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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]

The process of identifying, collecting and interpreting information about students' learning is known as Assessment. To evaluate, measure, and document the students' learning various methods and tools of Assessment can be used. It basically improves learning and also directs the ongoing teaching and learning process. Assessment system can help to develop attitude competency and mindset of the students. This paper discusses on the design and assessment system or method for developing attitude competency and mindset of learners discusses attitude competency, various competencies, competency based system of assessment (CBA), Competency-based assessment tools (CBT), and outcome of competency-based assessment (CBA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue Académique des Études Sociales et Humaines is the property of Hassif Benbouali University of Chlef 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.)

A prediscretisation of numerical attributes which is required by some rule learning algorithms is a source of inefficiencies. This paper describes new rule tuning steps that aim to recover lost information in the discretisation and new pruning techniques that may further reduce the size of rule models and improve their accuracy. The proposed QCBA method was initially developed to postprocess quantitative attributes in models generated by Classification based on associations (CBA) algorithm, but it can also be applied to the results of other rule learning approaches. We demonstrate the effectiveness on the postprocessing of models generated by five association rule classification algorithms (CBA, CMAR, CPAR, IDS, SBRL) and two first-order logic rule learners (FOIL2 and PRM). Benchmarks on 22 datasets from the UCI repository show smaller size and the overall best predictive performance for FOIL2+QCBA compared to all seven baselines. Postoptimised CBA models have a better predictive performance compared to the state-of-the-art rule learner CORELS in this benchmark. The article contains an ablation study for the individual postprocessing steps and a scalability analysis on the KDD'99 Anomaly detection dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A frequent justification in the literature for using stated preference methods (SP) is that they are the only methods that can capture the so-called total economic value (TEV) of environmental changes to society. Based on follow-up interviews with SP survey respondents, this paper addresses the implications of that argument by shedding light on the construction of TEV, through respondents' perspective. It illuminates the deficiencies of willingness to pay (WTP) as a measure of value presented as three aggregated themes considering respondents' unintentionality, their retraction once they understood that their WTP could be decisive in cost-benefit analysis and the inherent incompleteness of WTP. We discuss why the TEV discourse persists, how it conceals rather than reveals broader notions of value and in what ways our results support the development of alternative approaches that truly endorse plurality in environmental valuation and decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the comparative level of social and external costs if an existing transport chain is replaced by one that includes a greater use of shipping. The main objective of the paper is to assess, on the basis of changes in social and external cost, the potential effectiveness of policies which aim to promote a modal shift to shipping. The social and external costs of both options are evaluated, therefore, using both Sweden's national guidelines for cost-benefit analysis and the European guidelines. A secondary objective of the paper is to evaluate the sensitivity of outcomes to the methodology applied and the input values employed, as well as to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of these two CBA methodologies when applied to choices involving a shipping mode, The paper concludes that evaluation outcomes are highly sensitive to the choice of CBA methodology and the input values embedded therein. In addition, a number of shortcomings with the guidelines are identified, the most important of which are the need to: (1) have specific values for air pollution from ships; (2) incorporate a system for continuous updates of emission factors, given that vessel speeds vary over time and; (3) incorporate values for water pollution and its effects on the coast and sea bottom. For the Swedish guidelines specifically, there is a need to encompass a value for the scarcity of rail capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have a wide range of applications in different fields, starting with electronics and energy storage systems. The potential of LIBs in the transportation sector is high, especially for electric vehicles (EVs). This study aims to investigate the efficiency and effectiveness of, and justification for, the application of LIBs in the field of transport, primarily in EVs. The research focuses on single and multi-criteria evaluations of the efficiency of LIBs. Previous studies in which LIBs were evaluated using cost–benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM) were analysed. An electronic literature search of the Web of Science, Scopus, and other relevant databases was performed. The literature was searched using the keywords: "lithium-ion batteries"; "multi-criteria decision-making"; "cost-benefit analysis"; "energy storage"; "vehicles"; "PROMETHEE" (or other MCDM method)". A total of 40 scientific articles concerning the application of CBA (of which are 20%) and MCDM methods between 1997 and 2023, worldwide, were analysed. The results show multiple applications of both CBA and MCDM methods. The main findings of the areas of application were summarised and future research was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of the art in appraisal of transport infrastructure (particularly for developed countries) is moving towards inclusivity of a set of wider impacts than has traditionally been the case. In appraisal frameworks generally Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), features as either an alternative to, or complementary with, Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) particularly when assessing a wider set of distributional and other impacts. In that respect it goes some way towards addressing an identified weakness in conventional CBA. This paper proposes a new method to incorporate the wider impacts into the appraisal framework (SUMINI) based upon a composite indicator and MCA. The method is illustrated for a particular example of the wider set of impacts, i.e. equity, through the ex-post assessment of two large EU transport infrastructure (TEN-T) case studies. The results suggest that SUMINI assesses equity impacts well and the case studies highlight the flexibility of the approach in reflecting different policy or project objectives. The research concludes that this method should not be viewed as being in competition with traditional CBA, but that it could be an easily adopted and complementary approach. The value in the research is in providing a new and significant methodological advance to the historically difficult question of how to evaluate equity and other wider impacts. The research is of strong international significance due to the publication of the TEN-Ts review by the European Commission, as well as the transnational nature of large scale interurban transport schemes, the involvement of national and transnational stakeholder groups in the approval and funding of those schemes, the large numbers of population potentially subject to equity and other wider impacts and the degree of variation in the regional objectives and priorities for transport decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: The results of the presented research will become part of the methodological material for the economic analysis of railway infrastructure projects after the completion of a broader research task. The paper deals with the issue of evaluation of socioeconomic impacts of occurrences emerging from railway infrastructure. The presented research results form part of a broader research subject focusing on the evaluation of the socioeconomic benefits of projects for the implementation of measures aimed at increasing the safety and reliability of railway infrastructure. The research topic addresses a part of the evaluation of railway infrastructure project efficiency within its life cycle using the cost–benefit analysis method. The methodology is based on the description and definition of input variables that are essential for the process of evaluating socioeconomic impacts. It is followed by another important step, which is the analysis of the categories and the number of occurrences, separately, for regional and national lines, and, further, the data is sorted according to whether occurrences emerge at stations or on a wide line. The result of the presented research is an overview of the calculated values of the expected socioeconomic impacts of partial occurrences according to the categories related to the year of operation on the railway infrastructure and the unit of measure. The research team carried out an inquiry into the annual impacts of the subcategories of occurrences related to one railway station and one kilometer of wide line, e.g., for national lines, the impacts of €2922.72/station/year and €41.67/km of wide line/year were determined. The results of the presented research represent important and necessary inputs for the next phase of the research topic, i.e., the evaluation of the socioeconomic benefits of projects increasing the safety and reliability of railway infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the animal health arena, government‐mandated testing, herd movement restrictions, and culling of reactor (infected) animals are common practices in the midst of an infectious disease outbreak. These policies create a significant economic trade‐off—on one hand, such control efforts represent a public good by reducing the negative externality of private actions associated with the transmission of infectious disease; on the other hand, they impose substantial economic costs on the affected farms. This paper empirically evaluates the economic trade‐offs created by disease control efforts in the context of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in Great Britain. We find that—in this context—government control efforts are clearly cost‐effective. Mandatory testing, imposition of movement restrictions on infected herds, and culling of reactor animals generate an annual external value of approximately £152 million to the British beef sector with a social return‐on‐investment of 3.46. Moreover, coupled compensation averts approximately 75% of the farm exits that would otherwise have resulted from these policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egypt is suffering from water scarcity and tried to pursue a package of policies to decrease the water deficit, by using unconventional resources like treated wastewater. Wastewater is 6.9 billion m3/year, the total of treated sewage is 5.1 billion m3 in 2019/20. The wastewater reuse potential in agriculture is 1 billion m3/year which leads us to question: What is the economic return on the use of treated sewage to reduce the water deficit and achieve targeted development? This paper aims to identify the value of investment projects in the sewage treatment sector and determine the cost and returns of treated wastewater in Agriculture by using (CBA) approach and indicators of financial analysis. The results prove that the binary stage is a commitment to the state and its responsibility to preserve the environment, the ratio of reuse of sewage to the total cost of wastewater treatment is 12%, while the ratio of the cost of compulsory treatment to the state to the total cost of wastewater treatment is 88%. It is expected that value add will increase and the benefits will be 22.5 billion L.E. The paper recommends encouraging investors to the wastewater treatment sector by setting up treatment units on their farms. NPV for the project is 388.71 Million L.E which means the project is greater than its cost, profitable, and, if the firm accepts the project, then the value of the firm would increase. PI for the project equals 1.2 Million L.E which means the investment in this project would be profitable and should be implemented and IRR is 16.4%, It is greater than the rate of cost of capital 14%, then investment in the concerned project would be profitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Tawasul is the property of Al-Tawasul Journal 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.)

Copyright of Journal of Shanghai Physical Education Institute / Shanghai Tiyu Xueyuan Xuebao is the property of Shanghai Physical Education Institute 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.)

Economic impact assessment (EcIA) is an important part of a broader environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. However, EcIA has not been used to its full potential. This paper suggests a comprehensive framework of projects' impact assessment which utilises two complementary techniques such as risk assessment (RA) and regional impact analysis (e.g., input output analysis) of alternative investments in an extended cost benefit analysis (CBA). Types of impacts that warrant an inclusion of RA in EcIA are discussed. The extension of regional impact analysis could assist in increasing positive impacts from proposed projects for local economies. Comprehensive EcIA could help to improve overall EcIA of projects especially those projects that might be potentially damaging for the environment and communities, although they would bring employment and income in the regions. Qualitative discussion using some examples from coal mining in India is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU), as well as many national governments, has adopted directives intended to reduce the environmental impact of transport. For example, the EU's clean fuel strategy requires member states to develop national policy frameworks for the market development of alternative fuels and their infrastructure. Given these directives, policy solutions must be formulated and proposed by member states. This paper focuses on the policy adaptation phase of a policy process, specifically on administrators' knowledge-making when constructing policy proposals. The paper combines policy theory with planning theory and provides a theoretical framework for studying policy adaptation, specifically, administrators' construction of knowledge in such processes. The empirical study is based on two cases, both situated in the Swedish context. It concludes that administrators use several sources of knowledge: process knowledge, project knowledge, and context knowledge. New policy solutions are constructed by reusing data from existing reports and policy proposals. There has been a specific focus on the use of economic analysis as an instrument for evaluating solutions. The paper shows that, in the policy adaptation phase, no new analyses are conducted and that decoupling strategies are used when dealing with economic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archives of Mining Sciences is the property of Polish Academy of Sciences 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.)

International organisations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU), are seeking to implement a cohesive Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) system in order to achieve better regulation and increased unity and transparency. Central to these evaluations is the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and related tools. A comprehensive analysis of the use of impact assessment in the EU shows that many assessments lack important economic components. This paper draws on an extensive document study of the Swedish policy making process related to the EU Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. The aim of the paper is to examine how CBA is presented, negotiated and accounted for by central actors within a policy setting influenced by negotiation and policy coordination. The paper departs from a theoretical perspective on policy coordination and shows how this factor must be considered when explaining the low use of CBA. It concludes that the Swedish policy tradition, wherein the national government relies on consensus-based coordination between agencies, might counteract a more explicit assessment of different policy options. The paper also proposes a model that can be used for further studies on CBA and policy coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The white elephant concept is used to qualify public investments representing a severe misallocation of society's resources or expenditures that can be deemed to reduce the wellbeing of its future members. In the transport sector, white elephants (WEs) are particularly relevant due to the vast amount of resources involved in large-scale infrastructure projects and to their long lifecycle. In most articles on the subject, WEs are major projects showing a certain political or even economic short-term appeal but that are essentially inefficient. In this paper, the definition includes, beyond those that are inefficient, projects that are financially unsustainable and/or very unfair to future generations when properly analysed over their project lifecycle. An early identification as WEs of those efficient projects from the socioeconomic point of view that are bound to entice the failure of a main stakeholder or are unfair to future generations, facilitates reconsidering their financial structuring in order to make them acceptable and avoid the WE label. The authors propose a new approach to detect WEs that goes beyond the traditional detection through standard techniques, such as cost-benefit analysis (CBA), and involves the incorporation in decision-making of new indicators. Those of the Intergenerational Redistributive Effects Model (IREM) show the importance of the long-term impacts arising from major investment in transport infrastructure. Using the annuities of the socioeconomic CBA and financial analyses, the IREM indicators allow a look beyond the future impact of the project on society's welfare –measured through conventional CBA– and its capacity of being financed, and produce a good assessment of its intergenerational effects. In this paper, the authors present the results of applying IREM to a set of transport projects in the European Union and, with more detail, to several Spanish motorway projects with private financing. The IREM's outputs indicate that most of the projects in the sample will be fair to future generations. Some of the analysed investments could, however, be considered as WEs when applying the intergenerational perspective. IREM appears therefore to be a useful tool to avoid decision-making mistakes in major infrastructure projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Obras y Proyectos is the property of Universidad Catolica de la Santisima Concepcion 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.)

This paper examines the current application of transport appraisal in the UK, in particular exploring the partiality of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) within the wider multi-criteria analysis (MCA) process. It argues that applying a quantitative assessment of the varied impacts of complex transport projects can only be partial within the CBA. Analysis can overlook social, human life, environmental and built environment impacts, and projects can be inconsistent with the planning strategy for an area. The application of CBA is critically reviewed using two case studies: the proposed upgrade of the South Fylde railway line and the Heysham-M6 Link Road, both from North West England. A participatory MCA process is suggested to help improve the process of transport appraisal, as part of an improved public debate on transport investment priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we take an overview of several of the biggest independently constructed global multi-regional input–output (MRIO) databases and ask how reliable and consonant these databases are. The key question is whether MRIO accounts are robust enough for setting environmental policies. This paper compares the results of four global MRIOs: Eora, WIOD, EXIOBASE, and the GTAP-based OpenEU databases, and investigates how much each diverges from the multi-model mean. We also use Monte Carlo analysis to conduct sensitivity analysis of the robustness of each accounts’ results and we test to see how much variation in the environmental satellite account, rather than the economic structure itself, causes divergence in results. After harmonising the satellite account, we found that carbon footprint results for most major economies disagree by<10% between MRIOs. Confidence estimates are necessary if MRIO methods and consumption-based accounting are to be used in environmental policy-making at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two comments submitted in critique of our paper (Gössling et al. 2023) present an opportunity to discuss principles of CBA and their use in transport contexts. The critique needs to be discussed in context, as CBA is not an objective tool of evaluation and relies on specific assumptions. For this reason, we begin our response with an introduction to the German transport context, including developments in car ownership and background on the German Climate Protection Act that legally requires all economic sectors to reduce emissions. This framing is important to correctly understand our response to Sieg (2024) as well as Eisenkopf et al. (2024). Overall, we note that many of their criticisms lack merit, while others depend on viewpoint. We conclude that, specifically considering current price levels for fuels, our findings are not in question: a speed limit is warranted for welfare reasons; it is supported by a majority of the population; and it can help closing the emission gap in the transport sector. Findings are also discussed within the wider framework of "desirable" transport systems, illustrating the limitations of CBA and the dangers of tailoring results in ways that lend credibility to specific forms of transport governance, as apparently favored by Sieg (2024) and Eisenkopf et al. (2024). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable transport planning necessitates a rethinking of traditional decision making. This is conventionally supported by cost-benefit analysis (CBA) that systematically quantifies and compares the various benefits and costs generated by a transportation project or policy. Generally, CBA has been found less useful for the handling and assessment of multiple, often conflicting objectives or criteria like environmental or social issues intrinsically difficult to quantify. Therefore, it is necessary to broaden the decision making process beyond merely economic factors. The Danish research project on Sustainable National Transport Planning (SUSTAIN 2012-2016) seeks, among other things, to develop a flexible decision support model (tool) to include and assess sustainability planning criteria in a socio-economic framework, which makes up the SUSTAIN Framework Model (SFM). The SFM comprises two parts, namely a process part consisting of stakeholder involvement and an analytical tools part consisting of an Excel-based software model. The latter employs the use of CBA, multi-criteria decision analysis and risk analysis techniques enabling the assessment of non-quantifiable impacts within a decision support context. The concept of a planning workshop is introduced as relevant for dealing with the various strategic elements not included in the CBA. Moreover, SUSTAIN is rooted in cross-disciplinary sustainability research that recognises that a transition towards sustainability must involve normative, analytical and strategic considerations to be successful. The paper concludes that the SFM can contribute to the analytical dimension. Thus, the framework model allows for the appraisal of planning criteria (indicator sets) in a socio-economic appraisal setting for national sustainable transport planning which enhances both the concept and principles of sustainable development while at the same time it provides a flexible decisionsupport tool for policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although surface irrigation through water bodies like tanks still occupies an important place in the irrigation sector in some ecologically fragile regions like saline zones of India, the importance of it has decreased over the years for various reasons. Recognising the importance of surface irrigation for agricultural development, Government of India had taken various irrigation development programmes to improve surface irrigation based on water bodies over years. The present paper attempts to do cost benefit analysis of selected 22 water bodies renovated under two public investment programs namely 'National Project for Repair, Renovation & Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies directly linked to Agriculture' and 'Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF)' in the saline zone in West Bengal. The paper finds that out of 22 selected water bodies, public investment on 19 water bodies is economically justifiable. The command area of the water body, fishing in the water body, type of the water body, existence of irrigation equipments, size of the investment are found to have significant positive impact on the net present value (NPV). The issue of salinity is found to be a great challenge in the management of water bodies in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since entering the global agenda in the mid-1990s, adaptation to climate change has moved from being considered a largely technical and environmental issue to one rooted in more social and economic circumstances of vulnerable populations. However, research into adaptation has been scarce in terms of analysing power and the politics that in conjunction with socio-economic factors often determine how people in local communities in the Global South respond to climate change. In light of these considerations, the aim of this paper is to contribute to the wider effort to politicize adaptation to climate change research and, as a result, democratize adaptation policy and practice. It is argued that any kind of social vulnerability to climate change is, in essence, political. Once understood as a political process, adaptation should be studied critically by interrogating the local power structures and the resulting political inequalities that determine people’s ability to benefit from programmes and projects that aim to facilitate local adaptation. This is necessary if such interventions are to avoid benefitting some while leaving others, and particularly the poor and marginalized, behind. Democratization is seen as a process that must occur (1) between communities and interventions, and (2) within local communities, themselves. The paper concludes with reflections on how democratizing adaptation could function in theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the impacts of road investments in secondary markets, which the authors label wider local impacts. The impacts are studied using four indicators: commuting, population, new firms, and employment. We use the synthetic control method to study the counterfactual problem, namely what would have happened if a given project had not been realised. The method is used to compare municipalities that had been given a new road with municipalities that had not had a new road. The study sample consists of ten road projects that opened for traffic between 2000 and 2010 and the impacts of the projects are examined at municipal level. The results do not provide a clear answer as to whether road projects are a suitable tool for fulfilling political objectives of improving the local economy. Apart from possibly one exception, none of the projects scored positively on all indicators. We identify several examples of significant negative impacts as a result of road investments, and conclude that although the impacts have been positive in many areas, there is no evidence that road investments are generally a potent tool for achieving positive wider local impacts. • New roads can have impacts that are both additional (net) to the national economy and impacts that benefit one area only. • Policy makers are often concerned with potential positive impacts for local areas, but these are rarely documented. • We present a framework for identifying and measuring indicators for growth and use this on a sample of ten road projects. • Only a few of the affected municipalities experience positive development impacts from new or improved roads. • For some municipalities, the impacts from new roads are negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge and innovation have the important role of regional economics at present. It can be said that innovation are the cornerstone of economic growth. Each region is trying to encourage innovation by certain tools. There is no universal access, how to effectively create a suitable environment for the emergence and spread of innovation. In this context, regional innovation systems were developed and regions are become centers of innovation. Innovation arises at the regional level through regional innovation network of innovative companies, and local industrial clusters with significant contributions from academic institutions in the region. This paper will focus on evaluation of the usefulness of the funds spent on the creation of regional innovation system in the South Moravian region. To evaluated CBA - Cost Benefit Analysis method was chosen. The paper of course includes graphical interpretation of results. Input data for the application of the CBA are obtained from public statistical yearbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the concept ‘green approaches’ already used in aviation is applied to cargo transportation at sea. Instead of anchoring outside a port waiting for berth, ships can adjust their speed to arrive just in time for berthing. With improved incentives for reducing speed and shared information about berthing times, green approaches instead of anchoring can be a way to reduce fuel consumption and emissions without increasing the transit times of goods. The present study estimates the benefits to society as a whole for the EU ports in the Baltic Sea with Automatic Identification System data applying a new method using data collected in real time. Data consists of all anchored ships awaiting berth on 40 different occasions in 2015 and are subsequently extrapolated to a year. Fuel consumption by the individual ships, emissions and values are calculated from the detailed data with established models and estimates of unit values. The potential benefits are estimated at 27 million euros per year in the scenario where the near 15,000 anchorings by ships annually awaiting berth may instead start a green approach 12 h prior to arrival and may reduce speed by 25%, using the middle unit values for fuel and emissions. The methodology used in the paper can be applied to estimate the benefits of green approaches in other areas with anchored vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ergonomics is becoming increasingly relevant in industrial enterprises, as confirmed by the majority of Industry 5.0 experts who place emphasis on the development of social environments and employee care. This is gradually being integrated into legislation stipulating the obligation to provide employees with adequate working conditions. In the context of introducing necessary ergonomic measures in the workplace, we identify the dependence of these measures on the physical load of workers and the impact on the employer's financial burden. To determine the impact, a Cost-Benefit Analysis is used to evaluate not only the financial costs but also to assess social benefits and increased utility for the target groups. The verification of ergonomic optimisation of the workplace in terms of costs and impact on workers' health is conducted in a case study in a specific industrial enterprise. Finally, the positive impact of ergonomic optimisation on the physical load of workers is specified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the problems facing researchers in the application of renewable energy systems is that the evaluation of the sustainability is extremely perplex. Decision making in energy projects requires consideration of technical, economic, environmental and social impacts and is often complicated. This paper presents a review of the current state of the art in decision support methods applied to renewable and sustainable energy throughout the literature in the field of energy planning. The selected papers were classified by their year of publication, decision making technique, energy type, the criteria used, geographic distribution and the application areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article concentrates on the cycle paths projects economic valuation and risks in the course of their realisation in the area of the Czech Republic. The objective of the paper is to assess possibilities of valuation of efficiency and risks of the cycle paths projects in the Czech Republic and design the structure of the valuation together with the recommended methods. Achievement of objectives is based on the detailed analysis of the current situation in economic valuation and risks assessment in the area of cycle paths realisation as well as in projects from the related fields as road, railway or water infrastructure. Methods suitable for the efficiency and risk valuation based on Cost-benefit Analysis principles or qualitative or quantitative risk analysis are discussed in the article. Possibilities of use of alternative methods functioning on the principles of multi-criterial analysis are also pointed out. The paper raises recommendations for valuation of cycle paths projects efficiency and risks in the area of the Czech Republic resulting from domestic as well as foreign experience and practice. It also suggests future directions of the research into the area of addressed issue. It will be usable for economic efficiency of public investment projects, esp. bicycle paths, evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motorways of the Sea is a name for a concept that aims introduction of new intermodal maritime logistics chains which should lead to structural changes in the organization of transport in the next few years. These chains should be sustainable and commercially more efficient and improve access to the same markets across Europe and relieve Europe's maritime system. In order to develop this concept in its entirety, as a prerequisite it is necessary to conduct a detailed cost-benefit analysis and analysis of the impact of maritime highways on the environment. One of the most important and indispensable parts of the analysis are external costs. External costs are part of the external effects affecting the decline in total output, and they consist of predominantly maintenance of the natural environment. External costs of transport reflect the cost of those expenses which ocurr as a result of the exploitation of the transport system. These are therefore the costs of traffic accidents, noise, climate changes, air pollution, traffic congestion, environmental degradation, additional costs in urban areas (separation of certain types of traffic and lack/scarcity of space). In this scientific paper external costs and their potential impact on project implementation of maritime highways is analysed. Considering the fact that the paper will not conduct testing on specific maritime routes, given analysis of external costs will be performed only on a theoretical level, i.e. the external costs will be defined as well as their role in road investments. [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]

Abstract: Nowadays in most western countries CBA is the standard method to ex-ante evaluate transport policy options. Despite its popularity CBA has often been criticized for several reasons, most of them related to the utilitarian perspective and related ethical considerations. This paper gives an overview of ethically relevant critics on CBA. Rather than rejecting CBA as the method to be preferred the paper concludes that researchers should be aware of its limitations and gives guidance on how to deal with the weaknesses of CBA from an ethical point of view. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An EPZ is basically no more than a device whereby imports, to be used in the production of exports, can be acquired by manufacturers on a bonded duty-free basis. They are literally industrial zones with special incentives to attract foreign investors in which imported materials undergo some degree of processing before being exported again. The logic behind these zones was the creation of an area in which domestic policies do not hold and in which, therefore, a government could implement policies designed to enable individual firms to invest profitably on the basis of a country's comparative advantage. However, although there is significant literature on the impact of EPZs on host countries, nevertheless, the evidence has mainly been concerned with their benefits and costs and has stopped short of formal benefit-cost analysis. In essence, what the empirical studies have lacked, including those done on the Mauritius Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), has been an analytical framework within which the benefits and costs of EPZs can be identified conceptually and quantified empirically. In this respect, the objective of the current paper is to formally attempt to calculate the net contribution of the MEPZ using a modified version of the enclave model put forward by Warr (1988). The results show that although Mauritius has been able to attain its objective of reducing employment and raising foreign exchange through the creation of the EPZ, yet overall the EPZ has cost more to the economy than the benefits it has conferred to the economy. This is principally because of the incentives that were given to the producers working in the EPZ sector. The costs of these incentives were higher than the overall returns obtained from the sector. The two variables that negatively contributed to the sector were domestic borrowings and electricity usage. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper resolves several controversies in CEA. Generalizing [Garber, A.M., Phelps, C.E., 1997. Economic foundations of cost-effectiveness analysis. Journal of Health Economics 16 (1), 1–31], the paper shows accounting for unrelated future costs distorts decision making. After replicating [Meltzer, D., 1997. Accounting for future costs in medical cost-effectiveness analysis. Journal of Health Economics 16 (1), 33–64] quite different conclusion that unrelated future costs should be included in CEA, the paper shows that Meltzer''s findings result from modeling the budget constraint as an annuity, which is problematic. The paper also shows that related costs should be included in CEA. This holds for a variety of models, including a health maximization model. CEA should treat costs in the manner recommended by Garber and Phelps. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Quality risk assessment following ICH Q9 principles is an important activity to ensure optimal clinical efficacy and safety of a drug product. Typically, risk assessment is focused on product performance wherein critical material attributes, formulation variables, and process parameters are evaluated from a manufacturing perspective. Extending ICH Q9 principles to biopharmaceutics risk assessment to identify factors that can impact in vivo performance is an upcoming area. This is evident by recent regulatory trends wherein a new term critical bioavailability attributes (CBA) has been coined to identify such factors. Although significant work has been performed for biopharmaceutics risk assessment for new molecules, there is a need for harmonized biopharmaceutics risk assessment workflow for generic submissions. In this manuscript, we attempted to provide a framework for performing biopharmaceutics risk assessment for generic regulatory submissions. A detailed workflow for performing biopharmaceutics risk assessment includes identification of initial CBA (iCBA), their confirmatory evaluation followed by definition of the control strategy. Tools for biopharmaceutics risk assessment, i.e., bio-discriminatory dissolution method and physiologically based biopharmaceutics modeling (PBBM) were discussed from a practical perspective. Furthermore, a case study for CBA evaluation using PBBM modeling for an extended-release product for regulatory submission has been described using the proposed workflow. Finally, future directions of integrating CBA evaluation, biopharmaceutics risk assessment to the FDA Knowledge Aided Structured Assessment (KASA) initiative, the necessity of risk assessment templates, and knowledge sharing between industry and academia are discussed. Overall, the work described in this manuscript can facilitate and provide guidance for biopharmaceutics risk assessment for generic submissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria is endowed with abundant sunshine year-round; thus, solar PV would solve the environmental problems associated with petrol-powered generators. However, it is unclear whether households are willing to transition. Thus, we analyze households' willingness to pay (WTP) for solar PV under four scenarios: (i) WTP when a solar PV is complemented with a generator, (ii) WTP when a solar PV completely displaces a generator, (iii) WTP when a solar PV is complemented with a generator, plus a subsidy, and (iv) WTP when a solar PV completely displaces a generator, given a subsidy. We find that WTP for solar PV is higher when it can displace generators completely. Subsidy plus monthly rather than upfront payment would scale up the adoption of solar PV by about 6 per cent. Furthermore, the cost benefit analysis results show that solar PV investment is profitable. Thus, there is a need to implement policies aimed at scaling up the energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The freight transport system is subject to delays and disturbances, which influence investment and planning decisions made by governments and infrastructure authorities. Traditionally relying on Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) they are dependent on correct and up-to-date input data. So far, little success has been reached in estimating the effects of disturbances for freight. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of disturbances in freight transport by reviewing and classifying the effects occurring due to transport time variability (TTV) and to suggest a calculation model to estimate the value of transport time variability (VTTV). In order to validate the model and its usability it was successfully tested in a case study for a large Swedish retail company. The effects of delays can be divided into four main types: System Killers, Catastrophic Events, Expected Risks, and Contingencies, of which the last two are relevant for VTTV. The model applies these in a two-step cost function with a fixed and variable part, building on previous studies of VTVV for passenger transport based on the scheduling utility approach. A main theoretical result is that the estimation of VTTV is derived mathematically independently of which measure that is chosen for the quantification of TTV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In intrusion detection, approaches incorporated with data mining become interesting nowadays, in particular the associative classification which is a hybrid technique which uses pruning measure. Although the full rules set is not intended for precise classification, the rules have been used effectively by classifiers that have been built in previous systems. Class detection by variance process uses the association rule mining concept for discovering the association among data variables, and the gained information about different patterns is used to classify the variables into different classes. Using the identified centroids, numerical data is discretized and fed to rule precision index (RPI) classifier for rule induction. Popular Data mining tools operate this technique in the name association based on classification (CBA) which uses confidence as an interest measure for rule pruning. In this work, we present a new interest measure named rule precision index (RPI) which helps us to prune association rules efficiently, and the impact is observed in the classification of attack and non-attack. The resultant associate method produces the best performance among association-based classifiers and is evaluated with conventional classifiers against three different intrusion detection datasets, namely NSL-KDD, CICIDS-2017 and KDD CUP99. The proposed RPI classifier, incorporated with novel interest measure, provides the best accuracy rate of 89.48 % on average than the available classifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Peru, construction planners use 2D drawings and do quantity take-off by hand when scheduling structural work. However, selecting the best construction-flow option is usually point-based and does not follow a comprehensive method. This paper describes a teaching strategy that was used to choose the best construction-flow option for a residential building by means of the Choosing by Advantages (CBA) and 4D models in two Construction Management courses at the School of Civil Engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. First, a workshop was held to assess the improvement in understanding of the construction flow when 4D models are used with undergraduate students. A survey, including student perceptions before and after the deployment of 4D models, was conducted. Using a paired T-Test, it was concluded that there is significant improvement in visualization and process-clash detection when 4D models are used. Second, Master's students designed four different construction-flow options during structural work using Takt-time schedules and 4D models. These tools allowed students to visualize the construction flow, identify process clashes, and retrieve information from the BIM model. The workshop simulated a CBA decision-making meeting to choose the most advantageous alternative. The success of the workshop was reflected in the improved collaboration and the transparency of the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]