This thesis investigates the cost of producing miscanthus in Ontario as an energy crop for the Ontario greenhouse industry. To determine the breakeven price of growing miscanthus an enterprise budget was developed and applied to three different life cycle scenarios to determine the effect of stand life on the breakeven price. The base case breakeven price of producing miscanthus ranged from $74.74/t to $80.22/t. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the effect of assumptions (stand yield, rhizome cost, harvest method and discount rate) on the breakeven price. Price of energy from miscanthus ranged from $2.87/GJ to $8.63/GJ with an average price of $5.51/GJ. The Ontario greenhouse industry`s willingness to pay for bioenergy from miscanthus is based on the prices of fuels currently in use. Ontario farmer‘s willingness to produce miscanthus is based on its profitability compared to other crops and the time it takes to pay off the initial investment.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1958.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

College students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), though academically capable, can have serious difficulty adapting to the college environment. There is a growing need for the identification and development of efficacious interventions and supports for these young adults. The present study sought to address this need by adapting and piloting a group-based cognitive-behavioral intervention program, Problem-Solving Skills: 101 (PSS:101), to promote problem solving ability in college students with ASD. Primary aims of the study were to adapt a well-established problem solving treatment for college students with ASD into a treatment manual, and to collect data on the feasibility of PSS:101. An exploratory aim was to collect preliminary data on the short-term efficacy of this intervention. Five students with ASD from a public, technology and engineering focused university participated in this nine-week, group-based program. Therapists met all treatment integrity objectives across sessions. Four of the five participants completed at least 8 of the 9 sessions and assigned between-session assignments were generally completed (83% completion rate), indicating a high level of treatment adherence. Independent evaluators' ratings of participant engagement, therapeutic relationship, and group process were relatively high. Preliminary efficacy data suggested mixed results across participants. Further evaluation of the program appears warranted. / Ph. D.

A general overview on biorefineries and cost estimation methods is presented to provide background knowledge needed to create software focused on comparing different biorefinery configurations. The software is implemented in Microsoft Excel 2003 and can account for the capital cost, operating cost and utility requirements of different process operations based on their operating scale. To facilitate consistency in estimating capital costs an equipment factored capital cost method is implemented based on the Guthrie method. Factors used determine the capital cost includes: <ul> <li> purchased equipment cost</li><li> paterials of construction</li><li> operating pressure</li><li> time index factors</li> </ul> The program also includes a custom search algorithm that cycles through the processes to give candidates, based on feasibility equations, of single product focused configurations that can be further customised for analysis. With the program’s focus on comparing alternatives hypothetical processes are created that give the same product but use different possessing routes and starting materials. The solver was used to calculate the candidate configurations and then manually configured to evaluate energy production from side products. The program’s functionality and purpose was then shown by altering costs to give results for a different techno-economic scenario. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

<p> One of the two basic philosophies underlying adaptive control is that the transfer function of the plant must be first determined and then the values of an adjustable controller varied for optimizing a given index of performance. The process of identifying the plant characteristics is popularly known as Identification Problem and constitutes a major problem in the realization of an adaptive system of this type.</p> <p> The other philosophy is that a complete knowledge of the plant is not necessary for the optimum adjustments of the parameter of control. The system is caused to measure its own performance against a figure of merit and drives its performance towards optimum. This approach is becoming popular because of the many difficulties associated with the identification problem and a number of "hill climbing" techniques have been proposed based on this philosophy.</p> <p> In this thesis, three such techniques (steepest descent, conjugate gradients and parallel tangents) have been analysed with a view to determine the most efficient and quickest way to determine the parameters of a controller for optimum performance.</p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

The following report is conducted as a feasibility study, aimed to objectively uncover the advantages and challenges of increasing the amount of small scale solar power in Sri Lanka. The demand for electricity in Sri Lanka has been steadily increasing the last few years and there is an urgent need to find new ways of generating electricity. To not further increase the already high dependency of foreign oil and to decrease the impact on the environment, a transition from traditional combustion of fossil fuel to new renewable energy is required. The report shows that there exists substantial potential for generating solar energy in Sri Lanka. Calculations show that an investment in a photovoltaic system can be economically favourable and that the investment often is paid back within a few years. Current regulations and electricity pricing increases the economic incitement for high electricity consumers to invest in small scale solar power. Furthermore, the report demonstrates that there are likely no technical obstacles of increasing small scale solar power at this period. In contrary, the report shows that small scale solar power in general decreases line losses, voltage drops, and the peak demand of electricity. At present, it is probably not the lack of economic incitement but rather socio-economic factors that limit the development of small scale solar power. Sri Lanka is still a relatively poor country and the long years of civil war have prevented development and wealth. Lack of funds and a high ratio of low-income earners are probably the main reason for the slow development

This study analyzes the economic and geographic effects of alternative locations on risky investment decisions in a probabilistic framework. Historically, alternative locations for multi-million dollar investments are often evaluated with deterministic models that rely on expected values or best case/worst case scenarios. Stochastic simulation was used to estimate the probability distribution for select key output variables, including net present value (NPV), of a proposed biomass to ethanol production facility in three alternative regions in Texas. The simulated NPV probability distributions were compared using Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function (SERF) to predict the location preference of decision makers with alternative levels of risk aversion. Risk associated with input availability and costs were analyzed for the proposed plant locations so each location resulted in different levels of economic viability and risk that would not have been observed with a traditional deterministic analysis. For all analyzed scenarios, the projected financial feasibility results show a positive NPV over the 16 year planning horizon with a small probability of being negative. The SERF results indicate the Central Region of Texas is preferred for risk averse decision makers compared to the Panhandle and Coastal Bend Regions. Risk premiums were calculated for the alternative locations and are consistent for all risk averse decision makers, indicating the ranking of alternative locations are robust. Positive community impacts and sensitivity elasticities for key variables were estimated in the model. The estimated positive economic gains for the local economy are quite large and indicate locating a production facility in the region could substantially impact the local economy. The calculated sensitivity elasticities show ethanol price, ethanol yield, and hydrogen price are the three variables that have the greatest affect on the feasibility of a biomass to ethanol production facility.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

No description available.