Search results for "Profit"

Cold recovery during regasification of LNG part two: applications in an Agro Food Industry and a Hypermarket

2011

Abstract The paper deals with the cold energy available during LNG regasification, which can be recovered and utilized both inside the LNG regasification area and at a distance, such as in deep freezing agro food industry facilities and for space conditioning in the commercial and residential sector (e.g. Supermarkets and Hypermarkets). The feasibility study of this kind of application has been carried out at DREAM, Palermo University, within the framework of a research program. The results of a feasibility study of the kind of venture proposed, starting from its conceptual design and with a thorough thermodynamic and economic analysis, demonstrated the suitability and the profitability of …

Dalla responsabilità alla corresponsabilizzazione nella comunicazione aziendale del terzo settore

2007

Offshore wind turbine operations and maintenance: A state-of-the-art review

2021

Abstract Operations and maintenance of offshore wind turbines (OWTs) play an important role in the development of offshore wind farms. Compared with operations, maintenance is a critical element in the levelized cost of energy, given the practical constraints imposed by offshore operations and the relatively high costs. The effects of maintenance on the life cycle of an offshore wind farm are highly complex and uncertain. The selection of maintenance strategies influences the overall efficiency, profit margin, safety, and sustainability of offshore wind farms. For an offshore wind project, after a maintenance strategy is selected, schedule planning will be considered, which is an optimizati…

Challenges of Interdisciplinary University Programs of Studies: The Case of English in Public Communication

2017

The aim of this study is to track students’ self-assessed successes and failures after taking courses in English in Public Communication (EPC) at the University of Opole. This interdisciplinary BA program combines philological, sociological and public communication courses. Using the data from 204 surveys, the study compares the calculated mean scores for the achievement of “new knowledge,” “new skills” and “new social competences” within two groups of subjects: core curriculum courses and practical English courses as declared by the first- and second-year students of EPC. Results show that there are clearer self-recognized knowledge gains, but consistently lower degrees of confidence when …

Marginal contribution, reciprocity and equity in segregated groups: Bounded rationality and selforganization in social networks

2007

We study the formation of social networks that are based on local interaction and simple rule following. Agents evaluate the profitability of link formation on the basis of the Myerson-Shapley principle that payoffs come from the marginal contribution they make to coalitions. The NP-hard problem associated with the Myerson-Shapley value is replaced by a boundedly rational 'spatially' myopic process. Agents consider payoffs from direct links with their neighbours (level 1), which can include indirect payoffs from neighbours' neighbours (level 2) and up to M-levels that are far from global. Agents dynamically break away from the neighbour to whom they make the least marginal contribution. Com…

Mapping Economic Activity in the European Union: Do Ownership, Industry and Location Matter?

2020

The paper proposes a new method for analysing the structure and dynamics of economic activity undertaken by locally owned and foreign-owned companies within the European Union. We employ an unsupervised learning algorithm that generates a neural network depicted on Kohonen maps and offering a clustering of companies with a different ownership (local and foreign) from various industries and countries of the European Union during 2009–2016. The research methodology, based on a self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm, belongs to a class of neural networks trained to organize data so that unknown patterns may be discovered, thus leading to results that cannot be attained by more traditional cluster…

Understanding the Key Factors of Shared Mobility Services: Palermo as a Case Study

2020

The potential success of shared mobility services in the urban area strongly depends on careful tariff planning, adequate sizing of the fleet and efficient integrated public transport system, as well as on the application of policies in favor of sustainable modes of transport. The balance between earnings and expenses is not always an easy target for the companies in those cities where these services are not well-rooted in the citizens’ mobility habits. Often only large operators in the sector can continue to offer a service generating profit. However, several factors can determine the success or the failure of shared mobility services. The objective of this study is to identify, thanks to …

Vertical integration and exclusivities in maritime freight transport

2011

A key recent theme in maritime freight transport is the involvement of shipping lines in terminal management. Such investments are costly but allow liners to provide better service. Most of these new terminals are dedicated terminals but some are non-exclusive and let rivals access them for a fee. In this paper, we show that a shipping line that builds its own terminal finds it strategically profitable (i) to continue routing part of its cargo through the open port facilities, and (ii) to keep its terminal non-exclusive. In this way, the liner investor pushes part of the rival's freight from the open to the new terminal. Besides, under non-exclusivities, the shipping lines offer a wider var…

Service Shutdowns and Compensation: Cash Refunds or Vouchers?

2021

Government mandated shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a vast number of service cancellations and a heated debate on compensation policies. Service providers pushed for vouchers as a means of compensation, whereas customers demand cash refunds or generous vouchers that compensate for postponed service. Regulators, at the same time, insist that customers must be granted the right to be reimbursed in money. To address the debate, this paper develops an analytical framework to study the profitability and efficiency of different compensation policies following shutdown. Surprisingly, we find that the voucher-only policy dominates the hybrid policy that offers customers t…

Vehicle scheduling for rental-with-driver services

2021

Abstract In this paper, we introduce a new vehicle scheduling problem (VSP) with driver consistency faced by rental-with-driver companies. A weekly time-horizon is considered and a set of potential customers, each one associated with a list of required tasks, is assumed. The company can choose to accept or reject a customer, but if accepted, all required tasks must be performed by the same driver. A profit is associated with each customer. The goal is to maximize the company’s total profit, by respecting a list of daily and the weekly drivers’ workload limitations imposed by drivers’ contracts. We propose a mathematical formulation of the problem and design an exact solution method based on…