Formal or Informal? The Dispute Settlement Mechanisms of China's Free Trade Agreements

The dispute settlement mechanism(DSM) has long been the focus of attention because of its significant role in the institutional construction of China's free trade agreements(FTAs). Thus, this paper is to make an analysis of the DSMs of China's established FTAs from a legal perspective of international regime study, which leads to the finding of a co-existence mode of formal and informal DSMs in China's FTAs. This paper also discusses the motivation and significance of such a choice.

Building of a Dissension Settlement Mechanism in the China's Environmental Code

It is not currently appropriate to make detailed provisions on an ecological and environmental dissension settlement mechanism in the would-be China's environmental code(Code),given the prevailing mechanism status in China.Such provisions need to be appropriately selected under the philosophy of moderate codification,and various methods should be adopted according to the actual situation of the specific system.Contradictions between various systems should be removed in the compiling of this Code,which eventually would make an ecological and environmental dissension settlement mechanism with complementary functions and procedural coordination,ensuring that ecological and environmental dissensions can be smoothly resolved within the updated framework,and damaged interests can be fully remedied.

Limit analysis of supporting pressure in tunnels with regard to surface settlement

The proliferation of Hoek-Brown nonlinear failure criterion and upper bound theorem makes it possible to evaluate the stability of circular tunnels with an original curved collapsing mechanism. The arch effect of shallow circle tunnel is not taken into consideration so that the mechanical characteristics can be easily described. Based on the mechanism, the upper bound solution of supporting pressure of tunnels under the condition of surface settlements and overloads on the ground surface is derived. The objective function is formed from virtual work equations under the variational principle, and solutions are presented by the optimum theory. Comparisons with previous works are made. The numerical results of the present method show great agreement with those of existing ones. With regard to the surface settlement and overloads, the influence of different rock parameters on the collapsing shape is analyzed.

Tunnel face stability and ground settlement in pressurized shield tunnelling

An analysis of the stability of large-diameter circular tunnels and ground settlement during tunnelling by a pressurized shield was presented. An innovative three-dimensional translational multi-block failure mechanism was proposed to determine the face support pressure of large-shield tunnelling. Compared with the currently available mechanisms, the proposed mechanism has two unique features:(1) the supporting pressure applied to the tunnel face is assumed to have a non-uniform rather than uniform distribution, and(2) the method takes into account the entire circular excavation face instead of merely an inscribed ellipse. Based on the discrete element method, a numerical simulation of the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel was carried out using the Particle Flow Code in two dimensions. The immediate ground movement during excavation, as well as the behaviour of the excavation face, the shield movement, and the excavated area, was considered before modelling the excavation process.

Transitional Revenue Scheme for High-cost Generator Unit in Guangdong Electricity Market Based on Government Authorized Contracts

High-cost generator units are at a cost disadvantage in electricity spot markets.This study focuses on revenue mechanisms of gas-fired units affected by power market reform in Guangdong province,China.For the first time,we compare impacts on market indicators of five settlement mechanisms:feed-in tariff(FiT),location marginal price(LMP),contract for difference(CFD),direct subsidy(DS),and estimated revenue method(ERM).In particular,we design key parameters,including authorized CFD and ERM of two kinds of government authorized contracts based on traditional dispatching patterns to avoid significant profit fluctuations brought by market reforms.We also analyze impact of factors such as climbing performance,seasonal load,and subsidy amount on the overall market and its players.Results of a case study show to directly subsidize gasfired units will lead higher-cost units to generate more electricity,with a resulting loss of social welfare.Disruption of market prices and provision of unreasonable incentives are fatal disadvantages of this subsidy method.The government and policymakers should consider financial means to adjust benefits to reduce production costs and increase social welfare.Also,by case analysis,the ERM shows its stable performance in revenue of high-cost units,while we find that authorized CFD is not applicable for gas-fired units whose output is unstable as a marginal unit frequently.Therefore,we suggest government agencies adopt ERM to sign contracts with gas-fired units,to attain a balance between fairness and efficiency.