Strengthening rules-based order in the Asia-Pacific

This paper explores the opportunities for both Australia and Japan jointly to promote their shared interest in strengthening the rule of law in the Asia–Pacific. Overview The rule of law is an essential condition if cooperation and orderly behaviour are to be advanced in the Asia–Pacific. We need norms and rules that guide—and govern—relations among regional states. Australia and Japan share an interest in minimising the role that coercion plays in the Asia–Pacific and maximising cooperation across the region. We’re both liberal democracies, with a strong bilateral security relationship, an alliance with the United States and a genuine commitment to the rule of law. All Asia–Pacific states would profit by following Australia and Japan’s example in promoting and abiding by the rule of law in their external policies. Indeed, our region would be a much safer place if they did. ASPI has this year worked on a project to explore the opportunities for both Australia and Japan jointly to promote our shared interest in strengthening the rule of law in the Asia–Pacific. This report sets out the project’s key findings and outlines policy proposals to enhance Australia–Japan cooperation to bolster the rule of law in the region

The Labour Market Characteristics and Labour Market Impacts of Immigrants in Ireland

The purpose of this paper is twofold. We first produce a labour market profile of non- Irish immigrants who arrived in Ireland in the ten years to 2003. We then go on to use the labour market profile in estimating the impact of immigration (non-Irish) on the Irish labour market. Immigrants are shown to be a highly educated group. However, they are not all employed in occupations that fully reflect their education levels. The model of the labour market that we use to simulate the impact of immigration differentiates between low-skilled and high-skilled labour. This allows us to estimate the impact of immigrants (a) if they were employed at a level fitting their education and (b) if they were employed in occupations below their educational level. Our results show that under scenario (a) immigrants who arrived between 1993 and 2003 increased GNP by between 3.5 and 3.7 per cent, largely by lowering skilled wages by around 6 per cent and increasing Ireland’s competitiveness. Under scenario (b), the increase in GNP is reduced to 3 per cent because the impact on skilled wages is lower. If we assume that immigration is primarily unskilled, the impact on earnings inequality found under (a) and (b) is reversed.

Linearly Dichroic Plasmonic Lens and Hetero-Chiral Structures

We present theoretical and experimental study of plasmonic Hetero-Chiral structures, comprised of constituents with opposite chirality. We devise, simulate and experimentally demonstrate different schemes featuring selective surface plasmon polariton focusing of orthogonal polarization states and standing plasmonic vortex fields.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Taking a punch: Building a more resilient Australia

The Australian Government is undertaking a comprehensive review of homeland and border security arrangements in Australia. The review, being undertaken by the former Secretary of the Department of Defence, Ric Smith, will report midyear. In response to 9/11, there’s been considerable planning and investment of resources by the Australian Government focused on Australia’s capacity to prevent, respond to and recover from a major terrorist attack in our homeland. The focus on disrupting the planning of terrorist acts, or to disrupt them once underway, has obscured the potential for much greater deaths and casualties caused by extreme natural disasters and therefore the need for an all-hazards risk approach in understanding and responding to all associated risks: if Cyclone Larry had impacted on Cairns in March 2006, not Innisfail, in conjunction with a king tide and storm surge this could have been Australia’s Hurricane Katrina. A terrorism attack in Australia remains without question a distinct possibility, but assessed against the risk of probability, we have more to fear from natural disasters, which are not exceptional events. More importantly, when it comes to time spent planning and resources applied to managing risks on an all-hazards basis, there hasn’t been sufficient effort to engage the Australian community on what Australians can do for themselves in the face of high consequence events like terrorism and extreme natural disasters. This paper examines how Australia can bounce back from all hazards, not just terrorism. The paper recommends a number of specific measures to a build a more resilient Australia

Spitzer spectral line mapping of supernova remnants: I. Basic data and principal component analysis

We report the results of spectroscopic mapping observations carried out toward small (1 x 1 arcmin) regions within the supernova remnants W44, W28, IC443, and 3C391 using the Infrared Spectrograph of the Spitzer Space Telescope. These observations, covering the 5.2 - 37 micron spectral region, have led to the detection of a total of 15 fine structure transitions of Ne+, Ne++, Si+, P+, S, S++, Cl+, Fe+, and Fe++; the S(0) - S(7) pure rotational lines of molecular hydrogen; and the R(3) and R(4) transitions of hydrogen deuteride. In addition to these 25 spectral lines, the 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, 11.3 and 12.6 micron PAH emission bands were also observed. Most of the detected line transitions have proven strong enough to map in several sources, providing a comprehensive picture of the relative distribution of the various line emissions observable in the Spitzer/IRS bandpass. A principal component analysis of the spectral line maps reveals that the observed emission lines fall into five distinct groups, each of which may exhibit a distinct spatial distribution: (1) lines of S and H2 (J > 2); (2) the H2 S(0) line; (3) lines of ions with appearance potentials less than 13.6 eV; (4) lines of ions with appearance potentials greater than 13.6 eV, not including S++; (5) lines of S++. Lines of group (1) likely originate in molecular material subject to a slow, nondissociative shock that is driven by the overpressure within the supernova remnant, and lines in groups (3) - (5) are associated primarily with dissociative shock fronts with a range of (larger) shock velocities. The H2 S(0) line shows a low-density diffuse emission component, and - in some sources - a shock-excited component.Comment: 43 pages, including 21 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Water, O2 and Ice in Molecular Clouds

We model the temperature and chemical structure of molecular clouds as a function of depth into the cloud, assuming a cloud of constant density n illuminated by an external FUV (6 eV < E < 13.6 eV) flux G_0 (scaling factor in multiples of the local interstellar field). Extending previous photodissociation region models, we include the freezing of species, simple grain surface chemistry, and desorption (including FUV photodesorption) of ices. We also treat the opaque cloud interior with time-dependent chemistry. Here, under certain conditions, gas phase elemental oxygen freezes out as water ice and the elemental C/O abundance ratio can exceed unity, leading to complex carbon chemistry. Gas phase H2O and O2 peak in abundance at intermediate depth into the cloud, roughly A_V~3-8 from the surface, the depth proportional to ln(G_0/n). Closer to the surface, molecules are photodissociated. Deeper into the cloud, molecules freeze to grain surfaces. At intermediate depths photodissociation rates are attenuated by dust extinction, but photodesorption prevents total freezeout. For G_0 < 500, abundances of H2O and O2 peak at values ~10^(-7), producing columns ~10^(15) per cm^2, independent of G_0 and n. The peak abundances depend primarily on the product of the photodesorption yield of water ice and the grain surface area per H nucleus. At higher values of G_0, thermal desorption of O atoms from grains enhances the gas phase H2O peak abundance and column slightly, whereas the gas phase O2 peak abundance rises to ~10^(-5) and the column to ~2x10^(16) per cm^2. We present simple analytic equations for the abundances as a function of depth which clarify the dependence on parameters. The models are applied to observations of H2O, O2, and water ice in a number of sources, including B68, NGC 2024, and Rho Oph.Comment: 70 pages including 17 figure

Distribution of Water Vapor in Molecular Clouds

We report the results of a large-area study of water vapor along the Orion Molecular Cloud ridge, the purpose of which was to determine the depth-dependent distribution of gas-phase water in dense molecular clouds. We find that the water vapor measured toward 77 spatial positions along the face-on Orion ridge, excluding positions surrounding the outflow associated with BN/KL and IRc2, display integrated intensities that correlate strongly with known cloud surface tracers such as CN, C2H, 13CO J =5-4, and HCN, and less well with the volume tracer N2H+. Moreover, at total column densities corresponding to Av < 15 mag., the ratio of H2O to C18O integrated intensities shows a clear rise approaching the cloud surface. We show that this behavior cannot be accounted for by either optical depth or excitation effects, but suggests that gas-phase water abundances fall at large Av. These results are important as they affect measures of the true water-vapor abundance in molecular clouds by highlighting the limitations of comparing measured water vapor column densities with such traditional cloud tracers as 13CO or C18O. These results also support cloud models that incorporate freeze-out of molecules as a critical component in determining the depth-dependent abundance of water vapor

Very Large Array Observations of Ammonia in Infrared-dark Clouds. I. Column Density and Temperature Structure

We present Very Large Array observations of NH 3 (1,1) and (2,2) in a sample of six infrared-dark clouds (IRDCs) with distances from 2 to 5 kpc. We find that ammonia serves as an excellent tracer of dense gas in IRDCs, showing no evidence of depletion, and the average abundance in these clouds is 8.1 _ 10 –7 . Our sample consists of four IRDCs with 24 _m embedded protostars and two that appear starless. We calculate the kinetic temperature of the gas in IRDCs and find no significant difference between starless and star-forming IRDCs. We find that the bulk of the gas is between 8 and 13 K, indicating that any embedded or nearby stars or clusters do not affect the gas temperature dramatically. Though IRDCs have temperatures and volume densities on par with local star formation regions of lower mass, they consist of much more mass which induces very high internal pressures. In order for IRDCs to survive as coherent structures, the internal pressure must be balanced by a confining pressure provided by the high concentration of molecular clouds in the spiral arm in which they reside. The high molecular concentration and pressure are roughly consistent with gas dynamics of a bar galaxy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90758/1/0004-637X_736_2_163.pd

Disk Imaging Survey of Chemistry with SMA (DISCS): I. Taurus Protoplanetary Disk Data

Chemistry plays an important role in the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks, with implications for the composition of comets and planets. This is the first of a series of papers based on data from DISCS, a Submillimeter Array survey of the chemical composition of protoplanetary disks. The six Taurus sources in the program (DM Tau, AA Tau, LkCa 15, GM Aur, CQ Tau and MWC 480) range in stellar spectral type from M1 to A4 and offer an opportunity to test the effects of stellar luminosity on the disk chemistry. The disks were observed in 10 different lines at ~3" resolution and an rms of ~100 mJy beam-1 at ~0.5 km s-1. The four brightest lines are CO 2-1, HCO+ 3-2, CN 2_3-1_2 and HCN 3-2 and these are detected toward all sources (except for HCN toward CQ Tau). The weaker lines of CN 2_2-1_1, DCO+ 3-2, N2H+ 3-2, H2CO 3_03-2_02 and 4_14-3_13 are detected toward two to three disks each, and DCN 3-2 only toward LkCa 15. CH3OH 4_21-3_12 and c-C3H2 are not detected. There is no obvious difference between the T Tauri and Herbig Ae sources with regard to CN and HCN intensities. In contrast, DCO+, DCN, N2H+ and H2CO are detected only toward the T Tauri stars, suggesting that the disks around Herbig Ae stars lack cold regions for long enough timescales to allow for efficient deuterium chemistry, CO freeze-out, and grain chemistry.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap