Environmental policy, innovation and performance : new insights on the Porter hypothesis

Jaffe and Palmer (1997) present three distinct variants of the so-called Porter Hypothesis. The “weak” version of the hypothesis posits that environmental regulation will stimulate certain kinds of environmental innovations. The “narrow” version of the hypothesis asserts that flexible environmental policy regimes give firms greater incentive to innovate than prescriptive regulations, such as technology-based standards.Finally, the “strong” version posits that properly designed regulation may induce cost-saving innovation that more than compensates for the cost of compliance. In this paper, we test the significance of these different variants of the Porter Hypothesis using data on the four main elements of the hypothesised causality chain (environmental policy, research and development, environmental performance and commercial performance). The analysis is based upon a unique database which includes observations from approximately 4200 facilities in seven OECD countries. In general, we find strong support for the “weak” version, qualified support for the “narrow” version, and qualified support for the “strong” version as well.PORTHER HYPOTHESIS;ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY;INNOVATION;ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE;BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Effects of Downscattering on the Continuum and Line Spectra in Powerful Wind Environment. Monte Carlo Simulations, Analytical Results and Data Analysis

In Paper by Titarchuk & Shrader the general formulation and results for photon reprocessing (downscattering) that included recoil and Comptonization effects due to divergence of the flow were presented. Here we show the Monte Carlo (MC) simulated continuum and line spectra. We also provide an analytical description of the simulated continuum spectra using the diffusion approximation. We have simulated the propagation of monochromatic and continuum photons in a bulk outflow from a compact object. Electron scattering of the photons within the expanding flow leads to a decrease of their energy which is of first order in V/c (where V is the outflow velocity). The downscattering effect of first order in V/c in the diverging flow is explained by semi-analytical calculations and confirmed by MC simulations. We conclude that redshifted lines and downscattering bumps are intrinsic properties of the powerful outflows for which Thomson optical depth is greater than one. We fitted our model line profiles to the observations using four free parameters, \beta=V/c, optical depth of the wind \tau, the wind temperature kT_e and the original line photon energy E_0. We show how the primary spectrum emitted close to the black hole is modified by reprocessing in the warm wind. In the framework of the our wind model the fluorescent iron line K_alpha is formed in the partly ionized wind as a result of illumination by central source continuum photons. The demonstrated application of our outflow model to the XMM observations of MCG 6-30-15, and to the ASCA observations of GRO J1655-40, points out a potential powerful spectral diagnostic for probes of the outflow-central object connection in Galactic and extragalactic BH sources

Emergence of complex and spinor wave functions in Scale Relativity. II. Lorentz invariance and bi-spinors

Owing to the non-differentiable nature of the theory of Scale Relativity, the emergence of complex wave functions, then of spinors and bi-spinors occurs naturally in its framework. The wave function is here a manifestation of the velocity field of geodesics of a continuous and non-differentiable (therefore fractal) space-time. In a first paper (Paper I), we have presented the general argument which leads to this result using an elaborate and more detailed derivation than previously displayed. We have therefore been able to show how the complex wave function emerges naturally from the doubling of the velocity field and to revisit the derivation of the non relativistic Schr\"odinger equation of motion. In the present paper (Paper II) we deal with relativistic motion and detail the natural emergence of the bi-spinors from such first principles of the theory. Moreover, while Lorentz invariance has been up to now inferred from mathematical results obtained in stochastic mechanics, we display here a new and detailed derivation of the way one can obtain a Lorentz invariant expression for the expectation value of the product of two independent fractal fluctuation fields in the sole framework of the theory of Scale Relativity. These new results allow us to enhance the robustness of our derivation of the two main equations of motion of relativistic quantum mechanics (the Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations) which we revisit here at length.Comment: 24 pages, no figure; very minor corrections to fit the published version: a few typos and a completed referenc

Solar meridional circulation from twenty-one years of SOHO/MDI and SDO/HMI observations: Helioseismic travel times and forward modeling in the ray approximation

The south-north travel-time differences are measured by applying time-distance helioseismology to the MDI and HMI medium-degree Dopplergrams covering May 1996-April 2017. Our data analysis corrects for several sources of systematic effects: P-angle error, surface magnetic field effects, and center-to-limb variations. An interpretation of the travel-time measurements is obtained using a forward-modeling approach in the ray approximation. The travel-time differences are similar in the southern hemisphere for cycles 23 and 24. However, they differ in the northern hemisphere between cycles 23 and 24. Except for cycle 24's northern hemisphere, the measurements favor a single-cell meridional circulation model where the poleward flows persist down to $\sim$0.8 $R_\odot$, accompanied by local inflows toward the activity belts in the near-surface layers. Cycle 24's northern hemisphere is anomalous: travel-time differences are significantly smaller when travel distances are greater than 20$^\circ$. This asymmetry between northern and southern hemispheres during cycle 24 was not present in previous measurements (e.g., Rajaguru & Antia 2015), which assumed a different P-angle error correction where south-north travel-time differences are shifted to zero at the equator for all travel distances. In our measurements, the travel-time differences at the equator are zero for travel distances less than $\sim$30$^\circ$, but they do not vanish for larger travel distances. This equatorial offset for large travel distances need not be interpreted as a deep cross-equator flow; it could be due to the presence of asymmetrical local flows at the surface near the end points of the acoustic ray paths.Comment: accepted for publication in A&

Emergence of complex and spinor wave functions in scale relativity. I. Nature of scale variables

One of the main results of Scale Relativity as regards the foundation of quantum mechanics is its explanation of the origin of the complex nature of the wave function. The Scale Relativity theory introduces an explicit dependence of physical quantities on scale variables, founding itself on the theorem according to which a continuous and non-differentiable space-time is fractal (i.e., scale-divergent). In the present paper, the nature of the scale variables and their relations to resolutions and differential elements are specified in the non-relativistic case (fractal space). We show that, owing to the scale-dependence which it induces, non-differentiability involves a fundamental two-valuedness of the mean derivatives. Since, in the scale relativity framework, the wave function is a manifestation of the velocity field of fractal space-time geodesics, the two-valuedness of velocities leads to write them in terms of complex numbers, and yields therefore the complex nature of the wave function, from which the usual expression of the Schr\"odinger equation can be derived.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures, major changes from the first version, matches the published versio

GRB Observed by IBIS/PICsIT in the MeV Energy Range

We present the preliminary results of a systematic search for GRB and other transients in the publicly available data for the IBIS/PICsIT (0.2-10 MeV) detector on board INTEGRAL. Lightcurves in 2-8 energy bands with time resolution from 1 to 62.5 ms have been collected and an analysis of spectral and temporal characteristics has been performed. This is the nucleus of a forthcoming first catalog of GRB observed by PICsIT.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Poster presented at COSPAR 2008. Advaces in Space Research, accepted for publicatio

Gravitational Topological Quantum Field Theory Versus N = 2 D = 8 Supergravity and its lift to N = 1 D = 11 Supergravity

In a previous work, it was shown that the 8-dimensional topological quantum field theory for a metric and a Kalb-Ramond 2-form gauge field determines N = 1 D = 8 supergravity. It is shown here that, the combination of this TQFT with that of a 3-form determines N = 2 D = 8 supergravity, that is, an untruncated dimensional reduction of N = 1 D = 11 supergravity. Our construction holds for 8-dimensional manifolds with Spin(7) \subset SO(8) holonomy. We suggest that the origin of local Poincare supersymmetry is the gravitational topological symmetry. We indicate a mechanism for the lift of the TQFT in higher dimensions, which generates Chern-Simons couplings.Comment: one section has been adde

Non-Abelian gauge field theory in scale relativity

Gauge field theory is developed in the framework of scale relativity. In this theory, space-time is described as a non-differentiable continuum, which implies it is fractal, i.e., explicitly dependent on internal scale variables. Owing to the principle of relativity that has been extended to scales, these scale variables can themselves become functions of the space-time coordinates. Therefore, a coupling is expected between displacements in the fractal space-time and the transformations of these scale variables. In previous works, an Abelian gauge theory (electromagnetism) has been derived as a consequence of this coupling for global dilations and/or contractions. We consider here more general transformations of the scale variables by taking into account separate dilations for each of them, which yield non-Abelian gauge theories. We identify these transformations with the usual gauge transformations. The gauge fields naturally appear as a new geometric contribution to the total variation of the action involving these scale variables, while the gauge charges emerge as the generators of the scale transformation group. A generalized action is identified with the scale-relativistic invariant. The gauge charges are the conservative quantities, conjugates of the scale variables through the action, which find their origin in the symmetries of the ``scale-space''. We thus found in a geometric way and recover the expression for the covariant derivative of gauge theory. Adding the requirement that under the scale transformations the fermion multiplets and the boson fields transform such that the derived Lagrangian remains invariant, we obtain gauge theories as a consequence of scale symmetries issued from a geometric space-time description.Comment: 24 pages, LaTe