Search results for: stock repurchase

Authors: Marc Sader, Michiel Stock, Bernard De Baets

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Considering a large amount of adsorption data of adsorbate gases on adsorbent materials in literature, it is interesting to predict such adsorption data without experimentation. A quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) is developed to correlate molecular characteristics of gases and existing knowledge of materials with their respective adsorption properties. The application of Random Forest, a machine learning method, on a set of adsorption isotherms at a wide range of partial pressures and concentrations is studied. The predicted adsorption isotherms are fitted to several adsorption equations to estimate the adsorption properties. To impute the adsorption properties of desired gases on desired materials, leave-one-out cross-validation is employed. Extensive experimental results for a range of settings are reported.

Keywords: adsorption, predictive modeling, QSAR, random forest

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Authors: Bouwer Kleynhans

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The built environment is responsible for about 40% of the world’s energy consumption and generates one third of global carbon dioxide emissions. The Green Building Council of South Africa’s (GBCSA) current rating tools are all for new buildings. By far the largest portion of buildings exist stock and therefore the need to develop a certification tool for existing buildings. Direct energy measurement comprises 27% of the total available points in this tool. The aim of this paper is to describe the development process of a green star certification tool for existing buildings in South Africa with specific emphasis on the energy measurement criteria. Successful implementation of this tool within the property market will ensure a reduced carbon footprint of buildings.

Keywords: certification tool, development process, energy consumption, green buildings

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Authors: Ernest Nweke, Enkhtuya Bavuudorj

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The harsh realities of the scandalous failure of several notable corporations in the past two decades have inextricably resulted in a surge in corporate governance studies. Nevertheless, little or no attention has been paid to corporate governance studies in Mongolian firms and much less to the comprehension of the correlation among ownership structure, corporate governance mechanisms and trend of innovative activities. Innovation is the bed rock of enterprise success. However, the funding and support for innovative activities in many firms are to a great extent determined by the incentives provided by the firm’s internal and external governance mechanisms. Mongolia is an East Asian country currently undergoing a fast-paced transition from socialist to democratic system and it is a widely held view that private ownership as against public ownership fosters innovation. Hence, following the privatization policy of Mongolian Government which has led to the transfer of the ownership of hitherto state controlled and state directed firms to private individuals and organizations, expectations are high that sufficient motivation would be provided for firm managers to engage in innovative activities. This research focuses on the relationship between ownership structure, corporate governance on one hand and the level of innovation on the hand. The paper is empirical in nature and derives data from both reliable secondary and primary sources. Secondary data for the study was in respect of ownership structure of Mongolian listed firms and innovation trend in Mongolia generally. These were analyzed using tables, charts, bars and percentages. Personal interviews and surveys were held to collect primary data. Primary data was in respect of corporate governance practices in Mongolian firms and were collected using structured questionnaire. Out of a population of three hundred and twenty (320) companies listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE), a sample size of thirty (30) randomly selected companies was utilized for the study. Five (5) management level employees were surveyed in each selected firm giving a total of one hundred and fifty (150) respondents. Data collected were analyzed and research hypotheses tested using Chi-Square test statistic. Research results showed that corporate governance mechanisms were better and have significantly improved overtime in privately held as opposed to publicly owned firms. Consequently, the levels of innovation in privately held firms were considerably higher. It was concluded that a significant and positive relationship exists between private ownership and good corporate governance on one hand and the level of funding provided for innovative activities in Mongolian firms on the other hand.

Keywords: corporate governance, innovation, ownership structure, stock exchange

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Authors: Guillaume Craveur

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The evaluation of the passenger exchange time is necessary for railway operators in order to optimize and dimension rail traffic. Several influential parameters are identified and studied. Each parameter leads to a modeling completed with the buildingEXODUS software. The objective is the modelling of passenger exchanges measured by passenger counting. Population size is dimensioned using passenger counting files which are a report of the train service and contain following useful informations: number of passengers who get on and leave the train, exchange time. These information are collected by sensors placed at the top of each train door. With passenger counting files it is possible to know how many people are engaged in the exchange and how long is the exchange, but it is not possible to know passenger flow of the door. All the information about observed exchanges are thus not available. For this reason and in order to minimize inaccuracies, only short exchanges (less than 30 seconds) with a maximum of people are performed.

Keywords: passengers exchange, numerical tools, rolling stock, platforms

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Authors: Bita Mashayekhi, Zeynab Lotfi Aghel

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The determinants of Earnings Response Coefficient (ERC), including firm size, earnings growth, and earnings persistence are studied in this research. These determinants are supposed to be moderator variables that affect ERC and Return Response Coefficient. The research sample contains 82 Iranian listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) from 2001 to 2012. Gathered data have been processed by EVIEWS Software. Results show a significant positive relation between firm size and ERC, and also between earnings growth and ERC; however, there is no significant relation between earnings persistence and ERC. Also, the results show that ERC will be increased by firm size and earnings growth, but there is no relation between earnings persistence and ERC.

Keywords: earnings response coefficient (ERC), return response coefficient (RRC), firm size, earnings growth, earnings persistence

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Authors: Yan Wang, Yuan George Shan

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This study examines whether earnings management reduces firm performance and how other comprehensive income (OCI) disclosure and strong corporate governance restrain earnings management. Using a data set comprising 6,260 firm-year observations from listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges during 2009–2015, the results indicate that OCI disclosure generally improves firm performance, but earnings management lowers firm performance. The study also finds that OCI disclosure and corporate governance are complementary in restraining earnings manipulation and promote firm performance. The implications of the findings are relevant policy-makers and regulators in assisting them evaluate the consequences of convergence of Chinese Accounting Standards with the International Financial Reporting Standards.

Keywords: other comprehensive income, corporate governance, earnings management, firm performance, China

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Authors: Febrina Natalia, Noriyuki Tanaka, Mitsuru Osaki

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Sustainability Index for REDD-plus implementation was constructed to evaluate the sustainability of different communities in 5 villages (Taruna Jaya, Tumbang Nusa, Marang, Terantang, and Seragam Jaya) in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia based on the main objectives of REDD-plus project (reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation, increasing carbon stock, preserving biodiversity and sustaining forest management). This index was separately composed of 3 different components; (1) ecology, (2) economy, and (3) society. The index of sustainability was determined into four categories; 3,3-4,0 (excellent), 2,5-3,2 (good), 1,8-2,4 (fair), and 1,0-1,7 (poor). Overall, this technique aims to assist all stakeholders and local government in particular in providing information of villages’ sustainability index before implementing REDD-plus project that the assistance and benefits given to villages will be beneficial, effective and efficient.

Keywords: central kalimantan, Indonesia, REDD-plus, sustainability index

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Authors: Mohammad Aldubyan, Fateh Belaid, Anwar Gasim

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This paper aims at linking to link residential energy efficiency to the rebound effect concept, a well-known behavioral phenomenon in which service consumption increases when consumers notice a reduction in monetary spending on energy due to improvements in energy efficiency. It provides insights on into how and why the rebound effect happens when energy efficiency improves and whether this phenomenon is positive or negative. It also shows one technique to estimate the rebound effect on the national residential level. The paper starts with a bird’s eye view of the rebound effect and then dives in in-depth into measuring the rebound effect and evaluating its impact. Finally, the paper estimates the rebound effect in the Saudi residential sector through by linking pre-estimated price elasticities of demand to the Saudi residential building stock.

Keywords: energy efficiency, rebound effect, energy consumption, residential electricity demand

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Authors: U. F. Mammadova

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Natural resources is the main self-supplying way which is being studied in the paper. Ecologically clean and independent clean energy stock is wind one. This potential is first studied by applying remote sensing way. In any coordinate of the district, wind energy potential has been determined by measuring the potential by applying radar technique which gives a possibility to reveal 2 D view. At several heights, including 10,50,100,150,200 ms, the measurements have been realized. The achievable power generation for m2 in the district was calculated. Daily, hourly, and monthly wind energy potential data were graphed and schemed in the paper. The energy, environmental, and economic advantages of wind energy for the Agsu district were investigated by analyzing radar spectral measurements after the remote sensing process.

Keywords: wind potential, spectral radar analysis, ecological clean energy, ecological safety

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Authors: Ali Moarrefzadeh

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In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through a pair of rolls. Rolling is classified according to the temperature of the metal rolled. If the temperature of the metal is above its recrystallization temperature, then the process is termed as hot rolling. If the temperature of the metal is below its recrystallization temperature, the process is termed as cold rolling. In terms of usage, hot rolling processes more tonnage than any other manufacturing process, and cold rolling processes the most tonnage out of all cold working processes. This article describes the use of advanced tubing inspection NDT methods for boiler and heat exchanger equipment in the petrochemical industry to supplement major turnaround inspections. The methods presented include remote field eddy current, magnetic flux leakage, internal rotary inspection system and eddy current.

Keywords: hot forming, cold forming, metal, rolling, simulation

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Authors: Ishmael Tingbani

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This paper adopts a contingency theory approach to investigate the relationship between working capital management and profitability using data of 225 listed British firms on the London Stock Exchange for the period 2001-2011. The paper employs a panel data analysis on a series of interactive models to estimate this relationship. The findings of the study confirm the relevance of the contingency theory. Evidence from the study suggests that the impact of working capital management on profitability varies and is constrained by organizational contingencies (environment, resources, and management factors) of the firm. These findings have implications for a more balanced and nuanced view of working capital management policy for policy-makers.

Keywords: working capital management, profitability, contingency theory approach, interactive models

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Authors: Silvia Di Turi, Nicolandrea Calabrese, Francesca Caffari, Giulia Centi, Francesca Margiotta, Giovanni Murano, Laura Ronchetti, Paolo Signoretti, Lisa Volpe, Domenico Palladino

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Recent European policies have been set ambitious targets aimed at significantly reducing CO2 emissions by 2030, with a long-term vision of transforming existing buildings into Zero-Emissions Buildings (ZEmB) by 2050. This vision represents a key point for the energy transition as the whole building stock currently accounts for 36% of total energy consumption across the Europe, mainly due to their poor energy performance. The challenge towards Zero-Emissions Buildings is particularly felt in Italy, where a significant number of buildings with historical significance or situated within protected/constrained areas can be found. Furthermore, an estimated 70% of the national building stock are built before 1976, indicating a widespread issue of poor energy performance. Addressing the energy ineƯiciency of these buildings is crucial to refining a comprehensive energy renovation approach aimed at facilitating their energy transition. In this framework the current study focuses on analysing a challenging complex of buildings to be totally restored through significant energy renovation interventions. The goal is to recover these disused buildings situated in a significant archaeological zone of Rome, contributing to the restoration and reintegration of this historically valuable site, while also oƯering insights useful for achieving zeroemission requirements for buildings within such contexts. In pursuit of meeting the stringent zero-emission requirements, a comprehensive study was carried out to assess the complex of buildings, envisioning substantial renovation measures on building envelope and plant systems and incorporating renewable energy system solutions, always respecting and preserving the historic site. An energy audit of the complex of buildings was performed to define the actual energy consumption for each energy service by adopting the hourly calculation methods. Subsequently, significant energy renovation interventions on both building envelope and mechanical systems have been examined respecting the historical value and preservation of site. These retrofit strategies have been investigated with threefold aims: 1) to recover the existing buildings ensuring the energy eƯiciency of the whole complex of buildings, 2) to explore which solutions have allowed achieving and facilitating the ZEmB status, 3) to balance the energy transition requirements with the sustainable aspect in order to preserve the historic value of the buildings and site. This study has pointed out the potentiality and the technical challenges associated with implementing renovation solutions for such buildings, representing one of the first attempt towards realizing this ambitious target for this type of building.

Keywords: energy conservation and transition, complex of buildings in historic site, zero-emission buildings, energy efficiency recovery

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Authors: Nada Souissi, Mourad Mroua

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The main purpose of this study is to examine the interaction between financial asset volatility, economic factors and investor's behavioral indicators related to both the company's and the markets stocks for the period from January 2000 to January2020. Using multiple linear regression and Bayesian Networks modeling, results show a positive and negative relationship between investor's psychology index, economic factors and predicted stock market return. We reveal that the application of the Bayesian Discrete Network contributes to identify the different cause and effect relationships between all economic, financial variables and psychology index.

Keywords: Financial asset return predictability, Economic factors, Investor's psychology index, Bayesian approach, Probabilistic networks, Parametric learning

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Authors: Muhammad Akhtaruzzaman

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The impact of corporate environmental social and governance (ESG) on financial performance is often difficult to quantify despite the ESG related theories predict that ESG performance improves financial performance of a company. This research examines the link between corporate ESG performance and the financial performance of the NZX (New Zealand Stock Exchange) listed companies. For this purpose, this research utilizes mixed methods approaches to examine and understand this link. While quantitative results found no robust evidence of such a link, however, the qualitative analysis of content data suggests a strong cooccurrence exists between ESG performance and financial performance. The findings of this research have important implications for policymakers to support higher ESG-performing companies and for management practitioners to develop ESG-related strategies.

Keywords: ESG, financial performance, New Zealand firms, thematic analysis, mixed methods

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Authors: Hassan Medaghri Alaoui

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The accounting and financial reporting system in use today is over 500 years old and has failed to capture the new knowledge and innovation economy in which intangible assets are becoming increasingly valuable. Yet, there has been a growing acknowledgment among the research community as to the relevance of intellectual capital as a major enhancer of an organization’s well-being. Much of the research provides great support for how the IC is instrumental in determining financial and stock performances. As far as we know, this article is one of the earliest exploratory attempts to examine the intellectual capital impact on the corporate performance of the IT sector in Morocco. The purpose of this study is to verify empirically the influence of intellectual capital on firm performance. We have undertaken, over a fifteen-year period, a longitudinal (2005–2019) case study of a prominent payment-solutions company based in a developing economy with global operations.

Keywords: intellectual capital, IT sector, measuring intellectual capital, modified value added intellectual capital coefficient, Morocco

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Authors: Murat Sarı, Emin Gundogar, Mumtaz Ipek

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Nowadays, in a furniture sector, competition of market share (portion) and production variety and changeability enforce the firm to reengineer operations on manufacturing line to increase the productivity. In this study, spring mattress manufacturing line of the furniture manufacturing firm is analyzed analytically. It’s intended to search and find the bottlenecks of production to balance the semi-finished material flow. There are four base points required to investigate in bottleneck elimination process. These are bottlenecks of Method, Material, Machine and Man (work force) resources, respectively. Mentioned bottlenecks are investigated and varied scenarios are created for recruitment of manufacturing system. Probable near optimal alternatives are determined by system models built in Arena simulation software.

Keywords: bottleneck search, buffer stock, furniture sector, simulation

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Authors: Tomotaka Yanagida

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The Corporate Governance Code, revised in 2015, requires firms listed within the first and second sections of Japan’s Tokyo stock exchange to select two or more independent outside directors (the Corporate Governance Code4-8). Therefore, Japanese listed firms must do this or explain the reason why they are not able to do so. This study investigates how the Corporate Governance Code affects Japanese listed firms. We find that the Corporate Governance Code increases the ratio of outside directors by nearly 8.8% for a sample of Japanese firms comprising nearly 4,200 firm-year observations from 2014 to 2015 using a difference-in-differences approach. This implies that they felt it would have been difficult to explain why it was not appropriate to have an outside director at the annual shareholders' meeting. Moreover, this suggests that they appoint outside directors as defined by the Corporate Governance Code, but maintain board size. This situation shows that compliance in Japan may simply be 'window dressing,' that is, more form than substance.

Keywords: board structure, comply or explain, corporate governance code, soft law

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Authors: Flavio Araujo, Julio Lima, Paulo Scalize, Antonio Albuquerque

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Water treatment residues (WTR) are produced during water treatment and have recently been seen as a reusable material. The aim of this research was to perform characterizations of the residue generated in the Meia-Ponte Water Treatment Plant, in Goiania, Brazil, seeking to obtain normative parameters and consider sustainable alternatives for reincorporation of the residues in the productive chain for manufacturing various materials construction. In order to reduce the environmental liabilities generated by sanitation companies and discontinue unsustainable forms of disposal. The analyzes performed: Granulometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and X-Ray Diffraction demonstrated the potential application of residues to replace the soil and sand, because it has characteristics compatible with small aggregate and can be used as feed stock for the manufacture of materials as ceramic and soil-cement bricks, mortars, interlocking floors and concrete artifacts.

Keywords: residue, sustainable, water treatment plants, WTR

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Authors: Diego Saldo Alves, Marcelo Paveck Ayub

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The quality of accounting information is very important for the decision-making of managers, investors government and other information users. The opinion of the independent audit has a significant influence on the decision-making, especially the investors. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the reasons that companies listed on Brazilian Stock Exchange B3, if they received qualified opinion and disclaimer of opinion of the independent auditors. We analyzed the reports of the independent auditors of 23 Brazilian companies listed in B3 that received qualified opinion and disclaimer of opinion between the years 2012 and 2017. The findings show that the companies do not comply the International Financial Reporting Standard, IFRS, also they did not provide documentation to prove the operations performed, did not account expenses, problems in corporate governance and internal controls.

Keywords: audit, disclaimer of opinion, independent auditors, qualified opinion

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Authors: Jovana Dj. Jovanovic, Svetlana M. Stevovic

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The highest priority of so called, projected passive houses is to meet the appropriate energy demand. Every single material and layer which is injected into a dwelling has a certain energy quantity stored. The passive houses include optimized insulation levels with minimal thermal bridges, minimum of air leakage through the building, utilization of passive solar and internal gains, and good circulation of air which leans on mechanical ventilation system. The focus of this paper is on passive house features, benefits and targets, their feasibility and energy demands which are set up during each project. Numerous passive house-standards outline the very significant role of zero-energy dwellings towards the modern label of sustainable development. It is clear that the performance of both built and existing housing stock must be addressed if the population across the world sets out the energy objectives. This scientific article examines passive house features since the many passive house cases are launched.

Keywords: benefits, energy demands, passive houses, sustainable development

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Authors: Meltem Gurunlu

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One of the central problems in corporate finance is the allocation of funds. This usually takes two forms: allocation of funds across firms in an economy or allocation of funds across projects or business units within a firm. The first one is typically related to the external markets (the bond market, the stock market, banks and finance companies) whereas the second form of the capital allocation is related to the internal capital markets in which corporate headquarters allocate capital to their business units. (within-group transfers, within-group credit markets, and within-group equity market). The main aim of this study is to investigate the nature of capital allocation dynamics by comparing the relevant studies carried out on external and internal capital markets with paying special significance to the business groups.

Keywords: internal capital markets, external capital markets, capital structure, capital allocation, business groups, corporate finance

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Authors: Ene Rosemary Ndidiamaka, Nwangwu Florence Chinyere

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The physiochemical properties of the melon seed oil was studied to determine its potentials as viable feed stock for biodisel production. The melon seed was extracted by solvent extraction using n-hexane as the extracting solvent. In this research, methanol was the alcohol used in the production of biodiesel, although alcohols like ethanol, propanol may also be used. Sodium hydroxide was employed for the catalysis. The melon seed oil was characterized for specific gravity, pH, ash content, iodine value, acid value, saponification value, peroxide value, free fatty acid value, flash point, viscosity, and refractive index using standard methods. The melon seed oil had very high oil content. Specific gravity and flash point of the oil is satisfactory. However, moisture content of the oil exceeded the stipulated ASRTM standard for biodiesel production. The overall results indicates that the melon seed oil is suitable for single-stage transesterification process to biodiesel production.

Keywords: biodiesel, catalyst, melon seed, transesterification

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Authors: D. Cardone

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Past earthquakes have shown that seismic events may incur large economic losses in buildings. FEMA P-58 provides engineers a practical tool for the performance seismic assessment of buildings. In this study, FEMA P-58 is applied to two typical Italian pre-1970 reinforced concrete frame buildings, characterized by plain rebars as steel reinforcement and masonry infills and partitions. Given that suitable tools for these buildings are missing in FEMA P- 58, specific fragility curves and loss functions are first developed. Next, building performance is evaluated following a time-based assessment approach. Finally, expected annual losses for the selected buildings are derived and compared with past applications to old RC frame buildings representative of the US building stock. 

Keywords: FEMA P-58, RC frame buildings, plain rebars, Masonry infills, fragility functions, loss functions, expected annual loss

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Authors: Yuzhi Cai

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In this paper, we introduce a newly developed quantile function model that can be used for estimating conditional distributions of financial returns and for obtaining multi-step ahead out-of-sample predictive distributions of financial returns. Since we forecast the whole conditional distributions, any predictive quantity of interest about the future financial returns can be obtained simply as a by-product of the method. We also show an application of the model to the daily closing prices of Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) series over the period from 2 January 2004 - 8 October 2010. We obtained the predictive distributions up to 15 days ahead for the DJIA returns, which were further compared with the actually observed returns and those predicted from an AR-GARCH model. The results show that the new model can capture the main features of financial returns and provide a better fitted model together with improved mean forecasts compared with conventional methods. We hope this talk will help audience to see that this new model has the potential to be very useful in practice.

Keywords: DJIA, financial returns, predictive distribution, quantile function model

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Authors: Osamah A. Alsayegh

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This paper contributes to the literature by updating the analysis of the impact of the recent oil prices fall on the renewable energy (RE) industry and deployment. The research analysis uses the Renewable Energy Industrial Index (RENIXX), which tracks the world’s 30 largest publicly traded companies and oil prices daily data from January 2003 to March 2016. RENIXX represents RE industries developing solar, wind, geothermal, bioenergy, hydropower and fuel cells technologies. This paper tests the hypothesis that claims high oil prices encourage the substitution of alternate energy sources for conventional energy sources. Furthermore, it discusses RENIXX performance behavior with respect to the governments’ policies factor that investors should take into account. Moreover, the paper proposes a theoretical model that relates RE industry progress with oil prices and policies through the fuzzy logic system.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, investment, policy, stock exchange index

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Authors: Shayma Mohammed, Adel Trabelsi

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Radiopharmacy is the art of preparing high-quality, radioactive, medicinal products for use in diagnosis and therapy. Radiopharmaceuticals unlike normal medicines, this dual aspect (radioactive, medical) makes their management highly critical. One of the most convincing applications of modern technologies is the ability to delegate the execution of repetitive tasks to programming scripts. Automation has found its way to the most skilled jobs, to improve the company's overall performance by allowing human workers to focus on more important tasks than document filling. This project aims to contribute to implement a comprehensive system to insure rigorous management of radiopharmaceuticals through the use of a platform that links the Nuclear Medicine Service Management System to the Nuclear Radio-pharmacy Management System in accordance with the recommendations of World Health Organization (WHO) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In this project we attempt to build a web application that targets radiopharmacies, the platform is built atop the inherently compatible web stack which allows it to work in virtually any environment. Different technologies are used in this project (PHP, Symfony, MySQL Workbench, Bootstrap, Angular 7, Visual Studio Code and TypeScript). The operating principle of the platform is mainly based on two parts: Radiopharmaceutical Backoffice for the Radiopharmacian, who is responsible for the realization of radiopharmaceutical preparations and their delivery and Medical Backoffice for the Doctor, who holds the authorization for the possession and use of radionuclides and he/she is responsible for ordering radioactive products. The application consists of sven modules: Production, Quality Control/Quality Assurance, Release, General Management, References, Transport and Stock Management. It allows 8 classes of users: The Production Manager (PM), Quality Control Manager (QCM), Stock Manager (SM), General Manager (GM), Client (Doctor), Parking and Transport Manager (PTM), Qualified Person (QP) and Technical and Production Staff. Digital platform bringing together all players involved in the use of radiopharmaceuticals and integrating the stages of preparation, production and distribution, Web technologies, in particular, promise to offer all the benefits of automation while requiring no more than a web browser to act as a user client, which is a strength because the web stack is by nature multi-platform. This platform will provide a traceability system for radiopharmaceuticals products to ensure the safety and radioprotection of actors and of patients. The new integrated platform is an alternative to write all the boilerplate paperwork manually, which is a tedious and error-prone task. It would minimize manual human manipulation, which has proven to be the main source of error in nuclear medicine. A codified electronic transfer of information from radiopharmaceutical preparation to delivery will further reduce the risk of maladministration.

Keywords: automated system, management, radiopharmacy, technical papers

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Authors: Rachid Benmoussa, Fatima Ezzahra Essaber, Roland De Guio, Fatima Zahra Ben Moussa

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Implementing green practices in supply chain management is a complex task mainly because ecological, economical and operational goals are usually in conflict. Green practices might thus face companies’ reluctance because managers can consider its implementation obviously as a performance lean degradation. To implement lean and green practices successfully, companies need relevant decision-making tools to highlight the correlation between them. To contribute to this issue, this work tries to answer the following research question: How to use simulation to assess correlation (antagonism or convergence) between lean and green goals? To answer this question, we propose in this paper a based simulation process that measures correlation generally between two variables. So as to prove its relevance, a logistics academic case study is used to illustrate all its stages. It shows, as for example, that Lean goal 'Stock' and Green goal 'CO₂ emission' are not conceptually correlated (linearly).

Keywords: simulation, lean, green, supply chain

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Authors: Uzoma Emmanuel Igboji

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The study investigates the effects of cash flow position on corporate performance in the manufacturing sector of Nigeria, using multiple regression techniques. The study involved a survey of five (5) manufacturing companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The data were obtained from the annual reports of the selected companies under study. The result shows that operating and financing cash flow have a significant positive relationship with corporate performance, while investing cash flow position have a significant negative relationship. The researcher recommended that the regulatory authorities should encourage external auditors of these quoted companies to use cash flow ratios in evaluating the performance of a company before expressing an independent opinion on the financial statement. The will give detailed financial information to existing and potential investors to make informed economic decisions.

Keywords: cash flow, financing, performance, operating

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Authors: Mazarine Roquet, Pierre Dewallef

Abstract:

The building sector, both residential and tertiary, accounts for a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions. In Belgium, partly due to poor insulation of the building stock, but certainly because of the massive use of fossil fuels for heating buildings, this share reaches almost 30%. To reduce carbon emissions from urban building heating, district heating networks emerge as a promising solution as they offer various assets such as improving the load factor, integrating combined heat and power systems, and enabling energy source diversification, including renewable sources and waste heat recovery. However, mainly for sake of simple operation, most existing district heating networks still operate at high or medium temperatures ranging between 120°C and 60°C (the socalled second and third-generations district heating networks). Although these district heating networks offer energy savings in comparison with individual boilers, such temperature levels generally require the use of fossil fuels (mainly natural gas) with combined heat and power. The fourth-generation district heating networks improve the transport and energy conversion efficiency by decreasing the operating temperature between 50°C and 30°C. Yet, to decarbonise the building heating one must increase the waste heat recovery and use mainly wind, solar or geothermal sources for the remaining heat supply. Fifth-generation networks operating between 35°C and 15°C offer the possibility to decrease even more the transport losses, to increase the share of waste heat recovery and to use electricity from renewable resources through the use of heat pumps to generate low temperature heat. The main objective of this contribution is to exhibit on a real-life test case the benefits of replacing an existing third-generation network by a fifth-generation one and to decarbonise the heat supply of the building stock. The second objective of the study is to highlight the difficulties resulting from the use of a fifth-generation, low-temperature, district heating network. To do so, a simulation model of the district heating network including its regulation is implemented in the modelling language Modelica. This model is applied to the test case of the heating network on the University of Liège's Sart Tilman campus, consisting of around sixty buildings. This model is validated with monitoring data and then adapted for low-temperature networks. A comparison of primary energy consumptions as well as CO2 emissions is done between the two cases to underline the benefits in term of energy independency and GHG emissions. To highlight the complexity of operating a lowtemperature network, the difficulty of adapting the mass flow rate to the heat demand is considered. This shows the difficult balance between the thermal comfort and the electrical consumption of the circulation pumps. Several control strategies are considered and compared to the global energy savings. The developed model can be used to assess the potential for energy and CO2 emissions savings retrofitting an existing network or when designing a new one.

Keywords: building simulation, fifth-generation district heating network, low-temperature district heating network, urban building heating

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Authors: Mehmet Ali Topçu, Aydın Ruşen

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Çinkur is the only plant in Turkey that produces zinc from primary ore containing zinc carbonate from its establishment until 1997. After this year, zinc concentrate coming from Iran was used in this plant. Therefore, there are two different leach residues namely Turkish leach residue (TLR) and Iranian leach residue (ILR), in Çinkur stock piles. This paper describes zinc recovery by sulphuric acid (H2SO4) treatment for each leach residue and includes comparison of blended of TLR and ILR. Before leach experiments; chemical, mineralogical and thermal analysis of three different leach residues was carried out by using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and differential thermal analysis (DTA), respectively. Leaching experiments were conducted at optimum conditions; 100 oC, 150 g/L H2SO4 and 2 hours. In the experiments, stirring rate was kept constant at 600 r/min which ensures complete mixing in leaching solution. Results show that zinc recovery for Iranian LR was higher than Turkish LR due to having different chemical composition from each other.

Keywords: hydrometallurgy, leaching, metal extraction, metal recovery

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