Energy, Social and Economic Indicators for Evaluation of Retrofit Buildings： The Brazilian Perspective on Sustainable Development

This paper aims to establish a methodological frame work and its validation as a response to the need of a demand management tool in the face of recurring comparisons of building revitalization or retrofits. As the investment and implementation actions improve and the social economic criteria are delimited by regulatory frameworks, it is extremely necessary to monitor previous performances and further prospects, regarding projects, it is necessary to measure the extent of which efforts have been meeting regulatory requirements and aiming to contribute with sustainable development. In this context, the use of indicators has been a major management tool.

Study on the Decoupling Indicators between Economic Development and Environmental Pollution

Decoupling theory and application are introduced firstly, and then the status and prospect of decoupling relation between environmental pollution and economic growth are analyzed. Finally, choice criteria and connotation of decoupling indicators are studied.

Evaluation of Washington Navel Orange Economic Indicators

In Egypt, oranges are the most important citrus crops for local consumption or export. It represents approximately 72.2% of the total Egyptian citrus production in 2019/2020. The main cultivated variety of orange is the Washington navel orange and it is more popular because of its delicious taste, nutrition, and its seedless besides being rich in vitamin C. Washington navel orange is susceptible to fruit cracking, and it is a common physiological disorder that takes place during fruit development. This work aims to investigate the negative effect of fruit cracking in reducing the yield and quality of Washington navel orange produced in Egypt by studying major economic indicators and estimating an economical evaluation of using treatment of Washington navel orange during the period time of 2007/2008 until 2019/2020. Results showed that fruit areas and production of Washington navel orange represented about 52.9% and 53.2% of fruit areas and production of orange during the study period. However, the yield was unstable with a significant annual growth rate of about 1.1%. Also, the last mentioned treatment achieved a high price for farmers by about 5.1% and total revenue of about 3.2% during the study period. Nowadays, Egypt has become the largest exporter of oranges in the world within the last year and the achieved earnings reached $661 million in 2019/2020. In addition, results showed that evaluation of using a treatment to reduce the rate of Washington navel orange cracking was economical to be applied.

Major Economic Indicators in July

Industrial production In July, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up 10.8 percent year-on-year, and it was the third consecutive month which witnessed an

China’s Major Economic Indicators in April

Industrial production In April,the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up 17.8 percent year-

Major Economic Indicators in July

Industrial production In July,the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up 13.4 percent year-on-year,or 0.3 percentage point lower than that in June 2010;in the first seven months of

Major Economic Indicators in July

Industrial production grew slightly faster than June In July, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up 10.8 percent year-on-year, or 3.9 percentage points lower than that

Economical and Technical Indices of Decomposition Processes of Typical Rare Earth Minerals in China

The typical treatment processes we of main rare earth resources in China, especially the economical and technical indices of the minerals decomposition of such as ionic adsorptive rare earth deposit ore, bastnasite and mixed with monazite in Baotou, was presented. The dispersive ionic adsorptive rare earth deposit ore, which is enriched on valuable middle and heavy elements, concentrated by bicarbonate precipitation after exchanging with ammonium sulphate solution. Planting and waste liquid should be focused. Bastnasite and/or monazite, which is enriched light rare earth, centralized with high content and capacity,concentrated by gravimetric, magnetic, floating, then decomposed by calcinations and leaching. Waste liquid, gases and dregs should be treated properly. Investors interested in RE industry can find out the technical and economic characters and history of various RE minerals. Engineers and workers in RE industry can also find the differences of the plants, so as to make more efforts on improving management. However, solving environment protection problems for each process should be committed extraordinarily in order to make a sustainable development of RE industry.

The Evaluation Indicator System for the Audit of Township Leading Cadres' Economic Responsibility: Based on the Survey of One County in Chongqing

Economic responsibility audit evaluation of township cadres is important and difficult. According to the evaluation content and principles,the paper constructs the evaluation indicator of five subsystems: " economic management", " economic decision-making", " implementation of economic policy", " economic development",and " honest and upright administration". Through the field survey of some county in Chongqing,evaluation indicator is screened. According to the expert questionnaire,it uses the Hierarchy Analysis Process method to construct the judgment matrix and calculate the indicator weight and thereby build evaluation indicator system. It focuses on traditional indicators and evaluation indicator of sustainable development to construct a new,more complete evaluation indicator system.

Effects of Dietary Concentrate to Forage Ratios on Production Performance and Serum Biochemical Indicators in Post-fattening Hainan Yellow Cattle

[Objective]The paper was to investigate the effects of dietary concentrate to forage ratios on production performance and serum bio-chemical indicators of post-fattening Hainan Yellow Cattle.[Method]Sixteen Hainan Yellow Cattles with the same genetic backgrounds and similar initial weight of(242.22 ±0.71 kg) were randomly divided into four treatments.Cattles were fed with diets of different concentrate to forage ratios(20:80, group Ⅰ;30:70, Group Ⅱ;40:60, group Ⅲ;50:50, group Ⅳ).The trial lasted 62 d.[Result]The daily gain in experimental group Ⅳ was significantly higher than that in experimental group Ⅱ(P<0.05), but the feed gain ratio in experimental group Ⅳ was lower than those in other ex-perimental groups(P>0.05).The feed intake in experimental group Ⅳ was also markedly higher than those in experimental groups Ⅰ and Ⅱ(P<0.05).Compared with the experimental group Ⅱ, the gross profit of experimental group Ⅳ was significantly promoted(P<0.05).The alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities in experimental group Ⅱ were markedly higher than those in experimental groups Ⅰ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ.[Conclusion]When the dietary concentrate to forage ratios was 50∶50, the production performance of post-fattening Hainan Yellow Cattle was better.

Model based decision support system for land use changes and socio-economic assessments

Hydrological models are often linked with other models in cognate sciences to understand the interactions among climate, earth, water, ecosystem, and human society. This paper presents the development and implementation of a decision support system（DSS） that links the outputs of hydrological models with real-time decision making on social-economic assessments and land use management. Discharge and glacier geometry changes were simulated with hydrological model, water availability in semiarid environments. Irrigation and ecological water were simulated by a new commercial software MIKE HYDRO. Groundwater was simulated by MODFLOW. All the outputs of theses hydrological models were taken as inputs into the DSS in three types of links： regression equations, stationary data inputs, or dynamic data inputs as the models running parallel in the simulation periods. The DSS integrates the hydrological data, geographic data, social and economic statistical data, and establishes the relationships with equations, conditional statements and fuzzy logics. The programming is realized in C＋＋. The DSS has four remarkable features：（1） editable land use maps to assist decision-making;（2） conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources;（3） interactions among water, earth, ecosystem, and humans; and（4） links with hydrological models. The overall goal of the DSS is to combine the outputs of scientific models, knowledge of experts, and perspectives of stakeholders, into a computer-based system, which allows sustainability impact assessment within regional planning; and to understand ecosystem services and integrate them into land and water management.

Techno-economic Appraisal of Biodiesel from Jatropha curcas： An Egyptian Case Study

Biodiesel （fatty acid methyl ester） has been identified as a non-toxic biodegradable alternative fuel that is obtained from renewable sources. Over the last decade, there has been increasing interest in producing biodiesel from conventional sources such as soybean, canola, sunflower, and coconut oils. Current efforts are directed towards the development of new non-edible resources. Among these Jatropha Curcas comes at the forefront. In Egypt, Jatropha Curcas has grown successfully using primary treated wastewater. Also, extensive R＆D efforts identified the optimum conditions for the various processing stages namely crushing, extraction, transesterification and purification. Based on the research findings, the techno-economic appraisal of biodiesel production from Jatropha Curcas is conducted. Two nominal capacities namely 8,000 and 50,000 metric tons/yr have been proposed. Several scenarios have been formulated to take into consideration varying productivity （3.4 to 5.8 ton fruits per 4,000 m^2 （acre）） and varying recovery rates of oil from seeds. Economic indicators including capital and production costs for the various processing stages and revenues according to current prices of oil and cake have been obtained. The price of biodiesel that provides a simple rate of return （SRR） on investments of 10% was in the range of $0.3-0.7/liter for the different assumed scenarios which is lower than the prevailing price of biodiesel （about $1/liter） in the US. Thus, in view of experimental results and economic assumptions, there are positive prospects for the production of biodiesel from Jatropha Curcas under Egyptian conditions.

Economic Evaluation of Hydraulic Fracturing in a Gas Condensate Reservoir Operating below Dewpoint

Hydraulic fracturing is among the approaches used to optimize production from a gas condensate reservoir. A detailed economic analysis is required to evaluate the profitability and feasibility of hydraulic fracturing as an optimization option in a gas condensate reservoir operating below dewpoint. The objective of this research is to evaluate the economic benefits derivable from the use of hydraulic fracturing to improve gas and liquid recovery from a gas condensate reservoir operating below dewpoint. This research considers the use of four profit indicators to ascertain the profitability of hydraulic fracturing in a gas condensate reservoir operating below dewpoint by increasing the fracture halflength, fracture width and fracture permeability. The production data of the reservoir was obtained and the economic calculations done on excel spreadsheet and plots generated. The four profit indicators considered in the research are Net Present Value, Payout, Discounted Cash Flow Rate of Return and Profit per Dollar Invested. The economic justification was done by carrying out a comparative economic analysis from the result obtained when the reservoir of study was unfractured with that obtained when the reservoir was fractured at various fracture parameters. The economic analysis was done considering a royalty and tax rate of 18.5% and 30% respectively and a gas price of $2/MSCF and condensate price of $30/bbl. This is done so as to find out if the additional cost of hydraulic fracturing can be offset by the recovery from the reservoir when its pressure declined below dewpoint. The result obtained showed that the additional recovery due to hydraulic fracturing by increasing the fracture halflength, fracture width and fracture permeability was not enough to justify the application of hydraulic fracturing when the reservoir pressure declined below dewpoint.

EU Real-World Evidence Supports the Expansion Indications for Drugs and Its Enlightenment to China

Objective To analyze the value of EU real-world evidence(RWE)in supporting the expanded indications for drugs and to provide reference for the decision-making of expanding drug indications supported by RWE in China.Methods By searching relevant domestic and foreign literature and case analysis,the practice of the RWE of EU to support the expansion indications for drugs was investigated.Results and Conclusion The EU uses RWE to carry out adaptive path research,which provides a new idea for drug R&D and approval.Besides,it also provides evidence in supporting the research of expanded indications for drugs.With the increasing cognition of RWE,it will play a key role in medical and regulatory decisions in China.

Socio-Economic Metabolism and Sustainability at a Watershed

This research relates to the change in land use and land cover and to socio-economic metabolism, which constitute two approaches to interdisciplinary research on the society-nature relationship. The study focuses on relationships between the spatial pattern of land use, as exhibited through changes in Human Appropriation of Net Primary Productivity percentage (HANPP%), and socio- economic indicators (such as social exclusion/inclusion, income autonomy, human development, social equity and quality of life) of census sectors of a watershed. The analysis seeks to identify the existence of ecological and economic conflicts as a means of diagnosing the sustainability condition of the mid-upper Mogi Gua&ccedil;u River watershed in 2009. The spatial pattern of land use of the watershed in 2009 indicates that ecosystems and natural habitats had already been reduced to a fraction of their original sizes and that a significant portion of their primary productivity had been appropriated. The predominance of anthropogenic agricultural activities in the watershed was the main cause of the increase in the HANPP%. Lower HANPP% values are associated with census sectors in regions with legally protected conservation areas;higher values are associated with census sectors involved in anthropogenic agricultural and non-agricultural activities. A positive significant correlation was observed between HANPP% and social exclusion/inclusion, income autonomy and human development indicators, with values above the Basic Social Inclusion Standard, indicating lower trophic availability. With the exception of the quality of life indicator, lower (0.75 to 0.25) and higher (-0.75 to -0.25) social exclusion values were observed in rural and urban census sectors. The environmental sustainability of the middle Mogi Gua&ccedil;u River watershed has been compromised in terms of the amount of biomass available to the trophic community. However, socio-economic indicators demonstrate an improved quality of life for the populations of the census sectors of the middle Mogi Gua&ccedil;u River watershed.

Expanding the Definition and Measurement of Knowledge Economy： Integrating Triple Bottom Line Factors into Knowledge Economy Index Models and Methodologies

The application of knowledge is a primary source of growth in the knowledge economy. The World Bank Group has developed a rigorous assessment methodology for assessing a country＇s ability to access and use knowledge to become more competitive in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. The World Bank＇s annual knowledge economy index is grounded on a four-pillar model： （1） economic incentives and institutional regime; （2） education and skills; （3） information and communication infrastructure; and （4） innovation systems. An argument can be made that the model lacks coverage of some key factors that pertain to intellectual capital and the production and consumption of knowledge. The model＇s heavy focus on economic incentives and open institutional regimes comes at a societal cost. This paper proposes an alternative knowledge economy index which is grounded in a more holistic and balanced view of a knowledge society. Adopting the perspective of triple bottom line shifts the purpose and design of a knowledge economy from one of aggregation and reporting to action and involvement. The World Bank＇s scorecard and indexing methodology are adaptable to this new perspective and a new set of indicators.