Economic Penalties Research Articles

Exploring innovative possibilities of recovering the value of dark-cutting beef in the Canadian grading system

This study examined if different color intensities of dark-cutting beef carcasses (Dark B4/Moderate B4) were similar in quality to normal (N) carcasses of a lower marbling score. The eating quality from abnormal (AB) dark-cutting carcasses (normal pH) was also evaluated to determine if AB should receive the same penalty as classic (CL) dark-cutting carcasses in the Canadian grading system. B4-grade carcasses, regardless of dark color intensity, exhibited increased toughness and greater off-flavor than N carcasses of a lower marbling score. Additionally, AB and borderline (BD) carcasses were tougher than N. The CL dark cutters, albeit similar in tenderness to N carcasses, had greater off-flavor and less beef flavor intensity. Downgrading B4 carcasses one quality grade based on the marbling score, with no further carcass demerits, is likely not sufficient, and further devaluations of dark cutters may be warranted. As well, AB and BD carcasses were of lower quality compared to N carcasses and, therefore, deserve some economic penalty.

A Recourse-Based Type-2 Fuzzy Programming Method for Water Pollution Control under Uncertainty

In this study, a recourse-based type-2 fuzzy programming (RTFP) method is developed for supporting water pollution control of basin systems under uncertainty. The RTFP method incorporates type-2 fuzzy programming (TFP) within a two-stage stochastic programming with recourse (TSP) framework to handle uncertainties expressed as type-2 fuzzy sets (i.e., a fuzzy set in which the membership function is also fuzzy) and probability distributions, as well as to reflect the trade-offs between conflicting economic benefits and penalties due to violated policies. The RTFP method is then applied to a real case of water pollution control in the Heshui River Basin (a rural area of China), where chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and soil loss are selected as major indicators to identify the water pollution control strategies. Solutions of optimal production plans of economic activities under each probabilistic pollutant discharge allowance level and membership grades are obtained. The results are helpful for the authorities in exploring the trade-off between economic objective and pollutant discharge decision-making based on river water pollution control.

Technical and economic feasibility evaluation of calcium looping with no CO2 recirculation

Carbon capture and storage is expected to play a key role in decarbonisation of the power and industrial sectors, with calcium looping (CaL) being regarded as a well-developed technology that can reduce energy and economic penalties associated with mature technologies. Nevertheless, retrofits of CaL to coal-fired power plants result in net efficiency penalties of 5–8% points. The state-of-the-art CaL configurations assume that, similarly to oxy-fuel combustion systems, CO2 needs to be recycled to moderate the temperatures in the calciner. This study aims to assess the feasibility of CaL with no CO2 recirculation to the calciner via pilot plant testing and techno-economic analysis. The results collected during the experimental trials indicated that the temperatures inside of the calciner were within 930–950 °C, which were within the commonly reported operating temperature range of that reactor. Furthermore, the techno-economic analysis of the CaL retrofit to a conventional 580 MWel coal-fired power plant indicated that operation of CaL without CO2 recirculation will have a negligible effect on the net thermal efficiency of the entire system. Nevertheless, reduction in the size of the system resulted in a 21.7% reduction in the specific capital cost, and thus a 14.3% and 27.4% reduction in the levelised cost of electricity and cost of CO2 avoided, respectively. Therefore, CaL with no CO2 recirculation can be considered as a technically and economically feasible option to reduce the economic penalty associated with this emerging technology.

Optimization of cooling water system hydraulic debottlenecking

During their lifetime, process plants may suffer modifications that allow crescent throughput increases. However, it is a common practice to concentrate these investments inside battery limits, ignoring utility systems, such as cooling water supply. Consequently, economic penalties appear due to the deviation of the process variables in relation to the set-points, caused by utility shortage. Since the solution of this problem may be constrained by budget limitations, it is important to employ a quantitative tool for decision-making support about the best set of interventions. Aiming at contributing for the solution of this problem, this paper presents the optimization of the hydraulic debottlenecking of cooling water systems. The possible interventions considered are the substitution of pipes and pumps together with the manipulation of valves to redistribute the total flow rate among the different heat exchangers. This paper illustrates the performance of the proposed approach with an example explored in different alternative scenarios.

Economic feasibility of calcium looping under uncertainty

An emerging calcium looping process has been shown to be a promising alternative to solvent scrubbing, which is regarded as the most mature CO2 capture technology. Its retrofits to coal-fired power plants have the potential to reduce both energy and economic penalties associated with the mature CO2 capture technologies. However, these conclusions have been made based on the deterministic outputs of the economic models that have not considered uncertainties in the model inputs. Therefore, this study incorporates a stochastic approach into the economic analysis of the retrofit of such emerging CO2 capture technology to the coal-fired power plant. The stochastic analysis revealed that levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and specific total capital requirement were highly affected by the uncertainty in the input variables to the process and economic models. The most probable values for these key economic performance indicators were shown to fall between 75 and 115 €/MWelh, and 2100 and 2300 €/kWel,gross, respectively. Interestingly, the most probable LCOE values for the coal-fired power plant will fall between 50 and 150 €/MWelh. This indicated that the calcium looping retrofit scenario can become economically favoured, mainly due to the high economic penalties incurred by unabated coal-fired power plant associated with carbon tax. Importantly, the outputs of the stochastic economic assessment aligned well with the deterministic results reported in the literature. As the latter were generated using different sets of assumptions regarding the process and economic models, the stochastic approach to the economic assessment can minimise the impact of the model assumptions on estimates of the key economic parameters. Moreover, by indicating the probability of particular outputs, as well as ranking the model input variables according to their influence on the key economic performance, such analysis would allow making more insightful decisions regarding further funding and development of the calcium looping process. Finally, use of the stochastic approach in the economic feasibility assessment enables a more profound and reliable comparison of the different calcium looping retrofit configurations, as well as benchmarking different CO2 capture technologies.

Hurting without hitting: The economic cost of political tension

Political tension that causes diplomatic strain rarely escalates into direct violence or war. This paper identifies the economic effects of such non-violent political tension by examining Taiwan’s sovereignty debate. Non-violent events harming the relationship with mainland China lead to an average daily drop of 200 basis points in Taiwanese stock returns. The impact is more severe on firms openly supporting the Taiwanese pro-independence party. Through a series of tests, we show that this economic penalty is targeted at pro-independence firms that are economically exposed to mainland China via either investments or exports.

Getting a Job: Cultural Norms, Emotional Energy, and the Foreign-Educated Immigrant Hiring Penalty

Foreign-educated immigrants face an economic penalty in the U.S. labor market relative to their level of education. An understudied explanation for this penalty is foreign-educated immigrants’ lack...

Regionalization and Outcomes of Lung Cancer Surgery in Ontario, Canada.

Purpose Regionalization of complex surgery to high-volume hospitals has been advocated based on cross-sectional volume-outcome studies. In April 2007, the agency overseeing cancer care in Ontario, Canada, implemented a policy to regionalize lung cancer surgery at 14 designated hospitals, enforced by economic incentives and penalties. We studied the effects of implementation of this policy. Methods Using administrative health data, we used interrupted time series models to analyze the immediate and delayed effects of implementation of the policy on the distribution of lung cancer surgery among hospitals, surgical outcomes, and health services use. Results From 2004 to 2012, 16,641 patients underwent surgery for lung cancer. The proportion of operations performed in designated hospitals increased from 71% to 89% after the policy was implemented. Although operative mortality decreased from 4.1% to 2.9% (adjusted odds ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.58 to 0.81; P < .001), the reduction was due to a preexisting declining trend in mortality. In contrast, in the years after implementation of the policy, length of hospital stay decreased more than expected from the baseline trend by 7% per year (95% CI, 5% to 9%; P < .001), and the distance traveled by all patients to the hospital for surgery increased by 4% per year (95% CI, 0% to 8%; P = .03), neither of which were explained by preexisting trends. Analyses limited to patients ≥ 70 years of age demonstrated a reduction in operative mortality (odds ratio, 0.80 per year after regionalization; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P = .01). Conclusion A policy to regionalize lung cancer surgery in Ontario led to increased centralization of surgery services but was not independently associated with improvements in operative mortality. Improvements in length of stay and in operative mortality among elderly patients suggest areas where regionalization may be beneficial.

Comparative Evaluation of the Performance of Coal Combustion in 0.5 and 50 kWth Chemical Looping Combustion Units with Ilmenite, Redmud or Iron Ore as Oxygen Carrier

Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) is one of the most promising technologies to achieve the CO2 capture at a low economic and energetic penalty. In CLC the combustion is split in two steps: fuel combustion assisted by an oxygen carrier in the fuel reactor, and oxygen carrier regeneration in the air reactor by oxygen in air. Usually, the air and fuel reactors are interconnected fluidized beds, with the oxygen carrier circulating between them. Thus, the CO2 capture is inherent to the CLC process. The use of solid fuels in CLC is attracting great attention due to coal is the most abundant fuel, and burning biomass with CO2 capture would allow to reduce the atmospheric CO2 concentration. The in situ Gasification CLC (iG-CLC) allows the conversion of the solid fuel by performing both gasification and combustion of gasification products in the fuel reactor. In iG-CLC complete combustion is not reached, and an oxygen polishing step is required downstream by using a small fraction of pure oxygen.In this work, an overview of the operational experience in ICB-CSIC is presented. Results obtained in 0.5 kWth and 50 kWth CLC units burning different coals with ilmenite, redmud or iron ore are compiled and critically compared. Insights were obtained in order to achieve high CO2 capture and combustion efficiency values. Eventually, the use of ring-type internals in the fuel reactor of the 50 kWth CLC unit was accomplished to promote the gas-solid contact, thus increasing the combustion efficiency.

Factorial Based Stochastic Optimization Approach for Energy and Environmental Systems Management Under Uncertainty

Abstract In this study, an optimization programming based on inexact stochastic method and factorial design was proposed to support management of energy and environmental systems under uncertain conditions. It could be used for analyzing various policy scenarios associated with different levels of economic penalties when promised targets are violated. Moreover, it can obtain optimal decisions of primary energy supply, electricity, and thermal power generation, capacity expansion, and emission control scheme. The developed model has been applied to a case study within a multifacility, multiperiod, and multidemand-level context to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methodology. Factorial method has been used for sensitivity analysis to address the interactive uncertainties in modeling parameters, as well as providing a trade-off analysis between the economic objective and the relevant energy and environmental policies. The generated approach will be able to reflect dynamic complexities in energy an...

Bioinspired nanocoatings for biofouling prevention by photocatalytic redox reactions

Aquaculture is a billion dollar industry and biofouling of aquaculture installations has heavy economic penalties. The natural antifouling (AF) defence mechanism of some seaweed that inhibits biofouling by production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) inspired us to mimic this process by fabricating ZnO photocatalytic nanocoating. AF activity of fishing nets modified with ZnO nanocoating was compared with uncoated nets (control) and nets painted with copper-based AF paint. One month experiment in tropical waters showed that nanocoatings reduce abundances of microfouling organisms by 3-fold compared to the control and had higher antifouling performance over AF paint. Metagenomic analysis of prokaryotic and eukaryotic fouling organisms using next generation sequencing platform proved that nanocoatings compared to AF paint were not selectively enriching communities with the resistant and pathogenic species. The proposed bio-inspired nanocoating is an important contribution towards environmentally friendly AF technologies for aquaculture.

Deterring Unethical Behavior in Online Labor Markets

This study examines how codes of conduct, monitoring, and penalties for dishonest reporting affect reporting honesty in an online labor market setting. Prior research supports the efficacy of codes of conduct in promoting ethical behavior in a variety of contexts. However, the effects of such codes and other methods have not been examined in online labor markets, an increasingly utilized resource that differs from previously examined settings in several key regards (e.g., transient workforce, lack of an established culture). Leveraging social norm activation theory, we predict and find experimental evidence that while codes of conduct and monitoring without economic penalties are ineffective in online settings, monitoring with economic penalties activates social norms for honesty and promotes honest reporting in an online setting. Further, we find that imposing penalties most effectively promotes honest reporting in workers who rate high in Machiavellianism, a trait that is highly correlated with dishonest reporting. In fact, while in the absence of penalties we observe significantly more dishonest reporting from workers who rate high versus low in Machiavellianism, this difference is eliminated in the presence of penalties. Implications of these findings for companies, researchers, online labor market administrators, and educators are discussed.

A Semi-Infinite Interval-Stochastic Risk Management Model for River Water Pollution Control under Uncertainty

In this study, a semi-infinite interval-stochastic risk management (SIRM) model is developed for river water pollution control, where various policy scenarios are explored in response to economic penalties due to randomness and functional intervals. SIRM can also control the variability of the recourse cost as well as capture the notion of risk in stochastic programming. Then, the SIRM model is applied to water pollution control of the Xiangxihe watershed. Tradeoffs between risks and benefits are evaluated, indicating any change in the targeted benefit and risk level would yield varied expected benefits. Results disclose that the uncertainty of system components and risk preference of decision makers have significant effects on the watershed's production generation pattern and pollutant control schemes as well as system benefit. Decision makers with risk-aversive attitude would accept a lower system benefit (with lower production level and pollutant discharge); a policy based on risk-neutral attitude would lead to a higher system benefit (with higher production level and pollutant discharge). The findings can facilitate the decision makers in identifying desired product generation plans in association with financial risk minimization and pollution mitigation.

An interval robust stochastic programming method for planning carbon sink trading to support regional ecosystem sustainability—A case study of Zhangjiakou, China

In this study, an interval two-stage robust optimization method (ITRM) is developed for planning carbon-emission trading between ecosystem and industrial systems under uncertainty. The developed ITRM incorporates interval-parameter programming (IPP) and two-stage stochastic programming (TSP) within a robust optimization (RO) framework to deal with uncertainties presented as both probabilities and intervals and to reflect economic penalties as corrective measures or recourse against any infeasibilities arising due to a particular realization of an uncertain event. Compared with the traditional TSP, ITRM can effectively reflect the risk generated by stochastic programming process and enhance the robustness of the model, such that it is suitable for risk-aversive planners under high-variability conditions. The ITRM is applied to a case of carbon sink trading of Zhangjiakou and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission planning under uncertainty. The results obtained reveal that carbon trading mechanism can greatly optimize the allocation of resources and reduce the cost of emission abatement. The results also reveal that the contribution of forest ecosystems to carbon sinks and ecosystem services than others. Moreover, the system benefit would decrease as the robustness level is raised. Results indicate that when the robustness level is relatively low, the decision makers would pay more attention to the economic benefit of the system and neglect the stability of the system.

Application potential of solar-assisted post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) in China: A life cycle approach

Although post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) has been regarded as a near-commercial technology, the scale-up development of PCC the technology remains hindered by its severe thermodynamic and economic penalties. As a consequence, the solar-assisted carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is emerging recently, which poses a promising possibility to offset the power generation loss caused by the intensive energy consumption from PCC process. Nevertheless, the application potential of the solar-assisted CCS technology would highly depend on its realistic greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation benefit as well as its cost relative to alternative low carbon technologies. Thus, it is required to apply an improved assessment practice to recognize solutions for such sustainable power supply chains, considering an increasing threatening from climate change.In this study, solar-assisted post-combustion CCS processes are analyzed trough a life cycle approach, combing life cycle GHG assessment and life cycle cost analysis. A typical 300MWe coal-fired power plant in China is taken as the case study. Three scenarios are further analyzed: (1) base case integrated with CCS process; (2) base case integrated with CCS and solar-assisted reboiler heating process; (3) base case extended to CCS and solar-assisted repowering process. Results show that the solar-assisted repowering case has considerable advantage in both GHG mitigation potential and cost aspect with superior life cycle GHG reduction rate and life cycle cost of energy removed (LCOR) at 73.7% and 37.2$/tco2−eq respectively. While the solar-assisted reboiler heating case does not have evident competition superiority. It is further highlighted that the GHG emissions from the upstream and transportation stages are also critical for Chinese CCS chains.

Incident Radiative Heat Flux Based Method for the Coupled Run Length Simulation of Steam Cracking Furnaces

Due to the significant economic penalty associated with decoking steam cracking furnaces, accurate run length predictions are crucial for assessing their techno-economic performance. Therefore, for the first time, a full coupled run length simulation of an industrial naphtha steam cracking furnace was performed using detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for the furnace side. The results show that the unevenly deposited coke layer within the reactors leads to a redistribution of the thermal power over the time on stream, which is beneficial for the uniformity of the coke growth in the reactor. These effects were not observed in traditional standalone run length simulations, which justifies the high computational cost. However, the high computational cost of these CFD iterations can be overcome by using a novel method which correlates the incident radiative heat flux (IRHF) to the flue gas bridge wall temperature obtained from an overall zero-dimensional heat balance. This so-called IRHF ...

Optimal water management in macroscopic systems under economic penalty scenarios

An integrated optimization approach to assess the sustainability of water management strategies in a macroscopic system is proposed. Those strategies include alternative water sources, such as rainwater harvesting, and the design of distributed water treatment systems. To deal with the economic challenges inherent to wastewater treatment, an economic penalization scheme is presented as an alternative that can achieve better cost‐effectiveness and pollution abatement than traditional command and control practices. The proposed approach results in an MINLP multiperiod model, which has been solved through the GAMS®modeling environment. The solution of our case‐study allows finding the minimum investment to meet the desired environmental goals with respect to freshwater consumption and pollution abatement. Results include the number, size, and location of rainwater storage devices as well as treatment technologies, the total amount of recycled wastewater, and the total amount of fines charged to the users for violation of environmental regulations. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical EngineersAIChE J, 63: 3419–3441, 2017

Carbon dioxide utilization in a microalga-based biorefinery: Efficiency of carbon removal and economic performance under carbon taxation

Coal-fired power plants are major stationary sources of carbon dioxide and environmental constraints demand technologies for abatement. Although Carbon Capture and Storage is the most mature route, it poses severe economic penalty to power generation. Alternatively, this penalty is potentially reduced by Carbon Capture and Utilization, which converts carbon dioxide to valuable products, monetizing it. This work evaluates a route consisting of carbon dioxide bio-capture by Chlorella pyrenoidosa and use of the resulting biomass as feedstock to a microalgae-based biorefinery; Carbon Capture and Storage route is evaluated as a reference technology. The integrated arrangement comprises: (a) carbon dioxide biocapture in a photobioreactor, (b) oil extraction from part of the produced biomass, (b) gasification of remaining biomass to obtain bio-syngas, and (c) conversion of bio-syngas to methanol. Calculation of capital and operational expenditures are estimated based on mass and energy balances obtained by process simulation for both routes (Carbon Capture and Storage and the biorefinery). Capital expenditure for the biorefinery is higher by a factor of 6.7, while operational expenditure is lower by a factor of 0.45 and revenues occur only for this route, with a ratio revenue/operational expenditure of 1.6. The photobioreactor is responsible for one fifth of the biorefinery capital expenditure, with footprint of about 1000 ha, posing the most significant barrier for technical and economic feasibility of the proposed biorefinery. The Biorefinery and Carbon Capture and Storage routes show carbon dioxide capture efficiency of 73% and 48%, respectively, with capture cost of 139$/t and 304$/t. Additionally, the biorefinery has superior performance in all evaluated metrics of environmental impacts.

An inexact CVaR two-stage mixed-integer linear programming approach for agricultural water management under uncertainty considering ecological water requirement

In this study, an inexact CVaR (conditional value-at-risk) two-stage mixed-integer linear programming (ICTMLP) approach is developed for agricultural water management under uncertainty considering ecological water requirement. Techniques of interval parameter programming (IPP), two-stage stochastic programming (TSP), CVaR and integer programming (IP) are jointly incorporated into the general optimization framework. The developed model can deal with uncertainties presented as discrete intervals and probability distributions. It has advantages in: (1) considering economic benefits and risk in the objective function simultaneously, (2) reflecting the tradeoffs between conflicting economic benefits and penalties due to violated policies, (3) facilitating dynamic analysis of decision making and (4) generating more flexible solutions under different risk-aversion levels. The model is applied to a realistic case study of agricultural water resources allocation in the middle reaches of Heihe River Basin, northwest China, where three scenarios with different types of ecological water requirements are taken into account. Therefore, optimal water allocation solutions from the ICTMLP model can support in-depth analysis of interactions among economic benefits, violated policies and risk-aversion levels. Moreover, these results are useful for helping decision makers find better decision alternatives to support regional ecological protection and agricultural production.

Diabetes Spatial Care Paths, Leading Edge HbA1c Testing, Facilitation Thresholds, Proactive-Preemptive Strategic Intelligence, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Limited-Resource Countries

In limited-resource settings, prediabetes and diabetes care demand efficient Spatial Care Paths and effective geospatial optimization of medical services upstream to avoid the economic penalties of untold patient complications downstream. Clever HbA1c technologies placed at the leading edge of primary care in health care small-world networks will improve patient care where multifactorial impediments are identified by facilitation thresholds. We illustrate how to formulate facilitation thresholds and then actuate changes that will solve problems generating the threshold phenomena. It is no longer a question of whether point-of-care HbA1c should be used, in view of numerous studies showing its benefits that we summarize, but instead one of how to effectively design, implement, integrate, and optimize strategies that serve underserved populations. In parallel, professional oversight for HbA1c interferences and variants accompanied by laboratory evaluation will help optimize diagnosis and monitoring. Aerial drones, which currently are used to deliver blood, vaccines, and drugs to inaccessible rural settings, could transport specimens for detailed HbA1c evaluations. By taking advantage of strategic intelligence and moving to primary care, the flow of knowledge emanating directly from patients will help public health nurses, primary care staff, and multidisciplinary physicians, some working via telemedicine, to proactively and preemptively reduce diabetes complications by means of evidence-based, cost-effective decision making closer to patient homes. Innovative monitoring and treatment will fulfill expectations for high-quality efficient personalized care, even self-monitoring essential to the management of a chronic condition, thus transforming standards of care to appropriately embrace and empower point-of-care culture.