Effects and Benefits of Space Exploration

Author(s):  
Norma B. Crosby

It has been more than half a century since humans first ventured into space. While competing in being the first to land on the Moon, they learned to utilize space for human needs on Earth (e.g., telecommunications, navigation systems). Many space technologies were later applied to basic needs on Earth. Space research and development led to the “transfer of technology” in non-space sectors and became better known as “spin-offs.” They have improved global modern life in many ways. This paper discusses the cost-benefit of space technology spin-offs, as well as the relationships between various space agencies, spin-offs, and commercial enterprises. Other benefits that have come out of space exploration such as psychological, political and environmental effects are also reviewed, as well as the potential future benefits of going to space. Technologies developed for harsh environments on Earth and for those in space benefit all and collaborating both ways is the future.

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Spiller ◽  
Tony Tapsell ◽  
Richard Peckham

This paper is based on the results of the ‘GNSS Support Task’ study for the European Commission, DGXIII. It summarises the results of the cost benefit analysis in terms of coverage, accuracy and safety requirements for different types of user and describes the most cost-effective GNSS 2 architecture. These analyses also assume that the overall system is layered into wide area, regional and local systems. The future planning of satellite navigation is essentially driven by the wide area requirements and ensuring that these are global and seamless. There is some flexibility in coverage and accuracy for a wide area system in that it can be augmented regionally or locally if required, but it must provide the highest level of safety required. The paper approaches the architecture for a future navigation system from this safety aspect. An analysis of the chosen architecture shows that the required safety performance can be met. An implementation plan is described which allows a gradual evolution from the first system to be realized for safety critical operations to a fully civilian owned and operated system.


2007 ◽  
pp. 70-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Demidova

This article analyzes definitions and the role of hostile takeovers at the Russian and European markets for corporate control. It develops the methodology of assessing the efficiency of anti-takeover defenses adapted to the conditions of the Russian market. The paper uses the cost-benefit analysis, where the costs and benefits of the pre-bid and post-bid defenses are compared.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milind Watve

Peer reviewed scientific publishing is critical for communicating important findings, interpretations and theories in any branch of science. While the value of peer review is rarely doubted, much concern is being raised about the possible biases in the process. I argue here that most of the biases originate in the evolved innate tendency of every player to optimize one’s own cost benefits. Different players in the scientific publishing game have different cost-benefit optima. There are multiple conflicts between individual optima and collective goals. An analysis of the cost-benefit optima of every player in the scientific publishing game shows how and why biases originate. In the current system of publishing, by optimization considerations, the probability of publishing a ‘bad’ manuscript is relatively small but the probability of rejecting a ‘good’ manuscript is very high. By continuing with the current publishing structure, the global distribution of the scientific community would be increasingly clustered. Publication biases by gender, ethnicity, reputation, conformation and conformity will be increasingly common and revolutionary concepts increasingly difficult to publish. Ultimately, I explore the possibility of designing a peer review publishing system in which the conflicts between individual optimization and collective goal can be minimized. In such a system, if everyone behaves with maximum selfishness, biases would be minimized and the progress towards the collective goal would be faster and smoother. Changing towards such a system might prove difficult unless a critical mass of authors take an active role to revolutionize scientific publishing.


1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 153-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Newsome ◽  
C. D. Stephen

Many countries are investing in measures to improve surface water quality, but the investment programmes for so doing are increasingly becoming subject to cost-benefit analysis. Whilst the cost of control measures can usually be determined for individual improvement schemes, there are currently no established procedures for valuing the benefits attributable to improved surface water quality. The paper describes a methodology that has been derived that now makes this possible.


Author(s):  
Anastasiya V. Mironova ◽  
Igor’ V. Liskin ◽  
Irina I. Afonina

Neglect of soils leads to their degradation, worsens useful properties, and reduces fertility and productivity. (Research purpose) The research purpose is in conducting a comparative analysis of technologies for treating degraded soils, taking into account the economic feasibility of their restoration in non-black-soil regions of Russia. (Materials and methods) The article shows the main technological scheme of restoration of degraded soils. Authors have identified the main groups of land that are located in non-black-soil regions of Russia. (Results and discussion) The article presents the need for equipment, economic and labor costs for the restoration of each type of land in the non-black-soil regions of Russia. Authors took into account that the salary of machine operators depends on the time of direct execution of the task. It was found that the restoration of virgin and fallow lands was the most preferable from the economic, energy-saving and environmental points of view. The article shows that the restoration of pasture areas exceeds the cost of processing virgin lands, but the number of necessary machine and tractor units is comparable to work on virgin lands. Authors recommend to develop the soils with woody and shrubby vegetation in the first place, starting with land occupied by young plants. It is necessary to take into account the criteria for the fertility of the soil layer. It was found that soils with a small excess of moisture have small cost of its development, while on heavily swampy soils the cost of work on their development is many times higher than the cost of restoring other types of land. (Conclusion) The article shows that the restoration of neglected land is a necessary condition for improving the provision of human needs for food and a number of industrial goods. First of all, it is necessary to develop land that requires minimal investment of economic and labor costs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaz Aghazadeh ◽  
Marietta Peytcheva

SUMMARY We conduct a post-implementation research analysis of AS4, a standard guiding voluntary audits of material weakness (MW) remediation disclosures, to understand the reasons for the scarcity of AS4 audits in practice. We use multiple methods (experiments, comment letter analysis, and surveys) to understand the perspectives of key stakeholders. We find that regulators' expectations of the use of the standard did not come to fruition because an equilibrium market for active use of the standard could not be achieved; that managers desire to engage in AS4 audits for the riskier MWs but do not expect the associated costs to be high; and that auditors are reluctant to audit riskier MWs and would charge a considerable risk premium. Finally, we find that investors value AS4 audits, especially for riskier MWs, and find value in an AS4 audit for those risky MWs beyond that of the year-end audit. The overall findings of our study indicate that a mismatch in the cost-benefit functions of the key stakeholders led to a lack of AS4 audits. Our findings are important given the high costs associated with auditing standards development and approval.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1297
Author(s):  
Juntae Kim ◽  
Hyo-Dong Han ◽  
Wang Yeol Lee ◽  
Collins Wakholi ◽  
Jayoung Lee ◽  
...  

Currently, the pork industry is incorporating in-line automation with the aim of increasing the slaughtered pork carcass throughput while monitoring quality and safety. In Korea, 21 parameters (such as back-fat thickness and carcass weight) are used for quality grading of pork carcasses. Recently, the VCS2000 system—an automatic meat yield grading machine system—was introduced to enhance grading efficiency and therefore increase pork carcass production. The VCS2000 system is able to predict pork carcass yield based on image analysis. This study also conducted an economic analysis of the system using a cost—benefit analysis. The subsection items of the cost-benefit analysis considered were net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and benefit/cost ratio (BC ratio), and each method was verified through sensitivity analysis. For our analysis, the benefits were grouped into three categories: the benefits of reducing labor costs, the benefits of improving meat yield production, and the benefits of reducing pig feed consumption through optimization. The cost-benefit analysis of the system resulted in an NPV of approximately 615.6 million Korean won, an IRR of 13.52%, and a B/C ratio of 1.65.


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