Analysis of the Operating Costs of Passenger Cars Declared by Vehicles' Manufacturers and Obtained by Users

Every year, there are more and more cars on the roads that cause pollution. To reduce it, conventional vehicles have started to be replaced by electric and hybrid vehicles. Therefore, the average fuel/energy consumption of electric, hybrid, spark ignition and self-ignition vehicles over a test distance of 100 km was investigated. The test results were then compared to the manufacturer's data and the average difference between the manufacturer's data and the test data is shown. The largest average difference in fuel consumption between the manufacturer's data and the test data was observed for hybrid vehicles (over 230 %) and the smallest for electric vehicles (less than 10 %) and spark ignition vehicles (almost 18 %). Considering costs, the largest difference between manufacturer's data and test data is observed, as in the previous case, in electric vehicles (0.25 €) and the largest in hybrid vehicles (almost 6 € per 100 kilometers driven).

The financial and prudential performance of Chinese banks and Fintech lenders in the era of digitalization

The years 2013 to 2019 marked an explosion in Fintech in China. We analyze the financial and prudential performance of 40 exchange-traded banks and 25 listed Fintech lenders in China during this watershed period. Among other things, traditional banks experienced rising operating costs, declining profit margins and softening loan quality. Consistent with a process of adaptation, traditional bank performance stabilized in the latter part of the study period (2018-19) after an initial period of decline. Study findings also highlight rising business and regulatory costs for Fintech providers over the course of the study frame. A marked deterioration in online lenders’ Special Mention and Non-Performing Loan (SML & NPL) positions arose during the period. Within the traditional bank group, smaller entities with fewer growth options and greater foreign ownership fared worst in prudential terms. Traditional banks’ financial and prudential performance also declines with time since IPO. Relative to joint stock commercial, city and rural banks, state-owned lenders registered more resilient performance, especially in relation to asset quality. In a final area, we construct a categorical Fintech proficiency variable for China's established banks. Our preliminary evidence suggests such proficiencies help stabilize SML and NPL rates and support financial returns. Overall, we offer major contribution to the banking literature by analyzing the financial and prudential performance of both incumbent and emerging lenders in one of the world’s most dynamic Fintech settings.

Optimal Renewable Energy Distribution Between Gasifier and Electrolyzer for Syngas Generation in a Power and Biomass-to-Liquid Fuel Process

By adding energy as hydrogen to the biomass-to-liquid (BtL) process, several published studies have shown that carbon efficiency can be increased substantially. Hydrogen can be produced from renewable electrical energy through the electrolysis of water or steam. Adding high-temperature thermal energy to the gasifier will also increase the overall carbon efficiency. Here, an economic criterion is applied to find the optimal distribution of adding electrical energy directly to the gasifier as opposed to the electrolysis unit. Three different technologies for electrolysis are applied: solid oxide steam electrolysis (SOEC), alkaline water electrolysis (AEL), and proton exchange membrane (PEM). It is shown that the addition of part of the renewable energy to the gasifier using electric heaters is always beneficial and that the electrolysis unit operating costs are a significant portion of the costs. With renewable electricity supplied at a cost of 50 USD/MWh and a capital cost of 1,500 USD/kW installed SOEC, the operating costs of electric heaters and SOEC account for more than 70% of the total costs. The energy efficiency of the electrolyzer is found to be more important than the capital cost. The optimal amount of energy added to the gasifier is about 37–39% of the energy in the biomass feed. A BtL process using renewable hydrogen imports at 2.5 USD/kg H2 or SOEC for hydrogen production at reduced electricity prices gives the best values for the economic objective.

Cost behavior in e-commerce firms

We conduct empirical research on the flexibility of operating costs of e-commerce firms. With an international sample of firms from different European countries, we find that e-commerce firms have a different cost structure than traditional retail firms, with a lower share of labor costs and cost of goods sold, but a higher share of other operating costs. While we find no significant different behavior in cost of goods sold and labor costs between the two types of firms, e-commerce firms are more flexible in adjusting other operating costs than traditional retail firms when activity decreases. Results are robust to different models, estimations methods and samples. The higher flexibility of e-commerce firms relies on other operating costs, but e-commerce creates qualified jobs with higher wages than traditional retail, with no additional exposure to labor uncertainty for employees.

Sales Volume, Operating Cost and its Effect on Profitability (Study on Listed Companies in The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for 2017-2020)

This study is associative research that uses more than one independent variable to determine the relationship between the variables studied, namely sales volume, operating costs, and profitability. The data used are in the form of company profit and loss financial statements, which were obtained from the Indonesian stock exchange website www.IDX.co.id. The population used is the annual financial statements published for 4 periods 2017-2020 as many as 16 companies. The sample in this study is in the form of annual financial statements (profit and loss statements) for the 2017-2020 period as many as 10 companies (40 samples) according to the sampling criteria. The results obtained, Sales Volume and Operational Costs affect Profitability as evidenced by the results of Fount 6.827 > Fable of 3.250 with a significant level of 0.003. While partially Sales Volume affects Profitability as evidenced by the results of count of 2,980 and table of 2,026 with a significant value of 0.005, and also Operational Costs affect Profitability as evidenced by a count of -3.599 and table of 2.026 with a significance value of 0.001

COPRAS ve MAIRCA Yöntemleriyle Çorum İlinde Kurulabilecek Kompost Tesislerinin Optimallik Sıralaması

The compost product, which is a biologically active substance, emerges as a result of microbial decomposition of organic materials under controlled conditions. This product, which is used for the improvement of soil structure and the development of agricultural products, also offers opportunities in terms of minimizing the damage caused by organic wastes to the environment. It is important to encourage efforts for compost production, especially in terms of both disposal and economic evaluation of wastes generated in animal production farms. Determining the most suitable location of a facility for the utilization of animal wastes as compost, which will be obtained from livestock enterprises scattered in different geographical areas, will be an essential study in terms of minimizing operating costs. For such a facility, it would be an appropriate approach to use multi-criteria decision making methods to choose among predetermined facility location alternatives. In this study, a total of 17 facility location alternatives with 83,163 cattle potential in Çorum province were ranked according to the criteria determined and weighted by means of SWARA method. The optimal ranking of 17 alternatives determined by K-Means clustering analysis was carried out by COPRAS and MAIRCA methods. According to the ranking results obtained from both methods, it was determined that cluster number 6 was in the first rank, cluster number 4 was in the second rank, and cluster number 3 was in the third rank.

A Review of Modelling of the FCC Unit—Part II: The Regenerator

Heavy petroleum industries, including the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit, are among some of the biggest contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The FCC unit’s regenerator is where these emissions originate mostly, meaning the operation of FCC regenerators has come under scrutiny in recent years due to the global mitigation efforts against climate change, affecting both current operations and the future of the FCC unit. As a result, it is more important than ever to develop models that are accurate and reliable at predicting emissions of various greenhouse gases to keep up with new reporting guidelines that will help optimise the unit for increased coke conversion and lower operating costs. Part 1 of this paper was dedicated to reviewing the riser section of the FCC unit. Part 2 reviews traditional modelling methodologies used in modelling and simulating the FCC regenerator. Hydrodynamics and kinetics of the regenerator are discussed in terms of experimental data and modelling. Modelling of constitutive parts that are important to the FCC unit, such as gas–solid cyclones and catalyst transport lines, are also considered. This review then identifies areas where the current generation of models of the regenerator can be improved for the future. Parts 1 and 2 are such that a comprehensive review of the literature on modelling the FCC unit is presented, showing the guidance and framework followed in building models for the unit.

Rehabilitation in Intermittent Water Distribution Networks for Optimal Operation

Equitable distribution of water is a growing source of worry, and concerns water systems’ managers as water-stressed areas steadily increase and situations of water scarcity are becoming more frequent. The problem goes beyond just the water sector and globally affects many countries’ economies since water resources have multiple uses (i.e., power generation, irrigation, etc.). One of the various strategies to overcome periods of extreme events (e.g., water scarcity) is the adoption of intermittent operation. Intermittent operation can minimize water losses, and manages to supply the same water demand (in terms of volume) during a reduced period of time. However, despite minimizing water losses, the energy consumption necessary to cope with the increased flows and head loss, due to the reduced number of operating hours, increases. This paper explores a strategy based on rehabilitation of the system’s main pipes. It also considers optimal selection and scheduling of pumps aiming at improving the system’s hydraulic parameters (e.g., velocity and head losses) and at reducing the operating costs. Both selection and scheduling of pumps and resizing of main pipes are optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization. The obtained results show that this strategy can significantly reduce the energy consumed and can be economically feasible.

Chatbot Implementation in a Steel Company in Russia

Chatbots (sometimes just called “bots”) are the subject of much corporate and public interest today. Many enterprises are looking to get started with chatbot development initiatives to improve communication efficiency as well as reduce operating costs. Current research indicates constantly growing interest in this area and forecasts that 70% of office employees will interact with chatbots daily in 2022. This chapter reports on the challenges inherent in chatbot integration projects and identifies key operational factors for successful chatbot projects, as well as highlighting issues of strategic significance. Different technology adoption and project management models are explored, analysed, and applied in the context of chatbot implementation, and based on an in-depth case study, a model is put forward to aid the manageability of chatbot implementation in other similar environments.