Comparison of auctions and alternative policy options for RES-E support

This is the final version of the report. Available from AURES via the DOI in this record.This report summarises the findings of Task 6.2 of the AURES project. It intends to compare auctions with alternative policy instruments and examines under which circumstances auctions may be superior and inferior to achieve intended policy targets. Among an abundant list of potential policy drivers, which may affect an instrument’s effectiveness, its efficiency or further success criteria, the basis for the present analysis is the factor risk. It is demonstrated that risk constitutes an important factor as it may have decisive effects on societal welfare and thus may affect the decision-making of policy makers. Given a degree of uncertainty regarding the marginal costs and the marginal benefits of renewable support, particularly the choice between price and quantity-based instruments may yield different welfare effects. Both instruments expose policy makers to a risk of setting inefficient investment incentives. However, while price instruments may reduce the risk of welfare losses given a relatively steep marginal cost and a comparably flat marginal benefit curve, a quantity scheme may be superior if the relation between the two curves is vice versa. Building on this insight, our analysis reveals that the incentives for the use of policy instruments to support the deployment of RES are both country and technology specific. In general, it appears that the incentive to employ a quantity-based mean such as an auction is larger when the natural resources of the technology that is to be supported are abundant and if that technology is rather well developed. Moreover, since within a country the market and natural conditions of the different RES technologies and hence their supply costs may vary considerably, our findings provide an argument against a technology-neutral support.EU Horizon 2020 program, grant number 64617

Coulomb-hadron phase factor and spin phenomena in a wide region of transfer momenta

The Coulomb-hadron interference effects are examined at small and large $t$. The methods for the definition of spin-dependent parts of hadron scattering amplitude are presented. The additional contributions to analyzing power $A_N$ and the double spin correlation parameter $A_{NN}$ owing to the electromagnetic-hadron interference are determined in the diffraction dip domain of high-energy elastic hadron scattering.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, 4 figure

Data-Driven Analysis Of Construction Bidding Stage-Related Causes Of Disputes

Construction bidding is a complex process that involves several potential risks and uncertainties for all the stakeholders involved. Such complexities, risks, and uncertainties, if uncontrolled, can lead to the rise of claims, conflicts, and disputes during the course of a project. Even though a substantial amount of knowledge has been acquired about construction disputes and their causation, there is a lack of research that examines the causes of disputes associated with the bidding phase of projects. This study addresses this knowledge gap within the context of infrastructure projects. In investigating and analyzing the causation of disputes related to the bidding stage, the authors implemented a multistep research methodology that incorporated data collection, network analysis (NA), spectral clustering, and association rule analysis (ARA). Based on a manual content analysis of 94 legal cases, the authors identified a comprehensive list of 27 causes of disputes associated with the bidding stage of infrastructure projects. The NA results indicated that the major common causes leading to disputes in infrastructure projects comprise inaccurate cost estimates, inappropriate tender documents, nonproper or untimely notification of errors in a submitted bid, nonproper or untimely notification of errors in tender documents, and noncompliance with Request for Proposals\u27 (RFP) requirements. Upon categorizing and clustering the causes of disputes, the ARA results revealed that the most critical associations are related to differing site conditions, errors in submitted bids, unbalanced bidding, errors in cost estimates, and errors in tender documents. This study promotes an in-depth understanding of the causes of disputes associated with the bidding phase within the context of infrastructure projects, which should better enable the establishment of proactive plans and practices to control these causes as well as mitigate the occurrence of their associated disputes during project execution

Macroscopic quantum tunneling and phase diffusion in a La2−x_{2-x}Srx_xCuO4_4 intrinsic Josephson junction stack

We performed measurements of switching current distribution in a submicron La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ (LSCO) intrinsic Josephson junction (IJJ) stack in a wide temperature range. The escape rate saturates below approximately 2\,K, indicating that the escape event is dominated by a macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) process with a crossover temperature $T^{*}\approx2\,$K. We applied the theory of MQT for IJJ stacks, taking into account dissipation and the phase re-trapping effect in the LSCO IJJ stack. The theory is in good agreement with the experiment both in the MQT and in the thermal activation regimes.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Consequences of critical interchain couplings and anisotropy on a Haldane chain

Effects of interchain couplings and anisotropy on a Haldane chain have been investigated by single crystal inelastic neutron scattering and density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the model compound SrNi$_2$V$_2$O$_8$. Significant effects on low energy excitation spectra are found where the Haldane gap ($\Delta_0 \approx 0.41J$; where $J$ is the intrachain exchange interaction) is replaced by three energy minima at different antiferromagnetic zone centers due to the complex interchain couplings. Further, the triplet states are split into two branches by single-ion anisotropy. Quantitative information on the intrachain and interchain interactions as well as on the single-ion anisotropy are obtained from the analyses of the neutron scattering spectra by the random phase approximation (RPA) method. The presence of multiple competing interchain interactions is found from the analysis of the experimental spectra and is also confirmed by the DFT calculations. The interchain interactions are two orders of magnitude weaker than the nearest-neighbour intrachain interaction $J$ = 8.7~meV. The DFT calculations reveal that the dominant intrachain nearest-neighbor interaction occurs via nontrivial extended superexchange pathways Ni--O--V--O--Ni involving the empty $d$ orbital of V ions. The present single crystal study also allows us to correctly position SrNi$_2$V$_2$O$_8$ in the theoretical $D$-$J_{\perp}$ phase diagram [T. Sakai and M. Takahashi, Phys. Rev. B 42, 4537 (1990)] showing where it lies within the spin-liquid phase.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables PRB (accepted). in Phys. Rev. B (2015