Biofuels from crop residue can reduce soil carbon and increase CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e emissions

Removal of corn residue for biofuels can decrease soil organic carbon(SOC) and increase CO2 emissions because residue C in biofuels is oxidized to CO2 at a faster rate than when added to soil. Net CO2 emissions from residue removal are not adequately characterized in biofuel life cycle assessment (LCA). Here we used a model to estimate CO2 emissions from corn residue removal across the US Corn Belt at 580 million geospatial cells. To test the SOC model, we compared estimated daily CO2 emissions from corn residue and soil with CO2 emissions measured using eddy covariance, with 12% average error over nine years. The model estimated residue removal of 6 Mg per ha–1 yr–1 over five to ten years could decrease regional net SOC by an average of 0.47–0.66 Mg C ha–1 yr–1. These emissions add an average of 50–70 g CO2 per megajoule of biofuel (range 30–90) and are insensitive to the fraction of residue removed. Unless lost C is replaced, life cycle emissions will probably exceed the US legislative mandate of 60% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with gasoline. Supplementary information is attached below as an additional (pdf) file

Biofuels from crop residue can reduce soil carbon and increase CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e emissions

Removal of corn residue for biofuels can decrease soil organic carbon(SOC) and increase CO2 emissions because residue C in biofuels is oxidized to CO2 at a faster rate than when added to soil. Net CO2 emissions from residue removal are not adequately characterized in biofuel life cycle assessment (LCA). Here we used a model to estimate CO2 emissions from corn residue removal across the US Corn Belt at 580 million geospatial cells. To test the SOC model, we compared estimated daily CO2 emissions from corn residue and soil with CO2 emissions measured using eddy covariance, with 12% average error over nine years. The model estimated residue removal of 6 Mg per ha–1 yr–1 over five to ten years could decrease regional net SOC by an average of 0.47–0.66 Mg C ha–1 yr–1. These emissions add an average of 50–70 g CO2 per megajoule of biofuel (range 30–90) and are insensitive to the fraction of residue removed. Unless lost C is replaced, life cycle emissions will probably exceed the US legislative mandate of 60% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with gasoline. Supplementary information is attached below as an additional (pdf) file

Time-resolved spectroscopy of multi-excitonic decay in an InAs quantum dot

The multi-excitonic decay process in a single InAs quantum dot is studied through high-resolution time-resolved spectroscopy. A cascaded emission sequence involving three spectral lines is seen that is described well over a wide range of pump powers by a simple model. The measured biexcitonic decay rate is about 1.5 times the single-exciton decay rate. This ratio suggests the presence of selection rules, as well as a significant effect of the Coulomb interaction on the biexcitonic wavefunction.Comment: one typo fixe

Polarization-Correlated Photon Pairs from a Single Quantum Dot

Polarization correlation in a linear basis, but not entanglement, is observed between the biexciton and single-exciton photons emitted by a single InAs quantum dot in a two-photon cascade. The results are well described quantitatively by a probabilistic model that includes two decay paths for a biexciton through a non-degenerate pair of one-exciton states, with the polarization of the emitted photons depending on the decay path. The results show that spin non-degeneracy due to quantum-dot asymmetry is a significant obstacle to the realization of an entangled-photon generation device.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, revised discussio

Quantum Transduction of Telecommunications-band Single Photons from a Quantum Dot by Frequency Upconversion

The ability to transduce non-classical states of light from one wavelength to another is a requirement for integrating disparate quantum systems that take advantage of telecommunications-band photons for optical fiber transmission of quantum information and near-visible, stationary systems for manipulation and storage. In addition, transducing a single-photon source at 1.3 {\mu}m to visible wavelengths for detection would be integral to linear optical quantum computation due to the challenges of detection in the near-infrared. Recently, transduction at single-photon power levels has been accomplished through frequency upconversion, but it has yet to be demonstrated for a true single-photon source. Here, we transduce the triggered single-photon emission of a semiconductor quantum dot at 1.3 {\mu}m to 710 nm with a total detection (internal conversion) efficiency of 21% (75%). We demonstrate that the 710 nm signal maintains the quantum character of the 1.3 {\mu}m signal, yielding a photon anti-bunched second-order intensity correlation, g^(2)(t), that shows the optical field is composed of single photons with g^(2)(0) = 0.165 < 0.5.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

ACCESS: Design and Sub-System Performance

Establishing improved spectrophotometric standards is important for a broad range of missions and is relevant to many astrophysical problems. ACCESS, "Absolute Color Calibration Experiment for Standard Stars", is a series of rocket-borne sub-orbital missions and ground-based experiments designed to enable improvements in the precision of the astrophysical flux scale through the transfer of absolute laboratory detector standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to a network of stellar standards with a calibration accuracy of 1% and a spectral resolving power of 500 across the 0.35 -1.7 micrometer bandpass

Polymerization-induced self-assembly of block copolymer nanoparticles via RAFT non-aqueous dispersion polymerization

There is considerable current interest in polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization as a versatile and efficient route to various types of block copolymer nano-objects. Many successful PISA syntheses have been conducted in water using either RAFT aqueous dispersion polymerization or RAFT aqueous emulsion polymerization. In contrast, this review article is focused on the growing number of RAFT PISA formulations developed for non-aqueous media. A wide range of monomers have been utilized for both the stabilizer and core-forming blocks to produce diblock copolymer nanoparticles in either polar or non-polar media (including supercritical CO2 and ionic liquids) via RAFT dispersion polymerization. Such nanoparticles possess spherical, worm-like or vesicular morphologies, often with controllable size and functionality. Detailed characterization of such sterically stabilized diblock copolymer dispersions provides important insights into the various morphological transformations that can occur both during the PISA synthesis and also on subsequent exposure to a suitable external stimulus (e.g. temperature)

Polyamide-Scorpion Cyclam Lexitropsins Selectively Bind AT-Rich DNA Independently of the Nature of the Coordinated Metal

Cyclam was attached to 1-, 2- and 3-pyrrole lexitropsins for the first time through a synthetically facile copper-catalyzed “click” reaction. The corresponding copper and zinc complexes were synthesized and characterized. The ligand and its complexes bound AT-rich DNA selectively over GC-rich DNA, and the thermodynamic profile of the binding was evaluated by isothermal titration calorimetry. The metal, encapsulated in a scorpion azamacrocyclic complex, did not affect the binding, which was dominated by the organic tail