Total System Research Articles

Thermodynamic evaluation of a novel renewable energy system that simultaneously provides electricity, freshwater, and syngas using a multiobjective optimization approach

AbstractThis research entails the simulation and thermodynamic evaluation of a combined solar‐powered system that is intended to achieve the energy necessary to construct factories in areas where other sources of energy are not available. The system comprises five major circuits: (1) a parabolic trough that collects solar energy and passes it to downstream circuits via an evaporator, (2) an organic Rankine cycle that generates electricity for devices and factories, (3) a proton exchange membrane electrolysis unit that produces hydrogen from pure water, (4) a methanation unit that produces gas by combining hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and (5) a reverse osmosis (RO) unit that purges seawater to produce freshwater. This investigation studies the efficiency of energy and exergy, the destruction rate of exergy, and the economic value of system components as a whole. The system is represented by the technical equation solver, and the results are obtained as a result. This research employs the genetic algorithm and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution method to locate the most effective point. The achieved outcomes include a maximum total system efficiency of 54.935% and a minimum total cost of 2.578 $/GJ. Dated to the optimal point, the power generated is 305.5 kW, the required power of a single‐cell electrolyzer is 293.8 W, the mass flow rate of methane and hydrogen production is 448.92 and 225.64 kg/h, respectively. The water volume generated by RO is 35.25 m3/h, and the total cost of the investment is 85.57 $/h.

Design and simulation of a building-based off-grid photovoltaic microgrid using PVsyst

In the absence of a main or central grid, an off-grid renewable energy-based system could be a viable solution to address the electricity demand of a particular region by utilizing the available renewable energy sources (RES) of that area. This also leads society to a step toward sustainable energy development. A planned RES-integrated microgrid system not only fulfills the energy crisis and reduces electricity costs but also plays a significant role in the conservation of fossil fuels. Therefore, the design and simulation of RES integrated systems are indispensable as this type of analysis determines the vital parameters of the system e.g., the system performances including electricity output, energy conversion efficiency, yearly energy potential, and the system losses before being involved in practical implementation. Further, the cell temperature of the Photovoltaic (PV) panel based on regional weather conditions, the system life cycle based on the uncertainty factor of weather, total system installation cost with a full account of the annual savings and payback etc. can also be determined by designing and simulating such systems. This paper presents a design of a 40 kW off-grid photovoltaic (PV) microgrid system according to the load requirements at the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), Tezpur University, India using PVsyst software. The proposed design has been created to meet the daily peak load demand of 37 kW of the department. The energy available through the generating units of the proposed designed PV system is 45.46 MWh/Year and the system performance ratio in terms of efficiency over the year is 0.814. The overall performance analysis and simulation results would be helpful in determining the efficiency and viability of the proposed PV system while implementing it practically in the near future.

The effect of Melissa officinalis on diet-induced hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, oxidative stress and inflammation

The Lamiaceae family is an essential medicinal plant family. Melissa officinalis L. is a well-known medicinal plant of Lamiaceae. It was aimed to investigate the effects of Melissa officinalis infusion given to rats with hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia in this study. It is seen that the high-fat diet (HFD) group causes weight gain from the third week. VLDL, LDL, HDL and cholesterol levels were found statistically significant differences (p˂0.05), fed a cholesterol-enriched high-fat diet group (HFD) compared to the control. It is seen that the cholesterol level of the high-fat diet+Melissa officinalis infusion (HFD+MOI) group was statistically significantly (p˂0.05). lower than the HFD group. In addition, the group in which Melissa officinalis was applied had positive effects on the antioxidant system and reduced the total oxidant system. The fact that the IFN-γ level of the HFD group was higher than the control indicates that the diet may have an inflammatory effect. As a result, HFD application with cholesterol caused hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia in rats. The cholesterol-lowering effect of Melissa officinalis is observed. Remarkably, Melissa officinalis did not alter serum calcium levels while lowering cholesterol. In addition, it can said that HFD has a strengthening effect on the antioxidant system on oxidative stress.

Modelling and optimization of a forced convection heat exchanger for Mars waste heat rejection for power cycle and cryocooling applications

A forced convection heat exchanger for waste heat rejection to the Martian atmosphere is modelled for both a power generation and cryogenic refrigeration application. The modeling is based on existing as well as recent, experimentally validated heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for low-Reynolds-number, moderate-Knudsen number finned tube arrays and represents the first detailed examination of optimal heat exchanger design and performance in this regime. These correlations were developed from heat exchanger performance data taken in Mars-like conditions and are described in a separate, companion work [1]. A heat exchanger model based on the effectiveness-NTU method is developed using these correlations and the heat exchanger geometry is optimized using an open-source solver to minimize the overall system mass for a range of candidate heat exchanger materials and heat transfer rates. The optimal heat exchangers generally consisted of shallow, staggered banks of 1–2 mm diameter tubes and 2–4 mm fin spacing, although in some conditions bare tube arrays were optimal. These geometries tended to be preferred due to their low relative pressure drop, a necessity given the power requirement of producing high pressure head in the thin atmosphere. Curve fits that capture the heat exchanger performance are generated based on the input conditions in order to develop a reduced order model that can be used to integrate the heat exchanger model with an existing recuperated Brayton cycle high-temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) power cycle model. This power cycle model is used to determine the impact of using convective heat rejection on optimal system mass and compare this approach to radiative heat rejection. For a 40 kWe power output, the optimal overall cycle mass is found to decrease by 78 % when using convective heat rejection compared to a radiator; this is due to the decreased mass of the heat rejection system as well as the lower optimal rejection temperature which results in a lower recuperator mass. The heat exchanger itself has a mass of only 37 kg, a frontal area of 12.7 m2, and requires 2134 W of fan power to operate. The system is shown to perform well over a wide range of Mars ambient conditions. A high-power liquid Oxygen (LOx) reverse Brayton cryocooler cycle is also modeled to determine the benefit of using convective heat rejection for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) applications. Across a range of power source options and ambient temperatures, using a convective heat rejection system reduced total system mass by up to 43 % and frontal area by up to 95 % compared to a radiator and also reduced the mass-optimal cycle power draw by increasing the optimal cycle efficiency. However, the magnitude of the mass reduction depends strongly on the specific power of the electrical source; the forced convection system provides only a 7 % improvement over a radiator when coupled with a photovoltaic power source due to the increased power demand of the fan. Overall, this technology offers significant performance advantages over radiative heat rejection systems for waste heat rejection applications on Mars and therefore may significantly benefit future crewed Mars missions.

A Federated Learning-Based Resource Allocation Scheme for Relaying-Assisted Communications in Multicellular Next Generation Network Topologies

Growing and diverse user needs, along with the need for continuous access with minimal delay in densely populated machine-type networks, have led to a significant overhaul of modern mobile communication systems. Within this realm, the integration of advanced physical layer techniques such as relaying-assisted transmission in beyond fifth-generation (B5G) networks aims to not only enhance network performance but also extend coverage across multicellular orientations. However, in cellular environments, the increased interference levels and the complex channel representations introduce a notable rise in the computational complexity associated with radio resource management (RRM) tasks. Machine and deep learning (ML/DL) have been proposed as an efficient way to support the enhanced user demands in densely populated environments since ML/DL models can relax the traffic load that is associated with RRM tasks. There is, however, in these solutions the need for distributed execution of training tasks to accelerate the decision-making process in RRM tasks. For this purpose, federated learning (FL) schemes are considered a promising field of research for next-generation (NG) networks’ RRM. This paper proposes an FL approach to tackle the joint relay node (RN) selection and resource allocation problem subject to power management constraints when in B5G networks. The optimization objective of this approach is to jointly elevate energy (EE) and spectral efficiency (SE) levels. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated for various relaying-assisted transmission topologies and through comparison with other state-of-the-art ones (both ML and non-ML). In particular, the total system energy efficiency (EE) and spectral efficiency (SE) can be improved by up to approximately 10–20% compared to a state-of-the-art centralized ML scheme. Moreover, achieved accuracy can be improved by up to 10% compared to state-of-the-art non-ML solutions, while training time is reduced by approximately 50%.

Annual performance analysis of solar-assisted raw-water source heat pumps at low water temperatures

With the increase in energy consumption for building heating and cooling, raw-water source heat pumps (RWSHPs) have garnered strong attention because of their advantages of high efficiency and utilization of a clean heat source. However, RWSHPs exhibit poor performance at low water source temperatures. Thus, this study proposes a solar-assisted raw-water source heat pump (SA-RWSHP) to solve the performance degradation of RWSHPs. The SA-RWSHP can improve performance during the heating period by elevating the entering water temperature (EWT) using solar collectors. During the cooling period, a solar heat source can be used to produce domestic hot water. Optimal design parameters are determined by analyzing the performance of SA-RWSHP using the TRNSYS. Additionally, the performance of SA-RWSHP is compared with that of RWSHP. During the heating period, the unit COP (COPhp) of SA-RWSHP was 12.7% higher than that of RWSHP on average, owing to the increase in the EWT. Furthermore, the annual total system COP of SA-RWSHP was approximately 18% higher than that of RWSHP owing to the high COPhp and effective use of solar energy. Overall, the SA-RWSHP exhibited superior performance throughout the year, resulting in a substantial reduction in building energy consumption.

The choice of prawn or shrimp? Lesson from consumer preferences and price acceptance in the Bangladesh wet fish market

In order to satisfy consumer demand, prawn and shrimp produced in Bangladesh is consumed both at domestic and foreign markets. To analyze the factors influencing consumers' preferences and their willingness to pay for the quality attributes of prawn and shrimp, this study uses a logistic regression and a hedonic price model. A dataset of 350 consumers from wet fish markets in four distinct metropolitan cities of Bangladesh is used for the analysis. It is found that price, size of the crustaceans, perception of safety, household size, number of children at home, number of schooling years, and the respondents' monthly income explain why they choose prawn over shrimp. In addition, they pay more for four distinct characteristics of prawn; sizes, taste, fresh and brownish color, while pay less for frozen and an additional kilogram of prawn. On the other hand, shrimp are typically chosen in bicolor and the smallest three size classes, and cost less when purchased frozen. The policy is that the proper authorities should monitor and implement training programs for the respective officials and the stakeholders of prawn and shrimp value chain etc. over the total marketing system to ensure the food safety issues. Significance and novel advance to the field of aquaculture•The study is novel in that it simultaneously addresses two of the issues regarding consumer preferences for prawn and shrimp and their acceptability.•The study first identify the factors drive the probability of consumers buy of prawn and then the quality attributes of prawn and shrimp that receives price premium.•The study suggests that the proper authorities should monitor and implement training programs for the respective officials and the stakeholders of prawn and shrimp value chain etc. over the total marketing system to ensure the food safety issues.

Outage constrained transmission design for NOMA-based integrated sensing and communication systems

This paper investigates a framework for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) based on non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). In this framework, a dual-function base station (BS) utilizes NOMA technology to send superimposed signals to various users, and this superimposed signal also acts on target sensing simultaneously. Considering the channel estimation error, ensuring the communication performance, and sensing performance requirements, a transmit power optimization problem of ISAC system using NOMA is studied. Specifically, in the statistical channel state information (CSI) error model, the total system communicate power is minimized while ensuring all single users' rate outage probability (OP) constraints and the requirements for the beampattern gains of all single radar targets. Unfortunately, the proposed problem is challenging to solve and non-convex. But we have devised a feasible way to deal with this problem. First, we use Bernstein inequality to transform the rate OP constraint, and this challenging non-convex problem is then successfully solved using a method based on semi-definite relaxation (SDR). The numerical outcomes demonstrate that the system's overall transmission power will increase due to the channel estimation error. The numerical findings also show that the ISAC system performs better with NOMA assistance than with OMA when comparing the NOMA and OMA schemes.

The effect of voltage and electrode types on hydrogen production powered by photovoltaic system using alkaline and PEM electrolyzers

In this present work, we have investigated the performance of two kinds of electrolyzers: Proton exchange membrane (PEM) and Alkaline water electrolyzers (AWE), which are powered by a photovoltaic (PV) system. The results showed that PEM needs less voltage than Alkaline to produce the same amount of hydrogen. For the Alkaline electrolyzer, two types of solutions have been used as an electrolyte: Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) and saline water. Experimental tests revealed that the optimal concentration ratio to achieve the best flow rate of hydrogen corresponds to 100 % seawater. The best production of hydrogen, using the Alkaline electrolyzer, has been found with KOH as the electrolyte. In fact, the accumulated quantities of hydrogen produced, during the same experiment time of 10 h, are 10300 ml/day if using PEM electrolyzer, 3600 ml/day and 450 ml/day if using alkaline with the KOH solution and sea water, respectively. So, it requires to use almost 8 units of sea water as an electrolyte to get the same daily hydrogen production if using KOH solution as electrolyte. It is observed that the hydrogen production increases with the increase of the incident solar irradiation. Also, the system (PV-PEM) has higher efficiency than the system (PV-Alkaline) and the total system efficiency decreases from 15 % to 8 % with the increase of incident solar irradiation. The results indicated that the higher production of hydrogen is obtained by using aluminum electrodes than copper or stainless-steel electrodes.

Piloted Simulation-Based Assessment of Simplified Vehicle Operations for Urban Air Mobility

This work investigates the simplified vehicle operations paradigm, which seeks significant reductions in pilot workload and training requirements through the holistic design of flight control laws, control inceptors, and cockpit displays in the context of vertical takeoff and landing urban air mobility aircraft using piloted flight simulations. Two inceptor layouts, one similar to conventional fixed-wing aircraft and the other similar to conventional rotorcraft, differing in inceptor-to-command mappings, were incorporated into two research flight simulators. A lift-plus-cruise aircraft simulation model, a total energy control system–based fly-by-wire flight control architecture, and identical cockpit displays were used for both setups. Twenty-one participants, divided into three groups based on their prior piloting experience, were used to study pilot performance using representative handling qualities task elements. The piloted simulation data revealed that participants in each group were able to successfully perform the simulation tasks and allowed handling quality ratings to be calculated. They also highlighted instances of control coupling between inceptor axes in each setup for different tasks and the relative ease or difficulty of performing each task with the two inceptor designs.

A unified barrier function-based trajectory tracking control for hovercraft with asymmetric dynamic safety constraints

This paper addresses a trajectory tracking control scheme based on a unified barrier function for hovercraft subject to asymmetric dynamic safety constraints. Firstly, a non-affine model of hovercraft has been built and aims to estimate the lumped disturbance, an extended state observer is utilized. Secondly, for the sake of position constraints, virtual velocity control law is obtained by utilizing a unified barrier function (UBF). Thirdly, a constraint control scheme according to UBF is presented to address asymmetric safety constraint problems of hovercraft. The proposed method can transform the original constrained hovercraft control into an equivalent “non-constrained” one and guarantee the three velocities of hovercraft within asymmetric boundaries with requirements of safe performance during motion respectively. In addition, aims to handle the issue of the virtual control law's differential explosion, and considering that the output torque of the controller should be limited to a certain range, a bioinspired neurodynamic model (BNDM) is adopted. The total system is ultimately uniformly bounded (UUB) via Lyapunov stability theories and the stability lemma of the cascade system. Finally, obtained simulation results prove the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Ultrasonic detection of pre-existing thermal abuse in lithium-ion pouch cells

The lithium-ion batteries used in high-power applications require thousands of cells arranged in arrays where failure of an individual cell may lead to total system failure via thermal runaway. One cause of thermal runaway is high-temperature abuse. This work explores the viability of ultrasonic inspection to detect whether lithium-ion cells have been previously subjected to localized thermal abuse by comparing ultrasonic features recorded during the charge–discharge cycling before and after thermal abuse. We employ 1 MHz Gaussian pulses propagating through mechanically-confined NMC lithium-ion cells as they undergo charge–discharge cycling, localized heating between 50°C and 150°C , and post-abuse charge–discharge cycling. Metrics of the transmitted ultrasonic signal, the time of flight shift (TOFS) and signal amplitude (SA), are analyzed to assess their utility in detecting pre-existing damage due to localized thermal abuse. We also present a transfer matrix method assuming periodic boundary conditions to derive a model for TOFS and SA during both normal cycling and thermal abuse. Results indicate that the SA and TOFS trends are strongly affected by previous, localized thermal abuse in the following charge–discharge cycles, while the model provides insight about which cell components are contributing to the observed changes in ultrasonic signals.

Concentration versus diversification: A spatial deployment approach to improve the economics of wind power

Previous studies on the economics of onshore wind parks in Germany found that geographic diversification results in minor system costs savings (Pfluger et al., 2017a). Furthermore, such diversification does not necessarily result in higher market values (Eising et al., 2020) or better merchant profitability (Klie and Madlener, 2022). Therefore, the question arises whether an alternative allocation (i.e. concentration rather than diversification) of the German wind park fleet is more economical. In this paper, we compare the future (2030) market values, subsidy needs and total system costs (excl. intra-national grid costs due to congestion, redispatch and curtailment) of a more concentrated versus a more diversified allocation of onshore wind turbines in Germany. The results show that a concentration of turbines, in areas where the gap between market values and levelized costs of electricity is smallest (i.e. Northern Germany), is more beneficial in terms of subsidy need and system costs (ignoring congestion, redispatch and curtailment). The analysis further shows that these areas are also more beneficial in terms of market values, when using system-friendly turbine configurations selected based on the same approach. To incentivize such a selection of areas and turbine configurations based on minimal gaps between market values and levelized costs an alternative renewables support scheme is presented, which favors such minimal gaps in its auctioning process.

Impact of short-term wind forecast accuracy on the performance of decarbonising wholesale electricity markets

As the proportion of variable renewable generation capacity in our electricity systems rises, so too will the associated absolute forecast errors in their generation. This work quantifies the complex interactions between short-term renewable generation forecasts, short-term demand forecasts, generator unit commitment and economic dispatch in electricity systems with levels of variable renewable generation spanning 49–79% of annual electricity demand. When the short-term operational uncertainty caused by renewable generation becomes larger in absolute terms than that of demand, the accuracy of renewable generation forecasting has a critical influence on electricity market performance. That is, inaccurate short-term wind forecasts can increase hours of unserved energy and scarcity hours spent at market price cap, increase total system costs and prices, significantly increase returns to thermal generators and energy storage, reduce returns to wind generators, and increase greenhouse gas emissions slightly. For the generalised case study considered in this work, the value of improved short term wind generation forecasts looks to becomes significant once variable renewables generate more than roughly 60% of annual electricity demand. Reductions in average market prices of 5 $/MWh or more then appear plausible as acceptable levels of reliability are recovered. As such, improvements in short-term renewable generation forecasting are likely required in order to justify continued investment in variable renewables as the major means of achieving decarbonisation efficiently and reliably, and these could be achieved by any combination of improved forecasting, dispatch control or on-site firming.

Assessing the relative impacts of maximum investment rate and temporal detail in capacity expansion models applied to power systems

Capacity expansion models provide the basis on which to decide where, when, how much and what technology type to deploy. In systems with large shares of variable renewable energy, the low temporal detail of these models has been shown to introduce biases, prompting much recent work to reduce them. This paper shows that this issue is fairly secondary compared to the impact of maximum investment rates. Through this parameter, typically not discussed in capacity expansion studies, many notions can collectively be expressed, such as the rate at which capacity is financed, institutions approve development, manufacturers roll-out equipment, civil engineers build infrastructure, network operators connect plants etc. This paper shows that considering even ambitious development rates significantly increases total system costs, and drastically changes the structure of an optimal generation mix. The presented sensitivity analysis is based on a multi-region representation of the European power system, modelled using the open-source tool OSeMOSYS, to which a novel power transmission module has been added. Results stress the extent to which hopes of meeting climate targets hinge on society’s collective ability to deploy new low-carbon infrastructure fast enough. Energy policy can enhance this ability by providing long-term visibility and stability, reducing investment risk.

Elevated Leukocyte Count and Platelet-Derived Thrombogenicity Measured Using the Total Thrombus-Formation Analysis System in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

High platelet-derived thrombogenicity during the acute phase of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is associated with poor outcomes; however, the associated factors remain unclear. This study aimed to examine whether acute inflammatory response after STEMI affects platelet-derived thrombogenicity. This retrospective observational single-center study included 150 patients with STEMI who were assessed for platelet-derived thrombogenicity during the acute phase. Platelet-derived thrombogenicity was assessed using the area under the flow-pressure curve for platelet chip (PL-AUC), which was measured using the total thrombus-formation analysis system (T-TAS). The peak leukocyte count was evaluated as an acute inflammatory response after STEMI. The patients were divided into two groups: the highest quartile of the peak leukocyte count and the other three quartiles combined. Patients with a high peak leukocyte count (＞15,222/mm3; n=37) had a higher PL-AUC upon admission (420 [386-457] vs. 385 [292-428], p=0.0018), higher PL-AUC during primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) (155 [76-229] vs. 96 [29-170], p=0.0065), a higher peak creatine kinase level (4200±2486 vs. 2373±1997, p＜0.0001), and higher PL-AUC 2 weeks after STEMI (119 [61-197] vs. 88 [46-122], p=0.048) than those with a low peak leukocyte count (≤ 15,222/mm3; n=113). The peak leukocyte count after STEMI positively correlated with PL-AUC during primary PPCI (r=0.37, p＜0.0001). A multivariable regression analysis showed the peak leukocyte count to be an independent factor for PL-AUC during PPCI (β=0.26, p=0.0065). An elevated leukocyte count is associated with high T-TAS-based platelet-derived thrombogenicity during the acute phase of STEMI.

Estimating the impacts of a new power system on electricity prices under dual carbon targets

The construction of a new power system dominated by renewables is crucial for achieving China's goals of carbon emission peaking and carbon neutrality. While numerous studies have investigated grid parity for large-scale renewables, some have overlooked the fact that the integration of variable renewable energy requires coordination with regulating resources. This coordination introduces additional costs, leading to subsequent increases in electricity prices. Our study comprehensively considers the total system costs and proposes a dynamic recursive linear optimization model. This model aims to simulate both short-term and long-term impacts of constructing a new power system on electricity prices in China. It evaluates the short-term effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic on energy prices and demand, as well as the long-term effects of renewable energy penetration on ancillary service costs and technological progress on system costs. The results show that China's electricity price is projected to rise by 10.2% in 2030 for carbon peaking. By 2060, with an 83.3% renewable energy penetration for carbon neutrality, the electricity price will reach 0.859 CNY/kWh, representing a 27.2% increase. Ancillary service costs will experience the highest growth rate, accounting for 15.5% of system costs by 2060. Our study also proposes optimal technological pathways for the new power system and provides valuable data to support the development of effective electricity price mechanisms.

Performance and Acoustics of a Stacked Rotor with Differential Collective Pitch

Performance and acoustics of a 1.108-m radius stacked rotor in hover with an axial spacing between the upper and lower rotors of 0.73 chords were measured. The differential collective pitch of the rotor system, de ned as half the difference between the upper rotor pitch and lower rotor pitch was varied along with the azimuthal spacing between the upper and lower blade sets. Coupled comprehensive analysis and acoustics simulations were conducted using the Rotorcraft Comprehensive Analysis System, the acoustic solver PSU-WOPWOP, and the Brooks, Pope, and Marcolini method implemented in ANOPP2. Increased sensitivity to azimuthal spacing was measured for large, negative differential collectives, resulting in a 76.5% change in total rotor thrust and a 46% change in total rotor power over 11.25 ° change in azimuthal spacing. The trends in individual and total system thrust were predicted with good accuracy, but the total power was overpredicted. Overall sound pressure level decreased by 3.5 dB at – 2° differential collective and 90° azimuthal spacing due to reduced broadband levels, indicating a possible quiet mode of operation for this type of rotor. By assessing the highest performance and lowest noise, an optimum rotor con guration was observed at an azimuthal spacing of – 45° and differential collective of 2°. Acoustic predictions captured tonal and broadband noise trends in most conditions. Conditions where broadband noise was underpredicted could be a result of vortex interactions not modeled by the broadband simulations.

THE ROLE OF ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING AND TARGET COST IN ACHIEVING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN SUDANESE INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES

The purpose of the article is to identify the role of trends in cost systems such as activity-based costing systems) ABC (and target cost (TC) to improve competitive advantage for the Sudanese industrial sector. This can help accountants in accuracy when measuring and calculating production and goods. Also, they assist companies in determining the price considering the allowable costs.The practical value of this scientific research lies in three folds. First, the findings will contribute to shedding light on the experience of using some modern cost systems in Giad industrial group companies - in Sudan. Second, they inform officials about the evaluation of these systems and the extent of benefits from them in improving the competitive advantage. Third, the study fills in the gap lack of studies that deal with this topic in the Sudanese setting.The study’s findings indicate the existence of a role for ABC in overhead cost allocation, more accurate product cost, and cost control improvement. This leads to improving advantage competitive in Sudanese industrial companies. Also, it was discovered that the existence of a role for target cost in designing the required product characteristics, and selling price is an essential guide to cost management. This leads to improving advantage competitive in Sudanese industrial companies. The study recommends a need to increase the awareness of managers of different departments of the importance of the information provided by modern cost systems. Also, attention to applying a total quality cost system for continuous improvement and reducing total cost is needed in companies.

从文化生态主义来看儒家生命精神与性命合一的境界

The essay pays attention to an argument of cultural ecologism concerning the Neo-Confucian life-spirit and its sustainable horizon of unifying human nature and mandate, especially focusing upon Zhang-zai's model of qi doctrine. The keyword is “cultural ecologism” in which the principle of life and the value of morality are integrated in the grand stream of the life spirit of universe. Stemming from a reciprocal unity of ecology and culture, it can be characteristic of a conceptual framework as the organic structure of culture circumstances. For Neo-Confucianists, the reality of world is in the steam of myriad things under heaven and on earth. It is a coherent whole with a certain origin and unitary processes in the ecological circle of Nature. The process of maintaining the sustainability of culture within this world view can be approached from the holistic unity of “one force and its multiple manifestations.” It works implicitly as the basis for positing a unified total system to share a common way of thinking within the Neo-Confucian culture. Zhang-zai presents the doctrine of qi ontology as “one vital force and its many manifestations” to identically unify the Heavenly and the Humane. All the things of the world naturally form types with each other according to their apportionment of one yin and one yang. In their concrete manifestations, according to the thinking way of bentilun, things may have multiple distinctions and perform many different roles, but the principle remains unitary in that their differences are reciprocally related within a unifying system. This world view is closely associated with the process of sustainably cultivating the human virtue in operations of Confucian cultural ecologism. He incessantly seeks to institutionalize the moral canon of classical Confucianism on the triple line, namely, an identification of yiwuliangti, a succession of minbaowuyu, and an extension of xingmingheyi, which make a unity of coherence, interconnectedness and wholeness. As cultural beings with beliefs and values, human beings live their lives in complicated social networks. Consequently, the ecologismic concept of culture preserves as an open horizon of coexistence and cooperation for newly emergent order within an integral relationship of person and community.