APLIKASI MANAJEMEN KEGIATAN UNTUK ORGANISASI NON PROFIT BERBASIS WEBSITE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arif Hidayat

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Suatu organisasi memiliki berbagai program kerja, yang di dalamnya ada kepanitian khusus. Biasanya manajemen kegiatan yang berisi pengelolaan keuangan pada masing-masing organisasi dan lembaga dikepalai oleh bendahara. Pengelolaan keuangan tersebut menjadi sebuah kebutuhan, karena bendahara tersebut wajib selalu melaporkan pencatatan keuangan. Tentu akan menjadi tidak efektif jika melakukan pencatatan keuangan harus melakukannya secara manual. Di samping susah, pencatatan secara manual sangat beresiko seperti rusak dan hilangnya buku pencatatan. Ada lagi pencatatan dengan cara lain yaitu menggunakan software yang sudah ada seperti Microsoft Excel, namun hal tersebut masih kurang efisien dan kurang efektif sehingga diperlukan tools pencatatan yang lebih baik agar mencapai tujuan dan sasaran yang diinginkan. Subjek penelitian yang dibahas pada penelitian ini adalah aplikasi pengelolaan keuangan untuk organisasi non profit berbasis website. Langkah pengembangan aplikasi yaitu menggunakan waterfall model. Dari penelitian yang dilakukan menghasilkan sebuah website tentang ”aplikasi manajemen kegiatan untuk organisasi non profit berbasis website” yang dapat digunakan untuk melakukan manajemen kegiatan bagi organisasi non profit sehingga pekerjaan seorang bendahara menjadi mudah dan efektif. Keywords: Manajemen Kegiatan, Nonprofit Online, Organisasi Non Profit.

Social media for non-profit organizations in Vietnam

OpenAIRE

Nguyen, Thy

2016-01-01

The thesis presents about social media in general and social media for non-profit organizations in Vietnam in particular. The writer wanted to explore the disadvantages that non-profits in Vietnam face when using social media and search for recommendations which helps them to use it more efficiently. In the theoretic part, core concepts related to social media were introduced, namely, definition of social media, its types, the popular platforms, situation of social media in Vietnam, pros...

Kunstnik kaardil / Margot Kask

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Kask, Margot, 1974-

2006-01-01

14 fotograafi (nimed) maastiku mälu ja territooriumi tähendusvälju uurivast projektist "Kunstnik kaardil" Tartus Y-galeriis ja Rael Artel Gallery's Non-Profit Project Space'is. Kuraator Margot Kask

Factor analysis of financial and operational performance measures of non-profit hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Dhiman

2009-01-01

To understand the important dimensions of the financial and operational performance of non-profit hospitals. Secondary data for non-profit US hospitals between 1996 and 2004. I use iterative principal factor analysis of hospitals' financial and operational ratios for each year of the study. For factor interpretation, I use oblique rotation. Financial ratios were created using cost report data from HCRIS 2552-96 available from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). I identify five factors--capital structure, profitability, activity, liquidity, and an operational factor--that explain most of the variation in the performance of non-profit hospitals. I also find that capital structure is more important than profitability in determining the performance of these hospitals. The importance of capital structure highlights a significant shift in the organization of the non-profit hospitals' finances.

Wolves in sheep's clothing: Is non-profit status used to signal quality?

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Daniel B; Propper, Carol; Smith, Sarah

2017-09-01

Why do many firms in the healthcare sector adopt non-profit status? One argument is that non-profit status serves as a signal of quality when consumers are not well informed. A testable implication is that an increase in consumer information may lead to a reduction in the number of non-profits in a market. We test this idea empirically by exploiting an exogenous increase in consumer information in the US nursing home industry. We find that the information shock led to a reduction in the share of non-profit homes, driven by a combination of home closure and sector switching. The lowest quality non-profits were the most likely to exit. Our results have important implications for the effects of reforms to increase consumer provision in a number of public services. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

EPA for Businesses and Non-Profits

Science.gov (United States)

Information and links to EPA web pages that are meant to help businesses and non-profits adhere to EPA regulations and otherwise protect the environment, take advantage of opportunities to collaborate with the EPA, and find training EPA training programs.

Strategies and techniques of communication and public relations applied to non-profit sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioana – Julieta Josan

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to summarize the strategies and techniques of communication and public relations applied to non-profit sector.The approach of the paper is to identify the most appropriate strategies and techniques that non-profit sector can use to accomplish its objectives, to highlight specific differences between the strategies and techniques of the profit and non-profit sectors and to identify potential communication and public relations actions in order to increase visibility among target audience, create brand awareness and to change into positive brand sentiment the target perception about the non-profit sector.

26 CFR 1.857-11 - Non-REIT earnings and profits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 9 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Non-REIT earnings and profits. 1.857-11 Section 1.857-11 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) INCOME TAX (CONTINUED) INCOME TAXES Real Estate Investment Trusts § 1.857-11 Non-REIT earnings and profits...

Moosipurgid Tartu alateadvuse keldrites / Ave Randviir

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Randviir, Ave, 1981-

2006-01-01

Priit Pajose näitus "Imed, inimesed ja imeinimesed" Tartu Kunstimaja galeriis. Seitsme noorema põlvkonna kunstniku näitus "Raamatukoguprojekt. Kunstniku dialoog ruumiga" Rael Artel Gallery: Non Profit Project Space's Tartu Linnaraamatukogu keldris Kompanii 3/5

The Strossmayer Gallery in Zagreb in the interwar period: from a utopian project to a renowned institution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ljerka Dulibic

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The basis of today’s Strossmayer Gallery’s collection is the bequest of European Old Masters’ paintings collected by Bishop J. J. Strossmayer (1815-1905, with the fundamental desire to enlarge the scope of the Croatian cultural tradition through the appropriation of European elite culture. The meaning and function of the Gallery changed considerably over time. Before WWI, the Strossmayer Gallery was a utopian project in the sense that its mission was not only to fabricate what was seen to be a missing artistic past, but also to create the foundations for a future, native art. After WWI, with the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the national state was, at least in some form, realized, and the Gallery now turned its attention to concrete matters. In this paper, we follow the paths of intensive professionalization of the wide range of activities in the interwar period, retracing not only the history of museum presentation, or the history of Art History and of Art Conservation in Croatia, but also some traces of the general development of the dynamic, intertwined and significant relationship between Art History, Art Conservation and the museum. Il nucleo dell’odierna collezione della Galleria Strossmayer è costituito dal lascito delle opere dei maestri antichi europei raccolti dal vescovo J.J. Strossmayer (1815-1905, il cui scopo fondamentale fu di allargare la tradizione culturale croata con l’appropriazione della cultura elitaria europea. Con il passare del tempo, il signifi cato e la funzione della Galleria cambiò considerevolmente. Prima della Prima guerra mondiale la Galleria Strossmayer fu un progetto utopistico nel senso che la sua missione non era solo di riempire il vuoto visto come il passato artistico mancante, ma anche di creare le fondamenta per una futura arte locale. Dopo la guerra, con la formazione del Regno dei Serbi, Croati e Sloveni, lo stato nazionale fu, almeno in un certo senso, realizzato, e

Adaptive neuro-fuzzy optimization of wind farm project net profit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shamshirband, Shahaboddin; Petković, Dalibor; Ćojbašić, Žarko; Nikolić, Vlastimir; Anuar, Nor Badrul; Mohd Shuib, Nor Liyana; Mat Kiah, Miss Laiha; Akib, Shatirah

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Analyzing of wind farm project investment. • Net present value (NPV) maximization of the wind farm project. • Adaptive neuro-fuzzy (ANFIS) optimization of the number of wind turbines to maximize NPV. • The impact of the variation in the wind farm parameters. • Adaptive neuro fuzzy application. - Abstract: A wind power plant which consists of a group of wind turbines at a specific location is also known as wind farm. To maximize the wind farm net profit, the number of turbines installed in the wind farm should be different in depend on wind farm project investment parameters. In this paper, in order to achieve the maximal net profit of a wind farm, an intelligent optimization scheme based on the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is applied. As the net profit measures, net present value (NPV) and interest rate of return (IRR) are used. The NPV and IRR are two of the most important criteria for project investment estimating. The general approach in determining the accept/reject/stay in different decision for a project via NPV and IRR is to treat the cash flows as known with certainty. However, even small deviations from the predetermined values may easily invalidate the decision. In the proposed model the ANFIS estimator adjusts the number of turbines installed in the wind farm, for operating at the highest net profit point. The performance of proposed optimizer is confirmed by simulation results. Some outstanding properties of this new estimator are online implementation capability, structural simplicity and its robustness against any changes in wind farm parameters. Based on the simulation results, the effectiveness of the proposed optimization strategy is verified

Spokespersons in media campaigns of non-profit organizations

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Milovanović Dragana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of this research is how spokespersons can be used in campaigns of non-profit organizations, with a goal to increase their visibility and gain public support. Namely, many companies employ celebrities for their media campaigns as protagonists and promoters of brand values. With their appearance and engagement, celebrities transfer part of their image and credibility to the brand, which widens and enriches the field of associations which brands trigger in consumers' conscience. Non-profit organizations could get similar benefits out of these campaigns. In a society where there is a certain level of fascination with celebrities, i.e. celebrity culture, their influence can be used not only to attract attention to the goods, but also to ideas. The goal of the paper is to show how spokespersons can influence behavior and attitudes of the public by participating in media campaigns, and also the important aspects of choosing a spokesperson. The paper is supposed to be a starting point for practitioners,so they can design creative ideas based on this technique on the non-profit organizations market, especially in Serbia.

Alannah Coleman: 1970—A Year at Bonython’s Sydney Gallery

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Simon Pierse

2018-03-01

Full Text Available When art dealer and entrepreneur Kym Bonython’s new gallery opened in Sydney in 1967, it was believed to be the largest commercial gallery in the southern hemisphere. In early 1970, Bonython brought Melbourne-born art dealer Alannah Coleman over from London to take on the management of his gallery. Sadly, her appointment was not a success and lasted less than a year. Coleman re-organised the records and accounts along European lines and tried to put the gallery on a firm financial footing, but she met with opposition from staff, artists and Bonython himself. Bonython wanted the gallery as a showcase for new talent and was always on the lookout to spot ‘the next goer’. The opening parties at Bonython’s deplored by Coleman as ‘open slather’ evenings proved to be significant social events and the focus for cultural exchange, whilst in his solo shows, Brett Whiteley made innovative use of the gallery as a ‘theatre’, combining painting and sculpture with light and sound to transform the exhibition into a completely new synesthetic experience. In 1971, with funding from John Kaldor’s Public Art Project scheme, Swiss curator and gallerist Harald Szeemann used the Bonython Gallery to stage a groundbreaking show of conceptual art that went on to show at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Without a regular external source of sponsorship or support, however, Coleman’s fears for the financial viability of the gallery were eventually proved right when, after several further years of losses, it finally closed in 1976.

Traditions and Management Perspectives of Community and Non-Profit Organizations in Lithuania

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Andrius Stasiukynas

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose – To overview the traditions and management perspectives of community and non-profit organizations in Lithuania.Methodology – For the purpose of this research a literature analysis on community and non-profit organization case studies was conducted. The case studies describing stories of success were singled out and leaders of these organizations were interviewed.Findings – The research has showed the growth of the number of community and nonprofit organizations during the last twenty years and the difficulties of collecting the statistical data. This study presupposes the possibility to identify the tendencies of management in community and non-profit organizations, including the following: increasing use of the social networks for communication; proliferation of strategic planning; greater emphasis on educating and empowering new generation of leaders.Research implications – Prior studies in this area in Lithuania have not exhaustively analyzed the components of human resource management of non-profit organizations. An important follow up on this study would be to analyze the human resource management in community organizations.Practical implications – This study covered the management aspects important for the improvement of how community and non-profit organizations work.Originality/Value – This study expands the knowledge on Lithuanian community and non-profit organization development and management.Research type – literature review, research paper.

Not for the Profit, but for the Training? Gender Differences in Training in the For-Profit and Non-Profit Sectors

OpenAIRE

Dostie, Benoît; Javdani, Mohsen

2017-01-01

We use Canadian linked employer-employee data to examine gender differences in probability, duration, and intensity of firm-sponsored training. We find that women in the for-profit sector are less likely to receive classroom training, and receive shorter classroom training courses. However, we find the reverse in the non-profit sector, with women being more likely to receive both classroom and on-the-job training, and also receiving longer classroom training courses. Our results suggest that ...

Grants Management Guidance for Non-Profit Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

This guidance is intended to provide non-profit grant recipients with information to ensure that their organizations remain in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Office of Management (OMB) cost principles, and the terms and conditions.

Valuation of Volunteer Work in the Satellite Account of Non-Profit Institutions

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Václav Rybáček

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Volunteer work constitutes an important input into the activities of non-profit institutions. However, in the core system of national accounts, volunteering falls outside the production boundary even if it leads to the production of services. By doing so, national accounts inevitably underestimates the contribution of non-profit institutions to the well-being. This shortcoming is overcome by the Satellite Account of Non-profit Institutions complementing and extending the concept of national accounts chiefly by incorporation of the value of volunteering and by full coverage of non-profit institutions classified in a number of economic sectors. This paper is an attempt to address the key issue that is the way of volunteer work´s valuation for analytical purposes. We will discuss different approaches to the valuation and their impact on key macroeconomic aggregates.

Generation and distribution of wealth in Blumenau non-profit social service

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Loriberto Starosky Filho

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Non-profit organizations exist all over the world and they have an important role to the economy. These are not aimed at profits and they appeared to develop initiatives of social aspects. The main goal of this research is to check how the wealth is generated and distributed by the non-profits that are enrolled in the Welfare Assistance Council in Blumenau city. This data was gotten through a qualitative, descriptive and documentary research based on analysis of published financial statements of a sample consisting of  nineteen non-profit Welfare Assistance Organizations. The results showed that: a To maintain their activities most  institutions  rely on resources coming from social grants, partnerships and donations; b The added value distributed represents more than fifty percent of the total proceeds in a large number  of institutions; c in most organizations the biggest share of the wealth distribution was used to the workers payment; d a low percentage of  the wealth is to lenders and government. As a general rule, most organizations presented a very low rate of retentions for themselves because they do not seek profits. Their goals are related to social services activities.

Dimensioning of lining galleries in deep clays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernaud, D.; Rousset, G.

1991-01-01

The aim of the work presented in this report is to study the mechanical behaviour of lining galleries in deep clays. This text constitutes a part of the researches on the feasibility of a geological disposal of radioactive waste, which the scope is to assure the gallery long term stabilization and also to optimize its dimensioning. In particular, we are interested here in the study of a closure controlled lining, that constitutes a direct application of the convergence-confinement method, especially well fitted to deep clays. The presentation and interpretation of the convergence controlled lining test, which was performed in the experimental gallery of Mol in Belgium, is given in this report. The instrumentation was conceived in order to find out the stress field exerced by the rockmass on the lining, the internal stress field inside the lining and the gallery closure. The analysis of all measurements results, obtained between november 1987 and December 1989, shows that they are all in good agreement and that the lining design was well chosen. Two years after the gallery construction, the average closure is of the order of 2% and the average confinement pressure is about 1.6 MPa (the third of the lithostatic pressure). The time dependent effects of the rockmass are very well modelled by the non linear elasto-viscoplastic law developed at L.M.S. with the laboratory tests. The elastic-plastic model of the lining are shown to be well fitted to simulate the sliding of the ribs. Finally, the numerical results have shown a very good agreement with the measurements results

Mobbing in a Non-Profit Organisation

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Kovacic Andrej

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of this paper is to analyse mobbing in a large, non-profit, state-owned organization in order to find out to what extent mobbing is present and in what way it takes place. In addition, the purpose of the research is to analyse whether the extent of mobbing is connected to employee’s age, gender and position.

Wind galleries: an instrument for environmental impact assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zunino, C.

1998-01-01

In the last decades wind galleries for non-aeronautic utilisation have proved to be a useful investigation tool in various fields, such as studies on environmental impact and risk assessment, associated with permanent or incidental release of harmful substances. In this framework the feasibility of a new installation has been evaluated in Italy, having as main target the reproduction of thermal stratification phenomena. The great deal of 'hazardous' industries, often in areas having a complex orography, as well as the high pollution levels in Italian cities, lead to the conclusion that a thermally stratified wind gallery might be an economically viable investment [it

Digital marketing plan for a non-profit organization. Case: Nordic ASEAN Business Forum Ry

OpenAIRE

Ngo, Chi

2017-01-01

The Internet is changing people’s lives as well as the way organizations operate. In fact, digitalization and digital marketing are considered essential in organization’s operations. In this context, the capability to facilitate and master digital marketing becomes a key asset of an organization to stay competitive. This project-based thesis was commissioned by Nordic ASEAN Business Forum (NABF), a non-profit organization based in Helsinki, Finland. The need for the thesis comes from the ...

The Cosmology Gallery: Unity through diversity in a vast and awe-inspiring universe.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldsmith, John

2011-06-01

Scientists, artists, religious and cultural leaders have come together to create the Cosmology Gallery at the Gravity Discovery Centre (GDC) located 70 km north of Perth, Western Australia. The Cosmology Gallery exhibitions include the multicultural cosmology artworks, Celestial Visions astronomical photography exhibition and the Timeline of the Universe. The multicultural cosmology artworks are new artworks inspired by Australian Indigenous, Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, scientific and technological perspectives of the universe. The Celestial Visions exhibition features astronomical events above famous landmarks, including Stonehenge and the Pyramids. The AUD 400,000+ project was funded by Lotterywest, Western Australia and the Cosmology Gallery was officially opened in July 2008 by the Premier of Western Australia.

Landslide Caused Damages in a Gallery

Science.gov (United States)

Poisel, R.; Mair am Tinkhof, K.; Preh, A.

2016-06-01

On October 5th, 2010, cracks were found in a gallery 1.8 m high and 1.4 m wide. The gallery is 100 years old, runs parallel to a valley flank and was excavated in a tectonically strongly stressed, weathered and slightly dipping sandwich of clayey shales, sandstones and marls. The cracks in the roof as well as in the invert ran parallel to the axis of the gallery. Monitoring showed that crack widths were increasing 1.5 mm per year, sidewall distances were increasing 3.5 mm per year, whereas the height of the gallery was decreasing 2.5 mm per year. After eliminating several possible causes of cracking, a landslide producing the damages had to be taken into consideration. Monitoring of the valley flank surface as well as inclinometer readings revealed that a landslide was occurring, loading the gallery lining. Most probably the landslide had been reactivated by excessive rainfall in 2009 as well as by works for the renewal of a weir in the valley bottom. As stabilization of the slope was not an option for several reasons, it was decided to replace the gallery by a new one deeper inside the slope, which will be ready for operation in 2017. Thus the old gallery has to be kept in operation till then and it was decided to reinforce the old gallery by a heavily reinforced shotcrete lining 10 cm thick. As slope displacements went on, cracks in the shotcrete lining developed with a completely different pattern: in the section where the gallery lies completely in the landslide shear zone no cracks formed until now due to heavy reinforcement, whereas in the transition sections stable ground-landslide and landslide-stable ground diagonal tension cracks in the roof due to shear by the landslide developed. Numerical models showed that cracking and spalling of the shotcrete lining would occur only after some centimetres of additional displacements of the slope, which hopefully will not occur before 2017.

Exploring Reasons for the Resistance to Sustainable Management within Non-Profit Organizations

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Claus-Heinrich Daub

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The numerous empirical and conceptual studies that have been conducted over recent years concerning the social responsibility of enterprises and their contributions towards sustainable development have given very little consideration to non-profit organizations (NPOs. This is surprising, because NPOs are confronted with very similar challenges to profit-orientated enterprises regarding their evolution into sustainable organizations. This paper is a preliminary conceptual study and explores the question of why the corporate social responsibility, or corporate sustainability, of NPOs has to date been both neglected by research establishments and also extensively ignored by the NPOs during their day-to-day practical management. The example of church and pastoral institutions in Germany is used to demonstrate the extent to which they take account of ecological and social aspects in their management systems and processes and, thus, implement sustainable management within their day-to-day practice. The paper concludes with some proposals for further empirical and conceptual research projects, which are designed to analyze developments within NPOs with relation to the integration of sustainability into their management systems and processes.

Evolution of public and non-profit funding for mental health research in France between 2007 and 2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Gandré, Coralie; Prigent, Amélie; Kemel, Marie-Louise; Leboyer, Marion; Chevreul, Karine

2015-12-01

Since 2007, actions have been undertaken in France to foster mental health research. Our objective was to assess their utility by estimating the evolution of public and non-profit funding for mental health research between 2007 and 2011, both in terms of total funding and the share of health research budgets. Public and non-profit funding was considered. Core funding from public research institutions was determined through a top-down approach by multiplying their total budget by the ratio of the number of psychiatry-related publications to the total number of publications focusing on health issues. A bottom-up method was used to estimate the amount of project-based grants and funding by non-profit organizations, which were directly contacted to obtain this information. Public and non-profit funding for mental health research increased by a factor of 3.4 between 2007 and 2011 reaching €84.8 million, while the share of health research funding allocated to mental health research nearly doubled from 2.2% to 4.1%. Public sources were the main contributors representing 94% of the total funding. Our results have important implications for policy makers, as they suggest that actions specifically aimed at prioritizing mental health research are effective in increasing research funding. There is therefore an urgent need to further undertake such actions as funding in France remains particularly low compared to the United Kingdom and the United States, despite the fact that the epidemiological and economic burden represented by mental disorders is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Employee motivation in a non-profit organisation: Case Study: Blå Kors

OpenAIRE

Rodrigues, Amanda Deborah Norma; Passos Ruvald, Carolina; Svetleva, Stanimira Nikolaeva

2017-01-01

Non-Profit Organisations are characterised by their dependence on their workforce. The functioning of such organisation commonly leans towards the service sector and so the employees play a vital part in the core function of fundraising, which in turn enables the organisation in furthering its cause. This feature, as well as the popular trait of non-profit organisation’s dependence on voluntary labour, also brings us to the importance of job satisfaction or employee motivation and commitment ...

The Effects of Firm-Specific Factors on the Profitability of Non-Life Insurance Companies in Turkey

OpenAIRE

Kaya, Emine Öner

2015-01-01

This study investigates the firm-specific factors affecting the profitability of non-life insurance companies operating in Turkey. For this purpose, data of 24 non-life insurance companies operating in Turkey from the period 2006–2013 were brought together to obtain 192 observed panel data sets. In this study, profitability is measured by two different variables: technical profitability ratio and sales profitability ratio. According to the empirical results, the firm-specific factors affecti...

Sustainability Perceptions in Romanian Non-Profit Organizations: An Exploratory Study Using Success Factor Analysis

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Sebastian Ion Ceptureanu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses sustainability perceptions in Romanian non-profits by investigating 81 non-profits managers and board members. Using a multidimensional sustainability measurement framework, Success Factor Analysis, as a conceptual model, we measured perceptions on 5 critical sustainability factors: People, Business Model, Operations, Strategy and Culture and concluded that there are significant differences in the perceptions of sustainability depending on respondents’ previous failure experiences. While those which previously experienced failure adopt a long-term approach based on marketization, clear accountability standards and rely on strategy, while the others prefer a short-term approach, focused more on non-profits operations and focus on human resources.

Age differences in career activities among higher-level employees in the Netherlands: a comparison between profit sector and non-profit sector staff

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Heijden, Beatrice

2006-01-01

The present study describes age differences in the occurrence of career activities among profit sector and non-profit sector employees in the Netherlands. Three different types of variables have been studied, i.e. individual, job-related and organizational variables. Hypotheses have been tested with

Non-Profit/Higher Education Project Management Series: The Project Plan

Science.gov (United States)

Burgher, Karl E.; Snyder, Michael

2012-01-01

This is the second installment of the AACRAO management series focusing on project management in the academy. In this article, the authors focus on white papers (often called charters, briefs, or fact sheets) and their partner, the work plan. The work plan is a detailed document that defines each aspect of a project. It is often preceded by a…

Assessment of a tool for measuring non-profit advocacy efforts in India, Uganda and Yemen.

Science.gov (United States)

Lalwani, Tanya; Rajaratnam, Julie Knoll; McOwen, Jordan; Gordis, Deborah J; Bowen, Lisa A; Bernson, Jeff

2016-03-01

To improve maternal and child health, the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) implemented an innovative policy advocacy project in India, Uganda and Yemen from 2009 to 2011. PATH assisted WRA in designing an approach to measure the short- and long-term results of WRA's advocacy efforts.Expert rating instruments have been widely used since 1970s to track country-level program efforts focusing on family planning, maternal and neonatal health, and HIV/AIDS. This article assesses and establishes the strength and applicability of an expert rating tool, the Maternal Health Policy Score (MHPS), in measuring and guiding a non-profit's advocacy efforts.The tool was assessed using five criteria: validity of results, reproducibility of results, acceptability to respondents, internal consistency and cost. The tool proved effective for measuring improvements in the policy environment at both the national and subnational levels that the non-profit intended to effect and useful for identifying strong and weak policy domains. The results are reproducible, though ensuring fidelity in implementation during different rounds of data collection may be difficult. The acceptability of the tool was high among respondents, and also among users of the information.MHPS provides a quick, low-cost method to measure overall changes in the policy environment, giving advocacy organizations and grant makers timely information to gauge the influence of their work and take corrective action. WRA demonstrated the use of MHPS at multiple points in the project: at the onset of a project to identify and strategize around policy domains that need attention, during and at the end of the project to monitor progress made and redirect efforts. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

STARTING DETERMINANTS OF STRATEGIC APPROACH TO MARKETING OF NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS: THEORETICAL ELABORATION

OpenAIRE

Pavičić, Jurica

2001-01-01

Non-profit organizations have remarkably important role in contemporary societies since they participate in solutions of numerous problems which enable or prevent functioning of society in an optimal way. In this, systematic application of marketing influences more efficient activity of non-profit organizations in practice, and by this indirectly contributes to better solution of social problems. If qualitative or systematic application of marketing is observed from the aspect of forming and ...

26 CFR 1.852-12 - Non-RIC earnings and profits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 9 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Non-RIC earnings and profits. 1.852-12 Section 1.852-12 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) INCOME TAX (CONTINUED) INCOME TAXES Regulated Investment Companies and Real Estate Investment Trusts § 1.852-12 Non-RIC...

Managing the effects of cultural diversity in HR in a non profit organization, Case organization: Moniheli

OpenAIRE

Irfan, Muhammad

2014-01-01

Non-profit organizations traditionally operate within limited resources. They cannot spend much of their resources to increase motivation. Especially when the bigger goal of the organization is to promote cultural diversity in society, it is very interesting to observe how a non-profit organization manages the cultural diversity that exists within its own human resources. This report is an attempt to identify the ways through which the case organization Moniheli, a non-profit network of diffe...

A model to motivate, engage and retain non-profit employees

African Journals Online (AJOL)

kirstam

Key words: intrinsic rewards, intrinsic work motivation, non-profit sector, retention, ..... The process of informed consent was explained in both the e-mail and ..... from working, which causes a positive cycle of emotions whereby their desire to.

Accountability, efficiency, and the "bottom line" in non-profit organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Cutt, J

1982-01-01

Financial reporting by non-profit organizations deals only with accountability for propriety and regularity, and ignores output measurement. The development of output measures of a physical or index nature offers a means of relating dollar costs to output in the form of cost-efficiency or cost-effectiveness measures, but does not provide any measure of the absolute value or worthwhileness of such programs. This fundamental absolute value question should be asked of all non-profit programs and documented to the greatest possible extent in budgetary submissions, and subsequent control and audit. In public sector non-profit programs, the posing of this question requires information on consumer demand other than in aggregative and imprecise form through the political process, and much improved information on the cost side. Eliciting demand information is feasible in the case of public programs with separable benefits by the use of a variety of pricing techniques, direct or imputed, whether or not the service in question is ultimately financed on a user-pay basis. The problem of eliciting demand is more difficult in the case of public goods, but improved demand information can be obtained, ideally by an approach such as the use of a Clarke tax. The argument can be extended to encompass questions of income distribution, stabilization, regulation and tax policy. Recent developments in program evaluation in the federal government are important, but remain deficient in failing to address the question of absolute value.

A study of grandparents and grandchildren as visitors to museums and art galleries in the UK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ela Beaumont

2005-11-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses one aspect of a major research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of family group visitors to museums and galleries in the UK. Grandparents visiting with their grandchildren are a little understood phenomenon in terms of visitor research and this paper aims to address that balance. The research project focuses on three art galleries and museums in the UK where 44 sets of grandparents were interviewed during the initial stages of the research. Findings have shown a number of interesting facets, some of which are presented in this paper. Grandparents are motivated to visit the museum with their grandchildren in the main because they are seeking an entertaining visit, a day out that is also educational and linked to school projects. They are likely to be the children’s primary carers as parents are out to work and the destination might not link with their own interests but those of the parents. They have social roles to play in their grandchildren’s lives. They often seek activity or workshops in the museum/art gallery that will be of benefit for their grandchildren and encourage them to explore the activities provided. These and other aspects are discussed within the paper. We conclude by suggesting how the findings can be used to inform more sophisticated approaches to ‘family friendly’ initiatives in museums and art galleries.

Determinants of Sustainability and Organisational Effectiveness in Non-Profit Organisations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chux Gervase Iwu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This case study investigates the criteria for organizational effectiveness in non-profit organizations (NPOs with the aim to determine how the elements of sustainability fit within the criteria. To achieve this, the study utilized the research questions: “what criteria do NPOs use to evaluate their effectiveness?” and “how is sustainability embedded in NPO effectiveness?” The research design was interpretivist, adopting focus group interviews to obtain data. Specifically, two focus group interviews were held with the top management of an NPO which revealed that both financial and non-financial criteria were equally essential for NPO effectiveness. This finding is consistent with the literature, although it contradicts the initial assumption of the study that NPO effectiveness was based more on non-financial criteria than financial criteria. The study also found that the effectiveness of an NPO should be viewed in two ways: firstly, “the full achievement of its mandate” and, secondly, “the ability to run business projects to cover cost.” It also emerged that both the ability to cover costs and the achievement of a mandate should be done in a sustainable manner (a sustainable manner is seen as one that is harmonious with the natural and the socio-political environment. The results of this paper present a practical case for the management of NPOs by reiterating that the full achievement of the NPO mandate and the successful running of social projects to generate funds for sustainability are key elements of effectiveness. Given the essential role that NPOs play in developing countries, this study has provided the foundation for more widespread enquiry into the sustainability and effectiveness of NPOs.

Advertising identities: virtual galleries as places of identity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra Zontea

2010-10-01

Full Text Available This paper is focused on the public presentation of self through virtual art galleries, singling out the field of photography. Photography has always been disputed as being part of the highbrow arts because of its popular character. Today, anyone who owes a photo camera can experience photography as art, without a rigorous training. Everybody is able to expose the photos freely to a large number of people, on the Internet. Consequently, the Internet opens up a virtual space, in which photo artists and amateurs can promote their works and exhibit them in a personal online gallery, which represents their place in the virtual vastness. Therefore, my research approaches the matter of the virtual gallery as an identitary place, being focused on finding out why artists choose to exhibit in virtual galleries. I asked myself what are the new functions of the virtual art galleries?Are they understood as online markers that distinguish the owners in these virtual environments? In other words, are these personal galleries a way of expressing online identities?

Democracy and non-profit housing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anne Vorre; Langergaard, Luise Li

2017-01-01

Resident democracy as a special form of participatory democratic set-up is fundamental in the understanding, and self-understanding, of the non-profit housing sector in Denmark. Through a case study, the paper explores how resident democracy is perceived and narrated between residents and employees....... The tensions are related to representative versus participatory democracy; collectivity versus individuality; and service versus welfare. The tensions elucidate how resident democracy is squeezed between different logics, which result in an ambiguous setting for practising democracy. Based on the results...... at a housing association. The study indicates that the meta-story of democracy is disconnected from practice and the lived lives of residents. Three analytical tensions structure the analysis, which relate to the conditions for realizing the democratic ideal embedded in the structure of the sector...

Project management for profit a failsafe guide to keeping projects on track and on budget

CERN Document Server

Knight, Joe; Angus, Brad; Case, John

2012-01-01

If your work involves projects, then this book is for you. It will show every company owner and project manager—at businesses large and small—how to run projects differently. You’ll benefit if you’ve ever: • been over budget on a project • exceeded a timeline on a project • worked on a project that completely stalled as you neared the finish line • lost money on a sure-thing project and had no idea why • noticed that scope and feature creep held you back • watched a project take three times as long as planned • felt too embarrassed to perform a review of your successes and failures • wondered whether your project actually made any money By the time you finish the book, you’ll be ready to implement Project Management for Profit in your own company—and be prepared to keep your projects on track and on budget.

Profitability of photovoltaic projects under the Plan Piloto de Generacion Distribuida para Autoconsumo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oviedo Mora, Bayron

2013-01-01

The concept of solar energy is introduced, with its characteristics and scope as a source of electric generation. The functioning of the photovoltaic projects is covered, its main components, characteristics that define, types of systems and basic concepts that should be known when designing a photovoltaic system. An Plan Piloto de Generacion Distribuida para Autoconsumo (PPDGA) of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is described, this plan is until the moment the only option for power generate a distributed manner in Costa Rica. An energetic study and good profitability analysis, the parameters to be taken into account and the way of calculating and interpret the indicators most used in engineering projects such as the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Net Present Value (NPV) were investigated to determine how should be developed. The social and environmental advantages are mentioned for the installation of a project of this type, while it is true they are difficult advantages to monetize in the developing of a profitability study, also must be valued at the time for the decision to implement the project. Two cases were chosen as examples, one for small industry level and the other at the residential level. The necessary estimates were performed to determine the optimal power to be installed in order to obtain maximum profitability, photovoltaic systems were quoted at different companies, to know the real price of equipment in today's market and credit characteristics for this type projects were consulted. Also, an estimate of the increase in electric rates in Costa Rica was made, among other necessary parameters to calculate what will happen in the projects. Finally, projects behavior was simulated, indicators of economic viability studies were calculated and sensitivity and risk studies of the two proposed projects using the RETScreen software were made. As of financial analysis and sensitivity it was determined that for both examples the proposed

Promoting Profit Model Innovation in Animation Project in Northeast Asia: Case Study on Chinese Cultural and Creative Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Jiao

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Building on a case study of three animation companies in the Chinese cultural and creative industry, this study aims to understand how profit model innovation is promoted. Due to the rapidly changing environments and resource scarcity, cultural and creative companies need to select the appropriate profit model according to their own key resources. The study uncovers two critical factors that promote profit model innovation in animation projects: the quantity of consumers and their consumption intention. According to these two dimensions, the authors’ analysis shows profit model innovation in animation projects can be divided into Fans mode, Popular mode, Placement mode, and Failure mode, respectively. This study provides an empirical basis for advocating profit model innovation and discusses the resource requirements of Fan mode, Popular model, and Placement mode in China’s cultural and creative industry. The authors’ research also has managerial implications that might help firms promote profit model innovation. Finally, learning and promoting the profit model of China’s animation industry in the Northeast Asia area will be conducive to Northeast Asia’s cooperation and sustainable development.

Resistance towards persuasion: differences between non-profit and commercial advertising

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boogaard, C.R.; Fransen, M.L.; Eisend, M.; Langner, T.

2011-01-01

In the present research we examined a variety of strategies that consumers may use to resist persuasion towards non-profit and commercial advertising. Based on research by Jacks and Cameron (2003), we investigated seven strategies (i.e., attitude bolstering, counter arguing, negative affect,

Mitigating concerns and maximizing returns: social media strategies for injury prevention non-profits.

Science.gov (United States)

McMillan-Cottom, Tressie

2014-08-01

Injury prevention programs can use social media to disseminate information and recruit participants. Non-profit organizations have also used social media for fundraising and donor relationship management. Non-profit organizations (NPOs) with injury prevention missions often serve vulnerable populations. Social media platforms have varied levels of access and control of shared content. This variability can present privacy and outreach challenges that are of particular concern for injury prevention NPOs. This case report of social media workshops for injury prevention NPOs presents concerns and strategies for successfully implementing social media campaigns.

Mitigating Concerns and Maximizing Returns: Social Media Strategies for Injury Prevention Non-profits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tressie McMillan-Cottom

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Injury prevention programs can use social media to disseminate information and recruit participants. Non-profit organizations have also used social media for fundraising and donor relationship management. Non-profit organizations (NPOs with injury prevention missions often serve vulnerable populations. Social media platforms have varied levels of access and control of shared content. This variability can present privacy and outreach challenges that are of particular concern for injury prevention NPOs. This case report of social media workshops for injury prevention NPOs presents concerns and strategies for successfully implementing social media campaigns.

Microwave oscillator with 'whispering gallery' resonator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirichenko, A.Ya.; Prokopenko, Yu.V.; Filippov, Yu.F.; Lonin, Yu.F.; Papkovich, V.G.; Ponomarev, A.G.; Prokopenko, Yu.V.; Uvarov, V.T.

2010-01-01

It was presented researches of a generation of microwave radiation into system with azimuthally periodical relativistic electron beam current that excites a high-Q quasi-optical dielectric resonator. The Eigen parameters of cylindrical Teflon resonator were determined by numerical computation. Registration of the microwave radiation realizes by a crystal set of 8-mm wavelength range. Research projects of microwave oscillators with high-Q resonators, in which 'whispering gallery' oscillations are excited by an electron flow, are presented. Multiresonator oscillators ideology is based on principles of microwave generation in klystrons with both subcritical and supercritical electron beams currents.

The role of private non-profit healthcare organizations in NHS systems: Implications for the Portuguese hospital devolution program.

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Álvaro S

2017-06-01

The national health services (NHS) of England, Portugal, Finland and other single-payer universalist systems financed by general taxation, are based on the theoretical principle of an integrated public sector payer-provider. However, in practice one can find different forms of participation of non-public healthcare providers in those NHS, including private for profit providers, but also third sector non-profit organizations (NPO). This paper reviews the role of non-public non-profit healthcare organizations in NHS systems. By crossing a literature review on privatization of national health services with a literature review on the comparative performance of non-profit and for-profit healthcare organizations, this paper assesses the impact of contracting private non-profit healthcare organizations on the efficiency, quality and responsiveness of services, in public universal health care systems. The results of the review were then compared to the existing evidence on the Portuguese hospital devolution to NPO program. The evidence in this paper suggests that NHS health system reforms that transfer some public-sector hospitals to NPO should deliver improvements to the health system with minimal downside risks. The very limited existing evidence on the Portuguese hospital devolution program suggests it improved efficiency and access, without sacrificing quality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

FACILITATORS OF INTERNET PROMOTION (E-BROCHURE ADOPTION BY NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelson Oly Ndubisi

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Internet promotion, otherwise e-brochure (EB or partial e-commerce adoption by non-profit organisations denotes the use of the Internet to provide business and service related information by academic institutions (as in the present study, non-profit organisations, religious organisations, and government agencies to reduce their expenses or to improve their operations and customer service. A field survey of Malaysian universities was conducted to determine the key factors that facilitate the adoption of non-business EB. Since EB adoption decision is a strategic one, a comprehensive list of potential facilitators for the strategic use of information technology (IT was derived from extant literature and used in collecting data from 65 schools and centres in five public universities in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The data were factor-analysed to determine the key underlying dimensions of facilitators. On the basis of the resulting five dimensions namely, relative advantage orientation, network orientation, information efficiency orientation, innovativeness orientation, and competitiveness orientation, regression analysis was done to determine the impact of the five dimensions on non-business EB adoption.

Does outsourcing affect hospital profitability?

Science.gov (United States)

Danvers, Kreag; Nikolov, Pavel

2010-01-01

Organizations outsource non-core service functions to achieve cost reductions and strategic benefits, both of which can impact profitability performance. This article examines relations between managerial outsourcing decisions and profitability for a multi-state sample of non-profit hospitals, across 16 states and four regions of the United States. Overall regression results indicate that outsourcing does not necessarily improve hospital profitability. In addition, we identify no profitability impact from outsourcing for urban hospitals, but somewhat positive effects for teaching hospitals. Our regional analysis suggests that hospitals located in the Midwest maintain positive profitability effects with outsourcing, but those located in the South realize negative effects. These findings have implications for cost reduction efforts and the financial viability of non-profit hospitals.

Non-Profit/Higher Education Project Management Series: Project Management (PM) Foundations

Science.gov (United States)

Burgher, Karl E.; Snyder, Michael B.

2012-01-01

This is the first in a series of forum articles on applying project management (PM) techniques and tools to the nonprofit sector with a focus on higher education. The authors will begin with a traditional look at project management because they believe that the integration of the tools and the processes associated with PM into many campus offices…

Not a numbers game : How non-profit organisations measure the impact of social media

OpenAIRE

Nurmi, Kasper

2017-01-01

The thesis explores social media use of Finnish non-profit organisations using the examples of the Finnish Red Cross and the World Wildlife Foundation Finland. Although the field is widely discussed, no previous studies have looked at the measuring of social media communication in the field of Finnish non-profits. In order to assess the impact of their online communication, specifically on social media platforms, organisations have begun to implement various tools for data accumulation and an...

Managing Competency in Non-Profit Organization: Experience with a European University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostaq M. Hussain

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Competence Management (CM has been discussed in contemporary academic and practitioner literature as a managing tool of Core Competences. Most of the studies of CM deal with manufacturing sector and profit organizations. Very little is known about CM in services and almost nothing in not-for profit organization. No research report has yet been found in educational institutions. Although, CM is not only important in manufacturing and profit organizations but also important in non-profit, like educational institutions, in order to meet the required quality and competitiveness of 21st century's education. Thus, an attempt has been made in this research to study CM in the administration of one the top ranking University in a Nordic country. The result results reveal that competencies had been defined in individual, network and unit level, but lack of integration of a comprehensive CM framework unable the higher educational institution to achieve the benefits of core competence. Based on the empirical findings, some policy and research directions are given at the end of the research.

The Proposal of the Changes in the Taxation of Income of the Non-profit Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Otavová

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is focused on the issue of the taxation of incomes of the non-governmental non-profit organizations, especially the civic associations in the conditions of the Czech Republic and in the selected countries of the European Union (Austria, Slovakia, Germany. The main emphasis is put on the comparison of the corporate income tax of the studied countries. Particularly the tax benefits that are provided to the non-profit organizations in the individual countries are compared here. This paper points to the current situation in the Czech Republic, where there is no clear legislation that would regulate the activities by the studied organizations. Changes in the taxation of the incomes of non-profit organizations are designed to eliminate absences with regard to the simplicity and clarity of the individual provisions, and also to prevent misuse of the benefits and to the speculative behavior of tax entities.

Transforming the tobacco market: why the supply of cigarettes should be transferred from for-profit corporations to non-profit enterprises with a public health mandate.

Science.gov (United States)

Callard, C; Thompson, D; Collishaw, N

2005-08-01

Current tobacco control strategies seek primarily to decrease the demand for cigarettes through measures that encourage individuals to adopt healthier behaviours. These measures are impeded and undermined by tobacco corporations, whose profit drive compels them to seek to maintain and expand cigarette sales. Tobacco corporations seek to expand cigarette sales because they are for-profit business corporations and are obliged under law to maximise profits, even when this results in harm to others. It is not legally possible for a for-profit corporation to relinquish its responsibility to make profits or for it to temper this obligation with responsibilities to support health. Tobacco could be supplied through other non-profit enterprises. The elimination of profit driven behaviour from the supply of tobacco would enhance the ability of public health authorities to reduce tobacco use. Future tobacco control strategies can seek to transform the tobacco market from one occupied by for-profit corporations to one where tobacco is supplied by institutions that share a health mandate and will help to reduce smoking and smoking related disease and death.

A Strategic Analysis of Investment Opportunities within British Columbia's Private Healthcare Sector for a Non-Profit Genomics Research Organization

OpenAIRE

Barclay, John W.

2010-01-01

Advances in the genome sciences are leading to the development of new healthcare innovations relevant to the principles of personalized medicine. Genome BC, a non-profit research organization, invests in projects that will help facilitate the integration of these innovations into the delivery of healthcare. This analysis assesses the strategic positioning of private healthcare firms in BC to be early users of such innovations. The analysis assesses the suitability of investment from Genome BC...

Long Term Recovery in Disaster Response and the Role of Non-Profits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor B Flatt

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The Legal Framework of Disaster Response does not deal as well with long term recovery. In particular, the role of non-profits is unexamined. This paper examines the role of non-profits in disaster recovery and argues for a legal framework acknowledging its important role. El marco legal de las respuestas ante desastres no tiene en cuenta la recuperación a largo plazo. En particular, no se analiza el papel de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro. Este artículo estudia el papel de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro en la recuperación de desastres, y se muestra a favor de establecer un marco legal que reconozca la importancia de su papel.

Effects of whispering gallery mode in microsphere super-resolution imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Song; Deng, Yongbo; Zhou, Wenchao; Yu, Muxin; Urbach, H. P.; Wu, Yihui

2017-09-01

Whispering Gallery modes have been presented in microscopic glass spheres or toruses with many applications. In this paper, the possible approaches to enhance the imaging resolution by Whispering Gallery modes are discussed, including evanescent waves coupling, transformed and illustration by Whispering Gallery modes. It shows that the high-order scattering modes play the dominant role in the reconstructed virtual image when the Whispering Gallery modes exist. Furthermore, we find that the high image resolution of electric dipoles can be achieved, when the out-of-phase components exist from the illustration of Whispering Gallery modes. Those results of our simulation could contribute to the knowledge of microsphere-assisted super-resolution imaging and its potential applications.

The Spiral Gallery: Non-Market Creativity and Belonging in an Australian Country Town

Science.gov (United States)

Waitt, Gordon; Gibson, Chris

2013-01-01

This paper seeks to explore creative practice in an Australian country town, and in so doing, to unsettle market-orientated interpretations of creativity that privilege the urban. Instead of focusing on creative practice as a means to develop industries, we focus on how creativity is a means to establish a cooperative gallery space that helps to…

Resource categories and performance in Portuguese non-profit sports clubs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Arraya

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The resource-based view (RBV explores the role of key resources identified as tangible, personnel-based, and intangible resources in creating superior organizational performance. The RBV posits that an organization’s success is mainly driven by resources that possess Barney’s VRIO (valuable, rare, inimitable, and organized framework. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the relationship between the three categories of resources and organizational performance. The data was analyzed with a two-stage structural equation modelling approach. The sample included Portuguese sports management staff from non-profit clubs which composed of 375 men and 102 women. The results of the structural model demonstrated that, intangible resources can significantly influence organizational performance while, personnel-based resources influence tangible and intangible resources. The results show that “staff competence”, “reputation”, and “financial capital” were the most essential resources, and that is core for non-profit clubs and their strategy to recognize, develop, and leverage VRIO resources. These findings also have considerable implications for sport managers, and suggestions for possible future research were given.

Non-profits discover the benefits of using software through the Internet.

Science.gov (United States)

2001-04-01

Many non-profits are looking at ways that they can leverage the Internet to assist in fund raising. Some organizations are using the Internet as a form of e-commerce to accept online gifts, while others are using the immediacy of the Internet for online auctions.

Promoting Profit Model Innovation in Animation Project in Northeast Asia: Case Study on Chinese Cultural and Creative Industry

OpenAIRE

Hao Jiao; Yupei Wang; Hongjun Xiao; Jianghua Zhou; Wensi Zeng

2017-01-01

Building on a case study of three animation companies in the Chinese cultural and creative industry, this study aims to understand how profit model innovation is promoted. Due to the rapidly changing environments and resource scarcity, cultural and creative companies need to select the appropriate profit model according to their own key resources. The study uncovers two critical factors that promote profit model innovation in animation projects: the quantity of consumers and their consumption...

NAIP Status Maps Gallery

Data.gov (United States)

Farm Service Agency, Department of Agriculture — NAIP Status Maps Gallery. These maps illustrate what aerial imagery collection is planned, whats been collected, when it is available and how it is available. These...

Opportunities for Innovation Adoption in Art Galleries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ieva VITKAUSKAITĖ

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article introduces the opportunities for innovation adoption in art galleries. It provides systematised information on innovation processes and innovations used in business models of art galleries. The empirical research conducted has revealed the attitude of art galleries towards innovations, as well as the benefits and opportunities to realise them. The first part of the article distinguishes the stages of innovation process and management. The following part describes the factors that influence the management of innovation process. The final part of the article analyses the application of innovations for the improvement of a business model, with Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur selected as the starting point for analysis and, finally, the outcomes of empirical research are provided.

Lifelong Learning for People Aged 64+ within the Contemporary Art Gallery Context

Science.gov (United States)

Goulding, Anna

2012-01-01

This paper reports the initial findings from Contemporary Visual Art and Identity Construction--Wellbeing Amongst Older People: a two-year research project that aims to understand how the lives of older people can be improved by examining their use of contemporary visual art in the art gallery and museum. It will focus on data relating to lifelong…

Mapping the Profit Motive: The Distinct Geography and Demography of For-Profit Charter Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, W. Brett

2015-01-01

For-profit charter schools represent a controversial new market-based education reform (Garcia, Barber, & Molnar, 2009; Conn, 2002). This essay explores how schools operated by for-profit corporations differ from those operated by non-profit organizations. Specifically, do for-profit charter schools locate in demographically distinct areas and…

Genesis of a Joint Gallery of Sport Art.

Science.gov (United States)

Kozar, Andrew J.

1989-01-01

The University of Pennsylvania's dual sport art gallery showcases the work of R. Taft McKenzie and Joe Brown, two of the premier sport artists of our time. This article briefly outlines the artists' careers and describes the planning which led to establishment of the gallery. (IAH)

How can work be designed to be intrinsically rewarding? Qualitative insights from South African non-profit employees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Renard

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Intrinsic rewards are personal, psychological responses to the work thatemployees perform, which stem from the manner in which their work is designed. Research purpose: This study sought to discover in what ways non-profit employees arepsychologically rewarded by the nature of their work tasks. The use of a qualitative approachto data collection and analysis ensured that in-depth responses from participants were gained. Motivation for the study: Intrinsic rewards are of particular importance to non-profitemployees, who tend to earn below-market salaries. This implies that their motivationoriginates predominantly from intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic rewards; yet, research into thisarea of rewards is lacking. Research approach, design and method: In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conductedusing a sample of 15 extrinsically rewarded non-profit employees working within South Africa.Thematic analysis was utilised in order to generate codes which led to the formation of fiveintrinsic rewards categories. Main findings: Intrinsic rewards were classified into five categories, namely (1 MeaningfulWork, (2 Flexible Work, (3 Challenging Work, (4 Varied Work and (5 Enjoyable Work.These rewards each comprise of various subcategories, which provide insight into why suchwork is rewarding to non-profit employees. Practical/managerial implications: Traditional performance management systems shouldbe re-evaluated in the non-profit sector to shift focus towards intrinsic rewards, asopposed to focusing only on the use of extrinsic rewards such as incentives to motivateemployees. Contribution/value-add: The study provides a qualitative understanding of how extrinsicallyrewarded non-profit employees perceive their work to be intrinsically rewarding, whichbridges the empirical gap pertaining to intrinsic rewards within this sector.

The role and importance of Non-Profit Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicoleta Ciucescu

2009-12-01

Full Text Available In a complex and challenging background of the whole country, and the NGO sector also, the non-profit organizations are established with the aim of providing public services to communities where they operate, making them as an intermediary between citizens and authorities. In any democratic society these organizations are meant to serve different types of needs and interests of the community, from both a strategic perspective and ethics, that those which are not covered by other categories of institutions and organizations, mean time providing a framework for civic participation, where citizens may participate to the public life.

Coral Reefs: A Gallery Program, Grades 7-12.

Science.gov (United States)

National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD. Dept. of Education.

Gallery classes at the National Aquarium in Baltimore give the opportunity to study specific aquarium exhibits which demonstrate entire natural habitats. The coral reef gallery class features the gigantic western Atlantic coral reef (325,000 gallons) with over 1,000 fish. The exhibit simulates a typical Caribbean coral reef and nearby sandy…

Profitability expertise of rural methanization projects; Expertise de la rentabilite des projets de methanisation rurale. Rapport final

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-02-15

The main objectives of this study were to analyze the profitability of projects of methanization, and to identify factors which curb or favour their profitability. It is based on a detailed analysis of the investment and of the profitability of 50 sites of different sizes and at different stages of progress (from the feasibility study to few months of operation), and also of experiences in three neighbour countries (Germany, Switzerland and Belgium). First, the study highlights the importance of investment costs in the biogas production global cost, notably with respect to current German prices. Then, it comments the impact of subsidies on facility profitability. It proposes ways to improve public support to the different energetic vectors produced from biogas: electricity, biomethane, and heat

A Probabilistic Alternative Approach to Optimal Project Profitability Based on the Value-at-Risk

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Yonggu Kim

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on an investment decision-making process for sustainable development based on the profitability impact factors for overseas projects. Investors prefer to use the discounted cash-flow method. Although this method is simple and straightforward, its critical weakness is its inability to reflect the factor volatility associated with the project evaluation. To overcome this weakness, the Value-at-Risk method is used to apply the volatility of the profitability impact factors, thereby reflecting the risks and establishing decision-making criteria for risk-averse investors. Risk-averse investors can lose relatively acceptable investment opportunities to risk-neutral or risk-amenable investors due to strict investment decision-making criteria. To overcome this problem, critical factors are selected through a Monte Carlo simulation and a sensitivity analysis, and solutions to the critical-factor problems are then found by using the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving and a business version of the Project Definition Rating Index. This study examines the process of recovering investment opportunities with projects that are investment feasible and that have been rejected when applying the criterion of the Value-at-Risk method. To do this, a probabilistic alternative approach is taken. To validate this methodology, the proposed framework for an improved decision-making process is demonstrated using two actual overseas projects of a Korean steel-making company.

Evaluating Outsourcing Information Technology and Assurance Expertise by Small Non-Profit Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

Guinn, Fillmore

2013-01-01

Small non-profit organizations outsource at least one information technology or information assurance process. Outsourcing information technology and information assurance processes has increased every year. The study was to determine the key reasons behind the choice to outsource information technology and information assurance processes. Using…

Water Pricing as an Economic Justification for Reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Massoud Tabesh

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Management of water demand and modification of consumption patterns are becoming increasingly essential due to the increasingly limited precipitation and the growing population which have led to both severe restrictions on renewable water resources and increasing demands for water in Iran. The most important consumption management measures involve reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW and decreasing water losses in the water supply system. Non-revenue water is defined as the difference between the total inflow and the metered consumption in the supply system. The losses may be divided into the two components of apparent and real losses. Achieving reductions in non-revenue water calls for the careful study and evaluation of the operational procedures proposed in each case since reductions will be economical only when accurate and realistic values are considered in water pricing. The present study draws upon the data obtained from non-revenue water projects implemented in District 4 of Tehran Water and Wastewater Company, the measures proposed by the project consultant, and the economic justifications claimed for all the costs associated with the measures to eliminate water losses. The cost of the proposed measures are calculated for two different economic values of water proposed to ensure benefits, and under four different interest rates. Results confirm the profitability of the non-revenue water solutions based on the finished cost of water even at subsidized rates of public funds. However, project profitability will be in question if the economic price of water is assumed to be equivalent to the total trade price of water and if both real and apparent losses are to be reduced.

Viability of microcomputed tomography to study tropical marine worm galleries in humid muddy sediments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pennafirme, Simone F., E-mail: sipennafirme@gmail.com [Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Niteroi, RJ (Brazil). Inst. de Biologia. Dept. de Biologia Marinha; Machado, Alessandra S.; Lima, Inaya; Suzuki, Katia N.; Lopes, Ricardo T., E-mail: machado@lin.ufrj.br, E-mail: inaya@lin.ufrj.br, E-mail: norisuzuki6@yahoo.com.br, E-mail: ricardo@lin.ufj.br [Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-Graduacao em Engenharia (COPPE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Lab. de Instrumentacao Nuclear

2013-07-01

Bioturbation is an ecological process driven by organisms, which transports nutrients and gases from air/water to sediment through their galleries, by the time they feed, burrow and/or construct galleries. This exchange is vital to the maintenance of micro and macrobenthic organisms, mainly in muddy flat environments. Species with distinct galleries could create levels of bioturbation, affecting the benthic interactions. In this sense, it is fundamental developing a non-destructive method that permits identifying/quantifying the properties of these galleries. The recent advances in micro-computed tomography are allowing the high resolution 3D images generation. However, once muddy sediments are rich in organic matter and interstitial water, these would lead to motion artifacts which could, in turn, decrease the accuracy of galleries identification/quantification. In this context, the aim of this study was to develop a protocol which combines laboratory experiments and microtomography analysis in order to generate accurate 3D images of the small marine worm's galleries within humid muddy sediments. The sediment was collected at both muddy flats of Surui's and Itaipu lagoon's mangroves (RJ-Brazil), sieved (0.5mm mesh) and introduced with one individual of the marine worm Laeonereis acuta (Nereididae, Polychaeta) in each acrylic corer holders (4.4cm of internal diameter). High energy microtomography scanner was used to obtain 3D images and the setup calibration was 130 kV and 61 mA. Each acquisition image time was among 4h and 6h. Several procedures of drying remained water inside the cores were performed aiming obtaining images without movement artifacts due to circulating water, and this issue was one of the main studied parameter. In order to investigate possible chemical effects, 2ml of formalin (35%) with menthol were added to the surface of the cores. The results show that although the drying time was appropriated, the chemicals created bubbles

Viability of microcomputed tomography to study tropical marine worm galleries in humid muddy sediments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pennafirme, Simone F.; Machado, Alessandra S.; Lima, Inaya; Suzuki, Katia N.; Lopes, Ricardo T.

2013-01-01

Bioturbation is an ecological process driven by organisms, which transports nutrients and gases from air/water to sediment through their galleries, by the time they feed, burrow and/or construct galleries. This exchange is vital to the maintenance of micro and macrobenthic organisms, mainly in muddy flat environments. Species with distinct galleries could create levels of bioturbation, affecting the benthic interactions. In this sense, it is fundamental developing a non-destructive method that permits identifying/quantifying the properties of these galleries. The recent advances in micro-computed tomography are allowing the high resolution 3D images generation. However, once muddy sediments are rich in organic matter and interstitial water, these would lead to motion artifacts which could, in turn, decrease the accuracy of galleries identification/quantification. In this context, the aim of this study was to develop a protocol which combines laboratory experiments and microtomography analysis in order to generate accurate 3D images of the small marine worm's galleries within humid muddy sediments. The sediment was collected at both muddy flats of Surui's and Itaipu lagoon's mangroves (RJ-Brazil), sieved (0.5mm mesh) and introduced with one individual of the marine worm Laeonereis acuta (Nereididae, Polychaeta) in each acrylic corer holders (4.4cm of internal diameter). High energy microtomography scanner was used to obtain 3D images and the setup calibration was 130 kV and 61 mA. Each acquisition image time was among 4h and 6h. Several procedures of drying remained water inside the cores were performed aiming obtaining images without movement artifacts due to circulating water, and this issue was one of the main studied parameter. In order to investigate possible chemical effects, 2ml of formalin (35%) with menthol were added to the surface of the cores. The results show that although the drying time was appropriated, the chemicals created bubbles within the

Anti-profit beliefs: How people neglect the societal benefits of profit.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharjee, Amit; Dana, Jason; Baron, Jonathan

2017-11-01

Profit-seeking firms are stereotypically depicted as immoral and harmful to society. At the same time, profit-driven enterprise has contributed immensely to human prosperity. Though scholars agree that profit can incentivize societally beneficial behaviors, people may neglect this possibility. In 7 studies, we show that people see business profit as necessarily in conflict with social good, a view we call anti-profit beliefs . Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that U.S. participants hold anti-profit views of real U.S. firms and industries. Study 3 shows that hypothetical organizations are seen as doing more harm when they are labeled "for-profit" rather than "non-profit," while Study 4 shows that increasing harm to society is viewed as a strategy for increasing a hypothetical firm's long-run profitability. Studies 5-7 demonstrate that carefully prompting subjects to consider the long run incentives of profit can attenuate anti-profit beliefs, while prompting short run thinking does nothing relative to a control. Together, these results suggest that the default view of profits is zero-sum. While people readily grasp how profit can incentivize firms to engage in practices that harm others, they neglect how it can incentivize firms to engage in practices that benefit others. Accordingly, people's stereotypes of profit-seeking firms are excessively negative. Even in one of the most market-oriented societies in history, people doubt the contributions of profit-seeking industry to societal progress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Visual events and the friendly eye: modes of educating vision in new educational settings in Danish art galleries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Illeris, Helene

2009-01-01

  New, experimental educational settings such as ‘art laboratories', ‘digital workshops' and ‘theme-based tours' are important to the processes of change towards more inclusive practices, which have been initiated in many Danish art galleries. While traditional gallery education was constructed...... as visual events, and it discusses how ‘the desiring eye' of some constructivist approaches, along with traditional practices of looking, have contributed to the formation of the modern, autonomous individual. The second part of the article analyses two cases from Danish art galleries and, inspired by Mieke...... in order to stimulate the ‘disciplined eye' or the ‘aesthetic eye' of the visitors, this article aims to discuss the practices of looking encouraged by contemporary and experimental educational projects. The first part of the article develops a theoretical perspective on educational settings conceived...

Facebook Satisfaction and Its Impacts on Fundraising: A Case Study at a Portuguese Non-Profit Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raul M. S. Laureano

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Non-profit organizations have invested in the development of content for their Facebook pages, believing be an efficient and effective means to publicize its mission and raising resources, whether monetary or human. The purpose of this study is to assess the satisfaction of the participants with the Facebook page, and how that satisfaction influences the dissemination of the organization through the word-of-mouth and the donations practices. In this context, a questionnaire was administered to 204 participants that were aware of the Portuguese non-profit organization “Leigos para o Desenvolvimento” (People for Development. The results show that the participants are satisfied with Facebook page of the organization, and that there is influence of satisfaction on the word-of-mouth and on the frequency and amount of donations. However, satisfaction with the Facebook, itself, does not appear crucial to the realization of donations, either in the present or in future as intended. The study focuses only on one organization and includes a sample that may not represent all the population extracts and so inhibit the generalization of the findings to other populations. The paper includes implications for the development of an effective use of the Facebook as a digital marketing tool that can contribute to the sustainability of non-profit organizations. The study confirms the importance of the Facebook as a digital marketing tool that can contribute to the sustainability of non-profit organizations.

Financial controlling in non-profit organizations. The case of Slovak Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela Vaceková

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of financial controlling is to secure liquidity and financial stability of an organization. It is very important especially for NPOs. They are not founded primarily for the purpose of making profit, so their financial policy gives priority to continuously provide liquidity. The paper presents partial results of a pilot primary research of utilization of financial controlling tools in governmental and nongovernmental non-profit organizations in the conditions of Slovak Republic. Primary data were obtained by the sociological method of a structured questionnaire. The analysis was carried out by adequate mathematical and statistical methods for processing qualitative data and ordinal variables. The presented paper provides a new insight into the studied problem while generating a primary information basis for further scientific study and research work in this field.

The profitability of photovoltaic projects in developing countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Covell, Philip W.; Hansen, Richard D. [Enersol Associates, Inc., (United states)

1995-12-31

This paper shows that it is possible to recover costs and profit from photovoltaic projects, even in relatively poor countries. It explains three basic financial arrangements for full cost recovery used in several developing countries for solar home and business systems: self financing; term financing through equipment vendors, banks and non-governmental organizations, and leasing. It also describes potential sources of cost recovery (besides the end-users), including CO{sub 2} offsets. Finally, it concludes that given the success of some projects, recent efforts toward market conditioning, and the effect of environmental concerns, there are good PV business opportunities for electric power utilities in developing countries. This is an adapted and abbreviated version of a paper entitled Full Cost Recovery in Photovoltaic Projects: Debunking the Myths about Equipment Subsidization. Much of the information has been drawn from the field experiences of Enersol Associates, Inc., a nonprofit organization specializing in PV project implementation; and SOLUZ, Inc., a Massachusetts based company affiliated with Industria Electrica Bella Vista, which operates a PV System Leasing Business in the Dominican Republic. Together, these organizations have facilitated the installation of over 5000 systems on a full cost recovery basis. [Espanol] Este articulo muestra que es posible recuperar los costos y sacar provecho de los proyectos fotovoltaicos, aun en paises relativamente pobres. Explica tres arreglos financieros basicos para la recuperacion total de los gastos usados en varios paises en desarrollo para sistemas solares domesticos y de negocios: autofinanciamiento, financiamiento por un periodo dado a traves de los vendedores de equipo, bancos y organizaciones no gubernamentales y renta. Tambien describe fuentes potenciales para la recuperacion de costos (ademas de los usuarios finales), incluyendo las compensaciones por CO{sub 2}. Finalmente concluye que dado el exito de

The profitability of photovoltaic projects in developing countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Covell, Philip W; Hansen, Richard D [Enersol Associates, Inc., (United states)

1996-12-31

This paper shows that it is possible to recover costs and profit from photovoltaic projects, even in relatively poor countries. It explains three basic financial arrangements for full cost recovery used in several developing countries for solar home and business systems: self financing; term financing through equipment vendors, banks and non-governmental organizations, and leasing. It also describes potential sources of cost recovery (besides the end-users), including CO{sub 2} offsets. Finally, it concludes that given the success of some projects, recent efforts toward market conditioning, and the effect of environmental concerns, there are good PV business opportunities for electric power utilities in developing countries. This is an adapted and abbreviated version of a paper entitled Full Cost Recovery in Photovoltaic Projects: Debunking the Myths about Equipment Subsidization. Much of the information has been drawn from the field experiences of Enersol Associates, Inc., a nonprofit organization specializing in PV project implementation; and SOLUZ, Inc., a Massachusetts based company affiliated with Industria Electrica Bella Vista, which operates a PV System Leasing Business in the Dominican Republic. Together, these organizations have facilitated the installation of over 5000 systems on a full cost recovery basis. [Espanol] Este articulo muestra que es posible recuperar los costos y sacar provecho de los proyectos fotovoltaicos, aun en paises relativamente pobres. Explica tres arreglos financieros basicos para la recuperacion total de los gastos usados en varios paises en desarrollo para sistemas solares domesticos y de negocios: autofinanciamiento, financiamiento por un periodo dado a traves de los vendedores de equipo, bancos y organizaciones no gubernamentales y renta. Tambien describe fuentes potenciales para la recuperacion de costos (ademas de los usuarios finales), incluyendo las compensaciones por CO{sub 2}. Finalmente concluye que dado el exito de

The Features of Forming and Using the Finansial and Material Resources of Socially Oriented Non-Profit Organizations of Volgograd Region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleynik Olga Stepanovna

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of interaction of regional authorities and the institute of socially oriented non-profit organizations that carry out the activity aimed at solving social problems, the development of civil society in Russia. The forms and activities of socially oriented non-profit organizations are systematically presented. The authors reveal the directions and tools for supporting the activities of socially oriented non-profit organizations by public authorities and local self-government bodies. The authors aimed at fixing the peculiarities of organization and conduct of statistical observation over the activity of socially-oriented organizations in Volgograd region. The organizational events were arranged. They were necessary for the conduct of qualitative statistical analysis of the activity of socially oriented organizations. For the first time the official data on the activity of socially oriented non-profit organizations in Volgograd region, including the information on formation and use of money and other property, was received as a result of the statistical observation. The authors focus on the analysis of the sources of money and other property, reveal the composition of income in non-profit organizations of various organizational and legal forms. The forms of work in socially oriented non-profit organizations of Volgograd region and its results as of 2013 are thoroughly studied. The conducted statistical analysis showed that the significant public sector has been established in the region. It provides the necessary public social services, financial or social assistance to the most vulnerable members of society.

Promenade Among Words and Things: The Gallery as Catalogue, the Catalogue as Gallery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mari Lending

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In the mid nineteenth century new casting techniques allowed for the production of huge architectural fragments. Well-selected collections could ideally display perfect series in galleries in which the visitor could wander among monuments and experience architecture history on full scale. The disembodied material of plaster was considered capable of embodying a number of modern historical taxonomies and aesthetical programs, most importantly chronology, comparison, style, and evolution. Veritable showcases of historicism, the casts could illustrate in spatial arrangements new conceptions on the history, contemporaneity and future of architecture. Plaster cast became a main medium in which to publish antiquities as novelties for grand audiences, taking the printed and published beyond the two-dimensional space of words and images. However, due to the increasing market of casts and their sheere size and weight, the reproductions as mounted in the galleries often behaved as unruly as architecture does outside curatorial control. In the end only the catalogues, the paper versions of these imaginary museums were capable to create the orders that their plaster referents constantly aspired to destroy. An important chapter in the history of the architecture museum these plaster monuments belong to a part of architectural print culture in which catalogues were curated and galleries edited. Metaphors drawn from the realm of writing saturated the discourse on the display of casts. Images and texts fluctuated and the image-objects were compared to books, paper, pages, documents and libraries but above all to illustrations inviting promenades in time and space.

THE THEORY OF NON-PROFIT ALTERNATIVE ECONOMY AS THE BASIS FOR A NEW ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. V. Myamlin

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The conflicts of existing financial-and-economic model of management are revealed. The groundlessness of profit-financial economic model based only on a profit approach is shown. The alienation of this model from general laws of the Nature is demonstrated. As an argument of absence of additional product the scheme of rotation of substances in the Nature is given. It is suggested to build the laws of economics starting not from idea considerations of those or other social groups but from general laws of the Nature. A new basic economic ideology – the theory of non-profitable economy – is proposed.

Domotics in existing houses for elderly people. Evaluation of the project Lidwinahof. People, Planet, Profit; Domotica in bestaande seniorenwoningen. Evaluatie project Lidwinahof. People, Planet, Profit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schouw, J.; Corpeleijn, M.; Poiesz, E. [CEA, Rotterdam (Netherlands)

2003-08-01

Domotics is applied in 49 houses for elderly people of the building complex Lidwinahof in Best, Netherlands. The domotics application concerns the functions safety (burglary, control of access, fire), care (emergency call, measurement of activity) and comfort (lighting). Among all residents an evaluation has been carried out from the perspective of sustainable development. A precondition for sustainable development is a balance between social, ecological and economical benefits (People, Planet and Profit). Results before and after the application of domotics are compared. [Dutch] De afgelopen jaren hebben diverse woningcorporaties een pilot-project met domotica uitgevoerd, met name met toepassingen op het gebied van wonen en zorg. Domein (woningcorporatie in Eindhoven, Best en Son en Breugel) was in het voorjaar van 2002 de eerste woningcorporatie die domotica heeft toegepast in de bestaande bouw (49 seniorenwoningen van het complex Lidwinahof in Best). Het systeem bevatte de functies veiligheid (inbraak, toegangscontrole, brand), zorg (noodoproep, activiteitsmeting) en comfort (verlichting). Onder alle bewoners is een evaluatie uitgevoerd vanuit het perspectief van duurzame ontwikkeling. Voorwaarde voor duurzame ontwikkeling is een balans tussen sociale, ecologische en economische opbrengsten (People, Planet en Profit). De resultaten op deze drie gebieden voor en na toepassing van domotica zijn vergeleken.

Cause Related Marketing: Consumers Perceptions and Benefits for Profit and Non-Profits Organisations

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Francisca Farache

2008-07-01

Full Text Available This study is an attempt to understand consumers’ perceptions regarding Cause Related Marketing [CRM]. The research findings were based on a survey of 200 consumers in the Brighton area and published data. The research aim was focused on the consumers’ perception of the alliance between corporations and non-profit organisations. The research found that consumers have a better perception of firms that work with charities and good causes than those that do not. They believe that the partnership between corporations and charities has an impact on the good of society. However, they are aware that corporations themselves benefit from this partnership. Concerning good causes, consumers prefer to support those related to Children. The researchers noticed that an individual connection with a cause might have considerable influence on consumer attitudes and behaviour in relation to a specific cause.

Kunstnikud välitöödel = Artists in fieldwork / Rael Artel

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Artel, Rael, 1980-

2006-01-01

Kaasaegsest kohaspetsiifilisest kunstist. Kohaspetsiifilise kunstiprojekti näitena Istanbuli biennaalist 2005 (kuraatorid Charles Esche, Vasif Kortun) ja Pärnu Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space'i näitusest, mis püüdis leida alternatiivseid linnaruumi käsitlusi. Anu Vahtra fotoprojeltist "Sketchbook. Deconstructing Pärnu: locations, individuals", Jaanus Samma ja Pille Jüriso kunstiprojektist "Purskksev ja rõdu. Pärnu versioon", Paula Roushi teosest "Mud d'Artiste" ja Pilvi Takala teosest "Müürililleke"

Science Outreach through Art: A Journal Article Cover Gallery

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, Ian

2015-01-01

Research faculty journal covers were used to create a gallery in the Science & Technology branch library at the University of Akron. The selection, presentation, and promotion process is shared along with copyright considerations and a review of galleries used for library outreach. The event and display was a great success attracting faculty…

Person-Organization Commitment: Bonds of Internal Consumer in the Context of Non-profit Organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Juaneda-Ayensa, Emma; Clavel San Emeterio, Mónica; González-Menorca, Carlos

2017-01-01

From an Organizational Behavior perspective, it is important to recognize the links generated between individuals and the organization that encourage a desire for permanence. After more than a half century of research, Organizational Commitment remains one of the open questions in the Psychology of Organizations. It is considered an essential factor for explaining individual behavior in the organization such as satisfaction, turnover intention, or loyalty. In this paper, we analyze different contributions regarding the nature of the bond between the individual and the organization. Taking into account the peculiarities of Non-profit Organizations, we present different interpretation for later validation, comparing results from the Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the four models obtained using exploratory factor analysis, both conducted on a sample of 235 members of Non-profit Organizations.

Application of gallery-drilling exploration in underground uranium mining and its evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Ruichun; Zou Guohe

1990-01-01

Combination method of gallery and drilling is an effective one in production exploration. On the basis of the 20 years practice of a uranium mine using the gallery-drilling combination method in production exploration, the advantages, applications, engineering networks, principles of application of the gallery-drilling combination method and the results of its application are described

Visual events and the friendly eye: modes of educating vision in new educational settings in Danish art galleries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helene Illeris

2015-04-01

Full Text Available New, experimental educational settings such as ‘art laboratories’, ‘digital workshops’ and ‘theme-based tours’ are important to the processes of change towards more inclusive practices, which have been initiated in many Danish art galleries. While traditional gallery education was constructed in order to stimulate the ‘disciplined eye’ or the ‘aesthetic eye’ of the visitors, this article aims to discuss the practices of looking encouraged by contemporary and experimental educational projects. The first part of the article develops a theoretical perspective on educational settings conceived as visual events, and it discusses how ‘the desiring eye’ of some constructivist approaches, along with traditional practices of looking, have contributed to the formation of the modern, autonomous individual. The second part of the article analyses two cases from Danish art galleries and, inspired by Mieke Bal, proposes the ‘friendly eye’ as a possible dialogical and collective practice of looking that can be stimulated in educational settings.

Taxation of Non-profit Organizations in the Selected European Countries: the Proposal of the Changes for the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Otavová

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is focused on the issue of taxation of income of non-profit organizations, especially to associations (clubs in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. This paper is part of research, where the main emphasis is placed on the comparison of the tax benefits which are provided to non-profit organizations in different countries. This paper points to the current situation in the Czech Republic where despite the changes that have occurred in connection with the new Civil Code, there is still missing clear legislation that would regulate the activities of the monitored organizations. Changes in the taxation of income of non-profit organizations are designed with regard to the elimination of deficiencies in order to prevent the abuse of the benefits and the speculative behavior of tax entities.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CONNECTIONS OF ROMANIAN NON-LISTED FIRMS TO TAX HAVENS ON THEIR PROFITABILITY

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Mihai-Bogdan AFRASINEI

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The offshore entities have become one of the most efficient solutions for tax avoidance and are used by taxpayers almost all around the world. This paper investigates the influence of the connections (via subsidiaries or shareholders of Romanian non-listed firms to tax havens on their profitability and effective tax rate. In this regard, we used a sample of 7,167 Romanian firms (3,370 with connections to tax havens and 3,797 without tax havens connections. For statistical analysis, we used the simple and multiple linear regression methods with dummy variables. Results have shown that the presence of Romanian non-listed firms in tax havens significantly influences their profitability and effective tax rate. The firms with connections to tax havens have a return on equity ratio higher, a return on assets ratio lower, a gross profit margin ratio lower, a total assets turnover ratio higher and an effective tax rate lower than companies without connections to such jurisdictions.

Legal environment of non-profit organizations in Iceland Réttarumhverfi félagasamtaka á Íslandi

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Hrafn Bragason

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Despite a high number of non-profit organizations and their important social function a comprehensive legislation on their activities does not exist in Iceland, as is the case for most other operating entities. In the article existing rules on non-profit activities in Iceland are analyzed. In addition, the entity, non-profit organizations, is defined, and rules on their establishment, member participation, organization, accountability and obligations are described. The analysis will also focus on current regulation on fundraising, business activities, taxation and income from the government. A comparison of non-profit organizations and foundations is performed.Þrátt fyrir fjölda félagasamtaka og þýðingarmikið samfélagslegt hlutverk þeirra eru ekki í gildi heildarlög á Íslandi um starfsemi þeirra eins og um flest önnur félagaform. Í greininni er fjallað um þær reglur sem þó gilda um starfsemi félagasamtaka eða almennra félaga eins og þau eru nefnd í félagarétti. Auk skilgreiningar á félagaforminu er þeim reglum lýst sem gilda um stofnun þeirra, félagsaðild, skipulag, ábyrgð og skuldbindingar. Einnig er rætt um þá reglu um gjörð sem gildir um tekjuöflun félagasamtaka, atvinnustarfsemi, skattlagningu og fjárveitingar frá hinu opinbera. Gerður er samanburður á félagasamtökum og sjálfseignarstofnunum sem starfa á sambærilegum vettvangi.

Introducing New Library Services: Nuclear Malaysia Gallery Photos and Videos

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohd Hafizal Yusof; Nasaruddin Ahmad; Habibah Adnan

2015-01-01

The main purpose of the existing of library is to preserve books and journals for the organizations main business. The role of library itself is to organize the books such as borrowing and renewal services as consulting their customers on getting the best references for the customers need and demand. Nowadays, the role of library also expands and the need for storing and preserving non-monograph resources such as photo and video also increase. Follow that current situation, Nuclear Malaysia's Library also take a step forwards by introducing new services so called Photo and Video Gallery. Realizing that Nuclear Malaysia also have their valuable photo and video that contains so called memorable moment and must be preserve for future reference, the management of Nuclear Malaysia's Library have decided to buy the system so called P-Canvas. The main purpose of this paper is to explain the library new services, Photo and Video Gallery, development and advantage of this system in storing and preserving Nuclear Malaysia's photo and video. (author)

Evaluation of the Effect of Non-Current Fixed Assets on Profitability and Asset Management Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Lubyanaya, Alexandra V.; Izmailov, Airat M.; Nikulina, Ekaterina Y.; Shaposhnikov, Vladislav A.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to investigate the problem, which stems from non-current fixed assets affecting profitability and asset management efficiency. Tangible assets, intangible assets and financial assets are all included in non-current fixed assets. The aim of the research is to identify the impact of estimates and valuation in…

The engagement and retention of non-profit employees in Belgium and South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Renard

2016-11-01

Contribution: This study provides insights into the means by which non-profit employees across two nations demonstrate their enthusiasm, pride and involvement in the work that they perform. It moreover sheds light on the factors contributing to such employees intending to leave or stay within the employment of their organisations.

Toward a balanced framework to evaluate and improve the internal functioning of non-profit economic development business incubators : A study in Belgium

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vanderstraeten, J.; Matthyssens, P.; van Witteloostuijn, A.

2014-01-01

Non-profit organisations, such as economic development incubators, may adapt the balanced scorecard and strategy map in their efforts to improve their internal functioning. In this paper, we employ qualitative research among non-profit economic development incubators in Antwerp, Belgium, to modify

Effect of Galleries on Thermal Conditions of Urban Open Areas

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Shahab Kariminia

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Computer simulations were performed by ENVI-met model along with physical measurements in two urban squares under hot summer conditions in Isfahan, central Iran. Each scenario concentrated on adding or extending galleries in each square. The results confirmed the role of galleries on thermal conditions; however, it was found that the effectiveness of this strategy depends on the square geometry. It presented higher efficiency for the small square with higher H/W ratio. This solution is advisable for smaller squares and when the peripheral parts are frequently used compared to the middle areas. Galleries are most efficient when allowing enough natural ventilation.

A gallery approach for off-angle iris recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Karakaya, Mahmut; Yoldash, Rashiduddin; Boehnen, Christopher

2015-05-01

It has been proven that hamming distance score between frontal and off-angle iris images of same eye differs in iris recognition system. The distinction of hamming distance score is caused by many factors such as image acquisition angle, occlusion, pupil dilation, and limbus effect. In this paper, we first study the effect of the angle variations between iris plane and the image acquisition systems. We present how hamming distance changes for different off-angle iris images even if they are coming from the same iris. We observe that increment in acquisition angle of compared iris images causes the increment in hamming distance. Second, we propose a new technique in off-angle iris recognition system that includes creating a gallery of different off-angle iris images (such as, 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 degrees) and comparing each probe image with these gallery images. We will show the accuracy of the gallery approach for off-angle iris recognition.

Inter-Relationship between Profitability, Growth and Size: A Case of Non-Financial Companies from Pakistan

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Rehana Kouser

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth description of the inter-relationship between firm size, growth, and profitability of non-financial companies listed at Karachi stock exchange. The study is based on the sample of 70 (seventy non-financial companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange of Pakistan, selected on the basis of their market capitalization. Panel data techniques were employed using 700 observations of each of the variables of study; size(log natural of total assets, growth (sustainable growth rate for firm and profitability (return on assets. Observations are collected for ten years (2001-2010. The study concluded thatthere is study reveals that all the profitability has strong positive relationship with the growth of the firm; however size has less significant and negative impact on the profitability. Onesuggestion for further research would be to replicate the study in order to get more cases. Furthermore, it would be valuable to take a more long-term focus to examine the described relationships in the long run. The paper highlights the importance of these measures which are generally used for performance evaluation. Paper sets out the criteria that under which situations the company should focus which of the measure, so that company may derive its strategies on that way. This paper improves our preferences about the three major measures of the firm. Moreover, it contributes to the literature of financial management that how these three measures have trade-off between them.

Presence and its absences. The 17th century gallery picture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bogh, Mikkel

A discussion of how pictures made specifically for the gallery viewer in the 17th century produce certain kinds of presence in order to catch attention......A discussion of how pictures made specifically for the gallery viewer in the 17th century produce certain kinds of presence in order to catch attention...

Multiobjective Optimization Model for Pricing and Seat Allocation Problem in Non Profit Performing Arts Organization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baldin, Andrea; Bille, Trine; Ellero, Andrea

The implementation of Revenue Management (RM) techniques in non profit performing arts organizations presents new challenges compared to other sectors, such as transportion or hospitality industries, in which these techniques are more consolidated. Indeed, performing arts organizations are charac......The implementation of Revenue Management (RM) techniques in non profit performing arts organizations presents new challenges compared to other sectors, such as transportion or hospitality industries, in which these techniques are more consolidated. Indeed, performing arts organizations...... are characterized by a multi-objective function that is not solely limited to revenue. On the one hand, theatres aim to increase revenue from box office as a consequence of the systematic reduction of public funds; on the other hand they pursue the objective to increase its attendance. A common practice by theatres...

The Habitable Zone Gallery and its Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Gelino, Dawn M.; Kane, S. R.

2012-05-01

The Habitable Zone Gallery (www.hzgallery.org) is a service to the exoplanet community which provides Habitable Zone (HZ) information for each of the exoplanetary systems with known planetary orbital parameters. The service includes a sortable table, a plot with the period and eccentricity of each of the planets with respect to their time spent in the HZ, a gallery of known systems which plot the orbits and the location of the HZ with respect to those orbits, and orbital movies. Here we discuss various educational and scientific applications of the site such as target selection, exploring planets with eccentric orbits, and investigating habitability.

The Application of the Sfas No.45 on Financial Reporting in the Non-profit Organization Nurul Huda Mosque Kawangkoan

OpenAIRE

Walandouw, Stanley Kho; Mangkona, Sri Wardana Saleh

2015-01-01

Organization are founded by the public due to the similarity of interests, both in the realization of human nature as well as to meet their needs. Based on the objectives, the organization can be divided into non-profit organizations and commercial organizations. There is a fundamental difference between nonprofit organizations and commercial organizations, the IAI makes SFAS No.45 which regulates the financial statements of non-profit organizations. The purpose of this study is to see whethe...

Two photon versus one photon fluorescence excitation in whispering gallery mode microresonators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pastells, Carme; Marco, M.-Pilar; Merino, David; Loza-Alvarez, Pablo; Pasquardini, Laura; Lunelli, Lorenzo; Pederzolli, Cecilia; Daldosso, Nicola; Farnesi, Daniele; Berneschi, Simone; Righini, Giancarlo C.; Quercioli, Franco; Nunzi Conti, Gualtiero; Soria, Silvia

2016-01-01

We investigate the feasibility of both one photon and two photon fluorescence excitation using whispering gallery mode microresonators. We report the linear and non linear fluorescence real-time detection of labeled IgG covalently bonded to the surface of a silica whispering gallery mode resonator (WGMR). The immunoreagents have been immobilized onto the surface of the WGMR sensor after being activated with an epoxy silane and an orienting layer. The developed immunosensor presents great potential as a robust sensing device for fast and early detection of immunoreactions. We also investigate the potential of microbubbles as nonlinear enhancement platform. The dyes used in these studies are dylight800, tetramethyl rhodamine isothiocyanate, rhodamine 6G and fluorescein. All measurements were performed in a modified confocal microscope. - Highlights: • One photon fluorescence overlaps with the semiconductor pump laser gain bandwidth. • We report on the feasibility to excite two photon fluorescence in microbubble resonators. • Our functionalization process maintains a good quality factor of the microresonator.

Two photon versus one photon fluorescence excitation in whispering gallery mode microresonators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pastells, Carme; Marco, M.-Pilar [Nanobiotechnology for Diagnostics Group (Nb4Dg), IQAC-CSIC, 08034 Barcelona (Spain); CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina, 08034 Barcelona (Spain); Merino, David; Loza-Alvarez, Pablo [ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, Castelldefels, 08860 Barcelona (Spain); Pasquardini, Laura [Fondazione Bruno Kessler, 38123 Povo, TN (Italy); Lunelli, Lorenzo [Fondazione Bruno Kessler, 38123 Povo, TN (Italy); IBF-CNR, 38123 Povo, TN (Italy); Pederzolli, Cecilia [Fondazione Bruno Kessler, 38123 Povo, TN (Italy); Daldosso, Nicola [Department of Computer Science, University of Verona, Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona (Italy); Farnesi, Daniele [CNR-IFAC “Nello Carrara” Institute of Applied Physics, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy); Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche “E. Fermi”, 00184 Roma (Italy); Berneschi, Simone [CNR-IFAC “Nello Carrara” Institute of Applied Physics, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy); Righini, Giancarlo C. [CNR-IFAC “Nello Carrara” Institute of Applied Physics, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy); Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche “E. Fermi”, 00184 Roma (Italy); Quercioli, Franco [CNR-INO National Institute of Optics, Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy); Nunzi Conti, Gualtiero [CNR-IFAC “Nello Carrara” Institute of Applied Physics, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy); Soria, Silvia, E-mail: s.soria@ifac.cnr.it [CNR-IFAC “Nello Carrara” Institute of Applied Physics, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy)

2016-02-15

We investigate the feasibility of both one photon and two photon fluorescence excitation using whispering gallery mode microresonators. We report the linear and non linear fluorescence real-time detection of labeled IgG covalently bonded to the surface of a silica whispering gallery mode resonator (WGMR). The immunoreagents have been immobilized onto the surface of the WGMR sensor after being activated with an epoxy silane and an orienting layer. The developed immunosensor presents great potential as a robust sensing device for fast and early detection of immunoreactions. We also investigate the potential of microbubbles as nonlinear enhancement platform. The dyes used in these studies are dylight800, tetramethyl rhodamine isothiocyanate, rhodamine 6G and fluorescein. All measurements were performed in a modified confocal microscope. - Highlights: • One photon fluorescence overlaps with the semiconductor pump laser gain bandwidth. • We report on the feasibility to excite two photon fluorescence in microbubble resonators. • Our functionalization process maintains a good quality factor of the microresonator.

10 CFR 603.230 - Fee or profit.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... participant is to receive fee or profit. Note that this policy extends to all performers of the project... subrecipients' payment of reasonable fee or profit when making purchases from suppliers of goods (e.g., supplies...

Electrical resistivity imaging survey to detect uncharted mine galleries in the mining district of Linares, Jaén, Spain

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-López, J.; Rey, J.; Dueñas, J.; Hidalgo, C.; Benavente, J.

2012-02-01

The scarcity of information about the existence of old mining shafts and galleries in urban areas is an important issue for future urban development. Electrical resistivity tomography is a non-destructive geophysical technique that can detect and characterize such subsurface cavities based on differences in the behaviour of electrical current in the void and in the embedding rock. Here we present a study in which this technique was used to determine the location of old engineered structures around the city of Linares, southern Spain, and to relate these structures to the abandoned deep mines present in the area. Eight electrical resistivity imaging profiles were performed, with a total of 22 808 measurements. Correlations between geoelectrical anomalies allow detection of the depth and the direction of several galleries, as well as the voids that result from mining extraction. Given the depth at which these structures are located (in some cases less than 5 m), they pose an important risk for future construction projects in areas of urban expansion. This technique is shown to be a useful tool for locating areas that pose important urban risks and, by extension, for the decision-making process in territorial planning, especially in areas with a history of deep mining.

Electrical resistivity imaging survey to detect uncharted mine galleries in the mining district of Linares, Jaén, Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martínez-López, J; Rey, J; Hidalgo, C; Dueñas, J; Benavente, J

2012-01-01

The scarcity of information about the existence of old mining shafts and galleries in urban areas is an important issue for future urban development. Electrical resistivity tomography is a non-destructive geophysical technique that can detect and characterize such subsurface cavities based on differences in the behaviour of electrical current in the void and in the embedding rock. Here we present a study in which this technique was used to determine the location of old engineered structures around the city of Linares, southern Spain, and to relate these structures to the abandoned deep mines present in the area. Eight electrical resistivity imaging profiles were performed, with a total of 22 808 measurements. Correlations between geoelectrical anomalies allow detection of the depth and the direction of several galleries, as well as the voids that result from mining extraction. Given the depth at which these structures are located (in some cases less than 5 m), they pose an important risk for future construction projects in areas of urban expansion. This technique is shown to be a useful tool for locating areas that pose important urban risks and, by extension, for the decision-making process in territorial planning, especially in areas with a history of deep mining

Challenges and best practices for big data-driven healthcare innovations conducted by profit–non-profit partnerships – a quantitative prioritization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Witjas-Paalberends, E. R.; van Laarhoven, L. P.M.; van de Burgwal, L. H.M.; Feilzer, J.; de Swart, J.; Claassen, H.J.H.M.; Jansen, W. T.M.

2017-01-01

Big data-driven innovations are key in improving healthcare system sustainability. Given the complexity, these are frequently conducted by public-private-partnerships (PPPs) between profit and non-profit parties. However, information on how to manage big data-driven healthcare innovations by PPPs is

Students, teachers and technicians are installing a cosmic ray detector in the CMS visitor gallery. The detector was designed and built in the framework of the US Quarknet project under the supervision of physicists from the Notre Dame University (USA)

CERN Document Server

Claudia Marcelloni

2007-01-01

Students, teachers and technicians are installing a cosmic ray detector in the CMS visitor gallery. The detector was designed and built in the framework of the US Quarknet project under the supervision of physicists from the Notre Dame University (USA)

Gallery forest restoration by the attainment of carbon credit: a social-environmental proposal for low-income community

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coelho, Maria Carolina Crisci

2007-01-01

Due to intensification in climate changes by anthropogenic causes, to the recognition of the environmental importance of the Gallery Forest and its intense degradation, this work presents an analysis of the possibilities of carbon credit attainment by low-income community, as part of an incentive program for the restoration of these areas. Two ways are demonstrated: projects of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in the scope of the Kyoto Protocol, that generate credits called certified emission reductions; and projects based on voluntary scheme, that generate voluntary emission reductions. Both are difficult to organize and implement. For example: the eligibility of an area, baseline study, monitoring, non-permanence risks of storage carbon, technical and operational structures, operational and business costs, regulated market in consolidation and guarantee of credit acquisition. Nevertheless, this second market presents greater flexibility and acceptance for the forest projects. The social-environmental benefits of these projects are significant and the valuation of their environmental services can revert in financial incentives for low-income community, since that adequately remunerated. The carbon credit can help in the implementation of these projects, contributing for local restoration of the areas and also for carbon capture by the atmosphere, which this is a global subject. (author)

Academic and Non-Profit Accessibility to Commercial Remote Sensing Software

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, A. S.; Farr, B.

2013-12-01

Remote Sensing as a topic of teaching and research at the university and college level continues to increase. As more data is made freely available and software becomes easier to use, more and more academic and non-profits institutions are turning to remote sensing to solve their tough and large spatial scale problems. Exelis Visual Information Solutions (VIS) has been supporting teaching and research endeavors for over 30 years with a special emphasis over the last 5 years with scientifically proven software and accessible training materials. The Exelis VIS academic program extends to US and Canadian 2 year and 4 year colleges and universities with tools for analyzing aerial and satellite multispectral and hyperspectral imagery, airborne LiDAR and Synthetic Aperture Radar. The Exelis VIS academic programs, using the ENVI Platform, enables labs and classrooms to be outfitted with software and makes software accessible to students. The ENVI software provides students hands on experience with remote sensing software, an easy teaching platform for professors and allows researchers scientifically vetted software they can trust. Training materials are provided at no additional cost and can either serve as a basis for course curriculum development or self paced learning. Non-profit organizations like The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and CGIAR have deployed ENVI and IDL enterprise wide licensing allowing researchers all over the world to have cost effective access COTS software for their research. Exelis VIS has also contributed licenses to the NASA DEVELOP program. Exelis VIS is committed to supporting the academic and NGO community with affordable enterprise licensing, access to training materials, and technical expertise to help researchers tackle today's Earth and Planetary science big data challenges.

Time spent for activation of non-profit studies in oncology in Italy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianfranco De Feo

Full Text Available AIM: The aim of this paper is to describe the time spent to activate oncological non-profit clinical trials promoted in Italy by the National Cancer Institute of Naples, following the implementation of recent European laws. METHODOLOGY: Data about the process of activation of 5 non-profit multicentre clinical trials were prospectively collected through a web-based system. The impact of European guidelines was assessed by comparing the efficiency of the process between applications started before and after the decree introducing in Italy the Clinical Trial Application form (MD-CTA. Outcomes of the descriptive analyses were the time to EC opinion, the time to administrative agreement signature after a positive EC opinion, and the cumulative percentage of submissions that came to closure (either positive or negative within four subsequent time cohorts. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From March 2007 to October 2009, 202 applications were submitted to 107 centres. Forty-four (59% applications of those submitted before were successful, compared to 71 (55% of those submitted after MD-CTA. Most of the failures were due to missing EC response (27% and 22% or administrative reasons (10% and 16%, before and after, respectively; very few (4% and 7% were due to EC refusal. The impact of the MD-CTA on time to EC opinion looked positive (median 4.1 vs 2.4 months, before and after, respectively but a subgroup analysis revealed that the impact was limited to a comparison biased by the selection of EC. After a positive EC opinion, there was no difference before and after MD-CTA in the time to administrative agreement signature (median 3.6 and 3.8 months, respectively. A trend to shortening time to closure of the whole submission process over the time was evident, with 58% of the applications coming to closure within 6 months from submission in the most recent cohort. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience there is reassuring evidence of a trend toward shortening the time spent to

Theorizing How Art Gallery Interventions Impact People With Dementia and Their Caregivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Camic, Paul M; Baker, Erin L; Tischler, Victoria

2016-12-01

Dementia refers to a variety of diseases that are characterized by cognitive difficulties and an overall decline in daily living skills. Psychologically informed arts and health programs may be particularly beneficial ways of improving the lives of people with dementia and their caregivers. This study sought to better understand how programs at contemporary and traditional art galleries might play a role in the lives of people with dementia. Participants included 12 people with mild-to-moderate dementia, their 12 caregivers and 4 gallery facilitators. Those with dementia and their caregivers were engaged in art viewing followed by art making over an 8-week period. Data, collected through postintervention interviews with participants, field notes and extensive written communication between the facilitators and research team, were analyzed using grounded theory methodology to theorize how gallery-based interventions affect people with dementia and those who care for them. The emerging theory has four primary components: the art gallery is seen as being a physically valued place that provides intellectual stimulation and offers opportunities for social inclusion that can change how dementia is perceived. These components coalesced to create positive emotional and relational effects for those with dementia and caregivers. The resulting theory has potential implications for the use of gallery-based programs in dementia care within public health, healthcare, and museum/art gallery policy and practice. © The Author 2015. 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.

24 CFR 511.11 - Project requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... low income occupancy or rent projections, or restrictions on return on investment or other similar policies that prevent an owner, whether for-profit or non-profit, from maximizing return or setting rent... requirements and with the affirmative marketing requirements and procedures adopted under § 511.13, for the...

Durability of visitable concrete sewer gallery under the effect of domestic wastewater

Science.gov (United States)

Salhi, Aimed; Kriker, Abdelouahed; Tioua, Tahar; Abimiloud, Youcef; Barluenga, Gonzalo

2016-07-01

The durability of concrete structures for the disposal of wastewater depends on their behavior when faced to different aggressions such as mechanics, chemical and biological, causing a deterioration often cementing matrix. The deterioration of recent evacuations wastewater infrastructure, made of reinforced concrete less than 15 years ago, has become an important concern. The aim of this study was to investigate the degradation and the factors responsible for the deterioration of the concrete visitable gallery of sewage from the town of Touggourt (south-east of Algeria). Thus, samples from different parts of the gallery were extracted and unaltered samples were selected as a reference. A degraded sample exposed to H2S gas and another sample of the gallery submerged into wastewater were analyzed to characterize the internal and external damage to the gallery as well as the chemical and mineralogical changes. These tests were complemented by a physical and mechanical characterization of the samples. The experimental results showed the strong anisotropy of both internal and external damage.

NASA Earth Science Partnerships - The Role and Value of Commercial and Non-Profit Partnerships with Government in the Earth Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Favors, J.; Cauffman, S.; Ianson, E.; Kaye, J. A.; Friedl, L.; Green, D. S.; Lee, T. J.; Murphy, K. J.; Turner, W.

2017-12-01

NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) seeks to develop a scientific understanding of the Earth as a dynamic, integrated system of diverse components that interact in complex ways - analogous to the human body. The Division approaches this goal through a coordinated series of satellite and airborne missions, sponsored basic and applied research, and technology development. Integral to this approach are strong collaborations and partnerships with a spectrum of organizations with technical and non-technical expertise. This presentation will focus on a new commercial and non-profit partnership effort being undertaken by ESD to integrate expertise unique to these sectors with expertise at NASA to jointly achieve what neither group could alone. Highlights will include case study examples of joint work with perspectives from both NASA and the partner, building interdisciplinary teams with diverse backgrounds but common goals (e.g., economics and Earth observations for valuing natural capital), partnership successes and challenges in the co-production of science and applications, utilizing partner networks to amplify project outcomes, and how involving partners in defining the project scope drives novel and unique scientific and decision-making questions to arise.

34 CFR Appendix B to Subpart L of... - Ratio Methodology for Private Non-Profit Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Ratio Methodology for Private Non-Profit Institutions B Appendix B to Subpart L of Part 668 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education (Continued) OFFICE OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STUDENT ASSISTANCE GENERAL PROVISIONS...

Profitability of timber harvesting and timber transportation enterprises

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajamaeki, J.

1996-01-01

In co-operation with the major companies contracting out forestry work and Statistics Finland, Metsaeteho carried out a project with the objective of analysing the economic profitability of timber harvesting and transportation enterprises in 1994. The calculation of profitability was based on utilisation of last livelihoods taxation data (EVR) that Statistics Finland was in possession of. The basic material comprised data that the companies contracting out forestry work had full-time entrepreneurs. There were 255 forestry machine contractor enterprises and 270 trucking enterprises. Statistics Finland was responsible for computations of the results of the project. The calculation of the indicators of profitability was based on the recommendations of Yritystutkimusneuvottelukunta, a committee looking into the functioning of enterprises. The year 1994 was a good year from the viewpoint of profitability of both forestry machine contractors as well as trucking enterprises. With full depreciations and salary adjustments attended to, both enterprise groups still showed a mean profitability of ca. 8 %. The yield of invested capital was ca. 25 %. The differences in profitability among enterprises were great in both groups and in different parts of the country

PEG Functionalization of Whispering Gallery Mode Optical Microresonator Biosensors to Minimize Non-Specific Adsorption during Targeted, Label-Free Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fanyongjing Wang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM optical microresonator biosensors are a powerful tool for targeted detection of analytes at extremely low concentrations. However, in complex environments, non-specific adsorption can significantly reduce their signal to noise ratio, limiting their accuracy. To overcome this, poly(ethylene glycol (PEG can be employed in conjunction with appropriate recognition elements to create a nonfouling surface capable of detecting targeted analytes. This paper investigates a general route for the addition of nonfouling elements to WGM optical biosensors to reduce non-specific adsorption, while also retaining high sensitivity. We use the avidin-biotin analyte-recognition element system, in conjunction with PEG nonfouling elements, as a proof-of-concept, and explore the extent of non-specific adsorption of lysozyme and fibrinogen at multiple concentrations, as well as the ability to detect avidin in a concentration-dependent fashion. Ellipsometry, contact angle measurement, fluorescence microscopy, and optical resonator characterization methods were used to study non-specific adsorption, the quality of the functionalized surface, and the biosensor’s performance. Using a recognition element ratio to nonfouling element ratio of 1:1, we showed that non-specific adsorption could be significantly reduced over the controls, and that high sensitivity could be maintained. Due to the frequent use of biotin-avidin-biotin sandwich complexes in functionalizing sensor surfaces with biotin-labeled recognition elements, this chemistry could provide a common basis for creating a non-fouling surface capable of targeted detection. This should improve the ability of WGM optical biosensors to operate in complex environments, extending their application towards real-world detection.

The art of compromise: the founding of the National Gallery of British Art, 1890-1892

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amy Woodson-Boulton

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This article argues that the press played a key role in defining the Tate Gallery by facilitating a national debate about the siting, nature, and purpose of the proposed National Gallery of British Art. Art critics, politicians, journalists and a variety of newspaper editors weighed in on whether Britain should create a museum of modern art, a museum of national art, or both. The understanding of British art as quintessentially modern at the time of the founding of the Gallery meant that from the beginning the Tate Gallery was founded as both the National Gallery of British Art and a museum of modern art. The changing definition of modern art in the twentieth century, however, created fractures between these two identities that eventually led to the split between Tate Britain and Tate Modern.

Whispering gallery mode emission from a composite system of J-aggregates and photonic microcavity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melnikau, Dzmitry; Savateeva, Diana [Centro de Física de Materiales (MPC, CSIC-UPV/EHU) and Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Po Manuel de Lardizabal 5, Donostia, San Sebastian 20018 (Spain); Rusakov, Konstantin I. [Department of Physics, Brest State Technical University, Brest 224017 (Belarus); Rakovich, Yury P., E-mail: Yury.Rakovich@ehu.es [Centro de Física de Materiales (MPC, CSIC-UPV/EHU) and Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Po Manuel de Lardizabal 5, Donostia, San Sebastian 20018 (Spain); IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao (Spain)

2014-01-15

We report on development and characterization of Whispering Gallery Modes spherical microcavities integrated with organic dye molecules in a J-aggregate state. The microcavities are studied using micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy, and fluorescence lifetime imaging confocal microscopy. Directional emission of light from the microcavity is also experimentally demonstrated and attributed to the photonic jets generated in the microsphere. -- Highlights: • Report on the development and characterization of hybrid system consisting of thin shell of J-aggregates and spherical Whispering Gallery Mode microcavity. • An investigation of spontaneous emission rate in the shell of J-aggregates integrated with a Whispering Gallery Mode cavity. • Demonstration of directional emission from Whispering Gallery Mode cavity with J-aggregates which is highly desirable functionality for both micro- and nano-scale cavities.

Strategic Marketing as Solution for Growing Uncertainties among National Non-Profit Sports Federations in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marije van 't Verlaat

2007-01-01

Today, Dutch National Non-profit Sports Organizations (NNSFs) experience financial pressures. Two indications for this are described in this paper i.e. increased competition in the sports sector and changes in subsidy division. Decreasing incomes from subsidies can be compensated with either

Profitability Analysis of Soybean Oil Processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Ming-Hsun; Rosentrater, Kurt A

2017-10-07

Soybean oil production is the basic process for soybean applications. Cash flow analysis is used to estimate the profitability of a manufacturing venture. Besides capital investments, operating costs, and revenues, the interest rate is the factor to estimate the net present value (NPV), break-even points, and payback time; which are benchmarks for profitability evaluation. The positive NPV and reasonable payback time represent a profitable process, and provide an acceptable projection for real operating. Additionally, the capacity of the process is another critical factor. The extruding-expelling process and hexane extraction are the two typical approaches used in industry. When the capacities of annual oil production are larger than 12 and 173 million kg respectively, these two processes are profitable. The solvent free approach, known as enzyme assisted aqueous extraction process (EAEP), is profitable when the capacity is larger than 17 million kg of annual oil production.

Profitability Analysis of Soybean Oil Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Hsun Cheng

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Soybean oil production is the basic process for soybean applications. Cash flow analysis is used to estimate the profitability of a manufacturing venture. Besides capital investments, operating costs, and revenues, the interest rate is the factor to estimate the net present value (NPV, break-even points, and payback time; which are benchmarks for profitability evaluation. The positive NPV and reasonable payback time represent a profitable process, and provide an acceptable projection for real operating. Additionally, the capacity of the process is another critical factor. The extruding-expelling process and hexane extraction are the two typical approaches used in industry. When the capacities of annual oil production are larger than 12 and 173 million kg respectively, these two processes are profitable. The solvent free approach, known as enzyme assisted aqueous extraction process (EAEP, is profitable when the capacity is larger than 17 million kg of annual oil production.

Analysis of Funding Sources and Methods of Non-profit Organization%非营利组织筹资渠道与方式探析

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

戚舟波

2011-01-01

Various non-profit organizations have become the important form of social organization. Expanding financing channels, flexibly using various means of financing, and improving their fund-raising capacity is the problem to be solved for non-profit organization. This paper summarizes and analyzes the status and problems of financing of non-profit organization, and proposed countermeasures to expand financing channels and methods for non-profit organizations.%各类非营利组织已成为重要的社会组织形式,拓展筹资渠道,灵活运用各种筹资方式,提高自身筹资能力,是目前大多数非营利组织急待解决的问题.本文在分析总结非营利组织筹资现状和问题的基础上,提出拓展非营利组织筹资渠道与方式的对策措施.

76 FR 32377 - Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations; OMB Circular A-133 Compliance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-06

... --a Federal E-Government Web site that allows the public to find, review, and submit comments on... OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations... CFDA 84.938, [[Page 32378

Do non-profit sport organisations innovate? Types and preferences of service innovation within regional sport federations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Winand, M.; Scheerder, J.; Vos, S.B.; Zint, T.

2016-01-01

Little is known about innovation in the non-profit sport sector. The current research addresses this gap by questioning whether and to what extent sport federations innovate. It aims to identify types of innovation implemented by sport federations and their attitude and preferences towards

Validation Engine for Observational Protocols. Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project

Science.gov (United States)

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2010

2010-01-01

In the fall of 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched the two-year Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to rigorously develop and test multiple measures of teacher effectiveness. As part of the project, partners from more than a dozen reputable academic, non-profit and for-profit organizations collected and analyzed data from…

Post-occupancy evaluation of a restored industrial building: A contemporary art and design gallery in Mexico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Mundo-Hernández

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results obtained from a post-occupancy evaluation (POE study conducted in an old fabric building called “La Violeta”. This structure has been recently converted into a contemporary art gallery. La Violeta is located in Puebla City, Mexico. The building dates from the beginning of the 19th century; it was built and used as a textile factory until the first decades of the 20th century. This POE study aims to assess the new use of the building from the users׳ point of view. Methodology involves historical research of the building, analysis of the conversion strategy, walkthrough investigation, and a user survey. Questions regarding the re-utilization strategy used in the building and its current use are included in the survey, such as “How do people perceive the space regarding its functionality, accessibility, and comfort?” Although the re-utilization process destroyed several historic elements, the re-use of old industrial spaces that otherwise would be obsolete and disused seems pertinent. Developing small renovation projects as part of an integral and wider project seems feasible. Users perceive the building as comfortable but not properly advertised as an art gallery, and its location is difficult to find.

Using creative problem solving (CPS) to improve leadership in a non-profit organization

OpenAIRE

Sousa, Fernando; Castelão, Paula; Monteiro, Ileana Pardal; Pellissier, René

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) method in improving the leadership process in a non-profit organization. The research was designed around an intervention and structured in three stages (pre-consult, intervention and follow-up), with a team designated by management, in order to bring leadership cohesion to both departments of the organization and also between the board and executive management. The results, expressed in the task...

A Financial Ratio Analysis of For-Profit and Non-Profit Rural Referral Centers

Science.gov (United States)

McCue, Michael J.; Nayar, Preethy

2009-01-01

Context: National financial data show that rural referral center (RRC) hospitals have performed well financially. RRC hospitals' median cash flow margin ratio was 10.04% in 2002 and grew to 11.04% in 2004. Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the ratio analysis of key operational and financial performance measures of for-profit RRCs to…

Evaluating two infiltration gallery designs for managed aquifer recharge using secondary treated wastewater.

Science.gov (United States)

Bekele, Elise; Toze, Simon; Patterson, Bradley; Fegg, Wolfgang; Shackleton, Mark; Higginson, Simon

2013-03-15

As managed aquifer recharge (MAR) becomes increasingly considered for augmenting water-sensitive urban areas, fundamental knowledge of the achievable scale, longevity and maintenance requirements of different options will become paramount. This paper reports on a 39 month pilot scale MAR scheme that infiltrated secondary treated wastewater through unsaturated sand into a limestone and sand aquifer. Two types of infiltration gallery were constructed to compare their hydraulic performance, one using crushed, graded gravel, the other using an engineered leach drain system (Atlantis Leach System(®)). Both galleries received 25 kL of nutrient-rich, secondary treated wastewater per day. The Atlantis gallery successfully infiltrated 17 ML of treated wastewater over three years. The slotted distribution pipe in the gravel gallery became clogged with plant roots after operating for one year. The infiltration capacity of the gravel gallery could not be restored despite high pressure cleaning, thus it was replaced with an Atlantis system. Reduction in the infiltration capacity of the Atlantis system was only observed when inflow was increased by about 3 fold for two months. The performance of the Atlantis system suggests it is superior to the gravel gallery, requiring less maintenance within at least the time frame of this study. The results from a bromide tracer test revealed a minimum transport time of 3.7 days for the recharged water to reach the water table below 9 m of sand and limestone. This set a limit on the time available for attenuation by natural treatment within the unsaturated zone before it recharged groundwater. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PROFIT SENSITIVITY IN THE DECISION - MAKING PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimi Ofilean

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Projections on the profitability of an entity is a prerequisite impact assessment of implementing various management strategies. The literature did not include a model sensitivity analysis in terms of profit margin of safety modification and safety coefficient. This article aims to explicit solutions for identifying the factors that influence the sensitivity of profit, the proposed analytical models to change the margin of safety (physical and value and coefficient of safety. The model allows the determination of limits that can increase or decrease sales costs so that the company remains profitable, ie to be able to maintain an adequate level of profit. This analysis allows knowing the influence of each factor in the evolution of the profitability of the entity, allowing managers to adopt the right decisions based on the importance of the influence of the analysis results of the entity. To facilitate understanding of the proposed analytical model is presented a case study.

Alternative profit rate shariah-compliant for islamic banking

Science.gov (United States)

Gazali, Nadhirah; Halim, Nurfadhlina Abdul; Ghazali, Puspa Liza

2017-09-01

Profit is the aims for Islamic banking and conventional banking. Determination of profit in Islamic banking in Malaysia depends on the profit rate, whereas profit rate is essentially from reference rate which is known as the base rate (BR). However, the determination of the components contained in the BR such as benchmark cost of funds and the statutory reserve requirement (SRR) is non-compliance with the Shariah because its directly proportional to the overnight policy rate (OPR). Therefore, an alternative formula for the profit rate are proposed which is known as the base profit rate (BPR). Construction of BPR formula is based on the principle that are more Shariah-compliant.

Screen Wars, Star Wars, and Sequels: Nonparametric Reanalysis of Movie Profitability

OpenAIRE

W. D. Walls

2012-01-01

In this paper we use nonparametric statistical tools to quantify motion-picture profit. We quantify the unconditional distribution of profit, the distribution of profit conditional on stars and sequels, and we also model the conditional expectation of movie profits using a non- parametric data-driven regression model. The flexibility of the non-parametric approach accommodates the full range of possible relationships among the variables without prior specification of a functional form, thereb...

Video gallery of educational lectures integrated in faculty's portal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaroslav Majerník

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a web based educational video-clips exhibition created to share various archived lectures for medical students, health care professionals as well as for general public. The presentation of closely related topics was developed as video gallery and it is based solely on free or open source tools to be available for wide academic and/or non-commercial use. Even if the educational video records can be embedded in any websites, we preferred to use our faculty’s portal, which should be a central point to offer various multimedia educational materials. The system was integrated and tested to offer open access to infectology lectures that were captured and archived from live-streamed sessions and from videoconferences.

EZG08 project: acoustic experiments to monitor the EDZ during the gallery excavation process in the Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory (Switzerland)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Gonidec, Y.; Kergosien, B.; Schubnel, A.; Gueguen, Y.; Wassermann, J.; Gibert, D.; Sarout, J.; Nussbaum, C.

2010-01-01

Document available in extended abstract form only. In the Underground Research Laboratory (URL) at Mont Terri, a new gallery G08 was planned to be excavated in 2008 following an original process: the excavation process allowed to monitor the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) from geophysical measurements designed and installed at the end of face of the EZ-G04 gallery during the excavation from the other side, i.e. the end face of the EZ-G08 gallery. The objectives of the project concern spatio-temporal changes of the EDZ: among the methodological developments adapted for the EZG08 project to provide complementary information, acoustic experiments have been prepared in horizontal boreholes to perform the continuous acoustic monitoring of the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ). The acoustic measurements, performed on acoustic arrays of several receivers, have been recorded during one month, following two main steps: - Active acoustic surveys: a source is introduced in a central borehole (BEZG5) allowing tomography experiments in the far field and in the near field, i.e. close to and far from BEZG5, respectively. - Acoustic emissions: during the excavation process, numerous acoustic emissions can be detected and associated to micro-seismic events due to rapid crack propagation, generated by the rock relaxation, or simply associated to the excavation process. From the tomography measurements, the acoustic wave velocity field can be estimated, with P and S-wave velocities roughly equal to 2500 m/s-3500 m/s, and 1500 m/s, respectively. The acoustic setup does not show variations of P-wave velocity during the campaign, but spatial variations which could be associated to anisotropic elastic properties of the rock with the maximum P-wave velocities close to the bedding plane. An original method based on a multifrequency approach puts in evidence a frequency dependence of the velocity, with a striking phenomena since the wave velocity decreases with increasing frequency. This effect

75 FR 44814 - Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations; Circular A-133 Compliance...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-29

..., Washington, DC 20503. Comments may also be sent to via http://www.regulations.gov --a Federal E-Government... OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations... CFDA 93.794 program is no longer active (i.e., no funds are being spent by recipients), and it has been...

78 FR 41424 - Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations; OMB Circular A-133 Compliance...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-10

... OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations... Management and Budget. ACTION: Notice of availability of the 2013 OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement...--National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grants (SMART Grants) CFDA 84.390...

Whispering Gallery Mode Spectroscopy as a Diagnostic for Dusty Plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thieme, G.; Basner, R.; Ehlbeck, J.; Roepcke, J.; Maurer, H.; Kersten, H.; Davies, P. B.

2008-01-01

Whispering-gallery-mode spectroscopy is being assessed as a diagnostic method for the characterisation of size and chemical composition of spherical particles levitated in a plasma. With a pulsed laser whispering gallery modes (cavity resonances) are excited in individual microspheres leading to enhanced Raman scattering or fluorescence at characteristic wavelengths. This method can be used to gain specific information from the particle surface and is thus of great interest for the characterisation of layers deposited on microparticles, e.g. in molecular plasmas. We present investigations of different microparticles in air and results from fluorescent particles levitated in an Argon rf plasma.

State directed hybridity? : the relationship between non-profit housing organizations and the state in three national contexts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mullins, David; Milligan, Vivienne; Nieboer, N.E.T.

2017-01-01

This paper presents results from the first international comparative study of non-profit housing organizations in Australia, England and the Netherlands to engage with panels of organizational leaders. The study uses a ‘modified Delphi method’ with Likert-type scaled surveys, followed by in-depth

Legitimacy, trustee incentives, and board processes: the case of public and private non-profit nursing homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Dewaelheyns, Nico; Eeckloo, Kristof; Van Hulle, Cynthia

2011-01-01

Using a unique data set, this study explores how type of ownership (government/private) is related to processes of governance. The findings suggest that the neo-institutional perspective and the self-interest rationale of the agency perspective are helpful in explaining processes of governance in both government- and privately owned non-profit organizations. Due to adverse incentives and the quest for legitimacy, supervising governance bodies within local government-owned non-profit institutions pay relatively less attention to the development of high quality supervising bodies and delegate little to management. Our findings also indicate that governance processes in private institutions are more aligned with the business model and that this alignment is likely driven by a concern to improve decision making. By contrast, our data also suggest that in local government-owned institutions re-election concerns of politicians-trustees are an important force in the governance processes of these institutions. In view of these adverse incentives - in contrast to the case of private organizations - a governance code is unlikely to entail much improvement in government-owned organizations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Thermal simulation of storage in TSS-Galleries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lain Huerta, R.; Martinez Santiago, T.; Ramirez Oyangueren, P.

1993-01-01

This report describes the experiment ''thermal simulation of storage in TSS-galleries'' what is been developed in salt mine of Asse, Germany. The report has 3 part: 1) Analysis of objectives and general description of boundary layers. 2) Geomechanics parameters of salt mine. 3) Thermal modelization, thermomechanics modelization and data acquisition

Does Capital Structure Influence Company Profitability?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Herciu Mihaela

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Every company has a different structure of balance sheet. Some of the companies have more liabilities than equity. Considering the industry or debt-to-equity ratio, the balance sheet structure affects the company profitability measured by DuPont system. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the structure of balance sheet and to identify some optimal levels in order to increase company profitability. The DuPont returns like ROA (return on assets and ROE (return on equity will be used to measure the company profitability, while the debt-to-equity ratio will be used as a measure (reflection of capital structure. The samples consist on the most profitable non-financial companies ranked in Fortune Global 500. The companies will be grouped in clusters (based on industry or debt-to-equity ratio in order to identify the signification of the correlation between the profit and the balance sheet structure. The main results of the paper refer to the company profitability that can be increased by using an optimal structure of liabilities and equity.

Computer Assets Recovery Project

Science.gov (United States)

CortesPena, Aida Yoguely

2010-01-01

This document reports on the project that was performed during the internship of the author. The project involved locating and recovering machines in various locations that Boeing has no need for, and therefore requires that they be transferred to another user or transferred to a non-profit organization. Other projects that the author performed was an inventory of toner and printers, loading new computers and connecting them to the network.

Measurements of indoor 222Rn concentration in two art galleries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carneiro, Luana Gomes; Braz, Delson; Jesus, Edgar Francisco de; Cunha, Kenya Dias da; Medeiros, Geiza; Zouain, Felipe; Pitassi, Gabriel; Leite, Carlos Barros; Cardoso, Katia

2009-01-01

It is point out that radon and their decay products in environment give high dose to human lung. Studies indicate that the indoor radon inhalation by humans has been considered probably the second most important cause of lung cancer after of smoking. A passive-type radon detector was used for measuring indoor radon concentration in two art galleries at Rio de Janeiro city during 90 days January to March, 2009. The aim of this study is to evaluate the occupational and public radon exposure in art galleries and museums. This paper shows the preliminary results of samples collected at two art galleries located in Gavea, Rio de Janeiro city. 30 LEXAN (GE) track detectors were exposed in the air (indoor as well as outdoor). The samples were collected in the same building which is a construction of XIX century. The analysis of the results suggests that the 222 Rn concentration levels are different in both sampling site, in closed environmental, demonstrating that, although the construction materials are the same the absence of circulating air is a factor very important to increase the concentration of indoor Rn. (author)

From Financialization to Low and Non-Profit: Emerging Media Models for Freedom

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nuria Almiron-Roig

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In the midst of what is probably the worst economic and financial crisis the capitalist world has ever experienced, professional journalistic structures and news organizations are disintegrating. While mainstream current economic and media gurus –and the whole media executive class around the globe– are claiming for a business model change that allows them to go on making lots of money, many voices have been raised in unison to ask for a true radical change: money cannot be the first goal, but rather public interest. This paper presents the outcome of a research on the non-profit alternatives currently under debate destined to help journalism survive.

Measuring customer profitability through time-driven activity-based costing: a case study at hotel x Jogjakarta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Billy Ardiansyah Garry

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Travelling intensity has been higher in the past few years making hospitality industry must be ready to provide the best service at optimum prices to customers who purchase and enjoy the services. Hotel as one of the accommodation service providers should be able to allocate resources accurately according to the actual needed capacity and thorough tariff policy for not losing the competition and obtain profit according to how much is projected. TDABC system is the most updated costing system which can assist the allocation of these resources. TDABC system is considered twice important to be applied in the service industry as service is intangible so costing system must show the exact and accurate number of resources used to provide the service. Through TDABC system, Customer Profitability Analysis is conducted with the aim of knowing the level of profitability every customer type possesses and classifying them as profitable or non-profitable customers. A case study had been conducted in a five-star hotel located in the Special Region of Jogjakarta resulting a profit recognized under TDABC system that traditional method used as the hotel’s costing system failed to do so and more proper data on costs and profitability of customers.

The influence of the whispering gallery modes resonators shape on their sensitivity to the movement

Science.gov (United States)

Filatov, Yuri V.; Govorenko, Ekaterina V.; Kukaev, Alexander S.; Shalymov, Egor V.; Venediktov, Vladimir Yu.

2017-05-01

The optical whispering gallery modes resonators are axially symmetrical resonators with smooth edges, supporting the existence of the whispering gallery modes by the total internal reflection on the surface of the resonator. For today various types of such resonators were developed, namely the ball-shaped, tor-shaped, bottle-shaped, disk-shaped etc. The movement of whispering gallery modes resonators in inertial space causes the changes of their shape. The result is a spectral shift of the whispering gallery modes. Optical methods allow to register this shift with high precision. It can be used in particular for the measurement of angular velocities in inertial orientation and navigation systems. However, different types of resonators react to the movement on a miscellaneous. In addition, their sensitivity to movement can be changed when changing the geometric parameters of these resonators. This work is devoted to a research of these aspects.

Krasotshnõje snõ Sed Arte Gallery / Irina Butjajeva

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Butjajeva, Irina

2007-01-01

Valgevene kunstnike Jelena Shlegeli, Vladimir Gontsharuki, Dmitri Zenkovitshi ja Dmitri Masli maalinäitus "Valgevene värvilised unenäod" Tallinna galeriis Aatrium. Näitust vahendas Sed Arte Gallery, galerist Olga Ljubaskina

Management of Enterprise Profit: Theory and Methodology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadezhda Sergeevna Piontkevich

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Effective management of financial activity of commercial organization promotes achievement of the main objective of its activity – receiving profit. Both external and internal factors causing specifics of financial management of organization in the field of management of profit have impact on this process. In modern conditions of economic development this problem gains the greatest relevance, and new approaches for its decision are required. In the present article the author’s theoretical and methodological approach to profit management of organization is offered: its application is connected with revision of acting control system of enterprise profit on the basis of assessing the initial condition of profit, planning the demanded profit level, periodical monitoring condition of planned values on profit, and also adoption of flexible administrative decisions on reduction of deviations and increasing the efficiency of organization activity. The system of profit formation including corresponding income and expenses of organization is presented. Methods of revenue planning are characterized. The characteristics of income and expenses connected with non-operating operations and transactions is given. The essence of the main directions of using enterprise profit is revealed. Need of application of author’s technique of management of profit of organization taking into account influence of external and internal factors is proved. The universal purpose of management of profit of organization and a task providing achievement of the goal are formulated . Tools of assessment efficiency of the system of formation and use of profit which is actually created in organization are offered. The methodical approach to planning of profit allowing to increase efficiency of activity of organization is presented. The mechanism of an assessment deviations of planned indicators of effective management of profit from actual and adoptions of correcting decisions on

Financing Non-Residential Photovoltaic Projects: Options and Implications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bolinger, Mark

2009-01-09

Installations of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States have increased dramatically in recent years, growing from less than 20 MW in 2000 to nearly 500 MW at the end of 2007, a compound average annual growth rate of 59%. Of particular note is the increasing contribution of 'non-residential' grid-connected PV systems--defined here as those systems installed on the customer (rather than utility) side of the meter at commercial, institutional, non-profit, or governmental properties--to the overall growth trend. Although there is some uncertainty in the numbers, non-residential PV capacity grew from less than half of aggregate annual capacity installations in 2000-2002 to nearly two-thirds in 2007. This relative growth trend is expected to have continued through 2008. The non-residential sector's commanding lead in terms of installed capacity in recent years primarily reflects two important differences between the non-residential and residential markets: (1) the greater federal 'Tax Benefits'--including the 30% investment tax credit (ITC) and accelerated tax depreciation--provided to commercial (relative to residential) PV systems, at least historically (this relative tax advantage has largely disappeared starting in 2009) and (2) larger non-residential project size. These two attributes have attracted to the market a number of institutional investors (referred to in this report as 'Tax Investors') seeking to invest in PV projects primarily to capture their Tax Benefits. The presence of these Tax Investors, in turn, has fostered a variety of innovative approaches to financing non-residential PV systems. This financial innovation--which is the topic of this report--has helped to overcome some of the largest barriers to the adoption of non-residential PV, and is therefore partly responsible (along with the policy changes that have driven this innovation) for the rapid growth in the market seen in recent years

InfoGallery: Informative Arts Services for Physical Library Spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønbæk, Kaj; Rohde, Anne; Sundararajah, Balasuthas

2006-01-01

Much focus in digital libraries research has been devoted to new online services rather than services for the visitors in the physical library. This paper describes InfoGallery, which is a web-based infrastructure for enriching the physical library space with informative art "exhibitions......" of digital library material and other relevant information, such as RSS news streams, event announcements etc. InfoGallery presents information in an aesthetically attractive manner on a variety of surfaces in the library, including cylindrical displays and floors. The infrastructure consists of a server...... structure, an editor application and a variety of display clients. The paper discusses the design of the infrastructure and its utilization of RSS, podcasts and manually edited news. Applications in the library domain are described and the experiences are discussed....

Charity care: do not-for-profits influence for-profits?

Science.gov (United States)

Clement, Jan P; White, Kenneth R; Valdmanis, Vivian

2002-03-01

This study further examines whether not-for-profit hospitals exert pressure on for-profit hospitals to provide charity care and whether for-profit hospitals react differently than not-for-profit hospitals to managed care pressures and hospital competition in providing charity care. A two equation model is estimated using 1996 data from California hospitals. The results indicate that in mixed ownership markets, for-profit hospitals provide significantly less charity care as not-for-profit hospitals in the market provide more. Unexpectedly, study for-profit hospitals were not more influenced by price competition than other hospitals with respect to charity care. Having a unique role in providing charity care may justify continuing tax exemption for not-for-profit hospitals and enhance interest in payment and other policies with regard to conversions to ensure that not-for-profit hospitals continue to be represented in market areas.

DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS OF BANK PROFITABILITY LEVELS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ante Rozga

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Discriminant analysis has been employed in this paper in order to identify and explain key features of bank profitability levels. Bank profitability is set up in the form of two categorical variables: profit or loss recorded and above or below average return on equity. Predictor variables are selected from various groups of financial indicators usually included in the empirical work on microeconomic determinants of bank profitability. The data from the Croatian banking sector is analyzed using the Enter method. General recommendations for a more profitable business of banking found in the bank management literature and existing empirical framework such as rationalization of overhead costs, asset growth, increase of non-interest income by expanding scale and scope of financial products proved to be important for classification of banks in different profitability levels. A higher market share may bring additional advantages. Classification results, canonical correlation and Wilks’ Lambda test confirm statistical significance of research results. Altogether, discriminant analysis turns out to be a suitable statistical method for solving presented research problem and moving forward from the bankruptcy, credit rating or default issues in finance.

Lab, Field, Gallery and Beyond

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Binder, Thomas; Koskinen, Ilpo; Redström, Johan

2009-01-01

Over the last ten years we have seen a growing number of researchers integrating design experiments in their research inquiries. Initially, this work borrowed heavily from neighboring fields, employing a dual strategy in which design experiments and their evaluation were largely treated as separate...... processes that were often carried out by different people. More recently, design researchers have developed several approaches that integrate design-specific work methods to research. This paper takes a methodological look at three such established approaches that we call Lab, Field, and Gallery. We...

Avoidance of international double taxation. Taxation of business profits in Romania

OpenAIRE

Florin Dumiter; Ștefania Jimon

2017-01-01

In this article we wanted to achieve a comprehensive analysis of corporate profit tax for non-residents, from the standpoint of the issues that it creates on the double taxation of income and capital. Taxing the corporate profits of non-residents is a particularly important aspect in terms of revenue growth, encouraging foreign investment, and strengthening cross-border trade. The “source” state will decide the legitimate right to tax the profits of businesses that operate within its juris...

Whispering gallery mode selection in optical bottle microresonators

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Ming; Senthil Murugan, Ganapathy; Brambilla, Gilberto; Zervas, Michalis N.

2012-02-01

We demonstrated a method to excite selected whispering gallery modes in optical bottle microresonators (BMR) by inscribing microgroove scars on their surface by focused ion beam milling. Substantial spectral clean-up is obtained in appropriately scarred BMRs, providing the potential for high performance sensors and other optical devices.

Risk Pricing and Profit Maximization of Insurance Companies ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The research investigates the impact of pricing of risk on the profitability of Nigeria insurance market and also the relationship between operation expenses and profitability of the non-life insurance market in Nigeria. Results show that economy, competition and government regulation have effect on pricing of risk. Also, it was ...

Quasi-Monopoly Status of a Non-for-Profit Reference Terminology Provider - An Exemplary Approach on Transparency Improvement Regarding Licensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Dewenter, Heike; Thun, Sylvia

2018-01-01

As the reference terminology SNOMED CT is gaining in significance and seems without alternative in interoperable Electronic Health Records, the holder of its intellectual property, the non-for-profit organization SNOMED International has achieved a quasi-monopoly status as a provider. We examine the current dealing with corporate transparency regarding SNOMED CT licensing together with policy recommendations derived from the research project ASSESS CT, in the context of collaboration with Standardization Organizations. In addition, transparency improvement is proposed based on the economic Principal-Agent-Theory, assuming SNOMED CT Licensees as principals. In this paper we introduce improvement measures with regard to increase transparency in the licensing process addressing to the reference terminology users and especially the terminology provider. The aim is to present strategies towards transparency, with the intent to remove barriers concerning indecisive organization stakeholders and users of a license and fee-based terminology solutions, as well as to overcome resentments connected to the quasi-monopoly status of the provider.

High frequency of trypanosomatids in gallery forest bats of a Neotropical savanna.

Science.gov (United States)

Lourenço, João Lucas M; Minuzzi-Souza, Thaís T C; Silva, Larissa R; Oliveira, Amanda C; Mendonça, Vagner J; Nitz, Nadjar; Aguiar, Ludmilla M S; Gurgel-Gonçalves, Rodrigo

2018-01-01

Bats are well-known hosts of trypanosomatids, though information about their role as reservoirs of these protozoans in the Brazilian savanna is poorly known. We aimed to analyze the occurrence of trypanosomatid species in bats occurring in remnants of gallery forests of Brasília, Federal District of Brazil. We sampled bats using mist nets in six sites, and we collected blood, wing fragments and oral swab samples from all captured individuals. Trypanosomatids were identified in the captured bats through sequencing of the SSUrRNA region and kDNA qPCR. We found no parasite in blood smears of 146 individuals of 14 species captured, but blood cultures were positive for nine bats. We detected trypanosomatids molecularly in 111 (76%) specimens of all bat species in the studied areas. Most of the infected bats had Leishmania-like DNA detected in blood and swab samples of the oral mucosa. We distinguished three species of Trypanosoma (Trypanosoma dionisii, T. rangeli and T. cruzi) in Carollia perspicillata. SSUrRNA PCR of oral samples is a non-invasive and practical method for identification of trypanosomatid species in bats. Our results support our belief that bats could be potential reservoirs for Trypanosoma and Leishmania-like species in the enzootic cycle of these parasites in gallery forests of the Brazilian Cerrado biome. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Museums and art galleries as partners for public health interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Camic, Paul M; Chatterjee, Helen J

2013-01-01

The majority of public health programmes are based in schools, places of employment and in community settings. Likewise, nearly all health-care interventions occur in clinics and hospitals. An underdeveloped area for public health-related planning that carries international implications is the cultural heritage sector, and specifically museums and art galleries. This paper presents a rationale for the use of museums and art galleries as sites for public health interventions and health promotion programmes through discussing the social role of these organisations in the health and well-being of the communities they serve. Recent research from several countries is reviewed and integrated into a proposed framework for future collaboration between cultural heritage, health-care and university sectors to further advance research, policy development and evidence-based practice.

Segmenting health maintenance organizations to study productivity and profitability.

Science.gov (United States)

Sobol, M G

2000-01-01

As the decade ended, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) were increasing in popularity as a means of health care delivery. These groups take many forms, so it is important for the analyst to see if the efficiency and financial results for these different forms vary. The four major forms are profit vs. not-for-profit, chain vs. non-chain, group/staff vs. individual practice association (IPA), and federally qualified vs. non-federally qualified. Using a nationwide database of all the HMOs in the United States, the article compares liquidity rates, leverage ratios, profitability ratios, marketing, and per member ratios across the four groups using paired t tests. The two classifications that showed the most differences were group/staff vs. IPA and federally qualified vs. non-federally qualified. IPAs have a better liquidity position and lower leverage ratios than group/staff but their administrative costs are higher and the time to receive payments and to pay debts is higher. Non-federally qualified have somewhat higher liquidity ratios and higher profitability ratios. These significant differences in financial outcomes indicate that studies of HMOs should segment different major forms of organizations and study them separately before trying to show the effects of different policies on HMO efficiency and effectiveness.

Differences in technology innovation R&D performance creation behavior between for-profit institutions and not-for-profit institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Sungmin

2016-01-01

The present study compares the performance creation behavior between for-profit institutions and not-for-profit institutions within a national technology innovation research and development (R&D) program. Based on the stepwise performance creation chain structure of typical R&D logic models, a series of successive binary logistic regression models is newly proposed. Using the models, a sample of n = 2076 completed government-sponsored R&D projects was analyzed. For each institution type, its distinctive behavior is diagnosed, and relevant implications are suggested for improving the R&D performance.

Engaging Families in the Galleries Using Design Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, Lucy

2017-01-01

The Palo Alto Art Center sought a solution to the challenge that loyal family audiences, visiting weekly for art studio classes, rarely visit the contemporary art exhibition galleries. This article relates the experience of using the human-centered design process, often called Design Thinking, as the methodology to create a solution for family…

Continuum equivalent model for the fractured EDZ around underground galleries in clay-stone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pouya, A.; Bourgeois, E.; Larbi, B.; Poutrel, A.

2010-01-01

Document available in extended abstract form only. The Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) around the underground galleries excavated in clay-stone for the CMHM project, includes several zones showing different types of cracking and/or fracturing. In the vicinity of the wall, a fractured zone is observed that spreads out on a distance of about 1 m from the wall; at a larger distance from the wall one observes another zone with micro-cracks. The first zone, called 'fractured EDZ', includes different families of fractures with different geometries and origins. The main one consists of a family of shear fractures called 'chevron', that have approximately the shape of conical surfaces slightly flattened with respect to the horizontal plane. The 'chevrons' observed in the galleries at 490 m depth in LMSMH are regularly spaced of about 50 cm to 1 m along the gallery's axis, make an angle of about 45 deg. with this axis and extend to about 2 or 3 m beyond the wall depending of the size and orientation of the gallery. The fractures have a significant effect on the hydro-mechanical properties of the EDZ. The present work is focused on the effect of the 'chevron' fractures on the mechanical behaviour of the EDZ. Due to the large number of fractures, introducing them individually to the modelling leads to heavy and not easy to handle numerical models and to long calculations. One is led to find some Continuum Equivalent Material (CEM) for the EDZ including the fractures' effect. The EDZ is not very large compared to the fractures, so that it may not be fully justified to apply a homogenization approach; however, this is the approach we have used to define the behaviour of CEM. The geometry of the fractures is first simplified and assumed to correspond to conical surfaces with axial symmetry around the gallery's axis. The local behaviour of the CEM is deduced from the model of an infinite medium containing a family of planar

A gallery support

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erokhin, A I; Orekhov, D M; Romanov, P D; Semenov, U N; Sokov, G D; Trubnikov, V P

1981-10-15

The gallery support includes a middle section consisting of forward and aft hydraulic walls, a roof timber and a foundation on which the cross beam is connected to a longitudinal element, and outer sections mounted on both sides of the longitudinal element behind the cross beam; these outer sections contain the roof timbers, the hydraulic walls and the foundations which are connected to the cross beam by a hydraulic jack. In order to increase the areas where it may be used, particularly for variable-level mining works, the connector between the longitudinal element and the cross beam is hinge mounted, while the roof timbers of the outer sections are connected together by an adjustible jack and are constructed to allow detachable beams to be mounted on them under the arched support; the forward hydraulic props of the mid section are mounted on the ends of the cross beam.

What Can the Habitable Zone Gallery Do For You?

Science.gov (United States)

Gelino, Dawn M.; Kane, Stephen

2015-12-01

The Habitable Zone Gallery (www.hzgallery.org) came online in August 2011 as a service to the exoplanet community that provides Habitable Zone (HZ) information for each of the exoplanetary systems with known planetary orbital parameters. The service includes a sortable table, a plot with the period and eccentricity of each of the planets with respect to their time spent in the HZ, a gallery of known systems which plot the orbits and the location of the HZ with respect to those orbits, and orbital movies. Recently, we have added new features including: implementation of both conservative and optimistic HZs, more user-friendly table and movies, movies for circumbinary planets, and a count of planets whose orbits lie entirely within the system's HZ. Here we discuss various educational and scientific applications of the site such as target selection, exploring planets with eccentric or circumbinary orbits, and investigating habitability.

Statistical methods for analysing the relationship between bank profitability and liquidity

OpenAIRE

Boguslaw Guzik

2006-01-01

The article analyses the most popular methods for the empirical estimation of the relationship between bank profitability and liquidity. Owing to the fact that profitability depends on various factors (both economic and non-economic), a simple correlation coefficient, two-dimensional (profitability/liquidity) graphs or models where profitability depends only on liquidity variable do not provide good and reliable results. Quite good results can be obtained only when multifactorial profitabilit...

The whispering gallery as an optical component in the X-ray region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howells, M.R.

1995-08-01

The whispering gallery phenomenon in acoustics has been known and studied for more than a century, and the same effect has been observed to take place with waves other than sound waves. In this paper we review the theoretical basis and attractive features of the whispering gallery as a soft x-ray optical component and indicate some of its potential applications. We then describe what may be its most unique capability which, in favorable cases, is to provide a way. to manipulate the phase difference between the s and p polarization components and thus to generate circularly or elliptically polarized soft x-rays

How Managerial Ownership Affects Profit Maximization in Newspaper Firms.

Science.gov (United States)

Busterna, John C.

1989-01-01

Explores whether different levels of a manager's ownership of a newspaper affects the manager's profit maximizing attitudes and behavior. Finds that owner-managers tend to place less emphasis on profits than non-owner-controlled newspapers, contrary to economic theory and empirical evidence from other industries. (RS)

Partnership in civil society : a case of building trust between non-profit associations and international NGOs in Lao PDR

OpenAIRE

Purdin, Sky

2015-01-01

The purpose of this Master's thesis is to develop a context-specific substantive theory of trust building based on the experiences of development workers in Laos, as well as the methods they identify as keys to a better partnership. The research material is based on eleven interviews with civil society development workers in Vientiane, Laos. The study context is partnerships between in-country International Non-Governmental Organizations and local Non-Profit Associations. ...

Economic characteristic of non-profit sport clubs and their relations with municipalities and sport federations

OpenAIRE

Marek Pavlik

2013-01-01

There is a running discussion about the system of financing sport from public budgets and there are opinions that the sport is not sufficiently supported. We know surprisingly little about the situation of non-profit sport clubs and to find a better support system we have to gather information about the environment of sport clubs. What do we know about relations of sport clubs with public authorities and their own sport union/federation and why do we need to know? The aim of this paper is to ...

The role of non-financial performance measures in predicting hospital financial performance: the case of for-profit system hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Vélez-González, Heltie; Pradhan, Rohit; Weech-Maldonado, Robert

2011-01-01

Non-financial measures have found increasing acceptance in the business world--however, their application in the health care industry remains limited. The purpose of this article is to understand the influence of non-financial measures (efficiency, productivity, and quality) on the financial performance of for-profit system hospitals. The sample consists of 499 for-profit system hospitals in the United States from 1999 to 2002. Data analyzed include the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey, Medicare Cost Reports, Joint Commission's quality scores, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Hospital Case Mix Index. Dependent variables consist of financial measures (operating and total margins), while independent variables include measures of efficiency, productivity, and quality. Our results suggest the influence of non-financial performance measures on financial performance; occupancy rate positively influences financial performance while greater labor intensity may have negative implications for financial performance. In addition, we show that quality positively influences financial performance thereby offering a potential business case for quality. This result has important managerial and policy implications as it may incentivize capital and human resource investments required to improve hospital quality of care.

Exploring current and projected tradeoffs between hydropower profitability and reliability of supply in the Alps

Science.gov (United States)

Anghileri, D.; Castelletti, A.; Burlando, P.

2015-12-01

The recent spreading of renewable energy across Europe and the associated production variability and uncertainty are emerging challenges for hydropower system operation. Widely distributed and highly intermittent solar and wind power generation systems, along with feed-in-tariffs, at which they are remunerated, are threating the operation of traditional hydropower systems. For instance, in countries where the transition to a larger production by means of renewable power systems is a novel process, e.g. Switzerland, many hydropower companies are operating their reservoirs with low or no profits, claiming for a revision of the entire energy market system. This situation goes along with the problem of ensuring energy supply both nowadays and in the future, with changing energy demand and available water resources. In this work, we focus on a hydropower system in the Swiss Alps to explore how different operating policies can cope with both adequate energy supply and profitable operation under current and future climate and socio-economic conditions. We investigate the operation of the Mattmark reservoir in South-West Switzerland. Mattmark is a pumped reservoir of 98 106 m3 fed by a natural catchment of 37 km2 and contributing catchments, summing up to 51 km2, connected by several diversion channels. The hydrological regime, snow- and ice-melt dominated, has already experienced changes in the last decades due to glacier retreat and is expected to be strongly impacted by climate change in the future. We use Multi-Objective optimization techniques to explore current tradeoffs between profitability and secure supply. We then investigate how tradeoffs may evolve in time under different climate change projections and energy market scenarios. Results inform on the co-evolution of climate- and socio-economic induced variations, thus unveiling potential co-benefit situations to hydropower generation and providing insights to future energy market design.

Experiences from a Real-Time Mobile Collaborative Writing System in an Art Gallery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korn, Matthias; Polli, Anna Maria; Klokmose, Clemens Nylandsted

We present first experiences from Local Area Artworks, a system enabling collaborative art interpretation on-site, deployed during an exhibition in a local art gallery. Through the system, we explore ways to re-connect people to local places by making use of their personal mobile devices...... as interfaces to the shared physical space. With a collocated collaborative writing system in the semi-public space of a gallery, we encourage local art discussions and provide a platform for the public to actively participate in interpretations of individual artworks. In this paper, we focus on the experiences...

Time-efficient CT colonography interpretation using an advanced image-gallery-based, computer-aided ''first-reader'' workflow for the detection of colorectal adenomas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mang, Thomas; Ringl, Helmut; Weber, Michael; Mueller-Mang, Christina; Hermosillo, Gerardo; Wolf, Matthias; Bogoni, Luca; Salganicoff, Marcos; Raykar, Vikas; Graser, Anno

2012-01-01

To assess the performance of an advanced ''first-reader'' workflow for computer-aided detection (CAD) of colorectal adenomas ≥ 6 mm at computed tomographic colonography (CTC) in a low-prevalence cohort. A total of 616 colonoscopy-validated CTC patient-datasets were retrospectively reviewed by a radiologist using a ''first-reader'' CAD workflow. CAD detections were presented as galleries of six automatically generated two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) images together with interactive 3D target views and 2D multiplanar views of the complete dataset. Each patient-dataset was interpreted by initially using CAD image-galleries followed by a fast 2D review to address unprompted colonic areas. Per-patient, per-polyp, and per-adenoma sensitivities were calculated for lesions ≥ 6 mm. Statistical testing employed Fisher's exact and McNemar tests. In 91/616 patients, 131 polyps (92 adenomas, 39 non-adenomas) ≥ 6 mm and two cancers were identified by reference standard. Using the CAD gallery-based first-reader workflow, the radiologist detected all adenomas ≥ 10 mm (34/34) and cancers. Per-patient and polyp sensitivities for lesions ≥ 6 mm were 84.3 % (75/89), and 83.2 % (109/131), respectively, with 89.1 % (57/64) and 85.9 % (79/92) for adenomas. Overall specificity was 95.6 % (504/527). Mean interpretation time was 3.1 min per patient. A CAD algorithm, applied in an image-gallery-based first-reader workflow, can substantially decrease reading times while enabling accurate detection of colorectal adenomas in a low-prevalence population. (orig.)

Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Using Silica Whispering-Gallery Mode Resonators

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Mark S.

2013-01-01

The motivation of this work was to have robust spectroscopic sensors for sensitive detection and chemical analysis of organic and molecular compounds. The solution is to use silica sphere optical resonators to provide surface-enhanced spectroscopic signal. Whispering-gallery mode (WGM) resonators made from silica microspheres were used for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) without coupling to a plasmonic mechanism. Large Raman signal enhancement is observed by exclusively using 5.08-micron silica spheres with 785-nm laser excitation. The advantage of this non-plasmonic approach is that the active substrate is chemically inert silica, thermally stable, and relatively simple to fabricate. The Raman signal enhancement is broadly applicable to a wide range of molecular functional groups including aliphatic hydrocarbons, siloxanes, and esters. Applications include trace organic analysis, particularly for in situ planetary instruments that require robust sensors with consistent response.

Facebook satisfaction and its impacts on fundraising: a case study at a Portuguese non-profit organization

OpenAIRE

Laureano, R. M. S.; Fernandes, A. L.; Hassamo, S.; Alturas, B.

2018-01-01

Non-profit organizations have invested in the development of content for their Facebook pages, believing be an efficient and effective means to publicize its mission and raising resources, whether monetary or human. The purpose of this study is to assess the satisfaction of the participants with the Facebook page, and how that satisfaction influences the dissemination of the organization through the word-of-mouth and the donations practices. In this context, a questionnaire was administered t...

Mechanical behavior of galleries in deep clay - Study of a concrete example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rousset, G.; Jehan, R.A.; Bonne, A.; Fernique, J.C.

1985-01-01

At important depths such as those envisaged for the construction of a radioactive waste disposal, clay appears to be a material of rather weak resistance. One of the first problems to be studied is the technical feasibility of a disposal facility. The time-dependent and strain-softening behavior of the clay plays a significant role in the long term stability of the lined galleries. The in-situ measurements carried out during the digging of a gallery in Boom clay (Belgium), under a 250 m overburden are presented. The data obtained are analyzed by means of an elastoviscoplastic model including strain softening behavior of the clay

Cost to serve : zooming in customer profitability at Nike

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Martelli, Maria Eugenia

2008-01-01

This report presents the outcome of the Logistics Design Project carried out for Nike Inc. The goal of this project is to design a cost model that provides visibility on the profitability of each relevant segment of the matrix, by establishing the cost correlation between products, processes,

Low threshold lasing of bubble-containing glass microspheres by non-whispering gallery mode excitation over a wide wavelength range

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kumagai, Tsutaru, E-mail: kumagai.t.af@m.titech.ac.jp; Kishi, Tetsuo; Yano, Tetsuji [Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550 (Japan)

2015-03-21

Bubble-containing Nd{sup 3+}-doped tellurite glass microspheres were fabricated by localized laser heating technique to investigate their optical properties for use as microresonators. Fluorescence and excitation spectra measurements were performed by pumping with a tunable CW-Ti:Sapphire laser. The excitation spectra manifested several sharp peaks due to the conventional whispering gallery mode (WGM) when the pumping laser was irradiated to the edge part of the microsphere. However, when the excitation light was irradiated on the bubble position inside the microsphere, “non-WGM excitation” was induced, giving rise to numerous peaks at a broad wavelength range in the excitation spectra. Thus, efficient excitation was achieved over a wide wavelength range. Lasing threshold excited at the bubble position was much lower than that for the excitation at the edges of the microsphere. The lowest value of the laser threshold was 34 μW for a 4 μm sphere containing a 0.5 μm bubble. Efficiency of the excitation at the bubble position with broadband light was calculated to be 5 times higher than that for the edge of the microsphere. The bubble-containing microsphere enables efficient utilization of broadband light excitation from light-emitting diodes and solar light.

Fuel reprocessing at THORP: profitability and public liabilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berkhout, F.

1992-01-01

Since the economics of British Nuclear Fuels Limited's (BNFL) Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) were analysed in an earlier report, a number of domestic and international developments have affected the prospects for THORP. The present report outlines these changes, and analyses their implications for the profits and public liabilities associated with the project. Timing is of some significance because once THORP becomes radioactive (planned to occur in March 1993) the bill for decommissioning the plant will rise from a trivial sum to a very large one - Pound 900 million (1992 prices) in BNFL's own estimates. The report begins with a brief outline of reprocessing and the THORP project. It then examines the market prospects for reprocessing beyond THORP's first ten years and revises BNFL's own projections. It then considers the potential profitability of THORP in relation to various possible cost increases and finally outlines the possible implications of different THORP scenarios for the public purse. (author)

THEMES, DREAMS AND REAUTY: THE SCIENCE PROJECT ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Science Education Project (SEP) is a non-profit making educational trust ... us that many of them fail to survive the rigours of the school and ... environment) emphasis will be placed on in-service training and ... The 'status quo' is safe, everyone.

Non-isothermal cure and exfoliation of tri-functional epoxy-clay nanocomposites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Shiravand

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The non-isothermal cure kinetics of polymer silicate layered nanocomposites based on a tri-functional epoxy resin has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. From an analysis of the kinetics as a function of the clay content, it can be concluded that the non-isothermal cure reaction can be considered to consist of four different processes: the reaction of epoxy groups with the diamine curing agent; an intra-gallery homopolymerisation reaction which occurs concurrently with the epoxy-amine reaction; and two extra-gallery homopolymerisation reactions, catalysed by the onium ion of the organically modified clay and by the tertiary amines resulting from the epoxy-amine reaction. The final nanostructure displays a similar quality of exfoliation as that observed for the isothermal cure of the same nanocomposite system. This implies that the intra-gallery reaction, which is responsible for the exfoliation, is not significantly inhibited by the extra-gallery epoxy-amine cross-linking reaction.

Open Crowdsourcing: Leveraging Community Software Developers for IT Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Phair, Derek

2012-01-01

This qualitative exploratory single-case study was designed to examine and understand the use of volunteer community participants as software developers and other project related roles, such as testers, in completing a web-based application project by a non-profit organization. This study analyzed the strategic decision to engage crowd…

Transforming the tobacco market: why the supply of cigarettes should be transferred from for-profit corporations to non-profit enterprises with a public health mandate

OpenAIRE

Callard, C; Thompson, D; Collishaw, N

2005-01-01

Current tobacco control strategies seek primarily to decrease the demand for cigarettes through measures that encourage individuals to adopt healthier behaviours. These measures are impeded and undermined by tobacco corporations, whose profit drive compels them to seek to maintain and expand cigarette sales. Tobacco corporations seek to expand cigarette sales because they are for-profit business corporations and are obliged under law to maximise profits, even when this results in harm to othe...

On the Use of Client-Driven Projects in the Mathematics Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Maki, Dan; Winston, Wayne; Shafii-Mousavi, Morteza; Kochanowski, Paul; Lang, Chris; Ernstberger, Kathy; Hodgson, Ted

2006-01-01

In this article, we discuss the use of client-driven projects--projects that are posed by business, government, and non-profit organizations and based upon real problems facing the organization. Although client-driven projects have long been used in business and engineering education, their use in the mathematics classroom is rare. Client-driven…

THE BOSS EMISSION-LINE LENS SURVEY. IV. SMOOTH LENS MODELS FOR THE BELLS GALLERY SAMPLE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shu, Yiping [National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012 (China); Bolton, Adam S.; Montero-Dorta, Antonio D.; Cornachione, Matthew A.; Zheng, Zheng; Brownstein, Joel R. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, 115 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Mao, Shude [Physics Department and Tsinghua Centre for Astrophysics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Kochanek, Christopher S. [Department of Astronomy and Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Pérez-Fournon, Ismael; Marques-Chaves, Rui [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/Vía Láctea, s/n, E-38205 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Oguri, Masamune [Research Center for the Early Universe, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Ménard, Brice, E-mail: yiping.shu@nao.cas.cn [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

2016-12-20

We present Hubble Space Telescope F606W-band imaging observations of 21 galaxy-Ly α emitter lens candidates in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Emission-Line Lens Survey (BELLS) for the GALaxy-Ly α EmitteR sYstems (BELLS GALLERY) survey. Seventeen systems are confirmed to be definite lenses with unambiguous evidence of multiple imaging. The lenses are primarily massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) at redshifts of approximately 0.55, while the lensed sources are Ly α emitters (LAEs) at redshifts from two to three. Although most of the lens systems are well fit by smooth lens models consisting of singular isothermal ellipsoids in an external shear field, a thorough exploration of dark substructures in the lens galaxies is required. The Einstein radii of the BELLS GALLERY lenses are, on average, 60% larger than those of the BELLS lenses because of the much higher source redshifts. This will allow for a detailed investigation of the radius evolution of the mass profile in ETGs. With the aid of the average ∼13× lensing magnification, the LAEs are frequently resolved into individual star-forming knots with a wide range of properties. They have characteristic sizes from less than 100 pc to several kiloparsecs, rest-frame far-UV apparent AB magnitudes from 29.6 to 24.2, and typical projected separations of 500 pc to 2 kpc.

On the Problem of Filtration to an Imperfect Gallery in a Pressureless Bed

Science.gov (United States)

Bereslavskii, É. N.; Dudina, L. M.

2018-01-01

The problem of plane steady-state filtration in a pressureless bed to an imperfect gallery in the presence of evaporation from the flow free surface is considered. To study such type of flow, a mixed boundary-value problem of the theory of analytical functions is formulated and solved with application of the Polubarinova-Kochina method. Based on the model suggested, an algorithm for computing the discharge of the gallery and the ordinate of free surface emergence to the impermeable screen is developed. A detailed hydrodynamic analysis of the influence of all physical parameters of the model on the desired filtration characteristics is given.

Contested spacing: International non-profit organizations and the mobility of asylum seekers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albu, Oana Brindusa

The importance of examining space from an organizational standpoint is timely, not the least because the use of this concept has critical and often unintended social, and political effects (Mengis, Nicolini & Gorli, 2016). The global refugee crisis following the post-2015 Syrian conflict is perhaps...... one indicative situation of the highly contested ways in which international non-profit organizations (INGOs) create spaces for their organizational activities (e.g., build informal settlements to provide emergency aid), and thus affect how individuals (e.g., asylum seekers) get re-settled, confined...... to, or even restricted from living in such spaces. These matters are relevant since in the contexts where both the opportunities to move freely and being at peace are challenged, space is not only a neutral structure in which such contested organizing takes place (Mengis et al., 2016). Rather...

Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis

Science.gov (United States)

... questions and enable an era of optimized MS treatment. Read more... The Accelerated Cure Project for MS is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization whose mission is to accelerate efforts toward a cure for multiple sclerosis by rapidly advancing research that determines its causes ...

Geotechnical and large numeric studies on direct ultimate disposal of spent fuel elements. Project part 1: Thermal simulation of gallery storage. Final report (8th report)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heusermann, S.; Liedtke, L.; Soennke, J.; Sprado, K.H.; Gloeggler, W.

1995-01-01

Short-term tension measurements show that a reduced rock tension level exists in the Thermal Storage Simulation field (TSS). This tension level is markedly lower than the lithostatic rock pressure to be expected in the salt rock. The long-term tension measurements show that tension maxima will develop until early in 1993 in the close-in area of the experimental fields, for instance in the pillar between the galleries A and B. Creep tests with salt rock specimens from the TSS field show that the creep performance at room temperature of the Na2β rock salt to be considered in the experimental fields can be sufficiently accurately described by the reference creep law for stationary creep used by the BGR (Bundesanstalt f. Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe).The experimental in-situ results on the permeability of the salt rock in the experimental fields indicate i.a. very low permeabilities, except for a restricted, local area within the loosening zone below gallery B. This exhibits relatively high permeabilities. The experimental in-situ results on the permeability of the backfilling in the experimental galleries show that during the experimental measuring period, an only small change in permeability due to compaction of the backfilling material was observed. This result agrees with results of compaction tests performed by the GSF. The measured results show a difference in permeabilities between backfilling material subject to heating up, and colder material. (orig.) [de

A More Detailed Understanding Of Factors Associated With Hospital Profitability.

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Ge; Anderson, Gerard F

2016-05-01

To identify the characteristics of the most profitable US hospitals, we examined the profitability of acute care hospitals in fiscal year 2013, measured as net income from patient care services per adjusted discharge. Based on Medicare Cost Reports and Final Rule Data, the median hospital lost $82 for each such discharge. Forty-five percent of hospitals were profitable, with 2.5 percent earning more than $2,475 per adjusted discharge. The ten most profitable hospitals, seven of which were nonprofit, each earned more than $163 million in total profits from patient care services. Hospitals with for-profit status, higher markups, system affiliation, or regional power, as well as those located in states with price regulation, tended to be more profitable than other hospitals. Hospitals that treated a higher proportion of Medicare patients, had higher expenditures per adjusted discharge, were located in counties with a high proportion of uninsured patients, or were located in states with a dominant insurer or greater health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration had lower profitability than hospitals that did not have these characteristics. These findings can inform policy reforms, while providing a baseline against which to measure the impact of any subsequent reforms. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Detecting single viruses and nanoparticles using whispering gallery microlasers.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Lina; Ozdemir, Sahin Kaya; Zhu, Jiangang; Kim, Woosung; Yang, Lan

2011-06-26

There is a strong demand for portable systems that can detect and characterize individual pathogens and other nanoscale objects without the use of labels, for applications in human health, homeland security, environmental monitoring and diagnostics. However, most nanoscale objects of interest have low polarizabilities due to their small size and low refractive index contrast with the surrounding medium. This leads to weak light-matter interactions, and thus makes the label-free detection of single nanoparticles very difficult. Micro- and nano-photonic devices have emerged as highly sensitive platforms for such applications, because the combination of high quality factor Q and small mode volume V leads to significantly enhanced light-matter interactions. For example, whispering gallery mode microresonators have been used to detect and characterize single influenza virions and polystyrene nanoparticles with a radius of 30 nm (ref. 12) by measuring in the transmission spectrum either the resonance shift or mode splitting induced by the nanoscale objects. Increasing Q leads to a narrower resonance linewidth, which makes it possible to resolve smaller changes in the transmission spectrum, and thus leads to improved performance. Here, we report a whispering gallery mode microlaser-based real-time and label-free detection method that can detect individual 15-nm-radius polystyrene nanoparticles, 10-nm gold nanoparticles and influenza A virions in air, and 30 nm polystyrene nanoparticles in water. Our approach relies on measuring changes in the beat note that is produced when an ultra-narrow emission line from a whispering gallery mode microlaser is split into two modes by a nanoscale object, and these two modes then interfere. The ultimate detection limit is set by the laser linewidth, which can be made much narrower than the resonance linewidth of any passive resonator. This means that microlaser sensors have the potential to detect objects that are too small to be

Organisation and management of research and development facilities - from cost to profit focus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kerssens-van Drongelen, I.C.; Pearson, Alan; Nixon, Bill

2003-01-01

In this publication, we present the main findings of a research project into differences in organisation, management and activities between R&D cost centres, semi-profit centres, profit centres, and independent R&D businesses. First, a theoretical framework is presented and then the empirical

Memorializing the Wars of Religion in Early Seventeenth-Century French Picture Galleries : Protestants and Catholics Painting the Contested Past

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Linden, David

2017-01-01

This article examines how Protestant and Catholic elites in early seventeenth-century France memorialized the Wars of Religion in purpose-built picture galleries. Postwar France remained a divided nation, and portrait galleries offered a sectarian memory of the conflict, glorifying party heroes.

Crafting glass vessels: current research on the ancient glass collections in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagel, Alexander; McCarthy, Blythe; Bowe, Stacy

Our knowledge of glass production in ancient Egypt has been well augmented by the publication of recently excavated materials and glass workshops, but also by more recent materials analysis, and experiments of modern glass-makers attempting to reconstruct the production process of thin-walled coreformed glass vessels. From the mounting of a prefabricated core to the final glass product our understanding of this profession has much improved. The small but well preserved glass collection of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. is a valid tool for examining and studying the technology and production of ancient Egyptian core formed glass vessels. Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919) acquired most of the material from Giovanni Dattari in Cairo in 1909. Previously the glass had received only limited discussion, suggesting that most of these vessels were produced in the 18th Dynasty in the 15th and 14th centuries BCE, while others date from the Hellenistic period and later. In an ongoing project we conducted computed radiography in conjunction with qualitative x-ray fluorescence analysis on a selected group of vessels to understand further aspects of the ancient production process. This paper will provide an overview of our recent research and present our data-gathering process and preliminary results. How can the examinations of core formed glass vessels in the Freer Gallery contribute to our understanding of ancient glass production and technology? By focusing on new ways of looking at old assumptions using the Freer Gallery glass collections, we hope to increase understanding of the challenges of the production process of core-vessel technology as represented by these vessels.

Gender-sensitive Value Chain Intervention Improved Profit Efficiency among Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato Producers in Rwanda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bocher Temesgen

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The Rwanda Super Foods project sought to develop a value chain for processed orange-fleshed sweetpotato products to respond to farmer concerns over lack of markets. This study used data collected from five districts in rural Rwanda under supper food project between August and September 2014. The study applied a stochastic profit frontier model to data collected from 846 households growing sweetpotato, among which 327 were value chain participants; 312 were “spillover” households that received planting material from participant households, and the remainder control households with no project links. Results showed that average level of profit efficiency in sweetpotato production systems is 55%; suggesting that an estimated 45% of profit is lost due to the combined effect of technical, allocative and scale inefficiency. The profit efficiency of participant households was 64% compared to 20% of the control households. Moreover, the profit efficiency of the female beneficiary, female spillover, and male beneficiary households was found to be 55%, 70%, and 90% against 17% for male control households, respectively. Findings suggest that an orange-fleshed sweetpotato based value chain intervention can enhance the profit efficiency of the poor and disadvantageous households, if designed with special attention to women’s needs. Thus, polices and programs aiming at improving the livelihood of smallholder should be designed targeting women and resource poor.

Reporting on What Jane Saw 2.0: Female Celebrity and Sensationalism in Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janine Barchas

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This essay reports on ongoing efforts to build an accurate digital model of John Boydell’s popular Shakespeare Gallery precisely as it looked in August 1796—when a 20-year-old Jane Austen visited London’s sites, staying within a ten-minute walk from the gallery. The essay argues for the substantial difference between studying Boydell’s pictures in a paper volume (whether as lists, illustrations in books, or engraved folio plates and viewing them as an exhibition of paintings on walls, albeit virtual ones. For example, the digital reconstruction illuminated commissions from several female participants in Boydell’s male-dominated gallery, especially Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807 and Anne Seymour Damer (1749-1828. In addition, the essay also recounts how the celebrity of model Emma Hart/Hamilton (1765-1815 safeguarded one Boydell painting from oblivion while The Shakespeare Gallery proved the site of a strange form of self-promotion practiced by actress Mary Wells (1762-1829. Our digital visualization of an historic exhibition in 1796 brought the controversial celebrity of a few women artists into focus. In sum, this essay shows DH methodology in action while sampling what might be gleaned when digital tools serve historical scholarship in the humanities.

All’origine dei differenziali salariali di genere nel settore non profit. il caso delle cooperative sociali italiane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federica D’Isanto

2013-01-01

Full Text Available L’elevata quota di lavoratrici nelle organizzazioni non profit potrebbe indurre a rite-nere le cooperative sociali un luogo ideale per la manodopera femminile, proprio perché in questo tipo di istituzioni le donne avrebbero maggiori possibilità di impiego e mag-giori opportunità di accedere a posizioni di potere organizzativo (data la peculiare natu-ra democratica che caratterizzerebbe tali istituzioni. Sebbene l’aumento della parteci-pazione femminile nel mercato del lavoro sociale abbia un impatto positivo sul tasso di crescita dell’economia, è stato dimostrato che la predominanza delle donne nel settore nonprofit non solo non riesce sempre a tradursi in un’attenuazione delle discriminazioni di genere in termini di carriera, retribuzione e accesso a ruoli di comando, ma rischia anche di implicare, tramite la mancata valorizzazione del loro apporto, la svalutazione economica dell’intero settore. I dati, infatti, confermano la presenza di potenti meccani-smi discriminatori rispetto al genere, tanto più sorprendenti quanto più si consideri l’elevata presenza di donne tra i lavoratori di queste organizzazioni.In Italia nel 2007 è emerso che il 74% della forza lavoro nel settore nonprofit era co-stituito da donne.Questo lavoro ha due obiettivi. In primo luogo (e per la prima volta nel contesto ita-liano, si propone di studiare le caratteristiche di questa composizione femminile della forza lavoro, utilizzando la banca dati ICSI 2007 (Indagine Cooperative Sociali Italia-ne; in secondo luogo, di analizzare il rapporto esistente tra differenziali salariale di ge-nere e segregazione.I principali risultati sono che anche nel settore non profit esiste un differenziale sala-riale di genere di circa il 16% in favore degli uomini (dato conforme alla media degli altri paesi europei; che esiste la segregazione femminile (orizzontale e verticale e che questa spiega quasi interamente l’esistenza di questo differenziale salariale.

In California, not-for-profit hospitals spent more operating expenses on charity care than for-profit hospitals spent.

Science.gov (United States)

Valdovinos, Erica; Le, Sidney; Hsia, Renee Y

2015-08-01

In exchange for sizable tax exemptions, not-for-profit hospitals must engage in activities that meet the Internal Revenue Service's community benefit standard. The provision of charity care-free care to those unable to pay-can help meet that standard. Bad debt, the other form of uncompensated care, cannot be used to meet the standard, although Medicaid shortfalls can. However, the ACA lacks guidelines for providing charity care, and federal law sets no minimum requirements for community benefit activities. Using data from California, we examined whether the levels of charity and uncompensated care provided differed across general acute care hospitals by profit status and other characteristics during 2011-13. The mean proportion of total operating expenses spent on charity care differed significantly between not-for-profit (1.9 percent) and for-profit hospitals (1.4 percent), in contrast to the mean proportion spent on uncompensated care. Both types of spending varied widely across hospitals. Policy makers should consider measures that remove disincentives to meeting the persistent considerable need for charity care-for example, increasing supports to offset rising Medicaid shortfalls resulting from program expansion-and facilitate the tracking of ACA impacts on the distribution of charity care and uncompensated care delivery. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Ultrasonic sounding and monitoring of the excavation damaged zone in a soft supported gallery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balland, Cyrille; Souley, Mountaka; Morel, Jacques

2012-01-01

Document available in extended abstract form only. Under high in situ stresses and high anisotropic stress ratios, the excavation of underground openings generally causes the creation of a disturbed (EdZ: Excavation disturbed Zone) and/or damaged (EDZ: Excavation Damaged Zone) zone, resulting from the initiation and growth of cracks and fractures and by a redistribution and rearrangement of the initial stresses. Due to the modifications of mechanical and hydro-mechanical properties in the EdZ/EDZ, the latter constitute a potential risk for the efficiency of the geologic and/or engineered barriers. To estimate the performance of a site of radioactive waste storage, it is essential to know the geometry, the extensions of the EdZ/EDZ, the density of cracks, their connectivity and the variations of permeability which can result from it. In particular, their extension depends on numerous factors among which the nature of the rock, the pre-existent fractures and their reactivation, the initial stress field (magnitudes and/or rate of anisotropy), the time, the geometry and the techniques of excavations etc.. In addition, the evolution of EdZ/EDZ properties in the medium term is little or poorly known, particularly under the influence of environmental conditions such as the re-confining by near field rock creep in contact with a rigid structural support or the evolution of hydric conditions (desaturation and re-saturation). Ultrasonic experimentation under the OHZ experiment has been implemented to characterize the EDZ extension and its evolution in time according to the structural support type (soft or rigid) and the environmental conditions present in the laboratory. This study consists of two experimental components: (1) the prior auscultation of the sole and face of the gallery by ultrasonic transmission tomography, (2) the monitoring the EDZ and the analysis of measurable changes in the propagation of ultrasonic waves in the medium term. Mechanical modelling of the

Organizational communication on Twitter: Differences between non-profit and for-profit organizations in the context of climate change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Holmberg, K.; Hellsten, I.; Schmidt, C.M.

2016-01-01

Twitter as a socio-technical platform provides organizations with new ways to reach their stakeholders. In this paper, we compare the use of Twitter specific affordances – such as hashtags, mentions of usernames and sharing of URLs along the tweets in a sample of 1520 tweets sent by 16 profit

Methanization - how to better figure out profitability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deschaseaux, Christelle

2013-01-01

This article discusses the content of a study to be published on the conditions of profitability for methanization installations, in order to enable the assessment of the influence of the modifications of different parameters such as purchase tariffs, subsidies, taxes, investment management and exploitation costs. An analysis has been performed on different categories of projects: farm projects (80 to 250 kW), collective farm projects with a small collective dwelling (350 kW) and local projects (1 to 2,5 MW), hybrid farm-industrial projects, and projects based only on industrial wastes. The analysis has been made with respect to final use: co-generation or bio-methane production. It appears that most of projects still need subsidies but that there is no correlation between installed power and production cost

Taxes, bankruptcy costs, and capital structure in for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Sean S; Yang, Jie; Carroll, Nathan

2018-02-01

About 60% of the US hospitals are not-for-profit and it is not clear how traditional theories of capital structure should be adapted to understand the borrowing behavior of not-for-profit hospitals. This paper identifies important determinants of capital structure taken from theories describing for-profit firms as well as prior literature on not-for-profit hospitals. We examine the differential effects these factors have on the capital structure of for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals. Specifically, we use a difference-in-differences regression framework to study how differences in leverage between for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals change in response to key explanatory variables (i.e. tax rates and bankruptcy costs). The sample in this study includes most US short-term general acute hospitals from 2000 to 2012. We find that personal and corporate income taxes and bankruptcy costs have significant and distinct effects on the capital structure of for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals. Specifically, relative to not-for-profit hospitals: (1) higher corporate income tax encourages for-profit hospitals to increase their debt usage; (2) higher personal income tax discourages for-profit hospitals to use debt; and (3) higher expected bankruptcy costs lead for-profit hospitals to use less debt. Over the past decade, the capital structure of for-profit hospitals has been more flexible as compared to that of not-for-profit hospitals. This may suggest that not-for-profit hospitals are more constrained by external financing resources. Particularly, our analysis suggests that not-for-profit hospitals operating in states with high corporate taxes but low personal income taxes may face particular challenges of borrowing funds relative to their for-profit competitors.

Whispering gallery effect in relativistic optics

Science.gov (United States)

Abe, Y.; Law, K. F. F.; Korneev, Ph.; Fujioka, S.; Kojima, S.; Lee, S.-H.; Sakata, S.; Matsuo, K.; Oshima, A.; Morace, A.; Arikawa, Y.; Yogo, A.; Nakai, M.; Norimatsu, T.; d'Humières, E.; Santos, J. J.; Kondo, K.; Sunahara, A.; Gus'kov, S.; Tikhonchuk, V.

2018-03-01

relativistic laser pulse, confined in a cylindrical-like target, under specific conditions may perform multiple scattering along the internal target surface. This results in the confinement of the laser light, leading to a very efficient interaction. The demonstrated propagation of the laser pulse along the curved surface is just yet another example of the "whispering gallery" effect, although nonideal due to laser-plasma coupling. In the relativistic domain its important feature is a gradual intensity decrease, leading to changes in the interaction conditions. The proccess may pronounce itself in plenty of physical phenomena, including very efficient electron acceleration and generation of relativistic magnetized plasma structures.

The Habitable Zone Gallery 2.0: The Online Exoplanet System Visualization Suite

Science.gov (United States)

Chandler, C. O.; Kane, S. R.; Gelino, D. M.

2017-11-01

The Habitable Zone Gallery 2.0 provides new and improved visualization and data analysis tools to the exoplanet habitability community and beyond. Modules include interactive habitable zone plotting and downloadable 3D animations.

Not-for-profits trek into for-profit accounting: goodwill impairments.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-01

Acquisitions may be integral and strategic drivers for successfully executing the business objectives of an entity or fulfilling its mission. The new guidance creates accounting and valuation challenges for not-for-profit entities that for-profit entities have been dealing with for years. Now that not-for-profit entities apply the same principles, the fair value concepts and accounting complexities are more pervasive. By brining to bear the rights complement of accounting, finance, and valuation resources, not-for-profit entities can successfully navigate these challenges and gain an understanding of the full magnitude of acquisition decisions on financial results.

Building sustainable neuroscience capacity in Africa: the role of non-profit organisations.

Science.gov (United States)

Karikari, Thomas K; Cobham, Ansa E; Ndams, Iliya S

2016-02-01

While advances in neuroscience are helping to improve many aspects of human life, inequalities exist in this field between Africa and more scientifically-advanced continents. Many African countries lack the infrastructure and appropriately-trained scientists for neuroscience education and research. Addressing these challenges would require the development of innovative approaches to help improve scientific competence for neuroscience across the continent. In recent years, science-based non-profit organisations (NPOs) have been supporting the African neuroscience community to build state-of-the-art scientific capacity for sustainable education and research. Some of these contributions have included: the establishment of training courses and workshops to introduce African scientists to powerful-yet-cost-effective experimental model systems; research infrastructural support and assistance to establish research institutes. Other contributions have come in the form of the promotion of scientific networking, public engagement and advocacy for improved neuroscience funding. Here, we discuss the contributions of NPOs to the development of neuroscience in Africa.

Profitability of irradiation plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bustos R, M.E.; Gonzalez F, C.; Liceaga C, G.; Ortiz A, G.

1997-01-01

In any industrial process it is seek an attractive profit from the contractor and the social points of view. The use of the irradiation technology in foods allows keep their hygienically, which aid to food supply without risks for health, an increment of new markets and a losses reduction. In other products -cosmetics or disposable for medical use- which are sterilized by irradiation, this process allows their secure use by the consumers. The investment cost of an irradiation plant depends mainly of the plant size and the radioactive material reload that principally is Cobalt 60, these two parameters are in function of the type of products for irradiation and the selected doses. In this work it is presented the economic calculus and the financial costs for different products and capacities of plants. In general terms is determined an adequate utility that indicates that this process is profitable. According to the economic and commercial conditions in the country were considered two types of credits for the financing of this projects. One utilizing International credit resources and other with national sources. (Author)

THE PROFITABILITY – AN ATTRIBUTE OF FINANCIAL AND ACCOUNTING NATURE IN THE DECISION TO INVEST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela TULVINSCHI

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The investments represent the primary factor in the development strategy of an economic entity. The role of the investments begins with their purpose, meaning that the investments involve the increasing of a stock portfolio. The research methodology that is approached in this article is based on the analysis of two factors: net present value and internal rate of profitability. Capital budgeting in an investment project that, without a prior analysis of the efficiency of such a decision, can lead to the total or partial loss of the invested capital. An investment project is efficient if the net present value is positive and has a larger value. An investment project becomes more profitable as the value of the internal rate of profitability gets higher. If the two factors are correctly interpreted they lead to exactly the same conclusions regarding the determination of an investment profitability. We can conclude that the two efficiency factors are complementary, their simultaneous use leading to a better grounding of the investment decision than their separate use.

Capital Structure and Profitability of Quoted Companies in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AMOS O. AROWOSHEGBE. Ph.D; ACA.

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The study examined the relationship of capital structure to profitability of quoted firms in Nigeria. The study was based on a panel data set from 1996 to 2010 comprising sixty non – financial companies. The study specified two panel regression models. Two profitability measures: Net Profit Margin (NPM and Operating Profit Margin (OPM were taken as the dependent variables respectively. The principal explanatory variable for each of the models was Debt Ratio (DR. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant negative relationship between capital structure and profitability of quoted companies in Nigeria. Indeed, the results the Pecking order theory that profitable firms do not target an optimal level of leverage to balance the benefits and costs of debt financing. Rather, firms use retained earnings first, then debts and finally equity. Such firms would actually be paying high tax charges and also high operating costs arising from over dependence on the money market for their funds requirements. It was recommended that appropriate fiscal policies, relevant capital market institutional and legal framework should be put in place. These measures, we believe, will ensure better access to funds and reduce the cost of doing business.

PROFITABILITY AND FINANCIAL STABILITY

OpenAIRE

CĂRUNTU CONSTANTIN; LĂPĂDUŞI MIHAELA LOREDANA

2011-01-01

The business activity allows identifying two categories of flows: flows of results and cash flows. Flows affect the income and expenses, participating in training result, the company's profitability. Financial flows involved in their formation both monetary items (which drive the monetary input or output and thus implies a cash flow), and non-cash items (affecting the result, without leading to a cash flow). Are equally identifiable cash flows that do not involve an ...

Australian doctors and the visual arts. Part 4. Doctors as supporters of art galleries and artists in Victoria.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, D G

1986-07-07

The contribution of doctors to the visual arts is being discussed in a series of six articles. Doctor-artists in New South Wales and Victoria, and doctors as collectors, donors, gallery supporters and writers in New South Wales, have been discussed in earlier articles. This, the fourth article, deals with doctors as supporters of art galleries and artists in Victoria.

22 CFR 226.81 - Prohibition against profit.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

....81 Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION OF ASSISTANCE AWARDS TO U.S. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS Additional Provisions For Awards to Commercial Organizations § 226.81... organization. Profit is any amount in excess of allowable direct and indirect costs. ...

The Service-profit Chain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønholdt, Lars; Martensen, Anne

2016-01-01

This paper examines the links between employee attitudes, customer loyalty and company profitability. From a conceptual point of view, this employee-customer-profit chain, also known as the service-profit chain, is well founded and generally accepted. But for many companies, it seems difficult...... to demonstrate such links, and several issues must be addressed to uncover the links. To investigate these links empirically, a hotel chain provided data matching employee and customer measures with measures of profitability. We have successfully employed a modeling approach, and the paper reports empirical...... evidence of the employee-customer-profit chain. As it is possible to estimate the links, we have demonstrated their effect on company profitability. The research findings provide a better understanding of the service-profit chain and may help practitioners in improving company financial performance....

Sea Turtle Conservation on Bonaire. Sea Turtle Club Bonaire 1997. Project Report

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schuit, M.; Put, van A.L.L.M.; Valkering, N.P.; Eijck, van T.J.W.

1998-01-01

The Sea Turtle Club Bonaire (STCB) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization. Its main goal is the conservation of the sea turtles that occur on Bonaire. To reach this goal, annual projects are undertaken, such as research and the promotion of public awareness on sea turtle conservation. The

Subfield profitability analysis reveals an economic case for cropland diversification

Science.gov (United States)

Brandes, E.; McNunn, G. S.; Schulte, L. A.; Bonner, I. J.; Muth, D. J.; Babcock, B. A.; Sharma, B.; Heaton, E. A.

2016-01-01

Public agencies and private enterprises increasingly desire to achieve ecosystem service outcomes in agricultural systems, but are limited by perceived conflicts between economic and ecosystem service goals and a lack of tools enabling effective operational management. Here we use Iowa—an agriculturally homogeneous state representative of the Maize Belt—to demonstrate an economic rationale for cropland diversification at the subfield scale. We used a novel computational framework that integrates disparate but publicly available data to map ˜3.3 million unique potential management polygons (9.3 Mha) and reveal subfield opportunities to increase overall field profitability. We analyzed subfield profitability for maize/soybean fields during 2010-2013—four of the most profitable years in recent history—and projected results for 2015. While cropland operating at a loss of US 250 ha-1 or more was negligible between 2010 and 2013 at 18 000-190 000 ha (profitable areas, incorporating conservation management that breaks even (e.g., planting low-input perennials), into low-yielding portions of fields could increase overall cropland profitability by 80%. This approach is applicable to the broader region and differs substantially from the status quo of ‘top-down’ land management for conservation by harnessing private interest to align profitability with the production of ecosystem services.

Community Litter Arthropods Associated cerrado and gallery forest, in the Ecological Station Sierra Das Araras - Mato Grosso, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Cristina Zardo

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The litter arthropod fauna distinguishes itself by its importance in nutrient cycling and organic matter degradation. This invertebrate fauna has been emphasized as crucial for the processes that structure ecosystems. This study aims to evaluate and compare the arthropod fauna composition, richness and abundance in litter of two environments: the savanna and the gallery forest at Serra das Araras Ecological Station , Mato Grosso. To collect the arthropods a 120m transects for each habitat was delimited, divided into six points in each environment. For all the litter collection points, we marked a plot measuring 1.0 x 1.0 m, totalizing 6m2 for an environment, where the arthropods found were identified by order level, and the individuals were grouped into morphospecies. The total arthropods richness found in the savanna and in the gallery forest areas was 38 morphospecies, 28 morphospecies were found in the savanna and 20 in the gallery forest, with total abundance of 381 individuals, being 226 individuals collected in the savanna and 155 individuals in the gallery forest. The more abundant morphospecies in the savanna and gallery forest belonged to Hymenoptera and Isoptera orders, with 10 and 4 morphospecies and abundance of 263 and 78 individuals respectively. The greatest organism richness and abundance occurred in the savanna, because it is a tropical environment with the greatest biodiversity, especially regarding its insect fauna, and this diversity is primarily concerned with the variety of habitats that the environment provides , which gives the species shelter, food and reproduction sites.

Economic and fiscal modeling of petroleum projects: impact of REPETRO on projects profitability; Modelagem economica e fiscal de projetos petroliferos: impacto do REPETRO sobre a rentabilidade de projetos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coimbra, Vinicius Accurso de Mello [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (PPGE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Economia; Almeida, Edmar Luiz Fagundes de [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Inst. de Economia

2012-07-01

REPETRO (Regime Aduaneiro Especial de Exportacao e Importacao de Bens Destinados a Exploracao e a Producao de Petroleo e Gas Natural) is a special custom regime created during the liberalization of the Brazilian oil and gas (O and G) industry. It's goal is to enhance the attractiveness of investments for the exploitation of O and G in Brazilian territory. Under REPETRO, the importation of permitted goods shall benefit from suspension of the following taxes: II, IPI, PIS, COFINS and the reduction of ICMS. The recent review of the sector's regulatory framework, allied to some imperfections on the functioning of the regime, has created a political environment conducive for the questioning of such tax exemption. Given the uncertainty surrounding REPETRO, this paper proposed the construction of a model that simulates all of the economic and tax variables relevant for the exploitation of O and G in Brazilian territory in order to quantify the impact of REPETRO on the profitability of these activities. The model is constructed on the basis of a discounted cash flow that simulates the life cycle of a typical O and G project under the logic of Brazilian fiscal system: Sistema de Concessao. As its original contribution, a complete tax framework was constructed with help from O and G tax specialists. All of the results encountered point to the fact that REPETRO makes a significant impact on the profitability of O and G activities. In some cases it is fundamental for the economic feasibility of the project. In one particular scenario, REPETRO was responsible for doubling the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the project. (author)

Multivariate Analysis of Profitability Indicators for Selected Companies of Croatian Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Perisa

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the profitability indicators are analysed for the first hundred companies of the Croatian market, which are classified according to the net profit. The profitability indicators included in the analysis are the following: EBIT margin, EBITDA margin, net profit margin, return on assets (ROA, return on invested capital (ROI and return on capital employed (ROCE. By implementing the factor analysis, six chosen profitability indicators have been reduced to two factors, thus solving the multicollinearity problem, which is one of the prerequisites for the cluster analysis. For two extracted factors, the factor scores are calculated and used in the following cluster analysis. By implementing the cluster analysis, selected companies are grouped into clusters according to their similarity in accomplished results that are measured by profitability indicators. The hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analyses are conducted and resulted into two clusters where ten companies were in the first cluster, while the other ninety were in the second cluster

DataProfit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2016-01-01

DataProfit er et værktøj til at kortlægge og analysere din virksomheds evne til datadreven forretningsudvikling.......DataProfit er et værktøj til at kortlægge og analysere din virksomheds evne til datadreven forretningsudvikling....

Designing and Implementing a Unique Website Design Project in an Undergraduate Course

Science.gov (United States)

Kontos, George

2016-01-01

The following paper describes a distinctive collaborative service-learning project done in an undergraduate class on web design. In this project, students in a web design class contacted local community non-profit organizations to create websites (collections of web pages) to benefit these organizations. The two phases of creating a website,…

Organizational resilience: Sustained institutional effectiveness among smaller, private, non-profit US higher education institutions experiencing organizational decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Kenneth A

2016-06-04

Recent changes in the United States (US) economy have radically disrupted revenue generation among many institutions within higher education within the US. Chief among these disruptions has been fallout associated with the financial crisis of 2008-2009, which triggered a change in the US higher education environment from a period of relative munificence to a prolonged period of scarcity. The hardest hit by this disruption have been smaller, less wealthy institutions which tend to lack the necessary reserves to financially weather the economic storm. Interestingly, a review of institutional effectiveness among these institutions revealed that while many are struggling, some institutions have found ways to not only successfully cope with the impact of declining revenue, but have been able to capitalize on the disruption and thrive. Organizational response is an important factor in successfully coping with conditions of organizational decline. The study examined the impacts of organizational response on institutional effectiveness among higher education institutions experiencing organizational decline. The study's research question asked why some US higher educational institutions are more resilient at coping with organizational decline than other institutions operating within the same segment of the higher education sector. More specifically, what role does organizational resilience have in helping smaller, private non-profit institutions cope and remain effective during organizational decline? A total of 141 US smaller, private non-profit higher educational institutions participated in the study; specifically, the study included responses from participant institutions' key administrators. 60-item survey evaluated administrator responses corresponding to organizational response and institutional effectiveness. Factor analysis was used to specify the underlying structures of rigidity response, resilience response, and institutional effectiveness. Multiple regression

Optimal security design under asymmetric information and profit manipulation

OpenAIRE

Koufopoulos, Kostas; Kozhan, Roman; Trigilia, Giulio

2014-01-01

We consider a model of external financing under ex ante asymmetric information and profit manipulation (non verifability). Contrary to conventional wisdom, the optimal contract is not standard debt, and it is not monotonic. Instead, it resembles a contingent convertible (CoCo) bond. In particular: (i) if the profit manipulation and/or adverse selection are not severe, there exists a unique separating equilibrium in CoCos; (ii) in the intermediate region, if the distribution of earnings is unb...

A critique of social marketing in the non-profit development sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.M. Fourie

2009-07-01

Full Text Available In its struggle to find funding, non-profit organisations world-wide are increasingly using social marketing strategies. This approach potentially influences non governmental organisations (NGOs and community based organisations (CBOs in their communication with their “clients”, i.e. those persons and com-munities in need of development. Marketing strategies con-sequently become instruments in achieving social development, with as main premise that behaviour could be changed by means of persuasive, top-down communication. Social marketing, with its roots in marketing, has a strong focus on persuasion and favours top-down communication rather than dialogical communication strategies suggested by the par-ticipatory development communication approach. It is also questionable whether social marketing can be equated with the principles of a Biblically informed approach to communication. With these questions in mind, this article discusses Biblical views on communication and the participatory development communication approach. A critique of the social marketing approach is then offered. It is argued here that there is no clear-cut answer as to whether social marketing could be described as participatory. What is clear is that there are many different views on social marketing, as is the case with participatory approaches. It would thus seem more correct to place social marketing on a participation continuum, rather than to define it as being participatory and thus per definition ethical or not. Finally, a number of suggestions are made which could bring it more in line with the participatory communication approach as well as Biblical principles on com-munication.

The role of gallery forests in maintaining Phlebotominae populations: potential Leishmania spp. vectors in the Brazilian savanna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tâmara Dias Oliveira Machado

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Knowledge on synanthropic phlebotomines and their natural infection by Leishmania is necessary for the identification of potential areas for leishmaniasis occurrence. OBJECTIVE To analyse the occurrence of Phlebotominae in gallery forests and household units (HUs in the city of Palmas and to determine the rate of natural infection by trypanosomatids. METHODS Gallery forests and adjacent household areas were sampled on July (dry season and November (rainy season in 2014. The total sampling effort was 960 HP light traps and eight Shannon traps. Trypanosomatids were detected in Phlebotominae females through the amplification of the SSU rDNA region, and the positive samples were used in ITS1-PCR. Trypanosomatid species were identified using sequencing. FINDINGS A total of 1,527 sand flies representing 30 species were captured in which 949 (28 spp. and 578 (22 spp. were registered in July and November, respectively. In July, more specimens were captured in the gallery forests than in the HUs, and Nyssomyia whitmani was particularly frequent. In November, most of the specimens were found in the HUs, and again, Ny. whitmani was the predominant species. Lutzomyia longipalpis was commonly found in domestic areas, while Bichromomyia flaviscutellata was most frequent in gallery forests. Molecular analysis of 154 pools of females (752 specimens identified Leishmania amazonensis, L. infantum, and Crithidia fasciculata in Ny. whitmani, as well as L. amazonensis in Lu. longipalpis, Trypanosoma sp. and L. amazonensis in Pintomyia christenseni, and L. amazonensis in both Psathyromyia hermanlenti and Evandromyia walkeri. MAIN CONCLUSIONS These results show the importance of gallery forests in maintaining Phlebotominae populations in the dry month, as well as their frequent occurrence in household units in the rainy month. This is the first study to identify Leishmania, Trypanosoma, and Crithidia species in Phlebotominae collected in Palmas, Tocantins

Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis, Wagler, 1830 feeding ecology in a gallery forest in the South Pantanal (Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Ragusa-Netto

Full Text Available Cracids are generalist frugivores, which often exploit plant food resources such as flowers and leaves, mainly when fruit production declines. The Chaco chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis is the most abundant cracid in the Pantanal (Brazil, and particularly common in the gallery forests. However, the factors related to their occurrence in this habitat type are unclear. In this study I describe the feeding habits and feeding niche breadth fluctuations of the Chaco chachalaca in relation to food resources abundance and diversity at the Miranda river gallery forest (Southern Pantanal. I also analyzed the relationships between Chaco chachalacas feeding activity and food resources abundance. This parameter (flowers and fruits exhibited significant seasonal differences of abundance in which flowers were plentiful at the end of the dry, while fruits were abundant during the early wet season. However, food resources diversity to Chaco chachalacas exhibited no seasonal difference. Their feeding activity paralleled the availability of food resources, so that when some items were massively available an enhanced number of Chaco chachalacas foraged in the gallery forest, particularly during the prolonged dry season when they extensively used flowers and Genipa americana fruits. In fact, the Chaco chachalaca feeding niche breadth value presented low values in this period, while high values were common in the rest of the year. The flexible diet of this cracid, potentially favors their year round presence in the gallery forest, mainly during the prolonged dry season when the propensity for famine might be high. Since the Chaco chachalaca is among the largest and most abundant canopy frugivores in the gallery forest, it may contribute to forest regeneration, an underscored role due to the impact of annual floods and meandering dynamics on tree loss.

The role of gallery forests in maintaining Phlebotominae populations: potential Leishmania spp. vectors in the Brazilian savanna.

Science.gov (United States)

Machado, Tâmara Dias Oliveira; Minuzzi-Souza, Thaís Tâmara Castro; Ferreira, Tauana de Sousa; Freire, Luciana Pereira; Timbó, Renata Velôzo; Vital, Tamires Emanuele; Nitz, Nadjar; Silva, Mariana Neiva; Santos, Alcinei de Souza; Sales, Nathyla Morgana Cunha; Obara, Marcos Takashi; Andrade, Andrey José de; Gurgel-Gonçalves, Rodrigo

2017-10-01

Knowledge on synanthropic phlebotomines and their natural infection by Leishmania is necessary for the identification of potential areas for leishmaniasis occurrence. To analyse the occurrence of Phlebotominae in gallery forests and household units (HUs) in the city of Palmas and to determine the rate of natural infection by trypanosomatids. Gallery forests and adjacent household areas were sampled on July (dry season) and November (rainy season) in 2014. The total sampling effort was 960 HP light traps and eight Shannon traps. Trypanosomatids were detected in Phlebotominae females through the amplification of the SSU rDNA region, and the positive samples were used in ITS1-PCR. Trypanosomatid species were identified using sequencing. A total of 1,527 sand flies representing 30 species were captured in which 949 (28 spp.) and 578 (22 spp.) were registered in July and November, respectively. In July, more specimens were captured in the gallery forests than in the HUs, and Nyssomyia whitmani was particularly frequent. In November, most of the specimens were found in the HUs, and again, Ny. whitmani was the predominant species. Lutzomyia longipalpis was commonly found in domestic areas, while Bichromomyia flaviscutellata was most frequent in gallery forests. Molecular analysis of 154 pools of females (752 specimens) identified Leishmania amazonensis, L. infantum, and Crithidia fasciculata in Ny. whitmani, as well as L. amazonensis in Lu. longipalpis, Trypanosoma sp. and L. amazonensis in Pintomyia christenseni, and L. amazonensis in both Psathyromyia hermanlenti and Evandromyia walkeri. These results show the importance of gallery forests in maintaining Phlebotominae populations in the dry month, as well as their frequent occurrence in household units in the rainy month. This is the first study to identify Leishmania, Trypanosoma, and Crithidia species in Phlebotominae collected in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil.

Abundance and frugivory of the toco toucan (Ramphastos toco in a gallery forest in Brazil's Southern Pantanal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Ragusa-Netto

Full Text Available Unlike other toucan species, the Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco - the largest Ramphastidae - usually inhabits dry semi-open areas. This conspicuous canopy frugivore uses a large home range that includes a variety of vegetation types, among which gallery forests are widely cited as important to this species. However, the factors relating to the occurrence of Toco toucans in such habitats are unclear. I studied the abundance of Toco toucans as well as the availability of fleshy fruit in a gallery forest in the southern Pantanal (sub-region of Miranda, Brazil, in order to assess the relationship between these parameters. Also, I examined toucan foraging activity to analyze its relationship with both toucan abundance and fruit availability. The presence of the Toco toucan was more common in the gallery forest from the middle to the end of the dry season and during the middle of the wet season. Toucans foraged for fleshy fruits, mainly Genipa americana, Ficus luschnatiana, and Cecropia pachystachya fruits, feeding mostly on G. americana (by far the favorite food resource and F. luschnatiana fruits during the dry season, while C. pachystachya fruits were important in the wet season. Toco toucans foraged particularly heavily (> 80% of foraging activity on G. americana fruits during the latter part of the dry season, when fleshy fruit availability declined sharply. Toco toucan abundance in the gallery forest was associated with the availability of the most commonly consumed fleshy fruits, and also with its foraging activity. This finding suggests that the Toco toucan moved to the gallery forest periodically in response to the availability of abundant food resources, especially the G. americana fruits widely available and exploited during the severely dry season. Therefore, these fruits potentially contribute to Toco toucan persistence in the South Pantanal during the harshest period of the year.

Abundance and frugivory of the Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) in a gallery forest in Brazil's southern Pantanal.

Science.gov (United States)

Ragusa-Netto, J

2006-02-01

Unlike other toucan species, the Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco)--the largest Ramphastidae--usually inhabits dry semi-open areas. This conspicuous canopy frugivore uses a large home range that includes a variety of vegetation types, among which gallery forests are widely cited as important to this species. However, the factors relating to the occurrence of Toco toucans in such habitats are unclear. I studied the abundance of Toco toucans as well as the availability of fleshy fruit in a gallery forest in the southern Pantanal (sub-region of Miranda, Brazil), in order to assess the relationship between these parameters. Also, I examined toucan foraging activity to analyze its relationship with both toucan abundance and fruit availability. The presence of the Toco toucan was more common in the gallery forest from the middle to the end of the dry season and during the middle of the wet season. Toucans foraged for fleshy fruits, mainly Genipa americana, Ficus luschnatiana, and Cecropia pachystachya fruits, feeding mostly on G. americana (by far the favorite food resource) and F. luschnatiana fruits during the dry season, while C. pachystachya fruits were important in the wet season. Toco toucans foraged particularly heavily (> 80% of foraging activity) on G. americana fruits during the latter part of the dry season, when fleshy fruit availability declined sharply. Toco toucan abundance in the gallery forest was associated with the availability of the most commonly consumed fleshy fruits, and also with its foraging activity. This finding suggests that the Toco toucan moved to the gallery forest periodically in response to the availability of abundant food resources, especially the G. americana fruits widely available and exploited during the severely dry season. Therefore, these fruits potentially contribute to Toco toucan persistence in the South Pantanal during the harshest period of the year.

Sensitivity optimization in whispering gallery mode optical cylindrical biosensors

Science.gov (United States)

Khozeymeh, F.; Razaghi, M.

2018-01-01

Whispering-gallery-mode resonances propagated in cylindrical resonators have two angular and radial orders of l and i. In this work, the higher radial order whispering-gallery-mode resonances, (i = 1 - 4), at a fixed l are examined. The sensitivity of theses resonances is analysed as a function of the structural parameters of the cylindrical resonator like different radii and refractive index of composed material of the resonator. A practical application where cylindrical resonators are used for the measurement of glucose concentration in water is presented as a biosensor demonstrator. We calculate the wavelength shifts of the WG1-4, in several glucose/water solutions, with concentrations spanning from 0.0% to 9.0.% (weight/weight). Improved sensitivity can be achieved using multi-WGM cylindrical resonators with radius of R = 100 μm and resonator composed material of MgF 2 with refractive index of nc = 1.38. Also the effect of polarization on sensitivity is considered for all four WGMs. The best sensitivity of 83.07 nm/RIU for the fourth WGM with transverse magnetic polarization, is reported. These results propose optimized parameters aimed to fast designing of cylindrical resonators as optical biosensors, where both the sensitivity and the geometries can be optimized.

Evaluation of Sustainable Practices within Project Management Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shah Satya

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research study is to investigate some of the sustainable practices within projects with a focus on social projects. The different research methodologies applied through this research consisted both primary and secondary research, including literature review and through case study. The stakeholder’s behavioural needs towards acting and implementing sustainable practices led to the adoption of sustainable practices within projects which are managed across profit and non-profit organisations. Nevertheless, lack of sustainable behaviour was outlined, and henceforth the integration of sustainable development within social projects is crucially important as such projects were identified as the drivers toward educating the society in order to help to produce generations of people who would be more sustainably aware. Currently, sustainable development is very often taken into account when it comes to managing projects. Nevertheless, if the adoption of sustainable practices is well established in some sectors such as construction, literature tends to demonstrate a lack of information regarding other sectors, especially within social projects. This research aims to investigate the adoption of sustainable practices within social projects and therefore to satisfy a literature gap.

A Decomposition of Hospital Profitability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jason Turner

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Objectives: This paper evaluates the drivers of profitability for a large sample of U.S. hospitals. Following a methodology frequently used by financial analysts, we use a DuPont analysis as a framework to evaluate the quality of earnings. By decomposing returns on equity (ROE into profit margin, total asset turnover, and capital structure, the DuPont analysis reveals what drives overall profitability. Methods: Profit margin, the efficiency with which services are rendered (total asset turnover, and capital structure is calculated for 3,255 U.S. hospitals between 2007 and 2012 using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Healthcare Cost Report Information System (CMS Form 2552. The sample is then stratified by ownership, size, system affiliation, teaching status, critical access designation, and urban or non-urban location. Those hospital characteristics and interaction terms are then regressed (OLS against the ROE and the respective DuPont components. Sensitivity to regression methodology is also investigated using a seemingly unrelated regression. Results: When the sample is stratified by hospital characteristics, the results indicate investor-owned hospitals have higher profit margins, higher efficiency, and are substantially more leveraged. Hospitals in systems are found to have higher ROE, margins, and efficiency but are associated with less leverage. In addition, a number of important and significant interactions between teaching status, ownership, location, critical access designation, and inclusion in a system are documented. Many of the significant relationships, most notably not-for-profit ownership, lose significance or are predominately associated with one interaction effect when interaction terms are introduced as explanatory variables. Results are not sensitive to the alternative methodology. Conclusion: The results of the DuPont analysis suggest that although there appears to be convergence in the behavior of

A Decomposition of Hospital Profitability

Science.gov (United States)

Broom, Kevin; Elliott, Michael; Lee, Jen-Fu

2015-01-01

Objectives: This paper evaluates the drivers of profitability for a large sample of U.S. hospitals. Following a methodology frequently used by financial analysts, we use a DuPont analysis as a framework to evaluate the quality of earnings. By decomposing returns on equity (ROE) into profit margin, total asset turnover, and capital structure, the DuPont analysis reveals what drives overall profitability. Methods: Profit margin, the efficiency with which services are rendered (total asset turnover), and capital structure is calculated for 3,255 U.S. hospitals between 2007 and 2012 using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Healthcare Cost Report Information System (CMS Form 2552). The sample is then stratified by ownership, size, system affiliation, teaching status, critical access designation, and urban or non-urban location. Those hospital characteristics and interaction terms are then regressed (OLS) against the ROE and the respective DuPont components. Sensitivity to regression methodology is also investigated using a seemingly unrelated regression. Results: When the sample is stratified by hospital characteristics, the results indicate investor-owned hospitals have higher profit margins, higher efficiency, and are substantially more leveraged. Hospitals in systems are found to have higher ROE, margins, and efficiency but are associated with less leverage. In addition, a number of important and significant interactions between teaching status, ownership, location, critical access designation, and inclusion in a system are documented. Many of the significant relationships, most notably not-for-profit ownership, lose significance or are predominately associated with one interaction effect when interaction terms are introduced as explanatory variables. Results are not sensitive to the alternative methodology. Conclusion: The results of the DuPont analysis suggest that although there appears to be convergence in the behavior of NFP and IO

Dual decomposition for parsing with non-projective head automata

OpenAIRE

Koo, Terry; Rush, Alexander Matthew; Collins, Michael; Jaakkola, Tommi S.; Sontag, David Alexander

2010-01-01

This paper introduces algorithms for non-projective parsing based on dual decomposition. We focus on parsing algorithms for non-projective head automata, a generalization of head-automata models to non-projective structures. The dual decomposition algorithms are simple and efficient, relying on standard dynamic programming and minimum spanning tree algorithms. They provably solve an LP relaxation of the non-projective parsing problem. Empirically the LP relaxation is very often tight: for man...

Preparation of the PRACLAY demonstration and confirmation experiments: construction of the PRACLAY gallery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bastiaens, W.

2009-01-01

The PRACLAY demonstration and confirmation experiments contribute to the Belgian research, development and demonstration programme to assess the safety and feasibility of geological disposal of radioactive waste in Boom Clay. Within this programme, the large scale PRACLAY heater experiment aims to verify that Boom Clay is suitable to host heat emitting radioactive waste. A 35 m long section of an experimental gallery in the underground research facility HADES (at 225 m depth) will be heated up to 95 degrees Celsius during ten years. The heater experiment focuses on the response of the host rock to the thermal load. The figure below shows the experimental lay-out. In 2007, an important milestone was reached with the realisation of the PRACLAY gallery (45 m long, external diameter 2.5 m)

Strategic Behavior in Certifying Green Buildings: An Inquiry of the Non-building Performance Value.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang Hsieh, Lin-Han; Noonan, Douglas

2017-08-01

This study determines the magnitude of the market signaling effect arising from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for green buildings and explores the mechanisms behind the signaling effect. Previous studies have shown that signaling or marketability plays an important role in the pursuit for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and equivalent green-building certification. By analyzing all new construction projects receiving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from 2000 to 2012 in the US, this study estimates the relative importance of 'green' signaling. This broad perspective using project-level data enables an analysis of some drivers of signaling and the pursuit of marketing benefits. The roles of local competition and market conditions, as well as municipal regulations are examined, especially as they differ between types of building owners (e.g., for-profit firms, governments, nonprofits). The results indicate that the non-building performance value-value captured by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design signals above and beyond the specific building attributes that Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifies-dominates the attainment of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design scores around certification tier thresholds. Further, strong evidence of spatial clustering of this non-building performance value for some owner types indicates that for-profit owners may be more responsive to local competition than non-profit owners. Local legislative mandates predict greater signaling intensity by government-owned buildings, as expected, but for-profit-owned projects tend to signal less, even after controls for local conditions. The results highlight the importance of local conditions, including peer effects and regulations, in driving non-building performance values across a wide range of green buildings.

The quasi-market for adult residential care in the UK: Do for-profit, not-for-profit or public sector residential care and nursing homes provide better quality care?

Science.gov (United States)

Barron, David N; West, Elizabeth

2017-04-01

There has been a radical transformation in the provision of adult residential and nursing home care in England over the past four decades. Up to the 1980s, over 80% of adult residential care was provided by the public sector, but today public sector facilities account for only 8% of the available places, with the rest being provided by a mixture of for-profit firms (74%) and non-profit charities (18%). The public sector's role is often now that of purchaser (paying the fees of people unable to afford them) and regulator. While the idea that private companies may play a bigger role in the future provision of health care is highly contentious in the UK, the transformation of the residential and nursing home care has attracted little comment. Concerns about the quality of care do emerge from time to time, often stimulated by high profile media investigations, scandals or criminal prosecutions, but there is little or no evidence about whether or not the transformation of the sector from largely public to private provision has had a beneficial effect on those who need the service. This study asks whether there are differences in the quality of care provided by public, non-profit or for-profit facilities in England. We use data on care quality for over 15,000 homes that are provided by the industry regulator in England: the Care Quality Commission (CQC). These data are the results of inspections carried out between April 2011 and October 2015. Controlling for a range of facility characteristics such as age and size, proportional odds logistic regression showed that for-profit facilities have lower CQC quality ratings than public and non-profit providers over a range of measures, including safety, effectiveness, respect, meeting needs and leadership. We discuss the implications of these results for the ongoing debates about the role of for-profit providers of health and social care. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Natural regeneration in several environments of the Capetinga gallery forest at Agua Limpa Farm (DF

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeanine Maria Felfili

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The Capetinga gallery forest is located at Agua Limpa Farm, in the Federal District, Brazil. The floristic compositionand structure of the natural regeneration at the edges and in the interior of the gallery forest at the watershed of the Capetinga stream was studied to detect floristic and structural patterns related to the forest environments. Thirty (5x5m plots were placed in each environment to sample saplings, individuals from 1,0m high with diameter at the steam base under 5,0cm. Within these plots, (2x2m sub-plots were allocated to sample seedlings, individuals lower than 1,0m height. The sampled plots were distant to the stream bank to minimize the humidity effect. Shannon & Wiener diversity index varied from 2,86 (seedlings at the edges to 3,51 (saplings at the interior and it was higher in the interior for both categories. Sørensen s similarity index varied from 0.474 for seedlings (comparingedges with interior to 0.735 (seedlings and saplings at the edges. Czekanowski indices were low and reflected the high differentiationin structure from plot to plot in the same gallery forest. TWINSPAN classification suggested two distinct communities for saplings forboth conditions, formed by species accordingly to their requirements for light and water. No differentiation was detected for seedlingsbetween the environments indicating a low response of plants at an early stage to the environmental conditions within the forest. TheCapetinga gallery forest suffered disturbances by fire and the small variations in species composition and vegetation structurebetween environments suggests that most of the natural regeneration is tolerant to light.

Profit maximization mitigates competition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dierker, Egbert; Grodal, Birgit

1996-01-01

We consider oligopolistic markets in which the notion of shareholders' utility is well-defined and compare the Bertrand-Nash equilibria in case of utility maximization with those under the usual profit maximization hypothesis. Our main result states that profit maximization leads to less price...... competition than utility maximization. Since profit maximization tends to raise prices, it may be regarded as beneficial for the owners as a whole. Moreover, if profit maximization is a good proxy for utility maximization, then there is no need for a general equilibrium analysis that takes the distribution...... of profits among consumers fully into account and partial equilibrium analysis suffices...

Development of and horizontal seams wining system by means of galleries and chambers; Demostracion de un Sistema de Explotacion de Capas Horizontales por el Metodo de Pilares y Galerias Trazadas Integramente con Maquinas de Ataque Puntual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-07-01

The project Development of an horizontal seams wining system by means of galleries and chambers aimed on the solution of a mining problem kept unresolved during the last 35 years in Carrasconte mine, owned by the society Minero Siderurgica de Ponferrada, in the coal yield of Villablino, Leon, Spain. The problem was a horizontal seam, with a width from 2,5 to 3,5 m, with two specific characteristics; one, roof and floor extremely rigid, with a 30 m sandstone stratum by roof that practically could highly restrict the long wall face conventional system, and the other, an intercalation of shale with a width of 1,2 m and a hardness of near 400 kg/cm2 that required a suitable winning system. By means of investigation with galleries carried out by continuous miners the real width of shale intercalation was stated, an then suitable systems adopted as this width varied. So, short wall faces in areas with minimum shale were disposed, and in t areas with maximum shale width, two long wall faces each one in each different vein were designed. At the end, the borders of reserves were recovered by the conventional system of galleries and chambers. This development project has allowed to recover more than a million tons in three years by systems suitable to the different conditions of the seam. (Author)

Bank foundation – a symbiotic legal institution at the crossroad of banking system and non-profit sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena CATARGIU

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In the context of the development and omnipresence, in Europe, of the non-profit sector and due to the diversification of the legal entities that are involved in the configuration of the third sector, an legal analysis of the foundation of banking origins, is very appealing. Throughout this study we aim to point out key moments in the evolution of this particular figure, mainly in the Italian legislation. Nevertheless, we intend to identify the legal nature of the foundation of banking origins in order to draw a line between banking and philanthropic activities.

Advanced sensing with micro-optical whispering-gallery-mode resonators

CERN Document Server

Righini, Giancarlo C

2017-01-01

This Spotlight examines an increasingly popular class of optical sensors that comprises microresonators based on the propagation of whispering gallery modes (WGMs). Several 2D and 3D WGM microresonators have already proved their capabilities as general-purpose sensors (especially as biosensors), and they have potential applications outside of research laboratories. Topics include the fundamentals of WGM propagation, types and characterization of microresonators, microfabrication issues, categories of sensing (physical, chemical, and biological), and state of the art sensors.

Avoidance of international double taxation. Taxation of business profits in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florin Dumiter

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this article we wanted to achieve a comprehensive analysis of corporate profit tax for non-residents, from the standpoint of the issues that it creates on the double taxation of income and capital. Taxing the corporate profits of non-residents is a particularly important aspect in terms of revenue growth, encouraging foreign investment, and strengthening cross-border trade. The “source” state will decide the legitimate right to tax the profits of businesses that operate within its jurisdiction. Tax treaties do not impose limits on these types of taxing rights, other than those stemming from the obligation to impose profits, since the issue of taxation is “satisfied”. Moreover, the source of tax revenue belongs to the source state. Thus, we can see that it is unlikely that the state of residence of a non-resident taxpayer should want to “share” such tax revenue. It can be observed that the state of residence also has the right to tax the profits, but in general it gives credit in respect of taxes of the source state or deducts them for the purpose of preventing the occurrence of double taxation. If the state of residence provides a credit for taxes paid within the source state, taxes which have not been collected and owed to the source state will constitute a tax transfer to the state of residence, from which the taxpayer will not have any benefit. As regards Romania, in terms of the treatment of enterprises, this article represents a real quid pro quo, as it tackles both the international and national taxation of corporate profits, through the provisions found in the new Fiscal Code and the Code of Fiscal Procedure, as well as the new proposals on the taxation of turnover in companies, all of this extrapolated with the new proposals for turnover tax from IT giants. The article ends with the presentation, comment and analysis of a case of international double taxation, more specifically the taxation of corporate profits, a topic of

From the galleries to the clinic: applying art museum lessons to patient care.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Alexa; Grohe, Michelle; Khoshbin, Shahram; Katz, Joel T

2013-12-01

Increasingly, medical educators integrate art-viewing into curricular interventions that teach clinical observation-often with local art museum educators. How can cross-disciplinary collaborators explicitly connect the skills learned in the art museum with those used at the bedside? One approach is for educators to align their pedagogical approach using similar teaching methods in the separate contexts of the galleries and the clinic. We describe two linked pedagogical exercises--Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) in the museum galleries and observation at the bedside--from "Training the Eye: Improving the Art of Physical Diagnosis," an elective museum-based course at Harvard Medical School. It is our opinion that while strategic interactions with the visual arts can improve skills, it is essential for students to apply them in a clinical context with faculty support-requiring educators across disciplines to learn from one another.

Factorial Analysis of Profitability

OpenAIRE

Georgeta VINTILA; Ilie GHEORGHE; Ioana Mihaela POCAN; Madalina Gabriela ANGHEL

2012-01-01

The DuPont analysis system is based on decomposing the profitability ratio in factors of influence. This paper describes the factorial analysis of profitability based on the DuPont system. Significant importance is given to the impact on various indicators on the shares value and profitability.

Identification of profitable areas to apply product configuration systems in Engineering-To-Order companies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristjansdottir, Katrin; Hvam, Lars; Shafiee, Sara

2015-01-01

This article suggests a systematic framework for identifying potential areas, where Engineering-To-Order (ETO) companies may increase their profit-ability by implementing a Product Configuration System (PCS). In order to do so a three-step framework is proposed based on literature. The starting...... point is to conduct a profitability analysis to determine the accuracy of the cost estima-tions, and based on that the reason for the deviations across different projects is found. The next step is to generate the scope for different scenarios that aim to improve the current situation. Finally...

An analysis of the value of marketing to non-profit organizations: the case of child safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Razis, V; Razis, N

1993-01-01

This paper considers a broad spectrum of literature concerning the limitations and value of applying marketing management principles from the private sector to public or non-profit organizations. The Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa is used as a principle case-study. The authors conclude that there is much to be gained from applying a more systematic approach, providing one adapts business strategies to more complex social environments and objectives. Since both marketing and social issues share the challenge of 'sensitivity serving and satisfying human needs,' (Kotler, 1983 p 272) there are also some instances where business can learn from the experience of social organizations in attempts to influence human behavior.

New numerical modelling of the mechanical long-term behaviour of the GMR gallery in ANDRA's Underground Research Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanco Martin, L.; Hadj-Hassen, F.; Tijani, M.; Armand, G.

2011-01-01

This paper deals with a new macroscopic numerical modelling of the mechanical long-term behaviour of ANDRA's Underground Research Laboratory. The study focuses on the GMR gallery, oriented along the minor horizontal principal stress and located at the main level 490 m deep. The simulations are made using the finite element method (FEM).Convergence measurements in this gallery exhibit an important dis-symmetry between the vertical and horizontal directions, as well as a significant time effect in the vertical trend. In attempts to both understand the phenomena that lie beneath such dis-symmetry and reproduce the experimental data, a modification to Lemaitre's creep law has been proposed. The new viscoplastic law takes into account the following aspects: rock transverse isotropy, creep behaviour and rock expansion. The excavation history of the GMR gallery has also been considered in the numerical modelling. The numerical results are very satisfactory for the GMR drift. However, the mechanisms of anisotropic shear and expansion on which the new law is based do not lead to an accurate reproduction of the data measured in the galleries oriented in the perpendicular direction. Therefore, a thorough insight into the mechanical behaviour of the rock mass and into the proposed new law is needed before the latter can be applied to the Callovo-Oxfordian layer. (authors)

Influential variables in the profitability of hospital companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judit Creixans

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This study attempts to evidence the economic and financial health of Spanish hospital companies in the period 2008-2015 and discover the variables that explain their profitability for survival and the opportune performance of their assets during a period of technological revolution and austerity. Design/methodology: The study methodology consists of the short and long-term financial analysis of the companies in the study sample during the period 2008-2015, together with analysis is of their economic state, equity and treasury. To add value to the research, the profitability of the hospital companies has been explained in terms of the following independent variables: short-term solvency, debt, business size, legal form, GDP per capita, population density of and indicators of Corporate Social Responsibility. Findings: In the analyzed period, the economic and financial health of hospital companies is characterized by acceptable liquidity and indebtedness that significantly influence its profitability; this is accompanied by good financial and expenditure management, though it is necessary to improve the management of assets. Research limitations/implications: It was not possible to obtain data for 2016, as it was not available in the database used (SABI. These data would have been useful to evaluate the changes in trends that are taking place in the health sector due to the technological revolution and economic policies affecting it. Practical implications: The health sector is one of the pillars on which society is based, and therefore knowing detailed economic and financial information allows us to make appropriate decisions, both on the hospital level and in terms of the economic policies of governments. Social implications: This study provides evidence of the financially relevant indicators that healthcare companies must control for their survival and to provide proper service to society in general. The research also identifies non

Advanced quality systems : probabilistic optimization for profit (Prob.O.Prof) software

Science.gov (United States)

2009-04-01

Contractors constantly have to make decisions regarding how to maximize profit and minimize risk on paving projects. With more and more States adopting incentive/disincentive pay adjustment provisions for quality, as measured by various acceptance qu...

Community benefits: how do for-profit and nonprofit hospitals measure up?

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, S; Pauly, M V

The rise of the for-profit hospital industry has opened a debate about the level of community benefits provided by non-profit hospitals. Do nonprofits provide enough community benefits to justify the community's commitment of resources to them, and the tax-exempt status they receive? If nonprofit hospitals convert to for-profit entities, would community benefits be lost in the transaction? This debate has highlighted the need to define and measure community benefits more clearly. In this Issue Brief, the authors develop a new method of identifying activities that qualify as community benefits, and propose a benchmark for the amount of benefit a nonprofit hospital should provide.

Rn-Gas Concentration and Working Level Measurements Using SSNTD in Uranium Exploration Galleries Allouga Mine, Sinai, Egypt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Monem, A.A.; Hassan, S.F.; Abdel-Kader, F.H.; El-Naggar, A.M.; Essia, H.M.; Abdel-Hafez, A.A.

2008-01-01

Measurements of Rn-gas concentrations and Working Level (WL), were carried out in the U-exploration galleries at El- Allouga Mine, Sinai, Egypt by passive techniques (SSNTD) during the four seasons ( Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring) using four different detector types: CR-39, MK, CN-85 and LR-115.Twenty eight (28) stations were chosen for this purpose reflecting different environmental conditions as measurement sites within the galleries. The Rn-gas concentrations , in the summer period ranged from 25.86 to 44.2 pCi/l in the ventilated stations and from 488.98 to 611.16 pCi/l in the non-ventilated stations. In the fall period , the average Rn-gas concentrations in the ventilated stations ranged from 31.61 to 56.36 pCi/l while in the non-ventilated stations from 457.61 to 621.52 pCi/l. In the winter period, the average Rn-gas concentrations in the ventilated stations ranged from 27.59 to 66.45 pCi/l while in the non- ventilated stations from 499.09 to 603.81 pCi/l. In the spring the Rn-gas concentrations ranged from 30.8 to 46.77 pCi/l in the ventilated stations, whereas, in the non-ventilated stations from 404.06 to 445.18 pCi/l. The (WL), in the summer period, ranged from 0.143 to 0.247 in the ventilated sector and from 4.408 to 5.497 in the non-ventilated stations .In fall, the( WL) ranged from 0.166 to 0.295 in the ventilated stations and from 4.123 to 5.624 in the non-ventilated stations. In the winter, the (WL) ranged from 0.105 to 0.37 in the ventilated stations and from 4.138 to 5.26 in the non-ventilated stations. In the spring, the (WL) in the ventilated stations ranged from 0.152 to 0.241 and from 3.696 to 4.087 in the non-ventilated stations. These results indicate that: i)The low measured Rn gas and (WL) values in the ventilated stations reflect the effect of variations in meteorological conditions on (WL) determination where the air flow carries the Rn-gas before it decays and the daughters are plated onto the SSNTD . ii) The larger ranges for Rn

Bureaucratic Corruption and Profit Tax Evasion

OpenAIRE

Laszlo Goerke

2006-01-01

Firms may evade taxes on profits and can also avoid fulfilling legal restrictions on production activities by bribing bureaucrats. It is shown that the existence of tax evasion does not affect corruption activities at the firm level, while the budgetary repercussions of tax evasion induce less corruption. Policy measures which alter the gains or losses from corruption have a non-systematic impact on tax evasion behaviour.

The Effects of Abandonment Options on Investment Timing and Profit Sharing of FDI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weiwei Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper incorporates cooperative game theory into a real option method in a foreign direct investment setting and examines the operational decisions of a multinational corporation in a cooperative framework, where the corporation is endowed with an abandonment option and shares its profit with the host country. In particular, we investigate how the abandonment options affect the optimal investment timing and the optimal profit share of a foreign direct investment using a real option game method. We show that the flexibility of the abandonment option induces the corporation to investment earlier, which indicates the negative effects on investment trigger. The result is consistent with intuition since the abandonment option provides insurance and thus reduces the overall risk of the project. We also find that the introduction of the abandonment option reduces the optimal profit share in a cooperative framework and in turn the lower profit share increases the investment trigger, thereby having a positive effect on the investment threshold to hinder the investment. By numerical analysis, we find that the overall effect of the abandonment options is inversely related to the investment trigger. These findings provide quantitative analysis about the decisions regarding cooperation in international investment extraction projects.

The Capacity Development of Non-Profit Organizations in the Growth Stage (An Action Research Based on the SSM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harry Nenobais

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This research aims in analyzing the capacity development of non-profit organizations in the growth stage through six internal components and four external components at Papuan Pesat Foundation. The approach used in the research is the action research based on the soft systems methodology that consists of two activities that had been done simultaneously, which are the research interest and the problem solving interest (McKay and Marshall, 2001. It fulfills criteria that are systematically desirable and culturally feasible (Flood an Jackson, 1991. Whilst the theory used is according to Brothers and Sherman (2012 that states that there are six internal components that should be strengthened in the growth stage, which are the leadership, the organization’s culture, the role of the board, programs’ extension, the management and infrastructure, the financial sustainable.  Afterwards, according to De Vita, et. al. (2001 there are four organization’s external components that should be maintained, which are the social demographic, the economy/market, the politic and values, and the norms. The result of this research shows the research interest, that the organization needs to be equipped with the transformational leadership, the simple structure design, and the improvement of the role of the board. For the problem solving interest, it needs the working programs’ extension through the correct formulation process, the human resources management, the organization’s financial sustainability. Then the external components which need to be formed are the collaboration among the non-profit organizations, the local government, the private sectors, business activities, politic participations and the public relation.

For-profit colleges.

Science.gov (United States)

Deming, David; Goldin, Claudia; Katz, Lawrence

2013-01-01

For-profit, or proprietary, colleges are the fastest-growing postsecondary schools in the nation, enrolling a disproportionately high share of disadvantaged and minority students and those ill-prepared for college. Because these schools, many of them big national chains, derive most of their revenue from taxpayer-funded student financial aid, they are of interest to policy makers not only for the role they play in the higher education spectrum but also for the value they provide their students. In this article, David Deming, Claudia Goldin, and Lawrence Katz look at the students who attend for-profits, the reasons they choose these schools, and student outcomes on a number of broad measures and draw several conclusions. First, the authors write, the evidence shows that public community colleges may provide an equal or better education at lower cost than for-profits. But budget pressures mean that community colleges and other nonselective public institutions may not be able to meet the demand for higher education. Some students unable to get into desired courses and programs at public institutions may face only two alternatives: attendance at a for-profit or no postsecondary education at all. Second, for-profits appear to be at their best with well-defined programs of short duration that prepare students for a specific occupation. But for-profit completion rates, default rates, and labor market outcomes for students seeking associate's or higher degrees compare unfavorably with those of public postsecondary institutions. In principle, taxpayer investment in student aid should be accompanied by scrutiny concerning whether students complete their course of study and subsequently earn enough to justify the investment and pay back their student loans. Designing appropriate regulations to help students navigate the market for higher education has proven to be a challenge because of the great variation in student goals and types of programs. Ensuring that potential

A pilot project on non-conventional learning

OpenAIRE

Fernandes, Sara; Cerone, Antonio; Barbosa, L. S.

2013-01-01

This poster presents a pilot project on non-conventional learning strategies based on students’ active participation in real-life FLOSS projects. The aim of the project is to validate the hypothesis that the peer-production model, which underlies most FLOSS projects, can enhance the learning-teaching process based on extensive and systematic collaborative practices.

Technical feasibility of using gallery intakes for seawater RO facilities, northern Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia: The King Abdullah Economic City site

KAUST Repository

Dehwah, Abdullah

2013-02-13

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is dependent on desalination of seawater to provide new water supplies for the future. Desalination is expensive and it is very important to reduce the cost and lower the energy consumption. Most seawater reverse osmosis facilities use open-ocean intakes, which require extensive pretreatment processes to remove particulate and biological materials that cause operating problems such as membrane fouling or shutdown during algal blooms. Subsurface systems, using the concept of riverbank filtration, can be used as intakes. These systems include wells of various designs and galleries that provide natural filtration and biological treatment to improve the quality of feed water before it enters the desalination plant. This reduces operating cost, lowers chemical and energy consumption, and reduces environmental impacts. Technical feasibility of gallery-type intakes, beach and seabed types, for use as intakes to seawater reverse osmosis (RO) facilities was evaluated along the northern Red Sea shoreline of Saudi Arabia. The geological characteristics of the offshore ocean bottom were found to be favorable for the development of seabed gallery systems, but the shoreline geology was not adequate for the development of beach gallery intakes. One of the potentially favorable sites for a seabed gallery system was located in the nearshore area at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). Detailed investigation of the site hydrology (tides and wave action), sediment grain size characteristics, and sediment hydraulic conductivity, and access for construction were assessed. It was determined that seabed gallery development is favorable at the site. Based on the seawater that has a salinity of about 41,000 mg/L and a conversion rate of 40%, a conservatively designed gallery cell with dimensions of 100 by 50 m would produce about 25,000 m3/day of filtered seawater and seven cells (6 primary and 1 standby) could support a 60,000 m3/day (permeate) seawater RO plant

Cultural challenges and essential factors in the implementation of IS in a non-profit organisation in a developing country

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kastrup Nielsen, Sebastian; Svejvig, Per

2013-01-01

collaboration. Cultural dimensions from Hofstede and other researchers are examined to take spe-cific actions to reduce the cultural gap between developed and developing countries. The culture also affects the implementation process, which this paper has found an appropriate solution for. This, together......This paper seeks to describe some of the challenges in the implementation of IS in a non-profit or-ganization in a developing country. When people from developed countries assist in the process of making requirements specification, an understanding of local culture is essential for a successful...

Research on listed bank profit model under the interest rate liberalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geyao Zhu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available With constantly deepening the interest rate liberalization, shrinking the net interest margin and the ever-rising non-performing loan ratio, the traditional commercial banks with the main profit model of credit suffers from a severe challenge. The research significance of this paper lies in helping China’s commercial bank convert management philosophy, developing a new financial business and improving the profit model. Through the empirical research of 80 samples of China’s listed commercial banks: under the condition of interest rate liberalization, the net interest margin is still the current major profit model of the commercial bank, but the intermediate business is the future development model of the commercial banks.

Identifying modes of large whispering-gallery mode resonators from the spectrum and emission pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Schunk, Gerhard; Fürst, Josef U; Förtsch, Michael; Strekalov, Dmitry V; Vogl, Ulrich; Sedlmeir, Florian; Schwefel, Harald G L; Leuchs, Gerd; Marquardt, Christoph

2014-12-15

Identifying the mode numbers in whispering-gallery mode resonators (WGMRs) is important for tailoring them to experimental needs. Here we report on a novel experimental mode analysis technique based on the combination of frequency analysis and far-field imaging for high mode numbers of large WGMRs. The radial mode numbers q and the angular mode numbers p = ℓ-m are identified and labeled via far-field imaging. The polar mode numbers ℓ are determined unambiguously by fitting the frequency differences between individual whispering gallery modes (WGMs). This allows for the accurate determination of the geometry and the refractive index at different temperatures of the WGMR. For future applications in classical and quantum optics, this mode analysis enables one to control the narrow-band phase-matching conditions in nonlinear processes such as second-harmonic generation or parametric down-conversion.

Healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI) and non-profit organization (NPO): essentials for healthcare data exchange.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeda, Hiroshi; Matsumura, Yasushi; Nakagawa, Katsuhiko; Teratani, Tadamasa; Qiyan, Zhang; Kusuoka, Hideo; Matsuoka, Masami

2004-01-01

To share healthcare information and to promote cooperation among healthcare providers and customers (patients) under computerized network environment, a non-profit organization (NPO), named as OCHIS, was established at Osaka, Japan in 2003. Since security and confidentiality issues on the Internet have been major concerns in the OCHIS, the system has been based on healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI), and found that there remained problems to be solved technically and operationally. An experimental study was conducted to elucidate the central and the local function in terms of a registration authority and a time stamp authority by contracting with the Ministry of Economics and Trading Industries in 2003. This paper describes the experimental design with NPO and the results of the study concerning message security and HPKI. The developed system has been operated practically in Osaka urban area.

Factors of U.S. Hospitals Associated with Improved Profit Margins: An Observational Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ly, Dan P; Cutler, David M

2018-02-14

Hospitals face financial pressure from decreased margins from Medicare and Medicaid and lower reimbursement from consolidating insurers. The objectives of this study are to determine whether hospitals that became more profitable increased revenues or decreased costs more and to examine characteristics associated with improved financial performance over time. The design of this study is retrospective analyses of U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals between 2003 and 2013. There are 2824 hospitals as subjects of this study. The main measures of this study are the change in clinical operating margin, change in revenues per bed, and change in expenses per bed between 2003 and 2013. Hospitals that became more profitable had a larger magnitude of increases in revenue per bed (about $113,000 per year [95% confidence interval: $93,132 to $133,401]) than of decreases in costs per bed (about - $10,000 per year [95% confidence interval: - $28,956 to $9617]), largely driven by higher non-Medicare reimbursement. Hospitals that improved their margins were larger or joined a hospital system. Not-for-profit status was associated with increases in operating margin, while rural status and having a larger share of Medicare patients were associated with decreases in operating margin. There was no association between improved hospital profitability and changes in diagnosis related group weight, in number of profitable services, or in payer mix. Hospitals that became more profitable were more likely to increase their admissions per bed per year. Differential price increases have led to improved margins for some hospitals over time. Where significant price increases are not possible, hospitals will have to become more efficient to maintain profitability.

Non-profit organisations and government’s pro-poor spending: the case of health and development in Gauteng

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L B Mzini

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Globally, there is growing recognition of participatory public expenditure management (PPEM. PPEM is seen as the process whereby citizens and civil society organisations participate in the management of public expenditures. The adoption of PPEM is aimed at ensuring greater transparency, better targeting and tracking of resources, and increased overall responsiveness. The Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development (GDHSD is committed to co-operative governance; this includes working with different spheres of government and civil society or non-profit organisations (NPOs. NPOs are required to have a governing committee to manage funds allocated by GDHSD. The committee has the capacity to hold the NPO management accountable for the resources (financial and material entrusted to it by the GDHSD. The effectiveness of NPOs is challenged by poor attendance of board members at meetings, poor understanding of the board’s mandate and responsibilities and lack of experience amongst members. The paradigm of PPEM is still faced with challenges to ensure that significant flows of revenue are accounted for and used effectively for growth and poverty reduction. This study is divided into three components. The first section focuses on the background, the introduction and the conceptual framework. The second part focuses on the empirical study for deriving a benchmark for the South African NPO sector. The third section highlights good practices as well as governance-related challenges. Finally, for further consideration by the GDHSD, a series of recommendations is provided, focusing on how key domestic stakeholders can better contribute to successful participatory budgeting programmes. Keywords: Participatory public expenditure management, non-profit organisations, pro-poor spending, public finance, public financial management, early childhood development.  Disciplines: Public Management and Administration, Public Financial Management

Polish and Silesian Non-Profit Organizations Liquidity Strategies

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Grzegorz Michalski

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The kind of realized mission inflows the sensitivity to risk. Among other factors, the risk results from decision about liquid assets investment level and liquid assets financing. The higher the risk exposure, the higher the level of liquid assets. If the specific risk exposure is smaller, the more aggressive could be the net liquid assets strategy. The organization choosing between various solutions in liquid assets needs to decide what level of risk is acceptable for her owners (or donors and / or capital suppliers. The paper shows how, in authors opinion, decisions, about liquid assets management strategy inflow the risk of the organizations and its economicalresults during realization of main mission. Comparison of theoretical model with empirical data for over 450 Silesian nonprofit organization results suggests that nonprofit organization managing teams choose more risky aggressive liquid assets solutions than for-profit firms.

Aptasensors Based on Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gualtiero Nunzi Conti

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we review the literature on optical evanescent field sensing in resonant cavities where aptamers are used as biochemical receptors. The combined advantages of highly sensitive whispering gallery mode resonator (WGMR-based transducers, and of the unique properties of aptamers make this approach extremely interesting in the medical field, where there is a particularly high need for devices able to provide real time diagnosis for cancer, infectious diseases, or strokes. However, despite the superior performances of aptamers compared to antibodies and WGMR to other evanescent sensors, there is not much literature combining both types of receptors and transducers. Up to now, the WGMR that have been used are silica microspheres and silicon oxynitride (SiON ring resonators.

Impact of facility size and profit status on intermediate outcomes in chronic dialysis patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Frankenfield, D L; Sugarman, J R; Presley, R J; Helgerson, S D; Rocco, M V

2000-08-01

Little information is available regarding the influence of dialysis facility size or profit status on intermediate outcomes in chronic dialysis patients. We have combined data from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) Core Indicators Project; the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facility survey; and the HCFA On-Line Survey, Certification, and Reporting System to analyze trends in this area. For hemodialysis patients, larger facilities were more likely than smaller facilities to perform dialysis on patients who were younger than 65 years of age, black, or undergoing dialysis 2 years or more (P profit units (P reduction ratio, but not with hematocrit or serum albumin values. Facility profit status was not associated with these intermediate outcomes. For peritoneal dialysis patients, there were no significant differences in patient demographics based on facility size. More patients in nonprofit units had been undergoing dialysis 2 or more years than patients in for-profit units (P profit status.

Amazon: Is Profitability a Possibility?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brett DENNIS

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In today’s society, companies seem to all be following the same trend; growth in profitability at all cost. Higher profits, for the most part, leads to more investors and more potential financing. Amazon.com appears to be breaking that trend, however. Their strategy seems to be growth, but not in profits. We would like to look into how and why Amazon is growing at such a fast pace, while their profits are staying steady at a very low level. Is profitability a possibility for Amazon? We believe that a marginal increase in price could accomplish just that, with a minimal impact to consumers.

Artistic Sensibility in the Studio and Gallery Model: Revisiting Process and Product

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Geoffrey

2009-01-01

This paper examines the cultivation of artistic sensibility and its impact on the art therapy process and product in a community mental health center. Artistic sensibility embodies the sense of self as an artist through the integration of artistic and aesthetic attributes of self and other. The formation of a gallery to exhibit patient art was…

Astral nomads: Maslov, Khalfin, Blinova, Dvinyaninov

OpenAIRE

Sorokina, Yuliya

2015-01-01

Tiré du site Internet de Onestar Press: "Editor – Yuliya Sorokina http://astralnomads.net/ project done with the support of: HIVOS, Open Society Foundations – with contribution of the Arts and Culture Program of Budapest, Goethe-Institute Almaty. This book was produced in the context of Art Dubai’s Marker, a curated not-for-profit gallery programme that concentrates each year on a particular theme or geography. (www.artdubai.ae/marker). The 2014 edition of Marker is curated by Slavs and Tatar...

Experiences from a Real-Time Mobile Collaborative Writing System in an Art Gallery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korn, Matthias; Polli, Anna Maria; Klokmose, Clemens Nylandsted

as interfaces to the shared physical space. With a collocated collaborative writing system in the semi-public space of a gallery, we encourage local art discussions and provide a platform for the public to actively participate in interpretations of individual artworks. In this paper, we focus on the experiences...

Profit vs. Purpose

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Strand, Robert

2017-01-01

Money helps us meet our basic needs, but what about our need for meaning? Businesses will profit — not just financially — by finding their souls.......Money helps us meet our basic needs, but what about our need for meaning? Businesses will profit — not just financially — by finding their souls....

Gallery forest restoration by the attainment of carbon credit: a social-environmental proposal for low-income community; Restauracao de mata ciliar pela viabilizacao de credito de carbono: uma proposta socio-ambiental para comunidade de baixa renda

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coelho, Maria Carolina Crisci

2007-07-01

Due to intensification in climate changes by anthropogenic causes, to the recognition of the environmental importance of the Gallery Forest and its intense degradation, this work presents an analysis of the possibilities of carbon credit attainment by low-income community, as part of an incentive program for the restoration of these areas. Two ways are demonstrated: projects of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in the scope of the Kyoto Protocol, that generate credits called certified emission reductions; and projects based on voluntary scheme, that generate voluntary emission reductions. Both are difficult to organize and implement. For example: the eligibility of an area, baseline study, monitoring, non-permanence risks of storage carbon, technical and operational structures, operational and business costs, regulated market in consolidation and guarantee of credit acquisition. Nevertheless, this second market presents greater flexibility and acceptance for the forest projects. The social-environmental benefits of these projects are significant and the valuation of their environmental services can revert in financial incentives for low-income community, since that adequately remunerated. The carbon credit can help in the implementation of these projects, contributing for local restoration of the areas and also for carbon capture by the atmosphere, which this is a global subject. (author)

Marketing strategy of the project My Better Myself

OpenAIRE

Radimský, Martin

2012-01-01

The goal of this bachelor thesis was to create a marketing strategy of a non-profit educational project aimed on Czech highschool students. The strategy is based on the concept of the project My Better Myself. As the main methods to achieve the goals were used the marketing strategy analysis tools such as market research, marketing mix or SWOT analysis, whose use in practice ultimately leads to achieving competitive advantage that is based on the uniqueness and simplicity of the idea of the p...

Comparison of efficiency and profitability of investor-owned multihospital systems with not-for-profit hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Sear, A M

1991-01-01

It is often assumed that investor-owned hospitals are more market driven than are not-for-profit hospitals, and that they will maximize output and minimize inputs, to the exclusion of other management strategies. To resolve the conflicting research evidence, this study analyzed efficiency and profitability measures for approximately 50 investor-owned and 60 not-for-profit hospitals in Florida for the period from 1982 through 1988. The results indicate that the investor-owned hospitals used significantly fewer FTE staff per bed, had significantly fewer manhours per adjusted patient day, and paid significantly less in wages and had significantly higher operating margins (profit) than did the not-for-profit institutions.

The evaluation of radon concentration and working levels using SSNTD in the U-exploration galleries in the eastern desert, Egypt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-hafez, A.I.; Eissa, H.M.; Abdel-Monem, A.A.; Abdel-Razek, Y.A.; El-Naggar, A.M.; El-fiki, S.A.

1996-01-01

Radon gas concentrations and the working levels (radon daughters concentrations) were measured using solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD) namely Cr-39, Mk, Lr 115 and CN 85, in three U-exploration galleries at Qattar-1, El Missikat, and El-Erediya areas, eastern desert, Egypt. In each U-exploration gallery 10 monitoring stations were chosen for measurements. The locations covered the differing intensities of the U-mineralization as well as ventilation conditions. Two sets of measurements were for the time intervals and 50 days). Calibration experiments on the SSNTD were performed using 238 Pu source (6.06/MeV), to find the optimum conditions for etching the detectors. The ranges of alpha track densities (t/mm 2 day) measured for Qattar-1 gallery are 23.7-46.6 (CR-39), 13.4-30.9 (MK), 11.1-22.9 (CN-85) and 8.8-15.4 (LR-115) for 27 day monitoring, whereas the ranges for the 50 days experiment are 8.8-25.8 (CR-39), 8.3-15.4 (MK) and 3.9-8.2 (LR-115). In el Missikat gallery, the alpha track densities ranges are 17.1-128.8 (CR-39), 11.4-73.1 (MK), 8.0-74.4 (CN.85) and 5.7-37.8 (LR-115) for the 27 day interval, whereas the ranges are (CR-39), 6.3-38.0 (MK) and 3.4-21.0 (LR-115) for the 50 days experiments. Alpha tracks densities for El-Erediya gallery ranges are 14.1-39.9 (CR-39), 8.9-20.0 (MK), 7.9-23.1 (CN-85), and 2.7-17.6 (LR-115) for the 27 days experiment. whereas the ranges are 8.5-22.7 (CR-39), 6.4-13.4 (MK), and 2.4-9.3 (LR-115)for the 50 days experiment. Working level measurements are compared with 1 W L equivalent to 16.28 tracks/ mm 2 day. Evaluation of the measurements at each monitoring station is discussed in terms of U-concentration and ventilation conditions. Also, the efficiency of the different SSNTD are discussed as well as the optimum time of monitoring at each U-exploration gallery. 4 figs., 5 tabs

The evaluation of radon concentration and working levels using SSNTD in the U-exploration galleries in the eastern desert, Egypt

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abdel-hafez, A I; Eissa, H M [National Institute of Measurement and Standards, Technology, Cairo (Egypt); Abdel-Monem, A A; Abdel-Razek, Y A; El-Naggar, A M [Nuclear Materials Authority, Cairo (Egypt); El-fiki, S A [Physicsics Dept., Faculty of Sciences, Ain Shams University. Cairo (Egypt)

1997-12-31

Radon gas concentrations and the working levels (radon daughters concentrations) were measured using solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD) namely Cr-39, Mk, Lr 115 and CN 85, in three U-exploration galleries at Qattar-1, El Missikat, and El-Erediya areas, eastern desert, Egypt. In each U-exploration gallery 10 monitoring stations were chosen for measurements. The locations covered the differing intensities of the U-mineralization as well as ventilation conditions. Two sets of measurements were for the time intervals and (50 days). Calibration experiments on the SSNTD were performed using {sup 238} Pu source (6.06/MeV), to find the optimum conditions for etching the detectors. The ranges of alpha track densities (t/mm{sup 2} day) measured for Qattar-1 gallery are 23.7-46.6 (CR-39), 13.4-30.9 (MK), 11.1-22.9 (CN-85) and 8.8-15.4 (LR-115) for 27 day monitoring, whereas the ranges for the 50 days experiment are 8.8-25.8 (CR-39), 8.3-15.4 (MK) and 3.9-8.2 (LR-115). In el Missikat gallery, the alpha track densities ranges are 17.1-128.8 (CR-39), 11.4-73.1 (MK), 8.0-74.4 (CN.85) and 5.7-37.8 (LR-115) for the 27 day interval, whereas the ranges are (CR-39), 6.3-38.0 (MK) and 3.4-21.0 (LR-115) for the 50 days experiments. Alpha tracks densities for El-Erediya gallery ranges are 14.1-39.9 (CR-39), 8.9-20.0 (MK), 7.9-23.1 (CN-85), and 2.7-17.6 (LR-115) for the 27 days experiment. whereas the ranges are 8.5-22.7 (CR-39), 6.4-13.4 (MK), and 2.4-9.3 (LR-115)for the 50 days experiment. Working level measurements are compared with 1 W L equivalent to 16.28 tracks/ mm{sup 2} day. Evaluation of the measurements at each monitoring station is discussed in terms of U-concentration and ventilation conditions. Also, the efficiency of the different SSNTD are discussed as well as the optimum time of monitoring at each U-exploration gallery. 4 figs., 5 tabs.

Profit-shifting from Czech multinational companies to European tax havens

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Janský, Petr; Kokeš, Ondřej

2016-01-01

Roč. 23, č. 16 (2016), s. 1130-1133 ISSN 1350-4851 R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) TD020039; GA ČR GA15-24642S Institutional support: RVO:67985998 Keywords : corporate tax * base erosion * profit-shifting Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 0.478, year: 2016

Precise image-guided irradiation of small animals: a flexible non-profit platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tillner, Falk; Thute, Prasad; Löck, Steffen; Dietrich, Antje; Fursov, Andriy; Haase, Robert; Lukas, Mathias; Krause, Mechthild; Baumann, Michael; Bütof, Rebecca; Enghardt, Wolfgang; Rimarzig, Bernd; Sobiella, Manfred

2016-01-01

Preclinical in vivo studies using small animals are essential to develop new therapeutic options in radiation oncology. Of particular interest are orthotopic tumour models, which better reflect the clinical situation in terms of growth patterns and microenvironmental parameters of the tumour as well as the interplay of tumours with the surrounding normal tissues. Such orthotopic models increase the technical demands and the complexity of preclinical studies as local irradiation with therapeutically relevant doses requires image-guided target localisation and accurate beam application. Moreover, advanced imaging techniques are needed for monitoring treatment outcome. We present a novel small animal image-guided radiation therapy (SAIGRT) system, which allows for precise and accurate, conformal irradiation and x-ray imaging of small animals. High accuracy is achieved by its robust construction, the precise movement of its components and a fast high-resolution flat-panel detector. Field forming and x-ray imaging is accomplished close to the animal resulting in a small penumbra and a high image quality. Feasibility for irradiating orthotopic models has been proven using lung tumour and glioblastoma models in mice. The SAIGRT system provides a flexible, non-profit academic research platform which can be adapted to specific experimental needs and therefore enables systematic preclinical trials in multicentre research networks. (paper)

A policy for development of project management. Projektijuhtimise arendamise poliitika

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arvi Kuura

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The share of temporary tasks and activities organised through projects and/or programmes is increasing in modern societies and also in businesses, non-profit and public organisations. To manage an increasing load of projects and programmes, the majority of organisations employ more skilled project management professionals and develop their project management capabilities. Against that background, most governments globally have not paid much attention to the development of project management. In other words, the project management capability (or maturity has not been a macro-level or policy concern. The article explores the importance of project management capabilities and the need for suitable policies, and outlines a policy for the development of project management

Evaluating Banking Profit Performance in Ghana during and post Profit Decline: A five Step Du-Pont Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baah Aye Kusi

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In this study we aimed at three objectives. First, identify and rank banks based on a composite score comprising of all five du-pont variables. Second, we identify variables in the five step du-pont set up that are most likely to influence bank ROE during and post profit declining periods. And third, we estimate a model to capture the variables that drive bank ROE during and post profit declining periods. We first establish from our rankings that, foreign banks in Ghana performed better during profit declining periods while the local banks performed better in post profit decline periods using the top ten banks as a benchmark in both periods. Employing Pearson correlation coefficients matrix, we recognized that operating profit margin, asset turnover and leverage were most likely to influence bank ROE in both time periods. We further employ OLS regression and find that bank ROE was impacted by operating profit margin and leverage during profit declining periods and post profit decline while tax effect added up in post profit declining periods.

Profit-Sharing – A Tool for Improving Productivity, Profitability and Competitiveness of Firms?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fibirova Jana

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The importance of appropriate utilization of rewards for performance is still growing and therefore this type of rewards can be seen as a significant part of a total rewards package. Companies that are able to appropriately implement rewards for performance may gain competitive advantage over their competitors, but successful implementation requires a good knowledge of these rewards. The main aim of this paper is to contribute to the growth of this knowledge by identifying possible positive and negative impacts of profit-sharing on various areas that are important for the performance of a company, nevertheless, addressed are also macroeconomic consequences of profit-sharing. Furthermore, a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the relevant literature is provided, under-researched areas are identified and suggestions for further research are given. To accomplish these goals, we applied methods of bibliometric analysis to the articles indexed in ISI Web of Knowledge to identify the most important articles, authors and topics. According to our findings, the majority of studies report a neutral or positive impact of profit-sharing on productivity and profitability. This impact may be achieved by direct influence of profit-sharing on productivity of employees (due to the dependence of their pay on profit, but it seems that yet more important are various mediating mechanisms, especially effects on employment stability, absenteeism, quits and related issues, as well as effects on attitudes of employees and on relationships between employees. We argue that a well-designed profit-sharing plan is crucial for its success, but it is a relatively under-researched problem.

Software project estimation the fundamentals for providing high quality information to decision makers

CERN Document Server

Abran, Alain

2015-01-01

Software projects are often late and over-budget and this leads to major problems for software customers. Clearly, there is a serious issue in estimating a realistic, software project budget. Furthermore, generic estimation models cannot be trusted to provide credible estimates for projects as complex as software projects. This book presents a number of examples using data collected over the years from various organizations building software. It also presents an overview of the non-for-profit organization, which collects data on software projects, the International Software Benchmarking Stan

Windfalls and other profits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbruggen, Aviel

2008-01-01

'Windfall profits' again is a popular term, but mostly the term is used inappropriately. This short article discusses why, and proposes a more complete taxonomy of profits. There exists little ground and need for policy to act against genuine windfalls, while the contrary holds for other excessive earnings. Very few windfalls, freely fallen down from winds in the sky, occur after observed excessive profits are stripped from deliberate man-made interventions. That is why clear identification and correct language are needed

Fra Bartolomeo della Porta detto Fra Bartolomeo, Adorazione del Bambino, National Gallery, London

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fischer, Chris

2014-01-01

En artikel om et maleri af Fra Bartolomeo i National Gallery i London udlånt til en udstilling i Museo Tosio Martinengo I Brescia i forbindelse med opdagelsen af et fuldstændigt overensstemmende maleri i dette museums magasiner. Hypotesen var at Bresciabilledet var et værkstedsarbejde lavet på ba...

Vague project start makes project success of outsourced software development projects uncertain

OpenAIRE

Savolainen, Paula

2010-01-01

peer-reviewed A definition of a project success includes at least three criteria: 1) meeting planning goals, 2) customer benefits, and 3) supplier benefits. This study aims to point out the importance of the definition of the project start, the project start date, and what work should be included in the project effort in order to ensure the supplier's benefits. The ambiguity of the project start risks the profitability of the project and therefore makes project success at least from suppli...

Light-controlled microwave whispering-gallery-mode quasi-optical resonators at 50W LED array illumination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. B. Yurchenko

2015-08-01

Full Text Available We present experimental observations of light-controlled resonance effects in microwave whispering-gallery-mode quasi-optical dielectric-semiconductor disk resonators in the frequency band of 5 GHz to 20 GHz arising due to illumination from a light emitting diode (LED of 50W power range. We obtain huge enhancement of photo-sensitivity (growing with the resonator Q-factor that makes light-microwave interaction observable with an ordinary light (no laser at conventional brightness (like an office lighting in quasi-optical microwave structures at rather long (centimeter-scale wavelength. We also demonstrate non-conventional photo-response of Fano resonances when the light suppresses one group of resonances and enhances another group. The effects could be used for the optical control and quasi-optical switching of microwave propagation through either one or another frequency channel.

Profitables Food & Beverage Management

OpenAIRE

Studer, Adrian; Blatter, Martin; Glenz-Mounir, Chantal

2008-01-01

Die Diplomarbeit befasst sich mit dem Thema „Profitables Food & Beverage Management“, es geht darum, wie Restaurationsstätten, Beherbergungsbetriebe und Campingbetreiber ihren Umsatz innerhalb kürzester Zeit um 6 bis 8 % und den Gewinn um 8 bis 10 % steigern können. Grundlage für die Diplomarbeit ist das Buch „Profitables Food & Beverage Management“ von Urs Schaffer1 und die angebotenen Kurse von ritzy*2. Mit dem Buch und dem Module Profit Management auf dem ritzycampus3 haben die Wirte, Hote...

Electrical resistivity tomography survey for delineating uncharted mine galleries in West Bengal, India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maillol, J.M.; Sen, N.

1999-01-01

The history of subsidence, fires, flooding and other kinds of environmental hazards related to shallow coal workings in India goes back to colonial times some 300 years ago. As coal production accelerated in modern times, so did the environmental and socio-economic drawbacks related to exploitation. In the mid-1980s, a hydropneumatic sand-stowing method was developed to fill in abandoned galleries but their exact location had to be known. Unfortunately, most of these old workings are uncharted and consequently large tracts of land cannot be stabilized. A research program making use of integrated surface, borehole and cross-hole geophysical methods was undertaken over a five-year span to try to solve this problem. Surface geophysical methods, being cheaper and faster than their cross- and downhole counterparts, were used to cover larger areas on an exploratory basis, while cross-hole methods were employed to locate more accurately one or a network of galleries to be perforated by drillhole(s) and used as a conduit for sand stowing. The authors report the results of one of the cross-hole geophysical methods: electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). A pole-dipole configuration is used and both cross-hole and surface-borehole methodologies are tested. Forward modelling and inversion of synthetic data making use of downhole and surface physical and geometrical parameters are presented first. This phase is followed by the inversion of real data. It is concluded that ERT is not applicable for the detection of dry voids, but is effective in a waterlogged environment which is estimated to represent 85--90% of the cases. In waterlogged galleries, ERT is applicable in both cross-hole and surface-downhole modes, the latter allowing a larger surface coverage at low cost. ERT is thus a reliable geophysical tool to image water-filled voids and an adequate technique to address environmental and geotechnical problems

Identifying modes of large whispering-gallery mode resonators from the spectrum and emission pattern

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schunk, Gerhard; Fuerst, Josef U.; Förtsch, Michael

2014-01-01

Identifying the mode numbers in whispering-gallery mode resonators (WGMRs) is important for tailoring them to experimental needs. Here we report on a novel experimental mode analysis technique based on the combination of frequency analysis and far-field imaging for high mode numbers of large WGMR...

Factors influencing the profitability of optimizing control systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broussaud, A.; Guyot, O.

1999-01-01

Optimizing control systems supplement conventional Distributed Control Systems and Programmable Logic Controllers. They continuously implement set points, which aim at maximizing the profitability of plant operation. They are becoming an integral part of modern mineral processing plants. This trend is justified by economic considerations, optimizing control being among the most cost-effective methods of improving metallurgical plant performance. The paper successively analyzes three sets of factors, which influence the profitability of optimizing control systems, and provides guidelines for analyzing the potential value of an optimizing control system at a given operation: external factors, such as economic factors and factors related to plant feed; features of the optimizing control system; and subsequent maintenance of the optimizing control system. It is shown that pay back times for optimization control projects are typically measured in days. The OCS software used by the authors for their applications is described briefly. (author)

How to use The National Gallery as a cross curricular approach to weather and climate studies at primary level.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, P. J. K.

2009-09-01

How to use The National Gallery as a cross curricular approach to weather and climate studies at primary level. Pål J. Kirkeby Hansen Faculty of Education and International Studies, Oslo University College (PalKirkeby.Hansen@lui.hio.no) Weather and climate are topics in natural science and geography in primary and secondary education in most countries. The pupils are often doing own weather observations and measurements and are presenting the results oral, by posters or with digital aids. They also use the Internet with all its relevant resources in their studies to develop vocabulary, practical and conceptual knowledge. Knowledge about weather and climate is parts of liberal education and could be projected to other topics in science and to topics in other subjects, for instance: history, social geography, literature and arts. This article reports from a case study in grade 3 classes (age 9 year) during their Weather Week. Their science teacher was, quite untypical, also educated in art history. She arranged a visited to The National Gallery with the double agenda: 1. To introduce the pupils to Norwegian canon paintings from the national romantic period, our so-called "golden age”. 2. To look for and discuss weather elements in this paintings. For one hour the museum curator guided the pupils around the water cycle by using the paintings. While the pupils' own observations of weather, clouds and wind and measurements of temperature and precipitation during the Weather Week only are point checks, the guided tour in The National Gallery gave literally "the whole picture” of the Norwegian weather and climate and of the water cycle. During the tour, the curator constantly invited the pupils to tell about and discuss what weather and water elements they were looking at when standing in front of a painting. The pupils were responsive and interested all the time. Back at school, they demonstrated that they had learned much about both weather elements, the water

Quantum-dot-based integrated non-linear sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bernard, Alice; Mariani, Silvia; Andronico, Alessio

2015-01-01

The authors report on the design and the preliminary characterisation of two active non-linear sources in the terahertz and near-infrared range. The former is associated to difference-frequency generation between whispering gallery modes of an AlGaAs microring resonator, whereas the latter...

Profitability primer: a guide to profitability analysis in the electric power industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woo, C.K.; Lloyd-Zannetti, D.; Martin, J.; Price, S.

1996-06-01

As the electric power industry is opened to forces of competition, increased attention must be focused to develop products and services that deliver good value to customers and to identify customer segments that are profitable to serve. This primer introduces the concept of profitability analysis and its application to the electric power industry. The primer recognizes that some segments of the business will remain monopolistic and subject to regulations, while other segments will become competitive. The primer also recognizes that customer profitability is critically dependent on a host of related issues such as how internal costs are allocated to various functions and how revenues are collected and allocated

Benefit–cost analysis of non-marginal climate and energy projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dietz, Simon; Hepburn, Cameron

2013-01-01

Conventional benefit–cost analysis incorporates the normally reasonable assumption that the policy or project under examination is marginal. Among the assumptions this entails is that the policy or project is small, so the underlying growth rate of the economy does not change. However, this assumption may be inappropriate in some important circumstances, including in climate-change and energy policy. One example is global targets for carbon emissions, while another is a large renewable energy project in a small economy, such as a hydropower dam. This paper develops some theory on the evaluation of non-marginal projects, with empirical applications to climate change and energy. We examine the conditions under which evaluation of a non-marginal project using marginal methods may be wrong, and in our empirical examples we show that both qualitative and large quantitative errors are plausible. - Highlights: • This paper develops the theory of the evaluation of non-marginal projects. • It also includes empirical applications to climate change and energy. • We show when evaluation of a non-marginal project using marginal methods is wrong

ProfitFruit: Decision Support System for Evaluation of Investments in Fruit Production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofs, P.F.M.M.; Groot, M.J.

2012-01-01

Innovative techniques were developed in the Isafruit project in order to create a more ecological sustainable way of fruit growing. Before fruit growers will consider implementation of these innovations they need information concerning their economic sustainability. The economic model ProfitFruit is

Adults Experiencing Homelessness in the US–Mexico Border Region: A Photovoice Project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Margarita Moya

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Homelessness is a social, economic, and political crisis in the United States. In particular, the US–Mexico Border region has seen a surge of homelessness, specifically among veterans, women victims of intimate partner violence, and immigrants. In 2014, 12 persons in El Paso, TX, with experience of being homeless used the photovoice methodology to participate in a project titled, “The Voices and Images of the Residents of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless: A Visual Project on the Identity and Challenges Homeless Adults Face on the Border Region.” The project was led by faculty from the Department of Social Work and facilitated by graduate students from the Departments of Social Work, Sociology, and Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso. In partnership with the Opportunity Center for the Homeless, a community-based organization, a gallery of photographs with respective narratives was produced along with a video documentary. The participants identified four themes: broken systems, invisibility, opportunities and what works, and growth and determination. These themes represent participants’ life experiences with homelessness and their aspirations. In addition to the photo gallery, participants supported the development of a Call to Action asking the community, policy, and decision makers to commit to changing the current social, economic, and political conditions affecting individuals experiencing homelessness. The gallery, Call to Action, and overall participant experiences with photovoice were shared during local, regional, and national conferences and events, including three State of the Homeless Conferences led by the Opportunity Center for the Homeless in partnership with the university.

Adults Experiencing Homelessness in the US–Mexico Border Region: A Photovoice Project

Science.gov (United States)

Moya, Eva Margarita; Chavez-Baray, Silvia M.; Loweree, Jacqueline; Mattera, Brian; Martinez, Nahomi

2017-01-01

Homelessness is a social, economic, and political crisis in the United States. In particular, the US–Mexico Border region has seen a surge of homelessness, specifically among veterans, women victims of intimate partner violence, and immigrants. In 2014, 12 persons in El Paso, TX, with experience of being homeless used the photovoice methodology to participate in a project titled, “The Voices and Images of the Residents of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless: A Visual Project on the Identity and Challenges Homeless Adults Face on the Border Region.” The project was led by faculty from the Department of Social Work and facilitated by graduate students from the Departments of Social Work, Sociology, and Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso. In partnership with the Opportunity Center for the Homeless, a community-based organization, a gallery of photographs with respective narratives was produced along with a video documentary. The participants identified four themes: broken systems, invisibility, opportunities and what works, and growth and determination. These themes represent participants’ life experiences with homelessness and their aspirations. In addition to the photo gallery, participants supported the development of a Call to Action asking the community, policy, and decision makers to commit to changing the current social, economic, and political conditions affecting individuals experiencing homelessness. The gallery, Call to Action, and overall participant experiences with photovoice were shared during local, regional, and national conferences and events, including three State of the Homeless Conferences led by the Opportunity Center for the Homeless in partnership with the university. PMID:28580355

Measuring Customer Profitability in Complex Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Morten; Kumar, V.; Rohde, Carsten

2012-01-01

Customer profitability measurement is an important element in customer relationship management and a lever for enhanced marketing accountability. Two distinct measurement approaches have emerged in the marketing literature: Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Customer Profitability Analysis (CPA...... propositions. Additionally, the framework provides design and implementation guidance for managers seeking to implement customer profitability measurement models for resource allocation purposes....... that the degree of sophistication deployed when implementing customer profitability measurement models is determined by the type of complexity encountered in firms’ customer environments. This gives rise to a contingency framework for customer profitability measurement model selection and five research...

Profitability analysis in the hospital industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Cleverley, W O

1978-01-01

Measures of marginal profit are derived for the two payment classes--cost payers and charge payers--that the hospital industry must consider in profitability analysis, i.e., prediction of the excess of revenue over expenses. Two indexes of profitability, use when payment mix is constant and when it is nonconstant, respectively, are derived from the two marginal profit measures, and one of them is shown to be a modification of the contribution margin, the conventional measure of profitability used in general industry. All three measures--the contribution margin and the two new indexes of profitability--are used to estimate changes in net income resulting from changes in patient volume with and without accompanying changes in payment mix. The conventional measure yields large overestimates of expected excess revenue. PMID:632101

The Strategic Involvement of Stakeholders in the Efficiency of Non-Profit Sport Organisations: From a Perspective of Survival to Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dina Alexandra Marques Miragaia

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to analyse the efficiency of non-profit sports clubs and identify the perceptions of their directors with regards to the stakeholders that exert the greatest influence over club efficiency levels. In order to analyse the efficiency of these clubs, we made recourse to the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA method. We also applied the Mann-Whitney test, to identify whether there are significant differences between efficient and non-efficient clubs with regards to the influence held by their stakeholders. We thus report that the majority of clubs operate efficiently. Both the efficient and the non-efficient clubs classify the club managers, members, sponsors, fans and athletes as the most important stakeholders to their efficiency levels. The results convey how there are no significant differences among the management team perceptions on the role of stakeholders in attaining club efficiency. The study also details the respective procedures that inefficient clubs should adopt in order to approximate the efficiency frontier.

Integrated optics nano-opto-fluidic sensor based on whispering gallery modes for picoliter volume refractometry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gilardi, G.; Beccherelli, R.

2013-01-01

We propose and numerically investigate an integrated optics refractometric nano-opto-fluidic sensor based on whispering gallery modes in sapphire microspheres. A measurand fluid is injected in a micromachined reservoir defined in between the microsphere and an optical waveguide. The wavelength shift

Microwave photonics systems based on whispering-gallery-mode resonators.

Science.gov (United States)

Coillet, Aurélien; Henriet, Rémi; Phan Huy, Kien; Jacquot, Maxime; Furfaro, Luca; Balakireva, Irina; Larger, Laurent; Chembo, Yanne K

2013-08-05

Microwave photonics systems rely fundamentally on the interaction between microwave and optical signals. These systems are extremely promising for various areas of technology and applied science, such as aerospace and communication engineering, sensing, metrology, nonlinear photonics, and quantum optics. In this article, we present the principal techniques used in our lab to build microwave photonics systems based on ultra-high Q whispering gallery mode resonators. First detailed in this article is the protocol for resonator polishing, which is based on a grind-and-polish technique close to the ones used to polish optical components such as lenses or telescope mirrors. Then, a white light interferometric profilometer measures surface roughness, which is a key parameter to characterize the quality of the polishing. In order to launch light in the resonator, a tapered silica fiber with diameter in the micrometer range is used. To reach such small diameters, we adopt the "flame-brushing" technique, using simultaneously computer-controlled motors to pull the fiber apart, and a blowtorch to heat the fiber area to be tapered. The resonator and the tapered fiber are later approached to one another to visualize the resonance signal of the whispering gallery modes using a wavelength-scanning laser. By increasing the optical power in the resonator, nonlinear phenomena are triggered until the formation of a Kerr optical frequency comb is observed with a spectrum made of equidistant spectral lines. These Kerr comb spectra have exceptional characteristics that are suitable for several applications in science and technology. We consider the application related to ultra-stable microwave frequency synthesis and demonstrate the generation of a Kerr comb with GHz intermodal frequency.

Non-Profit Ecological Organizations in the Function of the Realization of the Right to Freedom of Association and the Development of Civil Environmental Liability in Kazakhstan

Science.gov (United States)

Aitimov, Bolat Zh.; Dussipov, Erkin Sh.; Altynbekkyzy, Alua; Ashimova, Dinara I.; Nurbek, Dana T.; Urazymbetov, Talgat E.

2016-01-01

Environmental issues have become a central issue, which is considered not only at the state level, but also in the international arena. At the moment the main initiators of drawing attention to the environment are the environmental non-profit organizations. In developed countries, these organizations provide full support to the government and…

The Impact of Revenue Diversification on Bank Profitability and Stability: Empirical Evidence from South Asian Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shoaib Nisar

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This paper is a contribution to the ongoing debate on the benefits and drawbacks of bank revenue diversification. Revenue diversification may benefit banks if diversified activities are inherently less risky and possess high returns, while it may hurt banks if diversified activities are more risky and have low returns. Analyzing a panel dataset of 200 commercial banks from all South Asian countries, we found that overall revenue diversification into non-interest income has a positive impact on the profitability and stability of South Asian commercial banks. We further observed that different types of non-interest income-generating activities have different impacts on bank performance and stability. While fees and commission incomes have a negative impact on the profitability and stability of South Asian commercial banks, other non-interest income has a positive impact. Our results imply that banks can benefit from revenue diversification if they diversify into specific types of non-interest income-generating activities. Our findings are robust and relevant to the use of alternative measures of revenue diversification, profitability and stability.

Host country attractiveness for CDM non-sink projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Martina

2006-01-01

In the present study, CDM host countries are classified according to their attractiveness for CDM non-sink projects by using cluster analysis. The attractiveness of host countries for CDM non-sink projects is described by three indicators: mitigation potential, institutional CDM capacity and general investment climate. The results suggest that only a small proportion of potential host countries will attract most of the CDM investment. The CDM (non-sink) stars are China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia and Thailand. They are followed by attractive countries like Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Mongolia, Panama, and Chile. While most of the promising CDM host countries are located in Latin America and Asia, the general attractiveness of African host countries is relatively low (with the exception of South Africa). Policy implications of this rather inequitable geographical distribution of CDM project activities are discussed briefly

La maximisation du taux de profit

OpenAIRE

De Mesnard, Louis

1991-01-01

On the traditional micro-economic theory, firms are supposed to maximise pure profit. We study what happened when we take into consideration shareholders and the financial profit remunerating the financial capital. We show that it is necessary to surrender the financial profit maximisation to use the rate of financial profit maximisation. The cases of concurrence with fix coefficient of capital, monopoly with fix coefficient of capital, monopoly with variable coefficient of capital are studie...

Directional interacting whispering-gallery modes in coupled dielectric microdisks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryu, Jung-Wan; Lee, Soo-Young; Kim, Chil-Min; Park, Young-Jai

2006-01-01

We study the optical interaction in a coupled dielectric microdisks by investigating the splitting of resonance positions of interacting whispering-gallery modes (WGM's) and their pattern change, depending on the distance between the microdisks. It is shown that the interaction between the WGM's with odd parity about the y axis becomes appreciable at a distance less than a wavelength and causes directional emissions of the resulting interacting WGM's. The directionality of the interacting WGM's can be understood in terms of an effective boundary deformation in ray dynamical analysis. We also discuss the oscillation of the splitting when the distance is greater than a wavelength

Powering Profits. Profits, Investments and Fuel Type Mixes in the Dutch Power Sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilde-Ramsing, J.; Steinweg, T.

2007-06-01

This report addresses the Dutch power sector, identifying the major corporate players in the market, types of fuel used to generate electricity, the profits being made, and investments in both renewable and non-renewable generation capacity. For the purposes of this report, the power sector is understood to encompass production (i.e. generation) and supply of electricity. Some discussion and figures on heat and gas, which are also essential energy services, are provided, but the focus is primarily on electricity. Section 2 of the report provides an overview of the Dutch power sector, breaking the market down into production and supply. Major players, markets shares, and recent trends and developments are given for each of these activities. Sections 3 - 7 go into detail on the five major corporate players active in the Dutch power sector: ENECO, Essent, Nuon, Electrabel, and E.ON Energie. For each company, information is provided on profits and earnings, the fuel mix used to generate and supply electricity, the CO2 emissions associated with these activities, installed capacity in the Netherlands, and recent investments in renewable and non-renewable generation capacity in the Netherlands. For the Dutch companies, ENECO, Essent and Nuon, additional information on the ownership structure of the company, shareholders and dividends paid and received is given. A section on RWE (Section 8) is also included in the study because, although RWE is not currently active in generating electricity in the Netherlands, RWE Energy does currently supply electricity generated by producers in the Netherlands. In addition, RWE Power is currently planning to invest significantly in power generation capacity in the Netherlands. The final section of the report compares the companies activities in the Netherlands and draws conclusions based on the companies' respective performance

Personnel Policy and Profit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bingley, Paul; Westergård-Nielsen, Niels Chr.

2004-01-01

personnel structure variation. It is found that personnel policy is strongly related to economic performance. At the margin, more hires are associated with lower profit, and more separations with higher profit. For the average firm, one new job, all else equal, is associated with ?2680 (2000 prices) lower...

Combining purpose with profits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Birkinshaw, J.; Foss, N.J.; Lindenberg, S.M.

2014-01-01

Is it possible for a company to strive for a higher purpose while also delivering solid profits? Some have argued that pursuing goals other than making money means, by definition, spending on things that aren't profit-maximizing. Others have countered that by investing in worthwhile causes the

Frequency tuning of single photons from a whispering-gallery mode resonator to MHz-wide transitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schunk, G.; Vogl, U.; Sedlmeir, F.

2016-01-01

photons, which is based on parametric down-conversion in a triply resonant whispering-gallery mode resonator, with alkaline transitions [Schunk et al., Optica 2015, 2, 773]. In this paper, we analyse our source in terms of phase matching, available wavelength-tuning mechanisms and applications...

The effects of the returning behaviour in the profitability of customers within fashion e-commerce

OpenAIRE

Hevia Saenz de Miera, Lluc

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore how the experience that customers gain by means of their purchasing and returning behaviour affects their profitability for the e-commerce fashion company. More specifically, how the profit per order or per period of time that this customers represent varies, depending on his previous experience. Method: The methodology followed for the present project combined the development of an algorithm to process the available raw data with a case st...

Determinants of Commercial Banks' Profitability in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Trofimov, Ivan D.; Md. Aris, Nazaria; Ying Ying, Jovena Kho

2018-01-01

This study aims to examine the relationship between non-performing loans (NPLs) and commercial banks' performance in Malaysia, alongside other factors. It considers the effect of NPLs, cost efficiency and bank size on commercial banks' profitability by using panel data regression (Pooled OLS model), covering the period of 2010-2015. The findings of the study show that NPLs and cost efficiency have a significant negative relationship with commercial banks' performances in Malaysia. On the othe...

Development of an activity-based costing model to evaluate physician office practice profitability.

Science.gov (United States)

Dugel, Pravin U; Tong, Kuo Bianchini

2011-01-01

Newer treatment regimens for age-related macular degeneration have significantly affected traditional and non-traditional retinal services across all types of practice settings around the country as they seek to find a balance among delivering best patient care, keeping operating costs under control, and maintaining profitability. A systematic retrospective review of a multi-city, multi-physician retinal practice's accounting system to obtain data on revenues, expenses, and profit. Data reviewed were from practice management systems to obtain claims level data on clinical procedures across 7 primary activity centers: non-laser surgery, laser surgery, office visits, optical coherence tomography (OCT), non-OCT diagnostics, drugs and drug injections, and research. All treated patients from a retina practice from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2007. Retrospective claims data review from a multi-physician retina practice detailing Current Procedural Terminology and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System procedures performed and billed, submitted charges, allowed charges, and net collections. Analyses were performed by an outside firm and verified by a risk advisory firm. Identifying practice efficiencies/inefficiencies as they relate to patient care. An elaborate analysis using activity-based costing (ABC) showed that increased office visits and OCT and non-OCT diagnostics had a significant negative impact on the practice's profit margins, whereas surgical procedures contributed to the majority of the practice's profit margins because of the lower operating costs associated with surgery. The practice was able to accommodate the demand in patient volume, medical retina services, and medical imaging with the advent of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy and realized a seismic shift in operating costs. The practice attempted to deliver state-of-the-art patient care in a cost-effective manner, yet underwent a significant decline in its financial health

Walk, Look, Remember: The Influence of the Gallery's Spatial Layout on Human Memory for an Art Exhibition.

Science.gov (United States)

Krukar, Jakub

2014-09-01

The spatial organisation of museums and its influence on the visitor experience has been the subject of numerous studies. Previous research, despite reporting some actual behavioural correlates, rarely had the possibility to investigate the cognitive processes of the art viewers. In the museum context, where spatial layout is one of the most powerful curatorial tools available, attention and memory can be measured as a means of establishing whether or not the gallery fulfils its function as a space for contemplating art. In this exploratory experiment, 32 participants split into two groups explored an experimental, non-public exhibition and completed two unanticipated memory tests afterwards. The results show that some spatial characteristics of an exhibition can inhibit the recall of pictures and shift the focus to perceptual salience of the artworks.

Profitability analysis of KINGLONG nearly 5 years

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Mei; Wen, Jinghua

2017-08-01

Profitability analysis for measuring business performance and forecast its prospects play an important role. In this paper, the research instance King Long Motor in understanding the basic theory on the basis of financial management, to take a combination of theory and data analysis methods, combined with a measure of profitability related indicators of King Long Motor company’s profitability do a specific analysis to identify factors constraining the profitability of Kinglong company exists and the motivation to improve profitability, which made recommendations to improve the profitability of Kinglong car company to promote the company’s future can be better and faster development.)

An ethical justification of profit maximization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koch, Carsten Allan

2010-01-01

In much of the literature on business ethics and corporate social responsibility, it is more or less taken for granted that attempts to maximize profits are inherently unethical. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether an ethical argument can be given in support of profit maximizing...... behaviour. It is argued that some form of consequential ethics must be applied, and that both profit seeking and profit maximization can be defended from a rule-consequential point of view. It is noted, however, that the result does not apply unconditionally, but requires that certain form of profit (and...... utility) maximizing actions are ruled out, e.g., by behavioural norms or formal institutions....

Feasibility of Gallery Intake Systems for Seawater Reverse Osmosis Facilities along the Northern Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia

KAUST Repository

Dehwah, Abdullah

2012-03-01

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is dependent on desalination of seawater to provide new water supplies for the future. Desalination is expensive and it is very important to reduce the cost and lower the energy consumption. Most seawater reverse osmosis facilities use open-ocean intakes, which require extensive pre-treatment processes to remove particulate and biological materials that cause operating problems. An alternative intake is the subsurface system which utilizes the concept of riverbank filtration using wells or galleries and provides natural filtration to improve the quality of feedwater before it enters the desalination plant. This reduces operating cost and lowers energy consumption. Research was focused on evaluating gallery-type intakes (beach and seabed galleries) that could be used along the Northern Red Sea shoreline to provide a better quality feedwater for desalination. The geological characteristics of the visited sites were favorable for the development of seabed filter systems (offshore), but not for beach gallery intakes. The low wave energy along the shoreline and the presence of mud or rocky coasts made beach galleries infeasible. One of the potentially favorable sites for a seabed filter was located in the nearshore area at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). This site has a predominantly sandy offshore bottom with shallow water depths, and a low tide range. In addition, the bottom is always covered with water and contains soft limestone unit below the sand mantle that could be easy excavated to facilitate the construction of a seabed filter. About 50 sediment samples were collected from the site and laboratory measurements were performed on them. Grain size distribution, porosity and hydraulic conductivity measurements were performed on the sediment samples. In addition, six statistical methods were used to estimate the hydraulic conductivity values. Based on results of lab measurements, field observations, tide ranges and sediment types, it

Thermal simulation of drift emplacement. Geotechnical and geophysical investigations in and around backfilled galleries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneefub, J.U.; Gommlich, G.E.

1988-01-01

The concept for the direct disposal of spent fuel in rock salt foresees the emplacement of large waste canisters on the floor of a disposal gallery. Subsequent to emplacement the drift is backfilled with salt grit. In a demonstration test six cylindrical containments are to be emplaced within distances of 3 m from each other in two parallel galleries of 14 m 2 , separated by a pillar of 10 m thickness. They will be heated up by a power output of approx. 1 kW/m to 200 degree C surface temperature by electrical heaters. The thermal and mechanical response of the salt rock and the backfilling to the artificial heating is to be investigated as follows: (1) measurement of the temperature field at the contained surface, in the backfill and in the rock salt; (2) deformation measurements of the salt rock around the heated drifts; (3) measurements of tunnel convergence in heated and unheated sections; (4) compaction measurements of the backfilling in heated and unheated areas; (5) measurement of rock stresses in areas very close to the galleries; and (6) pressure measurements in the backfilling, between backfilling and rock, and between backfilling and containers. The rock burst monitoring system of the Asse salt mine will be expanded to this special field of the mine to detect seismic events due to thermomechanical effects. Another seismoacoustic system will be installed to observe the compaction of the backfilling. This system must be calibrated for the relation between the density and velocities of seismic waves. It is planned to monitor the density by gamma-gamma log measurements. The changes in overall density during the entire experiment will be observed by gravimeter measurements of high precision

The Art Gallery Test: A Preliminary Comparison between Traditional Neuropsychological and Ecological VR-Based Tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Gamito

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Ecological validity should be the cornerstone of any assessment of cognitive functioning. For this purpose, we have developed a preliminary study to test the Art Gallery Test (AGT as an alternative to traditional neuropsychological testing. The AGT involves three visual search subtests displayed in a virtual reality (VR art gallery, designed to assess visual attention within an ecologically valid setting. To evaluate the relation between AGT and standard neuropsychological assessment scales, data were collected on a normative sample of healthy adults (n = 30. The measures consisted of concurrent paper-and-pencil neuropsychological measures [Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA, Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB, and Color Trails Test (CTT] along with the outcomes from the three subtests of the AGT. The results showed significant correlations between the AGT subtests describing different visual search exercises strategies with global and specific cognitive measures. Comparative visual search was associated with attention and cognitive flexibility (CTT; whereas visual searches involving pictograms correlated with global cognitive function (MoCA.

All-polymer photonic sensing platform based on whispering-gallery mode microgoblet lasers

OpenAIRE

Wienhold, T.; Kraemmer, S.; Wondimu, S.F.; Siegle, T.; Bog, U.; Weinzierl, U.; Schmidt, S.; Becker, H.; Kalt, H.; Mappes, T.; Koeber, S.; Koos, C.

2015-01-01

We present an all-polymer photonic sensing platform based on whispering-gallery mode microgoblet lasers integrated into a microfluidic chip. The chip is entirely made from polymers, enabling the use of the devices as low-cost disposables. The microgoblet cavities feature quality factors exceeding 105 and are fabricated from poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) using spin-coating, mask-based optical lithography, wet chemical etching, and thermal reflow. In contrast to silica-based microtoroid reso...

Optothermal transport behavior in whispering gallery mode optical cavities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soltani, Soheil [Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089 (United States); Armani, Andrea M., E-mail: armani@usc.edu [Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089 (United States); Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089 (United States)

2014-08-04

Over the past century, whispering gallery mode optical cavities have enabled numerous advances in science and engineering, such as discoveries in quantum mechanics and non-linear optics, as well as the development of optical gyroscopes and add drop filters. One reason for their widespread appeal is their ability to confine light for long periods of time, resulting in high circulating intensities. However, when sufficiently large amounts of optical power are coupled into these cavities, they begin to experience optothermal or photothermal behavior, in which the optical energy is converted into heat. Above the optothermal threshold, the resonance behavior is no longer solely defined by electromagnetics. Previous work has primarily focused on the role of the optothermal coefficient of the material in this instability. However, the physics of this optothermal behavior is significantly more complex. In the present work, we develop a predictive theory based on a generalizable analytical expression in combination with a geometry-specific COMSOL Multiphysics finite element method model. The simulation couples the optical and thermal physics components, accounting for geometry variations as well as the temporal and spatial profile of the optical field. To experimentally verify our theoretical model, the optothermal thresholds of a series of silica toroidal resonant cavities are characterized at different wavelengths (visible through near-infrared) and using different device geometries. The silica toroid offers a particularly rigorous case study for the developed optothermal model because of its complex geometrical structure which provides multiple thermal transport paths.

Profitability and occupational injuries in U.S. underground coal mines.

Science.gov (United States)

Asfaw, Abay; Mark, Christopher; Pana-Cryan, Regina

2013-01-01

Coal plays a crucial role in the U.S. economy yet underground coal mining continues to be one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. In addition, there are large variations in both profitability and the incidence of occupational injuries across mines. The objective of this study was to examine the association between profitability and the incidence rate of occupational injuries in U.S. underground coal mines between 1992 and 2008. We used mine-specific data on annual hours worked, geographic location, and the number of occupational injuries suffered annually from the employment and accident/injury databases of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and mine-specific data on annual revenue from coal sales, mine age, workforce union status, and mining method from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A total of 5669 mine-year observations (number of mines×number of years) were included in our analysis. We used a negative binomial random effects model that was appropriate for analyzing panel (combined time-series and cross-sectional) injury data that were non-negative and discrete. The dependent variable, occupational injury, was measured in three different and non-mutually exclusive ways: all reported fatal and nonfatal injuries, reported nonfatal injuries with lost workdays, and the 'most serious' (i.e. sum of fatal and serious nonfatal) injuries reported. The total number of hours worked in each mine and year examined was used as an exposure variable. Profitability, the main explanatory variable, was approximated by revenue per hour worked. Our model included mine age, workforce union status, mining method, and geographic location as additional control variables. After controlling for other variables, a 10% increase in real total revenue per hour worked was associated with 0.9%, 1.1%, and 1.6% decrease, respectively, in the incidence rates of all reported injuries, reported injuries with lost workdays, and the most serious injuries reported

Profitability and occupational injuries in U.S. underground coal mines☆

Science.gov (United States)

Asfaw, Abay; Mark, Christopher; Pana-Cryan, Regina

2015-01-01

Background Coal plays a crucial role in the U.S. economy yet underground coal mining continues to be one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. In addition, there are large variations in both profitability and the incidence of occupational injuries across mines. Objective The objective of this study was to examine the association between profitability and the incidence rate of occupational injuries in U.S. underground coal mines between 1992 and 2008. Data and method We used mine-specific data on annual hours worked, geographic location, and the number of occupational injuries suffered annually from the employment and accident/injury databases of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and mine-specific data on annual revenue from coal sales, mine age, workforce union status, and mining method from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A total of 5669 mine-year observations (number of mines × number of years) were included in our analysis. We used a negative binomial random effects model that was appropriate for analyzing panel (combined time-series and cross-sectional) injury data that were non-negative and discrete. The dependent variable, occupational injury, was measured in three different and non-mutually exclusive ways: all reported fatal and nonfatal injuries, reported nonfatal injuries with lost workdays, and the ‘most serious’ (i.e. sum of fatal and serious nonfatal) injuries reported. The total number of hours worked in each mine and year examined was used as an exposure variable. Profitability, the main explanatory variable, was approximated by revenue per hour worked. Our model included mine age, workforce union status, mining method, and geographic location as additional control variables. Results After controlling for other variables, a 10% increase in real total revenue per hour worked was associated with 0.9%, 1.1%, and 1.6% decrease, respectively, in the incidence rates of all reported injuries, reported injuries with lost

Cost-volume-profit and net present value analysis of health information systems.

Science.gov (United States)

McLean, R A

1998-08-01

The adoption of any information system should be justified by an economic analysis demonstrating that its projected benefits outweigh its projected costs. Analysis differ, however, on which methods to employ for such a justification. Accountants prefer cost-volume-profit analysis, and economists prefer net present value analysis. The article explains the strengths and weaknesses of each method and shows how they can be used together so that well-informed investments in information systems can be made.

Ultra-high Q terahertz whispering-gallery modes in a silicon resonator

Science.gov (United States)

Vogt, Dominik Walter; Leonhardt, Rainer

2018-05-01

We report on the first experimental demonstration of terahertz (THz) whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) with an ultra-high quality factor of 1.5 × 104 at 0.62 THz. The WGMs are observed in a high resistivity float zone silicon spherical resonator coupled to a sub-wavelength silica waveguide. A detailed analysis of the coherent continuous wave THz spectroscopy measurements combined with a numerical model based on Mie-Debye-Aden-Kerker theory allows us to unambiguously identify the observed higher order radial THz WGMs.

Victorian era esthetic and restorative dentistry: an advertising trade card gallery.

Science.gov (United States)

Croll, Theodore P; Swanson, Ben Z

2006-01-01

A chief means of print advertising in the Victorian era was the "trade card." Innumerable products, companies, and services were highlighted on colorful chromolithographic trade cards, and these became desirable collectible objects which were pasted into scrapbooks and enjoyed by many families. Dentistry- and oral health-related subjects were often depicted on Victorian trade cards, and esthetic and restorative dentistry themes were featured. This review describes the history of advertising trade cards and offers a photographic gallery of dentistry-related cards of the era.

A social work study on quality on quality of physical education programs in primary schools: A case study of governmental and non-for-profit schools in city of Esfahan, Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Allahyar Arabmomeni

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Physical education is one of the most important parts of schoolchildren studies and it could influence of social and academic performance of children, significantly. This paper studies physical education among schoolchildren who attend elementary schools in city of Esfahan, Iran over for the educational calendar of 2010-2011. The study selects 52 schools as sample, 18 non-for-profit and 34 governmental schools and half of them belong to female students. The results of this study indicate that physical education has a somewhat better quality in non-for-profit educational system compared with governmental ones although this difference is not statistically significance (P<0.05. In our survey, ten percent of time, physical education was performed poorly, twenty five percent was in average condition, forty eight percent was in good condition and seventeen percent was in excellent condition.

Retention of external and internal markers by southern pine beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) during gallery

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas J. Rhodes; Jane Leslie Hayes; Chris Steiner

1998-01-01

If retained, markers used in mark-release-recapture studies of bark beetle dispersal could provide valuable tools in the determination of post-dispersal fate. Retention of the internal marker rubidium (Rb) and of the external marker fluorescent powder during egg gallery construction, oviposition, and feeding were quantified at intervals from 0 to 96 hours by allowing...

Atlantic Environmental Resource Directory, 1989: A directory of non-profit environmental and development organizations in Atlantic Canada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cuthbertson, L.L.

1989-01-01

This directory lists 161 non-profit groups in the Atlantic region, along with contacts for the environmental networks across the country and in New England and appropriate federal and provincial offices in Atlantic Canada. The directory was compiled from questionnaires sent out to a list of contacts that were on an original mailing list of groups known to have taken stands on environmental issues in the past. Follow-up mailouts and phone calls were also made. As well, some contacts were discovered through word-of-mouth. Groups are listed alphabetically by province and are classified by subjects. Information includes address and phone number, contact, date formed, number of members, scope, language and objectives. Groups and resources are indexed by subject area and groups are listed by resources available, environmental networks, Eastern states-United States citizen groups, labour unions, federal and provincial government.

Applying Marketing Concepts to Non-Profit/Educational Organizations: The Youth Professional’s Responsibilities in Program Marketing & Promotion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keith G. Diem

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The degree of participation in community-based youth development programs is typically affected by both the recruitment and retention of participants. A review of literature over more than forty years revealed the value of marketing and promotion to the viability of a company, product, or organization and how it may contribute to company sales or an organization’s membership. This article is focused on the application of marketing concepts to a non-profit organization or educational program. Using a marketing approach to program development can result in improved program quality as well as increased enrollment. Utilizing marketing activities such as needs assessment will aide in ensuring the program remains current in meeting needs and interests of clientele, the community, and society. Promoting an accurate and relevant image is a key in making sure people realize the value of your program.

Elementary modes of coupled oscillators as whispering-gallery microresonators

Science.gov (United States)

Banerjee, Rabin; Mukherjee, Pradip

2015-10-01

We obtain the elementary modes of a system of parity-time reversal (PT)-symmetric coupled oscillators with balanced loss and gain. These modes are used to give a physical picture of the phase transition recently reported [C. M. Bender, M. Gianfreda, B. Peng, S. K. Özdemir and L. Yang, Phys. Rev. A 88, 062111 (2013); L. Yang, S. K. Özdemir and B. Peng, 12th Int. Workshop and Conf. Pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians in Quantum Physics, Istanbul, Turkey, July 2013; B. Peng, S. K. Özdemir, F. Lei, F. Monifi, M. Gianfreda, G. L. Long, S. Fan, F. Nori, C. M. Bender and L. Yang, Nat. Phys. 10, 394 (2014)] in experiments with whispering-gallery microresonators.

The profitability of Norwegian salmon farming companies : a study of profitability variation

OpenAIRE

Eilertsen, Bendik Foss; Hui, Erik

2015-01-01

The conditions in the Norwegian salmon farming industry are constantly changing. Locally and globally, regulations, consolidation and technological advancements are some of the factors having a deep impact on the current industry. To ensure competitiveness, it is essential to emphasise on profitability and taking the correct strategic decisions. The objective of this thesis is to indicate what may cause variation in profitability in the current Norwegian salmon farming industry...

To What Extent Does Non Profit Private Micro Health Insurance Help Improve Public Health Care?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aurore Duffau

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Based on the SKY micro health insurance project that GRET has been developing in Cambodia for ten years, this article reflects on how non-profit private micro health insurance can help improve public health care.The medical situation in Cambodia is particularly interesting to study insomuch as the population multiplies their sources of care (self-medication, visits to private practitioners, traditional therapists, doctors in public facilities, etc., which leads to high costs and mediocre care.Using the SKY project’s internal database and four qualitative studies conducted between 2007 and 2008 in the project’s areas of intervention, we show that the SKY project, which is conducted in agreement with the Khmer authorities, has enabled greater utilisation of public health care, a better perception of the quality of care, and a better capacity for financial anticipation both in health care facilities and among the insured. Nevertheless, the limitations of and obstacles facing such systems are numerous: self-medication among the insured persists, the attitude of poorly paid health care workers does not favour rational use of medicines, and the orientation of Ministerial financing of health care is not always consistent with the project’s objectives. Ultimately, the synergies between non profit private micro health insurance and public health care will be all the more effective when insurance accounts for a large share of health care facilities’ revenues—that is to say when the subscriber base is large.Basé sur le projet de micro-assurance santé SKY que le GRET développe au Cambodge depuis dix ans, cet article explique comment la micro-assurance santé privée à but non lucratif peut contribuer à améliorer les soins de santé publique.La situation médicale au Cambodge est particulièrement intéressante à étudier car la population multiplie les sources de soins (auto-médication, consultations en cabinet, médecine traditionnelle

Distortionary effects of a production-sharing fiscal system in a sequential modular offshore petroleum project

Science.gov (United States)

Neves de Campos, Thiago

This research examines the distortionary effects of a discovered and undeveloped sequential modular offshore project under five different designs for a production-sharing agreement (PSA). The model differs from previous research by looking at the effect of taxation from the perspective of a host government, where the objective is to maximize government utility over government revenue generated by the project and the non-pecuniary benefits to society. This research uses Modern Asset Pricing (MAP) theory, which is able to provide a good measure of the asset value accruing to various stakeholders in the project combined with the optimal decision rule for the development of the investment opportunity. Monte Carlo simulation was also applied to incorporate into the model the most important sources of risk associated with the project and to account for non-linearity in the cash flows. For a complete evaluation of how the fiscal system affects the project development, an investor's behavioral model was constructed, incorporating three operational decisions: investment timing, capacity size and early abandonment. The model considers four sources of uncertainty that affect the project value and the firm's optimal decision: the long run oil price and short-run deviations from that price, cost escalation and the reservoir recovery rate. The optimizations outcomes show that all fiscal systems evaluated produce distortion over the companies' optimal decisions, and companies adjust their choices to avoid taxation in different ways according to the fiscal system characteristics. Moreover, it is revealed that fiscal systems with tax provisions that try to capture additional project profits based on production profitability measures leads to stronger distortions in the project investment and output profile. It is also shown that a model based on a fixed percentage rate is the system that creates the least distortion. This is because companies will be subjected to the same

Five TWh saved on profitable upgrading

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakken, Stein Arne.

1999-01-01

Article. In Norway, a project is planned to evaluate the upgrading potential of the hydroelectric power sector. The article criticizes the authorities for not supporting the upgrading of hydroelectric power plants in their eager to promote the development of wind power. An important contribution of the planned project will be a book from which the utilities may get advice on measures of upgrading. Generators and control systems account for 80% of the faults and interruptions in the power utilities. The turbine technology has made important progress in the 1990s. By pure upgrading measures alone, the turbine efficiencies may be increased enough for an additional 3 TWh to be taken out from the Norwegian hydroelectric power system. Today, the price of imported carbon-based Danish power determines whether the utilities find it profitable to rehabilitate the hydroelectric plants. The energy potential of upgrading is estimated to be 5 TWh. This energy can be generated with known technology and with no serious consequences for the environment

Captação de recursos financeiros em organizações sem fins lucrativos: a utilização de indicadores de gestão para os doadores e beneficiários dos projetos sociais Financial funding for non-profit organizations: management indicators for donors and beneficiaries of social projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nilceia Cristina dos Santos

2008-01-01

Full Text Available As organizações sem fins lucrativos encontram dificuldades na captação de recursos financeiros destinados a projetos sociais, já que mais organizações dessa natureza surgem a cada ano e as instituições financiadoras não tendem a surgir na mesma proporção. Dessa forma, é imprescindível a existência de métricas que possam auxiliar os gestores de tais empresas na efetividade da captação dos recursos. O objetivo deste artigo é justamente contribuir para a eficácia dos gestores nesse processo de gestão. Mais especificamente, o artigo propõe uma adaptação do modelo de indicadores de desempenho baseado no marco lógico desenvolvido pela United States Agency for International Development (USAID e no balanced scorecard (BSC de Kaplan e Norton, de modo a auxiliar as organizações sem fins lucrativos na captação de recursos. Neste artigo, são construídas quatro proposições sobre indicadores de desempenho. Também são fornecidos dois quadros com indicadores de desempenho para as associações voltadas às crianças e adolescentes, no intuito de traduzir as proposições e resultados da discussão efetuada. Dessa forma, o artigo busca contribuir com novas idéias, especificando melhor os conceitos teóricos desenvolvidos pela USAID e por Kaplan e Norton e fornecendo constructos operacionalizáveis para uma melhor gestão das empresas sociais e sem fins lucrativos.Non-profit organizations face difficulties in obtaining financial funding for their social projects because there are more new competing organizations while the number of funding sources does not grow at the same rate. Therefore managers must have appropriate measuring means enabling them to achieve efficiency in financial funding. For this reason adaptation of the model of performance indicators based on those developed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID and the Balanced Scorecard by Kaplan & Norton were proposed to help non-profit

«Neutral» Profit Taxation, Risk Taking and Optimal Profit Taxation

OpenAIRE

Jack M. MINTZ

1982-01-01

The object of this study is to answer two questions related to the design of profit taxes when taking into account riskiness of firms. The first question is the following: leaving aside general equilibrium effects of taxation on the interest rate and risk premia faced by firms, would a cash flow tax be neutral with respect to the investment decisions made by firms. The second question to be considered is whether profit tax rates should vary across industries because of different degrees of ri...

Profits in reverse? An examination of the decisive factors for reverse supply chain profitability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Samuel; Jacobsen, Peter

2015-01-01

Although the concept of the reverse supply chain (RSC) is not unknown in industry, an inhibitor for its successful use is low (or no) profitability. A research challenge is investigating ways to establish the RSC as a profit-creating center in the organization. This paper contributes...

European business venturing in times of digitisation - An analysis of for-profit business incubators in a triple helix context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brem, Alexander; Kreusel, Nico; Roth, Natalie

2018-01-01

Business incubators have been developed as a key component of entrepreneurial activities in countries all over Europe. These incubators have a non-profit or a for-profit profile, with one-third located in Germany. The increased engagement of private business in what was a public-dominated incubat......Business incubators have been developed as a key component of entrepreneurial activities in countries all over Europe. These incubators have a non-profit or a for-profit profile, with one-third located in Germany. The increased engagement of private business in what was a public......-dominated incubation landscape may influence established theoretical frameworks. Within this context, this paper analyses 11 German business incubators to look at the most common types of for-profit business incubators in Germany and their main characteristics. Moreover, it introduces classification criteria...... for these incubators. Another aspect of the analysis is the effect of the triple helix dimensions of the different incubation types. The results show that two additional types of incubators can be identified in addition to the traditional public business incubator model, namely 'company builders' and 'accelerators...

License - Togo Picture Gallery | LSDB Archive [Life Science Database Archive metadata

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available List Contact us Togo Picture Gallery License License to Use This Database Last updated : 2017/05/16 You may use this database...ecifies the license terms regarding the use of this database and the requirements you must follow in using this database.... The license for this database is specified in the Creative Commons ...Attribution 4.0 International . If you use data from this database, please be sure attribute this database a...e Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International is found here . With regard to this database

Selecting a Web Conferencing Solution. A Case Study for a Non-Profit Organization.

OpenAIRE

Botchkarev, Alexei

2013-01-01

Web conferencing has been acknowledged as a valuable organizational resource. Diverse geographically dispersed project teams gain benefits from real time online collaboration, e-learning and document sharing. Web conferencing tools have entered the mainstream of business applications and multiple vendors offer over 100 different types and systems. This presentation is showcasing an approach to defining business requirements and selecting a web conferencing tool for a local chapter of a non-pr...

Corporate tax base erosion and profit shifting out of the Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Janský, Petr; Kokeš, O.

2015-01-01

Roč. 27, č. 4 (2015), s. 537-546 ISSN 1463-1377 R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) TD020039; GA ČR GA15-24642S Institutional support: RVO:67985998 Keywords : corporate tax base erosion * Czech Republic * profit shifting Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 0.548, year: 2015

Public ownership helps boost HMOs' profits.

Science.gov (United States)

Kenkel, P J

1992-05-04

Health maintenance organizations have found that the route to faster growth and better profitability may be turning into a for-profit business and issuing stock. For the past five years, such organizations have generally outperformed their older, not-for-profit counterparts that rely on debt to fuel growth. Since 1988, HMOs have completed 48 stock and debt offerings, raising $3.6 billion.

Managing Career Development in the Not for Profit Sector

OpenAIRE

Maher, Chi

2009-01-01

This paper provides a report on a pilot study that was conducted to inform a DBA research project. It will investigate employee perceptions of their career development in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector. Theoretical and empirically based literature searches were conducted on career development for this study. Some researchers argue that the old career model (which involves an employee working for an organisation and committed to the organisation and in turn, the organisation offers the employ...

Profit-driven drug testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Collen, Mark

2012-01-01

Random drug testing of people being treated for chronic pain has become more common. Physicians may drug test patients on opioid therapy as a result of concerns over prosecution, drug misuse, addiction, and overdose. However, profit motive has remained unexplored. This article suggests profits also drive physician drug-testing behavior and evidence is offered, including an exploration of Medicare reimbursement incentives and kickbacks for drug testing.

Structural characterization of the gallery forest of the Guisa Agroforestry Experimental Station

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Luis Rodríguez Sosa

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The work was carried out in the gallery forest of the Cupaynicú stream, belonging to the Guisa Agroforestry Experimental Station, with the objective of characterizing its structure. Eight parcels of 500 m2 were randomly raised, in them the species were identified, their height and diameter were measured. The flora was analyzed through the origin of the species and the frequency histogram. The structure of the forest was analyzed through the diametric structure and the Value Index of Ecological Importance, the vertical structure was described taking into consideration the forest strata as well as the preparation of the canopy diagram. A descriptive analysis of the parameters diameter, height and basal area was made to study the parametric structure. The richness of the riparian forest was evidenced by the registry of 25 families, 40 genera and 43 species, as well as the predominance of the Meliaceae family followed by Lauraceae, Mimosaceae and Sapindaceae, which reflects the high timber value, melliferous and ecological of the same. The species Roystonea regia, Sterculiaapetala, Dendropanaxarboreus, Andirainermis and Mangifera indica, determine the physiognomy of the gallery Forest. The trees reach 33 cm in diameter and 18.27 m in height on average, although the presence of trees with 30 m is the most frequent, which denotes the irregular structure of the forest.

Sinister synergies : how competition for unregulated profit causes blackouts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, J.

2005-01-01

This white paper examined the effects of deregulation on electricity system reliability and demonstrated that the pursuit of unregulated profit has increased blackout risk. It was suggested that although deregulation works well in some areas, experts, studies and experience have shown that the deregulation of the electricity system has failed. The make-up of the electricity system was discussed, as well as the importance of the system to security, safety, health and economic well-being. It was suggested that higher costs and the need for greater profits have pushed deregulated power producers to cut costs drastically and to invest where high, short-term returns are more likely, rather than focusing on reasonable long-term returns with reasonable cost savings and reliability. In addition, the complexity of deregulated electricity markets has afforded participants many opportunities to manipulate and cut corners to increase profits. It was suggested that higher costs and the need for higher profits have combined with deregulated market conditions to provide motives and opportunities for a culture of bad behavior. This has cost consumers billions of dollars and resulted in increased blackout risk. It was noted that there have also been significant cut-backs in training, maintenance and rehabilitation, as well as in research. There has been a large increase in the complexity of deregulated systems because of increased numbers of participants, transactions and relationships, which has led to the introduction of new systems without appropriate testing, pilot projects, risk management, gradual implementation and backup procedures. It was concluded that an independent investigation should be carried out, and that a major study is needed to examine deregulated environments. 31 refs

The importance of working capital management for hospital profitability: evidence from bond-issuing, not-for-profit U.S. hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Rauscher, Simone; Wheeler, John R C

2012-01-01

Increased financial pressures on hospitals have elevated the importance of working capital management, that is, the management of current assets and current liabilities, for hospitals' profitability. Efficient working capital management allows hospitals to reduce their holdings of current assets, such as inventory and accounts receivable, which earn no interest income and require financing with short-term debt. The resulting cash inflows can be reinvested in interest-bearing financial instruments or used to reduce short-term borrowing, thus improving the profitability of the organization. This study examines the relationship between hospitals' profitability and their performance at managing two components of working capital: accounts receivable, measured in terms of hospitals' average collection periods, and accounts payable, measured in terms of hospitals' average payment periods. Panel data derived from audited financial statements for 1,397 bond-issuing, not-for-profit U.S. hospitals for 2000-2007 were analyzed using hospital-level fixed-effects regression analysis. The results show a negative relationship between hospitals' average collection period and profitability. That is, hospitals that collected on their patient revenue faster reported higher profit margins than did hospitals that have larger balances of accounts receivable outstanding. We also found a negative relationship between hospitals' average payment period and their profitability. Hospital managers did not appear to delay paying their vendors. Rather, the findings indicated that more profitable hospitals paid their suppliers faster, possibly to avoid high effective interest rates on outstanding accounts payable, whereas less profitable hospitals waited longer to pay their bills. The findings of this study suggest that working capital management indeed matters for hospitals' profitability. Efforts aimed at reducing large balances in both accounts receivable and accounts payable may frequently be

Convergence in anisotropic conditions: gallery behaviour in the Callovo-Oxfordian clayey layer in North-Eastern France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanco Martin, L.; Hadj-Hassen, F.; Philippe, J.C.; Boidy, E.; Colombet, G.; Armand, G.

2010-01-01

Document available in extended abstract form only. Coyne et Bellier (Tractebel Engineering) has been supplying geotechnical services to Andra since 1994 regarding the feasibility for developing a repository for radioactive waste in a 490 m deep clayey formation at the Meuse/Haute-Marne site. Armines/Mines-ParisTech (French engineering school) has been an Andra scientific partner for several years due to its expertise in rock creep behaviour as well as in mining technologies. Throughout the different works carried out for Andra (especially the studies concerning the enlargement of the underground research laboratory), the behaviour of the Callovo-Oxfordian clayey were computed. These studies are used mainly for predicting the long-term behaviour of this layer. Lemaitre's rheological law (or modified Norton's law) has been used for such purposes. This time-dependent law is able to model the isotropic hardening of an elastic-viscoplastic solid by taking into account a non linear viscosity (γ) which Coyne et Bellier has decided to represent by means of a cone-shaped dash-pot element (stiffness increases during creep, cf. Eric Boidy's PhD). This hypothesis, together with that standing for 'long-term incompressibility' (viscoplastic deformation occurs at constant volume), allows the law be expressed by means of the second invariants of the stress (q) and strain (ε vp ) tensors. The rheological model when the long term behaviour takes place beyond a stress threshold (σ S ) is shown. Modelling works that use this law reproduce well convergence measurements as long as radial stresses around the galleries are isotropic. When the stress field around the gallery is anisotropic, the classic Lemaitre's law no longer fits the convergence measurements. This is the case for the GMR gallery at the main level of the laboratory: the horizontal stress is 1.3 times greater than the vertical stress whilst the average vertical convergence is more than five

20 CFR 435.26 - Non-Federal audits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... AGREEMENTS WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, AND COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS Post-Award Requirements Financial and Program Management § 435.26 Non-Federal audits. (a) Recipients and subrecipients that are institutions of higher education or other non-profit organizations...

15 CFR 14.26 - Non-Federal audits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... FOR GRANTS AND AGREEMENTS WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, OTHER NON-PROFIT, AND COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS Post-Award Requirements Financial and Program Management § 14.26 Non-Federal audits. (a) Recipients and subrecipients that are institutions of higher education or other non-profit...

22 CFR 518.26 - Non-Federal audits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... AGREEMENTS WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Post-Award Requirements Financial and Program Management § 518.26 Non-Federal audits. (a) Recipients and subrecipients that are institutions of higher education or other non-profit organizations (including hospitals) shall...

Deliberations of the 29. of December 2010 bearing opinion of the order project setting electricity purchase conditions; Deliberation du 29 decembre 2010 portant avis sur le projet d'arrete fixant les conditions d'achat de l'electricite produite par les installations utilisant a titre principal l'energie degagee par la combustion de matieres non fossiles d'origine vegetale ou animale telles que visees au 4 de l'article 2 du decret n 2000-1196 du 6 decembre 2000

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-07-01

This document reports deliberations of the Energy Regulation Commission about purchase conditions of electricity produced by installations using mainly the energy released by the combustion of vegetal or animal non fossil materials. As this project aims at decreasing by 3,6% the current purchase tariffs, this document discusses the profitability analysis of projects of more than 5 MW for which the projected decrease still leaves some profitability margin. It comments the case of projects from 1 to 5 MW aimed at supplying sawmills with heat, comments the possible adoption of a winter-summer pricing principle and the impact of the tariff structure on public service expenses

Improving profitability in a grassroots refinery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coombs, T. [Star Petroleum Refining Co. Ltd. (Thailand); Kennedy, P.; Bhargava, S. [KBC Process Technology Ltd. (United Kingdom)

1999-05-01

Actions taken to maximise profit at the Star Refinery in Thailand are described. The company made good use of the Profit Improvement Programme (PIP) (which specialises in refinery economics) and the way in which PIP addressed the problem and the benefits derived therefrom is the nub of this paper. The efforts appear to have been more than satisfactory from the aspect of increasing profit margins. (UK)

Impact of robotic operative efficiency on profitability.

Science.gov (United States)

Geller, Elizabeth J; Matthews, Catherine A

2013-07-01

We sought to determine the impact of robotic operative efficiency on profitability and assess the impact of secondary variables. Financial data were collected for all robotic cases performed for fiscal years 2010 (FY10) and 2011 (FY11) at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and included 9 surgical subspecialties. Profitability was defined as a positive operating income. From July 2009 through June 2011, 1295 robotic cases were performed. Robotic surgery was profitable in both fiscal years, with an operating income of $386,735 in FY10 and $822,996 in FY11. In FY10, urogynecology and pediatric surgery were the only nonprofitable subspecialties. In FY11, all subspecialties were profitable. Profitability was associated with case time, payor mix, and procedure type (all P profitability regardless of surgical specialty. Copyright © 2013 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Telerobotic Haptic Exploration in Art Galleries and Museums for Individuals with Visual Impairments.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Chung Hyuk; Ryu, Eun-Seok; Howard, Ayanna M

2015-01-01

This paper presents a haptic telepresence system that enables visually impaired users to explore locations with rich visual observation such as art galleries and museums by using a telepresence robot, a RGB-D sensor (color and depth camera), and a haptic interface. The recent improvement on RGB-D sensors has enabled real-time access to 3D spatial information in the form of point clouds. However, the real-time representation of this data in the form of tangible haptic experience has not been challenged enough, especially in the case of telepresence for individuals with visual impairments. Thus, the proposed system addresses the real-time haptic exploration of remote 3D information through video encoding and real-time 3D haptic rendering of the remote real-world environment. This paper investigates two scenarios in haptic telepresence, i.e., mobile navigation and object exploration in a remote environment. Participants with and without visual impairments participated in our experiments based on the two scenarios, and the system performance was validated. In conclusion, the proposed framework provides a new methodology of haptic telepresence for individuals with visual impairments by providing an enhanced interactive experience where they can remotely access public places (art galleries and museums) with the aid of haptic modality and robotic telepresence.

A role for NGOs in international renewable energy project development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bartholf, T.R.

1997-12-01

An NGO is an international term for non-government organizations, often it is used in connection with non-profit, community-based and/or voluntary business activities. To be successful in supporting energy projects, these organizations generally exhibit certain characteristics: they are familiar with the end-use requirements; they are typically neutral to the technology; they emphasize training; they do not carry a large bureacratic structure, at home or in the field; they typically can adapt to do numerous functions; they can often attract other support. The author discusses several examples of such organizations who have been highly successful. The author sees a continuing role for such groups in developing renewable energy sources in the rural setting to include: continued development of new activity in rural areas; development of institutional framework for future market activity; an increased role in managing international development activities; more direct involvement with for-profit technical and financial organizations.

34 CFR 74.26 - Non-Federal audits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Post-Award Requirements Financial and Program Management § 74.26 Non-Federal audits. (a) Recipients and subrecipients that are institutions of higher education or other non-profit organizations (including hospitals) shall be subject to...

40 CFR 30.26 - Non-Federal audits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANTS AND AGREEMENTS WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Post-Award Requirements Financial and Program Management § 30.26 Non-Federal audits. (a) Recipients and subrecipients that are institutions of higher education or other non-profit...

38 CFR 49.26 - Non-Federal audits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANTS AND AGREEMENTS WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Post-Award Requirements Financial and Program Management § 49.26 Non-Federal audits. (a) Recipients and subrecipients that are institutions of higher education or other non-profit...

miRToolsGallery: a tag-based and rankable microRNA bioinformatics resources database portal

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Liang; Heikkinen, Liisa; Wang, ChangLiang; Yang, Yang; Knott, K Emily

2018-01-01

Abstract Hundreds of bioinformatics tools have been developed for MicroRNA (miRNA) investigations including those used for identification, target prediction, structure and expression profile analysis. However, finding the correct tool for a specific application requires the tedious and laborious process of locating, downloading, testing and validating the appropriate tool from a group of nearly a thousand. In order to facilitate this process, we developed a novel database portal named miRToolsGallery. We constructed the portal by manually curating > 950 miRNA analysis tools and resources. In the portal, a query to locate the appropriate tool is expedited by being searchable, filterable and rankable. The ranking feature is vital to quickly identify and prioritize the more useful from the obscure tools. Tools are ranked via different criteria including the PageRank algorithm, date of publication, number of citations, average of votes and number of publications. miRToolsGallery provides links and data for the comprehensive collection of currently available miRNA tools with a ranking function which can be adjusted using different criteria according to specific requirements. Database URL: http://www.mirtoolsgallery.org PMID:29688355

78 FR 11164 - Policy on Contractor Profits

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-15

... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Defense Acquisition Regulations System Policy on Contractor Profits AGENCY... Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. Section 804, Department of Defense Policy on Contractor Profits... modifications to such guidelines that are necessary to ensure an appropriate link between contractor profit and...

Applying the prudence principle in non-profit organizations and financial institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Otavová

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The paper describes in detail the accounting principle of prudence in non-profit organizations and financial institutions. It defines its application in such organizations and based on comparison it evaluates the practical use of the prudence principle and its reflection in the accounting books. The main focus is on differences in applying the prudence principle that result from differences in the purpose activities and methods of asset management in these organizations. The practical application of the prudence principle in accounting consists mainly in the creation and use of provisions and impairments. These methods are defined by the Implementing Regulation to the Accounting Act No. 563/1991. The paper also provides tables where the creation and use of impairments and provisions in the above-mentioned organizations is compared with how business companies proceed in creating impairments and provisions. The key legislation standardizing accounting in the Czech Republic is the Accounting Act No. 563/1991, as amended, which stipulates the general accounting principles, the so-called accounting philosophy. The accounting is built around the general accounting principles, which are perceived as the pillars of accounting. Even though they are not stipulated in any particular law, they are legally enforceable and their ignorance can be sanctioned. The general accounting principles represent a set of rules to be observed in keeping the accounting books, preparing the accounting reports and submitting the accounting reports to users. The keystone accounting principle is the principle of true and fair refl ection of facts the essential goal of which is to report in the fi nancial statement actual assets and the fi nancial position of the accounting unit with an essential focus on reporting events that occurred during the accounting period with respect to their content.

Managing corporate identities of non-profit organisations in the social welfare sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lida Holtzhausen

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Present-day South Africa is characterised by many societal and developmental issues, such as HIV awareness and prevention, child-headed households, environmental protection, poverty alleviation, violence and victim aid. However, it is widely acknowledged that government alone cannot address these issues effectively. The role of non-profit organisations (NPOs in addressing social and development issues is increasingly emphasised. NPOs work at grass-roots level and they can therefore, on the whole, identify societal vulnerabilities and risks earlier than the government sector. However, due to the economic recession, NPOs operate in a competitive environment where an increasing number of NPOs rely on a small number of donors and other resources. NPOs should therefore differentiate themselves from the competition in order to obtain public legitimacy and funding. Corporate identity management is important for NPOs to fulfil their role in social welfare and thus contribute to disaster risk reduction. The exploratory nature of this study dictates a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews with management of five NPOs in the social welfare sector were conducted in order to provide an answer to the study’s research question: ‘To what extent do NPOs in the social welfare sector practise corporate identity management, in order to prevent and address social welfare risks?’ The research found that NPOs do not realise the full potential of managing their corporate identities. NPOs therefore do not take advantage of a strong and distinct corporate identity which would allow them to ensure their ability to assess, address, reduce and/or alleviate vulnerabilities and disaster risks.

Project risk management for development of non-utility power generators (NUGs)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lau, T.

1990-01-01

The growing Non-Utility Generation (NUG) industry has brought new opportunities and challenges for the insurance industry. There can be unique engineering and financial risks involved in the development of Non-Utility Power Generation projects. The use of new technologies to meet stringent environmental regulations and to improve project performance and efficiency presents new challenges to the project developers and designers. The lack of funding, resources and experience of some of these projects may create unusual risks that could result in failure or deficiency in the performance of the projects

The strategic value of customer profitability analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Raaij, van E.M.

2005-01-01

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to show how intelligence emanating from customer profitability analysis (CPA) can help improve strategic marketing planning. Insights into the profitability of individual customers, as well as the distribution of profitability across the customer base, can lead to

Effect of the Adoption of IFRS on the Information Relevance of Accounting Profits in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mateus Alexandre Costa dos Santos

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to assess the effect of adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS in Brazil on the information relevance of accounting profits of publicly traded companies. International studies have shown that the adoption of IFRS improves the quality of accounting information compared with domestic accounting standards. Concurrent evidence is sparse in Brazil. Information relevance is understood herein as a multidimensional attribute that is closely related to the quality and usefulness of the information conveyed by accounting profits. The associative capacity and information timeliness of accounting profits in relation to share prices were examined. Furthermore, the level of conditional conservatism present in accounting profits was also analyzed because according to Basu (1997, this aspect is related to timeliness. The study used pooled regressions and panel data models to analyze the quarterly accounting profits of 246 companies between the first quarter of 1999 and the first quarter of 2013, resulting in 9,558 quarter-company observations. The results indicated that the adoption of IFRS in Brazil (1 increased the associative capacity of accounting profits; (2 reduced information timeliness to non-significant levels; and (3 had no effect on conditional conservatism. The joint analysis of the empirical evidence from the present study conclusively precludes stating that the adoption of IFRS in Brazil contributed to an increase the information relevance of accounting profits of publicly traded companies.

DETERMINANTS OF BANK PROFITABILITY: EVIDENCE FROM US

OpenAIRE

Cheng, Yinglin; Huang, Yating

2017-01-01

This paper examines the variables that affect bank profitability. We construct a sample of US banks from 2003 to 2015, and use return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) to measure bank profitability. We find that banks with higher profitability are the banks that have: (1) a higher deposits to total asset ratio, (2) a higher diversification ratio, and (3) higher operational efficiency. We also find that better-capitalized banks tend to be more profitable only when we use ROA as the me...

Preliminary on-surface experiments for backfilling a HLW repository: the ESDRED project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bastiaens, W.

2007-01-01

ESDRED is a technological integrated project within the context of the Sixth Framework Program of EURATOM. The project aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility at an industrial scale of specific technologies related to the construction, operation and closure of a deep geological repository for spent fuel and long-lived radioactive waste. The Belgian design for high level waste disposal is based on the so-called Supercontainer concept. Within this concept, the waste is encased in a carbon steel overpack, which is consequently fitted into a 70 cm thick concrete shell, in its turn enveloped by a stainless steel liner. A Supercontainer measures about 2 m in diameter. In the design of the repository, the Supercontainers will be emplaced, one after the other, in disposal galleries. The space between the Supercontainers and the gallery lining needs to be filled up with a solid material. The most essential function of this component, referred to as backfill, is to prevent a collapse of the gallery. A secondary function is to limit the presence of free oxygen, to limit corrosion. In the ESDRED project EIG EURIDICE, together with SCK-CEN and ONDRAF/NIRAS, investigates technologies to apply the backfill. Two options to apply the backfill were investigated within the ESDRED project: fill the gap with a granular material and backfill the gap with a grout. The prime operational target will be to achieve a 100 percent filling of the gap. A wide variety of materials was tested. A number of considerations regarding long-term safety and operational feasibility impose constraints on the backfill component:it should preserve the corrosion-protective environment established by the Supercontainer; it should not act as a thermal isolator; it should not introduce organic materials that can give rise to the formation of migration-enhancing complexes between radionuclides and soluble organic compounds; it should be feasible to construct at a sufficiently high rate; the strength of the

Applying investment appraisal techniques to assess profitability of franchise purchases as major capital budgeting expenditures

OpenAIRE

Kostritsa, Maria

2014-01-01

This Bachelor’s thesis examines the profitability of an investment project in franchise pur-chase decisions. The study primarily aims at analyzing the investment projects that have al-ready been, or are about to be implemented at Trade House “Europa”, a retail fashion com-pany operating all over Russia. The main objectives of the research are to provide well-grounded suggestions on realizing the investment project, and define further investment rec-ommendations for the company in the form of ...

Financialization and financial profit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arturo Guillén

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This article starts from the critical review of the concept of financial capital. I consider it is necessary not to confuse this category with of financialization, which has acquired a certificate of naturalization from the rise of neoliberalism. Although financial monopoly-financial capital is the hegemonic segment of the bourgeoisie in the major capitalist countries, their dominance does not imply, a fortiori, financialization of economic activity, since it depends of the conditions of the process reproduction of capital. The emergence of joint stock companies modified the formation of the average rate of profit. The "promoter profit" becomes one of the main forms of income of monopoly-financial capital. It is postulated that financial profit is a kind of "extraordinary surplus-value" which is appropriated by monopoly-financial capital by means of the monopolistic control it exerts on the issue and circulation of fictitious capital.

The Detection of Helicobacter hepaticus Using Whispering-Gallery Mode Microcavity Optical Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark E. Anderson

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Current bacterial detection techniques are relatively slow, require bulky instrumentation, and usually require some form of specialized training. The gold standard for bacterial detection is culture testing, which can take several days to receive a viable result. Therefore, simpler detection techniques that are both fast and sensitive could greatly improve bacterial detection and identification. Here, we present a new method for the detection of the bacteria Helicobacter hepaticus using whispering-gallery mode (WGM optical microcavity-based sensors. Due to minimal reflection losses and low material adsorption, WGM-based sensors have ultra-high quality factors, resulting in high-sensitivity sensor devices. In this study, we have shown that bacteria can be non-specifically detected using WGM optical microcavity-based sensors. The minimum detection for the device was 1 × 104 cells/mL, and the minimum time of detection was found to be 750 s. Given that a cell density as low as 1 × 103 cells/mL for Helicobacter hepaticus can cause infection, the limit of detection shown here would be useful for most levels where Helicobacter hepaticus is biologically relevant. This study suggests a new approach for H. hepaticus detection using label-free optical sensors that is faster than, and potentially as sensitive as, standard techniques.

Methodics of computing the results of monitoring the exploratory gallery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krúpa Víazoslav

2000-09-01

Full Text Available At building site of motorway tunnel Višòové-Dubná skala , the priority is given to driving of exploration galley that secures in detail: geologic, engineering geology, hydrogeology and geotechnics research. This research is based on gathering information for a supposed use of the full profile driving machine that would drive the motorway tunnel. From a part of the exploration gallery which is driven by the TBM method, a fulfilling information is gathered about the parameters of the driving process , those are gathered by a computer monitoring system. The system is mounted on a driving machine. This monitoring system is based on the industrial computer PC 104. It records 4 basic values of the driving process: the electromotor performance of the driving machine Voest-Alpine ATB 35HA, the speed of driving advance, the rotation speed of the disintegrating head TBM and the total head pressure. The pressure force is evaluated from the pressure in the hydraulic cylinders of the machine. Out of these values, the strength of rock mass, the angle of inner friction, etc. are mathematically calculated. These values characterize rock mass properties as their changes. To define the effectivity of the driving process, the value of specific energy and the working ability of driving head is used. The article defines the methodics of computing the gathered monitoring information, that is prepared for the driving machine Voest – Alpine ATB 35H at the Institute of Geotechnics SAS. It describes the input forms (protocols of the developed method created by an EXCEL program and shows selected samples of the graphical elaboration of the first monitoring results obtained from exploratory gallery driving process in the Višòové – Dubná skala motorway tunnel.

THE MARKETING MENTALITY WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION - A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN COMPANIES AND NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pop Nicolae Al.

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In contemporary Marketing theory and practice, debates regarding the role and place of the homonymous activity within the company are frequent. The development of a marketing mentality, as specialists state, allows the implementation of a marketing vision in all the organization’s departments, regardless of the activities performed. The economic theory enunciates all the more the existence of a marketing doctrine urged to ensure the methodological frame of the organization regarding market and consumer orientation. Based upon two selective exploratory market research performed among the major distributors of electro-technical materials and electro-technical solutions integrators, respectively among some public faculties’ management the authors want to examine the existence and the decision makers’ responsiveness regarding the implementation of a marketing mentality in one’s organization. The conclusions concern both business environment and academic non-profit organizations’ activity. The connection between the marketing mentality as an essential premise for the development of the entrepreneurial university concept is also emphasized.

Silica hollow bottle resonators for use as whispering gallery mode based chemical sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Stoian, Razvan-Ionut; Bui, Khoa V.; Rosenberger, A. T.

2015-12-01

A simple three-step method for making silica hollow bottle resonators (HBRs) was developed. This procedure is advantageous because it uses commercially available materials, is cost effective, and is easy to implement. Additionally, the use of these HBRs as whispering gallery mode based chemical sensors is demonstrated by preliminary absorption sensing results in the near infrared (1580-1660 nm) using a trace gas (CH4) in air at atmospheric pressure and a dye (SDA2072) in methanol solution.

Optical sum-frequency generation in a whispering-gallery-mode resonator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strekalov, Dmitry V; Kowligy, Abijith S; Huang, Yu-Ping; Kumar, Prem

2014-01-01

We demonstrate sum-frequency generation between a telecom wavelength and the Rb D2 line, achieved through natural phase matching in a nonlinear whispering gallery mode resonator. Due to the strong optical field confinement and ultra high Q of the cavity, the process saturates already at sub-mW pump peak power, at least two orders of magnitude lower than in existing waveguide-based devices. The experimental data are in agreement with the nonlinear dynamics and phase matching theory based on spherical geometry. Our experimental and theoretical results point toward a new platform for manipulating the color and quantum states of light waves for applications such as atomic memory based quantum networking and logic operations with optical signals. (paper)

The potential of Lemna gibba L. and Lemna minor L. to remove Cu, Pb, Zn, and As in gallery water in a mining area in Keban, Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Sasmaz, Merve; Arslan Topal, Emine Işıl; Obek, Erdal; Sasmaz, Ahmet

2015-11-01

This study was designed to investigate removal efficiencies of Cu, Pb, Zn, and As in gallery water in a mining area in Keban, Turkey by Lemna gibba L. and Lemna minor L. These plants were placed in the gallery water of Keban Pb-Zn ore deposits and adapted individually fed to the reactors. During the study period (8 days), the plant and water samples were collected daily and the temperature, pH, and electric conductivity of the gallery water were measured daily. The plants were washed, dried, and burned at 300 °C for 24 h in a drying oven. These ash and water samples were analyzed by ICP-MS to determine the amounts of Cu, Pb, Zn, and As. The Cu, Pb, Zn and As concentrations in the gallery water of the study area detected 67, 7.5, 7230, and 96 μg L(-1), respectively. According to the results, the obtained efficiencies in L. minor L. and L. gibba L. are: 87% at day 2 and 36% at day 3 for Cu; 1259% at day 2 and 1015% at day 2 for Pb; 628% at day 3 and 382% at day 3 for Zn; and 7070% at day 3 and 19,709% at day 2 for As, respectively. The present study revealed that both L. minor L. and L. gibba L. had very high potential to remove Cu, Pb, Zn, and As in gallery water contaminated by different ores. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sequential Relationship between Profitability and Sustainability: The Case of Migratory Beekeeping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciano Pilati

2016-01-01

Full Text Available When beekeeping is managed on a migratory basis, the bee colony produces physical outputs (honey and pollination services on a sequence of forage sites. Forage sites are competitors if their flowering periods overlap, and are complementary otherwise. Viable sequences consist only of complementary forage sites. A part of the bee colony’s production time is spent on each forage site in the period when the crop or wild vegetation covering it is in flower. The total period covered by the sequence of sites, including the base site, must be equal to or less than the duration (365 days of the bee colony’s annual biological cycle. The migratory beekeeper draws up viable sequences of forage sites and calculates their profitability levels. Variations in the profitability of forage sites which alter the composition of the sequence, affecting provision of the non-marketed ecosystem pollination services, impact the biodiversity of the pollinated plants with trickle-down effects on sustainability. In the case of migratory beekeeping, there is, therefore, a sequential relationship between profitability and sustainability.

Hydro-Quebec is profitable

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poirier, M.

1997-01-01

The pros and cons of the potential privatisation of Hydro-Quebec were discussed. A brief review of charges of less than competent management, low profitability and the corporation's recent administrative restructuring was presented. The general thrust of the argument was that Hydro-Quebec plays a crucial role in the economic development of Quebec, it can be made to be more profitable and that for the good of Quebec it should continue as a public corporation under the control of the provincial government

Fractal profit landscape of the stock market.

Science.gov (United States)

Grönlund, Andreas; Yi, Il Gu; Kim, Beom Jun

2012-01-01

We investigate the structure of the profit landscape obtained from the most basic, fluctuation based, trading strategy applied for the daily stock price data. The strategy is parameterized by only two variables, p and q Stocks are sold and bought if the log return is bigger than p and less than -q, respectively. Repetition of this simple strategy for a long time gives the profit defined in the underlying two-dimensional parameter space of p and q. It is revealed that the local maxima in the profit landscape are spread in the form of a fractal structure. The fractal structure implies that successful strategies are not localized to any region of the profit landscape and are neither spaced evenly throughout the profit landscape, which makes the optimization notoriously hard and hypersensitive for partial or limited information. The concrete implication of this property is demonstrated by showing that optimization of one stock for future values or other stocks renders worse profit than a strategy that ignores fluctuations, i.e., a long-term buy-and-hold strategy.

Rapid 3D µ-printing of polymer optical whispering-gallery mode resonators.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jushuai; Guo, Xin; Zhang, A Ping; Tam, Hwa-Yaw

2015-11-16

A novel microfabrication method for rapid printing of polymer optical whispering-gallery mode (WGM) resonators is presented. A 3D micro-printing technology based on high-speed optical spatial modulator (SLM) and high-power UV light source is developed to fabricate suspended-disk WGM resonator array using SU-8 photoresist. The optical spectral responses of the fabricated polymer WGM resonators were measured with a biconically tapered optical fiber. Experimental results reveal that the demonstrated method is very flexible and time-saving for rapid fabrication of complex polymer WGM resonators.

Whispering gallery modes in two-photon fluorescence from spherical DCM dye microresonators

Science.gov (United States)

Mamonov, Evgeniy A.; Maydykovskiy, Anton I.; Mitetelo, Nikolai V.; Venkatakrishnarao, Dasari; Chandrasekar, Rajadurai; Murzina, Tatyana V.

2018-03-01

Organic microstructures are well known for their resonator properties, which bring about whispering gallery mode (WGM) excitation. Here we report on experimental evidence of the WGM in the two-photon fluorescence (TPF) of DCM dye microspheres made using the self-assembly method. The WGM excitation accompanying the overall TPF in the spectral range from 530\\div640 nm demonstrated a quality factor of approximately 102 for spheres that were several microns in diameter. The power dependence of the TPF intensity proved the second order nature of the interaction process involved.

The Charpin report confirms the profitability of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2000-01-01

An official report written by 3 experts committed by the French government in may 1999 about the profitability of nuclear energy has been published. In this report 7 scenarios have been compared according to the demand of electricity, the price of gas, the operating life of power plants and the nuclear equipment replacement schedule. If the prices of fossil energies (oil and gas) remain stable, the cheapest scenarios are those based on the non-replacement of nuclear power plants when they reach their maximal operating life. The differences between scenarios are so slight than the uncertainty about the price of gas is enough to make a scenario more profitable than another. The extra-costs of carbon emissions that France will have to face in order to respect the Kyoto agreement, will weigh more in the economic balance than the management of radioactive wastes. (A.C.)

Radiometric survey in the sites of Regional office in Fortaleza, research gallery and camp in Itataia, CE (Brazil)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-02-01

The radiometric survey in Regional officer sites in Fortaleza, Brazil, research gallery and camp in Itataia is presented. The measurings to be done, the instrumentation used and results obtained are described as well as the conclusions and recommendations. (C.M.) [pt

Price and Profit Optimization for Financial Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catalina Bolancé

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Prospective customers of financial and insurance products can be targeted based on the profit the provider expects to earn from them. We present a model for individual expected profit and two alternatives for calculating optimal personalized prices that maximize the expected profit. For one of these alternatives, we obtain a closed-form expression for the price offered to each prospective customer; for the other, we need to use a numerical approximation. In both approaches, the profits generated by prospective customers are not immediately observed, given that the products sold by these companies have a risk component. We assume that willingness to pay is heterogeneous and apply our methodology using real data from a European insurance company. Our study indicates that a substantial boost in profits can be expected when applying the simplest optimal pricing method proposed.

Contemporary Adult Education Philosophies and Practices in Art Galleries and Museums in Canada and the UK

Science.gov (United States)

Clover, Darlene E.; Bell, Lorraine

2013-01-01

Public art galleries and museums have been mandated to become more relevant and useful to the lived experiences of the broad communities they claim to serve. Adult education has long been part of the work of these institutions, although historically the relationship has been uneasy, and they seldom feature in the adult education literature. To…

Profitability of irradiation plants; Rentabilidad de plantas de irradiacion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bustos R, M.E.; Gonzalez F, C.; Liceaga C, G.; Ortiz A, G. [Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares, Apdo. Postal 18-1027, Col. Escandon, 11801 Mexico D.F. (Mexico)

1997-12-31

In any industrial process it is seek an attractive profit from the contractor and the social points of view. The use of the irradiation technology in foods allows keep their hygienically, which aid to food supply without risks for health, an increment of new markets and a losses reduction. In other products -cosmetics or disposable for medical use- which are sterilized by irradiation, this process allows their secure use by the consumers. The investment cost of an irradiation plant depends mainly of the plant size and the radioactive material reload that principally is Cobalt 60, these two parameters are in function of the type of products for irradiation and the selected doses. In this work it is presented the economic calculus and the financial costs for different products and capacities of plants. In general terms is determined an adequate utility that indicates that this process is profitable. According to the economic and commercial conditions in the country were considered two types of credits for the financing of this projects. One utilizing International credit resources and other with national sources. (Author)

Project management - challenges in dealing with academic and non-academic partners

Science.gov (United States)

Henkel, Daniela; Eisenhauer, Anton; Drossou-Berendes, Alexandra

2016-04-01

Modern research projects on national, European and international level are challenged by an increasing requirement of inter and trans-disciplinarily, societal relevance and educational outreach as well as market oriented applications. In particular, to be successful in European research in the frame of HORIZON 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, it is crucial that relatively large international research consortia involve academic and non-academic partners, NGOs, private and non-private institutions as well as industrial companies. For the management and organisation of such consortia coordinators have to deal with significant differences between multi-national and multi-sectorial administrations and research environments, in order to secure a successful implementation of the project. This often costs research and non-academic partners tremendous efforts, not to say excessive demands. Based on the experiences made in the frame of an Innovative Training Network (ITN) project within the HORIZON 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, this presentation identifies organisational pitfalls and major challenges of the project management for European funded research involving multi-national academic and non-academic research partners. Possible strategies are discussed to circumvent and avoid conflicts already at the beginning of the project.

Factors affecting the entry of for-profit providers into a price regulated market for formal long-term care services: a case study from Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Tokunaga, Mutsumi; Hashimoto, Hideki

2013-01-01

While the distinct behaviors of for-profit and non-profit providers in the healthcare market have been compared in the economic literature, their choices regarding market entry and exit have only recently been debated. Since 2000, when public Long-Term Care Insurance was introduced in Japan, for-profit providers have been able to provide formal long-term homecare services. The aim of this study is to determine which factors have affected market entry of for-profit providers under price regulation and in competition with existing non-profit providers. We used nation-wide panel data from 2002 to 2010, aggregated at the level of local public insurers (n = 1557), a basic area unit of service provision. The number of for-profit providers per elderly population in the area unit was regressed against factors related to local demand and service costs using first-difference linear regression, a fixed effects model, and Tobit regression for robustness checking. Results showed that demand (the number of eligible care recipients) and cost factors (population density and minimum wage) significantly influenced for-profit providers' choice of market entry. These findings indicate that for-profit providers will strategically choose a local market for maximizing profit. We believe that price regulation should be redesigned to incorporate quality of care and market conditions, regardless of the profit status of the providers, to ensure equal access to efficient delivery of long-term care across all regions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Silica hollow bottle resonators for use as whispering gallery mode based chemical sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoian, Razvan-Ionut; Bui, Khoa V; Rosenberger, A T

2015-01-01

A simple three-step method for making silica hollow bottle resonators (HBRs) was developed. This procedure is advantageous because it uses commercially available materials, is cost effective, and is easy to implement. Additionally, the use of these HBRs as whispering gallery mode based chemical sensors is demonstrated by preliminary absorption sensing results in the near infrared (1580–1660 nm) using a trace gas (CH 4 ) in air at atmospheric pressure and a dye (SDA2072) in methanol solution. (paper)

More efficient second harmonic generation of whispering gallery modes by selective out-coupling

OpenAIRE

Trainor, Luke S.; Sedlmeir, Florian; Peuntinger, Christian; Schwefel, Harald G. L.

2017-01-01

We demonstrate second harmonic generation (SHG) in an $x$-cut congruent lithium niobate (LN) whispering gallery mode resonator. We first show theoretically that independent control of the coupling of the pump and signal modes is optimal for high conversion rates. A scheme based on our earlier work in Ref. [1] is then implemented experimentally to verify this. Thereby we are able to improve on the efficiency of SHG by more than an order of magnitude by selectively out-coupling using a LN prism...

Provider-related barriers to rapid HIV testing in U.S. urban non-profit community clinics, community-based organizations (CBOs) and hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogart, Laura M; Howerton, Devery; Lange, James; Setodji, Claude Messan; Becker, Kirsten; Klein, David J; Asch, Steven M

2010-06-01

We examined provider-reported barriers to rapid HIV testing in U.S. urban non-profit community clinics, community-based organizations (CBOs), and hospitals. 12 primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSAs; three per region) were sampled randomly, with sampling weights proportional to AIDS case reports. Across PMSAs, all 671 hospitals and a random sample of 738 clinics/CBOs were telephoned for a survey on rapid HIV test availability. Of the 671 hospitals, 172 hospitals were randomly selected for barriers questions, for which 158 laboratory and 136 department staff were eligible and interviewed in 2005. Of the 738 clinics/CBOs, 276 were randomly selected for barriers questions, 206 were reached, and 118 were eligible and interviewed in 2005-2006. In multivariate models, barriers regarding translation of administrative/quality assurance policies into practice were significantly associated with rapid HIV testing availability. For greater rapid testing diffusion, policies are needed to reduce administrative barriers and provide quality assurance training to non-laboratory staff.

Kalispel Non-Native Fish Suppression Project 2007 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wingert, Michele; Andersen, Todd [Kalispel Natural Resource Department

2008-11-18

Non-native salmonids are impacting native salmonid populations throughout the Pend Oreille Subbasin. Competition, hybridization, and predation by non-native fish have been identified as primary factors in the decline of some native bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) and westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi) populations. In 2007, the Kalispel Natural Resource Department (KNRD) initiated the Kalispel Nonnative Fish Suppression Project. The goal of this project is to implement actions to suppress or eradicate non-native fish in areas where native populations are declining or have been extirpated. These projects have previously been identified as critical to recovering native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout (WCT). Lower Graham Creek was invaded by non-native rainbow (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) after a small dam failed in 1991. By 2003, no genetically pure WCT remained in the lower 700 m of Graham Creek. Further invasion upstream is currently precluded by a relatively short section of steep, cascade-pool stepped channel section that will likely be breached in the near future. In 2008, a fish management structure (barrier) was constructed at the mouth of Graham Creek to preclude further invasion of non-native fish into Graham Creek. The construction of the barrier was preceded by intensive electrofishing in the lower 700 m to remove and relocate all captured fish. Westslope cutthroat trout have recently been extirpated in Cee Cee Ah Creek due to displacement by brook trout. We propose treating Cee Cee Ah Creek with a piscicide to eradicate brook trout. Once eradication is complete, cutthroat trout will be translocated from nearby watersheds. In 2004, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) proposed an antimycin treatment within the subbasin; the project encountered significant public opposition and was eventually abandoned. However, over the course of planning this 2004 project, little public

Finding the community in sustainable online community engagement: Not-for-profit organisation websites, service-learning and research

OpenAIRE

Dodd, Alice

2017-01-01

This article explores the use of action research (2008–2014) based on a case study of the Sustainable Online Community Engagement (SOCE) Project, a service-learning project in which University of South Australia students build websites for not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, to demonstrate that effective teaching, public service and research are interdependent. A significant problem experienced in the SOCE project was that, despite some training and ongoing assistance, the community organisat...

Study notes separability of oil company profitability, efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, R.G.

1993-01-01

In recent years, the large publicly traded oil companies have been restructuring and downsizing to improve efficiency. Newly developed decision theory forces one to question the widely held singular focus on efficiency because improving efficiency will not necessarily improve profits. This is especially likely in the oil industry, where price volatility is the norm. Because its products are so basic, its price volatility typically ripples widely throughout the economy. In light of this, efficiency and profitability in the oil industry require separate treatment. More specifically, the efficient are not necessarily the most profitable; conversely, the most profitable are not necessarily the most efficient. Such a decoupling of efficiency and profitability requires a totally new look at business strategy. In the face of highly variable prices, firms can no longer depend on the long-accepted duality norm between profits and efficiency

Meet the New For-Profit: The Low-Profit

Science.gov (United States)

Blumenstyk, Goldie

2012-01-01

"Doing well by doing good" is the business mantra of the for-profit-college industry. But one does not have to look far to find people who question the slogan's sincerity or the very legitimacy of that model. And that was even before reports of some companies' abusive student-recruiting practices and questionable educational standards fed a public…

Decomposing dynamic profit inefficiency of Belgian dairy farms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ang, Frederic; Lansink, Alfons Oude

2018-01-01

This paper introduces a nonparametric framework for analysing dynamic profit inefficiency and applies this to a sample of Belgian, specialised dairy farms from 1996 to 2008. Profit inefficiency is decomposed into technical and allocative inefficiency. The paper also decomposes profit inefficiency

Profit sharing for increased training investments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gielen, A. C.

2011-01-01

This article investigates whether paying a profit-related wage stimulates training investments. The results point to increased worker effort and wage flexibility as two channels through which profit sharing enhances investments in training. While both effects are found for young workers, for older

An Insurgent Curatorial Strategy: Using Dialogue and Collaboration to Create Meaning in Public Art Galleries and Museums

Science.gov (United States)

Marsden, Scott

2018-01-01

My insurgent curatorial strategy incorporates theory around dialogue and is used to develop a participatory and collaborative process that gives voice to those who are marginalised and/or disfranchised and are suppressed by dominant social narratives. My strategy demonstrates how art galleries and museums can function as sites for community…

The ESDRED project: Engineering studies and demonstration of repository designs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verstricht, J.

2009-01-01

The construction, operation and closure of a deep geological repository for spent fuel and long-lived radioactive waste in clay involves specific technologies. The demonstration of these techniques at an industrial scale is being carried out in the frame of a technological integrated project within the sixth Framework Programme of EURATOM. The Belgian design for high level waste disposal is based on the so-called Supercontainer concept. Within this concept, the waste is encased in a carbon steel overpack, which is consequently fitted into a 70 cm thick concrete shell, in its turn enveloped by a stainless steel liner. A Supercontainer measures about 2 m in diameter. In the design of the repository, the Supercontainers will be emplaced, one after the other, in disposal galleries. The space between the Supercontainers and the gallery lining needs to be filled up with a solid material. The most essential function of this component, referred to as backfill, is to prevent a collapse of the gallery. A secondary function is to limit the presence of free oxygen, to limit corrosion. In the ESDRED project EIG EURIDICE, together with SCK-CEN and ONDRAF/NIRAS, investigates technologies to apply the backfill. After testing two techniques to apply the backfill in 2007 at limited scale (unite with granular material and grouting with backfill mortar), grouting was selected as the preferred technique. This technique then should be tested at full-scale (30 m long mock-up). First, a full-scale structure needs to built, including an extensive instrumentation programme. In addition, the logistical needs to ensure a continuous backfill operation have to be worked out. The objective is to have the almost 100 m 3 backfilled in 4 hours

DataProfit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ritter, Thomas; Lund Pedersen, Carsten; Eibe Sørensen, Hans

sammen for at udnytte mulighederne for datadreven profitabel vækst. Denne guide giver en anvendelsesorienteret gennemgang af de ni kompetencer i vores kort, som vi kalder for DataProfit. I guiden beskrives hver kompetence – og du inviteres til at analysere din virksomhed. Til sidst sætter vi hele...

Clustering consumers based on trust, confidence and giving behaviour: data-driven model building for charitable involvement in the Australian not-for-profit sector.

Science.gov (United States)

de Vries, Natalie Jane; Reis, Rodrigo; Moscato, Pablo

2015-01-01

Organisations in the Not-for-Profit and charity sector face increasing competition to win time, money and efforts from a common donor base. Consequently, these organisations need to be more proactive than ever. The increased level of communications between individuals and organisations today, heightens the need for investigating the drivers of charitable giving and understanding the various consumer groups, or donor segments, within a population. It is contended that `trust' is the cornerstone of the not-for-profit sector's survival, making it an inevitable topic for research in this context. It has become imperative for charities and not-for-profit organisations to adopt for-profit's research, marketing and targeting strategies. This study provides the not-for-profit sector with an easily-interpretable segmentation method based on a novel unsupervised clustering technique (MST-kNN) followed by a feature saliency method (the CM1 score). A sample of 1,562 respondents from a survey conducted by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission is analysed to reveal donor segments. Each cluster's most salient features are identified using the CM1 score. Furthermore, symbolic regression modelling is employed to find cluster-specific models to predict `low' or `high' involvement in clusters. The MST-kNN method found seven clusters. Based on their salient features they were labelled as: the `non-institutionalist charities supporters', the `resource allocation critics', the `information-seeking financial sceptics', the `non-questioning charity supporters', the `non-trusting sceptics', the `charity management believers' and the `institutionalist charity believers'. Each cluster exhibits their own characteristics as well as different drivers of `involvement'. The method in this study provides the not-for-profit sector with a guideline for clustering, segmenting, understanding and potentially targeting their donor base better. If charities and not-for-profit

Clustering consumers based on trust, confidence and giving behaviour: data-driven model building for charitable involvement in the Australian not-for-profit sector.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalie Jane de Vries

Full Text Available Organisations in the Not-for-Profit and charity sector face increasing competition to win time, money and efforts from a common donor base. Consequently, these organisations need to be more proactive than ever. The increased level of communications between individuals and organisations today, heightens the need for investigating the drivers of charitable giving and understanding the various consumer groups, or donor segments, within a population. It is contended that `trust' is the cornerstone of the not-for-profit sector's survival, making it an inevitable topic for research in this context. It has become imperative for charities and not-for-profit organisations to adopt for-profit's research, marketing and targeting strategies. This study provides the not-for-profit sector with an easily-interpretable segmentation method based on a novel unsupervised clustering technique (MST-kNN followed by a feature saliency method (the CM1 score. A sample of 1,562 respondents from a survey conducted by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission is analysed to reveal donor segments. Each cluster's most salient features are identified using the CM1 score. Furthermore, symbolic regression modelling is employed to find cluster-specific models to predict `low' or `high' involvement in clusters. The MST-kNN method found seven clusters. Based on their salient features they were labelled as: the `non-institutionalist charities supporters', the `resource allocation critics', the `information-seeking financial sceptics', the `non-questioning charity supporters', the `non-trusting sceptics', the `charity management believers' and the `institutionalist charity believers'. Each cluster exhibits their own characteristics as well as different drivers of `involvement'. The method in this study provides the not-for-profit sector with a guideline for clustering, segmenting, understanding and potentially targeting their donor base better. If charities and not-for-profit

Profitability of our lung retrieval program from non heart beating donors.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández, Elena; Calatayud, Joaquín; Jarabo, José Ramón; Hernando, Florentino; Rodríguez, Olga; Gómez, Ana María; Soria, Ana; Del Río, Francisco

2009-02-01

In 2002 the first lung transplant from non heart beating (NHB) donors took place in Madrid. The objective of this study was to analyse our Maastricht type I NHB lung donors retrieval program and to check out its profitability. Based on the NHB lung donors retrieval program carried out at Hospital Clínico San Carlos (Madrid) in association with Hospital Puerta de Hierro (Madrid), all lung donors from the beginning of the program from June 2002 to December 2006 have been analysed. When faced with a case of sudden death, advanced life support manoeuvres are initiated before 15 min. If the patient meets a given set of criteria, code 0/9 is activated. Arrival time to the hospital cannot exceed 90 min. Femoral artery and vein are cannulated, extracorporeal circulation is started and lungs are preserved. After the relatives' and judicial authorisation lungs are retrieved. Out of a total of 322 occurrences of code 0/9, 43 lung retrievals and 25 implants were reported. A total of 95% of donors were male, with an average age of 41 years and 91% with blood group A or O. 2004 saw the highest number of retrievals (14). January, May and December showed the highest number of retrievals. Incidence of sudden deaths was higher from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 7 to 10 p.m. Twenty-three implants at Hospital Puerta de Hierro and three more at Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla (Santander) were reported. A considerable amount of preserved lungs, valid for transplant, were not retrieved because of a lack of an appropriate recipient at the time. A total of 58.1% of preserved lungs were implanted. The ratio of obtained lungs was 11.4% of actual donors and 7.7% of total occurrences. However, this percentage could have been higher if we take into account the number of valid lungs that were not transplanted because of the lack of recipients.

Reducing pesticide use while preserving crop productivity and profitability on arable farms.

Science.gov (United States)

Lechenet, Martin; Dessaint, Fabrice; Py, Guillaume; Makowski, David; Munier-Jolain, Nicolas

2017-03-01

Achieving sustainable crop production while feeding an increasing world population is one of the most ambitious challenges of this century 1 . Meeting this challenge will necessarily imply a drastic reduction of adverse environmental effects arising from agricultural activities 2 . The reduction of pesticide use is one of the critical drivers to preserve the environment and human health. Pesticide use could be reduced through the adoption of new production strategies 3-5 ; however, whether substantial reductions of pesticide use are possible without impacting crop productivity and profitability is debatable 6-17 . Here, we demonstrated that low pesticide use rarely decreases productivity and profitability in arable farms. We analysed the potential conflicts between pesticide use and productivity or profitability with data from 946 non-organic arable commercial farms showing contrasting levels of pesticide use and covering a wide range of production situations in France. We failed to detect any conflict between low pesticide use and both high productivity and high profitability in 77% of the farms. We estimated that total pesticide use could be reduced by 42% without any negative effects on both productivity and profitability in 59% of farms from our national network. This corresponded to an average reduction of 37, 47 and 60% of herbicide, fungicide and insecticide use, respectively. The potential for reducing pesticide use appeared higher in farms with currently high pesticide use than in farms with low pesticide use. Our results demonstrate that pesticide reduction is already accessible to farmers in most production situations. This would imply profound changes in market organization and trade balance.

Survival, lifetime production, and profitability of Normande × Holstein, Montbéliarde × Holstein, and Scandinavian Red × Holstein crossbreds versus pure Holsteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Heins, B J; Hansen, L B; De Vries, A

2012-02-01

Pure Holstein (HO) cows (n=416) were compared with Normande (NO) × HO (n=251), Montbéliarde (MO) × HO (n=503), and Scandinavian Red (SR) × HO (n=321) crossbred cows for survival, lifetime production, and profitability in 6 commercial herds in California. The SR crossbred cows were sired by both Swedish Red and Norwegian Red bulls. Cows calved from June 2002 to January 2009. For analysis of survival to subsequent calvings, lifetime production, and profitability, data were restricted to 3 of 6 herds because they had at least 20 cows in each of the breed groups. All cows had the opportunity to calve at least 4 times. Best prediction, which is used by USDA for national genetic evaluations in the United States, was used to determine lifetime production to 4 yr (1,461 d) in the herd after first calving from test-day observations. Production and survival were estimated after 4 yr to calculate lifetime profit. A profit function was defined to include revenues and expenses for milk, fat, protein, and other solids production; somatic cell count; reproduction; feed intake; calf value; salvage value; dead cow disposal; and fixed cost. The NO × HO (1.2%), MO × HO (2.0%), and SR × HO cows (1.6%) had significantly fewer deaths than did pure HO cows (5.3%) during the first 305 d of first lactation. All crossbred groups had significantly more cows that calved a second, third, and fourth time, and had mean survival that was 300 to 400 d longer than did pure HO cows. The NO × HO, MO × HO, and SR × HO cows had significantly higher lifetime fat plus protein production than did pure HO cows up to 1,461 d after first calving. For profitability (ignoring possible differences in health costs), NO × HO cows had 26% greater projected lifetime profit per cow, but 6.7% less profit per cow-day, than did pure HO cows. On the other hand, MO × HO and SR × HO cows had 50 to 44%, respectively, more projected lifetime profit per cow and 5.3 to 3.6%, respectively, more projected profit

Project H.O.P.E.: Effective University Engagement with Community Afterschool Programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbara C. Jentleson

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Implemented in 2002 by the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, Project H.O.P.E. has improved the quantity and quality of afterschool programs for the youth of Durham, NC. Project H.O.P.E. provides tutoring programs, enrichment resources, and evaluation support to non-profit community partner organizations located in the low income Durham neighborhoods surrounding Duke University. Duke University undergraduates who provide tutoring services to the Durham youth in the afterschool programs gain from valuable reciprocal service learning experiences. Project H.O.P.E. is an effective model of the mutual benefits that can be gained from effective university and community engagement in the service of at-risk students.

Refinery profitability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tobin, G.

1998-01-01

Recently there has been considerable shutting down of oil refinery capacity in response to the increasing pressures on profitability. This article examines the situation and the industry's response to it, including the drive for mergers, disposal of fuel oil, downsizing of workforces and strategic alliances. Future trends and their implications are also discussed. (UK)

Team effectiveness in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Latif, Khawaja Fawad; Williams, Nigel

2017-10-01

The incorporation of team context into research and practice regarding team effectiveness in NGOs projects is a constant challenge. The research seeks to address the gap and identify the critical determinants of team effectiveness in projects undertaken by non-governmental organizations. Using a systematic process, the study involved both literature and focus group discussions to generate the required items. A total of 157 respondents (Team Members and Team Leaders) were part of the study that filled the questionnaires. Using exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis, both convergent and discriminant validity was established. The present study found that team effectiveness in NGO social projects has a total of seven dimensions namely: Inter team coordination, community social linkage, team performance, knowledge, skills, and attitudes, leadership communication and engagement, decision making and information sharing, and team formation. There is a significant lack of research on team effectiveness in NGO projects. Where considerably large proportion of research on team effectiveness has focused on the corporate sector, the non-governmental teams have been neglected. This study clearly highlights the determinants that make up team effectiveness in NGOs. The determinants identified will help to specifically look at the effectiveness of teams in NGO projects. The study would help NGOs identify the dimensions in which they may be performing in a weaker manner and direct their energies in improving the factors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Siemens IT solutions for power sector. PROFIT solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lunter, P.

2004-01-01

The cost reduction, flexibility and revenue increase, potential exploitation, productivity increase, and business opportunities exploitation - that is all what can be required in the races for the promonent positioning on the electricity power market. These requirements can be realized by the sophisticated IT solutions hand-tailored to the special requirements of the electric power producers and tradesmen. This approach makes it possible to achieve greater profit. Our solutions 'PROFIT Solutions', that are symbiosis of the most progressive information technologies and the power plant techniques of the company Siemens, satisfy submitted specifications in substantial measure. The system solutions 'PROFIT Solutions' comprise three solution groups: process, operation a business. The solutions of the group 'IT Process Solutions' increase flexibility and manoeuvrability of equipment, improve the efficiency and contribute to more economical operation of the power generation. Solutions 'IT Process Solutions' simplify and shorten the period of power cycles and conduce to higher labour productivity. Solutions group 'IT Process Solutions' approaches equipment to the market - supports the profit strategies, helps quickly and expertly to determine and predict hazards. The extension PROFIT Cockpit means the nuance to the solutions world 'PROFIT Solutions'. The survey about the whole installation is within reach at the simple touch of a button. It is possible to compile the total system part by part from single solutions 'PROFIT Solutions'. As a matter of fact all single parts can be interconnected with already existing solutions. Routines 'PROFIT Solutions' cooperate with all modern control systems. (author)

On projective invariants based on non-linear connections in a Finsler space I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rastogi, S.C.

1986-05-01

The projective transformations based on linear connections in a Finsler space have been studied by Berwald, Misra, Szabo, Matsumoto, Fukai and Yamada, Rastogi and others. In almost all these papers the emphasis has been on studying Finsler spaces of scalar curvature, Finsler spaces of constant curvature and Finsler spaces of zero curvature with the help of projective curvature tensors of Weyl and Douglas. In 1981, the author studied projective transformation in a Finsler space based on non-linear connections and obtained certain projective invariants. The aim of the present paper is to study Finsler spaces of scalar curvature, constant curvature and zero curvature with the help of non-linear connections and projective invariants obtained from non-linear connections. (author)

For-Profit Schools: They Get IT

Science.gov (United States)

Waters, John K.

2011-01-01

The for-profit sector of higher education has generated some disturbing headlines recently. Widely publicized charges of predatory recruiting practices have prompted new regulations and provided fuel for scorching criticism of the entire business model. But while the spotlight is focused on what for-profits are doing wrong, are people overlooking…

Whispering Gallery Mode Based Optical Fiber Sensor for Measuring Concentration of Salt Solution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chia-Chin Chiang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available An optical fiber solution-concentration sensor based on whispering gallery mode (WGM is proposed in this paper. The WGM solution-concentration sensors were used to measure salt solutions, in which the concentrations ranged from 1% to 25% and the wavelength drifted from the left to the right. The experimental results showed an average sensitivity of approximately 0.372 nm/% and an R2 linearity of 0.8835. The proposed WGM sensors are of low cost, feasible for mass production, and durable for solution-concentration sensing.

7 CFR 3019.26 - Non-Federal audits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... higher education or other non-profit organizations (including hospitals) shall be subject to the audit... governments shall be subject to the audit requirements contained in the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996...-Profit Organizations.” (c) For-profit hospitals not covered by the audit provisions of revised OMB...

29 CFR 95.26 - Non-Federal audits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... higher education or other non-profit organizations (including hospitals) shall be subject to the audit... governments shall be subject to the audit requirements contained in the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996...-Profit Organizations.” (c) For-profit hospitals not covered by the audit provisions of revised OMB...

Profit U

Science.gov (United States)

Weinstein, Margery

2012-01-01

Preparing employees for the immediate work in front of them is a challenge. While most companies are still mastering effectively training their own workforce, some, such as "Training" magazine Top 10 Hall of Famer The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, have set up for-profit academies open to the public. When Ritz-Carlton won the national Malcolm…

Strategic Management Accounting and Feed-forward Management: with Reference to the Unified Management of Profit Opportunity and Risk

OpenAIRE

西村, 明

2015-01-01

This paper aims toreexamine strategic management accouning in relation to profit opportunity and risk from the viewpoint of feed-forward management , as few studies to date have discuued the relations between management accounting and the unified management of profit opportunity and risk.Many studies have been conducted that emphasize non-fine information and feedback organizational management in an attept to make traditional management accounting relevant to practical strategic needs. As lon...

Gigantic environmental profit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

The article presents studies on possible profits and advantages by converting vehicles such as buses and taxis from diesel to gas fuel engines for the environment and human beings in Norway. Some applications for automobiles are mentioned

Are loyal customers profitable? : customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer profitability at the individual level

OpenAIRE

Helgesen, Øyvind

2000-01-01

Customer satisfaction is supposed to be positively related to profitability. This conception may be called “the paradigm of customer satisfaction”. Nevertheless, only a few studies have examined this fundamental relationship. Thus, evidence for this “much talked about relationship” is questioned. In this working paper the focus is on the individual customer with respect to the relationships between customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer profitability at the customer level. The f...

University partnerships with the corporate sector faculty experiences with for-profit matriculation pathway programs

CERN Document Server

Winkle, Carter

2013-01-01

Carter Winkle provides emperically derived insight into both positive and negative implications of the contemporary phenomena of partnerships between universities and private, for-profit educational service providers resulting in matriculation pathway programs for non-native English speaking students in the United States.

Electronic Payments Profitability Extent Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rudolf Vohnout

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Cashless payments are recent phenomena, which even increased with the introduction of contactless means like NFC, PayPass or payWave. Such new methods speed-up the entire payment process and in comparison to cash transactions are much simpler and faster. But on the other hand the key question for merchant is if it is worth to have such device, which accept these new payment means or not to have the terminal at all. What is the amount of cash flow, which delimits the cash holdings to be still profitable? This paper tries to give answers to such question by presenting general profitability model, which will address defining the cash threshold amount. The aim is to show that cash holdings could be profitable up to certain amount, but after the threshold is met, cashless payment methods are fairly superior despite their additional costs.

The determinants of Bank Profitability: Does Liquidity Creation matter?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Sahyouni

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Using a panel data set of 4995 banks across 11 developed and emerging countries during the period (2011-2015, this report analyses the amount of liquidity created by banks, how liquidity creation, bank-specific and the macroeconomic factors affecting bank profitability. The results show evidence of increased creation of liquidity over the period. By applying the panel data fixed effect technique, banks that create more liquidity, are set up to have lower profitability. As well as, Asset management, bank size and capital ratio are positively correlated with bank profitability. While, credit quality and operating efficiency affect bank’s profits negatively. Additionally, macroeconomic factors have different impact on profitability indicators in each market. Our findings may help decision makers inside and outside bank to determine important factors affecting bank profitability.

Education for Profit, Education for Freedom

Science.gov (United States)

Nussbaum, Martha C.

2009-01-01

Education is often discussed in low-level utilitarian terms: how can educators produce technically trained people who can hold onto "their" share of the global market? With the rush to profitability, values precious for the future of democracy are in danger of getting lost. The profit motive suggests to most concerned politicians that science and…

Profit and place

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian Bentley

1997-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the physical and symbolic effects the built environment has on human activities in a capitalist economy. The built environment is integrated in the capitalist economy on three levels: as the focus of a profit-oriented manufacturing industry, as the setting for all sorts of other enterprises and as the built context of the whole economy. The built environment is understood as a commodity. The capitalist system contains inbuilt tensions which have important design implications: the first tension arises because the system, if left to itself, lacks any overall planning functions, the second tension stems from the ability of the system to generate profit and the third arises from the character of labour, which distinguishes it from other commodities used in the production process. In conclusion methods of designing built environments, which perpetuate social order, are discussed.

Citizen science projects for non-science astronomy students

OpenAIRE

Barmby, Pauline; Gallagher, S. C.; Cami, J.

2014-01-01

A poster from the 2011 Western Conference on Science Education, describing the use of citizen science project Galaxy Zoo in a non-majors astronomy course. Lots more on this topic at https://www.zooniverse.org/education  

PRACTICE OF DRAFTING AND IMPLEMENTING OF FINANCING PROJECTS IN NON-FORMAL EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BUZOIANU Daniela Angela

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In Petroleum and Gas University, besides teaching and research activities, a priority is non-formal education area. In the academic center of Ploiesti, the activities of non-formal education take place through Center for Porjects, Programs and Cultural - Artistic events (CPPECA and Student’s Culture House, located in the University campus (CCS. The mission of the Center for Projects, Programs and Cultural - Artistic events and Student’s Culture House is: - To offer a big diversity of activities in non-formal education area for students and teachers; - To become an essential and defining pillar in continous formation of young people. The purpose is to promote excellence also in non-formal education fied , starting from the value and tradition of university education in Romanian oil area The Center for Project, Programs and Cultural - Artistic events (CPPECA and Student’s House of Culture have: • An educational function; • A real multidirectional cultural vocation through: - initiating,implementing and developing cultural projects and programs; - organizing and developing specific events like shows, festivals, national and international contests. The paper presents practical aspects in development and implementation of financing projects in non-formal education field.

Vectors for Increasing the Effectiveness of Profit Management at Company Level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

І. V.

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Imperfect management of processes involved in accumulation and disposal of profit at Ukrainian companies affects their performance, with the consequent losses of public budget revenues. This raises the need for new and more effective mechanisms for accumulation and disposal of corporate profit, which would be focused on maximal utilization of production, marketing and fiscal capacities of business entities and enhancement of their competitiveness at domestic and global market. The article’s objective is to conduct theoretical study of profit as an economic category and an essential component of company’s performance, sum up the principles of profit management, and analyze the profit management system at company level. A brief review of theoretical definitions of profit is made, economic origin of profit and its role in business operation in the Ukrainian context is highlighted. The components of profit management system at company level, essential principles of strategic management of company profit, organizational and economic mechanism for company profit management, a strategy for profit management at company level is discussed and summed up. The organizational and economic mechanism for profit quality management at company level is proposed.

Approaches to economic analysis of profitability of forestry enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O.M. Dzyubenko

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The article substantiates the directions of adaptation of existing analytical procedures for assessing the profitability to specific activities of forestry enterprises, which is an integral part of evaluating financial potential of enterprises of the investigated branch. In particular, the author identifies the following analytical procedures that make it possible to assess the performance of forestry enterprises and determine its financial potential: the return on equity (assets on net profit, the return on equity, the return on assets, the return on sales of profits from operating activities, the profitability of sold products at net profit, reinvestment factor, the economic growth sustainability ratio, the period of payback capital, the payback period of equity capital. On the basis of these indicators, the current state of profitability of forestry enterprises was substantiated and their critical points were determined.

Special file: non conventional gases at the origin of the gas financial bubble

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

This article discusses the development the non-conventional gas market. For instance, these gases (shale gas, tight gas, coal bed methane or CBM) already represent more than a half of domestic production in the United States, and they may therefore disturb the world market and worsen the overproduction situation. Because of them, liquefied natural gas projects tend to be stopped. The involved technologies are briefly evoked, as well as their profitability

Social Phenomenological Analysis as a Research Method in Art Education: Developing an Empirical Model for Understanding Gallery Talks

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmann, Fabian

2016-01-01

Social phenomenological analysis is presented as a research method to study gallery talks or guided tours in art museums. The research method is based on the philosophical considerations of Edmund Husserl and sociological/social science concepts put forward by Max Weber and Alfred Schuetz. Its starting point is the everyday lifeworld; the…

Quality differences between private for-profit, private non-profit and public hospitals in Norway: a retrospective national register-based study of acute readmission rates following total hip and knee arthroplasties.

Science.gov (United States)

Holom, Geir Hiller; Hagen, Terje P

2017-08-18

To compare the quality of care-using unplanned acute hospital readmissions as a quality measure-among patients treated at private for-profit hospitals (PFPs), private non-profit hospitals (PNPs) and public hospitals (PUBs) in Norway. A retrospective comparative study using the Norwegian Patient Register. Readmissions were evaluated by logistic regressions both using adjustment for various patient-level and other covariates, and a two-stage model using distance as an instrumental variable. The Norwegian healthcare system. All publicly financed patients having primary total hip (37 897 patients) or primary total knee arthroplasty (25 802 patients) at one of the three hospital types from 2009 to 2014. 30-day unplanned acute hospital readmission rate. We found highest readmission rates among PUBs and lowest among PFPs, for both procedures. However, the patients were on average more than 2 years younger at PFPs. PFPs also treated the least severe patients, while PUBs treated the most severe. Using adjustment for various patient-level and other covariates, compared to PUBs, both PFPs and PNPs had lower odds of readmission following both procedures. However, using the instrumental variable method, the only significant difference found was a lower odds of readmission at PNPs among hip patients when compared with PUBs. No patients in our data set were readmitted to PFPs, those originally treated at PFPs were readmitted to either PNPs or PUBs, and PUBs received most of the readmitted patients across hospital types. Quality differences between hospital types were small; however, PNPs had significantly lower readmission rates compared with PUBs among patients having total hip arthroplasty. PUBs received the larger part of the readmitted patients across hospital types and thus play an essential role in the care of more complex patients and for readmissions, regardless of any quality differences. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the

Two-photon excited whispering-gallery mode ultraviolet laser from an individual ZnO microneedle

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, G. P.; Xu, C. X.; Zhu, J.; Lv, C. G.; Cui, Y. P.

2009-02-01

Wurtzite structural ZnO microneedles with hexagonal cross section were fabricated by vapor-phase transport method and an individual microneedle was employed as a lasing microcavity. Under excitation of a femtosecond pulse laser with 800 nm wavelength, the ultraviolet (UV) laser emission was obtained, which presented narrow linewidth and high Q value. The UV emission, resonant mechanism, and laser mode characteristics were discussed in detail. The results demonstrated that the UV laser originated from the whispering-gallery mode induced by two-photon absorption assisted by Rabi oscillation.

The relationship between bed size and profitability in South Carolina hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yang K; Glover, Saundra H; Stoskopf, Carleen H; Boyd, Suzan D

2002-01-01

The purpose of the study is to identify factors affecting hospital profitability and to find the optimal hospital bed size that assures maximum profit. This is a cross-sectional study using survey data obtained from acute care hospitals in South Carolina in 1997. The relationship of hospital profitability and hospital bed size revealed that when bed size increases, hospital profitability increases, decreases, and then increases again. For the patient profit proportion, the turning points in bed size are 238.22 and 560.08. For the total profit proportion, the turning points in bed size are 223.31 and 503.86. The results on the relationship between bed size and hospital profitability indicate that medium-size hospitals have less profitability.

Profitability of wood harvesting enterprises

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Penttinen, M. email: markku.penttinen@metla.fi; Mikkola, J. email: jarmo.mikkola@metla.fi; Rummukainen, A. email: arto.rummukainen@metla.fi

2009-07-01

The forest machine business is about 50 years old. The rapid technical development of machinery increased productivity up to the end of last century. In 2007, the total value of round and energy wood harvesting and silvicultural work operated by forest machine enterprises exceeded 570 mill. euro. According to the materials of the Vehicle Administration Finland and Statistics Finland there are about 1 600 active harvesting enterprises in the personal and business taxation system. Beside this, there are according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry about 1 300 farmers who do harvesting as side business. About 1 000 enterprises working in June 2007 were studied with their retrospective economic analyses from 2001. The data includes all enterprises that had supplied closing of the accounts data. One-machine entrepreneurs represent more than a third of the number of enterprises, but only 13 percent of the turnover. Enterprises with seven or more machines represent less than ten percent of the number, but over twenty percent of the turnover. Enterprises are largest in eastern and northern Finland, where the average number of machines per enterprise exceeds three. Small enterprises are mostly singleowner business enterprises with a median turnover of 125 000 euros per annum. Partnerships and limited enterprises have double the median turnover of single-owner businesss. Limited companies turn over a median of 450 000 euro/y, representing 67 percent of total turnover. Median net profit varied between 6 and 10 percent of turnover in 2001-2007, but only between 2 and 4 percent where the wage adjustment is deducted from the profit. The wage adjustment is estimated as if the owners of single-owner businesses earn an operator's salary. Profit was highest in 2002 and lowest 2006. In the smallest enterprise class with a turnover of less than 75 000 euro/y, profit was lowest and negative in 2006 and 2007. The variation in profits between enterprises was also biggest in

Profit Forecast Model Using Monte Carlo Simulation in Excel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petru BALOGH

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Profit forecast is very important for any company. The purpose of this study is to provide a method to estimate the profit and the probability of obtaining the expected profit. Monte Carlo methods are stochastic techniques–meaning they are based on the use of random numbers and probability statistics to investigate problems. Monte Carlo simulation furnishes the decision-maker with a range of possible outcomes and the probabilities they will occur for any choice of action. Our example of Monte Carlo simulation in Excel will be a simplified profit forecast model. Each step of the analysis will be described in detail. The input data for the case presented: the number of leads per month, the percentage of leads that result in sales, , the cost of a single lead, the profit per sale and fixed cost, allow obtaining profit and associated probabilities of achieving.

Exhibiting Western Desert Aboriginal painting in Australia’s public galleries: an institutional analysis, 1981-2002

OpenAIRE

Jim Berryman

2012-01-01

This paper documents and analyses the exhibition history of Aboriginal painting in Australia’s public art galleries over a two-decade period. It concentrates on Western Desert acrylics but is not confined to this movement or region alone. Based on a review of catalogues from key exhibitions, it identifies three interpretative frameworks used by curators to validate the presence of Aboriginal painting in the contemporary art realm. These modes of interpretation are called the aesthetic, ethnog...

Lesbian identity and the politics of representation in Betty Parsons's gallery.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, A

1994-01-01

Although Betty Parsons had been unusually open about her love relationships with women in the twenties and thirties, she later became reticent, retiring to the closet. Her increased discretion after World War II, during the Cold War, coincided with her rise as the art dealer most prominently associated with the international emergence of Abstract Expressionism. Parsons incurred the objections of her Abstract Expressionists, however, by showing artists who included both abstraction and naturalism in their work, such as Sonia Sekula, Forrest Bess, and Hedda Sterne. This article examines her definition of abstraction as difference through her friend Theodoros Stamos's notion of camp and helps to explain her admiration of Barnett Newman despite her refusal to devote her gallery exclusively to his narrower version of significant abstraction.

A Comparison of For-Profit and Traditional Universities' Student Persistence, Graduation Rate, and Job Placement

Science.gov (United States)

Sandlin, Deborah L.

2017-01-01

This research project is a study comparing for-profit schools and traditional universities related to student persistence, graduation rate, and job placement. The results based on a sample size of 92 students indicate that there is no significant difference between persistence, graduation rates and successful job placement at either school. There…

Particularities of Profit and Loss Account Audit and the Production Process in Constructions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marian Grigore

2016-01-01

The financial audit of the profit and loss account is subsequent and implies a scheduledverification after the end of the financial year and submission of yearly statements to financialadministration, as a confirmation that this activity was efficient, did not result in frauds. It thusfollows that there is a direct relationship between the initial control proposed at the beginning ofthe building project and the final verification materialised through the annual financial audit.

PROFIT-PC: a program for estimating maximum net revenue from multiproduct harvests in Appalachian hardwoods

Science.gov (United States)

Chris B. LeDoux; John E. Baumgras; R. Bryan Selbe

1989-01-01

PROFIT-PC is a menu driven, interactive PC (personal computer) program that estimates optimum product mix and maximum net harvesting revenue based on projected product yields and stump-to-mill timber harvesting costs. Required inputs include the number of trees/acre by species and 2 inches diameter at breast-height class, delivered product prices by species and product...

Multiscale Analysis of Foreign Exchange Order Flows and Technical Trading Profitability

OpenAIRE

Nikola Gradojevic; Camillo Lento

2012-01-01

This paper investigates the multiscale (frequency-dependent) relationship between technical trading profitability and feedback trading effects in the Canada/U.S. dollar foreign exchange market. The results suggest weak evidence that technical trading activities of financial and non-financial customers drive frequent violations of the FX market microstructure assumption that exchange rate movements are driven by order flow. After controlling for transaction costs, we find that the contribution...

License Compliance Issues For Biopharmaceuticals: Special Challenges For Negotiations Between Companies And Non-Profit Research Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Ponzio, Todd A.; Feindt, Hans; Ferguson, Steven

2011-01-01

Summary Biopharmaceuticals are therapeutic products based on biotechnology. They are manufactured by or from living organisms and are the most complex of all commercial medicines to develop, manufacture and qualify for regulatory approval. In recent years biopharmaceuticals have rapidly increased in number and importance with over 4001 already marketed in the U.S. and European markets alone. Many companies throughout the world are now ramping up investments in biopharmaceutical R&D and expanding their portfolios through licensing of early-stage biotechnologies from universities and other non-profit research institutions, and there is an increasing number of license agreements for biopharmaceutical product development relative to traditional small molecule drug compounds. This trend will only continue as large numbers of biosimilars and biogenerics enter the market. A primary goal of technology transfer offices associated with publicly-funded, non-profit research institutions is to establish patent protection for inventions deemed to have commercial potential and license them for product development. Such licenses help stimulate economic development and job creation, bring a stream of royalty revenue to the institution and, hopefully, advance the public good or public health by bringing new and useful products to market. In the course of applying for such licenses, a commercial development plan is usually put forth by the license applicant. This plan indicates the path the applicant expects to follow to bring the licensed invention to market. In the case of small molecule drug compounds, there exists a widely-recognized series of clinical development steps, dictated by regulatory requirements, that must be met to bring a new drug to market, such as completion of preclinical toxicology, Phase 1, 2 and 3 testing and product approvals. These steps often become the milestone/benchmark schedule incorporated into license agreements which technology transfer offices use to

License Compliance Issues For Biopharmaceuticals: Special Challenges For Negotiations Between Companies And Non-Profit Research Institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponzio, Todd A; Feindt, Hans; Ferguson, Steven

2011-09-01

Biopharmaceuticals are therapeutic products based on biotechnology. They are manufactured by or from living organisms and are the most complex of all commercial medicines to develop, manufacture and qualify for regulatory approval. In recent years biopharmaceuticals have rapidly increased in number and importance with over 400() already marketed in the U.S. and European markets alone. Many companies throughout the world are now ramping up investments in biopharmaceutical R&D and expanding their portfolios through licensing of early-stage biotechnologies from universities and other non-profit research institutions, and there is an increasing number of license agreements for biopharmaceutical product development relative to traditional small molecule drug compounds. This trend will only continue as large numbers of biosimilars and biogenerics enter the market.A primary goal of technology transfer offices associated with publicly-funded, non-profit research institutions is to establish patent protection for inventions deemed to have commercial potential and license them for product development. Such licenses help stimulate economic development and job creation, bring a stream of royalty revenue to the institution and, hopefully, advance the public good or public health by bringing new and useful products to market. In the course of applying for such licenses, a commercial development plan is usually put forth by the license applicant. This plan indicates the path the applicant expects to follow to bring the licensed invention to market. In the case of small molecule drug compounds, there exists a widely-recognized series of clinical development steps, dictated by regulatory requirements, that must be met to bring a new drug to market, such as completion of preclinical toxicology, Phase 1, 2 and 3 testing and product approvals. These steps often become the milestone/benchmark schedule incorporated into license agreements which technology transfer offices use to monitor

Monitoring the Excavation Damaged Zone in Opalinus clay by three dimensional reconstruction of the electrical resistivity in the Mont Terri gallery G-04

Science.gov (United States)

Lesparre, N.; Adler, A.; Nicollin, F.; Gibert, D.; Nussbaum, C.

2012-04-01

The characteristics of opalinus clay have been studied in the last years for its capacity to retain radionuclide transport as a low permeable rock. This formation presents thereby suitable properties for hosting repository sites of radioactive waste. The Mont Terri underground rock laboratory (Switzerland) has been excavated in opalinus clay layer in order to develop experiences improving the knowledge on the physico-chemical properties of the rock. The study of electrical properties furnishes information on the rock structure, its anisotropy and the changes of these properties with time (Nicollin et al., 2010 ; Thovert et al., 2011). Here the three dimensional reconstruction of the electrical resistivity aims at monitoring the temporal evolution of the excavation damaged zone. Three rings of electrodes have been set-up around the gallery and voltage is measured between two electrodes while a current is injected between two others (Gibert et al., 2006). Measurements have been achieved from July 2004 until April 2008 before, during and after the excavation of the gallery 04. In this study we develop a computational approach to reconstruct three dimensional images of the resistivity in the vicinity of the electrodes. A finite element model is used to represent the complex geometry of the gallery. The measurements inferred from a given resistivity distribution are estimated using the software EIDORS (Adler and Lionheart, 2006), this constitutes the forward problem. The reconstruction of the media resistivity is then implemented by fitting the estimated to the measured data, via the resolution of an inverse problem. The parameters of this inverse problem are defined by mapping the forward problem elements into a coarser mesh. This allows to reduce drastically the number of unknowns and so increases the robustness of the inversion. The inversion is executed with the conjugate gradient method regularised by an analysis of the Jacobian singular values. The results show an

Competition for FDI and Profit Shifting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Jie; Raimondos-Møller, Pascalis

When countries compete for the location of a new multinational plant they need to be aware of the profit shifting opportunities this new plant creates for the global multinational firm. By modelling explicitly the multinational’s intra-firm transactions, we show that the home market advantage...... that large countries have due to their size will be counteracted by such profit shifting opportunities. As a result of this, large countries will not be able to capitalize on their size and sustain high corporate taxes. We show that, on the basis of these profit shifting opportunities, a small country can...... easily win the location game ahead of a large country. How lenient the small country is in implementing transfer pricing regulations turns out to be an important variable in such location games....

Podpora lidí s tělesným postižením. Projekt "Práce na míru šitá"

OpenAIRE

Brůnová, Lada

2011-01-01

The Thesis "The Educative Campaign for People with Psychical Disabilities. Project "Tailored Job" deals with social marketing, specifically social campaign of a non-profit organization Asistence o.s. and its various aspects with regard to the Czech non-profit environment. I devote a large part of the thesis to the communications mix which, if used cleverly, saves the non-profit organization some money. Finally, I try to evaluate the project, in particular the communications site and outline h...

Australian doctors and the visual arts. Part 2. Doctors as collectors, donors, gallery supporters and writers in New South Wales.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, D G

1986-04-28

The contribution of doctors to the visual arts if being discussed in a series of six articles. The first article dealt with doctor-artists in new South Wales. In this, the second, doctors are discussed as collectors, donors, gallery supporters and writers in this State.

Profit Sharing and Reciprocity: Theory and Survey Evidence

OpenAIRE

Cornelissen, Thomas; Heywood, John S.; Jirjahn, Uwe

2010-01-01

The 1/n problem potentially limits the effectiveness of profit sharing in motivating workers. While the economic literature suggests that reciprocity can mitigate this problem, it remains silent on the optimal degree of reciprocity. We present a representative model demonstrating that reciprocity may increase productive effort but may also increase unproductive effort such as socializing on the job. The model implies that reciprocity increases profit up to a point but decreases profit beyond ...

Benefits and Costs of For-Profit Public Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex Molnar

2001-04-01

Full Text Available As a policy initiative, for-profit operation of public schools has not lived up to the claims of its proponents. An examination of issues such as teaching methods, academic achievement, autonomy, local control, and the image and influence of for-profit public schools suggests that "for-profits" are unlikely to succeed in the long term in improving the overall quality of public education. They do, however, seem capable of harming public schools.

American Fuel Cell Bus Project Evaluation. Second Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eudy, Leslie [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Post, Matthew [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2015-09-01

This report presents results of the American Fuel Cell Bus (AFCB) Project, a demonstration of fuel cell electric buses operating in the Coachella Valley area of California. The prototype AFCB was developed as part of the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) National Fuel Cell Bus Program. Through the non-profit consortia CALSTART, a team led by SunLine Transit Agency and BAE Systems developed a new fuel cell electric bus for demonstration. SunLine added two more AFCBs to its fleet in 2014 and another in 2015. FTA and the AFCB project team are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to evaluate the buses in revenue service. This report summarizes the performance results for the buses through June 2015.

Cooperation and profit allocation in distribution chains

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guardiola, Luis A.; Meca, Ana; Timmer, Judith B.

2007-01-01

We study the coordination of actions and the allocation of profit in supply chains under decentralized control in which a single supplier supplies several retailers with goods for replenishment of stocks. The goal of the supplier and the retailers is to maximize their individual profits. Since the

Controlled assembly of organic whispering-gallery-mode microlasers as highly sensitive chemical vapor sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Miaomiao; Wei, Cong; Lin, Xianqing; Liu, Yuan; Hu, Fengqin; Zhao, Yong Sheng

2017-03-09

We demonstrate the fabrication of organic high Q active whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators from π-conjugated polymer by a controlled emulsion-solvent-evaporation method, which can simultaneously provide optical gain and act as an effective resonant cavity. By measuring the shift of their lasing modes on exposure to organic vapor, we successfully monitored the slight concentration variation in the chemical gas. These microlaser sensors demonstrated high detection sensitivity and good signal repeatability under continuous chemical gas treatments. The results offer an effective strategy to design miniaturized optical sensors.

Adult Education for Social and Environmental Change in Contemporary Public Art Galleries and Museums in Canada, Scotland and England

Science.gov (United States)

Clover, Darlene E.

2015-01-01

Historically, pubic art galleries and museums have a well-deserved reputation for elitism, colonialism and exclusion and they are, therefore, frequently omitted from the discourse of adult education. However, the escalating social, cultural and ecological problems of this new century have placed pressure on these public institutions to change and…

PENGARUH NON PERFORMING LOAN (NPL TERHADAP PROFITABILITAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silviana Agustami

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Profitability is one of the essential elements in the process of assessing performance in banking finance. Bank needs to keep its profitability to maintain the continuity of its corporation. In the process of attaining income and making profit, a bank commonly does many efforts. One of them is through offering the credits to the public. However, in fact, credit which becomes the basis to run the company has the risk of failure when the clients/ debtors have to pay the loan back on its deadline/ Non Performing Loan (NPL. The objective of this study is to find out whether NPL influences negatively or not towards the bank profitability. This study employed the basic regression analysis method through linearity and normality tests. The data used is the financial statement of PT. Bank OCBC NISP, Tbk in 2002 until 2010 published by Bank Indonesia. Based on the revealed elaboration and the data analysis about the influence of NPL towards profitability, it can be concluded that the condition of Non-Performing Loan (NPL in PT. Bank OCBC NISP, Tbk is good in general since it is still below the NPL value regulated by Bank Indonesia which is 5%. Meanwhile, the profitability based on the return on assets (ROA in PT. Bank OCBC NISP tends to be below the minimum standard which is 1,5%, but it is classified in high category in the framework of performance determination of banking finance governed by Bank Indonesia. In PT. Bank OCBC NISP, Tbk, Non-Performing Loan (NPL influences negatively towards profitability.

An Algorithm for the Nucleolus of Airport Profit Problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brânzei, R.; Inarra, E.; Tijs, S.H.; Zarzuelo, J.

2003-01-01

Airport profit games are a generalization of airport cost games as well as of bankruptcy games.In this paper we present a simple algorithm to compute the nucleolus of airport profit games.In addition we prove that there exists an unique consistent allocation rule in airport profit problems, and it

Joint-operation in water resources project in Indonesia: Integrated or non-integrated

Science.gov (United States)

Ophiyandri, Taufika; Istijono, Bambang; Hidayat, Benny

2017-11-01

The construction of large water resources infrastructure project often involved a joint-operation (JO) project between two or more construction companies. The form of JO can be grouped into two categories - an integrated type and a non-integrated type. This paper investigates the reason of forming a JO project made by companies. The specific advantages and problems of JO project is also analysed in this paper. In order to achieve the objectives, three water resources infrastructure projects were selected as case studies. Data was gathered by conducting 11 semi-structured interviews to project owners, contractor managers, and project staffs. Data was analysed by means of content analysis. It was found that the most fundamental factor to form a JO is to win a competition or tender. An integrated model is in favour because it can reduce overhead costs and has a simple management system, while a non-integrated model is selected because it can avoid a sleeping partner and make contractor more responsible for their own job.

Causes of different profitability of agricultural sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vučković Branko

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This work involves identification of causes of different profitability of agricultural sector done on case study of nearly identical agricultural enterprises. It shows that financial mix even in scope of similar companies can lead to various profit indicators. Through comparative financial analysis in the same industry and activity by applying methods and techniques we have concluded that company PP Ratkovo operates more stable and closer to determined norms and also shows better results in majority of the indicators. Horizontal and vertical analysis indicates that companies in Agribusiness partner group use expensive external sources of financing. We have precisely defined in which cost segment occurs highest distinction. Also we have shown reasons why PP Ratkovo in the last two years manifests great profitability measured by ebit, ebitda and net profit as well as excellent structure of material costs and wages costs in in frame of the operating income, and reasons why enterprises in Agribusiness partner group does not.

Profit inefficiency and its determinants among yam producers in Imo ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Farm profit inefficiency in yam production in Imo State, Nigeria was estimated using stochastic translog profit frontier model. The mean output of yam producers was 10.3tons/ha, while the mean level of profit inefficiency was 63.7 percent with a wide range of 23.41 – 94.23 percent. Mean loss of profit was N76061 per hectare.

Provision of Child Care: Cost Functions for Profit-Making and Not-for-Profit Day Care Centers

OpenAIRE

Swati Mukerjee; Ann Dryden Witte; Sheila Hollowell

1990-01-01

This paper estimates cost functions for day care centers in Massachusetts. The production technology assumed is the generalized homothetic Cobb-Douglas production function. The cost function dual to this production function is estimated separately for profit-making (P1Os) and not-for-profit (NPOs) organizations. The results are discussed in the context of current NPO literature. NPOs are found to be operating at higher average coats than PMOs for most output levels as predicted by the literat...

Optimal solutions for routing problems with profits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Archetti, C.; Bianchessi, N.; Speranza, M. G.

2013-01-01

In this paper, we present a branch-and-price algorithm to solve two well-known vehicle routing problems with profits, the Capacitated Team Orienteering Problem and the Capacitated Profitable Tour Problem. A restricted master heuristic is applied at each node of the branch-and-bound tree in order to

Management Practices: Are Not For Profits Different?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Delfgaauw (Josse); A.J. Dur (Robert); C. Propper (Propper); S. Smith (Sarah)

2011-01-01

textabstractRecent studies have demonstrated the importance of good management for firm performance. Here, we focus on management in not-for-profits (NFPs). We present a model predicting that management quality will be lower in NFPs compared to for-profits (FPs), but that outputs may not be worse if

Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Dyfrig A; Poletti-Hughes, Jannine

2016-01-01

Concerns about the high cost of orphan drugs has led to questions being asked about the generosity of the incentives for development, and associated company profits. We conducted a retrospective, propensity score matched study of publicly-listed orphan companies. Cases were defined as holders of orphan drug market authorisation in Europe or the USA between 2000-12. Control companies were selected based on their propensity for being orphan drug market authorisation holders. We applied system General Method of Moments to test whether companies with orphan drug market authorization are valued higher, as measured by the Tobin's Q and market to book value ratios, and are more profitable based on return on assets, than non-orphan drug companies. 86 companies with orphan drug approvals in European (4), USA (61) or both (21) markets were matched with 258 controls. Following adjustment, orphan drug market authorization holders have a 9.6% (95% confidence interval, 0.6% to 18.7%) higher return on assets than non-orphan drug companies; Tobin's Q was higher by 9.9% (1.0% to 19.7%); market to book value by 15.7% (3.1% to 30.0%) and operating profit by 516% (CI 19.8% to 1011%). For each additional orphan drug sold, return on assets increased by 11.1% (0.6% to 21.3%), Tobin's Q by 2.7% (0.2% to 5.2%), and market to book value ratio by 5.8% (0.7% to 10.9%). Publicly listed pharmaceutical companies that are orphan drug market authorization holders are associated with higher market value and greater profits than companies not producing treatments for rare diseases.

Growth and profitability in small privately held biotech firms: preliminary findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Brännback, Malin; Carsrud, Alan; Renko, Maija; Ostermark, Ralf; Aaltonen, Jaana; Kiviluoto, Niklas

2009-06-01

This paper reports on preliminary findings on a study of the relationship of growth and profitability among small privately held Finnish Life Science firms. Previous research results concerning growth and profitability are mixed, ranging from strongly positive to a negative relationship. The conventional wisdom states that growth is a prerequisite for profitability. Our results suggest that the reverse is the case. A high profitability-low growth biotech firm is more probably to make the transition to high profitability-high growth than a firm that starts off with low profitability and high growth.

DISPAQ: Distributed Profitable-Area Query from Big Taxi Trip Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Putri, Fadhilah Kurnia; Song, Giltae; Kwon, Joonho; Rao, Praveen

2017-09-25

One of the crucial problems for taxi drivers is to efficiently locate passengers in order to increase profits. The rapid advancement and ubiquitous penetration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology into transportation industries enables us to provide taxi drivers with locations that have more potential passengers (more profitable areas) by analyzing and querying taxi trip data. In this paper, we propose a query processing system, called Distributed Profitable-Area Query ( DISPAQ ) which efficiently identifies profitable areas by exploiting the Apache Software Foundation's Spark framework and a MongoDB database. DISPAQ first maintains a profitable-area query index (PQ-index) by extracting area summaries and route summaries from raw taxi trip data. It then identifies candidate profitable areas by searching the PQ-index during query processing. Then, it exploits a Z-Skyline algorithm, which is an extension of skyline processing with a Z-order space filling curve, to quickly refine the candidate profitable areas. To improve the performance of distributed query processing, we also propose local Z-Skyline optimization, which reduces the number of dominant tests by distributing killer profitable areas to each cluster node. Through extensive evaluation with real datasets, we demonstrate that our DISPAQ system provides a scalable and efficient solution for processing profitable-area queries from huge amounts of big taxi trip data.

Willow growing - Methods of calculation and profitability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenqvist, H.

1997-01-01

The calculation method presented here makes it possible to conduct profitability comparisons between annual and perennial crops and in addition take the planning situation into account. The method applied is a modified total step calculation. The difference between a traditional total step calculation and the modified version is the way in which payments and disbursements are taken into account over a period of several years. This is achieved by combining the present value method and the annuity method. The choice of interest rate has great bearing on the result in perennial calculations. The various components influencing the interest rate are analysed and factors relating to the establishment of the interest rate in different situations are described. The risk factor can be an important variable component of the interest rate calculation. Risk is also addressed from an approach in accordance with portfolio theory. The application of the methods sheds light on the profitability of Salix cultivation from the viewpoint of business economics, and also how different factors influence the profitability of Salix cultivation. Aspects studied are harvesting intervals, the importance of yield level, the competitiveness of Salix versus grain cultivation, the influence of income taxes on profitability etc. Methods for evaluation of activities concerning cultivation of a perennial crop are described and also involve the application of nitrogen fertilization to Salix cultivation. Studies have been performed using these methods to look into nitrogen fertilizer profitability in Salix cultivation during the first rotation period. Nitrogen fertilizer profitability has been investigated involving both production functions and cost calculations, taking the year fertilization into consideration. 72 refs., 2 figs., 52 tabs

Components of the Profitability of Technical Currency Trading

OpenAIRE

Schulmeister, Stephan

2005-01-01

This paper investigates the sources of the profitability of 1024 moving average and momentum models when trading in the German mark (euro)/U.S. dollar market based on daily data. The main results are as follows. First, each of these models would have been profitable over the entire sample period. Second, this profitability is exclusively due to the exploitation of persistent exchange rate trends. Third, these results do not change substantially when trading is examined within subperiods. Four...

There's no profiting from a joint venture misadventure.

Science.gov (United States)

Herschman, Gary W

2004-10-01

In St. David's vs. IRS, a not-for-profit health system effectively challenged the IRS's determination that the system should be disqualified from tax exemption because it had entered a 50/50 joint venture with a for-profit system. The court decisions in St. David's, coupled with a recent IRS ruling, Revenue Ruling 2004-51, provide insight into how a not-for-profit hospital can structure such a joint venture to avoid jeopardizing its tax-exempt status.

Marketing strategies and profitability analysis of restaurants in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Marketing strategies and profitability analysis of restaurants in Sokoto metropolis, Nigeria. ... Abstract. The study examined the marketing strategies and profitability of restaurants in Sokoto metropolis. ... EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT