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Topic Review
California Electricity Crisis
The California electricity crisis, also known as the Western U.S. energy crisis of 2000 and 2001, was a situation in which the United States state of California had a shortage of electricity supply caused by market manipulations and capped retail electricity prices. The state suffered from multiple large-scale blackouts, one of the state's largest energy companies collapsed, and the economic fall-out greatly harmed Governor Gray Davis's standing. Drought, delays in approval of new power plants,:109 and market manipulation decreased supply. This caused an 800% increase in wholesale prices from April 2000 to December 2000.:1 In addition, rolling blackouts adversely affected many businesses dependent upon a reliable supply of electricity, and inconvenienced many retail consumers. California had an installed generating capacity of 45 GW. At the time of the blackouts, demand was 28 GW. A demand-supply gap was created by energy companies, mainly Enron, to create an artificial shortage. Energy traders took power plants offline for maintenance in days of peak demand to increase the price. Traders were thus able to sell power at premium prices, sometimes up to a factor of 20 times its normal value. Because the state government had a cap on retail electricity charges, this market manipulation squeezed the industry's revenue margins, causing the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and near bankruptcy of Southern California Edison in early 2001.:2–3 The financial crisis was possible because of partial deregulation legislation instituted in 1996 by the California Legislature (AB 1890) and Governor Pete Wilson. Enron took advantage of this deregulation and was involved in economic withholding and inflated price bidding in California's spot markets. The crisis cost between United States dollar 40 and $45 billion.:3–4
  • 1.1K
  • 10 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Diffusion of Solar PV Energy
Solar photovoltaic energy (solar PV) is considered a very attractive solution among renewable energy sources (RES), especially for households. According to the most recent IEA report on renewables, the growth of renewable power capacity at the world level has reached another record in 2021, driven by solar photovoltaic energy; solar PV alone has accounted for more than half of all renewable power expansion in 2021, followed by wind and hydropower.
  • 1.1K
  • 28 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Schools, Air Pollution, and Active Transportation
An exploratory spatial analysis investigates the location of schools in Calgary (Canada) in relation to air pollution and active transportation options. Air pollution exhibits marked spatial variation throughout the city, along with distinct spatial patterns in summer and winter; however, all school locations lie within low to moderate pollution levels. Conversely, the study shows that almost half of the schools lie in low walkability locations; likewise, transitability is low for 60% of schools, and only bikability is widespread, with 93% of schools in very bikable locations. School locations are subsequently categorized by pollution exposure and active transportation options. This analysis identifies and maps schools according to two levels of concern: schools in car-dependent locations and relatively high pollution; and schools in locations conducive of active transportation, yet exposed to relatively high pollution. The findings can be mapped and effectively communicated to the public, health practitioners, and school boards. The study contributes with an explicitly spatial approach to the intra-urban public health literature. Developed for a moderately polluted city, the methods can be extended to more severely polluted environments, to assist in developing spatial public health policies to improve respiratory outcomes, neurodevelopment, and metabolic and attention disorders in school-aged children.
  • 1.1K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Luxembourg Leaks
Luxembourg Leaks (sometimes shortened to Lux Leaks or LuxLeaks) is the name of a financial scandal revealed in November 2014 by a journalistic investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. It is based on confidential information about Luxembourg's tax rulings set up by PricewaterhouseCoopers from 2002 to 2010 to the benefits of its clients. This investigation resulted in making available to the public tax rulings for over three hundred multinational companies based in Luxembourg. The LuxLeaks' disclosures attracted international attention and comment about tax avoidance schemes in Luxembourg and elsewhere. This scandal contributed to the implementation of measures aiming at reducing tax dumping and regulating tax avoidance schemes beneficial to multinational companies. The judicial aspects of this case concern the persons charged by Luxembourg justice for participating in the revelations. No multinational company was charged. The LuxLeaks trial took place in spring 2016 and led to the condemnation of the two whistleblowers. The appeal trial's judgment was delivered in March 2017, upholding monetary fines and reducing the suspended jail sentence for Deltour.
  • 1.1K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Business Process Reengineering
Business process re-engineering (BPR) is a business management strategy, originally pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and business processes within an organization. BPR aimed to help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, and become world-class competitors. BPR seeks to help companies radically restructure their organizations by focusing on the ground-up design of their business processes. According to early BPR proponent Thomas Davenport (1990), a business process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. Re-engineering emphasized a holistic focus on business objectives and how processes related to them, encouraging full-scale recreation of processes rather than iterative optimization of sub-processes. Business process reengineering is also known as business process redesign, business transformation, or business process change management.
  • 1.1K
  • 12 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Gamma Squeeze
In the stock market, a gamma squeeze occurs when the underlying price of a stock increases within a very short timeframe. A higher amount of money moving into call options results in greater buying activity and can push the stock price up as a result.
  • 1.1K
  • 07 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Accounting Higher Education Preparing the Future of Accounting
The accounting profession is undergoing significant changes due to revolutions in technology and markets. It is ever more important for higher education institutions (HEIs) to understand how to prepare professionals and students for the not-so-distant future. 
  • 1.1K
  • 12 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Blockchain-Based Wine Supply Chain for the Industry Advancement
Wine production counts more than 8000 years and it is still one of the most significant agri-food sectors worldwide considering the generated revenues in the countries' economies and employment level in the sector as well as the health aspects of wine consumption.
  • 1.0K
  • 01 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Perceived Authenticity in Intangible Cultural Heritage Tourism
In the era of the experience economy, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is now much a richer in terms of authenticity, which largely enriches the tourist experience. The dual dimensions of authenticity (constructive and existential) have significantly different effects on experience quality and satisfaction. Furthermore, with regard to the mediating effect of experience quality, experience quality plays a partially mediating role between existential authenticity and satisfaction. 
  • 1.0K
  • 24 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Volatility
In finance, volatility (usually denoted by σ) is the degree of variation of a trading price series over time, usually measured by the standard deviation of logarithmic returns. Historic volatility measures a time series of past market prices. Implied volatility looks forward in time, being derived from the market price of a market-traded derivative (in particular, an option).
  • 1.0K
  • 28 Oct 2022
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