8,674 research outputs found
Emissions Taxes and Abatement Regulation Under Uncertainty
We consider environmental regulation in a context where firms invest in abatement technology under conditions of uncertainty about subsequent abatement cost, but can subsequently adjust output in the light of true marginal abatement cost. Where an emissions tax is the only available instrument, policy faces a trade-off between the incentive to invest in abatement technology and efficiency in subsequent output decisions. More efficient outcomes can be achieved by supplementing the emissions tax with direct regulation of abatement technology, or by combining the tax with an abatement technology investment subsidy. We compare the properties of these alternative instrument combinations
Externality-correcting taxes and regulation
Much of the literature on externalities has considered taxes and direct regulation as alternative policy instruments. Both instruments may in practice be imperfect, reflecting informational deficiencies and other limitations. We analyse the use of taxes and regulation in combination, to control externalities arising from individual consumption behaviour. We consider cases where taxes are either imperfectly differentiated to reflect individual differences in externalities, or where some consumption escapes taxation. In both cases we characterise the optimal instrument mix, and show how changing the level of direct regulation alters the optimal externality tax
Lattice stretching bistability and dynamic heterogeneity
A simple one-dimensional lattice model is suggested to describe the
experimentally observed plateau in force-stretching diagrams for some
macromolecules. This chain model involves the nearest-neighbor interaction of a
Morse-like potential (required to have a saturation branch) and an harmonic
second-neighbor coupling. Under an external stretching applied t o the chain
ends, the intersite Morse-like potential results in the appearance of a
double-well potential within each chain monomer, whereas the interaction
between the second neighbors provide s a homogeneous bistable (degenerate)
ground state, at least within a certain part of the chain.
As a result, different conformational changes occur in the chain under the
external forcing. The transition regions between these conformations are
described as topological solitons. With a strong second-neighbor interaction,
the solitons describe the transition between the bistable ground states.
However, the key point of the model is the appearance of a heterogenous
structure, when the second-neighbor coupling is sufficiently weak. In this
case, a part of the chain has short bonds with a single-well potential, whereas
the complementary part admits strongly stretched bonds with a double-well
potential. This case allows us to explain the existence of a plateau in the
force-stretching diagram for DNA and alpha-helix protein. Finally, the soliton
dynamics are studied in detail.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. E, 13 figure
The Employers\u27 Opinions on Navajo Student Employees During the Summer of 1954
The Intermountain School started in January of 1950, being converted from vacated arm hospital to a boarding school for Navajo students. Funds for the support of the school are appropriated by Congress through the Department of Interior and the Indian Bureau. The school is exclusively for Navajo students, and it grew as fast as facilities were remodeled and new buildings were constructed, until capacity was reached. During the first school year, 1950, there were enrolled 503 students. This has increased each succeeding year until capacity was reached in 1954-55 when 2,311 students were enrolled. The staff of the school has increased proportionally with the student body. At the time of this writing, school year 1954-55, there are 445 staff members. These include personnel for administration, supervision, instruction, guidance, accounting, health, food and clothing, custodian service, protective service and maintenance
Quasiperiodic Solutions of the Fibre Optics Coupled Nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger Equations
We consider travelling periodical and quasiperiodical waves in single mode
fibres, with weak birefringence and under the action of cross-phase modulation.
The problem is reduced to the ``1:2:1" integrable case of the two-particle
quartic potential. A general approach for finding elliptic solutions is given.
New solutions which are associated with two-gap Treibich-Verdier potentials are
found. General quasiperiodic solutions are given in terms of two dimensional
theta functions with explicit expressions for frequencies in terms of theta
constants. The reduction of quasiperiodic solutions to elliptic functions is
discussed.Comment: 24 page
Relativistic Landau Levels in the Rotating Cosmic String Spacetime
In the spacetime induced by a rotating cosmic string we compute the energy
levels of a massive spinless particle coupled covariantly to a homogeneous
magnetic field parallel to the string. Afterwards, we consider the addition of
a scalar potential with a Coulomb-type and a linear confining term and
completely solve the Klein-Gordon equations for each configuration. Finally,
assuming rigid-wall boundary conditions, we find the Landau levels when the
linear defect is itself magnetized. Remarkably, our analysis reveals that the
Landau quantization occurs even in the absence of gauge fields provided the
string is endowed with spin.Comment: Writing and grammar revised. References added. 14 pages, no figures.
To appear in European Phys. J.
Computing Lyapunov spectra with continuous Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization
We present a straightforward and reliable continuous method for computing the
full or a partial Lyapunov spectrum associated with a dynamical system
specified by a set of differential equations. We do this by introducing a
stability parameter beta>0 and augmenting the dynamical system with an
orthonormal k-dimensional frame and a Lyapunov vector such that the frame is
continuously Gram-Schmidt orthonormalized and at most linear growth of the
dynamical variables is involved. We prove that the method is strongly stable
when beta > -lambda_k where lambda_k is the k'th Lyapunov exponent in
descending order and we show through examples how the method is implemented. It
extends many previous results.Comment: 14 pages, 10 PS figures, ioplppt.sty, iopl12.sty, epsfig.sty 44 k
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