Regional Supply Research Articles

Constructing ‘Local’ and ‘Sustainable’: A critical analysis of place-based public food procurement

Public food procurement, involving public sector entities purchasing and distributing food for government-run programs or facilities, is gaining traction as a strategy to counter the dominance of global corporations in food systems. This paper examines the potential and challenges of a place-based procurement model that links urban and rural areas through direct supply chains to promote local, environmentally sustainable food production and consumption, drawing on an in-depth analysis of South Korea’s Urban-rural Coexistence Public Meal Program. The findings of this study highlight that program agendas focused on locality and sustainability may misalign, limiting transformative potential, especially when ‘place’ is narrowly defined within territorial or administrative boundaries. The paper advocates for a comprehensive understanding of ‘place’ that transcends spatial limits, as a key to rebuild regional supply chains, acknowledging its multi-scalar nature and socio-ecological connections between urban and rural spheres. Evidence from South Korea informs the design of place-based food systems, emphasizing the importance of aligning local realities, coordinating different food systems agendas, and exchanging context-specific knowledge. This study contributes to the theoretical elaboration of place-based approaches and the envisioning of urban policies that support food system sustainability and localization.

Article: Building a Prosperous Future: Unveiling the Benefits of IPEF Supply Chain Agreement (Pillar II)

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) is yet to be explored in terms of a new turn in the Indo-Pacific Strategy, and also in terms of benefit to various member countries. The United States (US) launched the IPEF with thirteen initial partners. The IPEF Supply Chain agreement is novel, and through various bodies such as the Supply Chain Council, Labour Rights Advisory Board and Crisis Response Network, seeks to (1) build a collective understanding of supply chain risks; (2) improve crisis coordination and response to supply chain disruption; (3) ensure that workers and businesses, especially Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in the economies of IPEF members, benefit from the resilient, robust and efficient supply chain; (4) ensure a sufficient number of skilled workers in critical sectors and key goods; and (5) create/provide opportunities for technical assistance and capacity building. The IPEF Supply Chain agreement also builds on a partnership model among selected countries based on a shared understanding of the supply chain, associated risk, priority etc. This short article attempts to analyse the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement, labour rights in the supply chain, and a possible shift from the Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific with the regional supply chain and trusted trade partners (friendshoring). The article, among other matters, explores the potential benefits for India. IPEF, Supply Chain, Asia-Pacific, Indo-Pacific, Labour Rights, trusted trade partners, friendshoring

A short-term power prediction method for wind farm cluster based on the fusion of multi-source spatiotemporal feature information

In recent years, the installed capacity of wind power has rapidly increased. And the wind power prediction is the foundation for ensuring large-scale wind power grid connection. The current short-term prediction methods of wind farm cluster (WFC) are difficult to sufficiently extract spatiotemporal features to achieve high-precision prediction. The article proposes a short-term power prediction method for WFC based on deep attention embedded graph clustering-TimesNet (DAEGC-TimesNet). Firstly, the directed power curves of WFC are proposed to analyze wind data. Then, a graph attention network is constructed based on geographic location and numerical weather prediction (NWP) information to guide clustering algorithms to achieve effective cluster partitioning. Finally, the input of model is constructed based on the feature information from various sub-clusters of WFC and the prediction result is obtained through the TimesNet. The method is applied to WFCs in Inner Mongolia, Jilin province and Yunnan province of China. The result shows that the RMSE reduces 0.0155 and the MAE reduces 0.0156 as well as the coefficient of determination and accuracy rate are highest comparing with comparative algorithms averagely based on above three WFCs. The simulation results are superior to the comparison algorithms, which makes greater contributions to ensure regional power supply.

Water Supply Planning in the Face of Drought and Ecosystem Flows: Examining the Impact of the Bay-Delta Plan on Bay Area Water Supply.

In California, recent Bay-Delta Plan legislation attempts to balance water supply and ecosystem protection by requiring 40% of the flow to remain in-stream in the Tuolumne River from February through June. Serious questions remain about what this means for the Bay Area water supply, especially during drought. Our work develops a new approach to analyze how in-stream flow policy coupled with climate change could impact regional water supply over the coming decades. Results show that the new in-stream flow demand would exceed urban water deliveries in a typical year. In wet years, water supply performance is minimally impacted, but in drought, the policy can lead to less water in storage, delayed reservoir recovery, and increased time at critically low storage. Storage impact exceeding 50 000 acre-feet (60 million m3) is anticipated with at least 18% frequency, demonstrating that, climate uncertainty notwithstanding, this impact must be planned for and managed to ensure a reliable future water supply.

Exploring the spatiotemporal relationships between built environment and the public transport competitiveness: A case study from Beijing

Public transport (PT) competitiveness refers to the advantage and attraction of PT compared to other modes of transport from a specific perspective. In recent years, research on PT competitiveness based on accessibility has made significant progress, but the research on impact mechanisms of external influencing factors on PT competitiveness is lagging behind. This study addressed this gap by using a Space Barrier model (SBM) to evaluate PT competitiveness relative to private cars based on real traffic data from Beijing. Additionally, a Spatial Durbin model (SDM) was used to analyze the spatiotemporal relationship between PT competitiveness and six built environment (BE) variables, including the detour coefficient of PT, bus stop density, land use mixture, metro station density, residential density, and road network density during peak and off-peak hours. This study has identified that the influence of BE variables varies across different time periods. Specifically, land use mixture demonstrates notably stronger effects during peak hours as opposed to off-peak hours. During evening peak hours, the influence of land use mixture on PT competitiveness at the origin location (CO) is 27.4% higher than the effect during off-peak hours. Moreover, this investigation has uncovered the spatial dependence characterizing the relationship between each BE and PT competitiveness. It has indicated that BE exert both direct and indirect impacts on PT competitiveness. For instance, metro station density extends the PT competitiveness within both the area it is located and its surrounding areas. During the evening peak hours, when metro density increases by 1%, the CO in the area it is located and in its surrounding areas will respectively decrease 0.045%, and 0.143%. Overall, this research offers valuable insights for bus transit operators and policymakers seeking to enhance PT efficiency and competitiveness by devising strategies such as skipping stops during off-peak hours, balancing regional PT facility supply, optimizing the connectivity of PT, and increasing the density of PT stations.

Private equity firms and industrial policy: elaborating the state-finance nexus in state-led markets

ABSTRACT Under what conditions can the state discipline private equity firms into delivering the investment required to meet the coming needs of industrial transformation? States have sought to crowd in private capital to finance industrial development, but the results have so far been less than satisfactory. Prevailing accounts of financial industry power largely characterise an arms-length state-finance relationship that has unfolded in private-led markets where private equity firms have contributed to the secular growth in non-productive economic activity. This article problematises the assumption of private-led markets and argues that state-led markets present a counterfactual in which the disbursement of public money entails strict policy discipline and tight embedding between the state and private equity firms, which provides the conditions for them to emerge as unlikely champions of industrial policy. Two cases of co-investment between Chinese and European sovereign wealth funds demonstrate the power dynamics at play. Where PE firms in the Sino-Irish co-investment facilitated the international scaling of Irish firms in China, the PE firms operating in Europe failed to embed Chinese firms into regional supply chains in the Sino-Belgian co-investment.

Recognition of multi-season rice in a complex tropical agronomy zone using time-series SAR data: a case study of Hainan, China

ABSTRACT Rice plays a significant role in regional food supply and international food trading, especially for Asian countries. However, accurate mapping of tropical rice cultivationis a challenging task due to the flexible planting calendar and the complicated topography. With the all-day and all-weather imaging ability, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides an encouraging resolution for this task. In this research, we presented a case study in Hainan, China that identify the cultivation patterns of rice. As the only tropical province in China, Hainan has abundant crop resources and diverse rice cultivation practices. First, our previously proposedrice mapping method based on time-series Sentinel-1 data and U-Net modelwas applied to Hainan to generate the candidate rice fields in 2019. Then, a start of season (SOS) detection strategy was proposed to discriminate rice cultivation patterns. The accuracy of the annual rice map and the multi-season discrimination results were validated in pixel level and parcel level, respectively. The annual rice map achieved an overall accuracy of 95.03%. Besides, for 313 out of 360 rice parcels, the cultivation patterns were correctly identified. These results proved the effectiveness of phenology information of time-series SAR, and the proposed scheme will be easily extended to complex tropical agronomy zones.

An adaptable participatory modelling framework to anticipate needs for securing regional drinking water supply systems under global changes

An adaptable participatory modelling framework to anticipate needs for securing regional drinking water supply systems under global changes

Bioenergy feedstock supply from wheat straw: A farm level model incorporating trade‐offs in crop choices, disease risk, and soil fertility

AbstractSecond‐generation biofuel (e.g., ethanol, renewable diesel) can be made from crop residues. However, the availability of residues for biofuel production is uncertain, because farmers have the option to grow different crops and use the residues for alternative purposes, such as livestock bedding and feed, or leave them in the field to improve soil quality. Taking Canadian wheat straw supply as an example, we develop a dynamic programming model to investigate a farmer's wheat straw supply decision in response to different wheat straw and grain prices. Our model considers crop choices between wheat and canola in the context of disease risk, the trade‐off between the immediate payoffs a farmer may receive from bailing and selling wheat straw, and the long‐term adverse effects that removing wheat straw from the soil surface may have on wheat and canola yields. The results from this study provide insights into how farm‐level supply decisions, in response to wheat straw price changes, affect soil quality dynamics and scale up to regional wheat straw supply for biofuel production. This information also has implications for land use change and the sustainability of feedstock supply for biofuels.

Managing Potable Water in Southeastern Spain, Los Angeles, and Sydney: Transcontinental Approaches to Overcome Water Scarcity

AbstractClimate change and the increase of population pose challenges to ensuring suitable water supply in water-scarce regions. This work presents a comparative analysis of the water-supply approaches adopted in Los Angeles, Southeastern Spain, and Sydney. Results show a decrease in per-capita water use in the period 2000–2020, which reflects an improvement in water conservation. Social factors in the domain of hydropolitics and economic efficiency explain the divergence of water policies adopted. The adaptation to water scarcity and growing population in three regions of developed countries located in different continents sheds light on challenges facing the achievement of water security worldwide.

Multidecadal Changes in the Flow Velocity and Mass Balance of the Hailuogou Glacier in Mount Gongga, Southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Maritime glaciers in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (TP) have experienced important changes in mass and dynamics over the past decades, challenging the regional water supply and glacier-related hazards. However, knowledge about long-term variations in the surface velocity and mass balance of maritime glaciers remains incomplete due to the lack of representative observations in the southeastern TP. In this study, offset tracking is employed to measure spatiotemporal variation in the surface velocity of the Hailuogou Glacier (HLG) in Mount Gongga of the southeastern TP using Sentinel-1A imagery, while the time series of the HLG mass balance is reconstructed since 1950 by a physically based energy–mass balance model. Our satellite-based results find that HLG surface velocity shows significant spatial heterogeneity with a double-peak pattern along the flow line, and sustained slowdown below the icefall zone has been observed during the past nearly 40 years, although the icefall zone and the area above it have become relatively active. Our modeling indicates a persistent increase in mass loss over the last seven decades with an average rate of −0.58 m water equivalent (w.e.) year−1, which has accelerated in the past two decades. Sustained slowdown on the glacier is concomitant with pronounced negative mass balance, thereby enhancing glacier wastage in recent decades. The long-term trend in HLG mass loss is mainly driven by an increase in positive air temperature that decreases surface albedo and solid precipitation ratio and increases longwave incoming radiation, besides the influence of supraglacial debris cover. Large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns in the Eurasian region provide important implications for regional-to-local climate variability, unsustainably intensifying the trend of the negative mass balance of the HLG in the southeastern TP in the past two decades.

Analysis of Regional Medical Supply and Demand Network Characteristics Based on “Patient Flow Phenomenon”: A Case Study of the Core Area of the Wuhan Metropolitan Area

Examining medical supply–demand imbalances, as revealed through patients’ cross-boundary treatment behaviors, is vital for reducing a metropolitan area’s medical supply–demand gap and furthering sustainable development goals. This study, leveraging medical supply–demand and commuting data, scrutinizes medical imbalances in the Wuhan metropolitan area core. It includes a ‘People-centered’ theory for elucidating patients’ treatment behaviors, proposes a method for constructing a regional medical supply–demand network, and explores the problem of supply–demand imbalance. The key findings include: (1) Wuhan’s central area, despite its abundance of quality medical resources, fails to adequately cover the entire metropolitan area, indicating a need for broader resource distribution. (2) The Ezhou–Huangshi–Huanggang junction shows a stark contrast to Wuhan with its limited medical services and extensive hinterland connections. Future initiatives should aim to integrate resources dispersed from Wuhan, reducing regional disparities. (3) The city’s periphery, influenced by resource distribution models and geographic distance, exhibits significant variance from central urban areas in medical supply–demand connectivity, particularly around Wuhan’s eastern administrative boundaries. Future urban planning is needed to reinforce this area’s role as a vital medical services conduit. (4) The distinguishing differences among the nine medical service communities in terms of resource recognition, service sharing, and patient mobility provide policy guidance for the allocation of medical resources.

Strategic priorities of industrial support of energy projects in the Arctic

The article deals with economic issues of support of energy projects in the Arctic based on the use of the industrial potential of the region on the example of the Murmansk region, a subject of the Russian Federation. The article contains justification of the administrative and economic mechanism of formation of the oil and gas cluster with small and medium-sized businesses as its core. The mechanism includes consistent implementation of several stages: analysis of industrial opportunities of regional suppliers, implementation of development programs, establishment of industry clusters, participation in tender procedures. The suggested mechanism will ensure increasing the share of participation of regional companies in realization of industrial projects and localization of production facilities.Special attention is paid to the challenges faced by the supplier companies of oil and gas industry and the ways to overcome them effectively. The article studies the mechanism of horizontal integration of regional supplier companies in order to perform a consolidated representation of their industrial potential when participating in tender procedures. The authors give considerable attention to the role of the state in realization of energy projects in the Arctic and to interaction with regional business communities when establishing oil and gas clusters on the territory of new mining regions.Involvement of small and medium-sized businesses in realization of major energy projects is an essential condition for the long-term development of economy. Many regional industrial enterprises possess unique competencies that may be in special demand in the conditions of the sanctions pressure and withdrawal of foreign companies from the Russian market. The authors especially focus on the formation of institutional conditions aimed at creating favourable environment for mutual integration of the interests of state, operators of energy projects and regional suppliers.

The spatiotemporal distribution prediction method for distributed photovoltaic installed capacity based on power supply measurement data

Abstract With the anticipated expansion of distributed power grid integration in the foreseeable future, the consideration of distributed power’s impact on power balance becomes paramount in distribution network planning. In this research, we presented a novel approach for predicting the spatial and temporal distribution of distribution network planning areas, with a specific focus on estimating the installed capacity of distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems. Our method leveraged the saturated capacity of distributed PV, requiring minimal data inputs. By establishing a quantitative model that elucidated the relationship between installed distributed PV capacity and land area, we generated PV installed capacity evolution curves for various types of land. Subsequently, we derived the development coefficient of distributed PV installed capacity. By combining this coefficient with the current status of installed distributed PV capacity in the target area’s land parcels, we forecasted the spatial and temporal distribution of future distributed PV capacity within the region. The proposed prediction model held significant implications for the planning of new distribution networks. Additionally, this study predicted the installed distributed PV capacity for distinct land use types, including residential, commercial, and industrial land, using a regional power supply unit as a representative example. We employed the installed PV capacity unit to forecast the electricity loss rate and energy saving rate within the planning area. By validating the model and method through exemplary test results, we demonstrated the model’s feasibility and accuracy. Furthermore, our model effectively predicted the impact of distributed PV integration on overall load forecasting, thereby offering the power grid more precise load forecasting capabilities.

Air quality improvements can strengthen China's food security.

Air pollution exerts crucial influence on crop yields and impacts regional and global food supplies. Here we employ a statistical model using satellite-based observations and flexible functional forms to analyse the synergistic effects of reductions in ozone and aerosols on China's food security. The model consistently shows that ozone is detrimental to crops, whereas aerosol has variable effects. China's maize, rice and wheat yields are projected to increase by 7.84%, 4.10% and 3.43%, respectively, upon reaching two air quality targets (60 μg m-3 for peak-season ozone and 35 μg m-3 for annual fine particulate matter). Average calories produced from these crops would surge by 4.51%, potentially allowing China to attain grain self-sufficiency 2 years earlier than previously estimated. These results show that ozone pollution control should be a high priority to increase staple crop edible calories, and future stringent air pollution regulations would enhance China's food security.

Position paper to facilitate patient access to radiopharmaceuticals: considerations for a suitable pharmaceutical regulatory framework.

Nuclear medicine has made enormous progress in the past decades. However, there are still significant inequalities in patient access among different countries, which could be mitigated by improving access to and availability of radiopharmaceuticals. This paper summarises major considerations for a suitable pharmaceutical regulatory framework to facilitate patient access to radiopharmaceuticals. These include the distinct characteristics of radiopharmaceuticals which require dedicated regulations,considering the impact of the variable complexity of radiopharmaceutical preparation, personnel requirements, manufacturing practices and quality assurance, regulatory authority interfaces, communication and training, as well as marketing authorisation procedures to ensure availability of radiopharmaceuticals. Finally, domestic and regional supply to ensure patient access via alternative regulatory pathways, including in-house production of radiopharmaceuticals, is described, and an outlook on regulatory challenges faced by new developments, such as the use of alpha emitters, is provided. All these considerations are an outcome of a dedicated Technical Meeting organised by the IAEA in 2023 and represent the views and opinions of experts in the field, not those of any regulatory authorities.

Summary of the Groundwater Recharge from the South West African Monsoon: A Transect from the Guinea Coast to the Hombori Mountains in Mali

There is an increasing demand on water supplies in semi-arid regions. There is an urgent need to better understand the recharge process of groundwater in these areas, but there an underrepresentatity of long-term data in these regions ay a global scale. we present the seasonal variations of groundwater over a two-three-year period over a 1500 km transect from the Gulf of Guinea coast to inland Mount Hombori in Mali. The results show a strong seasonal and interannual variability, with important evaporation processes for surface and shallow groundwater with rapid infiltration processes. The continental /latitude effect is low along the first 500 km in Guinea, and decrease slowly with the reduction of rainfall and air moisture in direction of Sahel.

Maxillary Mucormycosis in a Juvenile Diabetic Patient: A Case Report

One of the most fulminant and quickly spreading types of fungal infection, mucormycosis typically starts in the nose and paranasal sinuses after inhaling spores. Orbital and intracranial structures may become infected either directly or through blood vessels, leading to life-threatening complications. This infection most commonly manifests in the rhinomaxillary area, particularly in individuals with immunocompromised conditions like diabetes. Even with appropriate treatment, the disease’s mortality rate can exceed 40%, and it is challenging to detect. The standard treatment plan involves surgical debridement combined with systemically active antifungal medications, depending on the site of infection and risk factors. As a first-line treatment, lipid-based amphotericin B is recommended; however, posaconazole also shows promise. Hereby, the authors present a case report of a 15-year-old male patient with juvenile diabetes mellitus who had been experiencing pain and diffuse swelling in his left malar area for the previous two months. Following a histological analysis and clinical and radiographic evaluation by a multidisciplinary team, the patient was diagnosed with maxillary mucormycosis. Because of the abundant blood supply in the maxillofacial regions; however, more virulent fungi like Mucor can get past this obstacle. The purpose of present article is to show how early detection and treatment of mucormycosis in a young patient could prevent major morbidity and mortality from this potentially fatal illness . Additionally, it aimed to contribute to the local epidemiology of mucormycosis and raise awareness among stakeholders attention to the difficulties in treating this serious condition.

Research on optimization of e-commerce supply chain logistics service model based on multi-source data fusion

Abstract Inefficiencies in supply chain logistics management, particularly in certain regions, often result in “broken chain” incidents that significantly impact the efficiency of e-commerce operations and degrade consumer experiences. This paper addresses the necessity of optimizing the logistics service model by integrating 12 heterogeneous data sources related to warehousing, transportation, processing, and sorting. We propose a site selection-inventory-path e-commerce logistics optimization model. For the first time, the model incorporates the Dempster-Shafer (D-S) evidence algorithm to quantitatively evaluate the support relationships among various pieces of evidence by adjusting the weight coefficients accordingly. This adjustment is further refined through the application of the Nash equilibrium in the evidence combination process. The optimized logistics model is then solved using a fusion of the model and an intuitive fuzzy set approach. A case study demonstrates that the optimized logistic supply capacity consistently outperformed the non-optimized scenarios, with statistical increases of 1.64%, 1.72%, 2.15%, 3.73%, 2.71%, 2.46%, 3.59%, 2.17%, and 3.98%. Furthermore, by refining the logistics model, the gap in logistics performance was narrowed by at least 5.13% and by as much as 12.9% across successive evaluations, significantly alleviating issues related to enterprise capacity constraints. This study offers novel insights and methodologies for enhancing the efficiency of regional e-commerce supply chain logistics, boosting the competitiveness of logistics enterprises, and elevating the consumer experience in e-commerce settings.

Future Blood Debt: Projecting Blood Supply and Demand of Korea Based on Subnational Population Projections (2021-2050).

South Korea faces a critical challenge with its rapidly declining fertility rates and an increasingly aging population, which significantly impacts the country's blood supply and demand. Despite these nationwide trends, regional disparities in blood supply and demand have not been thoroughly studied. This research utilized blood donation data from the Korean Red Cross and blood transfusion data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. We analyzed these datasets in conjunction with regional population projections to simulate blood supply and demand from 2021 to 2050 across South Korea. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the impact of various factors, including the number of donors, age eligibility criteria for donations, frequency of donations, and blood discard rates. Our projections indicate a decreasing trend in blood supply, from 2.6 million units in 2021 to 1.4 million units by 2050, while demand is expected to peak at 5.1 million units by 2045 before declining. Metropolitan areas, particularly Gyeonggi Province, are projected to experience the most severe shortages. Sensitivity analyses suggest that increasing the donation frequency of existing donors and relaxing age eligibility criteria are more effective strategies in addressing these imbalances than merely increasing the number of new donors. Blood discard rates showed minimal impact on the overall blood shortage. The findings emphasize the urgent need for targeted strategies to mitigate national and regional blood supply shortages in South Korea. Encouraging frequent donations from experienced donors and broadening eligibility criteria are critical steps toward stabilizing the blood supply amidst demographic shifts. These strategies must be prioritized to address the impending regional disparities in blood availability.