A Transaction Cost Economizing Approach to Regulation: Understanding the NIMBY Problem and Improving Regulatory Responses

This paper develops a transaction cost economic model for regulation and applies the model to environmental siting regulations designed to overcome NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) political opposition. Negotiations between developers and resistant local communities to site waste facilities, such as landfills or solid waste incinerators, can be characterized as a contracting problem. A rudimentary application of the Coase theorem suggests that developers should be able to compensate communities adequately for hosting a waste facility, but rarely do such negotiations find success. Transaction costs associated with the requisite negotiations, communication, and implementation of the projects preclude efficient bargaining, and thus NIMBY opposition halts the siting of socially necessary and beneficial facilities. Viewing NIMBY disputes as a contracting problem within the world of positive transaction costs therefore reveals the dynamics that foil negotiations between developers and communities. Such a perspective also identifies the role that the theory of the firm can play in understanding how siting regulations overcome those transaction costs and how regulatory regimes can be optimally designed for siting alternative facilities. This paper employs the theory of the firm, specifically transaction cost economics, to articulate the functional purpose of environmental siting regulations and to chart an agenda for regulatory reform. While transaction cost economics traditionally compares mechanisms such as spot markets, contracts, and direct ownership to facilitate economic transactions, we extend transaction cost theory to political transactions between policymakers and initially resistant, though potentially supportive, constituencies. We believe this approach offers a fruitful perspective on regulatory policy. We use it to develop a taxonomy of alternative regulatory regimes and then to propose an overview of regulatory reform for siting socially desirable waste facilities that are either blocked by NIMBY opposition or are unnecessarily shielded from effective negotiations and community participation

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Current Research into Applications of Tomography for Fusion Diagnostics

Retrieving spatial distribution of plasma emissivity from line integrated measurements on tokamaks presents a challenging task due to ill-posedness of the tomography problem and limited number of the lines of sight. Modern methods of plasma tomography therefore implement a-priori information as well as constraints, in particular some form of penalisation of complexity. In this contribution, the current tomography methods under development (Tikhonov regularisation, Bayesian methods and neural networks) are briefly explained taking into account their potential for integration into the fusion reactor diagnostics. In particular, current development of the Minimum Fisher Regularisation method is exemplified with respect to real-time reconstruction capability, combination with spectral unfolding and other prospective tasks

Recharging behavior of nitrogen-centers in ZnO

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance was used to study N2-centers in ZnO, which show a 5-line spectrum described by the hyperfine interaction of two nitrogen nuclei (nuclear spin I  = 1, 99.6% abundance). The recharging of this center exhibits two steps, a weak onset at about 1.4 eV and a strongly increasing signal for photon energies above 1.9 eV. The latter energy coincides with the recharging energy of NO centers (substitutional nitrogen atoms on oxygen sites). The results indicate that the N2-centers are deep level defects and therefore not suitable to cause significant hole-conductivity at room temperature

Investigation of the Impact of Transient Heat Loads Applied by Laser Irradiation on ITER-Grade Tungsten

Cracking thresholds and crack patterns in tungsten targets after repetitive ITER-like edge localized mode (ELM) pulses have been studied in recent simulation experiments by laser irradiation. The tungsten specimens were tested under selected conditions to quantify the thermal shock response. A Nd:YAG laser capable of delivering up to 32 J of energy per pulse with a duration of 1 ms at the fundamental wavelength λ = 1064 nm has been used to irradiate ITER-grade tungsten samples with repetitive heat loads. The laser exposures were performed for targets at room temperature (RT) as well as for targets preheated to 400 °C to measure the effects of the ELM-like loading conditions on the formation and development of cracks. The magnitude of the heat loads was 0.19, 0.38, 0.76 and 0.90 MJ m−2 (below the melting threshold) with a pulse duration of 1 ms. The tungsten surface was analysed after 100 and 1000 laser pulses to investigate the influence of material modification by plasma exposures on the cracking threshold. The observed damage threshold for ITER-grade W lies between 0.38 and 0.76 GW m−2. Continued cycling up to 1000 pulses at RT results in enhanced erosion of crack edges and crack edge melting. At the base temperature of 400 °C, the formation of cracks is suppressed

Synthesis and Physicochemical Characterization of Ce1-xGdxO2-δ: A Case Study on the Impact of the Oxygen Storage Capacity on the HCl Oxidation Reaction

This study reports the synthesis of high-surface-area Ce1−xGdxO2−δ (CGO) fibers that are used as catalysts for the oxidation of HCl. Special emphasis is put on the role of the oxygen storage capacity (OSC) of the CGO fibers on the catalytic performance. An in-depth physicochemical characterization of high-surface-area CGO was achieved by employing a multitude of dedicated spectroscopic techniques. The increasing OSC with Gd content is traced to the development of a space charge region with increased electron concentration as a result of the nano size of the CGO particles. The activity of CGO in the HCl oxidation reaction is shown to decrease with Gd concentration

Role of Linker Functionality in Polymers Exhibiting Main‐Chain Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence

Excellent performance has been reported for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on small molecule emitters that exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence. However, the necessary vacuum processing makes the fabrication of large-area devices based on these emitters cumbersome and expensive. Here, the authors present high performance OLEDs, based on novel, TADF polymers that can be readily processed from a solution. These polymers are based on the acridine-benzophenone donor–acceptor motif as main-chain TADF chromophores, linked by various conjugated and non-conjugated spacer moieties. The authors’ extensive spectroscopic and electronic analysis shows that in particular in case of alkyl spacers, the properties and performance of the monomeric TADF chromophores are virtually left unaffected by the polymerization. They present efficient solution-processed OLEDs based on these TADF polymers, diluted in oligostyrene as a host. The devices based on the alkyl spacer-based TADF polymers exhibit external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) ≈12%, without any outcoupling-enhancing measures. What's more, the EQE of these devices does not drop substantially upon diluting the polymer down to only ten weight percent of active material. In contrast, the EQE of devices based on the monomeric chromophore show significant losses upon dilution due to loss of charge percolation

Plasma Facing Materials for the JET ITER-like wall

The chosen materials for plasma facing components for the deuterium/tritium phase of ITER are beryllium and tungsten. These materials have already been widely investigated in various devices like ion beam or electron beam tests. However, the operation of this material combination in a large tokamak including plasma wall interaction, material degradation, erosion and material mixing has not been proven yet.The ITER-like Wall, which has been recently installed in JET, consists of a combination of bulk tungsten and tungsten coated CFC divertor tiles as well as bulk beryllium and beryllium coated INCONEL in the main chamber. The experiments in JET will provide the first fully representative test of the ITER material choice under relevant conditions.This paper concentrates on material research and developments for the materials of the JET ITER-like Wall with respect to mechanical and thermal properties. The impact of these materials and components on the JET operating limits with the ITER-like Wall and implications for the ongoing scientific program will be summarised