Anomalous Levy decoherence

We investigate the decoherence of a small quantum system weakly coupled to a complex, chaotic environment when the dynamics is not Gaussian but Levy anomalous. By studying the time dependence of the linear entropy and the damping of the interference of two Gaussian wave packets in the Wigner representation, we show that the decoherence time for a quantum Levy stable process is always smaller than for Gaussian diffusion.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Behavioral Response to Plastic Bag Legislation in Botswana

This paper investigates the use of charges and standards in dealing with a common externality, plastic litter from shopping bags in Botswana. The country passed a plastic bag tax (effective 2007) to curb the plastic bag demand. Interestingly, the legislation did not force retailers to charge for plastic bags, which they did voluntarily at different prices. We assessed the environmental effectiveness and efficiency of the plastic bag legislation by analyzing consumers’ sensitivity to the improvement of the plastic bag and related price charges. The introduction of the plastic bag levy led to a significant decline in the consumption of plastic bags per 1,000 Botswana pulas of shopping. The partial success of the Botswana levy was due to the constantly high prices of the bags.demand, environment, litter, plastic bags, price

Working Paper 02-02 - The impacts of energy and carbon taxation in Belgium - Analysis of the impacts on the economy and on CO2 emissions

This working paper brings together three analyses that were carried out by the Federal Planning Bureau at the request of the Secretary of State for Energy and Sustainable Development and the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Public Health and the Environment. It looks at the harmonisation (increase) in energy levies up to the average level in our neighbouring countries and the introduction of a co2 levy. In the case of the co2 levy we analyse both the situation whereby all energy products are taxed and the case where the levy is only applicable to road transport. All policy variants are intended to reduce co2 emissions in Belgium within the context of the Kyoto Protocol. The analyses presented in this working paper were finalized in September 2001.

Nuclear spin cooling using Overhauser field selective coherent population trapping

Hyperfine interactions with a nuclear spin environment fundamentally limit the coherence properties of confined electron spins in the solid-state. Here, we show that a quantum interference effect in optical absorption from two electronic spin states of a solid-state emitter can be used to prepare the surrounding environment of nuclear spins in well-defined states, thereby suppressing electronic spin dephasing. The evolution of the coupled electron-nuclei system into a coherent population trapping state by optical excitation induced nuclear spin diffusion can be described in terms of Levy flights, in close analogy with sub-recoil laser cooling of atoms. The large difference in electronic and nuclear time scales simultaneously allow for a measurement of the magnetic field produced by nuclear spins, making it possible to turn the lasers that cause the anomalous spin diffusion process off when the strength of the resonance fluorescence reveals that the nuclear spins are in the desired narrow state.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Evolution in a changing environment

We propose a simple model, based on Monte Carlo simulations, for studying the effects of changes in the environment on the adaptation and extinction of evolving species. We show that the geological data of climatic changes are well described by Levy-stable distributions. This leads, in our model, to a fairly good reproduction of the known data on species extinctions. We have also found that the dependence of the probability that a given number of species becomes extinct in one time step, on the number of extinct species shows a cross-over from an exponential to a power-like character.Levy-stable distribution; Monte Carlo simulation; Species extinction; Evolution;

KAJIAN PERKEMBANGAN RETRIBUSI PARIWISATA DI KABUPATEN KENDAL

Levy of the tourism management under the auspices of the Department of Youth Sport and Tourism of Kendal Regency, and its establishment are arranged in Regional Regulation No. 10 of 2011 of Kendal Regency “the levy of service business in Kendal Regency” which is written in Chapter VII pertaining to the levy of the recreation areas and sports that serve as the legal foundation of an area in Kendal Regency in terms of the handling and management of the Tourism Levy. This research aims to ascertain the development of the levy of the tourism sector in managing three tourist attractions, which are Sendang Sekucing Beach, Curug, Sewu, Boja Swimming Pool as well as to understand the issues faced by Tourism Sector in Kendal Regency in managing the levy. This research is a descriptive research that uses the qualitative approach as the method. Based on the existing types of research, it is acknowledged that there are several issues in regard to the policy of tourism levy, which cover the financial budget funds, addition of the number of the rides or innovation in tourism management, as well as other factors such as human resource in Kendal Regency, which can be seen from the considerably low quality and quantity. The offered solution comprises the government’s action in improving the infrastructure development in many tourist sites being managed by the local government to adequately maintain and enhance the number of human resource in the work environment, regarding both the quality and quantity of the tourist destinations in Kendal Regency that should be well-organized

Is growth bad for the environment? Pollution, abatement, and endogenous growth

The authors investigate the implications of pollution as a byproduct of production and analyze how environmental concern affects the optimal rate of economic growth and optimal government policy. The government must levy taxes on income to finance both productive government spending and abatement activities. It must levy an optimal tax. Too high a tax rate harms prospects for growth and too low a tax rate is bad for the environment. The authors distinguish between two approaches to incorporate the environment into the model stock approach and the flow approach. The flow approach assumes that the level of environmental quality changes instantly if production or abatement levels change (this is relevant for analyzing externalities associated, for example, with noise). The stock approach assumes that pollution and abatement indirectly influence the environment by affecting the rate of change in the environment over time (this is more relevant for analyzing problems of acid rain). They conclude that: win-win situations (in which improvements in economic growth and environmental quality go hand in hand) cannot arise under the flow approach, but can arise under the stock approach - if and only if the intertemporal elasticity of substitution exceeds unity; and maximizing the economy's growth rate is never optimal unless consumers care nothing about the environment.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Growth,Governance Indicators,Public Sector Economics&Finance

Kajian Perkembangan Retribusi Pariwisata di Kabupaten Kendal (Kajian Kebijakan Perda Nomor 10 Tahun 2010 Tentang Retribusi Jasa USAha)

Levy of the tourism management under the auspices of the Department of Youth Sport and Tourism of Kendal Regency, and its establishment are arranged in Regional Regulation No. 10 of 2011 of Kendal Regency “the levy of service business in Kendal Regency” which is written in Chapter VII pertaining to the levy of the recreation areas and sports that serve as the legal foundation of an area in Kendal Regency in terms of the handling and management of the Tourism Levy. This research aims to ascertain the development of the levy of the tourism sector in managing three tourist attractions, which are Sendang Sekucing Beach, Curug, Sewu, Boja Swimming Pool as well as to understand the issues faced by Tourism Sector in Kendal Regency in managing the levy. This research is a descriptive research that uses the qualitative approach as the method. Based on the existing types of research, it is acknowledged that there are several issues in regard to the policy of tourism levy, which cover the financial budget funds, addition of the number of the rides or innovation in tourism management, as well as other factors such as human resource in Kendal Regency, which can be seen from the considerably low quality and quantity. The offered solution comprises the government\u27s action in improving the infrastructure development in many tourist sites being managed by the local government to adequately maintain and enhance the number of human resource in the work environment, regarding both the quality and quantity of the tourist destinations in Kendal Regency that should be well-organized

Beans as a Medium of Exchange

This note describes an experiment, which is an extension of the experiment proposed by Levy and Bergen (1993). The experiment is designed to simulate an environment where something that is very similar to fiat money (i.e., is homogenous, durable, portable, storable, divisible, has no intrinsic value of its own, etc.) will be accepted in market transactions and thus will have a “value.” This is accomplished through an implementation of a taxation mechanism in the spirit of legal restriction theory of monetary economics.Roles of Money, Functions of Money, Barter, Exchange Economy, Medium of Exchange, Store of Value, Unit of Account, Experiment, Efficient and Inefficient Medium of Exchange, Types of Money, Fiat Money, Commodity Money, Features of Money, Homogeneity, Divisibility, Durability, Storability, Portability, Scarcity, Efficiency versus Equity, Information Cost