Environmental assessment for the Consumer Products Efficiency Standards program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-05-23

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 as amended by the National Energy Conservation Policy Act of 1978, requires the DOE to prescribe energy efficiency standards for thirteen consumer products. The Consumer Products Efficiency Standards (CPES) program covers the following products: refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers; freezers;clothes dryers;water heaters; room air conditioners; home heating equipment (not including furnaces); kitchen ranges and ovens; central air conditioners (cooling and heat pumps); furnaces; dishwashers; television sets; clothes washers; and humidifiers and dehumidifiers. DOE is proposing two sets of standards for all thirteen consumer products: intermediate standards to become effective in 1981 for the first nine products and in 1982 for the second four products, and final standards to become effective in 1986 and 1987, respectively. The final standards are more restrictive than the intermediate standards and will provide manufacturers with the maximum time permitted under the Act to plan and develop extensive new lines of efficient consumer products. The final standards proposed by DOE require the maximum improvements in efficiency which are technologically feasible and economically justified, as required by Section 325(c) of EPCA. The thirteen consumer products account for approximately 90% of all the energy consumed in the nation's residences, or more than 20% of the nation's energy needs. Increases in the energy efficiency of these consumer products can help to narrow the gap between the nation's increasing demand for energy and decreasing supplies of domestic oil and natural gas. Improvements in the efficiency of consumer products can thus help to solve the nation's energy crisis.

Electrocatalytic approach for the efficiency increase of electrolytic hydrogen production: Proof-of-concept using platinum-dysprosium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, D.M.F.; Šljukić, B.; Sequeira, C.A.C.; Macciò, D.; Saccone, A.; Figueiredo, J.L.

2013-01-01

Development of electrocatalytic materials for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is attempted with the aim of reducing the water electrolysis overpotential and increasing its efficiency. Using linear scan voltammetry measurements of the hydrogen discharge enables evaluation of the electrocatalytic activity for the HER of platinum–dysprosium (Pt–Dy) intermetallic alloy electrodes of different compositions. Understanding of materials electrocatalytic performance is based on determination of several crucial kinetic parameters, including the Tafel coefficients, b, charge transfer coefficients, α, exchange current densities, j 0 , and activation energies, E a . Influence of temperature on HER is investigated by performing studies at temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 85 °C. The effect of the Dy amount in the efficiency of the HER on the Pt–Dy alloys is analysed. Results demonstrate that Dy can substantially increase the electrocatalytic activity of the Pt alloys, in comparison to the single Pt electrode. Efforts are made to correlate the microstructure of the alloys with their performance towards the HER. - Highlights: ► Development of electrocatalysts to increase efficiency of electrolytic hydrogen production. ► Synthesis and evaluation of composition and morphology of platinum–dysprosium (Pt–Dy) alloys. ► Hydrogen evolution reaction on Pt–Dy alloys electrodes studied using linear scan voltammetry in alkaline medium. ► Pt–Dy alloy with equiatomic composition enhances kinetics of hydrogen discharge compared to single Pt

Productivity, Efficiency, and Competitiveness of Small-Scale Organic Cotton Production in Tanzania

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mgeni, Dotto; Henningsen, Arne

cannot be adjusted in the short run. However, land, labor, and organic fertilizer can neither be traded on a perfect market nor are their quantities completely fixed for cotton production, but these input quantities can be adjusted by adjusting their use for other activities of the household. Hence......Cotton is known as the “white gold” of Africa since it is the only export crop in which the continent’s share in the world market has increased over the past decades. Total cotton production as well as productivity grew particularly in Western and Central Africa. In contrast, cotton production grew...... and output, as well as socio-economic and agronomic factors, but also on the shadow prices of all sparsely traded inputs, i.e. land, labor, and organic fertilizer. Hence, we can not only analyze productivity, technical efficiency, and scale efficiency, but also allocative efficiency, profitability...

RESOURCE USE EFFICIENCY OF GROUNDNUT PRODUCTION IN ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AGROSEARCH UIL

2012-09-28

Sep 28, 2012 ... A stratified sampling technique was employed to select 58 respondents. ... there is still opportunity to increase their production to attain optimal economic efficiency. The ... metric tons and an average productivity of 1.4 metric tons /ha. Developing ... The educated population are gainfully employed in some.

What factors affect the productivity and efficiency of physician practices?

Science.gov (United States)

Sunshine, Jonathan H; Hughes, Danny R; Meghea, Cristian; Bhargavan, Mythreyi

2010-02-01

Increasing the productivity and efficiency of physician practices could help relieve the rapid growth of US healthcare costs and the expected physician shortage. Radiology practices are an attractive specific focus for research on practices' productivity and efficiency because they are home to many purportedly productivity-enhancing operational technologies. This affords an opportunity to study the effect of production technology on physicians' output. As well, radiology is a leader in the general movement of physicians out of very small practices. And imaging is by the fastest-growing category of physician expenditure. Using data from 2003 to 2007 surveys of radiologists, we estimate a stochastic frontier model to study the effects of practice characteristics, such as work hours, practice size, and output mix, and technologies used in work production, on practices' productivity and efficiency. At the mean, the elasticities of output with respect to practice size and annual hours worked per full-time physician were 0.73 and 0.51, respectively. Some production technologies increase productivity by 15% to 20%; others generate no increase. Using "nighthawks"--ie, contracting out after-hours work to external firms that consolidate workflow--significantly increases practice efficiency. The general US trend toward larger practice size is unlikely to relieve cost or physician shortage pressures. The actual effect of purportedly productivity-enhancing operational technologies needs to be carefully evaluated before they are widely adopted. As the recently-developed innovations of nighthawks and hospitalists show, practices should give more attention to a possible choice to "buy," rather than "make," part of their output.

More crop per drop - Increasing input efficiency in sprinkler irrigated potatoes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kostka, Stan; Fang, Lisa; Ren, Haiqin; Glucksman, Robert; Gadd, Nick

2014-05-01

Water scarcity, climate change, and population growth are significant global challenges for producing sufficient food, fiber, and fuel in the 21st century. Feeding an increasingly hungry world necessitates innovative strategies and technologies to maximize crop production outputs while simultaneously increasing crop water productivity. In the 20th century, major advances in precision irrigation enabled producers to increase productivity while more efficiently applying water to crops. While pressurized irrigation systems can deliver water effectively to the soil surface, the efficiency of rootzone delivery may be compromised by intrinsic heterogeneities in soil wetting characteristics related to organic matter, biofilms, and hydrophobic coatings on soil particles and aggregates. Efficiently delivering applied irrigation water throughout the soil matrix is critical to increasing crop productivity. We propose that management of soil water access by surfactants is a viable management option to maintain or increase yields under deficit irrigation. Potato yield and tuber quality under sprinkler irrigation were evaluated under standard production practices or with the inclusion of an aqueous nonionic surfactant formulation (10 wt% alkoxylated polyols and 7% glucoethers) applied at 10L ha-1 between emergence and tuberization. Crop responses from multi-year evaluations conducted on irrigated potatoes in Idaho (USA) were compared to multi-year on farm grower evaluations in Australia and China. Surfactant treatment resulted in statistically significant increases in yield (+5%) and US No. 1 grades (+8%) while reducing culls (-10%) in trials conducted in Idaho, USA. Similar responses were observed in commercial grower evaluations conducted in Australia (+8% total yield, +18% mean tuber weight) and in China in 2011 (+8% total yield and +18% premium, -12% culls). Under diverse production conditions, a single application of the surfactant formulation improved crop water

Increase in energy efficiency of use of vegetable waste

Science.gov (United States)

Safin, R. R.; Safiullina, A. K.; Nazipova, F. V.

2017-10-01

Wastes of woodworking which are exposed to granulation for equalization of humidity, dispersion and also for increase in energy efficiency are the most widespread types of alternative fuel in Russia. Besides, one of the effective methods of the increase in calorific capability of granulates now is the preliminary torrefaction of wood waste - heat treatment without air oxygen access. However this technology is rather researched in detail only in relation to wood particles, while pellets from wastes of agricultural productions are also popular in the market in recent years. The possibility of the increase of the efficiency of production of pellets from sunflower pod by torrefaction is considered in this article, and the analysis of their characteristics in comparison with wood pellets is carried out. It is established that the process of heat treatment of waste of sunflower production is similar to torrefaction of wood raw materials in many respects; therefore, the equipment with similar characteristics can be used. According to the received results on pellet’s properties it is established that hygroscopicity and swelling of samples of fuel granules from sunflower pod considerably decreases with the increase in temperature of treatment that simplifies requirements for their storage and transportation. Besides, it is defined that torrefaction of the granulated fuel from sunflower pod does not yield in calorific properties to the similar fuel granules made of wood sawdust. Thus feasibility of use of heat treatment in production of fuel granules from waste of vegetable raw materials is proved.

RNAi knock-down of LHCBM1, 2 and 3 increases photosynthetic H2 production efficiency of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melanie Oey

Full Text Available Single cell green algae (microalgae are rapidly emerging as a platform for the production of sustainable fuels. Solar-driven H2 production from H2O theoretically provides the highest-efficiency route to fuel production in microalgae. This is because the H2-producing hydrogenase (HYDA is directly coupled to the photosynthetic electron transport chain, thereby eliminating downstream energetic losses associated with the synthesis of carbohydrate and oils (feedstocks for methane, ethanol and oil-based fuels. Here we report the simultaneous knock-down of three light-harvesting complex proteins (LHCMB1, 2 and 3 in the high H2-producing Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutant Stm6Glc4 using an RNAi triple knock-down strategy. The resultant Stm6Glc4L01 mutant exhibited a light green phenotype, reduced expression of LHCBM1 (20.6% ±0.27%, LHCBM2 (81.2% ±0.037% and LHCBM3 (41.4% ±0.05% compared to 100% control levels, and improved light to H2 (180% and biomass (165% conversion efficiencies. The improved H2 production efficiency was achieved at increased solar flux densities (450 instead of ∼100 µE m(-2 s(-1 and high cell densities which are best suited for microalgae production as light is ideally the limiting factor. Our data suggests that the overall improved photon-to-H2 conversion efficiency is due to: 1 reduced loss of absorbed energy by non-photochemical quenching (fluorescence and heat losses near the photobioreactor surface; 2 improved light distribution in the reactor; 3 reduced photoinhibition; 4 early onset of HYDA expression and 5 reduction of O2-induced inhibition of HYDA. The Stm6Glc4L01 phenotype therefore provides important insights for the development of high-efficiency photobiological H2 production systems.

[Carbon efficiency of double-rice production system in Hunan Province, China].

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhong-du; Wu, Yao; Ti, Jin-song; Chen, Fu; Li, Yong

2015-01-01

Improving the carbon efficiency of crop production systems is one of the important ways to realize low-carbon agriculture. A life cycle assessment approach and input-output calculation method was applied for a double-rice production system in the Hunan Province. Based on statistical data of crop yield and investment in the production system in the period from 2004 to 2012, carbon emission, carbon absorption, carbon efficiency and their dynamic changes of the double rice production systems were estimated. The results showed that the average of annual carbon emission from 2004 to 2012 was 656.4 x 10(7) kg CE. Carbon emissions from production and transport of fertilizer and pesticide accounted for a majority of agricultural input carbon emissions, approximately 70.0% and 15.9%, respectively. The carbon emission showed a decreasing trend from 2004 to 2012 in the Hunan Province, with an annual reduction rate of 2.4%, but the carbon emission intensity was in a trend of increase. The average of annual carbon absorption was 1547.0 x 10(7) kg C. The annual carbon absorption also showed a decreasing trend from 2004 to 2012 in Hunan Province, with an average annual reduction rate of 1.2%, and the carbon absorption intensity showed a trend of increase. Furthermore, production efficiency of carbon showed a slow upward trend. The economic efficiency of carbon showed a larger increasing rate with time, with an average annual growth rate of 9.9%. Ecological efficiency of carbon was stable and low, maintained at about 2.4 kg C . kg-1 CE. It indicated that the integrated carbon efficiency of Hunan double rice crop production system improved slowly with time and the key to improve the carbon efficiency of double rice production systems lies in reducing the rates of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticide, and improving their use efficiencies.

Diffuse radiation increases global ecosystem-level water-use efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Moffat, A. M.; Reichstein, M.; Cescatti, A.; Knohl, A.; Zaehle, S.

2012-12-01

Current environmental changes lead not only to rising atmospheric CO2 levels and air temperature but also to changes in air pollution and thus the light quality of the solar radiation reaching the land-surface. While rising CO2 levels are thought to enhance photosynthesis and closure of stomata, thus leading to relative water savings, the effect of diffuse radiation on transpiration by plants is less clear. It has been speculated that the stimulation of photosynthesis by increased levels of diffuse light may be counteracted by higher transpiration and consequently water depletion and drought stress. Ultimately, in water co-limited systems, the overall effect of diffuse radiation will depend on the sensitivity of canopy transpiration versus photosynthesis to diffuse light, i.e. whether water-use efficiency changes with relative levels of diffuse light. Our study shows that water-use efficiency increases significantly with higher fractions of diffuse light. It uses the ecosystem-atmosphere gas-exchange observations obtained with the eddy covariance method at 29 flux tower sites. In contrast to previous global studies, the analysis is based directly on measurements of diffuse radiation. Its effect on water-use efficiency was derived by analyzing the multivariate response of carbon and water fluxes to radiation and air humidity using a purely empirical approach based on artificial neural networks. We infer that per unit change of diffuse fraction the water-use efficiency increases up to 40% depending on diffuse fraction levels and ecosystem type. Hence, in regions with increasing diffuse radiation positive effects on primary production are expected even under conditions where water is co-limiting productivity.

Semiconductor technology for reducing emissions and increasing efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duffin, B.; Frank, R. [Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector, Phoenix, AZ (United States)

1997-12-31

The cooperation and support of all industries are required to significantly impact a worldwide reduction in gaseous emissions that may contribute to climate change. Each industry also is striving to more efficiently utilize the resources that it consumes since this is both conservation for good citizenship and an intelligent approach to business. The semiconductor industry is also extremely concerned with these issues. However, semiconductor manufacturer`s products provide solutions for reduced emissions and increased efficiency in their industry, other industries and areas that can realize significant improvements through control technology. This paper will focus on semiconductor technologies of digital control, power switching and sensing to improve efficiency and reduce emissions in automotive, industrial, and office/home applications. 10 refs., 13 figs.

Efficiency of dairy production on a family farm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoran Grgić

2002-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the evaluation of economic efficiency of dairyproduction on a family farm with 14 dairy cows in the breeding stock, and with average production from 3.206 to 3.407 lit. of milk annually. On the basis of survey data for three-year period from 1998 to 2000, economic indicators were calculated, as well as the cost price of milk, income and the revenue of total production and per production head. In the family farm with an average annual sale from 2.827 to 2.972 lit. of milk per head, total revenue has been realized from 44.884 to 47.695 kuna and the profit from 606 to 8.515 kuna. Revenues per production head were from 5.655 to 6.495 kuna and the profitfrom 177 to 726 kuna. The milk cost price in the analyzed period was 1.71, 1.66 and 1.69 kn. per lit, and the profit per liter of milk was 0.06, and 0.21 kn. Basic economic indicators point out on efficiency of dairy production for the investigated farm on the stated production level. The biggest influence on the dairy production efficiency on the farm, regarding the cost price structure, has been registered from the costs of fodder production, while the favorable parity of the cost price and producer-sale price of milk determines the increase in dairy production efficiency and income from dairy production in the analyzed period.

Productivity and technical efficiency of suckler beef production systems: trends for the period 1990 to 2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Veysset, P; Lherm, M; Roulenc, M; Troquier, C; Bébin, D

2015-12-01

Over the past 23 years (1990 to 2012), French beef cattle farms have expanded in size and increased labour productivity by over 60%, chiefly, though not exclusively, through capital intensification (labour-capital substitution) and simplifying herd feeding practices (more concentrates used). The technical efficiency of beef sector production systems, as measured by the ratio of the volume value (in constant euros) of farm output excluding aids to volume of intermediate consumption, has fallen by nearly 20% while income per worker has held stable thanks to subsidies and the labour productivity gains made. This aggregate technical efficiency of beef cattle systems is positively correlated to feed self-sufficiency, which is in turn negatively correlated to farm and herd size. While volume of farm output per hectare of agricultural area has not changed, forage feed self-sufficiency decreased by 6 percentage points. The continual increase in farm size and labour productivity has come at a cost of lower production-system efficiency - a loss of technical efficiency that 20 years of genetic, technical, technological and knowledge-driven progress has barely managed to offset.

Production System of Peranakan Etawah Goat under Application of Feed Technology: Productivity and Economic Efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akhmad Sodiq

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Feed resources are the major constraint in increasing goat production in the village. The main constraints to goat raising are related to feeds (i the high cost of transport of crop residues and grass to the homesteads, (ii the low nutritive value of feeds used, particularly in the dry period. This research was design to evaluate goat productivity and economic efficiency of goat farming under application of feed technology production system in Peranakan Etawah goat farmer group of Gumelar Banyumas Central Java. All farmers were taken as respondents using census methods. On farm research with participative focused group discussion, indepth interview, and farm observation. Descriptive analysis and independent t test methods were used to analyze the data. Results of this study showed that there was a significant improvement goat productivity on production system with the application of feed technology. Body weight at weaning, survival rate till weaning, and doe productivity were increased 7%, 2% and 5%, respectively. There was no evidence of significant different of farmers income and economic efficiency before and after the applied feed technology (P>0.05. The calculation was based on cash flow. Before application, farmers income per year and economic efficiency were Rp14.404.520,00 and 1.21, then insignificantly improve into Rp16.487.100,00 and 1.27, respectively. (Animal Production 11(3: 202-208 (2009 Key Words: Livestock production system, Peranakan Etawah goat, feed technology aplication, productivity and economic efficiency

Crossbreeding to increase beef production: additive and non ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

GScholtz

2013-06-06

Jun 6, 2013 ... Crossbreeding to increase beef production: additive and non-additive effects on weight traits ... total weight of weaned calves. ... Weight traits are not all equally important to efficiency ... values to model total herd productivity. ..... The maintenance requirement of a cow is affected by her weight: the larger the.

An Empirical Study of Strategic Positioning and Production Efficiency

OpenAIRE

Hsihui Chang; Guy D. Fernando; Arindam Tripathy

2015-01-01

We examine the relationship between strategic positioning of firms and their production efficiency. Firms with competitive advantages based on either cost leadership or differentiation are able to outperform their competitors. Firms pursuing a cost leadership strategy seek to be the lowest cost producer, primarily by minimizing inputs for a given level of output, thus concentrating on increasing the efficiency of their production processes. On the other hand, firms that pursue a differentiat...

EFFICIENCY THE KEY TO FUTURE PIG PRODUCTION E.H. Kemm

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The continued production of pigs and pig products will no doubt greatly ..... body mass to 56 days of age has increased fronr l.5kpl to. Thc overall efficiency with ... Braude believes that the annual output of lean meat per sow can be increased ...

Eco-efficiency in industrial production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

von Raesfeld Meijer, Ariane M.; de Bakker, F.G.A.; Groen, Arend J.

2001-01-01

English AbstractThis report of the MATRIC project investigated 'Eco-efficiency in industrial production'. After a general introduction into the domain of eco-efficiency, the first part of this report further focusses on the organisation of Product-Oriented Environmental Management (POEM), which is

Increase Productivity Through Knowledge Management

OpenAIRE

Gavrikova, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna; Dolgikh, Irina Nikolaevna; Dyrina, E. N.

2016-01-01

Increase in competition level requires companies to improve the efficiency of work force use characterized by labor productivity. Professional knowledge of staff and its experience play the key role in it. The results of Extrusion Line operator's working time analysis are performed in this article. The analysis revealed that the reasons of working time ineffective use connected with inadequate information exchange and knowledge management in the company. Authors suggest the way to solve this ...

AN ESTIMATION OF TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF GARLIC PRODUCTION IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA PAKISTAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nabeel Hussain

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to estimate the technical efficiency of farmers in garlic production in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Data was randomly collected from 110 farmers using multistage sampling technique. Maximum likelihood estimation technique was used to estimate Cob-Douglas frontier production function. The analysis revealed that the estimated mean technical efficiency was 77 percent indicating that total output can be further increased with efficient use of resources and technology. The estimated gamma value was found to be 0.93 which shows 93% variation in garlic output due to inefficiency factors. The analysis further revealed that seed rate, tractor hours, fertilizer, FYM and weedicides were positive and statistically significant production factors. The results also show that age and education were statistically significant inefficiency factors, age having positive and education having negative relationship with the output of garlic. This study suggests that in order to increase the production of garlic by taking advantage of their high efficiency level, the government should invest in the research and development aspects for introducing good quality seeds to increase garlic productivity and should organize training programs to educate farmers about garlic production.

Regional level approach for increasing energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Viholainen, Juha; Luoranen, Mika; Väisänen, Sanni; Niskanen, Antti; Horttanainen, Mika; Soukka, Risto

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Comprehensive snapshot of regional energy system for decision makers. • Connecting regional sustainability targets and energy planning. • Involving local players in energy planning. - Abstract: Actions for increasing the renewable share in the energy supply and improving both production and end-use energy efficiency are often built into the regional level sustainability targets. Because of this, many local stakeholders such as local governments, energy producers and distributors, industry, and public and private sector operators require information on the current state and development aspects of the regional energy efficiency. The drawback is that an overall view on the focal energy system operators, their energy interests, and future energy service needs in the region is often not available for the stakeholders. To support the local energy planning and management of the regional energy services, an approach for increasing the regional energy efficiency is being introduced. The presented approach can be seen as a solid framework for gathering the required data for energy efficiency analysis and also evaluating the energy system development, planned improvement actions, and the required energy services at the region. This study defines the theoretical structure of the energy efficiency approach and the required steps for revealing such energy system improvement actions that support the regional energy plan. To demonstrate the use of the approach, a case study of a Finnish small-town of Lohja is presented. In the case example, possible actions linked to the regional energy targets were evaluated with energy efficiency analysis. The results of the case example are system specific, but the conducted study can be seen as a justified example of generating easily attainable and transparent information on the impacts of different improvement actions on the regional energy system.

Implications of increased ethanol production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-06-01

The implications of increased ethanol production in Canada, assuming a 10% market penetration of a 10% ethanol/gasoline blend, are evaluated. Issues considered in the analysis include the provision of new markets for agricultural products, environmental sustainability, energy security, contribution to global warming, potential government cost (subsidies), alternative options to ethanol, energy efficiency, impacts on soil and water of ethanol crop production, and acceptance by fuel marketers. An economic analysis confirms that ethanol production from a stand-alone plant is not economic at current energy values. However, integration of ethanol production with a feedlot lowers the break-even price of ethanol by about 35 cents/l, and even further reductions could be achieved as technology to utilize lignocellulosic feedstock is commercialized. Ethanol production could have a positive impact on farm income, increasing cash receipts to grain farmers up to $53 million. The environmental impact of ethanol production from grain would be similar to that from crop production in general. Some concerns about ethanol/gasoline blends from the fuel industry have been reduced as those blends are now becoming recommended in some automotive warranties. However, the concerns of the larger fuel distributors are a serious constraint on an expansion of ethanol use. The economics of ethanol use could be improved by extending the federal excise tax exemption now available for pure alcohol fuels to the alcohol portion of alcohol/gasoline blends. 9 refs., 10 tabs

Essays on pig production efficiency and farmers' financial decisions under uncertainty

OpenAIRE

Labajova, Katarina.

2018-01-01

Recent structural changes in agricultural production towards fewer, but larger, units pose challenges for farmers in decision making about practical production and about managerial practices to increase efficiency, which are vital for farm productivity and profitability. In studies using mathematical programming and econometric models, this thesis evaluated farm-specific characteristics related to the individual technical efficiency (TE) of each input and output factor and of managerial chara...

Contracting for Efficiency. A Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Product Procurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bunch, Saralyn [Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Washington, DC (United States); Payne, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2016-04-01

The requirement to buy energy- and water-efficient products applies to federal purchases made through any procurement pathway (e.g., purchase cards, e-retailers, and solicitations) and to a wide variety of federal projects. The Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP's) Buy Energy-Efficient Products buyer overview fact sheet and Contracting for Efficiency best practices guide for product procurement are designed to support federal buyers in the purchase of energy- and water-efficient products.

Contracting for Efficiency: A Best Practices Guide for Energy Efficient Product Procurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bunch, Saralyn [Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Washington, DC (United States); Payne, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2017-11-01

The requirement to buy energy- and water-efficient products applies to federal purchases made through any procurement pathway (e.g., purchase cards, e-retailers, and solicitations) and to a wide variety of federal projects. The Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP's) Buy Energy-Efficient Products buyer overview fact sheet and Contracting for Efficiency best practices guide for product procurement are designed to support federal buyers in the purchase of energy- and water-efficient products.

Increasing Water Use Efficiency Comes at a Cost for Norway Spruce

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tanja G M Sanders

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi in trees is an indication of the ratio of carbon assimilation to the rate of transpiration. It is generally assumed that it is a response to water availability. In agricultural research, the question of drought tolerance by increased WUEi has been well studied. In general, the increase is a trade-off for productivity and is therefore not desired. For forest trees, this question is less clearly understood. Using stable carbon isotopes derived from tree rings combined with productivity as the product of the annual growth increment and annual density measurements, we compared the change in WUEi over a 15 year period. While WUEi increased over this period, the productivity decreased, causing an opposing trend. The gradient of the correlation between WUEi and productivity varies between provenances and sites. Counterintuitively, the populations at the drier site showed low WUEi values at the beginning of the investigation. Slopes vary with the provenance from Poland showing the least decline in productivity. In general, we found that a decline in productivity aligned with an increase in WUEi.

ANALYSIS AND IMPROVEMENT OF PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY IN A CONSTRUCTION MACHINE ASSEMBLY LINE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alidiane Xavier

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The increased competitiveness in the market encourages the ongoing development of systems and production processes. The aim is to increase production efficiency to production costs and waste be reduced to the extreme, allowing an increased product competitiveness. The objective of this study was to analyze the overall results of implementing a Kaizen philosophy in an automaker of construction machinery, using the methodology of action research, which will be studied in situ the macro production process from receipt of parts into the end of the assembly line , prioritizing the analysis time of shipping and handling. The results show that the continuous improvement activities directly impact the elimination of waste from the assembly process, mainly related to shipping and handling, improving production efficiency by 30% in the studied processes.

Geothermal source heat pumps under energy services companies finance scheme to increase energy efficiency and production in stockbreeding facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borge-Diez, David; Colmenar-Santos, Antonio; Pérez-Molina, Clara; López-Rey, África

2015-01-01

In Europe energy services are underutilized in terms of their potential to improve energy efficiency and reduce external energy dependence. Agricultural and stockbreeding sectors have high potential to improve their energy efficiency. This paper presents an energy model for geothermal source heat pumps in stockbreeding facilities and an analysis of an energy services business case. The proposed solution combines both energy cost reduction and productivity increases and improves energy services company financing scheme. CO 2 emissions drop by 89%, reducing carbon footprint and improving added value for the product. For the two different evaluated scenarios, one including winter heating and one including heating and cooling, high IRR (internal return rate) values are obtained. A sensitivity analysis reveals that the IRR ranges from 10.25% to 22.02%, making the investment attractive. To make the research highly extensible, a sensitivity analysis for different locations and climatic conditions is presented, showing a direct relationship between financial parameters and climatic conditions. A Monte Carlo simulation is performed showing that initial fuel cost and initial investment are the most decisive in the financial results. This work proves that energy services based on geothermal energy can be profitable in these sectors and can increase sustainability, reduce CO 2 emissions and improve carbon footprint. - Highlights: • Geothermal heat pumps are studied to promote industrial energy services. • Geothermal energy in farming facilities improves global competitiveness. • Research shows profitability of low enthalpy geothermal energy services. • Climatic conditions sensitivity analysis reveals IRR ranges from 10.25% to 22.02%. • Added market value for the product as carbon footprint reduction, are achieved

Economic efficiency of maize production in Yola North Local ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Similarly, the efficiency ratio computed showed that land, seed and fertilizer had MVP/MFC ratio greater than unity implying that the inputs were underutilized and output could be increased by increasing the levels of their utilization. The elasticity of production was greater than 1.00 which implied increasing return to scale.

Productivity benefits of industrial energy efficiency measures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Worrell, Ernst; Laitner, John A.; Michael, Ruth; Finman, Hodayah

2004-08-30

We review the relationship between energy efficiency improvement measures and productivity in industry. We review over 70 industrial case studies from widely available published databases, followed by an analysis of the representation of productivity benefits in energy modeling. We propose a method to include productivity benefits in the economic assessment of the potential for energy efficiency improvement. The case-study review suggests that energy efficiency investments can provide a significant boost to overall productivity within industry. If this relationship holds, the description of energy-efficient technologies as opportunities for larger productivity improvements has significant implications for conventional economic assessments. The paper explores the implications this change in perspective on the evaluation of energy-efficient technologies for a study of the iron and steel industry in the US. This examination shows that including productivity benefits explicitly in the modeling parameters would double the cost-effective potential for energy efficiency improvement, compared to an analysis excluding those benefits. We provide suggestions for future research in this important area.

Measuring efficiency of cotton cultivation in Pakistan: a restricted production frontier study.

Science.gov (United States)

Watto, Muhammad Arif; Mugera, Amin

2014-11-01

Massive groundwater pumping for irrigation has started lowering water tables rapidly in different regions of Pakistan. Declining water tables have thus prompted research efforts to improve agricultural productivity and efficiency to make efficient use of scarce water resources. This study employs a restricted stochastic production frontier to estimate the level of, and factors affecting, technical efficiency of groundwater-irrigated cotton farms in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The mean technical efficiency estimates indicate substantial technical inefficiencies among cotton growers. On average, tube-well owners and water buyers can potentially increase cotton production by 19% and 28%, respectively, without increasing the existing input level. The most influential factors affecting technical efficiency positively are the use of improved quality seed, consultation with extension field staff and farmers' perceptions concerning the availability of groundwater resources for irrigation in the future. This study proposes that adopting improved seed for new cotton varieties and providing better extension services regarding cotton production technology would help to achieve higher efficiency in cotton farming. Within the context of falling water tables, educating farmers about the actual crop water requirements and guiding them about groundwater resource availability may also help to achieve higher efficiencies. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Evaluation of a marketing program designed to increase consumer consideration of energy-efficient products in Denver, Colorado

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1978-08-01

A demonstration marketing program to sensitize Denver homeowners to incorporate the energy cost of ownership orientation in their decision process regarding purchase of energy-efficient products is described. Personal interviews with Denver homeowners were conducted. A first survey established a baseline for consumer awareness and acceptance of energy conservation and conservation-related products and provided information which could be utilized in developing marketing strategies related to energy conservation and the concept of energy cost of ownership. A second survey measured shifts in awareness and attitudes which might have occurred as a result of the marketing demonstration program. The methodology and results of the evaluation are discussed in detail. The Denver Test Market Media Campaign conducted through multi-media advertising and public relations campaigns to sensitize the residents to the positive consideraton of energy-efficient products is described. (MCW)

Efficient protein production by yeast requires global tuning of metabolism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Mingtao; Bao, Jichen; Hallstrom, Bjorn M.

2017-01-01

The biotech industry relies on cell factories for production of pharmaceutical proteins, of which several are among the top-selling medicines. There is, therefore, considerable interest in improving the efficiency of protein production by cell factories. Protein secretion involves numerous...... intracellular processes with many underlying mechanisms still remaining unclear. Here, we use RNA-seq to study the genome-wide transcriptional response to protein secretion in mutant yeast strains. We find that many cellular processes have to be attuned to support efficient protein secretion. In particular...... that by tuning metabolism cells are able to efficiently secrete recombinant proteins. Our findings provide increased understanding of which cellular regulations and pathways are associated with efficient protein secretion....

ADDED VALUE AS EFFICIENCY CRITERION FOR INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. M. Korotkevich

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Literary analysis has shown that the majority of researchers are using classical efficiency criteria for construction of an optimization model for production process: profit maximization; cost minimization; maximization of commercial product output; minimization of back-log for product demand; minimization of total time consumption due to production change. The paper proposes to use an index of added value as an efficiency criterion because it combines economic and social interests of all main interested subjects of the business activity: national government, property owners, employees, investors. The following types of added value have been considered in the paper: joint-stock, market, monetary, economic, notional (gross, net, real. The paper makes suggestion to use an index of real value added as an efficiency criterion. Such approach permits to bring notional added value in comparable variant because added value can be increased not only due to efficiency improvement of enterprise activity but also due to environmental factors – excess in rate of export price increases over rate of import growth. An analysis of methods for calculation of real value added has been made on a country-by-country basis (extrapolation, simple and double deflation. A method of double deflation has been selected on the basis of the executed analysis and it is counted according to the Laspeyires, Paasche, Fischer indices. A conclusion has been made that the used expressions do not take into account fully economic peculiarities of the Republic of Belarus: they are considered as inappropriate in the case when product cost is differentiated according to marketing outlets; they do not take account of difference in rate of several currencies and such approach is reflected in export price of a released product and import price for raw material, supplies and component parts. Taking this into consideration expressions for calculation of real value added have been specified

Thermoregulatory efficiency is increased after heat acclimation in tropical natives.

Science.gov (United States)

Magalhães, Flávio C; Passos, Renata L F; Fonseca, Michele A; Oliveira, Kenya P M; Ferreira-Júnior, João B; Martini, Angelo R P; Lima, Milene R M; Guimarães, Juliana B; Baraúna, Valério G; Silami-Garcia, Emerson; Rodrigues, Luiz O C

2010-01-01

To evaluate the effects of heat acclimation on sweat rate redistribution and thermodynamic parameters, 9 tropical native volunteers were submitted to 11 days of exercise-heat exposures (40+/-0 degrees C and 45.1+/-0.2% relative humidity). Sudomotor function was evaluated by measuring total and local (forehead, chest, arm, forearm, and thigh) sweat rates, local sweat sodium concentration, and mean skin and rectal temperatures. We also calculated heat production (H), heat storage (S), heat exchange by radiation (R) and by convection (C), evaporated sweat (E(sw)), sweating efficiency (eta(sw)), skin wettedness (w(sk)), and the ratio between the heat storage and the sum of heat production and heat gains by radiation and convection (S/(H+R+C)). The heat acclimation increased the whole-body sweat rate and reduced the mean skin temperature. There were changes in the local sweat rate patterns: on the arm, forearm, and thigh it increased significantly from day 1 to day 11 (all p<0.05) and the sweat rates from the forehead and the chest showed a small nonsignificant increase (p=0.34 and 0.17, respectively). The relative increase of local sweat rates on day 11 was not different among the sites; however, when comparing the limbs (arm, forearm, and thigh) with the trunk (forehead and chest), there was a significant higher increase in the limbs (32+/-5%) in comparison to the trunk (11+/-2%, p=0.001). After the heat acclimation period we observed higher w(sk) and E(sw) and reduced S/(H+R+C), meaning greater thermoregulatory efficiency. The increase in the limb sweat rate, but not the increase in the trunk sweat rate, correlated with the increased w(sk), E(sw), and reduced S/(H+R+C) (p<0.05 to all). Altogether, it can be concluded that heat acclimation increased the limbs' sweat rates in tropical natives and that this increase led to increased loss of heat through evaporation of sweat and this higher sweat evaporation was related to higher thermoregulatory efficiency.

Ownership and efficiency in nuclear power production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pollitt, M.G.

1995-01-01

This paper aims to contribute to the relatively small amount of academic literature on the efficiency of nuclear power production. The author draws on world-wide comparisons to illustrate the situation in the United Kingdom, where the nuclear generating capacity, conceived of and constructed as a public concern, has recently been privatised. The theory and evidence for links between ownership and productive efficiency is received. Efficiency measures used are explained as are the linear programs required to generate them. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to analyse productive efficiency of nuclear power plants before and after privatisation. Results of the DEA are used to test the hypothesis that ownership has no effect on productive efficiency. (UK)

Future consequences of decreasing marginal production efficiency in the high-yielding dairy cow.

Science.gov (United States)

Moallem, U

2016-04-01

The objectives were to examine the gross and marginal production efficiencies in high-yielding dairy cows and the future consequences on dairy industry profitability. Data from 2 experiments were used in across-treatments analysis (n=82 mid-lactation multiparous Israeli-Holstein dairy cows). Milk yields, body weights (BW), and dry matter intakes (DMI) were recorded daily. In both experiments, cows were fed a diet containing 16.5 to 16.6% crude protein and net energy for lactation (NEL) at 1.61 Mcal/kg of dry matter (DM). The means of milk yield, BW, DMI, NEL intake, and energy required for maintenance were calculated individually over the whole study, and used to calculate gross and marginal efficiencies. Data were analyzed in 2 ways: (1) simple correlation between variables; and (2) cows were divided into 3 subgroups, designated low, moderate, and high DMI (LDMI, MDMI, and HDMI), according to actual DMI per day: ≤ 26 kg (n=27); >26 through 28.2 kg (n=28); and >28.2 kg (n=27). The phenotypic Pearson correlations among variables were analyzed, and the GLM procedure was used to test differences between subgroups. The relationships between milk and fat-corrected milk yields and the corresponding gross efficiencies were positive, whereas BW and gross production efficiency were negatively correlated. The marginal production efficiency from DM and energy consumed decreased with increasing DMI. The difference between BW gain as predicted by the National Research Council model (2001) and the present measurements increased with increasing DMI (r=0.68). The average calculated energy balances were 1.38, 2.28, and 4.20 Mcal/d (standard error of the mean=0.64) in the LDMI, MDMI, and HDMI groups, respectively. The marginal efficiency for milk yields from DMI or energy consumed was highest in LDMI, intermediate in MDMI, and lowest in HDMI. The predicted BW gains for the whole study period were 22.9, 37.9, and 75.8 kg for the LDMI, MDMI, and HDMI groups, respectively. The

Soap with increased deactivation efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Severa, J.; Knajfl, J.; Cmolik, J.

1980-01-01

The decontamination effect of new types of toilet soap was studied in experiments with rat skin contaminated with an aqueous solution of fission products (pH=2.6). Most suitable for decontamination are soaps containing complex-forming substances; 1 hour after contamination their decontamination efficiency was 94.9+-0.6%. (author)

SWEET CORN FARMING: THE EFFECT OF PRODUCTION FACTOR, EFFICIENCY AND RETURN TO SCALE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dwijatenaya I.B.M.A.

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This research aims to determine the effect of production factors on the sweet corn production, the efficiency of sweet corn farming, and the return to scale of sweet corn production. The sampling technique was taken by proportionate stratified random sampling method with the sample number of 57 people while the analyzer used was the program of Frointer 4.1c. The results show that the production factors of the land farm, seed, and fertilizer have a positive and significant effect on sweet corn production. On the other hand, labor production factors have a positive but not significant effect on sweet corn production. It also found that technical efficiency, price efficiency, and economic efficiency of sweet corn farming in Muara Wis Sub-district of Kutai Kartanegara Regency are not efficient yet. The return to scale of sweet corn yield has an increasing return to scale condition.

Endurance training increases the efficiency of rat skeletal muscle mitochondria.

Science.gov (United States)

Zoladz, Jerzy A; Koziel, Agnieszka; Woyda-Ploszczyca, Andrzej; Celichowski, Jan; Jarmuszkiewicz, Wieslawa

2016-10-01

Endurance training enhances mitochondrial oxidative capacity, but its effect on mitochondria functioning is poorly understood. In the present study, the influence of an 8-week endurance training on the bioenergetic functioning of rat skeletal muscle mitochondria under different assay temperatures (25, 35, and 42 °C) was investigated. The study was performed on 24 adult 4-month-old male Wistar rats, which were randomly assigned to either a treadmill training group (n = 12) or a sedentary control group (n = 12). In skeletal muscles, endurance training stimulated mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative capacity. In isolated mitochondria, endurance training increased the phosphorylation rate and elevated levels of coenzyme Q. Moreover, a decrease in mitochondrial uncoupling, including uncoupling protein-mediated proton leak, was observed after training, which could explain the increased reactive oxygen species production (in nonphosphorylating mitochondria) and enhanced oxidative phosphorylation efficiency. At all studied temperatures, endurance training significantly augmented H2O2 production (and coenzyme Q reduction level) in nonphosphorylating mitochondria and decreased H2O2 production (and coenzyme Q reduction level) in phosphorylating mitochondria. Endurance training magnified the hyperthermia-induced increase in oxidative capacity and attenuated the hyperthermia-induced decline in oxidative phosphorylation efficiency and reactive oxygen species formation of nonphosphorylating mitochondria via proton leak enhancement. Thus, endurance training induces both quantitative and qualitative changes in muscle mitochondria that are important for cell signaling as well as for maintaining muscle energy homeostasis, especially at high temperatures.

Methodical Approach to Diagnostics of Efficiency of Production Economic Activity of an Enterprise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhukov Andrii V.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The article offers developments of a methodical approach to diagnostics of efficiency of production economic activity of an enterprise, which, unlike the existing ones, is realised through the following stages: analysis of the enterprise external environment; analysis of the enterprise internal environment; identification of components of efficiency of production economic activity for carrying out complex diagnostics by the following directions: efficiency of subsystems of the enterprise production economic activity, efficiency of use of separate types of resources and socio-economic efficiency; scorecard formation; study of tendencies of change of indicators; identification of cause-effect dependencies between the main components of efficiency for diagnosing reasons of its level; diagnosing deviations of indicator values from their optimal values; development of a managerial decision on preserving and increasing efficiency of production economic activity of the enterprise.

Material efficiency: providing material services with less material production.

Science.gov (United States)

Allwood, Julian M; Ashby, Michael F; Gutowski, Timothy G; Worrell, Ernst

2013-03-13

Material efficiency, as discussed in this Meeting Issue, entails the pursuit of the technical strategies, business models, consumer preferences and policy instruments that would lead to a substantial reduction in the production of high-volume energy-intensive materials required to deliver human well-being. This paper, which introduces a Discussion Meeting Issue on the topic of material efficiency, aims to give an overview of current thinking on the topic, spanning environmental, engineering, economics, sociology and policy issues. The motivations for material efficiency include reducing energy demand, reducing the emissions and other environmental impacts of industry, and increasing national resource security. There are many technical strategies that might bring it about, and these could mainly be implemented today if preferred by customers or producers. However, current economic structures favour the substitution of material for labour, and consumer preferences for material consumption appear to continue even beyond the point at which increased consumption provides any increase in well-being. Therefore, policy will be required to stimulate material efficiency. A theoretically ideal policy measure, such as a carbon price, would internalize the externality of emissions associated with material production, and thus motivate change directly. However, implementation of such a measure has proved elusive, and instead the adjustment of existing government purchasing policies or existing regulations-- for instance to do with building design, planning or vehicle standards--is likely to have a more immediate effect.

Evaluation of the efficiency of alternative enzyme production technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albæk, Mads Orla

Enzymes are used in an increasing number of industries. The application of enzymes is extending into the production of lignocellulosic ethanol in processes that economically can compete with fossil fuels. Since lignocellulosic ethanol is based on renewable resources it will have a positive impact...... production of cellulases and hemi-cellulases. The aim of the thesiswas to use modeling tools to identify alternative technologies that have higher energy or raw material efficiency than the current technology. The enzyme production by T. reesei was conducted as an aerobic fed-batch fermentation. The process...... of the uncertainty and sensitivity of the model indicated the biological parameters to be responsible for most of the model uncertainty. A number of alternative fermentation technologies for enzyme production were identified in the open literature. Their mass transfer capabilities and their energy efficiencies were...

Total Factor Productivity Growth, Technical Progress & Efficiency Change in Vietnam Coal Industry - Nonparametric Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Phuong, Vu Hung

2018-03-01

This research applies Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to analyze Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and efficiency changes in Vietnam coal mining industry from 2007 to 2013. The TFP of Vietnam coal mining companies decreased due to slow technological progress and unimproved efficiency. The decadence of technical efficiency in many enterprises proved that the coal mining industry has a large potential to increase productivity through technical efficiency improvement. Enhancing human resource training, technology and research & development investment could help the industry to improve efficiency and productivity in Vietnam coal mining industry.

Methods of increasing thermal efficiency of steam and gas turbine plants

Science.gov (United States)

Vasserman, A. A.; Shutenko, M. A.

2017-11-01

Three new methods of increasing efficiency of turbine power plants are described. Increasing average temperature of heat supply in steam turbine plant by mixing steam after overheaters with products of combustion of natural gas in the oxygen. Development of this idea consists in maintaining steam temperature on the major part of expansion in the turbine at level, close to initial temperature. Increasing efficiency of gas turbine plant by way of regenerative heating of the air by gas after its expansion in high pressure turbine and before expansion in the low pressure turbine. Due to this temperature of air, entering combustion chamber, is increased and average temperature of heat supply is consequently increased. At the same time average temperature of heat removal is decreased. Increasing efficiency of combined cycle power plant by avoiding of heat transfer from gas to wet steam and transferring heat from gas to water and superheated steam only. Steam will be generated by multi stage throttling of the water from supercritical pressure and temperature close to critical, to the pressure slightly higher than condensation pressure. Throttling of the water and separation of the wet steam on saturated water and steam does not require complicated technical devices.

FORAGES AND PASTURES SYMPOSIUM: Improving efficiency of production in pasture- and range-based beef and dairy systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Mulliniks, J T; Rius, A G; Edwards, M A; Edwards, S R; Hobbs, J D; Nave, R L G

2015-06-01

Despite overall increased production in the last century, it is critical that grazing production systems focus on improving beef and dairy efficiency to meet current and future global food demands. For livestock producers, production efficiency is essential to maintain long-term profitability and sustainability. This continued viability of production systems using pasture- and range-based grazing systems requires more rapid adoption of innovative management practices and selection tools that increase profitability by optimizing grazing management and increasing reproductive performance. Understanding the genetic variation in cow herds will provide the ability to select cows that require less energy for maintenance, which can potentially reduce total energy utilization or energy required for production, consequently improving production efficiency and profitability. In the United States, pasture- and range-based grazing systems vary tremendously across various unique environments that differ in climate, topography, and forage production. This variation in environmental conditions contributes to the challenges of developing or targeting specific genetic components and grazing systems that lead to increased production efficiency. However, across these various environments and grazing management systems, grazable forage remains the least expensive nutrient source to maintain productivity of the cow herd. Beef and dairy cattle can capitalize on their ability to utilize these feed resources that are not usable for other production industries. Therefore, lower-cost alternatives to feeding harvested and stored feedstuffs have the opportunity to provide to livestock producers a sustainable and efficient forage production system. However, increasing production efficiency within a given production environment would vary according to genetic potential (i.e., growth and milk potential), how that genetic potential fits the respective production environment, and how the grazing

Profitability and Technical Efficiency of Soybean Production in Northern Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ugbabe, OO.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and collaborating partners have been introducing and disseminating short season soybean varieties among farm households in the Sudan savannas of Northern Nigeria since 2008. Yet, there is no empirical information on the profitability and technical efficiency of soybean production. This study estimated the profitability and efficiency of production of the early maturing soybean. Nine hundred soybean farming households in thirty communities from three Local Government Areas (LGAs in Kano State were sampled for the study. Partial budget technique and stochastic frontier production function were used to analyze the data elicited from the sampled farm households. Results from the study established the profitability of soybean production in all the three LGAs of Kano State. The highest profit of N178,613/ha and returns per naira invested of 2.5 respectively was earned by the soybean producing households of Dawakin-Tofa LGA. Net profit was N157,261in Shanono with a returns of 1.75 per naira invested. In Bunkure, net benefit was N143,342 with returns of 1.66 per Naira invested. The mean technical efficiency was highest for the Dawakin-Tofa LGA soybean growing households (87%, followed by Bunkure LGA (68%, and Shanono LGA (59%. This result implies that given the current level of resources available to the soybean producing households, they can increase their soybean output in the short run by a margin 13%, 32% and 41% in Dawakin-Tofa, Bunkure and Shanono LGAs respectively through efficient utilization of their available resources. Farmer-specific efficiency factors, which comprise age, education, access to credit, extension contact and farming experience, were found to be the significant factors that account for the observed variation in efficiency among the farmers in the 3 LGAs. It was recommended that the soybean farmers through the assistance of extension agents should be encouraged to adhere

Strategies for improving water use efficiency in livestock feed production in rain-fed systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kebebe, E.G.; Oosting, S.J.; Haileslassie, A.; Duncan, A.J.; Boer, de I.J.M.

2015-01-01

Livestock production is a major consumer of fresh water, and the influence of livestock production on global fresh water resources is increasing because of the growing demand for livestock products. Increasing water use efficiency of livestock production, therefore, can contribute to the overall

Enhancing efficiency of production cost on seafood process with activity based management method

Science.gov (United States)

Tarigan, U.; Tarigan, U. P. P.

2018-02-01

The efficiency of production costs has an important impact maintaining company presence in the business world, as well as in the face of increasingly sharp global competition. It was done by identifying and reducing non-value-added activities to decrease production costs and increase profits. The study was conducted at a company engaged in the production of squid (seafood). It has a higher product price than the market as Rp 50,000 per kg while the market price of squid is only Rp 35,000 per kg. The price of the product to be more expensive compared with market price, and thereby a lot more consumers choose the lower market price. Based on the discussions conducted, the implementation of Activity Based Management was seen in the reduction of activities that are not added value in the production process. Since each activities consumers cost, the reduction of nonvalue-added activities has effects on the decline of production cost. The production’s decline costs mainly occur in the reduction of material transfer costs. The results showed that there was an increase after the improvement of 2.60%. Increased production cost efficiency causes decreased production costs and increased profits.

Chronic potassium depletion increases adrenal progesterone production that is necessary for efficient renal retention of potassium.

Science.gov (United States)

Elabida, Boutaïna; Edwards, Aurélie; Salhi, Amel; Azroyan, Anie; Fodstad, Heidi; Meneton, Pierre; Doucet, Alain; Bloch-Faure, May; Crambert, Gilles

2011-08-01

Modern dietary habits are characterized by high-sodium and low-potassium intakes, each of which was correlated with a higher risk for hypertension. In this study, we examined whether long-term variations in the intake of sodium and potassium induce lasting changes in the plasma concentration of circulating steroids by developing a mathematical model of steroidogenesis in mice. One finding of this model was that mice increase their plasma progesterone levels specifically in response to potassium depletion. This prediction was confirmed by measurements in both male mice and men. Further investigation showed that progesterone regulates renal potassium handling both in males and females under potassium restriction, independent of its role in reproduction. The increase in progesterone production by male mice was time dependent and correlated with decreased urinary potassium content. The progesterone-dependent ability to efficiently retain potassium was because of an RU486 (a progesterone receptor antagonist)-sensitive stimulation of the colonic hydrogen, potassium-ATPase (known as the non-gastric or hydrogen, potassium-ATPase type 2) in the kidney. Thus, in males, a specific progesterone concentration profile induced by chronic potassium restriction regulates potassium balance.

International spillover and rebound effects from increased energy efficiency in Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koesler, Simon; Swales, Kim; Turner, Karen

2016-01-01

The pollution/energy leakage literature raises the concern that policies implemented in one country, such as a carbon tax or tight energy restrictions, might simply result in the reallocation of energy use to other countries. This paper addresses these concerns in the context of policies to increase energy efficiency, rather than direct action to reduce energy use. Using a global CGE simulation model, we extend the analyses of ‘economy-wide’ rebound from the national focus of previous studies to incorporate international spill-over effects from trade in goods and services. Our focus is to investigate whether these effects have the potential to increase or reduce the overall (global) rebound of local energy efficiency improvements. In the case we consider, increased energy efficiency in German production generates changes in comparative advantage that produce negative leakage effects, thereby actually rendering global rebound less than national rebound. - Highlights: • Offers first CGE analysis of full global spill-over effects of energy efficiency • Derives rebound definitions at sector, all industry, economy-wide and global levels • Extends understanding of how rebound extends from industry to global economy levels • Shows that changes in comparative advantage may constrain global rebound effects

Malmquist Productivity Index on Efficiency Layers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Rezai balf ∗

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA, a popular linear programming technique is useful to rate comparatively operational effiency of decision Making Unit (DMU based on the their deterministic inputoutput data. The Malmquist productivity index in DEA, calculable with the distance function, for measurement the productivity change among two variant time period or two variant group in the same time. This index is based on two factor of efficiency change index and a technological change index. In this paper, we operate on the collective Malmquist productivity index, which performs clustering operation DMUs with classification into different levels of efficient frontier, and then we discuss on the relation between Malmquist index on the efficiency layers and their attractiveness and progress

Can Differentiated Production Planning and Control enable both Responsiveness and Efficiency in Food Production?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anita Romsdal

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the complex production planning and control (PPC challenges in food supply chains. The study illustrates how food producers' traditional make‐to‐stock (MTS approach is not well suited to meet the trends of increasing product variety, higher demand uncertainty, increasing sales of fresh food products and more demanding customers. The paper proposes a framework for differentiated PPC that combines MTS with make‐to‐order (MTO.The framework matches products with the most appropriate PPC approaches and buffering techniques depending on market and product characteristics. The core idea is to achieve more volume flexibility in the production system by exploiting favourable product and market characteristics (high demand predictability, long customer order leadtime allowances and low product perishability. A case study is used to demonstrate how the framework can enable food producers to achieve efficiency in production, inventory and PPC processes – and simultaneously be responsive to market requirements.

Efficiency and productivity of hospitals in Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Thuy Linh

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative efficiency and productivity of hospitals during the health reform process. Data envelopment analyses method (DEA) with the input-oriented variable-returns-to-scale model was used to calculate efficiency scores. Malmquist total factor productivity index approach was then employed to calculate productivity of hospitals. Data of 101 hospitals was extracted from databases of the Ministry of Health, Vietnam from the years 1998 to 2006. There was evidence of improvement in overall technical efficiency from 65 per cent in 1998 to 76 per cent in 2006. Hospitals' productivity progressed around 1.4 per cent per year, which was mainly due to the technical efficiency improvement. Furthermore, provincial hospitals were more technically efficient than their central counterparts and hospitals located in different regions performed differently. The paper provides an insight in the performance of Vietnamese public hospitals that has been rarely examined before and contributes to the existing literature of hospital performance in developing countries

Loads of green washing—can behavioural economics increase willingness-to-pay for efficient washing machines in the UK?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bull, Joe

2012-01-01

The EU energy efficiency labelling scheme has successfully increased demand for efficient appliances by providing a prominent letter rating to consumers during their product search. Behavioural economics (BE) suggests the adoption of efficient appliances could be accelerated further by: (i) monetising efficiency, (ii) directly communicating the link between efficiency and carbon emissions, (iii) communicating the long-term (e.g., operational life) financial and environmental impact of product choices, and, (iv) framing the information as avoided losses (‘extra’) rather than gains (‘savings’). This study tested these hypotheses via an online, stated preference survey of 465 UK residents using actual market pricing and efficiency data for washing machines. The provision of information about either running costs or running emissions did encourage selection of more expensive and efficient products (strongly correlated variables in the choice set and actual market) (p<.001, r=.30–.41) with no statistically significant difference between their impact. Providing lifetime running cost information also nudged respondents towards more expensive, efficient products than annual information (p=.006–.027, r=.15–.18). Finally, loss-framed running emissions information encouraged selection of more expensive, efficient products than gain-framed information (p<.05, r=.13–.16). The EU label is an impracticable means of communication, but digital communication channels (e.g., price comparison websites) may offer potential for inexpensive localisation and personalisation of the information. The results suggest that successful communication could benefit the private sector whilst making a contribution to reducing carbon emissions. - Highlights: ► 465 UK residents made a hypothetical washing machine purchase via an online survey. ► Respondents were exposed to either running cost or running emissions information. ► Running cost information increased willingness

Productivity and production efficiency among small scale irrigated ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examined productivity and production efficiency among small scale irrigated sugarcane farmers in Niger State, Nigeria using a stochastic translog frontier function. Data for the study were obtained using structured questionnaires administered to 100 randomly selected sugarcane farmers from Paiko and Gurara ...

Changes in production efficiency in China identification and measuring

CERN Document Server

Xu, Bing; Watada, Junzo

2014-01-01

Evaluating  Production Efficiency in China examines production from engineering and statistics perspectives rather than from economics and mathematics perspectives. The authors present an observable benchmark as the criterion of the production efficiency to replace the unobservable production frontier surface. This book discusses several different computing technologies, controllable variable as a path of identification, changes in production efficiency by decision making on specific operating conditions, and optimal resource allocation. The book provides a channel to tap inside the success stories of China, exploiting the way of changes in production efficiency during China’s development in the past 30 years. This book examines the concepts and realization of production efficiencies across all areas of the economy. Also the book provides the perspective of foreign direct investment (FDI) absorption to identify how Chinese economy changes in production efficiency.

Mammary stem cells: Novel markers and novel approaches to increase lactation efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Mammary stem cells (MaSC) provide for net growth, renewal and turnover of mammary epithelial cells, and are therefore potential targets for strategies to increase production efficiency. Appropriate regulation of MaSC can potentially benefit milk yield, persistency, dry period management and tissue r...

Efficiency and productivity assessment of public hospitals in Greece during the crisis period 2009-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Xenos, P; Yfantopoulos, J; Nektarios, M; Polyzos, N; Tinios, P; Constantopoulos, A

2017-01-01

This study is an initial effort to examine the dynamics of efficiency and productivity in Greek public hospitals during the first phase of the crisis 2009-2012. Data were collected by the Ministry of Health after several quality controls ensuring comparability and validity of hospital inputs and outputs. Productivity is estimated using the Malmquist Indicator, decomposing the estimated values into efficiency and technological change. Hospital efficiency and productivity growth are calculated by bootstrapping the non-parametric Malmquist analysis. The advantage of this method is the estimation efficiency and productivity through the corresponding confidence intervals. Additionally, a Random-effects Tobit model is explored to investigate the impact of contextual factors on the magnitude of efficiency. Findings reveal substantial variations in hospital productivity over the period from 2009 to 2012. The economic crisis of 2009 had a negative impact in productivity. The average Malmquist Productivity Indicator (MPI) score is 0.72 with unity signifying stable production. Approximately 91% of the hospitals score lower than unity. Substantial increase is observed between 2010 and 2011, as indicated by the average MPI score which fluctuates to 1.52. Moreover, technology change scored more than unity in more than 75% of hospitals. The last period (2011-2012) has shown stabilization in the expansionary process of productivity. The main factors contributing to overall productivity gains are increases in occupancy rates, type and size of the hospital. This paper attempts to offer insights in efficiency and productivity growth for public hospitals in Greece. The results suggest that the average hospital experienced substantial productivity growth between 2009 and 2012 as indicated by variations in MPI. Almost all of the productivity increase was due to technology change which could be explained by the concurrent managerial and financing healthcare reforms. Hospitals operating

Wind increases leaf water use efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Schymanski, Stanislaus J; Or, Dani

2016-07-01

A widespread perception is that, with increasing wind speed, transpiration from plant leaves increases. However, evidence suggests that increasing wind speed enhances carbon dioxide (CO2 ) uptake while reducing transpiration because of more efficient convective cooling (under high solar radiation loads). We provide theoretical and experimental evidence that leaf water use efficiency (WUE, carbon uptake per water transpired) commonly increases with increasing wind speed, thus improving plants' ability to conserve water during photosynthesis. Our leaf-scale analysis suggests that the observed global decrease in near-surface wind speeds could have reduced WUE at a magnitude similar to the increase in WUE attributed to global rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, there is indication that the effect of long-term trends in wind speed on leaf gas exchange may be compensated for by the concurrent reduction in mean leaf sizes. These unintuitive feedbacks between wind, leaf size and water use efficiency call for re-evaluation of the role of wind in plant water relations and potential re-interpretation of temporal and geographic trends in leaf sizes. © 2015 The Authors. Plant, Cell & Environment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

IT support of energy-sensitive product development. Energy-efficient product and process innovations in production engineering. Virtual product development for energy-efficient products and processes; IT-Unterstuetzung zur energiesensitiven Produktentwicklung. Energieeffiziente Produkt- und Prozessinnovationen in der Produktionstechnik. Handlungsfeld virtuelle Produktentwicklung fuer energieeffiziente Produkte und Prozesse (PE)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reichel, Thomas; Ruenger, Gudula; Steger, Daniel; Xu, Haibin

2010-07-07

The development of low-cost, energy-saving and resources-saving products is increasingly important. Thecalculation of the life cycle cost is an important basis for this. For this, it is necessary to extract empirical, decision-relevant data from IT systems of product development (e.g. product data management systems) and operation (e.g. enterprise resource planning systems), and to give the planner appropriate methods for data aggregation. Life cycle data are particularly important for optimising energy efficiency, which may be achieved either by enhanced productivity at constant energy consumption or by reduced energy consumption at constant productivity. The report presents an IT view of the product development process. First, modern methods of product development are analysed including IT support and IT systems. Requirements on IT systems are formulated which enable energy efficiency assessment and optimisation in all phases of product development on the basis of the IT systems used. IT systems for energy-sensitive product development will support the construction engineer in the development of energy-efficient products. For this, the functionalities of existing PDM systems must be enhanced by methods of analysis, synthesis and energy efficiency assessment. Finally, it is shown how the methods for analyzing energy-relevant data can be integrated in the work flow.

Examination of Energy Efficiency Increasing Measures in an Automobile Assembly Plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatma ÇANKA KILIÇ

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, energy consumption analysis was performed in a car assembly plant (Body-inWhite (BiW productions, painting processes, chassis and accessory assembly processes. Examined automobile assembly plant has a production capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year by working six days a week and three shifts a day. Highly energy consuming processes are determined. Energy efficiency increasing opportunities in energy consuming systems (paint shop, drying ovens, compressed air, heating and cooling systems and effects of current automotive assembly techniques on energy efficiency are examined. Most of the total energy in the studied plant is consumed in the paint shop. Considering annual energy consumption; paint shop is responsible for the %50 of total electrical energy and %70 of total natural gas consumption. Specific energy consumption of plant is calculated as 853 kWh (SET; 275 kWh for electricity consumption (SETe , and 578 kWh for natural gas (SETdg . By performing determined energy efficiency measures; SET of plant will reduce %1 for the SETe , and %5,7 for SETdg

Resource Use Efficiency Analysis for Potato Production in Nepal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahesh Sapkota

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Potato is one of the most important staple foods supporting food security and livelihood to millions of marginalized and poor farmers in Nepal. Generally the smallholders’ farmers, especially those located in remote villages are inadequately informed about technical knowledge, inputs and efficient use of resources causing poor production and low productivity. Thus, the present survey aimed to examine the efficiency of resources used in potato production in Baglung District, one of the remote hilly place located in Central Himalaya. The total of 120 potato growing households was selected using simple random sampling technique from the two potato pocket in 2016. The regression coefficients of each inputs using Cobb-Douglas production function were estimated using Stata software. Our results showed that major inputs such as labor, bullock, Farm Yard Manure (FYM and intercultural operations were overused and need to decrease in terms of cost by 109, 177, 51 and 185%, respectively for its optimum allocation. Similarly, seed was found underused and need to increase its cost by 70% for optimum allocation. We concluded that inadequate training, exposure, knowledge gap and extension service to farmers in study sites were the reasons that farmers were using their resources inefficiently. It is recommended that the farmers involved in potato farming in the surveyed sites should be provided with additional proper technical knowledge for optimizing the use of resources which would help to increase the production and return from potato production.

From Policy to Compliance: Federal Energy Efficient Product Procurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DeMates, Laurèn [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Scodel, Anna [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2017-09-06

Federal buyers are required to purchase energy-efficient products in an effort to minimize energy use in the federal sector, save the federal government money, and spur market development of efficient products. The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP)’s Energy Efficient Product Procurement (EEPP) Program helps federal agencies comply with the requirement to purchase energy-efficient products by providing technical assistance and guidance and setting efficiency requirements for certain product categories. Past studies have estimated the savings potential of purchasing energy-efficient products at over $500 million per year in energy costs across federal agencies.1 Despite the strong policy support for EEPP and resources available, energy-efficient product purchasing operates within complex decision-making processes and operational structures; implementation challenges exist that may hinder agencies’ ability to comply with purchasing requirements. The shift to purchasing green products, including energy-efficient products, relies on “buy in” from a variety of potential actors throughout different purchasing pathways. Challenges may be especially high for EEPP relative to other sustainable acquisition programs given that efficient products frequently have a higher first cost than non-efficient ones, which may be perceived as a conflict with fiscal responsibility, or more simply problematic for agency personnel trying to stretch limited budgets. Federal buyers may also face challenges in determining whether a given product is subject to EEPP requirements. Previous analysis on agency compliance with EEPP, conducted by the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), shows that federal agencies are getting better at purchasing energy-efficient products. ASE conducted two reviews of relevant solicitations for product and service contracts listed on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO), the centralized website where federal agencies are required to post procurements greater

Cost-efficiency of animal welfare in broiler production systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gocsik, Éva; Brooshooft, Suzanne D.; Jong, de Ingrid C.; Saatkamp, Helmut W.

2016-01-01

Broiler producers operate in a highly competitive and cost-price driven environment. In addition, in recent years the societal pressure to improve animal welfare (AW) in broiler production systems is increasing. Hence, from an economic and decision making point of view, the cost-efficiency of

Challenges in biobutanol production: How to improve the efficiency?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, Veronica; Paekkilae, Johanna; Muurinen, Esa; Keiski, Riitta L.; Ojamo, Heikki

2011-01-01

There is an increasing interest in the production of chemicals and fuels from renewable resources due to the continuing price increase of fossil resources, the insecurity of the availability of fossil resources in the future, and additionally environmental concerns and legislations. Biobutanol may be produced by the acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation. This paper reviews the biobutanol production bringing up the problems and challenges to overcome. The aim of the paper is to help in finding opportunities to make the process feasible in the near future. The analysis stresses the idea of improving the efficiency of the fermentation stage by altering the up (pretreatment of the raw material) and downstream (product recovery and purification) processes. The paper also explores the biobutanol production from the biorefinery perspective. Finally the review brings up the important role of research in developing and implementing the production of biobutanol by the ABE fermentation. (author)

Challenges in biobutanol production: How to improve the efficiency?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia, Veronica; Paekkilae, Johanna; Muurinen, Esa; Keiski, Riitta L. [Mass and Heat Transfer Process Laboratory, Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, POB 4300, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Oulu (Finland); Ojamo, Heikki [Bioprocess Engineering Laboratory, Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, POB 4300, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Oulu (Finland)

2011-02-15

There is an increasing interest in the production of chemicals and fuels from renewable resources due to the continuing price increase of fossil resources, the insecurity of the availability of fossil resources in the future, and additionally environmental concerns and legislations. Biobutanol may be produced by the acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation. This paper reviews the biobutanol production bringing up the problems and challenges to overcome. The aim of the paper is to help in finding opportunities to make the process feasible in the near future. The analysis stresses the idea of improving the efficiency of the fermentation stage by altering the up (pretreatment of the raw material) and downstream (product recovery and purification) processes. The paper also explores the biobutanol production from the biorefinery perspective. Finally the review brings up the important role of research in developing and implementing the production of biobutanol by the ABE fermentation. (author)

Development of Production PVD-AIN Buffer Layer System and Processes to Reduce Epitaxy Costs and Increase LED Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cerio, Frank

2013-09-14

The DOE has set aggressive goals for solid state lighting (SSL) adoption, which require manufacturing and quality improvements for virtually all process steps leading to an LED luminaire product. The goals pertinent to this proposed project are to reduce the cost and improve the quality of the epitaxial growth processes used to build LED structures. The objectives outlined in this proposal focus on achieving cost reduction and performance improvements over state-of-the-art, using technologies that are low in cost and amenable to high efficiency manufacturing. The objectives of the outlined proposal focus on cost reductions in epitaxial growth by reducing epitaxy layer thickness and hetero-epitaxial strain, and by enabling the use of larger, less expensive silicon substrates and would be accomplished through the introduction of a high productivity reactive sputtering system and an effective sputtered aluminum-nitride (AlN) buffer/nucleation layer process. Success of the proposed project could enable efficient adoption of GaN on-silicon (GaN/Si) epitaxial technology on 150mm silicon substrates. The reduction in epitaxy cost per cm{sup 2} using 150mm GaN-on-Si technology derives from (1) a reduction in cost of ownership and increase in throughput for the buffer deposition process via the elimination of MOCVD buffer layers and other throughput and CoO enhancements, (2) improvement in brightness through reductions in defect density, (3) reduction in substrate cost through the replacement of sapphire with silicon, and (4) reduction in non-ESD yield loss through reductions in wafer bow and temperature variation. The adoption of 150mm GaN/Si processing will also facilitate significant cost reductions in subsequent wafer fabrication manufacturing costs. There were three phases to this project. These three phases overlap in order to aggressively facilitate a commercially available production GaN/Si capability. In Phase I of the project, the repeatability of the performance

Production and efficiency analysis with R

CERN Document Server

Behr, Andreas

2015-01-01

This textbook introduces essential topics and techniques in production and efficiency analysis and shows how to apply these methods using the statistical software R. Numerous small simulations lead to a deeper understanding of random processes assumed in the models and of the behavior of estimation techniques. Step-by-step programming provides an understanding of advanced approaches such as stochastic frontier analysis and stochastic data envelopment analysis. The text is intended for master students interested in empirical production and efficiency analysis. Readers are assumed to have a general background in production economics and econometrics, typically taught in introductory microeconomics and econometrics courses.

Development of a method for efficient cost-effective screening of Aspergillus niger mutants having increased production of glucoamylase.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xudong; Arman, Bessembayev; Chu, Ju; Wang, Yonghong; Zhuang, Yingping

2017-05-01

To develop an efficient cost-effective screening process to improve production of glucoamylase in Aspergillus niger. The cultivation of A. niger was achieved with well-dispersed morphology in 48-deep-well microtiter plates, which increased the throughput of the samples compared to traditional flask cultivation. There was a close negative correlation between glucoamylase and its pH of the fermentation broth. A novel high-throughput analysis method using Methyl Orange was developed. When compared to the conventional analysis method using 4-nitrophenyl α-D-glucopyranoside as substrate, a correlation coefficient of 0.96 by statistical analysis was obtained. Using this novel screening method, we acquired a strain with an activity of 2.2 × 10 3  U ml -1 , a 70% higher yield of glucoamylase than its parent strain.

Production and efficiency of large wildland fire suppression effort: A stochastic frontier analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Katuwal, Hari; Calkin, David E; Hand, Michael S

2016-01-15

This study examines the production and efficiency of wildland fire suppression effort. We estimate the effectiveness of suppression resource inputs to produce controlled fire lines that contain large wildland fires using stochastic frontier analysis. Determinants of inefficiency are identified and the effects of these determinants on the daily production of controlled fire line are examined. Results indicate that the use of bulldozers and fire engines increase the production of controlled fire line, while firefighter crews do not tend to contribute to controlled fire line production. Production of controlled fire line is more efficient if it occurs along natural or built breaks, such as rivers and roads, and within areas previously burned by wildfires. However, results also indicate that productivity and efficiency of the controlled fire line are sensitive to weather, landscape and fire characteristics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT OF DEPOSIT WELDING AND GAS LASER CUTTING TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE BIMETALLIC TOOL PRODUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Burlachenko Oleg Vasil’evich

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Deposit welding is the application of a layer of metal on the surface of a product using fusion welding. In this paper, we consider the method of improving the technology of gas laser cutting, which makes it possible to achieve a high productivity of manufacturing a bimetallic tool. The present paper is concerned with the advantages of gas laser cutting which allows to consider this particular process of separating materials as highly-productive, low-waste, and advanced method of removing allowances of weld-deposit high-speed steel on the working surfaces of bimetallic tool. Urgency of the use of deposit welding and gas laser cutting to improve the efficiency of production of bimetallic tool is shown. The comparative analysis of gas-laser cutting and other cutting methods is given according to the geometrical parameters of cutting and surface quality. Analysis of the results of experimental studies has confirmed the high technological attractiveness and economic efficiency of manufacturing composite structures of punches and matrices when applying deposit welding of cutting parts with high-speed steels. The cost of dimensional processing of the welded cutting part is reduced by 4 to 6 times, while the manufacturing time is reduced by 6 to 12 times.

Scenario-based energy efficiency and productivity in China: A non-radial directional distance function analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, H.; Zhou, P.; Zhou, D.Q.

2013-01-01

Improving energy efficiency and productivity is one of the most cost-effective ways for achieving the sustainable development target in China. This paper employs non-radial directional distance function approach to empirically investigate energy efficiency and energy productivity by including CO 2 emissions as an undesirable output. Three production scenarios, namely energy conservation (EC), energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER), and energy conservation, emission reduction and economic growth (ECEREG), are specified to assess China's energy efficiency and productivity growth during the period of Eleventh Five-Year Plan. Our empirical results show that there exist substantial differences in China's total-factor energy efficiency and productivity under different scenarios. Under the ECEREG scenario, the national average total-factor energy efficiency score was 0.6306 in 2005–2010, while the national average total-factor energy productivity increased by 0.27% annually during the period. The main driving force for energy productivity growth in China was energy technological change rather than energy efficiency change. - Highlights: • China's regional energy efficiency and productivity in 2005–2010 are evaluated. • Three production scenarios are considered. • Non-radial directional distance function with CO 2 emissions is employed. • Technological change is the main driver for China's energy productivity growth

Multidirectional analysis of technical efficiency for pig production systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Labajavo, Katarina; Hansson, Helena; Asmild, Mette

2016-01-01

Declining profitability and ongoing structural changes in the pig sector require thorough efficiency analysis of individual production factors. In this study we calculated technical efficiency indices for each input and output using multidirectional efficiency analysis and examined the relationship...... between ‘farm-specific characteristics’ and input and output technical efficiencies by production type (piglet, growing-finishing, finish-to-farrow). The results indicated that advisory services and farm location were not significantly correlated with technical efficiency. Similar results were obtained...... for ‘housing practices’, with the exception of the latest technology such as heated floors in relation to input labour technical efficiency for growing-finishing and finish-to-farrow productions. Use of written instructions for feeding for growing-finishing and finish-to-farrow production and written...

Increasing the Economical Efficiency and Sustainability of Indoor Fish Farming by Means of Aquaponics - Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flavius Blidariu

2011-10-01

Full Text Available This review focuses on increasing economical efficiency and sustainability of indoor fish farming. Aspects like sustainability and economical efficiency were reviewed. In order to improve man`s health we must reconsider the agricultural sciences, by this we understand that we must develop technologies friendly for the environment. Sustainable indoor fish farming is the farming of the new millennium. Combining aquaculture with hydroponics we obtain a new innovation named aquaponics which respects principles of sustainable agriculture (wastewater biofiltration by plants and gives us the possibility to increase economical efficiency with an additional production (organic vegetables.

Increasing operating room productivity by duration categories and a newsvendor model.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehtonen, Juha-Matti; Torkki, Paulus; Peltokorpi, Antti; Moilanen, Teemu

2013-01-01

Previous studies approach surgery scheduling mainly from the mathematical modeling perspective which is often hard to apply in a practical environment. The aim of this study is to develop a practical scheduling system that considers the advantages of both surgery categorization and newsvendor model to surgery scheduling. The research was carried out in a Finnish orthopaedic specialist centre that performs only joint replacement surgery. Four surgery categorization scenarios were defined and their productivity analyzed by simulation and newsvendor model. Detailed analyses of surgery durations and the use of more accurate case categories and their combinations in scheduling improved OR productivity 11.3 percent when compared to the base case. Planning to have one OR team to work longer led to remarkable decrease in scheduling inefficiency. In surgical services, productivity and cost-efficiency can be improved by utilizing historical data in case scheduling and by increasing flexibility in personnel management. The study increases the understanding of practical scheduling methods used to improve efficiency in surgical services.

PRODUCT EFFICIENCY IN THE SPANISH AUTOMOBILE MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

González, Eduardo

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper evaluates product efficiency in the Spanish automobile market. We use non parametric frontier techniques in order to estimate product efficiency scores for each model. These scores reflect the minimum price for which each car could be sold, given the bundle of tangible features it offers in comparison to the best-buy models. Unlike previous research, we use discounted prices which have been adjusted by car dealerships to meet sale targets. Therefore, we interpret the efficiency scores as indicators of the value of the intangible features of the brand. The results show that Audi, Volvo, Volkswagen and Mercedes offer the greatest intangible value, since they are heavily overpriced in terms of price/product ratios. Conversely, Seat, Kia, Renault and Dacia are the brands that can be taken as referent in terms of price/product ratios.

A participatory and integrative approach to increase productivity and comfort in assembly

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Looze, M.P. de; Rhijn, G. van; Tuinzaad, B.; Deursen, J. van

2000-01-01

Manufacturers of manually assembled products are more and more forced to improve the flow of assembly orders together with a more efficient employment, in order to meet increasing demands on short delivery times, high product variety, good quality and low manufacturing costs. At the same time, the

Modernisation of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant increases the power production efficiency under safe limits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valkeapaeae, R.

1995-01-01

Teollisuuden Voima Oy published the efficiency increment plans as a part of the modernisation of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. The power of the reactor units, originally designed for 660 MW will now be increased for a second time. The former improvements were made in 1994. The power of the units was increased to 710 MW. After this new renovation the power of the both units will be 830-840 MW. (2 figs.)

Organisational determinants of production and efficiency in general practice: a population-based study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rose Olsen, Kim; Gyrd-Hansen, Dorte; Sørensen, Torben Højmark

2013-01-01

Shortage of general practitioners (GPs) and an increased political focus on primary care have enforced the interest in efficiency analysis in the Danish primary care sector. This paper assesses the association between organisational factors of general practices and production and efficiency. We a...

Chemistry - Toward efficient hydrogen production at surfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørskov, Jens Kehlet; Christensen, Claus H.

2006-01-01

Calculations are providing a molecular picture of hydrogen production on catalytic surfaces and within enzymes, knowledge that may guide the design of new, more efficient catalysts for the hydrogen economy.......Calculations are providing a molecular picture of hydrogen production on catalytic surfaces and within enzymes, knowledge that may guide the design of new, more efficient catalysts for the hydrogen economy....

Reduced irrigation increases the water use efficiency and productivity of winter wheat-summer maize rotation on the North China Plain.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yunqi; Zhang, Yinghua; Zhang, Rui; Li, Jinpeng; Zhang, Meng; Zhou, Shunli; Wang, Zhimin

2018-03-15

The groundwater table has fallen sharply over the last 30years on the North China Plain, resulting in a shortage of water for winter wheat irrigation. Reducing irrigation may be an important strategy to maintain agricultural sustainability in the region; however, few studies have evaluated the transition from conventional irrigation management practices to reduced irrigation management practices in the winter wheat-summer maize rotation system. Here, we compare the yield, water consumption, and water use efficiency of winter wheat-summer maize rotation under conventional irrigation and reduced irrigation on the North China Plain from 2012 to 2015. Reducing irrigation decreased the yield but increased the water use efficiency and significantly advanced the harvest date of winter wheat. As a result, the summer maize sowing date advanced significantly, and the flowering date subsequently advanced 2-8days, thus extending the summer maize grain-filling stage. Therefore, the yield and water use efficiency of summer maize were higher under reduced irrigation than conventional irrigation, which compensated for the winter wheat yield loss under reduced irrigation. In addition, under reduced irrigation from 2012 to 2015, the yield and water use efficiency advantage of the winter wheat-summer maize rotation ranged from 0.0 to 9.7% and from 4.1 to 14.7%, respectively, and water consumption and irrigated water decreased by 20-61mm and 150mm, respectively, compared to conventional irrigation. Overall, the reduced irrigation management practice involving no irrigation after sowing winter wheat, and sowing summer maize on June 7 produced the most favorable grain yield with superb water use efficiency in the winter wheat-summer maize rotation. This study indicates that reducing irrigation could be an efficient means to cope with water resource shortages while maintaining crop production sustainability on the North China Plain. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Structural Materials for Efficient Energy Production Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomez Briceno, D.

2009-01-01

Increasing the efficiency of electric power production systems implies increasing the operating temperature above those of systems currently in operation. The viability of new systems depends completely on the availability of structural materials that withstand the operating conditions specified in the design: adequate features under mechanical stress at high temperatures and compatibility with the medium. In the case of nuclear systems (fission, fusion), an important requirement is their response to irradiation induced damage. In spite of the significant differences that exist in the design of nuclear power plants, fusion reactors, innovative fission systems, supercritical fossil plants, biomass plants, solar concentration thermal plants, etc., all of them have as a common characteristic the use of resistant materials at high temperatures. The qualification of existing materials for the new and more demanding operating conditions and the development of new materials is one of the challenges faced by the electric power production industry. The science of materials and the understanding of the basic processes that take place in structural materials on exposure to the operating conditions of energy production systems are the tools that are available to obtain safe and economically viable solutions. (Authors) 4 refs.

Development of a novel energy-efficient adsorption dryer with zeolite for food product

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Djaeni, M.; Boxtel, van A.J.B.

2012-01-01

Abstract: The demand of high quality dry products closing to the fresh condition increases significantly. Current drying technology have shown the significant improvement on product quality, but the breakthrough respecting to energy efficiency is scarce. Air dehumidification with adsorbent such as

The ways of SOFC systems efficiency increasing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Demin, A.K.; Timofeyeva, N.

1996-04-01

The efficiency of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is described. This paper considers methods to lift the fuel utilization and/or the average cell voltage with the goal of increasing the cell efficiency by improved cell designs.

Efficiency in energy production and consumption

Science.gov (United States)

Kellogg, Ryan Mayer

This dissertation deals with economic efficiency in the energy industry and consists of three parts. The first examines how joint experience between pairs of firms working together in oil and gas drilling improves productivity. Part two asks whether oil producers time their drilling optimally by taking real options effects into consideration. Finally, I investigate the efficiency with which energy is consumed, asking whether extending Daylight Saving Time (DST) reduces electricity use. The chapter "Learning by Drilling: Inter-Firm Learning and Relationship Persistence in the Texas Oilpatch" examines how oil production companies and the drilling rigs they hire improve drilling productivity by learning through joint experience. I find that the joint productivity of a lead firm and its drilling contractor is enhanced significantly as they accumulate experience working together. Moreover, this result is robust to other relationship specificities and standard firm-specific learning-by-doing effects. The second chapter, "Drill Now or Drill Later: The Effect of Expected Volatility on Investment," investigates the extent to which firms' drilling behavior accords with a key prescription of real options theory: irreversible investments such as drilling should be deferred when the expected volatility of the investments' payoffs increases. I combine detailed data on oil drilling with expectations of future oil price volatility that I derive from the NYMEX futures options market. Conditioning on expected price levels, I find that oil production companies significantly reduce the number of wells they drill when expected price volatility is high. I conclude with "Daylight Time and Energy: Evidence from an Australian Experiment," co-authored with Hendrik Wolff. This chapter assesses DST's impact on electricity demand using a quasi-experiment in which parts of Australia extended DST in 2000 to facilitate the Sydney Olympics. We show that the extension did not reduce overall

Increasing radiographer productivity by an incentive point system.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, B; Chacko, P T

1983-01-01

Because of a very low technologist productivity in their Radiology Department, the authors describe a Productive Point System they developed and implemented to solve this personnel problem. After establishing the average time required to perform all exams, point credits (one point for every ten minutes utilized) were assigned to each exam performed, thereby determining an index of production. A Productive Index of 80% was considered realistic and was the equivalent of 192 points for a 40-hour work week. From 1975 to 1978 personal productivity increased from 79% to 113%. This resulted in an average yearly fiscal savings of over $20,000.00 for this three-year period. There was also a significant improvement in exam efficiency and quality, job attitude, personnel morale, and public relations. This program was highly successful because technologist acceptance and cooperation was complete, and this occurred mainly because the system supports the normal occupational goals and expectations of technologists.

The interrelationship between environmental goals, productivity improvement, and increased energy efficiency in integrated paper and steel plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-06-01

This report presents the results of an investigation into the interrelationships between plant-level productivity, energy efficiency, and environmental improvements for integrated pulp and paper mills and integrated steel mills in the US. Integrated paper and steel plants are defined as those facilities that use some form of onsite raw material to produce final products (for example, paper and paperboard or finished steel). Fully integrated pulp and paper mills produce onsite the pulp used to manufacture paper from virgin wood fiber, secondary fiber, or nonwood fiber. Fully integrated steel mills process steel from coal, iron ore, and scrap inputs and have onsite coke oven facilities.

Biodiversity influences plant productivity through niche–efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jingjing; Zhou, Mo; Tobin, Patrick C.; McGuire, A. David; Reich, Peter B.

2015-01-01

The loss of biodiversity is threatening ecosystem productivity and services worldwide, spurring efforts to quantify its effects on the functioning of natural ecosystems. Previous research has focused on the positive role of biodiversity on resource acquisition (i.e., niche complementarity), but a lack of study on resource utilization efficiency, a link between resource and productivity, has rendered it difficult to quantify the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship. Here we demonstrate that biodiversity loss reduces plant productivity, other things held constant, through theory, empirical evidence, and simulations under gradually relaxed assumptions. We developed a theoretical model named niche–efficiency to integrate niche complementarity and a heretofore-ignored mechanism of diminishing marginal productivity in quantifying the effects of biodiversity loss on plant productivity. Based on niche–efficiency, we created a relative productivity metric and a productivity impact index (PII) to assist in biological conservation and resource management. Relative productivity provides a standardized measure of the influence of biodiversity on individual productivity, and PII is a functionally based taxonomic index to assess individual species’ inherent value in maintaining current ecosystem productivity. Empirical evidence from the Alaska boreal forest suggests that every 1% reduction in overall plant diversity could render an average of 0.23% decline in individual tree productivity. Out of the 283 plant species of the region, we found that large woody plants generally have greater PII values than other species. This theoretical model would facilitate the integration of biological conservation in the international campaign against several pressing global issues involving energy use, climate change, and poverty. PMID:25901325

Biodiversity influences plant productivity through niche–efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jingjing; Zhou, Mo; Tobin, Patrick C.; McGuire, A. David; Reich, Peter B.

2015-01-01

The loss of biodiversity is threatening ecosystem productivity and services worldwide, spurring efforts to quantify its effects on the functioning of natural ecosystems. Previous research has focused on the positive role of biodiversity on resource acquisition (i.e., niche complementarity), but a lack of study on resource utilization efficiency, a link between resource and productivity, has rendered it difficult to quantify the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship. Here we demonstrate that biodiversity loss reduces plant productivity, other things held constant, through theory, empirical evidence, and simulations under gradually relaxed assumptions. We developed a theoretical model named niche–efficiency to integrate niche complementarity and a heretofore-ignored mechanism of diminishing marginal productivity in quantifying the effects of biodiversity loss on plant productivity. Based on niche–efficiency, we created a relative productivity metric and a productivity impact index (PII) to assist in biological conservation and resource management. Relative productivity provides a standardized measure of the influence of biodiversity on individual productivity, and PII is a functionally based taxonomic index to assess individual species’ inherent value in maintaining current ecosystem productivity. Empirical evidence from the Alaska boreal forest suggests that every 1% reduction in overall plant diversity could render an average of 0.23% decline in individual tree productivity. Out of the 283 plant species of the region, we found that large woody plants generally have greater PII values than other species. This theoretical model would facilitate the integration of biological conservation in the international campaign against several pressing global issues involving energy use, climate change, and poverty.

Biodiversity influences plant productivity through niche-efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jingjing; Zhou, Mo; Tobin, Patrick C; McGuire, A David; Reich, Peter B

2015-05-05

The loss of biodiversity is threatening ecosystem productivity and services worldwide, spurring efforts to quantify its effects on the functioning of natural ecosystems. Previous research has focused on the positive role of biodiversity on resource acquisition (i.e., niche complementarity), but a lack of study on resource utilization efficiency, a link between resource and productivity, has rendered it difficult to quantify the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship. Here we demonstrate that biodiversity loss reduces plant productivity, other things held constant, through theory, empirical evidence, and simulations under gradually relaxed assumptions. We developed a theoretical model named niche-efficiency to integrate niche complementarity and a heretofore-ignored mechanism of diminishing marginal productivity in quantifying the effects of biodiversity loss on plant productivity. Based on niche-efficiency, we created a relative productivity metric and a productivity impact index (PII) to assist in biological conservation and resource management. Relative productivity provides a standardized measure of the influence of biodiversity on individual productivity, and PII is a functionally based taxonomic index to assess individual species' inherent value in maintaining current ecosystem productivity. Empirical evidence from the Alaska boreal forest suggests that every 1% reduction in overall plant diversity could render an average of 0.23% decline in individual tree productivity. Out of the 283 plant species of the region, we found that large woody plants generally have greater PII values than other species. This theoretical model would facilitate the integration of biological conservation in the international campaign against several pressing global issues involving energy use, climate change, and poverty.

FORMING OF THE SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS BASED ON INCREASING OF THEIR INTEGRATED ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SHVETS V. J.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Key challenges and barriers of mining machinery enterprises in the context of forming sustainable supply chains in the mining industry are specified. Methodology. The algorithm of forming the industrial relations, which are carried out by the enterprises of mining machinery in order to increase the sustainable development of a mining industry, is offered. Conclusions.. Modern supply chains are confronted with dynamic trends and developments that are hard to predict. In order to respond to these changes and remain competitive advantage, companies should be able to identify and understand new sustainability issues in their branches. It is established that in the conditions of globalization of the market and the general orientation of Ukraine’s economy to the European principles of development, for mining machinery enterprises a proof of the commitment and observance of requirements of energy efficiency, i.e. energy saving, energy safety and social energy responsibility are very important. Supply channels should increase not only energy efficiency, economic and production stability of the company, but also strengthen the stability of all participants in the production chain, as well as other stakeholders (business partners, customers, investors, local communities, etc.. Originality. The interrelation of an indicator of energy efficiency in forming sustainable supply chain in a mining industry is established. Practical value. Using the principles of sustainable development in the forming of value chains will improve energy efficiency of industry in general; provide a competitive advantage to entry into the global production chains in terms of European integration of Ukraine.

Eco-efficiency Analysis of Furniture Product Using Life Cycle Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ika Rinawati Dyah

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Furniture is one of Indonesia’s main commodities strategically role in economic growth and employment in Indonesia. In their production process there many wastes resulted, such as such as sawdust, cuttings - pieces of wood, components that do not conform to specifications and the edges of wood from a log. Contrast with requirement of timber for furniture industries, availability of raw material sources decrease because of limited forest areas. Beside that, using electricity and chemical material in furniture production process have impact to environment. This study aim to assess the eco-cost and eco-efficiency ratio of the product so strategic recommendations to improve the eco-efficiency of products can be designed. The results of data processing showed the environmental costs of the furniture production process amount Rp 30.887.84. Eco-efficiency index of furniture products studied was 4,79 with the eco-efficiency ratio of 79,12%. This result means that the measured furniture products already profitable and sustainable, as well as its production process is already fairly efficient. However, improved performance of the production process can still be done to improve the eco-efficiency by minimizing the use of raw materials.

Eco-efficiency Analysis of Furniture Product Using Life Cycle Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Rinawati, Dyah Ika; Sriyanto; Sari, Diana Puspita; Prayodha, Andana Cantya

2018-02-01

Furniture is one of Indonesia's main commodities strategically role in economic growth and employment in Indonesia. In their production process there many wastes resulted, such as such as sawdust, cuttings - pieces of wood, components that do not conform to specifications and the edges of wood from a log. Contrast with requirement of timber for furniture industries, availability of raw material sources decrease because of limited forest areas. Beside that, using electricity and chemical material in furniture production process have impact to environment. This study aim to assess the eco-cost and eco-efficiency ratio of the product so strategic recommendations to improve the eco-efficiency of products can be designed. The results of data processing showed the environmental costs of the furniture production process amount Rp 30.887.84. Eco-efficiency index of furniture products studied was 4,79 with the eco-efficiency ratio of 79,12%. This result means that the measured furniture products already profitable and sustainable, as well as its production process is already fairly efficient. However, improved performance of the production process can still be done to improve the eco-efficiency by minimizing the use of raw materials.

High-Efficiency Food Production in a Renewable Energy Based Micro-Grid

Science.gov (United States)

Bubenheim, David L.

2017-01-01

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) systems can be used to produce high-quality, desirable food year round, and the fresh produce can positively contribute to the health and well being of residents in communities with difficult supply logistics. While CEA has many positive outcomes for a remote community, the associated high electric demands have prohibited widespread implementation in what is typically already a fully subscribed power generation and distribution system. Recent advances in CEA technologies as well as renewable power generation, storage, and micro-grid management are increasing system efficiency and expanding the possibilities for enhancing community supporting infrastructure without increasing demands for outside supplied fuels. We will present examples of how new lighting, nutrient delivery, and energy management and control systems can enable significant increases in food production efficiency while maintaining high yields in CEA.Examples from Alaskan communities where initial incorporation of renewable power generation, energy storage and grid management techniques have already reduced diesel fuel consumption for electric generation by more than 40 and expanded grid capacity will be presented. We will discuss how renewable power generation, efficient grid management to extract maximum community service per kW, and novel energy storage approaches can expand the food production, water supply, waste treatment, sanitation and other community support services without traditional increases of consumable fuels supplied from outside the community. These capabilities offer communities with a range of choices to enhance their communities. The examples represent a synergy of technology advancement efforts to develop sustainable community support systems for future space-based human habitats and practical implementation of infrastructure components to increase efficiency and enhance health and well-being in remote communities today and tomorrow.

Risk Adjusted Production Efficiency of Maize Farmers in Ethiopia: Implication for Improved Maize Varieties Adoption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sisay Diriba Lemessa

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This study analyzes the technical efficiency and production risk of 862 maize farmers in major maize producing regions of Ethiopia. It employs the stochastic frontier approach (SFA to estimate the level of technical efficiencies of stallholder farmers. The stochastic frontier approach (SFA uses flexible risk properties to account for production risk. Thus, maize production variability is assessed from two perspectives, the production risk and the technical efficiency. The study also attempts to determine the socio-economic and farm characteristics that influence technical efficiency of maize production in the study area. The findings of the study showed the existence of both production risk and technical inefficiency in maize production process. Input variables (amounts per hectare such as fertilizer and labor positively influence maize output. The findings also show that farms in the study area exhibit decreasing returns to scale. Fertilizer and ox plough days reduce output risk while labor and improved seed increase output risk. The mean technical efficiency for maize farms is 48 percent. This study concludes that production risk and technical inefficiency prevents the maize farmers from realizing their frontier output. The best factors that improve the efficiency of the maize farmers in the study area include: frequency of extension contact, access to credit and use of intercropping. It was also realized that altitude and terracing in maize farms had influence on farmer efficiency.

Impacts of Rural Labor Resource Change on the Technical Efficiency of Crop Production in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ning Yin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper probes effects of the evolvement of labor resources on technical efficiency in crop production in rural China. Based on twelve years of data on crop production of 30 provinces in China, a stochastic frontier production function model is used to measure crop production efficiency in three crop-functional areas—the production area, the consumption area, and the balanced area. Then effects of both quantity and quality change in labor force on technical efficiency in different regions of China are analyzed. Results show that rural China generally has an increasing number of employees shifted to non-agricultural sectors and a decreasing trend of the stock of human capital. However, both these two changes in rural labor force have significantly positive effects on improving crop production efficiency. In addition, China’s technical inefficiency is at an average of 22.2%. Dynamically, the technical efficiencies show a tendency to rise steadily throughout China and in three areas, while the consumption area possesses the highest technical efficiency. Those results may lend some experience for other countries that are currently experiencing rural labor force and economic transition.

Increasing the extraction efficiency of algal lipid for biodiesel ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

SAM

2014-04-09

Apr 9, 2014 ... biodiesel production: Novel application of algal viruses ... Environmental Virology Cell, Council of Scientific and Industrial ... content, biomass productivity and are more sustainable ... rRNA of microalgae using outsourcing the sequencing services to .... efficiency is concerned, such as development of.

Increasing the productive efficiency of carabaos under smallholder farming systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Momongan, V.G.; Sarabia, A.S.; Roxas, N.P.; Palad, O.A.; Obsioma, A.R.; Nava, Z.M.; Del Barrio, A.N.

1990-01-01

There is a need to improve the reproductive efficiency of carabaos to meet the increasing demand for draught power, meat and milk. Under village conditions carabaos appear to have a pregnancy rate of 17.7%; this could be attributed greatly to tethering management, which prevents their natural breeding activities. Moreover, about 32% of the breedable female carabaos are acyclic and only 3.5% are in oestrus at any one time. Carabaos which are either cycling or pregnant have a better body condition than those which are acyclic or non-pregnant. The plasma progesterone level was very low at the time of insemination (<0.5 ng/mL), but gradually increased to above 2.0 ng/mL during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Thus, it was possible to diagnose early pregnancy and to confirm oestrus. A positive correlation was observed between plasma and milk progesterone concentrations during the oestrous cycle (r=0.60) and pregnancy (r=0.50). Oestrus synchronization was found to be a useful tool in implementing the cross-breeding of Philippine carabaos with riverine buffaloes through artificial insemination; an average pregnancy rate of about 30% was obtained using frozen semen. The performance of cross-breds showed that the weights at birth were about 36.0 ± 0.9 kg for Phil-Ravi, 33.6 ± 0.9 kg for Phil-Murrah compared with 26.8 ± 0.9 kg for Philippine carabaos. The weights of the three genotypes at 12 months were: 157.0 ± 9.8 kg for Philippine carabaos, 215.4 ± 7.7 kg for Phil-Ravi and 199.8 ± 12.1 kg for Phil-Murrah. At 2 years of age, the carabaos weighed 217.3 ± 18.6 kg, Phil-Ravi 365 ± 23.4 kg and Phil-Murrah 366.3 ± 19.4 kg. The results of this study show that progesterone measurement and oestrus synchronization can be used effectively for cross-breeding carabaos with the frozen semen of river buffaloes. (author). 9 refs, 5 figs, 4 tabs

HelioTrope: An innovative and efficient prototype for solar power production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Papageorgiou George

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The solar energy alternative could provide us with all the energy we need as it exist in vast quantities all around us. We only should be innovative enough in order to improve the efficiency of our systems in capturing and converting solar energy in usable forms of power. By making a case for the solar energy alternative, we identify areas where efficiency can be improved and thereby Solar Energy can become a competitive energy source. This paper suggests an innovative approach to solar energy power production, which is manifested in a prototype given the name HelioTrope. The Heliotrope Solar Energy Production prototype is tested on its' capabilities to efficiently covert solar energy to generation of electricity and other forms of energy for storage or direct use. HelioTrope involves an innovative Stirling engine design and a parabolic concentrating dish with a sun tracking system implementing a control algorithm to maximize the capturing of solar energy. Further, it utilizes a patent developed by the authors where a mechanism is designed for the transmission of reciprocating motion of variable amplitude into unidirectional circular motion. This is employed in our prototype for converting linear reciprocating motion into circular for electricity production, which gives a significant increase in efficiency and reduces maintenance costs. Preliminary calculations indicate that the Heliotrope approach constitutes a competitive solution to solar power production.

Strategies to increase nitrogen use efficiency and reduce nitrate leaching in vegetable production in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruijter, de F.J.; Berge, ten H.F.M.; Smit, A.L.

2010-01-01

Environmental concern and legislation of fertilization requires strategies to increase nitrogen use efficiency and reduce nitrate leaching. Strategies can be fertilizer choice, timing of N availability and fertilizer placement. Rainfall in the experimental year 2007 was moderate and different

Total Factor Productivity and Efficiency Analysis on Islamic Banks in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siti Aisyah

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The aims of this study are to measure productivity and efficiency, to analyze factors which affect the level of efficiency and to analyze correlation between productivity and efficiency of Islamic Banking in Indonesia. The objects of this study are 11 (eleven Islamic Banks (BUS in Indonesia which are analyzed from the second quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of 2015. The result shows only six of the eleven banks that have a good productivity levels, otherwise for efficiency there are only three banks that efficient enough. Furthermore, the relationship between productivity and efficiency levels that are categorized into 4 (four quadrants. In quadrant I, three banks have high productivity and efficiency namely Syariah Mandiri, Panin Syariah and Victoria Syariah; quadrant IV two banks in low level of productivity and efficiency namely Mega Syariah and Bukopin Syariah. While the quadrant II namely BCA Syariah, BRI syariah and Muamalat and quadrant III namely BJB Syariah, BNI Syariah and Maybank Syariah required further research to determine the factors that affect the productivity and efficiency relationships that occur. 

Estimating Production Technical Efficiency of Irvingia Seed (Ogbono ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study estimated the production technical efficiency of irvingia seed (Ogbono) farmers in Nsukka agricultural zone in Enugu State, Nigeria. This is against the backdrop of the importance of efficiency as a factor of productivity in a growing economy like Nigeria where resources are scarce and opportunities for new ...

Life cycle energy efficiency and environmental impact assessment of bioethanol production from sweet potato based on different production modes

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jun; Jia, Chunrong; Wu, Yi; Xi, Beidou; Wang, Lijun; Zhai, Youlong

2017-01-01

The bioethanol is playing an increasingly important role in renewable energy in China. Based on the theory of circular economy, integration of different resources by polygeneration is one of the solutions to improve energy efficiency and to reduce environmental impact. In this study, three modes of bioethanol production were selected to evaluate the life cycle energy efficiency and environmental impact of sweet potato-based bioethanol. The results showed that, the net energy ratio was greater than 1 and the value of net energy gain was positive in the three production modes, in which the maximum value appeared in the circular economy mode (CEM). The environment emission mainly occurred to bioethanol conversion unit in the conventional production mode (CPM) and the cogeneration mode (CGM), and eutrophication potential (EP) and global warming potential (GWP) were the most significant environmental impact category. While compared with CPM and CGM, the environmental impact of CEM significantly declined due to increasing recycling, and plant cultivation unit mainly contributed to EP and GWP. And the comprehensive evaluation score of environmental impact decreased by 73.46% and 23.36%. This study showed that CEM was effective in improving energy efficiency, especially in reducing the environmental impact, and it provides a new method for bioethanol production. PMID:28672044

Biomass production efficiency controlled by management in temperate and boreal ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Campioli, M.; Vicca, S.; Luyssaert, S.; Bilcke, J.; Ceschia, E.; Chapin, F. S., III; Ciais, P.; Fernández-Martínez, M.; Malhi, Y.; Obersteiner, M.; Olefeldt, D.; Papale, D.; Piao, S. L.; Peñuelas, J.; Sullivan, P. F.; Wang, X.; Zenone, T.; Janssens, I. A.

2015-11-01

Plants acquire carbon through photosynthesis to sustain biomass production, autotrophic respiration and production of non-structural compounds for multiple purposes. The fraction of photosynthetic production used for biomass production, the biomass production efficiency, is a key determinant of the conversion of solar energy to biomass. In forest ecosystems, biomass production efficiency was suggested to be related to site fertility. Here we present a database of biomass production efficiency from 131 sites compiled from individual studies using harvest, biometric, eddy covariance, or process-based model estimates of production. The database is global, but dominated by data from Europe and North America. We show that instead of site fertility, ecosystem management is the key factor that controls biomass production efficiency in terrestrial ecosystems. In addition, in natural forests, grasslands, tundra, boreal peatlands and marshes, biomass production efficiency is independent of vegetation, environmental and climatic drivers. This similarity of biomass production efficiency across natural ecosystem types suggests that the ratio of biomass production to gross primary productivity is constant across natural ecosystems. We suggest that plant adaptation results in similar growth efficiency in high- and low-fertility natural systems, but that nutrient influxes under managed conditions favour a shift to carbon investment from the belowground flux of non-structural compounds to aboveground biomass.

Increasing efficiency in ethanol production: Water footprint and economic productivity of sugarcane ethanol under nine different water regimes in north-eastern Brazil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chico, D.; Santiago, A. D.; Garrido, A.

2015-07-01

Ethanol production in Brazil has grown by 219% between 2001 and 2012, increasing the use of land and water resources. In the semi-arid north-eastern Brazil, irrigation is the main way for improving sugarcane production. This study aimed at quantifying water consumed in ethanol production from sugarcane in this region using the water footprint (WF) indicator and complementing it with an evaluation of the water apparent productivity (WAP). This way we were able to provide a measure of the crop´s physical and economic water productivity using, respectively, the WF and WAP concepts. We studied sugarcane cultivation under nine different water regimes, including rainfed and full irrigation. Data from a mill of the state of Alagoas for three production seasons were used. Irrigation influenced sugarcane yield increasing total profit per hectare and economic water productivity. Full irrigation showed the lowest WF, 1229 litres of water per litre of ethanol (L/L), whereas rainfed production showed the highest WF, 1646 L/L. However, the lower WF in full irrigation as compared to the rest of the water regimes implied the use of higher volumes of blue water per cultivated hectare. Lower water regimes yielded the lowest economic productivity, 0.72 US$/m3 for rainfed production as compared to 1.11 US$/m3 for full irrigation. Since economic revenues are increased with higher water regimes, there are incentives for the development of these higher water regimes. This will lead to higher general crop water and economic productivity at field level, as green water is replaced by blue water consumption. (Author)

Efficient STEP (solar thermal electrochemical photo) production of hydrogen - an economic assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Licht, Stuart [Department of Chemistry, George Washington University, Ashburn, VA 20147 (United States); Solar Institute, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052 (United States); Chitayat, Olivia; Bergmann, Harry; Dick, Andrew; Ayub, Hina [Solar Institute, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052 (United States); Ghosh, Susanta [Department of Chemistry, George Washington University, Ashburn, VA 20147 (United States); Department of Chemistry, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan (India)

2010-10-15

A consideration of the economic viability of hydrogen fuel production is important in the STEP (Solar Thermal Electrochemical Photo) production of hydrogen fuel. STEP is an innovative way to decrease costs and increase the efficiency of hydrogen fuel production, which is a synergistic process that can use concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) and solar thermal energy to drive a high temperature, low voltage, electrolysis (water-splitting), resulting in H{sub 2} at decreased energy and higher solar efficiency. This study provides evidence that the STEP system is an economically viable solution for the production of hydrogen. STEP occurs at both higher electrolysis and solar conversion efficiencies than conventional room temperature photovoltaic (PV) generation of hydrogen. This paper probes the economic viability of this process, by comparing four different systems: (1) 10% or (2) 14% flat plate PV driven aqueous alkaline electrolysis H{sub 2} production, (3) 25% CPV driven molten electrolysis H{sub 2} production, and (4) 35% CPV driven solid oxide electrolysis H{sub 2} production. The molten and solid oxide electrolysers are high temperature systems that can make use of light, normally discarded, for heating. This significantly increases system efficiency. Using levelized cost analysis, this study shows significant cost reduction using the STEP system. The total price per kg of hydrogen is shown to decrease from 5.74 to 4.96 to 3.01 to 2.61 with the four alternative systems. The advanced STEP plant requires less than one seventh of the land area of the 10% flat cell plant. To generate the 216 million kg H{sub 2}/year required by 1 million fuel cell vehicles, the 35% CPV driven solid oxide electrolysis requires a plant only 9.6 mi{sup 2} in area. While PV and electrolysis components dominate the cost of conventional PV generated hydrogen, they do not dominate the cost of the STEP-generated hydrogen. The lower cost of STEP hydrogen is driven by residual distribution and

Designing for multiple global user populations: increasing resource allocation efficiency for greater sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Nadadur, G; Parkinson, M B

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a method to identify opportunities for increasing the efficiency of raw material allocation decisions for products that are simultaneously targeted at multiple user populations around the world. The values of 24 body measures at certain key percentiles were used to estimate the best-fitting anthropometric distributions for female and male adults in nine national populations, which were selected to represent the diverse target markets multinational companies must design for. These distributions were then used to synthesize body measure data for combined populations with a 1:1 female:male ratio. An anthropometric range metric (ARM) was proposed for assessing the variation of these body measures across the populations. At any percentile, ARM values were calculated as the percentage difference between the highest and lowest anthropometric values across the considered user populations. Based on their magnitudes, plots of ARM values computed between the 1st and 99 th percentiles for each body measure were grouped into low, medium, and high categories. This classification of body measures was proposed as a means of selecting the most suitable strategies for designing raw material-efficient products. The findings in this study and the contributions of subsequent work along these lines are expected to help achieve greater efficiencies in resource allocation in global product development.

Consumer Surplus in the Digital Economy: Estimating the Value of Increased Product Variety at Online Booksellers

OpenAIRE

Brynjolfsson, Erik; Smith, Michael D.; Yu, (Jeffrey) Hu

2003-01-01

We present a framework and empirical estimates that quantify the economic impact of increased product variety made available through electronic markets. While efficiency gains from increased competition significantly enhance consumer surplus, for instance, by leading to lower average selling prices, our present research shows that increased product variety made available through electronic markets can be a significantly larger source of consumer surplus gains. One reason for increased product...

Thermodynamic equipartition for increased second law efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thiel, Gregory P.; McGovern, Ronan K.; Zubair, Syed M.; Lienhard V, John H.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Efficiency gains from equipartition to minimize entropy generation are quantified. • The equipartition factor (Ξ) quantifies the variance of thermodynamic affinities. • Systems with low (Ξ) and low efficiency gain most when redesigned for equipartition. • For lumped capacitance systems long normalized charging times correlate with low (Ξ). - Abstract: In this work, a clear distinction is drawn between irreversibility associated with a finite mean driving force in a transport process and irreversibility associated with variance in the spatial and/or temporal distribution of this driving force. The portion of irreversibility associated with driving force variance is quantified via a newly defined dimensionless quantity, the equipartition factor. This equipartition factor, related to the variance in dimensionless driving force throughout the system, is employed to formulate an expression for second law efficiency. Consequently, the equipartition factor may be employed to identify the improvement in efficiency achievable via system redesign for a reduction in driving force variance, while holding fixed the system output for fixed system dimensions in time and space. It is shown that systems with low second law efficiency and low equipartition factor will have the greatest benefit from a redesign to obtain equipartition. The utility of the equipartition factor in identifying situations where efficiency can be increased without requiring a spatial or temporal increase in system size is illustrated through its application to several simple systems

BOREAS TE-17 Production Efficiency Model Images

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — A BOREAS version of the Global Production Efficiency Model(www.inform.umd.edu/glopem) was developed by TE-17 to generate maps of gross and net primary production,...

Product lifetime, energy efficiency and climate change: A case study of air conditioners in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishijima, Daisuke

2016-10-01

This study proposed a modelling technique for estimating life-cycle CO2 emissions of durable goods by considering changes in product lifetime and energy efficiency. The stock and flow of durable goods was modelled by Weibull lifetime distributions and the trend in annual energy efficiency (i.e., annual electricity consumption) of an "average" durable good was formulated as a reverse logistic curve including a technologically critical value (i.e., limit energy efficiency) with respect to time. I found that when the average product lifetime is reduced, there is a trade-off between the reduction in emissions during product use (use phase), due to the additional purchases of new, more energy-efficient air conditioners, and the increase in emissions arising from the additional production of new air conditioners stimulated by the reduction of the average product lifetime. A scenario analysis focused on residential air conditioners in Japan during 1972-2013 showed that for a reduction of average lifetime of 1 year, if the air conditioner energy efficiency limit can be improved by 1.4% from the estimated current efficiency level, then CO2 emissions can be reduced by approximately the same amount as for an extension of average product lifetime of 1 year. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Increasing efficiency in ethanol production: Water footprint and economic productivity of sugarcane ethanol under nine different water regimes in north-eastern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Chico

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Ethanol production in Brazil has grown by 219% between 2001 and 2012, increasing the use of land and water resources. In the semi-arid north-eastern Brazil, irrigation is the main way for improving sugarcane production. This study aimed at quantifying water consumed in ethanol production from sugarcane in this region using the water footprint (WF indicator and complementing it with an evaluation of the water apparent productivity (WAP. This way we were able to provide a measure of the crop´s physical and economic water productivity using, respectively, the WF and WAP concepts. We studied sugarcane cultivation under nine different water regimes, including rainfed and full irrigation. Data from a mill of the state of Alagoas for three production seasons were used. Irrigation influenced sugarcane yield increasing total profit per hectare and economic water productivity. Full irrigation showed the lowest WF, 1229 litres of water per litre of ethanol (L/L, whereas rainfed production showed the highest WF, 1646 L/L. However, the lower WF in full irrigation as compared to the rest of the water regimes implied the use of higher volumes of blue water per cultivated hectare. Lower water regimes yielded the lowest economic productivity, 0.72 US$/m3 for rainfed production as compared to 1.11 US$/m3 for full irrigation. Since economic revenues are increased with higher water regimes, there are incentives for the development of these higher water regimes. This will lead to higher general crop water and economic productivity at field level, as green water is replaced by blue water consumption.

Determination of Energy Use Efficiency of Sesame Production

OpenAIRE

BARAN, Mehmet Firat

2018-01-01

In this research it was aimed to determine an energy use efficiency of sesame production in Şanlıurfa province, during the production season of 2015. In order to determine the energy use efficiency of sesame production, trials and measurement were performed in sesame farm in the Bozova district of Şanlıurfa province. As energy inputs, human labour energy, machinery energy, chemical fertilizers energy, irrigation water energy, chemicals energy, diesel fuel energy and seed energy as were calcul...

Energy security for India: Biofuels, energy efficiency and food productivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gunatilake, Herath; Roland-Holst, David; Sugiyarto, Guntur

2014-01-01

The emergence of biofuel as a renewable energy source offers opportunities for significant climate change mitigation and greater energy independence to many countries. At the same time, biofuel represents the possibility of substitution between energy and food. For developing countries like India, which imports over 75% of its crude oil, fossil fuels pose two risks—global warming pollution and long-term risk that oil prices will undermine real living standards. This paper examines India's options for managing energy price risk in three ways: biofuel development, energy efficiency promotion, and food productivity improvements. Our salient results suggest that biodiesel shows promise as a transport fuel substitute that can be produced in ways that fully utilize marginal agricultural resources and hence promote rural livelihoods. First-generation bioethanol, by contrast, appears to have a limited ability to offset the impacts of oil price hikes. Combining the biodiesel expansion policy with energy efficiency improvements and food productivity increases proved to be a more effective strategy to enhance both energy and food security, help mitigate climate change, and cushion the economy against oil price shocks. - Highlights: • We investigate the role of biofuels in India applying a CGE model. • Biodiesel enhances energy security and improve rural livelihoods. • Sugarcane ethanol does not show positive impact on the economy. • Biodiesel and energy efficiency improvements together provide better results. • Food productivity further enhances biodiesel, and energy efficiency impacts

Cue Effectiveness in Communicatively Efficient Discourse Production

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Ting; Jaeger, T. Florian

2012-01-01

Recent years have seen a surge in accounts motivated by information theory that consider language production to be partially driven by a preference for communicative efficiency. Evidence from discourse production (i.e., production beyond the sentence level) has been argued to suggest that speakers distribute information across discourse so as to…

Surgeons' efficiency change is a major determinant of their productivity change.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakata, Yoshinori; Watanabe, Yuichi; Narimatsu, Hiroto; Yoshimura, Tatsuya; Otake, Hiroshi; Sawa, Tomohiro

2016-05-09

Purpose - The sustainability of the Japanese healthcare system is in question because the government has had a huge fiscal debt. Despite an enormous effort to cut the deficit, our healthcare expenditure is increasing every year because of the rapidly aging population. One of the solutions for this problem is to improve the productivity of healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that change surgeons' productivity in one year. Design/methodology/approach - The authors collected data of all surgical procedures performed at Teikyo University Hospital from April 1 through September 30 in 2014 and 2015, and computed the surgeons' Malmquist index (MI), efficiency change (EC) and technical change (TC) using non-radial and non-oriented Malmquist model under the constant returns-to-scale assumptions. The authors then divided the surgeons into two groups; one whose productivity progressed and the other whose productivity regressed. These two groups were compared to identify factors that may influence their MI. Findings - The only significant difference between the two groups was ECs (p productivity change. The best way to improve surgeons' productivity may be to enhance their efficiency regardless of their surgical volume and personal backgrounds.

ESTIMATION OF EFFICIENCY OF MACHINERY FOR PRE-SOWING TREATMENT OF RADISH SEEDS FOR SEED PRODUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. M. Sirota

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The results of pre-sowing treatment of radish seeds aimed at increasing of seed production, yield and its productivity in protected area are presented. The density fractionation of radish seeds by gravity separator is recommended for improvement of planting material quality and increasing of utilization efficiency of frame area.

Increased Energy Efficiency in Slovenian Industry - A Contribution to the Kyoto Target

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selan, B.; Urbancic, A.

1998-01-01

In Slovenia the actual fast growth of greenhouse emissions will require substantial efforts to fulfil the target set in Kyoto. The end-use emissions in the in the industrial sectors represented one third of the total CO 2 emissions in the country in 1996. The cost-effective potential in the sector for CO 2 emission reduction is significant. In the paper, the most important ongoing energy efficiency activities in the industrial sector are presented: information and awareness building, energy advising to larger industrial consumers, energy audition programme, demonstration programme of energy efficiency technologies, financial incentives for energy efficiency investment and the energy efficiency investment fund. A CO 2 tax has been in force since 1997. The results of an evaluation of energy efficiency strategies in industry in the frame of the project 'Integrated resource planning for the energy efficiency in Slovenia' are discussed from the viewpoint of greenhouse gases reduction targets set by Slovenia, and a brief information on the ongoing and expected post Kyoto activities and studies is given. The most important points of the future GHG reduction strategy related to industrial sector in Slovenia will be focused on intensified energy efficiency programme, increased combined heat and power production (CHP), and the effects of incentives through the CO 2 tax. (author)

On Measurement of Efficiency of Cobb-Douglas Production Function with Additive and Multiplicative Errors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Moyazzem Hossain

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In developing counties, efficiency of economic development has determined by the analysis of industrial production. An examination of the characteristic of industrial sector is an essential aspect of growth studies. The most of the developed countries are highly industrialized as they brief “The more industrialization, the more development”. For proper industrialization and industrial development we have to study industrial input-output relationship that leads to production analysis. For a number of reasons econometrician’s belief that industrial production is the most important component of economic development because, if domestic industrial production increases, GDP will increase, if elasticity of labor is higher, implement rates will increase and investment will increase if elasticity of capital is higher. In this regard, this paper should be helpful in suggesting the most suitable Cobb-Douglas production function to forecast the production process for some selected manufacturing industries of developing countries like Bangladesh. This paper choose the appropriate Cobb-Douglas function which gives optimal combination of inputs, that is, the combination that enables it to produce the desired level of output with minimum cost and hence with maximum profitability for some selected manufacturing industries of Bangladesh over the period 1978-79 to 2011-2012. The estimated results shows that the estimates of both capital and labor elasticity of Cobb-Douglas production function with additive errors are more efficient than those estimates of Cobb-Douglas production function with multiplicative errors.

Impact of Erratic Rainfall from Climate Change on Pulse Production Efficiency in Lower Myanmar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sein Mar

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Erratic rainfall has a detrimental impact on crop productivity but rainfall during the specific growth stage is rarely used in efficiency analysis. This study focuses on this untapped point and examines the influence of rainfall specifically encountered during the sowing stage and early vegetative growth stage and the flowering stage of pulses on productivity and efficiency in Lower Myanmar using data from 182 sample farmers. The results of a stochastic frontier production function reveal that rainfall incidence during the flowering season of pulses has a negatively significant effect on yield while replanting crops after serious damage by rain increases productivity. Controlled rainfall variables, seed rate, human labor and land preparation cost are important parameters influencing pulses yield. In the efficiency model, levels of yield loss have a negative impact while being a male household head, access to government credit, access to training, locating farms in the Bago Region and possessing a large area of pulses have a positively significant effect on technical efficiency. Policy recommendations include the establishment of a safety network, such as crop insurance to protect farmers from losses due to unpredictable weather conditions, promoting training programs on cultural practices adapted to climate change, wide coverage of extension activities, giving priority to small-scale farmers and female farmer participation in training and extension activities and increasing the rate of credit availability to farmers.

Estimating shadow prices and efficiency analysis of productive inputs and pesticide use of vegetable production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Singbo, Alphonse G.; Lansink, Alfons Oude; Emvalomatis, Grigorios

2015-01-01

This paper analyzes technical efficiency and the value of the marginal product of productive inputs vis-a-vis pesticide use to measure allocative efficiency of pesticide use along productive inputs. We employ the data envelopment analysis framework and marginal cost techniques to estimate

Resource competition model predicts zonation and increasing nutrient use efficiency along a wetland salinity gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Schoolmaster, Donald; Stagg, Camille L.

2018-01-01

A trade-off between competitive ability and stress tolerance has been hypothesized and empirically supported to explain the zonation of species across stress gradients for a number of systems. Since stress often reduces plant productivity, one might expect a pattern of decreasing productivity across the zones of the stress gradient. However, this pattern is often not observed in coastal wetlands that show patterns of zonation along a salinity gradient. To address the potentially complex relationship between stress, zonation, and productivity in coastal wetlands, we developed a model of plant biomass as a function of resource competition and salinity stress. Analysis of the model confirms the conventional wisdom that a trade-off between competitive ability and stress tolerance is a necessary condition for zonation. It also suggests that a negative relationship between salinity and production can be overcome if (1) the supply of the limiting resource increases with greater salinity stress or (2) nutrient use efficiency increases with increasing salinity. We fit the equilibrium solution of the dynamic model to data from Louisiana coastal wetlands to test its ability to explain patterns of production across the landscape gradient and derive predictions that could be tested with independent data. We found support for a number of the model predictions, including patterns of decreasing competitive ability and increasing nutrient use efficiency across a gradient from freshwater to saline wetlands. In addition to providing a quantitative framework to support the mechanistic hypotheses of zonation, these results suggest that this simple model is a useful platform to further build upon, simulate and test mechanistic hypotheses of more complex patterns and phenomena in coastal wetlands.

Thermodynamic analysis of the efficiency of high-temperature steam electrolysis system for hydrogen production

Science.gov (United States)

Mingyi, Liu; Bo, Yu; Jingming, Xu; Jing, Chen

High-temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE), a reversible process of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) in principle, is a promising method for highly efficient large-scale hydrogen production. In our study, the overall efficiency of the HTSE system was calculated through electrochemical and thermodynamic analysis. A thermodynamic model in regards to the efficiency of the HTSE system was established and the quantitative effects of three key parameters, electrical efficiency (η el), electrolysis efficiency (η es), and thermal efficiency (η th) on the overall efficiency (η overall) of the HTSE system were investigated. Results showed that the contribution of η el, η es, η th to the overall efficiency were about 70%, 22%, and 8%, respectively. As temperatures increased from 500 °C to 1000 °C, the effect of η el on η overall decreased gradually and the η es effect remained almost constant, while the η th effect increased gradually. The overall efficiency of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) coupled with the HTSE system under different conditions was also calculated. With the increase of electrical, electrolysis, and thermal efficiency, the overall efficiencies were anticipated to increase from 33% to a maximum of 59% at 1000 °C, which is over two times higher than that of the conventional alkaline water electrolysis.

Resource potential methods using for efficiency of activities in the region increase

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. P. Vasiliev

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers impact methods on the economic results, the effectiveness of the regional economic complex should be based on a high quality of the basic characteristics classification of the region state. Application composition techniques to ensure a comprehensive impact on the achievement of this goal should in synthesized form to union, adopt a target orientation of development of the region with the parameters objectively revealing his condition. Ensuring organizational, economic, financial and investment techniques to achieve the planned targets and requires specifying align resource potential of the region with the available capacity of the regional economic complex to promote economic growth, improve the efficiency of operations. The main characteristics of the potential resource opportunities in the region are the skill level of workers, the degree of depreciation of fixed assets and their renewability, increased innovation in the region, its branches and facilities, strengthening of competitive advantages, the annual average number of employees, the cost of fixed and current assets, financial stability. In the region the opportunity to potentially affect the ability of its structural components to achieve the financial and economic performance targets acts as efficiency ability to provide stable dynamics of regional production efficiency, enhance the level of benefits to achieve the planned efficiency used (consumed resource. Applying of certain methods or their entire structure, created to provide a comprehensive impact on the goal achievement, in the synthesized form of target orientation combines regional development with the parameters most objectively revealing his condition. Achieving the appropriate organizational, economic, financial, investment or other measures to achieve planned targets that are expressed by the level of efficiency of activity in the conditions of the most complete involvement and intensity of use in

Environmental assessment. Energy efficiency standards for consumer products

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McSwain, Berah

1980-06-01

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 requires DOE to prescribe energy efficiency standards for 13 consumer products. The Consumer Products Efficiency Standards (CPES) program covers: refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers, freezers, clothes dryers, water heaters, room air conditioners, home heating equipment, kitchen ranges and ovens, central air conditioners (cooling and heat pumps), furnaces, dishwashers, television sets, clothes washers, and humidifiers and dehumidifiers. This Environmental Assessment evaluates the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts expected as a result of setting efficiency standards for all of the consumer products covered by the CPES program. DOE has proposed standards for eight of the products covered by the Program in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR). DOE expects to propose standards for home heating equipment, central air conditioners (heat pumps only), dishwashers, television sets, clothes washers, and humidifiers and dehumidifiers in 1981. No significant adverse environmental or socioeconomic impacts have been found to result from instituting the CPES.

High efficiency power production from biomass and waste

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rabou, L.P.L.M.; Van Leijenhorst, R.J.C.; Hazewinkel, J.H.O. [ECN Biomass, Coal and Environment, Petten (Netherlands)

2008-11-15

Two-stage gasification allows power production from biomass and waste with high efficiency. The process involves pyrolysis at about 550C followed by heating of the pyrolysis gas to about 1300C in order to crack hydrocarbons and obtain syngas, a mixture of H2, CO, H2O and CO2. The second stage produces soot as unwanted by-product. Experimental results are reported on the suppression of soot formation in the second stage for two different fuels: beech wood pellets and Rofire pellets, made from rejects of paper recycling. Syngas obtained from these two fuels and from an industrial waste fuel has been cleaned and fed to a commercial SOFC stack for 250 hours in total. The SOFC stack showed comparable performance on real and synthetic syngas and no signs of accelerated degradation in performance over these tests. The experimental results have been used for the design and analysis of a future 25 MWth demonstration plant. As an alternative, a 2.6 MWth system was considered which uses the Green MoDem approach to convert waste fuel into bio-oil and syngas. The 25 MWth system can reach high efficiency only if char produced in the pyrolysis step is converted into additional syngas by steam gasification, and if SOFC off-gas and system waste heat are used in a steam bottoming cycle for additional power production. A net electrical efficiency of 38% is predicted. In addition, heat can be delivered with 37% efficiency. The 2.6 MWth system with only a dual fuel engine to burn bio-oil and syngas promises nearly 40% electrical efficiency plus 41% efficiency for heat production. If syngas is fed to an SOFC system and off-gas and bio-oil to a dual fuel engine, the electrical efficiency can rise to 45%. However, the efficiency for heat production drops to 15%, as waste heat from the SOFC system cannot be used effectively. The economic analysis makes clear that at -20 euro/tonne fuel, 70 euro/MWh for electricity and 7 euro/GJ for heat the 25 MWth system is not economically viable at the

The Efficiency of Damage Production in Silicon Carbide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weber, William J.; Gao, Fei; Devanathan, Ram; Jiang, Weilin

2004-01-01

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the statistics of damage production in 3C-SiC due to C, Si and Au primary knock-on atoms (PKAs) over energies from 0.25 to 50 keV. In order to account for the different displacement energies on the Si and C sublattices and accurately assess the damage efficiency, a modified version of the SRIM (Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter) code, with the electronic stopping turned off to duplicate the molecular dynamics conditions, was used to calculate the statistics of damage production for the same PKAs over the energy range from 0.1 to 400 keV under the binary collision approximation using threshold displacement energies of 20 and 35 eV for C and Si, respectively. Using the modified SRIM predictions as a reference, the efficiencies of total damage production are determined for C, Si and Au PKAs as functions of energy. The efficiency for production of C displacements is similar for all PKAs; however, C PKAs have a much lower efficiency for producing stable Si displacements than Si and Au PKAs, which leads to a much higher ratio of C to Si displacements for C PKAs. These results are consistent with the experimental damage production behavior observed in SiC irradiated with C, Si and Au ions at 150 K

The efficiency of damage production in silicon carbide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weber, W.J.; Gao, F.; Devanathan, R.; Jiang, W.

2004-01-01

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to study the statistics of damage production in 3C-SiC due to C, Si and Au primary knock-on atoms (PKAs) over energies from 0.25 to 50 keV. In order to account for the different displacement energies on the Si and C sublattices and accurately assess the damage efficiency, a modified version of the SRIM (stopping and range of ions in matter) code, with the electronic stopping turned off to duplicate the MD conditions, was used to calculate the statistics of damage production for the same PKAs over the energy range from 0.1 to 400 keV under the binary collision approximation using threshold displacement energies of 20 and 35 eV for C and Si, respectively. Using the modified SRIM predictions as a reference, the efficiencies of total damage production are determined for C, Si and Au PKAs as functions of energy. The efficiency for production of C displacements is similar for all PKAs; however, C PKAs have a much lower efficiency for producing stable Si displacements than Si and Au PKAs, which leads to a much higher ratio of C to Si displacements for C PKAs. These results are consistent with the experimental damage production behavior observed in SiC irradiated with C, Si and Au ions at 150 K

Strategies for improving water use efficiency of livestock production in rain-fed systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kebebe, E G; Oosting, S J; Haileslassie, A; Duncan, A J; de Boer, I J M

2015-05-01

Livestock production is a major consumer of fresh water, and the influence of livestock production on global fresh water resources is increasing because of the growing demand for livestock products. Increasing water use efficiency of livestock production, therefore, can contribute to the overall water use efficiency of agriculture. Previous studies have reported significant variation in livestock water productivity (LWP) within and among farming systems. Underlying causes of this variation in LWP require further investigation. The objective of this paper was to identify the factors that explain the variation in LWP within and among farming systems in Ethiopia. We quantified LWP for various farms in mixed-crop livestock systems and explored the effect of household demographic characteristics and farm assets on LWP using ANOVA and multilevel mixed-effect linear regression. We focused on water used to cultivate feeds on privately owned agricultural lands. There was a difference in LWP among farming systems and wealth categories. Better-off households followed by medium households had the highest LWP, whereas poor households had the lowest LWP. The variation in LWP among wealth categories could be explained by the differences in the ownership of livestock and availability of family labor. Regression results showed that the age of the household head, the size of the livestock holding and availability of family labor affected LWP positively. The results suggest that water use efficiency could be improved by alleviating resource constraints such as access to farm labor and livestock assets, oxen in particular.

A Survey on Efficient Collaboration of Design and Simulation in Product Development

OpenAIRE

Kreimeyer, M.;Deubzer, F.;Herfeld, U..;Lindemann, U.

2017-01-01

Efficient collaboration is a popular topic in all kinds of industry with products evolving into evermore complex sytems and with taylorism in product development increasing. With the goal of satisfying the customer’s functional desires for the product, the cooperation of embodiment design, simulation and testing departments in a company plays an essential role. The results of a survey to explore problems and chances of the former two are layed out in the following. For the survey, about 50 qu...

Crop and soil specific N and P efficiency and productivity in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. BÄCKMAN

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper estimates a stochastic production frontier based on experimental data of cereals production in Finland over the period 1977-1994. The estimates of the production frontier are used to analyze nitrogen and phosphorous productivity and efficiency differences between soils and crops. For this input specific efficiencies are calculated. The results can be used to recognize relations between fertilizer management and soil types as well as to learn where certain soil types and crop combinations require special attention to fertilization strategy. The combination of inputs as designed by the experiment shows significant inefficiencies for both N and P. The measures of mineral productivity and efficiency indicate that clay is the most mineral efficient and productive soil while silt and organic soils are the least efficient and productive soils. Furthermore, a positive correlation is found between mineral productivity and efficiency. The results indicate that substantial technical efficiency differences between different experiments prevail.;

Semi-determinate growth habit adjusts the vegetative-to-reproductive balance and increases productivity and water-use efficiency in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).

Science.gov (United States)

Vicente, Mateus Henrique; Zsögön, Agustin; de Sá, Ariadne Felicio Lopo; Ribeiro, Rafael V; Peres, Lázaro E P

2015-04-01

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) shows three growth habits: determinate, indeterminate and semi-determinate. These are controlled mainly by allelic variation in the self-pruning (SP) gene family, which also includes the "florigen" gene single flower TRUSS (SFT). Determinate cultivars have synchronized flower and fruit production, which allows mechanical harvesting in the tomato processing industry, whereas indeterminate ones have more vegetative growth with continuous flower and fruit formation, being thus preferred for fresh market tomato production. The semi-determinate growth habit is poorly understood, although there are indications that it combines advantages of determinate and indeterminate growth. Here, we used near-isogenic lines (NILs) in the cultivar Micro-Tom (MT) with different growth habit to characterize semi-determinate growth and to determine its impact on developmental and productivity traits. We show that semi-determinate genotypes are equivalent to determinate ones with extended vegetative growth, which in turn impacts shoot height, number of leaves and either stem diameter or internode length. Semi-determinate plants also tend to increase the highly relevant agronomic parameter Brix × ripe yield (BRY). Water-use efficiency (WUE), evaluated either directly as dry mass produced per amount of water transpired or indirectly through C isotope discrimination, was higher in semi-determinate genotypes. We also provide evidence that the increases in BRY in semi-determinate genotypes are a consequence of an improved balance between vegetative and reproductive growth, a mechanism analogous to the conversion of the overly vegetative tall cereal varieties into well-balanced semi-dwarf ones used in the Green Revolution. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Testing improvements in the chocolate traceability system: Impact on product recalls and production efficiency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saltini, Rolando; Akkerman, Renzo

2012-01-01

hypothetical improvements of the traceability system within the chocolate production system and supply chain and we illustrate the resulting benefits by using a case study. Based on the case study, we quantify the influence of these improvements on production efficiency and recall size in case of a safety......The primary aim of food traceability is to increase food safety, but traceability systems can also bring other benefits to production systems and supply chains. In the literature these benefits are extensively discussed, but studies that quantify them are scarce. In this paper we propose two...... crisis by developing a simulation tool. These results are aimed to illustrate and quantify the additional benefits of traceability information, and could help food industries in deciding whether and how to improve their traceability systems....

Sustainability assessment of sugarcane biorefinery and molasses ethanol production in Thailand using eco-efficiency indicator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silalertruksa, Thapat; Gheewala, Shabbir H.; Pongpat, Patcharaporn

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Sugarcane biorefinery in Thailand is evaluated using the eco-efficiency concept. • Green cane along with cane trash use for electricity yields highest eco-efficiency. • Proposed biorefinery system increases eco-efficiency by 20–70%. - Abstract: The study aims to evaluate the sugarcane biorefinery and molasses ethanol production in Thailand using the combined environmental and economic sustainability indicator, so called “Eco-efficiency”. Four sugarcane biorefinery scenarios in Thailand are evaluated. The total output values (US$) and the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (kg CO_2eq) are selected as the indicators for characterizing economic and environmental performance, respectively. The results show that the biorefinery system of mechanized farming along with cane trash utilization for power generation yields the highest eco-efficiency. The benefits come from the increased value added of the biorefinery together with the decreased GHG emissions of the biorefinery system. As compared to the base case scenario, the new systems proposed result in the eco-efficiency improvement by around 20–70%. The biorefinery concept induces reduction of GHG emissions attributed to molasses ethanol. Green cane production and harvesting results in further lowering of the GHG emissions. Integration of sugarcane biomass utilization across the entire sugarcane complex would enhance the sustainability of the sugarcane production system.

Efficiency and productivity terms for water management: A matter of contextual relativism versus general absolutism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Halsema, van G.E.; Vincent, L.F.

2012-01-01

Growing water scarcity and increasing demands for agricultural products generate much debate about improving the agricultural sector's water use efficiency and productivity. Agricultural engineering traditions feed this debate with notions such as agricultural yield gaps and low water use

Nicotine increases brain functional network efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Wylie, Korey P; Rojas, Donald C; Tanabe, Jody; Martin, Laura F; Tregellas, Jason R

2012-10-15

Despite the use of cholinergic therapies in Alzheimer's disease and the development of cholinergic strategies for schizophrenia, relatively little is known about how the system modulates the connectivity and structure of large-scale brain networks. To better understand how nicotinic cholinergic systems alter these networks, this study examined the effects of nicotine on measures of whole-brain network communication efficiency. Resting state fMRI was acquired from fifteen healthy subjects before and after the application of nicotine or placebo transdermal patches in a single blind, crossover design. Data, which were previously examined for default network activity, were analyzed with network topology techniques to measure changes in the communication efficiency of whole-brain networks. Nicotine significantly increased local efficiency, a parameter that estimates the network's tolerance to local errors in communication. Nicotine also significantly enhanced the regional efficiency of limbic and paralimbic areas of the brain, areas which are especially altered in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. These changes in network topology may be one mechanism by which cholinergic therapies improve brain function. Published by Elsevier Inc.

JIT maintenance improves the productivity and energy efficiency of the system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marković Željko M.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Maintenance planning in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the system, optimal interaction of system with the environment, and timely responses to the set requirements is one of the most important internal resources of the organization. Just-In-Time Maintenance enables rarely downtime and lower maintenance costs throughout the life cycle of the system, and dramatically increases the productivity and energy efficiency of the entire system. By adopting of the Just-In-Time Maintenance philosophy, minimum of objective function of energy or production system, as well as of production of services system, is achieved.

STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY IN PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diego Pacheco

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this article is to point a set of practical strategies that can be adopted to increase the capacity of constraints resources on production systems, when the constraint is inside the factory and not is in the market. To serve this purpose will be presented strategies based on best practices of the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing and Total Productive Maintenance. This article also presents the mains tools for the deployment of these methodologies. The survey results have provided an objective set of practical strategy that can be used to increase the capacity and productivity of production systems according to the needs of each manufacturing system.

Increased Statistical Efficiency in a Lognormal Mean Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grant H. Skrepnek

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Within the context of clinical and other scientific research, a substantial need exists for an accurate determination of the point estimate in a lognormal mean model, given that highly skewed data are often present. As such, logarithmic transformations are often advocated to achieve the assumptions of parametric statistical inference. Despite this, existing approaches that utilize only a sample’s mean and variance may not necessarily yield the most efficient estimator. The current investigation developed and tested an improved efficient point estimator for a lognormal mean by capturing more complete information via the sample’s coefficient of variation. Results of an empirical simulation study across varying sample sizes and population standard deviations indicated relative improvements in efficiency of up to 129.47 percent compared to the usual maximum likelihood estimator and up to 21.33 absolute percentage points above the efficient estimator presented by Shen and colleagues (2006. The relative efficiency of the proposed estimator increased particularly as a function of decreasing sample size and increasing population standard deviation.

Using Data Envelopment Analysis to Measure International Agricultural Efficiency and Productivity

OpenAIRE

Arnade, Carlos Anthony

1994-01-01

Numerous methods for measuring multifactor productivity have been used by economists. This report uses a recently developed approach, data envlopment analysis, to measure productivity. This method can be used not only to calculate productivity but also to divide productivity measures into indices that measure technical efficiency and technical change. Technical efficiency measures the efficiency with which resources are used. Technical change measures changes in output arising from improved t...

Technical efficiency of irrigated vegetable production among ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was carried out to analyse the technical efficiency of irrigated vegetable production among smallholder farmers in the guinea savannah, Nigeria, and determine the cost and returns on irrigated vegetable production. Two-stage sampling technique was used, purposive selection of two states and three Local ...

Exploiting hydrophobicity for efficient production of transmembrane helices for structure determination by NMR spectroscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bugge, Katrine Østergaard; Steinocher, Helena; Brooks, Andrew J.

2015-01-01

-labeled protein. In this work, we have exploited the hydrophobic nature of membrane proteins to develop a simple and efficient production scheme for isotope-labeled single-pass transmembrane domains (TMDs) with or without intrinsically disordered regions. We have evaluated the applicability and limitations...... of the strategy using seven membrane protein variants that differ in their overall hydrophobicity and length and show a recovery for suitable variants of >70%. The developed production scheme is cost-efficient and easy to implement and has the potential to facilitate an increase in the number of structures...

The Productivity and Technical Efficiency of Textile Industry Clusters in India

Science.gov (United States)

Bhaskaran, E.

2013-09-01

The Indian textile industry is one the largest and oldest sectors in the country and among the most important in the economy in terms of output, investment and employment (E). The sector employs nearly 35 million people and after agriculture, is the second-highest employer in the country. Its importance is underlined by the fact that it accounts for around 4 % of Gross Domestic Product, 14 % of industrial production, 9 % of excise collections, 18 % of E in the industrial sector, and 16 % of the country's total exports (Ex) earnings. For inclusive growth and sustainable development most of the Textile Manufacturers has adopted the Cluster Development Approach. The objective is to study the physical and financial performance, correlation, regression and Data Envelopment Analysis by measuring technical efficiency (Ø), peer weights (λi), input slacks (S-), output slacks (S+) and return to scale of four textile clusters (TCs) namely IchalKaranji Textile Cluster, Maharashtra; Ludhiana Textile Cluster, Punjab; Tirupur Textile Cluster, Tamilnadu and Panipat Textile Cluster, Haryana in India. The methodology adopted is using Data Envelopment Analysis of Output Oriented Banker Charnes Cooper Model by taking number of units (U) and number of E as inputs and sales (S) and Ex in crores as an outputs. The non-zero λi's represents the weights for efficient clusters. The S > 0 obtained for one TC reveals the excess U (S-) and E (S-) and shortage in sales (S+) and Ex (S+). To conclude, for inclusive growth and sustainable development, the inefficient TC should increase their S/turnover and Ex, as decrease in number of enterprises and E is practically not possible. Moreover for sustainable development, the TC should strengthen infrastructure interrelationships, technology interrelationships, procurement interrelationships, production interrelationships and marketing interrelationships to decrease cost, increase productivity and efficiency to compete in the world market.

Buy Energy-Efficient Products: A Guide for Federal Purchasers and Specifiers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2016-07-01

In a single year, energy-efficient product purchases could save the federal government almost a half billion dollars worth of energy. By purchasing products that exceed the minimum required efficiency levels, buyers can save the government even more energy and money. Federal employees and contractors must take an active role in ensuring that the government receives products that meet efficiency requirements. This document provides an overview of product purchasing requirements and shows you how to write compliant contracts, find funding, and confirm product compliance.

Investigations of the efficiency of enzyme production technologies using modelling tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albæk, Mads Orla; Gernaey, Krist; Hansen, Morten Skov

Growing markets and new innovative applications of industrial enzymes leads to increased interest in efficient production of these products. Most industrial enzymes are currently produced in traditional stirred tank reactors in submerged fed batch culture. The limiting parameter in such processes...... fermentations of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei in 550litre pilot scale stirred tank reactors for a range of process conditions. Based on the experimental data a process model has been created, which satisfactory simulates the effect of the changing process conditions: Aeration rate, agitation speed...

Modernization of motivation as a major direction of management efficiency increase

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pakulina Alevtyna

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Modernization of motivation system as the priority direction of increasing management efficiency is necessary for the sustainable growth of the national economy of Ukraine. The article substantiates the recommendations for the modernization of human resources policy and universal scale of motivation levels in organizations. The authors define the relation of motivational patterns of employees to the productivity of their labor as a factor of increasing the safety of the specific work of locomotive crews. Classification of emergency preconditions with considering identified causes of errors in the locomotive crew work has been developed and grounded. The article scientifically substantiates the mechanism of motivation and stimulation of workers of locomotive crews, which aims at improving personnel policies and ensuring a high level of safety of trains.

Staurosporine Increases Lentiviral Vector Transduction Efficiency of Human Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gretchen Lewis

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Lentiviral vector (LVV-mediated transduction of human CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs holds tremendous promise for the treatment of monogenic hematological diseases. This approach requires the generation of a sufficient proportion of gene-modified cells. We identified staurosporine, a serine/threonine kinase inhibitor, as a small molecule that could be added to the transduction process to increase the proportion of genetically modified HSPCs by overcoming a LVV entry barrier. Staurosporine increased vector copy number (VCN approximately 2-fold when added to mobilized peripheral blood (mPB CD34+ cells prior to transduction. Limited staurosporine treatment did not affect viability of cells post-transduction, and there was no difference in in vitro colony formation compared to vehicle-treated cells. Xenotransplantation studies identified a statistically significant increase in VCN in engrafted human cells in mouse bone marrow at 4 months post-transplantation compared to vehicle-treated cells. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2 is known to increase transduction efficiency of HSPCs through a different mechanism. Combining staurosporine and PGE2 resulted in further enhancement of transduction efficiency, particularly in short-term HSPCs. The combinatorial use of small molecules, such as staurosporine and PGE2, to enhance LVV transduction of human CD34+ cells is a promising method to improve transduction efficiency and subsequent potential therapeutic benefit of gene therapy drug products. Keywords: lentiviral, HSPC, transduction

Application of fuzzy inference system to increase efficiency of management decision-making in agricultural enterprises

OpenAIRE

Balanovskаya, Tetiana Ivanovna; Boretska, Zoreslava Petrovna

2014-01-01

Application of fuzzy inference system to increase efficiency of management decision- making in agricultural enterprises. Theoretical and methodological issues, practical recommendations on improvement of management decision-making in agricultural enterprises to increase their competitiveness have been intensified and developed in the article. A simulation example of a quality management system for agricultural products on the basis of the theory of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic has been proposed...

Positive feedback between increasing atmospheric CO2 and ecosystem productivity

Science.gov (United States)

Gelfand, I.; Hamilton, S. K.; Robertson, G. P.

2009-12-01

Increasing atmospheric CO2 will likely affect both the hydrologic cycle and ecosystem productivity. Current assumptions that increasing CO2 will lead to increased ecosystem productivity and plant water use efficiency (WUE) are driving optimistic predictions of higher crop yields as well as greater availability of freshwater resources due to a decrease in evapotranspiration. The plant physiological response that drives these effects is believed to be an increase in carbon uptake either by (a) stronger CO2 gradient between the stomata and the atmosphere, or by (b) reduced CO2 limitation of enzymatic carboxylation within the leaf. The (a) scenario will lead to increased water use efficiency (WUE) in plants. However, evidence for increased WUE is mostly based on modeling studies, and experiments producing a short duration or step-wise increase in CO2 concentration (e.g. free-air CO2 enrichment). We hypothesize that the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration is having a positive effect on ecosystem productivity and WUE. To investigate this hypothesis, we analyzed meteorological, ANPP, and soil CO2 flux datasets together with carbon isotopic ratio (13C/12C) of archived plant samples from the long term ecological research (LTER) program at Kellogg Biological Station. The datasets were collected between 1989 and 2007 (corresponding to an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration of ~33 ppmv at Mauna Loa). Wheat (Triticum aestivum) samples taken from 1989 and 2007 show a significant decrease in the C isotope discrimination factor (Δ) over time. Stomatal conductance is directly related to Δ, and thus Δ is inversely related to plant intrinsic WUE (iWUE). Historical changes in the 13C/12C ratio (δ13C) in samples of a perennial forb, Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), taken from adjacent successional fields, indicate changes in Δ upon uptake of CO2 as well. These temporal trends in Δ suggest a positive feedback between the increasing CO2 concentration in the

Technical efficiency of watermelon ( Citrullus lanatus ) production in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was designed to measure the level of technical efficiency, its determinants in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) production and the constraints in the production system in Yewa North Local Government of Ogun State using a stochastic frontier production function. A combination of purposive and random sampling ...

Statistical media design for efficient polyhydroxyalkanoate production in Pseudomonas sp. MNNG-S.

Science.gov (United States)

Saranya, V; Rajeswari, V; Abirami, P; Poornimakkani, K; Suguna, P; Shenbagarathai, R

2016-07-03

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a promising polymer for various biomedical applications. There is a high need to improve the production rate to achieve end use. When a cost-effective production was carried out with cheaper agricultural residues like molasses, traces of toxins were incorporated into the polymer, which makes it unfit for biomedical applications. On the other hand, there is an increase in the popularity of using chemically defined media for the production of compounds with biomedical applications. However, these media do not exhibit favorable characteristics such as efficient utilization at large scale compared to complex media. This article aims to determine the specific nutritional requirement of Pseudomonas sp. MNNG-S for efficient production of polyhydroxyalkanoate. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used in this study to statistically design for PHA production based on the interactive effect of five significant variables (sucrose; potassium dihydrogen phosphate; ammonium sulfate; magnesium sulfate; trace elements). The interactive effects of sucrose with ammonium sulfate, ammonium sulfate with combined potassium phosphate, and trace element with magnesium sulfate were found to be significant (p production more than fourfold (from 0.85 g L(-1) to 4.56 g L(-1)).

Implications of energy efficiency measures in wheat production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meyer-Aurich, Andreas; Ziegler, T.; Scholz, L.

The economic and environmental effect of energy saving measures were analyzed for a typical wheat production system in Germany. The introduction of precision farming, reduced nitrogen fertilization and improved crop drying technologies proved to be efficient measures for enhancing energy efficiency...

The effect of work accidents on the efficiency of production in the coal sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yaşar Kasap

2011-05-01

Full Text Available In comparison with other sectors, mining is one of the sectors with the highest rates of work accidents. Such accidents negatively affect a country’s economy by wasting domestic resources and causing losses of both labour force and working days. What distinguishes mining from other branches of industry is that its working environments change continually and the working conditions are particularly harsh. Because of the practice of labour-intensive underground production methods, which leads to an increase in risk factors in terms of work accidents, and the fact that coal is a leading resource in meeting the ever-increasing demand for energy, this study investigated how work accidents affected the efficiency of production in the Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise (TTK between 1987 and 2006. Using data envelopment analysis, the overall sources of technical inefficiency in the years examined were determined. The results from this analysis revealed that the overall technical efficiency was as low as 69.7%, particularly as a result of the disaster in 1992; work accidents therefore had a negative effect on production efficiency. The greatest degree of pure technical inefficiency was found to have occurred in the period between 1992 and 2000, when the highest number of work accidents were noted, whilst the greatest degree of scale inefficiency was found to have occurred between 1987 and 1993. Because TTK has a prominent position among institutions and attaches great importance to workers’ health and safety, an increase was noted in efficiency scores after 1993.

Stable and highly efficient electrochemical production of formic acid from carbon dioxide using diamond electrodes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Natsui, Keisuke; Iwakawa, Hitomi; Ikemiya, Norihito [Department of Chemistry, Keio University, Yokohama (Japan); Nakata, Kazuya [Photocatalysis International Research Center, Tokyo University of Science, Chiba (Japan); Einaga, Yasuaki [Department of Chemistry, Keio University, Yokohama (Japan); JST-ACCEL, Yokohama (Japan)

2018-03-01

High faradaic efficiencies can be achieved in the production of formic acid (HCOOH) by metal electrodes, such as Sn or Pb, in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}). However, the stability and environmental load in using them are problematic. The electrochemical reduction of CO{sub 2} to HCOOH was investigated in a flow cell using boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. BDD electrodes have superior electrochemical properties to metal electrodes, and, moreover, are highly durable. The faradaic efficiency for the production of HCOOH was as high as 94.7 %. Furthermore, the selectivity for the production of HCOOH was more than 99 %. The rate of the production was increased to 473 μmol m{sup -2} s{sup -1} at a current density of 15 mA cm{sup -2} with a faradaic efficiency of 61 %. The faradaic efficiency and the production rate are almost the same as or larger than those achieved using Sn and Pb electrodes. Furthermore, the stability of the BDD electrodes was confirmed by 24 h operation. (copyright 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Stable and Highly Efficient Electrochemical Production of Formic Acid from Carbon Dioxide Using Diamond Electrodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Natsui, Keisuke; Iwakawa, Hitomi; Ikemiya, Norihito; Nakata, Kazuya; Einaga, Yasuaki

2018-03-01

High faradaic efficiencies can be achieved in the production of formic acid (HCOOH) by metal electrodes, such as Sn or Pb, in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). However, the stability and environmental load in using them are problematic. The electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to HCOOH was investigated in a flow cell using boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. BDD electrodes have superior electrochemical properties to metal electrodes, and, moreover, are highly durable. The faradaic efficiency for the production of HCOOH was as high as 94.7 %. Furthermore, the selectivity for the production of HCOOH was more than 99 %. The rate of the production was increased to 473 μmol m -2  s -1 at a current density of 15 mA cm -2 with a faradaic efficiency of 61 %. The faradaic efficiency and the production rate are almost the same as or larger than those achieved using Sn and Pb electrodes. Furthermore, the stability of the BDD electrodes was confirmed by 24 h operation. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-Efficiency Food Production in a Renewable Energy Based Micro-Grid Power System

Science.gov (United States)

Bubenheim, David; Meiners, Dennis

2016-01-01

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) systems can be used to produce high-quality, desirable food year round, and the fresh produce can positively contribute to the health and well being of residents in communities with difficult supply logistics. While CEA has many positive outcomes for a remote community, the associated high electric demands have prohibited widespread implementation in what is typically already a fully subscribed power generation and distribution system. Recent advances in CEA technologies as well as renewable power generation, storage, and micro-grid management are increasing system efficiency and expanding the possibilities for enhancing community supporting infrastructure without increasing demands for outside supplied fuels. We will present examples of how new lighting, nutrient delivery, and energy management and control systems can enable significant increases in food production efficiency while maintaining high yields in CEA. Examples from Alaskan communities where initial incorporation of renewable power generation, energy storage and grid management techniques have already reduced diesel fuel consumption for electric generation by more than 40% and expanded grid capacity will be presented. We will discuss how renewable power generation, efficient grid management to extract maximum community service per kW, and novel energy storage approaches can expand the food production, water supply, waste treatment, sanitation and other community support services without traditional increases of consumable fuels supplied from outside the community. These capabilities offer communities with a range of choices to enhance their communities. The examples represent a synergy of technology advancement efforts to develop sustainable community support systems for future space-based human habitats and practical implementation of infrastructure components to increase efficiency and enhance health and well being in remote communities today and tomorrow.

INCREASING OF THE EXPRESSION OF RECOMBINANT scFv-ANTIBODIES EFFICIENCY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O.V. Galkin

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Obtaining single-chain variable fragments (scFv of recombinant antibodies in E. coli cells is often associated with numerous problems causing low yields or inactive conformation of the product. The aim of this work was to study the influence of staphylococcal protein A fragment fused with scFv antibodies (SpA-tag on the efficiency of expression of final product. Examination of scFv antibodies of different origin and specificity has shown that in similar expression systems fused scFv is synthesized in much higher quantities than free scFv. Furthermore, the scFv antibodies in fused form retained their antigen-binding properties and the SpA fragment the ability to bind other immunoglobulins. Thus, the proposed strategy can be considered effective in improving the efficiency of scFv-antibodies production in E. coli cells.

Improved energy efficiency in juice production through waste heat recycling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, J.-O.; Elfgren, E.; Westerlund, L.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A heating system at a juice production was investigated and improved. • Different impacts of drying cycle improvements at the energy usage were explored. • The total heat use for drying could thereby be decreased with 52%. • The results point out a significant decrease of heat consumption with low investment costs. - Abstract: Berry juice concentrate is produced by pressing berries and heating up the juice. The by-products are berry skins and seeds in a press cake. Traditionally, these by-products have been composted, but due to their valuable nutrients, it could be profitable to sell them instead. The skins and seeds need to be separated and dried to a moisture content of less than 10 %wt (on dry basis) in order to avoid fermentation. A berry juice plant in the north of Sweden has been studied in order to increase the energy and resource efficiency, with special focus on the drying system. This was done by means of process integration with mass and energy balance, theory from thermodynamics and psychrometry along with measurements of the juice plant. Our study indicates that the drying system could be operated at full capacity without any external heat supply using waste heat supplied from the juice plant. This would be achieved by increasing the efficiency of the dryer by recirculation of the drying air and by heat supply from the flue gases of the industrial boiler. The recirculation would decrease the need of heat in the dryer with about 52%. The total heat use for the plant could thereby be decreased from 1262 kW to 1145 kW. The improvements could be done without compromising the production quality

Sorting cells of the microalga Chlorococcum littorale with increased triacylglycerol productivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Cabanelas, Iago Teles Dominguez; van der Zwart, Mathijs; Kleinegris, Dorinde M M; Wijffels, René H; Barbosa, Maria J

2016-01-01

Despite extensive research in the last decades, microalgae are still only economically feasible for high valued markets. Strain improvement is a strategy to increase productivities, hence reducing costs. In this work, we focus on microalgae selection: taking advantage of the natural biological variability of species to select variations based on desired characteristics. We focused on triacylglycerol (TAG), which have applications ranging from biodiesel to high-value omega-3 fatty-acids. Hence, we demonstrated a strategy to sort microalgae cells with increased TAG productivity. 1. We successfully identified sub-populations of cells with increased TAG productivity using Fluorescence assisted cell sorting (FACS). 2. We sequentially sorted cells after repeated cycles of N-starvation, resulting in five sorted populations (S1-S5). 3. The comparison between sorted and original populations showed that S5 had the highest TAG productivity [0.34 against 0.18 g l(-1) day(-1) (original), continuous light]. 4. Original and S5 were compared in lab-scale reactors under simulated summer conditions confirming the increased TAG productivity of S5 (0.4 against 0.2 g l(-1) day(-1)). Biomass composition analyses showed that S5 produced more biomass under N-starvation because of an increase only in TAG content and, flow cytometry showed that our selection removed cells with lower efficiency in producing TAGs. All combined, our results present a successful strategy to improve the TAG productivity of Chlorococcum littorale, without resourcing to genetic manipulation or random mutagenesis. Additionally, the improved TAG productivity of S5 was confirmed under simulated summer conditions, highlighting the industrial potential of S5 for microalgal TAG production.

Eco-efficiency of intensification scenarios for milk production in New Zealand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Basset-Mens, Claudine; Ledgard, Stewart; Boyes, Mark [AgResearch Limited, Ruakura Research Centre, East Street, Private Bag 3123, Hamilton (New Zealand)

2009-04-15

New Zealand (NZ) dairy farms used to be the lowest input and most efficient dairy farms of the world. However, intensification of the traditional pasture-based system has occurred over the last decade and has not always been accompanied by increased efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to produce an updated reference of the eco-efficiency of NZ dairy farm systems and to analyse the implications of intensification on their eco-efficiency. Results for an average NZ dairy farm system were compared with those for three dairy farmlet systems representing a wide range in intensification practices. A low input system (LI) (no N fertiliser, no brought-in feed supplement, stocking rate of 2.3 cows/ha) was compared with an N-fertilised farm system (NF) (170 kg fertiliser-N/ha/year, 3 cows/ha) representing a first level of intensification and with an N-fertilised and maize silage supplemented system (NFMS) (170 kg fertiliser-N/ha/year, 13 t DM maize silage/ha/year, 5.2 cows/ha), representing a possible future intensification option. Their eco-efficiency in terms of milk production and land use was compared using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. NZ dairy farm systems rely on favourable temperate climate conditions and long-term perennial ryegrass/white clover pasture, to achieve eco-efficient milk production and land use compared to European systems. However, intensification of NZ dairy farms was shown to be detrimental to their eco-efficiency in terms both of milk production and land use functions and could greatly reduce their advantage compared to European systems. The eco-efficiency of LI was very high whatever the functional unit which is remarkable from an LCA perspective. NF and NFMS had a similar eco-efficiency except for energy use which corresponded to the most critical hot spot of NFMS. All studied NZ systems presented some areas for improvement where some new technologies available for dairy farms might play a promising role in the future. Finally, it

48 CFR 52.223-15 - Energy Efficiency in Energy-Consuming Products.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Energy Efficiency in... Provisions and Clauses 52.223-15 Energy Efficiency in Energy-Consuming Products. As prescribed in 23.206, insert the following clause: Energy Efficiency in Energy-Consuming Products (DEC 2007) (a) Definition. As...

Photobiological hydrogen production : photochemical efficiency and bioreactor design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Akkerman, I.; Janssen, M.; Rocha, J.; Wijffels, R.H.

2002-01-01

Biological production of hydrogen can be carried out by photoautotrophic or photoheterotrophic organisms. Here, the photosystems of both processes are described. The main drawback of the photoautotrophic hydrogen production process is oxygen inhibition. The few efficiencies reported on the

Energy efficiency improvements in ammonia production--perspectives and uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rafiqul, Islam; Weber, Christoph; Lehmann, Bianca; Voss, Alfred

2005-01-01

The paper discusses the energy consumption and energy saving potential for a major energy-intensive product in the chemical industry-ammonia, based on technologies currently in use and possible process improvements. The paper consists of four parts. In the first part, mainly references to various ammonia production technologies are given. Energy consumption, emissions and saving potentials are discussed in the second part. Thereby, the situation in Europe, the US and India is highlighted and various data sources are compared. In the third part of the paper, a novel approach for modeling energy efficiency improvements is described that accounts for uncertainties and unobserved heterogeneity in the production processes. Besides new investments, revamping investments are also included in the modeling and the development of the production stock is accounted for. Finally, in the fourth part, this approach is applied to the modeling of energy efficiency improvements and CO 2 emission reductions in ammonia production. Thereby, considerable improvements in specific energy use and CO 2 emissions are found in the reference scenario, yet under the assumption of high oil and gas prices, a partial switch to coal based technologies is expected which lowers notably the CO 2 efficiency. Introduction of a CO 2 penalty under a certificate trading or other regime is on contrary found to foster energy efficiency and the use of low carbon technologies

Measuring efficiency and productivity change in power electric generation management companies by using data envelopment analysis: A case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fallahi, Alireza; Ebrahimi, Reza; Ghaderi, S.F.

2011-01-01

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the determinants of energy efficiency in 32 power electric generation management companies over the period 2005–2009. The study uses non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate the relative technical efficiency and productivity change of these companies. In order to verify the stability of our DEA model and the importance of each input variable, a stability test is also conducted. The results of the study indicate that average technical efficiency of companies decreased during the study period. Nearly half of the companies (14) are below this average level of 88.7% for five years. Moreover, it is shown that the low increase of productivity changes is more related to low efficiency rather than technology changes. -- Highlights: ► DEA was applied on the 32 power electric generation management companies. ► A stability test is applied to verify the stability of DEA model. ► Average technical efficiency of companies decreased during the study period. ► The low increase of productivity changes is more related to low efficiency changes.

Improvements of soil quality for increased food production in Norway

Science.gov (United States)

Øygarden, Lillian; Klakegg, Ove; Børresen, Trond; Krogstad, Tore; Kjersti Uhlen, Anne

2016-04-01

Since the 1990ties, agricultural land in use in Norway has diminished and yields per hectare for cereals and forages have stagnated. An expert panel appointed to advice on how to increase Norwegian grain production emphasizes low profitability and poor soil quality as limiting factors. A White Paper from the Norwegian Government, Report No.9 (2011-2012), stated that the main goal for the agricultural sector is to increase food production proportional to the expected increase in population (20 % by 2030) in order to maintain self-sufficiency at the present level. This is the background for the interdisciplinary project AGROPRO "Agronomy for increased food production - Challenges and solutions" (2013 - 2017)" financed by the Norwegian research council. A mail goal is seeking possibilities for improvements in agronomic practices for increased and sustainable food production and to identify drivers and challenges for their implementation. Are the key to higher yields hidden in the soil? The paper present an overview of the research activities in the project and some results of the improvements of soil quality to minimize yield gap in cereal and forage production. Detailed new soil maps provide soil information on field scale of soil quality and the suitability for growing different crops like cereal production or vegetables. The detailed soil information is also beeing used for development and adaptation of the planning tool «Terranimo» to reduce risk of soil compaction.The farmer get available soil information for each field, provide information about the maschinery in use- tractors and equipment, tyres, pressure. The decision tool evaluate when the soil is suitable for tillage, calculate the risk of compaction for dry, moist and wet soil. New research data for compaction on Norwegian clay and silt soil are included. Climate change with wetter conditions gives challenges for growing cereals. The project is testing genetic variation in cereals for tolerance to water

EFFICIENCY OF CONCOMITANT APPLICATION OF ORGANIC FERTILIZERS AND CULTURED INVERTEBRATES FOR INCREASING FISH PRODUCTIVITY IN NURSERY PONDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Tuchapska

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose. To study the fisheries and biological indicators of young-of-the-year carp when applying fertilizer in ponds, introducing stock cultures of Daphnia magna (Straus and feeding of young-of-the-year with cultured zooplankton organisms and to evaluate the effectiveness of measures for enhancing the provision of young-of-the-year carp with natural feeds. Methodology. Stock culture of Daphnia magna was added into experimental ponds, 65 kg/ha of zooplankton, which were cultured in a pond-cultivator and cages installed in experimental ponds were used for feeding young-of-the-years in July and August. For study of nutrition and growth of young-of-the-year carp, samples were taken during regular control fish seining. Parameters of young-of-the-year carp growing and economic efficiency of measures aimed at increasing the supply of young-of-the-year carp with natural feeds were determined. Findings. Average seasonal zooplankton biomass in experimental ponds was 3,9 – 4,8 times higher than the biomass in the control pond. Natural food in the stomach content of carps from experimental ponds in June was 64,7 – 71,3 %, in July it decreased to 48.0 %, in August ― to 15,0 – 2,0 %. Natural food part in young-of-the-year diet in June was 9,3 %, in July ― 20,6 – 2,1%, in August ― 1,1 – 0,4 %. Fish productivity in experimental ponds was higher by 35,2 – 4,5% than that in the control pond. Expenditure of grain feeds for the growth of young-of-the-year carp in the control pond was 3,2 units, in the experiment it was 12,5 – 15,6 % lower. Profit from growing young-of-the-year carp in experimental ponds was 2,9 – 3,7 times higher than in the control and was 3955,2 – 5153,0 UAH/ha. Profitability of growing young-of-the-year with the use of intensification measures was 2,6 – 3,2 times higher than that in the control pond. Originality. For the first time we studied fisheries and biological indicators when growing young-of-the-year carp with

The impact of increased efficiency in the industrial use of energy: A computable general equilibrium analysis for the United Kingdom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allan, Grant; Hanley, Nick; McGregor, Peter; Swales, Kim; Turner, Karen

2007-01-01

The conventional wisdom is that improving energy efficiency will lower energy use. However, there is an extensive debate in the energy economics/policy literature concerning 'rebound' effects. These occur because an improvement in energy efficiency produces a fall in the effective price of energy services. The response of the economic system to this price fall at least partially offsets the expected beneficial impact of the energy efficiency gain. In this paper we use an economy-energy-environment computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for the UK to measure the impact of a 5% across the board improvement in the efficiency of energy use in all production sectors. We identify rebound effects of the order of 30-50%, but no backfire (no increase in energy use). However, these results are sensitive to the assumed structure of the labour market, key production elasticities, the time period under consideration and the mechanism through which increased government revenues are recycled back to the economy

Analysis of Production Funds Efficiency in the Country’s Crane Sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edita Valėnaitė

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The article deals with methodological aspects of the production funds analysis. In this work the study of literature which examines the basic and transferable funds is presented. Much attention is paid to the analysis of basic production funds in the crane sector. Analysis of the basic production funds in the country’s crane sector is presented. Special attention is paid to the structure of the cranes park and crane utilization efficiency. In the analysis of basic production funds, the factors that impede the efficiency of production funds were established as follows: the greatest negative impact on basic production funds efficiency of businesses was in small tower crane fleet; a small range of tower cranes in the park is reducing the technical possibilities of the lease. Basing on the analysis and observation of tower cranes installation and dismantling, the poor supply of the parts for the work place, lack of competence and motivation of the support staff have been ascertained. After elimination of these factors it is possible to raise the efficiency of the main production funds.Article in Lithuanian

Increasing yield and nitrogen use efficiency of rice through multiple-split fertilizer application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rallos, R.V.; Rivera, F.G.; Samar, E.D.; Rojales, J.S.; Anida, A.H.

2015-01-01

The low availability of nitrogen (N) is one of the most important limiting factors impeding the increase in rice yield among the various factors. Split N fertilizer applications can play an important role in nutrient management strategy that is productive, profitable and environmentally responsible. In this study, the recoveries and efficiencies of a multiple-split N fertilizer application of were determined using 15N labeled fertilizer, in order to provide science-based foundation for the nitrogen management in sustainable rice production. A lysimeter experiment with five treatments in four replications was set-up T0 (control). T1 (45 kg N ha“- “1), T2 (90 kg N ha“- “1), T3 (135 kg N ha“- “1) and T4 (180 kg N ha“- “1). 15N tracer analysis showed that, on average, only 30% of applied N is recovered by the crop following one time basal application. In contrast, higher fertilizer nitrogen use efficiencies (FNUE) (>50%) were observed following multiple-split N application. The result of FNUE also corroborates with the significant increase in rice grain yield. Many crops, however, have different nutrient requirements, therefore as in all fertilization strategies, it is highly recommended that source, rate, time and place of application should be considered in making split fertilization decisions. (author)

Maximizing Light Utilization Efficiency and Hydrogen Production in Microalgal Cultures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melis, Anastasios [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

2014-12-31

The project addressed the following technical barrier from the Biological Hydrogen Production section of the Fuel Cell Technologies Program Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan: Low Sunlight Utilization Efficiency in Photobiological Hydrogen Production is due to a Large Photosystem Chlorophyll Antenna Size in Photosynthetic Microorganisms (Barrier AN: Light Utilization Efficiency).

The impact of energy prices on industrial energy efficiency and productivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyd, G.A.

1993-01-01

Energy prices moved into the forefront of concern in the mid and late seventies when two oil price shocks drove up energy prices dramatically. The analysis of the subsequent increase in industrial energy efficiency, i.e., decline in energy use per unit of industrial output, has filled volumes of government and private studies. Despite the volumes of analysis, there remains no consensus on the magnitude of the effect of energy prices on industrial energy efficiency or the effect of the change in energy prices on productivity. This paper examines some sources of the controversy to initiate a dialog between policy makers, analysts, and the energy consumers and producers

Pervaporation membrane bioreactor with permeate fractional condensation and mechanical vapor compression for energy efficient ethanol production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan, Senqing; Xiao, Zeyi; Li, Minghai; Li, Sizhong

2016-01-01

Graphical abstract: Pervaporation membrane bioreactor with permeate partial condensation and mechanical vapor compression is developed for an energy efficient ethanol production. - Highlights: • PVMBR-MVC for energy efficient ethanol production. • Process separation factor of 20–44 for ethanol achieved by fractional condensation. • Energy production of 20.25 MJ and hourly energy production of 56.25 kJ/h achieved. • Over 50% of energy saved in PVMBR-MVC compared with PVMBR-LTC. • Integrated heat pump with COP of 7–9 for the energy recovery of the permeate. - Abstract: Improved process separation factor and heat integration are two key issues to increase the energy efficiency of ethanol production in a pervaporation membrane bioreactor (PVMBR). A PVMBR with permeate fractional condensation and mechanical vapor compression was developed for energy efficient ethanol production. A condensation model based on the mass balance and thermodynamic equilibrium in the partial vacuum condenser was developed for predicting the purification performance of the permeate vapor. Three runs of ethanol fermentation-pervaporation experiment were carried out and ethanol concentration of higher than 50 wt% could be achieved in the final condensate, with the separation factor of the process for ethanol increased to 20. Ethanol production could be enhanced in the bioreactor and 17.1 MJ of the energy could be produced in per liter of fermentation broth, owing to 27.0 MJ/kg heating value of the recovered ethanol. Compared with the traditional pervaporation process with low temperature condensation for ethanol production, 50% of the energy would be saved in the process. The energy consumption would be further reduced, if the available energy of the permeate vapor was utilized by integrating the mechanical vapor compression heat pump.

Estimation of Resource Productivity and Efficiency: An Extended Evaluation of Sustainability Related to Material Flow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pin-Chih Wang

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This study is intended to conduct an extended evaluation of sustainability based on the material flow analysis of resource productivity. We first present updated information on the material flow analysis (MFA database in Taiwan. Essential indicators are selected to quantify resource productivity associated with the economy-wide MFA of Taiwan. The study also applies the IPAT (impact-population-affluence-technology master equation to measure trends of material use efficiency in Taiwan and to compare them with those of other Asia-Pacific countries. An extended evaluation of efficiency, in comparison with selected economies by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA, is conducted accordingly. The Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI is thereby adopted to quantify the patterns and the associated changes of efficiency. Observations and summaries can be described as follows. Based on the MFA of the Taiwanese economy, the average growth rates of domestic material input (DMI; 2.83% and domestic material consumption (DMC; 2.13% in the past two decades were both less than that of gross domestic product (GDP; 4.95%. The decoupling of environmental pressures from economic growth can be observed. In terms of the decomposition analysis of the IPAT equation and in comparison with 38 other economies, the material use efficiency of Taiwan did not perform as well as its economic growth. The DEA comparisons of resource productivity show that Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Japan performed the best in 2008. Since the MPI consists of technological change (frontier-shift or innovation and efficiency change (catch-up, the change in efficiency (catch-up of Taiwan has not been accomplished as expected in spite of the increase in its technological efficiency.

Efficiency and productivity measurement of rural township hospitals in China: a bootstrapping data envelopment analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Zhaohui; Cai, Miao; Tao, Hongbing; He, Zhifei; Lin, Xiaojun; Lin, Haifeng; Zuo, Yuling

2016-01-01

Objective Township hospitals (THs) are important components of the three-tier rural healthcare system of China. However, the efficiency and productivity of THs have been questioned since the healthcare reform was implemented in 2009. The objective of this study is to analyse the efficiency and productivity changes in THs before and after the reform process. Setting and participants A total of 48 sample THs were selected from the Xiaogan Prefecture in Hubei Province from 2008 to 2014. Outcome measures First, bootstrapping data envelopment analysis (DEA) was performed to estimate the technical efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE) and scale efficiency (SE) of the sample THs during the period. Second, the bootstrapping Malmquist productivity index was used to calculate the productivity changes over time. Results The average TE, PTE and SE of the sample THs over the 7-year period were 0.5147, 0.6373 and 0.7080, respectively. The average TE and PTE increased from 2008 to 2012 but declined considerably after 2012. In general, the sample THs experienced a negative shift in productivity from 2008 to 2014. The negative change was 2.14%, which was attributed to a 23.89% decrease in technological changes (TC). The sample THs experienced a positive productivity shift from 2008 to 2012 but experienced deterioration from 2012 to 2014. Conclusions There was considerable space for TE improvement in the sample THs since the average TE was relatively low. From 2008 to 2014, the sample THs experienced a decrease in productivity, and the adverse alteration in TC should be emphasised. In the context of healthcare reform, the factors that influence TE and productivity of THs are complex. Results suggest that numerous quantitative and qualitative studies are necessary to explore the reasons for the changes in TE and productivity. PMID:27836870

Endogeneity Corrected Stochastic Production Frontier and Technical Efficiency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shee, A.; Stefanou, S.E.

2015-01-01

A major econometric issue in estimating production parameters and technical efficiency is the possibility that some forces influencing production are only observed by the firm and not by the econometrician. Not only can this misspecification lead to a biased inference on the output elasticity of

Increasing the efficiency of designing hemming processes by using an element-based metamodel approach

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, C.; Roll, K.; Volk, W.

2017-09-01

In the automotive industry, the manufacturing of automotive outer panels requires hemming processes in which two sheet metal parts are joined together by bending the flange of the outer part over the inner part. Because of decreasing development times and the steadily growing number of vehicle derivatives, an efficient digital product and process validation is necessary. Commonly used simulations, which are based on the finite element method, demand significant modelling effort, which results in disadvantages especially in the early product development phase. To increase the efficiency of designing hemming processes this paper presents a hemming-specific metamodel approach. The approach includes a part analysis in which the outline of the automotive outer panels is initially split into individual segments. By doing a para-metrization of each of the segments and assigning basic geometric shapes, the outline of the part is approximated. Based on this, the hemming parameters such as flange length, roll-in, wrinkling and plastic strains are calculated for each of the geometric basic shapes by performing a meta-model-based segmental product validation. The metamodel is based on an element similar formulation that includes a reference dataset of various geometric basic shapes. A random automotive outer panel can now be analysed and optimized based on the hemming-specific database. By implementing this approach into a planning system, an efficient optimization of designing hemming processes will be enabled. Furthermore, valuable time and cost benefits can be realized in a vehicle’s development process.

Productive efficiency in the banking industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martín Leandro Dutto Giolongo

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The goal of this paper is to estimate the productive efficiency of Argentine banks. For this purpose, panel data of the universe of banks under the supervision of the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina (BCRA has been collected. In order to build the bank´s indicators, we used a database of 66 institutions, with annual information for the period 2009-2013. The sources of information were both the BCRA´s web site (www.bcra.gov.ar, and the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange´s web site (www.bolsar.com. It has been selected an efficiency indicator ranging between 0 and 1, meaning the lowest and highest level of efficiency, respectively. The concept of efficiency used here is a relative one, because it considers a Bank´s performance in relation to the behavior of the best players in the industry, being the latter the base of the industry benchmark or frontier. The results show that the mean efficiency of Argentine banks is 0,8277 in the specific period under consideration. The comparison with the results of other studies relating efficiency and competitive pressure, didn´t allow us to infer that the Argentine banking industry experienced in the period a high level of competition

Development of an eco- and material-efficient pellet production chain. A chemical study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuokkanen, M.

2013-06-01

According to the EU's strategy and the corresponding Finnish national strategy on waste materials, all kinds of waste must be utilised primarily as material (reuse, recycling) and secondarily as energy, and at the lowest level of waste hierarchy is their disposal using environmentally friendly methods. Today material efficiency is an essential topic in promoting sustainable use of natural resources, industrial by-products and waste material. The present goal proposed by the EU sets the target for the total proportion of renewable energy as high as 38% by 2020 in Finland. Up to 20 million tonnes of waste wood biomass per year are left unused in Finland, mainly in the forests during forestry operations, because supply and demand do not meet. As a consequence of high heat energy prices, the looming threat of climate change, the greenhouse effect and global as well as national demands to considerably increase the proportion of renewable energy, Finland currently has a tremendous interest in increasing decentralised pellet production alongside of large-scale factories. The aim of this thesis is to promote the development of eco-, material- and cost-efficient Nordic wood-based pellet production and utilisation of pellet bio-ash by means of chemical research. Using Finnish wood (sawdust and shavings) as a model raw material, the total functionality of a pilot-scale pellet facility combined with an extensive chemical toolbox was tested in this study to promote development of an eco-, material- and cost-efficient wood-based pellet production chain. The chemical toolbox includes measurements of moisture content, density, heat value, mechanical durability and particle size distribution, TG analysis and elementary analysis, as well as new applications for pellet biodegradation using BOD OxiTop equipment and optical microscopic staining methods. To improve the quality of pellets, considering the profitability of production and occupational safety factors (wood dust

Technical efficiency and productivity of Chinese county hospitals: an exploratory study in Henan province, China

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Zhaohui; Tao, Hongbing; Cai, Miao; Lin, Haifeng; Lin, Xiaojun; Shu, Qin; Zhang, Ru-ning

2015-01-01

Objectives Chinese county hospitals have been excessively enlarging their scale during the healthcare reform since 2009. The purpose of this paper is to examine the technical efficiency and productivity of county hospitals during the reform process, and to determine whether, and how, efficiency is affected by various factors. Setting and participants 114 sample county hospitals were selected from Henan province, China, from 2010 to 2012. Outcome measures Data envelopment analysis was employed to estimate the technical and scale efficiency of sample hospitals. The Malmquist index was used to calculate productivity changes over time. Tobit regression was used to regress against 4 environmental factors and 5 institutional factors that affected the technical efficiency. Results (1) 112 (98.2%), 112 (98.2%) and 104 (91.2%) of the 114 sample hospitals ran inefficiently in 2010, 2011 and 2012, with average technical efficiency of 0.697, 0.748 and 0.790, respectively. (2) On average, during 2010–2012, productivity of sample county hospitals increased by 7.8%, which was produced by the progress in technical efficiency changes and technological changes of 0.9% and 6.8%, respectively. (3) Tobit regression analysis indicated that government subsidy, hospital size with above 618 beds and average length of stay assumed a negative sign with technical efficiency; bed occupancy rate, ratio of beds to nurses and ratio of nurses to physicians assumed a positive sign with technical efficiency. Conclusions There was considerable space for technical efficiency improvement in Henan county hospitals. During 2010–2012, sample hospitals experienced productivity progress; however, the adverse change in pure technical efficiency should be emphasised. Moreover, according to the Tobit results, policy interventions that strictly supervise hospital bed scale, shorten the average length of stay and coordinate the proportion among physicians, nurses and beds, would benefit hospital efficiency

ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF DIFFERENT PROTECTION TREATMENTS IN APPLE PRODUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vesna Tomaš

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Apple is the most represented fruit species in Croatia. Codling moth, Cydia pomonella L, is one of the most important apple pests whose population is growing from year to year. The aim of this study was to determine the economic effectiveness of four treatments against codling moth (1 - based on baculovirus; 2 - based on the group of synthetic pyrethroid; 3 - based on kaolin, 4 - control treatment, on the three apple varieties. The experiment was performed at the Agricultural Institute Osijek, Croatia, during three years (2012-2014. In order to analyze the results of apple production it was necessary to calculate production efficiency, labor productivity, and profitability of production. The results of the research of economic efficiency according to market prices treatment 1 and treatment 2 had economic coefficient above 1 with tendency of significant growth, while treatment 3 and 4 were uneconomical. The treatment 1showed advantage over the treatment 2 because of its positive effects on human health and biodiversity, as well as satisfactory economic efficiency.

Separating environmental efficiency into production and abatement efficiency. A nonparametric model with application to U.S. power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hampf, Benjamin

2011-08-15

In this paper we present a new approach to evaluate the environmental efficiency of decision making units. We propose a model that describes a two-stage process consisting of a production and an end-of-pipe abatement stage with the environmental efficiency being determined by the efficiency of both stages. Taking the dependencies between the two stages into account, we show how nonparametric methods can be used to measure environmental efficiency and to decompose it into production and abatement efficiency. For an empirical illustration we apply our model to an analysis of U.S. power plants.

Economic efficiency of extensive livestock production in the European Union

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nastić Lana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Various types of extensive livestock production are present worldwide, primarily in regions where natural resources such as pastures and meadows could be used. Extensive livestock production is common in the EU, as well. Therefore the goal of this research was to establish economic efficiency of extensive livestock production types and to compare their efficiency with some intensive livestock production types. In order to achieve that goal FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network methodology was used. Source of information was FADN database as well as appropriate sector analysis and publications of European commission. It has been determined that sheep and goat production is competitive with intensive production types (dairy and granivores - pigs and poultry. Cattle production (other than dairy production proved to be economically inefficient due to low output level.

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency and radiation use efficiency of field-grown willow clones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Linderson, Maj-Lena; Iritz, Z.; Lindroth, A.

2007-01-01

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency (WUE) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) is evaluated for different willow clones at stand level. The measurements were made during the growing season 2000 in a 3-year-old plantation in Scania......, southernmost Sweden. Six willow clones were included in the study: L78183, SW Rapp, SW Jorunn, SW Jorr, SW Tora and SW Loden. All clones were exposed to two water treatments: rain-fed, non-irrigated treatment and reduced water availability by reduced soil water recharge. Field measurements of stem sap...... low compared to other results. Generally, all clones, except for Jorunn, seem to be better off concerning biomass production, WUE and RUE than the reference clone. Jorr, Jorunn and Loden also seem to be able to cope with the reduced water availability with increase in the water use efficiency. Tora...

Production and efficiency of organic compost generated by millipede activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luiz Fernando de Sousa Antunes

2016-05-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The putrefactive activity of organisms such as diplopods in the edaphic macrof auna can be leveraged to promote the transformation of agricultural and urban waste into a low-cost substrate for the production of vegetable seedlings. This research aimed to evaluate: (1 the quantity of Gervais millipedes ( Trigoniulus corallinus needed to produce an acceptable quantity of organic compost; (2 the main physical and chemical characteristics of different compost types; and (3 compost efficiency in the production of lettuce seedlings. The first experiment lasted 90 days and was conducted using 6.5L of Gliricidia, 6.5L of Flemingia, 13.5L of grass cuttings, 4.5L of cardboard, 4.5L of coconut husk, and 4.5L of corncob. Treatments consisting of 0, 0.10, 0.30, 0.50, and 0.90L of millipedes were applied. This experiment compared millicompost and vermicompost, using four repetitions. After 23 days, the heights of grown lettuce plants and the weights of the fresh and dry mass of above ground lettuce and of the roots were assessed. A millipede volume of 0.1L proved to be sufficient for the production of an acceptable volume of organic compost. However, the addition of greater volumes leads to increased calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous content. Millicompost has similar physicochemical characteristics those of vermicompost, and both are equally efficient as a substrate for the production of lettuce seedlings.

Light quality and efficiency of consumer grade solid state lighting products

Science.gov (United States)

Dam-Hansen, Carsten; Corell, Dennis Dan; Thorseth, Anders; Poulsen, Peter Behrensdorff

2013-03-01

The rapid development in flux and efficiency of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) has resulted in a flooding of the lighting market with Solid State Lighting (SSL) products. Many traditional light sources can advantageously be replaced by SSL products. There are, however, large variations in the quality of these products, and some are not better than the ones they are supposed to replace. A lack of quality demands and standards makes it difficult for consumers to get an overview of the SSL products. Here the results of a two year study investigating SSL products on the Danish market are presented. Focus has been on SSL products for replacement of incandescent lamps and halogen spotlights. The warm white light and good color rendering properties of these traditional light sources are a must for lighting in Denmark and the Nordic countries. 266 SSL replacement lamps have been tested for efficiency and light quality with respect to correlated color temperature and color rendering properties. This shows a trade-off between high color rendering warm white light and energy efficiency. The lumen and color maintenance over time has been investigated and results for products running over 11000 h will be presented. A new internet based SSL product selection tool will be shown. Here the products can be compared on efficiency, light quality parameters, thus providing a better basis for the selection of SSL products for consumers.

Increasing Product Confidence-Shifting Paradigms.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Marla; Kashyap, Vishal; Cheung, Mee-Shew

2015-01-01

Leaders in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and food industries expressed a unilateral concern over product confidence throughout the total product lifecycle, an unsettling fact for these leaders to manage given that their products affect the lives of millions of people each year. Fueled by the heparin incident of intentional adulteration in 2008, initial efforts for increasing product confidence were focused on improving the confidence of incoming materials, with a belief that supplier performance must be the root cause. As in the heparin case, concern over supplier performance extended deep into the supply chain to include suppliers of the suppliers-which is often a blind spot for pharmaceutical, device, and food manufacturers. Resolved to address the perceived lack of supplier performance, these U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-regulated industries began to adopt the supplier relationship management strategy, developed by the automotive industry, that emphasizes "management" of suppliers for the betterment of the manufacturers. Current product and supplier management strategies, however, have not led to a significant improvement in product confidence. As a result of the enduring concern by industry leaders over the lack of product confidence, Xavier University launched the Integrity of Supply Initiative in 2012 with a team of industry leaders and FDA officials. Through a methodical research approach, data generated by the pharmaceutical, medical device, and food manufacturers surprisingly pointed to themselves as a source of the lack of product confidence, and revealed that manufacturers either unknowingly increase the potential for error or can control/prevent many aspects of product confidence failure. It is only through this paradigm shift that manufacturers can work collaboratively with their suppliers as equal partners, instead of viewing their suppliers as "lesser" entities needing to be controlled. The basis of this shift provides manufacturers

Piecewise Loglinear Estimation of Efficient Production Surfaces

OpenAIRE

Rajiv D. Banker; Ajay Maindiratta

1986-01-01

Linear programming formulations for piecewise loglinear estimation of efficient production surfaces are derived from a set of basic properties postulated for the underlying production possibility sets. Unlike the piecewise linear model of Banker, Charnes, and Cooper (Banker R. D., A. Charnes, W. W. Cooper. 1984. Models for the estimation of technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Management Sci. 30 (September) 1078--1092.), this approach permits the identification of ...

Advanced Nano-Composites for Increased Energy Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2009-05-01

This factsheet describes a research project whose goal is to increase energy efficiency and operating lifetime of wear-intensive industrial components and systems by developing and commercializing a family of ceramic-based monolithic composites that have shown remarkable resistance to wear in laboratory tests.

Informatics in radiology: Efficiency metrics for imaging device productivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Mengqi; Pavlicek, William; Liu, Patrick T; Zhang, Muhong; Langer, Steve G; Wang, Shanshan; Place, Vicki; Miranda, Rafael; Wu, Teresa Tong

2011-01-01

Acute awareness of the costs associated with medical imaging equipment is an ever-present aspect of the current healthcare debate. However, the monitoring of productivity associated with expensive imaging devices is likely to be labor intensive, relies on summary statistics, and lacks accepted and standardized benchmarks of efficiency. In the context of the general Six Sigma DMAIC (design, measure, analyze, improve, and control) process, a World Wide Web-based productivity tool called the Imaging Exam Time Monitor was developed to accurately and remotely monitor imaging efficiency with use of Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) combined with a picture archiving and communication system. Five device efficiency metrics-examination duration, table utilization, interpatient time, appointment interval time, and interseries time-were derived from DICOM values. These metrics allow the standardized measurement of productivity, to facilitate the comparative evaluation of imaging equipment use and ongoing efforts to improve efficiency. A relational database was constructed to store patient imaging data, along with device- and examination-related data. The database provides full access to ad hoc queries and can automatically generate detailed reports for administrative and business use, thereby allowing staff to monitor data for trends and to better identify possible changes that could lead to improved productivity and reduced costs in association with imaging services. © RSNA, 2011.

Ozone decreases soybean productivity and water use efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Betzelberger, A. M.; VanLoocke, A. D.; Ainsworth, E. A.; Bernacchi, C. J.

2011-12-01

The combination of population growth and climate change will increase pressure on agricultural and water resources throughout this century. An additional consequence of this growth is an increase in anthropogenic emissions that lead to the formation of tropospheric ozone (O3), which in concert with climate change, poses a significant threat to human health and nutrition. In addition to being an important greenhouse gas, O3 reduces plant productivity, an effect that has been particularly pronounced in soybean, which provides over half of the world's oilseed production. Plant productivity is linked to feedbacks in the climate system, indirectly through the carbon cycle, as well as directly through the partitioning of radiation into heat and moisture fluxes. Soybean, along with maize, comprises the largest ecosystem in the contiguous U.S. Therefore, changes in productivity and water use under increasing O3 could impact human nutrition as well as the regional climate. Soybean response to increasing O3 concentrations was tested under open-air agricultural conditions at the SoyFACE research site. During the 2009 growing season, eight 20 m diameter FACE plots were exposed to different O3 concentrations, ranging from 40 to 200 ppb. Canopy growth (leaf area index) and physiological measurements of leaf photosynthesis and stomatal conductance were taken regularly throughout the growing season. Canopy fluxes of heat and moisture were measured using the residual energy balance micrometeorological technique. Our results indicate that as O3 increased from 40 to 200 ppb, rates of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance decreased significantly. Further, the seed yield decreased by over 60%, while water use decreased by 30% and the water-use-efficiency (yield/water-use) declined by 50%. The growing season average canopy temperatures increased by 1°C and midday temperatures increased by 2°C compared to the control. Warmer and drier canopies may result in a positive feedback on O3

Measures for Increasing of Company’s Production Capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ernesta Žikevičiūtė

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Production capacity improvements are poorly explored areas of economic literature and the existing methods are difficult to apply. For this reason, the organization has only a superficial analysis of capacity, but after all this time, each production company had to improve the production capacity for the market economy and the most economical use of production factors.This article explores the company’s production capacity for better use of tools. It also presents the capacity of their concept, establishment, evaluates the factors leading to their production capacity, for developing efficiency measures and model presentation.Article in Lithuanian

A stochastic frontier analysis of technical efficiency in smallholder maize production in Zimbabwe: The post-fast-track land reform outlook

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelson Mango

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article analyses the technical efficiency of maize production in Zimbabwe’s smallholder farming communities following the fast-track land reform of the year 2000 with a view of highlighting key entry points for policy. Using a randomly selected sample of 522 smallholder maize producers, a stochastic frontier production model was applied, using a linearised Cobb–Douglas production function to determine the production elasticity coefficients of inputs, technical efficiency and the determinants of efficiency. The study finds that maize output responds positively to increases in inorganic fertilisers, seed quantity, the use of labour and the area planted. The technical efficiency analysis suggests that about 90% of farmers in the sample are between 60 and 75% efficient, with an average efficiency in the sample of 65%. The significant determinants of technical efficiency were the gender of the household head, household size, frequency of extension visits, farm size and the farming region. The results imply that the average efficiency of maize production could be improved by 35% through better use of existing resources and technology. The results highlight the need for government and private sector assistance in improving efficiency by promoting access to productive resources and ensuring better and more reliable agricultural extension services.

Reverse micelles as suitable microreactor for increased biohydrogen production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pandey, Anjana [Nanotechnology and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Centre of Biotechnology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211002 (India); Pandey, Ashutosh [Centre of Energy Studies, MNNIT, Allahabad 211004 (India)

2008-01-15

Reverse micelles have been shown to act as efficient microreactors for enzymic reactions and whole cell entrapment in organic (non-aqueous) media wherein the reactants are protected from denaturation by the surrounding organic solvent. These micelles are thermodynamically stable, micrometer sized water droplets dispersed in an organic phase by a surfactant. It has been observed that when whole cells of photosynthetic bacteria (Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides or Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1) are entrapped inside these reverse micelles, the H{sub 2} production enhanced from 25 to 35 folds. That is, 1.71mmol(mgprotein){sup -1}h{sup -1} in case of R. sphaeroides which is 25 fold higher in benzene-sodium lauryl sulfate reverse micelles. Whereas, in case of R. sphaeroides 2.4.1 the H{sub 2} production was increased by 35 fold within AOT-isooctane reverse micelles i.e. 11.5mmol(mgprotein){sup -1}h{sup -1}. The observations indicate that the entrapment of whole cells of microbes within reverse micelles provides a novel and efficient technique to produce hydrogen by the inexhaustible biological route. The two microorganisms R. sphaeroides 2.4.1 (a photosynthetic bacteria) and Citrobacter Y19 (a facultative anaerobic bacteria) together are also entrapped within AOT-isooctane and H{sub 2} production was measured i.e. 69mmol(mgprotein){sup -1}h{sup -1}. The nitrogenase enzyme responsible for hydrogen production by R. sphaeroides/R. sphaeroides 2.4.1 cells is oxygen sensitive, and very well protected within reverse micelles by the use of combined approach of two cells (R. sphaeroides 2.4.1 and Citrobacter Y19). In this case glucose present in the medium of Citrobacter Y19 serves double roles in enhancing the sustained production rate of hydrogen. Firstly, it quenches the free O{sub 2}liberated as a side product of reaction catalyzed by nitrogenase, which is O{sub 2} labile. Secondly, organic acid produced by this reaction is utilized by the Citrobacter Y19 as organic substrate in

Envisioning a metropolitan foodshed: potential environmental consequences of increasing food-crop production around Chicago

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, E. E.; Martin, P. A.; Schuble, T. J.

2009-12-01

Nationwide, cities are increasingly developing policies aimed at greater sustainability, particularly focusing on reducing environmental impact. Such policies commonly emphasize more efficiently using energy to decrease the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of the city. However, most plans ignore the food system as a factor in regional energy use and GHG emissions. Yet, the food system in the United States accounts for ~20% of per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Local, sustainable food production is cited as one strategy for mitigating GHG emissions of large metropolitan areas. “Sustainable” for regional agriculture is often identified as small-scale, diversified food crop production using best practices management. Localized food production (termed “foodshed”) using sustainable agriculture could mitigate climate change in multiple ways: (1) energy and therefore CO2-intensive portions of the conventional food system might be replaced by local, lower-input food production resulting in carbon offsets; (2) increased regional carbon storage might result from well-managed food crop production vs. commodity crop production; and (3) averted N2O emissions might result from closing nutrient cycles on agricultural lands following changes in management practices. The broader implications for environmental impact of widespread conversion to sustainable food crop agriculture, however, remain largely unknown. We examine the Chicago metropolitan region to quantify the impact of increased local food production on regional energy efficiency and GHG emissions. Geospatial analysis is used to quantify the resource potential for establishing a Chicago metropolitan foodshed. A regional foodshed is defined by minimizing cost through transportation mode (road, rail, or water) and maximizing the production potential of different soil types. Simple biogeochemical modeling is used to predict changes in N2O emissions and nutrient flows following changes in land management practices

Eco-efficiency analysis methodology on the example of the chosen polyolefins production

OpenAIRE

K. Czaplicka-Kolarz; D. Burchart-Korol; P. Krawczyk

2010-01-01

the chosen polyolefins production. The article presents also main tools of eco-efficiency analysis: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Net Present Value (NPV).Design/methodology/approach: On the basis of LCA and NPV of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) production, eco-efficiency analysis is conducted.Findings: In this article environmental and economic performance of the chosen polyolefins production was presented. The basis phases of eco-efficiency methodology...

An Efficiency Model For Hydrogen Production In A Pressurized Electrolyzer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smoglie, Cecilia; Lauretta, Ricardo

2010-09-15

The use of Hydrogen as clean fuel at a world wide scale requires the development of simple, safe and efficient production and storage technologies. In this work, a methodology is proposed to produce Hydrogen and Oxygen in a self pressurized electrolyzer connected to separate containers that store each of these gases. A mathematical model for Hydrogen production efficiency is proposed to evaluate how such efficiency is affected by parasitic currents in the electrolytic solution. Experimental set-up and results for an electrolyzer are also presented. Comparison of empirical and analytical results shows good agreement.

THE EFFECT OF EXTERNAL TRANSPORT ON ENERGETIC EFFICIENCY OF BIODIESEL PRODUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga Anna Orynycz

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In several our publications energetic efficiency of biofuel production was defined as a ratio of the amount of energy obtained in a form of biofuel to the sum of energy contributions necessary to conduct production processes on all the production stages. It was also shown that such a definition enables subsequent inclusion of production steps due to additivity of reciprocals of energetic efficiency determined separately for each step. In the present work, several scenarios of the transport of biomass between plantation and industrial facility converting biomass into biofuel are considered, appropriate values of energetic efficiency are computed and compared. The analysis is confined to biodiesel production based on rapeseed. The results show substantial differences caused by various approaches to that stage of transport.

Improving Farmers' Efficiency in Rice Production In Nigeria: The ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper assesses the effects of extension services on farmers' efficiency and productivity in rice production in Kano State, Nigeria. Data for the study were collected from 126 rice farmers selected using multi stage sampling technique. Stochastic production frontier function was estimated to ascertain the effects of ...

Increasing the Energy Efficiency of the Cyclic Action Mechanisms in Rolling for a Roller Bed Used as an Example

Science.gov (United States)

andreev, A. N.; Kolesnichenko, D. A.

2017-12-01

The possibility of increasing the energy efficiency of the production cycle in a roller bed is briefly reviewed and justified. The sequence diagram of operation of the electrical drive in a roller bed is analyzed, and the possible increase in the energy efficiency is calculated. A method for energy saving is described for the application of a frequency-controlled asynchronous electrical drive of drive rollers in a roller bed with an increased capacitor capacity in a dc link. A fine mathematical model is developed to describe the behavior of the electrical drive during the deceleration of a roller bed. An experimental setup is created and computer simulation and physical modeling are performed. The basic information flows of the general hierarchical automatic control system of an enterprise are described and determined with allowance for the proposed method of increasing the energy efficiency.

The effects of contract farming on efficiency and productivity of small-scale sunflower farmers in Tanzania

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsen, Arne; Mpeta, Daniel F.; Adem, Anwar S.

impact on efficiency and productivity is mostly overlooked. This study addresses this salient gap by combining the approaches of Bravo-Ureta, Greene, and Solís (Empirical Economics, 2012) and Rao, Brümmer, and Qaim (AJAE, 2012). We first estimate separate production frontiers for contract farmers and non......-contract farmers that account for potential selection biases, and second, we create a meta-frontier. Using cross-sectional data from sunflower farmers in Tanzania, we find a significant selection bias. Contract farming significantly increases the yield potential but lowers the average group technical efficiency...

Two novel techniques for increasing energy efficiency of photovoltaic-battery systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fathabadi, Hassan

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Two novel techniques for increasing the energy efficiency of PV-battery systems. • Practically, 27% increase in the energy efficiency of PV-battery systems. • Novel proposed DC/PWM inverter for substituting conventional primary DC/DC converters. • Presenting theoretical, simulation & experimental results to verify the above claims. - Abstract: A photovoltaic (PV)-battery power source consists of a PV panel, a primary DC/DC converter, and a battery or a batteries bank. It is generally used to provide electric energy for local consumers such as buildings. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) schemes cannot be applied to it because the PV panel output current is only determined by the state of charge (SOC) of the battery. In this study, two novel techniques are proposed to increase the energy efficiency of PV-battery power sources. Replacing the primary DC/DC converter with a novel proposed DC/PWM inverter, and decomposing the PV panel into a set of parallel homogenous configured PV modules are the two proposed techniques. It is shown that the implementation of each technique effectively increases the energy efficiency of PV-battery power sources. The two techniques are combined to each other to implement a new PV-battery power source. It is proved that the energy efficiency of the new version is significantly more than conventional version. Simulated results performed in MATLAB/Proteus 6 verify an increase of 29% in the energy efficiency. Four PV-battery power sources have been built, and comparative experimental results are presented that verify an increase of 27% in the energy efficiency.

Breeding for genetic improvement of forage plants in relation to increasing animal production with reduced environmental footprint.

Science.gov (United States)

Kingston-Smith, A H; Marshall, A H; Moorby, J M

2013-03-01

Animal production is a fundamental component of the food supply chain, and with an increasing global population production levels are set to increase. Ruminant animals in particular are valuable in their ability to convert a fibre-rich forage diet into a high-quality protein product for human consumption, although this benefit is offset by inefficiencies in rumen fermentation that contribute to emission of significant quantities of methane and nitrogenous waste. Through co-operation between plant and animal sciences, we can identify how the nutritional requirements of ruminants can be satisfied by high-quality forages for the future. Selective forage plant breeding has supported crop improvement for nearly a century. Early plant breeding programmes were successful in terms of yield gains (4% to 5% per decade), with quality traits becoming increasingly important breeding targets (e.g. enhanced disease resistance and digestibility). Recently, demands for more sustainable production systems have required high yielding, high-quality forages that enable efficient animal production with minimal environmental impact. Achieving this involves considering the entire farm system and identifying opportunities for maximising nutrient use efficiency in both forage and animal components. Forage crops of the future must be able to utilise limited resources (water and nutrients) to maximise production on a limited land area and this may require us to consider alternative plant species to those currently in use. Furthermore, new breeding targets will be identified as the interactions between plants and the animals that consume them become better understood. This will ensure that available resources are targeted at delivering maximum benefits to the animal through enhanced transformation efficiency.

Efficient production of automotive biofuels; Effektiv produktion av biodrivmedel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gode, Jenny; Hagberg, Linus; Rydberg, Tomas; Raadberg, Henrik; Saernholm, Erik

2008-07-01

, production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), pellets production and in some cases treatment with hydrogen gas, catalytic depolymerisation and anaerobic digestion can increase the use of steam and heat from district heating. This new 'offset' for heat can increase operational hours for the CHP. Conversely, biomass gasification produces a greater proportion of the necessary process energy internally and the waste heat produced in the process leads to a lower load for heat production in the CHP. These conclusions are illustrated in the form of a diagram of heat output distribution, both for the hypothetical polygeneration plant of ethanol production and for the hypothetical biomass gasification polygeneration plant with production of synthetic natural gas. The calculations are based on a district heating network where the heat is produced from a biofuel driven CHP (89 MW{sub e}, 173 MW{sub heat} and 230 MW{sub fuel}) and a biofuel driven HP. Since the prerequisites for each specific polygeneration plant are different, the effect of integrations in reality would differ from the results of these calculations--but the results give an overview of the consequences of the choice of energy polygeneration plant. Several interesting combinations in the form of biofuel polygeneration plants are already in operation or in the planning stage. Several conceivable alternatives are: - Ethanol production, anaerobic digestion/feed production, heat and power. - Ethanol production, pellets production, greenhouse, heat and power. - Gasification including fuel production, district heating network and pellets production. - Oilseed rape production, RME production, heat and power. - NExBTL production, refinery, district heating network/heat and power. In most cases the overall efficiency of biofuel production is lower than if biomass is used directly in heat and power production as shown in the system analysis. This is, however, in conflict with the increasing demand for biofuels. A biomass

Management of efficiency of agricultural production on the basis of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Management of efficiency of agricultural production on the basis of margin approach. ... Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences ... and systematized to the management of production costs of agricultural products, the proposed definition ...

Development of an eco-efficient product/process for the vulcanising industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Becerra, M. B.

2014-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the development of an eco-efficient product/process, which has improved mechanical properties from the introduction of natural fibres in the EPDM (Ethylene-Propylene-Diene-Terpolymer rubber formulation. The optimisation analysis is made by a fractional factorial design 211-7. Different formulations were evaluated using a multi-response desirability function, with the aim of finding efficient levels for the manufacturing time-cycle, improving the mechanical properties of the product, and reducing the raw material costs. The development of an eco-efficient product/process generates a sustainable alternative to conventional manufacturing.

Increasing Efficiency by Maximizing Electrical Output

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-01

to electricity technology in a few limited areas, one being a geothermal flash plant at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. But, there are few...portable generators to reduce fuel needs. d) Bottom cycling on a geothermal flash plant like the one at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake...generation c) Increasing the efficiency of portable generators to reduce fuel needs. d) Bottom cycling on a geothermal flash plant like the one at Naval

Increasing the total productivity of a land by combining mobile photovoltaic panels and food crops

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valle, B.; Simonneau, T.; Sourd, F.; Pechier, P.; Hamard, P.; Frisson, T.; Ryckewaert, M.; Christophe, A.

2017-01-01

Highlights: •Combining solar panels and crops on the same land increases the total productivity. •Use of solar trackers permits to balance or promote food/energy production. •Controlling mode of trackers strongly affect the total production per unit area. •Dynamic agrivoltaic systems increases productivity without competing with food. -- Abstract: Agrivoltaic systems, consisting of the combination of photovoltaic panels (PVPs) with crops on the same land, recently emerged as an opportunity to resolve the competition for land use between food and energy production. Such systems have proved efficient when using stationary PVPs at half their usual density. Dynamic agrivoltaic systems improved the concept by using orientable PVPs derived from solar trackers. They offer the possibility to intercept the variable part of solar radiation, as well as new means to increase land productivity. The matter was analysed in this work by comparing fixed and dynamic systems with two different orientation policies. Performances of the resulting agrivoltaic systems were studied for two varieties of lettuce over three different seasons. Solar tracking systems placed all plants in a new microclimate where light and shade bands alternated several times a day at any plant position, while stationary systems split the land surface into more stable shaded and sunlit areas. In spite of these differences, transient shading conditions increased plant leaf area in all agrivoltaic systems compared to full-sun conditions, resulting in a higher conversion of the transmitted radiation by the crop. This benefit was lower during seasons with high radiation and under controlled tracking with more light transmitted to the crop. As expected, regular tracking largely increased electric production compared to stationary PVPs but also slightly increased the transmitted radiation, hence crop biomass. A large increase in transmitted radiation was achieved by restricting solar tracking around midday

Hospital structure and technical efficiency in the production of nuclear medicine. Doctoral thesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, G.W.

1976-01-01

The relationship of hospital structure to production efficiency is explored. The hospital subindustry on which this research centers is nuclear medicine. The hypotheses generated were that technical efficiency is reduced by increased competitive intensity, by a lack of profit incentive, by a broader service range, and by in-house training of technical personnel. Most data employed in the study were gathered from the American College of Radiology and the Energy Research and Development Administration Census of Nuclear Medicine. More specific information came from questionnaires sent to 2,050 short-term general hospitals known to have a nuclear medicine facility. Of the responses 1,362 were usable for the study. A major study finding was that over half of the variations observed in technical efficiency were attributable to the structural elements being studied. The research indicated that competition for staff physicians has a role in reducing technical efficiency; that the output effect of in-house manpower training was relatively unimportant; and that profit incentives do have a significant impact. It is suggested that increased technical efficiency could be achieved through reduced competitive intensity, stronger profit orientation, and reduced service range. A bibliography is included

Eco-efficient waste glass recycling: Integrated waste management and green product development through LCA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blengini, Gian Andrea; Busto, Mirko; Fantoni, Moris; Fino, Debora

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A new eco-efficient recycling route for post-consumer waste glass was implemented. ► Integrated waste management and industrial production are crucial to green products. ► Most of the waste glass rejects are sent back to the glass industry. ► Recovered co-products give more environmental gains than does avoided landfill. ► Energy intensive recycling must be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled. - Abstract: As part of the EU Life + NOVEDI project, a new eco-efficient recycling route has been implemented to maximise resources and energy recovery from post-consumer waste glass, through integrated waste management and industrial production. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to identify engineering solutions to sustainability during the development of green building products. The new process and the related LCA are framed within a meaningful case of industrial symbiosis, where multiple waste streams are utilised in a multi-output industrial process. The input is a mix of rejected waste glass from conventional container glass recycling and waste special glass such as monitor glass, bulbs and glass fibres. The green building product is a recycled foam glass (RFG) to be used in high efficiency thermally insulating and lightweight concrete. The environmental gains have been contrasted against induced impacts and improvements have been proposed. Recovered co-products, such as glass fragments/powders, plastics and metals, correspond to environmental gains that are higher than those related to landfill avoidance, whereas the latter is cancelled due to increased transportation distances. In accordance to an eco-efficiency principle, it has been highlighted that recourse to highly energy intensive recycling should be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled.

Energy sources consumption: end uses, efficiency and productivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, J.M.

2005-01-01

This document analyzes the impact of the choices made by all actors, from the energy producers to the process and infrastructure designers and the end users, in the evolution of energy consumptions. Some very little improvements made in the energy efficiency of appliances can become equivalent to the production of several oil fields or power plants at the world scale. More efficient energy uses will not replace the additional productions but they must be considered together to be compared. The energy files are first analyzed as a whole in order to show the hidden field of energy choices. In this framework, users, designers and fitters have to face very different choices because they consider efficiency improvements under different aspects: scientifical, technical, economical and social (public information and habits). These differences in efficiency uses have a time and spatial impact on the growth of energy consumption. The economical and social factors influence the collective way to consume energy and are expressed by the energy intensity of the economic activity. The last part of this document analyzes the influence of this notion on the world energy consumption scenarios at the 2050 prospects. (J.S.)

Improving the thermal efficiency of a jaggery production module using a fire-tube heat exchanger.

Science.gov (United States)

La Madrid, Raul; Orbegoso, Elder Mendoza; Saavedra, Rafael; Marcelo, Daniel

2017-12-15

Jaggery is a product obtained after heating and evaporation processes have been applied to sugar cane juice via the addition of thermal energy, followed by the crystallisation process through mechanical agitation. At present, jaggery production uses furnaces and pans that are designed empirically based on trial and error procedures, which results in low ranges of thermal efficiency operation. To rectify these deficiencies, this study proposes the use of fire-tube pans to increase heat transfer from the flue gases to the sugar cane juice. With the aim of increasing the thermal efficiency of a jaggery installation, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD)-based model was used as a numerical tool to design a fire-tube pan that would replace the existing finned flat pan. For this purpose, the original configuration of the jaggery furnace was simulated via a pre-validated CFD model in order to calculate its current thermal performance. Then, the newly-designed fire-tube pan was virtually replaced in the jaggery furnace with the aim of numerically estimating the thermal performance at the same operating conditions. A comparison of both simulations highlighted the growth of the heat transfer rate at around 105% in the heating/evaporation processes when the fire-tube pan replaced the original finned flat pan. This enhancement impacted the jaggery production installation, whereby the thermal efficiency of the installation increased from 31.4% to 42.8%. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Nutrient use efficiency and yield-increasing effect of single basal application of rice specific controlled release fertilizer].

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jiansheng; Xu, Peizhi; Tang, Shuanhu; Zhang, Fabao; Xie, Chunsheng

2005-10-01

A series of pot and field experiments and field demonstrations showed that in comparing with the commonly used specific-fertilizers containing same amounts of nutrients, single basal application of rice-specific controlled release fertilizer could increase the use efficiency of N and P by 12.2% - 22.7% and 7.0% - 35.0%, respectively in pot experiment, and the use efficiency of N by 17.1% in field experiment. In 167 field demonstrations successively conducted for 3 years in various rice production areas of Guangdong Province, single basal application of the fertilizer saved the application rate of N and P by 22.1% and 21.8%, respectively, and increased the yield by 8.2%, compared with normal split fertilization.

Efficient promotion of electricity production from offshore wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panzer, Christian; Auer, Hans; Lettner, Georg

2014-01-01

Efficient promotion of electricity production from offshore wind stands in dynamic relationship with various influence factors, the most important of which are promotion instruments, topographic givens, regulation of grid connection, and supraregional market integration concepts. Using three case studies from different countries to highlight national differences in the promotion of offshore wind power plants the present analysis points out ways of improving the efficiency of promotion instruments.

Association between structural brain network efficiency and intelligence increases during adolescence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koenis, Marinka M G; Brouwer, Rachel M; Swagerman, Suzanne C; van Soelen, Inge L C; Boomsma, Dorret I; Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E

2018-01-01

Adolescence represents an important period during which considerable changes in the brain take place, including increases in integrity of white matter bundles, and increasing efficiency of the structural brain network. A more efficient structural brain network has been associated with higher

Eco-efficient waste glass recycling: Integrated waste management and green product development through LCA.

Science.gov (United States)

Blengini, Gian Andrea; Busto, Mirko; Fantoni, Moris; Fino, Debora

2012-05-01

As part of the EU Life + NOVEDI project, a new eco-efficient recycling route has been implemented to maximise resources and energy recovery from post-consumer waste glass, through integrated waste management and industrial production. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to identify engineering solutions to sustainability during the development of green building products. The new process and the related LCA are framed within a meaningful case of industrial symbiosis, where multiple waste streams are utilised in a multi-output industrial process. The input is a mix of rejected waste glass from conventional container glass recycling and waste special glass such as monitor glass, bulbs and glass fibres. The green building product is a recycled foam glass (RFG) to be used in high efficiency thermally insulating and lightweight concrete. The environmental gains have been contrasted against induced impacts and improvements have been proposed. Recovered co-products, such as glass fragments/powders, plastics and metals, correspond to environmental gains that are higher than those related to landfill avoidance, whereas the latter is cancelled due to increased transportation distances. In accordance to an eco-efficiency principle, it has been highlighted that recourse to highly energy intensive recycling should be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Resource use efficiency in small-scale rice production in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The production function for rice, elasticity of production, return to scale, marginal productivity and level of efficiency of inputs used in rice production were determined. ... With the exception of fertilizer that was over-utilized, all other inputs were underutilized with ratios of marginal value products to unit prices greater than unity ...

Increasing millet production in South Asia

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

Asia, which has put the emphasis on cash crops and cereals ... aims to increase production and consumption of minor ... practices. They will then develop sustainable agriculture tool kits to help farmers to increase millet production in these.

Relationships of efficiency to reproductive disorders in Danish milk production: a stochastic frontier analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawson, L G; Bruun, J; Coelli, T; Agger, J F; Lund, M

2004-01-01

Relationships of various reproductive disorders and milk production performance of Danish dairy farms were investigated. A stochastic frontier production function was estimated using data collected in 1998 from 514 Danish dairy farms. Measures of farm-level milk production efficiency relative to this production frontier were obtained, and relationships between milk production efficiency and the incidence risk of reproductive disorders were examined. There were moderate positive relationships between milk production efficiency and retained placenta, induction of estrus, uterine infections, ovarian cysts, and induction of birth. Inclusion of reproductive management variables showed that these moderate relationships disappeared, but directions of coefficients for almost all those variables remained the same. Dystocia showed a weak negative correlation with milk production efficiency. Farms that were mainly managed by young farmers had the highest average efficiency scores. The estimated milk losses due to inefficiency averaged 1142, 488, and 256 kg of energy-corrected milk per cow, respectively, for low-, medium-, and high-efficiency herds. It is concluded that the availability of younger cows, which enabled farmers to replace cows with reproductive disorders, contributed to high cow productivity in efficient farms. Thus, a high replacement rate more than compensates for the possible negative effect of reproductive disorders. The use of frontier production and efficiency/inefficiency functions to analyze herd data may enable dairy advisors to identify inefficient herds and to simulate the effect of alternative management procedures on the individual herd's efficiency.

Environmental policy and the energy efficiency of vertically differentiated consumer products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brzeskot, Magdalena; Haupt, Alexander

2013-01-01

We analyse optimal environmental policies in a market that is vertically differentiated in terms of the energy efficiency of products. Considering energy taxes, subsidies to firms for investment in more eco-friendly products, and product standards, we are particularly interested in how distributional goals in addition to environmental goals shape the choice of policy instruments. We find that an industry-friendly government levies an energy tax to supplement a lax product standard, but shies away from subsidies to firms. By contrast, a consumer-friendly government relies heavily on a strict product standard and additionally implements a moderate subsidy to firms, but avoids energy taxes. - Highlights: ► We analyse how distributional goals shape environmental policy. ► Firms invest in the energy efficiency of their products and compete in prices. ► An industry-friendly government implements an energy tax and a lax product standard. ► A consumer-friendly government chooses a subsidy to firms instead of an energy tax. ► A consumer-friendly government implements a strict energy efficiency standard

Production Efficiency Audit on Tea Beverage Agroindustry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hendra Adiyatna, . Marimin

2001-04-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work was to investigate and to apply economic efficiency performance measurement methods for tea beverage agroindustry. These measurements were based on twelve technique and economic efficiency criteria, which illustrate the condition of the processes. This illustration was able to explain the material and the energy utilization, variance of the processes and product, handling of the waste and acceptance in the market. The methodology was divided into three steps: (1 defining the technique and the economic criteria, appropriate to the circumstance of the processes, (2 state efficiency the level status, (3 evaluation and structure prioritizing of the processes improvement alternatives. The results of this work indicates that there are seven appropriate criteria. The status of the efficiency is in the medium level. The improvement priorities recommended include optimization of material and energy usage and minimization of breaktime of the critical processes

Technical efficiency and productivity of Chinese county hospitals: an exploratory study in Henan province, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Zhaohui; Tao, Hongbing; Cai, Miao; Lin, Haifeng; Lin, Xiaojun; Shu, Qin; Zhang, Ru-Ning

2015-09-09

Chinese county hospitals have been excessively enlarging their scale during the healthcare reform since 2009. The purpose of this paper is to examine the technical efficiency and productivity of county hospitals during the reform process, and to determine whether, and how, efficiency is affected by various factors. 114 sample county hospitals were selected from Henan province, China, from 2010 to 2012. Data envelopment analysis was employed to estimate the technical and scale efficiency of sample hospitals. The Malmquist index was used to calculate productivity changes over time. Tobit regression was used to regress against 4 environmental factors and 5 institutional factors that affected the technical efficiency. (1) 112 (98.2%), 112 (98.2%) and 104 (91.2%) of the 114 sample hospitals ran inefficiently in 2010, 2011 and 2012, with average technical efficiency of 0.697, 0.748 and 0.790, respectively. (2) On average, during 2010-2012, productivity of sample county hospitals increased by 7.8%, which was produced by the progress in technical efficiency changes and technological changes of 0.9% and 6.8%, respectively. (3) Tobit regression analysis indicated that government subsidy, hospital size with above 618 beds and average length of stay assumed a negative sign with technical efficiency; bed occupancy rate, ratio of beds to nurses and ratio of nurses to physicians assumed a positive sign with technical efficiency. There was considerable space for technical efficiency improvement in Henan county hospitals. During 2010-2012, sample hospitals experienced productivity progress; however, the adverse change in pure technical efficiency should be emphasised. Moreover, according to the Tobit results, policy interventions that strictly supervise hospital bed scale, shorten the average length of stay and coordinate the proportion among physicians, nurses and beds, would benefit hospital efficiency. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where

Increasing beef production could lower greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil if decoupled from deforestation

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira Silva, R.; Barioni, L. G.; Hall, J. A. J.; Folegatti Matsuura, M.; Zanett Albertini, T.; Fernandes, F. A.; Moran, D.

2016-05-01

Recent debate about agricultural greenhouse gas emissions mitigation highlights trade-offs inherent in the way we produce and consume food, with increasing scrutiny on emissions-intensive livestock products. Although most research has focused on mitigation through improved productivity, systemic interactions resulting from reduced beef production at the regional level are still unexplored. A detailed optimization model of beef production encompassing pasture degradation and recovery processes, animal and deforestation emissions, soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics and upstream life-cycle inventory was developed and parameterized for the Brazilian Cerrado. Economic return was maximized considering two alternative scenarios: decoupled livestock-deforestation (DLD), assuming baseline deforestation rates controlled by effective policy; and coupled livestock-deforestation (CLD), where shifting beef demand alters deforestation rates. In DLD, reduced consumption actually leads to less productive beef systems, associated with higher emissions intensities and total emissions, whereas increased production leads to more efficient systems with boosted SOC stocks, reducing both per kilogram and total emissions. Under CLD, increased production leads to 60% higher emissions than in DLD. The results indicate the extent to which deforestation control contributes to sustainable intensification in Cerrado beef systems, and how alternative life-cycle analytical approaches result in significantly different emission estimates.

Agronomic Characteristics Related to Grain Yield and Nutrient Use Efficiency for Wheat Production in China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Limin Chuan

Full Text Available In order to make clear the recent status and trend of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. production in China, datasets from multiple field experiments and published literature were collected to study the agronomic characteristics related to grain yield, fertilizer application and nutrient use efficiency from the year 2000 to 2011. The results showed that the mean grain yield of wheat in 2000-2011 was 5950 kg/ha, while the N, P2O5 and K2O application rates were 172, 102 and 91 kg/ha on average, respectively. The decrease in N and P2O5 and increase in K2O balanced the nutrient supply and was the main reason for yield increase. The partial factor productivity (PFP, kg grain yield produced per unit of N, P2O5 or K2O applied values of N (PFP-N, P (PFP-P and K (PFP-K were in the ranges of 29.5~39.6, 43.4~74.9 and 44.1~76.5 kg/kg, respectively. While PFP-N showed no significant changes from 2000 to 2010, both PFP-P and PFP-K showed an increased trend over this period. The mean agronomic efficiency (AE, kg grain yield increased per unit of N, P2O5 or K2O applied values of N (AEN, P (AEP and K (AEK were 9.4, 10.2 and 6.5 kg/kg, respectively. The AE values demonstrated marked inter-annual fluctuations, with the amplitude of fluctuation for AEN greater than those for AEP and AEK. The mean fertilizer recovery efficiency (RE, the fraction of nutrient uptake in aboveground plant dry matter to the nutrient of fertilizer application values of N, P and K in the aboveground biomass were 33.1%, 24.3% and 28.4%, respectively. It was also revealed that different wheat ecological regions differ greatly in wheat productivity, fertilizer application and nutrient use efficiency. In summary, it was suggested that best nutrient management practices, i.e. fertilizer recommendation applied based on soil testing or yield response, with strategies to match the nutrient input with realistic yield and demand, or provided with the 4R's nutrient management (right time, right rate, right

Methionine supplementation in the productive efficiency, carcass ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effect of dietary methionine supplementation at varying levels on the productive efficiency, carcass characteristics and economics of growing indigenous turkey was investigated. Four Isocaloric and Isonitrogenous diets were formulated. The diets were supplemented with 0.00%, 0.05%, 0.10%, and 0.15% respectively.

Labour productivity and resource use efficiency amongst ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examined labour productivity and resource efficiency amongst smallholder cocoa farmers in Abia State, Nigeria. A purposive random sampling technique was adopted in selecting 60 cocoa farmers from three agricultural zones in the State. The analytical techniques used involve inferential statistics like means, ...

Strategies of Production Control as Tools of Efficient Management of Production Enterprises

Science.gov (United States)

Budynek, Mateusz; Celińska, Elżbieta; Dybikowska, Adrianna; Kozak, Monika; Ratajczak, Joanna; Urban, Jagoda; Materne, Karolina

2016-03-01

The paper discusses the problem of principle methods of production control as a strategy supporting the production system and stimulating efficient solutions in respect management in production enterprises. The article describes MRP, ERP, JIT, KANBAN and TOC methods and focuses on their main goals, principles of functioning as well as benefits resulting from their application. The methods represent two diverse strategies of production control, i.e. pull and push strategies. Push strategies are used when the plans apply to the first and principle part of production and are based on the demand forecasts. Pull strategies are used when all planning decisions apply to the final stage and depend on the actual demand or orders from customers.

Biodiesel Reactor Design with Glycerol Separation to Increase Biodiesel Production Yield

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Budy Rahmat

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The study consisted of reactor design used for transesterification process, effect of glycerol separation ontransesterification reaction, determination of biodiesel quality, and mass balance analysis. The reactor was designed byintegrating circulated pump/stirrer, static mixer, and sprayer that intensify the reaction in the outer tank reactor. The objective was to reduce the use of methanol in excess and to shorten the processing time. The results showed that thereactor that applied the glycerol separation was able to compensate for the decreased use of the reactant methanol from 6:1 to 5:1 molar ratio, and changed the mass balance in the product, including: (i the increase of biodiesel productionfrom 42.37% to 49.34%, and (ii the reduction of methanol in excess from 42.37% to 32.89%. The results suggested that the efficiency of biodiesel production could be increased with the glycerol separation engineering.

Effect of culture density on biomass production and light utilization efficiency of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Science.gov (United States)

Straka, Levi; Rittmann, Bruce E

2018-02-01

The viability of large-scale microalgae cultivation depends on providing optimal growth conditions, for which a key operational parameter is culture density. Using Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, we conducted a series of fixed-density, steady-state experiments and one batch-growth experiment to investigate the role of culture density on biomass production and light utilization efficiency. In all cases, the fixed-density, steady-state experiments and batch-growth experiment showed good agreement. The highest biomass production rates (260 mg L -1  d -1 ) and efficiency for converting light energy to biomass (0.80 μg (μmol photons) -1 ) occurred together at a culture density near 760 mg L -1 , which approximately corresponded to the lowest culture density where almost all incident light was absorbed. The ratio of OD 680 /OD 735 increased with culture density up to the point of maximum productivity, where it plateaued (at a value of 2.4) for higher culture densities. This change in OD 680 /OD 735 indicates a photoacclimation effect that depended on culture density. Very high culture densities led to a sharp decline in efficiency of biomass production per photons absorbed, likely due to a combination of increased decay relative to growth, metabolic changes due to cell-cell interactions, and photodamage due to mixing between regions with high light intensity and zero light intensity. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Efficient Windows Collaborative

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nils Petermann

2010-02-28

The project goals covered both the residential and commercial windows markets and involved a range of audiences such as window manufacturers, builders, homeowners, design professionals, utilities, and public agencies. Essential goals included: (1) Creation of 'Master Toolkits' of information that integrate diverse tools, rating systems, and incentive programs, customized for key audiences such as window manufacturers, design professionals, and utility programs. (2) Delivery of education and outreach programs to multiple audiences through conference presentations, publication of articles for builders and other industry professionals, and targeted dissemination of efficient window curricula to professionals and students. (3) Design and implementation of mechanisms to encourage and track sales of more efficient products through the existing Window Products Database as an incentive for manufacturers to improve products and participate in programs such as NFRC and ENERGY STAR. (4) Development of utility incentive programs to promote more efficient residential and commercial windows. Partnership with regional and local entities on the development of programs and customized information to move the market toward the highest performing products. An overarching project goal was to ensure that different audiences adopt and use the developed information, design and promotion tools and thus increase the market penetration of energy efficient fenestration products. In particular, a crucial success criterion was to move gas and electric utilities to increase the promotion of energy efficient windows through demand side management programs as an important step toward increasing the market share of energy efficient windows.

Meta-analysis of the effect of urease and nitrification inhibitors on crop productivity and nitrogen use efficience

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abalos, D.; Jeffery, S.L.; Sanz-Cobena, A.; Guardia, G.; Vallejo, A.

2014-01-01

Nitrification and urease inhibitors are proposed as means to reduce nitrogen losses, thereby increasing crop nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). However, their effect on crop yield is variable. A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate their effectiveness at increasing NUE and crop productivity. Commonly

Biofuels versus food production: Does biofuels production increase food prices?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ajanovic, Amela

2011-01-01

Rapidly growing fossil energy consumption in the transport sector in the last two centuries caused problems such as increasing greenhouse gas emissions, growing energy dependency and supply insecurity. One approach to solve these problems could be to increase the use of biofuels. Preferred feedstocks for current 1st generation biofuels production are corn, wheat, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and sunflowers. The major problem is that these feedstocks are also used for food and feed production. The core objective of this paper is to investigate whether the recent increase of biofuels production had a significant impact on the development of agricultural commodity (feedstock) prices. The most important impact factors like biofuels production, land use, yields, feedstock and crude oil prices are analysed. The major conclusions of this analysis are: In recent years the share of bioenergy-based fuels has increased moderately, but continuously, and so did feedstock production, as well as yields. So far, no significant impact of biofuels production on feedstock prices can be observed. Hence, a co-existence of biofuel and food production seems possible especially for 2nd generation biofuels. However, sustainability criteria should be seriously considered. But even if all crops, forests and grasslands currently not used were used for biofuels production it would be impossible to substitute all fossil fuels used today in transport.

Roots, plant production and nutrient use efficiency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willigen, de P.; Noordwijk, van M.

1987-01-01

The role of roots in obtaining high crop production levels as well as a high nutrient use efficiency is discussed. Mathematical models of diffusion and massflow of solutes towards roots are developed for a constant daily uptake requirement. Analytical solutions are given for simple and more

Biomass production efficiency controlled by management in temperate and boreal ecosystems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Campioli, M.; Vicca, S.; Luyssaert, S.; Bilcke, J.; Ceschia, E.; Chapin, F.S. III; Ciais, P.; Fernández-Martínez, M.; Malhi, Y.; Obersteiner, M.; Olefeldt, D.; Papale, D.; Piao, S.L.; Peñuelas, J.; Sullivan, P. F.; Wang, X.; Zenone, T.; Janssens, I.A.

2015-01-01

Plants acquire carbon through photosynthesis to sustain biomass production, autotrophic respiration and production of non-structural compounds for multiple purposes. The fraction of photosynthetic production used for biomass production, the biomass production efficiency, is a key determinant of the

Constellation modulation - an approach to increase spectral efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Dash, Soumya Sunder; Pythoud, Frederic; Hillerkuss, David; Baeuerle, Benedikt; Josten, Arne; Leuchtmann, Pascal; Leuthold, Juerg

2017-07-10

Constellation modulation (CM) is introduced as a new degree of freedom to increase the spectral efficiency and to further approach the Shannon limit. Constellation modulation is the art of encoding information not only in the symbols within a constellation but also by encoding information by selecting a constellation from a set of constellations that are switched from time to time. The set of constellations is not limited to sets of partitions from a given constellation but can e.g., be obtained from an existing constellation by applying geometrical transformations such as rotations, translations, scaling, or even more abstract transformations. The architecture of the transmitter and the receiver allows for constellation modulation to be used on top of existing modulations with little penalties on the bit-error ratio (BER) or on the required signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The spectral bandwidth used by this modulation scheme is identical to the original modulation. Simulations demonstrate a particular advantage of the scheme for low SNR situations. So, for instance, it is demonstrated by simulation that a spectral efficiency increases by up to 33% and 20% can be obtained at a BER of 10 -3 and 2×10 -2 for a regular BPSK modulation format, respectively. Applying constellation modulation, we derive a most power efficient 4D-CM-BPSK modulation format that provides a spectral efficiency of 0.7 bit/s/Hz for an SNR of 0.2 dB at a BER of 2 × 10 -2 .

Does milk increase mucus production?

Science.gov (United States)

Bartley, Jim; McGlashan, Susan Read

2010-04-01

Excessive milk consumption has a long association with increased respiratory tract mucus production and asthma. Such an association cannot be explained using a conventional allergic paradigm and there is limited medical evidence showing causality. In the human colon, beta-casomorphin-7 (beta-CM-7), an exorphin derived from the breakdown of A1 milk, stimulates mucus production from gut MUC5AC glands. In the presence of inflammation similar mucus overproduction from respiratory tract MUC5AC glands characterises many respiratory tract diseases. beta-CM-7 from the blood stream could stimulate the production and secretion of mucus production from these respiratory glands. Such a hypothesis could be tested in vitro using quantitative RT-PCR to show that the addition of beta-CM-7 into an incubation medium of respiratory goblet cells elicits an increase in MUC5AC mRNA and by identifying beta-CM-7 in the blood of asthmatic patients. This association may not necessarily be simply cause and effect as the person has to be consuming A1 milk, beta-CM-7 must pass into the systemic circulation and the tissues have to be actively inflamed. These prerequisites could explain why only a subgroup of the population, who have increased respiratory tract mucus production, find that many of their symptoms, including asthma, improve on a dairy elimination diet. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Productive efficiency of tea industry: A stochastic frontier approach ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In an economy where recourses are scarce and opportunities for a new technology are lacking, studies will be able to show the possibility of raising productivity by improving the industry's efficiency. This study attempts to measure the status of technical efficiency of tea-producing industry for panel data in Bangladesh using ...

Efficient recombinant production of prodigiosin in Pseudomonas putida

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Andreas eDomröse

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Serratia marcescens and several other bacteria produce the red-colored pigment prodigiosin which possesses bioactivities as an antimicrobial, anticancer and immunosuppressive agent. Therefore, there is a great interest to produce this natural compound. Efforts aiming at its biotechnological production have so far largely focused on the original producer and opportunistic human pathogen S. marcescens. Here, we demonstrate efficient prodigiosin production in the heterologous host Pseudomonas putida. Random chromosomal integration of the 21 kb prodigiosin biosynthesis gene cluster of S. marcescens in P. putida KT2440 was employed to construct constitutive prodigiosin production strains. Standard cultivation parameters were optimized such that titers of 94 mg/L culture were obtained upon growth of P. putida at 20 °C using rich medium under high aeration conditions. Subsequently, a novel, fast and effective protocol for prodigiosin extraction and purification was established enabling the straightforward isolation of prodigiosin from P. putida growth medium. In summary, we describe here a highly efficient method for the heterologous biosynthetic production of prodigiosin which may serve as a basis to produce large amounts of this bioactive natural compound and may provide a platform for further in-depth studies of prodiginine biosynthesis.

ECO-EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF LOW-CARBON CEMENT PRODUCTION BY REPLACING CLINKER

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Yanay Ruíz Rosa

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This work carries out the environmental evaluation of the cement production in Siguaney Factory as well as the calculation of the Eco-efficiency indicators according to the ISO 14045 norms; the Recipe methodology was used including 18 impact categories and the SimaPro 8.1 software was also used. In order to evaluate the eco-efficiency indicators according to the ISO 14045 norm, the results of the impact categories are related to the monetary value indicators, allowing the evaluation of the current situation as well as the consequences of the suggested modifications. As a result, the environmental profiles of P-35 cement (base case were obtained as well as those of the low carbon ones (LC3-35 y LC3-50 resulting from the clinker substitution by kaolinitic clay after some studies carried out by CIDEM researchers; and the eco-efficiency profiles. The comparison made between P-35 cement and the low-carbon cements showed positive results in eight weather impact categories, however, toxicity-related ones rise due to the increase in electricity consumption connected to the grinding of materials to obtain burnt clay bringing about a greater amount of emissions of volatile organic compounds to the air. An improvement in the eco-efficiency of 6 out of 8 calculated indicators is observed due to a simultaneous decrease in the production costs and the environmental impacts. LC3-50 cement shows the best results. The methodology used permits to evaluate alternatives related to the material substitution in the construction sector.

Asymmetries of cattle and crop productivity and efficiency during Brazil’s agricultural expansion from 1975 to 2006

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Gerd Sparovek

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Brazil has global importance for food production and conservation of natural resources. The country has plans to increase yields and commitments to decrease deforestation that require higher productivity. Plans and policies for the growth of Brazilian agriculture, however, have been made without an integrated analysis of the harvest and not supported by a universal metric regarding its efficiency. Applying methods to model flows of energy and matter along food supply chains for agricultural production from 1975 to 2006, we found that crop and cattle harvests and their productivity have increased during the last four decades in consolidated and deforestation frontier regions. Yet in 2006, crop protein production was 20 times larger than cattle protein, using an area 2.6 times smaller than pastures. Crop protein productivity was 0.25 ton.ha–1 with emissions of 2 ton GHG per ton of protein, while cattle productivity was 0.01 ton.ha–1 with emissions of 283 ton GHG per ton of protein. From 1975 to 2006, the portion of crop protein and energy going to feed increased while the portion going to direct human consumption decreased. Our findings suggest that more efficient food systems would be achieved by a combination of intensification of cattle systems, optimization of feed-meat systems and an increase in the share of the consumption of crops as a source of protein. We suggest an initial road map to the expansion of the cultivated area and intensification of agriculture for zero deforestation, efficient and sustainable land use and food systems where cattle pasture intensification is a transition that will last until the expansion of crops replace all pasture present on suitable arable land. During this transition, pasture area will decrease until it is limited only to marginal non-arable lands. Such change could be achieved by a robust strategy that combines penalties and incentives and prevents the risks of a rebound effect for the

Ozone using outlook for efficiency increasing of transportation and processing of high viscous petroleum raw materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nadirov, N.K.; Zajkina, R.F.; Mamonova, T.B.

1997-01-01

Main types of oxidation reactions preceding during petroleum feedstock ozonization are generalized. The slight ozone high paraffin-content petroleum processing sites in shown on the example will make possible to rise the pipe transport efficiency and to increase the light fraction contents in petroleums. The prospects are discussed to application of ozone forming as a by-product of radiation-chemical facilities action for petroleum feedstock processing. (author)

Operational Efficiency and Productivity Improvement Initiatives in a Large Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Grant W; Hantz, Scott; Cunningham, Rebecca; Krishnaswamy, Amar; Ellis, Stephen G; Khot, Umesh; Rak, Joe; Kapadia, Samir R

2018-02-26

This study sought to report outcomes from an efficiency improvement project in a large cardiac cath lab. Operational inefficiencies are common in the cath lab, yet solutions are challenging. A detailed report describing and providing solutions for these inefficiencies may be valuable in guiding improvements in productivity. In this observational study, the authors report metrics of efficiency before and after a cath lab quality improvement program in June 2014. Main outcomes included lab room start times, room turnaround times, laboratory use, and employee satisfaction. Time series analysis was used to assess trend over time. Chi-square testing and analysis of variance were used to assess change before and after the initiative. The principal changes included implementation of a pyramidal nursing schedule, increased use of an electronic scheduling system, and increased utilization of a preparation and recovery area. Comparing before with after the program, start times improved an average of 17 min, and on-time starts improved from 61.8% to 81.7% (p = 0.0024). Turnaround times improved from 20.5 min to 16.4 min (trend p productivity. This knowledge may be helpful in assisting other cath labs in similar efficiency improvement initiatives. Copyright © 2018 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A REDESIGN LAYOUT TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY OF A COMPANY

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Vincentia Kitriastika

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This project is conducted in Company X, a passenger cars wheel producing company located in Sunter, North Jakarta. With a view of increasing the productivity of the company, the focus of this project will be redesigned the layout of the factory. The main problem encountered is that the goods are not produced in single location, causing a considerable hindrance in terms of time and distance, and hence efficiency. The redesigning layout process will use SLP method and flow analysis while supported by analysis of assembly line balancing to optimize the layout. Regarding the evaluation process, ARENA software will be used to simulate and identify the bottleneck in the production process, and comparing the layout alternatives to decide the best layout. The best chosen layout according to the simulation and SLP method that supported with flow analysis and assembly line balancing will be used as the master draft layout that will be proposed to Company X.

An analysis of the productivity and technical efficiency of smallholder ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study used the stochastic frontier production function to analyse the productivity and technical efficiency of 4 different agricultural production systems in Ethiopia; namely, irrigated seasonal farms on traditional irrigation systems, irrigated seasonal farms on modern communal irrigation systems, rainfed seasonal farms for ...

Factors That Influence Technical Efficiency of Sorghum Production: A Case of Small Holder Sorghum Producers in Lower Eastern Kenya

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Evaline Chepng’etich

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Majority of the rural households in Kenya depend on agriculture as a source of food and livelihood. Agricultural productivity has been declining due to many factors resulting in increased food insecurity in the country. Consequently, there is a renewed interest in promoting drought-tolerant crops such as sorghum which thrives in the arid and semiarid lands of the developing world. However, performance of sorghum production among the smallholder farmers has still remained low. This study was thus carried out to identify factors that influence technical efficiency of sorghum production among smallholder farmers in Machakos and Makindu districts of the lower eastern Kenya. Collected data on farm and farmer characteristics were analysed by use of descriptive statistics and Tobit model. Result highlights show that technical efficiency was influenced positively by formal education level of the household, experience in sorghum farming, membership in farmers associations, use of hired labour, production advice, and use of manure. Surprisingly household size, meant to enhance labour, had a negative influence. To increase technical efficiency, efforts should focus on improving information flows on agronomic practices. Farmers should also be encouraged to form and actively participate in various farmers associations, which enhance learning and pooling of labour resources, hence improving technical efficiency.

STRATEGIES OF PRODUCTION CONTROL AS TOOLS OF EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF PRODUCTION ENTERPRISES

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Mateusz BUDYNEK

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses the problem of principle methods of production control as a strategy supporting the production system and stimulating efficient solutions in respect management in production enterprises. The article describes MRP, ERP, JIT, KANBAN and TOC methods and focuses on their main goals, principles of functioning as well as benefits re-sulting from their application. The methods represent two diverse strategies of production control, i.e. pull and push strategies. Push strategies are used when the plans apply to the first and principle part of production and are based on the demand forecasts. Pull strategies are used when all planning decisions apply to the final stage and depend on the actual demand or orders from customers.

Carbon storage potential increases with increasing ratio of C4 to C3 grass cover and soil productivity in restored tallgrass prairies.

Science.gov (United States)

Spiesman, Brian J; Kummel, Herika; Jackson, Randall D

2018-02-01

Long-term soil carbon (C) storage is essential for reducing CO 2 in the atmosphere. Converting unproductive and environmentally sensitive agricultural lands to grasslands for bioenergy production may enhance C storage. However, a better understanding of the interacting effects of grass functional composition (i.e., relative abundance of C 4 and C 3 grass cover) and soil productivity on C storage will help guide sustainable grassland management. Our objective was to examine the relationship between grass functional composition and potential C storage and how it varies with potential soil productivity. We estimated C inputs from above- and belowground net primary productivity (ANPP and BNPP), and heterotrophic respiration (R H ) to calculate net ecosystem production (NEP), a measure of potential soil C storage, in grassland plots of relatively high- and low-productivity soils spanning a gradient in the ratio of C 4 to C 3 grass cover (C 4 :C 3 ). NEP increased with increasing C 4 :C 3 , but only in potentially productive soils. The positive relationship likely stemmed from increased ANPP, rather than BNPP, which was possibly related to efficient resource-use and physiological/anatomical advantages of C 4 plants. R H was negatively correlated with C 4 :C 3 , possibly because of changes in microclimate or plant-microbe interactions. It is possible that in potentially productive soils, C storage can be enhanced by favoring C 4 over C 3 grasses through increased ANPP and BNPP and reduced R H . Results also suggest that potential C storage gains from C 4 productivity would not be undermined by a corresponding increase in R H .

EFFECTS OF PLANTING DENSITYAND ORGANIC FERTILIZATION DOSES ON PRODUCTIVE EFFICIENCY OF CACTUS PEAR

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NALÍGIA GOMES DE MIRANDA E SILVA

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Cactus is crucial for the livestock of semi - arid regions in Brazil. This plant has shown the high productivity of forage, which is influenced by several management factors. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of organic fertilization doses (20, 40 and 80 t/ ha of bovine manure/ha/two years and planting densities (20, 40, 80 and 160 thousand plants/ha on the productivity of cactus pear Clone IPA - 20 ( Opuntia ficus - indica Mill. At the Experimental Station of Caruaru at the Agronomic Institute of Pernambuco, IPA has conducted the experiment. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with split plot arrangements. Higher shoot productivity was observed with increased population density and the application of manure at 80 t ha - 1two years - 1 with values of 61, 90, 117 and 139 t DM ha - 1 two years - 1 at densities of 20, 40, 80 and 160,000 plants ha - 1. The planting density influenced the productivity of cladode - plant and root dry weight, showing exponential responses, with higher cladode - plant and roots weight by area observed with increased plant density. The efficiency of organic fertilization decreased with the increase in manure doses. For increase cactus productivity, 40 t of bovine manure ha - 1 two years - 1 for plantations with 160,000 plants/ha is recommended.

Radical production efficiency and electrical characteristics of a coplanar barrier discharge built by multilayer ceramic technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jõgi, Indrek; Erme, Kalev; Levoll, Erik; Stamate, Eugen

2017-01-01

The present study investigated the electrical characteristics and radical production efficiency of a coplanar barrier discharge (CBD) device manufactured by Kyocera by multilayer ceramic technology. The device consisted of a number of linear electrodes with electrode and gap widths of 0.75 mm, immersed into a ceramic dielectric barrier. A closed flow-through system necessary for the measurements was prepared by placing a quartz plate at a height of 3 mm from the ceramic barrier. The production of nitrogen radicals was determined from the removal of a trace amount of NO in pure N 2 gas, while the production of oxygen radicals was determined by ozone production in pure O 2 or synthetic air. The production efficiency of N and O radicals and NO oxidation in synthetic air was comparable with the efficiency of a volume barrier discharge device. The power density per unit of surface area of the CBD device was more than two times larger than that of a similar volume barrier discharge setup, which makes the CBD device a compact alternative for gas treatment. The production of ozone and different nitrogen oxides was also evaluated for the open system of the CBD which is usable for surface treatment. The ozone concentration of this system was nearly independent from the input power, while the concentration of nitrogen oxides increased with input power. The open system of the CBD was additionally tested for the treatment of a silicon surface. An increase of applied power decreased the time required to reduce the water contact angle below 10 degrees but also started to have an impact on the surface roughness. (paper)

Advanced Wear-resistant Nanocomposites for Increased Energy Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cook, B. A.; Harringa, J. L.; Russel, A. M.

2012-12-01

This report summarizes the work performed by an Ames-led project team under a 4-year DOE-ITP sponsored project titled, 'Advanced Wear-resistant Nanocomposites for Increased Energy Efficiency.' The Report serves as the project deliverable for the CPS agreement number 15015. The purpose of this project was to develop and commercialize a family of lightweight, bulk composite materials that are highly resistant to degradation by erosive and abrasive wear. These materials, based on AlMgB{sub 14}, are projected to save over 30 TBtu of energy per year when fully implemented in industrial applications, with the associated environmental benefits of eliminating the burning of 1.5 M tons/yr of coal and averting the release of 4.2 M tons/yr of CO{sub 2} into the air. This program targeted applications in the mining, drilling, machining, and dry erosion applications as key platforms for initial commercialization, which includes some of the most severe wear conditions in industry. Production-scale manufacturing of this technology has begun through a start-up company, NewTech Ceramics (NTC). This project included providing technical support to NTC in order to facilitate cost-effective mass production of the wear-resistant boride components. Resolution of issues related to processing scale-up, reduction in energy intensity during processing, and improving the quality and performance of the composites, without adding to the cost of processing were among the primary technical focus areas of this program. Compositional refinements were also investigated in order to achieve the maximum wear resistance. In addition, synthesis of large-scale, single-phase AlMgB{sub 14} powder was conducted for use as PVD sputtering targets for nanocoating applications.

Increasing the thermal efficiency of boiler plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uyanchinov Evgeniy

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The thermal efficiency increase of boiler plant is actual task of scientific and technical researches. The optimization of boiler operating conditions is task complex, which determine by most probable average load of boiler, operating time and characteristics of the auxiliary equipment. The work purpose – the determination of thermodynamic efficiency increase ways for boiler plant with a gas-tube boiler. The tasks, solved at the research are the calculation of heat and fuel demand, the exergetic analysis of boilerhouse and heat network equipment, the determination of hydraulic losses and exergy losses due to restriction. The calculation was shown that the exergy destruction can be reduced by 2.39% due to excess air reducing to 10%; in addition the oxygen enrichment of air can be used that leads to reducing of the exergy destruction rate. The processes of carbon deposition from the side of flame and processes of scale formation on the water side leads to about 4.58% losses of fuel energy at gas-tube boiler. It was shown that the exergy losses may be reduced by 2.31% due to stack gases temperature reducing to 148 °C.

Automatic control of load increases power and efficiency in a microbial fuel cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Premier, Giuliano C.; Kim, Jung Rae; Michie, Iain [Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC), Faculty of Advanced Technology, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan CF37 1DL (United Kingdom); Dinsdale, Richard M.; Guwy, Alan J. [Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC), Faculty of Health, Sport and Science, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan CF37 1DL (United Kingdom)

2011-02-15

Increasing power production and coulombic efficiency (CE) of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is a common research ambition as the viability of the technology depends to some extent on these measures of performance. As MFCs are typically time varying systems, comparative studies of controlled and un-controlled external load impedance are needed to show if control affects the biocatalyst development and hence MFC performance. The application of logic based control of external load resistance is shown to increase the power generated by the MFC, when compared to an equivalent system which has a static resistive load. The controlled MFC generated 1600 {+-} 400 C, compared to 300 {+-} 10 C with an otherwise replicate fixed load MFC system. The use of a parsimonious gradient based control was able to increase the CE to within the range of 15.1-22.7%, while the CE for a 200 {omega} statically loaded MFC lay in the range 3.3-3.7%. The controlled MFC improves the electrogenic anodic biofilm selection for power production, indicating that greater power and substrate conversion can be achieved by controlling load impedance. Load control ensured sustainable current demand, applied microbial selection pressures and provided near-optimal impedance for power transference, compared to the un-controlled system. (author)

Cambridge journals blog: Improving feed efficiency in dairy production

Science.gov (United States)

Because the cost of feeding animals is one of the greatest expenses in dairy production (40-60% of production costs), research focused on ways to identify and select for animals that are the most efficient at converting feed into milk has greatly expanded during the last decade. The animal Article o...

Increasing the efficiency of thermal power stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwarz, N.F.

1984-01-01

High energy prices and an increased investment of costs in power plants as well as the necessity to minimize all kinds of environmental pollution have severe consequences on the construction and operation of thermal power stations. One of the most promising measures to cope with the mentioned problems is to raise the thermal efficiency of power plants. With the example of an Austrian electric utility it can be shown that by application of high efficiency combined cycles primary energy can be converted into electricity in a most efficient manner. Excellent operating experience has proved the high reliability of these relatively complex systems. Raising the temperature of the gas topping process still higher will not raise the efficiency considerably. In this respect a Rankine cycle is superior to a Brayton cycle. In a temperature range of 850 to 900 0 C were conventional materials with known properties can still be used, only the alkali metals cesium and potassium have the necessary physical and thermodynamic properties for application in Rankine topping cycles. Building on experience gained in the Fast Breeder development and from the US space program, a potassium topping cycle linked to a conventional water steam cycle with an intermediate diphenyl vapour cycle has been proposed which should give thermal efficiencies in excess of 50%. In a multi-national program this so called Treble Rankine Cycle is being investigated under the auspices of the International Energy Agency. Work is in progress to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of this energy conversion system. Experimental investigations are already under way in the Austrian Research Center Seibersdorf where high temperature liquid metal test facilities have been operated since 1968. (Author)

A basic design for a multicriteria approach to efficient bioenergy production at regional level

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hagen, Zoe [Technische Univ. Berlin (Germany). Environmental Assessment and Policy Research Group

2012-12-01

In Germany, government policies supporting the growth of renewable energies lead to a rapid increase in energy crop cultivation. This increase is linked to possible conflicts between different sustainability goals which so far have been rarely considered in the planning procedure. This article looks at different approaches of assessment and planning methods on a regionspecific level. It describes the methodology of the project Efficient Bio-Energy in the Perspective of Nature Conservation - Assessment and Recommendations to Protect Biodiversity and Climate which aims to establish the basis for an integrated sustainability assessment of energy crop cultivation for decentralized energy production in Germany and has been conducted by the author. The method takes into account the three main requirements of agricultural profitability, greenhouse gases (GHG) efficiency, and environmental sustainability of energy crop cultivation for decentralized energy production and has been applied for two sample regions. Using ArcGIS, the suitability of energy crops can be displayed, and regional aspects can be considered by overlaying and intersecting the individual output of all three requirements. This allows the definition of 'no-go' areas as well as the overall estimation of the maximum sustainable production capacity for each energy crop or energy path in a specific region. It enables an estimation of the profitability and GHG efficiency of energy crop cultivation paths at regional or communal level under consideration of different indicators for environmental sustainability. The article closes with a discussion of the methodological challenges of this integrative method. The conclusion gives an outlook in which planning and policy processes could be beneficial to apply such an integrative method in order to assess the suitability of certain landscape areas for energy production paths. (orig.)

Enhanced energy conversion efficiency from high strength synthetic organic wastewater by sequential dark fermentative hydrogen production and algal lipid accumulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Hong-Yu; Liu, Bing-Feng; Kong, Fanying; Zhao, Lei; Xing, Defeng; Ren, Nan-Qi

2014-04-01

A two-stage process of sequential dark fermentative hydrogen production and microalgal cultivation was applied to enhance the energy conversion efficiency from high strength synthetic organic wastewater. Ethanol fermentation bacterium Ethanoligenens harbinense B49 was used as hydrogen producer, and the energy conversion efficiency and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency reached 18.6% and 28.3% in dark fermentation. Acetate was the main soluble product in dark fermentative effluent, which was further utilized by microalga Scenedesmus sp. R-16. The final algal biomass concentration reached 1.98gL(-1), and the algal biomass was rich in lipid (40.9%) and low in protein (23.3%) and carbohydrate (11.9%). Compared with single dark fermentation stage, the energy conversion efficiency and COD removal efficiency of two-stage system remarkably increased 101% and 131%, respectively. This research provides a new approach for efficient energy production and wastewater treatment using a two-stage process combining dark fermentation and algal cultivation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prioritizing Crop Management to Increase Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Australian Sugarcane Crops.

Science.gov (United States)

Thorburn, Peter J; Biggs, Jody S; Palmer, Jeda; Meier, Elizabeth A; Verburg, Kirsten; Skocaj, Danielle M

2017-01-01

Sugarcane production relies on the application of large amounts of nitrogen (N) fertilizer. However, application of N in excess of crop needs can lead to loss of N to the environment, which can negatively impact ecosystems. This is of particular concern in Australia where the majority of sugarcane is grown within catchments that drain directly into the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Multiple factors that impact crop yield and N inputs of sugarcane production systems can affect N use efficiency (NUE), yet the efficacy many of these factors have not been examined in detail. We undertook an extensive simulation analysis of NUE in Australian sugarcane production systems to investigate (1) the impacts of climate on factors determining NUE, (2) the range and drivers of NUE, and (3) regional variation in sugarcane N requirements. We found that the interactions between climate, soils, and management produced a wide range of simulated NUE, ranging from ∼0.3 Mg cane (kg N) -1 , where yields were low (i.e., 5 Mg cane (kg N) -1 in plant crops where yields were high and N inputs low. Of the management practices simulated (N fertilizer rate, timing, and splitting; fallow management; tillage intensity; and in-field traffic management), the only practice that significantly influenced NUE in ratoon crops was N fertilizer application rate. N rate also influenced NUE in plant crops together with the management of the preceding fallow. In addition, there is regional variation in N fertilizer requirement that could make N fertilizer recommendations more specific. While our results show that complex interrelationships exist between climate, crop growth, N fertilizer rates and N losses to the environment, they highlight the priority that should be placed on optimizing N application rate and fallow management to improve NUE in Australian sugarcane production systems. New initiatives in seasonal climate forecasting, decisions support systems and enhanced efficiency

Prioritizing Crop Management to Increase Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Australian Sugarcane Crops

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter J. Thorburn

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Sugarcane production relies on the application of large amounts of nitrogen (N fertilizer. However, application of N in excess of crop needs can lead to loss of N to the environment, which can negatively impact ecosystems. This is of particular concern in Australia where the majority of sugarcane is grown within catchments that drain directly into the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Multiple factors that impact crop yield and N inputs of sugarcane production systems can affect N use efficiency (NUE, yet the efficacy many of these factors have not been examined in detail. We undertook an extensive simulation analysis of NUE in Australian sugarcane production systems to investigate (1 the impacts of climate on factors determining NUE, (2 the range and drivers of NUE, and (3 regional variation in sugarcane N requirements. We found that the interactions between climate, soils, and management produced a wide range of simulated NUE, ranging from ∼0.3 Mg cane (kg N-1, where yields were low (i.e., <50 Mg ha-1 and N inputs were high, to >5 Mg cane (kg N-1 in plant crops where yields were high and N inputs low. Of the management practices simulated (N fertilizer rate, timing, and splitting; fallow management; tillage intensity; and in-field traffic management, the only practice that significantly influenced NUE in ratoon crops was N fertilizer application rate. N rate also influenced NUE in plant crops together with the management of the preceding fallow. In addition, there is regional variation in N fertilizer requirement that could make N fertilizer recommendations more specific. While our results show that complex interrelationships exist between climate, crop growth, N fertilizer rates and N losses to the environment, they highlight the priority that should be placed on optimizing N application rate and fallow management to improve NUE in Australian sugarcane production systems. New initiatives in seasonal climate forecasting

Design of China Leading Energy Efficiency Program (LEP) for equipment and appliances and comparative study of international experience on super-efficient products

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Xiuying; Zhu, Chunyan

2017-11-01

With rising global emphasizes on climate change and sustainable development, how to accelerate the transformation of energy efficiency has become an important question. Designing and implementing energy-efficiency policies for super-efficient products represents an important direction to achieve breakthroughs in the field of energy conservation. On December 31, 2014, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) jointly six other ministerial agencies launched China Leading Energy Efficiency Program (LEP), which identifies top efficiency models for selected product categories. LEP sets the highest energy efficiency benchmark. Design of LEP took into consideration of how to best motivate manufacturers to accelerate technical innovation, promote high efficiency products. This paper explains core elements of LEP, such as objectives, selection criteria, implementation method and supportive policies. It also proposes recommendations to further improve LEP through international policy comparison with Japan’s Top Runner Program, U.S. Energy Star Most Efficient, and SEAD Global Efficiency Medal.

Health resource allocation and productive efficiency of Chinese county hospitals: data from 1993 to 2005.

Science.gov (United States)

Gai, Ruoyan Y; Zhou, Chengchao C; Xu, Lingzhong Z; Zhu, Min; Wang, Xingzhou Z; Li, Shixue X; Zheng, Wengui G; Song, Peipei P; Yang, Xuelai L; Fang, Liyi Y; Zhen, Yancheng C; Tang, Wei

2010-10-01

This study aims to assess trends in the productive efficiency of China's county hospitals during the economic transition using data from 1993 to 2005. A data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework was used to calculate the efficiency score of county hospitals in all 31 provinces. A C²R model and a BC² model were devised to respectively calculate overall and scale efficiency and pure technical efficiency at the hospital's current scale. Models included four inputs (number of medical staff; number of beds; value of fixed capital; and hospital expenditures) and three outputs (outpatient and emergency visits, number of inpatients, and hospital revenue) in total. As the results, geographical disparities in health resource allocation and county hospital productivity were noted. From 1993 to 2005, the number of county hospitals increased and their inputs, e.g. fixed capital in particular, grew rapidly. However, the amount of both outpatient and inpatient services declined somewhat especially in the middle and the western regions. The overall efficiency at the national level decreased slightly. County hospitals in the eastern region tended to have better overall, scale, and technical efficiency in comparison to the middle and the western regions. In conclusion, county hospitals are inefficient due to their enlarged scale and the reduced amount of health care services they provide. This issue should be addressed especially in the middle and the western regions, where health resources are far more limited and yet wasted. The effects of ongoing health sector reform on the productivity of county hospitals must be monitored and evaluated.

Study on increasing mutagenic efficiency of radiation breeding for rice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wan Xianguo; Pang Boliang; Zhu Xiaoqi

1993-04-01

Increasing mutagenic efficiency and improving selection method are of important topics for crop mutation breeding. Investigation on the radiation breeding for rice (Oryza Sativa L.) showed that the crossing in combination with gamma ray irradiation or laser irradiation and proper selection of dosage rate can increase mutagenic efficiency. According to the correlation of phenotype in M 1 generation and mutation frequency in M 2 for rice, the materials with certain characters were chose as seeds, thus the works of generation selections will be reduced

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency and radiation use efficiency of field-grown willow clones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linderson, Maj-Lena; Iritz, Zinaida; Lindroth, Anders

2007-01-01

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency (WUE) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) is evaluated for different willow clones at stand level. The measurements were made during the growing season 2000 in a 3-year-old plantation in Scania, southernmost Sweden. Six willow clones were included in the study: L78183, SW Rapp, SW Jorunn, SW Jorr, SW Tora and SW Loden. All clones were exposed to two water treatments: rain-fed, non-irrigated treatment and reduced water availability by reduced soil water recharge. Field measurements of stem sap-flow and biometry are up-scaled to stand transpiration and stand dry substance production and used to assess WUE. RUE is estimated from the ratio between the stand dry substance production and the accumulated absorbed photosynthetic active radiation over the growing season. The total stand transpiration rate for the 5 months lies between 100 and 325 mm, which is fairly low compared to the Penman-Monteith transpiration for willow, reaching 400-450 mm for the same period. Mean WUE of all clones and treatments is 5.3 g/kg, which is high compared to earlier studies, while average RUE is 0.31 g/mol, which is slightly low compared to other results. Generally, all clones, except for Jorunn, seem to be better off concerning biomass production, WUE and RUE than the reference clone. Jorr, Jorunn and Loden also seem to be able to cope with the reduced water availability with increase in the water use efficiency. Tora performs significantly better than the other clones concerning both growth and efficiency in light and water use, but the effect of the dry treatment on stem growth shows sensitivity to water availability. The reduced stem growth could be due to a change in allocation patterns

Laser processes and system technology for the production of high-efficient crystalline solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Mayerhofer, R.; Hendel, R.; Zhu, Wenjie; Geiger, S.

2012-10-01

The laser as an industrial tool is an essential part of today's solar cell production. Due to the on-going efforts in the solar industry, to increase the cell efficiency, more and more laser-based processes, which have been discussed and tested at lab-scale for many years, are now being implemented in mass production lines. In order to cope with throughput requirements, standard laser concepts have to be improved continuously with respect to available average power levels, repetition rates or beam profile. Some of the laser concepts, that showed high potential in the past couple of years, will be substituted by other, more economic laser types. Furthermore, requirements for processing with less-heat affected zones fuel the development of industry-ready ultra short pulsed lasers with pulse widths even below the picosecond range. In 2011, the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) had launched the program "PV-Innovation Alliance", with the aim to support the rapid transfer of high-efficiency processes out of development departments and research institutes into solar cell production lines. Here, lasers play an important role as production tools, allowing the fast implementation of high-performance solar cell concepts. We will report on the results achieved within the joint project FUTUREFAB, where efficiency optimization, throughput enhancement and cost reduction are the main goals. Here, the presentation will focus on laser processes like selective emitter doping and ablation of dielectric layers. An indispensable part of the efforts towards cost reduction in solar cell production is the improvement of wafer handling and throughput capabilities of the laser processing system. Therefore, the presentation will also elaborate on new developments in the design of complete production machines.

The impact of ownership structure on bank productivity and efficiency: Evidence from semi-parametric Malmquist Productivity Index

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fadzlan Sufian

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The present study employs the state of the art bias-corrected Malmquist Productivity Index method to examine the sources of efficiency and productivity of the foreign and domestic banks operating in the Malaysian banking sector. The preferred methodology enables us to isolate efforts to catch up to the frontier (efficiency change from shifts in the frontier (technological change [TECHCH]. The results indicate that the Malaysian banking sector has exhibited productivity progress mainly attributed to technological progress. The empirical findings suggest that both the domestic and foreign banks have exhibited productivity progress albeit at different quantum attributed mainly to progress in TECHCH.

Chloride Activated Halophilic α-Amylase from Marinobacter sp. EMB8: Production Optimization and Nanoimmobilization for Efficient Starch Hydrolysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sumit Kumar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Halophiles have been perceived as potential source of novel enzymes in recent years. The interest emanates from their ability to catalyze efficiently under high salt and organic solvents. Present work encompasses production optimization and nanoimmobilization of an α-amylase from moderately halophilic Marinobacter sp. EMB8. Media ingredients and culture conditions were optimized by “one-at-a-time approach.” Starch was found to be the best carbon source at 5% (w/v concentration. Glucose acted as catabolic repressor for amylase production. Salt proved critical for amylase production and maximum production was attained at 5% (w/v NaCl. Optimization of various culture parameters resulted in 48.0 IU/mL amylase production, a 12-fold increase over that of unoptimized condition (4.0 IU/mL. α-Amylase was immobilized on 3-aminopropyl functionalized silica nanoparticles using glutaraldehyde as cross-linking agent. Optimization of various parameters resulted in 96% immobilization efficiency. Starch hydrolyzing efficiency of immobilized enzyme was comparatively better. Immobilized α-amylase retained 75% of its activity after 5th cycle of repeated use.

Increasing ethanol productivity during xylose fermentation by cell recycling of recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roca, Christophe Francois Aime; Olsson, Lisbeth

2003-01-01

The influence of cell recycling of xylose-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae TMB3001 was investigated during continuous cultivation on a xylose-glucose mixture. By using cell recycling at the dilution rate (D) of 0.05 h(-1), the cell-mass concentration could be increased from 2.2 g l(-1) to 22 g l...... ethanol productivity was in the range of 0.23-0.26 g g(-1) h(-1) with or without cell recycling, showing that an increased cell-mass concentration did not influence the efficiency of the yeast....

THE USE OF NEW DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF INSURANCE COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga N. Kozlova

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the issues of increasing the efficiency of insurance companies on the basis of using new non-traditional distribution channels. The relevance of the topic is justified by the automation of management processes, a new generation of consumers focused on new technologies, the use of the Internet, growing and selling functional mobile gadgets. The insurance companies use new distribution channels via the Internet network along with the traditional means for the expansion of the insurance portfolio and attracting active and passive consumers. The calculations carried out on the basis of the data of the Bank of Russia show that the share of such sales is growing, but not leading. The use of the Internet depends on many factors, but primarily on the types of insurance. The authors carry out calculations on the use of distribution channels in various types of insurance. The complexity and variety of products on life insurance requires qualified intermediaries, therefore, the use of new distribution channels here is not widespread in contrast to classical accident insurance or compulsory insurance, where sales are more efficient when organizing through the Internet. Selling through Internet has a number of advantages that reduce the cost of doing business, reduce the agency network, the cost of print advertising to attract passive and strengthen the relationship with active consumers. The authors also conduct analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile gadgets to work with potential customers, quantitative and qualitative benefits of implementing mobile apps in the work of insurance companies. The conclusions are made about the complexity of calculation of economic efficiency of implementing mobile applications. The possible directions of increasing the efficiency of using new distribution channels by insurance companies are defined.

Biomass production and water use efficiency in perennial grasses during and after drought stress

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Kirsten Kørup; Lærke, Poul Erik; Sørensen, Helle Baadsgaard

2018-01-01

be suitable for assessment of drought stress. There were indications of positive associations between plants carbon isotope composition and water use efficiency (WUE) as well as DM under well-watered conditions. Compared to control, drought-treated plots showed increased growth in the period after drought...... stress. Thus, the drought events did not affect total biomass production (DMtotal) of the whole growing season. During drought stress and the whole growing season, WUE was higher in drought-treated compared to control plots, so it seems possible to save water without loss of biomass. Across soil types, M......Drought is a great challenge to agricultural production, and cultivation of drought-tolerant or water use-efficient cultivars is important to ensure high biomass yields for bio-refining and bioenergy. Here, we evaluated drought tolerance of four C3 species, Dactylis glomerata cvs. Sevenop and Amba...

A Study of Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity of Filipino Administrative Agencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santiago Simpas

1980-01-01

to several constraints such as limited funds, the team had to reduce the number to four.The examination of the actual performance of the four agencies being studied consisted of content analysis of agency records and other sources such as reports and periodicals. Perceptions of both clientele and agency personnel on our structural and functional variables were conducted so as to compare these results from those obtained from content analysis of agency documents.The project, in addition to its contribution to the growing literature in the field of development administration, is expected to help Filipino administrators increase their understanding of the complex factors that hinder or facilitate agency operations. These insights and knowledge could further serve policy-makers in channeling multi-agency efforts towards the attainment of national development goals. Hopefully, with the establishment of the variables that affect the three major factors in development administration - efficiency, effectiveness and productivity - the different government as well as private development agencies could improve their service delivery capacities.

International benchmaking: Supplying the information for product efficiency policy makers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Siderius, H.P.; Jeffcott, S.; Blok, K.

2012-01-01

In the development of effective product efficiency policy, the critical element for policy makers is comprehensive, independent information. However, easily accessible, reliable information on the energy performance of products and policies is often scarce within a particular market, and rarer still

Efficient production and secretion of bovine beta-lactoglobulin by Lactobacillus casei.

Science.gov (United States)

Hazebrouck, Stéphane; Pothelune, Laetitia; Azevedo, Vasco; Corthier, Gérard; Wal, Jean-Michel; Langella, Philippe

2007-04-06

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are attractive tools to deliver therapeutic molecules at the mucosal level. The model LAB Lactococcus lactis has been intensively used to produce and deliver such heterologous proteins. However, compared to recombinant lactococci, lactobacilli offer some advantages such as better survival in the digestive tract and immunomodulatory properties. Here, we compared different strategies to optimize the production of bovine beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), a major cow's milk allergen, in the probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei BL23. Using a nisin-inducible plasmid system, we first showed that L. casei BL23 strain could efficiently secrete a reporter protein, the staphylococcal nuclease (Nuc), with the lactococcal signal peptide SPUsp45 fused to its N-terminus. The fusion of SPUsp45 failed to drive BLG secretion but led to a 10-fold increase of intracellular BLG production. Secretion was significantly improved when the synthetic propeptide LEISSTCDA (hereafter called LEISS) was added to the N-terminus of the mature moiety of BLG. Secretion rate of LEISS-BLG was 6-fold higher than that of BLG alone while intracellular production reached then about 1 mg/L of culture. The highest yield of secretion was obtained by using Nuc as carrier protein. Insertion of Nuc between LEISS and BLG resulted in a 20-fold increase in BLG secretion, up to 27 microg/L of culture. Furthermore, the lactococcal nisRK regulatory genes were integrated into the BL23 chromosome. The nisRK insertion allowed a decrease of BLG synthesis in uninduced cultures while BLG production increased by 50% after nisin induction. Moreover, modification of the induction protocol led to increase the proportion of soluble BLG to around 74% of the total BLG production. BLG production and secretion in L. casei were significantly improved by fusions to a propeptide enhancer and a carrier protein. The resulting recombinant strains will be further tested for their ability to modulate the immune response

Efficient production and secretion of bovine β-lactoglobulin by Lactobacillus casei

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wal Jean-Michel

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Lactic acid bacteria (LAB are attractive tools to deliver therapeutic molecules at the mucosal level. The model LAB Lactococcus lactis has been intensively used to produce and deliver such heterologous proteins. However, compared to recombinant lactococci, lactobacilli offer some advantages such as better survival in the digestive tract and immunomodulatory properties. Here, we compared different strategies to optimize the production of bovine β-lactoglobulin (BLG, a major cow's milk allergen, in the probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei BL23. Results Using a nisin-inducible plasmid system, we first showed that L. casei BL23 strain could efficiently secrete a reporter protein, the staphylococcal nuclease (Nuc, with the lactococcal signal peptide SPUsp45 fused to its N-terminus. The fusion of SPUsp45 failed to drive BLG secretion but led to a 10-fold increase of intracellular BLG production. Secretion was significantly improved when the synthetic propeptide LEISSTCDA (hereafter called LEISS was added to the N-terminus of the mature moiety of BLG. Secretion rate of LEISS-BLG was 6-fold higher than that of BLG alone while intracellular production reached then about 1 mg/L of culture. The highest yield of secretion was obtained by using Nuc as carrier protein. Insertion of Nuc between LEISS and BLG resulted in a 20-fold increase in BLG secretion, up to 27 μg/L of culture. Furthermore, the lactococcal nisRK regulatory genes were integrated into the BL23 chromosome. The nisRK insertion allowed a decrease of BLG synthesis in uninduced cultures while BLG production increased by 50% after nisin induction. Moreover, modification of the induction protocol led to increase the proportion of soluble BLG to around 74% of the total BLG production. Conclusion BLG production and secretion in L. casei were significantly improved by fusions to a propeptide enhancer and a carrier protein. The resulting recombinant strains will be further tested

Polybrene increases the efficiency of gene transfer by lipofection.

Science.gov (United States)

Abe, A; Miyanohara, A; Friedmann, T

1998-05-01

Lipofection involves the introduction of foreign genetic information into mammalian cells through the use of lipophilic reagents that enhance cellular uptake of polynucleotides. Despite the use of currently optimized lipofection conditions, including the use of serum-depleted media, the efficiency of gene transfer is often low. We show here that, in a variety of cell lines, polybrene markedly enhances the efficiency of lipofection under standardized conditions and also compensates the serum-mediated inhibition of lipofection. Although the degree of the polybrene effect depends on the nature of the cell line, these results indicate that individually optimized concentrations of polybrene can be useful for increasing the efficiency of lipofectin-mediated gene transfer in vitro.

Rational modular design of metabolic network for efficient production of plant polyphenol pinosylvin.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Junjun; Zhang, Xia; Zhu, Yingjie; Tan, Qinyu; He, Jiacheng; Dong, Mingsheng

2017-05-03

Efficient biosynthesis of the plant polyphenol pinosylvin, which has numerous applications in nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, is necessary to make biological production economically viable. To this end, an efficient Escherichia coli platform for pinosylvin production was developed via a rational modular design approach. Initially, different candidate pathway enzymes were screened to construct de novo pinosylvin pathway directly from D-glucose. A comparative analysis of pathway intermediate pools identified that this initial construct led to the intermediate cinnamic acid accumulation. The pinosylvin synthetic pathway was then divided into two new modules separated at cinnamic acid. Combinatorial optimization of transcriptional and translational levels of these two modules resulted in a 16-fold increase in pinosylvin titer. To further improve the concentration of the limiting precursor malonyl-CoA, the malonyl-CoA synthesis module based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats interference was assembled and optimized with other two modules. The final pinosylvin titer was improved to 281 mg/L, which was the highest pinosylvin titer even directly from D-glucose without any additional precursor supplementation. The rational modular design approach described here could bolster our capabilities in synthetic biology for value-added chemical production.

Potential use and the energy conversion efficiency analysis of fermentation effluents from photo and dark fermentative bio-hydrogen production.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhiping; Li, Yameng; Zhang, Huan; He, Chao; Zhang, Quanguo

2017-12-01

Effluent of bio-hydrogen production system also can be adopted to produce methane for further fermentation, cogeneration of hydrogen and methane will significantly improve the energy conversion efficiency. Platanus Orientalis leaves were taken as the raw material for photo- and dark-fermentation bio-hydrogen production. The resulting concentrations of acetic, butyric, and propionic acids and ethanol in the photo- and dark-fermentation effluents were 2966mg/L and 624mg/L, 422mg/L and 1624mg/L, 1365mg/L and 558mg/L, and 866mg/L and 1352mg/L, respectively. Subsequently, we calculated the energy conversion efficiency according to the organic contents of the effluents and their energy output when used as raw material for methane production. The overall energy conversion efficiencies increased by 15.17% and 22.28%, respectively, when using the effluents of photo and dark fermentation. This two-step bio-hydrogen and methane production system can significantly improve the energy conversion efficiency of anaerobic biological treatment plants. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Enhancement of Energy Efficiency and Food Product Quality Using Adsorption Dryer with Zeolite

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moh Djaeni

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Drying is a basic operation in wood, food, pharmaceutical and chemical industry. Currently, several drying methods are often not efficient in terms of energy consumption (energy efficiency of 20-60% and have an impact on product quality degradation due to the introduction of operational temperature upper 80oC. This work discusses the development of adsorption drying with zeolite to improve the energy efficiency as well as product quality. In this process, air as drying medium is dehumidified by zeolite. As a result humidity of air can be reduced up to 0.1 ppm. So, for heat sensitive products, the drying process can be performed in low or medium temperature with high driving force. The study has been conducted in three steps: designing the dryer, performing laboratory scale equipment (tray, spray, and fluidised bed dryers with zeolite, and evaluating the dryer performance based on energy efficiency and product quality. Results showed that the energy efficiency of drying process is 15-20% higher than that of conventional dryer. In additon, the dryer can speed up drying time as well as retaining product quality.

Improvement of uranium production efficiency to meet China's nuclear power requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, R.

1997-01-01

Recently China put the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, with an installed capacity of 300 MW, in the province of Zhejiang and the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, with a total installed capacity of 2 x 900 MW, in commercial operation. China plans a rapid growth in nuclear power from 1995 to 2010. China's uranium production will therefore also enter a new period with nuclear power increasing. In order to meet the demand of nuclear power for uranium special attention has been paid to both technical progress improvement using management with the aim of reducing the cost of uranium production. The application of the trackless mining technique has enhanced the uranium mining productivity significantly. China has produced a radiometric sorter, model 5421-2 for pre-concentrating uranium run-of-mine ore. This effectively increases the uranium content in mill feed and decreases the operating cost of hydrometallurgical treatment. The in situ leach technique after blasting is applied underground in the Lantian Mine, in addition to the surface heap leaching, and has obtained a perfect result. The concentrated acid-curing, and ferric sulphate trickle leaching process, will soon be used in commercial operation for treating uranium ore grading -5 to -7 mm in size. The annual production capability of the Yining Mine will be extended to 100 tonnes U using improving in situ leaching technology. For the purpose of improving the uranium production efficiency much work has been done optimizing the distribution of production centres. China plans to expand its uranium production to meet the uranium requirements of the developing nuclear power plants. (author). 4 tabs

Oxidation of Benzene by Persulfate in the Presence of Fe(III)- and Mn(IV)-Containing Oxides: Stoichiometric Efficiency and Transformation Products.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Haizhou; Bruton, Thomas A; Li, Wei; Buren, Jean Van; Prasse, Carsten; Doyle, Fiona M; Sedlak, David L

2016-01-19

Sulfate radical (SO4(•-)) is a strong, short-lived oxidant that is produced when persulfate (S2O8(2-)) reacts with transition metal oxides during in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) of contaminated groundwater. Although engineers are aware of the ability of transition metal oxides to activate persulfate, the operation of ISCO remediation systems is hampered by an inadequate understanding of the factors that control SO4(•-) production and the overall efficiency of the process. To address these shortcomings, we assessed the stoichiometric efficiency and products of transition metal-catalyzed persulfate oxidation of benzene with pure iron- and manganese-containing minerals, clays, and aquifer solids. For most metal-containing solids, the stoichiometric efficiency, as determined by the loss of benzene relative to the loss of persulfate, approached the theoretical maximum. Rates of production of SO4(•-) or hydroxyl radical (HO(•)) generated from radical chain reactions were affected by the concentration of benzene, with rates of S2O8(2-) decomposition increasing as the benzene concentration increased. Under conditions selected to minimize the loss of initial transformation products through reaction with radicals, the production of phenol only accounted for 30%-60% of the benzene lost in the presence of O2. The remaining products included a ring-cleavage product that appeared to contain an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde functional group. In the absence of O2, the concentration of the ring-cleavage product increased relative to phenol. The formation of the ring-cleavage product warrants further studies of its toxicity and persistence in the subsurface.

Comparative analysis of technical efficiency for different production culture systems and species of freshwater aquaculture in Peninsular Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdullahi Iliyasu

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This study estimated the bias-corrected technical efficiency (BCTE of different culture systems and species of freshwater aquaculture in Malaysia using bootstrapping data envelopment analysis (DEA. Data were collected from 307 respondents from three states in Peninsular Malaysia using a well-structured questionnaire as well as oral interviews. The findings indicate that all technical efficiency scores for all culture systems and species are below the optimal level (i.e. one. In addition, the results show that farmers’ experience, contact with extension workers and household size have a positive and statistically significant impact on technical efficiency. This implies that farmers who have long tenure in fish farming and also the opportunity to meet with extension workers are operating close to the production frontier (technically efficient. On the other hand, the age of the farmers has a negative and statistically significant impact on technical efficiency. Although educational level and farm status have a positive impact on technical efficiency, they are statistically insignificant. Furthermore, all the inputs used in the production process of different culture systems and species contained slacks and need to be reduced accordingly. Feed, the major input in fish production and constituting over half of the production costs, is equally over-utilized. Thus, the government, in collaboration with research institutes and universities, should design a feeding formula for fish depending on species, culture systems and stages of growth. This could help to reduce production costs, increasing the farmers' income, as well as providing much needed animal protein to consumers at an affordable rate. Keywords: Bootstrapping data envelopment analysis (DEA, Technical efficiency, Technical inefficiency, Freshwater aquaculture, Malaysia

Scaling production and improving efficiency in DEA: an interactive approach

Science.gov (United States)

Rödder, Wilhelm; Kleine, Andreas; Dellnitz, Andreas

2017-10-01

DEA models help a DMU to detect its (in-)efficiency and to improve activities, if necessary. Efficiency is only one economic aim for a decision-maker; however, up- or downsizing might be a second one. Improving efficiency is the main topic in DEA; the long-term strategy towards the right production size should attract our attention as well. Not always the management of a DMU primarily focuses on technical efficiency but rather is interested in gaining scale effects. In this paper, a formula for returns to scale (RTS) is developed, and this formula is even applicable for interior points of technology. Particularly, technical and scale inefficient DMUs need sophisticated instruments to improve their situation. Considering RTS as well as efficiency, in this paper, we give an advice for each DMU to find an economically reliable path from its actual situation to better activities and finally to most productive scale size (mpss), perhaps. For realizing this path, we propose an interactive algorithm, thus harmonizing the scientific findings and the interests of the management. Small numerical examples illustrate such paths for selected DMUs; an empirical application in theatre management completes the contribution.

Light quality and efficiency of consumer grade solid state lighting products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dam-Hansen, Carsten; Corell, Dennis Dan; Thorseth, Anders

2013-01-01

The rapid development in flux and efficiency of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) has resulted in a flooding of the lighting market with Solid State Lighting (SSL) products. Many traditional light sources can advantageously be replaced by SSL products. There are, however, large variations in the quality...... of these products, and some are not better than the ones they are supposed to replace. A lack of quality demands and standards makes it difficult for consumers to get an overview of the SSL products. Here the results of a two year study investigating SSL products on the Danish market are presented. Focus has been...... on SSL products for replacement of incandescent lamps and halogen spotlights. The warm white light and good color rendering properties of these traditional light sources are a must for lighting in Denmark and the Nordic countries. 266 SSL replacement lamps have been tested for efficiency and light...

Efficiency of Lift Production in Flapping and Gliding Flight of Swifts

Science.gov (United States)

Henningsson, Per; Hedenström, Anders; Bomphrey, Richard J.

2014-01-01

Many flying animals use both flapping and gliding flight as part of their routine behaviour. These two kinematic patterns impose conflicting requirements on wing design for aerodynamic efficiency and, in the absence of extreme morphing, wings cannot be optimised for both flight modes. In gliding flight, the wing experiences uniform incident flow and the optimal shape is a high aspect ratio wing with an elliptical planform. In flapping flight, on the other hand, the wing tip travels faster than the root, creating a spanwise velocity gradient. To compensate, the optimal wing shape should taper towards the tip (reducing the local chord) and/or twist from root to tip (reducing local angle of attack). We hypothesised that, if a bird is limited in its ability to morph its wings and adapt its wing shape to suit both flight modes, then a preference towards flapping flight optimization will be expected since this is the most energetically demanding flight mode. We tested this by studying a well-known flap-gliding species, the common swift, by measuring the wakes generated by two birds, one in gliding and one in flapping flight in a wind tunnel. We calculated span efficiency, the efficiency of lift production, and found that the flapping swift had consistently higher span efficiency than the gliding swift. This supports our hypothesis and suggests that even though swifts have been shown previously to increase their lift-to-drag ratio substantially when gliding, the wing morphology is tuned to be more aerodynamically efficient in generating lift during flapping. Since body drag can be assumed to be similar for both flapping and gliding, it follows that the higher total drag in flapping flight compared with gliding flight is primarily a consequence of an increase in wing profile drag due to the flapping motion, exceeding the reduction in induced drag. PMID:24587260

Efficiency of lift production in flapping and gliding flight of swifts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Per Henningsson

Full Text Available Many flying animals use both flapping and gliding flight as part of their routine behaviour. These two kinematic patterns impose conflicting requirements on wing design for aerodynamic efficiency and, in the absence of extreme morphing, wings cannot be optimised for both flight modes. In gliding flight, the wing experiences uniform incident flow and the optimal shape is a high aspect ratio wing with an elliptical planform. In flapping flight, on the other hand, the wing tip travels faster than the root, creating a spanwise velocity gradient. To compensate, the optimal wing shape should taper towards the tip (reducing the local chord and/or twist from root to tip (reducing local angle of attack. We hypothesised that, if a bird is limited in its ability to morph its wings and adapt its wing shape to suit both flight modes, then a preference towards flapping flight optimization will be expected since this is the most energetically demanding flight mode. We tested this by studying a well-known flap-gliding species, the common swift, by measuring the wakes generated by two birds, one in gliding and one in flapping flight in a wind tunnel. We calculated span efficiency, the efficiency of lift production, and found that the flapping swift had consistently higher span efficiency than the gliding swift. This supports our hypothesis and suggests that even though swifts have been shown previously to increase their lift-to-drag ratio substantially when gliding, the wing morphology is tuned to be more aerodynamically efficient in generating lift during flapping. Since body drag can be assumed to be similar for both flapping and gliding, it follows that the higher total drag in flapping flight compared with gliding flight is primarily a consequence of an increase in wing profile drag due to the flapping motion, exceeding the reduction in induced drag.

Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity: The Abstract Measures of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper makes a case for reviving the system. Efficiency, effectiveness and productivity which are all quality indices are carefully discussed and synthesized into management techniques that will create in the staff and management officials the culture of excellent performance in our higher educational system.

Efficiency analysis of hydrogen production methods from biomass

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ptasinski, K.J.

2008-01-01

Abstract: Hydrogen is considered as a universal energy carrier for the future, and biomass has the potential to become a sustainable source of hydrogen. This article presents an efficiency analysis of hydrogen production processes from a variety of biomass feedstocks by a thermochemical method –

Towards a more efficient energy use in photovoltaic powered products

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kan, S.Y.; Strijk, R.

2006-01-01

This paper analyzes the energy saving and power management solutions necessary to improve the energy consumption efficiency in photovoltaic powered products. Important in the design of such products is not only the energy supply optimization required to deliver the actual energy to fulfil their

Maximizing Efficiency in Two-step Solar-thermochemical Fuel Production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ermanoski, I. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-05-01

Widespread solar fuel production depends on its economic viability, largely driven by the solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency. In this paper, the material and energy requirements in two-step solar-thermochemical cycles are considered.The need for advanced redox active materials is demonstrated, by considering the oxide mass flow requirements at a large scale. Two approaches are also identified for maximizing the efficiency: optimizing reaction temperatures, and minimizing the pressure in the thermal reduction step by staged thermal reduction. The results show that each approach individually, and especially the two in conjunction, result in significant efficiency gains.

Phytohormone supplementation significantly increases growth of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cultivated for biodiesel production.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Won-Kun; Yoo, Gursong; Moon, Myounghoon; Kim, Chul Woong; Choi, Yoon-E; Yang, Ji-Won

2013-11-01

Cultivation is the most expensive step in the production of biodiesel from microalgae, and substantial research has been devoted to developing more cost-effective cultivation methods. Plant hormones (phytohormones) are chemical messengers that regulate various aspects of growth and development and are typically active at very low concentrations. In this study, we investigated the effect of different phytohormones on microalgal growth and biodiesel production in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and their potential to lower the overall cost of commercial biofuel production. The results indicated that all five of the tested phytohormones (indole-3-acetic acid, gibberellic acid, kinetin, 1-triacontanol, and abscisic acid) promoted microalgal growth. In particular, hormone treatment increased biomass production by 54 to 69 % relative to the control growth medium (Tris-acetate-phosphate, TAP). Phytohormone treatments also affected microalgal cell morphology but had no effect on the yields of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) as a percent of biomass. We also tested the effect of these phytohormones on microalgal growth in nitrogen-limited media by supplementation in the early stationary phase. Maximum cell densities after addition of phytohormones were higher than in TAP medium, even when the nitrogen source was reduced to 40 % of that in TAP medium. Taken together, our results indicate that phytohormones significantly increased microalgal growth, particularly in nitrogen-limited media, and have potential for use in the development of efficient microalgal cultivation for biofuel production.

Increase energy efficiency in the cold production; Steigerung der Energieeffizienz in der Kaelteerzeugung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paatzsch, Rene [Institut fuer Luft- und Kaeltetechnik gGmbH, Dresden (Germany). Hauptbereich Kaelte- und Waermepumpentechnik; Berg, Hans-Peter [Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH und Co. KG, Ingelheim (Germany)

2011-12-15

According to a study by ILK Dresden the cold production in the field of pharmaceutical manufacturing at Boehringer has been adjusted. By installing a turbo chiller and the sliding control of the cooling water temperature depending on the wet bulb temperature the COP of the cold production was improved of 3.1 to 4.5 currently. (orig.)

Thin Film Packaging Solutions for High Efficiency OLED Lighting Products

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2008-06-30

glass encapsulated white OLED lighting products commercialized in niche markets during the 2008 calendar year. This commercialization effort, the project team believes, will lead to increasing market attention and broader demand for more efficient, wide area general purpose white OLED lighting in the coming years.

CAD/CAM: improved design quality, increased productivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Evans, D. E.; England, J.

1980-01-01

Maintaining productivity levels while assuring the quality of engineering products grows increasingly more difficult and costly for industries such as the energy industry which are heavily committed to product design. The man/machine interface made possible through the development of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology can be applied to the design process as a tool for increased control to assure the quality of the final engineering product. The quality-control aspects of CAD/CAM technology are addressed in this presentation.

Application of sorption heat pumps for increasing of new power sources efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Vasiliev, L.; Filatova, O.; Tsitovich, A.

2010-07-01

In the 21st century the way to increase the efficiency of new sources of energy is directly related with extended exploration of renewable energy. This modern tendency ensures the fuel economy needs to be realized with nature protection. The increasing of new power sources efficiency (cogeneration, trigeneration systems, fuel cells, photovoltaic systems) can be performed by application of solid sorption heat pumps, regrigerators, heat and cold accumulators, heat transformers, natural gas and hydrogen storage systems and efficient heat exchangers.

Increasing Z-pinch vacuum hohlraum capsule coupling efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Callahan, Debbie; Vesey, Roger Alan; Cochrane, Kyle Robert; Nikroo, A.; Bennett, Guy R.; Schroen, Diana Grace; Ruggles, Laurence E.; Porter, John L.; Streit, Jon; Mehlhorn, Thomas Alan; Cuneo, Michael Edward

2004-01-01

Symmetric capsule implosions in the double-ended vacuum hohlraum (DEH) on Z have demonstrated convergence ratios of 14-21 for 2.15-mm plastic ablator capsules absorbing 5-7 kJ of x-rays, based on backlit images of the compressed ablator remaining at peak convergence (1). Experiments with DD-filled 3.3-mm diameter capsules designed to absorb 14 kJ of x-rays have begun as an integrated test of drive temperature and symmetry, complementary to thin-shell symmetry diagnostic capsules. These capsule implosions are characterized by excellent control of symmetry (< 3% time-integrated), but low hohlraum efficiency (< 2%). Possible methods to increase the capsule absorbed energy in the DEH include mixed-component hohlraums, large diameter foam ablator capsules, transmissive shine shields between the z-pinch and capsule, higher spoke electrode x-ray transmission, a double-sided power feed, and smaller initial radius z-pinch wire arrays. Simulations will explore the potential for each of these modifications to increase the capsule coupling efficiency for near-term experiments on Z and ZR

Maximum herd efficiency in meat production I. Optima for slaughter ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Profit rate for a meat production enterprise can be decomposedinto the unit price for meat and herd ... supply and demand, whereas breeding improvement is gen- ... Herd efficiency is total live mass for slaughter divided by costs .... tenance and above-maintenance components by Dickerson, and ..... Growth and productivity.

Efficient production of transgenic soybean (Glycine max [L] Merrill ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Efficient production of transgenic soybean (Glycine max [L] Merrill) plants mediated via whisker-supersonic (WSS) method. MM Khalafalla, HA El-Shemy, SM Rahman, M Teraishi, H Hasegawa, T Terakawa, M Ishimoto ...

Bioaugmentation as a solution to increase methane production from an ammonia-rich substrate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fotidis, Ioannis; Wang, Han; Fiedel, Nicolai Russell

2014-01-01

production yield. To date there are not any reliable methods to alleviate the ammonia toxicity effect and/or to efficiently digest ammonia-rich waste. In the current study, bioaugmentation as a possible method to alleviate ammonia toxicity effect in a mesophilic continuously stirred-tank reactor (CSTR......) operating under “inhibited steady state” was tested. A fast growing hydrogenotrophic methanogen (i.e. Methanoculleus bourgensis MS2T) was bioaugmented in the CSTR reactor at high ammonia levels (5 g NH4+-N L-1). A second CSTR reactor used as control with no bioaugmentation. The results derived from...... this study clearly demonstrated a 31.3% increase in methane production yield in the CSTR reactor, at steady-state, after bioaugmentation. Additionally, high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis showed a fivefold increase in relative abundance of Methanoculleus spp. after bioaugmentation. On contrary...

Effect of voltage waveform on dielectric barrier discharge ozone production efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Mericam-Bourdet, N.; Kirkpatrick, M. J.; Tuvache, F.; Frochot, D.; Odic, E.

2012-03-01

Dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are commonly used for gas effluent cleanup and ozone generation. For these applications, the energy efficiency of the discharge is a major concern. This paper reports on investigations carried out on the voltage shape applied to DBD reactor electrodes, aiming to evaluate a possible energy efficiency improvement for ozone production. Two DBD reactor geometries were used: pin-to-pin and cylinder-to-cylinder, both driven either by a bi-directional power supply (voltage rise rate 1 kV/μs) or by a pulsed power supply (voltage rise rate 1 kV/ns). Ozone formed in dry air was measured at the reactor outlet. Special attention was paid to discharge input power evaluation using different methods including instantaneous current-voltage product and transferred charge-applied voltage figures. The charge transferred by the discharges was also correlated to the ozone production. It is shown that, in the case of the DBD reactors under investigation, the applied voltage shape has no influence on the ozone production efficiency. For the considered voltage rise rate, the charge deposit on the dielectric inserted inside the discharge gap is the important factor (as opposed to the voltage shape) governing the efficiency of the discharge - it does this by tailoring the duration of the current peak into the tens of nanosecond range.

Directing vanillin production from ferulic acid by increased acetyl-CoA consumption in recombinant Escherichia coli.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Eun-Gyeong; Yoon, Sang-Hwal; Das, Amitabha; Lee, Sook-Hee; Li, Cui; Kim, Jae-Yean; Choi, Myung-Suk; Oh, Deok-Kun; Kim, Seon-Won

2009-01-01

The amplification of gltA gene encoding citrate synthase of TCA cycle was required for the efficient conversion of acetyl-CoA, generated during vanillin production from ferulic acid, to CoA, which is essential for vanillin production. Vanillin of 1.98 g/L was produced from the E. coli DH5alpha (pTAHEF-gltA) with gltA amplification in 48 h of culture at 3.0 g/L of ferulic acid, which was about twofold higher than the vanillin production of 0.91 g/L obtained by the E. coli DH5alpha (pTAHEF) without gltA amplification. The icdA gene encoding isocitrate dehydrogenase of TCA cycle was deleted to make the vanillin producing E. coli utilize glyoxylate bypass which enables more efficient conversion of acetyl-CoA to CoA in comparison with TCA cycle. The production of vanillin by the icdA null mutant of E. coli BW25113 harboring pTAHEF was enhanced by 2.6 times. The gltA amplification of the glyoxylate bypass in the icdA null mutant remarkably increased the production rate of vanillin with a little increase in the amount of vanillin production. The real synergistic effect of gltA amplification and icdA deletion was observed with use of XAD-2 resin reducing the toxicity of vanillin produced during culture. Vanillin of 5.14 g/L was produced in 24 h of the culture with molar conversion yield of 86.6%, which is the highest so far in vanillin production from ferulic acid using recombinant E. coli.

Development of an efficient process intensification strategy for enhancing Pfu DNA polymerase production in recombinant Escherichia coli.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Jian-Hua; Wang, Feng; Liu, Chun-Zhao

2015-04-01

An efficient induction strategy that consisted of multiple additions of small doses of isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) in the early cell growth phase was developed for enhancing Pfu DNA polymerase production in Escherichia coli. In comparison to the most commonly used method of a single induction of 1 mM IPTG, the promising induction strategy resulted in an increase in the Pfu activity of 13.5% in shake flasks, while simultaneously decreasing the dose of IPTG by nearly half. An analysis of the intracellular IPTG concentrations indicated that the cells need to maintain an optimum intracellular IPTG concentration after 6 h for efficient Pfu DNA polymerase production. A significant increase in the Pfu DNA polymerase activity of 31.5% under the controlled dissolved oxygen concentration of 30% in a 5 L fermentor was achieved using the multiple IPTG induction strategy in comparison with the single IPTG induction. The induction strategy using multiple inputs of IPTG also avoided over accumulation of IPTG and reduced the cost of Pfu DNA polymerase production.

Hydrogen-oxygen steam generator applications for increasing the efficiency, maneuverability and reliability of power production

Science.gov (United States)

Schastlivtsev, A. I.; Borzenko, V. I.

2017-11-01

The comparative feasibility study of the energy storage technologies showed good applicability of hydrogen-oxygen steam generators (HOSG) based energy storage systems with large-scale hydrogen production. The developed scheme solutions for the use of HOSGs for thermal power (TPP) and nuclear power plants (NPP), and the feasibility analysis that have been carried out have shown that their use makes it possible to increase the maneuverability of steam turbines and provide backup power supply in the event of failure of the main steam generating equipment. The main design solutions for the integration of hydrogen-oxygen steam generators into the main power equipment of TPPs and NPPs, as well as their optimal operation modes, are considered.

Functional unit and product functionality—addressing increase in consumption and demand for functionality in sustainability assessment with LCA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kim, Seung Jin; Kara, Sami; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky

2016-01-01

behaviour and demonstrates the vicious circle of improving product efficiency that leads to further consumption and environmental impact. To address this problem, a new framework of dynamic functional unit definition is put forward for performing comparative LCA to manage the development of product life...... consumption of products in provided services as well as in growing volumes. This article aims to present a new framework in defining a dynamic functional unit of product technologies that caters for changes in consumer behaviour and growing market. Methods: A new approach to defining the functional unit...... is demonstrated on a case study in which the analysis of historical data for two TV product technologies—CRT and LCD—is used to show how the total environmental impact is increasing due to the increased functionality which triggers an increase in the volume of the market. Despite the efforts of improving product...

Efficiency of resource-use and elasticity of production among catfish ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study employed the use of the Stochastic Frontier Production Function in the empirical analysis of efficiency of resource-use and elasticity of production among catfish farmers in Kaduna, Nigeria. The simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting 60 catfish farmers drawn from the sampling frame ...

INCREASING OF ECOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY OF WORN EQUIPMENT BY PARTIAL UPDATES. ANALYTICAL AND CONTROL ASPECT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Voinova

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The current state of worn industrial equipment and the resulting low performance indicators of its functioning, in particular, low environmental friendliness, are considered. It is shown that the normalization of the complex situation that has developed in production is an acute problem, the solution of which should begin with the implementation of a program for the partial renewal of worn equipment. It is pointed out that there is a high potential for improving the technological, including ecological, efficiency of functioning of the upgraded equipment. It is pointed out that the partial renewal is highly efficient, because of the small specific investments in it. The significant influence of the quality of control of the setting and implementation of the renewal program on its effectiveness was noted. It is shown that the process of renewal of worn-out equipment, ultimately, has an environmental focus, increases the environmental friendliness of the updated technical facility.

Increased Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and rooting efficiencies in canola (Brassica napus L.) from hypocotyl segment explants

Science.gov (United States)

Cardoza, V.; Stewart, C. N.

2003-01-01

An efficient protocol for the production of transgenic Brassica napus cv. Westar plants was developed by optimizing two important parameters: preconditioning time and co-cultivation time. Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation was performed using hypocotyls as explant tissue. Two variants of a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-encoding gene--mGFP5-ER and eGFP--both under the constitutive expression of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter, were used for the experiments. Optimizing the preconditioning time to 72 h and co-cultivation time with Agrobacterium to 48 h provided the increase in the transformation efficiency from a baseline of 4% to 25%. With mGFP5-ER, the transformation rate was 17% and with eGFP it was 25%. Transgenic shoots were selected on 200 mg/l kanamycin. Rooting efficiency was 100% on half-strength Murashige and Skoog medium with 10 g/l sucrose and 0.5 mg/l indole butyric acid in the presence of kanamycin.

Resource Use Efficiency in Rice Production in Jere Local ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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Descriptive statistics and production function were used as analytical tools. The result ..... women's active participation in agriculture. The result also .... Poverty Reduction. Through the ... and the Efficiencies of India Farm Using. Panel Data ...

The Energy Efficiency of Hot Water Production by Gas Water Heaters with a Combustion Chamber Sealed with Respect to the Room

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grzegorz Czerski

2014-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents investigative results of the energy efficiency of hot water production for sanitary uses by means of gas-fired water heaters with the combustion chamber sealed with respect to the room in single-family houses and multi-story buildings. Additionally, calculations were made of the influence of pre-heating the air for combustion in the chimney and air supply system on the energy efficiency of hot water production. CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics software was used for calculation of the heat exchange in this kind of system. The studies and calculations have shown that the use of gas water heaters with a combustion chamber sealed with respect to the room significantly increases the efficiency of hot water production when compared to traditional heaters. It has also been proven that the pre-heating of combustion air in concentric chimney and air supply ducts essentially improves the energy efficiency of gas appliances for hot water production.

Efficiency of fisheries is increasing at the ecosystem level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Nis Sand; Burgess, Matthew G; Andersen, Ken Haste

2017-01-01

examine the efficiency of North Sea and Baltic Sea fisheries with respect to economic rent and ecosystem impact, finding both to be inefficient but steadily improving. Our results suggest the following: (i) a broad and encouraging trend towards ecosystem-level efficiency of fisheries; (ii) that ecosystem......Managing fisheries presents trade-offs between objectives, for example yields, profits, minimizing ecosystem impact, that have to be weighed against one another. These trade-offs are compounded by interacting species and fisheries at the ecosystem level. Weighing objectives becomes increasingly...... regressing at least one other. We investigate the ecosystem-level efficiency of fisheries in five large marine ecosystems (LMEs) with respect to yield and an aggregate measure of ecosystem impact using a novel calibration of size-based ecosystem models. We estimate that fishing patterns in three LMEs (North...

Are large farms more efficient? Tenure security, farm size and farm efficiency: evidence from northeast China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yuepeng; Ma, Xianlei; Shi, Xiaoping

2017-04-01

How to increase production efficiency, guarantee grain security, and increase farmers' income using the limited farmland is a great challenge that China is facing. Although theory predicts that secure property rights and moderate scale management of farmland can increase land productivity, reduce farm-related costs, and raise farmer's income, empirical studies on the size and magnitude of these effects are scarce. A number of studies have examined the impacts of land tenure or farm size on productivity or efficiency, respectively. There are also a few studies linking farm size, land tenure and efficiency together. However, to our best knowledge, there are no studies considering tenure security and farm efficiency together for different farm scales in China. In addition, there is little study analyzing the profit frontier. In this study, we particularly focus on the impacts of land tenure security and farm size on farm profit efficiency, using farm level data collected from 23 villages, 811 households in Liaoning in 2015. 7 different farm scales have been identified to further represent small farms, median farms, moderate-scale farms, and large farms. Technical efficiency is analyzed with stochastic frontier production function. The profit efficiency is regressed on a set of explanatory variables which includes farm size dummies, land tenure security indexes, and household characteristics. We found that: 1) The technical efficiency scores for production efficiency (average score = 0.998) indicate that it is already very close to the production frontier, and thus there is little room to improve production efficiency. However, there is larger space to raise profit efficiency (average score = 0.768) by investing more on farm size expansion, seed, hired labor, pesticide, and irrigation. 2) Farms between 50-80 mu are most efficient from the viewpoint of profit efficiency. The so-called moderate-scale farms (100-150 mu) according to the governmental guideline show no

Voluntary medical male circumcision scale-up in Nyanza, Kenya: evaluating technical efficiency and productivity of service delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Omondi Aduda, Dickens S; Ouma, Collins; Onyango, Rosebella; Onyango, Mathews; Bertrand, Jane

2015-01-01

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) service delivery is complex and resource-intensive. In Kenya's context there is still paucity of information on resource use vis-à-vis outputs as programs scale up. Knowledge of technical efficiency, productivity and potential sources of constraints is desirable to improve decision-making. To evaluate technical efficiency and productivity of VMMC service delivery in Nyanza in 2011/2012 using data envelopment analysis. Comparative process evaluation of facilities providing VMMC in Nyanza in 2011/2012 using output orientated data envelopment analysis. Twenty one facilities were evaluated. Only 1 of 7 variables considered (total elapsed operation time) significantly improved from 32.8 minutes (SD 8.8) in 2011 to 30 minutes (SD 6.6) in 2012 (95%CI = 0.0350-5.2488; p = 0.047). Mean scale technical efficiency significantly improved from 91% (SD 19.8) in 2011 to 99% (SD 4.0) in 2012 particularly among outreach compared to fixed service delivery facilities (CI -31.47959-4.698508; p = 0.005). Increase in mean VRS technical efficiency from 84% (SD 25.3) in 2011 and 89% (SD 25.1) in 2012 was not statistically significant. Benchmark facilities were #119 and #125 in 2011 and #103 in 2012. Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) at fixed facilities declined by 2.5% but gained by 4.9% at outreach ones by 2012. Total factor productivity improved by 83% (p = 0.032) in 2012, largely due to progress in technological efficiency by 79% (p = 0.008). Significant improvement in scale technical efficiency among outreach facilities in 2012 was attributable to accelerated activities. However, ongoing pure technical inefficiency requires concerted attention. Technological progress was the key driver of service productivity growth in Nyanza. Incorporating service-quality dimensions and using stepwise-multiple criteria in performance evaluation enhances comprehensiveness and validity. These findings highlight site-level resource use and sources of

Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Scale-Up in Nyanza, Kenya: Evaluating Technical Efficiency and Productivity of Service Delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Omondi Aduda, Dickens S.; Ouma, Collins; Onyango, Rosebella; Onyango, Mathews; Bertrand, Jane

2015-01-01

Background Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) service delivery is complex and resource-intensive. In Kenya’s context there is still paucity of information on resource use vis-à-vis outputs as programs scale up. Knowledge of technical efficiency, productivity and potential sources of constraints is desirable to improve decision-making. Objective To evaluate technical efficiency and productivity of VMMC service delivery in Nyanza in 2011/2012 using data envelopment analysis. Design Comparative process evaluation of facilities providing VMMC in Nyanza in 2011/2012 using output orientated data envelopment analysis. Results Twenty one facilities were evaluated. Only 1 of 7 variables considered (total elapsed operation time) significantly improved from 32.8 minutes (SD 8.8) in 2011 to 30 minutes (SD 6.6) in 2012 (95%CI = 0.0350–5.2488; p = 0.047). Mean scale technical efficiency significantly improved from 91% (SD 19.8) in 2011 to 99% (SD 4.0) in 2012 particularly among outreach compared to fixed service delivery facilities (CI -31.47959–4.698508; p = 0.005). Increase in mean VRS technical efficiency from 84% (SD 25.3) in 2011 and 89% (SD 25.1) in 2012 was not statistically significant. Benchmark facilities were #119 and #125 in 2011 and #103 in 2012. Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) at fixed facilities declined by 2.5% but gained by 4.9% at outreach ones by 2012. Total factor productivity improved by 83% (p = 0.032) in 2012, largely due to progress in technological efficiency by 79% (p = 0.008). Conclusions Significant improvement in scale technical efficiency among outreach facilities in 2012 was attributable to accelerated activities. However, ongoing pure technical inefficiency requires concerted attention. Technological progress was the key driver of service productivity growth in Nyanza. Incorporating service-quality dimensions and using stepwise-multiple criteria in performance evaluation enhances comprehensiveness and validity. These findings

LED power efficiency of biomass, fatty acid, and carotenoid production in Nannochloropsis microalgae.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Ruijuan; Thomas-Hall, Skye R; Chua, Elvis T; Eltanahy, Eladl; Netzel, Michael E; Netzel, Gabriele; Lu, Yinghua; Schenk, Peer M

2018-03-01

The microalga Nannochloropsis produces high-value omega-3-rich fatty acids and carotenoids. In this study the effects of light intensity and wavelength on biomass, fatty acid, and carotenoid production with respect to light output efficiency were investigated. Similar biomass and fatty acid yields were obtained at high light intensity (150 μmol m -2  s -1 ) LEDs on day 7 and low light intensity (50 μmol m -2  s -1 ) LEDs on day 11 during cultivation, but the power efficiencies of biomass and fatty acid (specifically eicosapentaenoic acid) production were higher for low light intensity. Interestingly, low light intensity enhanced both, carotenoid power efficiency of carotenoid biosynthesis and yield. White LEDs were neither advantageous for biomass and fatty acid yields, nor the power efficiency of biomass, fatty acid, and carotenoid production. Noticeably, red LED resulted in the highest biomass and fatty acid power efficiency, suggesting that LEDs can be fine-tuned to grow Nannochloropsis algae more energy-efficiently. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technical efficiency in pig production in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was designed to measure the level of technical efficiency and its determinants in pig production in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria using a stochastic frontier production function. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select 60 pig farms from which input-output data were collected in 2004. The estimated ...

Crossbreeding to increase beef production: Additive and non ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Fitness is of paramount importance to efficient and profitable beef production. Thus, the objective of this study was to estimate genetic components of fitness traits measured in Afrikaner (A), Brahman (B), Charolais (C), Hereford (H) and Simmentaler (S). For this study, the fitness traits recorded were percentage of cows ...

Evaluating multiple indices of agricultural water use efficiency and productivity to improve comparisons between sites and trends

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, M. C.

2012-12-01

Approximately 70% of global available freshwater supplies are used in the agricultural sector. Increased demands for water to meet growing population food requirements, and expected changes in the reliability of freshwater supplies due to climate change, threaten the sustainability of water supplies worldwide - not only on farms, but in connected cities and industries. Researchers concerned with agricultural water use sustainability use a variety of theoretical and empirical measures of efficiency and productivity to gain insight into the sustainability of agricultural water use. However, definitions of measures, or indices, vary between different natural and political boundaries, across regions, states and nations and between their respective research, industry, and environmental groups. Index development responds to local data availability and local agendas, and there is debate about the validity of various indices. However, real differences in empirical index measures are not well-understood across the multiple disciplines that study agricultural water use, including engineering and hydrology, agronomy, climate and soil sciences, and economics. Nevertheless reliable, accessible, and generalizable indices are required for planners and policymakers to promote sustainable water use systems. This study synthesizes a set of water use efficiency and productivity indices based on academic, industry and government literature in California and Australia, two locations with similarly water-stressed and valuable agricultural industries under pressure to achieve optimal water use efficiency and productivity. Empirical data at the irrigation district level from the California San Joaquin Valley and Murray Darling Basin states of Victoria and New South Wales in Australia are used to compute indices that estimate efficiency, yield productivity, and economic productivity of agricultural water use. Multiple index estimates of same time-series data demonstrate historical spread

Development, Qualification and Production of Space Solar Cells with 30% EOL Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Guter, Wolfgang; Ebel, Lars; Fuhrmann, Daniel; Kostler, Wolfgang; Meusel, Matthias

2014-08-01

AZUR SPACE's latest qualified solar cell product 3G30-advanced provides a high end-of-life (EOL) efficiency of 27.8% for 5E14 (1 MeV e-/cm2) at low production costs. In order to further reduce the mass, the 3G30-advanced was thinned down to as thin as 20 μm and tested in space. Next generation solar cells must exceed the EOL efficiency of the 3G30-advanced and therefore will utilize the excess current of the Ge subcell. This can be achieved by a metamorphic cell concept. While average beginning-of-life efficiencies above 31% have already been demonstrated with upright metamorphic triple-junction cells, AZUR's next generation product will comprise a metamorphic 4- junction device targeting 30% EOL.

Energy Efficiency for Biodiesel Production by Combining Two Orifices in Hydrodynamic Cavitation Reactor

OpenAIRE

Mahlinda, Mahlinda; Djafar, Fitriana

2014-01-01

Research of energy efficiency for biodiesel production process by combining two orifices on  hydrodynamic cavitation reactor had been carried out. The aim of this reseach was to studied effect of the number of orifices toward increasing temperature without using external energy source to produce biodiesel that generated by cavitation effects on orifices. The results of preliminary research showed by combining two orifices arranged in series can produce the highest thermal energy reached 48oC....

Crop and soil specific N and P efficiency and productivity in Finland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bäckman, S.; Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.

2005-01-01

This paper estimates a stochastic production frontier based on experimental data of cereals production in Finland over the period 1977-1994. The estimates of the production frontier are used to analyze nitrogen and phosphorous productivity and efficiency differences between soils and crops. For this

Achieving energy efficiency through product policy: the UK experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boardman, Brenda

2004-01-01

The focus of this paper is on energy efficiency of domestic equipment. It is contended that, in the UK and--by extension--elsewhere. Government has to take the lead in defining low-energy standards for products. In the absence of policy, manufacturers do not recognize the need for carbon reductions in the equipment they design and consumers are unaware of the variation in energy performance in the product range. At present, neither market pull nor technology push can be relied upon to deliver energy savings. The imposition of a weak minimum standard on domestic fridges and freezers in 1999 will, over the lifetime of the appliances already sold by December 2002, save 1 Mt C of carbon dioxide at nil cost to government or to the manufacturers, and a net benefit to consumers of pound 855 m: a highly cost-effective policy. The difference between energy efficiency and energy conservation is that it takes time for the cumulative benefits of an energy efficiency improvement to result in the maximum effect on energy demand reduction: the benefits of the 1999 energy efficiency standard will accumulate until at least 2020. This period is equivalent to the cycle of stock replacement for that particular object. The final level of energy conservation depends upon the offsetting effects of growth in ownership levels and the size of new equipment purchases

Increasing Biogas Production Rate from Cattle Manure Using Rumen Fluid as Inoculums

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Budiyono Budiyono

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 In this study, rumen fluid of animal ruminant was used as inoculums to increase biogas production rate from cattle manure at mesophilic condition. A series of laboratory experiments using 400 ml biodigester were performed in batch operation mode. Given 100 grams of fresh cattle manure (M was fed to each biodigester and mixed with rumen fluid (R and tap water (W in several ratio resulting six different M:W:R ratio contents i.e. 1:1:0; 1:0.75:0.25; 1:0.5:0.5; 1:0.25:0.75; and 1:0:1 (correspond to 0; 12.5; 25, 37.5; 50, and 100 % rumen, respectively and six different total solid (TS contents i.e. 2.6, 4.6, 6.2, 7.4, 9.2, 12.3, and 18.4 %. The operating temperatures were at room temperature. The results showed that the rumen fluid inoculated to biodigester significantly effected the biogas production. Rumen fluid inoculums caused biogas production rate and efficiency increase more than two times in compare to manure substrate without rumen fluid inoculums. The best performance for biogas production was the digester with rumen fluid and TS content in the range of 25-50 % and 7.4 and 9.2 %, respectively. These results suggest that, based on TS content effects to biogas yield, rumen fluid inoculums exhibit the similar effect with other inoculums. Increasing rumen content will also increase biogas production. Due to the optimum total solid (TS content for biogas production between 7-9 % (or correspond to more and less manure and total liquid 1:1, the rumen fluid content of 50 % will give the best performance for biogas production. The future work will be carried out to study the dynamics of biogas production if both the rumen fluid inoculums and manure are fed in the continuous system Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Doi: 10.12777/ijse.6.1.31-38 [How to cite this article: Budiyono, Widiasa, I.N., Johari, S. and Sunarso. (2014. Increasing Biogas

Small Ruminant Production System Efficiency under Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Arid Land Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eihab Fathelrahman

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Sheep and goat production systems in the United Arab Emirates (UAE operate under scarce natural resource constraints. A cross-sectional survey that covered 661 mixed farms, including major sheep and goat production, was conducted in the three regions of Abu Dhabi Emirate (Al-Ain, Western Region and Abu Dhabi city during 2012. A Cobb-Douglas, double-logarithmic stochastic frontier production function and maximum likelihood estimation were applied to estimate important economic derivatives and the associated risk of small ruminant production in this arid area. The highest impact of an input on the output level was found to be labor for raising sheep and alfalfa grass for raising goats. Both labor and alfalfa variables were found to be overutilized for sheep and goat production, respectively. Overall, the results indicate that average technical efficiency is 0.62 for raising sheep and only 0.34 for raising goats in the study area. Technical efficiency analysis included measuring the frequency of farms at each level of estimated technical efficiency in the range between zero and one. Zero for the technical efficiency coefficient indicates a lack of technical efficiency in resource use. The results of this study indicated that only 1% of the sheep farms show a technical efficiency coefficient of 0.25 or less; the same can be said for 41% of goat producers. However, these technical efficiencies were found to be more than 0.75 for 12% and 5% of the sheep and goat farms, respectively. Overall, goat farming in the UAE was found to be less efficient than sheep production. The results also indicated that flock size and type of breed were the most influential factors relative to other factors, and both show a positive relationship with technical efficiency. Other than flock size, factors, such as owners’ years of experience and management practices, were found to be more influential on goat farming system efficiency relative to sheep farming.

Studying the Efficiency of Industrial Dairy Farms of Saqqez and Divandarreh Cities: Using Super-Efficiency Approach

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S.J. Mohammadi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: In the developed world, particularly in developing countries, livestock is the most important agricultural sub-sector.Livestock of primary and secondary industries has an especial place in the national economybecause of their greatvalue of products, creating job opportunities, providing health products for consumers, increasing export income of the economy throughaccessing global markets of livestock products and finally their undeniable role in acquiring food security.The demand for milk in Iran increased due to an increase in population and the amount of milk production was also increased. The great share of increased produced milk goes to the industrial dairy farms. One of the major methods to increase the amount of milk production continually is to make its production efficient and improve economic conditions. The current study attempts to determine the efficiency and ranking of industrial dairy farms in Saqqez and Divandarreh cities using super-efficiency model. Materials and Methods: The statistical populations of the study are all active industrial dairy farms of Saqqez and Divandarreh cities which are about 19 farms. The required data for calculating the efficiency were gathered by surveying and completing questionnaires for the year 2013. In this study first, for each farm Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA method and GAMS software package were used to estimate super efficiency. Super efficiency is a form of modified DEA model in which each farm can get an efficiency greater than one. Then in order to make sure about being unbiased the obtained super-efficiency scores, the modified model of Banker and Gifford, was re-estimated and the conventional efficiency scores of farms were compared by normalizing and removing some of the scores of outlier farm based on pre-selected screens. The model has suggested conditions for which some of the estimates for dairy farms might have been contaminated with error.As a t result, it has been

Engineering management technologies of increasing energy efficiency processes in the investment and construction projects

Science.gov (United States)

Borisovich Zelentsov, Leonid; Dmitrievna Mailyan, Liya; Sultanovich Shogenov, Murat

2017-10-01

The article deals with the problems of using the energy-efficient materials and engineering technologies during the construction of buildings and structures. As the analysis showed, one of the most important problems in this sphere is the infringement of production technologies working with energy-efficient materials. To improve the given situation, it is offered to set a technological normal at the design stage by means of working out the technological maps studying the set and the succession of operations in details, taking in mind the properties of energy-efficient materials. At Don State Technical University (DSTU) the intelligent systems of management are being developed providing organizational and technological and also informational integration of design and production stages by means of creating the single database of technological maps, volumes of work and resources.

A comprehensive analysis of China's regional energy saving and emission reduction efficiency: From production and treatment perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Jie; Lv, Lin; Sun, Jiasen; Ji, Xiang

2015-01-01

Energy and environmental issues have recently aroused increasing interest in China and many approaches are used to evaluate energy and environmental performance. In this paper, a two-stage network DEA framework is applied to evaluate the efficiency of energy saving and emission reduction in China during the period of the eleventh five-year plan, from 2006 to 2010. In this study, economic activities are divided into production and treatment processes. This is different from previous research which generally focused on either environmental efficiency or energy efficiency, omitting the integration of energy and environmental measures. Today, energy saving and emission reduction are both parts of the basic state policy of China and are equally important. The empirical results in this study show that: (i) eastern China has the best energy saving and emission reduction efficiency, performing is better than western and central China. (ii) The efficiency of the production process in central China is better than that in western China while the western area performs better than the central area in term of treatment efficiency. (iii) Integrated efficiency of energy saving and emission reduction of China was relatively stable in the five years and the pollution treatment efficiency maintained a rising trend. -- Highlights: •We measured China's regional energy saving and emission reduction efficiency using two-stage DEA approach. •The production and treatment processes are incorporated in evaluation. •Eastern China performs best in terms of energy saving and emission reduction efficiency. •Integrated efficiency of energy saving and emission reduction of China kept a stable trend during 2006–2010

Breed of cow and herd productivity affect milk nutrient recovery in curd, and cheese yield, efficiency and daily production.

Science.gov (United States)

Stocco, G; Cipolat-Gotet, C; Gasparotto, V; Cecchinato, A; Bittante, G

2018-02-01

Little is known about cheese-making efficiency at the individual cow level, so our objective was to study the effects of herd productivity, individual herd within productivity class and breed of cow within herd by producing, then analyzing, 508 model cheeses from the milk of 508 cows of six different breeds reared in 41 multi-breed herds classified into two productivity classes (high v. low). For each cow we obtained six milk composition traits; four milk nutrient (fat, protein, solids and energy) recovery traits (REC) in curd; three actual % cheese yield traits (%CY); two theoretical %CYs (fresh cheese and cheese solids) calculated from milk composition; two overall cheese-making efficiencies (% ratio of actual to theoretical %CYs); daily milk yield (dMY); and three actual daily cheese yield traits (dCY). The aforementioned phenotypes were analyzed using a mixed model which included the fixed effects of herd productivity, parity, days in milk (DIM) and breed; the random effects were the water bath, vat, herd and residual. Cows reared in high-productivity herds yielded more milk with higher nutrient contents and more cheese per day, had greater theoretical %CY, and lower cheese-making efficiency than low-productivity herds, but there were no differences between them in terms of REC traits. Individual herd within productivity class was an intermediate source of total variation in REC, %CY and efficiency traits (10.0% to 17.2%), and a major source of variation in milk yield and dCY traits (43.1% to 46.3%). Parity of cows was an important source of variation for productivity traits, whereas DIM affected almost all traits. Breed within herd greatly affected all traits. Holsteins produced more milk, but Brown Swiss cows produced milk with higher actual and theoretical %CYs and cheese-making efficiency, so that the two large-framed breeds had the same dCY. Compared with the two large-framed breeds, the small Jersey cows produced much less milk, but with greater actual

Increasing vaccine production using pulsed ultrasound waves.

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Jida Xing

Full Text Available Vaccination is a safe and effective approach to prevent deadly diseases. To increase vaccine production, we propose that a mechanical stimulation can enhance protein production. In order to prove this hypothesis, Sf9 insect cells were used to evaluate the increase in the expression of a fusion protein from hepatitis B virus (HBV S1/S2. We discovered that the ultrasound stimulation at a frequency of 1.5 MHz, intensity of 60 mW/cm2, for a duration of 10 minutes per day increased HBV S1/S2 by 27%. We further derived a model for transport through a cell membrane under the effect of ultrasound waves, tested the key assumptions of the model through a molecular dynamics simulation package, NAMD (Nanoscale Molecular Dynamics program and utilized CHARMM force field in a steered molecular dynamics environment. The results show that ultrasound waves can increase cell permeability, which, in turn, can enhance nutrient / waste exchange thus leading to enhanced vaccine production. This finding is very meaningful in either shortening vaccine production time, or increasing the yield of proteins for use as vaccines.

Increasing the efficiency of solar thermal panels

Science.gov (United States)

Dobrnjac, M.; Latinović, T.; Dobrnjac, S.; Živković, P.

2016-08-01

The popularity of solar heating systems is increasing for several reasons. These systems are reliable, adaptable and pollution-free, because the renewable solar energy is used. There are many variants of solar systems in the market mainly constructed with copper pipes and absorbers with different quality of absorption surface. Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of existing solutions, in order to increase efficiency and improve the design of solar panel, the innovative solution has been done. This new solar panel presents connection of an attractive design and the use of constructive appropriate materials with special geometric shapes. Hydraulic and thermotechnical tests that have been performed on this panel showed high hydraulic and structural stability. Further development of the solar panel will be done in the future in order to improve some noticed disadvantages.

Technical efficiency of certified maize seed in Palpa district, Nepal: A stochastic frontier production approach

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Mahima Bajracharya

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The cereal crop, maize is regarded as staple food mainly in hill areas of Nepal. Seed is one of the vital input which determines the production and yield of any crop. Farmers are found using the required inputs in haphazard way which had increased the cost of production and inefficiency of resources used. The study on seed sector is limited. For such a backdrop, this study was aimed to assess the level of technical efficiency (TE of certified maize seed production. The total of 164 certified seed producer were interviewed in June, 2016 using simple random sampling technique in Palpa district of Nepal. The result revealed that increase in amount of seed and labor by one percent would increase the yield of certified maize seed by 0.29 and 0.34 percent respectively. The TE was estimated using stochastic production frontier model in Stata software. The average TE was found 70 percent which revealed the scope of increasing TE by 30 percent using the existing available resources. There were about 29 percent farmers who had TE of ≥0.7-0.8 followed by 27.44 percent at ≥0.8-0.9. Government and other stakeholders should prioritize to provide technical knowledge via training and increase the visit of extension worker to increase TE of certified maize seed producer in the district.

Potential benefits from improved energy efficiency of key electrical products: The case of India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McNeil, Michael A.; Iyer, Maithili; Meyers, Stephen; Letschert, Virginie E.; McMahon, James E.

2008-01-01

The economy of the world's second most populous country continues to grow rapidly, bringing prosperity to a growing middle class while further straining an energy infrastructure already stretched beyond capacity. At the same time, efficiency policy initiatives have gained a foothold in India, and promise to grow in number over the coming years. This paper considers the maximum cost-effective potential of efficiency improvement for key energy-consuming products in the Indian context. The products considered are: household refrigerators, window air conditioners, motors and distribution transformers. Together, these products account for about 27% of delivered electricity consumption in India. The analysis estimates the minimum Life-Cycle Cost option for each product class, according to use patterns and prevailing customer marginal rates in each sector. This option represents an efficiency improvement ranging between 12% and 60%, depending on product class. If this level of efficiency was achieved starting in 2010, we estimate that total electricity consumption in India could be reduced by 4.7% by 2020, saving over 74 million tons of oil equivalent and over 246 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Net present financial savings of this efficiency improvement totals 8.1 billion dollars

Increasing efficiency through integrated energy data management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brack, M.

2002-01-01

This article discusses how improved management of energy data can bring about the increase in efficiency that is necessary for an electricity enterprise operating in a liberalised electricity market. The relevant technical and business processes involved for a typical power distribution utility are described. The present situation is reviewed and the various physical, data-logistics and commercial 'domains' involved are examined. Possible solutions for energy data logistics and integrated data management are discussed from the points of view of the operating utility, the power supplier and those responsible for balancing out supply and demand

[Efficiency of application of the enriched bakery products in children nutrition].

Science.gov (United States)

Koryachkina, S Ya; Ladnova, O L; Lublinsky, S L; Kholodova, E N

2015-01-01

The results of the research devoted to an assessment of efficiency of application of the enriched bakery products in nutrition of school students have been presented. Composition and technology of the enriched bakery products have been developed. The influence of enrichers on the basis of proteins of whey, plasma of blood, hemoglobin, calcium and iodinated components and food fibers on the nutritive and energy value of bakery products has been defined. The consumption of 100 g of the enriched bakery products provides a significant amount of protein--12.5-23% of the recommended daily intake (RDI), to satisfy daily need of school students in calcium up to 13.4%, in iron--up to 20%, iodine--12.5% and food fibers--17.3%. When comparing blood hemoglobin content in school students after inclusion in a diet of the enriched bakery products, the lack of significant changes of this indicator in children with normal hemoglo- bin content has been determined that is the confirmation of safety of use of the products enriched with hem iron. At the same time, normalization of hemoglobin level in children (9.7%) with the initial threshold and lowered hemoglobin indicators is noted. The reliable increase in the content of hemoglobin in this group of children from 112 ± 3 to 131 ± 6 g/l was established (p ≤ 0.05). Positive dynamics of the content of iodine in urine at school students with initial deficiency of iodine under administration of the bread enriched with iodine has been defined. Ioduria indicators authentically increased from 88 ± 10 to 116 ± 9 mkg/l (p ≤ 0.05). Before diet correction in 53 from 59 children surveyed in the Stavropol region, a mild lack of iodine has been revealed (iodine levels less than 100 mkg/l urine), while after bread intake--only in 7 (11.9%) students.

Russian crude-oil production and export still increasing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Purho, P.

2001-01-01

Russian crude-oil production is still increasing. In 2000 the annual production 6.48 mb/d was about 6% higher than a year before. In 2001 the production is expected to rise near the level 7 mb/d, so the increase in production volume is fast. However, the production is still far away from the maximum level of the former Soviet Union, 12 mb/d. At the moment Russia is the second largest oil producer right after Saudi Arabia. The increase in production is based on intensified use of old oil fields caused by improved technology. The oil export of Russia far abroad in 2000 was 2.5 mb/d and near abroad into FSU countries only about 180 000 b/d. The recent export of crude-oil has been near the maximum export capacity corresponding to 2.7 mb/d. About 61 million tons of oil products were exported in 2000, and even the export of oil products is increasing. Most of this was gas oil and heavy fuel oil, but also the export of gasoline was significant. The export of oil and oil products is mainly based on shipments, but also the share of train transport is high. Nearly all the crude oil is transported west either by ships or via pipelines. The share of railway transport is only few percents. Russia will continue its own oil pumping policy despite of the appeals of OPEC for reduction of oil production. Opinion in Russia is that if the increase of production and export serves the interests of Russia, it will also be carried out. The target value for crude oil for 2002 is 22 USD per barrel. The Russian crude oil production is estimated to grow up to 7.4 - 8.4 mb/d by the year 2010

DEPENDENCE OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND COST OF PRODUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Sklyarov

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Economic systems exist on condition of receipt and spending of energy. Energy consumption is a necessary condition for the existence and functioning of the economic systems of any scale: macroeconomics, microeconomics, regional economy or the world economy.The economic system operates on the scale at which it is able to produce energy and get access to energy. Moreover, receipt and consumption of energy in the operation of the economic system is mainly determined by, the level of energy production from energy sources, since this level is determined by the level of energy consumption by industries and enterprises of the economy.Currently, the economic system does not produce energy in reserve. Thus, the question of energy effi ciency and energy saving was always acute.The article describes the energy efficiency and energy saving effect on the cost of production. Were used two methods: “costs and release” matrix and “price - value added” matrix. The result is the equation of dependence of energy efficiency and costs.

Auto-flotation of heterocyst enables the efficient production of renewable energy in cyanobacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ming; Li, Jihong; Zhang, Lei; Chang, Sandra; Liu, Chen; Wang, Jianlong; Li, Shizhong

2014-02-06

Utilizing cyanobacteria as a bioenergy resource is difficult due to the cost and energy consuming harvests of microalgal biomass. In this study, an auto-floating system was developed by increasing the photobiological H2 production in the heterocysts of filamentous cyanobacteria. An amount of 1.0 μM of diuron, which inhibited O2 production in cyanobacteria, resulted in a high rate of H2 production in heterocysts. The auto-floating process recovered 91.71% ± 1.22 of the accumulated microalgal biomass from the liquid media. Quantification analysis revealed that 0.72-1.10 μmol H2 per mg dry weight microalgal biomass was necessary to create this auto-floating system. Further bio-conversion by using anaerobic digestion converted the harvested microalgal biomass into biogas. Through this novel coupled system of photobiological H2 production and anaerobic digestion, a high level of light energy conversion efficiency from solar energy to bioenergy was attained with the values of 3.79% ± 0.76.

Technology intervention to improve the energy efficiency and productivity of silk reeling sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dhingra, Sunil; Mande, Sanjay; Raman, P.; Srinivas, S.N.; Kishore, V.V.N.

2004-01-01

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has been actively involved in development of biomass gasifier system for thermal and power generation use. Though the basic science of gasification is well established, there have not many efforts in the past on product development. By continuous interaction with users, silk experts and consultants, TERI could able to develop a gasifier based silk reeling oven. A major thrust on this development work was to evolve marketable product by continued efforts to gain an insight of the actual process and user feedback through an extended presence and interaction at field level, and then translating this experience in product design. The present paper gives a summary of design, development and testing of gasifier based cottage basin system for cocoon cooking in silk reeling industry in order to achieve higher fuel efficiency and increase productivity of the process. The paper describes in detail the approach of different technology development stages, its testing both at laboratory and field and economic viability of the system

Evaluation of the efficiency of alternative enzyme production technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Albaek, M.O.

2012-03-15

Enzymes are used in an increasing number of industries. The application of enzymes is extending into the production of lignocellulosic ethanol in processes that economically can compete with fossil fuels. Since lignocellulosic ethanol is based on renewable resources it will have a positive impact on for example the emission of green house gasses. Cellulases and hemi-cellulases are used for enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass, and fermentable sugars are released upon the enzymatic process. Even though many years of research has decreased the amount of enzyme needed in the process, the cost of enzymes is still considered a bottleneck in the economic feasibility of lignocellulose utilization. The purpose of this project was to investigate and compare different technologies for production of these enzymes. The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei is currently used for industrial production of cellulases and hemi-cellulases. The aim of the thesis was to use modeling tools to identify alternative technologies that have higher energy or raw material efficiency than the current technology. The enzyme production by T. reesei was conducted as an aerobic fed-batch fermentation. The process was carried out in pilot scale stirred tank reactors and based on a range of different process conditions, a process model was constructed which satisfactory described the course of fermentation. The process was governed by the rate limiting mass transfer of oxygen from the gas to the liquid phase. During fermentation, filamentous growth of the fungus lead to increased viscosity which hindered mass transfer. These mechanisms were described by a viscosity model based on the biomass concentration of the fermentation broth and a mass transfer correlation that incorporated a viscosity term. An analysis of the uncertainty and sensitivity of the model indicated the biological parameters to be responsible for most of the model uncertainty. A number of alternative

A MEPS is a MEPS is a MEPS. Comparing Ecodesign and Top Runner schemes for setting product efficiency standards

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siderius, P.J.S. [NL Agency, Croeselaan 15, P.O. Box 8242, 3503 RE Utrecht (Netherlands); Nakagami, H. [Jyukankyo Research Institute, 3-29, Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, 102-0094 (Japan)

2013-02-15

Both Top Runner in Japan and Ecodesign in the European Union are schemes to set requirements on the energy efficiency (minimum efficiency performance standards, MEPS) of a variety of products. This article provides an overview of the main characteristics and results of both schemes and gives recommendations for improving them. Both schemes contribute significantly to the energy efficiency targets set by the European Commission and the Japanese government. Although it is difficult to compare the absolute levels of the requirements, comparison of the relative improvements and of the savings on household electricity consumption (11 % in Japan, 16 % in the EU) suggest they are in the same range. Furthermore, the time needed to set or review requirements is in both schemes considerable (between 5 and 6 years on average) and the manageability increasingly will become a challenge. The appeal of the Top Runner approach is that the most efficient product (Top Runner) sets the standard for all products at the next target year. Although the Ecodesign scheme includes the elements for a Top Runner approach, it could exploit this principle more explicitly. On the other hand, the Top Runner scheme could benefit by using a real minimum efficiency performance standard instead of a fleet average. This would make the monitoring and enforcement more simple and transparent, and would open the scheme for products where the market situation is less clear.

Electronic medical records and efficiency and productivity during office visits.

Science.gov (United States)

Furukawa, Michael F

2011-04-01

To estimate the relationship between electronic medical record (EMR) use and efficiency of utilization and provider productivity during visits to US office-based physicians. Cross-sectional analysis of the 2006-2007 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The sample included 62,710 patient visits to 2625 physicians. EMR systems included demographics, clinical notes, prescription orders, and laboratory and imaging results. Efficiency was measured as utilization of examinations, laboratory tests, radiology procedures, health education, nonmedication treatments, and medications. Productivity was measured as total services provided per 20-minute period. Survey-weighted regressions estimated association of EMR use with services provided, visit intensity/duration, and productivity. Marginal effects were estimated by averaging across all visits and by major reason for visit. EMR use was associated with higher probability of any examination (7.7%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.4%, 13.1%); any laboratory test (5.7%, 95% CI = 2.6%, 8.8%); any health education (4.9%, 95% CI = 0.2%, 9.6%); and fewer laboratory tests (-7.1%, 95% CI = -14.2%, -0.1%). During pre/post surgery visits, EMR use was associated with 7.3% (95% CI= -12.9%, -1.8%) fewer radiology procedures. EMR use was not associated with utilization of nonmedication treatments and medications, or visit duration. During routine visits for a chronic problem, EMR use was associated with 11.2% (95% CI = 5.7%, 16.8%) more diagnostic/screening services provided per 20-minute period. EMR use had a mixed association with efficiency and productivity during office visits. EMRs may improve provider productivity, especially during visits for a new problem and routine chronic care.

Industrial policy, production efficiency improvement and the Chinese county economic growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Zhenhua

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims at analyzing the difference in the level of economic development between China’s counties from the two perspectives of industrial policy and production efficiency. Based on panel data of 1830 Chinese counties, this study employs the new classical economic growth theory framework to analyze the counties’ economic growth by the perpetual inventory method, Malmquist index, among others. The results show that the economy of the counties exhibits δ convergence since 2004, and the absolute differences in the different counties are expanding. Industrial policy ensures the additional deepening of the level of capital in the county. Additionally, a substantial difference was observed between the agricultural sector and the non-agricultural sector, whereby the total factor productivity and the technical efficiency are on the rise, resulting in the phenomenon of dual paths of technological progress. In summary, the capital deepening difference between the sectors, production efficiency, and dual paths of technological progress owing to the counties’ industrial policy are the basic reasons for the regional differences in the level of economic development in China.

[Initiatives to increase the efficiency of dermatological patient care

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kerkhof, P.C.M. van de

2006-01-01

The number of tasks required of dermatologists has increased in the last decade. This article discusses potential ways to enhance the efficiency ofdermatological patient care and prevent problems of capacity. A study conducted in the UK found that, for the top 10 skin disorders, the accessibility of

The role of technology, product lifetime, and energy efficiency in climate mitigation: A case study of air conditioners in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishijima, Daisuke

2017-01-01

This study analyzed the impact on the life-cycle CO_2 emissions derived from a specific durable good (i.e., household air conditioners in this study) of industrial technology changes, product lifetime changes, and energy efficiency improvements. I proposed a comprehensive structural decomposition analysis including two factors of average lifetime and energy efficiency trend of household air conditioners and applied the decomposition method to the Japanese environmental input-output tables of 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005. The empirical results show that “Household air-conditioner sector” itself contributed to reducing life-cycle CO_2 emissions derived from household air conditioners, while other sectors such as “On-site power generation sector” and “Retail trade sector” contributed to increasing life-cycle CO_2 emissions derived from household air conditioners. I also conducted combined scenario analysis about reduction potential of product lifetime and energy efficiency of air conditioners and the results showed the reduction rate of energy efficiency necessary for maintain CO_2 emissions in 2005 at 1990 level on each average lifetime scenario. (e.g. if average lifetime of air conditioners is shortened by 1 year, energy efficiency of air conditioners have to be further improved by 20.6% from current level. - Highlights: • This study provides a decomposition framework for air conditioner’s CO_2 emissions. • Technology, product lifetime and energy efficiency are considered in the framework. • “Household air conditioner” sector contributed to reducing CO_2 emissions largely. • “On-site power generation” indirectly contributed to increasing CO_2 emissions. • I showed the improvement rates of energy efficiency to achieve a reduction target.

LHCSR Expression under HSP70/RBCS2 Promoter as a Strategy to Increase Productivity in Microalgae

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Federico Perozeni

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Microalgae are unicellular photosynthetic organisms considered as potential alternative sources for biomass, biofuels or high value products. However, limited biomass productivity is commonly experienced in their cultivating system despite their high potential. One of the reasons for this limitation is the high thermal dissipation of the light absorbed by the outer layers of the cultures exposed to high light caused by the activation of a photoprotective mechanism called non-photochemical quenching (NPQ. In the model organism for green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, NPQ is triggered by pigment binding proteins called light-harvesting-complexes-stress-related (LHCSRs, which are over-accumulated in high light. It was recently reported that biomass productivity can be increased both in microalgae and higher plants by properly tuning NPQ induction. In this work increased light use efficiency is reported by introducing in C. reinhardtii a LHCSR3 gene under the control of Heat Shock Protein 70/RUBISCO small chain 2 promoter in a npq4 lhcsr1 background, a mutant strain knockout for all LHCSR genes. This complementation strategy leads to a low expression of LHCSR3, causing a strong reduction of NPQ induction but is still capable of protecting from photodamage at high irradiance, resulting in an improved photosynthetic efficiency and higher biomass accumulation.

LHCSR Expression under HSP70/RBCS2 Promoter as a Strategy to Increase Productivity in Microalgae.

Science.gov (United States)

Perozeni, Federico; Stella, Giulio Rocco; Ballottari, Matteo

2018-01-05

Microalgae are unicellular photosynthetic organisms considered as potential alternative sources for biomass, biofuels or high value products. However, limited biomass productivity is commonly experienced in their cultivating system despite their high potential. One of the reasons for this limitation is the high thermal dissipation of the light absorbed by the outer layers of the cultures exposed to high light caused by the activation of a photoprotective mechanism called non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). In the model organism for green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , NPQ is triggered by pigment binding proteins called light-harvesting-complexes-stress-related (LHCSRs), which are over-accumulated in high light. It was recently reported that biomass productivity can be increased both in microalgae and higher plants by properly tuning NPQ induction. In this work increased light use efficiency is reported by introducing in C. reinhardtii a LHCSR3 gene under the control of Heat Shock Protein 70 / RUBISCO small chain 2 promoter in a npq4 lhcsr1 background, a mutant strain knockout for all LHCSR genes. This complementation strategy leads to a low expression of LHCSR3 , causing a strong reduction of NPQ induction but is still capable of protecting from photodamage at high irradiance, resulting in an improved photosynthetic efficiency and higher biomass accumulation.

Bootstrapping data envelopment analysis of efficiency and productivity of county public hospitals in Eastern, Central, and Western China after the public hospital reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Man-Li; Fang, Hai-Qing; Tao, Hong-Bing; Cheng, Zhao-Hui; Lin, Xiao-Jun; Cai, Miao; Xu, Chang; Jiang, Shuai

2017-10-01

China implemented the public hospital reform in 2012. This study utilized bootstrapping data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the technical efficiency (TE) and productivity of county public hospitals in Eastern, Central, and Western China after the 2012 public hospital reform. Data from 127 county public hospitals (39, 45, and 43 in Eastern, Central, and Western China, respectively) were collected during 2012-2015. Changes of TE and productivity over time were estimated by bootstrapping DEA and bootstrapping Malmquist. The disparities in TE and productivity among public hospitals in the three regions of China were compared by Kruskal-Wallis H test and Mann-Whitney U test. The average bias-corrected TE values for the four-year period were 0.6442, 0.5785, 0.6099, and 0.6094 in Eastern, Central, and Western China, and the entire country respectively, with average non-technical efficiency, low pure technical efficiency (PTE), and high scale efficiency found. Productivity increased by 8.12%, 0.25%, 12.11%, and 11.58% in China and its three regions during 2012-2015, and such increase in productivity resulted from progressive technological changes by 16.42%, 6.32%, 21.08%, and 21.42%, respectively. The TE and PTE of the county hospitals significantly differed among the three regions of China. Eastern and Western China showed significantly higher TE and PTE than Central China. More than 60% of county public hospitals in China and its three areas operated at decreasing return scales. There was a considerable space for TE improvement in county hospitals in China and its three regions. During 2012-2015, the hospitals experienced progressive productivity; however, the PTE changed adversely. Moreover, Central China continuously achieved a significantly lower efficiency score than Eastern and Western China. Decision makers and administrators in China should identify the causes of the observed inefficiencies and take appropriate measures to increase the efficiency of county

The productive efficiency of organic farming: the case of grape sector in Catalonia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guesmi, B.; Serra, T.; Kallas, Z.; Gil Roig, J. M.

2012-11-01

Knowledge about productivity and efficiency differences between conventional and organic farms has important implications for the evaluation of the economic viability of these two agricultural practices. The main purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency ratings of organic and conventional grape farms in Catalonia. To do so, we fit a stochastic production frontier to cross sectional, farm-level data collected from a sample of 141 Catalan farms that specialize in grape growing. Results show that organic farmers, on average, are more efficient than their conventional counterparts (efficiency ratings are on the order of 0.80 and 0.64, respectively). Apart from adoption of organic practices, experience is also found to improve technical efficiency. Conversely, technical efficiency tends to decrease with the relevance of unpaid family labor, farm location in less favored areas, and farmers strong environmental preservation preferences. (Author) 41 refs.

Cooling Tower Optimization A Simple Way to Generate Green Megawatts and to Increase the Efficiency of a Power Plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strohmer, F.

2014-07-01

The profitability of nuclear power plants is worldwide challenged by low electricity prices. One hand low cost shale gas is offering a low price electricity production , other hand additional taxes on fuel are reducing the operating income of nuclear power stations. The optimization of cooling towers can help to increase the efficiency and profit of a nuclear power plant. (Author)

Energy Efficiency and Scalability of Metallic Nanoparticle Production Using Arc/Spark Discharge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Slotte

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The increased global demand for metallic nanoparticles for an ever growing number of applications has given rise to a need for larger scale and more efficient nanoparticle (NP production processes. In this paper one such process is evaluated from the viewpoints of scalability and energy efficiency. Multiple setups of different scale of an arc/spark process were evaluated for energy efficiency and scalability using exergy analysis, heat loss evaluation and life cycle impact assessment, based on data collected from EU FP7 project partners. The energy efficiency of the process is quite low, with e.g., a specific electricity consumption (SEC of producing ~80 nm copper NP of 180 kWh/kg while the thermodynamic minimum energy need is 0.03 kWh/kg. This is due to thermal energy use characteristics of the system. During scale-up of the process the SEC remained similar to that of smaller setups. Loss of NP mass in the tubing of larger setups gives a lower material yield. The variation in material yield has a significant impact on the life cycle impact for the produced NP in both the Human Health and Ecosystem Quality categories while the impact is smaller in the Global Warming and Resource Depletion categories.

Supplemental irrigation to improve wheat production and water use efficiency under rainfed farming conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hussain, Q.; Bhatti, A.A.; Ahmad, M.M.

2007-01-01

The stochastic behaviors of rainfall pose serious limitations for sustained and profitable crop production in rainfed areas; farmers hesitate to apply fertilizers when they are not sure about rainfall. In view of these limitations a research study was conducted for three years (2003-2006) at field station of Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI), National Agricultural Research Centre(NARC), Islamabad to examine the effects of supplemental irrigation (SI) on wheat production and water use efficiency (WUE). Irrigation treatments employed under the experiment were: i) Rainfed without irrigation and fertilizer application (I/sub 0/); ii) SI of 25 mm was applied to non-fertilizer field at 75% management allowed deficit (MAD)(I/sub 1/); iii) Rainfed with fertilizer application at sowing time (I/sub 2/); and iv) SI of 25 mm was applied at 75% MAD and at the time of fertilizer application as top dressing (I/sub 3/). Supplemental irrigation increased the crop yield during the years 2003-2006 under both fertilizer and non-fertilizer conditions. Increased in grain yield under non-fertilizer conditions (I/sub 1/) ranges between 770-980 kg/ha, which is 27 to 48% higher than the rainfed yield (I/sub 0/). Supplemental irrigation and split application of fertilizer (treatment I/sub 3/) increased in grain yield within the range of 1000-1350 kg/ha, which is 27-49% higher than yield under treatment I/sub 2/. Whereas, due to synergetic effect of supplemental irrigation and fertilizer application, increased in grain yield ranges between 1550-2030 kg/ha, which is 49% to 100% higher than the rainfed and non-fertilizer field. WUE was calculated for rain (WUE/sub r/) for total water (grass: previous soil water storage + rain + irrigation) (WUE/sub g/), for SI water only (WUE/sub si/) and for synergetic effect (SI water + fertilizer application) (WUE/sub sis/) Water use efficiencies namely the WUE/sub r/, WUE/sub g/ and WUE/sub si/ during the period of three years under non fertilizer

PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY OF AGRICULTURAL AND NON AGRICULTURAL BANKS IN THE UNITED STATES: DEA APPROACH

OpenAIRE

Dias, Weeratilake

1998-01-01

Efficient operation of agricultural credit markets is very important both for the producer as well as for the policy makers. DEA approach is used to calculate productivity analysis which allows decomposition of sources of productivity changes into efficiency and technical change. Measured efficiencies are comparable to most recent parametric studies.

Intracellular generation of single-strand template increases the knock-in efficiency by combining CRISPR/Cas9 with AAV.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Qing; Min, Taishan; Ma, Shuangping; Hu, Lingna; Chen, Hongyan; Lu, Daru

2018-04-18

Targeted integration of transgenes facilitates functional genomic research and holds prospect for gene therapy. The established microhomology-mediated end-joining (MMEJ)-based strategy leads to the precise gene knock-in with easily constructed donor, yet the limited efficiency remains to be further improved. Here, we show that single-strand DNA (ssDNA) donor contributes to efficient increase of knock-in efficiency and establishes a method to achieve the intracellular linearization of long ssDNA donor. We identified that the CRISPR/Cas9 system is responsible for breaking double-strand DNA (dsDNA) of palindromic structure in inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) region of recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV), leading to the inhibition of viral second-strand DNA synthesis. Combing Cas9 plasmids targeting genome and ITR with AAV donor delivery, the precise knock-in of gene cassette was achieved, with 13-14% of the donor insertion events being mediated by MMEJ in HEK 293T cells. This study describes a novel method to integrate large single-strand transgene cassettes into the genomes, increasing knock-in efficiency by 13.6-19.5-fold relative to conventional AAV-mediated method. It also provides a comprehensive solution to the challenges of complicated production and difficult delivery with large exogenous fragments.

Dietary ascorbic acid normalizes ribosomal efficiency for collagen production in skin of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneir, M.; Imberman, M.; Ramamurthy, N.; Golub, L.

1987-01-01

The objective of this study was to quantify the contribution of both ribosome amount and ribosomal efficiency to decreased collagen production in skin of diabetic rats and diabetic rats treated with dietary ascorbic acid. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were distributed equally into the following categories: non-diabetic controls; diabetics; ascorbic acid-treated diabetics. On day-20, all rats were injected with ( 3 H)proline and killed after 2 h. Absolute rate of collagen production, ribosome content, and ribosomal efficiency of collagen production were quantified. Also ribosomal efficiency was quantified for ribosomes in sucrose-gradient fractionated post-mitochondrial supernatants. The results indicate that decreased ribosomal efficiency was responsible for 70% of the decreased collagen production with 30% caused by decreased ribosome content, when measured for total skin or sucrose gradient-isolated ribosomes. At both levels of analysis, ascorbic acid treatment normalized ribosomal efficiency, indicating diabetes-mediated decreased ribosomal efficiency for collagen production is related to a co-translational event, such as procollagen underhydroxylation

Non-parametric analysis of production efficiency of poultry egg ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Non-parametric analysis of production efficiency of poultry egg farmers in Delta ... analysis of factors affecting the output of poultry farmers showed that stock ... should be put in place for farmers to learn the best farm practices carried out on the ...

Efficient ethanol production from brown macroalgae sugars by a synthetic yeast platform.