10,098 research outputs found
Scale as a Transaction Cost Variable in the U.S. Biopower Industry
With increasing interest in renewable energy from agriculture, including biopower and cellulose ethanol, several aspects of the industry must be understood. Study of the organization of the biopower industry represents an under researched area and a new application of transaction cost theory to an emerging industry. Refinement of the theory can also result from challenging applications. This article provides an application of transaction cost economics to the existing United States biopower industry while challenging the empirical convention of excluding production cost variables from transaction cost analysis. Utilizing survey data from 53 biopower generators, scale is modeled as a transaction cost variable in explaining the choice of organizational from. Consistent with transaction cost theory, the probability of observing internal organization is found to be negatively correlated to scale. Given this evidence, this article reconsiders the impact of scale and transaction costs on the choice of organizational from.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Dynamics and universality in noise driven dissipative systems
We investigate the dynamical properties of low dimensional systems, driven by
external noise sources. Specifically we consider a resistively shunted
Josephson junction and a one dimensional quantum liquid in a commensurate
lattice potential, subject to noise. In absence of nonlinear coupling, we
have shown previously that these systems establish a non-equilibrium critical
steady state [Nature Phys. 6, 806 (2010)]. Here we use this state as the basis
for a controlled renormalization group analysis using the Keldysh path integral
formulation to treat the non linearities: the Josephson coupling and the
commensurate lattice.
The analysis to first order in the coupling constant indicates transitions
between superconducting and localized regimes that are smoothly connected to
the respective equilibrium transitions. However at second order, the back
action of the mode coupling on the critical state leads to renormalization of
dissipation and emergence of an effective temperature. In the Josephson
junction the temperature is parametrically small allowing to observe a
universal crossover between the superconducting and insulating regimes. The IV
characteristics of the junction displays algebraic behavior controlled by the
underlying critical state over a wide range. In the noisy one dimensional
liquid the generated dissipation and effective temperature are not small as in
the junction. We find a crossover between a quasi-localized regime dominated by
dissipation and another dominated by temperature. However since in the thermal
regime the thermalization rate is parametrically small, signatures of the
non-equilibrium critical state can be seen in transient dynamics.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures. Revised versio
The Amplitude Mode in the Quantum Phase Model
We derive the collective low energy excitations of the quantum phase model of
interacting lattice bosons within the superfluid state using a dynamical
variational approach. We recover the well known sound (or Goldstone) mode and
derive a gapped (Higgs type) mode that was overlooked in previous studies of
the quantum phase model. This mode is relevant to ultracold atoms in a strong
optical lattice potential. We predict the signature of the gapped mode in
lattice modulation experiments and show how it evolves with increasing
interaction strength.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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