A Tailored Pricing Strategy for Different Types of Users in Hybrid Carsharing Systems

Considering the characteristics of different types of users in hybrid carsharing systems, in which sharing autonomous vehicles (SAVs) and conventional sharing cars (CSCs) coexist, a tailored pricing strategy (TPS) is proposed to maximize the operator’s profit and minimize all users’ costs. The fleet sizes and sizes of SAVs’ stations are also determined simultaneously. A bi-objective nonlinear programming model is established, and a genetic algorithm is applied to solve it. Based on the operational data in Lanzhou, China, carsharing users are clustered into three types. They are loyal users, losing users, and potential users, respectively. Results show the application of the TPS can help the operator increase profit and attract more users. The loyal users are assigned the highest price, while they still contribute the most to the operator’s profit with the highest number of carsharing trips. The losing users and potential users are comparable in terms of the number of trips, while the latter still makes more profit

A Tailored Pricing Strategy for Different Types of Users in Hybrid Carsharing Systems

Considering the characteristics of different types of users in hybrid carsharing systems, in which sharing autonomous vehicles (SAVs) and conventional sharing cars (CSCs) coexist, a tailored pricing strategy (TPS) is proposed to maximize the operator’s profit and minimize all users’ costs. The fleet sizes and sizes of SAVs’ stations are also determined simultaneously. A bi-objective nonlinear programming model is established, and a genetic algorithm is applied to solve it. Based on the operational data in Lanzhou, China, carsharing users are clustered into three types. They are loyal users, losing users, and potential users, respectively. Results show the application of the TPS can help the operator increase profit and attract more users. The loyal users are assigned the highest price, while they still contribute the most to the operator’s profit with the highest number of carsharing trips. The losing users and potential users are comparable in terms of the number of trips, while the latter still makes more profit

No tillage is not an ideal management for water erosion control in China

No tillage (NT) has been recommended as an essential conservation agriculture (CA) management in terms ofwater erosion control. However, the term of NT actually represents both NT and NT plus straw mulching (NTS)in a large amount of studies, which is out of the scope of its original meaning. Consequently, the mixed use ofthe two terms may cause biased estimate of the role of NT in erosion reduction. We aimed to distinguish actualroles of tillage reduction and residue retention in erosion control based on published data fromfield experimentsof China. A database of paired experiments was compiled from 40 published literatures, with tillage practices in-cluding conventional tillage, reduced tillage, no tillage, and their combinations with residue retention. Variable-controlling approach was adopted to comprehensively identify the roles of tillage reduction and residue reten-tion in runoff and soil loss reduction. Our results showed that residue retention caused significant decline ofboth water and sediment loss, whereas tillage reduction only led to insignificant change of runoff and soil loss.No tillage plus residue retention was also beneficial in terms of erosion control, very likely due to the applicationof residue retention. The results strengthen the higher influence of residue retention over tillage reduction withrespect to soil and water conservation. It also challenges the conclusion of previous studies that NT could lead tothe reduction of both runoff and soil loss based on the mixed use of NT and NTS. Furthermore, the efficiency ofstraw mulching in erosion control declines as application duration increases, indicating the effects of CA shouldnot be overestimated in longer-term. The effectiveness of CA in erosion control also differs among various soiltypes. Overall, this study highlights the necessity of understanding the influences of tillage reduction, residue re-tention and the combination of the two managements in order to better evaluate and manage CA with respect towater erosion control, but the impacts of application duration of CA and soil types must be properly consideredwhen adopting CA to reduce erosion

Spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of China’s economic development performance under carbon emission constraints

Abstract Background China’s high-quality economic development depends on achieving sustainable economic development, reaching peak carbon emissions, achieving carbon neutrality, and intensifying the development of an industrial and energy structure that saves resources and protects the environment. This study used the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model and the Malmquist productivity index to measure the economic development performance of mainland China under carbon emission constraints. Then, it described the spatiotemporal evolution of economic development performance and analyzed its influencing factors using the Tobit model. Results The results revealed that there were obvious differences in the trends of the static and dynamic performance of economic development. On the one hand, the static performance of economic development exhibited an upward trend from 2008 to 2020. Its distribution characteristics were dominant in the higher and high-level areas. On the other hand, the dynamic performance had a downward trend from 2008 to 2016 and then an upward trend from 2016 to 2020. In most provinces, the dynamic performance was no longer constrained by technological progress but rather by scale efficiency. It was found that the main factors influencing economic development performance were urbanization level, energy efficiency, vegetation coverage, and foreign investment, while other factors had no significant influence. Conclusions This study suggests that China should improve its economic development performance by increasing the use of clean energy, promoting human-centered urbanization, increasing carbon absorption capacity, and absorbing more foreign capital in the future

Net effects of conservation agriculture principles on sustainable land use: A synthesis

Zhengzhou, China 2Physical Geography and Environmental Change Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Correspondence Liangang Xiao, College of Surveying and Geo-informatics, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450046, China. Email: [email protected]. Funding information Key Scientific Research Project of Colleges and Universities of Henan Province of China, Grant/Award Number: 21A210026; Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province, Grant/Award Number: 212300410199; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 41971241 Rongqin Zhao1 | Lianhai Cao1 Abstract Despite the strong recommendations from scientists, to till or not to till remains a con- fusing question for many farmers around the world due to the worries of crop yield decline and negative impacts on soils and environment. A confused understanding of the role of the individual principles of conservation agriculture significantly limits the effectiveness and applicability of soil conservation strategies and frameworks to achieve sustainable agriculture. By distinguishing clearly between the different prin- ciples of conservation agriculture, the net effects of no-tillage on improving and sus- taining agro-ecosystems are analyzed based on 49 recent meta-analyses in this study. The review shows that no-tillage leads to a significant decline of crop yield (−8.0% to 10.0%, median: −1.9%), whereas residue retention represents the key driver for improving crop production (4.0%-28.0%, median: 8.2%). The efficacy of no-tillage for water erosion control, especially runoff (−24.0% to −0.7%, median: −10.0%), is often insignificant and otherwise lower compared to residue retention (−87.0% to −14.0%, median: −45.5%). Soil carbon sequestration potential under conservation tillage is quite limited or even close to zero, and if any, it can likely be attributed to the associ- ated residue retention (−0.1% to 12.8%, median: 9.7%) rather than no-tillage (−2.0% to 10.0%, median: 4.8%). Our analysis illustrates that in conservation agriculture, no-tillage as the original and central principle of soil management is often less effective than associated supplementary measures, in particular residue retention. Residue re- tention may therefore play a key role for achieving sustainable land use. An additional benefit of residue retention is the less dramatic change of farming practices compared to no-tillage. The results of this review illustrate that a new framework for assessing the benefits of conservation practices has to be developed. To till, or not to till, is not the question: residue retention seems more critical

China’s construction industry-linked economy-resources-environment flow in international trade

During construction, a large number of resources are consumed; concurrently, a large amount of greenhouse gas is emitted, which contributes to air pollution. There exist close interactions among construction regions. This study examined the main economy-resources-environment indexes associated with China’s construction industry, embodied in international trade based on the Eora database, by using the input-output model. It investigated the linkages of the economy-resources-environment nexus and suggests recommendations accordingly. We found that the total amount of input consumption and output emissions in China’s construction activities increased rapidly, both locally and abroad. China pulled much more emissions from construction-related activities abroad than the latter pulled from China. The overseas regions’ dependence on China’s construction industry gradually increased. Overall, China’s construction activities accelerated the rate of foreign countries’ resource utilization and air pollution more than it did economic profits for some of these countries. The effects on countries differed. China’s construction industry was closely related to the Asian, African, and Latin American undeveloped regions. In regard to the developed regions, cooperation with Australia, the UK, Sweden and Russia was more frequent. There existed a close relationship between all the economy-resources-environment indexes. Based on the findings, protective measures were suggested, including avoiding unnecessary construction activities, optimizing China’s economic and energy use structure, improving the efficient use of resources, strengthening environmental protection both abroad and locally, as well as reducing the export of products with high energy or resources consumption

The embodied flow of built-up land in China?s interregional trade and its implications for regional carbon balance

Built-up land intensively concentrates human activities, and its area or the changes in its intensity dramatically affect the regional carbon balance. This study proposed a new framework to assess how in China, the interregional trade?s use of built-up land affects regional carbon balance with regard to the initial maintained land and the expanded built-up land. Then, a multiregional input-output model was used to simultaneously analyse China?s built-up land flow in interregional trade and the effect on carbon balance. Finally, hidden regional inequality was analysed. The results show that the domestic trade pulled indirect external built-up land use reached to 100286 km2 in 2012 and caused 28084 ? 104 t external province pulled carbon emissions for whole China, including 286 ? 104 t from vegetation carbon storage loss. Regionally, more developed regions were always net receivers of built-up land use, in contrast, less developed regions more frequently acted as net suppliers, but most regions experienced economic and environmental deficits. The majority of other provinces experienced a contradictory status of loss of economic profit or environmental profit. For sustainable development and regional equality, more developed regions should provide more economic and technological support for effective built-up land use and emissions reduction to less developed regions

Evaluating soil organic carbon stock changes induced by no-tillage based on fixed depth and equivalent soil mass approaches

It is controversial whether no tillage (NT) should be regarded an effective agro-ecosystem management to in-crease soil organic carbon (SOC). Some studies suggest NT leads to a notable accumulation of SOC stock acrossthe whole sampling profile over the long-term, whereas other studies argue that the effect of duration on SOCstock increase is limited. Similar controversy is common with respect to the role of climatic conditions in SOCchanges. In addition, despite the gradual recognition of the importance of equivalent soil mass (ESM) comparedtofixed depth (FD) approach, in terms of SOC stock evaluation, the ESM approach mainly focuses on the directimpact of bulk density but ignores the potential indirect effect on SOC concentration. To further understand theSOC sequestration mechanisms under NT, responses of SOC stock after the adoption of NT were investigatedbased on FD and ESM approaches. The results showed that NT significantly changed the SOC stock distributionin different soil depths according to both FD and ESM, but no significant changes were observed when soilsampling deeper than 50 cm. Notably, the results illustrated that the use of FD overestimated the SOC stock inthe soil surface due to the increased bulk density under NT, but underestimated the SOC stock in 30-70 cm soillayers compared to ESM. Consequently, the overestimate of SOC based on FD may not be as high as previouslyassumed across the sampling depth. Mean annual temperature and mean annual rainfall did not lead to anysignificant changes in SOC stock of the overall soil profile or different layers, indicating the limited impacts ofclimatic conditions on carbon sequestration after the adoption of NT. Long-term NT resulted in a significantaccumulation in SOC stock in the top 5 cm of the surface soil, but SOC stock changes with time in soil layersdeeper than 5 cm was not significant in both FD and ESM approaches. The overall changes in SOC stock as timeincreased were not significant across the whole profile based on FD, but was weakly significant based on ESM.The results illustrate that using the overall SOC stock change of the whole sampling soil profile deeper than 30cm masks the beneficial change in SOC stock in the 0-5 cm soil over long-term adoption of NT. The biasedinterpretation of depth factor is the main reason that fuels the debate over whether long-term NT is beneficial forthe accumulation of SOC stock, and hence must be properly considered. Overall, the data illustrate that the depthfactor is not only important in terms of assessing total SOC stock changes under NT, but also critical whenevaluating the effectiveness of FD and ESM, as well as the impact of experimental duration on SOC increase. Thedepth factor should thus be comprehensively considered in SOC stock assessment and morefield experimentssampling to deeper depth are urgently needed to clarify whether NT is beneficial for SOC sequestration andclimate mitigation