Comparing Permit Allocation Options: The Main Points

In discussions about the policy design of domestic emission trading, e.g., when implementing the Kyoto Protocol, the two permit allocation alternatives ­ auctioning and allocation gratis (grandfathering) ­ are often pitted against each other as representing utopian cost-effectiveness and political realism, respectively. In this note, an attempt is made to extract the main points of a comparison between the two options with respect to efficiency and distribution.Domestic carbon emissions trading; permit allocation; grandfathering; auctioning; cost effectiveness; Kyoto protocol

Improving Cost-effectiveness and Facilitating Participation of Developing Countries in International Emissions Trading

This paper discusses ways in which the next climate agreement ­ a renegotiated Kyoto Protocol or a second-period agreement ­ can be made more cost-effective. The discussion focuses on the design of international emissions trading to facilitate early participation by developing countries. Four aspects are highlighted: the design of compensation rules, the need to regulate the use of the CDM, the effect of allowing borrowing and the implications of a Commitment Period Reserve.Climate change policy; cost effectiveness; international emissions trading; Kyoto protocol; Clean Development Mechanism; Commitment Period Reserve; developing countries

Preference Reversal, Real-World Lotteries, and Lottery-Interested Subjects

Preference reversal, or choice/reservation-price inconsistency, has been documented experimentally for certain types of lotteries. We argue that the relevance of these findings for real-world markets is uncertain because the type of objects used cannot exist on a market and because the extent to which the subjects had any real interest in the objects is unknown. Using real-world lotteries, we have tested choice/price consistency on subjects who prefer lotteries to cash. Preference reversal was observed, but the frequency was much lower than in earlier experiments. There were no differences between subjects who qualify as ""lottery interested"" and those who did not.

Cost-effective Approaches to Attracting Low-Income Countries to International Emissions Trading: Theory and Experiments

The cost-effectiveness of the Kyoto Protocol and any similar non-global treaty would be enhanced by attracting as many new countries as possible to integrational emissions trading and achieving these additions as soon as possible. This paper focuses on two forms of compensation that can be used to attract poor, risk-averse countries to participate in emissions trading. The theoretical as well as experimental evidence presented here suggests that, if poor countries are more cost-effective than relying solely on Assigned Amounts as has been the case so far. In fact, the theoretical argument for cost-effectiveness indicates that large parts of the Assigned Amounts to new participating countries should be replaced by financial transfers. Using money for partial compensation would aslo reduce the risk for 'hot air' allocations and the ensuing political obstacles to cost-effectiveness that such allocations tend to create.Climate change policy; international emissions trading; cost effectiveness; 'hot air'; experiments

Extrinsic Curvature Dependence of Nielsen-Olesen Strings

It is shown how to treat the degrees of freedom of Nielsen-Olesen vortices in the $3+1$-dimensional $U(1)$ higgs model by a collective coordinate method. In the london limit, where the higgs mass becomes infinite, the gauge and goldstone degrees of freedom are integrated out, resulting in the vortex world-sheet action. Introducing an ultraviolet cut-off mimics the effect of finite higgs mass. This action is non-polynomial in derivatives and depends on the extrinsic curvature of the surface. Flat surfaces are stable if the coherence length is less than the penetration depth. It is argued that in the quantum abelian higgs model, vortex world-sheets are dominated by branched polymers.Comment: 12 pages, latex, CCNY-HEP-94-3 Some points in the text are clarified and new references are include

Behavior under Uncertainty without Preference Reversal: A Field Experiment

The robust laboratory evidence of preference reversal for lotteries has been interpreted as a threat to the general vailidity of standard theories of decision-making under uncertainty. This evidence is obtained from laboratory, that is, not real-world, lotteries with subjects who have not sought to make decisions among such lotteries. Here, the prevalence of preference reversal is studied in a field experiment with used cars, that is, a case of real-world non-trivial, non-lottery - but still payoff-uncertain - choice objects, and with subjects who registered as potential buyers of such cars. No sign of preference reversal was observed.

Implications of Lorentz covariance for the guidance equation in two-slit quantum interference

It is known that Lorentz covariance fixes uniquely the current and the associated guidance law in the trajectory interpretation of quantum mechanics for spin particles. In the non-relativistic domain this implies a guidance law for the electron which differs by an additional spin-dependent term from that originally proposed by de Broglie and Bohm. In this paper we explore some of the implications of the modified guidance law. We bring out a property of mutual dependence in the particle coordinates that arises in product states, and show that the quantum potential has scalar and vector components which implies the particle is subject to a Lorentz-like force. The conditions for the classical limit and the limit of negligible spin are given, and the empirical sufficiency of the model is demonstrated. We then present a series of calculations of the trajectories based on two-dimensional Gaussian wave packets which illustrate how the additional spin-dependent term plays a significant role in structuring both the individual trajectories and the ensemble. The single packet corresponds to quantum inertial motion. The distinct features encountered when the wavefunction is a product or a superposition are explored, and the trajectories that model the two-slit experiment are given. The latter paths exhibit several new characteristics compared with the original de Broglie-Bohm ones, such as crossing of the axis of symmetry.Comment: 27 pages including 6 pages of figure

Electroless Co-P-Carbon Nanotube composite coating to enhance magnetic properties of grain-oriented electrical steel

The effect of Co–P-CNT coating on the magnetic properties of grain oriented electrical steel was investigated. To analyse the coating, Raman spectroscopy, Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID), single strip testing, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and talysurf surface profilometry were performed. Raman spectra showed the D and G band which corroborates the presence of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) in the coating. The magnetic nature of the coating was confirmed by SQUID results. Power loss results show an improvement ranging 13–15% after coating with Co–P-CNT. The resistivity of the coating was measured to be 104 µΩ cm. Loss separation graphs were plotted before and after coating to study the improvement in power loss. It was found that the coating helps in reducing the hysteresis loss. The thickness of the coating was found to be 414±40 nm. The surface profilometry results showed that the surface roughness improved after coating the sample