Leapfrogging into hydrogen technology: China's 1990-2000 energy balance

As a country beginning its motorization process, China must confront the problems attached to an oil-based car society. In adopting conventional automobile technology, the country would aggravate an already unstable oil balance while pushing up carbon dioxide levels. Not only would domestic problems emerge, but international concerns regarding oil shortage, global pollution, and the energy security balance would also result from erecting a traditional automotive infrastructure. One viable alternative the country can consider is a leapfrog towards hydrogen technology. By using hydrogen as the fuel source and investing in a hydrogen-based car society, China could overstep the problems created by an oil-based infrastructure. When examining China's potential for undertaking this technology leapfrog, China's energy past and future must be considered. China's energy balance and energy resources play a crucial role in determining the country's leapfrogging possibility. This paper analyzes one facet in China's energy balance by scrutinizing energy expenditures between 1990-2000. By looking at data compiled from major international and academic sources, an overview of China's past energy consumption and production activities is presented. Patterns and discrepancies in Chinese coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear production are unveiled and the trends considered in relation to the country's energy balance. Each energy sector is analyzed separately for consumption and production trends. Because implementation of hydrogen technology is governed by energy resource availability and energy use patterns, such an energy analysis provides an appropriate background from which China's leapfrogging potential can be evaluated. -- Der in China beginnende Motorisierungsprozess führt zwangsläufig zu einer Konfrontation mit den Umwelt- und Ressourcenkonflikten, die mit der erdölbasierten Automobiltech-nologie des vergangenen Jahrhunderts Hand in Hand gehen. Dadurch würde sich zum einen die gegenwärtig problematische Erdölenergiebilanz des Landes durch erhöhten CO2 Ausstoß verschärfen. Zum Anderen würde der Aufbau einer chinesischen automobilen Infrastruktur auf Erdölbasis, die Ressourcenknappheit in diesem Sektor, die globalen Umweltprobleme und die Sicherung der weltweiten Energiebilanz negativ beeinflussen. Eine realistische Alternative für China ist ein Quantensprung auf dem Gebiet der Auto-mobiltechnologie zu vollziehen und in Wasserstoffmotoren zu investieren. China kann mit einer Automobilwirtschaft auf der Basis einer Wasserstofftechnologie die durch Erdöl-verbrennung geschaffenen Umweltprobleme umgehen. Dieser Artikel untersucht das Potential Chinas zu einem solchen Quantensprung in der Automobiltechnologie. Ein wesentlicher Aspekt ist die Prüfung der Energiebilanz Chinas in den Jahren 1990-2000, die es ermöglicht den Energieverbrauch und die Produktion auf Quellenbasis internationaler Organisationen und wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten, zueinander in ein Verhältnis zu setzen. Die Energiebilanz der einzelnen Sektoren Atomkraft, Kohle, Erdöl und Erdgas wird analysiert und vergleichend werden die zukünftigen Trends prognostiziert. Für die Implementation von Wasserstofftech-nologie ist die Verfügbarkeit und Nutzung von Energieressourcen von zentraler Bedeutung. Eine Analyse der Energiebilanz ist daher die Grundlage für eine wissenschaftlich fundierte Einschätzung des Potentials Chinas zu einem solchen technologischen Quantensprung.

A Robust Information Source Estimator with Sparse Observations

In this paper, we consider the problem of locating the information source with sparse observations. We assume that a piece of information spreads in a network following a heterogeneous susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model and that a small subset of infected nodes are reported, from which we need to find the source of the information. We adopt the sample path based estimator developed in [1], and prove that on infinite trees, the sample path based estimator is a Jordan infection center with respect to the set of observed infected nodes. In other words, the sample path based estimator minimizes the maximum distance to observed infected nodes. We further prove that the distance between the estimator and the actual source is upper bounded by a constant independent of the number of infected nodes with a high probability on infinite trees. Our simulations on tree networks and real world networks show that the sample path based estimator is closer to the actual source than several other algorithms

Omitted variable bias of Lasso-based inference methods: A finite sample analysis

We study the finite sample behavior of Lasso-based inference methods such as post double Lasso and debiased Lasso. We show that these methods can exhibit substantial omitted variable biases (OVBs) due to Lasso not selecting relevant controls. This phenomenon can occur even when the coefficients are sparse and the sample size is large and larger than the number of controls. Therefore, relying on the existing asymptotic inference theory can be problematic in empirical applications. We compare the Lasso-based inference methods to modern high-dimensional OLS-based methods and provide practical guidance

How to Manage the Virtual Brand Community to Improve Brand Preference: Views from the Perceived Interactivity

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of perceived interactivity of virtual brand community on customer perceived value as well as on brand preference. Data collected through a survey with 221 respondents supported the research model. This study classifies perceived interactivity as either with community or with customer, and posited that these two types have different operating mechanisms toward perceived value including emotional value, information value and social value, and brand preference. However perceived interactivity with customer does not affect brand preference significantly. Adapted by S-O-R model, perceived value mediates the relationship between the degree of interactions on sites and brand preference. These two supplements on theoretical models clearly explain the source path of brand preference.

Mobilizing the Vietnamese Body: Dance Theory, Critical Refugee Studies, and the Aftermaths of War in Andrew X. Pham’s Catfish and Mandala

Mobilizing the Vietnamese Body: Dance Theory, Critical Refugee Studies, and the Aftermaths of War in Andrew X. Pham’s Catfish and Mandala Through analysis of Andrew X. Pham’s Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam, this collaboration between a literary scholar and dance scholar joins methodologies from their respective fields to explore the politicized dimensions of the Vietnamese body-in-motion. Published in 1999, Pham\u27s memoir documents his journey, as a Vietnamese refugee living in the U.S., as he travels throughout Vietnam on a bicycle. We argue that through the literal and theoretical mobilization of his body, Catfish and Mandala constitutes a choreographic text that animates the Vietnamese body as making meaning within and beyond post-Vietnam war geopolitical formations. As such the text productively critiques the dyad of resistance and accommodation that have long structured and haunted critical inquiries into power

Critical Masses, Commerce, and Shifting State-Society Relations in China

This essay is based on the script of a talk Ying Zhu gave at Google’s New York offices on February 12, 2010. Sections in bold were not part of the original talk, but have been added by the authors to tease out some of the issues that were left without further elaboration due to time constraints

Energy and motorization: scenarios for China's 2005-2020 energy balance

"Der in China beginnende Motorisierungsprozess führt zwangsläufig zu einer Konfrontation mit den Umwelt- und Ressourcenkonflikten, die mit der erdölbasierten Automobiltechnologie des vergangenen Jahrhunderts Hand in Hand gehen. Dadurch würde sich zum einen die gegenwärtig problematische Erdölenergiebilanz des Landes durch erhöhten CO²-Ausstoß verschärfen. Zum anderen würde der Aufbau einer chinesischen automobilen Infrastruktur auf Erdölbasis, die Ressourcenknappheit in diesem Sektor, die globalen Umweltprobleme und die Sicherung der weltweiten Energiebilanz negativ beeinflussen. Eine realistische Alternative für China ist ein Quantensprung auf dem Gebiet der Automobiltechnologie zu vollziehen und in Wasserstoffmotoren zu investieren. China kann mit einer Automobilwirtschaft auf der Basis einer Wasserstofftechnologie die durch Erdölverbrennung geschaffenen Umweltprobleme umgehen. Dieser Artikel untersucht das Potential Chinas zu einem solchen Quantensprung in der Automobiltechnologie. Ein wesentlicher Aspekt ist die Prüfung der Energiebilanz Chinas in den Jahren 1990-2000, die es ermöglicht den Energieverbrauch und die Produktion auf Quellenbasis internationaler Organisationen und wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten, zueinander in ein Verhältnis zu setzen. Die Energiebilanz der einzelnen Sektoren Atomkraft, Kohle, Erdöl und Erdgas wird analysiert und vergleichend werden die zukünftigen Trends prognostiziert. Für die Implementation von Wasserstofftechnologie ist die Verfügbarkeit und Nutzung von Energieressourcen von zentraler Bedeutung. Eine Analyse der Energiebilanz ist daher die Grundlage für eine wissenschaftlich fundierte Einschätzung des Potentials Chinas zu einem solchen technologischen Quantensprung." (Autorenreferat)"As a country beginning its motorization process, China must confront the problems attached to an oil-based car society. In adopting the conventional automobile technology, the country would aggravate an already unstable, domestic oil balance while pushing up increasing carbon dioxide levels. Not only would domestic problems emerge, but international concerns regarding oil shortage, global pollution, and the energy security balance would also result from China erecting a traditional automotive infrastructure. One viable alternative the country can consider is a leapfrog towards hydrogen technology. By using hydrogen as the fuel source and investing in a hydrogen-based car society, China could overstep the problems created by an oil-based infrastructure. Examining China's potential for undertaking this technology leapfrog also calls for an investigation of China's energy past and future. China's energy balance and energy resources play a crucial role in determining the country's leapfrogging possibility. This paper analyzes one facet in China's energy balance by scrutinizing energy expenditures between 1990-2000. By looking at data compiled from major international and academic sources, an overview of China's past energy consumption and production activities is presented. Patterns and discrepancies in Chinese coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear production are unveiled and the trends considered in relation to the country’s energy balance. Each energy sector is analyzed separately for consumption and production trends. Because implementation of hydrogen technology is governed by energy resource availability and energy use patterns, such an energy analysis provides an appropriate background from which China's leapfrogging potential can be evaluated." (author's abstract