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The molar heat capacities, C P , of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (1) + pyrrolidin-2-one or 1-methylpyrrolidin-2-one (2) + cyclopentanone or cyclohexanone (3) ternary mixtures have been measured at 293.15, 298.15, 303.15 and 308.15 K and 0.1 MPa using micro-differential scanning calorimeter. The observed C P data have been utilized to evaluate their excess heat capacities, ( C P E ) 123 values, and same have been fitted to Redlich–Kister equation to predict ternary adjustable parameters along with their standard deviations. The Moelywn-Huggins concept (Huggins in Polymer 12:389–399, 1971 ) of interactions between the surfaces of constituent molecules in binary mixtures has been extended to ternary mixtures using topology of the constituent molecules to obtain expression (Graph theory) that predict correctly the ( C P E ) 123 data of the present mixtures. The observed ( C P E ) 123 data have also been analyzed in terms of modified Flory’s theory.

Outdoor air conditioning systems (ACS) are used as autonomic systems as well as in combined outdoor and indoor ACS of the variable refrigerant flow (VRF) type, with variable speed compressors (VSC) as their advanced version. Methods for determining the optimal value of refrigeration capacity and providing the maximum rate of the summarized annual refrigeration energy generation increment, according to its needs at minimum compressor sizes and rational values, are applied to reveal the reserves for reducing the designed (installed) refrigeration capacity, thus enabling us to practically achieve maximum annual refrigeration energy generation as the primary criterion at the second stage of the general design methodology previously developed by the authors. The principle of sharing the total thermal load on the ACS between the ranges of changeable loads for outdoor air precooling, and a relatively stable load range for further processing air are used as its basis. According to this principle, the changeable thermal load range is chosen as the object for energy saving by recuperating the excessive refrigeration generated at lowered loading in order to compensate for the increased loads, thereby matching actual duties at a reduced designed refrigeration capacity. The method allows us to determine the corresponding level of regulated loads (LRL) of SRC and the load range of compressor operation to minimize sizes.

This paper focuses on the application of speed-regulated compressors (SRCs) to cover changeable heat loads with high efficiency in conventional air conditioning systems (ACS) as well as in the more advanced variable refrigerant flow (VRF)-type outdoor and indoor ACS. In reality, an SRC is an oversized compressor, although it can operate efficiently at part loads. The higher the level of regulated loads (LRL) of the SRC, the more the compressor is oversized. It is preferable to reduce the size of the SRC by covering the peak loads and recouping the excessive refrigeration energy reserved at decreased actual loads within the range of regulated loads. Therefore, the range of changeable loads is chosen as the object to be narrowed by using the reserved refrigeration capacity. Thus, the general fundamental approach of dividing the overall heat load range of the ACS into the ranges with changeable and unchangeable loads, as previously developed by the authors, is applied for the range of primary changeable loads. Due to this innovative step, the principle of two-stage outdoor air conditioning according to changeable and unchangeable loads, also proposed by the authors, has been extended over the range of primary changeable loads to reduce the level of refrigeration capacity regulation and SRC size. To realize this, part of the changeable load range is offset by the reserved refrigeration capacity, leading to a reduction in the changeable load range and the SRC size by approximately 20% for temperate climatic conditions.

We develop a decentralized Bayesian model of college admissions with two ranked colleges, heterogeneous students, and two realistic match frictions: students find it costly to apply to college, and college evaluations of their applications are uncertain. Students thus face a portfolio choice problem in their application decision, while colleges choose admissions standards that act like market-clearing prices. Enrollment at each college is affected by the standards at the other college through student portfolio reallocation. In equilibrium, student-college sorting may fail: weaker students sometimes apply more aggressively, and the weaker college might impose higher standards. Applying our framework, we analyse affirmative action, showing how it induces minority applicants to construct their application portfolios as if they were majority students of higher caliber.

There is growing interest in the sharing economy as a different way of living in neoliberal capitalist societies, but this discussion is frequently heavily classed and the ethos generally rests on excess capacity of goods and services. This article intervenes in this emerging body of writing to argue that it is equally important to explore the types of sharing and exchange that are survival-compelled among those with precarious livelihoods. Precarious migrants are a group facing significant livelihood pressures, and we are concerned here with a particular category of insecure migrants: irregular migrants including refused asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. Such migrants are especially shaped by their sociolegal status, and without rights to work or welfare they are susceptible to exploitation in their survival-oriented laboring. Existing literature from labor geographies and the subdisciplinary area of unfree and forced labor has not generally focused on the experiences of these migrants as house guests in domestic realms, nor has it thoroughly explored their transactional labor. As such, this article argues that the moral economies of gifting and sharing within such labor create and reproduce particular social structures, cultural norms, and relationships that position people along a spectrum of freedom and exploitation.

This study proposes a differentiated duopoly model considering capacity constraints and shared manufacturing, investigates the effects of product differentiation and capacity constraints in three scenarios, and compares the equilibrium outcomes in the three cases under Cournot and Stackelberg competitions. We find that capacity constraints affect the relationships between product differentiation and equilibrium results, even the market share of enterprises. Shared manufacturing impacts the degree of excess capacity, profits, consumer surplus, and social welfare. However, shared manufacturing may sometimes play a negative role in alleviating excess capacity. Moreover, the Cournot competition is a better choice for enterprises with capacity constraints than the Stackelberg competition.

Much attention is being paid toward reducing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with China’s cement production. However, as part of China’s international commitment to reduce carbon intensity, the inter-annual changes and driving forces behind CO2 emissions must be determined for the 2001–2015 period, along with the projection of the cement-related CO2 emissions until 2030. The objective of this article is to analyze the CO2 emission factors (EFs) and CO2 emissions from 2001 to 2015, project CO2 emission scenarios of China’s cement industry until 2030, and propose a low-carbon roadmap for the global cement industry by 2050 based on a series of practical reduction measurements performed by China. The results of our study indicate that CO2 EFs in 2015 were 55.36% lower than those in 2001, but CO2 emissions were 72.90% higher than those in 2001. The main reason for the decreasing total active CO2 EFs are policies enacted by the Chinese government regarding the removal of excess capacity and elimination of backward capacity as well as the technological innovation and ongoing annual reductions in the clinker-to-cement ratio (C/CR). Meanwhile, the driving force behind the increased cement-related CO2 emissions was the substantial growth in cement output. Scenarios regarding CO2 emissions by 2030 show an uncertainty regarding CO2 emissions, ranging between 3.51 and 11.70%, and CO2 EFs are expected to be 59–69% lower than those in 2005. CO2 emissions from the global cement industry from 2020 to 2050 based on CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); utilization of alternative raw materials (ARMs) and alternative fossil fuels (AFFs); and technological innovation account for 39.3, 29.3, 24.7, and 6.7% of the CO2 reduction capability, respectively. It is possible to reduce ~ 1524 Mt of CO2, and the global optimal emissions by 2050 are ~ 2082 Mt of CO2.

In this paper, we discussed the different impacts of urbanization, technical factors and resource utilization on CO2 emissions. Specifically, we investigated the urbanization process of a typical resource-based city, Xuzhou, in China to learn more about how the urbanization development of resource-exhausted cities can affect the urban economy and environment. We examined the urbanization speed and quality and then employed the STIRPAT model to analyze the actual relationship between urbanization and CO2 emissions. The results indicate that there are inverted U-shaped relationships between CO2 emissions and economic growth, the urbanization rate (UR) and urbanization quality (UQ). This proves the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve in the case of a resource-exhausted city. In addition, a decoupling development has gradually occurred between urbanization and CO2 emissions, and the UR has a greater influence on CO2 emissions relative to the UQ. Besides, the positive effect of industrial development on CO2 emissions gradually weakened from 2014 and may even be offset by the suppression effect of energy intensity in the future. Finally, the negative effect of the utilization rate of coal capacity indicates that optimizing energy utilization by cutting excess capacity is not only an effective way for urbanization transformation but also for improving the urban environment. These results have important implications for governmental policy decisions pertaining to the sustainable development of resource-exhausted cities.

Airport runways, radio spectrum, and hospital beds are resources with capacity limits used to provide multiple services with specific capacity requirements in separate markets, which contribute to recover capacity investment costs. A welfare-maximizing and (possibly) budget-constrained firm, whose operating costs significantly increase as total capacity use presses against capacity, chooses prices and capacity. When the equilibrium capacity is reached, second-best Ramsey prices must be adjusted, and mark-ups on marginal costs may be higher for services with higher demand elasticities, if they intensively use capacity. Moreover, for a given output vector, the firm invests more than in first best. Instead, the equilibrium capacity may be first best when there is excess capacity to reduce operating costs and thus improve welfare. Our model can be used as a benchmark to evaluate the efficiency of market mechanisms for resource allocation and pricing, or when market mechanisms are not adopted.

Distributed energy resource (DER) technologies such as rooftop solar change the structure of production and consumption in the electricity industry. These changes will be mediated by digital platforms in ways that will sharply decrease scale economy entry barriers in generation, making local generation and self-supply not only possible but economically competitive. Digitally-enabled platform business models and local electricity markets are increasingly part of policy debates in electricity distribution and retail due to the proliferation of digital and DER technologies. Here we propose a two-stage model to represent the effects of transaction cost-reducing innovation on two aspects of such transactions: gains from trade in sharing, and the ability to express and satisfy heterogeneous, subjective preferences in a poly-centric system. Our core insight is that excess capacity varies inversely with transaction costs; digital platform technologies and business models enable asset owners to rent out this excess capacity. We analyze the equilibrium comparative statics of the model to derive observable predictions, and find that having a local electricity market platform option makes the opportunity cost of excess capacity economically relevant. As small- scale transactions in energy capacity become more feasible, our results suggest that ownership of DER capacity will be driven less by one’s expected intensity of use and more by relative price concerns and subjective preferences for energy self-sufficiency or environmental attributes.