Techno-economic Systems Research Articles

Choosing and Evaluating P2P Lending with Value Engineering as a Decision Support System: An Indonesian Case Study

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending has gained significant traction in the financial landscape, particularly in developing economies such as Indonesia, where access to traditional banking services remains a challenge for many. The aim of this study is to investigate the application of value engineering as a decision support system for choosing and evaluating P2P lending platforms, using Indonesia as a case study. P2P lending is a relatively new service in the digital economy for lending money to individuals through online financial intermediaries, where borrowers and lenders often have no prior relationship. Value engineering, a systematic approach to improving the value of a product or service, can be a valuable tool in the context of P2P lending. Through applying value engineering principles, P2P lending platforms can identify and prioritize the key factors that influence lending decisions, such as risk, return, and data privacy, to enhance the overall value proposition for both borrowers and lenders. Both value engineering and P2P lending are technoeconomic systems that aim to enhance the overall value and efficiency of a system or process, albeit through different approaches. This study presents a comprehensive framework for applying value engineering as a decision support system for P2P lending in Indonesia. The findings reveal that the value engineering index developed in this study effectively differentiates between P2P lending platforms based on their performance. Specifically, platforms with a high-value index were found to offer competitive interest rates, lower fees, and superior risk management, as evidenced by their non-performing loan (NPL) rates. In contrast, platforms with a low-value index were associated with higher NPLs and less favorable terms for stakeholders. These insights provide practical guidance for P2P lending platforms, regulators, and consumers; highlight the importance of a value engineering approach in optimizing platform selection; and enhance the P2P lending ecosystem’s sustainability in Indonesia.

Exploring the potential role of decentralised biogas plants in meeting energy needs in sub-Saharan African countries: a techno-economic systems analysis

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, low-income sub-Saharan African countries urgently need to electrify. Biogas production from anaerobic digestion could make a contribution to a solution to improved electricity generation and access in these regions. This study evaluates its feasibility using Malawi as a case study. The aim is to provide households with a continuous supply of gas for cooking and electricity. The study examines different sizes of fixed dome reactors (3, 6, 12 m3) and assumes individual household ownership of 2, 4, and 6 cows. Several feedstocks and conditions are considered, such as cow dung alone, co-generation of cow dung with human faeces, cow dung with grass, and cow dung with maize residue. The economic benefits of selling biogas and fertilisers are calculated, and the cost of construction for different sizes of reactors is determined. Results show that co-generation of cow dung and grass silage in the reactor of 12 m3 with six cows has a positive net present value (NPV) of $8962, while for a small farm with a 6 m3 reactor capacity, co-digestion of cow dung with maize residue is preferable. The feasibility of the technology depends heavily on current national economic conditions, such as inflation, electricity prices, and construction material costs. A sensitivity analysis estimated that a 25% increase in the cost of electricity could increase the net present value (NPV) from − $3345 to $1526 for the generation of biogas from cow dung alone. Overall, this technology could have a significant impact on the lives of low-income households in sub-Saharan Africa by improving their access to electricity and providing a source of income through the sale of biogas and digestate.

Early North African Acheulean techno-economic systems at Thomas Quarry I - L1 (Casablanca, Morocco).

North Africa is a key area for understanding cultural processes that led to the Acheulean pan - African emergence and expressions and the related hominin population dynamics. Unfortunately, little is known about the early Acheulean in this vast area of the African continent due to the scarceness of archaeological sites in stratigraphic context with reliable chronometric data, human remains, and technological analyses of the lithic industries. Here, we present the first comprehensive techno-economic analysis of the early Acheulean assemblage from Thomas Quarry I - Unit L1 (ThI-L1, Casablanca, Morocco), which is the earliest Acheulean site of North Africa, unambiguously dated to 1.3 Ma. Fieldwork has unearthed faunal remains and a lithic collection containing over 3800 artefacts, which represents one of the largest series for the early African Acheulean. The assemblage is mainly composed of quartzites and to a lesser extent of silicites, both abundantly available near the site. Previously published results of the silicite study revealed two different productions for the extraction of small flakes and of bladelet-like flakes. In this work, we analyse the techno-economic systems of the quartzite assemblage. Two distinct quartzite productions co-occur, one devoted to the manufacture of Large Cutting Tools (LCTs), the other focused on the extraction of small-medium sized flakes. LCTs were usually produced from large cobbles, less often from large flakes detached mainly using the entame core method. The main technical objective was to obtain large pointed tools and, more rarely, large tools with a transversal cutting edge. Results support the existence of a strong synergy between conceptual and operational schemes regulated by the ability to anticipate the final tool morphology and to apply standardized shaping procedures to manufacture recurrent morphotypes. Quartzite small-medium sized flakes were produced by a diversity of flaking methods adapted to the cobble blank morphologies and were not retouched. The results allow to assess that the earliest technical expression of the Acheulean in North Africa is characterised by a high diversification of the stone knapping outcomes, the complexity of the mental templates, and the flexible structure of the operational schemes.

Consensus formation on heterogeneous networks

Reaching consensus—a macroscopic state where the system constituents display the same microscopic state—is a necessity in multiple complex socio-technical and techno-economic systems: their correct functioning ultimately depends on it. In many distributed systems—of which blockchain-based applications are a paradigmatic example—the process of consensus formation is crucial not only for the emergence of a leading majority but for the very functioning of the system. We build a minimalistic network model of consensus formation on blockchain systems for quantifying how central nodes—with respect to their average distance to others—can leverage on their position to obtain competitive advantage in the consensus process. We show that in a wide range of network topologies, the probability of forming a majority can significantly increase depending on the centrality of nodes that initiate the spreading. Further, we study the role that network topology plays on the consensus process: we show that central nodes in scale-free networks can win consensus in the network even if they broadcast states significantly later than peripheral ones.

SEAMS: an alternative techno-economic system to foster the sustainable development of renewable energy use in urban areas

To foster the sustainable development of renewable energy use in urban areas, we define an alternative, reciprocity-based, techno-economic system named SEAMS (“sharing energy amongst adjacent buildings”). We demonstrate its relevance through a statistical analysis of linear heat density across coastal cities from Northwestern mainland France, and a comparison of four implementations of three techno-economic systems within the perimeter of two adjacent building blocks, located in the city center of Lorient (Brittany). The SEAMS approach promises to address the multidimensional fragility issues currently surfacing with the conventional, market-based or redistribution-based, techno-economic systems, namely electricity and gas networks (EGN) or district heating and cooling networks (DHCN).

Beyond technological determinism: revitalising labour process analyses of technology, capital and labour

Technological determinism is a recurrent feature in debates concerning changes in economy and work and has resurfaced sharply in the discourse around the ‘fourth industrial revolution’. While a number of authors have, in recent years, critiqued the trend, this article is distinctive in arguing that foundational labour process analysis provides the most effective source of an alternative understanding of the relations between political economy, science, technology and work relations. The article refines and reframes this analysis, through an engagement with critical commentary and research, developing the idea of a political materialist approach that can reveal the various influences on, sources of contestation and levels of strategic choices that are open to economic actors. A distinction is made between ‘first order’ choices, often about adoption at aggregate level and ‘second order’ choices mainly concerned with complex issues of deployment. This framework is then applied to the analysis of case studies of the call centre labour process and digital labour platform, functioning as illustrative scenarios. It is argued that the nature of techno-economic systems in the ‘digital era’ open up greater opportunities for contestation.

Geografía cultural de los Archipiélagos de Fuego-Patagonia en tiempos recientes. Movilidad y planificación

The systematization of the concept of cultural geography and its usefulness in hierarchizing space according to cultural values and knowledge that have archaeological visibility and obstrusiveness, are reviewed. They consider the dynamics of mobility and human circulation in the Fuegian landscapes of the austral region. The work aims to transcend the ethnic boundaries recognized by historical observations and ethnographic studies, focuses on recent times and, also, it is integrated with different approaches and concepts of specialized fields within the archaeological record, archaeozoology or studies of techno-economic systems, among others.

Recent Trends in Processing of Proteins and DNA in Alternative Solvents: A Sustainable Approach

Throughout numerous research works on biomacromolecules, several breakthrough innovations have occurred in the field of biomacromolecule processing. Remarkable improvements have been made so far to address the problems associated with biomacromolecule processing technologies in terms of enhancing the efficiency of the processes. Green technology broadly focuses on the search for new techno-economic systems to replace the conventional systems which exhibit pernicious consequences for the environment and the health of organisms. The strategy practiced popularly is the use of alternate solvent systems, replacing the conventional toxic, volatile, and harsh organic solvents to prevent denaturation, biotransformation, enzyme activity loss, and degradation of biomacromolecules. Ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are emerging as greener alternatives over the past two decades and there has been an exponential increase in reports in the literature. The utility of neoteric solvents in biomacromolecule treatment may be envisaged for industrial processes in the near future. The current state of the art regarding the recent developments made over the past few years using neoteric solvents has been reviewed in this article. The recent scientific developments regarding the use of these neoteric solvents, especially ILs and DESs, for processes such as solubilization, extraction, and functionalization of biomacromolecules, especially proteins and DNA, have been addressed in this article. This review may be beneficial for designing novel and selective methodologies for the processing of biomacromolecules, opening doors for better material research in areas such as biotechnology and biological sciences.

Psychological containment of organisational toxicity and its spillovers

Organisational toxicity can thwart creation and sharing of knowledge necessary for collaborations. Psychological phenomena lurking in covert processes affect dynamics of containment and spillovers of organisational toxicity. This study discusses insights from four longitudinal action research studies in organisations across a spectra of technologies and technology intensities to examine containment and spillovers of organisational toxicity. This article concludes that strategic juxtaposition of ends, ways, and means requires sociotechnical structures to provide reliability; techno-economic systems for coping with anxieties around uncertainties of value-adding functions; and, socioeconomic processes for credibility and aesthetics to promote harmony. Together, under certain conditions, this trine of structures, systems, and processes may facilitate mitigation of toxicity with more understanding of the toxicity bred in systems from introjections, projections, transferences, and countertransferences. Sustaining a shared core to cultivate inner awareness and wisdom for the common good requires hermeneutic endeavours to work with unconsciously held phenomenal primary tasks. This article raises new research questions for understanding the scope and limits of these conditions in old and new combinations of scale, growth, and dominance.

The Social Network Analysis of Techno-Economic Systems: Comparing Results Based on Binary and Weighted Networks

The network analysis of a technological system combines the interindustry transactions with a matrix of sectoral innovative efforts as measured by R&D investment intensity. The matrixes of interindustry transactions of R&D-embodied products (innovations) are weighted matrixes where the interindustry flows measure the intensity of the innovation diffusion. In the past, studies using this approach in innovation studies have transformed weighted matrixes into binary matrixes of zero and one element where the flows less than a selected threshold value were considered to be zero and the flows greater than the threshold value were counted as one. Such matrix transformation leads to the loss of a great deal of information. In the present study, using degree and clustering coefficients for both binary direct as well as weighted direct techno-economic networks of the manufacturing sector of the German economy, we show that the binary directed network analysis is incapable of refined ranking of interindustry innovation transactions. The total degree index based on the weighted network of the German techno-economic system assigns a unique ranking to each sector, and clustering coefficients show that at least 75% of sectors in the network of Germany have two links with the other industries. However, the same indices based on the binary network are incapable of such refined ranking.

A review: methane capture by nanoporous carbon materials for automobiles

【Global warming is considered one of the great challenges of the twenty-first century. In order to reduce the ever-increasing amount of methane (CH 4 ) released into the atmosphere, and thus its impact on global climate change, CH 4 storage technologies are attracting significant research interest. CH 4 storage processes are attracting technological interest, and methane is being applied as an alternative fuel for vehicles. CH 4 storage involves many technologies, among which, adsorption processes such as processes using porous adsorbents are regarded as an important green and economic technology. It is very important to develop highly efficient adsorbents to realize techno-economic systems for CH 4 adsorption and storage. In this review, we summarize the nanomaterials being used for CH 4 adsorption, which are divided into non-carbonaceous (e.g., zeolites, metal-organic frameworks, and porous polymers) and carbonaceous materials (e.g., activated carbons, ordered porous carbons, and activated carbon fibers), with a focus on recent research.】

Estimation of Technogenic Danger Risk of Technico Economic Systems

The article considers the study of technogenic danger risk of technico-economic systems in daily operation on the part of a human operator. In the techno-economic systems consist of a specified quantity of functional elements, United parallel or sequentially.

Innovation systems dynamics and the positioning of Europe. A review and critique of recent Foresight studies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on innovation systems dynamics and the positioning of Europe in a longer term perspective, with special attention to the international governance of the major challenges which humanity is facing. Design/methodology/approach – The method used is based on a secondary analysis and interpretation of Foresight studies. The underlying assumption is that Foresight exercises can be considered as the scene where techno-economic systems and trajectories are proposed, discussed and shaped. Findings – Foresights can be distinguished by the challenges and issues they focus on: – the innovation race: competitiveness and influence through innovation, – the thematic concerns: the stakes of global public goods, – the normative perspectives: a new style of development in the making. The question to know whether Europe can be a world driver in fostering responsible innovation models and cooperative modes of knowledge circulation and global challenges handling through relevant social and technological innovations. Originality/value – This paper reviews and puts in perspective Foresight exercises in an original way, this on two grounds: first, it includes exercises fostered at national, regional (in particular the EU) and global (UN system) levels – this to account for the emerging multi-level governance and, second, it classifies them according to their major focus, namely the innovation race, the thematic concerns (global public goods) and the normative perspectives (new style of development). It provides to the actors of innovation in both the public and private sector an understanding of the current key-concerns and visions on innovation systems and the position of Europe.

Techno economic systems and excessive consumption: a political economy of ‘pathological’ gambling

This article argues that gambling is a paradigmatic form of consumption that captures the intensified logic at the heart of late modern capitalist societies. As well as a site of intensified consumption, it claims that gambling has also become the location of what has been described as a new form of 'social pathology' related to excess play. Drawing on Castells' (1996) notion of techno-economic systems, it explores the ways that intersections between technology, capital and states have generated the conditions for this situation, and critiques the unequal distribution of gambling environments that result. It argues that, while the products of these systems are consumed on a global scale, the risks associated with them tend to be articulated in bio-psychological discourses of 'pathology' which are typical of certain types of knowledge that have salience in neo-liberal societies, and which work to conceal wider structural relationships. We argue that a deeper understanding of the political and cultural economy of gambling environments is necessary, and provide a synoptic overview of the conditions upon which gambling expansion is based. This perspective highlights parallels with the wider global economy of finance capital, as well as the significance of intensified consumption, of which gambling is an exemplary instance. It also reveals the existence of a geo-political dispersal of 'harms', conceived as deteriorations of financial, temporal and social relationships, which disproportionately affect vulnerable social groups. From this, we urge an understanding of commercial gambling based on a critique of the wider social body of gambling environments within techno economic systems, rather than the (flawed) individual bodies within them.

Technoeconomic analysis of the transition to a new technological phase

A method for recovery from a fundamental crisis has a specific nature. This is related to the engagement of qualitatively new gears of development and a radical change in the criteria and technologies of decision making. Therefore, one should not rely on received opinions, views of disoriented experts, and statistics (the latter could show the effects of the previous technological phase). All the underlying statements should be reconsidered from the standpoint of new development patterns and be fundamentally grounded in the ontologies of the general historical process of the development of technoeconomic systems.

Development of a water state index to assess the severity of impacts on and changes in natural water resources

Lifecycle assessment (LCA) is a standardised methodology that is used to assess the impact of techno-economic systems on the natural environment. By compiling an inventory of energy and material inputs and environmental releases or outputs of a system, and evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with the inventory, one can make an informed decision regarding the sustainability of a techno-economic system in question. However, the current lifecycle impact assessment (LCIA) methodologies that form part of LCA studies do not effectively consider the impacts of techno-economic systems on ground and surface water resources in South Africa (and elsewhere). It is proposed that a microbiology based index method, similar to methods proposed for terrestrial resources, can establish the states of water resources for six classes of current economic exploitation: protected, moderate use, degraded, cultivated, plantation, and urban. It is further suggested that changes in these classes (and states) can be used meaningfully in LCIA methodologies to quantify the extent to which techno-economic interventions may alter natural water resources. Research is recommended to further improve the accuracy and reliability of the water state index.

Fabbriche, sistemi, organizzazioni: Storia dell'ingegneria industriale (review)

Reviewed by: Fabbriche, sistemi, organizzazioni: Storia dell’ingegneria industriale Michelangelo Vasta (bio) Fabbriche, sistemi, organizzazioni: Storia dell’ingegneria industriale. By Ana Millán Gasca . Milan: Springer-Verlag Italia, 2006 Pp. viii+293. €29.95. In a strictly diachronic perspective, Ana Millán Gasca's book traces the history of both science and technology from the preindustrial era to the present. Its peculiarity is reflected in an approach focused on the relationship between the engineer and the problems met in production management. From this point of view, the engineer plays a key role in those technological and organizational innovation processes characterizing evolution in technoeconomic systems. The book is characterized as a historical narrative of the engineer's role in all its versatility, someone able to play a prominent part in all technological fields. After a brief introduction outlining the relationship between invention and innovation, Fabbriche, sistemi, organizzazioni is divided into three parts: the preindustrial era, the beginning of the industrialization process and roots of modern engineering, and industrial engineering in the twentieth century. The first part, divided into three chapters, is concerned with technical changes in Europe from the Middle Ages until modern times; it is also focused on the evolution of relationships among science, technology, and philosophical thought from ancient Greece to the Renaissance. The second part (six chapters) represents the core, the full achievement of that technoengineering culture leading to the Industrial Revolution. It therefore highlights the key passage from the British production system to the rise of the American system of manufactures, which affected the striking change of leadership in world economics. The third part (four chapters) reviews technological and organizational changes occurring in the twentieth century. First it outlines technological paths during the Second Industrial Revolution, following both the emergence of big firms and a growing complexity in company management. This section is particularly focused on transformations in mathematics which led to remarkable consequences for production. It also addresses [End Page 265] those problems—both theoretical and empirical—related to the creation of large technical systems. From this perspective the author discusses different approaches to systems control as well as the close relationship between the military and industry. Each chapter is followed by some readings—from David Landes, Jacques Le Goff, and Adam Smith, for example—selected in order to illustrate the above-mentioned phenomena. As this brief summary shows, the book maintains an educational approach, which is also fulfilled by numerous sidebars scattered throughout. In fact, the main purpose is to provide students, particularly those attending engineering schools, with a cultural grounding in the importance of technology during succeeding historical epochs. The author's more or less explicit goal is to strengthen the awareness of young scholars in the crucial role played by the engineer. This approach is responsible for both the book's strengths and its weaknesses. Its main virtue lies in the remarkable extent of the issues it examines: in fact, the author succeeds in merging the insights of different disciplinary fields, ranging from history of technology to economic theory, from mathematics to business history, from the history of economic thought to managerial engineering. A second virtue is the broad temporal range. A third lies in the abundance of information, matched with well-chosen examples as well as with bibliographic references. However, the book's wide range, together with its multidisciplinary approach, results in certain difficulties in thoroughly addressing key issues far from the author's main areas of research. For example, in Gasca's treatment of the ideas of Alfred Chandler Jr., there are no references to Joel Mokyr, whose The Lever of Riches (1990) and The Gifts of Athena (2002) might have been useful for understanding the relationship between technology and economics. A second weakness concerns the book's rather poor analysis of transformations following the introduction of information and communications technology. A final weakness is the volume's overall lack of interpretation, although this is in many ways offset by the vast amount of information it presents. Indeed, on balance, Gasca's work is well worth reading, for it does provide a valuable and comprehensive overview of the complex interaction between science and technology. Michelangelo Vasta Michelangelo Vasta, a graduate of...

Modelling CO 2 policies for the Japanese iron and steel industry

This paper discusses the STEAP model (STeel Environmental Assessment Program). This model has been developed for analysis of the interaction of CO 2 taxes, technological change, market structure and trade effects for iron and steel. New elements compared to previous techno–economic systems optimisation with linear programming models are global interregional trade and changing market structure. The modelling approach is discussed and the model code is presented. This is followed by a discussion of results for Japan. In the case of global taxation, trade effects are negligible. In the case where only Japan and Europe introduce a tax, Japanese production will be reduced significantly and carbon leakage exceeds 50%. However, a CO 2 tax of 2,500 Yen per ton of CO 2 (125 Yen is equal to 1 US$) in combination with an import tariff of 2,500–5,000 Yen per ton of steel can prevent carbon leakage. Such a strategy results in a 41% CO 2 reduction (50 Mt) in 2020. A strategy aiming for large monopolistic producers is less attractive because industry will aim for lower production and increased prices, while the CO 2 reduction effect is similar.

Three reversals in the twenty-first century

My studies show that the general assumptions commoly held about techno-economic systems are likely to prove wrong as today's revolutionary change reaches critical levels. The Geroge Washington University Forecast of Emrrging Technology, which I have conducted for the past decade, forecasts major technological breakthourghs in all scientific fields that should transform society during the next 10–20 years [1]. Like all truly revolutionary change, the results are likely to be so profound that we only search for new understanding. I would like to summarize these critical changes in terms of three parallel “reversals” that lie ahead: From control to freedom, conflict to community, and materialism to spirit [2].

Long waves and geography in the 21st century

Intersecting macrohistorical rhythms provide insights into the processes that will guide geographical change in the first half of the next century. The repetition of long-wave rhythms provides a key to what lies 25 and 50 years ahead, helping us to identify the patterns, determine the processes, and work out their logical consequences. To understand this it is necessary to clarify the concepts of ‘techno-economic systems’ and ‘long waves of prices’ and their interrelationships in ‘growth logistics’. A second key to the next half-century is provided by the baby boom-baby bust generational rhythms that interlock with long waves and growth logistics at double the frequency. Together, the two keys not only provide a macrohistorical framework for unraveling the course of economic and social history; they provide a basis for geographical anticipations.