Mass Measurements of Neutron-Deficient Yb Isotopes and Nuclear Structure at the Extreme Proton-Rich Side of the N=82 Shell

International audienceHigh-accuracy mass measurements of neutron-deficient Yb isotopes have been performed at TRIUMF using TITAN’s multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS). For the first time, an MR-TOF-MS was used on line simultaneously as an isobar separator and as a mass spectrometer, extending the measurements to two isotopes further away from stability than otherwise possible. The ground state masses of Yb150,153 and the excitation energy of Ybm151 were measured for the first time. As a result, the persistence of the N=82 shell with almost unmodified shell gap energies is established up to the proton drip line. Furthermore, the puzzling systematics of the h11/2-excited isomeric states of the N=81 isotones are unraveled using state-of-the-art mean field calculation

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo

Political transition and emergent forest-conservation issues in Myanmar.

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions

Political transition and emergent forest-conservation issues in Myanmar.

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions

Stakeholder engagement on transboundary water management in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/Jake Brunner and Raphaël Glémet, of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, explain that: "Investment decisions that only consider the institutional or national benefit may have large negative transboundary externalities, and appeals to the impact of upstream projects on biodiversity and livelihoods downstream tend to fall on deaf ears.

Pathways to higher education in France and Switzerland : Do vocational tracks facilitate access to higher education for immigrant students?

In this chapter we wish to clarify through which institutional pathways higher education is accessed by immigrant group students in Switzerland and France. We have chosen these two countries because they differ from each other both in their educational systems and in the ways new routes to higher education have been set up through vocationally orientated programmes. The educational landscape in France is characterised by a more school-based system and has a greater tradition of prestigious tertiary education institutions (Duru-Bellat et al., 2008). Moreover, traditional vocational education and training (VET) does not have very high status and therefore fails to attract a large proportion of well-performing students. However, France has witnessed a vocationalisation of the academic route to higher education through the implementation of the specifically vocationally orientated track (particularly the baccalauréat professionnel). The situation in Switzerland is more or less reversed. Less people pursue academic education and over two thirds of students enrol in a variety of VET programmes. In the Swiss case, a new route to higher education has been created through the academisation of VET with the setting up of the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate diploma that grants access to universities of applied science. Using youth panel data from France (DEPP panel d'élèves) and Switzerland (Transitions from Education to Employment, TREE), we will analyse the pathways to higher education in both countries in more detail, looking specifically at the access of higher education through different educational tracks while taking in account the different characteristics of the students, e.g. immigrant backgrounds, gender and aspirations

Improved water management is central to solving the water-energy-food trilemma in Lao PDR

Relying on published literature, we reviewed water-energy-food issues in Lao PDR in the context of a policy shift to more sustainable ‘green growth’ and significantly increased infrastructure investment resulting from China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The BRI provides the prospect for the country to address its infrastructure deficit and transform from a ‘land-locked’ to a ‘land-linked’ country. However, great care is needed to ensure that future investments do not result in further environmental degradation and harm to communities. An integrated ‘nexus’ approach, in which enhanced water management is central, is a prerequisite for more inclusive and sustainable development

How do different pathways to higher education foster social mobility for males and females: A comparison of different tracks to higher education in Switzerland and France

International audienceOver the past decades, educational policy implementations in France and Switzerland have increased the eligibility of those completing (upper or post compulsory) secondary education to access higher or tertiary education, by introducing vocationally orientated programs on the upper secondary level that offer access to higher education. Such policies should help to reduce some of the well-known inequalities in the educational system by improving educational achievement of disadvantaged groups such as students with an immigrant background or those coming from low socioeconomic and cultural households. In this paper we wish to clarify not only if, but also how - through which institutional settings - higher education is accessed by male and female students of lower cultural capital (i.e. non HE parental education or "First generation" students (the first of their family to access HE)). We are primarily interested in the possible social mobility for these men and women arising from the aforementioned country-specific educational policies designed to increase the enrolment in tertiary education