Showing papers by "Anhui University of Finance and Economics published in 2018"

Environmental performance evaluation with big data: Theories and methods

Abstract: Traditional theories and methods for comprehensive environmental performance evaluation are challenged by the appearance of big data because of its large quantity, high velocity, and high diversity, even though big data is defective in accuracy and stability. In this paper, we first review the literature on environmental performance evaluation, including evaluation theories, the methods of data envelopment analysis, and the technologies and applications of life cycle assessment and the ecological footprint. Then, we present the theories and technologies regarding big data and the opportunities and applications for these in related areas, followed by a discussion on problems and challenges. The latest advances in environmental management based on big data technologies are summarized. Finally, conclusions are put forward that the feasibility, reliability, and stability of existing theories and methodologies should be thoroughly validated before they can be successfully applied to evaluate environmental performance in practice and provide scientific basis and guidance to formulate environmental protection policies.

Better resource management: An improved resource and environmental efficiency evaluation approach that considers undesirable outputs

Abstract: Evaluating resource and environmental efficiency is helpful to stakeholders when making iterative improvements to resource management policies, with regards to either their business activities or to societal management. Traditional evaluation models—which consider undesirable outputs in measuring environmental efficiency—are output-oriented, and so they only pursue the minimum undesirable outputs and the maximum desirable outputs, based on current inputs. The growing depletion of nonrenewable resources makes it difficult to acquire the resources essential to socioeconomic development. In such circumstances, better consideration of resource use (i.e., inputs) is required when considering both desirable and undesirable outputs. This study aims to develop an improved approach by which to evaluate resource and environmental efficiency, based on data envelopment analysis; in this approach, the evaluation of resource inputs into the objective function is introduced. On account of its improvements, the new model can measure not only resource and environmental efficiency, but also efficiencies with regards to resource inputs, undesirable outputs, and desirable outputs. The feasibility of the model is verified through its use in undertaking further empirical analyses of data from mainland China’s 31 provinces. The results of that analysis show the average resource and environmental efficiency value of China’s inefficient provinces to be only 0.65—a value that suggests that mainland China’s resource and environmental efficiency needs to be further improved.

Coal endowment, resource curse, and high coal-consuming industries location: Analysis based on large-scale data

Abstract: Against the background of a long-term mismatch between coal-producing and consuming regions in China, this study analyzed the location of high coal-consuming industries and factors influencing it using large-scale data with 10,500 observed values for 25 industrial sectors. The results revealed that high coal-consuming industries in China are mainly located in the eastern coastal and northern areas and are gradually moving from south to north. An estimation of a 3-D panel data model showed that, in addition to the degree of coal abundance, capital stock, human resources, and market potentials affect the location of high coal-consuming industries. After controlling for dimensional influences, we also found that the tendency of high coal-consuming industries to locate in areas with poor coal resources can be attributed to the stronger effects of non-coal factors than coal-related ones. In addition, low coal-consuming industries prefer locating away from resource-abundant areas because of a “resource curse” in coal-producing regions, which further strengthens the mismatch between coal-producing and consuming regions. Our findings highlight the need for governments to prioritize improvements in infrastructure construction and education in western areas to steer industrial transfers.

Integrated grey relational analysis and multi objective grey linear programming for sustainable electricity generation planning

Abstract: Sustainable energy generation is a key feature in sustainable development and among various sources of energy electricity due to some unique characteristics seems particularly important Optimising electricity generation mix is a highly complex task and requires consideration of numerous conflicting criteria To deal with uncertainty of experts’ opinions, inaccuracy of the available data and including more factors, some of which are difficult to quantify, in particular for environmental and social criteria, we applied grey relational analysis (GRA) with grey linguistic, and grey interval values to obtain the rank of each system Then the obtained ranking were used as coefficients for a multi objective decision making problem, aimed to minimize the cost, import dependencies and emissions as well as maximizing the share of generation sources with better ranking Due to existence of interval variables multi objective grey linear programming (MOGLP) method was used to solve the problem Our results for the UK as a case study suggest increased role for all low carbon energy technologies and sharp reduction in the use of coal and oil We argue that the integrated GRA–MOGLP approach provides an effective tool for the evaluation and optimisation of complex sustainable electricity generation planning It is particularly promising in dealing with uncertainty and imprecisions, which reflect real-life scenarios in planning processes

Changes in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions of the agricultural sector in China from 2005 to 2013

Abstract: This study analyses the changes in energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of the agricultural sector in China from 2005 to 2013. Using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposition method, this study attributes the changes in agricultural CO2 emissions to agricultural CO2 emissions intensity, agricultural productive income intensity, rural residents’ income structure, the distribution pattern of residential income, the distribution pattern of national income, economic development, provincial population distribution, and population scale, and treats these factors as technology, distribution, and population effects. Based on this, the nested decomposition problem, which has not been mentioned in related studies, is solved. To emphasize the importance of the logarithmic mean weight functions, two different chain LMDI decomposition methods are developed that are based on differences in the logarithmic mean weight functions. The results show that the distribution pattern of national income and rural residents’ income structure are two key factors that separately stimulate and suppress the changes in China's agricultural energy-related CO2 emissions. After nested decomposition of the distribution pattern of residential income, the suppressing influence from the rural population proportion is stronger than the stimulating influence from rural-urban income inequity. Although the results of the two chain LMDI decomposition methods are similar, only the distribution pattern of national income and rural residents’ income structure maintain positive impacts on the changes in China's agricultural CO2 emissions by year, while the rural residents’ income structure, distribution pattern of residential income, and rural population proportion continue to have negative impacts on changes in China's agricultural CO2 emissions by year. Furthermore, the technology, distribution, and population effects could not suppress China's agricultural CO2 emissions simultaneously in most years.

An SBM-DEA model with parallel computing design for environmental efficiency evaluation in the big data context: a transportation system application

Abstract: In the big data context, decision makers usually face the problem of evaluating environmental efficiencies of a massive number of decision making units (DMUs) using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. However, standard implementations of the traditional DEA calculation process will consume much time when the data set is very large. To eliminate this limitation of DEA applied to big data, firstly, the slacks-based measure (SBM) model is extended considering undesirable outputs and the variable returns to scale (VRS) assumption for environmental efficiency evaluation of the DMUs. Then, an approach comprised of two algorithms is proposed for environmental efficiency evaluation when the number of DMUs is massive. The set of DMUs is partitioned into subsets, a technique which facilitates the application of a parallel computing mechanism. Algorithm 1 can be used for identifying the environment efficient DMUs in any DMU set. Further, Algorithm 2 (a parallel computing algorithm) shows how to use the proposed model and Algorithm 1 in parallel to find the environmental efficiencies of all DMUs. A simulation shows that the parallel computing design helps to significantly reduce calculation time when completing environmental efficiency evaluation tasks with large data sets, compared with using the traditional calculation processes. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to do environmental efficiency analysis of transportation systems.

Spatial econometric analysis of factors influencing regional energy efficiency in China

Abstract: Increased environmental pollution and energy consumption caused by the country's rapid development has raised considerable public concern, and has become the focus of the government and public. This study employs the super-efficiency slack-based model-data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) to measure the total factor energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China. The estimation model for the spatial interaction intensity of regional total factor energy efficiency is based on Wilson's maximum entropy model. The model is used to analyze the factors that affect the potential value of total factor energy efficiency using spatial dynamic panel data for 30 provinces during 2000-2014. The study found that there are differences and spatial correlations of energy efficiency among provinces and regions in China. The energy efficiency in the eastern, central, and western regions fluctuated significantly, and was mainly because of significant energy efficiency impacts on influences of industrial structure, energy intensity, and technological progress. This research is of great significance to China's energy efficiency and regional coordinated development.

Innovation resources integration pattern in high-tech entrepreneurial enterprises

Abstract: This paper discusses the innovation resource intergration pattern of high-tech entrepreneurial enterprises formed through integration of internal and external innovation resources in the face of demand change and continuous competition. The study finds that the core of the high-tech entrepreneurial enterprise’ sustainable growth is the effective integration of internal and external innovation resources, and the effective pattern of innovation resource integration is group polymerisation and chain integration. These two innovation resource integration pattern either substantiates the traditional theory of innovation resource integration and offers a guidance for growth practices of high-tech entrepreneurial enterprises in China.

Environment-biased technological progress and industrial land-use efficiency in China’s new normal

Abstract: The slow growth of the Chinese economy has led to a reduced number of environmental regulations. This study aims to establish whether China’s “new normal” economy can stimulate environment-biased technological progress to improve industrial land-use efficiency. First, we set up a two-sector theoretical model where in the new normal is treated as an exogenous variable to analyze the combined effects of technological progress, industrial land-use efficiency, and environmental regulations. Then, we establish a multi-index and multi-indicator constitutive equation, in which environment-biased technological progress is taken as an intermediate variable. The results show that the effects of weak environmental regulations on environment-biased technological progress are not significant and that China’s new normal economy can stimulate the progress of clean technology, thereby improving industrial land-use efficiency. Finally, foreign direct investment restricts the improvement of industrial land-use efficiency.

Pre-positioning inventory and service outsourcing of relief material supply chain

Abstract: Service outsourcing is very common in a commercial supply chain, and in humanitarian relief area, the transportation service is usually outsourced To practice relief supply more effectively, it se

Dynamics of a delayed SEIQ epidemic model

Abstract: In this work we consider an epidemic model that contains four species susceptible, exposed, infected and quarantined. With this model, first we find a feasible region which is invariant and where the solutions of our model are positive. Then the persistence of the model and sufficient conditions associated with extinction of infection population are discussed. To show that the system is locally asymptotically stable, a Lyapunov functional is constructed. After that, taking the delay as the key parameter, the conditions for local stability and Hopf bifurcation are derived. Further, we estimate the properties for the direction of the Hopf bifurcation and stability of the periodic solutions. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented to support our analytical results.

Transferability of Vis-NIR models for Soil Organic Carbon Estimation between Two Study Areas by using Spiking

Abstract: Visible and near infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy technique has been shown to be a cost-effective alternative for rapidly analyzing soil organic carbon (SOC). However, great challenges remain when applying a Vis-NIR model for SOC estimation developed in one study area to other study areas without further calibration. The scope of this study was to use spiking strategy to improve the transferability of Vis-NIR models between two study areas. Specifically, we explored the optimal spiking subset by adding different quantities of spiking samples to construct different-sized models, and the strategy of spiking with extra-weighting was used for comparison. Soil data was acquired in two independent study areas (WH area and HH area) in Hubei Province, Central China. The reflectance spectra and SOC contents were measured in the laboratory. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used for model calibration. The representativeness of the spiking samples was assessed through the absolute difference between the selected sample variance (s²) and the original variance (σ²) in the principal component space derived from soil spectra. Results showed that the initial models yielded successful SOC predictions for the soil samples from the same area as the calibration samples, but failed in those samples from the other area. Spiking improved the model transferability between these two study areas. Approximately 33%/48% of the HH/WH calibration set was required as spiking samples in model calibrations and applications in the other area. Spiking with extra-weighting was of limited use in small-sized spectral libraries. The use of |s²–σ²| is potentially effective in identifying the optimal spiking samples to improve model transferability between different small-sized study areas in the Vis-NIR assessments of SOC.

Economic and Environmental Impacts of Mass Tourism on Regional Tourism Destinations in Indonesia

Abstract: The study examines economic and environmental impacts of mass tourism on regional tourism destinations, particularly the establishment of “Ten New Bali”, in Indonesia. The sample is restricted to the period of time in which annual data is available and comparable among variables from 1980 to 2015 (36 observations). All of the time series data was collected and retrieved from the World Development Indicator database published by the World Bank. This study applies cointegrating regression analysis using the fully modified OLS, canonical cointegrating regression, and dynamic OLS. The results of the study suggest that 1) there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between tourism receipts, environmental degradation and economic growth in Indonesia, 2) tourism growth and agriculture land growth are positively related to an increase of total output in the short-run in Indonesia, and 3) arable land is significant at the 0.01 level, but forest rents and CO2 from transport are not significant in the short-run in Indonesia. The results confirm that arable land is negatively related to an increase of total output in Indonesia. That is, when tourism growth in the economy is getting realized it shows that the environmental degradation increases greatly in inverse in the model, eventually negative impacts to the environment.

A class of cyclotomic linear codes and their generalized Hamming weights

Abstract: Firstly, we give a formula on the generalized Hamming weights of linear codes constructed generically by defining sets. Secondly, by choosing properly the defining set we obtain a class of cyclotomic linear codes and then present two alternative formulas for calculating their generalized Hamming weights. Lastly, we determine their weight distributions and generalized Hamming weights partially. Especially, we solve the generalized Hamming weights completely in one case.

Bifurcation analysis of a modified Leslie–Gower model with Holling type-IV functional response and nonlinear prey harvesting

Abstract: In this work, an attempt is made to understand the dynamics of a modified Leslie–Gower model with nonlinear harvesting and Holling type-IV functional response. We study the model system using qualitative analysis, bifurcation theory and singular optimal control. We show that the interior equilibrium point is locally asymptotically stable and the system under goes a Hopf bifurcation with respect to the ratio of intrinsic growth of the predator and prey population as bifurcation parameter. The existence of bionomic equilibria is analyzed and the singular optimal control strategy is characterized using Pontryagin’s maximum principle. The existence of limit cycles appearing through local Hopf bifurcation and its stability is also examined and validated numerically by computing the first Lyapunov number. Optimal singular equilibrium points are obtained numerically for various discount rates.

Delay-induced Hopf bifurcation of an SVEIR computer virus model with nonlinear incidence rate

Abstract: We are concerned with the Hopf bifurcation of an SVEIR computer virus model with time delay and nonlinear incident rate. First of all, by analyzing the associated characteristic equation we obtain sufficient conditions for its local stability and the existence of a Hopf bifurcation. Directly afterward, by means of the normal form theory and the center manifold theorem we derive explicit formulas that determine the direction of the Hopf bifurcation and the stability of the bifurcated periodic solutions. Finally, we carry out numerical simulations to illustrate and verify the theoretical results.

Estimation of market prices of risks in the G.A.R.C.H. diffusion model

Abstract: In this paper we propose an estimation procedure which uses joint data on the underlying asset and option prices to extract market prices of return and volatility risks in the context of the G.A.R....

Hopf bifurcation analysis for an epidemic model over the Internet with two delays

Abstract: Taking the delay due to the latent period of computer viruses and the delay due to the period that the anti-virus software uses to clean the computer viruses as the bifurcation parameters, local Hopf bifurcation of an epidemic model over the Internet is studied. We discuss the existence of the Hopf bifurcation under four conditions: (1) $\tau _{1}>0$ , $\tau_{2}=0$ , (2) $\tau_{1}=0$ , $\tau_{2}>0$ , (3) $\tau_{1}=\tau _{2}=\tau>0$ , and (4) $\tau_{1}>0$ , $\tau_{2}\in(0, \tau_{20})$ . Properties of the Hopf bifurcation about condition (4) are investigated by means of the center manifold theorem and the normal form theory. Finally, some simulations are presented to support our obtained results.