The pricing dynamics of utilities with underdeveloped networks

This paper uses an analytically tractable intertemporal framework for analyzing the dynamic pricing of a utility with an underdeveloped network (a typical case in most developing countries) facing a competitive fringe, short-run network adjustment costs, theft of service, and the threat of a retaliatory regulatory review that is increasing with the price it charges. This simple dynamic optimization model yields a number of powerful policy insights and conclusions. Under a variety of plausible assumptions (in the context of developing countries) the utility will find its long-run profits enhanced if it exercises restraint in the early stages of network development by holding price below the limit defined by the unit costs of the fringe. The utility's optimal price gradually converges toward the limit price as its network expands. Moreover, when the utility is threatened with retaliatory regulatory intervention, it will generally have incentives to restrain its pricing behavior. These findings have important implications for the design of post-privatization regulatory governance in developing countries.Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access,Urban Water Supply and Sanitation,Infrastructure Regulation,Access to Markets

Quantum Walk on a Line with Two Entangled Particles

We introduce the concept of a quantum walk with two particles and study it for the case of a discrete time walk on a line. A quantum walk with more than one particle may contain entanglement, thus offering a resource unavailable in the classical scenario and which can present interesting advantages. In this work, we show how the entanglement and the relative phase between the states describing the coin degree of freedom of each particle will influence the evolution of the quantum walk. In particular, the probability to find at least one particle in a certain position after $N$ steps of the walk, as well as the average distance between the two particles, can be larger or smaller than the case of two unentangled particles, depending on the initial conditions we choose. This resource can then be tuned according to our needs, in particular to enhance a given application (algorithmic or other) based on a quantum walk. Experimental implementations are briefly discussed

Spin-Space Entanglement Transfer and Quantum Statistics

Both the topics of entanglement and particle statistics have aroused enormous research interest since the advent of quantum mechanics. Using two pairs of entangled particles we show that indistinguishability enforces a transfer of entanglement from the internal to the spatial degrees of freedom without any interaction between these degrees of freedom. Moreover, sub-ensembles selected by local measurements of the path will in general have different amounts of entanglement in the internal degrees of freedom depending on the statistics (either fermionic or bosonic) of the particles involved.Comment: 5 figures. Various changes for clarification and references adde

Electronic Properties of Strained Si/Ge Core-Shell Nanowires

We investigated the electronic properties of strained Si/Ge core-shell nanowires along the [110] direction using first principles calculations based on density-functional theory. The diameter of the studied core-shell wire is up to 5 nm. We found the band gap of the core-shell wire is smaller than that of both pure Si and Ge wires with the same diameter. This reduced band gap is ascribed to the intrinsic strain between Ge and Si layers, which partially counters the quantum confinement effect. The external strain is further applied to the nanowires for tuning the band structure and band gap. By applying sufficient tensile strain, we found the band gap of Si-core/Ge-shell nanowire with diameter larger than ~3 nm experiences a transition from direct to indirect gap.Comment: 4 figure

Employee attitudes as a mediator between HRM and organizational performance

Attitude is a power that controls human behaviour. When employee Attitude is positive, it can give impact positive to organization performance. A proper human resource management (HRM) managed by organization, the employee attitude will be affected. HRM practices influence employee attitude positively and there is a mediating role of employee attitude between training and development dimension of HRM practices and organizational performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore employee atttiude as a mediator between HRM and organizational performance. A sample of this study was 219 respondents from employee construction in Libya. The data was analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. This study showed that employee attitudes is a full mediator between relationship HRM and organizational performance. Therefore, HRM practices influence employee attitude and its give impact to organizational performance for more effective and efficient in achieving organization goal

Optimal State Discrimination Using Particle Statistics

We present an application of particle statistics to the problem of optimal ambiguous discrimination of quantum states. The states to be discriminated are encoded in the internal degrees of freedom of identical particles, and we use the bunching and antibunching of the external degrees of freedom to discriminate between various internal states. We show that we can achieve the optimal single-shot discrimination probability using only the effects of particle statistics. We discuss interesting applications of our method to detecting entanglement and purifying mixed states. Our scheme can easily be implemented with the current technology

Recognizing Graph Theoretic Properties with Polynomial Ideals

Many hard combinatorial problems can be modeled by a system of polynomial equations. N. Alon coined the term polynomial method to describe the use of nonlinear polynomials when solving combinatorial problems. We continue the exploration of the polynomial method and show how the algorithmic theory of polynomial ideals can be used to detect k-colorability, unique Hamiltonicity, and automorphism rigidity of graphs. Our techniques are diverse and involve Nullstellensatz certificates, linear algebra over finite fields, Groebner bases, toric algebra, convex programming, and real algebraic geometry.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Sludge Dewatering and Drying Using Microwave Heating

Industrial and domestic activities produce large quantities of residual sludge. Nowadays a wide reduction of these waste volumes is necessary. Drying of the sludge which reduces its volume and mass is an important aspect for sludge management. The mechanical dewatering by pressure filters or centrifuges is not always sufficient to satisfy new environmental regulations and a thermal drying step is often needed. Microwaves are electromagnetic waves whose frequency ranges lie between that of radio waves and infrared radiation. Microwave is of rapid, volumetric and selective heating source. This study describes the evaluation of the possible use of microwave heating as a new sludge thermal treatment technology and faster sludge drying and dewatering technique.In this study, a domestic microwave oven was modified and converted into batch microwave oven with continuous weight an temperature measurement. Four different types of sludge were microwave dried under different operating condition to investigate the microwave potential in drying domestic, agriculture, and chemical sludge. The study shows that microwave drying is more efficient than convective drying up to about 20 to 36 times and ohmic heating up to 2.5 times depends on the sludge type. . Microwave still slow and not efficient at final stage of drying or at low residual moisture content. Agriculture sludge (Palm Oil sludge) was dried faster than other types under microwave energy Volume of sewage and palm oil sludge reduces up to five times by the conventional drying process, eight times by the microwave drying process and eleven times by the incineration process. Microwave treatment show more stable end product than dried sludge but less than incinerated ash in terms of the leaching properties, and it is less than the maximum limits stated by US EPA for disposal of waste to landfill. Finally, the effect of the sludge type on the gas emissions during microwave drying was investigated. Gas Emissions fluctuates during microwave treatment of sludge. CO2 and SO2 emissions increase at the end of the microwave drying process due to the increase in the temperature and the burning of the dry sludge powder