Modelling predicts that heat stress and not drought will limit wheat yield in Europe

Global warming is characterised by shifts in weather patterns and increases in extreme weather events. New crop cultivars with specific physiological traits will therefore be required if climate change is not to result in losses of yield and food shortages. However, the intrinsic uncertainty of climate change predictions poses a challenge to plant breeders and crop scientists who have limited time and resources and must select the most appropriate traits for improvement. Modelling is, therefore, a powerful tool to identify future threats to crop production and hence targets for improvement. Wheat is the most important crop in temperate zones, including Europe, and is the staple food crop for many millions of humans and their livestock. However, its production is highly sensitive to environmental conditions, with increased temperature and incidence of drought associated with global warming posing potential threats to yield in Europe. We have therefore predicted the future impacts of these environmental changes on wheat yields using a wheat simulation model combined with climate scenarios based on fifteen global climate models from the IPCC AR4 multi-model ensemble. Despite the lower summer precipitation predicted for Europe, the impact of drought on wheat yields is likely to be smaller than at present, because the warmer conditions will result in earlier maturation before drought becomes severe later in the summer. By contrast, the probability of heat stress around flowering is predicted to increase significantly which is likely to result in considerable yield losses for heat sensitive wheat cultivars commonly grown in north Europe. Breeding strategies should therefore focus on the development of wheat varieties which are tolerant to high temperature around flowering, rather than on developing varieties resistant to drought which may be required for other parts of the world

Taxing the "Family" in the Individual Income Tax

In this paper we examine international practices in the ways in which the individual income tax is applied to families, focusing upon country practices in OECD countries. We find that countries differ significantly in their taxation of the family, but that the dominant practice is the choice of the individual rather than the family as the unit of taxation. We also calculate the income tax consequences for "representative" taxpayers across these countries, and find that the differences in taxes between singles and married couples can often be quite large. We conclude that choosing the individual as the tax unit is likely to represent the most equitable approach to income taxation, especially given the increasing complexity of family units in modern societies

Doubly virtual Compton scattering and the beam normal spin asymmetry

We construct an invariant basis for Compton scattering with two virtual photons (VVCS). The basis tensors are chosen to be gauge invariant and orthogonal to each other. The properties of the corresponding 18 invariant amplitudes are studied in detail. We consider the special case of elastic VVCS with the virtualities of the initial and final photons equal. The invariant basis for VVCS in this orthogonal form does not exist in the literatur. We furthermore use this VVCS tensor for a calculation of the beam normal spin asymmetry in the forward kinematics. For this, we relate the invariant amplitudes to the helicity amplitudes of the VVCS reaction. The imaginary parts of these latter are related to the inclusive cross section by means of the optical theorem. We use the phenomenological value of the transverse cross section $\sigma_T\sim0.1$ mbarn and the Callan-Gross relation which relates the longitudinal cross section $\sigma_L$ to the transverse one. The result of the calculation agrees with an existing calculation and predicts the negative values of the asymmetry $B_n$ of the order of 4-6 ppm in the energy range from 6 to 45 ppm and for very forward angles.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, revtex, submitted to Phys. Rev. C; new version: two figures added, typos correcte

Rotational and rotationless states of weakly-bound molecules

By making use of the quantization rule of Raab and Friedrich [P. Raab and H. Friedrich, Phys. Rev. A 78, 022707 (2008)], we derive simple and accurate formulae for the number of rotational states supported by a weakly-bound vibrational level of a diatomic molecule and the rotational constants of any such levels up to the threshold, and provide a criterion for determining whether a given weakly-bound vibrational level is rotationless. The results depend solely on the long-range part of the molecular potential and are applicable to halo molecules.Comment: slightly corrected version, 4 pages, 1 figure, 3 table

Boost the Impact of Continuous Formal Verification in Industry

Software model checking has experienced significant progress in the last two decades, however, one of its major bottlenecks for practical applications remains its scalability and adaptability. Here, we describe an approach to integrate software model checking techniques into the DevOps culture by exploiting practices such as continuous integration and regression tests. In particular, our proposed approach looks at the modifications to the software system since its last verification, and submits them to a continuous formal verification process, guided by a set of regression test cases. Our vision is to focus on the developer in order to integrate formal verification techniques into the developer workflow by using their main software development methodologies and tools.Comment: 7 page

Mutual Phase Locking of Very Nonidentical Spin Torque Nanooscillators via Spin Wave Interaction

In this paper the mutual phase locking theory of very nonidentical spin-torque nanooscillators, which is based on the Slavin-Tiberkevich model, considering the theory of nonlinear oscillations, is developed. Using generalized Adler equation we calculate phase-locking region of the system with spinwave coupling in the parameter plane - distance between nanocontacts and radii difference. We describe trajectories of such a system in the phase space and show the effect of a broadband synchronization. We introduce a generalization of this approach to the ensembles of spin-torque nanooscillatorsComment: 6 pages, 2 figure