Improving Library Management by Using Cost Analysis Tools: A Case Study for Cataloguing Processes

Landscape management aiming to reconnect isolated vegetation patches through corridors is important to mitigate impacts on fauna and flora species due to habitat degradation and fragmentation. This work presents a methodology based on geoprocessing tools to define ecological corridors. This case study was conducted on Distrito Federal, central Brazil, aiming to propose a corridor for large and mediumsized mammals reconnecting Águas Emendadas Ecological Station and Formosa Military Training Area. Cost analysis using geoprocessing tools and available official database generated three paths (A, B, C) Extension varied from 28.88 (A) to 47.34 km (C) and paths intersection with natural vegetation patches varied from 74.43 (A) to 90.35% (B). Intersection with potential Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) varied from 66.32 (A) to 86.26% (C). Overlap with private properties registered on Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) was verified for best paths A and B and revealed 51.60% and 50.97% of overlap. Cost analysis tools and AHP were considered efficient for generating ecological corridors.

This paper presents an exploration of the Simulation Based Research and Development through an in-house technology assessment of a Sensorcraft concept. The goals of SBR&D are: to reduce the time and cost for developing and maturing promising technology, to integrate the technologist and the warfighter into the Science and Technology (S&T) acquisition process, and to provide analytical input into the Air Force S&T planning process. SBR&D combines a variety of critical research and technology-development capabilities, including engineering-level modeling, design, and analysis tools, mission- and campaign-level simulations, cost analysis tools, and database tools in a networked, distributed environment. Early SBR&D capabilities combine high fidelity manned and unmanned vehicle simulations to create a common synthetic battlespace for technology assessment in a mission environment. The simulation environment is being combined with engineering models, design tools, and an intelligent database to allow differing degrees of fidelity to be used at different times and in different parts of a simulation analysis. The study presented here represents an attempt to show the SBR&D process in action and to identify deficiencies in the process. Once established, the SBR&D process will provide the capability for researchers to evaluate the impact of different technologies in a warfighting environment, providing a link between AFRL technologies and warfighter mission needs.

Developing regional air quality management strategies is a difficult task because formation of air pollutants is interdependent and air quality at different locations may have different responses to emissions from common sources. We developed an optimization-based model, OPtimal integrated Emission Reduction Alternatives (OPERA), which allows for identifications of least-cost control strategies for attaining multipollutant air quality targets at multiple locations simultaneously. To implement OPERA, first, sensitivities of air quality to precursor emission changes are quantified. Second, cost functions of emission reductions are estimated using a cost analysis tool that includes a pool of available control measures. The third step is to determine desired reductions in concentrations of air pollutants. The last step is to identify the optimal control strategies by minimizing costs of emission controls using the sensitivities of air pollutants to emission changes, cost functions, and constraints for feasible emission reduction ratios. A case study that investigates ozone and PM2.5 air quality in the summer of 2007 for five major cities in the eastern United States is presented in this paper. The results of the OPERA calculations show that reductions in regional NOx and VOC as well as local primary PM2.5 emissions were more cost-effective than SO2 controls for decreasing ozone and total PM2.5 concentrations in the summer of 2007. This was because reductions in SO2 emissions would only decrease PM2.5 concentrations, and reductions in primary PM2.5 emissions were more cost-effective than SO2 emission controls.Implications: We developed an optimization-based model, OPtimal integrated Emission Reduction Alternatives (OPERA), which allows for identification of least-cost emission control strategies for attaining multipollutant air quality targets at multiple locations simultaneously. A major strength of OPERA is its flexibility, which allows for changes in air quality regulations, involving agencies, study regions, and so on, to be readily incorporated. Overall, it has been demonstrated that OPERA is useful in developing least-cost emission control strategies for achieving multipollutant air quality targets at multiple locations simultaneously and could be useful for policymakers developing integrated air quality management plans.

Cost and productivity are major factors when considering which type of harvesting system to operate. Observations were conducted on manual and mechanized harvesting operations in central Appalachian hardwood forest sites in order to obtain time study data. Production and cost analysis were conducted on the harvesting system data in order to compare the two systems. Chainsaw felling productivity was 363.4 ft3/PMH (2180.4 bdft/PMH) and unit cost was {dollar}0.08/ft3 ({dollar}0.013/bdft). Cable skidding productivity was 289.4 ft3/PMH (1736.4 bdft/PMH) and unit cost was {dollar}0.28/ft 3 ({dollar}0.05/bdft). Manual harvesting system productivity was 181.7 ft 3/SMH (1090.2 bdft/SMH) and unit cost was {dollar}0.36/ft3 ({dollar}0.06/bdft). Feller-buncher felling productivity was 1266.6 ft3/PMH (7599.6 bdft/PMH) and unit cost was {dollar}0.08/ft3 ({dollar}0.013/bdft). Productivity of top/delimbing with chainsaws after feller-buncher felling was 726.30 ft3/PMH (4357.8 bdft/PMH) and unit cost was {dollar}0.04/ft 3 ({dollar}0.007/bdft). Grapple skidding productivity was 512.1 ft 3/PMH (3072.6 bdft/PMH) and unit cost was {dollar}0.16/ft3 ({dollar}0.03/bdft). Mechanized harvesting system productivity was 716.94 ft 3/SMH (4301.6 bdft/SMH) and unit cost was {dollar}0.29/ft3 ({dollar}0.05/bdft). Results indicated that although hourly costs of operation were considerably higher for the mechanized system than the manual system, cost per unit volume was only {dollar}0.07/ft3 ({dollar}11.6/MBF) lower for the mechanized system.

In 2004, the University of Arizona Library Document Delivery Team embarked on a strategic project to assess the service quality and cost of filling interlibrary loan journal article borrowing requests. The Document Delivery Team utilized a Six Sigma Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control process improvement method. Improvements that were implemented as a result of this study led to increased satisfaction, decreased turnaround time, and lower cost per delivered article. Customer satisfaction surveys were utilized to discover customer expectations and requirements and to evaluate the effect of improvements on the customer experience. Measurement of internal business processes and cost analysis tools were used to determine cost savings.

The overall cotton industry continues to face a variety of sustainability challenges. Cotton remains one of the largest users of pesticides, insecticides, petroleum based fertilizers and water. In addition, the current pricing structure does not address the real costs of cotton production thereby creating, in many instances, poverty in many of the rural communities around the world which grow cotton. Genetically-modified cotton has been widely adopted in many cotton production areas and is thought by some to be the answer to increased environmental benefits (reduction of pesticides), but it has yet to deliver long term, sustainable benefits. Recent studies and information now available are indicating that both weeds and pests are becoming resistant to the technology. Organic production systems provide a holistic approach to the conservation and preservation of resources while protecting bio-diversity, increasing soil health, and offering greater food security. In this study, the sustainability of conventional cotton in the United States (U.S.) and certified organic cotton in the southern plains of Texas, U.S. are analyzed. The environmental impact of conventional and organic cotton cultivation was analyzed using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and an economic analysis of the costs and returns of Texas organic cotton is also presented. In general, the LCA shows that the environmental impact for the cultivation of conventional cotton is higher than organic cotton, yet relatively similar for land use and water use. The environmental impact of conventional cotton cultivation is dominated by freshwater aquatic and terrestrial eco-toxicity as well as eutrophication and acidification due to the use of pesticides, synthetically compounded nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer, potassium chloride, irrigation, and transportation. Analysis of costs and returns of both methods shows higher average returns above total specified expenses in organic farming relative to the conventional counterparts. . It is important to highlight however, that the total labor costs appear to dominate among the other components of total direct expenses under both organic and conventional practices. From both the case study presented and literature reviews, organic cotton production offers a range of potential advantages to cotton farmers, including, healthier soils, a diverse source of income, and higher prices.

Life cycle assessments of recycled material used in roadways are currently not well understood or well documented. The Recycled Materials Resource Center’s (RMRC) research is aimed at quantitatively determining the environmental and economic benefits of using recycled material in road construction. Two case studies were performed to analyze the impacts of incorporating recycled material in the reconstruction of two major roadways using life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) tools. Results from both roads show that the use of recycled materials reduces energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and cost. Because typical roadway construction projects do not separately track the extensive use of recycled materials, the RMRC was unable to utilize the LCA and LCCA technology in the first roadway’s analysis without making significant assumptions for the inputs. To clarify and verify some of these assumptions, the second roadway project was undertaken. This second case study is being studied to determine a better methodology for data collection with fewer assumptions, in addition to assessing the benefits of recycled material use. The methodology for data collection and analysis developed through the second project can be used to conduct LCAs and LCCA for future highway construction projects with greater confidence.

The estimation of construction costs for shield tunneling projects is typically based on a standard quota, which fails to consider the variation of geological parameters and often results in significant differences in unit cost. To address this issue, we propose a novel model based on a random forest machine learning procedure for analyzing the construction cost of shield tunnelling in complex geological conditions. We focus specifically on the unit consumption of grease, grouting, labor, water, and electricity. Using a dataset of geotechnical parameters and consumption quantities from a shield tunneling project, we employ KNN and correlation analysis to reduce the input dataset dimension from 17 to 6 for improved model accuracy and efficiency. Our proposed approach is applied to a shield tunneling project, with results showing that the compressive strength of geomaterial is the most influential parameter for grease, labor, water, and electricity, while it is the second most influential for grouting quantity. Based on these findings, we calculate the unit consumption and cost of the tunnelling project, which we classify into three geological categories: soil, soft rock, and hard rock. Comparing our results to the standard quota value, it is found that the unit cost of shield tunneling in soil is slightly lower (6%), while that in soft rock is very close to the standard value. However, the cost in the hard rock region is significantly greater (38%), which cannot be ignored in project budgeting. Ultimately, our results support the use of compressive strength as a classification index for shield tunneling in complex geological conditions, representing a valuable contribution to the field of tunneling cost prediction.

This paper presents a case study program implemented at Columbia University Libraries that trains copy in Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) and Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) principles. Under the guidance of the NACO coordinator and cataloging supervisors, copy create PCC-level records for belles lettres materials, construct name and uniform title headings, and submit classification number proposals for literary authors in a variety of languages in both roman and nonroman scripts. The benefits of the program include timely and efficient processing of materials, high-quality bibliographic records, better collocation of belles lettres, and upgrade of vendor or member records utilized by the shared cataloging community. The program serves as an important step in the professional development of copy and contributes to the growth of training and mentoring skills of professional catalogers. The skills acquired by copy can be used in future cataloging projects such as metadata creation and name disambiguation. ********** The past two decades have witnessed a significant change in functions and daily operations of technical services departments in academic libraries. Rapid technological developments, shrinking budgets, merging of cataloging and acquisitions departments, and increased use of vendor records have contributed to reevaluation of workflows, reassignment of personnel, and creation of new in-house training programs. The current economic and information environment suggests that technical services will continue to experience these changes in the near future. As libraries continue to move from ownership-based to access-based models, technical services departments will face the challenge of providing access to new types of resources while still processing materials in more traditional formats. These transformations will influence staffing changes and blend job responsibilities in technical services departments in academic libraries. The shift of professional tasks from professional librarians to paraprofessional staff in various aspects of technical services operations is a reality widely acknowledged by library literature and practitioners in the field. (1) The area of cataloging in particular has much potential for training and developing copy catalogers skills to perform more complex and motivating tasks. The research to date has largely focused on successful development of copy cataloging skills. The specifics of training paraprofessionals in original cataloging have rarely been a focus of professional literature. (2) In addition, the authors found no research describing the process of training copy in Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) principles, cataloging to PCC level, and cataloging of belles lettres by paraprofessionals. The present study describes a successful program developed at Columbia University Libraries (CUL) in which the combination of copy catalogers' skills and abilities and the institutional training potential resulted in a rewarding outcome. This paper begins by reviewing existing literature on paraprofessionals' participation in original cataloging and principals of PCC and NACO. Then the authors discuss the training and ongoing workflows for paraprofessionals cataloging belles lettres material to PCC level, including creating authority records and submitting call number proposals to be included in the name authority record for a literary author. Finally, the authors argue that competencies obtained by paraprofessional staff in this program have the potential for application in a new emerging cataloging and metadata environment. Literature Review Paraprofessionals and Original Cataloging Several studies have discussed the topic of paraprofessionals' involvement in original cataloging. In 1992, Benand, reflecting on trends in cataloging departments, appealed to library managers with the suggestion to take better advantage of people's skills and abilities by actively involving paraprofessionals in original cataloging. …

We wish to introduce a building information model (BIM) based tool for cost and emission analysis of steel frames. A BIM is used as the data source for the cost and emission calculations, which means that the designer can perform cost and emission calculations from cradle to site without extra work using the tool, provided that a BIM is available. The BIM may include all features of steel frames already at the pre-design phase so that estimations of costs and emissions are quite accurate. A simple example is used to demonstrate that the emissions from a steel frame correspond quite closely with the reduction in the cost of the frame when rigid beam-to-column joints are replaced by semi-rigid ones.

In Part 1, the Engineering Simulator for Drilling (ESD) is described, explaining the overall design, the engineering algorithms, the use of the interactive graphics, and the software and hardware used to create and operate any drilling system. Part 2 presents how the ESD is designed as a tool for the drilling person, giving the person the flexibility to use the ESD as a drilling time and cost analysis tool, or for well planning, or a full engineering simulator. A stand alone capability to use parts of the ESD for real time drilling analysis is also possible. An example of how a drilling person would use the ESD to build a drilling system is given. This includes logging onto the ESD, selecting the drilling location and geology, selecting the drilling rig, the initiation of the wellbore and the design of the mud system and the drill string. A description is given of how the user can operate the newly created drilling system, describing some of the options available to him. All Figures are actual photographs or plots of the various ESD graphic's pictures and menus.

Risk management is an essential ingredient of effective program management. At each phase of a program, information available to the responsible engineers and managers provides needed identification and understanding of the risks facing the program. Close monitoring of significant risk areas as part of the normal reporting and review process provides the tracking needed to determine when a potential problem has turned into a real problem and action has to be taken. The information must be reported to the right level of management to permit the needed redirection of the program. Effective analysis of the risks identified in this process requires the combined use of engineering, schedule and cost analysis tools at each level of management. This paper describes procedures for planning and executing effective risk management, and the tools that are needed for the supporting analyses.

This assistance aims to assist Menur Mental Hospital in calculating the unit cost in determining the rate of charge to patients in accordance with the actual service costs. The method used in this service is a case study with data collection methods in the form of observation through focus group discussions, interviews and documentation. The analysis used is quantitative based on data interpretation by delivering information in the form of texts and narratives. The analysis used or grand theory. Results of Community Service. From the results of the analysis, it is found that several things that need to be considered regarding unit cost calculations in RJS Menur are the establishment of standardization to determine direct and indirect costs that will be calculated in unit cost calculations. This is because there is still no standardization of quality, cost and so on which appears as one of the problems in the unit cost analysis process.

Recently, information system operation becomes more important because of increasing size of information system and outsourcing the system operation. However, it is not easy for customers to judge the validity of the system operation cost. To provide information which helps the judgment, we analyzed factors which affect system operation cost. Working time of system operation service provider has the strong relationship to the cost. So, if customers know the working time, they estimate the cost properly. However, it is difficult for customers to know the working time generally. So, we assumed that customers estimate unit cost and working time, to speculate total operation cost roughly. To help the estimation, we analyzed factors affected working time and unit cost. The analysis results show that working time is settled based on the software size and the number of users, and the unit cost of the engineers increases when network range of the system is wide.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the costs of 3 MRSA transmission prevention scenarios compared with standard precautions in community-based nursing homes. DESIGN Cost analysis of data collected from a prospective, observational study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Care activity data from 401 residents from 13 nursing homes in 2 states. METHODS Cost components included the quantities of gowns and gloves, time to don and doff gown and gloves, and unit costs. Unit costs were combined with information regarding the type and frequency of care provided over a 28-day observation period. For each scenario, the estimated costs associated with each type of care were summed across all residents to calculate an average cost and standard deviation for the full sample and for subgroups. RESULTS The average cost for standard precautions was $100 (standard deviation [SD], $77) per resident over a 28-day period. If gown and glove use for high-risk care was restricted to those with MRSA colonization or chronic skin breakdown, average costs increased to $137 (SD, $120) and $125 (SD, $109), respectively. If gowns and gloves were used for high-risk care for all residents in addition to standard precautions, the average cost per resident increased substantially to $223 (SD, $127). CONCLUSIONS The use of gowns and gloves for high-risk activities with all residents increased the estimated cost by 123% compared with standard precautions. This increase was ameliorated if specific subsets (eg, those with MRSA colonization or chronic skin breakdown) were targeted for gown and glove use for high-risk activities. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:962-966.