Facility Costs Research Articles

Building Options for the Brazilian Pre-salt: A technical-economic and infrastructure analysis of offshore integration between energy generation and natural gas exploration

The objective of this work is to evaluate the technical-economic and infrastructure aspects for the Brazilian Pre-salt natural gas use. Factors like technology maturity level, fuel and facilities costs, and electricity market are analyzed; the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of two possibilities are calculated: (i) offshore Gas-to-Wire (GtW) and (ii) molecular natural gas outflow through the pipeline with onshore thermoelectric generation. This work also discusses the possibility of natural gas (NG) transport via liquefaction, considering the Floating Liquefied NG (FLNG) technology for national and international market. The LCOE of GtW technology is higher (67–87 US$/MWh) than onshore plants (43–69 US$/MWh) for Pre-salt area, higher than the historical energy price of Brazilian NG thermoelectric generation (44 US$/MWh), but, in general, lower than Brazilian NG energy auction price cap (84.5 US$/MWh) and lower than some values found in the literature for onshore plants (42–124 US$/MWh) abroad Brazil. FLNG technology is still new, there is no scale, few players use it, and it does not seem to be a feasible option for Pre-salt NG now. It is concluded that elements such as political uncertainties of the international natural gas market, the high CO2 rate in the Pre-salt's natural gas mixture, and the difficulties in implement deep-sea infrastructure are challenging elements for the three possibilities analyzed. The Brazilian market discussion is relevant since it is a greenfield natural gas area in need of development. Thus, it is of upmost importance to implement a comprehensive energy policy to address offshore-onshore energy integration regulation and technological developments for the offshore transmission systems, and CO2 content separation process.

Experimental study on aluminium bronze coatings fabricated by low pressure cold spraying and subsequent heat treatment

Among bronze alloys, strength and corrosion resistance are the distinguishing features of aluminium bronzes. CuAl alloys coatings are commonly prepared using thermal spraying technologies, but low-pressure cold spray, unpopular for this purpose so far, seems to be a good alternative in terms of manufacturing and facility costs. The research studies the effect of aluminium addition on low-pressure cold spray deposition of mixed CuAl feedstock powders (up to 30 wt% of Al) instead of bronze particles. Additionally, hard alumina particles (of the same weight as CuAl feedstock powders together) were added to lower coating porosity, provide good adhesion, and tailor the mechanical properties of coatings. After the implementation of thermal treatment, fine mixing of feedstock powders within the coating facilitated the formation of copper-rich solid solution and Cu4Al9 intermetallic phase for high amounts of Al (≥25 wt%). The coatings were characterized through light and scanning electron microscopy to examine cross-section morphology; energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry and X-ray diffraction to investigate elemental and phase composition before and after thermal treatment. Additionally, to quantify the individual phases in sprayed coatings Rietveld refinement was performed. For coatings after thermal treatment were bronze formation was observed, the maximum solubility of aluminium in the copper structure was also determined using Vegard's linear dependence.

STRUKTUR BIAYA USAHA BUDIDAYA LEBAH MADU DI DESA KUAPAN KECAMATAN TAMBANG KABUPATEN KAMPAR (Kasus Usaha Madu “Mekar Sari”)

Communities in the Riau area have started cultivating honey bees both traditionally and in a modern way. However, the development of honey bee farming (Apis cerana) is currently still not progressing even though the business has been running for quite a long time. This could have been caused by several things, namely poor business management, starting from cultivation activities to quite high production costs. This study aims to analyze breeder characteristics and profiles, analyze production costs, production, income, and business efficiency, and analyze the cost structure of the "Mekar Sari" honey bee business. This research was conducted using a survey method, namely in the honey bee (Apis cerana) cultivation business in Kuapan Village, Tambang District, Kampar Regency. The analytical method used in this study is descriptive qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results showed that the breeders made the honey bee business a side business. The farmer is 30 years old and belongs to the productive age, his last education is a Bachelor of Animal Husbandry (S1), 10 years of farming experience, and has 3 dependents (1 wife and 2 children). The profile of the honey bee business "Mekar Sari" started as a group business funded by government assistance, but many members withdrew so the number of honey beekeepers decreased. Only 1 member of the group survives and continues the "Mekar Sari" honey business to this day. The production cost used in the "Mekar Sari" honey business is IDR 77,123,362/year, with a production of 800 kg. Gross income of IDR 120,000,000/year, and net income of IDR 42,876,638/year, and an efficiency of 1.55. The cost structure of the honey bee business "Mekar Sari" consists of the cost of production facilities with a percentage of 91.74%, labor costs of 2.77%, and equipment depreciation costs of 5.44%.

Passive Indoor Tracking Fusion Algorithm Using Commodity Wi-Fi

Recent studies have found the mapping relationship between channel state information used in commercial Wi-Fi devices and environmental changes in the indoor environment, which can be used for sensing purposes. With the advantages of low cost and wide deployment of Wi-Fi facilities, passive indoor tracking systems based on Wi-Fi have huge potential. This article proposes and builds a passive indoor tracking system using commercial Wi-Fi devices, which realizes the function of tracking the human body’s trajectory in indoor environment. The system uses only commercial Wi-Fi devices. It processes the collected channel state information data by sending and receiving two pairs of Wi-Fi devices, and extract the movement information the messy data to obtain the trajectory of the human body. The system conducts a geometric feature analysis in the complex plane to obtain accurate displacement information, and utilize a fusion algorithm, combining the AoA (Angle of Arrival) information obtained by MUSIC algorithm, to obtain accurate human trajectory. In the experiment, the complex plane geometric feature analysis algorithm reaches centimeter-level accuracy in obtaining displacement information, while the system reaches decimeter-level accuracy on in obtaining indoor human trajectory on a simulation dataset.

Regional Experience in Improving the Quality and Cost-Effectiveness of Medical Care for Children with Acute Respiratory Pathology in the Rostov Region

One of the priorities of the modern world medical community is the continuous comprehensive improvement of medical care quality. Evaluation of medical care quality and material costs level for the management of patients with acute respiratory pathology (ARP) was performed in one city medical facility, as well as cost-effectiveness analysis of the project “Improvement of medical care quality for children of the Rostov region”. The first step of this study was retrospective audit of source medical records (n = 154) of Children’s hospital via the adapted World Health Organization questionnaire “Evaluation of in-patient care quality for children” recommended for Europe and revised in 2015. Inclusion criteria: hospitalization of patients with acute conditions; outcome — recovery with no complications; presence of one of the clinical manifestations (acute nasopharyngitis, acute non-obstructive bronchitis, acute obstructive bronchitis, acute obstructive laryngitis, acute community-acquired pneumonia). The cost-effectiveness evaluation was performed considering the direct treatment costs and the coefficient of economic costs per patient (CECPP). Analysis of the study’s first stage has revealed defects in medical care quality, significant and irrational material costs of the medical facility at all stages of medical and diagnostic care for children with ARP. CECPP peak indicators came under notice in all observation groups due to high expenses on medications and specifically those not included in clinical practice guidelines, vast amount of unreasonable hospitalizations and diagnostic procedures, expenses on physical therapy (PT), etc. Analysis of the study’s second stage medical records (n = 146) of patients with ARP took place after the initial audit followed by quarterly monitoring and hospital staff training (endpoint — 12 months). Significant improvements in the health care quality and cost-effectiveness for children with ARP have been shown.

Minat Masyarakat dalam Bidang Pertanian “Kasus Masyarakat Kampung Udapi Hilir Kabupaten Manokwari, Papua”

The absorption of employment in agriculture is the focal point of the problem, where the interest in working is important. This research examines people's interest in agriculture; analyze attitudes, subjective norms, and social control in agriculture; analyze the relationship of attitudes, social norms, social control, and characteristics of respondents to community interest. The research was conducted in Udapi Hilir Village, Manokwari Regency using a survey method to 94 respondents. Data analysis using simple tabulation and partial least square test. The results of the study conclude that the community is not interested in being a provider of production facilities and administrators of farmer groups but is interested in becoming farmers and farm laborers. The attitude agrees that agriculture requires high labor, high production costs, risk of failure, and requires storage space. People's subjective norms that agriculture is the main source of livelihood, food source, and requires a large areal of land. Social control in the form of production inputs and subsidies for production costs from the government. Farming experience, productive age, production facilities assistance, production facilities cost subsidies, and production marketing assistance affect interest in farming.

Random clustering analysis in deterministic DG-based distribution planning

New feeders’ allocation, new lines connecting the substations to new feeders and other feeders to tie-line routes, should be defined for minimizing the costs of new facilities’ installation with some limitations as voltage loss, capacity of current, geographical restrictions of installation, and balance between loads, while feeders have been recently distributed in a system of distribution. However, finding the optimum plan for feeder distribution among different applicants, is difficult for planners. To confirm decision of planners of feeder distribution plan in this paper, the author proposes a technique to obtain the minimum cost distribution facilities by all the applicants’ searching that fulfill such distribution limitations as voltage loss, also geographical constraints of installation and power loss and etc. In this paper, optimal deterministic planning of distribution networks with (DG) will be discussed and all calculations will be done in medium voltage (MV) level. Weight clustering in distribution networks planning is a major topic that can be discussed by different methods like fuzzy algorithm. Weight clustering in reliability concepts of deterministic DG-based distribution planning such as failure rate calculations can be discussed, but its meaning in robust optimization (RO) will be very complex and profound. In this paper, the study of random clustering in both single and multi-cluster states has been investigated and concluded. The results of this research can be used in the field of robust optimization of distribution networks at the MV networks. The sample candidate of random clustering studies has been selected the Greenfield residential area. According flowcharts I and II in part of the appendix, detailed analytical results based on robust optimization of 32 candidate substations of case study has been extracted in two state consist of both single and multi-cluster states.

My five moments of hand hygiene: A cross sectional questionnaire based study on adherence and barriers among nurses in central Kerala

ABSTRACT Background: Hospital acquired infections have remained a concern in the field of health care as a major cause of increasing morbidity, mortality and health care costs in healthcare facilities. In the present era of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and multidrug resistant pathogens, there is a growing emphasis on basic measures of prevention of infections, like maintaining good hand hygiene. Although The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidelines on hand washing procedure with an aim to reduce the prevalence of hospital associated infections, the compliance amongst health care workers is poor. Objective: To study the adherence and barriers relating to non-adherence to the five moments of hand hygiene among nursing staff in Central Kerala. Materials and Methods: The present cross sectional study was conducted among 360 female nurses using Snowball sampling technique. The quantitative data collected was analysed using the software SPSS version 20. Chi-square test was used for comparison of proportions across groups. Logistic regression analyses were used to find out the determinants of non-adherence. The qualitative data collected was analysed using thematic analysis and classified into themes and subthemes. Results: Out of 338 study participants, 304 (90%) reported to be adherent to the 5 moments of Hand Hygiene. The present study found that factors associated with hand hygiene behaviour among study participants were awareness about Hand Hygiene and educational qualification. Conclusion: The existing level of non-adherence can be a source for outbreak of hospital acquired infections in the community and hence needs to be addressed.

Теплоутилизационная установка: повышение энергоэффективности

One of the ways to reduce the cost of heating production facilities in animal husbandry is the use of regenerative heat recovery plants. However, the existing designs of heat exchangers have a number of design flaws affecting their functionality, in particular, the uneven distribution of the air flow over the surface of a heat exchanger. This, in turn, does not provide for a more complete utilization of exhaust air heat. Using the example of a recuperative heat recovery unit UT‑3000, the authors consider the possibility of retrofitting it with an aerodynamic grid to evenly distribute the exhaust air flow over the heat exchanger surface and reduce energy costs for its operation. To do this, they analyzed the applicability of the aerodynamic grid. The size of a blade chord was taken into account as an optimisation parameter. The pressure losses calculated on the “fan - pallet - heat exchanger” section showed that the use of an aerodynamic grid with a “normal” number of blades would create a minimum airflow pressure loss of 0.73 Pa minimum airflow pressure loss of 0.73 Pa, which is 58% less than in the version without an aerodynamic grid. Further experimental study of the uniform airflow distribution over the heat exchanger surface aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the heat recovery unit requires a new design of a heat exchanger with an aerodynamic grid, taking into account the recommended range of “normal” number of blades from 16 to 21, the blade circumference arc of 95° and the blade pitch angle ranging between 68 and 82°.

Factors influencing choice of healthcare facilities utilisation by rural households in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract Understanding the choice of healthcare facility utilisation is essential to the provision of need-based healthcare services to the population. This study was carried out to estimate factors influencing the choice of healthcare facilities utilised by rural households. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 240 rural households comprising 1440 persons. Data were collected with the use of a structured questionnaire and analysed with descriptive techniques and a multivariate probit (MVP) model. The MVP result showed that households supplement public healthcare facilities with private clinics, support traditional medical treatment with self-medication, and replace self-medication with public healthcare facilities and private clinics. Similarly, age, gender, household size, cost of drugs, distance to public healthcare facilities, travelling cost, contact with community health workers, total income, awareness of public health facilities, quality of health facilities, and terrain of health facilities influence the choice of healthcare facilities utilised. The study concluded that increased total income, contact with community health extension workers, awareness of health facilities, and perceived quality of services rendered positively influence the choice of healthcare facilities sorted after while the increase in the cost of drugs, distance to health facilities, travelling cost and difficult terrain of health facilities negatively impact the choice of healthcare facilities utilised. The study recommended that public healthcare facilities should be located within the reach of the people and equipped with essential drugs at a reduced cost. Households should also engage in activities that will increase their income so that they can use better healthcare facilities.

A systematic review of the accessibility, acceptability, safety, efficiency, clinical effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of private cataract and orthopedic surgery clinics.

Many publicly funded health systems use a mix of privately and publicly operated providers of care to deliver elective surgical services. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the role of privately operated but publicly funded provision of surgical services for adult patients who had cataract or orthopedic surgery within publicly funded health systems in high-income countries. Electronic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, OVID Embase, and EBSCO EconLit) were searched on 26 March 2021, and gray literature sources were searched on 6 April 2021. Two reviewers independently applied inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify studies, and extracted data. The outcomes evaluated include accessibility, acceptability, safety, clinical effectiveness, efficiency, and cost/cost-effectiveness. Twenty-nine primary studies met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized narratively. We found mixed results across each of our reported outcomes. Wait times were shorter for patients treated in private facilities. There was evidence that some private facilities cherry-pick or cream-skim by selecting less complex patients, which increases the postoperative length of stay and costs for public facilities, restricts access to private facilities for certain groups of patients, and increases inequality within the health system. Seven studies found improved safety outcomes in private facilities, noting that private patients had a lower preoperative risk of complications. Only two studies reported cost and cost-effectiveness outcomes. One costing study concluded that private facilities' costs were lower than those of public facilities, and a cost-utility study showed that private contracting to reduce public waiting times for joint replacement was cost-effective. Limited evidence exists that private-sector contracts address existing healthcare delivery problems. Value for money also remains to be evaluated properly.

Beam optics study for a potential VHEE beam delivery system

VHEE (Very High Energy Electron) therapy can be superior to conventional radiotherapy for the treatment of deep seated tumours, whilst not necessarily requiring the space and cost of proton or heavy ion facilities. Developments in high gradient RF technology have allowed electrons to be accelerated to VHEE energies in a compact space, meaning that treatment could be possible with a shorter linac. A crucial component of VHEE treatment is the transfer of the beam from accelerator to patient. This is required to magnify the beam to cover the transverse extent of the tumour, whilst ensuring a uniform beam distribution. Two principle methodologies for the design of a compact transfer line are presented. The first of these is based upon a quadrupole lattice and optical magnification of beam size. A minimisation algorithm is used to enforce certain criteria on the beam distribution at the patient, defining the lattice through an automated routine. Separately, a dual scattering-foil based system is also presented, which uses similar algorithms for the optimisation of the foil geometry in order to achieve the desired beam shape at the patient location.

Evaluation of Achievement and Challenges of health care reform using Community-based health insurance in Ethiopia

As part of Health care financing system, the Ethiopian government has introduced Community-based health insurance (CBHI) and Social Based health insurance. The aim of this paper is to examine the challenges and achievements of healthcare reform using community-based health insurance in Ethiopia. In this study, narrative reviews were employed in order to analyze the data collected from secondary sources. The study concludes that since 2014, coverage of CBHI district has been increasing, eventually going from 161 in 2014 to 827 (of which 770 launched) in 2020. CBHI is not able to cover reimbursement costs for health facilities due to a disjointed pooling system; lack of political commitment to developing and cooperating with the CBHI scheme are challenge affecting the implementation of CBHI in Ethiopia. Based on the finding recommendation were suggested in order to solve the challenges of CBHI implementation.

Production and distribution coordination: a case study in the textile industry

This paper addresses the problem of coordinating a production-distribution system over a multi-period finite horizon, where a plant production produces several items that are distributed to a set of customers by a fleet of heterogeneous vehicles. The demand for each item at each customer is known over the horizon. The production planning determines how much to produce of each item in every period, while the distribution planning defines when customers should be visited and the vehicle routes. The objective is to minimise the sum of production and inventory costs at the facility and distribution costs. To solve this problem, we use a tabu search metaheuristics and the results are compared to those presented by the industry.

On Scalable Network Communication for Infrastructure-Vehicle Collaborative Autonomous Driving

Network communication is crucial for Infrastructure-Vehicle Cooperative Autonomous Driving (IVCAD), which can help to improve both driving safety and efficiency. Existing IVCAD systems either use RoadSide Units (RSUs) deployed sparsely in critical locations to extend the on-board sensing, or use RSUs deployed densely in a limited area to provide both sensing and decision-making for vehicles. For both scenarios, the numbers of RSUs and vehicles are small, and the network communication solutions are based on the existing wireline and cellular network infrastructures and their extensions. However, it remains unknown whether these existing network communication solutions are scalable when the IVCAD system is deployed city-widely with hundreds of thousands of RSUs and millions of vehicles. In this paper, we analyze the network communication requirements for different types of IVCAD systems, and show that when the numbers of RSUs and vehicles in the system are large, using the existing solutions to support IVCAD can incur very high extra network communication facility cost. We further discuss how to use wireless mesh networks formed by RSUs themselves to solve the network communication problem without any deployment of extra network communication facilities. To enable the RSU network, we provide a network communication framework based on network coding and highlight some research directions.

Aircraft maintenance facility location planning

This investigation combines the aircraft maintenance routing problem (AMRP) with the aircraft maintenance facility location problem as they are interdependent. Unlike the classical fixed charge location model, aircraft maintenance facility location is not based on static customer demands but on how aircraft move around the airline network while undergoing periodic maintenance checks. Two important factors relevant to this analysis are: (a) aircraft overnight stays at maintenance facilities and airports away from their home bases and (b) the location and cost of maintenance facility construction. There are two possible scenarios concerning the status of maintenance facilities. The first is a tabula rasa case – for a start-up airline with no existing maintenance facilities (AMFLP). The second is an operating airline case with prepositioned maintenance facilities, which we denote as a maintenance facility location update problem (AMFUP). We formulate both as binary integer multicommodity flow problems whose aim is to find the cost-minimizing number, size, and location of the maintenance facilities. Experiments with flight schedules from two regional airlines indicate that total annualized costs are convex in the number of maintenance airports. Though new facility costs tend to dominate, costs associated with noncyclic routes become increasingly important as the number of maintenance airports decreases. Key contributions of this paper are that it (a) demonstrates the superiority of the integration of the aircraft maintenance routing and aircraft maintenance facility location problems, (b) provides a formulation and solution methodology dealing with this significant but under-researched problem, and (c) presents extensive computational experiments, cost and sensitivity analyses for two real life aircraft flight schedules.

Genetic algorithm optimized back propagation artificial neural network for a study on a wastewater treatment facility cost model

Genetic algorithm optimized back propagation artificial neural network for a study on a wastewater treatment facility cost model

Effects of branched-chain amino acids to lysine ratios in corn distillers dried grains with solubles containing diets on growth performance, plasma nitrogen profile, carcass traits, and economic analysis in growing-finishing pigs.

A study was conducted to identify the effects of standardized ileal digestible (SID) branched-chain amino acids (BCAA):lysine (Lys) ratios on the growth performance, plasma nitrogen (N) profile, carcass traits, and economic analysis of growing-finishing pigs fed diets with high corn distillers dried grains with solubles (cDDGS) inclusions. A total of 1,140 pigs (initial body weight [BW] = 28.7 ± 2.0 kg) were housed in 45 pens of 25 or 26 pigs and fed one of five diets in a randomized complete block design. Experimental diets were fed in four phases based on BW. Dietary treatments were a corn-soybean meal (SBM) based diet (PC), a corn-SBM-cDDGS-based diet (NC) with SID BCAA:Lys ratio of PIC (2020) recommendation and NC diets with SID BCAA:Lys ratios targeted for the 73% SID Val:Lys, 60% SID Ile:Lys, and 144% SID Leu:Lys during the growing phases (25 to 80 kg, Grow), targeted for the 78% SID Val:Lys, 70% SID Ile:Lys, and 160% to 170% SID Leu:Lys during the finishing phases (80 to 120 kg, finish), and both during the growing and finishing phases (Grow-Finish). One pig from each pen was bled at the end of 7 and 13 wk. After the 11-wk-feeding trial, pigs were sent to a commercial abattoir to investigate carcass traits. Pigs fed the Finish diet had a greater overall average daily gain (P < 0.05) than pigs fed the other cDDGS diets. Dietary treatments did not affect the hot carcass weight. However, feeding the Finish diet increased (P < 0.05) the iodine value of pork belly samples and decreased (P < 0.05) carcass yield. The plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) concentration at the end of the growing phase and plasma concentrations of Leu and Val were greater (P < 0.05) in pigs fed the Finish diet compared to the other cDDGS diets. Feeding pigs the cDDGS diets with different BCAA:Lys ratios had no difference in income over feed cost and income over feed and facility costs compared to the corn-SBM diet. Therefore, feeding pigs cDDGS diets with SID BCAA:Lys ratios adjusted for the previously determined finishing phase (from 80 to 120 kg of BW) recommendations by SBM inclusion supported growth performance and economic benefits equal to the corn-SBM diet.

Siting Renewable Energy Facilities Using a Matching Algorithm: A Case Study in Japan

Finding an optimal match between installation sites and renewable energy (RE) facilities while ensuring that private initiatives meet local socio-environmental needs is a significant albeit complicated task. Different sites may need diverse considerations, such as landscape conservation, while information on the true local preferences and costs of RE facilities is unknown to the planner, causing information asymmetry and inefficiency. This study explores how a matching model can be utilised for empirically planning RE siting using an illustrative case study. It employs the so-called ‘college admission problem’ of the matching model. The matching algorithm enables the matching of sites and RE specifications, reflecting the true preferences of local people regarding facility siting. The matching result would ensure the most desirable choice for local people, as adopting the ‘student-optimal matching’ algorithm generates desirable matching patterns for the locals among the stable matching patterns.

Applicability Of Incineration Technology In Waste Management: Istanbul Case Study

The purpose of this study is to make a technological and financial forecast for the future construction of similar facilities based on feasibility data from the Istanbul Domestic Waste Incineration and Energy Production Facility, which was constructed to minimize environmental damage and give domestic solid wastes economic value, as opposed to storing and disposing of them. The study examined the initial investment and operating costs of the facility, the repayment time and profitability calculations, the financial and economic profitability of the project, and the cost and internal profitability rates for other waste disposal facilities to be established, in addition to comparisons with conventional waste management systems (storage or composting) and incineration techniques. By separating themselves as much as possible from conventional waste management systems, systems employing technological methods will be more realistic and cost-effective, both financially and in terms of the environment. To meet rising energy demands and lessen reliance on foreign sources, investments in sustainable renewable energy systems other than fossil fuels must be increased now. It is crucial to accelerate and support investments in environmentally friendly energy technologies through their development. This is the first study conducted in Turkey on obtaining energy by burning domestic solid waste as opposed to storing it.