9,669 research outputs found
Intergenerational equity and conservation
The issue of integenerational equity in the use of natural resources is discussed in the context of coal mining conversion. An attempt to determine if there is a clear-cut benefit to future generations in setting minimum coal extraction efficiency standards in mining is made. It is demonstrated that preserving fossil fuels beyond the economically efficient level is not necessarily beneficial to future generations even in terms of their own preferences. Setting fossil fuel conservation targets for intermediate products (i.e. energy) may increase the quantities of fossil fuels available to future generations and hence lower the costs, but there may be serious disadvantages to future generations as well. The use of relatively inexpensive fossil fuels in this generation may result in more infrastructure development and more knowledge production available to future generations. The value of fossil fuels versus these other endowments in the future depends on many factors which cannot possibly be evaluated at present. Since there is no idea of whether future generations are being helped or harmed, it is recommended that integenerational equity not be used as a factor in setting coal mine extraction efficiency standards, or in establishing requirements
Generalized Uncertainty Principle Corrections to the Simple Harmonic Oscillator in Phase Space
We compute Wigner functions for the harmonic oscillator including corrections
from generalized uncertainty principles (GUPs), and study the corresponding
marginal probability densities and other properties. We show that the GUP
corrections to the Wigner functions can be significant, and comment on their
potential measurability in the laboratory.Comment: minor revisions; included journal referenc
Engineering calculations for the Delta S method of solving the orbital allotment problem
The method of calculating single-entry separation requirements for pairs of satellites is extended to include the interference on the top link as well as on the down link. Several heuristic models for analyzing the effects of shaped-beam antenna designs on required satellite separations are introduced and demonstrated with gain contour plots. The calculation of aggregate interference is extended to include the effects of up-link interference. The relationship between the single-entry C/I requirements, used in determining satellite separation constraints for various optimization procedures, and the aggregate C/I values of the resulting solutions is discussed
British Steel: is it a wind up?
Key Points
The recent compulsory liquidation of British Steel raises a number of fundamental questions about the nature of compulsory liquidation.
Is it possible for compulsory liquidation to be used in a manner similar to administration to rescue (part of) a company’s undertaking with the costs of the process being picked up by the taxpayer rather than met by secured creditors?
In this article we consider the reasons why the court ordered the liquidation of British Steel and more broadly consider the nature of compulsory liquidation and on whose behalf and for what purposes it may be ordered
Generating-function method for fusion rules
This is the second of two articles devoted to an exposition of the
generating-function method for computing fusion rules in affine Lie algebras.
The present paper focuses on fusion rules, using the machinery developed for
tensor products in the companion article. Although the Kac-Walton algorithm
provides a method for constructing a fusion generating function from the
corresponding tensor-product generating function, we describe a more powerful
approach which starts by first defining the set of fusion elementary couplings
from a natural extension of the set of tensor-product elementary couplings. A
set of inequalities involving the level are derived from this set using Farkas'
lemma. These inequalities, taken in conjunction with the inequalities defining
the tensor products, define what we call the fusion basis. Given this basis,
the machinery of our previous paper may be applied to construct the fusion
generating function. New generating functions for sp(4) and su(4), together
with a closed form expression for their threshold levels are presented.Comment: Harvmac (b mode : 47 p) and Pictex; to appear in J. Math. Phy
- …