Diffusion and Drivers of Smart Meters: The Case of Central and Eastern Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (03) ◽  
pp. 1450017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Spodniak ◽  
Ari Jantunen ◽  
Satu Viljainen

This paper maps the diffusion dynamics of smart meters in the Central and Eastern Europe (EU10) and develops methodology which assesses the potential drivers of diffusion by the means of thematic analysis. Innovation diffusion theory and the concept of rate of adoption enabled to measure the speed of smart meter diffusion throughout the time in individual countries and the whole region, which is subsequently benchmarked against the market leaders. Results indicate that large-scale rollouts of smart meters are preceded by pilot projects, cost–benefit analysis, regulations, and initiatives. Furthermore, the role of state decreases with gradual development of the market.

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Falk

This article examines the lessons "learned" and the legacies inherent in the downfall of authoritarian communism in central and eastern Europe in view of post-communism's first decade. It is argued that the events of 1989-1991 were revolutionary in dramatically and unexpectedly establishing new regimes and ushering in simultaneous and multilateral (political, economic, social, national) change. Furthermore, 1989-1991 represents a rejection of "grand narrative" large-scale social experimentation in political arrangements in favour of hybridism and incrementalism. Ten key maxims are introduced as a means of analyzing this historical rupture and understanding the variety of experiences across the region.


Author(s):  
Valentin Tablan ◽  
Ian Roberts ◽  
Hamish Cunningham ◽  
Kalina Bontcheva

Cloud computing is increasingly being regarded as a key enabler of the ‘democratization of science’, because on-demand, highly scalable cloud computing facilities enable researchers anywhere to carry out data-intensive experiments. In the context of natural language processing (NLP), algorithms tend to be complex, which makes their parallelization and deployment on cloud platforms a non-trivial task. This study presents a new, unique, cloud-based platform for large-scale NLP research—GATECloud. net. It enables researchers to carry out data-intensive NLP experiments by harnessing the vast, on-demand compute power of the Amazon cloud. Important infrastructural issues are dealt with by the platform, completely transparently for the researcher: load balancing, efficient data upload and storage, deployment on the virtual machines, security and fault tolerance. We also include a cost–benefit analysis and usage evaluation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Andreas KELLERER-PIRKLBAUER ◽  
Julia EULENSTEIN

We used two historical maps that cover vast areas of central and eastern Europe at rather large scale dating to 1784 (First Military Survey of the Habsburg Empire; total extent 640,000 km²; scale 1: 28,800) and 1824 (cadastral land register of Francis I; 670,000 km²; 1: 2,880) to extracted individual buildings located at several alluvial fans in one valley in Austria (Admont Valley). Historic buildings were mapped and compared with present building (airborne–laserscanning based; 2008–2017), geomorphic (landform distribution), geomorphodynamic (documented damaging events at torrents), and spatial planning (hazard zonation maps) data. Results show that 69.2% of all present buildings are located at only 7% of the study area. Whereas the 1784–data are too inaccurate and unprecise for detailed spatial analyses, the 1824–data are very accurate and precise allowing spatial and socio–economic insight into the population and building evolution over a 190–year period. Results show for instance that despite a tremendous increase in buildings (911 in 1824; 3554 in 2008–2017), the proportion of buildings exposed to torrents–related natural hazards significantly decreased by 10.4% for yellow (moderate–risk) and by 13.7% for red (high–risk) zones. Similar historio–geomorphological studies as presented here might be accomplished in other countries in central and eastern Europe covered by the indicated historical map products.


2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoran Popovic ◽  
Ivan Soucek ◽  
Nickolay Ostrovskii ◽  
Ozren Ocic

Since the beginning of 90s of last century both the petroleum industry and petrochemical industry have operated in difficult circumstances. In particularly, margins of petroleum and petrochemical industry were exacerbated during global economic crisis in 2008-2009 years. At that time, as one option that could be the solution, the global analysts had started to more intense investigate the benefits of Refining-Petrochemical Integration. Shortly afterwards, more and more petroleum refineries and petrochemical manufacturers began to see the future in this kind of operational, managerial, marketing and commercial connection. This paper evaluates, in particular, the achieved level of integration of refinery and petrochemical businesses in Central and South-Eastern Europe. And specifically, the paper identifies current capabilities and future chances of linking this kind of integration between Serbian refining and petrochemical players. The viability of integration between possible actors and benefits of every single refining-petrochemical interface in Serbia depend on many factors, and therefore each integrated system is unique and requires prior serious Cost Benefit Analysis.


Author(s):  
Linda Little ◽  
Pam Briggs

Certain privacy principles have been established by industry, (e.g. USCAM, 2006). Over the past two years, we have been trying to understand whether such principles reflect the concerns of the ordinary citizen. We have developed a method of enquiry which displays a rich context to the user in order to elicit more detailed information about those privacy factors that underpin our acceptance of ubiquitous computing. To investigate use and acceptance Videotaped Activity Scenarios specifically related to the exchange of health, financial, shopping and e-voting information and a large scale survey were used. We present a detailed analysis of user concerns firstly in terms of a set of constructs that might reflect user-generated privacy principles; secondly those factors likely to play a key role in an individual’s cost-benefit analysis and thirdly, longer-term concerns of the citizen in terms of the impact of new technologies on social engagement and human values.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Ali Rahim Taleqani ◽  
Chrysafis Vogiatzis ◽  
Jill Hough

In this work, we investigate a new paradigm for dock-less bike sharing. Recently, it has become essential to accommodate connected and free-floating bicycles in modern bike-sharing operations. This change comes with an increase in the coordination cost, as bicycles are no longer checked in and out from bike-sharing stations that are fully equipped to handle the volume of requests; instead, bicycles can be checked in and out from virtually anywhere. In this paper, we propose a new framework for combining traditional bike stations with locations that can serve as free-floating bike-sharing stations. The framework we propose here focuses on identifying highly centralized k-clubs (i.e., connected subgraphs of restricted diameter). The restricted diameter reduces coordination costs as dock-less bicycles can only be found in specific locations. In addition, we use closeness centrality as this metric allows for quick access to dock-less bike sharing while, at the same time, optimizing the reach of service to bikers/customers. For the proposed problem, we first derive its computational complexity and show that it is NP-hard (by reduction from the 3-SATISFIABILITY problem), and then provide an integer programming formulation. Due to its computational complexity, the problem cannot be solved exactly in a large-scale setting, as is such of an urban area. Hence, we provide a greedy heuristic approach that is shown to run in reasonable computational time. We also provide the presentation and analysis of a case study in two cities of the state of North Dakota: Casselton and Fargo. Our work concludes with the cost-benefit analysis of both models (docked vs. dockless) to suggest the potential advantages of the proposed model.


2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piriya Pholphirul

Migration is one of the top debate topics in terms of the national policy agendas of middle-income countries, and Thailand is no exception. The segmentation of its labour market explains why Thailand is experiencing large-scale immigration and a simultaneous emigration of low-skilled workers. Immigration inflows from its less-developed neighbour countries -namely, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar – pose a challenge for Thailand. Wage differentials between Thailand and other migrant-receiving countries, which are mostly more economically developed than Thailand, also stimulate emigration from there. Due to regional disparities within the country and to a lack of employment and educational opportunities in rural areas, internal migration is also common and encouraged. In this paper I first analyse the economic pros and cons of migration both to and within Thailand before formulating labour migration policies that aim to maximize beneficial outcomes while minimizing economic costs. The cost–benefit analysis of labour migration is key to addressing relevant gaps in formulating and implementing effective policies.


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