Performance Evaluation Of Strategies Research Articles

Mitigating against relative age effects in youth Track & Field: Validating corrective adjustment procedures across multiple events

ObjectivesWith the aim to better identify talented Track & Field performance development, this study estimated the relationships between chronological (decimal) age with 60-m sprint, high jump, triple jump, and pole vault performance. Then, to mitigate against expected Relative Age Effects (RAEs), Corrective Adjustment Procedures (CAPs) were applied to an independent sample. DesignMixed-longitudinal design examining public data between 2005 and 2019. MethodsThe performances of 5339 Italian sprinters and jumpers (53.1 %) spanning 11.01–17.99 years of age were examined, with trendlines between chronological age and performance established. Related to an independent sample (N = 40,306; female 45.5 %), trendlines were then utilised to apply CAPs and adjust individual performance. Considering raw and adjusted performance data, RAE distributions were examined for the top 25 % and 10 % performers. ResultsFor all male and female events, quadratic models best summarised the relationships between chronological age and performance (R2 = 0.74–0.89). When examining independent athletes in similar event, RAEs were more pronounced in males (Cramer's V = 0.35–0.14) than females (Cramer's V = 0.29–0.07). For both sexes, RAE magnitude decreased with age and increased according to performance level (i.e., Top25%–Top10%). However, following CAP applications, RAEs were reduced or removed within annual age groups and performance levels. ConclusionsWith RAEs prevalent across Italian youth Track & Field events, findings validate CAPs as a strategy to account for the influence of relative age differences on athletic performance. CAPs help establish a more equitable strategy for performance evaluation and could help improve the efficacy of long-term athlete development programming.

An Analytical Method for Timely Predicting of Coal Seam Pressure during Gas Production for Undersaturated Coalbed Methane Reservoirs

Coal seam pressure is an important parameter for production performance evaluation and prediction of coalbed methane (CBM). CBM production from undersaturated CBM reservoirs can be divided into two stages according to critical desorption pressure. At present, few prediction models of coal seam pressure performance consider the comprehensive influence of critical desorption pressure, dissolved gas, matrix shrinkage, and stress sensitivity. For the purpose of accurately predicting coal seam pressure during gas production for an undersaturated coalbed methane reservoir, the material balance principle is used to establish the analytical method for predicting coal seam pressure, considering the comprehensive influence of the critical desorption pressure, dissolved gas, matrix shrinkage, and stress sensitivity. Then, the proposed method is verified against a numerical simulation case using a computer modelling group (CMG) and two actual coalbed methane wells. Finally, the sensitivities of influencing factors on the coal seam pressure are analyzed. The results show that good agreements were obtained between the calculated coal seam pressures using the proposed method and those from the CMG-GEM simulation case and actual CBM wells, with the relative errors all being less than 1%. When ignoring the influence of critical desorption pressure and mistaking pd for pi as well as ignoring Cs, the relative error can reach as high as 31.3%. The main factors affecting the coal seam pressure are the critical desorption pressure and free gas saturation. The proposed method is simple to use, and without shutting-in the well, it can provide an important basis for production performance evaluation and development strategies.

Performance Evaluation Strategies and Teachers’ Productivity in Public Secondary Schools in Rivers State

This study investigated the performance evaluation strategies and teachers’ productivity in public senior secondary schools in Rivers State. Four research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The correlational design was adopted by the study. The population of the study is 1,714 respondents in 95 public senior secondary schools in Rivers West Senatorial district in Rivers State. The sample size of the study comprises 514 respondents in Rivers West Senatorial District in Rivers State. A simple random sampling approach and proportional sampling technique is used. Two sets are used for data collection. They are Performance Evaluation Strategies Questionnaire (PESQ) and Teacher’s Productivity Questionnaire (TPQ) for data collection. The reliability of the instruments (PESQ and TPQ) were determined by using Cronbach Alpha method. The research questions were answered using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) to answer the research questions while the hypotheses were tested using Multiple Regression. The findings of the study showed that the Performance Evaluation Strategies, such as complying to quality assurance, adherence to output specification, knowledge of the job, creative initiative had positive relationship with teachers productivity in public senior secondary schools in Rivers State. It was also found that there was significant difference between complying to quality assurance, adherence to output specification, and knowledge of the job, as creative initiative had a positive relationship with teachers productivity in public senior secondary schools in Rivers State. It was recommended among others that the government should provide a legal framework that coordinates and harmonizes the best performance evaluation strategy to ensure standards and uniformity.

Low-cost architecture performance evaluation strategy based on pixel difference degree contrast measurement

The time and effort required to manually design deep neural architectures is extremely high, which has led to the development of neural architecture search technology as an automatic architecture design method. However, the neural architecture search convergence process is slow and expensive, and the process requires training a large number of candidate architectures to get the final result. If the final accuracy of an architecture can be predicted from its initial state, this problem can be greatly alleviated. Therefore, this paper proposes a low-cost architecture performance evaluation strategy based on pixel difference degree contrast measurement, which takes 1) the difference matrix value between the feature map generated in the untrained architecture and the original image, and 2) the predicted accuracy of the neural network as evaluation indices. A new multi-index weight comprehensive measurement strategy was introduced to comprehensively score the multi-index, the real architecture performance can be approximately represented by score, which greatly reduces the cost of architecture evaluation. The experimental show that the proposed scoring strategy is highly correlated with real architecture accuracy. In the practical engineering application research, this strategy can search a high-performance architecture with an accuracy of 96.2% within 343.3 s, which proves that the proposed strategy can significantly improve the search efficiency in practical applications, reduce the subjectivity of artificial architecture design, and promote the application of practical time-consuming projects.

Response Characteristics of Irregular Continuous Rigid Frame Bridges with Long-Span and High-Rise Piers under Ground Motion Excitations with Different Fault Distances

An innovative seismic performance evaluation strategy for irregular rigid frame bridges with a long-span and high-rise piers under the action of ground motions with different fault distances is presented in this paper. A total of 129 mainshock records taken during the Wenchuan earthquake, from national seismic stations with different fault distances, were analyzed using statistical methods, to determine the attenuation characteristics of the intensity index of the Wenchuan earthquake records from the perspective of aseismic engineering, and the attenuation of the acceleration response spectrum is discussed. The Miaoziping Bridge on the Dujiangyan–Wenchuan Expressway, which was damaged in the Wenchuan earthquake, is taken as the analysis background; two sets of samples for long-span continuous rigid frame bridges with different pier heights are constructed, to discuss the seismic response characteristics of continuous long-span rigid frame bridges; and representative values for the natural periods of these two bridge structural groups are subsequently compared and analyzed. After the peak responses for various bridges with various pier heights are determined through a response spectrum analysis under the action of ground motions with different fault distances, and the surfaces for the obtained peak responses are fitted and the response characteristics for different fault distances are discussed. It is shown in the results that the seismic response characteristics of the continuous rigid frame bridges with long-span and high-rise piers were significantly different under the action of the ground motions with different fault distances, and the seismic responses of these two bridge groups were distinctly larger under the action of near-fault ground motions. Furthermore, based on the above research, suggestions for the pier arrangement and bridge site selection for continuous rigid frame bridges with long-span and high-rise piers are also discussed. The results of this paper also provide some theoretical guidance for the sustainable development of bridges with long-span and high-rise piers, from the perspective of bridge seismic response characteristics.

Performance Evaluation and Tuning Strategies for High Availability Messaging Infrastructures: A Case Study with Zookeeper and Kafka

Performance Evaluation and Tuning Strategies for High Availability Messaging Infrastructures: A Case Study with Zookeeper and Kafka

Seismic Performance Evaluation and Retrofit Strategy of Overhead Gas-Insulated Transmission Lines

The overhead gas-insulated transmission line (GIL) in ultra-high-voltage converter stations, distinct from traditional buried pipelines, demands a thorough investigation into its seismic behavior due to limitations in existing codes. A refined finite element model is established, considering internal structure, slip between various parts, and the relative displacement at the internal conductor joint. Seismic analysis reveals the vulnerability of the GIL at the corner of the pipeline height change, with two failure modes: housing strength failure and internal conductor displacement exceeding the limit. Furthermore, the acceleration amplification coefficient of the support generally exceeds 2.0. Two retrofit methods, namely increasing the fundamental frequency of all supports and fixing the connections between all supports and the housing, have been proposed. The results indicate the effectiveness of both methods in reducing the relative displacement. Fixing all the supports effectively reduces the stress, whereas the other one yields the opposite effect. The seismic performance of a GIL is determined not by the dynamic amplification of supports, but by the control of relative displacement between critical sections, specifically influenced by the angular deformation of the pipeline’s first-order translational vibration mode along the line direction. Seismic vulnerability analysis reveals a reduction of over 50% in the failure probability of the GIL after the retrofit compared to before the retrofit, with the PGA exceeding 0.4 g.

Large constellations for fast acquisition and delivery of information: Design and analysis by stereographic projection onto the equatorial plane

SummaryRecent space projects are designed by satellite constellations with a large number of spacecraft, a global character (i.e., from equatorial to high inclination orbits), and the possibility to transfer information to different satellites of the constellation (inter satellite link) in order to deliver the information to the ground as soon as possible. To cope with a large number of parameters, a fast tool for constellation design, performance evaluation and networking strategies is needed. The aim of this paper is to obtain the performance of any constellation in less than 1 s, even when the number of satellites in the constellation and the duration of the analysis is large (e.g., more than 200 satellites in a period of some days). The proposed algorithm is based on analytical formulae obtained by using the stereographic projection on the equatorial plane of the satellite orbits and the projection of the target and ground station orbits. It is believed that the two‐dimensional projection proposed here can offer some advantages with respect to the spatial analysis of satellite orbits and their ground tracks, such as the reduction in time required to calculate station/satellite and satellite/satellite encounter conditions, and the clear and simple representation of the motion of the satellite of the constellation and of the ground stations of interest.

A new data mining strategy for performance evaluation of a shared energy recovery system integrated with data centres and district heating networks

This study presents a new data mining strategy to discover the performance and operational patterns of a shared energy recovery (SER) system with a data centre and a district heating network. Multidimensional clustering incorporated with a composite performance metric was first used to evaluate the typical performance of the system and reveal the interactions among different performance indicators. Decision tree analysis was then used to identify distinct system performances under different external conditions. Temporal clustering analysis was lastly used to identify the impact of recovered waste heat on the variations in heat supply from the district heating substation. The strategy was evaluated through a case study SER system at a university campus located in Norway. It was found that the most frequent performance accounted for 34 % of the total operational period with the instantaneous waste heat recovery rate of 572.9 kW, the temperature of waste heat of 57.2 °C, and the coefficient of performance of the heat pumps of 2.0. The outdoor air temperature and supply water temperature from the main district heating substation to the campus buildings showed a significant impact on the SER system performance. Moreover, the results showed that the SER system can help reduce the energy use of the district heating networks while increasing the fluctuations of heat supply from the main district heating substation.

B-124 Applicability of measurement uncertainty in the validity of results in the clinical laboratory

Abstract Background The results of the clinical laboratory must comply with attributes of precision, veracity, and accuracy to guarantee the validity of the result; since the assurance of analytical quality, different performance evaluation strategies have been applied with the use of tools such as total permissible error (ETa) and sigma metric. However, based on the requirements to qualify for the accreditation process by standards such as ISO 15189 and ISO 17025, the concept of the “measurement uncertainty” of the measured magnitude values was introduced, giving special relevance in the interpretation of the values obtained, therefore it is important to consider its estimation and evaluation as a tool that contributes to patient safety in the interpretation of clinical decision limits. Methods Uncertainty estimation was performed for forty-one measurands that were previously selected considering the variables of clinical risk and processing volume. The estimation of uncertainty, ETa and sigma metric were made with the RANDOX Acusera software 24/7 online from the information obtained from the internal quality control data and the scheme of the external quality evaluation. The uncertainty obtained was compared against four criteria of acceptability of uncertainty. Results After comparing the uncertainty obtained against the four criteria of acceptability of uncertainty, it was found that the most demanding criterion is that derived from the reference biological interval. The implementation of this criterion would allow objective comparability of performance between laboratories. Conclusions: The estimation of uncertainty as an indicator of the validity of the results provides relevant information in the interpretation of the results that are within the limits of clinical decision, while the ET and sigma metric contribute to the monitoring and control of the performance of the analysis or measurement procedure. Conclusion We observed that the efforts of the laboratory for minimizing the variation sources that can affect the analytical accuracy have been prolific. Total Error quantification, Sigma 6 and MU have a correlation, favorably impacting the tests performance. Aiming to guarantee a constant improvement of the results’ quality, the Total Error and MU goals must be periodically revised, ensuring their utility throughout time.

Deep-learning for automated markerless tracking of infants general movements

The presence of abnormal infant General Movements (GMs) is a strong predictor of progressive neurodevelopmental disorders, including cerebral palsy (CP). Automation of the assessment will overcome scalability barriers that limit its delivery to at-risk individuals. Here, we report a robust markerless pose-estimation scheme, based on advanced deep-learning technology, to track infant movements in consumer mobile device video recordings. Two deep neural network models, namely Efficientnet-b6 and resnet-152, were trained on manually annotated data across twelve anatomical locations (3 per limb) in 12 videos from 6 full-term infants (mean age = 17.33 (SD 2.9) wks, 4 male, 2 female), using the DeepLabCut™ framework. K-fold cross-validation indicates the generalization capability of the deep-nets for GM tracking on out-of-domain data with an overall performance of 95.52% (SD 2.43) from the best performing model (Efficientnet-b6) across all infants (performance range: 84.32–99.24% across all anatomical locations). The paper further introduces an automatic, unsupervised strategy for performance evaluation on extensive out-of-domain recordings through a fusion of likelihoods from a Kalman filter and the deep-net. Findings indicate the possibility of establishing an automated GM tracking platform, as a suitable alternative to, or support for, the current observational protocols for early diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders in early infancy.

THE IMPACT OF REMOTE WORK ON HR PRACTICES: NAVIGATING CHALLENGES, EMBRACING OPPORTUNITIES

The COVID-19 pandemic has enhanced the rise of remote work, revolutionized organizational operations, and significantly impacted human resources (HR) practices. This paper explores the profound effects of remote work on HR functions, addressing both challenges and opportunities in this new paradigm. The shift to remote work has increased flexibility for the workforce and opened access to a global talent pool. However, it has not been without its challenges for HR professionals. They now face hurdles in engaging employees, managing performance effectively, and promoting team collaboration. Ensuring a unified organizational culture and cultivating a solid connection among remote workers have become pressing concerns. This research emphasizes the significance of HR departments adapting to the realities of remote work. It proposes a need for redefining talent acquisition, training, performance evaluation, and employee engagement strategies. By analyzing real-world case studies and expert insights, this study offers valuable guidance to HR leaders and practitioners in effectively navigating challenges and optimizing remote work arrangements. Embracing remote work provides clear advantages for organizations that enhance resilience and attract top talent. In this regard, HR professionals must proactively adopt technology and acquire new skill sets to optimize remote work environments. As organizations navigate the challenges of remote work, the HR function plays a fundamental role in shaping work's future and nurturing a thriving workforce. This study offers valuable insights, empowering HR practitioners to position their organizations for success amid this evolving landscape.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0056/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Bio-waste mediated synthesis of zirconium nanoparticle fuel: Energy management strategy for performance evaluation in a diesel engine

The impact of biosynthesized zirconium nanoparticles originated from biological waste, blended in diesel fuel processed through bio-refining strategy and its combustion, emissions, and overall diesel engine performance towards safety has been examined. Different weight fractions of zirconia nanoparticles were combined with crude diesel at 10, 20, and 30 mg/L values. According to the engine tests, Zirconia (20 nm) added to pure diesel at a concentration of 30 parts per million incremented thermal efficiencies by 4.9% compared to regular diesel fuel. The average reduction in specific fuel consumption for clean diesel fuel when the engine was operating at full power was 2.9%, 3.9%, and 4.9%. Diesel smoke, hydrocarbon, CO, and NOx emissions were reduced by 13%, 20%, 25%, and 29%, respectively, when nano additives were used at a concentration of 30 ppm.Nanoparticles enhance fuel stability, overcome detonation difficulties, and avoid fouling spark plugs. The pressure within cylinder, the temperature, and the rate at which heat is released was improved when alumina nanoparticles were appended to diesel fuel. However, both the length of the combustion and further delay in ignition were cut down. The ideal concentration of zirconia nanoparticles for improving combustion, efficiency, and emissions along with safety attainment in an internal combustion engine is recorded at 30 ppm.

The Dynamics and Driving Mechanisms of Rural Revitalization in Western China

By constructing a rural revitalization index evaluation system and using measurement models and software such as AHP, the entropy method, the BCG matrix, and GeoDetector, this paper quantitatively analyzed the evolution mode and driving mechanism of rural revitalization performance based on the research of 131 cities and autonomous prefectures in western China to further put forward relevant policy suggestions and establish a new framework that integrates “performance evaluation, evolution model, driving mechanism, and management strategy”. Findings: firstly, rural revitalization in western China showed slow development and significant regional heterogeneity, with a coefficient of variation of 0.46 or even higher; secondly, the different dimensions of rural revitalization and development varied greatly, with the order being: thriving businesses (about 0.04) < effective governance (about 0.06) < pleasant living environment (about 0.09) < social etiquette and civility (about 1.0) < prosperity (about 0.23); thirdly, the growth and decline of rural revitalization performance coexisted in the context of rapid development in western China, and the evolution was in diversified patterns; fourthly, there were many factors affecting the change of rural revitalization performance, and different factors exhibited significant synergistic effects with each other, with super-interacting factor pairs having a force of over 0. 7 (maximum 1), including permanent population, urbanization rate, added value of primary industry, and per capita GDP as key factors; fifthly, based on the superposition analysis of the evolution pattern and driving forces of rural revitalization, western cities are classified into 8 types (including external assistance zone, general development zone, general retention zone, general demonstration zone, internal governance zone, important development zone, important retention zone, important demonstration zone) for establishment of a zoning planning and management system and design of differentiated development policies, providing a basis for “evidence-based decision-making” for the government.

Towards Achieving Zero Carbon Targets in Building Retrofits: A Multi-Parameter Building Information Modeling (BIM) Approach Applied to a Case Study of a Thermal Bath

As the urgency to mitigate climate change intensifies, the achievement of zero carbon targets in the built environment has become a critical objective. Building retrofitting plays a vital role in reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions in existing buildings. This paper presents an approach that combines Building Information Modeling (BIM) with multiple domains to strive for zero carbon targets in building retrofit projects. The proposed approach is based on a dynamic multi-parameter analysis that integrates indoor comfort, energy savings, CO2eq reduction, and the social cost of carbon while considering investment costs. Renewable energy technologies, such as photovoltaic panels and solar thermal systems, are emphasized to achieve the desired zero-carbon outcomes. Real-time monitoring mechanisms enable continuous performance evaluation and adaptive retrofit strategies for further energy savings. This approach is validated through a case study of an existing thermal bath building, known as “Terme Lucane”, located in southern Italy. The results of the study demonstrate significant reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions, highlighting the potential of the proposed approach to achieve zero carbon targets through the integration of multi-data BIM implementation. These findings offer a promising pathway for building retrofit projects aiming for zero carbon targets through multi-data BIM modeling.

Weight Factor Graph Co-Location Method for UAV Formation Based on Navigation Performance Evaluation

At present, multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) collaboration have attracted people’s more and more attention. The abundant relative distance information in UAV cooperative network can be employed to further improve UAV’s positioning accuracy. However, the traditional distance-based cooperative localization (CL) algorithm does not consider the performance of cooperative navigation information. Cooperative information with poor navigation performance will affect follower UAV’s state estimation accuracy. Thus, this paper proposes a weight factor graph CL method based on navigation performance evaluation. A novel navigation performance evaluation strategy based on Fisher information and relative entropy is proposed. The distance observations and cooperative nodes’ positions with higher estimation accuracy and contribution are selected to estimate follower UAV’s position. Considering the difference contributions of the selected cooperative information to follower UAV’s state estimation, we employ the information weight processing to achieve higher state estimation accuracy. Based on the selected cooperative information and weight coefficient, a multi-UAVs cooperative optimization graph model based on navigation performance is constructed. The global optimization cost function is constructed using relative distance constraints from the current time to historical time in the sliding window. The global optimal navigation solution of follower UAV is achieved using iterative weighted least squares method. Simulation and experiment results show that the proposed navigation performance evaluation strategy can effectively screen cooperative information with higher estimation accuracy and contribution for CL. Using the selected high-quality cooperative information, the system computational complexity is reduced without significantly affecting system positioning accuracy.

Comprehensive Performance Evaluation Strategy for Power Battery System Based on Dynamic Weight

Abstract New energy vehicles are an effective solution to solve the situation of carbon neutrality with carbon peaking in China. The power battery system is the key component of new energy vehicles, and its performance is directly related to the safety and cruising range. Since the performance of the battery system is affected by factors such as electrical contact stability, voltage and current characteristics, and temperature, its full life cycle performance cannot be comprehensively evaluated, resulting in inefficient prediction and protective measures. In this paper, the electrical contact stability was studied, and the evaluation index was proposed by calculating the volatility of the battery state equation. The parameters, including electrical contact stability, polynomial-based state of charge, state of health, state of consistency, and battery system temperature, constituted the performance matrix of the battery system. A comprehensive performance evaluation method for a power battery system based on dynamic weight is designed with normalized classification. Finally, the cyclic charge/discharge test experiment under the vibration state was carried out to verify the effectiveness of the method. The result showed that the method could characterize various functions and provide an intuitive and detailed evaluation for the safety prediction of a battery system.

Structural integrity issues of additively manufactured railway components: Progress and challenges

Additive manufacturing (AM) is being increasingly applied in aerospace, healthcare, automotive, and energy fields. Despite good design flexibility, short lead times, and high material utilization, the application of AM by the railway industry is still on the way to engineering, particularly when compared with those of the aerospace and automotive industries. In addition, the role of various AM components in maintenance, optimizing design and production is not fully understood. To this purpose, the advantages and challenges in the utilization of AM technologies are well summarized, and the fatigue assessment aspects of AM components have been emphasized. Potential design methods to tackle the challenges including the well-recognized structural integrity, and future prospects are discussed in details. The findings are not only beneficial to the development of AM for railway engineering, but also for enabling the lightweight design of metallic components, and improving the performance evaluation and safety inspection strategies.

Performance evaluation and repair strategy of seismic damages to RC structures based on residual deformation

According to the measured responses to accurately evaluate the seismic damage of structural members can provide suggestions for the repair of damaged structures. In view of the bottleneck problem that the measurable information of structures is limited and the seismic performance of repaired structures is difficult to evaluate, this study established the relationship between the end curvature and the top displacement of members, and discussed the internal relationship of residual displacement, deformation, curvature and damage indexes. From the perspective of energy, a damage evaluation model based on elastic-plastic energy dissipation ratio (EPEDR) is proposed. Considering the deficiency that the repair process is difficult to simulate, a simulation method of damaged structures repair is established. Taken an RC frame structure as an example, selected different damage indexes to quantify the damage of members, and carried out rapid repair analysis according to the damage quantification results and repair strategies. In addition, seismic vulnerability analysis of the repaired damaged structure is performed. The analysis results proved the rapid repair can effectively improve structural performance, and according to residual deformation to guide the repair have the best enhancement effect. Compared with the member-selective repair strategy, the layer-selective repair strategy has a better repair effect.

Performance evaluation and off-design strategy of a high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell turbine-less hybrid system for low pressure ratio and Mach number aircraft

The aviation industry is moving towards low-carbon and environment-friendly electric propulsion. This paper presents for the first time a high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell turbine-less hybrid system for low pressure ratio and Mach number aircraft. It is a new electric propulsion engine in which a plate reformer is used to supply hydrogen to the fuel cell. To investigate its performance and off-design strategies, thermodynamic, exergetic and exergoeconomic analyses models are established. Firstly, the thermodynamic performance is described and compared with that of a turbojet. Then, exergetic and exergoeconomic performances are revealed. Finally, the impact and comparison of four off-design strategies are studied in detail. The results show that the system can reduce specific fuel consumption by 24.90%. The burner, core nozzle and high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell need further development due to their low exergy efficiencies and high irreversibility ratios. The system has an exergoeconomic factor of 11.32%, relative cost difference of 24.65%, carbon dioxide mass specific emissions of 2.70 kg/(kW·h), and total system cost of 82.50 $/h. Strategy 2 is an economic option as it produces the minimum of specific fuel consumption, carbon dioxide mass specific emissions and total system cost.