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Richard Flanagan Question 7 New York. Knopf. 2024. 288 pages. RICHARD FLANAGAN begins his latest book by visiting a coal mine where Japanese soldiers interned his father during World War [...]

The paper proposes a solution to the problem of distributing electricity originating from various sources. In the proposed model, each source has a different cost of acquisition and is characterized by varying energy efficiency factors. Additionally, in the case of renewable sources, the costs of storing energy are taken into consideration as well. This work presents a fair and cost-efficient approach to distributing the demands of energy providers. A model has been developed and verified for the purpose of corroborating the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting energy efficiency in iron and steel production provides opportunities for mitigating environmental impacts from this energy-intensive industry. Energy efficiency technologies differ in investment costs, fuel-saving potentials, and environmental performance. Hence the decision-making of the adoption strategy needs to prioritize technological combinations concerning these multi-dimensional objectives. To address this problem, this study proposes a hybrid multi-criteria decision-support model for adopting energy efficiency technologies in the iron and steel industry. The modeling framework integrates a linear programming model that determines the optimal technology adoption rates based on the techno-economic, energy, and environmental performance details and an interactive multi-criteria model analysis tool for diverse modeling environments. A real case study was performed in which a total number of 56 energy efficiency technologies were investigated against various criteria concerning economics, energy, and environmental performances. The results examine the tradeoffs and synergies were examined with regard to seven criteria. A balanced solution shows that a total investment of 13.4 billion USD could save 2.51 Exajoule fuel consumption, cut 67.4 million tons (Mton) CO2 emissions, and reduce air pollution of 1.5 Mton SO2, 1.41 Mton NOx, and 0.86 Mton PM, respectively. The case study demonstrates the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed multi-criteria decision-making support framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method of structured modeling for intergovernmental negotiations for improving European air quality is presented. The model integrates object-oriented programming, simulation methods, multiple-criteria decision-making methods and database management systems.

A formal study of the theoretical performance of switched-capacitor (SC) dc-dc voltage multiplier circuits is given. A question concerning the necessary number of circuit elements to realize a given conversion ratio is addressed. In response to the question the bound on attainable voltage ratio for a given number of capacitors k and the bound on the number of switches required in any circuit configuration have been established. The maximum step-up or step-down ratio is given by the kth Fibonacci number, while the bound on the number of switches required in any SC circuit is 3k - 2. The complete set of attainable dc conversion ratios is found. A canonical circuit realization of the maximum voltage ratio is discussed and illustrative examples are included. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the realizability of a dc conversion ratio are determined and formal proofs are given.

The application of the higher order primal-dual method (HOPDM) to real-life linear programming problems is evaluated. The study also considers the system's application for the Food and Agriculture Project (FAP) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, particularly for land use and development planning. It is shown that the HOPDM applies particularly well for FAP problems with greater size.