Huge Financial Investments Research Articles

ENSURING ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF SETTLEMENTS IN UKRAINE AND EU COUNTRIES: LEGAL, ECONOMIC AND MANAGERIAL ASPECTS

The study examines energy and energy-related environmental policies in the international context and their impact on the economy and businesses in the context of energy efficiency. The focus is on Ukraine's integration into the European energy market and the legislative features of energy policy. The purpose of the article is to determine the content and features of the administrative and legal regime for the use of solar energy facilities in Ukraine in the light of ensuring the requirements for the viability of human settlements. The tasks of the article were to determine the EU energy efficiency policy, its economic and regulatory justification, which can be adapted to the needs of meeting the energy needs of Ukraine in the crisis conditions of war, and to determine the strategy for the development of energy efficiency of settlements in post-war conditions. The study used general scientific and special methods, the main of which were: abstract-logical, deductive, inductive, historical, modelling and forecasting, methods of system structural, system and functional analysis, economic-statistical (grouping, comparison, etc.). As a result, the authors conclude that the reason for this is its clear advantages over traditional sources, which are difficult to refute. In some countries, the government is implementing complex public programmes with huge financial investments for gradual replacement, but so far the results remain insignificant. Ensuring an adequate level of energy efficiency in Ukraine requires the activation of processes of harmonization of the current national legislation with the standards of the EU energy and climate policy, which is connected with: amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine in order to create conditions for attracting investors to the market of energy services; further processes of decentralization of the energy system and the spread of alternative, independently separated energy subsystems and energy resource traders; formation of artificial raw materials as sources of thermal energy.

Area prioritising criteria during phased conversion from intermittent to continuous water supply: The case study of Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company, Zambia

ABSTRACT Conversion from intermittent to continuous water supply is a recommended approach for improving water supply service to communities. The conversion process is complex and requires huge financial and human resources investments. Because such resources are always limited and cannot be adequately provided at once, phased conversion is encouraged. However, there are challenges with this approach in terms of which areas should be prioritized during the conversion process so that the water supply situation for the unconverted areas is not aggravated. This article uses a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to identify the criteria for prioritising areas to be converted during phased conversion to continuous water supply from a water utility perspective. The Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company is used as a case study. Results show that the financial sustainability of the utility company is the major criterion for selecting an area to be prioritized. In countries like Zambia where tariff structures are such that industries subsidise domestic water consumption and the affluent subsidise water consumed by the poor, prioritising financial sustainability entails giving priority to areas where high revenues are expected. This is synonymous with giving priority to the affluent or the middle-class areas with high densities of water consumers.

Совершенствование трансформации финансовой политики в Российской Федерации в условиях экономической ситуации

The picture of the Russian economy in 2024 is quite bright and optimistic, and the vision for 2030 is fully expressed in the message of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly dated 02/29/2024 with commitments on some decisions and huge financial investments. The article examines the concept of financial security of the country in the current economic situation. The development strategy of the Russian Federation, which allows for transformational changes in the country’s financial system, is studied. The development of financial policy is an important economic factor. Due to the growth of the global financial market, the system of assessment and sustainability of the country’s financial security is becoming increasingly important. The indicators of the budget forecast and public debt are considered. The features of digital changes in the financial environment are formulated. The practical significance of the work lies in the possibility of applying the directions of improving the financial policy of the Russian Federation in the context of economic transformation.

A Strategy to Decarbonize Civil Aviation: A phased innovation approach to hydrogen technologies

Greening aviation is key to our global future. However, reducing aircraft operations would severely impact worldwide economics. Therefore, it is imperative that radical and green propulsion alternatives be developed quickly. The most likely approaches to succeed in this grand challenge are hydrogen (H₂) and electrification, which hold the promise of complete decarbonization. H₂ is a promising solution for a fully sustainable aviation future, via hybrid/fuel cell technologies for short-to-medium-range and direct H₂ combustion in turbine engines for longer missions. However, the huge financial investments required to make this a reality will not be considered until several technical challenges can be overcome. Given the pressure to start decarbonizing soon, we propose a philosophy of innovation waves on the basis that to accelerate the implementation of the necessary technologies, it would be beneficial to rapidly develop suboptimal solutions and improve them through time and experience.

Appropriate Technology for Teaching and Learning in Ghanaian Higher Educational Institutions during and Post Covid-19 Era

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted learning and resulted in a paradigm shift pertaining to the delivery of higher education services. In light of the guidelines on social distancing, online learning dominated teaching and learning in higher educational institutions across the globe. The Ghanaian higher educational sector had to adapt to the changing circumstances and wide adoption of electronic learning was a viable option. This study examines the extent to which higher educational institutions were able to embrace online learning. However, institutions of higher learning in Africa, in general, and in Ghana, in particular, seem to have deficiencies in terms of acquiring the necessary technology. Skills deficiency on the part of technicians, the inadequacy of infrastructure, and limited electronic readiness are among the factors compromising the effective use of information communication technologies (ICTs) in teaching and learning in Ghanaian higher educational institutions. Quality assurance is a central feature of a framework for enhancing the success of online teaching and learning. The other key elements include increasing the level of electronic readiness in Ghana, building the capacity of ICT technicians to develop the appropriate software, ensuring affordability of hardware, software, and data services, and training of both the lecturers and students. Huge financial investments, beyond the scope of the Ghanaian government, are required and multi-stakeholder collaborations seem to be viable funding options.

How do Chinese people perceive their healthcare system? Trends and determinants of public satisfaction and perceived fairness, 2006\u20132019

BackgroundThe public’s perception of the health system provides valuable insights on health system performance and future directions of improvement. While China’s health care reform was a response to people’s discontent in the health care system due to the lack of accessibility and affordability, little is known on changes in public perception of China’s health system. This paper examines trends in public perception of the health system between 2006 and 2019 and assesses determinants of public perception in China’s health system.MethodsSeven waves of the China Social Survey, a nationally representative survey, were used to examine trends in public satisfaction with health care and perceived fairness in health care. Chi-square tests were used to examine differences across waves. Logistic regression models were used to explore determinants of public perception, including variables on sociodemographic characteristics, health system characteristics, and patient experience.ResultsSatisfaction with health care increased from 57.76% to 77.26% between 2006 and 2019. Perceived fairness in health care increased from 49.79% to 72.03% during the same period. Both indicators showed that the major improvement occurred before 2013. Sociodemographic characteristics are weakly associated with public perception. Financial protection and perceived medical safety are strongly associated with public perception, while accessibility is weakly associated with public perception. Patient experience such as perceived affordability and quality in the last medical visit are strongly associated with public perception of the health care system, while the accessibility of the last medical visit shows no impacts.ConclusionPublic satisfaction on health care and perceived fairness in health care in China improved over 2006–2019. The main improvement occurred in accordance with huge financial investments in public health insurance before 2013. Financial protection and perceived quality play significant roles in determining public perception, whereas accessibility and sociodemographic characteristics have limited influence on people’s perception of China’s health system. To achieve higher satisfaction and a higher sense of fairness in health care, China’s health system needs to continue its reforms on hospital incentives and integrated delivery system to control health expenditure and improve health care quality.

Global Tuberculosis Report 2020 – Reflections on the Global TB burden, treatment and prevention efforts

The October 2020 Global TB report reviews TB control strategies and United Nations (UN) targets set in the political declaration at the September 2018 UN General Assembly high-level meeting on TB held in New York. Progress in TB care and prevention has been very slow. In 2019, TB remained the most common cause of death from a single infectious pathogen. Globally, an estimated 10.0 million people developed TB disease in 2019, and there were an estimated 1.2 million TB deaths among HIV-negative people and an additional 208, 000 deaths among people living with HIV. Adults accounted for 88% and children for 12% of people with TB. The WHO regions of South-East Asia (44%), Africa (25%), and the Western Pacific (18%) had the most people with TB. Eight countries accounted for two thirds of the global total: India (26%), Indonesia (8.5%), China (8.4%), the Philippines (6.0%), Pakistan (5.7%), Nigeria (4.4%), Bangladesh (3.6%) and South Africa (3.6%). Only 30% of the 3.5 million five-year target for children treated for TB was met. Major advances have been development of new all oral regimens for MDRTB and new regimens for preventive therapy. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic dislodged TB from the top infectious disease cause of mortality globally. Notably, global TB control efforts were not on track even before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many challenges remain to improve sub-optimal TB treatment and prevention services. Tuberculosis screening and diagnostic test services need to be ramped up. The major drivers of TB remain undernutrition, poverty, diabetes, tobacco smoking, and household air pollution and these need be addressed to achieve the WHO 2035 TB care and prevention targets. National programs need to include interventions for post-tuberculosis holistic wellbeing. From first detection of COVID-19 global coordination and political will with huge financial investments have led to the development of effective vaccines against SARS-CoV2 infection. The world now needs to similarly focus on development of new vaccines for TB utilizing new technological methods.

Indian contribution toward biomedical research and development in COVID-19: A systematic review.

COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented collaborative effort among industry, academia, regulatory bodies, and governments with huge financial investments. Scientists and researchers from India also left no stone unturned to find therapeutic and preventive measures against COVID-19. Indian pharmaceutical companies are one of the leading manufacturers of vaccine in the world, are utilizing its capacity to its maximum, and are one among the forerunners in vaccine research against COVID-19 across the globe. In this systematic review, the information regarding contribution of Indian scientists toward COVID-19 research has been gathered from various news articles across Google platform apart from searching PubMed, WHO site, COVID-19 vaccine tracker, CTRI, clinicaltrials.gov, and websites of pharmaceutical companies. The article summarizes and highlights the various therapeutic and vaccine candidates, diagnostic kits, treatment agents, and technology being developed and tested by Indian researcher community against COVID-19.

Smart Retailing in COVID-19 World: Insights from Egypt

COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on business in general and the retail sector in particular which was hardly hit as sales fell by 20 percent during this period. The main challenges that face retailers nowadays during COVID-19 outbreak include: balance in supply and demand; safety of employees; trust between retailer and consumer; distribution - transportation capability; shortage of manpower and consumer behavior (Fernandes, 2020; Kumar et al., 2020; Pantano et al., 2020). Yet, retailers around the world started to understand the benefits and new opportunities offered by smart technologies (Inman and Nikolova, 2017; Renko and Druzijanic, 2014). New technologies like internet of things (IoT) can play a significant role in controlling the pandemic situation in the retail sector and are expected to bring substantial benefits such as lower labor costs, increased efficiency, attraction of new shoppers and the generation of new revenue channels (Roy et al., 2017; Vaishya et al., 2020; Wünderlich et al., 2013). However, only a limited number of retailers has adopted IoT due to the huge financial investments required and uncertainty of customers' acceptance (Alkemade and Suurs, 2012; Evans, 2011; Pantano et al., 2013). It is, thus, expected to see smart retailers taking a series of actions over the short to medium term to conserve cash and structure of their company for post-COVID-19 operations. This research aims to explore the retailers' perceptions towards the adoption of smart retail technologies in Egyptian retailing context throughout conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with mid-to-top level management in different retail organisations and discuss the advantages and challenges expected from smart retail technologies adoption. Moreover, the research explains how smart retail can help overcoming uncertainities and is considered a well managed response strategy by retailers to COVID-19.

Classification and solid municipal waste unauthorized landfills reclamation methods

Due to the rapid production volume and consumption increase, the disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) problems appeared. In Russian Federation stocktaking municipal solid waste accumulation objects close municipal waste landfills, building incineration and waste processing plants become a hot-button issue, which is one of the significant points in a national program «Ecology». Already formed illegal MSW landfills recultivation problem as well attracts wide attention. Nowadays, a recultivation system takes a long time for reclamation method choice, finding the contractor to perform this type of work. In this time, pollutants penetrate deep into the soil and pollute underground water horizons harming the population health as a result. It is proposed to adopt new definitions of the unauthorized landfill, cluster garbage, and focal Cluster garbage at the Federal level to simplify the system. And also divide those responsible for carrying out measures for liquidation and/or reclamation at the Federal, regional and local levels by category. The necessary recultivation method should be selected based on these results. This unauthorized dumping ground separation method can simplify the existing reclamation system in use, approval of technical tasks for remediation. Furthermore, the proposed classification does not require huge financial investments and save time when conducting procurement procedures. The work was carried out with the support of the center for collective use of the Saint Petersburg Mining University.

Irrigation Potential Utilization Estimation using Time-Series Satellite Data

In India, significant irrigation potential has been created to increase the agricultural crop intensity and its production. However, these irrigation systems, built with huge financial investments, exhibit significant gap in potential created and utilized. The contributing factors are multi fold and State & Central Governments initiated many programs to bridge the gap in irrigation potential created & utilized under command areas. Objective assessment of actual irrigation utilization in command areas is prerequisite for planning appropriate interventions to bridge the gap. Conventional field-based data collection mechanism is tedious and do not provide spatial patterns of irrigation utilization. Satellite data with multi-spectral and temporal dimensionality provides opportunities to estimate irrigation utilization and thus to derive its spatial patterns quantifying the gap between created and utilized. In this study, the irrigation potential utilized, as against the potential created was analyzed for Krishna basin using multi-temporal satellite data. Seasonal and annual crop map was derived from times series Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) data through unsupervised classification. The crop area identified from the remote sensed information was separated into irrigated and rainfed classes based on temporal profiles of Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) with in a crop season. Irrigation Potential Utilized (IPU) was determined as the gross irrigated area. https://doi.org/10.23953/cloud.ijarsg.475

Constraints in Adoption of Protected Vegetable Cultivation in Mid-hill Areas of Himachal Pradesh

The transfer of protected cultivation technology to the farmers in Himachal Pradesh started in 2003-04. Considering the huge financial investments and incentives provided by the government, the technology is still at a very nascent stage. Therefore, the present study was conducted to delineate the capital investment pattern, income generation and the constraints faced by farmers in the adoption of protected technology. The study is based on primary data collected through a survey method for the agricultural year 2015-16. The data were collected from 60 protected vegetable growers, selected using two-stage random sampling from the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. It was observed very high capital investment (`229438) requirement out of which the owner’s contribution was to the extent of 27.56 percent and the remaining amount was contributed by the government. The protected cultivation was observed to increase the farmers’ income by nearly 25 percent. The constraints were observed to exist with respect to various aspects viz., structural/ construction, infrastructural, operational, institutional and marketing. The lack of knowledge about the site, orientation, material, etc., lack of technical know-how and training, inadequate extension and advisory services, lack of credit, insurance and storage facilities, etc., were reported to be the major constraints in the adoption of technology. There is a dire need for the development of effective storage and marketing infrastructure, the supply of quality planting inputs at affordable prices; effective pricing policies, frequent and effective training to the farmers as well as an efficient integration of this technology by the farmers on their farms. This will not only help in enhancing profitability and sustainability but will also expand the adoption of technology in the state.

Green synthesis of nanomaterials - A scientometric assessment

The green synthesis of engineered nanomaterials (NMs) has deserved an enormous academic interest and huge financial investments during the last decades. However, this prominent position has not been followed by the rapid commercialization of NMs for real applications thus rendering their practical usefulness very doubtful and the appropriateness of novel investments in the field highly questionable. The present manuscript presents the first scientometric study on the green synthesis of NMs aiming to survey the scientific progress in this particular field and identify its main gaps while providing applicable suggestions to facilitate the knowledge transfer from laboratories to real full scale production and applications. The research on green synthesis of nanomaterials published in Web of Science during the period 1991–2019 is here carefully analyzed. Overall, 9 scientometric indicators are employed to interpret the results retrieved from the 8761 documents collected. It is found that 107 countries and nearly 22,400 authors have contributed to this subject, hence highlighting the relevance of this topic. The keywords spectrum is dominated by the term “nanoparticle” which full adoption takes place at the beginning of the 21st century. Some few years later, a batch of words like “silver nanoparticle”, “gold nanoparticle” and “nanocomposite” reaches a significant impact reflecting the emergence of commercial applications for these nanomaterials. It is only in 2009 that the keyword “green synthesis” gains strength, followed then by “biosynthesis” in 2010, making it evident a trend towards environmentally friendly reagents. The number of publications on green synthesis of nanomaterials displays up to now a sigmoidal like growth pattern, which points actually to a decrease on new arrivals, thus suggesting a possible forthcoming decline in this field. However, the analysis carried out in the present work allows identifying various gaps related to sustainability, which, if appropriately addressed, may contribute to a resurgence of the research on nanomaterials synthesis while fostering more frugal approaches on material synthesis tendencies.

HESS Opinions: Socio-economic and ecological trade-offs of flood management – benefits of a transdisciplinary approach

Abstract. In light of climate change and growing numbers of people inhabiting riverine floodplains, worldwide demand for flood protection is increasing, typically through engineering approaches such as more and bigger levees. However, the well-documented “levee effect” of increased floodplain use following levee construction or enhancement often results in increased problems, especially when levees fail or are compromised by big flood events. Herein, we argue that there are also unintended socio-economic and ecological consequences of traditional engineering solutions that need to be better considered, communicated and weighed against alternative solutions. Socio-economic consequences include reduced aesthetic and recreational values as well as increased downstream flooding risk and reduced ecosystem services. Ecological consequences include hydraulic decoupling, loss of biodiversity and increased risk of contamination during flooding. In addition, beyond river losses of connectivity and natural riparian vegetation created by levees, changes in groundwater levels and increased greenhouse gas emissions are likely. Because flood protection requires huge financial investments and results in major and persistent changes to the landscape, more balanced decisions that involve all stakeholders and policymakers should be made in the future. This requires a transdisciplinary approach that considers alternative solutions such as green infrastructure and places emphasis on integrated flood management rather than on reliance on technical protection measures.

Smart infrastructure by (PPPs) within the concept of smart cities to achieve sustainable development

The concept of smart infrastructure is derived from the idea of smart city which is described as a comprehensive system with different elements such as people, governance, environment, economy, mobility and living conditions of a given geographical space with efficient ICT that promote smart sustainable environment. The improvement of efficiency, quality and affordable costs of providing city services to be a smart city requires huge financial investments therefore; the cooperation between the public, private sectors and civil society become inevitable to cover the cost of this trend. This paper discusses the participation of public-private partnerships (PPPs) with the civil society to Smart infrastructure by (PPPs) within the concept of smart cities 183 provide the finance and (intelligent) technology for the infrastructure by innovative solutions according to the available recourses and technology in the countries to achieve social, environmental and economic sustainability. Smart infrastructure for cities is adapted by introducing technology and builds smarter solutions to meet the requirements of society to avoid exploding of the existing infrastructure because of the expected tremendous pressure on it. This paper focuses on the smart city infrastructure and PPPS process to achieve smart infrastructure.

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS IN FACILITATING TRAINING TRANSFER AND GOAL SETTING AMONGST SMALL BUSINESSWOMEN: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Knowledge and skills have become the most crucial resource capital which enables organizations to survive in the ever changing business environment. One of the common strategies for organizations to increase their performance and productivity is through training and the main role of human resource development is to fulfil the needs of the organizations by providing employees with up to date expertise, information, knowledge and skills. Since huge financial investments and enormous time are allocated for training, organizations hope that the training will lead to the desired workoutcomes. However, this does not always happen. There is only a small percentage of training programs which had successfully shown lasting transferability to the workplace and this indicates thatunderstanding and improving the training transfer process is still a major concern for training researchers and practitioners. As training transfer is influenced by several variables at different levels of analysis, this study attempts to investigate the relationship between training transfer determinants, the involvement of different stakeholders and training activities in the training process. Specifically, this study investigates the influence of training transfer determinants on goal setting amongst small businesswomen. In addition, it will emphasize the roles of primary stakeholders in the social networkat different times during the training process towards achieving training transfer. Therefore, the framework postulates social networks as a moderating variable in enhancing training transfer andgoal setting amongst small businesswomen.

Framework for Engineering Design Systems Architectures Evaluation and Selection: Case Study

Engineering companies face the challenge of developing complex Engineering Design Systems. These systems involve huge financial, people, and time investments within an environment that is characterised by continuously changing technologies and processes. Systems architecture provides the strategies and modelling approaches to ensure that adequate resources are spent in developing the possible To Be states for a target system. Architecture selection and evaluation involves evaluating different architectural alternatives with respect to multiple criteria, hence an Architecture Evaluation Framework which evaluates and down selects the appropriate architectures solutions is crucial to assess how these systems will deliver value over their lifetime, and where to channel the financial and human investments to maximize benefit delivered to the business’ bottom line.In this paper, an evaluation and selection architecture framework is proposed, which targets to maximise the alignment of Engineering Design Systems with business goals based on a quality centric architecture evaluation approach. The framework utilised software Quality Attributes as well as SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) and PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) analyses to capture different viewpoints related to technical, political and business context. The framework proposed employing AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) to quantitatively elicit relationships between Quality Attributes trade-offs and architectural characteristics. The framework was applied to a real case study considering five Engineering Design Systems alternative architectures, where workshops with subject matter experts and stakeholders were held to reach an informative decision, that maximise architectural quality, whilst maintaining business alignment.

The system of effective management of transport and logistics company

Railway transport is one of the system-forming sectors of the economy, requiring huge financial investments. At the same time, the sphere of transport can become an instrument for overcoming the economic crisis and creating conditions for the growth of the national economy, as investing in the transport industry contributes to the development of related industries and the provision of jobs. The development of transport infrastructure to meet the needs of the economy and the implementation of transit potential is a strategic direction outlined in the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2014–2018. The task of Kazakhstan is to ensure an increase in the transit freight traffic between the People's Republic of China and the European Union, which goes on a land route through the territory of the republic. So, according to the results of 2014, the volume of transit traffic amounted to 17.5 million tons, revenues from transit transportation amounted to 180 billion tenge. JSC Astyk Trans is currently one of the largest operators in the market of railway transportation of grain cargo in Kazakhstan, but slightly inferior to JSC NC in domestic transportation of 42042 wagons to 45049, while for export shipments to the share of JSC AstykTrans there are 34787 carloads, which is 50.3% of transportation of JSC NC KTZ . In order to increase the efficiency of transport and logistics services, reduce the distance and time of delivery between the busiest sections of the railway, construction projects for transport and logistics centers and the formation of an internal terminal network are planned in the industry. By 2020, the railway industry plans to build 1400 km of new railway lines to accelerate the delivery of goods and passengers within the country and beyond Kazakhstan, with at least 50% of the financing of construction to be carried out through private investment. The state for its part can provide tax and other benefits, guarantees, subsidies, subventions, direct reimbursement of investment costs.

A resilience-based prioritization scheme for water main rehabilitation

Water supply infrastructure in the United States is one lifeline system that is in dire need of huge financial investments to counter pipeline deterioration while keeping up with increasing demands and reliability goals. With decreasing financial resources available to state and local governments, effective decision-making tools for pipeline prioritization are becoming an increasingly integral part of the water utility industry. A majority of existing prioritization frameworks are merely based on the likelihood of the failure of pipelines and the resulting consequences, with little consideration given to the utility's response time to a water pipeline failure. This paper presents a novel resilience-based framework for effective prioritization of water distribution pipelines. The novelty lies in estimating the utility's response time to a pipeline failure. The proposed framework is demonstrated on a section of a real water distribution network in a coastal city of the United States. The pipeline priority results obtained are also compared with those from a more traditional risk-based prioritization scheme, and a reasonably significant difference has been observed. While availability of quality data is a challenge, this study brings to attention the importance of response time to water pipeline failures and demonstrates the merits of incorporating it in a prioritization scheme.

Judicial protection of intellectual property rights in Republic of Serbia

This paper deals with the judicial protection of intellectual property rights in the case of injury, without which the monopoly right of the legal entity does not make any sense. The subject of protection refers to the intangible assets which, through the economic function, allows the legal entity certain material benefits coming from the economic exploitation. The special importance of protecting intellectual property rights derives from the fact that the intellectual property is created by engaging the most creative human resources together with huge financial investments. In our country, the newly adopted laws are, to the greatest extent, harmonized with the current both regional and international standards in the field of protection of intellectual property rights.