Efficiency Of Projects Research Articles

Future Sustainable Maritime Sector: Energy Efficiency Improvement and Environmental Impact Reduction for Fishing Carriers Older than 20 Years in the Fleet Part II

Abstract For the maritime sector to be sustainable and to have an intact blue economy, shipowners should be ready to implement Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plans alongside energy efficiency projects. The problem for organizations and shipowners having fishing carriers older than 20 years is highlighted and the following challenges arise for decision-making authorities. To keep such ships in the fleet for the next decade, shipowners should deploy energy efficiency projects for marine system retrofitting to improve energy efficiency and meet environmental regulations. An energy audit is performed and an energy efficiency program is proposed with guidelines for regulations that are currently coming into force. To improve energy efficiency, reduce the environmental impact, and cut fuel consumption costs, marine system retrofitting is done, in a particular case, with two options proposed. The first is a cascade refrigeration system with hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide, where the shipowner gains an energy efficiency improvement of about 20%. The second option is a two-stage refrigeration system with ammonium as the environmentally friendly refrigerant, which improves the energy efficiency by about 26%. Technical and economic issues have been discussed.

Enhancing green economic recovery through green bonds financing and energy efficiency investments

This study investigates the effect of green-bond financing on energy efficiency investment for green economic recovery. The fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was used to achieve the research objective. The study’s findings showed that green bonds are currently the primary financing source for energy efficiency projects, enhancing economic growth by 4.9% and potentially increasing green economic recovery by approximately 17% per annum. The fuzzy analysis technique and alternative models of fuzzy modeling were applied in this study. An alternative to project-based financing is energy performance contracts (EPCs). Green bonds also invest in public and private funds for energy efficiency and economic growth. Alternatively, such bonds may finance environmental initiatives or companies. Testing energy-efficiency projects with low payback rates may be expensive. Expanding the green economy through green bonds is essential for financing to successfully promote energy efficiency finance and green growth. This study also has policy implications for stakeholders.

Biosafe Bi2O2Se ultrathin nanosheet for water disinfection via solar-induced photothermal synergistic effect

Solar-induced sterilization via photothermal synergy has attracted enormous attention due to its zero-energy consumption and the elimination of hazardous chemical disinfectant. Herein, we successfully synthesized a super biosafety Bi2O2Se with crossed nanosheet structure (Bi2O2Se-CN) for the sterilization of Escherichia coli (E. coli) via solar-induced photothermal synergistic effect. In comparison to bulk Bi2O2Se, the lower light reflection and more efficient photogenerated charge carrier separation under visible-infrared light irradiation resulted in the excellent sterilization effect of Bi2O2Se-CN, with a sterilization efficiency of 99.9% under the synergistic effect of light and heat. The crossed ultrathin nanosheet structure and suitable band gap width of Bi2O2Se-CN are fundamental reasons for its enhanced light absorption and charge carrier separation efficiency. Mechanistic studies showed that Bi2O2Se-CN can completely inactivate bacteria via generating a large amount of reactive oxygen species (•O2-, •OH, and 1O2) to attack the cell membrane, which further resulted in the reduced activity of intracellular enzymes and the leakage of intracellular contents. The biosafety property of Bi2O2Se-CN was confirmed by in vivo toxicological evaluation on the mice model. This work provided new ideas for the design of more efficient, energy-saving, biocompatible and environmental friendly solar water purification projects.

Enterprise Architecture Approach for Project Management and Project-Based Organizations: A Review

Project-based organizations (PBOs) derive income from conducting projects for their clients. Maintaining the most effective and efficient project governance style is an ongoing process for these organizations as the context continuously changes. Enterprise architecture (EA) is a systemic approach that supports organizations in modeling and describing themselves in different layers, such as strategy, business, application, and technology. This literature review describes the current state of EA usage in improving and quickly revising project management governance in PBOs to benefit practitioners and researchers for an integrated view of EA, PM, and PBO, and identification of future research gaps. This review used an EA model composed of layers as an analytical framework. The extracted bibliometric and content data from selected articles were processed using the VOSviewer tool for identifying and understanding the relationships between main concepts through network mapping. The selected articles are oriented to internal organization projects, mainly in information technology (IT). The need to align projects with business is highlighted, with EA positioned as a governance tool. It was found that application of EA in PBOs is rare. A trend toward using popular PM and EA frameworks, such as PMBOK and ArchiMate, was observed.

An empirical study of emoji use in software development communication

Similar to social media platforms , people use emojis in software development related communication to enrich the context and convey additional emotion. With the increasing emoji use in software development-related communication, it has become important to understand why software developers are using emojis and their impact. Gaining a deeper understanding is essential because the intention of emoji usage might be affected by the demographics and experience of developers; also, frequency and the distribution of emoji usage might change depending on the activity, stage of the development, and nature of the conversation, etc. We present a large-scale empirical study on the intention of emoji usage conducted on 2,712 Open Source Software (OSS) projects. We build a machine learning model to automate classifying the intentions behind emoji usage in 39,980 posts. We also surveyed 60 open-source software developers from 17 countries to understand developers’ perceptions of why and when emojis are used. Our results show that we can classify the intention of emoji usage with high accuracy (AUC of 0.97). In addition, the results indicate that developers use emoji for varying intentions, and emoji usage intention changes throughout a conversation. Our study opens a new avenue in Software Engineering research related to automatically identifying the intention of the emoji use that can help improve the communication efficiency and help project maintainers monitor and ensure the quality of communication. Another thread of future research could look into what intentions of emoji usage or what kind of emojis are more likely to attract users and how that is associated with emoji usage diffusion in different levels (threads, projects, etc.)

EU Financial Instruments in Practice: SMEs’ investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy in Croatia

In the context of the EU development strategy based on a climate neutral economy by 2050, an important dilemma for policy makers is how to provide an incentive for companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to make energy efficiency and renewable energy projects their high priority. The aim of this paper is to provide an independent empirical assessment of EU financial instruments and its barriers, used by SMEs targeting energy efficiency and renewable energy. Ex-Ante evaluation was carried out on a sample of 320 SMEs in Istria County, Croatia. The results of the empirical research suggest that despite of a low interest of investors in green projects, the use of the innovative financial instrument would significantly contribute to an increase in the number and value of investments in energy efficiency and renewables. Similar to most of other studies, our results also confirmed that administrative and bureaucratic barriers are perceived as the biggest obstacle for SMEs. It is therefore necessary to reduce the number of bodies involved, improve the quality of information dissemination and simplify procedures.

A data-driven multicriteria decision making tool for assessing investments in energy efficiency

Mainstreaming energy efficiency financing has been considered a key priority during the last decade among several stakeholders. The capability offered by Multicriteria Decision Analysis to integrate cross-domain financial and energy consumption data, combined with statistical analysis techniques and data abundance, contributes to building the necessary market confidence in energy efficiency projects and make them an attractive investment asset class. In this context, the aim of this paper is to propose a solid methodological framework in order to support the financing procedure of energy efficiency investments, and to identify improved grant financing plans, considering a series of factors which are of vital importance for the sustainability of such actions and the limitation of investment risk. A decision support tool, developed in Python, is presented which implements the suggested methodology, improving the decision making for the investor in terms of the percentage of grant financing per project. The developed methodology has been applied on a reliable dataset of energy efficiency projects from several cities in Latvia, where the actual performance of the investments is exploited. The application of the methodology has resulted in a financing plan which achieves about the same energy savings, while bringing 15% reduction of the energy efficiency investments’ cost.

Critical Factors Influencing the Performance of Highway Projects: An Empirical Evaluation

Highway construction projects have always suffered from cost overruns due to extended project delivery, causing a loss of public funds. Since highways are the backbone of a nation, the purpose of this study is to measure the criticality of the factors that influence the performance of highway projects. A survey instrument was prepared and distributed to 185 project managers. To achieve the aim of the study, exploratory factor analysis was used and the standard factor loading was the criteria to measure the criticality. From the analysis, it was identified that the factors were grouped under four categories: (a) Execution constraints (b) Operational factors, (c) Stakeholder and political constraints, (d) Design Constraints. Further, it was concluded that the complexity of the sub-contractor’s performance, frequent modification in alignment, project design, loopholes in safety, and ambiguities in specifications are the main factors that impact the performance of highway projects. Therefore, it was recommended to develop an efficient project planning methodology which is a continuum of project management skills and tacit knowledge of managing a site which operates efficiently.

The Issue of Post-Industrial Brownfields in Piraeus, Greece: Suggesting International Best Practices in the Era of Globalization

Piraeus, Greece’s capital port city since the ancient times, is now home to many abandoned industrial sites that present an opportunity for revitalization through regeneration. This article presents applications of brownfield regeneration policies from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the EU Brodise Program for the case of Piraeus, Greece. The paper includes a theoretical framework that introduces the historical patterns of development through globalization and changing economic systems that led to the presence of brownfield sites around the world. The research utilizes field work at major brownfield sites in Piraeus including site visits and stakeholder interviews, alongside literature review. The ultimate goal of the article is to exemplify areas of proven brownfield regeneration success internationally that can be applied to future policies to support efficient, transparent, and sustainable regeneration projects in Greece.

The impact of trade, financial development and government integrity on energy efficiency: An analysis from G7-Countries

G7-countries have pivotal collaborations in several domains, including energy efficiency to realize energy security and subside greenhouse gas emissions. In this respect, research on these countries' energy efficiency merits attention. Concurrently, trade is a significant driver for promoting energy-efficient technologies across seven countries. Thus, this study examines the relationship between energy efficiency, trade, financial development, and government integrity of G7 economies for the period spanning 1996 to 2015. The Data Envelopment Analysis is applied to estimate the energy efficiency of these countries. The study employed the Driscoll & Kraay method and found that trade is an effective channel to increase energy efficiency. However, the study established two critical points. Firstly, research and development (innovations) increase trade but not improve energy efficiency. Secondly, governance plays a positive role in boosting trade but is less focused on improving energy efficiency. Moreover, financial development enhances energy efficiency. The study recommends establishing a clear linkage between government integrity and energy efficiency; unless a clean environment is not the government's top priority, the objective of a cleaner environment cannot be achieved. Trade, financial development, and R&D in energy efficiency projects could play a cardinal role.

Mapping the research hotspots and theme trends of simulation in nursing education: A bibliometric analysis from 2005 to 2019

BackgroundSimulation-based nursing training has been used incorporated into nursing education for decades, however, there is limited information related to simulation research hotspots and theme trends over time. ObjectivesTo investigate the research hotspots and theme trends of simulation in nursing education through bibliometric analysis. MethodsRelevant articles on simulation in nursing education published between 2005 and 2019 were retrieved from PubMed. The Bibliographic Item Co-occurrence Matrix Builder (BICOMB) was used to extract and quantitatively analyze the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and subheadings. The biclustering analysis was conducted using gCluto1.0 to identify the research hotspots. A strategic diagram was employed to reveal the development trend of the theme. ResultsA total of 4102 publications were retrieved from PubMed showing an overall increasing trend. Based on the results, the United States was the most productive country (2868,55.7 %), the journal Nurse Education Today journal was the top journal concerning this field, and Cooper SJ and Holtschneider ME were authors with the highest number of publications on this topic. Quantitative and co-word biclustering analyses were used in this study. The research hotspots in recent 5 years were focused on: (1) interprofessional simulation in patient-care teams; (2) patient simulation in psychiatric nursing education; (3) virtual reality simulation (VRS) in midwifery and nursing education; (4) simulation in critical care nurses' continuing education/training, and (5) simulation in pediatric resuscitation education. The strategic diagram showed that the VRS in midwifery and nursing education might have a significant potential to become an emerging hotspot soon. ConclusionThe research literature production of simulation in nursing education was increasing over the past 15 years. Through co-word biclustering analysis, five research hotspots were identified. Among them, simulation in psychiatric education and critical care continuing education had a central priority that researchers should pay further attention to, and VRS could be the major trend for future study. Furthermore, this study described the overall range of research interests and provided ideas for innovative and efficient research projects.

The Role of Non-Energy Impact Assessment in Boosting Energy Efficiency and Urban Regeneration Projects: The RenOnBill Project and Experiences from Liguria Region

Buildings play a significant role in terms of energy consumption and polluting emissions production across Europe and this huge contribution to consumption and environmental impact becomes even more alarming when attention is switched from single buildings to entire urban systems. Although great efforts have been made to support energy efficiency investments, distrust and suspicion are shared attitudes among private investors (and stakeholders in general) towards large-scale implementation of these kinds of projects. Within this framework, on-bill schemes were implemented in the United States more than 30 years ago. In particular, on-bill energy efficiency is a method of financing energy efficiency improvements that uses the utility bill as the repayment vehicle. A detailed analysis of on-bill schemes is currently addressed by the H2020 RenOnBill project, which focuses on these schemes to enhance and support large-scale investments for energy efficiency and deep residential stock renovation. In this study, firstly, the authors focus on assessment methodologies for non-energy benefits of retrofitting projects; then, a case study of the Liguria region (Italy) is examined in depth for its interesting legal framework regarding energy efficiency-led urban regeneration projects. The results deriving from the initial analysis of projects and the case study lead the authors to reiterate that, even today, projects based on energy efficiency usually focus exclusively on energy impacts and that energy performances and urban quality are addressed in separate ways.

Финансовое и налоговое регулирование жилищно-коммунальной сферы: зарубежный опыт

The article is devoted to solving the urgent task of the expanding the sources of extrabudgetary funding of the housing and utilities secor through the use of elements of tax regulation. The purpose of the study is to analyze and summarize the literature on foreign experience in financing and tax regulation of the housing and communal sphere and to assess the possibilities of its application in Russian practice. Methods of comparison, grouping, logical generalization, tabular presentation of data, expert evaluations were used for the study. As a result of the research, the features of the housing and utilities sphere as an object of financial and tax regulation were revealed. The authors characterized the models and methods of financing of sector used in the EU countries, the USA, China and India, including the degree of state intervention, distribution of powers and responsibilities by management levels, use of the mechanism of publicprivate partnership, creation of joint ventures with foreign capital, issue of infrastructure bonds, implementation of energy saving programs. The approaches to issuing municipal infrastructure bonds in the U.S. and India are presented. Attention is focused on the differences in the distribution of EU countries in terms of the volume and structure of the use of the public-private partnership mechanism. The sources of financing for the implementation of energy efficiency projects in the EU countries are systematized. The article analyzes the foreign practice of tax regulation to increase the investment attractiveness of financial instruments in the modernization of utility infrastructure facilities, exemption from taxation of municipal infrastructure bonds in the United States and India, and improving energy efficiency in the housing sector through the use of tax incentives for the implementation of energy efficiency projects and energy service contracts in Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Sweden. The article also substantiates the possibilities of adapting those methods of financial and tax regulation of infrastructure bonds turnover and implementation of energy service contracts to expand non-budgetary sources of the housing and communal sphere financing in the Russian Federation.

Improving value for money through better front-end management: An attempt to reduce costs and increase user benefits in the planning of a motorway project

Low benefit-cost efficiency and cost escalation in transport projects is a challenge in many countries. If costs increase as projects are developed, and if decision-makers are unable to reject projects with a negative value for money, the result can be inefficient resource allocation and waste. In Norway, the government introduced a road reform in 2015 in which one of the key elements was the creation of a state-owned enterprise, Nye Veier AS (English trans. ‘New Roads Ltd’), with responsibility for improving parts of the trunk road network through a portfolio of projects. The enterprise’s main goal is to improve efficiency by reducing costs and increasing user benefits so that a larger proportion of the projects in its given portfolio have a positive net present value. This paper argues that project success depends heavily on choices made in the planning and design phase of the project before implementation. We use a motorway project on the southern coast of Norway as a case example of a project for which Nye Veier set out to improve efficiency through the development of a municipal sector plan that is necessary for final project approval before construction can start. Nye Veier introduced several efficiency-enhancing measures that could provide valuable lessons for other projects, but despite the use of innovative measures and systematically promoting efficiency, the motorway remains negative value for money. We conclude that it is difficult to turn an inefficient solution into an efficient project, especially if traffic levels are low, construction costs are high, and travel-time savings are limited. In this case the choice of a full-scale motorway project was already made by the government, although a ‘do minimum’ alternative would have been more efficient. The findings support the evidence that project selection is the most critical decision for benefit-cost efficiency, and that the potential for enhancing efficiency fades throughout the front-end phase.

Identification of priority areas for afforestation in the Loess Plateau region of China

China has led global greening processes over recent decades, however, a series of negative impacts have inevitably emerged in some areas, especially on the Loess Plateau. While the potential for afforestation of the Loess Plateau has been identified, the micro-regions where afforestation should be prioritized have yet to be identified. We constructed a framework for identification of land suitable for forest on the Loess Plateau. By simulating land-use changes on the Loess Plateau under various development scenarios for the period from 2020 to 2030, we identified land that is suitable for afforestation and explored the trends and spatial distribution of different forest stands. The results show that only ∼ 40 km2 on the Loess Plateau is suitable for forest growth by 2030, mainly in the eastern region, with the southeastern part of the Loess Plateau at greater risk of degradation. The suitable land for forest growth is fragmented. Under the current climate conditions and policy background, we believe there is limited opportunity for large-scale conversion of farmland to forest on the Loess Plateau; however, if the afforestation areas are scientifically planned, it is feasible to achieve greening in local areas. Grasslands may be a more suitable primary approach to ecological restoration in the Loess Plateau region. The results will help guide more efficient and sustainable afforestation projects in the Loess Plateau region.

Modeling, Planning Allow Successful Implementation of South Texas U-Turn Lateral

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 208801, “Successful Planning and Implementation of First South Texas U-Turn Lateral,” by Riley Schultz and Joe Kiefner, Chesapeake Energy. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Legacy fields require innovative solutions for developing capitally efficient projects within highly developed acreage blocks. As another tool to improve well economics, a U-turn lateral strategy was implemented in the Eagle Ford Shale. This wellbore trajectory resulted in capturing a 9,200-ft equivalent lateral length well in a 5,000-ft-wide lease space. This successful U-turn trajectory test has created new economic project opportunities for the company and has increased optionality within challenged lease spaces across the field. Well Overview In a single U-turn well, the horizontal wellbore turns 180° to create two parallel laterals in a map-view U shape. The successful U-turn project detailed in the complete paper was the first drilled in south Texas (Fig. 1). This resulted in significantly improved economics by using a horizontal turn as a hydrocarbon pathway, rather than an additional vertical section from a new well to gain the equivalent treatable lateral length. This well followed operator standards for south Texas Eagle Ford two-casing-string well design. A 9⅝-in. casing was set to protect shallow water zones, and an 8¾-in. production section was drilled for the remainder of the well (using 5½-in. drillpipe). 5½-in. production casing was then run to total depth (TD). 8¼-in. centralizers were placed on each joint of the casing, freely floating between the collars. The production section was drilled with oil-based mud, and a standard cement job was pumped. Conventional directional tools were used for the entirety of the drilling phase. The decision was made early in the planning phase of the well to forgo fracturing the turn portion of the wellbore and instead drill into the adjacent unit to conduct the turn to maximize the amount of optimally oriented lateral footage in the unit to be produced.

Green Practices: A Solution for Environmental Deregulation and the Future of Energy Efficiency in the Post-COVID-19 Era

The world has paid increasing attention to energy efficiency projects since the Paris agreement and UN climate summit. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process of the green energy transition, which has attracted considerable attention from economists, environmentalists, and international organizations and has led to significant research in energy. This study addresses the importance of green energy practices in the post-COVID-19 era to deal with environmental deregulation using bibliometric analysis. Data were extracted from the Scopus database from 2020 to 2022. Results indicate that China gained a prominent place in publishing topic-related articles. However, Italy stands at the top position in total and average article citations. Sustainability is the most productive journal, followed by Energies and the Journal of Cleaner Production. Nazarbayev University and the University of Cambridge are the most contributing research institutes. In general, the cooperation of authors, institutes, and countries strengthens research; however, collaboration at the author level across the nation was lower than in others. The study highlights three research streams and four themes by systematically conducting a bibliometric coupling and co-occurrence network that anticipates and significantly segregates literature. Bibliometric coupling identifies three research streams of sustainable green business strategies, green infrastructure requirements, and green solutions and opportunities from COVID-19. Furthermore, the co-occurrence network proposes four main themes related to green innovation in the epidemic era, security and sustainable development goals with green practices, public health protection and green finance, and investment and risk management. The results provide insights into current research in the field of energy and will assist future work promoting environmentally friendly projects.

The Hurdles to Obtaining European Funds by Polish Benefi ciaries – Quantitative Research

The main objective for writing this article is to present the barriers to accessing EU funds at the stage of preparing an application for funding, as well as the barriers to executing project activities. The research objective, question, and problem as well as the statistical description of the research group and the measurement instruments have been highlighted in the article. The author attempts to answer the following questions: what are the main barriers/hurdles encountered by Polish benefi ciaries of EU funds allocated under national and regional operational programmes; which of the identified barriers to accessing EU funds is perceived as the most hindering in the process of executing EU projects; and how is the impact of EU funds on regional development assessed from the perspective of those people executing projects and taking part in projects fi nanced with EU funds? The following barriers can be enumerated as the most significant: the withholding of subsequent funding tranches while maintaining the obligation to pursue project execution, the highly bureaucratic application process for a subsidy, the bureaucratic system of post-project accounting, and the long deadlines for transferring subsequent tranches of funding. An analysis of the findings confi rms that the benefi ciaries of EU funds primarily fear losing fi nancial liquidity. Receiving a subsidy in the form of a refi nancing of the incurred costs requires, on the one hand, efficient project management,and, on the other, a well-functioning institutional system that should support project recipients in their investment endeavours.

Causes, Implications, and Strategies for Project Closeout Delays in Highway Construction

In highway construction, completing projects on time is critical. However, when projects are not completed on time, one of the aspects that is often neglected by the state departments of transportation (DOTs), which causes delays in highway construction, is project closeout. The project closeout phase, if delayed, not only has consequences for transportation agencies and contractors, but also leads to substantial social costs to the public. Despite the potential magnitude of the impact, there is limited knowledge about the factors that cause project closeout delays or about strategies for timely highway construction project closeouts. This study identified the causes that delay highway project closeouts, raises awareness of the implications of delays, and provides recommendations for efficient highway project closeout practices. The research methodology included an extensive literature review, a survey questionnaire (40 state DOTs participating), and case studies of eight state DOTs. The results showed that difficulties in attaining the required documentation, claims and litigations, managing multiple funding sources, a lack of urgency from local utilities/entities, and the lack of sufficient DOT project staff are major factors that delay project closeout. When a highway construction project is not closed out in a timely manner, the DOT can be subject to additional costs, obsolete funding sources, loss of project documentation, loss of staff with project knowledge (through retirement/attrition), and potential adverse impacts on internal and external relationships. The authors provide recommendations for state DOTs to mitigate closeout delays and help ensure timely finalization of highway construction projects.

Environmental Management Strategies in the Copper Mining Industry in Chile to Address Water and Energy Challenges—Review

The mining industry faces diverse challenges to maintain sustainable production, particularly regarding critical water and energy supplies. As a significant player in the copper mining industry, Chile has become a global reference. Therefore, this research analyses the distinct challenges of the Chilean copper mining industry in terms of water and energy. We also identified ten key challenges that the Chilean copper mining industry must address to remain competitive and relevant. Several mining companies were examined to review and understand the different types of Environmental Management Initiatives (EMIs) adopted. The most prevailing strategies involved implementing Environmental Management Systems, which allow organisations to define, implement, and track their specific goals and standards. This review acknowledged four relevant water-related initiatives, including seawater use, community strategic plans, general environmental monitoring programs, and water recycling and recirculation systems. In terms of energy, the key initiatives included energy efficiency projects, the use of Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE), and mine process optimisation. The benefits of implementing EMIs are multiple, with the most relevant being ensuring continuous operation, cost reduction, and improved Social License to Operate (SLO) outcomes.