Technical and economic analysis of irrigation of asparagus bean in protected environment

This experiment was conducted in Lavras - state of Minas Gerais (MG), Brazil, in a protected environment, and aims to estimate the irrigation depths that maximize productivity and economic returns in the cultivation of asparagus bean and analyze the economic viability of irrigation management. The experimental delineation was randomized blocks with five treatments and four replications. The treatments consisted of five drip irrigation depths: 40, 70, 100, 130 and 160% of water replacement depth up to field capacity. The depths of water that maximize productivity and economic returns were obtained from the regression model adjusted to productivity data, cost of product relations and water cost. The economic viability was achieved on the benefit/cost ratio basis. The depth with the maximum economic return was estimated in 434.4mm, with a productivity of 35,160.6kg ha-1, which is economically viable for the cultivation of asparagus bean, with a expected profitability of R$ 1.70 for every real invested.

Economic analysis of cashew early dwarf Crop BRS - 189 depending on water levels and doses of potassium fertilization

Water and fertilizer among the production factors are the elements that most restrict the production of cashew. The precise amount of these factors is essential to the success of the crop yield. This research aimed to determine the best factor-product ratio and analyze technical and economic indicators, of productivity of the cashew clone BRS 189 (Anacardium occidentale) to production factors water and potassium. The experiment was conducted from May 2009 to December 2009 in an experimental area of 56.0 m x 112.0 m in the irrigated Curu - Pentecoste, located in the municipality of Pentecoste, Ceará, Brazil. Production factors water (W) and potassium (K) were the independent variables and productivity (Y), the dependent variable. Ten statistical models that have proven satisfactory for obtaining production function were tested. The marginal rate of substitution was obtained through the ratio of the potassium marginal physical product and the water marginal physical product. The most suited model to the conditions of the experiment was the quadratic polynomial without intercept and interaction. Considering that the price of the water was 0.10 R$ mm -1, the price of the potassium 2.19 R$ kg -1 and the price of the cashew 0.60 R$ kg-1, the amounts of water and K2O to obtain the maximum net income were 6,349.1 L plant-1 of water and 128.7 g plant -1year, -1 respectively. Substituting the values obtained in the production function, the maximum net income was achieved with a yield of 7,496.8 kg ha-1 of cashew.

Technical and economic indicators of the yellow passion fruit tree irrigated with underground water supply

The research aimed to quantify technical and economic indicators of yellow passion fruit tree irrigated with fractions of irrigation with underground source of water, to generate information that helps farmers in decision making on the implementation of investment in irrigated fruit growing (yellow passion fruit). For this purpose, we used the passion fruit crop irrigated with Microjet type irrigation system, with conducting system in simple espaliers. The treatments consisted of five hours of application of the depth of water required by the crop with irrigation frequency of two days. The results showed that the highest yield (16660kg ha-1) was obtained with the fractionation of irrigation twice a day (50% to 7h and 50% to 21h30), which provided an increase in productivity of 54%, demonstrating the financial viability and being highly profitable to the interest rate of 2% per year, with low sensitivity of financial risk to real interest rates above the prevailing market.

Economic analysis for sizing of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) mechanized harvesting

Sugarcane has a significant role on Brazilian agribusiness economy. The harvesting cane is considered as one of the most important operations of the process for it has to attend the raw material demanded by the sugar mill in quality and a competitive cost. The objective of this work it is it of analyzing, of systemic way, the variables influence on economical and operational performance in sugarcane mechanized harvesting process for sizing of machines. For this purpose a model called "ColheCana", was developed in a spreadsheet and in a programming language. The results showed that the field efficiency and harvester´s initial value are variables of great impact in the cost and that there is a maximum area that one equipment can attend and for this area the cost is minimum.

Technical-economic analysis of different lighting systems for broiler poultry

ABSTRACT Broiler poultry is highly dependent on artificial lightening. Power consumption costs of artificial lighting systems is the second largest expense related to broiler industry, second only to feed expenses. Therefore, the current study focused to analyze technical and economic feasibility of replacing incandescent lamps already used in aviaries with other lamp types. Costs related to power consumption, implementation and maintenance of the lighting systems were evaluated with the aid of financial mathematics using net present value, return over investment and payback. Systems composed of six lamp types were analyzed in two different configurations to meet the minimum illuminance of 5 and 20 lux and for use in conventional sheds and dark house. The lamps tested were incandescent (LI) of 100 W, compact fluorescent (CFL) of 34 W, mixed (ML) 160 W sodium vapor (SVL) of 70 W, tubular fluorescent T8 (TFL T8) of 40 W and tubular fluorescent T5 (TFL T5) of 28 W. For the systems tested, it was found that the tubular fluorescent lamps T8 and T5 showed the best results of technical and economic feasibility.

Techno-Economic Feasibility of Novel On-Line Condition Monitoring Methods in Low Voltage Distribution Networks

The focus in this thesis is to study both technical and economical possibilities of novel on-line condition monitoring techniques in underground low voltage distribution cable networks. This thesis consists of literature study about fault progression mechanisms in modern low voltage cables, laboratory measurements to determine the base and restrictions of novel on-line condition monitoring methods, and economic evaluation, based on fault statistics and information gathered from Finnish distribution system operators. This thesis is closely related to master’s thesis “Channel Estimation and On-line Diagnosis of LV Distribution Cabling”, which focuses more on the actual condition monitoring methods and signal theory behind them.

An Infant with Food Allergy and Eczema in the Family – The Mental and Economic Burden of Caring

Allergic diseases including food allergy and eczema in an infant in combination with the everyday activities of caring for a family will pose challenges to parents. Only fragments of these challenges are revealed to health care professionals. Families have varying mental, social and economic resources to help them care for an allergic infant, and all such resources are important in determining how families succeed in meeting these challenges and the quality of the infant’s care. This study evaluated the whole burden to the family caused by an infant's allergic disease during the first 24 months of life. As the primary caregiver during this period is usually the mother, her perspective was considered important. Ecocultural theory, which considers families as capable of modifying the positive and negative forces facing them, was taken as the frame of reference. Data were collected as part of an ongoing prospective mother-infant study, and the methods included severity scoring of atopic dermatitis, dietary records, health-related quality of life measurements and assessments of the use of health care services and medications for treating the infant’s eczema, food allergy and asthma. Interviews with mothers were analysed by deductive content analysis on the basis of ecocultural theory and the family empowerment model. The theme “Living an ordinary family life” guided the organization of family activities essential for treating the infant's food allergy and eczema. These activities were sources of both strain and support for the mothers, the allergy-related supporting factors being the mother’s own knowledge of the allergy, hopes for an improvement in the infant’s condition, social support and work. An infant’s food allergy at the age of one year caused considerable strain for the mother in cases where the introduction of new foods into the child’s diet was delayed. This delay was still causing the mother additional strain when the child was 24 months of age. The infants waking at night at the ages of 12 and 24 months because of itching related to eczema caused strain for the mothers. The infants’ health-related quality of life was impaired at ages of 6 and 12 months compared with healthy infants. The principal reasons for impairments were itching, scratching and sleep disturbances at 6 and 12 months and treatment difficulties at 6 months. Problems with getting to sleep were reported at all stages irrespective of eczema and were also present in healthy infants. The economic impact of the treatment of allergic diseases on families during the first 24 months was 131 EUR (2006 value) in cases of eczema and 525 EUR in cases of food allergy. From the societal perspective, the costs of food allergy were a median of 3183 EUR (range 628–11 560 EUR) and of eczema a median of 275 EUR (range 94–1306 EUR). These large variations in costs in food allergy and eczema indicate that disease varies greatly . In conclusion, food allergy and eczema cause extra activities and costs to families which arrange these disease-related activities in such a way that they support the leading family theme “Living an ordinary family life”. Health care professionals should consider this thematic character of family life and disease-related activities in order to ensure that new treatments are sustainable, meaningful and tailored to daily activities. In addition, those mothers who are experiencing difficulties with food allergic infants or infants with eczema should be recognized early and provided with individual encouragement and support from health clinics. In the light of the present results, early detection of symptoms and effective parental guidance can contribute to the well-being and health-related quality of life of the child and family.

Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment : Prosperity, competitiveness, sustainable development

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Strategy for 2012–2015 : The Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment create sustainable well-being

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Economic losses due to bovine brucellosis in Brazil

Brucellosis is an important zoonosis of worldwide distribution. Reliable epidemiologic brucellosis data covering approximately 90% of the cattle population in Brazil have been recently published. Therefore, considering the scarcity of information regarding the economic impact of bovine brucellosis in Brazil, the goal of this study was to estimate economic impact of brucellosis on the Brazilian cattle industry. Several parameters including abortion and perinatal mortality rates, temporary infertility, replacement costs, mortality, veterinary costs, milk and meat losses were considered in the model. Bovine brucellosis in Brazil results in an estimated loss of R$ 420,12 or R$ 226,47 for each individual dairy or beef infected female above 24 months of age, respectively. The total estimated losses in Brazil attributed to bovine brucellosis were estimated to be approximately R$ 892 million (equivalent to about 448 million American dollars). Every 1% increase or decrease in prevalence is expected to increase or decrease the economic burden of brucellosis in approximately 155 million Reais.

Entrepreneurial orientation in small and medium-sized enterprises during economic crisis

The economic importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship has increased significantly in recent decades and entrepreneurial activity and SMEs are deemed vital to economic progress. Therefore, it is justifiable to study how small firms and entrepreneurs can enhance their performance and emergence in the turbulent economic environment. The concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has recently attracted considerable attention in the field of entrepreneurship research. EO generally refers to a firm’s propensity to be innovative, to be proactive and to take risks. A majority of EO studies so far have found that adopting EO associated entrepreneurial behaviors will help firms to create or sustain a high level of performance. This dissertation explores the main drivers and performance implications of EO for SMEs in time of economic crisis. Hence the first objective of this dissertation is to examine the performance implications of EO and to test the role of EO on how firms are treated by the crisis at operative level. The second objective is to expand the prevailing understanding of determinants of EO by exploring the relationship between owner's work related values, attitudes, demographic characteristics, firm’s financial resources and EO. EO was found to be a significant and positive factor behind a firm’s long run growth. Hence it can be said that EO has positive implications for firm performance. But on the other hand, during a time of economic crisis the different dimensions of EO had both positive and negative effects on performance of SMEs. The performance implications varied across different stages of the crisis and were also dependent on what measure was used for measuring the performance. The main drivers of EO in SMEs were the personal work related values of the entrepreneur and his/her prior experience as an entrepreneur. The intrinsic work values related to interest, responsibility, challenge, self-development or intellectual stimulation and values related to status, power, achievement and recognition had a positive effect on the level of EO. On the other hand, extrinsic values related to high income, material possessions, benefits such as generous holidays, job security, and comfort through good working conditions decreased the level of EO

Serva ad ministrare : tjänandets ethos i vårdledarskap

Avhandlingen syftar till att ur ett vårdvetenskapligt perspektiv beskriva och upptäcka tjänandets meningsinnehåll samt fördjupa förståelsekunskap om tjänandets ethos i förhållande till vårdledarskap med en inriktning på det vårdadministrativa. Syftet är även att skapa en idealmodell som öppnar för en ny eller annorlunda förståelsehorisont för tjänandets ethos i vårdledarskap. Kunskapssökandet sker genom följande delstudier: (1) I begreppsbestämningen genomförs begreppsanalyser av tjäna och tjänst med avsikt att öppna för en grundförståelse och tankestruktur i forskningsuppgiften. (2) I det idéhistoriska spåras tjänandets ontologiska arv och idémönster fram genom tolkning av historiska källornas texter från 1900-talets första hälft i ljuset av sjuksköterskeledarskap utgående från Sophie Mannerheims, Bertha Wellins och Bergljot Larssons idéer och tankeströmningar. (3) Sökandet fortsätter i dagens kliniska kontextbas genom kvalitativa djupintervjuer med 30 deltagare (vårdledare och vårdare) från Finland, Sverige och Norge. Förförståelsen och forskningens teoretiska perspektiv har rötter i Erikssons caring science-tradition och vårdvetenskapens ontologiska grundantaganden som utvecklats vid Åbo Akademi, Enheten för vårdvetenskap i Vasa. Forskningsansatsen är inspirerad av H-G Gadamers filosofiska hermeneutik. Designen är explorativ-deskriptiv, idiografisk och implicerar ett hypotetisk-deduktivt tillvägagångssätt. Tjänandet och vårdledarskapets ethos upptäcks och tolkas genom det metodologiska närmandet: Erikssons hermeneutiska begreppsbestämningsmodell, idéhistoriska läsakt och hermeneutiska läsakt. Materialet bildar förståelsehorisonter genom den hermeneutiska dialogens successiva och oändliga rörelse. Horisonterna reflekteras mot teorikärnan för att öppna för ny förståelse av tjänandets meningsinnehåll, vårdledarskap och vårdadministration. I slutandet sker en horisontsammansmältning och en reflektiv anslutning till vårdvetenskapens teorikärna som visar hur tjänandets ethos blir evident i vårdledarskap. Resultatet visar att vårdledarskap som är tjänande för patienten och vårdkulturen synliggörs i vårdadministrationens kontext genom huvudets skärpa, handens gärningar och hjärtats visdom. Tjänandets sanna, goda och sköna tidlösa rörelse är riktad mot hälsa och helande. I dag sammankopplas tjänande inom vårdorganisationer med hälsoekonomiska förhållanden, effektivitet, produktivitet och rationalitet, vilket strider mot tjänandets värdegrund, människans värdighet och respekt för livet. Vårdorganisationernas etiska ansvar är att fungera som samhälleliga förebilder, tillrättalägga för vårdadministrationernas tjänande och stå i patientens tjänst. Gestaltningen av tjänandets ethos i vårdledarskap öppnar för nya diskurser, riktningar, visioner och handlingar i den vårdadministrativa verkligheten. Avhandlingen ger vårdvetenskapens systematiska grundforskning ett teoritillskott av fördjupad förståelse av tjänandets och vårdledarskapets historiska och samtida ontologiska evidens och ethos med applikationen på klinisk vårdvetenskap.