Pareto efficient allocation of an in-motion wireless charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in a multipath network

Electric vehicles (EV) use an eco-friendly technology that limits the greenhouse gas emissions of the transport sector, but the limited battery capacity and the density of the battery are the major barriers to the widespread adoption of EV. To mitigate this, a good method seems to be the innovative wireless charging technology called ‘On-Line EV (OLEV)’, which is a contactless electric power transfer technology. This EV technology has the potential to charge the vehicle’s battery dynamically while the vehicle is in motion. This system helps to reduce not only the size of the battery but also its cost, and it also contributes to extending the driving range before the EV has to stop. The high cost of this technology requires an optimal location of the infrastructure along the route. For this reason, the objective of this paper is to study the problem of the location of the wireless charging infrastructure in a transport network composed of multiple routes between the origin and the destination. To find a strategic solution to this problem, we first and foremost propose a nonlinear integer programming solution to reach a compromise between the cost of the battery, which is related to its capacity, and the cost of installing the power transmitters, while maintaining the quality of the vehicle’s routing. Second, we adapt the multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MPSO) approach to our problem, as the particles were robust in solving nonlinear optimization problems. Since we have a multi-objective problem with two binary variables, we combine the binary and discrete versions of the particle swarm optimization approach with the multi-objective one. The port of Le Havre is presented as a case study to illustrate the proposed methodology. The results are analyzed and discussed in order to point out the efficiency of our resolution method.     

A production/remanufacture model with returns’ subassemblies managed differently

This paper considers a production-remanufacturing inventory model for a single product, where constant demand is satisfied from the inventory of newly produced and remanufactured items. Although the available models in the literature imply that collected used units (or returns) are disassembled for recovery purposes, these models really do not treat them as such. Contrary, the returns are assumed to be recovered as whole units, perhaps, for simplicity. This assumption may not capture the benefits reaped from product recovery programs. This paper addresses this limitation in the literature and assumes that each unit of a used product is collected and disassembled into components, where these components are sorted into subassemblies, which are fed back into the production-remanufacturing process. The returned subassemblies are remanufactured and reassembled to represent a second source of as-good-as-new units of the end-product. For this multi-component inventory problem, the question that needs to be answered is whether, or not, extreme strategies of either pure remanufacturing or pure production are more economical than a mixed strategy (one that combines both strategies). A mathematical model is developed that accounts for the inventories of subassemblies. The results suggested that not accounting for the disassembled components of a product leads to inappropriate inventory decisions that are not environmentally sound.     

Alleviating rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa

This analysis of rural poverty and hunger in Africa discusses the intertemporal and cross-sectional dimensions of poverty as an aid to policies and programs to alleviate hunger. Since nutritional adequacy of diets varies according to season, seasonality is an important cause of poverty especially in countries with 1 major harvest. In agricultural communities the wet season brings on food shortages and high prices, requiring assistance programs to concentrate on alleviating hunger at this time of year. Drought places a similar demand on resources. People may be poorer in 1 section of a country than another if they have no access to the existing power system, depriving them of services and assistance. There are forgotten regions of Africa where people are poor due to physical isolation, increasing the risk of drought and impeding emergency relief. Production in these areas may be low because there are no consumer goods to buy with surplus. It is important to identify target groups for financial assistance which will change with time and environmental conditions.     

The Effect of the Arab Spring on Preferences for Redistribution in Egypt

This paper investigates the effect of the revolution that occurred in January 2011 in Egypt on the demand for redistribution in that country, which has drastically increased since that period. This shock has been an important event, enhancing freedom and the political structure. In a first step, taking into account the main determinants of preferences for redistribution in the literature, our results differ, showing a positive impact of religion and a negative impact of altruistic attitudes. In a second step, we rely on a diff-in-diff approach to estimate the effect of the revolution, using three similar countries as a control group. We find that Egyptians became much more favorable to redistribution after the Arab Spring. Moreover, the revolution effect is stronger for the poorest people and those who are interested in politics.     

Organization Capital and the Cost of Equity Financing in Medium‐Sized Manufacturing Firms

We examine the effects of organization capital—evident in management quality practices—on firms’ implied cost of equity. We show that superior management practices decrease firms’ cost of equity capital. This novel finding, robust to a battery of sensitivity analyses and to endogeneity bias, highlights the importance of superior management practices in improving firms’ financing conditions. In sum, this study demonstrates that the quality of management practices maps onto firms’ financing conditions, stressing the value relevance of intangible assets.     

THE COST OF THE U.S. SUGAR PROGRAM REVISITED

The article analyzes the welfare cost of the U.S. sugar program using a multimarket model of U.S. sweetener markets. The latter includes raw crops, sugar extraction and refining, and sweetener users (food-processing industries and final consumers). The authors address the industrial organization of food industries using sweeteners and treat the United States as a large importer. With the removal of the program, this article estimates (all figures in 1999 dollars) that in 1998 cane growers, sugar beet growers, and processors would have lost $307, $650, and $89 million, respectively; sweetener users would have gained $1.9 billion. World prices would have increased by 13.2%. The deadweight loss of the program is estimated at $532 million.     

Inf-convolution of risk measures and optimal risk transfer

We develop a methodology for optimal design of financial instruments aimed to hedge some forms of risk that is not traded on financial markets. The idea is to minimize the risk of the issuer under the constraint imposed by a buyer who enters the transaction if and only if her risk level remains below a given threshold. Both agents have also the opportunity to invest all their residual wealth on financial markets, but with different access to financial investments. The problem is reduced to a unique inf-convolution problem involving a transformation of the initial risk measures.Received: December 2004, Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 60G35, 91B28, 91B30, 46N10JEL Classification: C61, D81, G13, G22     

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Macroeconomic Monitoring Framework

This paper presents a macroeconomic approach to monitoring progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Sub‐Saharan Africa. At the heart of our framework is a macro model which captures key linkages between foreign aid, public investment (disaggregated into education, infrastructure and health), the supply side and poverty. The model is then linked through cross‐country regressions to indicators of malnutrition, infant mortality, life expectancy and access to safe water. A composite MDG Indicator is also calculated. The functioning of our framework is illustrated by simulating the impact of an increase in foreign aid to Niger at the MDG horizon of 2015, under alternative assumptions about the degree of efficiency of public investment. Our approach can serve as the building block for Strategy Papers for Human Development (SPAHD), a more encompassing concept than the current ‘Poverty Reduction’ Strategy Papers.