294 research outputs found
Are EU spatial ex ante coexistence regulations proportional?
No full textThe EU is currently struggling to implement coherent coexistence regulations on genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops in all member states. While it stresses that any approach needs to be “proportionate to the aim of achieving coexistence”, very few studies have actually attempted to assess whether the proposed spatial ex ante coexistence regulations (SEACERs) satisfy this proportionality condition. In this article, we define proportionality as a functional relationship which is weakly increasing in the incentives for coexistence. We propose a spatial framework based on an existing landscape and introduce the new concept of shadow factor as a measure for the opportunity costs induced by SEACERs. This enables comparing the proportionality of (i) rigid SEACERs which are based on large isolation distances imposed on GM farmers versus (ii) flexible SEACERs based on pollen barrier agreements between neighboring farmers. Our theoretical and empirical findings argue for flexibility as rigid SEACERs violate the proportionality condition and, hence, are not consistent with the objectives of the EU.policy analysis, GIS, shadow factor, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,
Risk and De-Collectivisation: Evidence from the Czech Republic
No full textThe replacement of wage-labour farms by family farms in Central and Eastern Europe during the transformation has been more limited than was initially expected. In this paper a formal framework is developed in order to analyse the behaviour of family farms and socialist-style farms in the presence of risk, given the typical post-socialist environment. Management incentives, ownership structure, lump-sum transfers and consumption choices are shown to have the potential to limit the size of family farms relative to socialist-style farms. The hypotheses are tested with survey data collected by the author in the Czech Republic.transition, agriculture, structural change, risk, survey data, Risk and Uncertainty, D21, D81, O18, Q12,
To be awarded, or Not to Be Awarded. Is that the Question?:Theoretical and Methodological Aspects of the Study of Literary and Translation Prizes in the Context of Cultural Transfer
No full textTo be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature or not to be awarded. Is that the question? Is not every author overwhelmed by the mere thought of being awarded the Noble Prize in Literature? After all, it means more translations, a broader audience, honour, money and fame. One good example of a writer who benefitted from the prize is the Icelandic author Halldór Laxness (1902-1998). A hitherto unknown poet and novelist, he became world famous after receiving the award in 1955, after which his works were translated into more than 25 languages.1 There have also been authors, however, who were anything but honoured to be nominated. Undoubtedly, the most famous example is Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), who refused the Nobel Prize in 1964 to maintain his intellectual credibility as an anti-bourgeois philosopher and activist
Economics of spatial coexistence of genetically modified and conventional crops: Oilseed rape in Central France
No full textEurope is currently struggling to implement coherent coexistence regulations on genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops in all EU Member States. We conduct simulations with the software ArcView® on a GIS dataset of a hypothetical case of GM herbicide tolerant oilseed rape cultivation in Central France. Our findings show that rigid coexistence rules, such as large distance requirements, may impose a severe burden on GM crop production in Europe. These rules are not proportional to the farmers’ basic incentives for coexistence and hence not consistent with the objectives of the European Commission. More alarming, we show that in densely planted areas a domino-effect may occur. This effect raises coexistence costs and even adds to the non-proportionality of rigid coexistence regulations. Instead, we show that flexible measures would be preferable since they are proportional to the incentives for coexistence and, hence, less counterproductive for European agriculture.regulation, GIS modelling, domino-effect, Crop Production/Industries,
Comparing future patterns of energy system change in 2 °C scenarios to expert projections
No full textIntegrated assessment models (IAMs) are computer-based instruments used to assess the implications of human activity on the human and earth system. They are simultaneously also used to explore possible response strategies to climate change. As IAMs operate simplified representations of real-world processes within their model structures, they have been frequently criticised to insufficiently represent the opportunities and challenges in future energy systems over time. To test whether projections by IAMs diverge in systematic ways from projections made by technology experts we elicited expert opinion on prospective change for two indicators and compared these with the outcomes of IAM studies. We specifically focused on five (energy) technology families (solar, wind, biomass, nuclear, and carbon capture and storage or CCS) and compared the considered implications of the presence or absence of climate policy on the growth and diffusion of these technologies over the short (2030) to medium (2050) term. IAMs and experts were found to be in relatively high agreement on system change in a business-as-usual scenario, albeit with significant differences in the estimated magnitude of technology deployment over time. Under stringent climate policy assumptions, such as the internationally agreed upon objective to limit global mean temperature increase to no more than 2 °C, we found that the differences in estimated magnitudes became smaller for some technologies and larger for others. Compared to experts, IAM simulations projected a greater reliance on nuclear power and CCS to meet a 2 °C climate target. In contrast, experts projected a stronger growth in renewable energy technologies, particularly solar power. We close by discussing several factors that are considered influential to the alignment of the IAM and expert perspectives in this study
Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in the 21st Century
No full textIt is important to understand how the reduction of other greenhouse gases than CO2 can reinforce existing climate policy. This particularly includes methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), fluorinated gases (F-gases) and various aerosols (micro particles). Together, these comprise a bit more than a quarter of the total greenhouse gas emissions. Prior studies showed that policy strategies aimed at all greenhouse gases lead to the lowest policy costs and the highest climate benefits. This study shows that many possible mitigation measures exist to reduce non-CO2 GHGs at relatively low costs. Moreover, a stronger focus on non-CO2 species with a short atmospheric lifetime could lead to advantageous climate effects in the short term. However, these benefits are temporary when reaching ambitious climate goals (e.g. as the Paris goals), since short-lived non-CO2 species are expected to be reduced in any such scenario. Timely reduction of non-CO2 emission does offer permanent health benefits because of improved air quality. In that respect, combining climate and air quality policy is most effective (with an estimated 11 million avoided deaths worldwide between now and 2030). Reducing soot (BC) emissions is a very cost-effective measure in terms of health. It is a less suitable climate policy measure since it leads to small or even negative climate benefits. Lastly, this research examines the consequences of the use of GWP-metrics in climate policy (this is used to compare greenhouse gases based on their climate impacts). The use of the 100-year GWP (current policy) is shown to be effective because it allows for sufficient reduction of non-CO2 emissions
Intention-Aware Routing to Minimise Delays at Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
No full textEn-route charging stations allow electric vehicles to greatly extend their range. However, as a full charge takes a considerable amount of time, there may be significant waiting times at peak hours. To address this problem, we propose a novel navigation system, which communicates its intentions (i.e., routing policies) to other drivers. Using these intentions, our system accurately predicts congestion at charging stations and suggests the most efficient route to its user. We achieve this by extending existing time-dependent stochastic routing algorithms to include the battery's state of charge and charging stations. Furthermore, we describe a novel technique for combining historical information with agent intentions to predict the queues at charging stations. Through simulations we show that our system leads to a significant increase in utility compared to existing approaches that do not explicitly model waiting times or use intentions, in some cases reducing waiting times by over 80% and achieving near-optimal overall journey times.Software and Computer TechnologyElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Wat moet eruit komen? Reactie op de kritische bijdrage van Kalmijn en De Graaf
No full textThe article focuses on the views of the author regarding the evaluation of his test book by Mathijs Kalmijn and Paul M. De Graaf meant for measuring professional status. Both Kalmijn and Graff have compared the scales proposed by the author and other scales for measuring professional status. They have claimed that GK-schaal is more effective than that of the author. According to the author, they have based their theoretical foundation of objective scales on training and profession
Route Planning with Breaks and Truck Driving Bans Using Time-Dependent Contraction Hierarchies
No full textMandatory breaks for truck drivers are nowadays scheduled after the route has been decided. However, in some cases it is beneficial to plan these breaks during waiting time caused by truck driving bans. Optimally planning a single break considering driving bans can be done using Dijkstra’s algorithm with multiple labels. This has large effects on predicted travel times: 17% of the analysed routes having a night rest obtain an earlier arrival time by 5 hours on average. However, the computation times of this algorithm are long. A novel heuristic version of time-dependent contraction hierarchies leads to significant reductions in computation times from several seconds to several milliseconds per route. Experiments show that the solutions are still optimal for a representative test set consisting of 10,000 route queries.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.AlgorithmicsTransport and Plannin
Investigation of vertical cutter mining for increased primary resource recovery and decreased environmental impact
No full textThe purpose of this thesis is to aid in the development of vertical cutting mining as a mining method. In order to do so, the technical feasibility and viability, and environmental benefit of vertical cutting as a complementary mining method were investigated. The investigation was performed for the case of the Victor Diamond mine in northern Ontario, Canada, where open pit mining ends by the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019.Vertical cutting has been used for several decades for the construction of water retention walls in the civil engineering industry. By placing the vertical cutter system directly on top of an ore target and cutting straight, vertical trenches up to a maximum depth of 150 m, it is intended to cross over to the mining industry. Extraction with vertical cutting can occur according four extraction scenarios. Three of the scenarios are land-based, the fourth assumes flooding of the mine, and has not been considered for the Victor project. Checkerboard mining is the base case extraction scenario with an extraction rate of approximately 30%. The long trenching scenario would increase the recovery with an additional 15% but induces a high risk of instability in the existing pit walls and the kimberlite in between the trenches. Application of backfill is the third scenario and achieves a recovery of 98%. Backfilling of the trenches requires the movement of significant volumes of additional rock as well as induces time delays due to the curing time of the backfill. Financial evaluation of the vertical cutting scenarios shows a high dependency of the project value on a decreasing cutting performance. Cumulative cash flow analysis and NPV suggest that extending the mine life at the Victor Diamond mine with vertical cutting is favourable. Even in the case of increased rock strengths, as expected in the deeper parts of the Victor pipes, vertical cutting has a positive net present project value. Long trenching, which is considered to be of high risk for pit stability has only marginally greater project value than the base case. The development of alternative mining solutions also aims to reduce the impact of the mining operations on the surrounding environment. Vertical cutting combines multiple mining processes into one operating piece of equipment. It reduces the GHG emissions, improves the safety of extraction process and is expected to increase the support from stakeholders. Extending operational life using conventional methods would require large expansion of the mine involving the increase of the operational fleet, pumping capacity and land usage. The application of vertical cutting has the ability to prevent the negative impact of enlarged open pit mining while maintaining the benefit of continued production
- …
