Search results for: historic investment

Authors: Eduardo C. Guardia, Jose W. M. Lima, Afonso H. M. Santos

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This paper presents a nonparametric method to obtain the hazard rate “Bathtub curve” for power system components. The model is a mixture of the three known phases of a component life, the decreasing failure rate (DFR), the constant failure rate (CFR) and the increasing failure rate (IFR) represented by three parametric Weibull models. The parameters are obtained from a simultaneous fitting process of the model to the Kernel nonparametric hazard rate curve. From the Weibull parameters and failure rate curves the useful lifetime and the characteristic lifetime were defined. To demonstrate the model the historic time-to-failure of distribution transformers were used as an example. The resulted “Bathtub curve” shows the failure rate for the equipment lifetime which can be applied in economic and replacement decision models.

Keywords: bathtub curve, failure analysis, lifetime estimation, parameter estimation, Weibull distribution

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Authors: Ana Pego

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Environmental technologies were developed for decades. Clean technologies emerged a few years ago. In these perspectives, the use of cleantech technologies has become very important due the fact of new era of environmental feats. As such, the market itself has become more competitive, more collaborative towards a better use of clean technologies. This paper shows the importance of clean technologies in offshore energy sector in Portuguese market, its localization and its impact on economy. Clean technologies are directly related with renewable cluster and concomitant with economic and social resource optimization criteria, geographic aspects, climate change and soil features. Cleantech is related with regional development, socio-technical transitions in organisations. There are an economical and social combinations which allow specialisation of regions in activities, higher employment, reduce of energy costs, local knowledge spillover and, business collaboration and competitiveness. The methodology used will be quantitative (IO matrix for Portugal 2013) and qualitative (questionnaires to stakeholders). The mix of both methodologies will confirm whether the use of technologies will allow a positive impact on economic and social variables used on this model. It is expected a positive impact on Portuguese economy both in investment and employment taking in account the localization of offshore renewable activities. This means that the importance of offshore renewable investment in Portugal has a few points which should be pointed out: the increase of specialised employment, localization of specific activities in territory, and increase of value added in certain regions. The conclusion will allow researchers and organisation to compare the Portuguese model to other European regions in order to a better use of natural and human resources.

Keywords: cleantech, economic impact, localisation, territory dynamics

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Authors: Wanlapha Phraibueng, Patrick Sentis, Geraldine Riviere-Giordano

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives have been widely discussed especially in investor-oriented firms. In contrast, cooperatives pay less attention to CSR because their activities have integrated the responsibility and the solidity of social, economic and environment. On the other hand, by adopting ownership theory and agency theory – cooperatives ignore CSR investment due to unclarified decision control in the governance and the limitation to acquire the capital financed. The unique governance and financial structures in cooperatives lead to the conflict among the stakeholders and long-term investment which have an impact on firm financial performance. As an illustration of cooperatives dilemmas, we address the question of Whether or not cooperatives in term of governance and financial structures are the constraints on implementing CSR policies. We find that the governance and financial structures in large cooperatives are the influence factors which predispose cooperatives to invest on CSR. In contrast, in the startup or small cooperatives, its governance and financial structures are the constraints on implementing CSR policies. We propose the alternative financial structure based on the trade-off between debt and equity which aims to relax the restrictions in cooperatives’ governance and allow cooperatives to acquire the capital financed either from its members or non-members. We suggest that engaging equity as a financial structure induces cooperatives to invest on CSR policies. Alternative financial structure eliminates not only cooperative ownership control problem but also the constraints in capital acquisition. By implementing CSR activities consistent with the alternative financial choice, cooperatives can increase firm’s value and reduce the conflict among their stakeholders.

Keywords: cooperatives, corporate social responsibility, financial, governance

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Authors: Somnath Mukhuti, Prem Kumar Ghosh

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Background and significance of the study Indian stock market has undergone sudden changes after the current China crisis in terms of turnover, market capitalization, share prices, etc. The average returns on equity investment in both markets have more than three and half times after global financial crisis owing to the development of industrial activity, corporate sectors development, enhancement in global consumption, change of global financial association and fewer imports from developed countries. But the economic policies of both the economies are far different, that is to say, where Indian economy maintaining a conservative policy, Chinese economy maintaining an aggressive policy. Besides this, Chinese economy recently lowering its currency for increasing mysterious growth but Indian does not. But on August 24, 2015 Indian stock market and world stock markets were fall down due to the reason of Chinese stock market. Keeping in view of the above, this study seeks to examine the influence of Chinese stock on Indian stock market. Methodology This research work is based on daily time series data obtained from yahoo finance database between 2009 (April 1) to 2015 (September 28). This study is based on two important stock markets, that is, Indian stock market (Bombay Stock Exchange) and Chinese stock market (Shanghai Stock Exchange). In the course of analysis, the daily raw data were converted into natural logarithm for minimizing the problem of heteroskedasticity. While tackling the issue, correlation statistics, ADF and PP unit root test, bivariate cointegration test and causality test were used. Major findings Correlation statistics show that both stock markets are associated positively. Both ADF and PP unit root test results demonstrate that the time series data were not normal and were not stationary at level however stationary at 1st difference. The bivariate cointegration test results indicate that the Indian stock market was associated with Chinese stock market in the long-run. The Granger causality test illustrates there was a unidirectional causality between Indian stock market and Chinese stock market. Concluding statement The empirical results recommend that India’s stock market was not very much dependent on Chinese stock market because of Indian economic conservative policies. Nevertheless, Indian stock market might be sturdy if Indian economic policies are changed slightly and if increases the portfolio investment with Chinese economy. Indian economy might be a third largest economy in 2030 if India increases its portfolio investment and trade relations with both Chinese economy and US economy.

Keywords: Indian stock market, China stock market, bivariate cointegration, causality test

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Authors: Pallavi Kishore, Mariam Aslam

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The sharp decline in oil prices that started in 2014 affected most economies in the world either positively or negatively. In some economies, particularly the oil exporting countries, the effects were felt immediately. The Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC henceforth) countries are oil and gas-dependent with the largest oil reserves in the world. UAE (United Arab Emirates) has been striving to diversify away from oil and expects higher non-oil growth in 2018. These two factors, falling oil prices and the economy strategizing away from oil dependence, make a compelling case to study the financial performance of various sectors in the economy. Among other sectors, the insurance sector is widely recognized as an important indicator of the health of the economy. An expanding population, surge in construction and infrastructure, increased life expectancy, greater expenditure on automobiles and other luxury goods translate to a booming insurance sector. A slow-down of the insurance sector, on the other hand, may indicate a general slow-down in the economy. Therefore, a study on the insurance sector will help understand the general nature of the current economy. This study involves calculations and comparisons of ratios pre and post the fall in oil prices in the insurance sector in the UAE. A sample of 33 companies listed on the official stock exchanges of UAE-Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange were collected and empirical analysis employed to study the financial performance pre and post fall in oil prices. Ratios were calculated in 5 categories: Profitability, Liquidity, Leverage, Efficiency, and Investment. The means pre- and post-fall are compared to conclude that the profitability ratios including ROSF (Return on Shareholder Funds), ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) and NPM (Net Profit Margin) have all taken a hit. Parametric tests, including paired t-test, concludes that while the fall in profitability ratios is statistically significant, the other ratios have been quite stable in the period. The efficiency, liquidity, gearing and investment ratios have not been severely affected by the fall in oil prices. This may be due to the implementation of stronger regulatory policies and is a testimony to the diversification into the non-oil economy. The regulatory authorities can use the findings of this study to ensure transparency in revealing financial information to the public and employ policies that will help further the health of the economy. The study will also help understand which areas within the sector could benefit from more regulations.

Keywords: UAE, insurance sector, ratio analysis, oil price, profitability, liquidity, gearing, investment, efficiency

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Authors: Lissette Alejandra Lara, Mario Gomez, Jose Carlos Rodriguez

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ransnational corporations (TNCs) as units in which it is possible technology and knowledge transfer across borders and the potential for generating innovation and contributing in economic development both in home and host countries have been widely acknowledged in the foreign direct investment (FDI) literature. Particularly, the accelerated expansion of emerging countries TNCs in the last decades has guided an uprising research stream that measure the presence of reverse technology transfer, defined as the extent to which emerging countries’ TNCs use outward FDI in a host country through certain mechanisms to absorb and transfer knowledge thus improving its technological capabilities in the home country. The objective of this paper is to test empirically the presence of reverse technology transfer and its impact on the innovation capabilities in Mexican transnational corporations (MXTNCs) as a part of the emerging countries TNCs that have successfully entered to industrialized markets. Using a panel dataset of 22 MXTNCs over the period 1994-2015, the results of the econometric model demonstrate that the amount of Mexican outward FDI and the research and development (R&D) expenditure in host developed countries had a positive impact on the innovation capabilities at the firm and industry level. There is also evidence that management of acquired brands and the organizational structure of Mexican subsidiaries improved these capabilities. Implications for internationalization strategies of emerging countries corporations and future research guidelines are discussed.

Keywords: emerging countries, foreign direct investment, innovation capabilities, Mexican transnational corporations, reverse technology transfer

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Authors: Sittampalam Manoharan, Gary Chai, Sanaul Chowdhury, Andrew Golding

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The primary objective of this paper is to present a simplified approach to develop the structural deterioration model using traffic speed deflectometer data for flexible pavements. Maintaining assets to meet functional performance is not economical or sustainable in the long terms, and it would end up needing much more investments for road agencies and extra costs for road users. Performance models have to be included for structural and functional predicting capabilities, in order to assess the needs, and the time frame of those needs. As such structural modelling plays a vital role in the prediction of pavement performance. A structural condition is important for the prediction of remaining life and overall health of a road network and also major influence on the valuation of road pavement. Therefore, the structural deterioration model is a critical input into pavement management system for predicting pavement rehabilitation needs accurately. The Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) is a vehicle-mounted Doppler laser system that is capable of continuously measuring the structural bearing capacity of a pavement whilst moving at traffic speeds. The device’s high accuracy, high speed, and continuous deflection profiles are useful for network-level applications such as predicting road rehabilitations needs and remaining structural service life. The methodology adopted in this model by utilizing time series TSD maximum deflection (D0) data in conjunction with rutting, rutting progression, pavement age, subgrade strength and equivalent standard axle (ESA) data. Then, regression analyses were undertaken to establish a correlation equation of structural deterioration as a function of rutting, pavement age, seal age and equivalent standard axle (ESA). This study developed a simple structural deterioration model which will enable to incorporate available TSD structural data in pavement management system for developing network-level pavement investment strategies. Therefore, the available funding can be used effectively to minimize the whole –of- life cost of the road asset and also improve pavement performance. This study will contribute to narrowing the knowledge gap in structural data usage in network level investment analysis and provide a simple methodology to use structural data effectively in investment decision-making process for road agencies to manage aging road assets.

Keywords: adjusted structural number (SNP), maximum deflection (D0), equant standard axle (ESA), traffic speed deflectometer (TSD)

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Authors: Muhammad Ali Asadullah, Zafarullah Amir

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In recent years, Vocational Education and Training (VET) has been under discussion by the academic researchers and remained in focus in the political grounds. Due to potential contribution of VET, the World Bank and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) support vocational education to reduce poverty, enhance economic growth and increase competitiveness. This paper examines the impact of Vocational Education and Training on the Economic Growth and Social Inclusion with direct and mediation effect of Social Inclusion. The basic purpose of this study is to assess economic pay-offs as a result of long term investments in VET. Based on the review of Anderson Nilsson, initially we explored the increasing or decreasing trend in investment on VET. Further, the study explores that the countries which invest more on VET, tend to get more economic growth and are socially more ‘inclusive’. It is a longitudinal / panel data study with 12 years of registered data which involves 24 OECD countries. The results of the study indicate the VET has positive association with Social Inclusion and Economic Growth. Further, there is also a positive association of VET and Economic Growth through mediation of Social Inclusion. The current study considers not only issue and challenges in developing VET systems but also contributes to develop the theoretical framework for considering how VET can directly and indirectly improve economic growth and social inclusion. A wider appreciation of how VET’s benefits operate may influence a country’s decisions to invest in it. If policy makers increase investment on VET, the result would be positive in Economic Growth and Social Inclusion. It is also recommended that the same OECD model may be implemented in developing countries like Pakistan.

Keywords: Vocational Education and Training (VET), Social Inclusion, Economic Growth, OECD countries

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Authors: Taha Anjamrooz, Sareh Rajabi, Salwa Bheiry

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Selection between the available projects in bidding processes for the contractor is one of the essential areas to concentrate on. It is important for the contractor to choose the right projects within its portfolio during the tendering stage based on certain criteria. It should align the bidding process with its origination strategies and goals as a screening process to have the right portfolio pool to start with. Secondly, it should set the proper framework and use a suitable technique in order to optimize its selection process for concertation purpose and higher efforts during the tender stage with goals of success and winning. In this research paper, a two steps framework proposed to increase the efficiency of the contractor’s bidding process and the winning chance of getting the new projects awarded. In this framework, initially, all the projects pass through the first stage screening process, in which the portfolio basket will be evaluated and adjusted in accordance with the organization strategies to the reduced version of the portfolio pool, which is in line with organization activities. In the second stage, the contractor uses linear programming to optimize the portfolio pool based on available resources such as manpower, light equipment, heavy equipment, financial capability, return on investment, and success rate of winning the bid. Therefore, this optimization model will assist the contractor in utilizing its internal resource to its maximum and increase its winning chance for the new project considering past experience with clients, built-relation between two parties, and complexity in the exertion of the projects. The objective of this research will be to increase the contractor's winning chance in the bidding process based on the success rate and expected return on investment.

Keywords: bidding process, internal resources, optimization, contracting portfolio management

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Authors: H. A. Erdogan

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Historical masonry arch bridges built centuries ago have fulfilled their function until recent decades. However, from the beginning of 20th century, these bridges have remained inadequate as a result of increasing speed, size and capacity of the means of transport. Although new bridges have been built in many places, masonry bridges located within the city limits still need to be used. When the size and transportation loads of modern vehicles are taken into account, it is apparent that historical masonry arch bridges would be exposed to greater loads than their initial design loads. Because of that, many precautions taken either remain insufficient or damage these bridges. In this study, the history of Debbaglar Bridge, one of the historic bridges located in the city center of Aksaray/Turkey is presented and its existing condition is evaluated. Structural analysis of the bridge under present conditions and loads is explained. Moreover, the retrofit and restoration application prepared considering the analysis data is described.

Keywords: adaptive re-use, Aksaray debbaglar bridge, masonry bridge, reconstruction

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Authors: L. M. Hayyan ul Haq, Lalu Sabardi

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This research is aimed at exploring an appropriate regulatory model in coherencing a diametrical interest between the state, Adat legal community, and private interests in utilising and optimizing land in Indonesia. This work is also highly relevant to coherencing the obligation of the state to respect, to fulfill and to protect the fundamental rights of people, especially to protect the communal or adat community rights to the land. In visualizing those ideas, this research will use the normative legal research to elaborate the normative problem in land use, as well as redesigning and creating an appropriate regulatory model in bridging and protecting all interest parties, especially, the state, Adat legal community, and private parties. In addition, it will also employ an empirical legal research for identifying some operational problems in protecting and optimising the land. In detail, this research will not only identify the problems at the normative level, such as conflicted norms, the absence of the norms, and the unclear norm in land law, but also the problems at operational level, such as institutional relationship in managing the land use. At the end, this work offers an appropriate regulatory model at the systems level, which covers value and norms in land use, as well as the appropriate mechanism in managing the utilization of the land for the state, Adat legal community, and private sector. By manifesting this objective, the government will not only fulfill its obligation to regulate the land for people and private, but also to protect the fundamental rights of people, as mandated by the Indonesian 1945 Constitution.

Keywords: adat community rights, fundamental rights, investment, land law, private sector

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Authors: Rokeshia Renné Ashley

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The purpose of this study is to understand the perception of historical figure Saartjie 'Sara/Sarah' Baartman from a cross cultural perspective of black women in the United States and black women in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews (n = 30) uncover that many women in both countries did not have an accurate representation, recollection, or have been exposed to the story of Baartman. Nonetheless, those who were familiar with Baartman’s story, those participants compared her to modern examples of black women who are showcased in a contemporary familiarity. The women are described by participants as women who reveal their bodies in a sexualized manner and have the curves that are similar to Baartman’s historic figure. This comparison emphasized a connection to popular images of black women who represent the curvaceous ideal. Findings contribute to social comparison theory by providing a lens for examining black women’s body image.

Keywords: black women, body modification, media, South Africa

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Authors: Han Song, Tingting Wei, Dong Chen

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The combination of capital and rural areas in China has shown its great significance in promoting urban-rural integration and new-style urbanization, enhancing regional capacity for sustainable rural development and optimizing human settlement environment. The purpose of this study is to find capital operation mechanism in rural area and rural planning guidance in China. Based on case studies in Chinese rural areas, two types of capital operation mechanism in rural areas are summed up: intervention in the field of agriculture promoting the upgrading and innovation of agricultural industry chain, intervention in rural life and leisure areas updating rural connotation and form. In the light of experiences in Japan and Taiwan, it is proposed that government's norms and guidance, rural investment intensity and rural self-organization are three important factors for capital to drive rural development. It is also found that the unique land tenure and rural governance tradition are two important factors effecting the combination of capital and rural regions in China, which requires full attention in rational policy-making and rural planning. It comes to a conclusion as four directions of the overall reform of the rural planning: targeting at enhancing the viability of rural and sustainable capacity, encouraging differences in investment incentives and planning policies, providing land usage in the rural areas with planning support and reforming the village system. Directional guidance is also made for different types of capital investments, suggesting that capital should be rooted in agriculture and rural land to benefit farmers and update human settlements.

Keywords: capital, rural areas, rural planning, rural governance

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Authors: Amrita Mishra, Tushar Kanti Das

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Agriculture is the backbone of the economy of Odisha. Sustainability of agriculture holds the key for the development of Odisha. The Sustainable Development Goals are a framework of 17 goals and 169 targets across social, economical and environmental areas of sustainable development. Among all the seventeen goals the second goal is focusing on the promotion of Sustainable Agriculture. In this research our main aim is also to contribute an understanding of effectiveness of sustainable agriculture as a tool for rural development in the selected tribal district (i.e. Koraput and Malkangiri) of Odisha. These two districts are comes under KBK districts of Odisha which are identified as most backward districts of Odisha. The objectives of our study are to investigate the effect of sustainable agriculture on the lives of tribal farmers, to study whether the farmers are empowered by their participation in sustainable agriculture initiatives to move towards their own vision of development and to study the investment and profit ratio in sustainable agriculture. This research will help in filling the major gaps in sociological studies of sustainable agriculture. This information will helpful for farmers, development organisations, donors and policy makers in formulating the development of effective initiatives and policies to support the development of sustainable agriculture. In this study, we have taken 210 respondents and used various statistical techniques like chi-square test, one-way ANOVA and percentage analysis. This research shows that sustainable agriculture is an effective development strategy that benefits the tribal farmers to move towards their own vision of Good Fortune. The poor farmers who struggle to feed their families and maintain viable livelihoods on shrinking land for them sustainable agriculture are really benefited. The farmers are using homemade pesticides, manure and also getting the seeds from different development organisations and Government. So the investment in Sustainable Agriculture is very less. All farmers said their lives are now better than before. The creation of farmers groups for training and marketing for the produces was shown to be very important for empowerment.

Keywords: sustainable, agriculture, tribal farmers, development, empowerment

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Authors: A. Robak, M. Pieńko, E. Błazik-Borowa, J. Bęc, I. Szer

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The analyzes and classifications presented in the article were based on the research carried out in year 2016 and 2017 on a group of nearly one hundred scaffoldings assembled and used on construction sites in different parts of Poland. During scaffolding selection process efforts were made to maintain diversification in terms of parameters such as scaffolding size, investment size, type of investment, location and nature of conducted works. This resulted in the research being carried out on scaffoldings used for church renovation in a small town or attached to the facades of classic apartment blocks, as well as on scaffoldings used during construction of skyscrapers or facilities of the largest power plants. This variety allows to formulate general conclusions about the technical condition of used frame scaffoldings. Exploitation damages of the frame scaffolding elements were divided into three groups. The first group includes damages to the main structural components, which reduce the strength of the scaffolding elements and hence the whole structure. The qualitative analysis of these damages was made on the basis of numerical models that take into account the geometry of the damage and on the basis of computational nonlinear static analyzes. The second group focuses on exploitation damages such as the lack of a pin on the guardrail bolt which may cause an imminent threat to people using scaffolding. These are local damages that do not affect the bearing capacity and stability of the whole structure but are very important for safe use. The last group consider damages that reduce only aesthetic values and do not have direct impact on bearing capacity and safety of use. Apart from qualitative analyzes the article will present quantitative analyzes showing how frequently given type of damage occurs.

Keywords: scaffolding, damage, safety, numerical analysis

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Authors: Martina Perinkova, Lenka Kolarcikova, Marketa Twrda

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In Ostrava there are a lot of former post-industrial areas and areas that have gradually through conversions and their subsequent reuse. One of the largest is the national cultural monument Lower Vítkovice area where there is a large complex transformation of the former iron production. Industrial heritage today visited by tourists for entertainment, culture, history, sports and other activities. This is a unique example of reuse of technical monuments and introduction of new life into the historic area. The main task of not only find the right function and use, in terms of re integration into city life and finding a balance between history and current lifestyle, looking at the history of the area and its technical condition before reconstruction. It is not only very expensive but also time consuming. Transformations industrial monument is the result of a dialogue architect, the idea of the investor and expert opinion heritage institute.

Keywords: post-industrial area, cultural monument, conversions

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Authors: Mustafa Dagbasi, Olusola Bamisile, Adii Chinedum

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The objective of this work is to examine and compare the economic and environmental feasibility of 40MW photovoltaic (PV) power plant and 40MW parabolic trough (PT) power plant to be installed in two different cities, namely Nicosia and Famagusta in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The need for using solar power technology around the world is also emphasized. Solar radiation and sunshine data for Nicosia and Famagusta are considered and analyzed to assess the distribution of solar radiation, sunshine duration, and air temperature. Also, these two different technologies with same rated power of 40MW will be compared with the performance of the proposed Solar Power Plant at Bari, Italy. The project viability analysis is performed using System Advisor Model (SAM) through Annual Energy Production and economic parameters for both cities. It is found that for the two cities; Nicosia and Famagusta, the investment is feasible for both 40MW PV power plant and 40MW PT power plant. From the techno-economic analysis of these two different solar power technologies having same rated power and under the same environmental conditions, PT plants produce more energy than PV plant. It is also seen that if a PT plant is installed near an existing steam turbine power plant, the steam from the PT system can be used to run this turbine which makes it more feasible to invest. The high temperatures that are used to produce steam for the turbines in the PT plant system can be supplemented with a secondary plant based on natural gas or other biofuels and can be used as backup. Although the initial investment of PT plant is higher, it has higher economic return and occupies smaller area compared to PV plant of the same capacity.

Keywords: solar power, photovoltaic plant, parabolic trough plant, techno-economic analysis

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Authors: S. O. Okoro

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Some words become the catch phrase of a particular decade. Globalization, Openness, and Privatization are certainly among the most frequently encapsulation of 1990’s; the market is ‘in’, ‘the state is out’. In the 1970’s, there were many political economists who spoke of autarky as one possible response to global economic forces. Be self-contained, go it alone, put up barriers to trans-nationalities, put in place import-substitution industrialization policy and grow domestic industries. In 1990’s, the emasculation of the state is by no means complete, but there is an acceptance that the state’s power is circumscribed by forces beyond its control and potential leverage. Autarky is no longer as a policy option. Nigeria, since its emergence as an independent nation, has evolved two macroeconomic management regimes of the interventionist and market friendly styles. This paper investigates Nigeria’s growth performance over the periods incorporating these two regimes and finds that there is no structural break in Total Factor Productivity, (TFP) growth and besides, the TFP growth over the entire period of study 1970-2012 is very negligible and hence growth can only be achieved by the unsustainable factor accumulation. Another important finding of this work is that the openness-human capital interaction term has a significant impact on the TFP growth, but the sign of the estimated coefficient does not meet it a theoretical expectation. This is because the negative coefficient on the human capital outweighs the positive openness effect. The poor quality of human capital is considered to have given rise to this. Given these results a massive investment in the education sector is required. The investment should be targeted at reforms that go beyond mere structural reforms to a reform agenda that will improve the quality of human capital in Nigeria.

Keywords: globalization, emasculation, openness and privatization, total factor productivity

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Authors: Shorena Pharjiani

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The Present empirical paper investigates the relationship between FDI and economic growth by 10 selected industries in 10 Central and Eastern European countries from the period 1995 to 2012. Different estimation approaches were used to explore the connection between FDI and economic growth, for example OLS, RE, FE with and without time dummies. Obtained empirical results leads to some main consequences: First, the Central and East European countries (CEEC) attracted foreign direct investment, which raised the productivity of industries they entered in. It should be concluded that the linkage between FDI and output growth by industries is positive and significant enough to suggest that foreign firm’s participation enhanced the productivity of the industries they occupied. There had been an endogeneity problem in the regression and fixed effects estimation approach was used which partially corrected the regression analysis in order to make the results less biased. Second, it should be stressed that the results show that time has an important role in making FDI operational for enhancing output growth by industries via total factor productivity. Third, R&D positively affected economic growth and at the same time, it should take some time for research and development to influence economic growth. Fourth, the general trends masked crucial differences at the country level: over the last 20 years, the analysis of the tables and figures at the country level show that the main recipients of FDI of the 11 Central and Eastern European countries were Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. The main reason was that these countries had more open door policies for attracting the FDI. Fifth, according to the graphical analysis, while Hungary had the highest FDI inflow in this region, it was not reflected in the GDP growth as much as in other Central and Eastern European countries.

Keywords: central and East European countries (CEEC), economic growth, FDI, panel data

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Authors: Benhaddadi M., Déry D.

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Electric motors are the single biggest consumer of electricity, and the consumption will have more than to double by 2050. Meanwhile, the existing technologies offer the potential to reduce the motor energy demand by up to 30 %, whereas the know-how to realise energy savings is not extensively applied. That is why the authors first conducted a detailed analysis of the regulation of the electric motor market in North America To illustrate the colossal energy savings potential permitted by the VFD, the authors have equipped experimental setup, based on centrifugal pump, simultaneously equipped with regulating throttle valves and variable frequency drive VFD. The obtained experimental results for 1.5 HP motor pump are extended to another motor powers, as centrifugal pumps that are different in power may have similar operational characteristics if they are located in a similar kind of process, permitting the simulations for 5 HP and 100 HP motors. According to the obtained results, VFDs tend to be most cost-effective when fitted to larger motor pumps, in addition to higher duty cycle of the motor and relative time operating at lower than full load. The energy saving permitted by the VFD use is huge, and the payback period for drive investment is short. Nonetheless, it’s important to highlight that there is no general rule of thumb that can be used to obtain the impact of the relative time operating at lower than full load. Indeed, in terms of energy-saving differences, 50 % flow regulation is tremendously better than 75 % regulation, but a slightly enhanced relative to 25 %. Two main distinct reasons can explain this somewhat not anticipated results: the characteristics of the process and the drop in efficiency when motor is operating at low speed.

Keywords: motor, drive, energy efficiency, centrifugal pump

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Authors: John Okanda Okwaro

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Carbon (IV) oxide (CO₂) is emitted majorly from fossil fuel combustion and industrial production. The sources of interest of carbon (IV) oxide in the study area are mining activities, transport systems, and industrial processes. This study is aimed at building models that will help in monitoring the emissions within the study area. Three scenarios were discussed, namely: pessimistic scenario, business-as-usual scenario, and optimistic scenario. The result showed that there was a reduction in carbon dioxide concentration by approximately 50.5 ppm between March 2020 and January 2021 inclusive. This is majorly due to reduced human activities that led to decreased consumption of energy. Also, the CO₂ concentration trend follows the business-as-usual scenario (BAU) path. From the models, the pessimistic, business-as-usual, and optimistic scenarios give CO₂ concentration of about 545.9 ppm, 408.1 ppm, and 360.1 ppm, respectively, on December 31st, 2021. This research helps paint the picture to the policymakers of the relationship between energy sources and CO₂ emissions. Since the reduction in CO₂ emission was due to decreased use of fossil fuel as there was a decrease in economic activities, then if Kenya relies more on green energy than fossil fuel in the post-COVID-19 period, there will be more CO₂ emission reduction. That is, the CO₂ concentration trend is likely to follow the optimistic scenario path, hence a reduction in CO₂ concentration of about 48 ppm by the end of the year 2021. This research recommends investment in solar energy by energy-intensive companies, mine machinery and equipment maintenance, investment in electric vehicles, and doubling tree planting efforts to achieve the 10% cover.

Keywords: forecasting, greenhouse gas, green energy, hierarchical data format

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Authors: Youssef El Makhrout, Aude Pommeret, Tunç Durmaz

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This paper analyses the consequences of a heat pump on the optimal behavior of a prosumer. A theoretical microeconomic model is developed for household heating and electricity consumption to analyze the profitability of installing a solar PV system with a heat pump, battery storage, and grid use. The aim is to present the optimal scenario of investment in renewable energy equipment to cover domestic and heating needs. Simulation data of a French house of 170m² in Chambery are used in this paper. The house is divided into 5 zones with 3 heated zones of 89.4 m² occupied by two people. The analysis is based on hourly data for one year, from 00:00 01/01/2021 to 23:00 31/12/2021. Results indicate that without taking the cost of materials and no financial aid, the most profitable scenario for a household is when he owns solar panels, a heat pump, and battery storage. However, with the costs and financial aid of the French government for energy renovation, the net economic surplus change and the profitability during 20 years are important when the household decides to add a heat pump to existing solar panels. In this scenario, the household can realize 35.84% as a surplus change improvement, but this cannot cover all installation costs. The household can get benefits and cover all installation costs after exploiting financial support in the case of adopting a heat pump. The investment in a battery is still not profitable because of its high cost and the lack of financial aid. Some public policy recommendations are proposed, especially for solar panels and battery storage.

Keywords: household’s heating, prosumer, electricity consumption, renewable energy, welfare gain, comfort, solar PV, heat pumps, storage

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Authors: Davoud Maleki

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Today, education and investment in human capital is a long-term investment without which the economy will be stagnant Stayed. Higher education represents a type of investment in human resources by providing and improving knowledge, skills and Attitudes help economic development. Providing efficient human resources by increasing the efficiency and productivity of people and on the other hand with Expanding the boundaries of knowledge and technology and promoting technology such as the responsibility of training human resources and increasing productivity and efficiency in High specialized levels are the responsibility of universities. Therefore, the university plays an infrastructural role in economic development and growth because education by creating skills and expertise in people and improving their ability.In recent decades, Iran's higher education system has been faced with many problems, therefore, scholars have looked for it is to identify and validate the causal factors affecting the responsiveness and productivity of non-governmental universities. The data in the qualitative part is the result of semi-structured interviews with 25 senior and middle managers working in the units It was Islamic Azad University of Tehran province, which was selected by theoretical sampling method. In data analysis, stepwise method and Analytical techniques of Strauss and Corbin (1992) were used. After determining the central category (answering for the sake of the beneficiaries) and using it in order to bring the categories, expressions and ideas that express the relationships between the main categories and In the end, six main categories were identified as causal factors affecting the university's responsiveness and productivity.They are: 1- Scientism 2- Human resources 3- Creating motivation in the university 4- Development based on needs assessment 5- Teaching process and Learning 6- University quality evaluation. In order to validate the response model obtained from the qualitative stage, a questionnaire The questionnaire was prepared and the answers of 146 students of Master's degree and Doctorate of Islamic Azad University located in Tehran province were received. Quantitative data in the form of descriptive data analysis, first and second stage factor analysis using SPSS and Amos23 software were analyzed. The findings of the research indicated the relationship between the central category and the causal factors affecting the response The results of the model test in the quantitative stage confirmed the generality of the conceptual model.

Keywords: accountability, productivity, non-governmental, universities, foundation data theory

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Authors: Sonia Lippke, Eric Rost, Volker Cihlar

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Objective: To examine the interrelation of physical activity with work-related variables in older individuals to determine pathways to promote the maintenance of an aging workforce’s ability and motivation to work. Design/methodology/approach: An interview-study was conducted with N=5,002 community-dwelling people aged 55 to 70 years (for T1). N=2,501 (50%) were interviewed 3 years later again (T2). Correlation-, Chi²-, MANOVA and moderated mediation analyses were performed. Findings: The less people worked, the more physically active they were. Working was only related to calendar age but not to subjective age. Men and women only differed in working hours and an interaction of gender and pension regarding working hours and subjective health revealed: Controlled for calendar age, the amount of worked hours while receiving pension was about the same in men and women, however, men worked significantly more hours if they did not receive pension. The relationship between physical activity and worked hours was mediated by life investment and subjective health in women, and by subjective health in men. Practical implications: Developing good health through performing physical activity should be done as part of work-place health promotion or by work organization and HR management to enable, and motivate older individuals to work even when receiving pension. Thus, such initiates should not only offered for younger and middle aged employees. Physical activity and company-facilitated sports activities can be an integral part in this. Originality/value: This is the first study testing these mechanisms in this age group, indicating the importance of not only understanding physical activity as a time challenge to work but also the potential to protect workability and to work aside from receiving pension.

Keywords: life investment, moderated mediation, physical activity, older workers, subjective health

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Authors: Ece Kaya

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Urban waterfront re-development is a well-established phenomenon internationally since 1960s. In cities throughout the world, old industrial waterfront land is being redeveloped into luxury housing, offices, tourist attractions, cultural amenities and shopping centres. These developments are intended to attract high-income residents, tourists and investors to the city. As urban waterfronts are iconic places for the cities and catalyst for further development. They are often referred as flagship project. In Sydney, the re-development of industrial waterfront has been exposed since 1980s with Darling Harbour Project. Darling Harbour waterfront used to be the main arrival and landing place for commercial and industrial shipping until 1970s. Its urban development has continued since the establishment of the city. It was developed as a major industrial and goods-handling precinct in 1812. This use was continued by the mid-1970s. After becoming a redundant industrial waterfront, the area was ripe for re-development in 1984. Darling Harbour is now one of the world’s fascinating waterfront leisure and entertainment destinations and its transformation has been considered as a success story. It is a contradictory statement for this paper. Data collection was carried out using an extensive archival document analysis. The data was obtained from Australian Institute of Architects, City of Sydney Council Archive, Parramatta Heritage Office, Historic Houses Trust, National Trust, and University of Sydney libraries, State Archive, State Library and Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority Archives. Public documents, primarily newspaper articles and design plans, were analysed to identify possible differences in motives and to determine the process of implementation of the waterfront redevelopments. It was also important to obtain historical photographs and descriptions to understand how the waterfront had been altered. Sites maps in different time periods have been identified to understand what kind of changes happened on the urban landscape and how the developments affected areas. Newspaper articles and editorials have been examined in order to discover what aspects of the projects reflected the history and heritage. The thematic analysis of the archival data helped determine Darling Harbour is a historically important place as it had represented a focal point for Sydney's industrial growth and the cradle of industrial development in European Australia. It has been found that the development area was designated in order to be transformed to a place for tourist, education, recreational, entertainment, cultural and commercial activities and as a result little evidence remained of its industrial past. This paper aims to discuss the industrial significance of Darling Harbour and to explain the changes on its industrial landscape. What is absent now is the layer of its history that creates the layers of meaning to the place so its historic industrial identity is effectively lost.

Keywords: historical significance, industrial heritage, industrial waterfront, re-development

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Authors: Asimiyu Mohammed Jinadu

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Housing is a basic necessity of life. Housing plays a central role in the life of living organisms as it provides the basic platform for the life support systems in human settlements. It is considered a social service and a basic right. Despite the importance of housing, Nigeria as a nation is faced with the problem of quantitative and qualitative shortfall in the number of housing units required to accommodate the citizens. This study examined the accessibility and affordability problems of low-income housing in Nigeria. It relied on secondary data obtained for the records of government ministries and agencies. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis, and the information was presented in simple tables and charts. The findings show that over the years the government has provided serviced plots of land, owner occupier houses and mortgage loans for the people. As at 2016, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has completed a total of 23,038 housing units while another 14, 488 units were on-going under the Public Private Partnership scheme across the country. The study revealed that a total of 910, 671 housing units were proposed by the Government under the various low-income housing programmes between 1960 and 2017, but only 156, 336 units were delivered within the period, representing 17.17% success rate. Amongst others, the low-income group faced the problems of low access to and unaffordability of the few low-income housing delivered in Nigeria. The study recommended that all abandoned housing projects should be reviewed, rationalized, completed and made available to the targeted low-income people. Investment in micro housing finance, design and implementation of pro-poor housing programme and massive investment in innovative slum upgrading programmes by both the government and private sector are also recommended to ameliorate the housing problems of the low-income group in Nigeria.

Keywords: housing, low income group, problem, programme

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Authors: Evren Aysev Denec

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As an urban settlement dating as early as 8000 years and the capital for Byzantine and Ottoman empires; İstanbul has been a significant global city throughout history. The most drastic changes in the macro form of Istanbul have taken place in the last seven decades; starting from 1950’s with rapid industrialization and population growth; pacing up after the 1980’s with the efforts of integration to the global capitalist system; reaching to a climax in the 2000’s with the adaptation of a neoliberal urban regime. Today, the rate of urbanization together with land speculation and real estate investment has been growing enormously. Every inch of urban land is conceptualized as a commodity to be capitalized. This neoliberal mindset has many controversial implementations, from the privatization of public land to the urban transformation of historic neighbourhoods and consumption of natural resources. The planning decisions concerning the city have been mainly top down initiations; conceptualising historical, cultural and natural heritage as commodities to be capitalised and consumed in favour of creating rent value. One of the most crucial implementations of this neoliberal urban regime is the project of establishing a ‘new city’ around northern Istanbul; together with a number of large-scale infrastructural projects such as the Third Bosporus Bridge; a new highway system, a Third Airport Project and a secondary Bosporus project called the ‘Canal Istanbul’. Urbanizing northern Istanbul is highly controversial as this area consists of major natural resources of the city; being the northern forests, water supplies and wildlife; which are bound to be destroyed to a great extent following the implementations. The construction of the third bridge and the third airport has begun in 2013, despite environmental objections and protests. Over five hundred thousand trees are planned be cut for solely the construction of the bridge and the Northern Marmara Motorway. Yet the real damage will be the urbanization of the forest area; irreversibly corrupting the natural resources and attracting millions of additional population towards Istanbul. Furthermore, these projects lack an integrated planning scope as the plans prepared for Istanbul are constantly subjected to alterations forced by the central government. Urban interventions mentioned above are executed despite the rulings of Istanbul Environmental plan, due to top down planning decisions. Instead of an integrated action plan that prepares for the future of the city, Istanbul is governed by partial plans and projects that are issued by a profit based agenda; supported by legal alterations and laws issued by the central government. This paper aims to discuss the ongoing implementations with regards to northern Istanbul; claiming that they are not merely infrastructural interventions but parts of a greater neoliberal urbanization strategy. In the course of the study, firstly a brief account on the northern forests of Istanbul will be presented. Then, the projects will be discussed in detail, addressing how the current planning schemes deal with the natural heritage of the city. Lastly, concluding remarks on how the implementations could affect the future of Istanbul will be presented.

Keywords: Istanbul, urban design, urban planning, natural resources

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Authors: Michael Kenomore, Mohamed Hassan, Amjad Shah, Hom Dhakal

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Shale gas reservoirs have been of greater importance compared to shale oil reservoirs since 2009 and with the current nature of the oil market, understanding the technical and economic performance of shale gas reservoirs is of importance. Using the Barnett shale as a case study, an economic model was developed to quantify the effect of finding and development costs and gas prices on the basins in the Barnett shale using net present value as an evaluation parameter. A rate of return of 20% and a payback period of 60 months or less was used as the investment hurdle in the model. The Barnett was split into four basins (Strawn Basin, Ouachita Folded Belt, Forth-worth Syncline and Bend-arch Basin) with analysis conducted on each of the basin to provide a holistic outlook. The dataset consisted of only horizontal wells that started production from 2008 to at most 2015 with 1835 wells coming from the strawn basin, 137 wells from the Ouachita folded belt, 55 wells from the bend-arch basin and 724 wells from the forth-worth syncline. The data was analyzed initially on Microsoft Excel to determine the estimated ultimate recoverable (EUR). The range of EUR from each basin were loaded in the Palisade Risk software and a log normal distribution typical of Barnett shale wells was fitted to the dataset. Monte Carlo simulation was then carried out over a 1000 iterations to obtain a cumulative distribution plot showing the probabilistic distribution of EUR for each basin. From the cumulative distribution plot, the P10, P50 and P90 EUR values for each basin were used in the economic model. Gas production from an individual well with a EUR similar to the calculated EUR was chosen and rescaled to fit the calculated EUR values for each basin at the respective percentiles i.e. P10, P50 and P90. The rescaled production was entered into the economic model to determine the effect of the finding and development cost and gas price on the net present value (10% discount rate/year) as well as also determine the scenario that satisfied the proposed investment hurdle. The finding and development costs used in this paper (assumed to consist only of the drilling and completion costs) were £1 million, £2 million and £4 million while the gas price was varied from $2/MCF-$13/MCF based on Henry Hub spot prices from 2008-2015. One of the major findings in this study was that wells in the bend-arch basin were least economic, higher gas prices are needed in basins containing non-core counties and 90% of the Barnet shale wells were not economic at all finding and development costs irrespective of the gas price in all the basins. This study helps to determine the percentage of wells that are economic at different range of costs and gas prices, determine the basins that are most economic and the wells that satisfy the investment hurdle.

Keywords: shale gas, Barnett shale, unconventional gas, estimated ultimate recoverable

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Authors: Eman Hegazy, Stefan Anderberg, Joakim Krook

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Urban water infrastructure systems are central to functioning cities. For securing a continuous and efficient supply of the systems services, continuous investment, maintenance, and renewal are needed. Neglecting maintenance and renewal can lead to recurrent breakdown problems as systems age, which makes it more and more difficult to secure efficient long-term supply. Globally, many cities struggle with aging water infrastructure, often due to competing funding priorities. Investment in maintenance and renewal is not prioritized. The problem primarily stems from the challenge of reaping the benefits of investments promptly. The long-term benefits gained from investing in the renewal of water infrastructure may be achievable in the long run, resulting in the oversight of such investments. This leads to a build-up of "renewal debt" for future generations to inherit. Addressing this issue is difficult due to various contributing factors and the complex nature of the systems. The study aims to contribute to an increased understanding of the long-term management challenges of urban water infrastructure, the development of improved maintenance and renewal strategies through the examination of water infrastructure management, and the assessment of the adequacy of the maintenance and renewal in a case study, the city of Linköping, Sweden. Employing a multi-methods approach, this study utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, workshops, and data analysis. The findings of the study provided insights into the current status of the water and sewerage networks in Linkoping, highlighting the risks to ensuring reliable and sustainable water supply and discussing strategies for improving maintenance and renewal.

Keywords: case study, infrastructure management, renewal needs, Sweden, urban water infrastructure

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Authors: Saravanan R.

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The landscape of Kerala was paved way for the growth of maritime contacts with foreigners. Pepper was the important exported item from here because this region only having pepper production on the West Coast of India. The paper is attempting to analysis the available references of ancient port town in Kerala. It is merely preliminary investigation about Early Historic urban centres with the available literary evidences and excavations reports that would help us to understand the ancient port town in Kerala coast. There were number of ancient port towns mentioned in classical Greek and Sangam literatures. For instance, Naura, Tyndis, Nelcynda, Bacare and Muziris were the major sites of Kerala which represented only in the text but not able to locate these sites on the ground so far. There are lot of studies on site based as well as state based regarding the various aspects of ancient port towns. But, it is mainly focussed on factual narration and theoretical interpretation.

Keywords: urban centre, amphora, Muziris, port town, Sangam text and trade

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