Search results for "COSTS"
showing 10 items of 332 documents
Les étudiants anticipent-ils correctement la valeur de leur diplôme sur le marché du travail ?
2013
Documents de travail de l'IREDU, n°2013-1; Ce travail analyse la manière dont les étudiants de première année d'université anticipent leurs salaires futurs, puis compare ces salaires à ceux qu'ils peuvent réellement observer sur le marché du travail. Nos résultats montrent globalement une surestimation des salaires anticipés d'environ 9 pour cent en début de carrière, ce qui est cohérent avec des travaux réalisés dans d'autres pays. En revanche, les salaires anticipés après dix ans de carrières sont supérieurs de 28 pour cent aux salaires observés des diplômés à ancienneté comparable. Les résultats soulignent également l'importance de l'environnement familial lors du choix des études supéri…
Fronto-parietal homotopy in resting-state functional connectivity predicts task-switching performance
2021
Homotopic functional connectivity reflects the degree of synchrony in spontaneous activity between homologous voxels in the two hemispheres. Previous studies have associated increased brain homotopy and decreased white matter integrity with performance decrements on different cognitive tasks across the life-span. Here, we correlated functional homotopy, both at the whole-brain level and specifically in fronto-parietal network nodes, with task-switching performance in young adults. Cue-to-target intervals (CTI: 300 vs. 1200 ms) were manipulated on a trial-by-trial basis to modulate cognitive demands and strategic control. We found that mixing costs, a measure of task-set maintenance and moni…
What is the impact of rerouting a cancer diagnosis from emergency presentation to GP referral on resource use and survival? Evidence from a populatio…
2018
Background Studies on alternative routes to diagnosis stimulated successful policy interventions reducing the number of emergency diagnoses and associated mortality risk. A dearth of evidence on the costs of such interventions might prevent new policies from achieving more ambitious targets. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study on the population of colorectal (88,051), breast (90,387), prostate (96,219), and lung (97,696) cancer patients diagnosed after a GP referral or an emergency presentation and reported in the Cancer Registry of England. Resource use and survival were compared 1 year before and 5 years after diagnosis (3 years for lung), including the costs of GP referrals…
Quality management in the public sector accounting department - (un)avoidable quality costs and unlikely financial impacts
2017
This paper investigates the nature of quality costs and the likelihood of their having financial impacts in the public sector. An illustrative quality development case project in an accounting department of a Finnish city administration is presented. The empirical data includes answers to a qualitative project question sheet, workshop material and participative observation. Quality problems are classified according to their quality cost category and the extent to which they are avoidable. Some of the quality costs proved unavoidable and some are likely to lack financial impact, exhibiting sticky cost behaviour. The study indicates that certain prevention and appraisal costs in the public se…
Health care and societal costs of the management of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Spain : a descriptive a…
2017
Background Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition in childhood (5.3% to 7.1% worldwide prevalence), with substantial overall financial burden to children/adolescents, their families, and society. The aims of this study were to describe the clinical characteristics of children and adolescents with ADHD in Spain, estimate the associated direct/indirect costs of the disorder, and assess whether the characteristics and financial costs differed between children/adolescents adequately responding to currently available pharmacotherapies compared with children/adolescents for whom pharmacotherapies failed. Methods This was a multicenter, cross-secti…
The fouling phenomenon in membrane bioreactors: Assessment of different strategies for energy saving
2013
Abstract Membrane fouling represents one of the major issues for a membrane bioreactor (MBR). Membrane fouling and high aeration requirements (for inducing shear stress to limit fouling) make MBR operation economically demanding due to high energy costs. Although several studies on MBR fouling have been performed, comprehensive knowledge on how to reduce membrane fouling and consequently save energy is still lacking. An integrated mathematical model for MBR is applied to a University of Cape Town membrane bioreactor with the final aim to reduce the energy costs. In particular, the influence of the aeration intensity, the duration of filtration/backwashing cycles, and the number of membrane …
Decision-making Tool for Moving from 3-axes to 5-axes CNC Machine-tool
2016
Abstract Nowadays most of the parts within machine-building industry are machines on CNC machine-tools. According to their mechanical and kinematic structure, CNC machine-tools can be divided into 3-axes and 5-axes ones. Each type has its advantages and drawbacks and choosing between them could be a very difficult process. This paper presents a decision support tool for aiding the process of selecting between using and/or buying either a 3-axes CNC milling machine or a 5-axes milling machine, based upon fuzzy logic. The tool was built using the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox and the fuzzy graphical user interface (GUI) within Matlab software package.
Sustainability evaluation of Sicily's lemon and orange production: An energy, economic and environmental analysis
2013
The island of Sicily has a long standing tradition in citrus growing. We evaluated the sustainability of orange and lemon orchards, under organic and conventional farming, using an energy, environmental and economic analysis of the whole production cycle by using a life cycle assessment approach. These orchard systems differ only in terms of a few of the inputs used and the duration of the various agricultural operations. The quantity of energy consumption in the production cycle was calculated by multiplying the quantity of inputs used by the energy conversion factors drawn from the literature. The production costs were calculated considering all internal costs, including equipment, materi…
Efficiency assessment of wastewater treatment plants: A data envelopment analysis approach integrating technical, economic, and environmental issues
2015
The assessment of the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is essential to compare their performance and consequently to identify the best operational practices that can contribute to the reduction of operational costs. Previous studies have evaluated the efficiency of WWTPs using conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. Most of these studies have considered the operational costs of the WWTPs as inputs, while the pollutants removed from wastewater are treated as outputs. However, they have ignored the fact that each pollutant removed by a WWTP involves a different environmental impact. To overcome this limitation, this paper evaluates for the first time the efficien…
Assessment of methodologies and data used to calculate desalination costs
2017
Abstract In desalination, similarly with other industries, the cost of the final product is one of the most important criteria that define the commercial success of a specific technology. Therefore, when new projects are planned or new technologies are proposed, the analysis of the expected costs attracts a lot of attention and is compared to (perceived) costs of state-of-the-art desalination or costs of alternative fresh water supply options. This comparison only makes sense if the cost assessment methodologies are based on the same principles and use common assumptions. This paper assesses: (i) the methodologies used to calculate the water cost; (ii) the boundary conditions and (iii) the …