Utilizing the Vector Autoregression Model (VAR) for Short-Term Solar Irradiance Forecasting

Forecasting solar irradiance is a critical task in the renewable energy sector, as it provides essential information regarding the potential energy production from solar panels. This study aims to utilize the Vector Autoregression (VAR) model to forecast solar irradiance levels and weather characteristics in the San Francisco Bay Area. The results demonstrate a correlation between predicted and actual solar irradiance, indicating the effectiveness of the VAR model for this task. However, the model may not be sufficient for this region due to the requirement of additional weather features to reduce disparities between predictions and actual observations. Additionally, the current lag order in the model is relatively low, limiting its ability to capture all relevant information from past observations. As a result, the model’s forecasting capability is limited to short-term horizons, with a maximum horizon of four hours.

A statistical analysis of spatiotemporal variations and determinant factors of forest carbon storage under China's Natural Forest Protection Program

The Natural Forest Protection Program(NFPP)is one of the key ecological forestry programs in China.It not only facilitates the improvement of forest ecological quality in NFPP areas,but also plays a significant role in increasing the carbon storage of forest ecosystems.The program covers 17 provinces,autonomous regions,and municipalities with correspondingly diverse forest resources and environments,ecological features,engineering measures and forest management regimes,all of which affect regional carbon storage.In this study,volume of timber harvest,tending area,pest-infested forest,firedamaged forest,reforestation,and average annual precipitation,and temperature were evaluated as factors that influence carbon storage.We developed a vector autoregression model for these seven indicators and we studied the dominant factors of carbon storage in the areas covered by NFPP.Timber harvest was the dominant factorinfluencing carbon storage in the Yellow and Yangtze River basins.Reforestation contributed most to carbon storage in the state-owned forest region in Xinjiang.In state-owned forest regions of Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces,the dominant factors were forest fires and forest cultivation,respectively.For the enhancement of carbon sequestration capacity,a longer rotation period and a smaller timber harvest are recommended for the Yellow and Yangtze River basins.Trees should be planted in stateowned forests in Xinjiang.Forest fires should be prevented in state-owned forests in Heilongjiang,and greater forest tending efforts should be made in the state-owned forests in Jilin.

中美俄合作与冲突互动——基于事件数据的定量分析

The United States,Russia and China are militarily and economically among the most powerful countries in the post-Cold War period,and the interactions between the three powers heavily influence the international system.However,different conclusions about this question are generally made by researchers through qualitative analysis,and it is necessary to objectively and quantitatively investigate their interactions.Monthly-aggregated event data from the Global Data on Events,Location and Tone(GDELT)to measure cooperative and conflictual interactions between the three powers,and the complementary cumulative distribution function(CCDF)and the vector autoregression(VAR)method are utilized to investigate their interactions in two periods:January,1991 to September,2001,and October,2001 to December,2016.The results of frequencies and strengths analysis showed that:the frequencies and strengths of USA-China interactions slightly exceeded those of USA-Russia interactions and became the dominant interactions in the second period.Although that cooperation prevailed in the three dyads in two periods,the conflictual interactions between the USA and Russia tended to be more intense in the second period,mainly related to the strategic contradiction between the USA and Russia,especially in Georgia,Ukraine and Syria.The results of CCDF indicated that similar probabilities in the cooperative behaviors between the three dyads,but the differences in the probabilities of conflictual behaviors in the USA-Russia dyad showed complicated characteristic,and those between Russia and China indicated that Russia had been consistently giving China a hard time in both periods when dealing with conflict.The USA was always an essential factor in affecting the interactions between Russia and China in both periods,but China’s behavior only played a limited role in influencing the interactions between the USA-Russia dyad.Our study provides quantitative insight into the direct cooperative and conflictual interactions between the three dyads since the end of the Cold War and helps to understand their interactions better.