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Background: Since 2003, the government of Ethiopia has trained and deployed more than 42,000 Health Extension Workers across the country to provide primary healthcare services. However, no research has assessed the return on investments into human resources for health in this setting. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing the return on investment within the context of the Ethiopian Health Extension Program. Methods: We collected data on associated costs and benefits attributed to the Health Extension Program from primary and secondary sources. Primary sources included patient exit interviews, surveys with Health Extension Workers and other health professionals, key informant interviews, and focus groups conducted in the following regions: Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples' Region. Secondary sources consisted of financial and administrative reports gathered from the Ministry of Health and its subsidiaries, as well as data accessed through the Lives Saved Tool. A long-run return on investment analysis was conducted considering program costs (personnel, recurrent, and capital investments) in comparison to benefits gained through improved productivity, equity, empowerment, and employment. Findings: Between 2008–2017, Health Extension Workers saved 50,700 maternal and child lives. Much of the benefits were accrued by low income, less educated, and rural women who had limited access to services at higher level health centers and hospitals. Regional return ranged from $1.27 to $6.64, with an overall return on investment in the range of $1.59 to $3.71. Conclusion: While evidence of return on investments are limited, results from the Health Extension Program in Ethiopia show promise for similar large, sustainable system redesigns. However, this evidence needs to be contextualized and adapted in different settings to inform policy and practice. The Ethiopian Health Extension Program can serve as a model for other nations of a large-scale human resources for health program containing strong economic benefits and long-term sustainability through successful government integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This study aims to use gray models to predict abnormal stock returns. Design/methodology/approach - Data are collected from listed companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2005-2015. The analyses portray three models, namely, the gray model, the nonlinear gray Bernoulli model and the Nash nonlinear gray Bernoulli model. Findings - Results show that the Nash nonlinear gray Bernoulli model can predict abnormal stock returns that are defined by conditions other than gray models which predict increases, and then after checking regression models, the Bernoulli regression model is defined, which gives higher accuracy and fewer errors than the other two models. Originality/value - The stock market is one of the most important markets, which is influenced by several factors. Thus, accurate and reliable techniques are necessary to help investors and consumers find detailed and exact ways to predict the stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hexane extraction is the most common method used in the industry to produce soybean oil due to its high oil recovery and lower production cost. With the demands of soybean oil increasing either in food or industrial applications, expansion plans are considered by many companies to increase production capacity. Techno-economic analysis is performed to evaluate the economic feasibility of soybean oil production by hexane extraction based on historical scenarios from 1980 to 2015. Capital investment, operating costs, revenues, and profits are main parameters to consider when estimating profits, gross margin, return on investment (ROI), and payback time and are the indices used to evaluate the profitability of the process. As the plant capacity increases in scale to over 34.64 million kg of annual soybean oil production, the break-even is met and the producing stream is able to earn profits. Additionally, sensitivity analysis is also applied to examine which factor affects profit the most. In the hexane extraction process, material costs, especially for soybean prices, have the most significant effect on profit. However, soybean meal is the main driving force for soybean oil production due to its significant amount of productivity and revenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the rate of return from the Chinese real estate industry correlate with the intensity of competition among real estate firms? If China’s equity market performs efficiently, the rates of return of real estate firms should vary indirectly with their level of monopoly power. Greater monopoly power reduces earnings risk and leads to lower costs of capital. The authors analyze empirical evidence and indicate no relationship exists between returns and competition. Speculation may induce stock prices to deviate from normal values. Because normal values assume no speculation, Chinese markets are not likely to be economically efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of the performed and presented financial analyzes, in the case of the two units, does not allow major discrepancies between the estimated and achieved situation. The authors have based the research on the technical-economic and financial analysis of investments, which sets economic efficiency and investments viability and assumes forecast of revenue, expenses, profit and loss account, balance sheet and cash flow: a) static analysis of indicators; b) dynamic analysis of indicators, c) cost-benefit analysis. Analysis of economic efficiency and sustainability of investments aimes at both static indicators of investment analysis and dynamic analysis of economic efficiency. The goal of research was to improve analyzes and economic indicators for assessing the effectiveness and sustainability of investments and the objectives targeted technical and economic analysis, solvency and viability of investments and the impact of the investment on key indicators of economic and financial technical analysis. Case studies, carried out at S.C. NORD INTERMED CONSULTING GROUP S.R.L. Dorneşti, Suceava county and S.C. ANDIMIR TOP S.R.L. Mihălăşeni, Botoşani county, led to a series of measures to improve the financial analysis of economic efficiency and sustainability of investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigates the effect of investment in intellectual capital and its components on the performance of Brazilian companies listed on the Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3) exchange. More specifically, we examine whether a positive relationship exists between the proxies for intellectual, structural, human, and invested capital and firms' return on assets and equity. Originality/value: This study differs from those of Richieri (2007), Turra et al. (2015), and Brizolla and Turra (2015) by using panel data and static and dynamic econometric regression models to analyze firms' performance. It also differs from Nadeem et al. (2018) by using return on equity and return on assets to measure performance. Design/methodology/approach: We estimated two equations employing static estimators (static OLS and fixed effect) and dynamic estimators (dynamic OLS and GMM), as proposed by Nadeem et al. (2018). We performed strict exogeneity tests to ascertain the need to use dynamic models. Thus, the first equation analyzed the effect of intellectual capital on future performance (measured by ROA and ROE). In contrast, the second equation investigated the impact of structural, invested, and human capital on these same performance indicators. Findings: The results indicate a positive effect of investment in intellectual capital on the performance of Brazilian companies. In addition, all components of intellectual capital are significant in increasing returns on assets and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction in capex (capital expenditures) and opex (operating expenses) for distribution utilities is very important under market conditions. Utilities want to extend the life of existing equipment such as circuit breakers and transformers for deferring investment. They operate distribution transformers over its useful life to maximize the return on their investment. The studies on the distribution feeder reconfiguration have been brought up because distribution utilities have made increased investments in smart distribution systems. In this study, the life extension of the existing transformers is considered as an objective together with other economical ones such as loss minimization in the reconfiguration process. In the proposed approach, the problem is handled as a load balancing problem considering life extension of transformers over a time period using quasi-static time-series simulations, and the problem is solved under operating constraints such as current carrying capacities of feeders to find optimum system topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The designs of vapor-recompression distillation columns for the ethylene-ethane separation with high or low pressures in the auxiliary condenser are compared. • High pressure reduces refrigeration cost in the condenser but increases compressor cost. • The high-pressure design has 11% lower total energy cost but requires more capital investment. • The return on investment is quite attractive. A recent paper studied the separation of ethylene and ethane using several types of distillation systems in which cryogenic cooling is required. The economics of a conventional column using a very low-temperature expensive refrigerant in the condenser were compared with several configurations using process compressors. The alternative configurations involve the pressure in the auxiliary condenser and the fraction of the column overhead vapor sent through the compressor. Low pressure in the condenser requires a very low-temperature expensive refrigerant but has lower compressor costs. The purpose of this paper is to show that all of the vapor from the column should be compressed and then split, with some going to the reboiler and the rest going to an auxiliary condenser that operates at high pressure so that a higher-temperature less-expensive refrigerant can be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stores Block, a 2006 Supreme Court of Canada case, established that utilities are the sole owners of utility assets, thereby granting them the right to gain on the disposition of such assets. The case was game-changing, spawning a string of Alberta Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Canada, and regulatory body decisions. This article traces the progression of these decisions and examines their implications for property ownership principles, including utility asset dispositions, utility rate bases, the prudent investment test, and stranded assets. The authors ultimately argue that these interpretations of Stores Block have led to "deleterious effects" for regulated utilities in Alberta, and discuss resulting attempts at legislative intervention by the Government of Alberta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the techno-economic assessment of xylo-oligosaccharides (XOs) production from brewer's spent grains (BSG) in a single and two sequential flow-through subcritical water hydrolysis (SWH) reactors at different temperatures (80–180 °C). The process with a single reactor produced the highest yield (72.83 mg XOs g−1 BSG) at 180 °C. The SWH in two sequential reactors produced up to 52.47 mg XOs g−1 BSG for the process operated at 80 °C followed by 130 °C. The lowest cost of manufacturing (18.36 USD kg−1 XOs) was obtained for the process with two sequential reactors. Although the fixed capital investment was 0.82-fold lower for the process with a single reactor, the gross profit of the process with two sequential reactors was 30% higher, which resulted in a return on investment of 54.26% and a payback of 1.84 years. In conclusion, SWH is a potential eco-friendly process to produce XOs from BSG. [Display omitted] • Xylo-oligosaccharides (XOs) were obtained from subcritical water hydrolysis. • The highest XOs yield was obtained for the process at 180 °C. • Xylotetraose, xylotriose, and xylobiose represented 85% of the total XOs. • The lowest cost of manufacturing was 18.36 USD kg−1 XOs. • Subcritical water is a potential eco-friendly process to produce XOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using 5-minute high frequency data from the Chinese stock market, we employ a non-parametric method to estimate Fama-French portfolio realized jumps and investigate whether the estimated positive, negative and sign realized jumps could forecast or explain the cross-sectional stock returns. The Fama-MacBeth regression results show that not only have the realized jump components and the continuous volatility been compensated with risk premium, but also that the negative jump risk, the positive jump risk and the sign jump risk, to some extent, could explain the return of the stock portfolios. Therefore, we should pay high attention to the downside tail risk and the upside tail risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem with evaluating the investment in a multi-site photovoltaic plant, such as that proposed in this paper (which can be viewed as a profitability analysis), is that it requires the development of an innovative methodological approach. By setting an upper limit of capital to invest, among sites with different Direct Normal Irradiations (DNI), those in which many photovoltaic systems can be installed are identified as is the optimal size within predefined ranges. The primary objective is to maximize the net return on investment for a multi-site plant with a lifespan of approximately twenty years. The proposed approach uses a stochastic business plan, through which data are generated via the Monte Carlo simulation. Subsequently, using the Response Surface Methodology procedure, it is possible to identify the regression meta-model that describes the optimum region and therefore the point (investment amount for individual sites and the corresponding size of plants) that maximizes the overall Net Present Value. The proposed approach is completely generalized and, as such, can be replicated. A properly conducted test case is presented and clearly illustrates the methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian territory is irradiated with solar energy ranging from 1500 to 2300 kWh/m 2 /year, compared to 900 to 1850 kWh/m 2 /year in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Despite that, photovoltaic (PV) technology is only now starting to penetrate the Brazilian electricity mix. Until recently, the high costs of PV generation had prevented this technology from competing in Brazil. However, the consistent PV price reductions and the worldwide scale reached, has brought attention to the Brazilian planners and actions have been taken recently in Brazil to help PV start its progress. In this paper, two of the recent government actions are analyzed, namely the National Electrical Energy Agency ANEEL Resolution RN482/2012, and the announcement of support by the Brazilian Development Bank offering loans at low interest rates for solar PV projects. The effects of these actions for residential PV systems are positive where the conventional electricity tariff is high with respect to the average in the country, and less relevant elsewhere. We compare these tariffs with the calculated Levelized Cost of Energy of rooftop PV generation. The influence of these policies on the return on investment of residential rooftop PV generation is studied for different climatic zones in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate an iterative, data-driven approximation to a problem where the investor seeks to maximize the expected return of her portfolio subject to a quantile constraint, given historical realizations of the stock returns. The approach, which was developed independently from Calafiore (SIAM J Optim 20:3427-3464 ) but uses a similar idea, involves solving a series of linear programming problems and thus can be solved quickly for problems of large scale. We compare its performance to that of methods commonly used in the finance literature, such as fitting a Gaussian distribution to the returns (Keisler, Decision Anal 1:177-189 ; Rachev et al. Advanced stochastic models, risk assessment and portfolio optimization: the ideal risk, uncertainty and performance measures, Wiley, New York ). We also analyze the resulting efficient frontier and extend our approach to the case where portfolio risk is measured by the inter-quartile range of its return. Our main contribution is in the detail of the implementation, i.e., the choice of the constraints to be generated in the master problem, as well as the numerical simulations and empirical tests, and the application to the inter-quartile range as a risk measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Most organizations that use the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) stop their process improvement journey at Maturity Level 3 or less. The discussion about CMMI high-maturity levels has always been controversial, going most of the times through the consideration of return of investment, provider selection, and interpretation issues. Achieving Level 5 is not an easy task; it derives a lot of steps during the way. This article will show an example of the implementation of Level 5 in a consultancy company in two constellations: development and service. It depicts the example in steps, to help the understanding of the whole process. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any business entity is based on labour, nature, capital and entrepreneurial ability in order to achieve the proposed objectives. The vast majority of the company assets are usually consumed over a longer or shorter period of time, passing on their value to manufactured/traded goods, services provided or works performed. The dynamic environment in which companies carry out their activity and the continuous desire to develop/expand with the purpose of increasing their economic performance/minimize risks, determine them to identify and select new investment opportunities. The article focuses on emphasizing the role and use of the accounting information in substantiating direct investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In theory, biosugar for conversion to bioproducts can be produced economically from a variety of biomass types in many different technological, co‐production, and biorefinery siting contexts. In this paper, process modeling and financial analysis were conducted for all permutations of biochemical conversion pathways, global biomass types, co‐product options, and biorefinery siting contexts for biosugar production. Minimum sugar revenue (MSR) required to achieve a 15% internal rate of return values for scenarios examined ranged from $150–$748 per tonne. The scenarios with the lowest MSRs were sugarcane in South America and Asia, assuming hot water cook and co‐location or repurpose siting contexts. Another financially optimized scenario is corn grain, also assuming hot water cook, co‐producing distiller’s dry grains and solubles (DDGS), in a repurpose siting context. Against a benchmark sugar price of $408 per metric tonne, an internal rate of return on investment of >15% can typically only be achieved via previously demonstrated conversion pathways using sugar cane and corn grain. Major cost drivers were feedstock cost per metric tonne of carbohydrate, sugar yield, capital investment per annual metric tonne of sugar produced, residue value, and siting context. Near‐term promising technologies include autohydrolysis and dilute acid pathways. Generally, scenarios are financially enhanced by co‐location or repurposing, reducing capital expenditure (CAPEX) by about 33% and 50%, respectively, with negligible impact on cash cost. Conversion process complexity drives capital investment, making some scenarios infeasible despite high sugar yields. Any of the five major cost drivers can impact the order of financial attraction of scenarios, with the outcome of the analysis typically not obvious in advance. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, on the basis of a sample of Chinese listed firms, investigates the relationship between both real and accrual-based earnings management activities and firms' capital investment behavior. We apply the threshold model proposed by Hansen (1999) and find firms managing earnings can either over or underinvest, depending upon firms' return on equity (ROE) level. The study results show an inverted relationship between earnings management and firms' investment, which changes from negative to positive with ROE rising beyond certain threshold levels. We also find that the level of ROE affects whether managers use real and accrual manipulations jointly or as substitutes in affecting firms' investment. Our evidence is important because it sheds new light on the relationship between earnings management activities and firms' investment behavior by showing that ROE may act as an important determinant in this relationship. This finding has important implications for policymakers such as the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) as it shows that the regulatory benchmarks they set may have a significant impact on firms' investment behavior. • The relationship between investments and earnings management activities is not linear in return on equity (ROE) • Firms managing earnings can either over or underinvest, depending upon the level of firms' ROE • Level of ROE affects if managers use real and accrual manipulations jointly or as substitutes in affecting firms' investment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study aims to evaluate whether the implied cost of capital (ICC) model is better than the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) in predicting the realized rate of return for infrastructure firms. We selected a sample of 49 listed companies in Brazil for the period from 2002 to 2014. The CAPM yielded a cost of capital of 11.97% per annum, while the ICC yielded 13.39% per annum, a difference of 1.42% annually. We suggest that a possible explanation for this result is the existence of systematic, non-diversifiable risk, potentially due to regulatory intervention in the business environment. Highlights • This paper aims to evaluate whether the implied cost of capital (ICC) model, in the version developed by Easton (2006), is better than CAPM to predict the realized rate of return (ROR) for infrastructure firms. We selected a sample of 49 Brazilian listed companies from 2002 to 2014. • Our findings, obtained in the pooled regression model, showed that the ICC had a positive and significant correlation with future stock returns, whereas the CAPM did not. • Robustness and Diebold–Mariano tests (1995) corroborated that the ICC is a superior predictor of actual ROR's for the sample of Brazilian utilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of variables with uncertainties in stochastic cash flow models related to capital investments in energy crops projects allows, in addition to risk measurement, the adoption of proactive measures that can assure the generation of value to the project. This study analyzes the economic feasibility of sugarcane cultivation for bioethanol production from sugar cane molasses, under technical and economic uncertainty. The analysis characterizes sugarcane productivity, capital investment, production costs, and costs of cutting, loading, and transport, considered as stochastic variables. For this, the uncertainty was propagated through Latin hypercube sampling. Sensitivity analysis was also performed to assess the impact of these variables. The results indicated that the productivity of the crop and the sugarcane price in the conveyor belt are determinant to guarantee the economic value of the investment project. There is a high probability of achieving positive NPV (net present value), in addition, MIRR (modified internal rate of return) is 5% higher than MARR (minimum acceptable rate of return). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms that invest into positive net present value projects should outperform firms that do not invest. Surprisingly, several studies on United States data have found a negative relationship between capital investment and subsequent shareholder return. There are conflicting explanations for this negative relationship. The present study also confirmed a significant negative relationship between capital investment and subsequent shareholder returns in the South African developing market conditions. Over the period from 1992 to 2017, shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with lower investment rates consistently outperformed shares with higher investment rates, exhibiting similar behaviour to the US. We find that the negative investment return is significantly associated to the firm’s book-to-market value consistent to the rational-based q-theory of investment with real options explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public–private partnerships (PPP) are often how health improvement programs are implemented in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). We therefore aimed to systematically review the literature about the aim and impacts of quality improvement (QI) approaches in PPP in LMICs. Methods: We searched SCOPUS and grey literature for studies published before March 2022. One reviewer screened abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. The study characteristics, setting, design, outcomes, and lessons learned were abstracted using a standard tool and reviewed in detail by a second author. Results: We identified 9,457 citations, of which 144 met the inclusion criteria and underwent full-text abstraction. We identified five key themes for successful QI projects in LMICs: 1) leadership support and alignment with overarching priorities, 2) local ownership and engagement of frontline teams, 3) shared authentic learning across teams, 4) resilience in managing external challenges, and 5) robust data and data visualization to track progress. We found great heterogeneity in QI tools, study designs, participants, and outcome measures. Most studies had diffuse aims and poor descriptions of the intervention components and their follow-up. Few papers formally reported on actual deployment of private-sector capital, and either provided insufficient information or did not follow the formal PPP model, which involves capital investment for a explicit return on investment. Few studies discussed the response to their findings and the organizational willingness to change. Conclusions: Many of the same factors that impact the success of QI in healthcare in high-income countries are relevant for PPP in LMICs. Vague descriptions of the structure and financial arrangements of the PPPs, and the roles of public and private entities made it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the impacts of the organizational governance on the outcomes of QI programs in LMICs. While we found many articles in the published literature on PPP-funded QI partnerships in LMICs, there is a dire need for research that more clearly describes the intervention details, implementation challenges, contextual factors, leadership and organizational structures. These details are needed to better align incentives to support the kinds of collaboration needed for guiding accountability in advancing global health. More ownership and power needs to be shifted to local leaders and researchers to improve research equity and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Diluent and temperature-swing regeneration processes applied for extraction of succinic acid with TOA and TOPO in MIBK. • Swing in acid distribution between extraction and regeneration more important than acid distribution itself. • Regeneration process based on gaseous anti-solvent ethane is most efficient, requiring only 21% of the energy of evaporation. • Combination of evaporation of MIBK and temperature-swing strongly reduces required energy input and results in higher product purity. Solvent regeneration processes for liquid-liquid extraction of succinic acid (HSuc) from aqueous streams were investigated. Tri -n- octyl amine (TOA) and tri -n- octyl phosphine oxide (TOPO) in methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) showed good extraction. For 20 wt% TOA in MIBK, addition of pentane at anti-solvent-to-solvent ratio of 1 (vol/vol) decreased K D from 10.2 to 0.46, applying ethane at 30 bar decreased K D to 0.45 and increasing the temperature to 60 °C decreased K D to 1.6. Evaporation of MIBK from a solvent of 40 wt% TOA in MIBK decreased K D from 10.2 to 4.0. For these processes, capital investments and energy requirements were calculated for 10 kiloton per year at a concentration factor of 5. Costs of all processes to obtain the product at maximum solubility are less than evaporation (2600 kJ/kg product at maximum solubility). A combination of a swing in diluent and temperature results in higher product concentrations after back-extraction, and reduced the energy input to obtain the pure HSuc to 19 MJ/kg. The ethane-based process is most effective with 13 MJ/kg to obtain the pure HSuc product. Although additional capital investments for compressors and pumps are required, only 110 days of production are required for return on investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A promising feedstock for large‐scale production of sustainable jet biofuel is the inedible oilseed Brassica carinata (referred to simply as "carinata"), but transitioning to large‐scale fuel production entails significant economic uncertainty and requires substantial up‐front capital requirements for biorefinery construction. Furthermore, for carinata and other feedstocks attempting to compete within the established fossil jet fuel market, historically volatile aviation fuel prices affect the economic feasibility and return of biorefinery investments. In this study, we assess the impact of jet fuel price volatility on the return on investment in a carinata biorefinery employing a real options analysis (ROA). The key advantage of ROA over traditional net present value (NPV) analysis is that it simultaneously assesses the optimal timing for investments and the impact of jet fuel price dynamics on the likelihood of positive economic returns from investments in processing plants. Given the nonstationary nature of jet fuel prices and the presence of structural breaks, the price series are modeled as a geometric Brownian motion. Taking into account the volatility of jet fuel price, the ROA price threshold for a profitable investment is 45% greater than the NPV threshold. The ROA model identifies the necessary market conditions for a profitable investment and highlights the importance of considering market price dynamics before making substantial capital investments in a carinata biorefinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre la implementación de un análisis coste-beneficio antes de decidir de invertir dinero en una empresa. El autor comenta sobre los problemas actuales asociados con la sobreinversión y describe la rareza del retorno de la inversión. También se considera la importancia de comprender los múltiples variables en el proceso de invertir.

Sydney Water's water network consists of about 21,000 km of water mains. Sydney Water is a statutory state owned corporation, with the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal as the economic regulator. Sydney Water has developed a comprehensive set of decision frameworks and business processes to manage the life cycle of water main assets to achieve a desired level of service and financial return within an acceptable risk. With the current constrained financial and economic environment, affordability is the most pressing issue in the water industry as customers are seeking value for money. It is requiring the water industry to reduce capital investment programs and deliver more with less while maintaining or improving customer satisfaction. This paper presents the analysis of the asset performances and customer expectations against the level of services and explains how Sydney Water explores the opportunities to build the level of services and customer value into its asset management strategy and decision framework to optimise the capital investment programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the globalization of the economy, more and more companies have made and will continue to make project investment abroad. This paper discusses a multinational project adjustment and selection problem in which project parameters are regarded as random variables. Special cash flows and value sources brought from the new foreign projects and the adjustment of the existing foreign projects are introduced. A new risk measurement for budget exceeding is proposed and a new model is developed based on the new risk measurement. In addition, a genetic algorithm is designed for solving the problem and an example is given as an illustration. The results of the example show that the algorithm is effective for solving the proposed problem. In addition, the results show that the budget can be better used and bigger investment return in net present form can be obtained when new foreign project selection and the existing project adjustment are simultaneously considered than when only new projects are selected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed solar photovoltaic (DPV) under net-energy metering with volumetric retail electricity pricing has raised concerns among utilities and regulators about adverse financial impacts for shareholders and ratepayers. Using a pro forma financial model, we estimate the financial impacts of different DPV deployment levels on a prototypical Western U.S. investor-owned utility under a varied set of operating conditions that would be expected to affect the value of DPV. Our results show that the financial impacts on shareholders and ratepayers increase as the level of DPV deployment increases, though the magnitude is small even at high DPV penetration levels. Even rather dramatic changes in DPV value result in modest changes to shareholder and ratepayer impacts, but the impacts on the former are greater than the latter (in percentage terms). The range of financial impacts are driven by differences in the amount of incremental capital investment that is deferred, as well as the amount of incremental distribution operating expenses that are incurred. While many of the impacts appear relatively small (on a percentage basis), they demonstrate how the magnitude of impacts depend critically on utility physical, financial, and operating characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]