Socio-economic and energy-environmental impacts of technological change on China's agricultural development under the carbon neutrality strategy

Promoting agricultural modernisation through technological change is an important strategy for China.China's carbon neutrality strategy is leading to systemic socio-economic changes that could exacerbate the uncertainty of agricultural development.Therefore,applying a computable general equilibrium(CGE)model,this study characterises the agricultural sector in detail,introducing endogenous technological change proxied by research and development(R&D)to assess the impact of different technological change scenarios on agricultural development under the carbon neutrality target.The results show that allocating carbon revenue for R&D inputs can mitigate the significant negative impact of achieving carbon neutrality on knowledge capital and production in agricultural sectors.Overall,using carbon revenue only for R&D input in crop sectors has the optimal effect on increasing the agricultural sectors'knowledge capital,improving crop production and profit,reducing crop external dependence and promoting the synergistic reduction of carbon and pollutant emissions.However,this scenario has the largest negative impact on macro-economics and household welfare.In contrast,allocating carbon revenue to promote technological change in broader non-energy sectors or both crops and non-energy sectors can effectively mitigate negative socio-economic impacts,but the positive impact on agricultural development is minimal.These findings provide practical insights for the rational use of carbon revenue to expand agricultural R&D investment and ensure balanced agricultural and economic development under the carbon neutrality target.

Technological Progress,Structural Change and China's Energy Efficiency

China has witnessed rapid economic development since 1978, and during the time, energy production and consumption developed at a tremendous speed as well. Energy efficiency which can be measured by energy consumption per unit of GDP, however, experienced continuous decrease. Theoretically, the change of energy efficiency can be attributed to industry structural change and technological change. In order to explain the transformation of Chinese energy efficiency, we adopt logarithmic mean Divisia index techniques to decompose changes in energy intensity in the period of 1994-2005. We find that technological change is the dominant contributor in the decline of energy intensity, but the contribution has declined since 2001. The change in industry structure has decreased the energy intensity before 1998, but raised the intensity after 1998. Decomposed technological effects for all sectors indicate that technological progresses in high energy consuming industries such as raw chemical materials and chemical products, smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, manufacture of non-metallic mineral products and household contribute are the principal drivers of China's declining energy intensity.

Productivity Growth, Technological Progress, and Efficiency Change in Vietnamese Manufacturing Industries: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

This study applies a stochastic frontier production approach to decompose the sources of total productivity (TFP) growth into technical progress and changes in technical efficiency of 8057 firms in Vietnamese manufacturing industries during 2003-2007. Using both total manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industrial regressions, the analysis focuses on the trend of technological progress (TP) and technical efficiency change (TEC), and the role of productivity change in economic growth. According to the estimated results, the annual technical progress for the manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industries are calculated directly from the estimated parameters of the translog stochastic frontier production function by taking a partial derivative of output with respect to time t. The average technical changes in manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industries are positive, with an average technical change about 5.2%, 5.8%, 5.4%, 11.8%, 4.6%, 4.1%, 7.3%, 4.8%, 4.8% and 4.8% for total sample, food products & beverages, textile & wearing apparel, footwear, paper & products, industrial chemicals, rubber & plastic products, non- metallic mineral, basic & fabricated metal and other sub-industries, respectively. Total TFP in the manufacturing sector has grown at the annual rate of 0.052, although the rate of growth decreased continuously during the sample period. For the sub-industry estimates during the sample period, TFP grew fastest in the footwear sub-industry, with annual average growth rate of 11.8%, followed by the rubber & plastic products with a rate of 7.3%, and the food products & beverages with a rate of 5.8% per annum.

Economic Implications of CO2 Emission Reduction in Japan Applying a Dynamic CGE Model with Endogenous Technological Change： Use of Emission Permit Revenue

This study analyzes the economic and environmental impacts of a climate change measure in Japan using a single-country dynamic computable general equilibrium model with technological change as an endogenous variable. In this way, a comprehensive analysis of the relationships between climate change and its measures, technology, and economy has been done. The model uses technological change as the accumulation of knowledge capital that is derived from research and development investment. The study investigates the impacts of a climate change measure considering the use of emission permit revenue and technological change induced by the policy implementation in the Japanese economy. Simulation results show that there is compatibility between CO2 emission reduction and positive effects on GDP that depends on the ways of the revenue use and technological change induced by emission reduction. However, it is not possible to find the ways to realize positive effects on both GDP and welfare simultaneously in the study. The sensitivity analysis for the elasticity of substitution between knowledge capital and other inputs also confirms the obtained results.

A RCK Model with Endogenous Fertility and Exogenous Technological Change

The technological change as an exogenous variable is introduced into the RCK model with endogenous fertility in this paper. It is proved that the model has at least a nonzero steady state and the nonzero steady state is unique when the parameters satisfies some conditions. By phrase protrait analysis, the unique nonzero steady state is saddle and the economy has a unique optimal growth path. The results obtained implies that the relationship between the technological change and population growth rate determinated by the economic structure and the parental ethies. For the economy in which the parents is selfish, promoting the technological change rate decreases the fertility at the steady state. On the other hand, for the economy in which the parents is less selfish, the fertility increases as the technological change rate increases.

Technological Change as a Monetary Phenomenon

This article attempts to study the function of monetary systems as networks of communication,which facilitate the channelling of social effort in the presence of exogenous conditions.A model of monetary system is being proposed,where monetary balances are algorithms of response,built up in the presence of uncertainty induced by technological change.Empirical research brought in support to that model demonstrates a strong and negative correlation between the velocity of money and the share of aggregate depreciation in current output,with intriguing links to exogenous mechanisms of energy absorption in the local social system.

Economic Analysis of CO2 Emission Abatement Applying a Dynamic CGE Model with Endogenous Technological Change： Impacts of the Time Horizon

We evaluate economic and environmental impacts of climate change mitigation in a country scale considering various time horizons in the analysis applying a single-country dynamic computable general equilibrium model with endogenous technological change. Although there is a possibility that Gross Domestic Product （GDP） becomes larger for the abatement cases than the baseline case in the earlier years, it tends to be lower than that in the later years. The longer the time horizon and/or the more severe the abatement, the larger the negative impacts will be. When subsidizing R＆D investment, increase in GDP compared to the baseline case is realized in the middle of the time horizon, and the larger increase tends to be observed for the longer-term cases. These results would be due to technological change induced by the subsidies and emission abatement. Environmental indicators are also improved. We showed that the results were influenced by the target time horizon when using an intertemporal dynamic model.

Impact of the Technological and Organizational Change on the Productivity and the Structure of Skill in the Tunisians Firms

The introduction of information and communication technologies （ICT） in the operation of businesses seems to contribute to the occurrence of important changes in the organizational practices, which, in turn, have an undeniable effect on the productivity and the request for qualification. Accordingly, this paper suggests an evaluation of the impact of technological and organizational innovations on the economic performances of the Tunisian firms （productivity and employment） in the period between 1997 and 2000. The technological innovations are approximated by the investments in software and hardware, and those are related to the organization of the costs of subcontracting.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ON LAND USE/COVER CHANGE IN THE PAST TEN YEARS IN CHINA USING SPACE TECHNOLOGY

Land use/cover change, which in China is characterized by urbanization resulting in a decrease in arable land in the east along with a large area of grassland being cultivated in the west, has been accelerated by rapid economic development in the last years. All of the above changes will affect sustainable development in the next century. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is conducting a study of land use/cover change over the last ten years based on the integration of remote sensing and GIS technology to establish a multitemporal database covering all of China. Fundamental data for land use/cover for the year 1996 has already been developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In order to reconstruct fundamental land use/cover data for the year 1986, a central data processing and analyzing system and a regional data acquisition, processing and analyzing system have been established and are joined together as a network. After the 1986 database is established, the comparative research on the reduction in arable land, urbanization, desertification, changes in forest and grassland, and lake and wetland land use/cover change will be carried out. In addition, a transect for a key regional comparative study was selected along the Changjiang (Yangtze) River. The driving forces of these changes also will be extracted. The result of this study will be not only make a contribution to global land use/cover change research, but will also support decision making for sustainable national development.

Methods of extracting change information and updating land use/cover map based on 3S technology

A fully automated approach for detecting land use/cover change using remote sensing data, GIS data, GPS data is presented. The integrating raster with vector methods of updating the basic land use/land cover map based on 3S technology is becoming one of the most important developing directions in 3S application fields, land-use and cover change fields over the world. It has been successful applied in two tasks of the Ministry of Land and Resources of China, and takes some benefit.

Low-carbon technology innovation responding to climate change from the perspective of spatial spillover effects

China's technological efforts to tackle climate change have lasted for many years. It is necessary to test the effect of these efforts with quantitative method. To be exact, whether and how China's low-carbon technology innovation responds to climate change should be tested. Based on the2004-2015 panel data of 30 provinces in China, we use the method of ESDA analyzing the spatial correlation of China's low-carbon innovation technology. Furthermore, we use the spatial Durbin model empirically analyzing the spatial spillover effects. The results obtained are as follows: first,supply and demand of Chinese low-carbon innovation has some deviation in the spatial distribution. The low-carbon technology innovation as the supply factor shows the characteristics of expanding from the east to the west. Innovation in eastern China has always been the most active, but innovative activities in the middle and western China are gradually decreased.However, carbon emissions have the characteristics of moving westward, implying the change of technology demand different from technology supply. Second, China's low-carbon innovation actively responds to the trend of climate change, indicating China's technological efforts have paid off. However, the spatial spillover effects are not significant, showing that the efforts in each region of China still work for himself. Third, environmental regulation and market pull are important factors for low-carbon technology innovation. Among them, both supporting policy and inhibitory policy have significant impact on the local low-carbon technology innovation, but no significant spatial spillover effects. It shows that environmental policies in different regions are competitive and lack of demonstration effects. Economic growth and export as market pull have higher level of effect on low-carbon technology innovation for both local and adjacent areas.Some policy implications are proposed based on these results finally.

Research on China’s technology lists for addressing climate change

The compilation of technology lists addressing climate change has a guiding effect on promoting technological research and development,demonstration,and popularization.It is also crucial for China to strengthen ecological civilization construction,achieve the carbon emission peak and carbon neutrality target,and enhance global climate governance capabilities.This study first proposes the existing classification outline of the technology promotion lists,technology demand lists,and future technology lists.Then,different methodologies are integrated on the basis of the existing outline of four technology lists:China’s existing technological promotion list for addressing climate change,China’s demand list for climate change mitigation technology,China’s key technology list for addressing climate change,and China’s future technology list for addressing climate change.What’s more,core technologies are analyzed in the aspects of technology maturity,carbon reduction cost,carbon reduction potential,economic benefits,social influence,uncertainty,etc.The results show that:key industries and sectors in China already have relatively mature mitigation/adaptation technologies to support the achievement of climate change targets.The multi-sectoral system of promoting climate friendly technologies has been established,which has played an active role in tackling climate change.Currently,climate technology needs are concentrated in the traditional technology and equipment upgrading,renewable energy technology,and management decision-making support technology.The key technologies are concentrated in 3 major areas and 12 technological directions that urgently need a breakthrough.For carbon emmission peak and nentrality,carbon depth reduction and zero carbon emissions and geoengineering technology(CDR and SRM)have played an important role in forming the structure of global emissions and achieving carbon neutrality in the future.Thus,the uncertainty assessment for the comprehensive technology cost effectiveness,technology integration direction,technical maturity,ethics and ecological impacts is supportive to the national technology strategy.Finally,the presented study proposes several policy implications for medium-and long-term technology deployment,improving technology conversion rate,promoting the research and development of core technologies,and forming a technology list collaborative update and release mechanism.

Techniques in Utilizing Remote Sensor Technology for Precision Crop Production by Farmers as Climate Change Adaptation Strategy in Nigeria

This paper focuses on techniques in utilizing remote sensor technology for precision crop production by farmers as climate change adaptation strategy in Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study and was carried out between August 2013 and May 2014. The findings of the study revealed that 32 items were needed by farmers in utilizing sensory technology for precision crop production. The study recommended that the 32 items identified by the study should be utilized by extension agent in teaching the farmers the use of sensor technology for precision crop production while the farmers should make themselves available for the training.

Causes,Effects,and Control Measures of Construction Change Orders in the U.S.

Change orders have a significant impact on many aspects of construction projects.They are known to be the primary cause of litigation in the construction industry.Change orders are almost inevitable due to the uniqueness of each project from many perspectives,such as the type of building,complexity of the design,human factors,and the available resources.Change orders are the formal mechanism to implement design changes during the execution phase.These changes are usually the outcome of lack of visualization by the owner,misunderstanding,miscommunication between different parties involved in the project,shortage in resources,and other factors.This research aims to investigate and rank causes,effects,and control measures of change orders in the construction industry in the U.S.This research presents the results of a questionnaire surveying owners,contractors,and consultants.A total of 123 industry professionals in the Architecture,Engineering,and Construction(AEC)field,with either significant or final decision-making authority on reviewing,issuing,and approving change orders responded to the survey.Results indicated that owners are the primary source followed by consultants and contractors,respectively.Some of the more important control measures identified in this research are collaboration and visualization technologies.

Technology for health: A qualitative study on barriers to using the iPad for diet change

Emergence of tablet computers has led to interest in their use to impact health-related behaviors of users. However, little is known regarding which devices are most effective for changing these behaviors, and whether or not these devices or accompanying applications (apps) are feasible or desired vehicles for behavior change. Four focus groups were conducted with students from a Western university who were given iPads to download diet-related apps. Participants were asked questions about preferences regarding iPad functionality, app functionality, and the likelihood of using apps and iPads for facilitating diet-related behavior change in the future. Two key themes emerged from focus group discussions on diet-related apps for iPads and their usefulness to facilitate behavior change. The first theme, lack of iPad practicality, contained three subthemes: inconvenient mid-way technology, internet access barriers, and smart-phone preference. The second theme that emerged was attitudes towards apps in general. Three subthemes were identified under the second theme: too intensive;positive functions not specific to iPads;and lack of reliable/trustworthy information. This paper is the first, to this author’s knowledge, to report the use of qualitative methods to study the practicality of using apps and iPads in changing dietrelated behaviors. Early generations of iPads may not be effective devices for facilitating behavior change among college students;and diet-related apps seem to have poor functionality that lead to cessation of use.

Technology Demand Assessment of Adaption of Chinese Cities to Climate Change

Climate change adaptation is the process of preparing and actively adjusting to meet the climate change (negative effects and potential opportunities). Urban adaptation is aimed at the sensitivity level of risks and specific impacts of cities under the impact of climate change, and to develop policies and investment programs to reduce the vulnerability of cities to climate change risk. Urban adaptive action provides the basis and direction for the construction of urban resilience and sustainable development. Identifying the demand of adaption technologies, promoting the practical implementation of international technology transfer and reducing domestic emissions have important significance for the global response to climate change and improvement of the ability of urban adaptation. In this paper, through in-depth analysis on the concept and connotation of climate change, climate disasters and urban adaptation to climate change, the evaluation framework and steps of urban adaptation to climate change technology are determined, and six priority application technologies which can maximize the overall efficiency of sustainable development, improve the ability to adapt to climate change and at the same time reduce the cost at the greatest extent are identified.

Evaluation of Technology Change Effects on Quantitative Assessment of Water, Energy and Food Nexus

The quantitative assessment framework of the water, energy and food (WEF) nexus proposed by [1] permits the analysis of the WEF as an interconnected system of resources that directly and indirectly affect one another. The model performs simulation of policy options and scenarios that respond to quantitative variations of the use of WEF resources. One of the key outcomes of the mathematical formulation of the model is the WEF nexus intersectoral technology matrix. In order to take advantages and analyzing policy options of adopting high efficient intersectoral use technologies, WEF intersectoral use intensities and intersectoral allocation coefficients are introduced to the technology matrix of the nexus model proposed in [1]. The developed method is then applied to evaluate the WEF nexus case study of Lebanon. Lastly, the conclusions and further developments are presented.

Land-Use Changes and Human Driving in and Near the Yangtze River Delta from 1995–2015

We analyzed the characteristics and trends of land-use change in and near the coastal zone of the Yangtze River Delta(YRD) during five periods(1995, 2000 2005, 2010, and 2015) using remotely sensed Landsat imagery. Using automatic supervised classification combined with visual interpretation, we obtained land-use information for five study areas(Nantong, Shanghai, Jiaxing, Ningbo, and Zhoushan). Significant land-use changes have occurred in this area between 1995 and 2015, characterized in particular by large reductions in cultivated land and rapid increases in urbanized land. In addition, land reclamation was very active in this period as an effective supplement to the increased demand for land development: since 1995, 1622 km^2 of land was reclaimed from near-coastal regions in the study area. This increase in urbanization was jointly driven by population, economic, transportation, and policy factors. Urban areas expanded from the center outward in concentric rings, with infrastructure guiding the radial expansion of development along transportation corridors, thus forming a network of connections. Due to the influence of national land regulation policies, the expansion rate of development in the YRD gradually diminished after 2010. This indicates that the area's resource and environmental carrying capacity has reached a saturation stage in which urbanization has transitioned from broad and incremental expansion to the intensive use of land resources.

Shoreline Change Prediction Model for Coastal Zone Management in Thailand

The prediction of shoreline erosion is vital for coastal management. This study aims to utilize geo-informatics technology to increase accuracy of a shoreline prediction model along two study sites in Samutprakarn province and in Prachuabkirikhan province. Predicting coastline change using remote sensing together with GIS （geographic information system） is a spat^o-temporal technology, which can continuously provide perspectives of coastal areas. Due to a long term of operational period of LANDSAT satellite, it is useful to enhance accuracy of prediction model. LANDSAT-5 TM images acquired during 1999-2009 were used to produce historical shoreline vectors. Physical data were modified to be input data of digital shoreline analysis system. The model was validated. Linear regressions were applied in order to derive equations of erosion magnitude. The result presents that averaged erosion and accretion rate along Samutprakarn province was 22.30 meters/year and 2.94 meters/year, respectively. On the other hand, the average rate of coastal erosion along Prachuabkirikhan province was much lower, being 2.48 meters/year while the accretion rate was approximately 4.11 meters/year. The predicted shoreline change at Samutprakarn province in 2019 is about -132.69 ~ 0.758 meters while at Prachuabkirikhan is 40.58 ~ 0.0012 meters. In conclusion, this prediction model focused the changing of shoreline in long term and accuracy of the model could be improved by increasing number of shorelines vectors, transect intervals and resolution of satellite images. Clearly, the model is flexible and can be applied in other particular areas for coastal zone management in Thailand.

How Does Technological Progress Affect Employment and Wage Differences in China＇s Information Industry

Combining the development status of information industry in China and based on theoretical discussions on labor demand and supply as well as the comprehensive analysis on endogenous technological progress and exogenous educational quality, this paper concludes that the technological progress of information industry in China is skill- biased, i.e. technological progress of information industry increases the demand for skilled labor while decreases the demand for unskilled labor, and aggravates the wage difference between these two types of labor. Due to the effect of educational quality, the ratio of skilled labor employment to unskilled labor employment will reach a dynamic equilibrium and the wage difference between skilled labor and unskilled labor will not increase continuously. This paper then proves the foregoing conclusion with data of information industry in 26 provinces （autonomous region, municipality）. Focusing on typical skill-intensive information industry, this paper mainly studies the influence of educational quality, which not only complements the theoretical analysis on dual effects of technological progress on employment, but also provides feasible and practical basis to policies promoting the development of technological progress and full employment in China.