Modelling a mixed system of air pollution fee and tradable permits for controlling nitrogen oxide: a case study of Taiwan

A mixed-integer non-linear programming model that minimises the total regulatory costs of controlling nitrogen oxide is used to investigate how a newly proposed permit trading scheme in Taiwan, which incorporates the features of banking and a nonone- to-one trading ratio, may affect firms’ emission reduction strategies and permit trading decisions. Compared to the previous regulation where only an air pollution fee is used, the new regulation that requires a reduction in emissions by 10 per cent from the emission level in the year 2000 for a 5 year period will increase the costs by 77 per cent, which is equivalent to US # 9.87 million. The design of banking and the increasing returns to scale characteristic of pollution control among firms might lead to an uneven reduction in emissions in each year. Setting a lower reservation rate for banking would, however, help maintain a more stable environmental quality without a significant loss to the government in terms of air pollution fee revenue.air pollution fee, banking, mixed-integer non-linear programming, nitrogen oxide, tradable permits, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE EMISSION REDUCTION MARKET SYSTEM IN CHICAGO

A mixed-integer programming model is used to investigate economic impacts of the permit trading market in Chicago and determine the equilibrium price. Unlike previous studies, the model determines unit pollution abatement cost endogenously depending on firms' technology adoption decisions. A sequential trading process is used to simulate firms' behavior under incomplete information. The results show that average shadow prices, a counterpart of conventional shadow prices in discrete problems, slightly underestimate the equilibrium prices. Moreover, the model predicts an over-supply of permits for the first two trading seasons.mixed-integer programming, ERMS, average shadow price, pollution permit, Environmental Economics and Policy,

EFFICIENCY LOSS AND TRADABLE PERMITS

This research presents a price endogenous mathematical programming model that incorporates the independent, optimizing behavior of individual participants to estimate the possible efficiency loss of a newly developed permit trading market for nitrogen oxides (NOx) control in southern Taiwan. The result shows that when control equipment decisions are indivisible, an efficiency loss may arise due to over-investment. The efficiency loss found here is not because of a bilateral trading process and/or insufficient information for finding trading partners, but it is due to not having full control ability of the installed equipment.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Small Bowel Endoscopy Diagnostic Yield and Reasons of Obscure GI Bleeding in Chinese Patients

Aim. To investigate the diagnostic yield and etiologies of patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) using capsule endoscopy (CE) or double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE). Method. We studied the data of 532 consecutive patients with OGIB that were referred to Xinqiao Hospital in Chongqing from December 2005 to January 2012. A lesion that was believed to be the source of the bleeding (ulceration, mass lesion, vascular lesion, visible blood, inflammation, or others) was considered to be a positive finding. We analyzed the diagnostic yield of CE and SBE and the etiologies of OGIB. Result. CE and SBE have similar diagnostic yields, at 71.9% (196/231) and 71.8% (251/304), respectively. The most common etiology was erosions/ulceration (27.1%) followed by mass lesion (19.4%) and angiodysplastic/vascular lesions (13.9%). By stratified analysis, we found that erosions/ulceration (27.1%) was the most common etiology for the 21–40-year age group. Mass lesion was the most common etiology in the 41–60-year age group. However, in the >60 years age group, angiodysplastic/vascular lesions were significantly increased compared with the other groups, even though erosions/ulceration was most common. Conclusion. In this study, we found that CE and SBE have similar diagnostic yields and erosions/ulceration was the most common reason for OGIB, followed by mass lesion and angiodysplasias

Dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cell on plasmonic Ag/AgCl @ chiral TiO 2 nanofibers for treatment of urban wastewater effluents, with simultaneous production of hydrogen and electricity

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Applied Catalysis B-Environmental and the definitive published version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2014.11.012The feasibility of simultaneous production of hydrogen and electricity with simultaneous contaminants removal from “actual” urban wastewater within a dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cell (DSPC) is demonstrated for the first time. The photoanode in the DSPC was a novel nanostructured plasmonic Ag/AgCl @ chiral TiO2 nanofibers (Ag and AgCl nanoparticles supported on chiral TiO2 nanofibers). The electrolyte in the DSPC was actual wastewater to which an estrogen (17-β-ethynylestradiol, EE2) and a heavy metal (Cu2+8 ) were added. The contaminants in the wastewater rather than I-/I3 - (usual electrolyte in conventional DSPCs) acted as electrons bridges for the stabilization of charges in this DSPC. Almost total removal of total organic carbon (TOC), Cu2+, EE2, and 70% removal of total nitrogen (TN) were achieved under visible-light irradiation. A relatively high solar energy conversion efficiency (PCE 3.09%) was recorded and approximately 98% of the electricity was converted to H2 after the consumption of dissolved oxygen (DO), Cu2+ and TN. This performance was attributed to the “symbiotic” relationship between the TiO2 chiral nanofibers and the plasmonic effect of Ag nanoparticles at the photoanode although Ag acting as a recombination site may hinder the generation of electricity. The dye N719 in this study exhibited a temporary sensitization effect, and a more efficient sensitizer is expected to be studied in the future. This study opens up new opportunities for producing renewable energy from wastewater treatment processes including organic and inorganic matter as viable resources

Measurement of the cross section of e+e−→Ξ−Ξˉ+e^+e^-\rightarrow\Xi^{-}\bar\Xi^{+} at center-of-mass energies between 3.510 and 4.843 GeV

Using $e^+e^-$ collision data corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 12.9 $fb^{-1}$ collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, the exclusive Born cross sections and the effective form factors of the reaction $e^+e^-\rightarrow\Xi^{-}\bar\Xi^{+}$ are measured via the single baryon-tag method at 23 center-of-mass energies between 3.510 and 4.843 GeV. Evidence for the decay $\psi(3770)\rightarrow\Xi^{-}\bar\Xi^{+}$ is observed with a significance of 4.5$\sigma$ by analyzing the measured cross sections together with earlier BESIII results. For the other charmonium(-like) states $\psi(4040)$, $\psi(4160)$, $Y(4230)$, $Y(4360)$, $\psi(4415)$, and $Y(4660)$, no significant signal of their decay to $\Xi^-\bar \Xi^+$ is found. For these states, upper limits of the products of the branching fraction and the electronic partial width at the 90% confidence level are provided.Comment: 18 pages, 10 pages, 4 table

Amplitude analysis and branching fraction measurement of the decay D+→KS0π+π0π0D^{+} \to K_S^0\pi^+\pi^0\pi^0

Using 2.93 $\rm{fb}^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ collision data collected with the BESIII detector at the center-of-mass energy 3.773\,GeV, we perform the first amplitude analysis of the decay $D^+\to K_S^0\pi^+\pi^0\pi^0$ and determine the relative magnitudes and phases of different intermediate processes. The absolute branching fraction of $D^+\to K_S^0\pi^+\pi^0\pi^0$ is measured to be $(2.888\pm0.058_{\rm stat.}\pm0.069_{\rm syst.})\%$. The dominant intermediate processes are $D^+\to K_S^0a_1(1260)^+(\to \rho^+\pi^0)$ and $D^+\to \bar{K}^{*0}\rho^+$, with branching fractions of $(8.66\pm1.04_{\rm stat.}\pm1.39_{\rm syst.})\!\times \!10^{-3}$ and $(9.70\pm0.81_{\rm stat.}\pm0.53_{\rm syst.})\!\times \!10^{-3}$, respectively

Study of the decay J/ψ→ϕπ0ηJ/\psi \to \phi \pi^{0}\eta

Based on $(10.09 \pm 0.04) \times 10^9$ $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII collider, a partial wave analysis of the decay $J/\psi \to \phi \pi^{0}\eta$ is performed. We observe for the first time two new structures on the $\phi\eta$ invariant mass distribution, with statistical significances of $24.0\sigma$ and $16.9\sigma$; the first with $J^{\rm PC}$ = $1^{+-}$, mass M = (1911 $\pm$ 6 (stat.) $\pm$ 14 (sys.))~MeV/$c^{2}$, and width $\Gamma =$ (149 $\pm$ 12 (stat.) $\pm$ 23 (sys.))~MeV, the second with $J^{\rm PC}$ = $1^{--}$, mass M = (1996 $\pm$ 11 (stat.) $\pm$ 30 (sys.))~MeV/$c^{2}$, and width $\Gamma$ = (148 $\pm$ 16 (stat.) $\pm$ 66 (sys.))~MeV. These measurements provide important input for the strangeonium spectrum. In addition, the $f_0(980)-a_0(980)^0$ mixing signal in $J/\psi \to \phi f_0(980) \to \phi a_0(980)^0$ and the corresponding electromagnetic decay $J/\psi \to \phi a_0(980)^0$ are measured with improved precision, providing crucial information to understand the nature of $a_0(980)^0$ and $f_0(980)$