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Energy is one of the most important components in the socio-economic development processes of countries. The share of the manufacturing industry in total energy production in the world is 37 and 30% of this is used in steam production in industrial steam boilers. Therefore, industrial steam boilers should be one of the industrial processes considered first in the manufacturing industry to increase the energy efficiency and cleaner production implementations. In addition, selecting the most suitable one among the many practices is very effective in increasing the savings and benefits. At this point, energy efficiency practices (EEPs) that can be applied in industrial steam boilers need to be evaluated by using an analytical decision-making model. In this study, EEPs commonly applied in industrial steam boilers were investigated. These EEPs were evaluated by using PROMETHEE decision model, one of the multi-criteria decision-making models (MCDM) according to total eight criteria such as potential energy saving opportunities, initial investment and operating costs, applicability, technology accessibility, economic savings potential, environmental benefit, cross-media effects, and payback period. As a result, some EEPs such as reuse of condensate, maintenance and repair of steam traps, insulation of steam boilers, and distribution systems were found as priority EEPs. Surprisingly, it was concluded that heat recovery from waste flue gases, economizer installation, and heat recovery from blow down have lower priority. The results showed that prevention-oriented practices were higher priority than pollution control and recovery practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In present work, a flat plate collector assisted with reflecting system and desiccant wheel was used to dry oleaster fruit (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.). Three levels of air flow rate (0.025, 0.05 and 0.09 kg/s) and different dryer conditions: with reflectors (WR), with reflectors and desiccant wheel (WRD) and without reflectors and desiccant wheel (WORD) were considered to dry single layer of oleaster. The results indicated that the effect of using reflectors and desiccant system on extraction moisture from product was significant (P < 0.05). By using reflectors and desiccant wheel, the specific energy consumption for drying oleaster was decreased by 11.32–30.15%. The overall efficiency for WRD was obtained in the range of 33.21–39.64% which was higher than the system without reflectors and desiccant system. The results of the exergetic analysis showed that maximum exergy efficiency of drying system for WR, WRD and WORD was 38.8%, 56.7% and 32.1%, respectively. Solar thermal fraction rate for WRD was lower due to higher thermal energy inside of the drying cabinet. The payback time for system with optimized condition can be decreased about 15%. The quality consideration showed that the quality of oleaster (also the powder) dried by WRD is better than WORD and sun drying samples. • Drying kinetics of oleaster studied by a solar dryer with reflectors and desiccant. • Using reflectors and desiccant system accelerates the drying process of the samples. • A minimum value of specific energy consumption was achieved. • The exergetic analysis of drying cabinet and drying process was carried out. • Based on the initial condition economic optimization of collector was developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The light-emitting diode (LED) is the main lighting solution currently adopted in aircraft cabin lighting. This technology offers high durability, energy efficiency and luminosity, bringing plenty of benefits for being utilized in an aircraft. Despite its high initial price, it has many advantages, and the operational cost is lower than other types of illumination, such as fluorescent lamps. Additionally, LED illumination may improve the flight experience, making it more comfortable and pleasant for the passengers. Aircraft that have fluorescent lamps in their cabin should consider the possibility to make an illumination retrofit to LED lamps, because weight is directly correlated to the fuel consumption and operational costs and the energy economy can bring new improvements to the aircraft. The objective of this work is to evaluate the economic viability of the LED system installation compared with a fluorescent lamps illumination system in a regional aircraft. The study of the data shows that the usage of LED lights could save up to 68% of the energy in a month compared to conventional fluorescent lamps in the ceiling lights and reduce by 38% the monthly operational costs of illumination. The payback period is 4.2 years according to the proposed system.

Purpose: to assess the impact of foliar nutrition with soluble fertilizers Plantafol and Boroplus on economic and biological indicators and the efficiency of cultivation of table grape varieties in dry conditions under irrigation. The relevance of research is due to the problem of ensuring food security at the national and regional levels. Materials and methods. The subject of research was the grape varieties Codryanka (early), Rizamat (medium) and Moskovsky (late). The studies were carried out in the period 2015–2017 in Astrakhan region. Irrigation was carried out depending on the phase of development at a rate of 500–2250 cubic meters per hectare. The timing of the fertilization treatment was tied to the development phases, and the rates were in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. The methodological basis was M. A. Lazarevsky and B. A. Dospekhov methods. The calculation of economic efficiency was carried out on the basis of actual costs associated with technological operations, fertilization, irrigation, protective measures, collection of main and additional products. Results. The most cost-effective is the combined use of soluble foliar fertilizers Plantafol and Boroplus on grape plantations. The Rizamat variety was distinguished. Conclusions. The economic efficiency of the soluble foliar fertilizers application on grape plantations on average for 2015–2017 is the most significant in all three varieties Kodryanka, Rizamat and Moskovsky during combined application of fertilizers, especially in the Rizamat variety, when growing and receiving grape products of which the cost price decreased by 24.6 %, reaching a minimum value of 14947.4 rubles/t, profitability increased to 234.5 %, and the payback up to 3.35 rubles/rubles.

This study analyzes the investment in Penaeus (Litopenaeus) vannamei shrimp production in greenhouses using the biofloc technology system (BFT). Considering bioeconomic variables, a sensitivity analysis was performed with data collected over the course of 10 years to evaluate program efficiency. The parameters considered include a stocking density of 400 shrimp/m2, which reached a productivity rate of 3.84 kg/m2 (69,120 kg/year—three cycles), a final mean weight of 12 g, and a feed conversion rate of 1.3. The results obtained had a net present value (NPV) of US$ 904,947.21, net future value (NFV) of US$ 2,401,094.35, equivalent annual value (EAV) of US$ 148,861.38, payback (PB) of 2 years and 4 months, discounted payback period (DPP) of 2 years and 10 months, profitability index (PI) of 2.59, internal rate of return (IRR) of 41.23%, and a modified internal rate of return (MIRR) of 21.25%. However, shrimp with a final mean weight of 15 g resulted in an NPV of US$ 2,522,150.62, NFV of US$ 6,692,016.44, EAV of US$ 414,886.98, a PB of 1 year and 2 months, DPP of 1 year and 2 months, PI of 5.43, IRR of 89.13%, and an MIRR of 30.57%. The Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) concluded that the probability of NPV being negative is 0. The analysis confirms that P. vannamei production using the BFT system is a financially sustainable activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A exploração de erva-mate é uma das atividades agrícolas mais antigas na região do Planalto Norte Catarinense. Além do vínculo cultural, representa fonte de renda e empregabilidade para os agricultores. O presente trabalho destina-se ao estudo da avaliação econômica de um adensamento aleatório de erva-mate em um plantio nativo. A produtividade do erval foi estimada em três sistemas de colheita: em sistema anual, em sistema bienal (Bienal 1) e em sistema intercalado, onde cada metade do erval é colhida a cada dois anos intercalados (Bienal 2). Para cada sistema de colheita foram calculados o payback, a razão receitas/custos, o custo médio de produção, o valor presente líquido (VPL), o valor anual equivalente (VAE), o valor presente líquido infinito (VPL∞) e a taxa interna de retorno (TIR). Após processados todos os dados, o sistema anual foi claramente o que apresentou o payback mais curto, de 1,66 ano, mostrando que nesse sistema o retorno do investimento inicial será mais rápido, pois evita a perda natural de folhas. O sistema de colheita anual também apresentou melhor VPL e maior TIR, de 76%, demonstrando melhor viabilidade econômica.

Chinese solar greenhouses (CSGs) are characterized by unique walls to reduce the transmission of heat and promote the energy conservation in winter production, which promotes cultivation in the northeast region of China in winter. Effective selection of insulation material is important for the CSG based on the energy consumption and economic analysis. However, choosing the thickness of the insulation material in walls often discussed with the structure of CSG. There is a lack of research combing the optimal insulation thickness for improving the energy conservation. The aim of this study was to find the optimum insulation thickness during the energy conservation based on the structure of walls, the energy consumption in local climatic conditions, the cost of insulation material, and economic payback period over a lifetime. By the economic analysis of insulation thickness, thermal resistance, lifetime energy saving, and payback period, three kinds of typical walls (clay brick (CB), hollow concrete block (HCB) and fly ash block (FAB)) combed with four insulation materials including the expanded polystyrene, the foamed PVC, the perlite, and the rock wool were calculated. The optimum insulation thickness can be found when energy savings reached the maximum. In the northeast region, the association of FAB with rock wool as the insulation layer was the most economic composite wall structure. The optimum insulation thickness was 0.05 m, with the cost only 5 USD/m2. The thermal resistance of composite wall had a significant effect on the payback period. When thermal resistance increased from 0.2 to 1.2 m2K/W, the payback period varied from 0.4 to 4.3 years. What is more, the energy consumption in local climatic conditions had a more significant effect on payback period. It can be assumed that insulation materials are more favored in cold climatic regions where heating degree-days over 1600 °C days for payback periods is less than 2 years. These results have strong practical and economical significance in saving energy and improving the environment of CSG.

In the Russian Federation, linseed is cultivated as an oil crop for seed production then its bast fiber part of a plant does not used due to the lack of processing technology and special equipment. Machinery factory named by Korolev (city Ivanovo) produces domestic equipment for flax primary processing for high price, but which is not adapted to produce fiber from stems of linseed. New low-cost technology and technological equipment for the primary processing of linseed fiber directly on the fields in flax-growing farms without building capital facilities and utilities have been done at the All-Russian Research Institute for Flax Production. This resource-saving technology allows rationally use the biological potential of the crop, to learn new types of production, to create additional jobs in farms and countryside. The calculations of the cost of new technological equipment, volumes of fibrous of raw materials for its processing, cost of linseed fiber producing at all transitions from the field to the final product in comparison with the existing basic technologies and technical means are presented in the article. On the basis of production tests of new equipment and quality characteristics of the obtained linseed fiber, carried out in 2015-2017, the areas of application in textile industry and other sectors of the economy have been recommended - cottoning fibers, nonwoven materials, environmental building insulation, composite materials. The low-cost innovative technology and its using in real economy is available for all categories of farms and fiber processing plants. The advantages of the new technological line compared to the existing baseline AKLV-1-01 (Korolev’s machinery factory) are the following: the processing capacity of raw materials is 1.6 times higher; fiber production with wide rank characteristics, as an average mass-long from 40 to 200 mm, content of shives from 10 to 20%, linear density from 1.5 to 7.0 tex; the power of electric motors was 1.8 times lower (from 65 to 36 kW) , the costs of materials consumption was 1.8 times lower and the cost of equipment decreased from 11.200 to 7.000 thousand rubles. Calculations of economic efficiency of production and the payback of new resource-saving technological equipment confirm the validity of the use of the proposed technology. Additional revenue from the sale of fiber will be more than 2 billion rubles per year, and net profit of more than 500 million rubles. The payback period of the equipment of one production line is less than two years.

Oil flax grows in many countries of the world. Fibre production on its basis can significantly increase the profitability of flax-growing farms. At the present stage, taking into account the real possibilities of the national economy, for its effective development it is necessary to introduce advanced technologies. Cur-rently, processing enterprises may choose among different technological equipment lines to process oil flax into fibre and thus get additional profit. (Research purpose) The determination of a technologically and economical-ly effective line for oil flax processing. (Materials and methods) The main materials for calculation were represent-ed by the indicators of production capacity, the average annual value of fixed as-sets, the amount of money spent on salaries and wages, etc. The main research method is the balance method that allows making a plan in the form of a balance sheet that takes into account the sources of inputs and the requirements for these inputs. (Results and discussions) The authors have considered low-cost lines for oil flax processing into short fibre on the basis of disintegrators of various brands (from domestic and foreign producers), offered characteristics of the fibre obtained in the lines, and analyzed technical and economic indicators of various technologi-cal lines under different conditions, and the payback period of capital expenditures for different oil flax acreages. (Conclusions) The authors have determined that the most effective is the pro-cessing of oil flax from an area of at least 1000 hectares, with a throughput capaci-ty of raw materials of at least 1000 kg/h and a distance of the transportation of straw rolls to a processing site of 50 km. They have also obtained technological and economic data that can be used in the organization of oil flax processing into marketable fibre.

The light-emitting diode (LED) is the main lighting solution currently adopted in aircraft cabin lighting. This technology offers high durability, energy efficiency and luminosity, bringing plenty of benefits for being utilized in an aircraft. Despite its high initial price, it has many advantages, and the operational cost is lower than other types of illumination, such as fluorescent lamps. Additionally, LED illumination may improve the flight experience, making it more comfortable and pleasant for the passengers. Aircraft that have fluorescent lamps in their cabin should consider the possibility to make an illumination retrofit to LED lamps, because weight is directly correlated to the fuel consumption and operational costs and the energy economy can bring new improvements to the aircraft. The objective of this work is to evaluate the economic viability of the LED system installation compared with a fluorescent lamps illumination system in a regional aircraft. The study of the data shows that the usage of LED lights could save up to 68% of the energy in a month compared to conventional fluorescent lamps in the ceiling lights and reduce by 38% the monthly operational costs of illumination. The payback period is 4.2 years according to the proposed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Business Law Journal / Administração de Empresas em Revista is the property of Administracao de Empresas em Revista 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 Istanbul Medipol Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Istanbul Medipol University 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.)

Studies in Australian history have lamentably neglected the military traditions of First Australians prior to European contact. This is due largely to a combination of academic and social bigotry, and loss of Indigenous knowledge after settlement. Thankfully, the situation is beginning to change, in no small part due to the growing literature surrounding the Frontier Wars of Australia. All aspects of Indigenous customs and norms are now beginning to receive a balanced analysis. Yet, very little has ever been written on the laws, customs and norms that regulated Indigenous Australian collective armed conflicts. This paper, co-written by a military legal practitioner and an ethno-historian, uses early accounts to reconstruct ten laws of war evidently recognized across much of pre-settlement Australia. The study is a preliminary one, aiming to stimulate further research and debate in this neglected field, which has only recently been explored in international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ukrainian fertile lands and favorable climate conditions provide enormous opportunities for the agricultural sector development and formation of a highly efficient economic cluster. With a practical management approach, the agricultural potential could meet domestic needs and form a significant part of export earnings. The volume and quality of agri-food may satisfy not only internal food security but also contribute to the European, Asian and African. However, due to the longer production cycle compared to industry, agricultural enterprises at the stage of choosing a production program can not anticipate and respond quickly to changes in market conditions, increasing the competitiveness of goods and attractiveness to consumers based on existing production schemes. Therefore, the primary purpose of our study is to create a roadmap of management decisions when planning a production program through efficiency evaluation of growing winter wheat in a typical farm in Central Ukraine. For this purpose, we opt for a methodology based on marginal revenue, total costs, production and profitability thresholds along with payback of production factors. Due to climate change, the importance of growing winter crops is becoming increasingly essential and superior attention should be paid to improving their economic efficiency. Thus, the problem and relevance of the article is due to the requirements for sustainable successful operation of agricultural enterprises in a market environment and, therefore, the feasibility of using available calculation methods to assess the economic efficiency of production to facilitate management decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Producao Online is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Engenharia de Producao 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.)

O Sistema fotovoltaico, utilizando a energia solar, pode tornar as edificações mais sustentáveis, atendendo as necessidades das obras e do meio ambiente, de forma viável e eficaz. Por meio deste trabalho objetivou-se comprovar a eficácia da utilização de um sistema alternativo, estimando o payback, por meio da comparação entre o tempo de retorno do sistema fotovoltaico prevista e o real, de forma que o mesmo obtenha êxito em suas aplicações, possibilitando ainda um impacto ambiental menor que o ocasionado pelo sistema convencional. Este Sistema traz inúmeras vantagens para o meio, sendo uma destas vantagens de caráter econômico, no qual, após o tempo de retorno do investimento, a produção do sistema se torna em lucro para o proprietário, traz também vantagens ambientais como a diminuição do dióxido de carbono, e a utilização de uma fonte inesgotável de energia.

The present study aimed to present the results that a supermarket obtained in view of the proposal to replace fluorescent lamps with LED lamps. The methodology used was based on the comparison between the types of lamps mentioned with a quantitative approach based on bibliographic, documentary research and observation for data collection, in addition to calculating the feasibility and return on investment through the methods of Net Present Value (NPV), equivalent uniform cost and payback. The results found confirm the feasibility of replacing the lamps with a 15-month payback time, causing a monthly savings of R $ 280.00 in the electric bill and a 52.6% reduction in the emission of carbon dioxide indirect compared to fluorescent lamps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Competitividade e Sustentabilidade - ComSus is the property of Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Parana 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 analysis and design optimization of a DX-SAHP is presented. • The augment of collector size or solar radiation flux cause an increase in the COP. • The compressor with lower displacement has the highest COP and lower payback time. • There is an economic optimum size of collector area for the DX-SAHP. • The payback range was 1.77–3.34 years depends on the environmental conditions. One option to reduce the energy consumption to produce domestic hot water is to replace the electrical heaters by direct expansion solar assisted heat pumps. Although, there are many studies on the performance of this system, there are few studies on economic analysis of the equipment. In this paper, an economic analysis comparing the payback of heat pump over an electrical heater is carried out. The heat pump is modeled using lumped models for heat exchangers and a black box model for the compressor. The results show that the augment of collector size increases the COP, but it decreases the collector efficiency. The economic analysis showed that there is a collector size that minimizes the payback time. Additionally, the influence of the environmental conditions, the refrigerant, the costs and the heating capacity on the payback period and optimum collector size were investigated. The results showed that there is an economically optimum size of collector area for the DX-SAHP, which it is the same for different environmental conditions. A case study was made for three different cities and the payback time found is the range of 1.77–3.24 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although criminologists have studied public attitudes to community sanctions, and there has also been some attention to media representations of them, there has been no serious examination of the relationships between media and public understandings. This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis (drawing on sociology, media and communications and organizational studies) of the potential influence of media consumption practices on penal tastes among diverse participant groups. We aim to develop a clearer understanding of how these processes shape the public legitimacy of community sanctions. In particular, we report on original research employing innovative methodologies to explore the dynamic set of practices deployed by audiences in the process of making meaningful the media landscape on punishment and community sanctions. Our findings offer some confirmation of the primacy of the prison in the popular imagination; the media profile of community sanctions is delimited by their perceived banality, in turn leading to confusion surrounding their purpose and potential. However, this study suggests that the legitimacy problem for community sanctions may be far more complex than 'newsworthiness'. Community sanctions, we argue, may be subject to appraisal in line with penal 'tastes' in which the function of moral censure is of central significance. However, we also uncover some evidence about how traditional markers of taste are disrupted by processes of media convergence (of appropriation, circulation, response) in ways which can operate to limit deliberation even amongst more liberal audience groups, and conversely open it up amongst those who are more punitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaerobic digestion has emerged as the most appealing waste management strategy in biorefineries. Particularly, recent studies have highlighted the energy advantages of waste co-digestion in industrial biorefineries and the use of two-stage systems. However, there are some concerns about moving the system from laboratory testing to industrial scale. One of them is the high level of investment that is required. Therefore, this study carried out a techno-economic analysis (scale-up and energy production, economic and risk analysis, and factorial design) to assess the feasibility of single- and two-stage systems in the treatment of cheese whey and glycerin for the production of hydrogen and methane. Scenarios (S1 to S9) considered thermophilic and mesophilic single and two-stage systems with different applied organic loading rates (OLR A). The analyses of scale-up and energy production revealed that S3 (a thermophilic single-stage system operated at high OLR A 17.3 kg-COD.m−3.d−1) and S9 (a thermophilic-mesophilic two-stage system operated at high OLR A 134.8 kg-COD.m−3.d−1 and 20.5 kg-COD.m−3.d−1, respectively) were more compact and required lower initial investment compared to other scenarios. The risk analysis performed by a Monte Carlo simulation showed low investment risks (10 and 11%) for S3 and S9, respectively, being the electricity sales price, the key determining factor to define whether the project in the baseline scenario will result in profit or loss. Lastly, the factorial design revealed that while the net present value (NPV) is positively impacted by rising inflation and electricity sales price, it is negatively impacted by rising capitalization rate. Such assessments assist in making decisions regarding which system can be fully implemented, the best market circumstances for the investment, and how market changes may favorably or unfavorably affect the NPV and the internal rate of return (IRR). [Display omitted] • Two-stage was 14% more compact and would produce 2% more power than single-stage. • Two-stage system would have a total investment cost 4% higher than single-stage. • Two-stage system would have a 1% higher investment risk than single-stage. • The primary factor affecting the risk is the electricity sales price. • The capitalization rate presents a negative effect on the net present value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to present an economic analysis of a micro cogeneration system using financial analysis (energy view) and exergoeconomic analysis (exergy view). This system uses a natural gas-fueled 30 kW microturbine to generate electricity, and to produce hot water by recovering energy from the waste heat in the exhaust gases by using a heat exchanger, which serves as the drive source of an absorption chiller with a nominal capacity of 35 kW. In the financial analysis economic indicators such as payback, net present value and internal rate of return were used to verify the economic feasibility of this system, while in the exergoeconomic analysis, the Theory of Exergetic Cost was used to determine the exergetic monetary costs. A thermodynamic model was developed on the EES-32 (Engineering Equation Solver) platform. On applying the financial analysis, the results showed that the micro cogeneration system is feasible with positive values of R$ 206,540.00 for NPV, 27% IRR and a 6-year payback. Based on the exergoeconomic analysis, the cogeneration system is also feasible since the monetary cost of the electricity is lower than that charged by the electricity company but this is only possible after the 5th year.

The use of photovoltaic solar technology is increasingly widespread and consolidated worldwide, gaining significant interest in Brazil. Thanks to records of gradual photovoltaic system price decreases and the construction of legal frameworks favorable to their diffusion, urban and rural residential consumers, service companies, industries, and the government are progressively adhering to the use of this technology. In this context, it is important that institutions and companies with multiheadquarters discern whether it is more advantageous, from both a technical and economic point of view, to disperse photovoltaic systems throughout all of their headquarters or to centralize them in the offices presenting the best energy efficiency. The present study aims at answering this question. To this end, indicators recorded in the Institute of Education Science and Technology (IFRN)-Solar Project implemented by the Rio Grande do Norte Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology, in Brazil, where 2 MWp of photovoltaic solar energy are installed in 19 of its 22 headquarters, were evaluated. The PVWatts Software, energy measurements at the different plant installation locations and technical performance parameters recurrent in the literature, as well as the Discounted Payback Method were used herein. The results indicate that system centralization in the best-evaluated sites (7 campi) will, in 25 years, provide a 9.07% energy supply gain, a 112.96% financial gain, and a payback reduction of 8.9 years when compared to the alternative comprising generation unit dispersion throughout the 19 campi.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to develop a simulation model to analyse the technical, economic, and financial performance of using different reproductive strategies in dairy herds. Strategies simulated were: artificial insemination (AI) using conventional semen after oestrus detection (AIC), AI using sex-sorted semen after oestrus detection (AIS), timed artificial insemination (TAI) using conventional semen (TAIC), and TAI using sex-sorted semen (TAIS). The total time horizon analysed corresponded to 25 years, divided into 425 periods of 21 days. The model simulates the biological cycle that takes place within the bovine herd, and uses input information (productive parameters, investments, and reproductive program) to calculate output information (animal inventory variance, incomes, costs, and cash flow analysis). Based on the obtained cash flow, the payback period, net present value, and internal rate of return were calculated. The payback for AIC, AIS, TAIC, and TAIS occurred in 26, 27, 23, and 25 periods. The net present value and the internal rate of return per year of the investment for AIC, AIS, TAIC, and TAIS were US$ 557773 and 59.44%; US$ 520469 and 54.76%; US$ 741800 and 70.22%; and US$ 662891 and 63.52%, respectively. The mean culling rate over 25 years for AIC, AIS, TAIC, and TAIS was 43.30%, 64.89%, 21.12%, and 36.40%, respectively. The simulation clearly demonstrated the economic and technical benefits of using TAI in dairy herds. These benefits are greater when TAI is used with conventional semen, despite the large investment in technology that is required. Using this mathematical model, future studies could be conducted when the assessment of the technical and economic viability of new scenarios is required.

Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Agricultura Irrigada - RBAI is the property of Revista Brasileira de Agricultura Irrigada - RBAI 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.)

With every passing day, the need for sustainable living on Earth is increasing greatly. For this world needs to start using renewable energy resources. The following project shows how electricity can be generated using gravity in simplest possible way. Mechanical components like Spur gears, chain and mass provide input to an electrical circuit through a generator motor. Every time you lift the weight, gravitational potential energy is converted into electrical energy for 12 seconds in this model. The power generation from gravity is cheaper and bio-efficient as compared to solar and other renewable energy sources. In recent times due to effects of pollution and global warming there is a need for generating power from renewable sources. The reason for generating power using gravity is that it is available all over the Earth, abundant and consistent too. In this project, the gravitational energy of a heavy particle is converted to the electrical energy. When the heavy particle falls down from a higher altitude to a lower one, its potential energy is converted into the kinetic energy. Then this energy is converted to electricity by using a synchronous motor. With the increasing of the altitude of the load, the lighting time increases. If load increases, power production also increases, but the lighting time decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On many philosophical accounts, the emotion of anger includes a belief that we have been wrongly injured by someone, deliberately or from a lack of due regard. It includes also the belief that the person who injured us deserves to suffer for what she did. Her suffering would serve as fair payback for the suffering she caused us. In slightly different terms, anger includes a desire to strike back at someone who has injured us because we believe that hurting her will compensate for our hurt. A key ethical question concerning anger is whether indulging a desire for retribution or payback is worthy of us as persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The most important environmental issues caused by the textile industry are intensive water consumption, high amounts of wastewater generation with significant pollutant loads. Previous studies were focused on minimization of water consumption and wastewater amounts in cotton textile finishing-dyeing. There are very few real-scale scientific studies about water efficiency in woolen textile production. In this study, it was aimed to reduce water consumption, wastewater amount and its pollutant loads by appropriate techno-economical minimization techniques in an integrated woolen textile mill. In this context, water consumptions and wastewater generations in basic and other auxiliary processes of the mill were examined by detailed on-site investigations. Process based specific water consumption and wastewater values were calculated. Additionally, water and wastewater samples were collected at different periods and analyzed. Specific pollutant loads of wastewater were also calculated. Thus, reuse potentials of the process wastewaters were evaluated. Moreover, saving and reduction potentials of the mill were determined by comparing with similar textile mills. Total of 82 minimization techniques were identified and evaluated by using multi-criteria decision-making methods. As a result, it was decided to implement 9 minimization techniques in the mill. Thus, reductions in water consumption by 41–69%, wastewater amounts by 48–75% and wastewater chemical loads by 28–63% can be achieved by the implementation of the minimization techniques. Potential payback period was ranged between 24 and 60 months. Employed methodology and findings of the study may be useful to similar textile mills, stakeholders and regulators. Presented results may also provide a road map to textile industry for cleaner production applications. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • A water efficiency study was carried out in an integrated woolen textile mill. • Total 9 priority techniques were identified for reduction of water and wastewater. • Water consumption can be reduced 41–69% after the implementations. • Wastewater and COD loads can be reduced 48–75% and 28–63%, respectively. • Potential payback periods ranged between 24 and 60 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomika APK is the property of Economy of Argo-Industrial Complex 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 Ekonomika APK is the property of Economy of Argo-Industrial Complex 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 study investigated the potential of a biomass-based biorefinery in Mauritius using municipal solid wastes (MSW). Process selection and scenarios were worked out and the scenarios selected for the MSW biorefinery were anaerobic digestion (scenario A); material recovery facility system (scenario B); scenarios A and B (scenario C (a)); scenario C (a) with production of levulinic acid (scenario C (b)) and gasification (scenario D). The useful products from the MSW biorefinery were power, digested matter for composting, digestates for fertiliser, metals, glass and levulinic acid. The scenarios selected were analysed based on technical and economic parameters. For the technical analysis, 19.98 ton/h to 53.96 ton/h of MSW were processed in the MSW biorefinery. Ash produced varied from 0 to 3.76 ton/h. Carbon dioxide emissions were 2.83-26.97 tCO2e/h. The discounted payback period for the scenarios varied from 6.86-12.11 years, and the internal rate of return ranged from 15.47 to 24.56%. This study has shown that the best MSW biorefinery option is a combined process comprising anaerobic digestion, material recovery facility and the production of levulinic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can payback, punitive action fueled by the desire to hurt an offending aggressor, ever be justified? In Anger and Forgiveness, Martha Nussbaum emphatically answers “no”, arguing that payback and the anger on which it is based, even following severe loss, distracts one from pursuing the betterment and loving nature one should be striving to cultivate instead. Timothy Jackson admires Nussbaum’s appreciation for such a beautiful spiritual ideal but criticizes her for denying credit to the potential feeler of anger for overcoming the temptation to engage in payback, the initial presence of which is critical for a graceful and triumphant self-transformation. Diana Cates, qualifying Jackson, maintains that we should not assume in payback scenarios that it is suffering that is aimed at, even if the experienced pain of an offender is foreseeable. Granting the worthwhile high road Nussbaum and her respondents seek to travel, one may still ask: is there also a positive case to be made for desiring payback in the extreme case of responding to an egregious offense, i.e., an offense that is violent, paralyzing, and life-altering? Payback will not bring a lost loved one back from the dead, but can it bring oneself back from the dead? This essay explores the merits of this possibility, honing in on the therapeutic aspect of the desire—and occasionally the acting out of the desire—for a victim to pay her aggressor back in kind. Drawing on the work of the Christian realist Reinhold Niebuhr, the Judaic thinker and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi, and the Christian ethicist and feminist Giles Milhaven, I argue that while no moral principle ever ought to be adopted out of retributive action—such action is by definition bereft of virtue—we should nevertheless not dismiss too quickly the notion of there being any moral value in desiring payback, for desiring payback might be an egregiously offended victim’s only alternative to the paralysis induced by malice. On this exceptional basis, payback strictly limited to its therapeutic scope may become, for the sake of preserving self-worth, not only tolerable, but a victim’s most preferable alternative.

This essay takes a fresh approach to a traditional Western philosophical account of anger, according to which anger is best defined as a desire for payback, namely, a desire to make an offender pay a price, in the currency of unwanted pain, for the pain he caused someone else. The essay focuses more specifically on the work of Thomas Aquinas, whose account of anger is often thought to center on a desire for ‘just vengeance.’ It analyzes and extends aspects of Aquinas’s account that have previously been treated too narrowly. It distinguishes three forms of anger, each of which has important features in common, which justify characterizing it as anger. Only one of these forms involves a desire to make an offender suffer for what he did. Even as this essay argues for articulating different forms of anger, it emphasizes the fluidity of anger’s forms, features, and relationships to other emotions. It briefly engages philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific perspectives while working principally in the domain of religious ethics and moral psychology.

Martha Nussbaum’s Anger and Forgiveness makes explicit claims about the moral valence and irrationality of the desire for payback. This article explores the roots of that desire through an analysis of research on inequity aversion in primates, and the sociocultural developmental context for expressions of anger. It explores the content of different expressions of anger and their relationship to rationality by engaging in the work of Thomas Aquinas. I argue that the desire for payback has biosocial roots in cooperation, and that these habits are prerequisites for the development of human moral sensibilities. However, the explicit desire for payback, like anger in general, is morally ambiguous. Anger may be laudable insofar as it is tied to constructive efforts, but the desire to see another person suffer is in itself morally repugnant. Christian religious interpretations of payback further complicate the narrative, since unappealing instances of this desire are thought by some Christians to be nonetheless justified under the banner of God’s wrath.

In Anger and Forgiveness, Martha Nussbaum argues against the claim that the suffering of the wrongdoer restores, or partially restores, what was damaged by the wrongdoing. Making this mental mistake sets a person on “the road of payback,” and following this path is normatively problematic. What contribution can the canonical writings of Judaism, the Talmud and Midrash, make to the case against payback, when these writings reflect the view that a single deity establishes a divine justice in the world, such that ultimately the good are rewarded and the bad punished? This article argues, in light of recent research into rabbinic law and judicial process, as well as rabbinic theology of divine justice, that several components of these sources can help to meet the challenge. The texts recommend particular subjective states in the context of the human judiciary procedure and in consideration of divine justice, which do not intend “the suffering of the wrongdoer.” Rabbis seek authority, control over uncertainty, and a correct judicial procedure in their legal processes. Regarding the human relationship to the deity, rabbis both prescribe reverence and protest questionable divine acts based on their own ethical standards.