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Copyright of Iraqi Journal of Agricultural Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Passive houses optimize energy gains and losses to attain higher energy efficiencies, comfort levels, and affordability. This article allows attaining a broader understanding of the risks and opportunities of passive technologies and their impacts through a social cost-benefit analysis framework. Time value of money was incorporated to evaluate the net present values (NPV), cost-benefit ratios, and internal rates of return. Five alternative houses consisting of passive and net-zero technologies were compared against a conventional design (traditional model). The base model with renewable energy integrations indicated higher impacts on the cumulative cost-benefits in economic, social, and environmental perspectives. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis evaluated the effects of independent variables such as the interest rate and energy consumption on the performance metrics. This paper allows users to attain a holistic idea of implementing passive dwellings in a selected region through a social cost-benefit point of view. • A framework to evaluate passive house application for a region was developed. • Economic, social, environmental costs and benefits were considered in the framework. • Socio-environmental factors have a significant impact on the study's performance. • Incorporation of renewable energy provides higher benefits for the alternatives. • Passive houses increase overall benefits and decrease environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State, public, academic, and special libraries are conducting and publishing the results of studies aimed at showing the value of their services and resources. Librarians must be prepared and proactive so when asked to justify budget allocations they have the tools to show their library's value and understand the importance of expressing value in terms familiar to the administrators. By identifying stakeholders and obtaining their buy in, librarians can turn data into evidence of the organization's return on investment (ROI) in the library. ROI is a powerful tool to use when establishing credibility, accountability, and evidence demonstrating the library's value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Information Technology & Management Science is the property of RTU Publishing House and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The main purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of methods used to research the relationship between transport infrastructure investments and regional development, with a focus on wider impacts both in the traditional economic context (wider economic impacts or WEIs) and—which is a methodological novelty proposed by this paper—in the spatial context (wider spatial impacts or WSIs). In terms of methodology, research may be conducted using the following methods: cost benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA), accessibility and potential models, econometric production function estimates, regional modelling, trade and input-output (IO) modelling, Land Use-Transport Interaction (LUTI) or spatial computable general equilibrium (SCGE) models. In the European Union, approaches based on cost-benefit analysis (CBA), or possibly multi-criteria analysis (MCA), continue to prevail. Notwithstanding the availability of a wide range of methods for quantifying socio-economic impacts, the European Union recommends that wider economic impacts at the regional and national levels be assessed by means of qualitative approaches. This being the case, it is recommendable for the European Commission to take broad-ranging action towards ensuring that the effects of transport infrastructure investments are assessed by means of a broader range of approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water harvesting has become an important priority for supporting the increasing population in the low rainfall areas of Jordan. The specific objectives of this paper are to assess the economic and environmental impacts of different water-harvesting techniques in Jordan's Badia region. Cost benefit analysis (CBA) was used to estimate the economic impact of using water harvesting techniques. A simple simulation model was used to estimate the environmental indicators related to biomass productivity of barley and shrubs and soil erosion. The internal rate of return (IRR) showed that planting barley with water harvesting was more feasible (IRR 17%) than the farmers' practice of planting barley (IRR 7.85%). The study concluded that the valuation and assessment of environmental benefits associated with implementing water harvesting techniques is important for justifying the public investment for these techniques in the dry areas of Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local government bodies and other concerned agencies in developing countries spend a considerable amount of money on rural road development. However, in the absence of any robust and systematic methodology, road development largely relies on ad-hoc decisions and subjective judgement of public officials. Such a decision-making process often leads to inefficient resource allocation bypassing equity and long-term societal benefits. Although there are some established methodologies for road network planning, complexities exist in applying those methods. First, most of the established methods are not suitable for rural road development, particularly regarding the volume and nature of traffic on them. Second, some methods are highly complex and lack practical applicability. Third, road development planning should not be top-down alone but ensure the participation of local stakeholders. Given these limitations, this study proposes a methodology—Rural Road Planning and Prioritisation Model (RPPM). It consists of two major components (i) developing a core network in participation with local stakeholders and (ii) prioritisation of roads based on Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA). The proposed method is piloted in one district, and a web-based software is also developed for practical implementation by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Bangladesh. The paper also discusses the results of the pilot study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]