Early Emissions Reduction Programs: An Application to CO2 Policy

In the wake of the December 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which, if implemented, would oblige the United States and other industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 2008–2012, a number of proposals have been offered to increase the incentives for reducing emissions over the nearer term. The existence of an interim period between setting and implementing environmental goals is ubiquitous in environmental policymaking. The existence of this interim period gives rise to several potential rationales for early emissions reductions. In this paper we use a series of simple models and numerical illustrations to analyze some aspects of the performance of early emissions reduction programs in the case of GHGs. We show that there is a compelling economic case for allowing early GHGs reduction credits if countries (not just individual firms) could bank early credits to offset future emissions. The annualized cost savings to the United States from spreading out abatement over time could easily amount to several billion dollars. But without the aggregate banking provision, such credits could easily generate an excessive amount of abatement and produce net economic losses. We analyze a number of other issues that affect the economic efficiency of early reduction credits, including asymmetric information, learning-by-doing (LBD), and fiscal impacts. We also compare the performance of an early reduction credits program with that of an early cap-and-trade program. This latter approach, if properly scaled, can avoid many of the problems associated with early reduction credits.

Brown Fields, a Regional Incinerator and Resident Perception of Neighborhood Quality

The authors discuss an extension of their research into residential perceptions of neighborhood quality as affected by urban blight. They believe that unwanted facilities may help deteriorate neighborhoods to the point where they are fit only for such uses

Configurations Driving NPD Performance Fit with Market Demands and Time Constraints

The research reported in this paper is aimed at developing knowledge on organizing NPD systems to optimize their contribution to performance. To this end, a systems approach to fit is used to explain the context-structure-performance relationships for NPD performance, specifically in terms of fit with market demands of the product concept and fit with time constraints of the development process. From a sample of 164 US firms, the top 15 % performers in terms of both fit with market demands and fit with time constraints have been identified. An optimized ‘Ideal Profile’ for the organization of NPD systems, formed by a consistent pattern of: NPD Process, NPD Project Structure and Management, Innovation Climate, and NPD Goal Setting and Portfolio Management, followed from the analysis of the NPD configuration of these top performers. For the calibration sample (the other 85%) significant deviation from the ideal profile on all elements of the configuration was found, the correlations between NPD Performance Fit with Market Demands and Fit with Time Constraints and total Euclidean distance are also significant. Overall, these results provide evidence for the proposition that (1) new product success is a function of a set of NPD development system decisions and (2) to truly understand the impact of those decisions, they must be considered as a holistic system.\ud The contribution of this research is in the empirical validation of the internal consistency of an ideal organizational profile for NPD systems achieving both a high NPD performance in terms of market acceptance of their new products as well in terms of the satisfactory level of the development times of those products. By also examining ideal profiles for each of these NPD performance dimensions separately, the conflicting demands created by multiple performance metrics are highlighted as well as the organizational trade-offs necessary for optimal performance. In terms of managerial implications, this also gives direction for organizational redesign to firms either wanting to maximize their product concept (Fit with Market Demands) or development process (Fit with Time Constraints) performance

SPECTROCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF WHOLE POWDERED COAL

The analysis of coal without sample dissolution was investigated by introducing coal slurries, into a variety of atom cells including electrothermal atomisation atomic absorption spectroscopy (ETAAAS), inductively coupled plasmas and direct current plasmas for atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES, DCP-AES) and inductively coupled mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). All the analyses were calibrated using aqueous standards. Slurries were injected into an electrothermal atomiser. The effects of furnace programme, background correction and air ashing were investigated. As, Se, Cd and Sb were successfully determined in a variety of certified reference material coals. For As the coal was slurried in nickel nitrate, magnesium nitrate, nitric acid and ethanol. Continuiun source and Smith-Hiefije background correction were compared for correction of a broadened Al line interference at the As (193.7 nm) line. Only the latter was effective. Smaller Se signals were obtained from coal compared to aqueous solutions. Iron coal produced structured background and hence overcorrection. The successful method introduced air into the ash stage. Both DCP and ICP techniques yielded good agreement with certificate values provided that the particle size was reduced to below 16 um and 10 um respectively. Simplex optimisation identified the critical parameters for aluminium determinations as being high injector flow rate and low observation height. Preliminary investigations of slurry atomisation using ICP-MS and 0.2% m/v slurried coal gave no blocking. Contamination from zirconia grinding elements used to comminute coal was investigated using laser ablation ICP-MS. Excitation temperature (Texc), ionisation temperature (Tion) rotational temperature (Trot) and electron number density (ng), were measured for different slurry concentrations (1-30% m/v) in the ICP. Depending on themometric species used, Texc may decrease with slurry concentration, but there were no similar decreases in Tion, T(rot) and ng. Observed decreases in analyte emission with increased sample loadings (> 10%) were shown to be caused by transport effects.National Coal Board Coal House Lyon Road HARROW Middlese

Blockchain: case studies in supply chain visibility

Purpose:This paper investigates how blockchain has moved beyond cryptocurrencies and is being deployed to enhance visibility and trust in supply chains; its limitations, and potential impact. Approach: Qualitative analysis undertaken via case studies drawn from food companies using semi-structured interviews. Findings: Blockchain is demonstrated as an enabler of visibility in supply chains. Applications at scale are most likely for products where the end consumer is prepared to pay the premium currently required to fund the technology, e.g. baby food. Challenges remain in four areas: trust of the technology; human error and fraud at the boundaries; governance; consumer data access and willingness to pay. Research implications and limitations: The paper shows that blockchain can be utilised as part of a system generating visibility and trust in supply chains. Research directs academic attention to issues that remain to be addressed. The challenges pertaining to the technology itself we believe to be generalisable; those specific to the food industry may not hold elsewhere. Practical implications: From live case studies we provide empirical evidence that blockchain provides visibility of exchanges and reliable data in fully-digitised supply chains. This provides provenance and guards against counterfeit goods. However, firms will need to work to gain consumer buy-in for the technology following repeated past claims of trustworthiness. Originality: This paper provides primary evidence from blockchain use cases ‘in the wild’. The exploratory case studies examine application of blockchain for supply chain visibility.</p

Slow entropy and differentiable models for infinite-measure preserving Z^k actions

We define "slow" entropy invariants for Z^2 actions on infinite measure spaces, which measures growth of itineraries at subexponential scales. We use this to construct infinite-measure preserving Z^2 actions which cannot be realized as a group of diffeomorphisms of a compact manifold preserving a Borel measure, contrary to the situation for Z-actions, where every infinite-measure preserving action can be realized in this way.Comment: 20 page

Fatigue crack propagation in welded structural steel

This report presents a summary of investigations into the fatigue response of butt welded plates. It was found that crack growth rates in as-welded material may be lower than in as-received specimens

Information, Promotion, and the Addoption of Innovative Consumer Durables

The diffusion of innovative new products is critically dependent on the transmission of relevant information to potential adopters. Existing research indicates that the relative effectiveness of different communication tools depends on the type of information being communicated. Written and verbal communication tools can be effective when consumers make adoption decisions based on search attributes. However, when adoption depends on experience attributes, marketers must find ways to effectively expose consumers to these attributes. In this paper the authors explore the effectiveness of promotional incentives in motivating consumers to engage in behaviors that should increase their understanding of an innovation's experience attributes. To the authors' knowledge, the research described here is the first published study of the relative effectiveness of different promotional vehicles in stimulating adoption of a consumer durable. The empirical analysis is based on data collected in a real-world experiment involving 614 households. Just over half of these households received a free DVD movie disc as an incentive to participate in the study. The authors assigned the participating households to four treatment groups of 100 households each and a control group of 214 households. The households in the treatment groups received one of four promotional offers that featured some form of a $50 monetary incentive. These promotional offers differed in the degree to which they encouraged behavior that exposed consumers to the experience attributes of a DVD player. After one month the authors surveyed these households again to determine how many purchased a DVD player in the preceding month. An analysis of this experimental data reveals that all four monetary promotions significantly enhanced the probability of adoption. In particular, the average adoption rate among the households receiving one of the monetary incentives was 41%. In contrast, none of the households in the control group reported purchasing a DVD player. Promotions that paid consumers for specific behaviors that precede purchase were no less effective than a coupon that reduces the purchase price by an equivalent amount. In addition, promotions that directly exposed consumers to experience attributes were more effective than promotions that simply provided consumers with the opportunity to learn about experience attributes. Finally, the gift of a free complementary product (a DVD movie) enhanced the effectiveness of three of the four monetary promotions. The authors close with a discussion of managerial implications and directions for future search

A Lightweight Loudspeaker for Aircraft Communications and Active Noise Control

A series of new, lightweight loudspeakers for use on commercial aircraft has been developed. The loudspeakers use NdFeB magnets and aluminum alloy frames to reduce the weight. The NdFeB magnet is virtually encapsulated by steel in the new speaker designs. Active noise reduction using internal loudspeakers was demonstrated to be effective in 1983. A weight, space, and cost efficient method for creating the active sound attenuating fields is to use the existing cabin loudspeakers for both communication and sound attenuation. This will require some additional loudspeaker design considerations