Unbound states in quantum heterostructures

We report in this review on the electronic continuum states of semiconductor Quantum Wells and Quantum Dots and highlight the decisive part played by the virtual bound states in the optical properties of these structures. The two particles continuum states of Quantum Dots control the decoherence of the excited electron – hole states. The part played by Auger scattering in Quantum Dots is also discussed

A study of the life-history and ecology of pulvinaria vitis (L.) (hemiptera - coccoidea), the cottony scale attacking peach in Ontario.

Cottony scale is a pest of peach, that although not annually numerous or troublesome, nevertheless, poses a constant threat to the peach growers in the Niagara peninsula. Its capacity to build up a population rapidly when conditions are favourable and thus to cause extensive injury before a grower is aware of its presence, makes it a pest that requires to be carefully controlled even in light infestations. [...

The Coexistence of Genetically Modified, Organic and Conventional Foods : Government Policies and Market Practices

Since their commercial introduction in 1996, genetically modified (GM) crops have been adopted by farmers around the world at impressive rates. In 2011, 180 million hectares of GM crops were cultivated by more than 15 million farmers in 29 countries. In the next decade, global adoption is expected to grow even faster as the research pipeline for new biotech traits and crops has increased almost fourfold in the last few years. The adoption of GM crops has led to increased productivity, while reducing pesticide use and the emissions of agricultural greenhouse gases, leading to broadly distributed economic benefits across the global food supply chain. Despite the rapid uptake of GM crops, the various social and economic benefits as well as the expanding rate innovation, the use of GM crops remains controversial in parts of the world. Despite the emergence of coexistence between GM, organic and conventional crops as a key policy and practical issue of global scale, there is no coherent literature that addresses it directly. Governments and market stakeholders in many countries are grappling with policy alternatives that settle conflicting property rights, minimize negative market externalities and associated liabilities, maximize the economic benefits of innovation and allow producer and consumer choice. This book intends to fill these needs with contributions from the top theoreticians, legal and economic analysts, policy makers and industry practitioners in the field. As the economics and policy of coexistence start to emerge as an separate subfield in agricultural, environmental and natural resource economics with an increasing number of scholars working on the topic, the book will also provide a comprehensive base in the literature for those entering the area, making it of interest to students, scholars and policy-makers alike

Characterisation and properties of Acacia senegal (L.) Willd. var, senegal with enhanced properties (Acacia (sen) SUPER GUM™): Part 3 Immunological characterisation of Acacia (sen) SUPER GUM™

Four Acacia senegal samples, one control (Mw 6.2×105 g/mol) and three enhanced samples with different molecular weights ranging from 1.2×106–2.5×106 g/mol were fractionated using hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) into two fractions, hydrophilic (fraction 1, yield ∼80%) and hydrophobic (fraction 2, yield ∼2%). The elution profile and weight average molecular weight of fraction 1 were similar to the starting materials but contained slightly more arabinogalactan protein (AGP) component. On the other hand, the AGP peak was almost completely removed from Fraction 2. The Mw for fraction 2 was ∼1.1×105 g/mol and contained <0.5% (of the total injected mass) of aggregated materials with Mw>4.9×107 g/mol. These fractions plus the whole gum were also analysed by ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay). The results showed that the interaction with an A. senegal specific antibody (SY CC7) is the same for the whole gum sample and its fractions, indicating a common, widely distributed epitope. One sample with the highest molecular weight (2.5×106 g/mol) showed a slightly different interaction, displaying a lower sensitivity, attributed to the formation of a more compact hydrophobic form of AGP. This is in accord also with the observations on the same sample using spectroscopic methods which was attributed to dehydration of the COOH uronic acid group.Examination of the commercially available Acacia(sen) SUPER GUM™ (EM2—Mw ∼1.8×106 g/mol) with three different antibodies (SY CC7, UC-SEN-PS-01 and UC-SEY-PS-01) showed the response to be identical to that of control A. senegal gum. These results demonstrate how immunological techniques, in this instance ELISAs, can be utilised to indicate differences between gum samples and to determine the limit of maturation of Acacia(sen) SUPER GUM™

Sustainability and the Bioeconomy: Synthesis of Key Themes from the 15th ICABR Conference

The International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research(ICABR) held its 15th annual conference near Rome, Italy inJune 2011. The theme of the conference was sustainability, andthis topic was addressed through numerous presentations fromacademia, government, and industry. Numerous presentationsfrom developing countries highlighted the adoption benefits ofthe biotechnologies in these countries

Sustainability and Bioeconomy: Synthesis of Key Themes from the 15th ICABR Conference

The International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR) held its 15th annual conference near Rome, Italy in June 2011. The theme of the conference was sustainability, and this topic was addressed through numerous presentations from academia, government, and industry. Numerous presentations from developing countries highlighted the adoption benefits of the biotechnologies in these countrie