Young Scientists Summer Program 2014

IIASA’s annual three-month Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) offers research opportunities to talented young researchers whose interests correspond with IIASA’s ongoing research on issues of global environmental, economic, and social change. From June through August, accepted participants work within the Institute’s research programs under the guidance of IIASA scientific staff.

YSSP Group 2014

YSSP Group 2014

The Proceedings of the Late Summer Workshop contains summaries of the research results obtained during the YSSP. These were presented in a workshop at IIASA on 25–26 August 2014.

The Proceedings receives limited review. The views and opinions it contains are made available as a matter of record. They do not necessarily represent those of the Institute, its National Member Organizations, or other organizations supporting the research work.

The below is an overview of all the summaries available at the time of finalization of the proceedings.

Climate change and malaria incidence in South Africa

Gbenga Abiodun of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, studied the impacts of temperature and rainfall on malaria incidence in sub-Saharan Africa. More

Quantifying the impact of R&D investment on energy pathways for sustainable development

Robert Barron of the University of Massachusetts, USA, examined the welfare impact of R&D investment on the supply side across a range of demand, transportation sector, and climate policy scenarios. More

Modeling of live biomass and net primary production of northern Eurasia forests

Volodymyr Blyshchyk of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine improved the models needed to estimate carbon stock in live biomass and carbon flux between the atmosphere and vegetation. More

Long and dry: Testing the vulnerability to drought of London’s water supply system

Edoardo Borgomeo of the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, UK, presented a sensitivity-based approach to testing the vulnerability of water resources systems to intense and persistent drought conditions, using a case study of London, UK. More

Potential sustainable locations for photovoltaic water pumping systems

Pietro Campana of Mälardalen University, Sweden, undertook a project to identify the suitability and optimal location of grassland areas for the implementation of photovoltaic (PV) water pumping systems across China. More

Community resilience in the 2011 flood disaster in a remote
area of eastern Indonesia

Sherly da Costa, of Friedrich-Schiller-University, Germany, analyzed the community perception of flood risk and key sources of community resilience to flooding in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. More

Analysis of historical cost reductions in Brazilian ethanol production

Guilherme De Paula of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, USA, conducted a project to explain the significant cost reductions in sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil since 1975. More

Soybean production in China under climate change: Analysisof the effect of adaptive techniques based on DSSAT and AEZ-China model fusion

Qiuying Ding of the Shanghai Climate Center, China, looked at the coupling of crop models across different spatial scales and the multi-scale evaluation of adaptive technologies locally, for different cropping regions, and China as a whole. More

Emergence of shared perception of futures in a foresight system

Mikko Dufva of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, studied how shared perceptions about the futures emerge in a foresight system. More

The influence of social heterogeneity and behavior onconsumer choices in the transport sector

Oreane Edelenbosch of the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, analyzed how behavior of different consumer types, reflected in their vehicle choices, impacts adoption of advanced climate-friendly technologies. More

Uncertain cultural consequences of global ecologicalovershoot: How to explore future perspective change and dynamics

Lukas Figge of the Maastricht University, International Centre for Integrated Assessment and Sustainable Development, Netherlands, researched how culture and behavior (social values and norms) can be included in a quantitative climate change model. More

Global conservation prioritization of wetland ecosystems: Proof of concept of ahydrogeomorphic classification

Etienne Fluet-Chouinard of the Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, presented a classification of wetland ecosystems that are biodiversity hotspots in Africa and South America. More

Development of a socio-hydrological model of Las Vegas water management

Margaret Garcia of Tufts University, USA, studied how to improve evaluation of water supply reliability alternatives using a case study of Las Vegas, USA. More

Impact of shocks on the global seafood trade network

Jessica Gephart of the University of Virginia, USA, investigated how the global seafood trade network responds to environmental and policy perturbations. More

Coupling ecological and social network models to assess“transmission” and “contagion” of an aquatic invasive species

Danielle Haak of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, USA, assessed how humans aid the movement of an aquatic species and what effects this species has on an ecosystem after introduction. More

Urban energy systems and their increasing importance in global long-term energy strategies

Miho Kamei of the University of Tokyo/National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, investigated the future role of cities in improving energy efficiency and decreasing emissions. More

Carbon capture and storage: A cultural approach to understanding experts’ views in Finland, Norway, and Germany

Farid Karimi of the Environmental Research Group (EPRG), University of Helsinki, Finland, scrutinized the implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology from the perspective of socio-cultural structures. More

Improving optimal forest management model to account for climate change

Moonil Kim of Korea University, Republic of Korea, aimed to improve the existing forest growth model and research algorithms of the G4M model so that it could be adapted to South Korea. More

Assessment of the effectiveness of Seoul Metropolitan Area’s Air Quality Management Plan

Younha Kim of the Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, investigated the effectiveness of the Seoul Metropolitan Area’s Air Quality Management Plan (SAQMP) using the GAINS-Korea framework under development at IIASA. More

Intergenerational influence on fertility preferences of young women in rural Bihar, India

Abhishek Kumar of the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, India, researched intergenerational transmission of fertility preferences in a case study in rural Bihar. More

A sufficient operating space for development? Reconciling greenhouse gas emissions, life expectancy, and access to basic needs

William Lamb of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester, UK, sought to elaborate on the actual energy utilization and emissions necessary to achieve high development outcomes. More

An estimation of the extent of cropland abandonment in mountainous regions of China

Shengfa Li of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, estimated the amount of abandoned croplands in 2000-2010 and the future changes expected in China’s mountainous areas. More

How to improve air quality in China: A policy scenario study

Jun Liu of the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China, explored the potential benefits in terms of air pollutant reduction through natural gas substitution strategies in power plants, residential combustion, and industrial boilers in the Jing-Jin-Ji region. More

Systemic risk of overlapping portfolios in the bank-firm credit market of Spain

Thi Luu of Kiel University, Germany, empirically analyzed the structure of the Spanish credit network, the temporal changes in it, and the systemic risk of overlapping portfolios. More

Applying the EPIC model to explain historical changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in the Roige wetland, China

Kun Ma of the School of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China, used the EPIC model to estimate soil organic carbon stocks in the Roige wetland in western China. More

Vulnerability risk index of agricultural production in the Brazilian Semi-Arid

Minella Martins of the Earth System Science Center, National Institute for Space Research- CCST/INPE, Brazil, assessed the vulnerability of agricultural production in the Semi-Arid of Brazil and identified hotspots where public policies could be applied to reduce current and future risks. More

Development and application of an improved tool for renewable resource modeling in MESSAGE

Madeleine McPherson of the University of Toronto incorporated distinct time scales for the variability of renewable energy resources into the MESSAGE model. More

The Czechoslovak steel industry in a comparative perspective: From scale to efficiency

Hana Nielsen of the Department of Economic History, Lund University, Sweden, aimed to identify whether the regime change (from market to centrally planned economy) in Czechoslovakia had an impact on the domestic iron and steel industry. More

Assessing spatial and temporal patterns in heat fluxes during wet and dry extreme months using the NOAH land surface model

Irene Nilsen of the Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Norway, used observations to simulate heat fluxes, establish their variability across extremely dry and wet months, and compared the resulting trend in heat fluxes with temperature and precipitation trends for the same time period. More

Global agricultural monitoring and mobile data collection

Jon Nordling of the University of Maryland, College Park, USA, explored ways to utilize F-VGI (Facilitated-Volunteered Geographic Information) ground observation information, remote sensing, and GIS to gain a month-to-month understanding of production crops on a global scale. More

Reproductive fitness and differential mortality: The role of social status

Sergey Orlov of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation, looked at the question of social status seeking versus fertility in humans. More

A model of size-structured population with asymmetric competition for resource: A case study of forests

Askhad Panesh of the Adyghe State University, Russian Federation, looked at how the physiological state of individuals affects the dynamics of the population of which it is part. More

Expanding irrigated land under physical water limitation and socioeconomic constraints

Amandine Pastor of the Earth System Science Group, Wageningen University, Netherlands, compared the spatial allocation of global agricultural lands from scenarios, including water availability and environmental flow requirements, with socio-economic optimization. More

Enhancing the optimization model BeWhere by including in it the parameters “biogas generation” and “biogas used as a vehicle fuel”

Piera Patrizio of the University of Udine, Italy, developed a biogas supply chain model to identify the optimal location for installation of new biogas plants and their most ecological and profitable technology and capacity options. More

Could fertility patterns act as a driver of global migration?

Adriana Reyes of the Pennsylvania State University, USA, used a harmonized global database of international migration flows to investigate the determinants of migration with a special focus on the relationship of fertility in sending and receiving countries. More

Decomposition of SO2 and NOx emissions in the EU: Leakage or technology adoption?

Thanicha Ruangmas of the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, investigates if emission reduction in Europe is due to adoption of pollution abatement technology or to a relocation of production to other regions. More

Governance of risks in financing concentrated solar power projects in North Africa

Thomas Schinko of the University of Graz/Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, Austria, investigated the economic impacts of a financial derisking approach for concentrated solar power (CSP) in four North African countries. More

Biomass deployment strategies for the transition to a bio-based economy

Fabian Schipfer of the Vienna University of Technology/Energy Economics Group, Austria, drew up scenarios aimed at developing strategies for the integration and extension of an industry based on renewable resources. More

Signatures of speciation: From theoretical mechanisms to observable patterns

Jesper Sörensson of Lund University, Sweden, aimed at understanding how genetic signals differ between speciation scenarios. More

Ecosystem-based fisheries management of cod and sprat in the Baltic Sea

Floor Soudijn of the University of Amsterdam/Institute, Netherlands, examined predator-prey interactions to elucidate how the fishing of cod and sprat affects the Baltic Sea ecosystem. More

The institutionalization of ecosystem services in transnational policy networks

Daniel Suarez of the University of California, Berkeley, USA, examined the spread and uptake of ecosystem services approaches in global environmental governance. More

Seasonal life histories in changing environments

Zepeng Sun of the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, assessed how populations in seasonal environments would need to adjust their life histories in order to cope with changing seasonal patterns in their environments. More

Preferred life expectancy and how it correlates among elderly women in rural Uttar Pradesh, India

Niharika Tripathi of the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India, examined the association between preferred life expectancy (PLE)—how long people want to live—and selected related socioeconomic characteristics in the low resource setting of rural India. More

Forest management using a recursive dynamic global partial equilibrium model

Olga Turkovska of the Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine, used information on the age structure of forest, its growth function, and forest management options (e.g., several rotation lengths), to estimate forest productivity development. More

A projection of human capital from the education and health perspectives—A case study of Beijing

Haochen Wang of the Institute of Population Research, Peking University, China, projected how human capital will change in Beijing to 2050 from the education and health perspectives in different policy scenarios.  More

Analysis of a multi-factor control model for resource productivity in China

Tao Wang of the Center for Industrial Ecology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, China, constructed an aggregate model of China’s economy for 1980-2010 to retrospectively analyze the sensitivity of resource productivity to variations in investment scenarios. More

Assessing the capabilities of remotely sensed indicators for agricultural drought monitoring

Jie Zhang, of the Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, USA, examined the sensitivity of different MODIS-derived indicators for agricultural drought and investigated their effectiveness agricultural drought monitoring during the growing season on the Southern Great Plains of the USA. More

An urban metabolism and carbon footprint analysis of the Jing-Jin-Ji regional agglomeration

Hongmei Zheng of the School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, China, analyzed how the three regions within the Jing-Jin-Ji agglomeration interact with each other and their roles in its development. More


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Last edited: 04 February 2015

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