The Impact of Energy Saving Policies on Industries in China

Current design and implementation of China's energy saving policies are characterized by multiple, mixed policy instruments and spatially based regulatory disparity. The dissertation replies on interviews, firm-level data, and industry-aggregate data to examine the impact of energy saving policy on firm-level energy saving and industry location in China. Case study research, using interviews with 20 firms in four industries and four locations, is applied to explain firm energy saving behaviors. The case studies show that competitiveness and legitimation are major motivations for energy saving under the policy influence of energy-saving agreements and capacity control and elimination. Extending from the case study findings, the dissertation examines on the basis of data of firms involved in the Top-1000 enterprise energy saving program the factors that contribute to energy efficiency improvements. Empirical results show that firms with less expansion and no new products are more likely to fulfill greater reduction of energy intensity for both existing and new production capacities. Their energy savings are driven by the pressure of lower individual and industry profit, higher electricity price and more subsidies, but are not correlated with any behavioral features identified in the previous literature. Spatially based regulatory disparity may direct industry growth to regions with lower regulation. Analysis of industry aggregate data from 2005 to 2010 confirms policy-induced industry location, and indicates that an 11% employment loss in manufacturing industries is associated with higher energy-saving regulation. The results suggest the need of future policy assistance for energy saving and resource conservation in regions with laxer regulations, and for the reallocation of labor and production. The dissertation complements the literature on the explanations for the energy efficiency gap, implications of policy instruments on firm behavior, and locational impact of environmental regulation. It suggests the effectiveness of combined mandatory, voluntary, and information policies designed to motivate firms and eliminate behavioral barriers, the usefulness of incorporating market-based policy in Chinese energy saving policies to encourage energy efficiency and mitigate relocation, and the need for further research into the cost effectiveness of financial incentives to meet efficiency targets for industries

Developing Magnetic Material for Remediation of Aquatic Nitrogen Pollution in Water Facilities

Natural organic matter affect water environmental security and posed a potential threat to human health, and thus it has long been considered as a key index to evaluate water treatment performance. Dissolved organic nitrogen is one of the NOM, which produces some disinfection byproducts having more toxic than those carbon-based materials. Coagulation is a key unit of drinking water purification and has received wide attention. However, conventional flocculation technology on removal of DON is so poor that we have to seek more effective improving measurement. The combined use of conventional flocculant and organic polymer can improve treatment efficiency to a certain extent, and enhanced coagulation can also improve the DON removal rate, but their DON removal performance is still not dreamful. At present, there is a lack of systematic research on flocculation to remove DON. Although some achievements have been made, there is still a big gap between the preparation technology of flocculant and the goal of efficient removal of DON in water.For treatment of secondary effluent of industrial wastewater, some studies show that the use of Fe3O4 mainly has the effect of accelerating separation, but the adsorption effect is not good. However, with the synergistic flocculation of amino functionalized Fe3O4 it has a good effect on removing water protein, polysaccharide and humic acid, which can meet the water quality discharge standard and reduce the dosage of flocculant. The above results show that functional nanoparticle materials are of great significance to improve the adsorption and flocculation performance. Therefore, the functional modification of magnetic nanoparticles plays an important role

Geography and similarity of regional cuisines in China

Food occupies a central position in every culture and it is therefore of great interest to understand the evolution of food culture. The advent of the World Wide Web and online recipe repositories has begun to provide unprecedented opportunities for data-driven, quantitative study of food culture. Here we harness an online database documenting recipes from various Chinese regional cuisines and investigate the similarity of regional cuisines in terms of geography and climate. We found that the geographical proximity, rather than climate proximity is a crucial factor that determines the similarity of regional cuisines. We develop a model of regional cuisine evolution that provides helpful clues to understand the evolution of cuisines and cultures.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures and 2 table

An Investigation of Darwiche and Pearl's Postulates for Iterated Belief Update

Belief revision and update, two significant types of belief change, both focus on how an agent modify her beliefs in presence of new information. The most striking difference between them is that the former studies the change of beliefs in a static world while the latter concentrates on a dynamically-changing world. The famous AGM and KM postulates were proposed to capture rational belief revision and update, respectively. However, both of them are too permissive to exclude some unreasonable changes in the iteration. In response to this weakness, the DP postulates and its extensions for iterated belief revision were presented. Furthermore, Rodrigues integrated these postulates in belief update. Unfortunately, his approach does not meet the basic requirement of iterated belief update. This paper is intended to solve this problem of Rodrigues's approach. Firstly, we present a modification of the original KM postulates based on belief states. Subsequently, we migrate several well-known postulates for iterated belief revision to iterated belief update. Moreover, we provide the exact semantic characterizations based on partial preorders for each of the proposed postulates. Finally, we analyze the compatibility between the above iterated postulates and the KM postulates for belief update

A review of policy strategies around the world through the lens of Wellbeing, Inclusion, and Sustainability

This report explores policy strategies and initiatives from Africa, China, the EU, Latin America, the US, and the Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo), by employing a conceptual framework based on the Brundtland and Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report. This “WISE” framework distinguishes the dimensions of wellbeing (wellbeing of current generations), inclusion (distribution of wellbeing), and sustainability (wellbeing of future generations). It also considers the economy, viewed as a means to achieve these dimensions rather than as a goal itself. The aim of this report is to gain understanding of how WISE aspects are being integrated within the policy debate worldwide and the underlying narratives within political priorities, goals, and policies. We also aim to provide insights for the development of the WISE theoretical framework and models that will be developed in the WISE Horizons project. We find that the WISE lens is useful for investigating policies through a broader, more holistic perspective, avoiding focusing only on economic concepts with their limited scope or those that might be specific to certain locations. This is in line with the need for context-sensitive policies and approaches. Our analysis reveals that while most reviewed policy strategies relate to aspects of wellbeing, inclusion, and sustainability, these dimensions are not fully integrated in a comprehensive and balanced manner. Overall, despite global and regional diversity, it is possible to find some common ground. In terms of sustainability, the environmental dimension takes primary emphasis in most policy strategies. The report argues that the concept of sustainability needs to be further expanded to cover a broader range of topics around future generations. Inclusion is frequently emphasised, particularly in terms of poverty, inequality, and protection of vulnerable groups. However, the spatial dimension of inclusion beyond borders, i.e. considering the distribution of global wellbeing, is rare. Wellbeing is relevant in many but not all policy strategies and it mostly lacks holistic integration. Wellbeing often refers to living conditions, health, education, housing, employment, and energy availability. Aside from material considerations, cultural aspects, and heritage (especially in Africa, China, and Latin America), life satisfaction (especially in the WEGo and Latin America), and quality of the environment are mentioned. The interlinkage between WISE dimensions is evident, with the potential to reinforce (win-win) or hamper (trade-oȨs) each other. For example, using mineral revenues to enhance wellbeing today may compromise future wellbeing, while prioritising sustainability could limit wellbeing current. Peace is another example of a factor cutting across both present and future wellbeing, and its distribution. The demographic dimension emerged as an important aspect in all regions as well, encompassing variations in rural-urban settings, age structure (aging or youthful population), population density, migration etc. We will delve deeper into these aspects while advancing the WISE framework. Finally, the governance dimension also emerges as an important aspect from our analysis. In short, while WISE dimensions mostly address the what, there should also be attention given to the how. This includes looking at policymaking processes, policy implementation, and institutional structures

Gesture Decoding Using ECoG Signals from Human Sensorimotor Cortex: A Pilot Study

Electrocorticography (ECoG) has been demonstrated as a promising neural signal source for developing brain-machine interfaces (BMIs). However, many concerns about the disadvantages brought by large craniotomy for implanting the ECoG grid limit the clinical translation of ECoG-based BMIs. In this study, we collected clinical ECoG signals from the sensorimotor cortex of three epileptic participants when they performed hand gestures. The ECoG power spectrum in hybrid frequency bands was extracted to build a synchronous real-time BMI system. High decoding accuracy of the three gestures was achieved in both offline analysis (85.7%, 84.5%, and 69.7%) and online tests (80% and 82%, tested on two participants only). We found that the decoding performance was maintained even with a subset of channels selected by a greedy algorithm. More importantly, these selected channels were mostly distributed along the central sulcus and clustered in the area of 3 interelectrode squares. Our findings of the reduced and clustered distribution of ECoG channels further supported the feasibility of clinically implementing the ECoG-based BMI system for the control of hand gestures