Restructuring bank networks after mergers and acquisitions: A capacitated delocation model for closing and resizing branches

During restructuring processes, due to mergers and acquisitions, banks frequently face the problem of having redundant branches competing in the same market. In this work, we introduce a new Capacitated Branch Restructuring Model which extends the available literature in delocation models. It considers both closing down and long term operations׳ costs, and addresses the problem of resizing open branches in order to maintain a constant service level. We consider, as well, the presence of competitors and allow for ceding market share whenever the restructuring costs are prohibitively expensive.We test our model in a real life scenario, obtaining a reduction of about 40% of the network size, and annual savings over 45% in operation costs from the second year on. We finally perform a sensitivity analysis on critical parameters. This analysis shows that the final design of the network depends on certain strategic decisions concerning the redundancy of the branches, as well as their proximity to the demand nodes and to the competitor׳s branches. At the same time, this design is quite robust to changes in the parameters associated with the adjustments on service capacity and with the market reaction.     

Potential for rice straw ethanol production in the Mekong Delta,Vietnam

This study is to evaluate the potential for development of a cellulosic ethanol facility in Vietnam. Rice straw is abundant in Vietnam and highly concentrated in the Mekong Delta, where about 26 Mt year⁻¹ of rice straw has been yearly produced. To minimize the overall production cost (PC) of ethanol from rice straw, it is crucial to choose the optimal facility size. The delivered cost of rice straw varied from 20.5 to 65.4 $ dry t⁻¹ depending on transportation distance. The Mekong Delta has much lower rice straw prices compared with other regions in Vietnam because of high density and quantity of rice straw supply. Thus, this region has been considered as the most suitable location for deploying ethanol production in Vietnam. The optimal plant size of ethanol production in the region was estimated up to 200 ML year⁻¹. The improvement in solid concentration of material in the hydrothermal pre-treatment step and using residues for power generation could substantially reduce the PC in Vietnam, where energy costs account for the second largest contribution to the PC, following only enzyme costs. The potential for building larger ethanol plants with low rice straw costs can reduce ethanol production costs in Vietnam. The current estimated production cost for an optimal plant size of 200 ML year⁻¹ was 1.19 $ L⁻¹. For the future scenario, considering improvements in pre-treatment, enzyme hydrolysis steps, specific enzyme activity, and applying residues for energy generation, the ethanol production cost could reduce to 0.45 $ L⁻¹ for a plant size of 200 ML year⁻¹ in Vietnam. These data indicated that the cost-competitiveness of ethanol production could be realized in Vietnam with future improvements in production technologies.     

浅论国内大中型磷铵装置技术改造路线的选择

简述国内磷酸二铵的建设情况及不同的生产工艺、原有磷酸二铵装置改造选用的工艺及生产情况 ,重点介绍 Incro工艺在云南红河州磷肥厂年产 12万吨磷铵装置中的改造情况 ,经过比较认为原采用预中和槽流程磷酸二铵装置增产改造时选用 Incro工艺比较合适     

Facility layout problems: A survey

Layout problems are found in several types of manufacturing systems. Typically, layout problems are related to the location of facilities (e.g., machines, departments) in a plant. They are known to greatly impact the system performance. Most of these problems are NP hard. Numerous research works related to facility layout have been published. A few literature reviews exist, but they are not recent or are restricted to certain specific aspects of these problems. The literature analysis given here is recent and not restricted to specific considerations about layout design.

We suggest a general framework to analyze the literature and present existing works using such criteria as: the manufacturing system features, static/dynamic considerations, continual/discrete representation, problem formulation, and resolution approach. Several research directions are pointed out and discussed in our conclusion.     

A load dispatch method using fractional programming and semidefinite programming

This paper describes a load dispatch method which minimizes power cost—[fuel cost]/[electric output]—for a power system with thermal plants and energy storage facilities. The proposed method employs fractional programming to convert a minimization problem with fractional objective function to a series of quadratic minimization problems, and semidefinite programming to solve converted problems. The method provides the optimum time‐dependent power output/input and storage level of energy storage facilities as well as time‐dependent power output of thermal plants. The method has been applied to a power system with five thermal plants, two energy storage facilities of various performances, and five load demands. The optimum load scheme of four time mesh points is obtained for the thermal plants and energy storage facilities. The fractional programming successfully converges the optimal scheme through a few iterations. The semidefinite programming deals with a variable matrix of 164 dimensions, and 185 inequality constraints. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 138(2): 49–58, 2002     

The summary of researches on ADS in China

The conceptual study on the accelerator driven system (ADS) that lasted for about five years ended in 1999 in China. As one project of the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) in the energy domain, which is sponsored by the China Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), a five-year-program of fundamental research of ADS physics and related technology was launched in 2000 and passed national review at the end of 2005. The China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE), the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), the Institute of Heavy Ion Physics in Peking University (PKU-IHIP) and other institutions jointly carried out the research. The research activities were focused on HPPA physics and technology, reactor physics of external source driven sub-critical assembly, nuclear data base and material study. For HPPA, a high current injector consisting of an ECR ion source, LEBT and an RFQ accelerating structure of 3.5 MeV was built. In reactor physics study, a series of neutron multiplication experimental study has been carried out and still being done. The VENUS facility has been constructed as the basic experimental platform for neutronics study in ADS blanket. It’s a zero power sub-critical neutron multiplying assembly driven by external neutron produced by a pulsed neutron generator. The theoretical, experimental and simulation study on nuclear data, material properties and nuclear fuel circulation related to ADS is carrying on to provide the database for ADS system analysis. The main results on ADS related researches will be reported.     

水电站坝下尾水渠集鱼流场模拟研究

为减缓大坝阻隔对鱼类洄游的不利影响,水电工程需要建设有效的过鱼设施疏通其洄游通道。高寒区高坝大库工程过鱼设施建设是一个极其复杂的技术问题,目前国内类似工程尚无成功运用经验。实际过鱼设施内流场条件十分复杂,会产生不利于鱼类上溯的水流形态。基于此原因,对某水电站工程坝下尾水流场进行了数值模拟。研究表明,在机组运行时,电站尾水渠左右两侧发电尾水主流的边缘是明显具有流速梯度分布的区域,符合鱼类聚集的水流特征,具备布置鱼道进口条件。这样可根据尾水位的变化开启两侧不同进口诱鱼,且在机组停运时,可开启左侧进口诱鱼。     

突扩突跌掺气设施后泄槽底板脉动压力试验研究

有压洞出口后的突扩突跌掺气减蚀设施在水利工程中经常使用。由于水流受边界条件和掺气的影响,其流态和脉动压力往往与普通水槽的情况有很大的不同。通过水工模型试验,对突扩突跌掺气设施后泄槽底板上的脉动压力进行研究,揭示了掺气设施后泄槽底板上不同流动区域的脉动压力特性。从脉动压力的时域过程、均方根值、偏态系数、峰态系数和主频率等多方面得出冲击区、反射区和稳定区脉动压力的特性是不相同的结论。同一流量时,沿流程底板的时均压力都大于脉动压力的均方根值,在冲击区、反射区和稳定区,脉动压力的均方根值分别是同位置时均压力值的约0.5倍、0.6倍和0.7倍。研究成果可为更好地利用突扩突跌掺气设施提供有益的理论和试验依据。     

PLC在电石加料装置中的应用

介绍了乙炔站电石加料装置的工艺特点,采用PLC技术,提高了电石加料装置的自动化控制水平,稳定了生产。     

Conceptual design of a novel hybrid fuel cell/desalination system

A novel concept for integrating fuel cells with desalination systems is proposed and investigated in this work. Two unique case studies are discussed — the first involving a hybrid system with a reverse osmosis (RO) unit and the second — integrating with a thermal desalination process such as multi-stage flash (MSF). The underlying motivation for this system integration is that the exhaust gas from a hybrid power plant (fuel cell/turbine system) contains considerable amount of thermal energy, which may be utilized for desalination units. This exhaust heat can be suitably used for preheating the feed in desalination processes such as reverse osmosis which not only increases the potable water production, but also decreases the relative energy consumption by approximately 8% when there is an increase of just 8°C rise in temperature. Additionally, an attractive hybrid system application which combines power generation at 70%+ system efficiency with efficient waste heat utilization is thermal desalination. In this work, it is shown that the system efficiency can be raised appreciably when a high-temperature fuel cell co-generates DC power in-situ with waste heat suitable for MSF. Results indicate that such hybrid system could show a 5.6% increase in global efficiency. Such combined hybrid systems have overall system efficiencies (second-law base) exceeding those of either fuel-cell power plants or traditional desalination plants.