards (erotic stimuli) associated with different types of costs, namely, delay and effort. We show that humans devalue rewards associated with physical effort in a strikingly similar fashion to those they devalue that are associated with delays, and that a single computational model derived from economics theory can account for the behavior observed in both delay discounting and effort discounting. However, our neuroimaging data reveal that the human brain uses distinct valuation subsystems for different types of costs, reflecting in opposite fashion delayed reward and future energetic expenses. The ventral striatum and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex represent the increasing subjective value of delayed rewards, whereas a distinct network, composed of the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula, represent the decreasing value of the effortful option, coding the expected expense of energy. Together, these data demonstrate that the valuation processes underlying different types of costs can be fractionated at the cerebral level.

  6. Delay-Dependent Guaranteed Cost H∞ Control of an Interval System with Interval Time-Varying Delay

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhongke Shi

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper concerns the problem of the delay-dependent robust stability and guaranteed cost H∞ control for an interval system with time-varying delay. The interval system with matrix factorization is provided and leads to less conservative conclusions than solving a square root. The time-varying delay is assumed to belong to an interval and the derivative of the interval time-varying delay is not a restriction, which allows a fast time-varying delay; also its applicability is broad. Based on the Lyapunov-Ktasovskii approach, a delay-dependent criterion for the existence of a state feedback controller, which guarantees the closed-loop system stability, the upper bound of cost function, and disturbance attenuation lever for all admissible uncertainties as well as out perturbation, is proposed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs. The criterion is derived by free weighting matrices that can reduce the conservatism. The effectiveness has been verified in a number example and the compute results are presented to validate the proposed design method.

  7. Delayed Hospital Discharges of Older Patients: A Systematic Review on Prevalence and Costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landeiro, Filipa; Roberts, Kenny; Gray, Alastair Mcintosh; Leal, José

    2017-05-23

    To determine the prevalence of delayed discharges of elderly inpatients and associated costs. We searched Medline, Embase, Global Health, CAB Abstracts, Econlit, Web of Knowledge, EBSCO - CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, Health Management Information Consortium, and SCIE - Social Care Online for evidence published between 1990 and 2015 on number of days or proportion of delayed discharges for elderly inpatients in acute hospitals. Descriptive and regression analyses were conducted. Data on proportions of delayed discharges were pooled using a random effects logistic model and the association of relevant factors was assessed. Mean costs of delayed discharge were calculated in USD adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). Of 64 studies included, 52 (81.3%) reported delayed discharges as proportions of total hospital stay and 9 (14.1%) estimated the respective costs for these delays. Proportions of delayed discharges varied widely, from 1.6% to 91.3% with a weighted mean of 22.8%. This variation was also seen in studies from the same country, for example, in the United Kingdom, they ranged between 1.6% and 60.0%. No factor was found to be significantly associated with delays. The mean costs of delayed discharge also varied widely (between 142 and 31,935 USD PPP adjusted), reflecting the variability in mean days of delay per patient. Delayed discharges occur in most countries and the associated costs are significant. However, the variability in prevalence of delayed discharges and available data on costs limit our knowledge of the full impact of delayed discharges. A standardization of methods is necessary to allow comparisons to be made, and additional studies are required-preferably by disease area-to determine the postdischarge needs of specific patient groups and the estimated costs of delays. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  8. Tracking environmental costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blahutova, Z.

    2011-01-01

    Tracking Environmental Costs and Investments in SAP will provide us with a managerial tool that will help us understand better the magnitude of the financial resources we are dedicating to environmental protection activities and investments. Environmental Cost Accounting is a new project in Slovenske Elektrarne that will be particularly valuable for the Company's environmental management initiatives, such as waste monitoring, cleaner production, eco-design and environmental management systems; its launch is expected in September. (author)

  9. Assessing the costs attributed to project delay during project pre-construction stages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-03-01

    This project for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) developed a simple but sound : methodology for estimating the cost of delaying most types of highway projects. Researchers considered the : cost of delays during the pre-construction pha...

  10. Estimating the cost of delaying a nuclear power plant: methodology and application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, L.J.; Tepel, R.C.; Van Dyke, J.W.

    1985-01-01

    This paper presents an analysis of an actual 24-month nuclear power plant licensing delay under alternate assumptions about regulatory practice, sources of replacement power, and the cost of the plant. The analysis focuses on both the delay period and periods subsequent to the delay. The methodology utilized to simulate the impacts involved the recursive interaction of a generation-costing program to estimate fuel-replacement costs and a financial regulatory model to concomitantly determine the impact on the utility, its ratepayers, and security issues. The results indicate that a licensing delay has an adverse impact on the utility's internal generation of funds and financial indicators used to evaluate financial soundness. The direction of impact on electricity rates is contingent on the source of fuel used for replacement power. 5 references, 5 tables

  11. Delayed bet-hedging resilience strategies under environmental fluctuations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogura, Masaki; Wakaiki, Masashi; Rubin, Harvey; Preciado, Victor M.

    2017-05-01

    Many biological populations, such as bacterial colonies, have developed through evolution a protection mechanism, called bet hedging, to increase their probability of survival under stressful environmental fluctuation. In this context, the concept of preadaptation refers to a common type of bet-hedging protection strategy in which a relatively small number of individuals in a population stochastically switch their phenotypes to a dormant metabolic state in which they increase their probability of survival against potential environmental shocks. Hence, if an environmental shock took place at some point in time, preadapted organisms would be better adapted to survive and proliferate once the shock is over. In many biological populations, the mechanisms of preadaptation and proliferation present delays whose influence in the fitness of the population are not well understood. In this paper, we propose a rigorous mathematical framework to analyze the role of delays in both preadaptation and proliferation mechanisms in the survival of biological populations, with an emphasis on bacterial colonies. Our theoretical framework allows us to analytically quantify the average growth rate of a bet-hedging bacterial colony with stochastically delayed reactions with arbitrary precision. We verify the accuracy of the proposed method by numerical simulations and conclude that the growth rate of a bet-hedging population shows a nontrivial dependency on their preadaptation and proliferation delays. Contrary to the current belief, our results show that faster reactions do not, in general, increase the overall fitness of a biological population.

  12. OPPORTUNITY COSTS OF REWARD DELAYS AND THE DISCOUNTING OF HYPOTHETICAL MONEY AND CIGARETTES

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Patrick S.; Herrmann, Evan S.; Johnson, Matthew W.

    2015-01-01

    Humans are reported to discount delayed rewards at lower rates than nonhumans. However, nonhumans are studied in tasks that restrict reinforcement during delays, whereas humans are typically studied in tasks that do not restrict reinforcement during delays. In nonhuman tasks, the opportunity cost of restricted reinforcement during delays may increase delay discounting rates. The present within-subjects study used online crowdsourcing (Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk) to assess the discounting of hypothetical delayed money (and cigarettes in smokers) under four hypothetical framing conditions differing in the availability of reinforcement during delays. At one extreme, participants were free to leave their computer without returning, and engage in any behavior during reward delays (modeling typical human tasks). At the opposite extreme, participants were required to stay at their computer and engage in little other behavior during reward delays (modeling typical nonhuman tasks). Discounting rates increased as an orderly function of opportunity cost. Results also indicated predominantly hyperbolic discounting, the “magnitude effect,” steeper discounting of cigarettes than money, and positive correlations between discounting rates of these commodities. This is the first study to test the effects of opportunity costs on discounting, and suggests that procedural differences may partially account for observed species differences in discounting. PMID:25388973

  13. The social cost of congestion games by imposing variable delays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josep Díaz

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we describe a new coordination mechanism for non-atomic congestion games that leads to a (selfish social cost which is arbitrarily close to the non-selfish optimal. This mechanism incurs no additional cost, in contrast to tolls that typically differ from the social cost as expressed in terms of delays.

  14. Environmental costs of meat production

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nguyen, T Lan T; Hermansen, John Erik; Mogensen, Lisbeth

    2012-01-01

    This paper aims to address two questions: First, what is the real cost of meat to society if taking into account the environmental costs arising throughout the product life cycle; and second, whether and how the environmental costs related to meat production can be reduced. In addressing the issues...... to be the main contributor to the costs (55%), followed by global warming (21%) and respiratory inorganics (18%). A viable option combining improvement measures in three aspects: feed use, manure management, and manure utilization, reduces the environmental costs by a factor of 1.4. This results in an equal size......, we use pig meat production in the EU as a case study. The environmental costs of meat are displayed first as characterized results at different midpoint categories e.g. global warming, nature occupation, acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxicity, etc., and then aggregated into a single score using...

  15. Construction delays causing risks on time and cost - a critical review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chidambaram Ramanathan

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available There is an increase in the number of construction projects experiencing extensive delays leading to exceeding initial time and cost budget.  This paper reviews 41 studies around the world which surveyed the delay factors and classified them into Groups.  The main purpose of this paper is to review literature, each of which have categorized the causes that are responsible for time delays and cost overrun in projects. The collected list has 113 causes for delays categorized in to 18 different groups.  Most of the researches have analysed the responses from the Questionnaire survey.    The collected data are used to rank the problem.  The data are further used to investigate and analyse Important Index, Frequency Index, Severity Index, Relative Important Index, Relative Importance Weight, Weighted Average, Mean, Standard Deviation and Variance.  The collective comparison has revealed that the ranking given by all the researchers is not the same.  Further each and every study has different rank ratings for the different group of the delays.  This review paper attempts to provide an updated compilation of the earlier studies on ranking of the delay causers, which are never similar and constant for universal projects.  It is concluded that a separate study is required for identifying the factors causing delay for projects operated in Sabah, East Malaysia.

  16. User Delay Cost Model and Facilities Maintenance Cost Model for a Terminal Control Area : Volume 2. User's Manual and Program Documentation for the User Delay Cost Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    1978-05-01

    The User Delay Cost Model (UDCM) is a Monte Carlo simulation of certain classes of movement of air traffic in the Boston Terminal Control Area (TCA). It incorporates a weather module, an aircraft generation module, a facilities module, and an air con...

  17. The impact of social isolation on delayed hospital discharges of older hip fracture patients and associated costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landeiro, F; Leal, J; Gray, A M

    2016-02-01

    Delayed discharges represent an inefficient use of acute hospital beds. Social isolation and referral to a public-funded rehabilitation unit were significant predictors of delayed discharges while admission from an institution was a protective factor for older hip fracture patients. Preventing delays could save between 11.2 and 30.7 % of total hospital costs for this patient group. Delayed discharges of older patients from acute care hospitals are a major challenge for administrative, humanitarian, and economic reasons. At the same time, older people are particularly vulnerable to social isolation which has a detrimental effect on their health and well-being with cost implications for health and social care services. The purpose of the present study was to determine the impact and costs of social isolation on delayed hospital discharge. A prospective study of 278 consecutive patients aged 75 or older with hip fracture admitted, as an emergency, to the Orthopaedics Department of Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria, Portugal, was conducted. A logistic regression model was used to examine the impact of relevant covariates on delayed discharges, and a negative binomial regression model was used to examine the main drivers of days of delayed discharges. Costs of delayed discharges were estimated using unit costs from national databases. Mean age at admission was 85.5 years and mean length of stay was 13.1 days per patient. Sixty-two (22.3 %) patients had delayed discharges, resulting in 419 bed days lost (11.5 % of the total length of stay). Being isolated or at a high risk of social isolation, measured with the Lubben social network scale, was significantly associated with delayed discharges (odds ratio (OR) 3.5) as was being referred to a public-funded rehabilitation unit (OR 7.6). These two variables also increased the number of days of delayed discharges (2.6 and 4.9 extra days, respectively, holding all else constant). Patients who were admitted from an

  18. Operative delay to laparoscopic cholecystectomy: Racking up the cost of health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Diane A; Shah, Adil A; Zogg, Cheryl K; Nicholas, Lauren H; Velopulos, Catherine G; Efron, David T; Schneider, Eric B; Haider, Adil H

    2015-07-01

    Health care providers are increasingly focused on cost containment. One potential target for cost containment is in-hospital management of acute cholecystitis. Ensuring cholecystectomy within 24 hours for cholecystitis could mitigate costs associated with longer hospitalizations. We sought to determine the cost consequences of delaying operative management. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2003-2011) was queried for adult patients (≥16 years) who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for a primary diagnosis of acute cholecystitis. Patients who underwent open procedures or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography were excluded. Generalized linear models (GLMs) were used to analyze costs for each day's delay in surgery. Multivariable analyses adjusted for patient demographics, hospital descriptors, Charlson comorbidity index, mortality, and length of stay. We analyzed 191,032 records. Approximately 65% of the patients underwent surgery within 24 hours of admission. The average cost of care for surgery on the admission day was $11,087. Costs disproportionately increased by 22% on the second hospital day ($13,526), by 37% on the third day ($15,243), by 52% on the fourth day ($16,822), by 64% on the fifth day ($18,196), by 81% on the sixth day ($20,125), and by 100% on the seventh day ($22,250) when compared with the cost of care for procedures performed within 24 hours of admission. Subset analysis of patients discharged 24 hours or earlier from the time of surgery demonstrated similar trends. After controlling for patient- and hospital-related factors, we noted significant costs associated with each day's delay in operative management. Cost containment practices for acute cholecystitis justify consideration of same-day or next-day surgery where the diagnosis is straightforward. Economic and value-based analysis, level III.

  19. Concave utility, transaction costs, and risk in measuring discounting of delayed rewards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirby, Kris N; Santiesteban, Mariana

    2003-01-01

    Research has consistently found that the decline in the present values of delayed rewards as delay increases is better fit by hyperbolic than by exponential delay-discounting functions. However, concave utility, transaction costs, and risk each could produce hyperbolic-looking data, even when the underlying discounting function is exponential. In Experiments 1 (N = 45) and 2 (N = 103), participants placed bids indicating their present values of real future monetary rewards in computer-based 2nd-price auctions. Both experiments suggest that utility is not sufficiently concave to account for the superior fit of hyperbolic functions. Experiment 2 provided no evidence that the effects of transaction costs and risk are large enough to account for the superior fit of hyperbolic functions.

  20. Cost-effectiveness of 'immediate IVF' versus 'delayed IVF': a prospective study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eijkemans, M.J.; Kersten, F.A.M.; Lintsen, A.M.E.; Hunault, C.C.; Bouwmans, C.A.; Roijen, L.H.; Habbema, J.D.; Braat, D.D.M.

    2017-01-01

    STUDY QUESTION: How does the cost-effectiveness (CE) of immediate IVF compared with postponing IVF for 1 year, depend on prognostic characteristics of the couple? SUMMARY ANSWER: The CE ratio, i.e. the incremental costs of immediate versus delayed IVF per extra live birth, is the highest (range of

  1. Environmental cost of distribution transformer losses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Georgilakis, Pavlos S.

    2011-01-01

    Improvements in energy efficiency of electrical equipment reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute to the protection of the environment. Moreover, as system investment and energy costs continue to increase, electric utilities are increasingly interested in installing energy-efficient transformers at their distribution networks. This paper analyzes the impact of the environmental cost of transformer losses on the economic evaluation of distribution transformers. This environmental cost is coming form the cost to buy GHG emission credits because of the GHG emissions associated with supplying transformer losses throughout the transformer lifetime. Application results on the Hellenic power system for 21 transformer offers under 9 different scenarios indicate that the environmental cost of transformer losses can reach on average 34% and 8% of transformer purchasing price for high loss and medium loss transformers, respectively. That is why it is important to incorporate the environmental cost of transformer losses into the economic evaluation of distribution transformers.

  2. Sectoral Costs of Environmental Policy. Final Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vercaemst, P.; Vanassche, S.; Campling, P.; Vranken, L.; Agnolucci, P.; Salmons, R.; Shaw, B.; Jantzen, J.; Van der Woerd, H.; Gruenig, M.; Best, A.

    2007-12-01

    The Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission has launched a study on the 'Sectoral costs of environmental policy'. The overall aim of the study is to obtain a clearer picture of the impact of environmental policy in some of the industrial sectors most affected by environmental policy, taking into account the differences between sectors and Member States. Previous studies mainly focussed on the individual impact of one Directive, but in this study we will assess the cumulative costs attributable to the environmental policy in its entirety and attempt to identify synergies between individual policies. The project has the following main objectives: paint a clearer picture of the environmental costs for the selected industries; indicate the differences in costs between individual companies; indicate the differences in costs between Member States; demonstrate the drivers for environmental expenditures of the companies and differences between sectors and Member States; describe different types of environmental regulation (policy instruments) and their impact on environmental expenditures; evaluate the environmental performance of the industries and differences between companies/Member States; collect evidence for the impacts of environmental regulation (and associated costs) on the competitiveness of companies; and carry out an international comparison. The sectors selected are:oil supply chain; electricity production; steel industry; and textile and leather industry

  3. Life cycle cost and risk estimation of environmental management options

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shropshire, D.; Sherick, M.

    1996-01-01

    The evaluation process is demonstrated in this paper through comparative analysis of two alternative scenarios identified for the management of the alpha-contaminated fixed low-level waste currently stored at INEL. These two scenarios, the Base Case and the Delay Case, are realistic and based on actual data, but are not intended to exactly match actual plans currently being developed at INEL. Life cycle cost estimates were developed for both scenarios using the System Cost Model; resulting costs are presented and compared. Life cycle costs are shown as a function of time and also aggregated by pretreatment, treatment, storage, and disposal activities. Although there are some short-term cost savings for the Delay Case, cumulative life cycle costs eventually become much higher than costs for the Base Case over the same period of time, due mainly to the storage and repackaging necessary to accommodate the longer Delay Case schedule. Life cycle risk estimates were prepared using a new risk analysis method adapted to the System Cost Model architecture for automated, systematic cost/risk applications. Relative risk summaries are presented for both scenarios as a function of time and also aggregated by pretreatment, treatment, storage, and disposal activities. Relative risk of the Delay Case is shown to be higher than that of the Base Case. Finally, risk and cost results are combined to show how the collective information can be used to help identify opportunities for risk or cost reduction and highlight areas where risk reduction can be achieved most economically

  4. Environmental costs of fossil fuel energy production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riva, A.; Trebeschi, C.

    1997-01-01

    The costs of environmental impacts caused by fossil fuel energy production are external to the energy economy and normally they are not reflected in energy prices. To determine the environmental costs associated with an energy source a detailed analysis of all environmental impacts of the complete energy cycle is required. The economic evaluation of environmental damages is presented caused by atmospheric emissions produced by fossil fuel combustion for different uses. Considering the emission factors of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, dust and carbon dioxide and the economic evaluation of their environmental damages reported in literature, a range of environmental costs associated with different fossil fuels and technologies is presented. A comparison of environmental costs resulting from atmospheric emissions produced by fossil-fuel combustion for energy production shows that natural gas has a significantly higher environmental value than other fossil fuels. (R.P.)

  5. User Delay Cost Model and Facilities Maintenance Cost Model for a Terminal Control Area : Volume 1. Model Formulation and Demonstration

    Science.gov (United States)

    1978-05-01

    The User Delay Cost Model (UDCM) is a Monte Carlo computer simulation of essential aspects of Terminal Control Area (TCA) air traffic movements that would be affected by facility outages. The model can also evaluate delay effects due to other factors...

  6. Cost Estimating Handbook for Environmental Restoration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-01-01

    Environmental restoration (ER) projects have presented the DOE and cost estimators with a number of properties that are not comparable to the normal estimating climate within DOE. These properties include: An entirely new set of specialized expressions and terminology. A higher than normal exposure to cost and schedule risk, as compared to most other DOE projects, due to changing regulations, public involvement, resource shortages, and scope of work. A higher than normal percentage of indirect costs to the total estimated cost due primarily to record keeping, special training, liability, and indemnification. More than one estimate for a project, particularly in the assessment phase, in order to provide input into the evaluation of alternatives for the cleanup action. While some aspects of existing guidance for cost estimators will be applicable to environmental restoration projects, some components of the present guidelines will have to be modified to reflect the unique elements of these projects. The purpose of this Handbook is to assist cost estimators in the preparation of environmental restoration estimates for Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM) projects undertaken by DOE. The DOE has, in recent years, seen a significant increase in the number, size, and frequency of environmental restoration projects that must be costed by the various DOE offices. The coming years will show the EM program to be the largest non-weapons program undertaken by DOE. These projects create new and unique estimating requirements since historical cost and estimating precedents are meager at best. It is anticipated that this Handbook will enhance the quality of cost data within DOE in several ways by providing: The basis for accurate, consistent, and traceable baselines. Sound methodologies, guidelines, and estimating formats. Sources of cost data/databases and estimating tools and techniques available at DOE cost professionals

  7. Air congestion delay: a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Alberto Pamplona

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This article is a literature review of the air congestion delay and its costs. Air congestion is a worldwide problem. Its existence brings costs for airlines and discomfort for passengers. With the increasing demand for air transport, the study of air congestion has attracted the attention of many researchers around the world. The cause for the delays is erroneously attributed only to the lack of infrastructure investments. The literature review shows that other factors such as population growth, increasing standards of living, lack of operational planning and environmental issues exercise decisive influence. Several studies have been conducted in order to analyze and propose solutions to this problem that affects society as a whole.

  8. Standardized Cost Structure for the Environmental Industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skokan, B.; Melamed, D.; Guevara, K.; Mallick, P.; Bierman, G.; Marshall, H.E.

    2006-01-01

    The underlying key to developing successful estimates, tracking project costs, and utilizing historical project cost information is the development of standardized and well-defined hierarchical listing of cost categories. Committees within the U.S. Federal agencies have pioneered efforts toward developing the Environmental Cost Element Structure (ECES), which is key in achieving these goals. The ECES was developed using an iterative process with input from federal agencies and industry. Experts from several disciplines participated including engineers, cost estimators, project/program managers, and contract personnel. The ECES benefits from an intense analytical effort, the knowledge gained from the maturation of the environmental industry, and incorporation of past user's experiences. Building upon this foundation, the E06 committee of the ASTM International has now fully developed and published a standard (ASTM 2150-04) that provides standardized cost categories with complete cost category definitions. This standard affords environmental and nuclear D and D project managers the opportunity to have a well defined hierarchical listing of their estimates and actual costs, readily adapted to performing summations and roll-ups, supported by a multi-level dictionary specifically defining the content of the cost elements as well as the summations. Owing to the dynamic nature of the environmental technologies, efforts need to be made to continue to update this standard by adding new technologies and methods as they are developed and employed in the field. Lastly, the Environmental Cost Element Structure that is embodied in this standard also presents opportunities to develop historical cost databases and comprehensive life cycle cost estimates and standardized cost estimating tools. (authors)

  9. A new delay line loops shrinking time-to-digital converter in low-cost FPGA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Jie, E-mail: zhangjie071063@163.com [State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, CAS, Wuhan, China, 430077 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 100049 (China); Zhou, Dongming [State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, CAS, Wuhan, China, 430077 (China)

    2015-01-21

    The article provides the design and test results of a new time-to-digital converter (TDC) based on delay line loops shrinking method and implemented in a low-cost field programmable gate array (FPGA) device. A technique that achieves high resolution with low cost and flexibility is presented. The technique is based on two delay line loops which are used to directly shrink the measured time interval in the designed TDC, and the resolution is dependent on the difference between the entire delay times of the two delay line loops. In order to realize high resolution and eliminate temperature influence, the two delay line loops consist of the same delay cells with the same number. A delay-locked loop (DLL) is used to stabilize the resolution against process variations and ambient conditions. Meanwhile, one method is used to accurately evaluate the resolution of the implemented TDC. The converter has been implemented in a general-propose FPGA device (Actel SmartFusion A2F200M3). A single shot resolution of the implemented converter is 63.3 ps and the measurement standard deviation is about 61.7 ps within the measurement range of 5 ns. - Highlights: • We provide a new FPGA-integrated time-to-digital converter based on delay line loops method which used two delay line loops to directly shrink time intervals with only rising edges. • The two delay line loops consist of the same delay cells with the same number and symmetrical structure. • The resolution is dependent on the difference between the entire delays of the two delay line loops. • We use delay-locked loop to stabilize the resolution against temperature and supply voltage.

  10. A new delay line loops shrinking time-to-digital converter in low-cost FPGA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Jie; Zhou, Dongming

    2015-01-01

    The article provides the design and test results of a new time-to-digital converter (TDC) based on delay line loops shrinking method and implemented in a low-cost field programmable gate array (FPGA) device. A technique that achieves high resolution with low cost and flexibility is presented. The technique is based on two delay line loops which are used to directly shrink the measured time interval in the designed TDC, and the resolution is dependent on the difference between the entire delay times of the two delay line loops. In order to realize high resolution and eliminate temperature influence, the two delay line loops consist of the same delay cells with the same number. A delay-locked loop (DLL) is used to stabilize the resolution against process variations and ambient conditions. Meanwhile, one method is used to accurately evaluate the resolution of the implemented TDC. The converter has been implemented in a general-propose FPGA device (Actel SmartFusion A2F200M3). A single shot resolution of the implemented converter is 63.3 ps and the measurement standard deviation is about 61.7 ps within the measurement range of 5 ns. - Highlights: • We provide a new FPGA-integrated time-to-digital converter based on delay line loops method which used two delay line loops to directly shrink time intervals with only rising edges. • The two delay line loops consist of the same delay cells with the same number and symmetrical structure. • The resolution is dependent on the difference between the entire delays of the two delay line loops. • We use delay-locked loop to stabilize the resolution against temperature and supply voltage

  11. Implicit environmental costs in hydroelectric development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlsen, A.J.; Wenstoep, F.; Strand, J.

    1992-01-01

    The ranking of hydropower projects under the Norwegian Master Plan for Water Resources is used to derive implicit government preferences for a number of environmental attributes described by ordinal scores for each project. Higher negative scores are generally associated with greater implicit willingness to pay to avoid the environmental damage tied to the attribute, caused by hydropower development. The total (ordinary economic and implicit environmental) cost for each project are derived, and the environmental costs per capacity unit are found to be on the same order as the economic costs, lower for projects ranked for early exploitation, and higher for projects to be saved permanently. An implicit long-run marginal cost curve for Norwegian hydropower development is derived, which is generally upward sloping, but not uniformly so. This can be due to the model specification problems or ranking inconsistencies, both of which are likely to be present. 11 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab

  12. Guaranteed cost control of time-delay chaotic systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Ju H.; Kwon, O.M.

    2006-01-01

    This article studies a guaranteed cost control problem for a class of time-delay chaotic systems. Attention is focused on the design of memory state feedback controllers such that the resulting closed-loop system is asymptotically stable and an adequate level of performance is also guaranteed. Using the Lyapunov method and LMI (linear matrix inequality) framework, two criteria for the existence of the controller are derived in terms of LMIs. A numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed method

  13. Environmentally based Cost-Benefit Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magnell, M.

    1993-11-01

    The fundamentals of the basic elements of a new comprehensive economic assessment, MILA, developed in Sweden with inspiration from the Total Cost Assessment-model are presented. The core of the MILA approach is an expanded cost and benefit inventory. But MILA also includes a complementary addition of an internal waste stream analysis, a tool for evaluation of environmental conflicts in monetary terms, an extended time horizon and direct allocation of costs and revenues to products and processes. However, MILA does not ensure profitability for environmentally sound projects. Essentially, MILA is an approach of refining investment and profitability analysis of a project, investment or product. 109 refs., 38 figs

  14. 75 FR 26270 - Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation Compliance Costs Policy; Environmental Planning...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-11

    ...] Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation Compliance Costs Policy; Environmental Planning and Historic... draft Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation Compliance Costs policy and a draft Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation Mitigation policy. DATES: Comments must be received by June 10, 2010...

  15. Environmental costs of transport; Liikenteen paeaestoekustannukset

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gynther, L.; Tervonen, J.; Hippinen, I.; Loven, K.; Salmi, J.; Soares, J.; Torkkeli, S.; Tikka, T.

    2012-07-01

    This study presents the estimated total environmental costs of airborne pollutants in road, rail and water transport in Finland and the unit costs of emissions used in socio-economic impact assessments of the transport system. The estimations are based on emission inventory for the year 2007 and the results are shown in prices of 2010. The study updates previous estimates dating back ten years. The total environmental cost of airborne pollutants in transport is estimated at 900 million euros. This is composed of 820 million euros attributable to fuel use and street dust, 54 million euros to the front end of fuel chains and 26 million euros to waste from water transport. The share of road transport in the total cost is 695 million euros, water transport 190 million euros and rail transport just under 15 million euros. The assessment covers the impacts of pollutants on health (increased mortality and morbidity) and flora (crop losses and decreased forest growth) as well as the cost of climate change. In addition to fuel emissions, also street dust is included in the analysis. In water transport the evaluation is extended to solid and liquid waste. In addition to fuel use, also other steps in the fuel chains, namely production, transport, refining and distribution, are covered by the study. The environmental unit costs of primary particles, sulphates and nitrates vary geographically and between different transport modes. The differences are particularly distinctive for particle emissions from road transport. The environmental unit costs of hydrocarbons and greenhouse gasses are the same for all transport modes in all traffic environments and all parts of the country. The impact assessment and monetary valuation of airborne pollutants was principally carried out by using the Impact Pathway Method. The method starts with an emissions inventory and estimation of the consequent pollutant concentrations followed by assessment of physical impacts, and finally monetary

  16. Corporate social responsible costs in the environmental area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sefa Boria-Reverter

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: To know how the application of environmental politicies facilitates the identification of unknown costs and their next reaction. Moreover we try to determine, if these costs have a connection with the different environmental strategies, which are used. Design/methodology/approach: An empiric study was done through a telephonic survey all over Spain in 2012. The idea was to obtain a representative sample. From 943 companies, the survey was answered by 141 of them. Findings and Originality/value: It is shown the relationship between the costs behavior, knowledge of the unknown and hidden costs with the environmental strategies. Research limitations/implications: To dispose a bigger sample, this allowed us to obtain results in relationship with sectors type and to verify the result for regions. Practical implications: The organizations can be aware of costs reaction, depending on their action in the environmental area. Originality/value: Environmental politicies in the CSR field facilitate unknown or hidden costs detection and they allow their evaluation and the decisions about them. The obtained improvements can revert to the society due to the development of environmental politicies and they offer a competitive advantage for the company.

  17. Environmental Cost Accounting Information and Strategic Business Decision in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ebipanipre Gabriel Mieseigha

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed at examining environmental cost accounting information and strategic business decision in Nigeria. The general assumption that conventional cost accounting does not have the ability to provide absolute information for evaluating the environmental behaviour of an organization and its economic consequences has motivated this study. Towards achieving this, secondary data was employed and a linear model was specified. Findings indicated that environmental cost accounting information as it relates to strategic business decision is valuerelevant. It was on this note that we recommended firms to constantly reposition their accounting system in order to provide information on environmental costs so that the true costs in an organization can be ascertained and properly allocated. Also, due attention should be paid to waste management costs, employee health costs, investment financing costs, compliance and environmental costs and all environmental related costs by manufacturing concerns since they influence strategic decision. Our study is one of those that have explored the issue of environmental cost accounting relevance in strategic business decision in the Nigerian context.

  18. Environmental cost of using poor decision metrics to prioritize environmental projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pannell, David J; Gibson, Fiona L

    2016-04-01

    Conservation decision makers commonly use project-scoring metrics that are inconsistent with theory on optimal ranking of projects. As a result, there may often be a loss of environmental benefits. We estimated the magnitudes of these losses for various metrics that deviate from theory in ways that are common in practice. These metrics included cases where relevant variables were omitted from the benefits metric, project costs were omitted, and benefits were calculated using a faulty functional form. We estimated distributions of parameters from 129 environmental projects from Australia, New Zealand, and Italy for which detailed analyses had been completed previously. The cost of using poor prioritization metrics (in terms of lost environmental values) was often high--up to 80% in the scenarios we examined. The cost in percentage terms was greater when the budget was smaller. The most costly errors were omitting information about environmental values (up to 31% loss of environmental values), omitting project costs (up to 35% loss), omitting the effectiveness of management actions (up to 9% loss), and using a weighted-additive decision metric for variables that should be multiplied (up to 23% loss). The latter 3 are errors that occur commonly in real-world decision metrics, in combination often reducing potential benefits from conservation investments by 30-50%. Uncertainty about parameter values also reduced the benefits from investments in conservation projects but often not by as much as faulty prioritization metrics. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

  19. Hopf bifurcation in a environmental defensive expenditures model with time delay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Russu, Paolo

    2009-01-01

    In this paper a three-dimensional environmental defensive expenditures model with delay is considered. The model is based on the interactions among visitors V, quality of ecosystem goods E, and capital K, intended as accommodation and entertainment facilities, in Protected Areas (PAs). The tourism user fees (TUFs) are used partly as a defensive expenditure and partly to increase the capital stock. The stability and existence of Hopf bifurcation are investigated. It is that stability switches and Hopf bifurcation occurs when the delay t passes through a sequence of critical values, τ 0 . It has been that the introduction of a delay is a destabilizing process, in the sense that increasing the delay could cause the bio-economics to fluctuate. Formulas about the stability of bifurcating periodic solution and the direction of Hopf bifurcation are exhibited by applying the normal form theory and the center manifold theorem. Numerical simulations are given to illustrate the results.

  20. Inventory model with cash flow oriented and time-dependent holding cost under permissible delay in payments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tripathi R.P.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study develops an inventory model for determining an optimal ordering policy for non-deteriorating items and time-dependent holding cost with delayed payments permitted by the supplier under inflation and time-discounting. The discounted cash flows approach is applied to study the problem analysis. Mathematical models have been derived under two different situations i.e. case I: The permissible delay period is less than cycle time for settling the account and case II: The permissible delay period is greater than or equal to cycle time for settling the account. An algorithm is used to obtain minimum total present value of the costs over the time horizon H. Finally, numerical example and sensitivity analysis demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the optimal cycle time and optimal payment time for an item so that annual total relevant cost is minimized.

  1. Environmental taxes and transaction costs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vollebergh, Herman R.J. [Centre for Economic Policy OCFEB, Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands)

    1994-06-01

    A well-known tax policy principle in the case of environmental bads holds that optimality would apply to a special class of environmental taxes, the so called Pigovian or effluent taxes (or fees or charges). However, an interesting paradox arises here for effluent taxes are seldom chosen in practical policies by governments. An explanation for this discrepancy is that effluent taxes are generally supposed to bring about the highest amount of transaction costs in order to enforce this kind of tax. This would be caused by the fact that usually large numbers of agents are involved if effluents are taken as the principal tax base. Unfortunately this explanation seems to boomerang for it brings about an impossibility result: effluent taxes can never be first best taxes if transaction costs are allowed. Up till now theoretical economics has not paid much attention to this problem. In contrast this essay offers an explanation for the discrepancy and it shows why the impossibility theorem is a paradox. As soon as one allows for transaction costs in welfare analysis, one not only has to acknowledge that such costs are attached to the internalization device but also to the initial status quo. Moreover, the amount of transaction costs is not independent of the tax contracts themselves, neither are the benefits of regulation through taxation. Accordingly a more general welfare assessment of questions where it is optimal to levy environmental taxes shows that first best Pigovian taxes need not be effluent taxes (even if abatement is possible), although in some cases effluent taxes might still be the best policy option from an economic perspective. 31 refs.

  2. Environmental taxes and transaction costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vollebergh, Herman R.J.

    1994-06-01

    A well-known tax policy principle in the case of environmental bads holds that optimality would apply to a special class of environmental taxes, the so called Pigovian or effluent taxes (or fees or charges). However, an interesting paradox arises here for effluent taxes are seldom chosen in practical policies by governments. An explanation for this discrepancy is that effluent taxes are generally supposed to bring about the highest amount of transaction costs in order to enforce this kind of tax. This would be caused by the fact that usually large numbers of agents are involved if effluents are taken as the principal tax base. Unfortunately this explanation seems to boomerang for it brings about an impossibility result: effluent taxes can never be first best taxes if transaction costs are allowed. Up till now theoretical economics has not paid much attention to this problem. In contrast this essay offers an explanation for the discrepancy and it shows why the impossibility theorem is a paradox. As soon as one allows for transaction costs in welfare analysis, one not only has to acknowledge that such costs are attached to the internalization device but also to the initial status quo. Moreover, the amount of transaction costs is not independent of the tax contracts themselves, neither are the benefits of regulation through taxation. Accordingly a more general welfare assessment of questions where it is optimal to levy environmental taxes shows that first best Pigovian taxes need not be effluent taxes (even if abatement is possible), although in some cases effluent taxes might still be the best policy option from an economic perspective. 31 refs

  3. Conflict translates environmental and social risk into business costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franks, Daniel M; Davis, Rachel; Bebbington, Anthony J; Ali, Saleem H; Kemp, Deanna; Scurrah, Martin

    2014-05-27

    Sustainability science has grown as a field of inquiry, but has said little about the role of large-scale private sector actors in socio-ecological systems change. However, the shaping of global trends and transitions depends greatly on the private sector and its development impact. Market-based and command-and-control policy instruments have, along with corporate citizenship, been the predominant means for bringing sustainable development priorities into private sector decision-making. This research identifies conflict as a further means through which environmental and social risks are translated into business costs and decision making. Through in-depth interviews with finance, legal, and sustainability professionals in the extractive industries, and empirical case analysis of 50 projects worldwide, this research reports on the financial value at stake when conflict erupts with local communities. Over the past decade, high commodity prices have fueled the expansion of mining and hydrocarbon extraction. These developments profoundly transform environments, communities, and economies, and frequently generate social conflict. Our analysis shows that mining and hydrocarbon companies fail to factor in the full scale of the costs of conflict. For example, as a result of conflict, a major, world-class mining project with capital expenditure of between US$3 and US$5 billion was reported to suffer roughly US$20 million per week of delayed production in net present value terms. Clear analysis of the costs of conflict provides sustainability professionals with a strengthened basis to influence corporate decision making, particularly when linked to corporate values. Perverse outcomes of overemphasizing a cost analysis are also discussed.

  4. Environmental Parametric Cost Model in Oil and Gas EPC Contracts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Madjid Abbaspour

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aims at identifying the parameters that govern the environmental costs in oil and gas projects. An initial conceptual model was proposed. Next, the costs of environmental management work packages were estimated, separately and were applied in project control tools (WBS/CBS. Then, an environmental parametric cost model was designed to determine the environmental costs and relevant weighting factors. The suggested model can be considered as an innovative approach to designate the environmental indicators in oil and gas projects. The validity of variables was investigated based on Delphi method. The results indicated that the project environmental management’s weighting factor is 0.87% of total project’s weighting factor.

  5. Department of defense environmental cleanup cost allowability policy. Master`s thesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murdock, J.M.

    1994-12-01

    The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the factors affecting the allowability determination of defense contractor environmental remediation costs. The primary objective of this thesis was to determine what policies and contracting cost principles the Department of Defense (DOD) should develop to address environmental costs in a consistent manner, providing a `single face` to industry. A secondary objective was to develop an audit framework and questions to allow for consistent policy analysis and application to a contractor`s proposed environmental remediation costs based upon the materiality of the situation. Background material was presented to show the amount and complexity of environmental regulations, the effects of current judicial decisions and DOD`s efforts to develop a consistent policy. Research material was provided from Congress, the General Accounting Office, DOD, defense contractors, California, Washington, industry associations and environmental protection coalitions. The researcher`s analysis of the material produced an environmental cost principle. This cost principle was applied to a current environmental claim, producing an audit framework and tailored list of cost and/or pricing data analysis, questions. Both the cost principle and audit framework are recommended for incorporation into DOD`s final environmental cost allowability decision.

  6. Issues and major steps in a conceptual framework for environmental costing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DePape, D.; Kristjanson, E.R.; Onyebuchi, E.I.; Wojczynski, E.

    1992-01-01

    The concept of applying monetary values to environmental consequences as a means of integrating environmental considerations into utility resource planning is explored. The need for estimation and integration of environmental costs and benefits is becoming more important due to public concern over environmental degradation, rapidly increasing costs of mitigating environmental damage, increased liability for compensation for such damage, pressures to consider environmental externalities, and a corporate desire to operate responsibly. Manitoba Hydro established a task force to develop general approaches and specific techniques for evaluation and integration of environmental costs and benefits into utility planning. The utility's conceptual framework for monetizing and integrating environmental costs and benefits is described, including identification of potential environmental impacts, evaluation of environmental impacts, estimation of monetary and non-monetary costs and benefits, and integration of these costs and benefits into the resource planning process. Key issues that must be addressed to implement this conceptual framework include the need for earlier environmental impact assessments and the need for mitigation and compensation prediction methodologies. 1 fig., 1 tab

  7. Optimizing Data Centre Energy and Environmental Costs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aikema, David Hendrik

    Data centres use an estimated 2% of US electrical power which accounts for much of their total cost of ownership. This consumption continues to grow, further straining power grids attempting to integrate more renewable energy. This dissertation focuses on assessing and reducing data centre environmental and financial costs. Emissions of projects undertaken to lower the data centre environmental footprints can be assessed and the emission reduction projects compared using an ISO-14064-2-compliant greenhouse gas reduction protocol outlined herein. I was closely involved with the development of the protocol. Full lifecycle analysis and verifying that projects exceed business-as-usual expectations are addressed, and a test project is described. Consuming power when it is low cost or when renewable energy is available can be used to reduce the financial and environmental costs of computing. Adaptation based on the power price showed 10--50% potential savings in typical cases, and local renewable energy use could be increased by 10--80%. Allowing a fraction of high-priority tasks to proceed unimpeded still allows significant savings. Power grid operators use mechanisms called ancillary services to address variation and system failures, paying organizations to alter power consumption on request. By bidding to offer these services, data centres may be able to lower their energy costs while reducing their environmental impact. If providing contingency reserves which require only infrequent action, savings of up to 12% were seen in simulations. Greater power cost savings are possible for those ceding more control to the power grid operator. Coordinating multiple data centres adds overhead, and altering at which data centre requests are processed based on changes in the financial or environmental costs of power is likely to increase this overhead. Tests of virtual machine migrations showed that in some cases there was no visible increase in power use while in others power use

  8. Recognition of the Environmental Costs of Fossil Fuel Plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hakkı FINDIK

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Environment that is the natural residential area of live life is among the interests of the various sciences. Within the scope of accounting science, the concept of social awareness requires a social responsibility based approach and this causes some additional environmental costs emerged when interaction of business with their environment considered. In the Uniform Accounting Plan there exists a special account relating with monitoring, controlling and managing of environmental costs. This study deals with environmental accounting for enterprises and introduces determination and recognition of the environmental costs of fossil fuel plants that use coal as a fuel

  9. Consensus of Discrete Multiagent System with Various Time Delays and Environmental Disturbances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheping Yan

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the consensus problem of discrete multiagent systems with time varying sampling periods is studied. Firstly, with thorough analysis of various delays among agents, the control input of each agent is designed with consideration of sending delay and receiving delay. With construction of discrete dynamics of state error vector, it is proved by applying Halanay inequality that consensus of the system can be reached. Further, the definition of bounded consensus is proposed in the situation where environmental disturbances exist. In order to handle this problem, the Halanay inequality is extended into a more general one with boundedness property. Based on the new Halanay inequality obtained, the boundedness of consensus error is guaranteed. At last, simulation examples are presented to demonstrate the theoretical conclusions.

  10. BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS IN U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATORY DECISIONS

    OpenAIRE

    Easter, K. William; Archibald, Sandra O.

    1998-01-01

    As the number and cost of environmental regulations have increased over the last thirty years, the regulated community, taxpayers, and policy makers have begun to demand that the benefits of regulations justify their costs. The use of benefit-cost analysis as an integral part of developing new regulations is increasing and the demands and expectations being placed on the method have expanded. Although benefit-cost analysis is expected to play an even greater role in environmental decision mak...

  11. Improving environmental impact and cost assessment for supplier evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beucker, Severin; Lang, Claus

    2004-02-01

    Improving a company"s environmental and financial performance necessitates the evaluation of environmental impacts deriving from the production and cost effects of corporate actions. These effects have to be made transparent and concrete targets have to be developed. Such an evaluation has to be done on a regular basis but with limited expenses. To achieve this, different instruments of environmental controlling such as LCA and environmental performance indicators have to be combined with methods from cost accounting. Within the research project CARE (Computer Aided Resource Efficiency Accounting for Medium-Sized Enterprises), the method Resource Efficiency Accounting (REA) is used to give the participating companies new insights into hidden costs and environmental effects of their production and products. The method combines process based cost accounting with environmental impact assessment methodology and offers results that can be integrated into a company"s environmental controlling system and business processes like cost accounting, supplier assessment, etc. Much of the data necessary for the combined assessment can be available within a company"s IT system and therefore can be efficiently used for the assessment process. The project CARE puts a strong focus on the use of company data and information systems for the described assessment process and offers a methodological background for the evaluation and the structuring of such data. Besides the general approach of the project CARE the paper will present results from a case study in which the described approach is used for the evaluation of suppliers.

  12. Environmental benefits and social cost

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henriksen, H.J.; Kjær, J.; Brüsh, W.

    2007-01-01

    There is a need for introducing interdisciplinary tools and approaches in water management for participatory integrated assessment of water protection costs and environmental benefits for different management scenarios. This is required for the Water Framework Directive. Bayesian belief networks...

  13. Robust Guaranteed Cost Observer Design for Singular Markovian Jump Time-Delay Systems with Generally Incomplete Transition Probability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanbo Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is devoted to the investigation of the design of robust guaranteed cost observer for a class of linear singular Markovian jump time-delay systems with generally incomplete transition probability. In this singular model, each transition rate can be completely unknown or only its estimate value is known. Based on stability theory of stochastic differential equations and linear matrix inequality (LMI technique, we design an observer to ensure that, for all uncertainties, the resulting augmented system is regular, impulse free, and robust stochastically stable with the proposed guaranteed cost performance. Finally, a convex optimization problem with LMI constraints is formulated to design the suboptimal guaranteed cost filters for linear singular Markovian jump time-delay systems with generally incomplete transition probability.

  14. Partial analysis of the environmental costs generated by hotels in Hong Kong

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chan, W.W. [Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ., Hung Hom (China). School of Hotel and Tourism Management

    2005-12-15

    This paper investigates the environmental costs attributable to the various activities involved in operating a hotel such as energy usage, water consumption, and solid waste disposal. A control cost approach and a pro-rated model were used in environmental costing. A holistic analysis of the environmental costs was then made. It was found that, in the early 1990s, the environmental costs incurred in controlling air pollution was higher than for other types of pollution. However, the situation changed during the late 1990s as the government invested more in building large-scale sewage treatment systems and landfills. At present, the environmental costs attributable to water protection and solid waste management have been larger than the environmental costs of air pollution. This implies that hotel operators should place a greater focus on mitigating the pressure on the environment from the consumption of water and disposal of solid waste. Also based on the methodologies, recommendations on environmental accounting on three levels are made. (Author)

  15. System-wide impacts of environmental cost factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogers, M.; Kennedy, T.; Finnell, J.; Hoelscher, J.

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents a continuum of approaches to considering environmental externalities in the utility resource selection process. While photovoltaic (PV) technologies can play a role in reducing emissions, they are generally not cost-competitive with conventional technologies, even when cost estimates for environmental damages are introduced. Several approaches are explored to determine whether PV becomes more competitive when emission reduction strategies are considered on a regional basis. Finally, preliminary analysis was performed with the Midas utility planning model to develop emission credits based on PV's ability to displace emissions on a net system basis

  16. Non-fragile guaranteed cost control for uncertain neutral dynamic systems with time-varying delays in state and control input

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lien, C.-H.

    2007-01-01

    This article considers non-fragile guaranteed cost control problem for a class of uncertain neutral system with time-varying delays in both state and control input. Delay-dependent criteria are proposed to guarantee the robust stabilization of systems. Linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization approach is used to solve the non-fragile guaranteed cost control problem. Non-fragile guaranteed cost control for unperturbed neutral system is considered in the first step. Robust non-fragile guaranteed cost control for uncertain neutral system is designed directly from the unperturbed condition. An efficient approach is proposed to design the non-fragile guaranteed cost control for uncertain neutral systems. LMI toolbox of Matlab is used to implement the proposed results. Finally, a numerical example is illustrated to show the usefulness of the proposed results

  17. Environmental control costs for oil shale processes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1979-10-01

    The studies reported herein are intended to provide more certainty regarding estimates of the costs of controlling environmental residuals from oil shale technologies being readied for commercial application. The need for this study was evident from earlier work conducted by the Office of Environment for the Department of Energy Oil Shale Commercialization Planning, Environmental Readiness Assessment in mid-1978. At that time there was little reliable information on the costs for controlling residuals and for safe handling of wastes from oil shale processes. The uncertainties in estimating costs of complying with yet-to-be-defined environmental standards and regulations for oil shale facilities are a critical element that will affect the decision on proceeding with shale oil production. Until the regulatory requirements are fully clarified and processes and controls are investigated and tested in units of larger size, it will not be possible to provide definitive answers to the cost question. Thus, the objective of this work was to establish ranges of possible control costs per barrel of shale oil produced, reflecting various regulatory, technical, and financing assumptions. Two separate reports make up the bulk of this document. One report, prepared by the Denver Research Institute, is a relatively rigorous engineering treatment of the subject, based on regulatory assumptions and technical judgements as to best available control technologies and practices. The other report examines the incremental cost effect of more conservative technical and financing alternatives. An overview section is included that synthesizes the products of the separate studies and addresses two variations to the assumptions.

  18. Optimal Joint Expected Delay Forwarding in Delay Tolerant Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Jia Xu; Xin Feng; Wen Jun Yang; Ru Chuan Wang; Bing Qing Han

    2013-01-01

    Multicopy forwarding schemes have been employed in delay tolerant network (DTN) to improve the delivery delay and delivery rate. Much effort has been focused on reducing the routing cost while retaining high performance. This paper aims to provide an optimal joint expected delay forwarding (OJEDF) protocol which minimizes the expected delay while satisfying a certain constant on the number of forwardings per message. We propose a comprehensive forwarding metric called joint expected delay (JE...

  19. Approaching Environmental Cleanup Costs Liability Through Insurance Principles

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Corbin, Michael A

    1994-01-01

    .... Applying insurance industry principles to environmental cleanup costs liability will provide a firm foundation to reduce the risk of loss to the taxpayer, reduce cleanup costs, and stimulate private...

  20. Department of Energy Environmental Management cost infrastructure development program: Cost analysis requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Custer, W.R. Jr.; Messick, C.D.

    1996-01-01

    This report was prepared to support development of the Department of Energy Environmental Management cost infrastructure -- a new capability to independently estimate and analyze costs. Currently, the cost data are reported according to a structure that blends level of effort tasks with product and process oriented tasks. Also. the budgetary inputs are developed from prior year funding authorizations and from contractor-developed parametric estimates that have been adjusted to planned funding levels or appropriations. Consequently, it is difficult for headquarters and field-level activities to use actual cost data and technical requirements to independently assess the costs generated and identify trends, potential cost savings from process improvements, and cost reduction strategies

  1. Environmental enrichment delays pup-induced maternal behavior in rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mann, Phyllis E; Gervais, Kristen J

    2011-05-01

    Adult, virgin rats do not spontaneously display maternal behavior when exposed to foster pups. However, continuous daily exposure of the female to foster pups for about 5-7 days can induce a set of maternal behaviors similar to those shown by postpartum dams. Induction latencies depend upon a number of factors, including the stress and anxiety levels of the female. The goal of this study was to attempt to mitigate the likely stressfulness of being singly housed during testing by enriching the rat's home cage environment and to determine if the concomitant environmental change would alter the latency to express maternal behavior. In addition, the effect of varying the number of test pups used for testing was examined. Two groups of virgin Sprague-Dawley rats were first tested on the elevated plus maze after 1 week of exposure to either control (standard housing) or enriched conditions. One week later, maternal behavior testing began using one or three pups. Upon completion of maternal behavior testing, plasma corticosterone concentrations were determined following a mild stressor. The data indicate that enrichment tends to increase anxiety-like behaviors in the elevated plus maze. In addition, enrichment delayed the onset of maternal behavior irrespective of the number of test pups. There were no effects of environmental enrichment on plasma corticosterone levels following exposure to a stressor. These results indicate that what is considered a modestly enriched environment delays the expression of pup-oriented responses and does not apparently reduce stress or improve performance on all behavioral tasks. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. Cost-benefit analysis for design of environmentally conscious manufacturing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matysiak, L.M.

    1993-01-01

    In recent years, much attention has been focused on reducing the environmental impacts of products and manufacturing processes. Concerned about rising compliance costs and stringent regulatory requirements, companies are carefully evaluating the environmental impacts of their products. In response, designers, engineers, and managers are beginning to use life-cycle analysis, design for environment techniques, and environmentally conscious manufacturing (ECM) as tools to help them to not only do what is best for the environment, but also to do what is best for their company. These tools are also a useful aid in evaluating the trade-offs that may exist between different product and process alternatives. However, how does one choose the optimal solution from these various product and process alternatives? Cost versus benefit analysis is an effective tool that can be used to evaluate various manufacturing alternatives and to choose a solution that is both cost effective and environmentally compatible. Many companies are beginning to use cost benefit analyses as a means to justify product or process modifications that result in a benefit to the environment

  3. Delay and cost performance analysis of the diffie-hellman key exchange protocol in opportunistic mobile networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soelistijanto, B.; Muliadi, V.

    2018-03-01

    Diffie-Hellman (DH) provides an efficient key exchange system by reducing the number of cryptographic keys distributed in the network. In this method, a node broadcasts a single public key to all nodes in the network, and in turn each peer uses this key to establish a shared secret key which then can be utilized to encrypt and decrypt traffic between the peer and the given node. In this paper, we evaluate the key transfer delay and cost performance of DH in opportunistic mobile networks, a specific scenario of MANETs where complete end-to-end paths rarely exist between sources and destinations; consequently, the end-to-end delays in these networks are much greater than typical MANETs. Simulation results, driven by a random node movement model and real human mobility traces, showed that DH outperforms a typical key distribution scheme based on the RSA algorithm in terms of key transfer delay, measured by average key convergence time; however, DH performs as well as the benchmark in terms of key transfer cost, evaluated by total key (copies) forwards.

  4. Coping with persistent environmental problems: systemic delays in reducing eutrophication of the Baltic Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Riku Varjopuro

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we focus on systemic delays in the Baltic Sea that cause the problem of eutrophication to persist. These problems are demonstrated in our study by addressing three types of delays: (1 decision delay: the time it takes for an idea or perceived need to be launched as a policy; (2 implementation delay: the time from the launch of a policy to the actual implementation; (3 ecosystem delay: the time difference between the implementation and an actual measurable effects. A policy process is one characterized by delays. It may take years from problem identification to a decision to taking action and several years further for actual implementation. Ecosystem responses to measures illustrate that feedback can keep the ecosystem in a certain state and cause a delay in ecosystem response. These delays can operate on decadal scales. Our aim in this paper is to analyze these systemic delays and especially to discuss how the critical delays can be better addressed in marine protection policies by strengthening the adaptive capacity of marine protection. We conclude that the development of monitoring systems and reflexive, participatory analysis of dynamics involved in the implementation are keys to improve understanding of the systemic delays. The improved understanding is necessary for the adaptive management of a persistent environmental problem. In addition to the state of the environment, the monitoring and analysis should be targeted also at the implementation of policies to ensure that the societies are investing in the right measures.

  5. Power generation scenarios for Nigeria: An environmental and cost assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gujba, H.; Mulugetta, Y.; Azapagic, A.

    2011-01-01

    Exploratory scenarios for the power sector in Nigeria are analysed in this paper using possible pathways within the Nigerian context and then compared against the Government's power expansion plan in the short to medium term. They include two fossil-fuel (FF and CCGT) and two sustainable-development-driven scenarios (SD1 and SD2). The results from the FF scenarios indicate this is the preferred outcome if the aim is to expand electricity access at the lowest capital costs. However, the annual costs and environmental impacts increase significantly as a consequence. The SD1 scenario, characterised by increased penetration of renewables, leads to a reduction of a wide range of environmental impacts while increasing the annual costs slightly. The SD2 scenario, also with an increased share of renewables, is preferred if the aim is to reduce GHG emissions; however, this comes at an increased annual cost. Both the SD1 and SD2 scenarios also show significant increases in the capital investment compared to the Government's plans. These results can be used to help inform future policy in the Nigerian electricity sector by showing explicitly the range of possible trade-offs between environmental impacts and economic costs both in the short and long terms. - Research Highlights: →The power sector in Nigeria is set to grow significantly in near future. →Power sector scenarios are constructed and studied using LCA and economic analysis methods and then compared against the Government's plans. →These include two fossil-fuel and two sustainable-development-driven scenarios. →The results explicitly show the trade-offs between environmental impacts and costs. →Following the fossil fuel paths will reduce capital costs but increase environmental impacts. The renewable energy paths will reduce some environmental impacts but increase the capital costs.

  6. Study of the environmental costs to nuclear power plants using the SIMPACTS program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Menzel, Francine; Sabundjian, Gaiane; Mutarelli, Rita de Cassia, E-mail: fmenzel@ipen.b, E-mail: gdjian@ipen.b [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)

    2011-07-01

    The nuclear energy presents advantages in comparison with other kinds of energy sources, when their externalities are evaluated. Externality is a term that represents the side effects of production of goods or services on other people not directly involved in the activity. The externalities can be identified and related to the term environmental cost. The environmental cost is a externality that somehow affects the environment, converted into economic terms, to then be compared with other costs of an action or enterprise. The environmental cost can be calculated through programs for that purpose, however for the nuclear area is the most used SIMPACTS, developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The motivation for this work arose from the need to have a complete assessment of environmental costs from nuclear power reactors, although it is known that this kind of form of energy generation show an advantage over others with regard to externalities. This work is the first step in implementing the program SIMPACTS in plant Angra 2 in order to calculate the environmental cost of their operation. The objective is to develop a methodology for calculating environmental cost for nuclear power reactors. SIMPACTS program will be used to identify the advantages and disadvantages of a cost analysis of environmental and perform the calculation of environmental costs for Angra 2, with the aim of minimizing the environmental impacts of its operation. From an extensive literature search, is presented in this paper the methodology for calculating the environmental cost of the program SIMPACTS and some results of calculations with the environmental cost in international power reactors other power generation plants. (author)

  7. Study of the environmental costs to nuclear power plants using the SIMPACTS program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menzel, Francine; Sabundjian, Gaiane; Mutarelli, Rita de Cassia

    2011-01-01

    The nuclear energy presents advantages in comparison with other kinds of energy sources, when their externalities are evaluated. Externality is a term that represents the side effects of production of goods or services on other people not directly involved in the activity. The externalities can be identified and related to the term environmental cost. The environmental cost is a externality that somehow affects the environment, converted into economic terms, to then be compared with other costs of an action or enterprise. The environmental cost can be calculated through programs for that purpose, however for the nuclear area is the most used SIMPACTS, developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The motivation for this work arose from the need to have a complete assessment of environmental costs from nuclear power reactors, although it is known that this kind of form of energy generation show an advantage over others with regard to externalities. This work is the first step in implementing the program SIMPACTS in plant Angra 2 in order to calculate the environmental cost of their operation. The objective is to develop a methodology for calculating environmental cost for nuclear power reactors. SIMPACTS program will be used to identify the advantages and disadvantages of a cost analysis of environmental and perform the calculation of environmental costs for Angra 2, with the aim of minimizing the environmental impacts of its operation. From an extensive literature search, is presented in this paper the methodology for calculating the environmental cost of the program SIMPACTS and some results of calculations with the environmental cost in international power reactors other power generation plants. (author)

  8. Environmental cost/benefit analysis for fusion power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Young, J.R.

    1976-11-01

    This document presents a cost/benefit analysis of use of fusion power plants early in the 21st century. The first section describes the general formulation of the analysis. Included are the selection of the alternatives to the fusion reactor, selection of the power system cases to be compared, and a general comparison of the environmental effects of the selected alternatives. The second section compares the cumulative environmental effects from 2010 to 2040 for the primary cases of the power system with and without fusion reactors. The third section briefly illustrates the potential economic benefits if fusion reactors produce electricity at a lower unit cost than LMFBRs can. The fourth section summarizes the cost/benefit analysis

  9. Delaying Developmental Mathematics: The Characteristics and Costs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Marianne; Kuennen, Eric

    2004-01-01

    This paper investigates which students delay taking a required developmental mathematics course and the impact of delay on student performance in introductory microeconomics. Analysis of a sample of 1462 students at a large Midwestern university revealed that, although developmental-level mathematics students did not reach the same level of…

  10. Weather delay costs to trucking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-01

    Estimates of the nations freight sector of transportation range to upwards of $600 billion of total gross domestic product with 70 percent of total value and 60 percent of total weight moving by truck. Weather-related delays can add significantly ...

  11. MONNIE 2000: A description of a model to calculate environmental costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanemaaijer, A.H.; Kirkx, M.C.A.P.

    2001-02-01

    A new model (MONNIE 2000) was developed by the RIVM in the Netherlands in 2000 to calculate environmental costs on a macro level. The model, it's theoretical backgrounds and the technical aspects are described, making it attractive to both the user and the designer of the model. A user manual on how to calculate with the model is included. The basic principle of the model is the use of a harmonised method for calculating environmental costs, which provides the user with an output that can easily be compared with and used in other economic statistics and macro-economic models in the Netherlands. Input for the model are yearly figures on operational costs, investments and savings from environmental measures. With MONNIE 2000 calculated environmental costs per policy target group, economic sector and theme can be shown, With this model the burden of environmental measures on the economic sectors and the environmental expenditures of the government can be presented as well. MONNIE 2000 is developed in Visual Basic and by using Excel as input and output a user-friendly data exchange is realised. 12 refs

  12. How environmental costs impact DSM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sim, S.R.

    1991-01-01

    This article examines the impacts of environmental costs of electricity generation into utility planning of demand side management (DSM) programs. The topics include approach and assumptions, overview of spreadsheet approach, results of the analyses, and the application of this approach to other areas of utility management such as new generation projects, sales of new generation capacity, and utility liability and management prudency

  13. Environmental protection using social costing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, R.

    1993-01-01

    Emissions and other residual wastes come from industrial production, commercial and household activities, and transportation. These wastes damage the environment, including human health. As economies grow, so does concern about balancing that growth with the desire for environmental protection. At issue is how much environmental protection we should have. We address this issue using the concept of social costing. The issue is discussed in the context of electric power generation. There is particular concern about the use of fossil fuels such as petroleum, the major fuel used in the Republic of China, and coal which is the most common fuel used in the U. S. Electric power generation is a major source of airborne pollutants such as SO 2 , NO x particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, CO, and CO 2 . It also results in liquid and solid wastes, and other effects such as changes in land use. To generate electric power, fuel (such as petroleum, coal or enriched uranium) or some other resource (e.g., wind or geothermal) is needed. A fuel cycle consists of a sequence of activities and processes involved in generating electric power. These activities include fuel extraction, treatment and processing; fuel conversion into electricity; transmission; waste disposal; and transportation of fuel and wastes between the different stages of the fuel cycle. Each stage results in emissions or other residuals. Several recent-studies have been about the environmental costs of electricity

  14. Waste management strategy for cost effective and environmentally friendly NPP decommissioning

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Per Lidar; Arne Larsson [Studsvik Nuclear AB (ndcon partner), Nykoping (Sweden); Niklas Bergh; Gunnar Hedin [Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB (ndcon partner), Vasteraas (Sweden)

    2013-07-01

    -necks in the process causes increased space requirements and will have negative impact on the project schedule, which increases not only the cost but also the dose exposure to personnel. For these reasons it is critical to create a process that transfers material into conditioned waste ready for disposal as quickly as possible. To a certain extent the decommissioning program should be led by the waste management process. With the objective to reduce time for handling of dismantled material at site and to efficiently and environmental-friendly use waste management methods (clearance for re-use followed by clearance for recycling), the costs for the plant decommissioning could be reduced as well as time needed for performing the decommissioning project. Also, risks for delays would be reduced with a well-defined handling scheme which limits surprises. Delays are a major cost driver for decommissioning projects. (authors)

  15. Waste management strategy for cost effective and environmentally friendly NPP decommissioning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Per Lidar; Arne Larsson; Niklas Bergh; Gunnar Hedin

    2013-01-01

    -necks in the process causes increased space requirements and will have negative impact on the project schedule, which increases not only the cost but also the dose exposure to personnel. For these reasons it is critical to create a process that transfers material into conditioned waste ready for disposal as quickly as possible. To a certain extent the decommissioning program should be led by the waste management process. With the objective to reduce time for handling of dismantled material at site and to efficiently and environmental-friendly use waste management methods (clearance for re-use followed by clearance for recycling), the costs for the plant decommissioning could be reduced as well as time needed for performing the decommissioning project. Also, risks for delays would be reduced with a well-defined handling scheme which limits surprises. Delays are a major cost driver for decommissioning projects. (authors)

  16. Environmental Cost Accounting – Assessing the Environmental Responsibility Effort

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florian Marcel Nuțǎ

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The paper’s aim is to evaluate different approaches of environmental cost accounting used aroundthe world. One of the main issues of modern enterprise is to affirm its responsible behavior and to connect itwith a positive economic benefit for the shareholders. Practically the management systems must find a way toaddress all the stakeholders’ interests and needs.

  17. Internalizing environmental costs: A survey of progress in estimating the external environmental costs of electricity production and a review of market-based policies to incorporate them

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eto, J.H.; Helcke, G.

    1991-01-01

    The production of electricity creates environmental insults whose costs are not fully reflected in the prices paid by consumers for electricity services. Failure to incorporate these external costs leads to economically inefficient production and consumption decisions. The present work reviews two related efforts to address this market distortion. The first concerns progress in estimating the uninternalized environmental costs of electricity production. The second concerns market-based approaches to internalizing these costs in electricity production and consumption decisions. 10 tabs.; 41 refs

  18. Computational Stimulation of the Basal Ganglia Neurons with Cost Effective Delayed Gaussian Waveforms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daneshzand, Mohammad; Faezipour, Miad; Barkana, Buket D

    2017-01-01

    Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has compelling results in the desynchronization of the basal ganglia neuronal activities and thus, is used in treating the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Accurate definition of DBS waveform parameters could avert tissue or electrode damage, increase the neuronal activity and reduce energy cost which will prolong the battery life, hence avoiding device replacement surgeries. This study considers the use of a charge balanced Gaussian waveform pattern as a method to disrupt the firing patterns of neuronal cell activity. A computational model was created to simulate ganglia cells and their interactions with thalamic neurons. From the model, we investigated the effects of modified DBS pulse shapes and proposed a delay period between the cathodic and anodic parts of the charge balanced Gaussian waveform to desynchronize the firing patterns of the GPe and GPi cells. The results of the proposed Gaussian waveform with delay outperformed that of rectangular DBS waveforms used in in-vivo experiments. The Gaussian Delay Gaussian (GDG) waveforms achieved lower number of misses in eliciting action potential while having a lower amplitude and shorter length of delay compared to numerous different pulse shapes. The amount of energy consumed in the basal ganglia network due to GDG waveforms was dropped by 22% in comparison with charge balanced Gaussian waveforms without any delay between the cathodic and anodic parts and was also 60% lower than a rectangular charged balanced pulse with a delay between the cathodic and anodic parts of the waveform. Furthermore, by defining a Synchronization Level metric, we observed that the GDG waveform was able to reduce the synchronization of GPi neurons more effectively than any other waveform. The promising results of GDG waveforms in terms of eliciting action potential, desynchronization of the basal ganglia neurons and reduction of energy consumption can potentially enhance the performance of DBS

  19. Computational Stimulation of the Basal Ganglia Neurons with Cost Effective Delayed Gaussian Waveforms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Daneshzand

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Deep brain stimulation (DBS has compelling results in the desynchronization of the basal ganglia neuronal activities and thus, is used in treating the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD. Accurate definition of DBS waveform parameters could avert tissue or electrode damage, increase the neuronal activity and reduce energy cost which will prolong the battery life, hence avoiding device replacement surgeries. This study considers the use of a charge balanced Gaussian waveform pattern as a method to disrupt the firing patterns of neuronal cell activity. A computational model was created to simulate ganglia cells and their interactions with thalamic neurons. From the model, we investigated the effects of modified DBS pulse shapes and proposed a delay period between the cathodic and anodic parts of the charge balanced Gaussian waveform to desynchronize the firing patterns of the GPe and GPi cells. The results of the proposed Gaussian waveform with delay outperformed that of rectangular DBS waveforms used in in-vivo experiments. The Gaussian Delay Gaussian (GDG waveforms achieved lower number of misses in eliciting action potential while having a lower amplitude and shorter length of delay compared to numerous different pulse shapes. The amount of energy consumed in the basal ganglia network due to GDG waveforms was dropped by 22% in comparison with charge balanced Gaussian waveforms without any delay between the cathodic and anodic parts and was also 60% lower than a rectangular charged balanced pulse with a delay between the cathodic and anodic parts of the waveform. Furthermore, by defining a Synchronization Level metric, we observed that the GDG waveform was able to reduce the synchronization of GPi neurons more effectively than any other waveform. The promising results of GDG waveforms in terms of eliciting action potential, desynchronization of the basal ganglia neurons and reduction of energy consumption can potentially enhance the

  20. The costs of avoiding environmental impacts from shale-gas surface infrastructure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milt, Austin W; Gagnolet, Tamara D; Armsworth, Paul R

    2016-12-01

    Growing energy demand has increased the need to manage conflicts between energy production and the environment. As an example, shale-gas extraction requires substantial surface infrastructure, which fragments habitats, erodes soils, degrades freshwater systems, and displaces rare species. Strategic planning of shale-gas infrastructure can reduce trade-offs between economic and environmental objectives, but the specific nature of these trade-offs is not known. We estimated the cost of avoiding impacts from land-use change on forests, wetlands, rare species, and streams from shale-energy development within leaseholds. We created software for optimally siting shale-gas surface infrastructure to minimize its environmental impacts at reasonable construction cost. We visually assessed sites before infrastructure optimization to test whether such inspection could be used to predict whether impacts could be avoided at the site. On average, up to 38% of aggregate environmental impacts of infrastructure could be avoided for 20% greater development costs by spatially optimizing infrastructure. However, we found trade-offs between environmental impacts and costs among sites. In visual inspections, we often distinguished between sites that could be developed to avoid impacts at relatively low cost (29%) and those that could not (20%). Reductions in a metric of aggregate environmental impact could be largely attributed to potential displacement of rare species, sedimentation, and forest fragmentation. Planners and regulators can estimate and use heterogeneous trade-offs among development sites to create industry-wide improvements in environmental performance and do so at reasonable costs by, for example, leveraging low-cost avoidance of impacts at some sites to offset others. This could require substantial effort, but the results and software we provide can facilitate the process. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

  1. Consideration of environmental externality costs in electric utility resource selections and regulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ottinger, R.L.

    1990-01-01

    A surprising number of state electric utility regulatory commissions (half) have started to require consideration of environmental externality costs in utility planning and resource selection. The principal rationale for doing so is that electric utility operations impose very real and large damages to human health and the environment which are not taken into account by traditional utility least cost planning, resource selection procedures, or by government pollution regulation. These failures effectively value the residual environmental costs to society of utility operations at zero. The likely future prospect for more stringent governmental pollution regulation renders imprudent the selection of resources without taking environmental externality costs into consideration. Most regulatory commissions requiring environmental externality consideration have left it to the utilities to compute the societal costs, although a few have either set those costs themselves or used a proxy adder to polluting resource costs (or bonus for non-polluting resources). These commissions have used control or pollution mitigation costs, rather than societal damage costs, in their regulatory computations. This paper recommends that damage costs be used where adequate studies exist to permit quantification, discusses the methodologies for their measurement, and describes the means that have been and might be used for their incorporation

  2. Environmental Management Accounting (EMA: Reflection of Environmental Factors in the Accounting Processes through the Identification of the Environmental Costs Attached to Products, Processes and Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cleopatra Sendroiu

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available EMA can be defined as the identification, collection, estimation, analysis, internal reporting, and use of materials and energy flow information, environmental cost information, and other cost information for both conventional and environmental decision-making within an organization. Thus EMA incorporates and integrates two of the three building blocks of sustainable development – environment and economics – as they relate to an organization’s internal decision-making. EMA is a relatively new tool in environmental management. Decades ago environmental costs were very low, so it seemed wise to include them in the overhead account for simplicity and convenience. Recently there has been a steep rise in all environmental costs, including energy and water prices as well as liabilities.

  3. Environmental Management Accounting (EMA: Reflection of Environmental Factors in the Accounting Processes through the Identification of the Environmental Costs Attached to Products, Processes and Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Costantin Roman

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available EMA can be defined as the identification, collection, estimation, analysis, internal reporting, and use of materials and energy flow information, environmental cost information, and other cost information for both conventional and environmental decision-making within an organization. Thus EMA incorporates and integrates two of the three building blocks of sustainable development – environment and economics – as they relate to an organization’s internal decision-making. EMA is a relatively new tool in environmental management. Decades ago environmental costs were very low, so it seemed wise to include them in the overhead account for simplicity and convenience. Recently there has been a steep rise in all environmental costs, including energy and water prices as well as liabilities.

  4. Dual discounting in cost-benefit analysis for environmental impacts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kula, Erhun; Evans, David

    2011-01-01

    Discounting has been a long-established intertemporal efficiency tool in cost-benefit analysis which focuses on project selection at communal level with a view to maximising the social welfare. However, with the relentless growth in environmental stress that, in good parts, stems from investment projects the established criterion in discounting appears to be inadequate especially when environmental issues are taken into consideration. This paper looks at how dual focus on efficiency and sustainability can be achieved by using dual discounting, i.e. discounting environmental benefits separately and differently from other costs and benefits and applies this alternative criterion to an afforestation scheme in the United Kingdom which contains carbon sequestration in addition to timber benefits.

  5. The role of natural gas in assessing environmental cost of fossil fuels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riva, A.; Trebeschi, C.

    1999-01-01

    The actual price of a resource is the results of its internal and external costs. Internal costs means the price paid by the users in order to utilise the resource. On the other hand, externals costs, which are associated with the resource, are not paid directly by the users, but they shall be paid for by the society of the future generations. The article presents methodologies and issues relevant to energy policy decisions, when it comes to evaluating and using environmental external costs of fossil fuel life, with particular consideration to the end-use phase. The results of published studies on environmental costs of energy sources and an analysis applied to the Italia case show that natural gas as a significantly higher environmental value than other fossil fuels. The range of values depends upon the technologies considered and on the assumptions adopted when assessment environmental damages [it

  6. Inefficient national environmental regulation as a signal of high abatement costs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steiner, U.

    1997-12-31

    This paper analyses the importance of informational asymmetries in international environmental regulation by use of a game theoretic approach of signaling games. More specific it analysis whether it is possible for a government to try to extract higher compensation in an international unidirectoral environmental problem. This may be possible when the national environmental regulation carries a signal of the cost of the regulated industry. In this case the government e.g. by means of inefficient environmental regulation on a national level may try to signal high abatement costs. In spite of the fact that many international environmental problems seem to be solvable by the use of financial payments there are only few examples that compensation payment arrangements have been implemented. As many countries and especially many polluting firms possess better information about abatement costs than the countries that receive the pollution, it is worthwhile to include asymmetric information. Consequently, this paper analyses whether the introduction of asymmetric information about abatement costs may bring forward incentives to misrepresent the true abatement cost in order to capture more compensation. If these incentives turn out to be present, it may explain some of the suspicion against using financial payment in order to induce other countries to join an agreement. The analysis shows that it may indeed be the case that the expected gain from cheating is so large that it gives incentives to use an inefficient national environmental policy. (au) 13 refs.

  7. Environmental dispatch: Minimum cost generation planning for acid rain compliance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qadri, S.S.; Weinstein, R.E.

    1991-01-01

    Passage of Public Law 101-549, the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, requires reductions in SO 2 and NO x emissions from many power generation stations by 1995, and by an electric utility company's entire generation system by year 2000. Another option to reduce the total environmental emissions is to dispatch generating units with lower emission rates prior to dispatching units with high emission rates. This option may not lower the emission levels to the desired limits, but can reduce emissions. This is practical as long as the added operating cost is modest compared to the cost of alternatives to meet the same levels of emission reduction. This cost can be optimized to provide the best compromise between reduced emissions and operating cost increase. An environmental dispatch algorithm developed by Gilbert/Commonwealth for its eVOLVE-p trademark production costing program makes this optimization possible. The algorithm modifies the traditional economic dispatch order of utility generation to include the impact of the Clean Air Act Amendments. The dispatch order is based on emissions in excess of Clean Air Act compliance limits. A cost is assigned to the excess emissions, and these costs are distributed to the individual generating units in proportion to their emission rates. This paper discusses how this environmental dispatch algorithm is applied for utility generation compliance planning

  8. 24 CFR 1000.22 - Are the costs of the environmental review an eligible cost?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Are the costs of the environmental review an eligible cost? 1000.22 Section 1000.22 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to..., DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING ACTIVITIES General § 1000.22 Are the...

  9. Bridging environmental and financial cost of dairy production: A case study of Irish agricultural policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wenhao; Holden, Nicholas M

    2018-02-15

    The Irish agricultural policy 'Food Harvest 2020' is a roadmap for sectoral expansion and Irish dairy farming is expected to intensify, which could influence the environmental and economic performance of Irish milk production. Evaluating the total environmental impacts and the real cost of Irish milk production is a key step towards understanding the possibility of sustainable production. This paper addresses two main issues: aggregation of environmental impacts of Irish milk production by monetization, to understand the real cost of Irish milk production, including the environmental costs; and the effect of the agricultural policy 'Food Harvest 2020' on total cost (combining financial cost and environmental cost) of Irish milk production. This study used 2013 Irish dairy farming as a baseline, and defined 'bottom', 'target' and 'optimum' scenarios, according to the change of elementary inputs required to meet agricultural policy ambitions. The study demonstrated that the three monetization methods, Stepwise 2006, Eco-cost 2012 and EPS 2000, could be used for aggregating different environmental impacts into monetary unit, and to provide an insight for evaluating policy related to total environmental performance. The results showed that the total environmental cost of Irish milk production could be greater than the financial cost (up to €0.53/kg energy corrected milk). The dairy expansion policy with improved herbage utilization and fertilizer application could reduce financial cost and minimize the total environmental cost of per unit milk produced. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Medicaid program; premiums and cost sharing. Final rule; delay of effective data and reopening of comment period.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-01-27

    In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2009, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled "Regulatory Review Plan," this action temporarily delays for 60 days the effective date of the final rule entitled "Medicaid Program; Premiums and Cost Sharing" (73 FR 71828). The temporary 60-day delay in effective date is necessary to give Department officials the opportunity for further review and consideration of new regulations. In addition, this action reopens the comment period on the policies set out in the November 25, 2008 final rule.

  11. Virtual unit delay for digital frequency adaptive T/4 delay phase-locked loop system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yang, Yongheng; Zhou, Keliang; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2016-01-01

    /processor with a fixed sampling rate considering the cost and complexity, where the number of unit delays that have been adopted should be an integer. For instance, in conventional digital control systems, a single-phase T/4 Delay Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) system takes 50 unit delays (i.e., in a 50-Hz system...... Delay PLL system should be done in its implementation. This process will result in performance degradation in the digital control system, as the exactly required number of delays is not realized. Hence, in this paper, a Virtual Unit Delay (VUD) has been proposed to address such challenges to the digital......Digital micro-controllers/processors enable the cost-effective control of grid-connected power converter systems in terms of system monitoring, signal processing (e.g., grid synchronization), control (e.g., grid current and voltage control), etc. Normally, the control is implemented in a micro-controller...

  12. Integrated cost-effectiveness analysis of agri-environmental measures for water quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balana, Bedru B; Jackson-Blake, Leah; Martin-Ortega, Julia; Dunn, Sarah

    2015-09-15

    This paper presents an application of integrated methodological approach for identifying cost-effective combinations of agri-environmental measures to achieve water quality targets. The methodological approach involves linking hydro-chemical modelling with economic costs of mitigation measures. The utility of the approach was explored for the River Dee catchment in North East Scotland, examining the cost-effectiveness of mitigation measures for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollutants. In-stream nitrate concentration was modelled using the STREAM-N and phosphorus using INCA-P model. Both models were first run for baseline conditions and then their effectiveness for changes in land management was simulated. Costs were based on farm income foregone, capital and operational expenditures. The costs and effects data were integrated using 'Risk Solver Platform' optimization in excel to produce the most cost-effective combination of measures by which target nutrient reductions could be attained at a minimum economic cost. The analysis identified different combination of measures as most cost-effective for the two pollutants. An important aspect of this paper is integration of model-based effectiveness estimates with economic cost of measures for cost-effectiveness analysis of land and water management options. The methodological approach developed is not limited to the two pollutants and the selected agri-environmental measures considered in the paper; the approach can be adapted to the cost-effectiveness analysis of any catchment-scale environmental management options. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Exploratory benefit-cost analysis of environmental controls on hydrothermal energy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scott, M.J.; Wells, K.D.; Currie, J.W.; King, M.J.

    1981-02-01

    A study of the value of environmental benefits generated by environmental regulation of hydrothermal sites was initiated to compare these benefits with the estimated costs of regulation. Primary objectives were to 1) evaluate the environmental damages caused by unregulated hydrothermal resource development, 2) use existing environmental and economic data to estimate the dollar value of preventing expected environmental damages at two sites, and 3) compare the benefits and costs of preventing the damages. The sites chosen for analyses were in the Imperial Valley at Heber and Niland, California. Reasons for this choice were 1) there is a high level of commercial interest in developing the Heber known geothermal resource area (KGRA) and the Salton Sea KGRA; 2) the potential for environmental damage is high; 3) existing data bases for these two sites are more comprehensive than at other sites. The primary impacts analyzed were those related to hydrogen sulfide (H/sub 2/S) emissions and those related to disposal of spent hydrothermal brine. (MHR)

  14. Cost/benefit analyses of environmental impact

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldman, M.I.

    1974-01-01

    Various aspects of cost-benefit analyses are considered. Some topics discussed are: regulations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); statement of AEC policy and procedures for implementation of NEPA; Calvert Cliffs decision; AEC Regulatory Guide; application of risk-benefit analysis to nuclear power; application of the as low as practicable (ALAP) rule to radiation discharges; thermal discharge restrictions proposed by EPA under the 1972 Amendment to the Water Pollution Control Act; estimates of somatic and genetic insult per unit population exposure; occupational exposure; EPA Point Source Guidelines for Discharges from Steam Electric Power Plants; and costs of closed-cycle cooling using cooling towers. (U.S.)

  15. The Cost of Delaying Approval of Golden Rice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wesseler, J.H.H.; Kaplan, S.; Zilberman, D.

    2014-01-01

    More than 250,000 children go blind every year because of Vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A intake can be enhanced by consuming Golden Rice—a genetically engineered variety of rice. It was available for commercialization in 2002, but approval has been delayed. We estimate that this delay has resulted

  16. The environmental cost in the mining projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaviria Rivera Antonio

    1992-01-01

    To evaluate and calculate the mining project, Environmental costs, besides the proper variables concerning the project. It is necessary to incorporate the distinct interrelations among the mining operation with the local and regional biophysics and. socio-economic environments existing in the project's area of influence

  17. Minimization of Delay Costs in the Realization of Production Orders in Two-Machine System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dylewski, Robert; Jardzioch, Andrzej; Dworak, Oliver

    2018-03-01

    The article presents a new algorithm that enables the allocation of the optimal scheduling of the production orders in the two-machine system based on the minimum cost of order delays. The formulated algorithm uses the method of branch and bounds and it is a particular generalisation of the algorithm enabling for the determination of the sequence of the production orders with the minimal sum of the delays. In order to illustrate the proposed algorithm in the best way, the article contains examples accompanied by the graphical trees of solutions. The research analysing the utility of the said algorithm was conducted. The achieved results proved the usefulness of the proposed algorithm when applied to scheduling of orders. The formulated algorithm was implemented in the Matlab programme. In addition, the studies for different sets of production orders were conducted.

  18. Fuzzy ABC: modeling the uncertainty in environmental cost allocation

    OpenAIRE

    Borba, José Alonso; Murcia, Fernando Dal Ri; Maior, Cesar Duarte Souto

    2007-01-01

    In many cases, preventing pollution and environmental destruction is cheaper than remedying these damages. In this sense, environmental cost allocation enables a better visualization and analysis of a product's profitability. However, the environmental allocation process involves estimated information and assumes linearity between activity consumption and product that is not real in many cases. In order to handle this not-linearity, this research presents a methodology based on fuzzy logic co...

  19. Environmental review process: The U.S. experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Russo, T.N.

    1993-01-01

    The environmental review process used by the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was discussed. The process has enabled the Commission to assess proposed small hydropower projects, but in the view of the author the Commission has done so at considerable cost and time to developers. Principal reasons for the delays and additional costs were examined, and ways were suggested that developers, agencies, regulators and other stakeholders could facilitate the siting of small hydropower projects without sacrificing the quality of the environmental review process. The highly duplicative nature of the environmental review process for hydropower projects was highlighted. The Commissions's power to regulate hydropower was claimed to have become severely eroded and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 did not significantly improve the process. Conflicts between developers, federal and state agencies, and the Commission over jurisdiction and interpretation of statutes continue to cause siting delays, which could render many projects financially infeasible. A more proactive Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was suggested to work with developers, agencies, Indian tribes and non-government organizations to resolve disputes. 1 tab

  20. G-CSF in solid tumor chemotherapy: a tailored regimen reduces febrile neutropenia, treatment delays and direct costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsavaris, Nicolas; Kosmas, Christos; Gouveris, Panagiotis; Vadiak, Maria; Dimitrakopoulos, Antonis; Karadima, Dimitra; Pagouni, Efterpi; Panagiotakopoulos, George; Tzima, Evanthia; Ispoglou, Sevasti; Sakelariou, Dimitris; Koufos, Christos

    2004-02-01

    Current guidelines do not recommend G-CSF for patients with risk factors for neutropenia. One-hundred patients undergoing chemotherapy were randomized to treatment with G-CSF at 5 Kg/kg for established febrile neutropenia (ANC <1000/microl) (Group A) or G-CSF at 263 Kg/day if ANC was 1500/microl or less on the day of the expected nadir, with the duration of treatment determined by the severity of neutropenia (Group B). The number of doses of G-CSF was similar in the two groups. There were 34 cases of febrile neutropenia in Group A, but none in Group B (p=0.0001). Hospital admission for febrile neutropenia, antibiotic use and delays in chemotherapy were all significantly more common in Group A. Total direct costs were estimated to be 66, 646 for Group A and 47, 119 for Group B. Tailoring treatment does not increase G-CSF use, but significantly reduces febrile neutropenia and treatment delays and lowers direct costs.

  1. A standard methodology for cost-effectiveness analysis of new environmental technologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Booth, S.R.; Trocki, L.K.; Bowling, L.

    1994-01-01

    This paper outlines a methodology that is being applied to assess the cost-effectiveness of new environmental technologies under development by EM-50, DOE. Performance, total system effects, and life-cycle costs are all considered in the methodology to compare new technologies with existing or base-line technologies. An example of performance characterization is given in the paper. Sources of data for cost estimates and technology characterizations also appear in the paper. The Department of Energy (DOE) is facing a massive clean up effort of waste sites that contain hazardous, radioactive, or mixed materials. DOE has recognized that improvements in environmental restoration and waste management methods can potentially save the taxpayers billions of dollars as older, less-effective technologies are displaced. Consequently, DOE has targeted significant funding to search for new technologies and to test and demonstrate them in rapid and cost-effective manner with the goal of applying them quickly to address environmental problems

  2. Guidelines for defining and documenting data on costs of possible environmental protection measures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marlowe, I.; King, K.; Boyd, R.; Bouscaren, R.; Pacyna, J. [AEA Technology Environment, Harwell (United Kingdom)

    1999-07-01

    The Guidelines are intended to promote good practice in the documenting and use of data on the costs of possible environmental protection measures in the context of international data comparisons. The minimum information needed to describe the cost of an environmental protection measures is: details of pollution source; details of the environmental protection measure and its performance characteristics; how costs are defined; the year to which data apply; indications of data uncertainty; how pollutants are defined; and reference to data sources. Guidelines are given for these seven items. These are followed by descriptions of various methods of data processing - dealing with information; calculating annual costs; discount/interest rates; and additional issues relating to the implementation of cost data. 16 refs., 5 tabs., 6 apps.

  3. Cost-effectiveness of environmental management for vector control in resource development projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bos, R

    1991-01-01

    Vector control methods are traditionally divided in chemical, biological and environmental management approaches, and this distinction also reflected in certain financial and economic aspects. This is particularly true for environmental modification, usually engineering or other structural works. It is highly capital intensive, as opposed to chemical and biological control which require recurrent expenditures, and discount rates are therefore a prominent consideration in deciding for one or the other approach. Environmental manipulation requires recurrent action, but can often be carried out with the community participation, which raises the issue of opportunity costs. The incorporation of environmental management in resource projects is generally impeded by economic considerations. The Internal Rate of Return continues to be a crucial criterion for funding agencies and development banks to support new projects; at the same time Governments of debt-riden countries in the Third World will do their best to avoid additional loans on such frills as environmental and health safeguards. Two approaches can be recommended to nevertheless ensure the incorporation of environmental management measures in resource projects in an affordable way. First, there are several examples of cases where environmental management measures either have a dual benefit (increasing both agricultural production and reducing vector-borne disease transmission) or can be implemented at zero costs. Second, the additional costs involved in structural modifications can be separated from the project development costs considered in the calculations of the Internal Rate of Return, and financial support can be sought from bilateral technical cooperation agencies particularly interested in environmental and health issues. There is a dearth of information in the cost-effectiveness of alternative vector control strategies in the developing country context. The process of integrating vector control in the

  4. The environmental costs of wind energy in Spain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linares Llamas, P [CIEMAT-IEE, Madrid (Spain)

    1996-12-31

    This article summarizes the assessment of the environmental costs of the wind fuel cycle in Spain. It has been carried out within the ExternE project of the European Commission, and so it has been done following a site-, technology-specific methodology. The main impacts identified have been noise, and the loss of visual amenity. As a result some values for the external costs of wind energy have been obtained, which have shown to be much lower than those of conventional fuel cycles. It is also important to note that careful planning would avoid most of these costs. (author)

  5. The environmental costs of wind energy in Spain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linares Llamas, P. [CIEMAT-IEE, Madrid (Spain)

    1995-12-31

    This article summarizes the assessment of the environmental costs of the wind fuel cycle in Spain. It has been carried out within the ExternE project of the European Commission, and so it has been done following a site-, technology-specific methodology. The main impacts identified have been noise, and the loss of visual amenity. As a result some values for the external costs of wind energy have been obtained, which have shown to be much lower than those of conventional fuel cycles. It is also important to note that careful planning would avoid most of these costs. (author)

  6. Using cost/risk uncertainty spheres to make better environmental restoration decisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shangraw, R.F.; Cheney, C.S.; Shangraw, W.R.

    1994-01-01

    The process of balancing cost expenditures and risk reductions during environmental restoration (ER) activities (and as part of other environmental programs such as waste management and facility transition) is the critical policy decision facing DOE site decisionmakers and associated stakeholders (including regulators). The ground rules for this process are specified formally in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended, the subsequent regulations (e.g., National Contingency Plan) and policies that EPA and State agencies have issued to implement these programs, and (increasingly) interagency agreements and orders. Clearly, as Federal resources to meet environmental commitments become more constrained, cost and risk management tradeoffs will become even more needed and their results pronounced

  7. The Imposition Environmental Cost-Loading Of Companies Investing In Coal Mining

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomi Risman

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The instrument of environment is an effort to prevent environmental problems caused by mining activities both in forms and its nature. The aims of the study are to analyze and understanding the essence of environment cost-loading in order to restore the environment from coal mining activities both when mining taken place and post-mining. The type of research used is a normative-legal research. This research was conducted in the province of South Kalimantan with the consideration that the South Kalimantan is one of the largest coal-producing Provinces in Indonesia. In addition the environment cost-loading for investor in coal mining have the same properties in all coal mining sites in Indonesia. The results of the research indicated that the imposition and environment-cost in investment activity in the field of coal mining can be seen from the two approaches i.e the economic and legal approach. Economic approach is an approach that emphasizes the economic benefits gained by the owner of activities when they comply with the environmental requirements stipulated by laws and environmental regulations. Realizing the importance of environmental cost-loading for the company that manages the coal mining especially for the utilization of prevention of pollution caused by coal mining activity it is necessary to develop an institutional guarantee of recovery from the effects of pollution by establishing fund insurance for environmental restoration as a result of pollution. Thus in order to optimize the implementation of guarantee fund for environmental restoration are specifically utilized for post-mining reclamation then granting the status of Clean and Clear C amp C for coal mining investor must be presupposing the proof of guarantee fund has been placed for environmental restoration post-mining.

  8. Cost decreases in environmental technology. Evidence from four case studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oosterhuis, F. [Instituut for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit VU, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2007-07-15

    The cost of a new technology tends to decrease as its uptake grows, and environmental technology is no exception to this general rule. Factors that can bring about such cost reductions include economies of scale, 'learning-by-doing', incremental technological improvements, and growing competition. In preparing environmental policies, the potential for future cost reductions is often disregarded. The present study aims to provide some additional empirical evidence on the cost decreases in environmental technology and the factors that lie behind them. To this end, four exemplary case studies have been selected. The first case (NOx emission abatement by Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)), shows a wide variety in cost estimates, without a clear trend. This is even true for the costs of a fairly homogeneous type of investment (SCR in coal fired power plants). Nevertheless, it is clear that an important cost decrease has been achieved by prolonging the lifetime of the catalyst, which is one of the main cost components in SCR. In the second case (NH3 emission abatement by chemical air scrubbers in pig farming) there is not yet sufficient experience with the technology to draw conclusions on the development of costs. However, it is already clear that economizing on the capacity of the system can contribute to important cost savings. Three-way catalytic converters in cars have shown significant price decreases following their large scale introduction on the European market in the early 1990s. Probably economies of scale have played an important role in this case, as the size of the market made mass production possible. To some extent, cost reductions may also be attributed to improvements such as the need for less materials (e.g. platinum). Furthermore, the performance of catalytic converters has improved, implying that the cost per unit of emission reduction has decreased even more than the cost of the device itself. Market prices of Compact Fluorescent Lamps

  9. The great environmental restoration cost estimating shootout: A blind test of three DOE cost estimating groups

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klemen, Paul

    1992-01-01

    The cost of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Environmental Restoration (ER) Program has increased steadily over the last three years and, in the process, has drawn increasing scrutiny from Congress, the public, and government agencies such as the Office of Management and Budget and the General Accounting Office. Programmatic costs have been reviewed by many groups from within the DOE as well as from outside agencies. While cost may appear to be a universally applicable barometer of project conditions, it is actually a single dimensional manifestation of a complex set of conditions. As such, variations in cost estimates can be caused by a variety of underlying factors such as changes in scope, schedule, performing organization, economic conditions, or regulatory environment. This paper will examine the subject of cost estimates by evaluating three different cost estimates prepared for a single project including two estimates prepared by project proponents and another estimate prepared by a review team. The paper identifies the reasons for cost growth as measured by the different estimates and evaluates the ability of review estimates to measure the validity of costs. The comparative technique used to test the three cost estimates will identify the reasons for changes in the estimated cost, over time, and evaluate the ability of an independent review to correctly identify the reasons for cost growth and evaluate the reasonableness of the cost proposed by the project proponents. Recommendations are made for improved cost estimates and improved cost estimate reviews. Conclusions are reached regarding the differences in estimate results that can be attributed to differences in estimating techniques, the implications of these differences for decision makers, and circumstances that are unique to environmental cost estimating. (author)

  10. Environmental costs of sugarcane agroecosystems; Custos ambientais de agroecossistemas da cana-de-acucar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mello, Renato de

    1997-07-01

    This thesis analyzes and evaluates sugarcane agroecosystems, taking into account the environmental implications and the use of natural resources as production factors. The costs are estimated in financial and energetic measures, from the implantation of the culture to the delivery of the cane to the mill. In order to perform the basic model, a business group, that presently represents the paradigm in Brazil, was selected and from those data on, scenarios of financial and energetic costs of alternative production systems were structured. The environmental aspects were evaluated as production factors and also include in the tables. Using the costs and the energetic tables, combined with the environmental implication data of the agroecosystems, three scenarios were established. The basic scenario takes into account the commercial energy used and the environment was not considered as a part of the production. In the second scenario the environmental impacts and the use of natural resources are estimated as production factors and involve costs. The third scenario simulates a situation where the agroecosystem is planned to be sustained and the environmental damages are minimized. The results indicated higher costs for the scenarios of inserting environmental costs than for the others scenarios. They also indicated that it is possible to achieve a profitable production in a sustainable ecosystem and that the differences of the energy amount between the systems remain still small, and that the sustainable perspective will only be attractive if it were based on the social definition of higher values to the natural environment. (author)

  11. Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of environmental management for malaria control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Utzinger, J; Tozan, Y; Singer, B H

    2001-09-01

    Roll back malaria (RBM) aims at halving the current burden of the disease by the year 2010. The focus is on sub-Saharan Africa, and it is proposed to implement efficacious and cost-effective control strategies. But the evidence base of such information is scarce, and a notable missing element is the discussion of the potential of environmental management. We reviewed the literature and identified multiple malaria control programmes that incorporated environmental management as the central feature. Prominent among them are programmes launched in 1929 and implemented for two decades at copper mining communities in Zambia. The full package of control measures consisted of vegetation clearance, modification of river boundaries, draining swamps, oil application to open water bodies and house screening. Part of the population also was given quinine and was sleeping under mosquito nets. Monthly malaria incidence rates and vector densities were used for surveillance and adaptive tuning of the environmental management strategies to achieve a high level of performance. Within 3-5 years, malaria-related mortality, morbidity and incidence rates were reduced by 70-95%. Over the entire 20 years of implementation, the programme had averted an estimated 4173 deaths and 161,205 malaria attacks. The estimated costs per death and malaria attack averted were US$ 858 and US$ 22.20, respectively. Over the initial 3-5 years start-up period, analogous to the short-duration of cost-effectiveness analyses of current studies, we estimated that the costs per disability adjusted life year (DALY) averted were US$ 524-591. However, the strategy has a track record of becoming cost-effective in the longer term, as maintenance costs were much lower: US$ 22-92 per DALY averted. In view of fewer adverse ecological effects, increased sustainability and better uses of local resources and knowledge, environmental management--integrated with pharmacological, insecticidal and bednet interventions

  12. A high-resolution programmable Vernier delay generator based on carry chains in FPGA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Ke; Li, Xiangyu; Zhu, Rihong

    2017-06-01

    This paper presents an architecture of a high-resolution delay generator implemented in a single field programmable gate array chip by exploiting the method of utilizing dedicated carry chains. It serves as the core component in various physical instruments. The proposed delay generator contains the coarse delay step and the fine delay step to guarantee both large dynamic range and high resolution. The carry chains are organized in the Vernier delay loop style to fulfill the fine delay step with high precision and high linearity. The delay generator was implemented in the EP3SE110F1152I3 Stratix III device from Altera on a self-designed test board. Test results show that the obtained resolution is 38.6 ps, and the differential nonlinearity/integral nonlinearity is in the range of [-0.18 least significant bit (LSB), 0.24 LSB]/(-0.02 LSB, 0.01 LSB) under the nominal supply voltage of 1100 mV and environmental temperature of 20  ° C. The delay generator is rather efficient concerning resource cost, which uses only 668 look-up tables and 146 registers in total.

  13. A high-resolution programmable Vernier delay generator based on carry chains in FPGA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Ke; Li, Xiangyu; Zhu, Rihong

    2017-06-01

    This paper presents an architecture of a high-resolution delay generator implemented in a single field programmable gate array chip by exploiting the method of utilizing dedicated carry chains. It serves as the core component in various physical instruments. The proposed delay generator contains the coarse delay step and the fine delay step to guarantee both large dynamic range and high resolution. The carry chains are organized in the Vernier delay loop style to fulfill the fine delay step with high precision and high linearity. The delay generator was implemented in the EP3SE110F1152I3 Stratix III device from Altera on a self-designed test board. Test results show that the obtained resolution is 38.6 ps, and the differential nonlinearity/integral nonlinearity is in the range of [-0.18 least significant bit (LSB), 0.24 LSB]/(-0.02 LSB, 0.01 LSB) under the nominal supply voltage of 1100 mV and environmental temperature of 2 0°C. The delay generator is rather efficient concerning resource cost, which uses only 668 look-up tables and 146 registers in total.

  14. Cost analysis and ecological benefits of environmental recovery methodologies in bauxite mining

    OpenAIRE

    Guimarães,João Carlos Costa; Barros,Dalmo Arantes de; Pereira,José Aldo Alves; Silva,Rossi Allan; Oliveira,Antonio Donizette de; Borges,Luís Antônio Coimbra

    2013-01-01

    This work analyzed and compared three methods of environmental recovery in bauxite mining commonly used in Poços de Caldas Plateau, MG, by means of recovery costs and ecological benefits. Earnings and costs data of environmental recovery activities were obtained for the areas that belonged to the Companhia Geral de Minas – CGM, on properties sited in the city of Poços de Caldas, MG. The amount of costs of these activities was used to compare the recovery methods by updating them monetarily to...

  15. Quantifying the total cost of infrastructure to enable environmentally preferable decisions: the case of urban roadway design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gosse, Conrad A.; Clarens, Andres F.

    2013-03-01

    Efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of transportation infrastructure have generally overlooked many of the efficiencies that can be obtained by considering the relevant engineering and economic aspects as a system. Here, we present a framework for quantifying the burdens of ground transportation in urban settings that incorporates travel time, vehicle fuel and pavement maintenance costs. A Pareto set of bi-directional lane configurations for two-lane roadways yields non-dominated combinations of lane width, bicycle lanes and curb parking. Probabilistic analysis and microsimulation both show dramatic mobility reductions on road segments of insufficient width for heavy vehicles to pass bicycles without encroaching on oncoming traffic. This delay is positively correlated with uphill grades and increasing traffic volumes and inversely proportional to total pavement width. The response is nonlinear with grade and yields mixed uphill/downhill optimal lane configurations. Increasing bicycle mode share is negatively correlated with total costs and emissions for lane configurations allowing motor vehicles to safely pass bicycles, while the opposite is true for configurations that fail to facilitate passing. Spatial impacts on mobility also dictate that curb parking exhibits significant spatial opportunity costs related to the total cost Pareto curve. The proposed framework provides a means to evaluate relatively inexpensive lane reconfiguration options in response to changing modal share and priorities. These results provide quantitative evidence that efforts to reallocate limited pavement space to bicycles, like those being adopted in several US cities, could appreciably reduce costs for all users.

  16. Quantifying the total cost of infrastructure to enable environmentally preferable decisions: the case of urban roadway design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gosse, Conrad A; Clarens, Andres F

    2013-01-01

    Efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of transportation infrastructure have generally overlooked many of the efficiencies that can be obtained by considering the relevant engineering and economic aspects as a system. Here, we present a framework for quantifying the burdens of ground transportation in urban settings that incorporates travel time, vehicle fuel and pavement maintenance costs. A Pareto set of bi-directional lane configurations for two-lane roadways yields non-dominated combinations of lane width, bicycle lanes and curb parking. Probabilistic analysis and microsimulation both show dramatic mobility reductions on road segments of insufficient width for heavy vehicles to pass bicycles without encroaching on oncoming traffic. This delay is positively correlated with uphill grades and increasing traffic volumes and inversely proportional to total pavement width. The response is nonlinear with grade and yields mixed uphill/downhill optimal lane configurations. Increasing bicycle mode share is negatively correlated with total costs and emissions for lane configurations allowing motor vehicles to safely pass bicycles, while the opposite is true for configurations that fail to facilitate passing. Spatial impacts on mobility also dictate that curb parking exhibits significant spatial opportunity costs related to the total cost Pareto curve. The proposed framework provides a means to evaluate relatively inexpensive lane reconfiguration options in response to changing modal share and priorities. These results provide quantitative evidence that efforts to reallocate limited pavement space to bicycles, like those being adopted in several US cities, could appreciably reduce costs for all users. (letter)

  17. Evaluation of environmental management cost estimating capabilities for the subject area ''Life-cycle economics for radioactive waste management and environmental remediation''

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hombach, W.G.

    1995-01-01

    This paper provides a comprehensive perspective on the scope of Environmental Management (EM) activities and on the existing capability to estimate their costs. The scope is defined in terms of both activities and associated cost driving factors. The capability to estimate this scope was determined by evaluating existing cost estimating tools identified through a survey of the US Department of Energy (DOE), the US Department of Defense (DoD), the US Environmental Protection Agency, and private industry. This paper is largely based on the results of a report produced for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, US Department of Defense, entitled, Evaluation of Environmental Management Cost-Estimating Capabilities of Major Defense Acquisition Programs, March 22, 1995. The DoD sponsored report was designed to have a broad application relevant not only to DoD, but to other government agencies, and industry. In addition to DoD, it has particular application to DOE because significant portions of the analyses and data were derived from DOE environmental management databases, cost models, reports, and work breakdown structures. This paper provides the basis used and methodology employed to conduct an evaluations of selected EM cost estimating tools. The following topics are discussed: Life Cycle of EM Activities; Major Elements of EM Activities; Cost Tool Evaluation Matrix; Results of Cost Tool Evaluations; Cost Tool Development Plan

  18. Input-output model of regional environmental and economic impacts of nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, M.H.; Bennett, J.T.

    1979-01-01

    The costs of delayed licensing of nuclear power plants calls for a more-comprehensive method of quantifying the economic and environmental impacts on a region. A traditional input-output (I-O) analysis approach is extended to assess the effects of changes in output, income, employment, pollution, water consumption, and the costs and revenues of local government disaggregated among 23 industry sectors during the construction and operating phases. Unlike earlier studies, this model uses nonlinear environmental interactions and specifies environmental feedbacks to the economic sector. 20 references

  19. Review comments on Environmental Analysis Cost Reduction Proposals (WIPP-DOE-136), July 1982

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Channell, J.K.

    1982-11-01

    The cost reduction proposals have the laudable goal of significantly reducing the total capital And operating cost connected with WIPP. Furthermore, since the proposed changes would reduce the size and operating rate of the project, they would be expected to have decreased environmental And socioeconomic impacts. However, some of these cost reduction proposals do decrease factors of safety in various components of the project or trade off one type of environmental detriment for another. The report does not contain sufficient detail to justify all of the conclusions reached; more discussion and quantitative information (including costs) is necessary in some cases. Also, there are places where the report is unclear or contradictory. Without a more detailed evaluation, EEG is unable to conclude that each of these cost reduction proposals either has a net environmental/health and safety benefit or a cost savings that justifies a net detriment. A revised Environmental Analysis (EA) should either include additional information or specifically reference backup documents where these conclusions have been justified. In addition, the EA needs to be revised to include the effect of the recently announced (11/18/82) decision by DOE to relocate the underground waste storage areas of the repository to the south

  20. Social costs of energy consumption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hohmeyer, O.

    1988-01-01

    This study systematically compares the external costs and benefits of different electricity generating technologies. It covers environmental and employment effects, the depletion of natural resources, and public subsidies. Electricity production based on fossil fuels and nuclear energy compared with electricity production based on wind energy and photovoltaic systems. The study shows that wind and photovoltaic solar energy induce far less social costs than conventionally generated electricity. The impact of excluding social costs on the competitive position of the different energy technologies is analyzed. It is shown that the allocation process is seriously distorted resulting in sub-optimal investment decisions concerning competing energy technologies. This exclusion of social costs can delay the introduction of renewable energy sources by more than ten years and results in considerable losses to society. (orig./HSCH) With 17 figs., 24 tabs

  1. Fuel ethanol from cane molasses in Thailand: Environmental and cost performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen, Thu Lan T.; Gheewala, Shabbir H.

    2008-01-01

    In the context of the world's energy crisis and environmental concerns, crop-based ethanol has emerged as an energy alternative, the use of which can help reduce oil imports as well as emissions of CO 2 and other air pollutants. However, a clear disadvantage of ethanol is its high cost over gasoline under the current pricing scheme that does not include externalities. The intent of this study is to perform a life cycle analysis comparing environmental and cost performance of molasses-based E10 with those of CG. The results show that although E10 provides reduction in fossil energy use, petroleum use, CO 2 and NO x emissions, its total social costs are higher than those of gasoline due to higher direct production costs and external costs for other air emissions, e.g. CH 4 , N 2 O, CO, SO 2 , VOC and PM 10 . An analysis of projection scenarios shows that technological innovations towards cleaner production help maximize ethanol's benefits whilst minimizing its limitations

  2. Environmental remediation cost in Fukushima area. Trial calculation using the unit cost factor method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishikura, Takeshi; Fujita, Reiko

    2013-01-01

    In order to perform environmental remediation in Fukushima area in a swift and adequate way, it is necessary to obtain perspective of total cost and allocate resources adequately. At present such had not been fixed as what decontamination method should be applied to relevant contaminated places in Fukushima area or what disposition and processing process should be applied to radioactive soils and wastes produced by decontamination, it would be difficult to assess the cost exactly. But it would be better to calculate rough cost on trial and then upgrade the accuracy of the cost gradually based on latest knowledge. Cleanup subcommittee of AESJ utilized published process flow and unit cost and based on original proposed scenario: soils produced by decontamination were classified into intermediate storage facility and controllable processing place based on their contamination concentration and with limited reuse, rough estimated cost was obtained as 6 - 9 trillion yen for basic case. (T. Tanaka)

  3. Environmental and Cost Assessment of a Polypropylene Nanocomposite

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Roes, A.L.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/303022388; Marsili, E.; Nieuwlaar, E.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/073931373; Patel, M.K.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/18988097X

    2007-01-01

    This paper describes a study on the use of a polypropylene (PP)/layered silicate nanocomposite as packaging film, agricultural film, and automotive panels. The study’s main question was “Are the environmental impacts and costs throughout the life cycle of nanocomposite products lower than those of

  4. Social Cost Benefit Analysis for Environmental Policy-Making

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Zeeuw, A.; In t Veld, R.; Van Soest, D.; Meuleman, L.; Hoogewoning, P.

    2008-01-01

    Review of the theoretical literature and the current debate on the valuation of environmental goods and services, on the discounting of future benefits and costs, and on how social cost benefit analysis (SCBAs) can be integrated in the policy and decision making process. It is concluded that SCBA can be a good decision support method in environmental policy-making if it is transparent and if all impacts are taken into account. Furthermore, the SCBA process should be participative, and politicians must be prepared to take responsibility for the assumptions behind the SCBA, including the assumptions on valuation and on the discount rate. Such a political role makes each SCBA a unique product of a politically responsible actor, and makes it possible for other stakeholders to have calculated an alternative SCBA based on their own assumptions. This Background Study also contains the proceedings of the international SCBA conference organised by RMNO on 16-17 January 2008

  5. Environmental Investments: The Cost of a Clean Environment, A Summary (1990)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Presents data on environmental pollution control costs during the period 1972--1987, projects these costs for each subsequent year to the year 2000 under a number of assumptions, and breaks them down in a variety of ways (capital, operating; media; etc.)

  6. Predicting Freeway Work Zone Delays and Costs with a Hybrid Machine-Learning Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bo Du

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A hybrid machine-learning model, integrating an artificial neural network (ANN and a support vector machine (SVM model, is developed to predict spatiotemporal delays, subject to road geometry, number of lane closures, and work zone duration in different periods of a day and in the days of a week. The model is very user friendly, allowing the least inputs from the users. With that the delays caused by a work zone on any location of a New Jersey freeway can be predicted. To this end, tremendous amounts of data from different sources were collected to establish the relationship between the model inputs and outputs. A comparative analysis was conducted, and results indicate that the proposed model outperforms others in terms of the least root mean square error (RMSE. The proposed hybrid model can be used to calculate contractor penalty in terms of cost overruns as well as incentive reward schedule in case of early work competition. Additionally, it can assist work zone planners in determining the best start and end times of a work zone for developing and evaluating traffic mitigation and management plans.

  7. Environmental innovation and the cost of pollution abatement revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brechet, Thierry [Center for Operations Research and Econometrics, Chair Lhoist Berghmans in Environmental Economics and Management, Louvain School of Management, Universite catholique de Louvain, Voie du Roman Pays 34, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium); Jouvet, Pierre-Andre [EconomiX, Universite de Nanterre (France); Center for Operations Research and Econometrics, Universite catholique de Louvain (Belgium)

    2008-04-01

    It is widely assumed in the literature that environmental innovation reduces the marginal cost of pollution abatement. In this paper we show that this is not necessarily the case and we provide some unexpected outcomes. (author)

  8. Pesticide Environmental Accounting: A method for assessing the external costs of individual pesticide applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leach, A.W.; Mumford, J.D.

    2008-01-01

    The Pesticide Environmental Accounting (PEA) tool provides a monetary estimate of environmental and health impacts per hectare-application for any pesticide. The model combines the Environmental Impact Quotient method and a methodology for absolute estimates of external pesticide costs in UK, USA and Germany. For many countries resources are not available for intensive assessments of external pesticide costs. The model converts external costs of a pesticide in the UK, USA and Germany to Mediterranean countries. Economic and policy applications include estimating impacts of pesticide reduction policies or benefits from technologies replacing pesticides, such as sterile insect technique. The system integrates disparate data and approaches into a single logical method. The assumptions in the system provide transparency and consistency but at the cost of some specificity and precision, a reasonable trade-off for a method that provides both comparative estimates of pesticide impacts and area-based assessments of absolute impacts. - A method to estimate the external costs of a pesticide application based on the ecotoxicology, environmental behaviour and application rate of an active ingredient

  9. Derivation and computation of discrete-delay and continuous-delay SDEs in mathematical biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Edward J

    2014-06-01

    Stochastic versions of several discrete-delay and continuous-delay differential equations, useful in mathematical biology, are derived from basic principles carefully taking into account the demographic, environmental, or physiological randomness in the dynamic processes. In particular, stochastic delay differential equation (SDDE) models are derived and studied for Nicholson's blowflies equation, Hutchinson's equation, an SIS epidemic model with delay, bacteria/phage dynamics, and glucose/insulin levels. Computational methods for approximating the SDDE models are described. Comparisons between computational solutions of the SDDEs and independently formulated Monte Carlo calculations support the accuracy of the derivations and of the computational methods.

  10. The environmental cost of subsistence: Optimizing diets to minimize footprints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gephart, Jessica A.; Davis, Kyle F.; Emery, Kyle A.; Leach, Allison M.; Galloway, James N.; Pace, Michael L.

    2016-01-01

    The question of how to minimize monetary cost while meeting basic nutrient requirements (a subsistence diet) was posed by George Stigler in 1945. The problem, known as Stigler's diet problem, was famously solved using the simplex algorithm. Today, we are not only concerned with the monetary cost of food, but also the environmental cost. Efforts to quantify environmental impacts led to the development of footprint (FP) indicators. The environmental footprints of food production span multiple dimensions, including greenhouse gas emissions (carbon footprint), nitrogen release (nitrogen footprint), water use (blue and green water footprint) and land use (land footprint), and a diet minimizing one of these impacts could result in higher impacts in another dimension. In this study based on nutritional and population data for the United States, we identify diets that minimize each of these four footprints subject to nutrient constraints. We then calculate tradeoffs by taking the composition of each footprint's minimum diet and calculating the other three footprints. We find that diets for the minimized footprints tend to be similar for the four footprints, suggesting there are generally synergies, rather than tradeoffs, among low footprint diets. Plant-based food and seafood (fish and other aquatic foods) commonly appear in minimized diets and tend to most efficiently supply macronutrients and micronutrients, respectively. Livestock products rarely appear in minimized diets, suggesting these foods tend to be less efficient from an environmental perspective, even when nutrient content is considered. The results' emphasis on seafood is complicated by the environmental impacts of aquaculture versus capture fisheries, increasing in aquaculture, and shifting compositions of aquaculture feeds. While this analysis does not make specific diet recommendations, our approach demonstrates potential environmental synergies of plant- and seafood-based diets. As a result, this study

  11. The environmental cost of subsistence: Optimizing diets to minimize footprints

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gephart, Jessica A.; Davis, Kyle F. [University of Virginia, Department of Environmental Sciences, 291 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904 (United States); Emery, Kyle A. [University of Virginia, Department of Environmental Sciences, 291 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904 (United States); University of California, Santa Barbara. Marine Science Institute, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States); Leach, Allison M. [University of New Hampshire, 107 Nesmith Hall, 131 Main Street, Durham, NH, 03824 (United States); Galloway, James N.; Pace, Michael L. [University of Virginia, Department of Environmental Sciences, 291 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904 (United States)

    2016-05-15

    The question of how to minimize monetary cost while meeting basic nutrient requirements (a subsistence diet) was posed by George Stigler in 1945. The problem, known as Stigler's diet problem, was famously solved using the simplex algorithm. Today, we are not only concerned with the monetary cost of food, but also the environmental cost. Efforts to quantify environmental impacts led to the development of footprint (FP) indicators. The environmental footprints of food production span multiple dimensions, including greenhouse gas emissions (carbon footprint), nitrogen release (nitrogen footprint), water use (blue and green water footprint) and land use (land footprint), and a diet minimizing one of these impacts could result in higher impacts in another dimension. In this study based on nutritional and population data for the United States, we identify diets that minimize each of these four footprints subject to nutrient constraints. We then calculate tradeoffs by taking the composition of each footprint's minimum diet and calculating the other three footprints. We find that diets for the minimized footprints tend to be similar for the four footprints, suggesting there are generally synergies, rather than tradeoffs, among low footprint diets. Plant-based food and seafood (fish and other aquatic foods) commonly appear in minimized diets and tend to most efficiently supply macronutrients and micronutrients, respectively. Livestock products rarely appear in minimized diets, suggesting these foods tend to be less efficient from an environmental perspective, even when nutrient content is considered. The results' emphasis on seafood is complicated by the environmental impacts of aquaculture versus capture fisheries, increasing in aquaculture, and shifting compositions of aquaculture feeds. While this analysis does not make specific diet recommendations, our approach demonstrates potential environmental synergies of plant- and seafood-based diets. As a result

  12. Picosecond resolution programmable delay line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suchenek, Mariusz

    2009-01-01

    The note presents implementation of a programmable delay line for digital signals. The tested circuit has a subnanosecond delay range programmable with a resolution of picoseconds. Implementation of the circuit was based on low-cost components, easily available on the market. (technical design note)

  13. The Cost Implications in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia of Early Versus Delayed External Cephalic Version in the Early External Cephalic Version 2 (EECV2) Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Rashid J; Gafni, Amiram; Hutton, Eileen K

    2016-03-01

    According to the Early External Cephalic Version (EECV2) Trial, planning external cephalic version (ECV) early in pregnancy results in fewer breech presentations at delivery compared with delayed external cephalic version. A Cochrane review conducted after the EECV2 Trial identified an increase in preterm birth associated with early ECV. We examined whether a policy of routine early ECV (i.e., before 37 weeks' gestation) is more or less costly than a policy of delayed ECV. We undertook this analysis from the perspective of a third-party payer (Ministry of Health). We applied data, using resources reported in the EECV2 Trial, to the Canadian context using 10 hospital unit costs and 17 physician service/procedure unit costs. The data were derived from the provincial health insurance plan schedule of medical benefits in three Canadian provinces (Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia). The difference in mean total costs between study groups was tested for each province separately. We found that planning early ECV results in higher costs than planning delayed ECV. The mean costs of all physician services/procedures and hospital units for planned ECV compared with delayed ECV were $7997.32 versus $7263.04 in Ontario (P < 0.001), $8162.82 versus $7410.55 in Alberta (P < 0.001), and $8178.92 versus $7417.04 in British Columbia (P < 0.001), respectively. From the perspective of overall cost, our analyses do not support a policy of routinely planning ECV before 37 weeks' gestation. Copyright © 2016 The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada/La Société des obstétriciens et gynécologues du Canada. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Joint environmental and cost efficiency analysis of electricity generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Welch, Eric; Barnum, Darold

    2009-01-01

    Fossil-fuel based electricity generation produces the largest proportion of human-related carbon pollution in the United States. Hence, fuel choices by steam plants are key determinants of the industry's impact on national and global greenhouse gas emissions, and key foci for climate change policy. Yet, little research has been done to examine the economic and environmental tradeoffs among the different types of fuels that are used by these plants. This paper applies a Data Envelopment Analysis procedure that incorporates the materials balance principle to estimate the allocations of coal, gas and oil inputs that minimize carbon emissions and costs. Using EIA 906 and FERC 423 data, the paper estimates cost/carbon tradeoffs facing two sets of plants: those that use coal and gas inputs, and those that use coal, gas and oil inputs. Findings for our three-input sample show that there would be a 79% increase in cost for moving from the cost-efficient point to the carbon efficient point, while there would be a 38% increase in carbon for moving from the carbon efficient point to the cost-efficient point. These conclusions indicate that, in general, the gap between efficient cost and efficient environmental production is wide, and would require substantial policy intervention, technological change or market adjustment before it could be narrowed. However, our examination of individual plants shows that what is true in general is often not true for specific plants. Some plants that are currently less efficient than those on the production frontier could produce the same amount of electricity with less carbon output and less fuel input. Additionally, many plants on the production frontier could improve both cost and carbon efficiency by changing their mixture of fossil-fuel inputs. (author)

  15. Evaluation of trade-offs in costs and environmental impacts for returnable packaging implementation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarupan, Lerpong; Kamarthi, Sagar V.; Gupta, Surendra M.

    2004-02-01

    The main thrust of returnable packaging these days is to provide logistical services through transportation and distribution of products and be environmentally friendly. Returnable packaging and reverse logistics concepts have converged to mitigate the adverse effect of packaging materials entering the solid waste stream. Returnable packaging must be designed by considering the trade-offs between costs and environmental impact to satisfy manufacturers and environmentalists alike. The cost of returnable packaging entails such items as materials, manufacturing, collection, storage and disposal. Environmental impacts are explicitly linked with solid waste, air pollution, and water pollution. This paper presents a multi-criteria evaluation technique to assist decision-makers for evaluating the trade-offs in costs and environmental impact during the returnable packaging design process. The proposed evaluation technique involves a combination of multiple objective integer linear programming and analytic hierarchy process. A numerical example is used to illustrate the methodology.

  16. Cost-utility and value-of-information analysis of early versus delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wilson, E; Gurusamy, K; Gluud, C

    2010-01-01

    BACKGROUND:: A recent systematic review found early laparoscopic cholecystectomy (ELC) to be safe and to shorten total hospital stay compared with delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy (DLC) for acute cholecystitis. The cost-effectiveness of ELC versus DLC for acute cholecystitis is unknown. METHODS......, there is a 70.9 per cent probability that ELC is cost effective compared with DLC. Full implementation of ELC could save the NHS pound8.5 million per annum. CONCLUSION:: The results of this decision analytic modelling study suggest that on average ELC is less expensive and results in better quality of life than......:: A decision tree model estimating and comparing costs to the UK National Health Service (NHS) and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained following a policy of either ELC or DLC was developed with a time horizon of 1 year. Uncertainty was investigated with probabilistic sensitivity analysis, and value...

  17. Environmental degradation costs in electricity generation: The case of the Brazilian electrical matrix

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alves, Laura Araujo; Uturbey, Wadaed

    2010-01-01

    The main purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of including environmental degradation costs in the long-term planning of the Brazilian electricity sector. To this aim, environmental external costs associated to both hydro-power and thermal-power electricity generation are investigated. Monetary valuation methodologies are applied and environmental degradation costs, expressed in per kWh of generated energy, are obtained for the main types of generation sources of the Brazilian electricity matrix. Both local pollution due to particulate matter emissions and global warming effects are assessed. A classification of the sources from the point of view of their impact on the environment is given. Degradation costs associated to the installed capacity expansion in the Brazilian electricity sector during the time horizon 2007-2016 are estimated. These resulting costs represent lower boundary damage estimates associated only with the energy to be generated during the period. Results indicate that local pollution caused by a small number of plants could be even more costly to society than global warming and, also, show the importance of considering not only unitary damage costs but the participation of each source on the generated energy during the time horizon, as a guide to planning and policy making.

  18. Medicaid program; premiums and cost sharing. Final rule; delay of effective date and reopening of comment period.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-03-27

    This action temporarily delays the effective date of the November 25, 2008 final rule entitled, Medicaid Program; Premiums and Cost Sharing" (73 FR 71828) until December 31, 2009. In addition, this action reopens the comment period on the policies set out in the November 25, 2008 final rule, and specifically solicits comments on the effect of certain provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

  19. A Bottom-up Approach to Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carolus, Johannes Friedrich; Hanley, Nick; Olsen, Søren Bøye

    with the underlying environmental problem, and then assesses costs and benefits of various strategies and solutions suggested by local and directly affected stakeholders. For empirical case studies concerning two river catchments in Sweden and Latvia, the bottom-up CBA approach utilises local knowledge, assesses......Cost-Benefit Analysis is a method to assess the effects of policies and projects on social welfare. CBAs are usually applied in a top-down approach, in the sense that a decision-making body first decides on which policies or projects are to be considered, and then applies a set of uniform criteria...... plans which are not only developed for local conditions but are also likely to be more acceptable to local society, and sheds additional light on possible distributional effects. By not only benefitting from, but also supporting participative environmental planning, bottom-up CBA is in line...

  20. Effects of delaying the operation of a nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, L.J.; Rainey, J.A.; Tepel, R.C.; Van Dyke, J.W.

    1983-12-01

    This report documents a study of an actual 24-month nuclear power plant licensing delay. A representative utility was chosen for examination. The research was oriented toward determination of the licensing delay's impact on the utility's operating results, ratepayers, and security issues. The methodology utilized to estimate those impacts involved the recursive interaction of a generation costing program to estimate replacement fuel costs and a financial regulatory model to concomitantly determine the impact on the utility, its ratepayers and security issues. The latter model was executed under six alternate scenarios: (1) no delay in the plant's operation; (2) a 24-month delay; (3) a 24-month delay but further assuming all replacement power was generated by coal-fired plants; (4) a 24-month delay assuming all replacement power from oil-fired plants; (5) no delay but assuming the capital cost of the plant was twice as large; and (6) a 24-month delay with the capital cost of the plant twice as large. Three primary conclusions were made. First, under all scenarios, a 24-month delay in operation of the plant has an adverse impact on the utility's internal generation of funds. Second, although electricity rates are not appreciably affected by the delay, the direction of electricity price changes is contingent on the source of fuel used for replacement power. Finally, a 24-month delay has an adverse impact on the indicators used to evaluate the financial soundness of the utility in all cases under consideration

  1. Industrial Environmental Monitoring — A Land Restoration Costs Tracking Tool

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iskakov, M.; Nurgaziyev, M.; Eleyushov, B.; Kayukov, P.

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes a procedure in use in Kazakhstan for controlling the rehabilitation of sites damaged by subsurface operations. It sets out the legal requirements and a methodology for production environmental control in which a procedure is established for monitoring and impact assessment and for optimizing remediation approaches, taking into account the environmental impact and the associated costs of different options. (author)

  2. Evaluation of the environmental costs in the fields power and traffic. Recommendations of the Federal Environmental Agency; Schaetzung der Umweltkosten in den Bereichen Energie und Verkehr. Empfehlungen des Umweltbundesamtes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-08-15

    The scientific evidence for the estimation of environmental costs was steadily improved in the recent years. The Federal Environment Agency (Dessau-Rosslau, Federal Republic of Germany) summarizes the scientific progress in this field by means of the methods convention. Environmental costs are macro-economically very important. Emissions of greenhouse gases, air pollutants and noise pollution, land use and the consumption of scarce resources result in high costs for health and environment. Estimates of environmental costs point out the negative impacts of a neglected environmental protection and substantiate the necessity to pursue the ambitious environmental targets. Environmental costs are also suitable for the assessment of measures and instruments of the environmental protection. Municipalities, businesses and households also can use estimates of environmental costs - especially for environment-related investment decisions.

  3. Environmental costs and reverse logistics: a systemic analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula de Souza

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to analyze the articles most relevant to the themes inherent environmental costs from the perspective of reverse logistics, identifying gaps for these two approaches through systemic analysis. In order to achieve the purpose of this article, the intervention instrument used was ProKnow-C (Knowledge Process Development - Constructivist. The application of this methodology resulted in gross bank of articles, comprising 1225 items obtained from four international databases: Science Direct, ISI Web of Science, Scopus and Wiley Online Library. The raw bank was filtered in relation to redundancy, the alignment of the title and the scientific relevance. The filtering had resulted in a set of 15 articles aligned with two axes of research. The analysis of the selected articles identified the most cited article and the author most cited, concluding that the issue environmental costs associated with reverse logistics is studied by several authors and universities. Moreover, it was found that the keyword most presented in the articles was reverse logistics. The analysis of 1117 references of the 15 articles has shown the most cited articles, as well as the most countrast journals and academic relevance of authors and their selected articles. A systemic analysis of the 15 selected articles showed that the two lines of research are related mainly to issues of environmental sustainability, competitiveness and business efficiency.

  4. Resistance delaying strategies on UK sheep farms: A cost benefit analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Learmount, Jane; Glover, Mike J; Taylor, Mike A

    2018-04-30

    UK guidelines for the sustainable control of parasites in sheep (SCOPS) were formulated with the primary aim of delaying development of anthelmintic resistance (AR) on UK sheep farms. Promoting their use requires the engagement and commitment of stakeholders. An important driver for behavioural change in sheep farmers is evidence of economic benefits. A recent evaluation of SCOPS guidance in practice demonstrated a significant reduction in anthelmintic use, suggesting economic benefits through a direct reduction in product and labour costs. However, in order to maintain production, a range of alternative control strategies are advised, resulting in additional costs to farmers and so a full cost benefit analysis of best practice management was undertaken. We allocated financial values to the management recommendations described in the SCOPS technical manual. Benefits were calculated using data for production variables and anthelmintic use measured during studies to evaluate the effect of SCOPS recommendations on 16 UK sheep farms and from other published work. As SCOPS control is not prescriptive and a range of different diagnostics are available, best and worst case scenarios were presented, comparing the cheapest methods (e.g. egg counts without larval culture) and management situations (e.g closed flocks not requiring quarantine treatments) with the most laborious and expensive. Simulations were run for farms with a small, medium or large flock (300; 1000; 1900 ewes) as well as comparing scenarios with and without potential production benefits from using effective wormers. Analysis demonstrated a moderate cost for all farms under both scenarios when production benefits were not included. A cost benefit was demonstrated for medium and large farms when production benefits were included and the benefit could be perceived as significant in the case of the large farms for the best case scenario (>£5000 per annum). Despite a significant potential reduction in

  5. Cost effectiveness studies of environmental technologies: Volume 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, E.M.; Booth, S.R.

    1994-02-01

    This paper examines cost effectiveness studies of environmental technologies including the following: (1) In Situ Air Stripping, (2) Surface Towed Ordinance Locator System, (3) Ditch Witch Horizontal Boring Technology, (4) Direct Sampling Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer, (5) In Situ Vitrification, (6) Site Characterization and Analysis Penetrometer System, (7) In Situ Bioremediation, and (8) SEAMIST Membrane System Technology

  6. Accounting for external costs in a study of a Swedish district-heating system - An assessment of environmental policies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fahlen, E.; Ahlgren, E.O.

    2010-01-01

    Sweden has historically had strict emission control by implementation of economic policy instruments with the aim of internalising the external costs of air pollution. This study aims to evaluate how well current Swedish policy instruments reflect the environmental costs associated with heat generation in several district-heating (DH) plants in the DH system of Goeteborg. Furthermore, it aims to simulate and evaluate the operation of the DH system based on its social cost-effectiveness which takes into account the DH system's private and external costs (non-internalised environmental costs). The study shows that the economic policy instruments do not fully internalise all external costs whereas for certain technologies, the costs in terms of taxes, emission permits, environmental fees, etc. are higher than the environmental costs caused by the pollutants, given the environmental cost estimates used in the study. The simulation results show that the deviating internalisation of external costs affects the economic ranking of the different plants within the studied DH system. The estimated loss in social-cost effectiveness of the operation of the DH system of Goeteborg is noticable but relatively small if compared to the variable heat generation costs for most of the studied DH plants.

  7. Cost analysis and ecological benefits of environmental recovery methodologies in bauxite mining

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Carlos Costa Guimarães

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available This work analyzed and compared three methods of environmental recovery in bauxite mining commonly used in Poços de Caldas Plateau, MG, by means of recovery costs and ecological benefits. Earnings and costs data of environmental recovery activities were obtained for the areas that belonged to the Companhia Geral de Minas – CGM, on properties sited in the city of Poços de Caldas, MG. The amount of costs of these activities was used to compare the recovery methods by updating them monetarily to a reference date, in other words, the present moment. It is concluded that the difference between the present value of costs for simple restoration and rehabilitation activities are less than 1% and that between the complete restoration and rehabilitation is about 15.12%, suggesting that the choice of the methods to be used must be based on the ecological earnings proportional to each of them. The methodology of environmental restoration of the mining areas emphasizes the ecological variables in the process of establishment of the community, to the detriment of complex ecological aspects, which show difficulties in measuring the actual moment of the development of the ecosystem considered.

  8. Perceptions, Preferences, and Behavior Regarding Energy and Environmental Costs: The Case of Montreal Transport Users

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nayer Daher

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Providing travel-related fuel and environmental information to transport users is becoming increasingly relevant. However, the impact of providing such information on users’ travel behavior is yet to be determined. This research examined the perceptions and preferences related to the fuel consumption costs, greenhouse gas (GHG social costs, and health-related air pollution costs, and the influence such information could have on travel behavior. Examining the case of Montreal transport users, the authors conducted a survey in which the respondents were asked general and stated preference questions. The respondents were found to be unaware of the energy and environmental footprints of their travel. Approximately 85% of the respondents were not able to estimate GHG social costs and health-related air pollution costs across different modes. The respondents generally overestimated these costs and they interestingly reported higher environmental costs for public transport (metro compared to cars. They also preferred to receive such information in monetary units, and they were more comfortable in receiving the information through mobile applications over other tools/means. The research also found that fuel and environmental information influence respondents’ travel decisions especially their route choices. Finally, the respondents would be willing to pay an average of 7 Canadian dollars/month in exchange for obtaining the information.

  9. Decommissioning Cost Assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Labor, Bea

    2012-03-01

    The future costs for dismantling, decommissioning and handling of associated radioactive waste of nuclear installations represents substantial liabilities. It is the generations that benefits from the use of nuclear installations that shall carry the financial burden. Nuclear waste programmes have occasionally encountered set-backs related to the trust from society. This has resulted in delayed, redirected or halted activities, which has the common denominator of costs increases. In modern democratic countries, information sharing, knowledge transfer and open communication about costs for the management of radioactive waste are prerequisites for the task to develop modern methods for public participation and thus to develop well-founded and justified confidence for further development of nuclear energy. Nuclear and radiation safety Authorities have a clear role to provide unbiased information on any health, safety, financial and environmental related issues. This task requires a good understanding of the values and opinion of the public, and especially those of the younger generation

  10. Evaluation of a New Strategy for Attending Takeoffs and Landings to Reduce Aircraft Operating Costs and Passenger Delays at the Mexico City International Airport

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Herrera-García Alfonso

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this research was to evaluate a strategy for attending the takeoffs and landings at a congested airport, in order to reduce aircraft operating costs and passenger delay times. The continuous growth of air transport activity has created congestion at major airports worldwide, this situation produces increases in the aircraft operating costs and passenger discomfort. In the strategy evaluated the traditional rule for attending to aircraft, on a first-come-first-served basis, was substituted with a sequence that reduces operating costs and passenger delays. In order to perform this evaluation a discrete-event simulation model was developed for the Mexico City International Airport. Results showed that it is possible to obtain significant benefits if the proposed strategy is applied, an annual benefit of around 28.6 million pesos could be achieved.

  11. Multi objective optimization model for minimizing production cost and environmental impact in CNC turning process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Widhiarso, Wahyu; Rosyidi, Cucuk Nur

    2018-02-01

    Minimizing production cost in a manufacturing company will increase the profit of the company. The cutting parameters will affect total processing time which then will affect the production cost of machining process. Besides affecting the production cost and processing time, the cutting parameters will also affect the environment. An optimization model is needed to determine the optimum cutting parameters. In this paper, we develop an optimization model to minimize the production cost and the environmental impact in CNC turning process. The model is used a multi objective optimization. Cutting speed and feed rate are served as the decision variables. Constraints considered are cutting speed, feed rate, cutting force, output power, and surface roughness. The environmental impact is converted from the environmental burden by using eco-indicator 99. Numerical example is given to show the implementation of the model and solved using OptQuest of Oracle Crystal Ball software. The results of optimization indicate that the model can be used to optimize the cutting parameters to minimize the production cost and the environmental impact.

  12. The costs of the environmental administration in the planning of the electric sector in Colombia - methodological aspects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jurado Montano, Jose Lino

    2001-01-01

    The environmental costs came forth in the planning of the Colombian electrical sector by early 90's. The costs of environmental programs for generation projects were calculated, considering constraints and assumptions, some of them are still valid. The necessity to know the environmental costs of generation and transmission projects in preliminary stages of planning, as complement to indicative expansion plans, allowed the development of a model that assesses in advance the impacts and defines the costs of their environmental measures in future stages of construction and operation. The model uses geo-referenced basic information but sufficient to determine multiple impact and cost indicators. This model was developed with the active participation of representative agents of the electrical sector and will support UPME in valuation of expansion plans and it can supply preliminary costs to potential project investors in this sector

  13. Electric Car Users’ Time of Charging Problem under Peak Load Pricing When Delay in Charging Time Involves Uncertain Cost

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fetene, Gebeyehu Manie

    The problem of peak load arises when demand fluctuates over time while the pro- duction technology is not flexible (or making it flexible is economically inefficient) and/or when a product is non-storable (or storage cost is huge). Peak load is a com- mon problem in consumption of public utilities......, on the one hand, observed cost saving benefit of postponing the time of charging to off-peak lower fee of charging and, on the other hand, the cost of delay in departure time for planned trips and uncertain cost of late charging associated with likelihood occur- rence of unanticipated trip before the car...... of electricity. The electric vehicle (EV) users choice of time of charging problem under PLP is different from that of general households using energy for house appliances since there is uncertain cost to the former as- sociated with likelihood occurrence of unanticipated trips such as visiting hospital...

  14. SCORECARD AMBIENTAL: MONITORAÇÃO DOS CUSTOS AMBIENTAIS ATRAVÉS DA WEB ENVIRONMENTAL SCORECARD: WEB-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL COST MONITORING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orlando Durán

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available A gestão ambiental tem se transformado num dos elementos chave dentro da gestão empresarial atual. Sistemas Integrados de Gestão posicionam num mesmo plano as questões relativas às dimensões financeiras, da qualidade e do desempenho ambiental. Dentro desse contexto, a mensuração dos custos ambientais ocupa um lugar de destaque no que tange à informação para a Gestão. Entretanto, a mensuração dos custos ambientais tem esbarrado nas limitações já reconhecidas dos instrumentos da contabilidade tradicional. Pela sua natureza, a maioria destes custos é considerada como sendo custos indiretos de fabricação e/ou custos fixos dificultando, com isso, sua identificação e correta apropriação. Com a utilização do Método do Custeio Baseado em Atividades (ABC, os custos ambientais podem ser definidos a partir da identificação e mensuração dos recursos consumidos pelas atividades de controle, preservação e recuperação ambiental. Tudo isso é possível devido às características do Método ABC, adaptando-se de uma melhor forma à identificação, medição e monitoramento dos custos ambientais. Este trabalho apresenta os resultados obtidos no projeto de construção de um sistema de monitoramento dos custos ambientais via web, utilizando para isto um banco de dados e linguagem PHP. Este sistema, chamado de Scorecard Ambiental, disponibiliza a informação relativa aos custos ambientais através da web categorizados segundo quatro classes, custos de prevenção, custos de avaliação, custos de falhas internas e custos de falhas externas e permite aos usuários acompanhar o comportamento dessas variáveis ao longo dos períodos.Environmental Management has become recently a central issue of corporate management. Integrated Management Systems incorporate matters such as finances, quality and environmental performance, at the same importance level. Within that context, measuring environmental costs is today an essential aspect

  15. Environmental costs and resource planning consequences: New England electric's rating and weighting approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Destribats, A.F.; Hutchinson, M.A.; Stout, T.M.; White, D.S.

    1990-01-01

    In mid 1989, the New England Electric System (NEES or Company) began an effort to reflect the potential environmental externalities of new resources in its long range planning process. Having examined several methods for incorporating externalities, including cost of control, the Company adopted a rating and weighting approach. Not strictly quantitative nor qualitative, the rating and weighting approach provided a means to apply an environmental score to all new resources considered for the Company's long range resource plan, NEESPLAN 1990. A maximum environmental cost penalty of fifteen percent was applied to the resource considered for inclusion in the plan that posed the highest amount of potential environmental degradation. All other resources received a smaller penalty that was based on the ratio of their environmental score to the highest score. Application of this penalty tended to improve the cost-effectiveness of demand-side programs and worsen some supply-side options' cost-effectiveness. Both the rating and weighting approach employed by NEES and its application in the long range planning process have been the subject of several critical reviews. Having stated that the advantages of the rating and weighting approach include its easy reviewability and flexibility to be modified as better information becomes available, the Company has subsequently revised the approach to address the comments made by reviewers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rating and weighting approach, its recent revisions, and the effect of the revised methodology on the Company's long range resource plan

  16. Low-cost scalable quartz crystal microbalance array for environmental sensing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anazagasty, Cristain [University of Puerto Rico; Hianik, Tibor [Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; Ivanov, Ilia N [ORNL

    2016-01-01

    Proliferation of environmental sensors for internet of things (IoT) applications has increased the need for low-cost platforms capable of accommodating multiple sensors. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) crystals coated with nanometer-thin sensor films are suitable for use in high-resolution (~1 ng) selective gas sensor applications. We demonstrate a scalable array for measuring frequency response of six QCM sensors controlled by low-cost Arduino microcontrollers and a USB multiplexer. Gas pulses and data acquisition were controlled by a LabVIEW user interface. We test the sensor array by measuring the frequency shift of crystals coated with different compositions of polymer composites based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) while films are exposed to water vapor and oxygen inside a controlled environmental chamber. Our sensor array exhibits comparable performance to that of a commercial QCM system, while enabling high-throughput 6 QCM testing for under $1,000. We use deep neural network structures to process sensor response and demonstrate that the QCM array is suitable for gas sensing, environmental monitoring, and electronic-nose applications.

  17. Biological invasions: economic and environmental costs of alien plant, animal, and microbe species

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Pimentel, David

    2011-01-01

    ...: Economic and Environmental Costs of Alien Plant, Animal, and Microbe Species, this reference discusses how non-native species invade new ecosystems and the subsequent economic and environmental effects of these species...

  18. Pesticide Environmental Accounting: a method for assessing the external costs of individual pesticide applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leach, A W; Mumford, J D

    2008-01-01

    The Pesticide Environmental Accounting (PEA) tool provides a monetary estimate of environmental and health impacts per hectare-application for any pesticide. The model combines the Environmental Impact Quotient method and a methodology for absolute estimates of external pesticide costs in UK, USA and Germany. For many countries resources are not available for intensive assessments of external pesticide costs. The model converts external costs of a pesticide in the UK, USA and Germany to Mediterranean countries. Economic and policy applications include estimating impacts of pesticide reduction policies or benefits from technologies replacing pesticides, such as sterile insect technique. The system integrates disparate data and approaches into a single logical method. The assumptions in the system provide transparency and consistency but at the cost of some specificity and precision, a reasonable trade-off for a method that provides both comparative estimates of pesticide impacts and area-based assessments of absolute impacts.

  19. Environmental permits in Arab Gulf countries - local government perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuczynski, L.

    2002-01-01

    The legacy of past environmentally careless oil and gas exploration practices is becoming more apparent as time goes by and our understanding of causes and results increase. In many petroleum producing countries and in Arab Gulf countries in particular, this understanding has resulted in greater social demand for environmental protection and responsible exploitation of limited resources. In response to this demand, governments of the Gulf Region are paying increasingly more attention to the responsible management of environmental impacts of new developments. As a result, most of them require developers to obtain environmental permits supported by a variety of environmental baseline studies, Environmental Impact Assessments and comprehensive Environmental Management Plans. These local environmental requirements are similar to those in North America and Europe, although there are some important differences on account of local environmental, historical and socioeconomic conditions. Developers, who choose to ignore them, often find their projects caught in a web of unfamiliar environmental regulations or administrative procedures that may cause costly and unnecessary delays. Based on the author's Canadian and Arab Gulf regulatory experience, this paper describes some common causes that may delay obtaining environmental permits or cause cancellation of a project, and provides ideas to assist companies in securing necessary permits and licenses. (author)

  20. Reconciling quality and cost: A case study in interventional radiology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Li; Mahnken, Andreas; Domroese, Sascha

    2015-01-01

    To provide a method to calculate delay cost and examine the relationship between quality and total cost. The total cost including capacity, supply and delay cost for running an interventional radiology suite was calculated. The capacity cost, consisting of labour, lease and overhead costs, was derived based on expenses per unit time. The supply cost was calculated according to actual procedural material use. The delay cost and marginal delay cost derived from queueing models was calculated based on waiting times of inpatients for their procedures. Quality improvement increased patient safety and maintained the outcome. The average daily delay costs were reduced from 1275 EUR to 294 EUR, and marginal delay costs from approximately 2000 EUR to 500 EUR, respectively. The one-time annual cost saved from the transfer of surgical to radiological procedures was approximately 130,500 EUR. The yearly delay cost saved was approximately 150,000 EUR. With increased revenue of 10,000 EUR in project phase 2, the yearly total cost saved was approximately 290,000 EUR. Optimal daily capacity of 4.2 procedures was determined. An approach for calculating delay cost toward optimal capacity allocation was presented. An overall quality improvement was achieved at reduced costs. (orig.)

  1. Reconciling quality and cost: A case study in interventional radiology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Li; Mahnken, Andreas [University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Philipps University of Marburg, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Baldinger Strasse, Marburg (Germany); Domroese, Sascha [University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Philipps University of Marburg, Division of Controlling, Baldinger Strasse, Marburg (Germany)

    2015-10-15

    To provide a method to calculate delay cost and examine the relationship between quality and total cost. The total cost including capacity, supply and delay cost for running an interventional radiology suite was calculated. The capacity cost, consisting of labour, lease and overhead costs, was derived based on expenses per unit time. The supply cost was calculated according to actual procedural material use. The delay cost and marginal delay cost derived from queueing models was calculated based on waiting times of inpatients for their procedures. Quality improvement increased patient safety and maintained the outcome. The average daily delay costs were reduced from 1275 EUR to 294 EUR, and marginal delay costs from approximately 2000 EUR to 500 EUR, respectively. The one-time annual cost saved from the transfer of surgical to radiological procedures was approximately 130,500 EUR. The yearly delay cost saved was approximately 150,000 EUR. With increased revenue of 10,000 EUR in project phase 2, the yearly total cost saved was approximately 290,000 EUR. Optimal daily capacity of 4.2 procedures was determined. An approach for calculating delay cost toward optimal capacity allocation was presented. An overall quality improvement was achieved at reduced costs. (orig.)

  2. Analisa Environmental Cost pada Perusahaan Non-Keuangan yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia Periode 2011, 2012 dan 2013

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kartike Dewi

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Environmental damage due to over-exploitation by employers without thinking about environmental improvements result in long-term environmental damage. Allocation of environmental costs, making high expenses on companies that ultimately will reduce net income. This study will examine companies that have great potential to damage the environment, but the company is willing to make the allocation of environmental costs in its income statement, and the company also wants to follow the PROPER program created by the Ministry of Environment for the period 2011 to 2013. The research was conducted using secondary data in www.idx.co.id and www.proper.menlh.go.id. Financial Statements of the company that made the sample examined by checking whether there is environmental damage costs are allocated and check the results of PROPER (Program Performance Rating. This study will determine whether the company identifying, recognizing, measuring and presenting the cost of environmental damage in the Financial Statements. Results obtained from secondary data is that many companies have yet to identify, acknowledge, measure and present the cost of the destruction of nature in the financial statement, the company may have a cost allocation but still use the Incidental Charges account, so that when the pages are checked through www.idx.co.id charge is not visible. It is expected that in the future the company create its own environmental cost allocation account so that it can be easily identified by users of Financial Statements.

  3. Estimating the environmental costs of electricity: an overview and review of the issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freeman, A.M. III

    1996-01-01

    This paper provides an overview of the issues associated with environmental costing and the specific questions raised by the effort to measure the environmental costs of electricity. It focuses on three sets of issues. The first set is several conceptual issues in the valuation of environmental impacts in general. These issues are not unique to valuing the environmental impacts of electricity generation. However each of these issues has been highlighted in one way or another by the studies being discussed here. The second set of issues are specific to the design of studies of environmental effects of generating electricity. These issues are the selection of externalities for inclusion in the analysis, and whether and to what extent to include so called upstream and downstream impacts. The third set of issues involves policy implications of the results of the work that has been done to date. Factors considered include health effects of air emissions, damage to ecosystems, damage by CO 2 . 31 refs

  4. Guidebook in using Cost Benefit Analysis and strategic environmental assessment for environmental planning in China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-07-01

    Environmental planning in China may benefit from greater use of Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) methodologies. We provide guidance on using these methodologies. Part I and II show the principles behind the methodologies as well as their theoretical structure. Part III demonstrates the methodologies in action in a range of different good practice examples. The case studies and theoretical expositions are intended to teach by way of example as well as by understanding the principles, and to help planners use the methodologies as correctly as possible.(auth)

  5. A business perspective on environmental risk and cost reduction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roper, U.V.

    1998-01-01

    The ways in which the petrochemical industry can enjoy successful business partnerships with environmental service companies was discussed. The petrochemical industry has traditionally viewed environmental service companies as an inherent cost in the context of risk management, and not in the context of business opportunity. Today, as environmental issues are integrated into business operations, there is a new potential for creating business opportunities in a number of operational areas, among them : (1) energy efficiency, (2) process efficiency, (3) waste minimization, (4) waste recycling, and (5) operational pooling. As environmental service companies became more competitive, they have become more attractive business partners. They are providing more diversified services and are better aligned with core competencies required to exploit business opportunities that are too small for major players in the oil,natural gas and petro-chemical industry. They also offer public recognition and financial upside for industry. Some examples of successful business partnerships along these lines are briefly described

  6. The environmental cost of a reference withdrawal from surface waters: Definition and geography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soligno, Irene; Ridolfi, Luca; Laio, Francesco

    2017-12-01

    World freshwater ecosystems are significantly deteriorating at a faster rate than other ecosystems. Water withdrawals are recognized as one of the main drivers of growing water stress in river basins worldwide. Over the years, much effort has been devoted to quantify water withdrawals at a global scale; however, comparisons are not simple because the uneven spatiotemporal distribution of surface water resources entails that the same amount of consumed water does not have the same environmental cost in different times or places. In order to account for this spatiotemporal heterogeneity, this work proposes a novel index to assess the environmental cost of a withdrawal from a generic river section. The index depends on (i) the environmental relevance of the impacted fluvial ecosystem (e.g., bed-load transport capacity, width of the riparian belt, biodiversity richness) and (ii) the downstream river network affected by the water withdrawal. The environmental cost has been estimated in each and every river section worldwide considering a reference withdrawal. Being referred to a unitary reference withdrawal that can occur in any river section worldwide, our results can be suitably arranged for describing any scenario of surface water consumption (i.e., as the superposition of the actual pattern of withdrawals). The index aims to support the interpretation of the volumetric measure of surface water withdrawal with a perspective that takes into account the fluvial system where the withdrawal actually occurs. The application of the index highlights the river regions where withdrawals can cause higher environmental costs, with the challenge of weighting each water withdrawal considering the responsibilities that it has on downstream freshwater ecosystems.

  7. Is There a Limit to Growth? Comparing the Environmental Cost of an Airport’s Operations with Its Economic Benefit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cherie Lu

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available With the growing global awareness of the requirement for sustainable development, economic development is no longer the sole objective of business activities. The need to find a balance between environmental impacts and economic benefits is especially the case for airport operations in or around cities. This study measured the environmental costs and economic benefits and of an airport for a period of 10 years, using Taipei Songshan Airport for the empirical analysis, to examine whether the environmental costs could outweigh the economic benefits. Of all the environmental negative side effects, aircraft engine emissions and noise nuisance are considered the main sources of environmental impacts. The dose-response method and the hedonic price method, respectively, were used for estimating the social costs of these. Income generation from both direct and secondary employment is measured as economic benefits by applying the Garin-Lowry model, originally developed in 1966, for estimation of the employment multiplier. The results show that, in general, the operation of Taipei Songshan Airport brought more economic benefits than environmental costs. The sensitivity analysis of emissions and noise social cost parameters shows that the environmental costs might have exceeded the economic benefits in 2008 and 2009 in certain high emissions and noise social cost cases.

  8. I Evolution of Environmental Costs Discolsur: A Study in Cellulose and Paper Companies - Members of Corporate Sustainability Index - CSI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Fonseca

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This research aimed to analyse, in relation to previous studies, the evolution of classification and disclosure of environmental costs on cellulose and paper companies listed on the CSI. The research, of a descriptive, documentary and qualitative nature, was based on content analysis of financial statements, accompanying notes, management reports and sustainability reports in the fiscal years 2010 to 2014. The results indicate that companies show environmental costs mainly in a qualitative way and of the positive type. The most part of this information is contained in the sustainability report. As to the classification, the highlighted environmental costs are of these types, (a prevention costs; (b internal failure costs; (c indirect costs; (d internal costs; (e costs for contingencies; (f potentially hidden costs; (g image and relationship costs, though not by these names. These results demonstrate a change, compared to previous studies on the quality and quantity of disclosure of environmental costs. It is suggested for future research the broadening of samples for other organizational activity sectors, with the aim of possible understanding of the Brazilian environment.

  9. Rugged, Low Cost, Environmental Sensors for a Turbulent World

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulz, B.; Sandell, C. T.; Wickert, A. D.

    2017-12-01

    Ongoing scientific research and resource management require a diverse range of high-quality and low-cost sensors to maximize the number and type of measurements that can be obtained. To accomplish this, we have developed a series of diversified sensors for common environmental applications. The TP-DownHole is an ultra-compact temperature and pressure sensor designed for use in CMT (Continuous Multi-channel Tubing) multi-level wells. Its 1 mm water depth resolution, 30 cm altitude resolution, and rugged design make it ideal for both water level measurements and monitoring barometric pressure and associated temperature changes. The TP-DownHole sensor has also been incorporated into a self-contained, fully independent data recorder for extreme and remote environments. This device (the TP-Solo) is based around the TP-DownHole design, but has self-contained power and data storage and is designed to collect data independently for up to 6 months (logging at once an hour), creating a specialized tool for extreme environment data collection. To gather spectral information, we have also developed a very low cost photodiode-based Lux sensor to measure spectral irradiance; while this does not measure the entire solar radiation spectrum, simple modeling to rescale the remainder of the solar spectrum makes this a cost-effective alternative to a thermopile pyranometer. Lastly, we have developed an instrumentation amplifier which is designed to interface a wide range of sensitive instruments to common data logging systems, such as thermopile pyranometers, thermocouples, and many other analog output sensors. These three instruments are the first in a diverse family aimed to give researchers a set of powerful and low-cost tools for environmental instrumentation.

  10. Environmental impact analysis: the first five years of the National Environmental Policy Act in the USA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thorold, O

    1975-11-01

    The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 was the first comprehensive law to subject decisions to an assessment of total environmental consequence and instill environmental attitudes throughout government. All agencies must submit impact projections of proposed as well as alternative actions. Twenty-one states have passed similar legislation. A review of the Act's provisions for oversight, court action, timing, content, and commenting procedures is followed by a five-year evaluation. Because NEPA is generally felt to be a realistic approach to decision making and not a substitute for other kinds of environmental control, Mr. Thorold feels the American experience has been positive and is worth modifying for other countries. The Act lacked a ''grandfather clause,'' which caused a difficult transition period while agencies coped with both new and existing projects and developed standards for identifying and reviewing impacts. As agencies recognized that delays from lawsuits often resulted from inadequate impact statements, the quality improved to meet the strict guidelines of the Council on Environmental Quality. Joint efforts of agencies, universities, consulting firms, and private groups have cooperated to improve environmental forecasting and promote full communication. The costs of preparing statements and those of abandoned projects are felt to be conservative when compared to the costs of pursuing inappropriate projects. (21 references) (DCK)

  11. A geographically resolved method to estimate levelized power plant costs with environmental externalities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rhodes, Joshua D.; King, Carey; Gulen, Gürcan; Olmstead, Sheila M.; Dyer, James S.; Hebner, Robert E.; Beach, Fred C.; Edgar, Thomas F.; Webber, Michael E.

    2017-01-01

    In this analysis we developed and applied a geographically-resolved method to calculate the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of new power plants on a county-by-county basis while including estimates of some environmental externalities. We calculated the LCOE for each county of the contiguous United States for 12 power plant technologies. The minimum LCOE option for each county varies based on local conditions, capital and fuel costs, environmental externalities, and resource availability. We considered ten scenarios that vary input assumptions. We present the results in a map format to facilitate comparisons by fuel, technology, and location. For our reference analysis, which includes a cost of $62/tCO_2 for CO_2 emissions natural gas combined cycle, wind, and nuclear are most often the lowest-LCOE option. While the average cost increases when internalizing the environmental externalities (carbon and air pollutants) is small for some technologies, the local cost differences are as high as $0.62/kWh for coal (under our reference analysis). These results display format, and online tools could serve as an educational tool for stakeholders when considering which technologies might or might not be a good fit for a given locality subject to system integration considerations. - Highlights: • We propose a method to add externalities to LCOE. • We present the least cost technology for every county in the US. • The cheapest technology depends on many characteristics of that locale. • We present online tools for users to change our assumptions. • Our tools are useful in discussing the impact of policy on the cost of electricity.

  12. The process of life-cycle cost analysis on the Fernald Environmental Management Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, D.Y.; Jacoboski, J.A.; Fisher, L.A.; Beirne, P.J.

    1993-01-01

    The Estimating Services Department of the Fernald Environmental Restoration Management Corporation (FERMCO) is formalizing the process of life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) for the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP). The LCCA process is based on the concepts, principles, and guidelines described by applicable Department of Energy's (DOE) orders, pertinent published literature, and the National Bureau of Standards handbook 135. LCC analyses will be performed following a ten-step process on the FEMP at the earliest possible decision point to support the selection of the least-cost alternatives for achieving the FERMCO mission

  13. Major weapon system environmental life-cycle cost estimating for Conservation, Cleanup, Compliance and Pollution Prevention (C3P2)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammond, Wesley; Thurston, Marland; Hood, Christopher

    1995-01-01

    The Titan 4 Space Launch Vehicle Program is one of many major weapon system programs that have modified acquisition plans and operational procedures to meet new, stringent environmental rules and regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) mandate to reduce the use of ozone depleting chemicals (ODC's) is just one of the regulatory changes that has affected the program. In the last few years, public environmental awareness, coupled with stricter environmental regulations, has created the need for DOD to produce environmental life-cycle cost estimates (ELCCE) for every major weapon system acquisition program. The environmental impact of the weapon system must be assessed and budgeted, considering all costs, from cradle to grave. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has proposed that organizations consider Conservation, Cleanup, Compliance and Pollution Prevention (C(sup 3)P(sup 2)) issues associated with each acquisition program to assess life-cycle impacts and costs. The Air Force selected the Titan 4 system as the pilot program for estimating life-cycle environmental costs. The estimating task required participants to develop an ELCCE methodology, collect data to test the methodology and produce a credible cost estimate within the DOD C(sup 3)P(sup 2) definition. The estimating methodology included using the Program Office weapon system description and work breakdown structure together with operational site and manufacturing plant visits to identify environmental cost drivers. The results of the Titan IV ELCCE process are discussed and expanded to demonstrate how they can be applied to satisfy any life-cycle environmental cost estimating requirement.

  14. Equilibrium of a two-route system with delayed information feedback strategies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao, Xiao-mei; Xie, Dong-fan; Gao, Zi-you; Gao, Liang

    2013-01-01

    In intelligent transport system, some advanced information feedback strategies have been developed to reduce the oscillations and enhance the capacity on the road level. However, seldom strategies have considered the information delay and user equilibrium (UE) objective. Here, a derivative cost feedback strategy (DCFS) is proposed to reduce the influence of the delay, based on the UE principle. The simulation results show that in both no-delay and delay information cases, DCFS are the best and can make the system reaching the UE. Because DCFS can predict the trend of the travel cost.

  15. Equilibrium of a two-route system with delayed information feedback strategies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhao, Xiao-mei, E-mail: xmzhao@bjtu.edu.cn [School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); MOE Key Laboratory for Urban Transportation Complex Systems Theory and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); Xie, Dong-fan, E-mail: dfxie@bjtu.edu.cn [School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); MOE Key Laboratory for Urban Transportation Complex Systems Theory and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); Gao, Zi-you, E-mail: zygao@bjtu.edu.cn [School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); MOE Key Laboratory for Urban Transportation Complex Systems Theory and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); Gao, Liang, E-mail: lianggao@bjtu.edu.cn [School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); MOE Key Laboratory for Urban Transportation Complex Systems Theory and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China)

    2013-12-09

    In intelligent transport system, some advanced information feedback strategies have been developed to reduce the oscillations and enhance the capacity on the road level. However, seldom strategies have considered the information delay and user equilibrium (UE) objective. Here, a derivative cost feedback strategy (DCFS) is proposed to reduce the influence of the delay, based on the UE principle. The simulation results show that in both no-delay and delay information cases, DCFS are the best and can make the system reaching the UE. Because DCFS can predict the trend of the travel cost.

  16. Estimation of environmental external costs between coal fired power plant and nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moon, G. H.; Kim, S. S.

    2000-01-01

    First of all, this study evaluated the impacts on the health and the environment of air pollutants emitted from coal power plant and nuclear power pant, two major electric power generating options in Korea. Then, the environmental external costs of those two options were estimated by transforming the health and environment impact into monetary values. To do this, AIRPACTS and Impacts of Atmospheric Release model developed by IAEA were used. The environmental external cost of Samcheonpo coal power plant was estimated about 25 times as much as that of Younggwang nuclear power plant. This result implies that nuclear power plant is a clean technology compared with coal power plant. This study suggests that the external cost should be reflected in the electric system expansion plan in order to allocate energy resources efficiently and to reduce economic impact stemming from the environmental regulation emerged recently on a global level

  17. Environmental costs connected to various types of waste; Miljoekostander knyttet til ulike typer avfall

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vennemo, Haakon

    1995-07-01

    The report estimates environmental costs (external impacts) from municipal waste through discharges into air, water and soil. We look at the wastes paper/cardboard, plastic, metal, wood and glass and give separate estimates for wastes at fillings with and without gaseous collection and combusted waste. The figure estimates are uncertain. Paper/cardboard at fillings without gas exhaust have the highest external impacts, about 2.5 pr. kg as the best estimate. The main reason is methane discharge. Plastic and wood at fillings also have high external impacts. These components ought to be combusted if the aim is low environmental costs. Metal and glass have external impacts beneath 0.01 pr. kg at the fillings. This is due to discharges from the fillings take long time and do not go into air. These components ought to be deposited if the aim is low environmental costs.

  18. Internalizing external environmental costs of agriculture into product prices, Case study for milk and potatoes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Masselink, Dirk Jan

    2007-01-01

    Society has to pay large amounts of money to compensate for the environmental damages caused by farm emissions. These external costs are not fully accounted for in product prices and internalization of these external costs into the cost price of agricultu

  19. Cost-consequence analysis of multimodal interventions with environmental components for pediatric asthma in the state of Maryland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jassal, Mandeep S; Diette, Gregory B; Dowdy, David W

    2013-08-01

    Applied environmental strategies for asthma control are often expensive, but may save longer-term healthcare costs. Whether these savings outweigh additional costs of implementing these strategies is uncertain. We conducted a systematic review to estimate the expenditures and savings of environmental interventions for asthma in the state of Maryland. Direct costs included hospitalizations, emergency room, and clinic visits. Indirect expenditures included costs of lost work productivity and travel incurred during the usage of healthcare services. We used decision analysis, assuming a hypothetical cohort of the approximated 49,290 pediatric individuals in Maryland with persistent asthma, to compare costs and benefits of environmental asthma interventions against the standard of care (no intervention) from the societal perspective. Three interventions among nine articles met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review: 1) environmental education using medical professionals; 2) education using non-medical personnel; and 3) multi-component strategy involving education with non-medical personnel, allergen-impermeable covers, and pest management. All interventions were found to be cost-saving relative to the standard of care. Home environmental education using non-medical professionals yielded the highest net savings of $14.1 million (95% simulation interval (SI): $-.283 million, $19.4 million), while the multi-component intervention resulted in the lowest net savings of $8.1 million (95% SI: $-4.9 million, $15.9 million). All strategies were most sensitive to the baseline number of hospitalizations in those not receiving targeted interventions for asthma. Limited environmental reduction strategies for asthma are likely to be cost-saving to the healthcare system in Maryland and should be considered for broader scale-up in other economically similar settings.

  20. Life-cycle costs for the Department of Energy waste management programmatic environmental impact statement (draft)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sherick, M.J.; Shropshire, D.E.; Hsu, K.M.

    1995-08-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management has produced a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) in order to assess the potential consequences resulting from a cross section of possible waste management strategies for the DOE complex. The PEIS has been prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, and includes evaluations of a variety of alternatives. The analysis performed for the PEIS included the development of life-cycle cost estimates for the different waste management alternatives being considered. These cost estimates were used in the PEIS to support the identification and evaluation of economic impacts. Information developed during the preparation of the life-cycle cost estimates was also used to support risk and socioeconomic analyses performed for each of the alternatives. This technical report provides an overview of the methodology used to develop the life-cycle cost estimates for the PEIS alternatives. The methodology that was applied made use of the Waste Management Facility Cost Information Reports, which provided a consistent approach and estimating basis for the PEIS cost evaluations. By maintaining consistency throughout the cost analyses, life-cycle costs of the various alternatives can be compared and evaluated on a relative basis. This technical report also includes the life-cycle cost estimate results for each of the PEIS alternatives evaluated. Summary graphs showing the results for each waste type are provided in the main document, and tables showing different breakdowns of the cost estimates are provided in the Appendices A-D. Appendix E contains PEIS cost information that was developed using an approach different than the standard methodology described in this report

  1. Opportunities for cost reduction and improved environmental impact in the lead and lead/acid battery industries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, N.

    The opportunities for cost reduction through improved environmental performance exist in many companies, but often are not realized. This paper describes the efforts of a typical firm — Calder Industrial Materials (CIM) — that is experiencing ever-tighter environmental controls and profit erosion through the effects of new environmental legislation. At the same time, however, CIM sees opportunities to reduce its environmental burden and cut costs. As the story unfolds, readers may well discover many parallels with their own companies. It may even spur some into action, for remember, every £1000 saved requires ten times the turnover to generate the same profit.

  2. A cost/schedule and control system for the environmental restoration program Albuquerque Field Office

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fiske, Wanda S.; Bischoff, Edward L.; Rea, Kenneth H.; Dwain Farley, P.; Biedermann, Charles A.

    1992-01-01

    The Department of Energy (DOE) Field Office Albuquerque (AL), Environmental Restoration Project Office (ERPO), has developed a project management system used to plan, document, and control Environmental Restoration (ER) work at eight installations and one superfund site managed by AL. This system emphasizes control of the cost, schedule, and technical elements of the Program. It supports programmatic documentation such as the Environmental Restoration/Waste Management Five-Year Plan, Site Specific Plan, and budget requests. The System provides information used to manage the ER Program at all levels of management (i.e., from low-level day-to-day activities to high-level upper management). The System requires substantial effort to ensure reliability; however, the benefit to ERPO is an effective, proactive project management tool. This paper provides an overview of the ERPO System, an explanation of how it is implemented, and lessons learned from this process. Application of the System to cost estimating, annual and five-year budget preparation, resource projections, scheduling, and cost/schedule performance measurement is discussed. Also discussed are cost/schedule review procedures, along with variance identification and resolution. Examples are taken from the Pinellas ER Program. (author)

  3. TECHNICAL DESIGN NOTE: Picosecond resolution programmable delay line

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suchenek, Mariusz

    2009-11-01

    The note presents implementation of a programmable delay line for digital signals. The tested circuit has a subnanosecond delay range programmable with a resolution of picoseconds. Implementation of the circuit was based on low-cost components, easily available on the market.

  4. Environmental costs and renewable energy: re-visiting the Environmental Kuznets Curve.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Menéndez, Ana Jesús; Pérez, Rigoberto; Moreno, Blanca

    2014-12-01

    The environmental costs of economic development have received increasing attention during the last years. According to the World Energy Outlook (2013) sustainable energy policies should be promoted in order to spur economic growth and environmental protection in a global context, particularly in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Within this framework, the European Union aims to achieve the "20-20-20" targets, including a 20% reduction in EU greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels, a raise in the share of EU energy consumption produced from renewable resources to 20% and a 20% improvement in the EU's energy efficiency. Furthermore, the EU "Energy Roadmap 2050" has been recently adopted as a basis for developing a long-term European energy framework, fighting against climate change through the implementation of energy efficiency measures and the reduction of emissions. This paper focuses on the European context and attempts to explain the impact of economic growth on CO2 emissions through the estimation of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) using panel data. Moreover, since energy seems to be at the heart of the environmental problem it should also form the core of the solution, and therefore we provide some extensions of the EKC by including renewable energy sources as explanatory variables in the proposed models. Our data sets are referred to the 27 countries of the European Union during the period 1996-2010. With this information, our empirical results provide some interesting evidence about the significant impacts of renewable energies on CO2 emissions, suggesting the existence of an extended EKC. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. A probabilistic approach to cost and duration uncertainties in environmental decisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boak, D.M.; Painton, L.

    1996-01-01

    Sandia National Laboratories has developed a method for analyzing life-cycle costs using probabilistic cost forecasting and utility theory to determine the most cost-effective alternatives for safe interim storage of radioactive materials. The method explicitly incorporates uncertainties in cost and storage duration by (1) treating uncertain component costs as random variables represented by probability distributions, (2) treating uncertain durations as chance nodes in a decision tree, and (3) using stochastic simulation tools to generate life-cycle cost forecasts for each storage alternative. The method applies utility functions to the forecasted costs to incorporate the decision maker's risk preferences, making it possible to compare alternatives on the basis of both cost and cost utility. Finally, the method is used to help identify key contributors to the uncertainty in forecasted costs to focus efforts aimed at reducing cost uncertainties. Where significant cost and duration uncertainties exist, and where programmatic decisions must be made despite these uncertainties, probabilistic forecasting techniques can yield important insights into decision alternatives, especially when used as part of a larger decision analysis framework and when properly balanced with deterministic analyses. Although the method is built around an interim storage example, it is potentially applicable to many other environmental decision problems

  6. Bureaucracy Versus Environment: The Environmental Costs of Bureaucratic Governance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singer, S. Fred

    The 15 contributors to this volume have an important message. They are convinced that both environmental and economic costs of bureaucratic management of natural resources are too high, and unnecessarily so. The main reason is an institutional one: Authority is given to those who do not bear responsibility for the consequences o f their actions.A classic case is the set of specific numerical emission standards for automobiles in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970. Congress arrived at these standards without a scientific basis, without technical analysis, and certainly without any consideration of costs and benefits. Only 3 years later did Senator Muskie ask the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a cost-benefit analysis. The NAS results were presented in a fashion that seemed to support the action of Congress; yet, the statutory emissions standards yielded marginal costs well beyond their marginal benefits. They had a major impact on Detroit during the 1970's, and very likely damaged, perhaps irreversibly, the competitive standing of the American automobile industry, a major segment of the U.S. economy. But the economic costs of these actions were never considered, least of all by the responsible bureaucrats. They were completely buffered from any consequences flowing from the exercise of their authority.

  7. Trade in the US and Mexico helps reduce environmental costs of agriculture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez-Melendez, Luz A.; Bennett, Elena M.

    2016-05-01

    Increasing international crop trade has enlarged global shares of cropland, water and fertilizers used to grow crops for export. Crop trade can reduce the environmental burden on importing countries, which benefit from embedded environmental resources in imported crops, and from avoided environmental impacts of production in their territory. International trade can also reduce the universal environmental impact of food production if crops are grown where they are produced in the most environmentally efficient way. We compared production efficiencies for the same crops in the US and Mexico to determine whether current crop trade between these two countries provides an overall benefit to the environment. Our economic and environmental accounting for the key traded crops from 2010 to 2014 shows that exports to Mexico are just 3% (∼16 thousand Gg) of the total production of these crops in the US, and exports to US represent roughly 0.13% (∼46 Gg) of Mexican total production of the same crops. Yields were higher in US than Mexico for all crops except wheat. Use of nitrogen fertilizer was higher in US than in Mexico for all crops except corn. Current trade reduces some, but not all, environmental costs of agriculture. A counterfactual trade scenario showed that an overall annual reduction in cultivated land (∼371 thousand ha), water use (∼923 million m3), fertilizer use (∼122 Gg; ∼68 Gg nitrogen) and pollution (∼681 tonnes of N2O emissions to the atmosphere and ∼511 tonnes of leached nitrogen) can be achieved by changing the composition of food products traded. In this case, corn, soybeans and rice should be grown in the US, while wheat, sorghum and barley should be grown in Mexico. Assigning greater economic weight to the environmental costs of agriculture might improve the balance of trade to be more universally beneficial, environmentally.

  8. Investigating the environmental costs of deteriorating road conditions in South Africa

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mashoko, L

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available the Environmental Costs of Deteriorating Road Conditions in South Africa L Mashoko, W L Bean*, W JvdM STEYN* CSIR, Built Environment, P O Box 395, Pretoria, 0001 Tel: 012 841-4466; Email: lmashoko@csir.co.za *University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Hatfield..., Pretoria, 0002 Email: wilna.bean@up.ac.za and wynand.steyn@up.ac.za Corresponding Author: L Mashoko ABSTRACT The potential environmental impacts of deteriorating road conditions on logistics systems and the national economy have not received...

  9. Neuro-economics in chicks: foraging choices based on amount, delay and cost.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsushima, Toshiya; Kawamori, Ai; Bem-Sojka, Tiaza

    2008-06-15

    Studies on the foraging choices are reviewed, with an emphasis on the neural representations of elementary factors of food (i.e., amount, delay and consumption time) in the avian brain. Domestic chicks serve as an ideal animal model in this respect, as they quickly associate cue colors with subsequently supplied food rewards, and their choices are quantitatively linked with the rewards. When a pair of such color cues was simultaneously presented, the trained chicks reliably made choices according to the profitability of food associated with each color. Two forebrain regions are involved in distinct aspects of choices; i.e., nucleus accumbens-medial striatum (Ac-MSt) and arcopallium intermedium (AI), an association area in the lateral forebrain. Localized lesions of Ac-MSt enhanced delay aversion, and the ablated chicks made impulsive choices of immediate reward more frequently than sham controls. On the other hand, lesions of AI enhanced consumption-time aversion, and the ablated chicks shifted their choices toward easily consumable reward with their impulsiveness unchanged; delay and consumption time are thus doubly dissociated. Furthermore, chicks showed distinct patterns of risk-sensitive choices depending on the factor that varied at trials. Risk aversion occurred when food amount varied, whereas consistent risk sensitivity was not found when the delay varied; amount and delay were not interchangeable. Choices are thus deviated from those predicted as optima. Instead, factors such as amount, delay and consumption time could be separately represented and processed to yield economically sub-optimal choices.

  10. Subjective costs drive overly patient foraging strategies in rats on an intertemporal foraging task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wikenheiser, Andrew M; Stephens, David W; Redish, A David

    2013-05-14

    Laboratory studies of decision making often take the form of two-alternative, forced-choice paradigms. In natural settings, however, many decision problems arise as stay/go choices. We designed a foraging task to test intertemporal decision making in rats via stay/go decisions. Subjects did not follow the rate-maximizing strategy of choosing only food items associated with short delays. Instead, rats were often willing to wait for surprisingly long periods, and consequently earned a lower rate of food intake than they might have by ignoring long-delay options. We tested whether foraging theory or delay discounting models predicted the behavior we observed but found that these models could not account for the strategies subjects selected. Subjects' behavior was well accounted for by a model that incorporated a cost for rejecting potential food items. Interestingly, subjects' cost sensitivity was proportional to environmental richness. These findings are at odds with traditional normative accounts of decision making but are consistent with retrospective considerations having a deleterious influence on decisions (as in the "sunk-cost" effect). More broadly, these findings highlight the utility of complementing existing assays of decision making with tasks that mimic more natural decision topologies.

  11. Comment 2 on workshop in economics - issues in benefit-cost analysis: Amplification channels and discounting long-term environmental damages

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanson, D.A.

    1992-01-01

    Many environmental problems have long-term effects. Acid rain has long-term effects on soils, forests, and exposed materials. Global climate change has even longer-term effects. This difference in timing - between the near-term cost of environmental protection and the long-term environmental effects - makes it difficult to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of any program designed to abate environmental damages. The rate at which to discount long-term environmental damages becomes a key question in comparisons of benefits and costs. This comment points out an important facet of the discounting issue. The discount rate for calculating the present value of future environmental benefits may be much lower than the rate of return on investment. Cost-benefit analysis is a framework in which to evaluate policies and decisions. Because global climate change is a complex problem, extensions of cost-benefit theory can be expected to add additional insights, particularly in the following areas: distinguishing distributional effects among nations, over time, and among generations; determining the rate of discount that is appropriate for long-term environmental damages and separating risk aspects from the rate of discount; and assessing amplification effects when policies involve large expenditures relative to the economy or when affected sectors are significant sectors of the economy

  12. Cost escalation in nuclear power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montomery, W.D.; Quirk, J.P.

    1978-01-01

    This report is concerned with the escalation of capital costs of nuclear central station power plants between the early 1960s and the present. The report presents an historical overview of the development of the nuclear power industry and cost escalation in the industry, using existing data on orders and capital costs. New data are presented on regulatory delays in the licensing process, derived from a concurrent study being carried on in the Social Science group at Caltech. The conclusions of the study are that nuclear capital costs have escalated more rapidly than the GNP deflator or the construction industry price index. Prior to 1970, cost increases are related to bottleneck problems in the nuclear construction and supplying industries and the regulatory process; intervenors play only a minor role in cost escalation. After 1970, generic changes introduced into the licensing process by intervenors (including environmental impact reviews, antitrust reviews, more stringent safety standards) dominate the cost escalation picture, with bottlenecks of secondary importance. Recent increases in the time from application for a construction permit to commercial operation are related not only to intervenor actions, but also to suspensions, cancellations or postponements of construction by utilities due to unfavorable demand or financing conditions

  13. The methodological convention 2,0 for the estimation of environmental costs. An economic evaluation of environmental damages; Methodenkonvention 2.0 zur Schaetzung von Umweltkosten. Oekonomische Bewertung von Umweltschaeden

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-08-15

    The reliable estimation of environmental damage costs requires a high degree of transparency of the objectives, assumptions and methods of assessment in order to ensure a correct classification and comparability of the cost factors. The methods convention under consideration aims to develop uniform standards for the technical evaluation of environmental costs and to improve the transparency of the estimates.

  14. The effect of alternative cost and environmental impact minimisation strategies on radioactive waste disposal strategies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laundy, R.S.; James, A.R.; Groom, M.S.; Dalrymple, G.J.

    1985-06-01

    The study reported here investigates the effects of different cost and environmental impact minimisation strategies for a single waste disposal scenario. Four disposal options are considered. The study examines the environmental impacts from waste storage and transport and the disposal impacts in terms of collective dose, maximum individual dose and individual dose from intrusion. The total cost of disposing of waste takes account of storage, transport and disposal costs to each of the four facilities. Two minimum cost scenarios and seven minimum impact assessments were performed. The results showed clearly that a trade-off has to be made between the environmental impacts from transport and storage of waste. A low objective risk of transport is achieved by directing waste to the engineered trench, assumed to have a central location. This waste is stored until the facility is available in 1995 thus increasing the potential impact from storage. The results also show a trade-off has to be made between minimising the maximum individual dose from disposal and collective dose. The study shows that for relatively little cost large reductions in the impacts can be obtained particularly in short and long-term collective dose and the individual dose from intrusion. (author)

  15. A general theory to explain the relatively high cost of environmental restoration at DOE facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sullivan, W.H.

    1995-01-01

    Environmental Restoration costs for Department of Energy (DOE) facilities have been the subject of much scrutiny and concern for several years. General opinion is that DOE clean-up costs are as much as three times higher than costs for similar clean-up projects in the private sector. Consequently, DOE Environmental Restoration professionals are continually under pressure to do more with less, which, ironically, can lead to additional inefficiencies in the system. This paper proposes a general theory as to why DOE costs are higher, explains the reasons why current conditions will make it difficult to realize any pervasive or significant decreases in clean-up costs, and presents some general changes that need to take place in the DOE system in order to bring about conditions that will allow more efficient clean-up to occur. The theory is based on a simple economic model that describes the balance between the resources spent for risk avoidance and the corresponding changes in overall productivity as a function of risk. The elementary concepts illustrated with the economic model, when refined and specifically applied, have the potential to become the catalyst for significant change-change that is absolutely necessary if we truly intend to conduct environmental clean-up with the same efficiencies as private industry

  16. Environmental costs and benefits case study: nuclear power plant. Quantification and economic valuation of selected environmental impacts/effects. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-02-01

    This case study is an application, to a nuclear power plant, of the methodology for quantifying environmental costs and benefits, contained in the regional energy plan, adopted in April, 1983, by the Northwest Power Planning Council, pursuant to Public Law 96-501.The study is based on plant number 2 of the Washington Public Power Supply System (WNP-2), currently nearing completion on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington State. This report describes and documents efforts to quantify and estimate monetary values for the following seven areas of environmental effects: radiation/health effects, socioeconomic/infrastructure effects, consumptive use of water, psychological/health effects (fear/stress), waste management, nuclear power plant accidents, and decommissioning costs. 103 references

  17. Break-even price for upstream activities in Brazil: Evaluation of the opportunity cost of oil production delay in a non-mature sedimentary production region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szklo, Alexandre Salem; Machado, Giovani; Carneiro, Jason Thomas Guerreiro

    2008-01-01

    Some Latin American policy-makers and analysts state that it would be better to hold oil reserves in place than to produce and cash it now, given the recent oil prices spikes and the fear related to future oil supply disruptions. This article evaluates the strategy of delaying the start-up of oil production in a discovered field with proved reserves. A Reference Discounted Cash Flow (FCD-R) for a typical 350 million barrel Brazilian oil field was simulated. The study estimated which future oil price may render the project insensitive to a delay of 5, 10, 15 or 20 years in its production beginning. Additionally, the value of the in situ oil stock was calculated, providing the opportunity cost for delaying oil production in a frontier area, such as Brazil. It is an application of the Hotelling Principle. Findings indicate that progressive delays of 5 years in the start-up of operation of a typical oil field reduce its revenues by a factor of 2. A delay of 10 years would be justifiable at international oil prices higher than US $15/bbl. Delays higher than 10 years lead this break-even price to values between US $200 and 350/bbl. (author)

  18. A Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem with Controllable Processing Times to Optimize Total Cost of Delay and Processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hadi Mokhtari

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the flexible job shop scheduling problem with machine flexibility and controllable process times is studied. The main idea is that the processing times of operations may be controlled by consumptions of additional resources. The purpose of this paper to find the best trade-off between processing cost and delay cost in order to minimize the total costs. The proposed model, flexible job shop scheduling with controllable processing times (FJCPT, is formulated as an integer non-linear programming (INLP model and then it is converted into an integer linear programming (ILP model. Due to NP-hardness of FJCPT, conventional analytic optimization methods are not efficient. Hence, in order to solve the problem, a Scatter Search (SS, as an efficient metaheuristic method, is developed. To show the effectiveness of the proposed method, numerical experiments are conducted. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is compared with that of a genetic algorithm (GA available in the literature for solving FJSP problem. The results showed that the proposed SS provide better solutions than the existing GA.

  19. Measuring the environmental benefits of hydrogen transportation fuel cycles under uncertainty about external costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chernyavs'ka, Liliya; Gulli, Francesco

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we attempt to measure the environmental benefits of hydrogen deployment in the transportation sector. We compare the hydrogen pathways to the conventional transportation fuel cycles in terms of external costs, estimated using the results of the most accurate methodologies available in this field. The central values of performed analysis bring us ambiguous results. The external cost of the best conventional solution ('oil to diesel hybrid internal-combustion engine') in some cases is just higher and in others just lower than that of the best fossil fuel to hydrogen solution ('natural gas to hydrogen fuel cell'). Nevertheless, by accounting for the uncertainty about external costs, we are able to remove this ambiguity highlighting that the hydrogen pathway provides significant environmental benefits ,especially in densely populated areas, assuming 100% city driving.

  20. ATFM airborne delays without extra fuel consumption in wind conditions

    OpenAIRE

    Delgado, L.; Prats, X.

    2012-01-01

    Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) regulations, such as ground holdings, are often canceled before their initially planned ending time. The ground delays impact on the cost of recovering part of the delay if the regulation is canceled, as aircraft are still at the origin airport. In previous publications, the authors have suggested a speed reduction strategy to split the assigned ATFM delay between ground delay and airborne delay. By flying at the the minimum speed that g...

  1. Delaying gratification depends on social trust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michaelson, Laura; de la Vega, Alejandro; Chatham, Christopher H.; Munakata, Yuko

    2013-01-01

    Delaying gratification is hard, yet predictive of important life outcomes, such as academic achievement and physical health. Prominent theories focus on the role of self-control, hypersensitivity to immediate rewards, and the cost of time spent waiting. However, delaying gratification may also require trust in people delivering future rewards as promised. To test the role of social trust, participants were presented with character vignettes and faces that varied in trustworthiness, and then choose between hypothetical smaller immediate or larger delayed rewards from those characters. Across two experiments, participants were less willing to wait for delayed rewards from less trustworthy characters, and perceived trustworthiness predicted willingness to delay gratification. These findings provide the first demonstration of a causal role for social trust in willingness to delay gratification, independent of other relevant factors, such as self-control or reward history. Thus, delaying gratification requires choosing not only a later reward, but a reward that is potentially less likely to be delivered, when there is doubt about the person promising it. Implications of this work include the need to revise prominent theories of delay of gratification, and new directions for interventions with populations characterized by impulsivity. PMID:23801977

  2. Delaying gratification depends on social trust

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura eMichaelson

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Delaying gratification is hard, yet predictive of important life outcomes, such as academic achievement and physical health. Prominent theories focus on the role of self-control, hypersensitivity to immediate rewards, and the cost of time spent waiting. However, delaying gratification may also require trust in people delivering future rewards as promised. To test the role of social trust, participants were presented with character vignettes and faces that varied in trustworthiness, and then chose between hypothetical smaller immediate or larger delayed rewards from those characters. Across two experiments, participants were less willing to wait for delayed rewards from less trustworthy characters, and perceived trustworthiness predicted willingness to delay gratification. These findings provide the first demonstration of a causal role for social trust in willingness to delay gratification, independent of other relevant factors, such as self-control or reward history. Thus, delaying gratification requires choosing not only a later reward, but a reward that is potentially less likely to be delivered, when there is doubt about the person promising it. Implications of this work include the need to revise prominent theories of delay of gratification, and new directions for interventions with populations characterized by impulsivity.

  3. The costs of delay in infrastructure investments: A comparison of 2001 and 2014 household water supply coping costs in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurung, Yogendra; Zhao, Jane; Kumar KC, Bal; Wu, Xun; Suwal, Bhim; Whittington, Dale

    2017-08-01

    In 2001, we conducted a survey of 1500 randomly sampled households in Kathmandu to determine the costs people were incurring to cope with Kathmandu's poor quality, unreliable piped water supply system. From 2001 until 2014, there was little additional public investment in the municipal water supply system. In the summer of 2014, we attempted to reinterview all 1500 households in our 2001 sample to determine how they had managed to deal with the growing water shortage and the deteriorating condition of the piped water infrastructure in Kathmandu and to compare their coping costs in 2014 with those we first estimated in 2001. Average household coping costs more than doubled in real terms over the period from 2001 to 2014, from US5 to US12 per month (measured in 2014 prices). The composition of household coping costs changed from 2001 to 2014, as households responded to the deteriorating condition of the piped water infrastructure by drilling more private wells, purchasing water from both tanker truck and bottled water vendors, and installing more storage tanks. These investments and expenditures resulted in a decline in the time households spend collecting water from outside the home. Our analysis suggests that the significant increase in coping costs between 2001 and 2014 may provide an opportunity for the municipal water utility to substantially increase water tariffs if the quantity and quality of piped services can be improved. However, the capital investments made by some households in private wells, pumping and treatment systems, and storage tanks in response to the delay in infrastructure investment may lock them into current patterns of water use, at least in the short run, and thus make it difficult to predict how they would respond to tariff increases for improved piped water services.

  4. A retrospective analysis of delays in the diagnosis of lung cancer and associated costs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gildea TR

    2017-05-01

    IV disease and lowest among patients diagnosed at Stage I disease ($7,239 Stage I, $9,484 Stage II, $11,193 Stage IIIa, $17,415 Stage IIIb, and $21,441 Stage IV. Conclusion: This study showed that most patients experienced long periods of delay between their first diagnostic test for lung cancer and a definitive diagnosis, and the majority were diagnosed at advanced stages of disease. Costs associated with the management of lung cancer increased substantially with higher stages at diagnosis. Procedures that diagnose lung cancer at earlier stages may allow for less resource use and costs among patients with lung cancer. Keywords: biopsy (lung, cost, health care utilization, pulmonary nodule, staging

  5. Cost-effectiveness evaluation of alternatives in environmental impact statements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weiser, A.L.

    1977-01-01

    Although it has been Federal government officials who have been accused in courts of law with mismanagement with regard to the consideration of alternatives in the environmental impact statement, the responsibility for systematically considering all alternatives to a proposed project remains with project decisionmakers in the Federal, state, or local levels of government and in industry. By applying the techniques of system cost-effectiveness analysis to the assessment of alternatives, it is believed that management will be able to clearly demonstrate that the selection of the proposed approach was neither arbitrary nor capricious. A rational approach to the assessment of alternatives should aid in meeting the mandates of environmental legislation and EIS guidelines, and it should eliminate the merit of any plaintiff's charge of mismanagement with regard to management's consideration of alternatives. Even though many interfaces between the proposed system and the environment cannot as yet be objectively quantified, application of CE techniques will demonstrate that a rigorous exploration and objective evaluation has been applied to the consideration of alternatives with respect to project objectives, financial conditions, and adverse environmental impacts

  6. Full environmental life cycle cost analysis of concentrating solar power technology: contribution of externalities to overall energy costs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Corona, B.; Cerrajero, E.; San Miguel, G.

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this work is to investigate the use of Full Environmental Life Cycle Costing (FeLCC) methodology to evaluate the economic performance of a 50 MW parabolic trough Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant operating in hybrid mode with different natural gas inputs (between 0% and 30%). The

  7. Strategies for compensating for higher costs of geothermal electricity with environmental benefits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murphy, H.; Niitsuma, Hiroaki

    1999-01-01

    After very high growth in the 1980s, geothermal electricity production has slowed in the mid- and late-1990s. While Japanese, Indonesian and Philippine geothermal growth has remained high as a consequence of supportive government policies, geothermal electricity production has been flat or reduced in much of Europe and North America. Low prices for coal and natural gas, combined with deregulation, means that in much of the world electricity from new fuel-burning electricity plants can be provided at half the cost of new geothermal electricity. Cost-cutting must be pursued, but is unlikely to close the price gap by itself. Geothermal production is widely perceived as being environmentally clean, but this is not unambiguously true, and requires reinjection to be fully realized. Strategies for monetizing the environmental advantages of geothermal, including the carbon tax, are discussed. (author)

  8. Multiwire proportional counter (lecture by an electromagnetic delay line)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruere-Dawson, R.

    1989-01-01

    For track localisation of ionizing particles with multiwire proportional chamber, an electronic chain including amplifying, shaping and memorizing circuits is required for each wire. In order to lower the cost of this type of detector, an electromagnetic delay line is proposed among various possibilities. In this paper, different coupling modes between chamber and delay line are studied with their respective advantages. The realization of one meter long delay line with a unit delay time of 15 ns per cm is also presented [fr

  9. Measuring the environmental costs of tidal power plant construction: A choice experiment study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Joo-Suk; Yoo, Seung-Hoon

    2009-01-01

    Korea is considering the construction of a tidal power plant (TPP) at Garolim Bay. However, as the construction of the Garolim TPP (GTPP) is expected to entail some environmental damage, it has become an increasingly important topic for public debate. Using a choice experiment (CE) approach, this study attempts to measure the economic cost that results from the environmental damage caused by the construction of GTPP. The CE is used to measure the environmental costs of individual attributes, including the reduction in the area of the tidal flat, the degradation of seawater quality, and the destruction of marine life. The results indicate that the annual willingness to pay (WTP) per household for mitigating the environmental damage that results from the worst-possible situation in relation to the present situation is about 96,042 Korean won (USD 101.1) in the seven biggest cities (off-site regions) and 18,584 Korean won (USD 19.6) in Seosan and Taean (on-site regions). This study is expected to provide policy-makers with quantitative information that will be useful to decide whether or not GTPP should be constructed.

  10. HOW TO CALCULATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS? CASE COMPANY GRAFICA CIENFUEGOS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keitel, Becerra

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The world urgently needs to protect the environment, many companies and organizations devote huge resources to reach that goal and achieve sustainable development as the highest standard of achievement for any country or organization. It then becomes imperative to determine how much the companies spend on the environment, taking into account that the Entities have an implicit contract with society and the environment, the product of the resources used and waste and waste pouring, which is why one needs to calculate and record the environmental costs of products to enhance the environmental management of the entity and thus promote an excellent decision-making. The following research seeks a procedure which allows solving this problem, making its composition with the use of various techniques within which highlights the environmental checklists and product life cycle, which also allows knowing separately as each process and product impacts the environment.

  11. Life cycle assessment of mobility options using wood based fuels--comparison of selected environmental effects and costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinberg, Jana; Kaltschmitt, Martin

    2013-12-01

    An environmental assessment and a cost analysis were conducted for mobility options using electricity, hydrogen, ethanol, Fischer-Tropsch diesel and methane derived from wood. Therefore, the overall life cycle with regard to greenhouse gas emissions, acidifying emissions and fossil energy demand as well as costs is analysed. The investigation is carried out for mobility options in 2010 and gives an outlook to the year 2030. Results show that methane utilization in the car is beneficial with regard to environmental impacts (e.g. 58.5 g CO2-eq./km) and costs (23.1 €-ct./km) in 2010, especially in comparison to hydrogen usage (132.4 g CO2-eq./km and 63.9 €-ct./km). The electric vehicle construction has high environmental impacts and costs compared to conventional vehicles today, but with technical improvements and further market penetration, battery electric vehicles can reach the level of concepts with combustion engines in future applications (e.g. cost decrease from 38.7 to 23.4 €-ct./km). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Environmental enrichment decreases asphyxia-induced neurobehavioral developmental delay in neonatal rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiss, Peter; Vadasz, Gyongyver; Kiss-Illes, Blanka; Horvath, Gabor; Tamas, Andrea; Reglodi, Dora; Koppan, Miklos

    2013-11-13

    Perinatal asphyxia during delivery produces long-term disability and represents a major problem in neonatal and pediatric care. Numerous neuroprotective approaches have been described to decrease the effects of perinatal asphyxia. Enriched environment is a popular strategy to counteract nervous system injuries. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether enriched environment is able to decrease the asphyxia-induced neurobehavioral developmental delay in neonatal rats. Asphyxia was induced in ready-to-deliver mothers by removing the pups by caesarian section after 15 min of asphyxia. Somatic and neurobehavioral development was tested daily and motor coordination weekly. Our results show that rats undergoing perinatal asphyxia had a marked developmental delay and worse performance in motor coordination tests. However, pups kept in enriched environment showed a decrease in the developmental delay observed in control asphyctic pups. Rats growing up in enriched environment did not show decrease in weight gain after the first week and the delay in reflex appearance was not as marked as in control rats. In addition, the development of motor coordination was not as strikingly delayed as in the control group. Short-term neurofunctional outcome are known to correlate with long-term deficits. Our results thus show that enriched environment could be a powerful strategy to decrease the deleterious developmental effects of perinatal asphyxia.

  13. Naturally transgenic plants as a model for the study of delayed environmental risks of cultivation of GMOs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tat’yana Valer’yevna Matveeva

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The development of genetic engineering raises the question of biosafety of transgenic organisms. The greatest concerns about the negative effects of GMO cultivation are reduced to possible leakage of transgenes through cross-pollination of non-transgenic closely related forms by transgenic pollen. Naturally transgenic plants are species which have been subjected to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and retained the T-DNA-like sequence in their genomes. These species can be considered as a model for the study of delayed environmental risks associated with leakage of transgenes. The review is devoted to this problem.

  14. The Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative Instruments for Environmental Protection in a Second-Best Setting

    OpenAIRE

    Lawrence H. Goulder; Ian W. H. Parry; Roberton C. Williams III; Dallas Burtraw

    1998-01-01

    This paper employs analytical and numerical general equilibrium models to examine the costs of achieving pollution reductions under a range of environmental policy instruments in a second-best setting with pre-existing factor taxes. We compare the costs and overall efficiency impacts of emissions taxes, emissions quotas, fuels taxes, performance standards, and mandated technologies, and explore how costs change with the magnitude of pre-existing taxes and the extent of pollution abatement. We...

  15. Environmental dependency in the expression of costs of tolerance to deer herbivory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stinchcombe, John R

    2002-05-01

    Plant tolerance to natural enemy damage is a defense strategy that minimizes the effects of damage on fitness. Despite the apparent benefits of tolerance, many populations exhibit intermediate levels of tolerance, indicating that constraints on the evolution of tolerance are likely. In a field experiment with the ivyleaf morning glory, costs of tolerance to deer herbivory in the form of negative genetic correlations between deer tolerance and fitness in the absence of damage were detected. However, these costs were detected only in the presence of insect herbivores. Such environmental dependency in the expression of costs of tolerance may facilitate the maintenance of tolerance at intermediate levels.

  16. A benefit-cost methodology for developing environmental standards for uranium mill tailings disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leiter, A.J.

    1982-01-01

    This paper describes a method for using benefit-cost analysis in developing generally applicable environmental standards for uranium mill tailings disposal. Several disposal alternatives were selected which consist of different combinations of control measures. The resulting cost and benefit estimations allow the calculation of the incremental cost of obtaining incremental benefits of radiation protection. The overall benefit of a disposal alternative is expressed in terms of an index which is based on weighting factors assigned to individual benefits. The results show that some disposal alternatives have higher costs while providing no additional benefit than other alternatives. These alternatives should be eliminated from consideration in developing standards

  17. Causes of project implementation delay in the Ethiopian Electric ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study identifies the major sources of delay in the implementation of construction projects in the Ethiopian electric utility enterprise. It also investigates the magnitude of schedule variance and cost overrun experienced by the Universal Electric Access Program (UEAP)due to implementation delay. Primary data were ...

  18. Data Assimilation by delay-coordinate nudging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pazo, Diego; Lopez, Juan Manuel; Carrassi, Alberto

    2016-04-01

    A new nudging method for data assimilation, delay-coordinate nudging, is presented. Delay-coordinate nudging makes explicit use of present and past observations in the formulation of the forcing driving the model evolution at each time-step. Numerical experiments with a low order chaotic system show that the new method systematically outperforms standard nudging in different model and observational scenarios, also when using an un-optimized formulation of the delay-nudging coefficients. A connection between the optimal delay and the dominant Lyapunov exponent of the dynamics is found based on heuristic arguments and is confirmed by the numerical results, providing a guideline for the practical implementation of the algorithm. Delay-coordinate nudging preserves the easiness of implementation, the intuitive functioning and the reduced computational cost of the standard nudging, making it a potential alternative especially in the field of seasonal-to-decadal predictions with large Earth system models that limit the use of more sophisticated data assimilation procedures.

  19. Survey of transmission line corridors. [Data on delays in transmission line construction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1979-01-05

    The intent of this study is to determine the extent of delays experienced in planning and constructing transmission lines in the continental United States. The reasons for the delays are identified for each line studied and their effect on the total electrical system is sought. Data was collected for 136 different lines either recently built or currently under study. Statistics were developed for each line in several categories and comparisons of lines delayed were made by company, area served and generation capacity. From the study presented here it was found that: right-of-way acquisition procedures including condemnation and easement negotiation practices delay more projects than local, state and federal regulatory requirements combined; load growth reductions particularly in the east have reduced the impact of regulatory delays; the south, southeast and southwestern areas of the country experience fewer delays in constructing transmission lines than the more populated states, and the cost for corridor delays was responded to for only 17 of the 142 projects surveyed. By far the most costly delay is the expense of condemning land for transmission right-of-way.

  20. Assessing District-Heating Sustainability. Case Studies of CO{sub 2} Mitigation Strategies and Environmental Cost Accounting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fahlen, Elsa

    2012-11-01

    District heating (DH) may play an important role in achieving the EU goal of a secure, competitive and sustainable energy supply. Integrated energy solutions based on technologies, such as biomass gasification for transport fuel, electricity and heat production and heat-driven absorption cooling, create new optimisation possibilities through the linkage between heat, power, cooling and transport fuel markets which may reduce the global warming contribution of the energy sector. With increasing focus on climate change impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, the environmental effects of other air pollutants should not be neglected. To achieve both a competitive and a sustainable energy supply, it is necessary to integrate environmental considerations into economic policies. Through accounting for external costs of air pollution in energy system modelling and analysis, sustainability aspects may be integrated into DH assessments. The aim of this thesis is to develop, apply and evaluate methodologies for assessing conventional and new technology solutions in a DH system; the assessments are made from a DH perspective with respect to two factors - cost-effectiveness and environmental impacts - which are either assessed separately or integrated through external cost accounting. Various CO{sub 2} mitigation strategies are evaluated with regard to the robustness of the DH system in meeting future developments of energy market prices and policies. The studies are performed using a systems approach by using the simulating DH supply model MARTES as applied to the DH system Sweden. This thesis concludes that the integration of biomass gasification technology and absorption cooling technology in DH systems has the potential for cost-effective CO{sub 2} emission reduction, in line with other EU goals to increase the share of renewable sources in energy use and to increase energy efficiency. Accounting for external costs of not only climate change but also other environmental

  1. Development of a statistically based access delay timeline methodology.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rivera, W. Gary; Robinson, David Gerald; Wyss, Gregory Dane; Hendrickson, Stacey M. Langfitt

    2013-02-01

    The charter for adversarial delay is to hinder access to critical resources through the use of physical systems increasing an adversarys task time. The traditional method for characterizing access delay has been a simple model focused on accumulating times required to complete each task with little regard to uncertainty, complexity, or decreased efficiency associated with multiple sequential tasks or stress. The delay associated with any given barrier or path is further discounted to worst-case, and often unrealistic, times based on a high-level adversary, resulting in a highly conservative calculation of total delay. This leads to delay systems that require significant funding and personnel resources in order to defend against the assumed threat, which for many sites and applications becomes cost prohibitive. A new methodology has been developed that considers the uncertainties inherent in the problem to develop a realistic timeline distribution for a given adversary path. This new methodology incorporates advanced Bayesian statistical theory and methodologies, taking into account small sample size, expert judgment, human factors and threat uncertainty. The result is an algorithm that can calculate a probability distribution function of delay times directly related to system risk. Through further analysis, the access delay analyst or end user can use the results in making informed decisions while weighing benefits against risks, ultimately resulting in greater system effectiveness with lower cost.

  2. Low Cost Environmental Sensors for Spaceflight: NMP Space Environmental Monitor (SEM) Requirements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garrett, Henry B.; Buehler, Martin G.; Brinza, D.; Patel, J. U.

    2005-01-01

    An outstanding problem in spaceflight is the lack of adequate sensors for monitoring the space environment and its effects on engineering systems. By adequate, we mean low cost in terms of mission impact (e.g., low price, low mass/size, low power, low data rate, and low design impact). The New Millennium Program (NMP) is investigating the development of such a low-cost Space Environmental Monitor (SEM) package for inclusion on its technology validation flights. This effort follows from the need by NMP to characterize the space environment during testing so that potential users can extrapolate the test results to end-use conditions. The immediate objective of this effort is to develop a small diagnostic sensor package that could be obtained from commercial sources. Environments being considered are: contamination, atomic oxygen, ionizing radiation, cosmic radiation, EMI, and temperature. This talk describes the requirements and rational for selecting these environments and reviews a preliminary design that includes a micro-controller data logger with data storage and interfaces to the sensors and spacecraft. If successful, such a sensor package could be the basis of a unique, long term program for monitoring the effects of the space environment on spacecraft systems.

  3. Cost-time management for environmental restoration activities at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Chemical Processing Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fourr, B.R.; Owen, A.H.; Williamson, D.J.; Nash, C.L.

    1992-01-01

    Cost-time management methods have been developed by Westinghouse to examine business applications from a cost-time perspective. The initial application of cost-time management within Westinghouse was targeted at reducing cycle time in the manufacturing sector. As a result of the tremendous success of reduced cycle time in manufacturing, Westinghouse initiated application of the management technique to Environmental Restoration activities at its Government Owned Contractor Operated facilities. The Westinghouse initiative was proposed in support of the Department of Energy's goals for cost effective Environmental Restoration activities. This paper describes the application of the cost-time method to Environmental Restoration work currently being performed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) for the Department of Energy (DOE) by Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Company (WINCO)

  4. Analysis of methods for evaluating environmental costs: a view from environmental accounting research. case: construction of highway, vía al mar Cartagena-Barranquilla section 1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Julio Vergara Arrieta

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available This document is the first breakthrough in the research project entitled “Measurement and assessment of social and environmental costs of Dual Carriageway Vía al Mar Cartagena- Barranquilla section 1 Barrio Crespo – Entrance Villages Tierra Baja and Puerto Rey” funded by the University of San Buenaventura Cartagena. In it the conclusions of the search and theoretical-critical analysis of the different methods, methodologies or techniques that address the issue of valuation of environmental quality in order to develop the first approaches to valuation exercise environmental costs are collected. The position for the present analysis is adopted from an investigative standpoint of accounting field, based on performing and / or environmental reality heterodox approaches.

  5. Opportunities and potential costs of an environmental tax. Working paper Nr 34

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scapecchi, Pascale

    2012-09-01

    After having outlined the role of an environmental tax in the policy for energy transition, the author discusses the definition of this tax and its objectives. She discusses the characteristics a carbon tax could have in terms of base, of exemption, of tax rate determination by using a cost-efficiency ratio, and of expected revenues. She identifies and comments benefits and drawbacks of an environmental tax, i.e.: economic and environmental benefits, lessons learned from the Swedish case (implementation of a carbon tax in 1991), negative impacts on economy, and assessment of anticipated macro-economic impacts by using economic models. She finally discusses the conditions of acceptability of such a tax by considering how revenues are redistributed

  6. Phenotypic differentiation is associated with gender plasticity and its responsive delay to environmental changes in Alternanthera philoxeroides--phenotypic differentiation in alligator weed.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Liu

    Full Text Available Phenotypic plasticity is common in many taxa, and it may increase an organism's fitness in heterogeneous environments. However, in some cases, the frequency of environmental changes can be faster than the ability of the individual to produce new adaptive phenotypes. The importance of such a time delay in terms of individual fitness and species adaptability has not been well studied. Here, we studied gender plasticity of Alternanthera philoxeroides to address this issue through a reciprocal transplant experiment. We observed that the genders of A. philoxeroides were plastic and reversible between monoclinous and pistillody depending on habitats, the offspring maintained the maternal genders in the first year but changed from year 2 to 5, and there was a cubic relationship between the rate of population gender changes and environmental variations. This relationship indicates that the species must overcome a threshold of environmental variations to switch its developmental path ways between the two genders. This threshold and the maternal gender stability cause a significant delay of gender changes in new environments. At the same time, they result in and maintain the two distinct habitat dependent gender phenotypes. We also observed that there was a significant and adaptive life-history differentiation between monoclinous and pistillody individuals and the gender phenotypes were developmentally linked with the life-history traits. Therefore, the gender phenotypes are adaptive. Low seed production, seed germination failure and matching phenotypes to habitats by gender plasticity indicate that the adaptive phenotypic diversity in A. philoxeroides may not be the result of ecological selection, but of gender plasticity. The delay of the adaptive gender phenotype realization in changing environments can maintain the differentiation between gender systems and their associated life-history traits, which may be an important component in evolution of novel

  7. Livermore blasted for project delay

    CERN Multimedia

    1999-01-01

    In a 12 page report issued last week, a review committee set up by the University of California has concluded that mismanagement and poor planning are to blame for significant cost overruns and delays in the construction of NIF, the worlds largest laser (1 page).

  8. Emergency surgery pre-operative delays - realities and economic impacts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Leary, D P; Beecher, S; McLaughlin, R

    2014-12-01

    A key principle of acute surgical service provision is the establishment of a distinct patient flow process and an emergency theatre. Time-to-theatre (TTT) is a key performance indicator of theatre efficiency. The combined impacts of an aging population, increasing demands and complexity associated with centralisation of emergency and oncology services has placed pressure on emergency theatre access. We examined our institution's experience with running a designated emergency theatre for acute surgical patients. A retrospective review of an electronic prospectively maintained database was performed between 1/1/12 and 31/12/13. A cost analysis was conducted to assess the economic impact of delayed TTT, with every 24hr delay incurring the cost of an additional overnight bed. Delays and the economic effects were assessed only after the first 24 h as an in-patient had elapsed. In total, 7041 procedures were performed. Overall mean TTT was 26 h, 2 min. There were significant differences between different age groups, with those aged under 16 year and over 65 having mean TTT at 6 h, 34 min (95% C.I. 0.51-2.15, p 65 years age group had a mean TTT of 23 h, 41 min which was significantly longer than the overall mean TTT Vascular and urological emergencies are significantly disadvantaged in competition with other services for a shared emergency theatre. The economic impact of delayed TTT was calculated at €7,116,000, or €9880/day of additional costs generated from delayed TTT over a 24 month period. One third of patients waited longer than 24 h for emergency surgery, with the elderly disproportionately represented in this group. Aside from the clinical risks of delayed and out of hours surgery, such practices incur significant additional costs. New strategies must be devised to ensure efficient access to emergency theatres, investment in such services is likely to be financially and clinically beneficial. Copyright © 2014 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier

  9. A cost benefit review of applying quality assurance principles to project management of environmental cleanup programs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oakes, T.W.

    1989-01-01

    This paper shows the cost/benefit mechanism used for applying the theory and practical aspects of QA principles as a management tool to project management of environmental cleanup projects. This includes reviewing and guidelines and requirements to determine the practical aspects of applying these requirements to environmental project management. Thus, there is a feedback loop for comparison of the cost/benefits of application of each stage of the project. The project's major stages include planning, environmental sampling, analysis of data samples, data/information management to include reporting, and follow- up, post-cleanup sampling with continued data management. A comparison is also made of the theory with the practical aspects of each of these stages

  10. Noise-sustained fluctuations in stochastic dynamics with a delay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Odorico, Paolo; Laio, Francesco; Ridolfi, Luca

    2012-04-01

    Delayed responses to external drivers are ubiquitous in environmental, social, and biological processes. Delays may induce oscillations, Hopf bifurcations, and instabilities in deterministic systems even in the absence of nonlinearities. Despite recent advances in the study of delayed stochastic differential equations, the interaction of random drivers with delays remains poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether noise-induced behaviors may emerge from these interactions. Here we show that noise may enhance and sustain transient periodic oscillations inherent to deterministic delayed systems. We investigate the conditions conducive to the emergence and disappearance of these dynamics in a linear system in the presence of both additive and multiplicative noise.

  11. Environmental tipping points significantly affect the cost-benefit assessment of climate policies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Yongyang; Judd, Kenneth L; Lenton, Timothy M; Lontzek, Thomas S; Narita, Daiju

    2015-04-14

    Most current cost-benefit analyses of climate change policies suggest an optimal global climate policy that is significantly less stringent than the level required to meet the internationally agreed 2 °C target. This is partly because the sum of estimated economic damage of climate change across various sectors, such as energy use and changes in agricultural production, results in only a small economic loss or even a small economic gain in the gross world product under predicted levels of climate change. However, those cost-benefit analyses rarely take account of environmental tipping points leading to abrupt and irreversible impacts on market and nonmarket goods and services, including those provided by the climate and by ecosystems. Here we show that including environmental tipping point impacts in a stochastic dynamic integrated assessment model profoundly alters cost-benefit assessment of global climate policy. The risk of a tipping point, even if it only has nonmarket impacts, could substantially increase the present optimal carbon tax. For example, a risk of only 5% loss in nonmarket goods that occurs with a 5% annual probability at 4 °C increase of the global surface temperature causes an immediate two-thirds increase in optimal carbon tax. If the tipping point also has a 5% impact on market goods, the optimal carbon tax increases by more than a factor of 3. Hence existing cost-benefit assessments of global climate policy may be significantly underestimating the needs for controlling climate change.

  12. Trade off between costs and environmental effects of weed control on pavements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kempenaar, C.; Lotz, L.A.P.; Horst, van der C.L.M.; Beltman, W.H.J.; Leemans, K.J.M.; Bannink, A.D.

    2007-01-01

    An actor-participative project on sustainable weed control on pavements was started in 2000 in the Netherlands. The aim of the project was to develop a new concept of weed management that provides cost-effective and environmentally sound weed control. Early in 2002, practical guidelines were drawn

  13. Nutritional, Economic, and Environmental Costs of Milk Waste in a Classroom School Breakfast Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blondin, Stacy A; Cash, Sean B; Goldberg, Jeanne P; Griffin, Timothy S; Economos, Christina D

    2017-04-01

    To measure fluid milk waste in a US School Breakfast in the Classroom Program and estimate its nutritional, economic, and environmental effects. Fluid milk waste was directly measured on 60 elementary school classroom days in a medium-sized, urban district. The US Department of Agriculture nutrition database, district cost data, and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) emissions and water footprint estimates for fluid milk were used to calculate the associated nutritional, economic, and environmental costs. Of the total milk offered to School Breakfast Program participants, 45% was wasted. A considerably smaller portion of served milk was wasted (26%). The amount of milk wasted translated into 27% of vitamin D and 41% of calcium required of School Breakfast Program meals. The economic and environmental costs amounted to an estimated $274 782 (16% of the district's total annual School Breakfast Program food expenditures), 644 893 kilograms of CO 2 e, and 192 260 155 liters of water over the school year in the district. These substantial effects of milk waste undermine the School Breakfast Program's capacity to ensure short- and long-term food security and federal food waste reduction targets. Interventions that reduce waste are urgently needed.

  14. Cost versus life cycle assessment-based environmental impact optimization of drinking water production plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capitanescu, F; Rege, S; Marvuglia, A; Benetto, E; Ahmadi, A; Gutiérrez, T Navarrete; Tiruta-Barna, L

    2016-07-15

    Empowering decision makers with cost-effective solutions for reducing industrial processes environmental burden, at both design and operation stages, is nowadays a major worldwide concern. The paper addresses this issue for the sector of drinking water production plants (DWPPs), seeking for optimal solutions trading-off operation cost and life cycle assessment (LCA)-based environmental impact while satisfying outlet water quality criteria. This leads to a challenging bi-objective constrained optimization problem, which relies on a computationally expensive intricate process-modelling simulator of the DWPP and has to be solved with limited computational budget. Since mathematical programming methods are unusable in this case, the paper examines the performances in tackling these challenges of six off-the-shelf state-of-the-art global meta-heuristic optimization algorithms, suitable for such simulation-based optimization, namely Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA2), Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II), Indicator-based Evolutionary Algorithm (IBEA), Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm based on Decomposition (MOEA/D), Differential Evolution (DE), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The results of optimization reveal that good reduction in both operating cost and environmental impact of the DWPP can be obtained. Furthermore, NSGA-II outperforms the other competing algorithms while MOEA/D and DE perform unexpectedly poorly. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. The Contribution of Environmental Siting and Permitting Requirements to the Cost of Energy for Wave Energy Devices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Copping, Andrea E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Geerlofs, Simon H. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hanna, Luke A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2014-06-01

    Responsible deployment of marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) devices in estuaries, coastal areas, and major rivers requires that biological resources and ecosystems be protected through siting and permitting (consenting) processes. Scoping appropriate deployment locations, collecting pre-installation (baseline) and post-installation data all add to the cost of developing MHK projects, and hence to the cost of energy. Under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists have developed logic models that describe studies and processes for environmental siting and permitting. Each study and environmental permitting process has been assigned a cost derived from existing and proposed tidal, wave, and riverine MHK projects. Costs have been developed at the pilot scale and for commercial arrays for a surge wave energy converter

  16. Dispersion of pollutants, environmental externalities due to a pulverized coal power plant and their effect on the cost of electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Czarnowska, Lucyna; Frangopoulos, Christos A.

    2012-01-01

    Energy conversion systems generate pollution that causes damages to the environment and the society. The objective of this work is to study the dispersion of pollutants and assess the environmental and social cost due to pollution from such a system. For this purpose, a pulverized coal power plant is selected. Using thermodynamic principles combined with empirical techniques, the quantities of pollutants emitted by the plant are estimated. Then, using the EcoSenseWeb software, which is based on the results of the ExternE project, the external environmental cost (externalities) of pollution is assessed. The plant is considered as located in four different cities in Poland and the externalities are calculated for each city separately. It is shown that the external environmental cost has a strong influence on the unit cost of electricity. In addition, the dispersion of pollutants is presented for the plant located in Olsztyn city. Furthermore, the plant is considered as located near the capitals of European countries and the environmental externalities are calculated for each city. The neighboring countries that are strongly affected by the plant in each particular city are identified. The sensitivity of the unit cost of electricity to certain important parameters is investigated. -- Highlights: ► The external cost of pollution has a significant impact on the cost of electricity. ► The results depend on the particular plant, location and level (local-global). ► Externalities make the installation of abatement equipment economical. ► The source location of emissions has a significant effect on the external cost. ► The transboundary pollution has a strong effect on the environmental cost.

  17. Permissible Delay in Payments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yung-Fu Huang

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper wants to investigate the optimal retailer's lot-sizing policy with two warehouses under partially permissible delay in payments within the economic order quantity (EOQ framework. In this paper, we want to extend that fully permissible delay in payments to the supplier would offer the retailer partially permissible delay in payments. That is, the retailer must make a partial payment to the supplier when the order is received. Then the retailer must pay off the remaining balance at the end of the permissible delay period. In addition, we want to add the assumption that the retailer's storage space is limited. That is, the retailer will rent the warehouse to store these exceeding items when the order quantity is larger than retailer's storage space. Under these conditions, we model the retailer's inventory system as a cost minimization problem to determine the retailer's optimal cycle time and optimal order quantity. Three theorems are developed to efficiently determine the optimal replenishment policy for the retailer. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate these theorems and obtained a lot of managerial insights.

  18. Do Procrastination-Friendly Environments Make Students Delay Unnecessarily?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nordby, Kent; Klingsieck, Katrin; Svartdal, Frode

    2017-01-01

    Research on procrastination emphasizes trait explanations for unwanted delay, yet environmental factors are most probably significant contributors to the problem. In this paper, we review literature related to the influence of environmental factors on academic procrastination and investigate how such factors may be assessed in facilitating…

  19. Delayed neutrons in ANSTO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wall, T.

    1988-01-01

    Delayed neutron analysis carried out at the Australian Nuclear Scientific and Technology Organization facilities, provides a fast, high sensitivity, low cost, reliable method, particularly suitable for large batches of samples, and for non destructive analysis of a range of materials. While its main use has been in uranium exploration, other applications include archeological investigations, agriculture, oceanography and biology

  20. Addressing critical environmental data gaps via low-cost, real-time, cellular-based environmental monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caylor, K. K.; Wolf, A.; Siegfried, B.

    2014-12-01

    Models in the environmental sciences are repositories in a sense of the current state of understanding of critical processes. However, as our understanding of these processes (and their accompanying models) become more granular, the data requirements to parameterize them become more limiting. In addition, as these models become more useful, they are often pressed into service for decision support, meaning that they cannot accept the data latency typical of most environmental observations. Finally, the vast majority of environmental data is generated at highly-instrumented, infrastructure-rich "mega sites" in the US/Europe, while many of the most pressing environmental issues are in rural locales and in the developing world. Cellular-based environmental sensing is a promising means to provide granular data in real time from remote locales to improve model-based forecasting using data assimilation. Applications we are working on include drought forecasting and food security; forest and crop responses to weather and climate change; and rural water usage. Over the past two years, we have developed a suite of integrated hardware, firmware, and backend APIs that accommodates an unlimited variety of sensors, and propagates these data onto the internet over mobile networks. Scientific data holds a unique role for demanding well-characterized information on sensor error and our design attempts to balance error reduction with low costs. The result is a deployment system that undercuts competing commercial products by as much as 90%, allowing more ubiquitous deployment with lower risks associated with sensor loss. Enclosure design and power management are critical ingredients for remote deployments under variable environmental conditions. Sensors push data onto cloud storage and make this data available via public API's via a backend server that accommodates additional metadata essential for interpreting observations, particularly their measurement errors. The data these pods

  1. Causes and remedial measures for construction delays: a case study of pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ali, T.H.; Memon, N.A.

    2009-01-01

    Delays are the most common event that influence the time performance and increase the cost of projects. This paper analyze causes of various delays experienced by three large construction projects in public sector and subsequently to recommend the corrective actions necessitated to safeguard future construction projects from suffering these delays, which result in enormous cost and time over-runs, undermining projects economic viability. The case-study approach has been employed as research method, to analyze construction delays, followed by categorizing them in view of their source. The method employed to collect data included interviews, questionnaire surveys, and analysis of project documents including monthly progress reports, minutes of meeting, and details of correspondence held between the project participants. The data collected was minutely analyzed to identify different delays, and their underlying causes encountered during execution of projects. The analysis reveals serious lapses on part of projects planners, for their failure to take care of the inevitable contingencies (unexpected situations), while conceptualizing projects by resorting to proactive planning at the very outset, incorporating adequate buffers in the projects budgeted costs, and timeframes, to ensure projects economic viability in any eventuality. The failure of owners to establish key performance indicators, followed by their inability in tracking down the indicators, worsened the situation, resulting in projects execution lagging far behind original schedules of construction activities with their estimated costs. (author)

  2. Identifying The Effective Factors for Cost Overrun and Time Delay in Water Construction Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Mirzai Matin

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Water construction projects in Iran frequently face problems which cause cost overrun and time delay, the two most common issues in construction projects in general. The objective of this survey is to identify and quantify these problems and thus help in avoiding them. This survey represents a collection of the most significant problems found in the literature, classified into 11 groups according to their source. The questionnaire form used contains 84 questions which were answered by random engineers who work in water construction projects. The Relative Importance Weight (RIW method is used to weight the importance of each one of the 84 problems. The focus of this survey is on overall top ten issues which are: bureaucracy in bidding method, inflation, economical condition of the government, not enough information gathered and surveys done before design, monthly payment difficulties, material cost changes, law changes by the government, financial difficulties, mode of financing and payment for completed work and changes made by the owner. A section for each of these issues provides additional information about them. In the full text of this survey the same weighting method is used to classify the main groups, and the results show that issues related to the groups of government, owner and consultant has the most significant impact. The last part of this survey describes the point of view of the engineers who took part in this survey and the recommendations they made.

  3. Environmental cost benefit analysis for a coal-fired power plant. An application of dispersion modelling coupled with GIS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oguz, M.; Balta, T.

    1998-01-01

    In this study, local air quality impacts of a proposed conventional coal-fired power at Icel region has been investigated using numerical dispersion modeling studies coupled with a GIS application. Within the impact area of the facility, Industrial Source Complex Short Term (ISCST2) dispersion model has been used to estimate ground level concentrations of air pollutants originating from the power plant. For the same impact area, GIS applications have been utilized to determine the agricultural yield distribution. For this purpose, relevant satellite images were digitized, classified and statistically analyzed. Based on the predicted ground level pollutant concentrations and sensitivity of the agricultural crops to those, agricultural yield loss was estimated for the impact area. The results have been quantified and validated in monetary terms for the purpose of performing an environmental cost benefit analysis. Comparison of the conventional cost benefit analysis with the environmental cost benefit analysis showed the significance of the external cost of the proposed facility, resulting from the environmental damages. 6 refs

  4. Delayed Puberty

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kolby, Nanna; Busch, Alexander Siegfried; Juul, Anders

    2017-01-01

    . The underlying reasons for the large variation in the age at pubertal onset are not fully established; however, nutritional status and socioeconomic and environmental factors are known to be influencing, and a significant amount of influencing genetic factors have also been identified. The challenges...... optimal in discriminating especially CDGP from HH. Management of the delayed puberty depends on the etiology. For boys with CDGP an observational period will often reveal imminent puberty. If puberty is not progressing spontaneously, sex steroid replacement is effective in stimulating the development...

  5. The Cost of Jointness: Insights from Environmental Monitoring Systems in Low-Earth Orbit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dwyer, Morgan Maeve [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2014-09-01

    This report summarizes the results of doctoral research that explored the cost impact of acquiring complex government systems jointly. The report begins by reviewing recent evidence that suggests that joint programs experience greater cost growth than non-joint programs. It continues by proposing an alternative approach for studying cost growth on government acquisition programs and demonstrates the utility of this approach by applying it to study the cost of jointness on three past programs that developed environmental monitoring systems for low-Earth orbit. Ultimately, the report concludes that joint programs' costs grow when the collaborating government agencies take action to retain or regain their autonomy. The report provides detailed qualitative and quantitative data in support of this conclusion and generalizes its findings to other joint programs that were not explicitly studied here. Finally, it concludes by presenting a quantitative model that assesses the cost impacts of jointness and by demonstrating how government agencies can more effectively architect joint programs in the future.

  6. Cost-time management for environmental restoration activities at the Department of Energy`s Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Chemical Processing Plant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fourr, B.R.; Owen, A.H.; Williamson, D.J. [Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Co., Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Nash, C.L. [USDOE Idaho Field Office, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

    1992-05-22

    Cost-time management methods have been developed by Westinghouse to examine business applications from a cost-time perspective. The initial application of cost-time management within Westinghouse was targeted at reducing cycle time in the manufacturing sector. As a result of the tremendous success of reduced cycle time in manufacturing, Westinghouse initiated application of the management technique to Environmental Restoration activities at its Government Owned Contractor Operated facilities. The Westinghouse initiative was proposed in support of the Department of Energy`s goals for cost effective Environmental Restoration activities. This paper describes the application of the cost-time method to Environmental Restoration work currently being performed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) for the Department of Energy (DOE) by Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Company (WINCO).

  7. A multiple ship routing and speed optimization problem under time, cost and environmental objectives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wen, M.; Pacino, Dario; Kontovas, C.A.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to investigate a multiple ship routing and speed optimization problem under time, cost and environmental objectives. A branch and price algorithm as well as a constraint programming model are developed that consider (a) fuel consumption as a function of payload, (b......) fuel price as an explicit input, (c) freight rate as an input, and (d) in-transit cargo inventory costs. The alternative objective functions are minimum total trip duration, minimum total cost and minimum emissions. Computational experience with the algorithm is reported on a variety of scenarios....

  8. Environmental Investments: The Cost of a Clean Environment, Report of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Congress of the United States (1990)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Presents data on environmental pollution control costs during the period 1972--1987, projects these costs for each subsequent year to the year 2000 under a number of assumptions, and breaks them down in a variety of ways (capital, operating; media; etc.)

  9. Financial and environmental costs of manual versus automated control of end-tidal gas concentrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tay, S; Weinberg, L; Peyton, P; Story, D; Briedis, J

    2013-01-01

    Emerging technologies that reduce the economic and environmental costs of anaesthesia have had limited assessment. We hypothesised that automated control of end-tidal gases, a new feature in anaesthesia machines, will consistently reduce volatile agent consumption cost and greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the planned replacement of anaesthesia machines in a tertiary hospital, we performed a prospective before and after study comparing the cost and greenhouse gas emissions of isoflurane, sevoflurane and desflurane when using manual versus automated control of end-tidal gases. We analysed 3675 general anaesthesia cases with inhalational agents: 1865 using manual control and 1810 using automated control. Volatile agent cost was $18.87/hour using manual control and $13.82/hour using automated control: mean decrease $5.05/hour (95% confidence interval: $0.88-9.22/hour, P=0.0243). The 100-year global warming potential decreased from 23.2 kg/hour of carbon dioxide equivalents to 13.0 kg/hour: mean decrease 10.2 kg/hour (95% confidence interval: 2.7-17.7 kg/hour, P=0.0179). Automated control reduced costs by 27%. Greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 44%, a greater than expected decrease facilitated by a proportional reduction in desflurane use. Automated control of end-tidal gases increases participation in low flow anaesthesia with economic and environmental benefits.

  10. Are the current guidelines for surgical delay in hip fractures too rigid? A single center assessment of mortality and economics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kempenaers, Kristof; Van Calster, Ben; Vandoren, Cindy; Sermon, An; Metsemakers, Willem-Jan; Vanderschot, Paul; Misselyn, Dominique; Nijs, Stefaan; Hoekstra, Harm

    2018-06-01

    Controversy remains around acceptable surgical delay of acute hip fractures with current guidelines ranging from 24 to 48 h. Increasing healthcare costs force us to consider the economic burden as well. We aimed to evaluate the adjusted effect of surgical delay for hip fracture surgery on early mortality, healthcare costs and readmission rate. We hypothesized that shorter delays resulted in lower early mortality and costs. In this retrospective cohort study 2573 consecutive patients aged ≥50 years were included, who underwent surgery for acute hip fractures between 2009 and 2017. Main endpoints were thirty- and ninety-day mortality, total cost, and readmission rate. Multivariable regression included sex, age and ASA score as covariates. Thirty-day mortality was 5% (n = 133), ninety-day mortality 12% (n = 304). Average total cost was €11960, dominated by hospitalization (59%) and honoraria (23%). Per 24 h delay, the adjusted odds ratio was 1.07 (95% CI 0.98-1.18) for thirty-day mortality, 1.12 (95% CI 1.04-1.19) for ninety-day mortality, and 0.99 (95% CI = 0.88-1.12) for readmission. Per 24 h delay, costs increased with 7% (95% CI 6-8%). For mortality, delay was a weaker predictor than sex, age, and ASA score. For costs, delay was the strongest predictor. We did not find clear cut-points for surgical delay after which mortality or costs increased abruptly. Despite only modest associations with mortality, we observed a steady increase in healthcare costs when delaying surgery. Hence, a more pragmatic approach with surgery as soon as medically and organizationally possible seems justifiable over rigorous implementation of the current guidelines. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. An economic analysis of the effects of regulatory delay on nuclear power plant construction. Technical report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maloney, M.T.; Walsh, M.D.

    1980-08-01

    In order to evaluate the impact that any government regulation has on society, an accurate measure of the costs imposed by the regulation is essential. Current government estimates of the cost of pollution control legislation have failed to include the costs of project delays that firms may experience when complying with such standards. Clearly, if these delays are the direct result of such legislation their costs should be included for a proper evaluation. The purpose of this report is to define and measure the true impact that construction deals have on the total project costs of a specific industry. The Nuclear Power Industry has been chosen to illustrate the problem. First, the industry is examined in terms of its economic and physical environment. A model is then developed to deal with the costs involved in the construction of a typical nuclear plant. The model is tested by regressing time and cost data of 31 completed plants to determine the impact that unanticipated delays have had on total project costs. These results indicate that such delays would increase the total project costs of a typical 1,000 mw plant by .8 percent per month in the initial stage of the project and 1.1 percent per month after actual construction begins

  12. PorTL - a compact, portable TLD reader for environmental and personal dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deme, S.; Apathy, I.; Bodnar, L.; Csoke, A.; Feher, I.; Pazmandi, T.

    2005-01-01

    Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) are commonly used for environmental monitoring, for personal and medical dosimetry, for dosimetry in nuclear facilities, etc. Major advantages are their independence of the power supply, small dimension, sensitivity, good stability, wide measuring range, resistance to environmental changes and relatively low cost. The disadvantage is that the detector must be transported for evaluation to a laboratory equipped with a large, heavy and expensive TLD Reader operated by qualified personnel, which considerably increases the costs and delays results. To overcome this disadvantage, the KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute (KFKI AEKI), in co-operation with BL Electronics (Hungary), has developed a new and unique TLD system containing a small, portable, battery powered and moderate-price reader for commercial use. This paper gives a detailed description and parameters of this system.(author)

  13. Environmental damage costs in Iran by the energy sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shafie-Pour, Majid; Ardestani, Mojtaba

    2007-01-01

    On the basis of the energy supply and demand, this paper assesses the environmental damage from air pollution in Iran using the Extern-E study that has extended over 10 years and is still in progress in the European Union (EU) commission. Damage costs were transferred from Western European practice to the conditions of Iran by scaling according to GDP per capital measured in PPP terms. Using this approach, the total health damage from air pollution in 2001 is assessed at about $7 billion; equivalent to 8.4% of nominal GDP. In the absence of price reform and control policies, it is estimated that damage in Iran will grow to $9 billion by 2019, in the money of 2001. This is equivalent to 10.9% of nominal GDP, i.e. a larger percentage of a larger GDP. Of this total, $8.4 billion comes from the transport sector. The damage cost to the global environment from the flaring of natural gas, assessed on the basis of a carbon price of $10/ton CO 2 and found to be approximately $600 million per year. This is equal to a little less than 1% of current GDP. There are larger costs associated with recovery and use of such gas, but equally there are large potential benefits

  14. Environmental costs os service sector and new economy; Los costes ambientales del sector servicios y la nueva economia: entre la desmaterializacion y efecto rebote

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carpintero, O.

    2003-07-01

    The growing size of the service sector in developed countries and the recent emergence of the new economy have contributed to extend a controversial message: the service sector and the Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) are less intensive in energy and materials use than industrial and agricultural activities. then, it is possible to maintain the current pattern of economic growth without taking into account its environmental costs. This paper explores the truthfulness, of those arguments, paying particular attention to some empirical evidences. These facts invite to caution when it comes to evaluating the green influence of ICTs in the reduction of the environmental costs of industrial economies. (Author)

  15. Skeletal traction and intramedullary nailing cost-effectiveness

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the operative group 24 patients had union with one delayed union while in the traction group 12 patients had union, 9 with mal union and 4 delayed union. Conclusion: Intramedullary nailing is more cost-effective than skeletal traction. It met the dominant strategy, because it was significantly less costly than skeletal ...

  16. Cost-effectiveness of 'immediate IVF' versus 'delayed IVF': a prospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eijkemans, M J C; Kersten, F A M; Lintsen, A M E; Hunault, C C; Bouwmans, C A M; Roijen, L Hakkaart-van; Habbema, J D F; Braat, D D M

    2017-05-01

    How does the cost-effectiveness (CE) of immediate IVF compared with postponing IVF for 1 year, depend on prognostic characteristics of the couple? The CE ratio, i.e. the incremental costs of immediate versus delayed IVF per extra live birth, is the highest (range of €15 000 to >€60 000) for couples with unexplained infertility and for them depends strongly on female age and the duration of infertility, whilst being lowest for endometriosis (range 8000-23 000) and, for such patients, only slightly dependent on female age and duration of infertility. A few countries have guidelines for indications of IVF, using the diagnostic category, female age and duration of infertility. The CE of these guidelines is unknown and the evidence base exists only for bilateral tubal occlusion, not for the other diagnostic categories. A modelling approach was applied, based on the literature and data from a prospective cohort study among couples eligible for IVF or ICSI treatment, registered in a national waiting list in The Netherlands between January 2002 and December 2003. A total of 5962 couples was included. Chances of natural ongoing pregnancy were estimated from the waiting list observations and chances of ongoing pregnancy after IVF from follow-up data of couples with primary infertility that began treatment. Prognostic characteristics considered were female age, duration of infertility and diagnostic category. Costs of IVF were assessed from a societal perspective and determined on a representative sample of patients. A cost-effectiveness comparison was made between two scenarios: (I) wait one more year and then undergo IVF for 1 year and (II) immediate IVF during 1 year, and try to conceive naturally in the following year. Comparisons were made for strata determined by the prognostic factors. The final outcome was a live birth. The gain in live birth rate of the immediate IVF scenario versus postponed IVF increased with female age, and was independent from diagnostic

  17. Analysis of Costs and Time Frame for Reducing CO2 Emissions by 70% in the U.S. Auto and Energy Sectors by 2050.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Supekar, Sarang D; Skerlos, Steven J

    2017-10-03

    Using a least-cost optimization framework, it is shown that unless emissions reductions beyond those already in place begin at the latest by 2025 (±2 years) for the U.S. automotive sector, and by 2026 (-3 years) for the U.S. electric sector, 2050 targets to achieve necessary within-sector preventative CO 2 emissions reductions of 70% or more relative to 2010 will be infeasible. The analysis finds no evidence to justify delaying climate action in the name of reducing technological costs. Even without considering social and environmental damage costs, delaying aggressive climate action does not reduce CO 2 abatement costs even under the most optimistic trajectories for improvements in fuel efficiencies, demand, and technology costs in the U.S. auto and electric sectors. In fact, the abatement cost for both sectors is found to increase sharply with every year of delay beyond 2020. When further considering reasonable limits to technology turnover, retirements, and new capacity additions, these costs would be higher, and the feasible time frame for initiating successful climate action on the 70% by 2050 target would be shorter, perhaps having passed already. The analysis also reveals that optimistic business-as-usual scenarios in the U.S. will, conservatively, release 79-108 billion metric tons of CO 2 . This could represent up to 13% of humanity's remaining carbon budget through 2050.

  18. Environmental policy without costs? A review of the Porter hypothesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Braennlund, Runar; Lundgren, Tommy. e-mail: runar.brannlund@econ.umu.se

    2009-03-15

    This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature connected to the so called Porter Hypothesis. That is, to review the literature connected to the discussion about the relation between environmental policy and competitiveness. According to the conventional wisdom environmental policy, aiming for improving the environment through for example emission reductions, do imply costs since scarce resources must be diverted from somewhere else. However, this conventional wisdom has been challenged and questioned recently through what has been denoted the 'Porter hypothesis'. Those in the forefront of the Porter hypothesis challenge the conventional wisdom basically on the ground that resources are used inefficiently in the absence of the right kind of environmental regulations, and that the conventional neo-classical view is too static to take inefficiencies into account. The conclusions that can be made from this review is (1) that the theoretical literature can identify the circumstances and mechanisms that must exist for a Porter effect to occur, (2) that these circumstances are rather non-general, hence rejecting the Porter hypothesis in general, (3) that the empirical literature give no general support for the Porter hypothesis. Furthermore, a closer look at the 'Swedish case' reveals no support for the Porter hypothesis in spite of the fact that Swedish environmental policy the last 15-20 years seems to be in line the prerequisites stated by the Porter hypothesis concerning environmental policy

  19. Confronting reality in strategic environmental assessment in Slovenia — Costs and benefits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kontić, Branko; Dermol, Urška

    2015-01-01

    We enlarge on the viewpoint published in the Environmental Impact Assessment Review in 2012 — A viewpoint on the approval context of strategic environmental assessments. Additional alerts concerning the procedural ineffectiveness of the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process from the cost–benefit point of view are advanced. The major contribution to the long lasting, costly SEA processes, comes from ultraistic treatment of Natura 2000. The case study deals with a plan for constructing a traffic bypass around Škofljica, a town near Ljubljana. Based on their conclusions the authors propose that the following elements of the SEA procedure should be improved and optimised: –CBA for SEA should become a regular component when measuring its effectiveness. –Concretisation of expected SEA inputs to the plan should clarify its role at the earliest stage of the process. –SEA should contribute interactively to the optimisation of alternatives; cost–benefit analysis of the SEA process could support this process. –Nature protection interest should be confronted and balanced with wider development interests as formulated in the plan and should not be applied in absolute terms (e.g. Natura 2000). - Highlights: • SEA in Slovenia is ineffective and costly • SEA serves fundamentalism of nature protection through the Natura 2000 system • SEA does not support optimization and improvement of development projects

  20. Confronting reality in strategic environmental assessment in Slovenia — Costs and benefits

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kontić, Branko, E-mail: branko.kontic@ijs.si; Dermol, Urška, E-mail: urska.dermol@gmail.com

    2015-01-15

    We enlarge on the viewpoint published in the Environmental Impact Assessment Review in 2012 — A viewpoint on the approval context of strategic environmental assessments. Additional alerts concerning the procedural ineffectiveness of the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process from the cost–benefit point of view are advanced. The major contribution to the long lasting, costly SEA processes, comes from ultraistic treatment of Natura 2000. The case study deals with a plan for constructing a traffic bypass around Škofljica, a town near Ljubljana. Based on their conclusions the authors propose that the following elements of the SEA procedure should be improved and optimised: –CBA for SEA should become a regular component when measuring its effectiveness. –Concretisation of expected SEA inputs to the plan should clarify its role at the earliest stage of the process. –SEA should contribute interactively to the optimisation of alternatives; cost–benefit analysis of the SEA process could support this process. –Nature protection interest should be confronted and balanced with wider development interests as formulated in the plan and should not be applied in absolute terms (e.g. Natura 2000). - Highlights: • SEA in Slovenia is ineffective and costly • SEA serves fundamentalism of nature protection through the Natura 2000 system • SEA does not support optimization and improvement of development projects.

  1. Individual quality and age but not environmental or social conditions modulate costs of reproduction in a capital breeder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Debeffe, Lucie; Poissant, Jocelyn; McLoughlin, Philip D

    2017-08-01

    Costs associated with reproduction are widely known to play a role in the evolution of reproductive tactics with consequences to population and eco-evolutionary dynamics. Evaluating these costs as they pertain to species in the wild remains an important goal of evolutionary ecology. Individual heterogeneity, including differences in individual quality (i.e., among-individual differences in traits associated with survival and reproduction) or state, and variation in environmental and social conditions can modulate the costs of reproduction; however, few studies have considered effects of these factors simultaneously. Taking advantage of a detailed, long-term dataset for a population of feral horses (Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada), we address the question of how intrinsic (quality, age), environmental (winter severity, location), and social conditions (group size, composition, sex ratio, density) influence the costs of reproduction on subsequent reproduction. Individual quality was measured using a multivariate analysis on a combination of four static and dynamic traits expected to depict heterogeneity in individual performance. Female quality and age interacted with reproductive status of the previous year to determine current reproductive effort, while no effect of social or environmental covariates was found. High-quality females showed higher probabilities of giving birth and weaning their foal regardless of their reproductive status the previous year, while those of lower quality showed lower probabilities of producing foals in successive years. Middle-aged (prime) females had the highest probability of giving birth when they had not reproduced the year before, but no such relationship with age was found among females that had reproduced the previous year, indicating that prime-aged females bear higher costs of reproduction. We show that individual quality and age were key factors modulating the costs of reproduction in a capital breeder but that

  2. Estimation of costs for applications of remediation technologies for the Department of Energy's Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Villegas, A.J.; Hansen, R.I.; Humphreys, K.K.; Paananen, J.M.; Gildea, L.F.

    1994-01-01

    The Programmatic Environmental impact Statement (PEIS) being developed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) for environmental restoration (ER) and waste management (WM) activities expected to be carried out across the DOE's nationwide complex of facilities is assessing the impacts of removing, transporting, treating, storing, and disposing of waste from these ER and WM activities. Factors being considered include health and safety impacts to the public and to workers, impacts on the environment, costs and socio-economic impacts, and near-term and residual risk during those ER and WM operations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodology developed specifically for the PEIS to estimate costs associated with the deployment and application of individual remediation technologies. These individual costs are used in developing order-of-magnitude cost estimates for the total remediation activities. Costs are developed on a per-unit-of-material-to-be-treated basis (i.e., $/m 3 ) to accommodate remediation projects of varying sizes. The primary focus of this cost-estimating effort was the development of capital and operating unit cost factors based on the amount of primary media to be removed, handled, and treated. The unit costs for individual treatment technologies were developed using information from a variety of sources, mainly from periodicals, EPA documentation, handbooks, vendor contacts, and cost models. The unit cost factors for individual technologies were adjusted to 1991 dollars

  3. Decision-Making Tool for Cost-Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Wood Mobilisation

    OpenAIRE

    Matevž Triplat; Peter Prislan; Nike Krajnc

    2015-01-01

    Background and Purpose: With development of forest management technologies, the efficiency of wood production was significantly improved, and thus the impact on forests has changed as well. The article presents a practical decision-making tool for selection of most suitable harvesting system, considering given terrain as well as expected soil conditions on harvesting sites. The decision-making tool should support cost-efficient and environmentally friendly mobilisation of wood. Materials a...

  4. The cost of autism spectrum disorders.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiara Horlin

    Full Text Available A diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorders is usually associated with substantial lifetime costs to an individual, their family and the community. However, there remains an elusive factor in any cost-benefit analysis of ASD diagnosis, namely the cost of not obtaining a diagnosis. Given the infeasibility of estimating the costs of a population that, by its nature, is inaccessible, the current study compares expenses between families whose children received a formal ASD diagnosis immediately upon suspecting developmental atypicality and seeking advice, with families that experienced a delay between first suspicion and formal diagnosis.A register based questionnaire study covering all families with a child with ASD in Western Australia.Families with one or more children diagnosed with an ASD, totalling 521 children diagnosed with an ASD; 317 records were able to be included in the final analysis.The median family cost of ASD was estimated to be AUD $34,900 per annum with almost 90% of the sum ($29,200 due to loss of income from employment. For each additional symptom reported, approximately $1,400 cost for the family per annum was added. While there was little direct influence on costs associated with a delay in the diagnosis, the delay was associated with a modest increase in the number of ASD symptoms, indirectly impacting the cost of ASD.A delay in diagnosis was associated with an indirect increased financial burden to families. Early and appropriate access to early intervention is known to improve a child's long-term outcomes and reduce lifetime costs to the individual, family and society. Consequently, a per symptom dollar value may assist in allocation of individualised funding amounts for interventions rather than a nominal amount allocated to all children below a certain age, regardless of symptom presentation, as is the case in Western Australia.

  5. The cost of trauma operating theatre inefficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ang, W W; Sabharwal, S; Johannsson, H; Bhattacharya, R; Gupte, C M

    2016-05-01

    The National Health Service (NHS) is currently facing a financial crisis with a projected deficit of £2billion by the end of financial year 2015/16. As operating rooms (OR) are one of the costliest components in secondary care, improving theatre efficiency should be at the forefront of efforts to improve health service efficiency. The objectives of this study were to characterize the causes of trauma OR delays and to estimate the cost of this inefficiency. A 1-month prospective single-centre study in St. Mary's Hospital. Turnaround time (TT) was used as the surrogate parameter to measure theatre efficiency. Factors including patient age, ASA score and presence of surgical and anaesthetic consultant were evaluated to identify positive or negative associations with theatre delays. Inefficiency cost was calculated by multiplying the time wasted with staff capacity costs and opportunity costs, found to be £24.77/minute. The commonest causes for increased TT were delays in sending for patients (50%) and problems with patient transport to the OR (31%). 461 min of delay was observed in 12 days, equivalent to loss of £951.58/theatre/day. Non-statistically significant trends were seen between length of delays and advancing patient age, ASA score and absence of either a senior clinician or an anaesthetic consultant. Interestingly, the trend was not as strong for absence of an anaesthetic consultant. This study found delays in operating TT to represent a sizable cost, with potential efficiency savings based on TT of £347,327/theatre/year. Further study of a larger sample is warranted to better evaluate the identified trends.

  6. Distributed utility technology cost, performance, and environmental characteristics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wan, Y; Adelman, S

    1995-06-01

    Distributed Utility (DU) is an emerging concept in which modular generation and storage technologies sited near customer loads in distribution systems and specifically targeted demand-side management programs are used to supplement conventional central station generation plants to meet customer energy service needs. Research has shown that implementation of the DU concept could provide substantial benefits to utilities. This report summarizes the cost, performance, and environmental and siting characteristics of existing and emerging modular generation and storage technologies that are applicable under the DU concept. It is intended to be a practical reference guide for utility planners and engineers seeking information on DU technology options. This work was funded by the Office of Utility Technologies of the US Department of Energy.

  7. Modelling the Costs and Benefits of Delayed Product Differentiation

    OpenAIRE

    Hau L. Lee; Christopher S. Tang

    1997-01-01

    Expanding product variety and high customer service provision are both major challenges for manufacturers to compete in the global market. In addition to many ongoing programs, such as lead-time reduction, redesigning products and processes so as to delay the point of product differentiation is becoming an emerging means to address these challenges. Such a strategy calls for redesigning products and processes so that the stages of the production process in which a common process is used are p...

  8. Cost-time management for environmental restoration activities at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Chemical Processing Plant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fourr, B.R.; Owen, A.H.; Williamson, D.J. (Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Co., Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)); Nash, C.L. (USDOE Idaho Field Office, Idaho Falls, ID (United States))

    1992-05-22

    Cost-time management methods have been developed by Westinghouse to examine business applications from a cost-time perspective. The initial application of cost-time management within Westinghouse was targeted at reducing cycle time in the manufacturing sector. As a result of the tremendous success of reduced cycle time in manufacturing, Westinghouse initiated application of the management technique to Environmental Restoration activities at its Government Owned Contractor Operated facilities. The Westinghouse initiative was proposed in support of the Department of Energy's goals for cost effective Environmental Restoration activities. This paper describes the application of the cost-time method to Environmental Restoration work currently being performed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) for the Department of Energy (DOE) by Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Company (WINCO).

  9. Calculation of economic viability and environmental costs of photovoltaic solar energy for the Brazilian Northeast region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stecher, Luiza C.; Sabundjian, Gaiane; Menzel, Francine

    2013-01-01

    The availability of energy resources is a central point to economic development. The energy matrix of most countries is based on the consumption of fossil fuels, which adds annually over 5 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere. The energy consumption in developing countries has quadrupled since the 60s further aggravating global environmental conditions. The need to implement alternative energy sources to the energy matrix was proved. In addition, Brazil has a large number of people without access to electricity, which affects the quality of life of these populations. In this context, it is necessary to think in economic development way, and then the sustainable and alternative sources appear as an option for its features and its availability in Brazil. The solar energy captured by photovoltaic cells can be highlighted in the Brazilian scenario because of its wide availability, especially in the Northeast. The aim of this paper is to estimate the economic feasibility of insertion of solar systems in small communities in the Brazilian Northeast, considering environmental costs involved in electricity generation. The methodology is based on economic concepts and economic valuation of environmental resources. The results shows that solar power is becoming increasingly competitive due to reduced costs of components and due to the environmental costs reduced when compared with fossil fuels. (author)

  10. Calculation of economic viability and environmental costs of photovoltaic solar energy for the Brazilian Northeast region

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stecher, Luiza C.; Sabundjian, Gaianes; Menzel, Francine, E-mail: luizastecher@usp.br [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)

    2013-07-01

    The availability of energy resources is a central point to economic development. The energy matrix of most countries is based on the consumption of fossil fuels, which adds annually over 5 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere. The energy consumption in developing countries has quadrupled since the 60s further aggravating global environmental conditions. The need to implement alternative energy sources to the energy matrix was proved. In addition, Brazil has a large number of people without access to electricity, which affects the quality of life of these populations. In this context, it is necessary to think in economic development way, and then the sustainable and alternative sources appear as an option for its features and its availability in Brazil. The solar energy captured by photovoltaic cells can be highlighted in the Brazilian scenario because of its wide availability, especially in the Northeast. The aim of this paper is to estimate the economic feasibility of insertion of solar systems in small communities in the Brazilian Northeast, considering environmental costs involved in electricity generation. The methodology is based on economic concepts and economic valuation of environmental resources. The results shows that solar power is becoming increasingly competitive due to reduced costs of components and due to the environmental costs reduced when compared with fossil fuels. (author)

  11. Impact of environmental cost on economics of thermal power plant. Paper no. IGEC-1-007

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chandra, H.; Kaushik, S.C.; Chandra, A.

    2005-01-01

    Cost analysis per unit of power generation have been performed for coal based thermal power plant situated in Dadri (UP) for Indian and imported coal from Australia and America. In our study it has been found that it is better to use imported coal in Indian thermal power plants with advantages like low environmental, investment and total cost per unit of power generation. The effect of percent excess air and plant load factor on total cost per unit of power generation is also analyzed. (author)

  12. First-Case Operating Room Delays: Patterns Across Urban Hospitals of a Single Health Care System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Callie M. Cox Bauer

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Operating room delays decrease health care system efficiency and increase costs. To improve operating room efficiency in our system, we retrospectively investigated delay frequencies, causes and costs. Methods: We studied all first-of-the-day nonemergent surgical cases performed at three high-volume urban hospitals of a large health system from July 2012 to November 2013. Times for patient flow from arrival to procedure start and documented reasons for delay were obtained from electronic medical records. Delay was defined as patient placement in the operating room later than scheduled surgery time. Effects of patient characteristics, late patient arrival to the hospital, number of planned procedures, years of surgeon experience, service department and hospital facility on odds of delay were examined using logistic regression. Results: Of 5,598 cases examined, 88% were delayed. Patients arrived late to the hospital (surgery in 65% of first cases. Mean time from arrival to scheduled surgery and in-room placement was 104.6 and 127.4 minutes, respectively. Mean delay time was 28.2 minutes. Nearly 60% of delayed cases had no documented reason for delay. For cases with documentation, causes included the physician (52%, anesthesia (15%, patient (13%, staff (9%, other sources (6% and facility (5%. Regression analysis revealed age, late arrival, department and facility as significant predictors of delay. Estimated delay costs, based on published figures and representing lost revenue, were $519,388. Conclusions: To improve operating room efficiency, multidisciplinary strategies are needed for increasing patient adherence to recommended arrival times, documentation of delay by medical staff and consistency in workflow patterns among facilities and departments.

  13. Operating Room Delays: Meaningful Use in Electronic Health Record.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Winkle, Rachelle A; Champagne, Mary T; Gilman-Mays, Meri; Aucoin, Julia

    2016-06-01

    Perioperative areas are the most costly to operate and account for more than 40% of expenses. The high costs prompted one organization to analyze surgical delays through a retrospective review of their new electronic health record. Electronic health records have made it easier to access and aggregate clinical data; 2123 operating room cases were analyzed. Implementing a new electronic health record system is complex; inaccurate data and poor implementation can introduce new problems. Validating the electronic health record development processes determines the ease of use and the user interface, specifically related to user compliance with the intent of the electronic health record development. The revalidation process after implementation determines if the intent of the design was fulfilled and data can be meaningfully used. In this organization, the data fields completed through automation provided quantifiable, meaningful data. However, data fields completed by staff that required subjective decision making resulted in incomplete data nearly 24% of the time. The ease of use was further complicated by 490 permutations (combinations of delay types and reasons) that were built into the electronic health record. Operating room delay themes emerged notwithstanding the significant complexity of the electronic health record build; however, improved accuracy could improve meaningful data collection and a more accurate root cause analysis of operating room delays. Accurate and meaningful use of data affords a more reliable approach in quality, safety, and cost-effective initiatives.

  14. A comparison between the cost curves in the RAINS-model and the Swedish environmental quality objectives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sternhufvud, C.; Grennfelt, P.

    2001-06-01

    The Swedish Parliament has adopted fifteen environmental quality objectives. To be able to attain these goals in a cost-efficient way, cost curves have been created for sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and volatile organic compounds (VOC). These pollutants are also restricted in international protocols under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). Most of the analyses underlying the protocols have been performed by the Regional Acidification Information and Simulation model (RAINS) developed at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. This study compare the cost-effectiveness principles used in the RAINS model with the principles used in the proposal to meet the Swedish environmental quality objectives. The two approaches use different methodologies to solve the problem with air pollution and do therefore receive different results. The advantages and disadvantages are discussed in this report

  15. Green open location-routing problem considering economic and environmental costs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eliana M. Toro

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces a new bi-objective vehicle routing problem that integrates the Open Location Routing Problem (OLRP, recently presented in the literature, coupled with the growing need for fuel consumption minimization, named Green OLRP (G-OLRP. Open routing problems (ORP are known to be NP-hard problems, in which vehicles start from the set of existing depots and are not required to return to the starting depot after completing their service. The OLRP is a strategic-level problem involving the selection of one or many depots from a set of candidate locations and the planning of delivery radial routes from the selected depots to a set of customers. The concept of radial paths allows us to use a set of constraints focused on maintaining the radiality condition of the paths, which significantly simplifies the set of constraints associated with the connectivity and capacity requirements and provides a suitable alternative when compared with the elimination problem of sub-tours traditionally addressed in the literature. The emphasis in the paper will be placed on modeling rather than solution methods. The model proposed is formulated as a bi-objective problem, considering the minimization of operational costs and the minimization of environmental effects, and it is solved by using the epsilon constraint technique. The results illustrate that the proposed model is able to generate a set of trade-off solutions leading to interesting conclusions about the relationship between operational costs and environmental impact.

  16. A Framework for Building Efficient Environmental Permitting Processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicola Ulibarri

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite its importance as a tool for protecting air and water quality, and for mitigating impacts to protected species and ecosystems, the environmental permitting process is widely recognized to be inefficient and marked by delays. This article draws on a literature review and interviews with permitting practitioners to identify factors that contribute to delayed permit decisions. The sociopolitical context, projects that are complex or use novel technology, a fragmented and bureaucratic regulatory regime, serial permit applications and reviews, and applicant and permitting agency knowledge and resources each contribute to permitting inefficiency when they foster uncertainty, increase transaction costs, and allow divergent interests to multiply, yet remain unresolved. We then use the interviews to consider the potential of a collaborative dialogue between permitting agencies and applicants to mitigate these challenges, and argue that collaboration is well positioned to lessen permitting inefficiency.

  17. A total cost perspective on use of polymeric materials in solar collectors – Importance of environmental performance on suitability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlsson, Bo; Persson, Helena; Meir, Michaela; Rekstad, John

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • A polymeric solar collector system was compared with two traditional ones. • It was found the best in terms of climatic performance per solar heat collected. • The differences in climatic cost between the systems compared however are small. • The low climatic cost makes solar heating better compared to natural gas heating. • Use of Ecoindicator 99 for environmental cost makes solar heating even better. - Abstract: To assess the suitability of solar collector systems in which polymeric materials are used versus those in which more traditional materials are used, a case study was undertaken. In this case study a solar heating system with polymeric solar collectors was compared with two equivalent but more traditional solar heating systems: one with flat plate solar collectors and one with evacuated tube solar collectors. To make the comparison, a total cost accounting approach was adopted. The life cycle assessment (LCA) results clearly indicated that the polymeric solar collector system is the best as regards climatic and environmental performance when they are expressed in terms of the IPPC 100 a indicator and the Ecoindicator 99, H/A indicator, respectively. In terms of climatic and environmental costs per amount of solar heat collected, the differences between the three kinds of collector systems were small when compared with existing energy prices. With the present tax rates, it seems unlikely that the differences in environmental and climatic costs will have any significant influence on which system is the most favoured, from a total cost point of view. In the choice between a renewable heat source and a heat source based on the use of a fossil fuel, the conclusion was that for climatic performance to be an important economic factor, the tax or trade rate of carbon dioxide emissions must be increased significantly, given the initial EU carbon dioxide emission trade rate. The rate would need to be at least of the same order of magnitude

  18. 10 CFR 436.17 - Establishing energy or water cost data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... with § 436.14(c). (b) When energy costs begin to accrue in the base year, the present value of energy... present value of energy costs over the delay, calculated using the adjusted, modified uniform present worth factor for the period of delay, from the present value of energy costs over the study period or...

  19. Quadratic theory and feedback controllers for linear time delay systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, E.B.

    1976-01-01

    Recent research on the design of controllers for systems having time delays is discussed. Results for the ''open loop'' and ''closed loop'' designs will be presented. In both cases results for minimizing a quadratic cost functional are given. The usefulness of these results is not known, but similar results for the non-delay case are being routinely applied. (author)

  20. Learning monopolies with delayed feedback on price expectations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsumoto, Akio; Szidarovszky, Ferenc

    2015-11-01

    We call the intercept of the price function with the vertical axis the maximum price and the slope of the price function the marginal price. In this paper it is assumed that a monopolistic firm has full information about the marginal price and its own cost function but is uncertain on the maximum price. However, by repeated interaction with the market, the obtained price observations give a basis for an adaptive learning process of the maximum price. It is also assumed that the price observations have fixed delays, so the learning process can be described by a delayed differential equation. In the cases of one or two delays, the asymptotic behavior of the resulting dynamic process is examined, stability conditions are derived. Three main results are demonstrated in the two delay learning processes. First, it is possible to stabilize the equilibrium which is unstable in the one delay model. Second, complex dynamics involving chaos, which is impossible in the one delay model, can emerge. Third, alternations of stability and instability (i.e., stability switches) occur repeatedly.

  1. An Information Framework for Facilitating Cost Saving of Environmental Impacts in the Coal Mining Industry in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mashudu D. Mbedzi

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Coal-mining contributes much to the economic welfare of a country. Yet it brings along a number of challenges, notably environmental impacts which include water pollution in a water scarce country such as South Africa. This research is conducted in two phases. The first phase intends to establish environmental and other challenges brought about by the coal-mining industry through a comprehensive analysis of available literature. Combatting these challenges is costly; consequently, our work investigates how established management accounting tools and techniques such as Environmental Management Accounting (EMA, Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA and Life Cycle Costing (LCC may facilitate cost savings for the companies involved. These techniques promote increased transparency of material usage by tracing and quantifying the flows and inventories of materials within the coal-mining industry in physical and monetary terms, hence hidden costs are elicited. The researchers postulate that an Information Framework integrating these aspects may be the way forward. To this end existing frameworks in the literature are identified. A number of research questions embodying the above aspects are defined and the objective is to define a conceptual framework to facilitate cost savings for coal-mining companies. The main contribution of this work is an information framework presented towards the end of this article. The second phase of the research will involve fieldwork in the form of a survey among stakeholders in industry to validate the conceptual framework.

  2. Control of delay dominant systems with costs related to switching

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Deng, Honglian; Larsen, Lars Finn Sloth; Stoustrup, Jakob

    2010-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to extend a novel low complexity method for optimizing switch control developed by the authors earlier to work with delay dominant systems and demonstrate that the method works in practice with a refrigeration test system. The extended method solves switching problems...... controller with fixed bounds shows that the optimizing switch control outperforms the baseline....

  3. The Effect of Social perception of environmental problems and goods on the practice of cost-benefit analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bunuel, M.; Delgado, M. L.

    2002-07-01

    When revealed, willingness to pay (WTP) is considerably lesser than willingness to accept (WTA), as economists explain. Sociological studies in Spain reveal that citizens assign a high value to the environment (high WTA), but are not ready to pay to preserve it (low WTP)because they think that it is industrial sector and the government's responsibility. This is a new factor, not studied before, that may result in underestimating environmental goods when WTP is used. The gap between WTP and WTA makes cost-benefits analysis difficult, creating the risk of environmental political judgments being replaced by pseudo scientific noise instead of by objective economic analysis.hence, it is sometimes convenient to use alternative methods to cost-benefit analysis: cost-effectiveness analysis trade-off analysis, economic-impact valuation, and risk-benefit analysis. (Author)

  4. Environmental Cost Analysis System (ECAS) Status and Compliance Requirements for EM Consolidated Business Center Contracts - 13204

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanford, P.C.; Moe, M.A.; Hombach, W.G.; Urdangaray, R.

    2013-01-01

    The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) has developed a web-accessible database to collect actual cost data from completed EM projects to support cost estimating and analysis. This Environmental Cost Analysis System (ECAS) database was initially deployed in early 2009 containing the cost and parametric data from 77 decommissioning, restoration, and waste management projects completed under the Rocky Flats Closure Project. In subsequent years we have added many more projects to ECAS and now have a total of 280 projects from 8 major DOE sites. This data is now accessible to DOE users through a web-based reporting tool that allows users to tailor report outputs to meet their specific needs. We are using it as a principal resource supporting the EM Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) and the EM Applied Cost Engineering (ACE) team cost estimating and analysis efforts across the country. The database has received Government Accountability Office review as supporting its recommended improvements in DOE's cost estimating process, as well as review from the DOE Office of Acquisition and Project Management (APM). Moving forward, the EMCBC has developed a Special Contract Requirement clause or 'H-Clause' to be included in all current and future EMCBC procurements identifying the process that contractors will follow to provide DOE their historical project data in a format compatible with ECAS. Changes to DOE O 413.3B implementation are also in progress to capture historical costs as part of the Critical Decision project closeout process. (authors)

  5. Environmental Cost Analysis System (ECAS) Status and Compliance Requirements for EM Consolidated Business Center Contracts - 13204

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanford, P.C. [Consultant, 11221 E. Cimmarron Dr., Englewood, CO 80111 (United States); Moe, M.A. [EMCBC Office of Cost Estimating and Analysis, United States Department of Energy, 250 E. 5th Street, Suite 500, Cincinnati, OH 45202 (United States); Hombach, W.G. [Team Analysis, Inc., 2 Cardinal Park Drive, Suite 105A, Leesburg, VA 20175 (United States); Urdangaray, R. [Project Performance Corporation, 1760 Old Meadow Road, McLean, VA 22102 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) has developed a web-accessible database to collect actual cost data from completed EM projects to support cost estimating and analysis. This Environmental Cost Analysis System (ECAS) database was initially deployed in early 2009 containing the cost and parametric data from 77 decommissioning, restoration, and waste management projects completed under the Rocky Flats Closure Project. In subsequent years we have added many more projects to ECAS and now have a total of 280 projects from 8 major DOE sites. This data is now accessible to DOE users through a web-based reporting tool that allows users to tailor report outputs to meet their specific needs. We are using it as a principal resource supporting the EM Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) and the EM Applied Cost Engineering (ACE) team cost estimating and analysis efforts across the country. The database has received Government Accountability Office review as supporting its recommended improvements in DOE's cost estimating process, as well as review from the DOE Office of Acquisition and Project Management (APM). Moving forward, the EMCBC has developed a Special Contract Requirement clause or 'H-Clause' to be included in all current and future EMCBC procurements identifying the process that contractors will follow to provide DOE their historical project data in a format compatible with ECAS. Changes to DOE O 413.3B implementation are also in progress to capture historical costs as part of the Critical Decision project closeout process. (authors)

  6. 26 CFR 1.179B-1T - Deduction for capital costs incurred in complying with Environmental Protection Agency sulfur...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Deduction for capital costs incurred in... capital costs incurred in complying with Environmental Protection Agency sulfur regulations (temporary... the deduction allowable under section 179B(a) for qualified capital costs paid or incurred by a small...

  7. The Consequences of Delaying Entrance into University

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foley, Kelly; Groes, Fane

    Because the returns to education depend on the nite horizon of individuals' working lives, human capital models predict that if an individual is going to attend university, she should do so as soon as possible. Delaying university can also mean individuals have fewer years in which to accumulate...... post-schooling experience. In this paper, we use Danish administrative data to estimate the wage losses experienced by individuals who accumulate less post-schooling experience because they postponed entry into university following high school. All else equal, experience-related costs of delaying...

  8. Between two beds: inappropriately delayed discharges from hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmås, Tor Helge; Islam, Mohammad Kamrul; Kjerstad, Egil

    2013-12-01

    Acknowledging the necessity of a division of labour between hospitals and social care services regarding treatment and care of patients with chronic and complex conditions, is to acknowledge the potential conflict of interests between health care providers. A potentially important conflict is that hospitals prefer comparatively short length of stay (LOS) at hospital, while social care services prefer longer LOS all else equal. Furthermore, inappropriately delayed discharges from hospital, i.e. bed blocking, is costly for society. Our aim is to discuss which factors that may influence bed blocking and to quantify bed blocking costs using individual Norwegian patient data, merged with social care and hospital data. The data allow us to divide hospital LOS into length of appropriate stay (LAS) and length of delay (LOD), the bed blocking period. We find that additional resources allocated to social care services contribute to shorten LOD indicating that social care services may exploit hospital resources as a buffer for insufficient capacity. LAS increases as medical complexity increases indicating hospitals incentives to reduce LOS are softened by considerations related to patients’ medical needs. Bed blocking costs constitute a relatively large share of the total costs of inpatient care.

  9. UK's climate change levy: cost effectiveness, competitiveness and environmental impacts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varma, Adarsh

    2003-01-01

    This paper intends to examine the cost effectiveness of UK's climate change levy (CCL), its implications on competitiveness of firms and the environmental impact. The paper briefly describes the levy and analyses it under the cannons of a good taxation policy. The economic implications of the levy are discussed with theoretical and empirical perspectives. Change in net exports, investment patterns and productivity and inclusion of compliance cost forms the basis for analysing the effect on competitiveness. It discusses the options available to firms to safeguard their competitiveness if it is adversely affected by the CCL. A description of the current scenario of the levy since its inception is also presented. The paper argues the need for a comprehensive policy involving the use of standards, emission trading as well as energy taxes to achieve emission and energy-use reductions. A focal point of this paper is to elucidate the pros and cons of the CCL (energy tax) with respect to an emission trading scheme

  10. The Contribution of Environmental Siting and Permitting Requirements to the Cost of Energy for Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Devices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Copping, Andrea E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Geerlofs, Simon H. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hanna, Luke A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2013-09-01

    Responsible deployment of marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) devices in estuaries, coastal areas, and major rivers requires that biological resources and ecosystems be protected through siting and permitting (consenting) processes. Scoping appropriate deployment locations, collecting pre-installation (baseline) and post-installation data all add to the cost of developing MHK projects, and hence to the cost of energy. Under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists have developed logic models that describe studies and processes for environmental siting and permitting. Each study and environmental permitting process has been assigned a cost derived from existing and proposed tidal, wave, and riverine MHK projects, as well as expert opinion of marine environmental research professionals. Cost estimates have been developed at the pilot and commercial scale. The reference model described in this document is an oscillating water column device deployed in Northern California at approximately 50 meters water depth.

  11. The environmental cost in the mining projects; El costo ambiental en los proyectos mineros

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Antonio, Gaviria Rivera

    1992-07-01

    To evaluate and calculate the mining project, Environmental costs, besides the proper variables concerning the project. It is necessary to incorporate the distinct interrelations among the mining operation with the local and regional biophysics and. socio-economic environments existing in the project's area of influence.

  12. Radiology imaging delays as independent predictors of length of hospital stay for emergency medical admissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cournane, S.; Conway, R.; Creagh, D.; Byrne, D.G.; Sheehy, N.; Silke, B.

    2016-01-01

    Aim: To investigate the extent to which the time to completion for computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound could be shown to influence the length of stay and costs incurred while in hospital, while accounting for patient acuity. Materials and methods: All emergency admissions, totalling 25,326 imaging investigations between 2010–2014 were evaluated. The 50"t"h, 75"t"h, and 90"t"h centiles of completion times for each imaging type was entered into a multivariable truncated Poisson regression model predicting the length of hospital stay. Estimates of risk (odds or incidence rate ratios [IRRs]) of the regressors were adjusted for acute illness severity, Charlson comorbidity index, chronic disabling disease score, and sepsis status. Quantile regression analysis was used to examine the impact of imaging on total hospital costs. Results: For all imaging examinations, longer hospital lengths of stay were shown to be related to delays in imaging time. Increased delays in CT and MRI were shown to be associated with increased hospital episode costs, while ultrasound did not independently predict increased hospital costs. The magnitude of the effect of imaging delays on episode costs were equivalent to some measures of illness severity. Conclusion: CT, MRI, and ultrasound are undertaken in patients with differing clinical complexity; however, even with adjustment for complexity, the time delay in a more expeditious radiological service could potentially shorten the hospital episode and reduce costs. - Highlights: • There are differing clinical complexities for patients depending on the modality. • A predictive risk model, incorporating advanced imaging, was devised. • Inpatients delays in radiology imaging associated with longer LOS. • Inpatients who underwent radiology imaging associated with increased hospital costs.

  13. Report to Congress on the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Management Science Program. Research funded and its linkages to environmental cleanup problems. High out-year cost environmental management project descriptions. Volume 3 of 3 - Appendix C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-04-01

    The Department of Energy's Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) serves as a catalyst for the application of scientific discoveries to the development and deployment of technologies that will lead to reduction of the costs and risks associated with cleaning up the nation's nuclear complex. Appendix C provides details about each of the Department's 82 high cost projects and lists the EMSP research awards with potential to impact each of these projects. The high cost projects listed are those having costs greater than $50 million in constant 1998 dollars from the year 2007 and beyond, based on the March 1998 Accelerating Cleanup: Paths to Closure Draft data, and having costs of quantities of material associated with an environmental management problem area. The high cost project information is grouped by operations office and organized by site and project code. Each operations office section begins with a list of research needs associated with that operations office. Potentially related research awards are listed by problem area in the Index of Research Awards by Environmental Management Problem Area, which can be found at the end of appendices B and C. For projects that address high risks to the public, workers, or the environment, refer also the Health/Ecology/Risk problem area awards. Research needs are programmatic or technical challenges that may benefit from knowledge gained through basic research

  14. A possibilistic model to determine the cost of environmental quality in mid/short term planning of an electricity distribution system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schweickardt, Gustavo Alejandro; Gimenez Alvarez, Juan Manuel

    2012-01-01

    This work presents a Possibilistic Optimization Model to determine the Dynamic Environmental Quality Cost, applied on an Electricity Distribution System and measured as Network System Visual Impact. The Mid/Short Term Planning is the Regulatory Control Period. A multicriteria optimization approach is proposed, and for each criterion, non-stochastic uncertainties are recognized and represented by mean the introduction of Fuzzy Sets. In this way, a possibility in the occurrence of criteria variables values is established. In addition, as consequence of uncertainties of criteria preference ranking, a Model to obtain criteria Priority Vector is introduced. The Environmental Quality Cost determination is based in the relationship between the Investment Cost and an Impact Index of Network System Environmental Quality, proposed in this work. Finally, a simulation on a real system and the most important conclusions are presented.

  15. TTSA: An Effective Scheduling Approach for Delay Bounded Tasks in Hybrid Clouds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Haitao; Bi, Jing; Tan, Wei; Zhou, MengChu; Li, Bo Hu; Li, Jianqiang

    2017-11-01

    The economy of scale provided by cloud attracts a growing number of organizations and industrial companies to deploy their applications in cloud data centers (CDCs) and to provide services to users around the world. The uncertainty of arriving tasks makes it a big challenge for private CDC to cost-effectively schedule delay bounded tasks without exceeding their delay bounds. Unlike previous studies, this paper takes into account the cost minimization problem for private CDC in hybrid clouds, where the energy price of private CDC and execution price of public clouds both show the temporal diversity. Then, this paper proposes a temporal task scheduling algorithm (TTSA) to effectively dispatch all arriving tasks to private CDC and public clouds. In each iteration of TTSA, the cost minimization problem is modeled as a mixed integer linear program and solved by a hybrid simulated-annealing particle-swarm-optimization. The experimental results demonstrate that compared with the existing methods, the optimal or suboptimal scheduling strategy produced by TTSA can efficiently increase the throughput and reduce the cost of private CDC while meeting the delay bounds of all the tasks.

  16. Methodology of social and environmental external costs estimation in the Ukraine’s energy sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karaieva Nataliia Veniaminivna

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Paper objective is analysis of the external costs assessment model for the eco-social damage, and/or human capital losses caused by environmental pollution from the energy enterprises in Ukraine. Using the given method, necessary initial socio-economic parameters were defined and used for calculating the social costs of capital health losses in Ukraine due to deterioration of the environment, and due to the negative impact of energy sector on the air quality for the period 2002-2013. On the proposed technique determines the range value of social losses due to the negative impact of energy on air quality in Ukraine excluding future external costs for years 2002 – 2013 ranges from 1.6 – 4.5% of GDP, and the range of values of taking into account future costs is 2.0 – 6.2% of GDP.

  17. Energy tax harmonization in the European Union: a proposal based on the internalization of environmental external costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorigoni, S.; Gulli, F.

    2002-01-01

    Energy tax harmonization is a crucial step towards the creation of a single market. In this article the possibility of achieving such an objective is discussed. The paper consists of two sections. In the first the European taxation on energy products is analysed. This analysis is useful in showing the differences that exist between the European countries that account for the difficulties met so far in the process of harmonization. In this respect we comment on the recent proposal of the Directive of the European Union, which lays down the obligation of minimum levels of taxation in all European member states. In the second section, after simulating the effects related to the adoption of a common environmental taxation (a first best solution based on the internalization of environmental external costs), we propose, as a second best solution, an excise tax harmonization model taking into consideration the specificity of each country and being, as far as possible, coherent with the environmental objective. This model proposes: the introduction of a minimum level of taxation on all products equal to the external cost due to the greenhouse effect (a common carbon tax); the possibility, given to the member states, of deviating from such minimum levels, in accordance with their specific requirements, internalizing in the price of the different products, by means of taxes additional to that CO 2 minimum, the external costs associated with other pollutant agents (the same in all countries); the opportunity, in case it should be necessary to exceed the entire external cost, for the member states to apply increases that are in accordance with the environmental objective. (author)

  18. Estimating the Economic Value of Environmental Amenities of Isfahan Sofeh Highland Park (The Individual Revealed and Expressed Travel Cost Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Amirnejad

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Natural resources and the environment, such as mountains are considered public goods. The main features of these public goods are lack of market and price for exchange. This issue leads to a worthless impression about these goods, lack of effort for their conservation and preventing resource degradation. One of the major benefits of environmental resources, such as mountains, is their function as environmental amenities (for leisure and recreation. The estimation of their recreational worth is important as a part of the total value of such resources. In this context, the aim of this study is to estimate the economic value of environmental amenities of Sofeh Highland Park in Isfahan by individual travel cost method. Materials and Methods: Travel cost method is used for the evaluation of public goods or environmental non-market commodities. It is applied to a wide range of areas, including tourism values of lakes and wetlands, coral reefs, biodiversity and national parks, recreational fishing and mountaineering. The travel cost approach does not ask willingness to pay directly, but imputes it from the observed behavior of other visitors through an estimated demand function, which relates the number of observed trips to the incurred travel cost. Underpinning the travel cost method is for the estimation of the recreational demand function, from which consumer surplus estimates can be derived. Consumer surplus -the measure of non-market benefits to the visitors- is the difference between what the visitor would be (theoretically willing to pay to go the intended recreational location, and what they are actually required to pay. In this research, the individual travel cost method was used. For this purpose, a 290 item questionnaire with simple random sampling was filled by travelers in the area in 2013. Then the demand function of environmental amenities (tourism demand was estimated in two scenarios by using negative binomial regression

  19. Server farms with setup costs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gandhi, A.; Harchol-Balter, M.; Adan, I.J.B.F.

    2010-01-01

    In this paper we consider server farms with a setup cost. This model is common in manufacturing systems and data centers, where there is a cost to turn servers on. Setup costs always take the form of a time delay, and sometimes there is additionally a power penalty, as in the case of data centers.

  20. Too Late to Vaccinate? The Incremental Benefits and Cost-effectiveness of a Delayed Catch-up Program Using the 4-Valent Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in Norway

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burger, Emily A.; Sy, Stephen; Nygård, Mari; Kristiansen, Ivar S.; Kim, Jane J.

    2015-01-01

    Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are ideally administered before HPV exposure; therefore, catch-up programs for girls past adolescence have not been readily funded. We evaluated the benefits and cost-effectiveness of a delayed, 1-year female catch-up vaccination program in Norway. Methods We calibrated a dynamic HPV transmission model to Norwegian data and projected the costs and benefits associated with 8 HPV-related conditions while varying the upper vaccination age limit to 20, 22, 24, or 26 years. We explored the impact of vaccine protection in women with prior vaccine-targeted HPV infections, vaccine cost, coverage, and natural- and vaccine-induced immunity. Results The incremental benefits and cost-effectiveness decreased as the upper age limit for catch-up increased. Assuming a vaccine cost of $150/dose, vaccination up to age 20 years remained below Norway's willingness-to-pay threshold (approximately $83 000/quality-adjusted life year gained); extension to age 22 years was cost-effective at a lower cost per dose ($50–$75). At high levels of vaccine protection in women with prior HPV exposure, vaccinating up to age 26 years was cost-effective. Results were stable with lower coverage. Conclusions HPV vaccination catch-up programs, 5 years after routine implementation, may be warranted; however, even at low vaccine cost per dose, the cost-effectiveness of vaccinating beyond age 22 years remains uncertain. PMID:25057044

  1. Environmental impact and cost analysis of coal versus nuclear power: The U.S. case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vujić, Jasmina; Antić, Dragoljub P.; Vukmirović, Zorka

    2012-01-01

    With all energy production systems there are environmental issues to be considered, risks to be assessed, and challenges to be addressed. It must be emphasized that an ideal energy source that is at the same time efficient, cost-effective, environment-friendly, and risk-free does not exist. There are always some necessary trade-offs to be made, in order to ensure optimal use of energy resources, while limiting environmental and health impacts. Nuclear energy is currently the only technology with a secure base-load electricity supply and no greenhouse gas emissions that has the potential to expand at a large scale. However, the spent fuel and safety issues must be addressed. Another base-load electricity source – the fossil-burning power plants – although affordable, emits various air pollutants (chemical and radioactive effluents, dust, ash, etc.), which are dispersed from a power source and transported through various pathways that could lead to the general population exposure. This paper summarizes current status and future trends in base-load electricity sources in the U.S., including environmental footprints, new regulatory requirements, and cost issues. It also presents an analysis of challenges that need to be overcome and opportunities that could us lead us closer to a sustainable energy future.

  2. Technical assessment of environmental and cost implications of superconducting super collider decommissioning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, S.Y.; Opelka, J.H.; Chambers, W.C.; Stavrou, J.

    1988-07-01

    Potential environmental and cost implications of decommissioning the proposed Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) are examined. One decommissioning alternative is selected for general assessment. That alternative includes removal of the major sources of radioactivity induced during operation and temporary entombment of remaining underground facilities. On the suface, the campus complex would be left in place for future use, but most other aboveground features would be dismantled and removed. Because of the low level of radioactivity that would be induced in SSC components during system operation, potential radiological impacts to the environment from decommissioning would be benign, and the estimated total occupational radiation dose to workers would be less that 5 person-rem. Potential nonradiological impacts of decommissioning are not evaluated because of the lack of site-specific data. The total estimated cost of decommissioning operations is $38 million. Although few current regulations are explicitly applicable, the SSC decommissioning operation should not encounter any difficulty in complying with potentially applicable regulatory constraints. Upon completion of decommissioning, the SSC site surface could be returned to unrestricted use, but it is recommended that a degree of institutional control and environmental monitoring be carried out for a short period following decommissioning. 11 refs., 8 figs., 6 tabs

  3. A simple model of carcinogenic mutations with time delay and diffusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piotrowska, Monika Joanna; Foryś, Urszula; Bodnar, Marek; Poleszczuk, Jan

    2013-06-01

    In the paper we consider a system of delay differential equations (DDEs) of Lotka-Volterra type with diffusion reflecting mutations from normal to malignant cells. The model essentially follows the idea of Ahangar and Lin (2003) where mutations in three different environmental conditions, namely favorable, competitive and unfavorable, were considered. We focus on the unfavorable conditions that can result from a given treatment, e.g. chemotherapy. Included delay stands for the interactions between benign and other cells. We compare the dynamics of ODEs system, the system with delay and the system with delay and diffusion. We mainly focus on the dynamics when a positive steady state exists. The system which is globally stable in the case without the delay and diffusion is destabilized by increasing delay, and therefore the underlying kinetic dynamics becomes oscillatory due to a Hopf bifurcation for appropriate values of the delay. This suggests the occurrence of spatially non-homogeneous periodic solutions for the system with the delay and diffusion.

  4. Radiology imaging delays as independent predictors of length of hospital stay for emergency medical admissions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cournane, S; Conway, R; Creagh, D; Byrne, D G; Sheehy, N; Silke, B

    2016-09-01

    To investigate the extent to which the time to completion for computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound could be shown to influence the length of stay and costs incurred while in hospital, while accounting for patient acuity. All emergency admissions, totalling 25,326 imaging investigations between 2010-2014 were evaluated. The 50(th), 75(th), and 90(th) centiles of completion times for each imaging type was entered into a multivariable truncated Poisson regression model predicting the length of hospital stay. Estimates of risk (odds or incidence rate ratios [IRRs]) of the regressors were adjusted for acute illness severity, Charlson comorbidity index, chronic disabling disease score, and sepsis status. Quantile regression analysis was used to examine the impact of imaging on total hospital costs. For all imaging examinations, longer hospital lengths of stay were shown to be related to delays in imaging time. Increased delays in CT and MRI were shown to be associated with increased hospital episode costs, while ultrasound did not independently predict increased hospital costs. The magnitude of the effect of imaging delays on episode costs were equivalent to some measures of illness severity. CT, MRI, and ultrasound are undertaken in patients with differing clinical complexity; however, even with adjustment for complexity, the time delay in a more expeditious radiological service could potentially shorten the hospital episode and reduce costs. Copyright © 2016 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. The Cost-Effectiveness and Return-On-Investment of a Combined Social and Physical Environmental Intervention in Office Employees

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Dongen, J. M.; Coffeng, J. K.; van Wier, M. F.; Boot, C. R. L.; Hendriksen, I. J. M.; van Mechelen, W.; Bongers, P. M.; van der Beek, A. J.; Bosmans, J. E.; van Tulder, M. W.

    2017-01-01

    This study explored the cost-effectiveness and return-on-investment of a combined social and physical environmental worksite health promotion program compared with usual practice, and of both intervention conditions separately. Participants were randomized to the combined intervention (n = 92), social environmental intervention (n = 118), physical…

  6. Modeling a farm population to estimate on-farm compliance costs and environmental effects of a grassland extensification scheme at the regional scale

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Uthes, Sandra; Sattler, Claudia; Piorr, Annette

    2010-01-01

    We used a farm-level modeling approach to estimate on-farm compliance costs and environmental effects of a grassland extensification scheme in the district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin, Germany. The behavior of the regional farm population (n = 585) consisting of different farm types with different...... and environmental effects were heterogeneous in space and farm types as a result of different agricultural production and site characteristics. On-farm costs ranged from zero up to almost 1500 Euro/ha. Such high costs occurred only in a very small part of the regional area, whereas the majority of the grassland had...... low on-farm costs below 50 Euro/ha. Environmental effects were moderate and greater on high-yield than on low-yield grassland. The low effectiveness combined with low on-farm costs in large parts of the region indicates that the scheme is not well targeted. The soft scheme design results from...

  7. Asymptotic Behaviour and Extinction of Delay Lotka-Volterra Model with Jump-Diffusion

    OpenAIRE

    Dan Li; Jing’an Cui; Guohua Song

    2014-01-01

    This paper studies the effect of jump-diffusion random environmental perturbations on the asymptotic behaviour and extinction of Lotka-Volterra population dynamics with delays. The contributions of this paper lie in the following: (a) to consider delay stochastic differential equation with jumps, we introduce a proper initial data space, in which the initial data may be discontinuous function with downward jumps; (b) we show that the delay stochastic differential equation with jumps associate...

  8. On-site vs off-site management of environmental restoration waste: A cost effectiveness analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morse, M.A.; Aamodt, P.L.; Cox, W.B.

    1996-01-01

    The Sandia National Laboratories Environmental Restoration Project is expected to generate relatively large volumes of hazardous waste as a result of cleanup operations. These volumes will exceed the Laboratories existing waste management capacity. This paper presents four options for managing remediation wastes, including three alternatives for on-site waste management utilizing a corrective action management unit (CAMU). Costs are estimated for each of the four options based on current volumetric estimates of hazardous waste. Cost equations are derived for each of the options with the variables being waste volumes, the major unknowns in the analysis. These equations provide a means to update cost estimates as volume estimates change. This approach may be helpful to others facing similar waste management decisions

  9. Impact of cost escalation on nuclear plant financing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sherman, R.J.

    1979-01-01

    The extreme degree of plant cost increases in the recent years results from a combination of ten years of inflation in the overall economy, the adoption of more stringent statutory and regulatory requirements, and delays resulting from both regulation and intervention. Since different energy forms are competitive, cost and cost changes associated with any form have to be evaluated as - ''compared to what.'' Costs and changes in costs of nuclear and coal fired generation in the United States are reviewed. Reference to specific cost estimates of nuclear and coal plants of equivalent capacity enables separation of the cost effects of the three factors inflation, regulation and delay. In this analysis per kilowatt costs of two 1200 MW nuclear units are compared to those of three 800 MW bituminous coal units. At last various methods to finance new facilities are discussed. (author)

  10. Sexual harassment induces a temporary fitness cost but does not constrain the acquisition of environmental information in fruit flies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teseo, Serafino; Veerus, Liisa; Moreno, Céline; Mery, Frédéric

    2016-01-01

    Across animals, sexual harassment induces fitness costs for females and males. However, little is known about the cognitive costs involved, i.e. whether it constrains learning processes, which could ultimately affect an individual's fitness. Here we evaluate the acquisition of environmental information in groups of fruit flies challenged with various levels of male sexual harassment. We show that, although high sexual harassment induces a temporary fitness cost for females, all fly groups of both sexes exhibit similar levels of learning. This suggests that, in fruit flies, the fitness benefits of acquiring environmental information are not affected by the fitness costs of sexual harassment, and that selection may favour cognition even in unfavourable social contexts. Our study provides novel insights into the relationship between sexual conflicts and cognition and the evolution of female counterstrategies against male sexual harassment. © 2016 The Author(s).

  11. On the Delay-Energy Tradeoff in Multiuser Fading Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ralf R. Müller

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider the delay-energy tradeoff on a fading channel with multiuser diversity. For fixed arbitrary rates of the users, the total transmitted energy is minimized subject to a delay constraint. To achieve this goal we propose a scheme which schedules a subset of all users simultaneously. The scheduled users are allocated power to guarantee successful separation at the detector by successive decoding. In this way, we can benefit from both multiuser diversity and the near-far situation via scheduling and simultaneous transmission, respectively. We analytically show that when the number of users goes to infinity the energy required to guarantee the required user rates can be made as small as required at the cost of a higher delaydelay-energy tradeoff”. We explicitly compute the delay under the proposed scheduling policy and discuss how delay differentiation can be achieved. We extend the results to multiband multiaccess channel. Finally, all the results can be generalized in a straightforward fashion to broadcast channel due to the Gaussian multiaccess-broadcast channel duality.

  12. Corticosterone mediated costs of reproduction link current to future breeding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crossin, Glenn T; Phillips, Richard A; Lattin, Christine R; Romero, L Michael; Williams, Tony D

    2013-11-01

    Life-history theory predicts that costs are associated with reproduction. One possible mediator of costs involves the secretion of glucocorticoid hormones, which in birds can be measured in feathers grown during the breeding period. Glucocorticoids mediate physiological responses to unpredictable environmental or other stressors, but they can also function as metabolic regulators during more predictable events such as reproduction. Here we show that corticosterone ("Cort") in feathers grown during the breeding season reflects reproductive effort in two Antarctic seabird species (giant petrels, Macronectes spp.). In females of both species, but not males, feather Cort ("fCort") was nearly 1.5-fold higher in successful than failed breeders (those that lost their eggs/chicks), suggesting a cost of successful reproduction, i.e., high fCort levels in females reflect the elevated plasma Cort levels required to support high metabolic demands of chick-rearing. Successful breeding also led to delayed moult prior to winter migration. The fCort levels and pre-migration moult score that we measured at the end of current breeding were predictive of subsequent reproductive effort in the following year. Birds with high fCort and a delayed initiation of moult were much more likely to defer breeding in the following year. Cort levels and the timing of moult thus provide a potential mechanism for the tradeoff between current and future reproduction. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Impact of a University-Based Outpatient Telemedicine Program on Time Savings, Travel Costs, and Environmental Pollutants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dullet, Navjit W; Geraghty, Estella M; Kaufman, Taylor; Kissee, Jamie L; King, Jesse; Dharmar, Madan; Smith, Anthony C; Marcin, James P

    2017-04-01

    The objective of this study was to estimate travel-related and environmental savings resulting from the use of telemedicine for outpatient specialty consultations with a university telemedicine program. The study was designed to retrospectively analyze the telemedicine consultation database at the University of California Davis Health System (UCDHS) between July 1996 and December 2013. Travel distances and travel times were calculated between the patient home, the telemedicine clinic, and the UCDHS in-person clinic. Travel cost savings and environmental impact were calculated by determining differences in mileage reimbursement rate and emissions between those incurred in attending telemedicine appointments and those that would have been incurred if a visit to the hub site had been necessary. There were 19,246 consultations identified among 11,281 unique patients. Telemedicine visits resulted in a total travel distance savings of 5,345,602 miles, a total travel time savings of 4,708,891 minutes or 8.96 years, and a total direct travel cost savings of $2,882,056. The mean per-consultation round-trip distance savings were 278 miles, average travel time savings were 245 minutes, and average cost savings were $156. Telemedicine consultations resulted in a total emissions savings of 1969 metric tons of CO 2 , 50 metric tons of CO, 3.7 metric tons of NO x , and 5.5 metric tons of volatile organic compounds. This study demonstrates the positive impact of a health system's outpatient telemedicine program on patient travel time, patient travel costs, and environmental pollutants. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Industry-Cost-Curve Approach for Modeling the Environmental Impact of Introducing New Technologies in Life Cycle Assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kätelhön, Arne; von der Assen, Niklas; Suh, Sangwon; Jung, Johannes; Bardow, André

    2015-07-07

    The environmental costs and benefits of introducing a new technology depend not only on the technology itself, but also on the responses of the market where substitution or displacement of competing technologies may occur. An internationally accepted method taking both technological and market-mediated effects into account, however, is still lacking in life cycle assessment (LCA). For the introduction of a new technology, we here present a new approach for modeling the environmental impacts within the framework of LCA. Our approach is motivated by consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) and aims to contribute to the discussion on how to operationalize consequential thinking in LCA practice. In our approach, we focus on new technologies producing homogeneous products such as chemicals or raw materials. We employ the industry cost-curve (ICC) for modeling market-mediated effects. Thereby, we can determine substitution effects at a level of granularity sufficient to distinguish between competing technologies. In our approach, a new technology alters the ICC potentially replacing the highest-cost producer(s). The technologies that remain competitive after the new technology's introduction determine the new environmental impact profile of the product. We apply our approach in a case study on a new technology for chlor-alkali electrolysis to be introduced in Germany.

  15. Report to Congress on the U.S. Department of Energy`s Environmental Management Science Program: Research funded and its linkages to environmental cleanup problems, and high out-year cost environmental management project descriptions. Volume 3 of 3 -- Appendix C

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-04-01

    The Department of Energy`s Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) serves as a catalyst for the application of scientific discoveries to the development and deployment of technologies that will lead to reduction of the costs and risks associated with cleaning up the nation`s nuclear complex. Appendix C provides details about each of the Department`s 82 high cost projects and lists the EMSP research awards with potential to impact each of these projects. The high cost projects listed are those having costs greater than $50 million in constant 1998 dollars from the year 2007 and beyond, based on the March 1998 Accelerating Cleanup: Paths to Closure Draft data, and having costs of quantities of material associated with an environmental management problem area. The high cost project information is grouped by operations office and organized by site and project code. Each operations office section begins with a list of research needs associated with that operations office. Potentially related research awards are listed by problem area in the Index of Research Awards by Environmental Management Problem Area, which can be found at the end of appendices B and C. For projects that address high risks to the public, workers, or the environment, refer also the Health/Ecology/Risk problem area awards. Research needs are programmatic or technical challenges that may benefit from knowledge gained through basic research.

  16. Life cycle cost estimation and environmental valuation of coal mine tailings management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joni Safaat Adiansyah

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable mining management is increasingly seen as an important issue in achieving a social license to operate for mining companies. This study describes the life cycle cost (LCC analysis and environmental valuation for several coal mine tailings management scenarios. The economic feasibility of six different options was assessed using the Net Present Value (NPV and Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA methods. These options were belt press (OPT 1, tailings paste (OPT 2, thickened tailings (OPT 3, and OPT 1 with technology improvement and renewable energy sources (OPT 1A-C. The results revealed that OPT 1A (belt press technology with stack cell flotation was the first preference in terms of LCC while OPT 1C (belt press technology with stack cell flotation and 10% wind energy generated the highest benefits value (BCA compared to the other options. The LCC and BCA components and the volume of GHG emissions were used to determine the best option. Normalization of these three elements resulted in the selection of Option 1C as being the most cost-effective option.

  17. A cost effective method for the determination of 210Po and 210Pb in environmental materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clayton, R.F.; Bradley, E.J.

    1995-01-01

    The majority of the methods for the determination of 210 Pb and 210 Po in environmental materials were developed in the 1960s. However, with the advances in technology since that time, particularly in the areas of ion-exchange chromatography and instrumentation, new methods may be more appropriate to measure these radionuclides in environmental media such as foodstuffs. A review was conducted of potentially suitable methods. Four methods were selected for detailed evaluation on the basis of cost and sensitivity. A cheap, sensitive and simple method is recommended for the analysis of 210 Pb and 210 Po in environmental materials

  18. Stochastic Dynamics of a Time-Delayed Ecosystem Driven by Poisson White Noise Excitation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wantao Jia

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the stochastic dynamics of a prey-predator type ecosystem with time delay and the discrete random environmental fluctuations. In this model, the delay effect is represented by a time delay parameter and the effect of the environmental randomness is modeled as Poisson white noise. The stochastic averaging method and the perturbation method are applied to calculate the approximate stationary probability density functions for both predator and prey populations. The influences of system parameters and the Poisson white noises are investigated in detail based on the approximate stationary probability density functions. It is found that, increasing time delay parameter as well as the mean arrival rate and the variance of the amplitude of the Poisson white noise will enhance the fluctuations of the prey and predator population. While the larger value of self-competition parameter will reduce the fluctuation of the system. Furthermore, the results from Monte Carlo simulation are also obtained to show the effectiveness of the results from averaging method.

  19. Designing Interventions that Last: A Classification of Environmental Behaviors in Relation to the Activities, Costs, and Effort Involved for Adoption and Maintenance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Harriet E.; Boldero, Jennifer

    2017-01-01

    Policy makers draw on behavioral research to design interventions that promote the voluntary adoption of environmental behavior in societies. Many environmental behaviors will only be effective if they are maintained over the long-term. In the context of climate change and concerns about future water security, behaviors that involve reducing energy consumption and improving water quality must be continued indefinitely to mitigate global warming and preserve scarce resources. Previous reviews of environmental behavior have focused exclusively on factors related to adoption. This review investigates the factors that influence both adoption and maintenance, and presents a classification of environmental behaviors in terms of the activities, costs, and effort required for both adoption and maintenance. Three categories of behavior are suggested. One-off behaviors involve performing an activity once, such as purchasing an energy efficient washing machine, or signing a petition. Continuous behaviors involve the performance of the same set of behaviors for adoption and for maintenance, such as curbside recycling. Dynamic behaviors involve the performance of different behaviors for adoption and maintenance, such as revegetation. Behaviors can also be classified into four categories related to cost and effort: those that involve little cost and effort for adoption and maintenance, those that involve moderate cost and effort for adoption and maintenance, those that involve a high cost or effort for adoption and less for maintenance, and those that involve less cost or effort for adoption and a higher amount for maintenance. In order to design interventions that last, policy makers should consider the factors that influence the maintenance as well as the adoption of environmental behaviors. PMID:29163265

  20. The delayed neutron method of uranium analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wall, T.

    1989-01-01

    The technique of delayed neutron analysis (DNA) is discussed. The DNA rig installed on the MOATA reactor, the assay standards and the types of samples which have been assayed are described. Of the total sample throughput of about 55,000 units since the uranium analysis service began, some 78% has been concerned with analysis of uranium ore samples derived from mining and exploration. Delayed neutron analysis provides a high sensitivity, low cost uranium analysis method for both uranium exploration and other applications. It is particularly suitable for analysis of large batch samples and for non-destructive analysis over a wide range of matrices. 8 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs

  1. Delayed action does not always require the ventral stream: a study on a patient with visual form agnosia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hesse, Constanze; Schenk, Thomas

    2014-05-01

    It has been suggested that while movements directed at visible targets are processed within the dorsal stream, movements executed after delay rely on the visual representations of the ventral stream (Milner & Goodale, 2006). This interpretation is supported by the observation that a patient with ventral stream damage (D.F.) has trouble performing accurate movements after a delay, but performs normally when the target is visible during movement programming. We tested D.F.'s visuomotor performance in a letter-posting task whilst varying the amount of visual feedback available. Additionally, we also varied whether D.F. received tactile feedback at the end of each trial (posting through a letter box vs posting on a screen) and whether environmental cues were available during the delay period (removing the target only vs suppressing vision completely with shutter glasses). We found that in the absence of environmental cues patient D.F. was unaffected by the introduction of delay and performed as accurately as healthy controls. However, when environmental cues and vision of the moving hand were available during and after the delay period, D.F.'s visuomotor performance was impaired. Thus, while healthy controls benefit from the availability of environmental landmarks and/or visual feedback of the moving hand, such cues seem less beneficial to D.F. Taken together our findings suggest that ventral stream damage does not always impact the ability to make delayed movements but compromises the ability to use environmental landmarks and visual feedback efficiently. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. The Relation of Maternal Child-Rearing Attitudes to Delay of Gratification among Boys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reitman, David; Gross, Alan M.

    1997-01-01

    Examined whether ongoing sources of environmental influence such as parenting might be related to a preference for delayed reward. Found that mothers who rated themselves as more restrictive and nurturant (authoritative style) tended to have children who delayed longer than others who characterized themselves as similarly restrictive but…

  3. Low Emissions and Delay Optimization for an Isolated Signalized Intersection Based on Vehicular Trajectories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Ciyun; Gong, Bowen; Qu, Xin

    2015-01-01

    A traditional traffic signal control system is established based on vehicular delay, queue length, saturation and other indicators. However, due to the increasing severity of urban environmental pollution issues and the development of a resource-saving and environmentally friendly social philosophy, the development of low-carbon and energy-efficient urban transport is required. This paper first defines vehicular trajectories and the calculation of vehicular emissions based on VSP. Next, a regression analysis method is used to quantify the relationship between vehicular emissions and delay, and a traffic signal control model is established to reduce emissions and delay using the enumeration method combined with saturation constraints. Finally, one typical intersection of Changchun is selected to verify the model proposed in this paper; its performance efficiency is also compared using simulations in VISSIM. The results of this study show that the proposed model can significantly reduce vehicle delay and traffic emissions simultaneously.

  4. Oscillation and stability of delay models in biology

    CERN Document Server

    Agarwal, Ravi P; Saker, Samir H

    2014-01-01

    Environmental variation plays an important role in many biological and ecological dynamical systems. This monograph focuses on the study of oscillation and the stability of delay models occurring in biology. The book presents recent research results on the qualitative behavior of mathematical models under different physical and environmental conditions, covering dynamics including the distribution and consumption of food. Researchers in the fields of mathematical modeling, mathematical biology, and population dynamics will be particularly interested in this material.

  5. Economic evaluation of technical, environmental and institutional barriers on biomass residue collection cost in California

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sethi, P.; Tiangco, V.; Dee, V.; Simons, G.; Lee, Y.; Yomogida, D.

    1999-01-01

    This paper deals with the economic impacts of the technical, environmental, and institutional barriers in the production, harvesting, and processing of various biomass fuels in California. For each biomass fuel, a base case scenario was developed to characterize the procedures of harvesting, processing and transporting. An economic model was utilized to project the biomass production costs supplied to direct-combustion power plants for each technical, environmental, and institutional barrier. These results will enable the California Energy Commission to identify the most significant barriers to economical biomass energy production (production, harvesting, and processing). (author)

  6. INDICATOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL SECTORS UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pruethsan Sutthichaimethee

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this research is to propose an indicator to deal with environmental problems for agricultural sectors caused by goods and services production. The aspects to calculate the real benefit of agricultural sectors and environmental cost for analyzing are natural resources materials, energy and transportation, fertilizer and pesticides, and sanitary and similar service. From the research it was found that the highest environmental cost of natural resources materials was 026: charcoal and fire-wood, while the lowest was 010 coconut. The highest environmental cost for energy and transportation was 024: agricultural services, while the highest environmental cost for fertilizer and pesticides was 011: palm oil. lastly, 017: other agricultural products was found as the highest environmental cost for sanitary and similar service. As a result, 010: coconut gained the highest real benefit, while 024: agricultural services presented as the lowest read benefit for the company. If Thailand using environmental problem indicator, especially with the agricultural sector, it can help to formulate efficient policies and strategies for the country in 3 development areas, which are social, economic, and environmental development.

  7. Investment Timing When External Financing Is Costly

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hirth, Stefan; Uhrig-Homburg, Marliese

    2010-01-01

    This paper analyzes the investment timing of firms facing two dimensions of financing constraints: Liquidity constraints and capital market frictions inducing financing costs. We show that liquidity constraints are not sufficient to explain voluntary investment delay. However, when additionally...... considering financing costs, we can explain both voluntary delay and acceleration of investment. More precisely, we find that investment thresholds are U-shaped in liquid funds. For high-liquidity firms, investment thresholds are decreasing (i.e. accelerated investment takes place) in either dimension...... of financing constraint. In contrast, investment thresholds are increasing (i.e. investment is further delayed) in either form of financing constraint for low-liquidity firms. For intermediate levels of liquidity, investment thresholds are U-shaped in market frictions....

  8. Assessing public benefits and costs of freight transportation projects : measuring shippers' value of delay on the freight system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-01

    Freight delay is detrimental to the national economy. In an effort to gauge the economic impact of freight delay due : to highway congestion, this project focuses on estimating shippers value of delay (VOD). We have accomplished : this through thr...

  9. Low-cost Tools for Aerial Video Geolocation and Air Traffic Analysis for Delay Reduction Using Google Earth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zetterlind, V.; Pledgie, S.

    2009-12-01

    Low-cost, low-latency, robust geolocation and display of aerial video is a common need for a wide range of earth observing as well as emergency response and security applications. While hardware costs for aerial video collection systems, GPS, and inertial sensors have been decreasing, software costs for geolocation algorithms and reference imagery/DTED remain expensive and highly proprietary. As part of a Federal Small Business Innovative Research project, MosaicATM and EarthNC, Inc have developed a simple geolocation system based on the Google Earth API and Google's 'built-in' DTED and reference imagery libraries. This system geolocates aerial video based on platform and camera position, attitude, and field-of-view metadata using geometric photogrammetric principles of ray-intersection with DTED. Geolocated video can be directly rectified and viewed in the Google Earth API during processing. Work is underway to extend our geolocation code to NASA World Wind for additional flexibility and a fully open-source platform. In addition to our airborne remote sensing work, MosaicATM has developed the Surface Operations Data Analysis and Adaptation (SODAA) tool, funded by NASA Ames, which supports analysis of airport surface operations to optimize aircraft movements and reduce fuel burn and delays. As part of SODAA, MosaicATM and EarthNC, Inc have developed powerful tools to display national airspace data and time-animated 3D flight tracks in Google Earth for 4D analysis. The SODAA tool can convert raw format flight track data, FAA National Flight Data (NFD), and FAA 'Adaptation' airport surface data to a spatial database representation and then to Google Earth KML. The SODAA client provides users with a simple graphical interface through which to generate queries with a wide range of predefined and custom filters, plot results, and export for playback in Google Earth in conjunction with NFD and Adaptation overlays.

  10. Micro-evolutionary responses and adaptive costs of Caenorhabditis elegans populations exposed to environmental stress

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dutilleul, M.

    2013-01-01

    The contemporary evolution of organisms is largely dependent on anthropogenic disturbances. In particular, pollution amplifies the intensity or the quantity of selection pressures on populations. However, these changes may have negative effects on the life, growth and reproduction of individuals, the demographics of the population, and its phenotypic and genetic characteristics over generations. Thus, micro-evolutionary changes are likely to occur in response to selection pressures. These phenomenon lead to collateral damages: adaptive costs. For example, a reduction of genetic diversity in a population entails a decrease in its potential to adapt to other stressors. Populations can be more susceptible to many environmental changes, especially with the increase of human activities. Hence in an ecological risk assessment, studying the mechanisms of action and immediate adverse effects of pollutants on organisms is no longer sufficient. It is also necessary to expand our knowledge on the evolution of populations in polluted environment. In this context, our study aims to determine the micro-evolutionary response of Caenorhabditis elegans populations exposed to environmental stressors, and to measure their costs of adaptation. Populations were experimentally exposed for 22 generations to a high concentration of uranium, sodium chloride or an alternation of both these pollutants. The analysis of phenotypic and genetic changes, observed through measures of life history traits, was accomplished using several quantitative genetics techniques. In particular, we confirmed the genetic differentiation between populations with an increase of resistance in populations exposed to different pollutions. The speed of evolutionary responses depended on the conditions of exposure and their effects on the expression of the genetic structure of traits (e.g. G matrix). Micro-evolutionary changes were linked to costs of adaptation, such as reduced fertility in stressful novel

  11. Cascading Delay Risk of Airline Workforce Deployments with Crew Pairing and Schedule Optimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Sai Ho; Ma, Hoi Lam; Chan, Hing Kai

    2017-08-01

    This article concerns the assignment of buffer time between two connected flights and the number of reserve crews in crew pairing to mitigate flight disruption due to flight arrival delay. Insufficient crew members for a flight will lead to flight disruptions such as delays or cancellations. In reality, most of these disruption cases are due to arrival delays of the previous flights. To tackle this problem, many research studies have examined the assignment method based on the historical flight arrival delay data of the concerned flights. However, flight arrival delays can be triggered by numerous factors. Accordingly, this article proposes a new forecasting approach using a cascade neural network, which considers a massive amount of historical flight arrival and departure data. The approach also incorporates learning ability so that unknown relationships behind the data can be revealed. Based on the expected flight arrival delay, the buffer time can be determined and a new dynamic reserve crew strategy can then be used to determine the required number of reserve crews. Numerical experiments are carried out based on one year of flight data obtained from 112 airports around the world. The results demonstrate that by predicting the flight departure delay as the input for the prediction of the flight arrival delay, the prediction accuracy can be increased. Moreover, by using the new dynamic reserve crew strategy, the total crew cost can be reduced. This significantly benefits airlines in flight schedule stability and cost saving in the current big data era. © 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.

  12. Effects of incorporating environmental cost and risk aversion on economic values of pig breeding goal traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, B M; de Mey, Y; Bastiaansen, J W M; Oude Lansink, A G J M

    2018-06-01

    Economic values (EVs) of traits, accounting for environmental impacts and risk preferences of farmers, are required to design breeding goals that contribute to both economic and environmental sustainability. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of incorporating environmental costs and the risk preferences of farmers on the EVs of pig breeding goal traits. A breeding goal consisting of both sow efficiency and production traits was defined for a typical Brazilian farrow-to-finish pig farm with 1,500 productive sows. A mean-variance utility function was employed for deriving the EVs at finishing pig level assuming fixed slaughter weight. The inclusion of risk and risk aversion reduces the economic weights of sow efficiency traits (17%) while increasing the importance of production traits (7%). For a risk-neutral producer, inclusion of environmental cost reduces the economic importance of sow efficiency traits (3%) while increasing the importance of production traits (1%). Genetic changes of breeding goal traits by their genetic standard deviations reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and excretions of nitrogen and phosphorus per finished pig by up to 6% while increasing farm profit. The estimated EVs could be used to improve selection criteria and thereby contribute to the sustainability of pig production systems. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  13. Effectiveness of a low-cost virtual reality system for children with developmental delay: a preliminary randomised single-blind controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salem, Yasser; Gropack, Stacy Jaffee; Coffin, Dale; Godwin, Ellen M

    2012-09-01

    Physical and occupational therapists have started to use the Nintendo Wii™ gaming system with adults and children as part of their regular treatment. Despite the growing use of the Wii and trend towards evidence-based practice, limited evidence is available on the effectiveness of virtual reality using the Wii for children with developmental delay. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a low-cost gaming system for young children with developmental delay. Single-blind, randomised controlled trial. Forty children with developmental delay (age 39 to 58 months) who attended a segregated or integrated preschool participated in this study. All children's parents read and signed an informed consent form approved by the institutional review board. Children were assigned at random to an experimental (Wii) group (n=20) or a control group (n=20). Two weekly sessions for 10 weeks using Nintendo Wii Sports™ and Nintendo Wii Fit™, including balance, strength training and aerobics games. Participants were evaluated 1 week before and 1 week after the programme by a blinded investigator. Primary outcomes were gait speed, timed up and go test, single leg stance test, five-times-sit-to-stand test, timed up and down stairs test, 2-minute walk test and grip strength. The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) was used to assess gross motor skills. The two groups were homogenous regarding all parameters at baseline. The Wii training was feasible and enjoyable for those in the experimental group. There were no adverse effects or injuries reported over 267 training sessions. Comparison of groups following the intervention indicated that the experimental group showed significant improvements compared with the control group in single leg stance test {mean difference 1.03 [standard deviation (SD) 1.7], 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.2 to 1.9; P=0.017}, right grip strength [mean difference 1.11 (SD 1.84), 95% CI 0.15 to 2.06; P=0

  14. The Environmental Impact and Cost Analysis of Concrete Mixing Blast Furnace Slag Containing Titanium Gypsum and Sludge in South Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tae Hyoung Kim

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This study assessed the environmental effects and cost of the Industrial Waste addictive Blast Furnace Slag (W-BFS using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA and compared it to general BFS. The environmental impacts of W-BFS were as follows: 1.12 × 10−1 kg-CO2 eq/kg, 3.18 × 10−5 kg-Ethylene eq/kg, 4.79 × 10−4 kg-SO2 eq/kg, 7.15 × 10−4 kg-PO43− eq/kg, 7.15 × 10−4 kg-CFC11 eq/kg and 3.94 × 10−3 kg-Antimony eq/kg. Among the environmental impact category, GWP and AP were 9.28 × 10−2 kg-CO2 eq/kg and 3.33 × 10−4 kg-SO2 eq/kg at a raw material stage, accounting for 80% and 70% of total environmental impact respectively. In EP, POCP and ADP, in addition, raw material stage accounted for a great portion in total environmental impact because of “W” among input materials. In ODP, however, compared to the environmental impact of raw materials, oil, which was used in transporting BFS to the W-BFS manufacturing factory, was more influential. In terms of GWP, POCP and ODP, W-BFS was higher than general BFS. In terms of AP, EP and ADP, in contrast, the former was lower than the latter. In terms of cost, W-BFS (41.7 US$/ton was lower than general BFS by about 17% because of the use of waste additives comprised of industrial wastes instead of natural gypsum ,which has been commonly used in general BFS. In terms of GWP and POCP, the W-BFS mixed (30% concrete was lower than plain concrete by 25%. In terms of AP and EP, the former was lower than the latter by 30%. In terms of ADP, furthermore, W-BFS mixed (30% concrete was lower than plain concrete by 11%. In aggregate-related ODP, however, almost no change was found. In terms of cost, when W-BFS was added by 10% and 30%, it was able to reduce cost by 3% and 7% respectively, compared to plain concrete. Compared to BFS-mixed concrete as well, cost could be saved by 1% additionally because W-BFS (US$41.7/ton is lower than common cement (US$100.3/ton by about 60% in terms of production costs.

  15. Low cost design of microprocessor EDAC circuit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hao Li; Yu Lixin; Peng Heping; Zhuang Wei

    2015-01-01

    An optimization method of error detection and correction (EDAC) circuit design is proposed. The method involves selecting or constructing EDAC codes of low cost hardware, associated with operation scheduling implementation based on 2-input XOR gates structure, and two actions for reducing hardware cells, which can reduce the delay penalties and area costs of the EDAC circuit effectively. The 32-bit EDAC circuit hardware implementation is selected to make a prototype, based on the 180 nm process. The delay penalties and area costs of the EDAC circuit are evaluated. Results show that the time penalty and area cost of the EDAC circuitries are affected with different parity-check matrices and different hardware implementation for the EDAC codes with the same capability of correction and detection code. This method can be used as a guide for low-cost radiation-hardened microprocessor EDAC circuit design and for more advanced technologies. (paper)

  16. MeshTree: A Delay optimised Overlay Multicast Tree Building Protocol

    OpenAIRE

    Tan, Su-Wei; Waters, A. Gill; Crawford, John

    2005-01-01

    We study decentralised low delay degree-constrained overlay multicast tree construction for single source real-time applications. This optimisation problem is NP-hard even if computed centrally. We identify two problems in traditional distributed solutions, namely the greedy problem and delay-cost trade-off. By offering solutions to these problems, we propose a new self-organising distributed tree building protocol called MeshTree. The main idea is to embed the delivery tree in a degree-bound...

  17. Too late to vaccinate? The incremental benefits and cost-effectiveness of a delayed catch-up program using the 4-valent human papillomavirus vaccine in Norway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burger, Emily A; Sy, Stephen; Nygård, Mari; Kristiansen, Ivar S; Kim, Jane J

    2015-01-15

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are ideally administered before HPV exposure; therefore, catch-up programs for girls past adolescence have not been readily funded. We evaluated the benefits and cost-effectiveness of a delayed, 1-year female catch-up vaccination program in Norway. We calibrated a dynamic HPV transmission model to Norwegian data and projected the costs and benefits associated with 8 HPV-related conditions while varying the upper vaccination age limit to 20, 22, 24, or 26 years. We explored the impact of vaccine protection in women with prior vaccine-targeted HPV infections, vaccine cost, coverage, and natural- and vaccine-induced immunity. The incremental benefits and cost-effectiveness decreased as the upper age limit for catch-up increased. Assuming a vaccine cost of $150/dose, vaccination up to age 20 years remained below Norway's willingness-to-pay threshold (approximately $83 000/quality-adjusted life year gained); extension to age 22 years was cost-effective at a lower cost per dose ($50-$75). At high levels of vaccine protection in women with prior HPV exposure, vaccinating up to age 26 years was cost-effective. Results were stable with lower coverage. HPV vaccination catch-up programs, 5 years after routine implementation, may be warranted; however, even at low vaccine cost per dose, the cost-effectiveness of vaccinating beyond age 22 years remains uncertain. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  18. Inventory Model with Partial Backordering When Backordered Customers Delay Purchase after Stockout-Restoration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ren-Qian Zhang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Many inventory models with partial backordering assume that the backordered demand must be filled instantly after stockout restoration. In practice, however, the backordered customers may successively revisit the store because of the purchase delay behavior, producing a limited backorder demand rate and resulting in an extra inventory holding cost. Hence, in this paper we formulate the inventory model with partial backordering considering the purchase delay of the backordered customers and assuming that the backorder demand rate is proportional to the remaining backordered demand. Particularly, we model the problem by introducing a new inventory cost component of holding the backordered items, which has not been considered in the existing models. We propose an algorithm with a two-layer structure based on Lipschitz Optimization (LO to minimize the total inventory cost. Numerical experiments show that the proposed algorithm outperforms two benchmarks in both optimality and efficiency. We also observe that the earlier the backordered customer revisits the store, the smaller the inventory cost and the fill rate are, but the longer the order cycle is. In addition, if the backordered customers revisit the store without too much delay, the basic EOQ with partial backordering approximates our model very well.

  19. Modeling delay in genetic networks: from delay birth-death processes to delay stochastic differential equations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Chinmaya; López, José Manuel; Azencott, Robert; Bennett, Matthew R; Josić, Krešimir; Ott, William

    2014-05-28

    Delay is an important and ubiquitous aspect of many biochemical processes. For example, delay plays a central role in the dynamics of genetic regulatory networks as it stems from the sequential assembly of first mRNA and then protein. Genetic regulatory networks are therefore frequently modeled as stochastic birth-death processes with delay. Here, we examine the relationship between delay birth-death processes and their appropriate approximating delay chemical Langevin equations. We prove a quantitative bound on the error between the pathwise realizations of these two processes. Our results hold for both fixed delay and distributed delay. Simulations demonstrate that the delay chemical Langevin approximation is accurate even at moderate system sizes. It captures dynamical features such as the oscillatory behavior in negative feedback circuits, cross-correlations between nodes in a network, and spatial and temporal information in two commonly studied motifs of metastability in biochemical systems. Overall, these results provide a foundation for using delay stochastic differential equations to approximate the dynamics of birth-death processes with delay.

  20. Modeling delay in genetic networks: From delay birth-death processes to delay stochastic differential equations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gupta, Chinmaya; López, José Manuel; Azencott, Robert; Ott, William [Department of Mathematics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77004 (United States); Bennett, Matthew R. [Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77204, USA and Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005 (United States); Josić, Krešimir [Department of Mathematics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77004 (United States); Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204 (United States)

    2014-05-28

    Delay is an important and ubiquitous aspect of many biochemical processes. For example, delay plays a central role in the dynamics of genetic regulatory networks as it stems from the sequential assembly of first mRNA and then protein. Genetic regulatory networks are therefore frequently modeled as stochastic birth-death processes with delay. Here, we examine the relationship between delay birth-death processes and their appropriate approximating delay chemical Langevin equations. We prove a quantitative bound on the error between the pathwise realizations of these two processes. Our results hold for both fixed delay and distributed delay. Simulations demonstrate that the delay chemical Langevin approximation is accurate even at moderate system sizes. It captures dynamical features such as the oscillatory behavior in negative feedback circuits, cross-correlations between nodes in a network, and spatial and temporal information in two commonly studied motifs of metastability in biochemical systems. Overall, these results provide a foundation for using delay stochastic differential equations to approximate the dynamics of birth-death processes with delay.

  1. Modeling delay in genetic networks: From delay birth-death processes to delay stochastic differential equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gupta, Chinmaya; López, José Manuel; Azencott, Robert; Ott, William; Bennett, Matthew R.; Josić, Krešimir

    2014-01-01

    Delay is an important and ubiquitous aspect of many biochemical processes. For example, delay plays a central role in the dynamics of genetic regulatory networks as it stems from the sequential assembly of first mRNA and then protein. Genetic regulatory networks are therefore frequently modeled as stochastic birth-death processes with delay. Here, we examine the relationship between delay birth-death processes and their appropriate approximating delay chemical Langevin equations. We prove a quantitative bound on the error between the pathwise realizations of these two processes. Our results hold for both fixed delay and distributed delay. Simulations demonstrate that the delay chemical Langevin approximation is accurate even at moderate system sizes. It captures dynamical features such as the oscillatory behavior in negative feedback circuits, cross-correlations between nodes in a network, and spatial and temporal information in two commonly studied motifs of metastability in biochemical systems. Overall, these results provide a foundation for using delay stochastic differential equations to approximate the dynamics of birth-death processes with delay

  2. Cost, Energy, and Environmental Impact of Automated Electric Taxi Fleets in Manhattan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, Gordon S; Greenblatt, Jeffery B; Gerke, Brian F

    2018-04-17

    Shared automated electric vehicles (SAEVs) hold great promise for improving transportation access in urban centers while drastically reducing transportation-related energy consumption and air pollution. Using taxi-trip data from New York City, we develop an agent-based model to predict the battery range and charging infrastructure requirements of a fleet of SAEVs operating on Manhattan Island. We also develop a model to estimate the cost and environmental impact of providing service and perform extensive sensitivity analysis to test the robustness of our predictions. We estimate that costs will be lowest with a battery range of 50-90 mi, with either 66 chargers per square mile, rated at 11 kW or 44 chargers per square mile, rated at 22 kW. We estimate that the cost of service provided by such an SAEV fleet will be $0.29-$0.61 per revenue mile, an order of magnitude lower than the cost of service of present-day Manhattan taxis and $0.05-$0.08/mi lower than that of an automated fleet composed of any currently available hybrid or internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV). We estimate that such an SAEV fleet drawing power from the current NYC power grid would reduce GHG emissions by 73% and energy consumption by 58% compared to an automated fleet of ICEVs.

  3. Calculation and analysis of environmental costs of the atmospheric pollution from brazilian oil refinery; Calculo e analise dos custos ambientais da poluicao atmosferica emitida por uma refinaria de petroleo brasileira

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mariano, Jacqueline [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia (COPPE). Programa de Planejamento Energetico

    2004-07-01

    The present study presents a calculation of the environmental costs associated with the atmospheric pollution from a brazilian oil refinery and its analysis (the name of this oil refinery is confidential, for this reason it will not be mentioned). The calculation of the costs was based on a study of north-american researchers, about the environmental costs of five main atmospheric pollutants: particulate matter, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOC's) and carbon monoxide. The original American study offers an statistical analysis of several other American studies about environmental costs of atmospheric pollution, that present maximum, medium and minimum costs. Based on these values, the total environmental costs of the atmospheric pollution from the brazilian oil refinery were calculated, considering a fifty year operational time for the facility. The internalization of the atmospheric pollution environmental costs by the refiners is aligned with the world tendency of enforcement of the environmental limitations faced by the oil refining sector, and therefore, the adoption of a pro-active attitude is recommended by the present study. (author)

  4. Quantifying the social costs of nuclear energy: Perceived risk of accident at nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huhtala, Anni; Remes, Piia

    2017-01-01

    The preferences expressed in voting on nuclear reactor licenses and the risk perceptions of citizens provide insights into social costs of nuclear power and decision making in energy policy. We show analytically that these costs consist of disutility caused by unnecessary anxiety - due to misperceived risks relating to existing reactors - and where licenses for new nuclear reactors are not granted, delayed or totally lost energy production. Empirical evidence is derived from Finnish surveys eliciting explicitly the importance of risk perceptions on preferences regarding nuclear power and its environmental and economic impacts. We show that the estimated marginal impact of a high perceived risk of nuclear accident is statistically significant and that such a perception considerably decreases the probability of a person supporting nuclear power. This result holds across a number of robustness checks including an instrumental variable estimation and a model validation by observed voting behavior of the members of Parliament. The public's risk perceptions translate into a significant social cost, and are likely to affect the revenues, costs and financing conditions in the nuclear power sector in the future. - Highlights: • Survey on preferences regarding nuclear power and its environmental and economic impacts utilized. • A high perceived risk of nuclear accident decreases support for nuclear power. • The public's risk perceptions translate into a significant social cost.

  5. Low Emissions and Delay Optimization for an Isolated Signalized Intersection Based on Vehicular Trajectories.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ciyun Lin

    Full Text Available A traditional traffic signal control system is established based on vehicular delay, queue length, saturation and other indicators. However, due to the increasing severity of urban environmental pollution issues and the development of a resource-saving and environmentally friendly social philosophy, the development of low-carbon and energy-efficient urban transport is required. This paper first defines vehicular trajectories and the calculation of vehicular emissions based on VSP. Next, a regression analysis method is used to quantify the relationship between vehicular emissions and delay, and a traffic signal control model is established to reduce emissions and delay using the enumeration method combined with saturation constraints. Finally, one typical intersection of Changchun is selected to verify the model proposed in this paper; its performance efficiency is also compared using simulations in VISSIM. The results of this study show that the proposed model can significantly reduce vehicle delay and traffic emissions simultaneously.

  6. Persistence and extinction for a stochastic logistic model with infinite delay

    OpenAIRE

    Chun Lu; Xiaohua Ding

    2013-01-01

    This article, studies a stochastic logistic model with infinite delay. Using a phase space, we establish sufficient conditions for the extinction, nonpersistence in the mean, weak persistence, and stochastic permanence. A threshold between weak persistence and extinction is obtained. Our results state that different types of environmental noises have different effects on the persistence and extinction, and that the delay has no impact on the persistence and ext...

  7. An integrated model of statistical process control and maintenance based on the delayed monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yin, Hui; Zhang, Guojun; Zhu, Haiping; Deng, Yuhao; He, Fei

    2015-01-01

    This paper develops an integrated model of statistical process control and maintenance decision. The proposal of delayed monitoring policy postpones the sampling process till a scheduled time and contributes to ten-scenarios of the production process, where equipment failure may occur besides quality shift. The equipment failure and the control chart alert trigger the corrective maintenance and the predictive maintenance, respectively. The occurrence probability, the cycle time and the cycle cost of each scenario are obtained by integral calculation; therefore, a mathematical model is established to minimize the expected cost by using the genetic algorithm. A Monte Carlo simulation experiment is conducted and compared with the integral calculation in order to ensure the analysis of the ten-scenario model. Another ordinary integrated model without delayed monitoring is also established as comparison. The results of a numerical example indicate satisfactory economic performance of the proposed model. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the effect of model parameters. - Highlights: • We develop an integrated model of statistical process control and maintenance. • We propose delayed monitoring policy and derive an economic model with 10 scenarios. • We consider two deterioration mechanisms, quality shift and equipment failure. • The delayed monitoring policy will help reduce the expected cost

  8. Environmental Public Health Tracking: a cost-effective system for characterizing the sources, distribution and public health impacts of environmental hazards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saunders, P J; Middleton, J D; Rudge, G

    2017-09-01

    The contemporary environment is a complex of interactions between physical, biological, socio-economic systems with major impacts on public health. However, gaps in our understanding of the causes, extent and distribution of these effects remain. The public health community in Sandwell West Midlands has collaborated to successfully develop, pilot and establish the first Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) programme in Europe to address this 'environmental health gap' through systematically linking data on environmental hazards, exposures and diseases. Existing networks of environmental, health and regulatory agencies developed a suite of innovative methods to routinely share, integrate and analyse data on hazards, exposures and health outcomes to inform interventions. Effective data sharing and horizon scanning systems have been established, novel statistical methods piloted, plausible associations framed and tested, and targeted interventions informed by local concerns applied. These have influenced changes in public health practice. EPHT is a powerful tool for identifying and addressing the key environmental public health impacts at a local level. Sandwell's experience demonstrates that it can be established and operated at virtually no cost. The transfer of National Health Service epidemiological skills to local authorities in 2013 provides an opportunity to expand the programme to fully exploit its potential. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  9. Scheduling Production Orders, Taking into Account Delays and Waste

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dylewski Robert

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The article addresses the problem of determining the sequence of entering orders for production in a flexible manufacturing system implementing technological operations of cutting sheet metal. Adopting a specific ranking of production orders gives rise to the vector of delays and waste in the form of incompletely used sheets. A new method was postulated for determining the optimal sequence of orders in terms of two criteria: the total cost of delays and the amount of production waste. The examples illustrate the advantages of the proposed method compared with the popular heuristic principles.

  10. The role of muscarinic cholinergic signaling in cost-benefit decision making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fobbs, Wambura

    Animals regularly face decisions that affect both their immediate success and long term survival. Such decisions typically involve some form of cost-benefit analysis and engage a number of high level cognitive processes, including learning, memory and motivational influences. While decision making has been a focus of study for over a century, it's only in the last 20 years that researchers have begun to identify functional neural circuits that subserve different forms of cost-benefit decision making. Even though the cholinergic system is both functionally and anatomically positioned to modulate cost-benefit decision circuits, the contribution of the cholinergic system to decision making has been little studied. In this thesis, I investigated the cognitive and neural contribution of muscarinic cholinergic signaling to cost-benefit decision making. I, first, re-examined the effects of systemic administration of 0.3 mg/kg atropine on delay and probability discounting tasks and found that blockade of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors by atropine induced suboptimal choices (impulsive and risky) in both tasks. Since the effect on delay discounting was restricted to the No Cue version of the delay discounting task, I concluded that muscarinic cholinergic signaling mediates both forms of cost-benefit decision making and is selectively engaged when decisions require valuation of reward options whose costs are not externally signified. Second, I assessed the impact of inactivating the nucleus basalis (NBM) on both forms decision making and the effect of injecting atropine locally into the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), basolateral amygdala (BLA), or nucleus accumbens (NAc) core during the No Cue version of the delay discounting task. I discovered that although NBM inactivation failed to affect delay discounting, it induced risk aversion in the probability discounting task; and blockade of intra- NAc core, but not intra-OFC or intra-BLA, muscarinic cholinergic signaling lead to

  11. Optimization of transport network in the Basin of Yangtze River with minimization of environmental emission and transport/investment costs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haiping Shi

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The capacity of the ship-lock at the Three Gorges Dam has become bottleneck of waterway transport and caused serious congestion. In this article, a continual network design model is established to solve the problem with minimizing the transport cost and environmental emission as well as infrastructure construction cost. In this bi-level model, the upper model gives the schemes of ship-lock expansion or construction of pass-dam highway. The lower model assigns the containers in the multi-mode network and calculates the transport cost, environmental emission, and construction investment. The solution algorithm to the model is proposed. In the numerical study, scenario analyses are done to evaluate the schemes and determine the optimal one in the context of different traffic demands. The result shows that expanding the ship-lock is better than constructing pass-dam highway.

  12. Environmental costs of photovoltaics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, R.; Baumann, A.E.

    1993-01-01

    Photovoltaic (PV) systems are almost entirely benign in operation, and potential environmental hazards occur at the production and disposal stages. There are well established methods of monitoring and controlling potential hazards caused by the semiconductor materials used in PV modules such as silicon, copper indium diselenide and cadmium telluride. The main environmental hazards of photovoltaics are connected to the production processes. These processes require an input of energy, and this energy is derived from the standard fuel mix of the nation in which production takes place. The production of PV systems therefore has associated with it, emissions of greenhouse and acidic gases. However, as the new thin film PV technologies come into production, and the scale of production increases, the energy input to PV systems will decrease considerably, with consequent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, to levels below that of other electricity generating technologies. (Author)

  13. Assessment of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Vine-Growing Combining Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and Multicriterial Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giacomo Falcone

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The wine sector is going through a significant evolution dealing with the challenges of competition issues in international markets and with necessary commitments to sustainability improvement. In the wine supply chain, the agricultural phase represents a potential source of pollution and costs. From the farmers’ point of view, these contexts require them to be more attentive and find a compromise among environmental benefits, economic benefits, and costs linked to farming practices. This paper aims to make a sustainability assessment of different wine-growing scenarios located in Calabria (Southern Italy that combines conflicting insights, i.e., environmental and economic ones, by applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA and Life Cycle Costing (LCC to identify the main hotspots and select the alternative scenarios closest to the ideal solution through the VIKOR multicriteria method. In particular, the latter allowed us to obtain synthetic indices for a two-dimensional sustainability assessment. Conventional practices associated to the espalier training system represent the best compromise from both environmental and economic points of view, due to the higher yield per hectare. The choices regarding Functional Unit (FU and indicators were shown to have a high influence on results.

  14. When good pigeons make bad decisions: Choice with probabilistic delays and outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pisklak, Jeffrey M; McDevitt, Margaret A; Dunn, Roger M; Spetch, Marcia L

    2015-11-01

    Pigeons chose between an (optimal) alternative that sometimes provided food after a 10-s delay and other times after a 40-s delay and another (suboptimal) alternative that sometimes provided food after 10 s but other times no food after 40 s. When outcomes were not signaled during the delays, pigeons strongly preferred the optimal alternative. When outcomes were signaled, choices of the suboptimal alternative increased and most pigeons preferred the alternative that provided no food after the long delay despite the cost in terms of obtained food. The pattern of results was similar whether the short delays occurred on 25% or 50% of the trials. Shortening the 40-s delay to food sharply reduced suboptimal choices, but shortening the delay to no food had little effect. The results suggest that a signaled delay to no food does not punish responding in probabilistic choice procedures. The findings are discussed in terms of conditioned reinforcement by signals for good news. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

  15. The effects of reinforcement and response-cost on a delayed response task in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a research note.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solanto, M V

    1990-07-01

    Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are more inattentive, active, and impulsive than normal children. Some researchers have postulated that these symptoms can all be explained as a result of reduced sensitivity to reinforcement. In order to evaluate this hypothesis, we tested 20 ADD-H children and 18 matched normal controls, 4 1/2-11 years of age, on a delayed response task, a measure of impulsiveness, under conditions of positive reinforcement, and punishment in the form of response-cost. The contingencies each improved performance compared to baseline but did not differ significantly from each other. Neither contingency affected the groups differentially, thus failing to provide support for the reinforcement hypothesis.

  16. Analysis of Environmental Costs of Mobility due to Urban Sprawl - A Modelling Study on Italian Cities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Travisi, Chiara M.; Camagni, Roberto; Nijkamp, Peter

    2006-01-01

    A sound empirical and quantitative analysis on the relationship between different patterns of urban expansion and the environmental or social costs of mobility is rare, and the few studies available provide at best a qualitative discussion of these issues. Some recent tentative studies on the

  17. District heating systems' control for cost effective and environmentally compatible operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balati, J.

    1999-01-01

    District heating systems are being developed in accordance with the growing of large European cities. These systems are formed by enlarging networks of heat distribution from heat sources to heat consumers and, simultaneously, by gradually connecting newly built heat sources. District heating control consists in optimum control of the output of heat sources and in control of heat distribution and consumption. The aim of the paper is to inform about the works in the field of creating a mathematical-physical model of extensive hot water and steam supply circle network and heat sources for the purpose of creating unconventional control algorithms for the complex control of the technological sequence ''heat production distribution- consumption''. For the optimum control algorithms the artificial intelligence methods are also utilised. The aim of the complex access to the solution of new control algorithms will be to decrease the cost of the consumed heat unit and increase environmental protection. The function of the Extensive Heating System District Heating System (DHS) is to ensure permanently the economically justified requirements of heat supply for all consumers with minimum cost per heat supply unit and with enhanced level of environmental protection. The requirements of heat consumers have to be in harmony with the requirements of the maximum possible economy of the whole DHS when adhering to the required qualitative parameters of supplied energy. Therefore, it offers the application of optimised control methods as artificial intelligence methods for the control of the operational circle of DHS heat networks. It is obvious that a higher level of DHS control is required from the technological, economic and ecological point of view. (author)

  18. Benefit/cost analysis of plutonium recycle options in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lowenberg, H.; Burnham, J.B.; Fisher, F.; Ray, W.H.

    1977-01-01

    Predictable effects of the recycle of plutonium and uranium recovered from spent LWR fuels were assessed in a final environmental statement (GESMO). Five alternative dispositions of LWR-produced plutonium ranging from prompt recycle of recovered plutonium and uranium to no recovery and no recycle are compared. The assessments consider cumulative effects for the period 1975 through 2000, and are centered on a conservative low growth rate resulting in about 500 LWR's in the U.S. in 2000. A more optimistic growth projection resulting in about 800 LWR's in 2000 is also analyzed in order to assess the effects of industry size upon the impacts. Demands for fuel cycle services were calculated with an ERDA program, NUFUEL, which was modified to include penalties for 236 U and 242 Pu. Unit cost data, including a simulation of market place reaction to supply-demand functions for uranium costs, were combined with the NUFUEL demand data in an economics code, NUCOST. Environmental impacts were also based upon NUFUEL demand data and were developed using a model plant industry concept. Using the most likely unit costs with a 10% discount rate, present worth incentives for prompt recycle over no recycle of $3.2 billion for the lower growth and about $6 billion for the higher growth were indicated. Present worth costs of delays in recycle of up to 5 years were less than $1 billion. Sensitivity of the economic assessments to unit cost variations and discount rates were also evaluated. Environmental impacts other than radiological were lowest for prompt Pu recycle and highest for no recycle. Radiological impacts for the total world wide total body exposure from U.S. industry for the 26 year period were estimated to be: - No recycle-8.2 million person-rem; U only recycle-9.5 million person-rem; Pu and U recycle-8.8 million person-rem. Comparison of the decreased radiological impact of the no recycle option with its increased costs relative to prompt plutonium recycle resulted in a

  19. Measuring the distribution of equity in terms of energy, environmental, and economic costs in the fuel cycles of alternative fuel vehicles with hydrogen pathway scenarios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Patrick E.

    Numerous analyses exist which examine the energy, environmental, and economic tradeoffs between conventional gasoline vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles powered by hydrogen produced from a variety of sources. These analyses are commonly referred to as "E3" analyses because of their inclusion of Energy, Environmental, and Economic indicators. Recent research as sought a means to incorporate social Equity into E3 analyses, thus producing an "E4" analysis. However, E4 analyses in the realm of energy policy are uncommon, and in the realm of alternative transportation fuels, E4 analyses are extremely rare. This dissertation discusses the creation of a novel E4 simulation tool usable to weigh energy, environmental, economic, and equity trade-offs between conventional gasoline vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles, with specific application to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The model, dubbed the F uel Life-cycle Analysis of Solar Hydrogen -- Energy, Environment, Economic & Equity model, or FLASH-E4, is a total fuel-cycle model that combines energy, environmental, and economic analysis methodologies with the addition of an equity analysis component. The model is capable of providing results regarding total fuel-cycle energy consumption, emissions production, energy and environmental cost, and level of social equity within a population in which low-income drivers use CGV technology and high-income drivers use a number of advanced hydrogen FCV technologies. Using theories of equity and social indicators conceptually embodied in the Lorenz Curve and Gini Index, the equity of the distribution of societal energy and environmental costs are measured for a population in which some drivers use CGVs and other drivers use FCVs. It is found, based on baseline input data representative of the United States (US), that the distribution of energy and environmental costs in a population in which some drivers use CGVs and other drivers use natural gas-based hydrogen FCVs can be

  20. Environmental cost-effectiveness analysis in intertemporal natural resource policy: evaluation of selective fishing gear.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kronbak, Lone Grønbæk; Vestergaard, Niels

    2013-12-15

    In most decision-making involving natural resources, the achievements of a given policy (e.g., improved ecosystem or biodiversity) are rather difficult to measure in monetary units. To address this problem, the current paper develops an environmental cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) to include intangible benefits in intertemporal natural resource problems. This approach can assist managers in prioritizing management actions as least cost solutions to achieve quantitative policy targets. The ECEA framework is applied to a selective gear policy case in Danish mixed trawl fisheries in Kattegat and Skagerrak. The empirical analysis demonstrates how a policy with large negative net benefits might be justified if the intangible benefits are included. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Microbiological Leaching; an Environmentally Friendly and Cost Effective Method for Extraction of Metals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ghobeiti-Hasab Mehdi

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Finding a cleaner, environmentally friendly and cost-effective way of metal and mineral extraction has a great importance in today’s world. Using microorganisms in bio-leaching and bio-oxidation process is of great value. From Archaea to bacteria and fungi, microorganisms can play an important role in extraction of metals from mine drainage and un-accessible sources, both in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Optimization of environmental factors such as the temperature, pH and substrate concentration is crucially important to access the optimum extraction of selected metals from an ore or mine drainage. The present paper will review the bio-leaching and bio-oxidation process of minerals with emphasis on the most well-known species of bacterial communities of such ability, through the literature.

  2. Claims Procedure for Plans Providing Disability Benefits; 90-Day Delay of Applicability Date. Final rule; delay of applicability

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-11-29

    This document delays for ninety (90) days--through April 1, 2018--the applicability of a final rule amending the claims procedure requirements applicable to ERISA-covered employee benefit plans that provide disability benefits (Final Rule). The Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on December 19, 2016, became effective on January 18, 2017, and was scheduled to become applicable on January 1, 2018. The delay announced in this document is necessary to enable the Department of Labor to carefully consider comments and data as part of its effort, pursuant to Executive Order 13777, to examine regulatory alternatives that meet its objectives of ensuring the full and fair review of disability benefit claims while not imposing unnecessary costs and adverse consequences.

  3. Environmental Impacts and Costs of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils, Transesterified Lipids and Woody BTL—A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Brekke

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This article reviews and compares assessments of three biodiesel fuels: (1 transesterified lipids, (2 hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO, and (3 woody biomass-to-liquid (BTL Fischer-Tropsch diesel and selected feedstock options. The article attempts to rank the environmental performance and costs of fuel and feedstock combinations. Due to inter-study differences in goal and study assumptions, the ranking was mostly qualitative and intra-study results are emphasized. Results indicate that HVO made from wastes or by-products such as tall oil, tallow or used cooking oil outperform transesterified lipids and BTL from woody material, both with respect to environmental life cycle impacts and costs. These feedstock options are, however, of limited availability, and to produce larger volumes of biofuels other raw materials must also be used. BTL from woody biomass seems promising with good environmental performance and the ability not to compete with food production. Production of biofuels from agricultural feedstock sources requires much energy and leads to considerable emissions due to agrochemical inputs. Thus, such biodiesel fuels are ranked lowest in this comparison. Production of feedstock is the most important life cycle stage. Avoiding detrimental land use changes and maintaining good agricultural or forestry management practices are the main challenges to ensure that biofuels can be a sustainable option for the future transport sector.

  4. The influence of procedure delay on resource use: a national study of patients with open tibial fracture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sears, Erika Davis; Burke, James F; Davis, Matthew M; Chung, Kevin C

    2013-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to (1) understand national variation in delay of emergency procedures in patients with open tibial fracture at the hospital level and (2) compare length of stay and cost in patients cared for at the best- and worst-performing hospitals for delay. The authors retrospectively analyzed the 2003 to 2009 Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Adult patients with open tibial fracture were included. Hospital probability of delay in performing emergency procedures beyond the day of admission was calculated. Multilevel linear regression random-effects models were created to evaluate the relationship between the treating hospital's tendency for delay (in quartiles) and the log-transformed outcomes of length of stay and cost. The final sample included 7029 patients from 332 hospitals. Patients treated at hospitals in the fourth (worst) quartile for delay were estimated to have 12 percent (95 percent CI, 2 to 21 percent) higher cost compared with patients treated at hospitals in the first quartile. In addition, patients treated at hospitals in the fourth quartile had an estimated 11 percent (95 percent CI, 4 to 17 percent) longer length of stay compared with patients treated at hospitals in the first quartile. Patients with open tibial fracture treated at hospitals with more timely initiation of surgical care had lower cost and shorter length of stay than patients treated at hospitals with less timely initiation of care. Policies directed toward mitigating variation in care may reduce unnecessary waste.

  5. Cost-effectiveness of environmental-structural communication interventions for HIV prevention in the female sex industry in the Dominican Republic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sweat, Michael; Kerrigan, Deanna; Moreno, Luis; Rosario, Santo; Gomez, Bayardo; Jerez, Hector; Weiss, Ellen; Barrington, Clare

    2006-01-01

    Behavior change communication often focuses on individual-level variables such as knowledge, perceived risk, self-efficacy, and behavior. A growing body of evidence suggests, however, that structural interventions to change the policy environment and environmental interventions designed to modify the physical and social environment further bolster impact. Little is known about the cost-effectiveness of such comprehensive intervention programs. In this study we use standard cost analysis methods to examine the incremental cost-effectiveness of two such interventions conducted in the Dominican Republic in sex establishments. In Santo Domingo the intervention was environmental; in Puerto Plata it was both environmental and structural (levying financial sanctions on sex establishment owners who failed to follow the intervention). The interventions in both sites included elements found in more conventional behavior change communication (BCC) programs (e.g., community mobilization, peer education, educational materials, promotional stickers). One key aim was to examine whether the addition of policy regulation was cost-effective. Data for the analysis were gleaned from structured behavioral questionnaires administered to female sex workers and their male regular paying partners in 41 sex establishments conducted pre- and post-intervention (1 year follow-up); data from HIV sentinel surveillance, STI screening results conducted for the intervention; and detailed cost data we collected. We estimated the number of HIV infections averted from each of the two intervention models and converted these estimates to the number of disability life years saved as compared with no intervention. One-way, two-way, three-way, and multivariate sensitivity analysis were conducted on model parameters. We examine a discount rate of 0%, 3% (base case), and 6% for future costs and benefits. The intervention conducted in Santo Domingo (community mobilization, promotional media, and interpersonal

  6. Effective information channels for reducing costs of environmentally- friendly technologies: evidence from residential PV markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rai, Varun; Robinson, Scott A

    2013-01-01

    Realizing the environmental benefits of solar photovoltaics (PV) will require reducing costs associated with perception, informational gaps and technological uncertainties. To identify opportunities to decrease costs associated with residential PV adoption, in this letter we use multivariate regression models to analyze a unique, household-level dataset of PV adopters in Texas (USA) to systematically quantify the effect of different information channels on aspiring PV adopters’ decision-making. We find that the length of the decision period depends on the business model, such as whether the system was bought or leased, and on special opportunities to learn, such as the influence of other PV owners in the neighborhood. This influence accrues passively through merely witnessing PV systems in the neighborhood, increasing confidence and motivation, as well as actively through peer-to-peer communications. Using these insights we propose a new framework to provide public information on PV that could drastically reduce barriers to PV adoption, thereby accelerating its market penetration and environmental benefits. This framework could also serve as a model for other distributed generation technologies. (letter)

  7. Effective information channels for reducing costs of environmentally- friendly technologies: evidence from residential PV markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rai, Varun; Robinson, Scott A.

    2013-03-01

    Realizing the environmental benefits of solar photovoltaics (PV) will require reducing costs associated with perception, informational gaps and technological uncertainties. To identify opportunities to decrease costs associated with residential PV adoption, in this letter we use multivariate regression models to analyze a unique, household-level dataset of PV adopters in Texas (USA) to systematically quantify the effect of different information channels on aspiring PV adopters’ decision-making. We find that the length of the decision period depends on the business model, such as whether the system was bought or leased, and on special opportunities to learn, such as the influence of other PV owners in the neighborhood. This influence accrues passively through merely witnessing PV systems in the neighborhood, increasing confidence and motivation, as well as actively through peer-to-peer communications. Using these insights we propose a new framework to provide public information on PV that could drastically reduce barriers to PV adoption, thereby accelerating its market penetration and environmental benefits. This framework could also serve as a model for other distributed generation technologies.

  8. Best Practice cost rates for air pollutants, traffic, power generation and heat production. Appendix B of the ''Method convention 2.0 for the evaluation of environmental costs''; Best-Practice-Kostensaetze fuer Luftschadstoffe, Verkehr, Strom- und Waermeerzeugung. Anhang B der ''Methodenkonvention 2.0 zur Schaetzung von Umweltkosten''

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schwermer, Sylvia [Umweltbundesamt, Dessau (Germany); Preiss, Philipp; Mueller, Wolf [Stuttgart Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Energiewirtschaft und Rationelle Energieanwendung (IER)

    2012-08-15

    Technically substantiated information for the estimation of environmental costs is of high environmental interest. The environmental costs provide important information on the discussion about the costs and benefits of environmental protection more objective and on the design of environmental protection instruments. The economic evaluation of environmental damages enables an estimation of the benefits of environmental policies, because environmental policies avoid costs to the environment and health in the present and in the future. The contribution under consideration contains recommendations of the Federal Environment Agency (Dessau-Rosslau, Federal Republic of Germany) on best practice cost rates for climate and air pollutants as well as estimations for activity-related environmental costs of transport as well as power generation and heat production. The recommendations are based in substantial part on the results of the research project.

  9. Environmental Accounting as a Tool for Environmental Management ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Environmental Accounting as a Tool for Environmental Management System. ... This paper reviews about the relationship of environmental accounting and environmental ... to legal and regulation requirement, to reduce cost from customer

  10. Arbitrary digital pulse sequence generator with delay-loop timing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hošák, Radim; Ježek, Miroslav

    2018-04-01

    We propose an idea of an electronic multi-channel arbitrary digital sequence generator with temporal granularity equal to two clock cycles. We implement the generator with 32 channels using a low-cost ARM microcontroller and demonstrate its capability to produce temporal delays ranging from tens of nanoseconds to hundreds of seconds, with 24 ns timing granularity and linear scaling of delay with respect to the number of delay loop iterations. The generator is optionally synchronized with an external clock source to provide 100 ps jitter and overall sequence repeatability within the whole temporal range. The generator is fully programmable and able to produce digital sequences of high complexity. The concept of the generator can be implemented using different microcontrollers and applied for controlling of various optical, atomic, and nuclear physics measurement setups.

  11. Measuring Values Of Environmental Quality Improvement And Leisure Time Through Combining Contingent Valuation and Travel Cost Data

    OpenAIRE

    Young Sook Eom; Douglas M. Larson

    2004-01-01

    This paper demonstrates a utility-theoretic empirical framework for estimating values of environmental quality improvement by combining travel cost and contingent valuation data in a two-constraint (time and money) budget framework. Recgninzing the role of time "prices" and time budget, the recreation demand and willingness to pay (WTP) functiuons are specified with full price and full budget arguments, with the opportunity cost of time being a fraction of wage rate. When applied to the case ...

  12. The 'Environmental Manual for Power Development': a tool for GHG mitigation and cost analysis in developing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fritsche, Uwe R.; Liptow, Holger

    1999-01-01

    The Environmental Manual for Power Development (EM) is a computerised tool to include environmental and cost data into the decision-making for energy projects in developing countries. The EM is sponsored by German BMZ (Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development), Dutch DGIS (Directorate General for International Co-operation), British DfID (Department for International Development), and the World Bank. The EM was developed by GTZ with scientific support from Oeko-Institut (Institute for applied ecology). The EM tracks down the emissions and costs of e.g. the existing power supply system in a country, region, or of a specific energy project, and compares those to alternative options to deliver the same energy service, e.g. electricity, or process heat, or transport services. To do so, the EM maintains a comprehensive database on environmental and cost impacts of energy technologies, and determines environmental impacts for life-cycles: All impacts from mining, transport, conversion etc. can be accounted for. To consistently handle all life-cycles, the EM database offers a variety of pre-defined fuel-and life-cycles to work with. The Em database covers generic energy technologies in developing countries, especially fossil-fueled electricity and heating systems, cogeneration, renewable energies, selected energy efficiency technologies, nuclear power systems, as well as data for upstream activities like mining, fuel benefication, transport, and emission control technologies like flue-gas desulfurisation, low-NO x burners, etc. The EM analyses and compares airborne and greenhouse gas emissions, solid wastes, and land use, as well as internal and external costs associated with investment and operation of energy technologies, including their life-cycle (upstream fuel-cycles, materials). The Em helps to check the compliance of energy processes with given emission standards - its database offers such standard for various countries and regions, and users can test if

  13. Exploring delay causes of road construction projects in

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Remon F. Aziz

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Construction delays are a common phenomenon in civil engineering projects in Egypt including road construction projects. Therefore, it is essential to study and analyze causes of road construction delays. This paper studied a list of construction delay causes gathered from literature having different types of construction, different countries, different periods and different numbers of delay causes and delay groups. A questionnaire and personal interviews have formed the basis of this paper listing 293 delay causes. The questionnaire survey was distributed to 500 construction participants and 389 were received who represent consultants, contractors and site/design engineers excluding the owner representing the government in road projects as one party only. Relative Importance Index (RII is calculated and according to the highest values the top twenty and the least twenty delay causes of construction projects in Egypt are determined. A case study is analyzed and compared to the most important delay causes in the paper. The test results reveal good correlation of causes and groups between contractors and site/design engineers and between consultants and site design engineers and a somewhat low correlation between contractors and consultants. So there are no root causes that can be taking for granted to be most or least effective delay causes. Proposed model for predicting actual road construction project duration was developed; a real case study tested the accuracy of proposed model. According to the analysis of case study, the most contributing causes and groups to delays were discussed, and some future recommendations were proposed in order to control and minimize delays in road construction projects. These findings can be helpful for project managers to mitigate the road construction delays in Egypt. In order to effectively overcome the road construction delays in developing countries, suggestions are made for fundamental and large

  14. UK's climate change levy: cost effectiveness, competitiveness and environmental impacts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Varma, Adarsh [Hull Univ., School of Economic Studies, Hull (United Kingdom)

    2003-01-01

    This paper intends to examine the cost effectiveness of UK's climate change levy (CCL), its implications on competitiveness of firms and the environmental impact. The paper briefly describes the levy and analyses it under the canons of a good taxation policy. The economic implications of the levy are discussed with theoretical and empirical perspectives. Change in net exports, investment patterns and productivity and inclusion of compliance cost forms the basis for analysing the effect on competitiveness. It discusses the options available to firms to safeguard their competitiveness if it is adversely affected by the CCL. A description of the current scenario of the levy since its inception is also presented. The paper argues the need for a comprehensive policy involving the use of standards, emission trading as well as energy taxes to achieve emission and energy-use reductions. A focal point of this paper is to elucidate the pros and cons of the CCL (energy tax) with respect to an emission trading scheme. (Author)

  15. Comprehensive Assessment of New Proppants for Hydraulic Fracturing Utilization under the Consideration of Cost, Environmental & Health Impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adebakin, Mariam Abiodun

    The advancement and increased practice of hydraulic fracturing, a process which involves the drilling of a well and the injection of fracture fluid (water, proppant and various chemicals) under high pressure to stimulate the production of oil and gas, has gradually gained public attention over the past years. This is because of its effectiveness in booming the nation's economy as well as the adverse effects in terms of risks this process poses to all forms of life. Several speculations have been raised about the choice of proppant used as a contributory factor to the risks hydraulic fracturing poses. Frac sand is the most widely used proppant in several wells in the United States but several health and environmental concerns has been raised on its short and long term use. It is therefore imperative to examine the impacts (health and environmental) as well as cost implication, if any, in selecting the most appropriate proppant in other to reduce and or completely eliminate its effect on humans and other forms of life. This study aims to compare other proppants (resin-coated sand and ceramic) with frac sand, focusing on cost, environmental and health implications when used. This study found that sand is the cheapest and most available proppant in terms of production cost compared to resin coated sand and ceramic proppant. However, sand cannot be used in deep wells as it is subjected to more stress leading to its disintegration and crushing in the well which eventually blocks the fissures created and the subsequent flow of oil and gas. In terms of health and environmental impacts, sand should be discouraged as it generates crystalline silica dust known to be injurious if inhaled.

  16. The environmental monitoring of Cultural Heritage through Low Cost strategies: The frescoes of the crypt of St. Francesco d'Assisi's, Irsina (Basilicata, Southern Italy)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sileo, Maria; Gizzi, Fabrizio; Masini, Nicola

    2015-04-01

    One of the main tools of assessment and diagnosis used to define appropriate strategies for the preservation of cultural heritage is the environmental monitoring. To achieve an environmental monitoring are needed high costs of purchase and maintenance, high costs of instrumental and for the management of the plants and processing of results. These costs imply that the technologies for environmental monitoring are not as common but their use is limited to the study very famous monuments or sites. To extend the use and dissemination of such technologies to a greater number of monuments, through the project Pro_Cult (Advanced methodological approaches and technologies for Protection and Security of Cultural Heritage) a research aimed at testing low cost technologies has been performed. The aim of the research is to develop low cost monitoring systems, assessing their effectiveness in a comparative way with commercial high cost ones. To this aim an environmental monitoring system using the Arduino system was designed and developed. It is an electronics prototyping platform based on open-source hardware and software flexible and user friendly. This system is connected to sensors for the detection of environmental parameters of non high purchase cost but with respect to the medium potential detection sensors accurately. This low cost system was tested in the framework of a microclimate monitoring project of the crypt of St. Francis of Assisi in Irsina (Southern Italy) enriched by a precious cycle of medieval frescoes. The aim of this research was to compare two monitoring systems, the first, at low cost, using Arduino system, and the second, a standard commercial product for a full yearly cycle and assess the reliability and the results obtained by the two systems. This paper shows the results of the comparative analysis of an entire monitoring yearly cycle in relation to the problems of degradation affecting the paintings of medieval crypt [1]. The obtained results

  17. Evaluating external costs of human health and environmental impacts using IAEA model SIMPACTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bobric, Elena; Jelev, Adrian

    2005-01-01

    SIMPACTS (Simplified Approach for Estimating Impacts and External Costs of Electricity Generation) model developed at the International Atomic Energy Agency is a powerful and convenient tool for evaluating external costs induced by different energy sources. The model was developed for industrial countries and for developing countries as well where studies of alternatives of sustainable energy policies are conducted. The SIMPACTS allow the decision making factors involved in energy policy to have reasonable estimates of environment impacts and relating costs appealing to a rather low number of input parameters. The paper aims at analyzing by means of SIMPACTS the environmental impact produced by Cernavoda NPP operation in two cases: a) the impact of the Cernavoda NPP itself; b) the impact of an hypothetical coal based power plant of the same power level and located on the Cernavoda NPP site. The SIMPACTS modules AIRPACTS and NUCPACTS were applied to assess the impacts on human health, agricultural crops and building materials from exposure to routine atmospheric emissions and as well to quantify and value the adverse effects on human health due to routine atmospheric release of radionuclides from the NPP, via radioactive waste ground disposal or resulting from accidents in nuclear facility, respectively. The conclusion of this study based on SIMPACTS model application to assess the health effects and damage cost per year is that the Cernavoda NPP presents the lower health effects and damage cost comparing with power plants of other types

  18. Modelling Compensation Policy for Quality and Delay Deterioration in Rail Transport

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiana Molkova

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The contribution deals with the customers’ claims on provided services during train delay in personal railway transport. There is comparison between the situation in the Czech Republic (Brno main station and Austria (Wien Westbahnhof in the contribution. Development of the compensation policy cannot be based only on customer requirements. If the railway company focuses on providing compensation for delays, it must follow its economic balance. However, as the passengers' opinion survey showed, the negative impact of delays can be reduced by providing adequate information to passengers. Based on the passengers' opinion survey, it is necessary to consider the Regulation 1371/2007/ES as the minimum of the possible and on the basis of this reasoning to compile a compensation policy. The costs associated with compensation for the delay should be divided according to the causes of the delay among the individual culprits, so that railway undertakings bear the responsibility even for delays arising from reasons that are beyond the control of the railway undertaking itself. 

  19. Environmental externalities: Applying the concept to Asian coal-based power generation. [Includes external environmental and societal costs and methods of evaluating them

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szpunar, C.B.; Gillette, J.L.

    1993-03-01

    This report examines the concept of environmental externality. It discusses various factors -- the atmospheric transformations, relationship of point-source emissions to ambient air quality, dose-response relationships, applicable cause-and-effect principles, and risk and valuation research -- that are considered by a number of state utilities when they apply the environmental externality concept to energy resource planning. It describes a methodology developed by Argonne National Laboratory for general use in resource planning, in combination with traditional methods that consider the cost of electricity production. Finally, it shows how the methodology can be applied in Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan to potential coal-fired power plant projects that will make use of clean coal technologies.

  20. Individual quality and age but not environmental or social conditions modulate costs of reproduction in a capital breeder

    OpenAIRE

    Debeffe, Lucie; Poissant, Jocelyn; McLoughlin, Philip D.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Costs associated with reproduction are widely known to play a role in the evolution of reproductive tactics with consequences to population and eco?evolutionary dynamics. Evaluating these costs as they pertain to species in the wild remains an important goal of evolutionary ecology. Individual heterogeneity, including differences in individual quality (i.e., among?individual differences in traits associated with survival and reproduction) or state, and variation in environmental and ...

  1. The impact of hydro-biofuel-wind energy consumption on environmental cost of doing business in a panel of BRICS countries: evidence from three-stage least squares estimator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaman, Khalid

    2018-02-01

    The renewable energy sources are considered the vital factor to promote global green business. The environmental cost of doing business is the pre-requisite to analyze sustainable policies that facilitate the eco-minded entrepreneurs to produce healthier goods. This study examines the impact of renewable energy sources (i.e., hydro energy, biofuel energy, and wind energy) on the environmental cost of doing business in a panel of BRICS (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa) countries, for the period of 1995-2015. The study employed principal component analysis to construct an "integrated environmental index" by using three alternative and plausible factors including carbon dioxide emissions, fossil fuel energy consumption, and chemicals used in the manufacturing process. The environmental index is used as an interactive term with the three cost of doing business indicators including business disclosure index, the cost of business start-up procedures, and logistics performance index to form environmental cost of doing business (ECDB) indicators. The results of three-stage least squares (3SLS) estimator show that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows supported the green business while trade openness deteriorates the environment, which partially validates the "pollution haven hypotheses (PHH)" in a panel of countries. There is no evidence for environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis; however, there is a monotonic decreasing relationship between per capita income and ECDB indicators. The hydro energy supports the sustainable business environment, while biofuel consumption deteriorates the environmental impact on the cost of business start-up procedures. Finally, wind energy subsequently affected the ECDB indicators in a panel of BRICS countries. The overall results conclude that growth factors and energy sources both have a considerable impact on the cost of doing business; therefore, there is a momentous need to formulate sustainable policy

  2. Quantifying costs and benefits of integrated environmental strategies of air quality management and greenhouse gas reduction in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chae, Yeora, E-mail: yrchae@kei.re.kr [Korea Environment Institute, 290 Jinheungno, Eunpyeong-Gu, Seoul 122-706 (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jeongim [Department of Environmental Health Science, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Chungnam 336-745 (Korea, Republic of)

    2011-09-15

    This study quantifies the costs and benefits of Integrated Environmental Strategies (IES) of reducing air pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at a minimal cost in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMPA) for the year 2014 and compares with current air quality management plans and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation plans. The results estimated health benefits from prevention of premature mortality under the IES scenario as 14 trillion Korean won (won) and associated cost as -3.6 trillion won, yielding total benefit, difference of benefits and costs, of 18 trillion won. With the inclusion of benefits from GHG reductions, the total benefits result in 147 trillion won. The difference of human health benefits and costs of air quality management plan and GHG reduction strategies result in 14 trillion won and 8 trillion won, respectively. The research shows that benefits of integrating air quality management and GHG reduction measures are greater than those obtained by air quality management and GHG reduction measures individually. - Highlights: > The costs and benefits of Integrated Environmental Strategies (IES) are quantified.> Benefit under IES is 14 trillion Korean won and cost is -3.6 trillion won.> Benefit of air quality management is 14 trillion won and cost is -0.3 trillion won.> Benefit under GHG reduction is 1.5 trillion won and cost is -6.4 trillion won.> Benefits of IES are greater than those obtained by each measure individually.

  3. Does NGAL reduce costs? A cost analysis of urine NGAL (uNGAL) & serum creatinine (sCr) for acute kidney injury (AKI) diagnosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parikh, Amay; Rizzo, John A; Canetta, Pietro; Forster, Catherine; Sise, Meghan; Maarouf, Omar; Singer, Eugenia; Elger, Antje; Elitok, Saban; Schmidt-Ott, Kai; Barasch, Jonathon; Nickolas, Thomas L

    2017-01-01

    Urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) is a sensitive and specific diagnostic test for acute kidney injury (AKI) in the Emergency Department (ED), but its economic impact has not been investigated. We hypothesized that uNGAL used in combination with serum creatinine (sCr) would reduce costs in the management of AKI in patients presenting to the ED in comparison to using sCr alone. A cost simulation model was developed for clinical algorithms to diagnose AKI based on sCr alone vs. uNGAL plus sCr (uNGAL+sCr). A cost minimization analysis was performed to determine total expected costs for patients with AKI. uNGAL test characteristics were validated with eight-hundred forty-nine patients with sCr ≥1.5 from a completed study of 1635 patients recruited from EDs at two U.S. hospitals from 2007-8. Biomarker test, AKI work-up, and diagnostic imaging costs were incorporated. For a hypothetical cohort of 10,000 patients, the model predicted that the expected costs were $900 per patient (pp) in the sCr arm and $950 in the uNGAL+sCr arm. uNGAL+sCr resulted in 1,578 fewer patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment than sCr alone (2,013 vs. 436 pts) at center 1 and 1,973 fewer patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment than sCr alone at center 2 (2,227 vs. 254 patients). Although initial evaluation costs at each center were $50 pp higher in with uNGAL+sCr, total costs declined by $408 pp at Center 1 and by $522 pp at Center 2 due to expected reduced delays in diagnosis and treatment. Sensitivity analyses confirmed savings with uNGAL + sCr for a range of cost inputs. Using uNGAL with sCr as a clinical diagnostic test for AKI may improve patient management and reduce expected costs. Any cost savings would likely result from avoiding delays in diagnosis and treatment and from avoidance of unnecessary testing in patients given a false positive AKI diagnosis by use of sCr alone.

  4. Does NGAL reduce costs? A cost analysis of urine NGAL (uNGAL & serum creatinine (sCr for acute kidney injury (AKI diagnosis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amay Parikh

    Full Text Available Urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL is a sensitive and specific diagnostic test for acute kidney injury (AKI in the Emergency Department (ED, but its economic impact has not been investigated. We hypothesized that uNGAL used in combination with serum creatinine (sCr would reduce costs in the management of AKI in patients presenting to the ED in comparison to using sCr alone.A cost simulation model was developed for clinical algorithms to diagnose AKI based on sCr alone vs. uNGAL plus sCr (uNGAL+sCr. A cost minimization analysis was performed to determine total expected costs for patients with AKI. uNGAL test characteristics were validated with eight-hundred forty-nine patients with sCr ≥1.5 from a completed study of 1635 patients recruited from EDs at two U.S. hospitals from 2007-8. Biomarker test, AKI work-up, and diagnostic imaging costs were incorporated.For a hypothetical cohort of 10,000 patients, the model predicted that the expected costs were $900 per patient (pp in the sCr arm and $950 in the uNGAL+sCr arm. uNGAL+sCr resulted in 1,578 fewer patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment than sCr alone (2,013 vs. 436 pts at center 1 and 1,973 fewer patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment than sCr alone at center 2 (2,227 vs. 254 patients. Although initial evaluation costs at each center were $50 pp higher in with uNGAL+sCr, total costs declined by $408 pp at Center 1 and by $522 pp at Center 2 due to expected reduced delays in diagnosis and treatment. Sensitivity analyses confirmed savings with uNGAL + sCr for a range of cost inputs.Using uNGAL with sCr as a clinical diagnostic test for AKI may improve patient management and reduce expected costs. Any cost savings would likely result from avoiding delays in diagnosis and treatment and from avoidance of unnecessary testing in patients given a false positive AKI diagnosis by use of sCr alone.

  5. Sustainable Design: A Case of Environmental and Cost Life Cycle Assessment of a Kitchen Designed for Seniors and Disabled People

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Lewandowska

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable production and consumption patterns require a change in approach at the early conceptual stages, i.e., when planning and designing products and services. This article presents an example of sustainable kitchen design aimed at the needs of seniors and people with physical disabilities, which takes into account social, economic, and environmental aspects. The interdisciplinary project team used a variety of traditional design methods such as the identification of requirements using QFD (Quality Function Deployment and FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis, the development and verification of the technical concepts of the designed objects and their use, the development of construction and technological documentation, assembly drawings of the product architecture and its parts, function cost analysis, virtual and real prototyping, and tools based on the concept of a life cycle such as environmental life cycle assessment (LCA and life cycle costing (LCC. The analysis of the design solutions from the point of view of several criteria and several life cycle stages shows the complexity of the decision-making process and the difficulties in selecting a clearly favourable solution. Environmentally preferred materials may be difficult for users to accept due to their costs. On the other hand, materials that have a high environmental impact at the production stage may show great potential for final disposal.

  6. Effectiveness of Closure of Public Places with Time Delay in Disease Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Zhenggang

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available A theoretical basis for the evaluation of the effciency of quarantine measure is developed in a SIR model with time delay. In this model, the effectiveness of the closure of public places such as schools in disease control, modeled as a high degree node in a social network, is evaluated by considering the effect of the time delay in the identification of the infected. In the context of the SIR model, the relation between the number of infectious individuals who are identified with time delay and then quarantined and those who are not identified and continue spreading the virus are investigated numerically. The social network for the simulation is modeled by a scale free network. Closure measures are applied to those infected nodes with high degrees. The effectiveness of the measure can be controlled by the present value of the critical degree KC: only those nodes with degree higher than KC will be quarantined. The cost CQ incurred for the closure measure is assumed to be proportional to the total links rendered inactive as a result of the measure, and generally decreases with KC, while the medical cost CQ incurred for virus spreading increases with KC. The total social cost (CM + CQ will have a minimum at a critical KC, which depends on the ratio of medical cost coeffcient αM and closure cost coeffcient αQ. Our simulation results demonstrate a mathematical procedure to evaluate the effciency of quarantine measure. Although the numerical work is based on a scale free network, the procedure can be readily generalized and applied to a more realistic social network to determine the proper closure measure in future epidemics.

  7. Passive Transparency Compensation for Bilateral Teleoperators with Communication Delays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erick J. Rodríguez-Seda

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the main challenges in the realization of time-delayed bilateral teleoperators is the stable adaptation of transparency when the remote environmental dynamics are time-varying. In this paper, we propose a bilateral control strategy that passively adjusts the transparency of the system when the slave robot transitions between two different environments. The proposed controller exploits the effect that the wave impedance (a design parameter of the passivity-based scattering transformation has on transparency without comprising closed-loop stability, regardless of time-varying communication delays. To properly adjust transparency, the control scheme smoothly switches the wave impedance parameter between a low value, ideal for free motion, and a sufficiently large value, suited for hard-contact tasks. We show that, by adopting this strategy, the transmitted impedance to the operator approximates more closely the environmental impedance value. Furthermore, we theoretically prove master-slave position coordination and force tracking under different scenarios. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

  8. Coping with persistent environmental problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Varjopuro, Riku; Andrulewicz, Eugeniusz; Brandt, Urs Steiner

    2014-01-01

    to a decision to taking action and several years further for actual implementation. Ecosystem responses to measures illustrate that feedback can keep the ecosystem in a certain state and cause a delay in ecosystem response. These delays can operate on decadal scales. Our aim in this paper...... involved in the implementation are keys to improve understanding of the systemic delays. The improved understanding is necessary for the adaptive management of a persistent environmental problem. In addition to the state of the environment, the monitoring and analysis should be targeted also......; (2) implementation delay: the time from the launch of a policy to the actual implementation; (3) ecosystem delay: the time difference between the implementation and an actual measurable effects. A policy process is one characterized by delays. It may take years from problem identification...

  9. Fertility preservation for social indications: a cost-based decision analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirshfeld-Cytron, Jennifer; Grobman, William A; Milad, Magdy P

    2012-03-01

    Age-related infertility remains a problem that assisted reproductive techniques (ART) have limited ability to overcome. Correspondingly, because an increasing number of women are choosing to delay childbearing, fertility preservation strategies, initially intended for patients undergoing gonadotoxic therapies, are being applied to this group of healthy women. Studies supporting the effectiveness of this practice are lacking. Decision analytic techniques. We compared the cost-effectiveness of three strategies for women planning delayed childbearing until age 40: oocyte cryopreservation at age 25, ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) at age 25, and no assisted reproduction until spontaneous conception had been attempted. Not applicable. Not applicable. Cost-effectiveness, which was defined as the cost per live birth. In this analysis, the strategy of foregoing fertility preservation at age 25 and then choosing ART only after not spontaneously conceiving at age 40 was the most cost-effective option. OTC was dominated by the other strategies. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated the robustness of the model; no analysis existed in which OTC was not dominated by oocyte cryopreservation. Increasing the cost of an IVF cycle beyond $22,000 was the only situation in which oocyte cryopreservation was the most preferred strategy. Neither oocyte cryopreservation nor OTC appear to be cost-effective under current circumstances for otherwise healthy women planning delayed childbearing. This analysis should give pause to the current practice of offering fertility preservation based only on the desire for delayed childbearing. Copyright © 2012 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Routeing of power lines through least-cost path analysis and multicriteria evaluation to minimise environmental impacts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bagli, Stefano; Geneletti, Davide; Orsi, Francesco

    2011-01-01

    Least-cost path analysis (LCPA) allows designers to find the 'cheapest' way to connect two locations within a cost surface, which can be computed by combining multiple criteria, and therefore by accounting for different issues (environmental impact, economic investment, etc.). This procedure can be easily implemented with modern Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies, and consequently it has been widely employed to support planning and design of different types of linear infrastructures, ranging from roads to pipelines. This paper presents an approach based on the integration of multicriteria evaluation (MCE) and LCPA to identify the most suitable route for a 132 kV power line. Criteria such as cost, visibility, population density, and ecosystem naturalness were used for the analysis. Firstly, spatial MCE and LCPA were combined to generate cost surfaces, and to identify alternative paths. Subsequently, MCE was used to compare the alternatives, and rank them according to their overall suitability. Finally, a sensitivity analysis allowed the stability of the results to be tested and the most critical factors of the evaluation to be detected. The study found that small changes in the location of the power line start and end points can result in significantly different paths, and consequently impact levels. This suggested that planners should always consider alternative potential locations of terminals in order to identify the best path. Furthermore, it was shown that the use of different weight scenarios may help making the model adaptable to varying environmental and social contexts. The approach was tested on a real-world case study in north-eastern Italy.

  11. Cost-effectiveness of tubal patency tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhoeve, H R; Moolenaar, L M; Hompes, P; van der Veen, F; Mol, B W J

    2013-04-01

    Guidelines are not in agreement on the most effective diagnostic scenario for tubal patency testing; therefore, we evaluated the cost-effectiveness of invasive tubal testing in subfertile couples compared with no testing and treatment. Cost-effectiveness analysis. Decision analytic framework. Computer-simulated cohort of subfertile women. We evaluated six scenarios: (1) no tests and no treatment; (2) immediate treatment without tubal testing; (3) delayed treatment without tubal testing; (4) hysterosalpingogram (HSG), followed by immediate or delayed treatment, according to diagnosis (tailored treatment); (5) HSG and a diagnostic laparoscopy (DL) in case HSG does not prove tubal patency, followed by tailored treatment; and (6) DL followed by tailored treatment. Expected cumulative live births after 3 years. Secondary outcomes were cost per couple and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. For a 30-year-old woman with otherwise unexplained subfertility for 12 months, 3-year cumulative live birth rates were 51.8, 78.1, 78.4, 78.4, 78.6 and 78.4%, and costs per couple were €0, €6968, €5063, €5410, €5405 and €6163 for scenarios 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios compared with scenario 1 (reference strategy), were €26,541, €19,046, €20,372, €20,150 and €23,184 for scenarios 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed the model to be robust over a wide range of values for the variables. The most cost-effective scenario is to perform no diagnostic tubal tests and to delay in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment for at least 12 months for women younger than 38 years old, and to perform no tubal tests and start immediate IVF treatment from the age of 39 years. If an invasive diagnostic test is planned, HSG followed by tailored treatment, or a DL if HSG shows no tubal patency, is more cost-effective than DL. © 2013 The Authors BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology © 2013

  12. Environmental costs of mercury pollution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hylander, Lars D. [Department of Earth Sciences, Air and Water Science, Uppsala University, Villavaegen 16, S-752 36 Uppsala (Sweden); Goodsite, Michael E. [Department of Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry Research Group, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M (Denmark)

    2006-09-01

    Mercury (Hg) has been used for millennia in many applications, primarily in artisanal mining and as an electrode in the chlor-alkali industry. It is anthropogenically emitted as a pollutant from coal fired power plants and naturally emitted, primarily from volcanoes. Its unique chemical characteristics enable global atmospheric transport and it is deposited after various processes, ultimately ending up in one of its final sinks, such as incorporated into deep sediment or bioaccumulated, primarily in the marine environment. All forms of Hg have been established as toxic, and there have been no noted biological benefits from the metal. Throughout time, there have been notable incidents of Hg intoxication documented, and the negative health effects have been documented to those chronically or acutely exposed. Today, exposure to Hg is largely diet or occupationally dependent, however, many are exposed to Hg from their amalgam fillings. This paper puts a tentative monetary value on Hg polluted food sources in the Arctic, where local, significant pollution sources are limited, and relates this to costs for strategies avoiding Hg pollution and to remediation costs of contaminated sites in Sweden and Japan. The case studies are compiled to help policy makers and the public to evaluate whether the benefits to the global environment from banning Hg and limiting its initial emission outweigh the benefits from its continued use or lack of control of Hg emissions. The cases we studied are relevant for point pollution sources globally and their remediation costs ranged between 2500 and 1.1 million US$ kg{sup -1} Hg isolated from the biosphere. Therefore, regulations discontinuing mercury uses combined with extensive flue gas cleaning for all power plants and waste incinerators is cost effective. (author)

  13. Cost-effective and simple solutions for environmental pollution problems by electrochemical methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmed, R.

    1997-01-01

    Environmental pollution is a worldwide problem and has increased significantly with industrialization, urbanization and population growth and is effecting quality of our air, land and water resources. Pollutants include heavy metals, organic toxic and reactive compounds and toxic gases. Major problems in environmental pollution are monitoring and remediation. Now pollutants include such wide range of elements, compounds and gases and normally one needs a whole range of costly analytical techniques to analyse all the pollutants which only very few institutes can afford to purchased. Equipment for electro analytical techniques are much cheaper than most of the other analytical techniques and are also sensitive and accurate for the analysis of nearly the whole range of pollutants including heavy metal. organic reactive compounds, inorganic elements and compounds and toxic gases. application of electrochemical methods for the analysis of different pollutants are reviewed. after monitoring, remediation in the most important aspect of environmental pollution control. Best way could be to treat the pollutants from different industries in such a way that either these are removed from the waste or converted in to non-toxic compounds before their release into the environment. Among all the other treatment methods, electrochemical methods of utilizing the electron as a clean chemical regent are very attractive. Electrodes in electrochemical reactors are abundantly use for the removal and recycling of toxic metals like Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cr and Zn from the industrial waste after electrodeposition. Electrochemical reactors are also being used for electro oxidation of cyanides and other toxic organic compounds into non-toxic species. Such reactors can, in principal, be applied to any environmental pollution problem where the pollutant can either be electro-reduced or oxidized. Different types of electrochemical reactors are discussed, with a view, of their envisaged used for

  14. Environmental, economic, and energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Jason; Nelson, Erik; Tilman, David; Polasky, Stephen; Tiffany, Douglas

    2006-07-25

    Negative environmental consequences of fossil fuels and concerns about petroleum supplies have spurred the search for renewable transportation biofuels. To be a viable alternative, a biofuel should provide a net energy gain, have environmental benefits, be economically competitive, and be producible in large quantities without reducing food supplies. We use these criteria to evaluate, through life-cycle accounting, ethanol from corn grain and biodiesel from soybeans. Ethanol yields 25% more energy than the energy invested in its production, whereas biodiesel yields 93% more. Compared with ethanol, biodiesel releases just 1.0%, 8.3%, and 13% of the agricultural nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticide pollutants, respectively, per net energy gain. Relative to the fossil fuels they displace, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced 12% by the production and combustion of ethanol and 41% by biodiesel. Biodiesel also releases less air pollutants per net energy gain than ethanol. These advantages of biodiesel over ethanol come from lower agricultural inputs and more efficient conversion of feedstocks to fuel. Neither biofuel can replace much petroleum without impacting food supplies. Even dedicating all U.S. corn and soybean production to biofuels would meet only 12% of gasoline demand and 6% of diesel demand. Until recent increases in petroleum prices, high production costs made biofuels unprofitable without subsidies. Biodiesel provides sufficient environmental advantages to merit subsidy. Transportation biofuels such as synfuel hydrocarbons or cellulosic ethanol, if produced from low-input biomass grown on agriculturally marginal land or from waste biomass, could provide much greater supplies and environmental benefits than food-based biofuels.

  15. Quantifying costs and benefits of integrated environmental strategies of air quality management and greenhouse gas reduction in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chae, Yeora; Park, Jeongim

    2011-01-01

    This study quantifies the costs and benefits of Integrated Environmental Strategies (IES) of reducing air pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at a minimal cost in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMPA) for the year 2014 and compares with current air quality management plans and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation plans. The results estimated health benefits from prevention of premature mortality under the IES scenario as 14 trillion Korean won (won) and associated cost as -3.6 trillion won, yielding total benefit, difference of benefits and costs, of 18 trillion won. With the inclusion of benefits from GHG reductions, the total benefits result in 147 trillion won. The difference of human health benefits and costs of air quality management plan and GHG reduction strategies result in 14 trillion won and 8 trillion won, respectively. The research shows that benefits of integrating air quality management and GHG reduction measures are greater than those obtained by air quality management and GHG reduction measures individually. - Highlights: → The costs and benefits of Integrated Environmental Strategies (IES) are quantified.→ Benefit under IES is 14 trillion Korean won and cost is -3.6 trillion won.→ Benefit of air quality management is 14 trillion won and cost is -0.3 trillion won.→ Benefit under GHG reduction is 1.5 trillion won and cost is -6.4 trillion won.→ Benefits of IES are greater than those obtained by each measure individually.

  16. Environmental management requirements/defensible costs project. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-02-01

    Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company (LITCO) used a systems engineering approach to develop the first formal requirements baseline for Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) Environmental Management (EM) Programs. The recently signed Settlement Agreement with the State of Idaho (Batt Agreement), along with dramatically reduced EM funding targets from Department of Energy (DOE) headquarters, drove the immediacy of this effort. Programs have linked top-level requirements to work scope to cost estimates. All EM work, grouped by decision units, was scrubbed by INEL EM programs and by an independent open-quotes Murder Board.close quotes Direct participation of upper level management from LITCO and the DOE-Idaho Operations Office ensured best information and decisions. The result is a scrubbed down, defensible budget tied to top-level requirements for use in the upcoming DOE-Headquarters' budget workout, the Internal Review Board, the FY98 Activity Data Sheets submittal, and preparation of the FY97 control accounts and out-year plans. In addition to the remarkable accomplishments during the past eight weeks, major issues were identified and documented and follow-on tasks are underway which will lead to further improvements in INEL EM program management

  17. Environmental management requirements/defensible costs project. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-02-01

    Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company (LITCO) used a systems engineering approach to develop the first formal requirements baseline for Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) Environmental Management (EM) Programs. The recently signed Settlement Agreement with the State of Idaho (Batt Agreement), along with dramatically reduced EM funding targets from Department of Energy (DOE) headquarters, drove the immediacy of this effort. Programs have linked top-level requirements to work scope to cost estimates. All EM work, grouped by decision units, was scrubbed by INEL EM programs and by an independent {open_quotes}Murder Board.{close_quotes} Direct participation of upper level management from LITCO and the DOE-Idaho Operations Office ensured best information and decisions. The result is a scrubbed down, defensible budget tied to top-level requirements for use in the upcoming DOE-Headquarters` budget workout, the Internal Review Board, the FY98 Activity Data Sheets submittal, and preparation of the FY97 control accounts and out-year plans. In addition to the remarkable accomplishments during the past eight weeks, major issues were identified and documented and follow-on tasks are underway which will lead to further improvements in INEL EM program management.

  18. Economically and environmentally informed policy for road resurfacing: tradeoffs between costs and greenhouse gas emissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reger, Darren; Madanat, Samer; Horvath, Arpad

    2014-01-01

    As road conditions worsen, users experience an increase in fuel consumption and vehicle wear and tear. This increases the costs incurred by the drivers, and also increases the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that vehicles emit. Pavement condition can be improved through rehabilitation activities (resurfacing) to reduce the effects on users, but these activities also have significant cost and GHG emission impacts. The objective of pavement management is to minimize total societal (user and agency) costs. However, the environmental impacts associated with the cost-minimizing policy are not currently accounted for. We show that there exists a range of potentially optimal decisions, known as the Pareto frontier, in which it is not possible to decrease total emissions without increasing total costs and vice versa. This research explores these tradeoffs for a system of pavement segments. For a case study, a network was created from a subset of California’s highways using available traffic data. It was shown that the current resurfacing strategy used by the state’s transportation agency, Caltrans, does not fall on the Pareto frontier, meaning that significant savings in both total costs and total emissions can be achieved by switching to one of the optimal policies. The methods presented in this paper also allow the decision maker to evaluate the impact of other policies, such as reduced vehicle kilometers traveled or better construction standards. (letter)

  19. Economically and environmentally informed policy for road resurfacing: tradeoffs between costs and greenhouse gas emissions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reger, Darren; Madanat, Samer; Horvath, Arpad

    2014-10-01

    As road conditions worsen, users experience an increase in fuel consumption and vehicle wear and tear. This increases the costs incurred by the drivers, and also increases the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that vehicles emit. Pavement condition can be improved through rehabilitation activities (resurfacing) to reduce the effects on users, but these activities also have significant cost and GHG emission impacts. The objective of pavement management is to minimize total societal (user and agency) costs. However, the environmental impacts associated with the cost-minimizing policy are not currently accounted for. We show that there exists a range of potentially optimal decisions, known as the Pareto frontier, in which it is not possible to decrease total emissions without increasing total costs and vice versa. This research explores these tradeoffs for a system of pavement segments. For a case study, a network was created from a subset of California’s highways using available traffic data. It was shown that the current resurfacing strategy used by the state’s transportation agency, Caltrans, does not fall on the Pareto frontier, meaning that significant savings in both total costs and total emissions can be achieved by switching to one of the optimal policies. The methods presented in this paper also allow the decision maker to evaluate the impact of other policies, such as reduced vehicle kilometers traveled or better construction standards.

  20. Do environmental and climate change issues threaten sustainable development?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mesarovic, M.

    2002-01-01

    The atmospheric environment is presently under threat from anthropogenic emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases to the extent that irreversible changes to the climate, the ozone layer and the quality of the air could occur. While the required changes in practice and regulations may hit economies if the induced costs are to be internalised, the impact of ignoring these requirements might even threaten the concept of sustainable development. The prospects of environmental pollution, depletion of ozone layer and climate change due to human activities have sparked a variety of controversies on many fronts. These topics are discussed with respect to the imposed threats to the sustainable development, and with particular attention paid to delays in urgent emission reductions. (author)

  1. Delayed speech development in children: Introduction to terminology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Yu. Bobylova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available There has been recently an increase in the number of children diagnosed with delayed speech development. There is delay compensation with age, but mild deficiency often remains for life. Delayed speech development is more common in boys than in girls. Its etiology is unknown in most cases, so a child should be followed up to make an accurate diagnosis. Genetic predisposition or environmental factors frequently influence speech development. The course of its delays is various. In the history of a number of disorders (childhood disintegrative disorder, Landau–Kleffner syndrome, there is evidence for the normal development of speech to a certain period and then stops or even regresses. By way of comparison, there are generally speech developmental changes in autism even during the preverbal stage (a complex of revival fails to form; babbling is poor, low emotional, gibberish; at the same time, the baby recipes whole phrases without using them to communicate. These speech disorders are considered not only as a delay, but also as a developmental abnormality. Speech disorders in children should be diagnosed as early as possible in order to initiative corrective measures in time. In this case, a physician makes a diagnosis and a special education teacher does corrective work. The successful collaboration and mutual understanding of the specialists in these areas will determine quality of life for a child in the future. This paper focusses on the terminology and classification of delays, which are necessary for physicians and teachers to speak the same language.

  2. Effectiveness of closure of public places with time delay in disease control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zhenggang; Szeto, Kwok Yip; Leung, Frederick Chi-Ching

    2008-08-25

    A theoretical basis for the evaluation of the effciency of quarantine measure is developed in a SIR model with time delay. In this model, the effectiveness of the closure of public places such as schools in disease control, modeled as a high degree node in a social network, is evaluated by considering the effect of the time delay in the identification of the infected. In the context of the SIR model, the relation between the number of infectious individuals who are identified with time delay and then quarantined and those who are not identified and continue spreading the virus are investigated numerically. The social network for the simulation is modeled by a scale free network. Closure measures are applied to those infected nodes with high degrees. The effectiveness of the measure can be controlled by the present value of the critical degree K(C): only those nodes with degree higher than K(C) will be quarantined. The cost C(Q) incurred for the closure measure is assumed to be proportional to the total links rendered inactive as a result of the measure, and generally decreases with K(C), while the medical cost C(Q) incurred for virus spreading increases with K(C). The total social cost (C(M) + C(Q)) will have a minimum at a critical K(*), which depends on the ratio of medical cost coeffcient alpha(M) and closure cost coeffcient alpha(Q). Our simulation results demonstrate a mathematical procedure to evaluate the effciency of quarantine measure. Although the numerical work is based on a scale free network, the procedure can be readily generalized and applied to a more realistic social network to determine the proper closure measure in future epidemics.

  3. Persistence and extinction for a stochastic logistic model with infinite delay

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun Lu

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This article, studies a stochastic logistic model with infinite delay. Using a phase space, we establish sufficient conditions for the extinction, nonpersistence in the mean, weak persistence, and stochastic permanence. A threshold between weak persistence and extinction is obtained. Our results state that different types of environmental noises have different effects on the persistence and extinction, and that the delay has no impact on the persistence and extinction for the stochastic model in the autonomous case. Numerical simulations illustrate the theoretical results.

  4. Stability and delay sensitivity of neutral fractional-delay systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Qi; Shi, Min; Wang, Zaihua

    2016-08-01

    This paper generalizes the stability test method via integral estimation for integer-order neutral time-delay systems to neutral fractional-delay systems. The key step in stability test is the calculation of the number of unstable characteristic roots that is described by a definite integral over an interval from zero to a sufficient large upper limit. Algorithms for correctly estimating the upper limits of the integral are given in two concise ways, parameter dependent or independent. A special feature of the proposed method is that it judges the stability of fractional-delay systems simply by using rough integral estimation. Meanwhile, the paper shows that for some neutral fractional-delay systems, the stability is extremely sensitive to the change of time delays. Examples are given for demonstrating the proposed method as well as the delay sensitivity.

  5. The cost-effectiveness and return-on-investment of a combined social and physical environmental intervention in office employees

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Dongen, J M; Coffeng, J K; van Wier, M F; Boot, Cecile R. L.; Hendriksen, I.J.M.; van Mechelen, W.; Bongers, Paulien M.; Van Der Beek, Allard J.; Bosmans, J E; van Tulder, M W

    2017-01-01

    This study explored the cost-effectiveness and return-on-investment of a combined social and physical environmental worksite health promotion program compared with usual practice, and of both intervention conditions separately. Participants were randomized to the combined intervention (n = 92),

  6. Environmental performance review and cost analysis of MSW landfilling by baling-wrapping technology versus conventional system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldasano, J.M.; Gasso, S.; Perez, C.

    2003-01-01

    This paper first reviews the chemical, physical and biological processes, and the environmental performance of MSW compacted and plastic-wrapped into air-tight bales with low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The baling-wrapping process halts the short and half-term biological activity and consequently the emission of gases and leachates. It also facilitates the handling of the refuse, and considerably reduces the main environmental impacts of a landfill. The main technologies available for baling-wrapping MSW are also presented. Furthermore, a cost analysis comparing a conventional landfill (CL) without baling system versus two landfills using different baling-wrapping technologies (rectangular and cylindrical bales) is carried out. The results are presented comparatively under the conditions of construction, operation and maintenance and postclosure, as required by European Directive 1999/31. A landfill using rectangular plastic-wrapped bales (LRPB) represents an economically competitive option compared to a CL. The increased capacity of the waste disposal zone when using rectangular bales due to the high density of the bales compensates for the increased operating and maintenance (O and M) costs of the method. Landfills using cylindrical plastic-wrapped bales (LCPB's) do not fare so well, mainly because the density within the bales is lower, the cylindrical geometry of the bales does not allow such an efficient use of the space within the landfill, and the processing capacity of the machinery is lower. From the cost model, the resulting unit costs per tonne in a LRPB, a LCPB and a CL for 100,000 t/year of waste, an operation time of 15 years and a landfill depth (H) of 20 m, are 31.52, 43.36 and 31.83 Euro/t, respectively

  7. Screening of IAEA environmental samples for fissile material content

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hembree, Doyle M. Jr.; Carter, Joel A.; Devault, Gerald L.; Whitaker, J. Michael; Glasgow, David

    2001-01-01

    Full text: Analysis of environmental samples for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Strengthened Safeguards Systems program requires that stringent measures be taken to control contamination. To facilitate contamination control, it is extremely useful to have some estimate of the fissile content of a given sample prior to beginning sample preparation and analysis. This is particularly true for laboratories that employ clean rooms during sample preparation. A review of the analytical results for samples submitted between January 1, 1999 and September 1, 2000 revealed that the total uranium content values ranged from 0.2 to greater than 500,000 ng/sample. Poor estimates of the uranium or plutonium content in the samples have caused some of the laboratories in the IAEA Network of Analytical Laboratories (NWAL) to experience clean laboratory contamination, sample cross contamination, and non-ideal uranium spike additions. This has led to significant increases in analysis costs (e.g., recertification of clean rooms after removing contamination, and rerunning samples) and degradation in data quality. A number of methods have been proposed for screening environmental samples for fissile material content, including gamma spectrometry, x-ray fluorescence, kinetic phosphorimetry (KPA), and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Gamma spectrometry and x-ray fluorescence are suitable for screening samples with microgram or greater quantities of uranium. ICP-MS and KPA are used successfully in some DOE NWAL laboratories to screen environmental samples. A neutron activation analysis (NAA) method that offers numerous advantages over other screening techniques for environmental samples has recently been proposed. Fissile materials such as 239 Pu and 235 U can be made to undergo fission in the intense neutron field to which they are exposed during neutron activation analysis (NAA). Some of the fission products emit neutrons referred to as 'delayed

  8. Dynamic IQC-Based Control of Uncertain LFT Systems With Time-Varying State Delay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Chengzhi; Wu, Fen

    2016-12-01

    This paper presents a new exact-memory delay control scheme for a class of uncertain systems with time-varying state delay under the integral quadratic constraint (IQC) framework. The uncertain system is described as a linear fractional transformation model including a state-delayed linear time-invariant (LTI) system and time-varying structured uncertainties. The proposed exact-memory delay controller consists of a linear state-feedback control law and an additional term that captures the delay behavior of the plant. We first explore the delay stability and the L 2 -gain performance using dynamic IQCs incorporated with quadratic Lyapunov functions. Then, the design of exact-memory controllers that guarantee desired L 2 -gain performance is examined. The resulting delay control synthesis conditions are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities, which are convex on all design variables including the scaling matrices associated with the IQC multipliers. The IQC-based exact-memory control scheme provides a novel approach for delay control designs via convex optimization, and advances existing control methods in two important ways: 1) better controlled performance and 2) simplified design procedure with less computational cost. The effectiveness and advantages of the proposed approach have been demonstrated through numerical studies.

  9. The Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project: Field Testing a Pay-for-Environmental-Services Program

    OpenAIRE

    Lynch, S.; Shabman, L.

    2007-01-01

    The Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project (FRESP) was recently launched, which will field test a program to complement the existing restoration programs such as the Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan (LOPP), which uses public funding to build treatment wetlands, drill aquifer storage, and capture rainwater (to delay its arrival downstream). FRESP will pay cattle ranchers to provide environmental services that will benefit the lake. PES-1 (Payments for Environmental Services Associ...

  10. Cost-effectiveness of CT angiography and perfusion imaging for delayed cerebral ischemia and vasospasm in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P.C. Sanelli (Pina C.); A. Pandya; A.Z. Segal; A. Gupta; S. Hurtado-Rua; J. Ivanidze; K. Kesavabhotla; D. Mir; A.I. Mushlin; M.G.M. Hunink (Myriam)

    2014-01-01

    textabstractBACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Delayed cerebral ischemia and vasospasm are significant complications following SAH leading to cerebral infarction, functional disability, and death. In recent years, CTA and CTP have been used to increase the detection of delayed cerebral ischemia and vasospasm.

  11. The cost of a clean environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schillo, B.

    1992-01-01

    Ideally, to help put environmental expenditures into context would entail comparing the costs and benefits of individual actions. However, great uncertainty remains in our enumeration and understanding of the harmful physical effects that would be avoided by environmental mitigation and the value to be placed on those physical effects. Therefore, this paper focuses primarily on costs, not the benefits, of environmental regulation, but it is important to remember that our environmental expenditures have produced results. To that end, some of the accomplishments over the last 20 years are reviewed. The EPA's open-quotes Environmental Investments: The Cost of a Clean Environment (Cost of Clean)close quotes which presents a good historic record of actual out-of-pocket pollution control expenditures, as well as projections of costs through the year 2000, is summarized. Some brief clarifying comments on the costs of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (1990 CAAA) are included. Finally, it is noted that out-of-pocket expenditures capture only a portion of the true impact of environmental regulation on measured gross national product (GNP). Environmental expenditures have important secondary effects, affecting economy-wide distribution of capital expenditures, increasing the cost of capital, altering the rate and composition of capital accumulation, and ultimately influencing aggregate economic growth. EPA is engaged in a series of analytic efforts designed to account for these general equilibrium effects. A general equilibrium framework is being applied to analysis of the Clean Air Act, both retrospectively and prospectively. 5 refs., 7 figs., 6 tabs

  12. Fundamentals of Delayed Coking Joint Industry Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Michael Volk; Keith Wisecarver

    2003-09-26

    Delayed coking evolved steadily over the early to mid 1900s to enable refiners to convert high boiling, residual petroleum fractions to light products such as gasoline. Pound for pound, coking is the most energy intensive of any operation in a modern refinery. Large amounts of energy are required to heat the thick, poor-quality petroleum residuum to the 900 to 950 degrees F required to crack the heavy hydrocarbon molecules into lighter, more valuable products. One common misconception of delayed coking is that the product coke is a disadvantage. Although coke is a low valued (near zero economic value) byproduct, compared to transportation fuels, there is a significant worldwide trade and demand for coke as it is an economical fuel. Coke production has increased steadily over the last ten years, with further increases forecast for the foreseeable future. Current domestic production is near 111,000 tons per day. A major driving force behind this increase is the steady decline in crude quality available to refiners. Crude slates are expected to grow heavier with higher sulfur contents while environmental restrictions are expected to significantly reduce the demand for high-sulfur residual fuel oil. Light sweet crudes will continue to be available and in even greater demand than they are today. Refiners will be faced with the choice of purchasing light sweet crudes at a premium price, or adding bottom of the barrel upgrading capability, through additional new investments, to reduce the production of high-sulfur residual fuel oil and increase the production of low-sulfur distillate fuels. A second disadvantage is that liquid products from cokers frequently are unstable, i.e., they rapidly form gum and sediments. Because of intermediate investment and operating costs, delayed coking has increased in popularity among refiners worldwide. Based on the 2000 Worldwide Refining Survey published in the Oil and Gas, the delayed coking capacity for 101 refineries around the world

  13. Smart Environmental Policy with Full-Cost Pricing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nancy Olewiler

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Canada’s natural capital — its resources, ecosystems and wildlife — are indispensable to the productivity of industry. Despite this, both the public and private sectors have failed to adequately factor in the consequences of production and consumption on the natural environment. There is a growing need for full-cost pricing, a system that adjusts market prices to reflect not only the direct costs of good and services, but also their impact on this country’s natural capital. As this paper argues, the onus is on the federal government to create the conditions for full-cost pricing to succeed. Ottawa needs to eliminate energy subsidies (to producers and consumers, implement full-cost pricing on air contaminants and greenhouse gases and encourage projects at the provincial and municipal levels that adopt that methodology. The benefits include productivity gains; potentially billions in savings for consumers, businesses and governments; a strong environment supporting sustainable industries; and simplified tax systems. In surveying past and existing federal initiatives and missed opportunities in previous budgets, this paper assesses costs and consequences, arguing that a healthy environment is synonymous with a healthy economy, and providing hard data to back up that conviction. With Budget 2012 just around the corner, the time is ripe for the Harper government to introduce full-cost pricing, and guarantee Canada a brighter future.

  14. Cost-effectiveness of early initiation of first-line combination antiretroviral therapy in Uganda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sempa Joseph

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Ugandan national guidelines recommend initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART at CD4+ T cell (CD4 count below 350 cell/μl, but the implementation of this is limited due to availability of medication. However, cART initiation at higher CD4 count increases survival, albeit at higher lifetime treatment cost. This analysis evaluates the cost-effectiveness of initiating cART at a CD4 count between 250–350 cell/μl (early versus Methods Life expectancy of cART-treated patients, conditional on baseline CD4 count, was modeled based on published literature. First-line cART costs $192 annually, with an additional $113 for patient monitoring. Delaying initiation of cART until the CD4 count falls below 250 cells/μl would incur the cost of the bi-annual CD4 count tests and routine maintenance care at $85 annually. We compared lifetime treatment costs and disability adjusted life-expectancy between early vs. delayed cART for ten baseline CD4 count ranges from 250-350 cell/μl. All costs and benefits were discounted at 3% annually. Results Treatment delay varied from 6–18 months. Early cART initiation increased life expectancy from 1.5-3.5 years and averted 1.33–3.10 disability adjusted life years (DALY’s per patient. Lifetime treatment costs were $4,300–$5,248 for early initiation and $3,940–$4,435 for delayed initiation. The cost/DALY averted of the early versus delayed start ranged from $260–$270. Conclusions In HIV-positive patients presenting with CD4 count between 250-350 cells/μl, immediate initiation of cART is a highly cost-effective strategy using the recommended one-time per capita GDP threshold of $490 reported for Uganda. This would constitute an efficient use of scarce health care funds.

  15. Fast-track, low-cost construction starts with the owner

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smock, R.

    1992-01-01

    As we approach the threshold of a new round of ordering of base load generating capacity after a 15-year hiatus, power pant owners are taking a long, hard look at construction. The last round of base load construction was plagued with construction cost overruns and delays. Billions of dollars in cost overruns, many attributable to construction delays, were not allowed to be placed in utilities' rate bases. Those problems will not be tolerated in the next round. During the past few years the construction climate has changed. Non-utility power producers have demonstrated and ability to build small power plants-including many steam plants burning solid fuels-quickly and at surprisingly low costs. In this paper the cost-plus approach traditionally taken by more utilities, who will lead in the base-load construction phase, is being seriously questioned

  16. Delayed otolaryngology referral for voice disorders increases health care costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Seth M; Kim, Jaewhan; Roy, Nelson; Courey, Mark

    2015-04-01

    Despite the accepted role of laryngoscopy in assessing patients with laryngeal/voice disorders, controversy surrounds its timing. This study sought to determine how increased time from first primary care to first otolaryngology outpatient visit affected the health care costs of patients with laryngeal/voice disorders. Retrospective analysis of a large, national administrative claims database was performed. Patients had an International Classification of Diseases, 9(th) Revision-coded diagnosis of a laryngeal/voice disorder; initially saw a primary care physician and, subsequently, an otolaryngologist as outpatients; and provided 6 months of follow-up data after the first otolaryngology evaluation. The outpatient health care costs accrued from the first primary care outpatient visit through the 6 months after the first otolaryngology outpatient visit were determined. There were 260,095 unique patients who saw a primary care physician as an outpatient for a laryngeal/voice disorder, with 8999 (3.5%) subsequently seeing an otolaryngologist and with 6 months postotolaryngology follow-up data. A generalized linear regression model revealed that, compared with patients who saw an otolaryngologist ≤1 month after the first primary care visit, patients in the >1-month and ≤3-months and >3-months time periods had relative mean cost increases of $271.34 (95% confidence interval $115.95-$426.73) and $711.38 (95% confidence interval $428.43-$993.34), respectively. Increased time from first primary care to first otolaryngology evaluation is associated with increased outpatient health care costs. Earlier otolaryngology examination may reduce health care expenditures in the evaluation and management of patients with laryngeal/voice disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Cost analysis of the US spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schneider, E.A.; Deinert, M.R. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin TX (United States); Cady, K.B. [Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Cornell University, Ithaca NY (United States)

    2009-09-15

    The US Department of Energy is actively seeking ways in which to delay or obviate the need for additional nuclear waste repositories beyond Yucca Mountain. All of the realistic approaches require the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. However, the US currently lacks the infrastructure to do this and the costs of building and operating the required facilities are poorly established. Recent studies have also suggested that there is a financial advantage to delaying the deployment of such facilities. We consider a system of government owned reprocessing plants, each with a 40 year service life, that would reprocess spent nuclear fuel generated between 2010 and 2100. Using published data for the component costs, and a social discount rate appropriate for intergenerational analyses, we establish the unit cost for reprocessing and show that it increases slightly if deployment of infrastructure is delayed by a decade. The analysis indicates that achieving higher spent fuel discharge burnup is the most important pathway to reducing the overall cost of reprocessing. The analysis also suggests that a nuclear power production fee would be a way for the US government to recover the costs in a manner that is relatively insensitive to discount and nuclear power growth rates. (author)

  18. The Stickiness of Selling, General, and Administrative Costs in the Indonesian Companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benny Armanto

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Selling, general and administration costs are the main components in the Income Statement. A large number of permanent staff in sales and marketing department will make the company dominated by the fixed costs. This fact could lead to sticky cost behavior. In addition, role of the manager can also cause the cost stickiness. When the company’s revenue decreases, manager may delay to decrease the cost or not even decrease cost at all. The objective of the study is to determine whether cost stickiness of selling, general and administrative in the Indonesian listed companies. This study applied log-linear data panel regression with 3605 firm years that is listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI from 1993 – 2013. This study finds that selling, general, and administrative costs are sticky only for the manufacturing companies. Furthermore, the results show that adjustment of sales, general, and administrative costs delayed by the manager when revenue decreases, yet the cost stickiness will be reduced in the next period.

  19. Planning uncertainties, market risks and new environmental choices: Winning least cost planning combinations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Violette, D.; Lang, C.

    1990-01-01

    Utility demand and supply-side planners will face new challenges from environmental regulations. Under current proposals, every ton of pollutant will have a cost to utilities, not just the tons that put them over the allowable limit. Planners will have to account for these new costs. To do this, planners need to start tracking emissions implementation actions today, and begin strategies for future regulatory changes. Current legislative proposals include a tax on the carbon content of fuels to curb emissions of greenhouse gases and substantial reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. The important issue for planners is the flexible compliance requirements within these regulatory changes. The acid rain proposals, for example, include a market-based emissions trading system for emissions allowances. Whenever there is a competitive market, there are market risks, and potential winners and losers. Utilities need to be prepared to analyze and mitigate these risks. Integrated least cost planing is one way a utility will have to meet this challenge. Planning involves uncertainty and risk. The wide array of compliance choices create countless combinations of strategies for utilities to comply with the new emissions regulations. This paper discusses new compliance strategies, demand-side management (DSM) as a compliance strategy, solutions to DSM traps, and the compliance strategy game

  20. Demonstrating the cost effectiveness of an expert occupational and environmental health nurse: application of AAOHN's success tools. American Association of Occupational Health Nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, J A; Smith, P S

    2001-12-01

    According to DiBenedetto, "Occupational health nurses enhance and maximize the health, safety, and productivity of the domestic and global work force" (1999b). This project clearly defined the multiple roles and activities provided by an occupational and environmental health nurse and assistant, supported by a part time contract occupational health nurse. A well defined estimate of the personnel costs for each of these roles is helpful both in demonstrating current value and in future strategic planning for this department. The model highlighted both successes and a business cost savings opportunity for integrated disability management. The AAOHN's Success Tools (1998) were invaluable in launching the development of this cost effectiveness model. The three methods were selected from several tools of varying complexities offered. Collecting available data to develop these metrics required internal consultation with finance, human resources, and risk management, as well as communication with external health, safety, and environmental providers in the community. Benchmarks, surveys, and performance indicators can be found readily in the literature and online. The primary motivation for occupational and environmental health nurses to develop cost effectiveness analyses is to demonstrate the value and worth of their programs and services. However, it can be equally important to identify which services are not cost effective so knowledge and skills may be used in ways that continue to provide value to employers (AAOHN, 1996). As evidence based health care challenges the occupational health community to demonstrate business rationale and financial return on investment, occupational and environmental health nurses must meet that challenge if they are to define their preferred future (DiBenedetto, 2000).

  1. Potential Cost-effectiveness of Early Identification of Hospital-acquired Infection in Critically Ill Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsalik, Ephraim L; Li, Yanhong; Hudson, Lori L; Chu, Vivian H; Himmel, Tiffany; Limkakeng, Alex T; Katz, Jason N; Glickman, Seth W; McClain, Micah T; Welty-Wolf, Karen E; Fowler, Vance G; Ginsburg, Geoffrey S; Woods, Christopher W; Reed, Shelby D

    2016-03-01

    Limitations in methods for the rapid diagnosis of hospital-acquired infections often delay initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy. New diagnostic approaches offer potential clinical and cost-related improvements in the management of these infections. We developed a decision modeling framework to assess the potential cost-effectiveness of a rapid biomarker assay to identify hospital-acquired infection in high-risk patients earlier than standard diagnostic testing. The framework includes parameters representing rates of infection, rates of delayed appropriate therapy, and impact of delayed therapy on mortality, along with assumptions about diagnostic test characteristics and their impact on delayed therapy and length of stay. Parameter estimates were based on contemporary, published studies and supplemented with data from a four-site, observational, clinical study. Extensive sensitivity analyses were performed. The base-case analysis assumed 17.6% of ventilated patients and 11.2% of nonventilated patients develop hospital-acquired infection and that 28.7% of patients with hospital-acquired infection experience delays in appropriate antibiotic therapy with standard care. We assumed this percentage decreased by 50% (to 14.4%) among patients with true-positive results and increased by 50% (to 43.1%) among patients with false-negative results using a hypothetical biomarker assay. Cost of testing was set at $110/d. In the base-case analysis, among ventilated patients, daily diagnostic testing starting on admission reduced inpatient mortality from 12.3 to 11.9% and increased mean costs by $1,640 per patient, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $21,389 per life-year saved. Among nonventilated patients, inpatient mortality decreased from 7.3 to 7.1% and costs increased by $1,381 with diagnostic testing. The resulting incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $42,325 per life-year saved. Threshold analyses revealed the probabilities of developing

  2. A new model for deteriorating items with inflation under permissible delay in payments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R.P. Tripathi

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Inflation is an important factor influencing traditional economic order quality models. Marketing strategy depends on inflation due to public demand and availability of the materials. This paper presents an optimal inventory policy for deteriorating items using exponential demand rate under permissible delay in payments. Mathematical model has been derived under two cases: case I: cycle time is greater than or equal to permissible delay period, case II: cycle time is less than permissible delay period by considering holding cost as a function of time. Numerical examples and sensitivity analysis are given to reflect the numerical results. Mathematica software is used for finding optimal solutions.

  3. Identification of optimal inspection interval via delay-time concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Glauco Ricardo Simões Gomes

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an application of mathematical modeling aimed at managing maintenance based on the delay-time concept. The study scenario was the manufacturing sector of an industrial unit, which operates 24 hours a day in a continuous flow of production. The main idea was to use the concepts of this approach to determine the optimal time of preventive action by the maintenance department in order to ensure the greatest availability of equipment and facilities at appropriate maintenance costs. After a brief introduction of the subject, the article presents topics that illustrate the importance of mathematical modeling in maintenance management and the delay-time concept. It also describes the characteristics of the company where the study was conducted, as well as the data related to the production process and maintenance actions. Finally, the results obtained after applying the delay-time concept are presented and discussed, as well as the limitations of the article and the proposals for future research.

  4. Delay Tolerance in Underwater Wireless Communications: A Routing Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Safdar Hussain Bouk

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Similar to terrestrial networks, underwater wireless networks (UWNs also aid several critical tasks including coastal surveillance, underwater pollution detection, and other maritime applications. Currently, once underwater sensor nodes are deployed at different levels of the sea, it is nearly impossible or very expensive to reconfigure the hardware, for example, battery. Taking this issue into account, considerable amount of research has been carried out to ensure minimum energy costs and reliable communication between underwater nodes and base stations. As a result, several different network protocols were proposed for UWN, including MAC, PHY, transport, and routing. Recently, a new paradigm was introduced claiming that the intermittent nature of acoustic channel and signal resulted in designing delay tolerant routing schemes for the UWN, known as an underwater delay tolerant network. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey of underwater routing protocols with emphasis on the limitations, challenges, and future open issues in the context of delay tolerant network routing.

  5. Environmental policy (Republic of Macedonia)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    With a defined set of policy goals, policy makers face an important decision on how and at what cost to the economy environmental compliance can be achieved. The costs of environmental compliance for Macedonia are still to be determined. However, environmental cost estimates, even those done with the highest degree of precision will not provide the actual burden that the society will face. The level of actual costs and their distribution in the economy will depend on the type of instruments that will be used by policy makers. In general, there are two policy options to be considered, namely command and control which relies on administrative instruments and market based which uses economic instrument. The command and control based environmental policy requires that ambient standards, emission standards and new source performance standards are in place, together with a permitting system and compliance monitoring to ensure enforcement. A market based environmental policy aims at achieving higher levels of environmental quality by correcting the imperfections of the market. This is done by what is called internalizing negative environmental externalities. In simple words, polluters are forced to pay a pollution charge or a tax and include the costs of pollution in the costs of production and finally in the prices of goods. (author)

  6. Cost of supplying energy from New Zealand resources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Norman, Robert G.

    1977-10-15

    The kinds of costs which face the community when a power project is promoted are broadly discussed. Sometimes, costs such as social, economic, and environmental impacts do not appear often in budgetary form. The growth of public participation is discussed. Components (investigation costs, development costs, distribution costs, social costs, environmental costs, etc.) which contribute to the cost of energy production and supply are examined in some detail.

  7. Costing systems design for sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihaela TURTUREA

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to present an overall image of the way Accounting responds to nowadays user’s needs in relation to the quantification of the impact companies have towards the environment. Regarding this, there have been analyzed concepts like sustainable development, environmental accounting, environmental costs and there have been presented the main progress towards environmental cost identification and measurement from the perspective of Activity Based Costing system. To provide an overall image of this concepts, there have been used as research methodology methods the documentation from literature review, analysis, synthesis and comparison.

  8. A longitudinal cohort study of the relationship between Thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccination and specific delays in development in the United States: Assessment of attributable risk and lifetime care costs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David A. Geier

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Epidemiological evidence suggests a link between mercury (Hg exposure from Thimerosal-containing vaccines and specific delays in development. A hypothesis-testing longitudinal cohort study (n = 49,835 using medical records in the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between exposure to Hg from Thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccines (T-HBVs administered at specific intervals in the first 6 months of life and specific delays in development [International Classification of Disease, 9th revision (ICD-9: 315.xx] among children born between 1991 and 1994 and continuously enrolled from birth for at least 5.81 years. Infants receiving increased Hg doses from T-HBVs administered within the first month, the first 2 months, and the first 6 months of life were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with specific delays in development than infants receiving no Hg doses from T-HBVs. During the decade in which T-HBVs were routinely recommended and administered to US infants (1991–2001, an estimated 0.5–1 million additional US children were diagnosed with specific delays in development as a consequence of 25 μg or 37.5 μg organic Hg from T-HBVs administered within the first 6 months of life. The resulting lifetime costs to the United States may exceed $1 trillion.

  9. Risk information in support of cost estimates for the Baseline Environmental Management Report (BEMR). Section 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gelston, G.M.; Jarvis, M.F.; Warren, B.R.; Von Berg, R.

    1995-06-01

    The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL)(1) effort on the overall Baseline Environmental Management Report (BEMR) project consists of four installation-specific work components performed in succession. These components include (1) development of source terms, 92) collection of data and preparation of environmental settings reports, (3) calculation of unit risk factors, and (4) utilization of the unit risk factors in Automated Remedial Action Methodology (ARAM) for computation of target concentrations and cost estimates. This report documents work completed for the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, for components 2 and 3. The product of this phase of the BEMR project is the development of unit factors (i.e., unit transport factors, unit exposure factors, and unit risk factors). Thousands of these unit factors are gene rated and fill approximately one megabyte of computer information per installation. The final unit risk factors (URF) are transmitted electronically to BEMR-Cost task personnel as input to a computer program (ARAM). Abstracted files and exhibits of the URF information are included in this report. These visual formats are intended to provide a sample of the final task deliverable (the URF files) which can be easily read without a computer

  10. Environmental assessment process needs and future directions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gustafson, P.F.

    1985-01-01

    The environmental assessment process as legislatively mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) constitutes a double-edged sword as regards the successful management and disposal of radioactive waste. On the one hand, NEPA requires identification and disclosure of the environmental and societal consequences of a given major federal action, consideration of alternatives and/or mitigative measures leading to the same end result, a balancing of costs and benefits, and provides for and encourages public participation in the decision-making process regarding the proposed action(s). On the other hand, public participation supported by judicial decisions, based more upon procedural than substantive issues, may delay, alter, or indeed prohibit a proposed course of action. If the cognizant federal agencies (DOE and NRC in the radioactive waste area) comply with both the spirit and the letter of NEPA a framework for the successful management of radioactive wastes on all types can be developed. If however, these agencies are less than earnest in their NEPA compliance actions or if public opposition is backed by overzealous court action, any radioactive waste management/disposal action (however technically sound) can be hoisted upon a petard from which it may not be freed until well into the next century.

  11. Environmental assessment process needs and future directions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gustafson, P.F.

    1985-01-01

    The environmental assessment process as legislatively mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) constitutes a double-edged sword as regards the successful management and disposal of radioactive waste. On the one hand, NEPA requires identification and disclosure of the environmental and societal consequences of a given major federal action, consideration of alternatives and/or mitigative measures leading to the same end result, a balancing of costs and benefits, and provides for and encourages public participation in the decision-making process regarding the proposed action(s). On the other hand, public participation supported by judicial decisions, based more upon procedural than substantive issues, may delay, alter, or indeed prohibit a proposed course of action. If the cognizant federal agencies (DOE and NRC in the radioactive waste area) comply with both the spirit and the letter of NEPA a framework for the successful management of radioactive wastes on all types can be developed. If however, these agencies are less than earnest in their NEPA compliance actions or if public opposition is backed by overzealous court action, any radioactive waste management/disposal action (however technically sound) can be hoisted upon a petard from which it may not be freed until well into the next century

  12. The 'Environmental Manual for Power Development': a tool for GHG mitigation and cost analysis in developing countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fritsche, Uwe R. [Oeko-Institut, Energy Div., Darmstadt (Germany); Liptow, Holger [Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ), Climate Change Programme, Eschborn (Germany)

    1999-07-01

    The Environmental Manual for Power Development (EM) is a computerised tool to include environmental and cost data into the decision-making for energy projects in developing countries. The EM is sponsored by German BMZ (Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development), Dutch DGIS (Directorate General for International Co-operation), British DfID (Department for International Development), and the World Bank. The EM was developed by GTZ with scientific support from Oeko-Institut (Institute for applied ecology). The EM tracks down the emissions and costs of e.g. the existing power supply system in a country, region, or of a specific energy project, and compares those to alternative options to deliver the same energy service, e.g. electricity, or process heat, or transport services. To do so, the EM maintains a comprehensive database on environmental and cost impacts of energy technologies, and determines environmental impacts for life-cycles: All impacts from mining, transport, conversion etc. can be accounted for. To consistently handle all life-cycles, the EM database offers a variety of pre-defined fuel-and life-cycles to work with. The Em database covers generic energy technologies in developing countries, especially fossil-fueled electricity and heating systems, cogeneration, renewable energies, selected energy efficiency technologies, nuclear power systems, as well as data for upstream activities like mining, fuel benefication, transport, and emission control technologies like flue-gas desulfurisation, low-NO{sub x} burners, etc. The EM analyses and compares airborne and greenhouse gas emissions, solid wastes, and land use, as well as internal and external costs associated with investment and operation of energy technologies, including their life-cycle (upstream fuel-cycles, materials). The Em helps to check the compliance of energy processes with given emission standards - its database offers such standard for various countries and regions, and users can

  13. Calculation of economic viability of alternative energy sources considering its environmental costs for small communities of Northeast Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stecher, Luiza Chourkalo

    2014-01-01

    There has been an increasing concern about current environmental issues caused by human activity, as the world searches for development. The production of electricity is an extremely relevant factor in this scenario since it is responsible for a large portion of the emissions that cause the greenhouse effect. Due to this fact, a sustainable development with alternative energy sources, which are attractive for such purpose, must be proposed, especially in places that are not supplied by the conventional electricity grid such as many communities in the Northeast Brazil. This work aims to calculate the environmental cost for the alternative sources of energy - solar, wind and biomass - during electricity generation, and to estimate the economic feasibility of those sources in small communities of Northeast Brazil, considering the avoided costs. The externalities must be properly identified and valued so the costs or benefits can be internalized and reflect accurately the economic feasibility or infeasibility of those sources. For this, the method of avoided costs was adopted for the calculation of externalities. This variable was included in the equation developed for all considered alternative energy sources. The calculations of economic feasibility were performed taking the new configurations in consideration, and the new equation was reprogrammed in the Programa de Calculo de Custos de Energias Alternativas, Solar, Eolica e Biomassa (PEASEB). The results demonstrated that the solar photovoltaic energy in isolated systems is the most feasible and broadly applicable source for small communities of Northeast Brazil. (author)

  14. Towards a personalized environmental health information service using low-cost sensors and crowdsourcing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castell, Nuria; Liu, Hai-Ying; Schneider, Philipp; Cole-Hunter, Tom; Lahoz, William; Bartonova, Alena

    2015-04-01

    Most European cities exceed the air quality guidelines established by the WHO to protect human health. As such, citizens are exposed to potentially harmful pollutant levels. Some cities have services (e.g., web pages, mobile apps, etc.) which provide timely air quality information to the public. However, air quality data at individual level is currently scarce or non-existent. Making this information directly useful to individuals poses a challenge. For instance, if a user is informed that the air quality is "poor", what does that mean for him/her, and how can this information be acted upon? Despite individuals having a unique relationship with their environment, the information on the state of atmospheric components and related hazards is currently mostly generic, and seldom personally relevant. This undermines citizens' interest in their environment, and consequently limits their ability to recognize and change both their contribution and their exposure to air pollution. In Oslo, two EU founded projects, CITI-SENSE (Engelken-Jorge et al., 2014) and Citi-Sense-MOB (Castell et al., 2014), are trying to establish a dialogue with citizens by providing them with the possibility of getting personalized air quality information on their smartphones. The users are able to check the air quality in their immediate surroundings and track their individual exposure while moving through the urban environment (Castell et al., 2014). In this way, they may be able to reduce their exposure such as by changing transport modes or routes, for example by selecting less polluted streets to walk or cycle through. Using a smartphone application, citizens are engaged in collecting and sharing environmental data generated by low-cost air quality sensors, and in reporting their individual perception (turning citizens into sensors themselves). The highly spatially resolved data on air quality and perception is geo-located. This allows for simultaneous visualization of both kinds of the sensor

  15. Adaptive developmental delay in Chagas disease vectors: an evolutionary ecology approach.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frédéric Menu

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available The developmental time of vector insects is important in population dynamics, evolutionary biology, epidemiology and in their responses to global climatic change. In the triatomines (Triatominae, Reduviidae, vectors of Chagas disease, evolutionary ecology concepts, which may allow for a better understanding of their biology, have not been applied. Despite delay in the molting in some individuals observed in triatomines, no effort was made to explain this variability.We applied four methods: (1 an e-mail survey sent to 30 researchers with experience in triatomines, (2 a statistical description of the developmental time of eleven triatomine species, (3 a relationship between development time pattern and climatic inter-annual variability, (4 a mathematical optimization model of evolution of developmental delay (diapause.85.6% of responses informed on prolonged developmental times in 5(th instar nymphs, with 20 species identified with remarkable developmental delays. The developmental time analysis showed some degree of bi-modal pattern of the development time of the 5(th instars in nine out of eleven species but no trend between development time pattern and climatic inter-annual variability was observed. Our optimization model predicts that the developmental delays could be due to an adaptive risk-spreading diapause strategy, only if survival throughout the diapause period and the probability of random occurrence of "bad" environmental conditions are sufficiently high.Developmental delay may not be a simple non-adaptive phenotypic plasticity in development time, and could be a form of adaptive diapause associated to a physiological mechanism related to the postponement of the initiation of reproduction, as an adaptation to environmental stochasticity through a spreading of risk (bet-hedging strategy. We identify a series of parameters that can be measured in the field and laboratory to test this hypothesis. The importance of these findings is

  16. Developmental exposure to an environmental PCB mixture delays the propagation of electrical kindling from the amygdala.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandara, Suren B; Sadowski, Renee N; Schantz, Susan L; Gilbert, Mary E

    2017-01-01

    Developmental PCB exposure impairs hearing and induces brainstem audiogenic seizures in adult offspring. The degree to which this enhanced susceptibility to seizure is manifest in other brain regions has not been examined. Thus, electrical kindling of the amygdala was used to evaluate the effect of developmental exposure to an environmentally relevant PCB mixture on seizure susceptibility in the rat. Female Long-Evans rats were dosed orally with 0 or 6mg/kg/day of the PCB mixture dissolved in corn oil vehicle 4 weeks prior to mating and continued through gestation and up until postnatal day (PND) 21. On PND 21, pups were weaned, and two males from each litter were randomly selected for the kindling study. As adults, the male rats were implanted bilaterally with electrodes in the basolateral amygdala. For each animal, afterdischarge (AD) thresholds in the amygdala were determined on the first day of testing followed by once daily stimulation at a standard 200μA stimulus intensity until three stage 5 generalized seizures (GS) ensued. Developmental PCB exposure did not affect the AD threshold or total cumulative AD duration, but PCB exposure did increase the latency to behavioral manifestations of seizure propagation. PCB exposed animals required significantly more stimulations to reach stage 2 seizures compared to control animals, indicating attenuated focal (amygdala) excitability. A delay in kindling progression in the amygdala stands in contrast to our previous finding of increased susceptibility to brainstem-mediated audiogenic seizures in PCB-exposed animals in response to a an intense auditory stimulus. These seemingly divergent results are not unexpected given the distinct source, type, and mechanistic underpinnings of these different seizure models. A delay in epileptogenesis following focal amygdala stimulation may reflect a decrease in neuroplasticity following developmental PCB exposure consistent with reductions in use-dependent synaptic plasticity that

  17. Awareness of external costs - helps to improve environmental protection. The methodological convention for estimates of environmental externalities: the energy and transport sectors as examples; Externe Kosten kennen - Umwelt besser schuetzen. Die Methodenkonvention zur Schaetzung externer Kosten am Beispiel Energie und Verkehr

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2007-04-15

    Today, environmental policy has to face economic considerations more than in former times. By means of an economic valuation of environmental damage, it is possible to estimate the economic utility of environmental policy measures. This is important because today's environmental policy prevents tomorrow's environmental damage. At present, there is no other field where this fact has become as obvious as in climate policy. All recent publications have provided evidence that climate protection is worthwhile because the costs of climate protection measures are lower than those resulting from inactivity. Economic valuation means to weigh a number of choices and targets against each other. Valuation requires value judgements. How to define a damage event? How to weigh different goods which deserve protection against each other and damage occurring today against that occurring in the future? How to deal with uncertainty with regard to future returns and risks? These are only a few of the problems depending on value judgements that we have to face. This applies in general and not only in economic valuation. The Methodological Convention elaborated by the Federal Environment Agency addresses these problems. It has been the intention of the authors to explain and substantiate their value judgements and the criteria underlying the valuation of environmental damage (as well as that of environmental damage that has been avoided). Thus, the Federal Environment Agency wishes to make a contribution to transparency and consistency of decision-making in environmental policy. The principles of valuation suggested may be used for example to substantiate cost rates for external costs incurred by energy production and transport. The exemplary calculations have demonstrated that the internalization of environmental costs has been achieved in part only. Policy makers may choose different ways to gradually improve this situation. Internalization does not necessarily mean that

  18. BCDP: Budget Constrained and Delay-Bounded Placement for Hybrid Roadside Units in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Li

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In vehicular ad hoc networks, roadside units (RSUs placement has been proposed to improve the the overall network performance in many ITS applications. This paper addresses the budget constrained and delay-bounded placement problem (BCDP for roadside units in vehicular ad hoc networks. There are two types of RSUs: cable connected RSU (c-RSU and wireless RSU (w-RSU. c-RSUs are interconnected through wired lines, and they form the backbone of VANETs, while w-RSUs connect to other RSUs through wireless communication and serve as an economical extension of the coverage of c-RSUs. The delay-bounded coverage range and deployment cost of these two cases are totally different. We are given a budget constraint and a delay bound, the problem is how to find the optimal candidate sites with the maximal delay-bounded coverage to place RSUs such that a message from any c-RSU in the region can be disseminated to the more vehicles within the given budget constraint and delay bound. We first prove that the BCDP problem is NP-hard. Then we propose several algorithms to solve the BCDP problem. Simulation results show the heuristic algorithms can significantly improve the coverage range and reduce the total deployment cost, compared with other heuristic methods.

  19. MRS/IS facility co-located with a repository: preconceptual design and life-cycle cost estimates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, R.I.; Nesbitt, J.F.

    1982-11-01

    A program is described to examine the various alternatives for monitored retrievable storage (MRS) and interim storage (IS) of spent nuclear fuel, solidified high-level waste (HLW), and transuranic (TRU) waste until appropriate geologic repository/repositories are available. The objectives of this study are: (1) to develop a preconceptual design for an MRS/IS facility that would become the principal surface facility for a deep geologic repository when the repository is opened, (2) to examine various issues such as transportation of wastes, licensing of the facility, and environmental concerns associated with operation of such a facility, and (3) to estimate the life cycle costs of the facility when operated in response to a set of scenarios which define the quantities and types of waste requiring storage in specific time periods, which generally span the years from 1990 until 2016. The life cycle costs estimated in this study include: the capital expenditures for structures, casks and/or drywells, storage areas and pads, and transfer equipment; the cost of staff labor, supplies, and services; and the incremental cost of transporting the waste materials from the site of origin to the MRS/IS facility. Three scenarios are examined to develop estimates of life cycle costs of the MRS/IS facility. In the first scenario, HLW canisters are stored, starting in 1990, until the co-located repository is opened in the year 1998. Additional reprocessing plants and repositories are placed in service at various intervals. In the second scenario, spent fuel is stored, starting in 1990, because the reprocessing plants are delayed in starting operations by 10 years, but no HLW is stored because the repositories open on schedule. In the third scenario, HLW is stored, starting in 1990, because the repositories are delayed 10 years, but the reprocessing plants open on schedule

  20. Analysis and control of issues that delay pharmaceutical projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nallam Sai Nandeswara Rao

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Every project will have certain objectives and service levels to be achieved. The success of a project depends on several dimensions like time, cost/budget, quality, etc. and managing a project involves completing the project within time, within budget and with quality to satisfy the users. Because of the significance of health, pharmaceutical companies realized the importance of project management methods and techniques to make available the life saving drugs in time to the needy patients and hospitals. In literature, there is meager information about pharmaceutical project management oriented towards analysis of issues and factors that contribute to the failure or success of projects. This study attempts to analyse different issues that contribute to time delays in pharmaceutical product-based projects, group them under a finite set of prominent factors and identify remedial measures to control those delays. The feedback of project people of some big pharmaceutical firms of Indian sub-continent was collected for this purpose. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA has been used to reduce the reasons for time delays to a limited number of prominent factors and the EFA model has been further examined by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA for its validation. Remedial measures under each factor of time delays have been gathered and a framework designed to mitigate the time delays in pharmaceutical projects. The derived factors that delay the pharmaceutical projects include resource, monitoring & control, scheduling and planning problems. Important remedial measures like blended resource approach, estimation and forecast of shortage of labour and skills, regular quality training, etc. have been recommended.

  1. South Korean energy scenarios show how nuclear power can reduce future energy and environmental costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong, Sanghyun; Bradshaw, Corey J.A.; Brook, Barry W.

    2014-01-01

    South Korea is an important case study for understanding the future role of nuclear power in countries with on-going economic growth, and limited renewable energy resources. We compared quantitatively the sustainability of two ‘future-mapping’ exercises (the ‘Governmental’ scenario, which relies on fossil fuels, and the Greenpeace scenario, which emphasises renewable energy and excludes nuclear power). The comparison was based on a range of environmental and technological perspectives, and contrasted against two additional nuclear scenarios that instead envisage a dominant role for nuclear energy. Sustainability metrics included energy costs, external costs (greenhouse-gas emissions, air pollutants, land transformation, water consumption and discharge, and safety) and additional costs. The nuclear-centred scenarios yielded the lowest total cost per unit of final energy consumption by 2050 ($14.37 GJ −1 ), whereas the Greenpeace scenario has the highest ($25.36 GJ −1 ). We used probabilistic simulations based on multi-factor distributional sampling of impact and cost metrics to estimate the overlapping likelihoods among scenarios to understand the effect of parameter uncertainty on the integrated recommendations. Our simulation modelling implies that, despite inherent uncertainties, pursuing a large-scale expansion of nuclear-power capacity offers the most sustainable pathway for South Korea, and that adopting a nuclear-free pathway will be more costly and produce more greenhouse-gas emissions. - Highlights: • Nuclear power has a key role to play in mitigating greenhouse-gas emissions. • The Greenpeace scenario has higher total external cost than the nuclear scenarios. • The nuclear-centred scenarios offer the most sustainable option for South Korea. • The similar conclusions are likely to apply to other Asian countries

  2. Environmental procedures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    The European Bank has pledged in its Agreement to place environmental management at the forefront of its operations to promote sustainable economic development in central and eastern Europe. The Bank's environmental policy is set out in the document titled, Environmental Management: The Bank's Policy Approach. This document, Environmental Procedures, presents the procedures which the European Bank has adopted to implement this policy approach with respect to its operations. The environmental procedures aim to: ensure that throughout the project approval process, those in positions of responsibility for approving projects are aware of the environmental implications of the project, and can take these into account when making decisions; avoid potential liabilities that could undermine the success of a project for its sponsors and the Bank; ensure that environmental costs are estimated along with other costs and liabilities; and identify opportunities for environmental enhancement associated with projects. The review of environmental aspects of projects is conducted by many Bank staff members throughout the project's life. This document defines the responsibilities of the people and groups involved in implementing the environmental procedures. Annexes contain Environmental Management: The Bank's Policy Approach, examples of environmental documentation for the project file and other ancillary information

  3. Fuzzy delay model based fault simulator for crosstalk delay fault test ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    In this paper, a fuzzy delay model based crosstalk delay fault simulator is proposed. As design trends move towards nanometer technologies, more number of new parameters affects the delay of the component. Fuzzy delay models are ideal for modelling the uncertainty found in the design and manufacturing steps.

  4. Parametric Analysis of the Exergoeconomic Operation Costs, Environmental and Human Toxicity Indexes of the MF501F3 Gas Turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edgar Vicente Torres-González

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This work presents an energetic, exergoeconomic, environmental, and toxicity analysis of the simple gas turbine M501F3 based on a parametric analysis of energetic (thermal efficiency, fuel and air flow rates, and specific work output, exergoeconomic (exergetic efficiency and exergoeconomic operation costs, environmental (global warming, smog formation, acid rain indexes, and human toxicity indexes, by taking the compressor pressure ratio and the turbine inlet temperature as the operating parameters. The aim of this paper is to provide an integral, systematic, and powerful diagnostic tool to establish possible operation and maintenance actions to improve the gas turbine’s exergoeconomic, environmental, and human toxicity indexes. Despite the continuous changes in the price of natural gas, the compressor, combustion chamber, and turbine always contribute 18.96%, 53.02%, and 28%, respectively, to the gas turbine’s exergoeconomic operation costs. The application of this methodology can be extended to other simple gas turbines using the pressure drops and isentropic efficiencies, among others, as the degradation parameters, as well as to other energetic systems, without loss of generality.

  5. Environmental change and hedonic cost functions for automobiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry, S; Kortum, S; Pakes, A

    1996-11-12

    This paper focuses on how changes in the economic and regulatory environment have affected production costs and product characteristics in the automobile industry. We estimate "hedonic cost functions" that relate product-level costs to their characteristics. Then we examine how this cost surface has changed over time and how these changes relate to changes in gas prices and in emission standard regulations. We also briefly consider the related questions of how changes in automobile characteristics, and in the rate of patenting, are related to regulations and gas prices.

  6. Environmental change and hedonic cost functions for automobiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry, Steven; Kortum, Samuel; Pakes, Ariel

    1996-01-01

    This paper focuses on how changes in the economic and regulatory environment have affected production costs and product characteristics in the automobile industry. We estimate “hedonic cost functions” that relate product-level costs to their characteristics. Then we examine how this cost surface has changed over time and how these changes relate to changes in gas prices and in emission standard regulations. We also briefly consider the related questions of how changes in automobile characteristics, and in the rate of patenting, are related to regulations and gas prices. PMID:8917486

  7. Cost-Effective and Environmentally Safe Corrosion Prevention for 2nd Marine Air Wing Support Equipment Using Desiccant Wheel Dehumidification (DEW)

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    McCarthy, David

    1994-01-01

    ...: change the material, coat its surface or keep the item dry. In an effort to reduce the cost and environmental impact of maintaining contingency support equipment, the 2nd Marine Air Wing (2nd MAW...

  8. Start time delays in operating room: Different perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Babita Gupta

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Healthcare expenditure is a serious concern, with escalating costs failing to meet the expectations of quality care. The treatment capacities are limited in a hospital setting and the operating rooms (ORs. Their optimal utilization is vital in efficient hospital management. Starting late means considerable wait time for staff, patients and waste of resources. We planned an audit to assess different perspectives of the residents in surgical specialities and anesthesia and OR staff nurses so as to know the causative factors of operative delay. This can help develop a practical model to decrease start time delays in operating room (ORs. Aims: An audit to assess different perspectives of the Operating room (OR staff with respect to the varied causative factors of operative delay in the OR. To aid in the development of a practical model to decrease start time delays in ORs and facilitate on-time starts at Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma centre (JPNATC, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS, New Delhi. Methods: We prepared a questionnaire seeking the five main reasons of delay as per their perspective. Results: The available data was analysed. Analysis of the data demonstrated the common causative factors in start time operative delays as: a lack of proper planning, deficiencies in team work, communication gap and limited availability of trained supporting staff. Conclusions: The preparation of the equipment and required material for the OR cases must be done well in advance. Utilization of newer technology enables timely booking and scheduling of cases. Improved inter-departmental coordination and compliance with preanesthetic instructions needs to be ensured. It is essential that the anesthesiologists perform their work promptly, well in time . and supervise the proceedings as the OR manager. This audit is a step forward in defining the need of effective OR planning for continuous quality improvement.

  9. Environmental costs of a river watershed within the European water framework directive: Results from physical hydronomics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinez, A.; Uche, J.; Valero, A.; Valero-Delgado, A.

    2010-01-01

    Physical hydronomics (PH) is the specific application of thermodynamics that physically characterizes the governance of water bodies, i.e., the Water Framework Directive (WFD) for European Union citizens. In this paper, calculation procedures for the exergy analysis of river basins are developed within the WFD guidelines and a case study is developed. Therefore, it serves as an example for the feasible application of PH in the environmental cost assessment of water bodies, accordingly to the principle of recovery of the costs related to water services in accordance with the polluter pays principle, one of the milestones of the WFD. The Foix River watershed, a small river located at the Inland Basins of Catalonia (IBC), has been analyzed. Main results, difficulties, and constraints encountered are shown in the paper. Following WFD's quantity and quality objectives previously defined, water costs are calculated and the equivalence between the exergy loss due to water users and the exergy variation along the river are also analyzed.

  10. Defining the Costs of Reusable Flexible Ureteroscope Reprocessing Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isaacson, Dylan; Ahmad, Tessnim; Metzler, Ian; Tzou, David T; Taguchi, Kazumi; Usawachintachit, Manint; Zetumer, Samuel; Sherer, Benjamin; Stoller, Marshall; Chi, Thomas

    2017-10-01

    Careful decontamination and sterilization of reusable flexible ureteroscopes used in ureterorenoscopy cases prevent the spread of infectious pathogens to patients and technicians. However, inefficient reprocessing and unavailability of ureteroscopes sent out for repair can contribute to expensive operating room (OR) delays. Time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) was applied to describe the time and costs involved in reprocessing. Direct observation and timing were performed for all steps in reprocessing of reusable flexible ureteroscopes following operative procedures. Estimated times needed for each step by which damaged ureteroscopes identified during reprocessing are sent for repair were characterized through interviews with purchasing analyst staff. Process maps were created for reprocessing and repair detailing individual step times and their variances. Cost data for labor and disposables used were applied to calculate per minute and average step costs. Ten ureteroscopes were followed through reprocessing. Process mapping for ureteroscope reprocessing averaged 229.0 ± 74.4 minutes, whereas sending a ureteroscope for repair required an estimated 143 minutes per repair. Most steps demonstrated low variance between timed observations. Ureteroscope drying was the longest and highest variance step at 126.5 ± 55.7 minutes and was highly dependent on manual air flushing through the ureteroscope working channel and ureteroscope positioning in the drying cabinet. Total costs for reprocessing totaled $96.13 per episode, including the cost of labor and disposable items. Utilizing TDABC delineates the full spectrum of costs associated with ureteroscope reprocessing and identifies areas for process improvement to drive value-based care. At our institution, ureteroscope drying was one clearly identified target area. Implementing training in ureteroscope drying technique could save up to 2 hours per reprocessing event, potentially preventing expensive OR delays.

  11. Leveraging delay discounting for health: Can time delays influence food choice?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Appelhans, Bradley M; French, Simone A; Olinger, Tamara; Bogucki, Michael; Janssen, Imke; Avery-Mamer, Elizabeth F; Powell, Lisa M

    2018-03-15

    Delay discounting, the tendency to choose smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards, is theorized to promote consumption of immediately rewarding but unhealthy foods at the expense of long-term weight maintenance and nutritional health. An untested implication of delay discounting models of decision-making is that selectively delaying access to less healthy foods may promote selection of healthier (immediately available) alternatives, even if they may be less desirable. The current study tested this hypothesis by measuring healthy versus regular vending machine snack purchasing before and during the implementation of a 25-s time delay on the delivery of regular snacks. Purchasing was also examined under a $0.25 discount on healthy snacks, a $0.25 tax on regular snacks, and the combination of both pricing interventions with the 25-s time delay. Across 32,019 vending sales from three separate vending locations, the 25-s time delay increased healthy snack purchasing from 40.1% to 42.5%, which was comparable to the impact of a $0.25 discount (43.0%). Combining the delay and the discount had a roughly additive effect (46.0%). However, the strongest effects were seen under the $0.25 tax on regular snacks (53.7%) and the combination of the delay and the tax (50.2%). Intervention effects varied substantially between vending locations. Importantly, time delays did not harm overall vending sales or revenue, which is relevant to the real-world feasibility of this intervention. More investigation is needed to better understand how the impact of time delays on food choice varies across populations, evaluate the effects of time delays on beverage vending choices, and extend this approach to food choices in contexts other than vending machines. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02359916. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Emission and costs up to and including 2030 for the current environmental policy. Background information for the National Environmental Outlook 5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Wee, G.P.; Kuijpers-Linde, M.A.J.; Van Gerwen, O.J.

    2001-03-01

    Every four years the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) publishes an Environmental Outlook in preparation for the National Environmental Policy Plan (NEPP). The fifth National Environmental Outlook (NEOS) describes developments in the quality of the environment in the Netherlands for 2000-2030 against a background of developments on the European and global scales. The two macro-economic scenarios of the Netherlands Bureau for Economic and Policy Analysis (CPB) used are the European Coordination (EC) scenario and the Global Competition scenario (GC). Consequences for public health, nature and the human physical environment are also indicated. 'Fixed policy' scenarios are used in the Environmental Outlook for the Netherlands. In 'fixed policy' scenarios it is assumed that all policy measures agreed on by the year 2000 will be implemented, but no new measures taken. In this way the Outlook offers baseline scenarios that can be compared with targets and objectives to facilitate the development of new policy. The Fifth National Environmental Outlook was realised with the assistance of many other Dutch research institutes. This background document to NEOS presents estimated levels of energy use, emissions and costs of environmental measures for the 1995-2020 period. The main conclusions are: The environmental problems most difficult to tackle are climate change and noise nuisance. These problems are highly related to energy use and transportation; The policy as presented in the 'Uitvoeringsnota Klimaatbeleid', a document describing the Dutch Kyoto-related climate policy, results in a reduction of greenhouse gases of 15 Mton CO2 equivalents (GS scenario) with respect to the pre-Kyoto policy in 2010. To meet the Kyoto agreements a further reduction of approximately 45 Mton CO2 equivalents is needed. If policies in the 'Uitvoeringsnota Klimaatbeleid' are further instrumentalised and made concrete, an extra reduction of 10 Mton is possible

  13. Memory State Feedback RMPC for Multiple Time-Delayed Uncertain Linear Systems with Input Constraints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei-Wei Qin

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper focuses on the problem of asymptotic stabilization for a class of discrete-time multiple time-delayed uncertain linear systems with input constraints. Then, based on the predictive control principle of receding horizon optimization, a delayed state dependent quadratic function is considered for incorporating MPC problem formulation. By developing a memory state feedback controller, the information of the delayed plant states can be taken into full consideration. The MPC problem is formulated to minimize the upper bound of infinite horizon cost that satisfies the sufficient conditions. Then, based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii function, a delay-dependent sufficient condition in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI can be derived to design a robust MPC algorithm. Finally, the digital simulation results prove availability of the proposed method.

  14. United States experience in environmental cost-benefit analysis for nuclear power plants with implications for developing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spangler, M.B.

    1980-08-01

    Environmental cost-benefit analysis in the United States involves a comparison of diverse societal impacts of the proposed developments and its alternatives. Regarding nuclear power plant licensing actions, such analyses include the need for base-load electrical generating capacity versus the no-action alternative; alternative sources of energy; alternative sites for the proposed nuclear plants; and alternative technologies for mitigating environmental impacts. Many U.S. experiences and environmental assessment practices and comparative resource requirements presented in this report will not provide a wholly reliable reflection of the precise situation of each country. Nevertheless, the procedural and substantive issues encountered by the United States in nuclear power plant licensing may exhibit a number of important, if rough, parallelisms for other countries. Procedural issues dealt with include: the scoping of alternatives and impact issues; the problem of balancing incommensurable impacts; and treating uncertainty in measuring or forecasting certain kinds of environmental impacts. Although substantive environmental impact issues will vary appreciably among nations, it is to be expected that many of the substantive impact issues such as impacts on biota, community-related effects, and aesthetic impacts will also have some measure of universal interest to other countries

  15. Representing delayed force feedback as a combination of current and delayed states.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avraham, Guy; Mawase, Firas; Karniel, Amir; Shmuelof, Lior; Donchin, Opher; Mussa-Ivaldi, Ferdinando A; Nisky, Ilana

    2017-10-01

    To adapt to deterministic force perturbations that depend on the current state of the hand, internal representations are formed to capture the relationships between forces experienced and motion. However, information from multiple modalities travels at different rates, resulting in intermodal delays that require compensation for these internal representations to develop. To understand how these delays are represented by the brain, we presented participants with delayed velocity-dependent force fields, i.e., forces that depend on hand velocity either 70 or 100 ms beforehand. We probed the internal representation of these delayed forces by examining the forces the participants applied to cope with the perturbations. The findings showed that for both delayed forces, the best model of internal representation consisted of a delayed velocity and current position and velocity. We show that participants relied initially on the current state, but with adaptation, the contribution of the delayed representation to adaptation increased. After adaptation, when the participants were asked to make movements with a higher velocity for which they had not previously experienced with the delayed force field, they applied forces that were consistent with current position and velocity as well as delayed velocity representations. This suggests that the sensorimotor system represents delayed force feedback using current and delayed state information and that it uses this representation when generalizing to faster movements. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The brain compensates for forces in the body and the environment to control movements, but it is unclear how it does so given the inherent delays in information transmission and processing. We examined how participants cope with delayed forces that depend on their arm velocity 70 or 100 ms beforehand. After adaptation, participants applied opposing forces that revealed a partially correct representation of the perturbation using the current and the

  16. CÁLCULO DO CUSTO DAS ATIVIDADES DE GESTÃO AMBIENTAL: APLICAÇÃO DO CUSTEIO BASEADO EM ATIVIDADES NUMA MONTADORA DE ÔNIBUS ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COST CALCULATION: ACTIVITY BASED COSTING APPLIED TO BUS ASSEMBLY PROCESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orlando Durán

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Este trabalho apresenta os resultados da aplicação da metodologia de custeio baseado em atividades para medir o impacto que as atividades de gestão ambiental podem ter no custo industrial dos produtos. Um estudo de caso é apresentado junto com a utilização de um software comercial para o cálculo dos custos.This manuscript presents an Activity Based Costing application in an environmental protection context. The aim of this work is measuring the impact of environmental management activities on product costs. Also, a case study is discussed and the utilization of commercial software is presented.

  17. Insights from a Systematic Search for Information on Designs, Costs, and Effectiveness of Poliovirus Environmental Surveillance Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duintjer Tebbens, Radboud J; Zimmermann, Marita; Pallansch, Mark A; Thompson, Kimberly M

    2017-12-01

    Poliovirus surveillance plays a critical role in achieving and certifying eradication and will play a key role in the polio endgame. Environmental surveillance can provide an opportunity to detect circulating polioviruses prior to the observation of any acute flaccid paralysis cases. We completed a systematic review of peer-reviewed publications on environmental surveillance for polio including the search terms "environmental surveillance" or "sewage," and "polio," "poliovirus," or "poliomyelitis," and compared characteristics of the resulting studies. The review included 146 studies representing 101 environmental surveillance activities from 48 countries published between 1975 and 2016. Studies reported taking samples from sewage treatment facilities, surface waters, and various other environmental sources, although they generally did not present sufficient details to thoroughly evaluate the sewage systems and catchment areas. When reported, catchment areas varied from 50 to over 7.3 million people (median of 500,000 for the 25% of activities that reported catchment areas, notably with 60% of the studies not reporting this information and 16% reporting insufficient information to estimate the catchment area population size). While numerous studies reported the ability of environmental surveillance to detect polioviruses in the absence of clinical cases, the review revealed very limited information about the costs and limited information to support quantitative population effectiveness of conducting environmental surveillance. This review motivates future studies to better characterize poliovirus environmental surveillance systems and the potential value of information that they may provide in the polio endgame.

  18. Use of one delayed-neutron precursor group in transient analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Diamond, D.J.

    1983-01-01

    In most reactor dynamics calculations six groups of delayed-neutron precursors are usually accounted for. However, under certain circumstances it may be advantageous to simplify the calculation and utilize a single delayed-neutron group. The motivation for going to one precursor group is economy. For LWR transient codes that use point kinetics the equations are solved very rapidly and six precursor groups should always be used. However, codes with spatially dependent neutron kinetics are very long running and the use of one precursor group may save computer costs and not impair the accuracy of the results significantly. Furthermore, in some codes, the elimation of five presursor groups makes additional memory available which may be used to give a net increase in the accuracy of the calculations, e.g., by allowing for an increase in mesh density. In order to use one delayed neutron precursor group it is necessary to derive a single decay constant, 6 lambda-, which, along with the total (or one group) delayed neutron fraction β = Σ/sub i = 1/β/sub i/, will adequately describe the transeint precursor behavior. The present summary explains how a recommendation for lambda- was derived

  19. RCRA Part B permit modifications for cost savings and increased flexibility at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jierree, C.; Ticknor, K.

    1996-10-01

    With shrinking budgets and downsizing, a need for streamlined compliance initiatives became evident at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS). Therefore, Rocky Mountain Remediation Services (RMRS) at the RFETS successfully and quickly modified the RFETS RCRA Part B Permit to obtain significant cost savings and increased flexibility. This 'was accomplished by requesting operations personnel to suggest changes to the Part B Permit which did not diminish overall compliance and which would be most. cost beneficial. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) subsequently obtained approval of those changes from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE)

  20. Fundamentals of Delayed Coking Joint Industry Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Michael Volk Jr; Keith Wisecarver

    2005-10-01

    Delayed coking evolved steadily over the early to mid 1900s to enable refiners to convert high boiling, residual petroleum fractions to light products such as gasoline. Pound for pound, coking is the most energy intensive of any operation in a modern refinery. Large amounts of energy are required to heat the thick, poor-quality petroleum residuum to the 900 to 950 degrees F required to crack the heavy hydrocarbon molecules into lighter, more valuable products. One common misconception of delayed coking is that the product coke is a disadvantage. Although coke is a low valued (near zero economic value) byproduct, compared to transportation fuels, there is a significant worldwide trade and demand for coke as it is an economical fuel. Coke production has increased steadily over the last ten years, with further increases forecast for the foreseeable future. Current domestic production is near 111,000 tons per day. A major driving force behind this increase is the steady decline in crude quality available to refiners. Crude slates are expected to grow heavier with higher sulfur contents while environmental restrictions are expected to significantly reduce the demand for high-sulfur residual fuel oil. Light sweet crudes will continue to be available and in even greater demand than they are today. Refiners will be faced with the choice of purchasing light sweet crudes at a premium price, or adding bottom of the barrel upgrading capability, through additional new investments, to reduce the production of high-sulfur residual fuel oil and increase the production of low-sulfur distillate fuels. A second disadvantage is that liquid products from cokers frequently are unstable, i.e., they rapidly form gum and sediments. Because of intermediate investment and operating costs, delayed coking has increased in popularity among refiners worldwide. Based on the 2000 Worldwide Refining Survey published in the Oil and Gas, the delayed coking capacity for 101 refineries around the world

  1. Asymptotic Delay Analysis for Cross-Layer Delay-Based Routing in Ad Hoc Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philippe Jacquet

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the problem of the evaluation of the delay distribution via analytical means in IEEE 802.11 wireless ad hoc networks. We show that the asymptotic delay distribution can be expressed as a power law. Based on the latter result, we present a cross-layer delay estimation protocol and we derive new delay-distribution-based routing algorithms, which are well adapted to the QoS requirements of real-time multimedia applications. In fact, multimedia services are not sensitive to average delays, but rather to the asymptotic delay distributions. Indeed, video streaming applications drop frames when they are received beyond a delay threshold, determined by the buffer size. Although delay-distribution-based routing is an NP-hard problem, we show that it can be solved in polynomial time when the delay threshold is large, because of the asymptotic power law distribution of the link delays.

  2. Cost-benefit evaluation of a decentralized water system for wastewater reuse and environmental protection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, R; Wang, X C

    2009-01-01

    This paper proposed a net benefit value (NBV) model for cost-benefit evaluation of wastewater treatment and reuse projects, and attention was mainly paid to decentralized systems which are drawing wide interests all over the world especially in the water-deficient countries and regions. In the NBV model, all the factors related to project costs are monetary ones which can be calculated by using traditional methods, while many of the factors related to project benefits are non-monetary ones which need sophisticated methods for monetization. In this regard, the authors elaborated several methods for monetization of the benefits from wastewater discharge reduction, local environment improvement, and human health protection. The proposed model and methods were applied for the cost-benefit evaluation of a decentralized water reclamation and reuse project in a newly developed residential area in Xi'an, China. The system with dual-pipe collection and grey water treatment and reuse was found to be economically ineligible (NBV > 0) when all the treated water is reused for artificial pond replenishment, gardening and other non-potable purposes by taking into account the benefit of water saving. As environmental benefits are further considered, the economic advantage of the project is more significant.

  3. Environmental service payments: evaluating biodiversity conservation trade-offs and cost-efficiency in the Osa Conservation Area, Costa Rica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, D N; Faith, D P; Rusch, G M; Acevedo, H; Paniagua, L; Castro, M

    2009-02-01

    The cost-efficiency of payments for environmental services (PES) to private landowners in the Osa Conservation Area, Costa Rica, is evaluated in terms of the trade-off between biodiversity representation and opportunity costs of conservation to agricultural and forestry land-use. Using available GIS data and an 'off-the-shelf' software application called TARGET, we find that the PES allocation criteria applied by authorities in 2002-2003 were more than twice as cost-efficient as criteria applied during 1999-2001. Results show that a policy relevant assessment of the cost-effectiveness of PES relative to other conservation policies can be carried out at regional level using available studies and GIS data. However, there are a number of data and conceptual limitations to using heuristic optimisation algorithms in the analysis of the cost-efficiency of PES. Site specific data on probabilities of land-use change, and a detailed specification of opportunity costs of farm land, labour and capital are required to use algorithms such as TARGET for ranking individual sites based on cost-efficiency. Despite its conceptual soundness for regional conservation analysis, biodiversity complementarity presents a practical challenge as a criterion for PES eligibility at farm level because it varies depending on the set of areas under PES contracts at any one time.

  4. Inclusion of environmental costs on a long-term expansion model of hydrothermal generation systems; Insercao dos custos ambientais em um modelo de expansao da geracao a longo prazo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos Henrique Luz

    2008-02-15

    This dissertation presents the development of a mathematical model to be used in the hydrothermal generation expansion planning taking into account uncertainties, the guarantee of energy supply and issues related to the social and environmental problems caused by the power sector. Named 'MELP Ambiental', it is a version of MELP, a model developed by Machado Junior (2000). The environmental valuation was based on results of previous studies. The analysis of the environmental costs scenarios showed that the inclusion of a variable linked to externalities implies in changes on the investment schedule. These changes decrease the total cost (economic and environmental) related to long-term power supply expansion. (author)

  5. Estimating and understanding DOE waste management costs'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, J.S.; Sherick, M.J.

    1995-01-01

    This paper examines costs associated with cleaning up the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) nuclear facilities, with particular emphasis on the waste management program. Life-cycle waste management costs have been compiled and reported in the DOE Baseline Environmental Management Report (BEMR). Waste management costs are a critical issue for DOE because of the current budget constraints. The DOE sites are struggling to accomplish their environmental management objectives given funding scenarios that are well below anticipated waste management costs. Through the BEMR process, DOE has compiled complex-wide cleanup cost estimates and has begun analysis of these costs with respect to alternative waste management scenarios and policy strategies. From this analysis, DOE is attempting to identify the major cost drivers and prioritize environmental management activities to achieve maximum utilization of existing funding. This paper provides an overview of the methodology DOE has used to estimate and analyze some waste management costs, including the key data requirements and uncertainties

  6. its risks and the cost of addressing them

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    complications and some of the costs for caring for the child. The latter is a classic claim in medical negligence not dissimilar to any claim for the financial consequences of a delayed or missed diagnosis. The former is a claim by the parents for wrongful birth, holding the defendant responsible for the extra costs of raising the ...

  7. Delayed fission

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hatsukawa, Yuichi [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

    1997-07-01

    Delayed fission is a nuclear decay process that couples {beta} decay and fission. In the delayed fission process, a parent nucleus undergoes {beta} decay and thereby populates excited states in the daughter. If these states are of energies comparable to or greater than the fission barrier of the daughter, then fission may compete with other decay modes of the excited states in the daughter. In this paper, mechanism and some experiments of the delayed fission will be discussed. (author)

  8. Environmetal aspects of cost management in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radan Hojná

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Industry is continuously developing and so environmental protection is becoming more and more important. An important role in environmental protection is played by the European Union, which is placing particularly emphasis on systematic approaches so as to prevent devastation of the environment. Within the framework of environmental protection, entrepreneurial entities (not only in the Czech Republic utilize statutory and voluntary environmental tools. Implementation of one of the voluntary environmental tools – environmental management accounting (EMA – has become an important part of internal cost management. EMA is a very important environmental policy tool. Its application leads to reducing the negative impacts of an enterprise’s activities on the environment, to increasing the efficiency in the utilization of production inputs and to improving the enterprise’s economic management. A great advantage of EMA lies in its versatility; it can be, therefore, used in large, medium-sized and small enterprises, in various industries as well as in the service sector. EMA makes it possible to accurately establish what part of the total costs is related to environmental issues. In management accounting, environmental costs are hidden as a part of overhead costs. Their correct identification is important for the purpose of costing with respect to individual products. Questionnaire responses were used to examine whether enterprises utilize internal accounting and whether they monitor environmental costs within the framework of their internal accounting. Acceptance environmental costs was analysed on the basis of a division of the enterprises from the following points of view: ownership of the enterprise, the number of employees and the field of business.

  9. Process-Improvement Cost Model for the Emergency Department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dyas, Sheila R; Greenfield, Eric; Messimer, Sherri; Thotakura, Swati; Gholston, Sampson; Doughty, Tracy; Hays, Mary; Ivey, Richard; Spalding, Joseph; Phillips, Robin

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this report is to present a simplified, activity-based costing approach for hospital emergency departments (EDs) to use with Lean Six Sigma cost-benefit analyses. The cost model complexity is reduced by removing diagnostic and condition-specific costs, thereby revealing the underlying process activities' cost inefficiencies. Examples are provided for evaluating the cost savings from reducing discharge delays and the cost impact of keeping patients in the ED (boarding) after the decision to admit has been made. The process-improvement cost model provides a needed tool in selecting, prioritizing, and validating Lean process-improvement projects in the ED and other areas of patient care that involve multiple dissimilar diagnoses.

  10. Delay Discounting as an Index of Sustainable Behavior: Devaluation of Future Air Quality and Implications for Public Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry, Meredith S; Nickerson, Norma P; Odum, Amy L

    2017-09-01

    Poor air quality and resulting annual deaths represent significant public health concerns. Recently, rapid delay discounting (the devaluation of future outcomes) of air quality has been considered a potential barrier for engaging in long term, sustainable behaviors that might help to reduce emissions (e.g., reducing private car use, societal support for clean air initiatives). Delay discounting has been shown to be predictive of real world behavior outside of laboratory settings, and therefore may offer an important framework beyond traditional variables thought to measure sustainable behavior such as importance of an environmental issue, or environmental attitudes/values, although more research is needed in this area. We examined relations between discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary gains and losses. We also examined, relations between discounting and self-reported importance of air quality and respiratory health, and nature relatedness. Results showed rapid delay discounting of all outcomes across the time frames assessed, and significant positive correlations between delay discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary outcomes. Steeper discounting of monetary outcomes relative to air quality and respiratory health outcomes was observed in the context of gains; however, no differences in discounting were observed across losses of monetary, air quality, and respiratory health. Replicating the sign effect, monetary outcomes were discounted more steeply than monetary losses. Importance of air quality, respiratory health and nature relatedness were significantly and positively correlated with one another, but not with degree of delay discounting of any outcome, demonstrating the need for more comprehensive measures that predict pro-environmental behaviors that might benefit individuals and public health over time. These results add to our understanding of decision-making, and demonstrate alarming rates of delay discounting of

  11. Cost overruns will hit research at CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Weiss, G

    2002-01-01

    To try and offset cost overruns on the LHC, CERN managers have drafted a preliminary plan that would delay start-up of the accelerator until 2007 and drastically reduces spending on longterm research programmes (1 page).

  12. The impact of delaying an investment decision on R&D projects in real option game

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, Shuhua; Li, Yue; Gao, Fanglu

    2016-01-01

    In a research and development (R&D) investment, the cost and the project value of such an investment are usually uncertain, which thus increases its complexity. Correspondingly, the NPV (Net Present Value) rule fails to evaluate the value of this project exactly, because this method does not take into account the market uncertainty, irreversibility of investment and ability of delay entry. In this paper, we employ the real option theory to evaluate the project value of a R&D investment. Since the cost of a R&D investment is very high and the flow of the information is crowded, an investor cannot make an immediate decision every time. So, the proposed real option model is an exchange option. At the same time, combining the real option and the game theory, we can find the Nash equilibrium which is the optimal strategy. Moreover, we also study how the delayed time influences the price of the project investment and how the different delayed times effect the choice of the optimal strategies.

  13. Fuzzy delay model based fault simulator for crosstalk delay fault test ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    In this paper, a fuzzy delay model based crosstalk delay fault simulator is proposed. As design .... To find the quality of non-robust tests, a fuzzy delay ..... Dubois D and Prade H 1989 Processing Fuzzy temporal knowledge. IEEE Transactions ...

  14. Economic valuation of the environmental costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Correa Assmus, Gustavo

    1996-01-01

    The article tries about the restlessness ecological World cup born under the spectrum of an eventual environmental crisis and their serious consequences for the sustenance of the life in the earth, that which has put to the overdraft a series of fundamental errors to the interior of the classic considerations of the economy. For it, from the decade of the years 70 in the developed countries and from the 90 in those developing countries, it has been intensified the reflection notably around what is and it can be the economy of the well-being, closely related, not alone with the ecology but also with the emergence of the man's cultural phase that acts under new pertinent values to the environmental ethics

  15. Early environmental planning: A process for power line corridor selection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haagenstad, T.; Bare, C.M.

    1998-01-01

    Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) conducted an environmental planning study in the fall of 1997 to help determine the best alternative for upgrading the Laboratory's electrical power system. Alternatives considered included an on-site power generation facility and two corridors for a 10-mile-long 115-kV power line. This planning process was conducted prior to the formal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review. The goals were to help select the best proposed action, to recommend modifications and mitigation measures for each alternative for a more environmentally sound project, and to avoid potential delays once the formal Department of Energy review process began. Significant constraints existed from a planning perspective, including operational issues such as existing outdoor high explosives testing areas, as well as environmental issues including threatened and endangered species habitats, multiple archeological sites, contaminated areas, and aesthetics. The study had to be completed within 45 days to meet project schedule needs. The process resulted in a number of important recommendations. While the construction and operation of the on-site power generation facility could have minimal environmental impacts, the need for a new air quality permit would create severe cost and schedule constraints for the project. From an environmental perspective, construction and operation of a power line within either corridor was concluded to be a viable alternative. However, impacts with either corridor would have to be reduced through specific recommended alignment modifications and mitigation measures

  16. Delayed power analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adamovich, L.A.; Azarov, V.V.

    1999-01-01

    Time dependent core power behavior in a nuclear reactor is described with well-known neutron kinetics equations. At the same time, two portions are distinguished in energy released from uranium nuclei fission; one released directly at fission and another delayed (residual) portion produced during radioactive decay of fission products. While prompt power is definitely described with kinetics equations, the delayed power presentation still remains outstanding. Since in operation the delayed power part is relatively small (about 6%) operation, it can be neglected for small reactivity disturbances assuming that entire power obeys neutron kinetics equations. In case of a high negative reactivity rapidly inserted in core (e.g. reactor scram initiation) the prompt and delayed components can be calculated separately with practically no impact on each other, employing kinetics equations for prompt power and known approximation formulas for delayed portion, named residual in this specific case. Under substantial disturbances the prompt component in the dynamic process becomes commensurable with delayed portion, thus making necessary to take into account their cross impact. A system of differential equations to describe time-dependent behavior of delayed power is presented. Specific NPP analysis shows a way to significantly simplify the task formulation. (author)

  17. Cost Accounting for Decision Makers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaneklides, Ann L.

    1985-01-01

    Underscores the importance of informed decision making through accurate anticipation of cost incurrence in light of changing economic and environmental conditions. Explains the concepts of cost accounting, full allocation of costs, the selection of an allocation base, the allocation of indirect costs, depreciation, and implications for community…

  18. Cost of Lightning Strike Related Outages of Visual Navigational Aids at Airports in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rakas, J.; Nikolic, M.; Bauranov, A.

    2017-12-01

    Lightning storms are a serious hazard that can cause damage to vital human infrastructure. In aviation, lightning strikes cause outages to air traffic control equipment and facilities that result in major disruptions in the network, causing delays and financial costs measured in the millions of dollars. Failure of critical systems, such as Visual Navigational Aids (Visual NAVAIDS), are particularly dangerous since NAVAIDS are an essential part of landing procedures. Precision instrument approach, an operation utilized during the poor visibility conditions, utilizes several of these systems, and their failure leads to holding patterns and ultimately diversions to other airports. These disruptions lead to both ground and airborne delay. Accurate prediction of these outages and their costs is a key prerequisite for successful investment planning. The air traffic management and control sector need accurate information to successfully plan maintenance and develop a more robust system under the threat of increasing lightning rates. To analyze the issue, we couple the Remote Monitoring and Logging System (RMLS) database and the Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) databases to identify lightning-induced outages, and connect them with weather conditions, demand and landing runway to calculate the total delays induced by the outages, as well as the number of cancellations and diversions. The costs are then determined by calculating direct costs to aircraft operators and costs of passengers' time for delays, cancellations and diversions. The results indicate that 1) not all NAVAIDS are created equal, and 2) outside conditions matter. The cost of an outage depends on the importance of the failed system and the conditions that prevailed before, during and after the failure. The outage that occurs during high demand and poor weather conditions is more likely to result in more delays and higher costs.

  19. Virus Resistance Is Not Costly in a Marine Alga Evolving under Multiple Environmental Stressors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah E. Heath

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Viruses are important evolutionary drivers of host ecology and evolution. The marine picoplankton Ostreococcus tauri has three known resistance types that arise in response to infection with the Phycodnavirus OtV5: susceptible cells (S that lyse following viral entry and replication; resistant cells (R that are refractory to viral entry; and resistant producers (RP that do not all lyse but maintain some viruses within the population. To test for evolutionary costs of maintaining antiviral resistance, we examined whether O. tauri populations composed of each resistance type differed in their evolutionary responses to several environmental drivers (lower light, lower salt, lower phosphate and a changing environment in the absence of viruses for approximately 200 generations. We did not detect a cost of resistance as measured by life-history traits (population growth rate, cell size and cell chlorophyll content and competitive ability. Specifically, all R and RP populations remained resistant to OtV5 lysis for the entire 200-generation experiment, whereas lysis occurred in all S populations, suggesting that resistance is not costly to maintain even when direct selection for resistance was removed, or that there could be a genetic constraint preventing return to a susceptible resistance type. Following evolution, all S population densities dropped when inoculated with OtV5, but not to zero, indicating that lysis was incomplete, and that some cells may have gained a resistance mutation over the evolution experiment. These findings suggest that maintaining resistance in the absence of viruses was not costly.

  20. Organizing of delay, input gate and memory of proportional chamber channel basing on D-trigger

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vladimirov, S.V.; Kuzichev, V.F.; Rabin, N.V.

    1980-01-01

    Economical organization of delay, input gate and proportional chamber (PC) channel memory on the 155 TM2 D trigger basis is described. The channel consists of an amplifier; delay element permitting to synchronize PC signal and recording strobe-signal; input gate, where coincidence of the above signals occurs; memory element, where the data from a wire are recorded and stored; read gate through which the data are transmitted for further processing. Presented is one of the versions of circuit solution for delay element, input gate and momory element. Flowsheet peculiarity is the simplicity of fabrication and tuning as well as low cost of the device

  1. 202 INFLUENCE OF BUILDING COSTS ON RENTS OF ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    building investments have prompted high rental expectations. ..... and financing and delayed contractor payments as major bane of cost influence in ..... anxiety, tension and panicky emotions they exhibit when searching for accommodation.

  2. Unit Cost Compendium Calculations

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Unit Cost Compendium (UCC) Calculations raw data set was designed to provide for greater accuracy and consistency in the use of unit costs across the USEPA...

  3. The distribution and magnitude of emissions mitigation costs in climate stabilization under less than perfect international cooperation: SGM results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Calvin, Katherine; Patel, Pralit; Fawcett, Allen; Clarke, Leon; Fisher-Vanden, Karen; Edmonds, Jae; Kim, Son H.; Sands, Ron; Wise, Marshall

    2009-01-01

    The EMF22 Transition Scenario subgroup explores the implications of delayed accession on limiting climate change to various radiative forcing levels. This paper focuses on the cost of limiting radiative forcing and the role that industrial leakage plays in scenarios of delayed accession. We find that delayed participation shifts the cost burden toward regions that take early action and away from regions that undertake mitigation later. However, the inefficiencies introduced by delay are so great that present discounted costs are higher in the delayed scenario for regions that delay as well as for regions taking early actions. An important element of these inefficiencies is industrial emissions leakage, that is non-participating regions increase their emissions relative to the reference case. In aggregate, industrial leakage rates are less than 10% if all regions of the world begin emissions mitigation by 2050-higher in carbon-intensive sectors and lower in low-carbon-intensity sectors. Additionally, we consider the implication of technology on carbon prices, the feasibility of limiting radiative forcing to low levels, and the incentives to overshoot the radiative forcing limit.

  4. COST action TD1407: network on technology-critical elements (NOTICE)--from environmental processes to human health threats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cobelo-García, A; Filella, M; Croot, P; Frazzoli, C; Du Laing, G; Ospina-Alvarez, N; Rauch, S; Salaun, P; Schäfer, J; Zimmermann, S

    2015-10-01

    The current socio-economic, environmental and public health challenges that countries are facing clearly need common-defined strategies to inform and support our transition to a sustainable economy. Here, the technology-critical elements (which includes Ga, Ge, In, Te, Nb, Ta, Tl, the Platinum Group Elements and most of the rare-earth elements) are of great relevance in the development of emerging key technologies-including renewable energy, energy efficiency, electronics or the aerospace industry. In this context, the increasing use of technology-critical elements (TCEs) and associated environmental impacts (from mining to end-of-life waste products) is not restricted to a national level but covers most likely a global scale. Accordingly, the European COST Action TD1407: Network on Technology-Critical Elements (NOTICE)-from environmental processes to human health threats, has an overall objective for creating a network of scientists and practitioners interested in TCEs, from the evaluation of their environmental processes to understanding potential human health threats, with the aim of defining the current state of knowledge and gaps, proposing priority research lines/activities and acting as a platform for new collaborations and joint research projects. The Action is focused on three major scientific areas: (i) analytical chemistry, (ii) environmental biogeochemistry and (iii) human exposure and (eco)-toxicology.

  5. Patient Delay, Diagnosis Delay and Treatment Delay for Breast Cancer: Comparison of the Pattern between Patients in Public and Private Health Sectors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iraj Harirchi

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Background: The purpose of this study was to compare patient delay, diagnosis delay and treatment delay in breast cancer patients of selected public and private health centers in Tehran, Iran.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, female patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer in a public medical complex and a private breast clinic within one year were included. Patient delay was considered positive, if the interval between the detection of the first symptom by the patient and the first visit to a health care provider took longer than one month. Delay in diagnosis was defined as the period of more than one week between the first medical visit for the symptoms and the diagnosis of breast cancer. Following the confirmed diagnosis of breast malignancy, if the medical treatment was initiated later than one week, treatment delay had occurred. The potential reasons for patient, diagnosis and treatment delay according to the patients’ reports were also recorded.Results: Overall, 385 patients were included of whom 52.7% were recruited from the public hospitals and 47.3% from a private clinic. The prevalence of patient delay, diagnosis delay and treatment delay were 31.7%, 17.9% and 28.3%, respectively. Patient delay was significantly more common among patients with lower socio-economic status and those recruited from the public hospitals. All the patients with diagnosis delay were in the group recruited from the public hospitals.Conclusions: Gaps between women of different socio-economic levels of the society need to be addressed in order to decrease patient, diagnosis and treatment delay.

  6. Speech and Language Delay

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... OTC Relief for Diarrhea Home Diseases and Conditions Speech and Language Delay Condition Speech and Language Delay Share Print Table of Contents1. ... Treatment6. Everyday Life7. Questions8. Resources What is a speech and language delay? A speech and language delay ...

  7. Prioritization of Delay Factors for NPP Construction Risk in International Project by Using AHP Methodology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hossen, Muhammed Mufazzal; Kang, Sunkoo; Kim, Jonghyun [KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School, Ulsan (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-10-15

    It is crucial for the nuclear power plant project decision makers and management personnel to identify the actual factors of construction delay and their ranking in order to take preventive actions. NPP project is complex in nature and the construction phase is one of the most key phase which is subject to many factors result from many sources. From experience, nuclear projects have faced challenges similar to other complex mega projects with additional nuclear specific issues and life time cost of nuclear reactor is concentrated upfront as capital cost, and therefore delays in construction may become intolerable in terms of both lost revenues and interest on the capital. Budget over-runs and delays on next generation new build nuclear projects in recent years clearly demonstrate that the nuclear industry continues to repeat its failed management and project control processes of the past. Similar to major infra-structure projects, actual completion times can vary substantially from initial estimates but this uncertainty is too crucial to the nuclear industry due to high levels of capital at risk, for every year a project is delayed the levelized cost of electricity increases by approximately 8-10%. causes of delay, to develop a generalized AHP model for delay factors, and to prioritize the risk in different factors in various levels of construction phase in international turnkey NPP project. This paper describes and prioritizes Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) construction schedule delay factor for turnkey international project. This study also determines the different party's importance in percentage behind the construction schedule delay of NPP which constitutes main contractor (28.4%), regulatory authority (27.3%), financial and country factor (23.5%), and utility (20.8%). Decision makers of nuclear industry can understand the significance of different factors on NPP construction phase and they can apply risk informed decision making to avoid unexpected

  8. Prioritization of Delay Factors for NPP Construction Risk in International Project by Using AHP Methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hossen, Muhammed Mufazzal; Kang, Sunkoo; Kim, Jonghyun

    2014-01-01

    It is crucial for the nuclear power plant project decision makers and management personnel to identify the actual factors of construction delay and their ranking in order to take preventive actions. NPP project is complex in nature and the construction phase is one of the most key phase which is subject to many factors result from many sources. From experience, nuclear projects have faced challenges similar to other complex mega projects with additional nuclear specific issues and life time cost of nuclear reactor is concentrated upfront as capital cost, and therefore delays in construction may become intolerable in terms of both lost revenues and interest on the capital. Budget over-runs and delays on next generation new build nuclear projects in recent years clearly demonstrate that the nuclear industry continues to repeat its failed management and project control processes of the past. Similar to major infra-structure projects, actual completion times can vary substantially from initial estimates but this uncertainty is too crucial to the nuclear industry due to high levels of capital at risk, for every year a project is delayed the levelized cost of electricity increases by approximately 8-10%. causes of delay, to develop a generalized AHP model for delay factors, and to prioritize the risk in different factors in various levels of construction phase in international turnkey NPP project. This paper describes and prioritizes Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) construction schedule delay factor for turnkey international project. This study also determines the different party's importance in percentage behind the construction schedule delay of NPP which constitutes main contractor (28.4%), regulatory authority (27.3%), financial and country factor (23.5%), and utility (20.8%). Decision makers of nuclear industry can understand the significance of different factors on NPP construction phase and they can apply risk informed decision making to avoid unexpected

  9. The delay of the environmental licensing in oil activities and legal implications regarding the oil block; O atraso do licenciamento ambiental nas atividades petroliferas e as implicacoes atinentes ao cumprimento de prazo de bloco licitados

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cavalcante, Hellen Priscilla Marinho; Xavier, Yanko Marcius de Alencar [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, RN (Brazil)

    2012-07-01

    This work intends to demonstrate how the delay in issuing environmental licenses by the appropriate bodies affect the correct fulfillment of the exploratory phase of blocks already bid and rendered to the lessees. Thus, it will be conducted a study of the pertaining legislation to the subject, such as Law n. 6.938/81 and its recent amendment by Complementary Law n. 140/2011, as well as the Resolutions issued by the National Environmental Council (CONAMA), addressing the vital importance of the environmental licensing process to the preservation of the environment ante the installation of potentially harmful activities. It is also acknowledged, through the analysis of articles and paragraphs, that there is a legal gap concerning the deadline for issuance of certain documents required to start the licensing procedure by the companies, which ultimately jeopardizes the fulfillment of their exploration activities in due time. Furthermore, there is not a provision regarding the return of the deadline to the lessee when it is suspended or extended due to licensing delays for reasons beyond its control, which cannot lack a reasonable answer. Therefore, as a conclusion, it will be presented a possible solution, so as to ensure the proper accomplishment of the oil activities combined with the preservation of the environment. (author)

  10. Multicast Delayed Authentication For Streaming Synchrophasor Data in the Smart Grid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Câmara, Sérgio; Anand, Dhananjay; Pillitteri, Victoria; Carmo, Luiz

    2016-01-01

    Multicast authentication of synchrophasor data is challenging due to the design requirements of Smart Grid monitoring systems such as low security overhead, tolerance of lossy networks, time-criticality and high data rates. In this work, we propose inf -TESLA, Infinite Timed Efficient Stream Loss-tolerant Authentication, a multicast delayed authentication protocol for communication links used to stream synchrophasor data for wide area control of electric power networks. Our approach is based on the authentication protocol TESLA but is augmented to accommodate high frequency transmissions of unbounded length. inf TESLA protocol utilizes the Dual Offset Key Chains mechanism to reduce authentication delay and computational cost associated with key chain commitment. We provide a description of the mechanism using two different modes for disclosing keys and demonstrate its security against a man-in-the-middle attack attempt. We compare our approach against the TESLA protocol in a 2-day simulation scenario, showing a reduction of 15.82% and 47.29% in computational cost, sender and receiver respectively, and a cumulative reduction in the communication overhead.

  11. A proposed framework for establishing integrated cost and performance criteria for environmental technologies. A summary report to the U.S. Department of Energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-05-01

    Through an Interagency Agreement between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE), EPA directed a project to establish a suite of standard cost and performance criteria to guide the evaluation of environmental cleanup technologies for DOE sites. Ideally, these criteria would be ''generic'' in that they could be used as a basis for evaluating any cleanup technology for any DOE site. To be most useful, however, these criteria would also reflect the interests of diverse decisionmakers who influence DOE technology evaluation. The project was conducted by the National Environmental Technology Applications Center (NETAC), a nonprofit organization specializing in the development and commercialization of new and innovative environmental technologies for national and international markets. To accomplish the project objective, NETAC (1) developed a data gathering questionnaire, (2) interviewed government and industry decisionmakers, (3) identified previous criteria development efforts, (4) conducted a workshop, (5) evaluated workshop discussions, and (6) applied its five years' experience in commercializing environmental technologies to analyze project findings. The project resulted in the development of a unique and comprehensive resource or tool to enhance communication among decisionmakers. This resource, a ''Proposed Framework for Establishing Integrated Cost and Performance Criteria for Evaluating Environmental Cleanup Technologies for DOE Sites,'' offers decisionmakers a first-time comprehensive assessment of major technology evaluation issues by a decisionmaker group

  12. Delay Bounded Multi-Source Multicast in Software-Defined Networking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thabo Semong

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Software-Defined Networking (SDN is the next generation network architecture with exciting application prospects. The control function in SDN is decoupled from the data forwarding plane, hence it provides a new centralized architecture with flexible network resource management. Although SDN is attracting much attention from both industry and research, its advantage over the traditional networks has not been fully utilized. Multicast is designed to deliver content to multiple destinations. The current traffic engineering in SDN focuses mainly on unicast, however, multicast can effectively reduce network resource consumption by serving multiple clients. This paper studies a novel delay-bounded multi-source multicast SDN problem, in which among the set of potential sources, we select a source to build the multicast-tree, under the constraint that the transmission delay for every destination is bounded. This problem is more difficult than the traditional Steiner minimum tree (SMT problem, since it needs to find a source from the set of all potential sources. We model the problem as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP and prove its NP-Hardness. To solve the problem, a delay bounded multi-source (DBMS scheme is proposed, which includes a DBMS algorithm to build a minimum delay cost DBMS-Forest. Through a MATLAB experiment, we demonstrate that DBMS is significantly more efficient and outperforms other existing algorithms in the literature.

  13. Low-Cost, Distributed Environmental Monitors for Factory Worker Health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geb W. Thomas

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available An integrated network of environmental monitors was developed to continuously measure several airborne hazards in a manufacturing facility. The monitors integrated low-cost sensors to measure particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone and nitrogen dioxide, noise, temperature and humidity. The monitors were developed and tested in situ for three months in several overlapping deployments, before a full cohort of 40 was deployed in a heavy vehicle manufacturing facility for a year of data collection. The monitors collect data from each sensor and report them to a central database every 5 min. The work includes an experimental validation of the particle, gas and noise monitors. The R2 for the particle sensor ranges between 0.98 and 0.99 for particle mass densities up to 300 μg/m3. The R2 for the carbon monoxide sensor is 0.99 for concentrations up to 15 ppm. The R2 for the oxidizing gas sensor is 0.98 over the sensitive range from 20 to 180 ppb. The noise monitor is precise within 1% between 65 and 95 dBA. This work demonstrates the capability of distributed monitoring as a means to examine exposure variability in both space and time, building an important preliminary step towards a new approach for workplace hazard monitoring.

  14. External costs of electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rabl, A.; Spadaro, J.V.

    2005-01-01

    This article presents a synthesis of the ExternE project (External costs of Energy) of the European community about the external costs of power generation. Pollution impacts are calculated using an 'impact pathways' analysis, i.e. an analysis of the emission - dispersion - dose-response function - cost evaluation chain. Results are presented for different fuel cycles (with several technological variants) with their confidence intervals. The environmental impact costs are particularly high for coal: for instance, in France, for coal-fired power plants it is of the same order as the electricity retail price. For natural gas, this cost is about a third of the one for coal. On the contrary, the environmental impact costs for nuclear and renewable energies are low, typically of few per cent of the electricity price. The main part of these costs corresponds to the sanitary impacts, in particular the untimely mortality. In order to avoid any controversy about the cost evaluation of mortality, the reduction of the expectation of life due to the different fuel cycles is also indicated and the risks linked with nuclear energy are presented using several comparisons. (J.S.)

  15. Environmental damage costs from airborne pollution of industrial activities in the greater Athens, Greece area and the resulting benefits from the introduction of BAT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirasgedis, S.; Hontou, V.; Georgopoulou, E.; Sarafidis, Y.; Gakis, N.; Lalas, D.P.; Loukatos, A.; Gargoulas, N.; Mentzis, A.; Economidis, D.; Triantafilopoulos, T.; Korizi, K.; Mavrotas, G.

    2008-01-01

    Attributing costs to the environmental impacts associated with industrial activities can greatly assist in protecting human health and the natural environment as monetary values are capable of directly influencing technological and policy decisions without changing the rules of the market. This paper attempts to estimate the external cost attributable to the atmospheric pollution from 'medium and high environmental burden' industrial activities located in the greater Athens area and the benefits from Best Available Techniques (BAT) introduction. To this end a number of typical installations were defined to be used in conjunction with the Impact Pathway Approach developed in the context of the ExternE project to model all industrial sectors/sub-sectors located in the area of interest. Total environmental externalities due to air pollutants emitted by these industrial activities were found to reach 211 M Euro per year, associated mainly with human mortality and morbidity due to PM 10 emissions, as well as with climate change impacts due to CO 2 emissions for which non-metallic minerals and oil processing industries are the main sources. The results obtained can be used as the basis for an integrated evaluation of potential BAT, taking into account not only private costs and benefits but also the environmental externalities, thus leading to policy decisions that maximize social welfare in each industrial sector/sub-sector

  16. Airline Schedule Disruption Management. The impact of flight delays on connection loss

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rahil Hicham

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Air travel demand is important and many travellers choose to drive to larger airports instead of flying from a small airport for many reasons, especially availability of non-stop flights. Another reason is perceived reliability of service. Consultants have pointed to a large number of delays and cancellations as reasons for low passenger. However, the effect of these flight delays on actual travel times is less clear. Because connections are usually necessary when traveling from small airports, departure delays may lead to missed connections. In the case of a cancellation, need to wait several hours (often overnight for the next flight due to the small number of daily departures. This paper evaluate the impact of delays and cancellations on the profit earned through the seats captured on new opened routes. This aspect of decision-making comes in the form of multi-objective problem by testing the impact of a new opened route in terms of flight delays costs, financial gain and the quality of the service provided to a target customer. The NSGA-II algorithm is adopted to generate a front of Pareto-optimal compound of a number of optimal departure times to the new destination while ensuring the best fill rate, and a minimum flight delays. The experiences are based on the flights of the Royal Air Maroc Company on the Casablanca hub.

  17. The best of both worlds? A review of delayed selfing in flowering plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodwillie, Carol; Weber, Jennifer J

    2018-04-01

    In a seminal body of theory, Lloyd showed that the fitness consequences of selfing will depend on its timing in anthesis. Selfing that occurs after opportunities for outcrossing or pollen dispersal can provide reproductive assurance when pollinators are limited and is expected to incur little cost, even when inbreeding depression is high. As a result, delayed selfing is often interpreted as a "best-of-both-worlds" mating system that combines the advantages of selfing and outcrossing. We surveyed 65 empirical studies of delayed selfing, recording floral mechanisms and examining information on inbreeding depression, autofertility, and other parameters to test the support for delayed selfing as a best-of-both-worlds strategy. Phylogenetic distribution of the diverse floral mechanisms suggests that some basic floral structures may predispose plant taxa to evolve delayed selfing. Delayed selfing appears to serve as a best-of-both-worlds strategy in some but not all species. While the capacity for autonomous selfing is often high, it is lower, in some cases, than in related species with earlier modes of selfing. In other delayed-selfers, low inbreeding depression and reduced investment in corollas and pollen suggest limited benefits from outcrossing. Despite a growing literature on the subject, experimental evidence for delayed selfing is limited and major gaps in knowledge remain, particularly with respect to the stability of delayed selfing and the conditions that may favor transitions between delayed and earlier selfing. Finally, we suggest a potential role of delayed selfing in facilitating transitions from self-incompatibility to selfing. © 2018 The Authors. American Journal of Botany is published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the Botanical Society of America.

  18. The Haiti Breast Cancer Initiative: Initial Findings and Analysis of Barriers-to-Care Delaying Patient Presentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ketan Sharma

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. In Haiti, breast cancer patients present at such advanced stages that even modern therapies offer modest survival benefit. Identifying the personal, sociocultural, and economic barriers-to-care delaying patient presentation is crucial to controlling disease. Methods. Patients presenting to the Hôpital Bon Sauveur in Cange were prospectively accrued. Delay was defined as 12 weeks or longer from initial sign/symptom discovery to presentation, as durations greater than this cutoff correlate with reduced survival. A matched case-control analysis with multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors predicting delay. Results. Of N=123 patients accrued, 90 (73% reported symptom-presentation duration and formed the basis of this study: 52 patients presented within 12 weeks of symptoms, while 38 patients waited longer than 12 weeks. On logistic regression, lower education status (OR = 5.6, P=0.03, failure to initially recognize mass as important (OR = 13.0, P<0.01, and fear of treatment cost (OR = 8.3, P=0.03 were shown to independently predict delayed patient presentation. Conclusion. To reduce stage at presentation, future interventions must educate patients on the recognition of initial breast cancer signs and symptoms and address cost concerns by providing care free of charge and/or advertising that existing care is already free.

  19. Delayed coking unit preheat train optimization; Otimizacao do preaquecimento das Unidades de Coque

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marins, Edson R; Geraldelli, Washington O; Barros, Francisco C [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas (CENPES)

    2004-07-01

    The oil industry has been investing in research and development of new techniques and process improvements with the objective to increase the residual fraction profitability and to fulfill the market demands. The adequacy of the refining scheme has led to the development of bottom of the barrel processes that has the objective to convert heavy fractions into products of higher aggregate value. In this context, the process of Delayed Coking presents a great importance in the production of distillates in the diesel range as well as the processing of heavy residues, mostly in the markets where the fuel oil consumption is being reduced. With the approach to help PETROBRAS decide which route to follow during new designs of Delayed Coking units, this work presents a comparative study of the preheat train performance among the energy recovery to preheat the feed, in contrast with preheating the feed and generating steam, simultaneously. In this study the Pinch Technology methodology was used as a procedure for heat integration with the objective of getting the maximum energy recovery from the process, finding the best trade-off between operational cost and investment cost. The alternative of steam generation aims to provide an appropriate flexibility in Delayed Coking units design and operation. (author)

  20. Cost efficient utilisation of biomass in the German energy system in the context of energy and environmental policies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koenig, Andreas

    2011-01-01

    The possible uses of biomass for energy provision are manifold. Gaseous, liquid and solid bioenergy carriers can be alternatively converted into heat, power or transport fuel. The contribution of the different utilisation pathways to environmental political targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction and energy political targets for the future share of renewable energy vary accordingly to their techno-economic characteristics. The aim of the presented study is to assess the different biomass options against the background of energy and environmental political targets based on a system analytical approach for the future German energy sector. The results show that heat generation and to a lower extent combined heat and power (CHP) production from solid biomass like wood and straw are the most cost effective ways to contribute to the emission reduction targets. The use of energy crops in fermentation biogas plants (maize) and for production of 1st generation transportation fuels, like biodiesel from rapeseed and ethanol from grain or sugar beet, are less favourable. Optimisation potentials lie in a switch to the production of 2nd generation biofuels and the enhanced use of either biomass residues or low production intensive energy crops. - Research Highlights: → Heat generation and CHP generation from biomass can contribute cost efficiently to emission reduction targets. → Biofuel production represenst the least cost efficient option for emission reduction when using biomass energetically. → The energetical use of biomass shows a high potential to contribute to energy and envirnoment political targets.