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Amidst diminishing federal investment in Adult Basic Education (ABE), there is growing interest in return on investment (ROI) as an economic rationale to support ABE funding. Against this backdrop, we provide an overview of the ROI concept and methods and the empirical evidence on ABE program impacts to broaden the discourse among practitioners and advocates. We point out that the most crucial building blocks necessary for ROI estimations are missing in the literature. We contextualize the current status of the literature by discussing challenges in ABE program evaluations and limitations in ROI methods. We then further our discussions by offering a recommendation for ROI estimation and alternative approaches to ROI. We conclude by calling for an expanded public discourse, beyond ROI, on the social benefits of funding ABE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Split ponds are earthen ponds divided into two sections: a small fish-confinement basin and a larger water-treatment basin. Water is circulated between the two basins using a high-volume pump. Although split ponds have proven their potential to increase the productivity of earthen catfish ponds, various pumping systems have been used in commercial settings. Choice of the best pumping system requires systematic verification of production and economic performance at commercial scale. In this study, we evaluated four commercial-scale design variants of split-pond systems. These four designs were primarily differentiated by the mechanism of water circulation between the fish-confinement and the waste-treatment sections. The water-moving devices include the slow-rotating paddlewheel, modified-paddlewheel aerator, screw pump, and axial-flow pump. This study investigated the production, economic, and investment feasibility of these four split-pond designs under controlled conditions over multiple years. An economic engineering approach using standard enterprise budget analysis was used to develop estimates of annual costs and returns for producing foodsize hybrid catfish from four split-pond systems. The additional investment capital required for converting a traditional open pond to any of the four split-pond designs ranged from $54,400 to $71,150 per 4-ha pond. The cost of production of the four split-pond designs ranged from $2.02/kg to $2.37/kg and was less than the 3-year average fish price. Higher breakeven yields are required to cover total costs, indicating increased financial risk associated with these intensive-production systems. Net present value (NPV) was highest for the modified-paddlewheel aerator design ($223,893/4-ha pond) and lowest for the screw-pump design ($74,621/4-ha pond). Similarly, the modified-paddlewheel aerator design had the highest modified internal rate of return (31%) while the screw-pump design had the lowest returns (27%). The economic and investment feasibilities of the four split-pond designs were sensitive to the prices of fish and feed. All four designs were economically feasible under current economic conditions with the modified-paddlewheel design showing greater economic potential for adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The profitability of feeding dried poultry droppings-based diet as a supplement in goat production enterprise was analyzed in this present study. The data generated in the study was analyzed using gross margin analysis and profitability ratio. The result of the budgetary analysis showed that the highest total cost of Rs 855.9/goat was incurred, the highest total revenue of Rs 1254.3/goat, highest gross margin of Rs 773.24/goat and highest net farm income of Rs 713.24/goat were observed for the supplemented treatment groups (T2-T5). The profitability ratio gave the best bene- fit-cost ratio of 4.62, a rate of return of 3.62, a gross ratio of 0.22 and an expense structure ratio of 0.12. This suggests that feeding of dried poultry droppings-based diet to goats is a profitable enterprise. This present study, therefore, recommends the supplementation of sun-dried poultry dropping based diet at 80% inclusion level for maximum profitability of goat production enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The plastic wastes-based polygeneration process dramatically reduce CO 2 emissions. • The CaLP contributes to additional payback from carbon revenue. • The CaLP effectively enhance the profitability of products. • The CaLP is validated to promote the economics of Design 3. To address the plastic waste reduction and reutilization, three designs of mixed plastic wastes-based polygeneration processes are named Designs 1–3. Designs 1 and 2 produce MeOH and electricity simultaneously by using the cryogenic air separation unit (CASU) and the vacuum pressure swing adsorption unit (VPSA), respectively. To increase the capacity of capturing CO 2 , the calcium looping process (CaLP) is involved in Design 3 to produce the products of H 2 and CO 2 and recover waste heat for power generation. The complicated CaLP dramatically increases the total costs of Design 3, although the carbon capture ratio of Design 3 is superior to other designs. If the cumulative carbon revenue is counted into the total annual income according to the emission trading scheme, the economic evaluation shows that Design 3 has a higher net present value (NPV), or a higher internal rate of return (IRR), or a shorter dynamic payback period (DPP) than other designs. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major issue with the economic validity of nuclear power technologies is their rate of return on investment. Since these systems have high expected initial capital costs, it is difficult to instill investment confidence against the backdrop of untested construction and operation. Nonetheless, emerging nuclear technologies such as microreactors remain promising as their output is carbon-free and the high outlet temperature associated with many microreactor concepts enables them to generate process heat that can power industrial processes, thereby widening their versatility beyond electricity generation. The pairing of these systems with higher value commodities, such as hydrogen, could potentially improve the economic viability of microreactors. Hydrogen production has become a subject of great interest in recent years for numerous applications such as for transportation, metal refining, and fertilizers. With a profitable microreactor-powered hydrogen production system, the price dependency of these applications and downstream commodities on the volatile natural gas prices can be reduced. In this work, the pairing of a microreactor with natural gas reforming (NGR) and high-temperature electrolysis (HTE) was modeled and it was found that a 10 MW th to 20 MW th microreactor could become economically viable through revenue from hydrogen production. The technology-agnostic microreactor energy source paired with the NGR and HTE plants was able to generate achievable principal loan values that were above $4.5 M/MW th for a 15 MW th reactor over a 20-year period. The cost of a first-of-a-kind microreactor according to available estimates exceeded the average achievable loan values for the HTE system while the NGR system was able to achieve these estimates within 21 years. The pairing of HTE with autothermal reforming was also investigated and it was found to be uncompetitive as compared with NGR and HTE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]