Economic Evaluation of Energy Efficiency Labelling in Domestic Appliances: the Spanish Market

30 p.

The Costs of Drought: the Exceptional 2007-2008 Case of Barcelona

35 p.

Incubadoras y aceleradores de crecimiento: modelo de apoyo a las start-up tecnológicas

[ES]Las políticas de apoyo al emprendimiento se han demostrado imprescindibles para el desarrollo económico de los países. En este contexto las conocidas incubadoras de empresas juegan un papel importante, pero los innovadores aceleradores de crecimiento que están logrando convertir pequeñas start-up en grandes compañías de base tecnológica se presentan como una apuesta para el futuro. La unión de ambos conceptos constituye un modelo eficaz de apoyo a las start-up tecnológicas. En el trabajo se presentan varios estudios que demuestran que mientras que, en las incubadoras los recursos más valorados son el ahorro de costes y el mentoring, los aceleradores obtienen muy buena calificación en todos sus ámbitos. Aun así la facilidad para obtener financiación y el mentoring también son los aspectos más valorados por los participantes en la aceleración. Además se han utilizado dos casos de éxito con el objeto de proponer un corolario de buenas prácticas que ayude entre otros, a la mejora de la situación de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco (CAPV) en cuanto a emprendimiento se refiere.

An economic air pollution control model-application : photochemical smog in Los Angeles County in 1975

An economic air pollution control model, which determines the least cost of reaching various air quality levels, is formulated. The model takes the form of a general, nonlinear, mathematical programming problem. Primary contaminant emission levels are the independent variables. The objective function is the cost of attaining various emission levels and is to be minimized subject to constraints that given air quality levels be attained.

The model is applied to a simplified statement of the photochemical smog problem in Los Angeles County in 1975 with emissions specified by a two-dimensional vector, total reactive hydrocarbon, (RHC), and nitrogen oxide, (NO_x), emissions. Air quality, also two-dimensional, is measured by the expected number of days per year that nitrogen dioxide, (NO₂), and mid-day ozone, (O₃), exceed standards in Central Los Angeles.

The minimum cost of reaching various emission levels is found by a linear programming model. The base or "uncontrolled" emission levels are those that will exist in 1975 with the present new car control program and with the degree of stationary source control existing in 1971. Controls, basically "add-on devices", are considered here for used cars, aircraft, and existing stationary sources. It is found that with these added controls, Los Angeles County emission levels [(1300 tons/day RHC, 1000 tons /day NO_x) in 1969] and [(670 tons/day RHC, 790 tons/day NO_x) at the base 1975 level], can be reduced to 260 tons/day RHC (minimum RHC program) and 460 tons/day NO_x (minimum NO_x program).

"Phenomenological" or statistical air quality models provide the relationship between air quality and emissions. These models estimate the relationship by using atmospheric monitoring data taken at one (yearly) emission level and by using certain simple physical assumptions, (e. g., that emissions are reduced proportionately at all points in space and time). For NO₂, (concentrations assumed proportional to NO_x emissions), it is found that standard violations in Central Los Angeles, (55 in 1969), can be reduced to 25, 5, and 0 days per year by controlling emissions to 800, 550, and 300 tons /day, respectively. A probabilistic model reveals that RHC control is much more effective than NO_x control in reducing Central Los Angeles ozone. The 150 days per year ozone violations in 1969 can be reduced to 75, 30, 10, and 0 days per year by abating RHC emissions to 700, 450, 300, and 150 tons/day, respectively, (at the 1969 NO_x emission level).

The control cost-emission level and air quality-emission level relationships are combined in a graphical solution of the complete model to find the cost of various air quality levels. Best possible air quality levels with the controls considered here are 8 O₃ and 10 NO₂ violations per year (minimum ozone program) or 25 O₃ and 3 NO₂ violations per year (minimum NO₂ program) with an annualized cost of $230,000,000 (above the estimated $150,000,000 per year for the new car control program for Los Angeles County motor vehicles in 1975).

Optimal procurement and contracting with research and development

Government procurement of a new good or service is a process that usually includes basic research, development, and production. Empirical evidences indicate that investments in research and development (R and D) before production are significant in many defense procurements. Thus, optimal procurement policy should not be only to select the most efficient producer, but also to induce the contractors to design the best product and to develop the best technology. It is difficult to apply the current economic theory of optimal procurement and contracting, which has emphasized production, but ignored R and D, to many cases of procurement.

In this thesis, I provide basic models of both R and D and production in the procurement process where a number of firms invest in private R and D and compete for a government contract. R and D is modeled as a stochastic cost-reduction process. The government is considered both as a profit-maximizer and a procurement cost minimizer. In comparison to the literature, the following results derived from my models are significant. First, R and D matters in procurement contracting. When offering the optimal contract the government will be better off if it correctly takes into account costly private R and D investment. Second, competition matters. The optimal contract and the total equilibrium R and D expenditures vary with the number of firms. The government usually does not prefer infinite competition among firms. Instead, it prefers free entry of firms. Third, under a R and D technology with the constant marginal returns-to-scale, it is socially optimal to have only one firm to conduct all of the R and D and production. Fourth, in an independent private values environment with risk-neutral firms, an informed government should select one of four standard auction procedures with an appropriate announced reserve price, acting as if it does not have any private information.

A modelling approach to the development of an active management strategy for the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir

This article outlines the outcome of work that set out to provide one of the specified integral contributions to the overarching objectives of the EU- sponsored LIFE98 project described in this volume. Among others, these included a requirement to marry automatic monitoring and dynamic modelling approaches in the interests of securing better management of water quality in lakes and reservoirs. The particular task given to us was to devise the elements of an active management strategy for the Queen Elizabeth II Reservoir. This is one of the larger reservoirs supplying the population of the London area: after purification and disinfection, its water goes directly to the distribution network and to the consumers. The quality of the water in the reservoir is of primary concern, for the greater is the content of biogenic materials, including phytoplankton, then the more prolonged is the purification and the more expensive is the treatment. Whatever good that phytoplankton may do by way of oxygenation and oxidative purification, it is eventually relegated to an impurity that has to be removed from the final product. Indeed, it has been estimated that the cost of removing algae and microorganisms from water represents about one quarter of its price at the tap. In chemically fertile waters, such as those typifying the resources of the Thames Valley, there is thus a powerful and ongoing incentive to be able to minimise plankton growth in storage reservoirs. Indeed, the Thames Water company and its predecessor undertakings, have a long and impressive history of confronting and quantifying the fundamentals of phytoplankton growth in their reservoirs and of developing strategies for operation and design to combat them. The work to be described here follows in this tradition. However, the use of the model PROTECH-D to investigate present phytoplankton growth patterns in the Queen Elizabeth II Reservoir questioned the interpretation of some of the recent observations. On the other hand, it has reinforced the theories underpinning the original design of this and those Thames-Valley storage reservoirs constructed subsequently. The authors recount these experiences as an example of how simulation models can hone the theoretical base and its application to the practical problems of supplying water of good quality at economic cost, before the engineering is initiated.

Technological unemployment

This work investigates the relationship between unemployment and technological progress. We analyze briefly the historical context in which the problem of unemployment begins: the emergence of a new economic system, the capitalism. In our research we consider the contributions of two different economists: John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx. They offer two different perspectives to this subject. We also consider the contribution David Ricardo, the first author that realized the conflictive relationship between technical progress and the interest of the workers. We also include an analysis of the problem by using different data collected from Global Wage Report, that is annually offered by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Finally, we also analyze the phenomenon called planned obsolescence. The idea of producing goods with low quality in order to guarantee a future demand (replacing the obsolete goods) has been considered a good option to avoid unemployment. This work ends with some final comments and open questions.

Emprego de microscopia de fluorescência para a quantificação microbiana em amostras salinas da indústria do petróleo

Os micro-organismos constituem um grande problema em termos econômicos para a indústria petrolífera. Estes são responsáveis pela produção de substâncias corrosivas e a formação de biofilmes, que causam deterioração dos materiais metálicos. Os principais grupos microbianos presentes em amostras ambientais da indústria do petróleo são as bactérias anaeróbias heterotróficas totais (BANHT) e as bactérias redutoras de sulfato (BRS). Atualmente, a quantificação desses grupos microbianos é realizada através da técnica do Número Mais Provável (NMP) que estima o resultado em aproximadamente 28 dias. Neste trabalho foi otimizada uma metodologia para a microscopia de fluorescência de amostras salinas provenientes de tanques de armazenamento de água/óleo. As condições testadas foram o tipo de óleo de imersão, o tipo de diluente, o volume do corante, o volume da amostra corada e a concentração do fixador (glutaraldeído) numa tentativa de correlacionar com resultados de quantificação de BANHT e BRS através da técnica convencional do NMP. Nesse caso, as células totais foram quantificadas por microscopia de fluorescência utilizando o corante fluorescente laranja de acridina (AO). Verificou-se que houve uma correlação entre os resultados da quantificação de células totais por microscopia de fluorescência e os resultados de BANHT pela técnica do NMP, devido a pouca variação de valores expressos em ambas as quantificações. Entretanto, não foi possível correlacionar os resultados da quantificação de células totais com os resultados de BRS por NMP devido à grande variação dos valores de quantificação de BRS. Na microscopia de fluorescência, foi possível, quantificar os micro-organismos em aproximadamente 30 minutos e através das fotografias, verificou-se ainda que as amostras apresentaram-se nítidas e os micro-organismos com uma boa fluorescência

On the economics of the "meeting competition defense" under the Robinson-Patman Act

Documento de trabajo

Socio-economic implications of the fish export trade on the fishers and fisheries of Lake Victoria in Uganda

The purpose of this study was to investigate the implications of the fish export trade on the fishers and the fisheries resources of Lake Victoria, Uganda with respect to sustainability. Eight fish processing factories and ninety fishers were qualitatively investigated. Socio-economic characteristics of fishers and the economic characteristics of fish factories formed a basis for the analysis. Results of the research indicate that there is a relationship between the growth in fish export trade, particularly the growth in industrial fish processing (for export) and declining fisheries resources of the lake. However, whether or not that impact is positive or negative, and to what extent there is an impact, is highly dependent upon the underlying socio-economic considerations of the fishers to the process. The fish-ban imposed by the European Union countries was particularly decried by fishers and factory owners as the main cause for the present poverty among the fishers. Fundamentally, several conflicting issues: ecological, physical and economic activities are a threat to the sustainability of the Lake Victoria fisheries, and for all that depend on and interact with the lake. There is urgent need to address the immediate issue of the growing riparian population and the global fish trade, to educate and train all the relevant actors in appropriate fisheries management techniques. Attitudes of fishers towards the fish factory developments are positive and this is a way forward for co-management for the sustainability of the fisheries resource.

A brief study of economic Penstock design : Supplementary to Course 800, Department of Civil Engineering

No abstract.

Experimental design in fluvial ichthyology: getting the most for your money

In field biology, cost efficiency is an essential element of experimental design, with ramifications extending well beyond the basic monetary considerations associated with labour and equipment acquisition. Current economic constraints often require scientists to undertake many technical, secretarial and managerial tasks in addition to those associated with data collection, analysis, interpretation and publication. Because the time spent to process material in the laboratory can rarely be shortened without compromising the integrity of the results, it is imperative that field experiments be well-organised, addressing as many aspects of the problem as possible during the same sampling excursion. The sampling strategy employed should provide a maximum of good field data with a minimum cost of time and effort.

The kingdom of the shore: achievement of good ecological potential in reservoirs

The European Water Framework Directive requires member states to restore aquatic habitats to good ecological status (quality) by 2015. Good ecological status is defined as slightly different from high status, which, according to the Directive, means negligible human influence. This poses problems enough for restoration of natural habitats but artificial reservoirs are not excluded from the Directive. They must be restored to good ecological potential. The meaning of good ecological status is linked to that of 'high' ecological status, the pristine reference condition for aquatic habitats under the Directive. From the point of view of an ecologist, this is taken to mean the presence of four fundamental characteristics: nutrient parsimony, characteristic biological and physical structure, connectivity within a wider system and adequate size to give resilience of the biological communities to environmental change. These characteristics are strongly interrelated. Ecological potential must bear some relationship to ecological status but since the reference state for ecological quality is near absence of human impact, it is difficult to see how the criteria for ecological status can be applied to a completely man-made entity where the purpose of the dam is deliberately to interfere with the natural characteristics of a river or former natural lake. Rservoirs are disabled lakes, ususally lakcing the diversity and function provided by a littoral zone. Nonetheless, pragmatic approaches to increasing the biodiversity of reservours are reviewed and conclusions drawn as to the likely effectivemess of the legislation.

Reavaliação deposicional da Bacia de São José de Itaboraí com base em dados geológicos e geofísicos

A Bacia de São José de Itaboraí está localizada no Município de Itaboraí, no Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Ela foi descoberta em 1928, pelo Engenheiro Carlos Euler, que após analisar um suposto caulim encontrado na Fazenda São José pelo seu então proprietário, Sr. Ernesto Coube, verificou que se tratava de calcário. Os Professores Rui Lima e Silva e Othon H. Leonardos, enviados ao local para estudos, encontraram uma grande quantidade de fósseis de gastrópodes continentais, despertando o interesse científico pela região. Os estudos preliminares de campo e análises químicas evidenciaram boas perspectivas de exploração do calcário para a fabricação de cimento do tipo Portland. Por mais de 50 anos, a Companhia Nacional de Cimento Portland Mauá (CNCPM) explorou a pedreira. Desde sua descoberta, a Bacia de São José, paralelamente às atividades de mineração, foi objeto de pesquisas científicas realizadas por geólogos, paleontólogos e arqueólogos. No início da década de 80, a Cia. de Cimento Mauá decidiu abandonar a área em função do esgotamento econômico da reserva de minério. Com a retirada das bombas que impediam a inundação da pedreira, formou-se uma lagoa que passou a impedir o livre acesso aos afloramentos. Desde então as pesquisas sobre a Bacia ficaram concentradas aos materiais coletados no período de exploração de calcário. Material esse distribuído no Museu Nacional (MN), Departamento Nacional da Produção Mineral (DNPM), Instituto de Geociências da UFRJ, entre outros. Em 1990, a área que pertencia a CNCPM foi desapropriada por pressão da comunidade científica. A mesma passou a pertencer ao Município de Itaboraí, que criou o Parque Paleontológico de São José de Itaboraí, por meio da Lei 1.346, de 12 de dezembro de 1995. O objetivo desse trabalho foi gerar novos dados através do método geofísico conhecido como magnetometria. Para isso foram realizados levantamentos de campo utilizando um magnetômetro portátil e GPS, foram analisados e corrigidos dados utilizando softwares específicos, elaborados modelos e criados perfis a partir de descrições de testemunhos de sondagem. Os resultados obtidos visam possibilitar uma nova interpretação da geologia e da estratigrafia da bacia, dando condições para que se possa ter uma atualização dos conhecimentos relacionados à região, após quase meio século de atividade mineradora.