A real option analysis of dry-grind corn ethanol plants compared to a standard net present value analysis (NPV) shows that the option values increase entry prices and lower exit prices of investment and disinvestment considerably. For a large plant, the gross margin of ethanol price over the corn price for a gallon of ethanol using NPV shows that entry will occur with a $0.45 margin and shutdow...

OBJECTIVES To determine whether robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) in patients with prior abdominal surgery is associated with increased operating times, positive surgical margins, or complications. METHODS An institutional review board-approved retrospective review of a prospective, prostatectomy database was performed. Patients undergoing surgery between January 1, 2...

Temperature inversion is a transistor-level effect that can improve performance when temperature increases. It has largely been ignored in the past because it does not occur in the typical operating region of a processor, but temperature inversion is becoming increasing important in current and future technologies. In this paper, we study temperature inversion’s implications on architecture des...

Distributed flexible AC- transmission system (D-FACTS) is a recently advanced FACTS device with high flexibility and smaller size. The DPFC can control power flow in transmission lines, regulate bus voltages and it can also enhance stability margin in power grids. Adaptive-neural network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) combines features of artificial neural network and fuzzy controller. Th...

UNLABELLED Administrators routinely seek to increase contribution margin (revenue minus variable costs) to better cover fixed costs, provide indigent care, and meet other community service responsibilities. Hospitals with high operating room (OR) utilizations can allocate OR time for elective surgery to surgeons based partly on their contribution margins per hour of OR time. This applies partic...

Background Ultrasonography is useful for distinguishing between benign and malignant soft-tissue tumors. However, no study has focused on its usefulness in the differential diagnosis between low-grade and high-grade soft-tissue sarcomas. We conducted a retrospective study to determine the usefulness of the parameters of ultrasonograph and to develop a practical scoring system for distinguishing...

In this paper, we study robustness properties of transportation networks with respect to its pre-disturbance equilibrium operating condition and the agents’ response to the disturbance. We perform the analysis within a dynamical system framework over a directed acyclic graph between a single origin-destination pair. The dynamical system is composed of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), one...

• The current sharing from a damaged strand of Rutherford-cored cable is to its only two adjacent strands. This phenomenon takes place in any operating condition, such as steady state or transient distribution. most overloaded carries nearly 70 % I c , be compared about 50 nominal all cases. quench advances an accelerated cascade single quenches. characteristic times and lengths associated loca...