Rural Labor Absorption Efficiency in Urban Areas under Different Urbanization Patterns and Industrial Structures: The Case of China

In this paper, we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate how well China’s urban areas absorb migrant workers under the interaction of urbanization and industrialization. We applied an output-oriented BCC model to evaluate provincial and regional rural labor absorption efficiency in mainland China. It appears that 4 out of 31 provinces and municipals are efficient, and 2 out of 8 economic regions are efficient in absorbing migrant workers. In the southern and eastern parts of China, urban labor absorption efficiency is higher compared with the western and northern parts of China. Different urbanization patterns and industrial development strategies should be adopted in different economic areas to enhance labor absorption ability in these areas. Urban areas in many parts of China still have potential to accommodate rural migrant workers. The inter-regional flow of production factors would affect urban labor absorption efficiency.rural labor absorption in urban areas, urbanization, industry structure, DEA

End-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling management: improving performance using an ISM approach

With booming of the automobile industry, China has become the country with increasing car ownership all over the world. However, the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling industry is at infancy, and there is little systematic review on ELV recycling management, as well as low adoption amongst domestic automobile industry. This study presents a literature review and an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach is employed to identify the drivers towards Chinese ELV recycling business from government, recycling organizations and consumer’s perspectives, so as to improve the sustainability of automobile supply chain by providing some strategic insights. The results derived from the ISM analysis manifest that regulations on auto-factory, disassembly technique, and value mining of recycling business are the essential ingredients. It is most effective and efficient to promote ELV recycling business by improving these attributes, also the driving and dependence power analysis are deemed to provide guidance on performance improvement of ELV recycling in the Chinese market

Earthquake Arrival Association with Backprojection and Graph Theory

The association of seismic wave arrivals with causative earthquakes becomes progressively more challenging as arrival detection methods become more sensitive, and particularly when earthquake rates are high. For instance, seismic waves arriving across a monitoring network from several sources may overlap in time, false arrivals may be detected, and some arrivals may be of unknown phase (e.g., P- or S-waves). We propose an automated method to associate arrivals with earthquake sources and obtain source locations applicable to such situations. To do so we use a pattern detection metric based on the principle of backprojection to reveal candidate sources, followed by graph-theory-based clustering and an integer linear optimization routine to associate arrivals with the minimum number of sources necessary to explain the data. This method solves for all sources and phase assignments simultaneously, rather than in a sequential greedy procedure as is common in other association routines. We demonstrate our method on both synthetic and real data from the Integrated Plate Boundary Observatory Chile (IPOC) seismic network of northern Chile. For the synthetic tests we report results for cases with varying complexity, including rates of 500 earthquakes/day and 500 false arrivals/station/day, for which we measure true positive detection accuracy of > 95%. For the real data we develop a new catalog between January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2017 containing 817,548 earthquakes, with detection rates on average 279 earthquakes/day, and a magnitude-of-completion of ~M1.8. A subset of detections are identified as sources related to quarry and industrial site activity, and we also detect thousands of foreshocks and aftershocks of the April 1, 2014 Mw 8.2 Iquique earthquake. During the highest rates of aftershock activity, > 600 earthquakes/day are detected in the vicinity of the Iquique earthquake rupture zone

Municipal solid waste management system: decision support through systems analysis

Thesis submitted to the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental EngineeringThe present study intends to show the development of systems analysis model applied to solid waste management system, applied into AMARSUL, a solid waste management system responsible for the management of municipal solid waste produced in Setúbal peninsula, Portugal. The model developed intended to promote sustainable decision making, covering the four columns: technical, environmental, economic and social aspects. To develop the model an intensive literature review have been conducted. To simplify the discussion, the spectrum of these systems engineering models and system assessment tools was divided into two broadly-based domains associated with fourteen categories although some of them may be intertwined with each other. The first domain comprises systems engineering models including cost-benefit analysis, forecasting analysis, simulation analysis, optimization analysis, and integrated modeling system whereas the second domain introduces system assessment tools including management information systems, scenario development, material flow analysis, life cycle assessment (LCA), risk assessment, environmental impact assessment, strategic environmental assessment, socio-economic assessment, and sustainable assessment. The literature performed have indicated that sustainable assessment models have been one of the most applied into solid waste management, being methods like LCA and optimization modeling (including multicriteria decision making(MCDM)) also important systems analysis methods. These were the methods (LCA and MCDM) applied to compose the system analysis model for solid waste. The life cycle assessment have been conducted based on ISO 14040 family of norms; for multicriteria decision making there is no procedure neither guidelines, being applied analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based Fuzzy Interval technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). Multicriteria decision making have included several data from life cycle assessment to construct environmental, social and technical attributes, plus economic criteria obtained from collected data from stakeholders involved in the study. The results have shown that solutions including anaerobic digestion in mechanical biological treatment plant plus anaerobic digestion of biodegradable municipal waste from source separation, with energetic recovery of refuse derived fuel (RDF) and promoting pays-as-you-throw instrument to promote recycling targets compliance would be the best solutions to implement in AMARSUL system. The direct burning of high calorific fraction instead of RDF has not been advantageous considering all criteria, however, during LCA, the results were the reversal. Also it refers that aerobic mechanical biological treatment should be closed.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - SFRH/BD/27402/200

The Economics of Wholesale Electricity Markets

This dissertation is based on four articles. Chapter 2 is based on Growitsch and Müsgens (2005). In this chapter, we analyze the development of household electricity prices since the liberalization of the market in 1998. The chapter covers all components of the price, the wholesale component, and the transportation and distribution networks. We also discuss the developments of taxes and subsidies in the electricity market. The main result is that the liberalization appears to have had no significant impact on total consumer prices, as prices in 2004 are nearly the same as in 1998. However, a deeper analysis reveals significant differences between the price components: wholesale prices, which are at the focus of the other chapters in this dissertation, decreased significantly directly after the liberalization took place, but increased from 2001 to 2004. The latter effect is discussed in chapter 3. Despite this increase, wholesale prices are still lower in 2004 than they were in 1998. The costs for transportation and distribution networks decreased slightly but steadily over time. The prices of other cost components (Renewable energy act, CHP subsidies, taxes ), however, rose sharply after the liberalization. This result has serious implications, as it means that insubstantial reductions in household prices do not reveal much about the success of liberalization or the behavior of the electricity supply industry. Chapter 3 is based on Müsgens (2007). The chapter presents a model to calculate system marginal costs in electricity markets. The model is a dynamic linear optimization model including start-up costs, hydro storage and pump storage dispatch, and international power exchange in the equations. We apply this model to the German power exchange for the period from June 2000 to June 2003 and perform a competitive benchmarking study. We find that prices are very close to our model-derived competitive benchmark in a first period until August 2001: the difference between prices and benchmark is only 2% in this period. In the following period, observed market prices rise significantly; this rise is not reflected in the competitive benchmark: prices are nearly 50% above the competitive benchmark in this second period. We also show that this deviation mainly comes from the high demand periods in which capacity is scarce. This is in accordance with the theories of market power. Furthermore, the chapter contains several scenarios quantifying the price effects of non-convexities and other dynamic elements. Chapter 4 is based on Müsgens and Neuhoff (2005). As in chapter 3, we present a linear optimization model to determine the optimal dispatch. The model is extended to allow the analysis of the uncertainty brought into the market by wind power generation. We represent uncertainty by applying stochastic programming with recourse. We parameterize the model with historical data from the German power market and find that the short term costs for the integration of wind power are low, as there is sufficient capacity during most periods to provide balancing services. Chapter 5 is based on Kuntz and Müsgens (2005). The chapter presents a formal in-depth analysis of the effects of start-up costs on electricity markets. The chapter starts from a simplified version of the optimization problem in chapter 4. Using appropriate transformations (dualization of the original problem, rephrasing the dual and reconverting it into a modified primal problem), we can prove that the impact of start-up costs on the average price is very small, which was already suggested by the empirical analyses in chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation

An Architectural Blueprint For Digital Energy Platforms In Industrial Energy Flexibility Applications

This paper examines the integration of industrial demand-side management into existing digital energy platforms, considering the global push towards renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation. Despite the proliferation of digital energy platforms, there is a notable lack of energy flexibility measures within these systems, which are essential for industrial demand-side management. Through a comprehensive analysis, this paper presents an Architectural Blueprint designed to enable platform providers to assess and integrate essential functionalities for energy flexibility. The research follows a systematic approach, starting with an outline of the necessary architectural components and their relevance. Subsequently, a gap analysis is conducted to pinpoint the discrepancies between the existing functionalities of digital energy platforms and the capabilities necessary for the efficient integration of energy flexibility. The study concludes with strategic recommendations for enhancing platform capabilities. The paper contributes a new and meaningful architecture blueprint to digital energy platforms by enabling platform providers to align their systems with the needs of energy-flexible manufacturing

Bio-inspired optimization in integrated river basin management

Water resources worldwide are facing severe challenges in terms of quality and quantity. It is essential to conserve, manage, and optimize water resources and their quality through integrated water resources management (IWRM). IWRM is an interdisciplinary field that works on multiple levels to maximize the socio-economic and ecological benefits of water resources. Since this is directly influenced by the river’s ecological health, the point of interest should start at the basin-level. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the application of bio-inspired optimization techniques in integrated river basin management (IRBM). This study demonstrates the application of versatile, flexible and yet simple metaheuristic bio-inspired algorithms in IRBM. In a novel approach, bio-inspired optimization algorithms Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) are used to spatially distribute mitigation measures within a basin to reduce long-term annual mean total nitrogen (TN) concentration at the outlet of the basin. The Upper Fuhse river basin developed in the hydrological model, Hydrological Predictions for the Environment (HYPE), is used as a case study. ACO and PSO are coupled with the HYPE model to distribute a set of measures and compute the resulting TN reduction. The algorithms spatially distribute nine crop and subbasin-level mitigation measures under four categories. Both algorithms can successfully yield a discrete combination of measures to reduce long-term annual mean TN concentration. They achieved an 18.65% reduction, and their performance was on par with each other. This study has established the applicability of these bio-inspired optimization algorithms in successfully distributing the TN mitigation measures within the river basin. Stakeholder involvement is a crucial aspect of IRBM. It ensures that researchers and policymakers are aware of the ground reality through large amounts of information collected from the stakeholder. Including stakeholders in policy planning and decision-making legitimizes the decisions and eases their implementation. Therefore, a socio-hydrological framework is developed and tested in the Larqui river basin, Chile, based on a field survey to explore the conditions under which the farmers would implement or extend the width of vegetative filter strips (VFS) to prevent soil erosion. The framework consists of a behavioral, social model (extended Theory of Planned Behavior, TPB) and an agent-based model (developed in NetLogo) coupled with the results from the vegetative filter model (Vegetative Filter Strip Modeling System, VFSMOD-W). The results showed that the ABM corroborates with the survey results and the farmers are willing to extend the width of VFS as long as their utility stays positive. This framework can be used to develop tailor-made policies for river basins based on the conditions of the river basins and the stakeholders' requirements to motivate them to adopt sustainable practices. It is vital to assess whether the proposed management plans achieve the expected results for the river basin and if the stakeholders will accept and implement them. The assessment via simulation tools ensures effective implementation and realization of the target stipulated by the decision-makers. In this regard, this dissertation introduces the application of bio-inspired optimization techniques in the field of IRBM. The successful discrete combinatorial optimization in terms of the spatial distribution of mitigation measures by ACO and PSO and the novel socio-hydrological framework using ABM prove the forte and diverse applicability of bio-inspired optimization algorithms