Wholesale electricity spot market design: Find a way or make it

Designing wholesale electricity spot markets even after three decades of experience in dozens of countries continues to be a challenging task. The challenges arise from a myriad of options that exist without adequate level of unbiased guidance, and experiences in real-life markets where successes and failures are also open to the interpretation of experts. This is particularly a critical issue in the developing world where wholesale spot markets are yet to be established in 80 % of the countries and the experience in the remaining 20 % countries with an operational market, is mixed. There are certain trends in selection of market design that leave significant room for improvement including fallacies that should be avoided. Implementation of markets have also been problematic in most cases including unrealistic timetable and inadequate consideration of transition mechanism that have also hampered market development. In this article, we present our views on how policy makers, stakeholders and development institutions should think about the choices around market design and some of the common pitfalls around its implementation.     

我国环境土壤中的重要超铀核素分布

Pu、Am、Np是3种重要的超铀核素，环境中的这些核素主要来源于人类的核活动，包括大气层核武器试验、核设施排放和核事故释放等。这些超铀核素不仅具有放射性，还兼具化学毒性。我国地域辽阔，环境土壤类型丰富，在当前核电事业蓬勃发展的背景下，建立和扩大我国环境土壤中这些重要超铀核素的“准本底”数据库是辐射环境安全评价的重要组成部分，也是公众关心的热点问题。近30多年来，研究人员对我国不同环境土壤中这几种超铀核素从不同科学角度开展了调查测量研究。本文对此进行整理和分析，对我国环境土壤中这些重要超铀核素（主要是Pu核素，还包括241Am和237Np）的来源、浓度水平和分布特征进行讨论和综述，为辐射环境安全评价奠定基础。     

On globally stable adaptive control providing l 1 tracking performance for linear discrete-time systems

Existing adaptive control algorithms at best guarantee that the tracking error is a l ₂ sequence. This paper presents globally stable adaptive control algorithms for linear discrete-time systems providing l ₁ tracking performance. Two algorithms with different degree of complexity are proposed, one for the case of known control directions, and a separate algorithm for the case of unknown control directions. It is demonstrated that in both cases the tracking error is l ₁ sequence, while the input and output signals are uniformly bounded.     

The effect of economic policy uncertainty on stock-commodity correlations and its implications on optimal hedging

Motivated by previous studies documenting significant return and volatility effects of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the stock market, this study examines whether EPU has an effect on the dynamic conditional correlations between stock and commodity returns. Our findings point to a positive and significant effect of EPU on stock-commodity correlations with particularly stronger effects in the case of energy and industrial metals. The EPU effect is stronger during weak economic conditions, while VIX as a proxy of market uncertainty is generally found to be insignificant. Finally, we show that the EPU effect on correlations has investment implications as well, implied by a significant effect on optimal hedge ratios in commodities in order to mitigate stock market risks. Our results underscore the importance of selective hedging strategies in which risk managers base the timing and size of their hedging programs on future price expectations, conditional on the level of policy uncertainty state and prevalent economic conditions.     

Water crisis through the analytic of urban transformation: an analysis of Bangalore’s hydrosocial regimes

ABSTRACT

This paper explores intensified water crisis in Bangalore (or Bengaluru) in India by using the analytic of three hydrosocial regimes: the catchment-based regime, the hydraulic regime and the speculative urban regime. It uses a wide range of qualitative interviews, scientific reports and secondary sources to analyze shifting urban trajectories, agrarian relations and their interlinkages with water. Historical ruptures (in the realm of governance, urban growth and changing urban–rural dynamics) allow one to highlight the complex role of speculative logics that shape urban expansion and water scarcity.     

Ensuring the future of functional foods

Consumption of functional foods suggests a strategy to reduce the incidence of chronic health disorders. This message has resonated with consumers and driven market growth. Functional food research has significantly increased over the last decade but few studies have addressed the bioavailability of active ingredients for clinical efficacy. Baked goods such as bread, biscuits and cake are popular categories for innovation due to their widespread consumption. These new developments have often impacted on organoleptic properties of the finished products and thus consumer acceptance. Blending of bioactive ingredients may overcome this deficit. However, an understanding of the role of the microbiome in health has indicated that the efficacy of functional foods is unlikely to be uniform within the population. Further growth in the functional foods market, is likely to require greater evidence of the bioavailability of active ingredients, clinical effect and support for health claims by regulators especially in the EU.     

基于博弈分析的流域水资源配置

针对传统规划方法难以体现水资源配置过程中多种复杂因素的问题,基于博弈理论建立宏观调控和市场经济相结合的水资源配置动态博弈模型,求解其子博弈精炼纳什均衡下各博弈参与人的策略,并运用改进量子遗传算法求解该博弈模型。对A河流域水资源配置结果表明,在保证流域公共生态用水2.0×10~8 m~3的基础上,各用水子区自发约束自身的取水量,达到均衡时,社会总收益为11.27亿元,相比自由取水模型,社会总收益增加了0.95亿元,增幅为9.2%。     

Design of regional flexibility markets for electricity: A product classification framework for and application to German pilot projects

With the growing role of distributed energy resources, the electricity network is challenged by numerous technical problems, such as capacity congestion and over- or under-voltage. An often-discussed response, especially in the European zonal electricity system, is to implement regional flexibility markets. We contribute to this discussion by providing a comprehensive classification framework for the design of flexibility products by combining technical requirements with classical auction theory. The framework structures 23 product parameters in four stages of abstraction. By applying the framework to five market approaches used in current German research projects, we demonstrate its usefulness for consistent comparison of flexibility products at a high level of detail. This framework can empower national and international policymakers and practitioners in assessing flexibility markets holistically, thereby facilitating the implementation of sound solutions.     

Blockchain in global supply chains and cross border trade: a critical synthesis of the state-of-the-art,challenges and opportunities

Blockchain possesses the potential of transforming global supply chain management. Gartner predicts that blockchain could be able to track $2?T of goods and services in their movement across the globe by 2023, and blockchain will be a more than $3 trillion business by 2030. Nowadays, a growing number of blockchain initiatives are disrupting traditional business models in each sector. In this paper, we provide a timely and holistic overview of the state-of-the-art, challenges, gaps and opportunities in global supply chain and trade operations for both the private sector and governmental agencies, by synthesising a wide range of resources from business leaders, global international organisations, leading supply chain consulting firms, research articles, trade magazines and conferences. We then identify collaborative schema and future research directions for industry, government, and academia to jointly work together in ensuring that the full potential of blockchain is unleashed amidst the socioeconomic, geopolitical and technological disruptions that global supply chains and trade are facing.     

From a local community to a global influence. How elBulli restaurant created a new epistemic movement in the world of haute cuisine

Location plays a major role in the building of artistic, technological or scientific movements that emerge in specific locations before achieving a worldwide reach. However, a deeper understanding is needed about the interplay of local/global knowledge dynamics in the epistemic construction of a movement. Based on an in-depth longitudinal study of a critical case, this article sheds light on these issues by analysing the case of ‘techno-emotional cuisine’, a global gastronomic movement initiated and led by chef Ferran Adrià and his team at the restaurant elBulli in Catalonia (in Northern Spain). The results suggest that the dynamics of formation of a new epistemic movement depend on the form and nature of the interactions between the local buzz and global pipelines, and on the capacity of the originating community to develop and diffuse the new rules and ‘episteme’ on a global scale while consolidating them locally.