A multiple account framework for cost-benefit analysis

The paper presents a spreadsheet-based multiple account framework for cost-benefit analysis which incorporates all the usual concerns of cost-benefit analysts such as shadow-pricing to account for market failure. distribution of net benefits. sensitivity and risk analysis, cost of public funds, and environmental effects. The approach is generalizable to a wide range of projects and situations and offers a number of advantages to both analysts and decision-makers, including transparency, a check on internal consistency, and a detailed summary of project net benefits disaggregated by stakeholder group. Of particular importance is the ease with which this framework allows for a project to be evaluated from alternative decision-making perspectives and under alternative policy scenarios where the trade-offs among the project's stakeholders can readily be identified and quantified. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Simplified Evaluation Procedure of the Scale of Fluctuation Combined Recurrence Averaging and Weighted Linear Regression

The divergence of properties from one location to another within a soil mass is termed spatial variability, which traditionally includes three parameters the mean, the standard deviation, and the scale of fluctuation, in order to stochastically describe a soil property. Among them, determining the scale of fluctuation in the evaluation of spatial variability of soil profiles is not easy due to soil condition complexity. A simplified procedure is presented in the paper to determine the scale of fluctuation combined recurrence averaging and weighted linear regression. The alternative approach utilizes widely usable spreadsheet to solve the problem more directly and efficiently.

Visual evaluation of color stability after accelerated aging of pigmented and nonpigmented silicones to be used in facial prostheses

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate by a visual method of comparison the color stability of nonpigmented and pigmented facial silicones after accelerated aging. Materials and Methods: Two kinds of silicones were used in this study; one specifically formulated for facial prostheses and the other an acetic silicone for industrial use. Twenty-four trial bodies were made for each silicone. These were divided into colorless and intrinsically pigmented groups: ceramic, make-up, and iron oxide. The groups were submitted to accelerated aging for nonmetallic materials. An initial reading and subsequent readings were made at 163, 351, 692, and 1000 hours using a visual method of comparison. The values were annotated in a spreadsheet by two observers, according to scores elaborated for this study. Results: All groups presented color stability in the visual method. According to the results obtained and analyzed in this study, we can conclude that both silicones, Silastic 732 RTV and Silastic MDX 4-4210, behaved similarly, they can therefore be indicated for use in maxillofacial prosthesis. The time factor of aging influenced negatively, independently of the pigmentation, or lack of it, and of silicones and no group had visually noticeable alterations in any of the accelerated aging time, independently of the addition or not of pigments.

The Application of Geographic Information Systems to climate change & land evaluation : a study of the effects of climate change upon crop productivity in a sub-tropical environment

This research investigates the contribution that Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can make to the land suitability process used to determine the effects of a climate change scenario. The research is intended to redress the severe under representation of Developing countries within the literature examining the impacts of climatic change upon crop productivity. The methodology adopts some of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates for regional climate variations, based upon General Circulation Model predictions (GCMs) and applies them to a baseline climate for Bangladesh. Utilising the United Nations Food & Agricultural Organisation's Agro-ecological Zones land suitability methodology and crop yield model, the effects of the scenario upon agricultural productivity on 14 crops are determined. A Geographic Information System (IDRISI) is adopted in order to facilitate the methodology, in conjunction with a specially designed spreadsheet, used to determine the yield and suitability rating for each crop. A simple optimisation routine using the GIS is incorporated to provide an indication of the 'maximum theoretical' yield available to the country, should the most calorifically significant crops be cultivated on each land unit both before and after the climate change scenario. This routine will provide an estimate of the theoretical population supporting capacity of the country, both now and in the future, to assist with planning strategies and research. The research evaluates the utility of this alternative GIS based methodology for the land evaluation process and determines the relative changes in crop yields that may result from changes in temperature, photosynthesis and flooding hazard frequency. In summary, the combination of a GIS and a spreadsheet was successful, the yield prediction model indicates that the application of the climate change scenario will have a deleterious effect upon the yields of the study crops. Any yield reductions will have severe implications for agricultural practices. The optimisation routine suggests that the 'theoretical maximum' population supporting capacity is well in excess of current and future population figures. If this agricultural potential could be realised however, it may provide some amelioration from the effects of climate change.