Selecting sustainable electric bus powertrains using multipreference evolutionary algorithms

Constant improvement of vehicle technologies towards more efficient powertrains and reduced pollutant emissions, frequently leads to the increase of the vehicle or fuel costs, compromising its viability. Multi-objective optimization methods are commonly used to solve such problems, finding optimal trade-off solutions relatively conflicting objectives. Nevertheless, vehicle driving performance, is often disregarded from the optimization process or considered only as a fixed constraint. This may raise some issues, which are discussed in this paper: (a) vehicle dynamics are not improved, (b) trade-off optimal solutions are not distinguishable, (c) interesting solutions near constraints limits won´t be considered if constraints are not marginally relaxed.

This paper proposes a method to optimize three electric-drive vehicle options for an urban bus, a battery electric (BEV), a fuel cell hybrid (FC-HEV) and a plug-in hybrid (FC-PHEV), aiming minimum carbon footprint, maximum financial indicator and simultaneously improved driving performance (speed, acceleration, and electric range). The carbon footprint is assessed by a life cycle (LC) approach, considering the impact of the fuel production and use, and vehicle embodied materials; while the financial assessment considers the vehicle and fuel costs. The spherical pruning multi-objective differential evolution algorithm (spMODE-II) is used in the optimization, considering different preference regions within the problem constraints and objectives. The vehicle solutions optimality and suitability are compared with other multi-objective algorithm, NSGA-II.

The FC-HEV achieved the lowest LC emissions (547 g/km), and the FC-PHEV the maximum financial gain (0.19 $/km), while the BEV achieved the best trade-off of solutions.     

On the Use of Subjective Well-Being Data for Environmental Valuation

This paper explores the potential of using subjective well-being (SWB) data to value environmental attributes. A theoretical framework compares this method, also known as the life-satisfaction approach, with the standard hedonic pricing approach, identifying their similarities and differences. As a corollary, we show how SWB data can be used to test for the equilibrium condition implicit in the hedonic approach (i.e., equality of utility across locations). Results for Ireland show that the equilibrium condition required by the hedonic pricing approach in Irish markets does not hold. They also show that air quality, in the baseline specification, and warmer climate, across all the specifications, have a significant positive impact on SWB. Their associated monetary estimates, however, seem too large.     

Insuring Against Losses from Transgenic Contamination: The Case of Pharmaceutical Maize

Concerns about the risk of food supply contamination have limited the development and commercialization of certain pharmaceutical plants. This article develops an insurance pricing model that helps translate these concerns into a cost-benefit analysis. The model first estimates the physical dispersal of maize pollen subject to a number of weather parameters. This distribution is then validated with the limited amount of currently available field trial data. The physical distribution is then used to calculate the premium for a fair-valued insurance policy that would fund the destruction of possibly contaminated fields. The flexible framework can be readily adapted to other crops, management practices, and regions.     

Coordination of capital taxation among asymmetric countries

This paper studies international fiscal coordination in a world of integrated markets and sovereign national governments. Mobile capital and immobile labor are taxed in order to finance a fixed budget. This generates productive inefficiency. Two fiscal reforms are considered: a minimum capital tax level and a tax range, i.e., a minimum plus a maximum capital tax level. It is shown that the introduction of a lower bound to the capital tax level is never preferred to fiscal competition by all countries while there always exists a combination of both a lower and an upper bound (i.e., a tax range) which is unanimously accepted.     

Public Sector Managers Handling Accounting Data: A UK Framework Validated in Spain

A group of Spanish researchers wanted to understand how public sector managers were affected by the accounting systems that provide their data and how such managers used the data at a time when Government policy sought to reduce cash expenditures. The group, who interviewed the managers of seven Galician Business Schools, found that the data was not used but further explanations were difficult. It turned to an Original Framework of 8 UK Issues for public sector managers handling data (Purdy, 1993a). This paper takes the Original Framework, discusses its bases, considers areas for research then introduces the concept of a Continuum of learning related to handling data. Successive amendments to the Framework are made until an Extended Framework of 19 Spanish Issues is produced. These Frameworks are discussed with the interview material. The findings show that the Issues were generally well covered by managers and in the direction anticipated by the Extended Framework indicating some relevance to this Framework. The independently collected material had a close correspondence with the Original Framework and was sufficient for that Framework to become a general research instrument for examining the handling of data by its recipients.     

Foreign Bank Entry: Experience, Implications for Developing Economies, and Agenda for Further Research

In recent years foreign banks have expanded their presence significantlyin several developing economies. In Argentina and Chile in LatinAmerica and in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland in EasternEurope, foreign-controlled banks now hold more than half oftotal banking assets. In other regions the trend is similar,though foreign bank entry has been slower. Despite the growingnumber of countries embracing foreign bank entry, importantquestions are still being debated: What draws foreign banksto a country? Which banks expand abroad? What do foreign banksdo once they arrive? How do foreign banks' mode of entry andorganizational form affect their behavior? This article summarizescurrent knowledge on these issues. Because the existing literaturefocuses heavily on developed economies, it also puts forth anagenda for further study of the causes and effects of foreignbank entry in developing economies.      

Autocratic tensions,cronyism, and the opacity of business information: party newspapers and circulation figures during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975)

Autocracies draw their political power from cronyism and organized repression. The opacity of business information (economic censorship) protects these regimes and their crony firms from any opposition. However, autocracies might also desire to eliminate cronyism (and therefore opacity) because it dampens economic growth. Autocracies survive through repression that engenders tensions, as evident in the Spanish newspaper industry during the Francoist dictatorship. State control over this industry was important because the press disseminated news to the public. From 1939 to 1957, the autocracy institutionalized both cronyism and the opacity of circulation figures to sustain the political powers of Franco and the single party state. Opacity concealed the economic performance of newspapers owned by sole legal party and any distribution of resources in its favor. Franco authorized voluntary disclosure of reliable circulation figures in 1964, after eliminating cronyism in favor of a freer market. Repression guaranteed support for this industry until Franco's death.     

Institutional factors and farmers’ adoption of conventional,organic and genetically modified cotton in Burkina Faso

Organic farming and genetically modified (GM) crops technologies are currently being promoted as alternatives to conventional farming that is seen as unsustainable. However, institutional constraints can impede the adoption of even the most sustainable technology. This paper analysed the effect of institutional factors on farmers’ adoption of conventional, organic and GM cotton in Burkina Faso. Building on the expected utility model and institutional theory, a multinomial logistic regression was performed using farmers’ survey data from the 2014–2015 production season. The results showed that subsidies on fertiliser and credit for cereals production, the power of farmers’ association and that of the cotton company favoured the adoption of conventional and GM cotton at the expense of organic cotton. In order to succeed, organic cotton projects need to include components that help farmers to access organic fertilisers for cereals production. They also need to involve the cotton companies that are the most powerful stakeholders of the cotton sector. Extension services are necessary for both organic and GM cotton adoption. Other important factors to consider include farmers’ education, the potentials of the technologies, the good agro-ecological conditions, the continued involvement of women, the availability of virgin lands and the closeness of farmers to their farms.     

Protest responses and community attitudes toward accepting compensation to host waste disposal infrastructure

Despite the use of host community compensation to solve NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) siting difficulties in many industrialised countries, the effectiveness of this policy is still being debated in academic and policy-making arenas. In this paper, we examine attitudes held regarding compensation in communities directly impacted upon by final waste disposal infrastructure projects (landfill and incineration) in Ireland using survey responses to two contingent valuation (CV) scenarios and a question relating to preferences for compensation delivery. We find that communities in the pre-construction planning phase for locally undesirable development are less accepting of compensation offers to host the facility than are communities who have lived with such developments to host an extension to the existing facility in their localities. However, many of our respondents who initially reject compensation offers in the CV question go on to accept at least one compensation package in the later compensation preference question. Using this information allows us to draw a distinction between ‘Hardcore’ and ‘Switcher’ protesters to illustrate a more subtle picture of rejection of locally undesirable facilities and compensation packages than has previously been articulated. Using probit regression analysis, we find that property rights or NIMBY concerns – specifically, the treatment of non-local waste at the facility is a concern for many residents – drive this rejection of compensation. Finally, contrary to previous studies concerning preferences for host compensation, community compensation is not always preferred to individual compensation payments.