Higher Revenue Research Articles

Converting wastewater cellulose to valuable products: A techno-economic assessment

Wastewater contains about 25% of chemical oxygen demand as cellulose. The source of this cellulose is mainly toilet paper which can be recovered and converted into useful products. The recovered cellulose can be pretreated and pyrolyzed to produce biochar, bio-oil, and pyroligneous acid. A techno-economic assessment was performed on the entire value chain including the char activation process. The data on mass and energy balance and investment cost was obtained from the pilot plant developed at the sludge treatment plant in Ede, the Netherlands. The minimum selling prices estimated for each of the products while considering other co-products as revenue are respectively equal to €1.06, €0.25, and -€0.11/kg. The negative value of pyroligneous acid is due to the high revenue obtained from selling the other two co-products (biochar and bio-oil) at their assumed market prices. It indicates that the revenue obtained covers the annual capital and operating expenditure. Char activation is necessary to expand its applications and thus both physical and chemical activation were considered. The physical activation method resulted in a price higher than the market price whereas the chemical activation method is most suitable considering its high yield and assumed quality. The chemically activated char can be produced at €2.3/kg which is 42% lower than the assumed market price. However, the difference in quality would be significant due to the nature and source of the feedstock (cellulose). This value chain is promising under certain conditions and might be a promising business case to investigate for a sludge treatment facility.

How can social responsibility enhance the green value of financial enterprises? Empirical research based on the qualitative comparative analysis method

Given the high revenues of financial enterprises, they should carry out their social responsibilities to contribute to sustainable social and economic development. The purpose of this study is to provide a more efficient strategy for China’s listed financial enterprises to improve their green value under the condition of realizing the optimal allocation of their resources in the future. To this end, the present study adopts the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method on 26 domestic listed banks to examine the impact of social responsibility undertaking on the improvement of the green values of enterprises. The findings show that the promotion of green values of listed financial enterprises in China does not simply depend on a one-dimension social responsibility investment but requires a combination of multiple dimensions. Accordingly, policy recommendations are provided to help ensure the long-term development of financial enterprises while achieving sustainable economic development.

Four square sudoku approach for alleviating shading effect on total-cross-tied PV array

Partial shading on photovoltaic (PV) modules significantly affects their productivity. Therefore, different PV reconfiguration approaches were employed as solutions for distributing the shade across the array. This paper proposes an advanced four-square (FS) sudoku technique for configuring the 9 × 9 total-cross-tied (TCT) PV array via moving the modules physically for one time to enhance the harvested maximum power under all possible shading patterns. The proposed FS is validated under different shading classes, including deterministic and random shading patterns. The performance of the proposed strategy is assessed versus six different approaches representing the literature, including basic sudoku (SDU), optimal sudoku (OSDU), chaos map (CMP), skyscraper (Sky-S), odd-even prime (OEP), and ancient chinese magic square (ACMS). The assessment process is conducted using the global maximum power point, execution ratio (ER), fill factor (FF), percentage power losses (%PL), power enhancement (%PH), and array output power-voltage (P-V) characteristic. Moreover, an extensive analysis of the cost and the energy saving during a day is performed to investigate the reliability of the proposed FS strategy. Furthermore, a critical evaluation is performed among the FS and recent dynamic reconfiguration approaches, including particle swarm optimizer (PSO), harris hawk optimization algorithm (HHO), genetic algorithm (GA), butterfly optimization algorithm (BOA), coyote optimization algorithm (COA) and artificial ecosystem-based optimization (AEO). The results of this paper reveal that the rearranged scheme-based FS approach can disperse different categories of shading efficiently with a high generated energy from the entire system and high revenue compared to TCT and other state-of-the-art arrangements with achieving smooth uni-peak P-V characteristics.

Effects of a global budget payment scheme on medical specialty workforces

Containing rising health care costs by a global budget offers promise, but might have unintended effects on the composition of medical specialty workforces. When a budget is given to a group of medical providers and the physician/population ratio is growing, the ex-post total sum of fee units would exceed the ex-ante budget, thereby reducing the reimbursement for all services for all providers. Furthermore, the profit of high revenue services drops more than the profit of low revenue services. Thus, medical school graduates are less likely to choose a specialty with high revenue in response to the global budget scheme and physicians may leave labor force earlier because of lowered profit. The author provides empirical evidence by a synthetic control method that the number of surgeons in Taiwan has exhibited a decrease of 25% after 11 years of Taiwan's global budget scheme. During that same period of time, the total number of practicing physicians decreased only 13%.

A New 360° Framework to Predict Customer Lifetime Value for Multi-Category E-Commerce Companies Using a Multi-Output Deep Neural Network and Explainable Artificial Intelligence

Online purchasing has developed rapidly in recent years due to its efficiency, convenience, low cost, and product variety. This has increased the number of online multi-category e-commerce retailers that sell a variety of product categories. Due to the growth in the number of players, each company needs to optimize its own business strategy in order to compete. Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a common metric that multi-category e-commerce retailers usually consider for competition because it helps determine the most valuable customers for the retailers. However, in this paper, we introduce two additional novel factors in addition to CLV to determine which customers will bring in the highest revenue in the future: distinct product category (DPC) and trend in amount spent (TAS). Then, we propose a new framework. We utilized, for the first time in the relevant literature, a multi-output deep neural network (DNN) model to test our proposed framework while forecasting CLV, DPC, and TAS together. To make this outcome applicable in real life, we constructed customer clusters that allow the management of multi-category e-commerce companies to segment end-users based on the three variables. We compared the proposed framework (constructed with multiple outputs: CLV, DPC, and TAS) against a baseline single-output model to determine the combined effect of the multi-output model. In addition, we also compared the proposed model with multi-output Decision Tree (DT) and multi-output Random Forest (RF) algorithms on the same dataset. The results indicate that the multi-output DNN model outperforms the single-output DNN model, multi-output DT, and multi-output RF across all assessment measures, proving that the multi-output DNN model is more suitable for multi-category e-commerce retailers’ usage. Furthermore, Shapley values derived through the explainable artificial intelligence method are used to interpret the decisions of the DNN. This practice demonstrates which inputs contribute more to the outcomes (a significant novelty in interpreting the DNN model for the CLV).

The early-stage design of plasma for the conversion of CO2 to chemicals: A prospective techno-economic assessment

The persistent increase in CO2 emissions and the continued depletion of fossil resources are two major challenges of the 21st century. These challenges can be tackled with Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU), fby capturing and using CO2 as a valuable feedstock. Plasma presents a reactive environment to convert the CO2 molecule efficiently into higher-value chemicals and is a promising CCU technology in an early development stage. This study translates the technical performance of the plasma, as observed in the laboratory, into economic cashflows on a pilot plant level. In this techno-economic assessment, the influence of three features of the plasma is analyzed: the type of feed, the space time and the type of packing material. The economic feasibility of the different plasma configurations for the conversion of CO2 and CH4 into higher-value chemicals is assessed by calculating the Net Present Value (NPV). This allows the identification of the major cost items and the prioritization of future R&D steps. Negative NPVs are observed for all configurations, due to high electricity expenses, high capital investments and insufficient revenues. Based on the NPV, the most promising reactor configuration is the unpacked reactor, supplied with pure CO2 in a short space time. However, to target higher-value chemicals and raise revenues, the presence of packing materials and a mixed feed of CO2 and CH4 is crucial. Indeed, the highest revenues are observed for the reactor filled with packing, supplied with CO2 & CH4 and at longer space time. To move forward, the right type of packing material should be found, enabling the targeted production of higher-value chemicals with higher conversion rates in a shorter space time.

Techno-Economic Evaluation of Phosphorous Recovery in Soybean Biodiesel Process

The over-enrichment of phosphorus in waste streams can lead to eutrophication and oxygen limitations for aquatic life. To understand the release of phosphorus from a soybean processing facility, it is imperative to track the flow of phosphorus in different streams during the processing of soybeans. The objective of the study is to develop process simulation models to study the flow of phosphorus in the soy-biodiesel process and evaluate strategies to mitigate phosphorus release by recovering phosphorous from soapstock and wastewater. Since most of the P is found in soybean meal, the processing of which releases phosphorus, a third case of lecithin recovery was also studied to reduce the amount of phosphorous in soybean meal. It was observed that phosphorus can be economically recovered from the soapstock, as well as the wastewater stream, with an estimated operating cost of USD 1.65 and 3.62 per kg of phosphorous recovered, respectively. The phosphorus recovered from both streams can be potentially applied as fertilizer to more than 13,000 acres of corn or 96,000 acres of soybean, respectively. The lecithin recovery case was found to have the highest revenue, and it led to a 54% reduction in phosphorous during soybean meal processing.

Innovation in communication in the European funding process

Abstract European funds contribute to the well-being of communities that succeed in attracting this type of funding. This paper aims at revealing the innovative capacity of communication in the financing process through European Funds, given the multitude of theoretical communication models. Beyond the limits imposed by the law, public authorities involved in the European funding process, although operating within a relatively rigid regulated framework, may increase the number of communication methods and practices, in order to better fulfil their mission of satisfying public needs. An exploratory research on the financing process of European Structural and Investment Funds was conducted, considering the theoretical approaches in the field of communication, as well as the relatively low absorption rate of European Funds, for outlining the real dimensions of the communication problem. The communication was analyzed via eight elements: transmitter, receiver, channel or means of propagation, message, common codes (including coding and decoding), feedback, feedforward and noise. The main results show that the communication process in the field of European funding can be approached from a multitude of perspectives: type, purposes and means of communication, content of communication and its effects, the protagonists involved etc. The paper proposes an approach to communication from a marketing perspective. By applying specific marketing techniques, favorable attitudes, opinions and behaviors can be generated in terms of accessibility of financing through European funds. This can lead to an increase in the absorption rate of European funds, which can result in more innovation, more business growth, higher revenues (through taxes) for the public sector and finally, given the snowball effect, the ultimate purpose: welfare for society as a whole.

The Silver Spoon Gets Tarnished: An Assessment of the Effects of Parent Support on Employee Ventures

This paper explores the benefits and limitations of collaborative relationships between employee ventures and their parent firms. Using multiple waves of a nationally representative survey of French startups, we track a matched group of 9,891 employee spin-outs over their first five years of operation. We show that, in their early years, the employee ventures founded with the parents’ support have better survival rates, higher revenue, and more employees than similar non-supported spin-outs. However, we find that the performance advantage of the former diminishes with time, a result consistent with the development of relational inertia. Specifically, we show that the effects of receiving parents’ support on the employee ventures’ revenue and employment growth provide no additional benefits from the spin-outs’ third and fifth years, respectively. We further uncover that, throughout their development, parent-supported spin-outs require fewer investments in tangible assets and incur lower debt than their non-supported counterparts. However, they engage in significantly fewer commercial activities such as prospecting clients, changing prices, and launching direct marketing campaigns.

Recycling of solar photovoltaic panels: Techno-economic assessment in waste management perspective

This work assessed the economic sustainability of photovoltaic panels (PV) recycling. The PV throughout and silver (Ag) concentration in PVs are the main factor affecting recycling. For high Ag concentrations (0.2%), the recycling is sustainable without PV recycling fee if the PV throughput is higher than 18,000 t/yr. Lower processing volumes enable sustainability only with recycling fees from 0% up to 46% of the total annualized costs in the throughput range 18,000–9000 t/yr. For low Ag concentrations (0.05%) recycling fees are instead always needed to achieve profitability , unless the throughput is higher than 43,000 t/yr. Given the high Ag revenues, efforts should be done towards its recovery. If however a mixed silver-silicon fraction was sold for more than 50–70% of its actual value depending on the Ag concentration, a simplified process without hydrometallurgical separation could generate higher profitability on the short and long term. Given the decreasing Ag content in PVs, the profitability in recycling also depends on when the investments are realized. In the medium Ag concentration scenario and for Ag prices of 600 $/kg, PV fees are always required for the net present value (NPV) to be higher than CAPEX. The later the investment, the higher the PV throughputs and PV fees required to generate the same NPV. Investing in 2025 under the hypothesis of a regular loss scenario and an Ag price of 750 $/kg is the only condition that produces NPVs higher than CAPEX without PV fees if the throughput is at least 30,000 t/yr. • The economic sustainability in photovoltaic panel (PV) recycling is crucial. • Ag content, recycling volumes and recycling fees play crucial roles in sustainability. • A recycling fee is needed if the silver concentration in PVs is lower than 0.1%. • Earlier Investments on PV recycling projects will be more profitable. • Early investments with the current Ag price can be profitable without recycling fees.

How Different and How Alike? Cluster Analysis Applied to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Data from Companies Listed on the Brazilian Stock Exchange

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation is to understand how companies listed on the B3 that disclose emissions inventories in Brazil are similar or different, based on quantitative variables related to GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions intensity, company size, net operating revenue, potential for investments in new technologies, communication, and socio environmental responsibility. Theoretical framework: Theoretical framework addresses corporate social responsibility (RSE) and the economic foundations of Regulation. Method/design/approach: We used a multivariate cluster analysis technique on a sample of 31 companies listed on the Brazilian stock exchange that disclosed emissions inventories over the period 2012 to 2019. Results and conclusion: The results showed that companies like Petrobras (cluster 4), as well as JBS, Vale, Ultrapar and CBD (cluster 3), besides emitting more GHGs, are also larger companies, with higher revenues, committed to communication and socio-environmental responsibility. In addition, they incentivize their executives through higher monetary incentives. Because they have such distinct characteristics from other companies, these companies or sectors could be driven by incentives other than traditional regulation. Research implications: The results suggest that large companies have, in some cases, anticipated regulation as they have incorporated environmental programs within their long-term strategies. In contrast, increased regulation may put pressure on smaller companies to adapt. Originality/value: Our findings contribute to the literature by highlighting the characteristics of these companies that voluntarily disclose emissions inventories in Brazil. Furthermore, we indicate how they are similar or different according to financial, environmental, and social performance criteria.

Risk assessment of rehabilitation strategies for steel lattice telecommunication towers of Greece under extreme wind hazard

The risk and losses associated with the wind-induced failure of existing steel lattice telecommunication towers are assessed for a number of upgrade/replace/redesign schemes. Specifically, a performance-based wind engineering framework is employed for assessing a typical tower topology used by EU telecommunication network operators over four different cases: a conventional design, its corroded version after 60 years, a strengthened version of the corroded tower by applying fibre-reinforced polymer plates, and a redesign with high-strength steel. Multiple potential sites of installation were considered throughout coastal and mainland Greece, comprising two different groups of design wind speed. Mischaracterization of the site-specific wind distribution is by far the most important risk factor, with corrosion coming right behind. Still, selecting a rehabilitation approach does not depend only on site and tower characteristics, but also on the projected direct and indirect losses. By considering service to different populations, even after 60 years of corrosion, the “Do Nothing” approach may still be competitive when serving few residents and for short projected lifetime, while an upgrade is considered optimal for larger towns, or wherever higher revenue is on the line.

Intercity Rail Maintainability Analysis: A Case Study on Rolling Stock Maintenance Compliance

Compliance to organizational standard is essential for maintaining high work performance within the appropriate timescale which can result in reduction of maintenance expenses. The purpose of this study was to analyze the compliance level of preventive maintenance activities based on job frequency and its working hours. Historical data of preventive maintenance from 2019 -2020 obtained from a field study at Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) Depot Batu Gajah, Perak, was analyzed to investigate the frequency, manhours, and the cost involved for each type of preventive maintenance activities namely Exam A, B C and D involving ETS Class 91. The examination concerning manhours compliance was conducted in accordance with the organization's standard, as specified in the KTMB Operation and Maintenance manual based on the highest duration of maintenance and labors. From the results, Exam A contributed to the highest non-compliance practice compared to the other Exam where the highest non-compliance percentage (32%) was recorded in 2020 which results in losses of RM RM2,552.82. This study is beneficial for the organization as it determines irregular downtime and manhours compliance for rolling stock system maintenance to shape for a better future maintenance plan that will results in efficient operation and higher revenue.

Exploratory Visual Study of Movies and its related factors

The film Industry is one of the most evergreen industries in the field of entertainment world-wide. Film Industry plays a vital role in the global economy. Though there are a huge number of movies released on a daily basis, only a countable number of movies hit an enormous audience. This paper deals with the analysis of the movies taking into consideration the features like the Genre, directors, the year of release, the budget and the revenue, the success rate of the movies etc. The analysis is being displayed in the form of a dashboard. This dashboard uses Kibana to access and import the dataset of the movies for parsing and processing within Logstash. From the Logstash, the data discovers the top genres, the movie with highest revenue, the top actors and directors as per the number of movies and the countries which make more movies and also the highest ratings of the movies based on the language. Several analyses have been carried out for visualizing the movies and its related factors. This paper helps the film industry understand the success of the movies. The idea of this paper is to build a self-explorable dashboard in favor of the users so that they take control of the dashboard and select the necessary dimensions and measures. And also, it helps the people in the film industry to have an analysis on the revenue. Keywords: Logstash, Kibana, Dashboard, Film Industry

COVID-19 pandemic and capital markets: the role of government responses

This paper analyzes the moderation effect of government responses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, proxied by the daily growth in COVID-19 cases and deaths, on the capital market, i.e., the S&P 500 firm’s daily returns. Using the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, we monitor 16 daily indicators for government actions across the fields of containment and closure, economic support, and health for 180 countries in the period from January 1, 2020 to March 15, 2021. We find that government responses mitigate the negative stock market impact and that investors’ sentiment is sensitive to a firm’s country-specific revenue exposure to COVID-19. Our findings indicate that the mitigation effect is stronger for firms that are highly exposed to COVID-19 on the sales side. In more detail, containment and closure policies and economic support mitigate negative stock market impacts, while health system policies support further declines. For firms with high revenue exposure to COVID-19, the mitigation effect is stronger for government economic support and health system initiatives. Containment and closure policies do not mitigate stock price declines due to growing COVID-19 case numbers. Our results hold even after estimating the spread of the pandemic with an epidemiological standard model, namely, the susceptible-infectious-recovered model.

Time for tobacco-free generations in the Western Pacific?

Time for tobacco-free generations in the Western Pacific?

The Tourism Value of the Coast: Modeling Seaside Amenity Values in Belgium

ABSTRACT This study seeks to quantify the value of coastal amenities to the blue tourism economy. It assesses the value of recreational and aesthetic coastal amenities in an area where tourism-related development is a key economic activity, specifically, the West Flemish vacation rental sector. Using spatial panel data comprising a cross section of 821 active Airbnb listings acquired from AirDNA, covering the time period from March 2019 to February 2020, the study models the effects of sea view and coastal proximity on Airbnb revenue alongside other structural and locational attributes. Rental units with a view of and close proximity to the sea yielded significantly higher revenues.

Examining the impact of cargo and ancillary revenues on net profit for full service carrier airlines

In this study, the relationships between cargo revenues, ancillary revenues and net profitability of airline companies were examined in the examples of three full-service airline companies (Turkish Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines). Methodologically, a logarithmic econometric model was used in which cargo revenues and ancillary revenues were included as independent variables and net profit as the dependent variables. The data used for the period 2014Q1-2019Q4 were collected from the annual reports on the official websites of related airline companies and The International Air Transport Association (IATA). EViews 10 and STATA-15 versions, which are the most modern econometric analysis programs that can be used to control the stationarity, were used in the analysis of the data. In addition to econometric analyzes and general statistics, Cross Section dependency tests, CADF second-generation unit root tests, Delta slope homogeneity tests, Panel cointegration analysis, Westerlund Panel cointegration tests and Dumitrescu Hurlin Panel Causality tests and Breusch Pagan LM Tests were also performed. The study revealed that there is cointegration between cargo revenues, ancillary revenues and net profit, and there is a one-way causality relationship from both cargo revenues to net profit and from ancillary revenues to net profit. The study also indicated a positive correlation between cargo revenues and ancillary revenues and net profit. In other words, cargo revenues and ancillary revenues have a positive effect on the net profit of airline companies. In addition, the study found that aviation ancillary revenues provide an important resource for airline companies; furthermore, two US companies are among the top three companies with the highest revenues in the world in terms of cargo and ancillary revenues; also showed that Turkish Airlines' ancillary revenues are lower than those of these two US companies. On the other hand, the study showed that the contribution of Turkish Airlines cargo revenues to net profit is much higher than the other two companies.

Restaurant Tax Collection and Contribution Mechanism to Regional Original Income in Cilegon City

Cilegon City is a city in Banten Province. Cilegon City has a fairly high level of economy in the management of industry, trade, and other management. The Regional Financial and Asset Management Agency (BPKAD) of Cilegon City stipulates various types of taxes and one of the taxes that provides a fairly high revenue is the restaurant tax. The increasing number of restaurants in Cilegon City can be used as potential in an effort to increase regional revenues from restaurant taxes. Although the number of restaurant taxpayers continues to increase every year, there are still taxpayers who are in arrears on their taxes so that they get a warning letter as a form of sanction, while the number of taxpayers who receive a warning letter is 235 restaurant taxpayers. The purpose of this study was to find out how the mechanism for collecting restaurant taxes at the Regional Financial and Asset Processing Agency (BPKAD) of Cilegon City and to determine the contribution of restaurant taxes to Cilegon City's Original Regional Revenue. The mechanism for collecting restaurant taxes at the Regional Financial and Asset Management Agency of Cilegon City has been carried out with a self-assessment system in accordance with Mayor Regulation Number 50 of 2011 concerning Collection of Restaurant Taxes. The percentage of the contribution obtained falls into the small criteria but is sufficient to provide a small contribution to Cilegon City's Original Regional Revenue (PAD). The small contribution is due to several influencing factors, such as entrepreneurs or restaurant owners closing their businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of public awareness

Understanding the development of recreational fisheries with an industry competitiveness framework: Evaluation of a case study from China

Recreational fishing is an important component of the global capture fishery, given its significant role in the economy, social culture, and ecology. Compared to the mature development found in industrialized countries, recreational fishing in developing countries or transitional economy is a new industry with abundant jobs and high revenues. China’s recreational fishery industry has shown an upward trend since 2003. This paper built an evaluation framework from both static (present competitive strength) and dynamic (potential competitive strength) perspectives to evaluate recreational fishery competitiveness in 30 Chinese provinces based on normal cloud model. The results showed the following: (1) The evaluation framework can effectively evaluate recreational fishery competitiveness. Meanwhile, there is significant randomness and fuzziness discrepancy between different indicators. ‘Industry’ indicators had the lowest fuzziness and randomness. (2) The development of recreational fishery competitiveness in China is not strong and uneven, with more than two-thirds of the total provinces with the lowest competitiveness level. Regarding spatial distribution, the eastern coastal provinces had relatively strong competitiveness, whereas the western inland provinces were weak. (3) There was stability divergence of competitiveness results among different grades. In general, the competitiveness of provinces belonging to grades I and V was the most stable, while other provinces are relatively unstable with the characteristics of dynamic changes. (4) The main advantageous factors for recreational fishery competitiveness in most provinces were ‘service’, whereas the main disadvantageous factor was ‘resources’. The abundance of fishery resources might not be a key factor resulting in regional recreational fishery competitiveness discrepancies. This study can provide a reference for decision-makers to formulate an assessment framework for recreational fishery industry and provide ideas for the formulation of recreational fishery planning at the national level.