http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7884 2013-06-19T09:34:28Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79345 The regulation of internet interconnection : assessing network market power Maida, Elisabeth M. (Elisabeth Marigo) Interconnection agreements in the telecommunications industry have always been constrained by regulation. Internet interconnection has not received the same level of scrutiny. Recent debates regarding proposed mergers, network neutrality, Internet peering, and last mile competition have generated much discussion about whether Internet interconnection regulation is warranted. In order to determine whether such regulation is necessary, policymakers need appropriate metrics to help gauge a network provider's market power. Since Internet interconnection agreements are typically not published publicly, policymakers must instead rely on proxy metrics and inferred interconnection relationships. Alessio D'Ignazio and Emanuele Giovannetti have attempted to address this challenge by proposing a standard set of metrics that are based on and assessed using network topology data. They suggest two metrics, referred to as customer cone and betweenness, as proxies for market size and market power. This thesis focuses on the efficacy of the proposed customer cone and betweenness metrics as proxies for network market size and market power. Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-64). 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79317 Strengthening informal supply chains : the case of recycling in Bandung, Indonesia Tuori, Michael A. (Michael Aaron) A large degree of economic activity in developing countries operates unregulated and unreported in what has become known as the informal economy. Within the informal economy, a large number of individuals work in waste picking and recycling. In Indonesia, up to 70% of all employment is within the informal economy. In Bandung, the nation's third largest city, there are estimated to be more than 3000 individuals working in the informal recycling sector as waste pickers and middlemen. The informal recycling supply chain begins with waste pickers that collect waste materials from homes, businesses, streets, waste transfer sites, and landfills. These materials are then sold through a series of middlemen before reaching the factories that reuse them as inputs to production. Traditionally, academics, policy makers, and advocacy groups have focused their attention on waste pickers, while dismissing recycling middlemen as being exploitative. However, in the case of Bandung, the middlemen industry has a great deal of heterogeneity in terms of earnings and vulnerability. Middlemen also add value to supply chain by providing needed capital and transportation. Using the case of recycling in Bandung, this thesis argues in favor of policies that take into consideration all actors within an informal supply chain. In order to design effective policies, policy makers should have a clear understanding of the supply chain dynamics as well as the roles that each actor in the system serves. This thesis purposes an evaluation tool to aid policy makers in assessing informal supply chains on aspects of both efficiency and social conditions. The application of this tool is then demonstrated in the design of several policy recommendations for enhancing informal recycling activities in Bandung. Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; and, (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2012.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-118). 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79147 Incorporating operational flexibility into electric generation planning : impacts and methods for system design and policy analysis Palmintier, Bryan S. (Bryan Stephen) This dissertation demonstrates how flexibility in hourly electricity operations can impact long-term planning and analysis for future power systems, particularly those with substantial variable renewables (e.g., wind) or strict carbon policies. Operational flexibility describes a power system's ability to respond to predictable and unexpected changes in generation or demand. Planning and policy models have traditionally not directly captured the technical operating constraints that determine operational flexibility. However, as demonstrated in this dissertation, this capability becomes increasingly important with the greater flexibility required by significant renewables (>=20%) and the decreased flexibility inherent in some low-carbon generation technologies. Incorporating flexibility can significantly change optimal generation and energy mixes, lower system costs, improve policy impact estimates, and enable system designs capable of meeting strict regulatory targets. Methodologically, this work presents a new clustered formulation that tractably combines a range of normally distinct power system models, from hourly unit-commitment operations to long-term generation planning. This formulation groups similar generators into clusters to reduce problem size, while still retaining the individual unit constraints required to accurately capture operating reserves and other flexibility drivers. In comparisons against traditional unit commitment formulations, errors were generally less than 1% while run times decreased by several orders of magnitude (e.g., 5000x). Extensive numeric simulations, using a realistic Texas-based power system show that ignoring flexibility can underestimate carbon emissions by 50% or result in significant load and wind shedding to meet environmental regulations. Contributions of this dissertation include: 1. Demonstrating that operational flexibility can have an important impact on power system planning, and describing when and how these impacts occur; 2. Demonstrating that a failure to account for operational flexibility can result in undesirable outcomes for both utility planners and policy analysts; and 3. Extending the state of the art for electric power system models by introducing a tractable method for incorporating unit commitment based operational flexibility at full 8760 hourly resolution directly into planning optimization. Together these results encourage and offer a new flexibility-aware approach for capacity planning and accompanying policy design that can enable cleaner, less expensive electric power systems for the future. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013.; This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.; Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-272). 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78541 Incorporating uncertainty in the Life Cycle Cost Analysis of pavements Swei, Omar Abdullah Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is an important tool to evaluate the economic performance of alternative investments for a given project. It considers the total cost to construct, maintain, and operate a pavement over its expected life-time. Inevitably, input parameters in an LCCA are subject to a high level of uncertainty, both in the short-term and long-term. Under its current implementation in the field, however, LCCA inputs are treated as static, deterministic values. Conducting such an analysis, although computationally simpler, hides the underlying uncertainty of the inputs by only considering a few possible permutations. This suggests that although computationally simpler, the answer from the analysis may not necessarily be the correct one. One methodology to account for uncertainty is to treat input parameters as probabilistic values, allowing the analysis to consider a range of possible outcomes. There are two major reasons as to why probabilistic LCCAs, although recommended, have not been streamlined into practice. First, the LCCA of construction projects is a large-scale problem with many input parameters with a high-level of uncertainty. Second, there is a significant gap in research that statistically quantifies uncertainty for input values. This research addresses the latter point by statistically quantifying four types of uncertainty: the unit cost of construction, quantity of material inputs, occurrence of maintenance activities, and a particular emphasis is placed upon characterizing the evolution of material prices over time. Having statistically characterized uncertainty in the LCCA analysis, the application of the probabilistically derived inputs is illustrated in three scenarios. Pavement alternative designs are derived for a set of traffic conditions in a given location. The results of the analysis indicate the integration of probabilistic input parameters in the LCCA process allows for more robust conclusions when evaluating alternative pavement designs. Additionally, the case study shows treating input parameters probabilistically could potentially alter the pavement selection, and one parameter that greatly influences this is material-specific price projections. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2012.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-87). 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z