Suchergebnisse

Inhaltsangabe: Introduction: The master thesis 'Worldwide Development of Nuclear Energy and the Strategic Deployment of German Consultancies on the Arabian Peninsula' is chiefly targeted at German consultancy companies so that they can assess their status of strategic deployment and prioritize their activities to enter a new business sector in a foreign market. This publication could also be of relevance for policy makers, investors, suppliers as well as nuclear energy and governmental agencies to identify their need for external advisers to safely operate a nuclear power program; provides a guideline for how to enter a new market. Hence this thesis should be considered as an aid to identify hurdles and obstacles that have to be foreseen and so overcome. Potential business fields are also noted as well as important factors that have to be considered to minimize the chance of failure in the new market. Nevertheless, this huge market with its continuously changing constraints and conditions could throw up a lot more obstacles than could be covered in this thesis. Also the internal organizations of individual companies may differ from the one described in the thesis. The objective of this master thesis is thus to set out a set of guidelines for possible approaches. The first two chapters present an overview of the current geographical, political, cultural and economic conditions to familiarize the reader with the background information and constraints needed for the subsequent chapters. The third chapter deals more specifically with the energy market on the Arabian Peninsula, particular in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This chapter provides information on types of energy, pending developments, country-specific organizations and institutions, as well as means of financing such huge projects. The fourth chapter is devoted exclusively to nuclear energy, starting with the current status and the motivation of the two countries to launch such a development. This is followed by a description of the legal requirements and other commitments as decreed by the countries' governments. These specific legal conditions do not just apply within the countries concerned, but companies which do business there are likewise obliged to follow these regulations. Challenges for countries are opportunities for consultants, and identification of these represents is the core content of this chapter. The content of the fifth chapter is the preparatory measures that are essential prior to entering a foreign market. A company's vision and mission as well as various analyses are needed to provide a sound basis for taking a decision to proceed. In this context, SWOT analysis is noted as well as an evaluation of M.E. Porter's 'Five Forces' to describe the market and internal organizations. After the preparatory measures, the implementation phase follows. This and its various stages are described in Chapter 6. It is inevitable that, to ensure success, many measures will have to implemented and subsequently adjusted. This starts with deployment and steering of business units and proceeds to overcoming difficulties with external parties. Recruitment on a permanent basis of employees is also a prerequisite for sustained business success, together with a staff feedback, incentive and salary system. Chapter 7 sets out methods for evaluating previous years' activities in the new business. The first couple of years after 'start-up' are over and the situation in which the company is now has to be assessed. It is frequently necessary to undertake organizational upgrades, that could amount to a complete reorganization of the business, aided by change management provisions. The final Chapter 8 summarizes the key information and content, and sets forth the need and reasons for strategic deployment. Changes in the market means that companies will have to re-adjust for economic survival. Because the nuclear program of the United Arab Emirates is more advanced than that of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and information is less available in the latter country, the main focus of this thesis is on the UAE. Nevertheless, the KSA is an emerging nuclear market with great ambitious for a nuclear program and so is worthy of mention when discussing constraints and conditions that these countries have in common. Other countries that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) do share an interest in nuclear energy but are not yet at the same stage of development as the UAE and KSA. These serve from time to time to support arguments and figures. A sufficient and reliable energy supply is essential for continuous economic development, contributing also to poverty reduction and health care improvement. If these developments are restricted or lacking, often the result is social conflict that could even lead to civil strife. Examples are rural arid areas in the world where there is no access to potable water. A minor local conflict affects the economic development and population of specific countries and often results in regional instability and interventions from outside. The global energy imbalance has been steadily growing over the past couple of decades. Roughly 1.6 billion people live without electricity, and almost 2.4 billion people rely on traditional biomass to cook their daily meals . Modern fuels are not available or are restricted to the upper social strata. There is an almost equal share of the world's population with no access to potable water, so in the struggle for survival the consequences will be social unrest and riots. In some poor countries of the world, the per capita electricity consumption is as low as 50 kWh per annum, compared to developed countries with 8,600 kWh. Worldwide, the provision of energy is dominated by three major challenges. 1. Energy consumption has tripled in the past half century. If this continues, humankind will consume more energy in the 21st century than in the entire past history. This represents an increase of 53% in global energy consumption by 2030. 2. The main energy resources are now scarce, so to ensure economic development, countries will compete with each other to acquire their own supplies. Each country seeks to protect its existing sources and open up new ones. This will not result in a fair distribution of resources, as poor countries are not able to compete with their developed neighbors and lose out, as has often happened in history. 3. To an increasing extent attention is focusing on environmental impacts. Because of the greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels bring about a rise in global temperatures. The consequences are long-lasting drought, sea level rise, submerging coastal regions and more destructive storms. For these reasons, many governments are reviewing their present energy mixes and are considering alternatives to avert the consequences of energy scarcity, including the renewal of interest in nuclear energy that has been noted in recent decades. Adoption or resumption of nuclear energy is at least one solution for some countries faced with a threat to the security of their energy supplies. Among others, one benefit of nuclear energy is zero emissions of greenhouse gases during their operating phase and the ability of huge plants to provide electricity reliably and on a large scale. Much engineering effort has been devoted to significantly improving nuclear plant safety in recent decades. Furthermore, although they are finite, there are ample reserves of uranium and, unlike petrochemicals, they are not put to any other use apart from as an energy source. Prospecting is under way for new deposits, as currently in Yemen. The cost of electricity generated by nuclear power is now competitive, but a major concern that has still to be resolved is final storage of down burned nuclear fuel rods. An overview of the economics is provided by a cost comparison of the various electricity generation technologies, as shown in Figure 1-1 below. This survey is ongoing in a couple of countries to seek a basis for taking decisions on their energy strategies. The quoted figures are ballpark estimates, with actual values depending very much on local conditions and the current market situation, but they do serve to provide a rough comparison. The outcome of these calculations is that electricity generation from nuclear fuel is, at 91.0 US Dollar/MWh, much more competitive than firing crude oil at 133.4 US Dollar/MWh. However, a major consideration is the distinction that has to be made between supplying base and peak/cycling load. To meet the demand for base-load electricity, large-scale power plants, like nuclear and those fired with coal and crude oil are more favorable. These need an extended start-up period – ranging from a couple of hours to two or three days – before they can feed power into the grid. Smaller scale plant, like diesel-fired simple-cycle gas turbines and solar power plants are able to rapidly ramp their power output up and down to cover daily consumption peaks. For this reason, nuclear power plants almost exclusively operate continuously at or near peak output to supply base load, together with natural gas-fired combined cycle gas turbine plants and coal-fired power plants. Diesel-fired gas turbines and solar power plants find application for peak and cycling duty. The key factors are listed in the following table, with firstly the operating parameters, which are attributes specific to the various power plant technologies that are taken as basic assumptions for the further calculations. The second sub-heading is key financial constraints, which fix the technology that is more economical. These comprise the capital cost for construction and development as well as long-term costs that are highly cyclical and cannot be so readily predicted as the other costs. The third main distinction is the direct electricity generation costs. These are running costs incurred only during power plant operation and are directly related to the rated power output in MWe. This calculation serves as well to identify companies and utility suppliers for nuclear power generation as well as to broaden the mix of energy supply technologies and reduce dependency on specific primary resources.Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents: List of Figures4 List of Abbreviations6 1.Introduction and Objective8 1.1Objective of this Master Thesis8 1.2Introduction9 2.Geographical, Political, Cultural and Economic Conditions13 2.1Geography and Culture13 2.2Economy and Politics14 2.3Political and Social Stability in the UAE18 2.4Relations between the UAE and Germany18 2.5Relationship between the KSA and Germany19 3.Energy Sectors of the Leading Countries on the Arabian Peninsula20 3.1Electricity Generation and Consumption in KSA and UAE20 3.2Water Production and Consumption in the KSA and UAE24 3.3Renewable Energy in the UAE and KSA25 3.4Pending Developments25 3.5Country-specific Organizations and Authorities26 3.6Financing of Power Projects in Arabian Countries27 3.7Summary of Chapter 327 4.Nuclear Energy on the Arabian Peninsula28 4.1Status in the UAE and KSA28 4.2Reasons for Launching a Nuclear Program29 4.3Obligations to Launch a Nuclear Program30 4.4Commitments of the UAE31 4.5Challenges and Potentials of the Nuclear Path33 4.6Global Outlook35 5.Preparations for Market Penetration37 5.1Vision and Mission38 5.2Market Analysis39 5.3Strategic SWOT Analysis41 5.3.1Strengths41 5.3.2Weaknesses45 5.3.3Opportunities46 5.3.4Threats47 5.4Five Elements of Realization Strategy49 5.4.1Arenas (market conditions and valuable segments)49 5.4.2Staging and pacing53 5.4.3Differentiators55 5.4.4Vehicles (course of action)55 5.4.5Economic logic58 5.4.6Summary and checklist of foundation59 6.Execution of the Initial Phase60 6.1Centralization versus Decentralization of Business Units60 6.2Acquisition of New Permanent Employees61 6.2.1Recruitment strategy for employees without experience61 6.2.2Recruitment strategy for experienced employees62 6.2.3Selection of potential candidates63 6.2.4Recruitment process63 6.3Internal Deployment and Organization66 6.3.1Feedback systems66 6.3.2Development of competencies66 6.3.3Incentives and salary systems68 6.3.4Difficulties with external parties69 7.Assessment of Business after 'Start-up Phase'70 7.1Reassessment of Recent Years70 7.2Organizational Improvement Measures72 7.3Change Management and the Reorganization of Business and Markets73 7.3.1Strengthen the position in the existing market74 7.3.2Entering new global markets75 8.Summary76 List of Literature78Textprobe:Text Sample: Chapter 3.3, Renewable Energy in the UAE and KSA: Utility companies in the GCC states are under enormous pressure due to the global scarcity of fossil fuels, which are running out much faster than expected, consequently they are boosting also renewable energies. Governmental agencies have been instructed to review energy consumption in the Middle East and are seeking alternatives to meet the rising demand, which is also in line with the global environmental movement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The long shoreline and high insolation throughout the year are optimal for generating wind, water and photovoltaic power. The following illustrate the efforts made by government agencies for the upcoming year: Abu Dhabi's Masdar City is spending US Dollar 2 billion on promoting solar technology. Saudi Arabia is looking to position itself as a centre for solar energy research and so become a net exporter of energy sourced from renewables. Abu Dhabi is to build the world's largest hydrogen power plant at a cost of US Dollar 15 billion. 'Glance over the borders": Jordan is assessing plans for constructing a wind farm while Qatar is considering solar power. 3.4, Pending Developments: Regarding upcoming developments, the two countries, UAE and KSA, have to be considered separately due to the primary resources that are available. Crude oil and natural gas reserves in Saudi Arabia will last decades more than the resources in the UAE. A further reason is that the quality and composition of the mineral resources are much less favorable in the KSA than in the UAE. This means that their firing for power generation is, for economic reasons, the only reasonable option for their exploitation. In the UAE the situation is different, as there the mineral resources are of much higher quality and are too valuable to fire in power plants. The price obtainable on the world petrochemicals market is much higher than the benefit derived from electricity generation. The UAE therefore has a greater incentive to diversify its power generation and to invest in technologies other than fossil fuels much earlier. Based on the financial and economic crisis, the 'Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie' expects a smoother growth of GDP in 2008 and 2009. This means that ongoing projects with a total CAPEX of US Dollar 378 billion will be postponed or abandoned. Despite these figures, the UAE will remain the most important project market for German companies in the Arabian region. Over the near term, between 2009 and 2011, the UAE expects investments of about US Dollar 540 billion. Showing high potential for investments of about US Dollar 24 billion is expansion of water production and power plant capacities. To participate in this development, frequent consultations and top-level meetings are held to strengthen the relationship between German industry and local agencies like DEWA (Dubai Electrical and Water Authority) and ADWEA (Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority). These authorities organize and guide all water and electricity projects, starting with planning and tendering through to commissioning. Over the past four years, energy consumption in the Emirate of Dubai has increased by around 10,000 GWh. As a consequence, the projection for 2010 is for a new electricity generation capacity of 9 GWe provided by power plants. Likewise electricity transmission has potential for growth. DEWA intends to award contracts annually for more than 6,000 km of HVDC (high voltage direct current) transmission lines. DEWA has an estimated annual budget of US Dollar 2 billion.

The oxygen evolution reaction during the photosynthesis process performed in plants, algae and cyanobacteria is possibly one of the most important reactions on the planet that sustain most life on our planet. Understanding the structure and function of the "engine of life", the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) in the active site of Photosystem II (PSII), has been one of the great and persistent challenges of modern science. Over the past decades, immense progress has been achieved in understanding the structure and mechanism of photosynthetic reactions. This progress is in large part due to the refinement of preparative protocols, X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD), site-directed mutagenesis, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, the coming of age of X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) diffractometry and computational approaches in the investigation of PS II. Nevertheless, key mechanistic and electronic details of water oxidation still remain highly contentious. Elucidation of these details is complicated by the fact that the active site of PSII exists in four natural metastable oxidation states, as well as putative unnatural forms that are plausibly induced during experimental investigation. The leading motivation of the scientific community studying PSII is ultimately the development of new catalysts and even bio-inspired solar cells, that will produce clean and sustainable energy for the world. Over the last hundred years, approximately 80% of worldwide energy consumption has been based on fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas. However, humankind now has to face the consequences arising from this dependence on fossil fuels. Worldwide energy consumption is expected to increase by over 50% by the mid-2000s (see Fig. 0.1). Because fossil fuels are finite and regional around the world, it is greatly challenging to ensure that this demand can be met, in the face of possible political tensions and other potential problems with energy supplies. Due to the usage of fossil fuels, large quantities of emissions, e.g., CO2, SO2, and oxide particles, are the predominant reasons for global warming and severe pollution. Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasized the necessity of decreasing CO2 emissions on a global scale to the zero level before the next century. These arguments make the development of sustainable and carbon-neutral energy technologies one of the most urgent challenges facing humankind all over the world. Wind, ocean currents, tides, and waves are all potential sources of energy, but by far the most abundant renewable energy source on the planet is solar energy: solar illumination on Earth every hour is greater than the worldwide energy consumption for a whole year [35]. Therefore, the conversion and utilization of solar energy is a promising solution for energy problems. An intriguing potential solution to the expected shortfall in energy supplies is artificial photosynthesis [108], whereby light energy can be stored in chemical bonds and, hence, be made available as fuels [18, 200, 19, 364]. Synthetic molecular and heterogeneous manganese analogues still struggle to mimic the function and performance of the OEC. This is partly because these distinctive features are not intrinsic to the Mn4CaO5 core of the OEC but depend on its environment and result from elaborate gating and regulation mechanisms for coordinating the coupling of proton-electron transfer and the access, delivery, binding, positioning, activation, and coupling of substrate waters to form dioxygen. The high level of geometric and electronic control, both spatial and temporal, extends along the whole catalytic cycle and involves simultaneously the Mn4CaO5 cluster, its first coordination sphere, and the protein matrix that controls the flow of electrons, protons, substrates, and products. From the side of theoretical methods great progresses have been made in recent years. Due to the success of the density functional theory (DFT), not only in the field of solid state physics, but also on liquids and molecular compounds, it is possible to obtain the electronic structure of few hundreds atoms with an acceptable computational effort. Using the information provided by the experiments as starting point, it is possible to employ DFT to refine the geometries in relationship with the electron ground-state or different electronic states, to calculate the electron and spin density for a given system and to estimate spectroscopic properties. The coupling of DFT with molecular dynamics also allows us to perform ab-initio molecular dynamics of large systems at finite temperature to fully consider entropic contributions and low-energy conformational changes. Computational techniques can also provide considerable support in the analysis and interpretation of the complex IR spectra of such biological systems. In this thesis, the molecular and electronic structures of the multinuclear manganese containing bioinorganic system together with oxygen-evolving complex of PS II are investigated using DFT-based methods for the theoretical modeling of vibrational spectra in the gas phase by normal mode analysis and molecular dynamics simulations. Research on biological water oxidation traverses scientific fields and concentrates the efforts of a multitude of experimental and theoretical approaches. Different methods of investigation naturally lead to distinct views on the OEC. These are often complementary but at times are contradictory, and it is not always obvious whether the contradictions already exist in the data or arise from their suggested interpretations. Nevertheless, the overarching goals are common to all experimental and theoretical studies. These are not limited to the geometric and electronic structure of the cluster in each state of the cycle but encompass the role of the protein matrix, the channels, and secondary components of the second sphere of the cluster, such as the chloride ions. Chapter I of the thesis considers in detail the progress that have been done so far in structural and spectroscopic studies of OEC and its synthetic mimics given together with the general introduction on photosynthetic reactions occurring in the leaf. Theoretical background of the computational methods used in present work is given in detail in Chapter II. In this thesis, we explored the potentialities and the reliability of different state-of-the-art computational techniques for the investigation of the structural and vibrational properties of complex macromolecular materials of biochemical importance. The use of FTIR spectroscopy to probe the structure and function of the OEC complex in PS II has a long history. The synthesis of a very close structural mimic of the catalytic center has opened up the opportunity to perform a comprehensive and parallel study of both the natural and artificial compounds and of their vibrational modes. Chapter III is dedicated to the detailed assignment of the bands in the midand low-frequencies region by static and dynamic vibrational spectra calculations of the unique biomimetic complex. The detailed parallel analysis between the Natural and Synthetic complexes also provided a comprehensive characterization of the vibrational fingerprints in such class of cubane-like Mn-based compounds and is reported in Chapter IV. In Chapter V of the thesis we discussed the electronic and structural properties of the novel Mn4O4 synthetic compound mimicking the EPR spectroscopic nature of OEC in S2 state.

La detección y localización de amenazas resulta una tarea de vital importancia en la seguridad de instalaciones públicas o privadas tales como, por ejemplo, aeropuertos, instalaciones gubernamentales, estadios o almacenes de grandes empresas de distribución. Las ondas milimétricas son emitidas de forma natural por todos los cuerpos debido a su temperatura; esta radiación es capaz de atravesar tejidos como la ropa mostrando objetos ocultos bajo esta de distintos materiales: metales, líquidos, plásticos, etc. Las cámaras milimétricas pasivas son dispositivos que captan estas ondas formando una imagen sin la emisión artificial de ningún tipo de radiación, por lo que resultan inocuas. No obstante, la calidad de las imágenes generadas es típicamente muy limitada debido a su baja resolución, escasa relación señal a ruido y otras posibles degradaciones inherentes a los sistemas de captación. Esta tesis doctoral está dedicada al procesamiento y mejora de las imágenes captadas con el objetivo final de hacer más precisos los sistemas de detección. Se proponen soluciones a los problemas de inpainting, eliminación de ruido y deconvolución ciega desde una misma perspectiva probabilística en un marco bayesiano haciendo uso de la inferencia variacional. La aproximación utilizada permite la estimación automática de los parámetros del modelo conjuntamente con la de las propias imágenes subyacentes. Los dos primeros problemas se resuelven mediante el aprendizaje basado en diccionarios, desarrollando un nuevo método para la estimación de los diccionarios y los vectores de coordenadas que representas a las señales en estas ((bases)). La deconvolución ciega elimina el emborronamiento desconocido presente en las imágenes; se propone un método de estimación de este emborronamiento para la estimación de la imagen nítida latente. Ambos trabajos presentan un denominador común, las distribuciones a priori sparseque se utiliza para modelizar nuestro conocimiento sobre la señal subyacente. La presente tesis aborda la inferencia variacional con el uso de estas distribuciones, garantizando soluciones analíticas que aproximan las distribuciones a posteriori de las imágenes latentes, lo que constituye una novedosa contribución a la literatura. Finalmente, se aplican los métodos de mejora de imágenes desarrollados sobre una base de datos de imágenes propia y se estudia el efecto sobre dos métodos de detección con filosofías totalmente distintas: un primer método clásico basado en extracción de características y detección por bloque; y un segundo basado en una red neuronal convolucional con estructura de autoencoder. En ambos casos se observarán mejoras significativas en la detección. ; Threat detection and localization is a vital task in security and surveillance applications in private, public or government facilities such as airports, stadiums, warehouses of large logistics companies or embassies. All bodies at a temperurate higher than absolute zero naturally emit millimeter wave radiation which is capable of travelling through layers of clothing revealing hidden objects of different materials: metals, liquids, pastics, etc. Passive millimeter wave cameras/scanners receive the radiation in this band of the spectrum generating an image without the need of artifficial emission of waves, thus not posing a health hazard. However, passive millimeter wave images display very limited quality due to their low signal-to-noise ratio and resolution, as well as other degradations caused by the acquisition systems. This doctoral thesis is devoted to the processing and enhancement of the acquired images with the ultimate goal of improving the accuracy of the detection systems. We propose comprehensive solutions to the inpainting, denoising and blind deconvolution problems from a probabilistic perspective within a Bayesian framework using variational inference. This approach allows for the automatic estimation of all model parameters along with the latent images simultaneously. The first two problems are solved with dictionary learning: we develop an efficient technique for the estimation of the dictionaries and sparse coordinate vectors which represent the observed signals in these \bases". Blind deconvolution supresses the unknown blur in images; a method for the estimation of this blur is proposed to estimate the underlying sharp images. Both works share a common denominator: the use of sparse priors to model the a priori knwledge on the latent signals. This thesis tackles variational inference with the use of these priors, ensuring tractable solutions that closely approximate the posterior distribution of the latent images, constituing a novel contribution to the literature. Finally, we apply the developed image enhancement techniques on an image database and study the impact on two detection methods with radically different philosophies: a classical approach based on feature extraction and per-block classification and a second one which uses an autoencoder-like convolutional neural network. In both cases substantial improvement in detection performance will be observed. ; Tesis Univ. Granada.

El gobierno noruego firmó un acuerdo con Juan Manuel Santos, ex presidente de Colombia, para otorgarle a este país USD $48 millones anuales para reducir la deforestación. Este acuerdo forma parte de un esfuerzo mayor de Noruega para apoyar a los países del sur que busca detener el cambio climático, a través de la Iniciativa Internacional de Clima y Bosques de Noruega (NICFI, por sus siglas en inglés: Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative) instituida después del Acuerdo de París en 2015. La manera en que se han implementado los esfuerzos para reducir la deforestación ha sido recibida con críticas. Por ejemplo, Colombia ratificó el Acuerdo de París para llegar a deforestación neta cero en 2020. No obstante, en 2016 la deforestación en la selva amazónica aumentó en un 44%. Mientras Noruega, a través de esta inversión en el bosque, parece ser un país preocupado por el clima, también continúa realizando extracción de petróleo. Noruega, por lo tanto, exhibe estándares dobles ya que apunta a mantener su posición como un importante productor de extracción de petróleo y gas en alta mar, al tiempo que impulsa el problema del cambio climático a los países del sur. De esta manera, Noruega parece cumplir con los requisitos del Acuerdo de París para la reducción de las emisiones de CO2. Este artículo examina los éxitos y fracasos de los esfuerzos noruegos de protección de los bosques tropicales en el caso de Colombia, evaluando la gobernanza de las políticas de deforestación desde la perspectiva de la criminología verde del sur, e incorporando una crítica a los medios neocolonialistas de protección ambiental establecidos por el norte. ; The Norwegian government has made an agreement with Juan Manuel Santos, the former Colombian president, to give Colombia USD $48 million yearly in order to reduce deforestation. This forms part of a greater support effort by Norway to countries in the South to halt climate change, through the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) instituted after the Paris Agreement in 2015. The way in which efforts to reduce deforestation have been implemented has, however, been met with criticism. For instance, Colombia ratified the Paris Agreement to reach zero net deforestation by -2020. Nonetheless, in 2016, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest increased by 44%. While Norway, through this investment in the forest, gives the appearance of being a climate concerned country, it also continues oil extraction. Norway thus exhibits double standards as it aims to maintain its position as an important producer of offshore oil and gas extraction, while pushing the problem of climate change onto the countries in the South. In this way, Norway is able to comply with the Paris Agreement requirements for reduction of CO2 emissions. This article examines the successes and failures of the Norwegian rainforest protection efforts in the case of Colombia, assessing the governance of the deforestation policies from the perspective of green Southern criminology and incorporating a critique of the neo-colonialist means of environmental protection established by the North. ; El gobierno noruego firmó un acuerdo con Juan Manuel Santos, ex presidente de Colombia, para otorgarle a este país USD $48 millones anuales para reducir la deforestación. Este acuerdo forma parte de un esfuerzo mayor de Noruega para apoyar a los países del sur que busca detener el cambio climático, a través de la Iniciativa Internacional de Clima y Bosques de Noruega (NICFI, por sus siglas en inglés: Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative) instituida después del Acuerdo de París en 2015. La manera en que se han implementado los esfuerzos para reducir la deforestación ha sido recibida con críticas. Por ejemplo, Colombia ratificó el Acuerdo de París para llegar a deforestación neta cero en 2020. No obstante, en 2016 la deforestación en la selva amazónica aumentó en un 44%. Mientras Noruega, a través de esta inversión en el bosque, parece ser un país preocupado por el clima, también continúa realizando extracción de petróleo. Noruega, por lo tanto, exhibe estándares dobles ya que apunta a mantener su posición como un importante productor de extracción de petróleo y gas en alta mar, al tiempo que impulsa el problema del cambio climático a los países del sur. De esta manera, Noruega parece cumplir con los requisitos del Acuerdo de París para la reducción de las emisiones de CO2. Este artículo examina los éxitos y fracasos de los esfuerzos noruegos de protección de los bosques tropicales en el caso de Colombia, evaluando la gobernanza de las políticas de deforestación desde la perspectiva de la criminología verde del sur, e incorporando una crítica a los medios neocolonialistas de protección ambiental establecidos por el norte.

Sustainability is crucial for biofuels and bioenergy production in general. However, historically speaking, the biofuels industry has largely ignored sustainability criteria and consequently has been the source of considerable controversy. Despite a real expansion worldwide, biofuels development has still to face many barriers in the three pillars of sustainability. In the environmental domain, biofuels have to face accusations of deforestation, loss of biodiversity, carbon emission, water usage, etc. In the economic domain, they are accused to compete with other land uses for basic needs such as food and material , and they must prove that they are more viable than oil and other renewable energies. In the social domain, they also have to answer to complaints about land grabbing, rural poverty, social acceptance. Over the past twenty years, a large number of studies aimed to estimate the amount of bioenergy that can be produced in a sustainable manner. Results are very contrasted for many reasons mainly due to the heterogeneity of methodologies, definitions, assumptions and datasets employed. However, most studies agree that among all possible sources of biomass energy, energy crops are considered as the most important. Other crops and forest residues can also be good sources but do not reach the potential of energy crops. These studies lead to consider that the main potential contribution of biomass for energy production will depend on one hand of the energy crops yields and on the other hand on the quantity, the quality and the location of available land to cultivate. Considering that grassland, savannah or shrubland are idle or non-used land, most of the studies locate the majority of potentially available land in developing countries, in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America. But there is considerable debates about the availability of land in these regions and many authors point out the need for a clearer picture of what it means. Thus, land availability is maybe the most crucial parameters in sustainable potential assessment. But this concept of availability encompasses many interlinked factors and is lacking a clear definition. Depending on methodologies, availability may include technical or economic or social or legal or environmental factors, or multiple combinations of these different factors. However, since the 1990s, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the global bioenergy potential, several governments, NGOs and private companies have proposed ecological and social sustainability criteria which bioenergy has to fulfill. Since the early 2000s a set of voluntary standards have emerged in the Agro-food sector. They are produced through multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSI), which are presented as their main source of legitimacy. Many of these initiatives also called "Roundtables" are recognized and used in the sector of biofuel feedstock production : Roundtable for sustainable Palm Oil ( RSPO 2004), Roundtable for Responsible Soy (RTRS 2006), Better Sugar Cane Initiative (BSI), Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), and Round Table Sustainable Biofuels (RSB). All these standards have in common to define principles and criteria that restrain the availability of land dedicated to energy crops. They place restrictions on i) the types of land that may be used to grow energy crops and on ii) the social and technical models of production. According to these schemes availability of land is defined by criteria including technical factors (slope, soil, …), legal factors (land rights, respect of legal conservation areas), logistics factors (accessibility, distance to plants), environmental factors (high conservation values, carbon stocks), conversion factors (loss of biodiversity, zero deforestation), or food security factors (no competition with food crops), etc. These standards are still controversial and without doubt need to be improved, but in many countries including developing ones they currently drive feedstock production and therefore land availability for energy crops. The main objective of this paper is to propose a spatially explicit methodology to assess and analyze land availability for energy crops at national scale. The originality of this methodology is to start from existing sustainability standards of production and to translate principles and criteria into spatial constraints of availability. The methodological framework is applied in two West African countries : Mali and Burkina Faso. The application shows that taking into account farms structures and sustainable production rules reduces the land considered to be available by a factor of at least 4. The other key lesson is that family agriculture and contract farming may present viable alternatives to agro-industrial models. The advantage of this approach is that the scenarios built do not represent starting points of the assessment, but are rather one of the results. The scenarios and the production models are clearly formalized and thus represent topics of discussion which can be understood by producers and decision makers, allowing rules for the sustainable use of areas to be negotiated and refined.

Na década atual, escolher a melhor maneira de aquecer o ambiente interior das residências é um grande desafio. A maioria dos países usa aquecedores convencionais para aquecer o ambiente interior ou aparelhos de ar condicionado para arrefecer o ambiente interior. O problema com esses métodos é o maior consumo de energia e o efeito estufa causado pela libertação de CFC ou HFC dos aparelhos de ar condicionado. De acordo com a pesquisa de Washington, o mundo está prestes a instalar 700 milhões de unidades de ar condicionado em todo o mundo, o que significa uma grande quantidade de emissão de gases de efeito estufa. Isso é prejudicial porque os gases de efeito estufa são a principal causa do esgotamento da camada de ozono e do aquecimento global. Assim, para reduzir este efeito, o que podemos fazer é utilizar técnicas passivas de arrefecimento através de telhados reflexivos e radiativos em casas tropicais e também, utilizar unidades de ventilação residencial como aquecedores de ambiente interior em regiões mais frias. À medida que se caminha para que venha a existir um parque de edifícios com consumo quase nulo, e tendo em conta os métodos de ventilação utilizados nas habitações mais antigas, em que não se verificam as taxas de ventilação sugeridas na ASHRAE, cria-se uma oportunidade para a utilização de unidades de ventilação com sistemas de recuperação de calor. Muitos dos países europeus passaram do método de ventilação natural para outros métodos de ventilação nos últimos anos, mas ainda há espaço para o crescimento de unidades de ventilação com instalação de permutadores de calor. Este estudo trata sobre as Unidades de Ventilação Residencial na região europeia. Na Europa, a instalação de RVUs deve obrigar ao "REGULAMENTO DELEGADO DA COMISSÃO (UE) n. ° 1254/2014» que completa a Diretiva 2010/30 / UE do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho no que diz respeito à rotulagem energética das Unidades de Ventilação Residencial. De acordo com esta diretiva, os valores da SEC, AEC e AHS para os produtos de diferentes regiões do mundo são calculados e comparados com aquecedores convencionais que são usados em regiões mais frias para verificar se as RVUs com permutadores de calor valem a pena investir e substituir a ventilação convencional e meios convencionais de aquecimento ambiente, como aquecedores de gás e energia elétrica, para que possamos reduzir o impacto ambiental causado por meios convencionais de aquecimento ambiente que usam enorme quantidade de combustível para aquecer a mesma área residencial. ; In the current decade choosing the best way to heat or cool interiors of a house is the biggest challenge. Majority of the world uses conventional heaters to heat interiors or air onditioners to cool the interiors. Problem with these methods is higher energy consumptions and greenhouse effect caused by the release of CFCs or HFC's from air conditioners. According to Washington post-survey, the world is about to install 700 million airconditioning units around the world, that means a whole lot of greenhouse gas emission. This is bad because greenhouse gases are the main cause of the ozone layer depletion and global warming. So, to reduce these what we can do is passive cooling techniques through eflective and radiative roofs in tropical houses and use of residential ventilation units as space heaters for the house in colder regions. As more and more buildings are constructed with zero energy consumption in mind and old ventilation methods used in old homes which are not met with the ASHRAE standards, so there is only one way with which above problems can be tackled and that is by using ventilation units with heat recovery systems. Many of the European countries transitioned from natural ventilation method to other ventilation methods in recent years, but there is still space for the growth of ventilation units with heat exchangers installation. This study is about the Residential Ventilation Units in the European region. In Europe, installation of RVUs must oblige to the "COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) No 1254/2014" supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regards to energy labeling of Residential Ventilation Units. As per this Directive, SEC,AEC and AHS values for the products from diferente regions of the world are calculated and compared with conventional space heaters which are used in colder regions in order to check if RVUs with heat exchangers are worth investing nd replacing conventional ventilation and conventional means of space heating like gas and electrical space heaters, so that we can reduce environmental impact caused by conventional means of space heating which uses enormous amount of fuel to heat up same space area.

학위논문 (박사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 기계항공공학부, 2020. 8. 민경덕. ; Abstract The Effect of Turbulent Flow on the Combustion Cyclic Variation in a Spark Ignition Engine using Large-Eddy Simulation Insuk Ko Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering The Graduate School Seoul National University At the present, the problem of worldwide air pollution has emerged as an important issue and many countries are trying to solve the problem. Emission regulations have been tightened around the world in an effort to reduce emissions from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. From 2014, Tier 3 emissions standards in the United States (U.S.) and EURO6 regulations in the European Union (EU) are adopted. Currently, CO2 is also being strongly enforced annually. To meet the tightened CO2 regulations, the development of high efficiency engines is actively being carried out by each vehicle manufacturer. In the development of high efficiency engines, the key point is the increase in thermal efficiency. Many technologies have been developed to increase thermal efficiency and are being applied to mass-production engines. However, there is currently a cycle-to-cycle variation (CCV) of combustion as the biggest obstacle to engine development. Therefore, research on the CCV is also being actively carried out. Because the causes that affect the cycle deviation are various and complex, it is difficult to conduct detailed research on the source of the CCV through experimental studies. Therefore, the 3D simulation is actively carried out as an alternative. In the present study, the CCV phenomenon of combustion was reproduced using large-eddy simulation (LES) approach and the investigation on the source of CCV are conducted. Currently, the engine simulation using LES is immature. Therefore, it is necessary to consider each sub-model for accurate simulation. First, three Sub-grid scale (SGS) turbulence models were evaluated with particle image velocimetry (PIV) data from the single-cylinder transparent combustion chamber (TCC-III) engine. The dynamic structure model (DSM) was adopted for this study, based on the analysis of the flow field and the predicted SGS turbulent velocity compared to the PIV data. Secondly, the G-equation was employed as a combustion model. The model can be used in the corrugated flamelets regime and the thin reaction flamelets regime. The turbulent burning velocity of the model is quite complicated to simulate the turbulent flame included in the two regimes. Therefore, in this study, the combustion regime of the target engine operating condition was found by using Reynolds averaged navier-stokes equation (RANS) approach and was identified to the corrugated flamelets regime. Thus, the G-equation was modified for the corrugated flamelets regime. Thirdly, an ignition model reflecting the characteristics of LES was developed. The lagrangian particles were employed to realize the ignition channel and the secondary electric circuit model was implemented to predict the spark energy, restrikes phenomena and the end of ignition time. The one of the key features of the ignition model developed in this study is that a simplified empirical function is implemented to realize the thermal diffusion during arc phase. After ignition phase, the channel grows by chemical reaction and the flame propagation progresses. The turbulent flame brush thickness term is introduced to predict the transition state between the laminar flame propagation and the turbulent flame propagation. Finally, when the channel is grown sufficiently, flame is propagated in the 3D field by the G-equation Finally, 30 LES cycles were performed to identify the cause of the CCV and validated against the experimental data. The sources of the CCV are mainly from the small scale turbulent flow and the large scale turbulent flow. The small scale turbulent flow effect was investigated and the fact that the small scale turbulent flow is related to the tumble motion is identified. In terms of the large scale turbulent flow, the effect of the local vortex on the flame propagation was found through the detailed analysis of the flow field. In particular, the vortex produced by wall flow on the secondary tumble plane is an important factor. A new piston shape was designed to strengthen the vortex formation by wall flow. The result of new piston case shows the reduced combustion CCV than the base case. This research provides the guide how to investigate the sources of the combustion CCV and how to reduce the combustion CCV for the future engine development Keywords: SI engine, LES, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), CCV (Cycle-to-cycle variation), Ignition model, SGS model Student Number: 2013-20641 ; 국 문 초 록 현재 전 세계 대기오염 문제가 중요한 이슈로 떠오르고 많은 나라들이 이 문제를 해결하기 위해 노력하고 있다. 내연기관 차량의 배기 가스 배출량을 줄이기 위해 전 세계적으로 배출가스 규제가 강화되었다. 2014년부터 미국은 Tier 3 배기배출물 규정을 유럽연합은 EURO 6 규정을 채택하고 있다. 현재 연비 규제인 CO2도 매년 강력하게 강화되고 있다. 강화된 CO2 규정을 충족시키기 위해, 고효율 엔진의 개발은 각 차량 제조사에 의해 활발하게 이루어지고 있다. 고효율 엔진 개발에서 핵심은 열효율 증가이다. 열효율을 높이기 위해 많은 기술이 개발되어 양산 엔진에 적용되고 있다. 그러나 현재 엔진 개발에 가장 큰 장애물로 연소 사이클 간 편차가 있다. 따라서 사이클 편차에 대한 연구도 활발히 진행되고 있다. 사이클 편차에 영향을 미치는 원인은 다양하고 복잡하기 때문에, 실험 연구를 통해 사이클 편차의 근본 원인에 대한 상세한 연구를 실시하기 어렵다. 따라서 대안으로 3D 시뮬레이션을 활용한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는, 연소의 사이클 편차 현상을 Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) 유동 해석 방법을 이용하여 재현하고 사이클 편차의 원인에 대한 연구를 진행한다. 현재 LES를 이용한 엔진 시뮬레이션은 아직까지 미숙한 단계이다. 따라서 정확한 시뮬레이션을 위해 각 물리적 현상을 구현할 수 있는 모델을 구현해야 한다. 먼저, 3개의 sub-grid scale (SGS) 난류 모델을 단기통 광학 엔진의 (TCC-III) particle image velocimetry (PIV) 측정 결과로 평가하였다. PIV 데이터와 비교한 유동장 및 예측된 SGS 난류속도에 대한 분석을 바탕으로 본 연구에서는 dynamic structure model (DSM)이 채택되었다. 둘째로, G-equation 모델을 연소 모델로 선택하였다. G-equation 모델은 Pitsch[1]에 의해 LES 적용 가능 하도록 개발되었다. 이 모델은 corrugated flamelets regime과 thin reaction flamelets regime에서 사용될 수 있다. 연소 속도 모델은 두 연소 환경에 포함된 난류 연소를 모사하기 위해 상당히 복잡하다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 RANS 를 이용하여 대상 엔진 작동 조건의 연소 환경을 찾아 내었고, 연소 환경은 corrugated flamelets regime에 속한 것을 확인 하였다. 따라서 기존의 G-equation 연소 모델을 corrugated flamelets regime에 맞도록 변경 하였다. 셋째로, LES의 특성을 반영한 점화 모델이 개발되었다. Lagrangian 개념을 이용하여 점화 채널을 구현하고, 2차 전기 회로 모델을 이용하여 점화 에너지, 리스트라이크, 점화 시간 종료 등을 예측하였다. 본 연구에서 개발된 점화 모델의 주요 특징 중 하나는 아크 페이즈 중 열 팽창 현상을 구현을 위해 간단한 경험 함수를 이용한다는 것이다. 아크 페이즈 후, 점화 해널은 화학 반응에 성장하고 화염 전파가 진행된다. 난류 화염 두께는 층류 화염 전파와 난류 화염 전파 사이의 천이 상태를 예측하기 위해 도입되었다. 마지막으로 점화 채널이 충분히 커지면 G-equation 의해 3D 계산 영역에서 화염 전파가 구현된다. 마지막으로 30개의 LES 사이클을 수행하여 연소의 사이클 편차 원인을 분석하고 실험 데이터를 이용하여 시뮬레이션의 정확도를 검증하였다. 연소의 사이클 편차의 원인은 주로 작은 규모의 난류 유동과 큰 규모의 난류 유동에서 나온다. 난류 모델로 구현된 작은 규모의 난류 유동과 큰 규모의 난류 유동에 속한 텀블 값을 같이 분석 하였다. 작은 규모의 난류 유동은 텀블 값과 관계가 있다는 사실을 파악 하였다. 큰 규모 난류 유동 측면에서는 국부적인 유동의 소용돌이가 화염 전파에 미치는 영향을 유동장을 상세히 분석하여 확인되었다. 특히 2차 텀블면에서 벽면 유동에 의해 생성되는 소용돌이가 연소의 사이클 편차에 미치는 중요한 요인임을 밝혀 내었다. 벽면 유동에 의한 소용돌이 형성을 강화하기 위해 새로운 피스톤 현상을 설계 하였다. 새로운 피스톤 형상의 결과는 베이스 피스톤보다 연소의 CCV가 줄어들었다. 본 연구는 향후 엔진 개발을 위해 연소 CCV의 원인을 조사하는 방법과 연소 CCV를 줄이는 방법에 대한 방법론을 제시한다. 주요어: 전기점화 엔진, LES, 전산유체역학, 사이클 편차, 점화모델, 난류모델 학 번: 2013-20641 ; Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Background and Motivation 1 1.2 Literature Review 10 1.2.2 Turbulence Modeling 12 1.2.3 Combustion Modeling 16 1.3 Research Objective 20 1.4 Structure of the Thesis 22 Chapter 2. Sub-grid Scale Turbulence Model 24 2.1 The Fundamentals of Turbulent Flow 23 2.1.1 The Energy Cascade 23 2.1.2 The Energy Spectrum 27 2.2 Sub-grid Scale Turbulence Model 29 2.2.1 Zero-equation Model 31 2.2.1.1 Smagorinsky Model 31 2.2.1.2 Dynamic Smagorinsky Model 32 2.2.2 One-equation and Non-viscosity Model 34 2.2.2.1 Dynamic Structure Model 34 2.3 Evaluation of Turbulence Models 37 2.3.1 Numerical Configuration 40 2.3.2 Comparison of Sub-grid Scale Model 45 Chapter 3. Modeling of Gasoline Surrogate Fuel 59 3.1 Literature Review 55 3.2 Determination of Surrogate Component 56 Chapter 4. Combustion Model for LES 63 4.1 The Laminar Burning Velocity 59 4.1.1 Literature Review 59 4.1.2 The Correlation for the Laminar Flame Speed 62 4.2 G-equation Model for LES 69 4.3 Sub-filter Turbulent Burning Velocity 73 Chapter 5. Lagrangian Ignition Model 82 5.1 Literature Review 77 5.2 Modeling of Ignition 81 5.2.1 Initialization of Particles 82 5.2.2 Channel elongation 83 5.2.3 Electric circuit model 83 5.2.4 Plasma channel expansion. 88 5.2.5 Ignition channel development 94 5.2.6 Restrike 95 5.2.7 Transition between ignition and flame propagation 96 Chapter 6. Experimental and Numerical Setup 106 6.1 Experimental Setup 99 6.2 Numerical Setup 104 Chapter 7. Simulation Results of Combustion CCV 116 7.1 Validation of Simulation Results 109 7.2 Correlation between Combustion Phase and Peak Pressure 115 7.3 Investigation of turbulent flow effect on CCV 121 7.3.1 Small Scale Turbulent Flow Effect on CCV 121 7.3.2 Large Scale Turbulent Flow Effect on CCV 127 7.4 Method for Reduction of CCV 156 7.4.1 Investigation of the Controllable Source of CCV 156 7.4.2 Result of New Designed Piston 166 Chapter 8. Conclusions 182 Chapter 9. Bibliography 186 국 문 초 록 201 ; Doctor

Chapter1. Effect of Lime And Brick Ash Inclusion on Engineering Behaviour of Expansive Soil -- Chapter2. Know your Daily Rainfall in any Location in India- A Web-based Approach Developed in Google Earth Engine -- Chapter3. IoT- Based Innovative Technological Solutions for Smart Cities and Villages -- Chapter4. A Review on Utilization of E-Waste in Construction -- Chapter5. Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) for Treatment of Storm water Runoff -- Chapter6. Textile Industry Wastewater Treatment using Eco-friendly Techniques -- Chapter7. Sustainable Treatment of Metal-Contaminated Soil by Electrokinetic Remediation -- Chapter8. Eco-Restoration of lakes and water sustainability in urban areas -- Chapter9. Microplastics: Environmental Issues and their Management -- Chapter10. Elucidating the Effect of Cement Dust on Selective Soil Parameters around J&K Cements Limited, Khrew -- Chapter11. Development of Correlation between Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity and Rebound Hammer Test Results for Condition Assessment of Concrete Structures for Sustainable Infrastructure Development. Chapter12. Alternative Fine Aggregates to Produce Sustainable Self Compacting Concrete: A Review -- Chapter13. Structural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Column Using Diamond Tie Configuration under Elevated Temperatures for Sustainable Performance: A Review -- Chapter14. Reusable and Recyclable Industrial Waste in Geopolymer Concrete -- Chapter15. Infrared Thermography Parameter Optimization for Damage Detection of Concrete Structures Using Finite Element Simulations -- Chapter16. Eco-friendly Concrete Admixture from Black Liquor Generated in Pulp and Paper Industry -- Chapter17. Behavioural study on concrete with organic materials for CO2 absorption -- Chapter18. An Efficient Design and Development of IoT based Real-Time Water Pollution Monitoring and Quality Management System -- Chapter19. Numerical Study of Composite Wrapped Reinforced Concrete Columns Subjected to Close-in Blast -- Chapter20. Evaluation of conventional red bricks with compressed stabilized earth blocks as alternate sustainable building materials in Indian context -- Chapter21. Experimental Study on Alternative Building Material using Cement and Stone Dust as Stabilizers in Stabilized Mud Block -- Chapter22. Utilizing the Potential of Textile Effluent Treatment Sludge in Construction Industry: Current Status, Opportunities, Challenges, and Solutions -- Chapter23. Identification of Suitable Solid Waste Disposal Sites for the Arba Minch Town, Ethiopia, Using Geospatial Technology and AHP Method -- Chapter24. Framing Conceptual Design of Adopting Interlocking Bricks Technology in Construction -- Chapter25. Arriving Factors in the Conceptual Design Framework of 3D Printing Techniques for Building construction -- Chapter26. Scenic Evaluation of the Hills for Tourism Development - A Study on the Hills Of Tamilnadu, India -- Chapter27. Influence of Groundnut Shell Ash and Waste Plaster of Paris on Clayey Soil for Sustainable Construction -- Chapter28. Influence of Metakaolin and Steel Fiber on Strength of Concrete - A Critical Review -- Chapter29. Decadal monitoring of Coastline shifts and recommendation of Non-structural Protection measures along the coast of Rameshwaram, Tamilnadu, India -- Chapter30. Development of sustainable concrete using slag and calcined clay -- Chapter31. Assessment of the impact of bacillus cereus bacteria on strength and water absorption capacity of sustainable concrete -- Chapter32. Design and Development of Corona-19 Pandemic Situation-based Remote Voting System -- Chapter33. Waste Pozzolanic Material as a substitute of Geopolymer Mortar -- Chapter34. Study of the carbon emissions from construction of a house in plain region using standard construction material and eco-friendly/ alternative materials -- Chapter35. Experimental investigation of the impacts of partial substitution of cement with rice husk ash (RHA) on the characteristics of cement mortar -- Chapter36. A Mini review on Current Advancement in Application of Bacterial Cellulose in Pulp and Paper Industry -- Chapter37. Effect of agro-waste as a partial replacement in cement for sustainable concrete production -- Chapter38. Analysis and Evaluation of Geopolymer Concrete from Mechanical standpoint -- Chapter39. Municipal Waste Management in India: A Critical Review of Disposal System and Model Implementation -- Chapter40. Experimental Study on Light Weight Geopolymer Concrete Using Expanded Clay Aggregate -- Chapter41. Seismic Response of Composite Bridges: A Review -- Chapter42. Assessing and Correlating the Flow Duration Curve and Drought Index for the Environmental Flow Requirements -- Chapter43. Effect on Rheological and Hardened properties of Fly ash-GGBS based High Strength Self Compacting Concrete with inclusion of Micro and Nano Silica -- Chapter44. Mechanical Property study on Glass fibre concrete with partial replacement of fine aggregate with steel slag -- Chapter45. Mechanical Properties of Geopolymer Concrete Partial Replacement of Fine Aggregate with Waste Crushed Glass -- Chapter46. A Performance Study on Lithium based admixture in the properties of concrete -- Chapter47. Self-Curing Concrete Made By Using Hemp: A Review -- Chapter48. Research Progress of India in Waste Management at Global Level: A Bibliometric Evaluation -- Chapter49. Performance Evaluation of Acrylic Based Coating on Carbonation Depth on Different Grades of Concrete -- Chapter50. Cost Benefit Analysis of Retrofitting for Existing Building as Net Zero Energy Building: A Case Study in Composite Climate Zone -- Chapter51. Advances in Building Materials Industry by Annexation of Nano Materials -- Chapter52. Experimental Investigations on Utilization of Electroplating Waste Sludge in Manufacturing of Polymer Based Checkered Tiles -- Chapter53. Alccofine as a partial substitute of cement with scrap iron slag as a coarser material in high strength non-conventional concrete as an experimentational representation. Chapter54. Water Pollution: "Dal Lake a case study" -- Chapter55. Durability Properties of Admixture of Fly ash, Bottom Ash And GBFS -- Chapter56. Comparative Studies of Compressive Strength on Different Brick Masonry Prisms -- Chapter57. Monitoring and Management of Construction Sites Using Drone -- Chapter58. Experimental Investigation on Buckling Behaviour of Transmission Tower using Cold Formed and Hot Rolled Steel -- Chapter59. Assessment of indoor air quality of buildings made of bricks developed from paper pulp waste -- Chapter60. Review on Shear Strengthened RC Rectangular beams with FRP Composites -- Chapter61. Machine Learning Based Quality Prediction of Reuse Water in Sewage Treatment Plant -- Chapter62. "Prediction, Impact and Mitigation of Ambient Air Quality Pollutant Concentrations in Chandigarh" A Review -- Chapter63. A Review of Environmental Flow Evaluation Methodologies – Limitations and Validations -- Chapter64. Sustainable development of Scheduled caste and Scheduled tribes' population in select villages of Himachal Pradesh, India: A Cross Sectional Study.

Die anhaltende Entwaldung tropischer Regenwälder und die damit einhergehenden sozialen und ökologischen Folgen finden zunehmend Beachtung nationaler Regierungen und zivilgesellschaftlicher Akteure, die Initiativen zur Verringerung der Entwaldung und Strategien zum Schutz von Lebensräumen und Artenvielfalt entwickelt haben. Die Waldrestaurierung, d.h. die Wiederherstellung von Waldökosystemen, stellt hierbei, neben der Verringerung der Entwaldung, ein entscheidendes Ziel dar. Brasilien spielt in diesem Zusammenhang eine entscheidende Rolle. Der Großteildes Amazonas-Regenwaldes, der größte zusammenhängende tropische Regenwald der Welt, liegt auf brasilianischem Gebiet. Nahezu 18% des brasilianischen Regenwaldes sind bereits gerodet. Landspekulation, Bergbau, und Landwirtschaft stellen die stärkste Bedrohung für die Existenz des Regenwaldes dar. Im Rahmen des Pariser Abkommens hat sich Brasilien dazu verpflichtet die Netto-Entwaldung bis 2030 zu stoppen und 12 Millionen Hektar Waldökosysteme wiederherzustellen. Eine zentrale Rolle für die Umsetzung der Verpflichtung kommt dem brasilianischen Waldschutzgesetz (BFC) zu, der wichtigsten brasilianischen Umweltgesetzgebung, die die Rahmenbedingungen für die Landnutzung auf privatem Landbesitz regelt. Im brasilianischen Amazon verlangt das BFC den Schutz von 80% der natürlichen Vegetation, als sogenanntes Legal Reserves (LRs). In der neusten Gesetzesversion von 2012 wurde erstmals der Umgang mit denjenigen Landbesitzern festgelegt, die den Gesetzesvorgaben nicht entsprechen. Es wird erwartet, dass die Umsetzung des neuen BFCs auf der einen Seite den Schutz der Wälder in den LRs gewährleistet und auf der andern Seite, unter Mitwirkung der Landbesitzer, zu ein großflächige Waldrestaurierung führt. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist das Ziel dieser Dissertation die Potenziale des BFC für den Schutz der Ur- und den nachwachsenden Wäldern zu ermitteln. Im Speziellen habe ich in der vorliegenden Dissertation (i) die Raum-Zeitlichen Veränderungen der Waldflächen im Einflussbereich der Bundesstraße BR-163, zwischen Cuiabá und Santarém, analysiert; (ii) das Potenzial der BFC für den Schutz der des Regenwaldes und für die Waldrestaurierung bewertet; und (iii) prioritäre Gebiete für ein großflächige Waldrestaurierung, unter Einbezug von Kosten, Biodiversität und Kohlenstoffspeicherung, identifiziert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein Großteil der massiven Entwaldung in der Region zwischen Cuiabá und Santarém auf privaten Grundstücken stattfand. Dies lässt auf eine weitverbreitete Nichteinhaltung des BFCs schließen. Hohe Netto-Entwaldungsraten und eine rückläufige Verbreitung nachwachsenden Waldes deutet darauf hin, dass die Region weit von einer Trendwende von Netto-Waldverlust, zu Netto-Waldzuwachs entfernt ist. Um eine Ausbreitung der Wälder voranzutreiben, ist es daher notwendig, das Management der Ur- und nachwachsenden Wälder zu verbessern. Die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation zeigen, dass mehr als 6 Millionen Hektar der derzeitigen Waldregeneration geschützt und ein Drittel der LR-Defizite ausgeglichen werden könnten, wenn die nachwachsenden Wälder in die Schutzzonen der LRs einbezogen werden. Die künftige Regulierung der BFC-Ausgleichsmechanismen wird einen entscheidenden Effekt auf die Waldrestaurierung und den Schutz der Urwälder haben. Die Analyse möglicher Regulierungs-Szenarien hat deutliche Variation zwischen prioritären Gebieten für die Waldrestaurierung in Mato Grosso gezeigt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Waldrestaurierung auf privaten Grundstücken entscheidend für den Schutz von Biodiversität ist. Demgegenüber zeigt sich die Wiederherstellung von Waldökosystemen auf öffentlichem Land kostengünstiger und effektiver für die Kohlenstoffspeicherung. Die Ergebnisse demonstrieren die Relevanz detaillierter räumlicher Informationen zu Landbesitz und Landnutzungsänderungen, um die Auswirkungen von neuen rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen für den Waldschutz und die Waldrestaurierung in tropischen Gebieten zu untersuchen. Die Schätzungen der derzeit nachwachsenden Waldflache, und dessen Schutzstatus, sind entscheidend um die nationalen Ziele der Waldrestaurierung zu erreichen. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass ein besseres Management von nachwachsenden Waldökosystemen durch Bundes- und Landesgesetze notwendig ist, und neue Strategien und Mechanismen, die den Schutz nachwachsenden Wäldern sicherstellen, erarbeitet werden müssen. ; Continued tropical forests decline has drawn concerted attention by governments and distinct sectors of the civil society, which have responded with anti-deforestation policies and conservation strategies. Alongside conservation, large-scale forest restoration is crucial for counteracting the negative impacts of deforestation on socio-ecological processes. In this context, Brazil plays a pivotal role. Most of the Amazon, the largest continuous tropical forest in the world, lies within the Brazilian territory. Nearly 18% of the Brazilian Amazon forest cover was already lost, and land speculation, mining, and agricultural expansion continue to threaten the forest. Therefore, cutting back land use change emissions is a major pillar of Brazil's commitment to the Paris Agreement, which includes the plan to achieve zero net deforestation in the Amazon and restore 12Mha of forests countrywide by 2030. In this thesis I focused on the Brazilian Forest Code (BFC), the flagship environmental legislation governing land use in private lands of Brazil. In forestlands of the Amazon biome, the BFC requires the protection of 80% of the native vegetation as Legal Reserves (LRs). The latest version of the law, from 2012, also established the compliance conditions for past law offenders. Particularly, there are high expectations that the enforcement of the BFC will secure the protection of forests in LRs, and drive large-scale forest restoration. Therefore, my overall goal was to advance the knowledge about the potential of the BFC enforcement for the conservation of old- and regrowing forests in the Brazilian Amazon. Specifically, I (i) investigated the spatio-temporal patterns of net forest cover change for the influence area of the Cuiabá-Santarém highway, crossing the federal states of Pará and Mato Grosso in the Brazilian Amazon; (ii) evaluated the potential of the BFC enforcement for the protection of old and regrowing forests in the Brazilian Amazon, and estimated the contribution of regrowing forests for LRs demarcation; and (iii) applied a multicriteria analysis to map priority areas for large-scale forest restoration in private and public lands of Mato Grosso, contrasting the costs of restoration with the gains for biodiversity and carbon enhancement. Results show that the Cuiabá-Santarém focus region accumulated substantial deforestation, most of which on private lands, indicating a widespread non-compliance to the BFC. High net deforestation rates and decreasing prevalence of forest regrowth on deforested lands, indicates that this region is not near experiencing a turnaround from net forest losses to net forest gains. Hence, to promote forest expansion, it will be necessary to improve old- and regrowing forests governance. In this regard, results showed that if regrowing forests are included in LRs demarcation, over 6Mha of ongoing forest regeneration could be protected, and one third of LRs deficits could be offset. Also, the future regulation of BFC compensation mechanisms will be key for determining the potential of the law for promoting restoration and old-growth forests protection additionality. Finally, a substantial variation in the spatial distribution of priority areas for forest restoration was identified across Mato Grosso, and for different scenarios. Private properties were key to enhance intensively deforested habitats, while restoration in public lands was more effective in reducing restoration costs and mitigating carbon. The findings of this thesis demonstrate the importance of detailed spatial information on land tenure and land use change in tropical areas, to support spatial planning, and address the potential of legal frameworks for promoting forest conservation and restoration. The estimates of legal protection of current regrowing forests have strong implications for Brazil's restoration targets. They call for an improved treatment of second-growth forests by federal and state legislations, and the creation of policy and mechanisms able to secure the protection of high-value regrowing forests.

Tesi en modalitat de cotutela: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya i Politècnico di Torino ; The main theme of this work revolves around the CO2 molecule, a stable waste gas of low value, low energy and often available in large quantities in different places. This work examines some viable avenues for capturing, using, and storing CO2 (CCUS), with the ultimate goal of reducing GHG emissions and global warming. In addition, the study also examines several ways to accelerate the commercialization of carbon-based products and their technologies. Various technologies that show promising features of commercial scalability and advanced mobility. In addition, the rapid decline in the costs of many renewable sources (mainly solar and wind) has made low-cost, almost zero-carbon electricity abundant in terms of capacity and location. Consequently, this has driven some markets to offer electricity at an affordable cost and in some cases even at negative prices. As renewable electricity gradually decreases in price, there has been a greater knowledge of possible new applications (e.g. CCU and CCUS) considering turning this trend into a profitable business. This work focuses on six main aspects related to emerging CCUS processes and technologies based on renewable energies: 1. A comprehensive investigation of three emerging renewable energy technologies and processes (RETPs) (i.e., biogas and fuel cells, synthetic fuels, mineral carbonation of fly ash) that fall into the CCUS paradigm and are special forms , relatively new or advanced from major energy sources. All explanations of RETP CCUS are followed by its market share, challenges, implications for further adoption, prospects and drawbacks. 2. Analysis of experimental work related to the direct use of fuel containing CO2 of biological origin to supply an electrochemical process dedicated to the production of energy at high efficiency. In addition, the work analyzes a case study called DEMOSOFC located at a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Turin, Italy. It analyzes energy production through the use of biogas produced in WWTPs and reports the results of the use of carbon (CO2 content), as it produces energy and heat (in CHP configuration) using fuel cells; specifically, solid oxide fuel cells. 3. Analysis of the experimental and modeling work carried out at the Turin Polytechnic, related to the use of the carbon molecule to produce synthetic fuels (e-methane (CH4) and e-methanol (CH3OH)) through two processes: electrolysis of the steam + methanation, and steam electrolysis + methanol production. 4. Analysis of the chemical process called mineral carbonation (MC), a carbon capture and storage (CCUS) technology that can capture large amounts of CO2 and turn it into stable carbonate products that can be easily used in the carbon market. cement and concrete. 5. Examining the potential commercialization of CCUS technologies by identifying four main markets and eight key product categories to drive new investment and innovation at an accelerated pace. The main markets and products discussed in this chapter are: (1) Markets: building materials, chemical intermediates, fuels, polymers (2) Products: carbonate aggregates, methanol, formic acid, syngas, liquid fuels, methane, polyols and polycarbonates. 6. Assess the continued increase in RETP CCUS despite the Covid-19 pandemic resulting from a mix of policies, regulations, incentives and past innovations embedded in the electricity sectors of many advanced countries. ; El tema principal d'aquest treball gira al voltant de la molècula de CO2, un gas residual estable de baix valor, poca energia i sovint disponible en gran quantitat en llocs diferents. Aquest treball examina algunes vies viables per capturar, utilitzar i emmagatzemar CO2 (CCUS), amb l'objectiu final de reduir les emissions de GEH i l'escalfament global. A més, l'estudi també examina diversos camins per accelerar la comercialització dels productes a base de carboni i les seves tecnologies. Diverses tecnologies que mostren funcions prometibles d'escalabilitat comercial i mobilitat avançada. A més, la ràpida disminució dels costos de moltes fonts renovables (principalment la solar i l'eòlica) ha fet que l'electricitat de baix cost i gairebé nul·la de carboni sigui abundant en termes de capacitat i localitat. En conseqüència, això ha impulsat alguns mercats a oferir electricitat a un cost assequible i, en alguns casos, fins i tot a preus negatius. Com que l'electricitat renovable disminueix gradualment en el preu, hi ha hagut un major coneixement de les possibles noves aplicacions (per exemple, CCU i CCUS) considerant convertir aquesta tendència en una empresa rendible. Aquest treball se centra en sis aspectes principals relacionats amb processos i tecnologies CCUS emergents basades en energies renovables: 1. Una investigació exhaustiva de tres tecnologies i processos emergents d'energies renovables (RETP) (és a dir, biogàs i cèl·lules de combustible, combustibles sintètics, carbonatació mineral de cendres voladores) que entren en el paradigma CCUS i són formes especials, relativament noves o avançades de les principals fonts d'energia. Totes les explicacions de RETP CCUS van seguides de la seva quota de mercat, els reptes, les implicacions per a una major adopció, les perspectives i els inconvenients. 2. Anàlisi de treballs experimentals relacionats amb l'ús directe de combustible que conté CO2 d'origen biològic per subministrar un procés electroquímic dedicat a la producció d'energia a alta eficiència. A més, el treball analitza un estudi de cas anomenat DEMOSOFC situat en una planta de tractament d¿aigües residuals (EDAR) a Torí, Itàlia. Analitza la producció d'energia mitjançant l'ús de biogàs produït a les EDAR i informa dels resultats de l'ús de carboni (contingut en CO2), ja que produeix energia i calor (en configuració CHP) mitjançant piles de combustible; concretament, les piles de combustible d'òxid sòlid. 3. Anàlisi del treball experimental i de modelització realitzat al Politècnic de Torí, relacionat amb l'ús de la molècula de carboni per produir combustibles sintètics (e-metà (CH4) i e-metanol (CH3OH)) mitjançant dos processos: electròlisi del vapor + metanació , i l'electròlisi del vapor + producció de metanol. 4. Anàlisi del procés químic anomenat carbonatació mineral (MC), una tecnologia d'utilització i emmagatzematge de captures de carboni (CCUS) que pot capturar grans quantitats de CO2 i convertir-lo en productes carbonats estables que es poden utilitzar fàcilment al mercat del ciment i el formigó. 5. L'examen de la comercialització potencial de les tecnologies CCUS mitjançant la identificació de quatre mercats principals i vuit categories de productes fonamentals per impulsar noves inversions i innovació a un ritme accelerat. Els principals mercats i productes discutits en aquest capítol són: (1) Mercats: materials de construcció, productes intermedis químics, combustibles, polímers (2) Productes: agregats de carbonat, metanol, àcid fòrmic, syngas, combustibles líquids, metà, poliols i policarbonats. 6. Avalua l'increment continuat de RETP CCUS malgrat la pandèmia Covid-19 resultant d'una barreja de polítiques, regulacions, incentius i innovacions passades incrustades en els sectors elèctrics de molts països avançats. ; Le preoccupazioni per il riscaldamento globale e il cambiamento climatico hanno innescato gli sforzi internazionali per ridurre la quantità e la concentrazione delle emissioni di CO2 per scongiurare enormi danni economici e ambientali. Negli ultimi anni, lo sviluppo di tecnologie efficienti e convenienti per ridurre le emissioni di CO2 antropogeniche ha preso piede in tutto il mondo. L'argomento principale di questo lavoro ruota intorno alla molecola di CO2, un gas di scarto a basso valore, a bassa energia e stabile, spesso disponibile in grandi quantità in singole località. Questo lavoro esamina alcune strade percorribili per catturare, utilizzare e immagazzinare la CO2 (CCUS), con l'obiettivo finale di ridurre le emissioni di gas serra e il riscaldamento globale. Inoltre, lo studio esamina anche vari percorsi per accelerare la commercializzazione dei prodotti a base di carbonio e delle loro tecnologie. Attualmente le tecnologie CCU stanno vivendo vari stadi di performance e maturità; tuttavia, ci sono progressi significativi nelle tecnologie CCU che hanno progredito negli ultimi dieci anni; varie tecnologie che mostrano una promettente scalabilità commerciale e caratteristiche di mobilità avanzate. Inoltre, il rapido declino dei costi di molte fonti rinnovabili (principalmente solare ed eolico) ha reso l'elettricità a basso costo e quasi a zero emissioni di carbonio abbondante in termini di capacità e località. Di conseguenza, questo ha spinto alcuni mercati a offrire elettricità a costi accessibili e, in alcuni casi, anche a prezzi negativi. Poiché l'elettricità rinnovabile sta gradualmente diminuendo di prezzo, c'è stato un aumento della conoscenza delle nuove applicazioni potenziali, (per esempio, CCU e CCUS) considerando di trasformare questa tendenza in un'impresa redditizia. Questo lavoro si concentra su sei aspetti principali relativi ai processi e alle tecnologie emergenti di CCUS basati sull'energia rinnovabile: 1. Un'indagine approfondita di tre tecnologie e processi emergenti di energia rinnovabile (RETP) (cioè, biogas e celle a combustibile, combustibili sintetici, carbonatazione minerale di ceneri volanti) che rientrano nel paradigma CCUS e sono speciali, relativamente nuovi, o forme avanzate delle fonti di energia tradizionali. La spiegazione di ogni RETP CCUS è seguita dalla sua quota di mercato, dalle sfide, dalle implicazioni per una maggiore adozione, dalle prospettive e dagli svantaggi. 2. Analisi del lavoro sperimentale relativo all'uso diretto del combustibile contenente CO2 di origine biologica per alimentare un processo elettrochimico dedicato alla produzione di energia ad alta efficienza. Inoltre, il lavoro analizza un caso di studio chiamato DEMOSOFC situato in un impianto di trattamento delle acque reflue (WWTP) a Torino, Italia. Esso esamina la produzione di energia utilizzando il biogas prodotto presso il WWTP e riporta i risultati dell'uso del carbonio (contenuto nella CO2) per produrre energia e calore (in configurazione CHP) utilizzando celle a combustibile; in particolare, celle a combustibile a ossido solido. 6 3. Analisi del lavoro sperimentale e modellistico svolto presso il Politecnico di Torino legato all'utilizzo della molecola del Carbonio per produrre combustibili sintetici (e-metano (CH4) ed e-metanolo (CH3OH)) attraverso due processi: elettrolisi a vapore + metanazione, ed elettrolisi a vapore + produzione di metanolo. 4. Analisi del processo chimico chiamato carbonatazione minerale (MC), una tecnologia di cattura, utilizzo e stoccaggio del carbonio (CCUS) che può catturare grandi quantità di CO2 e convertirla in prodotti carbonati stabili che possono essere facilmente utilizzati nel mercato del cemento e del calcestruzzo. Il lavoro porta avanti la prova pragmatica che la produzione MC ha il potenziale per fornire un reddito netto positivo e la sua fattibilità commerciale è un'impresa realistica. Tuttavia, la prospettiva di una nuova direzione di cementazione tramite la carbonatazione di FA è ancora in fase di maturazione ma con un grande potenziale di commercializzazione accelerata. L'intensificazione dei benefici ambientali ed economici generati da questo nuovo percorso per la cementazione sono sostanziali se paragonati agli attuali metodi di utilizzo dell'AF nell'industria delle costruzioni. Tuttavia, le politiche e i regolamenti esistenti sul carbonio, che limitano l'uso delle ceneri volanti (principalmente quelle ceneri che contengono maggiori quantità di calcio-HCFA) possono avere un impatto sul progresso delle tecnologie di cattura del carbonio e sulla commercializzazione dei prodotti a base di carbonio. 5. L'esame della potenziale commercializzazione delle tecnologie CCUS identificando quattro mercati principali e otto categorie di prodotti critici per guidare ulteriori investimenti e innovazione ad un ritmo accelerato. I finanziamenti e gli incentivi sono necessari per la maggior parte di questi prodotti per accelerare lo sviluppo e raggiungere una capacità di lancio commerciale su larga scala. I principali mercati e prodotti discussi in questo capitolo sono: (1) Mercati - materiali da costruzione, intermedi chimici, combustibili, polimeri (2) Prodotti - aggregati carbonati, metanolo, acido formico, syngas, combustibili liquidi, metano, polioli e policarbonati. 6. Valuta il continuo aumento di RETP CCUS nonostante la pandemia di Covid-19 derivante da una miscela di politiche passate, regolamenti, incentivi e innovazioni incorporati nei settori energetici di molti paesi lungimiranti. Inoltre, guarda al futuro di RETP CCUS dopo la pandemia. ; Postprint (published version)

The input of P.S. contributes to the following UKRI-funded projects: DEVIL (NE/M021327/1), MAGLUE (EP/M013200/1), U-GRASS (NE/M016900/1), Assess-BECCS (funded by UKERC), Soils-R-GRREAT (NE/P019455/1), N-Circle (BB/N013484/1), the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme through projects: CIRCASA (grant agreement n° 774378), UNISECO (grant agreement n° 773901), SUPERG (grant agreement n° 774124) and VERIFY (grant agreement n° 776810) and the Wellcome Trust-funded project Sustianable and Healthy Food Systems (SHEFS). P.S. received support for his role as a Conveneing Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, from the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). F.C. acknowledges the support of the Norwegian Research Council through the projects MITISTRESS (project n. 286773), Bio4Fuels (project n. 257622), Carbo-Fertil (project n. 281113), and BIOPATH (project n. 294534). All other authors acknowledge support from their respective governments, or from the IPCC Trust Fund, to support their attendance at author meetings of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, for which this anaylsis was undertaken. The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission or any other Government Agency. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF

The rational allocation of transportation resources involves both the evaluation of the effectiveness of programs designed to improve transportation systems, as well as the formulation of policies representing a balance of competing public interests in those systems. Such interests often include: curbing automobile emissions, expanding highway infrastructure, providing affordable transit services for inner-city residents, and extending commuter rail services to sprawling suburban areas. Designing policies that cost-effectively further each these objectives can attenuate the degree of inherent tradeoffs between them and expand the frontier of achievable policy goals. This dissertation presents a set of essays addressing two such aspects of transportation policy decisions: 1) an evaluation of programs aimed at increasing transportation safety and public health, and 2) an examination of the processes through which competing public interests and agendas are mobilized in the legislative arena by transportation agencies.Chapter One: Graduated driver license programs (GDL), which progressively move teens through three stages of licensing while limiting driving to lower risk conditions, have become an increasingly popular approach in the past decade to address the high rate of teen driving related fatality and injury crashes. Teens are 2 to 6 times as likely as adults, per mile driven, to die in motor vehicle accident, and teen crashes tend to involve more fatalities per crash than for any other age group. Driving at night past 9pm or with young passengers under the age of 20 are significant risk factors for teen crashes.This research uses a panel data set of teen driver involved fatal vehicle crashes among 16 to 17 year old drivers in 742 counties and 137 commuting zones straddling state borders for the years 1996 to 2009. I use a cross-state policy discontinuity design with an ordinary least squares fixed-effects regression model to identify the effects of graduated driver license laws on teen driver error related fatal crashes and associated fatality counts. Additionally, I analyze the impacts on crash characteristics most likely associated with teen driving mistakes, such as presence of young occupants and those occurring at night or involving alcohol. By taking into account local heterogeneities, the policy-discontinuity design provides more credible identification than previous studies. Importantly, the findings indicate much larger GDL effects than in the extant literature. I find that the strongest GDL programs, as rated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, reduce teen driving related fatal crash rates by 25 to 34 percent and teen driving error related fatal crash rates by 34 to 45 percent. The most effective components of the GDL were early nighttime driving curfews beginning between 6pm to 10pm at night. Passenger restrictions had statistically significant effects only when controlling for the number of licensed teens on the road. For example, the zero to one passenger limit reduced quarterly county-level young teen driver involved fatal crash rates per 100,000 by -6.388 points, relative to a mean rate of 9.5 in state-periods without restrictions. These passenger limits were also highly effective at reducing nighttime crashes among teens, with a reduction in these crash rates of -5.909. Finally, the extended practice period during which newly licensed teens are only allowed to drive under adult supervision were effective in reducing fatal crashes per unit population but only were statistically significant for nighttime crashes that occur after 9pm when controlling for the number of licensed teen drivers. Chapter Two: Government transportation agencies spend considerable amounts of money attempting to influence state and federal legislation, through their own legislative staff, and the efforts of appointed officials and hired lobbyists. Almost none of the literature to date has examined how transportation agencies use their funding and political influence to shape state and federal policy. By looking at what topics agencies choose to lobby on, or not to lobby on, we can better understand how transportation agencies attempt to shape the transportation legislation, and how potential biases in their agendas are mobilized. This analysis includes four agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan region: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), a regional Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), the region's commuter rail operator, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit (AC Transit), a local bus agency serving two counties in the East Bay, and the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority (VTA), a bus and light-rail transit operator in the southern portion of the region. Collectively, these four agencies account for approximately 80 percent of the total spending on lobbying activities by San Francisco Bay Area transportation agencies.This research draws on government reports filed by the agencies, in-house agency legislative agenda records, and interviews with legislative and agency staff. Descriptive statistics and a probit analysis of lobbying data are applied to compare the substance of each agency's lobbying activities to the set of pressing transportation issues the agencies themselves have identified in their planning documents, and the set of transportation issues and needs identified by other key stakeholders including business groups, social justice advocates, and environmentalists. All of the transportation agencies lobbied heavily for finance bills that increase revenue and flexibility in fund use as well as funding redistribution. Equity related bills that address transportation for low-income populations have a significantly higher marginal probability of gaining both MTC and AC Transit support, relative to bills that do not address these issues. Overall, VTA was less likely to support highway bills but did not have biases toward any other particular bill issues. BART overwhelming supported bills promoting smart growth principles and transit oriented development, two strategies believed to increase transit ridership. Both the Santa Clara VTA and BART were strategic in the bills they chose to support, having a greater likelihood of supporting bills authored by transportation committee chairs, perhaps in an effort to both build political capital and to expend resources on bills with a greater chance of passage. MTC was more likely to take a supporting position on social equity related bills; however, the degree of effort in that support is unknown. Notably, MTC was not statistically more likely to support bills specific to expanding public transit, a mode important to low income groups, relative to other bill categories.

"Green cities" offer a systematic approach to a significant part of the nowadays urban complexity. The concept dovetails in the "healthy city" idea launched by the World Health Organization, but is equally associated with "sustainable" and "smart cities". During the past decades planning for "green cities" shifted, incorporating new ideas as sustainable development and IT-driven management instruments for smart cities. Contemporary cities continue to face major environmental challenges. Replying to this dynamic context is a main task for cities during the coming decades of the millennium. As most of the (major) cities worldwide are located at the edge of the continents, supporting water-bound activities, they show a significant "blue economy" aspect. This paper reviews the historical context of the science aspects of "green cities" and the related approaches. Four main challenges for livable (coastal) cities today are discussed, taking into account the continuous changes and the almost permanent transition cities face. Climate change effects as sea level rise and extreme weather conditions, affect directly coastal cities; providing enough drinking water is a long standing and increasing problem; ports face particular and specific environmental problems which are in need of a tailored management; and sufficient accessible green areas remain of primary concern for any green city. Cross cutting through these issues are among others mobility and sustainable urban design.These major challenges will necessitate new processes of decision making. Long term planning is essential. This includes among others green infrastructure, systematic investment in natural areas (both on land and in the marine environment), cleaner technology innovations (on water treatment, low carbon emission technology, advanced waste prevention and treatment management, green roofs, and (artificial) wetlands), and the use of smart, IT-driven solutions.References Akcin M., Kaygusuz A., Karabiber A., Alagoz S., Alagoz B.B., Keles C., 2016. Opportunities for energy efficiency in smart cities. Smart grid congress and fair (ICSG), Istanbul, Turkey. IEEE Xplore document DOI:10.1109/SGCF.2016.7492425. Avin U., Holden D., 2000. Does your growth smart? Planning 66(1), 26-29. Bosh O., Nguyen Nam, Nguyen Van Thanh, 2016. Systems thinking for everyone. The journey from theory to making an impact in Vietnam, pp.126. Syspac PTY Ltd., Australia. Boulos, J., 2016. Sustainable Development of Coastal Cities-Proposal of a Modelling Framework to Achieve Sustainable City-Port Connectivity. 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The research activity carried out during the three years of the PhD course attended, at the Engineering Department of the University of Palermo, was aimed at the identification of an alternative predictive model able to solve the traditional building thermal balance in a simple but reliable way, speeding up any first phase of energy planning. Nowadays, worldwide directives aimed at reducing energy consumptions and environmental impacts have focused the attention of the scientific community on improving energy efficiency in the building sector. The reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions for heating and cooling needs of buildings is an important challenge for the European Union, because the buildings sector contributes up to 36% of the global CO2 emissions [1] and up to 40% of total primary energy consumptions [2]. Despite the ambitious goals set by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) at the European level [1], which states that, by 2020, all new buildings and existing buildings undergoing major refurbishments will have to be Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) [3,4], the critical challenge remains the improvement of the efficiency when upgrading the existing building stock to standards of the NZEB level [5]. The improvement of the energy efficiency of buildings and their operational energy usage should be estimated early in the design phase to guarantee a reduction in energy consumption, so buildings can be as sustainable as possible [6]. While a newly constructed NZEB can employ the "state of the art" of available efficient technologies and design practices, the optimization of existing buildings requires better efforts [7]. One way or the other, the identification of the best energy retrofit actions or the choice of a better technological solution to plan a building is not so simple. It has become one of the main objectives of several research studies, which require deep knowledge in the field of the building energy balance. The building thermal balance includes all sources and sinks of energy, as well as all energy that flows through its envelope. More in detail, the energy demand in buildings depends on the combination of several parameters, such as climate, envelope features, occupant behaviour and intended use. Indeed, the assessment of building energy performance requires substantial input data describing structures, environmental conditions [8], thermo-physical properties of the envelope, geometry, control strategies, and several other parameters. From the first design phases designers and researchers, which are trying to respect the prescriptions of the EPBD directive and to simultaneously ensure the thermal comfort of the occupants, must optimize all possible aspects that represent the key points in the building energy balance. As will be shown in Chapter A, the literature offers highly numerous complex and simplified resolution approaches [9]. Some are based on knowledge of the building thermal balance and on the resolution of physical equations; others are based on cumulated building data and on implementations of forecast models developed by machine-learning techniques [10]. Several numerical approaches are most widespread; these have undergone testing and implementing in specialised software tools such as DOE-2 [11], Energy Plus [12], TRNSYS [13] and ESP-r [14]. Such building modelling software can be employed in several ways on different scales; they can be simplified [15,16] or detailed comprehensively by different methods and numerical approaches [17]. Nevertheless, they are often characterised by a lack of a common language, which constitutes an obstacle for making a suitable choice. It is often more convenient to accelerate the building thermal needs evaluation and use the simplified methods and models. For example, a steady state approach for the evaluation of thermal loads is characterised by a good level of accuracy and low computational costs. However, its main limitation is that some phenomenon, such as the thermal inertia of the building envelope/structure, may be completely neglected. On the other hand, the choice of a more complex solution, such as the dynamic approach, uses very elaborate physical functions to evaluate the energy consumption of buildings. Although these dynamic simulation tools are effective and accurate, they have some practical difficulties such as collecting detailed building data and/or evaluating the proper boundary conditions. The use of these tools normally requires an expert user and a careful calibration of the model and do not provide a generalised response for a group of buildings with the same simulation, because they support a specific answer to a specific problem. Meanwhile the lack of precise input can lead to low-accuracy simulation. Anyway, in all cases it is necessary to be an expert user to implement, solve and evaluate the results, and these phases are not fast and not always immediately provide the correct evaluation, conducting the user to restart the entire procedure. In the field of energy planning, in order to identify energy efficiency actions aimed at a particular context, could be more convenient to speed up the preliminary assessment phase resorting to a simplified model that allows the evaluation of thermal energy demand with a good level of accuracy and without excessive computational cost or user expertise. The aim of this research, conducted during the three years of the PhD studies, is based on the idea of overcoming the limits previously indicated developing a reliable and a simple building energy tool or an evaluation model capable of helping an unskilled user at least in the first evaluation phase. To achieve this purpose, the first part of the research was characterised of an in-depth study of the sector bibliography with the analysis of the most widespread and used methods aimed at solving the thermal balance of buildings. After a brief distinction of the analysed methods in White, Black and Grey Box category, it was possible to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each one [9]. Based on the analysis of this study, some alternative methods have been investigated. In detail, the idea was to investigate several Black-Box approaches; mainly used to deduce prediction models from a relevant database. This category does not require any information about physical phenomena but are based on a function deduced only by means of sample data connected to each other and which describes the behaviour of a specific system. Therefore, it is fundamental the presence of a suitable and well-set database that characterise the problem, so that the output data are strongly related to one or more input data. The completely absence of this information and the great difficulty in finding data, has led to the creation of a basic energy database which, under certain hypotheses, is representative of a specific building stock. For this reason, in the first step of this research was developed a generic building energy database that in a reliable way, and underlining the main features of the thermal balance, issues information about the energy performances. In detail, two energy building databases representative of a non-residential building-stock located in the European and Italian territory have been created. Starting from a well-known and calibrated Base-Case dynamic model, which simulates the actual behaviour of a non-residential building located in Palermo, it was created an Ideal Building representative of a new non-residential building designed with high energy performances in accordance whit the highest standard requirements of the European Community. Taking into consideration the differences existing in the regulations and technical standards about the building energy performance of various European countries, several detailed dynamic simulation models were developed. Moreover, to consider different climatic characteristics, different locations were evaluated for each country or thermal zone which represent the hottest, the coolest and the mildest climate. The shape factor of buildings, which represents the ratio between the total of the loss surfaces to the gross heated volume of a building, was varied from 0.24 to 0.90. To develop a representative database where the data that identify the building conditions are the inputs of the model linked to an output that describes the energy performances it was decided to develop a parametric simulation. In detail different transmittance values, boundary conditions, construction materials, and energy carriers were chosen and employed to model representative building stocks of European and Italian cities for different climatic zones, weather conditions, and shape factor; all details and the main features are described in Chapter B. These two databases were used to investigated three alternative methods to solve the building thermal balance; these are: • Multi Linear Regression (MLR): identification of some simple correlations that uses well known parameters in every energy diagnosis [18–20]; • Buckingham Method (BM): definition of dimensionless numbers that synthetically describe the relationships between the main characteristic parameters of the thermal balance [21]; and • Artificial Neural Network (ANN): Application of a specific Artificial Intelligence (AI) to determine the thermal needs of a [22] building. These methods, belonging to the Black-Box category, permit solving a complex problem easier with respect to the White-Box methods because they do not require any information about physical phenomena and expert user skills. Only a small amount of data on well-known parameters that represent the thermal balance of a building is required. The first analysed alternative method was the MLR, described in Chapter C. This approach allowed to develop a simple model that guarantees a quick evaluation of building energy needs [19] and is often used as a predictive tool. It is reliable and, at the same time, easy to use even for a non-expert user since an in-depth knowledge in the use phase is not needed, and computational costs are low. Moreover, the presence of an accurate input analysis guarantees greater speed and simplicity in the data collection phase [23]. The basis for this model is the linear regression among the variables to forecast and two or more explanatory variables. The feasibility and reliability of MLR models is demonstrated by the publication of the main achieved results in international journals. At first, the MLR method was applied on a dataset that considered heating energy consumptions for three configurations of non-residential buildings located in seven European countries. In this way, it was developed a specific equation for each country and three equations that describe each climatic region identified by a cluster analysis; these results were published in [19]. In a second work [18], it was applied the same methodology to a set of data referring to buildings located in the Italian peninsula. In this case, three building analysed configurations, in accordance to Italian legislative requirements regarding the construction of high energy performance buildings, have been employed. The achievement of the generalised results along with a high level of reliability it was achieved by diversifying each individual model according to its climate zone. It was provided an equation for each climate zone along with a unique equation applicable to the entire peninsula, obviously with different degrees of reliability. An improved version of the latest work concerning the Italian case study appeared in the paper published in [20]. The revised model provided an ability to predict the energy needs for both heating and cooling. Furthermore, to simplify the data retrieval phase that is required for the use of the developed MLR tool, an input selection analysis based on the Pearson coefficient has been performed. In this way the explanatory variables, needful for an optimal identification of thermal loads, have been identified. Finally, a comprehensive statistical analysis of errors ensured high reliability. The second analysed alternative method represents an innovative approach in developing a flexible and efficient tool in the building energy forecast framework. This tool predicts the energy performance of a building based some dimensionless parameters implemented through the application of the Buckingham theorem. A detailed description of the methodology and results is discussed in the Chapter D and is also published in [21]. The Buckingham theorem represents a key theorem of the dimensional analysis since it is able to define the dimensionless parameters representing the building balance [24]. These parameters define the relationships between the descriptive variables and the fundamental dimensions. Such a dimensional analysis guarantees that the relationship between physical quantities remains valid, even if there is a variation of the magnitudes of the base units of measurement [25]. The dimensional analysis represents a good model to simplify a problem by means of the dimensional homogeneity and, therefore, the consequent reduction in the number of variables. Therefore, this model works well with different applications such as forecasting, planning, control, diagnostics and monitoring in different sectors. The application of the BM for predicting the energy performance of buildings determined nine ad hoc dimensionless numbers. The identification of a set of criteria and a critical analysis of the results allowed to immediately determine thought the dimensionless numbers and without using any software tool, the heating energy demand with a reliability of over 90%. Furthermore, the validation of the proposed methodology was carried out by comparing the heating energy demand that was calculated by a detailed and accurate dynamic simulation. The last Black-Box examined model was the application of Artificial Neural Networks. The ANNs are the most widely used data mining models, characterised by one of the highest levels of accuracy with respect to other methods but generally have higher computational costs in the developing phase [26]. The design of a neural network, inspired by the behaviour of the human brain, involves the large number of suitably connected nodes (neurons) that, upon applications of simple mathematical operations, influence the learning ability of the network itself [27]. Also in this case, as described in Chapter E, this methodology was applied at the two different energy databases. In [22], the ANN was used to predict the demand for thermal energy linked to the winter climatization of non-residential buildings located in European context, while in another work under review, the ANN was used to determine the heating and cooling energy demand of a representative Italian building stock. The validation of the ANNs was carried out by using a set of data corresponding to 15% of the initial set which were not used to train the ANNs. The obtained good results (determination coefficient values higher than 0.95 and Mean Absolute Percentage Error lower than 10%) show the suitability of the calculation model based on the use of adaptive systems for the evaluation of energy performance of buildings. Simultaneously, a deep analysis of the investigated problem, underlines how to determine the thermal behaviour of a building trough Black-Box models, particular attention must be paid to the choice of an accurate climate database that along with thermophysical characteristics, strongly influence the thermal behaviour of a building [9]. In detail, to develop a predictive model of thermal needs, it is also necessary to pay close attention to the climate aspects. In the literature, many studies use the degree day (DD) to predict building energy demand, but this assessment, through the use of a climatic index, is correct only if its determination is a function of the same weather data used for the model implementation. Otherwise, the predictive model is generally affected by a greater evaluation error; all these aspects are deeply discussed analysing a specific Italian case study in Chapter F, and the main results are published in [8]. The results achieved during the three years of PhD research, make it possible to affirm that each model can be used to solve thermal building balance by knowing merely a few parameters representative of the analysed problem. Nonetheless, some questions may be asked: Which of these models can be identified as the most efficient solution? Is it possible to compare the performances of these models? Is it possible to choose the most efficient model based on some specific phase in the evaluation? To attempt to answer these questions, during the research period it was decided to compare the three selected alternative models by applying a Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA), that explicitly evaluates multiple criteria in decision-making. It is a useful decision support tool to apply to many complex decisions by choosing among several alternatives. The idea rising thanks to the scientific collaboration with the VGTU University of Vilnius, Lithuanian, in the person of Prof. A. Kaklauskas and Prof. L. Tupènaitè, experts in the field of multi-criteria analysis. At the first time a multi-criteria procedure was applied to determine the most efficient alternative model among some resolution procedures of a building's energy balance. This application required extra effort in defining the criteria and identifying a team of experts. To apply the MCA, it was necessary to identify the salient phases of the evaluation procedure to explain the most sensitive criteria for acquiring conscious, truthful answers that only a pool of experts in the field can provide. Details of this work were carried out during the period of one-month research in Vilnius, from April to May 2019, where it was possible to improve the application of the Multiple Criteria Complex Proportional Evaluation (COPRAS) method for identifying the most efficient predictive tool to evaluate building thermal needs. These results are collected in Chapter G and the main results are explained in a paper under review in the Journal "Energy" from September. The identification of the most efficient alternative model to solve the building energy balance through the application of a specific MCA, allowed to deepen the identified methodology and improve research. In particular, the most efficient alternative resolution model was the subject of the research that took place during the research period at the RWTH in Aachen University, Germany with Prof. M. Traverso, Head of the INaB Department, from September 2018 to March 2019. The experience in the field of LCA and the possibility of identifying the environmental impacts linked to the building system, has led the research to investigate neural networks for a dual and simultaneous environmental-energy analysis. The results confirm that the application of ANNs is a good alternative model for solving the energy and environmental balance of a building and for ensuring the development of reliable decision support tools that can be used by non-expert users. ANNs can be improved by upgrading the training database and choosing the network structure and learning algorithm. The results of this research are collected in Chapter H and published in [28].

Two attacks, and one defense, of classical liberal ideas appeared over the weekend. "War and Pandemic Highlight Shortcomings of the Free-Market Consensus" announces Patricia Cohen on p.1 of the New York Times news section.  As if the Times had ever been part of such a "consensus." And Deirdre McCloskey reviews Simon Johnson and Daron Acemoglu's "Power and Progress," whose central argument is, per Deirdre, "The state, they argue, can do a better job than the market of selecting technologies and making investments to implement them." (I have not yet read the book. This is a review of the review only.) I'll give away the punchline. The case for free markets never was their perfection. The case for free markets always was centuries of experience with the failures of the only alternative, state control. Free markets are, as the saying goes, the worst system; except for all the others. In this sense the classic teaching of economics does  a disservice. We start with the theorem that free competitive markets can equal -- only equal -- the allocation of an omniscient benevolent planner. But then from week 2 on we study market imperfections -- externalities, increasing returns, asymmetric information -- under which markets are imperfect, and the hypothetical planner can do better. Regulate, it follows. Except econ 101 spends zero time on our extensive experience with just how well -- how badly -- actual planners and regulators do. That messy experience underlies our prosperity, and prospects for its continuance. Starting with Ms. Cohen at the Times, The economic conventions that policymakers had relied on since the Berlin Wall fell more than 30 years ago — the unfailing superiority of open markets, liberalized trade and maximum efficiency — look to be running off the rails.During the Covid-19 pandemic, the ceaseless drive to integrate the global economy and reduce costs left health care workers without face masks and medical gloves, carmakers without semiconductors, sawmills without lumber and sneaker buyers without Nikes.That there ever was a "consensus" in favor of "the unfailing superiority of open markets, liberalized trade and maximum efficiency" seems a mighty strange memory. But if the Times wants to think now that's what they thought then, I'm happy to rewrite a little history. Face masks? The face mask snafu in the pandemic is now, in the Times' rather hilarious memory, the prime example of how a free and unfettered market fails. It was  a result of "the ceaseless drive to integrate the global economy and reduce costs?" (Here, I have a second complaint -- the ceaseless drive to remove subjects from sentences. Who is doing this "ceaseless drive?" Where is the great conspiracy, the secret meeting of old white men "driving" the economy? Nowhere. That's the point of free markets.)The free market has a plan, imperfect as it might be, for masks in a pandemic. Prices rise. People who really want and need masks -- doctors, nurses, police -- pay what it takes to get them. People who don't really need them -- nursery schools -- look at the price, think about the benefit, and say, "maybe not," or take other measures. People reuse masks. Producers, seeing high prices, work day and night to produce more masks. Others, knowing that every 10 years there is a spike in prices, pay the costs of storing masks to make great profits when the time comes. The actual story of masks in the pandemic is the exact opposite. Price controls, of course. Instantly, governments started prosecuting businesses for "price gouging" who dared to raise the price of toilet paper. Governments redistribute income; markets allocate resources efficiently. As usual, the desire to redistribute tiny amounts of income to those willing to stand in line to get toilet paper won out. An entrepreneur tried to start producing masks. The FDA shut him down. (I hope I recall that story right, send comments if not.) China wanted to ship us masks. Yes, China the new villain of globalization gone mad. But their masks were certified and labeled by EU rules, not US rules, so like baby formula they couldn't be imported and sold. More deeply, even I, devoted free-marketer; even at the late night beer sessions at the CATO institute, nobody puts mask distribution in a pandemic as the first job of free markets. There is supposed to be a public health function of government; infectuous diseases are something of an externality; safety protocols in government labs doing government funded research are not a free-market function. As we look at the covid catastrophe, do we not see failures of government all over the place, not failures of some hypothetical free market? California even had mobile hospitals after H1N1. Governor Brown shut them down to save money for his high speed train. We might as well blame free markets for the lines at the DMV.  The idea that trade and shared economic interests would prevent military conflicts was trampled last year under the boots of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.Does anyone think a prime function of free market economics is to stops wars, usually prosecuted by, eh, governments? The standard history of WWI is enough. We do allege that free markets, and free markets alone, make a country wealthy enough to fight and win wars, if the country has the will and desire to do so. The US and NATO military budget vs. Russia's, larger by a factor of 10 at least, seems to bear that out, along with the much greater quality of our weapons.  Heaven help us militarily once the protectionists lead us to state-directed penury. inflation, thought to be safely stored away with disco album collections, returned with a vengeance.Did anyone every vaguely hint that inflation control is a function of free markets? Inflation comes from government monetary and fiscal policy.  And increasing bouts of extreme weather that destroyed crops, forced migrations and halted power plants has illustrated that the market's invisible hand was not protecting the planet.Doe the Times even vaguely think of news as fact not narrative? There have been a lot of migrations. "Forced?" Many due to violence, poverty, ill government. None due to temperature. Halted power plants (more passive voice)? Yes, it was that pesky unfettered free market that shut down power plants... The favored economic road map helped produce fabulous wealth, lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and spur wondrous technological advances.Well, a peek of sunlight, an actual correct fact! But there were stunning failures as well. Globalization hastened climate change and deepened inequalities. More fact free narrative spinning. How are "inequalities" plural? Globalization brought the sharpest decline in global inequality in the history of our species. Perhaps it "hastened climate change" in that if China had stayed desperately poor they wouldn't be building a new coal fired power plant a week. US emissions went down because of... choose 1: enlightened policy 2: fracking, a shift to natural gas made only possible by the curious US property rights system absent in Europe, and pretty much over the dead body of the entire energy regulatory apparatus. ***Meanwhile over at WSJ, Deirdre is in classic form. (Again, I have not read the book, so this is Deirdre coverage.) The paragraph that caught my attention and demanded a blog post: We need [according to Acemoglu and Johnson] ... the legislation currently being pushed by left and right to try again the policies of antitrust, trade protection, minimum wage and, above all, subsidy for certain technologies. Messrs. Acemoglu and Johnson are especially eager to regulate digital technologies such as artificial intelligence. "Technology should be steered in a direction that best uses a workforce's skills," they write, "and education should . . . adapt to new skill requirements." How the administrators of the Economic Development Administration at the Department of Commerce would know the new direction to steer, or the new skills required, remains a sacred mystery."Technology should be steered." There it is, the full glory of the regulatory passive voice. Steered by who? Deirdre answers the question with that gem of rhetoric, specificity.  "Administrators of the Economic Development Administration at the Department of Commerce" for example. The theme uniting the two essays: If there is one lesson of the last 20 years it is this: The catastrophic failure of our government institutions. From bungled wars, a snafu of financial regulation in 2008 just now repeated in FTX, SVB, and inflation the evident collapse of the FDA CDC and plain commonsense in the pandemic, the free market is bravely forestalling a collapse of government (and associated, i.e. universities) institutions. we need the state to use its powers "to induce the private sector to move away from excessive automation and surveillance, and toward more worker-friendly technologies." Fear of surveillance is a major theme of the book; therefore "antitrust should be considered as a complementary tool to the more fundamental aim of redirecting technology away from automation, surveillance, data collection, and digital advertising."The question what institution has the technical competence to do this seems to be begging.  "Government subsidies for developing more socially beneficial technologies," the authors declare, "are one of the most powerful means of redirecting technology in a market economy." Well, interpreting the sentence literally,  you have to give it to them. Government subsidies are powerful means of "redirecting technology." Usually to ratholes. Messrs. Acemoglu and Johnson warmly admire the U.S. Progressive Movement of the late 19th century as a model for their statism: experts taking child-citizens in hand.Their chapters then skip briskly through history...seeking to show how at each turn new innovations tended to empower certain sections of society at the expense of others. The "power" that concerns them, in other words, is private power.This is, in fact, the central question dividing free-marketers and others. Private power being subject to competition, we worry more about state power. The essence of state power is monopoly, and a monopoly of coercion, fundamentally violence.  The heart of the book is that technological gains create winners and losers, and Acemoglu and Johnson want that directed by a nebulous bureaucracy. Which will somehow never be infected by, oh, Republicans, or turn in to the endless stagnation of most of the last millennium which actually did pursue policies that forbade technological improvement in order to sustain the incomes of incumbents. Deirdre, who coined the lovely phrase "trade tested betterment" takes it on.  During the past two centuries, the world has become radically better off, by fully 3,000% inflation adjusted. Even over the past two decades the lives of the poor have improved. The "great enrichment" after 1800 and its resulting superabundance has brought us out of misery. Even the poor workers who did not benefit in the short run have done so enormously in the long run. In 1960, 4 billion of the 5 billion people on the planet lived on $2 a day. Now it's fallen to 1 billion out of 8, and the income average is $50 a day. The state didn't do it, and forcing short-run egalitarianism or handing power to the Office of Economic Development can kill it, as it regularly has. Messrs. Acemoglu and Johnson see great imperfections in the overwhelmingly private sources of the enrichment. With such imperfections, who needs perfection?Another way to see the problem is to remember the common sense, refined in Economics 101 and Biology 101, of entry at the smell of profit. ...The great fortunes they deprecate have the economic function of encouraging entry into the economy by other entrepreneurs who want to get rich. This competition cheapens goods and services, which then accrues to the poor as immense increases in real income.Many fortunes, for instance, were made by the invention of the downtown department store. The profit attracted suburban competitors, and at the mall the department-store model began to fail. Jeff Bezos reinvented the mail-order catalog. He is imitated, and the fortunes are dissipated in enormous benefit to consumers called workers. .... It's what happened and happens in a liberal economy.The book uses a lot of history, surveyed by McCloskey. As before, it's criticized a bit as history lite. The history Deirdre covers has the usual imperfections of the free market. I wonder if the book has any history of success of this plan, of governments successfully guiding technological transformations to protect the rights and incomes of incumbents, without in the process killing technical change.  Governments habitually screw up basics like rent control. Figuring out what new technology will do is pretty much beyond the capacity of private investors and book-writing economists. The  idea that bureaucracy has the capacity to figure out not just what new technology will work, but to guide its social and distributional consequences seems... far beyond the historical record of bureaucratic accomplishment. But I am straying beyond my promise to review the review, not the book, before reading the latter. ****I recognize the desire on both sides. Partisan politics needs "new" ideas and a "new" propaganda. In particular, the right is aching for something shiny and new that it can sell to voters, which it regards with the same sort of noblesse-oblige intellectual disdain as the left does. Mind the store, mend the institutions, freedom, rights, opportunity and make your own prosperity are, apparently, not sexy enough. So both sides need new initiatives, expanded governments, to excite the rabble. But we're not here to supply that demand, merely to meditate on actual cause-and-effect truth of what works. Beware the temptation. Update:  In retrospect, perhaps the issue is much simpler. The bulk of economic regulation serves exactly the purpose McCloskey basically alleges of Acemoglu and Johnson: Preserve rents of incumbents against the threats of technological improvements. From medieval guilds to trade protection to taxis vs. Ubers, that is really its main function. So we have an extensive bureaucracy that is very good at it, and extensive experience of just how well it works. Which is, very well, at protecting rents and stifling growth.