scholarly journals Global Prospects of the Cost-Efficiency of Broiler Welfare in Middle-Segment Production Systems

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luuk S.M. Vissers ◽  
Ingrid C. de Jong ◽  
Peter L.M. van Horne ◽  
Helmut W. Saatkamp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Middle Segment ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Cost

In the 2000s, the idea of a so-called middle-segment arose in North-West Europe to address the criticism on intensive broiler production systems. Middle-segment systems being indoor housing of slower-growing broiler strains at a stocking density ≤38 kg/m2. Previous literature showed that Dutch middle-segment systems entail a relatively large gain in animal welfare at a relatively low increase in costs, i.e., have a high cost-efficiency. The question is to what extent these findings are applicable to other countries. Therefore, the aim of this study is to gain insight in the global prospects of middle-segment systems by exploring the cost-efficiency of these systems in other parts of the world. A set of representative countries, containing the Netherlands, United States and Brazil were selected. Cost-efficiency was defined as the ratio of the change in the level of animal welfare and the change in production costs. The level of animal welfare was measured by the Welfare Quality (WQ) index score. Data was collected from literature and consulting experts. Results show that in the Netherlands, United States and Brazil a change from conventional towards a middle-segment system improves animal welfare in a cost-efficient manner (the Netherlands 9.1, United States 24.2 and Brazil 12.1). Overall, it can be concluded that in general middle-segment production systems provide a considerable increase in animal welfare at a relatively small increase in production costs and therefore offer good prospects for a cost-efficient improvement of broiler welfare.

National Cost Efficiency of Supported Employees With Intellectual Disabilities: 2002 to 2007

2010 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Cimera
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Vocational Rehabilitation ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Considerable Variability ◽  
United State ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Cost

Abstract The cost efficiency of supported employees with intellectual disabilities who were served by vocational rehabilitation agencies throughout the United State from 2002 to 2007 was explored. Findings indicate that, on average, supported employees with intellectual disabilities were cost-efficient from the taxpayers' perspective regardless of whether they had secondary disabilities. In addition, no changes in cost efficiency were found during the period investigated. The data, however, did demonstrate considerable variability in cost efficiency throughout the United States and its territories.

scholarly journals An Economic Analysis of Two Grafted Tomato Transplant Production Systems in the United States

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 794-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cary L. Rivard ◽  
Olha Sydorovych ◽  
Suzanne O'Connell ◽  
Mary M. Peet ◽  
Frank J. Louws
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Indirect Costs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Commercial Farming ◽  
Economic Production ◽  
Certified Organic ◽  
The Cost

The grafting of herbaceous vegetables is an emerging development in the United States. This report provides an estimate of the variable costs of grafting within U.S. tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) transplant production systems. Grafted and nongrafted plants were propagated at two commercial farming operations in Ivanhoe, NC (NC) and Strasburg, PA (PA) and the farm in NC produced certified organic transplants. Detailed economic production sequences were generated for each site, and grafted and nongrafted transplant production costs were $0.59 and $0.13 in NC, and $1.25 and $0.51 in PA, respectively. Direct costs associated with grafting (e.g., grafting labor, clips, chamber, etc.) accounted for 37% to 38% of the added cost of grafting, and grafting labor was 11.1% to 14.4% of the cost of grafted transplant production. Seed costs represented 52% and 33% of the added cost of grafting at the two sites, and indirect costs (e.g., soil, trays, and heating) accounted for 10% and 30% of the added cost of grafting. Our findings suggest that under current seed prices and with similar production practices, the feasibility of grafting in the United States is not disproportionately affected by domestic labor costs. Additionally, the economic models presented in this report identify the cost of production at various transplant stages, and provide a valuable tool for growers interested in grafted tomato transplant production and utilization.

scholarly journals Cost Analysis of a Novel Method for Ecological Compensation—A Study of the Translocation of Dead Wood

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6075
Author(s):  
Ola Lindroos ◽  
Malin Söderlind ◽  
Joel Jensen ◽  
Joakim Hjältén
Keyword(s):  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Dead Wood ◽  
Road Transportation ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Ecological Compensation ◽  
Work Time ◽  
Delivery Times ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Cost

Translocation of dead wood is a novel method for ecological compensation and restoration that could, potentially, provide a new important tool for biodiversity conservation. With this method, substrates that normally have long delivery times are instantly created in a compensation area, and ideally many of the associated dead wood dwelling organisms are translocated together with the substrates. However, to a large extent, there is a lack of knowledge about the cost efficiency of different methods of ecological compensation. Therefore, the costs for different parts of a translocation process and its dependency on some influencing factors were studied. The observed cost was 465 SEK per translocated log for the actual compensation measure, with an additional 349 SEK/log for work to enable evaluation of the translocation’s ecological results. Based on time studies, models were developed to predict required work time and costs for different transportation distances and load sizes. Those models indicated that short extraction and insertion distances for logs should be prioritized over road transportation distances to minimize costs. They also highlighted a trade-off between costs and time until a given ecological value is reached in the compensation area. The methodology used can contribute to more cost-efficient operations and, by doing so, increase the use of ecological compensation and the benefits from a given input.

Achieving Indonesian Oil and Gas production to 1 million barrels per day by 2030 using Nanoflooding as Novel EOR Method: Dream vs. Reality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Hendraningrat
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil Price ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Nano Size ◽  
Production Target

In low oil price environments, conducting affordable enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects can be very challenging. One item of interest for successful future EOR should be in how produced fluids are treated and how to achieve cost-efficiency. Nanoflooding, is an emerging EOR technique, which has attracted deployment in recent years. Meanwhile, Indonesia continues to progress towards the national oil and gas production target of one million barrels per day by 2030. This paper presents the observation of opportunities and challenges of using nanoflooding to enable oil and gas production in Indonesia to achieve its desired targets. The study began by mapping the pain points in major oilfields in Indonesia. We observed and discussed the advantage and limitation of traditional mature EOR techniques, status, and ongoing application of EOR in Indonesia. Then, we briefly explained the main reasons why nanoflooding can be considered for future implementation in accelerating oil production in Indonesia, including a discussion about a successful pilot test. As an emerging EOR technique, nanoflooding can be considered as a cost-efficient technique. Silica-based nanofluid can be accessed in a cost-efficient manner and can be executed from an implementation standpoint considering surface facilities. The mechanism that is introduced can help to displace incremental oil more effectively since it can go inside pore throats due to the nano-size. We observed several recognized benefits and challenges to deploy nanoflooding in Indonesia. Based on this study, nanoflooding is very attractive and has potential to be implemented.

scholarly journals Cost efficiency of the Czech and Slovak banking sectors: an application of the data envelopment analysis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iveta Palecková
Keyword(s):  
Data Envelopment Analysis ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Commercial Banks ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Banking Industry ◽  
Returns To Scale ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Variable Returns To Scale

The aim of the paper is to estimate the cost efficiency of the Czech and Slovak commercial banks within the period 2010-2014. For empirical analysis the Data Envelopment Analysis input-oriented model with variable returns to scale is applied on the data of the commercial banks. The intermediation approach is adopted to define the inputs and outputs. The Czech commercial banks are more cost efficient than Slovak commercial banks. The development of average cost efficiency is similar in the Czech and Slovak banking industry. The most efficient Czech banks are Ceská sporitelna and Sberbank in the Czech banking sector, the most efficient Slovak bank is Privatbanka with 100% efficiency.

scholarly journals Cost-efficient inter-robot delivery for resource-constrained and interdependent multi-robot schedules

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 172988141982804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Chen ◽  
Xinjun Mao ◽  
Shuo Yang ◽  
Qiuzhen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Task Execution ◽  
Robot System ◽  
Sequential Execution ◽  
Constrained Environments ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Multi Robot

A multi-robot system in resource-constrained environments needs to obtain resources for task execution. Typically, resources can be fetched from fixed stations, which, however, can be costly and even impossible when fixed stations are unavailable, depleted or distant from task execution locations. We present a method that allows robots to acquire urgently required resources from those robots with superfluous residual resources, by conducting rendezvouses with these robots. We consider a scenario where tasks are organised into a schedule on each robot for sequential execution, with cross-schedule dependencies for inter-robot collaboration. We design an algorithm to systematically generate such rendezvouses for entire multi-robot system to increase the proportion of tasks whose resource demands are satisfied. We also design an algorithm that periodically reallocates tasks among robots to improve the cost-efficiency of schedules. Our experiment shows the synergetic effectiveness of both algorithms, when fixed stations are unavailable and all resources are fetched through inter-robot delivery. We also investigate the effectiveness of inter-robot delivery in scenarios where fixed stations are existent but distant from the locations of tasks.

scholarly journals Performance of a Fly Ash Geopolymeric Based Binder with Calcium Hydroxide, Portland Cement and Metakaolin as Additives

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kheradmand ◽  
Z. Abdollahnejad ◽  
F. Pacheco-Torgal
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Fly Ash ◽  
Portland Cement ◽  
Calcium Hydroxide ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Efficient Solution ◽  
Mixed Design ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Cost

Background:Geopolymeric binders are especially indicated when reusing a wide diversity of wastes. This is an important feature, especially in the European context, in which a circular economy and future zero waste are targeted. Still, the cost of these materials, due to the use of high purity activators, prevents their commercialization as they are simply not competitive enough.Objective:The reduction in the amount of activators could be a cost-efficient solution if the associated decrease in the mechanical properties turned not to be excessive. This means that it is important to investigate the manner in which these additives can be used on their composition in order to compensate that mechanical reduction.Results and Conclusion:This paper discloses results concerning the mixed design of fly ash based geopolymeric mixtures using metakaolin, Portland cement (OPC) and calcium hydroxide as additives. Their influence on the mechanical properties, microstructure and cost-efficiency was studied. The results showed that the use of Portland cement as an additive leads to lower compressive strength. Results also show that geopolymers with different additives have different optimum Na2SiO3/NaOH ratios.

scholarly journals An Examination of the Economics of Sustainable and Conventional Horticulture

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-691
Author(s):  
Robin G. Brumfield
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Price Premiums ◽  
Organic Systems ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
The Cost

Since World War II, U.S. agriculture has reduced production costs by substituting petrochemicals for labor. Adverse impacts from chemical intensive agriculture include increased pest levels, groundwater and surface water contamination, soil erosion, and concerns about harmful levels of pesticide residues. Sustainable farming programs such as integrated crop management (ICM) and organic farming encourage farmers to use systems that reduce the adverse impacts of chemical agriculture. However, before farmers adopt an alternative system, they must determine that economic benefits from the alternative farming activities exceed the costs incurred. Unfortunately, relatively few studies have compared the cost of organic crop production with conventional production systems. Results of these studies are mixed. In some studies, organic systems are more profitable than conventional systems with organic price premiums, but are not economically viable without price premiums. In one long-term study, the organic system was more profitable than a conventional one if the cost of family labor was ignored, but less profitable if it was included. In some studies, net returns were higher for ICM than for conventional or organic systems, but in others, they were higher. Results also vary on a crop by crop basis.

Abstract 14173: Emailing is an Economical Way to Recruit Participants

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Raby ◽  
Karen Blinson ◽  
David M Herrington ◽  
David X Zhao ◽  
Gary Rosenthal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
Email Address ◽  
Access Code ◽  
Letter Group ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
New Diagnosis ◽  
The Cost

Introduction: To produce results from clinical trials that are statistically significant, researchers must enroll enough participants; however, it is difficult to recruit sufficient participants. The ADAPTABLE trial is a pragmatic randomized controlled trial designed to compare two aspirin doses in patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods: We used eligibility criteria set forth by the ADAPTABLE study protocol. We then put patients into two groups. Patients with email addresses were group one, and sent an email weekly. Patients without an email address were in group two, and a letter was mailed to their home address. Eligible patients who had a clinic appointment scheduled were also recruited approached in clinic. Most of these patients had already been stratified into the email or letter group, but there was the possibility that they had a new diagnosis and had not been contacted. All were given a link to the ADAPTABLE trial portal with an access code to enroll. An explanatory video about the study and electronic informed consent were on the trial website. Results: As shown in Table 1, four hundred and nine patients enrolled in our trial over a 10-month period. Three hundred and ninety-seven (97.06%) patients enrolled in the study via email. Letters were sent to 7,226 patients and four (0.98%) enrolled in the study. Eight (1.96%) of the patients who were approached in person enrolled in the study. The cost of email campaign was $1.44/patient and the cost per enrollment was the least expensive, at $95.71. In person enrollment cost $23.34/patient and the total cost per enrollment was $417.12. The letter recruitment cost $0.30/patient, however, the cost per enrollment was the highest, at $542.26. Conclusion: Email is an effective and economical way to recruit patients for clinical trials. Email allows researchers to contact more patients about proposed studies promptly and facilitates pragmatic research trials that achieve results in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

scholarly journals Role of community health workers in improving cost efficiency in an active case finding tuberculosis programme: an operational research study from rural Bihar, India

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e036625
Author(s):  
Tushar Garg ◽  
Manish Bhardwaj ◽  
Sarang Deo
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Case Finding ◽  
Active Case Finding ◽  
Notification Rate ◽  
Intervention Region ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Cost

ObjectivesCost-efficient active case finding (ACF) approaches are needed for their large-scale adoption in national tuberculosis (TB) programmes. Our aim was to assess if community health workers’ (CHW) knowledge about families’ health status can improve the cost efficiency of the ACF programme without adversely affecting the delivery of other health services for which they are responsible.DesignQuasi-experimental design.InterventionsWe evaluated an ACF programme in the Samastipur district in Bihar, India, between July 2017 and June 2018. CHWs called Accredited Social Health Activists generated referrals of individuals at risk of TB and conducted symptom-based screening to identify patients with presumptive TB. They also helped them undergo testing and provided treatment support for confirmed TB cases.Primary and secondary outcome measuresWe compared the notification rate from the intervention region with that from a control region in the same district with similar characteristics. We analysed operational data to calculate the cost per TB case diagnosed. We used routine programmatic data from the public health system to estimate the impact on other services provided by CHWs.FindingsCHWs identified 9895 patients with presumptive TB. Of these, 5864 patients were tested for TB, and 1236 were confirmed as TB cases. Annual public case notification rate increased sharply in the intervention region from 45.8 to 105.8 per 100 000 population, whereas it decreased from 50.7 to 45.3 in the control region. There was no practically or statistically significant impact on other output indicators of the CHWs, such as institutional deliveries (−0.04%). The overall cost of the intervention was about US$134 per diagnosed case. Main cost drivers were human resources, and commodities (drugs and diagnostics), which contributed 37.4% and 32.5% of the cost, respectively.ConclusionsACF programmes that use existing CHWs in the health system are feasible, cost efficient and do not adversely affect other healthcare services delivered by CHWs.

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