Analysing the Diversity of Water Pricing Structures: The Case of France

This paper presents the results of a 2003 national survey of urban water pricing structure implemented by 429 district level water utilities. After providing some background elements on the diversity of existing water pricing structures, the paper shows how each structure can be used to achieve different management objectives (water allocation efficiency, costs recovery, and equity). It then describes the structures adopted by French water utilities, showing that flat rate are rarely adopted; declining blocks frequently used; and increasing blocks pricing which should be used to promote water use efficiency remain extremely rare. A statistical clustering is then conducted and a typology of situations elaborated. The paper concludes with highlighting that current pricing structures are influenced by past practices and that the dominant objective of water utilities is to cover costs.     

景电高扬程灌区水价改革实践及思考

水价是水商品价值的体现。由于多方面的原因，水价改革的进程与水商品生产经营的市场化供求关系还不相适应，致使现行水价不能体现水资源的市场需求价值。回顾总结景电灌区水价调整改革的实践，可以为西北高扬程灌区水价改革提供借鉴。     

Transmission pricing and recovery of investment costs in the deregulated power system based on optimal circuit prices

Transmission pricing has become a major issue in the discussions about the deregulated electricity markets.Consequently,open access to the transmission system is one of the basic topics to allow competition among participants in the energy market.Transmission costs have an important impact on relative competition among participants in the energy market as well as on short-and long-term economic efficiencies of the whole electricity industry,although they represent only close to 10% of the energy market price.This paper deals with the design and tests of a transmission pricing method based on the optimal circuit prices derived from the economically adapted network(EAN).Prices derived from the EAN have the advantage of being in tune with the maximum revenue allowed to the owner of transmission assets and simplifying the optimal allocation of transmission costs among participants.Beginning from the conceptual design,the proposed method is tested on a three-bus network and on the IEEE 24-bus reliability test system.     

Logit network pricing

In this paper, we address a pricing problem defined over a transportation network, and where the underlying flow is assigned according to the logit model. This setting yields a nonlinear optimization problem that yet possesses strong combinatorial features. Taking advantage of the model's analytical properties, we characterize its first-order optimality conditions and introduce rules that simplify the network topology, while leaving the structure of optimal solutions unchanged. Based on these results, a class of unimodal instances is identified. Finally, the connection with the more classical problem known as ‘product line pricing’ in economics is emphasized.     

双渠道供应链中服务对定价和需求的影响研究

研究了集中式决策和基于Stackelberg博弈这两种情况下的双渠道供应链的定价、服务及需求的关系。制造商和零售商提供的服务对价格、需求会产生影响,渠道商改善服务有利于本渠道价格的提高,同时会影响到另一渠道的定价,影响程度与双渠道决策模式相关。与服务对定价的影响不同,渠道商提供的服务对本渠道需求产生的影响是双向的,当服务水平在一定的范围内,改善服务可以增加本渠道市场需求,降低另一渠道需求;当服务水平过高,继续改善服务不仅不能增加需求反而减少需求,同时对另一渠道的需求产生影响,这种影响与消费者市场类型存在密切关系。当消费者市场属于价格敏感型时,服务水平存在一个帕累托区间,任一渠道商改善服务都会促进双渠道需求的增加。     

基于博弈视角的交通信息提供与道路收费联合定价模型

针对信息提供和拥堵收费两种交通管制策略, 研究了两种策略联合作用下的定价机制。首先构建了政府、信息提供商决策空间, 在分析出行者路径选择行为的基础上, 给出了交通信息市场占有率计算模型; 然后提出了弹性条件下具有/不具有交通信息的混合交通网络均衡分配模型, 得到了出行者的决策空间, 在此基础上提出了基于博弈视角的交通信息提供与道路收费联合定价模型, 设计了求解算法; 最后, 以一个算例对模型进行了分析。结论表明, 社会收益水平及交通信息的质量都会对交通信息及道路收费价格产生显著的影响。此外, 模型的算例结果还与经验较为吻合, 表明模型的实用性和合理性。     

Hydrolysis of human horny cells by alkaline protease: Morphological observation of the process

The interaction of highly purified alkaline protease fromBacillus sp. KSM-K16 with the horny cells of human skin contained in skin grime was directly visualized by electron microscopy. It became clear that the protease first penetrates the horny cells and then adsorbs, mainly onto the internal structure of the cells at the initial stage of hydrolysis, and directly hydrolyzes the keratin filaments, though the marginal band surrounding them retains its original shape. Then, hydrolysate produced from the keratin filaments flows out of the cell, and early in the hydrolysis process keratin filaments decrease and then disappear, leaving a marginal band, i.e., the cell turns to a hollow state. As a result, the remaining marginal band loses support from inside the cell, thus promoting cleavage and dispersion. Until this stage in the protease reaction, the remarkable liberation of hydrolysis products as water-soluble protein does not occur.     

Implicit Bayesian Inference Using Option Prices

Abstract. A Bayesian approach to option pricing is presented in which posterior inference about the underlying returns process is conducted implicitly via observed option prices. A range of models allowing for conditional leptokurtosis, skewness and time‐varying volatility in returns are considered, with posterior parameter distributions and model probabilities backed out from the option prices. Models are ranked according to several criteria, including out‐of‐sample predictive and hedging performance. The methodology accommodates heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation in the option pricing errors, as well as regime shifts across contract groups. The method is applied to intraday option price data on the S&P500 stock index for 1995. While the results provide support for models that accommodate leptokurtosis and skewness, no one model dominates when all criteria are considered.     

基于logit模型的生物质供应链集成优化

针对农户的选择偏好,引入基于logit的离散计量分析模型,以研究秸秆收购价格、成本及政府补贴对农户生物质供应选择行为的影响。在此基础上,应用Stackelberg博弈模型对生物质供应链中加工厂、收集站和农户等不同利益主体之间的决策进行分析,确定了最优的生物质收购价格及收集站的服务半径。最后,通过算例分析验证了上述优化决策模型的有效性。研究表明,农户供应模式的选择与其对效用的敏感程度有关;政府实行补贴激励不仅能提高农户将秸秆直接送至加工厂的积极性,对加工厂和收集站的利益也有不同程度的提高。     

Pricing strategies with reference effects in competitive industries

This paper examines the effect of reference prices on companies operating within competitive industries. We confirm that even with competition, firms optimally price high in the short term to generate a high reference price and then decrease this price over time. Competitors' prices converge toward each other over time, emphasizing the short‐term nature of reference prices. We then show that pricing optimally to take advantage of reference prices generates a positive externality for other firms in an industry, such that competitors may generate higher profit. The longer the focus of a given firm, the more profit the firm generates, but less relative to its competitors. This arises because the externalities created through pricing high to increase reference prices outweigh the benefits of the higher reference prices themselves. If pricing managers are compensated relative to their competition, this suggests that short‐termism may be implicitly encouraged to the detriment of profit.