Search results for "Economic viability"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Assessing the feasibility of cogeneration retrofit and district heating/cooling networks in small Italian islands
2017
Sustainability of energy supply strategies in small islands has been emerging as a severe issue, due to the large margins for improvement and rationalization of the most frequently adopted solutions. In most of the European islands, large amounts of heat are wasted by the operation of engine-based power plants; conversely, heat is produced by boilers (supplied by liquid fuels) or by electric equipment for a number of different uses, like domestic hot water production or space heating in winter. In this paper a techno-economic analysis is proposed to assess the feasibility of CHP-retrofit of the existing power plants and the possible utilization of the recovered heat to supply, via a distric…
Assessing Methane Emission and Economic Viability of Energy Exploitation in a Typical Sicilian Municipal Solid Waste Landfill
2018
Sanitary landfills for municipal solid waste (MSW) represent one of the major anthropogenic source of GHGs emissions and are directly responsible of the climate changes we are facing nowadays. Indeed, the biodegradable organic matter of MSW undergoes anaerobic digestion producing the landfill gas (LFG), whose main components are CH4 and CO2. Therefore, biomethane energy exploitation in MSW landfills will reduce GHGs emission positively affecting the global warming. The aim of the present study was to assess the methane production in a Sicilian landfill by comparing the results from field measurements of methane emission and the estimates achieved by applying different mathematical models. A…
Economic sustainability of early potato production in the Mediterranean area
2014
The interactions between a given commercial enterpr ise, its territory and development, have become a key issue in recent years. Theories of economic dev elopment tell us that a territory may undergo development provided viable, economically sustainab le commercial activities exist. Based on the latter postulate, the present paper analyzes the economic sustainability of farming enterprises growing early potatoes in a Mediterranean setting. In particular, the study was conducted in south-eastern Sicily, island in the centre of the Mediterranean. The resu lts underscore their modest profitability, mainly d ue to a lack of entrepreneurial strategies aimed at en hancing production. This situati…
Jubilación parcial y contrato de relevo: regulación y prospectiva
2022
En el marco de la “sociedad del bienestar” los Estados deben procurar acomodar la transición hacia la jubilación proveyendo a sus ciudadanos de vías efectivas, diversas y adaptadas a sus condiciones e intereses. Así pues, ante una “economía del conocimiento” donde las competencias profesionales de los recursos humanos de un país u organización adquieren un valor estratégico en términos de competitividad, resulta pertinente analizar el régimen jurídico de la jubilación parcial y del contrato de relevo.Respecto de dichas instituciones, en este trabajo se discuten sus distintas finalidades, incidiendo en su viabilidad y utilidad como fórmula adecuada al fin de transmitir bidireccionalmente las…
Promotion of polygeneration for buildings applications through sector- and user-oriented “high efficiency CHP” eligibility criteria
2014
Abstract The eligibility criteria adopted to assess polygeneration plants as “highly efficient” can play a determinant role in favouring or discouraging the market growth of polygeneration systems, especially for buildings applications where economic viability is often more difficult to achieve. Based on the current European framework, in this paper the opportunity to adopt sector- and user-oriented criteria is discussed. After having identified three buildings with different uses (a large hotel, a hospital and an office building), the optimal lay-out and operation strategy of a polygeneration plant serving each building is determined; then, ex-post processing of economic and energetic resu…
Clinical and financial analysis of an acute palliative care unit in an oncological department
2008
The aim of this article is to describe the clinical activity and medical intervention of an acute model of palliative care unit (APC), as well as the reimbursement procedures and economic viability. A sample of 504 patients admitted at an APC in 1 year was surveyed. Indications for admission, pain and symptom intensity, analgesic treatments, procedures, instrumental examinations and modalities of discharge were recorded. For each patient, tariff for reimbursement was calculated according to the existent disease related grouping (DRG) system. The mean age was 62 years, and 246 patients were males. The mean hospital stay was 5.4 days. Pain control was the most frequent indication for admissi…
Museums as participants in the market game: The political and economic context of the functioning of the museums
2017
Under the influence of contemporary social and political changes, which have resulted in, inter alia, changes in the structure of museum audiences and their expectations, museums have had to implement new practices and tools which were previously not present in their fields of interest. these processes changed the definition of the mission of a contemporary museum and the way of ommunicating with participants of culture. today a museum, like every other institution on the entertainment and leisure market, has to attract recipients of its offer. Museums thus engage in ever more close relationships with the field of economy. Moreover, the model of public financing of culture subjects the acti…
Agronomic performance and energetic potential of two Brassica oilseed species in Sicily, Italy
2018
Industrial crops for energy purposes are object of increasing interest worldwide and play an important role as a source of renewable energy. The aims of this study were to evaluate: i) the agronomic performance of Brassica napus L. var. oleifera D.C. and Brassica carinata A. Braun in a semi-arid environment; ii) to evaluate the economic viability of a pilot combined heat and power (CHP) plant operating on pure vegetable oil (PVO). The research was carried out in Sicily (Italy). The main biometric and yield parameters of the two species were determined. Chemical-physical characterizations were carried out on PVO for each species using specific protocols. The cogeneration of renewable energy …
The Credit Cooperative System in Spain
2016
Like other European countries, Spain has a long tradition of cooperative banks. Although some credit unions existed previously, essentially they date from the early twentieth century, originating as institutions founded by medium and small-sized farmers to improve their access to banking services. However, they occupied a marginal position in the financial system until the legislative reforms of the 1970s. During the two last decades of the twentieth century, Spanish cooperative banks suffered a deep crisis, two changes in their organizational model and the shock of transformation and innovation in the financial system. Currently, the sector is made up of 65 small institutions with a relati…
Patient Segmentation Based on Patient Loyalty
2018
The present study aims to perform a segmentation of patients based on their loyalty behaviour. The analysis focuses on Valencia, a region in Spain that features a capitated financing and free-elective framework; such a framework is particularly suitable for this type of study because patient loyalty directly affects the system’s budget and economic viability. Using secondary data from the regional health council, the study focuses on relationships of influence and latent segmentation in answering seven research questions. The two-pronged statistical analysis is designed to analyse relationships of influence, on the one hand, and latent segmentation, on the other. Significant differences we…