Improvement Of Economic Efficiency Research Articles

Evaluating micro-nano bubbles coupled with rice-crayfish co-culture systems: A field study promoting sustainable rice production intensification

Traditional rice-fish symbiosis systems efficiently use soil and water resources but the adverse effects of prolonged flooding on the stability of rice growth can be mitigated. The feasibility and efficacy of injecting micro-nano bubbles (MNBs) in rice-crayfish co-cultures was investigated in a 22-hectare field experiment conducted over five months. This injection significantly enhanced the growth of both rice and crayfish, and increased total nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the soil, thereby augmenting fertility. Analysis of dissolved oxygen (DO), water temperature and gene expression (rice and crayfish) clarified that micro-nano bubbles (MNBs) foster an optimal environment for rice root respiration, whereas rice establishes an optimal temperature for crayfish, thereby enhancing their activity and growth. Comparative analyses of gene expression profiles and metabolic pathway enrichment revealed that the injection of MNBs diversifies soil microbial communities and intensifies biological processes, such as plant hormone signal transduction. This was in marked contrast to the situation in our controls, rice monoculture (R) and micro-nano bubbles rice monoculture (MNB-R). The combination of rice-fish symbiosis with MNBs led to a 26.8 % increase in rice production and to an estimated 35 % improvement in economic efficiency. Overall, this research introduces an innovative and environmentally sustainable method to boost rice yields, thereby enhancing food security and providing additional income for farmers.

Scale or effectiveness? The nonlinear impact of talent agglomeration on high-quality economic development in China

Talent agglomeration serves as a vital pathway for achieving high-quality economic development. This paper, based on provincial panel data from China spanning 2011–2020, first analyses the impact of talent agglomeration on high-quality economic development from two dimensions: the talent agglomeration scale and effectiveness. Second, with innovation activity as a threshold variable, this paper explores the nonlinear impact of the talent agglomeration scale and effectiveness on economic efficiency improvement and economic structure optimization. This study finds that (1) the main driving force for high-quality economic development within the sample period comes from the talent agglomeration scale, while the promoting role of talent agglomeration effectiveness has not yet passed significant tests. (2) Under different levels of innovation activity, the talent agglomeration scale has a diminishing marginal utility impact on economic efficiency improvement and economic structure optimization; talent agglomeration effectiveness also has different nonlinear effects on economic efficiency improvement and economic structure optimization.

Cross-Fertilisation Between EU Green Policies and Instruments Applied by Public Management: Dilemmas and Opportunities

This article aims to contribute to discussions held by the academic community that has extensively researched the EU’s green transition. The author underlines that a transdisciplinary approach involving legal, economic, and political tools provide a comprehensive cross-fertilisation methodology. The article observes implications related to EU green policies and public management instruments from two perspectives: the broadening of green transition to socio economic dimensions; and the role of government intervention in economic and green business development to illustrate examples of relevant practices in the EU. The author argues that such a methodological approach can help one to assess the actions and measures related to the green economic and business development trends that require societal support as well as the improvement of economic efficiency at the EU and national level. This contribution offers insights into the concept of green economic transitions and innovation as well as the impact of public services focused on societal change. The article concludes that a decision-making process that is based on a cross-fertilisation approach allows the implementation of green policies in national economies in the most effective manner and, in turn, provides welfare effects due to the enhancement of public administration services in their coordinated actions with entrepreneurial activities and business investments. On a wider regional scale, government/private business green partnership represents a tool that inevitably helps increase the environmental and green competitiveness of the EU and its Member States.

Investigating the effects of ICT, education, and R&D on economic efficiency and technology heterogeneity: A cross-country analysis

This study explores the impact of information and communication technology (ICT), education, and research and development (R&D) on countries' economic efficiency and technology heterogeneity. A panel of 52 countries, classified into developed (31 sample countries) and developing (21 sample countries) during 2011–2019, were the data sources for the analysis. We obtained relative country-level economic efficiency and technology gap inefficiency estimates from a novel Bayesian data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Bias-corrected estimates yielded by this technique have proven to be valid. We then regressed the estimates on ICT, education, and R&D proxy variables using a two-step and an iterative generalized method of moments (GMM) for linear dynamic panel data. Our analysis mitigates possible feedback effects between the explanatory and response variables, as well as possible endogeneity. The novelty of this work goes beyond the use of a new data analysis technique, investigating the impact of the three factors mentioned above and the country classification on technology heterogeneity caused by differences in countries' market structures, regulatory frameworks, economic and knowledge ecosystems, and cultures. Based on this study's findings, fixed broadband subscriptions have the most significant effect on economic efficiency improvement, while R&D is the main driver for reducing technology gap inefficiency. Specifically, ICT-facilitated knowledge spillovers within and across country groups through R&D cooperation play a significant positive role in closing the technology gap. This finding is consistent with the catch-up theory.

Introduction of hospital-based health technology assessment in China: experiences from seven pilot hospitals.

This study aimed to introduce a pilot program for hospital-based health technology assessment (HB-HTA) in China and present the participants' experiences based on seven case studies from seven tertiary hospitals. One-year pilot projects were initiated at the beginning of 2018. Seven pilot hospitals were closely followed from the beginning until the completion of their pilot HTA project. Regular interviews were conducted with the hospital managers leading the HB-HTA projects and key members of the special HTA teams. Observations were made based on field trips and written HTA reports. Three pilot projects evaluated the use of medical consumables, three evaluated the use of surgical or medical interventions, and one evaluated an innovative management model for ventilators. Real-world data were collected from all the pilot projects to assist with the assessments. Most HB-HTA pilot projects achieved remarkable results such as improvements in economic efficiency; however, there were also obvious deficiencies such as the lack of a necessary cost-effectiveness analysis. The results varied among the seven HB-HTA pilot projects. The HB-HTA pilot program was implemented to promote the use of HB-HTA in hospital decision making in China. At the same time, HB-HTA in China faces challenges. We have made some policy recommendations based on the findings of the pilot projects.

Research on the Path of Cost Control and Economic Benefit Enhancement in Construction Engineering Projects

Abstract The increasingly competitive market situation in the construction industry requires that construction enterprises strengthen the cost control of construction projects in order to improve the economic efficiency of enterprises. This paper is based on the improved genetic algorithm to realize the optimization of the cost control strategy of the construction project and effectively overcome the problems of weak cost control consciousness and high material procurement cost in the previous cost control. A construction company is selected as the object for the case study, and the genetic algorithm is used to calculate and analyze the cost control of the construction company. The return on investment, net present value, and internal rate of return are used as indicators to measure the economic benefits before and after optimizing cost control strategies. The improved genetic algorithm calculates that among the cost control factors of the construction company, procurement management, and field operation have a high probability of being selected in the genetic calculation, and the final project cost is 36.7849 million yuan through the genetic algorithm, which achieves the goal of project cost control. At the same time, this paper finds that cost control has a significant positive effect on the improvement of economic efficiency, and the economic efficiency of this construction company before and after the optimization of the cost control strategy is significantly improved.

Evaluation of the double-cycle benefits of international engineering cooperation and the Western economy - based on the SFA methodology

Abstract In the era of globalization and development, international engineering cooperation is crucial to the improvement of economic efficiency in the West. This paper selects panel data from six regions in the West from 2019-2022 and selects reasonable input-output indicators and environmental variable indicators. At the first stage of the three-stage DEA model, the static measurement of Western economic efficiency is first measured using the variable scale compensation (BCC) model. The SFA model is utilized to decompose the slack variables during the first stage and adjust the input variables without affecting environmental variables. In addition, the Malmquist index model is used to analyze the efficiency of the Western economy dynamically in order to have a more comprehensive evaluation of the double-cycle efficiency of the Western economy from the perspective of dynamic and static. The results of the study show that after removing the effects of environmental factors and random errors, the average values of technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency, and scale efficiency in the third stage of all western regions have increased by 0.0175, 0.0193, and 0.0194 compared with those in the first stage, and the annual average total factor productivity index has shown a decreasing and then increasing trend. The SFA method used in the study can effectively eliminate the influence of environmental factors and random factors and evaluate the double-cycle efficiency situation of international engineering cooperation and the Western economy more comprehensively.

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Urban Economic Efficiency on Environmental Pollution: Evidence from China

Foreign direct investment may increase industrial pollution intensity in the host country, which will deteriorate the host countrys environmental conditions; however, foreign direct investment may also enhance the economic efficiency of the host country through competitive effects, imitation effects, talent flows, and the related effects and in other ways. An improvement in economic efficiency indirectly affects the host countrys environment. This article first analyzes the relationships among foreign direct investment, urban economic efficiency and environmental pollution while expanding on the relevant theories. In addition, the study constructs a comprehensive environmental pollution index for 271 Chinese cities by using the entropy method with the cities panel data. The study also provides empirical testing of the connections among foreign direct investment, urban economic efficiency and pollution problems. The study finds that foreign direct investment has improved the economic efficiency of Chinese cities, the improvement in Chinas urban economic efficiency is accompanied by the discharge of pollutants, which has aggravated environmental pollution. Also, there are significant regional differences in how the foreign direct investment has shaped Chinas environment.

Substitution of heating systems in the Italian buildings panorama and potential for energy, environmental and economic efficiency improvement

In many countries, old inefficient generators are used for heating purposes. A way to improve energy efficiency in those countries can be the choice of the most suitable heating generators to replace the current ones, without the inconveniences caused by other retrofit measures. In this context, we present a methodology to choose the most appropriate generator through dynamic simulations applied to building stock energy models. Economic, energetic, and environmental parameters guide the choice. The methodology is applied in the Italian residential building scenario, where the most widespread heating device is traditional boiler. Three options are considered: condensing boiler, heat pump, and hybrid heat pump (an alternative-working system with a condensing boiler and heat pump). For a detailed analysis, a white-box bottom-up building stock energy model is defined, through a statistical analysis, consisting of four building typologies in three different external climates. An hourly dynamic building-system simulation has been performed to obtain energy performance, emissions, and operational costs. The results have demonstrated that condensing boiler allows limited economic, environmental, and energy savings (8-14%), compared to traditional boiler. The highest economic savings are obtained with the hybrid heat pump (20%), while the heat pump alone leads to higher costs, but the highest savings in emissions and non-renewable primary energy (25-50%). The flexibility offered by the hybrid heat pump allows to obtain high savings in different cost scenarios, but also to further reduce CO2 emissions by implementing an environmental-based control strategy.

Whether the Establishment of Pilot Free Trade Zones Improves Urban Carbon Emission Efficiency: An Analysis Based on Difference-in-Difference Model

Pilot free trade zones are the key to achieving green and sustainable economic development and promoting high-level protection of the ecological environment. Based on the panel data of 282 cities from 2006 to 2018, this paper uses the non-radial DDF model to measure the urban carbon emission efficiency based on the establishment of pilot free trade zones, and establishes a double differential model to empirically analyze the impact of the establishment of pilot free trade zones on urban carbon emission efficiency and the impact mechanism therein. The results show that the establishment of pilot free trade zones can significantly promote the improvement of urban carbon emission efficiency, and this conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests such as PSM-DID and excluding other policy interference. Its mechanism analysis shows that the establishment of pilot free trade zones mainly affects urban carbon emission efficiency by improving urban energy efficiency and technical level, and promoting the optimization and upgrading of urban industrial structure. This paper provides useful policy enlightenment for promoting the green development of pilot free trade zones, achieving economic efficiency improvement and carbon emission reduction.

Effect of Feeding Broilers with Three Different Regimens on Performance and Carcass Characteristics

This study aims to compare three programs of feeding broiler conducted on 120 Ross 308 chicks at one day of age distributed to three treatments of 4 replicates by 10 birds each. T1 given 3 phase (starter, grower, finisher) rations during (1-14,15-28, 29-42) days respectively, T2 given a 2 phase (starter ration from 1-28 days and finisher ration from 29-42 days), T3 given a (1 phase) grower ration from 1-42 day. Feed and water have been given ad libitum. All chicks were reared in a semi-open house in pens with a dimension of 1.25 × 1.25 m. The results showed that there was an insignificant difference between treatments in live body weight, total and daily weight gain, Total and daily feed intake except 3-4, 5-6, 0-6 weeks, T3 was significantly less than T2 during the total period, protein intake was significantly different except at 1-2, 4-5 weeks, T3 was significantly higher than T1 in total period 0-6 week. There was an insignificant difference in feed or protein conversion ratio at all studying periods. There was an insignificant difference between treatments in all carcass traits. The difference between treatments in relative growth rate was less than 1%. The second treatment showed a small improvement in economic efficiency by about 2%.

Mechanisms of How Private Equity Drives Industrial Upgrade: An Empirical Study Based on China’s Panel Data

In recent years, the investment of private equity funds in China has increased and has become an important tool to promote industrial structure upgrades. Therefore, it is of theoretical and practical significance to study how and why industrial upgrades are driven by private equity funds. First, we use the understanding of heterogeneity to study the differences between the use of private equity funds and other financial instruments to stimulate industrial upgrades, and we represent industrial growth from two perspectives: economic aggregate growth and economic efficiency improvement. Next, we use shift-share analysis to disaggregate industrial upgrades into static and dynamic transfer effects, showing that other financial instruments only promote production factor mobility but not production efficiency, while private equity funds significantly contribute to both mobility and efficiency. Finally, the mediating effect model is used to study how private equity funds drive industrial upgrades: mainly from efficiency improvement based on technological progress and innovation output, and to a lesser extent from the promotion of factor mobility. The findings have practical value and implications for the optimization of financial reforms and the sustainability of regional economies.

System integration and evaluation of residual oil deep catalytic cracking process coupled with CO2 recycle to produce polypropyl carbonate

A system for the production of polypropyl carbonate (PPC) from residual oil deep catalytic cracking process coupled with CO2 recycle (DCC-P&CO2-PPC), based on the actual refinery (1.5 million tons of residual oil per year), is proposed in this work. The CO2 in the flue gas emitted from the factory is used as raw material to produce high-value-added PPC. The novel DCC-P&CO2-PPC simulation process is established and verified by Aspen Plus software, and the key parameters and process conditions of the system units are optimized. The feasibility and development potential of the DCC-P&CO2-PPC system are elucidated by analyzing the characteristics and composition of the economy, elemental flow, total exergy distribution, and exergy cost of the system. To sum up, the DCC-P&CO2-PPC system converts CO2 and primary product propylene into high-value-added PPC, expands the downstream industry chain of LPG, makes full use of the elemental complementarity between CO2 in flue gas and the refinery products and achieves the dual goals of low-carbon production and economic efficiency improvement of the refinery, thus providing a new technical route and practical solution for the low-carbon transition development of residue catalytic cracking refineries.

Dynamic iterative method for sequential module steady-state modeling and its application to the fluid catalytic cracking unit

BackgroundProcess modeling of chemical systems has important directive significance to the analysis and optimization of actual production processes and the improvement of economic efficiency. However, existing iterative methods struggle with initial value selection and lack of generality when applied in modeling with the sequential module method, making it challenging to solve both unconstrained and constrained iterative problems in the modeling. Therefore, it is necessary to design a new iterative method. MethodsA dynamic iterative method for sequential module steady-state modeling is proposed. The sequential module method is used to establish a steady-state sequential model of a chemical system, and a dynamic feedback link is added outside the model. This feedback link can make its iterative output converge to the next step system output by learning the deviation between two or more steps in the iterative process, thus ensuring the convergence of the process modeling and improving the iteration speed of the modeling. In order to improve the generality of the dynamic iterative method and reduce the difficulty of selecting the initial value of iteration, both proportional and integral actions are added to this method according to the principle of automatic control. Significant FindingsThe modeling results show that adding dynamic feedback links outside the model effectively resolved the algebraic loop problem and improved the speed of system convergence. The inclusion of both proportional and integral actions in the dynamic iterative method effectively reduced the sensitivity to initial value and improved the generality of the method. This method is applied to the fluid catalytic cracking unit reaction-regeneration system and its effectiveness is demonstrated by solving both unconstrained and constrained iterative problems.

Climate change increases the suitable area and suitability degree of rubber tree powdery mildew in China

Rubber tree powdery mildew is one of the most important diseases restricting the development of the natural rubber industry and the improvement of economic efficiency of rubber production. Climate change has seriously influenced the distribution and transmission of rubber tree powdery mildew. However, the impacts of future climate change on the suitable area and suitability degree of rubber tree powdery mildew have been rarely investigated. Based on environmental and disaster data of rubber tree powdery mildew in the baseline (1970–2000) and future climate change scenarios (2021–2040, 2041–2060, 2061–2080, and 2081–2100), Maximum Entropy Models (MaxEnt) model was used to simulate the impacts of future climate change on the distribution of suitable area and the suitability degree of rubber tree powdery mildew in China. The results showed that the MaxEnt model could effectively simulate the historical distribution and suitability degree of rubber tree powdery mildew. The top two major environmental variables were mean temperature of driest quarter and temperature seasonality considering their contribution rates of 44.2% and 24.61%, respectively. Currently, the suitable areas of the rubber tree powdery mildew were mainly concentrated in central and southern Hainan Island, southern Yunnan province, southern Guangxi province, southwestern Guangdong province, and southern Fujian province. Compared with the baseline, the suitable area of rubber tree powdery mildew would enlarge by 0.24%, 0.59%, 0.78%, and 3.25% respectively under 2021–2040, 2041–2060, 2061–2080, and 2081–2100 in China. The suitability degree of rubber tree powdery mildew would increase under future climate change scenarios in China with most significant increase in Hainan and Yunnan rubber planting areas. The key areas for rubber tree powdery mildew prevention and control would concentrate in the southern Yunnan province and the central Hainan Island. The study results could provide an important reference for ensuring the safe production of rubber tree and reducing the use and residue of agricultural chemicals and environmental impacts. • Temperature mainly determines the distribution of rubber tree powdery mildew. • Climate change enlarges the suitable area of rubber tree powdery mildew in China. • Climate change increases suitability degree of rubber tree powdery mildew in China.

Influence of the Urban Built Environment on Physical and Mental Health of the Elderly under the Background of Big Data.

With the advent of the information technology revolution and the Internet era, information technology is gradually occupying an important position and becoming an important strategic factor in economic development. As an emerging technology that has been developing continuously in recent years, big data is becoming an important industry to improve the innovation and development of the urban economy. Like AI technology, cloud computing, and the Internet, big data has become an important application technology for economic growth and economic efficiency improvement in today's world. It is an effective means of progress and development in a region and an important strategic resource. As a new technology, big data has attracted more and more attention from all walks of life. Many companies have turned their attention to developing big data for economic benefits. “Enjoy your old age” is the yearning of every old man and his family. In recent years, the national level has been committed to “creating an urban built environment for the elderly to achieve healthy aging.” From the perspective of promoting the physical and mental health of the elderly, this paper analyzes the impact of the urban built environment on the physical and mental health of the elderly based on the needs of the elderly and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions based on the current status and existing problems of the urban built environment for the elderly. Based on the combined data analysis method and technology in big data, this paper conducted a field questionnaire survey on a total of 4,000 elderly people in urban and rural areas by means of the questionnaire survey. It is found that the existing problems of the built environment in the old cities include scattered content, one-sided understanding, and rigid design. According to the problems, the solutions of building consensus, paying attention to planning, combining urban characteristics, and the joint efforts of all sectors of society are put forward. And programming tools are used to combine formulas and analyze related data in detail. The analysis results show that the physical and mental health index of the elderly is highly correlated with factors such as changes in the consensus degree of the urban built environment, urban built environment planning, urban built environment policy support, and multiparty efforts in the urban built environment. Changes show a positive change.

ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS OF THE DANUBE RIVER ON THE REGION’S DEVELOPMENT

The topical issues, priority areas of the Danube region and prospects of their development are explored. Danube river is the main European inner waterway and the link between a number of European countries. Its role in economic relations, ability to transport big amounts of various cargos, unique infrastructure, and ways of solutions for existing problematic questions are highlighted in the article. Perspective ideas, innovative technologies, and ways to improve the impact of the Danube river on the economic situation of the whole region are presented. All statistical data is based on the Danube Commission's annual reports and development programs. The key role in the improvement of economic efficiency of the Danube region lies in efficient inland navigation which is impossible without the implementation of last achievements in shipping technologies.

The Impact of Industrial Intelligence on Energy Intensity: Evidence from China

With the sustainable development of cyber-physical science and information technologies, artificial intelligence technology is becoming more and more mature and has been used widely in various walks of life. As one part of this development, industrial intelligence has been applied diffusely to improve the productivity and energy efficiency of factories and governments. Meanwhile, the social ecological environment change has also caused widespread social concern in recent years, and energy efficiency, which is related to climate change, has forced almost every country to reduce their carbon emissions for bettering environmental quality. However, there is little research that has studied this problem from the perspective of industrial robots, even though they are an indispensable part in modern industrial systems. In order to promote the development of artificial intelligence and its application in industrial fields effectively and raise the energy consumption efficiency of production, this paper investigates the impact of industrial intelligence on energy intensity in China, as it is the largest manufacturing and energy consumption country in the world, and we also hope that the experimental results in this study can guide relevant departments and governments to formulate reasonable policies to enhance the utilization efficiency of energy and improve the environmental quality synchronously. For the sake of the rigor of this research and the accuracy of the experimental results, this study explores the corresponding effect mechanisms of industrial intelligence on China’s energy intensity from 2008 to 2019 by using the classical linear regression model OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) and WLS (Weighted Least Squares) separately, which were applied in the previous studies. The results of this study reveal three major findings. The first is that it further proves that the application of artificial intelligence can indeed reduce energy intensity, and the wide applications of artificial intelligence can reduce energy intensity significantly by reducing energy consumption. Besides, the ownership structure of state-owned enterprises will have a positive impact on energy efficiency. The environmental performance of state-owned enterprises is better than that of foreign-funded and private enterprises. Finally, the models further verify the significant impact of the enterprise scale effect on energy intensity. It will bring about the improvement of economic efficiency, and the larger the enterprise, the more obvious the economies of scale effect and the lower the energy intensity.

The Impact of Agglomeration of Producer Services on Pollution Emission: Empirical Analysis Based on 260 Cities in China

Since the 1980s, industrialization and urbanization have driven China’s rapid economic growth, but this growth has also exacerbated the deterioration of the ecological environment. Under the background of the current prominent structural problems and the "dual carbon" goal, it is particularly important to realize the development layout of green economy. As one of the important economic development models, the agglomeration of producer services can not only promote the improvement of economic efficiency, but also promote the upgrading of industrial structure, thereby realizing the coordinated development of environment and efficiency. Based on the panel data of 260 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2018, this paper constructs a Spatial Durbin Model to empirically analyze the effect and impact mechanism of producer service agglomeration on pollution emissions. The study found that China's urban pollution emissions have a significant positive spatial correlation, and the increase of pollution emissions from surrounding cities will increase the city’s pollution situation. In addition, on the whole, the increase in the degree of agglomeration of producer services significantly reduces pollution emissions, and there is a spatial spillover effect. Finally, the mechanism test shows that knowledge spillover and industrial structure upgrading are important channels for the agglomeration of producer services to reduce urban pollution emissions.

Power purchasing optimization of electricity retailers considering load uncertainties based on information gap decision theory

The optimization of power purchasing is the crucial part to enhance the core competitiveness of electricity retailers, which can help electricity retailers achieve economic efficiency improvement and risk reduction. Therefore, a power purchasing optimization model of electricity retailers based on IGDT is proposed in this paper. Firstly, considering the multiple uncertainties faced by electricity retailers when participating in the multi-time scale markets, the profits and risks of power purchasing strategies are quantified. Then, a power purchasing optimization model based on IGDT is constructed, which can assess the robustness of its purchasing strategies against load fluctuation under expected utility. Finally, the case studies using the data of a provincial power market in China illustrate that the proposed optimization model can effectively provide power purchasing strategies with robustness to balance the profit and risk of the electricity retailer, and as the risk attitude tends to be conservative, the proportion of power purchasing through bilateral contracts increases while the load fluctuation range that can be resisted decreases.