Semi-natural habitats support biological control, pollination and soil conservation in Europe:A review

Semi-natural habitats are integral to most agricultural areas and have the potential to support ecosystem services, especially biological control and pollination by supplying resources for the invertebrates providing these services and for soil conservation by preventing erosion and run-off. Some habitats are supported through agri-environment scheme funding in the European Union, but their value for ecosystem service delivery has been questioned. An improved understanding of previous research approaches and outcomes will contribute to the development of more sustainable farming systems, improve experimental designs and highlight knowledge gaps especially for funders and researchers. Here we compiled a systematic map to allow for the first time a review of the quantity of evidence collected in Europe that semi-natural habitats support biological control, pollination and soil conservation. A literature search selected 2252 publications, and, following review, 270 met the inclusion criteria and were entered into the database. Most publications were of pest control (143 publications) with less on pollination (78 publications) or soil-related aspects (31). For pest control and pollination, most publications reported a positive effect of semi-natural habitats. There were weaknesses in the evidence base though because of bias in study location and the crops, whilst metrics (e.g. yield) valued by end users were seldom measured. Hedgerows, woodland and grassland were the most heavily investigated semi-natural habitats, and the wider landscape composition was often considered. Study designs varied considerably yet only 24% included controls or involved manipulation of semi-natural habitats. Service providers were commonly measured and used as a surrogate for ecosystem service delivery. Key messages for policymakers and funders are that they should encourage research that includes more metrics required by end users, be prepared to fund longer-term studies (61% were of only 1-year duration) and investigate the role of soils within semi-natural habitats in delivering ecosystem services

Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values

Constraints on the Higgs boson width from off-shell production and decay to Z-boson pairs

Constraints are presented on the total width of the recently discovered Higgs boson, GH, using its relative on-shell and off-shell production and decay rates to a pair of Z bosons, where one Z boson decays to an electron or muon pair, and the other to an electron, muon, or neutrino pair. The analysis is based on the data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011 and 2012, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.1fb-1 at a center-of-mass energy vs=7 TeV and 19.7fb-1at vs=8 TeV. A simultaneous maximum likelihood fit to the measured kinematic distributions near the resonance peak and above the Z-boson pair production threshold leads to an upper limit on the Higgs boson width of GH<22 MeV at a 95% confidence level, which is 5.4 times the expected value in the standard model at the measured mass of mH=125.6 GeV

Do Chinese SOEs and Private Companies Differ in Their Foreign Location Strategies?

We empirically analyze the host-country determinants of Chinese outbound foreign direct investments (ODI) in the period from 2003 to 2008, using disaggregated data by country and sector and distinguishing between State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and privately owned firms. Our results show that the pattern of Chinese ODI differs according to corporate ownership. Private firms are attracted by large markets and host-country strategic assets and are averse to economic and political risks when choosing investment locations abroad. Differently, state-owned enterprises follow the strategic needs of their home country and invest more in natural resource sectors, being largely indifferent to the political and economic conditions in the host countries

Implications of U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopic analysis of detrital zircons for the depositional age, provenance and tectonic setting of the Permian–Triassic Palaeotethyan Karakaya Complex, NW Turkey

New zircon U-Pb age data, combined with Lu-Hf isotopic data, are presented here for sandstones of mainly arkosic composition from the Permian-Triassic Karakaya Complex. Predominantly, Carboniferous, Triassic and Devonian zircon age groups are recognised, most of which have a Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian) maximum depositional age. Carboniferous- and Devonian-aged zircon populations exhibit intermediate epsilon (Hf(t)) values (-11 to +2), consistent with formation in a continental margin arc setting where juvenile mantle-derived magma mixed with (recycled) old crust of Palaeoproterozoic Hf model age. In contrast, the Triassic-aged zircon population exhibits higher epsilon (Hf(t)) values (-5 to +4), consistent with mixing of juvenile mantle-derived melts with (recycled) old crust of Neoproterozoic Hf model age. Potential igneous source rocks for the sandstones of the Karakaya Complex exist in the Devonian and Carboniferous granitic rocks of the Sakarya continental basement to the north. Their epsilon (Hf(t)) and corresponding model ages are nearly identical to the age-equivalent zircon populations within the Karakaya Complex sandstones. However, the Triassic granitic rocks of the Sakarya continental crust differ significantly in epsilon (Hf(t)) and corresponding model age from the sandstones of the Karakaya Complex. Late Triassic sandstones from the Tauride continental unit to the south lack the dominant Late Palaeozoic and Triassic zircon populations of the Karakaya Complex sandstones. Triassic granitic bodies and intermediate-composition extrusive rocks in the Tauride continental unit also differ in epsilon (Hf(t)) and corresponding Hf model ages from the Karakaya Complex sandstones. In addition, Late Triassic sandstones of the Kocaeli Triassic unit (A degrees stanbul Terrane) in the north differ strongly from the Karakaya Complex sandstones in zircon population ages and epsilon (Hf(t)). In the regional context, the new zircon age and lutetium-hafnium isotopic data are consistent with derivation of the Late Triassic Karakaya Complex sandstones from a Late Palaeozoic-Triassic continental margin arc located somewhere along the southern margin of Eurasia, although its exact position cannot be pinpointed at present owing to lack of suitable outcrop and comparable isotopic data