Economic cost-benefit analysis for the agricultural use of sewage sludge treated with lime and fly ash

A tool for calculating the economic and environmental impacts of the use of byproducts of industrial processes that can substitute for perishable resources was presented.This was exemplified by fly ash(the fine fraction of ash originating from coal burned to generate electricity and collected by filtering exhaust gases leaving the furnace),added to soil as a component of sewage sludge stabilized with fly ash and lime(NVS).Application to soil of NVS has potential agricultural and environmental advantages and disadvantages.The costs and benefits of such application were calculated using both a database and expert opinions.The calculations assumed a representative assemblage of soils and crops,with weights assigned to each crop type and soil characteristic.The annual weighted benefits(additional income for the farmer)and costs per hectare reached 324$/ha and 131$/ha respectively.Major potential benefits include:Chemical fertilizer replacement,159$/ha;Improvement to the soil’s physical properties,75$/ha;Supply of vital trace elements,33$/ha.Major potential costs were:Regulatory limitations on marketing of crops pending proof of absence of risk of heavy metals or radionuclides accumulation in these crops,(17$/ha and 36$/ha respectively);Application and incorporation cost,50$/ha.The presented estimates of the costs and benefits refer to the array of soils and conditions typical to Israel.It is possible to maximize potential benefits by applying fly ash only to the most suitable agricultural soils while improper use of fly ash will increase the costs incurred from its use.

Economic Analysis and Research of New Energy Vehicle Promotion Model

New energy vehicles represent the inevitable trend of future development.Compared to traditional fuel vehicles,they are more energy-saving and environmentally friendly,effectively reducing air pollution and mitigating excessive exploitation of oil resources,a stance strongly supported by governments.However,new energy vehicles possess certain drawbacks in terms of price and usability compared to traditional counterparts.Therefore,external support is imperative for their development.This paper delineates four main sections:the background of new energy vehicle promotion and application,a comparative analysis of domestic and foreign promotion models,specific promotion suggestions,and future development prospects.By leveraging insights from economic analysis,the optimal promotion model for new energy vehicles is elucidated.

The Economic Analysis of Law as a Reference for the Grounds of Judicial Decisions

The present article aimed to analyze the application of the economic analysis of Law as a reference for the reasoning of judicial decisions.To that end,an analysis was carried out on the definitions of what is hermeneutics and economic analysis of law,based on the construction of the matrix rule of conduct for public administration.The method of the approach followed was empirical-dialectical,using bibliographic,legislative and jurisprudential research,having a reference to the Law and Economics.

A STUDY ON STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF SUBURBAN ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM ─Taking Tianjin Suburbs and Counties for Example

Along with the development of urban economy. the growth of urban population and the increase of needs of urban society, the suburban ecological and economic system changes constantly and profoundly in its structure and function.Intensifying the research on structural analysis of suburban ecological and economic system is of great significance for grasping light the laws governing the development and evolution of the suburban ecological and economic system and leading this system onto a path of sound circle. By making comprehensive use of the cluster analysis and latent structural analysis the author attempts to explore a new avenue of revealing the structure of suburban ecological and economic system, taking Tianjin suburbs and counties as an example. The results obtained from the above-stated analyses show that it is entirely possible and extremely effective to study the structure and function of suburban ecological and economic system and provide scientific evidence for control of this system by using mathematical methods and statistical analyses.

Co-integration Analysis on the Relationship between Methane Energy Development and Economic Growth in the City of Huixian

Based on the statistical data of Huixian from 1992 to 2010, we analyze the long-term and short-term relationship between Huixian's methane energy development and GDP by using co-integration test and error correction model. The empirical results show that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between methane energy and GDP in the city of Huixian, and which is the one-way Granger causality of methane and GDP. In conclusion, the paper puts forward some steps about spurring economic growth, methane development and utilization in Huixian.

The Grey Correlation Analysis on the Relationship between the Rural Finance and the Rural Economical Growth in Sichuan Province

This paper analyzes the relationship between rural finance and the rural economy of Sichuan Province from 1999 to 2009 by using the sequential growth rate of the gross value of farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery and the sequential growth rate of the per capital total income of rural households as the indicators of rural economic development; and taking the volume of deposit, volume of credit, volume of agricultural credit and the credit volume of township enterprises as the indicators of rural financial development; as well as the method of grey correlation analysis. The results show that there is an obvious positive correlation between them, and the development of country finance has the closest connection with the sequential growth rate of farming, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production and fishery. The loan scale of township enterprises has the biggest influence on the increase of the rural economy. The countermeasures are put forward, covering optimizing investment structure; supporting the development of township enterprises; encouraging loan; actively lightening the financial difficulties in the process of developing rural economy; innovating and exploring; and promoting the diversified development of rural finance.

Analyzing economic feasibility for investing in nursing care: Evidence from panel data analysis in 35 OECD countries

Objective:To analyze economic feasibility for investing in nursing care.Method:The number of practicing nurses'density per 1000 population as a proxy for nursing staff and Gross Domestic Product(GDP)per capita(current US$)were collected in 35 member countries of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)over 2000-2016 period.The statistical technique of panel data analysis including unit root test,cointegration analysis,Granger causality test,dynamic long-run model analysis and error correction model were applied to measure economic impact of nursing-related services.Results:There was a committed bilateral relationship between nurse-staffing level and GDP with longrun magnitudes of 1.39 and 0A1 for GDP-lead-nurse and nurse-lead-GDP directions in OECD countries,respectively.Moreover,the highest long-run magnitudes of the effect nursing staff has on increasing GDP per capita were calculated in Finland(2.07),Sweden(1.92),Estonia(1.68),Poland(1.52),Czech Republic(1.48),Norway(1.47)and Canada(1.24).Conclusion:Our findings verify that although the dependency of nursing characteristics to GDP per capita is higher than the reliance of GDP to number of nurses'density per 1000 population,investing in nursing care is economically feasible in OECD countries i.e.nursing is not only a financial burden(or cost)on health care systems,but also an economic stimulus in OECD countries.Hence,we alert governments and policy makers about the risk of underestimating the economic impacts of nurses on economic systems of OECD countries.

Nanofiltration Technology for Toxic or Harmful Ions Removal from Groundwater: Characteristics and Economic Analysis

Nanofiltration (NF) membrane can efficiently remove the ions from groundwater, especially for high valence ions. Results show that the removal rate of fluoride was approximately 67% by the NF system, while for arsenic the removal rate was more than 93%. NF presented the well selective removal for fluoride. The quality of product water meets the national drinking water standards. Therefore, the application of nanofiltration technology can significantly improve the drinking water environment of rural areas, avoiding the secondary pollution caused by other chemical treatment processes. The water product cost of NF technology is about RMB 0.026 yuan per liter, application of the process of 2:1 NF membranes arrangement for toxic or harmful ions removal from groundwater, including investment cost and operating cost. Therefore, NF technology for harmful ions removal is more economical than the price of the market bottled water and suitable for application in rural areas of China.

Economic analysis of energy interconnection between Europe and China with 100% renewable energy generation

The economic benefits of interconnecting the power grids of Europe(EU) and China(CN) were assessed considering 100% reliance on renewable energy(RE). Four different scenarios, energy storage without interconnection, installing additional renewable energy sources without interconnection, energy storage with interconnection, and installing additional RE sources with interconnection, were considered for the economic benefit analysis. A comparative study of these four scenarios was conducted to identify the best option for achieving hourly power balance. Further, sensitivity analysis was carried out to demonstrate the robustness of the results. Electricity interconnection between CN and EU decreases the annual additional costs by more than 30% when compared to the absence of interconnection, which demonstrates the necessity and benefits of CN-EU electricity interconnection.

Conductor selection and economic analysis of D.R.congo–guinea±800 kV UHVDC transmission project

Africa is embracing new opportunities featured with industrialization,urbanization and regionalization.Based on co-development of‘Electricity,Mining,Metallurgy,Industry and Trade’and grids interconnection proposed by Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization(GEIDCO),the high-quality hydropower resource of the Congo River can be exploited in large scale under the wide-range interconnected framework of African Energy Interconnection(AEI),forging a new engine for Africa economy.The transmission distance of the Congo River hydropower reaches 6,000 km at its farthest end in North Africa,which brings forth challenges to economics of proposed projects.Under this novel continental energy interconnection scheme in Africa,economics of those projects have not yet been in detail studied.This paper has implemented China’s mature engineering experiences and analytical tools of UHVDC project planning into the AEI structure,through exploring the economic behavior of ultra-long distance UHVDC projects in the scope of conductor selection in the Congo River hydropower transmission for the first time,and has provided concerned parties with a technical and analytical results of their economics comparison.This paper has chosen the D.R.Congo-Guinea±800 kV UHVDC project as a typical example.Its preliminary system planning is introduced and three types of conductor are selected for scheme comparison.Later in this paper,the transmission loss,total investment and equivalent annual cost of the project have been calculated and analyzed.In the final part,sensitivity analysis results of the annual cost to utilization hours,transmission loss,loss tariff and construction cost has been provided.

Comprehensive Evaluation on the Level of Agricultural Economic Development in Hubei Province Based on Principal Component Analysis

[Objectives]Hubei Province has a superior geographical location,and is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,with pleasant climate and abundant natural resources.It is an important province of population,agriculture and resources in China.[Methods]Based on the data of Statistical Yearbook of Hubei 2018,the agricultural economic indicators of the cities and prefectures in Hubei Province were analyzed with principal component analysis method by using SPSS19.0.[Results]The comprehensive scores and rankings of the agricultural economic development level of the 17 cities and prefectures in Hubei Province were obtained.They were divided into four agricultural development levels.[Conclusions]According to the analysis results,corresponding policy recommendations were put forward to promote the development of agricultural economy in Hubei Province.

Spatio-temporal evolution and factor explanatory power analysis of urban resilience in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Urban resilience assesses a city’s ability to withstand unknown risks.Scholars are not comprehensive in assessing urban resilience,and they lack consideration of population resilience.This study investigated 110 prefecturelevel cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt(YREB)as study areas.We calculated the YREB’s level of urban resilience based on the aspects of“economy-society-population-ecology-infrastructure”,which ensured that the comprehensive evaluation of urban resilience is complete and sufficient.The spatio-temporal evolution of urban resilience was analyzed using exploratory spatial data.Geodetectors were used to investigate the impact of several indicators,focusing on economic,social,population,ecological,and infrastructure factors,on urban resilience.The results showed that the urban resilience of the YREB has maintained a slow upward trend from 2005 to 2018,and the average urban resilience of the YREB has risen from 0.2442 to 0.2560.The resilience gap between cities in the study region increased initially and then decreased.The dominant factor in the spatial differentiation of urban resilience was the economic factors,followed by the population factors.Urban resilience has been clarified and an evaluation index system is constructed,which can provide an effective reference for the evaluation of urban resilience among countries around the world.Based on this,factors that optimize urban resilience are configured,and the regional and national sustainable development can be promoted.

R/S AND WAVELET ANALYSIS ON EVOLUTIONARYPROCESS OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC DISPARITY IN CHINA DURING PAST 50 YEARS

This paper shows the dynamic process of regional disparity of economic development in China in the past 50 years from a new insight by using the rescaled range statistic (R/S) analysis and wavelet analysis of the Theil index sequence with different time scales. The main conclusions are: 1) The regional disparity of economic development in China, including the inter-provincial disparity, inter-regional disparity and intra-regional disparity, has existed for many years. Theil index by the comparative price has revealed the true trend for comparative disparity of regional economic development from 1952 to 2000. 2) Decomposition of Theil index indicates that the dynamic trend of comparative inter-provincial disparity in the coastal region is in line with dynamic trend of inter-provincial disparity in the whole China. 3) The R/S analysis results tell us that during 1966-1978, the Hurst exponent H=0.504≈0.5, which indicates that in that period the evolution of comparative inter-provincial disparity of economic development showed a random characteristic, and in the other periods, i.e. 1952-1965, 1979-1990 and 1991-2000, the Hurst exponent H>0.5, which indicates that in those periods the evolution of the comparative inter-provincial disparity of economic development in China had a long-enduring characteristic. 4) By using wavelet analysis at different time scale, we arrived at a conclusion that the evolutionary process of the disparity of economic development of China is not a simple inverted U shape but a compound of several U shapes. The result tells us that the evolutionary plot of inter-provincial disparity in China follows the inverted U on the whole at the higher scale, 24(16 years). That is to say, the disparity tends to rise in the first stage of economic development, and fall slowly over the peak in the second stage of economic development. However, if we shorten the time scale to 23 (8 years), then a link of several U shapes will appear.

Uncertainty in life cycle economical analysis of cassava-based ethanol fuel

Biomass ethanol fuel is not only renewable but also environmental-friendly. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is developing the cassava-based ethanol fuel. Economical performance of the project is the key issue. The traditional life cycle economical analysis is just a static calculation process. Uncertainty is the character of cassava yield, cost of cassava plant, cassava price, tax rate and gasoline price, and the economical performance of the project is determined by these aspects. This study proposes an economical model of cassava-based ethanol fuel. The method of Monte Carol is used to simulate the economical performance. This method conquers the shortage of the traditional way. The results show that cassava-based ethanol fuel can get survived when the tax is exempted. Finally, the study also evaluates the potential of the economical performance.

Application of Integration of Spatial Statistical Analysis with GIS to Regional Economic Analysis

This paper summarizes a few spatial statistical analysis methods for to measuring spatial autocorrelation and spatial association, discusses the criteria for the identification of spatial association by the use of global Moran Coefficient, Local Moran and Local Geary. Furthermore, a user-friendly statistical module, combining spatial statistical analysis methods with GIS visual techniques, is developed in Arcview using Avenue. An example is also given to show the usefulness of this module in identifying and quantifying the underlying spatial association patterns between economic units.

Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis on Regional Economic Disparity of Northeast Economic Region in China

Popular regional inequality indexes such as variation coefficient and Gini coefficient can only reveal overall inequality, and have limited ability in revealing spatial dependence or spatial agglomeration. Recently some methods of exploratory spatial data analysis such as spatial autocorrelation have provided effective tools to analyze spatial agglomeration and cluster, which can reveal the pattern of regional inequality. This article attempts to use spatial autocorrelation at county level to get refined spatial pattern of regional disparity in Chinese northeast economic region over 2000-2006 (2001 absent). The result indicates that the basic trend of regional economy is an increasing concentration of growth among counties in northeast economic region, and there are two geographical clusters of poorer counties including the counties in western Liaoning Province and adjacent counties in Inner Mongolia, poorer counties of Heihe, Qiqihar and Suihua in Heilongjiang Province. This article also reveals that we can use the methods of exploratory spatial data analysis as the supplementary analysis methods in regional economic analysis.

An economic analysis of varicella immunization in the Singapore military

Background:Varicella outbreaks occur frequently in closed environments such as those of militaries.This paper compares the economic outcomes of varicella vaccination in enlisted servicemen without prior reported varicella infection or vaccination.Methods:We analyzed the economic outcomes of a varicella vaccination program on all enlisted servicemen without prior reported varicella infection or vaccination in the Singapore Armed Forces(SAF) between December 11,2010–December 20,2013,compared with the previous program of varicella vaccination only for selected personnel between December 1,2007–December 10,2010.Results:In the at-risk population of all active SAF servicemen,the program of varicella vaccination for all servicemen without prior reported varicella infection or vaccination upon enlistment would save 72.0 work days per 1000(95% CI:61.2-82.9),valued at SG$6,544 per 1000(95% CI:6,524-6,564),i.e.,costing SG$91.5 per work day saved(95% CI:78.7-107.3).This also results in a reduction of 2.7 varicella cases per 1000 and 5.43 outbreaks per 10000,or a total savings of SG$1,695 per 1000(95% CI:–2,730-6,834),taking into account the cost of work days lost over a three-year period,compared with the previous regime of vaccinations only for selected individuals.Conclusion:The varicella vaccination strategy targeting all enlisted servicemen without prior reported varicella infection or vaccination is able to prevent varicella infections and outbreaks,thus reducing absenteeism and days lost.

Process design and economic analysis of methacrylic acid extraction for three organic solvents

In this work,a techno-economic study for the solvent based extraction of methacrylic acid from an aqueous solution is presented.The involved phase equilibrium calculations in process design are verified by measured experimental data.First,experiments are conducted with different solvent candidates to measure LLE(liquid–liquid equilibrium)data and to establish the effects of extraction temperature and dosage of solvent.Next,the binary interaction parameters for the UNIQUAC model to be used for equilibrium calculations are fine-tuned with measured data.Then,a process for the solvent based extraction of methacrylic acid recovery is designed and verified through simulation with the regressed UNIQUAC model parameters.The optimal configuration of the process flowsheet is determined by minimizing the total annualized cost.Among the three solvent candidates considered-cyclohexane,hexane and toluene-the highest efficiency and the lowest total annualized cost is found with toluene as the solvent.

Spatial Function Regionalization Based on an Ecological-economic Analysis in Wuxi City, China

As a result of rapid urbanization in China, urban sprawl has increased rapidly, and land-use regulation and smart urban growth are equally important. Spatial function regionalization can provide the scientific groundwork for the regulation of land use and protection. This paper probes the system of evaluation indices and applies the methods of spatial analysis and classification clustering to the calculation of the ecologically significant value and economically significant value in each evaluation unit. After use of a classification matrix integrated by the two significant values, city space can be divided into four functional types, namely, feasible development area, moderate development area, moderate conservation area and prohibited exploiting area, and these are the basis for spatial development and control.

Research status and hotspots of economic evaluation in nursing by co-word clustering analysis

Objective:The aim of this study is to discover research status and hotspots of economic evaluation(EE)in nursing area using co-word cluster analysis.Methods:Medical Subject Heading(MeSH)term“cost–benefit analysis”was searched in PubMed and nursing journals were limited by the function of filter.The information of author,country,year,journal,and keywords of collected paper was extracted and exported to Bicomb 2.0 system,where high-frequency terms and other data could be further mined.SPSS 19.0 was used for cluster analysis to generate dendrogram.Results:In all,3,020 articles were found and 10,573 MeSH terms were detected;among them,1,909 were MeSH major topics and generated 42 high-frequency terms.The consequence of dendrogram showed seven clusters,representing seven research hotspots:skin administration,infection prevention,education program,nurse education and management,EE research,neoplasm patient,and extension of nurse function.Conclusions:Nursing EE research involved multiple aspects in nursing area,which is an important indicator for decision-making.Although the number of papers is increasing,the quality of study is not promising.Therefore,further study may be required to detect nurses’knowledge of economic analysis method and their attitude to apply it into nursing research.More nursing economics course could carry out in nursing school or hospitals.