The paper analyses influence of global economic crisis on enterprises from developing countries. Analysis is conducted with the goal of determining the reason of crisis and imposing recommendations for mitigation of effects arose from crisis. Main assumption is that irresponsible behaviour of decision makers is the main cause of economic crisis. Due to this, standards and good practice of corporate governance in OECD countries and the Republic of Srpska are analyzed with goal to indicate the omissions in their implementation. Also attitudes of OECD action plan for improvement of corporate governance are presented and recommendations for improvement for state of corporate governance in the Republic of Srpska are imposed.

Effective energy management involves making decisions that lead to the conservation of energy and the efficient use of resources for sustainable future. Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), is involved in exploration, drilling and production of oil and gas. KOC is fully committed towards energy management, energy efficiency and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions reduction, which may help in minimizing energy costs and mitigating environmental effects. In order to meet national and international standards ISO 50001 Energy Management System (EnMS), KOC undertaken a pilot study for developing an effective energy management program for KOC representative process units and main buildings. The objective of the program was to create an energy baseline and identify the potential improvement areas and provide inputs for the implementation of ISO50001 for certification. KOC has established the Energy Performance Indicators (EnPIs) for each of the process units and specific KPIs has been identified to monitor and control the energy performance. Furthermore, the study highlights the major achievements towards energy management, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions reduction in order to help in minimizing energy costs and mitigating environmental effects.

Wind flow in urban environments could be seen as a potential source of energy. This form of energy could be exploited by means of micro wind turbines placed along the existing infrastructures. To test this, an outdoor campaign was organised, which recorded the wind characteristics at different locations around a highway noise barrier in Delft, the Netherlands. The real-time data set was validated with a two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics study. Both the influence of the high turbulence and the inflow angle on the positioning of the micro wind turbines are assessed for the case of perpendicular flow towards the plane of the noise barrier. Results indicated that integrating micro wind turbines with the noise barriers proves advantageous due to the flow velocity increment downstream. Lastly, a noise assessment was conducted in order to determine the optimal spacing between micro wind turbines, which impacts its social acceptance.

In this paper, the historical trends and future projections of whole of life CO₂ emissions is followed and includes the changing effects on embedded production energy as vehicles have been made lighter. Even so, the rapid reduction in fuel consumption of conventional vehicles leads to the ratio of embedded to in-use CO₂-e to have doubled in the last 30 years. This embedded energy sourced CO₂ recurs each time a new car is made, so the front end energy has to be amortised over the life of the vehicle. It is shown that the ratio is several times higher for battery electric vehicles, while hybrids fall between electric and conventional. The importance of vehicle useful life is emphasized. In the past, the optimum life to amortise the embedded energy was about 17 years but this depends on the prevailing rate of improvement in in-use energy of the marketed fleet. The paper concludes on the basis of the evidence presented that the optimum life for present conventional vehicles is between 10 and 12 years and for battery electric vehicles approaching 20 years with hybrids falling between. As the rate of annual fuel consumption improvement reduces from the present level of 5%/y, the desirable life-times of vehicles will increase. It is recommended that some form of government policy be implemented to achieve the changes in optimum vehicle life-time, over the next few decades, through support for ‘Cash for clunkers’ or equivalent mechanisms. This will enable the most rapid achievement of greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Incentives or other mechanisms need to be found to encourage hybrids rather than all electric vehicles to achieve best possible vehicle fleet CO₂ reduction.

A great boom of hybrid vehicles has taken place on the automotive market in recent years, in particular, all these vehicles are now equipped with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) thanks to the use of a planetary gear train and two electric motor-generators.

The benefit provided by this system is the possibility to optimally control the engine velocity from an energy standpoint; in addition, drive comfort is increased thanks to the continuously variable transmission.

However, this is obtained at the cost of some amount of electrical losses in the components necessary to realize the above-mentioned structure.

This paper aims to evaluate the overall efficiency of this particular power train on different road missions; the same missions will be simulated at the same time for an identical hybrid vehicle equipped with a conventional transmission system.

In order to perform an energy analysis of the two architectures, one has to accurately address the main components generating energy losses: it will be thus presented the set of equations from which the mathematical stationary model of the CVT was obtained and how the different electric components and the internal combustion engine were modeled.

In addition, a brief description on the CVT optimization logic will be reported, the validity of this process will be then confirmed by comparing the ICE working points deriving from it and those declared by Toyota.

Finally, the fuel economy values coming from various road simulations will be compared in order to determine if or which hybrid architecture proves to be the most efficient one.

With this paper we show how the natural “science of control and communications in the animal and the machine” identified by Wiener in 1948 can be applied to social organizations to establish a science of governance. Evidence is provided that current practices are  not consistent with the laws of nature or the practices of living things that must become self-regulating and self-governing to exist in dynamic unknowable complex environments. Case studies of stakeholder mutual firms with hundreds of boards show how an ecological form of polycentric decision-making provides: (a) division of powers; (b) checks and balances; (c) distributed intelligence to reduce information overload, and (d) decomposition of decision-making labour to introduce tensions  of challenge; (e) a requisite variety of cross checking  communication and control channels from stakeholder engagement to improve their integrity; (f) integration of management and governance to further self- regulation and self-governance with: (g) operating advantages such as resiliency, sustainability and wellbeing for firm, its stakeholders and society. The case studies illustrate how ecological governance could reduce the size, scope, cost and intrusiveness of government and their regulators while improving economic efficiency and enriching   democracy with widespread citizen stakeholder engagement.

Conventional district heating (DH) systems enable demand aggregation at district level and can provide high centralized heat generation performance values. However, thermal Renewable Energy Sources (RES) deployment at building level still remains low, and exploitation suboptimal, as it is limited by the instantaneous thermal load and storage capacity availability of each building. Buildings play the role of consumers that request a variable amount of heat over time and the thermal network the role of unidirectional heat supplier, without any smart interaction. The FP7 project A2PBEER has developed an innovative Smart Dual Thermal Network concept based on RES and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) as generation technologies, that enables transforming existing suboptimal DH systems, into integrated thermal networks with optimized performance and building level RES system production exploitation. It is based on an innovative Smart Dual Building Thermal Substation concept, which allows a bidirectional heat exchange of the buildings with the thermal network, and to aggregate district level distributed production and storage capacity (Virtual District Plant). With this approach buildings become prosumers maximizing decentralized RES production exploitation, as any possible local heat production surplus on any building of the district, will be delivered to the network to be used by other buildings. Additionally, this thermal network allows the delivery of the energy necessary to meet the heating and cooling demand of the buildings through a single hot water distribution network. In this way, it is possible to upgrade conventional DH systems to district heating and cooling systems, without the construction of a district cooling plant and a dedicated cooling distribution network. Cooling is produced at building level through sorption technologies using locally deployed solar collectors and the thermal network as energy sources. Finally, the district typologies and climatic conditions that maximize the potential of this thermal network concept have been identified.

The world’s economy is fuelled by energy. Depletion of resources and severe environmental effects resulting from the continuous use of fossil fuels has motivated an increasing amount of interest in renewable energy resources and the search for sustainable energy policies.

The changes required to progress from an economy mainly focused on hydrocarbons to one taking advantage of sustainable energy resources require considerable scientific research as well as the development of new engineering systems. Energy policies and management are of primary importance to achieve the development of sustainability and need to be consistent with recent advances in energy production and distribution.

In many cases, the challenges lie as much in the conversion from renewable energies (wind, solar, etc) to useful forms (electricity, heat, fuel) at an acceptable cost (including damage to the environment), as in the integration of those resources into an existing infrastructure.

The diverse topics covered by these papers involved collaboration between different disciplines in order to arrive at optimum solutions; including studies of materials, energy networks, new energy resources, storage solutions, waste to energy systems, smart grids and many others.

The Editors are especially grateful to the reviewers, as well as to the authors for their contributions.

The Editors

2017

Passive solar design can reduce building energy demand for heating, cooling and ventilation, while also contributing to the comfort, well-being and productivity of the building’s occupants. The successful application of passive solar features, such as solar walls, requires a good understanding of the factors influencing their energy performance and a correct assessment of this performance during the design process. This paper discusses some basic design strategies for successful application of solar walls and the factors with the most significant impact on their efficiency. It summarizes the principle results and findings of an experimental study, based on dynamic simulations and test site measurements. The energy performance of various configurations of unvented solar walls was investigated in different climatic conditions. The outcomes of the dynamic simulations were used to develop a simplified quasi-steady-state model, which can be used for approximate evaluation of the heat gains and heat losses through an unvented solar wall on a monthly basis. The model is compatible with the monthly method of EN ISO 13790.

The Mexican state of Baja California Sur has a high rate of population growth. It is also one of the states that are most vulnerable to climate change. Due to its location on the southern side of a roughly 900-mile long peninsula, and its natural separation from mainland Mexico, its power trans- mission networks are completely independent of the rest of the country. Thus, nearly all the energy used to generate electricity must be shipped to the state in the form of fossil fuels. The importation of energy supplies from the mainland results in higher costs for the state than in other areas of the country, causes greater environmental damage, and prevents a steady supply of energy to the state. This study’s objective is to propose a sustainable management model and to provide a reference to feasible sites available that could serve the Loreto region. An analytical model has been developed with multiple criteria and geographic information systems. This will allow for a wide range of spatial analysis of information covering the calculation of slopes, orientation, irradiation, infrastructure, etc. The municipal region of Loreto has roughly 288 square kilometres of land deemed suitable for the installation of solar plants. This area comprises 1.62% of the municipality. In 2016, the maximum electrical power demand for the entire state of Baja California Sur was 628 Megawatts per hour according to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). Loreto’s electrical capacity is currently 17MWh. Based on calculations that one photovoltaic plant located on two acres of land can produce one MWh, solar plants in the region could, theoretically, produce up to 14,403.35 MWh. Clearly, this potential capacity would be well above the demands of the municipality, which encompasses 3.8% of the state territory.

With regard to both the consumer behavior and the overall competition structure, the retail industry is constantly changing. Each industry has its peculiarities, retail is no exception. The customer loyalty levels are decreasing, therefore, the retail management at large has to decide which effective measures to take, in order to simultaneously gain new customers and retain the existing ones. At present, the average buyer is educated, experienced, and keenly self-aware of his/her importance, as well as of the entire purchasing process. Consequently, it is essential to obtain access and keep the buyer satisfied. The changes required, with regard to the management of retail chains, should thus cover all the stages of the  process, ranging from the procurement to sales. In this particular paper, we examine the corporate governance process and its’ requirements of competing on the retail market. The overview of the entire organizational structure and the processes required to operate under current retail management conditions will be analyzed. The findings will prove to be quite beneficial to Croatian retail companies and aid in overcoming the major threat of EU competitors, laying out the changes necessary for  survival within this particular industry branch.

Laminated timber-concrete (LTC) and steel-timber-concrete composite beam (S-LTC) members with adhesive interlayer connections were experimentally investigated. This paper presents the results of the acoustic emission (AE) investigation performed during short-term static ramp-loading to failure tests. The beam specimens were continuously monitored using accelerometers connected to a four channel dynamic signal analyzer. For LTC beams, the failure of the timber in tension was typically observed; therefore, a steel layer was added to the tension side of the timber layer to increase the strength and to induce a ductile behaviour. The results of the AE investigations on two LTC and two S-LTC specimens reveal the progression of the failure as it initiates and gradually develops within the beams, leading to the tension failure and shear failure modes for the LTC and S-LTC specimens, respectively. The results confirm that the fast Fourier transformation (FFT) and waterfall type of spectral analysis have an important role in supplying substantial and reliable amounts of information for the identification of different phenomena in connection with the failure process of the investigated structural members.

Panels protect timber elements in timber frame assemblies during fire. The influence of the panels can be incorporated into calculations according to EN 1995-1-2, Annex C [1]. The number of panels incorporated in this standard is limited. Moreover, the calculations performed according to this standard result in overestimation of the charred area. In this work, experimental analysis of the protective behaviour was performed. Small-scale fire tests were used to monitor the temperature inside the timber element and the timber frame assembly. The measured results are compared with calculations according to the standard.

This paper presents an innovative lateral load-resisting wall system, which is an evolution of the light-timber frame (LTF) shear walls currently available on the market. In comparison to traditional LTF walls, the novelty aspect is the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) beams and studs instead of solid timber elements. Thanks to this ‘hybrid’ approach, this new system combines some peculiar aspects of LTF structures (such as the limited weight and the high dissipative behaviour) with the potentials of CLT. Moreover, the use of CLT elements limits the issues due to the compressive deformations on bottom beams and permits to employ some innovative connections with high mechanical properties. Cyclic shear tests are carried out on two configurations of interest, assembled by considering different layouts of the load-bearing elements. Test results are compared to the experimental data obtained on similar LTF systems and differences are critically discussed.

Over the last few years, Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panels have become increasingly popular in many structural applications. The growth in CLT uptake by the construction sector is likely to continue in line with the pressing need for sustainable construction. Although current design methods exist for CLT, often these have limits of applicability. In order to gain upmost efficiency, there is a need for improved analytical methods to fully determine the structural behaviour of CLT. In this article, CLT panels will be investigated as a novel application of the State Space Approach (SSA). As CLT is a laminated composite panel, the 3D analytical approach provided by the SSA is highly applicable. Comparison with existing experimental results for different CLT panels are explored for simply supported orthotropic CLT panels under different types of loading. The effect of the plate thickness on displacements and stresses is described quantitatively. The results demonstrate the capability of the SSA method to capture the nonlinear distribution of the stresses through the depth of the plates over a range of thicknesses, thus offering an improved understanding of CLT structural behaviour.

Wood is referred to as a material but in the true material sciences definition, a material is uniform, predictable, continuous, and reproducible. No two pieces of wood are the same even if they came from the same tree and the same board. Wood is better described as a composite and, more accurately, as a porous three-dimensional, hydroscopic, viscoelastic, anisotropic bio-polymer composite composed of an interconnecting matrix of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin with minor amounts of inorganic elements and organic extractives. So, even solid wood is a composite. The characteristics we deal with at the solid wood level (swelling/shrinking, biological attack, and strength) are derived from the properties at the cell wall matrix and polymer level. Moisture sorption and desorption in the cell wall polymers results in dimensional instability and changing mechanical properties. Many different types of microorganisms recognize wood as a food source and are able to break it down resulting in both weight and strength losses. One technology that has now been commercialized to achieve high levels of stability, durability, and improved wet mechanical properties is acetylation: a reaction between the hydroxyl groups in the wood cell wall polymers and acetic anhydride. While all woods contain a low level of acetyl groups, increasing this acetyl content changes the properties and, thereby, the performance of the reacted wood. When a substantial number of the accessible hydroxyl groups are acetylated consistently across the entire cell wall, the wood reaches its highest level of stability and durability.

In the field of timber engineering, adhesive bonding remains a promising, though poorly developed, joining technique that may increase the structural stiffness and capacity of timber joints and structures. Selecting ductile adhesives may further allow to conceive ductile joints, which can compensate for the missing material ductility of timber. To demonstrate the potential of this approach, adhesively bonded double-lap timber joints were manufactured using a ductile acrylic adhesive and then subjected to axial tension and compression. The load–displacement responses were captured and compared to those of the same joints composed of a brittle epoxy adhesive. The effect of the different adhesives on the joint ductility has been studied and quantified.

This issue contains a number of state of the art contributions on Timber Structures and Engineering. They are written by scientists, architects and engineers interested in promoting the use of timber as a construction material.

In fact, when trying to find a reliable timber engineering solution, the designers of structural elements are facing a major challenge, i.e. although timber is one of the most widely used materials in the world, it lacks the reliability of stone, concrete and other materials. Indeed, it is easy to understand why the Eurocodes only accept its use under simple uni-axial load conditions, in view of its anisotropy, heterogeneity and many other imperfections.

Timber has been regarded in the past as an unreliable material. Its main advantage was its local availability, which made its use easy and economical.

However, a major structural engineering revolution took place in the XXth Century. It was the emergence of composites, for which synergy between different materials offers a reliable and strong structural solution. One thus discovers the advantages of “composite materials solutions” in combination with more mechanically reliable materials, plus others that offer thermal, acoustic, insulation, fire resistance, anti seismic behaviour, and other properties.

Timber has gained credibility in structural applications despite its incertitudes in mechanical properties and its limited possibilities in the case of traction structural joints or multi-axial states of stress. It is also a beautiful material, which can be used for a multitude of complex structural forms which has led to its ever-increasing use in the modern built environment.

Timber–concrete composite structures are often used as floor solutions in new and existing buildings to combine better acoustic separation and improved thermal insulation with increased stiffness and greater load-carrying capacity. The choice of a structurally effective yet cheap shear connection between the concrete topping and the timber joist is crucial to make the composite floor a viable solution that can compete with reinforced concrete and steel structures. The use of inclined screws is a possible option to maximize the slip modulus of the connection and, at the same time, keep the construction cost within acceptable values. In this paper, the results from an experimental and numerical investigation carried out on such a type of shear connection are reported. Push-out tests were carried out at the Laboratory of the Department of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering of the University of L’Aquila. Each specimen consisted of a timber block connected to two concrete slabs by means of two 8 mm diameter screws per side produced by Rotho Blaas. A layer of OSB was interposed to reproduce the timber flooring often used as permanent formwork for the placement of the concrete slab in new floors or the existing timber flooring when strengthening existing timber structures. Two different screw lengths and interlayer thicknesses were investigated. For each configuration, 10 push-out specimens were tested. The results were statistically assessed by computing the mean slip moduli and the characteristic values of the shear strength. Numerical simulations were also carried out to investigate the dependency of the slip modulus upon the screw inclination and the interlayer flooring thickness.

As a natural raw material timber shows indisputable environmental excellence and certainly represents one of the best choices for sustainable construction. The use of glazing in buildings has always contributed to openness, visual comfort and better daylight situation. The features of the both building materials lead to the development of a new type of highly attractive structures, the so-called timber–glass buildings. However, in a view to maximising the use of natural solar radiation gains, the most of the glazing is usually placed in the south facade of such buildings, which can lead to many structural problems, especially when the building is exposed to heavy horizontal loads. In such cases it is usu- ally to assure a horizontal stability by using additional visible diagonal elements or by internal wall elements. In this study we are presenting another solution by using timber-frame wall elements with fixed insulating glazing placed on the external side of the timber frame where the glass pane is consid- ered as a load-bearing element. It is presented that such timber–glass load-bearing wall element can significantly contribute to the overall horizontal resistance of the whole building. The behaviour of load-bearing timber–glass wall elements is additionally modelled with FE model where the bonding line is modelled with spring elements. With such developed mathematical model it is possible further parametrically to analyse many various parameters which significantly influence on the capacity, stiff- ness and failure mechanism of such composite elements.

A 3D Finite Element (FE) model has been developed, which accounted the geometric nonlinearity of flange and web portions of I-beams. The nonlinear FE model was reviewed against tests on castellated timber beams having a web with hexagonal holes. Load carrying capacity, load-deflection responses and failure modes for castellated beams in flexure were predicted and compared to the experimental results. An additional parametric study involving two different web opening shapes (circular and rectangular) was performed using the presented FE model to study the effects of the change of shapes of holes in web portions on the strength and buckling behaviour of castellated beams in bending. The parametric study has shown that castellated timber beams failing due to web-post buckling modes exhibited a strong decrease in the initial load capacity.

The resistance to horizontal loads provided by timber constructions is determined by the racking resistance of the timber frame walls within the structure. In Eurocode 5 (EN 1995-1-1), two methods are described to assess the racking resistance of these structural elements. Method A refers to a mechanical model while method B is empirically based and therefore less attractive. When using method A, full anchorage of the leading stud is needed. Moreover, contributions of wall panels with openings are neglected in the assessment of the racking resistance. In this paper, an experimental campaign studying the racking resistance of partially anchored walls with different wall and loading configurations is presented. The study shows that window and door openings lead to a reduction of the racking resistance of the wall depending on the size of the opening. Additionally, a comparison between the experimental data and several design methods for the assessment of the racking resistance of the wall panels is made.

Massive timber plate elements, specifically cross laminated timber (CLT), has gained popularity recently in North America as major alternative construction material for building components offering competitive advantages relative to traditional reinforced concrete slab for medium rise applications. There are two major structural applications for this kind of timber plate, as floor slab or shear wall components of multi-storey buildings. The following study will be focused on the structural performance of hybrid multi-storey buildings constructed using CLT plate as the floor slab elements. The specific objective of this paper is to investigate lateral deformability of floor diaphragm that is composed of CLT slab in combination with reinforced concrete and steel floor framing loaded under seismic excitation. Critical irregular floor layouts of medium rise buildings are selected and modeled using computer structural and building analysis software ETABS. Major outputs including lateral floor deformation (drift), storey shear and dynamic characteristic analyses are analyzed and contrasted with the current design practices, i.e. building code application with respect to diaphragm assumption for seismic design. As in the reinforced concrete-based floor diaphragm, expected general outcome from this study is to provide input for design code provision regarding whether rigid, flexible, or in-between (semi-rigid) assumption of CLT-based diaphragm is adequate for performing design standard procedure for seismic design of hybrid multi-storey buildings. Structural analysis and modeling challenges for CLT-based diaphragm used in hybrid multi-storey buildings are presented and design recommendations will be given.

Infrared is a part of electromagnetic spectrum not visible for the human eye, but contain important information regarding material status. Several scientific methods have been developed during years to acquire, analyse and interpret the infrared radiation in active and passive way. The technology become especially interesting nowadays when infrared measuring instruments become portable and affordable, being reasonably accurate at the same time. This research summarizes some possibilities of implementing modern instruments available on the market but also presents prototype solutions developed for the research needs in the laboratory. Near- and mid-infrared spectroscopies as well as hyperspectral and thermal imaging in different configurations are briefly described with a special focus on the specific application in assessment of timber structures. Advantages for implementation but also limiting factors for each technology are listed and discussed.

This paper explores the different models used for rural electrification in developing countries. The unsuccessful projects and their causes of failure are analysed and some components of successful projects are also outlined. The analysis proves that there is more to just the technology aspect of the deployment and the socio economic and political factors play a major role in determining success of the programs. The two most successful models for the large scale dissemination of solar systems are this fee-for-service model and the micro-credit scheme.

Finding an optimum ratio of return and risk of investment projects is the key problem in overcoming the unfavorable conditions of oil prices and the reduction of profitability of the oil and gas industry. Search for investment opportunities associated with the potential willingness of oil companies to raise funds in new projects, leading to the need for improved tools maximize the return of investment activity in the conditions of uncertainty and risk. In the article the authors propose an original approach which allows solving the problem of formation of a portfolio of investment projects that achieve the maximum return on the risks assumed. The approach includes a method for determining the credit quality of the investment project on the basis of probability of default. This method is based on a comprehensive multivariate analysis of the investment project. Factors model aimed at the country and regional analysis, identification of foreign exchange, operational, technological and financial risks of the project and obtaining the integral evaluation of the project credit. The approach also includes economic capital modeling based on the MV-model (Merton-Vasicek-model), allowing achievement of the target level of creditworthiness of an oil and gas company in the long run. The proposed method of estimating project profitability is based on RAROC (risk-adjusted return on capital) methodology which enables calculation of profitability of projects based on their riskiness. The results can be used by management of oil and gas companies, investors and analysts in making financial decisions.

This paper reviews the development of fast molten salt nuclear reactors (MSRs) to close the nuclear fuel cycle by processing future and existing nuclear waste so that it can be returned safely to the environment. It follows two earlier papers outlining the overall use of a range of MSR types and an outline of future proposed marketing of a universal modular thermal MSR design for general purposes. It is suggested that the future MSR industry will probably evolve into three major competitive global corporations. The first one, serving the Far East, seems likely to become entirely MSR based, whereas the other two serving Europe/Western Russia and the Americas may use the alternative lead-cooled fast reactor for waste disposal, which is the closest competitor to the MSR system. Although construction of full-scale fast (MSR) reactors for closing the fuel cycle may not eventuate until some years into the future, it is concluded that this need not delay the introduction of the general purpose thermal MSR reactor envisaged earlier. This new nuclear technology is considered essential to maintain base-load electricity in a world where agricultural needs are expected to take precedence over space requirements for wind and solar farms. Using Thorium, in addition to Uranium, nuclear fuel is sufficient for the next 1000 years. Thus this energy resource can be considered pseudo-sustainable and give us the time to restore our world to a state of balance and true sustainability. Attention is also drawn to the present dangers of continuing to increase the storage of nuclear waste and the refurbishing of old-design nuclear plant, which are already 40 years old.

With the publication of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) in 2012, energy savings in the Industry processes have gained more and more importance in the European Union (EU). Industry (with building and transport) is one of the three main sectors where Energy consumption and efficiency play a fundamental role, to accomplish the EU energy objectives. Many countries in EU have already adopted schemes and mechanisms to implement the Directive: however deep differences of approaches still remain among the Member States (MSs), especially with respect to the identification of the real benefits of measures and to the assessment of their efficiency and sustainability. As a consequence, a huge amount of the efficiency potential still remains untapped. This paper proposes some criteria for the evaluation of the applied Energy Efficiency measures, leading to the identification of Good Practices of Energy Efficiency. These criteria are taken from the ‘real world’ of industry, and are susceptible to be replicated in other contexts (e.g. different sectors or other countries). The proposed criteria have been developed in the EU H2020 project EUMERCI (nr 693845) and through a national research (part of the ‘Ricerca di Sistema’ national funding system) both coordinated by RSE. The starting point is the harmonization of data sets related to projects developed in different EU countries within local efficiency implementation schemes. The second step is the definition of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) reflecting the impact of measures against Energy, Environment and Economic aspects. The last step is the extraction of efficiency ‘Good Practices’ ranked according to the identified KPIs and other factors, including social elements. The real added value of this approach is that it is full based on tangibly implemented projects, in opposition to similar attempts, essentially theoretical. Ultimately, it offers a key of assessment of the effectiveness of efficiency measures implementing local and EU policies.

This article documents university student perceptions of the role and viability of non-carbon emitting energy sources in the short term (1 to 3 years) and medium term (10 to 30 years) for Earth. Consequently, the perceptions of 7,980 students at the University of Idaho (Moscow, ID, USA) about the future of geothermal energy (G), hydropower energy (H), nuclear power (NP), ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), solar energy (S) and wind energy (W) were measured between 1993 and 2016. All students were enrolled in the introductory environmental science class. Two survey instruments were used to gather this data. The first survey instrument evaluated six energy sources in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014. The second instrument focused on questions about nuclear energy. In the first survey a significant portion of the students considered solar, wind and nuclear power to be viable non-emitting carbon energy sources in the medium-term (10 to 30 years) future. Also, students taking the survey in later years (2006, 2010, 2014) were much more likely to consider non-carbon energy sources viable in the near and mid-term than students taking the survey in 1994, 1998 and 2002. In general, 46.7% of students considered nuclear power a serious problem at the beginning of the course; however, at the end of the term less than 36% of students still held their initial negative opinion. In addition, a significant majority of the students changed from indicating that fossil fuels were preferable to nuclear energy, an opinion they held at the beginning of the course, to favoring or at least saying that nuclear power was no worse than fossil fuels at the conclusion of the term. The significant findings of this study were: (1) students considered both solar and wind energy viable alternatives that have the potential to be significant on a world-wide basis within 30 years; (2) students saw only a limited expansion of hydropower and geothermal energy in the next 30 years; and (3) once students were educated in an unbiased way – including both the pros and cons of using nuclear energy – they were more receptive to view the nuclear power option favorably.

The use of wood-fuel pellets has increased significantly worldwide in recent years, especially in the United Kingdom. If wood-fuel pellets should continue to be a successful biofuel at the energy market, the pellet production industry has to reduce the production cost, since it is a low-margin business. Further, improved pellets regarding storability and strength of the pellets are crucial to manage the overseas transportation that causes material losses. In addition, the industry tries to produce pellets from a broader raw material base and at the same time satisfy the customer requirements while producing a sustainable product. The wood-fuel pellet industry has the possibility to meet all these criteria; however, it also has the potential for improvements. Using additives in pellet production is one way to meet the criteria. In conclusion, it is necessary to do the research that systematically investigates the consequences of using additives for wood-fuel pellets, and this work presents a compilation of results and experiences from more than 20 different additive studies and the test bed for pellet production research at Karlstad University– a pellet production unit adapted for additives studies. Additives, with an admixture of up to 2% (wt.), have been tested in the NewDeP (New Development for Pellet Technology) pilot plant for pellet production at Karlstad University. The research has focused on the electricity consumption, the physical and mechanical properties of the pellets, and the CO₂ equivalents emitted during production. The results showed that the additives Wetland grass, Algae, Turpentine and Lignin decreased the electricity consumption in the pellet press but unfortunately also decreased the durability. The additives Resins, Molasses, White sugar, Native potato starch and Oxidized potato starch increased the durability of the pellet but showed almost no change in the electricity consumption. However, Oxidized corn starch, Spent sulphite liquor and Native wheat starch as additives increased the mechanical properties while it decreases both the electricity consumption and the climate impact, hence a Win-Win-Win situation.

Road transport contributes to around one-fifth of the EU’s total CO₂ emissions and is the only major sector in the EU where greenhouse gas emissions are still rising. Swedish road transport causes 30% of all emissions. Addressing transport emissions is therefore crucial for meeting the Paris Agreement commitments on climate change.

The Swedish government aims to have a fossil-independent vehicle fleet by 2050; moreover, an emissions reduction target for the road transport sector of 80% (compared to 2010) by 2030 has been suggested. The government-initiated investigation ‘Fossilfrihet på väg’ sets out potential pathways, but a knowledge gap currently remains in regard to which path would be the most beneficial or least burdensome in terms of macroeconomic effects while still decarbonising the road transport sector.

This paper contributes to fill that knowledge gap by applying a vehicle stock modelling framework and a demand-driven global econometric model (E3ME) and by evaluating different technology pathways for Sweden to meet the 2030 and 2050 government targets. The stock model has been adjusted to be consistent with ‘Fossilfrihet på väg’ and uses technology deployment and cost estimates to model the Swedish vehicle stock emissions in three technology-driven scenarios.

The analysis shows that decarbonisation of transport can have positive impacts upon the Swedish economy, primarily through the replacement of imported fossil fuels with domestically produced electricity and biomass, while a further stimulus is provided by the construction of infrastructure to support electric vehicle recharging and fuel cell refuelling. Through quick action to encourage the deployment of new technologies and powertrains into the vehicle stock, plus policies aimed at promoting the domestic production of sustainable biomass, Sweden can maximise the potential gains from the decarbonisation process.

Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) has been applied in various analytical chemistry works. However, to fine tune a system that can serve the purposes of pyrolysis oil identification has proven to be a laborious effort, especially when considering the fact that no standard protocol exists for such analysis. In addition, obtained products were yielded from a newly commissioned unit with a unique and novel design. In this study, a US patent office claimed reactor [SULTAN-1, Pyrolysis Reactor System for the Conversion and Analysis of Organic Solid Waste, Patent application number: 15,487,351] that degrades polyolefinc virgin and waste materials to obtain petroleum refinery and petrochemical feedstock, has been commissioned. The reactor produces three distinct physical states of matter products accumulated as testing specimens, i.e. solids, gaseous and oil. The samples analysed in this work were of the gas and oil produced by pyrolysis of end of life tyre (ELTs) shavings that required to have a special recipe to work with in the laboratory. Various MS cords were utilised and experimental setups to fine tune the process, and special emphasis was given on the gas samples variation in this communication. To reach the desired analysis results with high repeatability, a plethora of experiences of lab personnel and laboratory-based experimental work was accumulated. Laboratory protocols were also setup for this work. These will be detailed along the process execution which yielded a standard laboratory best practice analytical method as part of the State of Kuwait newly initiated Government Initiative project.

The existence of numerous corrupt practices in the Nigerian Public Accounting System has led to the inauguration of Treasury Single Account (TSA). This paper assesses the impact of TSA implementation on the liquidity base of banks in Nigeria. Fifteen (15) listed banks were used as sample size for this study. Data was obtained by the use of annual reports and it was examined using Descriptive statistics and Paired sample t-test. The results obtained confirmed that the implementation of Treasury Single Account impacted negatively on the liquidity base of banks in Nigeria. Also, there is significant difference in the Profit after Tax (PAT) of Banks in Nigeria before and after Treasury Single Account (TSA) Adoption. It was recommended that if the policy is executed it will lead to the prompt payment of all income going into the nation’s purse without the intermediation of multiple banking arrangements.

As per the concept “continuity of enterprises”, the lifetime of enterprises is considered as indefinite and financial statements are issued under this assumption. However, the lifetime of enterprises may come to an end due to economic and commercial circumstances. The situation “the lifetime of an enterprise has come to an end”, which is characterised as bankruptcy in the law literature, is never a desired situation for any parties associated with such enterprise. Over-indebtedness constitutes one of the signs indicating that the enterprise is about to go bankrupt. Over-indebtedness is a situation where the assets of an enterprise remain insufficient to fulfil its debts and liabilities or where its shareholder equity becomes negative. The board of directors of an over-indebted company should apply for a competent court, for bankruptcy. However, such company may request for postponement of bankruptcy if it submits to the court reasonable recovery projects to overcome over- indebtedness. If a company applies for a competent court, for postponement of its bankruptcy; it will be necessary for that company to submit to the court an interim balance sheet issued on the basis of the current values of its assets, debts and liabilities to determine the situation of over-indebtedness, in addition to its balance sheet issued by taking its accounting records as basis. This interim balance sheet is called as over-indebtedness balance sheet. The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the concepts “bankruptcy”, “postponement of bankruptcy” and “over-indebtedness” within the legal system and to describe the transaction “issuance of an over-indebtedness balance sheet” within the accounting system.

In this article, a problem of measurement of credit risk in bank is studied. The approach suggested to solve it uses a Bayesian networks. After the data-gathering characterizing of the customers requiring of the loans, this approach consists initially with the samples collected, then the setting in works about it of various network architectures and combinations of functions of activation and training and comparison between the results got and the results of the current methods used.

To address this problem we will try to create a graph that will be used to develop our credit scoring using Bayesian networks as a method. After, we will bring out the variables that affect the credit worthiness of the beneficiaries of credit. Therefore this article will be divided so the first part is the theoretical side of the key variables that affect the rate of reimbursement and the second part a description of the variables, the research methodology and the main results.

The findings of this paper serve to provide an effective decision support system for banks to detect and alleviate the rate of bad borrowers through the use of a Bayesian Network model. This paper contributes to the existing literature on customers’ default payment and risk associated to allocating loans.

Financial inclusion is a poverty reduction tool and many economies have taken it up as a national agenda. To meet the expected levels of financial inclusion, governments have worked with financial intermediaries to reach the expected target group; the unbanked poor. As per financial intermediation theory, the role of financial intermediaries is to reduce information asymmetry in the financial system. To enhance financial inclusion, many countries and financial institutions have embraced Information Communication Technology (ICT). ICT is recognized as a tool that has worked greatly towards enhancing sharing of information at a low-cost and thus helped in improving financial inclusion. Though many countries have achieved high levels of financial inclusion through ICT, the levels of poverty have not changed. The purpose of this study was to find out the relationship between ICT, financial intermediation, and household investment. Study methodology was a review of the literature on financial inclusion, financial intermediation, ICT and household investment. The study noted that ICT is helping in financial intermediation and thus more people can access financial services. Unfortunately, the levels of ICT capability among the poor is low, and in that case, the poor are not able to use financial services offered through ICT platforms to undertake household investment. This is the reason as to why, despite the high levels of financial inclusion, the poor remains poor. This study recommends that the government make sure that the levels of ICT among the populace is high. Financial institutions should provide financial services with more user-friendly ICT platforms.

This paper analyzes the effects of conditional and unconditional conservatisms and IFRS adoption on the value relevance of accounting information in Indonesia. Using the pooled-cross sectional analysis for 429 publicly listed industrial firms between 2003 and 2014, we found that the value relevance tends to increase following IFRS implementation. When we group the sample based on various accounting conservatism levels, we found that IFRS increases the value relevance of earnings while decreases value relevance of book value for firms with medium level of conservatism. However, when we measure the conservatism as continuous variables, we found the negative (positive) relationship between conservatisms and value relevance of earnings (book value). Our three way interaction models indicate that earnings and book value numbers of the firms that are timelier in reflecting losses are less relevant in the post IFRS adoption. Further analysis also hinted the presence of inverse U-shaped relationship between conditional conservatism and value relevance of earnings, and U- shaped relationship between conditional conservatism and value relevance of book value.

Financial analysis now a day is an important instrument for the critical review of the performance of a business. It helps the concern to analyse the financial data and provide information which is required to take decisions regarding investments and also help to understand financial position better. The financial analysis portrays the financial health of a company and helps the companies to improve their financial resources and manage generated funds efficiently.

Information and technology industry has grown up extraordinarily in India during previous years. Its contribution in economy has also increased with a huge margin. Investment in IT industry is considered as a profitable and less risky investment destination in the Indian context. The paper is an attempt to facilitate the investor and the management to asses the financial position of a firm from the proprietor’s point of view. In order to identify the financial management efficiencies this paper will analyse management of proprietor’s funds in IT Companies of India, Specifically for Wipro Ltd. & Infosys Ltd. The paper will also suggest the initiatives to be taken by both the companies for improving their financial management techniques and achieving the optimum capital structures.

This study aimed at investigating the impact of the possible learning and adoption of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The data used for this study were gathered through the instruments of a questionnaire and secondary sources. One hundred and Fifty (150) copies of a questionnaire were administered, out of which one hundred and thirty-one (131) were collated for analysis. Kruskal-Wallis and descriptive statistical tools were used in testing these three hypotheses. Findings showed that environmental factors and problems in the Nigerian Stock Exchange will affect the learning and implementation of XBRL in the Stock Exchange as well as the fact that certain infrastructure must be put in place before the implementation of XBRL. The study recommended that the Federal government should announce and compel the educational awareness and adoption of XBRL as a format for regulatory filing and financial reporting in the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The role of ports has changed and has become more complex. Ports play a relevant role in global economy. They connect modes of transport and usually they are the leaders in the logistics chain. New works in Suez Canal were in progress until August 2015. The expansion of the Panama Canal will finish this year. These new operational conditions allow for an improvement of international maritime transportation. The Suez Canal Corridor Area Project is a mega project in Egypt that was officially launched in August 2014. The project’s aim is to increase the role of the Suez Canal region in international trading and to develop the three canal cities: Suez, Ismaïlia and Port Said. The importance of these actions changes in the new port cities and new trends and conditions in maritime transportation are discussed.

In the case of conventional rail lines, when disruptions occur, dispatchers have the difficult task of finding feasible rescheduling solutions rapidly so as to re-establish ordinary conditions as soon as possible. Despite the numerous contributions for automatic rescheduling proposed in the literature, this process is still totally controlled by dispatchers who decide according to their personal experience and under their own responsibility. Indeed, in many cases, it can be more advantageous to let the system revert to ordinary conditions without implementing any strategy rather than look for solutions which can reduce the discomfort perceived by passengers. In this article we propose a system of models for managing the rail system, combining a microscopic simulation model with an assignment tool which is able to consider passenger flows on the network. as a result, the disutility experienced by users during their trip can be evaluated and feasible intervention strategies can be assessed, taking into account the passengers’ perspective. an application on a real regional line in campania (Italy) shows the benefits of the proposed approach for performing off-line analyses of intervention solutions and helping dispatchers make decisions during critical events to increase service quality.

Illegal pedestrian crossing situations at signalized intersections are observed worldwide. The main goal of this study was to observe attributes and determine the proportion and type of pedestrian violations and dangerous crossing situations at a traffic light located in a recreational tourist urban environment, i.e. the beach town of Viareggio on the coast of Tuscany, Italy.

A large signalized intersection placed close to the beach was observed for some days in Summer 2015, for several hours, both in the morning and in the afternoon, to collect data. The main aim was to identify the illegal pedestrian crossing behaviour with red traffic light.

Pedestrian crossing data were recorded with a video camera. Then, the video data were processed using a semi-automated software self-written in MATLAB to extract information on different pedestrian factors.

Some factors, identified in the current literature as having an influence on the proportion of violations, such as age, sex and group size, were analysed. Furthermore, the impact of the amber length time on the proportion of dangerous performed crossings was studied. The obtained results highlight that pedestrians in a recreational tourist environment are generally more in compliance with traffic light than those in a weekday urban context. It is also important to pay particular attention to pedestrian yellow time (amber steady man) in order to avoid dangerous legal crossings. In fact it was often observed that pedestrians start to cross on the green walking man but end under the red light.

Benefits are intrinsic to infrastructure and the public sector, yet these remain a problem for many infrastructure sectors (including transportation), organizations and countries. Much of the focus upon benefit management targets project delivery; by contrast, this study considers system-level benefit management using a transportation case study from New Zealand. In so doing, it investigates why the matter of benefits might be so problematic, and in what way this might affect the integration of projects into the extant system.

The research shows system-level coordination and integration are being lost within the ‘tactical strategy’ of programmes and initiatives. In turn, this is creating a ‘red queen’-like busyness without a real understanding of whether anything has been achieved relative to the intended or necessary outcomes being sought. System stewardship has therefore been advanced as an appropriate response to system- level complexity and a potential enabler of strategic agility and adaptive capacity.

Specialists have been discussing the best locations for railway stations for a long time; the first railway stations were built in the 21st century, and afterwards cities grew to the point of leaving the stations in central areas. Central stations provide train trips with several advantages over other means of transport. However, high-speed railway (HSR) introduces new variables when considering the best location for new stations. In 2000, the author’s team started the discussion and assessment of possible locations for the new HSR station in Valencia (Spain) and undertook two studies to analyse this issue. This article provides a theoretical framework for train station location and the analysis of the case in Spain. Furthermore, it synthesizes the results from researches performed in 2002 and 2006 as well as their implementation in Valencia. In addition, this article examines recent experience in relation to new high-speed train station placement, and the case of the 2,400-km-long HSR network in Spain by the end of 2015. Since the HSR network has a different track gauge in relation to the historical railway network, adaptations in the old stations or new locations were required. This situation allowed us to analyse the evolution of HSR in Spain and confirm theories about territorial impacts and optimal rail-network design, particularly in relation to the best location for new HSR stations. This article also looks into the evolution and current trends in modern railway planning, which have progressively changed in Spanish cities such as Madrid and Barcelona.

Trans-border railroad in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to the early 20th century in Saudi Arabia. Over the recent decades due to increasing population and developing industrial zones, the demands are growing up over time. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is now embarking on one of the largest modern cross-border rail networks in the world. This is an ambitious step regarding the planning and establishment of the rail network connecting all the six GCC countries. This railway network will go through at least one city in each country to link the cities of Kuwait in Kuwait, Dammam in Saudi Arabia, Manama in Bahrain, Doha in Qatar, the cities of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates and Sohar and then Muscat in Oman in terms of cargo and passengers. The area of investigation covers different aspects of the shared Arabian countries rail routes called ‘GCC line’ and their national rail network. The aim of this article is to study the existing future plans and policies of the GCC countries shared line and domestic railway network. This article studies the national urban (light rail transportation (LRT), metro (subways) and intercity rail transportation to appraise the potential of passenger movement and commodity transportation at present and in the future. The tabular informative technical aspects of operation, such as traffic load yearly, speed, cost of the project, tracks length and track types, are supplied. Result of the analysis gives an overview of the Gulf Arabian countries railway plan and project properties to generate opportunities for international companies and researchers. It shows that there is a big boom and development for the upcoming railway transportation in the GCC countries.

The coupling and decoupling of trains while they are in motion is one of the research fields of the DLR project, Next Generation Train. The coupling will be non-mechanical, but virtual and will be maintained by means of distance control technology. A special challenge of the virtual coupling in railway operation is the peril point of the switch in case of failure during the passage of two trains which are coming from different tracks, running in close succession at high speed. Therefore some concepts are unrealizable with the current switch technology. Nevertheless there are situations where virtual coupling seems promising. One scenario is the virtual coupling at low speed, for example in the proximity of a station, where a safe brake is possible in case of a switch failure. The ‘Shinkansen’ scenario aims to increase line capacity on the Tokaido high-speed line in Japan between Tokio and Osaka. The fastest ‘Nozomi’ trains are stopping only at major stations. These stations have two tracks per direction with a 400-metre platform. The idea is to double the number of Nozomi trains. So in every stopping station, there are two trains arriving and departing in a short interval. The distance on the open line is not that close, so it is more a ride within relative braking distance than a virtual coupling.

To evaluate that scenario a special railway operation simulation has been developed, which is able to handle virtual coupling. The simulation shows the possibility to increase seating capacity from 15,000 to 23,000 seats per hour and direction. One bottleneck is occurring in Nagoya, where an additional platform is needed. Also the return time in Tokio has to be shortened to no more than 15 min.

This article examines the role user-specific characteristics can play on assessing a new public transit service. The case under consideration is the new Western Suburban Rail service in Thessaloniki, Greece, which will cover a suburban area. Binary logit models were developed in order to investigate the potential demand for this project. A revealed and stated preference questionnaire survey was conducted. The sample of the survey was stratified according to the three current travel options, namely car, regular-fare bus and low-fare bus. The revealed preference survey included questions about trip and socio-economic characteristics of each user. The stated preference part examined the potential for the new mode in comparison to the current travel modes through changes in travel cost, travel time and number of transfers. Six binary logit choice models were developed in total, two for each user group. For each group, a simplified model was initially calibrated only with the mode-specific variables; at a next step user-specific variables were added and a second extended model was created. The results show significant relationship of mode- and user-specific variables to the final choice for all the three user groups. Likelihood ratio tests were used to examine whether user-specific attributes improve the overall fit of the models or not, compared to traditional choice models of travel time, travel cost and number of transfers. The outcomes show that the inclusion of user-specific variables improved the overall fit and the explanatory power of the models.

One of the main problems of coastlines around the world is their erosion. There are many studies that have tried to link coastal erosion with different parameters such as: maritime climate, sediment transport, sea level rise etc. However, it is unclear to what extent these factors influence coastal erosion. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted an increase in sea level at a much faster rate than that experienced in the first part of this century, reaching 1 m of elevation in some areas. Another factor to consider is the lack of sediment supply, since currently the contribution of new sediments from rivers or ravines is interrupted by anthropic activities carried out in their basins (dams, channelling, etc.). The big storms, increasingly frequent due to climate change, also should be considered, since they produce an off-shore sediments transport, so that these cross the depth of clo- sure, causing nonreturn of the sediment to the beach. Also, the sediment undergoes a process of wear due to various reasons such as the dissolution of the carbonate fraction and/or breakage and separation of the components of the particles. All these elements, to a greater or lesser extent, lead to the retreat of the coastline. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse the different factors causing the retreat of the coastline, in order to determine the degree of involvement of each of them and, therefore, be able to pose different proposals to reduce the consequences of coastal erosion.