Prospect of Using Rail-Plus-Property Model for Transit Financing in China: Based on Comparative Case Studies of Shenzhen and Hong Kong

Hong Kong, as a special administrative region of China, has utilized the rail-plus-property (R+P) model, as a special form of value capture strategy, to successfully finance its railway development and operation. Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation becomes one of the very few profitable railway companies in the world. MTR has also been cooperating with the Shenzhen government to implement the R+P model in financing Shenzhen’s subway expansion. This is considered the first experimentation of R+P model in mainland China. The objective of this paper is to shed light on the prospect of using R+P model in China by conducing comparative case studies of Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The two case cities are selected to give a comparative picture of how R+P model works. The comparison will focus on how the model works in the two cities given different urban contexts and regulation frameworks. The paper will conclude with policy implications and recommendations for the possibility and challenges of applying R+P model in other Chinese cities

Off-axis MgB2 films using an in situ annealing pulsed laser deposition method

Highly smooth and c-axis oriented superconducting MgB2 thin films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with off-axis geometry. The films were deposited on Al2O3-C substrates perpendicularly aligned to a stoichiometric MgB2 target in a 120 mTorr high purity Ar background gas. An in situ annealing was carried out at 650C for 1 min in a 760 Torr Ar atmosphere. Despite the short annealing time, an x-ray theta-2 theta scan shows fairly good crystallization, according to the clear c-axis oriented peaks for the films. Both atomic force microscopy and the x-ray diffraction results indicate that the crystallite size is less than 50nm. The root mean square roughness of our off-axis film is ~4 nm in a 5x5 square micron area. The Tc onset value of the best off-axis film reaches 33.1 K with a narrow transition width of 0.9 K. The films showed no anisotropy in Hc2-T curves when parallel and perpendicular fields were applied. The slope of Hc2-T curves in low field regime is 1 T/K, which is among the highest reported values.Comment: 7 pages 7 figure

The impacts of cash transfer programs on rural livelihoods: a study of Caboclos in the Brazilian Amazon estuary region

Rural households that rely on agricultural and natural resources for their livelihoods have been exposed to increasing socio-economic and climatic challenges over the past few decades, which requires urgent scientific exploration to effectively inform policies and other interventions. This dissertation investigates the rural livelihood of smallholders and the impacts of cash transfer programs through the use of empirical analysis and agent-based modelling and simulation (ABM) of the Caboclos in the Brazilian Amazon estuary region. The findings in this dissertation deepen the understanding of the livelihood dynamics of small farming households, provide insight about modelling uncertainty, and evaluate the impacts of policies and other approaches meant to alleviate poverty and enhance resilience. First, the empirical patterns of rural livelihoods, with a focus on the heterogeneous impacts from cash transfer programs, have been captured through statistical analysis of a household survey. Households were classified based on the amount of cash transfer and dependence on cash transfers to demonstrate the heterogeneity in this significant income of rural livelihoods. The results show the high level of heterogeneity among the value of cash transfers that households receive and in the households’ level of reliance on this stipend. Results also illustrate the differences among household characteristics and their significance regarding the degree of household reliance on cash transfers. Second, we constructed an ABM with an ensemble approach to represent the small farming households and simulate their livelihood outcomes with government cash transfer programs under eight experiments that differentiate main livelihood factors. The three ensemble members reflect a range of household behaviors, which include Max Profit (optimizing net economic returns), Max Leisure (pursuing optimal leisure time once subsistence is met), and Subsistence First (a strategy that maintains subsistence requirement first and then pursues market profit). Sensitivity and post-hoc analyses reveal the variability in the outcomes among three decision regimes, where the decision regime proves to be the most significant factor for livelihood outcomes at both the community level and individual level. The mere presence of cash transfers largely increases income and the equality of income distribution, of which the most drastic change occurs in the Max Leisure decision regime. However, household characteristics influence household livelihood outcomes differently within each decision regime. Third, we explored rural household livelihood and poverty dynamics using the ABM through the lens of development resilience. Various external shocks were applied to the household agents and their livelihood dynamics, particularly their resilience attribute, were analyzed. Our results first support the existence of the poverty trap and the relatively better-off zone as the “basin of attraction” that were proposed in resilience theory. Results from the simulation also indicate that external shocks, although similar in duration and magnitude, have significantly different impacts on livelihood resilience, with climate shocks being the most influential. Government cash transfer programs are more likely to be effective with a big initial capital boost, and a Subsistence First strategy, relative to Max Profit and Max Leisure strategies, is most likely to be resilient for vulnerable households, but not in households who are close to being trapped

Comparative study of in situ and ex situ MgB2 films deposited by pulsed laser deposition

Two types of MgB2 films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with in situ and ex situ annealing processes respectively. Significant differences in properties between the two types of films were found. The ex situ MgB2 film has a Tc of 38.1K, while the in situ film has a depressed Tc of 34.5K. The resistivity at 40K for the in situ film is larger than that of the ex situ film by a factor of 6. The residual resistivity ratios (RRR) are 1.1 and 2.1 for the in situ and ex situ films respectively. The Jc-H curves of the in situ film show a much weaker field dependence than those of the ex situ film, attributable to stronger flux pinning in the in situ film. The small-grain feature and high oxygen level may be critical for the significant improvement of Jc in the in situ annealed MgB2 film.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure